Starring:
Date: November 10 ,2011
Summary:
Junan is threatening the lives of a team of ninja training within the alcove. Itami, Keiji, and Mika arrive in time to see the attack and promptly go on the offensive. Little did they know that the attack was part of a larger scheme to end an immortal life.
"Death of an Immortal"
Ayash Battle Cove
That son of a… Baasku was more of a challenge than Junan expected him to be, but he did get the job done still. It's almost a pity that a creature that powerful had to be put down, but having too many mass killers around could severely unbalance the planet and bring this thriving age into ruin, especially one that just kills to kill with no real purpose. Speaking of mass killers…
A scream rings out from the opening to the cave in the Battle Cove as a young shinobi wearing a Sunagakure headband runs out of its mouth. However, she is met with the giant Junan appearing in front of her with his hand around her throat. Picking her up like nothing but a stick, he presses her against the cave wall. As he does so, a blue glow surrounds his hand, seeming to flow into it from her. "Now, now," he says calmly. "You should have just died quietly with your friends, little bird." Her skin begins to lose color as her physical and spiritual energy are robbed of her, though she doesn't really seem to have much left anyway. "That's the trouble with having to target shinobi. They are more apt to be able to try to run for help." His words are cold, a bit of amusement in his tone.
Checking back here after that…night was of utmost concern for Itami. She was glad that the bodies were cleaned up for the most part, but if there were any remnants, she wanted to make sure they were taken care of. She invited Mika along in order for her to gain some ability in controlling her senses. Granted, she still doesn't know about all that geki and renki stuff, but she'll understand in due time. That's one aspect she isn't quite sure of how to control, but will is something she knows more about.
Mika follows along. Ki is vastly different, yet silimar to Chakra. But the many differences makes it that much harder for most to understand. Especially since Chakra can be used in many things, but Ki directly influences the body on a completely different level. The woman takes a deep breath and focuses a bit. "Its hard to explain, given that when most of the changes occur is when we arn't even a year old. Basically its a commitment by the parents or clan to undergo the ritual, and train the child to control the Ki in them after that.", she says. The woman pauses a moment though, and starts to sniff the air. She blinks a few times. The woman starts to sniffle again, being like a little kitten, smelling something new.
Keiji was not far behind the other two shinobi. He had been intrigued by the remains of the elder shippodoku. He pondered if maybe there was something more he could learn from them. At least that was his reason for returning to the area. Eventually he spots Itami and Mika. He offered a slight nod to them as he looked across the ground. The remains seemed to have vanished. How dissapointing for the boy. His dark pupils scan the area before returning to Itami. "Worried?"
As the kunoichi's eyelids begin to seem heavy for her, Junan simply continues draining her of her chakra. "Giving up already then, are you?" he asks with a faint smirk. "I'll make it as painless as possible. Just go to sleep." With that, her chakra begins to flow out of her faster into him. Though she does attempt to struggle against him, her body gets heavier and heavier to move for her as each moment passes. His strength grows as her own fades away, his life lengthening as hers comes toward an abrupt end.
"Well, maybe you could aid me by revealing some information about your clan and their rituals. I don't know your clan well enough to be able to help you on the Ki application, but I know something about will. So, I can aid you on that part." Itami explains. When she draws closer to the area where activity is in full effect, she runs into Keiji. She isn't exactly surprised he'd be around here. "Worried?" She asks and sighed. "A little. I'm just taking precautions that this problem is under control. For the most part, things seem fine, but I don't want to take any chances. Have you seen anything around here?" She asks and gestures for him to follow along with her and Mika.
It isn't long before they reach the cove where she enters and sees nothing left of the events that took place on the night of the dead. What she finds in its place makes her stomach turn and her jaws lock in a mix of anger and confusion. "…What the hell is this?!" She shouts aloud while witnessing the death of a shinobi.
Mika nods her head a little bit as she follows along. "I'm here just in case plus some training, Keiji.", she says with a light smile on her face. She's in her Moon Village robes. She follows along, and then pauses at the sight. She sniffs the air again. "Itami, careful. He doesn't smell young. He smells…old. And my instincts are screaming to back away. He's something…different. Different then what we faced the other day…", she says. The woman bites her lip a little bit. She watches whats going on…
The young Shippodoku listens to Itami. It struck him as odd, because it was exactly what he would have expected out of her. The last time though, when dealing with the sandshark, she really had been against going out to visit. Then things start to turn for the worse. He moves to Itami's side and looks towards the man and the now dead shinobi. "Mika." the boy states. He does not finish the statement as he feels it would not do any good. "Itami. Orders?" the boy then asks now getting back under the chain of command.
