Memories of Friends Lost (A rank)

[Toraono Kuro]

Naraku began a slow and steady ascent to the top of the Maw. One of the only habits of his that Uchikatsu hadn't twisted within him was the drive to succeed. Kuro's time in climbing through the bones of Barynyx was seven minutes. What Naraku never realized was that Kuro was using an advanced form of combination transformation to merge with the bones and release the transformation on the other side of the bones. Naraku pushed on through sheer physical prowess, the elevator mechanism would take any passenger up in five minutes. Naraku physically climbing would never be faster than eight minutes. Yet even now he was climbing, pushing himself beyond even shinobi limits. He was wiry with chiseled bronze flesh. His bio-armored limbs carried a light crystal sheen, he wore no shoes, and only a strange grey leather tunic and matching grey leather shorts that ended at his knees. His runic tiger markings shimmered a rainbow of colors whenever he moved and his eyes were completely blue with no iris. He was 6 feet tall on the dot, his hair was bleached blonde by days spent in the sun, although its natural color was actually brown. They were so sky blue one might think they were looking into the sky and not his eyes. His hair was tied into a ponytail and held back by bio crystal growths from his hairline.

 

[Toraono Suzuhime]

The trio consisting of Suzuhime, Kuro, and Seika had given pursuit of Naraku. Despite Seika's 'colorful' warnings to Suzuhime to not go, she could not simply let her husband to be go without her. Even with the criticism of Seika, and the apparent intolerance of her native language and accent, she would venture with them. Suzuhime knew she could at least handle herself well. Not as well with the protection of Kuro, but Suzuhime was no pushover. She was an accomplished martial artist, to the point that her fighting style even defeated Kuro's mother in one on one combat. And had come close to beating Kuro as well. She was confident in her abilities, but she would not become a liability. She didn't want to be useless. She may have softened up greatly since getting engaged to Kuro, but that didn't mean she wasn't a fighter.

Suzuhime had changed into her battle robes before they had left the sanctity of the dojo. Her coat flowing behind her as they made to catch up to Naraku. Strong as she was, Suzuhime lacked the stamina to ascend without the lift, so she would head to the lift. She would occasionally look over at Kuro before the lift would begin to ascend.

'Dun't vurry mein love. I vill be just vine. Dun't do anyzing zhat may get jou hurt.'​

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[Toraono Seika]

So Suzuhime refused to heed Seika's warnings? Well she better be able to protect herself, as Seika wasn't strong enough to constantly heal everyone around her. It was her choice, and Seika thought less about her and her careless nature than she had before. Seika couldn't afford to let small distractions pull her attention away from the bigger goal as she entered the elevator. Unable to keep up with her brother's combination transformation, she was stuck with using the elevator.

Seika moved with barely constrained energy, pacing in the elevator as it rose higher. She had secured the blade made from Barynyx into a sheathe that she had spare, which the blade fit without issue. She had zoned out into her own focused state, as occasionally one could see a spark of light leaping off of her skin. She was ready for a fight, anyone could feel it. Since it had spoken in the room, the blade had fallen silent, yet it was still present, and her hand still lay on the pommel. When would they get to the top, he had a head start, and this was making Seika's feeling worse. She wanted to scream in her frustration, she wanted to vent this rage so bad that Naraku would feel it for ten thousand years into his after life. She wanted to feel her blade slide into his body and watch the life drain from his eyes. Few in her family knew what she held in check, and fewer outside her family. “Brother, you better stop him, or hold out until I get there.” She said quietly, her eyes glittering strangely. “I want to demolish him and scatter his remains to the four winds.” She punched the floor of the elevator with all her might in an attempt to release some of the pent up energy that she felt, not caring about anyone that shared her ride up.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Suzuhime and Seika reached the lift and Kuro used his executive seal as Sennin to activate the high speed mechanism that would let them reach the entrance of the maw ahead of both him and Naraku. Kuro then turned his attention to climbing the maw. It was the equivalent to swimming up three leagues ((54, 685 feet)), descending the distance was far easier than climbing the distance. Kuro scented where Naraku had begun his ascent and summoned Sharingan Kuro to make sure that he pushed his speed to the limit. Demon Kuro grabbed Sharingan Kuro by the arm they increased their strength and then Sharingan Kuro hurled Demon Kuro upwards thirty feet which Kuro then used his combination transformation jutsu to merge with the skeletal structure as he hit the bottom of the bone structure and emerged on top, and the speed of their team work increased as Kuro would again summon his sharingan body to his side and they would commence their innate teamwork as they hurled one-another over distances that couldn't be leaped across, merged into the superstructure when no grip could be naturally made or found and soon they were almost upon Naraku. Kuro literally felt the density of his presence Naraku's presence was never like this as a child, it was as if he was carrying the weight of sandwyrm. Then it struck Kuro full force as he finally got within sight of Naraku... "NARAKUUUUU!! Brother! Wait... let me talk with you!!!"

