[Closed] Soulful Practice

[Willoria]

[Plotboard] Consequences Souta arrived early, making sure to stash a bag he brought with him behind a rock. Naturally it had a couple boxes of sushi in it for lunch later as he waited for Sakaki to arrive. He left Hara at home of course, knowing the little fox would be a distraction at best, and at worst she might get hurt in the process of what Souta had planned that day. Strikes that would only numb him would probably kill the little fox and so she was safer at his house. Knowing he had arrived hours early he started out with his own routine, working on his own strength while he waited.

Of course, by time Sakaki would arrive he would simply be sitting on the rock, sipping at a cup of cold tea as he waited for her.

[TyDie]

Early in the morning Sakaki rose from her bed, got dressed in her mission garb given to her by Souta, had a small bit of toast and head out the door. She barely had time to wave to miss Miami before she was gone, rushing through the streets to her destination; a small training ground known for its seclusion, as it was enclosed by a ring of palm trees and rocks. It was about 100 meters in diameter, with various rocks and palm trees dotting the barren earth that provided adequate cover. Once there, she rushed through the entrance, a small archway, before searching for and eventually finding Souta perched on a rock.

"Sorry i'm late! I was up late, talking with Shishire." it appeared the girl had taken the time to 'bond' with the spirit inside her, which mostly consisted of listening to it brag about itself and pleading with to work with her today. She let out a few deep breaths, clearly having run most of the way. "Alright, i'm as ready as i'll ever be. How are we going to go about this, 'sensei'?" She pyt emphasis on the word, giggling as she did so... it was strange to her, training with a man who, if necessary, would be forced to kill her. A man who's purpose was to watch over her, but had taken a different approach...

She was happy that he did. She preferred this over those watchers...

[Willoria]

Surprisingly enough, Souta had taken time the night before to speak to another of Sakaki's guardians. The woman had provided him with some insight he wasn't expecting, and admittedly told him he should do something he desperately didn't want to do. But as he watched Sakaki approach, he knew she was right and he tried to smile. "Well for starters... you should know about something I have purposely kept secret from you, Sakaki." he told her, looking at her a moment. "Admittedly I had planned to keep it a secret until absolutely necessary, but I think for training like this it might actually help us achieve your goals." he continued, sighing as he looked at her a moment. He knew Shishire would be having a field day, probably ranting about how he can't be trusted and the like, but in this case he found himself almost hoping she'd listen, at least initially. "For this I want you attacking me with any techniques at your disposal, which means you need to see me as your enemy... if you have questions after, I'll happily answer them, but for now, I think its best the questions remain. It'll make it easier for you to attack me I think."

He was smiling ruefully as he spoke, lifting his hands to push off his haori and bare his torso. It wasn't to show off however, simply to preserve his clothing for the next part. In removing his shirt, the dark scar across his chest is revealed, and slowly that darkness begins to spread. It spread down his belly and up over his shoulders, down his arms. That darkness formed scales and with a snarl Souta dropped to a knee, digging his fingers into the dirt as black wings unfurled from his back and his face took on a new shape. When he stood once more, he breathed heavily, a low growl in every breath as he looked more akin to a humanoid dragon, claws, wings, and all, with black chakra swirling lightly around him.

*Ability transformation triggered.

[TyDie]

Sakaki's appearance immediately turned sour as Souta mentioned that he had a secret... She didn't like secrets, even before Shishire was sealed within her. "Uh huh... What kind of secret?" The kind that can't be trusted, Shihihi. All shinobi have their secrets, they all obscure the truth for their own benefit. This man is no different, child... You are unwise to trust him. For once, and she hated saying it, Shishire was actually making sense. Why would Souta feel the need to keep a secret from her, what did he have to hide that he thought she wouldn't like? "Alright... Do whatever you have to do Souta."

