Re: A Moving Target

Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:59 am

When each of his blades cut through the empty shape of a clone, and the cold dry puffs of smoke blew past him, he did not see where she had gone. They had ordered that he be taken away for causing their precious daughter trouble. The problem was, the orphanage in the town was sponsored by the Kuraistu family. And when the caretaker of the orphanage heard of the incident, he had Asura removed. As the white cloud of residue passed over him he felt the hands of strangers caress his skin. Twelve years was not old enough for a boy to understand that great cities did not become great through greatness. At some point, everyone started from the underbelly - from the dirty soils that we all came from. And the Great Heart of Noa was no different.

That's where he remembered the name Kuraistu. It was the name engraved on the orphanage in the city of Noa, where had kept him in holding until they had found the highest bidder. Young children went for a good price in a city that was in constant need of water laborers. Kuraistu, written elegantly with serifs at the end and all. He looked up at where she stood. She didn't know. The last of her recollections likely ended when her parents slammed the door on him. He was stupid enough to talk to her mother, stupid enough to pull out the crumpled and whitened picture of his own mother and ask if the mother of a prophet had seen his own mother. He did that with everyone, at that age, so he did not realize that doing something so hideously revealing of his social status, would condemn him.

That confusing display of hope on his face was probably the last time Megami had seen him before the door to their home shut closed. That's the only reason she would be apologizing now, instead of running in terror.

Lowering his head so that she would not see the calming in his demeanor, he launched one of his metal boomerangs upwards at her rigged kunai, knocking her projectile out of its path while his own embedded itself in the bark of the tree she was on.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to scare you."

When finally he looked up, he had a mischievous grin rather than the hatred from before. If she did not remember, then he would not inform her. The boomerang he had stuck into the tree made an odd noise, and smelled like smoke. If she turned to look, she'd see that it had lit the tree on fire where it landed, the result of fire-flavored chakra. He was new to all this ninja non-sense, but he hadn't failed to learn. "You might want to get down though."

Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:56 pm

Megami honestly had no recollection of any, if any, of the events that that unfolded those many years ago during their first encounter. In fact, she had no idea what her parents or anyone else had done. She had been but six years old at the time and her memory of the entire situation itself was vague enough alone. She had missed the man all this time, the one who saved her life. She became lost in a train of thought that was rather foreign to her, her face flushing and becoming a bright red color as if it were a tomato. She quickly became flustered and simply said, "Oh no! You didn't scare me! It takes more than that to scare I!" she giggled, tugging on the piece of her clothing thread she had attached to the kunai to pull it out of mid-air to her hand, breaking it free and placing it back on her person. She was limited on equipment and wished to not waste any of it.

It was then that she realized the tree had been set on fire, his mischievous grin having given way to her becoming more aware of her surroundings. After all, she had learned all too well that such a grin never meant any good in this village. She sighed and jumped down out of the tree, landing firmly on her feet as she looked back to examine the burning bark of the tree behind her.

"Y'know, you didn't have to burn the tree... It pains me." she noted quite sadly, watching as a beautiful work of God was burned in embers and smoke. "Something so beautiful being destroyed by the ferociousness of man." she sighed, turning her gaze towards Asura. "Wouldst thou like to continue our spar? Or hast thou had enough?" she asked with a smirk, the facial expression tugging at the side of her mouth to form a look of enthusiasm.

Megami trotted over to Asura first, however, curling her arms around his neck and hugging him closely against her. "It has been too long though... If you'd like to chat, we may just as well do that. Or perhaps, if thou wish to do both, that is also an option?" she noted to him coyly, the smirk sprouting once more. It wasn't that Megami necessarily enjoyed sparring. It was her least favorite method of training, in fact, but she didn't want to stop training just yet and training with another is most efficiently done through sparring.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:00 pm

He hadn't noticed the string attached to her Kunai, and wondered what she would have done with it had he not deflected it from the air. Asura couldn't quite place if she was a master tactician or just a girl in over her head. She seemed slow but her movements were accurate and intentional. For a moment he even wondered why she was training to begin with. A family full of charitable missionaries... sending their daughter to Shinobi training? It didn't add up.

