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Post by Shoju on Mar 8, 2012 11:08:50 GMT -5
Shoju was keeping an eye on the Scorpion who had brought the barrier down while Saiko spoke. Riddles!? You come here to... what? Riddle me to death? Shoju worked to keep both the Scorpion and the Dragon in his view, while Taizin fought Sojiro. I tell you what mountain man... If the Candlelight is fire, then the state of the meal matters not, only the strength of the flame matters! Shoju called as he launched a volley of fire towards the advancing Dragon.
Since you like riddles, tell me Dragon.... If I rip your still beating[/i] heart from your chest, would you still desire that meal?[/color] Shoju launched another fiery attack, this one, focused on the floor in front of the dragon. As he brought the No Dachi in front of him in a defensive posture, Shoju took note of the Dragon's words. This Dragon was either insane... or Lost.... or Both.
Taizin walked towards the Scorpion Shugenja and Sojiro. Your attack is disastrous Crane. You are bloodied, and beaten. Stand down, and live out your life with the Shiotome. Fight, and you will beg for your death. He looked at the Scorpion in front of him. You.... You can begin to beg for death. Taizin No Oni's eyes narrowed, as he stooped and grabbed a piece of broken pillar, hurling at the Scorpion.
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 8, 2012 15:34:39 GMT -5
Struggling to his feet, Sojiro tried his best to reply to the oni, but his lungs wouldn't let him.
I decide when I'm beaten, not you!
He choked and hacked, feeling more pain in his torso, and then spit out the dark red blood he had coughed up. He knew that had to be a bad sign, but at least he could breathe again. For now. Taking a full breath was still too much for him, but he could at least fill his lungs halfway.
I decide when I'm done.
Those words remained unspoken thoughts in his head as the shugenja squared off with Taizin, followed quickly by another thought.
I sound just like Alesha did at Toshi Ranbo.
That thought was sobering, but he didn't have time to be introspective right now. While Taizin was busy, Shoju had been engaging in a literal firefight with Saiko. Their only hope now was to either kill Shoju or drive him off - Taizin was not a foe that would be beaten this night - so Sojiro made his way over to the battle, noticing as he did so that raising his right arm above his shoulder was the gateway to an entirely new, unexplored realm of pure pain.
"Saiko! Storm in the Valley!"
The Crane began circling Shoju on one side as his cousin matched him on the opposite side. Storm in the valley was a kata designed to keep your opponent both off balance and hemmed in while the two partners circled. Whether or not it would work on Shoju remained to be seen.
Sojiro began throwing strikes at odd angles and at points of balance for the Tsukai. His right side was clearly not working correctly though - only thrusts came from his right arm, no slashes. A small crimson trail leaked out of the corner of his mouth opposite the slashed open cheek as he continued to bring up blood.
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Saiko
Spider Clan
Here we stand, at the end of all things...
Posts: 355
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Post by Saiko on Mar 8, 2012 17:29:43 GMT -5
His body seemed to flow with the streams of fire flowing off of him as he easily blocked and absorbed the volleys of flame that Shoju sent his way, though he continued to dodge and weave so as not to make himself easy to hit. Saiko slowed for a moment, settling the flames around him into a close whirlwind, glancing again to Sojiro who was now slowly making his way towards where the Dragon and the Tsukai fought. "I AM the fire, Shoju, it burns deep within me. And if you want my heart, by all means, come and get it."
He heard his cousin's words and began working his way into a position opposite of Shoju from the Crane, and together, they began to methodically close in towards him, though Saiko's attacks were clearly more precise and focused than Sojiro; the difference in their blood loss was clearly the cause for this. A vicious flurry of burning slashes assaulted the tsukai from all angles, though none ever seemed to fully connect.
