Aftermath (Open)

[Hiei]

"Damn..."

Hiei cursed as he sat on the hospital bed in an empty hospital ward. Just recently, he had been defeated by a new student, surprising the whole student body. He wondered how many people would have heard of it, but knowing how fast rumours spread in Alice Academy first-hand, he was not surprised if everyone knew it by now. The Student President closed his eyes, dropping his head as he let out a calming sigh. How could he let himself be beaten so easily? He grit his teeth as his anger started to show. He had his eyes closed, so he himself did not notice it. Notice what? Well, simple. Despite the amount of lighting the room had and the sunshine that passed through the open windows, the air around him started to darken. Like a shadow enveloping it.

It was only when he heard a knock on the door did he open his eyes and instantly, the shadow dispersed. Not even the Student President had seen it. He looked at the door as it opened, one of Alice Academy's bot standing at the door way. Due to the lack of proper staff, especially in the dorms and infirmary, bots had been invented by the students to take the place. A smart invention, one had to admit. But sometimes, these robots just did not know when to give up. After all, they had not been programmed to have emotions, so sympathising and begging them was of no use. Hiei knew. He had tried to get out of here more than once and had been turned away every single time.

"Oh. You are awake."

At that, the bot rolled towards Hiei. It had wheels for feet. The bot then placed a tray on the table at the side of Hiei's hospital bed. On the tray was another smaller tray, this one containing three tablets. Beside the tray was a glass of water. "Take these and you'll recover faster." Having received a nod from the Student President, the bot rolled away, closing the door behind it as it left the room. Hiei let his red eyes land on the three tablets, then let out a frustrated groan. He hated vitamins and tablets and whatever.

Taking the pills in one hand, he threw it into his mouth, before drinking it down with the glass of water. Placing the empty glass back on the tray, he sat himself back down again. For some reason, he felt slightly relieved and calm. The tablets were taking effect already? Wow. He leaned back, against the wall. That student. His Alice. It had something to do with nullifying other people's Alice, but something was up. If he had that ability, why did he nullify Dark Dragon only when it attacked him? This was something worth researching on.

He looked straight once more, then noticed, on a chair in front of the bed, his leather fur-collared jacket and his green folded neatly above each other. His right hand lifted up to the center of his chest, touching the soft texture of the bandage wrapped around it. He had a few cracked ribs and a bruised forehead, injuries that would take time to heal. The Student President had bandages wrapped around his forehead, half-hidden by his red-tipped bangs. He also had bandages wrapped around his chest, leaving his stomach uncovered. He still wore his pair of pants, but he was shoeless and sockless.

He was sitting on the hospital bed, his bottom on the center of the pillow and his legs over the blanket. He had no mood to rest at all, so he simply sat there, waiting for his body to recover so that he could train himself. He wanted a rematch.

[TEN]

[/i], so bad that Ten was dead. Oh, that would have been a catastrophe -- though not many would have cared whether she was six feet under or not. Not her mother. Not Hibiki Ning, her little brother. Not even any of the studnets -- Ten was the type of girl that wanted to be the spitting image of glory, beauty, and talent... and she was stuck with a big mouth that could be used for nothing but insults. Figures.

"Jeez. Kotone Jing Abe has misdone it again," the teacher who had witnessed it had reported to another teacher, before turning to Ten herself; "Abe -- do we really need to add more restrictions... or -- tch. What else can we do for you? Seperate you from all humanity?" That teacher was angry with her -- so were most teachers. How many times had it been already? Six? Seven? And that was only in the last five months. "What else can we do for you?" he had said... what else? It sounded as if they were about to give up -- though they weren't, anyone could tell that -- but... sometimes... giving up wasn't always in someone's actions or responsibilites, sometimes it was in the way someone knew another. Would they really do such a thing? Give up on the problem child? She wasn't that dangerous... it was just... her in general that was the problem.

