Starring:
Date: April 9, 2014
Summary:
(Part 1) After being called to assist with some problems in the Land of Rain, Yotsuki Hiei and Sarutobi Akinori are separated from their respective squads due to an ambush by hostile forces. Isolated, hiding and on the run, the two chuunin are left with a young Ame-nin named Emmi, a representative from the village's leader council, who they must protect from the enemy.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Rain, Lightning, and Fire (Part One)"
Land of Rain
The day has just begun, and two villages - Konohgakure and Kumogakure - have recieved requests via missive from the leading council of Amegakure requesting assistance in dealing with a particular problem they have been having in their borders. This problem, outlined in the missive as an 'overzealous splinter faction', involved the harassment of the peasantry class, destruction of property, and generally skullduggery.
In response, each village dispatched a set of shinobi, including Yotsuki Hiei of Kumogakure and Sarutobi Akinori, to handle the situation. Upon arrival, however, the two shinobi squads had found themselves ambushed and divided by a particularly powerful force of shinobi, or at least shinobi-like foes, that had divded the task-force reinforcements up and caused a number of casualties on both sides.
Since the opening of the conflict, Hiei and Akinori had been isolated along with a highly flustered representative of the Amegakure council, a young girl that went by the name Emmi. Despite the girl's current state of panic, the attackers had seemingly dispersed for the moment - or at least moved back into the shadows and rain where they could prepare another ambush.
Hiei had been in worse situations. But even though they had been ambushed and they were now taking cover within a grove of trees, he was still excited. He glances over at Emmi.
"Try to remain calm. I know things don't look so good right now, but things will be fine."
He peeks from around a tree and frowns before commenting to Akinori. "I'm sure they're still out there, waiting for us to come out into the open. I estimate that if we don't show ourselves soon, they'll attempt to flush us out. Any ideas, man?"
Hiei had minor bruises and cuts from being in battle, but nothing serious.
"And, I'm pretty sure we're cut off from our respective teams. Just hope some of them are alive."
"Erh… Uhh…"
Akinori looks troubled, his eyes squinting as he holds his arms infront of his face a bit. His trench knife firmly placed in his right hand as some cuts are show on his hands and arms, blood drips onto his jacket.
"I'm a bit baffled over here… I didn't expect my team to spread out like this."
Well… team , team. Group of people he has a mission with, because he knows the bimbos he usuall goes with are not really 'team orientated'.
"I'm currently dry on ideas here bro, but my suggestion is to keep moving out of the fog… unless you want me to create smog around here."
He places his knees apart, readying himself for any interaction that is coming in or any movement he will need to perform in a quick hurry.
"I'm gonna be honest with you here man, I'm not the smart tactician here, but I am a brawler. Lead the way if you like and I'll do my best!"
His shoulders tense up, as he slowly examinates the situation around him.
Unfortunately, the situation did seem fairly dire. With neither experienced shinobi having a plan yet, and their only cover a copse of trees, they were in a rather vulnerable position. Thankfully, one might assume that the mists and rainfall would hide them from sight just as the enemy was hidden from them.
"I… I know! I just…" Emmi stammers. "They killed my team! I can't stop shaking…"
The girl holds up her hands to show how badly she was shaking, and it was indeed quite bad. Granted, she had just seen people she had probably known for quite some time slaughtered right in front of her during the ambush, and for all she knew, their bodies were still lying on the ground out their or even being used for some dark deed.
As the two converse, time passes - valuable time, time in which an escape could be made or a counter-attack performed, but by the time Akinori notes he is not interested in leading, Emmi tugs on Hiei's clothes to get his attention and points off behind him, into the mist.
"I saw something…" She whispers.
Indeed, the enemy was moving about. Here and there, forms could be seen moving through the misty-shadows. Whether they knew the trio was there or not was unknown, but with the noise they had been making, it could be assumed they were being surrounded.
"There's several small buildings over by where we were ambushed. They are ruined, mostly, but they might provide us with better cover than right here," The girl posits in an attempt to get things moving. She at least knew the lay of the land.
Hiei chuckles under his breath at Akinori's admittance. "Well, I'm not the genius type either. But I am a soldier and I have some experience in situations such as these. I think Emmi is right. We should break for the buildings that she mentioned. You and her make a run for it. I'll secure our exit."
