Kaori, Gisen: One of Us: Social: Private

The sound of rain abusing the outer walls of the large castle could be heard echoing through the windows of the structure as it stood tall and proud before its' home city. The rain had been coming down all day, leaving a centimeter of water on the ground that was only prevented from getting deeper by the fact that it was falling off the edges of the bridges and other openings. The members who stayed indoors had all made sure to steer clear of the action in the middle of the dining hall, but no one had tried to stop it from unfolding. The clan of magic users had become accustome to seeing this situation on days like today. They had enjoyed having something interesting to watch as they ate, and some members had taken to making bets on who would win. 'What was the main event?' One might ask. That would be none other than the guilds' very own masked mage herself fighting against herself.

The eleven of them stood in a large circle with all the tables cleared, each equally spaced apart and all obviously armed. The clan leader was yet to approve such things, but Kaori had never met him to ask and had no knowledge of how to find him. The eleven Kaori's all slowly reached for the katana's positioned at their right hip, ten of them staring intently at the eleventh through the slits in their mask. Within seconds, the fight had unfolded and the sounds of clashing steel and cheering filled the dining hall as the eleventh Kaori began defending herself from herselves. Sparks flew and danced around her while she countered the attacks, obviously not bothering with trying to take the offensive. One of the clones had reached behind them to pull their shuriken, and then erupted into smoke with the real Kaori seeming to be in two places at once.

The cheering got louder as the first one got gone, and several members had thrown their hands up in defeat as their bets were lost. Kaori didn't particularly mind that people were betting on how quickly she'd lose to her copies, she had put a bet that she'd win and she intended on winning that too. After five minutes, Kaori was standing alone, out of breath with a massive crack in her porceline mask exposing the metallic core within. She flicked her blade and sheathed it while walking over to a group of men with tears in their eyes and held out her right hand, which soon after was weighed down by her reward.

WC: 433

Made by Riley at THQ!

The sight of an orange blur coming at her caused Kaori to tilt her head back slightly, letting the object flash past her, mere millimeters from her mask. Turning her gaze to the source of the carrot while tucking away her earnings in her tool belt, Kaori noticed two things pointing straight up. As the person was delivering her threat to a shadow clone, Kaori stoop next to her looking at her ears with wonder. "Hey are those things real?" she asked in an inquisitive tone and poked one of them. The second she felt the fur, and noticed they didn't fall right off, Kaori began gasping while releasing a sound that got higher in pitch. "No way, they are real!" she exclaimed, amazement filling her voice. Meanwhile, a proverbial sweat bubble appeared on the faces of the audience at just how dense Kaori was. She was facing a stronger opponent, who was blatantly threatening her, but she had completely missed that because of a pair of rabbit ears.

Kaori jumped, wrapping her arms around the new arrival's shoulders and pulling her to the ground where she began hugging her more. "OHMYGOSHICAN'TBELIEVETHERE'S-PEOPLEWITHANIMALEARS!!" she blurted out in an overly hyper tone, pressing the cheek of her mask against the person's cheek. One of the nearby men motioned his hand forward to try and tell her something, but paused when he saw Kaori pull herself from the person. "Can I keep you!? Oh my god I'm keeping her! Ohbutshe'sstillahumansoIcan'tkeepher-whichmeans..." Kaori's eyes grew large and she exclaimed "EEEEEEEEE!!!" while hugging the bunny lady's head again, shortly after she said in an extremely high pitched tone "We can be friends!" Afterwards, Kaori felt someone tapping their finger on the back of her head. She turned and said "Yes?" in an innocent sounding voice. The man leaned over and whispered in Kaori's ear "That's the guild master..." which was something Kaori hadn't known.

