When Twin Titans Collide (Closed RP)

[Asahina Yuuto]

Mitsouko collapses from her horse, tumbling to the damp ground, the world spinning and distraught as her fall turns to plight. Share my vision, whispers in her head, hands and knees dragging themselves away in defeat. She vomits; convulsing in her struggle, the thump of heart beat terrorizing her every movement towards escape. Share my vision, Oni-no-Mitsouko, louder and more forceful, every word finding intensity with thundering heartbeat, “NOO,” she screams, her fear distorting the plea. Oni-no-Mitsouko, share my vision… with me, redness clouding her eyes, she retreats into darkness, muscles and mind showing weakness – she finally succumbs to a bedding of her own filth.

…It is time for her to pay the price…
…she will make a beautiful addition to our court…
…share our vision, she must…

The triumvirate of terror, shadow lingering in their every step, circles felled prey; the hums of queer ritual howling among the twisted terrain their movements now desecrate. The clouds churn, moon bleeding red; the hour of twilight upon the Crane clan.

…is she sick?
…worse… discouraged
…but is there still hope?

The wind whispers its approach, entreating it guidance, but whom or what is left to listen? Stronger still, the wind waxes in arrival; pleading with overcast sky to bleed a more divine hue. Moonlight sparkles pearl upon the scene, purging away preying shadows, illuminating what is left to be saved. A Mitsouko of two minds weeps over the lifeless vessel, “what am I to do,” she stumbles, the once great titan reduced to a sliver of confused conscience. Escape your plight, child the wind chides.

A startled shake, indecision and befuddlement enabling continued procrastination, now stronger the wind screams, “RUN – Mitsouko-chan,” moonlight now faltering as the shadows regroup. Feet find life; hope makes flight, as her sliver of conscience flees from sight in twisting light.

At every turn corruption flanks, shadowed figure bearing down with words of taint, “share our vision,” they moan in monotone derision. “Your name is ours – we will not hesitate – to claim what has been freely given,” in unison they chant. Madness consumes her mind, as she makes her escape, evil closing in twisting thicket; her feet in desperation fail her, she collapses again into the damning ground below.

A figure of flowing white beard slowly draws near, a feral shriek Mitsouko’s response, arms and legs flailing in fear as she claws away. Nails find mud, feet fail to find solid ground, back finding the tree line; she reaches her limit, eyes surrendering their sight as tears stream down her cheeks. A momentary pause, in darkness, as a jingle sounds the chain lowering around her neck, gentle hands soon caressing her into their arms, she bawls. “Shoo, Mitsouko-chan; our Lady Kakita,” he strokes her fraying hair, encouraging her eyes to life, moonlight reflecting off his balding crest, “the Asahina have asked me to help; can you find enough strength to prove your worth?”

[Kakita Mitsouko]

Foolish trust… Deep fall…

Now like an animal running from him, from them.

Strength? Have I strength by myself? I am tired… am tired of trusting and being betrayed. My heart wasn’t wrong after all. By my own family, that’s is. Blind ambition, dishonor, darkness… is what he had to teach me?

I am... learning. She managed to speak, torturing voices under her skin. Was she crying? She didn’t know. She didn’t cried for a long time before this day. But now, then… she has true fear. Of losing herself, lose her honor, her soul… It’s not a fair bushi battle, it’s not what she was prepared for… it was hell.

Raising her swollen eyes, she recognized the umbra terrain of nightmares, the shadow threats to her soul… then again, the old figure bringing some comfort, some reason. She tried to focus again, pushing away with the emptying mind technique of iaijutsu. A thing that her too many times shattered soul had learnt to do; to ignore the counterpart, even if for minutes…

Asahina, you said…Slowly getting conection with her own reason...just a threshold by now.

Mitsouko tried to clean her hands in her body, and found herself touching the white feathers of a ceremonial armor, now stained with bloody mud… Swallowed her despair.

Who are you, man? Why me? Where am I?

[Asahina Yuuto]

“Do not dwell on your despair, Mitsouko-chan, the elderly man wearing a divine figure, the base of his robe flowing in its own breeze. ”Your story has yet to be written, but our time is short,” he casually palms the pendant dangling from Mitsouko’s nape, before gently letting it fall, his hands centering her from the shoulders.

In the distance, through the miasma, twisted chants renew faintly.

“Asahina Ayumu,” noticing the distraction in Mitsouko’s face, he again states, wrinkles forming from his eyes, “my name is Asahina Ayumu, I’ve been sent here to help you.” The chants grow closer, something more sinister slinking among the fog and tree line. Taking her hand, as he attempts to keep a calm composure, he asks in rushed tone, “please come with me if you wish to live; all will be explained in time,” herding her away from the sounds of approaching evil.

