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 Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:32 am
A small Shrine that is both the home of the young priestess who is the shrines caretaker and the location of a recent rash of vandalism...
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:35 am
A quaint smile crossed the young girls face as she moved softly across the front walkway of the shrine. She moved with a youthful grace and a positive outlook despite the almost constant invasions of youths causing damage to the shrine. It made her sad of course, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it other than repair the damage and pray that they saw the error of their ways. Satomi carefully swept the broken glass in front of her into the slowly growing pile of debris and thanked her stars that there were still those devoted enough to making offerings at the shrine that she could live and keep it in repair, though with this most recent attack she might miss a few meals and she wouldn’t be able to afford a new pair of shoes for school. Still her old shoes fit well enough and she might be able to stretch her rice to keep herself from starving so she wasn’t going to complain about that trifle of hardship. Instead she would continue to work hard, doing her best to walk on a path of righteousness.
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Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:06 pm
Speaking of the path of righteousness another who was as far from righteous as Satomi could imagine drew closer to the shrine. Hamada was the treasurer of the occult club and was a year older than the young girl and had on several occasions followed her home from school. It might have sounded horrifying but Satomi was certain that he was more or less harmless as long as there was no profit to be gained. Still she hated that disgusting smile that never seemed to leave his face. “Why won’t you leave me alone Hamada-senpai? I told you before; I’ll never join your club?” There he was, arrogant and smiling as usual. It was awful to think how much she actually despised this worthless excuse for a human being. “Aw, you don’t ever seem glad to see me priestess.” Satomi had little patience left for this insufferable jerk and she merely glared at him before speaking plainly, “Not at all, I'm always glad to see you go. It’s simply the fact that every time you come near me I seem to develop a severe headache.” Strange though this time he was far less insistent as her simply turned away from her and began walking away. Hamada only paused once to turn back andmake a highly unnerving comment, “Just don’t come back and say I didn’t warn you Priestess.” It almost seemed like a threat and to say the least it sent shivers down her spine.
However if she only knew what was lying, only one hundred feet away from her and only twelve feet under the earth then she would really have something to be frightened of. Deep in the dirt near the old shrine a tiny existence that had long since forgotten the relief of agony. Her suffering had long ago become something truly unbearable. If it could kill itself it would have long ago. Bones and dust, brittle skin like parchment held together only by rage and hatred and horrible tenacity were all that remained of a once beautiful tyrant. The passing of time had been slow at first, but after the first hundred years they became immeasurable as she could no longer even force herself into unconsciousness in hopes of escaping her torment. Hitomi Rin who had long since lost the will to even curse those who had set her on this path toward her destiny only wished to be washed away forever. Of course she knew that would not be her fate… such relief was reserved for the righteous.
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:46 pm
((Slight overlap requires... a bit of reeducation... or something like that))Takeshi set the paper to the side the moment he noticed that the girls in the group were staring at him. Still even without the newspaper most people wouldn’t notice how closely he was truly watching Alex. Even as his crepes and coffee arrived he ate and drank in silence listening closely to Kimiko outing him as her brother. Well that would make the mission slightly hard, after all now that he had been given an identity he would truly have to stay out of sight while he hunted the target. He watched the interaction between the manager and Kimiko’s table right along with the blonde girl falling backwards in her chair. That incident elicited some quiet laughter from Miku while Takeshi remained silent. He listened carefully to every word as he sipped the coffee. They were obviously all terrible combatants to be sitting and revealing their plans so openly and he didn’t need Kimiko’s text to know that the boy was harmless. Of course if she hadn’t then no one would have heard the unfamiliar tones of a song stolen by Miku from the Disney Corporation to use as a new embarrassing ring tone for Takeshi’s phone.
So when she left and sent him the short command he heard Miku laugh just as the Song Baby that would soon be released by some Disney spawn called Justin Beiber began playing from his phone. He was quick to silence the song almost instantly and read the message before again setting the phone to silent. Then as one of the girls left Mioku spoke, “Oh, that’s too bad Ta-kun. Looks like the future mother of your children is leaving.” Takeshi didn’t say a word, choosing instead to text his reply, {That is unlikely. My generation was designed genetically to be unable to spawn offspring} “Sure, if that’s what helps you sleep at night.” Takeshi didn’t bother to reply this time; over the years he had come to learn when Miku was simply trying to elicit an emotional response.
