It's Always Dark Out (private)

[Takahashi Aki]

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!"<i></i>​

It was the first time in two weeks that the Sousuke woke up screaming. He sat up in his bed clutching his head. The events of the Cabal and the events in Soon had been a real toll on him. He was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Most of it was in the recent past, and he had done his best to forget it. The bodies. Burning the bodies. The shattered mirror. Hyakuhei and his fullest of natures. The Steward had been dealing with a lot of criminally insane individuals. It took him a full moment to realize that he was dreaming, not reliving those moments. To his surprise, his great-ward Aki was there. He must have woke up the child. The child was holding Sousuke by the arm. Was this the toddler's way of assuring him things were going to be alright? "Da?"<i></i> The child inquired. It was very surprising. He had worked his way to refering to Sousuke now as Da. The toddler still had yet to grasp common, but he was getting used to certain words now. Like Okibi he had yet to grasp proper words.

"Da is okay."</B><i></i> He answered his great-ward. Aki nodded his head. The toddler acting as if he understood the matter whereas Sousuke figured he would not. Children though could be very surprising. The Steward hoped he hadn't waked anyone in the house. Not to his surprise Kitchy came in, the Husky had sleep in her eyes. The canine let out a concerned whine of sorts. Sousuke turned slightly to see what time on the clock it was. It was 5:42AM. Still too early to get up. He probably couldn't get back to sleep. Aki crawled up and onto the bed. He sat beside Sousuke and folded his arms giving Sousuke a very serious look. "This is preposterous. You're probably trying to tell me to go back to sleep. I should be the one putting you back to bed, not the other way around."<i></i> The child was silent.

<B>"Da!"<i></i> He declared as if to say, that's right! How ... awkward. Being told by a two year old to go back to bed.

 

[Michi]

A scream resonated through the household in the hush of night. It reverberated through what should have been sufficient walls to house the nocturne cry. Nights since moving in were already restless for the Ancient woman who tossed and turned in a bed too large for her slight frame, even a distant snort would disturb her from the depths of slumber. The noise a churning stomachs and the eternal click of blood-vessels haunted her nights, distorted by the goings of humanity. But with this cry, louder than the sleep-time mutterings of a man dreaming and louder than what she could only describe as a snorting snore, her eyes blinked open from her half-dreaming state. She fell from her mattress onto the floor, hurried by the inexplicable sound that beckoned her to the room adjacent. "Ouch," she muttered in a only partly cognizant state, mildly deterred by the state of her floor being harder than her face which was now pressed against it. She pulled herself from the floor and braced herself for impact as she ran at the wall that separated her from her cousin.

Chalk and torn wallpaper covered her as did the insulation as she broke through the barrier. "Sousuke!" Shiori yelled, her eyes saw only a child and her ears saw the same. "What's wrong?" Her eyes looked back and forth and her ears twitched but she could find no peril. She tightened her robe around her waist and armed herself with Sousuke's table lamp as she waited for his response. Beneath she was covered in bandages still from her conflict with Homura, his sword had damaged her utterly. By now she should have recovered thanks to chakra-magics but rather the burnt and clotted scar threatened to either fester or heal. She was keeping this from Sousuke of course, she did not want to be forced to tell him another lie. Not again. Not unless she had to.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Shiori burst through the wall. Both Aki and Sousuke stared at her. She asked him a question. He hesitated answering. "I was dreaming again. Dreaming of my encounters on the surface and with the Cabal. I still haven't gotten over things ... with the Cabal attacks, and how it all ended. I took the form of Mikaboshi ... more particularly Shade in the end. I'm not sure how entirely... but I sapped Kaito of some of his life force to regenerate my damaged systems."</B><i></i> Aki probably couldn't understand the grimmer nature of what he was talking about. "I ... I ... replenished myself slightly and I could not tell if I had enjoyed it. The sapping of his life force. Kaito took the form of a demon, and I became Shade. I could see it, his life force energies leaving his shell and replenishing my own. I struck what was his spiritual self."<i></i> Sousuke then held his head. "Then the image, it it shattered like a mirror. My vision became fragmented."<i></i> He hesitated. "I then began to see images of myself ... but the colour was wrong. I had become albino, like an enemy who I had encountered who upon his defeat tried to regenerate himself in my image."<i></i>

Sousuke sniffed the air. His sense of smell wasn't as good as Aki who had already picked it up. The child pointed at Shiori. "Shishi! Mess!"<i></i> The child declared. Aki had learned to refer to Shiori as Shishi. The concept of repetition seemed to stick well with the child.

Sousuke realized she had armed herself with his lamp. <B>"I think it's safe you can put that down Shiori... and uh we need to clean you up. You did just break through a wall."<i></i> He chewed his lip. He would have to fix the wall, but that could wait. "You... you're not hurt are you?"<i></i>

 

[Michi]

"I was dreaming again. Dreaming of my encounters on the surface and with the Cabal. I still haven't gotten over things ... with the Cabal attacks, and how it all ended. I took the form of Mikaboshi ... more particularly Shade in the end. I'm not sure how entirely... but I sapped Kaito of some of his life force to regenerate my damaged systems."</B><i></i>

Shiori cautiously lowered her lamp/bludgeoning device, but did not relinquish her grasp. It was just Sousuke and the kid. She had not bothered to get acquainted with it, not that she disliked children in particular, they just made her nervous. So tiny and pink and fragile. There was a right-side-up and they needed to expel fluids and sometimes solids with minimal warning. She dropped the lamp onto his table with a gentle thud. She could tolerate mental instability more than mortal peril, these invisible scars would not kill him but they would change the man she knew in small ways over time. It would be short-sighted for her to believe that he would remain as he always had, this scar would harden over time and the tenderness it replaced would be gone forever but he would still be alive even if not the same. It was something for her to cling to. She picked up the small human, or at the very least tried to and if successful would place it on the foot of Sousuke's bed.

"I ... I ... replenished myself slightly and I could not tell if I had enjoyed it. The sapping of his life force. Kaito took the form of a demon, and I became Shade. I could see it, his life force energies leaving his shell and replenishing my own. I struck what was his spiritual self."