Impatience growing, the Dragon's attacks became more and more violent and frenzied, the time between defensive stances growing fewer and far between, a mistake he paid for when a stone fist swept through his guard and threw him aside like a rag doll. He was grounded only for a moment, however, and quickly resheathed his blades as he refocused on the combat. "Sojiro, Over/Under!" These were his only words as Saiko charged back towards the combat, the fury in his eyes burning ever brighter...
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 8, 2012 18:19:53 GMT -5
Eyes shining in spite of his blood loss and the pain his body was in, Sojiro continued to press the attack in a methodical manner. He and Saiko fought much like two wolves taking down a larger animal - as soon as Shoju's attention was directed at one, the other would switch position and attack. The intention was to keep him so occupied dodging and blocking that he wouldn't have time to use his teleporting trick he had used earlier.
Saiko, losing his patience, launched into a frenzy of hacks and slashes, completely forgoing defense, and he paid for it. As soon as the Dragon went down, Sojiro moved his tired body in between his cousin and Shoju. That's when he heard Saiko's instructions.
Grimacing against the grinding in his torso and the throbbing in his head, he focused on the sound of Saiko's steps as he ran forward.
Left sword, strike at right shoulder. Deflected.
Right sword. Crouch, swing at left knee. Ignore grinding agony.
Then he felt Saiko's boot on his back.
Left, stand and thrust now!
As Saiko's boot landed on Sojiro's left shoulder blade, the Crane stood and thrust with his left arm, with all the strength he had. In the same moment his cousin, propelled not only by his own jump but also by Sojiro's standing, rose overhead... right at Shoju's face. The Dragon used this momentum to launch an airborne iaijitsu strike aimed at the head, timed perfectly with Sojiro's thrust to the lower ribs....
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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 Mar 8, 2012 23:36:20 GMT -5
Po's fury had disintegrated the earthen sphere. As he stalked towards the Taizin no Oni, the tsukai had attempted to slay Po by throwing a broken piece of pillar at him.
The fool, thought Po. Does he not know what I am?
Po let the pillar come. He slid his feet to take a ready stance, wound up the tetsubo and waited. The pillar grew in his vision, threatening a quick end. Po was unafraid.
I am the earth. I am the mountain. You are but a pebble.
Just before the pillar struck the shugenja, he swung his weapon. A thunderous crack pealed throughout the chamber and the pillar shattered like volcanic glass. With the pieces flying everywhere, Po held up his left hand and concentrated. He split his mind in two and cast his spells.
The broken pieces of pillar lifted from the ground and were hurled back at the tsukai. He reformed them in midair into sharp, arrowhead shapes the size of fists. The weight and velocity of the shards would not only shred, but pummel anyone in their path into a bloody pulp and very, very dead.
With the other half of his mind, he built up his rage. He channeled it deep in his gut, forming it into a ball. The ball grew within him, threatening to tear him apart. Po drew the energy out of him. A large, glowing green sphere came from the center of his chest and expanded. When it was four feet in diameter, he released it towards the Taizin no Oni, an inhuman roar that groaned with the sound of landmasses tearing apart bellowing from his mouth.
The jade strike bulleted towards the Oni, slamming it with titanic force. The evil thing could not stand up to the purifying energy that touched it. A shockwave of green energy exploded, hurling the Taizin no Oni through the wall of the audience chamber and through the rest of the walls of the governor's palace. The Oni's projectile path continued for another thousand meters. The small force of the populace that had been, up until this point approaching the manse, witnessed the Oni being blown out of the walls. The exterior wall shuddered, then collapsed, taking out three floors with it.
The Taizin no Oni was not dead, but severely wounded, Po had no doubt. Still, it would give him time to mount this man's head upon the spikes of his tetsubo. If he survived the shards heading his way.
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Post by Shoju on Mar 9, 2012 11:24:59 GMT -5
Shoju stayed defensive as the pair attacked him. It was all he could do at times to fend off their superior sword skills, and Shodai's bindings on the blade showed at times in his sluggish defense. He made a mental note to begin removing those enchantments as soon as he could. As the pair launched their final assault, Shoju was ready. He stomped his foot, and from under it, a pillar of rock thrust itself from the ground, a precious moment before Sojiro's blade would have found purchase in him, crashing into the bloody spot of his armor where his ribs were already damaged.