Her jaw fell slightly agape as the man suddenly unleashed some sort of power from within himself, his skin becoming covered in scales and large scaly wings emerging from his back. The scar on his chest seemed to radiate with some kind of evil black chakra, not unlike her own. By the time it was done he looked like a dragon standing on two legs... it was terrifying, to be honest. She... wanted her to fight him? Like that? Shishire... remember what we talked about. I need to prove myself here. If I do, we get more freedom, which means you get more freedom. I am well aware child, my memory is far better than you assume. You may use... a minor fraction of my power as you see fit. Remember what I taught you... Prove to him my superiority.

Sakaki prepared with a deep breath, the seal on her back glowing through her kimono with an eerie light as her body was enshrouded quickly in black chakra. Her legs took on a cracked appearance akin to glass, her eyes darkened to a dark blue enshrouded by blackened sclerae, and two large horns sprouted from the sides of her head. The very light around her seemed to grow darker as the cloak of Shishire thickened around her, enshrouding her in darkness. This was clearly a step above the power Souta had seen that night, when Sakaki raised her mother's soul. She had told Souta about it, but this would be the first time he saw her draw upon the power of Shishire's second form.

"Haa... heheh... Whaddaya think?" The manifestation took far less time than the first form did too, showing that Sakaki had become much more comfortable entering the form. Somewhere along the line, she had gotten better at this while he wasn't looking. So good in fact that, with a few hand seals, a light blue aura would form on her arm as she held it out, taking the shape of a hawk before it became physical. "...Attack." She spoke to the black eyed bird, which took off without hesitation towards Souta with it's talons bared, aiming for the man's eyes. As it did so, Sakaki took a few leaps back to distance herself from the man while she flew into another set of seals, clearly preparing something much bigger than the revival of a simple hawk...

Combat infoShow

Form two ascended activated. Stat change: Stat Changes: +8 Instinct, +6 Ninjutsu, +5 Control, +2 Stamina, -5 Speed

[Lesser Soul Revival: Weak Hawk]
D-rank Shijutsu
Sakaki will do a series of hand seals and hold a hand out in front of her, tapping into Shishire's power. So long as hawks are indigenous to the climate Sakaki is in, the soul of a hawk will be summoned on her arm, assimilating it’s body with it. This is a standard wild hawk, not a shinobi pet, but will be willed to abide by Sakaki's will, meaning it will attack if needed, or act as a patrol. The hawk will remain revived for 5 posts, or until release. Its discernible as a resurrection by it’s black sclera. It’s stat distribution is;
Ninjutsu: 1
Taijutsu: 9
Genjutsu 1
Stamina: 8
Control: 1
Speed: 9
Strength: 7
Instinct: 4

Katon • Superior Fireball
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
Sakaki begins with a series of hand seals, gathering chakra in her lungs as she does so. Once completed, she will expel from her mouth a small stream of flame that quickly takes the form of a massive fireball, 20 meters in diameter, that flies forward with 20 speed up to 40 meters. It impacts anything in it's path with 20 strength, causing great burns along with incredible concussive force.

[Willoria]

Souta was actually glad to see how shocked Sakaki was by his new appearance. As much as he hated using it himself, especially for something as trivial as training, he needed her to forget it was him for a moment if she was really going to perform as a jinch in this training. He was pleasantly surprised as she shifted her appearance and he saw her new form for the first time. "Good" he remarked simply, a word coming out as a low growl when he spoke, crossing his clawed arms over his chest as he waited for her to make a move.

As the hawk flew at him of course he brought his hand up and took a swipe at it, grinning at her. "You'll have to try harder than that, dearie." he told her, waiting for the next technique she was preparing.

[TyDie]

Sakaki knew the hawk wouldn't last long, but she expected it to at least scratch Souta's scales... Instead the man swiped it from the air without even trying. She studied his form with her incredible mind, enhanced by Shishire's power, trying to find a weakness to that armor of his... But she could find nothing. It was ironclad in her eyes, but perhaps a giant fireball would do the trick. She finished her seals and brought in a deep breath, exhaling ferociously as a gigantic fireball emerged from her mouth. The orb of flames was 20 meters in diameter and flew forward with impressive speed, a show of strength from the girl who otherwise could never hope to impress a jounin like Souta.