He must be in reference to the soul, the spiritual essence of a being is the purest form of sustenance. She had not eaten a soul in a great many years, the last being Sousuke's dear Aunt and Uncle. "Everybody eats... most savor the pastime Sou-Sou. Nobody likes to think about the the cow... or the man, but for you to live you need to eat." Shiori recommended. Vegetarians often consider the beasts of burden that are slaughtered for nourishment a travesty, but she often wondered why the plant was not given the same consideration as the beast? "To live, one must take life."

"Then the image, it it shattered like a mirror. My vision became fragmented." </COLOR><i></i>

Shiori let out a sigh, his mind was unraveling. "Shhh..." She soothed. The lamp laid across her lap as she sat herself on the foot of his bed.

"I then began to see images of myself ... but the colour was wrong. I had become albino, like an enemy who I had encountered who upon his defeat tried to regenerate himself in my image."

Hunks of chalk fell from her long mane of braided hair onto Sousuke's sheets. A trail of dust followed her trail through his quarters.

"Shishi! Mess!"

The tiny human proclaimed. Shiori let out a laugh, she had only recently understood that to be her name in tiny-people babble.

<B>"I think it's safe you can put that down Shiori... and uh we need to clean you up. You did just break through a wall."<i></i>

Shiori shook off a majority of the cobwebs and debris, allowing the filth to land where it may. It made a mess of Sousuke's room, and it did not do a great job cleaning her up either, rather she simply spread the problem elsewhere as well. "I'm alright, I like the feel of the earth," Shiori admitted. It was a truth in her case, the tactile grainy sense was soothing to her as was the smooth feel of pebbles against her skin. She relinquished her grasp of the lamp and placed it on the floor at the foot of his bed.

"You... you're not hurt are you?"

"No," Shiori smiled as she shook her head. "I have been in perfect health since that incident several months ago," Shiori lied. She was of course referencing the evening she drank herself stupid and then suffered a multitude of injuries, some so severe they alone could have killed her. Her liver nearly failed and it took months for her to recover in that brightly lit hospital room where she spent most of her days alone. The injuries that soon followed her release resulted in her death and her eventual reformation, a clandestine fact that even now she cannot share for fear of his fragile psyche. Her recent injuries suffered at the end of Homura's blade left her near dead, but she could not seek the medicine of man to heal a wound to her essence as such nor could she admit that she had been carousing at night seeking vengeance against those who trespassed against her 'cousin.' <COLOR color="red">"I think our concern should be saved for yourself... There are no such thing as monsters in your mirror, you are not nor ever were the spirit housed within your blade. Such things do not exist in this world as surely as the sky remains overhead and the ground underfoot. All things are mortal and can be defeated, and if something tries to possess you... separate yourself from it for fear that it may one day succeed."<i></i> She warned but also tried to calm, perhaps ineffectively because even her words of peace were following by ominous warnings rarely heeded by her dim-witted predecessor.

MFT- WC: 914

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Shiori likened the concept of eatting Katio's essence to that of eating meat. The Steward chewed on his lip a bit. "You do realize that ... this is kind of different. It's not like I put Kaito on a spit and rotated him. I literally drew blood from him and spiritual essence using the Black Blade."</B><i></i> The image of the Cabal leader on a spit rotating over a fire was a slightly disturbing one. Katio was still puffing on a cigarette. "Nevermind."<i></i> Sousuke watched as Shiori dusted herself off. He raised an eyebrow. This was Shiori he was talking to yes? She had changed again it would seem. "Did you ... run into another old lady on the verge of death again?"<i></i> Sousuke said out loud. He blinked for a moment. Probable... entirely probable.

Shiori had answered him no about being hurt. Maybe Shiori had simply stumbled upon a new power set. Shiori elaborated further and gave what Sousuke understood to be words of comfort. Sousuke got out of his bed. It was still early. He approached the hole in the wall that Shiori had made. Yes this was going to need fixing. As he looked at the hole, he noticed the mirror in Shiori's room. The mirror seemed to be flashing. A strange sight really. The Steward walked through the hole that Shiori had made. It took him some effort. "What's with your mirror? You didn't leave any lights on--"<i></i> Sousuke's voice was cut short. Something had cut him off. The sound of glass breaking was hurt.

At that sound, the husky Kitchy came into Sousuke's room. The canine sniffed the air and let out a growl. Aki seemed to grow fearful and reached out to Shiori trying to grasp onto her leg. Something had spooked both the canine and the child. <B>"Shi...shi..."<i></i> The child whimpered as he grasped on. The child began to shake. The husky continued sniffing, and she growled again. The mirror in Sousuke's room shattered after the second series of growls went off from the husky. The canine backed up and stood before Shiori. Something was certainly not right. The shards from the mirror rattled as they were on the ground, and very slowly they were moving away, and out of Sousuke's room into the main hall. Should Shiori follow the trail of shattered mirror fragments, she would see that the hallway had turned into a hallway of mirror fragments. The mirror would be reflecting colour inverted versions of Shiori's current form.

 

[Michi]

So, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been. Shiori's furrowed brow relaxed and perhaps that is why Sousuke abandoned the subject. She let out a discontented sigh, she did not want to make it seem as if she did not care or that she was belittling his concerns... it was just that... having a moral crisis over eating a steak or concern over the rights of bean sprouts. Sousuke was a gentle soul of course, a silly but gentle soul.

"Did you ... run into another old lady on the verge of death again?"

Sousuke seemed to identify something was different despite her transformed state. Her dark raven tresses and her pale-green 'sightless' eyes. Her nightclothes obscured many of the differences between them, the bulky layered and hooded robe she chose for that very reason. She was shorter now than she used to be, barely over five foot before she was closer to 5.7 feet as she last recalled. Her love of heels made her seem taller than even that back in the day, now she was barefoot and tiny but Sousuke had no measuring stick or metric to know exactly how much shorter she was despite it being significantly so, did he? "I have no idea what you are talking about," Shiori fibbed in an effort to perpetuate her lies. She had taken the life of an old woman, if she was on the verge of death or not was another story and perhaps consideration she would rather not contemplate. As far as she was concerned, the 'truth' she shared with Sousuke would be nothing more than a 'bad dream.' he could not accept her for what she was, not that she could blame him. "Another bad dream?" Shiori inquired, attempting to replant that seed in his mind once again.

