Requiem

[Michi]

"You hoped I was one of your kind, perhaps even of your own court."

Kazuki announced mirroring her thoughts. She let out a sigh as her thoughts were made audible. It was a disappointment truly.

"Perhaps they did, but from what I have gathered, Ancients may have been the cause for humanity's revolt. You enslaved them. It was only natural a revolt was bound to happen sooner or later. You can argue an ant has no quarrel with a boot, but after being stomped a few times, more and more ants will come until the boot was swarmed. Did any Ancient ever consider peaceful coexistence with humankind? Before they came to be you did not need souls for sustenance, so it was your fault for becoming addicted to them. Not that I can blame you for such addiction thought."

"Oh I understand, but it does not make it any less painful." Shiori admitted. She tried to live among humans, but she could not live a lie. She could not maintain this fallacy in front of those who mattered. She smiled sadly, "I lived among humans for twenty-five years," Shiori added. She was not the only one of course. "The Deep Court also tried," she continued. "But they were betrayed, their Lord was trapped in the Black Blade," she explained referring to the fate of Mikaboshi, an Ancient at one time sympathetic to humanity's plight. "But..." She added, "I never truly shared his sentiments." Yes, there was a time when he was a good 'man' at least according to human standards until their paranoia led to betrayal. Humanity and Ancient alike was far from innocent. "Humans were a resource, addiction or no... We really considered them to be nothing more than beasts of the land. Have you ever concerned yourself with the ethical ramifications of eating a chicken?" She asked "Would it stop you?"

"Do I think I am an Ancient? I have no idea. I was born Human, of that I am quite certain. My desire and need for souls was not born with me. We Senju go through a transformation. Some change little, others change deeply. I was one of those that was modified intensively. Perhaps we are all freaks, but even in that freak show, I am unique. No one has ever showed the same hunger as I do, not ever. I have the same soul hunger as you."

Kazuki declared. She did not know anything ab out a human thirsting for souls only the terrible consequence her kind suffered when they feasted on their own. "A taboo among my kind," she echoed as she shook her head. "The Lord of the Wild Hunt... he ate his own kind, much like you. His hunger insatiable." Her mind wandered in search of the right words as her hands grabbed onto the arms of the chair. "He eventually went mad. We had to kill him," Shiori warned. She looked at him with her eyes, her ears were listening to him the entire time. "I hope that a human consuming as an Ancient will do well by you, I tried to feed a human child once..." She was referring to her son of course, the random stray picked up in the hospital prior to her own abduction. He was sickly, in a perpetual state of near-death. She planned on feeding him a store of souls, risking the same madness in exchange for power that her brother suffered and 'died' for. "I hope you do not lose your grasp."

"A human should not be going around sucking other human's souls. I have abilities that you have, undoubtedly, felt by now. Feats that I am almost certain your kind as shown before. I can safely say I am not entirely human anymore. Perhaps I am an Ancient that was dormant and was awoken during my change. Perhaps I am what people would call a Half breed and it explains why I share your abilities but not your limitations. Or mayhaps I am the result of what could have happen if Ancients were able to coexist with Humanity."

He agreed. Shiori had no answers. Truly, it was a sin from their collective past that Ancients laid with humans, for the most part out of curiosity but for some it was an attempt to create demigods. "It is possible, and if it is the case... I... am sorry," she announced ominously. Protracted lifespans in exchange for souls. They suffered from a duality of nature, their Ancient side tugging as well as their humanity. "If so, you will have a lot of blood on your hands in your long... long life." Her words were grim but so would his fate. If he was one part human and one part Ancient, their conscience would be plagued by the desires of the hunt, the earth, the sky, the fire but they would have the fortitude to deny themselves this ever-burning need. They hungered for souls like any of them did, but she wondered if these half-breeds desired them even more. That was how they lived so long she hypothesized.

"You are the only living Ancient I know, you alone may have the answers I seek. That is why I am here. To learn what I really am."

"I wish I had more answers. I wish you were simply a full-blooded Ancient. You would simply bleed your element. You would be obligated to maintain your limit. But as a ...partial, this far into one's lineage would be unprecedented for me to identify." She admitted. He had the traits of several great Ancients Courts but it was doubtful that he shared a lineage with them all. Such would be madness, not in the possibility but madness for him. So many contradictory natures in a single vessel would fracture even the strongest of minds. "You remind me of my court. You remind me of the Deep Court. You remind me of the Wild Hunt."

