Diamonds in Dim Light [Solo Training - Summer]

Summer had heard of Living Weapons before, a lot of people had. They were generally only ever seen with Yoroi though and the fact that Summer was sitting with a pair on her arms was odd. She had spoken to them a bit and apparently they knew what they were and they knew what type they were too; Seraphic. They were a rare type almost never seen and had been part of Kendall's family for several generations now, meaning that Summer had technically stolen them from the strange bird man, oddly enough she wasn't actually too bothered. He had tried to kill her after all and only through her own burning desire to never lose and Fang's intervention had she managed to overcome the warrior to win the fight, as almost everyone else had. She was glad for that but still the wounds burned deeply, she could feel phantom pains in her elbows and wrists sometimes and her cheek occasionally smarted due to the strange wound that was left there, she was almost certain that crackled with spiritual energy now.

"So you are called, together... Inui?" She asked the weapons in front of her only to receive a confirmation from both at once. "Yes, together we are Inui! In-Kun on your left arm and Ui-Chan on your right, together we are Inui." They told her and she nodded before picking up and clasping them onto her arms. She knew about Ui-Chan's ability already, it turns out that the butterfly she had seen a few times when she had been fighting Kendall was Ui-Chan's projection animal, a strange manifestation of pain that the wielder of Inui was taking and sending it back to wear against the mind of those that fought against them. However In-Kun's ability was interesting and he had explained it before. Apparently he could extend her contact, anything she could do via touch, over a distance via a mental field, something about the 1st dimension or something like that. She found it really interesting to be honest and so with that she tested it out, snapping out her left hand because really she could think of only one thing that applied on contact. Sure enough the ground about three feet in front of her suddenly shattered and she chuckled. "So that's how it works and you were telling me that I could hone it down and refine it?"

"Yes Summer, if you focus the field, you can narrow it down to increase the range." Summer nodded and tried that, focusing her field of vision and slowly feeling her ability to contact via that field increasing. She snapped her hand out and this time the ground exploded fifteen feet away rather than three and she gasped. "That's wonderful! What about you Ui-Chan, is there anything unique you can do?" She asked the other weapon who seemed to think over it for a few moments before deciding she was worthy. "You can increase the size of the animal you make when you take pain, I sense that yours is already a crow, the animal tied closest to your heart. Your skill level and natural power isn't enough yet to make a marked difference but you can increase it to about your own size if not slightly taller... I believe that of you, Summer." The Samurai nodded and bowed her head, touching it to the gauntlets. "Thank you Inui-sama... Your help is amazing." She said before getting up and leaving.

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She could feel them. Well those that remained anyway, was that the issue? She felt like there should have been another there, another person within her... Was it sensory? The girl reached up and ran her hands over her face, fingers dusting over the eyepatch that covered her right eye, touching the puckered tissue where a scar sat on her cheek. Her solitary eye scanned down over her nude body, marking out all of the little blemishes on her skin. There weren't too many if she was being honest but she knew that her left shoulder was torn up and burned and that her back was stippled with hundreds of little scars. She rubbed the wound on her arm before she got to her feet, hair tickling her back.

Summer took a deep breath in through her nose, taking in the scents around her. It had been raining. She could taste the wet soil and leaves on the air and the light coming in through the window was a dull grey. That was good, it deserved to be a dull day, she had to admit that. She still hadn't gotten over what had happened, that was going to take a long time. She clenched her hands and shook her head before moving over to the window. The young girl wrapped her arms over her chest so that anyone walking past wouldn't be able to see anything indecent. Then again no one was walking past, it was early morning, just past dawn. The skies were overcast and the rains had stopped recently, she could see that now. She sighed loudly and ran her fingers through her hair, feeling how matted it was, she hadn't been taking very good care of herself after all. Perhaps it was time to change that, King and Polaris wouldn't be too happy if they knew how filthy she was, they'd probably try and wash her themselves.

