Kill Kureno, Volume 2 - Waiting For The World To Fall

Starring:

Rongi & Shigusa (NPCs), Kureno (as "Kaede"; Kaede is Kureno's new name after this scene!), Itami, Meimei (as Yoko)

Date: December 11, 2010

Summary:

Everyone has been relocated to some sort of Alternate Spatial Environment — one with no innocent bystanders to get in the way of a major ninja battle!

Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.


"Kill Kureno, Volume 2 - Waiting For The World To Fall"

Inside Shigusa's Jutsu - Land of Wind

'Kaede?' Rongi thinks to himself. Shigusa yells, "Beat it out of you!? I don't care what you were doing in the hospital! You have insulted my father's memory! For that you will pay!" His Chakra rises considerably throughout this, until the sand is blowing outwards in an expanding ring from where the muscular man stands.
Rongi says, "Shigusa, wait." Shigusa pauses and turns his head to look at the Wind Sasaki Chuunin. "Wait!? For >what<!?" Rongi says, "More is going on here than meets the eye. We need to discuss some things first before we do anything." "Grr! Always with your >talking<!" Rongi ignores Shigusa and addresses Kureno, "So… You are the one who left that letter beside the boy you attacked… The crystal fragments he bore, and the fact you have just displayed a Crystal Release jutsu confirm it… You are a Seishukuni, and you were entering the hospital with a specific purpose. Tell me… Why do want to approach the same boy you injured? Was it to apologize? To check up on him? Or perhaps to finish him off? You can explain yourself, just as Councilwoman Itami-sama has ordered, or we can stay here until you do. Shigusa does not have to expend any energy to keep us here. We can literally stay forever."

Kureno tilts his head as he looks towards Itami and her shout. His hand raises to his forehead and he shakes his head, disappointed. "You must have me mistaken for someone else. The Kureno you speak of is weak, flawed and has no reason to fight for. He has no opponent worth fighting, either." He casts another glance towards her direction, "Do not mention him again. As a final honor to him, I'll spare you my wrath." And than he focuses on the two Chuunin, slowly walking forwards as several petals, as if guided by a invisible storm wrap around Kureno's body in a spiraling tempest that shoots upwards as Kureno steps through it, without any visible changes, "And as for you. We can stay here forever, perhaps. But my understainding of Ninjutsu is that most such tricks end when the user dies or is unconsciouss." He than chuckles, eyes narrowing, "I'd much rather test that theory than talk to a loudmouth like you… forever." He tells Shigusa and than looks at Rongi, "He-" He points, "--however, I'd talk to. He has a brain." He stops his advance than and seems to contemplate something for a moment. "I'll answer your question. It was I who left behind the letter and injured the Genin. And yes, I had a specific purpose coming to the hospital. As for why?" He snorts when he asks, "I'll never tell someone like you!"
Maybe he was bluffing about risking eternity in this place, but he sure as hell seemed determined to do a number on Shigusa.

Itami has to keep her grip tightened on Misayo. This is a perfect example of why she wouldn't be fit to take care of a child. The only thing floating around her mind is harm at the moment, but she doesn't want to do that. Now, time for an alternative…and one has thankfully presented itself. "Perhaps? Why don't we both enjoy this smell together, hm?" She then embraces Misayo in a bear hug. She can admit that she agrees with all the previous statements the girl made. The guy shouldn't be allowed to breathe through a tube as long as he's causing trouble, but this isn't the time to be a shinobi, at least in her case. These two powers were obviously dangerous.
"I can't let you go out there. You'll have to stay back and watch. Take what you will from this situation." She explains to her. When Kureno speaks, she looks up to him and scowls to a degree. "I don't care! I've seen you through these various transformations, each just as weak as the last!" She makes a note of throwing that in. "Your wrath means nothing to me and I will use the name most familiar. The one that describes the person I see before me!" She shakes her head. "That question pertains to me! If you're not going to tell him, then tell me!" She just doesn't understand this behavior or rather, she chooses not to.
He's done this plenty of times before and it's only escalated with no chance of going down. She knows this has to end now.