The masked ninja looked at the woman again and said "Nani?" in a soft tone that was filled with embarrassment. Kaori had never met a female clan leader. She had seen females who acted in place of clan leaders, while their husbands were out fighting with their men. She had seen females with enough strength to manipulate their clan leader. She had even seen females who were respected more than the clan leader, and by direct result were a pseudo clan leader; but she had never seen a female who actually was, one hundred percent the clan leader. After a second she realized exactly what she'd done, and immediately vanished and reappeared in front the woman. Kaori was on her knees with the forehead region of her mask firmly placed on the ground. "I'm so sorry, I hadn't known you were the leader of this clan; I meant no dishonor on you!" She announced in a humiliated tone that was slightly muffled through her mask. "I thank you for your generosity in letting me take refuge in your land, and I'll accept any punishment for having dirtied your beautiful body by touching it my lady." she followed up, her tone implying that she was truly sorry.

WC: 525

The woman had proved to be much cuter than her herbivore appearance let on to be. Kaori had a difficult time maintaining her composure with how the woman stumbled over her words repeatedly. Gisen had appeared to be someone who wasn't exactly suited to be a leader, but at the same time the fact that she was prepared to attack Kaori for them would suggest she had it in her- it just needed a reason to come out. Rather than having Kaori killed, the woman did something many clan leaders in Midi wouldn't. She asked Kaori to do three things; first, return the money she'd won. Behind Kaori, a second Kaori appeared and took the money from the original's tool belt. The original Kaori remained prostrated on the floor while the clone returned the cash. The three men had tried to protest, saying it was a fair bet, but the clone had stated "Your clan leader has displayed a distaste in gambling. Do no dishonor her with protest, but rather be honored that she ordered the refunding of your losses instead of claiming it for her own."

Gisen's second request was for Kaori to provide her with a name. It was a simple order to follow, one that Kaori had no qualms with. In a muffle tone, both muffled by her mask as well as her position, Kaori said "My name is Lareci, Kaori. The last of my clan, and someone honored to have been taken into your home." The last of Gisen's orders was one that Kaori couldn't obey; not because she didn't want to, but because Gisen would behead her afterwards. "I apologize my lady, but I cannot remove my mask. Doing so is a declaration of my intent to kill you, and everyone in this room. I wish no harm on your clan, to do so would bring shame on me after everyone here's been so kind to me. Please forgive me for this, but I refuse to remove my mask." "Kaori Lareci!" a voice came in soft through the door to the dining hall. "Kaori Lareci!" it repeated moments before a man with a missing arm stumbled through the door and laid on the ground. He was bleeding profusely from the wound where his arm was removed. Looking at the sight through starstruck eyes, Kaori couldn't imagine why this man didn't seek medical attention first. She got off the ground, took one step before vanishing and appearing next to him on her knees. "Who did this to you?" she asked in a worried tone, no longer concerned with showing respect to the clans' leader. "Out front..." he said before coughing up blood, a dark red spot appearing in the middle of his chest.

Kaori quickly removed his clothes to find the head of an arrow with a bit of the shaft stuck in him. "Solid steel arrow... Saia." she said in a hushed tone. Kaori looked at the guild mark on the man's left cheek and felt her anger increase. A dark violet aura took over Kaori's being, causing her hair to act as though she were submerged. She stood up and ordered the members of Gisen's clan to take the man to get treated before making her way to the entrance to the castle.




Once there, a set of three men were waiting in the middle of the bridge between the castle and the port. Kaori had been using her clairvoyance to read the past and confirm there wasn't anyone hiding somewhere for an assassination attempt. The whole time she was making her way over, Kaori could only think of how she'd spent all these years reducing Saia's clan to just him... and after two months of her not killing them, they had acquired more high ranking mages. Stepping out into the rain, Kaori's sense of hearing was numbed by the typhoon overhead. The constant hammering of rain against stone, and the howling of the wind made it hard for her to hear anyone from far away. The rain made it difficult to see her targets, reducing them to shadows in the distance. The smell of the sea washed over the port, and the winds blew away any scent that Kaori could pick up on. However, there was one thing that not amount of rain or wind could weaken that Kaori had... It was something that only those with experience had, and something the new-bloods would never be able to counter.

