Nightly Experiments <Open>

[Toraono Michino]

Knowledge is one of those things that can bring the world into a utopia of peace but has had the penchant to turn it into just the opposite. It was a truth that Tama was slowly coming to appereciate as he spent late night after late night pouring into each of his tome like books he checked out from the libraries. Scrolls littered his room with scribbles of basic machinery, measurements, graphs, and notes from the information he was taking from each book he came across. It had only been two weeks into academy training and already his expansive mind was creating ideas for him to experiment with.
Modern Mechanics was by far his favorite class with only Secret Techniques; the study and philosophy, coming up second. The rest of his classes were somewhat dull in comparison but already he had learned of the greatness that lied within him – the chakra coil. It was an amazing part of his body system that would allow him to eventually pull from a pool of energy that supposedly everyone had to create, through seals formed by hand formation, an elemental strength, the sheer energy to create, or the mastery over a man’s mind. Tama could only begin to imagine the limitless possibilities of the chakra coil and tonight he was testing his very first prototype.

Deep inside the belly of the creature they called home Tama was down a wide alley where few people ever took the time to venture into but with room enough to test setting up a testing area by pushing the garbage to the sides. This was done by using a large piece of cardboard he had found in the street, the same cardboard that would be used for his flat surface as he flipped the part that had been touching trash to touch ground. The boy was dressed in his usual, a brown school-like outfit with a puffy tie that was pulled loose with simple white footwear to compliment. Hanging across his chest was a strap carrying along a slightly bulging black parcel. Kneeling down to the ground he pulled out a small golden box and set it in the center of the cardboard then placed his index finger in the very center of the top square.
Tama closed his amber eyes behind the rectangular glasses and forced his wild mind to focus down into the pit of his being. Before long he could feel the warmth of his power rising through him just simply by looking for it and with a simple controlling thought he focused a bit of that warmth towards the lone finger gracing the top of the golden box. Chakra slowly began to cover the metal causing it to change from the golden color into a strange prismatic metal that continued to shift colors at a rate reflecting the amount of chakra he was placing inside of the box. In theory a special chakra absorbing metal engine inside the box would collect enough power to activate and start to activate a chain of events that would, in the end, produce a metal table he could work with wherever he needed one. If this idea was a success then he could start creating a plethora of portable furniture he could keep in his bag, granting him the ability to pull out a full blown laboratory from his damn bag.

Yet as with all first experiments something was bound to go wrong, the only thing he didn’t expect was that thing to be an outside obstruction. A ragged looking man with clothes that were wearing had began to stalk Tama as he entered into the deeper parts of Suna – after all he looked like money. The fashion of clothing he was wearing was really more tailored towards adults since kids wore whatever the hell they wanted to, but Tama knowing nothing of style or fashion-sense simply dressed in what was most comfortable. The ragged man knew nor cared of what the boy was doing down here, just simply saw easy money.
The scientist to be heard the footsteps through his focus of chakra just as they neared him and quickly opened his eyes to look up at the man that had sneaked upon him. Dirty fingers dug into his shaggy hair and gripped tight to lift the small child from his box that had reverted back into a golden look and threw him into the trash that Tama had shoveled aside. He felt old metal scraping against his clothes and cutting into his sides when he landed. The pain was only but a momentary stun as the eyes behind his crooked glasses saw the bum reaching for his invention with greedy eyes.

Now any good, sensible, student would of taken the chance to dig themselves out of the trash and haul ass; Tama, however, was not one to go down without a fight. Especially when it came down to something that he didn’t just owned but created as well. Bracing his palms against the wall behind him he pushed himself out of the heap and rushed headlong at the man who was attempting to steal away his belongings. The boy’s shoulder struck the bum’s dirty coat and side taking the foe by surprise to be shoved into a waiting pile of garbage himself. Quick as he could manage the Ryuu crouched down and reached to grab the metal box to find the man starting to dig himself up in a far less graceful manner with the look of a sadist in his eyes. The boy turned and dug his feet into the gravel beneath him to try and start a run but found that same dirty hand grabbing the back of his shirt to be thrown further down the alley with box in hand. He hit his shoulder hard and rolled a bit from the force the man was able to throw a small child, stunned from the impact he could still hear the footsteps of a man calmly approaching him to do gods knew what. In a sudden panic that came upon creatures when they knew they were faced with a stronger adversary Tama rolled onto his back to see the man nearly right over him and threw the box straight at the bum’s face.

The man caught the box simply by using a bit of chakra to augment his reflexes and accidentally brushed a bit of his power over the energy that was already stored inside. Metal gears began to click and tick like a clock bringing a moment of confusion from both parties before it instantly sprang out to form a table that smashed against the man’s face with the speed of said table being shot out of a cannon. The metal table fell to the ground with a loud clatter as the bum pressed his thick hands against his face in pain as blood began to pour from his nose. His fingers spread a little bit to see a still terrified boy looking up at him from the ground.
A bloody hand reached out to grasp Tama by his hair once again and lifted him straight off the ground. Kicking and screaming the boy reached up to grasp at the man’s hands as he felt his body flying sideways to be smashed into a wall. With a rage the bum pressed the boy’s face against the wall and scrapped his face along the bricks, breaking his glasses and nose before throwing him further down the alley.

Through the pain the boy slowly opened one eye to look up from the place he had landed. He watched with an aching body as the man slowly reached into his jacket to pull out a sharp, but very clean looking, knife with a serrated edge. The previous panic was doubled causing Tama’s mind to race in all directions, but only one command was working, ‘scoot away’, and before long that command only braced his back against a wall of the dead end alley.
Not a single word had been exchanged between the two, just a quick series of actions, reactions, and rage. Tama couldn’t believe that such violence could be brought simply by a single shining piece of metal…

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Toraono Kuro had been observing the Sietch, enjoying the damp, cool air, for a moment as he looked around the edges of the underground marvel again upset that no matter how well cared for the people were. Garbage managed to pile up in certain alleys and some streets no matter how well traveled remained uncleaned. The sounds of a scuffle reached him and with the natural instinct of a beast protecting his territory Kuro leaped to the roof of one of the lower dwellings dashing with his innate speed towards the source of conflict. Rage burned his inner spirit as he witnessed a grimy adult, no doubt some forgotten disgraced shinobi or washout of the academy whom somehow slipped through the cracks attack a young boy. A serrated steel blade was presented for a brief moment as Kuro sailed silently through the dark subterranean air before unleashing a soul shattering roar that could make all but the fiercest opponents wet themselves. An aura of power radiated from his body as he landed upon the ragged knife wielding man as his left palm surged with demonic chakra. In one strike it would be over for this man's soul, no one harms a child in Kuro's presence and leaves unscathed. With terror in his eyes and the strength of a man facing death. The ragged man's blade flashed at Kuro to keep him away only to shatter as Kuro's demonic left claw struck and shattered the blade as he gouged into the man's chest lifting him off the ground with such force that his ribs buckled and his chest all but shattered. Blood welled up inside his throat as Kuro allowed him to crumple to the ground in a semi conscious state before turning to check on the boy. "Young man are you okay?"

 

[Mikaboshi]

The body of the fallen homeless man shimmered slightly, limned with a sickly green light, and for a moment he convulsed at Kuro's feet before a small ball of periwinkle light lifted from his mouth and slowly floated away from where Kuro and the young man were at the end of the alleyway; towards the entrance to it and towards the waiting claws of a thin man standing at the mouth of the alleyway, barely remarkable save for the unusual mask that he wore on his face and the hood drawn up around it. This was Mikaboshi, the monstrous assistant of the Steward-Kazekage. Though on paper Mikaboshi held the rank of Jounin in Sunagakure, it was well known among the brass that he was not "simply" a Jounin but rather the Hand of the Takahashi Sousuke himself. Where went Mikaboshi went the eyes and ears of the Steward-Kazekage and the cold demeanor with which the masked shinobi dealt with not simply his subordinates but also his technical superiors had given many a reason to mistrust the enigmatic man; especially those interested enough in him to dig up information on his career. Many had gone looking for dirt on Mikaboshi, calling in personal favors and owed promises to look at files they had no business looking at but never once had that yielded anything of worth. Mostly because the personnel file of Mikaboshi did not officially exist as he was not a "true" man of Sunagakure. In fact, he was not even truly human much less one working for Sunagakure. But he served Sousuke and through him he served Sunagakure. Apparently that was good enough for the Steward-Kazekage and in the absence of a Sunahoshi to make such a decision null and void, it sufficed. Thus he was a "Jounin" of Sunagakure even though his rank really meant very little.

