Shibusen

Echondra Charlemagne Crush sat in her seat with a bored look on her face, feet propped up on her desk and hands clasped around the back of her neck. The whole period, she'd taken to leaning in her chair as far as she could before the feeling of "I'm about to fall" would hit. Up in the front, the uptight specimen that was the teacher for her class (Crescent Moon Class). Ford droned on and on and on about something that Echo wasn't listening to anyway, instead just contemplating how deeply bored she was and pondering on why her professor would ever choose such an odd hair style. The people certainly didn't come normal here at Shibusen. Then again, Echo was hardly one to talk. She'd been here for three years and had yet to begin her search for a partner, making her a virtually useless, hyper aggressive, overly confident twit. Why was she even here anymore? Without a weapon, she couldn't do missions, and it was clear that she was hardly interested in learning the written lessons. She huffed. Perhaps she should just bully someone into being her partner. Was that even possible?

"Okay, class is dismissed. You have a mock exam tomorrow." Ford squeaked, and made an hand gesture beckoning the students to hurry out of his expansive teaching room. Despite not liking the whole learning bit, Echo had to admit that it was a nice room. It was like a lecture hall made from the gods. Echo yawned exaggeratedly, reaching her arms up to the ceiling and leaning dangerously far in her seat, all complete with the typical sluggish groans a yawn induces. She kept one eye open, peeping at her teaching to make sure he had noticed her very open display of disproval of his lessons. Perhaps he'd get the hint and stop being so damned dull. It was only once she'd seen the grown man roll his eyes at her that she grinned. Now, time to get out of this dum-

CRACK! Suddenly Echo found herself on the floor, her chair in pieces around her. Maybe she'd gone a bit far. "Aw, man." she said, rubbing her now sore rump and cringing. "What's with that? You guys should pay for some better quality equipment, Ford-chan!" she called rudely. The man sighed. "Don't call me Ford-chan... and please get out of my classroom, Echo, before you break something else. I beg you."

As Professor Ford was talking about various subjects which most of the class didn't even listen to, Raven and Miuka sat in their chairs, waiting for him to finish. It wasn't like they weren't listening, in fact they were despite the fact that it was extremely boring, but still, it was something which they had to know. Miuka had read enough books to be familiar with most of the stuff that the professor was explaining, but there were still enough details to memorize.
Both knew that other people had labeled them nerds for this behaviour, but it had happened often enough that they had stopped laughing at them when the exam results were given out - both weren't necessarily ranked highest, usually Miuka was among the top ten, and Raven four or five spaces below her, but it was sufficient for them.
He exchanged a quick glance with Miuka, which nodded. They began to let their Souls resonate as they always did when they were bored, listening with four ears instead of two while exploring each other's thoughts about the class. No one would notice, they had trained way too long for it to be appearant, and although the teachers did not like them doing that, it only helped them.
They exchanged the memories of the class, sorted out unnecessary parts, compared what they had heard, and compressed what remained to a block of wisdom which was nothing more and less than what that whole class had been about until now. They then absorbed this bock into themselves, and stopped their Resonance. Professor Ford had not noticed a single thing.
The last minutes of his recitations never were really important, so exchanging what they had heard from him at these times was not necessary. Instead they leant back in their chairs and let the time pass.
"Okay, class is dismissed. You have a mock exam tomorrow", ended Ford his class. Sighing in relief, Raven and Miuka stood up and pushed their chairs below the table without any rush. They did not even bother pushing their way through the other students which were going for the door, instead they took their time picking up their stuff.
"It's time to go eating", noted Raven.
"Yep. I'm really hungry already", replied Miuka. It was just a superficial dialogue, not of interest to potential listeners, but it was a bit more for them. Raven knew perfectly that Miuka was hungry - he had read her thoughts just a few minutes ago - and Miuka knew that it was time to eat as well. But exchanging their thoughts in the old-fashioned way of talking was a funny thing to do after Soul Resonance, and it helped them return to their own selves. Not that they needed it, but it still was -
Crack!
Neither bothered to go looking, they both knew that it had been Echo. It wasn't the first time that this was happening to him, and they had both observed him when he was just a few millimeters from falling during the class.
"I won the bet", said Miuka grinning.
Raven grinned back. They then left the class together, going for the canteen.