Yoko sees that Kureno or Kaede or whatever his name is is looking for a fight. She can tell from the look in his eyes, and his refusal to acknowledge the reality around him. She thinks she knows some of how he feels at the moment, though not necessarily WHY. That's because she felt the same way at one point. But she doesn't speak up on that. Calling him out would just agitate him. He needs to hear the truth from someone he knows, or he will just resent it.
"Hey, ****, I get that there's stuff going on here that I don't know about, but you're taking it out on others who aren't even involved. If you've got a problem with this kid you hospitalized, you can come during normal visiting hours, with supervision, and talk it over with him. Or, if you want him dead, you can just say so now or go somewhere else and never come back. I don't care. But you have a chance to clear everything up right now, and be in the clear, and you're intentionally being antagonistic. Further, it is OBVIOUS."
Maybe this desert is only lit by starlight -- or are those even stars? It's almost like the sky is just some sort of vaguely luminescent energy field or gas cloud or something. No sign of a moon or stars. Shaking her head, Yoko focuses again on the Seishukuni. "Whatever you were planning to do tonight was planned poorly. Better to stop while you're behind."

Maybe Yoko is unwilling to speak up, but either Rongi does not have the same tact (hahaha) as she does, or perhaps he simply knows something she does not. So >he< says the truth. "You're running away." He was previously looking for a non-violent way of ending this. But he knows that discussion only goes so far without SOME form of confrontation, even if the confrontation is a disagreement. "You want to lose yourself in violence, and try to avenge yourself for some perceived wrong-doing. Because hurting and killing a stranger is easier than facing someone you know and care about and telling the truth. After all, that would mean you would have to admit to yourself that you are wrong."
He shakes his head. "Yoko-san over there is correct, if ill-spoken. You are intentionally being antagonistic in order to try to provoke a response. You don't want to talk things over or give an opportunity for us to get beneath you shell…"
Shigusa grits his teeth and says, "What does all this psychobabble have to do with anything!? He admitted he attacked that Imota kid, didn't he? That should be enough to arrest him, at least!" Rongi shakes his head. "It is not enough to determine the truth," he responds. Shigusa growls and yells, "It's enough for >me<! It's enough to take >action<!" He then focuses on Kureno/Kaede and says, "Surrender now and maybe you won't get hurt as much!" Then he begins advancing on his target, heedless of the crystal petals surrounding the Seishukuni rogue.

Kureno shoots a glare towards Itami and nearly roars out at her, "You know /NOTHING/ of me! Now shut up! If you want to throw away the grace I gave you, than so be it!" He was about to clap his hands together and do something bad when Meimei speaks out to him and he takes a step back, barely containing his laughter.
"You're as much a dumbass as everyone else." He tells Meimei, "I expected to be stopped at some point. I didn't expect this" He gestures with his hand at the change of terrain, "But I am still ahea--" And than he trails off and looks towards Rongi.
Without even realizing he looked away, shocked. What was happening? How could words sting that much? But it was just the first words. When he looks back towards Rongi and sighs, his eyes are no longer that of malice, but of someone cornered. And not just any someone. Someone who is most dangerous when cornered.
"Yes, hurting and killing a stranger is easier." He says, placing his hands together, and they once again become a blur of seals. "But that is not what I was doing in the hospital. You think you're so high and mighty and that you know all, don't you?" He than ripostes with a question of his own, and his hands stop in the 'Boar' seal. "I am not some sort of vain bastard, selfish. You are. And I am the bane of those people."
Suddenly the petals started swarming around everyone, like a bloody red misty haze; intangible, without a form, without solidity. The haze pulses than, becoming a deeper shade of crimson as it suddenly appears to solidify into spikes, forming in midair and shooting towards the ground, trying to imprison everyone in their hold. And Kureno watches over a steam of petals rushing in front of him, right underneath his eyes; and his eyes are sad. Why?
"Crystal Release: Wraith Wall Cloud Formation." His voice was silent, near ghastly.

