♢Nori♢
“What does that mean? He wasn’t at the bonding.” Noel reminded me.
“Eevie could you figure out a general location as to where he was?” I asked Eevie looking down at her.
She shook her head. “Where ever he was going it was well protected.”
“Hm…” I hummed. ‘I think I have an idea. Are you thinking what I’m thinking Noel?’
“You mean the fact that the first get together with Boffer is tomorrow?”
‘Exactly…and we’ll have to make sure that Yun stays close to us for the time being. But also…’
“Would I be able to find whatever is protecting Austin from being tracked and would I be able to touch it.”
‘Correct again…’
“I’m not too thrilled with that look you have on your face Nori. Just what are you two talking about?” Eevie tipped her head a little to the left looking at with with her black eyes.
A smirk curled onto my lips, “We have an idea.”
“It’s probably stupid and reckless.” Eevie sighed and pushed off me so she was sitting up straight and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Let’s here it. Someone’s going to have to baby sit your noble behind.”
“Hey you’re a noble too and I don’t need a baby sitter thank you.” I huffed flicking my bangs out of my eye fro just a moment before they fell back in front of my eye.
“Even I question that sometimes Nori.” Noel chuckled and I rolled my eyes.
“Anyways, the first meeting for the boffer club is tomorrow at 6. I’m quite sure that Austin is going to drag Noel along with him to the first battle of the year with boffer. If everything goes well enough we can see just what Austin can do skill wise with a weapon. Does that mean it’s his full strength? No not at all.” I started to explain.
“You’re your going to see if he has good skills with a weapon it will mean that there’s a hidden “club” here and it some how may be connected to the the charm that is keeping me from tracking him.” She looked me dead in the face. “No…that’s not it. You want to know where he keeps the charm.” She grabbed my kimono and drug my face close to hers so I could feel her breath on my lips. “I swear if you, no either of you do something stupid before we hear something back from your sister I’m going to hurt you.”
I smirked and looked at her seductively, “Well now what kind of hurt?”
“The bad kind.” She said dead serious and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well then that means that I should probably skip the next thing I was going to ask.” I said and she rose an eyebrow at me as she let go of my kimono so I could sit up straight once again.
“Tell me what it is.” She sighed.
“If you can figure out a way to make a concealing spell travel then I’ll tell you why I decided to bond with a human.” A shocked expression over flowed from her face. “I’m sure you’ve already had that question go through your mind. Why would an heir to the Hira clan, a very famous and strong clan want to bond with a human? All you have to do is make a mobile concealing spell and that secret will just slip from my lips.”
She didn’t say anything and I just smiled and stood up stretching. “Think about it.” I said as Noel and I switched back and he walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out over the campus.
“I promise that we’ll behave…to the best of our abilities when we’re not in front of Nori’s parents.” Noel laughed a bit as he put his hands in his pockets.
Eevie sighed heavily and Noel turned around to look at her. “The main thing for the portable spell is to protect all of us. With how the bonding is getting stronger it means that we’re going to start smelling different. Elena and I won’t be able to conceal whatever sent is coming off of us.” Noel told Eevie. We had talked about it one random night when Noel wasn’t dreaming.
Eevie hadn’t said anything to us, but she let Elena back in control and she blew out the candle and let is sit there so it could cool. ‘Ask her to do something with you tonight.’ I suggested.
“Elena…did you want to do something tonight?” He asked and she looked at him a bit confused.
“Um…sure. Did you have anything in mind?” She asked getting up and walking over to us.
“Let’s so swimming. I haven’t checked out the school’s pool yet and I don’t want to go alone.” He said honestly. “I’ll buy you a bathing suit if you don’t have one. Please go with me.”
“This isn’t some trick to see my bonding mark is it?” Elena rose an eye brow being suspicious.
Noel quickly shook his head. “I’ll let you borrow one of my swimming shirts if it’ll make you feel more comfortable about it. But thanks for the hint that it is on your upper body.” He teased her. A small blush spread across her cheeks.
“Okay. I’ll go swimming with you. But not tonight. That shock got to both of us and I’m sore.” She answered and I think both of us could tell that she wasn’t laying about that.
Noel smiled, “It’s not a problem. Just let me know when you feel up to it. If you want, I can give you the shirt now though. That way you have it incase you want to go for a swim.”
“That would be nice actually.” She smiled at him.
