mission report for kochan_addict
Mission report for kochan_addict
Delivered by: yararanger
Title: Odd-Shaped Stone
Groups/Pairings: KinKi Kids
Rating: PG
Warnings: I've warnings listed for 'mild peril' on DVD cases before, so let's go with that.
Summary: Staffed by Janitors with identical voices, the Academy is the only place any worthwhile aspiring young magician would join.
Notes: kochan-addict I really, sincerely hope you like this! Many thanks both to the beta and the hand-holder for allaying my fears. Title (obviously?) comes from KinKi's Kawatta katachi no ishi.
--
"Show me again."
Tsuyoshi's pale face and wide eyes stared at Koichi from within the cocoon of blankets in which he had wrapped himself, looking even more pale and more wide-eyed in the dim flickering of the firelight in their shared room. "It's okay if you show me again, right?"
"Sure," Koichi responded, getting up off his bed once more and moving to stand in the middle of the room, shaking out his hands as he did so. "I need the practice, anyway."
Toes curled on the cold tiles as Koichi brought his hands together to trigger the reaction, fingers locking as he harnessed the spark, and then, when he was ready, a twist. His whole body lurched forward, hands shooting out in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he pulled back hard, thin arms straining as he struggled to maintain the balance as he'd been taught. A strong wind swirled around the two boys, lashing against the window panes. Tsuyoshi watched in awed silence as Koichi's hair whipped into his face, stinging against his skin as he stood at the nexus of energy that crackled around them both. Koichi's eyes closed, lips moving as though he was counting before he slowly moved one foot round for balance. --six, seven, eight--
The air in their room screamed with the noise of steel on steel and the fire guttered wildly as Koichi twisted and shoved, hard, sending the formless energy to smash against the reinforced wall to his left. It quickly fizzled into silence, absorbed by the wall's shielding, but Koichi beamed as though it had been wholly obliterated. He knew he'd done it correctly. Elated, he turned back to Tsuyoshi as he tried to control the burning in his lungs. "Not bad, huh?"
"You're bleeding," came Tsuyoshi's response, pushing his blankets aside as he reached out for Koichi. "It hurt you."
"…Oh." Koichi looked down at the shallow cut on his chest that stained his nightshirt red. "I was so sure I'd got it right…" He shuffled toward Tsuyoshi, sitting on the edge of his bed and letting Tsuyoshi peer at the light wound that gradually began to spread painful warmth under his skin. "What did I do wrong, did you see?"
"It wasn't you," came Tsuyoshi's reply. "The…" he waved a hand, vague. His was a different branch of study, with different terminology. "When it pulled you forward, the energy lashed out and caught you. Not your fault."
"Careless." Koichi gave a tsk, fidgeting as Tsuyoshi continued to stare at him. "I shouldn't have let that happen."
"I thought it was wonderful." Tsuyoshi's boyish voice was slightly more vague than usual, distracted, and as Koichi glanced over he saw the familiar tell-tale glow illuminating the palms of his hands as Tsuyoshi summoned his own form of power. "I always want to be able to watch you fight like that."
Koichi shifted, uncomfortable as Tsuyoshi placed one softly blue-glowing palm on Koichi's chest and the damaged skin began to heal itself, neutralising the burn in his chest. It was… it was nice, cool, silver and cool and nice and safe, but no matter what Tsuyoshi said, it was definitely Koichi's own carelessness that had got himself injured; he couldn't allow himself to enjoy the gentle wash of light that uncurled along his veins.
Sweat beaded on Tsuyoshi's forehead, and Koichi reached out to touch his knee. "Tsu, stop now. I'm fine. Aren't you doing too much, like this?"
Tsuyoshi swayed slightly as he pulled away, and Koichi was reminded again how young they were, how far they still had to go, how much they still had to learn. "I'm okay," Tsuyoshi said with a small smile as he inspected the now-healed skin on Koichi's chest. "Look, you'd scarcely know there'd been a cut."
Koichi absently rubbed at his chest as he remained seated at the foot of Tsuyoshi's bed. "It takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?" He narrowed his eyes as he stared thoughtfully at Tsuyoshi. "Like, energy-wise, from inside you. I never realise how much until you have to actually use it."
"I couldn't do what you do, though," Tsuyoshi said, wrapping himself back up in the blankets once more. "All the… movements and balance and planning and harnessing and containing…" He waved his hand again, "and stuff. Mine doesn't work anything like that."
"Well, that's why they picked us, isn't it." Koichi's eyes crinkled in a small grin as he hopped off Tsuyoshi's bed and crossed the short distance into his own. "YOU," he said, mimicking the Janitors. "work well together from now on. It has been decided."
"YOU are compatible," Tsuyoshi said, completing the quote and giggling. "You've been practicing your impressions, too."
Koichi responded with a neutral 'nn' as he tucked his feet under the bedcovers. "Busy day tomorrow, huh."
"Mm, yeah," Tsuyoshi acknowledged. "You nervous?"
"No."
It was a lie, but Tsuyoshi took heart all the same. "Night, then."
"Night."
