Private the scene where ophelia drowns

[Akane Kiseki]

An endless winterscape stretched in the handful of moments that passed since Ichika's question. Kise? Are you okay? Hehe. Hehehe. The figure of the boy giggled, a small hand pressing to soft pale and tracing lips that once roared with lightning and now stilled with the coming chill. Every inhalation/exhalation was ecstatic - needful - almost as if desperate to feel that frigid air fill weak lungs. The boy moved. He laughed again, prancing between both feet, then skipping in a quick circle; every other movement trailing the phantom of a girl from his shoulders. He brought in two hands in a proclamation of joy, clapping them into shape then cupping both around each other. Squeezing. He - it - she found Ichika's eyes, snowdrops dangling from white lashes and eyes cleanly glassed the most translucent shade of blue.

"I ✰ chi ✰ ka. You've been really, really annoying, okay? You know that, okay?" The hand lifted from the memory of the boy's expression, now frozen to a playful sneer. It turned in the air as it did in the second preceding the Nothing's final cry. Twisted in shape; half of strange, archaic handseals, as if the inhabitor wasn't used to giving their power direction. It was so used to simply being - and now it was being, and it was being in Kiseki's space. The boy did not look well. The creature in possession of him seemed sprightly, teasing, a mite frustrated: but Kiseki Akane was bleaching to a corpse. The body shook beneath its veneer of frost, physical limitations for transient spirits.

One by one, the bitter taste in the atmosphere condensed into shards. One by one, these little refractions solidified and spread until the sky was filled with them - a halo of sharp ice framing the Lady in White's avatar.

​

"I've been here for so long. I keep nipping at his ears, I keep tugging at his sleeves, I keep squeezing him so, so tight -- and Kiseki-chan still hasn't noticed me! It's mean! It's mean! It's your fault, Ichika! He promised to find me again. He promised to play again! You keep distracting him!" This final assertion was punctuated by the falling of these shards, jabbing cleanly into the ground around Ichika until he was encircled by malice. A few remained, floating in orbit around the redhead - allowing keen eyes to catch faces and shapes captured in every shard. Kids he'd never known and would never meet, but also little reels of Kiseki himself. Imperfect. Distorted. The scenes played around him, readying themselves for the end of the story. The voice was petulant, a hurt child, but there was a darker intent behind every word. It was in control. "I'm just going to take him! I can't keep waiting for him to notice me! He already promised. I want to go back to my forest. I want Kiseki to play with me! Get out of the way, okay? Okay? Just go away now!"

They collapsed in.

Spoiler: GAME SET

Both players gain a full round rest from Part 1. (+20% HP/CP)

Yuki-Kise's Dread Aura rolls in.
Ichika fails! He has a +15% chance to auto-miss Yuki-Kise 2/round.

Yuki-Kise attacks Ichika with (Basic Strike) Called Shot: Arm.
Auto-Hit fails.
Hits! Called Shot Success! (19) Ichika takes 75 damage. Arms are Sprained. (-1 Accuracy)​

Spoiler: FIGHTER, YUKI-KISE

HP // 1694 + 316 = 1850 (Capped)

CP // 1353 + 658 = 2011

Status // 2/3 Energy Drinks, Class Change: The Lady in White, Dread Aura



OOC Rank: D
Level: 2
Agility: 60
Stamina: 50
Ninjutsu: 60
Genjutsu: 80
Taijutsu: 20
Chakra Control: 70

<The Lady in White>
Class Bonus: +5% Auto-Dodge and Auto-Hit
High: Ninjutsu Accuracy
Average: Gen Save, Dodge, Ranged Accuracy
Low: Melee Accuracy, Gen DC

Equipped:

Borrowed Malice

feelings unfelt, gifts ungiven. the shards of a self borrowing your own
Type: Projectile | +2 Accuracy, -10% Damage
(+3% Called Shot)
Augments:
1. Homing Beacon
2. Mirage

EQUIPMENT:
Utility Slot: Headband
Armor Slot: No Armor
Misc 1: Kawarimi Target
Misc 2: Binding Agent (Throat Spray)
Misc 3: Soldier Pill
Misc 4: Energy Drink

 

[Kazanari Ichika]

The glass of their comfortable snow globe shatters from the lingering permanence of a bitter cold that finally hit its breaking point The cutting frostbite of a girl scorned and left abandoned for too long. Ichika was stunned in place, listening to the spectral figure marionette his love, using his voice to spit venom. Things the sweet little boy would never say - the boy too pure to suffer any kind of pain. It caused his blood to boil. He wanted nothing more than to exorcise this spirit that haunted his Kise. His blood was boiling over, hot enough to clash with his frostbitten arm. His heart was devoid of warmth absent the soothing presence of his beloved - left only with a burning hatred for that which deprives him. "Give him back... now. He doesn't belong to you.." He pulls the shard of ice from his arm, the pain pumping adrenaline through his veins. "Kise... come back to me! We were gonna go out for a date together, remember? You can put her back to wherever she came from. You're stronger than her." Desperate and hopeful words to stir the boy back to life. His color fading and muted, a corpse-like puppet. Ichika had to save him. He couldn't.... he couldn't just sit back while someone else he loves dies again.