Ten's fingers on her good hand were in some kind of state of insanity -- inherited from the brain, most likely. They were touching anything and everything in sight, and at the moment, were occupied with playing with Ten's hair, a lock of mint-coloured hair that fell onto her cheek. She had glazed tears welled in her eyes, but they're were too little an amount to fall. She sat on a stool next to a desk in the main room, her one arm in a sling; an item (which the Nurse-replacement was dabbing on her arm every few seconds) was burning her skin even more -- some kind of ointment. After that, her arm was wrapped in a clean bandage and was back in the sling. Angry with herself, Ten rubbed her face with her arm... she shouldn't cry. That would make her a baby, for one, and wasn't she the one everyone looked at in disgust anyway? Seeing a crying face on a person like that would only make people raise their disgust level.

"Time to get your teacher. I'll be back," came the 'bot-thing's' voice, Ten's head exploded upwards, her eyes staring at it; "What?" Her voice wasn't too loud, though. "'Time to get your teacher. I'll be back.'" It seemd to have not understood that Ten was questioning the stupid thing's judgement. As it moved away, Ten hopped off the stool, making sure her arm didn't jingle around as she did so. There was one thing on her mind right now: hiding. She didn't want to deal with her teacher -- nor did she want to get a punishment for what she did. It wasn't her fault -- it was those stupid students. She grabbed the doorknob of one of the small rooms that seemed to float around for patience with... huge "owies". They were large rooms -- wards, to be exact, with multiple people in them... but she really didn't know that. She yanked -- it was locked. She hopped to the next one, fumbling with the doorknob this time, and pulled: this one was locked, too.

In aggrivation, she squeezed the hem of her skirt; she wore the uniform, but not the top. On top she wore a black tank-top, and the bandage rolled right up to her shoulder, some of her shoulder and neck had bandaids to cover up places where the bandages couldn't. Burn marks were still quite plain in sight on some of her arm, just peeking out. It was bright red under the thick bandages and it burned like hell -- but Ten was trying her best to ignore it, so she wouldn't have to face the "charges". The next door she tried... worked. She opened it quickly, stepped in and shut the door; letting out a breath of relief as she leaned back on the door -- before she got a good look at the empty ward... and the person in the room. Only one person; this probably wasn't a good room to stick around in, but... she had to hide. "S-sorry..." her voice said, but it was quiet -- if this person was hurt, they'd probably not like loud noises; "I won't be here for long; and I'll be quiet." She promised this, then scooted over to a side of the room and sat down -- sliding down the wall for a moment, before falling straight into a sitting position, her eyes looking around the room slightly.

She would try to be as quiet as possible -- she was serious about it... it was her first time ever being truly serious, most likely. Guess pain really kicks the insanity out of you, huh?
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[Hiei]

Hiei sighed. If he was going to rest, he might as well start now. It seemed to be the only thing he could do. He gritted his teeth in slight frustration, letting out a growl. No one seemed to be around, so he felt more secure expressing at least a bit of his emotion. Then, letting out his anger with a sigh, he closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall. Through his nose, air entered and left the capacity of his lungs as he tried to send himself to sleep. He wanted to recover. He needed to recover. And he needed to rest.

And then, there was a clicking sound. The President's eyes shot open as his head jerked away from the table, turning towards the direction of the door. Surprised, he saw it open and a girl came in, looking very desperate and worried. He furrowed at her for a moment, frustrated that she had just disturbed his once-peaceful rest. His eyebrows shifted back to its original places, though, as he noticed the cast around her arm. And from what he could see under the sunlight, it seemed to have been burnt, or at least, part of her arm was. He knew how burnt skin looked like. Everytime he released a demon from their seal, a part of his body would have the demon's mark burnt onto the skin, disappearing once the demon was sealed, only to burn again the next time it was released.

A very annoyingly painful process.

"S-Sorry... I won't be here for long; and I'll be quiet."

