Starring:
Date: January 26, 2013
Summary:
Kanami, while on a long boat trip to the Land of Lightning, decides to seek the help of an old acquaintance in restoring something taken from her. On that same boat ride, the former Councilwoman of Sunagakure, Itami, is encountered for the first time, face to face. Kanami asks Itami for help.
"Power Of The White Snake - Two Reptile Girls"
The Ocean
Kanami finished her business in the Land of Water, scouting a possible apprentice in Genjutsu — a ninja of Kirigakure. The Twilight Village, in the Land of Rivers, was destroyed by the Eldest Son, and along with it the home of the Nogakujin. Kanami felt some degree of loss from that, but she was unsure how many of her fellow thespians were lost to the terrible power of the Munashiigan — Void Eye. She does know that she does not feel quite as young as she used to. She is not yet 30 years old, but the weight of her experiences is sure to continue building. She thought perhaps she could start planning for the future now — preparing for future generations and rebuild the Nogakujin.
But ultimately, that young man was not what she thought she was after. She doesn't know where this urge came from… But… She thinks she wants to have a child. Despite the efforts of Yotsuki Mune, the regenerative powers of the White Snake cells that were added into Kanami's makeup have not restored her womb. That Puppeteer from Sunagakure — Kara or whatever her name was — had destroyed any capacity for having children. The greatest healer in the world could not fix this. What hope was there?
Kanami thought about this on the boat trip to the Land of Lightning to see how Mune was doing in the Hidden Cloud. An idea was beginning to come to her… No matter how brilliant Mune is, there are beings older even than Amuro in this world. So as the pale-white skin of the semi-serpentine-looking actress lay exposed to the sun, a black bikini guarding her modesty as she reclined on the ship's deck, Kanami realized what she had to do. She soaked up the warmth of the sun, just like the beings from whom she had obtained her rejuvenating abilities… Just like the ones she had a contract with…
She should see if the Snakes had any wisdom to share on how one might have children without a womb. She would summon Cham and inquire with her. In just a few more minutes.
Kanami wriggled in her recliner, stretching her arms over her head and arching her back under the warm rays of the sun. Mmm. Make that just a few more degrees.
There were a few rules that Itami had to learn about going to the Land of Lightning, but she can't say she remembers them. Not that she'll panic, no, she's a natural at these things. Traveling and going new places allows her to jump right into the fold and learn about the culture in a snap… "So, are you sure this information is accurate?" She holds a small pamphlet out to a passenger who has been to the land many times before. The woman indicates it's not entirely accurate, but she should be okay. The most important thing is just not to draw attention. "And how do I do that?" The woman paused, "Don't do anything stupid." She wanted to inquire further about what 'stupid' applied to, but she thinks she has enough common sense to know what that means.
She thanks the woman for her time and continues to read before balling up the pamphlet and stuffing it away. She's going to have to do this the hard way. While she's waiting, she might as well try to busy herself with some sort of activity.
Long, shiny black hair lying like a blanket of midnight beneath her, Kanami is perfectly content to just lie there, paper-white skin soaking up the sunlight. She actually starts to wish Datura were here to lie on top of her. The softness and warmth of another woman's body pressed against her own is something she admittedly has greatly missed. Maybe she'll find someone on this boat to substitute temporarily…
Sitting up, Kanami stretches once more, and takes a look around with yellow eyes that look very reptillian — slit-pupils and all. Hmm… Various potential candidates… But no. For now she has other matters to attend to before she can indulge herself like that. She forms several hand seals as she swings her legs over the edge of the deck chair, focusing her Chakra. But she's still a bit drowsy, so when she slams her palm down on the ship's deck, it is not Cham that appears from the cloud of smoke.
Instead, it is a small garden snake with a grey goatee and squinty eyes. Bannin looks up at Kanami in her swimsuit, and his protest about being summoned dies on his snakey lipless lips. "Kanami-chaaaaan~! It is being far too long since the time that last we spoke~!" the elderly snake calls out chipperly in the voice of an old man as she immediately starts slithering his way towards Kanami's foot. Kanami sighs and lifts her foot quickly, booting the little pervert away before he can attempt to insinuate himself anywhere awkward. "If only it could have been a little longer," she mutters. Bannin regains his senses after being sent rolling across the deck and calls out, "Aiyaaaaa! How dare you strike your elders! After all that I have been doing for you, you would spurn my true and honest love for your long, smooth legs, your flat belly, your wonderful womanly curves — Aah!" Bannin ducks aside as a glass of some kind of juice is thrown at him and smashes on the deck.