Still without a word he left money on his table for his order and followed Alex and Karin to the arcade where he kept out of sight at a lonely Tetris machine in the corner. Then followed when he saw them leave, always taking care to remain just out of sight. It was just outside a shrine where he decided to use a different aspect of his training as he moved quickly into the surrounding woods keeping Alex just in sight. The forested area would certainly make for excellent cover.
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~Early evening, Sunday Episode 2~
Satomi moved her broo carefully to keep from raising too much dust. She actually wore a smile as well having just seen off an elderly couple who had always been kind to her. Of course that peaceful expression didn’t last long as she heard the noisy footsteps that had become far too familiar to her. “No! not again! Leave me alone you jerks!” Satomi cried out as she ran to the front of the shrine seeing the vandals hard at work breaking apart everything she had spent all day yesterday repairing. Then for the first time one of them came after her and a high pitched scream issued forth from her throat, but no matter how loud it seemed to be it might only reach five feet beyond the beginning of the path leading to the shrine.
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 3:55 pm
Alex pursed his lips as immediately after Natsuko was gone he knew there was one thing they could do. "Maybe a few rounds in the arcade?" he suggested remembering they'd passed an arcade on the way into the centre. The arcade was filled to the brim with people but with luck they managed to play a few games. The pair spent almost three hours's there before they moved to head back to Karin's house.
As they reached the stairs to the shrine on the way back to the house, Alex paused. "I think I'm going to take a look up there, I'll see you back at the house" he said before charging up the steps.
(Thank ya)
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As Alex was reach the top of the steps he saw ahead of him a group of teenagers about his age just ahead. They didn't see him and seemingly ignored him, Alex slowed down the last few steps until he heard the sounds of breaking stone followed by a shrill scream. "What the hell" he muttered rushing up the last few steps three at a time.
The sight that Alex was greeted by was quite sad, the youth's in question had brought an assortment of blunt instruments and were using them to great effect. He breathed in then spoke loudly and clearly for the five to hear, "NOW, isn't this a poor sight. A bunch of jackasses vandalising a holy building that's also someone's home." The five turned on Alex at once, each one noticing that Alex wasn't Japanese, they didn't care where he was from it was just obvious to the thugs that he was foreign and to them fair game.
The lead youth who looked like a attempted punk rocker from a children's cartoon*, dressed in his school uniform only ripped to shreds already, with a green mohawk and pieced lip. "Look what we've got here, the little tourist thinks he can mess with us and get away. I hope your ready to learn what it means to mess with us" he said leaning in so his face was in contact with Alex. "Funny you should say that, but there's something I've been wanting to try and your making easy." "Oh what would that be your yank?" "Oh just this" Alex said before throwing his head forward and smacking the thug backwards a few steps.
The both of them clutched their heads but Alex was the first to recover, he spotted second thug coming at him from the right flank. So he snapped into a stance turned knocking the knife away with a sweep block before stepping in and nailing his attack in the stomach three times. Alex then turned and moved from his second attack to his first punching and pushing him back out of the way of the group before finishing him with a simple front kick. He turned did a crescent kick on one thug before bring it back up into a side kick against another thug.
Alex then stepped in focusing on the one he crescent kicked aiming to focus on one at a time. This one he laid out with another single punch, the last two came at him at the same time. Alex took the nearest blocking his lazy hay maker by striking the inside of his arm before stepping in and double punching him. The last one Alex stopped and then back kicked in the knee, before turning around and round housing him. He stepped back away from the pile "You want to try again? Or are you ready to run" he said glaring at the group. The leader looked at Alex and froze before calling a full retreat and leading the pack down the stairs almost bumping into Karin on the way.
Alex gave them a few minutes before finally slumping to the floor, "Damn that wasn't something I expected to do." Beads of sweat were running down his face from the exertion and he seemed somewhat flushed.
(*Think the few punks in Pokemon)
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:57 pm
Karin nodded in agreement when Alex suggested that they hit up the consoles in the arcade. She had no issue with that. She quite liked hitting up the arcade. It was a good place to release hr anger upon zombies in the shooters, and martial artists in the fighters.
She led him back to the arcade where they spent a few hours killing the undead, and stamping on brightly coloured arrows to an impossible beat, and waving their hands like lunatics trying to get the sensors on Para Para Paradise to work; those machines were always so temperamental.
