Marked [Requesting Osu/Yomi]

[Saitou Rei]

The King always won. Always.

Somewhere in the northern part of Lightning country, the foot of a mountain gave way to a seemingly endless snowy tundra expanse. Its breadth and width challenged even the desert of Wind country, and the cold was relentless. Still there was life that flourished here, and the sounds and signs of critters and vegetation could be heard and seen. In the never-ending canvas of white, a single black ball of slime stood out in such stark contrast it was a wonder it seemed to get by unnoticed by the other inhabitants.

Slowly, more black slimes appeared, and soon the whole tundra had turned from white to a solid, moving black. This shapeless mass grew ever steadily toward Kumogakure, taking and covering the forms in their path. From among them, a single figure black and white figure grew - a woman. As the slimes neared their destination, a circular shape burned into the woman's chest that began to glow bright red. Continuing to grow, the red marks pulsed and spread through her body and her shape became deformed. The woman became a monster, her nails growing into claws, her teeth like razors, her muscles growing and tearing and skin hardening like a shell.

Looking into the wild eyes of this woman turned beast, Reicheru suddenly found herself on the other side of them, looking down at the army of slimes beside her as they marched on. No one stood before them; they, together, advanced. And they wouldn't stop.

Nothing could stop them.

The King always won.

The monster, Reicheru, roared:
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"Long live the King!"
* * *​

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Waking with a terrible scream, the kunoichi's body instinctively grabbed at the closest thing her hand could find and launched it at the empty space in front of her. The sound of glass shattering on the wall across from her bed signaled the end for the poor vase someone had left a flower in on her beside table. The bluebells that had resided there lay scattered in the small puddle, perhaps some of them still salvageable.

Though she was covered in sweat and her hospital gown stuck to her, Reicheru found herself shivering and shaking as she looked down at her hands - her normal, human hands. She might have found comfort in this if it hadn't been for not knowing where she was or how she had gotten here. Her chest was tightly bandaged, and her head was foggy. What… happened? Where was she?

Looking around the room as her breathing steadied, she took in her surroundings. Though it was different from the one in Konoha, it was clear she was in a hospital. The stiff white sheets, monitors, and sterile smell gave that much away. There was a small window on the wall next to where the vase had hit its mark, from which she could see the familiar mountainous landscape of Kumo. It looked dark and wet outside, as though it were raining though she could see small rays from the sun beginning to come out. A small table at her side, and another atop of which a small tv rested. And finally, to her opposite side, she found a curtain that would have split the room in two if it hadn't been pulled back, apparently left so by the last nurse to attend to them.

Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the white-haired patient. Bandaged in an identical fashion, the signs that he too had been experiencing night terrors he couldn't seem to wake from for the last three days were apparent in his sweat-soaked gown and irregular breathing. That, however, was not Reicheru's focus. It was the reminder his face was of her last conscious memory.

Gripping her chest in a panic, the Nanjirou desperately tried to get out of her bed. Her legs moved only slightly before the vibrations of the motion unleashed intolerable levels of pain in her chest rendering her immobile and groaning. She also now felt the ache that ran through her arm and reverberated in the center of her chest from when she'd thrown the vase, the sensation delayed by her shock.

Though the memory was of looking into her partner's steel blue eyes as they struck one another down with the sword, it wasn't fear that was driving her. It was urgency. "That really happened…" her words came quietly between groans. The slime's memories she'd intruded on during the battle had revealed a disturbing reality that was all but unknown to the shinobi of Kumogakure - an underground army, an enemy they knew so little about but whose numbers and powers were like none they'd ever seen. Though she somehow sensed that something had changed, an important change in the tide, something to do with the King, it didn't matter in the end. The King's army would destroy them.

"HELLOOOOO?! IS ANYBODY THERE? I NEED TO LEAVE, I NEED TO GO TO THE TORRE--" Reicheru called as loud as she could before the pain escalated to the point of blurring her vision. "--they need to know…"

[OOC: Continued from the events Finis Noctis; Rei and Maik have been in a three day coma, awakening now that the black rain over Kumo has stopped.]

 

[Maikeru]

Over the past three days Maikeru had slept deeply throughout the whole thing. Whether it was his body catching up on the lack of sleep that came with a shinobi's lifestyle, or the trauma of obtaining the mark ravaging his body, he would never quite be sure. All he knew was that for the entire three days, he dreamed. Or, well, dreams would be a kind way to put the thoughts that plague his mind.

Though they all ended the same way, they all had started differently. He would see the first fight that Reicheru had all those years ago in the Forest of Death, he would vividly see the way she danced around his fire ninjutsu, the way she had shrugged off his genjutsu with such ease. The scene would then change, shifting quickly to them at the Dango restaurant, to their first date, though at the time neither of them would know that to be the case. He would see their first kiss later that night, atop the First Hokage's head, overlooking the starry skyline of Konoha. While those memories played his sweating and terrors would calm, he would be at peace, but it wouldn't last.

