Slay The Cursed Dragon Xanlanth Part 1

The somber night had went off without a hitch for him, his senses and body being the warmth for the rest while he slept by the one whom he had called master. In his own sleep he found himself in a plain field as far as the eye could see, his body sitting in the middle of this large field. He was no longer in his wolf form which at first made him question what had been going on, but after a moment of slight panic he calmed himself and begun to walk around the area. "Let me guess...it was you who brought me here turtle? Could have just asked me to come into my mind speak with me then, no need to take me into my dream...," while if the importance of this was something that could have been waited on, when a reply no longer came it was as if he was alone in this area. When one became so entangled in their dreams it meant something was about to happen or someone had been trying to visit them, now since yaju had only a couple of people in his life dead, he could surmise the two that could possibly try and visit him. It was as if he had been sitting in a realm of his own design and peace, showing the stability of his own mind in a sense but he knew better than that because nothing was peaceful with him at the moment. Rather than questioning it and trying to find its answer and break it down, he would instead lay down in the plains and look up to the sky for a moment. Within just a few hours of arriving to the new realm he had fought with dragons corrupted with chaos with his comrades, and had watched Misaki go through an internal battle with himself.

All of it made him wonder what he could do to help her curb the darkness within her, but even he had issues at some points with his. The issues that came with this however were something he would talk about to the others, knowing that they could easily give him the advice that he had needed. It was within the span of his thoughts that the landscape began to warm and contort into the caged area of his mind where he was now looking up to the cage itself and the monster inside of it," So finally you decide to show yourself Sanbi? Was wondering when you were going to tell me if tht was your doing not," the red eyes met the single eye of the beast as he waited for some sort of witty remark or comment but was only met with silence. After a few brief moments of silence he would break it to simply ask the bijuu a simple question," Why is it that our roles in this life must be to either destroy or be an instrument of destruction?," the question had almost stumped the bijuu who in return simply laughed and rested itself onto his arm....leg things. "We are what we are because of the way life has made us. I've been around far longer than you, but you humans have done both destroy and build. Although," he paused for a moment only to yawn," I've always been a instrument of war and you yourself are only using me for the purpose of destruction," that one sentence had caused a rise of anger from Yaju which was quickly quelled as he sighed. "I was once going to use you for your intended purpose, but now...I want to use you as a partner in order to protect my home and the people i care for. You may be a weapon, but are also a being of this world, so from now on....you and me are on a truce eh?," Standing up for a moment he would....well he couldn't dust himself off because of certain mental aspects, but he just rested his hand onto the cage and waited. The beast now dumbfounded and confused could only laugh for a moment before turning around," We shall see when the time comes Yaju Hayate...there are still tasks in which you must complete before my power is yours to use," the world around him had slowly been fading until he had woken up, his form still that of a wolf.

His eyes searched for a moment counting the bodies in the dark, seeing two but the one whom he had been laid beside had been gone. For a bit he wondered if she had went on a walk and thus walked to the mouth of the cave, only to see Musubi standing there. For a moment his eyes would look up to her and wonder for a second on the whereabouts of Misaki, his eyes only telling him of her location but not what she had been doing. From where he was however....he could hear it...the sounds of her tears and her crying, which had caused him to return his gaze to Musubi," Go to your mother...I'll stand by and watch over everyone else," whether or not she left would be up to her, but by her side he would stand. As the moon slowly waned and the sun slowly rose, Yaju had spent his time preparing some food for the rest of them, using his rations to make some really good food.

[5737]

