Spirit Academy

Shiro looked around and yawned a bit quietly as she did, trying not to fall asleep though since she had to last for some time still. She could see a few spirits wandering around the forest nearby, mostly small ones that would glance at them and go by. Maybe because there was a fire and two people here they didn't want to mess with them, so that made her happy as she scanned the forest for a while. After a bit she wondered if she should wake Lance or he might wake on his own.

It was another couple hours before Raiken had decided that Shiro was tired enough. He scampered over to Lance and started to poke him awake, making him stir a little bit as he slowly opened his eyes. It didn't take him long to spot the wolf-like spirit sitting next to the fire, making him put a hand on his spear before realizing what he was doing. He couldn't even really tell it was Shiro very well.

Shiro heard Lance starting to wake up just as she was ready to pass out. Which was pretty much exactly what happened right after she looked over to check if he was awake. She didnt care at all what form she was in at the moment, even though her blue eyes gave off a slight glow. When she saw he was awake she ended up flopping back onto the forest floor right there and falling asleep.

Lance blinked at the rather odd wolf-looking spirit as it flopped onto the forest floor and went to sleep after spotting that he was awake. He had to admit, that was odd. He took his hand off if his spear before turning to Raiken.

"Raiken, where's Shiro?"

He asked it, Raiken walking over to the spirit wolf and gesturing to it. At first, Lance looked at him in confusion, thinking that the spirit in front of him couldn't have possibly been the girl he'd been palling around with earlier that same day. But gradually the idea that Shiro could do something like this and what form she'd chosen to appear as made more and more sense to him. Before too much longer, he sighed and moved around to get the deer ready for morning when they would've had to travel back to the school. He dried the meat that he cut up and set aside what parts that he didn't need, deciding to bury them later after Shiro had woken up so as not to wake her. Soon he was sitting next to Shiro as she slept, keeping watch over their surroundings silently as Raiken went back to sleep. After a little while, he looked back over to Shiro and smiled slightly at how peaceful she was now that she was asleep. He couldn't help it; she looked cute.

Shiro for the most part as she slept was staying still, curling up at one point and her ears and tail would sometimes twitch. That was sort of a force of habit, sleeping in a place where danger could come or there was a lot of noise her mind was still slightly paying attention. She did sleep peacefully though through the night and didn't wake up until the sun was starting to rise. At that point she slowly stretching and yawned, looking around slightly as she tried to remember where it was that she had slept. When spotting Lance nearby she sat up quickly in surprise, little blue flames taking her ears and tail back as well as the tattoo fading away.

"G-Good morning Lance."

She said quietly and glanced away some, she was nervous about him having seen her since usually people would freak out if seeing her like that.

Lance nodded to Shiro slowly, getting up and going to collect the deer meat and such so that they could leave.

"Morning. Grab the dried meat that I made so we can leave. We're still not out of danger until we're back at the school."

He told her, hauling the big deer up and over onto his shoulder so that they could get ready to leave.

Shiro looked at him a bit before she nodded and stood up, going over to the dried meat that she picked up quickly.

"Did you sleep well?"

She asked after making sure they had everything and the fire was properly out. She was pretty curious how he had slept since they both got about half a night of sleep.

Lance didn't look back at Shiro as he started to lead the way out of the forest.

"I slept fine. As for what I woke up to, we'll talk about that after we're back at school safely."

He responded, genuinely wanting to talk to her about the form that he'd seen the night before but also not wanting to cause some kind of argument when they were both still in danger of getting attacked at any moment by spirits.

Shiro looked confused as she followed after Lance, looking around though rather then watch him as they walked. He had been talking to her fine before they went to bed, had she done something wrong between then and now? He didn't seem to want to talk much, or just seemed put off by something. Rather then thinking about it more she just sighed and listened to the forest waking up or few animals going to sleep. Maybe when they got back they could see if he could go back to classes that day at least.

Lance was quiet as they left the forest, the dawn breaking and causing several animals to finally wake up and start to chat amongst themselves. As the two of them walked into the school, there were a few turned heads as to the huge deer that Lance had brought back from the forest. Lance headed straight for the cafeteria and went to see the cook for the school, showing him the deer calmly.

