Description: Looking for Alma, Hotaru comes to the YFCC and instead finds herself talking to Mizuki about a problem she's having...
The time is fairly late. Night settled a couple hours ago and it's getting fairly quiet around the YFCC by now. Not that the doors will be locked any time soon. The center stays open practically all hours of the night even if staffing thins down to just a few to keep the lights on after a certain point.
Hotaru steps foot into the center, pressing her way through the doors at the entrance with a somewhat tired looking demeanor. She is dressed in her Seijyun uniform at the moment. A rare thing, considering how quickly she tends to change out of it after classes end each day. Only the blue blazer has been shed and is slung over one shoulder, held in place lazily with a finger hooked into it by one hand.
She glances around the center, blue eyes sweeping the faces of those few who are still around at this hour, clearly looking for someone.
Like Hotaru, Mizuki often spends her nights at the YFCC--when she doesn't have homework, or even when she does. And although she goes to Justice High--lives there, even--and she could wear that uniform all day, she doesn't. It's late, meaning no classes--but there are almost always students wanting to practice.
Mizuki isn't the best fighter around. Just about anyone would top her, really. But she is putting her experiences to use helping a few kids train. They're wearing traditional protective gear, head, chest, hands, shins and feet protected by padded armor, and they're rotating out, four kids total.
"That's good, Takeshi, but be careful... an attack like that could be a feint..." Hearing the doors open, naturally, Mizuki straightens up, glancing out over the intervening area to find whoever it is just walked in.
The new arrival pauses, recognizing the shock of red hair immediately as she notices Mizuki training the kids off to the side. She pauses mid-step, a faint smile working its way into her expression even if she isn't feeling particularly cheerful at the moment. Seeing the other fighter engaged in an activity that she herself enjoys on the weekends manages to warm the heart a little all the same.
She pulls her blue blazer from off her shoulder and folds it over her arms while approaching Mizuki. In the back of her mind is the healing touch she knows the girl has. It wasn't what brought her here tonight. But now that she's noticed the priestess, she can't help but wonder...
Standing quietly by as to not be a source of interruption, Hotaru merely watches the young fighter lead the kids through training that may one day serve to save their lives. Or at the very least, keep them from being bullied quite so much.
It's hard to miss Hotaru's similarly blue hair; Mizuki smiles, and nods to the kids--well, just entering their teens, really, so perhaps not kids after all, and excuses herself...
...to head straight for Hotaru. After crossing perhaps half the distance, Mizuki raises a hand, waving it slowly. "Hotaru-san! What good luck! I was going to try to come and find you this weekend..."
The redhead is smiling, her manner warm, open, and friendly. "Meant to talk to you after our match, of course, but I got caught up in things... my apologies..."
As Mizuki turns to head her way, Hotaru remains in place, her mouth curling into a warmer smile now that the red-head has noticed her here. The priestess's politer tone and diction reminds the pig-tailed girl of a time when she spoke more like that until the year spent abroad broke her of certain habits. And in fact, she can't help following the convention in turn when addressing a girl that holds such a holy office, "Good evening, Mizuki-san," comes Hotaru's reply, head bowing slightly.
She looks surprised that the other girl had intended to look for her. Though their circle of friends overlapped, she had never really gotten the chance to know her very well. And until the match Mizuki brings up, hadn't even seen her. She looks a tad sheepish at the mention of the SNF event that reminded her of an area she needs to vastly improve upon, but she speaks nothing of it, merely nodding a little. "There's no need to apologize," she answers, her tone sounding amused, as if she might giggle just a little were it not for how somberly she regards one who not only has a sacred calling but a very special gift that sets her apart from most. "I could have stuck around longer, but thanks to you I felt just fine and didn't see the need to," she continues.
Her eyes sweep the area once more and for a moment Hotaru looks distracted, "Do you know if Alma is about?" comes the question that probably explains why she's here in the first place.
A bit of a smile crosses Mizuki's lips, but it is wistful and almost sad. "Alma-kun is... pretty busy, nowadays. I gather he's mostly doing a new modeling campaign and..." She thinks about the last time she saw him--she should reveal to Hotaru what she saw that day? Perhaps not...
"But I'm sure he's fine! I haven't seen him in a short while though. He's sure to drop by the YFCC soon, this is his baby after all, him and Rose-san." The redheaded miko eyes Hotaru for a moment, as if deciding whether to ask a question or not.
"Have you heard from Jiro-san...?"
Hotaru looks disappointed as it becomes clear that Alma isn't around, her mouth not quite frowning but a certain glimmer in her eyes reflecting some unspoken concern. "Yes, he is busy..." she replies almost absently before shaking her head, eyes focusing once again on Mizuki. "Rose?" she asks, smile returning, whatever worry that's bothering her stifled for a moment. She hasn't heard that woman's name before.