He begins slithering away until he suddenly finds himself at someone's foot. The snake looks up, sees Itami, and immediately cries out, "Aiyaaaa! What a tasty morsel YOU are! Please lean down, lovely lady! My sight is not being what it used to be — ACK!" Kanami seizes him by the back of the head with two fingers after bending down, and then straightens up in front of Itami. "I apologize. He is a stupid old hentai with no ability to tell the difference between one woman and another… Regardless of species." Bannin protests as he dangles between the imprisoning fingers, coiling his tail/body around Kanami's wrist, "Oiiiii! I will have you to know that I am simply being very open to the female species!"
Itami found a place to sit down and with a dark of cards in her hands, she set them up to play a game. A voice rang out to her and she looked around for it before settling on the snake near her foot. She shifted her foot out of the way and lofted a brow, clearly confused at — oh! Is…is he okay? She looked up to see the snake and met with Kanami. Those eyes… "Uh…oh, it's fine really. I just didn't expect to see him there…."
She rose up from the ground. "You…seem familiar, but I can't place it. Oh well, I'm Itami. It's nice to meet you."
Kanami probably looks different from the last time Itami saw her. For one, Kanami wasn't as… Snakey back then. For another, Kanami was wearing a mask, a kimono, and so on. She is wearing considerably less, is much paler, and yeah, those eyes. Kanami bows her head in both greeting and apology for the elderly snake in her grip. Then she introduces herself, "My name is Seishino Kanami." She straightens up, but her eyes do not rise at quite the same speed, as the she scans Itami's entire body before their eyes meet. "'Itami', hm? Your name is 'pain'? That is so cute." Then Kanami squints her eyes a little bit as she smiles, her tongue slipping out to lick from one side of her lips to the other. "You're cute too, of course. Very pretty…" she purrs out.
One hand raises from Kanami's side, as though she were going to reach out towards Itami, but instead it continues its motion slowly until it reaches the side of Kanami's face, where she brushes some of her long, black hair behind an ear. "I have heard of you. A Council Woman of Sunagakure, yes? Are you on vacation?" Bannin remains in Kanami's grip, and reminds of his presence when he lets out, "O-oi! You two beautiful women! If you begin to become intimate and perhaps kiss each other, will you let me watch — MY HEAD YOU ARE CRUSHING PLEASE TO BE STOPPING I WILL BE SILENT!"
Kanami sighs and shakes her head, propping her free hand on one hip as she looks back to the serpent. "I suppose he is right… You might be here on business. I should not pry into your personal affairs or distract from whatever you are here for with my flirtations." Wait, so she just admitted she was flirting with Itami? Gosh, what's a lizard girl to do with all this attention!? "Though if you DO happen to have some free time, I could use your help with something…" And Kanami makes sure to give Itami some room as she raises her hand in a 'I'm keeping my hands off' gesture as she says, "Something business-related, for which you would be recompensed."
"Kanami," Itami repeated before nodding. "As for my name, err, yes it is 'pain'. It's only recently that I learned the reasoning behind my name being what it was…" She rubbed her arms gently at that and shook her head, "But that aside, I'm glad you like it…?" She thinks. Despite the bit of discomfort, she tries to keep a smile on her face and maintain friendliness.
"I do try to keep myself together though I wouldn't say I'm successful all the time," she chuckles. Clearing her throat she'd look down to her game that went unfinished and then to Kanami's hand that looked to be reaching toward her. She grew to be a bit tense up until the woman reached for her hair and brushed it behind her ear. "Oh, yes, yes. I am that Council Woman, though I have since retired from the position to do a bit of traveling," she explained. "So I guess this could be considered a vacation of sorts," she didn't seem to pay much attention to the snake despite how loud he could be and maybe a bit obnoxious.
