Bad Moon <Open|Req Shirokouu>

[Toraono Michino]

Sub-zero winds screamed down hard against the cabin walls of the outpost set in the Ancient Forests. The trees were rustling hard as foreboding thunder rumbled. The booms lightly shook the contents of the cabin, it’s inhabitants looking up anxiously towards the ceiling every time the clouds rumbled. Five men and women, all of them newbie Chuunins of the Main Branch looking to up their reputation with The Guild sat playing a card game in the vain attempt to quelsh their nerves. Only one of them, a young man with golden hair standing by the window to keep an eye on the approaching storm, seemed to be unphased. The other five playing cards at the round table kept looking at each other nervously more than their hands that had been holding the same cards now for a solid ten minutes.

It was a simple mission. The Guild was one of the hardest sub-branches of Main to break into, but had the highest paying wages out of all of them. It wasn’t without good reason, though, as the The Guild were the psychos fighting against The Darkness and her children: vampires, werewolves, undead, and other ilk that slinked in the night. A preliminary test for filtering recruits involved this cabin as it had a pretensity to be attacked by whoever was manning it by normal monsters the Ancient Forest hosted. Death was rare, but the experience of fighting just normal monsters was often enough to make recruits balk at the idea of fighting other creatures just as terrifying and intelligent. Tonight was a night just like any other except that, for the first time in forever, the heat of their fireplace didn’t seem to be attracting anything. The blond standing at the window had a concerned look on his face as the storm continued to roll in, but it wasn’t the coming blizzard he was concerned about. Something else bothered the blond…and his sharp senses were what had kept him alive so far.

“We need to go,” he said suddenly, turning from the window back to the group.
“W-what? Are you scared? Itai? The guy who wrestled a mountain grizzly? I-it’s just a storm,” replied one of the girls sitting at the table, suddenly more concerned with her cards than making eye contact with Itai.
“The storm, no, but something else. I…I don’t know what exactly but-“
“It’s probably nothing my guy! Seriously it’s probably staring at that damn storm rolling in that’s got you worked up, man. I’d be wetting myself if I stared at that black blob of sky death rolling towards us! I have no idea how the hell you do it, really.”
“Because storms fascinate m-”

The sound of something heavy crashing through the window snap the conversation off like a gingersnap. Everyone looked up to see a hand nearly the size of the wall itself, clawed and covered in black fur, gripping Itai through the wreckage of the wall. Blood poured freely from where the claws had already dug into the shinobi’s side and his eyes pleaded the words before he could barely croak,
“Help…”
Fleshy jaws clamped down suddenly, destroying the upper wall and part of the roof along with Itai’s upper torso. Between the resulting splash of sudden gore and wind tearing in, the lights were covered and the fireplace blown out. Screams that went silently into the night followed under the cover of the blizzard.


Rei was at a local coffee shop getting breakfast when her earpiece tuned in. She wasn’t often one who went about gathering her own means for the day, what with all the work she generally had to do, but today was a Friday and that meant she had a few extra hours before getting into the day’s work proper. Reaching up to turn on the earpiece while sipping her coffee, the Sennin listened to the message before spraying the hot brown bean water all over the street. Her face was pale and the look a mix of shaken and furious. The look quickly turned towards anger fully as she tossed her fresh coffee into some snow on the street and dropped the paper cup into a wastebasket before double tapping the earpiece to get in contact.
“HQ, I need immediate eyes to send me the location of our special guest. On the double.”
“Yes’m,” was the only reply before the information was quickly fed to her a few seconds later. Rei’s image flickered, leaving the pressure of her movement to crack the street in a small crater as she moved as fast as she could towards Shiro’s last location. She could move across Kumogakure in seconds, so it shouldn’t be an issue to find him. She could only hope he was willing to make good on that promise to help however he could. The doctor needed someone good at controlling the weather and it would take far too long to rouse someone from the Santaru clan. Rei didn’t know why, but she had a gut feeling that Shiro would be ready to go as soon as he was asked; which is what she needed.

The Sennin had no idea if there were any survivors, only that the report said the cabin on the edge of the Ancient Forest had been completely destroyed by something big, there was a lot of blood on the snow, and no one was returning contact. She could have easily sent another squad to investigate first, given her busy schedule, but one of those troops up there had been a man named Itai…someone who had been a bonafide Devil Hunter from The Guild; they were not easily killed.

