Without Blood; Without Light [Private]

[Muramasa Maya]

Things were changing.

After Azusa had left the Byakko's domain with their Blood and Akkuma's Curse, it was to be expected that she would need time to recover. But time had a habit of passing by quickly, and though she though she was always eager to show the results of her training in the medical complex, Azusa hadn't even been showing up to their scheduled trainings and medical rounds; without even sending so much as a short letter saying she'd be missing.

For all intents and purposes, Azusa had just disappeared after their last meeting.

But then one night, a fox-eared shrine maiden had shown up to the Byakko home. Against all odds, this was not Azusa.

[Aikayume Hinoka]

This was her cousin, Hinoka. Gold eyed and pink hair tied up, the Aikayume kitsune normally wore elegant outfits like Azusa...but today was wearing an inconspicuous desert shawl and cloak, completely obscuring her distinguishable ears and tail; illusions may have been involved in this, but like other Aikayume, masking her kitsune features still incompletely had her tail shown in her shadow. What circumstance could possibly arise that would cause a proud fox spirit to hide herself?

"I would like to speak with Lord Byakko Kyuji. Please tell him it is regarding his apprentice...and is urgent." She spoke the Byakko clansman at the entrance, sending him off in search of Kyuji.

...Like Azusa's first time entering this place, she couldn't help but admire the Byakko's portion of the Toarono Dojo. But such thoughts were quickly shrugged off, as she came her today with a purpose.

[Topic Entered with NPC]

 

[Tomomi]

Spoiler

Notes: No hat, eyes are yellow. Hair is longer to about shoulder length.​

Sitting in his study in his clan's respective part of the Toraono Clan, Kyuji was looking through applications for new students wishing to join the Medical Branch after they graduated from the Academy. There were quite a few candidates that had scored quite well on their recent exams in the Academy and new blood was always being needed in the Medical Branch since they were still understaffed with some Medics going on missions and others deciding to retire or switch branches because the job just wasn't right for them. One of the individuals in the Medical Branch whom Kyuji was very much concerned about was Aikayume Azusa whom he had taken as his apprentice. The little foxfire priestess had a little incident last time they had seen one another by getting involved in a meeting between the cousin of Kyuji's and Kyuji himself where she was marked by the demon with a curse seal that she had no control over. Fortunately, Lady Yanshi and Kyuji had been quick to take care of Azusa by giving her emergency surgery to fight the sealing and the demonic energy that had begun to flow through her by giving their own celestial blood to balance out the energy. It appeared to have worked, but since that incident, Azusa had not been making any training or rounds in the Hospital. The dearest Byakko had sent a handwritten letter to her clan's home, but had not received anything back as of yet.

But by chance, one of his clan's members that was manning the entrance to their clan had banged on his door and informed him that there was a woman wearing a shawl and cloak waiting for him at the entrance to their home and she was here because of Azusa and it was urgent. If anyone could've seen the eyes of Kyuji, they were filled with despair and worry as he rose from his seat and proceeded to walk down the long corridor to the entrance of their home. It would take a good five minutes or so to finally get to where the woman was and when he finally got there, he looked at her and said with trouble in his voice: "You are here about Azusa. What happened to my apprentice?! Is she okay?!"

He would then move to the side and motion to the woman to enter his home where he would then proceed to go into a small room near the entrance where the moonlight was glistening the table in the room. The descendant of Byakko would then light a candle that would illuminate the room as he pulled out a chair for her motioning her to sit as he sat down across from her. He would then put his hands on the table showing a slight shake as he began to talk again: "I haven't seen her since she came here last time. What has happened to her?"

 

[Muramasa Maya]

Hinoka patiently awaited word if she would listened to by the Byakko, or turned away. Before long, Kyuji himself had appeared, and she was relieved to see that not only had the news caused the Byakko to move with haste, but he also visibly shown the same distress that she felt.

He then motioned for her to enter, and -after a cautionary glance behind her to see if she were followed- entered the Byakko home into a room where she'd be able to speak with Kyuji. The Aikayume woman removed her cloak and shawl, revealing her bright hair and kitsune ears. "She..." How to begin? Where should she begin? Hinoka's voice faltered and trailed off until she collected herself.

