damned_institute | Night 51: F1-10 Hallway

"Some things are just too tempting, often because of the danger," murmured Yukari softly. "Perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing, if you though that I..."

And then a sudden thought struck her.

"Sheena," she said suddenly, a look of concern in her eyes. "Did you... feel all of that? Were you still connected to me? During all of that..." Though considering how her own link to the pact had been all night, the youkai already knew the answer.

"Yeah... I did." The words were very soft, very quiet, and Sheena looked down. "Everything. You were in pain and you were... afraid. I couldn't just-- Not when it--"

She took her hand away from Yukari and brought it to her neck, covering the thick bandages. "Even though I knew what had happened, I couldn't just leave you." A tear slipped from her eye. "I had to somehow let you know I was still there and not going anywhere. That there was something stronger than this damn ranch." It's why she didn't fight back at first. "You warned me, deep inside, and I didn't listen. I'm sorry."

Even if Sheena took her hand back, Yukari wasn't about to let her break that connection, especially when she reacted like that. Moving closer, the youkai wrapped her arms about the girl, pulling her close and holding her tight.

"Shh. You don't have to apologize," she told her. "Even if it didn't turn out so well, I appreciate the sentiment. I only regret your coming to me because it resulted in you getting hurt. I know I hurt you a lot more than anything that happened to me, that night or any other." Such as when their positions had been reversed. Plus part of her had enjoyed it, all of it, even the worst parts of it. Yukari would not deny that what had acted out last night was a part of who she was. It just wasn't the part of her she wanted to show.

Sheena couldn't help the tensing, the flinch, when Yukari embraced her. It wasn't voluntary, her instincts still wanting to trigger that fight of flight response that all humans had buried underneath their intelligence. It took her a moment to force herself to stop, that Yukari wasn't going to hurt her. She knew that the dark, evil youkai she'd seen last night, the one that bit her, was indeed the youkai she'd formed a pact with and more. It was just a bit different when forced to face that so clearly.

Her hand slipped up to find the necklace about Yukari's neck, taking strength from its presence. "Please don't try to eat me again."

Yukari felt that flinch and she didn't blame the girl. She would be foolish not to want to run, especially after seeing that side of the youkai. Duality was part of her nature and there was no light without darkness. It was just that she usually spent her time in the gray between rather than at either extreme.

"I won't," Yukari assured her. Though with an opening like that, she couldn't help but tease, chuckling lightly and whispering in her ear. "Unless you want me to, in certain ways..."

One moment, Sheena was relaxing with Yukari's affirmation that she wouldn't have to be worried about being food again. The next, her face was turning bright red with the innuendo. What was it about Yukari that could get her to go from one thing to the other without any effort.

"Damn youkai," Sheena growled out, hoping being surly would help hide her reaction. "This is not the time to bring up those kind of things." She swatted at the youkai. "Pervert."

Besides the fact that, close as they were, it was all too easy for Yukari to feel the ninja's face heat up like that, she knew the girl all too well for any act of grouchiness to hide her reaction from the youkai. Chuckling, she withstood the blow and instead responded with a soft nuzzling of the side of Sheena's face.

"Alright, alright," she conceded, deciding to leave off any comments about the girl being delicious - Sheena's sensibilities were too pure, too human to probably ever find that funny. "But I mean it. I'll do - or not do - whatever my summoner wishes of me." A giggles and a kiss to her cheek. "Well, provided it amuses me to do so."

Couldn't sound too obedient.

Commenting on the ninja's taste was a sure way to ruin any progress they'd made regarding this whole evil youkai thing as it would freak Sheena out. Even if it was meant as a joke. Good thing, Yukari knew her well enough to not make such a joke.

The nuzzle did not make it any easier for Sheena to stop blushing, but she resigned herself to the fact that Yukari probably already knew the reaction anyways. "You know... I'm not just your summoner, Yukari."

She finger-combed the youkai's hair. "This is all a mess." She was referring to the hair, but it could refer to other things.

"Oh? And what else are you, then?" asked the youkai curiously. She could easily list a number of things, but she was interested in seeing what the ninja would come up with.

"Mm. Well, I'm sure with enough time and patience we can straighten it all out," Yukari replied, similarly ambiguous though in her case it was on purpose.

"I'm your--" Slight pause. "--friend."

Sheena then got up off the bed and moved over to the desk, looking for a brush as she continued talking. Well, trying to talk.

