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Nexus Orochi casually walks down the path towards the Academy with little to no emotion crossing his face. His odd serpentine eyes casually cast themselves around the area that he was walking before turning upon the male beside them with equal fierceness. "What could we possibly learn in a place such as this? It's most likely going to be one big waste of time on our parts." He says, each 's' in his wording creating a hissing sound as he spoke, this man was a true member of the Orochi clan, and not some mock male of another clan trying to make themselves seem like an Orochi clan member. Shifting his hands and arms up in order to cross across his chest. Gauntlet clad hands clicking against his pale arm as he stops walking and turns his golden haired head to look in the direction of his companion beside him once again.
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Chuckling calmly the Daimyo clan member from Hidden Katana known as Perseus. Smiling a little towards the serpentine male beside him. While the male beside him stops, Perseus raises a hand and brushes a few strands of long black hair from his face and then begins to speak. "Like hell if I know. It's just a school, they will probably teach us a bunch of s**t we don't need to know, and then tell us to go out and survive for a few weeks in the forests, with only a dull dagger and a few pieces of salted meat." Perseus says as he rolls his light gray eyes slowly in the male beside him's direction. He wasn't really fond of this place they were headed to, and he hadn't even gotten there yet. For the most part, he wasn't fond of much of anything other than swords. That was an interesting thing for him, swords, they were a wonder even he loved to be able to use.

Chrono walked into the academy, filled with little and new ninjas. He hated that word. A ninja is a coward who runs around quietly and kills fromthe shadows. Chrono was a samurai, a true warrior who kills and dominates in broad day light. He would not hesitate to kill some one, and had no problem doing it. However, he would have to win against them. He had his code. Respect was a large of it as well as honor. The loser must always die in his book. He was just here because it was necessary. Any other time he would have skipped this and went right back to his work shop to build his next master piece. It had been so long since he built one of the beautiful messengers of death, a grand katana. He could build all types, each with different abilities and powers. His swords were legendary. He had part in building the legendary grass cutter weilded by saske and he was only 18. He was deffinetly an impressive samurai and sword builder. But that was in his village, now he was in this filthy academy with these annoying little SHinobi that he so must despised. He would some day kill many of these ninja, but first he needed power and the ability to win. He would after he completed the academy. He just needed one technique and they would allow him to leave. So he decided to get the easiest and possibly most valuable skill, water walking. It was an act of god to walk on water yet all of these ninja and shinobi could do it. Not to be one at a disadvantage, Chrono also wanted this ability, so that he could stand on equal footing with them.

He started to walk threw the building and looked in each room, they stunk of ninja and their filthy jutsu. He hated them. He knew that they would all fall by his blade some day. He needed not any of this, he just wanted to go to the sparring dojo. He wouldn't be able to kill any one he defeated, which was against his code, but it wuould have to do for now. He could always track them down later and give them their reward for losing to him. He had to leave the main building and go out back until he found the seperate building where the dojo was located. He entered and grabbed his practice wooden sword. It was no where near a decent weapon, un-balanced and chunky. He coud still win with it though. He entered the ring and took his ready stance. The enemy rushed at him and he parried, throwing them off balance before swinging full power at his mid section, breaking two or three ribs. HE flew out of the ring and would have to leave the academy to get medical attention. The next compettetor would step up, better prepared now that he saw Chrono's technique and fighting style. He like the other one rushed him, and then feinted a left before spinning to the right. Chrono knew what was coming by the way he prepped his feet for the spin, one would not do that for a simple slash. So he quickly stepped in close and the man's arms hit his side instead of the sword, a harmless effect. Chrono then shoved him back hard and swung down with his wooden training sword chracking the man's shin.

Disgusted by the easy victories, he threw down his sword, leaving the shameless fighters behind. He would have loved to kill them all and by his rules, they would have all been dead. They were truly lucky. He would however take the lessons he learned with him. Ninja in general, need their jutsu to win in fights. They can not realy on the honorable katana to win. It was truely a shame.