 

[Senju Kazuki]

"Have you ever concerned yourself with the ethical ramifications of eating a chicken?" Shiori asked. "I suppose not." Kazuki admitted. Yes, he had never considered the fact that Ancients saw them as cattle. Then again, this age old rivalry had only been brought to his attention rather recently. And boy he was neck deep already. "I guess that if chickens were to gain human-like intelligence they would revolt against us just like humans did against Ancients. It certainly is a possibility, albeit a bit farfetched." he noted as he shrugged his shoulders. "At least now I think I understand your plight a little better. Piece by piece the puzzle becomes complete." the Silvery Haired Man concluded. The greater his understand of this entire mess, the better his chances of overcoming the obstacles.

"A taboo among my kind" Suna stated. "And one with mine as well. In fact, my very presence was an affront to the good people of Tsuchigakure and their strict religion." the White Wolf declared. Shiori then explained that her race, once had one just like the Overlord, and eventually it had to be put down due to going mad. The former Sennin also learned that she had, once, tried to feed a human soul to a human child. He immediately shook his head. "The result would have been an abomination, even in your eyes. That or he would have torn apart completely, and a simple husk would be all that remained from him." Reaper spoke. The only reason he could sustain and survive such feeding process was due to the change he suffered. Without that he would have died a long time ago. "I won't." Kazuki calmly stated. Just for added emphasis he declared that while making eye to eye contact with the Queen of the Desert. If he were to lose his grasp, it would mean he was not worthy of having such power, he was not strong enough, and if he was not strong enough he would not be a Senju anymore.

"If so, you will have a lot of blood on your hands in your long... long life." was Gaea's answer to the Overlord's half-breed theory. He stared at his hands, imagining the gallons of blood that had drenched them. In his relative short time on the world, the White Wolf had killed his fair count of men, women, beasts and other unnamed things. More than his fair share even. He also knew he was fated to increase his kill count for as long as he lived, but he was at peace with that thought. It was who he was. There was no point in denying what he was, because there was no chance of changing into something different. He was bound to his fate and only death brought some salvation. However, he was not interested in dying. "Don't be. Although this was not the life I have chosen for me, I have accepted my fate and I am at peace with it. If I have to kill, I will kill. I cannot, and I will not deny my nature just like you can't deny yours. Will I be feared? Undoubtedly. Will some people hate me? Indeed they will and some already do. But that won't deviate me from my path, because I cannot." the Silvery Haired Man remarked.

Things were now getting interesting again. Although Suna had no answers to Reaper's lineage questions, she was raising some curious particularities. "If not you, who then? Besides Mikaboshi is there any other living Ancient right now? One that I could talk with, without having my head separated from my shoulders? You're the only one I have." the former Sennin stated as he leaned forward on his chair. If possible, his gaze had become slightly more intense. "Why do I remind you of those three courts and not others? What differentiates one court of another?" he inquired. She had singled out three, but why those three? What did he had that reminded Suna of them? He had to know and at the same time, he could learn more about the Ancients.

"As you have previously noted, I came with a offer." Kazuki declared as he got up and offered his back to her. His hands were behind his back and he gazed the seemingly endless desert. "I am certain you need allies. You can't win this war alone. You cannot trust in humanity, ergo, your companions must come from a different race. The only one you could attempt to trust would be your own. You want to find another Ancients and I am going to help you, but in return you will help me find out what I truly am.". The Overlord finished his offer and he was now facing her again. This was a very foolish offer, one that could end up with humanity's utter defeat. It was not a small price to pay to satiate his curiosity. But she also had no way to know if his proposal was entirely truthful. In fact, his intention was to covertly sabotage her along the way.

