Blood cousins (private) (pm to join)

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren was walking around Tea. But then he heard it. The blood flow. It was peculiar. It wasn't like Osu's, but Ziren knew what it was. It was that of another Chigokai. But it was also different. This one seemed like they were full of energy, very different from that of Osu's.

Ziren has read the books of his ancestors. How most back then we're more... unruly than others. He sighed. Maybe taking a look at a new perspective will help him see both sides of a Chigokai.

He scaled up a building and ran across it, jumping from one building to the next. Heading to the blood flow, with an excited look in his eyes. Ziren then stopped, as he was back inside of his mind.

He was looking at his other self. "It seems that we have yet another relative here. Why not I get the introductions this time? You've had all the fun of meeting family, but I don't get the chance?"

Ziren sighed. He then looked at his other self. "Just don't kill. Or harm anyone in any way, unless if they are actually trying to kill you. I don't want to hear any buts from you. You get this one chance. Don't mess it up."

Suddenly, Bloodlust Ziren had control. He looked around and smiled. The he let his eyes glow red, his scar on his arm, for once, also glowed red, as if the blood was so close from opening up from a wound, that anyone could see the glowing red scar, that wrapped around his right arm.

"Huh. This is new." Bloodlust Ziren said to himself. He didn't know what to make of the sudden glow on his scar that he has had since the other Ziren was thirteen. But he shrugged. He has other places to meet, and a family member to talk to.

He rushed out of the area, in search of the blood flow that his other self has heard.

 

[Jiro]

Jiro lazily wandered around Tea. He was bored and curious as to what this city held. It was quite interesting, if truth be told. He was feeling a bit better now that he had gotten the antidote and that annoying toxin out of his system. And now he was back on the prowl.

As the Chigokai walked, something caught his attention. It felt like he was being watched in the most peculiar way. He could not explain it, but it made him tingle, feel a bit strange. But he also knew what that meant. Whoever was following him was tracking him by his blood. He tensed up slightly as he moved further into the back alleys.

The blood flow was soon coming closer. He could sense it from the roof tops. Hmm, rooftops? How weird... Jiro kept moving further away from the crowds, into the deepest, darkest parts of the alleyways, preparing himself for what was to come.

He grabbed the kunai he kept hidden on him, clutching it in his hand. He slit his other hand open. As the wound slowly healed, he enfused it with his chakra, forming a handful of blood senbon. He smirked as he licked the blood off his hand before stopping. He could feel the other's blood pulsing in his ears then. It was almost hypnotic.

When he felt the other close in, he threw the senbon in the direction he felt the blood flow from. A wild smirk crossed his lips, waiting for them to hit their target. "Come out, come out whereever you are..." His tone was singsong as he threw another handful of Senbon. These were more unstable than the others and they flew in every direction almost madly as if he had thrown them as more of a scare tactic, not wanting to actually harm the person, just give them a warning.

"I know you're out there...." Another spine-tingling laugh as he cut his hand again, letting the chakra-infused blood turn into tiger claws.

 

[Osuteno]

Spoiler: Osuteno

Osu sighed under a particularly red ‘paper’ umbrella, which provided much appreciated shade from the sun of these lowlands. It was so hot being down from the snow covered mountains... The cause of this sigh were two young Chigokai who seemed bent on causing mischief in the middle of the city. At the very least they had taken their game to an alleyway. Really though, were they not learning any manners where they came from?

Osu sat a fair distance away from them wondering if the two actually knew each other or if this was just something kids did nowadays in other villages. To step in or keep watching… Osu thought while watching one throw projectiles everywhere. It looked pretty simple to round up the two and knock some common sense into them, but there was a bit of curiosity as to how developed the training of Chigokai were away from their bloodline’s homeland of Lightning Country… Just a bit longer, Osu finally decided. If anything particularly dangerous started to happen or things simply start getting out of hand with property damage, Osu would step in to stop their little skirmish. They were well away from civilians at least so as long as they didn’t get too serious it should be amusing, at least the one seemed to be using a bit of imagination when using the Henomancer’s Gift, it was sometimes difficult to get the young to stop thinking only of making more orthodox weapons, not that they couldn’t be effective but it was simply far too flexible to always be used in such a manner, Osu thought while spinning the red ‘paper’ umbrella.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Bloodlust Ziren easily dodged the other Chigokai's attacks, being able to hear the blood weapons coming straight at him. He continued to dodge and walk towards the other Chigokai until he was right on him. He grabbed the other blood users hand forcefully.