When she looked up at the tree, the Demon did as well.

"It got you to jump off, leaving you open." There was something in her actions that contradicted her battle training. She had placed her kunai back in its holder. Was he that harmless to someone like her, that had ways to conjure powers that might have surpassed even Shinobi? Was he a foaming dog waiting to be put down? The bark would light on fire any second and it was fortunate that the tree was not close by the other trees, being the only one in the clearing. Ferociousness, he repeated mentally as his palm rested on the tree.

The chakra he had dispersed into the weapon was chakra he could call back. And just as the bark of the tree was about to roar in a quiet blaze, he pulled away the flaming chakra. It traveled from his boomerang, down the surface of the tree in a line of orange, and into his palm. "Why are you training, Megami?" When he turned to face her, her arms came to wrapp around him in the unfamiliar form of a hug. When she had kissed him, he was not prepared. But this time, he was. His free hand stopped her approach by resting between her collar bones. You don't wrap silk around a dirty dog.

"I don't think you're supposed to touch people like me," he spoke, the vehemence for her family slipping through his teeth like poison from a leper. There weren't many parts of his past that he remembered fondly, and her family was definitely not one of them. It had taken enough effort not to hate her. "I... have nothing to talk about. I guess we met, maybe, I barely even remember," he lied. He wanted to tie her up and cut her for the things that her parents had done. And like any suppressed memory now rushing back to one's mind, his recollection of Noa's child labor came with only the dark parts, and some of them were darker than black. Holding his remaining blade boomerang between them was perhaps symbolic of how the ugly head of hate had reared its head between two people that should have been innocent. But the symbolism would have flown right over Asura's head.

"If we continue fighting," he said, allowing the end of his weapon to touch the metal of her breast plate, "I'm not going to go easy on you." The truth was, he wanted to deliver her severed head to the door of her family. But he tried to wipe that image from his mind, due partly because of some shred of conscience, but mostly because of the way she looked at him, with her trusting eyes of red and brown.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:14 pm

Megami looked on as he recalled the destructive chakra back into his person through his palm, saving what remained of the tree. Megami could tell that the tree possessed enough energy in itself to regenerate given the time. More importantly, she was focused on the actions of this man alone, the way he had acted so kindly as to stoop and save a tree for her sake. She sighed, moving her hand to her forehead when he stopped her from hugging him, a little frustrated with what he had said that followed such an action. It took every drop of patience she had to not go off on him. In fact, due to her ignorance of the present situation, she came mighty close to doing so. Rather than engage in a heated argument she spoke calmly and as sweetly as she could given her feelings.

"People like you...? What's that supposed to mean? God is all loving and all merciful. Nothing someone like you could possibly have done, even if thou did such a thousand times fold, could make thou invulnerable to the love and forgiveness of God. Have faith." she told him, gigging gently as she pulled up her sleeve, revealing an arm covered in seals that had been carved into her skin at birth, each seal possessing its own ability. Her giggling, smiling face faded away slowly, giving way to a frown. "But indeed... Someone like I has no right to touch thee with this acursed skin of mine." she noted quite dully, biting her lip. "I apologize." she told him sincerely, bowing as low as she possibly could to show her sincerity.

"If we continue fighting," he said, allowing the end of his weapon to touch the metal of her breast plate, "I'm not going to go easy on you."

The words brought a pep to her emotions as she chinned up, placing her hands squarely on her hips and piping up joyously. "Well I hope thou doth not believe I will hold back either!" she told him with a determined expression, slowly running her finger along her own arm. "I would hope that you don't hold back. After all, I may accidentally destroy you if you don't.~" she joked, winking at him.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:50 pm

She revealed her arm, a plethora of seals marked upon her skin. The world contained many brands of delusion, he thought, but perhaps this was the craziest. Born with it at birth? With parents like that, he wouldn't be surprised if they had marked her as a child. She reminded him of the Sacred Cross, a traveling 'clergy' that bred their children until they were of age to fuse them together. The fused chimera would lose sight of what it was and could be presented at proof to the city they visited that angels existed. After-all, any being with twice the amount of chakra would know real power. But they needed to keep adopting children, because the fused ones only lived for a year or so afterwards. He had seen one at the Christ Orphanage in Noa. It could not speak or even think properly, but it possessed terrifying strength and speed for a child. If he had not seen it disposed off like a chewed up piece of trash, he might have even believed that such power could only be divine.