Sousuke thankfully could not keep his mind on a single subject for long, he never could. Now he was going on about a light in her bedroom. She did not even have light-bulbs in her lamps because sight was so unnecessary for her. She would eventually need a reading lamp to review the books she had stored away when Sousuke was not there. There was no reason for him to even be aware that she could see. "I have no lights... you know I am blind," Shiori replied, her voice laced with confusion.

Then she heard her mirror shatter outward as if something had burst out from the other side of the mirror. The ruckus the dog made and the tiny human's shivering protests placed the quarters into an uproar of sound. Then the second mirror burst as the first did. Shiori grabbed hold of the miniature person wrapped around her leg and held it in one arm, relinquishing her hold on the small stuffed animal she forgot she had also brought with her. Shiori followed the departing shards of glass into the hallway.

What the hell am I doing there?

Also, why do I look like that?

She recognized the form, but it was likely that Sousuke would not recognize this form. She was the personification of the desert - a vortex of energy and sound. The colors were wrong, this creature was almost aqua in hue. She wondered briefly if she should use the child as a bludgeoning weapon. It was a good thing she thought before she acted. Human children are squishy and more bouncy and fleshy than hard and painful. Rather, Shiori let out a shrill cry. The kind that should shatter glass.</FONTFACE>

AAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee! ​

<FONTFACE fontface="helvetica">

She released the child from her grasp and cupped it ears. As for Sousuke, it was his fault if he did not protect what was his. once the air had left her longs and she could make no more sound, she took a deep breath and prepared for a second screaming assault.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

When Shiori dropped Aki, Kitchy moved forward. The child wasn't hanging, his legs landed on the canine's back. Shiori's scream did nothing to the glass. She would see the original version of Kitchy which was the metallic stove version she used to hug. Aki on the other hand would be a very dirty child with more Inuzuka-ish features. The images remained for a time and they would darken as they became the background. An image appeared in the mirrors, Aki let out a cry of pain as he saw him. He who hurt his 'mine', he who was the reflection. What was broken by Sousuke, and thought to be dead... was apparently not. Death could be cheated. It only required the knowledge to do so, and more importantly it required patience. Both of which Kyouzou the Reflection had.

Spoiler

Kyouzou was slightly different now, strangely enough his hair colour was in some parts the same purple as Sousuke's. The muscle bound man growled. "Kyouzou the Mirror. Please to meet you ...You're not human. You're certainly not related to Sousuke by blood, how interesting..." He spoke. He stroked his chin. His image began to crack but it wasn't because of Shiori's scream. "Matters little. You won't cause much a problem for me." Aki let out another cry. Kyouzou's eyes narrowed further. Aki managed to get this far? Where was Okibi? Where was his little toy from before? . "Nice house. Shame if I were to bring it down on you. Unfortunately my powerset as it stands right now, that's not possible unless I reflect a power source." The image of Kyouzou bursted and transformed into a sand image like Shiori had. He reached out and attempted to conjure what power he could, but he couldn't it seemed. "I cannot manifest your power set. Hrmph. Matters little. I still have this from when I first fought Sousuke. It should be more than enough to deal with you." Kyouzou's image changed once more and turned into Sousuke's MkII design. This was the silver plated heavier design. Kyouzou held up his palms and began charging what was most likely Sousuke's own plasma chakra.

 

[Michi]

Shiori's banshee cry did nothing it would seem, but there was a statement of interest made by the mimic. The image was fleeting, as it cracked and a twisted image of Sousuke took her place. It made several keen observations, facts that it could have obtained from a wealth of sources truly but the creature seemed to at the very least claim that these assessments had been made on the fly.

Sousuke's form was more interesting to look at if it was not for the fact that a child was present. Shiori shielded the child's eyes from the glory that was nega-Sousuke's nipples. Her gaze was not entirely averted, alright it lingered. He went on making some threats, she was not entirely listening. "That's nice..." Shiori replied waving him off. "Could you--" she was about to ask him to flex his arms before the trance was broken by the addition of armaments. She wiped the corner of her mouth, was that drool? Maybe.

It was replicating an old skill set of Sousuke's. How long ago did Sousuke face this thing? When someone mimics someone else,they take on all their inherent flaws as well. That is the problem with taking something that already exists, when you do such you not only gain their benefits but also their deficits. "Sou-Sou, do you remember why you had to stop using the MKII?" Shiori called back to him, as she watched Kyouzou power-up for an attack. Shiori had a few tricks of her own, one was the ability to use EVERY Sand ninjutsu ever conceived shy of those possessed by those with a bloodline limit. "Overexposure to the diamond sands!" her hands snapped through an array of handseals, a torrent of sand was unleashed in a twisting wave. She was not going to bother attempting to evade the mirror's attacks, if it could only replicate an attack... it would take more than a handful to take her out. The MKII, on the other hand was a technological marvel in a way, it was just unfortunate that such works also have delicate gauges and gears that can easily get clogged with sand and debris.

"I have no idea what you are doing going from near naked to hoping in your armor Sou, but when we are done here we are going to need to have a chat." Shiori called over the rushing sands.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Kyouzou's eyes glowed red. What was she getting at? During his battle with Sousuke, Kyouzou realized it had weaknesses. Surely this woman wasn't clever enough to know of the overheating issue, or its weakness to... the mirror entity was hit by the sands. No. Not regular sands. Diamond sands. Kyozou could feel the grains clog and damage the internal working systems. The plasma attack did not go off as intended. This woman was clever. Kyouzou let out a pained howl as the technique hurt. It hurt like hell. "Damnable woman." The armour began to crack. He would have to abandon this form, and this body in particular. Did Sousuke keep his weaknesses close to him to keep him under control should something like this occur? Or was it that Sousuke was simply weak and was surrounded by entities of exceptional power? The image of Kyouzou shattered. Fragments of the mirror began to peel off of the wall, and a mass of fragments gathered and work their way down the hall way in the form of a twirling wave. The fragments peeled off from the wall and followed suit. Soon enough Shiori, Kitchy, and Aki were in the hallway as it was supposed to be.

