Re: Implications [Private, Akihana]

Mon May 01, 2017 7:59 pm

The silver haired youth did not miss the smile that appeared on Akihana’s face at his words, the small gesture of appreciation from her having the effect of making him feel all warm and fuzzy inside…it was a rather disturbing sensation to say the least. But that smile vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and in it’s face a serious expression formed on her usually joyous face “While I appreciate your offer more than you can ever know. This will not be an easy mission. The prince has proven hostile before...he may not want to return to Hoshi. There is also the possibility that he’s being watched, and I can’t confirm by how many or how powerful an adversary” the blonde would explain as she reached into one of her desk draws and withdrew a rough sketch of someone that he could only guess was the prince. He looked very different to how he appeared in the wanted poster that had been included in the letters, but that was to be expected, he was a fugitive after-all, and one of the first things that one should do when on the run is change their looks somehow, not many went so far as to scar themselves, but it was definitely not unheard of. He also felt that he understood just why Akihana had yet to circulate the new images of the wayward royal, if someone was indeed after him then it would be best to have them hunt with outdated information, it would reduce their chances of actually finding him by a pretty decent margin.

“I’m also not entirely sure of his exact whereabouts since the technique we used did not give specifics. All I know is that he’s in a coastal area of Tea Country. He was getting aboard a boat but I couldn’t tell if it was just for a fishing trip or if he planned to travel further via the ocean. Finding him will be no easy feat.” She would then explain, getting a nod of understanding from Kenshin, he knew that this would be no easy task, as he was essentially searching for someone that could be anywhere, and his only clues were both vague and old. “Against all our suspicions, it could also be possible that he really is dead...if that’s the case, your task will be to return his body to Hoshi for burial.” she would then say, her tone containing something that was truly indecipherable to the emotionally stunted young man, but there was one thing he did know...he did not like it...he did not like that tone in her voice, it didn’t fit her, she was meant to be bright, cheerful and happy...not this. With a confident smile on his face Kenshin would stand from his seat and make his way over to the forlorn looking blonde, before placing a comforting hand upon her shoulder “Akihana...I will find him, and I will bring him back, this I promise you.” the scar faced young man would say with a confident smirk on his face. “If he resists then I will drag him back here kicking and screaming. If he is in danger I will be both his shield and his sword, protecting him from his enemies and then removing them from the equation.” he would say, his tone exuding nothing but confidence.

Was he truly as confident as he sounded...no, not really, but what else could he do right now, he did not want to give her false hope, but at the same time was that not better than allowing her to feel despair before anything was confirmed? He hoped that this small display of confidence would bring the smile back to her face...it truly suited her better than the frown that she had been wearing throughout most of their meeting.

WC: 647

Tue May 02, 2017 11:58 am

The medic looked up in surprise as Kenshin rose to his feet, making his way around the desk to try and comfort her at the thought of Arata's death. It was clear from his gesture that he was not used to comporting people, which made it all the more endearing that he was trying for her sake. He had come a very long way from the child who was ashamed of his scars and certain that he would never belong anywhere. Now he was a confident young man who understood his responsibility and worked to help others as best he could.

"Thank you," the blonde uttered gratefully, adding a small smile to the mix. "I pray you're right. Nothing would make me happier than to see you return with the prince in tow, even if he is kicking and screaming." The golden haired medic gestured for him to take a seat again before withdrawing a tinted glass jar from one of her desk drawers. The contents of the jar were understandable due to the black glass it was made of but Akihana had a feeling Kenshin might know anyway.

"And I haven't forgotten my promise to you either. I wasn't here to congratulate you when you were promoted to chunin, so please accept this as a belated gift." Sliding the jar over to the white haired youth, she would wait for him to inspect it and find out that it contained what he needed for his particular brand of bloodline limit the most - a heart. A heart of a shinobi with an affinity for fire. The fact that he had not abused his role as a Hoshigakure ninja to obtain power showed that Kenshin was deserving of this reward. Upon reading his involvement in the chunin battle, Akihana had decided to retrieve the heart from one of the many bodies she and Denkiteki stored in Sanctuary. The ninja it once belonged to had no use for it and donating an organ resulted in saving lives.

"You'll get he next one when you make Jounin," she added with a hint of a smile to her lips.

