Our story starts over 25 years ago, back when the days were long, and bread was not readily available for those who lived with the eternal sands of time. A small cottage rested on a soft plane, shied away from those ever-changing dunes of sand, its body was constructed from a earthen material and topped with several rolls of yellow hay; which had long-since dried up from the sun's warmth. Oba Kinnaku, the eldest of three, was always second-mother to her younger siblings as her parents often worked hard on maintaining the corps, which would more-often-than-not die, and leave the family struggling to address their hunger needs. Oba Kansho, named after the delicious 'Oba Sweet Potato', was the youngest of the three. And then there was the middle child, their brother; Oba Kanjuku, who was named after the ripeness of their delicious crops.
However, their parents found the struggle of life too much for them to handle, as they had struggled ever since the first child was born, and now they had three mouths' to feed. For as long as Kinnaku could remember, her parents were unable to feed everyone - they often went hungry so that their children could eat - which was debilitating to them, and their crops, as they did not maintain the energy needed to actually work on their fields.
It wasn't long till life got the better of the two adults, whom would later escape their troubles by joining a cult. They had discovered this cult after one of their travels to a nearby village while purchasing cheap seeds. The cult offered them a quick escape from the dreadful life that they so harsh-fully led. Kinnaku had to take command and protect her siblings, but what could she do but ration the remaining meals that their parents lazily left, mostly uncooked? They lasted two weeks before all hope was lost and the elder sister took the lives of Kansho and Kanjuku by drowning them in a cold bath, the source of water was the last remaining source of water primarily used for irrigation of crops. The children believed that they were being treated by having a bath, it felt so warm to them, despite the water being chilled.
After Kinnaku had done the deed, drowning her kin, she left to die amongst the grains of minerals. She was dead-set on dying, especially after what she did, but on that day something intervened and didn't want her to die. Kinnaku met a man, a healer, named Kinpatsu; who took her in and cared for her. He would, however, have alternative motives and mislead the girl into an illusion of love and trap her in a vile scheme of abuse, rape and indecent exposure. The rest is history, Kinnaku escaped and made it to Sunagakure - where she made a name for herself and became the Sennin, however...
Kinpatsu, having obtained all that the girl knew, would return to that little dried up cottage and begin a devilish deed. You see, this healer was a well-versed veteran of the dark arts, black magic some my say, but ultimate this form of technique is called: Kinjutsu. He made his way to the cottage and obtained Kansho and Kanjuku's body, which he would reanimate using an unknown form of medical ninjutsu that seemed to be intertwined with the Dark Sage. However, this technique's side-effects were vastly unknown and one side-effect was the 'living animation', as Kinpatsu came to call it. What this meant was that the reanimated persons would age naturally, effectively they would be granted a second life.
Skipping forward 25 years, now a Sennin of the Medical Branch, Oba has settled into a new life - still troubled by the death of her siblings. And it was only recently that the woman received word from Kinpatsu via a photograph depicting the child naked and being abused by the fiend himself. It was at that point that she hired her own personal guard, Asagao. However, she was still very unsettled by this recent development and so wanted to make the first steps in ending this on-going nightmare. Kinnaku hired two mercenaries to find Kinpatsu, both of which were highly skilled in tracking techniques and were both urged on by the large bonus they would receive if Kinpatsu was found within a day or two.
It had only been a day before she had heard word back from the two hired eyes and ears. They had sent Kinnaku a message, carried by a bird, which reached the woman hastily. Kinnaku, who sat at her large desk, opened the tiny scroll with her two hands and cleared her throat - preparing for good news, or bad, but regardless preparing. The tiny words were a strain on her dark hues but she managed to clear up some of the smudges, caused by writing down the message and rolling up the scroll too quickly.
"They've found him?" Kinnaku would throw herself back against her throne like chair, holding a smile down but not a smile of happiness - well, not entirely - her expression was one of content, yes, but disbelief and even anger. Why would he come back? Wasn't he pleased with the way he had taken advantage of the girl, a defenseless creature too innocent for one's own good? Although you can debate her innocence if she was able to kill those she loved, even if it was for suitable reason. The Sennin would scoff, shaking her head and throwing down the tiny scroll/note onto the surface of the table, where it skidded and tumbled to a stop.