As they turn their backs, they soon find their way towards a dim light, growing as they take their stroll, it engulfs the two into something new. Childhood, love interests, and something more terrible, all flash in front of her view, what they truly hold; only she knows.

The two now sit among a rock outcropping on the road, the foliage and earth tones suggesting something more close to Permission City. Imperial forces march in lockstep with Phoenix elemental masters, one standing out in particular from Mitsouko’s mannerism. Troubles and regrets brew…

Leaning over to whisper his confidence, Ayumu asks, “why does this man bring such trouble to your mind? What does he know, and why won’t you let it go?”

[Kakita Mitsouko]

She looked at Shodai, his shugenja robes, his professorial stance, his calm and reserved politeness... and hated him. For his well-known compassion, that one day she thought was love.

He knows...everything about me...more than myself... how could I trust someone this way?


... How much time has passed, since we last met? Since I heard his voice saying he was coming... and he never came? How much time can take a man that bend the void at his will to come afterall? The interest came and gone, with the ghosts of our story... wasted and dead...What he wants from me?


I can barely understand him... so selfless, so considerate but... where are he...now? WHERE? She screamed, suddenly furious, suddenly let this repressed feeling arise, spill over, choke in her throat until she felt voiceless.


Promises, I am tired of it! Tired of trying to be like him, peaceful, understanding!


Hiccuping, she silenced, fearing to kill the good memories they shared once... so distant now when the war waves washed everything black, and the meaning of their alliance was no more. Mitsouko realized those treasured moments were too few and too short...

Mitsouko wasn't a woman of regretting, and then... She felt the bitter sting of facing the weight of what she hid into her own heart, under a stone pile.


What is it? This is not me... Is it the.. taint?

Fearing the domain of evil she tried to apologize her outflow:

I don't hate him, I...I...It's not only about him, right? His clan, the Council, Shiba Kazuma,... it's not about him...but he promised...

Then:. What...Where is he? With the Emerald Champion? Attacking Lion? What about...? The oscillation or her emotions was disrupting her as it never have before. Mitsouko always had been a controlled person, especially in stressful times. Part of her arduous training. But seeing the Phoenix joining the Emerald Champion Forces in search of glory instead of joining Crane to defend the Emperor...
Phoenix turned their back to Crane, Shodai to her. Not a single message, nor a single word of explanation.

ARRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! NOOoooo!

Stumbling she tried to reach him, completely forgotten it was an illusion... Her feet failed in the steep hill, she slid in the mud terrain trying to regain balance.
She found deception. Just shadows of what she saw, nothing more. Mitsouko gloomy looked at her own dirty hands, white-stained armor, before turning to the Asahina's avatar:

See? Is it all what I can see? Illusions pictured to me by someone else? I buried this pit, with my naivety. When I turned my back on my first education... When I tried to be like everyone else, tried to be the ideal... whatever. She spat her hatred, smirking bitterly. There is no perfection without balance, and balance is found in the truth of life, it's just like my father said. A low and dangerous tone now.


OCC: It might be less clear than usual (oh my!) but it's me trying to act dramatic, and depressive (and schizophrenic; am feeling Golum.) ...I am neither of these things.

[Asahina Yuuto]

In the distance, thunder clouds grumble, storm clouds inching ever closer, safety running short, despair not seen since the Clan Wars; but is there still hope? A look of restraint flushes upon Ayumu’s face as Mitsouko battles with herself, the fizzing of corrosion upon the plating of the necklace drawing his concern - the oni draws near

With revelation, and perceived deception, the Lady Kakita turns her rage on those who wish to help; sternly he responds, “we do battle in your mind, Mitsouko-chan,” looking down upon disheveled Daimyo, “I assure you if we lose here, it will be most real,” Ayumu alluding to the thunder clouds and fizzle of relic.

Covering his beard momentarily, he looks afar to thundering storm clouds, before finally finding appropriate response, “do not cloud your thoughts with his failings. What did he teach you? What has he shown you?”

The imagery of the scene swells, and contorts, as they hide deeper in her thoughts. A young child, rosy cheeks and eyes full of life, stands between two titans of maternal and paternal pride.

“What did he show you of your father?

[Kakita Mitsouko]

WARNING: CAN CONTAIN DISTURBING DESCRIPTIONS AND MILD SEXUAL CONTENT. YOU KNOW, IF YOU IMAGINE YOU CAN BE NAUSEATED WITH THIS CONTENT, JUST DON'T READ.