She had to admit, he really wasn't so bad after all. They clearly shared a number of interests, and if she didn't at least try to get along with him, the next couple of years, although she still reckoned he'd be gone by mid-march.
She walked him home afterwards, and the journey seemed a lot more relaxed than the one on the way out. Not that she'd ever admit it, but she minded him a lot less now. The two walked in near-silence, but it was a comfortable silence. That was, until they reached the steps of the shrine.
Before she could respond to Alex, he was galumphing up the steps in an almost disrespectful manner. “H-Hey!” she called after him as she ran up in his footsteps.
By the time she neared the top, she was nearly knocked all the way back down the stairs by some jerk with a ridiculously pretentious appearance, followed by a handful more. Her eyes widened. Why would they be running, unless...? She bolted up the steps, and found Alex in a heap on the floor.
“Holy!! Are you okay?!” she asked, rushing to his side, and helping him to his feet. “Did they just gang up on you?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder in the direction the thugs had run. She considered telling him to call the police, but if they were late for dinner, Natsuko would start to panic and that would be a much worse scenario.
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:52 pm
((Okay first off this is assuming quite a bit... but I think it fits well enough that it works... so If I am overstepping my bounds then just let me know and I'll make repairs... okay time for bed.))
Takeshi was speechless. This harmless human had turned from worthless civilian to fighting machine faster than he himself could reload his side arm. Still he remained the consummate professional as he knelt to draw his knife then stand again to take a silent step back to further hide his presence. He then spoke softly enough to be covered up by the sounds of wind and birds at only six feet away but still loud enough for Miku to hear. “Tell me you know everything about him, from how he ties his shoes to where he learned to fight like that.” “Okay, I know you aren’t going to like this, but there is nothing.” “So he is like Kimiko?” “No no no no no no, It is nothing like Kimi. With Kimiko I can at least see the evidence of a wiped history in the way she acts and in slight things I’ve found. This kid didn’t exist three weeks ago, period. The strangest thing is that from vocal inflection and stance, he has been who he is now his whole life. There is no evidence that he is hiding behind a cover story.”
Takeshi stared through the brush with a new found curiosity and understanding. Curiosity at finding out what exactly Alex was and understanding that this was why he was a target. Nothing was as dangerous to an intelligence agency as the unknown. Still his past knowledge was enough to give him theories on the subject, “Psychic manipulation leading to perfect identity erasure along with cosmetic surgery to the extent of changing his fingerprints?” “No, for one even our scientific research has us twenty years away from doing anything of this caliber.” “British Intelligence working on their own clone operatives?” “Again no, they haven’t even started thinking about that line of science. Takeshi, Alex Crawford, is… hell I don’t know what he is and it scares me Takeshi. I have never dealt with anything like this before.” “Miku, get a hold of yourself. Remember how many times you’ve told me that you love mysteries, but you think they’re always too easy? Well here is the best mystery you could ask for, one where the answer isn’t obvious from the start.” There was nothing but silence on his comm line for a minute before finally, “Thanks Ta-kun. I’ll get it done.” “right, and tell me, does this constitute a reason to bring a side arm tomorrow?” Miku allowed herself a slight giggle at Takeshi’s paranoia before replying, “Hell no. Even if he’s better than you thought, you are still the best fighter I’ve ever seen outside of kung fu flicks."
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Satomi was shocked, she couldn’t stand violence, especially at her shrine, but still in this case the way this young man had stepped in for her she couldn’t help but feel this was a form of divine intervention. She managed to collect herself when she saw the boy fall fatigued to the ground with another girl coming quickly who seemed to be concerned for his well being. She heard the girls words asking if he had lost the fight and before the foreigner could reply she spoke, “Oh no, he beat them all and made them run away. I think he might have saved my life.” Then she turned to the prone hero of the day, “Thank you so much, I will pray for your well being every day. Now please don’t move too much, I’ll bring you some water.” Satomi was off like a shot to retrieve a bottle of water from her fridge. She was still in shock at the turn of events, she, a priestess, had been rescued by a real life prince charming.
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Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:29 am
(OVER STEPPING YOUR BOUNDS! YOU!!!. Just kidding that's perfect. XD )
Alex let out a laugh at Karin's question as he rubbed his head "Yeah I'm ok, just head butting that guy was to much to resist." After a few moments of rubbing his head he got to his feet an stretched, "That's the first time time I've actually fought against that many people in one go".