He raised an eyebrow as she moved to one side of the room, sitting herself down. His red eyes followed her movement, watching her closely and curiously. Coincidentally, she had sat down against the wall that was two beds away from where Hiei was. At that, Hiei adjusted in his bed, pushing both his feet off the bed and flat on the ground. Continuing to look at her, he had forgotten that he was topless and that only his chest and forehead were covered by bandages.

"Sorry, who are you?"

And then, there was a knock on the door. He looked up, wondering who it was this time. He pushed himself up to his feet, grimacing slightly as pain surged through his chest. He needed to move a little bit slowly, that was for sure. And then, a voice emerged from the other side of the door.

"Hello? Hiei? Are you there? Do you mind if we check the room for a bit? We're looking for a missing student."

At that, his eyes shot to the girl now already to his side as he stopped walked towards the door. So, that was the deal, huh? Sighing, he turned back towards the door.

"Hold up a minute!" Now, they had a little time to prepare. He looked back at the girl. Well, hiding was not really the President's forte. He needed ideas. And hopefully the girl had one or two ideas. Yes, he was willing to help her. Why? Cause he was somewhat like her. Many times had he burnt himself and many times, after getting bandage and ointment, would he run and hide from the hospital staff. Might as well help someone do the same too. True, it was a weird excuse to help someone, but that was simply how he was.

"Any ideas? There's only supposed to be one person here."

[TEN]

[/i] destroyed a statue on the grounds, so it was only necessary to be punished for it. And -- not to mention -- that there was probably a student injured, maybe not really badly, but it wasn't really Ten's fault. She had only been trying to switch Alices and had screwed up...just a tiny bit. Or...maybe she had wanted it to do what it did? Ten sort of shuddered at that thought, lowering her head slightly, and studying her fingers for a moment. I would never want that, she thought to herself, which a mixture of pride and cold positivity, Never.

"Sorry, who are you?"

Ten's eyes flickered up just in time to see the person looking at her. Jeez, she really didn't want to be a disturbance -- "Ten." It was soft words, but she kicked them out there just well enough. It should have been enough for anyone to understand. Suddenly, there was a multitude of knocks on the door. Ten whirled her head around, her white teeth already gnawing her lip in anxiety. She looked over at the person with one weary eye, before back at the door. She moved her white fingers onto the wall and pushed herself up, keeping her arm in the sling as best as possible... but her movements always gave her trouble with healing her wounds well-enough. She'd probably have a pretty good scar, if she thought of it.

"Hello? Hiei? Are you there? Do you mind if we check the room for a bit? We're looking for a missing student."

At this, Ten moved an eye toward this person -- Hiei? -- and gave a questioning expression. Would he allow them in or what? "Hold up a minute!" Her eyes twitched -- perhaps, he was going to help. She took a quick scan of the room; it wasn't too huge, but not that small either. She couldn't really pin-point any hiding places other then jumping out a window, or hiding under the bed -- and hiding under the bed was useless, unless it had perfectly what Ten needed...but she could also try to summon up an Alice, couldn't she? Perhaps an invisibility Alice, or a walk-through-walls kind of Alice. She had no more restrictions on her person at the moment -- so, why not?

"Any ideas? There's only supposed to be one person here."

Ten nodded -- deciding to quickly try the power-one first, it was the best she could do. She had never done it before, though. How the hell am I suppose start? Search? Meditate? Jeez. Ten bit her teeth together, as hard as she could. Searching. Trying to pick at the edges, trying to feel and find that extra stomach, so she could pull a random Alice from the folds. It didn't seem to want to work, though, and that option failed -- Ten could just feel that she couldn't do it, and wasting time was the worse thing she could do now. Almost instantly, Ten dropped to her knees and peeked under the bed -- a miracle had just happened. The bed was the type that would be perfect for hiding; she grinned, before sliding under, and taking her hand and feet unto the inner ledgings under the bed and pulled herself up. She decided to use her burnt hand, although it pained, she wrapped it around one of the metallic pieces and suspended herself there. She'd be ready for the stupid searchers to come in -- anytime.

