Legends No Nihon

Staring indifferently at the chaos'd scene frozen in silence, the cold being within Raider quirked an eyebrow of white, smirking just wide enough to exhibit a canine. His tempestuous eyes lusted after the deep brownish/gray drainage dripping down from their nest in the rock shards to pool on the hard, barren ground. It wasn't until it became nearly pure silver that he blinked, realizing it to be aura, not blood as he had intentionally thought; likewise, the emanation of pain not of the holder sheared his being. Shaking his head to clear the fine wisps of his thin bangs flipping in his thoughtful red eyes, he cautiously crept forward, sniffing out the wind. If it weren't for the tension and fear stifling the air, all would have scented out as clean.

Sneezing viciously, Hunter startled the paralyzed crowd into action, clearing nearly all of them out within seconds, as though they had never even been there to begin with. Only a very few remained: the total, not including the ravaged shell of Psyver, stood at less than ten.

Out of the small number, only two were moving: Hunter and Raider. Sniffing for danger, Raider was a white, alien figure slinking forward like a sly, old, cornered wolf, one eye closed abstractly. He would crouch, palms pressed against the earth, tilt his chin, inhale the crisp, ocean scented night air, and linger in place for a moment before stretching out an arm and plodding along another eight or nine paces; then the process would continue all over again. Meanwhile, Hunter was continuously in motion, staggering forward in a sort of half daze, eyes slightly crossed, blood dribbling down his left forearm and over the calluses of his fingertips; the strange thing being that he soundly couldn't recall receiving the wound. It was just there. But the site of the fallen woman called out to him alluringly, beckoning the young man forward as if drawn by an invisible string, and he shuffled his boot clad feet forward, keen eyes piercing the imperceptible shadowed night to rest upon the deathly pale face.

Once, when he was a rather young lad growing up in his forested peninsula of a country, he had come across one of the most glorious spots in his small existence: a small inland lake rimmed by towering oaks, a small, quaint cottage nestled smugly into a cave that bordered an eighth of the lake. The sun reflected off the water, shafting through the openings between the trees like arrows of light, the scent of heat rising up into his nostrils, mixing in with the rich, evergreen pines surrounding him, flooding his senses. Shrill summer insects pierced the still warm air with their incessant chirpings, calling out for attention, demanding the look of the young boy who was ignoring them so deftly. Gold tinged the surreal trunks and leaves near the lake, dangling vines dropping into the water's edge, causing ripples that in turn frightened the shy, vividly colored dragonflies into flight. The flurry of their overly large wings sounded like the flight of birds, effectively drowning out the high-pitched insects, and their buzzing mingled within. The bejeweled wings replicated against the eyes of boy as the sun hit them in mid-flight, their paper-thin shadows speckling Hunter's youthful face as more and more of them rose into the air. Soon, it was a cacophony of colors, the flurry of wings beating into the air like soft drums, feathery wingtips grazing the boy's cheeks. And so, as the twelve year old stared into the heavens in perfect awe, the sweet, musky odor of the forest quiescently laying about him, there would never be a sight he would cherish to be more beautiful.

But all of this fled from his mind as he beheld a glory more ravishing than the most exulted vision of Freyja, supplementary to the flushed cheeked Aphrodite, more radiant than Apollo's golden chariot of the sun, and far as seductive as the call of the Siren. Colors dimmed, melody grew course, and every embodiment he had held as the truth of beauty fell from his eyes like scales. SHE was his Aphrodite, Calypso, and Madonna. What was her name? Did the divine as celestial as she posses such transient bindings?

Daring not to touch her, the young man held his breath as he allowed his large, clumsy hand to caress her soft, gentle face, inquisitive fingers tracing the taunt cheekbones and fine jaw line, cupping her small, pointed chin in his palm. Rubbing the side of her jaw line with his thumb, his other hand gently massaged the small of her back, and he lifted her shoulder blades off their throne of rock; fallow eyes of purple-red, hazy even, were locked on her long, curling lashes, concentrating upon making her "sleep" for as long as she wished, begging fate not to break the spell, never noticing the negatively charged air whipping about the two, an early warning to back off and away. The two had never been fated to meet.

Nevertheless, the spellbound boy pressed her close to his body, snuggling her against him as if to fit a mold, and stared, contemplating her cool, sleek hair, breathing in the curious scent that hung about her. All that he could think of was a fox or a divine goddess, slung precariously into his arms like a gift from above; he could feel the red-hot inferno of her body heat pulsating against his chest, almost as though it were trying to reach inside of him. So with that thought lingering in his mind, he set off, curiously drawn forward to some place that he didn't even know. All he wanted was to find this girl to safety, no matter what the cost.

