Fresh air and spirits [Finished]

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Wrapped in a simple brown cloth, Taiyou walked through one of the many busy villages of the Mortal Realm. This one in particular seemed modern, with neon lights and mid-sized concrete buildings. What seemed like mechanized carriages filled the streets, and the sidewalks were teeming with people. Taiyou smiled as he walked through the busy streets, going unnoticed, as there were too many for one person to catch anyone's attention, and Taiyou seemed to want to remain inconspicuous, keeping his heavy blade underneath his ragged dressings.

While continuing his stroll he noticed a very large and bright sign, "Good Food and Drinks", drinks specifically catching his attention. "I think i'll wet my whistle and drink with the people tonight." Taiyou said in an upbeat manner.

As Taiyou stepped inside the bar he noticed a particularly large man at the door, a bouncer or some type of security person. "Any weapons, hand em' over." the large man said in a gruff manner.

"I don't think that's good idea pal, my weapons kinda, well..., not light" Taiyou said jokingly.

"Save the talk and hand it over!" the guard said as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal his clearly defined musculature.

"Okay..." Taiyou said, dropping his sword, causing a loud thud that caused most in the area to look at the the entrance. As the man found out the patron wasn't lying, the blade was indeed to heavy to pick up. Smiling at the struggling bouncer Taiyou began to walk toward the bar, "I don't think its going anywhere, so i'll be back for it when i'm done..." Taiyou said as he let out a small chuckle at the man's expense.

As he got to the bar he seated himself between two other patrons, nodding at them both before signaling the bartender. "Give the largest bottle of whatever you have, and 3 glasses, 1 for me, and 2 for my friends here." Taiyou said as he handed over several pieces of gold. "Keep the change good sir, and if the drinks are good here there'll be more." Taiyou said as he filled his glass. He then proceeded to down the bottle, and when question by the two people as to why he didn't drink out of the glass, Taiyou simply stated, "That glass is for those who couldn't drink with me tonight.".

"Tsuki... and my children..." Taiyou said to himself before finishing the bottle and signaling for another. "To tonight..." Taiyou said, beginning to smile again.

[Uesugi Yomi]

"To tonight!" Yomi said, peering over her glasses at the bold, handsome man before her. She recognized him, of course; there was nothing that she could ever forget about that fateful year in Hell; the year that the Yami-ou had failed to take the correct action; to make the correct choice.

His hair had grown, and his clothes looked shaggy and worn, but it was the same man who had served her husband all those years ago. She had never known what had happened to him after the Great Purge by that bitch of a Heavenly King Miyazawa Chiyo, because she had been consumed in her own grief, the grief that had eventually led her to betray the Yami-ou. That in turn, had led to her death...and the poignant tale came full circle.

She could never resist coming to bars in the Mortal Realm though, even though there were more in her own Layer of Hell than she could count on her fingers and toes. She sipped her drink, a concoction of her own creation known throughout Hell called the Windtini--the only known substance that could intoxicate a Celestial--knowing that the Mortal brew wouldn't even tickle her senses.

Yomi's sensitive ears had picked up on the commotion outside when this young blood--well, not so young anymore, she was sure--had entered, but she had not expected to find this, a fellow Celestial--one who hadn't died and had nothing to do with the War, supposedly.

However, something about him exuded a negativity into the air, as though he had been through something horrible, which would make sense if he had lived through the Great Purge.

It made Yomi sad, and she took her whole glass down despite herself, and she decided not to say anything about it. At least this fellow had come out of it and lived. Yomi's husband, the ruler of the Fourth Layer of Hell at that time--Kiryuu Seki--had died.

She abandoned the glass for her bottle.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou had completly drained the bottle of liquor with his head back, setting it down he noticed the young women with glasses offering her salutations. Taiyou smiled as he ordered 2 more bottles, telling the bar tender to send one to his admirer. Taiyou had been out if contact with Heaven or Hell for many year, and yet something seemed vaugely familiar about her. "Hey... do I know you from anywhere in particular." Taiyou questioned, opening the bottle of spirits before him.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Yomi smiled mysteriously. "Perhaps you do, perhaps you don't," Yomi said, taking the bottle of pathetic Mortal liquor and taking a minute and a half to drain it, slamming the bottle down on the table so hard that it shattered.

