Another day, another sermon. The kami sat on the street curb and sighed, the last member of her congregation had departed after receiving some advice about her boyfriend who insisted on getting drunk and beating her every night, and the night had settled like some dark animal over the slums of the Commons.
In the alleyways, the darkness, she could hear the rustlings of wicked creatures... faint crunchings and hisses, hunters in the darkness looking for the homeless and others foolish enough to be out when the thick cover of night cloaked the eyes of any human witnesses and the police were more absent than usual.
The trailer was behind her, should she enter it, she could expect to spend the night unmolested. She couldn't detect any immediate threats, however, so she simply sat, absorbing the nasty air and reflecting over her time on Earth so far. She would have to add a praise and worship section to her sermon. She furrowed her brows in thought as she tried to recall one of the songs they used to sing in choir in heaven.

*

The woman ducked, blinking and simply saying, "Oh my..." despite the suddenness of the situation. When she brought her head back up, still on her knees with her hands covering her head, the first thing she spotted was the aggressor, who was admittedly, quite ugly.
But then her eyes fell on her "boyfriend" as it were, with his flame hued hair all about his shoulders and his collar popped and...
To tell the truth, she wasn't one hundred percent sure what exactly it was she wanted to do with him, having not seen any demonstrations in the past, but she tightened her legs a bit more as she knelt there, forgetting for the moment how she'd only meant to duck for a second because the sidewalk was dirty.
She wanted to cast a spell to strengthen him a little and better enable him to take care of this... apparently wicked spirit, but she'd quite forgotten her chants.

*

The shy kami looked on at the fight with a sort of dread. For one, even though it was being carried out against an evil spirit, great amounts of violence were still something about this plane she was trying to get accustomed to. All spirits are ultimately related, after all.
Waving to Shou for a moment, and noticing that he was indeed making good use of the sword she gave him, she clasped her hands together and said a short prayer for the evaporating snake devil. "Oh Bleaus, your mercy endureth forever, please accept this lost soul into your bosom and help him find light in his next life. Amen."
Turning to the other, she found herself still a little uncomfortably wet as a bead of sweat slid down the back of her priestly garments. "I am doing fine... I finished with a sermon some time ago. I trust you are in good health?" Something ran through her head, a brief impulse, and she usually wasn't one given to impulses, but... "Was... it hard to kill him?"

*

The kami smiled gently, glad to see he'd found the gift useful. Anything to improve her chances of acceptance when she had to pop the eventual question...
Somehow the blade looked like something that belonged with his image. The way he looked now just wouldn't be complete without some sort of weapon. Maybe he just looked aggressive to her right now, she thought, her sleeve covering her mouth shyly as she looked up at the oni.
The question of killing seemed a very straightforward one, but an image, a dream almost, flashed through her mind... a large, black rat with a scar over his eye, clinging savagely to the throat of a more humanoid tiger fellow, a holy spirit like the one she'd become, the color and vitality draining from his eyes as his life bubbled from his throat, the rodent smiling and enjoying the taste of the scarlet liquid leaking messily into his mouth and dripping down their conjoined bodies, the claws of the beast eventually ripping his ribcage apart from his body to better enjoy the blood.
Blinking, the kami wondered where such a vision of carnage had arisen from. "No, I do not think it would be a good idea..." she replied quietly, at length. "Not a good idea. Such a thing would be your domain."
Specifically, she'd had an edict from heaven not to kill. Other kami who'd been sent to Yochi were allowed such a privilege, but she hadn't questioned the restriction as she never questioned anything else she'd been told by heaven.

*

Atilla nodded enthusiastically at the suggestion that he show her how to defend herself. Once again, she would get the chance to see how strong he really was; she'd never pushed herself to test her own limits. Clapping her hands together for a moment, she heard a faint splash and saw a faint glow from between them, and that's what she'd been looking for.
"I am not busy, Takashou-sama. I think we should probably practice fight first so we can see where I am lacking, and... umm... not use your sword..."
Despite the high volume of the clap and subsequent splash of water, her voice was still gentle and monotone, steady even. She seemed to be trying to focus on something directly in front of the oni.

*

Dropping her eyes from the invisible thing in front of the other and looking instead at her own hands, the kami nodded slowly, speaking thoughtfully. "Okay. It is not that far away, is it?"