Wed May 03, 2017 4:14 pm

The silver haired young man found it impossible to suppress the smile that formed on his scarred face upon seeing the small smile that graced the golden eyed womans face at his attempt at comforting her. He actually felt pride in the knowledge that he was able to make her smile like that “Thank you” she would say, her soft voice having taken on a tone of gratitude as she uttered the words. “I pray that you’re right. Nothing would make me happier than to see you return with the prince in tow, even if he is kicking and screaming” she would say as she gestured for Kenshin to return to his seat, and only because she was obviously feeling a little better would the Chunin go and return to his seat on the other side of her desk. As he did so however she would pull a tinted glass jar from one of the various drawers on her desk, he knew not what it contained, but he assumed that she was about to explain that to him. “And I haven’t forgotten my promise to you either. I wasn’t there to congratulate you when you were promoted to Chunin, so please accept this as a belated gift.” the golden haired beauty would say as she slid the jar over to him, and even before he reached for the small glass container he knew what he would see within, as there was only one promise that she had made to him.

Beneath his scarred skin the black threads that made up most of his innards began to writhe in what he could only assume was excitement, it was almost as if they knew that he was about to assimilate a new heart...but then again there was just so much left unclear about Earth Grudge Fear that he knew that could very well be the case. Extending his right hand out Kenshin would gently grasp the cold glass jar and pull it closer to him, opening the lid gingerly as he peered within to check the contents, revealing that it was indeed a heart just as he had suspected it would be. His threads only seemed to get more active upon him seeing the organ, writhing wildly beneath the surface of his skin as they awaited the command from Kenshin, the command to assimilate the organ into his body and grant him access to a new element ‘I wonder which it could be?’ he would ponder as a small smile appeared on his face once more. “You’ll get the next one when you make Jounin” Akihana would then say with a ghost of a smile upon her lips, something that only caused the smile on his face to widen a little further. He would reach for the buttons that held his trench coat closed before pausing, gazing towards Akihana with a hint of apprehension on his face “Do you mind if I assimilate it now? Or would you prefer I wait until I leave?” he would ask, his latent fear being spurned by the woman for his rather unnatural bloodline once again rearing it’s ugly head.

He knew that the fear was rather illogical seeing as she had just presented him with the heart...but the fear was still there, and because it was her the fear was so much worse than it usually was. He truly did not think he could handle being rejected by her of all people, Akihana, the first person in this village to truly accept him for who he was despite knowing the true nature of his bloodline...a rejection from her could very well break him. She may not know it...but with her act of kindness in teaching him how to heal the scars that covered most of his body she had helped restore his ability to trust in others...and for that he would always be grateful...she truly did mean more to him than she would ever know...and a rejection from her would simply be too much for his fragile psyche to handle

WC: 682

Thu May 04, 2017 2:08 am

As the boy asked if he could assimilate the heart in her presence, Akihana quickly rose to her feet, reaching for the grey cloak she usually wore on her trips out in town masquerading as a palace servant. "Of course, in fact I'd prefer it if you did it with me around, you might need medical attention," she said, laying the cloak down on the flour beside Kenshin in case he needed to sit or lie down to undergo the process. Once she had finished spreading the fabric out, her hands began to glow softly with healing chakra.

"Here, have a seat, reduce your center of gravity, it might help with the assimilation," she offered, not going into much detail about how she knew various EGF procedures. Youka wasn't the first person she had seen with the condition Kenshin possessed but he had been the one she had been closest to. A small pang made itself known inside her as she waited for the teen to respond. Odd how she had grown so used to the comforting sound of the Raikage's multiple hearts beating in rhythm.

And now he probably thought she was a traitor. Another pang ripped through her soul, the pain that would not go away until she confronted her husband once more. Somewhere in the palace shrine was the candle she religiously kept lit at all times, her prayers and promises to the Raikage alive in the ever burning flame.

If nothing else was needed from her, the blonde would stand by and watch Kenshin assimilate to the new heart, her hands ready all the while in case he needed help and a comforting look on her face. No matter how gruesome the sight, the kunoichi refused to look away, this was Kenshin after all. And he was more than the sum of his parts, he was certainly more than his bloodline.

"Are you alright?" she managed once he was done, reaching out to check his pulse and quickly scan his vitals and chakra levels. His heartbeats were erratic but that was to be expected, his blood pressure leveling off after the procedure, his breathing steadying and his blood... The kunoichi noted the fast speed of the blood through his system. The new heart was apparently doing its job. Soon it too would congeal into more black strings but for now, the procedure appeared to have been done with success.