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

Word would have gotten back to Rei that their Santaru visitor was near the Great Dragon Gates, with Shirokouu having decided to check in on an old acquaintance in the hopes of finding some familiarity in this time and place that felt so distinctly foreign to him. Being in a new place, that was a common occurrence for the young boy ever since he first followed the wrong trail while on his way to the inter-village Chuunin exams in his youth, but being in another time... that was a whole different experience altogether. He felt at a loss, even in a place that should have been at least a bit familiar to him from his past experiences. And the towering skyscrapers of the interior of Kumogakure provided constant reminders that this was not the world that he left behind.

In a flash of purple, not unlike the lightning Shiro summoned, that was almost a blur to even the storm caller's sharp senses, Rei had appeared before him. Shiro's azure eyes widened at the Sennin's sudden appearance, but his look of shock was soon replaced by his usual calm and stoic demeanor. As unexpected as it was, it was clear that Rei had come for him specifically. "Hello again, Sennin-sama. Is there... something I did that alerted you? I assure you, I have no plans of leaving unannounced." He said in greeting.

However the Santaru was a quick study of facial expressions, and the look in the woman's eyes gave him a sense that she had something far more urgent in mind, and if she came directly to him perhaps it was something that he would be needed for. This caused the young man's eyes to sharpen, seriousness inflecting upon his features. "Hm... How can I help?" He asked, that same sagacious calm still present in his voice. He wasn't a psychic, and couldn't have known her true intentions yet. But Shirokouu's mind was sharper than most, and he was able to make advanced educated assumptions that could have led some to think him so.

 

[Toraono Michino]

The blur of the Sennin flying through the city was something most people would miss until the following sonic boom shattered a few windows and flipped at least one car. The leader of the MB sighed to herself when she saw the metal monstrosity fly into the air and land back down on its wheels. Something she’d have to write up in a report later. Rei missed the days of eld when she could do this and only knock a few tiles off a couple of roofs. The Sennin found the person she was looking for pinpointed exactly where the operatives had him. As she entered the area her eyes caught one of her spies in a lift giving her a thumbs up; only revealing his position because she was there now. When the muscular woman landed she did so near Shiro, roughing up the concrete as she slid to a stop. Her hair had grown into much longer lengths than the time traveler had seen her with originally; and it was snow white. Rei’s body was also far more defined than she had been during their last meel, her normal work clothing already tearing in her thighs and shoulders to reveal the skin-tight battlewear beneath. Her ruby irises shook with urgency, and when the man simply asked what he needed of him the woman’s heart lifted.
“I’ll explain on the way,” she stated before turning and darting towards the section of the village that lead up towards the mountains and the Ancient Forest.

After the two started to weave through the village proper, and Rei was sure no one would be able to hear them, she explained the situation to the Santaru,
“Yesterday I sent a squad of fresh Chuunin level shinobi into the Ancient Forest to post up in a cabin we call “The Fright Night”, as part of a test to join a sub-branch of my wing of the military. Long story short it’s known to suffer monster attacks and is a scare tactic to keep weak-willed out of that sub-branch due to its morbid turn-over rate. With them was a high-ranking member of that sub-branch to ensure they made it through the night. Five minutes ago my scouts told me that cabin was turned into a bunch of sticks and there is blood everywhere. I know its asking a lot on such short notice but, I need someone who can control the weather to keep an eye on the sky for me while I investigate what happened to my team. The weather shifting in the mountains can happen suddenly and will destroy the scene, or worse, trap me up there until it clears.”

The Sennin's movements slowed down until she was at a jog that stopped at the base of the mountain path. The trail leading up into the thick pine trees was well worn but fresh snow was already covering some of it and turning what was left of the dirt path into mud. Beyond would be the cabin, just out of sight from the base and the creatures beyond with horrors yet untold. Rei couldn’t believe that anything in those trees could take out a Devil Hunter, unless it was a devil. Even then, Itai was one of the premier Hunters with all kinds of supernatural evil slayed by his own hands…he wouldn’t just fold so easily. She had a lot of hopes riding on finding at least someone alive that could explain what happened; otherwise it was just going to be a horrible accident.

“So, think you can handle it?” Rei asked the village’s newest friend.

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

"Understood." He'd replied as the two dashed off without hesitation, towards one of the only locales still familiar to the Santaru: the Ancient Forest and the mountains that lay beyond it. He couldn't help but notice the woman's quick shift in appearance. She was physically bigger, adding even more weight to her already ponderous sense of presence, and her hair had quickly become longer and as stark white as Shirokouu's own. 'Interesting...' The Santaru thought to himself, wondering whether that was the result of one of Kumogakure's clans' kekkei genkai or something else entirely. Perhaps the situation at hand would reveal some of that in time.

