Kai Lachey's Story

The look in Takashi's eyes was terrifying to Kai. He had hurt her feelings. Tears began streaming down her face and Kai was flooded with guilt. He never got angry, and he had just yelled at a stranger! Not only that, but someone who was trying to protect him! Her rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground. He didn't want to see her cry. "You're my ward. You're what's called a pageling. That sword you created is your papercraft. I knew about it, that's why I wasn't surprised. I'm your guardian, I protect you from the Fallen. That's what Ivy is. She used to be a guardian, like me. But she abused her power and now she takes pagelings for her own personal use. She has no problems with killing pagelings, overusing them and their power, driving them to their limits until they simply. fall. apart. My last ward is..." Takashi said, her emotionless voice trailing off as she turned away from him and Ryu. Wow, did Kai have it mixed up. Takashi really was on his side, now he felt even worse.

“Am… Can I go, now?” a boy asked as he came through the brush. He tripped over a log, but quickly got up, regaining his balance.


"Yeah, just... wait for me. Adelaide and I will go with you. We gotta get you a Guardian and soon. Without one you're going to be in a lot of trouble. Especially with Ivy... Well, you know that already I'm sure. Come on, lets get going. We really need to go find Matthew, Takashi." Ryu said, as he helped a girl out of the thickets. Kai ran his fingers through his hair. There seemed to be a lot of people involved with this whole thing. Because he had been so thrown off by what Takashi's reaction was, he hardly had time to react to what she said. So, he was a Pageling, and what he could do with his swords and knives was called paper craft. That was pretty cool.

"Go, I'll catch up later." Takashi said, still not facing them.


"You better. What would I do without you Takashi?" Ryu asked, then turned and started making his way back to the park. Without trying to do it, Kai mentally noted that he wasn't taking the shortest, nor the easiest route. He would have said something, but for once he knew he shouldn't. He turned to the red headed girl and kneeled down next to her.

"Takashi," he began. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, but I had to get some answers. When my life and other people's lives are threatened it never is a good thing. I was just sorta freaked out," he said. Guilt was plastered all over his face. "I'll make it up to you! We can go and get some ice cream, and you can explain anything else you need to say.. and I will tell you when I discovered I was a Pageling. We can be friends. We can start new," he said. He was so worried that things weren't going to work out. That he'd ruined it. Granted, it wasn't really anyone's fault. She never had a chance to explain what was going on to him.

After a few moments, he began to speak again. "Hi, my name is Kai. And it's very nice to meet you. I like to go on adventures, and swim and run and meet cute girls like you. I'm a Pageling," he said, and his smile returned. He stuck his hand out to shake hers. He was determined to fix this.



Lydia was chewing on the inside of her lip, this shouldn’t have been that hard. She looked around the park again, hoping she might catch sight of him. There were a few people coming out of the woods, a girl and two boys. One was wearing a green hat. Sitting down on the bench, Lydia began putting her hair into a French braid. She watched the people walk for a while, but the one with the green hat seemed familiar. When she was half way done with her hair, she glanced down at the picture, then up again, and back down once more. She squealed as she recognized the boy. She stood up quickly letting go of her hair. It fell down around her face as she shoved the paper into her pocket. She made sure to readjust her shirt to cover her ‘belt’.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she began to walk towards him. She tried to convince herself that talking to him was going to be easy. She couldn’t remember the last time she talked to someone first. Her heart pounded in her throat. Ten feet away now. He saw her coming, she knew it. When she got in front of him, she had to look up slightly. She just stood there for a few seconds without saying anything. She got nervous and spit out the first thing that came to mind. “You’re cuter in person than in the picture.” It didn’t come out flirty, but just like she was stating a fact. Immediately a blush covered her cheeks. “Uhm, what I meant to say is, I’m Lydia. I uhmm…” She hesitated. “You’re a Pageling and I’m your guardian. It’s nice to meet you, Fletcher.” Inwardly she was screaming at herself to run away. She didn’t even know if he knew what he was. She was speaking nonsense. Her heart beat quickened, but still, she slowly put her hand out to shake his.

Takashi Inevera

Ryu had left and she was still kneeling next to the tree trying to reassure herself. She hated how she was feeling right then. Disgusted with her lack of confidence, with her thoughts that what she was trying to do was too hard. Takashi absolutely hated herself right then. To think that protecting Kai was too hard, was too early for her to take on. Who was she? Certainly not her usual strong self. She was a coward right at that moment, too weak to even face the problems. That she couldn't settle with, she wouldn't allow it.