[MFT - 849]

 

[Michi]

"If not you, who then? Besides Mikaboshi is there any other living Ancient right now? One that I could talk with, without having my head separated from my shoulders? You're the only one I have."</B><i></i>

"There is nobody else. At least anybody left," Shiori admitted from her seat. They were an endangered species when she took her own life and as such the dying breed apparently never revived. "I am alone, but I am not the last," she shrugged as she added "Mikaboshi." She let out a sigh "...is troubled. But I can hardly blame his ire, his wrath or his voracious hunger. He is the last of my kind and a prisoner of the Steward," she explained. It did not appear that way of course, there were no bars or physical chains that bound him but rather the will and the word of the Steward. Her small hand clenched into a fist as she continued "and the Steward was taking my brother's power as if they were his own. It is offensive and cruel,"<i></i> she growled. Perhaps this would provide insight into the spat the Senju had witnessed not long before in the Steward's hospital room. <B>"And he does with no without regret or hesitation. It is only a matter of time before it would also be me." And that was what sparked this coming war. It came from a pool of festering resentment - years of rejection and offense, an inability to accept what she was and of course the loss of the one thing she claimed as her, a son.

"Why do I remind you of those three courts and not others? What differentiates one court of another?"

Her hands ran through a series of hand seals and she made something simple and small. A globe of water as she robbed the already arid space of what little moisture it still possessed using a series of human handseals. She tossed the small softball sized ball of water at the possible hybrid. She had no intent of actually hitting him from where she sat as she lazily lobbed the 'ball' into the air so that it would land next to Kazuki. It would, unless his aura of chill, shadow and gloom as a falsehood freeze the small orb upon its descent despite the desert heat. "You share Mikaboshi's frigid aura," she admitted "and for all I know you might even possess his limit." Being a member of the shadow court, they derived their energies from the shadows and the darkness, but the shadows never lied yet often deceived. Shadows were everywhere, even in the height of the day they lingered underfoot or in some dark corner, insidious and persistent. "Then again, if your line is so far removed for all I know you might be free to choose." The greatest pain of an Ancient was also their limit. It was their nature and their burden. The one thing that they could not consciously deny.

She paused a moment as she looked him over once again. "Your hunger," she started. "You eat your own kind as if it is in your nature. A nature you just now admitted," Shiori continued. She was both describing the limit and the compulsion of the Court of the Wild Hunt. "Orochi, the Lord of the Wild Hunt was literally an incarnation of our primal impulse to hunt. To eat. Not necessarily conquer, but rather devour. The need to survive. But sadly, it was a court that in and of itself truly could not function because the alpha predator was a shared role between all of us Ancients. That was something that worked against Orochi's impulse and he committed the only taboo among our kind and he consumed a lesser Ancient and in doing so took with him their power. As an Ancient we never take energies from our own, rather we give our energies to the inert and in doing so breathe life into our own element. The moniker 'mother' is not merely for show," she added with a sly grin. "He ate his children, he ate our children, he ate their children..." she explained. "And with each kill he gained their strength, soon he would have consumed us all, but it was in his nature to hunt. Never in his nature to hunt his own. That was the strangest part, the fact that he gained the ability to choose. He did so by consuming the hearts of other Ancients. Ancients who could choose in places where he was deficient." She would know this first hand, although she had not yet dared to partake as a primal sense of fear continued still within her own being. "You hunger for your own kind, but unless you were fed your own you would never know of this addiction unless it was a core part of your nature," she concluded, her mind briefly elsewhere as she listened to the faint beating of Orochi's heart.

"The war," she announced onto the third Court. "My limit is that I cannot intervene in a battle unless directly attacked. Why do you think I declared war before him? Why I did not simply try to kill Sousuke in his sleep. I had to announce a battle and name myself as a participant. I would not have been able to enter a fray in progress." The limit seemed nonsensical because in a way it was, her limit did not extend to only battles but that was the subject of relevance here. "Man declared war on the Courts but excluded mine, until the battle was done or they made the first attack I was a spectator and nothing more," she tried to explain. "You... do not seem like the kind of... man? ...Ancient?" she shook her head having difficulty determining what to define the foreigner as. "To -- lose a war." She concluded. "With the tragic lost you then must suffer the burden of hate, the war is passed and now you could respond but you are alone." If that was indeed the case, then his pain was hers in that they shared the same tragic legacy. With limited allies and even the villains themselves dead so only their progeny would be left to suffer, there was still a game of numbers that they were both on the losing side of. How could a lone man or Ancient raise an army? How can there be hope for victory in such a hopeless situation. For her, there was a chance, at least in her mind. Time had forgotten her, at least her true self. The generations of Primus had passed away, all less one. They did not remember her weaknesses, her limitations. Even if there was an Oracle left that could recall, soon that too would be a non-issue when she too commits the same taboo as her brother and takes in the heart of a brother.