Hearing the footsteps of a small group approaching, Junan glances over to the direction of them before looking back to the shinobi dying in his hand. As her eyes close and her final breath is exhaled, he chuckles a bit and tosses her body back into the cave. "It would seem I have been caught," he says calmly as he turns to face the group of shinobi, listening as they try to pick out exactly what is happening. "Itami knows who I am, child." His eyes focus on the Council Member, his smirk remaining in place. "You heard of the death of the Baasku, correct? I expended too much of my stored energy killing him. If I am to remain as I am, I must regain what was lost." He brings hands up and sheds his coat, tossing it to the side and revealing his monstrous arms. "You have seen the aftermath of this before. Remember the caravans? I was right there with you for the investigation."
Itami was still locked into position, not quite able to move yet. If she did, she wasn't sure if she was going to assault him or not. "I don't know or care what he is…" She remarks coldly. "My instincts are telling me to stay right here." She remarked. "I don't have any orders yet, but you should stand by just in case I change my mind." She explained to Keiji. She then focused on Junan saying, "Yes, I did hear of the Baasku death. The one once from here only to become twisted and slaughter his way through the lands. Should I congratulate you?" She asks. "If you are to remain as you are, you can find others to drain life from. Not from those that protect my village!" She shouted.
Mika takes a few moments to adjust herself a bit. She lightly fingers a button that would let the robe fall off her, should combat become a necessary factor. Mika's bright orange feline eyes fix themselves on the stranger, and her hands flex a little bit. A blue-ish white flame like aura seems to roll off her body a bit. She licks her lips a little bit, and slightly tenses up…
Though Keiji had heard of the death of Baasku, he had not idea who the guy was or why he was really relevant. There was no doubt that he was relevant, the boy just did not know why. The words of Itami only serve to confuse the boy slightly. She seemed torn on if she was okay with what happened or not. It seemed the atrocity committed by the man was okay, just not on people from Sunagakure. Either way the boy prepares his pincers to strike if the order comes.
"I could, but they were ripe for the picking," Junan says with a chuckle. "Knocking off a few shinobi versus hundreds of commoners seemed the better sacrifice to replenish myself." His eyes narrow slightly as he looks into Itami's, a wicked grin on his face, the giant's true nature at last revealed. "These few simply happened to be in my path on my way back to San Sara."
"You took those few away that protected the many commoners." Itami remarked. "That means less protection from them. There is no lesser of two evils here." She growled. "You came to them, not they to you. I'm certain of it." She inhaled deeply and sighed. "Why couldn't you dedicate that energy to San Sara? There are plenty there that aren't worthy of life." She shook her head. "You should leave and keep away from these parts. San Sara welcomes you, but anywhere around here…" She eyed him with anger and disappointment.
Mika scratches the back of her head a little bit. "Somebody explain to the new girl what San Sara is?", she asks. The woman takes a moment to watch the guy. "And is it wise to just let him walk away? I mean, he did kill right in front of three people. Kinda easy to make a self defense or protection claim…", she says.
Keiji remains still and listens to them argue over morality. It was an odd concept for Shinobi. There was a sense of morality, but it was warped at best depending on the mission at hand and how much it really paid. "San Sara is a hell hole for slavers, scumbags and rogue shinobi. If he had replenished himself off those low lifes in San Sara, none of this would be an issue." the boy states to Mika. He then glances towards Itami trying to ponder her next move.
Itami's questions and accusations only bring another chuckle from Junan, amusing him more than anything else. "I killed my own countrymen in the Land of Bears centuries ago. Why should I care about yours?" he asks, amused that she apparently believed his facade this entire time. "I hadn't intended on you ever finding this out. Pity." He brings a hand up, nonchalantly moving blonde locks of hair away from his face.
"Then you're no better than any of those that are in San Sara." Itami states with some sadness in her tone. "Whether or not you intended on me finding out is meaningless. I feel conflicted if only because you apparently need this to live and sustain yourself. Out of all your centuries living, you couldn't have found an alternative for this?" She inquired as she prepared her chakra for use. "It's disturbing that you couldn't have found another way, but I guess you wouldn't have considering you enjoy it so much." She continued talking to Junan, glad that Keiji was able to explain to Mika what San Sara was.
