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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Oct 8, 2013 18:04:34 GMT -8
When Kaz spoke of Emily's death, Ari noticed no hint of anger or bitterness in his voice. She was surprised at this, but kept her questions to herself.
"Hmm. Your, qi, must come in handy for those types of things." Ari hesitated on the unfamiliar word. She glanced up at Kazuya's cloudy grey eyes. "Too bad it had to come with such a terrible price." She murmured quietly. She had heard pieces of the story from one of Rai's group. About losing his sight because of his Qi.
She cleared her throat and looked away. "And to answer your question, no. I couldn't work for Barker. I will never work for that man." She hesitated. "Well. I will never willingly work for him. Unfortunately, since we don't know his mind, and we can't predict his movements or actions, we never know for sure that we aren't in fact helping him in some way. But that is a risk we take in living our life."
She grew quiet. "I know how hard it can be to take a life. As of yet, it has been too hard for me. I have held a knife at a man's throat, and let him go, after he had tryed to kill me first. I... I just, couldn't do it. I couldn't take a life, his life. To know that I had ended the man's legacy, his story. It was too much for me. I let him go. Maybe I'm too weak, but I couldn't do it."
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Oct 10, 2013 9:12:32 GMT -8
"... It does come in handy. It allows me to 'see', in a sense, but I did not lose my sight from my Qi. I lost my sight as an effect from the Gamble Fruit given to me from Leon Sudeki that I willingly ate."
Big difference. But with Kazuya's Qi giving him the ability to make out heat signatures, he could see not only Arael's body shape, but her facial features too. It took others quite a while to get used to his pupil-less eyes, but since he never acted as though he was blind, it seemed more like he had been born without pupils and less he had been robbed of his sight.
"... That is not being weak. We may have abilities others do not, but no matter what, we are still human beings with human emotions, flaws, and a conscience. It's easy to take a life... Harder to live with the knowledge you ended a life, to save your own."
Shifting his gaze over to Kaori, watching her play happily, a small smile would form on Kazuya's face. Kaori was his living reminder of Emily... and he would go through hell and back to protect her. Papa wolf he is.
"Every day all of us are risking our lives. There is no guarantee I won't be killed by Barker at any given time. But even with that risk, I will fight until my dying breathe to protect all of you."
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Oct 11, 2013 19:31:12 GMT -8
"Interesting. I think I've heard of this, gamble fruit before. From one of Rai's crew maybe. It is an intriguing thing."
She watched Kaori with Kazuya. "And I too with protect you and your daughter to the best of my abilities."She looked Kaz straight in the eye and said, "I don't have many abilities, but the ones I have I hope to strengthen and refine. My hope is to some day become strong enough to protect my adoptive family from harm, and I consider you and Kaori to be a part of that family now." Here she hesitated, then forged on ahead. "Well... I didn't come here to ask this, but since I'm here... Could you teach me how to fight?" She held his gaze, so to speak.
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Oct 11, 2013 23:33:13 GMT -8
"... It is. It gives the consumer positive or negative effects or both upon consumption, but I'd advise against eating it if you can afford to. The Gamble Fruit gave me incredible strength, but the price to pay was my loss of sight."
Smiling wryly at Arael as he made direct eye contact with her, he could not only hear the conviction and resolve in her voice, but could see her determination on her face. She was a strong girl, stronger than she thought. She had suffered losses very few ever did, but it would make her will to strengthen and refine her abilities even greater.
"... If that is what you wish, I can."
He was slightly taken aback, but not surprised at her request, his eyes continuing to look straight into her eyes.
"When do you wish to start?"
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Oct 17, 2013 19:51:46 GMT -8
She nodded, then looked back to little Kaori. "I can start whenever you are willing to teach me, but not today. Today is your day away from training. Your time to spend with Kaori." She smiled at the little girl as she played happily.
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Oct 17, 2013 21:57:12 GMT -8
"... Come to my house tomorrow morning at 9:30AM. We will start after I've finished my morning training, alright?"
Watching Kaori play happily alongside Arael, if she looked over, she would see a slight smile on Kazuya's face, his arms resting lightly on top of his knees as he sat leaning forward slightly.
"... What abilities and skills do you have currently, Arael?"
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Nov 12, 2013 20:51:24 GMT -8
"Yes sir. I'll be there." Ari said with a smile. And she did notice the small smile on his face. She liked this one much better than the cocky smile from earlier. She smiled in return, and turned back to watch Kaori play.
Kazuya asked about her skills, and she thought about it for a minute of so before answering. "What skills do I have? Well... I can do some pretty accurate knife throwing, and I know how to shoot a bow... Other than those two, I have no weapons skills. I have very little skill and knowledge in the phyisical side of things." She thought a little more, chewing on her bottom lip. "I have pretty good movement skills, mostly in forests with trees and shadows. In cities, I have less skill, but it is being constantly improved. In fact, everything is always beinf improved on. Nothing is perfect yet."
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Nov 12, 2013 22:48:46 GMT -8
"... Interesting. Knife-throwing and shooting with a bow. You remind me very much of a character in a video game I once played, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES, Yukari Takeba. She could use wind and healing spells, and wielded a bow and arrow, but she wasn't an urban and nature ninja of sorts like you are. What delightful irony it would be if you managed to discover your Qi and it was a healing Qi."
Seeing Kaori was starting to get tuckered out, rising up off the bench, Kazuya would quickly stride over to the slide she was sitting at the top of, and as she slid down the slide, he would catch her in his arms. Picking her up, he would carry her in his arms as she let out a small yawn and curled up in her daddy's arms, ready to fall asleep. Moving back to the bench, he would slowly lower himself back down beside Arael, Kaori beginning to fall asleep, as he would gently rock her back and forth.
