[rp] - Back where it all began. {ikazuchi}

[Daigotsu Thrakhath]

Even knowing what was coming, Otsu couldn't supress a yell as Kyoso's claws dug into his arm. The sight of the wound and the gushing blood was enough to make him light-headed, and he had to fight to stay awake and upright. He watched the scene in a kind of daze. If I die, he thought, I'm coming back to haunt all of you.

[Shoju]

And so it began. The Sensation was enthralling as Shoju felt the pull of the memories in his mind. His life began to play out in front of him, as if he were merely a spectator, His mind focused on everything that had ever made him fearful. The memories filled Shoju's mind, overlapping over one another. The sensation was overwhelming. As the fear flooded his mind, the emotion of the scenes playing in his mind brought the blood red tears streaming from his eys. His head began to ache, his soul screamed, as specific memories began to feel as though they were burning his mind. He outwardly clutched his head, screaming at the pain in his mind. It may not have been physical pain, but it was just a pointed.

The memories one by one began to play out in his mind.

As Bitsumen, The Tattooed Dragon who had challenged his father to a duel. His visage was terrifying. The dragon head that covered his bald head. The dragon coiled down his neck, onto his torso, with the tail of the dragon ended on the back of his left hand. As the duelist cut down his father, he stood, watching, fearful of a future without the man who had taught him the secrets, shown him the catacombs, and the hidden paths in life. For the rest of his first life, he feared the Mirumoto Duelist.

As Taizin, the first time he stared down a bloodspeaker. The blood, the gore, the hopelessness of the situation. His fear of all that was foreign to his perspective of the world had almost cost him his life that day. His Fear had almost made him a coward. His memories of the girl the bloodspeaker had murdered in Ryoko Owari made the sensation exceptionally painful.

Again as Taizin, opening his eyes and the realization that he had failed in erasing the stain of his dishonor. As he looked and saw that sinister woman for the first time. How could he go on after failing his Clan so? Time, and hatred had soothed that fear, but it had plagued his mind, and driven him to great lengths since.

As Oronkohiro, The first time he laid eyes of Haruka. He knew something was wrong with their interactions, but his fear of being completely inhuman, cutoff from interaction with the Empire drove him towards her. Her betrayal, proved his fear right.

As Shoju, When he realized the trap in the Dragon Heart Plains. His mind welled with the fear as he scanned the area for Tenshi, only to find himself cutoff from her by the Void Master, a hapless witness to her murder.

The fear was building in his brain, festering, as it threatened to buckle his knees.

[Utaku Mai]

The emotions and memories built up within him, past the point that any human could bear, and Shoju was overcome. The heart began to pound with a frenzied crescendo, but with each beat, it seemed to strengthen the threads that had gripped Shoju. Each beat pulled away his fears, replacing them with pure will and strength.

No terror. No taboo. No despair. No looming threats. No regard for retribution.

No loyalty. No courtesy. Such weaknesses were seen for the lies they were. Fear of one's lord. Fear of the opinions of others. Such concepts held no more sway over Shoju.

What a very good...start.

The mirror and heart were spotless, every drop of spilt blood having gone into fueling the first portion of the spell. Otsu's arm continued to bleed, and Kyoso continued her chant unabated.

This time, the voice in Shoju's head was a high-pitched scream. The pain would be no less intense, but Shoju, lacking any and all fear, had nothing preventing him from facing it.

Give me your hate, Shoju. Reveal to me your enemies. Show me your betrayals and your rage.

[Shoju]

The fear was gone. It hadn't subsided and fallen away, it had welled into a crescendo, and then it had just left him in an instant, cut away, and discarded. He stood taller for a moment, and then the next wave hit him. His mind wracked with pain again, his memories cut raw, as they flooded back again. He couldn't see them. He only felt the hatred associated with him.

The hatred of a fellow student he injured while sparring. He had been the Sensei's most favored, and his arrogance pushed the boy to hatred.

The hatred of that sinister woman for stealing his chance at redemption. The smiles on their faces as he awoke had incensed him. The hatred for everything they told him. And then the intoxicating release that hatred had brought him when he broke the woman's mind. The hatred had brought it all full circle.