Standing on a porcelain world of luminous pallor, bathed in moonlight, Raider watched the two go, his crimson eyes staining the naïveté of the new world. The hair that fell in clumps to just below his shoulders waved in the wind, mocking a farewell, and no expression was on his face, though his mind was a tornado of instability. A hand idly tugged at the coat slipping from his shoulders, wind whipping harder as if to scorn his steadfastness, he turned, knowing where the duo would show up within a few hours before the moon set. Soon he retreated into the shadows of the forest.

Striding forward with an even, quick pace, he raised his nose to the sky, scenting out something that had been bothering him for a few moments now, casting away the normal smells of the forest, the night, even the odor that that strange Psyver woman had left – before and after she had been injured. Finally, at the edges of his senses, just subtle enough for him to perceive with the greatest of skill, he found what he was looking for and struck his upper body out, physically allowing his nose to lead the way, nostrils flaring. He pushed past the ferns, the mosses, the cobwebs, the beasts, ignoring all but the scent. It was profoundly important for the boy to find this basis, even if he didn't understand quite what the point of it was.

"Hello."

It came quite suddenly, a sound that penetrated his eardrums and stopped the young wolf boy cold even as his body wasn't as quick, hitting several low-lying bushes and tumbling head over heels to a stop, hair filled with twigs and leaves. Laughter filled the air at the spectacle of one who held his person in such dignity to be found in such disarray, and he was quick to leap up, shaking himself off, and glare for the newcomer.

Giggling, fingers brushing at her mouth futilely, nestled a small katt eksistens woman, looking to be young and about in the young man's age range, near four and a half in her years. Her spiked hair rustled in the breeze, black, silver, white, and red, a little over shoulder length itself and the length of Raider's; several jeweled clips adorned her hair, ranging from the rubies and diamond salamanders about her temples to the moonstone chain encircling the lower back of her head, held in place against the silver and onyx ear cuffs rimming the edge of her ears, with were large and feathery at the edges, higher than the top of her hair. Strangely, they reminded the eighteen year old of the fins of fish and he couldn't stop looking at them as they fluttered nicely.

Her hair hid her right eye, something that Raider would later find unsettling, and brushed against her low cheekbones, rimming her lucid reversed eyes, the whites black and pupil white while her iris was a neon green, making her seem blind. Her small nose was rather flat and broad at the end, like a feline's, though she had small nostrils, and two gold rings pierced one. Dressed completely in a large black kimono with no distinguishing marks upon it whatsoever, half her body seemed to meld in with the tree; the other half rippled in the moonlight.

"You find something funny?" Raider asked testily, resting his fists against his hips, not realizing that two strands of grass were stuck on either side of his head like antennae. About to answer, the katt eksistens collapsed in laughter as wind rustled one of them and made it twitch.

"I can't believe you're the Exult'd One!" she finally gasped in between fits of wheezing, her finlike ears flipping rapidly in her amusement, supporting herself between the branches. "This is such a jest!"

"I beg to differ," the boy snapped, finding nothing funny about the situation at hand.

"Ooo…. Terribly sorry than, of course," she spat sarcastically, still chuckling beneath her blunted, paw-like hand. "I should recall that, if one has grass antennae, the other should treat him with the utmost courtesy!" Overcome with her own whimsicalness, she fell into laughter again, literally knocked out of it when Raider chunked a tree branch at her, hitting her in the nose.

"Terribly sorry about that, of course," he mocked snidely, pitching his voice before lowering it to speak normally. "But I have business to do with you, cat woman, and this business cannot wait."

"I beg to differ."

Catching the snide tone and quote from himself only seconds earlier, Raider restrained himself from raising a hand against her, subconsciously realizing that she was useful for him in some higher level. Deeply drawing in breath, steadying his nerves and mentally preparing himself, he looked up at her, trying to ignore her fluttering ears. "I have use of you, Mistress Cat, and one that can be paid in full to your advantage."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed it is."

"Well, you are obviously not as astute as you seem to wish that you were, Sir Wolf, as you cannot even guess my heritage correctly. Claim that I was a cat, will you! That just shows plan unadulterated nerve right there, the kind that you would expect from a human!" Snapping an incisor his way, she leapt from the tree, landing softly in the knee-high grass, her back to him. Pausing for a moment, knees reflexively bent, she pursued her lips and looked over her shoulder, sneering at him. "I am NOT a cat, nor am I a katt eksistens, for your information. I'm half a demon, and a shape-shifter at that, if you wish to know."

"Shape shifter?"