"Lord Byakko, I am Hinoka of the Aikayume clan. More importantly, I am Azusa's retainer...and her friend." The glow of the candle illuminating the room reflected off her golden eyes as she tried to compose the many thoughts running through her mind. "To start with...Azusa has been exiled from the Aikayume. Normally, an exilement wouldn't be anything unheard of, but she is -or was- our Priestess. Our blessed matriarch. To exile her means to sever her connection as Priestess, to sever her connection is to reclaim the sacred blood given to her from her very veins." Hinoka's gold eyes shined, unfaltering in the gaze despite the anguish they shown.

"Lord Byakko, I stayed with her and did all I could to help. Azusa should not be alive after what happened to her. But by some miracle, she had impure blood within her that wasn't ripped away from her. Blood that allows her yet to live." Hinoka was unaware of what Azusa had gone through during and after her encounter with Akkuma, or the transfusion that took place, or that the Byakko blood that was given to her in fact had now given her a second chance. Only that her cousin and friend was still alive.

Hinoka's face changed with disgust; whatever Azusa had gone through, recalling the scene had caused Hinoka to flinch. "The rest of the Aikayume believe she allowed herself to be tainted with darkness and cursed, but...I believe in her. She's not a bad person." At this point the shrine maiden moved from her chair and sat on her knee's, and respectfully bowed until her forehead touched the floor. It was a monumental task for her to remain composed during all this. "Which is why I'm here. Lord Byakko, I ask...no, I beg, please speak with Azusa! She lives, but is not herself and is heading down a very dark path. I've done my research, I know that you mentored and trained Azusa more than anyone. She doesn't trust me after what happened; won't even speak with me...But maybe she'll listen to you."

Though they had never met until now, Kyuji was her last hope.

 

[Tomomi]

The descendant of Byakko continued to sit right across the table from his visitor as she removed her cloak and shawl revealing her kitsune properties. Of course, there was always the assumption as soon as he initially saw her that she was related to Azusa in some way since the kitsune relative had arrived here asking for Kyuji, the priestess of the Aikayume Clan's sensei. The apprentice of the woman brought only a single thought to the Byakko's mind as his stomach churned inside of him: "This is certainly shaping up to be an interesting night...." It didn't help matters that the girl's voice trailed off as she began to speak as it signaled to him that things were worse than he was anticipating. See, Azusa usually got herself into little mishaps when she was around Kyuji as she was a little clumsy and always let her little ego get the better of her in certain situations. One of those situations was when she was taking her Genin Exam with Mao and Surutameni and he froze her in place by using a Genjutsu on her; but, she had learned from then and was doing far better when she actually made it to the Hospital for her lessons, medical rounds and studies.

But, his attention would be brought to the girl in front of him as the candle he lit reflected off her golden eyes that mimicked his own as she introduced herself as Aikayume Hinoka. So, his assumptions' assumptions were right about her being related to Azusa, but there wasn't time to take this little victory lap in his mind as she continued to talk. However, what came out of her mouth made the dearest Byakko frown, shake his head and close his eyes in disgust and anguish. From the story being told, Azusa had been exiled from her own home for allowing her blood to be tainted and her clan's royal blood was ripped right out of her body which should've killed her in the process, but she survived. Now, typically the descendant of a celestial being like Lord Byakko would have heard about this prior to a meeting since the celestial beings did know one another in some respects. But sadly, Kyuji was left with nothing but the words given to her and a prayer to his apprentice as his clan's blood had probably saved her from being "murdered". Thank Byakko that he was quick on his feet when she was bleeding out or she would've had her blood and life stained on his person instead of her clan staining their hands with possible blood and murder.

The look on the girl's face however would change as she continued her explanation with pain in his eyes and also probably in her heart. After all, this was a family crisis and it had torn the family apart or at least that is what Kyuji was thinking. He had this girl in front of him who believed in Azusa while the rest of her clan believed the foxfire ex-priestess had allowed herself to be tainted with darkness and be cursed. The only three that knew the whole story was Lady Yanshi, Azusa and Kyuji himself, but it wasn't the proper time to talk to this girl about what had happened to her friend and loved one as she was having a difficult time of it anyways.

