The Edge of Knights.

[Takahashi Aki]

The Steward flapped his arms about for a moment as he wore the oversized linen gi. The arms of the gi were far too large for him, so he took a moment to roll them back. Once done the Steward turned to the bag he brought in with him. He unrolled it revealing an assortment of weapons he had 'acquired' in the madness of Kuro's engagement party. Who knew that getting engaged was such dangerous business? He had to call a code yellow, battle undead, but most disappointing was the fact he could not protect Lady Azame from attackers. What laid before Sousuke was the weapons of his foes who fled. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to take them? Then again it was the best way to further understand their foes.

The Steward leaned forward and gripped the first weapon being the short sword. The blade handled fairly well. The blade was blue with white lightning bolts stylizing the blade. Had this weapon changed owners throughout the years? Or had it remained in the hands of that undead monstrosity?

The second weapon was a halberd. The Steward found this weapon to be unwieldy at best. It was bright red and glowed constantly. The Steward detected no ill will from this weapon but he constantly kept this weapon under lock and key for the most part. His mother crafted for him a seal which would repel and weaken evil forces (which he doubted naturally). The seal was located on the pole handle. The Steward dared not to tamper with it.

The third weapon was an axe. The Steward traced his finger along the crescent end of the axe. It seemed famaliar to the weapon in the Great Halls of Learning. Did the legendary lightning primal, Odyssey, have a twin weapon to match his own? The Steward couldn't recollect such an item in the childhood stories he was told.

Each weapon was a mystery. The Steward had come to learn that his foes were well armed. They were using weapons made from finer materials than he had originally thought. Still thought he could not put trust into using them least they betray him. The ebon blade for the time being was still his weapon of choice. His next choice would be the broken axe in the Great Halls of Learning, the axe of Odyssey the Lightning Lord. The Steward deep in heart wanted to emulate that proud primal in some fashion, as did he want to emulate some aspects of Mikaboshi. The Steward looked over all of his weapons before him, he stroked his chin. Preserve these weapons? Use them? Smelt them down to their base core material and make use of them to reforge other weapons?

 

[Toraono Seika]

Seika had been practising her own fighting techniques when she felt the approach of another with her heightened awareness, so she slipped into the shadows as the holder of that presence entered the scene. Who was he? From her current location she couldn't see properly, but at least she could watch his actions, and those actions were to unroll a bag he had with him and dump an assortment of weaponry out of it. At first all Seika wanted to do was to pin this stranger up against the walls and find out why he had brought such items into her home, but instead she chose a more casual approach. After all he may not be dangerous, even thogh the blades obviously were. First he fingered a short sword, then a halberd, and the third was an axe. All of which were ornate and enchanting, but why would one have his weaponry of choice look so different? It was this that she had to know.

“An interesting selection of weaponry you have there.” Sousuke would hear from the shadows as Seika approached him, her hand placed on her weapon's hilt, but not yet drawing the blade that was her own. Although she had never met this fellow before, Seika had heard descriptions of him from her mother, which matched him perfectly. Not many people could mistake the look of the Kazekage Steward after all. “I'm guessing that you're here to see mother?” Internally she eyed up the blades, and found most wanting. Some of them, to her eyes were most foul, but then again she was never a fan of much other than swords.

Part of her wanted to test out the capabilities of her mother's best student, but there was time enough for that, she was much more curious about his presence in her home. She smiled slightly as she circled him like a cat. He certainly looked like he was likely here on business. Maybe she could get her chance to spar with him after all. After all, someone had to make sure Lady Azame's training was setting in.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The Steward was being circled around by Seika. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable of things to have happen to him. The Steward wondered exactly what was the point of this. Was this woman not going to get dizzy? Did she not want him to get a good look at her? What was it? Did she enjoy walking around people in a circular fashion? The Steward simply sat there and looked up like a confused child expecting some sort of grand finale from a story book only to be greatly disappointed. Once he did get a good look at the woman encircling him he was at a complete lost. Who was this woman? More importantly where did she come from?