OOC:[If ya' don't get what she did, I said it was one of those beds that had an up-rooting, and so she climbed up into the bed, hidden all around by the sides and not touching the ground. Ever seen those old spy movies and stuff, where they are suspended by their arms under a table? x] I just made her do that. lmfao. Random post -- sorry for taking so long, couldn't think of any ideas. Still can't -- but, I don't want to leave this hanging anymore. PS; What I made her do is extremly stupid, isn't it? Oh well.]
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[Hiei]

OOC: Yeah, I get what you mean. And I didn't think of that at all.

Hiei watched as Ten finally proceeded to hide herself from view. He turned back towards the door, letting out a soft sigh of desperation as he staggered forward once more, his aching chest and forehead depriving him of his ability to walk naturally. And then, he lowered the arm that was over his chest. Placing it on the door, he opened it. There, right outside his ward, stood a teacher and a bot. The teacher gave Hiei a smile as the young male stepped back, allowing the bot to enter the room. "What's up?" Hiei asked, his eyes on the bot as it started to search his room. There were only two beds in his room and Ten was hiding under one of it.

"A student recently destroyed one of the statues of the school courtyard and I'm supposed to bring her for detention." Hiei looked at him. Detention? A destroyed statue? Wow. No wonder she was hiding. Hiei turned back towards the bot as it searched the top of the beds, guessing that she might be hiding under the blankets. As the bot proceeded to the small cabinets and the mini-restroom at the side of the ward, Hiei turned back to the teacher. "I didn't see anyone come in, just so you know. And I don't really like being disturbed while resting."

The teacher looked at him, a smile still on his face. True, he may be a teacher, but Hiei was the Student President and he had a notorious reputation to boot. He was no mere student. He was a dangerous one and with a very influential position too. Giving the younger male a chuckle, he nodded, replying with a kind, though obviously annoyed, "Fine,". The teacher then called for the bot, just as the artificial assistant was starting to look under the beds. Keeping his relief in check, the bot left the room and Hiei closed the door behind him. He then locked the door and after hearing the 'click', Hiei let out a sigh.

Then, remembering that he was not alone, he turned around slowly, his eyes at the bottom of the bed beside his. Still standing there with both hands by his side, the almost topless male spoke out.

"Well, they're gone now."

[TEN]

[/b]

Her head hit the floor only seconds before the rest of her did -- as she just dropped like a rock from under the bed. She didn't move -- she didn't even feel like twitching. Oh, geez -- what had she done? It was kind of funny -- detention. If it was any other school, it wouldn't have seemed so much of a deal. Thinking back on it, Ten could remember "detention" in other schools; you'd just sit in a room, sneak text messages on your cell phone (well, she was too poor for one of those, but other kids did), sneak homework, or sneak chat to other detention-'ies'. It was funny that...in this place, Ten was running in fear of detention. Of getting scolded by a teacher. Cause punishment here wasn't fun; here, childhood angst turned into murder. It was that kind of world...it was funny. But there was so much less innocense here.

"Thanks..." Ten muttered, as she slowly pulled her arm back securely in the sling, the smell of burnt flesh was still irritating her nose...she had never realized just how horrible that smell really was -- it was almost different from the regular smelling of burning. "...for your help. I appreciate it." She pulled herself up, and sat there for a moment, rubbing the back of her head slightly -- staring at the guy for a moment, then blinked twice. AA was a huge school -- sometimes you'd find someone you'd never met before. At this point, Ten got this feeling... that this person looked familiar. Have I seen him around school? What did they call him... Hiei? "Who are you, anyway?" she asked with an unblinking stare -- her brain reminded her that such a way of 'looking' was rude and she blinked. 'Blinking is healthy,' her mind told her, 'you should do it.'