Luka sprinted up the steps of Shibusen two by two. Time didn't matter to the red-head it was a matter of whether he would learn something or not. He opened the doors and looked inside the halls. It was flooded by kids of different ages, hands in pockets he walked around looking for the main office. After circling the first floor for what seemed like an hour Luka moved onto the next flight until he reached the roof. 'Do you have to attend classes? Skip this and skip, sleep on the roof.' His illogical side spoke out just as he was about to go down from the stairs. On the bottom he hesitated, glancing back with another voice popped in.'Your late, you might get behind on work. Who knows there could be a test tomorrow.' There was the voice of his senses, a few more steps he took going down and he stopped.'Who cares?! It's your first year, use the ''I'm a newbie'' line. Works every time.' On his heels Luka turned and slowly walked up, opening the door leading to open air.
The roof wasn't a flat surface, it was pointed and painted a bright red color. He walked around the circular roof, there was barely enough room for him to lie down. Deciding there wasn't enough space he got up and looked down, his view showed the front of Shibusen. From a distance he could make out another red-head like him running like the wind. A light gust of wind blew blowing the stray strands of hair out of his face. Closer the moving object came and he could make out a feminine body. It didn't take a genius to find out that the running female was Akane Black. Leaning over the roof he waved a lazy arm toward her, it seems that she's too focused on the entrance door than see him moving. The clouds moved in the wind exposing the heavy rays of sunlight down on his body. Luka sighed and went back inside, hoping to not bump into his Meiser.

****

Akane Black was not the person meant for physical labor. Running to school resulted to heavy panting and steadying herself with one hand on the walls inside the school. The halls were empty but there were muffled words of teachers and students echoing in her ears. Amazed and still shocked in her enrollment to Shibusen she looked around inspecting every detail. Like any other student Akane and Luka should have started as freshmen, but her partner convinced her to sign up for the next year because of their age. She walked through the halls peeking in the doors every now and then. Coming to the end of the hall she saw a teacher with a lab coat typing away on his computer. Curious, she quietly snuck in the room. There were some students mingling in the room and it made her more self-conscious.
She walked toward the teacher and came to his side. He was still focused and didn't notice her until her hip accidently hit the desk, he stopped typing and looked at her from the side. "Your the new student, right? I was expecting your arrival before class not after. Wait here I'll get your schedule." He got up and walked over to a cabinet. His fingers danced through looking for her papers. Ford found it and gave it over to Akane. She looked down at the paper and 'Thanked' him.

Echo ungracefully leapt back up to stand on her feet again, sheepishly grinning as she did so. "Wow, too bad you missed the desks behind you." a sarcastic Maxime murmured from behind her. She simply shrugged, not bothering to respond with much enthusiasm. This was the typical rude behavior to expect from the young girl. She picked up her things (nothing) and dusted off her undirtied clothes, prepared to exit the room and search for anything interesting when that very thing appeared. A red headed girl bustled into the class room, speaking to the already preoccupied Ford about her apparent arrival. Echo could feel her eyes glimmer with curiosity.

"Oy!" she called out, still standing in the heap of chair pieces. "You new?" she asked commandingly, cocking a hip and staring the girl in the eyes. "Well, there's one thing a newbie has to know. That is that my name's Echondra Charlemange Crush. I'm the best meister this academy's ever seen." she had continued before the girl even had an opportunity to respond. Echo glared daggers at her teacher when he snorted from behind his desk, making it obvious his feelings towards the girl's arrogant statement. Echo carried herself with a certain nonchalant cockiness that was sure to unnerve anyone. She offered the other girl a smug grin, her chocolate eyes still gilttering with pride in her ridiculous introduction. "Welcome to Shibusen." she barked finally, stalking out of the classroom and scouting for something fun.

She decided to check the board. She'd taken a habit to checking it every single day, despite being partnerless. Nosy Echo couldn't help but pry into the affairs of the world through looking at the missions, and every time she'd see one she'd always think something along the lines of "If I had a weapon, I'd finish that mission in half the time with double to soul eating." and then walk away feeling more egotistical than before. Today was no different. As she approached the board, she saw the familiar figures of two of her classmates, Maxime and Edge. She eyed them with critically, as if assessing their worth. Like mentioned before, the mission board tended to bring out the more competitive side to Echo. She strut onward and peered at the listings ridiculously closely (she actually needed glasses) and sniffed indignantly. To an outsider, her behavior might have appeared suspicious or comical, but to Echo, she was just being awesome. "Eh, no biggie." she proclaimed, looking at a level 3 mission that was clearly out of her league. Okay, so she knew that wasn't true... but Echo couldn't not boast in this situation. She settled for bullshitting.

