Two brothers

Two Brothers:

A loud thud rang out across the forest that ran along one of the Land of Fires northern borders. The sound of a body slamming against a tree followed by the loud roar of a warrior in battle. The loud roar was quickly silenced by another loud thud as the lone warrior was once again slammed against the tree. This time, however, he did not return to his feet. As Raian stood above him, a large devilish smile appeared upon his face before being broken by the sound of his voice. "Well, you kept fighting til the very end I'll give you that much. Even managed to land a couple good shots on me back there, the nut shot attempt was pretty cheap though."

Raian laughed at his own joke as he turned and began to slowly walk off. A few meters was as far as he got though before his opponent finally forced himself to his feet, legs trembling from the massive shock riddling his broken body. Raian turned to face him an even more devilish looking smile now appearing across his face, sharpened teeth at bare. "That's the spirit! Come on then! Come die on your feet like a real man!"

The man roared and rushed towards Raian swinging a wide punch with everything he had left towards Raians temple. His broken body failed him however, as Raian easily sidestepped the  predictable move and landed a hard dropping elbow down on the back of the man's neck. The sound of snapping bones was all Raian needed to hear to know that this was the last time his opponent would face him. The broken spinal cord offering a quick clean death. While Raian still stood with that devilish smile, his true emotions were that of respect for the man as he had never gave up until he drew his last breath. One thing Raian always respected in his opponents was their will to keep fighting, if they had it that is.

Raian then heard a loud scream seemingly from a women coming from what he estimated was about a half a kilometer up the trail from his current location. "Interesting, this day just gets more and more exciting! Why can't they all go this way?" Raian said with glee as he focused a perfectly controlled burst of chakra into the soles of his feet allowing him to scale a tall tree directly in front of him along the path. He then began to quickly hop from branch to branch quickly closing the distance to the sound of the screams. And as he peered on from the high vantage point he noticed something that immediately caught his attention. It had been an attack on a small group of civilian travelers, two of the men were dead while the third person, the woman who screamed, had apparently fled as her body was not present. The fourth person is who intrigued Raian the most though. He was a tall black haired muscular man with deep red skin that slowly faded turning back to a normal light tan color. Shirtless, with the same type of scars that Raian himself had scattered across his body.

Raian, now filled with excitement then leaped down from his perch, landing with a loud thud about three meters away from the man. As he landed the man turned, a clear look of surprise quickly showing on his face. "Awe, what's wrong dear big brother aren't you happy to see me? It's been about two years now hasn't it since we last had some brotherly bonding time?"

Raians elder brother simply scoffed at his comment, "Not long enough if you ask me you piece of inhuman trash."

Raian laughed at his brothers insult before throwing out another distasteful comment. "Now now Retsu, didn't our dear old mother ever teach you that name calling isn't nice? What if you hurt my feelings?" After speaking Raian stepped a single step closer to his elder brother whom responded by remaining completely still, seemingly determined to hold his ground. "I'll do more than hurt your feelings, little brother, in fact I think it's about time I removed you from the family tree for what you did to father." His elder brother said as he drew a kunai knife from a pouch he kept holstered on his leg and assumed a defensive stance.

For the first time that day, Raians usually devilish looking smile turned to a snarl composed of pure anger as he boiled with rage at his brothers "heroic" words. "Father was nothing but a weakling. He raised us to never surrender or give mercy to our opponents and to accept the warriors death with open arms yet it was he who couldn't even die like true man when push came to shove. so I did what needed to be done and put an end to his pitiful excuse for existence! But enough talk dear brother, if it's a fight to death you want then let's make each other bleed!" Raian screamed as he quickly lunged forward closing the distance between he and his brother in less than a moment or two.

Once within close combat range the two brothers both swung at nearly the same moment. One holding the knife the other a closed fist as they both caught each others blows locking themselves in a test of strength as the kunai fell to the ground with a clang. They both began to push with all their might, neither seeming to have an advantage as their weight shifted back and forth. The clench was broke however as Retsu, Raians elder brother, launched a hard driving knee up into Raians stomach. This attack pushed him back a little bit but didn't cause any real damage as their close proximity had kept the attack from being delivered with full force of motion. Raian took a deep breath, and regained his composure, cracking his neck to each side as he dropped back down into what was clearly an offensive stance. "Come on now don't go easy on me just cause I'm your brother."

"Don't worry, you won't get any mercy or sympathy from me." Raians brother responded lowering his body into his own stance. Their distance now only a couple meters or so, the silence between them was tense. A few moments later, they both moved towards each in unison,  Raian swinging a right straight as his brother ducked it at the last second. As he did so he swiped the kunai off the ground and back into his hand and attempted to drive it upwards underneath Raians ribs. Raian easily saw this coming however, and blocked the blow by stomping one of his feet down onto Retsus arm just before he could perform his attack pinning the arm down. Raian then swung his other foot forward with all his might, smashing his elder brothers face in and sending him flying with a brutal kick.

Retsu hit the ground hard but recovered back to his feet rather quickly considering the blow he had just taken. Blood pooled from his nose and mouth before he wiped it away with his arm moments later. Raians brother clenched the ground hard, his muscles began to grow slight as the veins beneath the skin began to pop out one by one. His skin turning a deep red as he looked up with rage filled smile. "Oh so that's how it's gonna be? Well come on then!"

Upon that invitation, Retsu leaped forward attempting to land directly on top of Raian. This was a bad move however, as Raian easily caught him in mid air by the throat, spinning and slamming him to the ground hard the red tint quickly fading from Retsus body. Unable to breath for a few moments Retsu was helpless as Raian grabbed him by his hair and lifted him back to his feet. "Come on now big brother, I saw you using that power before, I know your body hasn't recovered yet. You should be more careful." Raian said with a chuckle as he drew back a hard right straight which blasted his brother square in the nose shattering it instantly and sending him back to the ground a few feet away.

Retsu pushed himself to his feet yet again, this time very shakily and barely able to catch his breath. He stumbled a little bit before finally regaining his full balance. "So.. what now little brother? Go ahead. Kill me. That's what you want isn't it?" Retsu said with a smile as Raian simply laughed in response.

"You know, I could do that, but that would be too easy now wouldn't it? See, the issue is that I've fought you before I know you have much more in you than that. Killing you while you were weakened just doesn't seem right. No, in fact, I think I'll let you go this time. Don't mistake this for mercy though, I just want to be able to rip the life out of you when you actually have the strength to resist." Raian said as he walked towards his younger brother placing a hand on his shoulder. His brother batted his hand away before turning away from him.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." His elder brother said bluntly before immediately taking his leave. Raian turned around a few moments later letting out a small sigh as he walked back to the two bodies that his brother had left behind. Deciding to see if his brother left anything behind he searched through their currently held belongings but found nothing of interest. It appeared that they weren't merchants but simple travelers, victims to the Ranma families bloodlust like so many others. After finishing his search Raian then took his own leave, not entirely sure where he was headed next.

[Exit]
[WC: 1,636]

Claims:
-16 Stat points
-Sage Transformation C and B rank (1500/1500)
-putting last 136 words to the Divine Breathing Technique (136/2000) if applicable