Words alone did not seem to be enough to free Kiseki from the wicked witch's grasp. "Fine... I'll play a game with you... even if you're an annoying spoiled brat."

Ichika bounds through the misty sepulcher, stumbling and pushing through exhaustion and agony. He'd give Kiseki a reminder from the day their love fully bloomed, in a battlefield opposite this one. A winter wonderland of their own, just a dog and his cat/a cat and his dog, frolicking together in a sprightful game of hide and seek. Ichika closes his fist and conceals it within his other hand. "Rock, paper, scissors!" He shouts at the top of his lungs, hoping his voice carries to the depths where his lover hopefully still lingered and with a bang, a fiery Rock punctures through frozen lake.

Spoiler: Round 1

Ichika uses Janken on Yuki-Kise and HITS

Spoiler: Ichika

HP // 3030

CP // 384

Status //
Arms are Sprained. (-1 Accuracy)
Under the effect of Dread Aura

OOC Rank: D
Level: 2
Agility: 60
Stamina: 70
Ninjutsu: 60
Genjutsu: 30
Taijutsu: 70
Chakra Control: 60
Power level: 350

Blooming Courage
HP: (60+Level) * Stamina
CP: (30+Level) * Chakra Control
Class Bonus: +1 Free Basic Attack, +1 Accuracy (4 Points total)
High: Melee Accuracy
Average: Dodge, Genjutsu Save, Ninjutsu Accuracy
Low: Ranged Accuracy, Genjutsu DC

EQUIPMENT:
Utility Slot: Headband
Armor Slot: No Armor
Misc 1: Kawairimi Target
Misc 2: Adrenal Stimulant
Misc 3: Smoke Bomb

WEAPONS:
Name: Orphan [Baseball Bat]
Damage Type: Bludgeoning [Suppression]
Damage Modifiers: - 5% Bonus Damage
Accuracy Modifiers: +1 Accuracy
Augment 1: Rough Divide

WEAPONS:
Name: Guren no Ken [Fists]
Damage Type: Unarmed [Handseals]
Damage Modifiers: -10% Bonus Damage
Accuracy Modifiers: +2 Accuracy
Augment 1: Dual Weapon
Augment 2: Special Composition (Fire)
Augment 3: Unlocked at B-Rank

 

[Akane Kiseki]

That little head - so dusted in white, stirring but not shaking off the winter chill - cocked to the side, one of those dangerous lilts as if in deep consideration. How do you rid yourself of a pest? He still barked with pierced arms - his legs? His chest? His still-beating heart? Truth be told, the Yuki-onna had no inherent problem with Ichika Kazanari, nor was she necessarily inclined towards murdering him. Evil didn't so much have standards as a 'me! me! me!' perspective - she wasn't above cursing unwanted invaders to death, but she'd much rather just scamper off with her prize and leave him forgotten in the snow wastes. The bitter air spiked. A crescendo high above them both, breaking through the cloud of the graveyard's miasma - the first kick of snowfall into their little spat. It billowed out and around them, joining crystals stained pretty with his blood. "You want to play? Really? Mm ... I only really want Kiseki-chan ... You're not like him. You're too loud." She looked through him with those glassy eyes, smiling impassively. "You're more annoying and way too aggressive!" The shards stabbed at him once more, though stalling inches from skin as he began his own advance. "See! Kiseki-chan wouldn't do that! Kiseki-chan wants to be friends with me. I want to have Kiseki-chan! You're just in the way, stupid stupid stupid dog."

She stuck out her tongue, a shift of her back foot slipping her off the ground as if she could fall upwards into the sky - which she very well was doing. A lazy turn of her hand has the shards reignited in their spiteful circular, chasing down Ichika as if they really had started a new game. The ambivalence of ancient spirits would, however, be her undoing. "All you need to beat rock is ~ Pap -!" Ichika SLAMMED into the fragile creature's chest, the force of his blazing fist catching on something dislodged already from gravity and sending her spiraling. She could barely make a sound as she was launched into the distance, catching her self on tides of ice a field length from the beast in red. She gasped and coughed, the form inhabited struggling to keep up with the force used - both in damage, and in passion. Blood spiked and dribbled down newly reddened lips, the shared chest heaving for quick breaths until eyes trailed up to match his. Soft. "Ow, Icchan," he spoke, so very trembling.