Shoju brought the blade up in front of himself to parry the strike from the Dragon. He closed his eyes, and began whispering an incantation. The blades connected with a resonance, and the sound was ear piercing. Something had shattered.
Shoju opened his eyes at the sound, Himitsu No Akumu growling in his mind, and saw the Dragon holding the lower half of his katana, and bits of metal made hollow tinkling sounds as they landed. The blade had shattered.
As Shoju witnessed the Shugenja shatter the pillar through the eyes of Taizin, He lept behind his attackers and raised a Maho Ward from his own blood, weakening himself slightly, but saving the trio from the damage they would have caused. As the Jade Strike hit Taizin and the Scorpion began moving towards him, Shoju called upon the fresh blood leaking from his right hand again, and the Scorpion would feel a darkness wrestling in his soul, causing fear to cloud his mind.
Consider it a going away present. Shoju whispered, but the Scorpion could hear him in his mind. There is darkeness in the souls of all men, no matter their path. You will deal with yours now, too.
Shoju let his blood fall against the floor of the wounded building. Do not forget that I spared your life this day. Shoju said, looking at Sojiro. As he stared back at the scene of devastation, he felt regret. This was not what he had anticipated. This was not his desire in Ryoko Owari. As he thought that, the blade hummed in his ear, and he reminded himself, that not all was lost.
The ground swallowed Shoju, and he was gone.
1000 meters away
The Oni was injured, but the body was already repairing itself. As it stood, the ground underneath it swallowed it, and its form was gone.
A day later, on the outskirts of the Big Stink
Man and Oni stood side by side, staring at the keep to the south. In the Man's absence, the Bakemono had grown bold, and overrun the keep. The infernal tower that had been hastily erected by maho in the back of the compound was crumbling, but the rest of keep seemed sound.
The Oni sighed in disgust. Vermin Only when they have nothing to fear. Replied the man.
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Saiko
Spider Clan
Here we stand, at the end of all things...
Posts: 355
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Post by Saiko on Mar 9, 2012 12:58:30 GMT -5
The world went white. ***** Saiko was walking down a narrow mountain road, the sun shining high above the peaks surrounding him. A moment of confusion passed over his face as he took his bearings, and he realized with a start where he was. A brief glance at his person showed a simple black training gi, and Saiko cracked a small smile as he began to climb up a nearby rock formation, finding the small secret markings that he knew kept him on track. As he crested another rise, he gazed up at the familiar structure of the High House of Light, but as Saiko began to make the final climb, he checked himself; this was not right. He heard the tumbling of pebbles behind him, and spun around in an instant, his hands reaching instinctively for blades that were not there, and saw before him a man dressed in simple brown robes, a wide-brimmed hat shielding his face from view. To Saiko's dismay, the man also held his katana, though his wakizashi was nowhere to be found. "My blade, if you would," he asked of the monk, his voice calm but brimming with anger. "My patience can only go..."He never finished his sentence, for in that moment the monk flew towards him, sending him sprawling to the rocky ground with a vicious kick, and before Saiko could rise, that same foot pressed down on his chest, his assailant looking down at him with the katana now removed from his sheath. The young Dragon's eyes went wide with recognition, and in that moment the man spoke. Wake up, Saiko... And then Saiko's father plunged the blade down into his son's left eye. ***** The cacophony of fire and destruction around him was somehow muted as his vision began to swim back into focus, and Saiko found himself kneeling on the floor with the fragmented remains of his katana, the blade his father bore before he took the Togashi name, and he felt a warm wetness running down his face; he had not cried in years, could this be true? His wakizashi clattered to the ground as he gently raised a hand to his face, pulling his fingers away expecting to find them damp and salty from tears, but the sticky darkness coating them spoke of another story indeed. Grabbing his wakizashi and letting the handle of his old blade fall from his grasp, Saiko staggered to his feet, a dark rage filling him with adrenaline to push through the pain that wracked his body, blood coating his face wrap as it poured from the gaping wound that was once his left eye, and his vision was still having trouble focusing. He was able to discern Shoju, the man he hunted, standing over his fallen cousin, saying something indiscernible from this distance, but he knew what he needed to do. With a roar of anger, he began to charge towards the tsukai, his hand going to the hilt of the hidden blade that was tucked beneath his armor and cloak, and in a flash as he ran a black, gleaming blade shone in his hand, a sword that seemed to thirst for the blood of his target. His movements became more controlled as he compensated for his new lack of depth perception, and as he closed most of the distance, he smiled, for Shoju had not yet noticed him. Closer and closer he came, he was almost in striking distance, and just as he began to swing the strike to separate the tsukai's head from his shoulders, the man melted into the earth, and the roar of rage that Saiko emitted sent a chill of fear through all who heard it...
