Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 21:15:37 GMT -5
Haruka was astonished. The man had trusted her with the very way to undo him forever. She could see no fear in his eyes or any stammer in his speech. She was still breathless from it all as she took the opportunity to back away a few steps and allow the words to all sink in.
"Surely you don't mean this though. You've only just met me, you may have heard of me.. But I am not worthy of such gifts or such attention."
She was still shocked from it all, such words against the heavens, and such an attitude towards such power. The temptations crossed her heart, but she knew deep down that this was not her destiny. Her ambition had merely been to continue on to right the wrongs of this world and to be a good person.
But in reflection, the nearby waters rippling at her thoughts, she knew she had failed to even be that. "The heavens will not stand idly by, and if your body is killed.. how many ages might pass before you would find a new life to inherit." She shook her head knowing nothing only so much about the Khadi from her interactions with Shoju.
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 22, 2011 21:42:26 GMT -5
"That...is complicated. Immortality is imperfect. There is no set time; sometimes weeks, sometimes months. Last time...too long." Sprinkles stepped back and drop his head breaking eye contact. "I've lost everyone. My friends, my allies, even my enemies. I have only my rage as a companion. But you caught my attention." Sprinkles seem to start studying her. "How did you do it? What is it about you? Some secret learned from the Scorpion courts? No. You were destined for this! The threads of fate have brought us together for a reason. But what is that reason My Lady? Will you stand with me or against me?"
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 21:58:54 GMT -5
She never really needed to look away from him. Haruka wasn't ashamed or afraid of anything, but his words seemed to invoke a thought in her mind. "Perhaps then, the kami have brought us together indeed. I know it is rather deplorable among Rokugani to consider those who bear the taint, let alone those who would say such things to bring down the highest powers."
Strangely, she seemed to sway and shift, like a younger soul without restraint and somehow unwilling or unable to keep still. It caused her kimono to shimmer in the sunset, reminding her of when she first saw a cloth of this beauty.
"I wonder... if rage is your only companion. Why then would you be reborn now in the wake of such war and strife. Why wouldn't you simply seize the opportunity before you to conquer this land in force." Her eyes rested for a time, but then opened, lingering on him. "And yet you have not, instead restraining yourself as an honorable heart would."
She sighed and shook her head again though, turning her attention to the distant mountain view, her form gently shifting to a sideways view as her slender mental form sliced through the scene before him.
A part of her wondered why she should have such patience for the tainted, why she should be so different. It felt wonderful to give hope to the hopeless, but she could shake the feeling of betraying her own soul for it. She risked so much to help them, but it never was enough to deter her. "Do you think perhaps that instead of war and pain, perhaps the kami would wish it that you might heal instead?"
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 22, 2011 22:24:42 GMT -5
"I am powerful but I am not invincible. Once I may have believed that but no longer. And if I did attempt to heal instead what would that accomplish? No one would accept help from one such as me. 'Honor' would prevent it. You see, I do wish to heal Rokugan; but it cannot heal until the infection of Bushido is cut away." Sprinkles raised his hand and the world seemed to melt away and be replaced. They were in a great hall. Scorpion samurai filled it as far as one could see. They were all on their knees. One by one each drew their wakizashi and committed seppaku. "How many did this to influence your husband? Suicide is a waste of life not a political tool. I know you believe that too. Already you stand against the customs that would bind you. Don't you see you only follow Bushido because it is all you know. But on your own you have already learned so much more. You can no longer pretend to be honorable My Lady. Not by their standards. Because to them 'Honor' is suicide." He gestured to the multitude killing themselves one after another to compliment his point.
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 22:41:31 GMT -5
She eyed them each, faces she knew all manipulating things. It made her heart ache as she watched it herself, as she'd heard it before, but witnessing it now seemed to burden her all the more. Haruka would walk along, her kimono drifting along behind her as she stopped over a Bayushi's corpse, gripping her throat lightly as she did her best to still herself.
"You are certainly wise to understand the sacrifices and the pains of others."
She actually bent down, taking up the wakizashi from his dead fingers, bringing it horizontal before her and letting the tip of it rest on the tips of her other hand's fingers. Her eyes looked over the blood as she meditated on their deaths and that one poetic moment that samurai revered so deeply.
"If we samurai forsake our honor, we forsake what our ancestors stood for, what they died for. You would not understand such things with no family of your own. But our deeds echo into death. I cannot ignore what my mothers and their mothers have given to come this far.