My father! I... He...

She seeks self salvation, she tried hard to capture a real sight of her past and for what she fantasized to be perfect. Everything she forgave thinking it had been done for love; when Shodai unveiled part of the truth, she tried to ignore, she tried to mask. She wasn't prepared to admit she fled from her own memories.

It wasn't love, but art. A man transforming a child in what he thought was perfection. When she started to notice other people didn't think like him? When she stated to notice he was feared and admired in equal proportion, but NOBODY was like him? When she started to notice she wasn't like everyone else? So distant when others aren't, so wrongly passionate most of the time... The way he taught her to be...
....

Distant day in the past

....

Eyes narrowed, shallow and racing breath, biting lips, feeling the sheen sweat over her temples, a hand slid over the tatami, looking for support, while the other was lost between the silken folds... she mumbled a fascinated sigh, dry mouth, lost gaze.

Oh.

Relaxed muscles, a kami under her skin.

Ahh.



Done?

Behind her, behind the shoji, back turned to her and facing the opposite, her father asked, a neutral tone. He had been waiting patiently that she discovered a new thing. In fact, he softly ordered her to do so, saying what to do.

I...done. Confused, embarrassed, amazed. A new discovery, strange and sweet.

Wash yourself and come here.

She did like her father said, feeling quite strange, new, and ...grown. She pushed the sliding door that separated them, with a shy smile, wide eyes. He looked at her for a moment, scanning his daughter's figure from the hair to the toe, the same evaluative glance he always had. Shinoburo didn't smile, just nodded to her to get a place before him.

So, Mitsou-chan, it was the way he used to say when he was praising her. You know what a woman feels... You see how is good to just...lose control?
Her shyness just garanted a slight nod in accordance.
This is precious. Don't be blank, mild, statuesque, controlled all the time. There is perfection and divinity in the sparkle of wildness that can be brought... he smiled dismissing an inner thought, by many things, a man and a woman together being one of them. Like you witnessed last night eavesdropping me and Yuna-san.

Mitsouko blushed, looked down, but he touched her chin and forced her to keep looking at him. Don't be ashamed for being human. Be ashamed of being a mediocre human. Don't be ashamed for feeling, be ashamed fro being guided by feelings. Don't be ashamed for desiring, be ashamed for not get it.

The Kakita man closed his eyes for a moment, then turned to his pre gemppuku daughter:

Don't be a fool, Mitsou-chan. People that don't know their own personal power are nothings. You must discover yourself, and you will release your own power. Nothing will detain you after you have done it. That... he nodded to the chamber she left, can be got by many ways, but you can choose to give this form of power to someone else's responsibility, or learn to make your own destiny, and control the wild thing within you, to release it at your will...or not. It's not only about men and women, it's about you knowing yourself... And inner power is more important than everything. It sets you free.

Are you free, father?

No samurai is free, truly, Mitsouko.

Will you marry Yuna-san?

I am married already. Shinoburo heavily sighed, annoyed,

So...

What?

Why...?

Because, my dear darling... He shifted towards her, a person can have many types of power.

A duelist, have this here, He pressed her wrist between the index and indicator: and here. He touched her forehead with a finger. A shugenja, like my happy and distant wife Tisuke-san, he scratched the palm of her hand, can have a great amount of power here, and here and pointed a finger to her heart, over the kimono. But if a person doesn't have power here and he pressed her belly over the obi she grabs nothing from life... and the wild thing inside her will dies, will be taken, and the rest will just faint and give up. And I cannot admire a woman that has power in her hands, but is too afraid of not control the wild thing within herself. I wish you something better than self-pity, Mitsouko. I wish you true power.I wish you to be perfectly complete. Listen to me, daughter-san.

Mitsouko had erased from her mind, after her gemppuku, disturbing things like that. The weird lessons about life her father gave her. Everything she chose to learn with Ryo was entirely different from it. Then it waswas about duty above else. Bushido above everything. Now, regressing to the scenes, it was shocking, kind of repulsive, and Shinoburo's words, too wrong and too close of blasphemous.

He... is a dangerous man. Mitsouko whispered, realizing how close she was to die. And that not only bushido could save a soul. But power...this same power that wasn't born from honor, from courtesy or duty; but was born from will.

[Asahina Yuuto]

“Oh my,” Ayumu stammers, discomfort showing on his collar, “not how I would have imagined the lesson, but perhaps such differentiated instruction has its merits?” Not hearing a response from Mitsouko, he turns to see the Daimyo slumped to her knees, a lethargic haze taking form over the woman. She is iron willed, but this wickedness refuses to wane in its war.