"Lies!" Itami calls out to Kureno. "You're the very essence of a vain and selfish bastard. Everything you've done up to this point has been nothing short of that!" She calls out. "But it's not your fault. I'm the one that let you roam free instead of apprehending you--" The crystals forming in the air capture Itami's attention and as they come down, she attempted to use seals, but at this point it was a little too late. When they rain down around her, she suffers some wounds watching scars open and bleed out while she sits bound without any way to soothe them.
Now that she's bound inside them, she looks up and looks through the crystals at the many images of him and the others that reflect off the surfaces. She can't do much at the moment, but seethe at him and how far this has gone. She knows she shouldn't have allowed this to progress so far, but even she supposes she's shown some selfishness and vanity. It's obviously blowing up in her face right now. Being too nice has become a negative more so than a positive this evening.

Yoko doesn't really care whether she's accurate or not. She just wants Kureno to stop involving her and others in whatever his problem is. When he attacks everyone, however, that is no longer a possibility. She is unable to do anything to defend herself other than to start forming a unique handseal. Then the crystal spires land all around her, stabbing into her and pinning her in place.
"Ugh… This night sucks."

Rongi took a gamble. He could tell some things about Kureno based on his behavior. He knew he was seeking comfort in conflict rather than owning up to whatever was driving him. But he is not a mind-reader, no matter how good he is at bluffing, and so only the first few words score any hits. The fact that Kureno's behavior is apparently not new to Itami adds more uncertainty to this already-dicey situation, but in the end, he attacked first even when being ordered, asked, and pleaded with to stop it all.
Rongi is so busy musing that he almost misses his cue. The crystal spikes all come raining down, trapping both the Councilwoman and Yoko, as well as doing more than a little bit of harm. Rongi can't prevent those two from being caught. But he can save himself and Shigusa, at least.
He forms several hand seals rapidly -- bird, boar, serpent, bird -- and then claps his hands together, releasing a large amount of Chakra. "Sky Release: Bolt!" Instantly, the blank, darkened sky overhead fills with cloud cover that then condenses into a single mass of angry, black stormclouds. This stormcloud then unleashes all of its fury in a single titanic bolt of lightning, combined with a downpour of rain sufficient to obscure vision, >and< a incredible blast of wind. The Crystal spikes descending on Rongi and Shigusa abruptly shatter from the lightning, and of those that are not struck they are hurled right back at their creator.
Rongi looks to Itami and Yoko, and asks, "Are the both of you alright? Do you need help breaking free?" Shigusa yells, "Rongi! What's the big idea!? You just used up half the air moisture in here!" Rongi says, "It was necessary to keep us form being impaled." "Let >me< decide what's necessary for defending myself!" "Fine. Kureno-san, whatever your problem is, we can discuss it. There is no need to keep fighting pointlessly. Violence will not make your nightmare end."
For a moment, it seems like that's the end of the fighting. No one follows up with an attack on the momentarily stunned Kureno, and there is time enough to speak. But then Shigusa says, "Always talking… There is a time for talking, and there is a time for action. He said he'd rather kill me than give up already. That says all I need to know!" The large Earth Sasaki suddenly forms a gauntlet of stone around his right arm and launches himself forward. He may be big, but he is also remarkably fast. He covers the distance between himself and Kureno, and then tries to >slam< his rock-covered hand into the rogue Seishukuni. Rongi grits his teeth. "This is not going to make him more amenable to discussion… But perhaps if he has been weakened he will at least not keep trying to fight." So, saying, Rongi moves into position to support his ally.

