Enough of the Bandits on This Monday To Friday Mountain! (Private)

[Kairyuu]

The man who entered the cave looked a little worse for the wear. Black boots covered by red suneate, black pants that had matching red haidate, a black shirt with a red jacket ending at his waist, red han kote over his forearms, and two katana sheathes at his right side. He was holding a naked blade in his left hand and it had blood on it from the last person who thought he was a good mark to try and mug. For that matter, the man himself was covered in the liquid. Even his black-brown hair was taking on a red tint.

Brown eyes scan the cave he stepped into alertly. Ever since he entered this pass, people had been trying to rob him. And few of them asked before they attacked. So far only two of those people still had heads, but even those two weren’t going to be using them. He almost turned to leave when he spied the man. He looked…almost malnourished. And he was sitting there like some fabled monk meditating on the secrets of the universe. Maki could almost imagine the man handing him a sword saying “it’s dangerous to go alone, take this.”

The point of his blade rises to level with the man’s eyes. ”Tell them to back off or you’re next.” He could only assume this was their leader. Who else would be hiding out in the middle of bandit country taking a siesta? The fact that the man wasn’t attacking him could mean many things, but he also wasn’t being attacked by the thugs, which meant he was likely in collusion with them.

 

[Kari]

A man had slept here for a lifetime. The cave had been where the former sennin, the former leader of the Fayth had studied and continued to learn and worship Them. In this life, he had seen the village, so strong in its religion, so proud of its heritage and history, change. It had become a place of heresy; it reeked with sin. He had to leave it, and so he had. He could not stop the festering putrid that the country had become; he could only escape it. He had shown weakness to both himself and to his country, which granted him this escape. His position as the leader of the Shaman was no longer, and the Fayth's followers dissolved not long after.

This was an unholy place.

He had mediated since then. Strengthening his mind and resolve and spirit for when he may bring Earth country to the glory it had known only some years ago. To the strength he had seen of them. He did not eat, his sustenance was the earth; he did not drink, chakra kept him well. His body had become thin from the entire time, yet he was still one of the most powerful this country had known. He was a former sennin, after all.

His cave was intruded. Keita was awoken from the trance immediately; he appeared much like a common rogue of the streets of Maruishi. His clothing tainted with blood, worn as though it were some kind of trophy to warn off any possible meddler. He pulled a weapon onto the man. The former sennin didn't move nor react in any manner; he simply watched the man, a weary, sad look in his eye. This place had fallen even farther, it seemed. Was it even possible any longer that he could save it? Was this the fate of Earth country?

There were bodies not far off, closing in onto the angry stranger. Had he wronged them? Was that what this blood was from? Some bloody feud?

"It is not my place to stop them, child," the man spoke, his voice shaky at first. He coughed. "Even were I to demand them to stop, my words would fall short." He would have to find his own strength, not demand it of heroes from ages past.

 

[Kairyuu]

Maki’s face got even more angry as the man called him child. And then he noticed more coming from behind. The shinobi watches as the man before him does nothing. That was the final straw. ”That’s it, everyone’s dying!” His hand reaches out towards the wall of the cavern and remains as his chakra builds up between him and the stone. Raw kinetic force was flowing into the rock, and before long a near invisible crack began to open, widen, become….a formidable issue. Maki’s hand suddenly sweeps over his head in an arc and the crack expands to follow, now very much visible and a threat. As the roof begins to collapse in on them, he spins halfway to keep his eye on the man and on the bandits.

Falling stones take care of the latter easily enough, and the rockslide which follows, he can hear, careens down the mountain and leaves a mess at its base, but it also opens the godforsaken cave to some daylight. He turns to the old man and levels the blade at him once more. ”Now your help is gone. And I’m pissed. Should have called them off when I told you to!” With that said, he lunges at the other with the tip of his blade. Old man or not, he wasn’t getting away with this!