Welcome to Gaia! ::

Arriving in Mist, Eluamous kept a sharp eye behind him for signs of pursuit; the Angra Mainyu seemed to be appearing near him way too easily ever since he'd killed Karite... Glancing in his reflection against the river he noticed black rings starting to form under his eyes... The tainted gem was already affecting him after only a day; Karite probably was in pursuit of the gem still... Since he'd been affected by it for so much longer, was it possible that a connection existed between the Ensign and the item?
If so, then keeping the gem was dangerous to maintain in his possession; he would have to get rid of it. Of course turning into a raven and using the flock to bypass dangerous blows was interesting in its own right.... Snapping out of it, Eluamous decided that the gem really was taking a hold of him, it was already affecting his body externally; it wasn't a safe object to keep in his possession not because he lacked control; but because the gem knew that he was not worthy to wield it.
'It knows its own...', Eluamous would be the first to admit that he leaned towards Chaos as opposed to law. Not that he was a bad guy by any sense; he certainly had done his fair share of good; just not in ways that the laws would appreciate sometimes. Striking several seals to test the theory, he found that the gem indeed reacted most violently against chaos; although it seemed indifferent between good and evil; an object of neutrality and law... something beyond his ability to use safely, that much was certain...
Eluamous made his way towards a pawn shop in order to see what the trinket could fetch. It was of no use to him if he could not use the artifact.

Entering the city, Eluamous sighted a boy in a red sash, and suddenly an idea came to him as he watched the loosely hung sash ripple... like a body would float in the water...

'...Oh NO.... you are NOT going to do what I think you are going to do!!!' 'Why hello there, it's been some time since you talked to me!' 'Don't you Hello There me! We are not faking our own death to throw off pursuit!' 'Do you know Crius's power level?' '....No, and don't tell me; I'll guess.... a hundred and thirty thousand?' 'Cold' 'One twenty five?' 'Colder' 'One fifty?' 'Still cold....' 'Two forty?' 'Time's up... Over Two Hundred and Ninety Thousand... that's double your power level; and don't think the Super Spartan will make up for it; even if you can match his chakra pool, he has way too many techniques at his disposal... and puppets' 'Which explains why he wanted to trade for mine.' 'Yup... Now then, we're going to try to throw the Angra Mainyu off your tail so you can build up your strength. Unless you want to be no better than that psychopath and start eating hearts to steal powers from other clans' 'I don't even want to know how you thought of that.' 'Good, then we're agreed.' 'I'm going to find a way to get into the real world and stab you one day, I swear...' 'Good to know, now shut up so I can write your next move'

Approaching the boy, Eluamous quickly spoke to him; "Do you want to earn a trinket of quite a fair bit of value?", keeping the tainted gem of ravens hidden for the time being until Rakurai responded.

'And the prize for always picking the suspicious citizen goes to...' 'Oh can it, or I'll make you lose an eye' 'I can just regenerate it, empty threat!' 'Not if I refuse to write you in regenerating one' 'Right right... so what do we do about Mr. Suspicious Peasant?' 'Just talk with him, he's suspcicious but he won't attack unless he's provoked... so keep your physique to yourself and don't look intimidating.' 'It's too hidden if you ask me... This cloak you chose me wearing hides everything; and serious, what warrior with any sense wears his hair this long; it just gets in the way.' 'Right... I'll find you a new picture if you be quite for ten minutes.' '........' 'Well?' '......' 'Playing the silent treatment, eh? Well I guess I'd best finish up writing before your ten minutes are up'

Raakurai was suspicious, although Eluamous had to give him credit, mysterious ninja asking if someone wanted to earn a trinket probably wasn't the best way to go... "Don't worry, I'm not out to hurt ya...", Eluamous quickly explained, "There's people looking for me, and I need to fake my death.... so if anyone goes around asking if you've seen a Spartan, would you be able to lie and tell them I fell into the river and my body was swept away by the current? For maintaining the tale, you get this... it's a gemstone aligned with the power of a Raven, at least from what I've discovered."
It really wasn't a bad plan; so long as Eluamous laid low he could train on his own away from the threat of the Angra Mainyu's forces. If they thought him dead it would cut off pursuit for some degree of time; and if he could find a way to get a training partner in addition to solo training; then he would be all the better... But first things first, he had to throw the Angra Mainyu off his trail.

[[ it's Eluamous (the character) arguing with his writer (me).
One of my friends was reading over my shoulder while I was writing once and noted that Elu the character would probably hate his writer for making him do some of the things he does... So I've been playing off the idea. ]]




"Thanks kid... just watch out who sees ya with that thing; there's a crazy guy from the Bikou clan who might want that gem... I sort of killed him and took it off his body. Either way, he's a pushover; and pretty gullible in terms og getting him to drink strange s**t; nothing you probably can't handle.!", Eluamous tossed the Tainted Gem of Ravens towards Rakurai, and as soon as the gemstone had left his hands, the Spartan struck a quick hand seal to initiate the Flying Thunder God technique; teleporting him to the last of his placed markers; the outskirts of The Cool... Although the place had been in disuse due to several events such as Drago's death; The Cool's library of techniques still remained intact... If he were to learn from anywhere; he might as well seclude himself in the mostly abandoned sanctuary where he could train in a relatively sturdy location and have some technique scrolls to look over in the meantime...

