Is this a Leaf shinobi thing or is this Manzo guy just blindly following orders without considering what's going on? Perhaps she should question him on his diet and anything he deemed uncomfortable to talk about. Perhaps she should ask him about the birds and the bees; she was at that age to learn about that stuff so why not? Regardless of the reason why he was ordered to do this and regardless of whether or not this was how the typical shinobi of Konoha operated, she had to say something. If she just kept telling the man that it was none of his business, she'd probably get struck by this man or even worse. Then again, it isn't surprising that living weapons would be the ones to assault the obvious victim in this scenario.
"For the last time, the Shrine doesn't want anything to do with the village. They want ME," she said as she pointed at herself. Unless SHE was the embodiment of the village, the ANBU are blowing things out of proportion. Not that anything she would say would mean anything. He didn't trust her at her word, so why would anything she say even matter? He wouldn't believe a single thing she said anyway, even if what she said was the truth. Was this an underhanded ANBU tactic to confuse Kaori or was this the squawking of an inept man trying to be intimidating with his words? Either way would be a suiting answer in Kaori's eyes. "So you want me to talk about what's happening, but you also won't believe me at my word? Does that mean that no matter what I say, you won't believe me regardless? Is that just cold-hearted or inept?" she asked rhetorically. He probably won't take that too kindly.
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the man for a moment. "If you really want to know, then sit down and get comfortable. We're going to be here for a while," she said before clearing her throat. "It all started six hundred years ago. A woman by the name of Tenkawa Sen was a priestess in a far away land. She was loved by everyone throughout the land for her auspicious mannerisms. She was kind to the sick, the elderly, the snobbish, and even the privileged. Everyone and anyone was capable of receiving her love and her blessing. Some people see her as the embodiment of everything that was good with the world," she said as she shuffled a bit on the tree, placing her hands behind her back, using it to cushion herself against the large bark-covered exterior. She adjusted her view on the man for a moment before clearing her throat.
"Aren't ANBU supposed to wear masks? What's the point of wearing a mask when people openly state they are ANBU? That's like asking a con-artist what his cons are," she simply stated before shaking her head, disregarding that thought any further before continuing the story. "Anyway, Sen's reputation was so well known that a local lord had summoned her to become his personal priestess. Finding the invitation as a great honor, she went to the capital city of that province and met with the local lord. He was a cold and sinister man that thought of just himself, leaving his people in an impoverished state. The land bore wealth, as much wealth as the provincial lord, but he seized all of the assets from the people and forced them under his iron fist. Kinda like what you're doing to me right now since the Shrine isn't after the village, just me. The provincial lord sought after Sen for her beauty and chastity."
"He invited her to his home under the guise of teaching him her teachings only for that to be a ruse. He wished to bed with Sen only for Sen to grant strict refusal of the provincial lord and she returned to her home province. The provincial lord sent out men, terrible men with terrible hounds of war, to go retrieve her. The men were swift and efficient, quickly piercing through the countryside to follow Sena. They killed no man, no woman, no elderly, nor any children. The men had 1 goal in mind and it was to capture Sena. Even after tracking her down to her home, they killed no man, no woman, no elderly, nor any children. They weren't there for a massacre, they were there specifically for the Shrine Priestess."
"The villagers heard of the men returning and held their shrine priestess captive under the guise of 'protecting her' or 'protecting their village from harm'. She knew, full well, that the men weren't there to harm the village, but to take back what the provincial lord thought belonged to him. Sena. He wanted to know more about her, the insides and out. Even with as cruel as he is, he knew that if he killed people indiscriminately, they would one day rise up to kill him. This is the reason why he sent out his hunters with the restriction of 'no killing' in the first place. But the villagers that she called her family didn't believe her. They didn't believe that the provincial lord would send people out and not kill them, knowing how oppressive the provincial lord was. Regardless of her telling the villagers that the men weren't a threat to their village and only wanted her, they didn't believe her. Regardless of all of the good work she had done for the village, they still forsaken her. Due to her desire to resist giving them the reason for the chase, they, in turn decided to lock her up for the time being. The one that is the hero of the story became a victim in the eyes of an ignorant group," she stated.
She cleared her throat and pushed out her hips a bit to move her hands, seeing depressions of the bark imprinted into her palm, she returned to crossing her arms and leaning against the tree with her back. "Priestess Sena was held captive by the village and even if the pursuers were denied their ability to hunt for her, they remained and occupied the village. They ate, drank, and even cheered jovially with the village. They were no perceived threat but lingered as long as their target, Priestess Sena, was their captive. They didn't get rowdy nor did they harm the locals. The rule of the provincial lord was absolute and they followed it to the letter. One day, out of the many days she was captured by the land she grew to love, she was approached by a man belonging to the village. He asked her 'why won't you tell us what's going on?' only for her to respond with 'They only want me, they want no trouble for the village'. Sadly, for Sena, they still didn't believe her. The man she talked to was the leader of the village watch," she said as she pushed herself off of the tree and yawned a bit. She wasn't even remotely close to being finished with this story. The man wanted to hear the story, a story he will receive. Whether he believed it or not is entirely up to him.
