Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Gifted Moon Academy ❯ Another One Joins the Party ( Chapter 21 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

After Tahtsu left, Rinsi was still in a very good mood. Something about him excited her, and whenever he was around she found herself babbling like a school girl. It was annoying and embarrassing to do so, but she couldn't help it, and she certainly didn't hold it against him. She knew she was falling for him, but didn't want to admit it. In a way, even though she had gotten over her last boyfriend, she was still afraid of being hurt again, just as any one else would be.
Rinsi shook her head, trying to shake away her current thoughts. She was in a good mood and god help the person that changed that. She wanted to be in a good mood. She hated being in bad moods.
She continued on her way, figuring Nakya might look towards the cafeteria for a place to rest or something. She was right. She found Nakya walking towards her from the cafeteria.
"There you are!" she said, mock sternness in her voice, "You know, it's rude to run out of class like that. By all means I should give you a detention for that. But I won't, because I think I know what happened. So, what exactly did you see? Or would you rather not talk about it?"
Shaking her head at Rinsi, she spoke softly.
"I don't want to talk about it. I need to find Ki'iro.."
Nakya wandered the halls aimlessly, trying to pick up Ki'iro's scent, or even better, find him. Having no luck, she sat down in front of his bedroom door, waiting.
After a rather fruitless conversation with Nakya, Rinsi decided to walk around. If she was lucky, she'd find Tahtsu again. But even if she didn't she'd still get more time to read and walk. She hated sitting still for too long. Deciding she herself still needed practice, Rinsi headed outside. She had forgotten her coat, so it was rather cold for her, but she didn't mind. She'd be dancing anyway, and doing so always warmed her up.
A bitter cold breeze blew through her green turtleneck, causing her to shiver as she headed for the battle grounds. She was beginning to regret not bringing a jacket, but was too stubborn to go and fetch it when she was supposed to be practicing. Stepping up to the center of a ring that had been set up for sparring sessions, she shivered a bit, then stood focused. She began to swing her staff about, before dancing and twirling with it. She knew this time what spell it would be, rather than playing the guessing game like she did last year. She had grown stronger since then herself, and was able to put more power behind her spells. She had even learned to keep the spells confined to a certain area. However, that area had to be where she was. She was currently working on casting spells that were not where she was standing, and so far progression was slow, but steady. Her aunt and uncle did not want her working on her spells at their place, so she had to get a place of her own out where there were few people. Because of all this, she hadn't had as much time to practice as she would have liked, but she still got some time in.
As she danced and spun, twirling and thrusting her staff about her in the process, she felt a familiar warmth fill her. She smiled, already knowing that her body was glowing intensely now, more so than it ever had the year before. She knew the wings would appear soon, and secretly hoped Tahtsu would see her, though if he didn't she was fine by that, too. No longer did the words make themselves known to her. She knew the words already, so they remained silent in her head as she danced and spun gracefully across the battle ring.
Tahtsu had found himself sitting atop the roof of the school. He was flipping his phone, open. Close. Open. Close. The conversation he had with his family last night was definitely not a pleasant one. He had been summoned to come back and join them again. But wasn't it time he got on with his own life? He sighed at his decision to stay. He felt as though he was betraying his family. Peeking off the edge of the building, he noticed Rinsi...dancing? He chuckled softly. She definitely was an interesting person.
Nearing the end of her spell, the ethereal wings she was so familiar with now sprouted from her back. Her whole body glowed once more as she spun and twirled gracefully across the battle ring. In the process she swung and twirled her staff about her, causing the crescent moon lantern that dangled at the end - which was now glowing brightly as well - to twist and jump with the motion, almost as if it were dancing as well. Suddenly, Rinsi went to her knees, her hands folded in a prayer fashion around her staff.
"Gates of Heaven!" she declared.