The fragmented roughly took the form of a man. It had Kyouzou's features, except that it was sharp. There was a coughing noise. "What are you exactly?" He was wounded. Limping even now. The sound of a thud followed. If Shiori were to look back she'd find Sousuke on the floor coughing too now. Had Kyouzou possessed him? Was he part of the mirror moments ago that Shiori's attack had bested? " Hyakuhei was a fool. He should have looked deeper and further into the line of the Steward to find a new body. The Steward's strength lies not in his body, but his mind and his allies." The features that he had taken earlier from Sousuke were receding. The purple hair was fading back into pure white. Kyouzou proceeded to crystallize and again he broke up into mirror fragments. He was retreating further into the house. What devilish plot had he on his mind now? Sousuke's house had access to some of his techniques, but it also had a forge of which to make Fire Forge Steel with.

Kitchy let out a whimper as Sousuke coughed and hacked up bits of diamond sands. "We... can't let Kyouzou escape. We need to stop him here and now."<i></i> Had Sousuke beheld the image of Shiori from earlier? Maybe. Perhaps he had not. Given his current plight, he seemed to be far more concerned with dealing with Kyouzou than himself.

 

[Michi]

Her attack struck the monster; her 'green eyes' followed the creatures movements. The shards of glass that moved without limbs after being shattered. The hacking cough from behind her also caught her attention. Sousuke was suffering from a lungful of diamond shards. She could have followed the retreating hunks of glass, but she could care less about the fiend that haunted Sousuke's home. "Sousuke!" Shiori cried realizing the peril her cousin was in. She turned her back on the glass creature and attempted to slap Sousuke on the back hard. "Cough it up Sou-Sou! Cough it up now!" Shiori ordered, "BREATHE!"</COLOR><i></i>

The most notable thing was not a reflection of the injuries but rather the weapon she used was also replicated - her sands. It was an act of not only mimicry but a curse of shared torments. If such was true, she could simply KILL Sousuke and have the same result as one would have if she were to hunt down Kyouzou -- both would be killed. There was a caveat to this theory, the glass had a peculiar skill-set in addition to its eerie mimicry. The glass, representative of this copy skill most certainly she also could not be assured that there were not others who shared this bond beyond Sousuke or if it was limited to the form the creator was taking at a given moment.

She could melt the glass - making it a single plate. This would work if it was not for the fact that Sousuke himself would then be at a danger for melting also.

She could KILL Sousuke, it was possible that in killing Sousuke this creature would share his fate. In death the energies that were used to bind them would be severed because such power does not come without a price. It was within her skill-set to revive him even from the clutches of death. Theoretically, only Sousuke would be revived in the absence of a link. There was the quandary that perhaps others were linked, a brief consideration that after a moments more thought reminded her that the creature shared HER form and she was not suffering from a lung-full of diamond sands.

She frowned as she considered this possibility: killing Sousuke to save him. She could not. She would not. NO.

"We... can't let Kyouzou escape. We need to stop him here and now."

Her cousin demanded. <COLOR color="red">"It is already a dead-man walking..." Shiori replied lowly. If her theory was right that is. Shiori reached inside the folds of her robe, she had been sleeping armed since she moved into Sousuke's home but she was never much for daggers or small bladed weapons. It was small, it seemed insufficient to get the job done right but she did not need much.

Shiori started to sing. It was a low, haunting melody. The sweet notes rolled off her lips reaching only a tenor peak when the song reached its crescendo and then the notes came crashing down in a wave. She was going to put Sousuke to sleep and perhaps he would serve as a proxy for the mirror.

Shiori uses her song to cast a jutsu to knock Sousuke (and possibly Kyouzou) out.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke did as Shiori bid him to. He was continuing to cough up sands, and mixed in with blood now. Sousuke was used to this by now. It was no less than five times he had this happen to him. A small pile of sand mixed with blood was forming on the floor. The coughing was terrible and hacking. Kitchy and Aki froze in fear. Kitchy had seen this before once, but it wasn't as brutal as it was at this moment of time. Aki clung to the husky as he was fearful that his 'mine' was going to leave him. "Not dead."<i></i> Sousuke corrected Shiori as she thought Kyouzou was dying. "He replicated himself onto another reflective surface. Just because-"<i></i> The coughing over took him once more. Blood and sand again. "I shattered his replication before. He found something else to replicate off of. The MkII did have a reflective surface. It was possible he replicated himself--"<i></i> Sousuke again was coughing. Less sand was coming up now.

Sousuke didn't raise an eyebrow as Shiori removed a dagger. Given the attack of the Cabal he couldn't really blame her for wanting to be armed. He did raise an eyebrow as she began to sing. A few more coughs. The Steward began to feel heavy and tired. Like before Shiori had gotten the drop on him. This time it was far less surprising and a system shock. Her song had put him to sleep. Kitchy let out a while and poked at him with her nose. Sousuke wasn't waking up.

From below, Shiori would hear not the sound of a thud of Kyouzou falling. Instead she would hear the sound of Maximus letting loose a full roar. It would seem that Kyouzou had just entered the lion's den. Maxmimus did not take lightly to males. It was highly probably that the Lyron had intercepted him as a threat to the house hold. The stubborn male Lyron was probably now fighting the reflection as he did not take well to males, other than Sousuke. Another roar went off, as the sounds of shattering followed. Kyouzou was probably being attacked and defending himself, but given his skill set he could easily get away throughout the house.

Kitchy would turn to Shiori and let out a concerned whine. The canine got along well sharing the house with the Lyrons. She was concerned for the big oaf, but Sousuke was of far more greater concern. What now?