A smile. It was small but the thought of getting groomed by Polaris made her smile, that was strange. She hadn't smiled in a long while. Turning, Summer grabbed her towel and some soap before heading through into the bathroom. She switched on the shower and stepped in, letting the warm water fall over her. She removed her eyepatch and turned her face up to the water, letting it run over her skin, soothing her, warming her up for the day she had ahead. Summer knew what had to be done, there was something out there calling to her, a promise of power, of strength that was starting to howl. She'd felt it for a while now, it was strange, almost like a supernatural keening, a creature out there in the world that wanted to fight her, she just hadn't been ready. She still wasn't but she was so close, she was closer than she had ever been. With that accursed mental block cleared from her mind, her true strength returned to her, she knew what she had to do. It was time to train more, it was time to learn the last things she would need so that she could destroy her foe, that beast that was hunting her.

It was time for the Hunter to become the Hunted.

She grabbed her soap and lathered herself up, using the time to reflect on herself and her past fights. She had really been messed up in each of the important ones hadn't she? Against that Mishura she had lost her eye to a whizzing shard of diamond and had a new eye implanted, one that she didn't so much rely on but it was useful for her swordsmanship. In the chunin exams she received a scar on her right bicep, her left shoulder was mauled due to her own friend's acid blood being siphoned through a puppet's weapon and her back was fired into by hundreds of needles, making her almost like a Kami damned porcupine. Then the fight against the Harpy that had led to her body being burned, her arms being broken, her mind crippled and a scar burned onto her cheek due to her own power overwhelming the kunai she had wielded in her mouth to finally slay him. She had gained things from each of them though. A bond as a team from the fight against the Mishura, new allies from the chunin exams and a pair of new weapons from the fight against the harpy. Inui were sitting safely in her chest, snoring softly, or at least they were when she had last left them.

She washed the soap from her body and then set about washing her hair, starting to think about herself now. The main thought was of the nature of the scar on her cheek. She only vaguely remembered what happened, her mind had been so hazed with rage and pain that nowadays it almost didn't want to look back at that, as though it was too dangerous. She knew that she gained power from being harmed, that she could channel her hatred and pain into her weapons or her body to modify herself, make herself even more dangerous. The feeling of that was dangerous however, she almost enjoyed it. Was she a masochist? Was that the first thing she was going to learn about her sexual identity was that she enjoyed pain and being hurt? She didn't think so. It was more the thrill of power that she enjoyed, the joyous exultation of her body singing in agonising harmony as it brought death to others. That was her job as much as it made her sick sometimes; she was a weapon. She finished washing her hair and looked to her hands, even now they felt off, her body felt light, she didn't have her weapons strapped to her form. She couldn't hear the soft songs of Glimmer and Vexos, it was time to fix that.

She stepped out of the shower and shook herself out a bit before grabbing her towel and starting to dry herself off. The towel was nice and fluffy and it felt wonderful. She wrapped it around her waist and then moved back to her room before drying her hair and humming softly to herself. Today was going to be long and excruciating but that was fine, she didn't mind that so much. She was used to pushing her body to its absolute limits, especially after the chunin exams when she started to force herself to become strong enough to save her friends, to take any blows for them. The world was trying to prove she couldn't do that however but... They were still alive so she was doing something right, wasn't she? Summer gave a soft chuckle and rolled her shoulders before putting on her clothing. Her underwear was simple but she wasn't exactly developed yet so it wasn't like it mattered, a pair of tight black shorts and a short pink sundress went on over the top. She pulled her hair back and tied it before pulling on her forehead protector and slanting it down to cover her right eye. She strapped her swords to her hips, three on her right and two on her left, she was left hand dominant anyway. With her hips weighted down she reached into the chest and pulled out In-Kun and Ui-Chan and strapped them to her arms, clenching her hands a few times before they suddenly spoke up, after a loud yawn of course.