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 9, 2012 17:44:20 GMT -5
Sojiro thought that they had him. By all rights, Shoju should have been either skewered or decapitated - Over/Under had never failed. The angle was perfect. The timing, in spite of his blood loss, was impeccable. The only thing that was wrong, was that Shoju was their target.
A mere fraction of an inch from impact, the ground itself struck Sojiro in his wounded chest. The Crane was no longer able to block out the pain - he howled and went down, dropping his blades and clutching his side as he went. Moments later he began coughing up copious amounts of blood, bright red this time instead of the darker blood from before. His breath came in wet, gurgling gasps, and speaking was no longer something he wanted to attempt. Dirt and dust from the shattered flagstone floor caked his ripped open cheek, working it's way into the ragged hole there and adding a burning sensation to the miasma of pain wracking his body.
He propped himself up on one arm while holding his ribs with the other, the prism effect gone from his eyes. He had expected to see a badly injured Tsukai. Surely Saiko's attack had gotten through if his own hadn't...
Instead he saw Shoju standing there as Saiko slowly picked himself up from the ground, shards of his katana scattered all around him - including one protruding from the Dragon's left eye socket, surrounded by a dribbling, blackened mess that was running down his face.
A low, gurgling moan escaped from the Crane's lips as he tried to stand and failed. Saiko had gone berzerk and was going to get himself killed, and there was nothing he could physically bring his body to do to stop it. But apparently Shoju had other plans.
"Do not forget that I spared your life this day." He spat. And then he was gone, melting into the earth a moment before Saiko reached him with a blade Sojiro had never seen before, a blade as black as the night itself. Even in his current state, he felt a strange resonance between in and his crystal katana.
Obsidian?
The rest of his thought process was lost in a fresh bout of blood coughed up from his punctured lung.
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Saiko
Spider Clan
Here we stand, at the end of all things...
Posts: 355
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Post by Saiko on Mar 11, 2012 22:41:16 GMT -5
In that moment, a veritable whirlwind of emotions flashed through Saiko. He wanted to tear the place apart, scream, cry, kill everybody he could set his sights on, but he was brought back to reality by a nasty-sounding cough that emitted from his cousin, and the reality of the situation that they found themselves struck the young Dragon. He went to kneel by Sojiro's side, to asses the damage his friend and mentor had sustained, but he suddenly found that his legs no longer wished to support his weight. The floor rose up to meet him, and the world around Saiko went black as he passed into unconciousness from the blood pouring from his face...
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 14, 2012 4:58:57 GMT -5
Sojiro had vague memories of how he had gotten here.
There was a hazy recollection of the unknown scorpion shugenja that had been fighting beside him and Saiko calling on the kami to try to hold them both together physically. He seemed to recall more scorpion entering the destroyed castle. There was a lot of conversation about blood loss, horrid wounds, and the battle, as well as doubts about someone's survival.