True, there is corruption in honorable deeds, such seems to be the Scorpion's way. They manage to use such actions to bleed the hearts of the weak willed in order to control them. No doubt a brash one would simply just react and still play right into their hands."
She turned the blade vertical, running her fingers over the steel and getting blood onto her digits. Human blood seemed to be a normality for a woman of war, and it did not phase her in the least.
"I am still a mortal woman, the daughter of many years, and the story of my life still unfolding with each passing moment. You may be able to feel that bushido is such a burden and such a disease, but it brings order both to the people and our hearts.
Without it, there would only be the sins of greed and lust, the rules of the powerful dominating the weak. We would be as beasts of the land, undeserving of the blessings upon us."
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 22, 2011 23:04:11 GMT -5
Sprinkles hesitated a moment not wanting to anger Haruka with what he knew he must say. "And what of your child? The one you gave up? It will be ronin at best. Looked down upon by all. At worse it will be raised in by the enemies of your empire and fight everything you believe in. Will your child view Bushido as you do or as I do? What will it think of it's ancestors? And even now their are those that seek power for greed and lust within the workings of Bushido. Greed and lust are no different than hope and love; they are the emotions that drive our actions. They are part of being alive. No one can escape that."
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 23:13:21 GMT -5
"That... doesn't make the emotions right, Sprinkles-san.."
He could hear her voice jolt a bit, the mention of her other child still evoking a self hatred reflex that made her tighten her hand around the wakizashi, putting her blood on the blade. Secretly here and now she would relish the pain as a sort of punishment every time she was reminded of this act.
But it would give her some resolve as well. A strange and twisted hope forming in her mind.
"Shoju may be Maho Tsukai, but he still holds his honor true. He will return the child to me should I but ask."
She removed her hand from the blade, looking at her bloodied hand with the blood of the fallen scorpion and her own mixing and dripping down onto the hall floor with a soft sound with each drop.
"And if not, then I will kill him for the child. There is no question in my mind now. You are most certainly correct, no child deserves that fate, nor shall they suffer it while I still draw breath."
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 22, 2011 23:25:11 GMT -5
"My Lady...don't." Sprinkles waved his hand and the scene returned to the mountain edge, but the majesty of it seemed lost now. "I am sorry. I do not wish to hurt you. But you must see yourself for who you are. You do not belong on their path. Nor do you belong on mine, at least not yet. You are something new My Lady. And your path will be your own. If you need me just let me know. I promise nothing but as a..." he paused as if unsure, "friend I will do what I can for you. But first I require one thing from you. One promise you must make me..."
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 23:40:23 GMT -5
The blade dissipated from her hands, but the slash did not fade. She rested her hand at her side and turned to face him now.
"I will hear you, but I will not promise anything in advance... That is all I can ever agree to, you understand."
The blood would fade away, cleansing the scene from the grim nature of her devotion.
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 22, 2011 23:45:26 GMT -5
"You must never seppaku. You must live. Whatever lays before you, you must see it through to the end. Promise me to live and I will do what I can for you My Lady."
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 22, 2011 23:53:14 GMT -5
Haruka sighed heavily, her hand going slack at her sides as she seemed to act as though such a request was impossible. She swallowed deeply, stilling her temperament as she had gotten a bit emotional from being reminded on her mistake.
Her eyes shut gently as she spoke. "If that is all you ask of me, then I shall not slay myself. Not in the name of honor or failure. If it is one thing you have shown me in the few times we met, it is that one must live on if they are to make right the wrongs of this life."
She could feel her dream weakening around her, the night and the hours pulling her back into a state of consciousness. Her eyes coming open as she seemed torn and almost unwilling to leave. But the waking world was a relentless force. To him she would seem to start fading like a ghost, flickering in and out of existence as her need to rest was satisfied on her journey back to Kyuden Bayushi.
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Post by sprinkles on Oct 23, 2011 0:17:43 GMT -5
Sprinkles remained a moment longer as the dream began to fade. He had been amassing so many enemies lately but not enough friends. Haruka perhaps was an answer to that. To her he must seem powerful indeed but he knew how vulnerable he actually was. His physical body still had the wound to prove that. Perhaps that is why the small doubt still lingered 'Is she manipulating me?' He wanted everything he said about her to be true but she was Scorpion. And no Scorpion acted without well planned deception. "In time My Lady I will learn the truth of your soul. After all I have all the time in the world."