As quickly as they came the dream would shift and change, becoming a weird amalgamation of a nightmare and a real memory. He swore he could recall the scene as if he was retelling it to a group of friends even as his mind screamed at him to remind him that it was all fake. He would see himself, older, more rugged, his white hair having grown long to fall past his chin. A gloved hand would rub at the white stubble that had gathered on his face as he leaned back on a throne made of skulls.

From atop the Celeste Torre he looked down at the burning Kumo beneath him, watching as his black flames burned the city to ash, hearing the screams of those being murdered and tortured by his army of monsters that rampaged through the city. The bodies of the villages mightiest shinobi, the sennin, the Raikage, they all lay broken and bloody beneath his feet as a large smile curled onto his face.

Finally, a single figure would rise to the top of the large tower, it's long brown hair blowing in the wind as it drew a blade to confront him. Maikeru would just smile, clapping as he rose out of his seat to face this threat.

"So, the pretender king shows her face." He said, his Sharingan moving down to note the scarf that hung loosely around her neck. "Well, come then Reicheru. For our past I'll send you quickly to see your cousin and father."

***

Maikeru's awakening would be much quieter than Reicheru's, his spirit and body both broken. His cerulean eyes slowly opened, his eyelids flittering as he stared up at the white ceiling above him. He knew where he was, hell he knew the exact room in the hospital that they had been taken to. He had been here many times, both to assist med nin and to clean the bed pans when asked of him. But now he was a patient and the cycle had come full circle.

He moved his head slowly to look to the patient next to him who was screaming and shattering glass, his eyes moving to focus on her agonized face, his heart breaking with every second he watched her.

"Rei.." He said, his voice catching in the back of his throat. Before when he looked at her all he saw was the happy moments, but now... all he saw was his blade going through her chest. "I..."

Pausing, he sighed lightly, before turning away from her to stare at the ceiling again. He closed his eyes, hoping she hadn't hurt him, maybe she would think he was still asleep.

"I'm sorry.." he muttered quietly.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren, coincidentally enough was making his way to the hospital, straight from Torre Celeste, an order from the Raikage to go report to Osu for being part of the branch. But upon entering, his ears picked something up. Two blood flows. They were both recognizable. One more than the other.

"Reicheru?" He said with confusion. Breaking into a sprint, Ziren rushed through the passageways of the hospital, homing in on the two blood flows. In a mere minute, he arrived, just in time as he heard a loud crash from inside.

Gaining his composure, since that is the best thing for any doctor to do, Ziren opened the door, to see the girl about to fall over, and a boy in the hospital bed nearby.

He wonders if she recognizes him. Probably not, for the fact that he looks completely different the last time they had talked. No blue hair, no pale skin. What might give him away is the metal arm and permanent bloodified eyes. "I need you to stay calm Miss. I've dealt with injuries from the battlefield. Now, I'm going to use a technique, just don't be scared." A small thin line of blood came out of Ziren, before splitting into two thin lines. "Destiny Bond. I'll be able to take on some of the burden of your pain." If they both were to allow the line of blood to, it would connect to Ziren, only slightly touching their skin. His body would suddenly felt like it has been through a lot. Almost like how he has pushed himself to his limits in Water.

Reicheru started to talk about going to Torre Celeste. "Not in your condition you are not. Sit down. Anyu, it looks like I might need your help." Ziren said to what seemed like nobody. Soon, in a couple of seconds, a ghost poked his head in through the ceiling.

"What's up?" He asked. " Ziren dude, you already are in the hospital again. It's like we never left Leaf."

"Anyu, no time to explain, just stand by and try to talk to the girl. I need to focus on making sure they are good before either of them even think about leaving the hospital." A quick hand seal and Ziren placed his right hand softly on the forehead on Reicheru, a small seal formed on her head. Medical Ward. He did the same for the boy.

The Chigokai studied the boy for a few seconds to assess him. He seemed to be in a more dire situation than Reicheru. Seeming as he can't move as much as the girl. More hand seals and lightly touching the boy's forehead, blue chakra moved around him. Regeneration. Followed by more handseals, Angelic Blessing. Satisfied that the boy should be more out of the danger zone now, Ziren focused on the girl.

Going through all of the necessary handseals, he performed both Regeneration and Angelic Blessing on her as well. He was doing all of this, but it was starting to tax at his own chakra. Not like it would matter, when he works, he goes into full auto, forgetting himself, to work on what needs to be done.

All the while, of this all happening, Anyu sat, or rather floated in the sitting position by the girl. "So... You look familiar. Tea was it? When you seen Ziren dude jump off of a building?" He hesitated. Then he added, "I'm sorry. Not at all good with small talks and whatnot. But if you ever need a laugh, I'm your guy. Or ghost dude person."