(649)

Haku was right, Miku was going to interrupt the silence to speak once more. Was. It was so clear she was when she started to open her mouth when the waiter came by with the meals. Oh well. She wasn't really going to say something of too much importance. Actually, the timing of the waiter was perfect since here's what would have come out of young Hatsune if said waiter hadn't just gotten there: "I wonder if our meals are almost done cooking." As simple as that. She remembered haku hadn't yet ordered, so when she did Miku sat her fork back down and sat her hands in her lap. She was going to wait for haku's meal to arrive before she ate any of her own food. After all, i was the polite thing to do. Surely Haku would apreciate it, right?

Honehime was forced to look away out of embarrassment as Echidna continued to test out the bone she had formed. She tried not to think too much about it. Echidna, rubbing and pressing at the bone, at something that came from inside of her. She knew when she was very young, and first discovered her family's ability, that she had thought it repulsive, and scary. But she quickly grew used to it, and now the idea didn't bother her in the slightest. Now, the idea of another person feeling those bones, that was something else entirely! Her cheeks darkened with a blush once more, and she tried everything she could think of, to avoid thinking of such dangerous thoughts. It's not like anything tawdry or perverted was going to happen, right? She must just be unable to shake off that imagery from before, right?
(24805 words + 147 words = 24952 words)


Lieselotte watched as a new figure came into view. They didn't walk or anything like that, they were seemingly flying. She didn't really know of any abilities that let one fly, this was something new. Were they an enemy? They weren't attacking, but then again that only went so far. After all, Zenia hadn't burst out attacking, either. So she remained on guard, ready to jump into the battle if it looked like there would be fighting. Her hands hung ready at her sides, ready to send out chakra strings once more. But even so, somehow she felt that this new person wasn't here to fight, that they were here for some other purpose entirely. They seemed interested in Sakazuki, she wondered if, like Zenia to her, this was a familiar face to the Circe?
(21205 words + 140 words = 21345 words)


Katsu followed Shuku's gaze as it went from their guests, to her, then to the now empty cauldron. She felt a bit sheepish at having finished it, but it had been very tasty! She didn't know if the three young men would be staying with their group or moving on, so she didn't know if they had to take that into account for cooking. She had no experience with the duty, she hadn't been exposed to a Cooking T2, or indeed any others, yet. Hopefully her Mistress could help her once she woke up. She looked back at her slumbering cow girl mistress, and smiled a little. Then she spied several bags on the other side of camp. She didn't remember seeing them before. She moved closer to Shuku and whispered her discovery in her ear, wondering whose they were. After all, the three of them had been so busy enjoying one another that they never noticed Echidna and Honehime's presence, or delivery.
(27649 words + 169 words = 27818 words)


Zenia had had a few long moments to rest. Her body was still pretty sore, but she felt she could continue on now. Shakily, she got to her feet, and retrieved her weapon case. Her pilebunker returned to it, and she slowly rubbed at her now bared wrist. She licked her lips and pulled out a small hip flask, before unscrewing the cap and taking a drink. There was nothing left to do but go and report to her superiors, while making sure to leave the report as open ended and flexible as possible, and to stress the need to continue monitoring what Achenbach, and now her friend, were doing. This wasn't over, not by a long shot. She would continue watching them, find out what she needed to know, and then she and the Circe could have their real battle, a battle that both would give their all to, to find out who was stronger.
(7547 words + 157 words = 7704 words)


Melona pouted when Menace didn't flash her another tantalizing glimpse of what lay under her skirt, instead crouching down to retrieve her removed garments. Melona took one last peek in the closet, but nothing immediately seemed worthwhile to grab. Of course, she didn't have permission to use anything within it anyways, but she didn't care. When Menace's stomach rumbled, she held back a minor smattering of giggles at the slightly predictable result. Instead, she thought back, to where a cafeteria even was in the building. She was pretty sure there was one, after all, she could have sworn she saw several deliveries from grocers or farmers. So it simply was a matter of finding it. "Very well, Princess! Let us move on and find sustenance in this strange land of plenty!" She seemed to be getting used to being Menace's vassal or herald, or at least pretending to be.
(10300 words + 154 words = 10454 words)


