Starring:
Kichiro, Ruri
Date: October 10, 2010
Summary:
Two ninja of Sunagakure are out training in the desert. Neither wants to be observed by prying eyes. And yet their eyes find each other anyway.
"Rage Is Blind"
Desert - Land of Wind
The sun had mellowed from the mid day heat, though the afternoon heat is still pretty rough. Kichiro liked the heat though.. and liked to train in it. Fewer people usually to watch. At first glance it doesn't even seem like combat training, he is just tumbling around on the ground, but a sharp eye can see the control in his seeming random tumbles.. then he lashes out after a roll, landing his heel on a stone on the ground, practically exploding it.
Ruri has been plotting things. Nasty, horrible things. But even though her convictions are stronger than ever, she recognizes that SHE is not strong enough to carry out her plans. So she is out in the desert, as far away from everyone as she can possibly get, hoping that she will be able to train in privacy… And thus not reveal what she is practicing before it is ready.
She scowls at the sand around her as she stands out in the heat, the glare of the sun upon her head and back doing nothing to ease her angry thoughts. The black-haired young woman with the spikey ponytail has a Sunagakure hitai-ite hanging over her right eye. She didn't use to wear it there, did she? It used to be on her forehead, like a normal person. Other subtle changes to her outfit are evident, but there is more than just her clothing that has changed about her. She was never exactly 'pleasant' per se, but these days her scowls are meaner, her glares colder, her expressions and words darker… It's not about being 'emo', as one might surmise as being the cause. It's not some 'teenage' thing. She is just slowly losing her desire to fight against letting hatred consume her.
The only thing keeping her afloat in this sea of mireing, pitch-black thoughts and memories is her sister. As long as Rinako is in danger of being used as a hostage or something, she can't risk making a move. And until Ruri herself is able to face her own worst fear without flinching, she will not be strong enough to kill the Kazekage. The image of his face flashes in her mind, and she clenches her hands into fists, muscles tightening. Her teeth grind together, and then she reaches up one hand to the forehead protector covering her right eye…
About ten seconds later, as Kichiro is concluding smashing a piece of solid rock into fragments and powder with nothing but a heel drop, there is a flicker of movement in the distance, to the east. It appears to be black and red 'streams' or… Something. Lines of some energy or material that matches that color scheme. They flicker in and out of sight/existence, but appear to almost be waving around in the air. Like… The tentacles of some giant squid. But who ever heard of a squid in the desert?
Then the tentacles all seem to stop moving around as swiftly, and it becomes evident there is only one. One length of flexible substance that is like a living whip, arched in the air. Then there is a bright flare of green and it expands outwards into a large dome that resembles flames, before disipating. But whoever heard of green flames?
Regardless, something is going on out there. The feel of the vibrations in the ground and sounds in the air as though something had been striking the ground repeatedly and rapidly had coincided with the flickering of the tentacle. And now a wave of heat that has nothing to do with the desert sweeps over the sands in all directions, even though the flames have gone out mostly.
Seems someone else is out here.
Kichiro gets to his hands and feet, standing in a ready position on all fours as the palpable energy washes accross the ground. He stays low, seeming very animalistic.When the energy has calmed down he peers into the desert, unable to see its sourse, but he catches the scent of something familiar. He gallops accross the sand towards the soure, skidding to a halt. He sees something both familiar.. and unfamiliar.. He has no knowledge of the One Tail.. but what he does see familiar.. painfully familiar.. is someone consumed by rage and hate.
The desert sands, previously smoothed out by the wind and yet as uneven as can be due to the many different grains making up the ground, are devastated. There are huge gouges in the desert, almost literally as though a giant, clawed hand had dragged its talons through the earth and left a scar upon the planet. All around, new sand dunes have been raised by the impact of something long and powerful, and others have been decimated. It is fortunate, then, that it is only sand. If this had been in the Village there would likely be quite a bit of property damage. And possibly casualties if any had been too slow to get out of the way.
Ruri, however, seems to be untouched. She stands in the middle of this devastation and looks at the ground with her left eye, a drained, and yet incredibly bitter expression on her face. Weariness edges her eyes as they remain half-lidded, almost sleepy-looking. And what is her right eye doing? Nothing. Because she no longer has a right eye. In its place is an empty socket. The flesh around the socket appears to have been stretched quite a bit over a period of time, because it has wrinkles of age and use that surely should not exist on the face of a young woman like her.
Then she snaps out of her trance or inner thoughts or whatever is going on with her, and notices Kichiro. Almost faster than the Kemonoken's eyes can see, something black and red streaks out of Ruri's right eye socket, winding through the air like a snake made of lightning, and then coming to a stop right in front of Kichiro, only a few feet away. When it stops, it becomes evident what it is. An eye.
