damned_institute | Night 48: Staff-Only Food Counter

Yukari followed the ninja, feeling no great need to linger outside - pretty though the stars were, the boundless reaches of space had never particularly held her interest, especially after being exposed to them for hundreds of years. Perhaps if her knowledge of astrology were better, she might have noted the different arrangements here, but that had never been one of her hobbies, at least not recently.

Once Sheena closed the door, Yukari turned to face her, expecting the girl to go ahead and break the lock barring their way. Instead she was faced with an oddly quiet ninja. Nerves, or something else?

"Hmm?" she intoned questioningly, not particularly pressing for a verbal answer if one wasn't forthcoming. She gave the girl a small smile as she waited to see what Sheena had to say.

Sheena moved closer, the odd look still on her face, and she reaches out to brush one of the ribbons in the youkai's hair with her fingertips. She seemed to be in deep thought, debating something.

"You aren't wearing all your ribbons..."

A curious question, and unless something very odd was afoot, not the one the ninja was thinking about. It sparked Yukari's interest, but she was in no rush to discover the answer. What was life without a little mystery?

"I'm not," she agreed, looking the girl over with interest in her eyes. "I thought to understate the red and other colors since the suit's so white."

From her expression, the youkai was obviously still waiting for something more. Her hand came up, fingers brushing the girl's cheek as she watched silently with that subtle smile.

"Oh."

The youkai was certainly correct in that the ribbons weren't what was on Sheena's mind. Eyes fluttering a little at the touch on her cheek, the ninja starts to move closer.

Then she stops and catches Yukari's hand. Drawing in a breath, she turns away to lead the youkai to the door.

Yukari resisted the urge to chuckle when Sheena turns away, but a bit of a smirk did touch her lips. She let her fingers gently curl about the ninja's and followed her over. Perhaps it had just been a bit of nervousness. If it was anything truly weighing on the girl's mind, she was sure it would come out before the night was over.

For now, Yukari was content to let her lead, saving her teasing for once they were settled in when it wouldn't derail the girl's plans entirely.

No, you will not kiss her, no matter how much you want to. You have plans - important plans. Plans you've put a lot of work and thought into. You can't let yourself get... distracted.

So Sheena told herself.

Once she'd taken them around the counter to the door behind it, the ninja turned back to Yukari and indicated the pillowcase with various cooking ingredients and a few other things.

"Can you hold this for me so I can get the door open?"

"Of course," said the youkai, with a bit of an ironic bow. She was dressed the gentleman, so why not play the part? She was even so gracious as not to peek inside.

Since it seemed unlikely she'd need it, the parasol had long since disappeared again and for now Yukari just held the bag and her flashlight, lighting up Sheena's target.

Forehead creasing a bit, Sheena wasn't sure how to take that little bow. She blinked and decided she just wouldn't bother figuring it out.

"Thanks," she said with a smile. Turning back to the door, the ninja knelt down and slipped two thin pieces of metal out of her obi and set to picking the door's lock.

"I figure braking the door down would be a bad idea," she commented, as she worked on the door. A couple moments later and there was an audible click as the door unlocked.

So, rather than just ninja-kick the lock into submission, she had lock picks? Well, it was certainly more ninja-like, if less Sheena-like. The youkai was smart enough not to voice that particular observation, however.

"Wouldn't want to wake what sleeping beasts may lay," mused Yukari absently, her attention being drawn back to the present when she heard that click. Once the door was open, Yukari stepped inside, seeing as she was the one with the flashlight. If Sheena wanted to go in first and protect her from the danger might lurk, she'd just have to be faster next time.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/848313.html)]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/848313.html)]

As soon as they were out into the little room outside the kitchen, Yukari pulled the door shut. However, there was no telling if that would keep the shadow-thing from following them, so she kept her light trained on the doorway even as she backed away towards the exit to the patio. She'd rather not go back outside with Sheena in this condition, but facing potential threats, namely ones Yukari could hit with her parasol, was much preferable to the definite threat of whatever that thing had been in the kitchen.