Two of the three enemies on the bridge had vanished and appeared behind Kaori, using the weather to their advantage. Kaori could tell that the third one was their leader for this mission because he didn't move; he knew it was a bad idea. As the two sent their swords through Kaori, the one they stabbed erupted into smoke. A veil of white appeared next to them, snowy silken stranges fluttering about as a silver streak graced both of their sides. Kaori straightened her posture and continued walking down the bridge, letting the two new bloods learn how to embrace death as they fell to the waterlogged floor. The thing that they never had the chance to gain, that could never be countered was instinct. It was Kaori's most powerful weapon, and helped her carve her way through over 3,000 enemies.

Kaori stopped just a few yards from the last remaining enemy with her sword already drawn. "You the one who took that guy's arm off?" she asked, using her telepathy to speak directly into his mind. He didn't speak, all he did was charge forward while drawing his sword. Kaori intercepted it and looked into the mans' past to watch him remove the mage's arm. "I see..." she said under her mask before vanishing and reappearing behind the aggressor, trying to catch him by surprise. Her blade was stopped by a wall of water moving fast enough to stop her sword, and even push her back a bit. This man was different from Saia's standard lacky... he was quiet. He didn't gloat about his power, he didn't try to talk while fighting, and he didn't waste his time with weak attacks. He was calculative, just like Kaori and likely, much stronger.

Kaori felt the change in the man's spell when he disappeared, how it slightly quivered as he focused to keep it maintained while using a second spell. It was something Kaori learned while studying at the library. Casting two spells at once is difficult, it requires focus and great deals of training to perform. Summoners have the hardest time with this, since it takes great deals of energy to bring just one being to this world. Just as the mans' blade cut through her, just as the last time she was cut, Kaori erupted into smoke. She appeared standing on the railing of the bridge before vanishing again, appearing long enough to make a small cut on the mans' arm and vanish again. Something no one, not even Kaori could overcome was an attack too fast to think to counter it. His arm cut, albeit just barely, the man felt as though Kaori had attacked his pride and glared at her. He lunged again, coating his blade in water moving at high speeds and tried to cut Kaori with it. Kaori began performing backflips, leaving a copy of herself each time her hands or feet touched the ground. The copies began charging toward the man, and Kaori vanished, appearing above him.

Kaori dropped down, bringing her sword on the attacker and letting him stop it. While he was busy stopping her sword, her could do nothing about the other ten copies of herself. These ones were nothing like her shadow clones, they could do anything they wanted and use any of Kaori's spells... including making more of themselves. They quickly multiplied to fifty Kaori's and lined the rails of the bridge, surrounding the man completely. His eyes narrowed as he realized that he was had. The Kaori clones moved as fast as the original, all vanishing, making small cuts, and vanishing again. He found himself trying to stop them, but could only handle one, sometimes two at a time. Meanwhile, the others made their own small cuts until his mask and shirt were shredded to expose a bloodied up torso and head. The clones all vanished, their lifetimes having run up. The spell Kaori used was similar to summoning, just on a smaller scale. Rather than bringing beings from other worlds, she made copies of herself. The spell was less taxing than summoning, but held the same weaknesses. They were limited in how long they can linger, and if Kaori was knocked out, they'd vanish. But she could make so many of them that she held an advantage in most situation, the issue was just their short lifespans.

The man seized the moment and shadow stepped to Kaori's face, slamming his knee into her chest and sending her flying. This time, he hit the real one and Kaori felt her heart stop beating for a moment. She hit the floor with a load, wet thud and began sliding towards the castle. This was her home now, and the closest thing she'd ever get to a clan. For that reason, everyone was in danger of being attacked, and Kaori would be damned if she lost a second family. Kaori got back to her feet, still gripping her katana in preparation for the fight ahead. In her other hand, she held her shurriken, an ancient family heirloom tht contained incredible power for something of its' size. The man pooled water around him into a sphere and fired it at Kaori with immense speed, and Kaori replied by sending her shuriken out and using the magic within it to create a barrier that made the water sphere useless. She vanished again, appearing above the man with a set of shuriken in her hand, each colored bright yellow and sparking violently. She wasn't aiming for the man, but rather the ground around him. When the shuriken hit the ground, the electricity within them was released. It flowed through the water around and all over the man, filling him and dealing more damage than it normally would have.