OOC:[ick. short. sorry. o-o]
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[Hiei]

There was a soft thud sound and for a moment, Hiei saw no other movement nor heard any other sound. Worry filled him. What just happened? He stepped forward, squatting down, only to see her lying on the ground. Before he could say anything, though, she moved herself out from below the bed. As she sat herself down and looked at him, the boy could only stare back through the bangs of his crimson-tipped raven-black hair. Lowering his head slightly, he hid the bandages on his forehead, but kept his eyes on the girl. Finally, her words of appreciation reached his ears and he simply replied.

"Yeah, no prolem."

Then, he started to stagger his way back to his bed, his arm still around his chest. His body was simply too fatigue and injured to ignore just a simple movement. It hurt. Bearable, but it hurt nonetheless. And then, she questioned about who he was. He turned his eyes back to her, stopping in his tracks as instead he sat himself down on the bed other than his, nearer to the girl.

"I'm Hiei. Ma-... Hiei Valentine."

He replied. He was no longer a Masaaki. True, biologically, that surname was his, but by law, it was no longer his surname. He had been adopted by one of the teachers, Althea Valentine, and as such, his name was now Hiei Valentine. Now, he wondered if that name would ring a bell to her. He was the Student President, after all. True, he had yet to have that Academy-wide meeting about the introduction of the new Student Council, but he guessed she should have heard of him by then.

[TEN]

[/b]

Ten could tell he was in pain -- of course he was, her mind had jeered, wasn't he in the infirmary right now? She wasn't stupid, she could realize such things, and the slow movements and aching expressions... of course there was pain. Ther was nothing that didn't come with pain. Ten sat on the floor; not wanting to move. She already felt sick to her stomach, but her arm really didn't hurt so bad... most likely, she was far beyond feeling pain these days. She had lived in harsh, severe poverty her entire life -- she'd been birthed in a storehouse in Hong Kong. And she lived among broken glass, getting stabbed almost every second. She been beaten up by children at school in Japan, and beaten then up in return when they called her mother a 'prostitute' -- even if it was the truth. Wasn't that pain enough to make pain dissapear? Most would think so.

"I'm Hiei. Ma-... Hiei Valentine."

"Ah..." was the only words that came from her mouth for a moment, and then a small laugh, as she gave a weary eye up at him, a shine of pearly white teeth glistened just behind her lips, and in the cracks in her smile. "Odd one they chose for Student President," Ten suddenly said, with another small laugh, "Helping a 'criminal'? And in the infirmary? Shouldn't the Student President be doing more important things then getting himself injured? I'm sure that little 'tital' doesn't issue invisibility." She didn't want to sound rude -- she dearly hoped it hadn't. Her words were mighty screwed up though and used small tricks to conceal larger meanings. But in her head, she was asking the same questions over, that, perhaps... the student president shouldn't appear 'invisibile' to the rest of the public? Not like he was really invisible... just... not there. He wasn't there to pick it all up and thrash it about in a superior fashion. That is, if he was the same kind of person that Ten had in mind for a label such as "student president" -- and at the moment, he wasn't that kind of person.
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[Hiei]

He kept his eyes on hers, particular curious as to how she got that burns on her arm. Usually, people with fire Alices had a natural immunity to fire, so why was she burnt? And he didn't remember the statues being able to catch fire. His red eyes returned to hers, though, as she spoke once more. This time, she was shooting at him, or at least he thought she was. Well, he did not blame her. He was indeed an odd choice for a Student President. He was a fighter, not a leader. He preferred the physical way of settling things instead of the political way. He was no politician. He was just a defender.

"Well, I never wanted to be the Student President anyway. The ex-Student Dean forced it upon me. And also, I was doing my job protecting the students and got myself injured. But I have a better question, how did you get yourself burnt with a statue?"

He asked, leaning forward slightly and ignoring the numbing sensation that was coming from his chest. It had been somewhat true. Kurogane had forced and convinced him to take the position, saying that it would give Hiei a better position and status for protecting the Academy. He didn't say that he needed to be socialising with others, which Hiei did not really like doing. At that, he straightened his composure, before patting the part of the bed beside him, gesturing for her to sit beside him on the soft bed. It was better than the hard floor, right? He did not have to say anything. If she was smart enough, she would understand what he was 'saying'.

