[RP] Beginning to be a problem. - [ikazuchi]

[Utaku Mai]

The afternoon could hardly be called productive, but Mai and Tsanuri managed to find a small warehouse outside of the village that seemed to have had some recent use. Mai was not interested in disguising herself as a common ronin, but was at least able to set aside her pride and throw on a simple hitatare to obscure the images of her clan mons somewhat.

It was as they were walking back on the narrow footpath into the town that Tsanuri would see Mai looking furtively at the darkening sky. It seemed that a sudden storm had begun to form.

Mai looked at the swirling clouds with an increasing sense of dread, though it took her a moment to realize why. It was almost like...

Like I've seen something like this before...

"Oh, fortunes," she cursed. "Oh gods, no...no, no, no...!"

Suddenly, and without even the slightest thought of Rokugani etiquette, Mai grabbed Tsanuri tightly around the wrist and began running, full tilt, through the trail. There was no time to explain, no energy that could be wasted on speech. All she could think of was that they were completely out in the open...

It was only as they approached the first outer buildings of the town, with some remaining bustle of heimin and the occasional dragonfly samurai, that Mai could even think of slowing down and letting go of Tsanuri. Her fingers had left white marks on her wrist from the grip.

The first tentative drops started to fall to the earth.

"Get Inside!" She yelled desperately, panting slightly and nurturing a stitch at her side. "Get inside from the rain, now!!"

Several heimin, to their credit, obeyed the samurai without question. A few samurai seemed to regard the apparent madwoman with mild annoyance. Several children looked with curious interest before returning to their game. Mai gasped when she saw them, but the thought of them being affected gave her a much-needed second wind. She ran toward them, picked up the smallest, and ran toward the nearest building she recognized -- the small stable where Ren was being boarded. The other youths, shocked at her abduction of one of their own, chased after her.

By then, streaks of a deep brown-red began to be visible on her hitatare.

"Tsanuri, are you coming?!?! We need shelter, NOW."

[Akodo Tsanuri]

Tsanuri followed Mai into the stable. She didn’t understand why Mai behaved like that, but it wasn’t like Mai. Not that she knew battle maiden well, but Mai wasn’t mad or cowardly. And now she was scared.

When Tsanuri sheltered she wiped her face with a sleeve. She saw crimson lines on her hand. They looked like if they were left by drops of red ink. Rain? Tsanuri watched her clothes. She didn’t noticed it earlier as they were dark to begin with, but now she saw darker spots. She looked at Mai. It wasn’t just scare that she saw. Mai was terrified.

She looked Mai it the eyes. What is it? She tried to make her voice calm and she nearly managed.

[Shoju]

Shoju grinned as the rain began to fall, spattering against his carapace-like skin, and streaking it a ruddy reddish-brown as it did. There were few people in the streets, but those who were outside looked at the blue creature, and his coutnerpart, with sheer terror.

Many had never seen an Oni before. They were things of Myth. Creatures of the night. Real enough to keep you from succumbing to whispers of power, yet mythical enough to leave your mind wander.

But now, there, in the street, was this blue skinned monster and his associate. Standing over the dead form of a neighbor. Standing over a dead friend, blood running from its... 'hand'. The people made no sound as the ruddy rain fell. Slowly their fear forced them back. Many of them retreated under canopies, or into buildings as the fear took hold. A few of them, were too slow, and the rain brought their madness.

As Shoju stared at Otsu, Daisuke had found the Shiotome, and her companion, looking to seek shelter. He knew not to engage them. The Shiotome alone was cunning, but with a companion, who knew what they were doing. Daisuke, perched upon a roof, reached out and tormented the Air Kami to carry his words to his master.

As Shoju listened to Daisuke, his smile became a frown. The Shiotome wan't alone. How unfortunate for the compaion Shoju thought. Shoju shared Daisuke's report with Otsu, and then nodded in that direction, prodding Otsu to move ahead and prepare.

Shoju had decided the next time he saw the Shiotome, he would do what he should have done in Kibukito. And now it seemed, that time was going to be oh so very soon, and it made Shoju smile again. Her blood would be a welcome addition to his blade.

The rain continued to fall, and the sounds of sporadic madness could be heard in the town. Those who weren't able to escape the rain, tearing each other, and some innocents aprt. Two men at the end of the street were pitted in a horrific battle. Finally, one man was the victor, the other, lay dead and bloodied in the street.

Shoju grinned, as his mind wandered for a moment. The texts he found this spell in were said to have originally belonged to Iuchiban himself, making it a significant point of pride for Shoju. Owning and controlling what once belonged to a being who thought himself above the celestial order, out of its grasp, well... That just proved to Shoju what he already believed. He was.... better than Iuchiban. Better, because he respected the power of the blood, and the celestial order. He only sought to right the inherent flaws he saw in an order that men had ruined.

