Welcome to Gaia! ::

She walked slowly, humming very softly to herself... until she came to the unmistakable gate of the Infernal Battlefields. Almost half mindlessly she finds herself gently stroking the ring on her finger with the fingers of that same hand... her mind placing his face in her thoughts once again... She had caught herself thinking of him more and more as her life passed on in this hellhole... Of course she told herself that it was simply because she was finally seeing a purpose in her afterlife... He could grant her life, and she could slaughter Kaito... and that was all she wanted, to slaughter Kaito... and she even refused to find it odd that a strange part of her ached with longingness as she stared up at this gate... He would be inside, and if not inside already... He would find her soon... and for some reason... for some reason she refused to even consider, or ponder, or discover... that fact thrilled her... She simply blamed it on her undeniable loneliness, and slowly stepped through the gate and into the Battlefields.

The scent of the scene around her in overwhelming... and yet for some reason it doesn't bother her... She's smelled worse... and nothing can come close to the sight of both her parents burned and charred next to her... her waking up curled next to them... She actually shivered at the memory... Her childhood eyes having looked up into their faces... their jaws dropped in silent screams but their flesh fried like charcoal against their bones... their hair completely singed from their flesh....
She shock her head gently, desperate to rid herself of the images... before finally standing still in the battlegrounds.
"Alright demon, I'm here!"
She shouts into the nothingness, unable to make heads or tails of this place... her mind assaulted by the surroundings.

She grinned, trying desperately to keep her eyes as emotionless as humanly possible... even as she found herself actually excited to see him once again, of course she knew damn well that no matter how hard she tried the emotions would bleed right out of her dark blue eyes.
She listened to the souls around them gasp in awe and actually felt a tingle of pride... knowing he was here for her, and only her, and she slowly took a step forward and took his hand with hers... her hands tiny compared to his... and her fingers long and slender... of course he'd never be able to touch her bare hands, for she obsessively kept them wrapped and bandaged so that the skin underneath never blistered... sadly she enjoyed her womanly smooth hands... She took his hand in hers, the ring he had left behind on her finger.
"Good, my favorite past time; slaying the Gods."

She mumbled slightly to herself, something under her breath about how she was so thankful for this wonderful warm welcome, but didn't question him. She was used to living under the rules of a Master, and her mind darted back to her teacher when she was still nothing more than a child... it seemed so long ago now... and yet she could hear his old voice yelling calmly at her different commands... he had taught her the most important thing ever in her life, as well as a few of the other things she held close to her heart...
He taught her not to panic, to keep your mind clear, and to watch everything at once with every sense you had. He also taught her to control her anger... and this reminder brought a sharp pain to her heart... it was his one lessen that never truly sunk in...

Slowly she turned to face him, her hand on the handle of her own blade... it was strange touching the hilt again, and it felt solid and comfortable in her hand... as if it belonged there, and as if it would always belong there... She moved her feet slowly across the ground, her movements as fluid as they had always been, these were steps she had been taught to perform in her sleep without thinking and now they were simply a habit she couldn't drop.
She withdrew the blade slowly, listening to it's metallic purr as it slipped easily from the sheath; she loved that sound, and without breaking the fluidness of her movements she grasped the handle with both of her hands and pushed her right foot out and her left foot back in the stance she had had engraved into her brain and was now nothing more than muscle memory.
She locked her eyes on him, her entire presence shifting as she stepping into her battle ready stance. She had been raised doing this, and took the art of sword play far more seriously than most other fighters... The sword was an extension of her body, she could feel everything it felt... hear everything it heard and taste all that it sliced through. This art of sword fighting wasn't simply something she learned as a child for the hell of it... it was the only thing that kept her alive... it was her livelihood... it was her life.... and without saying a word she locked her eyes in his eyes... even her eyes appearing to be those of someone now... They were more mature, darker... they studied everything, and not a movement was missed... she could feel his heartbeat through the ground, she could see his breathing through his parted lips... she could even see all that he was looking at... Her mind was completely free of every thought except for the presence... For when she drew her sword... it was the only time her mind was completely focused, the only time it was clear of anything except the present.

