Rain of Brass Petals

[Kiriyama Sadako]

The room was dark, quiet, hidden away from the eyes and ears of the staff and patients of the Tower. Kasa's secret sanctuary, a place that he had only been to once before, a terrible secret filled with unimaginable horrors. He had come to finally shut it all down when he noticed the telltale signs of entry, the presence that someone else had been through there, the realization that he knew who it could possibly. And when he tried to find more clues as to the intruder's identity he came upon something that he didn't understand...at least not at first. Inside of a large hollowed out rock deep within the lab he would find that peculiar sight, a whirlpool of water and shimmering lights, eyes peering deep into it as he tried to remember why they looked so familiar.

Ah yes...souls.

He caught his first glimpse of them when he had met the 'old man', the venerable lich that had set him on the path that he now walked. Why would this be here? What use could Kasa have with such a thing? And why would....footsteps approached. Steps would take him backwards into the shadows, slowing his breath as he waited to see who could it be, an excited chill running down his spine.

 

[Kokomo]

Yamazaki Household. 4am.​

And if your heart stops beating, I'll be here wondering: Did you get what you deserve? The ending of your life! And if you get to heaven I'll be here waiting, babe, Did you get what you deserve? The end. And if your life won't wait, Then your heart can't take this Have you heard the news that you're dead? No one ever had much nice to say! I think they never liked you anyway! Take me from the hospital bed. Wouldn't it be grand? It ain't exactly what you planned. And wouldn't it be great If we were dead?

There were shadows on the floor from the massive artificial light in the sky that the cave-sunans called the 'moon'. It danced and shimmered onto the wooden floor, and spilled onto the milky white feet of Itami. She stood, as always, in front of a mirror. This time, she was leaning forward, tracing a line across her forehead with a dainty finger. A wrinkle. Heavens above, and all that was holy! Her face resembled pure shock and horror as she traced over it again and again, as though to hope it would go away. As though her finger would erase any sign of it--but it didn't happen. Oh no. It stayed.

Itami turned quickly, throwing open the doors of her very large wardrobe, and ripping out loose clothes and throwing them on as she pulled her black hair from the collar of the jacket and moved purposefully down the stairs, not caring about the noise she made as her black boots trotted down the steps and the front door slammed. Oh no, she was far to furious.

Suna Hospital Tower. 4:45am.​

Storming through the lobby, flashing her hospital ID, Itami moved into her office, shutting the door and locking it as she shoved things off of the desk furiously. Screaming like a madman. Flailing around as she whipped books and pens of of the desk. Ripping open drawers and throwing the papers all over, tearing them apart. She threw a fit like a starving tiger: clawing, roaring, and damaging things.

"Ugly!" She screeched as she ripped the trigger-book from the shelf, and shoved the secret-door aside. "It's ugly!!" She screamed again as the door shut behind her and she galloped down the steps into the lobby of the secret lair. Ripping open another door, that had steps that led even further down into the catacombs. The entire room from here one was pure black rock, and was lit by blue-flamed torches lined among the walls. But once at the bottom of the staircase, the touches would cease, and the only light in the main room would be from the glowing pool of souls.

"Why is this open?" Her voice hissed as she moved over to the pool, leaning over it as her pale skin turned an icy blue as the reflection danced across her face. The souls moaned and groaned, crying and their whispers could be heard, but not understood. "Hello, sweethearts~" Her voice cooed as she stuck her finger in the pool, swirling it around a bit.

"Mommy has a bit of a problem--you know what that means~" Her voice cooed again, sugary sweet as her hand reached in and pulled out a single strand. The souls, once removed from the pool, looked like slime or jelly. Long, gooey, blue, glowing strands that would whisper and moan in pain.

Her head tipped back, and her mouth opened as she swallowed the slime whole, her body being surrounded by the haunting dark blue light as she sucked in a deep breath, and before Iori's eyes, would become even more flawless. Her skin whiter, softer, silkier. Her eyes rounded, and brighter (now glowing the same blue.). Nails longer, harder. Lips suppler, bosom perkier, and stomach/legs more toned and slender.