If Yukari was expecting Sheena to 'snap out of it' once she was away from the shadowy mass, she was wrong. The ninja never resisted any of the direction the youkai gave her. In fact, it was so easy to physically control her, it was unnerving.

Coming to a stop, Sheena leaned against the wall and then slid down to the floor, regardless of the grip Yukari had on her arm. She slowly blinked.

"Why are we...?"

Good, it didn't seem the shadow entity was following them. It seemed its effect on Sheena was still lingering though, and there was little Yukari could do when the ninja went limp and sat down on the floor. Frowning, she knelt down beside the girl, setting the flashlight down pointing towards the kitchen door - hopefully that would be enough to give them warning if it tried coming out after them.

"Sorry to interrupt your preparations, but it seems something wanted to eat you up instead of your cooking," she joked, though her smile was a little grim. "Couldn't be having any of that, now could we?"

She reached over, putting a hand on Sheena's cheek to turn the girl to face her. From how spaced out she was acting, it was probably best to give her a familiar face to focus on rather than just staring at the floor.

"... it was pointless," Sheena murmured, completely unresisting to her head being turned.

The hand on her cheek was warm, far warmer than the ninja felt, though that was only in her mind. To Yukari, her skin felt fine

Exhaling slowly, Yukari resisted sighing. If Sheena was going to be like this all night, Yukari was going to be very upset that soul-sucking shadow monster. She might even have to go back in there with her flashlight and set the room on fire or something. She really wasn't sure if there was an effective way to fight it.

"It wasn't pointless," the youkai asserted, staring Sheena in the eyes. She wasn't entirely sure if the ninja was actually looking back. "Sometimes, things just don't go according to plan. We can try again another time."

She wondered if the thing in the kitchen was liable to wander off any time soon. Probably not. More likely it would lurk around there for the rest of the night. Well, there was always tomorrow night - Landel seemed to like shuffling around what appeared where.

The ninja was looking back, she was just blinded to what she normally saw in the youkai's eyes. She shivered and, with the barest of movements, tilted her head into Yukari's hand.

"...never goes according to plan. Shouldn't have bothered..."

It really seemed that Sheena wasn't actually seeing what was before her, if that glazed look in her eyes was any indication. She seemed to be responding to touch though, so Yukari settled down next to her, wrapping her other arm around the girl and pulling her close.

"Oh, hush," she said, leaning her head against Sheena's. "I think it was very sweet of you, regardless of how it turned out." While intentions weren't the same as actual results, in this case it was through no fault of Sheena's that things had gone wrong, so her intentions were what mattered most to the youkai. She could get food anytime - it was having Sheena cook it specifically for her that mattered more than actually getting the meal.

Of course, it was dubious whether any of this was getting through to the girl. She might just have to wait this out for now.

Her eyes slipped shut and she let the warmth of the youkai envelope her.

"Probably wouldn't have liked it anyways..." Not the curry, not the proposition. "Stupid of me to think it'd help."

Yukari, of course, assumed she meant the dinner.

"Oh, come on, I'm sure I'd love anything you cooked," she assured the ninja, stroking her hair. "I could only like you more for it." Unless you tried to poison me, but it seemed likely the joke wouldn't fly so well right now, so she left it unvoiced.

It was like Sheena was programmed, as with Yukari stroking her hair, the ninja relaxed tremendously. Not that she had much more to relax.

"Why..." The question was lingering, something she never understood. Maybe she just needed to have the hopelessness confirmed. "Why do you like me? I'm a failure."

She then mumbled and the words weren't all that clear. "You'd never...with me."

"For one thing, you're not a failure," said Yukari firmly, stopping in her petting for the moment. "Real failures hold little interest to me."

