Back to Kyoto - Curiosity {Done}

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

It was sunset as the ship came close to port. It took a month to go back home. To the man in the shadows with a pole this was life after being in fight after fight. Wounds & bones healed after fights. Stowing away for so long he hardly got caught anymore. Standing up he took his parcel and jumped overboard to the docking. His feet met the ground with a thud and klack. Standing his raven hair blew in the gentle Japanese breaze. It was good to be home, back in Kyoto. He walked the streets as his long red bandana and white and red coat moved as he walked. The symbled for "Evil" or Aku shimmerd in the moon's dim light.

With a fish tail bone in his mouth he smirked as he chewed on it a little. The streets were not covered with any living soul but a couple strays. He walked the path to go to his father's farm. I wonder if the old geizer is home... he thought as he stroled the dirt path a mile awy from the town. Looking to the sky he growled, "Urgh... rain." He then strode over to a tree near a dried up feild judt as it began to rain hard. Marshes...
Looking to the opposite side he saw some rocks and bolders, which gave him an idea. Leaving the pole he went over not minding himself being wet.

Staring ar a rock the size of a grapefruit he picked it up and set it on a larger one and raised his left hand an made a claw of a tiger and did the "Two Layers Strike" on it. Seeing nothing he groaned and hit it harder smashing it to smaller rocks and pebbles. He did the same using different hands each time. Making sure not to shatter his bones in the prosces as he passed the time.

[Human NPC]

I'm close, he thought.

He continued to walk within the containment of the luscious shrubbery and the dark-painted sky. He was certain that he had lost their trail for now. But even he knew that he would have to keep this trip brief. They were too damn good at tracking down others. It was their job; their passion.

It was what he trained them for.

He silently cursed the events that led to his village's betrayal. To be hunted down and slaughtered by your own people was one of the sickest feelings in the world. And in order to cleanse this ailment from his system, he had to escape from the origin of the disease. Now he runs. He runs until he reached somewhere familiar.

He ran back home; back to Kyoto.

The scar on his chest started to pulsate; he desperately needed medical attention. He continued to walk amongst the forest until he reached a small town. No one was present to his knowledge and it started to rain. He spent nearly a half an hour looking for civilians to help. But once it started to rain harder, he realized that he had to keep going.

His vision started to blur from the pain his two padawans induced upon his chest. It started to fade in and out spontaneously. Tripping into a marsh, he looked up fromt he muddy water as he tried to crawl out. He saw a young man practicing some type of thurst palm technique on a few rocks by a tree. Reaching out, he struggled to gain his attention as he continued to try to find his way out of the marsh.

"P-please..." he said. "Help... me..."

He then slid back into the marsh, unconscious.

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio practiced hard, even if he began to sweat he did not notice. Soon though he heard sloshing, "What?" then he turned just as he heard, 'P-please... Help... me...'. Even when he turned he saw something duck or slip down the slope. He ran over and skid-slipped to a stop to look over the edge. Rubbing his hands from being raw and slid down the slope after discarding his coat. Stoping by the man he looked for a way to get him up the slope. He then wrapped the guys arms around his throat and drug hi to a feild close by and went to his coat kicking it away and his blade. He then headed for his father's old farm house.

[Human NPC]

He could open his eyes again. He was greeted with blurred vision, but it was vision none the less. It soon started to clear. And when it did, he found himself out of the muddied marsh and laying in a field of some sort. He wanted to say that it was a wheat field. But given the fact that he was back in Kyoto, the only fields that were in harvest this time of year were in fact the rice crops. And those fields would usually be drenched in a rather shallow water area.

He decided that focusing on what type of field his body lay upon was rather foolish at this time. He had been graced with consciousness apparently long enough for him to escape what he knew would be his oncoming demise. He tried to sit up, so that he may stand and further his venture in his hometown to gather supplies before finding a place in the world to stay unnoticed until this purge keeled over. But the scar on his chest disagreed.

Once he sat up, he could feel the pinching of the scar. It's pain wretched throughout his upper body and soon made it's way to the nerves connected to his brain. The pain just about forced him to bellow out a roar of pain and frustration into the raining skies. And once his scream died down, he quickly covered his mouth; he did not want to give his hunters any more clues to his whereabouts.

He once again looked at his surroundings, trying to figure out if he was around anything familiar. Once the jolted pain seemed to die down, he released his hand from his mouth. His middle finger dripped blood from the force of his bite. He used his opposite arm to wipe the access from his mouth, staring behind him with a scowl of frustration.