The rage at realizing his mother's ancestry had doomed him. Her Chuda and Yogo blood pushed him to both betray his clan, and become... this.

His Hatred for Senshi, brewing after his Second Death at his hands, and the blind rage that welled in him after Senshi cut her down.

The hatred towards Haruka when he realized she had betrayed him, and her sister.

The hatred towards Mai for betraying him to the Scorpion.

The hatred and rage, the injuries and betrayals had blinded him then just as they had now. The pain caused him to shudder uncontrollable, but he never screamed. He stood, as if drunk on the feeling. He closed his eyes, tight and attempted to calm his body, but the calm was short lived. The blindness of the hatred had lifted, and the faces of the betrayers showed through. The Sinister Woman, Senshi, Haruka, Mai, Thrakhath, and the final face. His Own.

At that, he screamed. He had betrayed everything. His Lord, His Clan, His Oath to the Emperor, His Love, Those that had cared for him. His knees buckled and he dropped to them. His hatred for others had blinded him all this time. "What makes me better than them?!" he screamed.

[Utaku Mai]

Nothing! Kyoso screamed in his mind. Nothing makes you different, not until you give it to me...

The threads once again pulled on him, urging him to let go. His heart was nearly rocking from the constant drumming within it. Finally, the second gift was given, and Shoju could feel the hatred melt away, replacing itself with insight and knowledge. Courage and Sincerity were now utterly without meaning, masks covering the flaws harbored by all who had ever opposed him, or all who would ever oppose him in the future.

The mirror and heart were once again clean of the blood that Otsu had given to the ritual. More than he had ever given before. He looked over to Kyoso, wondering how much longer she would continue the constant chanting. Wondering how much longer he himself would last.

The next thing Shoju heard was a gentle whisper, a wisp of words that seemed to kiss his ear, entreating him, even pleading.

One last thing you must give me, Shoju, before all of my blessings become yours...Give me your passion.

Give me your desires.

Give me your love, Shoju.

And don't...hold...anything...back...

[Shoju]

The voice in his ear purred. the first memories were his love, his passion. It reminded him of them both. Only twice in his existence had he desired, or loved, or shown passion towards a human being. Nothing had ever held his attention the way they had. Not his work as a magistrate, nor the Black Scrolls he had held, nor the power he had wielded. Two beings, both killed because of him.

What seemed forever ago, there was a Shosuro Shinobi. Lithe and beautiful, she had held his eye since before his Gempukku. He had tried to win her affection after his gempukku, but she never noticed. He tried again when he was stationed in Ryoko Owari as a magistrate. This time, she noticed. They courted, and laughed, and held each other close. And then the bloodspeakers he had been rooting out had killed her. The scene had been grisly. Her body had been brutalized, and left in his apartment, destroyed to destroy him. Her death had been meaningless. He had vowed to never love again. He would never allow another to pay for his trangressions.

But he failed. From the moment he saw Tenshi in that cave, he was smitten. It was the reason he stitched her wounds so carefully before bringing her back. It was the reason he wanted her close to him. She was the reason he wished to join the empire. She was the reason he wished to lay claim to his ancestral homelands. Giving of his soul to restore life to her was never even debated. He gave of himself freely to her. He let her see him unguarded, and again, she was killed because of him.

As his mind brimmed with the love he felt for the two women, a final thought crossed his mind. His only desire left in the world. The vision before him was from a dream that a shugenja had showed him. It was Shoju, plunging his blade through Senshi's chest.

Shoju felt no fear of failure, no hatred for the man who had destroyed Tenshi. There is no desire greater than his death. Shoju's expression was cold, his tone of voice flat.

As he stood still his few residual desires filled his mind, though nothing as great as those three memories. His desire to know the secrets of the Black Scroll. His desire to be his own master. His desire to one day have a family. nothing held the same sway over him as the pair of women, and the desire to kill the Master Of Secrets.

[Utaku Mai]

And so the final shards of Shoju's humanity pulled themselves away from him with the last lingering tendrils of the threads of magic. His compassion, his mercy, the sense of righteousness that stayed his hand so often in the past, were all replaced by cold determination and control.

Nothing held him back. Nothing would stand between him and his goals. No quarter would ever be offered, or given.