Sun May 07, 2017 12:12 pm

After the question had left his mouth Akihana would stand and reach for a grey cloak situated nearby “Of course, in fact I’d prefer it if you did it with me around, you might need medical attention” the blonde would say as she laid the grey cloak down on the floor next to him. He could barely stop the bright smile that threatened to burst onto his face at her words...he truly was not able to understand the unconditional acceptance that she had shown right from the moment that he had met her. When she had managed to finish spreading the fabric of the grey cloak out on the floor her hands would be coated in the familiar pale green glow of medical chakra “Here, have a seat, reduce your center of gravity, it might help with the assimilation” she would then say, her words making Kenshin’s silver and red eyes narrow slightly as a contemplative frown appeared on his scarred face. In the time since he had been granted control over his threads he had only ever assimilated a single heart, and when he had done so he had been crouched over the still warm corpse of the person he had taken it from, so he had no idea whether or not lowering his center of gravity like the golden eyed woman had suggested would make any difference to the the process. But he was more than willing to test it out just to see if there was any difference in the assimilation process, simply because the knowledge itself would more than likely prove to be very useful to him in the future.

“Thank you” Kenshin would say with a small smile on his face as he stood up and began to undo the buttons of his black trench coat, and with the garment no longer held closed he would pull it free of his body and allow it to fall back onto the chair that he had previously been sitting on. Next to go was the black tie that was worn around his neck, followed closely by the white dress shirt that he had been wearing beneath the trench coat. With the final articles of clothing removed Kenshin’s bare torso would be left exposed to Akihana, the snow white skin littered with a truly innumerable amount of stitched cuts, worst of all though would be the fact that the skin itself seemed to be crawling due to the threads that constantly writhed beneath the surface of his skin. Thankfully the extremely coarse and thick scars that had once covered most of his body were no longer there, having been healed by the silver haired youth shortly after Akihana had taught him the Mystical Palm technique, a change that she was sure to notice...the scars would never truly be gone...but at least now they blended in nicely with the rest of his extremely pale skin. With the lightest of sighs Kenshin would grab hold of the tinted jar on Akihana’s desk before sitting down cross legged on the grey cloak that she had provided, the golden eyed medic a couple of feet to his right with her glowing green hands ready to heal him if something went wrong during the assimilation process.

With his right hand Kenshin would reach down into the jar and grab hold of the cold, unbeating heart housed within the tinted glass container. The threads that were housed within his body were going absolutely insane due to the organ held within his grasp, his snow white skin almost seeming to ripple due to the speed at which they were now squirming beneath it. Slowly but surely he would pull the organ closer to his torso, eventually having it come to a stop a mere inch away from where the sternum would be located within most people, and right beneath the heart was a particularly large stitched cut. If Akihana were to look carefully she would be able to see that upon the heart drawing close the ‘stitches’ that held his chest together would begin to come undone, eventually disappearing completely and allowing the skin itself to part right beneath the area where the heart was held, revealing naught but a writhing mass of black threads beneath his skin. A medic as skilled as Akihana would immediately notice the distinct lack of bone in the area where his sternum should have been...but then again anybody who was exposed to such a sight would probably notice the very same thing...it really was very hard to miss. As soon as the threads beneath were exposed they would begin to crawl out of his body and engulf the heart held firmly in his grip, slowly but surely covering it’s form completely and beginning the process of restarting the ‘dead’ organ by pumping it full of both his chakra and his blood.

The process would not take long at all, a few seconds at most, and at the end a pulsating mass of threads was held within Kenshin’s hands...and as the erratic pulses of the heart began to synch with the two that already existed within his body he would allow the pulsating mass to be drawn into his body, taking it’s place alongside the other two hearts that were beating calmly in his chest. The new heart was beating very erratically, but he had noticed the very same sensation when he had assimilated his Water Element heart back in Waterfall Country, so he was willing to assume that the feeling was completely natural. “Are you alright?” the golden haired kunoichi would ask as she began to check his pulse and vital signs, her concern making the small smile on his face widen just a little further. “I am fine, thank you for your concern Akihana” Kenshin would say as he met the woman's gaze “The heart is assimilating quite nicely, it is beating rather erratically right now but I experienced the very same thing the last time that I assimilated a heart, so I can only assume that such a thing is a natural part of the assimilation process.” he would the note, storing that information away for later, along with the knowledge that one's positioning when assimilating the heart seemed to make little difference in the end.