Slowly she lifted her head up and started piecing herself back together. When was the last time she'd felt broken like that? Oh, that's right, when Ivy had taken him from her. Even to that day she couldn't speak his name or even think it. She'd been too attached to him, she'd fallen in love with her ward back then. It was just too painful to think of, too painful to realize that she'd done something wrong. Her heart clenched as she thought those words, Kai's sharp voice reverberated in her mind as he had spoken those same words to her just moments ago.

No, she wouldn't allow herself to go down like this. Takashi half startled as she heard Kai kneel down next to her. What did he want now? To bug her even further about their predicament? To probe her more for answers to questions she didn't wish to hear? Or maybe it was to further rub into her face that she wasn't the Guardian she used to be. No, how could he possibly know that. Takashi was over thinking, she had to stop doing that. So, her stony face turned to look at him, emotions once again locked away tightly.

"Takashi, I'm sorry I yelled at you, but I had to get some answers. When my life and other people's lives are threatened it never is a good thing. I was just sorta freaked out. I'll make it up to you! We can go and get some ice cream, and you can explain anything else you need to say.. and I will tell you when I discovered I was a Pageling. We can be friends. We can start new."

Takashi didn't answer him, only looked away into the forest. She didn't feel like ice cream and she definitely didn't feel like explaining anything else to him. At least, not right at that moment. The Guardian didn't want to tell him about her last ward, how she felt about him, or how she made the huge mistake of leaving him alone. Nor did she wish to go into detail about how Ivy had taken him from her, how the last time she'd seen him was just devastating and how she'd almost died because of what happened. No, she didn't want to tell him anything more about herself or what it was to be a Guardian and a ward. The less he knew about her, the better. She could protect him better that way. No strings attached, nothing to sway her reasoning's her feeling's or anything else. Slowly she stood up, silent and closed off.

"Hi, my name is Kai. And it's very nice to meet you. I like to go on adventures, and swim and run and meet cute girls like you. I'm a Pageling," the boy said as he reached out his hand to shake hers. His handsome smile had returned and his energy seemed to replenish. That coupled with what he said was cause for another burning blush to cross over her cheeks and nose. Takashi desperately fought the burn, only to have it turn deeper. Irritated, she put up her walls once more and turned to him.

Without looking him in the eye, she reached over and shook his hand. It was warm and calloused, speaking of lots of use. He must enjoy running around the woods and doing God knows what. When she released his fingers she answered back, but not quite as enthusiastically as he had done, "I'm Takashi and I'm your Guardian. I promise to protect you from the Fallen, upholding my honor as a Guardian in doing so. I swear upon my own life that I will never use your papercraft to my own advantage, nor use you in any ill way possible. My life for yours," Takashi finished. Her blush was long gone once she'd started her oath. It was a bit old fashioned, but she'd always liked it, especially when she had learned about it during her training. It was the one thing that she held onto permanently. Once she'd started the oath she'd turned her green gaze upwards to look directly at him. She held his eyes for a long time, straightened her body and put her fist against her chest as she leaned forward in a kind of bow, never breaking his eye contact.

Yes, old fashioned. But it was something that never changed, and that she liked.

Kai

"I'm Takashi and I'm your Guardian. I promise to protect you from the Fallen, upholding my honor as a Guardian in doing so. I swear upon my own life that I will never use your papercraft to my own advantage, nor use you in any ill way possible. My life for yours," Takashi said. Kai liked it. The last part seemed a little intense. Well, all of it did actually.

"Thank you," he said to her, not sure of what else to say. "I can't promise you I will stay out of trouble. It's hard to find me when I'm not in trouble," he said, running his fingers through his hair. He couldn't help himself, he reached out and pulled her against his bare chest. "Now we're friends," he said, grinning. He refused to let her go as he awkwardly pulled her out of the forest. Only then did he let her go. "What now?" he asked her. "Are we supposed to train? I don't want to be babysat," he said crossing his arms. "I want to be a team," he said. Based on what she had said, he wasn't sure if it worked that way.

Lydia

“Thank goodness you found me, Lydia. It’s good to meet you too.” Fletcher said as he shook her hand. He looked her up and down, and his eye lingered slightly on her arm. She didn't mind, it was obvious, and she had nothing to hide from him. “I was just heading back to my home-business-place. Would you like to come with?” He asked her. Lydia's words faltered as she tried to think of a rule for this. Was there one?