"Now that's no way to treat a blood relative, now isn't it." Bloodlust Ziren added it as more of a joke. His red eyes glowing sinisterly, along with his scar on his right arm.

He let go of the other Chigokai's hand and walked away. Blood started to come out of the pores of his skin, until a sword made of blood came into his hands. It, like the eyes and scar of it's owner, glowed evil red too.

"See? We are family." He then dropped the blood sword and let it turn into a puddle of blood. It kept that evil glow in the blood.

He was about to say something else, but then he heard the blood flow of yet another family member. He knew the blood flow well. It was the woman Chigokai that taught his other self, his weaker self, that he can take control of his blood line. And not the other way around.

"Hey Osu. I do gotta say. My weaker self looks up to you, you know? After your talk with him, he beat the hell out of me and threatened my existence. Almost killing both me and him in the process. You are the kind of Chigokai that he wants to be. Honorable and Noble and all that stupid stuff."

He then sat down in the alleyway between his two cousins. He didn't know how close of cousins they were to him, but he knew for a fact that they weren't brother or sister to him. They don't share any of his blue hair or yellow eyes. So cousins he will call them.

"Say, would you like to talk to my other self?"

He then let his other self take control of the situation. Suddenly, the glow in his eyes were gone, the scar and the puddle of blood also stopped glowing. Ziren's healing factor went into effect as soon as his own mind took control of the body. Closing up the little bit of wounds the blood made when coming out of the skin on its own.

"Hey. I'm Ziren. And don't mind my other self. He doesn't really like me that much. Especially since he almost ruined my life. That was when I beat him inside my own mind. I had the chance to destroy that persona of me right then and there. But I decided to give it one last chance. If it tries to make me look bad, or destroys stuff, I will erase it." He knows it sounds harsh, but he has grown so much since he was stood before an ANBU Captain to decide the fate of his career.

He then looked at Osu. "Nice to see you again, Osu. It's been about two weeks. You'd be surprised about how much I've grown." He said this like it was a family reunion. Which it kinda was. Before he met this other Chigokai just today, he thought him and Osu were the last. He really loves her as a family member. And in time, the hyperactive Chigokai to his side will also be like family. That is because they are family.

 

[Jiro]

When the other Chigokai finally made himself known, Jiro smirked. He licked the blood off the palm of his own hand again, staining his lips and mouth red as he watched the other grab his hand. He carefully maneuvered so the other would not be hurt by the blood claws. He looked up at the other carefully, meeting those glowing red eyes. Blood relative? Family means nothing. Look at what your own mother did to you...

When his hand was let go, he watched the other make a blood sword. He laughed softly as it was dropped to the concrete with a clatter and he moved closer to him, moving the claws to caress the other male's face without hurting him. "Family means nothing to me..." He let out another laugh.

However, he was soon then told that they were family. He watched the sword turn into a puddle of blood with an evil glow. He looked back up at those red eyes again. Soon, his finger was at the other Chigokai's lips, shushing him. "I have no family, Little One..." With that, he took a step back as well, blue eyes still focused on red.

It looked like the other was about the say something when another interesting blood flow came up. Jiro backed himself up, turning to his side, keeping both the one who was further away and the one he had just stepped away from in his line of sight. His blood was pulsing fast, ready to defend himself if he needed to. "This some kind of Chigokai Reunion or some shit?" he asked.

The blonde listened to the other speak about his weaker self. He tilted his head to the side, nibbling on the edge of his thumb slightly as he listened, not caring if he bit hard enough to draw blood or not. And people say I'm crazy?

When the other sat down, he relaxed, but kept his eyes on the figure with the red umbrella. It was interesting to say the least. But he was pretty sure that the umbrella was not paper like he had originally assumed. But then his attention was drawn back to the male now sitting on the ground. He seemed to return to a normal state, eyes no longer glowing.

He leaned against the wall casually then, but he kept those tiger claws just in case. One could never be too careful, after all. "Jiro," was his only response to the introduction. Then when he apologized for his 'other self', the blonde shrugged. "I've met worse," he assured him.

Then he moved off the wall to walk to the other Chigokai. "So...you're one of us too?" he asked, looking the other over, tilting his head to the side. "Your blood's interesting..." He then reached out to try to touch the umbrella. "Is this really paper? Or is it something else? I don't think it's paper." As he rambled, he appeared to have answered his own question and not even realized it.

"Osu..." he said the name, repeating Ziren's introduction.

 

[Osuteno]

"This some kind of Chigokai Reunion or some shit?" The one asked as Osu’s presence was pointed out.