 

[Michi]

What Sousuke was stating made no sense. She attacked the creature with the diamond sands, a known weakness of the Steward's MK armors. It should have simply overheated, but instead of stopping Kyouzou in his tracks he apparently took another form. Sousuke blamed the reflective surface of his armor for how and why it was able to replicate him, but again even that did not hold water. SHE was not reflective, her true form was nothing but sparking sands mingled with the wind in a way that resembled the ether. The most interesting facet was the fact that Sousuke suffered the injuries of the Kyouzou. Pain is rarely shared, and such transfers were uncanny. She was going to kill him, and by him for the immediate that meant Sousuke. As her song lulled her beloved cousin to sleep, her heart ached. She listened for the mirror to drop, with her keen sense of sound sight was meaningless to her beyond the aesthetic.

ROAR!​

That was not the sound of a second body dropping to the floor. Again she heard the sound of shattering glass but she had done nothing to earn either of those sounds. She waited to see if Sousuke gained any new lacerations. If he did not, she would stop her song and start dragging him by the ankle as she followed the sounds of movement to wherever the Kyouzou had fled. IF Sousuke was right and it relied on reflective surfaces, it depended on the light. Fuujin's domain, not her own. However, she was capable of altering one's perception. A skill she had uncovered over the years, how it was relegated to her, she had no idea as Ancients were powerful beings indeed but they lacked the infinite potential mankind enjoyed. Ancients had rules they were compelled to follow, limiting their action and choice in ways that might initially seem petty but at times the barrier becomes insurmountable. She was the neutral arbitrator of life, but she did not feel nonpartisan to the fate of her kind.

She changed her song:

</COLOR></FONTFACE>

"يجب أن تصل إلى حدود الفضيلة، قبل عبور الحدود من الموت. "

"كيف مجيد سقوط الباسلة، والسيف في يده، أمام معركة من أجل وطنهم!

"قوموا، ووريورز، واتخاذ موقفكم في أحد الجانبين لآخر، وضعت لدينا أقدام واسعة وعميقة مثل السنديان في الأرض. "

"... نتعلم أن نحب الحبر الأسود الظل الموت بقدر ما كنت أحب ضوء الفجر. "

'هنا هو الشجاعة، وأرقى حيازة البشرية، وهنا هو أنبل الجائزة ان شابا يمكن أن تسعى للفوز ".​

<i></i><FONTFACE fontface="helvetica">

<COLOR color="darkred">Perception was relegated to the shadows, as the inky dark veil covered over perceivable sight she watched. Her fingers still wrapped tightly around Sousuke's ankle, awaiting for him to stir. She should have turned him over so that she was dragging him along his back, but she did not consider this while she was on the hunt.

WC: 399

{MFT}​

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke was being dragged about. Thankfully the floor was not carpet, or else the Steward would have suffered severe carpet burn. That not being the case, his face skidded across hardwood flooring. This was worse. Significantly worse. Soon enough Sousuke woke up with a burning sensation down the side of his face. "Why am I being used as a mop, to mop the floor with? This is not how housekeeping works Shiori. This ... is ... painful."<i></i> Sousuke turned himself slightly so he would now be on his side. Kitchy and Aki were following Shiori who was approaching the stairs. "Ah... no... you're not dragging me down the stairs in this fashion. This is going to hurt even more."<i></i> The Steward braced himself. This was going to hurt and hurt badly. Metal plates began to shift out of his flesh and begin coating him.

The sounds of roaring occured once more. Sousuke then sort of snapped into realization that Kyouzou was still present in the house. "How long have I been out for?"<i></i> He asked. Kitchy let out a whine. Unfortunately the Steward wasn't able to decipher what the whine meant. What followed was that his pet had licked his face. She didn't have an answer, but it seemed that she was grateful that he was okay. "Right. So. Kyouzou. I have to assume he's picked a fight with Maximus now. This is slightly concerning as Maximus's pelt can offer a reflective image. He can perhaps translate himself onto it. Maximus is very ... well, aside from myself or dad he ... does not tolerate other males in the house. Animals usually have the ability to detect something wrong quicker than we do. It's very strange, but also very fascinating."<i></i> Sousuke folded his arms now trying to think of a way on how to best Kyouzou. "We need to isolate him somehow. Obviously we need to prevent him from regenerating Again. Perhaps if we could get him to reflect himself unto a mirror, and then crack that mirror and place it in a space with absolutely no other reflections or ... surfaces. We could also try getting him to replicate, and then perhaps interefere with him during the regeneration process placing him into a state of constant regeneration that never ends."<i></i> Sousuke hesitated as he looked up at his cousin. "... How did you get diamond sand into the house by the way? You haven't been trying to collect various coloured sands again are you?"<i></i> He inquired. It would seem that he didn't see the inversion or true image of Shiori when this all started.

A blur of red could be seen as Maximus seemed to be thrown. The lion went through the table breaking it in two quite easily. The Steward frowned. "I guess cats don't always land on their feet. Fascinating. He does require our assistance it would seem."<i></i> The lion rolled himself over and then pounced into another room. Again the sound of something shattering was heard.

 

[Michi]

Sousuke was conscious again, that was good. She let go of him shortly after he regained awareness, part way down the stairs. It was likely that he completed his descent much like a toboggan would. His metallic plates clinked and clamored down the stairwell, creating a refractory image of the space as he met the bottom. He went on to ask how long he slumbered. It was not long, the epoch could me be measured in moments rather than minutes even. "A few minutes,</COLOR><i></i> Shiori replied overestimating the time he was out because time always seemed to move more slowly when one attempts to be aware of it. Time had an uncanny habit of deviating from the norm in response to perception or in retaliation of necessity. Apparently Kyouzou had discovered a lion's den and of all things, his lion happened to have a reflective coat. That made about as much sense as stating a diamond was soft and liable in its true form, but in all likelihood it was not a true lion that Sousuke housed. A mechanical creation, much like the inert turned flesh 'Kitchy.'