Hiei rolls his shoulders and pushes away from the tree he was leaning against. "Go on my mark…"
He gathers his chakra, lightning sparking off his skin and striking the ground harmlessly as he prepares his body for a fight. In the meantime, he pushes his senses out into the darkness, attempting to find their positions.
"Go for it. When they give chase, I'll cut them off and be right behind you."
"Alright Girl, let's go!"
Akinori turns his heels, moving himself to Emmi as he quickly picks her up around her waist.
"Moving to cover, count to two and start dashing aswell man! Don't get yourself cut off."
He quickly paces himself off from Hiei, walking off towards the direction of the ruins. He keeps his eyes focused on his surroundings as he will spot movement on the run, he gazes over his shoulder often enough to check if Hiei is still behind him as they run through the treeline.
"How far off are we?" he asks Emmi.
Emmi nods in response to Hiei agreeing with her plan, and smiles faintly. She seemed pleased to contribute, but even so, the girl was still quite flustered from the earlier events. It would be some time before she managed to calm herself.
"Be careful, Yotsuki-san," She whisperes, just before she lets out a surprised squeak when Akinori suddenly grabs her and runs off with her. Despite the suddenness of the activity, the girl doesn't put up a struggle and sort of flops along as he runs.
"Uhm… it should be just over that hill!" She points ahead to a small rise, one where several of the ambushers had come from before.%r%tHiei's heroics were not unappreciated, though. Even though the two companions had left him alone to cover their retreat, he would soon be joined by more faces.
The first to appear was a tall, eerily gaunt male who looked a couple days of decay short of a being an actual zombie. His skin was sunken and hollow and defined the bones of his skeletal structure. His eyes locked onto the Yotsuki immediatly and his fingers tapped along the hilt of his cruel-looking sword.
"It appears that one has stayed to challenge us," he hissed in a snake-like manner.
"Mmm… I do enjoy bravery."
The seductive voice came from a woman, practically a succubus in figure - and dress - who slipped out from behind a tree near the first man. She licked her lips as she sauntered forward, dragging a uncurled whip through the mud at her feet.
"I could just… devour him…"
The gaunt man cackles malevolently as two more figures show themselves, a young girl, not much different than Emmi in stature and build, though nigh-opposite in her disposition scowled menacingly at Hiei. The evil that radiated from her was so strong it was nearly tangible.
To the other side of the newest arrival was a character who seemed a bit out of place. A tall, lanky male who seemed too timid for his own good, practically trying to hide in his own shadow. Despite how he tried to keep out of sight, the boy did not appear to be someone who would shy away from a fight, as he bore a number of scars across his body, as well as weapons… everywhere…
A return to those fleeing would have them being confronted as well, though in a much less overwhelming manner. As they approached the hill indicated by the pointing Emmi, two figures rose over its crest.
"Ahh, we had assumed that they would try to send the girl off on her own and she'd be an easy capture… too bad, we'll have to get our hands dirty."
The first of the two that would get in their way was an incredibly 'attractive' female. While her actual person was not the drop-dead beauty the care she put into her appearance would suggest, she certainly could be attractive if one did not look on her directly face-to-face.
"Been a while since I had to crush someone… I look forward to it."
The second was a massive, hulking brute-of-a-man who could give even the largest of Yotsuki a run for their money. He was heavily armored in massive steel plates that did not seem to do even the slightest to impede upon his movements or slow him down.
Emmi tugs at Akinori's garments to get his attentin. "Put me down, I can run for myself… we need to get past them. It's too dangerous to be in the open!"
If they thought that Hiei would be afraid from the number of them, they were mistaken. The Yotsuki actually smiles, and then turns to run, to catch up with his companions. Catching up to Akinori, he comments.
"We're not going to make it. We have no choice but to stand and fight."
Seeing that there was also a group in their path, he sighs.
"Emmi, remember your training and stay sharp."
He exhales slowly. The situation was worse than he originally thought.
"They sort of have us surrounded. Unfortunately, that places them at a disadvantage. They should have sent more."
He lowers his voice. "Let them make the first move. We don't have time to play with them, so make each attack count."
Akinori glances towards the two infront, slowly dropping Emmi carefully on her feet.
"Tsss… Nice armor dude… and uh, who's the girlfriend? You two on a casual date or are you guys looking for a place to stay?"
He knows it won't work… but it's always worth a shot right? He notices Hiei catching up with the other group.
"Dude, I told you that the party invitation was only a plus one now didn't I?"