But she wasn't done there, she had a few more tricks up her sleeve. The fireball would hopefully obscure her from Souta's vision long enough that she could perform another series of hand seals, reaching into her ninja pouch as she did so to retrieve a single kunai with a flash tag attached to it. As she held the kunai, she funneled this chakra into the projectile and threw it towards Souta as hard as she could. With a single hand seal, the flash tag on the kunai would activate with a bright light, obscuring the kunai as it was engulfed in a poof of smoke, causing dozens of other kunai to form around it following the same path of movement as the first. The hope was that the light would prevent him from seeing the kunai multiply, and maybe one of the strays would catch him even if he dodged out of the way of the original kunai.

Come on... I have to get at least a scratch on him...

Combat InfoShow

The Fireball from last post completed. She also used 1x Kunai with a flash tag attached to it for this jutsu:

[Multiple Shadow Clone Kunai]
C-Rank Ninjutsu
Sakaki will perform a series of hand seals, funneling chakra into a projectile as she throws it. The projectile will then emit a puff of smoke that reveals a cloud of that projectile in a 5m^3 area moving at the same speed and strength. These projectiles cut just as sharp as the weapon thrown, and disappear after they've hit a target.

[Willoria]

His arms were crossed as he watched her fire off her fireball technique. The creature smiled, crossed arms unfolding from his chest and shifting in front of him as his wings followed suit and wrapped around his front, blocking his more sensitive bits with the scales of the wings as the fireball hit. The concussive force caused him to skid a bit, but a quick snap of his wings dismissed the fire and sent it billowing down his scales before it dissipated and he grinned at the girl before him still. His scales were impressively strong, protecting him from most damage.

Having a bit too much fun showing off, he didn't immediately notice her kunai, and the bright flash blinded him. In blinding him his arms came up, and the kunai impacted but due to the strength of his scales the result was a lot of sounds similar to a 'tink' each time as they glanced off and hit the ground. He grinned at her.

"In the face of the impossible, how will you respond?" he challenged her in his low growl. 'She's got a good head on her shoulders, what else will she try?'

[TyDie]

Sakaki grinned as the giant fireball impacted against Souta's form, thinking she had successfully landed a decent blow against him. However that grin turned to a frown rather quickly as she realized his wings batted most of the fireball's damage away. At best she had made him sweat a little, and pushed him back maybe a meter. The kunai barrage was much of the same; she blinded him for a moment and the barrage rang true, but it sounded like metal impacting metal and barelt scratched the man's scales.

It's those scales protecting him... i need to get around them. Sakaki clicked her tongue as she formed another set of hand seals, funneling Shishire's power into her hands as the slowly but surely vanished. Where once she had solid hands of flesh and bone, now only wispy black remnants of her hands remained. Another longer and more taxing series of seals would imbue those wispy hands with a touch capable of inflicting a crippling paralysis on a target by damaging their very soul.

Her breath was labored now, she had used a ton of chakra in such a short time... but she had to prove herself. "There's no such thing as impossible, Souta... There's always a solution!"

jutsuShow

[Touch of Anubis]
C-Rank Shijutsu
Prerequisite: Form 1 or higher
Sakaki does a series of hand seals, channeling Shishire's chakra to her hands with the intent of granting her hands the ability to damage a target's soul. This jutsu removes her hands physical properties, leaving a transparent, wispy hand in place of her normal hands. This does not inhibit her ability to form hand seals, but she is incapable of physically interacting with any matter with her hands for the duration. This allows her hands to phase through physical materials such as armor or protective jutsu that would otherwise prevent her from damaging a target's soul. This lasts for 4 posts, or until Sakaki ends the jutsu with a single hand seal.

