Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kai held onto the card with timid fingers. She had just recieved it from the Suit of Soulkage shop, and the feeling of it was so unusual that she just had to stop, and sit on a Gaian street corner. Her curiosity had always been more than she could handle.

This object had an aura. It did not glow or tremble or even attempt to whisper obscene things into her mind, but in essence, it made her feel .... safe. Protected. The card was shifted from front to back as the young girl examined it, noting the features and touching lightly to the katana image itself.

"You are a mystery, that you are. But I have good feelings about you. You and I.." She grinned, placing the Ace of Spades card down into her palm, the katana design facing upwards. "I have a feeling there will be challenges in our future. Many challenges, but you make me feel as though they will be nothing. You are a fighter, aren't you? A warrior from ancient times.. a spirit wanting to be let free to defend." She paused.

The card sits there.

Frowning, her eyes narrowed in a disappointed prospect, Kai drew the card closer to her face, examining even the colors behind the insignia, wrinkling her nose slightly as the stiffened magical aura licked at the skin of her face as if taunting.. musing to itself how this human cannot yet understand it. "I do hope.. this strength you seem to emit is not that of destruction."

At school, there was no time to fool around with such things as a card that could not behave. Well, behave used in these terms is questionable. Kyoto had a mind of his own, for certain, and he refused any to get close to his holder, no matter the challenge it faced his four-cornered cardness.

Kai's backpack sat rather uselessly against a leg of her desk, the pockets remaining open due to laziness and lack of effort to close them. Her fingers drummed on the false wood of the desk, her head leaned into the palm of her other hand. Time seemed to take forever to tick away as the girl's blue eyes gazed with no focus whatsoever at the blackboard in front of her.

The boy behind her reached to tap her shoulder, needing to gain Kai's attention to pass the attendence sheet forwards. However, Kyoto's protectiveness and natural warrior-like nature led him to believe something entirely different was about to happen.

In the days of old, in the ancient times of the katana on his insignia, women were to be protected. They were to be honored and kept in safe grasp at all times, since enemies would just as likely dishonor them by stealing and doing.. non-PG-13 things to them. Blue glowed softly around the card's edges, the item defying gravity lazily for a few moments before wrenching forwards to cause the most terrible of all sword-manuevers on them. A paper cut.

The boy lurched backwards, clutching his bleeding finger with his good hand. He scowled unhappily, then, mumbling something.. Although, his eyes were rather terrified. What the heck had just happened? Did he really just see what he thought he saw?

Indeed he did, but the card now rested motionless on Kai's desk, just in front of her fingertips that had earlier been drumming needlessly.

She blinked, sighing. The card emitted a most pleased aura, his pride swelling at the fact that he had protected his lady from harm. He was a samurai by heart, and would stop at nothing to keep his duty.

I heard it again. The voice.. The voice, it spoke to me.. What should I do? Will it hurt me? .. hurt me?.. hurt me?.. hurt me?.. hurt me?..

The furl and whisps of dream curled around Kai's mind, and she tossed from her back to her side, and side to back, over and over again. Her eyes where shut tight, her brow wrinkled with worry, and her teeth clenched in desire to escape the words that followed her.. Every night, every day. She heard them. Over and over again. They would not go away..

Above her, shimmering in the faintest of a silvery glow, was the card of Kyoto. Sprinkles of that silvery light were casted down upon her, flickering from that metallic glow to light blues, and then to nothing just before they could possibly touch Kai's smooth, yet tormented face.

The voices.. They will not harm you. The voice. It is mine. Listen carefully. Listen..

The warmth of that masculine yet inhuman tone spoke directly to her mind, bypassing all ears, bypassing time and space. A whimper came from the girl below, but she soon quieted, her breathing calming its pace until she seemed to come at a certain pace of ease.

I can only speak to you in your dreams, but from them.. I will protect you from the madness that haunts the corners of your mind. Just hear my voice. Only you can hear my voice..

"Kyoto.." The mumbled reply came just from her sleep. Not even a flickered eye alerted one to awakeness. He had reached her in the depths of her worst troubles; her constant, persistant nightmares. But, how they now seem to vanish! The sword on Kyoto's card glittered in its false metallic gleam. Or.. was it false? Even to the touch, the metal was cold. It felt real. Kyoto was real.

When you wake, I will be right here. You will never be alone again. Find your protection.. your love in me.

There was a click. An audible, true click that rattled the mind and shook the windows of the room. What followed was absolute silence. Nothing moved, nothing stirred. Even Kai's breathing seemed to cease. It was then, that something along the lines of an astreal projection of both Kai and Kyoto came to life. Kyoto.. was blurry. Nothing about him could be seen. There was a very canine feel to him, though. His protectiveness, his eagerness to love and care.. Something like a canid Samurai. Or even.. draconic? It was too difficult to see. All one could do was feel.

Kai, in her see-through and absolutely confused spiritual form lifted partially away from her sleeping body, her blue eyes blinking in something like fear. But, that was quickly washed away. The 'spirit' of the card, nearly unseen due to its nonmanifested form, lifted long waves of light and energy, that could be considered hands to meet Kai's. Once the two appeared to meet, a flash of warmth could be felt, followed by an electrial surge that flickered every light in the house and finally blinked it all out into darkness. But, the pair still glowed, still floated there.. together. There was a moment's hesitation that just felt like a smile from the Soulkard, before it suddenly melded into Kai.

Her eyes closed, and the glowing of her own strange form pulsed anew. Linked, they were. Now in many more ways than just feeling.



The morning sun had crept through the blinds, striating the golden warmth across Kai's face. As she blinked awake, only the feeling of new strength reminded her of what she had thought had been simply a dream. A good dream, for once. But.. was it? Was it dream? Was it real?

Frantically, she swept her hand sideways, feeling across her bedside table. Her fingers felt exactly what she had been searching for; Kyoto's card. It still vibrated ever so softly with life, hovering centimeters off the surface of whatever he was placed upon. She curled her hand around the Soulkard and pulled him against her, hugging him to her chest gently.

There were no more words to say, and all she could do was smile.