He moves his hand infront of his mouth, slowly exhaling into it as he clenches it into a fist. Wielding it behind his back is his fist as he holds his trench knife in his right hand facefront, ready to cut down or pierce.
"If you guys want, we can go for a smoke and talk this out right?"
His hoodie remains ontop of his head, as he squints his eyes once more preparing for the engagement yet to come.
As Hiei retreats from the group that had assembled before him, their zombie-like leader clicks his tongue and raises a hand in a casual gesture and gives a slight wave of his fingers. His minions disperse and he walks after Hiei, dragging the tip of his sword in the mud as he moved.
Out on the hill, however, Akinori and Emmi - who had finally been returned to her own feet - are joined by Hiei, finally out numbering the assembled enemies. However, they did not seem bothered by the turning of the tables.
"Hmmm…? You are quite arrogant for one who is going to die," the woman states, then gestures to her comrade who had merely grunted derissivly at Akinori's comment about his armor. When he sees the gesture, he nods and raises a fist and after a powerful roar he slams his fist into the ground, shattering the earth and bursting it up like an eruption.
As soon as the debris is in the air, the woman forms a handseal or two and releases a good gust of breath, creating a number of windy blades that slice through the debris and carry it forward at the same time in a hail of rock and deadly, slicing wind currents.
"Watch out!" Emmi eeps when the attack begins, one that had been used to fell most of her comrades before, and quickly performs a set of her own handseals before causing the rain around them to congeal into a shield. Though it'd be unlikely to stop the impending attack, it'd at least make it easier for everyone else to defend against.
Hiei watches as the ground erupts around him. Thanks to Emmi though, the earth pieces are a lot slower than usual, but his body was conditioned to react nonetheless and it shows in how he doesn't actually move much, but the pieces seem to flow around him, getting close, but never actually touching his body. "It's not arrogance, when you know you can back it up."
He forms handseals before extending two fingers towards the female chuunin.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Arc!" Slivers of lightning pool around his fingers before being released in a zig-zagging arc.
"Chew on that." He comments before looking towards the big earth guy.
"Got something special for you too."
He kneels and strikes his fist on the ground as his forearm erupts into flames. With a growl he states. "Fire Style: Falcon Punch!"
From his kneeling position, he leaps high into the air and punches towards the guy as the form of a firebird surrounds his fist just before impact.
Akinori grins a bit as he gazes from Hiei back to the Manicured lady, he notices the earth and wind a little bit too late as he tries to dodge it. WHACK. He gets hit chest first as he gets sent back a bit.
"Allright, torch you and torch your manicure. Time to remove the mittens lady!"
With that said, his temper is filled quite a bit as he dashes quickly towards her. He makes an effort to throw his left fist towards the lady… but suddenly opens it? A form of ash powder is released from the fist as he immediatly fills his trench knife with Chakra.
"Your girlfriend can taste her new state allready, time to pierce your armor buddy!" He sends his trench knife towards the armor, a small layer of Chakra is visible from the blade as he strikes.
Emmi lets out a sigh of relief when her defense helps somewhat, though when Akinori is struck she lets out a panicked sound. "Sarutobi-san, are you okay?!" She inquires, barely managing to stop herself from rushing to his aid when she notices he is mostly fine. So, she turns her attention back to the enemy and prepares.
"We shall see…" The woman replies to Hiei as he fires his lightning at her, however, in response, she forms a set of handseals and then spreads her hands wide, creating a powerful vaccuum that sucks everything in range into it when and where it can in an attempt to diffuse the lightning before it struck.
The big brute watches as Hiei leaps into the air and performs his falcon punch, but seems unimpressed and merely raises a hand in response - to catch the fist it seemed. However, Akinori's follow-up against him by throwing his chakra-infused knife makes him move slightly so that his armor can hopefully deflect it instead of letting it pierce through. This movement causes his resistance against Hiei to falter and his arm is strained, which causes him to emit a howl of pain.
"I… I'll assist you!" Emmi squeaks and weaves a set of handseals before firing a set of dangerous water-lances formed from the water pooling at her feet towards the brute. The lances soar through the air, the first splashing harmlessly against the warrior's armor, but the second manages to find a weak spot and penetrate, forcing him to stumble.
"Yay! We did it!" Emmi cheers as the brute goes down to one knee after sustaining so much damage.
The woman releases her vortex towards Hiei, sending it and all of the debris charged with his own lightning towards him.