She shrugged and smiled. She couldn't think of any reason why not, except she had just met this guy. He couldn't be dangerous, he was her Pageling! Sudden;y her nerves returned to her as she thought about having to get to know him. Making friends was hard, let alone with people you had called "cute" in the first two seconds you met them. She clenched her fists at the embarrassment of the recent memory. "Sure," she said. She couldn't bring herself to say anymore, and she hoped he might start conversation. She was dying to find out everything about him, but she wasn't sure if she should tell him about her first. Were they supposed to go about this as friends, and let things happen like real life, or were they supposed to swap life stories and become best friends immediately? She sighed once more and absently started playing with her hair.

Takashi Inevera

Kai thanked her, and then told her what she'd expected to hear. That he couldn't promise to stay out of trouble. Well, that much she'd figured, especially by his nature and what she'd seen so far. He ran his hands through his hair and then did something that she wasn't expecting. Kai grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace against him. His heat seeped through her tattered shirt and filled her with a ray of emotions that confused her and left her stunned and unable to fight against him.

Kai moved then, with his strong arms holding her against him, literally carrying her awkwardly through the trees and back to the park. Takashi's mouth was opened in surprise, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. He was warm, strong, comforting. She didn't know what to think as she was carried. How was she supposed to react to this? He was easily breaking down every barrier she had and it had all happened within the couple of hours that she'd been with him.

He released her finally as they entered the park and his heavy voice assaulted her ears again. She looked up at him, her face redder than ever. It took her a moment to readjust herself and figure out what it was he'd said. Takashi had been covered in cuts and wounds and they reflected on his chest. Smears of her blood crisscrossed along his body and she was even more embarrassed that he'd hugged her in the condition she'd been in.

"Kai... you have blood on you..." she muttered, then his words registered to her.

"What now? Are we supposed to train? I don't want to be babysat, I want to be a team," he'd said.

"What?" She asked softly then shook her head, "Train? Team..." It took her another moment to realize what it was he meant. Takashi looked up at him as her eyes had been cast down as she'd tried to piece her mind back together after his last antics. She straightened herself and took a deep breath. She was going to do things differently this time, and this time she would come out on top, not Ivy.

"Train. We can start with that. I'll take you back with me to head quarters. It's where I stay anyway. I need some patching up, but I hope you're ready. I'm not an easy trainer," she warned him, hardening her facial features even as her lips twitched slightly. She turned and started walking, albeit a bit slowly, back towards the exit of the park.

Ivy Thomas

The bookstore at the mall was crowded, filled with mingling people. It was the second book store that she found herself in that day. Except this time she wasn't there looking for pagelings even though she knew that there were a few wandering around the area. She had her sights on one already and that hadn't gone entirely as planned. It didn't bother her though, she had been looking for Takashi for some time anyway. It was nice to see her old friend once again after the last year.

She leaned against the counter and waited. She wasn't there to buy anything as the other boy had asked her a few minutes ago. Ivy had told him that she was waiting for someone and so he'd left her alone, though his eyes kept roaming back to her with a questionable look on his face. It wasn't too long before she caught sight of who it was she wanted to see. He came rushing back into the store and took his place at the counter right after.

He didn't seem to notice her at first, so Ivy made her appearance known after a few minutes, "It's been a long time, Matthew," she said slowly, her lips pulled in a grin. Ivy flicked her burnt hazel gaze towards him. He hadn't changed much really, at least appearance wise, "Tell me, how have you been? A year is a long time.'

Her smile never faded as she gazed at him. She decided to throw him a curve ball just to see what kind of reaction he would give her in return, "Seen Takashi lately? No? That's too bad. I just went and saw her," Ivy leaned forward so that only he could hear her, "It was a nice little reunion. She hasn't lost her fighting spirit you know. That pageling of hers... quite an interesting young man. I though she would have quite being a guardian after her last failure. Wonder what would happen if the same thing happened this time around..." her eyes flashed wickedly as she watched him carefully.

Kai

"Kai... you have blood on you..." Takashi said quietly.

"Huh?" Kai replied, looking down at his blood stained chest. It looked like he had been stamped. From far away it might look like he was the one shoe was bleeding, but up close you could tell that it was from someone else.

"Train. We can start with that. I'll take you back with me to head quarters. It's where I stay anyway. I need some patching up, but I hope you're ready. I'm not an easy trainer," The red head said and began walking away from him. Kai wasn't sure whether to be worried or excited. He settled on smiling as he followed the girl.

