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The hallway is the life of Rikku's. Many a conversation, or confrontation, has occured here since the school opened. The student lockers are staged along either side of the wall (since running back and forth to the dorms is impractical), and for the most part these are left untouched by would-be padfoots. The halls are monitored to prevent troublemaking, but things seem to keep happening to the security cameras, and despite the best efforts of student and teacher alike, skirmishes between student factions are a common (though not everyday) occurance.
Which is not to say that the halls are dangerous. Buddying up is a common practice to discourage mischief, and new bonds of friendship form every day on the way to the next class.

Ryu exited Rikku's office and began wandering down the halls, watching students go about their lives as they passed him. He started making his way towards the classroom where he would be holding Japanese class that semester. In no particular hurry, he just meandered here and there.

"I would usually say bad luck, but I don't think that's the case here, now is it, Jelena?" Ryu had been walking nearby when he heard her exclamation. He bent down to assist her in picking up her dropped items. "You ok? I know math class can be a pain, but I never thought to take it literally. Here, let me see." He gently put his hands on her head to inspect the bump and see if she had been cut.

Ryu smiled at her, shook his head and helped her up. "I don't think so missy. We're going to the nurse right now, and I won't take no for an answer." He put the rest of Jelena's stuff in her locker, gently shut the door and put his arm around her shoulder for balance. "Slowly now," he said "I don't want you falling down, you got bumped pretty hard there." He looked at her, a genuine care and concern for her safety could be seen in his face.

Ryu felt strange. He knew that going to sleep was a big no-no for someone who just had a head injury, but every cell in his body wanted to agree with Jelena and let her go. Luckily, he remembered his conversation with Rikku. He closed his eyes, thinking hard about what he wanted, and his body slowly began to respond. "Jelena, please come with me, I want the nurse to take a look at your, and it is not a good idea to sleep when you just hit your head." To emphasize the weight of his request, a large brick wall appeared in front of Jelena, blocking her path.

Ryu fell to his knees. So this is a level-5 ability. He'd heard about them, but had never felt the full force of one. The feeling of choosing to obey or not was equivalent to being forced to choose between which of your family members was going to die. Now, he knew had two choices here. He really did not want to break a student on his first day, especially the headmistress' niece. Besides, he rather liked this one.

So he chose the other path. The hallways of the school disappeared around Jelena. Suddenly she was standing alone by the pond where she first met Ryu. The sun was shining bright and there was a warm breeze blowing. His voice was there in the breeze - gentle and reassuring. "Jelena, please listen to me. It is just you and I talking here, no one else can hear us. I promised your aunt, no more than ten minutes ago, that I would watch out for you. You just got knocked on your head pretty hard by that book. It's possible you have a concussion. If that is the case and you fall asleep, you may never wake up. That is not something I am willing to live with. All I am asking is you let the nurse look at your head real quick, then you can go. I'll leave you alone after that, you have my word." His voice faded out, but the sun and breeze, the pond and the peacefulness remained, leaving Jelena there to think about what he said.

Ryu felt the shift and knew instantly that this was in trouble. He crawled slowly and painfully towards Rikku's door as the scenery changed. He pleaded again with Jelena for understanding. His form immerged in front of her near the pond. Face twisted in agony, on his hands and knees, crawling.

"Jelena... why? Why are you doing this to me?" He grunts in pain. "W-w-what horrible things... have been done to you to create this fear that you have? Did I not...not just give you my word that they just wanted to check out your cut? No needles, no tests...I swear" His voice was barely audible now. "Please...stop...let...me...in" His voice trailed off and the form laid there at her feet.

Meanwhile, He had managed to reach Rikku's door, turning the handle he called inside, his voice strained, worried, and tired. "Rikku, please come quick...she's shifted and I'm not sure how long I can hold on..."

Ryu stood up, shook the cobwebs from his head, and followed Rikku to the Hospital.