WC: 1055

Mon May 15, 2017 1:43 am

Akihana would remain quiet and watchful, but it deemed as though Kenshin knew what he was doing. the hart assimilated almost seamlessly, something the kunoichi could only attribute to the particular bloodline limit as well as Kenshin's own prowess. When it was clear he didn't need any assistance, the medic would simply stay in the sidelines until the process was complete and he was able to get up once more.

Following suit, she would nod when he confined the heart was working as it should. Reaching fo the file on her table which included the two picture comparisons of Arata, she would extract a few papers and transfer them to another file - his mission papers. "If everything is in order, you may leave immediately," she would say, giving him the file. "I can apply a leave request on your behalf as it would be best if no one knew where you were going - for your safety as well as that of the prince's. How long do you think you would require?"

Once he named a duration, she would make note of it to annotate on his leave of absence forms. Should Kenshin have any further questions, she would answer them all accordingly before wishing him good luck.

"I'll pray for your success, and for you to return with the boy... Take care of yourself, please. I've already lost one son... I don't wish to lose another." With that, Kenshin would be dismissed.

(Exit Akihana, claiming 39k Ryo for village and Shank's body, giving Kenshin a fire heart for his efforts)

Tue May 23, 2017 12:52 am

Once the heart was completely assimilated into his body Kenshin would push himself off of the ground and begin to dress himself once more, first was the white dress shirt, followed by his black tie and finally his black trench coat. The newly assimilated heart was still beating rather erratically when compared to the other two, but it was not beating as erratically as it had been when it was first assimilated, something that served to show that his body was actually accepting the foreign organ rather than rejecting it like it had done to countless others. These hearts had of course belonged to random bandits and civilians that he had encountered over the years since he had acquired his threads, for some reason all of those hearts had been rejected by his body, as if they were not strong enough for his body to bother sustaining the organs. The heart of that unnamed shinobi back in Waterfall Country had not been rejected, nor had the fire heart that he had just been given, and despite the fact that he had no idea just who the heart had come from he believed that it was from a dead shinobi of the village. If this was indeed the case then it meant that his bloodline was only able to assimilate the hearts of shinobi, but why was that, was it due to the chakra points that the hearts contained, it would definitely make sense based on the new element that he gained access to with each new heart.

But unfortunately for that theory it was based purely on conjecture, meaning that its foundation was shaky at best, he would need to do a few additional tests on heart assimilation in the future if he truly wished to know more about the process, and that was information that he was quite interested in possessing. While he was having these thoughts Akihana would be gathering the papers from her desk and placing them within the file for his mission “If everything is in order, you may leave immediately” the golden eyed woman would say as she handed him the mission file “I can apply a leave request on your behalf as it would be best if no one knew where you were going - for your safety as well as that of the prince.” Akihana would explain, getting a small nod of understanding from Kenshin. “How long do you think you would require?” she would then ask, causing Kenshin’s silver eyes to narrow a little in thought “Hmm, it is hard to say, I believe it will take at least one month, but no longer than six” he would then say in a thoughtful tone, before turning his gaze to the golden haired beauty once more. “I pray for your success, and for you to return with the boy...take care of yourself, please. I’ve already lost one son...I don’t wish to lose another” she would then say in what appeared to be a heartfelt tone, the words combined with the tone having a rather strange effect on Kenshin.

That same warm and fuzzy sensation appeared in his stomach, although this time the feeling was much stronger, and his hearts began to beat a little faster and more erratically than usual. He was barely able to think, and all he was able to do was smile brightly and nod, the snow white skin of his face practically glowing due to the blood that was rushing to it...he felt...happy, no, that was not the right word...euphoric, that fit better. “I...I will, try my best to ensure that I return safely with the prince in tow, I mean” Kenshin would then say, his tone significantly lighter than it had been for quite some time. With that said Kenshin would take his leave of the palace, heading back to the inn he had been calling home for over a year now in order to gather the necessary supplies for this new mission of his

WC: 672

[Exit]

TWC: 7715

2000 words towards Fire Heart Assimilation, claiming

5600 words for 56 AP

Discarding any remaining words

Giving 39k Ryo and Body of Shanks (contained within a Corpse Storage Scroll) to Akihana

Tue May 23, 2017 1:16 am

Looks good, approved