As they were just looking for some place to sit down, suddenly Miuka hit raven lightly with her elbow. "Look out the window", she said, pointing at it with her head. Raven looked, to see a paper plane fly down from the roof. "Must be Edge..." he said. "He's the only person I know of that likes to fold paper airplanes."
"Well, it's an occasion to see him doing it outside of class, right?"
He shrugged his shoulders in reply. Then they sat down on a table.
"By the way, we need to get another mission after this - Professor Ford has told me that there are some good ones out today, and we have to fill our quote for this month."
Miuka glanced out of the cantina door, as the blackboard was near there. "Okay then... but let's choose an easy one, or go with someone. That last time was way too long, we barely got to sleep before returning to class."
Raven sighed. "Okay then, we'll see. Well, it's about time we get ourselves into a group for the harder missions anyway." He looked at his reflection in the spoon he was holding. "If anyone wants us, that is."
Miuka smiled. "If not, we can make our own group and see if someone wants to join in. We're not exactly the worst meister and weapon of our class."
"Maybe, but strength doesn't really matter. You have seen enough groups that are just a couple of friends, and we're not liked much." He said it in a cold way, knowing that it was a fact. They WERE not liked much - respected maybe, but not liked.

--

As they finished, they both stood up at the same time and brought their dishes back, before leaving and heading straight for the blackboard. Ford had been right, there were many missions of interest out today, and surprisingly few had been taken. They checked different parts, but found none that was really suited for them. many missions were good, but they were looking for something perfect, or close to that. And something like that ws not available. Too hard, too easy, not for their style, not enough rewards.

Akane ran out from the classroom and glanced at the empty hallway. Her sharp ears caught a few steps heading at the end of the hall and she ran after it. To her disappointment she turned and saw no one there but a board filled with papers. Curious she walked closer to the board, it had diferent colored papers with information. Akane chose a bright purple sheet and read the dark black print. It gave information about missions to capture souls, this was a first for her so she looked over to the level 3 missions. Mainly because it grabbed her attention of bright green papers, on her tippy toes she snatched one near the corner. Excited she walked over to the staircase and sat down, breathing deeply in and out from running she read the paper.
"What are you doing?" A strong, familiar voice asked her from behind.

Luka walked around her and leaned against the rail, his calculating eyes watched her trembling hands. Akane glanced up and her eyes looked like tiny stars were being reflected. "I...I'm looking at this...paper. I got it...from..there." At each pause she took another breath, Luka glanced back and being much taller than her read the sign [Missions] above the wooden board. The papers appeared to be color coded according to the mission level. His red eyes stared at the section with neon green papers, "It's for missions Akane, level 3 sounds like for Beginners. We would need higher if we want to take revenge." Illuminated stars grew dull as her eyes became glassy red orbs, her voice shifted as she looked down, "There's this girl, Echondra Crush. She says she's the greatest Meister of the academy." She stared at her shoes her hands crumbling the side of the paper. Luka almost took back the words, he knew the hatred, the rage, the resentment she had in those with Black Blood. Akane's own parents were killed with a killer possessed by Black Blood, she was so little hiding in the closet trying not to make a sound. "We need to ask for her help then, if she's the greatest she can help us train our wavelengths." In that second Akane looked up so quickly and started laughing it made Luka take a step back, his hip crashing with the rail.

Luka asking for help was like a toddler trying to rob a store. Impossible. "Luka! Do you remember our past? Do you? We were the greatest theives in the streets. We would rob and steal, the towns people gave us the nickname 'Phantom' for our strange disappearances right after. They never suspected two kids sleeping on the streets." Akane got up and stretch her arms, her stomach exposing just a little. Luka showed the faintest smile his eyes flashing a quick emotion Akane didn't recognize, "It was a crappy name too, I told you not to spread it." They shared a few minutes of the past, then as fast as it started it stopped. He took a few steps up the stairs and called back, "I think I know where they are, I passed Echo on my way down from the roof. She was with a guy, probably her Weapon." His partner nodded and put the paper in her back pocket, it stuck out showing a bit of green. Anticipation of becoming more powerful overcame her and slowly leaked into Luka as they headed up the steps.

