damned_institute | West Wing, Hall 2-A

Entry tags:

raphael,
sakura

West Wing, Hall 2-A

[[from here]]

At least Raphael managed to keep his trap shut for a whole flight of stairs and part of the hallway before he went shooting his mouth off again. Seriously? He thought to ask where they were going now?! Hadn't he paid any attention at all to the bulletin? She expected that kind of behavior from Naruto, but this guy was ridiculous. Besides, she was just a little busy scouting the location to be answering his inane questions. Dumbass!

"The medical reference library should be just ahead," she hissed, determined to say so more quietly than he'd managed the initial question. They rounded the corner and according to the map she'd committed to memory, the library should be the first door on their left. Easy enough. She tried the handle, only to have it turn up locked. Well fine. This was just an opportunity to show what a real ninja could do. Stealth would call for lock-picking, but it was sorely tempting not to just throw a wicked punch at the door and blow it right off its hinges. It would take some chakra, sure, but it would sure be worth it for the look on Raph's face.

"Think you can handle a door?" she whispered, feeling generous as she crossed her arms over her chest. Kakashi said they were going to see just what kind of skills Raphael could bring to the group, so now was as good a time as any. So far, aside from being superb at taking a fist to the face, Raphael had yet to impress her. "Let's see."

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"An' why the hell are we goin' to there for books?" Raphael shot back, endeavouring to make his voice quieter than Pinky's had been. He mightn't be as good at it as Leonardo, but he knew how to be stealthy!

At least the medical library wasn't far. Just around the corner and he was watching Pinky struggle with turning the handle. Locked, and by the looks of it she wanted him to take care of it for her.

He smirked broadly in the low light. "Sure, if you don't think you can handle one little door, then I guess I can take it down for you." So much for her supposed 'magic' or whatever.

Stepping up closer to the door, Raph exhaled once before delivering a powerful kick to it. While he would have liked it if that had been enough to rip the damn thing clear off its hinges or something, whoever had built the place clearly hadn't cut any corners. The door made a splintering creak but held, though the second, equally forceful kick finished it. The third kick wasn't really necessary, but Raph was in bad mood and wanted the damn door to fly open already.

"Hah! Bet you couldn't top that, right Pinky?" he challenged.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/787633.html)]]

[back from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/787633.html?thread=64144049#t64144049)]

Once outside, Raph glanced around what he could see of the empty hallway. "Nothin' to worry about so far," he muttered mostly to himself. Directing a look back at Pinky, he contined; "We goin' back the way we came or what?"

Did Raphael have to give a running commentary on everything? And the questions that should've been obvious; was she just expecting too much or was he just an idiot? The more she heard, the more she rolled her eyes. It was a good thing she kept from doing it when he looked her way though.

"Back the way we came," she confirmed. "We're going to room F1 to drop these off. After that, there's a patient with some medications I'd like to take a look at."

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/785428.html?thread=64303124#t64303124)]]

[From here.]

L began to walk down the corridor.

"When we reach the end of this hall, we go through the doors, then to the left, then through another door on the same wall. I believe we will be outside, briefly, which means that we will be exposed between those two doors. It might be best to move quickly."

He decided to ignore Dr. Jones's paranoia of a few nights earlier, and shot the beam of his torch down the long expanse of flooring to the door in question.

"You're well prepared tonight," Howl observed with feigned surprise, though the note of friendliness was real. He followed the light down the hall with his eyes, which almost glowed alongside his hair, catching and reflecting the manufactured light. Howl had to suppress a sudden shiver. He felt like eyes were on him, although it was only his imagination (or so he hoped). Still, between tall, golden Howl and shorter, ashen Ryuuzaki, it was easy to guess which of them was a more obvious target.

"What manner of exposure are you expecting?" he asked at a low volume as his long legs carried him down the hall. He spared only a short glance at Ryuuzaki, his opposite for all intents and purposes, before returning his attention to the looming darkness.