Naraku turned and looked down upon Kuro and the first feeling he felt was relief , but that quickly twisted into resentment, then even further into outright hatred. "Oh we shall speak to one another, very soon BROTHER, we will speak at the gates to the LOST PALACE WHERE YOU ABANDONED ME!!"

Naraku leapt into the air and pulsed with dense chakra energy moving faster than Kuro had seen anyone but his father move. Kuro and his Sharingan body worked hard to catch up even as he knew they could not.

Naraku ran head long into Suzuhime and Seika whom waited at the entrance to the maw, he arrived pulsing with intense otherworldy yet overly familiar chakra.

WC: 246

 

[Toraono Seika]

Finally they were at the top, even though her brother had made it go faster, Seika still felt that it was too slow, now all she needed to know was where Kuro was. That was quickly answered by a bellow from below and within a second the blade of Barynyx was in her hand. It still surprised her how it fitted to her desires in a weapon. She was glad that she had when she saw a blur, and she knew that it wasn't Kuro, mostly because the chakra didn't feel like her brother's. “I suggest you stop right there.” She growled, and should he not comply she would thrust the blade at him, using the full power of the blade. He was going to regret everything that was happening, especially concerning what the blade had said. To her she wanted to return him to the state that he was in before all of this. She gave a growl, almost feral in nature, and should he bypass her, she would take after him, intent on taking him out.

 

[Toraono Suzuhime]

OOC: Very sorry for the delay.

And to think she just wanted to have a romantic evening with Kuro tonight... and now they were chasing down his 'brother' whom believes he is a deserter. While Suzuhime didn't particularly like the way he seemed to brand Kuro, her very soon to be husband, a traitor. And Suzuhime was having none of that. So soon, the elevator ascended, and as soon as the broe the surface. They had cut off Naraku's path. He seemed like an otherworldly demon ready to fight to the death. Then again, Suzuhime and Seika looked much more ferocious. Suzuhime had abandoned her gentle face and adopted a snarl that displayed but a mere fraction of her ferocity. She would bring her foot in a wide and slam it onto the platform they stood on with enough force, if she had put all her strength into it, she would have sent them spiraling back down the maw. Her fists clenched tightly as she fully registered the 'man' before her. And boy did she want to punch his face. Black flames erupted from her hands and encased the small fists of furry. Suzuhime in a stance of commandment and power. Daring Naraku to target her first. She needed to brush up on her judo anyways.

"It vould be in jour best interest to sthap now vile jou are ahead, ja? Donz't give me a reazon to hurzt jou."

Suzuhime would pop her neck, limbering up a bit for the inevitable retaliation.​

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[Toraono Kuro]

Naraku was about to simply run past them until he saw Seika wielding the cursed blade, If she could wield that sword it meant she was as powerful as any wyrm rider. Naraku leapt higher than any being Seika had ever witnessed save her father Kaibudo, it was what he did while airborne that allowed Seika to fully react she had seen her father use this attack to stop Kuro and both his brother's all in one fell blow but the magnitude and the scale at which this technique was being powered and performed meant only one thing, Sandwyrm jutsu. Kaibudo had explained that many of his techniques were simply lesser versions of techniques used against him by Barynyx himself. Naraku's scream was that of a Sandwyrm's his mouth opened impossibly wide revealing row upon row of crystal teeth, if she struck him with that blade and Kuro managed to use sealing jutsu with his blood and his revenge would be sealed away with his father's and his own soul. He used the largest attack that would knock them away and not kill them. "SANDWYRM's MAW!!!!" he screamed as he unleashed a sonic/dark kinetic dual wave attack that struck a fifty five yard radius blasting Seika and Suzuhime into the open air above Baranyx's maw where Kuro used his Sharingan body to catch Seika and his own to catch Suzuhime.


Kuro was pushing himself higher, faster than he had ever managed to do before the shock-wave struck and he could see Suzuhime and Seika launched into the air. Using everything he had Kuro launched himself into the air with everything he had at one moment just managing to catch them both and making it to the other side. Naraku was long gone but he knew where Naraku was going to be. It was time to truly move out. "I apologize loved ones, I underestimated Naraku, it won't happen again" Kuro seemed to swell with sadness. Neither Suzuhime nor Seika were hurt just thrown out of Naraku's immediate path. It seemed there was a part of Naraku that didn't want to hurt others, perhaps his blood brother was still inside that infested soul torn body.