Closing his claws around the shimmering ball of floating light as it floated into his palm, Mikaboshi smiled behind his mask as he drew the soul essence of the homeless man to him and simply held it pinned underneath his soul-shredding talons. If there had ever been on thing that Mikaboshi had admired about humanity it was their willingness to discard the weak of their societies and thus grow stronger by the process of eliminating the elements of their civilizations which could not hack it in their world. It delighted him that even for all their bucking against the natural order of the world around them, human society subscribed still to many of the same rules which the natural world that they'd sought to rule over had been built upon. It was especially convenient for supernatural predators such as the likes of Mikaboshi who drew true sustenance from the living energy of other beings. It made for easy to find and even easier to acquire meals. He did not need to feed often to survive, one or two meals perhaps a decade, but he often did so for the pleasure of the act. The hunt, the kill. It was such things he missed from the days of his rule when he and his kind would hunt to their fill whenever they pleased. Few noticed if a handful of beggars went missing from time to time. Even fewer cared.

"I've always admired that about you. Your ruthlessness. It suits you." Reflected Mikaboshi aloud to nobody in particular, his raspy accented voice echoing off of the alleyway walls as he gazed down at the trapped spirit within his claws. Lifting the soul higher, it squirmed beneath the points of his steel talons which held it in place. "Oh, I know little soul. Life's not fair, is it?"

 

[Toraono Michino]

So this was how it was going to end? Dead at twelve, not even a single successful attack with the exception of a mechanical table accidentally springing up too fast and breaking the guys nose; it was a bit of disgrace that hung on his heart that night and would continue to hang inside his soul for the rest of his life. It would be this moment that would spurn him to join Kuro’s academy at a later time to receive the martial art training he so desperately needed and help create the mad man the future had yet to see.

The saving process itself was a bit of a shocker for Tama. The loud roar of the tiger demon’s entrance shook the boy to his very core as his mind raced in sheer terror as to what the hell would be coming out of the woodworks next to try and kill him. Instead of racing to his death, however, the martial art master absolutely demolished the homeless man within seconds. His raw aura of power made the boy’s soul shake with a mix of awe and triumph to see his attacker demolished so quickly; it also gave him some ideas. He would have to go back and start studying harder on his medical training to execute them, but with this incident Tama thought it’d probably be a good idea to back off the mechanics for a little while until he could built a place in which to test them unhindered.
Tama slowly braced his hands back against the wall and pushed himself up as the tiger demon dropped the attacker in a crumpled heap, his fear still palpable even when the master asked of his well being.

“I…I think s-so…” the boy replied in a shaking voice.

A sharp pain in left his side cause him to grunt and then vomit as his muscles tugged at a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder. The world spun as the pain continued to wreck his body with a pain he hadn’t endured since the travel to Sunagakure, and even then that pain had been merely a mild dehydration; this pain was on a whole other level. Yet the boy managed to keep a strong enough will not to simply black out and carefully reached up to gently pry the shard of glass from his eyewear from his right eyelid and open it up. The world was tinted red from that eye as blood poured into it and the left eye was fuzzy from the lack of being able to see. It was, despite this pains and injuries, that an odd thing would happen to once again alter that path Tama was on. Already he was looking at mechanical prowess and the physical ability to handle his own when that glow permeated the darkness. The light of a man’s soul shined, removing the fuzzy grey from his left eye and causing the warmth of his chakra to tingle inside of him once again; except this time he had no control. The power of his body slowly began to vent itself upwards towards his left eye, causing the world to become incredibly sharp and focused for just a second before activating a sharp pain that would cause it to force close. For a brief moment Mikaboshi’s supernatural powers reflected something in Tama’s soul that longed to escape and view the world again through his eye, and for that brief moment the normal amber color of his iris had turned a vivid green and the pupil a slit like that of a reptile…

The light from the man floated up and was whisked away towards the soul eater and it became trapped with his claws as he made some odd commentary. Tama found himself shuffling his feet selfishly towards Kuro, then past him to the metal table that was upside-down on the ground before collapsing before it. With a shakey right hand he painfully focused a little bit of his chakra into the metal to cause it to undergo a reverse process that would turn it back into a simple golden box. With the last of his strength expunged to show the man who saved him that this invention was precious to him he blacked out without being able to speak a single word from the sudden rush of reality and it’s harsh ways.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro watched as the young man earnestly tried to stabilize himself. After pushing himself to show is inner will, the young man retrieved his invention... an expandable & retractable table that collapsed into a box. 'That would be a useful item for medics' was the thought that went through his mind before the young man collapsed. Kuro caught the young inventor as he collapsed and noted his physical condition as the scent of death and dark power wafted over him. The ally of the Steward was nearby, his powers were somewhat of a mystery but not so much that Kuro felt the need to investigate them. "Ally of the Steward, alert Sousuke-sama to these occurrences within these parts of the residential district. I will begin the care and treatment of this young man and ask for the records of every failed academy graduate. They will need steady consistent employment to ensure that a tragedy like this never occurs again."<i></i> Kuro didn't bother trying to locate Mikaboshi with his eyes, he would never be seen unless he wanted to, Kuro could only sense his scent and aura because he was half demon and had grown naturally capable of such sensory abilities. He had even trained his excessive talents to be eighty five percent certain of anything he used his powers to detect.


With his telekinesis Kuro carefully placed the child in a kinetic stasis bubble as he carried him away for medical treatment at the underground portion of the Toraono Dojo, The Tower of Bone....

 

[Mikaboshi]

His eye. For a fraction of a moment, Mikaboshi had seen Tama's uninjured eye change in the presence of raw soul energy and within that moment something inside Tama cried for release. There was a power buried in the youth; something strange and not of the land of Wind. It was a presence that the old shadow had never felt before, one that intrigued him as he regarded the soul that remained within his clutches. It was not unusual that for a split second exposure to the power of the exposed soul had healed some of Tama's lighter injuries for souls were made up of a unique type of energy that simply could not be replicated. There were some which believed the power which could be drawn from combination of soul energy and physical energy called chakra was magic but if there was any substance in all of the various universes which existed it was truly that of a living soul. Being the very power of creation and life focused to a single point in space, it was by no means a stretch of the imagination to assume that exposure to it could heal injuries. It could in fact do much more than that if applied correctly, but few were capable of extracting a living soul in-tact from a dying being and still fewer who would be willing to spend that soul as if it were simply another fuel source.

"Hold, Kuro." Mikaboshi commanded, his eyes still on the soul which he'd captured between his claws as it fought against his grip to escape. Having said that, his physical form faded from sight only to appear several feet close to Kuro within a split second of having disappeared in the first place. He had not moved, not physically anyway but now that he stood closer to the border sennin Mikaboshi took his eyes from the soul for the first time and turned his head to Kuro with his golden eyes unblinking behind the mask. "The boy is one of mine. I would have you leave him in my care rather than whisking him away. He will be mended, I will see to that."