"We spent the night in the forest and caught too much food. Think you could use this and give it to the rest of the students?"

He asked him, watching Shiro and the rest of the people in the cafeteria out of the corners of his eyes.

Shiro followed after Lance quickly, ignoring any of the looks that they where getting from students. She didn't like attention much, so she was just going to ignore it and try not to attract any more. Plus she was still confused about Lance and how he was acting, just staying by his side quietly as they where dropping the meat off.

The cook listened and watched Lance when the two came in, without saying anything though he just nodded and had one of the other cooks go take the deer. They where still busy getting the food for breakfast done so he didn't have much time to speak, nor did anyone else as they went back to work after taking the deer.

Lance turned to Shiro after having dropped off the meat and lead the way back out into the hall so that they could drop by his room and drop what meat they had leftover off there.

"We'll drop what meat I dried off in my room."

He told her as he lead the way there.

Shiro nodded a bit quietly as she followed after him quickly, hanging onto the meat as she thought some.

"Did I do something wrong, Lance?"

She asked when they where back outside, going to the dorms. Though she was sure that no one else around, so maybe that was why he wasn't talking before.

Lance continued to walk as he answered Shiro's question.

"I don't know if I can answer that question just yet."

He told her, the dorms coming into view as they closed in on the best place for them to just talk alone.

Shiro paused slightly with his answer, feeling like she had done something wrong and felt terrible for it. Had she ruined her chance at having a friend over it? That thought scared her some, but she managed to make her body move again as she caught up to him to follow.

"Will you try and answer me though?"

She asked as they walked up to the dorms, hoping that he would when they got to his room.

Lance was quiet as the two of them went into the dorms and walked up the stairs to his room. Upon opening the door, Shiro was greeted by a rather unusual sight. Lance's room had a very oriental feeling to it, a paper screen near the corner of his room, some armor on a stand in another corner, a closet with a few changes of clothing in it, a well kept wooden desk with medical supplies and some minor food items on it and an average oak wood bed that was neat and tidy as well as made. But the strangest sight of all was his ceiling. Covering it entirely was a huge mural of what looked to be a big, wolf-like creature covered in lightning and painted as if it was a god. It had no wings, four legs and huge fangs and claws. It was colored in an odd sepia type color filter except for the creatures claws which were painted in a jade-like color to give an appearance as if they were very important. All of this was surrounded by a background of the night sky full of stars.

He gestured to the bed and carefully took the meat from Shiro, setting it on the desk for the time being with the other minor food items. After setting it down, he sat cross-legged on the floor and watched Shiro carefully as he finally spoke.

"Tell me, when were you planning to tell me about your abilities? Do you not trust me? Or is it merely that you were afraid? Because you had a right to be. Had I not told Raiken to stay awake as I slept, I might have killed you on the spot thinking that you were a real spirit."

He told her calmly. His gaze was cold and unflinching as he observed her movements carefully, watching her every move.

Shiro looked around his room a bit in awe when she walked inside with him. She hadn't ever really seen a room like that before, it was rather pretty to her and just interesting. Especially what was on the ceiling, that was rather interesting but she looked back at Lance when he took the meat from her. When he gestured to the bed she carefully went and sat on the edge, looking at Lance as he spoke. She noticed when he stopped speaking and thought a bit quietly, trying to explain or just answer him properly.

"I thought I had told you about being a half spirit... I am sorry I hadn't told you earlier about what I can do. I guess I've always been afraid to show it to anyone... I have been attacked in the past for it and I guess I nearly was again."

She said quietly with a little smile at him, looking a bit sad though as she did.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you or try to show you at some point..."

Lance remained quiet for a little while after Shiro had finished speaking, getting up after a moment and moving his curtains to cover the window, locking the door to his room soon afterwards. He turned back to Shiro calmly as he spoke again.

"You cannot be so reckless with that ability of yours. Other people are not as kind as I am towards such a thing."

He told her as he was walking around, going to stand in front of her once he was sure that his room was completely closed off and safe for the two of them.

"Would you mind showing it to me again? If it makes you uncomfortable to do so, you are free to refuse."