"I am just traveling, trying to know the world. It isn't much prying at all. In fact it — " Flirting? She wasn't sure if she should be flattered. "Free time? Do I have time? What is the time?" She began to reach around for something to tell the time, but she doesn't have anything to tell the time. Nope, she was, "I — When are we due for the Land of Lightning?" She looked out at the sea as if the place would magically pop up.
Kanami seems slightly amused by Itami being caught off-guard like that by the realization a woman might be interested in her. But she soon turns her attention to the horizon, and then up to the sky. She tucks Bannin into the waistband of her bikini bottom with a warning squeeze to indicate he shouldn't try anything while he's hanging half-in/half-out of it. "I have no idea, really. According to the position of the sun, I think we still have at least several more hours, unless we are moving more quickly than is normal for some reason. Or slower for that matter, I suppose."
Kanami looks thoughtful and then says, "Retired. That is news to me. Perhaps I have not been paying as much attention to international events as I should be. Well, would you be interested in assisting me?" Kanami turns her snake-eyes back on Itami, with a pleasant — though tight-lipped — smile. "It requires Chakra usage, and a lot of it, and I am not sure I have enough on my own. Together, we would both be left with most of our Chakra reserves intact, and thus still able to do anything we might need to if such a necessity comes up."
The pale-skinned woman tilts her head to the side, long, black hair draping, and says, "How about it?"
"Ooooh, well…" Itami tried to find something else to say, but was only caught in awkward silence. She fiddled with her hands, noting that she still had the playing cards. "Oh, well uh, would you like to play a game to pass the time?" She inquired as she flipped through them a bit. "But…hm, you need assistance with something?" She wonders what she could possibly assist her with. "It requires chakra and you think I could help…and you don't have enough to spare," she repeated. "…I…suppose I could assist with it. What will you have me do?" She asked, mostly to figure out if it's something she thinks she should be doing.
Kanami nods and keeps smiling. Bannin is behaving himself. He does not wish to be removed from such a wonderful spot, so he is keeping still and quiet. At the question, Kanami says, "Unfortunately I must pass on the offer to play cards… As for what I would have you do, I could think of many things I would LIKE you to do…" She winks. "…But for this particular task, I am going to be using a technique known as the 'Transportation Technique' or 'Summoning Technique'… Kuchiyose no Jutsu. There is someone I need to consult with, but if I summon her alone, the Chakra expenditure would leave me at quite a disadavantage in any negotiations if she realized how weakened I was. If we split the cost, we will both have plenty of strength to spare. As I mentioned previously, I will repay you for this assistance. All you need to do is form the hand seals I tell you to at roughly the same time that I do, slap your palm down where I do, and release your Chakra. I will guide the rest."
The pale woman backs up several steps, hips swaying in a manner that is not just a woman's movement but also… Snake-like. Like a serpent slithering forward — a synchopated movement. "There is a clear area on the deck over here."
Itami chuckled and rubbed her neck. Things she would like her to do… that was a good joke that she is almost sure wasn't a joke. "Ah, summoning technique. That's what you need help with? I can lend a hand with that, certainly. I don't know what these negotiations you speak of but I suppose that'll all come to light after this is done," she stated with clear curiosity. Seems she really knows how to pick an adventure.
She began to follow along with Kanami, remembering her instructions to be repeated so that this technique could be pulled off successfully. The movements of this woman reminded her of a snake and she could possibly relate as there are times where she moves much like a lizard. "Alright, I will follow your lead."
"I need information that is not available to any human I have thus far encountered. There is one smart enough to figure it out, given time, another possibly old enough… But there is no way I am asking him about such a…" Kanami pauses in her speech, turning around so her back is to Itami and continuing towards the deck chair. "…Delicate matter. So, I seek to ask someone who is not only old but whom has been amongst beings who have knowledge humans simply do not have access to." Once she reaches her chair, she turns around again, and seems to consider whether to bother putting on a camisole or something. Ultimately, she decides not to bother.