She watched him come at her with mild confusion... no stance, no art... no dance.. simply... fighting... It was something she had seen barbarians do... and she considered it not even worthy to be called an art. Yet she could tell his sword-handling was a lot better than most barbarians, at least he seemed to understand that a sword was an extension of yourself... she also guessed just by his quick and what she considered thoughtless attack that he was in the world of hitting swords...
She easily side stepped to avoid the blow, and in a move just as swift and fluid like barely tapped his neck with the tip of her blade... just enough so that he could feel it.
Her style of sword fighting had obviously been much different than his... and she had been taught from the very beginning to dodge the other enemy's first hit to kill him on your first hit, her speed had thus become far better than other humans and her mind worked slower during battles... to catch every single movement even before they came at her. Her style never once taught her how to block a sword with her sword, just how to dodge and push your way over to one of your enemy's blind spots to make a strike somewhere in one of their vital part; either cut off a limp, cut them through the middle with a downward slanted angle, cut their head off with a downward slanted angle, or cut into the fatty part of their inner thigh. One of these would push the battle strongly in your favor, and the others were a guarantee win.
She wasn't in the position now to lop of his head, but she was in the position to thrust herself forward and dig the blade into his neck... either way, it was a win in her favor; at least in the training world, if this had been a real battle her hesitation to kill could have cost her her life, this was a horrible position to simply stand in... this close to his body, his sword still completely useable and directly next to her body.
She jumped back now, and waited for his next move. Slightly proud of her win, but also knowing it meant nothing... teachers, no matter what their art style, all had to taste the students before jumping into the harder stuff. Figure out where their strengths and weaknesses were, and she knew exactly what her strengths and weaknesses were... her last teacher made her painfully away of each and every little thing so that she could focus on them and fix them... but no matter how hard you worked on it you were also going to be better at some things.
She knew right now that she favored her right leg, and tended to move to the right because of this. She also knew that she favored her left hand due to favoring her left leg. She also knew that she had perhapes the biggest handicap on the field, her height. Because of the fact she barely stood at 5'1 her sword had been created slightly shorter than all the other katanas... and what it meant was that she had to get closer than a comfort zone to kill an enemy, and it also meant that she overcompensated for it by being far faster than any human enemy.

She smirked, and nodded slightly... she was oddly thrilled at the thought of teaching him something, plus she never felt more alive than when she was in battle. She watched him coming at her, counting the steps and pushing herself hard off the ground... once again thankful for all her long hard nights training under her previous master... The training had made her senses sharper and her body stronger and leaner.... and yet one thing become painfully clear as she dodged... and her heart raced... and her breathing increased... She was still human...
She continued to dodge him, her movements getting slower... just barely noticeably... as the play battle went on... until finally she pushed herself to his side just slightly too slow... and saw strands of her hair go off in one direction in the wind, with the last bit of her energy she pushed herself as hard as she could backwards, sliding clumsily to come to a rest on all fours; her eyes remained locked on him, and she was careful to keep her blade from touching the ground... but it was all she could do to keep herself from collapsing here in front of him, and yet he stood there before her without even breaking a sweet!
She panted heavily, trying desperately to catch her breath, and could feel her hair saturated with sweet, which was also making her entire body sticky and practically bleeding into her eyes.
She couldn't even catch her breath long enough to speak, and as her mind calmed from the rush of the training she realized that they must have been at this for hours... and hours... and she was nothing more than a human; finally, she managed to push out a single, drained word.
"Dammit..."

She managed to push herself to her feet just long enough to sheath her sword, and then went crashing to her knees again; her body pathetically worn out.
She watched him walk into his cabin, and looked hatefully... and yet at the same time desirably, at her own hut...
She sat there, her eyes closed... concentrating on her breathing and heart rate until she could stand without falling over or passing out, and weakly made her way into the hut.
Without thinking she tore the covers from the raised bed, laying the heaviest blanket on the ground, stripped out of her hakama and folded it neatly in the corner and untied her kimono so that it covered her body loosely and comfortably and dropped herself onto the cover on the floor, pulling the other blankets tight around her. Sleeping on the floor was the only thing she was comfortable with...

She can feel his lips on hers, his hands exploring her body all too eagerly... she can taste his grin, his desire, his pleasure... she can taste all of him... Then pain, she can feel pain... and his lips fade from her senses as his sweet flavor is replaced by the bitter flavor of blood... full of iron with a hint of a more earthly flavor.... The last thing she sees is Kaito... standing over her with a dagger dripping with blood... and his cruel eyes laughing at her...

She shoots out of bed, screaming just slightly... Her heart is racing, and even her human senses can smell her blood soaking freely into the bandage around her chest... she can even taste the blood in her mouth. She forced herself to take a deep breathe, desperate to steady her racing heart and blurry mind... but this only forces her to cough up more blood... She can't calm her mind, her senses blurred out by her own blood and his face... still laughing at her in her mind...

Still confused, shaken, and overwhelmed... and mildly concerned that he hadn't noticed at all... she roughly pushed him away, snapping at him.
"I don't want it. I don't want to be like you."
All she could smell still was her blood, and even though she had swallowed and wiped the blood from her mouth all she could taste was her blood and the last thing she wanted was more worthless freaking blood.
Without even bothering to tie up her kimono, she pushed herself from the bed; the flaps of her kimono opening up just briefly to expose her shaky body inside... and the blood stained wrap around her chest.
She pushed clumsily past him, and managed to get outside... all she needed was fresh air... that's all... just to clear her head... but the second the cold air hit her face, the world around her went black and she collapsed, out cold.