--
Koichi loved his studies. Not the boring parts, like the general lessons all of the Academy students shared, no; the lessons Koichi liked best were the ones overseen by the stern-faced Janitors, in the spherical rooms high in the western tower, with their grid of vertical and horizontal metal bars around the outer walls. A few years before, he'd only been able to spark reactions and throw them, but now… The way Koichi's energy hummed and buzzed along the metal bars and crackled through the air filled his veins with fire, and he only ever became conscious of the reckless grin on his face when his cheeks began to hurt. It was a long, slow, painful process - often literally: by the end of the day Koichi's back, arms and head would pound from the continual exertion and more than once the Janitors would be forced to drag him physically from the room. It was worth it, though. More than worth it, every minute.
"It's the balance," he murmured, trying to focus on the figure beside his bed and failing. "It's not like a set of scales, not like you think. It's like… a clock. Like clockwork. Got to fit all the cog teeth together properly to make it go."
"Yes," said Tsuyoshi, agreeing just to agree. All he knew for sure was that after a long day of studying, his own inner scales were weighing down heavily on the side of exhaustion and he knew he needed time to allow them to level out again. "Lie still and close your eyes."
Silvery coolness rippled over Koichi's skin, sinking down deep into his muscles and easing the knotted tension within. With a slow gentleness, a silver-white flower unfurled in the back of Koichi's mind and the headache faded, chased by the light that shone from the opened petals. Koichi exhaled. The light faded, and the pain stayed away. He inhaled again.
"Thank you," he said, sitting up and gripping Tsuyoshi's wrist in gratitude. "I'll be back before lights-out. I just need to practice a little more." He tugged the rough outer robes back over his red uniform and headed for the door, turning to nod his thanks to Tsuyoshi once more. "Rest well," he said.
The door closed behind him.
"Will do," Tsuyoshi said, and slumped onto Koichi's bed in a faint.
--
"I don't want to just break things," Koichi said, frowning at the textbook in front of him. He lifted the front cover and let it fall again, eyes catching the quick flash of light on the swirling gold of the book's title. "I've been breaking things for years now. I want to be able to create, too. I know I can. There's more to this field of magic than destruction."
"And me, I want to try different challenges too," Tsuyoshi said, nodding to Koichi but addressing his words to the Janitor. "Just using me to support and refuel Koichi in a fight is a waste of my…" He paused to choose his words carefully in front of their teacher. "I think I can do more than that."
The Janitor looked at them both, searching their faces for a long moment before nodding. "Very well," he said, in the same, familiar voice all Janitors shared. "Once YOU find a way to achieve this, graduation will be possible, we think."
Koichi's expression brightened, and he turned to see a similar spark dancing in Tsuyoshi's eyes. Graduation. To be able to live their own lives, instead of spending their days in endless study and training… It wasn't so much that either of them didn't like their fields of expertise, far from it. Rather - Koichi pushed the textbook across the desk, away from him - rather, after so many years of study he felt adequately confident in his skills already. More than anything, he was desperate to push the boundaries, to try something new, something different, something that would make him grow stronger both as a magician, and as a person.
"Okay," Koichi began, turning his chair to face Tsuyoshi. "How do we do this, I wonder…"
Tsuyoshi glanced across at the Janitor. "If it was something as simple as me explaining to Koichi how to use my magic and vice versa, anybody could do it, right?" He nodded as the Janitor bowed his head in acknowledgement. "Hm, thought so."
"How about…" Koichi pursed his lips as he frowned in thought. "When we channel power for a burst of energy in group exercises, it's more the combination of our energies that creates the full effect," Koichi said. "Could we combine magics that way, so I can see how yours works in order to understand it?"
"I can't project things like that," Tsuyoshi shook his head. "Mine's more… a gentle growth, than a sudden flare."
The Janitor spoke. "We have a space," he said, gloved fingers running over the grain of the wooden table between them. "A garden. YOU have never used it. It is a safe area for very young students who struggle to control their powers, where they can begin to explore their magic under our close supervision."
"That's the basic lessons, right?" Koichi asked. "Isn't that like what we did in our first term here?"
The Janitor shook his head. "No. The safegarden is more secluded even than that. Remember, there are two schools of magic: water and fire. As in the physical world, with the wrong balance, fire and water cancel each other out." He paused, looking carefully at their faces. "There is, after all, a very definite reason we do not encourage the cross-usage of magic in this manner at the Academy. YOU have been told this before."
"Right," Tsuyoshi nodded, scratching at his head. "Yes. We did know this, you're right, I'm sorry." He glanced at Koichi, thoughtful. "When you were younger, before you'd worked out how to channel the energy flows, it used to lash out and hurt you, didn't it. How did you learn to protect yourself from that?"
"Ah!" Koichi's expression brightened. "I meant to mention that to you, and always forgot. That frame of mind, the stillness… I looked it up. The pulse rates and so on have slight variances, but overall it has the same base levels as the kind of trance you go into sometimes. The balances are--" He cut himself off as Tsuyoshi's eyes began to develop a familiar lack of focus. "I mean. If we use that as a starting-point, that kind of... trance, inside the safe space, we might be able to find something to work on?"