"You know, you didn't get to stay in Eden for that long," he commented realizing just how short lived their little adventure had been. He wasn't complaining, just implying that they would need to go back soon. "Anyway, I left my shirt there. Don't worry, I'm fine like this," he added quickly, smirking at her. "I hope it doesn't bother you too much," he said. He was tempted to say something about all the blushing she had been doing since they met, but he figured he had done enough to upset her today. Best wait until things cooled down a bit. He was glad he got that reaction from her. That way he knew she wasn't completely stone, and he would be able to break down he walls. Kai was dying to know what happened to her last ward. He almost forgot to be worried that she wasn't capable of her job, but he figured she was just a girl, and he could defend himself.

For all he knew, the last one could have run off. He could be perfectly fine. Maybe she just had her heart broken. Kai knew little about how things worked between Pagelings and Guardians, but he was eager to learn more. "So, how did you know about me?" he asked. He figured that would be a good enough place to start. Was he being followed? Or was there some sort of powerful machine that could track paper crafting?

Lydia

Lydia smiled and followed silently to Fletcher's car. She blushed slightly when he opened the door for her. What a gentlemen! She sat down and pulled on her seat belt. When they pulled out, Fletcher began asking her lots of questions. [b]“So, Lydia… Do you go to school? Which one? I don’t go to school right now, a couple of classes online but that’s it. I gotta focus on making money. Speaking of, do you have a job? ‘cause if you don’t, I’d be happy to have you helping out at my business. It’s an archery range, if that piques your interest. “

She fiddled with the bottom of her shirt. "Yeah, I go to the public school here. No, I don't have a job but that sounds very interesting!" She said. "I have never used a bow and arrow before. I'm a gymnast, so I spend a lot of my time at the gym. Maybe I could help out some. I need to be with you, so I think that would work out very well," the girl concluded. She seemed a bit nervous, and her fingers were visibly trembling. The car swerved and Fletcher murmured about crazy drivers. This only added to Lydia's nerves, but at least Fletcher was paying attention.

"So what kind of paper craft do you do?" she asked him. She was curious as to how much he understood of it, and if he knew his try capabilities. She was eager to start practicing with him, and she hoped they could start right when they arrived to the archery range.

"You know, you didn't get to stay in Eden for that long. Anyway, I left my shirt there. Don't worry, I'm fine like this. I hope it doesn't bother you too much," Kai said grinning at her and causing her attention to shift to his shirtless composure. Takashi quickly looked the other way and squared her shoulders.

"Nope, doesn't bother me," she offered as emotionless as possible. She spotted Ryu and Adelaide, his ward, standing near the exit of the park. Apparently the young guardian was waiting for her and Kai so that they could go back to Head Quarters together. As far as she knew, Ryu didn't have a place to call home, not since joining the order that is. Of course, she never really asked him about it as it wasn't her place.

As they neared the duo near the entrance, Kai asked her another question, "So, how did you know about me?"

Her head turned slightly and her sharp green gaze flicked up to him, her features serious like always, "The Guardian's have information on just about every person living in the city. What alerts them to who's a pageling is those with special abilities. Some of us have arcane magic and pagelings give off a different kind of aura than people who aren't gifted. So, those that have arcane magic find those who are pagelings and report back to the order. Then the order assigns us Guardian's to a pageling. It can go many ways, it just depends on what kind of Guardian you get.

"I could have gone without telling you what you were. I could have gone without even meeting you and hiding myself in plain sight. But that's not how I like to do things. Keeping secrets isn't always the best way to guard someone. Ryu is like that as well."

"That's because I trained with you, Takashi!" Ryu perked up as he fell into step behind Takashi and Kai. His ward followed right next to him looking timid and shy.

Before Ryu could continue, Takashi quickly spoke up knowing that the boy could talk for hours on end and no one would get a word in, "Some guardian's prefer not to tell their ward what they are. They like to befriend them, though, and stick close like a best friend or something. There are few of us that agree on letting our wards know what they are and who we are. It's all a matter of opinion."

"That's right! I think even if I hadn't trained with you Takashi, I would have been the same way anyway. I don't like keeping secrets from people. It just makes things harder to deal with. Though, I guess I could see why some of the Guardian's would do that. Some people don't like knowing the truth, I guess. Doesn't really make sense to me, but.. well I think-"

"Ryu."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," Takashi ordered, her voice short as she let out a soft sigh of exasperation. It was a long walk back to head quarters and she didn't want the boy to chatter on the entire time. Behind her, she heard his light laugh. She allowed herself a small smile because she knew that he was back to being his old self and wasn't worried about anything anymore. The last thing she wanted was Ryu to be worried about her of all things. Takashi found herself thinking of the first thing she was going to do once she reached her room.

