[PG13] We Make Each Other Stronger - SousukexSecrets -

[Secrets]

PG13 for...romance and such? LOL Possible cuss words.

"Alright. Winds are nice and my destination lies only less than half a mile away," Katrina murmured hurriedly to herself. She was busy strapping up her harness, the sky blue and neon yellow nylon of her hang glider pressing against her back. She pressed her shoulders back to give herself some room and to push the thing away from her as she snapped various clips, tightened a few holsters, and muttered to herself, assessing her progress, as she went. Her expert fingers flew up the straps and double checked the harness before she placed her hands on the metal rod.

With a grunt, she pulled the rod closer to her and wind rushed up underneath the glider as she lifted it. The nylons filled with air and she fought to remain on the ground. The cliff edge in front of her was only a foot or so away and she leaned back before taking a few bounding steps and launching herself into the air.

Her blonde hair whipped into her face as the hang glider lifted up, air surging upward to fill the nylon. Like sails, the wings continued to rise and carried Katri with them. "The winds are being generous today," Katri said playfully to herself and leaned forward to edge the nose of the glider down. The wind reacted to her thoughts and pushed her toward the ground with much more accuracy; her intended location was a secluded Academy, hidden in the mountains and from the watchful eye of common civilians who saw themselves superior to Katri's kind.

She touched down onto the ground gracefully, though the glider smacked her in the back and caused her to stagger forward a few steps. Grinning to herself, she slipped her fingers down her torso, unbuckling and unstrapping her harness as she went. When the harness was loose enough, she wormed her way out of it and folded up the steel rod of her glider, then folded the glider itself in half.

She looked up at the wide double doors of the Academy and felt a rush of bliss go through her. She'd been here before of course. Kids came and went all the time and as they pleased. Katri's room would be just as she'd left it, though the bed would have been straightened and the room cleaned since she'd left.

"It's good to be home," she said to herself as she hurried inside.

[Sousuke]

Takashi trudged his way up through the mountains terrain. He had been ascending the mountain for several hours, by now every footstep struck him with a sharp pain. By now the small pack on his felt like a boulder on his back. Takashi was not used to the mountain terrain as well as the shortage of oxygen. He straightened out his back and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Why did they have to build it here?" he grumbled to himself. Takashi was trying to find an academy for people who were like him. He had spent some time in the city but was making a terrible mess of things. He had manage to burn and blow up several establishments as well as injure a number of innocents. None of this was intentional of course as Takashi was simply defending himself. But due to the nature of his powers his self defense often had

At the urge of his older siblings Takashi was to spend some time at an academy in order to hone his powers. Although they themselves had never attended it. Takashi wondered of they were mocking him by making him go to this place, but he quickly abandoned the thought.

"If this place can make me stronger," he took a step and began to see the compound, "how bad can it be?" He looked up and saw something fly down towards the direction of the compound. Takashi scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. A small pain ran down his back and he winced. He began to talk gingerly towards the compound and found himself at the front gate.

"Well, here goes nothing," Takashi let himself inside and proceeded to the reception desk. He greeted the receptionist and signed in providing the required information. He patiently stood there at the desk waiting for his information to be processed and let his eyes wonder around the building.

"How am I suppose to find my way around this place?" He said aloud.

[Secrets]

She had breezed by Amy, the receptionist of the Academy. The woman would recognize Katrina; anyone here would recognize Katrina if she walked the grounds with her hang-glider strung over her back. She waved at her as she moved to walk down one of the corridors that would lead to the dorm room, but the double doors opened again. Curious, Katrina poked her head out from behind the corridor and saw a boy checking in at the counter. He was new, she realized.

Seeing Katri still (well, almost) in the room, Amy waved her back over. Still as curious about the boy as ever before, Katrina obliged and shouldered her hang-glider as she walked back over.

"Katri, this is...Takashi," Amy said as she read through his papers again. "Can you show him around the building a bit?" she asked and flippantly handed Katrina his card key to his dorm room. She looked down at the numbers; room three twenty-six. That was in the boy's dorm, of course, but she knew where it was.

"Nice to meet you, Takashi. I'm Katrina," she said as she hefted her glider to her other shoulder and stuck out her hand. "I can show you your room first if you'd like. You can get that heavy pack off your back." She noticed the way he stood, as if he were in pain, and immediately wanted to relieve him of that.

[Sousuke]

Takashi breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he slide the pack from his back and placed it in the palm of one of his hands. He than produced his own hand to meet Katrina's and grasped it firmly. His hand was quite warm but not exceedingly, the look of relief on Takashi's face continued.