The other children had refused to room with the pale and large monstrosity, and since Asura was the only other child there with an obvious defect, he was made to stay with it. Of course, Asura's only defect was that he had the word 'Demon' carved into his left cheek.

He wondered if Megami was the same - caught up in a larger machination made possible by the greed and ambition of humans that she trusted. It was a faithless way of looking at her marking. But if he did not believe in God, then there couldn't be many other possibilities beyond deception, right? With his hand running along the back of his head he gave her a timid smile. "Quit apologizing and get ready!" Let's see what you've gone, he grunted internally before shooting his boomerang forward right towards her. But his own speed was far greater than that of his projectile, so he crouched down and leaped forward, aiming to stumble her up with a sweeping kick only moments before the boomerang found its mark. Since he was faster than his weapon, he could afford to catch it, should she evade completely. And if she did, he'd throw it in whichever direction she had found her temporary hospice.

His method of fighting was relentless and haphazard, but perhaps someone who relies on long and dreary incantations wouldn't be able to keep up with his sort of speed.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:15 pm

It was true. Megami was born and bred to be the 'Messiah' who would change the world. A lot rested on her shoulders and with such powerful of a duty came powerful responsibilities. The responsibility of bearing the carved markings on her skin. The responsibility of abstaining from sin. The responsibility of getting stronger. All of these responsibilities wore upon her like the very planet was on her shoulders. She found it almost difficult to live on at times but managed by putting ammo in her already loaded ego, hoping to find some happiness in thinking highly of herself; though as of late, she had begun a downward spiral into the land of humbleness.

Megami grinned as she got into position, already having given form to the necessary tiger handsign to activate any one of her plethora of seals. She had done this before he had even launched his boomerang at her, not wishing to waste any time against an opponent who clearly outmatched her in terms of raw power and speed. She muttered the two words quite plainly and dully, a verse the boy was likely not to expect. One that was, in fact, the shortest one in the Bible that Megami possessed. "She wept." the words were muttered before either attacks had connected, her body suddenly replaced with a rock which hung in midair, intended to take the attacks while Megami stood now five meters behind Asura and where he presently stood. "Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word!" she shouted firmly, activating now her summoning seal of Jupiter. Before her now stood, in a puff of smoke, Sachiel Bell, her defensive angel.

"Blind him, Bell!" she stated the words and Bell stood steadfast, a bright brilliant light suddenly illuminating the area as she expelled chakra so bright it would surely blind anyone who looked upon it. Not just the angel herself but sight of the light would be what caused blindness in humans. Megami followed up by throwing a kunai aimed right over Asura's shoulder, intended to leave a light cut if it connected. It was timed so that the kunai was thrown at the moment either one of two things occurred: Asura was blinded by the brilliant divine light or, instead, he closed his eyes to avoid the brilliance of the light. Either way, the chances of him being unaware of the kunai were high if he relied on sight.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:23 pm

His kick connected with the replacement rock, sending it flying to his right. And as planned, he reached up and grabbed his own boomerang that had lagged behind him. Her new location was behind him, and had he not sensed her already, he would have heard her incantation. Whirling around to face her his armed hand soon followed, launching his boomerang to her new location. But a moment after he attacked, she fired off a blinding light to which he had instinctively closed his eyes, causing his boomerang to miss by a long shot. And when darkness usurped the rest of his vision he felt as if he were back in yesterday, training with Hunter with the blindfolds over his face.