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

Iori remained silent as Itami entered the room, his suspicions confirmed as the woman screeched in a voice that was very unbecoming of her. She was so very different from the woman he knew, her tone so cruelly mocking as she bent over that pool of souls. And the bodies that stacked up around the room, husks who have been drained of their souls, were they her handiwork too? Anyone else would be horrified but Iori...he was intrigued. A smile spread on his lips as he watched her devour a soul, her body becoming even more beautiful than it had before. "I don't remember this room when Kasa gave me the guided tour. Did he make it or did you add it yourself?" He would ask as he stepped out of the shadows, making his way towards the woman. "And this...I wondered why your body stopped decomposing, and I suppose this is the answer." There was no anger, no horror in his voice. In fact, his tone was almost an amused one, smiling softly as he looked towards the woman, a finger trailing over the edge of the well.

 

[Kokomo]

A voice sent chills down her spine. Her skin crawling as her slit-pupils turned viciously to the man who approached her. She took a step to the side, looking almost animalistic as she stayed in a bowed position, her eyes never leaving him. The way he spoke to her, he mused about it like it was nothing. Almost like he was down there doing the same thing.

Kasa had given him a tour. When? Why? Itami leaned forward a bit on her toes to watch his finger trace around her prize-catches. "What are you doing down here?" Her voice had a hissing sound to it, and the voices of some demonic creature and her own overlapped each other to make an alien like sound. Her voice mimicking a spirit of some sort as she licked her lips slowly. There was a sincere and loving tone to the pitch that belonged to Itami, but the overlapping demon hissed and slurred. "You must be lost..." She said, taking a step forward to put her hands on the rim of the pool, directly across from Iori. "I made this place." Her eyes darted over him, the hissing slithering through the air.

"It keeps me alive."

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

"I just came by to check the place out and happened to stumble across this..." he would say, smiling innocently as he watched the woman from across the pool. This was certainly a different Itami than the one he knew...or was she the real Itami? Even when encased inside a beautiful shell it wouldn't change the person who she was, one who had lived a life full of tragedy and loss, one that had been twisted by pain and anger. The man kept his cool, something that he had always been good at, eyes meeting her own demonic slits. "These souls...you must have gotten them yourself...well at least you had the decency to put the bodies out of the way." He would chuckle softly as he leaned towards her, the blue light accenting his handsome features, eyes shining with interest. "Itami...where did you get the ability to manipulate souls like this?"

 

[Kokomo]

What did it mean to be the 'real you'. Was it who you were or who you are? Itami started off nïave, young, innocent, longing, and sweet. But when the world turned on her, even after her "dreams" were accomplished she split down the middle. She kept up this wall of beauty and benevolent behavior for the crowd, but when she was alone, her ears and brain rang out. What was the 'real' side of a madman? Was it the corrupted side that caused homocide? Or was it the side they want and strive to be, but fail to do so?

Who was Kanashimi Itami?

"S-S-Souls...." Her hands raised to squeeze the sides of her head as she shook her head violently a few times. Her eyes wild and her behavior insane. "I can hear them..." Her alien voice echoed as her eyes turned to look up at him. "Anger...envy..." Iori leaned towards her over the pool, "They taught me." She finally said, her glowing eyes locking with his. Her breathing came out harsh and heavy like a wildebeest. "I just got so upset..." Her voice hissed as her hands flexed. "That when I picked her up, and sucked in a breath to scream--it came right out." She was describing Sung.

Actually, Itami had very much so liked Sung. She was a little girl Kasa had tortured that had been drugged many many times. Itami had been planning to save her, but she ended up killing her--the first kill. Her rage pent up dark chakra that stole the soul right from her body. "And I fixed it from there--"

"You know too much." Her voice hissed and her nostrils flared. "You'll snitch.....they all snitch...." Her eyes flickered down for a moment then back up. "Snitches...you're all snitches!"