"I like you because... well, in a word, you're fun to be around," she answered whimsically, resuming her stroking. "And I don't just mean to tease, though that's certainly part of it." She chuckled a little. "You're warm, caring, honest, straight-forwards... the kind of person who I know will try to do the right thing." Even if Yukari didn't, she liked those that did. In the end, she was more benevolent than malevolent and would rather see people prosper than suffer. Plus, those were the kind most fun to tease.

Her hand paused again at the mumbled words which she barely caught, even in the silence.

"I wouldn't what, hmm? So sure?"

Shifting her head to look up at the youkai, actually focusing some, Sheena answered, "Form a pact. With me."

This was not how she'd wanted to ask Yukari, but since the ninja was feeling like it was a hopeless endeavor, it didn't matter how she asked. Or did it? Tilting her head and little, Sheena blinked her eyes a few times.

She was feeling... weird.

Oh? It seemed there was a glimmer of recognition in the ninja's eyes. Though more interesting were her words.

For a moment, Yukari was quiet. She had, of course, been expecting this at some point, if not now exactly. She just... hadn't put a lot of thought into it. A pact with Sheena, was it? The youkai was flattered, since she knew how closely Sheena regarded those spirits with which she had formed pacts with before, and even compared her to them. But what exactly did it entail? Would it work in this place? She could only imagine how it might effect Sheena, especially as she was now, if they tried to form a pact and it failed. And there were, of course, her own feelings on being contracted to a summoner, something that had never happened before in her centuries of existence.

"Oh, feeling better? You must be confident, to ask something like that," she said with a teasing smirk, even if she didn't feel like joking. She knew that wasn't the case, but hopefully it might encourage her a little. Now that the ninja was acting less like a rag doll, maybe she was starting to recover a little.

That and Yukari was stalling for time as she considered how best to answer.

Sheena blinked her eyes again, this time shaking her head a little as if trying to clear away mental cobwebs.

"I feel... not right," she said, leaning her head back against the wall. She raised a hand up and rubbed her forehead. "I... shouldn't have said anything. Forget about it. I don't have the right to ask..."

Ah, there was the ninja she knew. A little flustered and confused, but there she was. That shadow thing was really going to have to pay. Playing with Sheena's emotions, touching her legs, leaving her dazed and confused - those were clearly only things Yukari was allowed to do.

"Now, now," she said with a giggle, nuzzling the girl's cheek affectionately. "If you never ask, you'll never get to hear me say yes."

Which, incidentally, Yukari decided she would, if the girl could be bothered to say it again. Perhaps it wouldn't last forever, but what did? In this time, in this place, for this moment before everything could change, perhaps she could share this bond with her.

Sheena still wasn't all there, but her cheeks colored a bit at the nuzzle. And then she stopped breathing. Her eyes widened a fraction before she blinked them, trying to fight through the sludge of whatever the hell had happened to her. Did Yukari just--? Was she imagining it?

The ninja's, no, the summoner's hand shook as she brought it to the youkai's cheek, using the contact as a means to focus and to allow her to meet those violet eyes. "I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Yukari. I ask that thou establish a pact with me."

The words were so familiar, coming easily from her lips. Despite them, Sheena was not prepared to attempt the pact and so the mana did not surge about them as it normally did with those words. Sheena wasn't recovered enough to invoke her summoning magic just yet. She was still fighting the emptiness inside, trying to find the kernel of will deep within. Without it, she had no chance of holding the pact and controlling the power of it.

Yukari smiled fondly at the touch, listening to those words. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, as Yukari had no idea what was supposed to happen and thus was unaware of Sheena's current inability - the formality of those words threw her off a little, and the youkai's mind raced to recall all that Sheena had said about forming her pacts rather than simply answering "yes" to the ninja's request.

"All right, I'll listen," she said, smiling encouragingly. "Wasn't there something about a vow as well now? A promise, to entice my aid or some such?"

Not that the youkai needed much enticing at this point.

"No, no... that wasn't right. It didn't start," Sheena said, clearly not talking about the youkai's response. "No mana."

The summoner shifted, leaning forward to bury her face in Yukari's chest. "I need a little longer or I won't be able to... What the hell was that thing?"