Her song summoned the darkness, but despite the lack of perceived light Sousuke recommended isolating this mysterious creature in a place where it could find no other reflective surfaces or to shatter it while in a mirrored state. The later seemed almost redundant and the former suggested that it required, as previously inferred, a reflective surface to regenerate. There was once a wives-tale that chronicled the fauna of the mirrors. In that story the emperor trapped these devious creatures into mirrors that stole from them their form. This creature, however, derived its power from mirrors so it would favor rather than shun reflective surfaces. He mentioned a continual state of regeneration, another impossibility considering it would require an active, continual effort to constantly destroy the entity. Such a trap would need to be built and maintained. This was hardly an S-Class threat. Thus far, its power-set was inconsistent and relatively weak because it could only mimic the skill and form of others. Looking the part and having the propensity to be or to do something is a far cry from being something else. "I can bury him in the sands then,"<i></i> Shiori replied simply. In the dark, unforgiving earthen cocoon when it died in whatever organic form it had chosen, it would not have a surface to reflect onto.

<COLOR color="red">"I just manipulated the sands that were present, perhaps Uncle or someone else had a store of sand," Shiori answered, offering up a simple lie. She saw the oddly colored lion doing battle with the unseen Kyouzou. Shiori let out a sigh as her hands ran through a series of hand seals once again, this time summoning a fresh wave of sand that rolled in after the lion. The sound of shattering glass and the relative reflection of Maximus meant that Kyouzou would regenerate once again. The reverberating sound that ricocheted off the walls and organic surfaces gave Shiori a clear view of the room adjacent. She attempted to ensconce Kyouzou in the diamond sands. The form it had chosen utterly irrelevant. If there was a problem determining which was the lion and which was the monster she would simply spread her attack so that it assaulted the pair rather than a singular target.

MFT

WC: 558

 

[Takahashi Aki]

At the mention of burying the floor level in sand, Aki threw up his arms and declared sand in a childish chanting way. Sousuke on the other hand did not seem impressed with the idea of having sand in his house. Shiori was manipulating it, but ... it was just going to make a larger mess. Sousuke opened his mouth, and then closed it. When he closed his mouth again, Maximus had been sent crashing through a wall. Susuke gritted his teeth this was not going to go well. Maximus in anger pounced right back at Kyouzou who's image now just a series of fragments peiced together to form something of a humanoid form. The Lyron went right through Kyouzou and the fragments scattered only to reform again, except this time he was caught by Shiori's sands. The fragments were crunched and further broke down.

"I don't know if breaking him down further is going to get us any closer to having him vanquished."<i></i> Sousuke observed. As he finished his sentence, the fragments of the mirror crawled out and transformed the entire room into a mirror.

Kyouzou was reflected in each of the walls. His image was scarred, beaten, and damaged heavily. He did not look happy. The mirror-man formed hand seals and caused his image to disperse this time replacing himself with images of ... oddly enough Mikaboshi standing in the same position Sousuke. Shiori in turn would see what she wanted most. Sousuke gritted his teeth. He looked down seeing the defeated image of Kaito beneath him. Was this truly what he wanted most? The desire to truly become Mikaboshi and to have defeated Kaito entirely once and for all. The images of course shattered, turning then into Tama and Okibi. Sousuke's eyes narrowed. He reached forward and shielded Aki's eyes. He did not wish to see his great-ward see this. At this site, Sousuke would grow most unnerved. His eyes seemed to glass over. With a free hand he proceeded to raise up his palm and emitted a plasma blast. The image shattered again, but now he was staring at multiples of it.

"It is easy to peer into the hearts of men and ... things that should be women." Kyouzou taunted once more. His image now coming back into multiple views due to Sousuke opening fire. A smirk surfacing on his features. "Now then. What image or heart strings shall I pull on next hm? How about an image of death?" The Kyouzous released a storm of sword-like shards upon Sousuke, Shiori, and Aki. Sousuke quickly ran through hand seals and conjured walls of earth to erupt from the ground to block the attacks.

"We have to get him out of the mirrors."<i></i> Sousuke shook his head. "Apologies my dear Shiori. Rather frustrating he is. I certainly didn't mean to drag you into this. Can you mass-shatter the mirrors once again. Once he comes out, I'm going to try and seal him so he moves slower. Then maybe we can work on something more permanent."<i></i>

 

[Michi]

Her sands further diminished the mirror fragments, like broken jewels in the night.

"I don't know if breaking him down further is going to get us any closer to having him vanquished."

"I can keep killing him until he runs out of strength, everything has a terminal point!"<i></i> Shiori yelled as her longer spindly fingers ran through another series of signs. Each tight manipulation of her fingers, precise and proficient. A howling gale erupted in the household, a vortex of wind and screams that kicked up the diamond sands that spilled onto the floor. Within the eye of the storm: Sousuke, Aki, Shiori and Lyon as she spread her vortex to the edges of the living-space. Arcing sparks fell from Shiori's hands, as she released a chain of lightning bolts blindly assaulting anything that moved outside of their chosen space. She would kill this creature over and over again...

She saw it just then, on the wall. The one thing she wanted more than anything else as clear as day. "Brothers..." he voice cracked as she saw the scene unfurl. Homura, wreathed in flame standing alongside Homura under the glory of the brilliant mid-day sun. The golden dunes were placid, just a gentle cool breeze. Despite the lack of inland water, the earth was teaming with life. Her eyes burned as she watched the scene, her brothers both stoic the way they always were when not enjoying the heat of battle. She was smiling, but crying also. "Why did you have to die..." She muttered through gritted teeth, her words laced with anger and pain. They were incompetent... insufficient... incapable of handling a tribe of cattle that rose up against them. A single slave stood against them both and mortally wounded them as a pair. It tugged at the sinews of her heart today as it had even then. She loved but was truly incapable of it. She hated and feared but she was bound by her nature from expressing or experiencing it. The desert does not love, nor does it hate. It is a neutral, harsh, silent arbitrator. The storm... her wrath and will manifest, but cursed to never be able to focus the source of her pain.

Humans...

They were so lucky. Lucky to have choice, free-will. To love and to live, to fight and to die for what they believed in. Something she never could... But she was, just now. She was choosing to fight, something she could not do before. Something stopped her that day the madwoman slaughtered all those patients. Despite her potential, she was easily felled by a single man when she tried to disarm the bomb. Even before... back in the time of the Sunahoshi and the first men, she fought Nori. But why... and how? What gave her this choice then and what gives her this choice now? Nothing had changed, but this changed everything. "I'm free?"