Tsuyoshi nodded. "This sounds like something we could try, to begin with. Janitor?"
The Janitor rose to his feet, and walked to the door. "Follow me."
--
"Stop!"
Tsuyoshi reeled back, falling onto the grass of the safegarden in a sprawl of limbs. In the crisp, clear air, Koichi could see faint wisps of steam rising from Tsuyoshi's clothes and felt a panicked kick of guilt as he started forward in concern.
"Tsu?" Koichi stood back, not wanting to get too close; the last time he had done that they'd both fallen unconscious for half an hour. "Same as before?"
"Yeah," Tsuyoshi groaned, rolling onto his side and pushing himself upright as he panted for breath. His hair clung to his face, sweat and steam beading his skin with moisture. "I don't think we're making much progress this way, do you?"
"Not noticeably," Koichi acknowledged, grimacing slightly. "You okay?"
Following a nod from Tsuyoshi, the two students moved to sit in the shade of a tree at the edge of the lawn, drinking from their water flasks as they took a short break.
"So," Koichi said, staring out across the garden to the grey rocks scattered on the bank of the small stream over on the other side of the lawn. A lizard skittered out from between the rocks and clambered up to bask in the sunlight that drenched the warm granite. Koichi stretched his legs out in front of him. "Since trying it this way clearly hasn't worked, how about we try the opposite next?"
"You in your balancing trance, and me doing…" Tsuyoshi tilted his head.
"Well, when you heal, that's through pushing magic into the person who's hurt, right?"
"Yes… but it's a minuscule amount, and highly controlled for the purpose of the injury in question. Mostly it's just nudging the body to heal itself ahead of schedule."
"Right, but if you used more, and didn't adjust its intention… So, rather than you pooling it inside you and me burning through with my magic, which hasn't worked, if you just pushed energy into me like that… You're able to complete that stage without hurting someone better than me, after all."
"One would certainly hope so," Tsuyoshi gave a wry smile. "That amount of unfocussed power would be pretty dangerous, though, for both of us."
They paused for a beat.
Koichi stuffed the stopper back into his water flask. "Shall we get started, then?"
Tsuyoshi wiped the sweat from his face with a cloth and rose to his feet once more. "Ready when you are."
In the protected space of the safegarden, the shortcuts and processes Koichi had learned to hasten the effective use of his skills were less useful than they would otherwise have been. He had to follow the book to the letter, from the very basics that he had learned all those years before. Shaking out his hands, Koichi planted his bare feet firmly on the ground, curling his toes into the soft prickle of the grass beneath him. "Ready," Koichi murmured, stretching his hands out to the sides and turning his palms so that one faced up, and the other down. He brought his hands around slowly, moving his forearms clockwise until his palms could finally touch in front of his chest. The connection was formed. The spark of energy began to burn and grow inside the circle of his arms.
Tsuyoshi moved quickly, unimpeded by the need to channel the cool flow of power into a specialised healing stream. His hands tingled as the skin on his palms began to glow, and, face set in a determined frown, he reached out toward Koichi with his right hand. Sparks hissed and spat as he pushed through the rapidly-growing ball of magic between Koichi's hands and his chest, and Tsuyoshi gritted his teeth as tendrils of hot energy flickered at his skin.
Contact. Tsuyoshi's fingers spread out as he pressed his hand against Koichi's chest, the raw power streaming through them. Carefully, carefully… Tsuyoshi counted the heartbeats beneath his hand, his own heart hammering in his chest. Not too much power, but not too little… There were no pre-existing guidelines or rules for this: Tsuyoshi was running on instinct alone. He risked a glance at Koichi's face and his breath caught in his throat: Koichi's eyes and mouth were clamped tightly shut, but a red glow burned behind his eyelids, behind his lips, shining from within. A sick wave of icy fear crashed against him, and Tsuyoshi broke the contact and pulled away. "Koichi?"
Koichi's hands moved, breaking the circle almost as soon as Tsuyoshi stepped back, and with no structure or direction the built-up power fizzled away into the air, useless. "That… seemed to go okay," he said, blinking owlishly. "What made you break off?"
"Do you feel okay?" Tsuyoshi asked, not entirely certain what to make of anything. The glow had faded, and Koichi looked the same as always. "How did it feel?"
"It was great!" Koichi grinned. "It was like…" He stepped forward, and swayed slightly. "Oh. I feel…" Koichi turned his face toward Tsuyoshi, suddenly horribly, frighteningly pale. "…I'm fine?"
Tsuyoshi scarcely managed to catch him before Koichi hit the ground.
The safegarden's Janitor hurried forward, green robes swirling around his ankles as he ran across the grass toward Tsuyoshi and the unconscious Koichi. Tsuyoshi looked up, and raised one hand in a stay back! gesture before looking down again. It wasn't safe, they had no way of knowing…
In his chest, where Tsuyoshi's hand had touched, the same coloured light from before began to glow. With each rise and fall of Koichi's ribcage the light brightened, shining not red as before but a deep, vibrant plum. Koichi groaned, his skin and hair drenched with sweat. His lips parted, cracking from sudden dryness, and as Tsuyoshi reached out to brush one hand over Koichi's forehead he recoiled from the intense heat. This… this…
"It is poisoning him."