Ichika was struck from behind as if whipped onto stage, images of Kiseki saying his name pocketmarking the back of his legs. Yuki-Kise glided above the earth, not getting near enough for his grubby paws that would grasp divinity. Instead she swam around in happy litle dives and spirals, a new light to inhuman eyes. "That was fun! I was like 'wheeee!' It really hurt, though - you're going to break Kiseki-chan! I'm not done with him. He's going to be my friend. I'm going to take him back to my forest and we're going to play forever and ever. If you don't beat him to death first ... or if he doesn't freeze, haha! But then he can join my other friends!! Such pretty statues ..., " cold breath on his cheek, "what do you think? --"

A swinging light at the back of her head. A dimly little room. Shadows creeping, shadows receding. As she looked upon Ichika's wounded face defiant thunder rumbled in the depths of a soul she had made home in. Curiosity and confusion reflected in eyes of the palest blue, drowning in reflection of emerald and jade. Icchan? Hello? A voice from the room of『 self 』- a new figure, or perhaps the oldest figure to have lived here. Little white paws grasping the edge of a single steel chair beneath that pendulum. He looked up into nothingness - but it was not nothingness that stared back. Giddy laughter rung out around him, giggles that seemed to hurt him from the inside out. Hello? I'm sorry, w-who are you? Is Ichika okay? It's really cold in here. I'm r-really cold. Hello?

It's okay, Kiseki-chan! We're almost free! You want that, don't you, Ki✰se✰ki? It's just soooo hard to be a Shinobi! Everything's so scary. You're trying so hard! I'm so proud of you! But, but, but -- why fight so much? Just run away! It's easy! I'll help you, okay?

Then we can play together like you promised.

A promise ... ?

She lurched back from Ichika, her image splitting between refractions of her 'self' and Kiseki's own - and the illusion hit its snag on the boy of embers, the true entrance of the Yuki-onna. They danced around him, searing cold dripping down from laughing mouths until it tore at his skin.

A promise!

Spoiler: ROUND 1

YUKI-ONNA / CLONE 2 / CLONE 3
HP // 1850 - 250 = 1600
CP // 2011 - 175 - 175 - 80 = 1581
Status // Dread Aura, Maintaining Clone (10 seconds)

ROUND 1
START
Dread Aura: Ichika fails for his next round.

.75 AP
Yuki-Kise attacks Ichika with a Basic Attack (Called Shot)!
Hits! Called Shot Success (26)! Ichika takes 75 damage. Leg is Sprained (-1 Dodge)

1.25 AP​

Ichika uses Janken on Yuki-Kise and HITS
Suppression fails.
Yuki-Kise takes 250 damage!​

2.25 AP
Yuki-Kise uses Basic Clone on Ichika.
Fails!

3.75 AP
Yuki-Kise uses Basic Clone on Ichika.
Success! Yuki-Onna Clone 2 & 3 enter the fight!
(10 seconds, Ichika will roll Awareness at the start of his rounds and roll random to hit if fails.)

5 AP
Yuki-Onna attacks Ichika with Pressurized Mist (Ice)!
Hits! Ichika takes 255 damage.
Bleed fails.

Kiseki struggles!

​

​

 

[Kazanari Ichika]

A fragmented exhalation accompanies a grimace of sharp pain shooting up his leg. The spectral girl sneaking another icy shard through his body before taking the blunt force of a boulder They were both too stubborn to release their grasp on Kiseki, whether through malicious or protective possession. Ichika would not simply hand over his beloved, even if it means he has to tarnish his soul and sully his hands. A hollow bang as the fist slams into Kise's chest, and the sinking of his own heart. There was no response before the impact... only after. The cries of pain from the snowcat's frightened voice. "I'm sorry, snowdrop..." He grits his teeth, the stabbing pain in his leg dropping him to his knee. Ichika hated this girl, listening to her ramble on and on. Kiseki wanted to be her friend? A lie! The only thing she's interested in is stealing his beauty. Hoarding it all to herself to feel better about her miserable existence. A statue? Over my dead body! If Kise was the embodiment of everything pure and beautiful about the world, this snow witch was the opposite. Evil by nature, incapable of adding anything of meaning to the world. She could only devour beauty, never understanding the why or how of it. "It hurts, huh? So you do feel the pain... I think you're misunderstanding something about the situation. I'm just as petulant and loud as you are. It's why you hate me. I'm a mirror image of you and he picked me instead. He belongs to me and I'm not willing to share with someone that can't appreciate him. I think... he's tougher than you are." Ichika stumbles up and clenches his fists tight, channeling his chakra to encase them in smoldering fire. "If he'll freeze, I'll just have to warm him up myself. He won't break like you will, either. I'm going to save him with these blazing hands. And if I fail... I know that he'll push you out on his own. I just need to buy time."