The beating of his heart became deafening. Kyoso finally halted her chants, and picked it up gingerly. The power now held within it nearly sang, and she seemed to be intoxicated by it.

"Now you have made an offering worthy of me. Now, you will have your reward."

Otsu lost his feet by this point, slumped on the floor between Shoju and the other oni, the blood still pouring. Kyoso smiled. Just a little longer, my darling little Moshi, she spoke in his mind. Just a few more drops...put that willful nature to use and hold on just a few more moments...

She began chanting once more, though she never looked at the scroll again. Clearly, she was familiar enough to speak the words from memory. As she spoke, the sigils on Shoju's forehead and Taizin no Oni's chest burned like a white-hot brand. Lightning seemed to burn through Shoju's skull down to his fingertips and extremities. The pain was keen, though certainly nothing he would fear or despise.

At the same time, the connection shared between Shoju and the oni who bore his name seemed to deepen. What they saw and what they felt seemed to repeat themselves in each other's senses like a vicious echo. Each new sensation, sound, or jolt of pain seemed to be louder and more intense than the next.

The candles, burned nearly to their ends, suddenly became great balls of flame, creating yet another stimuli in Shoju's mind. A wind seemed to pick up from no direction at all and blow through the ruins. The moisture in the air seemed to turn to ice and steam simultaneously. The ground rumbled if it would split open and swallow them all. The elements themselves were voicing their displeasure at such a blasphemous use of magic, but Kyoso would not be stopped now.

Her words changed to a fevered tone. The language of the spell changed in subtle ways. The scene became a blur of colors and elements. Finally, she stopped speaking, raised her hands in the air, and brought her strong arms down upon Shoju and Taizin no oni, and brought the full power of the spell down on them. The power she brought was like thunder and lightning, like gaijin explosives, like powerful waves against rocky cliffs, all at once. It was all focused on the mirror, on the space between Shoju and Taizin no oni.

The blast became too much for Shoju or the oni who shared his mind to take. The echoes in Shoju's mind overcame him, and everything exploded into white, and silence.

[Shoju]

Conciousness returned to Shoju, and as it did, he became acutely aware that there was one less occupant in his mind. With his eyes still closed, he searched, and Taizin's thoughts were no longer his own. He couldn't see through his eyes, he couldn't feel the mind. He couldn't will himself to speak through a mouth that wasn't his own.

Was he standing? He thought so, but his body felt different. He could still feel the pulse of an organ not within his chest, and he knew that he was still alive, but his body felt different. Heavier, Weighted, tied to the heart in some other manner now. Yes. He was standing. His clothing felt different, as if the weight of it didn't fully lie against his skin.

Shoju held a hand up, and opened his eyes. While it looked like his hand, it also looked completely different. Shoju looked with eyes that looked at the world differently. The realization came to him. He couldn't feel Taizin any longer, because they were once again, one and the same, yet.... different than before.

Power coursed through his being. He felt more alive. More connected to... something. He walked towards Kyoso, and the man.... The... human. The realization struck him. He was something else entirely now. "This gift... It is more than I imagined. The being bowed at Kyoso. Your gift will not be wasted.

[Utaku Mai]

Kyoso looked upon Shoju's new form gleefully, her eyes full of all of the passion and feeling that Shoju now lacked. "Perfection."

The great oni lord looked at Shoju's heart. While the frantic palpitations of a few moments ago had now given way to a cold and steady cadence, the air around it seemed to shimmer with power. It was fueled by Shoju's own humanity. She held it close to her once again, and seemed to grow in power herself. She seemed even more imposing, more deadly, and more beautiful the longer she held contact with the heart.

"Neither will yours, my love."

As something of an afterthought, she turned to Otsu, pale and anemic from the lifeblood taken from him. She murmured a few words while grabbing his injured arm, causing the skin to knit back together and heal.

"Your will is strong, little one, but your body falls short. Since you are so fond of making your own way, I will offer you a choice."

She looked at the shugenja with a gleam in her eyes. "Let me in, give me your indomitable will freely, and gain strength and power beyond your wildest imaginations."