"It is easy to peer into the hearts of men and ... things that should be women."<i></i>

"I have no heart,"<i></i> Shiori replied. "I have choice and ambition, focus and will," Shiori reasoned. I never missed them, but social context told her that she should. She did not love Sousuke, but again what else is there to be between a man and a woman? She created these emotions for herself, but she had none by nature as that was impossible. She was emulating humanity, trying to have what they had. So loved, but she did not. She regretted and hated, but she did not... she could not, at least not in the way of a human. But she could choose to tell herself that she loved. That she missed. That she would protect. Perhaps that was true for humans as well, they felt nothing truly but they fooled themselves into believing that there was something more to their otherwise hollow shell. "You see my ambition, a goal I have chosen and nothing more." her voice deepening as she spoke.

"Now then. What image or heart strings shall I pull on next hm? How about an image of death?"</COLOR><i></i>

The mirror threatened. <COLOR color="red">"Parlor tricks are futile." Shiori contended. As was this continual smash and dash game she and Sousuke were playing. The darkness did not prevent the Kyouzou from reflecting off another reflective surface meaning that there was no need for light. The fact that it manifested mirrors suggested that a reflective surface was not necessary. Finally, this mirror was not running a-muck in the village, only here. It was bound to this house. "You are trapped here... you cannot leave this space," Shiori ruled. "I can simply smash every mirror in this house until you disappear because one belongs to you, and if that fails I can simply destroy this building and by proxy you as well. Return to your mirror-home and cease your troublesome behavior." Shiori concluded, her voice mildly disgusted.

"We have to get him out of the mirrors."

"Apologies my dear Shiori. Rather frustrating he is. I certainly didn't mean to drag you into this. Can you mass-shatter the mirrors once again. Once he comes out, I'm going to try and seal him so he moves slower. Then maybe we can work on something more permanent."<i></i>

Shiori shook her head silently. She could but the repetition would continue. "I can... and will unless he submits."

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Kyouzou didn't seem to take well to the defense Sousuke had created. The mirror blades shattered upon impact with the earthen walls. "Heart be it the one that beats in your chest, or the instrument that lets you have ambition and choice. I have seen what I need to. You're a dangerous one. Curious why you've chosen your company." The mirror entity reformed into his human state. He eyed where Shiori was standing. So very curious she was. Hyukahei had he lived, would have been very interested in this ... spirit that housed an improper body. Perhaps if his allies hadn't fallen, the three of them may have been able to seal her and make use of her power set. Containing her would be difficult. He certainly could do that now.

Kyouzou's eyes narrowed as Shiori had figured out his limits. She was smart. Perhaps smarter than Sousuke in fact. Kyouzou in fact was trapped her. This was where the MkII armour was housed for a time. It was damaged but he had printed himself onto one of the chakra crystals that was in the chest cavity. "This is far too much fun. I haven't been out in a while." Kyouzou grinned. He began to transform once again. He tried to replicate Shiori's form from their initial engagement. His image turning into grains of diamond sand. It was difficult to maintain. Each and every grain of sand had to be kept together. As the barriers finally lowered, he was blasted with another sand jutsu, but the follow up was surprising. Sousuke hurl at Kyouzou a molten blade upon impact, he felt his moves restricted as he was being heated up. Sousuke in turn then swung his Black Blade and unleashed a series of shadows at him. The shadows smothered him and forced the magma to cool down. Kyouzou fought and tried to move but he was being restrained by the Steward's attack.

"Well. That should do it..."<i></i> Just as he finished his sentence, Kyouzou broke down once again. The fragments fell to the ground. A hand rose up from the fragments, trying to form once again. Sousuke's eyes narrowed. He tried a molten sealing, and tried to stop Kyouzou from re-forming. Unfortunately it seemed that his nemesis had broken himself at will and was once more trying to reform. "He is persistent."<i></i> Sousuke observed as Kyouzou was putting himself back together. The Steward again tried to stop Kyouzou from reforming. He formed through hand seals and crafted an iron coffin to bind Kyouzou in. "He's trapped for now. I suppose we could resort to your school of thinking and just keep obliterating him until there is nothing left."<i></i> It was a possibility that the simplest answer being destruction could be the most successful.

 

[Michi]

"Heart be it the one that beats in your chest, or the instrument that lets you have ambition and choice. I have seen what I need to. You're a dangerous one. Curious why you've chosen your company."

Choice is an illusion for an ancient, they are bound to their nature. Everyone and everything has limitations, Suna was no different. She watched everything she knew wash away in a tide of blood while she watched stoically from afar. She regretted this, somehow. She emulated remorse perhaps and made undoing this wrong her penance. As Chikara's terrible blade reminded her, she only had a human vessel and all other aspects of humanity were merely a fabrication. A blade intended to fell an ancient did so with utter precision. She shoulder still charred from where the blade had cut into her nights earlier. It still burned. As for why she chose Sousuke, it was providence that their paths would cross, her amnesic state for the last two decades allowed her the illusion of humanity to pervade her construct of reality. Enlightened, or at least cognizant of what once was did not than change her perception of the world around her, it gave gravity to the differences between humans and ancients. "Because I love him," Shiori answered honestly but also lied. She could not love him, that was not something she was capable of: actual emotion. She had emulated feelings to the point even he was fooled. The desert does not feel, does not hold favor, does not seek to compensate or persecute. The desert is a stable, harsh and unyielding thing. Yet somehow, something tugged at the sinews of her inexorable heart.

"This is far too much fun. I haven't been out in a while."

It replicated Shiori once again. That was a mistake, at least replicating her in that form. Everyone and everything has limitations, Suna was no different. She watched everything she knew wash away in a tide of blood while she watched stoically from afar. She regretted this, somehow. She emulated remorse perhaps and made undoing this wrong her penance. It is ironic how the things she could not have were the things she desired most. She would never be human, something Chikara's terrible blade reminded her, she only had a human vessel and all other aspects of humanity were merely a fabrication. She did not want to be human, in most ways they were insufficient but there was the divine right of choice that the whole of man possessed and she nor her brothers did. They only existed and acted as per their nature. The destructive force of brother flame and the raw domination of brother sky. The indignity of falling to cattle, even with a blade intended to fell an ancient with utter precision. She shoulder still charred from where the blade had cut into her nights earlier. It still burned.