It was unusual for Mikaboshi the Hand to take a student and teach them anything. His pact of service dictated only that he taught his secrets to Sousuke but every so often the Hand chose a student to teach some of his knowledge to. A youth which was remarkable in some way; often they were descended from demons or ancients. Boys and girls who had blood flowing through their veins that elevated them in the eyes of Mikaboshi from the offal that was the human race or a potential for power which was sufficient enough for him to ignore their unfortunate heritage. This boy showed potential signs of either; perhaps both. The presence of power that he'd sensed could mean that the blood of a greater race flowed in Tama's veins but it could also simply mean that Tama had a great reservoir of strength that was yet untapped. Either way, Mikaboshi's interest in him had been piqued and he wished to know more about him. In the end if Tama ended up being a disappointment, he would be simply end up food for the dark ancient as had all of the others before him. And there were certainly worse things than having a ready-to-eat meal on hand.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro stopped mid stride at the approach and request of Mikaboshi. They were not close friends in that sense, it was essentially that they had both carried the mutual trust of the Steward of Sunagakure. His words carried great weight for if this child was indeed one of Mikaboshi's kin then Kuro's efforts to heal him might indeed cause him more harm than hurt. The power of demons and spirits was very similar but healing one with an other could cause more harm than good. Kuro always felt as if he was about to enter into a power struggle whenever Mikaboshi was around as if each was infinitely testing the other to see whose power was greater. It might simply be the nature of Kuro's demonbeast side to challenge that which was stronger than or equal to his power. Mikaboshi definitely counted as greater than himself save for their individual masteries.

"Very Well Mikaboshi-sama ((Kuro levitates the young boy unto Mikaboshi's shoulder)) I know for certain that there are few hands he could be safer and better cared for within. Please give my regards to Sousuke kun if you see him before I do."

 

[Toraono Michino]

Lights briefly danced around in Tama’s skull as his body was lifted and tossed between two overly powerful creatures of Suna. Perhaps if Tama had been awake to experience the conversation between the two beings he might have even been excited to know that the Hand of the Stewart was going to see to his training personally. Obviously this wasn’t something considered normal by any means; for why would a creature of such ancient power deem a mere boy suitable for his time? Yet the point still remained purely moot because Tama was deep in the sticky darkness of a knock-out – farther even than the time he passed out from starvation. It was in this darkness that surrounded the boy in his mind’s eye that cushioned his temporal image that he had made a clear decision to get stronger by any means necessary.
As an inventor that opened up many doors for him to explore. With further study into the mechanical department he could eventually replace his own limbs with far more powerful metal ones that, with a work of hydrolics and chakra power, would have the potential to destroy entire buildings with a single punch; at least in theory. He could also delve further into the medical field as he originally intended to come up with some concoction that would increase the natural output of his muscles and chakra by at least ten-fold…there was also a latent option in the background for him to explore as well, and that was to focus deeper into his own blood until he could isolate a gene that, when activated properly, would grant him natural strength.

It was no mystery to Tama that he might have some untold power waiting to be tapped. His father was said to have been exceptionally strong for his age and his control over the electric element was beyond anyone the clan knew at the time. On top of that was his mother’s secretive background as a mystic from the Mist Country could lead to origins of the unknown that would unlock ancient powers and techniques that had not been seen in this world for millennia. The child of these two powerful members of the dead Ryuu Clan could easily prove to be one of the most powerful mortals to walk the world since the ancient Ryuu days; a savior of the clan as his mother had hoped for.
Still this was something to be explored into and boy was completely unsure of the time he would have to do it on top of all his other studies he had signed up for in the old pursuit for knowledge. Perhaps it was not too late to drop some of those classes so that he could free himself to research upon his own being, but this was all still speculation. Tama would first have to wake up from his painful resting place in the dark corners of his mind.

 

[Mikaboshi]

Mikaboshi made no noise as Kuro floated Tama's unconscious frame over to his shoulder and rested him there. If Tama were awake, he would note that being close to Mikaboshi was an experience not unlike stepping into a large freezer. While not frigid or immediately scathingly cold, his close presence was assuredly colder than the underground night air. Looking to Kuro, Mikaboshi nodded at his request to greet the Steward if he were to encounter him first but said nothing at first. He respected the power that Kuro possessed but it took every ounce of his being not to treat the sennin as his inferior. In his time, the Ancients had subjugated any who came into their realm of influence-- including demons and devils. Demons had served as enforcers and soldiers at best, sometimes advisers to some courts that foolishly trusted them enough to put them in such a position, but none more so than the demon beasts. Considered lowly even by demonkind, the Ancients had regarded the demon beasts only a hair's breadth less insignificant than humanity and even though that underestimation of humanity had proved the downfall of most of the ancient courts Mikaboshi still felt many of the old prejudices in his make-shift heart. Closing his hand around the soul of the homeless man and causing it to disappear into his palm, Mikaboshi stretched the fingers on each of his hands causing the large claws there to turn black and melt away as if they had been false all along leaving behind blade-less leather gloves which he used to brace Tama as to not drop him.

"I will have some of my men clean this mess up." Explained the ancient, indicating the dead homeless man with a gesture of his head. In truth, he intended to let the natural denizens of the caverns take care of the corpse for him. There were plenty of hungry creatures that dwelt in the shadows of the underground city that would be more than happy for such a banquet and they would certainly ask less questions than a squad of shinobi. Mikaboshi did not particularly favor having to explain to Sousuke that he had taken a living soul from a dying man, after all Sousuke did not look fondly upon Mikaboshi's less wholesome indulgences.

Moving to the end of the alleyway, Mikaboshi casually slapped the dead man's corpse aside with his boot causing it to crumple against the wall. He had not struck it with contempt or callousness but rather complete indifference. From the way he had harshly shuffled it and then continued moving without a thought, it was clear that he cared nothing for his death, thinking no more of his corpse than he would a dirty coat or a bag of trash. Kneeling down, Mikaboshi set Tama down against the far wall of alleyway and then stood back up to his full height before looking back over his shoulder to Kuro.

"Good bye, Kuro." Mikaboshi said, effectively dismissing the sennin with his farewell statement. Looking back to Tama, Mikaboshi stopped and sighed before looking back towards Kuro once more and in a forced, monotone voice; "Have a good evening."

At least if Kuro told Sousuke about his indiscretion, Kuro could not say that he had been impolite-- something that Sousuke might have been equally annoyed with, given his strange fascinations.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro nodded as Mikaboshi actually kicked the denizen's body aside. Perhaps the heartless has a heart after all but the demonbeat inside him told him it was most certainly not the case.

"Good bye, Kuro." Mikaboshi said, effectively dismissing the sennin with his farewell statement. Looking back to Tama, Mikaboshi stopped and sighed before looking back towards Kuro once more and in a forced, monotone voice; "Have a good evening."

Kuro had to hold his inner self back once again, what was it about Mikaboshi that instinctively made him want to cause him to lose face in some way. Remembering through genetic memory exactly how Hyakujuuonouu was struck down he realized Mikaboshi was something akin to the Ancient Shinigami Okibi, a righteous force of power that felt superior to all things. Yes there were reasons to dislike Mikaboshi but Kuro would not play into those emotions for he knew that Mikaboshi could be trusted to his word and that was all Kuro needed to know or understand to hold Mikaboshi as an equal.

Kuro waved in a friendly manner as he replied "Though it needs not be said, a safe evening to you as well and may the Gods grant you all you need.

Kuro left as swiftly as he had arrived leaping over some homes back to the main walkways lit by bright sun crystals and softer glow stones. Already his mind was on how to help make Suna safer for itself.

Topic Left...

 

[Toraono Michino]

The cold ground and brick wall against his body was the first sensations that Tama felt along with the distinguished feeling that something colder had held onto him but was drifting away. His right eye had dried shut with blood leaving only his left eye to be opened showing the amber colored iris it had always been. The beaten child took a hold of his surroundings and found himself still within the dismal place he had passed out in. His head throbbed like tribal drums and a distinctive weak impression remained on his face from the results of his sudden savage thrashing. He laid there like a rag doll for a moment as he collected together the will to move when that collected will gathered enough to allow for his wits to work and noticed the creature before him.

Tama’s one lone eye slowly followed the path up the thing’s fine clothing to rest upon the golden eyes with red flecks. By all purposes the creature looked to be the part of a normal human but something inside the boy’s gut told him otherwise; natural survival instincts his mother would say. Yet still there was no sign of the demon beast that had saved his life so he could only assume that Kuro had left Tama in the care of this well dressed stranger. After a few seconds of staring at the man before him the boy had finally managed to gather enough will to force himself into a painful standing position that favored his right side more than the broken left.