*

The kami's trance broke for a minute when the fire sprang into being beneath the other and she was possessed by the sudden, powerful urge to jump on to and ride on his back, as she had while she was a mouse on a few occasions.
This thing she dismissed from her mind, however, a small swirl of sparkling, blue water emanating from her hands and crystallizing into a sparkling, golden sphere which she sat upon in her usual shy manner, deciding to follow the other instead of taking the initiative to travel in the direction she knew the field to be. She was here with him, after all.

*

The kami followed the other over the disgusting slums and felt incredibly sorry that this is what a number of her parish members had to look forward to when departing her service. She said a small prayer, in the nonstandard language, as they passed over the particularly offensive cardboard boxes, eventually finding her feet touching the dew kissed grasses of the field between the shantytown and the deep woods. The fireflies weren't out tonight, but the sky was clear, stars twinkling agelessly in the dark blue sky. The moon was a mere slit, and visibility was fairly low, save the said starlight and the dim twinkle of candles and city lights to her back. She found herself squinting at the woods before her eyes resumed looking for the familiar fires of her partner. Something seemed off about tonight, it certainly wasn't the full moon...

Atilla snapped out of her short trance at the sound of the other's voice, blushing slightly at his compliment. Really, it was the lack of light that bothered her more than anything else. She could see best in the evening, but in poor light her sight began to fail her. The other being the only light source in the area would help her focus, however, and with that thought she felt this fight would have some semblance of fairness. "I suppose we shall begin then? Ambulabunt et non deficient."
After her chant, a cloud would suddenly pop into the sky, golden and stylized, and rain down blue, perfectly round raindrops that would fail to make anything they fell on wet. They would, however, soak into her clothes and make her glow for a short moment, her manner picking up an almost imperceptible amount of assertiveness that was always absent in her, or rather, a negative value. Already she could feel herself growing tired, combat not something she really put energy into in the past.

*They will walk and not grow faint. (Unwetting Rayne)

The little mouse kami's eyes rose, viewing the fire that she'd been so afraid of when she was in her smaller mouse form forming into ominous blades. For a moment, the old fear returned, her head tilting down as the beginnings of a kind of terror began to seize her.
But then she looked up at the oni she'd come to care for so much. Surely she wouldn't be able to convince him to marry her if she could barely overcome her fear of his quintessential potential for hurt and destruction. She didn't seek to tame him, not in any great capacity, but she'd certainly need to become stronger herself... less fearful and more capable in her own right. Respect was important, after all. Most people outside of her church respected her for her great piety, but it was the sort of respect one gave to a deaf musician or a blind writer, as though her goodness were a curse in life and not a blessing. She couldn't say she felt that vibe from the demon before her, but then again, she willfully tried not to consider what he thought of her. Such things lead to paranoia, and paranoia never led anywhere good.
Thus, she refocused herself on testing the extent of both his and her abilities, just as one of the swords pointed its baleful, glowing tip at her and began rushing forward.
She didn't try to dodge it, rather, she crossed her arms in front of her and ducked her head slightly to brace herself against the power of its impact, one foot sliding out a bit behind her to help her stand her ground. It would dissolve against her arms, blackening her long sleeves and causing her robes to flow back from the slight wind generated by the heat, but all in all it wasn't as bad as she expected, which raised her confidence. It did, however, sting, and she really didn't want to take the remaining three. From the nature of the spell, she judged he might be able to attack with the others while he formed a new attack...
He might hold back and refrain from such a strategy, he might not, but she knew very few magix attacks herself that weren't of a healing nature.
Her head popped back up and she looked quizzical and unhurt. She felt the need to cast a counter spell, but right now she couldn't recall the words to the chant she'd used to flood this field in an earlier venture. The way she'd banged her knee had overridden any memorizing capabilities she'd held earlier. Absently, she began to chant in quick Latin: various scriptures and declarations, trying to recall which one exactly would open up the heavens. This one was much tougher than she was. He likely wouldn't go rolling back into a tree the way she had earlier, and this time she was ready for the deluge. If only she could remember those words...
*Learning Tsunami