A hot shower, new clothes, bandages for her wounds (probably see the nurse for that one) and then straight to the training room. It was her choice to let Kai train with her, and it was probably for the best as well. She hadn't trained her last ward and for that she'd payed dearly. Takashi frowned and pulled herself quickly out of the dark thoughts to hear Ryu rambling on about something else as they neared the huge metal building. On the outside it looked like a regular business building, like Yahoo or Google, but it was actually the home of the Guardians of modern day civilization.

Takashi walked up the stairs that lead to the double doors and she pushed them opened whilst turning to Kai, "Welcome to Guardian Central," she offered and then walked into the large lobby.

Kai
Kai listened as Takashi answered his question. He had many more to ask, but shed seemed a bit worn out so he bit his tongue, literally, to keep from talking. Ryu began chirping to Takashi, but she seemed rather annoyed. Eventually she told him to shut up. After a bit of walking and silence from Takashi, and rambling from Ryu, they climbed the stairs in front of a large building. It looked like a regular office building. "Welcome to Guardian Central," the girl said as the entered the lobby.

"Pretty cool," Kai said, putting his hands on his hips. He took in the people walking around and the pictures on the wall. It seemed like a regular building, even on the inside. Maybe things changed when they went further in. "So are we starting immediately or do you want to.." Kai looked Takashi up and down. She was a blur of black, white and red from head to foot. Sometimes her skin would peek out, but it was usually masked in crimson blood. "Clean up," he said. He wasn't bothered by looking at her injuries, but he was worried about what pain she might be in. After knowing her for an hour or so, he figured out she was pretty tough. As he looked at her though, he wondered just how long she could pretend she was actually hurting. Sure anyone could mask the pain, but she as in need of some medical attention.

Lydia

"I'll take your word for it," Lydia said in response to him mentioning she would learn to use a bow. Maybe she could show him that she could handle a whip pretty well. She wasn't exactly sure that would help her with archery, though.

"Gym is fun. There aren't a lot of guys into it," she giggled slightly. "I am there everyday, so yes same gym. I go a lot," She said. She thought of explaining the amount of time and the actual time of day varied depending on which day of the week it was, but he would find that out soon enough. She didn't need to give him every detail of her schedule in the first 20 minutes of knowing him.

She smiled as he explained that he had a guardian in the past, and also that he had some practice. She wondered what happened to his last ward. Suddenly she became a little frustrated. She wished her father would have gathered more information for her, but maybe that was her responsibility. She made a mental note to either take notes on what Fletcher said, or go to the Headquarters and get his file herself.

"Hmm?" she asked, as he asked why she was nervous. "Oh. I uhh. I'm just shy is all," she said, her voice softening. She tried her best to keep her hands still, but to no avail. Instead she just sat on them. "Your driving is fine," she said. "It's not you. Well, it is. But only because I'm in a car with a strange boy, that I just met and I'm not exactly sure where we're going.." She let her voice trail off. "But it's okay!" she reassured him, smiling and looking at him.

Takashi Inevera

"So are we starting immediately or do you want to..Clean up," Kai said to her. Takashi turned to him and gave a very small smile, though it was quick and disappeared almost immediately.

"I'd like to clean up first. It'll only take me a few minutes. The healers here are quite good," she said and began walking towards the elevators. Once inside, she hit the button that held no marking on it at all. The elevator lurched and started downwards. Ryu had gone the same direction, taking his ward with him down into the actual HQ of the Guardians.

She pulled one arm around her chest and rested the other on top, fingers pressing against her forehead. Takashi was tired, a headache pounded at the front of her skull and she couldn't really think properly. Getting her wounds taken care of and a bit of warm tea and a hot shower was what she desperately needed. It wouldn't take all that long and then she would see just what her ward was made of. For some reason she was a bit... excited to see him fight against her.

Takashi had fought with Ryu many times, sparring with him, but his style was different than hers and made it difficult to train herself properly. She was even more desperate to get back to her usual training since Ivy had made her appearance all of a sudden. With thoughts of Ivy now on her mind, she felt her mood souring. How was she going to protect Kai from that woman? Ivy was much more powerful than she'd been a year ago. Could she really protect the young man standing beside her? Was she really ready for all of this once again?

The shorter Guardian turned her head just enough so that she could get a side glance at her ward. He stood much taller than herself and was well built. She then realized that he was shirtless and her face heated once again. Turning away quickly she faced forward and hardened her face into a stone like expression. She would not allow herself to fall into that kind of position once again. Takashi stepped briskly from the elevator as it came to a stop and the doors opened.