"Well, I don't think they are, anyways." She could have sworn she had heard that several former participants had returned in successive years after gaining new strength. If they were fights to the death, then how would that be possible? Also, if every single challenger always died, then why would there be so many participants? Of course she didn't know just how many there were, but for two to meet like this, so easily, there had to be a pretty good number of hopefuls. It was because of those reasons that Alice felt sure that the fights were not to the death. Well, pretty sure. There could always be an accident, or one of the participants could fight harder than they needed to, but overall, she assumed that the fights were generally non-lethal. Glory to the victor and humiliation to the loser, of course, but she didn't think death was a part of that.
(10675 words + 158 words = 10829 words)


Haku looked from Miku to Neru, seeing neither of them eating. It only took her a moment to realize why. She felt a little guilty, if she would have been able to order when they had, she wouldn't be making them wait like this. But she didn't want to refuse their kindness, so she was left a bit tormented, over which decision was the right one. She hoped at the very least that her own dish would arrive soon to spare her the exquisite sorrow of having to choose either her friends' kindness, or them getting to eat while their food was still fresh and at the right temperature. She did look sad as the realization hit her, but not enough to start crying again. she was working her determination as hard as possible, she didn't want to ruin this get together, like she felt that she had ruined so many others. Of course, about half of that decision might have been true, but she was always harder on herself than the world was, and took everything so very personally. That was why it was such a challenge not to think that everything was all her fault. She blushed deeply, and picked up her mug, pretending to take a sip as she quietly thanked her friends.
(5498 words + 219 words = 5717 words)


The lenses in V-13's eyes irised larger, giving her the appearance that her eyes had widened in surprise at Pan's declaration. She forced herself to stay upright, even though the sudden surge of data through her system had very nearly caused her position to atrophy into a slump. She didn't know if there was more to this decision than simple generosity or efficiency, but since the result matched with her own preferred goals, she felt it would be best not to further question the intelligence of such a decision. Even so, she felt she needed to know at least one more bit of data about this whole incident. She had tried checking the records, at least the records open to the general troops. She wasn't skilled enough to hack into the higher-ups' databases, which was a good thing. She would have been caught and given a stiff penalty. But in the records that she was able to review, she had found no listings of any other unit who shared her peculiar problem. Apparently, there were no precedents to match her situation, no guidelines on what might be the best course of action. That left her continued existence as a great unknown, and even a potentially faulty unit like her preferred to make the unknowns known. "Sir, a question? If I am to be retaining this 'flaw', then am I to begin a different set of duties or work detail?" Of course, she wasn't thinking of the same duties as Pan was, of espionage and infiltration. No, she was thinking of things that would seem more relevant to punishment detail. Cleaning the service bays, rerouting power lines during electrical storms, manual loading and unloading of the base's hard memory.
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For a long moment, Etheldreda didn't answer Sakazuki's question. Slowly, she reached out a hand to briefly touch the Circe's cheek, perhaps to make sure of the magical potential she sensed coming from her. Seemingly satisfied, she slowly settled to the ground, now standing on her own two feet. "Those blessed with forbidden knowledge know of me as the Pnakotic Manuscripts." There was a very good chance that Sakazuki would have heard the name of the famous ancient tome, after all, it was one of the most highly-prized pieces of Hidden Twilight's library. "You may call me Etheldreda. I sense in you magic potential, you will make a fine Mage." A Mage, of course, was not a simple magic-user, a distinction well known to those versed in the mystic arts. A magic user could indeed use magic, but a Mage was a master or mistress of magic, bending it to their will and whim. "Will you accept the Pact?" There were numerous pacts and rituals performed in Hidden Twilight, enough that just saying 'the pact' would generally not tell a Circe much. Then again, some pacts were more famous than others, especially ones from eons back, long before the village was even formed, long before humans were truly thought to exist. Back in the before time, when beings that could not properly be conceived by mortal minds had come to this land, and then later gone away, sealed in a forgotten city under the waves, or banished to a distant point in the sky.
(1618 words + 260 words = 1878 words)


