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 Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:12 pm
 Kazuki looked down at the large spike protruding from his mid-section. A scream pierced the room and Kazuki realized that it was his own voice.
He coughed several times and blood dribbled out from his mouth. His ball of light faded away and he fell back to the floor in pain. He fought his slipping grip on his own consciousness and remained awake. Struggling to speak through his blood, he coughed to clear his throat.
"Thanks....and to answer your other question....I don't know why I was there..."
He lay on his back, not daring to move. He didn't want to move for fear of causing himself more suffering. He waited for a response.
Whoever this guy is....he has a serious issue...
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:19 pm
There was a simmering anger, like unseen eyes watching the
fat drip from a steak, wriggling on the grill. The seething
anger didn't subside, but instead it swelled into another
storm- concentrated and mighty,
"...I.... am not a patient man... nor am I a kind one.
Ansssswer... or you will become envioussss of the wormssss
who have it sssso well writhing in the filth and refusssse
that we humanssss leave behind..."
There was a cold promise. There was no threat- you know
that what he said- he meant. There was no gray area, no
half answers, no second chances.
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:31 pm
Kazuki almost laughed. Almost.This guy has a serious 'I'm important' kind of attitude. Almost a bigger ego than some people I've seen. He coughed more blood up to clear his throat again. Regardless of this guy's god complex, Kazuki needed to give him an answer, least he shove more spikes through his body or worse.
"I just wanted to see my squad and cheer them on but....I was still angry...."
Kazuki didn't like talking to this guy about his problems but at least he was better than actually talking with his friend. Ichi probably won't want to talk to him anymore after that....yet Kazuki had a feeling that that's not Ichi would act.
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:45 pm
The festering malice in the unseen darkness was like the
monster in your closet. Unseen, terrible, and it inspired
fear into even the bravest of us- but unlike the things that
go "bump" in the night, the Otokage was not a figment of
your imagination,
A low hiss came from the darkness, as if he where waiting
for Kazuki to continue. The hiss came with a scraping, like
the teeth of a rusty rake on the moist stone floor being
dragged across it towards him. What came next he could
only describe as otherworldly. Something wet and metallic
clamped around his wrist. Shackles? No... something sharp
and... something snapped. Something fell. A wet sloshing
noise...
A hand... his own, rested adjacent to him. The wound was
strange... unreal, like a phantom. It couldn't be real? It
was some kind of illusion. It didn't hurt. It didn't hurt. No
it did... it was coming, he could feel it- like the drums before
the end of a symphony he could feel it rushing like wild white
water towards a cascading cliff into an abyss of terrible and
numbing pain that would make the strongest vomit and the
weakest die. Shock... this was shock...
Blackness... nothingness... it was empty... more sharp things,
little teeth, little tiny teeth. A thousand little chewing mouths
took it apart, bit by bit until there was nothing left. Unseen
horrors covering him like an army of ants in the deep of
night... he was alone... and dead... but the salvation all of
us waited for in the after life was at hand. The coffin lid
poped open... light spilling in- blinding him. He was... he
was alone... in a room, not the one the Otokage had held
him in... no... he was in a simple wooden coffin back at
the exams... a numbness in his hand- a phantom pain-
promised that it hadn't been real... it wasn't real... those
mouths where fake... it wasn't real.... it wasn't real...
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:16 pm
Kazuki felt himself wake up. He wasn't in the room anymore but he could still feel a funny feeling on his skin. He raised his hand to his face to check if it was still there and it was, no stitches or operation marks to cover it up either. He lifted up his shirt to check his chest. No mark there either. He sat in the coffin,which should have scared him s***less if he was paying attention to it, and thought about what had happened to him. Had he imagined the whole thing? No, he still felt weak effects from his encounter. Who was that guy anyway? Had he just been in a really strong illusion? Was that all?
He climbed out of the coffin, sat down next to it, and leaned up against it. He had wanted time to think about what to do now and he had been given the time for it. It was now his moment to think on his actions and as Seika had said earlier, 'take responsibility for them'.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:49 pm
"Shiki Nohara"
Shiki arrived no sooner or less when Kazuki had woken up, and eyed the place over with beady, black eyes. This place... reeked so many memories for her. So many hallowed halls and walls of haunted faces, voices... colors...