All of a sudden, Kinnaku felt resentful and angry towards the situation, even regretting hiring those two strangers to track down Kinpatsu. Why would she dig up her past? Even if this man, this vile creature, instigated those feelings; she responded. Within the note, it would contain a location of where the Sennin was to meet the hired mercenaries. She didn't want to now... Something was tugging on her heart strings, telling her to avoid this situation; bury your past and leave it alone. Kinnaku would arch over her body, running her polished purple nails through her crimped, short black hair and sighing with a deep breath. Her hair covering her face would mask the build up of tears, which dangled on the edge of her eye lashes and would then fall in steady motion until they bombarded the desk with their salty truths.
Kinnaku was a Sennin now, you weren't allowed to cry... She sobbed softly against the silence of her office, where the artificial light of her lamp only lit up a portion of the room. Slowly, she rested her head upon the face of the desk and continued to weep for sometime afterwards. But the woman found herself in an odd position, after drying her eyes, she would shake her head and cough up a smile. She had to pay the hired personnel anyway, so she had to go; one really didn't need some angry men looking for payment, did they?
Moving away from the desk, her throne, the Sennin would walk towards the door - extending her arm so that she reached her coat hanger, grasping her grey duffle coat with her soft fingers. Hesitatingly, she would exit the office and make her way from the corridor over to the elevator. "You can do this..." She said bracingly, hoping to encourage herself with words that really didn't mean anything to herself - she really knew how she felt; mixed emotions. Kinnaku didn't want to go, but there was another part of her that wanted to end this and used the guise of 'I need to pay them' to finish off the plot line that hadn't yet ended.
Kinnaku would exit the elevator and make her way across the empty lobby, her heels clanking against the sterile surface as she waved softly to the nighttime receptionist. She would give her farewells, hoping that the Sennin would have a pleasant night, which would cause Kinnaku to pause; holding her hand against the door, half opened. After a few awkward moments she would nod her head with a smile, opening the door entirely and exiting the complex. The walk from the Hospital was long, it was a cold night, and at that point the Sennin could be only glad for the existence of duffle coats, those warm and cuddly jackets that didn't want to let go of you, as much as you didn't want to let go of it.
After an hour or so of walking, the woman approached an alleyway, the allocated location of where she would meet the two mercenaries. However, there was nothing but a vent that burped odd volumes of gas every-now-and-again. The Sennin's heart went every so often, thrashing against her chest as the tips of her fingers became numb and her legs turned to jelly. Where are they, she would ponder as her hands stiffened inside of her pockets as her head scanned from left to right. The alleyway was blocked off on the opposite side by a large wall; typical. Kinnaku would roll her eyes, regretting coming here, but finding the cliche meeting spot something of a humerus endeavor.
"Kinnaku-san..." A feminine voice would echo out from behind the woman, particularly where the wall stood. She turned to see a shady figure standing at the wall's body, where a second shady figure would seep into sight; their feet and knees the only solid-looking thing in-sight. The remaining outline of their body was untrustworthy. "It's good to see you again." A male voice would add, his tone sounding more upbeat than the previous voice. "I got your note, so, you found Kinpatsu?" Kinnaku would retort, cutting straight to the point and not dilly-dallying around her unease. But why would the woman be steadily filled with unease? She was meeting these hired mercenaries or maybe it was because they weren't to be trusted... Or perhaps it was because they had said: 'It's good to see you again'... Again.
They hadn't met before this point, the only contact was through mail.
"Yes, we have, Kinnaku-san." The woman would add as she stepped forward, revealing appearance to the Sennin; who wasn't particularly startled by her shamanistic attire. She had purple painting, which created several markings on her face, giving her a unique look. "Although, that is because we work for him." And there it was, a segment of news that wasn't very startling for the realistic Kinnaku, a woman who tended to look on the negative things when it came down to something about herself, especially if it had something to do with her troubled past. "Of course you are..." She sighed, pinching her fingers together and rubbing her temples. "So, I take it you're going to take me to Kinpatsu and kill me or something, right?"