Now they were in the 'underground'. Here the place was filled with Guardians and wards alike. A long and wide hall stretched before them and led down into the heart of the organization. Lining the hall were doors that led to various places, some were doors to rooms held by the Guardians, some led to meeting halls, training halls and other parts of the HQ like weapon storage and smithies. Takashi walked down the hall, nodding to some of the Guardians who called to her. She led the way to the nurses ward, a large wing to the right of the hall.

Opening the door she peered inside. It was semi-quiet with only a few patients there. Some where sleeping, others were being treated for minor injuries either during training or actually having been attacked. The lead doctor turned her head towards the sound of the door opening and smiled warmly at Takashi.

"Nice to see you," her smile faded, "What happened?" The woman set down her clip board and walked quickly over to the red haired Guardian who took a seat on one of the empty beds.

"Had a run in with an old friend," Takashi muttered under her breath.

The woman frowned as she slowly lifted the tattered shirt and looked at the wounds underneath, "You could learn to talk about things a bit easier, Takashi."

"You could learn to leave things alone, Ms. Lee."

Ms. Lee turned her blue eyes upwards and sighed, "Take it off, love. We'll get you fixed up in no time."

Takashi did as she was ordered, not thinking twice about it as it was a usual ritual in the nurses ward. She threw aside the bloodied, ruined shirt knowing that Ms. Lee would provide her with a clean one once she was finished. Then she undid the buckle around her lithe waist that held the twin knives against her back. The nurse came back and smiled at her as she began applying anesthetics and other antibiotics that would help the wounds heal faster. She finished with bandaging the wounds and giving Takashi a new shirt.

"Thank you," Takashi said softly as she lifted her sharp green eyes to look at Ms. Lee as she replaced her weapons and began putting on the shirt. The head nurse smiled in return and patted Takashi's head.

"Take it easy for a little while. You always push too hard."

"If I don't push than I don't gain anything."

Ms. Lee rolled her eyes as she put her hands on her hips, "Should have expected that," then she shook her head and walked away to help another patient. Takashi finished buttoning the shirt and then looked to Kai to get his attention. A shower would have to wait, she wanted to know what kind of fighter he was as soon as possible. Besides, it would be pointless to go get clean right before getting dirty again.

"Come on Kai, lets see what kind of fighter you are," she said a bit of a challenging tone in her voice. Takashi pushed open the door to the nursing ward and led the way to the training area. It was a ways down from the nurses ward, and as she pushed open the door to that room, it was almost twice as large. Some Guardians were there already, training with their partners, but for the most part it was empty, as expected for that time of day.

As she walked into the room she reached up under her shirt and drew the two long knives sheathed there. With a flick of her wrists she twisted them in a full circle and then turned to face Kai. She settled herself in a loose stance, one dagger held up slightly, the other closer to her hip.

"Get ready," she ordered and then waited for him to make his first move.

Lydia

The girl was relieved, but somehow even more worried all at once when Fletcher admitted to knowing about Ivy. She was glad he already knew so much. Some people believed knowledge was power, and others believed it would be the death of a person. Lydia wasn't exactly sure where she stood on that, but she didn't want Fletcher to be subjected to the horrors that is a Fallen. He seemed impressed when she showed him her whip. "Yeah, it's a scar," she agreed and wrapped the whip around her arm. It covered the winding snake-like scar around her arm perfectly. "I used to keep it on here non stop and it would always rub my skin. Since the whip was always there, it never had time to heal, so it just scarred," She shrugged as he opened the door for her.

“So, here we are,” he started. ‘This is the back of the place, and it’s part of my home. If we go over to the right, we can go to the business part.” He pointed to each door in turn. “If we go through that door, that leads to my bedroom, that one’s the bathroom, and that leads to my living area. This is just the hall of doors, the portal to everything on this floor.” Grinning he gestured towards the doors. “Pick your poison, which do you want to see?” She looked at each of the doors. She was so tempted to ask to see his bedroom. She was dying to know if he was a neat person or not, but she figured that could send the wrong message. Maybe she'd just ask him.

"How about the living room?" she asked. She couldn't exactly remember which door was which, since she was still wondering about what condition his room was in, but that would have to wait. And anyway, she might be able to tell that form his living room. "Lead the way." As they walked down the plain hallway, Lydia organized her thoughts and which questions were a priority. "So, what happened to your last guardian?" she asked. Immediately, she covered her mouth. That was so rude! "I-I'm sorry. What I meant to ask was.. Are you a neat person? Like.. clean. Well, I know you're clean, I mean you smell nice," she could feel the blood rising to her cheeks. "Do you like things organized?" she finally asked, her eyes wide. She looked shocked and embarrassed. Normally, Lydia didn't stumble over her words, but she was so focused on learning about him she forgot her manners. She was always outspoken, but only when she got to know a person. So far, she had called him cute, strange and told him he smelled nice. She had also let on that she thought he was a bad driver, made her nervous, and that she was nosy. And possibly that he seems like a messy person.