(Topic entered as Npc Ziren, with requeasts from Reicheru and Maikeru oocly)

 

[Saitou Rei]

So singular was Reicheru's focus on sounding the alarm that she neither noticed Maikeru's stirring nor fully observed the man who came to their aide. If she had, the eyes, arm and lack of proper hospital attire might have clued her in sooner that this was no Kumo medic. As it were, while Ziren did his work and the burning pain receded, Rei continued to ramble about needing to go to the Torre Celeste, and something about seeing the Raikage. "…or Kagetsu-sama, or anyone! Maybe the ANBU Sennin? This is important…" Even as Ziren reprimanded her attempts to leave, she would have continued to make her way if not for the lines chaining her to several monitors. While most were standard, there were a few she didn't recognize with acronyms and readings she didn't understand. What on earth sort of special medical attention did a stab wound need?

Finally, ironically, it was Anyu who would finally bring the girl's mutterings and movements to a stop. "Ziren?" Yeah, that's what he'd said. An onslaught of confusion and questions assaulted her mind. When had been the last time she'd seen the Chigokai? Certainly not in Cloud. What on earth was he doing here? How long had he been here? Heck, how long had she been in this hospital for that matter? Slowly, Rei began to realize that there was probably a great deal of information she was not privy to. Settling back in her bed, her grey eyes drifted back and forth between Ziren's ghost companion and the man himself.

"Yeah… Tea…" Though the memory was familiar, it had been buried so deep under more recent events that it seemed almost like watching a scene from someone else's life. Unfortunately, Anyu's attempts at small talk wouldn't be able to stop the floodgates. "Ziren, what… are you doing here? How long have you been here? What is going on… out there?" Though something she couldn't yet explain told her that the King's assault had ended for at least the time being, she had no way of knowing that for sure. "What is going on?" she repeatedly quietly, resting her head back and looking up at the ceiling. After several moments she would look again to Maikeru for only a second before looking back up to keep back tears that threatened to spill over.

[OOC: So sorry for the delay! If Yomi still wants to jump in do feel free, though still gonna try to wrap this up quickly for the sake of other topics past this in the timeline.]

 

[Maikeru]

As the new medic's hands rested over Maikeru, the familiar green glow that the Uchiha had seen a million times surrounding then, he simply slapped them away with his wrist. Gritting his teeth against themselves, he did he best to get to a sitting position, cold blue eyes burning into Ziren's. His arm was on fire, the mark that he had yet to notice burning white hot against his skin.

"I'm fine.." He said, looking his eyes to Reicheru. "Just take care of her."

Just how long had the two of them been out? He ran a hand over his face, across the pale white stubble that had grown from the evident lack of shaving while he had been in a small coma. More importantly, did that man say he was Ziren? As in, Ziren who was the medical chief before Maikeru? The man who left for.. why did he leave again? Unimportant. What was important was that he had to get out of here, he had to figure out what the hell had happened to them.

As he moved to slide from the bed, his feet touching the cold tile floor, he quickly realized how long they had been here. The slamming of his face against the floor after his leg muscles, which had been in disuse for two weeks, gave out on him was just enough indication that it had been longer then he anticipated.

"Raiden damn it.." He muttered, his face on the cold stone floor.

If Ziren had moved to help him he would slap away the help again, his pride much too strong. He would crawl the best he could towards Reicheru's bed, his hands gripping the edge of the bed to use both his weakened leg and arm muscles to pull himself into a crouched position at her side. His hand would move weakly for hers, his fingers wrapping around her wrist lightly. That was his first mistake.

The vision he had been having for the past three days played again at rapid speed, his mind filling with dark, violent thoughts aimed at the kunoichi. Hate, vengeance, murderous desire, all of these things whelmed in his head as he touched Reicheru's skin. He pulled away aprubtly, tears gathering at the corner of his blue eyes. He loved her, didn't he? He was so sure of it, then.. why?

Slowly, his hand moved back to her, wrapping his fingers around hers, his hands glowing the same green as Ziren's had moments ago. Yet again, there were the feelings, the desires, the urge to murder her and take his place on the throne.

"I'm sorry.." He said between the tears that now flowed from his face. "I didn't... it wasn't me... I just... please make it stop..."

 

[Saitou Rei]

"Maik…" Rei's eyes widened in shock at the scene unfolding in their hospital room, giving the collected tears free reign to streak down her cheeks and onto the floor. Looking down, her eyes filled with hurt as her boyfriend ripped his hand away from hers. She'd felt it, too -- the strange reaction her whole body and mind seemed to have to the touch -- but it didn't lessen the sting. Thankfully he would reach out again, but the words that followed threatened to undo her all over again: "It wasn't me…" The memory played over again in her mind and the spot where her chest had been ripped open ached. The shock they'd both gone into as they'd stared into each others eyes when it happened would stay with her. But she knew, knew that it wasn't his fault.

