Spirit Academy

Ikari was quiet for a moment when she heard Shiro's confession, taking a deep breath before nodding to Shiro's request.

"I guess I can't keep it buried forever. It would dishonor his memory if I did."

She admitted, Lance giving her a confident nod that made her give a tiny smile to show that she was alright before turning to Shiro again.

"Shiro, did Lance ever tell you that he and I used ta be a couple? It was a long time ago, about three or four years from now actually. It's honestly how I'm always so confident in tellin ya that he's a good guy. But we stopped bein....well us, when a good friend of ours died on a mission. It was a year ago today in fact."

She told her, her eyes already growing clouded and distant as she recalled the painful memory.

"His....His name was James. We'd been friends ever since we'd first found each other a while back. We were inseparable back then. Course, James always understood when Lance and I needed our alone time but no matter what, the school here always sent us on missions as a team. At one point, we got a mission to stop a powerful flame spirit that was destroying a village a little ways away from here. When we got to the village, it'd already been burnt to a crisp an Lance, bein the hero that he was, called straight for the thing to come out and fight us. Then James found something that the spirit din't like. It was a mirror."

She started to drift off as she continued, Lance pouring himself some water and drinking it as he listened.

"It happened so quickly....all I remember was a large explosion of flames right near us an then I was playing my songs to use my powers. Lance tried his best to keep me safe but it got to the point where the spirit finally figured out that it was me who was doin so much to keep him an James strong and fighting. It attacked me....or tried to. James....well he took the bullet for me so to speak. He knocked me to the side just before a ball of flames incinerated him. It happened so quickly....I felt so helpless just watchin him die in front of me."

She told her, tears starting to form on her face as Lance interrupted to save her the pain of telling the rest of the story.

"I lost it when I saw what had happened to James. I called on Raiken's strength and destroyed that spirit without any mercy whatsoever. I didn't care that I was leaving Ikari to deal with James' body. I wanted that thing gone. It wasn't until after the battle was over that the realization of James' death finally hit me."

He said, Ikari finishing soon after Lance had done his part with telling the story.

"Soon after his funeral Lance and I broke up. We're still friends but....I can never really see him in a better light anymore thanks to what happened."

She finished, Lance handing her her water to which she gratefully accepted it and drank before looking to Shiro for any other questions or anything she might want to say or ask.

Shiro didn't say or really do anything as she listened, just nodding quietly every once in a while. She felt odd about listening, feeling she was kind of a odd new person that came into all of this. Even if Ikari and Lance weren't together any more they had been together for a very long time and fought together in such a way.

"I am sorry to hear something so terrible happened... that you lost a friend in such a way."

She said quietly and looked at Lance some, she wondered some now if he thought something of her having the power over fire as she did. Though he never said anything about it or seemed to push her away for it.

"Are you hateful of spirits now? I mean... you had one take your friend away."

She asked after a bit, she was wondering if Ikari would accept her being a half spirit let alone one who controlled fire.

Ikari thought for a moment about what Shiro asked her, shaking her head after a moment.

"No I suppose I don't. I mean, Lance has Raiken and you've got Kuro to be pals with. If I really hated Sirius like you say, I woulda asked ya both to leave me alone a long time ago."

She told her.

Shiro listened to Ikari and smiled some as she did, hearing that Ikari wasn't hateful of the spirits she was glad. Maybe then she could trust someone else, though she was still hesitant about doing anything as she looked at Lance some.

"Thank you for letting me know about this Ikari, I hope I didn't cause you any pain."

She said after a minute of thinking.

Ikari shook her head and gave Shiro a brave smile.

"I actually cleaned up my room cuz I was hopin to get into dating again. Not that you two would know anythin about that now would ya?"

She asked with a joking grin.

Shiro looked surprised some at what Ikari said before she smiled and shook her head some.

"Good luck, I hope you can find someone to keep you happy. I am sure someone as pretty as you though could find someone pretty quickly."

She said and let out a little giggle, she wasn't sure about showing Ikari right now what she was at least so she messed with her hair that she kept over her eye.

Ikari rolled her eyes at the beautiful comment before noticing the tattoo over Shiro's eye while she was messing with her hair. She glanced at Lance who simply looked away from her before she turned back to her.

"Nice tattoo you've got over your eye there. Is it new?"

She asked.

Shiro blinked and let out a little smile at the question she was given all of the sudden, shaking her head though since she didn't want to lie to her friend.

"N-No, I've actually had it a rather long time. It's nothing special though and I thought I may get in trouble if I showed it around the teachers."

She mumbled and looked away some, hoping that she wouldn't be questioned much more.

Ikari narrowed her eyes with another glance at Lance who, again, didn't say anything to her before she turned her attention back to Shiro.

"Why would something like that get you into trouble with the teachers? Lance has a clan symbol on his shoulder and no one says anything about it to him."

She asked, the general idea of what Shiro was saying not making much sense to her.

Shiro paused some when she heard what Ikari said, noticing that Lance wasn't going to help though she looked down slightly and smiled nervously.

"It has something to do about why I came here... and why I asked you about if you might hate spirits. I am hesitant to tell you though since I don't want you to hate me for some reason."

She mumbled as she messed with her pants.

Ikari quickly realized that Lance wasn't helping Shiro out in this situation on purpose and gave a sigh.

"Hun, I've been blaming myself for what happened to James for over a year now. I just finally decided it was time ta move on. So if you really have a big secret like Lance does with his tattoo, you can count on me ta be trustworthy."

She told her with a small smile to reassure her, Lance only watching the exchange now. He seemed a bit more alert now though, watching Ikari very carefully.

Shiro looked at Ikari some as she fidgeted nervously, Lance didn't seem to be saying anything still and just watching so she figured she may as well just let her know.