Approval for Yaju

Kuro chuckled as the woman gripped onto his arm. "Id rather keep the scar, it serves a very nice reminder to keep myself in check..." If he were in his angered or less stressed state, he may have just shrugged her off, but as it was, the touch of a human being was so... refreshing. The simple fact was that he was always just something for someone to use and discard, not a human being. As such, no one treated him like one, whether through fear or hatred. He was always just Kuro, never another human being, always someone who stood outside of the norm, fun to look at and take notice of, but not someone to relate to, not a human being who needed the same love and help as everyone else. It was a constant reminder in his life that people used him before throwing him away, it was just the way things were. He had become numb to it, really. Always discarded or given to the next person, as if he was not worth the time. Maybe that is why he loved all his abilities so much, because subconsciously he never wanted to be like the ones who referred to him as a tool. Even after his freedom, the only thing that changed was that he could choose who wielded him. Truth be told, he chose Minatsuki out of former loyalty, at first. She had proven herself to be a good wielder for him, but in the end he was a horrible weapon for her. In Kuro's mind, it was always his fault. Her death had been because he was not around at the time. Worse, he had abandoned her in her time of need. It was one of his guiltiest moments, and he still felt guilty for it. Misaki, however, he had no real loyalty to at first. She was just some relative to his former wielder. To be honest, he should have hated her at first, considering all but two of her relatives had caused his situation... That he knew of, at least. That family was widespread because Kurisu was such a manwhore for a while. It was a bit disgusting to Kuro. Call it naivety but he would prefer a single loving partner than multiple promiscuous ones. To him, a relationship was all about being there for each other, the emotional aspects as well, though he could not fit those into words. Sex was a benefit, sure, but it did not make a relationship. Two people who did not love each other should not have a child, in his mind. Ironic, then, that his own parents had hated each other. Further, this line of thought had suggested that it would be best if several of them were never born, including Minatsuki and Misaki. That was a foolish thought, since Kuro did not have any idea what he would do without them. Minatsuki had given him a purpose in life, even if it was a hollow one. To serve and protect. Kuro wanted all of them to live happily, each of his friends. Hell, he even wished his enemies well, so long as they did not do anything to antagonize him. After her death... he wanted to die. If Misaki had not been there, he would have marched into Konoha himself and slaughtered them all, hopefully dying in the process. Misaki found whatever Minatsuki had helped to build in Kuro, and she caused it to grow in such a powerful way that it could not be described. She gave him his humanity back, the same humanity that her family had once taken, although Kuro was unsure if they were really related or not, considering all the confusion surrounding THAT family tree.

Humanity, to him, was the ability to choose. Good or evil, even if they were not absolute, were made by humans to define their own actions, based on the past. Hope, love, faith, Humanity gave several good things to anyone who had it, though... It could give negative things as well. Anger, Pride, Depression, jealousy... He had felt all of them, in that order. They popped up from time to time, sure, but Anger was always with him. Pride he had very nearly destroyed due to one single incident involving a wine glass and a pivotal motion. It had been coming back as of late, though. Depression... As many would imagine, Kuro felt alone. More alone than he could describe. He wanted so desperately to try and connect with people, but they were just too far away from him. He always distracted himself from the depression by cracking meaningless jokes to alleviate the mood, but in truth he just wanted others to never feel as alone as he had. It was why he was so happy when Misaki and Yaju accepted him. Others had done so before, but they were all either dead, or gone. A young hermit came to mind, the one who had truly destroyed his pride. He had left because his rage towards one of the only people to earn Kuro's respect. It was a tedious situation, having two friends who hated each other, but Kuro would not abandon them for that. He couldnt. Humanity taught him several things as of late. He realized his previous goals in life were hollow and meaningless. True, the idea of changing the world would be wonderful, but how long would it be until someone came along and ruined everything he worked for? It happened many times. His grandfather had almost taken over the world, before he vanished. Say what you want about Kuro's grandfather, but his intention was pure. He wanted the world to be at peace. The man had vanished, and a corruptive influence had taken root in his absence. When Kuro came into the world, it was so different than what his grandfather had wanted. There was no equality, no trust. So much backstabbing and hatred, coveting power for the sake of power... it was blatantly disgusting. Kuro only kept from leaving this world and visiting another planet because of his friends. At the start, it had been Minatsuki, then Misaki, and it kept growing. Yaju, Misaki, Hanako, Alice, they would be left alone...