"I know; more than anyone, I know…"

Her voice trailed off as the taste of salt dripped onto her lips as the tears continued to flow. Turns out, she would have been interrupted anyway if she had gone on. "Knock knock," a voice rang out. Following it was a tall, scrawny man with dark hair that flopped just above a set of wide-rimmed rounded glasses. His otherwise standard medical attire (though it's worth noting that it wasn't exactly standard as far as the Kumogakure hospital was concerned) was accentuated by a red bow tie. He was carrying a large set of files, and the smile on his face gave away his excitement to be there - directly contrasting with the otherwise somber mood of the room.

"My name is Yamazaki Mitsuo, I'm part of the team that's been taking care of your case. I'm glad to see you're awake…" his eyes finally caught sight of Maikeru sprawled on the ground. "Oh, here, let's get you back in bed Maiker--" The medic's eyes went wide, having caught himself in quite the slip up. He quickly looked to Ziren and attempted to cover himself, "--Might, might I ask who you are? I don't believe I've seen you here before - how do you know Rei-san and Akira-san?" Eventually, either he would get Maikeru in bed, allow him to do so himself or call attendants to force him to do so. When all was finally settled, Mitsuo would retrieve the top file from the stack he'd set on the table when he entered.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I'm sure I won't be able to answer all of them right now. Let me start by saying that you two are very fortunate to be alive. Medical ninjutsu can do wonders for sure, but I've never seen anyone come back from what you did." Thumbing through the file, he paused and his smile faded as he bit his bottom lip. "Of course, there's a reason for that." Closing the file, he set it down before retrieving two others and separating them from the rest. "These will have answers to some of your questions, but before I can let you see them I'm going to need to hear what you remember about the incident. But there's no rush on that; do it on your own time. I've got some paper here for you to write dow--"

Mitsuo paused, looking at Rei who was holding out her hand. "Like a debriefing, right? I assume the Sennin and Raikage are looking into all accounts on the attack?" The urgency had returned, her eyes serious. Slowly handing over the paper and pen, Mitsuo chuckled nervously. "Yea, of course."

- - -

Thirty minutes passed before Reicheru was thumbing through her own file, and only that long because her right arm still ached and she had wanted to get everything recorded as accurately as possible. It was from this report that she was first made aware that the burning she felt under the tight wraps around her chest were not coming from the wound, but rather something called the "Mark of the King" that had manifested just above it.

The Mark of the King, The King's Mark or The Marked: The sign of one who has had lived through a near death experience with a high ranking or powerful "monster" usually a "King" or a "Queen". Typically manifesting itself via a physical mark like one might have at birth, the mark can also be observed as a psychological terror like state that one is rendered in when overtaken by such "monster". It isn't known if the mark is transfered via chakra or some other force but those who have them are never quite the same from that point onward. They are left with altered dispositions, night and day terrors and more times than not, the ability to on some levels tap into a powers that only "monsters" can display. It has been proven that on some levels those with the mark can somewhat understand the "monster".

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The report itself didn't say much about Iesada Renzo, just that his long-forgotten reports - though once deemed nonsense - were the closest match they could find for what they were seeing on the two young shinobi. It was a working theory; the extra monitors she'd seen earlier were new, experimental, an attempt to see if there was any way to test and verify this claim. What could they possibly be testing? Most of the rest of the report was nonsensical to Rei - charts and graphs and medical lingo that she would probably ask Maikeru to interpret for her.

"Of course, we'll be trying to keep this quiet for awhile until we know exactly what it is we're dealing with. People have been on eggshells since the attack; I'm sure that's not a surprise. We'll continue monitoring you two until you get your strength back, and after that if nothing conclusive has come out of our time together you'll be assigned to an overwatcher…" Mitsuo stopped, reading Rei's face and realizing it was too much for the moment. "Details, details! Sorry, researchers sometimes forget that there is such a thing as too many details sometimes," the medic's goofy grin returned. " I know it's probably the last thing your mind wants, but I'm sure you're exhausted. Get some rest, we can talk again tomorrow. If you need me, don't hesitate to call." With that, he left with his stack of reports and graphs that meant so much more than Rei could fathom at the moment.

With this new information swirling around in her head, she turned again to Maikeru, trying to gauge how he was processing and handling everything. Once again, they'd gone through something that only the two of them would ever fully understand. It had drawn them together before -- would it do the same again? Taking a shaky breath, she felt her eyelids growing heavy. Though she fought it and her mind was still racing, she doubted she would be able to hold out much longer. "Maik… I love you…" her quiet voice managed before her aching body finally forced her to sleep. She would need all the strength she could get for the coming days.

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