Hikari was panting as she fired arrow after arrow at her enemies. The sound of shattering armor and battle cries drowned out any other sound and all she could were huge [i]oni[/i] bearing large swords, bludgeons and bows and all coming after her. She dodged, weaved and moved through the terrain easily as she picked her targets down efficiently and with amazing ease.

Once the last of the largest opponents were down, she turned around, drawing her sword and fighting back against the normal-sized creatures, meeting them in melee and moving with deadly ease. [i]Too sloppy! Faster! Deadlier![/i] She kept screaming at herself in her mind as she sliced through each and every one of her opponents with brutal lethality.

She spun and dodged a spear thrust, just barely, before lopping off the attacker's arm and felling her last opponent. The dim arena then started lighting up as her enemies began reassembling themselves, shatter clay and steel moving back to reform the oni that inhabited it. This time, however, they remained still. Hikari pushed the large double doors open and exited, only to find her mother standnig there.

"Every day for the past six weeks you have been down here honing your skills. Every day I watch you grow stronger in skill but weaker in your heart." She spoke as she walked back to the main mansion with Hikari. "This burden you carry, perhaps you think it is heavier than it is?"

"Mother, I [i]failed[/i] the city. I was supposed to protect it but I could nothing against the enemy that was of use. I am a daughter of the Shirogane clan, and trained to fight since I was old enough to hold a weapon. All that counted for nothing in my battles. I [i]cannot[/i] fail again." She replied with a heavy heart. The fact that her arrows had been next to useless wore on her. What use were her powers and skills if she couldn't even scratch her opponent?

"Nobody said the Shiroganes were unbeatable." Her mother answered with a knowing smile. "A warrior has to learn that some times, victory is simply surviving the battle. You were always able to take injuries to your body better than your pride. Every loss can be a lesson to temper and forge you into a better fighter, if you choose it." With that her mother picked up a bow as well and walked down the length of the corridor and fired it at Hikari. She intercepted it with one of her own arrows, the two projectiles meeting in mid-air and striking each other away.

"You were not able to do that six weeks ago. I think you came out a better warrior after that experience, no?" Her mother offered helpfully before leaving her to change out of her armor alone.

---

[b]A week later[/b]

Hikari was back in her bar, and tending to business. It had been in good hands while she was away but now she really needed to get back on her feet and rebuild her life here. The Titans would need her, even if she didn't believe, and she wouldn't let them down again. She would fight with every fiber of her being. She kept up on the news reports of course, and knew the team was still licking their wounds.

She got on her bike and headed right for the Titans' HQ, hoping they would not fail to recognise her. She had grown her hair out and looked very different as a result. It didn't take long for her to arrive, and see a few of them going about her daily business. She stopped a fair distance from the main door and got off from her bike, walking up to the entrance and seeing Tyran and Steel out there. "I'm back." She greeted them with a smile, a new air of determination about her. "Where are the others?"