Her eyes glanced toward Shoju, and the parcel of crimson scrolls. "Or...take your chances with your sensei. He will surely need faithful acolytes to enact his plans in the coming times. There is much you could learn from him...but only if you are strong enough to keep up."

[Daigotsu Thrakhath]

Otsu's head moved slowly, instinctively turning to face the voice now directed at him. He could barely keep his eyes open, and all he wanted to do in that moment was fall asleep and never wake up. He winced as the wound in his arm closed, the strange sensation dragging him back into full consciousness, if only for a moment. He looked from Kyoso to Shoju, or the thing Shoju had become, and back to Kyoso. His mouth worked as if he were trying to speak, but words were a struggle, and it took a moment for the his thoughts to line up with his voice. "My will..." he began, slowly, "is my own," he said. "Thank you for... your generous offer, but I believe... I will take my chances." He wondered then if one of these personifications of evil would restore the blood he'd lost, or if he had just doomed himself. Better to die free, he thought.

[Shoju]

Shoju knelt down by Otsu. "You are a feisty one. I think I'm going to keep you around and see what becomes of you." Shoju placed his hand on the chest of Otsu, and a burning sensation passed from Shoju to the human. "You have lost so much blood. Allow me to help you." After a few moments, the sensation ceased, and Otsu would begin to feel better. Not complete, but better.

Shoju turned around, and picked up his blade that had fallen, discarded during the ritual. "For too long the Empire of Rokugan has held itself as superior because of a lie." The blade felt smaller in Shoju's new form. He looked it over in his hand. "Senshi, Shodai, Mai, Sojiro..." Shoju trailed off for a moment. "They are the embodiment of that lie."

Shoju could feel new connections opening to his mind as he stood tall, and began to feel more comfortable in his new form. Slowly, he became cognizant of lesser Oni in the area. He looked down at Otsu, and back to Kyoso. " Bushido, a failing even its greatest champions cannot hold to." Shoju looked back at Kyoso, his mind fully aware of how to proceed. "My lady, may I request one last thing?"

[Daigotsu Thrakhath]

otsu felt warmth spreading through his body, and full consciousness slowly returned to him. He sat up on the ground slowly, with a nod of thanks at Shoju, though Shoju's attention was elsewhere. He sat on the ground for a moment, propped on his elbows, watching the proceedings. There was clearly a serious conversation going on, and Otsu still felt a bit dizzy; it wouldn't do to interrupt this somber occasion by throwing up all over his new master.

[Utaku Mai]

Kyoso laughed, and the ruined buildings around them seemed to shake with the echo of the terrible sound. "If anyone can bring Rokugan to face its lies, Shoju, it's you. You are the only one fit to bring them all to justice."

Her eyes fell upon the no-dachi that Shoju carried. She could sense the burning rage trapped within it, the blood of men and demons that fueled its power, the desire it carried for the death of one man.

"You seek to strengthen your weapon with my blood..." She laughed again, more at some joke that only she understood, before she turned back to Shoju.

"It would indeed make your weapon more powerful than any other. Too powerful, alas, for the death of simply one man. if you were to take my blood, Shoju, your blade scream for all of them. All who lie, and cheat, and betray under the banner of honor and bushido."

She closed her eyes slowly, thinking longingly of the ramifications of what Shoju was asking for.

"It won't stop until it drinks the blood of the last samurai in Rokugan."

She poised a free hand against her belly, the claw ready to make the cut. She hesitated only slightly, cocking her head to one side as she gauged Shoju's reaction.

"Are you strong enough to wield such a weapon, my love?"

[Shoju]

Shoju stood, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Kyoso-sama, There is no one else in the empire who could wield such a perfect instrument of death. You have made me the perfect judge of their actions. Love, Hatred, Fear, would cloud the judgement of a man. "

Shoju knelt. "The samurai grasp at values they can't possibly live up to. It is time to put the failings of their values on display for all to see" He held the blade aloft, listening to the voice of the blade calling for the blood of Senshi. " There is no penance. There is no redemption. Only death.

[Utaku Mai]

Kyoso gave a jubilant laugh as she brought the claw upwards, creating a dark vertical line against her red skin that began to slowly ebb with dark blood.

"Then take your final prize, Shoju, and show them all the consequences that await them for their failings."


***Scene***