It was hard to decifer just what the kunoichi was feeling underneath that mask she wore, but her intent for being here seemed almost hostile as she studied the room the way a bug would.
"... What's his verdict?" hissed Shiki as she narrowed her eyes over at Kazuki, the exterior glazed with a murderous streak as she tilted her head a bit and popped it.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:15 pm
Kazuki looked up, surprised to see his sensei. He felt that terrible feeling rise up again but ignored it for now. He stood up to face her."Who's verdict are you talking about? Cause the guy who I...."talked" with didn't like me so much." He shivered and placed his hands on his stomach, remembering the feeling of the spike driven through him.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:45 pm
((He woke up in the exams actually. Not in the sound village proper. This is a fine continuation though.))
"Please... he was deemed not to be a threat to the exams or our village. Take him." A Sound ninja who was previously unseen mentioned showing them the door.
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:54 am
"Shiki Nohara"
With a slight nod of her head, she had given Kazuki a hard look and nodded her head towards the door sharply before walking out of the room and avoiding contact with the Sound ninjas including the one who had just spoken to her.
They knew who she was. She had been here before. She was familiar with this... place. But it was nothing like the Dissection lab. Or the cells they had down there...
After leaving the room and the building that was deemed to be the Otokage's lair, she said not a word to him until after they were at a safe distance from ears.
"... You still want to finish your exams? Or is it too late for you to get going?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:54 pm
Kazuki followed his sensei out quickly. He could feel the uneasiness radiating off her body. She did not like it here. Why? He couldn't tell. He continued to follow until he heard her ask about the exams. "Well about that....I kinda failed the first test soooo yeah, and deeming from the incident I raised I'm not exactly welcome at the exams." He decided to leave out the part about Ichite-ru and how he probably didn't want to hear Kazuki's name for a while, much less have him cheer for him. He looked down avoiding his teacher's gaze. He just felt worse from his statement. It had come out as an answer from a command, not a willing confession. That fact made him feel a lot worse.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:08 pm
 Shuniji's face felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. In fact, so did his arms, legs; his entire body felt like a poorly-sewn plush toy with the stuffing leaking out.
Ugh, and someone was trying to stuff it back in, forcefully... with... scissors AUGH, WHAT WAS THIS PAIN!?
Shuniji felt like he'd fallen several stories onto his back when he awoke. What was once numb, became searing pain, which was now receding into a dull ache--OW, OW, OW--okay, so it wasn't quite at the "dull" stage yet, but it was getting there... slowly.
It was several moments for Shuniji to realize that he had actually opened his eyes, and that the room was actually that dark. Even with ninja training and what might have been a candle, he could only make out that there were walls, maybe a door somewhere, and that the floor was hard and uncomfortable. If he were any kinds of lucid at the moment, he would have wondered what jerks dropped him on the floor in the middle of a storage room.
Very carefully, Shuniji tried to push himself up, which resulted in a sad, upside-down turtle maneuver as he remembered his shoulder blades were wounded, his right shoulder gashed, and his left thigh was injured high enough up that he found it a horrible idea to try sitting up.
On in uninjured side, he felt something in his pants pocket. Lying back down, he reached over with his left hand and pulled out a folded note. He adjusted it so it caught a little light and read it. And reread it. And tried to unread it.
He tried to coax his nano-bugs into eating it, but even they were having none of that. He carefully set the letter down as far away as he could reach, as though sudden movement would cause it to violently explode.
The absurdity of the whole scenario was enough to make Shuniji's present condition all the more real. It had finally dawned on him that he was no longer in the arena, nor was he in the medical bay, nor was he even in his apartment. What room had no furnishings, no ceiling and no visible light source..?
Shuniji ironically felt his heart stop. His injuries suddenly didn't feel that bad and he shuffled into an awkward sitting position. Sand fell from his hair in small streams.
Jeeze. His first time in the Otokage's Lair, he had his fly undone, now he was there shirtless. At this rate, he was going to give his master the wrong impression...