(Blarg >.< )
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Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:37 am
Karin stared at Satomi as the girl spoke before resuming her gaze upon Alex. He'd taken on all those guys? Really? That seemed... slightly shocking. He'd obviously done more damage to himself than any of those boys though. She looked back to Satomi as the girl ran off to fetch Alex a bottle of water and merely sighed.
“Well you ought to be more careful. Natsuko doesn't like violence so if she finds out this happened she'll be distraught – especially considering how close to home it was, and all,” Karin sighed. She rummaged around in her bag until she found a small tupperware box filled with cookies. Prising off the lid, she held the tub out to him as he received his water. “I keep these on me in case of emergencies,” she said. “Although I would not count this as an emergency, currently, if you get home and Natsuko sees you like this, the world will end,” she added.
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Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:52 pm
Alex nodded as he accepted the cookie "Yeah I'll remember that next time if I have the chance to move the fight." Alex then bit into the cookie and felt a sudden warmth flow through his body, his bruised head stopped hurting and even a small amount of fatigue left him. "Geeze what does your sister put in these things?" Alex then stood once he'd finished the cookie, not only was he feeling refreshed he was also feeling somewhat even if it was only a bit more powerful. "I guess we should wait for the priestess then" he said looking in the direction he assumed she'd gone.
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Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:16 pm
Karin shrugged with a sigh and shook her head to show her severe lack of knowledge on the matter. “I've watched her do it. One hundred and fifty grams of plain, and self-raising flour. One hundred grams of sugar, though she uses half-white and half-brown, from what I've seen. She lumps an egg in there along with one hundred and forty grams of sugar, even though she's only supposed to put one hundred and twenty in. Then, she sticks in some cinnamon, some vanilla and hopes for the best,” she explained, then quickly feigned shock.
“Oh. You mean what turns them into senzu beans? I honestly wish I could tell you, cause if I could do that, I think I might actually start paying attention in Home Ec, y'know? Maybe it's how she painstakingly cuts each one out into unique snowflakes and double checks to make sure there are no twins in each batch?” she suggested before sighing again.
She followed his gaze in the direction Satomi had headed in, before looking back to him. Sure, he'd studied how to fight, but in a real fight, proper form wasn't so useful – everyone knew that. So, how had he won against five guys? He'd sent them running, no less, for goodness' sake! Just what was he? No matter. She'd be keeping a close eye on him. Any funny business, and she was still strong enough to run him through once and for all. She'd gone easy on him last time.
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 3:54 pm
(I'm loving Karin's surprise more and more it sounds as if she's never received training against multiple opponents. :/ Not sure if Ryouga would forget that. *Ponders* Or maybe it's just she's so used to being so powerful she doesn't truely understand how frail the human body can be without unlocked Ki. Food for thought. )
"That would explain the sugar rush but not why I'm feeling so much better", Alex mulled over the ingredients, he was no cook but he knew their wasn't anything in there that could work. Another thought occurred to him but he decided to keep it to himself at least for now. "I guess there being no twins in a batch might have something to do with it. But I think it might be more then that, no way of proving it though." Alex finished his statement and began to whistle, "Where about's is the school in comparison to your house?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:19 pm
Takeshi held his position as the priestess left the vicinity of Alex and the Tenso girl. Then something truly unbelievable occurred, instead of some nutritional supplement or curative concoction, Karin had given him a cookie, an ordinary every day cookie that should have no medical value. Yet this implausible action almost instantly seemed to have a restorative effect on Alex. Takeshi’s hand shook as he returned his weapon to its sheath before taking hold of his phone to quickly type in a text the was the simplest request he could think of in this situation, {Agent requesting permission to eliminate primary target. Reconnaissance suggests that target is an improbability.} However before he could hit send he heard Miku chiming in, “Stop Takeshi, I’m not going to argue that this kid could end up being some kind of horrible genetic impossibility, but honestly for a tumor he really does seem more or less benign.” “Miku he recovered from intense fatigue after eating a cookie. The human body does not metabolize carbohydrates in that manner.” “So now he isn’t even human? Takeshi this is starting to sound really dark, we can’t just kill people because they are different.” No it wasn’t because the boy Alex was different, it was because he was dangerous and despite Miku’s arguments he still clicked send. It only took a few moments before he got his response in the form of a sudden highjacking of his communication’s channel, “BULLSHIT! Takeshi I’ve seen some dumbass field work in my day, but this really takes the cake. First of all it’s your mission in and of itself to find out why he exists when he shouldn’t. Not kill him after five minutes of awful recon the high point of which was being seen because of a damn doorbell. Get back to work soldier and try calling again if he tries to burn down the school.”
