UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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Shadowed.
All around her, the deep shadows of the night, not even the moon providing any sliver of light. Even the crickets were silent on that unforgivingly dark night, the eerie silence sending shivers down her back. Alone. The blackness was pressing in, the air thick and heavy, beasts lurking right behind the brush. The cold threads of doubt began to wind their way around her chest, clenching tight.
She frowned. She was an assassin, for gods sake! What was she doing, flinching away from such a simple task? Trained within an inch of her life, she should be able to carry out a simple mission like this one---

SAKASHALA! I leave the area for a brief moment, and you ALREADY get distracted?! You could have put out an eye with one of your wild throws. " Her master, Niten Hiroru, growled with annoyance, snapping his katana sheath against the floor with an echoing snap. For such a short, tiny kiko, he sure carried himself with the power of many more. He struck respect, and quite often fear, into all around him. Ironic, to have such a large, powerfully built vulture, with battle scars and all, cowed by a mere kiko who could almost pass as a toddler, had he not had the hard glint in his dark eyes, carried a katana, and well, be world-famous. "You've barely finished your previous punishment, only to get saddled with more. You show almost as little respect to your work as you do I. Now go, before you manage to ruin something more." He watched as she walked past, collecting the darts that were scattered around the target, a scant few digging deep into the post, some flayed around the area, and some missing entirely.
Oh, and don't drag your feet in that way. You should know better, Saka… you leave plenty to track with as you do it." He sent her a warning look, clearly saying that if she endangered their lives by revealing their positions… "Lighter steps, a bit of lift from your wings to create a flat, open running stride. Talon tips up! No no no, not like that. You look like a deranged ostrich. YOU are the reason why my old sensei always felt newcomers were 'grasshoppers.'" He sighed dramatically, and then dismissed her with a wave of his arm, attention already shifted away onto the other, more pressing matters.

Muttering a few choice words to herself, most of which were not fit to be heard by anyone's ears, she mockingly pasted a smile on and strutted gaily out of the dojo, and then promptly started dragging her feet even more heavily as she got outside and started up the hard climb up to the shack that they lived in. Now remind me, WHY oh why did I choose him as a teacher? Grumpy, always on-the-go, impatient, aggressive… another me, how ironic.
She grinned wryly, in spite of her annoyance at the moment. He was one of the best fighters around, even fighting in the styles she liked and the weapons she favored. Claws, swords, and darts? Yes, please! And she'd been powerfully attracted to his lifestyle; a necessary evil to keep good alive. A rogue police force, almost. It seemed as if her adopted brother, Baron Tornado, really had rubbed off on her. A few months ago, she would have never been so honorable, if that could be a description for this. He really did teach her a bit of respect, forcing her to read all those books on honor and dignity, of fighting fair and true, of avoiding corruption and being loyal. Loyal. Her sworn service and faith to Hiroru…

Stopping that train of thought, she took a quick hop-step and a flap of her wings, lifting her into the air, wings beating in powerful strokes that carried her far and fast, reaching up to the sky. The sun glinted off her magnificent feathering, shining her body red and making her seem as a beacon in the sky. A quick swivel of her long neck and she snatched up her darts again, spraying them into the air, raining down onto the practice dummies hidden among the trees. Skellig, both her petpet and a sword, nestled into her back, ready to be drawn at any second. She grinned; THIS is what she was born to do. Not be indebted to some midget blob, that's for sure. Sneaking in the shadows was her specialty, infiltration and stealthing her love. Fighting freely, for her own motives.
Darn Jaded for insisting that she needed training before she left the home to fight. Most mutant lennies she knew went straight to the battledome, no waiting around like this. It took all her skills, both physical and mental, to track down that rotten lil bugger and convince him to train her. He'd better make himself worth the effort. At least it meant she'd be all the better when it came to fighting, with actual training and not just expensive weaponry and teachers. Losing was for, well, losers. She'd never lose to some silly prissy girly girl, that's for sure.

It was a day later when Hiroru-sensei finally left his studies, satisfied with the arrangements that he had made with the nearby town. He rarely dealt with such frivolous paperwork, knowing it meant little, but the gang of grundos there kept threatening, and Hiroru was needed. Lost in his thoughts as he stealthed in and out of the shadows in the forest, he realized his normally familiar pathway was peppered with… darts. Recognizable as Saka's, actually, marked with bloodred feathers and dented with a beak mark. He'd have to speak to her about keeping her identity from showing in such attacks.
But wait, so many? And they were strategically placed, too; each was sunk deep into the heart of the tree, exactly where his old targets used to hang. He knew that she did have quite a bit of raw talent, but to see it so clearly as this…it truly opened his eyes. Before, she was just a outspoken child who had practically blackmailed him into this, or he would have never agreed to train her… but now, now she proved her worth. He stepped into the training area, knowing what he had to do.

Saka." Nothing more, nothing less. And with a glance, both student and teacher reached an agreement. Niten Hiroru silently handed her darts over, polished and sharpened, and gave her Skellig, coated with numbing poisons. "The gang of grundos have returned, led by Farvor again. We have a mission tonight. I will see you again tonight, student. Until then, farewell."

---why was she scared? I have faith in you, Sakashala. Prove to me that you are ready to fly.. Remember what you are fighting for. Hiroru's words rang through in her head, and through the mist of her mind, she saw Jaded and Tornado and Hiroru, supporting her all the way. Fear turning energy pumping through her veins, she took a deep breath, grasped her darts, and soared out from the darkness. clamp189 - princess?





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