He asked her, watching her carefully and quietly.

Shiro watched him and tilted her head slightly, confused what he was doing about closing the room off until she heard him.

"That is why I almost never use my powers, I just used it to keep a better eye out last night."

She said and sighed quietly when hearing him asking about seeing her do it again. Usually she would never do it for someone else, especially if they where watching. Though she would for him, letting the tattoo cover her other eye as they both glowed blue along with her eyes that also had the pupils changing to slits. Little wisps of blue fire came from the spots on the top of her head where the wolf ears came from along with from her back as a wolf tail came up. There where little differences too that would be harder to notice, having claws on her hands and sharper teeth.

"Why do you want to see me like this exactly?"

She asked as she looked back up at him when she finished.

Lance watched Shiro as her form changed and turned into the wolf-like spirit from before. The wisps of blue fire were a bit concerning at first but gradually he got used to the sight of them. Soon he sat down next to her and stared at her form carefully, tails, ears and all. He couldn't help but see a little bit of Raiken in her form, something that he saw as a blessing in disguise. When Shiro asked him her question, he didn't answer her at first. Slowly he reached out to her face and put a hand on her cheek as if he would feel something other than her skin. His touch was very gentle, as if he thought she was made out of glass and that he would break her at any moment if he wasn't very careful. He gave a slight smile as he looked at her new eyes, happy to see her comfortable enough to show him something so interesting and unique.

"You know....I think I prefer your eyes like that. They're beautiful. You remind me so much of Lord Raiken. Your resemblance's would be the same were you not your own person. It's your uniqueness that makes me think more of who you are as a person rather than what you are."

He admitted to her, moving his hand away and refraining from touching her further without her consent. It was a tad rude after all to have just done something like that without asking her first.

Shiro nearly flinched back when he finally did something besides sitting down next to her, watching his hand slightly but she didn't pull away when he was touching her cheek. It confused her why he was looking at her so much, and being so gentle with her after she showed him what she was. As he started to speak though she looked him back in the eyes with a look of surprise on her face. After a second as well her whole face turned red from embarrassment, she had never been complimented in such a way or had someone speak to her like that so she looked away quickly.

"W-Why do you like my eyes like this? O-Or even like me like this, I'm not human. I have ears and a tail... I even have claws and sharper teeth..."

She said quietly, moving to pull her tail around onto her lap lightly as she messed with the fur lightly.

Lance chuckled at Shiro's questions, getting up to go and set his spear in its place on the armor display stand as well as take his scarf off. Doing so revealed his tattoo again alongside his still healing injuries.

"So does Raiken. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. Some people might even find your tail and ears cute. Not quite sure if I'm one of those people but they're definitely interesting to say the least. As for why I like your eyes like they are....I think they're like little cat's eyed jewels."

He answered her, not really paying attention to how embarrassed she was at that moment.

Shiro blushed still as she watched him slightly and listened to him, seeing his injuries she felt a little bit bad for having done that to him.

"I never really liked myself like this... so it's a bit odd having you say such things. Thank you."

She mumbled quietly as she went back to messing with her tail.

"I should probably let you be now though, you probably have things to do."

Was all she said before standing up and going over to the door a bit, making sure she had everything she took in there with her. After that she turned to him slightly and bowed, letting the wisps of fire take the changes from her half spirit form away since she was going to be leaving the room.

Lance watched Shiro as she went to leave, taking his shirt off and revealing the scars across his torso as he went to change into a sleeveless dark brown shirt.

"I don't have anything to do today actually. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like. Or you can just leave if you wish. I'm not going to keep you here if you do not wish to stay."

He admitted to her, actually thinking about what to do that day considering this was likely his last day of recovery before he would be going back to classes again.

Shiro blushed lightly on her cheeks still when he changed his shirt, glancing away some as she listened to him and tried to think.

"I saw a pool in the outdoor training area, would you like to go swimming with me today?"

She asked after a bit of thinking of what to do. She had seen the pool when going out to the forest, and thought it looked like something rather fun to do. It had been a while since she had gone swimming and she had noticed it was a pretty warm day too.