"I studied the map to be sure. As to exposure... I don't know, but it is better to be ready for it -- people have reported encounters with small flying reptiles, and a large snake. Then, there is the matter of the... situation... that shattered the roof of the Sun Room the other night."

He added, at an awkward interval, " -- Something could come out of one of these rooms, too."

This was said with a degree of nonchalance unusual for a man who was walking along past the doors in question; he was alert to any movement, but had decided that it would be better to move as quickly as possible. "I don't think my associate had much difficulty getting to where we are going, but that appears to mean nothing here. Something interesting happened last night, Howell -- "

Edited 2010-01-13 04:21 (UTC)

"I'd say, Daniel," Howl interjected with a slight huff. "Well - I wasn't with you that night, but I'm presuming that you were as out of touch then as you were that morning." Howl was still feeling out of sorts from yesterday. It had passed like a dream, and Howl had not been personally impacted, but everyone around him had seemed stubbornly lost. They all peered at him like he was a madman, and as though he might even be dangerous.

His anxiety, and what might have even been concern, came out only as indignant irritation. It wasn't Ryuuzaki's fault, and Howl couldn't truly hold him responsible, but it had shaken him to the core all the same. He deserved to be at least a bit irritated! In the end, there was no one to blame, except for maybe himself. He took a bit of the shame over his cowardice and added it to the pile of things he'd feel sorry for himself about at a more convenient time.

Nerves aside, he was curious, and so he continued: "Is that what you mean by interesting, or is there some other gem that our new home has presented you with?"

Edited 2010-01-13 05:57 (UTC)

Well, there it is.

L's first outward response to being addressed as 'Daniel' was to heave a deep sigh, sounding as if he was matching Howell in irritation -- not entirely at Howell, but also at the Institute, Landel, and, to some extent, himself. Although the worst and most reckless of his fury had subsided, if for no better reason than his suspicion that he would be unable to do anything about it for some time, he was still angry. Something had been done to him, and worse, he had not been strong enough to resist it; he had not even anticipated it.

"Yes," he admitted, in a tone that was both softer and more crisp. "Yes, that is a safe assumption; however, it wasn't the interesting element."

At this point, they were nearing the door at the end of the corridor. He paused outside of it. "Since you've mentioned it, though... what did you make of Laurier's story? I'm curious."

[To here.]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/785428.html?thread=64429844#t64429844)]

Despite being somewhere new, the uniformity of the institute insured that it didn't feel new. This hallways was the same as any of the others, just different doors. Speaking of which, an ajar one warranted a cursory inspection with her flashlight, in case something - or someone - was lurking in wait for them. Pushing the door open with a foot as she passed, it seemed to Yukari that whoever had been in here had already left and there wasn't anything to worry about. Still, she kept an ear out for suspicious sounds as they went.

The door Yukari had illuminated and pushed open bore the wounds of having been kicked open by someone strong. The ninja paused just long enough to touch the splintered edges of the door frame around the jamb with the pads of her fingers, tracing the pattern of fragmentation before nodding and continuing on. Two kicks. Either the person who had kicked it didn't know the right place for impact, was sloppy, or just didn't care.

Catching up with Yukari, Sheena stepped past her to reach the door at the far end first. She held up a hand to halt the youkai once she reached the door. Quietly, Sheena listened carefully for a moment.

"We are not the first through this door," she said. "But they're probably heading to the kitchen." She grasped the door, card at the ready in her other hand, and eased the door open.

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/791554.html)

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/791554.html?thread=64440578#t64440578)]

Yukari stepped into the hallway, hand still on the door so she could shut it once the ninja was inside. The bird looked like it was too big to follow them in, which was part of why its attack was such a concern, but as someone who specialized in slipping through gaps, Yukari was never one to underestimate the capability to squeeze places that shouldn't be possible when the motivation was right.

Once Sheena had seen the bird thrown off by her guardian seal and back off and then heard the door open, she certainly didn't want to wait around any longer. She bolted through the door and didn't stop until she was halfway down the hallway. Deciding she was far enough away from the door, the ninja slowed down and then her adrenaline rush tapered off.

