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Niame was very impatient now and couldn't stand to wait. He had only gained about half his strength back and he was tired of waiting. This assignment was taking much too long. He wearily lifted his arm into his normal position and began to focus. He was too tired to block his senses, so he tried with them flowing. After a moment his other arm came up to brace his first and he started shaking. His face began to turn red with the effort of focusing his chakra, and his bracing arm sqeezed on his other arm hard. His head began to lower now and his eyes started to flutter closed. Finally, the strain became too much and his arm collapsed back onto the desk, as it had done so many times before.

Niame waited until he was completely reenergized and put his hand back into position. Before he began, he cleared his mind, senses, and braced his active arm with the other free one. He took a few more deep breaths and began to force chakra toward his hand. Slowly, he felt the chakra move toward the focal point until he could feel it directly under the skin of his sweating palm. His arm began to shake and his muscles tightened. He could see a faint glimmer of the blue chakra emerging from the center of his palm and continued to focus. Slowly, more chakra poured from him until it could cover his entire hand. He continued to concentrate, however until the flame became twice as large as his hand. His vision blurred and he sweat harder than he had on all his previous attempts. Once he could take no more, He released his focus and the chakra dissipated. His hand fell to his desk and he panted. He was overjoyed, although he'd never admit that, of course. He settled to rest for a short while before his next attempt.

Niame still could not rest for long enough brfore his determination took over. He sat up slowly, shakily, and raised his arm out in front of him, even though his arm shook violently. He immediately pushed chakra into his hands, trying, with the little strength his short rest had given him, to make the fire burst from his hand. A moment later, every part of Niame was shaking violently and his hand collapsed with a loud thud. He panted, but still tried to raise his arm. No matter how much he willed his muscles to raise his arm above the level of his desk, it just twitched slightly. He continued to pant and gave up. He settled to let himself rest.

Niame was at as full strength as he could be with his soreness. He raised his arm more easily, but still with a slight ache. He concentrated as hard as he could, moving chakra through him, into his hand. His skin tone brightened just the slightest bit and he closed his eyes, to keep any more hopeful thoughts or sights from getting to him. He tried to focus harder, but it didn't seem to help any. That slight tone change was as best as he was going to get. He grudgingly, surrendered. Letting his arm lower, along with his head. He would rest before the next go, but this time he would rest until he was sure he was ready.

Niame was excited about his success. Even though he knew rest was important, he thought he was ok. He didn't feel all that tired. He quickly pulled his arm back into place once more, and pumped chakra through him as best he could. The irritaion returned, but it did not seem to ease away like it should when it broke skin. He spared a peek at his hand, but all he saw was the same hand he had been born with, no chakra srrounding it. He tried to pump even more chakra into his arm, but it did not seem to work. It didn't matter how much he tried, the chakra just was not going to seep through his skin. He let his hand down and panted mildly. 'Damn! I was so close!' He thought.

Hitomi stepped into the old doors of the academy, slipping her shoes off at the door, falling back on old habits to ease some of the pain in her heart by completely ignoring it. Something about her vivid green eye seemed... Distant... Keiko would know the look. Hitomi was far from herself, but by no means was she looking outward. She was scouring her mind and her soul for answers. She couldn't find any. She can give anyone information on how to show someone else they care, how to act to please someone else, but, now that she looked back at her life, she can't remember ever expressing emotions for the sake of experiencing them. Every time she can remember laughing, crying, being excited, or being scared, it was because she was mimicking others around her, or simply playing her part... She could remember just once that she had been happy... A long, long time ago.

She needed answers from the only other person who knew her, at least the real part of her. Keiko was the only one that had answers... But... Hitomi hadn't spoken to Keiko in a long time. She'd never even taken Keiko up on her offer and even come over to her house... Hitomi still slept on the streets, not out of necessity, but out of respect... She didn't know how Gig felt about her, and she didn't want the awkwardness of living with them. She sighed, wondering if this was really the smartest choice. She might be able to find her own answers.... Not in time... This really was her only choice. Her emotions were eroding their box, and those that couldn't fit were eating at her from the inside out.

Hitomi drifted through the hallway, hearing sounds from within one room. Deciding that this must be where Keiko was, she put herself to the wall on the right side of the door, coming out. She could keep her left eye on the door and still relax somewhat. The beads hanging from her headband danced softly, playing with her cheek and nose. Now if only... Hitomi contented herself with waiting, losing herself to the black abyss that was her mind. A problem was an absence of information. This meant that it was a vacuum. Immersing herself in that vacuum only put her at the epicenter of an overwhelming surge of information trying to fill the gap. She just couldn't make sense of any of it. Keiko seemed to be OK, after everything else.... Why wasn't Hitomi?

Niame became puzzled at the women, but passed it off as female ignorance. Females always seemed weaker, more distracted to him. He turned away from the two and replied to Keiko. "Bring it," he barked. He wasn't trying to sound cocky, just urgind her to get on with it. He slounched back into his chair and stared out the window, subconciously fumbling with his necklace.