Aqua fortis? No... that was nitric acid. Aqua vitae? No... that was alcohol... or "booze" as they called it on this plane. She really wished she'd put more effort into learning magix back in her day and less time memorizing scriptures, though she'd been opposite the other students in that aspect. To be fair, this was someone else's spell she was recalling, not her own, so it would take her a little bit longer to recall the exact wording.
The other scimitars forced her to act prematurely, however, but the boost she'd given herself affected her reaction time as well. Their cloven trajectory seemed to be trying to foil her attempts at blocking, so she hopped over the lower one and, while in the air, blocked the other one in much the same manner as its brother. The force of impact presented a bigger problem now that she didn't have the ground to provide friction, but she managed to maintain her balance when she hit the ground again.
Fortunately, there seemed to be only one blade left, and the demon's rush left her in much closer range. The light in her eyes made it seem as though he were charging through the void of space. Such contrast was a little more than disconcerting, she wouldn't be able to tell a pothole from solid ground, so she was afraid to use her speed boost to its full advantage when dodging.
Some vestige of her old self that enjoyed this sort of activity wordlessly pointed out that his hand that held the flaming brand was, for now, harmlessly to his side, as though he were preparing for a slash. A well directed hit might solve both the problem of the impending cut and break his concentration on the other scimitar that, she assumed, though she dare not look, was still behind her.
Thus, she made swift steps forward into the charge and, with a boldness absent since her past life, swung her hand in a strong arc, aiming to smack the swordsman's face in a manner that would divert his charge to her left.
*Default Hit: Ascended
*Learning Tsunami

The woman blinked, taking a look at the man who'd quite nearly gone down to the ground, then back at her own hand, curling and uncurling her fingers slowly. The force of impact had been pretty hard, her hand stung a little bit as she flexed it.
Then, it seemed, he still wanted to use that last blade... saying something to indicate the spar might increase in difficulty. It seemed like an honest question, but oh no. The way he combusted made her afraid to an extent. Perhaps a simple misunderstanding, but she believed he must certainly be holding back. Surely all of that drama, the flying through the air at the command of her palm, was meant to lure her into a false sense of security.
For that reason, she prepared for the worst. Murmuring low under her breath, almost a whispered scripture, she mentally prepared herself. "Ready when you are, Takashou-sama..." she said, as though unsure of herself. She doubted he'd give her enough time to thank him for the compliment on her apparent ability to defend herself.

*Learning Tsunami

Naturally, with the closeness they seemed to have shared, Atilla might have forgotten that her friend's spiritual form was a large feline, yet another one of her primal fears. Her countenance went from curious at the sudden consumption of the man by fire to dread at the strangely alluring, yet definitely possessing some traits of her natural foe. "C-...c-c... c... C...." she squeaked, through impotence of throat, pointing a finger as she stumbled backwards, her eyes wide with horror. "K..."

*Learning Tsunami

The kami took several quick steps backwards, seeing the spit trail like some live thing up to her, finally coming to form a big circle, the area of which was rapidly heating up as she stood at the edge of it. Fire rose around her, the air coming to be an unbearable temperature. The arm crossing didn't seem like it would be enough, and desperate to escape the situation, she managed to hop through the flame wall before the bulk of the attack came down, protecting her face with her arms as before and landing in a roll. Her robes were smoldering, but her hair and skin had come out ok, though not quite as ok as they would've been if she'd dodged the attack altogether. She didn't seem aware that she'd dodged the last scimitar by accident, as she lay there, coughing smoke
Without thinking about it, she began shouting to the sky, as though lead by some instinct. "Open the floodgates of heaven!" The cry echoed about the clearing as thunderclouds quickly materialized. "Let it rain!"
The clouds would suddenly begin dumping out copious amounts of water, as though there were some bucket in the sky. The wind would go from very gentle to hurricane force, sweeping up a moderate amount of debris.