Instead, the girl decided it would be proper to sit on her knees and bow to Kyuji begging him to speak to Azusa as he was the only one that could probably get to her in her current state since Hinoka couldn't get to her. He couldn't tell but he wouldn't be surprised if she was crying a little as he rose from his seat as this whole conversation had shaken her up pretty badly. He would simply kneel beside her rubbing her back to try to calm her down as he slowly and carefully thought of his words as he talked sternly and confidently, even though he felt somewhat helpless and at fault: "Miss Hinoka, do you know where Azusa is right now? If so, let's go to her and let me talk to her to see if I can get her back to reality out of her current state. It is my clan's blood after all that I transfused into her to keep her alive when she was in critical condition. But, we don't have time to go into why I had to do it and what caused her to get there. We must find Azusa and we must go now if you know where she is!"

Operation Save the Foxfire Priestess had begun. Now, Hinoka just needed to help him get to where she was if she knew.

[MFT: 797 Words. Sorry for making you wait, I was having issues irl and I messed up my left middle finger so it hurts to type xD.]

 

[Muramasa Maya]

After what had felt like an eternity of bowing, Hinoka rose, delighted in the compassionate reassurance Akujin had shown. Had Kyuji declined, she wouldn't have known what to do. A frightening thought...But fortunately, she could tell that Kyuji had taken it upon himself to seek out Azusa, and Hinoka felt that he was not only a last hope, but a reliable one that she could trust.

...Aside from Azusa's mother, the Aikayume had always been against Azusa's dream of becoming a shinobi, out of a very real concern that it would jeopardize her focus on her Priestess duties. And though their concerns were real, Hinoka was relieved to know that a shinobi like this Byakko had Azusa's interests close to heart.

"...I brought her to slums to recover, I can't be sure that the Aikayume won't try to... " Her golden gaze dropped to the floor, finding her next words difficult to speak, much less envision "...Finish...things, if they discover that she survived; no Aikayume has ever survived having their connection to our blood severed. She's aware of that, too, but she refused to stay with me once she regained enough strength to move on her own..." The pink haired Kitsune rose to her feet and donned her cloak and shawl once again, obscuring her distinguishing features before making her way to the door she has entered through; like Kyuji, she was eager to move.

"Thank you so very much for your assistance Lord Byakko. Please, follow me." Once outside, the shrine maiden raised her hand up to their air and within moments a small origami crane flew onto her palm, unfolding itself into a shrine charm before burning away into pale blue flames, its message relayed to Hinoka. "Even though she refuses to see or speak with me, I've been tracking her. And she's...Well, it would be best to see for yourself." With that, Hinoka would bring Kyuji to Azusa, in hope of breaking through to her. Whenever Kyuji next returned home, the situation he'd been pulled into would be resolved and very, very different.

...For better or worse.

[Topic Left; to be continued]

 

[Tomomi]

The bowing would subside from the Aikayume girl as she returned her gaze to him telling him where she had taken Azusa and the consequences if their clan found out where she was. She also informed him of Azusa's stubbornness to stay with Hinoka as she donned her shawl and cloak once again before thanking him and asking him to follow her. A simple nod is that would have to be given as he followed her after making sure to put out the candle if it was still lit. She would tell him after they were outside his home that she had been tracking Azusa and it was best to see how she was doing right now. Again, a simple nod would be given to her as they began their journey.

This journey would probably be a long one and getting Azusa back to her normal self would not be easy, but he had to try to save her from the darkness and herself. Her life had already been put into her hands numerous times and now she needed him more than she ever did before. If he couldn't save her or at least keep her safe, she would definitely be executed by her clan or someone else since she was probably still in an unstable state with his holy blood fused into her with the dark energies of a curse seal that his dearest cousin, Akkuma, had given her. If he didn't get to her quickly, things could get ugly in more ways than one for everyone.

[Topic Left.]