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 Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 4:55 pm
 Dark clouds rolled overhead, rumbling like a killer's purr low and threatening. The sun have been swallowed by the swirls of gray and black and there was little hope for it to return within the next few sluggish hours. The forest was quiet except for the violent whipping on the wind. Critters were hiding away in their dens and even game animals such as deer took refuge in huddles under overhanging trees. A brave, or perhaps foolish, rust colored crow flew through the drafts. His flight was that of an expert, one who knew the ways of the wind and the weather. His eyes, however, were bright as they searched the ground below. Apparently he was looking for something.
A dip of his wing signaled he had found it as he arced downward. The glided slightly and caught his claws upon a thick branch, folding his wings at his side. There he looked down at a scene which he should have been startled by. Beneath the tree lay a corpse, blood neatly spalttered across the ground and its neck. The thick coat, ears, and muzzle showed it was a wolf. And standing but a few feet away, hidden in the shadows except for two gleaming, wide red eyes was another from.
Shanti stood with a terrifying grace. The stiff, yet naturally powerful way she stood was unnerving, that is if anyone had actually been there. She almost seemed to pulse with a fear-inspiring feeling. Had Blinding Dusk the crow not been one to whitness her upbringing he would have been scared to death, if that was possible. Shanti always felt different when she used the gift passed down through her mother's blood. And today was no different.
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 5:47 pm
A mild breeze rustled the boughs overhead, its leaves rattling and quivering as a slight chill swept through the forest. The day had been nonchalant; there was no living soul whom had crossed his path nor had anything disturbed him from his slumber. It was relaxing yet a horrible, ill feeling twisted and churned inside of him.
He was alone. Tasubaa was alone yet again.
The still-fresh recollections of the elusive female, the one he had named Mika, still lingered within his mind. When he was with her, he felt as an equal beside her and, perhaps, complete. There was something about her that made him feel-
"Accepted," he mused with a low, slightly gruff tone as sleeps binding grip had loosened; the firey wolf was awakening.
His maw suddenly drew wide open as a yawn escaped from its depths, a low moan and a discomforted rumble sounding from his chest. An afternoon nap was soothing but he grew restless. Tasubaa couldn't recall when he last filled his stomach with a meal, let alone when he last found a decent victim to pillage. But maybe his fortunes were turning, there was something stirring within the woods.
A wafting scent drifted towards him upon a passing breeze, stirring up a sudden sensation of hunger and a desire for food. But the scent was foul; the fur upon his back bristled as his teeth bared slightly in a magnificent, sly grin.
The drive for food was suddenly replaced with a desire for a brawl, bloodshed and dominance. Yes, the scent of blood was begining to lather the air in a chilling manner but, to Tasu, it began slowly transforming him into the warrior that resided within.
"A battle," he muttered as he staggered to his paws, his tattered hair waving and swaying with a precise, delicate nature. "I hope I'm not too late. I need a bit of excitement," he sneered as he slowly began to immerse himself within the confines of the shrouding darkness, the firey male submersing into the darkness as the trail of blood caught hold of his interest.
Uncertain to where the appealing scent was taking him towards as only his paws directed him, Tasubaa was searching for something...for his dignity and dominance to rekindle within his forsaken soul. A heavy heart weighed in his chest and his sole right eye still strained to find the light.
He still was on the road to recovery but, as for now, he was diverting upon the path to his forgotten warrior nature. He was seeking to find his inner strength again...
The firey wolfs nose became bombarded by the brunt of the stench, his stomach churning slightly while his adrenaline coarsed. Just beyond the shrouding darkness and thick brush was the scene but, to his oblivious state, he would never suspect the truth behind the bloodshed.
Could his heart really handle such truth?
Yet...the same warrior whose quench only sought blood dwelled within him.
Sunset ears flickered as he stiff-leggedly padded closer towards the scene. It was still several lengths away and he could avoid the whole ordeal if he only turned back. But would he really abandon his desires?
No.
Until he could decifer what the situation was, the firey male stood within the depths of the darkness watching, waiting for any further assumptions that would lead him to his next move.
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 5:59 pm
Always with the Sharingan did Shanti feel like a new creature born in darkness. Every little scent, sound, movement, and vibration caught her attention. Her mind almost felt as if it was controled by the quick reactions and instincts that seemed to follow it. It was eery and irrational, in a sense. She had few feelings or even musings while she usesd them. That was how she had been raised.
When the wind brought the scent of another, someone familiar, she knew it at once. At first she did not move, residing in darkness like a sculpture or guardian to a secret chamber. But as he drew near she slowly turned her head to face him, white blood-red eyes shining in the darkness like stars of ill-omen. She did not move, remaining still as the shadows.
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 6:27 pm
Orbs like those of a blazing wildflire emerged as light began to trickle within them, casting a mischevious and brutish glaze that casted over them. Padding out from the thick brush, the sunset hued wolf's attention was first directed towards the crimson tarnished ground and towards the fallen wolf whose corpse resided only several feet away from his paws.
He was too late.