The Ryuu continued to keep a wary eye on Mikaboshi as his gut told him to, only briefly darting away to stare down at the golden box and parcel that still laid in the middle of the alley. His heart told him that he needed those things but his worn out form didn't want to budge and it had taken everything in his power to simply stand up before the man.
“My work,” the boy croaked, “I…need it…”

His throat was dry and his lips felt bruised and cracked. It had taken more will than he had intended to use to simply speak five words and he felt his body starting to slide back down the brick wall, braced up only by his right hand now as it slapped against the stone. Tama’s world was spinning again and for a second he had to close his only working eye once more. For some reason the boy cared not if the man before him had intended to kill him after sending away the Sennin or save him by whatever strange method he intended to use, he just wished Mikaboshi would do it so that this body that shocked his mind in pain every time he breathed would cease to do so.

 

[Mikaboshi]

At first, Mikaboshi simply stared down at the boy that stood before him. Beaten and destroyed, Tama managed to work himself to his feet despite his injuries and stand before Mikaboshi in stark defiance of his staggering pain. Following the glance of Tama's eyes to the golden box some distance behind him, Mikaboshi gestured with his right hand and the shadows of the alleyway seemed to leap at his motion, reaching up out of the darkness with spectral claws and lifting the box through the air to the Hand's waiting grip just as he had called the soul of the homeless man through the air to his hand. Examining it for a moment, Mikaboshi let his hand holding the box fall to the side as he lifted his left hand and summoned forth the recently collected disembodied soul to his fingertips. No longer pinned beneath physical talons but still very much still restrained by something more... metaphysical, the soul still struggled against what some piece of it had to have known was coming eventually.

"You value your work. Even now at Death's door, you can think of nothing else. But what you need isn't this box..." Mikaboshi lifted the golden box for emphasis as he spoke quickly, though his voice did not lose the almost metallic rasp that it always had to it even with the swiftness of his words; "... what you require is the power to protect it. And it just so happens, I can give you that should you be willing to pay the price for it."

With little regard for the well-being of the soul that he held in his hand, Mikaboshi crushed the light of the soul in a fist dispersing the energy freely around his hand. No longer did the energy strain against an invisible force, rather it pulsed around Mikaboshi's leather bound hand not unlike a large cluster soap bubbles as he reached forward and offered it to Tama. It's light freely illuminated the dark corner of the alleyway but even in the presence of the recycled soul's light Mikaboshi's darkness did not seem diminished. In fact, it seemed as if the light from the soul energy only served to highly the darkest parts of Mikaboshi's features as if a glimpse of his true face that existed beneath the terrible amalgamation of flesh and steel that his body was. His golden eyes boring into Tama, Mikaboshi clearly awaited the young man's answer as he held forth the energy of the shattered soul to him. Tama may not have truly understood the underworkings of what he was being offered, but the free energy of the soul was the pure power of creation. Simply coming into contact with it in his state would energize his body and accelerate his natural healing processes to superhuman levels for a few seconds. More than enough to speed through the healing of his injuries. It would hurt, of course. But with any purchase of power there came a price to be paid and pain was the least of the prices tagged to this particular pact.

"What say you, boy?"

 

[Toraono Michino]

Akin to making a pact with the Devil himself, Mikaboshi offered Tama a shortcut in a manner of speaking, and while the ideals of what this entailed were left open in the air the boy couldn’t help but notice the throbbing in the core of his body. There was an entity, almost, inside him begging for the lights that sparkled before the young inventor as his one good eye watched them and the dark creature beyond. Power was before him and the itch to have it within his immediate grasp caused the hunger that was well known to his father too well up from his blood. Perhaps the Ryuu’s were to be cursed with this fate as it seemed that the sole heir to the clan was destined to walk down a road far darker than the one his father had traveled.

The boy’s right hand reached up slowly, tentatively, towards the glowing bubbles of light and as he did the golden amber color of his right eye slowly started to fade into the background of a vivid green. His pupil slowly started to slender itself from a circular form to one resembling a reptile’s.
It was said that in the history of the Ryuu Clan a man was created from the six dragon deities to come to the world and save it from the onslaught of the Demonic Horde. This man wielded the powers of the six dragons, each representing a respective element, and crushed the Horde’s powers base, winning the world over for the dragon-kind. Through him they ruled the humans as he wielded the indestructible Blade of Ash to bring about a ‘peace’ in the world. It was never said if the man ever had children with the humans or with other Ancients like himself but there is rumor that his bloodline did exist within the mortal realm long after those times were gone.

One thing the legends did say, though, was that his eyes were a piercing green color with reptilian slits.

“I accept,” Tama spoke as his right hand grasped one of the bubbles. His mind could only think of the way he had been utterly destroyed by that bum, how even though he was a child had a far greater reaching of mind – why shouldn’t he have the power to back it up?

 

[Mikaboshi]

As Tama's fingertips brushed against the ephemeral light of the soul energy, Mikaboshi loosed his will over it and allowed it to cling to residual physical energy that flowed through Tama's body. Shifting away from Mikaboshi's palm and quickly encompassing Tama's hand, the raw soul energy rapidly flowed through Tama's body finding injury and blemish where-ever it could and repairing it at great speed. The process was hard on his body, causing a great deal of pain as each various injury was healed at an accelerated pace in the wake of the rushing soul energy. Being the power of creation, soul energy represented one of the single most powerful forces in the mortal world and in many cases was the reason that he had eventually become taboo in many cultures to utilize it in such a manner. There were ethical concerns to some level as every concentration of soul energy which had ever been present in a body possessed the living imprint of the being or creature that it had been a part of previous to being excised. In this case, the soul that had been destroyed for it's energy had possessed the imprint of Tama's attacker; his memories, his likes and dislikes, his tendencies and all of his hopes and dreams had been part of that soul which had been destroyed so easily in the hand of Mikaboshi. Ultimately speaking, weak humans possessed weak souls which made for easy gathering of such energy though the energy was limited in it's application. Had Mikaboshi possessed a soul like that of the Steward-Kazekage in his hand, he would very unlikely have been able to simply smash it and consume the power it possessed the way he did.

"What you are experiencing is the rush of assimilating soul energy. When you do so, it enters your body and reinforces it where it can by destroying imperfections. It... optimizes you, you could say. But be wary of it's cost. The more often you undergo such optimization, the more your human body will come to depend on it. Many men before you have fallen prey to becoming addicted to soul energy and have lost their minds for their weakness. They become beasts in the process, monsters worth even less consideration than humans." Mikaboshi explained. For a creature such as himself, addiction to soul energy wasn't so much a concern. He already depended on living souls to survive and with his semi-synthetic body he gained very little from assimilating the soul energy rather than consuming the living soul. "For that and the fact it requires the death of another human being, such an act is considered a crime by many. It would behoove you to avoid discussing this or anything else I teach you with anyone else. While I am protected from such persecution by the Steward-Kazekage, the same cannot be said for you."

Examining Tama as the process of assimilation took place, Mikaboshi took care to note any changes that came to the youth's eyes as it had happened before. The ancient was not an expert on the ninja clans of humanity, he long considered many of their techniques pedestrian at best, but he knew enough to recognize the markings of a doujutsu technique. He had familiarized himself with the Masashi Clan and the Order of the White Flame that operated in the Wind Country as soon as he had become aware of them following his release from the Black Blade as they seemed the most credible threat to his continued survival. They were crusaders of sorts that worshiped the memory of Primus the One King as the personification of man-kind's manifest destiny. They used various powers and techniques to root out and destroy anything they viewed as evil on a regular basis and were tireless in their on-going battle against the forces of darkness. The Hand himself had already run afoul of them once or twice but those crusaders had not lived to the tell the tale of the encounter. The Masashi, which led the Order of the White Flame, were specialists which wielded a technique that could transform their eyes into a special form which heightened their perception to inhuman levels and rendered them capable of several other supernatural powers as well. Doujutsu had immediately intrigued Mikaboshi as they struck him as a hold-over from being descended from an ancient as they ancients had commonly possessed such powers themselves so when he had seen Tama's eye change it had grasped the Hand's imagination as to what potential the young man might have. With the healing assimilation coming to a close, Mikaboshi lifted and then released the golden box which was once again taken by shadowy spectral hands and held out to Tama for him to take when he was prepared to do so before crossing his arms across his chest.