"O-Okay... Lance and a few teachers are the only ones who know this but I am not really just a human like everyone here. I am half spirit as well..."

She mumbled and glanced at Ikari as she spoke and waited for the response.

Ikari was quiet for a moment when Shiro told her what she was, finally letting out a chuckle when she'd finished letting it sink in.

"Yer kiddin right? How is that even possible? C'mon Shiro, what's really botherin you so much?"

She asked, clearly not believing her. Lance finally turned to Shiro and gave her a nod of approval.

"Show her."

He told Shiro, ready for Ikari's reaction.

Shiro looked almost disappointed and sad that Ikari chuckled at what she had said, hearing something from Lance though finally she gave a nod. She stood up and backed away some as she sighed, not wanting to be too close to Ikari in case she got spooked especially with the fire.

"Please don't get spooked okay? I won't do anything."

She said and gave a hesitant smile as she let her spirit form appear with the wisps of blue flames and her tattoo spreading to her other eye. After that she didn't move and only watched Ikari.

Ikari stopped and got wide eyes upon seeing Shiro's spirit form, her breathing starting to get faster as her heart started accelerating its pace.

"You....you really...."

She stuttered, prompting Lance to get up and move over behind her to start gently rubbing her back to try to get her to calm down.

"Breathe Ikari. She's harmless. Just relax."

He told her softly, Ikari continuing to breathe quickly before going to hold herself. She closed her eyes tightly all of a sudden and her memories of James being killed in front of her came flooding back into her head, forcing her to hold her head in silent pain. Lance only kept himself calm and moved to pull Ikari into a gentle hug as he kept gently rubbing her back to help calm her down. Lance shook his head at Shiro.

"Don't take this the wrong way okay? She needs to get over what happened all that time ago. Just give her a bit and she'll calm down."

He reassured her as Ikari buried herself into his chest to let tears fall from her face. It was clear that she was reliving her past with what had happened but Lance seemed extraordinarily calm for some reason or another.

Shiro's ears went down some as she watched Ikari, even with what Lance said about her needing to get over what happened. She still felt bad, that she had done something that made someone else cry. Even if it was from something she wasn't involved in years ago it still made her feel bad, she didn't want to make anyone cry for any reason. She just nodded though quietly and sat down on the floor where she was, moving her tail into her lap quietly as she waited. Seeing Lance being so calm about this all was weird to her but for now she was putting it out of her mind as she sat there and waited quietly, ears against her head and tail in her lap.

It took a little while before Ikari finally calmed down enough to unbury herself from Lance's chest, Lance giving her face a gentle nose and touching his forehead to hers to get her to relax a bit more.

"You okay now?"

He asked her, to which she nodded in response. Soon afterwards though she gave Shiro a quick look before going up to Lance's ear and whispering something Shiro couldn't quite catch. The result was him breaking out into a mad blush and a quick giggle from Ikari as the two separated and she took a deep breath before turning to Shiro again.

"Sorry if I spooked ya Shiro. I just wasn't expecting what you told me ta be true, let alone the fact that Lance'd kept it a secret from me. No hard feelin's alright?"

She asked, giving her a gentle but brave smile. Her body was still shaking a little bit but she seemed otherwise okay now.

Shiro's ears went up a bit as she glanced at Ikari when the two of them separated, seeming that she had calmed down finally. She was still hesitant though, she felt bad for making Ikari cry again so she just gave a little smile back.

"I'm sorry if I spooked you as well... I guess it's not really normal to see someone with ears and a tail huh? I don't want to make you cry again though... I know it wasn't my fault really but I still feel bad about it."

She said quietly and looked away again at the last part.

Ikari shook her head and got up to walk over to Shiro, pulling the now fox-like girl into a hug.

"It's alright Shiro. I'm fine really. I just had a bad fit when I first saw ya looking like that with the flames and all."

She reassured her, stroking her hair gently to try and get her to feel a bit better.

Shiro looked surprised when she was pulled into a hug all of the sudden, taking a second before hugging her back lightly.

"I am sorry about the fire part and all... it just happens to be what my power is so it can't be helped. I am happy you don't hate me though."

She said quietly as she hugged Ikari a bit tighter, happy very much to have another friend that knew what she was at least.

Ikari gave a small smile and moved away from Shiro, tickling her ears slightly with a small giggle before looking to Lance.

"Well I guess she really is one of a kind like ya told me huh?"

She asked him rhetorically and making him blush slightly.

Shiro looked a bit confused as she twitched her ears after having them tickled, wagging her tail though as she smiled since she was happy about Ikari.

"Thank you for staying my friend by the way Ikari, I am happy about that."

She said and smiled brightly, she wanted to make something for everyone now as something to eat and celebrate. She saw Lance blush though after hearing what Ikari said, her head tilting since she wasn't sure what he was blushing about.

Ikari gave a laugh and got up to get something from her fridge.

"It's nothin really hun. Say Lance? Think ya could give me a few minutes alone with her? I just wanna give her some advice and ya'll can go do whatever ya want."

She asked him, Lance hesitating slightly before slowly nodding and getting up to leave. Ikari sat down across from Shiro when Lance left, smiling at her.

"So tell me somethin Shiro, how far have you and Lance gone in yer relationship? I don't mean ta be nosy, I'm just curious is all."

She asked her.

Shiro looked confused when Ikari asked to have her alone, wondering what she was going to talk about. She stayed quiet though and tilted her head some as she listened to Ikari speak when she did.

"How far? Are there stages or something? We've only been together for a little while now... I mean we are together a lot and slept together a few times just to nap."

Ikari gave a chuckle when she heard Shiro's description of where she was with Lance. It was clear that she was just about as new to this thing as she'd thought.

"You've slept with each other huh? Have ya kissed yet?"

She asked her, sipping at her drink.