"As you have previously noted, I came with a offer."

Kazuki announced as he left his seat. "And that pose," Shiori commented outloud but mostly to herself in a barely audible whisper, in reference to the erect stance he took with his arms behind his back. He would likely not understand what she meant, but it was his choice mannerism. A pose of absolute control. A position of hubris or perhaps misplaced trust if it was merely a coincidence.

"I am certain you need allies. You can't win this war alone. You cannot trust in humanity, ergo, your companions must come from a different race. The only one you could attempt to trust would be your own. You want to find another Ancients and I am going to help you, but in return you will help me find out what I truly am."

A fascinating proposal for which Shiori placed her index finger to her chin for a moment. Her narrow arched brows lifted as she stood up behind him. Her shadow told her position well enough, she was not attempting to hide her position. "I accept your proposal Senju Kazuki. Let us shake and make this a formal deal?" She offered the possible Deep Court Ancient her hand, he would have to be rather far removed to make such a promise to her and not maintain his absolute word. However, the Deep Court was prone to trickery. He never said that he would assist her in her war, only in the discovery of those Ancients. Not in their safety either. "But may I... May I make a minor amendment?" she would ask in a saccharine tone if he did in fact extend his hand to her as she grabbed hold. "That you will ensure the safety of any Ancient you come in contact with to the best of your abilities?"

WC: 1465
MFT

 

[Senju Kazuki]

"and the Steward was taking my brother's power as if they were his own. It is offensive and cruel," Shiori noted as she explained there were only two active ancients. Herself and Sand's own ANBU Sennin. "How can you be so certain he was drawing Mikaboshi's power for his own uses? Did you see it happen? How is that even possible? And what would Sousuke benefit from doing it? And what would he gain from doing it to you?" Kazuki inquired. How could Suna be so certain of what the Steward was doing with the Deep Court Ancient? And how was he doing it? By means of the Black Blade? Thanks to the so called contract he had signed with the ANBU Sennin? It was questions on top of questions and the answers only unveiled more questions. It was madness really.

The Overlord had also questioned her about the traits of the three courts she had mentioned as possible heritage for him. First came the Lords of Shadow. To exemplify just that, Gaea summoned a watery orb that was lobbed toward the Silvery Haired Man. The closer it go to Reaper, the greater the effect of his chilly aura, and thus the orb stopped his journey midway, dropping to the desert floor and exploding into utter oblivion. And there orb met his untimely demise. Shiori then explained the core aspects of the Wild Hunt Court. How Orochi, the leader, was the incarnation of desire. How he began eating everything and with it, so his power increased. She also theorized, at least he thought so, that he was allowed choice because of all the other Ancients he had eaten. She had no way to know his ability to choose had come from eating his own kind or something else. Unless she had done what Orochi had done. Did she? "You hunger for your own kind, but unless you were fed your own you would never know of this addiction unless it was a core part of your nature," Suna stated. She was not completely right though. Reaper hungered for human souls, yes. But any soul was good for him. He preyed on his own kind because they were so numerous but he could do with lesser beings. In fact, he could probably absorb an Ancient and suffer no ill effect from such action. But then again, it was only a a theory he had. A truth and a theory she did not need to know.

And last came the Takahashi's own court. Suna explained the Earth Court were essentially neutral, unable to directly intervene on something unless called upon. "You... do not seem like the kind of... man? ...Ancient?...To -- lose a war." Shiori said. "And I am not." the former Sennin agreed "I may have lost Konohagakure but I will reclaim it and I will slay the Fire Daimyo, even if I have to do it all alone and it the last thing I ever do on this wretched world." Kazuki declared as right hand formed a fist and he punched the sidearm of his wooden chair.