"..." Shuniji couldn't bring himself to speak first. It would be ironic to announce himself, since the Otokage obviously already knew he was there. He didn't want to be rude, though--Ugh, Shuniji was starting to feel sick with anxiety.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:22 pm
"Giftsssss.... are not meant to be sssssquandered..." Hissed
a powerful voice, resounding the entire room over- echoing
off the walls with a painful escalation. The raspy hiss of the
Otokage could make the blood run cold in an icicle but now
more than ever it was frigid to Shuniji's ears. There was
something that between disapproval and disgust so entire
that words failed to describe it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:35 pm
Shuniji felt something wither and die in the pit of his stomach. With just seven words, Shuniji felt like he'd received an entire lecture, been evicted from his home, and punched in the broken leg. He tried to straighten his posture and give something akin to a bow without flinching like the weakling he felt he was.
"..." It was rare Shuniji didn't have something to say. He knew there was nothing he could possibly say at the moment to make the situation better, and the Otokage was the one person he didn't want to piss off with his usual, self-propagating natter.
He was also the one person he didn't want to disappoint. So much for that...
Shuniji wanted to punch himself in the broken leg, but figured he'd receive his own momentarily anyway. Wallowing in self-pity was for the weak, but he couldn't help but feel that was the Otokage's intention for him.
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:16 pm
"Let me illustrate the point. I once had a ssssparrow...
I fed him and kept him in good health assssss a good
masssster should. All I expeccccted in return was that
it sssssit there on it's perch and show me resssspect.
One day thisssss bird decccccided to bite me... it'ssss
life was a good deal shorter that it might have been...
sssssince it no longer relished my giftssss... I gave it
no more... perhapsssss you can learn from thissss sssstory
Shuniji..." Came his cool, calm reply. His voice was rife
with restraint- like he was FORCING himself to not unload
his displeasure on him.
"Ssssee... you are a sssssparrow in a cage that I keep
feed because you have not PISSED ME OFF YET!..."
The anger broke for a moment but subsided a few moments
later as silences engulfed the room...
"By not winning thissss tournament you have bit my
finger...and though you have not drawn blood my ire
isssss upon you. You must go and reclaim the remaining
sssscrapsssss of my honor you DESSSSECRATED WITH
YOU FAILURE!..."
Again the anger broke and again it subsided in an icy
silence,
"Those pathetic Kages... they voted you to the rank
of Chunin... however you will NEVER claim that rank
with such FILTH on your face! YOU WILL KILL THE
ONE WHO DEFEATED YOU IF YOU EVER WANT
TO SHOW YOUR FACE AGAIN!"
A small grotesque green Oni mask fell to the ground
from deep with in the shadows. It's form was homely
and crudely carved. The Kanji for "humiliation" was
carved into it's forehead in large red strokes.
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:41 am
Shuniji's eyes were wide with vacant horror. All that work, all that blood and sweat and blood, and he was still worth less than dirt in the Otokage's eyes. The fact he was voted forward by the other Kage hardly registered in his mind as the Otokage's hissing voice rung about the room, muddling the words, making only one fact clear: he was a failure.
The clatter of something on the floor in front of him broke Shuniji from his spiraling thoughts. He groped around in the darkness, but realized the Otokage had caused it to skid just out of reach. He cringed in pain as his slashed arm dragged his broken leg slowly across the concrete floor so he could grab the object.
It was a mask. Shuniji brought it close to his face to examine it, but pulled it away once he realized how grotesque it was. It said "humiliation". Suddenly the metaphorical light dawned on Shuniji, which was ironically bleak. He slowly flipped the mask over in his hands, running bare fingers over the detailed carvings, and carefully lifted it up to his face.
It seemed to fuse to his face, it fit so well, which only served to sicken Shuniji even more. He wanted to cry. Maybe he could get away with it now that he was wearing a mask.
The masked shinobi in wrecked clothing, covered in more dirt and dried blood than skin and an ugly mask looked up at where he presumed the Otokage to be. The lack of visible expression made him look like an expectant child. He wouldn't be able to move until a medic-nin fixed his leg, though he half-expected the Otokage to make him crawl out of the room on his belly.
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