He breathes in, a quick hop before he's off zoning in on the real Yuki-onna - her genjutsu was mere child's play compared to Kiseki's and made it even easier for Ichika to engage with her. The visage of the girl hanging over his shoulders had now taken center stage, leaving only herself perceptible to the unruly warhound. He kicks off the rocky ground, flashing tforward and slamming his fist into her side. The crackling flames whirling against her subzero aura. He hadn't forgot that this was still his beloved's body. He didn't want to leave any lasting damage even if the intent was inflicting as much pain to the gluttonous wraith. He scrapes his foot, twisting his body and claps an open palm into her sternum. "This is how you throw paper by the way. Kise would have never been hit back there. But I guess you'll only be able to live in others' shadows." As she stumbles back, Ichika readies himself, running to catch her on the rebound. The pain. The biting cold. He falters, the first spinning kick misses its mark, whizzing past her head. The spike in his leg dulled his movements, making his leg tremble with a foreboding collapse. But even so! He howls, drowning out the pain with sheer force of will and contorts his body, snapping his leg to sweep Yuki-onna and with a final flourish he jolts his leg forward, flicking her away like a spent ember.

Keep going. Keep going! He bashes his fist against his leg, singing his clothes as he tries to cauterize the wound. No use, but at least its a familiar pain. She's already recovered by the time he rushes back in to attack. One, two. No use, He's just too slow to keep up with the icy will o' the wisp. An endless barrage pushing his body past its limit and right when he finally catches her, his fist passes right through transient mist- a phantom mirror image that chills his body to the bone. Her shrill, eerie laughter throbbing, splitting. His eardrums feel like they're going to explode. The glacial frost shrouding his body thickens, crawling along his skin until it draws blood while she stands there, taunting - gloating like a child who always changes the rules right before she loses. Ichika glares her direction, nothing but scorn and animosity in his eyes and blitzes her, tackling her to the ground. "What do I think? I think you talk too much!" Ichika hunches over, staring into her eyes with a bestial glint and bends back, his hands clinging to her collar in an unbreakable vice. Not with a spark or strike of a match. The resounding explosion of a meteor. The reverberation of his skull against hers in a volatile battle of hot and cold.

Spoiler: Round 2

Ichika is AWARE of Basic Clone

Ichika uses Free Basic Weapon Strike and HITS
Dealing 63 damage

.75 AP
Ichika uses Basic Weapon Strike and HITS
Dealing 63 damage

2 AP
Ichika uses Spinning Wind and HITS 2x
Dealing 340 damage

2.75 AP
Ichika uses Basic Weapon Strike and MISSES

3.5 AP
Ichika uses Basic Weapon Strike and MISSES

4.25 AP
Ichika uses Basic Weapon Strike and HITS but Autofails

5 AP
Ichika uses Basic Weapon Strike and CRITICALLY HITS
Dealing 144 damage

 

[Akane Kiseki]

There was something within the trite boredom Yuki-onna observed Ichika with. Something that wasn't the slow loss of a cold little boy - something just between the two, the frost and the water below, like a beast skimming the surface. A timeless darkness in pale eyes. Something - the only thing - that could challenge such heartripping words from the cherry bomb. Her lips twitched. Turned. The petulance of her frown lost for something far, far colder. "Of course he's tough. That's why I want him. I don't think he'll freeze like the others. I think he could survive the forest. He already did, for a night. If he can't, mm ... well, then we were both wrong, weren't we?" Her gait - floating - had changed, from spritely to haunting. Her image overlayed atop Kiseki's would turn their head, lifting a kimono'd hand to a paler face. Smiling behind it, contemptuous. Beguiling. "Do you really think he'll be able to take control back? That'd be fun! He did say we'd play. Consider this hide-and-seek-again. Kiseki-chan forgot about me the first time, but he can't anymore. He's seeking and hiding. I'm just --"

And she would lunge at Ichika, a wicked grin behind sharp nails primed to spear him. "-- buying our time!"

She'd chance that she could get Kiseki away from Ichika before he could wake up, and Ichika chanced that he could keep Yuki-onna here long enough that Kiseki was back before the forest. If he didn't die first, they'd see who'd win their bets. It was exciting, almost. Yuki-onna wanted Ichika Kazanari dusted at this point - as worthless in the wind as the ashes of the Prey - but he wasn't going to back down. He added additional stakes instead. It wasn't just Kiseki on the line anymore. It wasn't just a two player game.

Game! Set! Love!