He could not let that happen. He never wanted anyone to feel alone again. It was a horrible feeling, which is why he hated sleeping. As with any other night, his sleep was dreamless, or at least it was unmemorable, as he did not recall dreaming in his sleep. He could tell from the shadows cast by the moonlight it had been only a few hours, as the sun was still down. There was an unnerving problem, however. Misaki was missing. That was troubling, and Kuro noticed the other two were still asleep at the time. Kuro was special in that two hours of sleep in a month was plenty, thanks to a lot of things that he could not describe the usefulness of. Kuro's eyes widened when his mind fully processed this. Misaki missing was dangerous, because she was the only one who had any idea what was going on. That was his defense, at least. The truth was he was simply worried for her. Her mind had not been in a healthy place lately, and he needed to be there to comfort her. He could feel it in his very soul, he needed to be out there. Kuro silently created a wood clone, and left it in his place to keep the others minds free of worry. He silently vanished into the air inside the cave, having already locked onto Misaki's chakra signature. Kamui'ing near her, he did not even notice Tsukiumi, as he did not have his byakugan active. Kuro sighed in relief as he saw Misaki was fine, if emotionally distraught. He smiled slightly, glad that she, at the very least, had someone who had loved her enough for her to behave like this. Perhaps he should be more sympathetic, but to be sad about her having someone who she loved would be insulting to anyone who had died and left people behind. Perhaps not when the person was connected to the one who died, but Kuro did not feel like he should be sad for her. She needed to smile, that was when he thought she was at her best. Even that dangerous anger, comparable to his own, was better than this depression. He hated seeing her like this, not because he was disgusted by it, because he was certainly not. No, he was only disgusted at his inability to help her. What did you say when you didnt even know the person? Kuro idly wondered who this grave belonged to, but knew better than to disturb Misaki to find out. It did not matter who it was, so long as she cared for them, that was enough. A memory brought Kuro back to his senses. The memory of his step-father's death, which he had been so utterly helpless to stop. There were no signs, it just happened. Kuro knew it would happen, but it did not help. The fact that his father had left him alone was horrible at first, but he had been forced to ignore it for so long. He had never had a real chance to grieve, always trying to be the strong person in whatever group he was a part of. Only recently had he realized feeling sad about it did not make someone weak... only the strong could afford to be weak, after all.

Kuro smiled sadly, knowing she was asleep. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do to help her, really. Perhaps their was, but every time he opened his mouth he seemed to hurt someone... he remained silent many times because of it. But... if it would help her, he would take the risk of her hating him for it. Even if she hated him, he would be there, always trying to help, even if she hated him for it. He would not abandon her, not matter what. He often said he would charge into hell and drag his friends out if he needed to, and he meant it. Even if they believed they deserved to rot in hell, they did not. Kuro understood this, but they often did not. All humans make mistakes, friends were there to help fix and heal them. That was what Kuro would do, for anyone. He sought to be a hero once, but maybe if he could just save a few people, those close to him, they would do the same. It seemed the least the little humans could do. Kuro had, for once, included himself in that use of the word 'human'. He was powerful, sure, but he was just as human as the weakest man, even if he did not like to admit it. Kuro sighed as he watched Misaki, feeling weird about watching her sleep, but he knew he could do nothing else. Waking her up would be horrible like this, the sheer emotion this place held for her would be far too much to handle. She would probably think he would think less of her for it, but she could not have been more wrong. He respected her because she COULD show emotion, something he often found more difficult than anything else. It was one of the many reasons he stayed by her side. Kuro jumped down from the tree he was on, landing silently on the ground as to not wake her. Kuro walked slowly towards Misaki, grabbing his cloak from Kamui. It could not be healthy to sleep in such an area at night, with the damp air and terrain. He gently laid his cloak over Misaki, careful not to wake her, smiling slightly at the sight of her. Painful as it likely was, she had someone who loved her in the past, and she had many people who loved her now. He was rather sure of that. He also suspected whoever this grave belonged to would be proud of the strong woman Misaki had become... He just hoped she would believe it.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me."

Kuro whispered lightly, making sure to not wake her. He went back to the tree he had appeared on, and watched carefully, activating his Byakugan. It would cost a bit of chakra, but it was certainly worth it if it kept her safe. Staying awake with no activity like he was proved his desire to protect her, even though she often did not need it. She was stronger than she knew, and stronger than him. The line he had muttered was meant in a different way than the quote itself was often used. Kuro meant it that so long as she remained by his side, he would have nothing to fear. It was true, really. She brought out the best in him, though she probably thought herself a burden, the way that depression that had been affecting her so much lately... He would have to prove her wrong then. Back to back badasses, until the end. He cracked a small grin at that, wondering how she would react if he said that, which was entirely too likely later on. Probably when they fought some more dragons. These dragons were exceptionally more powerful than ninja, though the lack of ninjutsu helped when fighting them. With a careful eye watching over the entire area, Kuro waited. He hated waiting, but he would do it, he would not leave her alone in this moment. No one deserved to feel alone, after all...

