Pay me with secrets. [Contract Search]

[Kumori]

Orange.

Orange was the sole color of day. Orange was the sun engulfed by the mountains, dying for yet another night. Orange was the reflection of the sky in the calm waters of the grassland oasis’s pond. Orange were the leaves falling from the Ash tree, beside a lonely boy who rested, leaning in its bark reading a book. Just in the middle, a white willow.

The grasslands were alive with sound; sounds that only belonged to a few animals at most. The calls of the crows came from the east; each was a shriek of terror echoing through the family of trees which concealed the boy. The calls of the cicadas came from the south, filling the air with the gentleness of a fake summer. The calls of the frogs came from the north, warning the hiding nocturne that the night would be overseen by their kin. The calls of the boars came from the west, hinting tame but screaming the hymn of the Wild. And in the center, atop the willow, a single vulture masterminded its wretched destiny.

His companions gave him pleasure, the atmosphere gave him confidence, it would be this night, and surely he could not be wrong. The trees had no lied, the spirits had not deceived him, they would not, he had done everything they had asked; he had offered his peace of mind to them. The lonely boy looked up, noticed the willow, noticed the vulture, noticed its vile eye.

“The law of Inamoto Saki. Chapter one.” – the boy began. He handled the book with care, turning the third of the three hundred pages, and starting the first paragraph of the fourth. “Look not for the badger that hides from his shadow, but for the chance of the miracle of the rising summer.” – he looked back at the vulture. The vulture remained silent, looking straight at him, straight at his soul with its dead eye.

The white sphere could not see, but like the sphinx at the end of the bridge, it brought forward a puzzle claiming no hints. The whiteness of the eye, in itself, could tell the story of its owner with no regrets, with no fault. The boy had chosen the perfect day for his hunt, and it began with the lone vulture that sat atop the willow. The sound of the crows and the cicadas had already drowned.

The sun began to hide. The orange of the sky only became darker and darker with each passing minute. In one hour it would be dark, the moon would take her place among the stars and in the skies, replacing her forefather with her silvery might; yet the boy remained still. He sat, leaning on the bark of the Ash tree, turning page over page of his stolen wonder. The sound of the frogs and the boars had already drowned.

As it was foretold, the moon stood tall, holding her victory flag and claiming her spot. The boy turned yet another page; his eagerness contrasted all the symbols of the boring day. The orange in the sky, the pond, and the Ash tree had already died, replaced by a darker shade of red. Hints of blue were already starting to appear, first in the sky, then in the pond. The boy closed the book, and took a stand. He wiped his shirt, he wiped his pants, not a particle of dirt remained on him. All animals were gone, all replaced by bones. He looked up, he noticed the tree, he noticed the vulture, he noticed the eye, and in its reflection… he noticed himself.

[Contract Search. Second try. Looking for: Bird (1) or Feline (2).]

 

[Toraono Kuro]

As you look into the eye of the Vulture everything goes dark and it feels warm and fluffy You find yourself wrapped in black wings of shadow and might as you have found a rather large bird .... Do you accept?​

 

[Kumori]

Yeeeesss

 

[Toraono Kuro]

A man of conscience can remember every mistake he has ever made since he first began to fend for himself. A man of thrills can remember every moment of excitement whether it be fear, joy, battle, or pleasure. A man of his word will remember and do everything he says to the best of his ability. A man of war will fight until his dying breath so that he may feel the release of his spirit from the world as a token of gratitude for being given the gift of honest righteous battle. On any given day a man can become any one of these types of men. There remain many more types of men. The truly noticed in the end spectrum of the darker side of men… The Murderer, whom thrives of death, the power that fills them when they cause death to befall others, and the encouragement to do so again and again when they witness the despair and pain that death causes others. The act of killing for any reason, or simply without reason empowers them, becomes them, overtakes and twists all other whims. Last but not least is The Thief. .. They take what is not theirs first without knowingly doing so, but soon they discover their own enjoyment of the fleeting moments of theft where they feel empowered. They take from others for many different reasons. Some take to survive, some take simply because of envy or jealousy. The worst take simply to cause the suffering of those they take from. What comforted Tanaka with it's black wings was the Reiben the Tengu, she looked upon him with eyes so black they swallowed the stars at night. Much like her fellow bird kin she had black hair, dark eyes and pale skin. From her elbows to her finger tips she was more avian than human having talons for hands and feet. Wings adorned her head, and her shoulders, making her appear innocent, her size was petit but her talons were definitely razor sharp. She was as cute as she was deadly and murderous.