[Frigid Embrace of Hel]
B-Rank Shijutsu
Prerequisite: Form 1 or higher
Sakaki will perform a series of hand seals, funneling chakra within her hands to allow her to damage a target's soul. For the next three posts, Should Sakaki's strike impact a target, the area surrounding the point of contact will become completely paralyzed for 3 posts. Repeated strikes in the same area refresh the duration of paralysis

[Willoria]

Souta raised an eyebrow as he watched her hands nearly vanish before his very eyes. To him it was disconcerting to see, bringing him concern for the girl's safety. But he didn't say a word, even only smirking as she spoke. He could see she was out of breath, the training session wouldn't last much longer as she was sure to be too exhausted soon. He was curious to see just what she planned to do with her hands in such a state. The last time she had used Shishire's power against him it had only caused a localized numbness but this looked like something stronger.

If he had hair in this form, it would have raised on the back of his neck. But he stifled the concern and remained as he was, arms crossed, waiting to see what would happen. 'She can't be strong enough to kill me yet, so I'll tank the hit and just see what happens.' he thought to himself.

[TyDie]

Sakaki took in a deep breath and prepared herself to attack Souta, holding her hands out palm first before rushing towards him as fast as her little legs could carry her... which wasn't fast at all. Shishire's power also slowed her down, so it took a good few seconds before she closed the 20 meter gap. It would be abundantly clear to Souta by the girl's stance, the way she moved, and the way she lunged towards him palm first that the little girl had almost no taijutsu experience, outside of what little was learned in the academy.

Nevertheless, she would reach towards the man palm first in an amateur's version of a palm strike, attempting to land a blow squarely on his stomach. If successful, the man's scales wouldn't save him from the damage done to his soul, as her hand would pass straight through his body to his soul. The damage inflicted as well would cause almost instant paralysis through his abdominal muscles, making any form of core movement difficult if not impossible. And if allowed to continue, she'd swing low next in the form of a left hook punch towards his right kneecap, passing the same paralysis effect to his leg if successful in making contact.

[Willoria]

Souta raised an eyebrow as he watched Sakaki come towards him. Her speed was abysmal, her technique didn't exist, and he couldn't help shaking his head as he started making mental notes of what she needed to learn. 'For her sake I hope she never has to use taijutsu given how bad she is right now... that doesn't bode well. But she can't be left completely helpless in close quarters. I need to teach her something.' He kept his arms crossed and watched her approach, but as her hand went straight through his stomach he felt the strangest sensation. He couldn't even tense them.

As if on reflex his body determined quickly not to let a second strike hit and his arms unfolded, his wings unfurled, and with a single snap of his wings he was pulled back a couple meters and he stared at the girl strangely. His belly didn't even tingle with numbness like he had expected, he couldn't feel a thing as he touched a clawed hand to himself. "Well that's interesting." he muttered, looking at Sakaki. "What was that?"

Jutsu UsedShow

Scaled Withdraw
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
In this Maneuver, Souta flaps his wings once to pull himself back, presumeably out of the way of an incoming attack of some kind. This flap pulls him back at a boost of +3 speed, with a drawback of -3 taijutsu for duration.

[TyDie]

Sakaki could feel the man's soul for a moment as she made contact... it was a strange sort of liquid-solid type of feel, as though it had give but not so much that she could pas through it. Truly a feeling unlike anything she had felt before. But the important part was that her jutsu had worked; she had managed to pass through his thick armor and deliver a strike to his very soul, one that clearly disconcerted him as he was suddenly unable to flex his abdomen. So disconcerting was it that he proceeded to flap away from her, asking what she had just done.

With a proud grin under all of that genma chakra, Sakaki spoke up. "Well, you told me that I had made your arm go numb that night when Shishire first came out. So I worked with Shishire a little, tapped into more of it's power, and figured if I numbed you by accident I could do more on purpose. Looks like i was right; you abdominal muscles are paralyzed because of the damage I dealt to your soul. It should fade in a few moments... ugh." Sakaki's eyes fluttered for a moment as she dropped to a knee, her breathing becoming labored. She had only used Shishire's power for a few minutes, but so many high ranking jutsu in such a short time was taxing even for her abnormally high reserves.

The cloak of Shishire's second form slowly dissipated from her body, her eye color returning to light blue and the black chakra fading away. She lifted her head to look up to her sensei now, sweat dripping down her face from all the exertion. "Damn... I hoped I could do more. Maybe i'm not ready for this exam..."