"...Where the hell am I?"

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio was down right tired and he had a couple miles left. He looked to the man was out still. He's out still. he was banged up but Yukio stood by. His father's feild was perfect to be in. Then he moved looking over he crouched down and heard him speak, "Well ya are in my father's farm feild. I was gonna bring ya to his house... but I couldn't drag you anymore..."

[Human NPC]

He looked at the boy suspiciously; his frame was indeed too scrawny for him to have carried him at least this far. And if that idea alone didn't lower the respect he possibly had for this boy, then hearing him admit to his weakened state indeed did the trick. He frowned at the boy, almost snarling as he rubbed the scar cursing his chest in hopes of easing some of the pain.

He looked around, observing the field the boy spoke of. "I see," he said sternly. He kept his upper body perched up by leaning against his left arm, continuing to suck the blood coming from his middle finger until the flow was slowed to the point of halt.

The boy seemed to be speaking the truth about the field belonging to his father; a weakling such as himself could not have been responsible for tending to a field of this magnitude. He looked at the boy who wanted him to believe he was responsible for pulling him out of the muddy marsh.

"I seek medical attention," he told the boy. "And possibly shelter for the night. Fetch your father, boy, so that I may explain myself."

He waved him off, expecting him to do as he was told.

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio watched him. His fingers throbbed after doing his techneque and then carring the man. But he watched him and looked to the sky, it still looked nasty out but now it was a dull drizzle of rain. He then looked to him. He kind of resembled a guy who could possibly do "Thor" in some play or something. He then heard what he said and clenched his left hand tightly. The skin stretching from where it just recently healed. Making the bandages on his fists stat to go pink slight. He then turned to go, no use to argue to the huge guy.

Yukio sighed and glared at the man as he headed off to go grab his blade and coat. When he got it he slung the sword over his shoulder and yelled slihghtly, "CAN'T BELIEVE I AM DOING THIS!!" He just dragged his ass out of a marsh about 5 miles, walked back to his sword and coat, now he had to get the old man. He ran past the dude who he was gonna nickname "Thorhead" because he made him, meaning Yukio, hurt in his head. He past him and then ran up the road into the trees and saw his old home, "OLD MAN GET YOPUR ASS OUT HERE!! WE GOT A MAN WHO NEEDS HELP IN THE FEILD!!" he then ran back after dropping the sword and found Thorhead sitting there still, "Get up if you can. I'll take ya to my dad's house... it is a minute walk for me... may take five for you though..."

[Human NPC]

Hearing the dishonor spew from the youth's lips was enough to make him scowl deeply. If he weren't so badly hurt, he would have made sure such degradation would never be spoken from those lips of his again. But, as his pride would deny, he was at the youth's mercy. And in order for him to receive the help he sought, he would have to deal with the boy's insolence.

With the strength he willed and forced, along with whatever he naturally conserved, he stood up and matched the walking pace of the youth in question. He looked at him and frowned, saddened by what the turn of the century had turned the fine men of Kyoto into.

"Your disregard to authority and your elders would not have been tolerated if you were raised in my time, boy," he told the youth next to him. "You speak to your father as if he were some peddler on the streets." He looked forward, rubbing the wound on his chest. "Even they have a level of respect."

He made sure he would not slow up to keep the boy from being any more arrogant than he already was. He glanced at him without turning his face, still keeping his frown and his bottom lip curled to form a look of disgust.

"State your name, boy," he demanded. "I must know the surname to address your father with."

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio watched him, what he said to his father was very common between them since he found out his dad was still living in the same house a while ago. They even fist faught sometimes. It actually did not occure as "disrespect" but to someone who was not used to the way Yukio and his father acted at each other, it must seem odd. He looked directly at him as he showed him the path way to his father's home. Even receiving a lecture was new for him. He could tell he was already on the "down list" in Thorhead's mind.

He then stopped dirrectly in his steps when he was asked of his last name. Never before had he used his REAL one. But only the one he used since his captain's death. He then scratched his head and walked past the man. Comming to the front wood deck he sat down. Thinking till he remembered his actual name. "It's Kuma-Maru, Yukio..." he said it with unease. How long had it been since the day he dropped that name?

To him it must have been sometime when he was twelve or so. Counting on his fingers he figured it must have been close to six years or seven. Reaching over he rung out his coat and shook it. Thankfully it stopped raining so he could wear it again soon. He then turned around, "Where the hell is the old man?" he figured he was drunk again. But he did not know. Running his fingures through his hair he ruffed it up and got it back to the state it was in before the down-pour.