"... There is more than one way to discover your Qi, besides eating the Gamble Fruit, but the one I know of, it comes with a just as equal risk as the fruit. If you end up facing extreme, life-threatening stress where your body reacts protecting you... you may end up unleashing your Qi. It was how I discovered mine years ago."
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Nov 13, 2013 21:09:31 GMT -8
"Hmm..." Ari said with a smile. "A video game huh? I haven't seen one of those in years." She chuckled, then said "Irony indeed. I haven't really tried to find any sort of Qi yet... I figured that I would let it develop on it's own, without any risks from the Gamble fruit. Not yet at least."
She stayed sitting while Kaz went to pick up his daughter and bring her back to the bench. She smiled at the little girl as Kaori curled up to sleep in her daddy's lap.
"Hmm... Interesting. So, there might be the possibility that I may never come into my Qi, correct? Assuming I don't take the gamble fruit."
She tilted her head to the side a bit with a look of curiosity on her face. "How did you discover your Qi? If you don't mind me asking that is."
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Nov 14, 2013 17:29:53 GMT -8
"The possibility exists, but I would not want for you to go through any extreme, life-threatening stress or eat the Gamble Fruit just for the chance to unlock and discover your Qi. I rather you never find out your Qi, instead of taking a risk just to obtain one."
Kaori curling even more into her daddy's arms, Kazuya's slightly higher than normal body temperature greatly loved by her, he would smile slightly down at her, before his smile faded slightly, turning slightly sad.
"... I discovered my Qi when I was six. It was just after my mother had been shot and killed by a sniper. My father's enemies couldn't kill him, so they targeted the next best person. After I had blacked out, I awoke in northern Russia in my father's arms, my older sister already awake. With our father unconscious and the cold wind and snow blowing down on us, we were too small to even attempt to pull him along behind us. We tried our best to keep warm by huddling together, but it soon became clear the situation was becoming hopeless. Just as we nearly fell unconscious, my body reacted on its own, and created a small flame in my hand."
As he said that, he would lift one hand up and opening it, Arael would see a small flame held in the middle of his hand.
"We nearly died from the cold... but because I almost died, I discovered my Qi, and kept my sister and I alive until our father awoke. ... There is no guarantee that you won't end up in an extreme, life-threatening situation, but if I can protect you, I'd like to."
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Nov 16, 2013 15:23:37 GMT -8
"To be honest... I'm in no hurry to find my Qi. If something happens and I discover it, well then I guess I'll discover my Qi. If I don't find it, no big loss. I've survived this far without it." Ari shrugged. "Besides, I'm not really the type to take unnecessary risks... Most days." The last part was said kinda sheepishly, as she was recalling several risks that had taken place recently.
Since Ari was watching Kaz, she saw his face fall from a smile to a sad look. She watched with concern as he told his story.
"My goodness... Six years old? You lost your mother and gained this," She gestured to the flame in his hand. "When you were six? My goodness..." She grew silent as she digested his story.
"Indeed. There is no guarantee at all in this day and age that I won't have a situation like that. But I can be prepared for it. And be prepared to protect the others." She smiled. "You are fully welcome to protect me as you see fit, just so long as you teach me how to protect myself and others as well. 'Cause you never know, maybe someday I'll be the one protecting you! She laughed softly.
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Nov 19, 2013 14:06:48 GMT -8
"It's a promise then. I'll hold you to it."
Closing his hand up into a fist, the flame in his hand instantly dissipating, Kazuya would slowly rise up from the bench, Kaori still cradled in his arm, as he would turn his head to look down at Arael.
"... Would you like to come to my house for some lunch? It almost noon after all, and I imagine it would take you some time to reach Raikotsu's mansion to eat."
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Nov 21, 2013 8:16:02 GMT -8
"Good. I will stick to it."
She smiled. "I would like that, and yeah... It'll take a while to get back. But Rai won't miss me from the crew, not until tonight. He's pretty loose on that." Right then her stomach growled slightly, from the mention of food. She glared down at it, then laughed and looked up to Kazuya as she stood up. "I guess I'm hungrier than I thought." She says in amusement.
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Post by Kazuya Hikari on Nov 21, 2013 17:48:03 GMT -8
"Then I suppose we should getting moving then."
Smiling slightly in mild amusement from hearing Arael's stomach growling, he would lead the way back to his house, making sure to walk slowly enough that he did not wake Kaori up. Roughly about 10 minutes later, the dojo located in front of his house would come in sight, and reaching it soon after, would walk past it and up to his front door. Sliding the wooden door open, he would let Arael go in first, before following in after her.
After removing his boots and Kaori's shoes, he would lead the way into his house. Considering the house was silent, it meant Chihiro had gone out, most likely on a mission. Allowing Arael to explore his house, after tucking Kaori into her futon for her nap, he would return downstairs, heading into the kitchen, which was located in the same area as the living room, more than likely finding her there.
"... Arael, I have something to ask of you... ... What do you think of becoming my apprentice?"
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Post by Arael Hiroshi on Nov 27, 2013 22:47:43 GMT -8
Ari followed Kaz to his home, making polite conversation as they walked. When they arrived, Ari removed her shoes and place them with Kaz's and Kaori's, sensing a tradition in it. She didn't really explore too much, but stayed near where he had left her. But found the kitchen a few doors away. She wandered in and waited. A minute of two later, Kazuya walked in and asked his question. Ari though about her answer before answering. "Hmm... What do I think of it you ask? Before I give my answer... What does becoming your apprentice entail? What will change for me?"
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