The impact of his hand broke her out of her attack before she was close enough to complete it, malice in tangible waves flowing off cursed fingers until it subsumed the rest of her. A shadow? Why, yes, that's what she was. And how do you get rid of someone's shadow? It's attached to them! She hissed in pain as the hit bloodied both her and Kiseki, soul-linked as they were in that moment, and a cartwheel through the air caught bleeding limbs right again. It only lasted for a moment, a chilling hand lifted for its reply stamped out by the fury of a beast. A single flickered ember within the bowels of winter. One last piece of coal for sinful hearts! "You!" She spit, the mortal body she inhabited slowing movements that would once come natural and powerful. She was spun away by the force of his kick, strength behind each blow despite the crystrallized pain that dug their thoughts into his very marrow. She almost, almost had to give him something for that, but all she could imagine was how pretty of a statue he'd make for her to crumble if she was in her own form --

Hello? A ... are you fighting Icchan? Are you fighting Ichika? Uhm ... are you hurting him? Please don't hurt him. Confused, winterspunwords, distracting her in the midst of battle. They bubbled behind solid white. She wasn't going to lose their game that easily, Kiseki! The exertion of her power in response - gleaming a kelvin shimmer over Kiseki's shape until his palor seemed almost grey - forced Ichika's hits into nothingness, allowing her renumeration. The first halo of ice failed with the coming words. Please, I don't want to do this. You said you wanted to play? What did I promise? I-I'm really sorry I forgot, but if you tell me, I'll do it. I'll do anything. Please don't do this. An uneven line for her lips, pinning Ichika's shoulders with shards that did nothing to slow his movement. He was closing in on her again. He wasn't going to miss forever! Hold on, Kiseki-chan! We have another player, and I don't want to lose! I'm tagging ... and he's it!

A spear against his chest, unable to break through the acrid heat that burned off his very skin. It stung, but melted away, a pyrhhic victory. "I can't help but feel like you're cheating, Ichika. Bringing fire against an ice spirit? A little desperate, are we~?" What's your name? "What?"

The heavy thunk of hard-headed skull against a baby bird's, whitening Yuki-Kise's eyes to a shared point along the full derth of their widening. She hadn't noticed how quickly he had advanced on her; it had been decades since her last, good possession, and Kiseki was fiesty beneath that softness. A charming quality - one she only wanted to bring out more, until he was a bit more interesting and a little less melancholic (a party downer, right?) - but currently trouble for her stakes in this play. He only seemed to get louder on every hit from Ichika. Would you tell me your name?

It took a lot to force Ichika off of her rattled configuration and sending him flying the opposite way, taking notes from the boy's earlier fight and its effectiveness to drill him with sharp, frosting waves against the chest wounds she had just managed to cause. It was effective, enough - not taming the animal, but sending him back to his cage so she could grasp herself a tombstone and recollect this weak shell. Arrrrgh! If I tell you my name, will you be a little quieter? No response. A soft, sad contemplation. Nerves within nerves within every drop of snow that flurried. Fine! Okay! I'm called Yuki-onna, Kiseki-chan. Does that help? Yuki-onna? It had been so long since she heard her own name. It had been so long since someone had asked. She almost whined, the sound burning to a sigh. You! said! you'd! play! with! me! Kiseki-chan!

And then you didn't! I followed you! I stayed with you! I was just out of eyeshot, just under your ears, nipping just at your nose - and you never even noticed! You forgot about me. A type of bitterness dripped from the words in thought. You were soooo so so busy with Ichika, you forgot to catch me again. I'm just making it simpler! You made a commitment, Kiseki-chan! To me! A troubled sound from the wispish visage of the boy in that dark, cold room. So you're mad at me? Snorting in derision. The gentle, cruel carress of a mistress and its pet. Selfish soothing. It's not your fault, Kiseki-chan. You're so soft. You're so innocent. You're so pure, Ki✰se✰ki. You would never do anything wrong. She had tried, but they had time. Ichika's keeping you all to himself. If he wasn't here, you'd have found me. "But if he left now, we could just go! We could get away from everything! It could just be me and you, Kiseki-chan. No shinobis, no fighting, no Ichika, no blood. You would never have to worry about anything. We can sleep all day and play all night! Don't you want that, Kiseki-chan?" Her voice rung out, so lost in this argument. She could only idly manage to skirt away from Ichika, tossing down a rain of ice to cover her path and her real attention.

He clung to the remnants of that one little chair, the white light above seeming to sear him with its frost on every arc. His head was so foggy. His chakra was depleting - and he felt phantom pain, from every hit his body suffered. He was almost nothing. A phantasm more alike to Yuki-onna than a boy. It's not Ichika's fault. He managed. It's not Ichika's fault. I think ... I think I kind of remember now? There was ... there was a maze ... and a forest ... you did that, right, Yuki-onna? B-because you were alone, too? You were alone! Until he came along! You were supposed to want to play with me. He changed that. No! N-no. He could feel her sadness, beneath that timeless frost. He could feel her loneliness. He could feel the wear of millenia on an amalgam soul, dropping the temperature to as nothing as he felt. He couldn't blame her. He felt such immense, painful pity. Such explicit concern - for himself, for Ichika, and for the Yuki-onna. I didn't know ... I didn't know. A grimace from the witch of winter. I-I didn't know, but it's my fault. It's not Ichika's. Please, Yuki-onna.

