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Aggravating. Of course he wasn't going to answer her, but instead chose to berate, striking out at her with words instead of his blade. And that was the second problem, the fact that he refused to counter attack, instead standing idly by and waiting for her to slash at him again.

Well, she would hate to disappoint.

Teeth still bared she eyed him warily, circling as she often did but keeping on her guard in case he struck out at her with a surprise attack. She didn't know what he was up to, what he was even about anymore. All that hard work, all of that time spent trying to read him, to figure him out, wasted. "I do not know what you are talking about. Why do you have to be so exasperating?" Of course, even while saying as such, she felt it. An icy cold grip on her heart, a confession that she didn't want to make not because she was afraid of what it might mean that she did so, but because she was afraid of another thing altogether. Rejection. Knowing that there was no possible way that he felt the same way that she did. She'd been holding on to these feelings for so long, too long, denying their existence, making herself believe it was always something else.

And now she felt trapped, backed into a corner, and the only way out was to fight. Fight or admit. Which would she rather do?

Her blade began to glow yellow as her Fear was concentrated, shoved into her weapon, imbuing it with power that she could practically feel in the air. She held it slightly higher, knowing that it would not last, that she needed to strike fast and quick.

She stood still, just a moment too long, just long enough for it to be a noticeable hesitation to the trained eye of a warrior, as though still unsure, even now, even with her weapon held in hand, her breathing heavy, her expression like that of a wild animals more then anything else.

She attacked, charging him, grabbing for the hilt of her sword with two hands, screaming out a war cry before she plunged it downward, and there was something sickeningly satisfying about the motion, about being able to attack that which was causing her so much mental and emotional distress.

And then she let go, her hands flying away from the hilt, fingers spreading, as she took a step back. The blade was no longer needed, and it disappeared.

"I love you." The words were quiet, barely above a whisper, but to her they thundered in her ears. They were words she hadn't to her own recollection, ever said before now, even if Shik hinted that she had. If she had...then this didn't matter. If she hadn't, then....then saying it now would be her final show of strength.

Her confession.

She awaited the repercussions of this admittance with a head that was held high, refusing to look away from him, completely still save for a heart that felt as though it might beat out of her chest.


HP: 50
Damage: 19 (15 after defense)

She had nothing to regret. That's what she told herself as she stood there. Yes, the words had been quiet, and in fact she had almost choked on them. She hadn't ever intended to say it out loud though, or so her memories would have her believe. She didn't wish for him to know the extent of her feelings, did not want him to use it against her, and for a very long time, had denied their existence even to herself.

But most of all, her fear above all others was that she didn't want it to mean he no longer wanted to be around her. Shaheen might have liked to portray herself as an independent woman, but the thought of being alone again, of being forced away, of not at least having the modicum of support that he provided her in her struggles against insanity....it was a possibility she wasn't sure she could bare.

But there was no point any longer. There was no point in denial, in attempting to hide it. Shik said she confessed her affections. Even if she hadn't, even if that was just a lie, a manipulation to make her say what otherwise wouldn't have been said......she could see no reason, no strong argument against just telling him the truth. It had hurt to do so. Even now she could feel the icy cold fingers of doubt clutching at her chest, wrangling her heart and squeezing it tight.

What he said next, however, had her sort of wishing she had kept it to herself after all, and not just now, but whatever other time he was speaking of. A time when she had apparently called it a waste. A time when she apparently wished she could just forget it....

He was mad. More angry then she had perhaps ever seen him. But she didn't flinch. She took his verbal assault with eyes that still refused to leave his. She had committed herself to those words, to her confession, and to whatever repercussions those three words might yield.

"I forgot saying it. Yes.....I might have forgotten many things."

She took a step forward, lifted up a hand to cough in it, her eyes flicking away from his for just a second before they were back on his once more.

"I love you, Shikoba Len." She said it louder this time, more forceful, her voice just inches from shouting level, before she pulled back a fist, and aimed it for that jaw she so loved to assault. "I could not forget that."

She might have sounded a little bitter about that last part, as though she might have actually tried.

He could read into that particular tone of voice however he wished.