After a brief moment of travel, which covered significant ground given the breakneck speed that the two moved at, and once Rei had made sure that they wouldn't be overheard, the Main Branch Sennin explained the situation to the time-traveling former shinobi. The situation sounded dire to say the least, and Shirokouu wasn't familiar with the types of monsters that lay in waiting in these strange times. 'Too many unknowns...' The sharp-minded young man thought to himself, his cloud-white eyebrows furrowing slightly. However, as the Ryuu clanswoman explained what he'd be needed for, that look of concern was replaced by one of stoic determination accompanied by a renewed sense of self.

So when Rei had asked, "So, think you can handle it?" Shirokouu replied simply and candidly. "I can." While he had begun to be convinced that he had little place in this world, there was one place that he still felt at home. The man had spent most of his adult life in the eye of the storm, the place wedged between heaven and earth, and had built up quite a foundation of practice controlling storms. Though, to be fair, they were mostly the ones that he'd caused himself. Still, it felt good to feel like he was worth something again. Acknowledging this, he turned to the purple-clad kunoichi to add, "And thank you, Ryuu-sama. After all that's happened, I had begun to think I'd outlived my usefulness." No, not yet at least. The dark skies that lay before the unlikely pair of allies was proof positive of that.

[MFT .:. 361 Words]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Rei found Shiro just as a fast as she had hoped, and even more, he went along with her without skipping a beat. He had no allegiance to Kumogakure outside of his old history with the village and had every right to refuse. Even as she explained the details along the way, the man seemed able to absorb them and take into account the risks he was about to face without any hesitation; a true shinobi. She would be lying if her heart didn’t just skip a beat, briefly, as she admired the temporal stranger’s valor. The two ascended the mountain and quickly found themselves enclosed by trees on either side. The path leading up the snow that Rei walked on top of without footprint narrowed steadily as they neared the scene of the accident. Before they even got there, the two veteran shinobi would know the worst had happened as the smell of death and the screams of peak crows fighting for scraps grew louder.

Rei reached the man-made plateau first, looking in at the shack that once stood proudly against the tests of time and creature that was barely sticks now. Only half of a log wall with the stone fireplace attached continued to stand, and even it looked like a good wind would knock it over eventually. Blood was everywhere. It had long gone a brown color and the smell of death was horridly strong, especially to Rei’s sensitive nose. She had to pull cloth up over her nose as her clearly furious ruby eyes scanned for any clues. However there wasn’t anything. Not even a sting of guts hanging off the wall. Not a single bit of flesh was left on the floorboards, the snow, the trees, or anything. Either the birds had already had their fill of the remains, and thus their aria of dissonance as they fought over nothing…or something far more sinister was at work here.

“STOP,” the Sennin cried out with a voice amplified by chakra. The crows scattered instantly as snow fell from trees and a small avalanche began some three hundred yards away. The sudden silence was almost as deafening as the crows’ fading cacophony. With the new silence she began to move from the spot Rei had spent the last ten seconds as a solid statue looking over the scene. Her footsteps were no longer protected with chakra as she stepped into the blood of her fellow comrades. As soon as she moved further in, her senses picked up the lingering smell of terror, spoiled food and spilled beer, and hiding deep, deep under it all - the scent of something canine and undead.
When the good doctor decided to restructure the Main Branch, she wanted to add something to it for directly countering what became of a recent revolution within the populace. A dangerous serum that infected humans and turned them into horrid beasts that was highly infectious for those with lower levels of chakra control got mingled into their country and Rei knew she would need to make steps to protect her people immediately. A lot of research into the forbidden records brought up an immediate answer she had hoped to find, though even now she still wonders the wisdom of making The Guild a public entity. She offered to them an endless supply of soldiers they could throw at the hidden evils of their land, they offered her a means to destroy a new disease that could lead them all to ruin. Looking down at the blood with the smells running through her mind, Rei now wondered not for the first time how much of a good idea this was. That undead smell, however, was unique and nowhere else. She could track it, and at the very least, avenge her fallen children. The warrior looked up to the thick gray clouds that hung over them ominously and turned back to look at Shiro. No doubt he was focused on making the weather remain calm as it threatened to overcome them.

“I have a scent,” was all she said back towards him before quickly darting past the ruins of the shack and deeper into the woods.