[Human NPC]

"Kuma-Maru," he uttered from his mouth, repeating the boys surname. He narrowed his eyes in his perpetual frown that became a permanent part of his facial features. Holding his side, he sat down across from the boy named Yukio, glancing at him with raised eyes to emphasize his sternness. He still was rather perplexed about the way the boy treated his elders -- his father in general -- but he figured there had to have been some form of dignity inside his being to give him his name. Either that, or some sense inside his head. And because of that, he decided to follow suit.

Somewhat.

"You may call me Seimei," he told the boy sternly, leaving no room in his speech for rebuttal or questioning his reasonings.

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio was actually considering whether or not to tell this Seimei dude his current last name. But he decided otherwise, he slid the door open and went inside to see the fire pit was smoking. A sign someone just put it out with water a few hours or minutes ago. He looked around in the dim light and saw his sister curled up by it sleeping, “Well one found. Now where is Old Man Mukoto?” he mumbled as he hunt his coat on a stool before throwing a blanket over his younger sister. He then left again this time to the shed, snapping a flower up from the ground for when he went back inside. It was to be used for an offering to his mother.

¤¤¤

Sitting behind the shed was Yukio's father. He was asleep and had a Sake bottle by his feet. It was empty. He woke up to year somebody in the shed. He walked over and behind Yukio and clobbered the back of his own son's noggin. That was then when he realized it was Yukio that he pounded.
“Yukio why are you here? Last time you wrote ya were in England.”
He said looking at him while he chewed on his smoke pipe stem. Yukio got his habbit of fish bone chewing from his father it seemed.

¤¤¤

Yukio did not hear someone coming till AFTER he got hit. He rubbed his head and turned to see his father Mukoto standing there looking quite grumpy, “Eh, England bored me. And we got a guy in the house who needs your help, an' stop drinkin' so much Old Man!!” he said heading to the house. Once inside he went to a corner in which a shrine was for his mother and knelt down setting the flower in a jar as he payed respect.

¤¤¤
Mukoto grumbled, he was sorry for hitting him now. Just because he drank didn't mean it was his son's job to govern him. He then went inside to see the man who looked a lot taller than himself standing there
“You must be the one my delinquent son tells me of huh?”

[Human NPC]

Seimei looked up to see what he presumed was the boys father, and immediately he gained a good reasoning why the boy disrespected him so. He could smell the sake on his breath; not even a day old. He began to regret attracting the boy to gain his aid; he should have knocked harder on the doors of the town he passed. His face turned away with the utterance of "huh," with the stench of the alcohol too heavy on his breath for the elder male to stand. The look was of disgust, not because of the father of the boy's supposed drunken stupor, but because now he had no other choice left but to let them help him.

He turned back toward the boy and his father; his permanent frown on his face glaring at them both without ease.

"I am Seimei," he introduced himself. "I am -- was -- a Head Guard of the village of the Dawn. We were known as the Tenmeigakure."

Seimei swallowed. It was forbidden to ever talk of the village to outsiders that were not accepted through the elders. But none of that mattered now.

"We were attacked," he said. "Betrayed by our village elders. All of the Head Guards and their families were killed and the rest of the village were evacuated by them while the rest of the village was burned to the ground. I was able to play possum and escaped with my life. But now the members of the village have been reformed; molded into an evil incarnation of what they once were. And they have started to eliminate any surviving Tenmeigakure that refuse to conform to the new ways. They call themselves 'New Babylon'."

The sting of the scar on his chest was more intense. He could only claw at it, trying to find a way to dampen the pain. His frown grew fiercer as he looked at the two.

"I was...attacked by two of my own pupils," he continued. "Their abilities have grown darker than I have ever imagined. I escaped, but I am too weak. This scar they bestowed upon my chest bears too great a pain. I don't know if they are still following me; I did not mean to bring trouble to your family. I am not a begging man, but I am in the situation where I have no choice in the matter anymore. Please. Help...me..."

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

{curse the men who hurt my family of Tenmeigakure!!}

Yukio's eyes widened as he listened and stepped forth speaking before his dad could stop. That word he spoke of, it was one he knew!
"Hold it mister Seimei!! That place I have heard of it before!! No... I watched a report from an organization!! I know who did that! In London I teamed up with a couple guys and found out about that!!" Yukio probably made a mistake about what he just said but he had to let it out. No point in hiding that secret. Looking to Mukoto his father he then looked to his sister who was out cold.
"I am gonna go put her in her room, I said too much..."
He then left with her in his arms and let Mukoto be with Seimei.