Kureno's eyes were dark as the crystals swarmed around the non-combatants. He has done it. No, hitting them wasn't a big issue. Doing it was. Even though they didn't appear hurt /too much/, launching the attack hurt Kureno more than anything else. Especially involving Itami.
Though, this didn't distract him to not react when Rongi literally broke the crystals and launched some sort of attack that slammed into Kureno's shoulder, and judging by his own first assesment, /at least/ dislocated his left hand. Either that, or it was so numb from the lightning that launched him six feet back, that he couldn't feel his hand.
No, it didn't distract him. But the fact remains that when Shingusa launched towards Kureno, Kureno didn't move an inch. Maybe he could've dodged, than again, Kureno isn't really fast. But some who fought Kureno before may know that Kureno can move the ring of petals in front of him to lessen the impact or even stop an attack in it's tracks. Why didn't he do so now? Why did he do /nothing/?
Regardless, Shigusa strikes Kureno in the chest with enough force to launch him another 10 feet backwards, not counting the distance he travels by rolling and bumping off the ground.
He didn't move at first. He waited. Slowly, when he could feel his left arm again, and was sure he can make handseals with it, he started pushing himself off the ground, and to his knees.
"Hah, ah ah." He panted. Or was he laughing? Kureno was badass at times, but now he looked like.. not so badass. He looked as if ran over by a train. His shirt was all torn up, blood dripped from his left hand and his nose was bleeding. Except, he wasn't in a traffic accident. It was two guys. And yet, Kureno has shown no signs of fear. His eyes, even in the darkness of this strange location wherever it was, shone with excitement.. and pain. But this wasn't the first time he fought while wounded. Except, he was never wounded this much at the start of a fight.
His mind floated somewhere in darkness, he could clearly see, as if imprinted over his vision, a field of crystals and a maelstorm of petals dragging him into the center. And a voice. No, not a voice. Something else. Like a LSD-induced hallucinations were he saw images with his sense of hearing. It called out, a deep foreboding thing.
"Shut…" He started staring in the direction of Rongi and Shigusa, and yet somehow, through them. ".. UP!" He falls down to one knee from the effort, and tries to catch his breath. His eyes than seem to focus again. "Heh, heh. Are you saying you need moisture in the air, to perform your techniques?" He could not risk making a move on the same level as he did before. Rongi could break his crystals at that strength. No, he needed more. He didn't know what this Rongi was capable of. And yet, if he used more power.. all those people would get hurt. He didn't want to hurt them any more.
This took him by surprise and he blinked. Could he not escape the pull of the merciful Kureno? Could he not be Kaede, the criminal?
He lowered his head. "You two." He looked towards Itami and Meimei, "Take the girl and get as far as you can." He could imagine that voice in his head shrieking in rage. And it made him smirk even more.
"I like you," He tells Rongi, "you are tough. I will answer your question. I came to visit Imota, not kill him. See if he's fine. But this doesn't change a thing. /You/ attacked me first, and it is only fair… that I make you pay for your mistake." His hand then stretches out and waves, the ground crystallizing and sprouting some sort of formations that turn into 'flowers'. Hey, at least Kureno is a romantic, right?
"Heh, let's see what you can really do. Don't fail to impress me again please. After all, I am in enough of a bad shape that not beating me now should be a shame." The ground continues to crystallize and the flower begins to twist up along it's axis. Into a two-pronged spear.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Bloom Attack!"

She didn't share the same sentiments as Kureno. Being attacked wasn't hurtful to her, at least not in the emotional sense. Itami felt void of it at this point. She was tired and still in a bad condition. Now that she was trapped, her backburned illness came back full force. Without any adrenaline rushing through anymore, there wasn't much to keep it from taking over again.
Managing to secure her arm from being tangled inside a few crystals, she shook it a bit before striking at them to break them and create an exit for her to stumble through. She shook her hand again in attempts to shake off the pain while trying to maintain balance as she fully steps out of the small crystal prison. "…Weaken him as much as you can, but don't take his life. He needs to be detained." She tries to call, though it might have come out a little weak. "He's a danger to both himself and the village." She explains.
She didn't understand Kureno fully and she intended to get all the details this time around. He just can't roam around any longer. That would probably be the last of the orders she would give as she was having trouble keeping it together. She needed to get out of here.

