private Bushi no Tamashi

[Chickey 383]

Saigo waited a few moments before he started speaking, clearly thinking for a bit. "Usually this would be the time I cut someones throat and take their weapons. However, not only do I need you for this mission. But you also put up a much better fight then the last few who've challenged me. And for that, I'll spare you." He decided as he re-sheathed his sword, still looking over her. "I'm curious however, what caused you to duel me in the first place?" He asked, taking a sip of his sake before placing it back.

 

Before Azura could answer, two figures jumped from the direction of the castle and landed next to Saigo. One of them seemed to be female in shape, but seeing they had a hood over their head it wasn't clear yet. The other one was a large incredibly tall muscular man that was so heavy the ground practically shook when he landed on it from his jump. An absolutely furious look was planted on his face as he looked at Azura. Both of them seemed ready to attack until Saigo waved his hand over to them. "Relax, it was just a friendly duel, nothing to get worked up about." He ordered as he walked back over to his spot by the tree. The mans face seemed to calm down afterward as Saigo waited for Azura's answer.  

[Azura 1,107]

Akira was somewhat relieved when Saigo told her that he'd spare her life. When she walked over and bent down to pick up her katana, the second she laid hands on it, the earth shook from the landing of someone who was at least double the size of her. She quickly teleported herself right beside Saigo before he told him to back down. Akira smiled nervously before she answered his question. "I just wanted to see if we were on the same level of skill and how you'd react when I pointed my blade at you." She explained briefly to Saigo before she placed her Nagamaki on her back and asked "Shall we start our journey towards Tani, General?" with a smile on her face.

[Chickey 383]

"I see... no hard feelings, I've made everyone I consider close to me duel at least once. I wouldn't consider myself to truly know them if I haven't. If anything I'm glad you did." He explained as he got up. "Yes, we shall. However, seeing this is a meeting area. I deemed three people too small for something like this. Seeing no one else appears to be coming. I've called two of my best soldiers to join us instead." He then pointed to the larger man. "Daikuma Tsuyosa" And then the other. "Rinsame Sakana. However, in the military we tend to just call them Kuma and Same for short. My own nickname was Hebi before becoming a general, if you were curious."

 

Daikuma simply gave a mere "Greetings," with a bow when Saigo mentioned his name. Rinsame had taken off her hood by now and waved while muttering a nice "Hai." through her shark teeth.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Pumkin

[Samurshy 708]

Arashi directed Kaito inside of the room and then slid the rice door shut behind him.

"I bet that all of you are wondering exactly what you are doing here. You know that you were selected to be a part of a sort of task force, but at this point I am guessing all of you are wondering what exactly does the. 'task', part in task force entail." Arashi was still standing as he spoke. He reached into his blue kimono, the one he always wore when he wasn't planning on doing combat. He procured a kiseru (a long pipe used for smoking tobacco), he then grabbed an incense stick that was on the table and used the cherry of the incense stick to light his tobacco. He took a long drag on his pipe before sitting cross legged at the head of the table.

"First, let me ask all of you. I know that Fen-sama knows, but to the rest of you. Are you familiar with Tani?" Arashi said in-between puffs on his pipe. The light smoke filled the air. The tobacco was flavored with peach essence and so the smoke made the whole room smell of peaches. 

[Gyro Zeppeli 120]

"Tani? One of the islands that lie within the crecent? Its where the Onijin originate from isn't it?" *Shiho said looking over at Fen.* "It seems like an interesting place, I have always wanted to go there and visit." *Shiho realized.* "Is that why you called us here? To plan an expodition to Tani? That sounds exciting!"

Edited March 4, 2014 by Knight Artorias

[Ampharos 1,009]

@,

 

Kaito snorted and rolled his eyes. Tani. Was this man joking? He didn't exactly look the type. "What? Those super special items with super special powers? Pretty sure that's just a myth. Nothing would be able to do that. And if they did exist, only a Kitsune would have the power to control them!"  

[Azura 1,107]

"Yoroshikune Tsuyosa-san, Rinsame-san!" She said cheerfully before introducing herself to the two bodyguards. "My name is Akira Sakurai, nice to meet you. You can call me Aki if you want." Akira looked at the muscular bodyguard and asked him "How come you're so tall, Kuma?" She waited curiously for his answer.

[LOLINKLOL 6]

"Nice to meet you Kuma and Same." Isamu said as he looked them over. "They sure seem capable." He thought to himself. "So, is everyone ready to go ahead or will we be having any more sparring sessions?" He said. "I believe it'd be more efficient if we get going soon. We don't want the Narumi getting a leg up on us." He said. 

[Chickey 383]

Saigo gave a nod to Isamu. "We will indeed be leaving for Tani now. Hopefully we'll be blessed with a smooth uninterrupted journey there. However that's usually too much to ask for once we leave the boundaries of the castle." He commented as he started walking, whistling a soft tune to himself.

 

Kuma started walking, replying to Azura with a prideful voice. "My size runs in the family to make my duties in the army much more easy to carry out. Judging by your fight with Saigo, you use magic and swordsmanship? Was this technique also passed down for you." He asked as he clanked his two gauntlets together in front of himself and then walked with his hands rested behind his back.