The Janitor's voice carried clearly across the grass from several feet away, and Tsuyoshi blinked as his brain sparked into action. Poison. He knew how to deal with poison: get it out of his system, neutralise it, do whatever, but do it fast. Moving automatically, Tsuyoshi placed his left hand on the place where the light was brightest, pulling the energy out now instead.
"Is that wise?" the Janitor asked, but Tsuyoshi kept his eyes fixed on Koichi's pale, sweating face.
"Got to draw it out," he said, gasping as the light transferred itself to his arm. "'s hot."
"Be careful."
Tsuyoshi nodded, feeling the heat crawl up his arm and into his torso. It didn't hurt as much as before. The burn was gone, replaced by a gentle warmth that grew and spread, and as Tsuyoshi pulled away from Koichi he realised with a jolt of surprise that the colour, too, had changed: a purple, a lavender, a… With a flash of brilliance, the light turned white and Tsuyoshi threw himself backwards across the grass with a yell as his vision was consumed by the blinding light. Neutralise! his mind screamed, and as he fell to the ground Tsuyoshi blindly reached out for somewhere to transfer the energy, something non-living, something resilient…
His fingers brushed against the rocks by the stream. Those will do nicely, said Koichi, and Tsuyoshi lost his hold on all comprehension.
--
The tree Koichi had encouraged up from the bare floor only moments before erupted into flames. Tsuyoshi turned back to face Koichi and the Janitor, quiet pleasure flickering across his face as he returned to them. "Both of us can work with it like this, you see," he said.
Koichi's lips tugged down in a tiny pout. "I was quite proud of that tree," he said.
"YOU are sure the power of these stones is stable?" the Janitor asked, turning Koichi's black, obsidian-like fragment over in his gloved hands.
Koichi glanced at Tsuyoshi, who looked as blank as Koichi felt. "We think so?" he hazarded. "They've worked fine so far, at least. What do you think?"
The Janitor met Koichi's gaze and held it for a several seconds. "These were not made by us," he said, setting the stone down on the table beside him. "We have no experience in this field. YOU are the new masters of this magic. And as such," he continued, looking up at the four other Janitors waiting silently in the meeting room, "it has been decided that YOU are now more than ready for graduation. Congratulations."
"Congratulations," the other four Janitors echoed, each speaking with the same, familiar voice.
"Your graduation ceremony will be in five days' time. Do you have any questions?"
"I do," Tsuyoshi said, reaching out to take back the fragment of rock and pass it to Koichi. "Do all students who graduate from the Academy do so in this manner?"
"…No," the Janitor behind the desk said. "There are not many students who possess the same level of… intense dedication."
That's a nice way of putting it, Tsuyoshi thought, and beside him Koichi turned his face to the side, and laughed.
--
"Are we ready for this?" Tsuyoshi asked, smoothing his hands over the silk of his robes and watching the way the various shades of blue danced in the lamplight as the material shifted under his touch. The clothes were still new, with none of the familiarity of the old comforting coarseness of their linen students' robes, and Tsuyoshi was not certain he was confident enough to wear them.
"In a minute," said Koichi, distracted as he fumbled with the ties of his flame-coloured garments. "I can't get this stupid thing to sit right."
It wasn't exactly what Tsuyoshi had meant, but the distraction worked. He smiled wryly at Koichi's back before stepping over to offer assistance. "You've got to learn to dress yourself, you know," he said.
"It's not my fault they make these things so complicated," Koichi said, giving up and holding his arms out to his sides while Tsuyoshi untangled the mess. "I don't see why we have to wear these different robes now, anyway."
Tsuyoshi tucked the loose end of the ties into Koichi's waistband; no good getting tangled in clothing when Koichi's field of expertise required full use of his arms and legs. "You know why," he said, his expression neutral as he scrutinised Koichi's appearance. "I think you're done."
"Mm," Koichi nodded, peering at their reflections in the old brass-backed mirror. "Is this how Academy graduates are supposed to appear?" he asked, nodding at their reflections as Tsuyoshi turned too. "Look at us, it's ridiculous. We look just the same as nine years ago, just bigger and in different outfits."
Tsuyoshi gave half a shrug. "I've got a feeling most students feel this way when they debut," he said. He paused, checking the chain around his neck from which his fragment of black rock hung. "Or some students, at least." He paused, thoughtful, quiet.
Koichi watched as Tsuyoshi momentarily closed off, drawing inside himself as he entered the quiet place into which Koichi still could not follow, even now. It was still beyond him, Koichi realised: despite everything he could still only watch as Tsuyoshi sculpted and created the things that Koichi could only manage with the aid of the stone. He knew that Tsuyoshi, too, would forever be lost when faced with the logistics of Koichi's own magic. Koichi felt his lips twisting with a wry smile as he thought of just how much they still had to learn.
"We've improved, haven't we," Koichi stated as Tsuyoshi opened his eyes again and looked at him. "Our work is beginning to pay off."