Only minutes after breaking past the tree line did her other senses pick up the feeling of eyes, the urge of hunger, and a thrill for the hunt. It was strong, and almost overtook even the Sennin as her ruby eyes began to glow with chakra. Her running stance began to bend down a little, her legs picking up with an extra bend in the knee as she signaled to Shiro behind that something was about to attack with her body language. No sooner did she put back down her leg did a large humanoid wolf-like thing come lunging for Rei at ridiculous speeds. It was white as snow, blood curdled around its claws and matted fur. The eyes were painfully human with an overdose of madness, and hanging off the tattered remains of clothing was a forehead protector stamped with their village symbol. Rei looked up at the beast but didn’t move. Her ruby eyes pierced into the creature’s as if looking for something in a split second that felt like minutes; but the eyes returned nothing but hunger. Then, just as suddenly as the wolf appeared, Rei’s hands snatched it’s giant head and twisted it with a sickening crack within seconds in a full display of her unfathomable strength. The beast hit the ground sliding into the light snow of the forest floor, stopping just past the Sennin. A building aura of fury radiated like a sun from her body as she slowly knelt down to scoop up the headband and place it within a hip satchel.
“Not the one we’re looking for…” she said with a tone of sadness that belied the radiant fury.

The trees began to move all around them…

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

As the two raced through the forested foothills of the mountains outside Kumogakure, reaching an unnatural mesa, an eerie feeling overtook Shirokouu that caused his skin to run with goosebumps. The sight of the shack, torn into splinters and left as a ramshackle tombstone of the group of shinobi that once stayed within its walls, held an ominous significance to the man. Strangely, the sight reminded him of his youth, of his father's last moments. However, it was not his own loss on his mind, but that of the woman he accompanied. His eyes leveled at Rei's, his white hair shifting atop his head as the gales of the overhead storm rolled through. He could see the pain in her, the way she so clearly cared for the people that she sent here. It was admirable, but more than that it showed that beneath the exterior of strength there was an almost maternal protectiveness that the powerful woman carried with her. "I'm sorry Rei." Shiro said as his sharp eyes spotted what little there was left of those they hoped to rescue aside from blood and scraps left over by the birds that fed on the carrion

'A shame...' The man thought to himself, his expression stoic but his eyes filled with an empathetic remorse as he regarded Cloud's Main Branch Sennin. Even in this wind, the smell of death was nearly strong enough to taste, but the man didn't show a sign of disgust in anything but the grief for lost comrades that he surmised she must be feeling. "I'll deal with the storm." He said, knowing that she would be far more useful at tracking the whereabouts of whatever did this than he would. After all, the monstrosities that lurked atop these mountains were foreign to the young storm caller, and were certainly not around when he last traversed the peaks that surrounded the village.

The winds came in gales and bursts, sending loose snow into sinuous drifts that whirled around like whips of white. To build this strength the storm surely had started hours ago, but if the stoic Santaru had anything to do about it, it would end far quicker than it began. Brow furrowed, Shiro's hands moved in calm almost circular motions, and his eyes began to glow through his blue irises as the man who was so adept at calling storms began to calm one instead. The gusts calmed to breeze, the roiling clouds starting to still as the man practiced what he had done so often when his own storms had gone further than he'd wished. Then, once it quieted, he heard the woman's command. "STOP" The purple-clad woman's powerful and energy-filled voice was enough to move mountains, and in this case literally did. Shirokouu's brow quirked as he watched the Ryuu clanswoman's expression. She clearly knew something that he didn't. "I have a scent." She said then burst off into the forest without another word.

Shirokouu had once thought that he moved like the lightning that he called, and compared to most shinobi, he was fast. But Rei's speed was blisteringly so, the trees of the forest-line whipping their branches in the wind that she created as she blew past. It was more than clear that she was one of the most physically gifted shinobi he'd seen. The woman's stride slowed slightly as she passed into the woods, allowing Shirokouu to catch up enough to see the crimson glow in her eyes, almost mirroring the way that his own azure orbs shone. "What is it?" Was all that Shirokouu managed to get out before the beast that exploded from the woods answered his question with haste. Those same cerulean eyes widened at the sight that he beheld. This thing wasn't natural, no chakra-infused beast like the ones that inhabited the Forest of Death in the land that he hailed from. Almost immediately, he could see the humanity within it. If the eyes hadn't given it away, the ripped and tattered clothing did. The beast lunged at Rei with inhuman speed, but as fast as it was, she was far faster, and within a split second the predator was put down as easily as a stray dog, its neck snapping within the remarkable strength of the woman's grip.

Shirokouu couldn't help but be shocked for a moment as he marveled at the woman's raw power, but quickly returned to his senses as she said, "Not the one we're looking for..." As if she had willed it with those words, the trees that once shook from the storm rustled now from a far more sinister source than nature itself. No, with seemingly no one left to rescue, the storm could instead be auspicious. Shiro's sharp senses hear the sounds of the beasts' footprints against the ground and immediately his eyes begin to glow so white that his irises and pupils disappear altogether in a radiance that nearly matched the aura that Rei herself emanated.