Yomi's smile turned sheepish. "I suppose I don't know my own strength." she winked for extra measure. Tonight wouldn't be as boring as usual...

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou watched asthe shattered glass glistening in the lights of the bar remained on top of the counter. He looked at the woman before, trying to remember where he knew her from, and to what extent was she intoxicated. Taiyou stood from his seat and walked closer to the mysterious woman.

"Oh no... who did this!" the barkeep sighed, rubbing his already weary face.

"I did, sorry buddy, hand me a broom and bag so I can clean this up for you." Taiyou said, extending some more coinage to the barkeep, taking the trash bag and cleaning utensils to remove the broken glass from the bar.

Taiyou signalled those closest to make room, so he could begin to clean the area, the other bar patrons nodded in agreement, grabbing there drinks and relocating elsewhere. Scooping the broken glass on the floor with his bear hand, Taiyou got down low to the floor to clean the mess, and speak where his voice would be less audible.

"Obviously you aren't normal, well at least not by mortal standards, women don't usually down whole bottles of liquor here." Taiyou said in a low tone as he continued cleaning. "Which leads me to believe your not from around here, if you catch my drift, so try not to draw too much attention to yourself, these mortals are a suspcious bunch." Taiyou said close to the woman so only she could hear him, standing after he finished cleaning the mess.

"There we are, and sorry about the mess ma'am, I'm Kanjin Taiyou by the way, let me buy you a drink to make up for the disturbance." Taiyou said loudly ovet the noise of the bar with smile on his face as he sat next to the woman and signalled the barkeeper to retrive the trash bag, utensils, and fetch more spirits. Taiyou was now intrigued and wanted to know who this mysterious person was, looking at her with a boyish look of curiosity on his face.



'sorry the pic is so small'

[Uesugi Yomi]

When the Human at the bar counter started to wonder about the bottle that had just "spontaneously" shattered, the young stranger said. He'd called himself Kanjin Taiyou, which brought back a flood of memories for Yomi.

He was a familiar figure for her. Her husband, Seki, had spoken about him often before the Great Purging. Taiyou had been one of the greatest Habbim warriors that the Fourth Layer had to offer.

However, Yomi did not say any of this. She smiled cruelly at the Humans that he was striving to appease. What did it matter--it was only spilled drink. Let them cry over it if they must. Better yet, if one of the poorer ones had tried to lick it off of the floor--the Celestial liquid would have killed him. Poor Humans.

"Thank you," she said instead of all of her thoughts and opinions. "I appreciate it."

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Seating himself next to his new drinking partner, Taiyou let out a sigh, "It's a shame that bottle broke, that smelled great, whatever it was." Taiyou said as he tilted the bottle of mortal liquor into the glasses the bartender brought over, "I know their liquor doesn't taste like much, but I haven'tt run into someone interesting in a while, tell me stranger, where are you from?" Taiyou said, smiling as he downed his glass.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Yomi refused to touch all of that horrible Human liquor. It did nothing for her and it didn't suit her taste.

"I'm from Hell," she said shortly. She had already decided not to reveal anything other than what he asked for; her late husband had told her that Taiyou was a dangerous soldier, and she was sure that the Yami-ou would not be pleased with the wanton death of innocent Humans. She had to get back into favor with Tomo and procure once again her place of power in Hell.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

As Taiyou heard the name of his former home and place of his most painful memories, the glass in hand cracked, as the shock of hearing someone he sat next to in a mortal bar was from that place was almost enough to shatter it as it was in his hand. "Hell..." Taiyou said in scornful voice, "What are you doing hear..." disdain in his voice as he tried his hardest to set the cracked glass down without breaking it. The smile that was on his face, now replaced by anger, the alcohol residue in the glass evaporate as Taiyou sat there, looking at the stranger. "Who are you, tell me now!" Taiyou demanded, starring intently at the women in glasses.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Yomi's smile still remained, even if though her acquaintance's had faded. She would not allow herself to be swayed by the crying of a baby who had yet to face the realities of the real world. Yomi had once been in this stage, plotting to kill the Yami-ou to avenge her husband, unwilling to accept his death and avowing that she would restore his soul to a new body.