Shaking his head as a rather irritated growl emitted from the depths of his chest, Tasubaa gritted his teeth slightly. "Looks like I missed the action," he muttered as he swiped at the body, claws catching hold onto the skin and sending the corpse to roll over slightly in a rag-doll fashion. The battle had not been over too long ago on account that the body still retained some warmth and thus the killer-
"Still lurks nearby. Bloodstained and satisfied..."
Treading through the bloodstained grass, blood tarnishing his paws and casting its crimson upon his fur, Tasubaa slowly drifted his orbs away from the deceased wolf and drew them directly in front of them. It was at that moment that the sensation that he was no longer alone, or rather that he realized it, began pricking at the back of his neck and coarsing a discomfort down his spine.
The shadows ahead of him gleamed of crimson, a shrouded figure standing before him. He could sense the presence of another yet the blood in the air still hung heavily and masked all surrounding scents.
His body stiffened as his orbs locked onto the mysterious figure before him. With blood stirring and exhilaration tensing, the firey male tensed up while his tail swept upwards.
"Who's there?"
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 6:55 pm
Silence was his answer. The wolf did not speak, snarl, nor raise a hair in his direction. She simply stared with those strange eyes of hers containing 4 pupils instead of 1. Her mind had placed him when he had still been out of sight. But she just couldn't react like normal, with a tail wag or a smile. No, that part of her was masked with the tool she was at the moment. Her mother's tool.
Blinding Dusk sneered above. Oh! What a lustft wolf, to come at the scent of blood! Only he and Shanti knew the entire history of her clan and he had seen every moment of it. He was ever the observer and at times a comentator. He opened his wings and glided down silently to land on a lower branch at eye level with the two wolves, "You should not be here, wolf." His voice, however, was full with sick glee.
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 6:54 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 10:17 am
Every twitch, every breath, every shift in his expression was noticed as Shanti watched. Her mind almost felt rushed with so much information that was always, always being put into it. She knew him perfectly now and her heart shuttered. Her mask was still and every watching as before, but inside a sliver of herself responded. He was different. He was bloodthirsty. And she was all too glad he knew not who she was. Though soon she felt even these feelings would be smothered away in the moment, as her mother had taught her. Emotions did not fit when performing your duty.
The crow cackled, all the more amused by this wolf! Blood thirsty, eh? That was an understatement for this one! Yet the crow knew just as well as Shanti who this was. He was the eyes that never left her, even if he wasn't seen. He was all the more amused when he spoke of looking for her! And he was right infront of his face! "Ah, foolish wolf, you do not know her well enough to look!" He gushed with malicious cheer.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:56 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 11:57 am
"Mika! Oh! One of her oh so innocent given names!" The crow laughed, finding it endlessly amusing. His voice, however, felt like poison in the air, out of place and all too sharp. "Though I do believe her best given name was Envy! For no other wolfess is gifted as she." He didn't seem to shut up. His voice was shattering the silence and made it all the more unsettling.
For the wolfess stood in silence, her red eyes glowing in the darkness but being the only notable trait. And she continued to stare, unblinking with unsettling, unnatural eyes. Mika he had called her? Yes...tha was one of her given names...wasn't it? And yet right now, somehow, that name felt like wasted breath on his part.
"Shanti is the title from her birth and she stands right before your apparently blind eyes!" Cackled the crow.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:21 pm
The fur upon his back bristled and stood practically on end as the jesting caws and laughter that poured from the crows mouth. How he always hated crows; they were nothing like pitiful beasts stripped of noble titles and ignorant pests with wings.
But when the crow had mentioned "blind", a horrid rumble of hackles emitted from the depths of his chest as his lips pulled away from his fangs. How dare that loathful bird mock at him! Such comments and scorns made his blood boil, his anger kindle within like that of a raging storm!
"You damn bird! You know nothing of what hell is...you know not of who you mock! Best watch your tongue or I can assure you that your neck will be snapped between my jaws." His tone was full of malice and despise; the pains of the past still tolled upon his soul. His tail flailed upwards, feathered and arched upwards as his sole right eye focused upon the foul avian.
Before his tongue was to lash out again, his thoughts ceased aburptly. He had spoken a name...her name?
Shanti, was it? And a...gift?
"So this is her work, then?" He muttered as he shook his head, jagged hair above limply falling across his left eye. "Shanti kills other wolves..."
Snorting a short breath as he gripped the ground underneath, Tasubaa's snarl faded behind his lips as he pawed at the earth. She..was a killer yet his past wasn't so perfect himself. But, whether or not it was the truth that the young wolfess had comitted the crime, he still felt for her.
He still...loved her.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:33 pm
"Hmph!" The crow ruffled his feathers, looking not at all threatened by the fire wolf before him. Though he was very disgruntled, "You're lame excuse for an explaination insults me...and it insults Shanti, to be sure. You know nothing of who you are dealing with. Shanti is the only living daughter of the 'Demon of Shadows' famed in the lands of our clan. Or at least was before her mother told her to get rid of all the scum." He sniffed. Obviously he loved to talk, much like a parrot or something. Perhaps he made up for Shanti's silence, "She kills those within her duty. Though I see no reason I should explain anything to you anyway, low as you seem to be." And apparently he didn't take to others either, not at all like Shanti.