Hunter had done something similar. After blindfolding the Demon, he had used body flicker to appear right before him, and the only way Demon was able to react was to recognize the presence before him. It was hard to attribute a sense that was responsible for the detection, but when the kunai came flying towards Asura, he caught it. It was a sloppy catch, timidly aimed, but the kunai stopped in its track. He could hear the whizzing tell-late sign of its approach. Or perhaps he could smell it coming at him, the familiar rust of metal, a smell that would change forever now that a small trickle of his blood slid across the gray surface. He had caught it wrong, allowing it to cut along his thumb.

That's when he caught drift of the catch. There was always a catch. Her defenses were strong, but her offense was lacking. And with the burden of that sort of incantation, the advantage was clearly on his side. He brought the kunai up to his mouth and from between his pointed sharp teeth, his tongue slid out and reclaimed the blood his thumb had relinquished. It tasted like iron.

Immediately he would be before her, his eyes still closed and the kunai in his hand, her kunai, now aimed to slice through her shoulder. Of course, that's what she might see, and if she were not fast enough, she wouldn't notice that he was in fact behind her. The image before her was the attempt her brain made at linking one image to the next, at making sense of a movement that was too fast to make sense. And the real Asura, hoping that his Afterimage could distract her for long enough, had caught the boomerang he had thrown at her. Launching it at her back, he aimed for no vital organs - just a flesh wound perhaps.

Once he landed, he would pick up the sword that he had dropped a while ago. One of his boomerangs was stuck to the tree while another had been shot at her back. His afterimage would disappear after a moment's lag and his sword glistened to life in his hands. It didn't look good for our prophet. "All that talkin's only gonna slow you down, girlie." This time, his voice was taunting, more reserved and controlled. It was both a gift and a curse that he had calmed down. At least he would not run the risk of hurting her, but at the same time, it was hard for him to fight unless he was angry. It made him sloppy, he reflected as another drop of blood from his thumb feel to the grass.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:12 pm

Megami was simply delighted that she had actually drawn blood in the battle. After all, that was one could only hope for in a spar; the drawing of blood. It wasn't as if that was all she wanted. She wanted to win, after all, but at the same time she wanted to avoid being seriously injured. Blood and the such was a daunting concept. It was almost inconceivable for her to imagine herself drenched in blood with a gaping hole in her body. She wished to avoid such a dreadful outcome as much as she could. Though his ability to tell the approximate location of the kunai even without his sense of sight was quite impressive and something she would love to test out further, if not for the fact that her summon had returned to its realm to rest.

She realized immediately that she was allowing her one true weakness to shine through. Her current lack of an appropriate offensive ability. She lacked any large-scale offensive attacks, as the majority of what she had currently trained up to this point had been nothing but her speed and defensive moves. She had decided that it was her top priority to insure her own safety before proceeding to the offensive aspect of her training. After all, if she died before she was able to train her offensive capabilities it would have all been for naught.

She sighed as she gasped, suddenly noticing the image before her that appeared to be Asura. Although she had no clue of where he truly was, she instinctively did the first thing that she could think of and that was to activate her Fourth Seal of Mars. She quickly made the tiger handsign and tried to let out the incantation but was cut off by a stab to her back. Though it had avoided any vital organs, blood erupted from her mouth and she keeled over, coughing and spluttering as she wiped her chin slowly, trying to clean it with her fist. "Ugh... You got me, Asura... Heh." she giggled with what little bit of breath she was mustering and staggered back to her feet. "Though I think maybe we should stop... sparring... for now..." she noted, her eyes glazing over. After all, she had very little health or even a tolerance for pain. Her reliance was on defensive moves and speed to avoid being hit. Never had she accounted for actually being hit.

Megami stumbled a bit as she looked around, looking for someone. She wondered if someone around them could heal her. "I don't s-suppose you have the ability to... heal? It kinda... hurts..." she told him rather pathetically, her voice coming out almost as if she were whimpering.

Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:52 pm

His sword made no noise when he sheathed it. The way she stumbled was all to telling of her defeat, and he averted his gaze for a moment, not wanting to let his imagination wander. This was likely the best chance he'd ever get to do what he really wanted to do. Some base urge made the ends of his fingers twitch as he walked towards her. It would be disastrously easy for him to wrap the metal of his chain around her throat, to shed away her armor, and hang her from the tallest tree he could find - leaving only a trail of her blood for them to find her. The urge breathed down the back of his neck like an old habit, and when he finally came to a stop behind where she stumbled, his eyes were equally glazed over, but for a different reason.