[Willoria]

Souta shook his head, more than a little disconcerted at the idea of what she had done to him. Though he was glad the effects were clearly temporary. He watched as she dropped to a knee and he took that as a sign they were done with the physical part of training for the day, at least for his need to keep using the transformation anyway. As he let it fall away it was as if everything just literally fell off of him with the weight of a feather and faded away, leaving the man himself behind as he walked over to Sakaki and held out a hand to her. "Come on, I brought food. It'll help you get your strength back." he told her, waiting for her to take his hand before he led her over to the stump and helped her sit before handing her a bento box and sitting across from her.

"You're closer to ready than you think." he told her. "Only flaw I actually saw was your attempt at taijutsu, and we can remedy that rather easily. Against an opponent for a chunin exam you won't have nearly as much trouble. You won't be switching between techniques so quickly to try and find a weakness, which was the biggest reason you wore out so quickly." he watched her a moment, hesitant to actually volunteer the information about his transformation, but after a sigh he told himself he needed to even if she didn't ask.

"Not sure if you know this, but that transformation is why the people in this village call me 'Norowareta'. It means 'The Cursed'. A few years ago on a mission I was a little overly cocky, went into a situation blind. I thought the villagers reporting a 'dragon witch' in their area were just exaggerating. Maybe it was just a missing ninja or something. What I ran into was far more... complex. And she left me with that transformation." He fell quiet a moment, chewing on the inside of his lip as he thought it over. The incident hadn't been long after his ex's death, he knew back then he was pursuing death any way he could, and instead he had found something worse. "I thought it might be easier for you to strike at me if I didn't look like myself. Sorry if I scared you with it, honestly I hate using it."

[TyDie]

Sakaki looked up to see Souta offering her a hand to help her stand, and with a smile she reached for it, hesitating only for a moment because of the jutsu that she had activated a few moments ago. But she quickly realized her hands were material again, and they were not charged with Shishire's black chakra. "Huh... I guess I can't maintain the technique without tapping into Shishire's forms. That's good... I didn't want to paralyze your hands too." She giggled and wobbled to her feet, taking Souta's hand to keep herself steady as she slowly made her way to the stump of a palm tree. She sat slowly, a few beads of sweat, dropping from her forehead as she took the man's bento box with a smile. She knew well what lay within it.

"Thank you Souta. And I know, my Taijutsu has never been the greatest... But I find using Shishire's power for ranged techniques to be rather difficult right now. Not sure why really, I have no trouble throwing fireballs as you saw. But Shishire's power is different... It's harder to manipulate and control at a distance. I figure I need to learn how to fight hand to hand someday, right? Maybe we should work on that sometime... Despite how I hate it." She sighed at the thought of the extreme physical exertion, flipping the top off of her bento to see that he had made more sushi for her, tuna this time it seemed, along with a few gyoza and some rice. The aroma of fished filled her nose and without a second thought she dug in, pulling chop sticks from the box to take a bite of Tuna sushi.

The flavor filled her mouth and she let out a squee of delight, she really couldn't get enough of the man's sushi skills. He went on to explain himself a bit more, especially that strange form of his and the origins of it. "It's all right Souta, I don't think you're a monster. I wasn't scared, just surprised really. I think it'd be kind of hypocritical for me to think poorly of you because of that, given my own oddities." She gave the man a wink, hoping that she made him feel a little better about the whole 'cursed' thing. In a way, she too was cursed... Tch... 'Gifted' is the proper term, child. Blessed, even. "Shishire says i'm blessed, not cursed... In some ways he's right. I think it'll feel a lot more like a blessing when I can be more open about it. I hate keeping this secret..."

She looked down to her food for a moment, deep in thought about the spar they had just had and the future trail that awaited her. And in the midst of these thoughts, she had a sudden, random thought come to her. "Souta, who is Hotaru? I saw the tattoo below your ribs, and it seemed like a strange place to get a tattoo. I was thinking of getting some myself when I get older, but not a name, I hear that's bad luck." She had no idea the significance of the tattoo, or how much a name tattoo'd on one's skin could mean to the bearer. Such was her innocent, young mind.