He hadn't been aware enough to realize that someone being talked about was him. In fact, much of what he remembered seemed to be through the eyes of someone else watching the events unfold. He could clearly see himself, collapsed in a pool of mutually shared blood next to Saiko. He could see the shugenja organizing the guards, having them make two litters out of the scraps on hand to cart him and Saiko off to.... somewhere.
Apparently, that somewhere was here. Wherever here was.
Consciousness returned to him and immediately he wished it hadn't. The pain was ridiculous - the kind that isn't intense so much as mind numbing due to it's stubborn refusal to ease up or allow itself to be blocked out in any way. His chest sent throbbing, grinding waves through him every time he moved. His cheek felt as if someone had set it on fire from the inside, and his head was absolutely screaming at him.
He reached up out of instinct to the cheek to discover that it had been sewn closed. It still oozed a bit of blood, but it was a far cry from the crimson waterfall it had been. The next thing he noticed was that he could breathe - not the gurgling, gasping attempts to suck down whatever air he could desperately cling to in between gulps of his own blood, but unimpeded, relatively simple and easy breathing of pure, sweet air. To be fair, every breath he took sent another one of those grinding waves through his ribs, but it was much better than choking to death on his own blood had been. After all, pain meant that you were still alive, as did breathing. Therefore, painful breathing meant that he was definitely alive.
He opened his eyes to find himself in a small room dimly lit by several candles placed throughout, to provide even lighting. Saiko lay nearby, his face and head swathed in bandages, chest rising and falling slowly but deeply as he slept. His cousin was naked from the waist up, displaying the full collection of wounds received during their fight to gain entry to the castle. His armor, clothes, and weapons were laid out in an orderly fashion on a table in a corner of the room, and with them were Sojiro's own things. He sat up to get a better look at himself and for the second time, regretted being awake. The room swam as he moved - the floor rolled, the walls breathed, the table holding his things pulsed in time with his own heartbeat.
...too fast. Move slower... took a nasty shot to the head...
Mai.
Mai is in Shiro Shosuro. Shoju knows this.
He groaned as he finished sitting up, causing his cousin to stir. Slowly looking down, he saw that he too was bare chested and covered in fresh wounds, including a rather large one on the right side of his chest, too clean and straight to be a battle wound and stitched closed very tightly.
Got to.... go. No time to sit here.
His brain was working, but it seemed off. Muddy, somehow.
Drugs.... they drugged Mai. Now they've drugged me too. Have to get out of here.
He clumsily set his feet on the floor, noticing that is felt sturdy underneath him even if it looked like it was moving, and staggered his way over to the table. He managed to grab his kimono before knocking half the contents onto the floor, including his armor.
The door to the room burst open. Faster than was wise, Sojiro whipped his head around.... the room started rotating in two directions at once...
"Sama! You must lie down at once! Please, you must wait for the anesthetic to wear off, or you will reopen the wound!
The Crane had been expecting..... something. Something that wasn't this. Maybe a squad of heavily armed samurai. Perhaps one of the infamous shinobi the scorpion were known for.
Instead, he saw a woman dressed in the robes of a shugenja, accompanied by two men dressed in monk's robes.
"Can't stay here.. have to get to Shiro Shosuro...she's there... he knows...."
The monks gently but firmly took Sojiro's arms and guided him back to the mat he had been laying on amid his slurred protests. The shugenja quickly but respectfully replaced the toppled items back on the table.
"Po-san had mentioned that you might attempt to leave as soon as you awoke. Please, Kakita-sama, you must at least lie back down. I will bring you tea to help with the effects of the anesthetic, but you MUST lie down. If you fall you may re-injure your lung or reopen your wounds."
His mind was protesting wildly, but the words never formed. Instead, a sort of extended groan was his reply as he was lowered back to his mat. Beside him, Saiko made a sharp noise and tried to rise, only to find the shugenja beside him, her hand firmly on his chest but not pressing him back down.