"I'd hope so," came the reply. "After all of this, it'd be a shame if we hadn't…"
Koichi snorted. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
--
Delivered by: yararanger
Title: Odd-Shaped Stone
Groups/Pairings: KinKi Kids
Rating: PG
Warnings: I've warnings listed for 'mild peril' on DVD cases before, so let's go with that.
Summary: Staffed by Janitors with identical voices, the Academy is the only place any worthwhile aspiring young magician would join.
Notes: kochan-addict I really, sincerely hope you like this! Many thanks both to the beta and the hand-holder for allaying my fears. Title (obviously?) comes from KinKi's Kawatta katachi no ishi.
--
"Show me again."
Tsuyoshi's pale face and wide eyes stared at Koichi from within the cocoon of blankets in which he had wrapped himself, looking even more pale and more wide-eyed in the dim flickering of the firelight in their shared room. "It's okay if you show me again, right?"
"Sure," Koichi responded, getting up off his bed once more and moving to stand in the middle of the room, shaking out his hands as he did so. "I need the practice, anyway."
Toes curled on the cold tiles as Koichi brought his hands together to trigger the reaction, fingers locking as he harnessed the spark, and then, when he was ready, a twist. His whole body lurched forward, hands shooting out in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he pulled back hard, thin arms straining as he struggled to maintain the balance as he'd been taught. A strong wind swirled around the two boys, lashing against the window panes. Tsuyoshi watched in awed silence as Koichi's hair whipped into his face, stinging against his skin as he stood at the nexus of energy that crackled around them both. Koichi's eyes closed, lips moving as though he was counting before he slowly moved one foot round for balance. --six, seven, eight--
The air in their room screamed with the noise of steel on steel and the fire guttered wildly as Koichi twisted and shoved, hard, sending the formless energy to smash against the reinforced wall to his left. It quickly fizzled into silence, absorbed by the wall's shielding, but Koichi beamed as though it had been wholly obliterated. He knew he'd done it correctly. Elated, he turned back to Tsuyoshi as he tried to control the burning in his lungs. "Not bad, huh?"
"You're bleeding," came Tsuyoshi's response, pushing his blankets aside as he reached out for Koichi. "It hurt you."
"…Oh." Koichi looked down at the shallow cut on his chest that stained his nightshirt red. "I was so sure I'd got it right…" He shuffled toward Tsuyoshi, sitting on the edge of his bed and letting Tsuyoshi peer at the light wound that gradually began to spread painful warmth under his skin. "What did I do wrong, did you see?"
"It wasn't you," came Tsuyoshi's reply. "The…" he waved a hand, vague. His was a different branch of study, with different terminology. "When it pulled you forward, the energy lashed out and caught you. Not your fault."
"Careless." Koichi gave a tsk, fidgeting as Tsuyoshi continued to stare at him. "I shouldn't have let that happen."
"I thought it was wonderful." Tsuyoshi's boyish voice was slightly more vague than usual, distracted, and as Koichi glanced over he saw the familiar tell-tale glow illuminating the palms of his hands as Tsuyoshi summoned his own form of power. "I always want to be able to watch you fight like that."
Koichi shifted, uncomfortable as Tsuyoshi placed one softly blue-glowing palm on Koichi's chest and the damaged skin began to heal itself, neutralising the burn in his chest. It was… it was nice, cool, silver and cool and nice and safe, but no matter what Tsuyoshi said, it was definitely Koichi's own carelessness that had got himself injured; he couldn't allow himself to enjoy the gentle wash of light that uncurled along his veins.
Sweat beaded on Tsuyoshi's forehead, and Koichi reached out to touch his knee. "Tsu, stop now. I'm fine. Aren't you doing too much, like this?"
Tsuyoshi swayed slightly as he pulled away, and Koichi was reminded again how young they were, how far they still had to go, how much they still had to learn. "I'm okay," Tsuyoshi said with a small smile as he inspected the now-healed skin on Koichi's chest. "Look, you'd scarcely know there'd been a cut."
Koichi absently rubbed at his chest as he remained seated at the foot of Tsuyoshi's bed. "It takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?" He narrowed his eyes as he stared thoughtfully at Tsuyoshi. "Like, energy-wise, from inside you. I never realise how much until you have to actually use it."
"I couldn't do what you do, though," Tsuyoshi said, wrapping himself back up in the blankets once more. "All the… movements and balance and planning and harnessing and containing…" He waved his hand again, "and stuff. Mine doesn't work anything like that."
"Well, that's why they picked us, isn't it." Koichi's eyes crinkled in a small grin as he hopped off Tsuyoshi's bed and crossed the short distance into his own. "YOU," he said, mimicking the Janitors. "work well together from now on. It has been decided."
"YOU are compatible," Tsuyoshi said, completing the quote and giggling. "You've been practicing your impressions, too."
Koichi responded with a neutral 'nn' as he tucked his feet under the bedcovers. "Busy day tomorrow, huh."
"Mm, yeah," Tsuyoshi acknowledged. "You nervous?"
"No."
It was a lie, but Tsuyoshi took heart all the same. "Night, then."
"Night."