Kai

"I'd like to clean up first. It'll only take me a few minutes. The healers here are quite good," Takashi said and walked towards an elevator. Kai smiled and followed after her. She seemed to be in pain, or deep thought. Kai hadn't learned how to read her.. Yet. He watched her for a bit, but her eyes stayed closed. Soon he grew bored and looked around the elevator. It was extremely boring. Nothing to even imagine about. He looked over to Takashi to ask her if she wanted to play I Spy. Right as he looked at her, she was looking away with flushed cheeks. He bit the inside of his lip and scrunched his eyebrows together. Why was she blushing? Once again, Kai was going to ask, but the doors of the elevator opened, interrupting him. The girl stepped out and started walking down the hallway. She seemed quite focused now.

"No need to sprint, Red," Kai said. He knew she had told him not to call her that, but he just couldn't help himself. As they walked through the hall, he tried to remember as much as he could, but it didn't work so well. Instead, he got distracted smiling and waving at the people greeting Takashi. He was receiving a few weird looks and he assumed it was because he was shirtless and covered in blood. Also, most likely none of them knew who he was, unless they were all forced to memorize the files of Pagelings, and so it was strange that Takashi was bringing a half-naked, blood covered boy down there. But then again, maybe that was normal. Okay, the blood part. He smiled a couple of girls as his guardian walked into the Nurses station. One smiled back and the other smirked and rolled her eyes. "Ladies," he said, half bowing as he backed through the doorway.

Kai followed, not really listening to the doctor or Takashi. He was getting bored again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the doctor lift Takashi's shirt slightly. He looked over at her and saw the fierce red color of her cut flesh. It was pretty awesome. He obviously knew it was real, but couldn't help comparing it to the wounds you see in the movies. This was so much better. And they were on a hot, bad ass girl. He grinned.

"Take it off, love. We'll get you fixed up in no time." The doctor said. He though he had heard Takashi call her Miss Le. Once again Kai looked at each of them. When his eyes went back to Takashi she was taking her shirt off. His brown eyes widened as she removed her weapons.

"Uhh," he said, turning red. He wanted to look so bad but that wasn't the way he was raised. Sure this was for medical purposes, but damn she had a nice body. "I'm just going to..." he physically covered his eyes. "Yeah. Okay," he said, turning his covered eyes away from her. He kept peeking anyway, but hey, at least he tried. Finally she was done and buttoning up her shirt. She looked at him and he dropped his hand.

"Come on Kai, lets see what kind of fighter you are," She said.

"Ooh, sounds like a challenge," Kai smiled. All of his previous embarrassment had gone away and he was quite comfortable again. He followed her out and into the training arena. It was pretty empty and he was appreciative of that.

"Get ready," She said. She had her daggers out, ready for him to make his first move. He wasn't sure where to begin. Normally, he wrestled. Takashi was a lot smaller than him and he could easily take her down if she didn't have her weapons. He thought about it a little more and second guessed himself. She was really tough, so he wasn't worried about hurting her, but he still didn't know what to do first. He dropped back slightly, lacing his fingers together. He pulled them apart, just as he had done in the woods. He broke it in two and two knives appeared in his hands. When he looked back up at her, all he could picture was her in the nurses station. The knifes disappeared from his hands just as soon as they'd come and he sighed.

"Uhh, you know what? I normally just wrestle.. Like hand to hand combat. No weapons. And anyway," he said, running his fingers through his hair and taking a more casual stance, "I can make the knifes and swords real easy, but they don't last that long and aren't very strong." He gave her a weak smile and shrugged. Hopefully they could still fight. He tried to convince himself it wasn't just so that he could get close to her.

Takashi Inevera

She watched Kai carefully as he intertwined his fingers and pulled them apart. The pageling created his two knives beautifully, however as he lifted his gaze to her both knives faded away instantly. She'd seen the way he'd blushed in the nurses office when she was getting taken care of, so it was safe to assume that that was still present in his mind. Her lips frowned slightly as she twisted her weapons in her hands as he spoke to her.

"Uhh, you know what? I normally just wrestle.. Like hand to hand combat. No weapons. And anyway, I can make the knifes and swords real easy, but they don't last that long and aren't very strong."