Sharply, the Sennin stumbled backwards as a flash of light replaced where the girl once stood - almost immediately reappearing beside her, arching her body against Oba's and embracing her with such a tight grip. "W-we missed you, Kin..." The woman, now fully visible, would be identified wearing furred styled clothing, but more importantly, her eyes; those precious jet gems were reddened and sore, they were bleeding salt. Kinnaku stood, astonished as her memory failed her, although the quivering that riddled her body did not seize; it was as if her body remembered this girl, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
A side-effect due to memory suppression from all those years of trauma. The fur-coated woman would pull back, still embracing her, but settling her baby gems on her older sister, the one who murdered her and their brother. "She doesn't remember... K-Kansho." He hesitates, his voice shaking at the mention of his sisters name and the reason for that would be because of Kinnaku's reaction, she wouldn't believe anything that the two told her. Eyes shaking in disbelief, tears dribbling from her hues, the Sennin shook her head and pushed off the clinging woman from her personal space. "Don't you dare!" She would declare, pointing her finger as it shook at the memory of the two people she truly loved. "You obviously work for Kinpatsu, right?! And he knows everything about them, so what makes you think I'd even let you whisper their names as if you are them?!" Oba would raise her hand, releasing a swarm of Kikai, wrapping her comrades around the supposed Kansho's neck with a thin tether of Kikai dangling back to the Sennin's hand.
"Kin, don't do that to her!" The man, who would presumably be Kanjuku, would rush forward but be intercepted by a slurry of Kikai, who would forcibly knock back the shamanic dressed man; knocking off his bone mask as he made contact with the cobbled wall. "Kinny!" Kansho would exclaim, trying to fit her fingers underneath the Kikai collar.
Rage built up within the normally composed woman.
Kansho, releasing her struggle as the reanimated life within her was leaving her, but slowly she raised her hand from the collar and stretched her fingers towards Kinnaku's head. Shockingly, the young woman made contact; closed her eyes and focused. "Please, remember..."
Flashback:
Two children, who seemed pretty malnourished, sat at a table stuffing their tiny faces with juicy meats and savory sweets. Kansho, a young girl, would politely nibble into her plate while her brother, oh boy, he would have seemingly lost all humanity and began to eat like a pig. "Kanjuku... Your manners." She would stop, holding a piece of chicken close to her mouth, with an authoritative expression on her face. Truly, she was the younger sister of Kinnaku. However, their moments rest would end as a crooked middle-aged man entered the room with a slick smile upon his face. He looked off, there was something about him that seemed to cause the two children to become wary. "Hello, my little babies! How are you feeling?" He would ask, taking a seat across from Kanjuku as Kansho sat at the head of the table.
The two remained silent as the left their food unfinished with awkward expressions upon their tiny, dirty little faces. Their memories were jumbled only remember taking a chilled bath before bedtime. "Do you like this food?" Kinpatsu would add, lifting a plate from the center of the decorative collection of food, and would fill up the plate with a massive ladle full of mashed potatoes; creamy wisps. Kanjuku would nod his head, giving the man a smile, as he occasionally glanced back down to his half-finished plate. "Where is Kinnaku?" Kansho asked, cutting straight to the chase, as she knew something was off about this entire situation. "She asked me to take care of you two! She's going to a big village, she left you just like your parents. So, be grateful that I was available." Kinpatsu would add painfully, reminding the children that they were orphans in their own right, but no, they couldn't believe that their older sister would have left them... But was the truth any better?
Years had past and the truth was slowly revealed the the children as they were obviously catching on to the secrets of this healer. They reacted as any would, they were angry and disappointed at Kinnaku but then, after only days, they were saddened deeply that their sister had to make that Hellish choice. She had to kill the things she couldn't protect, to save them from dying a starving death... But now look at what happened... They were puppets for Kinpatsu, a horrid man, who had bound the two spirits into their old bodies: living dolls.
It wasn't long till the two began to resent Kinpatsu, hating him from binding them to another life, causing their sister pain. So, they had decided to instigate a plan; one that would deceive Kinpatsu and make him truly believe that they were on his side. Kinpatsu would sent a letter to Kinnaku, a photograph really, showing the rape and torture the girl went through at a young age - although this, at the time, deeply angered the two spirits - and from there on, Kinnaku would begin to bring up her past. And it would be at that point that Kansho and Kanjuku would pose as two tracking mercenaries, although this was the most riskiest part of the plan; it seemed far too convenient that the Sennin would just happen to stumble across two mercenaries out of the blue...