For a moment, Yukari was worried she might have said something wrong - though really, would that be her fault? She only knew second-hand how these were supposed to go - but it became clear enough what was the problem. Mana was the same thing that powered Sheena's cards, so it wasn't an effect of the institute. It seemed that shadow had not just drained Sheena emotionally, but magically as well.

"Not sure," replied the youkai, wrapping her arms around the ninja. It was good to have her back. "It seemed to be some kind of creature of shadow that feeds on energy, both emotional and magical it would seem. I didn't see it come from anything, and you checked the room before, so I assume that the darkness we saw was its true form."

"Ugh. Normally, I would have been able to sense it, if it was darkness. But here..."

Sheena closed her eyes and took solace in the warmth of the youkai and the comfort of her arms. Her breathing steadied and she sought to find what she needed within for the pact.

"In a few... What questions do you have before I invoke the mana?"

Well, normally, Yukari could probably have banished it from the kitchen, or perhaps erased its existence entirely. The border between being and unbeing were slim for a creature as ephemeral as that.

"Well... I understand sort of what the pact is, but what exactly will happen once it's been made? How is it used, really?" the youkai asked with a look of academic interest. If it meant that she'd have to follow Sheena's every command, she might want to consider rethinking this. she liked being on one end of the shikigami-master relationship, not the other. "And... is there anything special I need to say or do when we make it?"

Just barely, she might have looked a little nervous when she asked that, though she tried to hide it with her nonchalant smile. She'd never admit it, but she really had no idea how any of this worked and was scared of messing it up somehow.

Yukari was lucky in that Sheena had her eyes closed and didn't open them until after the youkai had covered the nervousness up with a smile.

"Well... once the pact is made, we'll be connected. Linked to each other by mana, no matter the distance. We'll be able to sense each other in a way. I usually have a kind of commune with my summons, though I'm not sure if that will happen with you. I'm... not sure it will even work with you. I've put a lot of thought and analysis into it, so I think it will, but I'm not sure."

Sheena sighed and leaned her head against the youkai's shoulder. "The important thing about a pact is the vow. It is the center of the magic. It is something you have to accept for the pact to take affect. And as long as I do not violate my vow, you will be tied to me and the magic will not allow you to ignore my call. But, if the vow is ever broken, something you will know immediately, you will be free to ignore my call or null the pact completely at your discretion. In my worlds, a spirit can only be bound to one summoner at a time." Which was probably one of the reasons summoners were so rare.

"After the pact, when I need your help, I will use a summoning ritual, similar to what you saw when I summoned Luna, to call you. For that brief moment, you will be compelled to help me, regardless of where you are and what you're doing. But only for that moment. And they'll be rare moments. I do not rely on my summons, but ask them to compliment me or call them when I need an edge or something finished immediately. It's are also very draining on my mana."

As for the actual pact ritual...

"And I know I sort of explained the steps to you before, but I'll do it again. As for anything specific you might need to know, I possess the Right of the Pact and am called a Pact Maker by the spirits. The magic may or may not aid you in knowing this stuff. I don't really know. I also don't know if this is required or not, but every time I have made a pact, the spirit tests my worthiness as a pact maker by testing my skill in combat. I figure this is for them to feel confident in my ability to hold my own without calling for help all the time. I admit, constantly being summoned would get really irritating."

She sighed. "I'm going to guess that if that test is required, the magic will let you know one way or another. Then, once you're satisfied with that, you ask or tell me, your choice, to make my vow. If you accept it, the magic will solidify the pact. And then there's the Proof of Pact."

A pause. "Oh, when I die, all pacts of mine disappear."

Yukari listened with what was as close to rapt attention as she got, which meant that while she looked to merely just be listening, she was taking in every word and thinking it and its implications over.