Dizzy looked at Shouko in confusion and amazement. The story, part of it sounded right. the part about her having wings and a tail, at least. But she had never done anything to protect the forest, had she? That was the glade's doing, not hers! She got flustered again, and tried to explain, but ended up not doing too good of a job. "That... well, that is... I'm me, and the glade is... the glade protecting... I am, the glade is..." She let her sad attempt at explaining falter off, and instead felt herself pulled another few steps closer. It looked like Shouko would be enjoying the food, too. That made her feel at least a little better about it, it made it seem like less of an offering, and more of a meal brought by a guest. She sort of felt like this glade was her home, after all, and this would be the first person she'd had over, ever. Thinking of it that way made her feel a bit better about it all, but still nervous. At some level, she was pretty sure the Akimichi wasn't a bad person, but even so, old fears were often some of the hardest to break free of. Eventually, she finally reached the side of the boulder, the side opposite Shouko, and knelt down to join her guest. Seeing everything from this close, she noticed even more than before how yummy it all looked.
(1592 words = 246 words = 1838 words)

As both of the girls expressed their concern about providing them anything he raised his hands shaking his head from side to side. "It's no problem at all, we wouldn't want you to waste food or drink on us anyways." He said, bowing slightly. He slowly bent his legs, dropping down to sit on his knees, relaxing as he looked up at Shuku. "Please, sit and relax, I apologize for making you feel so tense, and for any trouble this has caused. It would be wonderful if we could just sit and enjoy each others company, besides we are the ones imposing, if anything I would forage and cook for you before
I let you lift a finger to serve us in anyway.0" He said, bowing to the point where his head was almost touching the ground. "...ugh...wimp." Amon said, groaning as he rolled over onto his side Czernobog watched, becoming curious as Katsu whispered to Shuku. He watched Katsu, blushing as he caught himself staring, turning his head down until it faded slightly, sighing at the fact that his face would probably remain red the entire time they were with these women, oh well it was Ironically appropriate... he was the blood user after all.

Honehime's blush deepened immediately, upon hearing Echidna's far-too-accurate question. For a long time, she couldn't answer, instead she just silently walked along behind Echidna as she led the way, until she stopped in front of a large tree. Only then, when Echidna turned back to face her once more, was she able to answer. Even then, though, her voice quavered with embarrassment. "No! Well, not really, not like... what was back there... not really... It was just, it felt... weird." She turned away, her cheeks blazing once more, as she concentrated on calming down, on taking deep breaths and trying to release all of this embarrassed nervousness flooding her body. It wasn't easy, there was just so much new experiences from throughout the day, experiences that seemed so lecherous!
(24952 words + 135 words = 25087 words)


Lieselotte listened to the conversation, and took a few steps back. It seemed that the newcomer was friendly, or at least not an enemy. So if that was the case, then it didn't look like Sakazuki would need help with, with whatever was about to happen. The newcomer had mentioned a pact, but that didn't really mean much to Lieselotte, aside from the general meaning of the term. She had the feeling something big was about to happen, though, so she made sure to keep a decent distance between her and the newcomer, just in case. She didn't want to risk getting pulled into whatever was about to happen. Or risk getting injured by it, either. She'd stay and watch, though, she was curious about just what exactly actually was going to happen. What sort of a pact, what sort of terms?
(21345 words + 146 words = 21491 words)


Katsu took another look at the three men. She had already mostly eliminated the idea of them being dangerous, but it wasn't impossible to think they might try something. Then again, if they kept an eye on them, they wouldn't have a chance to slip anything extra into the food, or take an antidote or anything beforehand. So as long as they would keep an eye on the three young men, it should be okay. She turned back to Shuku and whispered her opinion into the Mayonaka's ear. Just then, Mei finally started to wake up, clumsily moving around as she failed repeatedly at getting a hand beneath her to push herself into an upright sitting position. As soon as Katsu noticed, she moved to her Mistress' side to help, and to regrettably help her get her shirt on properly.
(27818 words + 143 words = 27961 words)