That was ultimately revealed when the mystery woman said mother. Lady Azame? This woman was Lady Azame's daughter? She didn't really look like her mother. The eyes and hair didn't match. The Steward blinked twice. Okay then. This was absurd. "Precisely. I do have business with the Lady Azame."<i></i> He spoke finally after having a slightly longer pause. "I don't believe ... we've been properly introduced or acquainted."<i></i> The Steward spoke hesitantly. He looked her up and down. No immediate demonic heritage present in her form. No horns, hooves, nothing truly noticeable unlike her brother who was a hulking mass of muscle. "You must also be Kuro's sister too by default, I would think. He's never mentioned you to me before."<i></i> Kuro certainly belonged to a large family. The Steward himself didn't have any siblings, but the amount of siblings Kuro had seemed ... quite numerous. It must have been quite troublesome for his home during the holidays. Would one go so far as to state that the holidays were murder? "I'm Takahashi Sousuke, son of Judori and Chiyoko... your mother and mine somewhat grew up together."<i></i> The Steward attempted to form some idle conversation to try and pass the time as it were.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Sharingan Kuro rose from the floor wearing his old Anbu mask. He had been using its air filter to help breathe the air down below the Toraono Tower. As one of the many specialized crystal elevator units took him back up from the weapons vault stored beneath the Throne of Bone Tower. Massive cogs, and elemental crystals needed monthly checks and tending. One of the Toraono Clan's many responsibilities but one of the few which Kuro took a special interest in since he liked trying out new ways to empower and maintain the elemental crystals and the special coils and cogs they manipulated to help keep Sunagakure alive and well. He came up to find Sousuke being pestered by his greatest fear Seika. Unfortunately since he was not in his demon body this was one of the very few times she couldn't outright beat him to the ground. Bolstered by figuring out that his latent abilities had allowed him to finally one up his eldest sister, Kuro stepped closed to Seika and spoke in a normal tone to emphasize his happiness. "Dearest Sister, Sousuke-sama is a very diligent and straightforward man. As much as Mother loves him she never plays Hunter Killer with him, he wouldn't grasp the concept of your movements without actual battle. Please explain things in a straightforward, un-emotional manner and refrain from making under the breath comments as they will only confuse him. As for you Kazekage Steward, I see you are taking interest in the weapons of our cultists revealed, did you find anything that gave you pause?”<i></i> Kuro stood at five feet, ten inches, weighed in at two hundred and eighty pounds. Kuro’s normal silver gray mane of hair was braided into several war braids making it so he could not conceal any of his upper body muscle mass. With a twenty two inch neck Kuro’s hair couldn’t conceal anything at all anymore as it fell to the center of his upper back. Violet eyes with gold slits peered from a chocolate brow with large ebony horns growing from where a normal man’s temples would be. He wore a sand tone obi around his thirty six inch waist. The obi allowed Kuro to carry his honor blade in a specialized bone sheath. It also helped secure his pitch black battle armor over his upper body and crotch. Kuro wore his battle pouch on a second sash just above his right hip. Adjacent his sacred blade Kuro wore a pair of collapsed fuuma shuriken, and last but not least Kuro wore his leg sheath on the interior of his hakama just atop his fighting gi shorts with his ANBU serum and summon scrolls. A convenient cut in the silk cloth of his left hakama pants leg allowed Kuro full access to his ANBU gear without showing exactly where it was till he motioned to grab it. Securing his anbu arm guards and leggings Kuro covered the runic terran markings of his hand and leg wraps. Kuro’s tail swished back and forth its tiger stripes faintly surging with chakra. His black under shirt helped cushion the usage of the heavy armor he wore this evening.

MFT
WC: 525

 

[Toraono Seika]

Dearest sister? Her brother must be in a good mood, well good enough that he probably thought she couldn't kick his ass with this silly little clone... it was just a tad more difficult, he wasn't as weakened by her more angelic powers, but he certainly wasn't out of the woods. She turned her attention back to Sousuke. “I apologise, you're just not what I expected to see.” She said pausing in front of Sousuke with her hands on her hips. Her head tilted to the left quizzically, so this was, indeed the Steward of the village. A blonde eyebrow raised slightly. “I expected one of grander stature.” She said with a small smile. “However mother's judgement is rarely wrong.” Her fingers brushed against her sword, she was certain that she could take him in a battle, but the question was if she wanted to at the moment. If she did, and her mother was expecting to see him, then she would be in trouble if she kept him back. For the moment she would stay her hand, though it was interesting to see who was leading the village in the absence of the Kazekage lineage. “Too scared to meet with me in your usual body, brother?” She teased lightly, her blonde hair fanning behind her as she turned. A glimmer of fire could be seen as she pulled it from the ether, her natural ability making it glitter like the sun, and then she released the chakra, allowing it to glitter in the air for a moment before it dissipated once more.