The pact in and of itself sounded familiar enough - Yukari's link to her shikigami was not dissimilar and she too - when not trapped here - could summon them at will to do her bidding. How much they were actually compelled to obey her seemed less absolute, as Ran had often done thing contrary to Yukari's will, though always with her best interest in mind (even if she was wrong). On the other hand, Yukari relied on her shikigami a lot more, it seemed. There was no question though if Yukari was strong enough to be worthy of their help though.

Whether Sheena was strong enough to deserve Yukari's help was also not in question - considering how many times she'd saved the youkai, it was already a done deal in that department. Hopefully the magic wouldn't need her to reconfirm this; when Sheena said they tested her skill in combat, she could only imagine she meant by engaging her in combat, something Yukari was not keen to repeat.

The vow was still an interesting thing - a spoken affirmation or condition. There was an unspoken agreement between Yukari and her shikigami - they were not bound by force - but she wondered if Sheena's vow would be something like that or something more conditional. It wasn't unheard of for certain kinds of magic to have self-imposed conditions to strengthen their power. She was curious as to what she would vow.

And that was a rather grim note to end her lecture on.

"Well," said Yukari, hugging the girl tightly and laying her head on top of Sheena's, "then I hope I end up stuck with this pact for a very long time."

Wrapped up as she was by the youkai, Yukari did not see Sheena's face flush, but she could probably feel it given it spread down the summoner's neck and across her shoulders. A part of her kicked her, reminding her that she needed to lock the whole involved-with-Yukari emotions away until after the pact was made, if only because of the youkai's uncanny ability to make Sheena's willpower disappear. She needed that more than anything else when it came to a pact. Without it, she couldn't control the mana, much less control the power of the youkai herself.

"Umm... yeah." She swallowed and squeezed Yukari back once before disengaging herself.

"Okay, I think I can do this now." She looked around, offering her hand to help Yukari u. "I guess here works as well as any other, despite it feeling kind of weird. This isn't the standard venue."

Yukari was a little reluctant to let go of the warm ninja she was hugging, but the pact ceremony probably couldn't be done in this position, or even if it could, Sheena probably wanted to afford what little formalities they still could in this place. Taking the girl's hand, the youkai also stood.

"Well, I doubt there's anything like a temple around here anyway," she replied, giving Sheena's hand a squeeze before letting go of it. "Well, at least not one you'd want to use for this." The church with the fountain of blood would be far worse than this. "Besides, a room like this, whose only function is to be between places, kind of suits me."

Letting her hands fall to her sides, Yukari moved to stand an arms length away from the summoner, clearing her mind and relaxing her body. She let all nervousness and thoughts about what might happen slip from her body like water through a drain, or memories through the gaps of the world.

"I'm ready to start when you are, Sheena."

When put that way, Sheena felt better about their location. She was so used to the spirits having temples, not so much dedicated to them as the element they were, that she hadn't really thought what a Temple of Borders would be like. And she kind of didn't want to. Maybe after the pact (if it worked) she would have a better understanding of gaps and borders.

With a nod at Yukari's word, Sheena closed her eyes and cycled her breathing. She needed to squash her nervousness. She needed to find her center, deep in her mana well. She needed to focus. She needed to be a summoner. That will, that power, that magic.

Sheena's eyes snapped open, a look in them the youkai had never seen before, not even when the summoner was brainwashed. There was power there, something not to be taken likely and, with the words that came from the Sheena's lips, mana surged in the room, originating from the summoner.

"I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Yukari. Whilst thou establish a pact with me?"

The mana swirled about, engulfing them both in the purest of magics. Even this place could not deny the significance of being the only summoner born in four thousand years. Never once did Sheena take her eyes off of the youkai's.

Yukari waited while the girl gathered herself. At the edges of perception, she could feel hints of her previous nervousness stirring. It was odd being the one acted upon, rather than the one who had enacted the situation. A lack of control, of knowledge that was somewhat unsettling. She quashed those feelings down with her trust in the ninjas words that she would, when it happened, know what to do. Still, there was some doubt.