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

Iori would become quiet as she explained herself, his smile slowly fading as he pondered her words. She was clearly imbalanced, but even that didn't cause him much visible concern. No...he wanted to help her, wanted to make her smile, and it hurt him to see her lose herself like that. "And who will I snitch to?" he would ask as he slowly began to move around the pool, keeping his eyes glued to hers. "You're acting like you're the only person with a secret, Itami. You watched me come back from the dead and fly across the room to cut down Tessu, and you don't think that was odd?" He would stop before her, taking a deep breath as he looked over her features. Even now she was beautiful, so beautiful, losing his train of thought for a moment as he got lost in those demonic eyes. "Such a magnificent creature you are. Who knew that the power of a soul could make you even more beautiful. Itami...you never stop surprising me..." he would whisper, a hand moving to caress her cheek if she let him.

 

[Kokomo]

Those eyes shimmered. Those demonic crystal blue eyes as her lips pressed into a firm line. "It's your job to protect..." Her voice snorted, her lips hissing on each letter. "Protect the family... you'll tell until they chase me out... I know... He did it... He did!" She jabbed her finger upwards as she spoke, referring to Ikkadan as she grit her teeth together and her eyes flashed wildly.

Iori began to move around the pool, her body almost instantly cooling down. Her arm dropped to her side, as her back unarched and the hairs on the back of her neck laid down. "Odd..." She mimicked, nodding a few times as he closed in, eyeing her even more perfected body. "Secrets that don't kill....yours... yours bring life..." Her hand moved to point to his chest where he had been impaled.

His hand raised, caressing her cheek--and as though on command, as his hand touched her cheek, the flicker of her eyes died down. Her pupils dilating to normal size, and her emerald color coming back. Her skin turning back to the milky white as the blue glow disappeared and slowly her body leaned forward into his. Her arms wrapping around his waist as her eyes closed and her face leaned against his shoulder.

"If you say it's going to be alright...I'll follow you..." She whispered, her voice back to normal as her body laid against his.

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

Iori would wrap his arms around the woman, holding her close as her head leaned against his shoulder. "Life's never going to be perfect, but at least we can at least make each other happy." He would say with a smile as he looked down at her, a hand moving to tilt her face up towards his. "And I'll fight to protect you...I'll keep you safe..." he would whisper before he leaned in to kiss her tenderly, a hand running through her hair before he pulled away from her. "You've been getting these souls from the children Kasa kept here...and there's so many bodies..." he would say as he looked around the room, mentally counting the corpses therein. "How frequently have you been feeding, Itami? It's a miraculous ability you have, but I hope it's not leading you towards an addiction..." He would say, a tone of concern in his voice as he looked down at his beloved. Beloved. Even now, surrounded by such a macabre scene, piles of corpses all around and a well full of suffering souls, all he could think about was the woman in his arms. His concern didn't lie in her victims, in her habits, but on her well being. He was caring about her beyond just her beauty, or that she was his creation, it was a feeling that he had not had in such a long time...and it actually scared him. The man who had become death, disturbed by this warmth that was spreading in his heart as he held the woman.

 

[Kokomo]

Protection. There it was again. Just like that first morning waking up together, he held her in his arms and leaned her into him. His strong arms closing her out from the world and protecting her from life's harmful raises. Promising to keep her happy. Promising to keep her safe. Promising to protect her. Even in the world that had turned against her, he was there. He stayed by her side, even after she had sunk to the bottom of the heap, and reaped on souls for her own selfish mannerisms--he was there. His hand tipping her chin up as he kissed her sweetly, her eyes closing for the brief moment.