"And we've-- and you've-- and I think I'm--" Good thing she was too far away for the youkai to see her blushing as she rooted around the desk.

There was a smirk at that pause, one that widened into a grin as the girl stuttered on. Her arms reluctantly let the girl go, hands trailing down her body until she moved out of range.

"Go on," Yukari encouraged her teasingly. She chuckled a little then spoke up when she realized what Sheena was looking for. "The brush is in the closet with the ribbons."

As well as the outfit from last night, but the youkai didn't know that.

"Oh thanks." The ninja moved to the closet and locate the brush on the shelf over the bar. "Well, you see... that all-- Umm. I-- well, I guess 'friends' isn't really the ri--"

Suddenly, the brush clattered to the ground and Sheena stared, eyes wide, at the contents of Yukari's closet. That dress. That dress. She was frozen and couldn't move, flashes from the previous night flickering through her mind.

Yukari continued to smirk and chuckle as she listened to the ninja stumble through her thoughts. The expression changed quickly enough when the girl suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" she said, quickly getting to her feet. She'd never heard of monsters in the patient rooms before, but there was always a first time for everything. Previous lethargy disappearing, the youkai quickly made her way over to the ninja's side, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What is- oh."

While normally big frilly dresses were not an object of fear and abject terror unless they were white and came with a veil, but she could see why this one might have that effect on the ninja.

At the touch, Sheena reacted without thinking as her thoughts were on the previous night and the hand on her shoulder was the same hand that had done Bad Things to her. In a swift motion, the ninja grabbed Yukari's wrist, pivoted and hip threw the youkai... into the closet. It wasn't a far distance and there wasn't much power behind it compared to how she'd thrown Yukari many times before, but it was enough.

Sheena's breathing was quite accelerated, her eyes still wide, and she stumbled back. Then she realized what she did at the sound the youkai made and the feelings she picked up.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she said, but made no move to help the youkai up as she stood there trembling.

And suddenly the youkai found herself tumbling, off balance and off her feet, slamming into the back of the closet with a thud - thankfully the various outfits she'd obtained served as a minor cushion and kept her from hitting her head, her shoulder instead taking the brunt of the impact.

Compared to how the ninja was doing, it seemed Yukari was easier off though. It seemed that despite being able to speak calmly before, seeing that outfit had put the ninja right back where she'd been earlier.

"Jumpy, aren't we?" said the youkai jokingly, rubbing her back with one hand as she pulled herself up with the other. "Come here."

This time she held her arms out for the girl - now from the front and letting Sheena come to her rather than the other way around, hopefully this touch wouldn't be so frightening to the trembling ninja.

Sheena nodded dumbly at Yukari's words, but made no move toward her. She was still breathing hard as she eyed the youkai. She wanted to go to those arms, that warmth, that caring, but she was also afraid that it would suddenly get twisted. Like that kiss. She shuddered and went to bite her bottom lip, only to wince in pain.

No, she needed to do this. Yukari wasn't going to hurt her. She would be able to feel it if she was. And if the youkai was going to suddenly change her mind, Sheena would be able to feel that too and, now, she had the edge in reflexes without the youkai having full control over her gasp.

Sheena took a step forward and then took it back. She closed her eyes for a brief second (because that's all she could do without the falling sensation) and then refocused on Yukari. She finally took those few steps to the youkai, but didn't fall into her arms. She just stood there, fingers flexing as she was still trying to control those damn instincts.

"Sorry."

It was interesting to see how the ninja reacted, but Yukari found she couldn't watch with the same distant amusement she often watched the struggles of others. She couldn't simply enjoy the little reactions and hesitations. Why was that? A simple answer really.

It was because she was no longer an observer.

The youkai had a vested interest in the girl's reaction. She couldn't simply let it be. She wanted Sheena to come to her, so every hesitation was not an interesting struggle to observe but a struggle that she experienced herself, a moment where she might lose her. Throughout it, she radiated a warmth and hope that Sheena would accept this offer for what it was, one of shelter and comfort. A soft smile spread across her face when the girl finally closed the distance between them, if not fully.

"It's alright, Sheena," Yukari told her softly, gently enfolding her in her arms, touch light enough that the girl could easily escape if she wanted to. "I'm here now."

The ninja did tense a bit more as those arms went around her, but she didn't pull away. She tilted her head down and one shaky had came up to grip the youkai's arm. It wasn't a hard grip, but one capable of becoming vice-like should she decide she needed to throw Yukari once again.