Suddenly a bright light from the heavens beamed down on her, giving her already ethereal glow a more heavenly look. It began to spread, and would have exploded out, but suddenly stopped. The same light still beamed down from heaven, but it did not grow, and began to shake a bit as Rinsi did her best to try and move it. It was difficult, and definitely putting a strain on her as she had to not only control the area being blessed, but also try to move the blessing, but she was sure she could do it. However, it was very tiring. She'd just have to deal with it. As it was, she was focusing all her energy on trying to move the blessing.
Move, damn it! she said to herself mentally, as if trying to will it to another spot.
Rinsi had not heard Nakya calling out to her. She had her full concentration on what she was doing, and so far she had managed to move the blessing two feet. It was definitely an improvement, but it still needed a lot of work. As it was she was almost completely out of energy, and had to call the spell off before she could pass out. That part was easy. All she had to do was cut of energy flow to the spell she was casting, and it would stop, and it did. The next thing anyone would know was that the beaming light from heaven suddenly stopped and recessed back to the heavens themselves.
Rinsi was exhausted now. She had gained a lot of power and energy over the summer, but trying to move a spell like that took it all up. She remained kneeling in the snow, the ice cold snow freezing her legs, which she hardly felt. She was gasping for air, and now felt very light headed. She would have stood, if she didn't know that doing so would have made her black out at that point. And that's when she finally heard Nakya behind her.
"Oh..." she said between gasps for air, still smiling brightly, "Hi!"

Ki'iro laughed softly as the snowballs hit him in the face. He didn't try to stop them, it was all fair play. He looked over at Rinsi who had fallen to the ground. Running past Nakya to get to her, he swooped her up into his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked. A concerned look shot across his face.

A cute, young looking girl headed towards the school. She had brown hair tied up in a low pony tail, pretty amber eyes, the girl wore a striped blue and green baby-T, a matching green skirt, blue leggings, and a beat up pair of chucks. She had a smile on her face, and looked around. She noticed most everyone was wearing winter coats, aside from one not-so-happy looking angel, and so suddenly her torso and shoulders seemed to enlarge and change to resemble a brown ski coat.
Almost immediately, Kelly caught Nakya's scent, and took off running.
"Hey!" She yelled cheerily when Nakya, Rinsi, and Ki'iro were in sight. Kelly'd forgotten that she was suppressing her aura, so they wouldn't realize who she was. She didn't seem to be phased by seeing Rinsi fall - that was a normal occurrence here.
"Yeah," Rinsi said, smiling, "I'm fine. I just need a minute to sit down. That's all. But thanks for your concern."
Rinsi had mostly caught her breath now. At first it was as if she had just sprinted a triathlon or something, but now she seemed to be doing better. She now noticed two more people arriving - one had the wings of an angel that glistened as purely as the snow itself, and seemed rather pissed off, the other an unfamiliar girl who seemed to know them.
"Oh, hello!" Rinsi said cheerfully, "Nice to see you, whoever you are."
Ki'iro softly placed her down on her feet and smiled at her. He kept one of her arms slung around his shoulder, since he wasn't fully confident in her balancing capabilities. Looking over at the girl, he smiled uneasily. [b]"Erm, hello?"[/b] He said questioningly.
Nakya laughed as the snowballs hit Ki'iro in the face. Watching him run over to Rinsi, and Rinsi calm his fears, she grinned at the two of them. Turning when she heard an unknown girl call out to them, she cocked her head at her. Taking a step closer, she inhaled deeply. There was something familiar about this girl... [color=#FF69B4]"Kelly...?"[/color] she asked softly. A slow smile spread across her face.
Yumi noticed movement on the edge of her vision. Looking to see what it was, she noticed a small group of people, standing in the middle of a clearing. There was something familiar about one energy signature. She recognized Rinsi, Nakya, and Ki'iro, but another seemed slightly different. Kelly, perhaps?
"Hey, I need to go check something out. You can come with, if you like." she said to Tobias, then started toward the group.
