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 Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 2:08 pm
The two could have easily come to blows if not for the fact that the local guards chose that moment to break up the inevitable scuffle. Li Ren felt a strong grip on her wrist, pulling her back as another guard did similarly to Rin-ji. Both teenagers received unpleasant looks from the guards as bystanders began to pause in the middle of their daily activities to see if anything remotely entertaining was about to unfold.
"How dare you grab me," Li Ren protested loudly as she tried to wrestle herself free from her captor's grasp. She made very little leeway as the man easily overpowered her, looking increasingly perturbed by her outburst.
"Nothing to see here. Move along," one of the guards said gruffly as he forced the sea of market patrons to part, leading the two teens away.
Once they had been escorted away, the guards released them, sternly blocking the pathway back into the market. "Do you have any idea who I am," Li Ren cried indignantly as she collected herself.
"Don't know and don't care. Now move along," one of the men grunted, then turned his attention towards Rin-ji, "Don't let us catch you at this again. Just because Razuten is keeping you doesn't give you free reign to disrupt the public however you please."
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:58 am
Rin-ji, looking nearly as proud as Li Ren but tolerating being manhandled by the guards a little better, straightended himself out and kept a firm hold on his basket of goods. He managed to swallow that pride enough to bow apologetically. He didn't want this getting back to his teacher, who he had been mostly managing to toe the line for very well.
"I'm sorry. Please don't trouble him with this." He muttered sulkily.
The guard rolled his eyes. "He's got better things to worry about than you anyway. Get out of here."
Not needing to be told a second time, Rin-ji hoped that this was what he needed to get away from Li Ren. He spun on his heel and strode away from her and the marketplace at a quick pace.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:44 pm
Not very likely. And for the moment Li Ren seemed far less concerned with the fact that she had been horribly wrong and much more with catching Rin-ji before he could make an escape. She moved after him quickly, running if necessary, to catch up with him. She made a grab for his wrist, but pulled back at the last second as if suddenly struck with some small hint of diplomacy.
"Wait," she called out, excitement tinging her voice, "You were telling the truth."
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:03 pm
"Surprise, surprise," he sighed, stopping to turn and face Li Ren, looking cross to be stopped again. "You know, you could really do with taking my word on some things. I wasn't lying, I wasn't trying to steal anything from you, I was minding my own business and now I just want you to leave me alone. I've got to go through my stances before lessons."
Well, and clean the main room. But Rin-ji didn't think Li Ren needed to know how he was paying for the tutoring.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:51 pm
Li Ren waved her hand dismissively, unconcerned with his annoyance, "I never said you were trying to steal anything. Don't be so cross."
Unfortunately for Rin-ji, she wasn't about to leave him alone now. Razuten was a well-respected member of the military who wasn't associated with her father which made knowing him a very useful thing in Li Ren's eyes. "You have to introduce me to him. To Razuten."
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:03 pm
"No."
Rin-ji felt a certain amount of power in that one little word. His face clearly said there, that's for getting me in trouble, that's for embarassing me. He had the control for once.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:07 pm
Li Ren had not been expecting a response like that. That he would refuse her was unfathomable and her expression conveyed as much as she looked genuinely bewildered.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:28 pm
"I mean that I'd burn off my eyebrows and hair and join a monastery before I even dreamed of troubling my teacher with the likes of you." He turned up his nose at her stubbornly to accentuate his point.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:13 pm
Li Ren's eyebrows furrowed at his continued impudence and her temporary goodwill quickly dissipated. She was hardly going to lower herself to begging. Certainly not from the likes of this boy. It was all she could do to keep from striking out at him again.
"I see," she replied, turning up her nose as well to defend her wounded pride. "You certainly do think highly of yourself these days. But it doesn't matter who your teacher is. You're still a nobody," she spat out in disgust.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:30 pm
"That's the best part," he replied with an overconfident grin, waving leisurely as he started to walk away, "I've gotten my chance to change what I am. One day you'll have to change your tone of voice when talking to me."
His intention was to stroll away in a self-important manner, but with a large basket to take with him the gangly boy couldn't quite look graceful. He did, however, look very pleased with himself.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:48 pm
Li Ren was furious. Even more so at letting the boy get to her so much. It would be so easy to knock him flat on his a**, but that would gain her nothing. Except that she would feel a considerable amount better. He was useless to her anyway. Stupid, self-important servant. How humiliating that she had even asked his help in the first place.
Breathing deeply, she calmed herself, or at least attempted to. She didn't need him and she didn't need Razuten either. Flattening the creases out in her shirt, she raised her chin and strode off towards home. Nothing was going to stop her from her goal, least of all a nobody.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:01 am
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