"Adrienne...love, you’ve been gawking at that thing forever. What is it?" Daijikin groaned softly as she turned her head toward her friend who had been looking intently at the chain on her sword since they had gotten back to the dorms.
"Yes...I’m fine." She mumbled apparently having not heard her friend’s question as she was too absorbed in thought.
Daiji let out an exasperated sigh and closed the book she was reading and got up from her chair. "Look, it seems to me that you need some time alone...come see me when you want to discuss whatever it is that’s grasped your attention so completely."
Adrienne did not look up but instead nodded her silent consent as she focused on the glowing black crystal that was embedded into the chain of her sword hilt. It had been like that since earlier that afternoon when Daiji and she had been fighting what she assumed to be her father’s henchmen. Inside of her something was beckoning her to seek out something...or someone? Maybe both? ‘...I need some air...’ Adrienne walked out of her room and down the hall and into the elevator, casting a look in the direction of Daijikin’s floor. ‘I should have talked to her.’ She had made up her mind to see her when she felt something shoot through her. It was an otherworldly pain that seemed to cause her chest to hurt tremendously and at the same time cause her heart to ache in emotional distress. She clasped the front of her t-shirt and tried to steady herself on the wall. Suddenly, she had a flashback to earlier when she had been on her way to th café` to see Daijikin. ‘A strange pinprick... and then nothing.’ She remembered time slowing down...perhaps. A dull throbbing. All in all it felt like a vaccine shot to the chest. Or so she remembered. But then, how could she have forgotten something like that? Slowly things were becoming dark....not just as if she would pass out...but like death and blackness were creeping up over her, transforming her, becoming her. She managed to press the button for floor level and upon reaching it, she scrambled out of it clumsily and out the front door of the lobby. Fortunately, everyone else had cleared out because of what time it was. She looked up at the serene night sky and, unlike usual, she wasn’t even slightly comforted. Not even by the full moon. Full? Normally, Inuke`’s presence would feel stronger than ever...sometimes overwhelming. This feeling was uncomfortably different. ‘Inuke`?’ She called into the growing, bleak shrowd that was clouding her mind. No reply.
"INUKE`!!!" she yelled aloud this time, fearing the worst. Inuke` growled.
‘What is this THING?!’ Inuke` responded, apparently in a struggle.
‘What? What thing?’ Adrienne inquired frantically, though partially relieved at hearing her speaking.
‘Some kind of- If I knew, why would I have asked you? It’s got this sickeningly evil aura...and...and it looks just like you!!!’Those were the last words that Adrienne heard as she felt herself slipping into nothingness. It looks just like you. What have you become?
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She had been riding in the bus for what felt like days. Finally she would be able to see what all the hype was about... She was excited and felt a growing anticipation with each passing mile. Sighing she scanned over the people on the bus. Most were ‘gifted’ like himself...if you could use the word most. There were only 7 in the bus including herself...and none of them were familiar. And only one appeared to be of the same country. But the rest were from foreign countries she had only read about. She returned her gaze to the world just outside her window and just knew that things in her life were going to change. For better or for worse.
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Light, gentle breaths tickled Adrienne’s fair skin as she lie there, unconscious to anything going on around her. She began to stir slowly as she reached up to touch the figure looming over her. "Daiji...I must have passed out outside....." she reached around to cup the familiar, firm butt she found. She leaned in closer and Adrienne met her lips in a long, drawn out kiss. Her tongue gained entrance from her friend’s apparent surprise. That was when she felt something was off, even as she slipped a hand under the girl’s shirt, raising it up so that her bra was in view. ‘She tastes different. Like mint? But then, like cinnamon...’ Her eyes snapped open, and instead of her dear Daiji, she saw a familiar white-haired girl. "AURORA?!!" The girl’s face was as beautifully solemn as ever but was slightly reddened and her breath was shallow. Her eyes then traveled to her torso and her exposed brassiere.
‘Perhaps we will be able to become one rather easily.’ Aurora thought very seriously as she looked down at Adrienne.
"You...and I...I," The girl had a nosebleed and then passed out again for an entirely different reason.
‘Or...Perhaps not.’