I'm sorry.

 

[Kazanari Ichika]

The tugging anchor wrapped around his heart looming - swinging back and forth like a pendulum with the young boy trying his best to shift with the sweeping tide that threatens to drag him into the abyss. All he can think about is the fateful day where he lost everything. He refuses. He refuses to ever let some intruder just steal away what is precious to him. Not again... never again. He's numb. He's lost all sensation in his arm and leg long ago, pushing on through sheer force of will, but he has no idea how long it'll last. All he can feel is the stirring of his blood, the swirl of embers trying to hold that crushing weight. The blood beneath his scar stirs. A primordial hunger. Sorry, but he's off limits. I'm going to bring him back home with my own two hands. A satisfying answer as the beast inside is muzzled. Kiseki was fighting so desperately. He must be. Her focus keeps shifting inward talking to a rebellious phantom presence. If that's the case he'd keep pushing, keep her distracted, hurt her, taunt her, anything as long as helps Kise. Even if I'm nothing but ash.

He screams, a piercing wail as he slams his blazing fist into his own chest, a booming spark to kick his body into gear. Gods, he's exhausted. Desperately trying to keep his anger and animosity stirred. Shaky legs that sink into the ground before rushing recklessly towards the floating spirit, launching kunai aimed at non-vital areas. She whisks herself out of harm's way - a chill breeze that would be impossible to swat out of the air. Tora. He wrings the last of his chakra, the sizzling heat glowing beneath his skin again as his hand enkindles, manipulating it to his will. "You don't know the first thing about Kiseki! He'd never ever give up. He fights for something you'd never be able to understand and because of that... what? You can just steal him away like some rat who saw something shiny... something it couldn't understand? As if I'd let that happen! You're an idiot, too. If you were just nicer, he would do anything to help you,... he'd genuinely be your friend, because that's the kind of person he is! Hell, I'd even try to be your friend. You think you're the only one that feels alone in the world? You think I'm going to let you do that to me again?"

A final lobbed kunai to get the wintry girl to marionette Kise's body how he wants and at the very moment she moves to elude the attack, he lobs the meager ball of fire. It hovers in the air like a north star, its reflection glowing in cold muted eyes, like a guiding light - an SOS for his boyfriend that begged for his return. To please save them both. "Wake up, Kise-chan!" Ichika releases the pin on the proverbial grenade. It bursts open, breaking apart into even smaller embers, a vividly radiant meteor shower that contrasts the nebulous dread of the graveyard to herald in a beautiful miracle. He stumbles and rolls through a nasty fall, collapsing from fatigue, panting like a ragged dog as he watches the volatile cinders downpour.

"When you come back... I'd really like to watch a meteor shower together sometime, okay?"

 

[Akane Kiseki]

The nova of a star in the vast distance - so far away, yet the reach of its light - red - bled through so clearly. It traveled so far. It always found him. He looked up from the dark room his phantasma inhabited; suddenly filled with brilliant sun, and oh how it burned through the frost that clung and dripped off ampless form. His eyes went wide. They refracted every facet of that beautiful flash, a meteorite like a shooting star carrying his heart's dearest wish. Ichika. He thought. Ichika! It roared through his head and seared courage into a weak heart. He looked around on a turn of his foot, eyes catching a figure that lingered just out of eyesight. She floated in the corner of shadows, watching the same explosion he was. Feeling the same powerful heat. Mulling it over, contemplative instead of adoring. I'm sorry, Kiseki had said. What a cruel boy.

Their body went limp. There was no response at the point of impact, this blaze of righteous glory and the steaming shape - glitching between a lady in white and a miracle in blue - inside, still. Quiet. Attentions were focused elsewhere. The howls of a baskervillian hound painting vivid words across previously shaded walls. There was no longer a need for that light in its pendulum. They were blinded already. Kiseki watched Yuki-onna, let the moment sink in, and opened his mouth again: braver. I'm sorry I forgot you. It wasn't that he was naive - he knew her intentions were unkind if not spoilt, and that she had signed him up for something he had never really originally agreed to. What worth was that spite? What cycle would he be perpetuating for a spirit so far outside of his own understanding? If he denied her, would she find someone else? Would she hurt Ichika? Would she hurt himself? ... What damage would that cause her?