As the thoughts left his mind, he found himself moving towards the area Daisuke reported from. As he walked, he began to search for her through the elements.

[Saiko]

Shadows fell across the rocky outcropping he sat upon, the mid-afternoon sun disappearing behind clouds, though the man did not notice. Deep in his meditations, as he had been for many weeks now, above the nearby Dragonfly holdings, the man searched for the answers to questions that eluded him at every turn. And somehow, behind it all, there were two voices he could hear, taunting him, mocking him, and at last, he had found an enemy he could not best with blades alone.

One was a man. A man searching for him, he knew, but he was not ready to confront him again, this he knew. For all the confusion and pain that his discussions with Takezo had brought him, he knew for a fact that he was not able to defeat Shoju as he was. Though time itself was flowing around him, seemingly ignoring him, he had felt the presence of the tsukai some time ago, searching for the young Dragon, but why? Revenge? He had defeated the blademaster. And so Saiko remained hidden, lost in his own search for answers.

The other voice, however, was of a far more insidious nature. It had toyed with him, giving him glimpses of power beyond his imagination, as well as the truest despair that was the fact that everything he had fought for was a lie, and this was more than the young Dragon could bear. For days, he had fought, pushing his mind to its limits, but the cloaked figure still had worn away at what little was left of his sanity, bit by bit. All of it had led to this day...

*****

Saiko stood in an empty dojo, naked to the waist, his eye healed, his tattoos seeming far more alive than they ever had before, the elaborate Dragon across his stomach seeming to twist and turn, though he did not remember the eyes being so... black. He found his blades in his hands, unbroken as they once had been, and a sigh of relief had passed through him upon feeling their familiar weight in his hands. That feeling passed as he saw before him the cloaked figure that had haunted his search.

Wasting no time, he darted forward with a flurry of blows, knowing he had to end this now, once and for all, if he was ever to have a chance of finding his purpose again, and he felt the power withing him flash forth again as he struck with more intent than he had known since his defeat at the hands of Shoju. His surprise was almost palpable, however, when his vicious assault was met with a flurry of parries and counters, and in that flash of a moment, he found himself fighting against a bladesman of the Niten style that seemed to know his every move before he made it.

Back and forth they fought, seeming to be equally matched, except his opponent did not tire. Saiko felt as though an age had passed, and yet, neither of the swordsmen had struck each other, though as he felt himself waning, his opponent still fought with the same ferocity and vigor; yet he did not take advantage of any of the openings the young Dragon knew that he himself would have in an instant.

A storm was raging outside, and still they fought. Lightning struck the roof of the dojo, splitting it open, and Saiko soon found himself dodging fire and timber as well as strikes from his opponent, and still the battle raged. It seemed as though days had passed, every muscle in Saiko's body screamed to give in, and yet he couldn't. Even as he tried to will for death to come, it would not, as his blades continue to fly in a series of parries and counters that he never dreamed he would be able to execute, and still his phantom opponent blocked his every move, until at one moment, their blades met and shattered, in a horrific mimic of how Saiko had lost his eye, and as he screamed out in pain, the voice floated to him once again.

The answer is there, my friend, it whispered, frighteningly similar, though as he lay on the ground, he could not tell why. You are not lost, Saiko... It is those you once served that have strayed. They have abandoned you, betrayed you, and still you try to please them? No, my friend. You have been led astray. Come with me, and I will show you the truth, answer your questions, and make you more powerful than you could ever have dreamed...

Saiko pushed himself up, feeling rage rise up within him at this man who dared to ridicule all that he stood for, but stopped as his eyes fell upon this man, for he looked upon himself. A smile split his mirror's face as he extended a hand, and as he did so, this "other" Saiko began to change, his body twisting into what could only be described as a twisted amalgamation of a man and a Dragon, and he laughed. Come with me, and I shall show you your true purpose...

All the despair, the anger, the solitude, every confused emotion that Saiko had battled to overcome in the last few weeks seemed to melt away as he gazed into the dark green orbs that were this creature's eyes, and for reasons he could not explain, he reached out and took the claw of this... thing... and his world went dark.

*****

He awoke to find himself in the midst of a storm that raged above his head, though it was blood he found running down his arms, not water. Such things mattered not. Nothing mattered now, but finding that man, and he knew. Saiko knew now why Shoju had come, and why he must go to him. No longer as foes, but as allies, and the young Dragon began his descent towards the epicenter of the dark blood magic he felt coating the land around him, a darkness settling over him that would not wash away...