[[Sorry for not posting for a while, I was on vacation.]]

Akane's breath sucked in as each foot lifted then settled. It wasn't a medical issue that she was so tired, it's just that Akane was never the one to participate willingly in physical activities, and since she's been running since the morning it tipped her delicate scale of no-fitness. Then there was Luka, ah yes him. Mr. Runningisjustaseasyasbreathing, not everyone has the lung power as him! She glanced over as his tall figure, it wasn't masculine like those steroid addicts but lean with broad shoulders and long legs. Envy ran through her pores, she wish she had the capability to glide up the stairs a million times or trip on mid-air and land out in a sprawl while having the image of a crane dancing. The marbled steps seemed to go on forever and her grib on the railing shakened as her knees locked together, her limit was nearing in. To her right was Luka, hands in pocket walking as non-chalant as ever. He focused neither up or down but ahead, his face held a bored look. "I still won't accept their help." Her voice came out muffled and soft, ignorance was making its way.

Keeping in stride with Akane was a habit since they were kids. The first time he went ahead was when they were 4 years old, Luka was running at full speed expecting her to be right at him. But as soon as he turned around all there was was a pile of dust and at the end of the playground a pissed of Akane hold a shovel getting ready to throw it. His hand instinctively went to the back of his head, 'Violent pacifistic girl, there's still a scar where the shovel met my head. Physical activities aren't her strong suit, getting ahead won't hurt. Ahead..Ha'. Long legs began taking steps two by two, amusement lit his face. There weren't any sharp items like a shovel anywhere within a meter of Akane so he was safe for the meanwhile. "You....Jacka...a...ack-choo!", her head went down as her eyes closed. Luka took the moment and sprinted to door leading to the roof, it slammed open a rush of cool breeze slamming into him like a wall. For a second time slowed, it was like those corny movies where wind would blow in everyone's hair as they all did a 360. Except this wasn't a movie, and no one was turning. Face flushed from the breeze he nodded a greeting and leaned against the door hands tucked away in his hands.

Back pressed against the door he thought of different ways to approach the blonde. Luka thought of the getting on knees and begging method, pathetic. Then there was a method his Meister would use to get the other person to warm up and it had her smile and get bubbley. Yeah, Luka didn't do bubbley. Much less smile half the time, he tried to smile once, it came out forced and twisted. Resting his head on the door he could feel the weak vibrations of Akane slamming her fists on it. The door lightly vibrated like a weak heart, he knew Akane must be panting and he also knew she wanted to stop him from asking for help. When Akane got ignorant to what they needed to do, Luka had to get stubborn to get things through.

Continuing to look at the various missions not worth taking did not stop raven or Miuka from noticing Erika and Koganei arriving. Raven just took a quick glance at the two of them, before turning his attention to the board again. The only thought he was spending on them was that hopefully they would not pick a mission that he would have liked.
Miuka was quite the opposite. Seeing the opportunity, she turned away from the board and smiled. "Hi, you two. Are you looking to take some good mission as well? Because we are, but we really can't find anything good for two..."
Raven sighed, looking at Miuka. "Overexcited today, aren't we?"
"Oh, come on, Raven. I know that you too will prefer taking a mission with someone else than sitting at home all day, reading."
"Well, I guess that you're wrong..."
"You won't get eaten by them."
"If I did, I wouldn't be in this school."
She sighed as well. It was close to pointless to try and convince him into anything, and they had had that conversation more than enough times already.
"Anyway..." she turned back to Erika and Koganei. "If you want, we found some missions that we have to do with four people. So... well, if you like any of them, we'd be glad to come with you."