But Yomi had paid for her immature viewpoint. She'd had the opportunity to smash Hell and all of those around her, to give Heaven the upper hand to destroy their enemies and her allies, and even though Yomi had handed Hell to Heaven on a silver plate with a golden garnish to sweeten their victory, they had failed. Heaven concluded that she was the reason why she had failed, and both sides had come after her, Heavenly soldier cornering her and taking her out. She had died dishonorably, not even fighting someone with a position of power.

That is what her whining and bitching had gotten her. Perhaps if she had gotten over it, she would have been a part of Chiyo's death when the Yami-ou decided to carry it out instead of that infernal brat Yamazaki Rei.

She removed a cigarette from her pocket, lighting it with customized lighter--silver in hue, with the engraved image of a black, female genie with long hair--she blew out smoke from the hellion cigarette, the smoke emerging from her lips in a fruitful violet rather than the usual grey of this Realm. It lingered in the air for a few seconds before disappearing

Calmly, in contrast to the stranger before him, she said, "Did you really think that you would live out the rest of your existence without seeing another one of us? Get real. And I have no reason to actually give you my name, other than being afraid that you might hurt one of the people in the bar...and I have to tell you, that isn't much."

She hoped that the reference to Humans would calm him down. Honestly, she could care less if he went off and got rid of a couple of the scumbags she knew was in this bar, but in actuality, she was hoping for a few victims herself. It had been a while since she had harvested some souls for her experiments, in any case. She was sure that there were copious amounts of Humans in here who would want some 'free' wishes...

[Kanjin Taiyou]

The celestial blood in Taiyou's veins began to boil, not surprised at all by the sheer arrogance and callousness of another hellion being in the prescence of mortals. "The mortals aren't gonns get hurt here, I'm not like you or the rest of the fallen, I don't cuase wanton destruction for pleasure parradig around the mortal realm, ruining everything in sight." Taiyou said, filled with anger, passion in his voice. "I've lost too much at the hands of callousness, and not a day goes by where I don't regret having the lofty ideas about right and wrong, following those who can't care for the souls of anyone outside themselves, and how this cost me my wife and children because they were thrown away lie trash by people who didn't give a damn about anythinng outside there own selfishness!" Taiyou roar, attracting the attention of several patrons.

Looking at the women in glasses, and not sure if he could keep his anger in check any longer, Taiyou rose to his feet, "I'll leave you now, to go back and follow Tomo's apathetic lead 'Hell-puppet', and don't think about hurting any of these humans, cause if you do I will find you and make you pay." Taiyou said looking at the cigarette in the possesion of the person whom his words were directed at, snuffing it out completely.

Taiyou then turned his back and walked away from the bar, "Tell your leader the Yami-ou the day will come when they will face the wrath of those who have ben wronged, and i'll be there to exact revenge for my lost family and everyone else who perished in the Great Purging, all of them."

[Uesugi Yomi]

Yomi couldn't believe this. Really? The wanton destruction of Humans? Was that how they personified Tomoyo? She would be really pissed about that. So...Yomi decided not to tell her.

However, she would not let him leave thinking that he was the only victim here. She couldn't, not when she herself had forced herself to console the citizens of the fourth when the Great Purging occurred. Where had he been? Deserting Hell for the death of his wife and children.

"I'll tell Tomoyo no such thing!" she shout wickedly at his back. "If you want to threaten the Yami-ou, then you haul your weak ass down there yourself and tell her. What's going to happen when you 'confront' her, as you say? Will you be sending a messenger in your place to fight her in your stead, as well? I don't even know why you bothered Falling. You know nothing about Hell. You don't even deserve your wings. Really? Hell cares nothing for Humans? Then why haven't I just reached over and killed one yet? Clearly there are rules against such things. Get over yourself. You just feel bad because you lost your damned wife and kids. Other people lost their kindred, too! You lost your King, your comrades, and all you can do is mourn over two people while covering it up with "vengeance for the suffering"? You've got to do better than that. I did the same thing as you; I lost my husband in that ambush--Kiryuu Seki, your King--and I tried to get my revenge. Know what I got in return? Heaven killed me. So shut your lazy ass up if you're not doing anything. Talk, talk, talk. Blah, blah, blah. Go get your revenge or shut the fuck up and deal with it. It's life." She added coldly, "That bitch probably wasn't even your soulmate, anyway."