"Maybe these ones are then?" Shiro asked calmly, then mere seconds later three more canid monstrosities appeared bounding with bestial swiftness from the cover of the woods. With a wave of his hand that seemed almost symmetrical to the ones he'd performed prior, the storm began to rage once again, lightning crackling and winds blowing harder than ever as the short-lived calm faded. It was as though he and Rei had passed through the eye of a hurricane. The winds now howled, louder than the creatures' snarls as the trees that they burst from whipped around like they were as flexible as blades of grass.

Within a split second, the first of the beasts was upon the Santaru, its massive claws rending parallel gashes through the man's body. However, with a puff of smoke they instead found themselves pawing at a length of wood. Lightning cracked down at the beast from the now churning storm overhead, causing it to look up just in time to see the Santaru riding the lightning bolt down into it as he utilized Storm Guider before channeling the tempest itself into a spear. The Chidori Control jutsu came out faster than should have been possible and pierced the surprised creature's head, causing it to stiffen. Even as the monster fell to the ground dead, its limbs straightened unnaturally with the sheer volume of electricity that pumped through it. Thunder continued to cry out its fearsome roar as crack after crack of lightning poured down across the battlefield, quicker than any natural storm could supply, keeping the creatures dodging and weaving as it rained down in near-white purple bolts. However, it seemed the creatures took note of the way that he and Rei had dispatched their like. That humanity within them showed itself once again as the two that remained ducked back into the cover of the trees, attempting to use stealth and the terrain to their advantage against the pair that they now recognized as more powerful than mere prey. No, these were no mere beasts... Beneath all that animalistic ferocity, hidden somewhere deep within, laid the minds of shinobi.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Rei was almost too distracted by her mild distress at having put down one of her own to hear Shiro’s comment. Her head snapped up from the corpse to see the Santaru fly into battle as the Ancient Forest and the mountain home it resided on turned into a storm worthy of its reputation. Lycans flew out of the trees with terrifying precision. Their shinobi training still muscle memory for the poor creatures, they attacked as they had been trained to attack. The Sennin watched her companion attack in an old style of combat, Absolute Power, as the time-lost warrior preformed techniques that had been lost to their Santaru now for quite some time; at least as far as she knew. The storm clan was a bit secretive in their powers as of late and not many, if any at all, were an active part of the Kumogakure military. It was also known that shinobi training of decades past was a lot more intense than what they used now, which was why most of the veterans still alive were legends in their own rights. So, seeing a proper Santaru battle against such a powerful foe with such ease made Rei’s heart flutter once again.

Now, this, was a man.

The beauty and power in Shiro’s attacks, frequent and fast as they were, wasn’t enough to dissuade shinobi driven to a rabid madness. Kumogakure was harsh on those who wished themselves to be even so much as Genin ranked; often killing a couple of people every year. Thus the creatures were not one to just simply give up, and before long Rei saw the ones her thunderous companion wasn’t getting, starting to preform handseals and draw weapons. Through the trees they tried to hide their larger forms, some managing to actually get out of her direct notice. Things were going to start getting hairy, no pun intended, if she didn’t step up right now…
It was still a hard choice to make. Rei’s power, her actual strength and not just the surface of power she showed casually like she was doing now, was a well kept secret. Everyone in the Lightning Country knew of Rei, but it was only recently that the common were becoming used to attaching a face to the name; and as soon as they did, she changed her forms. The strength displayed when the civil war began, and stopped by Kitsune, Midori, Miro, and herself, was still only a small percentage of power. The monsters were coming for them prepared to combat them like real shinobi and not just the fevered wolves they had become and before she had much more time to think about it a fireball tried to roar against the winds. The Santaru’s control obviously flicked it away like a basic lighter in a hurricane, but it told the doctor these creatures were about to step up their assault. Just as they had been taught.

Her hand reached up to her chest and pulsed a small bit of chakra from her palm. It touched on the invisible seal there that lied directly over her heart, unlocking it by interjecting a complicated frequency of chakra into the spell already woven into her skin. She could feel the first layer of the seal lift, causing her shoulders to loosen instantly. The second layer came off and a burst of energy roared through her body. The third fell and her skin became more flushed as blood rushed through her body.
“Three…” she thought, “Three should be enough…but just in case…” Rei pulsed a different set of keys and the Fourth Seal fell off. The sudden shock caused the woman to suddenly gasp as she felt all of her muscles screaming at once for combat. Her image flickered from its still position without a hint of movement.