Landing flawlessly, Kaori summoned more shuriken between her fingers, these ones made with an ice property to them that caused the set to give off a smokey appearance. She threw them, all hitting the man and turning him to ice. Suddenly, he appeared in front her, ramming his fist into her stomach and lifting Kaori off her feet. Water expanded from his fist, exploding and sending her flying back across the bridge and erupting through the doors to the guild hall before slamming her back on the wall on the other side and spitting up blood. Sliding down the wall and slumping to the floor, it reminded her of how she'd arrived here. How Saia had beat her till she was unconscious... but that was a while ago. This time, Kaori got up and decided that she wouldn't lose this quickly. She pulled out her heavenly shuriken again, causing it to glow while gathering magic from around her. The object began spinning on her finger, gathering energy and getting larger to create a shuriken 5 feet wide. It shone brilliantly as the energy pulled into it, radiating holy energy that caused the room to light up. "Tengoku no sutā..." she said, and the star had finished taking form. White lightning took over the object and Kaori threw it while shouting "...denki komichi!"

The start blasted through the door, flying out the guild hall while leaving a trail of white lightning behind it. Water touched the blade and evaporated instantly in its' wake. The man, having not expected Kaori to use large scale magic tried to block the attack with a wall of water, but found that Kaori's spell was considerably more powerful than it should have been. While powerful, it wasn't enough to stop him. He shadow stepped into the guild hall and was immediately met with a solid wood table to the face. "YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!" Kaori shouted, holding her hand out with that same dark purple glow about her. It was her using her psychic abilities, something that didn't weigh heavy on her magic reserves but could be just as strong when used correctly. The man was shot out of the guild hall and Kaori ran after him, charging her katana with lightning magic. She vanished and attempted to remove his head upon reappearing, but he saw it coming and blocked. The man final spoke, saying "Water Tomb" and causing spouts of water to come from all directions and crash on Kaori. The water held Kaori's hands and legs in place, preventing her from moving to dodge as he place his palm flat against her mask and said "Owari desu."

A blast of water shot out, sending Kaori to the other end of the bridge and through a sign post made of brick. She stood up still, slowly, but she forced herself to her feet and raised her sword. Her blade was shaking, her vision was blurred, but she knew where her enemy was. The spell was leagues above her power, but she knew how to do it. She didn't have much magic left in her, she didn't have much to begin with. Using her heavenly barrier, heavenly star, and sword imbue had used up most of what she had. It was the only chance she'd get... Her mask had been completely shattered, revealing the steel core of it instead of the porcelain surface. "Tengoku..." she said, calling on the power within her heart. It was the purest of power Kaori had, and was even greater in strength than she herself was. It was passion, raw, unfiltered, unwavering passion for everything and everyone she held dear. White lights began rising from the ground and spinning around her, converging on her sword and filling it. When her sword was glowing with holy energy, the power filled Kaori. She coughed up more blood, the strain on her body was taking its toll right from the beginning. A pair of angelic wings sprouted from her back, but power continued entering her even after she had began changing. Her body became surrounded by the holy light till it formed a kimono of its' own. Gauntlets formed over her hands, and then armour formed over her wings. The wings began growing in size as energy continued filling her further, her passion having no known limits. 'With this, I need to end it... I can't miss, and I can't lose.' she thought as she pulled in more power from around her. Her arms and lags snapped loudly under the pressure from the magic, but the magic itself prevented her from falling to the ground.