She was a bit hesitant to walk up, but only angled close enough to get a good feel for the energy signatures. It was definitely Kelly, all right. Same fluctuation. Stopping for a moment to adjust her shoe, which was falling off and getting snow inside it, Yumi decided to just change the clothes. Putting both hands in front of her chest, she rearranged the molecules, changing the clothes to within a stitch of hers. The leftover material turned into undergarments, since she was without. Looking up to the school, Yumi walked faster, Ichio's addiction invading her mind. She needed a cigarette.
Looking at Yumi who had just walked by, a flash of pain stretched across Ki'iro's face. As his eyes wandered, he noticed a new girl. Waving for her to join them, he smiled softly.
"Guys, we have a new friend to make," he said excitedly.
Seeing Yumi walk by, she looked over at Ki'iro. She noticed the look that fluttered across his face and ran over to his side, holding his hand. Standing on her toes, she gave him a kiss before squeezing his hand gently. Looking in the direction he waved, she rolled her eyes.
"Oh Ki'iro, you and new people. Do you have a radar for them?" she asked, playfully teasing him.
"It seems so." Rinsi said teasingly. "Race you there!"
Rinsi was feeling better now that she had caught her breath. She was still tired and knew she couldn't do any more spells for a few hours, but other than that she was fine. She sprinted forward, towards Yumi and the two others she didn't recognize.
"What can I say? I'm a social butterfly!" He laughed softly as he flapped his arms up and down like wings of a butterfly. He followed Nakya over to the new folk.
Rinsi had beaten them all by a long shot. Chalk that up to her years of jogging in the morning to increase speed and endurance. She certainly needed it at times. Now she was standing in front of the new girls, smiling brightly.
"Hi, everyone!" she said cheerfully. "Hi Yumi!" she said, waving to her friend.
Kelly was pretty disappointed that she'd still been so easily recognized, but she was so happy to see old friends that she didn't let that get her down. She gave a mischievous grin to show they were right, and to Nakya, Kelly brought her hands together and spread them slightly to show a small sillouhuete between them. That was something that had shown Nakya last year, and it seemed a decent way to show who she was.
Kelly quietly followed toward someone she didn't know from before. Her grin barely faded at all.
Rolling her eyes at Ki'iro, she pulled him along behind her. Turning to look at Kelly, she saw the shadow bird and froze.
"You remembered!" she shouted, running towards her and giving her a hug.
Kelly let out a laugh when Nakya saw.
"Of course I remembered!"She said, laughing again when Nakya hugged her and pulled her by the hand.
Kelly was admittedly more interested in catching up with the people she knew than getting to know new people. Still, she was nice. Kelly waved back to the girl who waved to the group.
Grabbing her hand, she ran with her and grabbed Ki'iro's hand when they caught up to him.
Nakya nodded as Ki'iro excused himself. Looking over, she saw Ichyumi. Furrowing her brow slightly, she waved to her, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Making her way over to her, she said quietly
"Hello, Yumi.." She didn't make eye contact with her. She never could resist Yumi's eyes.
Yumi looked back at Nakya when she approached.
"Nakya." She blinked, keeping her eyes closed long enough for a deep breath. "I'm sorry for what you saw in Ichio's mind. It wasn't meant for you. Just more proof of how much I manage to get us both into trouble." She looked at Nakya, whose gaze wouldn't meet Yumi's. "I need to get something out of my dorm room." She said without emotion. Yumi turned her back on Nakya, heading for her room. She desperately needed a cigarette now.
"NO WAY!" Rinsi exclaimed. "Kelly?!"
Rinsi hadn't figured that Kelly was a shape shifter. If she had been told, she had forgotten by now. And why not? The one time she did talk to Kelly, it was quickly followed by drama that she caused.
Kelly flashed a smile to Rinsi. At least not everyone had figured her out immediately, and that made Kelly feel a little better, made her feel that all of her practice that summer wasn't useless.
Kelly noticed that Rinsi was the only one who hadn't gone through any drastic changes from growing up. Such a thought from a shape shifter might be considered odd by another.