"The Town Watch organized a band to attack the group of pursuers, even if they did nothing to harm them. The Town Watch was quickly dispatched by the much more powerful group and eventually, the village relented and handed Sena over to the pursuers. In her last moments in the village, she cursed the village. She grew up in this village and she grew to love the people and surroundings of this village. However, the village abandoned her and didn't take her for her word and she grew to resent the village for turning their backs on her. She wanted to keep the village protected, but all they did was grow suspicious of her and treat her like an outsider. She cursed the village once more and was taken back to the provincial capital where she was forced to bed with the provincial leader. It was that night, during a dream where she received a vision from what she could only perceive as a dragon. She told this dream to the provincial leader only for him to grow more and more engrossed in it," she said tilting her head to one side, popping her neck.
It was at this point that she didn't particularly care if the man was still listening or not. If he was a professional, he'd still be listening. He'd have clung to every single word that she was saying. He might grow hasty and either cut her off or tell her to get to the point, but that wouldn't serve the story any justice. He did, after all, want to know what's going on so telling him from the very beginning is what needed to be done. Being that the man seemed cynical to begin with, he'd perceive everything she said as a lie anyway and throw her in the slammer regardless of what was told. People are just stubborn like that; this one, in particular, most likely included. Or hell, she might not have even gotten passed her petty little insult without harming the man's ego enough for him to want to strike her. If an insult like that injured his pride to the point of violence, then he is a sad, sad man indeed.
She continued. "After discovering the contents of Sena's dream, he brought her to a dragon statue that resided within his province. The statue was hidden away in a small enclosure in the forest with a meadow surrounding the dragon statue. Sunlight struck the statue perfectly, making it look like something you'd see hanging up on a person's wall. A picturesque painting near a massive tree. The natives called this the Dragon Guardian of the Great Tree. They believed that the statue sustained the tree and the tree sustained the Dragon Statue with immense power and the ability to hold the spirit of a dragon. The provincial lord urged her to press her hand upon the statue and after doing so, the statue seemed to burst to life. Energy started to wrap around the statue and a strange aura started to spill out of the statue, speaking to the provincial lord, Sena, and the provincial lord's entourage. It spoke in a booming voice like thunder. 'Who dares to disturb my slumber? No mere mortal is capable of stirring me awake, only one with special qualities is capable of performing such a feat. A Shrine Priestess was the one that stirred me awake? That is quite peculiar. Come, Shrine Priestess, let me give you the knowledge that I have,' said the dragon to Sena," she said and with very subtle movements, she started to move her pouch behind her back, each movement appearing to look like a minor shuffling of her position. "Sena touched the statue only for the statue to begin rumbling and release a bright glowing light."
"Many months later, Sena gave birth to a child. A child born with horns and white eyes, one that was 'blessed' by the Dragon. During the time of her pregnancy, Sena had gained a large following behind the Great Dragon. She demonstrated the Dragon's spirit to the non-believers and she was the one who spoke through the Dragon to the people in her flock. So the birth of her first child seemed to have been a blessing from the Dragon. A girl born with the horns of the Dragon and with the white eyes of the Dragon. She was born as the new 'Remedy to the World'. This girl grew up and she had many siblings throughout her life. Most of these siblings saw Sena's daughter as a god figure while the others saw her as a monster born only for one purpose. This daughter of her's, named Shina, was cursed with being the next Dragon Priestess. As Sena was the originator of the Dragon Priestesses, she was exempt from the ceremony but Shina wasn't so fortunate. She bore the blessing of the Dragon," she said as she removed the ribbon from her hair to expose her thick black horns sprouting from her head. She normally wouldn't show anyone these horns out of fear of ridicule or accusations of being something other than human, but right now seemed to be the proper time to do so.
"Those born with these traits are sacrificed to the Great Dragon as a means of sating it's hunger. So if you really want to know why I'm running away from those templars, it's because I'm a Shrine Priestess; a 'Remedy to the World'. It is their belief that sacrificing me to sate the Great Dragon's hunger will cure the world from an oppressive death. Pick your end-of-the-world scenario, it doesn't matter. The people at the Shrine believe that all apocalyptic scenarios bare some truth to them, all stemming from not sating the hunger of the Great Dragon; the one what protects us all. I'm not running away from them to escape the ritual, I'm running away from them to find the truth behind the Great Dragon. And you being here is interfering with my pursuit of the truth. The Paladins aren't going to hurt your village. They won't harm the people and they won't destroy the structures. They are bound to uphold the code and order given by the one responsible for carrying out the ritual. You and your boss are just getting in my way. Now let me go," she said in a rather demanding manner. "The story I gave you should suffice, so let me go."
[MFT: 2289]
So much for the proper time to reveal the story when it was right. Thanks.