Sleep came uneasy but welcome for the blonde as she lay arranged somewhat between the group, her dreams full of confusing instances that both frightened and comforted her. Had she been in an easier state of mind, she would have realized that this was a way for her chakra levels to restore as she rested. Natural rest, sleep, was the greatest healer of all, and everyone who over exerted themselves found their ropes about to snap simply because they hadn't afforded themselves the luxury of rest. Her group seemed similar, too busy running around, with too much responsibility burdening their young shoulders. Had Akihana been awake, she would have wondered when was the last time they had truly closed their eyes and slept, slept and not dreamt, just slipped into the oblivion that was restful peace. Somehow, she doubted it had happened to any one of them very recently. Despite her own disturbed sleep every single night, the young mother couldn't deny that the most restful she ever felt was with her son, usually with his arms curled tight around her where she sat or lay. Arata had the magical quality of chasing all her fatigue away and she wished he was here now, just to cheer everyone up. Or at least she would have wished had she been awake.

As it was, the medic slept on, not noticing when Misaki woke up, not noticing when the small spark enveloped her arm and the tattoo appeared for the briefest second on her skin before disappearing once more, not when kuro gently disentangled his arm from her grip to go follow Misaki and not when Yaju awoke to follow them and then returned to cook breakfast. So deep was Akihana in her state of rest and so complete was her absence form this world that she would never have woken up if it hadn't been for Musubi gently shaking her awake to the smell of food and a new morning. As a ninja, her first instinct was to raise her hands, chakra scalpel at the ready, but when her vision caught up with the reflexes to see Musubi, memories came rushing back of the day before. The Norito seal glowing, a telepathic message, a voice she would go to the ends of hell and back for, a hundred, no, two hundred fury bodies coming at them from all directions and finally, a single drop of blood on Misaki's cheek that had cut Akihana much deeper. It didn't make sense but the medic knew it didn't have to. Some things existed in the realm of logic while others were only to be felt. And the young girl getting hurt was one Akihana felt personally responsible for. it was logical, it just was, and it always would be.

Waking up and getting her bearings, the blonde only saw Yaju and the two daughters Misaki was too young to have, in addition to herself inside the cave. The kunoichi didn't ask about the other two members of their group. It was clear that wherever they were, they were safe or Yaju would not be here. Misaki's daughters too would be by her side. Most likely the duo had either left together or were close to each other in some way. Reaching for a fresh cup of coffee, the blonde gave the dark haired teen a sleepy smile of thanks, taking a cautious sip and then donning the whole cup in one gulp. The first taste had reminded her how hungry she was, not having had a meal in this world yet. They had another tough day ahead, tougher than yesterday but Akihana knew they would survive to see another dawn in this corrupted wasteland. How she knew this, the medic couldn't say, but her belief was another thing that had never been subject to logic. It was not an equation, not reliant upon a solution to prove its existence, it simply was, and that was the only thing about this particular kunoichi that made her special in any way. Nothing set her apart than the humdrum of everyday existence save the little light of hope fueled by her belief in the world she came from and the friends she came with.

"I hope they return soon," she murmured, coming to stand beside him at the mouth of the cave. It was a simple statement, one they both knew didn't matter in the end. For no matter how long it took for Misaki and Kuro to return, Yaju and Akihana would still be waiting. Even if it took forever, and then a little bit after.

Because that's what friends did.

TWC - 6013

Learned Clone Explosion - 2000 words
Learned Great Fire annihilation - 2000 words
Learned Chidori Sembon - 2000 words
Gained Tattoo for Fairy Glitter
Saved 13 words

Since Ive been gone and I doubt this topic is continuing...

WC- 12373

Claiming Absolution - 8000
Claiming Mourning Dragon Style - 2000
Claiming Extended Master - 2000

apprpoved