Private wide and wild eyes

[Akane Kiseki]

His limbs ached. His breath came short, spittle and a lick of blood down his lip.

He didn't bother drawing Sincerity from its sheathe. It hung heavy at his side, weighing him off-center as if its weight was greater than his own, but his arms cast in front of him. The beasts that crowded drew forward then back, whining with unseen blows that coated their thoughts like tar while stuttering claws scratched unimpeded. Waves had stained red in his eyes and a single black tomoe struggled within the pool of crimson. He couldn't explain nor control it, really, but he could direct the feeling of his tightened chest. That burdened heat in his arms, through his veins, and he breathed sparks like circuitry. They fought with his illusions - this idea he had heroically dove into their writhing masses with blade drawn high - but he had long given up the point of his exercise in taking this mission. The scratches and bruising down the marred sight of his exposed skin more than told their story.

Monsters, it appeared, were not as easily subdued as men. The cognition of his sword had been the turning play when other tricks failed. As he spoke, "be felled," the concept of steel met the wary of his attack. He panted with the same exertion of actively fending the fray with the tool, but the stress on his chakra was far more palatable than the wince he got from his slight legs on every shift back. A fair number lay dead around the edges of the clearing, already, but still more advanced; and the force the monstrosities saw him as while he weaved his spell only counted for so much with their sheer numbers. He twined a sign to bend the shape of another, but a growl made him adjust back-- and his foot caught, sending him stumbling onto his back with a yelp and a pained twist of his face. The Heroics of Kiseki Akane wavered just in that moment as phantasms before every beast, and that was their call to descend.

He grimaced, widened eyes dripped with hazing violet until startled blue won from the hubris of their bloodied waters. "No!" He had moved to react in time to fang and claw, this sea of teeth, but the rush of ice & crackle of lightning that burned through the flicker of his soul was going to be just that beat too late --

 

[Ryuu Goro]

The forest stirs and monsters lurk about. They've been growing in number lately, despite the efforts of the village shinobi. Children sent to the front line to fight abominations and beasts alike. Culling their numbers almost a fruitless endeavor, but one that must be fulfilled. No child should be sent to face evil beyond their comprehension. Goro closes his eyes and focuses, nose sniffling for a scent - anything to track will do. Blood. The rancid stench of putrid flesh coated in murky rust and man-made chemicals. His body moves instinctually, flashing from tree to tree with his axe in hand. As he gets closer another odor pervades the noxious sea of grotesque monstrosities. A human... A Human! The hunt became a rescue and he hastens, using his strong legs to snap tree branches as he rushes to aid the soon-to-be victim, praying that he makes it in time.

Hurry!

A small cleaning in the horizon as the smell becomes unbearable. Goro's ears flick to respond to a plea for help - a denial of the boy's fate. And so too, does his body. Goro's body lurches, jaws snapping, tightly bound by his muzzle, but ferocious all the same. A flicker and then a burst as he crashes into the wave of mutants and monsters, axe swinging like a whirlwind as it bisects any caught in the wolf's momentum before he slams his axe's gun barrel into the creature poised and ready to devour the boy. He pulls the trigger. The explosive roar of a cannon echoes in the forest as shrapnel and pellets erupt from the barrel. It tears a hole through their ranks, unlocking a path for their escape. There's too many to fight head on while ensuring the child's safety. "Hang on to me!" He barks the order, but its accompanied by a refined and reassuring tone. Human. His red eyes meet the boy's azure and he offers a smile, before moving to task, scooping the small boy in one of his arms, pressed close to cling. "If you can assist, do so." Goro drags his axe through ooze and muck, slicing a monster that blocks the way as he flees deeper into the forest. His body is getting tired - a result of overexertion, but the path is clear.

They continue like this a short while, until the scent of the creatures becomes a lingering impurity in the air. Finally he can ask the all-important question, axe dropping to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Are you okay?"