[Utaku Mai]

As soon as Tsanuri cleared the door Mai slammed the door shut and immediately took off her ruined outer jacket. "Get it off your skin!" she said hoarsely, scanning the room momentarily before finding her goal: a trough of clean water in Ren's stall. Ren looked at her imperiously as she filled a bucket but stood aside before her master's focused actions. She was wiping away the blood with a found rag as she tried to explain what was happening to Tsanuri.

"It's blood magic. I don't understand it myself, but it--" Mai's explanation was cut short by an unearthly piercing scream, the sound of a madman hellbent on destruction. More sounds of madness echoed, explaining far better than Mai ever could the fate that they had very nearly taken them. Mai's attention became re-focused yet again, this time to reinforcing the door to the stables from the inside.

The child she'd carried in began to cry. She couldn't have been more than five. Her older brother had followed her in and tried to comfort her. Mai pulled one of the jade pendants from her neck and offered it to the pair, assuring them that they were safe from the corrupting influence of the rain. For the moment, anyway, but Mai didn't say this aloud.

"It seems that your lord Keisuke was right about bloodspeakers in the area, Tsanuri...though I've never heard of them acting so openly. The tsukai responsible for this rain must be either completely mad, or incredibly powerful."

She chanced a look out the window, trying to find the hooded figure from her nightmares in the midst of the chaos surrounding them. She tried to push out her fear as she looked, but she began to feel an all-too familiar weight that up to now was held at bay by sheer will. Finding nothing, she closed her eyes, trying to block out the memories, the fear, and the overwhelming dread in her heart. She knew all too well the tsukai who fulfilled both of those criteria.

"Where are you, Shoju?" she whispered.

[Akodo Tsanuri]

Tsanuri took off her outer, blooded now clothes and washed her face and hands with water. Peasants were standing near the wall not knowing what is going on and unsure what they should do.
"Didn't you hear? Get those blood off your skin. Now!"
"And when you finish help the kids." She added seeing they reacted at last.

Tsanuri moved to the window. She looked outside. People covered in blood, fighting with their hands, nails and teeth, with some kind of inhuman strength. Two of them just tore apart young boy. Some others came to take for themselves at least few scraps. Another fight started. Small girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old managed to leave unseen by others. She stopped aside and bit a slice of raw meat she was holding. Another one approached her from the back and smashed her head.

Tsanuri took her eyes off the nightmare outside. She felt nauseated.
"Shoju? The one you were talking about with Akodo-dono? You know him, and this spell. How to break it? We must help those people out there."
She caught Mai by the arm and shook. "Tell me how to stop him!" Mai looked at her but didn't react at once. Tsanuri looked her in the eyes and shiver crossed her back. She fell to deep into her thoughts. Curse her.

Tsanuri released Mai's shoulder and went to the doors.
"Close them when I'm out" she said to the boy standing nearby holding his little sister.

[Utaku Mai]

"Tsanuri...you're not thinking of going out there?" The sheer ridiculousness of the idea shook her out of her internal troubles, and her mind came back to the situation at hand.

"The spell...I don't know how to stop it. I don't know if the effects even last long once the rain has stopped. But if it infects you, if that corruption is allowed to take hold of you...you'll be a slave to the madness, just like all of the poor souls out there now."

She felt herself inching toward the door in front of her, in front of the rough barricades she had just placed before it.

"Please Tsanuri, don't throw your life away like this, not with out at least telling me what you're planning to do once you're out there."

[Akodo Tsanuri]

Tsanuri stopped putting off provisional barricades.

I don't know. But I can't just sit here doing nothing. They… nobody deserve that kind of fate. She looked at the little girl nestled into her brother.

No matter what will happen after the rain stops, people out there are already dead. All that can be done is saving the ones that remained.

Tsanuri turned to Mai with a sad smile.

If anything happens, I hope you are really good with your sword.

She opened the door and went into the rain.

[Utaku Mai]

Mai threw her hands up in the air in frustration as Tsanuri left the relative safety of the stable. "For the love of the Kami, Tsanuri..."

But she was already gone, and the boy obediently slammed the door shut behind her. Mai stared dumbly for a moment, overtaken by her own fear of what surely awaited the lioness. After a second, she seemed to snap.

"Damn her!" she roared angrily. She slammed a fist against the wooden frame of the doorway with a loud thud. "Damn her damn her damn her!"

She turned around in a fury, causing the two children to cower backward in alarm. Mai's anger did not turn toward them, however. Instead, she paced the entire length of the building, disappearing behind a low wall, muttering to herself angrily. Occasionally a crash would echo through the stable as items were surely being thrown against a wall or barrel. The brother and sister looked quizzically at each other, wondering what had gotten into the strange samurai now.