--
Koichi loved his studies. Not the boring parts, like the general lessons all of the Academy students shared, no; the lessons Koichi liked best were the ones overseen by the stern-faced Janitors, in the spherical rooms high in the western tower, with their grid of vertical and horizontal metal bars around the outer walls. A few years before, he'd only been able to spark reactions and throw them, but now… The way Koichi's energy hummed and buzzed along the metal bars and crackled through the air filled his veins with fire, and he only ever became conscious of the reckless grin on his face when his cheeks began to hurt. It was a long, slow, painful process - often literally: by the end of the day Koichi's back, arms and head would pound from the continual exertion and more than once the Janitors would be forced to drag him physically from the room. It was worth it, though. More than worth it, every minute.
"It's the balance," he murmured, trying to focus on the figure beside his bed and failing. "It's not like a set of scales, not like you think. It's like… a clock. Like clockwork. Got to fit all the cog teeth together properly to make it go."
"Yes," said Tsuyoshi, agreeing just to agree. All he knew for sure was that after a long day of studying, his own inner scales were weighing down heavily on the side of exhaustion and he knew he needed time to allow them to level out again. "Lie still and close your eyes."
Silvery coolness rippled over Koichi's skin, sinking down deep into his muscles and easing the knotted tension within. With a slow gentleness, a silver-white flower unfurled in the back of Koichi's mind and the headache faded, chased by the light that shone from the opened petals. Koichi exhaled. The light faded, and the pain stayed away. He inhaled again.
"Thank you," he said, sitting up and gripping Tsuyoshi's wrist in gratitude. "I'll be back before lights-out. I just need to practice a little more." He tugged the rough outer robes back over his red uniform and headed for the door, turning to nod his thanks to Tsuyoshi once more. "Rest well," he said.
The door closed behind him.
"Will do," Tsuyoshi said, and slumped onto Koichi's bed in a faint.
--
"I don't want to just break things," Koichi said, frowning at the textbook in front of him. He lifted the front cover and let it fall again, eyes catching the quick flash of light on the swirling gold of the book's title. "I've been breaking things for years now. I want to be able to create, too. I know I can. There's more to this field of magic than destruction."
"And me, I want to try different challenges too," Tsuyoshi said, nodding to Koichi but addressing his words to the Janitor. "Just using me to support and refuel Koichi in a fight is a waste of my…" He paused to choose his words carefully in front of their teacher. "I think I can do more than that."
The Janitor looked at them both, searching their faces for a long moment before nodding. "Very well," he said, in the same, familiar voice all Janitors shared. "Once YOU find a way to achieve this, graduation will be possible, we think."
Koichi's expression brightened, and he turned to see a similar spark dancing in Tsuyoshi's eyes. Graduation. To be able to live their own lives, instead of spending their days in endless study and training… It wasn't so much that either of them didn't like their fields of expertise, far from it. Rather - Koichi pushed the textbook across the desk, away from him - rather, after so many years of study he felt adequately confident in his skills already. More than anything, he was desperate to push the boundaries, to try something new, something different, something that would make him grow stronger both as a magician, and as a person.
"Okay," Koichi began, turning his chair to face Tsuyoshi. "How do we do this, I wonder…"
Tsuyoshi glanced across at the Janitor. "If it was something as simple as me explaining to Koichi how to use my magic and vice versa, anybody could do it, right?" He nodded as the Janitor bowed his head in acknowledgement. "Hm, thought so."
"How about…" Koichi pursed his lips as he frowned in thought. "When we channel power for a burst of energy in group exercises, it's more the combination of our energies that creates the full effect," Koichi said. "Could we combine magics that way, so I can see how yours works in order to understand it?"
"I can't project things like that," Tsuyoshi shook his head. "Mine's more… a gentle growth, than a sudden flare."
The Janitor spoke. "We have a space," he said, gloved fingers running over the grain of the wooden table between them. "A garden. YOU have never used it. It is a safe area for very young students who struggle to control their powers, where they can begin to explore their magic under our close supervision."
"That's the basic lessons, right?" Koichi asked. "Isn't that like what we did in our first term here?"
The Janitor shook his head. "No. The safegarden is more secluded even than that. Remember, there are two schools of magic: water and fire. As in the physical world, with the wrong balance, fire and water cancel each other out." He paused, looking carefully at their faces. "There is, after all, a very definite reason we do not encourage the cross-usage of magic in this manner at the Academy. YOU have been told this before."
"Right," Tsuyoshi nodded, scratching at his head. "Yes. We did know this, you're right, I'm sorry." He glanced at Koichi, thoughtful. "When you were younger, before you'd worked out how to channel the energy flows, it used to lash out and hurt you, didn't it. How did you learn to protect yourself from that?"
"Ah!" Koichi's expression brightened. "I meant to mention that to you, and always forgot. That frame of mind, the stillness… I looked it up. The pulse rates and so on have slight variances, but overall it has the same base levels as the kind of trance you go into sometimes. The balances are--" He cut himself off as Tsuyoshi's eyes began to develop a familiar lack of focus. "I mean. If we use that as a starting-point, that kind of... trance, inside the safe space, we might be able to find something to work on?"
Tsuyoshi nodded. "This sounds like something we could try, to begin with. Janitor?"