"The hand seals are boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram." Kanami demonstrates with her own hands, just incase Itami needs the help, though given how proficient the ex-Councilwoman is, the seal demonstration probably isn't necessary. "If you need to practice, let me know. I am going to start molding Chakra." Kanami then puts her hands in a focusing seal. The air seems to become slightly more turbulent around her, the remains of the shattered glass of juice that was thrown at Bannin trembling, and clinking together.
Itami gave some thought to what was said by Kanami. Needing information that isn't available to any human? What kind of information is this? She thinks that she may be able to benefit from whatever this is. "I think I understand," she hummed. "So, boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram…" She repeated as she practiced the seals. Though she knew how to make seals, she has never performed summoning technique before, so she thinks she should get a bit of practice in. "I'll need a few moments…" She states while going over the handseals.
Once she's sure she has them, she nods to Kanami indicating that she's got it down. She's ready to join her in the summoning technique as soon as she's ready.
Kanami nods, locking eyes with Itami, and then, she raises a hand, and slices open one finger with an oddly pointed tooth. She smears this blood on the palm of her other hand, and then molds her Chakra with the hand seals rather swiftly, but still slowly enough for Itami to do it at the same pace. Assuming Itami acts in tandem with her, Kanami slaps the palm with the blood on it down on the ground and releases her Chakra! A pattern spreads out from where her hand lands — ink seemingly scrawling itself across the ground into a jutsu formula. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! <Summoning Technique!>" Kanami calls out.
An enormous cloud of smoke erupts from it, engulfing the entire deck! …Now how did Itami do?
Itami is not sure she could grow comfortable with that sort of thing. Slicing open the body, even if it's just the finger, is painful. She knows having had to harm herself before to escape genjutsu, but enough about that.
She follows Kanami, matching her handseal for handseal and when the time comes, she slams her palm down atop Kanami's, pushing out the necessary molded chakra. She watches the pattern spread out from beneath their hands and the cloud of smoke that erupts around them, wondering what was going to come of this summon.
Nothing comes out of the summon. The smoke clears, and Kanami and Itami are both gone. As far as the two women know, however, they are hurtling through a screaming tunnel of purple streaks and darkness, feeling space-time itself shrieking at the way it is being warped. They are connected by the hands they used, the only stability as they fall and rise and slide and simply tumble through the space between spaces. Kanami grits her teeth against the disorienting experience, the fear of the unknown, and wraps herself around Itami in a mix of embrace and literal wrapping-around — her limbs elongating to secure the other kunoichi…
After what might have been seconds or hours, the summoning pattern appears on some dirt. A hole appears at the center. Kanami and Itami are hurled through the hole in a cloud of smoke, up into the air, and then they fall right back down to the ground. Kanami remains entangled with Itami as she takes stock of herself. As the smoke clears, the paler of the two takes a moment to check if Itami is alive. She considers doing so by sticking her tongue out and licking Itami's ear, but decides that might not be healthy while they are bound like this, and instead asks quietly, softly, "Are you alright, Itami-san?" She starts to retract her limbs too, returning them to their normal lengths.
Then Kanami looks up and just lies there on the ground next to Itami, staring calmly at the vision before her. A cliff wall that extends upwards and upwards and upwards… And the entire cliff face is full of cave openings. This is either a part of the Snake Village she has never seen before or… They are completely lost. She does not know yet.
But this place feels… Familiar.
Being sucked into a tunnel? Itami is familiar with that having been sucked right into a scroll and flung out the opposite side into some sort of prison. But this? No, nothing like this. Steaks of purple and darkness alternating in such a way along with falling wherever direction the tunnel designates is making her feel sick. Though, it does help to be secured as it's helping her stomach and mind to settle.
There's no telling how long it felt like they were falling, but eventually there's a hole and a hard landing on the ground, well, not as hard as it could have been. Itami felt some shock, but it probably wasn't as much as Kanami endured. She squinted her eyes and looked up, fading in and out while trying to get her mind together. "….Alive?" She questioned a bit weakly. "Is this what alive feels like?" She groaned and began to pick herself up off the ground, albeit shakily.
"Ugh…" She turns around slowly and looks at the wall…the large wall. "Where are we?"
TO BE CONTINUED…