That doubt disappeared entirely when Sheena's eyes reopened. The utter confidence and seriousness in that look was compelling, something that rarely affected the youkai but did so now. There was something else there too, not just will, but mana, power, magic. Even if it was unfamiliar to Yukari, she knew the feel of magic and could feel it reaching out, seeking her. It was Sheena's power, trying to establish a connection with her own. However, it could surely only connect with something as vague and distant as the youkai of borders' essence if she let it.

"I am Yukari. I will hear out the Pact Maker," the youkai intoned, slipping into the same level of formality quite naturally. It seemed like the right thing to do, given the situation and Sheena's seriousness. "I know already of thy strength, so I ask only this: by what vow would thou bind us?"

Yukari's own being reached out towards the ninja's magic, closing the space between them. But not quite yet. There was still a little bit more that was needed to bridge that gap between human and youka, between summoner and summoned.

The youkai's own magic was so close, so very close, and yet still far away. This was a familiar feeling, a familiar sense of yearning to have that power fill her near bottomless mana well. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the summoner was relieved to know she'd been right and that this pact could happen.

Could if Yukari accepted her vow. And now was that time.

There were many vows Sheena could have made. Some she could have chosen with the youkai's nature in mind, but in the end, such a vow did not feel right. There was only one type of vow the summoner was able to make and either Yukari would accept it for what it was, accept the summoner for who she was, or Sheena was going to have to let the magic slip and the pact go unformed. It was always this part, always the vow, that made Sheena nervous as the minds of the spirits were never something she could truly understand. What she did understand was that she would be resolute in her vow and the spirit, the youkai, would see that. Sense it.

"Right now, there are people suffering, trapped away from their homes, away fro, their families and all they hold dear. I vow to search for a way to send them back where they belong, no matter how long it takes."

Sheena's mana surged again with the statement of her vow and she held the youkai's eyes. Her own were unwavering in her dedication. This was it. Would Yukari accept this vow in exchange for her power?

Yukari had also considered similar options the girl might make. Though she claimed she couldn't always understand what the youkai was thinking and Yukari often made it that way on purpose, Sheena surely had a good idea of her nature by now, so it was easy to imagine what things she might say to specifically entice her. Having never heard what the girl's other vows had been, Yukari could only imagine what sort of words they might be.

But when Sheena spoke those words, while they weren't exactly like anything the youkai had anticipated, neither were they particularly surprising. Somehow, they felt very Sheena-like, and that honest determination to do the right thing, more than anything else, is what convinced Yukari to answer as she did.

"A vow like that..." Yukari paused, her face distant and formal as it had been throughout the ceremony. But after a moment, her expression softened and a gentle smile spread across it. "...truly suits you, Pact Maker. And it is something that I can also support. So as long as thou stays true to it, I shall lend you my strength. I accept your vow, Summoner Sheena."

That little pause felt like a thousand years to the summoner, but that smile of Yukari's (aside from making her heart speed up a bit) calmed her fear that the vow was not acceptable. As much as Sheena tried to keep her countenance serious and neutral, a smile tugged at her lips and there was a joy in her eyes that couldn't be denied.

With Yukari's acceptance, the summoner felt their magic connect and was summarily engulfed by the youkai's power. This wasn't just a sense of what the Youkai of Borders was through the restricted filter in this place, but the raw essence of Yukari Yakumo. It was almost too much for Sheena to handle, her rate of breathing increasing as she fought to control it.

Oh gods, she might even be more powerful than Origin. Grant me the strength to not fall beneath this presence.

As she adjusted to the feeling of the pact, something she missed so deary, she wondered what Yukari would feel? Corrine had once told her, when she asked about it, that Sheena was unique in that she had such a reservoir of mana that she was like a vessel able to contain all the mana of the Tethe'alla without breaking. Sheena had always thought he'd said it to make her feel more confident in her summoning capacities, but after forming pacts with all eight elemental spirits, she wasn't so sure he'd been humoring her.