Sighing exasperatingly, the half demon cat woman turned, dropping down in a sitting position, knees bent to the side of her, soles touching. Leaning forward, cheek resting in her palm, the elbow nestled in between her legs; she rolled her eyes up at the larger man. "Yes, a shape shifter, wolf boy; is that SO hard to perceive?"

"No," he growled out of reflex, pride hurt. "But shape shifters are outlawed."

"Thus being why I am not ALLOWED into Alcides' Suffering, boy. What a smart lad; I must be going now. Ta-ta!" Streaking off through the grass, she virtually disappeared, bottlebrush tail snapping in the air before vanishing from sight.

"Blasted shape-shifters," the boy cursed, realizing as he did so why her scent was so difficult to detect in the first place; she must have been masking it by switching form during the entire Ascension.

"Good for her," he muttered to himself, disappointed at his own error. "But what does that have to do with…?"

Quit being foolish! You know precisely what all of this means! What is guarded? What is sealed?

Dear Odin…. You mean THAT?

Of course I mean "that," you infidel susi lapsi! And what CONCEALS it?

Measurements of sight….

And a shape shifter is the trickster against sight! They can perfectly mask themselves into whichever form they desire and, the more accomplished ones however, can even extend their talents unto others of their choosing. So what if you were to befriend that simpleton? Gain her trust? She would fall to you as easily as nothing before and thus allow you to gain your goal.

MY goal? I wasn't aware that I had one.

Quit your slander! You know that this is what you are after, what has been burning in your soul like those hot irons fifteen years ago, what has been marauding your sleep. So refrain from acting like the reluctant hero and move on with your ploys; SHE IS THE ONE YOU'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR.

Chewing on his lower lip worriedly, drawing a bit of blood, the young boy stared off into darkness, milky pink eyes troubled, not quite as piercing as before. Moving a black fingernail into his mouth, he began to harry that, still not sure of his actions. "And how will I find her?" he murmured into the night, the question barely getting past his finger.

"Find who?"

"The shape shifter." Pausing, the young man dubbed "wolf boy" blinked, doing a double take, before turning his neck so that his eyes could rest on the bemused half katt eksistens leaning against his shoulder.

"Awww…. You missed me already, did you, honey? That's so sweet!" she positively purred, stroking his shoulder before resting her fuzzy cheek against it, large eye staring up into his. "Because I missed you too, you know."

"Ah…."

"Oh, an intelligent one, that you are! So quick, so funny, you're my little honey. Oh, yes you arrre! Yes you arre!" the girl sang playfully, batting at a fluttering piece of his white hair. "My name is Selece Rocfyre by the way and I'm sooo enjoying meeting you."

In control of the situation once more, the young man snatched up one of her paw like hands, pressing it lovingly to his cheek and kissing each one of the digits in turn while his eyes watched her hauntingly. "Raider Haltia-Hakkailla, you charming half beast. And it is a pleasure to meet you."

As Selece stared into his shifting, slanted eyes, so much like those of a predator, she felt an involuntary shudder seize her spine, noting that, though his mouth smiled hospitably, his eyes laughed mockingly. She didn't know if she could handle the uncaged bulk of Raider Haltia-Hakkailla.

"I'm sure that there is a building around here somewhere, I'm sure that there is a building around here somewhere," Hunter chanted, gasped as his strained lungs fought for air. A curious liquid sensation was taking place as he inhaled, bubbling upwards as he exhaled. But the young man valiantly ignored it, mind securely fastened onto the task at hand: bringing this damsel in distress to her haven like the chivalrous knight he was.

"What are you doing? LET ME GO!"

And shearing pain hit Hunter in his right cheek, snagging his lower eyelid and pulling down, ripping through the flesh downwards to the soft skin about his mouth. Tissue flew and dripped from the aggressive nails as he fell backwards in pain, the precise package in his arms suddenly released from him. Reflexively, his hand sped to his cheek, quickly sealing off the wound as his cheek throbbed and eye watered, rolling a little downwards and twitching spasmodically but otherwise all right. Eyes baffled and crossed, he looked over his nose to the semi-panting figure in front of him, crouching like a caged animal as raven colored hair flittered in front of her face.

Standing in front of him, in a position opposition as that of what he had pictured of her, was Psyver Iki-Jigoku, as she really was, the Slayer. A killer of men and beasts alike, deaf to all pleas of mercy, she showed herself to him as she truly was, completely without confinements. The look in her eyes already threatened swift death after a painfully slow session of torture and she clutched her arms, as if worried that something of his had rubbed off and tainted her self-proclaimed perfection. It was then that her eyes shot behind the boy.