No…
EYES. Inhuman, unnatural eyes. Monstrous slits in an expanse of black, with pure red irises, and black rings at regular intervals from the outer rims to the dark-red pupils. The material the eyes are set in appears to be as though someone had woven a tapestry out of pure darkness and then ripped it right down the middle, and stuck one half of the tapestry of night in her Ruri's right socket. Indeed, the disturbing, glowing, menacing eyes in their ragged, shadow-flesh background extend into the spot where Ruri's right eye should be.
No, that's not right. The eyes and shredded darkness are extending OUT of Ruri's face, not INTO it. When Ruri seems to recognize Kichiro, finally, the eyes that stare unblinking, waving back and forth in front of the Genin, retracts back into Ruri's eye socket swiftly, like the tongue of a demon, slithering back into its maw.
After a pause, Ruri offers in an annoyed tone, "…Hi. Didn't expect to see anyone else out here."
Kichiro can't help but react to the eye, backing up a step. He steps forward again before rolling into a handstand. He meanders your direction on his hands, "Nor did I… uhm.. I assume that this wasn't training…"
Ruri is not in the greatest of moods, but she curbs her impulse to tell Kichiro to mind his own business. He's not to blame for anything. He's just curious. Snarling at him won't help her situation or anyone else's. "No, this is training. Just not 'normal' training. Most people don't have a—" she cuts herself off, not wanting to go into the full explanation. That would require a very long story, and a lot more detail than she is comfortable giving. "…A technique like this. I kind of wish I didn't have it either. But I'm stuck with it, so I figured I should learn how to control it better." She shrugs as nonchalantly as she can given the circumstances and the slashed and scattered sand around them.
"What about you? You training too?" A possibility occurs to her suddenly, and she reaches her right hand up to pull her hitai-ite back down over her right eye, as her left narrows suspiciously. "…You weren't sent out here were you? No one told you to come find me, did they? Were you followed?" She looks off in the distance, where Kichiro came from, trying to spot anything out of place.
Kichiro flops to the ground at at the final question, as if the question itself knocked him over. Laying on the ground, "I hope not.. If I were followed it would certainly be news to me" He kipups to his feet and dusts the dirt off his dirt colored pants. He looks over at you, "I.. I can't say I know the technique.. but I've seen that look before." He looks over the destruction a moment silently
Ruri relaxes very, very slightly. She doesn't necessarily have anything to HIDE per se… But she still would rather be by herself. Or at least, she would rather not have any of that Bastardkage's henchservants hanging around spying on her. She closes both eyes, though only the left one is visible to see closed. Letting out a shuddering breath through her mouth, and then taking in a deep one through her nose, she tries to release the tension. Then she opens her left eye again and looks at Kichiro. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone what you saw, huh? Especially not my sister. It's not that she doesn't know about it, but… She's worried enough about the side-effects of using this technique. She wouldn't understand that by mastering it I can negate those side-effects. She's such a worry wort." She attempts to smile, but it's a weak, sickly thing. She rarely smiles, and it shows. She's out of practice.
"So what about you? You planning any big huge new techniques? Been up to anything interesting otherwise?"
Kichiro shrugs, "I've seen nothing. But from what I haven't seen, I think I'd be worried about you and the side effects. I may not know the technique.. but I know about anger and pain eating the soul and what that can do." As he's speaking, he is slowly tilting over again until he finally falls and tumbles into a hand stnad once more. I can't say as I've been doing anything interesting.. especially nothing as interesting as all this…"
Ruri narrows her eye at Kichiro. "Anger and pain eating the soul? You know about that, huh? Well I don't. And I don't think you do either. But you know who does? My sister. And I'll suffer ANYTHING if it means making her pain go away, and making her HAPPY. Side-effects or no side-effects, I'm going to control this thing. Then I'll be strong enough to protect her AND myself…" The last sentence is sort of muttered and seems to be more directed at herself than Kichiro. She eventually remembers he's here, and snaps her gaze up. "Well… Good luck with finding something interesting to do. I'm going to go back to the Sand."
She doesn't mean to be rude, but she doesn't feel like being offered sage wisdom about her emotions right now. Thus she starts to walk off, leaving the ruined desert and the Kemonoken behind.
Kichiro rolls back to his feet. When his audience leaves he returns to a somber individual. He shakes his head, muttering, "rage is blind.. when it strikes out, it doesn't care who it strikes down.. be they enemy.. or ally…" He knows she has left already, but he feels it needs be said. He closes his eyes, pushing the memories of his father away. Remembering why he followed the fierce beast path, not the confontation beast path. He focuses on what he has to defend, not what he has to destroy and returns to his training.