Spoiler

​

"Your words are entertaining human, please tell me of yourself and continue to peek my interest or speak a question without riddles and lose my patience and possibly my presence..."<i></i>

 

[Kumori]

Darkness was vast, the wind had seized, all sounds had drowned, yet coldness had prevailed, and the lone boy still hadn’t left. Only a few stars illuminated the sky, accompanying mother moon; each, one by one, left the silver light to investigate the massive mystery in black. The chill in the air only became greater as temperature dropped with the sun, and hints of snow begin to show. A black wing coated the lonely boy sitting among the trees, lonely atop the bones and regrets of many.

Standing up, without speaking, and shaking from the surprise of the dark figure’s arrival, the boy hid his book beneath his arm, and pressed it towards his body. Surely the winged creature had heard him; it had distinguished him from the dead around, and approached him to choose the destiny before him. Still, Miko stared at the tree before him, trying to spot the cursed vulture with the vile eye, which in the darkness of night was no longer visible. The creature behind him spoke, the sweet voice stained by the dark meaning behind the words spoken. A dream. Surely, it has to be a dream. It couldn’t be anything else, nothing so pure could speak so violently; and nothing so beautiful could possibly be interested in the boy who had done nothing worthwhile but a stolen book. Still, the figure gave him a choice.

“Hope.” - The boy said. “It means that one should not concentrate in the present darkness, but in the possibility of change. It’s the most powerful force in the world.”

Silence roamed once again. The wind started blowing, and the stars returned.

“My name is Dekomori Miko. Who are you?”

 

[Toraono Kuro]

She smiled easily, naturally and the sweet scent of honey wafted from her exhalations. She sat before him and looked him in his eyes, she could taste his loneliness, feel his yearnings for power. Power was something she could easily grant him access to were her fellow avians to allow it but Miko looked lost, unsure, unwilling to move on. She had to test his resolve it seemed.

"You have told me your two fold name and then asked me a question without riddle... interesting, you have even given definition to a word without true meaning. You have not lost my patience, I am Reiban the Tengu. What do you hope for Dekomori Miko? Do you seek something that I may provide? Or... Are you just a reasonable dealer of words whom sits upon the remains of dead and stares at night vultures for answers that will ever elude your grasp?"<i></i>

She seemed to have found something likeable within Miko, if he could continue along his path perhaps he would make a great masterpiece for her people.

 

[Kumori]

The dark figure finally showed itself, sitting on the ground in front of the boy; the silver moon shinning in its back. It was a she, or at least it appeared to be one. A tengu; Miko had heard of those before, on one of his trips to the library. Tengu were creatures that came from stories that his mother used to read to him and Jun to keep them from being bad. Part human, part bird of prey; demons that carried power, and although easily fooled, as the stories told, they were cunning in the sense that, in the end – they always got what they wanted. She was beautiful; a captivating air of purity hidden under the black shroud and darkness of her wings, still, her aura was like that of a virgin about to be married, of a princess about to be taken away deep into a dragon-guarded castle. Her eyes were dark with spots of yellow from the reflection of the stars that had once again showed themselves. In the center, the exact spot where the pupil should be - was Miko’s reflection; letting him know that her eyes were fixated on his.

“What do I hope for…?” – he repeated in his mind as he became lost in the ocean of her eyes. “What do I seek…?”

“Secrets… they are my passion.” – he paused for a second, lifting his right arm enough to reveal the stolen book once again. He held it with his left hand, closed, and ran his right hand over the cover, feeling the imperfections in the wood that the cover was made of. Each imperfection, each splinter, and each dark spot told a different story. “With a single secret – you could rule a nation behind the scenes. With a nation, you can command an army. With an army, you can change the world. But changing the world through brute force is not what I want… I simply want to know.” – he looked at Reiban the Tengu.

He became silent for a second as the stars and the moon once again were hidden by a cloud. A storm was coming, and in a few minutes it would hit the village, followed by them who were not that far away. The thirteen year old boy leaned closer to the Tengu, the way someone would in order to tell a secret to someone else’s ear.

“The question is, Reiban the Tengu… What -can- you provide?”

The first step was to learn who she was. She claimed to be able to offer something, but as Miko had already learned, no one offered something without something else in return; it was the law of the world. Not a single thing is free in this world; that was the second teaching of Inamoto Saki.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Tengu Raiban smiled and stood as she contemplated the poor ninja's worth, she smiled and although her smile was innocent, the darkness within her eyes tainted that smile. Her eyes said she was quite serious and possibly an unabashed destroyer of souls, yet there was no intent to do harm just the actual look of her eyes said that though she may be innocent, she could kill without thought. "I can provide you with immortality, but to grant you this immortality you would have to become an instrument of pain and revenge, you would have to lash out for me and in doing so I could pour what skills and power I have left into you. Yet if all you desire are secrets Dekomori Miko then I should probably leave now as the secrets I carry are only for those whom would exist for and alongside me."<i></i> Her wings seemed to draw the weather away keeping them both in a comfortable pocket of mutually complacent weather even as a storm drifted near. She had hidden scars here and there but all in all she was simply deciding if Miko was worth her time and efforts.