He'd own up, instead, and the frozen light in eyes that met his seemed to confirm his course. You're right. I got distracted by Icchan and stopped really spending time with anyone else ... it felt really nice to have that for the first time. Is that what you're missing, too? Is that what you're looking for? She watched in silence. There was something so unreadable in her expression. I did feel you. This little nudge, right? Sometimes, when I was thinking, or alone, or maybe just a little sad. And how cold I've been ... that was you, too, right, Yuki-onna? Side-effect. She spoke matter of factly. Haunting and possession are tricky. I don't normally do it. I don't normally leave my forest for this long. It's not that I wanted to do it for you, it's that everything changed after I chose to tag along. Things took longer than they normally do. You didn't find me again. He couldn't figure out where her tone was coming from. Was she bitter? Annoyed? Sad? Tired? His bones ached so deeply. Did she feel that too?

I-I think I understand that. He could never really hold bravado in the path of such complicated thinking. You didn't mean to do all of this. I just didn't speak up. I'm sorry, really, Yuki-onna. A turn of her mouth. Quizzical? He felt pressured by his boyfriend's barking ringing in his ears and her silence in the face of his words. Jittery, even. Anxiety gripped his heart and he had to stop his voice from cracking. I'm sorry, but I don't think that means I should go with you. It is really hard. You were right when you first f-found me - sometimes, I did want to run away. I'm not built for this. Everyone knows I'm not built for this. I'm doing this because I'm not. Of course I want to stop! I'm not going to, though! He was getting louder - not angry, but defiant. I can't run away. It would mean that everyone like me - everyone after me - their only option would still be running away. Please! He had begun to move closer to her. She had coiled in surprise, peeking over him with wide eyes. Every step crackled beneath his feet, surging by the supernova above. I'll play the game right this time!

You'll just forget me again. It almost seemed like she was batting a fly - or maybe a toy ball, between her hands. Kiseki couldn't quite catch onto that. Why should I believe you this time? Why shouldn't I finish off Ichika and keep you all for myself? It wasn't a good time for her to taunt him, but she was running out of options; she was either sunk cost or simply unable to give up on something she had decided she wanted. This look on his face though - this fierceness - was really good to her. That's the kind of glint she wanted from him. Everything had already gone wrong - was this the level it took to push him? A contract!

He looked frazzled, she looked worse. Laughter peeling. A contract? With the Yuki-onna? ... Why? You wouldn't have to haunt me. You wouldn't have to possess me. We could just be equals. Equals? The scoff was before she could catch it, wryly staring him down. E-equals. He couldn't be blamed. Because this isn't working, for either of us. I can't sustain you, Yuki-onna. M-my body can't hold you like this. I'll -- there comes the crack. She seemed briefly pleased. I'll die. I know you don't want that. I can feel that you don't want that, because you want me to prove that I could be your friend, right? My friend. The distinction didn't matter to him. If we had a contract, you could still be around. You could talk to me ... whenever! I'll actually play with you and it won't hurt us both this much. Mortals don't always keep their promises. Contract or not. Then you can have me, if I break it. You can have my body. You can take me away. It would only be fair for lying to you.

Her eyes lit up now. Real stakes, again. She could take him now, sure -- his body might not last, and Ichika Kazanari would die, but it was within her power if she just stamped him down. ... But she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to have to take him. It wasn't the way this works - he was supposed to want to come with her. He was supposed to give up! If he wouldn't give up now, then ... A contract. His eyes lit up as a shivering arm took the head of the chair in hand to hold himself upright. Sure, sure, Kiseki-chan, that sounds funny. A contract and a game. If you win, we get to be 'friends' but I won't be eroding your soul. Hehe. I'll just have to use your chakra, okay~? He was too eager to nod. She liked that, too. If I win, and she was no longer in front of him - arms around his shoulders / eyes alight violet / lips to his ear, I get to take you, and we play together forever. And if Ichika tries to stop me next time, I will kill him. That's the price to pay for betrayal.

Does that sound good? ✰

He didn't have a lot of options. He didn't have the space or energy to think, and he had to get out of here before he faded away completely. He swallowed. Took that moment of deliberation. Then he met her eyes once more, warmth and virtue in the light of such blue eyes. A contract, then, Yuki-onna. A promise. I, Kiseki Akane, agree to these terms!

Hands held clasped each other, and he could almost see the miasma that billowed out from her dark inclinations. I, the Yuki-onna, agree to these terms. A contract it is thus, and thus is it sealed. Your pet tired me out - I'm going to go relax before I come back to play with mine. She stuck out her tongue, laughing, and floated away from him to leave his arm outstretched. She disappeared as she did, slowly, until only shining violet eyes and the dark mist that clung to her remained: and then they blinked out.

His next seconds were spent shifting and prying himself from the earth, shaking incredibly, and hoarsely speaking - "I-Icchan?"