"You fantastic idiot, get up! What are we even paying you for!" She kicks mud at her comrade who grunts in response and gets to his feet while taking a swing with his massive arm at Hiei followed by a powerful shoulder rush intended to take him off his feet, however, as he does, he finds himself facing off against another of Emmi's hydroshields first, which makes him howl with rage.
"We should go! This is bad, more could come!" Emmi squeaks as she holds up her shield to help Hiei.
Hiei glances over at Emmi and then Akinori.
"You guys are doing great, just hang in there. We need to combine our efforts. Take them out one at a time."
His eyes widen slightly when the vortex comes towards him. He leaps high into the air, allowing it to go underneath him. When his feet hit the ground, he ducks low to avoid the brute's arm. However, when he lowers his shoulder and attempts to bullrush Hiei. It looks like he is successful, only he goes completely through Hiei. The Yotsuki had waited until the last possible moment to dodge, and left an afterimage in his place to fool his enemy. Hiei stands behind the brute, back to back with him.
"I offered you guys the chance to leave in peace. Now, you're starting to skrull me and my friends off."
He drives his elbow backwards towards the base of the brute's spine and then attempts to strike him in that same spot with an open palm strike.
"Gaah… Right!" He tries to focus a reasonable amount of Chakra into his palms as he dashes towards the brute, he would follow up from the combo of Hiei as he slams his open palms into the side of the brute. He got into this small window as he spun right outside of his guard, trying to increase his chance of landing the hit.
Akinori's gaze drags back to Emmi afterwards, seemingly feeling a slight remorse. Why does he need to be helped, why can't he stand his own. Thingclobberit! He closes his eyes for a split second as his eyes start to moisten up a bit, a soft tempered grunt is released from Akinori's throat and left waving into the air.
When the vortex misses, the woman who sent it towards Hiei begins forming another set of seals. She seemed fully intent on taking them down, or at least holding them in place for the time being.
Her comrade, however, seemed to be having a bit more trouble than he anticipated with fighting the Yotsuki. A bit more trouble, as in he gets clobbered senseless, drops to the ground on his face, and then is double-tapped by Akinori. He seems entirely unresponsive, and is likely dead or at the least, unconcious.
"Useless fool!" The woman shrieks before releasing another set of her wind blades towards Hiei, then follows up by moving on to Akinori as well.
However, another scream would be heard, one from Emmi, as it were, just before Akinori looks back to check on her. He would find her engaged with the malicious young girl that had encountered Hiei earlier, and was steadily losing ground. Not only that, but the others that were following had begun to appear.
The timid boy was standing off to the side, seemingly doing nothing for the moment, while the succubus stood near him, whip curled in her left hand, ready to spring. The zombie-like man, however, was no where to be seen.
Emmi was doing what she could to hold back her assailant, but the girl was harassing her with kunai, and Emmi's water shields seemed to be getting less and less effective. She definitely needed assistance.
Hiei knew that Emmi needed help, but he left that to Akinori. His priority was to keep that hot kunoichi from throwing more jutsu at them. Hiei reaches back, drawing the katana from it's sheath. Hiei's body blurs from sight briefly. When he stops moving, the young kenjutsuist forms a handseal and then extends the tip of his blade towards the distressed woman. "The next time when I tell you I can back it up, you better believe me."
He smirks. "Lightning Release: Lightning Strike!"
A large bolt of lightning lances off the tip of his sword on route for the kunoichi.
"I know we should run, but we don't have anywhere to run /to/. They have us cut off. We'll just have to fight our way out."
Akinori grunts, glancing around the confrontation with a slight confusion. He dashes infront of Emmi as he slowly opens his mouth.
"Go help Hiei attack and find us a breach, hopefully I can take the punishments they deal out in the mean time."
With a comfort in his own words, he seemingly offers his body to take the hits for Emmi. He knows Hiei is good enough to dodge on his own but the girl needs some aid from time to time. He glances towards his front as he sends a gust of ash from his mouth towards her face from his mouth… hopefully hitting so they can get a move on.
"We'll see…" The woman snarls at Hiei even as he hits her with the lightning bolt which jolts her pretty nicely before she recovers. "Ah, very nice…"
She performs another handseal and fires a set of windblades towards Hiei like a creeping barrage, slamming into the ground and exploding beneath it to break the earth and send hails of stones flying in his direction.
Emmi on the other hand, has managed to hold her own thusfar, but just as things are looking better for her, she slips and falls on her rear, leaving her open to an attack. Thankfully, Akinori arrives to save her, interposing himself and blinding the assailant so that they can escape.