At the question about Jiro, Hotaru's expression warms and she nods readily, "Nn, I have! Or, well, not directly..." She pauses, almost looking shy as she tries to figure out how to explain the contact she had from him. "Let's just say that an aquaintance of his passed along a message to let me know that he's doing all right." she explains, thinking of the hawk the distant young man had sent to update the girl on his circumstances.
Hotaru's expression sombers after a moment though and that same strained, uncertain look from before is back again. "Ne, Mizuki-san..." She glances back and forth as if to make sure that they're being left alone before continuing, "So, well, ah, I know that you're able to help with wounds of the body with... ah... your special gift." Her hands clench together, fingers kneading nervously, her jacket still slung over one arm. "Do you know anything about, say, wounds of the mind?"
Disappointed? Well, that's natural. Mizuki is pretty disappointed when she finds she's missed Alma, by a few minutes or a few hours. Though it seems as though Hotaru has something else in mind... or at least something specific to Alma.
Regarding the news about Jiro, Mizuki smiles. "Good, that's good to hear." She's his teammate, after all... even if she hasn't seen him in a long time. A very long time. And she hasn't met Tran yet either. Which is probably lucky for her.
"Yes, I--it was a skill I spent a lot of time training, I--"... pause. Wounds... of the mind?
"I'm afraid that wounds of the mind aren't the kind of thing I can concentrate my chi on and fix, Hotaru-san," replies the miko, gently, and regretfully. "Even--even actual wounds to the head--internal injuries--are dangerous for me to heal..." Turning, she gestures towards a nearby desk with a couple of chairs.
"You look tired, would you like a seat?"
The pig-tailed girl listens, focusing on Mizuki now, giving the girl her full attention. She knows nothing about Alma's team other than that he somehow thought it would be a good idea to get Alma and Gabriel to hook up... Hotaru had kind of stayed silent on the subject when it came up as she couldn't figure out the logic of such an idea in the slightest. If she knew Jiro had assembled a complete fighting team and never thought to invite her, she might feel a bit slighted even!
As the priestess explains that she might not be able to help in the way Hotaru was hoping, the girl nods slightly, once again looking slightly disappointed. The question probably has something to do with why she was so interested in locating the male psychic model.
At the invitation to sit, Hotaru replies, "Yeah. Well, I just have a lot on my mind." She drapes her jacket over the back of the chair before sinking down into the seat, resting her hands in her lap. "I think..." she begins, her voice fading out as she looks into the friendly face of the red-head, "I don't really want to bore you with my troubles," she then sighs, her expression becoming apologetic.
Mizuki forced her way on, and not through Jiro, so Hotaru shouldn't feel bad. With a smile, she slips into the seat across from Hotaru; the blue-haired, pig-tailed girl has all of the miko's attention, now, just as she has Hotaru's. Jiro may not even know about Mizuki's joining the team...
"Well, Hotaru-san. I know I'm not Alma-kun, and I don't have the kind of... powers... he has..." Mizuki's tasted that power, and she knows that whatever he uses it isn't chi, but she hasn't gotten any more information about it yet.
Turning back to the subject, however, which is Hotaru and not Mizuki, the redhead offers another smile. "But I can at least listen to what's troubling you, and maybe give some advice. I can't promise it'll be the greatest advice, but it will come from the heart. And you look... very troubled. Maybe even just talking will help."
"Well..." Hotaru hesitates, as if reluctant to open up just yet. But there's something about talking to the priestess that she finds comforting. As ambigulously religious her own upbringing was, there is still that deeply rooted sense that certain people are just more in tune with life in general and thus easier to confide in in a way.
"It's kind of complicated, and I might not make much sense," she warns. But now she's getting into it and she can't say nothing. "But there is this boy I know at Justice High. Kurow Kirishima. I fought him once... it was a friendly enough spar. Sometime later, I went to Thailand to... help somehow." She's vague as to her motivations for going to the wartorn country. They're complicated and for the most part not too central to what is bothering her now.
"While I was there, I saw him again. He helped me out of a... well, a prison I found myself in at one point. Just this last weekend, he visited me again. He has always been nice, thoughtful. A quiet boy, but insightful in ways." She frowns a little, her fingers folding and unfolding nervously in her lap now.
"In the last two days, however, I've been told by two seperate people that Kurow was working with Shadaloo in Thailand. And not only that, but that I directly fought him, alongside three other fighters, in helping take a strategic location." Her brow furrows and her eyes avert from Mizuki's as the girl continues, "The only thing is... I don't remember any of that. I remember the battle in question. But I don't remember Kurow being there. I think something is wrong with me. And I think..." She pauses, voicing for the first time what truely bothers her about all this. "...that he did something to me. That this is his fault."