WC: 134

 

[Toraono Seika]

It wasn't the speed that shocked Seika, more than the actions that was being done. She knew the technique, her father used it before, so she knew how to stop it, right? Wrong, for just as she was about to leap to intercept, she was blasted back towards the maw, and for moments she just flew there, stunned until her brother caught her in one of his jutsu. "Brother, don't hate yourself." She said as she watched the retreating form. "I underestimated him also, and not only that, but I let a potential threat get close to those I hold most dear." She was shaking, whether in anger or fear, not even she knew. "There has to be a way to stop him, something that must be able to bind him fully so we can deal with his threat." She looked at her blade and sighed. She felt useless in this situation. "Maybe if I could get close enough, I could stop him, but that means actually getting in there."

It was then that Seika pulled out some hairpins and tied her hair back. Kuro would recognise the action as her no longer playing around, that from now on she was going to be taking things deadly serious. To save lives and the world as she knew it, there had to be some sacrifices. Another mental scar on the fact of the world. "So, any plans?"

 

[Toraono Suzuhime]

As solid as her stance was, neither Suzuhime nor Seika could withstand being launched into the air, quite high in fact. Now Suzuhime wasn't scared of many things, but there was a few fatal flaws. She was scared shit-less of falling, any kind of falling. When Suzuhime had reached the peak altitude and began actually falling towards the ground, her heart seized up in her chest. Catching her breath and going wide eyed, her hands clutching over her heart as she could feel it stop for a moment. Thankfully, she never got into a full descend before she was rescued by her coddling fiancee. Although Suzuhime certainly was grateful, she needed to take a few deep breaths to rewire herself into action. Releasing the hold she had on her clothes moments before.

"Zhank jou Kuro... but please, juzst to remind jou, do not zhrow jourself in harms vay for mein sake."

She reminded him. She didn't want Kuro to suffer because of a mistake Suzuhime may make. He had already been forced to suffer a few weeks of 'torture' Suzuhime called it simply for bringing her to a Toraono banquet without telling anyone. Even if Suzuhime was accepted very openly by most of the clan. Even if her chest was almost on display for everyone in the large banquet room. Thankfully she was very much combat ready at the moment, thank some kind of celestial body for giving humanity the idea to create wraps. Kuro would apologize for not being more watchful of what his brother was capable of. Seika comforting Kuro on his slight brooding. Suzuhime joining in, lightly scarring his cheek with her palm.

"It iz vine Kuro. We zidn't expect Naraku to be capable of zuch zhings as vell. Zo not vorry."

Suzuhime would offer a smile to him before they would get back to business. Seika asking if anybody had any plans whatsoever that could assist their cause.

"I am not vone vor planning zhat much. Zhe onzy vone that comes to mein head is an ambush. With eizher Kuro or mich as bait."

Suzuhime was normally rather bad at forming plans.​

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[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro felt tired, more tired than he had ever felt in his entire life. His body ached all over and then he noted that Seika was angry again and the sword was giving her spirit a huge boost as well. She was stronger than ever and her aura was expanding over the blade. It was bonding with her and empowering her at the same time. He had always been proud of his sister's ability to expand her inner spirit to encompass any act. Unknowingly it was her wrath that had triggered the coming of his celestial power and the final changes in his chakra from pure darkness to all encompassing. He'd never tell her though, it might make her head swell bigger than it already was. "There is no need to make a plan, he will be waiting for me at the entrance to the lost palace. I am the only one who can let him inside since he managed to get out. The barriers are impossible to penetrate from the outside without my blood and chakra, he made it out because he shares my blood. My blood alone will not allow him to get back in. The sword that has bonded with Seika-chan is the key and the seal. It allows for a superior warrior to revive the Wyrmriders of old. That sword is actually a spirit stone from the forged from the spinal fang of Barynyx before he lost himself to possession by an Ancient. The other blades inside the lost palace were also forged from other ancient sandwyrms of significant power. Naraku and I once believed he would become the one to revive the Wyrm riders what we didn't know was that the Ancient whom had possessed Baranyx had left shards of his spirit upon every wyrm rider blade, making them all traps to revive him. Naraku once sacrificed himself so that I could seal away the possessed blades and the dark wyrm infested undead that held sway over their corpses. He fell to that very blade as he slew the once proud Master Wyrmrider Bajura with his own two hands even as he fell to the blade. I have relived his fall many times as I grew older and trained myself to never allow a friend to fall like he did. I will not fail him again. What I am about to say is not me trying to be a big man it is for your own safety and because I will need you both to enter the shrine and activate it so that I can end Naraku's nightmare and bring his dream's to life. Follow me into the deep desert and I will show you the remnants of the original village and its Wyrm Palace that could not be retrieved."


WC: 460
MFT

Final Topic to Come

'Visit to the Lost Palace' A Rank mission