"Now, do you know who I am?"

 

[Toraono Michino]

“You have entered the Twilight Zone, beyond this world strange things are known. Use the key, unlock the door, see what your fate might have in store...
“Come explore your dreams' creation, enter this world of imagination...”

The boy felt the rush of energy enter his body and attune to the pulse of his own soul. The feeling at first was exhilarating, a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced in the short twelve years of life he had lived in this world. It was like his body was being filled up with light, touching each and every last one of his senses – taste, smell, hearing, touch, sight, and even that elusive sixth sense – a glorious power of the ancients awakening in his very body. A spark of energy erupted from around his body as his entire being began to glow that strange light the soul had sparkled. In the most painful manor he felt his should relocate itself, the cuts and broken bones mend back together as if they had never existed in the first place, and the clarity of mind he had held returning as the sensation ripped his mouth open in a silent scream. His body jerked upwards once causing all but the toes of his shoes to leave the ground before the soul had finished its work on his body – but it still wasn’t over.

Inside his mind’s eye he could see the man who had dared to raise a hand to him and his life. He saw a small boy with a loving family and a promising future as he excelled in the academy. Tama watched and learned from the techniques that the man had on how to properly control the chakra coil in his body to work reflexively to augment his movements as he became the head of the class. The man had been such a promising student but near the end of his academy days, having spent nearly three years learning everything the masters of his time could teach, he fell in with the wrong crowd. At thirteen he had found himself the taste for alcohol, gambling his allowance, and prowling the darker corners of Suna with a pack of boys all at least four years older than himself.
The young inventor watched as the teenager earned his place in the gang by using his unique control of chakra to beat the life out of a fellow student and the banishment from the academy just days away from his Genin Exam. The man’s life began to tumble down a dark tunnel as his family grew to hate him, then finally disowned the teenager all together. His resentment was felt by Tama as he continued to prowl along with the gang and raise havoc all across Suna as he fought with them against the system and against other larger gangs that played around in the darker parts of the underground.
He lived this hateful life of alcohol and violence, picking up odd jobs when he could and stealing to pay for the rest of his habits before it all came crashing to a halt when the ANBU had finally had enough of his little gang. The bum had not been there at the base when the military had laid utter waste to their hideout; instead he was on a curb somewhere outside a bar drunk as a man of his caliber could be. The guilt of his comrades dying without him had haunted him so much that he stopped working and just simply stayed to living in the darker parts of Suna, away from the public where anyone foolish enough to travel to would be his victims. The victims had been so few, a woman, a few men, a child here and there, but it had been enough to let him live like a leech on society until this fateful day when he encountered Tama and picked his final target.

An explosion of force erupted from around Tama as he dropped down to the ground on his knees, catching himself from a complete fall with both of his hands. The boy held his uninjured hands up to his face unbelieving of what had just transpired as he turned them over to see not a single mark. Carefully he opened the right eye to feel that it was uninjured and saw out of both of them with a clarity he had not had before, felt his body hold a strength it had not before, and his soul a power it had only dreamed of. The thing inside of Tama rushed into his body leaving a slight glow about his body and a hunger for more. Wary of the words the ancient before him had spoken the youth squashed it’s want down into the recesses of his soul wanting to have no part of becoming less than a creature worthy of the highest respect.
“This power…<i></i>,” Tama spoke as he looked up into his master’s golden eyes, “This experience…it’s so much more than I had expected. I cannot say I know exactly what you are, but I can say that you are not like any mortal that walks this world. You are something far…grander. I know things now, experiences that were not mine and knowledge of a man who had lived his life…I know how to work the coil inside of my body like he could…<i></i>”

Tama couldn’t wait to experiment with this newfound power, and already had some new ideas as to how he could use this power as he reached out with a perfect hand to take back his invention. The idea for ninjutsu, a part of shinobi powers he had never considered before, opened up with his newfound control over the fuel for that magic. There was also something be looked into those eyes of his as he looked up at his new tutor and saw the very power that radiated naturally from around him. The eyes were not normal by any means, and in fact the amber color had completely vanished away from his iris in both eyes, though they still differed in color. The right eye held a deep ocean blue to it and the pupil continued to stay round unlike his left eye; a mystery still to be solved in his lineage.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"Another danger of taking in the soul energy of others. Take care to never let those memories that you steal enshroud your own." Mikaboshi commented as Tama responded to his question about identity. He seemed quite pleased with the results of his actions and not a hint of remorse had passed through him as he marveled at the effects of the soul assimilation. That was well, thought Mikaboshi. It would not do for any student of his to bear too much attachment to the humans with which they shared a partial bloodline. To stand by Mikaboshi's side, they needed to see human beings through his eyes as the chattel that they were. Men and women fell into two categories: those that could defend themselves adequately and those that could not. The former were useful tools and sometimes allies such as Kuro and Sousuke. The latter were simply resources to be collected and spent as one might do with firewood. "I am Mikaboshi, Hand of the Steward-Kazekage. Know that I was old when your kind was speaking it's first words and that I have long since run out of patience for the weak-willed and the slow to learn."

Mikaboshi turned and let his arms fall to his sides as he slowly began to walk away from where Tama was at the end of the alleyway. He had seen what he'd come to see; the exposure to the soul energy had indeed awakened something inhuman within Tama's soul. When the pulse of awakening power had gone out from Tama's body, Mikaboshi had gotten a sense of the type of being that he was dealing with and he could say with certainty that he was not dealing with a half-demon in the same way that Kuro was. At least, not any sort of demon-- and he had seen many in his years --that he was familiar with. That left still a laundry list of other types of beings that Tama might be descended from but there was plenty of time for further observation as it seemed at the very least Tama wanted more. He had experienced first hand what a taste of soul energy could give him and that was more than enough to hook most men into service to some level. Mikaboshi had recruited some of his most useful local contacts that way and kept them in check by threatening to cut off any new supply of power whenever they refused a demand from him. In that way, he had some things in common with some of the local drug peddlers excepting course that he mostly used his influence for the gain of the Steel Throne.

"Make no mistake. While you walk with me, you walk with Death itself. If you disobey or betray me, I will kill and eat you without hesitation. You will find your path with me will not be rife with comfort or warmth but at the end of it you will have a sort of power that the rest of human-kind is incapable of." The ancient explained at length, his softly spoken rasp easily heard by Tama even though he was slowly progressing the other direction towards the mouth of the alleyway. "True power."

 

[Toraono Michino]

The boy was awed when the creature gave him his name and title for in all honesty the child had been in this village for no more than a month and already he had gained such a powerful alley to mentor him. He straightened himself up a bit and smoothed out the worn out clothes before giving a formal bow, at least by human standards, and reciting his own name,
“I am Ryuu Tama…last heir to the nomadic Ryuu Clan, son of the Last Chief<i></i>.” The boy recited formally the namesake and lineage as he had been taught by his mother on their travels through the world. Very few times had he actually used it but this seemed like a good time if any, though he wondered if a creature of such age and power even cared to know the name of his own disciple. He would probably be simply called “boy” for quite awhile.

As Mikaboshi started to walk away the boy decided it was within his best interest to follow, stopping briefly only to bend down and grab the black parcel he had carried his golden box in along with the graphs and charts for any editing he would of done to the box had it not been a success in working; which it had to an extent. He wasn’t too sure exactly how the table had launched out when the man grabbed it but his quick thinking mind felt it probably had something to do with the bum using chakra to catch the box when it was thrown at him, causing a catalyst that activated the engine inside to work the table out. On that note the speed that the table expanded itself was remarkable, but probably too fast, adding a danger in using it that would have to be fixed.
Tama’s mind was moving, constantly thinking of his next step in the creation of his inventions. Even when he passed by the corpse of the man who’s soul he absorbed the boy didn’t even give it a second glance – just as well, fore even though the boy showed no emotions in the absorption of the man’s soul there would be a slight pang of guilt later when he had time to research on that front. Tama was still a simple twelve year old though he contained the working mind of an adult far beyond that age.