Mizuki -was- trained as a miko and a priestess. She's good at listening because she was taught how. And she's putting those skills to use. "Kurow Kirishima," she murmurs, softly. A name she's heard as well; how can she not, having been enrolled at Justice? But that doesn't solve anything, because she doesn't know anything about him.
"I've heard of him. I--" Something akin to surprise crosses her face. "You went to Thailand during the recent unrest? That was... that was brave. I'm sure you saw things you probably weren't prepared for. Things you probably didn't want to see." The redhead muses for a while, considering what to do, what to suggest.
"Is it possible that these memory blackouts are simply because of the cruel nature of war? If--if it is possible that he did tamper with your memory somehow, then I wouldn't know how, or how to undo it... I'm sure Alma would have some clues for you, if he were here."
"But maybe there's something else... I'd like to hear more," requests the redhead, sitting up, listening more intently.
As Mizuki comments about Thailand, Hotaru's response is only silence. She did see and experience many things that she was most definitely not ready for. But she suspects she experienced even more than she can remember now if her gut feeling about the young man from Justice High proves to be correct.
But as Mizuki brings up the possability that maybe the lapses are due to no fault of anyone but rather her own body's way of coping with certain things she wasn't ready for. That would certainly be a lot more appealing answer to the girl, unable to imagine the nice young man she has met in the form of Kurow Kirishima would be to blame for anything. "Maybe..." she allows. "But it seems I forgot such specific things. I don't know. Another told me that even my impressions of Kurow are wrong. That... that he isn't as nice as I seem to think he is."
She smiles understandingly as Mizuki indicates there's little she can do to specifically help remedy the problem. It's why Hotaru felt Alma would be the best bet in the first place. "When I think back over my time there, there aren't really any gaps that I can recall. I can pretty much remember at least vaguely what happened every day. Or, maybe what I'm supposed to remember. I... Do you know anyone else that maybe I should talk to? I'm a little confused. I don't know what to do next."
Thailand is a touchy subject... that's clear enough to the redhead. But Thailand's situation, and what Hotaru saw there aside from one Mr. Kurow Kirishima, is not the pertinent issue here, is it? Mizuki lets the matter of the country and its hardships fall to the wayside. She had considered joining the fight, as it were, but felt that it would be, to say the least, ridiculous... a miko running off to war.
A faint smile, as Mizuki considers Hotaru's words. "But then, it's hard to remember what you've forgotten, isn't it? To know what's missing..." She sighs. "It is a tough puzzle, indeed... and many people are not what they seem, or are more than they seem, too. I've not heard much about Kirishima-san..." Naturally. He is secretive, after all.
"Perhaps... I know this will sound odd, but perhaps a bout of meditation might help you unlock these hidden memories. If there is some block erected in your mind, you are probably your best resource for it..." She considers. "Otherwise, yes, I think talking to Alma-kun might help." Her eyes reflect a certain worry for Alma, but not directed at Hotaru... as if she were considering her few recent meetings with him. And the violence that they each entailed.
She nods a little as Mizuki points out that she might not really be able to tell what's missing in the first place. "If it wasn't for Eva and Arika's accont of a battle we fought in together, I never would have known something was wrong. I mean... I felt there was something... it's been bothering me since I got home. But I thought maybe it was just everything that happened there."
She shakes her head, her hands tightening in her lap as her eyes stray to the surface of the table. "I should have never gone. I think I was more of a liability than anything. It was a bad idea from the start." The pig-tailed girl sighs softly, "Andi I guess I'm still paying for that now with whatever is wrong with me."
She sits up a little straight after a moment, eyes falling to Mizuki again. "M-maybe you could help me meditate?" she asks, sounding reluctant to burden the priestess with anything else after all she's already laid on her lap. "My mother taught me to pray and my father was indifferent on such matters. But I bet you have experience with it, ne?" Whatever glimmer of concern there was for Alma was missed by Hotaru's focus on the table, for better or for worse.
"Ah, of course... if there were other people there, then they could tell you..." It's a simple thing. But then... Mizuki eyes Hotaru curiously. "If--if I may ask..."
She pauses a second, to consider her tone of voice, her wordings. "Why you and you alone? From your words I am guessing that Eva-san and Arika-san -do- remember him there..." That smacks of tampering... ah, if only Mizuki had paid more attention to some of the other things she was supposed to learn.
"Hotaru-san, there are many things we all do, that we think we shouldn't. Sometimes, it is only later that we understand why we did them, and why we had to." Yes, definitely trained as a miko.
"And of course I can aid you in meditation. The YFCC isn't the best place for it, though... too much outside distraction..."