Yoko doesn't know what she can do in this situation, if anything. She doesn't want to fight. Her 'wise' mind is saying she should just wait and see what happens, and perhaps look for an opportunity to help. Her 'survivor' mind is saying she should accept the offer to leave and get out of here as soon as possible ONLY if it seems like the two Chuunin can handle Kureno or Kaede or whoever. Otherwise she should pile on the hurt, because otherwise Kureno might just pop back out into Sunagakure when this is all over, and then he'd be a threat again. And then her conscience pipes up with, 'So you would be comfortable abandoning the people of this Village to their fates?' 'My responsibility is to myself and Risu,' Meimei retorts. 'And these two men are risking their lives to protect you and Risu. Yet you will not lift even a single finger to help unless it benefits you?' her conscience responds. 'That has kept me alive so far.' 'Stay safe and be miserable or take a risk and be able to look yourself in the mirror. I wonder which is more important…?' '….'
The purple-haired woman looks upon Kureno with her oddly-reflective eyes. The pupils of both eyes continue to look like liquid metal… Like chrome, nearly, in the way that they shine even in this dim desert-like environment. "Go ahead, Itami-san. Take Harada and get out of here. I'm staying until this is over." She then focuses her Chakra to such an extent that the crystals surrounding her and embedded in her skin break off and fall away. She's still injured, but she'll live. And more importantly, she can fight.
"You know, while I agree that the big jerk attacked first, you have also been offered multiple chances to give up. You could have just surrendered and then that… Shigusa person or whatever his name is would have been the one in trouble. Not you're BOTH going to be in for it. But the quickest way to end this… Is to take down the only person I can fight without getting arrested myself. Believe me when I say I'd rather not fight anyone tonight. But I have people to protect back in Sunagakure, and if you kill these two and then get out of this place, I have no guarantee you'll just stop killing people and leave peacefully. You're too dangerous right now. Your buddy will get his from the Kazekage himself, I'm sure."
Then Yoko draws a shuriken from inside of her cloak and seems to throw it, from the way she swings her hand. But the shuriken doesn't leave her hand. Instead, a throwing star that seems to GLOW goes flying at Kureno. A moment later, Meimei forms a couple hand seals and a duplicate of her appears next to her. Not like a normal Clone Technique either. More like a point of light bloomed in the darkness and transformed into the Academy Teacher. This odd clone then charges forward and tries to simply strike Kureno with a leaping kick. If he is struck, however, there would be no physical impact. Instead it would be more like he was BURNED. Same for the glowing shuriken, really.

Rongi does not get a chance to respond to Kureno before he starts preparing to attack. He turns to Shigusa and says simply, "Shigusa." The larger man nods and slams his palms together. "Return!" he calls out. A moment later, Itami and Misayo are both sent back to the hospital, at the exact same place there were at before Shigusa used his jutsu. There are probably already people swarming the place trying to clean up the mess, keep the patients safe, find out what is going on, etcetera.
Yoko will get sent back as well, but her return takes longer. Perhaps a sign that Shigusa is getting tired? Or perhaps the fact that she is in motion presently hampers his ability to 'lock on'? Whatever the case, there'd be time enough for her attacks to be launched, and potentially for Kureno to retaliate, but after that… She would be joining Itami and her loud-mouthed student.
The spear is launched, but Shigusa can't do anything about it. He is too busy with the teleportation thing. So the spear comes flying in at him, and all he can do is stand there. Then he just grins and goes, "Heh!" He lifts a foot and brings it down on the ground. A large, thick wall of solid stone bursts up from the sand and takes the spear head-on.
The wall is now impaled, and the pointy bits of that two-pronged spear are mere inches away from Shigusa's broad chest. He takes a moment to catch his breath and says, "Rongi… Are you done talking yet? If so, feel free to >act<!" Rongi sighs. "Hai. My apologies, Kaede-san. I know that he attacked you first, but you attacked people who had not attacked you in turn. Two wrongs do not make a right. To end this conflict, since you have proven unwilling to stop, I will have to--" ">Shut up and stab him already!<" Shigusa interrupts. Rongi mutters and holds his right hand up in the air. Suddenly, powerful blasts of wind come swirling in, seeming to be focused on Rongi's hand. It would not even be apparent, except that a lot of sand was picked up by the wind as well.
Then Rongi dashes in, swift as a bolt of lightning, and tries to swipe at Kureno with his unseen weapon -- a blade of wind. If it hits, not only would it cut deep, it would also buffet Kureno with howling winds sufficient to hurl him through the air!