“I thank you for the opportunity to gain such power, master, but I would have to question the method in which the soul assimilation is done to further augment my ability to absorb a soul. I’m to theorize for you it holds no pain to assimilate at all which leaves me to ask if that because you’re a completely different entity or because you’ve done it for so long? On that note is there a way to do this and make optional to view the soul’s imprinted memories<i></i>?”

The boy was of a inquisitive mind and he could only hope his new master was excepting of that nature within Tama.

 

[Mikaboshi]

((Sorry for the delay, I've had a couple of rough days at work knocking the energy out of me so right now my posts are lamesauce.))

"Yes." Responded Mikaboshi, vaguely answering all three of Tama's questions at once. Those who were experienced with the wielding of souls could handle them without entangling their consciousness with that of their victim but Tama was some distance away from the spiritual dexterity which would be required for that. While Mikaboshi was capable of shutting out the memories of his victims, he did not need to. The way he assimilated souls was different than Tama's. His kind were the hawks to humanity's field mice, they were born to hunt and consume mortal souls. "The task of assimilating the soul is the easy part. First you must reap the soul and the difficulty of such a task can vary. The wretch you absorbed was a weak man, one without convictions or hope. Powerful souls can be much harder to control and even tougher to destroy."

Mikaboshi did not say so but he reflected on that note as it had been that fact which had saved his existence he had fallen before Fuujin. Though he knew that his imprisonment was an ironic fate forced upon him by the Ancient of the Sun and Sky, he knew it was also because Fuujin had lacked the power to remove and then outright destroy Mikaboshi's presence. If he shattered Mikaboshi's core being, his soul for lack of a better term for immortal creatures like him did not have true souls in the way that mortals did, there existed the chance that whatever remained could escape and be reincarnated. While that may never ultimately yield anything more than an inconvenience the great ancient being, Fuujin had not wished to take the chance that some day the revenge of Mikaboshi could come back to haunt him so he had gone the safe route of sealing knowing that Mikaboshi could never unseal himself under his own power. He would require the hand of a mortal to set him free... which he had secured. That thought always warmed the frigid depths of Mikaboshi's being. He wondered if Fuujin knew that he walked the world once more... but he prayed he did not. He wished to revel in the moment of surprise when he sprung his revenge upon Fuujin.

"And it is something that I will teach you, eventually. But for now, go home and rest." Mikaboshi told him, giving him a dismissing wave of his hand. "I will contact you soon. Until then, continue attending your academy classes if only to keep up appearances. Speak of no-one on the topic of your new knowledge."

 

[Toraono Michino]

The boy’s mind absorbed the single answered followed by the slightly longer instructions as he was finally told to return to his normal way of life. Of course Tama wasn’t sure if he could ever returned to being ‘normal’ ever again but he would attempt to try it. For one thing he would easily be able to hide how he had suddenly gained these powers but actually hiding his true powerful nature would be next to impossible if he wished to freely experiment as he intended. There was also the manor of his human pride that wished him to at least show that he held power that would be recognized as a symbol of Sunagakure rather than continuing to be seen as ‘the outsider’. With a curt nod and then a proper bow as manners dictated towards his master the boy turned left towards the upper parts of the city when the duo exited the alley.

Things raced through the child’s mind as he quickly walked back towards his home. For one he had to guess what the hell he was. It started to cross his mind that he wasn’t normal by any means and as he continued that track of thinking in remember what he had been told about his heritage. He knew the Ryuu Clan’s history inside and out but nothing about it suggested that he could be some messiah reborn to save it from the ruins of history. There was the story of the Dragon Savoir Ryuu that was a man created by the Seven before the God Wars split them and that he was the original owner of the Ash Blade, however his bloodline never went into clan itself; in fact the clan wasn’t even created until eons after his existence. The Ryuu Clan was a group of nomadic people that very rarely had any relation to one another, so the truth of his blood had to come from either his father or mother’s seemingly mysterious past. Now that he thought about it all he had ever been told about either one of them was after they joined the clan. Where did his father learn how to control his great powers? Where did his mother learn her arts of mysticism? There would be much he was going to be asking of his mother in the next few days…

[topic left]

[OOC: I understand about the work kicking butt thing, trust me, I work in the medical field. Shoot me a PM when you want to RP again sir!]

 

[Mikaboshi]

Watching Tama go, Mikaboshi turned his attention to the reason that he had instructed his apprentice to leave. So caught up with his attentions on Tama, the Hand had failed to notice immediately that another presence had joined them and was watching him even now as he observed Tama leave the scene. It was a presence that he was familiar with; the shadowing eyes of the ANBU were upon him once more. The ANBU Sennin, a woman by the name of Miyamoto Hotaru, believed Mikaboshi to be at the heart of a string of recent murders which had involved the evisceration of civilians on the street late at night. She was right, to some level. Mikaboshi was not the one laying hands upon the civilians themselves, rather that was one of the criminals that he had conscripted into his service since his freedom, but he had always been near-by enough to harvest the fading souls of the real killer's victims. In a way, he had created a system for himself to feed without having to ever be personally involved with the killings beyond encouraging the killer to be more active. And even then, he had not done so as Mikaboshi the Hand to prevent himself from being pointed to when the killer was finally caught.

But still, Hotaru had latched on to the idea that Mikaboshi was behind the killings and often times had him relentlessly followed by various levels of ANBU. Commonly Mikaboshi would catch them and set them back to their mistress in failure along with a taunting message for her. Even he had to admit that he liked her to some degree. For a human being, Hotaru was a ruthless hunter. Knowing the limits of how much she could press into his privacy without it becoming illegal provided her lack of evidence, she dogged him relenetlessly with ANBU tails and plants designed to steal whatever information they could from him. Normally, Mikaboshi was much more careful than he had been tonight. In Sand, the list of people that knew of Mikaboshi's true nature was very slim-- limited to the Council of Sand, Sousuke and now Tama. Most others simply believed Mikaboshi was just a very weird man that enjoyed masks a bit too much. Wrapping himself in shadows, Mikaboshi faded from view for a moment and then appeared on a ledge overlooking the alleyway. Someone had been here, if they weren't this moment, and had witnessed Mikaboshi feed the soul energy from the dying man to Tama. Kuro had seen him take it but Kuro also had been the person who'd put the homeless man in such a condition to begin with. If asked, Kuro would not lie about assaulting the man-- that was just the sort of person Kuro was --but he was unlikely to report that he had killed a man in the street rather than arresting him.

"Mikaboshi." Came a cool voice from behind him, one that the Hand immediately recognized as that of Hotaru. She had come in person? Was it her that had observed him working the soul magic on Tama? If so, that could be problematic. It was one thing that Mikaboshi was a creature that subsisted off of the souls of the dead. That was his nature and simply wasn't something that he could change even if he wanted to. But... it was entirely another for him to be creating another like himself by energizing Tama the way he had. Mikaboshi's mind immediately raced with the possible outcomes of Hotaru bringing this information to the attention of the Council. Sousuke would not approve, naturally. And it was possible they could convince Sousuke to attempt to bind him back into the Black Blade which would ruin everything.

"Ah, director. What brings you out on such a night?" Mikaboshi asked, his voice non-chalant as he did. It was still possible that she was simply out on a patrol and had followed in the wake of the person that she'd originally assigned to watch him. It was unlikely but why spoon feed her information that she might not yet have? There could still be time to track down the person that had observed him and extract the information from him.