*Learning Tsunami

The waters continued to pour down for the space of several minutes, the deluge continuing though the wind whipped in a mad whirlwind skirting the edge of the trees and the cardboard boxes, containing the chaos to some degree, and suddenly subsided. All the water that crashed into the bubble of heat rapidly converted to steam, hissing and floating, the related waters away from that center giving off the thick mist at a slower rate. In short order, the entire clearing lay hidden beneath a thick cloud of moisture, the ground warm and muddy as the woman lay there. The fog would likely be sufficient to hide her for the moment.
Not daring to groan, the woman realized she'd run mostly out of power, or at least couldn't maintain her human form. It was just as well, her clothes were burned past her personal modesty threshold, hanging black and charred from her shoulders like so many rags.
Sitting up, she looked around at the surrounding, almost oppressively warm darkness. Somehow she felt too afraid to down-shift to her mouse form, having recalled Shou's feline aspects, but it hurt her physically to maintain this human visage. Arching her back suddenly and wincing to hold back a scream, she realized an unpleasant straining sensation that seemed to hit every point in her fatigued body at once.
Pain is a powerful motivator; she soon found the strength to call out a compromising form. Her robes began to melt and whiten, eventually forming long, snowy fur. Her hands and feet shrunk and narrowed, turning pink, the nails transforming into sharp little claws. A long, bare tail extended from her rear, more than doubling the length of her spine in proportion as she shrank, her nose jutting out from her face until it formed a snout with several curved whiskers framing it like a halo. This new shape would hold the strength of her human transformation, but allow her to be as she naturally was, and thus was much easier to maintain than her former human form. Though this new shape was bigger than her default rat form, she was only a little larger than some of the heavier breeds of rabbit. Her rosary with the seashell, now with an elaborate, faintly phosphorescent set of symbols on it matching those on her forehead, still hung about her neck, giving a whispered rattle as the transformation completed. Her feet, save the tips of her toes, were wrapped in bandages, as was the base of her tail, and four silver earrings hung from her ears. Her eyes popped out slightly, golden and large, and some beads tied up and together with a blue scarf hung loosely about her shoulders and waist. This form was more light and pure in color than her smaller rat form, except for the blue and golden symbolic pattern that weaved from her forehead to the base of her tail and down her shoulders like a cross.
She felt comfortable in this form. It lacked the complete ability to hide her smaller form had, but she could appreciate the fact that she got to keep her basic strength. Finding the oni quickly in this sauna might prove a problem, she thought, but if he lit himself up again she might be able to find him.
Thus, she sat still as a sculpture, her black-tipped, saucer like ears flickering forward quickly. It was only now that she realized that she had two pairs of ears, a smaller, longer, darker set a little further down the side of her head with a twin set of rings on them. Hopefully the steam would hold out, she would want to find him before he found her after all.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation

The mouse kami noticed a glow and a shout, both occurring in the general direction she was looking. She hadn't moved an inch, but this fog would make it hard to gain one's bearings should she run from the ball. Now she knew his position, but with the impending attack, she would have to move, definitely.
A sort of cunning buried beneath the surface manifest itself once again. Instead of attempting a dodge, she turned her shoulder towards the attack so a stronger part of her body could take the brunt of the force. It hurt much less than the scimitars, the warming sensation was almost pleasant. However, she shrieked as though she were in pain and, knowing that the fireball might make a temporary path in the fog, tried to look injured, but the fog would only remain apart for a fraction of a second, and after that squeal, her feet left the ground and she hopped up to her right and hung, suspended in the air, expectant.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation

The mouse heard rather ominous chanting. That was just as well, last time he charged he'd failed, as he'd been stricken to the ground. What she hadn't counted on was his decision to rain fire down from the sky. It seemed there was nowhere those flames of his couldn't manifest. Wearily, her mind weighed the value of continuing the fight. Since the fire was apparently coming from above, she could contest it with her own newfound powers, but to do so might be painful. Her muscles were sore, but she'd learned much in this span of time.
Only by rolling on her back, crossing her little arms in front of her, was she able to begin to block the attack, but the focus of the drops wasn't on her, since she'd taken the time to hop to the left a little bit.
Nonetheless, the little warm drops drained all of her newfound resolve to fight for the moment. If she had a moment to rest, perhaps she could go again, but for now, all she could do was cry, "I give up, Takashou-sama. You win," after the noise of the firestorm faded. The light breeze and the fire together drove away the rest of the fog, and the night was clear again.
With her arms slightly blackened, the large rat rolled back over on her belly and curled up, her sides moving up and down with a steady rhythm as though she were asleep, but her eyes were open wide.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation

Giving an expression that seemed almost analogous to a tired grin, though it disturbed her slightly to find that in the course of this spar she'd become a little bit competitive. No, she wasn't power hungry as far as she could tell, but it was definitely fun to pit her wits against a combatant in play at what would ordinarily be a lethal dance. Another similarly violent dream, similar to the flashback she had earlier, brought to mind the more entertaining battles of her past life, the weasel that almost made the rat lose and eye.
Snapping back to reality, her old shy manner appeared. As she looked at the oni, blinking with her large, still golden eyes, it would be apparent that there was a broken red mark down her left eye, like a tattoo of a claw mark. "I did... well?"
The rat was overcome with a desire to climb up the other's arm and snuggle near his neck.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst

"I do," the kami answered simply, rising to her feet and trotting over to the other, rubbing her back up against his shin as a cat might, her tail wrapping loosely around his leg as she came back to his side and looked up at him. "I am not sure how I called out this transformation, but it is what they call the final form in heaven. I could never figure out how to do it, but you have taught me. Thank you..." She felt less shy and more comfortable with herself than usual, perhaps because knowing that his fires couldn't immediately kill her as she'd previously presupposed. "I... enjoyed the fighting. Perhaps I could... come with you next time you decide to fight some demons?"
The tone of the question was light and impenetrable, as though she were purposely hiding her intentions behind it by not fluctuating her voice at all, though the previous statements had been lively and animated, even excited.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst

The scaly tail departed the leg in time for the kami to decide she needed to pedal home. She'd rested for a little bit and could summon the small bit of stamina it required to "downgrade" to her human form. Plus, it would be nice to hold hands until her relatively bold mood wore off, as she knew it would.
The white rodent began to shine, the form eventually dissolving into thousands of lights and growing, rearranging themselves into a female form. She still had her purple hood with the white, fuzzy trim, but instead of it being connected to a robe, it led down into an open version, a cloak, beneath which she wore a loose shirt with a cross on it made up of a bunch of smaller symbols, and she wore a very baggy pair of blue pants, the legs of which partially covered her sandaled feet. Her rosary was actually visible now.
Bowing her head slightly, she seemed to mumble a brief prayer before looking back up at the oni. "We should start tomorrow perhaps. Are you in need of any restoration?"
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst

He looked so much nicer with his hair down, she reflected briefly, looking with a faint wistfulness as his more feline attributes faded, leaving the visage she'd first liked.
The kiss, as such things usually did, took her by surprise, but as previously, she enjoyed it, the closeness of his body and the emotional intimacy she felt sending her into a state of happiness she'd hardly experienced since leaving heaven, though their lips parted too soon. She stood there, her arms wrapped very loosely around his waist in a faint reciprocal embrace. Somehow the fact that he was, by nature of his species and alignment, her natural enemy and the very sort of thing she'd come to this plane to combat seemed less and less real every time she saw him, every time they touched. The kami was coming to trust this oni more and more.
Looking up at him, a slight tint of red coloring her cheeks, she looked into those eyes she was so fond of and spoke slowly, as though she were afraid any given word might break the moment. "I... think about you when you are gone... as well. It was nice to... see you again."
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst

The rift increased, she stood there helplessly as he admitted, not to neutrality as she'd hoped he might be, but to the word that summed up everything she hated, every loathsome sin she couldn't yet conceive, the force of death that produced the first, grinning corpses from Epion and Kayla who were killed by their great affection for one another. Good and evil had to remain separate, that was the proclamation, and one of the doctrines that they'd drilled into her back in the heavenly realms, back when they were purging the evil from her spirit.
Back then, she'd joined her peers in thinking that Epion was corrupt, Kayla a wicked seductress, but now she couldn't see her former reasoning, a scary prospect, as this entire situation had evolved into a slippery slope. One hand wandered up to her neck to pull off the beads and she began counting them with her fingers, a nervous habit she maintained outside of prayer when undergoing some great stress. "But you would not ruin me... you had a chance and you did not..." she continued, desperately trying to prevent the end she felt was coming. "...and I can defend myself... a little... correct?"
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst

The angel smiled under the warm touch of the other, her worries fading faster than they'd materialized. Somehow she wanted to believe, even if it would hurt her later, that some good could come of this situation. This time when he kissed her, she felt as though the gulf had been closed, and she never wanted it to reopen. Her arms would come around him, embracing him warmly in appreciation that they could be together now at least.
*Learned Tsunami
*Learned Kamitransformation
*Learned Myst