Kureno watches with incredible acuity as the spear flies towards Shigusa and strikes… a earth wall. Incredible. A earth wall, stopping Crystal. This was beyond incredible. Kureno was /pleased/. He even claps his hands together in a round of applause as his head swivels just in time to catch sight of the shuriken.. of light and it's follow-up.
The ring of crystals around him suddenly changes direction like a insane beast rushing towards Kureno, and the front changes into what appears to be a chinese-styled serpent-Dragon.
The petals dig into the ground, head first, and erupt underneath Kureno who grabs a "Horn" and stands on it's head as the Dragon with it's momentum takes him out of the way of danger battering rocks and everything in it's path, and as the crystal petals loop and pass over the ground one might wonder how Kureno manages to stand on it. Furthermore, the ground continues to crystallize, and now the ground is crystallized even beneath Shigusa, Rongi and Meimei. The last person on the crystallized ground makes him frown. No, this wasn't supposed to go like that. Why was she still here? He can't control this jutsu, not like this. God damnit. And if Shigusa notices that he has less earth to manipulate he may relocate. Damn. There was no choice.
Kureno claps his hands together. Now, he was no longer predictable. He was cornered, he was desperate. He wasn't ready yet to fall. Not now. Not until--
'I'll release you'
Kureno jumps back, and looks behind him. There was nothing. What was that voice? He shivered as he looked towards Shigusa and Rongi, his jutsu was ready. All he had to do was rele--
'I'll release you from the pain and the sorrow'
****, was he losing his mind? No, no, this was what he told Itami. The voice of the Crystal. Of Strife. Was it really a flaw of the technique he used to achieve this kind of strength or of crystal itself?
"No" He replies to the voice, and to Shigusa and Rongi he may come across as crazy. And he looked tired. So tired. "I'll carry my own burden. I'll take it to the grave with me if I have to!" He shouts out and than claps his hands together.
"Crystal Release: Blooming Fields of the Impaler!!" He shouts out in pure rage, yet, it was so strong that it was clearly not aimed at neither Rongi, nor Shigusa nor Meimei. And yet, one could say /thousands/ of Crystal Spikes pierced the air and space around them and struck out at anything in it's vicinity, except Kureno. Everywhere where the ground was crystallized a spike was either shooting out of it or into it. Except for Meimei. The crystals were somehow redirected, curving visibly and towards Kureno, aiming directly for his heart.
Was he trying to protect Meimei?
Even more, his eyes were sad. As if using that technique he killed a part of himself. The ring of petals, as if sensing the danger their master is in, rushes towards him, to protect him, if they can do that…

Itami isn't ready for a lot of things tonight. So, when Return is used, she feels everything moving around her too quickly to process. It makes her queasy, but at least she's safe and back in the hospital. Looking at her body, she sees that some of her clothing is ripped and in it's place are scars of various sizes decorating her arms, sides and wherever else the crystals happened to either slice of skewer her.
The hospital staff was scrambling around at this point. She can see that they're upset about what happened and isn't sure she can do much to bring some order to the place. She just expects things to be handled in an orderly fashion by those that have seniority in this place. For now, her focus is making sure Misayo and herself are admitted so that they can be checked for their wounds. Might be a bit of a wait considering what's going on.