Mika sighs a bit, and then removes her robe, dropping it to the ground. The woman stretches out a little bit, and shakes her head from side to side a little. She smiles a bit. "Don't mind me, Mister. I'm just a harmless little kitten.", she says. Mika just gives this innocent carefree smile that….really shouldn't be on a ninja. Especially not on a 18 year chuunin…The woman hunches her back a little bit as if stretching, and then she focuses her ki in herself.
Keiji watches as words continue to fail. It was only a matter of time before the action began. His dark pupils scan over the man. He was probably way out of Keiji's league, but maybe as a team they would be able to take him. There were some mental preperations being taken by the boy, but he remained still physically.
"Short of taking energy from the planet itself? No, and I never really had time to sit down and study out how to do that," Junan says, still talking like this is just any every day conversation. "Now, let's see…" He suddenly seems to vanish, reappearing above Mika mid-flip as he aims as spinning kick at the back of her head, toying with them for now.
"Don't tell me you didn't have time and you've been living for centuries! That's more than enough time!" Itami yelled, but she was answered with an attack, specifically one against those that came with her. "Mika, look out!" She called. "Keiji, with me!" She stated as she attempted to match the strike by flickering behind Junan to deliver a kick to him in much the same way he was doing to Mika.
Mika blinks a few times. She's caught with her paws down. She gets kicked, and sent into the wall, banging her head there with a sick little thud. She stumbles forward a bit, swinging at the lights in front of her eyes. That…really knocked a lot of sense in and out of the girl as she falls over after a second. She blinks a few times as the world stops spinning and looking in triples. She gets up to her feet unsteadily as she looks at the guy. Blood drips down the side of her head, and over her eye as she has to close it to keep the blood out. The woman rushes in, obviously more then a little annoyed. She leaps at Junin, and spins around, looking to bring in an axe kick on the man's head. Then her foot…turns into a claw. Wait, Mika can change her feet into claws as well? Yup! Hands and Feet can be changed! And trying to slash the back of somebody's head open is one way of proving it!
Though Mika had been attacked, Itami gave the order. The boy's body starts to change and a tail emerges behind him. He rushes directly towards Junan. First he would attempt a dive at a pressure point before trying to punch him with a pincer. He really doubted he would be able to hit the man but perhaps Itami had a plan…
Not yet taking this seriously apparently, Junan moves his hand, barely missing a block against Itami's attacks. However, the other hand moves to slap Mika's move away rather easily as he steps into a quick series of sidesteps to avoid their attacks. With the final step, he drives his knee up toward Mika's chin before moving to slam his fist into her face. Picking them apart one by one.
Itami was upset with these events. So much so, that claws began to pierce through her hands and the structure changed as a result. In response, she aimed for a frontal approach, throwing a punch right for his diaphragm to seize him up and followed it up with her free hand with a wild slash towards his torso. "Don't focus all your attention on her!" She called in the midst of her attacks.
Mika's head gets /ROCKED/ again. It swings back just in time to be punched, and the cat ninja is down for the count, and looking like some intensive care is going to be needed. She rolls on the ground a few times before the wall gets in her way, and leaves a fair size cat shaped crater in it. Yeah…Battle cove is someplace Mika may decide is a bit too…dangerious to go to…She's out now…
COMBAT: Mika finishes her turn.
COMBAT: It is now Keiji's turn.
Keiji was happy that he had focused all the attention on Mika. That had saved him a beating. Of course now that she takes off, he's the lowbie… crap. The boy moves in again for another attack, this time he goes nuts trying to stab the guy with his pincers.
As Mika goes down, Junan turns his attention to Itami. "Oh? Getting jealous, are we?" he asks with a light chuckle. While he steps out o the way of Itami's first attack, her second hits, giving Keiji the opening to get a stab in as well. Ducking out of the way of the rest of the pincer stabs, he takes a leap back. "Well, now," he says, smirking as he looks down at his wounds, which seem quite light compared to what they should be. His body is much harder than an average man's. Chakra seems to surge up around him, his muscles tensing up and getting a bit larger. "Step two," he says before vanishing and reappearing as he spins with a powerful roundhouse aimed right at Itami's skull.