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
OOC Cleanup Crew
Samurai? Battle Maiden? Cavalry? Paragon of Courage? Friend of the Lion
Posts: 1,054
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 23, 2011 0:29:15 GMT -5
She looked to him now, standing alone there in this reflection of Yumi-do, the realm of dreams. But who she was and what the world around made her into were so different. She could practically feel the weight of the armor on her body, the breathing of her horse resting near her. The war was not what she wanted, even as a warrior.
Haruka approached him, solidifying her form one last time as he spoke, and without a prompt and without asking her hands gently reached up to stroke against his face, brushing the hairs aside as she leaned in and put her forehead to his.
"I only hope I can be someone to help you, I mean that with all my heart and soul. If you trust no one else in this long life of yours, please.. trust me. That is all I ask."
And with that he could feel her grip slowly fading as the breeze picked up, the gentle pressure of her hands over his face falling away though the memory of them resting there would resonate within his mind.
It was hard to read the woman, and that was what she preferred. She did not know if she could convince him to stop warring against the world he had come to be bound to, but no battle was too challenging for her.
She silently cursed the rising sun as she pulled herself to her feet, wrapping the orchid back up and out of sight. The rest of her journey would be somber, but at least she would be back to watch over Senshi once again. But as faithful as she was, she found herself gently rubbing her lips through her mask, remembering the moments they shared.
Blessings be upon you Sprinkles-san. May your soul find respite, and let a day of peace come to you with each greeting of Lady Sun. If it is my destiny to do so, it will be done.
With her prayer finished, she packed up her things and would continue on her slowed gentle journey back to the place she was trying to learn how to call home.
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Shosuro Honzo
Scorpion Clan
Scorpion Clan * Shosuro Daimyo * Ninja* "Master of Shadows"* Loyal * Unique
Posts: 194
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Post by Shosuro Honzo on Oct 23, 2011 1:13:55 GMT -5
The shinobi agent had watched Haruka sleep, from a safe enough distance though not so far as to not witness Haruka's motions as she slept fitfully. She had tossed and turned, her motions making it clear that her dreams were disturbing. Most alarming of all was the way she had acted once she awoke.
Deep into his cover, the ninja noted how she had touched her lips through her mask, as if remembering a lover's kiss. He remembered how she had squirmed and the soft moan that escaped her sleeping form. The information they had gathered from Haruka's meeting with the Spider indicated that she slept with the talisman, allowing contact to be made. The shinobi agent gestured to his partner, who had caught up two nights before. [Report back. Use the kami to send our words. Spider communion with Mistress confirmed. Taint possible. No confirmation yet. Mistress in danger of corruption]
The other shinobi nodded. The two ninja slipped back a safe distance, and the message was whispered back to their master.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
Crane Clan ? Samurai ? Duelist ? Artisan ? Guardian of Metal ? Unique
Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Nov 4, 2011 18:05:37 GMT -5
[OOC] Totally doing this on purpose. It was prearranged that I would accidentally enter Haruka's dreams by mistake. Again, this thread, from this point forward may contain adult material. Think twice about reading it if you aren't interested in that sort of thing.[/OOC]
Tamihei Yun had arranged his mystical apparatus around him in the usual fashion for tormenting the sleeper that his lord had defined to him as his personal enemy. He patiently waited, sitting, meditating in the ruins of Otosan Uchi for Bayushi Senshi to fall asleep.
Unbeknownst to him, another shugenja in another part of the empire was preparing a similar spell to communicate with the dreaming Bayushi Haruka.
The proximity of the sleeping pair would make a difficult spell even more difficult. As the two energies from the spells collided, it would transpire that each would switch places and enter the wrong dream; Yun entered into the mind of Bayushi Haruka instead of Bayushi Senshi.
It was dark and stormy on the battlefield where Bayushi Haruka suddenly found herself. The steadily pouring rain was actively washing away all the blood that she could see and smell. The ruins that was once Toshi Ranbo took her by complete surprise. Off in the distance she could see several figures moving.
It was at that point that the rains ceased, the sky faded to a comfortable sun-lit day and Haruka found herself standing near a grove of trees. Suddenly she was dry, suddenly the battlefield was completely gone and she stood there alone for a few minutes.
Out from the grove of trees walked a man dressed in dark colors, whom she could easily have mistaken for another person she had dreamed with before, but as he got closer, it was clear to her that this was someone different entirely.
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