The attacker had prepared himself for the attack, raising his sword in a defensive stance. Kaori closed her eyes and moved her sword to an offensive position, getting ready to attack. "No kogeki..." Pain coursed through her body as more blood came from her mouth, and some from her nose. Her ribs cracked, and she could feel that this was possibly the end for her life as a warrior. "KAMINARI!" she shouted, releasing the spell and causing her to erupt forward with white lighting exploding in a brilliant trail behind her and scorching the ground. For a second it looked like she missed, like she only passed the man who cut off the lamia scale mage's arm without doing any damage... A sphere of magic erupted from his position and all sound became silence, the rain had stopped as a hole had been punched in the typhoon and killed it, and the bridge itself had been destroyed where the explosion went off. From the smoking remains of the explosion the man walked out with one of his arms missing, and a massive hole burned into his body. He was using magic to stay alive and keep moving, controlling the water in his blood to keep it from spilling all over, and control his muscles to make them move.

Under Kaori's mask was a face filled with bloody tears. The blood had began to come from her tear ducts, as well as her ears. Her bones were all broken, and all she could do was lie on the ground as the residual magic faded from her. She had given everything into her final attack, but it still wasn't enough. She had used a spell that was levels above hers, even greater than the aggressor, but it wasn't enough. He was prepared to fight until nothing remained of him, and Kaori wasn't. She began wondering if this was the end for her; if after all this time, all the people she'd killed, in the end she was damned to fail her mission. She could hear his footsteps as he got closer, preparing to finish her before he himself died. She couldn't speak, she could barely breathe, so there was no hope for her being able to shout for help. The only thing she could hope was that she would be given a quick execution, which was her last thought before she lost consciousness inside the guild hall for the second time.

Sorry for the super long post, I got carried away.

"Is that it...?" the voice of Kaori's brother echoed in her mind. His tone was harsh, spiteful, and filled with hatred for her just as it was when she was growing up. "That's exactly like you. You give up a fight even though you can still breathe, you whore. You're the biggest disgrace this clan's ever seen!" his voice coursed through her mind. It was the only reason she'd ever begun training... "You were stupid to think you could ever be one of us freak." Tears began rolling down Kaori's face as she laid on the bed. As a girl, Kaori was considered the outcast of her clan despite being the daughter of their leader; even her father ignored her. The only time she'd ever been acknowledged, was during a raid where she picked up a sword and defended someone. But still, she was never truly appreciated. Her brother however never once treated her with the kindness she wanted. Gisen would feel the air in the room begin to grow heavy. It wasn't the kind of weight you'd feel when someone increased gravity, but it was the kind that happened when the air became more dense. It was the result of Koari's psychic energy building up in reaction to her panicked state... Loser, outcase, outsider, misfit, clown, joke, disgrace, freeloader, illigitimate child; the names all began echoeing in Kaori's mind.

"URASAI!" Kaori's shrill voice erupted, completely destroying the silence of Gisens room while she flew forward in her bed and hunched over, cupping her hands over her ears. When it happened, a massive burst of energy erupted from her and going outward. The posts of the bed had exploded into splinters, and the floor below it was cracked. The wall next to the bed had a small, finger sized hole in it from where the crater had broken through to the other side a bit. Kaori was shivering, sobbing, and crying in that position. Slowly, Kaori began remembering what had happened not too long ago. She opened her eyes and her shaking slowed upon seeing the strangely colored blanket. 'Am... am I dead?' she questioned in her mind. It was obviously not her bed at home, nor was it her bed from the clan in the castle. The only remaining option was that she was waking up in heaven. Either that or hell was a much less hostile place than she thought. Kaori's panic state began subsiding, and the pressure in the room along with it. Her eyes fading from bright violet to a gentle amber color, and her shivering had finally stopped when she looked around and saw the room she was in.

Kaori noticed that her vision wasn't being impaired by the slits in her mask and touched her face with her right hand while scanning the room. When her fact was in line with the direction Gisen was in, Kaori dropped her hand and turned her face away to look at her legs. "That man... he... he attacked because I was here." Kaori said in a solemn, regret filled tone. "I grew too comfortable, and forgot my place. I- I'm sorry." she said with more tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'll leave immediately." Kaori said while pulling the blanket off, and getting ready to take her mask. If Gisen didn't stop her, she'd walk out the door without taking her old clothes. The only thing on her person being the lengire and her mask.