But it would not last forever. he would pull away from her, his eyes wandering into the dark shadows. Addiction? Of course it was an addiction! She was craving these more than a vampire for blood, a demon for flesh, a smoker for nicotine--she craved it more than those addictions combined! Itami pulled from his arms to move across the room in that luscious stride to the wall where a pile of bodies lay. Grabbing on of them effortlessly, she flipped the young girl over, looking at her face. She was small, and so obviously a child from her size--but her hair was gray and thin. Her flesh wrinkled and her eyes all white and rolled back. Itami stared at her for a good while in silence. Those soulless eyes staring into hers before salty tears welled up in Itami's eyes.

Addiction.

She didn't want to hurt them. She didn't want to kill them. They were children, for God's sake! "Four times..." She whispered, her voice shaking violently as her body trembled and she moved to caress the corpse, "Four times...a day..." Her voice cracked before her head tipped down into the dead bodies' shoulder. And there, before Iori's eyes, the heartless monster shook and tremble. The demonic predator holding the lifeless body to her bosom...

And sobbed.

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

Iori would go silent as the woman confessed to her addiction, cradling the body of one of her victims as she cried. He would give her a moment to let it all out before he moved towards her, a hand reaching for hers. "Itami..." he would whisper, seeking to pull her up to her feet and back into his arms. "We'll need to work on that. Four times a day is too much, you'll get caught or worse...you'll run out!" he would say with a smile as he ran his hand through her hair, kissing the top of her head. Slowly he would bring her back towards the pool of souls, looking back into those bright depths. "There is only one other person I know that could create something like this. It's amazing..." He would say as fingers dipped into the pool, retrieving a writhing soul from the water and holding it above Itami like a treat. He would watch in great interest as he lowered it, wanting to see her devour the hapless spirit.

 

[Kokomo]

The woman cried and cried. Overwhelming tears--and had he checked--he would notice they were the same sickly blue color as the souls and what her eyes had been. Itami had so much excess chakra she leaked it from her eyes. She was consuming too much, and she couldn't stop. The body slowly rolled from her arms as Iori pulled her to her feet, the tears slowing to a stop as he joked with her--but it wasn't really a joke. It was scary. What happens when there are no longer dying or sick children to consume? Four times a day? At that rate, she'd be forced to be a kidnapper. After that, she'd be forced to be a murderer of adults, too.

His hand pulled her back, her eyes watching him slowly and dropping down to the pool as his fingers dipped in to pull one out. Her eyes watched the soul--slimy and oozing. It flexed like an ameba, and he moved it above her head. Those eyes flickered again, a bright blue attempting to shimmer out from behind the green as he lowered it.

Her jaw would unhinged--almost sickly--and a long, snake-like tongue would wrap around it and drag it back down into her mouth. It was jagged movements, as though she was afraid it would snatch it cruelly away from it. Swallowing it as her body morphed to perfect itself even more (amazing how much damage on a body could be done in only a handful of minutes). Her eyes slitting and her irises and body glowing the mimicked color.

 

[Kiriyama Sadako]

Iori would watch in wonder as the woman began to devour the soul, becoming almost animal like in her movements. There was something primal in the way she ate it, a predator enjoying it's well deserved meal. Others would be disgusted but for the med-nin his interest would only rise, holding closely to the woman. He would look into those strange, slitted eyes, a hand running through her hair. "Don't worry...one day we'll find an alternative for you." He would say softly as he leaned down to plant a kiss on her forehead. "You won't have to eat souls...and you'll have eternal beauty...someday...I'll make that happen." He would promise her before tilting her chin upwards, lips moving down to kiss her once more, slowly deepening it as he expressed his affection for the woman, one that accepted the horrors that she had committed, one that accepted her exactly as how she was.

 

[Kokomo]

Kindness and Compassion. A strange set of emotions she was unfamiliar with. Itami--or so he thought was Itami--gave a bitter smile to him as he kissed her forehead. Her taloned hands gripping onto his back as she hugged him, her sharp teeth pulling out of the way as he kissed her. A snake-like tongue slithering within her mouth as she smiled maliciously through the kiss. Deep within her something was stirring. Something bad. The more she consumed, the worse it got. Worse and worse. Further and Further.

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