The ninja stumbled and clutched the wall with her good hand as she slowed down. Once she stopped, though, she slid down to her knees and leaned over, cradling her left hand protectively. Anyone approaching behind her could see the rips in the back of her yayoi and might even notice the dark stains around the edges. Her back wasn't a concern for Sheena, though, mostly because she didn't notice the shallow gashes from the bird's rake. It was her hand and it really, really hurt.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit..."

The moment Sheena was inside, Yukari slammed the door shut. Rather than try to hold it though, she also followed the girl down the hallway, far from the door. Seeing as it was a bird, it probably wouldn't be able to operate the door knob, so the only way it would be getting inside was through the door. If it was strong enough to do that, Yukari hardly thought the weight of her own body against the door was going to make a difference. She'd rather have some distance on it to run away if the door did indeed get knocked in; no matter how strong it was, a bird with wings that large would not be able to squeeze down these halls very quickly, if at all.

"How bad is it?" asked Yukari, kneeling down besides the ninja. At this point, the question "are you all right?" would just be stupid.

"Bad," Sheena replied, trying to keep the nasty sight from Yukari's eyes but not really putting much effort into it.

She undid the remaining buckle that held the dangling guard to her arm. Holding it up, the thing was so mangled that the metal had snapped in a few places, ripping the soft purple leather covering as ninja did not wear metal openly. Swearing she tossed it onto the floor.

"The hell metal is that? It's no better than tin," she growled.

It was easy enough for Yukari to see that the ninja had injured her hand. So that's what she had meant by not being able to open the door like that; the youkai had thought it had more to do with her holding off the bird. The ninja was obviously trying to keep it out of sight, so she didn't shine her flashlight directly on it.

"Not surprising," she noted, glancing over at the discarded scrap of metal. "As if the good doctor would actually give us anything useful."

She might have compared it to her parasol, bent and now out of sight, stored in a gap again, but that wasn't really a durable item to begin with. It was the youkai's powers that made it so.

"We should bandage that hand up," said the youkai, noting the smell of blood that was starting to permeate the air. Pulling off one of her white gloves, she handed it to Sheena since the ninja seemed to be lacking the extraneous pieces of clothing department. "Though there's not much we can do for your back here."

They'd either have to go back to the rooms or find a healer. Wasn't Sheena's friend one of those?

"I thought they were my normal guards - these and the lower ones," Sheena replied. "Mithril's just as thin and light as whatever the hell that is."

The ninja eyed the glove, but did not take it. There was something wrong in her mind about getting that white glove stained with her blood. She then blinked. "My back?" Of course, the ninja then unsuccessfully attempted to look at her back.

Yukari quirked an eyebrow. How could she not have noticed the long gashes across her back? Even without shining her flashlight directly on them, the youkai could see them easily. Had she really hurt her hand so badly that those didn't even register?

"Yes, your back," Yukari repeated slowly. "That bird scratched you pretty badly. Sheena, how badly injured is your hand?" The question was firm, but not urgent; she was fairly sure one couldn't sustain a fatal wound on their hand, short of slitting a vein and the ninja didn't seem to be spouting blood. She urged the girl to take the glove again, hand knocking against her upper arm.

"Don't worry about dirtying it; it'll be clean in the morning anyway."

Now that it had been pointed out to her, Sheena could feel the sting in her back and the blood that was clotting there. That also explained the semi-coolness on her back with the tears in her clothing.

At Yukari's question, Sheena balked a little. She really didn't want to talk about it, much less look at it herself - another reason she was hesitant to bandage the hand. But the way the youkai asked her was a bit compelling. Eventually, Yukari was going to want to know and if Sheena wouldn't tell her, that damn youkai would find a way to get a good look at it.

Taking the glove, Sheena semi-turned away as she gingerly wrapped the glove as best as she could around the worst part of her hand. "Couple things broken - not sure what, exposed muscle, probably a torn tendon or two," she finally said in a quiet voice that wavered and turned into a whimper when she tried to tie off the glove.