 

[Kazanari Ichika]

Lifeless. The anchor around his heart plunges him into that swallowing abyss. Seeing his body go limp shatters the picturesque snowglobe that they call their home. He rushes over without a moment's hesitation, stumbling over a fallen tombstone. "K-Kise!?" He cries out, crawling along the macabre battlefield strewn with blood and melting ice. Desperate and yearning. Please... Don't take him from me! Stay with me forever! His curses are trapped in his throat. He opens his mouth but no words can escape. Only a hushed scream choking out from ragged lungs. Please don't make me a murderer! The world feels muted.

He finally makes it to Kiseki's limp body, clutching his shoulders with frantic paws. "So cold..." Frozen and numb, burning his fingertips with a wicked frostbite and he still clings on. "K-Kise? I'm begging you. Don't leave me okay? " He wails. He sobs. It's all the courage he can muster in the moment. His heroic bravado was dragged into the depths along with his heart. "I couldn't... I can't even save the boy I love..." The dam breaks and the tears flow, streaming down his cheek and falling onto Kise's wintry cheek. "Come home, please... I can't be alone again... I love you so much." He laments and quietly condemns the world and the witch that caused this, toppling over to dot his head in glowing kisses. He just lies there, weary and shattered in a broken world devoid of beauty.

"I-Icchan?"

A single vibrant sound to restore color to the world - Every flower blooming in unison to signal the end of winter. "Kise-chan?" Ichika eyes shine like blazing comets, his ears perking up with a little wiggle as his tail starts to wag. Ichika pounces, hugging him tight in his arms, brushing his nose against his pale canvas to paint him in warmth. The tears in his eyes gushing harder than before - not out of sadness, but pure happiness. Respite from the straining chokehold of sorrow. "Y-You're okay right? I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry! I didn't know what else to do!" A million things to spill out to the boy that made his journey back from what felt like a million miles away, but he can't keep up. The fatigue won't let his thoughts and emotions catch up with what's transpired. The beautiful little miracle. "Welcome home, tiger~"

 

[Akane Kiseki]

Miasma lifted from the lingering fugue of Kiseki's reclaimed form. It twirled off of him in wisps, so similar to the vision in his soul, and evaporated into nonexistence from Ichika's proximity. It was searing, again. Fulfilling. His pallor had near instantly began to peak now that the boy was atop him, hugging, crying, laughing - loving him as pure as melting snow. Kiseki fell into intense shivers, opening his mouth to speak and hiccuping instead, his own stream of tears meeting his boyfriend's clinging. He held him, too. They held each other for what felt like hours within moments. Way up here in the stratosphere, blue and red swirled until they coalesced in their own revolution anew. Even through this, they had found each other again. Even through this - "H-hey, it's okay, Icchan. I told you. I'd always love you. That comes first, okay?" A brush across his face with a shaking hand, every little bone out of place in such a small shape. "Always." He felt an additional twinge as he started to lift himself, using some of Ichika's own diminished strength, and glanced over his shoulder through torn shirt and bloody scrapes. A seal that hadn't been there before; or one that had, but muted and phantasmal, now very real.

A reminder of a promise.
The starting shot of a game.

He flexed around this snowflake diagram with the shoulderblades of a bird, the sound of distant laughter softening through his bones. At least it wasn't cold. It was something, but it wasn't cold. "C-come on, sunshine. Let's just go home, okay? We'll ... w-we'll, uhm, report the mission tomorrow." His eyes fell so very sad as he looked upon him - beated, bloodied, in a far worse state than Kiseki's own. Kiseki didn't look good, but Ichika had held back in a way the Yuki-onna hadn't. Everything hurt. Inside and out, oh how badly everything hurt. She was still there, in some sense. Back in her forest, or invisible around them, or even just hiding out within the pocket of the seal - she was still there. It wasn't as foreboding as it was tiring. For all his graces, Kiseki was so very tired.

They'd help each other up. He'd lean on Ichika and he'd force Ichika to lean on him, despite any protests or worries, and the two would shamble back home over tens of quiet minutes. It was filled with adoration. Relief. Hope. Concern - but no words. They couldn't manage to, not like this: and if Ichika tried, Kiseki would look like he might cry all over again. He held a stony countenance all the way home to the best of the building of such little hands.

As they wandered back into Kumogakure proper, Kiseki would slow by a response building for Shinobi on duty and tap Ichika's shoulder. Grab his loving boyfriend's attention, as full of instant worry and support in equal measures as it might be - and speak, slow. Even. "Go get help, Icchan." It wasn't open for question. It was his last bid to free his loyal hound from such desperate service, if only for the quiet moments of this night, and pay renumeration for all of the pain caused. Ichika wouldn't feel the effect. If he had noticed, he might have fought it. Might have demanded Kiseki go with him, or to take Kiseki home. Kiseki would just shake his head under disheveled, greyed and pinking white, smiling somberly. "I'm going to head home, now. Make sure you stay until you're all healed, sunshine."

And he dragged himself off, the cold cast of a setting sun on his back.