But it worked, she fell for it, probably due to her mental state of confusion and worry.
They planned all this, for years in fact, so that they could get to see their sister one last time before they disappeared for good.
End of Flashback:
Kinnaku, after receiving the memory, would undo her technique and drop the supposed Kansho onto the ground; the Sennin stumbling backwards in disbelief. "You're not..."She would say, digging her head into her hands as the tears swelled up. Her heart, that big obvious muscle with no emotional capacity, was screaming at her, screaming for her to have some belief in these two. But she really didn't need any more convincing, Kinnaku never told Kinpatsu that her nickname was 'Kinny'... Never. It was always a joke between the three as 'Kinny' was the name of their favourite bedtime story hero.
Kanjuku and Kansho regrouped, the brother holding onto his fallen sister with tears filling his eyes. "We've know what you did... And we..." He would choke on his own words for a moment, "We love you, Kinny!"
Kinnaku would drop to her knees, scuffing the skin, as she dropped her hands but clasped them in almost a prayer fashion. Her face was red, so strained by the enormous feeling of relief at her brother's words - she didn't need more evidence to prove who they were, her body tingled at their presence; it remembered for her. "K-Kansho, Kanjuku...!" The Sennin would move forward, crawling almost, as she reached the two; wrapping her motherly arms around them as the three sobbed together. Ultimate bliss, the purest feelings in the world...
But suddenly, their bodies would shake and wither, their skin turning rough and flaking at the touch. Kinnaku, who's eyes were blurred with tears, would pull back and observe her dissolving siblings as she frantically was lost for words; holding them closer. "We've been waiting for so long, we never listened to him..." Kansho would add with a happy tone, something she wasn't able to express since her reanimation. "But we'll look over you now, Kinnaku... It's our turn to be the older siblings." Kanjuku, a boy now a man, would sat as he put his arm around the Sennin's head and kissed her soft head of hair.
A softly blue glow emanated from their chests, a source of light full of life and energy. Their bodies withered away into dust, mixing in with the air and causing the Sennin to hold onto nothing but shadows. However, as her eyes shut tightly, she would notice a blaring light breaching through her closed lids. Hopefully, she opened her tearful eyes and set sights on the two orbs of light. But as her eyes set on the two sources of light, she didn't feel sad or empty, but happy. Kinnaku cupped the two sources of light and brought them both closer to her chest until they pressed against her skin, causing her a tiny amount of pain. She would take a deep breath, mind clearing and heart fluttering, pushing the two sources of light into her body with an adequate amount of pressure.
A single pound of her heart caused the Sennin to shiver in hesitation; what was this feeling? She would clutch at her heart and topple over as her body began to spasm uncontrollably and without a moment's waste, her skin began to gloat with a bubbling cloak of red chakra. The profuse sound of bubbling emanated from the growing cloak of chakra, and Kinnaku, well, she stumbled to her feet struggling to deal with the heavy sensation of power that restricted her moments. Her eyes, those black hues, would shift and change into different colours: one dark blue and the other remained black.
The ground beneath the Sennin would collapse under extreme pressure, and the embanking walls would be shaken with force as the cloak finalized. Kinnaku arched her body forward, almost in a minimalistic fashion, as she felt the contradictory warm of love mixed with this rage.
Kinnaku would raise her hands, and her upper body, viewing her hands - that were cloaked in red chakra - and feeling something very odd as her hues settled on them. And then, a familiar pair of voices, Kansho and Kanjuku, broke out from the abyssal of her mind telling her that everything would be okay. Kinnaku would swipe her claw-like paws into the air, aiming it towards the dead-end wall and, much to her surprise, an energy wave was released with an impressive force. The wave crackled through the alleyway until it made contact with the wall; essentially obliterating it within moments. However, as the dust clear and the cloud settled the devastation was clear as the surrounding area of impact was infused with Dust particles, its energy was clear and was noted to be an Advanced Element.
However, quite suddenly the cloak would receded and the Sennin would fall to her knees; exhausted. Although they never said, Kinnaku knew that her brother and sister had just ended the transformation as the risk to this ability was too high for a single person. The Sennin gasped, holding her heart as sweat dribbled down from her head. But a smile would slowly slither across her face as she lifted her head and faced the large scene of destruction...
"I'm coming for you, Kinpatsu..."
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