Loud cracks, trees being felled, and the sound of something really heavy pummeling the mountain side shook the entire forest. When she reappeared back into her original spot, no less that seven bloody headbands resided in the tight grip of a clean left hand, while her right was covered in gore. The blood flew off from the sudden stop, splattering against another lycan’s eyes that tried to leap at her in reaction to her sudden reappearance but was struck down just as quickly with a single straight chop to the neck; that cleanly decapitated the beast. No chakra blades, no knifes, just raw power. The beasts that had surrounded them were all now dead. Between Shiro’s masterful control of weather and shinobi tactics, and Rei’s raw power, the two saw personally to the beasts’ demise in a matter of seconds.

Rei relaxed her back, triggering seals Two through Four to be re-locked behind the specialized seal but instantly felt a cracking pain shoot up her left leg. Her left tibia and fibula were shattered, and the femur of the same leg at the very least cracked. She instantly felt the weariness of turning on and off her power so suddenly, but she had to keep the secret; even if it put her at a severe disadvantage against whatever else was left to do here. Right as she felt her left leg begin to buckle did the hairs on Rei’s neck raise, causing the warrior to suddenly spin around on the heal of her right, and hold up her hands; they just barely caught the jaws of the monster the duo was looking for.

“SHIROKOUU!” the Sennin screamed, her pride tearing into pieces. The bastard had actually managed to get the drop on her. Her. It’s breath was indescribable, the stink of death, decay, and fresh corpse nearly overwhelming her heightened senses. The teeth were like razors cutting into her palms as she just held the beast’s mouth from crushing her skull. The right leg and her core was the only thing keeping the beast from getting leverage as she pushed it’s back end off the ground.

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

Snarls and growls accompanied distorted and guttural utterances from the beasts that persisted despite seeing two of their kin felled within seconds by the pair of allied shinobi. The sounds would make even hardened warriors cringe at their ferocity. But those were nothing compared to the howls. Howls that came from the beasts themselves compounded on the ones that came from the swirling winds that whipped the trees like they were mere twigs, filling the air with an unnerving chorus.

The Santaru readied himself to continue his onslaught, his body slowing to a steady and grounded position as he planted his feet and commanded the storm, lightning striking down in peal after peal of thunderous fury upon the beasts that circled around the two of them. Much to his surprise, they'd attempted a different approach this time, slinging ninjutsu like they had before their horrific transformation. The sight brought a furrow to the azure-eyed man's brow. 'They really are...' He began to think, but that hard stare he wore was immediately replaced by wide-eyed awe as Rei sprung into action. She had placed a hand on her chest and like she was turning a key, something unlocked and chakra overflowed from her, emanating in almost visible wisps that denied the swirling winds. With a gasp, the powerful woman's muscles tensed and before Shirokouu could even blink she was gone, and so were all that had just been surrounding him.

Shiro was fast as lightning, sometimes literally, but this woman made him look like he was moving in slow motion by comparison. She was a flash. It stirred something within the young man, his muscles tensing in a combination of awe-struck reverence and instinctual fear. In mere moments the remaining creatures had fallen, and Rei held the proof of her prowess in her hand in the form of blood-stained Kumogakure headbands. He nodded toward the kunoichi, an expression of respect adorning his pale façade. It had seemed, at least for the moment, that their work was done. That's what the beast wanted them to think.

Just as Rei relaxed, returning her demeanor to its form before she'd unlocked the seals within her chakra paths, it bore its teeth both literally and figuratively. As silent as the night, the creature leapt upon her, granting her only milliseconds to react. Thankfully, she did exactly that, catching the creature's maw with bare hands. The beast's teeth bore into the skin of her palms and Shiro's eyes went wide, immediately stirring into a paler blue as he regarded the scene. To him, this felt like slow motion, his mind racing faster than his body could. He recognized the danger, the power and killing aura that emanated from the creature. It was different from the others, better, and it had put itself in a position where he couldn't call upon the raw fury and power that the storm provided. Any electricity that struck it, would course through Rei, and the slightest wrong twitch of a muscle could spell her end within the jaws of the mighty beast. Likewise, it was too far for him to close distance and break the grasp it had on his ally.

Chakra flooded through the Santaru, faster than the lightning that struck down around them. He pulled his wet mop of stark-white hair out of his face. And all blue disappeared from those azure eyes. They shone a pure white, iris and sclera becoming one glowing eminence as he stared pure energy into the eye of the beast. In the span of an instant the creature's muscles froze, it's eyes widened in an uncannily human expression of fear, and a loud CRACK~ followed. The resultant loss of tension from its snapping jaws had caused Rei's overwhelming strength to pour forth and in a second the powerful hands that held the monster's jaw snapped it back, pulling the skull up and the bottom jaw down so hard it nearly ripped it straight away from the creature's snout and snapping it's neck all in one split-second. The beast's body slacked within her grasp and the trees came to a standstill along with the last twitches of the monster's fleeting life. The silence that followed was eerily loud in contrast to the tumult that preceded it. The storm had been quieted by the Santaru and the beast had been silenced by the Ryuu's unbelievable strength.