The girl lifts a hand to the side of her face as she rubs thoughtfully at her cheek, blue eyes locked on Mizuki's face as she seems to hang on every word the miko has to say. "I'm not sure why only me," she admits, her voice quiet, subdued, the question perhaps having weighed on her for some time. "I don't really know very much about such things. Maybe it didn't happen there... I did see him one other time when he help-"
Her face loses a little of its color, one memory coming to mind that strays on the border of what might be a lapse. Precious events she can't account for. "He got me out of a prison... He just walked me out of it like it was no big deal. I... I don't know why it didn't seem strange to me at the time. I remember being so scared there though, and then he came and helped me."
Squinting her eyes, Hotaru shakes her head, leaing back in her chair, her head hanging back as she takes to staring at the ceiling over head. "Maybe it was just me because he had a chance and that's all there is to it." Sighing, she lowers her face after a moment, a sad smile at her mouth, "You're right. Maybe me going there will make more sense to me in time."
She lifts her hands, placing them on the table and adds, "Yes, I understand. Not here." Even at night the bustle of the lingering teenagers at the YFCC would be a disruption. "I have a quiet place I like to go to. Maybe... maybe you could come there with me sometime?"
Mizuki smiles a little. "As I said before, Hotaru-san... going to Thailand at all was very brave, and even if you don't think you accomplished much in the external view, just going almost certainly accomplished things for -you-." She sounds wise beyond her years.. must be the training talking.
"Do you--did you--have a special relationship with Kirishima-san? Does he--" Man, it sounds silly, like schoolgirl Teen-Beat gossip. "--does he like you? Or-- you him?" It is one possible answer to the question of 'why Hotaru', after all, even if it sounds as fanciful as an anime showing on TV Tokyo.
"And of course. I often spend nights at the shrine in town, if not here, but if you have a place in mind you are particularly comfortable with, that can only help..."
Hotaru looks surprised at the line of questioning, even though it is a valid line of reasoning for Mizuki to pursue. "I- I don't think so," she stammers quickly at first before taking time to elaborate. "I only ever actually met him one time before going to Thailand. We sparred at Justice High. I don't think anything else came of it. At least... I..." She lifts a hand, one finger rubbing idly at her temple.
"When he visisted me the other day, he did seem to have been paying a lot of attention to my fighting record as of late. I thought it was kind of strange at first, but it seemed like genuine interest in my progress." She arches her eyebrows a little now, looking vaguely uncertain. "I don't know. Maybe there is something more that he's covering up... I sure hope not," she states, sounding none too thrilled with the idea.
She falls quiet for a long moment, perhaps turning over everything Mizuki has said to her in her mind. She finally speaks after a long moment, "There is an old church building in the northern district of Southtown Village. It's hard to miss even though it's behind a wall. Just look for the bellfry that sticks up over the nearby houses." Hotaru sits up a little more straight now, pushing her chair back slightly, perhaps getting ready to leave.
Mizuki sees the signs of the conversation ending as well, and nods. "It was just a thought," she says, seeming somehow obliquely embarrassed that she asked. "I wasn't sure... I don't even know what kinds of techniques -exist- for... for doing what you think was done... so..." She shakes her head... doesn't like feeling helpless.
"Have you tried asking him about your memory gaps?" That does seem like the most direct way, doesn't it? Of course, it could prove to be very -painful-... which Mizuki only belatedly considers.
"Then again, if it was Kirishima-san and he did it to hide something, maybe that wouldn't be a good idea either," she finishes, rather lamely. Scooting her chair back, she begins to rise.
"I'll be sure to drop by soon and find you, alright, Hotaru-san? If there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it," says the redhead, sounding totally sincere.
"Thanks," Hotaru replies with a quiet smile as she gets up to her feet as well. She lifts the blue blazer from off the back of the chair and then slips it on. It'll be cooler outside now that it's gotten later and the jacket will help.
"I don't think I should go near him until I know for sure what is going on. If it turns out it's nothing, then he never needs to know that I suspected something. And if it turns out he did do something... well, I fought him once before. I don't think my chances would be too good if he became hostile." Thailand taught the girl a lot of her current limits. Not that she intends to be bound by them forever. Now that her mind is more aware of what she can and cannot do yet, she can begin taking steps to improve in more specific ways.
"Thank you, Mizuki-san. You've already been a great help tonight. I look forward to your visit." the girl says with a quiet smile before bowing her head politely.
Mizuki doesn't move to aid Hotaru towards the doors--she knows the girl doesn't need that--but she does think to add this.
"Hotaru-san, if it turns out he did do something, and you need some help... just ask. I would be glad to fight by your side, and I know Alma would do the same." And -that-, folks, would be some epic battling right there.
"Take care of yourself, Hotaru-san. I will be glad to visit your church soon, and see what we can do..."
Log created on 01:30:10 07/13/2007 by Mizuki, and last modified on 23:26:14 07/14/2007.