Shattering Kyouzou with his Takahashi-forged steel blade rather than with brute force would perhaps have damaged him utterly. Rather, a torrent of sand erupted from Kyouzou, countered by the plasma heat of the Steward's attacks.

"Well. That should do it..."

"Thank God," Shiori exhaled. Then again this mundane cycle without rule where the glass shattered and tried to flee. This tedious cycle seemed to go on and on until someone relented.

"He is persistent."

Sousuke commended as he sealed it away. Now in a box. Latch it, lock it and throw away the key. Hopefully it would be over if it was just out away in a dark little box left in a corner somewhere.

"He's trapped for now. I suppose we could resort to your school of thinking and just keep obliterating him until there is nothing left."<i></i>

"You'd have to open the box for me to break it again," Shiori replied. "Just put it into something durable and lock it up," Shiori suggested. This would save them some work, especially considering the fact that they did not know for a fact if the mirror would finally shatter wholly after sustaining enough damage enough times.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke rubbed his forehead with his hand as he considered what Shiori suggested. "Yes... yes that would be for the best."<i></i> Sousuke prepared another iron coffin to seal the already sealed Kyouzou. "I'm sorry Shiori. Sorry that you got dragged into this. This is one of the foes I fought on the surface during the Cabal assault. I had thought I had destroyed him entirely, but that didn't seem to be the case."<i></i> He picked up the container which now contained his nemesis. This seal would do for now. He would in time make something far more permanent to lock him up, once and for all. "Things haven't been the same for me since the Cabal attack, or rather the conclusion of it."<i></i> He gritted his teeth, there was something he wanted to tell her, but he seemed to have difficulty in doing so. "You ever ... having that feelings you cannot go back to the way things were?"<i></i> He asked. His hands gripping the construct that housed Kyouzou. "No matter how much you want things to go back to the way things were, you simply cannot. Be it ... a change in the landscape, or a change in the humors, or ... the simple fact one goes through their bodily changes as they approach their teenage years?"<i></i> This was probably not the best way to go about describing it.

"Forget about it."<i></i> Now was not the time to go about this. After all, the whole lot of them just dealt with Kyozou. The house was in a mess, and at least three of them were injured. Maximus would lick up his own wounds as he was far too prideful to let himself be healed by another... with the exception it being Sousuke or that well endowed medic known as Shuu. That would lead Sousuke to inquiring about Shiori next. "Are you hurt? I... can do some simple healing techniques, but if it is something more serious we'll need to visit the hospital. I'm operating at moderate levels."<i></i> With Shiori no one could ever be sure if she was truly healthy or not. One moment she was fine, the other moment she had hurt herself upon something, and then ... in other times she was kissing a cactus which was most deplorable. Sill though it was a wonder that for the most part neither of them had taken serious damage.

(MFT)

 

[Michi]

As Sousuke locked away whatever that thing was, Shiori hoped that they saw the last of it. In Sunagakure, nothing was ever gone forever it would seem. More than likely eventually the locks would corrode, the hinges would rust and crack and all matter of things that housed that presence would crumble away. Shiori frowned, she knew what it was like to be 'trapped' someplace for years. The hunger, the predatory sense that overwhelms judgement and fear. This would only defer an eventual battle, perhaps to a day when she was stronger, more capable.

"Things haven't been the same for me since the Cabal attack, or rather the conclusion of it."

Sousuke admitted. This was something Shiori was keenly aware of, despite avoiding a direct conversation regarding it. She did not know what happened at the gates, she was dying in a hospital bed when they had their final battle with that team of anarchists. "I know," Shiori admitted with a frown as she wrung her hands. He was not the same, he had not treated her like he once had but she did not approach him as she once had either. It was hard to look him in the eye when she thought about it. About what she had done and what she would eventually have to do.

"You ever ... having that feelings you cannot go back to the way things were?"</B><i></i>

"It is because they can't,"<i></i> Shiori echoed, sadness resonating with her voice. Both of them had changed, in ways too numerous to list. She had no idea what Sousuke went through on the surface or how it changed him, but she knew it had. Even if he was the same, she could not see him as she once did. It was not that her feelings for him had faltered, rather a sense of introspective guilt. "But you're safe now," Shiori added. She knew he was safe, because he was home. With her. She would never let anything happen to him ever again.

"No matter how much you want things to go back to the way things were, you simply cannot. Be it ... a change in the landscape, or a change in the humors, or ... the simple fact one goes through their bodily changes as they approach their teenage years?"

Shiori let out a sigh. "I am sorry Sou, but things will get better." She frowned, her eyes downcast. She wished that she could go back as well, back to the oblivious fool she once was. An identity she still must endure, but with a mind far too old and proud to rest as such. There was nothing for her here but betrayal that she would bring, something she did not want. Not like this. Not any more.

"Forget about it."

Sousuke dismissed, something Shiori was not about to debate. Not talking about problems always makes them go away. At least they are forgotten about for a little while longer and she can tell herself pretty little lies that everything is fine... everything is the same and that nothing will change.

"Are you hurt? I... can do some simple healing techniques, but if it is something more serious we'll need to visit the hospital. I'm operating at moderate levels."

"I am fine," Shiori lied. She had not suffered any injuries beyond a few scratches that have already started to heal from the shattering glass. She was, however, still recovering from her scuffle with Homura that nearly took her life permanently. She had no idea who that nice man was that pulled her from that alley, nor did she know the fate of her friend who was no longer there when she back-tracked to that same bar hours later. She was worried about him, but he too had changed... changed into something she could not even recognize. "I'll take the short one to bed, get some sleep Sou..."<i></i> Shiori recommended as she tried to walk off and find that strange child that could not talk for whatever reason.

<B>Attempts to Leave Topic?​

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