[MFT .:. 727]

 

[Toraono Michino]

The beast’s fangs dug deeper into Rei’s palms, piercing through the back of her hands. The Sennin bit down on her bottom lip to off-set the pain to another location and let her endorphins try to dull the devastating pain of her hands being torn apart. Yet, in spite of the wolf’s jaws nearing her face, she didn’t balk. Releasing the seal from this state was a no-go; it directly needed the chakra-engraved key on her hand. She could feel the leg holding the creature up starting to give out as the stress from unleashing her power continued to wreck havoc throughout. The rancid breath heaving into her face made her sick, and she could feel her arms wearing out quickly.

For some reason, it brought back a memory. Staring right into the jaws of death again, Ryuu Rei was reminded that she wasn’t always this successful, ultra powerful weapon of Kumogakure. She had once been a very sickly child, her hair having turned white at the age of 6. This sign of the Ryuu Curse nearly destroyed her immediate family as half wanted to kill her, and half wanted to save her. Thankfully, the half on Rei's side was her parents and siblings; particularly her eldest brother. After a year of carefully defending their child from the rest of the Ryuu clan, they were able to prove that the madness that normally took a Cursed Ryuu hadn’t even remotely manifested. Instead, Rei suffered the opposite of what the norm concerning those marked by Tengokai’s madness - she had next to no chakra. It was to a point that her immune system had to work overtime to defend against latent nature chakra in the air that all beings lived with normally. She had become allergic to the world. From that point on, the poor child become incredibly susceptible to illness. Once a common cold almost killed her, it became painfully clear to her family the curse would take its toll, and they would lose their daughter. Everyone mourned…everyone, that was, except the eldest son.

One of the few Ryuu to break away from their farming community, Ryuu Po was a genius in his own right. He never suffered from the curse in any way, shape, or form yet held a natural intellect so high he was somehow able to concoct a cure for his baby sister’s disease. It was a simple powder made from some rare ingredients, but nothing highly uncommon or overly hard to obtain. The medication slowly realigned Rei’s chakra system over the course of a year to where it began to work on the same level as everyone else’s. He literally saved her life. Po eventually died in a freak accident on the farm he tried so hard getting away from when he was ran over by another family’s scared horses, but his youngest sibling was forever thankful for the chance to live he granted her. Sadly, as time went on and her duties became doubled, she forgot how to ask for help. After the Revolution, she no longer wanted to ask. Her pride in her hard earned control for the boundless power that eventually surged years later forced the woman to believe no one could help her.

...and yet...

“SHIROKOUU!”

The words peeled from the Sennin’s mouth before she could stop them. However, only seconds after her cry, there was a sudden give in the wolf’s jaws. Her sore muscles tensed on reflex, she hardened her core, and with a warrior’s furious roar ripped the beast’s jaws open until their was a crack. Her good leg stomped down when she felt even more slack, and pushed the gigantic beast off of her before pinning it down with a knee to the shoulder.

Then she twisted it’s head 360 degrees, counter-clockwise.

The beast died instantly, the rest of its body going limp as the soul in his eye quickly left the body. Rei carefully pulled her hands off the fanged maw with a cry before flexing the muscles throughout her entire body; including the broken leg. Black ichor eventually shot out of both her hands and steam began to rise as the wounds quickly started to close. Kumogakure’s Sennin fell over into the snow, her heated body instantly melting the ice back into a liquid form. She was panting, partly from the use of her powers, partly from adrenaline, but also from the drain her body was putting out. Wounds tended to heal themselves quickly on the muscular woman, but her body just refused to recognize the needed stamina to heal so fast. It was rarely a problem with usually having such stocks of chakra that it made her appear nigh immortal; but, having exhausted a ton of chakra already, she barely had the energy to stay conscious.

“What…a damn…embarrassment,” she groaned, only still awake through sheer willpower. How would she get back to the village? Her eyes looked around, and found the white-hair man that just saved her life from the beast, and begged assistance her pride wouldn’t let her vocalize.