I just realized something…Noel was eye level with Elena. When we first bonded there was a slight difference in height between them. Maybe an inch. He had to look up ever so slightly. I wonder if either of them have noticed it. By the looks of it they haven’t. I decided to stay quiet and let them figure it out on their own. So does this mean that he’ll have his growth spurts before he can develop any of my other powers? I mean that would make sense in a why, let his body catch up with where he is mentally, then maybe things will click. I can tell he has it since I was able to teleport while we did a partial switch, but he can’t do it unless he’s in a panicked state.
“There we go.” Noel’s voice brought me back to the situation at hand. They were already back in his room and he had rummaged through his drawers to find her a swimming shirt. Whatever that is. It looks like one of his standard under armor shirts that he’s showed me.
“Thank you Noel, I really appreciate it.” Elena smiled at him.
“Did you want to get dinner?” Noel offered. “I can go to the terra cotta and get us something and then bring it back and we can just eat in. I know your tired and all.”
“Hum…that actually doesn’t sound that bad.” She smiled.
Noel brightened up. “Okay! You willing to hang out with Yun till I get back?” He asked grabbing his wallet.
She giggled. “I think we can handle him.” She smiled sweetly as him.
“Okay I’ll be back soon!” Noel waved and headed out.
We went to the coffee shop that was called Terra Cotta and Noel got him and Elena wraps and then got a grilled cheese and a few apples for Yun. Once he got his bag of to go boxes he headed out and started back towards the school.
As we turned into the stairwell we both sensed it. There was a demon near by. It wasn’t that big of one. “Nori…”
‘Let’s do it up.’ I said and we switched I held onto the bag and teleported up to a roof so I could set it down and scan the area. Once I located it I teleported to where it was located. I sighed a bit when I realized it was just a raccoon dog. “Sorry little guy but I don’t need you hurting anyone.” I muttered and was about to strike it down with fire when I something was off. I teleported away and hid in the shadows of a building to watch what was going on.
It was a couple of older students, Noel didn’t recognize them. “Be gone fowl creature. Go back to once you came.” I frowned at what the “leader of the group said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I heard Noel sigh in my head, but what happened next shocked both of us. Rune letter’s floated in the air and spun around the raccoon dog quickly then latched onto it. The little guy squealed in pain before it erupted in flames and turned to ash.
‘We’re getting out of here now.’ I said before we could be spotted and teleported back to the roof to pick up the bag then I instantly went back to the room. Elena jumped when my feet lightly tapped on the floor.
“Did someone forget their card?” Elena asked and I looked at her.
“Yeah” I laughed a little bit and Noel and I switched again. ‘Don’t tell her what we saw back there. We don’t need them to worry.’
“Right.” Noel smiled and pulled out of the bag Yun’s box of food and then handed Elena her wrap before finally taking his out.
“I would have been fine with apples Noel.” Yun commented opening the box.
“Don’t worry I got you a few of those too. I figured that you would want something different for once.” He chuckled.
“Thanks.” Yun perked up happily after he took a bite of it. “This is so good!”
The three of them talked and had a good time. Just to be safe after Yun was done heating he transformed back into his little form. Hopefully tomorrow would go fairly smooth, but there was only one way to find out. After they finished eating Elena agreed to stay and watch a movie then she had to go back up to her room and start on her homework. Noel looked over his paper again and only fixed the spelling error’s that he found while he was reading. Then he got changed, went and brushed his teeth and went to bed.
*♢*♦*♢*♦*♢*
♦Noel♦
“What was that earlier that one boy did.” I asked sitting next to Nori as his manor finished forming around us.
“Those looked like ancient runes. If we don’t find anything out form Aiko by tomorrow we need to go and tell her about what we saw.” Nori commented as he sat there with his legs crossed and same with his arms. “This is really frustrating not being able to do anything about this.”
“I agree, but we’ve already brought a lot of attention to ourselves with having that book with us.” I said moving over to lean against his back with my own. “And we promised that we would try to behave.”
“Well you promise…” Nori stated.
“That both of us would try to behave Nori, we can do anything too reckless. I think if we get hurt that bad again Eevie will kill us. Or make us regret it at least.” I cut him off.
“True.” He laughed leaning back into me. “I swear I’ve seen runes like that before though.” He muttered.
“The fact that the guy said that though. It felt like it was right out of a manga.” I snickered.
“I swear if that kid thought that was the strongest demon out there he’s got another thing coming that’s for damn sure.” He laughed lightly. “They would all be dead if they went up against a screamer.”
“That’s so true. We were lucky that we made it out of it.” I mentioned and I felt him lean against my more.
“One thing they never told you before the bonding ceremony…If you die you get absorbed into me.” He said his voice fading the more he spoke.
“Do you know what happens if you die?” I asked a bit nervous to ask him.