Thud-Thud-Thud
Loose strands of Luka's hair bounced with the beat of the door, his attention lost with the clouds drifting along the movement of the wind. The large fluffy clouds passed through the sun casting a shadow then making it disappear. He moved his head to the side and leaned into the cool door. His mind echoed the vibrations of Akane's movements. It reminded him of a rough waterfall calming into stillness. “Ya' need something?” In just the slightest movement he glanced at Edge and answered, the words almost sounding like a growl yet it was still soft, "Yes." As agile as a cat he rocked from his heel and turned to face the door. Hand clasped around the cool metal he counted, 'One, Two, Three, Four, Five-' He jerked the doorhandle loosening the lock (not the actual lock, that retractable rectangle square that close to a lock) from its place and shot his arm back retracting it and placing both arms straight out, "Six."
A weary exhausted Meister ungracefully fell forward into Luka's arms. He turned to stand behind her, gently lifting her barely off the floor to rotate her body with his. So now they both face Echo and Edge, Akane's head limp onto Luka's shoulder. Her chest heaved up and down into deep breaths, she glanced at Luka then Edge and a wide-eyed look at Echo. 'She must have noticed her and got excited.' He looked at the floor where Edge's foot was, "My partner forgot to take her medicine. It's nothing." It was a poor cover-up but it wasn't half bad either. As a child Akane was thought to have a medical problem, so they put her on extra protein pills. He knew enough information and about the condition to bluff his way around the conversation. Luka leaned his back aganist the wall, his body forming a shallow arch for Akane to lean in. "We're new in this academy, and Akane heard from yourself that the greatest Meister of this academy is you." Luka nodded toward Echo, he made sure that he didn't reveal who was the weapon or meister in their partnership. Secrecy was major in both their lives, they experienced friendship took years to maintain. If they were lucky Akane may open up right away, or stay closed inside her cage.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
The limp figure in his arms started to snore lowly, with a quick shake of Luka's arm she held it then continued her deep breathing. "I think this is a proposal.....sounds like a suggestion to me." He shrugged, "Help strengthen our Soul Resonance and we'll go on some missions with you. I don't know the details of these missions, but the Level 3 descriptions seem easy." Luka paused with a blank expression, then his eyes widened as his free hand raised, "I'm Luka and this sleeping beast is Akane Black. What should I say....Oh. First day." His finger moved from Akane to him back and forth rapidly, "If we're training together I should mention some stuff. We never got real training, so instead we learned from the streets. This one doesn't understand wavelengths and I don't get Soul Resonance." That was a lie too, both of them knew what to do with their wavelengths. It was Fighting 101 to them, they were comfortable with each other's company but when one got emotional it threw the wavelengths off. This happened once when they fought a demon suspected in having black blood, Luka got impatient and Akane got loud.

Luka watched as Echo left with her partner, for a split second they caught each other's eyes and could have sworn an emotion flash through them. Sinking to his knees he decided he must have gone delusional with the rush of excitement about to run through him, right. The feeling never came but he has been seeing things the past few days. He could have sworn he saw witches near the apartment, strange tall shadows lurking in the halls, and someone looking like Kid every now and then.
Akane laughed at his delusions, holding over his head that he had a Kid obssession and he might turn into a miniature Kid himself. Strange because his definition of rolemodel was Blackstar, determination, courage, and strength. As crazy as it might seem, it's true and only a few people know. Luka looked at the limp figure leaned against the wall and waited for the sound of footsteps to cease, "Think she's legit?"
Akane's eyes opened, her slender legs stretched outward and arms raised in the air. "I only got 'tomorrow after the mock exam..'"

She stretched her arms like a jogger about to run a marathon. Luka let a sigh escape from his lips and got up, running a hand through his hair. "After the mock exam we're going to meet by the woods at four. There we'll train our Soul Resonance, I'll try to gather some others that we can benefit from." Akane couldn't help but notice his choice of words. What happened to the Weapon that wanted to help other? The one she heard now was a man wanting to only gain power and strength. "Are you sure it's four?" Changing the subject was best now, she didn't want to get into an arguement just before their training. To add on it they had a mock exam and it sounded like nothing; What were mock exam's even like? "Maybe it was five? I'm pretty sure she said four...then again I might be wrong. Or was it after four that we had to arrive? Hmm..."
He scratched the back of his head, sprouting a confused look on. This act was a daily thing and he left it to Akane for the important events, even the simplest tasks would be forgotten.

It was a dreadful mistake to rely on Luka, she sucked in a sharp breath and began to walk down the stairs two at a time. "I'll go scout around for Meisters. You just..." She shooed him away with her hand, just as it was useless to have him remember events it's also useless to tell him what to do. She made the mistake in letting him cook once and he ended up getting the kitchen on fire. What'd he do? Hide behind Akane offering her to the fire God if he sparred the apartment. Luka smirked as he shrugged, she figured he would skip class again and just go run off to sleep.