Broken bones would certainly be a reason why mere superficial cuts like those on her back might have gone unnoticed. It was lucky the girl was trained in combat and probably familiar with sudden pain; most normal people might have gone into shock from something like that and been unable to fight or run at all.

"Well, at the very least, we should find somewhere safer than here to get a better look at it," said Yukari, even though she knew looking at it was probably the last thing the ninja wanted to do. "Though ideally we should find a healer. Is the clinic still where it used to be? There seems to have been some confusion about that on the board lately."

There was also a third option, one that Yukari hoped Sheena knew nothing about, because if she did, there was no way the girl would agree to it. What a handy thing, to have heard about the chapel from Luxord that one day.

Shaking her head, Sheena forced herself up onto her feet and leaned heavily against the wall. As far as she knew, the Clinic was no more and Raine was more focused on being someplace with better access and whatnot. It was fortunate that the ninja knew where Raine was heading this night.

"Chapel," she said, closing her eyes for the moment as she rested. "That's where we need to go." And not for the reason Yukari had been thinking of. "Oh, grab the guard for me?"

Now that was surprising. She hadn't thought Sheena would agree to using the chapel - no, it would be correct to say she still didn't think Sheena would agree to using the chapel. Instead she was wondering what other motive the ninja had for going there.

Still, she wasn't going to argue. Hopefully they could avoid running into anything else tonight before they got there.

"All right," she said with a nod, moving over to pick up the discarded guard and standing up again. Then she walked back over to where the ninja was standing.

"Go ahead and lean on me. I'll be your support," she said with a gentle smile.

Again, Sheena shook her head. She didn't need to lean on Yukari now that she'd had a few moments. Her legs worked perfectly fine and the injuries to her back were an annoyance at best. As long as she didn't bang her hand against anything during the short trip to the Chapel, she wouldn't need to lean on the youkai.

That wasn't to say she didn't want Yukari's support. A little self-conscious of her own blood on her hand from bandaging the other, Sheena took the youkai's free hand just for the comfort of the contact. It was also a silent way of telling Yukari she was trusting the youkai to get them there safely.

Before they moved, though, the ninja had a question, "Are you okay, Yukari?"

Even if Sheena's legs weren't actually injured, it didn't mean she'd be steady on them, so Yukari hovered close, ready to catch the ninja in case she wasn't as good to get to the chapel as she thought. Because of this, she took the girl's hand without hesitation. There was a pause at the feel of blood, all the more pronounced since this was the hand without a glove, but then Yukari's fingers curled between Sheena's and held fast.

"I'm fine," she said with a reassuring smile. Her arms were still slightly sore from fending off that bird's claws but was otherwise unscathed. Most of its attentions had been on Sheena it until Yukari had stood directly between them, though who could tell if it was because it was one of those birds or simply because the ninja had been the more obvious target. "Let's get going."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/785428.html?thread=64559892#t64559892)]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/785428.html?thread=64501268#t64530452).]

Prowl looked at Lockdown again, waiting for directions.

Whatever the outcome of their fight, he supposed he could accept it. If things went bad, well, he'd hopefully be in a better place where... nothing felt bad. Where he could miss people in a much more serene manner. Still. A little more time as a human...that would be nice. Without enemies running around.

Edited 2010-01-17 01:14 (UTC)

Once again, Prowl had gone silent. Kid was probably thinking again. Whether that was a good thing or bad had yet to be determined.

The bounty hunter looked at the map again, "Accordin' to this, we gotta go through here," He pointed to the Staff-Only Outdoor Patio Lounging/Eating Area. "Then through the Food Counter and then it's onto the kitchen. Just try to watch it when we get outside. There's usually some real nasties roamin' the place outside." He wondered what his special counciling wouldn've been like if Prowl had been there. Lockdown hadn't been able to stop himself from almost hurting HK, so Prowl probably wouldn't have been much better off.

He nodded and headed to the door (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/791554.html?thread=64554498#t64554498).

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West Wing, Hall 2-A

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