HP: 50
Damage:8

Dear gods he was clumsy when he was enraged, and Shaheen seemed to have not just found his angry button, but chose instead to smash a fist against it repeatedly. Was this also why she had always kept the confession to herself? She mulled that one over as she dodged every swipe of the claws or sloppy swing of a fist, her face stoic, her emotional outbursts on temporary lockdown as though her admittance had stunned even herself too much to react properly or normally. She still had that icy feeling in her chest, but it barely registered now, and would likely remain that way until this small battles completion.

She had no idea how to answer him, no idea what to say or how to explain her reasons to him. It wasn't exactly something she had spent time dissecting and deciphering, it was just something that had simply happened.

"Listen to me." She growled, pretty much just slapping his attempts away, "I, Shaheen, elder cheiftain of the war clan, love you Shikoba Len, elder executioner of the same. How many times, Shik? How many? Why are you even questioning me?"

She knew why. It was because he felt trapped. Backed into a corner like she had.

She darted forward, and gave him a head butt to the forehead, as though that might knock some sense back into him, before saying. "The question should be, what are you going to do about it?" She shook her head, clearing away the short, sharp burst of pain that came from colliding her forehead with his. "I will not hold it against you if you now wish for this to end."

Was she talking about the fight or something else entirely...?

HP: 50
Damage: 4

She really honestly couldn't quite believe she had gone this long in the fight without taking any real hits herself. She dodged away from another swipe of his claws, a woman who was nothing more then a jumble of conflicting emotions right now, one who tried to suppress her feelings, or at the very least distance herself from them until this was finished.

She wasn't doing a very good job of it.

She stood back away from him, her breathing heavy. She was prepared to say it again, if she had to, because now that she said it...yes, there was a certain amount of liberation to be had. They were words and feelings she had kept locked up tight too long, constraining them, constraining herself. It was freeing, in it's own way, though she still felt faintly sick for having done so, a worry that she continued to ignore in favor of the fight. There was no point in focusing on what might happen afterwards, when they needed to get through this first.

Her face slowly spread into a smile at his comment, and she barked a laugh, her own hair wild, tangled waves of gold, strands of it falling in front of her eyes. Insane. Yes. Maybe in more ways then just the obvious. "If you did not wish for me to say it, then you should not have brought it up to begin with."

She was watching his summoned dagger carefully, though perhaps not as carefully as she watched his eyes, his expression. She was not expecting him to heal himself, as he most often in their fights did not do so, but was rather expecting him to lunge at her when her guard was down.

So when he did turn that dagger on himself, she hissed, her own blade flashing, and an annoyed look on her face. All of her work, undone in that moment as he used his blood to heal.

And then he started talking again, and she went still at his words for just a moment, as something began to seethe inside of her at every single damn word that came out of his stupid mouth.

And then she just exploded.

"You are an idiot, Shikoba Len! I full blown fool of a man! Yes, a man, not a beast, no matter how many times I have called you such." She could feel her anger rising, becoming a mountain inside of her. "Back when we were still children, still learning, still training for the day we would become greater, I was told I could no longer spend time with you." A memory that she now oh so vividly remembered thanks to their time in the tear.

"So what did I do? Did I stop?" He knew the answer to that was no. He knew she still went to him, to harass him, to challenge him, to fight with him at every opportunity. "Did I get punished? Oh yes, every single time, and each time worse then the time before, but it was always worth it. You are worth the trouble, to me. You are not----" She cut off abruptly, realizing her sword was raised, it's blade glowing yellow for a second time, ready to drive into him, but something he had said halted her for a moment, a sharp and bitter feeling stabbing into her chest.

"So saving me wasn't an accomplishment. I see then." Her face went stony, and with two hands gripping the hilt of her sword, she plunged it at him for a second time, while a new kind of pain burned inside of her, a new kind of hurt she'd never experienced before, and one that didn't need her insanity to draw it out further.

"If you can't fight, and you can't talk, then I think we are done here." She hissed.


HP:50
Damage: 19

Finally he struck back, though not in a way she would expect. A hand clamped around her arm, a painful sensation as nails dug into skin. If she had wanted to quit now and leave this would have been enough to make her stay. She didn't want to leave, though. She just wanted.....

He let his arm go. He desummoned his dagger, and she did the same with her sword, stepping closer to him. "A few hours. Shik, I'm still here. I wouldn't still be here without you!" She had a moment to recognize the fact that she was making it all about her again, like he had said she always did, and she shook her head, suddenly refusing to say more or the matter. She was still angry with him. Still didn't know what to do. Didn't know what to say without making herself look like she was making herself the center of everything once again. And then there was still one other thing that pissed her off.