"It's nice to meet you Katrina, I'm Takashi but my friends call me T.K.," he said while taking note of her hang glider, "Were you the one from earlier who flew down to the schools gate?" He spent much of his time in the city so he was quite unfamiliar with such technology. Takashi's eyes then met with Katrinas before he finally let go of her hand. He nodded in thanks towards the receptionist and heaved his pack in his hand and gestured for Katrina to lead the way.

"And yes please, I'd like to drop this pack off at my room," he said as he brushed the sweat from his brow with his forearm, "It's been on my back since I started walking from the city" He admitted somewhat embarrassed. He followed Katrina gingerly to the boys door looking around admiring the the building it was like something out of a manga for Takashi. As his eyes drank in the building his fatigue seemed to melt away.

[Secrets]

She shifted the glider against her back again to remove the weight of one of the steel rods in it off of her shoulders. When he asked if she had flown down from the mountains, she grinned and began their walk toward the boys' dorms. She took a right and continued down the dimly lit halls; candles flickered warmly from their perch on elegant iron holders. The walls themselves were made of stone, like a castle, but the stones were never clammy nor cold, not even when winter came to the mountains.

She hummed as she traced her hand along the gritty walls. The mauve carpet beneath her feet swallowed the sound of her footsteps. Solid oak doors came into view as she moved and after a few moments of almost silence, she spoke again. "That was probably me up there, unless another wind elemental decided to go for a fly." She looked over her shoulder at Takashi.

"The Academy is extremely old, but you can see from the doors that updated technology has been put around the place." She pointed to another oak door. Faded numbers that read three twenty-six were painted in a soft lavender against the door and Katrina slid the card into the electronic door key. A green light flickered on the door handle and she turned the knob, moseying open the door and waiting so Takashi could get in first.

"You get your own bathroom on the right side of the room. If you want to find a witch somewhere in the school, they'd be glad to change the room to how you'd like it." She brushed a few locks of hair out of her eyes and gave Takashi a half smile. "Everyone here's friendly. You might want to stay away from the supernaturals if you don't know their customs, but I'm always here to help," she said with a shrug.

[Sousuke]

Takashi wore a stupefied look as his eyes jumped to whatever happened to be in his line of sight. His fingers lightly touched the cold stones of the building. He had literally stepped into a novel. He was so used to cement and plaster he had forgotten buildings like this still existed to this day. The aroma was foreign to him as well a combination of brick, mortar and the mountain air.

Takashi walked past her into the room before tossing his pack on the floor, it gently landed with a light thud against the carpet of the room. Considering his build he was almost embarrassed that such a light pack had caused him so much strain. He turned his head around and looked to Katrina and offered a kind look and said, "Thanks," his voice weighted with awe.

He Than turned towards her, "If you could give me a moment to change before we tour the rest of the compound." He lightly closed the Door in-front of her. Several moments passed by before he would open the door again. Somehow he had managed to completely throw the room into disarray in such a short amount of time. He himself looked somewhat more refreshed, a little dirty from the walk but the fresh change of clothing offset this. He had changed to a White t shirt, with a sleeveless red hoodie, jeans and red and white high top shoes.

He breathed relieved and smiled at Katrina, "Sorry about that, let's get going." He started walking off down the hallway and spoke, "So you're a wind elemental? Just like my older sister". He continued walking again becoming dumbfounded by the buildings architecture. Takashi opened the door for Katrina and they were outside once more.

"She always kicks my ass," he continued taking about his sister, "I can never hit her, she always cuts my balls in half, my fireballs I mean." Takashi paused and laughed to himself "that came out funny didn't it?"

[Secrets]

Katrina waited patiently for Takashi to finish changing. She leaned against the warm stone of the building, glad to be back with familiar terms. She'd toured a lot of Europe and she had realized quickly enough that she probably liked the ancient buildings there because it reminded her of her home here. Yes, this was home to her. She'd be eighteen in a few weeks and she'd come home to celebrate her birthday with friends and family; her mother was probably hurrying around the Academy helping with some of the new-goers.

When Takashi opened the door again, she brushed aside his apologies and smiled mischievously when he asked if she was an air elemental. When he continued to talk about his sister, she laughed at his unexpected statement.

"Yes, that did come out funny. And don't worry, I only know about three other air elementals that stay here, besides myself." She turned through another hallway and would lead the fire elemental up a short flight of stairs.