Perhaps the youkai would sense all eight elements with the summoner and weave her own essence between their presences. If that was the case, then maybe the youkai would even be able to sense the ninth presence that surrounded and protected her heart, the presence even Sheena was unaware of with as close to her as it was. Maybe the youkai would feel something indescribable.

Sheena stepped closer to Yukari. "Only one thing left," she prompted the youkai. The Proof of Pact. If Yukari did not have something, Sheena was prepared, as this had been her plan and she'd not given the youkai any warning.

Yukari felt it as they connected, a single, solitary step that nonetheless bridged the infinite gap between separate beings, removing the border between them.

As if Sheena was a vessel just waiting to be filled, the youkai felt her power, her magic, her very being go out to her, within her, enfolding her very core. She felt deeply connected, in a way closer than she had with her own shikigami. Perhaps it was because now she was the summoned and Sheena was the summoner. Perhaps this was how Ran felt in relation to her.

Even if she closed her eyes, she could feel where Sheena was. Without sound or sight, she knew exactly where her summoner was and knew she would were the girl to move or even leave the room. Partly it was a sense of connection, extension, as if the girl now carried a piece of Yukari within her now and she could feel that like she could feel her own limbs, but also there was a sense of vastness, of potential and power waiting to be filled, such that she was almost surprised she had never sensed it earlier.

And within that vastness she could sense, just barely, other sparks, other presences. There were, indeed, eight of them, the eight elemental spirits she held pacts with. And there, somewhere deeper... was that another? If maybe she could reach...

Yukari's eyes snapped open at the ninja's words and she came back to the present, standing in the hall between the kitchen and the patio, in the institute at night. The depth and other presences she had experienced faded but didn't disappear, that sense of, well, Sheena still there and perfectly overlapping with yet almost more real than the image of the girl before her.

One thing left, was it? They had the vow and had skipped the test, so what did that leave...

"Ah, the Proof of Pact, right?" said Yukari, also stepping close and removing whatever distance had been left between them. She grinned and then without warning grabbed her and gave her a kiss, passionate and quick. "How about that?"

Eyes going wide, Sheena didn't really know how to react to the unexpected and amazingly passionate kiss. In fact, she was so stunned that she barely started to respond when it was suddenly over. Her face was bright red and she almost panted. Wow...

"Uh... That was really nice, but, umm..." The summoner closed her eyes briefly before taking a length of thin leather out from where she had it secreted in her obi. Hanging from the leather chord was a small rectangular piece of wood with a Mizuho character carved into it. It wasn't the best carving Sheena had ever done given all she'd had was a kitchen knife, but it would do. Sliding her hands up to Yukari's neck, Sheena reached beneath the mass of blonde hair to tie the leather off into a necklace. Bringing her hands back to the front where the wooden pendent was, the summoner brought it to her lips before letting it fall to rest against the youkai's chest.

"I think this might serve a little better."

Ah, that stunned look was really nice to see. Sheena really did look cute when blushing like that. Idly, Yukari wondered if any of her other pacts teased her like this. Well, hopefully not quite like this.

It seemed her impulsive romantic gesture wasn't quite in line with what the ninja had in mind though, so Yukari watched with interest as Sheena pulled out the leather cord - just how much did she have hidden in there? - from her obi. She stood obediently still as the ninja hung it around her neck, waiting until she'd kissed the pendant and let it go again before picking it up an examining the wooden piece. The character written there was similar to kanji, but it didn't look like any she'd ever seen before.

"What does it say?" she asked, turning her attention back to the summoner - her summoner - as she let the pendant fall back to her chest. The necklace probably looked out of place with her suit and tie, but she was sure it would look wonderful with her usual dress and its open neck. And because of how it hung, she could probably wear it during the day as well under her shirt without it being noticed by the orderlies.

Sheena giggled a little, color still on her cheeks. "Not going to tell you," she said, settling her hands on Yukari's arms. "It's a secret. But it makes it very clear that you are my summon," she added on with a little grin.