[TEN]

[/i] Contrary to her mind, this person -- Hiei -- didn't seem offended, whether or not what she had said was rude or not. Amazingly; a lot of people flipped their knickers when she said something -- anything -- that could even hint her dislike towards them.

"Well, I never wanted to be the Student President anyway. The ex-Student Dean forced it upon me. And also, I was doing my job protecting the students and got myself injured. But I have a better question, how did you get yourself burnt with a statue?"

"Protecting the...students..." she muttered under her breath. Perhaps it was jealousy. Well, it probably was. Jealous that someone could say that; 'protecting the students'. She wished she could say that to the question he asked; "Oh, I was just protecting students, too," she would say, perhaps, or maybe she'd make it less lengthy; "Dido". But that wasn't how it was. She felt a slight twinge of being ashamed, even if most couldn't think of Ten as exactly 'human', she still had guilt, jealousy, and disgust for things she did. It was only human nature, and no matter how she would ever deny it or others would deny it for her; she was most certainly human. Two eyes. Two ears. One month. One nose. One heart. One mind. One sense of Right and Wrong.

She pressed her good hand's fingers to the floor and pushed herself up slightly, she tilted one side of her body for a moment, before her hands reached the spread of the bed, touching for a moment to get her balance, but she didn't sit down. "The statue...was in the way," Ten suddenly said, looking down at her hands on the cloth, "So were some students, and my `stomach` decided to switch me into four or five different Alices at once...and...well, what happened is clear." She looked up at him with a side glance, before letting out some sort of mumble under her breath and sat down. Her mind suddenly popped into one thought; What happened to the one kid who was in her range? What ever happened to him? Was he in one of the rooms right now?

She bit her lip; an anxious feeling was seeping into her stomach. Both stomachs.

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[Hiei]

"The statue...was in the way, so were some students, and my `stomach` decided to switch me into four or five different Alices at once...and...well, what happened is clear."

Hiei kept his eyes on hers, listening intently as he tried to imagine the scene in his head. She was running. Running from what, he was not sure. Anyway, the statue was in her path, and she couldn't turn in time to evade the statue and the students. Then, her stomach switched her into four or five difference Alices? Her stomach? Different Alices? He had not heard of anyone being able to switch their Alices, but then again, Alices were said to be able to come in any form and have any kind of abilities. Perhaps hers was limitless and gave her different alices at times? A question clawed at his mind, though. Her stomach? He could not help, then, but look at her stomach, expecting something to suddenly claw out or anything, as long as something happened.

Having being given to such entertain, he turned his eyes back to hers. A statue and some students. Now, the teacher earlier only gave him the report of a statue getting destroyed by her special and unique Alice-giving Alice. He never said anything about students getting injured. Then again, that did not mean that there was no chance of students getting injured. It could have simply been hidden to keep him away from ever trying to take things into his own hands, like Hiei would always do. He preferred to work alone, whether or not it was permitted or he was given others to work with. He did not have the burden of having to take care of another and if there was something he could not solve on his own, he would simply find another way, or if he was in the mood, force his way through.

Then, that protective Student President personality of his kicked in, his eyes turning away from Ten as he gazed at the wall in front of him, wondering just how many students were some. Ten, having been gifted with different kinds of Alices, was a dangerous individual and would probably have hurt them. Or at least, more than any single man can do. She was like a whole group of Alice-users in one, only at a disadvantage of numbers but not of ability. A formidable Alice-user, though Hiei wondered just how her future would turn out to be. He spoke again, this time keeping his tone in check to be more in the anxious side than the angry side. He felt no anger for the girl that sat beside him as he simply thought of it as an accident. She, too, was hurt, after all.

"How many students are we talking about?"