"We could head over to the courtyard or I could show you the mess hall or if you wanted to see the stables, I could show you the type of creatures our Academy has. This is a lot different from the mortal world, T.K.," she said.

[Sousuke]

Takashi took in her words as he looked about the compound taking note of the miniture medieval style walls surrounding them. When she mentioned to him how this place was different than the normal world it all made sense to him, the long walk, the Forrest, the mountains. This was an ideal location to house a building of this nature. For people like Takashi and Katrina it was their rapture.

He thought about where he would like Katrina to take him first. The stables sounded interesting but he figured animals were not his favorite things in the world so should save that for later. The mess hall appealed to him as Takashi did enjoy a good meal but he could never eat right after any sort of physical activity. Than it dawned on him, he had been sent here to hone his powers.

Takashi clapped and faced Katrina with a slight grin, "Katrina, could you take me to the sparring area?" By now any looks of fatigue or pain had been replaced with bight eyes full of energy. He eagerly followed Katrina across the compound encountering several other attendants on the way there. The were friendly and greeted the two of them. Takashi noticed strange noises and realized they must be near the stables.

As Katrina led him he asked her, "So you know of other wind users, which one of you is the strongest?" he inquired with a hint of ambition.

[Secrets]

"The training grounds? Sure," she said and stuffed her thumbs into the pockets of her skinny jeans. She patted her fingers against the jean fabric as she planned out a quick course for them to get there. Leaving the stables behind, she promised herself she'd drop by later to greet her old mount. No doubt the creature would love to see the wind elemental again.

"So you know of other wind users, which one of you is the strongest?" Katrina heard Takashi say and she turned her head slightly to look at him as she walked.

"Well...we're not like the fire or earth elementals that are always testing themselves against each other." She scratched the back of her neck with her right hand and breathed out a sigh. "But you could see tonight if you'd like. The winds are getting together to--"

"Katri, s'at you?" Katrina turned at the familiar voice and an uncertain smile reached her face as she looked at another wind elemental. "I heard you were back," he said with a grin, obviously not noticing the guarded expression in Katrina's eyes.

"Guess word travels faster than I remember," she replied and nodded toward him. "I'm showing T.K. around the campus."

"Alright," the boy said as he shot a look at T.K. "You ought to come tonight, Katri; finish what we started last time," he said with a wink and walked off.

With a sigh, Katrina turned back toward Takashi. "Ryan. I guess you could say he's a strong wind elemental. As I was saying before he walked up, the winds are holding a contest tonight in the Arena. Last time he and I sparred, well, you can see us in action tonight." She bumped his shoulder playfully. "If you want to come, that is."

Pausing again, she rapped on the double doors in front of them. "And this is the training area. I'll show you the Arena later and explain the Games." She opened up the doors to a gymnasium that was twice the size of a standard one. On one wall hung an array of swords, bows, and other medieval weaponry. Guns were noticeably absent amongst the ancient weapons. Obstacle courses and training dummies were scattered along the floor of the gym.

[Sousuke]

Takashi looked towards Ryan and simply nodded in acknowledgement. Takashi stood there silently while watching the exchange between Ryan and Katrina. Takashi sensed the energy between the two of them. "A strong wind elemental" said Katrina, Takashi would definitely be sure to remember Ryans face.

As Katrina bumped into Takashi he smiled. "A contest huh?" he nodded his head as he contemplated it, "I'll be there you can count on it, I'd love to see how you wind elemental match up." Takashi walked with a playful bounce in his step as his thoughts began to turn to tonight's contest. But before his mind could run wild with thoughts of the contest the two of them began to approach the gymnasium.

Takashi stretched his arms over his head as they approached the the gymnasium. Immediately his daydreams stopped as the doors opened. He was enticed by all of the equipment. "Not to shabby," he said as he nodded in approval. "No guns," he looked a little confused, "You know most mortals who find people like us disgusting use guns why not train against them?" he said more to himself than to Katrina.

Takashi clapped his hands together and pulled them apart deliberately. As he pulled his hands apart a solid beam of fire appeared and in a matter of seconds it hard turned into a staff. While turning it upright in his right hand a blade came out of the top, it was a scythe made of fire. Takashi looked at it affectionately as green flames bled from the entire scythe. He turned his gaze to Katrina "Swords are too played out, scythes are much more intimidating." He spun the scythe around with his two hands "Katrna thank you for showing me around, I think I'll get acquainted with this place, how about we meet up in the mess a little before your fight?." Before she could reply he ran into the gymnasium with a look of sheer joy on his face.