They found out soon enough. Mai appeared again, still red-faced and furious, but now with an odd look of wrathful determination on her face as she moved toward the entrance, straight to the stall where Ren was boarded. She still carried a curse on the lion samurai-ko on her lips as she moved.

But in her arms she carried a fine leather saddle, made after the manner of the Unicorn.

[Shoju]

As Shoju exited the small alley into the area where the stables resided, he saw Mai's Companion. He could feel Daisuke on the roof above him, and Otsu was near. He strode confidently into the open, with the rain falling. He chuckled as he came out into the open.

Shoju stood 20 yards away from her, His blue carapace streaked red from the rain, his eyes shimmering green in their sockets. He was shirtless, the blue armored skin showing from waist up. The No Dachi rested sideways across his back, suitable for drawing if one needed to. His grin parted "You chose.... A terrible time to not seek shelter... samurai. Though.... If I had to travel with Utaku Mai again, I might choose to... throw it all away and serve me too." he chuckled, his voice was sarcastic and biting.

He rested his hand on the No Dachi, and cocked his head, looking down at her. "I tell you what miss.... How about you go back in there, and send Utaku Mai out. Get out of this rain before your will is no longer your own. You send her out, and... I will let you live[/i][/color]" Shoju waved towards the stable. As he did, Daisuke descended from the roof.

A formidable being himself, Daisuke stood shorter, and more hunched than Shoju. His skin a mottled mess of green and black, his features less human, and more ogre looking.

[Akodo Tsanuri]

If Shoju thought his look or his minion sudden appearance will make any impression on Tsanuri, he was wrong. Tsanuri put her eyes off Shoju only for a moment to evaluate this other creature fighting abilities and returned immediately to one that she instinctively found bigger threat.

"You are Shoju." It was neither a question nor statement. It wasn't the brightest way to break the silence, but at least his threats wasn't getting heavier.

"If Mai-san wanted to come see you, she would. I guess she is not interested. And she doesn't like the weather."

Her mouth grinned but eyes remained cautious. She made her face normal again. Better not tease monster too much.

"If this rain is your doing, stop it."

Tsanuri felt jade pedant she wore on her neck was getting hotter every moment. It felt as if it was to burn her skin any time now.

[Shoju]

Shoju drew the No-Dachi Casually, and held the massive sword outright, its blade seemed to shift, as if not whole. "I am Shoju. I've had so many names, but that one pleases[/i] me.[/color]" Shoju stepped sideways and shook his head. "The rain is my doing, but I'm not going to stop it. Soon, you will fall to madness, just like the rest of them. I can imagine that Mai doesn't like the weather. She knows what happens. " Shoju grinned.

[Akodo Tsanuri]

"And you thought I'd convince her to come out? You don't know how stubborn she is."

Tsanuri fell silent. She knew she can't let Shoju continue talking. That won't break the spell. And at some point the jade she had will be used and she will end just like... that is if it was able to block power of the rain at all. If not, she had even less time. Maybe she is on the verge just now.

The only thing she remembered about spellcraft is that shugenja must be concentrated when praying or it won't work. Maybe if he fail to concentrate…

Tsanuri slowly took out her katana. White cranes etched on the blade attracted the eyes tired of crimson.

"Mai-san won't come. Go back your way and release people from your spell... or" she didn't finish. It would sound so funny if she did. And she knew he understood anyways.

[Utaku Mai]

Mai could hear the conversation as she tightened the last leather strap around Ren's girth. Ren, for her part, was agitated. She could smell the metallic tang of blood in the air, and her hair and mane seemed to be standing on edge.

She turned to the Dragonfly boy who had managed to run in her with her, still standing protectively over his little sister. "I only have one chance at this, but I need your help. Can you open the door once more, on my signal? Then you must close it again immediately and let no one else in. Not even me or the other samurai-ko. Is that clear?"

The boy nodded, and Mai even managed a tight smile as she stepped into her saddle. There was a clear, though narrow, path between the north wall and the doorway, just enough space to enact the dangerous plan still only half-formed in Mai's mind. She unsheathed her katana and waited for seconds that stretched for years.

All she needed was the right moment.

[Shoju]

Shoju laughed. He laughed hard. Oh, I know exactly how stubborn she is. as he finished laughing, he looked at her, and drew the No Dachi in front of him, in a defensive posture. " You must have Jade on you, eh?" Shoju frowned and sighed.

He closed his eyes, and blocked out the distractions. "You have no idea what you do Samurai-ko. If you think to drive me from this place, come then."

Daisuke let out a gutteral growl and fell into a defensive posture, with black kama held in hand.