"You know why I'm here. You're hurting people, Mikaboshi. I've always known it but I could never prove it." She told him, her arms crossed across her chest. Standing a bit taller than Mikaboshi and assuredly more muscular than him as she relied on her physique for her strength rather than supernatural enchantment the way Mikaboshi did, to most others Hotaru was an imposing figure. Tall and fit, the ANBU Sennin was an accomplished swordswoman as well as a powerful Ninjutsu expert. Her purpose plainly stated, Mikaboshi narrowed his eyes behind his mask as he considered his next move. "Surrender yourself to me or force me to drop you. Either way, it ends tonight. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"Boldly said, director." Mikaboshi responded as Hotaru's hands moved to rest on the hilt of the straight-bladed sword she wore at her waist. Mikaboshi was not a true swordsman-- not trained in any of the human sword styles, that was-- but he knew that the move was one of preparation. She moved her hands closer to the sword hilt to lower the amount of time it would take her to draw it when she chose to. "But can you deliver on that? Here? We're likely to cause a fair amount of destruction with our battle and it would be absolutely tragic if innocent human lives were lost in the process."

Mikaboshi had her there. This wasn't a Council sanctioned arrest and they both knew it. If it were, Hotaru wouldn't be here alone. At the very least, she would have other ANBU with her and they would be out in the open to convince him to surrender to lessen the liklihood that someone could get seriously hurt in the battle. That meant she was deciding to take this on herself and put a stop to him without the permission from the Steward-Kazekage. Battling here in the Sietch would mean many innocents could get caught up in the fight and even more so it would reveal the fact that she had assaulted an agent of the council without evidence to back it up. The ANBU sennin was the spy master of the village but that did not give them the license to simply attack anyone in the street they wished.

"But as much as I enjoy you and your minions stalkign me on a regular basis, I agree that this little dance between us should end tonight. I have no intention of surrendering and you apparently have no intention of letting me go. So might I suggest we adjoun to someplace more allowing of what you have in mind?" The proposition was simple: find another place to fight. It wasn't what he wanted per se, he wasn't the one that minded if human lives were lost in the process and in fact they might even be useful shields for him if things went sideways. But he did wish to see this finished. He had been planning for some time to kill Hotaru and take her mantle but the specifics of how had eluded him until now. He knew that there were none in the ANBU corps currently which would be able to immediately succeed her and it would be easy to imply to Sousuke that he would gain from putting his assistant as the head of the ANBU.

Unfortunately, rather than agree to Mikaboshi's proposition to go elsewhere to fight-- likely knowing that he would simply use the opportunity to ambush her while they transitioned --Hotaru's hands grasped the hilt of her sword and with a bright flash of the straight-edged sword's blade she rapidly crossed the distance between them and horizontally directed a scything cut directed at Mikaboshi's mid-section. For a normal fighter, the slash would be too high to duck and much too high to effectively block without a drawn weapon but for Mikaboshi whose hands were not the hands of a mortal man, a strike like that was next to useless. Raising his right hand which convulsed slightly as it was covered in black ink-like shadows, Mikaboshi stopped Hotaru's blade with the now re-formed steel of glinting black talons. Closing his talons around the blade and holding it where it was, Mikaboshi brought his masked face close to the featureless ANBU mask that Hotaru wore.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Mikaboshi whispered, his raspy voice low and husky as he spoke with a hint of laughter. "That you would simply cut me down like one of your kind? You are sheep to me, director. I do not fear your blade any more than I would a stiff breeze."

Through the eye-slits of her mask, Mikaboshi could see Hotaru narrow her own eyes in anger at his words as she jerked at her blade and found that the slim body of Mikaboshi held much more strength than it seemed like it would. Thin and frail-looking, the enhanced flesh and steel of the body that Sousuke had made for him belied a preternatural strength level that was comparable to most human strong-men despite it's appearance. Bringing his left hand up and extending his index finger, Mikaboshi pointed it directly at Hotaru's face as a twinkle of purple light appeared at the apex of his finger. Still focused on attempting to free her blade from Mikaboshi's grasp, Hotaru did not make a move to prevent his hand's movement knowing that if she focused on anything but keeping her grip on her blade then Mikaboshi would immediately wrench it from her hand and keep it from her. The small point of light at Mikaboshi's fingertip signalled that he was bringing to bear one of his spiritual attacks that he had become known for. Not trained in traditional shinobi techniques, Mikaboshi relied on his own form of powerful sorcery to conjure effects which rarely required him to do more than simply gesture and focus his will. Even now his chakra focused itself at the point of his fingertip ready for whatever technique he required it for.

"Good bye, ANBU director Miyamoto Hotaru."

Knowing this was coming from the moment that he'd grabbed her sword, Hotaru shifted her footing at the last moment and ducked underneath the gathering power of Mikaboshi's technique while releasing her grip on her sword entirely and slamming Mikaboshi's chest with both of her open palms. As her palms struck his chest, Hotaru blasted out a bubble of chakra which distrupted the flow of energy into Mikaboshi's attack causing the purple light to warble for a moment and then disappear as he was thrown from the ledge where he'd been standing and into open air. Falling backwards, Mikaboshi projected out a swirl of energy to orient himself facing the wall of the opposite building as he fell into the alleway as he brought Hotaru's straight-edged sword around in his left hand and stabbed it into the wall allowing himself to dull his momentum. The horrible noise of enhanced blade slashing into rock filled they alleway as Mikaboshi dragged the keen edge of Hotaru's blade down with him for a few moments before releasing his grip on the hilt of the sword and soundlessly dropped to the ground in a crouch.

He would have no respite however as Hotaru immediately came catapaulting after him, a douse of flame erupting from her lips down towards Mikaboshi as she fell causing Mikaboshi to erect an emergency shield to deflect the flames, opening himself up to the physical assault which came immediately following her flawless landing. Landing two swift jabs to his lower stomach to stun the Hand, Hotaru then continued striking as she stood up landing three more rapid blows to Mikaboshi's exposed chest before delivering a heel kick to his ribs sending him bouncing against the wall. In every sense of the word, Hotaru was living up to her reputation as a brutal fighter but Mikaboshi had not known she was so skilled without a blade. He knew of her swordsmanship-- it was almost legendary in the city --and her powerful flame techniques as well as her precise chakra control. As he lay battered on the ground, he wondered just how many people knew about Hotaru's brutal unarmed skills.

"I don't understand why you hate us so much, Mikaboshi." Hotaru explained, lifting her hand upwards. Mikaboshi could feel her energy reaching up as well, calling to the hilt of her sword which was stabbed into the wall of the adjacent building. The sword rattled where it was impaled for a moment before drawing itself and spinning down to where Hotaru waited for it whom caught it without having to even put eyes on the blade. In her hand, the straight sword glowed a bright blue that pierced the darkness of the alleyway but as the soul light had earlier seemed to serve only to deepen the darkness that surrounded Mikaboshi as she advanced on him with the sword at the ready. "But we are not as weak as you think we are. If only you could see that we could put aside this and fight for the good of the village. Either way as I said this ends tonight. As of now, you hurt no more of my people."

Mikaboshi was not a living being in the exact sense and his body did not possess the same blood that others did but within it pumped a supply of slick vicous black good which served to energized his body. Like a living man, he needed that goo to survive and as he scooted backwards away from the advancing Hotaru he could feel several trickles of it leaking from being blasted against the wall by her kick. Grunting, Mikaboshi rolled backwards away from Hotaru and managed to wobbly leap to his feet just quickly enough to intercept the incoming blade from Hotaru which he knocked away with his transformed hand with the sound of ringing metal. But not to be dissuaded, Hotaru immediately advanced again with another stroke of her sword forcing Mikaboshi backwards even further as he deflected another blow. He knew that his back was quickly approaching the back wall of the alley and as soon as he reached it he would be at Hotaru's mercy as he would have no room to maneuver any longer. As she came in for her next swipe, Mikaboshi grabbed at her wrist with his untransformed hand and pulled jerked her towards him, opening her up to a stabbing motion from his talons. At this close range, she had little room to prevent Mikaboshi from impaling her on his claws but with her free hand she pointed her palm at the left wall beside them and belted out another blast of force knocking Mikaboshi off of his balance but not entirely causing him to miss.

Feeling his claws sink into the flesh of her right shoulder, Mikaboshi dug his talons in and flung her over his shoulder into the wall behind him with a loud smack. For a moment, the dust simply settled between the two as Hotaru lay face-down and unmoving at the back of the alleyway with her sword still gripped in her right hand. Sucking in breath after breath, Mikaboshi found himself earnestly surprised with how intense the battle had been for such a short engagement.