"And that pose," she whispered once the Overlord gave her, his back. Despite having his back turned to Suna, the White Wolf noticed she had got up, mainly be observing her shadow. He turned around once she stated she had accepted his offer. The Silvery Haired Man heard and noticed the Mother deity had her hand extended toward him and expected a handshake. A seal of their deal in a sense. But she also wanted an amendment. "That you will ensure the safety of any Ancient you come in contact with to the best of your abilities?" she asked of him. She was sneaky, trying to ensure he would help her no matter what, when he surely had no intention of that. Luckily for him, his mind was agile as ever and he immediately tried to find a loophole around her words so as not bind himself into a situation he had no escape from. And unfortunately for her, Reaper found one. Shiori had stated contact, and contact had two interpretations. Either physical touch or in the presence of. For as long as he never physically touched or was never the true Kazuki touching them, then he was perfectly safe. "We have a deal. I will help you find other Ancients and I will ensure the safety of any I come in contact with." the former Sennin declared as he gazed her eyes. He was about to extend his own hand when he suddenly drop to his knees and clutched his head with both hands.

"Your time is almost up. I am near and I bring extinction with me. You are doomed." a a voice echoed on his mind. There was no way to tell if the Earth Ancient had any ability to hear it or not. But the painful expression on Kazuki's face was nothing but truthful. As soon as the voice stopped talking, the Overlord walked to his chair and sat down again. He did not look back at Suna nor he did release the hold on his head. "Not now, we are not prepared for this." he murmured. Realizing where he was, the White Wolf raised his head and gazed Shiori. "Nevermind what just happened. Time to find some Ancients. What are your plans about that?" he inquired. His attitude and the tone of voice bore no indication of what had just happened to him. In fact, it would seem nothing had happened at all.

 

[Michi]

"How can you be so certain he was drawing Mikaboshi's power for his own uses? Did you see it happen? How is that even possible? And what would Sousuke benefit from doing it? And what would he gain from doing it to you?"

He asked how she knew. She knew because Sousuke admitted such and she saw the lengths of Sousuke's power over Mikaboshi when a single word was more than sufficient to bring the Ancient to his knees. She furrowed her brow at the Senju as he asked these words, he saw her quarrel with the Steward in his hospital room. He saw what was the start of their war. "He tormented my brother by boasting of his new-found skill-set," she replied simply as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. She did not want to think about it, it was a fact she would have rather denied recalling. She was complicit to a level in Sousuke's crimes against her brother and how the Steward offended him so. But she was tired of being alone and she yearned for the comfort of something... anything. But there was something besides Shouki's face that woke her in the dead of night, the dread of knowing that one day she too would share her brother's fate. She was on borrowed time for now, able to live among humans and act oblivious to her nature. A nature she erroneously tried to share with the Steward in confidence as she no longer wanted to live a lie next to the one man in the world who matter to her. He rejected the notion entirely, he would rather believe that it was something done to her rather than it being her actual nature. She lied. Told him it was a figment of his. Their imagination. Deferred the conversation for another day, a day when he would be ready to know the truth although there would always be a whispering voice in the back of his mind that knew. She could have lived with that for a time, she could have lived with it if she believed he would not hurt her. But she saw his display not once, but twice. He took pride in the power he lorded over the Ancient Sennin and that was when she had to lock away her heart. "I also saw his power over Mikaboshi," she added.

Her face was painted with sadness. She actually did not want a war. She regretted the terrible things she said, but she meant most of them. She could not stand idle while he abused her brother. She could not wait dormant for when his thirst for power grew and he took her as well. "Why wouldn't he?" Shiori asked rhetorically. "I am a resource. I am a threat. I am not human and he owes me no alliance," she continued. "I have loved him his entire life, you saw it" she added in reference to the second time they met. She never hid how she felt about Sousuke but he did not even notice her when she was standing next to him. "My affections were... unrequited," she admitted as her face hardened. "But I could live with that, time is always on my side and in time he would change his mind or I would have moved on. But you should know as well as I of his mechanical... sociopathic nature." She took a deep breath. She was not calling him a murderer, rather she was describing his nature. It lacked sentiment. It lacked emotion. It was only pure, rational thought. "It always has been the most logical conclusion for him," she concluded.