She then bowed before Sousuke before she would open her mouth once more. “I am Toraono Nobuku Seika.” She said. “Daughter of Nobuku Azame and Hadoku Toyouda, adopted by Toraono Kaibudo as a child upon my mother's remarriage. I am currently one of the senior med-nins of the village.” She looked over to Kuro. “My baby brother over there has a habit of avoiding me, topics about me or even mentioning me just in case I hear it and am summoned to him.” A small chuckle escaped her lips, “I can only hit him like a sandworm if he really gets me angry.” That was reason enough for most to fear her. “The pleasure of meeting you is all mine.”

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Hunter Killer? The Steward scratched the back of his head. Was this one of those training things? Was this some sort of thrill of battle concept? The Steward would have to inquire later. "I'm not completely devoid of grasping metaphorical mental games. Please do inform me of what this game you call Hunter Killer." He requested. It was simply a matter of storing the rules of the game somewhere deep within his mind and then playing the game at a later date and time. He could do that or he could simply challenge both Kuro and his supposed sister to the game at the same time and beat both of them. That of course was an ideal situation. For now the Steward would have to wait for the game to be explained.

The Steward's eyes shifted between brother and sister. Quite a peculiar family coupling if the Steward were to say so himself. Again the concept of sibling relations were something he didn't quite grasp. He understood that siblings often fought each other in some sort of playful manner. He also understood that siblings too played deeply into a love-hate relationship. He looked at Kuro and then Seika once more. "Baby brother? I cannot comprehend your meaning? Kuro has not been of infant size ... for exactly a full twenty-three cycles... which is when I would have been in an infant stage."<i></i> The Steward tried very hard to picture an infant version of Kuro, but he couldn't quite get the size right. Kuro was always a massive muscle mass capable of higher forms of destruction.

The nonsensical topics seemed to stop for the moment when Kuro had inquired about the weapons. The Steward held out his hand palm up and explained his findings. "They're of a higher quality. Perhaps in or slightly below that of Takahashi fire-forged steel. What troubles me is their elemental qualities. They're made out of ... a raw elemental ore? The short sword seems to be made out of stabilized Stormanium. It seems highly unusual because Stormanium doesn't stabilize, it's a very random and refuses to be encased. This sword of course is encased, and has a definite form."<i></i> The Steward next pointed to the halbard. "Cursed Magmaite, originates from Hellfire. Again difficult to contain and stabilize. What holds it back from melting the digits of the user, I do not know."<i></i> What was left now was the axe. "Unknown. I cannot trace this back to a core elemental... but it won't even identify itself with base iron."<i></i>

 

[Toraono Kuro]

"Sousuke-kun, Hunter Killer is a game of shadows and movements where on puts them self at odds with the person's vision and takes the most advantageous point for an unseen blow. For those of us like yourself whose sense of reality and purpose are highly attuned this game would actually take on 4 to 5 dimensions instead of the traditional three. Making proper position and vector of attack an avenue of time, circumstance, and necessity, not just position, distance, lack of foresight." Kuro took a good look at the weapons and used his kinesis to study them without grasping them physically. His Sharingan picked up on many qualities that Sousuke with a microscope could not.

"There are three reasons these weapons are stabilized and capable, their handles are all forged from a mixture of reactive bone, chakra crystal seal inserts that literally seal the elemental properties of the weapon to the blade's edge and allow direct control through pressure, chakra pressure, and will powered intent. That was number one their hilts and handles were once part of something living with its own chakra pathways. The second reason is the elements that make up the alloy are alive, as in their are living elemental beings and spirits melded into the ore of the weapons, not unlike your chakra cores but using a process more akin to cursed seals than actual science. The third and final observation is that this Halberd is not made of any ore what so ever this is Astral crystal, it is literally a piece of some being's soul crystallized through ritual and forged into a weapon using vast amounts of chakra, and chemical streaming to reinforce the material to have almost metallic properties. If these were weapons we could use I would say they are fascinating but since they are meant to be used against us I am horrified. Few can force elements to work in amalgam like this without a soul forge and all of those were lost during the war with the ancients." Kuro remembered how his father explained the loss of the Temple of Homura where the three soul forges had been located.