"You're right, of course. Not all humans are weak scum." Mikaboshi said aloud, talking to Hotaru's unconscious form while he brushed himself off. He still felt the oil of his body leaking from some of the lighter wounds on his body and he had to say it was not a sensation that he particularly cared for. "You being a weak race is not a why I hate you. I hate you because you don't deserve what you have. Your kind is in every way inferior to mine and it is you who have inherited the world. But I will change that, soon enough."

"Not... if I have anything to say about... it." Came a weak reply from Hotaru who then began to slowly get to her feet using her blade to steady herself. The actual stabbing had not done much damage but being flung into the wall at this range by a being of Mikaboshi's strength was not only painful but incredibly disorientating. Lost in his venting, Mikaboshi had given Hotaru the short period of time she'd needed to recover. "I won't let you."

"Let me? How can you stop me?" Sneered Mikaboshi as he flicked some of Hotaru's blood from his claws with a shake of his wrist. "I underestimated you at first but that is a mistake that I will not make again."

Without response, Hotaru who was now on her feet lunged forward with her blade in a vertical over-head slash at Mikaboshi whom turned to the side with the intention to avoid the attack entirely and then counter. But as he side-stepped, Mikaboshi realized his mistake as the physical sword was not the whole threat behind Hotaru's attack. Chakra-reinforced wind swept through the alleway as her sword passed in front of him, sweeping into Mikaboshi and slashing him as if he were being assaulted by the steel of her sword. His coat and parts of the leather cuirass coming apart with slashes, Mikaboshi raised his arms to protect his face causing gouges to erupt in his forearms as he was flung down the alley by the force of Hotaru's attack. Rolling as he was pushed off of his feet, Mikaboshi came to a stopping kneel and immediately raised his hands to release a gout of flame to stop the inevitable follow-up charge from Hotaru. Grey-black flames spat from his cupped palms and roared as they filled the alley but Hotaru had anticipated such an obvious defensive attack and as soon as Mikaboshi had raised his hands she had lept into the air and kicked herself off the wall of the alleyway to project herself into the air and over the flames. Sheathing her sword at her belt as she fell, Hotaru came down right in front of a very surprised Mikaboshi and with a loud shout which expressed the focused energy of her slash she drew her sword and slashed in a single fluid motion which bit into Mikaboshi's right side and threw him from the alley and into the store-front across the street.

"You talk about your kind and your pride. But that doesn't mean a damn thing to me, Mikaboshi. All that matters to me is that you're a threat to my people and that makes you my enemy." She announced to the silent street, her eyes fixed on the exploded glass window of the store that she had sent Mikaboshi through with her battoujutsu.

Yes. I am your enemy.

Mikaboshi's response was completely different from how Hotaru had ever seen him. The rasp was gone, replaced by a... voice for lack of a better word that filled her mind and hurt her head. From the darkness of the store front, an item came spinning out and reflexively Hotaru brought her blade up to protect herself but the parcel hit the ground just before her and skidded to a skittering stop at her feet: Mikaboshi's mask. Narrowing her eyes at the shadows, Hotaru readied herself for whatever would come next. She had never seen Mikaboshi without his mask on. In fact, to her knowledge nobody had ever seen him without his mask on. The mask was as good as his face for many as it was nearly impossible to impersonate the Hand due to the unnerving chill that followed him where-ever he went.

I am your enemy. And now, I am angry.

Raising her bright sword as more words pressed on her mind like a crippling headache, Hotaru suddenly felt the temperature around her drop and realized Mikaboshi was standing behind her. Spinning to bring her sword across and slash at him, Hotaru stopped as she came face to face with the Hand's true visage. He looked entirely human and under any other circumstances she might have considered him attractive but there was something in his eyes which terrified her to a primal level. Hotaru was a hardened soldier. A veteran of foreign campaigns and an assassin of the highest order, she had seen and done things which would set the sanity of others aflame to simply have witnessed much less having had to perform. But as she looked into the blazing gold of Mikaboshi's eyes, every piece of Hotaru's being wanted to turn on the spot and flee from him as if she had come face to face with Zangyaku himself. Lifting his hand, Mikaboshi slowly wrapped his untransformed fingers around Hotaru's throat and lifted her into the air all the while continuing to stare into her crystal blue eyes through the mask that covered her face. He could not see her expression but he could feel the terror that rippled through her being as his persence filled her body, sapping it of it's energy. Bringing her masked face closer to his, Mikaboshi began to whisper his final message to her.

Was there ever any doubt that things would end this way between us, Hotaru? Did you think maybe by appealing to a possible sense of empathy you might convince me to join arms with you? Let me make this perfectly clear before I eat you. It is your kind that started this war with mine. And when I tried to make allies of you, you betrayed me. Know that the destruction I will rain down upon your worthless race is nothing short of just retribution."

Lifting her once more away from his face, Mikaboshi furrowed his brow as he began to draw the living soul out of Hotaru's body. It was a struggle, like pulling a large rock up an incline by a rope, but it was slowly coming free. He could feel it as the bright light of her sword began to dim and what little struggling she did against his grasp on her neck began to cease. Caught in the moment, Mikaboshi no longer cared if he did this in the open. It needed to be done, if only to restore the wound to his damaged pride caused by the punishment he had been suffering at the hands of the ANBU Sennin. A few of the longest moments Hotaru had ever experienced passed and soon the light of her soul was beginning to show from behind the mask and Mikaboshi grinned in anticipation. He had thought long hours about this kill and was enjoying it much more than even he imagined he might. But so caught up in the moment, Mikaboshi once more failed to notice that another presence had joined them. Holding Hotaru high still, Mikaboshi only broke from his trance-like focus on removing her soul when a trio of kunai appeared in the exposed area on his chest where his armor had been torn away by Hotaru's battoujutsu. Looking down, it took him a moment to register that he had been assaulted at range then looking up to where the kunai would have come from Mikaboshi was forced to release Hotaru and jump back to avoid the assault from another masked ANBU. This must have been the agent that Hotaru had placed on spying on him. Growling in anger and preparing to begin assaulting the senses of this one as he had Hotaru, Mikaboshi felt his vision swim as he fell to a single knee.

"Poisoned knives. I hope you choke on them, monster." Hissed the newcomer to the fight as he quickly gathered Hotaru into his arms and disappeared into the night.

Focusing his anger, Mikaboshi cut through the haze that the poisoned kunai had inflicted upon him and knocked the knives from his exposed chest. From those holes began to pour the black oil which functioned as his blood and Mikaboshi raised his hand to them to focus his energy on healing the wounds. His oil was not blood, in the same way that his body was not human, but Sousuke had designed it in such a manner that it functioned enough like a human body that he was vulnerable still to things like poison. Slowly walking over to where his mask lay on the ground, Mikaboshi reached down with his right hand which transformed back to it's normal state as he picked up the metal and wood mask, proceeding to place it back on his face. Cooling the boiling anger he felt at losing his opportunity to kill Hotaru, Mikaboshi smothered it with the knowledge that she had still given him what he wanted. She had assaulted him, meaning he was justified in any actions taken to defend himself. And given the level of physical and psychological injury visited upon her, Hotaru would need a great deal of time to recover. He would simply report in to Sousuke and tell the Steward that she had tried to kill him in order to weaken Sousuke's power for an assassination plot.

Allowing the shadows to wrap around his form as he held energy over the holes in his chest keeping his oil from leaking any further, Mikaboshi growled once more time unconsciously. He had underestimated Hotaru a number of times and paid for it each time. But even as they fought, she only battled him for the good of their city. Not because he had tried to kill her on several occasions. Not because he had insulted her. But because he was a threat to the people she protected. That simply did not fit with his view of humanity as selfish wretches and it angered him even more. Within moments of the shadows coming, soon they covered and consumed him as his form sank into the ground with intention to travel to the Kazekage Tower and speak with Sousuke before the fool that had saved Hotaru from him could reach the Steward. Then he would set about the finding the ANBU which had come to her aid and having them for dinner.

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