After everything they'd been through, he quite obviously did not feel the same way she did.

"Maybe you shouldn't have helped me."

For all intents and purposes, Shaheen looked like she was finished, like she was going to just walk away. She even shifted her gaze down, dropping it from his, made a motion to turn.

That turn rapidly spun back around in a kick aimed for his chest, using her wings to drive her forward, and to lift her off of the ground just enough to follow through with a punch that came flying towards his temple.


HP: 45
Damage: 14

At this point she really just had nothing left to say. No words left to give. She just wanted this over with, wanted to crush his shield and leave him either bleeding on the ground or dissipated. She had no idea how to react any further, and the realization that she had confessed, actually truly confessed her feelings for him, was finally setting in. The realization that he had practically forced her to say it, had basically backed her into a corner so that she had no choice. The fact that after she had said it, she'd had to defend her feelings by providing at least some minimal insight towards why she might feel that way.

He couldn't just accept it. It was likely because he just couldn't feel the same way.

She had thought at one point that she would just walk away from this and not look back if that's what was required, but now she didn't want to do that, not without striking out at him, almost like a punishment for getting her to admit what she would have rather kept quiet. Some part of her knew that this was all her fault, but for now she could only see to rest the blame on him.

She practically stepped right into the claws that were swung her way, let them rake over her shield, let herself feel the pain, let it wash over her and for that moment drown out anything else.

She didn't even want to summon her weapon for this. She just wanted to use her hands.

She didn't speak. She wanted to scream, but she didn't do that either. She felt like she might choke on the frustration that was bubbling up inside of her, but even that wasn't enough to make her open her mouth and shriek at him.

She just reached up with two hands and shoved him, for whatever that was worth, hands smacking against his chest, muscles surging.

And then hissed words, barely restrained, ones that she could not let go unsaid. "You asked for this. You wanted to know why. It's your fault if everything is ruined now." Her voice broke at the end, a sound that was not a typical sound for Shaheen to make.


HP: 36
Damage: 4

She really hadn't expected anything to come from the shove, or from the hissed words that had accompanied it. She had already given so much that it seemed impossible that anything more could change the course of what was happening now. Three little words, torn from the heart, blurted out needlessly into the open air and hitting a wall, and she could feel the world as she had come to know it crumbling around her. She might have fooled herself into thinking she was prepared for what would come next. She would leave. She would move back into her own home, as long as Thrain would allow her to. She would rebuild and reshape herself, try to smooth off those jagged edges that her upbringing had given her, and move on.

But there was no way it would be that easy. There was no way she could so nonchalantly deal with that sharp sting of loss, to just plod along like it didn't exist, like these feelings could just disappear the moment her back was turned.

Her anger still roiled within her, her bitterness, and a sense of self doubt that ran deeper then the insanity had ever seemed to. He was ruining everything, he was breaking them apart.

She lifted up a hand as though to strike him again, her body aching with a desire to hurt him enough that it might at least cover a small portion of the inner pain she was going to deal with when this was through, of what was already digging and twisting into her heart in a torturous manner.

And then something changed. It was only a small thing, just a look in his eyes that stilled her hand, one that was almost unrecognizable to the woman who was more accustomed to dealing with annoyance, anger, amusement, and sometimes lust from this man.

This seemed different.

He was speaking, and at first, she could barely hear the words over the throbbing of her own heartbeat in her ears. But then some words became clear, the what we have, and the what we are.

Her hand began to tremble, so she let it drop to her side. Her eyes widened just slightly, her mouth parting in silent disbelief. What was he saying was she hearing this right?

I don't want something this good in my life gone.

No. No, she didn't want that either. She really, really didn't want that, but right at this moment, she could only stare at him, completely stunned. Did this mean..did it....

"Do you...." She stopped and licked her lips, they were so dry! As was her mouth, and her throat was so constricted gods help her what had he done to her now?

She took a step towards him, closing what short distance there was left between them, head tilted back just slightly so she could look him in the eye. She swallowed past the lump that had formed in her own throat, and breathed out what she wanted to say in a sharp gasp, the corners of her eyes tightening slightly as she studied his face, searching for the lie in his words.

"Do you mean that?"

HP: 36