Bringing his thumb to his mouth, his tongue reminded itself of the taste of his own blood.

"Sit."

His command was resigned. His hands, calloused and worn, pressed on her shoulder for her to take a seat. And with a quick jerk of his wrist, he pulled the boomerang out of her back. The cut wasn't too deep, but it could leave a scar if not treated in time. This new breed of Medics that used Chakra to cheat biology were not as common as one may think. And just beyond these walls, the world of healing and recovery was ugly and graceless. Reaching in his belt he pulled out a tiny canister of ethanol, its faint smell hitting him almost immediately. "I wouldn't call it an ability, per se... I just need you not to scream." His voice was gentle, reciprocal of hers, and when he pulled open the back of her shirt, his touch was even more faint. He only tugged at the portion that was torn, exposing her wound. It was almost comical that he'd be treating something so minor, but he didn't vocalize that particular reflection.

He hoped she didn't scream.

The ethanol would drain slowly into her wound, slip a bit deeper, an then overflow down her back where his finger was placed to catch it. When he stopped pouring the ethanol in, he would drain the liquid and excess blood by squeezing each side of her flesh together, forcing the now red and pink liquid to trickle out onto his palm. Leaning closer, he blew at the cut to make sure no residual dirt lingered. "Remember, don't scream. Wouldn't want a passerby to get the wrong idea." With that, he focused the same heated chakra to the tip of his nail that he had to his first boomerang. And with a tiny zig-zag motion, he burned parts of her skin together, to form effective stitches. Of course, this way was largely more painful tan threading through the skin, but at least he didn't need to carry a needle and spindle with him everywhere. You're forced to learn quite a few things as a mercenary, and dealing with minor wounds like these was a piece of cake.

"All done," he said before standing up and leaping into the air to grab both of his remaining boomerang, before landing in front of her and fastening his tools to his belt. The urge to kidnap her had subsided, replaced now with the realization that he had yet to master Hunter's technique. God fuckin' dammit.

Tue Mar 11, 2014 12:12 am

Megami sat down upon command, humbling herself to sit in the dirt regardless of how much it displeased her. She sighed as she realized how weak she truly was, being subdued by such a minor wound. After all, he hadn't even been trying to injure her nearly as much as he had. Though... In the end, he could have done her some serious damage. They were all alone in the middle of the woods. It was doubtful anyone would have found her for a day or two at the least. She trusted him, however. He had done right by her ten years prior and she trusted him to do the same to this day. She had no idea why she had such faith in him but she believed it to be reasonable. Anyone who had gone through such a situation as a child would trust a person like him.

She sighed and looked up towards the sky, wincing ever so lightly in pain as she realized he was applying some form of chemical or substance to her back. She relaxed, biting her bottom lip hard in an attempt to not scream or make too loud of a noise. "Not screaming is easy... I know I'm weak in physical strength but I have the will power and mental fortitude of an ox!" she said enthusiastically, despite her just being wounded she was quite chipper.

She watched as he jumped into the air, retrieving his two boomerang quite skillfully and landing. She sighed and sat still for the time being, resisting her body's desire to lay down as it would only get dirt in the wound if there was an open part left. The worst part, to her at least, had been the burning to close the wound. Though she had endured it quite well and other than a few light grunts she made it through without making too much noise. She sighed once more and finally decided that she would confront Asura about the strange way he had been acting around her. The way he acted like he didn't remember her, though she knew he must have. The way he became angry off and on. The way he seemed to be battling with himself since she was wounded as if he longed for something more than a flesh wound... She shivered a little, a bit frightened by her imaginations interpretation of the way he was acting. Maybe she was reading him wrong?

"Asura... Is there anything you want to talk about? Anything at all?" she asked him calmly, her eyes looking into his as she longed for a decent response. She wanted the truth. She wanted the whole truth.