 

[Kumori]

The storm neared the pair as they continued to talk nonchalantly, almost as if accusing them of deeds that simply wouldn’t go to air. They continued to talk to one another, each trying to decipher who their partner really was, and what they really wanted. Neither dared blurt out what really was going through their minds, and so their meeting had instead become a game of tricks and partial greed. The wind coming from the storm seemed to evade their little circle as the magical wings of the Tengo directed it to the sides along-side the rain.

Immortality.

Now the game had changed to favor no side. The word was strong, so strong indeed that in its mightiness it had lost its meaning. At the moment, the boy knew not if the Tengo was speaking truth, or if it was merely a test to know his true interest. But Miko had already stated clearly that he was not a man that fought for physical interests, for they were mortal, and mortality was a simple truth and a law of the world. Immortality did not exist, for the gift was reserved only to gods; and gods do not exist physically. To become immortal, one must become enlightened to a point where a physical body isn’t necessary, and without a physical body to share in resemblance to the world, one loses the link to interest as a whole. Therefore, the boy had no interest in general immortality. Knowledge was his game, for in knowledge dwelled power, and in great power dwelled attainable perfection.

“An instrument you say?” – he paused for a moment, staring at his book. “I don’t like that word. An instrument is an object to be used, something that loses its meaning without a clear mission. I am not someone to be used, and my mission is eternal. I am a reformer, a shaper, and my ideas will be the ones to become immortal.”

The sky was becoming darker once more. The storm was now above them, the rain falling down around them but not on top of them, the wind evading them. Time seemed to slow down as the leaves of the trees move fluidly with the wind playing a harmonic song of the changing seasons.

“Reiban the Tengu. You keep offering many great gifts to me, but you haven’t specified anything in return. You told me your name, but not who you were, and since then we’ve been playing this game… each of us trying to decipher something from the other.” – Miko looked at the sky. “I am young, and I desire many things. I’d love to learn from you; but I won’t become a slave, not to you, and not to anyone. I will help, in time, as I am strong now, and I will be stronger later. So we can make this easy, or we can keep tricking each other’s minds with long words and puzzled thoughts.”

More than four hours had passed since he arrived at the place.

“I don’t have many friends, never have… but I take care of those who take care of me.” – he stared into her eyes for a few seconds; eyes beautiful, virgin, but vicious, then directed his vision to her wings, protecting him from the cold winds and rain, just so they could finish their conversation. “As you’ve done.”

He smiled.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Reiban smiled easily as Miko explained himself and what he thought they were doing "I believe you misunderstand my offer and my words, so i will try to speak very clearly pretty boy. If you were to use your skills and talents to remove enemies I have gained from the presence my current existence in this world then I would offer you a form of immortality that comes from taking the lives of beings stronger than yourself. I offer this existence to you because I have studied how to make such a transformation possible. I offer this transaction in the hopes that if you were to do so you and I would share allegiance to one another in a manner that few can imagine. The reason I said instrument is because mortals are instruments of life and you are indeed used by life but if you were to become an instrument of pain and revenge, a Chuushinrusuban (Heart-taker) then you would become immortal in a sense that the only way you could die would be for someone to take your heart."<i></i>

 

[Kumori]

Chaotic.

It was the only way to describe the change of events. Everything he had thought differed from reality at an extraordinary rate. He had never looked at life that way; but the she-bird spoke words of truth, words that made sense in the boy’s mind, words that challenged those had had read and forged in his short years.

Immortality.

The word kept ringing in his mind, echoing and drawing him into a world inside; a world white, yet dark, lonely, yet emanating a claustrophobic crowd of thoughts coming and going. He thought only for a few seconds, remaining silent for fifteen, twenty. He was confused, his mind was cloudy, but outside he was calm. He wanted this, he wanted to be stronger, to live longer; he wanted to know… the secret. He wanted it now, now.

But the boy knew. He knew he couldn’t show how eager he was to throw himself in. The smile vanished from his face, but inside he was dancing.

“Chuushinrusuban?” – he fought the smile and laughter making its way from his inside. "Please. Tell me more."

That was the secret he desired to know. Reiban the Tengu had won his allegiance.