"Hello Summer-sama! Did you sleep well?" They asked sweetly, almost innocently. She smiled and then cracked her knuckles before shaking her head. "Not really, Inui-san. Some bad dreams but those are par for the course after everything that has happened to me." She told them softly before closing the chest over and stepping out, starting to jog outside so that she could start training properly. "Well that is no good, we are sorry we can't help you Summer-sama, you have been kind to us, we would like to help." They did sound sad and Summer just gave a soft breath through her nose. "It's quite alright, I'll survive, I'm a big girl now. You just worry about keeping me alive in fights, leave the sleep demons to me." She told them and they seemed placated at that. She left the building she was in and hunkered lower, arms tucked to her chest as she dashed towards the trees. Once she was safely away from the town and surrounded by moss and the soft sounds of forest life she let herself slump once more. She wasn't going to let herself be deterred though, she was going to force herself to train even if she ended up hurting herself. Besides, she had her true power back and she wanted to test it. However there was one thing she had to do first.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She called out. She really hated shouting it but she felt better whenever she did it, as though that was how the technique was supposed to be used. With a heavy puff of smoke and a stumble back from Summer due to losing so much of her own blood, a tall Raven was left standing before her. The one eyed bird looked towards her and then cocked his head to the side before fluttering his wings. "Summer-chan, you summon me once more, need you my aid?" Muninn asked her before looking around. "Yes Muninn-sama. I need you to watch over my training and ensure that I am moving correctly as I practice. You have great knowledge over almost everything, wiser than almost any other Crow... Except for perhaps Yatigarasu-sensei." She told him and Muninn nodded in agreement, giving a soft chuckle before hopping off to the side and bowing. "That seems agreeable to me Summer, I will watch over you and ensure that you are doing the best you can and correct your errors should you make any." He told her and Summer bowed him in return, fists together before she moved over to one of the trees.

She brought her hands up and started to focus on what she had been told by King in regards to her boxing. He had described something known as a Ring but she had never been able to actually learn that. She knew what he meant by it though, focusing on the senses, on the way one could focus would allow them to better fight. She let her awareness spread and found it easier than she thought it would be as her eye stopped focusing on what was before her and started focusing on everything in front of her, every little movement her eye snapped towards and she moved her forehead protector away, letting the glowing blue Kyougan become active as well. The world started to move slower and she focused, her view narrowing on the tree in front of her. She snapped her hand out, blow striking the tree but it was designed to be soft, a knocking blow, nothing more but her natural abilities caused a horrific puncture to suddenly explode a hole through the tree due to her natural piercing ability. She knew that it spread via Inui and she chuckled as she focused on that, stepping back and throwing shadow punches into the air, holes stippled the tree, punching through it like bullets. She stepped in and started to swing at the tree.

"Summer-chan, focus, your strikes are wild, keep them controlled and focused for maximum effect." Muninn's voice snapped through her revelry and she nodded, tucking her arms in and rather than just flailing at the tree she started to properly punch, letting her fists sink into the bark as she danced around the barked behemoth. It wasn't exactly fighting back but that was alright, she knew how to fight, she just had to refine her techniques down, make sure that every movement was flawless. With Muninn aiding her it was quite easy, he would occasionally lean in and adjust her arm position or the way her legs were spaced to help her out and she found it slowly easier and easier to focus. Then her world narrowed.

She stopped looking through her normal eye really, using almost exclusively the kyougan she had implanted, staring so intently that she couldn't notice the world around her, only the sap-filled foe in front of her. She could see every little movement of it, how slowly it moved and she smirked. How great it would be if she could do this to an enemy, how slow they would move, how she could tear them apart piece by piece. The power flowed through her and she started to chuckle as she swung into the tree again and again, tracking quick moving insects over the bark to punch them into the wood. The chuckle became a full-blown laugh as she stepped back and then swung in, driving her fist up to the elbow into the tree. She stopped, breathing deeply and shaking slightly with the exertion. It would seem more time had passed than she had thought, the Kyougan was starting to burn her for chakra exertion and she quickly pulled her forehead protector down.

Twisting her arm she pulled it out in a shower of sap and pulled out a towel to wipe Ui-Chan clean before turning to look at Muninn. The old crow was watching her intently before he gave a nod. "You are stronger than you think Summer, you let your lust for power overcome you however. You need to reign that in but I think you can. The beast howls for you, I know it does, I have seen you look towards Madness. That is where your path lies now and I will be with you all the way." He gave her a nod and bowed. Summer bowed to him in return, she wasn't going to talk back to him and with that he desummoned and she collapsed to her knees, her body wracked with fatigue and exhaustion. She was going to stay there for a bit and let herself understand what she truly wanted to become... What did she actually want?

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