The Janitor rose to his feet, and walked to the door. "Follow me."
--
"Stop!"
Tsuyoshi reeled back, falling onto the grass of the safegarden in a sprawl of limbs. In the crisp, clear air, Koichi could see faint wisps of steam rising from Tsuyoshi's clothes and felt a panicked kick of guilt as he started forward in concern.
"Tsu?" Koichi stood back, not wanting to get too close; the last time he had done that they'd both fallen unconscious for half an hour. "Same as before?"
"Yeah," Tsuyoshi groaned, rolling onto his side and pushing himself upright as he panted for breath. His hair clung to his face, sweat and steam beading his skin with moisture. "I don't think we're making much progress this way, do you?"
"Not noticeably," Koichi acknowledged, grimacing slightly. "You okay?"
Following a nod from Tsuyoshi, the two students moved to sit in the shade of a tree at the edge of the lawn, drinking from their water flasks as they took a short break.
"So," Koichi said, staring out across the garden to the grey rocks scattered on the bank of the small stream over on the other side of the lawn. A lizard skittered out from between the rocks and clambered up to bask in the sunlight that drenched the warm granite. Koichi stretched his legs out in front of him. "Since trying it this way clearly hasn't worked, how about we try the opposite next?"
"You in your balancing trance, and me doing…" Tsuyoshi tilted his head.
"Well, when you heal, that's through pushing magic into the person who's hurt, right?"
"Yes… but it's a minuscule amount, and highly controlled for the purpose of the injury in question. Mostly it's just nudging the body to heal itself ahead of schedule."
"Right, but if you used more, and didn't adjust its intention… So, rather than you pooling it inside you and me burning through with my magic, which hasn't worked, if you just pushed energy into me like that… You're able to complete that stage without hurting someone better than me, after all."
"One would certainly hope so," Tsuyoshi gave a wry smile. "That amount of unfocussed power would be pretty dangerous, though, for both of us."
They paused for a beat.
Koichi stuffed the stopper back into his water flask. "Shall we get started, then?"
Tsuyoshi wiped the sweat from his face with a cloth and rose to his feet once more. "Ready when you are."
In the protected space of the safegarden, the shortcuts and processes Koichi had learned to hasten the effective use of his skills were less useful than they would otherwise have been. He had to follow the book to the letter, from the very basics that he had learned all those years before. Shaking out his hands, Koichi planted his bare feet firmly on the ground, curling his toes into the soft prickle of the grass beneath him. "Ready," Koichi murmured, stretching his hands out to the sides and turning his palms so that one faced up, and the other down. He brought his hands around slowly, moving his forearms clockwise until his palms could finally touch in front of his chest. The connection was formed. The spark of energy began to burn and grow inside the circle of his arms.
Tsuyoshi moved quickly, unimpeded by the need to channel the cool flow of power into a specialised healing stream. His hands tingled as the skin on his palms began to glow, and, face set in a determined frown, he reached out toward Koichi with his right hand. Sparks hissed and spat as he pushed through the rapidly-growing ball of magic between Koichi's hands and his chest, and Tsuyoshi gritted his teeth as tendrils of hot energy flickered at his skin.
Contact. Tsuyoshi's fingers spread out as he pressed his hand against Koichi's chest, the raw power streaming through them. Carefully, carefully… Tsuyoshi counted the heartbeats beneath his hand, his own heart hammering in his chest. Not too much power, but not too little… There were no pre-existing guidelines or rules for this: Tsuyoshi was running on instinct alone. He risked a glance at Koichi's face and his breath caught in his throat: Koichi's eyes and mouth were clamped tightly shut, but a red glow burned behind his eyelids, behind his lips, shining from within. A sick wave of icy fear crashed against him, and Tsuyoshi broke the contact and pulled away. "Koichi?"
Koichi's hands moved, breaking the circle almost as soon as Tsuyoshi stepped back, and with no structure or direction the built-up power fizzled away into the air, useless. "That… seemed to go okay," he said, blinking owlishly. "What made you break off?"
"Do you feel okay?" Tsuyoshi asked, not entirely certain what to make of anything. The glow had faded, and Koichi looked the same as always. "How did it feel?"
"It was great!" Koichi grinned. "It was like…" He stepped forward, and swayed slightly. "Oh. I feel…" Koichi turned his face toward Tsuyoshi, suddenly horribly, frighteningly pale. "…I'm fine?"
Tsuyoshi scarcely managed to catch him before Koichi hit the ground.
The safegarden's Janitor hurried forward, green robes swirling around his ankles as he ran across the grass toward Tsuyoshi and the unconscious Koichi. Tsuyoshi looked up, and raised one hand in a stay back! gesture before looking down again. It wasn't safe, they had no way of knowing…
In his chest, where Tsuyoshi's hand had touched, the same coloured light from before began to glow. With each rise and fall of Koichi's ribcage the light brightened, shining not red as before but a deep, vibrant plum. Koichi groaned, his skin and hair drenched with sweat. His lips parted, cracking from sudden dryness, and as Tsuyoshi reached out to brush one hand over Koichi's forehead he recoiled from the intense heat. This… this…
"It is poisoning him."