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou stopped walking near the exit as the heated words of the woman he just left at the bar reached his ear. As he listened, Taiyou closed his eyes, thinking and taking in every word. With his back turned he picked up his massive sword with ease, "Your wrong, I mourn for everyone lost, including your husband, my king, friend and commrade at arms Kiryuu Seki. Seki was an honorable man, I helped him to whip the forces of Hell into shape, he was truly a great soldier and a greater king so I will not desecrate his memory, or any of the dead for that matter by angrily smearing their names, I am sorry for my callousness and rash thinking, no one ever really suffers alone. As for the Yami-ou, their are few beings in existance that can match that kind of power, when I confront the Yami-ou I will do it alone, the deaths of the innocents our my layer will not be in vain, when I have feel I have gained the strength to make my attack the Yami-ou will know, no surprise, no deception." Taiyou said, the tears that began to well in his eyes evaporating.

Taiyou, still holding his sword turned to face the stranger, "Yomi, I remember you now, and this would be the end of the conversation if not for one thing... you have cursed in the name of my dead wife... and for that you will pay!" Taiyou said pointing his sword in her direction.

"Hey no fighting here!" The bartender said looking at Taiyou, the bouncer relectant to step toward the man wielding the weapon he failed to pick up earlier.

"Your right sir. Not here, unlike you, I won't cause a ruckus for nothing, If your words match you attitude, name the place where I'm gonna kick your ass and do it now!" Taiyou said, a slight smirk on his face.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Yomi continued to sit at the bar, pulling another bottle of her home liquor, opening the bottle and then bringing it to her lips. She took a long gulp, without stopping, but drained only half of the bottle before sitting it down, gently, on the bar counter before her.

Looking back at the Habbim with the large sword as though he were naught but a play thing, she said with a yawn. "I like it here; I don't think I'll be leaving soon. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be fighting you soon either. I'm not in the mood. I'm mellow. I'm sorry kid, but I have to decline your offer."

And with that, Yomi turned away from the demon before her.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

"Well then, be my guest and stay here, until you realized you broke Tomo's curfew and rush back home so you won't get in trouble again you stupid bitch, I hope you hang from the leash she has around your neck." Taiyou said taking a beer off of the platter of a passing waitress, leaving coinage in its absence.

After removing the top, Taiyou placed the cap between his his thumb and index fingers, flicking the top with much force in the direction of the bottle, shattering it into a pieces, the liquor spilling all over Yomi's lap. "Seki would be ashamed of your cowardly ways, rest his soul, if I see you outside of this place, outside of the interference of mortals, you will die again, so you can join Seki, mabye you'll be better off, a second death might improve your attitude." Taiyou said, removing his shabby cloak from a nearby coat rack.

Taiyou draped his cloak over himself and exited the bar, never turning to look back at the painful reminder of Hell's apathy. Outside he began moving away from the brightly lit bar sign, "Come Oni, it's time to prepare..." Taiyou said, walking among the sea of mortals, sober and angry, off to continue his training for his inevitable showdown with the Yami-ou.

[Uesugi Yomi]

[I'm closing this thread out if you don't mind.]

Yomi's power over wind did a nice job of drying off the liquor from her dress--too bad it hadn't done any real damage. The patrons were shocked at the usage of magic, but she didn't care. It only took a moment for the stain to dry, the magic taking away any residue, and the broken glass was tossed to ground for the nearest Human to clean. After glaring at one nearby, who probably didn't even work at the bar, the glass was taken care of.

It was the same command over wind that carried her voice to Taiyou's ears, no matter how far he had traveled from the tavern. She'd said, "Oh...is the baby having a tantrum? Your words do nothing but show your own ignorance.... Soon after the words were spoken the living wind would die, the magic having served its purpose.

Now that she thought about it, Yomi liked this bar. The Humans here were funny. She would have to bring the Yami-ou to visit sometime...