Yoko doesn't get a good look at what's going on. She just knows the ground is suddenly turning to crystal and both of her attacks failed to hit. She should have gone for the big guns right away instead of hoping to wear him down. Kureno DOES seem tired… But obviously not tired enough, because crystal shards just came out of everywhere and are descending on her, Rongi, and Shigusa! Before she can see the results, she finds herself displaced. The sand flies away and resolves into the ruined floor of the hospital hallway, with one wall destroyed, people running everywhere, ninja searching for the culprits, CATS and DOGS living TOGETHER… MASS HYSTERIA!
She sighs and pulls her goggles down as she is shoved out of the way by taller people at least six different times before she can deactivate her Kekkei Genkai and get somewhere she won't be in the way. She'll worry about her injuries later. Despite her determination to help, and to end the fighting… She failed to do both. So now it's time to wait and see who comes out alive.

Rongi sees what's about to happen, but he can't do anything to stop it. Or rather, he can, but he's not close enough to protect Shigusa also. But he tries anyway. He runs hard and fast, trying to use all the ninja speed he possesses to get close enough to the other Chuunin. Ordinarily people would think that the two hate each other. Whether they do or not is unclear. But right now, Rongi has given up an almost assured chance to save his own life, in order to >possibly< save his life and Shigusa's.
He slams his palms together and starts to call out, "Sky Release: Sp--" but it's too late. The crystal spears and shards come raining down, stabbing into both him and Shigusa. Shigusa is already tired from all his jutsu-using, so being stabbed repeatedly breaks his concentration. He is not unconscious, but he is also unable to hold people other than himself inside of this 'pocket world'. They slip free from his mental grasp, and a moment later…
A heavily injured and exhausted Kureno and a heavily injured and barely-lucid Rongi have just appeared in the hospital hallway out of nowhere. If Kureno wants to limp off or flee, now is the time. It will take Shigusa a moment to gather the focus necessary to return as well.

The crystal curves away from Meimei and heads for Kureno--
Yet, he simply stares at it, eyes showing no emotion. He simply seems.. content. The crystals petals rush to save him--
'Don't bother, Hotaru. You are not the master of me..' And than *SPLAT*
The crystal petals manage to run into the way of some of the spikes but one of them curves up and strikes into Kureno's eyebrow-- or eye, it's hard to tell, and the other one runs straight through his stomach, lifting him off the ground.
"GRAAAH" Kureno yelps out; somehow the crystals missed major organs, but god damnit, that has got to hurt. And it looks-- not so good.
As Kureno starts to fall to his knees, the crystallized ground is suddenly replaced by white tiles of the hospital. With one hand over his eye, and the other over the wound on his stomach, he can't do much. And with one eye open there was never a thing more brilliant than this white, and his vision shifts to red. Everything looked crimson, as if viewing through jade. He coughs out, spattering the tiles with blood. Damn, he has never been in such a shape. This is bad. And he could barely hear the shouts around him over the frantic beating of his heart. He looked up, and he thought he saw Itami. Maybe it wasn't her, maybe it was someone else. And even than, Kureno had something to tell to this woman. "Somehow, I could sacrifice.. so you can serve the world I can no longer love." He smirks as he climbs to his feet, and takes a few steps backwards towards a window.
He chuckles, "It was fun, no?" And than *CRASH* the window breaks as Kureno throws himself backwards through the window, still smiling. And for once, he seemed happy. And that smile was genuine.
If someone were to look out the window to see what happened to Kureno they would see that ring of petals weaving into building rooftops and creating the same technique Kureno used to evade Meimei's and Rongi's attacks, carrying him somewhere-- probably to safety.

Sometime later, in the desert…

Kureno falls to his knees and than rolls onto his back; He was hoping that he outmaneuevered pursuit. He was out of chakra. Or at least very close to it, after the entire attempt to outrun pursuit.
He sighed finally and looked up, pressing his hand against his eye once again as he looked skywards.
"Where are the damn stars..? Where is the snow..?" He thought than, that he might not quite survive if he just stayed there. Deserts get cold in the night. Really cold. Was he ready to give up? No.
"No. Not yet." He forced himself to stand up and looked into the distance. Let's see if aimless wandering can get him anywhere.

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