"I know," she said quietly, her voice trembling like her body. "But who are you, really? Who is Yukari Yakumo, the Youkai of Borders and Boundaries and why has she taken a silly little human and both tortured and comforted her?" She drew in a shuddering breath. "Who are you that I call mine?"

In contrast to that trembling grip, Yukari stood firm, steady and unmoving. Rather ironic, the most vague and ephemeral of youkais serving as an anchor for something a pedestrian as a human.

"Neither good nor evil, light nor dark, but that which lies in between, connected to them but neither one of them," Yukari intoned, mused, rambled. "The one who is nothing but slips between everything, defying definition. Not anything, but capable of anything. Even taking an interest in a silly little human, for better or for worse."

Even capable of something that perhaps was more than just an interest in her.

Hands slid up into blonde locks, and fingers curled to hook in the strands. Sheena might be holding on a little more than usual, but the rest of her slowly relaxed and she leaned forward into Yukari. She couldn't explain why, but hearing all that from the youkai, reminding her of things she already knew, intimately, because of their pact, managed to calm her down.

Darkness wasn't evil. And Light wasn't good. Not by their very natures, but by how they are used. And neither was Yukari

"Do you know what really goes on when I summon you? What really happens?"

When the ninja leaned closer, Yukari wrapped her arms just a little tighter, holding her to her, warm and embracing. She felt the trembling stop and knew the ninja need no longer run.

"Not as such," she admitted. "How does it work for you?"

Sheena rested her head on Yukari's shoulder and half-closed her eyes.

"I have a lot of mana, especially for a human," she began. "You could sense it, right, when we formed the pact? You got to know the depths of my mana just as I got to know the extent of your power. Summoning you here is different than summoning any of the other spirits outside of here." Or even here while she was evil.

"Normally, when I summon, I gather a portion of my mana and cast something like a tracer link out where it connects with the element and through the element to the spirit who then sends their own mana back to make the full connection. It's why I have to use an incantation. That's the actual tracer being formed." Sheena paused a moment. "But it's different with you. Here."

Her hands loosened in the youkai's hair, arms moving more fully around Yukari's neck in more of a hug than just holding on. "The thing this ranch has that affects our abilities? It blocks that tracer link - blocks you from receiving it, not me from sending it. Kinda why I can sense your feelings but you can't sense mine. Because you can't pick up on the link like I can. So I have to do something about that."

She nuzzled a bit into the youkai's neck. "I use the full extent of my mana to literally rip down the barrier blocking you from your power, from the tracer, and from me. I can only hold it for the duration of the summon and even then the barrier still clings to you. And then I have nothing left. That barrier consumes all my mana when it rebuilds itself." Or something like that.

"That's what happens when I summon you."

Yukari listened quietly as the ninja spoke. She had indeed gotten a sense of the ninja's vast potential when they'd formed their pact, but considering all the restrictions they were under, it was still surprising to hear that Sheena used that power to rip through the barriers placed upon them, even if it was only for a brief few seconds.

"I see... that explains why you were so weakened afterward," said the youkai. "I think some of that burden may have also been placed on me, using my powers. I ended up all kinds of drained from that for the day after." Though her energy had been fully restored when they set her up to be brainwashed.

Chuckling a bit at the nuzzling, she leaned her head against the ninja's, one hand coming up to brush her hair idly.

"It's a pretty amazing thing you do, Sheena."

The hand to her hair relaxed Sheena just a fraction more as it always did. She really didn't see her summoning as all that amazing despite her knowledge that it was, in fact, amazing. She was the first summoner born in four thousand years, so she knew it was special. More so for being able to form a pact here with a being not even of Tethe'alla or Sylvarant. But all her summoning really did was cause pain and destruction.

"If you say so," she murmured.

After enjoying the warmth of her youkai for a few more moments, Sheena slipped free and picked up the brush off the floor. She was careful not to look at the dress in the closet, choosing to head back to the bed.

"I do, and I'm always right," she said teasingly, closing the closet door and following the girl back to her bed. It was rather unfortunate about the dress though, since it was one of her favorites but she'd probably never be able to wear it around the ninja now. Taking a seat on the bed with the ninja, Yukari leaned against her lazily.

"Does it still hurt a lot? Physically," she asked quietly. She specified because she knew the ninja was most certainly hurting in other ways.

Night 51: F1-10 Hallway

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