Their conversion continued and a deal was about to be made when Kazuki fell to his knees. Shiori could only hear audible sound so if the voices in Kazuki's head were in fact audible then she would have heard them but if it was not, then she would not know anything beyond his expression and the changes in his heart. The fact that his pulse suggested that this was not an act. "Senju!" Shiori shouted as she learned forward "are you hurt?" He seemed to ignore her as he made his way back to the chair.

"Not now, we are not prepared for this."

Kazuki muttered. "For what?" Shiori questioned.

"Nevermind what just happened. Time to find some Ancients. What are your plans about that?"

She looked at Kazuki with suspicion. Was he communicating with Sousuke. If so, how? What had he done? Was Kazuki a consenting party? She did not know these answers. "I am going to buy myself some time," she admitted. "I will have to travel the world in search of my kind, but it will not be long before the hounds are at my heels. It will not be long before I am destroyed. I will need to make sure the Steward is deemed 'incompetent' until I can either best him in combat or I have raised an army sufficient to do so." She replied simply. She would not share the details of her plans, she did not even trust her own brother with that information considering he was under the Steward's thumb and there was no reason to believe that the foreigner was not in a similar predicament. The Senju would have no advocates here, being a stranger in a distant land from his home. She would have to be strong enough to best him as well if it came down to it.

Humanity had changed her it would seem. But as dreadful as it is to say, perhaps it was not for the better.

 

[Senju Kazuki]

"Senju!...are you hurt?" Shiori questioned as Kazuki fell to his knees. "No, I am not." he muttered back while returning to his chair. "For what?" she inquired again. And although he had just told her to forget it, the Overlord made a second call and went on to explain what had just happened to him. "Have you ever heard about the Phoenix Force?" he questioned immediately answering even if Suna had heard about it. "The Phoenix Force is a cosmic entity that governs Death's and Life's cycle. In a sense it also governs rebirth. My clan, since its inception, have been thwarting each and every attempt of this entity to destroy our planet. I do not know why we decide to took up arms against it, but I do know we did it. This being seems to have a specific appetite for our planet, something I cannot explain, even if I wanted. And a particular dislike for members of the Senju Clan. The Phoenix Force is drawing near to our planet, once again, and it occasionally makes psychic attacks against us. I hear them, but I don't who else can. Given your lack of reaction and your inquiries, I am going to assume you cannot." the White Wolf explained. "So you see. Even if Ancients will win this war against humanity, you might doomed. And the reserve is completely true as well. We are too divided, too unprepared to fight it back." he ended.

The Silvery Haired Man then listened to Suna's plans. They were logical and what he had expected her to do. "It seems we have a world to walk and see. Tis best if we start soon. Lead the way Mother Suna, you know these lands better than I will ever do." Reaper noted as he got up from his chair. Prompted by such motion, both wooden chairs slowly melted away. Their meeting was over. There was work to do. And the truth was out there.

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OC:
It is your choice if you wanna be able to hear its cries or not.

 

[Michi]

The Senju was unhurt, or so he said. He went on to explain an empyrean entity or as he called it 'force'. Something with world-destroying properties that the Senju fought against. She had never heard of this phoenix force or their quarrel with a human clan. The story seemed unlikely to her, although she did hear something strange she was not going to entertain it and feed this Sennin's delusions. "I have never heard of them," she answered truthfully. Considering her advanced age it would be a wonder if something such as this had escaped her purview but anything I possible in a world so vast. "Nor did I hear anything," she lied. "Are you sure you are all right?"

Kazuki went on to claim that the threat was all-encompassing. It seemed unlikely still to her despite his insistence. Yet still, there was much to do. Many places to do and even more people to see. Shiori nodded in agreement as their clandestine meeting adjourned. "Two weeks, she announced. That was how long she would likely be held before she was free. She would need to summon the Steward's attention, perhaps in a terrible way that left scars. His response would be violent. Her injuries substantial, but the abuses suffered would garner her the sympathies of others and perhaps she could independently make him doubt his sanity. Her window of opportunity was slim, Sousuke had threatened already to build a god-killing weapon and if he kept his word it would only be a matter of time.

"Until then,"<i></i> she bid in farewell. She was not one for the dramatic as she simply walked off.

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