[Willoria]

"Not sure if I'm the right person to tell you if you're blessed versus cursed." Souta replied with a bit of a chuckle. He had another bento box of food with him but he didn't reach for it yet. Fact was he had it in case Sakaki needed another, the man himself hadn't found himself particularly hungry that day. It was a condition that wasn't improved as Sakaki asked about Hotaru. The man sighed quietly, eyes dropping to the ground as he tried to find the words. "I haven't spoken of her in... at least ten years." he admitted quietly, shaking his head. "Hotaru was my girlfriend when I was nineteen." he explained, chuckling a bit as he lifted his shirt to show the scar with the name tattooed over it again. "We were sparring when she gave me that scar, and she was so freaked out by it I kept joking that it was her way of claiming me. That night I used a mirror to tattoo her name over it as a joke, thinking it'd cheer her up." There was a bit of a sparkle in the man's eyes briefly as he remembered the moment. "If memory serves... she slapped me for being an idiot instead." he added, shaking his head.

After a moment, after a sad chuckle had made its way out, a more somber look took over the man's expression. "I was nineteen, being looked at for promotion to Jounin, when her and I were sent on a recon mission. We were looking for an A Rank Missing Ninja and instead found a large force. Locating him would be hard, we knew that, but I decided it was necessary to see his face before reporting back...She died for my stupid decision." Souta pushed himself up to his feet and started pacing a moment, that night was more than nineteen years ago but it still haunted him. "I wanted that promotion because I was planning to propose to her immediately after that. With that bonus I knew I could afford a nice ring for her..." He shook his head. "Sorry, I doubt you expected quite such a depressing answer to that question."

[TyDie]

Sakaki surely wasn't expecting such a depressing answer to her question, as Souta had thought. She had no idea that he had been through such hell in his life... between this draconic curse of his and a lost lover in his past, she could scarcely believe that the man was still an active shinobi. "My goodness Souta, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry into such a somber subject." She truly didn't feel like eating after such a topic of discussion, but she couldn't help herself; her body was drained and she was famished. She popped another piece of Sushi into her mouth and swallowed, thinking of how best to approach the subject that now hung in the air.

"For what it's worth, if there's one thing I've learned in my time with Shishire, the dead are never truly gone. Not that i'm saying I want to call her forth, but I know in my heart that she's still among us in a way. I've no doubt that she's at peace... I hope knowing that helps you find peace too." She took another bite as she finished speaking, letting her own words hang in the air between her and Souta. She had no idea how the man would take her words, it could make things better or worse, or have no change whatsoever. But it was better then ignoring it altogether...

[Willoria]

Souta paced still, smiling sadly at Sakaki's apology. "You have nothing to apologize for... honestly now you know why I got strangely quiet about the house. We had saved together and bought it, planning on starting a family of our own that just never happened." The man had of course seen others go through such losses and eventually recover romantically, moving on with another and having their family. But it was something he just had never been able to do. He knew that his life had been consumed with Hotaru when she died, and sometimes he wondered if that was why he couldn't move on. Something about the inflamed passions of a nineteen year old that just never went away, and the thought gave him a brief chuckle.

He nodded when Sakaki mentioned the woman being at peace, and he knew she was right. "Despite what happened I made sure to bring her home. She was laid to rest properly, and I still go see her when I can." He didn't tell her that her ashes were not scattered as was tradition, after all Hotaru herself had never been a follower of Yuumagure. Instead he had a small memorial for her in his own home, back by the small fish pond that no one could really see anymore. That was where he often visited and spoke with her. "You would have liked her though. She grew up much the same way you did, we were friends from when we were kids. She spent more than a little time knocking my ego down a few pegs..."