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Satomi moved as quickly as her modesty would allow, she even took her time to remove her shoes before entering her house proper. It really should not have taken her so long to get a bottle of water, but she really was nervous about her next interaction with her savior. She paced a moment trying to think of what they would talk about and what they would name their children and whether he had a place to stay while in Japan. Then she had to cool herself down after thinking of something so embarrassingly odd. Unfortunately this involved emptying the bottle of water down her throat, forcing her to get a new one. This time Satomi had to get a hold of herself, she really knew nothing about this young man. How could she be so quick to think romantically about someone just because he may have saved her life, and helped protect the shrin, and was kind of cute, and …and… Satomi shook her thoughts away as she began drinking from the second bottle of water before remembering why she was getting it in the first place. It wasn’t until the fouth bottle though when she finally figured out where her feelings were both coming from and going to. Yes she liked what he had done for her and it might be nice to get to know him better, but obviously they would never meet again. So all she could do was hurry out and bring him soe water along with a first aid… kit… because he might have been hurt during the fight.
Still she finally made it back to her guests just before taking all spring to get two very simple things from her house. She smiled as she handed him the bottle of ice cold water before speaking, “Sorry for the wait, so tell me, does anything feel broken? Don’t worry I have a lot of experience with basic first aid.” Though most of that experience was on herself bandaging cuts from broken glass and splinters. Also there was the occasional incident with a hammer*. Still she kept her composure well as she waited for his response.
((*well sometimes one might hit their thumb when using hammer and nails to rebuild a section of fence... some times...))
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Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:42 am
Karin snorted. He really was dim. She knew exactly why Natsuko's food was so special, and she was certain her father knew. She was also pretty sure that Natsuko knew, too, deep down. They had never approached Natsuko about it. Natsuko seemed oblivious to all things beyond the social norm.
This boy seemed pretty oblivious to abiding by social etiquette. Natsuko had told her how he'd decided she'd be called 'Natsu-chan'. What a jerk. Next, he'd blatantly stared at a woman's chest. He was lucky she hadn't slapped him! A jerk. Now, he was running up shrine stairwells and beating on the locals and making poor shrine maidens run around after him. Jerk.
Shaking her head as if to shake the thoughts from her mind, she looked at him as he addressed her. She had to think for a minute. “Um... I think it's like a half-hour walk, or there's a bus that takes about ten minutes. The stop is like five minutes away. I plan on walking, Natsuko plans on taking the bus because she's lazy. It hardly matters. She'll end up there later than us anyway, even if she set off earlier and caught the bus. It's just the way she is,” she explained as Satomi finally showed up.
Karin watched her. She seemed a little scatter-brained. Had she managed to get lost in her own shrine? She wouldn't have been surprised. She stifled a snort as Alex was presented with a bottle of water and a first aid kit – complete with its very own first-aider – and patted him on the shoulder. “I think it's safe to say my sister's cookies took care of any first aid requirements,” she said, looking at Satomi as she removed her hand from Alex's shoulder.
“We should think about getting back. I need to train, and I'd like to do that before dinner's ready. If I eat before I work out, I'm only hungry again afterwards,” she said.
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Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:47 pm
Alex grinned "Nothings broken I know my limits quite well" he said glancing at Karin for only a moment. It was true Alex knew his limits especially now, just one round against Karin proved how much he had to go, but those guy's they were very normal and even seemed to move a little slower. Alex had fortunately recalled what he'd be taunt for self defence and had applied it with gusto. Had he not gone for a few showy moves it would have been over sooner. "Thanks for the concern though but I had to work quite hard to earn my grades back home."
Alex returned his attention to Karin "Erm I may walk then If it's only half an hour it seems pointless to bus it in." Alex said this missing Karin's snort, he knew he had broken some protocol but he thought it would be best to be at least a little friendly with the girls he'd be sharing a house with for the foreseeable future.
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