The Janitor's voice carried clearly across the grass from several feet away, and Tsuyoshi blinked as his brain sparked into action. Poison. He knew how to deal with poison: get it out of his system, neutralise it, do whatever, but do it fast. Moving automatically, Tsuyoshi placed his left hand on the place where the light was brightest, pulling the energy out now instead.
"Is that wise?" the Janitor asked, but Tsuyoshi kept his eyes fixed on Koichi's pale, sweating face.
"Got to draw it out," he said, gasping as the light transferred itself to his arm. "'s hot."
"Be careful."
Tsuyoshi nodded, feeling the heat crawl up his arm and into his torso. It didn't hurt as much as before. The burn was gone, replaced by a gentle warmth that grew and spread, and as Tsuyoshi pulled away from Koichi he realised with a jolt of surprise that the colour, too, had changed: a purple, a lavender, a… With a flash of brilliance, the light turned white and Tsuyoshi threw himself backwards across the grass with a yell as his vision was consumed by the blinding light. Neutralise! his mind screamed, and as he fell to the ground Tsuyoshi blindly reached out for somewhere to transfer the energy, something non-living, something resilient…
His fingers brushed against the rocks by the stream. Those will do nicely, said Koichi, and Tsuyoshi lost his hold on all comprehension.
--
The tree Koichi had encouraged up from the bare floor only moments before erupted into flames. Tsuyoshi turned back to face Koichi and the Janitor, quiet pleasure flickering across his face as he returned to them. "Both of us can work with it like this, you see," he said.
Koichi's lips tugged down in a tiny pout. "I was quite proud of that tree," he said.
"YOU are sure the power of these stones is stable?" the Janitor asked, turning Koichi's black, obsidian-like fragment over in his gloved hands.
Koichi glanced at Tsuyoshi, who looked as blank as Koichi felt. "We think so?" he hazarded. "They've worked fine so far, at least. What do you think?"
The Janitor met Koichi's gaze and held it for a several seconds. "These were not made by us," he said, setting the stone down on the table beside him. "We have no experience in this field. YOU are the new masters of this magic. And as such," he continued, looking up at the four other Janitors waiting silently in the meeting room, "it has been decided that YOU are now more than ready for graduation. Congratulations."
"Congratulations," the other four Janitors echoed, each speaking with the same, familiar voice.
"Your graduation ceremony will be in five days' time. Do you have any questions?"
"I do," Tsuyoshi said, reaching out to take back the fragment of rock and pass it to Koichi. "Do all students who graduate from the Academy do so in this manner?"
"…No," the Janitor behind the desk said. "There are not many students who possess the same level of… intense dedication."
That's a nice way of putting it, Tsuyoshi thought, and beside him Koichi turned his face to the side, and laughed.
--
"Are we ready for this?" Tsuyoshi asked, smoothing his hands over the silk of his robes and watching the way the various shades of blue danced in the lamplight as the material shifted under his touch. The clothes were still new, with none of the familiarity of the old comforting coarseness of their linen students' robes, and Tsuyoshi was not certain he was confident enough to wear them.
"In a minute," said Koichi, distracted as he fumbled with the ties of his flame-coloured garments. "I can't get this stupid thing to sit right."
It wasn't exactly what Tsuyoshi had meant, but the distraction worked. He smiled wryly at Koichi's back before stepping over to offer assistance. "You've got to learn to dress yourself, you know," he said.
"It's not my fault they make these things so complicated," Koichi said, giving up and holding his arms out to his sides while Tsuyoshi untangled the mess. "I don't see why we have to wear these different robes now, anyway."
Tsuyoshi tucked the loose end of the ties into Koichi's waistband; no good getting tangled in clothing when Koichi's field of expertise required full use of his arms and legs. "You know why," he said, his expression neutral as he scrutinised Koichi's appearance. "I think you're done."
"Mm," Koichi nodded, peering at their reflections in the old brass-backed mirror. "Is this how Academy graduates are supposed to appear?" he asked, nodding at their reflections as Tsuyoshi turned too. "Look at us, it's ridiculous. We look just the same as nine years ago, just bigger and in different outfits."
Tsuyoshi gave half a shrug. "I've got a feeling most students feel this way when they debut," he said. He paused, checking the chain around his neck from which his fragment of black rock hung. "Or some students, at least." He paused, thoughtful, quiet.
Koichi watched as Tsuyoshi momentarily closed off, drawing inside himself as he entered the quiet place into which Koichi still could not follow, even now. It was still beyond him, Koichi realised: despite everything he could still only watch as Tsuyoshi sculpted and created the things that Koichi could only manage with the aid of the stone. He knew that Tsuyoshi, too, would forever be lost when faced with the logistics of Koichi's own magic. Koichi felt his lips twisting with a wry smile as he thought of just how much they still had to learn.
"We've improved, haven't we," Koichi stated as Tsuyoshi opened his eyes again and looked at him. "Our work is beginning to pay off."
"I'd hope so," came the reply. "After all of this, it'd be a shame if we hadn't…"
Koichi snorted. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
--