As Blinding Dusk paused to breath after his rather long rant, she shut her eyes for the first time since her duty had begun for the night. The swirling "gift" within her eyes vanished and allowed her to see normally once more. But with them gone, emotions returned. Hightened senses and insincts no longer clouded her judgment. He had found out.
Perhaps she was too afraid or distracted, but she refused to read his body lanuage that would suggest he might not hold any ill-will towards her. Instead her ears flickered slightly backwards and she shifted in the shadows silently, turning to leave. She didn't want to face his possible scorn...or worse, his possible attack.
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 9:38 pm
"I've escaped from death with my very life and lived to tell the tale. This should be no different than facing hell head on. If I die, then so be it." A slight snarl trailed across his maw as he always embraced confrentation. The rush of adrenaline and the sensation of fire back on the tongue was all too appealing. But with the resounding, unceasing amusement that spewed from the crows maw, Tasubaa growled low while the same menacing grin continued to grace his maw.
"Don't waste your breath, crow. I didn't come for you...I came for Shanti."
His right eye that gleamed within the essence of mischief and a yearning for understanding trailed across the shadows. He could faintly hear of her presence as her paws brushed over withered leaves upon the forest floor. Their crunching and gritting cackles seemed to deafly break the silence if one was to listen carefully, to fall silent with softened breaths, and be manipulated and led back onto the trail. Picking up his paws in a stiff-legged manner, the fiery wolf padded into the depths of the shadows as his ears flickered and sought both sounds and scents to be the sight which had befallen him.
Outstretching his muzzle in attempt to gain contact and brush his nose against her pelt, Tasubaa gently swayed his head in every direction searching, pressing onwards, to find where the wolfess resided within the shrouding darkness.
But what did Shanti think of him? Was she trying to avoid him? Was it because of his "appearance" that drove her away...jut like everyone else? A small frown curled upon his maw. No, he didn't like to think of such thoughts but, at this rate, he didn't know what to think.
Or maybe she was afraid of what he would think of her?
His eyes softened slightly as the thought lingered heavily within each passing wake in his mind. Was she afraid and embarassed of who she was? Oh, how he knew how it felt all too well!
Driving himself deeper, his muzzle brushed against something soft and sleek and, instantly, Tasubaa nuzzled it softly and pulled his head away slowly.
"Shanti..."
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 12:02 pm
Shanti was frightened. It wasn't fear the sense of she was afraid of him, but it was more of being afraid of what new thoughts had entered her mind. Seeing him so blood thirsty, so bold...while it didn't change her thoughts on him it frightened her. It made her wonder-did she look like that, when she was doing what her mother had bred her to do? Was she an entirely different person, like a monster without feeling? She had never questioned who she was before...but now, it felt like the curtain had been torn away and she was forced to look at something she didn't wish to.
She felt something rub against her flank and she turned her head slightly, ears pressed backward due to her inner thoughts. Shanti, that strange word rang out through the air from that voice that belonged to someone she had thought she was disappearing from. It was strange to hear, but it echoed in her ears as if it were entirely new and she hadn't heard it before. But she had responded to it none the less and she knew what it meant.
She did not speak-did not move either. This meant, of course, that she wasn't leaving but...she was just standing there, gazing at him as if she had just seen him out of the blue.
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 10:23 pm
Words seemed to faulter at the moment that the wolfess turned towards him, her orbs locking upon his presence, and silently stood still. He could feel his heart race, the very beat quickening within his chest as he focused soley upon her.
But he had to gain control of his emotions. He couldn't let his thoughts go unspoken and dwindle into lost thoughts. If he couldn't tell her, if he couldn't speak from the heart, then what was he after? Tasubaa couldn't let this become a futile search. After his last encounter with Shanti, he couldn't let her escape from him. He had to find her and convince her of the conviction of his heart.
It was now or never.
His fiery hued ears flickered as his head tilted slightly. How to phrase and speak of such things? How could he make her listen or at least take him seriously? Furrowing his brows slightly as his right eye trailed up towards her, he inhaled softly.
"Shanti, don't go. I don't care if you kill other wolves or have some sort of hidden past because, whether we like it or not, we all have some form of a dark history," he softly began with a soothing, quiet voice that became uninhabited with anger, frustration or any agression whatsoever.
"That's not going to stop me from loving you."
A sudden flush of emotion once agan began to coarse through his wolfish veins, flowing proudly and swiftly as his whole body became engulfed in such a strange emotion. Love; such a funny word but such a deep, heartfelt meaning.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 3:08 pm
...He wasn't angry.
The silence pressed in against her ear drums as he stopped talking, leaving her mind numb. It was almost as if her brain refused to function.
He didn't hate her.
A feeling like warm water seem to trickle from her heart and then sweep over her entire body. The sensation caused the fur along her body to bristle slightly. It was a good feeling and yet...it sent her mind into constrictions. What was it...? She didn't quite understand.
Was this the love he spoke of? She didn't know...for she hadn't felt like this before. Her white ears flickered back slightly, but so no longer made to leave, and she no longer stared like a deer caught in headlights. Instead she gazed at him with affectionate confusion, seeming a little lost.
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