“If I die…the same thing happens, but what will happen to you from it I don’t know.” Nori answered.
I pushed off him and crawled in front of him and sat there. “That won’t happen though. Your going to be stuck with me for a long time before you absorb my ass.” I stated “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” This made him laugh a little and ran a hand through my hair.
“I hope not. You’re a very epic partner in crime.” He snickered. I looked up at the ceiling. “I feel it too.”
“I’ll be right back.” I said and then I pulled away form talking with Nori.
I quickly sat up in bed have asleep though I had to put my arm up to cover my eyes from the light coming in from the hall. “Austin? What time is it?” I asked my voice coming out raspy.
“Don’t worry about it. Just go back to sleep.” Austin said in a hushed voice.
“But Austin…” I covered my mouth yawning.
“I was with a study group for a test tomorrow.” He lied to me. I could hear it in his tone.
I reached under my pillow and pulled out my phone and blinded myself from the bright light just so I could see what time it was. “It’s two in the morning.” I groaned as Austin clicked the door shut as I crawled to the end of my bed to find my glasses and put them on.
“Yeah, we lost track of time.” At least he was determined to stick with his lie.
“It’s okay. Did you have fun at least?” I asked acting like I didn’t notice his lie.
“Well as much fun as a study group can get.” He laughed lightly as he opened his drawer. “Get some sleep your classes start sooner then mine.”
“Okay.” I sighed and laid back down making sure not to land on Yun then put my glasses on the other pillow. “The first boffer club meeting is today. Are you going to go?” I asked him closing my eyes.
“You bet your ass I am. Your coming too right?” He asked sounding excited.
“I was planning on it.” I answered falling back asleep. “Get some sleep soon alright?” I said before I could hear his answer I was out again.
I slept through the rest of the night and was up at my usual time. I snuck around to room to make sure that I didn’t wake Austin up. The third time that I looked over at him to make sure that I didn’t wake him up I noticed something that was around his neck. I went over and lightly grabbed the chain of the necklace and pulled it out. My finger was on the clasp so I unhooked it from his neck and pulled it off. The charm that was on it was a small oval pendant with a intercut design or vines and leaves that weaved around in the shape of a scythe. I clasped it once more so the pendent wouldn’t fall off and rested it on the leg of his bed so he could find it right away.
When I set it down a rush of his sent hit me like a truck. It was so much stronger then when we first met and I bonded with Nori. It was so sweet I started to feel sick. I went over to my side of the room and grabbed everything I needed for my classes and Yun then I headed out to class. ‘That had to be the pendent that’s been keeping him from being noticed when he comes up behind us. I’m glad you didn’t get shocked from it.’
“His sent is really strong…” I noted a bit confused.
‘A person’s sent is one of the ways you can tell how strong the person’s soul is. The more you grow the more you’ll be able to actually see their soul. It’s a nifty little ability that the Hira clan possesses. Even I haven’t really mastered it. The color of a person’s soul only started to show it’s self recently. Like two years ago recently, but sent is normally how I can tell. A strong demon can hide the majority of their sent and the color of their soul. It’s when they release it, it’s so over baring that he can send someone with a lesser soul to bow to the other. Though there are those who oppose it and try to rebel. Normally to just end up losing in the end.’ Nori explained to me as I sat down in class and let my head hit the desk.
“I see someone’s a big ray of sunshine this morning.” I looked over to see Elena sit down in her usual spot.
“Austin came in at two this morning. He said he was with a study group. This morning I noticed that he fell asleep wearing a necklace. My parents taught me it’s not a good idea to fall asleep with any kind of jewelry on so I took it off him. When I set it down he just had a really strong sweet sent and now I feel sick.” I groaned not moving my head from the desk as other students slowly came in.
“You could probably tell the professor that you’re not feeling well and you can go back to your room.” Elena told me as a girl sat down in front of me.
“I’ll be okay.” I smiled and sat up so I was leaning on my forearms.
Soon enough pretty much everyone was there including the professor and we started class. Class went by just fine and I was feeling better by the time that lunch came around. “How are you feeling?” Elena asked as she sat down with her food.
“Better, I should be fine for the boffer club this afternoon.” I smiled at her. “Thanks for being concerned though.”
“Of course.” She smiled.
“Do you two always sit in the same spot?” I turned around to see Alexa and Austin behind us again like yesterday.
“Pretty much yeah.” I laughed a bit.
“Did you take my necklace off of me?” Austin asked sitting down next to me.
I nodded. “Yeah, my parents beat into me to never sleep with jewelry on. You’re not upset with me are you?” I asked frowning a bit.