Zenia had pressed on until she was at the edge of the small village that had sprouted up with the Academy as it's focal point. First, various places to grab a bite to eat had settled in, to get some of that student money the Academy prospectives carried. Then, other places to burn their cash. Then, places for the owners of those stores to sleep at, or to buy necessities. Soon, it was it's own little village, with most of what you could ever need, and in a much smaller package. Zenia slipped into this village and strode forward, counting on her imposing demeanor to keep people from bothering her. It worked, very well. They did notice her, but there was little to be done about that. She went into one of the cheaper hotels, returning to a room she had purchased before but left unused up until now. She began pulling out small bits of machinery and putting them together, and then once it was ready, she stripped a section of the wiring from the phone to hijack it's connection and make an untraceable call to her superiors.
(7704 words + 192 words = 7896 words)


Melona watched as Menace picked up her staff and set her bag upon it. Quite an odd accessory for such a curvaceous schoolgirl! She grinned as Menace used her free hand to hold her skirt down, to prevent it from flapping up too high. Melona grinned, even that was a cute look for Menace. When the Imhotep turned back to glare at her, she looked around and smiled a little when she noticed they were already attracting quite a bit of attention. It shouldn't have been a surprise, both of them were dressed in extremely provocative clothes. She leaned forward to whisper into Menace's ear, and pointed out that she shouldn't let the people's stares get to her. After all, she was a Princess, and they were just commoners, staring in awe at their beautiful Princess. She wondered if such a trite excuse would satisfy Menace's annoyance. Even if it didn't, it might lighten it up somewhat.
(10454 words + 163 words = 10617 words)


Alice smiled as she felt the warmth of Airi's back, and snuggled a little closer against her. It wasn't really all that cold out or anything, but warm was generally nicer. When Airi answered her, she nodded. A moment later, she realized that Airi wouldn't be able to see that. She might have been able to feel it, though. Just to make sure, she verbally answered. "Of course. We'll both give it our all, so that there will be no regrets. And we can still be friends after, no matter who wins. Right?" This last question was asked hopefully, she didn't want to risk losing her first real friend, but she wouldn't insult her friend by throwing the fight or intentionally losing. Her friend deserved a real fight, with her at her best. Which reminded her, they still hadn't found her bag yet. They should probably get moving again. Well, in just a few minutes, anyways.
(10829 words + 163 words = 10992 words)


Haku let herself sigh, knowing that Miku was phrasing their choice in it's best possible light to avoid hurting her feelings. She appreciated it, and wanted to do her part by letting it work. So when Neru asked if they would be returning to Hidden Night after their training, she had to stop to think. She hadn't ever been sure that learning how to fight was right for her in the first place. She was much too timid, much too lacking in self confidence to ever be really successful at it. Much like her singing career. That, on the other hand, was one she enjoyed, even when she didn't do too well. So, to go back to Hidden Night seemed like a good enough idea. Maybe they could spend some time working on their singing, or something like that? But she didn't know, she didn't want to bear the responsibility of making such a huge decision on her own. "Ummm, it might be nice to go back for a while, but I don't know. What do the both of you think?" She looked at the both of her friends for a moment, and then averted her eyes, and looked to see if the waiter was returning yet. It didn't appear so, so she returned her gaze to the table, and took another sip of her now almost empty mug of tea.
(5717 words + 238 words = 5955 words)