"Easy, Dragon-sama. Move slowly. You suffered a grievous wound. It had to be cauterized, but sudden movements may cause more internal bleeding that I can't see. Morita, fetch the tea for our guests."
One of the monks silently bowed and left the room as Saiko and Sojiro got their first real look at the price of their heroics the previous evening.
(OOC: Any scorpions out there want to take the role of our lady shugenja, since Honzo is out sick for an undetermined period of time?)
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Saiko
Spider Clan
Here we stand, at the end of all things...
Posts: 355
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Post by Saiko on Mar 15, 2012 2:59:55 GMT -5
Darkness... and light...
He had never seen them in such perfect contrast before, such simplistic beauty, and in that moment, he saw beyond that which men see into something else. A new feeling coursed through him as the two shifting patterns of black and white began to merge together. Was this power? Enlightenment? Something... more?
A jolt ran through him as he realized exactly what this was, and the room shifted into blurry focus as a spike of agonizing pain shot through the left side of his face. Saiko sat up quickly; too quickly, for the view of the room shifted and swam as pain exploded through his head, clouding his thoughts and filling him with rage. A hand shot to his face to find all but his right eye and mouth covered in heavy bandaging, though he could feel the stickiness underneath.
He made the effort to stand, but was quickly restrained gently by several shugenja bearing Scorpion mons; an oddity, he first thought, for it seemed that he had just been slaying men dressed as such. This led to thoughts of Shoju, and he broke free from their grasps as he sat up with a dull roar, grasping wildly around for his weapons but finding them out of reach as he was restrained once again.
Left with no other option, Saiko allowed his gaze to wander around the room, resting on the prone figure of Sojiro, in the bed adjacent to him, and he almost smiled a little. "Well old friend, I told you we'd see each other again soon." He tried to wink, but the pain it caused was too much, and he fell back into bed once more, coughing slightly as the shugenja force-fed him more of their healing elixirs.
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 15, 2012 5:49:39 GMT -5
A few moments later, the monk returned with tea, handing each of the injured samurai a cup. The steam rising from within smelled strong and bitter, but just the fumes were enough to begin clearing Sojiro's head. He took the cup and drank deeply, feeling lucidity returning to him with each swallow. Of course, with lucidity came the awareness of exactly how much he hurt.
"This is not exactly what I had in mind, Saiko-san. While I don't wish to seem ungrateful to our hosts for their attention," he attempted a small bow from the neck towards the monks and the shugenja, "I have to admit that I was hoping for a saki house, not an infirmary."
The joke was made, but there was none of Sojiro's usual mirth or sarcasm in it.
"I had no idea how powerful he was... had you not been here, I would certainly be dead by now. I owe you my life, Saiko. Although that does beg the question - what are you doing here?" He motioned to the room they were in.
"Aside from being put back together, I mean."
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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 Mar 15, 2012 16:19:37 GMT -5
While the monks and shugenja attended to the two, there came another sound, another individual walking around the floor as the structure betrayed the movement. Where the shugenja woman had been gentle, this pace seemed urgent and impatient. Within another few moments the owner finally made their appearance. An opulent man dressed in scarlet garbs and clearly bearing the Soshi school mon, the golden flowing accents forming flames that gave his robes a rather dangerous appearance about them. His mask was more of an eye patch, a cloth that clung to his head at an angle as it covered his left eye, a faux eye painted onto the cloth in it's place.
With a clap of his hands the other three who had been attending to the fallen warriors seemed to back away, bowing submissively. His dark hair was tied back while his fiery blue eyes seemed to find their mark on Saiko and Sojiro.
"While I'd certainly love a drink myself, it wouldn't do well for men in your condition to take in alcohol, heavens knows what more damage you two could do to one another.."
His voice was almost a laugh, a jubilant and unrestrained feature that bore no care or worry as he continued to move closer to them.