[[[OOC: Wow... You're fast ] Great RP BTW! ]]

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Reiban walked around the pile of bones that lay piled beneath their seated area and sat next to Miko, "It literally means to become a Caretaker of Hearts the Chuushinrusuban, an undying master of blood magic, necromancy and dark power. Your body would literally become a vessel to take the hearts of your enemies and use them to live forever. It won't be easy to make this change, it will be painful, and it will require surgery and implants of chakra laced materials. When you are ready we can talk it over. If you do not want this path to Immortality then I truly understand. I will grant you a chance to obtain the things necessary for the chance at immortality, four tasks should you truly wish to pursue this power."<i></i>

 

[Kumori]

His excitement turned into a frown. He had liked the idea at first, but everything that was added to it confused him even more. She was talking a surgery, where else than in the village. There was no way he could convince the medical branch on giving him a free surgery in order to make his body capable of holding extra hearts, hearts that he would have to take from other people… live people.

“I’m listening.”

There had to be another way, someway it didn’t require drastic surgery; a way similar to the one was discovering by himself. It had been some time since he had started working on it, and it would take way more before he could even get close to finishing the project. It was a jutsu, a forbidden one in that sense, to transmute his body into one made of paper; just so he could have more control over his chakra. He hated the cursed mouths that had grown into his hands, and the unstable chakra that came with them. He wanted to go back to his roots, even if it costs him that explosive chakra that he was known for. The first step was finding a way to get rid of them, without hindering his ability to use jutsu. Either way, his eyes had started to change since that day; the day his brother died. Soon he wouldn’t even need his hands… or he could just stitch them back on the same way one would do in order to put another hand into his body.

The bird knew the answer.

“There is no way I can get a surgery in the village.” – he sighed, lifting his head up to look at the sky, the clouds hiding the moon. “You grant me this power… then I take care of your enemies as you said. What are the four tasks?”

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Reiban kept her inner triumph hidden, at last she had found an ally willing to do as she asked, she never demanded. She always made a proposition and awaited the fruit of the labors and contacts made such was the way to maintain balance. Yet four times she had been betrayed and it had cost her everything now she would have her revenge and through Miko all would be set to right.
"You make up your mind quickly, this is a good thing and a very admirable trait in a companion... your four tasks can be completed in any order, though they require you to capture four people alive and relieve them of their cargo, their personal possessions and then to complete your immortality their lives. You will need to capture a shipment of wind element carmot from Wind Country, the transporter will have bright green hair and hail from Wind country. He is skilled in sand manipulation and goes by the name of Timmuu. He is somewhat autistic but don't let that fool you, he is dangerous. He can be found in Port Cirrus. </B>

Spoiler

(Create a mission named "Some call me Tim..." in Port Cirrus, It must be B rank or better and if you manage to graphically describe your tracking and capture of Tim in 1000 words or more there will be a hidden bonus... details about Timuu will be provided via PM should you need to call a bmod After his capture or circumstances I will rp his reactions and words for the end of said mission)

<i></i> Another item you will need is the sacred bracers of Genbu, they are a pair of relics of ancient power forged from some of Genbu the black sea dragon's own shell. They can be found in the possession of a former Feudal Lord Kushinada Taishan, he is a master swordsman even at his old age of 75 human years, do not take him lightly. He can be found in a royal compound in Raiden's eye.

Spoiler

(Create a mission named "Genbu's Shell..." in Raiden's Eye, It must be B rank or better and if you manage to graphically describe your tracking and capture of Kushinada Taishan in 1000 words or more there will be a hidden bonus... details about Taishan will be provided via PM should you need to call a bmod. After his capture or circumstances I will rp his reactions and words for the end of said mission)

<i></i> You will then need to acquire the circlet of Seiryuu along with its owner Hyakko Torya, she is a former flower fashion model and wields mental powers of great potency. She can be found on a small private estate in Rolling Hills.

Spoiler

(Create a mission named "Flowers of Seiryuu..." in The Rolling Hills, It must be B rank or better and if you manage to graphically describe your tracking and capture of Tim in 1000 words or more there will be a hidden bonus... details about Torya will be provided via PM should you need to call a bmod After his capture or circumstances I will rp her reactions and words for the end of said mission)

<i></i> The final item you will need to collect is the mystic cloak of Suzaku, and its owner Kukyo Tomatsu, he resides in a restaurant on in The Heartland of Kaminari no Kuni.

Spoiler

(Create a mission named "Cooking with Tomatsu..." in The Heartland of Kaminari no Kuni, It must be B rank or better and if you manage to graphically describe your tracking and capture of Tomatsu in 1000 words or more there will be a hidden bonus... details about Tomatsu will be provided via PM should you need to call a bmod After his capture or circumstances I will rp his reactions and words for the end of said mission)

<i></i><B>"<i></i>