Lifting an eyebrow she opened her mouth into an 'o' and nodded her head slowly. He was distracted, obviously, but for the moment it would be enough to see where he stood in combat skills. With a sharp flick of her hands, both knives hit the thick mats below her and stuck in the vinyl.

"Hand to hand hu? Well, Kai," she called softly, almost teasing him, she couldn't help it at the moment, "Let's see how well you do. Don't hold back, I'm not some delicate little object. We'll practice more on your papercraft later," she commented and pulled herself into a relaxed stance.

Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath to calm her body and mind. Releasing the air, she opened her eyes and locked onto her target. The tall boy was going to be hard to take down, but she could do it and usually in one sweep. Takashi'd taken down others his size before, sometimes a bit larger. However, those men hadn't trained in any kind of martial arts, at least none that she'd known of. There was also the fluttering in her stomach that was an annoyance as she prepared herself. She was literally about to throw herself onto this young man and try to take him down to the ground underneath her.

Thinking about it too much was... distracting, and kind of hot... Damnit! Concentrate, Takashi! She chided herself and then moved. Her lithe body came forward at Kai quickly, closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. She wasn't going to hold back, not in the least. Especially not because he was hot, or her ward or anything else. If he was going to fight with her, he needed to be prepared and going easy on him was not going to work.

Takashi came up at him fast, launching herself up in a quick jump, she wrapped one leg around his waist and the other around the back of his leg. With a hard pull she locked her leg just behind his knee and pulled as she leaned her body off to the side using all of her weight to throw him off balance and drag him to the ground. If he could get out of her hold either before or after she had him on the mat, then that was good and step two would be enacted.

Ryu Hitara

"And here we are! Welcome to the base of Guardians Adelaide," he gave her a bright grin as he turned around to face her from the elevator. Reaching out he took her hand gently in his and led her from the enormous silver box that had brought them down into the depths of the earth. He started walking with her in tow, but careful not to have her bump into anyone and very careful not to pull her too quickly or hard.

"Yup, this is it. Just an enormous hallway with tons of doors and wings that go all over the place. Kinda like a catacomb really, except much nicer. Way nicer. And with tons of people who you can talk to and get along with. I came here just a few years ago, on accident really. I was recruited after I beat up this Fallen guy without realizing who he was and I actually protected a pageling like you. Well, I didn't get away without a few scratches and such, but hey! I'd never been better!"

He was doing it again, rambling. Ryu looked over his shoulder at her and grinned once more. He took a deep breath and tried his best to keep quiet. Takashi was always telling him to shut up because he talked to much. He just couldn't help it though, there was so much to talk about and it all just crowded up in his head. Ryu felt that if he didn't talk and let it all out that his head would blow up like a balloon and explode from all of his thoughts. So, naturally, Ryu couldn't stay quiet for long.

"This is the nurses area, they're really nice people so if you ever need anything looked at you can come here and they'll patch you up real nicely. Oh! Over there is the kitchens, the food is amazing! Though, some Guardian's prefer other food that's cooked by the restaurants and such, but I think it's really good. Here's some rooms for the Guardians and also the pagelings that they protect. I'll get you a room too, hopefully it'll be close to mine! I mean, usually a Guardian's ward is placed close to them or like right across the hall or right next to their room, so it shouldn't be a problem. Oh, and here are the training grounds. The guardian's use them all the time to work on their weapon skills and fighting skills. Some of us have special abilities that are really cool and so they train to keep those in control and strong. Pagelings can train here too, either alone or with their Guardians. It's mostly to train their mind and body so that they can better control their papercraft and make it stronger. Maybe we could work on yours too!"

Ryu stopped talking and turned to her with a quick realization that perhaps he was probably going a bit too fast for her. He cleared his throat and continued walking down the hall, heading for his room, "Here, for now you can use my room," Ryu opened the door to his room and walked in. There was a single bed, a sofa, a desk and computer and other things neatly placed in his room. Off to the side was his restroom where the shower and bath was, a small closet with his clothes and a TV on the wall.

"Why don't you get some rest," his eyes flicked to her nervously, "Or whatever you'd like to do. Just let me know okay? I'm going to go get cleaned up and change my clothes. I'll be right in here if you need anything," he smiled again and opened the door to the restroom. Once he'd closed the door he sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair. He really hoped he hadn't scared her to death, that would be bad, and with his first ward too. Shaking his head, Ryu reached into the shower and turned the water on. First, hot shower, second... work things out after.