"My associates here have done the hard work of getting you both our of the weather and out of any more harm, but it seems that their typical treatments are not going to be enough if we're going to see either of you being useful in the next year or so."
He tutted, shaking his head and strutting around, "No, no. That will simply not do. I was born a crab and to have men limping along so heavily wounded, well what sort of duty can the wounded perform."
His pace and tone were slightly fanatical, but before he would allow his audience to even speak he continued, opening a thick scroll before him as he looked to Sojiro, "My name is Soshi Kukihira and I will be praying for you today." And even though no other murmur or chant came from the Soshi's lips, a soft light seemed to surround and embrace Sojiro, immediately sealing his more severe wounds and removing the burden of pain from his body.
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Kakita Sojiro
Crane Clan Global Mod
When you die, will you be remembered, or will you be just another strand in the tapestry?
Posts: 900
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Post by Kakita Sojiro on Mar 22, 2012 5:26:23 GMT -5
The most noticable effect for Sojiro was a sudden rush of warmth and then a removal of pain in his chest. Shortly after this was the revelation that breathing had been hard a moment ago, because it no longer was. His ribs still ached, his head was still a little woozy, but even that was not as bad as it had been.
"Kukihira-sama, that was amazing!" the Crane stammered, a slow smile that pulled on the stitches in his cheek spreading across his haggard features. "I am in your debt - I feared that I wouldn't be able to travel for some time yet, and I have urgent business in Shiro Shosuro. Should you ever find yourself in need of something, please feel free to call upon me."
He wasn't whole. He was, in fact, a far cry from anything resembling whole. But he was well enough to ride, by his own estimation, and that meant that he could go to Mai. Kukihira had, in one simple action, won Sojiro's respect and gratitude.
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Saiko
Spider Clan
Here we stand, at the end of all things...
Posts: 355
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Post by Saiko on Apr 3, 2012 11:18:15 GMT -5
Saiko's face hardened for a moment at Sojiro's questioning, his good eye cold and pale as he looked away from his cousin's searching gaze. His attention seemed to be focused very firmly on whatever drifted out in the cold morning air beyond the window, but a sigh escaped him as he shook his head. "To be honest, Sojiro-san, I don't even know. I had a purpose in coming here once, but..." His sentence was cut off by the arrival of Kukihira, and he quickly shut his mouth and returned to his own thoughts while the Soshi shugenja attended to Sojiro.
His hand drifted to his face as he lost himself in his own thoughts, and though Saiko knew what he would find, he was still a little shocked to find the left side of his face wrapped in a thick gauze, and where once he had eyes that could spot a rabbit through the brush at many yards away, he now felt blind, lost in the dark, both physically and mentally. He had lost so much, and for what? Shoju had escaped. The rage in Saiko quickly rose to the surface as he thought of the tsukai's escape, but he pushed it back as he body roared in anger in protest.
As he fought to keep his emotions in check, Saiko pushed himself down into a meditation, deeper than he had since he sat before the Vault and contemplated the Final Riddle, and he waited. Deep within the recesses of his own mind, Saiko began to doubt everything that he had done. The path he had followed had never caused him to waver, never to falter. He had walked into the den of the Spider themselves seeking aid, because it had been his path. Hadn't it? The head of Shoju was all he needed to gain the support of the Lost, but his blade had broken.
My sword is broken
Saiko felt stunned by the realization. He had walked the path he thought he must follow, and his sword broke. What did this mean? What did any of it mean? Had everything that he had accomplished, all the choices he made up until now, all been wrong? In that moment, Saiko knew that he could not find these answers on his own, and knew what he must do.
He awoke from his meditation with a snap, and a chill air rushed through the room as his good eye opened, and Saiko rose to his feet, albeit quite clumsily. He began to slowly limp towards the Soshi, and his voice was calm, though beneath it there was... something else. "Your hospitality has been fantastic, but I'm afraid I must leave. My weapons and armor, if you would."
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