***

Mukoto set his pipe on the floor and looked at Yukio, 'Troublesome youth...' he listened to the man and then to his son as he nearly yelled as he interrupted about some village. When then man finished the babel about the destroying men he listened more intently.
"If they are, no problem for me let alone my son... we can handle ourselves... he's the one who took out an entire army with one fist shattered... I think my son has an herb hidden somewhere in his old room. But if you need more than that let us know..."
He then went to the joining hallway and went to see if he was right about the herb.

****

Yukio just came in when his dad left still ashamed he just let it known he knew about the mass destruction of Tenmeigakure.
"Are you pissed that I know a little of you sacred home?"

[Human NPC]

Seimei looked just as stern as he did when he saw the boy earlier. But that did not mean that his heart was still hardened against him. When he came back after his father left and asked the question about his now destroyed home, he simply grunted and slowly shook his head.

"...No," he answered the boy. "By now, everyone should know about the perversion the Tenmeigakure underwent."

He tried to sit up straighter, making sure his presence was strong in front of the boy to let him know that he was still in great authority over him, even in his weakened state.

"I underestimated you, boy," he told him. "It seems that you are far more the man here than your own father..."

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio Ryuseiko looked to the man and sighed to himself, Is he mad at me for being mean by accident earlier. Yukio then scratched his head before he then remembered how clueless the two men he met in England. Yukio then looked to Seimei and spoke,
"If there are others who... but where I was for nearly a few three weeks... No one knows of it in England. I didn't even know till I met the guy responsible just by picking up the wrong bag that I thought was a friend of mine's bag."
Yukio then pulled out a tin and handed it to the man and spoke again,
"This is herbs, I use it for my hands after using a special move a monk taught me. It will help with the shooting pains."
He then waited for him to take it of something else.

[Human NPC]

He accepted the herbs after listening to the boy talk about him finding out about the Tenmeigakure and its involvement in random acts of treachery that weren't so random anymore.

"At this point," Seimei said, "all the old ways of the order have been destroyed. No honor remains in their ways. Twisted and distorted they are; manipulated by the order of New Babylon. If they were able to be rehabilitated in the old ways, it would be a miracle. But after seeing what my eyes have seen, I believe that miracle may never come."

Seimei reached with a shaking hand to take in the herbs, but soon realized why the gash across his chest was merely aching. It was obvious to him now that he was simply running on adrenaline.

And the gash was starting to bleed out.

The elderly ninja collapsed on the grounds below him, realizing that he was too far gone for any medicine to aid him or for any bandages to seal up his wounds. It was simple that he was going to die. Right here and now.

"I bring...Ill will to your land, boy," Seimei tried to speak. "A bad omen is it for a stranger to die on someone else's lands. I pray that you do not believe in bad luck."

He tried to look up at the boy, struggling in his attempt. He was so weak now. Even breathing started to hurt.

"Coincidences...do not exist," he whispered to the boy. "Your business with your friend...is not over. Be the miracle...be the miracle needed to...stop this perversion, boy. Stop this madness...before it stops you; before...before it stops the entire world..."

And Seimei's life became forfeit. His body lost all signs of life afterward. But it was better this way. To have died a respected member of the illustrious Tenmeigakure was better than dying a slave to New Babylon.

[RyuSeiko, Yukio]

Yukio watched Seimei and began to worry, the man before him was already gone, but still was trying to live long enough to tell him what was to be told about this strange problem, "Miracles- they happen but onlly if a person is willing to act." he said to himself but then as he looked up he became horrified. The "X" shapped gash on the man's chest began to swell before blood leaked out. He ran to Seimei and knelt down by him listening to the man's final words. He then looked at Seimei oddly at the words "bad luck". No such thing to an idiot like himself. Bad luck always was his good luck.

He then felt as if a burden was given to him. The man wanted him to stop this madness, him. He nodded but then it was too late the man was gone. Yukio stood up and then looked outside, the rain stopped. He took his coat off and threw it across the room and grabbed Seimei's body and went outside to burry him. It took a long time before he finished. He stuck a stick in the ground and then carved in Japanese "Seimei" and then turned to the path, "Time to go to London again... Rest in peace Seimei, traveler from Tenmeigakure." he clasped his hands and bowed before he then walked to the path and left after he got his coat back on. Along the way he took his Horse Clever and went on.

He was going to try to find some people who knew of New Babylon and get help if possible. If not, he'd fight to help like he was told.

{End}