He shook his head. “Na, I just panicked when It wasn’t on. It’s special to me.”
“It’s a really cool pendent. It looks old too so I’m not surprised that you want to keep it close to you.” I smiled at him. It kept the sent down, but now that I’ve smelled it I could smell the lightest sent of it coming off him.
“You ready for this evening?” He asked changing the subject.
“Hell yes I am. Just shoot me a text to remind me. I have my art class today and we’ll be getting out assignment for the weekend.” I mentioned and he nodded.
“I think I can handle that. You girls want to come?” Austin asked as Elena and Alexa seemed to be having a conversation of their own.
“What now?” Alexa asked looking over at us.
“He’s asking if you and Elena want to come watch the boffer club beat each other up with foam weapons.” I laughed a little.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Alexa “If anything it should be a good laugh.”
“Count me in.” Elena smiled at me.
“Awesome!” I smiled back at her.
The four of us continued to have random conversations till we all had to leave for our next class. My other classes went smoothly and I just had to do four still life’s that I could get done on Friday but I wanted to get the one that I was working on done before going back to the room. I jumped a bit when my phone buzzed in my pocket and it was already 5:30.
Break time. Get your ass up to the room and get your weapons it’s almost time for the show down.
I chuckled at Austin’s text and got cleaned up then ran up to the dorm. “What took you so long?” He asked as he made sure that he had his staff ready.
I opened my bag and pulled my books out of it then put the two apples with a few napkins in there for Yun and then went under my bed and grabbed my boffer swords. “Sorry, it takes a little time to get charcoal off your hands.” I said coming out with the swords in my hands.
“I can tell you missed some on your face.” He chuckled. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.
“Haha, I’ll clean it off in the shower later.” I rolled my eyes at him and then we headed down the stairs and out to the yard that was in front of where I had my studio classes. Alexa and Elena were already there. I handed my bag to Elena and she heard a bite from from the bag. “Can you hold this for me please.” She nodded and then Austin drug me away from her and Alexa.
“Come on lover boy your mine for the next two hours.” We both laughed.
We played war and king of the hill. Once we got back from a short break we were told that we were going to do some one on ones which is what Nori and I were hoping for. And to top it off Austin and I drew the short straws so we had to go first and go against each other.
“Loser get’s the winner whatever drink they want from Terra Cotta after this?” Austin offered the wager.
“Sounds good to me. I’m not going do that easily though.” I chuckled and rotated one of my boffer swords so it was pointing behind me.
“What are you doing?” Austin chuckled looking at my stance with my swords.
“Don’t worry about it.” I smirked at him.
“Remember no head shots. Two hits to the torso and your dead.” The head of the boffer club said raising an arm. “Fight.” His voice rang out and I sprang towards Austin.
He instantly went on the defensive and I pushed him back a bit because I had caught him off guard. He regained his balance though and was able to push back and push me away. We went back at it. He swung his staff at me and I dodged out of the way and managed to hit his side with one of my swords. He blocked my other one and knocked me away.
“That’s one.” I smirked.
“Then I’m just going to have to crank my game up a notch.” He said and this time came at me. He was moving faster now and he managed to knock my swords out of the way and he struck me in the chest with the end of his boffer staff. He tired to get a quick second hit in but I jumped up and did a few back flips away from him.
“I forgot you have gymnastics on your side.” Austin chuckled and then came at me once more.
“And I think it’s time I start using it.” I said dodging him and as best as I can while blocking the back blows that he would try to make with his boffer.
While I was up in the air he tried to hit me but I spun and blocked his staff knocking it away and I finally managed to hit his chest for the final blow ending the match. When I landed on my feet I stumbled back but caught myself. I was breathing heavily as Austin started laughing. Then everyone started cheering.
“Looks like we got a couple determined fighters this year.” The leader of the boffer club commented patting both of us on the shoulder.
I held out my hand with a smile. “Good match.” Austin took my hand firmly with a smile of his own and shook it.
“Same to you.” He nodded and then the next match started. We headed towards the girls. “You’ve been practicing behind my back haven’t you?”
“You got me.” I laughed.
“That was intense.” Elena smiled at me handing my bag back with more then likely a sleeping Yun by now.
“It was fun.” Austin laughed and patted me on the back. “Come on let’s go to terra cotta. I promised whoever won would get the other whatever drink they wanted.
“Wanna join us?” I asked the girls.
Austin was strong and had a lot of potential to be a really good fighter. I could tell that he wasn’t expecting me to be as good as I was though. But I didn’t get anything strange coming from him during the fight. So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