That grin didn't last long, though, as the summoner suddenly blinked, feeling the wave of Yukari's power rush back in again.

"Oh hell," she muttered before her eyes rolled back and she slumped into Yukari. That kiss had thrown her off and she'd forgotten she still had to adjust to the new pact. She was only out for a few seconds, but it was long enough.

"Oh, a secret is it?" said the youkai with a similar grin. Maybe it was her true name or something, and Yukari was about to say as much when Sheena suddenly became unsteady, her eyes rolling back and her body falling forwards.

"Whoa, Sheena!" she said with some concern, grabbing her by the shoulders to catch her as the girl fell against her body. Was this some kind of backlash from forming the pact? Luckily, it didn't seem to be too serious, as the ninja's eyes came back to normal soon enough as she regained consciousness.

"Are you all right?" Yukari asked, still holding her in case it happened again.

The first thing Sheena felt when she regained consciousness was the warmth of the youkai and her concern. And it wasn't a concern she could see, but one she could sense as true as she could her own feelings.

With a bit of a chuckle and a smile, the summoner reached her hand up to stroke the youkai's cheek. "You're concerned. Really concerned," she said, as if it was one of the wonders of the world.

Getting her feet back under her, Sheena nodded. "You're amazingly powerful, Yukari, and I don't have full access to my mana. It's taking me a bit to balance out the pact. You kind of threw me for a loop there and i got a little overwhelmed. I should be fine now." Despite her words, she was not moving away from Yukari.

"We should probably not linger here any longer. I've got some fudge back in my room. I can at least treat you to that in celebration."

"Of course I'm concerned," said the youkai with a false pout. "After going through all that trouble to make sure you didn't turn catatonic, you just start fainting again? I'm concerned I might have been wasting my time."

And if it wasn't obvious enough that she was kidding, the ninja could surely feel her relief that Sheena was okay. That, and curiosity. So did the pact provide a similar link to Yukari as it provided her a link to Sheena? Similar, but different, as it seemed Sheena could tell how she was feeling, if her words were any indication. She might have been more offended by the girl's surprise, but after all, she was the most suspicious youkai.

"Threw you for a loop, did I? Does this mean I should warn your first, or will all my kisses make you swoon regardless?" she commented with an amused tone. Of course, she understood. For a human to tap into the power of something as vast as Yukari would surely be an amazing change. Even if Sheena was used to making pacts with greater spirits, she had been without them here for a while. Hopefully she would become used to it in time; she wouldn't be nearly as fun if she kept fainting and falling over at every little surprise.

"Fudge sounds delicious," she agreed happily. "Though it's a shame about the curry. I was really looking forwards to Sheena-chan's cooking~" She giggled a little before adopting a more thoughtful look. "Maybe we should grab the things we left in there? Even if that shadow thing is still there, we'll probably be okay just popping in and out now that we know about it. I mean, after you spent all that time getting together the ingredients and such..."

And Yukari had left a couple flashlights, but since she still had one and could always steal another from an empty patient's room, those hardly mattered.

Chuckling, Sheena admitted, "They are pretty powerful on their own." Meaning the kisses. 'But no warning is needed. I think I can handle them."

It was a shame about the curry, but she didn't want to risk going in where that shadow creature was. "We lost nothing I can't reaquire." She then leaned in to claim the youkai's lips in a lingering kiss.

"I can always cook for you another night."

Yukari managed to nod once before Sheena captured her lips; it would be much easier to reacquire some ingredients than it would be to reacquire a ninja, especially one quite as fun as this one. Or as tasty, she noted as they kissed.

"I'll look forwards to it," she murmured as she disentangled herself from the ninja, though her hand found its way towards her. Remembering the flashlight on the ground, rather than pick it up, she simply opened a gap below it, the device dropping out of another hole above Yukari's shoulder and into her waiting hand. "Well, let's be off then."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/847399.html?thread=67653927#t67653927)]

Night 48: Staff-Only Food Counter

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