 

[Kakihara Shirokouu]

Shirokouu hesitated in the silence that followed the fight, still awestruck by the display of power that led to a gruesome death for the beast that had gotten the jump on Rei. He wasn't frozen in that moment by how close they'd gotten to death. That was something that the Santaru had unfortunately become accustomed to. It was the dichotomy of it all that sent his mind in loops. The sight of the woman before him, the one that had displayed an almost inhuman strength, who had seemed invincible, momentarily crippled by the beast. She'd heal, yes, but it was a stark reminder to the man of his own mortality, regardless of how much supernatural power came along with being a shinobi. Despite their now-tranquil surroundings, adrenaline still flooded Shiro's veins. Then, finally noticing the state of Rei's leg and the hazy look in her amethyst eyes, Shiro suppressed the lightning that coursed over his skin and dashed over in a blur, catching the Sennin as she fell to the side and slumped towards the frost-coated earth. Her body was burning. Not simply warm like a fever, but so scaldlingly hot that it melted the ice that coated the mountainous ground. "It's okay... You're okay..." The man said calmly as he looked down at Rei's shattered leg. It was a nasty wound, but they were shinobi. It would heal.

"What…a damn…embarrassment." She'd said, mourning the well-earned pride she was holding onto just moments before. The words caused Shirokouu's eyebrows to furrow and thoughts coursed through his brain, fast as lightning. His mind had finally calmed enough to really comprehend what had just happened. When he compared himself to the unbelievable strength that the head of the Ryuu clan possessed, the truth was that he was the embarrassment. Had the beast caught him instead of her, he wouldn't have possessed the strength that she did to hold it off. He wouldn't have made it to come back. So, like it or not, the Santaru clansman realized a striking truth: He may have once felt strong... But while he'd been away, shinobi had kept growing... The world had left him behind.

Shiro turned to look Rei in the eyes, quietly saying, "Rei... I didn't save your life... You saved mine. So do me a favor and let me make it even." The glowing white had faded and Shirokouu's eyes had settled back into their natural azure. And, holding the woman's powerful frame against his body, Rei's purple hazel eyes reflecting in his blues, something shifted in the storm-caller's usually stoic façade. Beneath the serious look that he nearly always wore, there was something else that he held within those azure orbs... A strange intermixing of respect and compassion and pain. Then, not awaiting her response, not needing one, the Santaru dipped his shoulder down, holding Rei's uninjured arm and pulling her torso over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Despite her relatively lithe and athletic frame, Rei's muscles were unbelievably dense. That made her extremely heavy for her size. And he still couldn't believe how hot to the touch her body was as it pressed down against his upper back. Holding her good leg with his other arm, the man stood to his feet, the remnants of adrenaline helping make what would have otherwise been a daunting task seem inconsequential. "I've got you. I'm no healer... But I can get you to one. Just show me the way to your hospital and keep that leg still." And with that, the man began to trudge back down the mountain. His feet sunk deep into the snow and mud and dirt, but resolve burned like the will of fire within his soul. Shirokouu was determined to get the Sennin back home safe.

He'd asked the sky for a way to prove his trustworthiness, a way to feel that he still had worth in this new future. And the sky had answered. The Santaru had forged a bond that, to him, outweighed that natural sense of duty tenfold. Hell, it might have been the only real one that Shirokouu had left in this unfamiliar world.

[MFT .:. WC: 687 .:. Topic Left With Rei In Tow]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Having been caught was a surprise. To not feel the ground rush to meet her but instead her companion’s arms made her heart leap in reflex. Rei wanted to push away to keep him from being burned knowing how hot she had become; yet Shiro didn’t cry out or drop her. The man remained calmed despite her maladies. His words brought a blush to the woman’s cheeks that couldn’t be seen through her heated skin, but the Sennin broke eye-contact first. She was unable to keep looking into his beautiful eyes and hear such words being told to her of all people. Being strong and the leader of the military, second only to the Raikage, made her pool of actual suitors incredibly limited. It was always her hitting on men...there was a good reason she was single, after all. Yet this man did everything he could to actually help her, even going as far to shoulder her down the mountain. Full dead weight 277lbs of Rei. It impressed the warrior on a level few had ever come close to achieving in her world view.

The Sennin gave instructions, some of her wounds already healing on the surface as the pain in her leg grew. The main hospital wasn’t far from the Ancient Forest, thankfully, and it was only a matter of minutes before the woman found herself being cared for by Futotta’s crack team of specialists. Before they carted her off Rei grabbed Shiro’s hand and gave it a squeeze, a smile of thanks the only thing she could say with what little energy she had left.

It was going to take a couple of extra hours to catch up once she was out, but as the lights on the ceiling flew by on the way to the operating room, the Sennin couldn’t help but feel like it had been worth it.

[Topic Left]