Walking off the boat he rode in on, Ikkoku yawned and stretched as he set foot onto foreign land for the first time in his life. The Hidden Mist Village certainly lived up to its name. There was fog everywhere, which would impair his eyesight even more if he weren’t on his eye medication. The condensation in the air reminded him of the clouds surrounding his own village before it was demolished, bringing about a sense of welcoming familiarity. He certainly picked the perfect place to “study abroad”. Speaking of which, Ikkoku made sure to keep an eye on the pale-skinned girl he had followed onto the boat he had just exited. There was something about her that the Hidden Cloud ninja couldn’t quite put his finger on. In any case, while he was here, he might as well get to know her. Staying far enough away to not be suspicious but close enough for him to see through the mist, he began his exploration of the village.

1586+168=1754 SP

As Ikkoku continued to follow the girl whose beauty had convinced him to travel to the Hidden Mist Village, he began thinking back to something he had been pondering a few days earlier. Just as certain chakra elements weakened and strengthened each other, could souls also affect each other in a similar fashion? Seeing as chakra is essentially a form of energy that dwells within each human being, could it be that chakra reflects the essence of one’s soul? For instance, he specialized in wind and lightning-based chakra, which perfectly matched the main aspects of his personality (wind symbolizing his slight laziness and lack of interest in many things that didn’t directly relate to him and lightning reflecting his determination and stubbornness in maintaining his point of view to the few issues he truly cared about). If this were true, were some souls naturally stronger than others and did some souls strengthen other souls? Maybe this had to do with why he decided to follow this girl in front of him. Then again, he was probably over-analyzing the whole situation.

As he finished his miniature philosophical quandary, Ikkoku noticed that the girl was entering a building. As he got closer, he found the building to be a hot spring. Oh, jackpot! Things were looking better and better for him. Hot girls and hot water in the same place at the same time….it was like something out of a fantasy. The young shinobi was also pleased to learn that the hot spring also served as a hotel. After asking the woman behind the front desk for directions to the nearest shinobi academy nearby, Ikkoku decided to rent a room for the evening to rest up for what could be a long journey to said academy. Was that girl there for the same reason? Man, he had to stop thinking so much about her. She was a complete stranger. Still, she was quite a looker. Maybe, if he was still lucky tomorrow, he would get a chance to meet her before she left. After unpacking his one small bag, he undressed and stepped into the men’s bath, sighing contently as he let the hot spring’s water work its magic.

1754+367=2121 SP

It is unclear how long Akane had sitting in the spot but apparently it was long enough to have made her doze off. She wasn’t asleep for too long until she felt the need to move around again. She did still have much of the village to explore and it was a good excuse to get out of there before she ended up hunting whoever her follower was down and trying to kill him. Not only would such actions get her promptly kicked out of this establishment, but she would probably have every single villager on her a**. That was too much drama that could arise over someone she deemed unworthy of her time. With little effort, she unfolded her legs and came to stand before exiting her room and venturing down the corridor.

Kill him child. The boy means nothing and would not be missed in the slightest. He’d be an easy kill. His own skills and strength do not exceed your own. Come now my twisted little marionette. End his pathetic life.

She didn’t even grace the demon with an answer, even though his words carried such allure. She refused to take such a risk and she had it in her mind that she would not be swayed. Soon enough she was outside of the main doors to the bath house and she wasted no time in continuing her wandering. While wondering she made sure to memorize how many steps it took her to get from one place to the next all the while listening to the various sounds of peoples voices and of any animals that might have possibly been roaming amongst the crowd. Then suddenly she felt it, although it was kind of hard to put an exact description to it. One thing was for sure though; such a feeling caused her whole being to tingle as if it were falling asleep.

The further she walked, the stronger the feeling became. Apparently she was getting closer to the area whatever had just happened, had taken place. Now two scents graced her nose although one was very faint. The scent that remained however smelled of rain after a fierce storm with a bit of musk mixed in there. Another male it seemed. Had he been the one who had created such an occurrence? Perhaps he would be the one to speak to. She took two more steps closer but then left it at that as she still wanted to have enough distance to evade an attack if he proved to be one of the unsociable types.

“I seek enlightenment and to better my skills. Are you the one I am to come to in order to accomplish this?”

Her introduction was forward as usual. She decided to leave out her name and where she was from as in her opinion it would be a waste of her time and his if he was not the one who could assist her.