“I’m wondering roughly the same thing, I didn’t expect to see any when I came to Tea, much less two.” They seemed to be prepared for a fight but Osu didn’t really make any moves to defend or attack, rather Osu was still sitting and spinning the umbrella looking like the very picture of peaceful.

“As for honorable and noble… I think that is a bit much. The clan matriarchs and elders, with their endless gift for exaggeration, describe the attitude a proper Chigokai should have as regal dignity, but honestly it is simple level-headedness. The reason I came over to begin with is I noticed you two starting to stir up mischief and stuck around to make sure nothing got out of hand.” Osu was smiling despite the exasperation apparent in the words.

“You should know very well it isn’t paper, those things are expensive and get damaged far too easily.” As Jiro came closer they would realize that Osu’s blood wasn’t only interesting, but that Osu couldn’t be that much more than blood based on size alone. There was enough blood in Osu’s body for around 8 adults, not mentioning the six beating hearts that were constantly moving inside. Osu would do for Jiro the same favor done for Ziren weeks earlier, and let them feel the potential future of the bloodline. Osu sat unmoving aside from spinning the umbrella, but for the briefest of moments Jiro’s blood would feel a powerful will touching it, Jiro’s blood briefly feeling as if it would cease everything in mutiny and leave directly through his skin to seek the one it would betray him for, the technique that acts as a conqueror bringing the lifeblood of a nation under heel, Blood Break. Eventually they would need to understand that being a Chigokai wasn’t about being violent and rough individuals seeking blood, but about having blood submit to them by sheer force of will. This was the same method a matriarch used for Osu’s training, though they actually went through with the technic fully to pull blood and life force from a helpless Osu’s body. Of course the influence of Osu’s will vanished as quickly as it appeared, not actually doing any harm or influencing even a single drop of blood.

Though having no intention of hopping down from the wall that was currently acting as a seat, Osu decided to meet Jiro halfway… sorta. Osu let go of the umbrella which remained where it was in the air, seemingly ignoring gravity before it began floating over to Jiro. “Aside from weapons, particularly as you grow stronger, you can make a good number of tools and constructs… provided you have the blood to spare. I will admit to being a bit wasteful on that front.”

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren sighed. Obviously Jiro didn't know what family meant. And this kind of pissed him off. He too, never knew what I meant to have a family. Not until the ANBU took him in.

"Listen here cousin. I may not know what you went through, but let me tell you this. A true family will always stick by your side, look at you while you grow. And defend you when the time comes. Heck, they don't even to have to have a single drop of blood similar to yours to be family."

He sighed, not happy with the younger Chigokai. "I too, have no immediate family. But I consider both of you, and all those close to my heart to be family."

He stood back up and looked around. Making sure that nobody was spying on them. He's had enough troubles with that lately to become a real problem lately.

 

[Jiro]

Jiro had never known what family was. Sure, he had Akkuma, but that was not family. That was something else entirely. The words made him tilt his head to the side with a wide smirk. Whether he took Ziren's words seriously had remained to be seen.

"You're right. You don't know what I went through. And you sure as hell don't know me..." He looked down as the visible Seals on his chest and arms. "So don't tell me family stays by your side." His words were spoken quietly, eyes still focused on the Seals. He then met Ziren's eyes again.

Soon, he lost interest in the Chigokai who was his age and wandered over to the other, older, and more powerful one. He was fascinated by the male's blood. There was something off about it, but he decided that he liked it. "I didn't expect to see any at all. I didn't know there was anyone like me left..." He sounded almost shocked by that. His thumb went back to his mouth and he bit the edge of it again, seemingly a nervous habit or something to help steady his nerves.

The blonde heard the exasperation and shook his head. "I sensed someone following me. I did what I needed to do to protect myself."

He looked at the blood umbrella and stepped closer. But as he moved closer, something made him look up at the other, eyes widening. The blood was almost intoxicating. He shivered slightly at the feel of it. And he could feel six distinct heartbeats. "How do you have that many hearts, Osu?" His voice was filled with awe as he asked that.

Taking another step closer, he was soon stopped. Something was touching his blood. It was a force he had never felt before. It felt like his blood was betraying him, about to be ripped from his body and be siphoned into this older male. His body trembled in excitement and anticipation at the feel of such power and he gasped softly. The blonde was seemingly frozen in his place. The power and will he was feeling, touching his blood, toying with him in a way no one else had ever done left him feeling like he was hypnotized, in a trance. His body soon relaxed into the sensation, almost letting out a groan of disappointment when whatever Osu was doing stopped.