V-13 heard the answer and attempted to determine if the prompt answer was a good or bad sign. The fact that little to no deliberation had been needed wasn't the best way to judge the condition of said decision. After all, generally her fellow artificial beings made all decisions promptly, without any moments of indecisiveness. There were simple logarithms that tallied up the reasons for or against, and led to the right answer. Those computations generally took somewhere in the nanoseconds, compared to a human, spending entire seconds or even minutes wrestling with a decision. Of course, V-13 had that same problem, there had been times when she had found herself unable to correctly identify the right solution immediately. And of course, for the service's grading system, that moment of indecision ranked as bad as a completely wrong answer. So even if she would have been able to give the correct answer, the time it had taken to find the correct answer had nullified any points she might have gained with it. So instead of wasting precious seconds debating it over any longer, she sent the query to her long-term data storage, to continue reviewing at a later date. For the moment, she would attempt to act the part of the soldier. One of the first lessons of the soldier was to never question a superior officer. So she saluted once more. "Sir no sir!" She held her salute for the required amount of time, and then brought her arm down sharply to her side once more. Still unnoticed within her, that subtle program had diverted a portion of her energy to it's own devices, and was currently calculating growth and progress rates for it's own development. It was already beginning to develop it's own web of inner workings within the oblivious failure of a soldier's system. No diagnostics would pick it up, as it was more of that same ephemeral technology that seemed to be the classification of her simulated emotions and feelings. These were of a different order and subdivision, though, and their outward manifestation would be virtually impossible to predict.
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As soon as Sakazuki said she would accept the Pact, Etheldreda's eyes flashed with light for an instant. As the light faded from her orbs, a new light sprang into being. It was similar to an alchemist's transmutation array, with two key differences. It was much larger than any standard array, with Etheldreda and Sakazuki standing at it's center with plenty of room to move. As well, it was actually suspended int he air, a true mystical circle that slowly spun around the two of them, almost like a nimbus or a halo. Etheldreda let her arms reach out to her sides, and the light grew brighter. She moved closer to Sakazuki, rising up slightly into the air so they could stare directly eye to eye. "Then I, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, accept you as my Mage. What is your name?" Indeed, names were important. They were as much a part of someone as their arm or leg or heart. With a person's name, power could be gained over them, or bonds of power could be formed with them. In this case, it was the latter. The Pact could not proceed without Sakazuki stating her name of her own free will.
(1878 words + 204 words = 2082 words)


"Magical? Well, no, not... Well, I guess that could be one way to look at it." Dizzy didn't know if she really believed in magic. She had never seen any real proof that it existed, but then again, she had never seen proof that it didn't exist, either. Up until now, it was just something else in the world that she had never really bothered to think about. But hearing Shouko say it, yes, it did seem to make sense, that the glade was magical. It did seem to have a power, an ability to make bad people stay away and unable to enter it. If that wasn't magic, then what was? Until she heard a better theory, she might as well believe it was magic. She nodded once more, in agreement with Shouko's pronouncement. She let her gaze fall down to the food between the two of them, wondering if it would be okay to get started. She wasn't absolutely starving, but that handful of berries she had eaten a few hours ago hadn't really filled her up, either.
(1838 words + 186 words = 2024 words)

Muramasa was in a classroom. He sighed. While the teacher was droning on and on about some jutsu or whatever, Muramasa was drawing, and drawing and drawing. He wanted to make a blade, but he was not sure what he wanted for it. He realized why this was so easy in the past. Those who he made blades for never really asked his opinion about anything. They one way or another, knew what they wanted in a blade. Or they thought that they knew what they wanted for a blade. Dozens of the blades that he made were less than smart. Blades that were just dumb ideas thought up by idiotic peoples. It was all quite interesting, but useless. Now he wanted to create the perfect blade, or at least plan the perfect blade. He was just going to pages and pages of drawings of pieces just to get them perfect. He would start making it soon enough.

Continuing to draw he sighed. He was not ready to create such a blade. His skills were great, just not great enough to do what he wanted to do with them. He could not create the blade that he wanted, so it was back to the drawing board. Turning to a new sheet of paper he began to draw once again. Same level of detail as the other drawings, just a lower grade of weapon. It could still be quite dangerous, just not as dangerous. He smiled. This was a worthy starting weapon for him to deal with. He would be a force to be reckoned with if he could build it to specs. He closed his book and stood up. He had no time for the ninja foolishness. He would work on his own greatness. He would be greater than any ninja.