Beaches And Shores [Aina/Ryoko]

This world was becoming darker by the day, so when a day off turned into an intense battle, Ryoko appeared completely unaffected. She set her drink down on the picnic table and pulled her sword from her hip, though she kept the blade in its sheath. With a single breath, Ryoko darted across the sands of Ishigaki beach, intercepting a hollow focused on a family that had been enjoying the morning air. A strong strike and her katana cracked open its mask from top to bottom.

Letting the hollow disintegrate behind her, Ryoko looked for her next target, her eyes falling on a young woman that seemed ready to fight. She rushed along the sands until she came to a stop near her. “Are you capable of fighting, or should you be heading to safety?” Ryoko asked. Her job was to protect people, especially those who could not fight for themselves. "If you can't fight, you should hide."

Ryoko watched her destroy a hollow with ease. The woman was confident and clearly offended by Ryoko’s question. Ryoko closed her eyes, nodded, and turned toward the next hollow. “Do as you wish. Call out if you need any assistance.”

Ryoko moved away from the woman, darting across the sands rapidly, kicking up a cloud of sand behind her. She reached the next hollow and dispatched it with a hard shot from her sheathed katana. The mask shattered and the hollow died.

Ryoko moved along the beach, order people to gather in a specific area to avoid being attacked, while dispatching hollow as she went on. Occasionally, she looked back to the other fighter on the beach to see if she was safe.

Ryoko slid to a stop in the sand after haring the woman’s comment. She could deal with them quickly, but going all out could cause more issues. The hollows were scattered, making aiming more difficult and Ryoko always had that other side of her waiting to come out, so she needed to be careful. Ryoko wasn’t one to take risks when she didn’t need to, and right now, she didn’t need to.

"I have my reasons," Ryoko muttered just as she spotted another Hollow... and then more came into her vision. Two more loomed further down the beach, one stalked closer, and a fifth stood atop a surfboard rental shop.

"Damn it..." she hissed, casting a resigned glance at the woman beside her. A sense of inevitability flickered in her eyes as lavender lightning crackled and sparked across her body. Her eyes glowed, and her hair billowed in the wind as bolts of lightning shot down from fifteen feet above, crashing down and through the Hollows' masks, destroying them all in a single, simultaneous strike.

Once they were dead, Ryoko stood still. Her heart was racing, adrenaline pumping. ‘Calm down…’ she thought as she took a few breaths and meditated.

Ryoko pinched the bridge of her nose as her meditation was broken. She took in a deep, slow breath, and just let it go. “I’m… I’m okay, yeah,” Ryoko said, turning to face the woman. She raised an eyebrow at the chuckle, unsure of what was so funny until it had been explained. A short exhale through her nostrils and a smirk accompanied a short snicker. “I’d count them,” she said, though they were not what caused Ryoko's anxiety here. “Thanks for your help, but even if you could protect yourself to some degree, it’s best to let those whose jobs it is to take the risk. Just because you can fight, doesn’t mean you should have to.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

With a final, relaxed exhale, Ryoko was able to settle herself into her normal rhythm. She gave this woman her attention. Her determination was a cute trait, and with what Ryoko saw her doing a minute ago, she could get there with some practice. “Sounds to me like you chose the wrong man,” Ryoko said, a small smirk on her lips, winking at her. “Don’t let one bad apple spoil the rest of the bunch. You miss out on a lot of delicious fruit that way. The name's Ryo, and you are?"