Itami watched Mika go down after sustaining enough damage from Junan. She returned his attention to him, her visible eye at its thinnest slit, representing her anger. As the roundhouse came for her, she ducked out of the way and retaliated with a stomp into the ground to send a pillar of earth up from behind him. She'd then lash out against him with another wild strike towards his body in an attempt at a volley between her and the pillar. "Get her to safety, Keiji. Please." She remarked as calm as she could, though there was apparent frustration in her voice.
Well, Keiji had managed to make contact and had not been subjected to the beating Mika was. Things were going very good for the boy. He dashed towards the man once more. This time swinging his tail before attempting a pincer slash with each hand. He had pondered how much longer the man could keep up. Was he just toying with them?
After landing from the attempted kick, Junan leaps into a flip to dodge Itami's attack as well as Keiji's tail. While one strike of the pincers does manage to slice his arm as he moves through the air, the end result is a kick to the back of the boy's head. "One down… Two to go," he says before stepping into a spin to strike the boy with both palms.
Itami was conflicted. As much as she wanted to stay and fight, she had someone that needed to get to the hospital. She didn't intend for the day to turn out this badly and this only adds more frustration that she wants to put to use in fighting Junan. Closing the distance between her and Keiji with a body flicker, she raised her hands to block off the strike against him saying, "I told you, you fight against me! You disgust me and make me sick…" She then pushed him away. "Keiji, we're leaving. We have to get her attention." She began to proceed over to Mika to pick her up off the ground. "Next time, when I say to get her to safety, I don't want you to ignore me to attack the enemy. Specific instructions are to be heeded."
Keiji grimaced as Itami gives the command to leave. For a moment he thought maybe he had gotten lost in the combat and tuned out the order. Course then again that would be a bad thing to admit. It also was not that he figured Itami had been in jeopardy had he left. That would be even worse to admit. "My apologies. If you still wish me to take her so that you can continue, I will." there was a slight grumble as the boy said this but he looked towards Itami waiting for her decision and preparing to leave either way.
As Itami steps in the way, Junan quirks an eyebrow. Her speed is rather impressive. However… "Very well then," he says as he steps back. "I'll fight you." Power seems to begin to pierce the air, rocks and sand rising up from the ground as his power starts to surge through his body even stronger. His body seems to actually begin to grow, coming to near seven feet tall as his body takes on the muscular mass one only sees in fairly tales. He then vanishes, reappearing in front of Itami with a palm striking forward at her chest, particularly her diaphragm to stop her in her tracks.
Itami may have made a mistake in ignoring Junan for Mika's safety, but it was important. She halfway hoped that he'd just leave things be, but instead, he cut in front of her and struck her right in the diaphragm. Her breath left her body and the pain spread from her center and fired off to the rest of her body. She could have very well passed out, but she managed to hold on. Instead, she was stuck trying to regain her breath and choking, unable to move since her body was working against her. She still needed Mika returned to safety, though. "D-don't….Just…" She remarked. "Get -er…out…" She couldn't finish the statement as she was still working against her body. She hoped it'd be conveyed. She'd deal with him despite being locked up at the moment.
Keiji had a hard time following the guy's movements, even as he appeared and smacked Itami. He knew what he had to do. The boy grabbed Mika and took off for the door. He did not move to help Itami. He was already sure he was in shit with her anyhow, but if he could get Mika out, she could fight without having to worry about others. At least that was the logic he was going on. As he picked Mika up, he kinda grunted a bit. "A little less on the cat nip and maybe a little more chasing of the mice…" Then he bolted for the door.
"Do you know what the main problem with being immortal is?" Junan asks as he looks down at the choking Itami, ever-present smirk yet in place. "Even when you want to stop killing, the will to thrive on and remain never leaves. In this way, Baasku reminded me of myself when I was younger. It's like being on some kind of drug that never allows you to sleep or rest." That said, he reaches to pick her up and slam her back down on his knee as he thrusts it upward.
Itami coughed, though she managed to gain some semblance of breathing back, only to be choked and slammed against Junan's knee, knocking the breath right back out of her again. She found it more difficult to recover this time and even manged to cough up a bit of blood as tears streamed out from the corners of her eyes in pain. She fell back to the ground limply while trying to recover, though she never quite gives in to passing out.
When her body finally managed to recorrect itself, her breathing came back, albeit weakly. She could still fight. She can't let this go on. "And…you just…give into it." She remarked. "Un…unable…." She inhales deeply to give herself a chance to breathe, but coughs it back out. "Unable to control it. You're weak." She choked out.