Jiro looked at the umbrella through glazed-over eyes, body fully relaxed like he had been given a sedative. His mind was spinning in a way he could not explain. He looked up at Osu again. "Wh-what did you just do to me?" he asked. His voice sounded so distant, almost broken. It was a tone he learned to despise whenever he used it, but he could not help it.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu merely gave a slightly odd smile at the question of how he had so many hearts, which turned into an amused If somewhat troubled expression when soon Jiro started reacting rather… oddly. Jiro was asking what Osu just did to him. Instead of answering though he turned his attention back towards Ziren. “Be careful of who you say such things to, while I personally find it sweet to hear such open heartedness, there are many who would take advantage of it, even some of our ‘cousins.’ Rather I can think of several off the top of my head… yes as big hearted that sentiment is it is best to at least make an effort to learn more about a person and have them learn more about you first before declaring relation… of course at that point you already would be somewhat related. It is rather like how you become true friends with someone before you realize it… or rather it is exactly that though the relation is interchangeable with most others.”

Osu looked to Jiro… really that was a rather odd reaction. “Well… uhm rather it wasn’t anything particularly much, are you alright? I was fairly certain I only gave you a bit of a nudge… you don’t actually hurt anywhere do you? That was only just to make you a little more aware of your own blood and how much control you are lacking currently… it isn’t really uncommon for the matriarchs or elders to give nudges like that so young Chigokai can build up control.” Though unlike the elders Osu wasn’t actually willing to hurt them so he stopped before actually drawing any blood, no need to teach kids who don’t know the normal customs to actually do that much.

“One day you will eventually build up enough control to influence blood simply by willing to do so, and that is just a little reminder that the most important blood to keep a handle on is your own. As Chigokai we are generally a bit predisposed to more violent and reactive natures, but we can demonstrate a much greater control of those around us when we have firm control of ourselves… sorry I am starting to repeat lectures, but it really is important to explain since it isn’t uncommon for distant branch members to only know how to go for blood so to speak, and it is really a waste.”

The umbrella drifted back to Osu and he used it to pull himself up. “... I don’t sense any injuries, but you are alright aren’t you? Ziren why don’t you give Jiro a hand, it would honestly feel odd just to leave you two here and carry on, but I have to see a merchant about some tea plants, so we can talk and maybe pick up something along the way.”

As Osu started to walk on he turned back to look at them with a slight blush, “And... erm... well the tea plants and the preparation method in question are... ‘commercially protected’ in this country by a certain merchant group that holds a bit of a monopoly on this particular leaf, so I will ask that you don’t do anything to surprise the merchant...”

It wasn’t like Osu was planning to sell the resulting tea leaves commercially back in Cloud, he just rented a greenhouse back home he filled with tea plants, which he bred and altered genetically as a hobby. He enjoyed this particular leaf quite a bit and tried to purchase the plants, soil composition, growing conditions, and preparation method legitimately, but they wouldn’t even give him the time of day. What else was he supposed to do, just not be able to have this particular tea at home? Preposterous, what was the point of tea if it couldn’t be enjoyed and improved upon. What he was doing might be breaking a few trade laws... but you must understand that it is a really good cup of tea and even if they were to start shipping it the great distance north they were bound to use tea bags instead of proper loose leaf like the infidels merchants are and charge a reduculous price do to the effort in transportation. Osu wouldn’t stand such nonsense for a moment!

As Osu was busy convincing himself that he wasn’t being a criminal, it was the merchants who were wrong, he looked back at the two young Chigokai. “So do you two come from somewhat organized branch families or did you just wake up one day trying to figure out why everyone was living so loud? The first week or so of hearing blood for the first time is usually the worst, typical symptoms include trouble sleeping and paranoia from being so newly aware of the people around you and your own heart beating. Oh goodness, and the first time actually hearing someone bleed was like the mental equivalent of suddenly having a spotlight aimed at your face in the dead of the night. Either of you two get the genetic bad luck draw with that huge dopamine hit when your brain hears blood being exposed to air? I swear it was on the verge of turning me into an idiot until the clan took me in and and gave me a prescription for it... Do either of you have a favorite street food?”

A few people made the initial mistake of making some incorrect assumptions about Osu such as believing him to be mysterious, aloof, or female. Most people learned within a couple conversations at least that he was actually a friendly, rambling, absent-minded professor... though a few who have known him for years still messed up on him actually being male... more than a few... all they would have to do is make the mistake out loud so he could correct them but for some reason it could go on for more than a decade now because it somehow never comes up. But it is neither here nor there If Ziren continues to make such an amusingly incorrect assumption.