[TyDie]

Sakaki felt a little better as Souta told her she wasn't in the wrong, but she still felt bad about drudging up these emotions for Souta. This wasn't the first time she had done so either, she seemed to have a way of getting him to reminisce about the past. She would have to be more careful in the future, the man's life was full of tragedy it seemed, and she didn't enjoy making him remember it. The man stated that he went to see her still, which lead Sakaki to become curious as to how. But she declined to ask about it... it had gotten too painful as it was. "Heh... well you know, someone has to keep you in check right? I guess it's my turn now!"

She didn't mean to imply that she wanted to be with him the same way that Hotaru was, though that might be how it was taken. Either way, she moved from the conversation as best she could be turning her mind back to her chuunin exam, which was set for the near future. "Do you think that i'm ready, Souta? I'm nervous about the exam, what if I lose? I mean I can still be promoted on a loss like you said, but what if I fail? I can't help but feel they're going to be harder on me, knowing that i'm a Jinchuuriki... They're going to know that, right?" She was so unsure of her future... So much so that her appetite was finally pushed away by her fears. She sighed and looked down at her food, setting the bento down by her side as she ruminated on her exam

[Willoria]

Souta finally paused in his pacing, chuckling at the girl's comments and shaking his head. "I guess it is your turn then." he replied, chuckling still though he didn't at all take the statements the way the girl might have feared. As she began talking about her exam though he quickly turned and walked back over to her, sitting down beside her this time. "As a Jinchuuriki your fight will be viewed differently, but not in the way you're thinking. They'll be just as hard on you as anyone else, but there is a single key quality they'll be looking for above all, Sakaki." he told her, turning to look at her.

"They will want to see that you are beginning to show control over the spirit within, that you are learning to use Shishire's power for the good of the village. The last host never ranked up, you've already lasted longer than she did and come further than she was able to. I think you have plenty to show them, and you've done really well." Souta sighed, leaning back against the stump. "Don't worry, you've made great strides... but you should keep eating. I have another bento for you if you need it after all. Don't wanna waste any of if."

[TyDie]

While Sakaki's mind was still filled with doubt about her own capabilities, it was clear that Souta's wasn't at all. In his mind, she was more than prepared for the upcoming exam, and she had already come farther with Shishire than the last host had. All of this praise and compliment she was receiving was working her out of her doubts, little by little, and at the end when he said that she had done really well she finally looked up and smiled at him. He pushed her to finish eating, stating that he had a ton of food for her, and honestly she was starving... but before any of that she needed to thank him.

And what better way for a little girl to thank someone than with a warm hug, as Sakaki scooted closer to Souta and wrapped her arms around his abdomen, burying her cheek into his pectoral with a snuggle and a smile. "You always know how to cheer me up, Souta. Thank you... I don't think I could've come this far without you." For the first time since her sealing, she didn't even hear the annoyed sigh that Shishire let out in regards to her affections, which he believed were misguided and dangerous. It didn't even register with her, she was just happy to have someone like Souta that she knew she could trust, even if Shishire believed otherwise.

Once the hug was done, she reached for the bento again and shoveled a big mouthful of rice into her mouth, followed by half of one of the Gyoza. It was clear now how hungry she truly was. "And don't you worry, i'll bring that bento home with me. I would never dream of wasting your cooking Souta!" She spoke with a full mouth, again to Shishire's dismay, as she didn't care about her appearance at all right now. She was just happy and content, and she wanted to enjoy that as long as she could.

[Willoria]

For a moment Souta froze up as Sakaki hugged him. The two had been back and forth in whether or not they trusted one another, and the older man understood why entirely. She knew what he was, who he was, and now she officially knew all of his secrets. After a moment he relaxed and rest a hand on top of the girl's head. "Don't worry, kid. You'll go so much farther." he assured her, finally breaking a smile before kissing her lightly on the head. It was odd for him, a man who had never married and never had the children he had always dreamed of having... yet if he didn't know any better he had what he wanted in the presence of this girl right here. She might have been his ward, his student, but she was slowly becoming something more akin to a daughter.

And it no longer bothered him that that should be a problem as she hosted the soul of a genma.

As she returned to her food the man couldn't help a laugh as he watched her eat and a completely not ladylike fashion. He knew Shishire would hate it so much, and somehow that just made the man laugh even harder.