Emmi merely nods and rushes off, forming handseals and congealing the rain into a dense mist to hide them so they can run away. "We need to go! This place is too dangerous!" She squeaks at Hiei.
Hiei stares at the wind kunoichi as she continues to threaten him. Gone is his playful nature as he mentally makes the decision to kill this woman for what she's put the team through. He would go with his comrades and escape this place, but not before putting the fear of the gods in these people. When she attacks him, it goes completely through him as if he was a ghost. Her second attack meets the same fate. There was no jutsu involved, it was pure speed on the part of the Yotsuki. Standing in front of Akinori and Emmi, Hiei says. "Run." He performs a handseal and states in a calm voice. "Release: Lightning Aura."
There is an explosion of chakra before Hiei emerges with a lightning infused blue aura around his body. His muscles quiver underneath the skin as if under constant electric shock. He reaches behind him and draws his second sword, a wakazashi.
"I will never forgive you for what you've done here today."
He lifts the katana as it glows neon blue. With his drastically increased speed, he disappears from sight. His target is the woman with the big mouth as he attacks with the glowing katana, attempting to drive it in the center of her chest.
He then spins in place, striking out with both blades at once.
Akinori quickly shouts "YEAP, THAT'S DEFINETLY THE TIME TO LEGGIT. GIRL LETS GO!"
He quickly grasps his arm around Emmi's waist once more, quickly dashing out of the fight. He continues to run as he looks around the area… appearantly they arrived at the ruins, several objects scatterd around are halfly burned and ash is piled up inside.
"Hiei, don't get yourself killed. I can't risk getting myself into the fight again."
He mumbles, he takes a heavy breather inside of the ruins as he scans the surroundings for movement and strategical assets.
As Hiei decides to go all hulk on everyone, or whatever it is that Hiei does, the woman that was his target takes a step back, obviously worried that she would be unable to handle whatever was coming her way. That is, until Hiei attacks.
Out of no where, the large warrior they had felled earlier interposes himself between the woman and Hiei, his initial strike ricocheting off of his armor. The man, who seemed to move oddly, raised his arms and let out a loud roar even as he absorbed the next attack. As the swords connect with him, his body explodes in a burst of chakra and…well… gore, obviously.
A rather grisly sight, indeed.
"You speak of arrogance so quaintly…" The snake-like voice of the zombie-like shinobi can be heard behind Hiei.
When the bloody mist of the warrior is gone, he'd also notice that his target had retreated somewhere, leaving Hiei to face the entire party that had regrouped behind their leader.
"I believe you shall find that it could be your downfall."
Elsewhere, Akinori and Emmi had managed to get to the ruins, a place where they were far better defended than before, with plenty of chokepoints for the smaller party to defend or even use to lay in wait for an ambush of their own. However, as they settle in for the long haul, Emmi let's out a little whine as she kneels over the body of one of her fallen comrades who had apparently sought shelter there as well.
"I don't understand what is going on…"
Hiei slides both blades in his sheath as he looks down at what's left of the guy who took the hits for the wind kunoichi. Hiei looks at the people gathered behind their leader. He doesn't even look worried. He still had three more stages of power beyond this one. But his comrades needed him, so he smirks.
"Let this be a reminder of what happened when you invisible with Konoha and Kumo shinobi." He forms handseals and when he finishes a crimson bolt of lightning descends from the sky and strikes at his feet. Once the flash and boom is over, Hiei is gone. Meanwhile, accompanied by a gust of wind, Hiei appears next to Akinori and Emmi.
"They're coming and we need reinforcements." He takes a moment to look at Akinori's wounds. "If you like, I can bandage those up for you. It's not much, but there's no need to face them hurt."
Akinori glances up to Hiei
"I'm fine, it's just that we need to end this really fast and get back to the village. There is NO reinfor—… Wait a minute!"
He slowly stands up, glancing around the ruins as he slams his fist onto his chest.
"I got a idea on how to turn the tides!"
He'll glance towards Emmi and then back to Hiei. "We'll blow this building sky-high when they enter, and when we do we'll make sure it's a big enough boom so that the villages can see it. They will have to send some guys over here to help!"
His grin slowly turns sour, as he realizes a minor flaw. "But that means… we don't have any cover and we'll be fighting in the open. Unless we… y'know, split up and hide."