"Weak, huh? That's a new one," Junan says, a bit amused at Itami's choice of words. He could follow up his attacks and keep her down, but…. Stepping into stance, the giant shinobi looks down at Itami and waits. "If I'm so weak, then show me what you really are and put me down."
Itami answered Junan by lowering to the ground and taking shape. Scales washed over her form and a tail grew from behind before her body expanded to fit her form more appropriately, taking on the form of a large crested lizard. She growled at Junan, the gaze lingering in her face from her previous form, with loathing evident in her eyes. She started off the battle by using her tail to make a reach for him and slam him on the ground following up with a claw raised to tear through his body.
As the tail comes his way, Junan brings his hands up to grab her tail and block it from creating a giant-shaped impression on the ground. However, this leaves little opening for him to dodge as he's holding her tail up, allowing her claw to create a deep slash in his torso. However, it's not as deep as it should be due to the density of his hardened skin. "So this is the real Itami," he says with a chuckle. "Not bad." With that, he steps into a spin, bringing his foot around to aim a kick at her.
Itami flicked her tail around to the other side, raising her arm to block his kick. Raising it, nothing but a row of teeth would be coming after Junan in an attempt to snap her maw shut on him. She admits that his body manages to dig under her skin in irritation, but that doesn't stop her from trying to commit as much damage as possible to him. "This is just another form. I've always been my real self." She growled midway into the attack.
As the row of teeth clamps down on his leg, Junan quirks an eyebrow. With some effort, her teeth manage to break his skin and tear into the meat of his leg. He lets forth a low grunt, though does laugh a bit. "Well, this seems a bit like a playground fight," he says before drawing his fist back and sending it flying forward at the side of her head to try to knock her off his leg.
Itami saw the fist coming, though, her tail was positioned well enough for her to bring it between him and her face, effectively blocking his attack and sending him in an arc over her head and slamming him back on the ground. She licked her lips with her forked tongue to remove any blood that may have come from biting him in the leg. Her pupils dilated for a few moments before returning back to normal. She wasn't sure of what to make of the taste of someone like him. It was clearly different than the average person.
A deep, gutteral growl lifted from her throat as she looked down on his from before she snorted and slammed the ground with her claw to send him rising up into the air with another pillar of earth.
As the tail slams down on him, Junan really has no time to move at all. One can actually hear a few bones crack this time. The aftershock of it leaves him with little time to do more than attempt to roll out of the way of the pillar, which slams up into his ribcage, bringing him up into the air… If he's going to stay alive, he's got to actually get serious here. Then again could it be that is not his plan… Leaping down off the pillar, Junan flies down with one palm aimed at Itami's chest and the other at her throat, trying to buy some time to gather himself.
The last attack was more of an emotional attack than the rest she performed. After seeing him fall to the ground, her anger compiled into a slam into the ground that sent the pillar up. She watched him fly into the air and make an attempt against her to which she defended against, thankfully, due to her scales being tough enough to take the blows. She remained unharmed for the most part, though there might have been a bit of a sting that came with the attacks.
Out of all of this, she had to ask, "Why did you want to see me like this?" She wasn't sure she understood why he asked. She didn't like necessarily becoming some sort of hidden beast, though if it was necessary, she allowed herself to release.
At Itami's question, Junan smirks and looks down for a moment. "I've killed a lot of people, too many really. As long as I live, I won't stop. Creatures like myself unbalance the world and bring too much death…" After a slight pause, he looks back up into her eyes. "Perhaps it's time I rested."
"So now you wish to reconcile?" Itami inquires. "If rest is what you seek, then I will give it to you." She offers, while thinking of a way to solve the issue without shedding much blood. She decides to wrap her tail around his body and choke the life out of him, crushing his body until he could no longer breathe.
"You'll need to take my head off to make sure I actually die," Junan says with a nod. As the tail wraps around and begins to crush him, he says, "Itami… Thank you." With that, his eyes close as he begins to fade.
Itami was hesitant about taking Junan's head, but since it was the only thing to keep him from rising to continue his feeding, she had to. Lifting her tail, she adjusted the spines on them to make for a saw to cut through his neck. Lowering it, with one quick motion, the spines sliced across his neck and severed it, ending his immortal life.