"NO RIGHT!" came the roar of fury as a fist lashed out across Hunter's cheek, the attacker having expertly twisted his body so that he would have always remained outside of the boy's peripheral vision. The momentum of the second hit the young man then, tumbling him over as the attacker fought to bring pain and hurt upon the young man's world, finally stopping the two by slamming his knees into the other's ribs, effectively cracking a few.

Glowering with rage, face livid, was Raih Akumashinei, spitting onto Hunter Haako's face, "No right; you have NO RIGHT. No right at all." The two were entangled, though completely to the former's advantage as his knees rested on the other's lower biceps and stomach, one hand clamping down a wrist while the other threatened to collapse his skull inwards. Pressing down with more exertion, enjoying the strangled, involuntary whimpers that emitted from the younger man's throat, Raih glared even fiercer, dragon blood eyes inches away from white-blue ones. "Did my point come across?"

Not waiting for an answer, he pressed down upon the young man's diaphragm, turning his head to look concerned at his future wife. "Did he touch you? In any way?"

"When I awoke, I was in his arms, shoved against his barbaric chest like a kidnapped child," Psyver spat angrily, clearly embarrassed of the whole situation. Striding up to the two, she kicked Hunter's side irritably, gaining a sharp crack from his side and throat. "Kill the yaro for all I would care."

"Soon, seiai, very soon," he cooed, promising many things with the statement. "I know that this… dobutsu is in the tournament himself and, if what I have seen today holds through, he will make it to meet you or I. That is the day when vengeance shall be met. But, until then," his gaze turned to the choking man. "Never touch my kon'yakusha again, or you will be spitting teeth to the ground and blood as a mixer. I won't even waste my breath asking if you understand my meaning; a barbarian such as yourself understands nothing but pain." Smoothly stepping off the man, he turned to his fiancé, taking her elbow and leading her forward, the two in cold silence.

"What were you doing with him, seiai? Truly?" Raih asked softly, a gentle tightening of his hand on her elbow the only real clue to his direst. Even his terse tone of voice didn't hold much infliction and would not bother those that did not know him well.

"As I told you, koi, it is as all I told you."

"You know what I'm demanding."

"That I do not." But it was a lie, and an obviously concealed one at that. Both knew exactly what he meant but neither would speak it; threats and acts of violence wouldn't loosen either of their vice tongues.

"Don't you lie to me, on'na."

"I would never dream of it, koi. Now," the young woman faltered, gripping Raih's white shirt in her thin fingers, the other hand pinching off his one sleeve. Swallowing noisily, she batted away her fiancé's futile attempts to bring her to her feet aided and attempted to stagger onwards, laboriously breathing.

"Ai, what happened, at the Ascension just a moment ago? It was…." Looking away from the woman hr loved, the clan heir bit his lower lip, staring off into the barren landscape that neither of the two was familiar with. The whole area reeked of suffering and death, eerie birdcalls sounding above in blank air. The only aura that broke the nearly palpable sense of an alien, wretched landscape was young Hunter's innocent, naïveté feeling about him.

"Nothing, nani mo … nai, koi," the young woman wheezed, far more taxed than she knew she should be, some of the luster falling from her sheened hair, slumped on the ground, leaning against Raih's knees as she was. "Its just… there is a pain… within me, someplace… wrong for myself. It…." She looked upwards, eyes screwed shut, imploring the white marble face above her. "I can barely breath, koi, and the light is falling from that around me…. And… it's hard to move…. I just…." And she shuddered once, dropping her weight against Raih, unconscious and trembling.

Eyes widening with alarm, he dropped to his knees beside her, gently tapping her cheek with the flat of his palm, urgently whispering, "Ai? Seiai? Speak to me…. Don't…. Ah…." Looking up, a frightened expression unbefitting him staring up at the barren landscape, sweeping past the still form of Hunter, he searched for aid, futilely demanding his sight sharpened beyond what it could. It wasn't until the convulsions started, seizing Psyver nearly double, blood speckled froth flecking her cheekbones, eyes rolling backwards into white in head that Raih moved to decision. Grasping one of her hands in his larger one, he pressed it to his lips religiously, brushing it tenderly, and furrowed his brow, concentration bearing down on his forehead into three wrinkled lines. The air about the two crackled maliciously, licking at Raih's face and opening his cheek, red blood spilled as if an offering to some pagan god. The offering was accepted; the two blinked out in a shriek of pain.

yaro – Jap. – "bastard" (despicable person)

kon'yakusha – Jap. – "fiancé"

on'na – Jap. – "woman"

ai – Jap. – "love" (affection)

nani mo … nai – Jap. – nothing