Taking her hand, he scratches her palm, hoping for a response, “Mitsouko-chan, your mind has stabilized, but we cannot hide forever; we must confront that which bids for your soul with the lesson now learned,” her hand trembling, he squeezes more tightly, the scene swelling with change around them, “steel your belly and prepare, my dear.”

Mitsouko’s wavering hand echoes the quaking and rumbling that begs to tear down the sanctuary of her mind, the current scenery distorting and contorting, as the imposed reality peels away to new form. Darkness swells, blackening sight, the reverberations of sinister voice bellowing and clashing to the sounds of thunder strike in the distance, “share our vision, she must,”[/i] memories flashing upon the shadowy backdrop as the oni words continue to pulse.

In an instance, the West Gate flashes alive, Lion and Unicorn bushi flooding through to shatter the beleaguered Crane defenders, slash and scream resonating with the blood scatter of the skirmish. Quickly fading, the flash finds more fright, now centering on Alesha-san, mounted and confronted, turns to leave the fight. Orange and red sky billow above, only the broken and defeated stagnate below. His ears perked to hear only words that leave dishonor, he orders the retreat. "…you will make a beautiful addition to our court…"

With greater intensity, the shadows swell, the images melting more quickly, a bridge – a compromise – and finally two titans snarling at one another on beach ridge, short of coming to blows. The piercing bellows of oni crescendo to the end, “it is time you pay our price.”

Darkness. Silence. Death.




”It is not over, daemon,” a shimmer of hope splashing a faint light upon the two, champion curled to her knees within hallowed circle; Asahina protector making his final stand, amulet sizzling to the end.

His appearance finally shown, snaking and shifting, jagged scales scratch the cobbled floor. Coiling around the two, the smell of corruption wafting abrasively to their nostrils, the oni constricts the shrinking haven; A feral smile lowers itself to their level, sinister teeth brimming from ear to ear, cajoling hearts to further terror as his words berate and glowing eyes intimidate, “I can wait.”

A stammered reply, Ayumu stretching his neck to face down the on looking gaze of pure evil, “you only await, a fate, my family deems you worthy.”

[Kakita Mitsouko]

“I regret of having believed there was something to be saved. Oh yes my belief in heroes, my belief in honor... romantic useless remains from the old tales about our family, our ancestors, our code...changed now. His reasons, I misinterpreted them. I turned back in my former decision of making him a ronin, in demanding him seppuku. I made Sojiro swallow my previous orders. I tried to believe I was the wrong one, and not Alesha. I tried to respect what he had done for our clan, previously but...If... Mitsouko rose on her feet, struggling now with her failure sense, struggling with her sense of shame and inadequation. Has she the temper to be her family's daimyo? She was so wrong in the position... and it Mitsouko kept in her heart since the day Doji Mikado acted as the Champion's herald, bringing to her the letter telling she was the new Kakita daimyo.
If I have something to regret, is about having a light hand, about having, until now, a soft heart. It's to refuse believing that drastic measures are the better ones.
I had had fear of use the authority granted to me But no more. This fall is one lesson, this fall... taught me..

[Alesha]

The voice can be heard for first time. It is gentle, sweet and chilling to the core. It is also extremely familiar.

"Don't jump to conclusions as to what this fall had in store for you. But you are making progress. You weren't quite wrong in your assumption - Alesha as you knew him died in Toshi ranbo, and you shouldn't have stopped him. If you done that, likely by Crane clan standards we would avoid the glimpse into greater things. But inevitably we now know what we shouldn't know, at least I do. And Mitsuoko-chan, you are well on your way in joining me, oh the future is so clear..."
Laughter echoes in your head almost concussively and then slowly erodes leaving your head dizzy...

[Kakita Mitsouko]

OH well, maybe.... She struggled to swept away the nauseous dizziness as it came. We will SURELY meet again, Alesha. We are surely linked to one another. All you need to do is wait for me. I am going to you. You can hide behind maho sorcery, you can hide behind a Lost Army. But I'll find you. And then you will know me better. I promise.
Bitter spat words, Mitsouko wasn't sure if Alesha was able to hear her but it didn't really matter. The words were for herself.

[Alesha]

Blood from his latest captive was well used on that message, or so it appeared... But he wasn't after the blood but the flesh, news of winter court reached him in time...

"Hide..." - He mused as reply, blood powering his communication was running- "I am always much closer then you may imagine. Watch those near you closely my dear..."

He wanted to continue, but the power behind his spell was lost along with last drop of blood... But he now had what he wanted.