 

Rinsame walked over towards Isamu as she followed the rest of the group. "I'm guessing your the Isamu Shimanaka Tactician guy that Lord Saigo talks so much about, eh?" She asked, looking at him. 

[TheBreech 91]

Arashi directed Kaito inside of the room and then slid the rice door shut behind him.

 

"I bet that all of you are wondering exactly what you are doing here. You know that you were selected to be a part of a sort of task force, but at this point I am guessing all of you are wondering what exactly does the. 'task', part in task force entail." Arashi was still standing as he spoke. He reached into his blue kimono, the one he always wore when he wasn't planning on doing combat. He procured a kiseru (a long pipe used for smoking tobacco), he then grabbed an incense stick that was on the table and used the cherry of the incense stick to light his tobacco. He took a long drag on his pipe before sitting cross legged at the head of the table.

 

"First, let me ask all of you. I know that Fen-sama knows, but to the rest of you. Are you familiar with Tani?" Arashi said in-between puffs on his pipe. The light smoke filled the air. The tobacco was flavored with peach essence and so the smoke made the whole room smell of peaches.

Fenikku's admiration became confused fear instantly, "Tani? Aww crap, the nice commander thinks I know something that I don't... Now he'll think I'm dumb and... dumb... Well maybe if I listen good the others will explain it so I just need to..." His gray face became red as he realized every word of what he just said was out loud. He looked at Shiho and said "I told you I'm not smart didn't I..? Edited March 4, 2014 by TheBreech

[LOLINKLOL 6]

As he began to walk, Isamu turnes to Rinsame, "The one and only! I've been studying tactics and strategy since I was little. My dad was a great tactician in his day. I decided I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get your teeth like that?"

[Azura 1,107]

Aki teleported in front of Kuma, facing towards him as she walked backwards in the direction of where they were heading. "Well, not really. None of my family members were great warriors or powerful magic users. I started practicing using a katana at first, but I started using various weapons to see which one suited my style of fighting." She explained to Kuma as she continued. "I learned magic from someone who was willing to share his knowledge, but after a year, he disappeared. I'm not really sure where he is now but I hope I could see him once more.." She let out a sigh. "I might not be very skilled with magic but I know a thing or two that gets me out of situations that I wouldn't have gotten out of without magic." When she finished talking, she teleported beside Kuma and continued walking.

[Octavia's Bow 2,035]

Arashi directed Kaito inside of the room and then slid the rice door shut behind him.

 

"I bet that all of you are wondering exactly what you are doing here. You know that you were selected to be a part of a sort of task force, but at this point I am guessing all of you are wondering what exactly does the. 'task', part in task force entail." Arashi was still standing as he spoke. He reached into his blue kimono, the one he always wore when he wasn't planning on doing combat. He procured a kiseru (a long pipe used for smoking tobacco), he then grabbed an incense stick that was on the table and used the cherry of the incense stick to light his tobacco. He took a long drag on his pipe before sitting cross legged at the head of the table.

 

"First, let me ask all of you. I know that Fen-sama knows, but to the rest of you. Are you familiar with Tani?" Arashi said in-between puffs on his pipe. The light smoke filled the air. The tobacco was flavored with peach essence and so the smoke made the whole room smell of peaches. 

 

 

"A small, split island between our two warring nations. I know it; I once visited there. My father despised the inhabitants, no offense to Fen-sama. It is beautiful, and forested." My father was looking for something. Something he said I was too young to understand. A myth, he said.

[Samurshy 708]

Arashi looked at Kaito with bewilderment.

"No, Shiho-chan was right. And, Kaito, what you were thinking about is called Taniaku", Arashi wondered how it was that Kaito know about Taniaku but not the island of Tani. He took another puff 

"What you are all here for is expressly the reason that Kaito was saying. The Taniaki. Until recently, the Shogunate was actually unaware of these items, even the legends. We had never heard of them. But we recently had a recon team scout the island. They found this", Arashi clapped his hands and two females in kimono came in. The were both carrying one end of a lockbox. They placed it next to Arashi and walked out of the room backwards as they bowed. Arashi stood up. He pulled out a black iron key and stuck the key inside the keyhole to the box. Even though the key was what unlocked it, unbeknownst to the others in the room, if anyone other than Arashi, the Emperor or Arashi's assistant were to put the key inside the lock, the box would have exploded with magical force that would claim the life of anyone in the premises of the explosion. Arashi unlocked the box and procured the red leather gauntlet with mirror like scale armor on it. The very one that was recovered by the recon team. 

Arasi held the item for everyone in the room to see. 

"It doesn't look very special, to the naked eye. However," Arashi placed the gauntlet on his right hand, "One of you, strike me down with your weapon. I know this is an odd request, coming from the Shogun. But one of you, I don't care who, should slash their blade at my skin. It doesn't matter where, the face the torso, the legs. Strike me down" Arashi said with a smile as he took another puff from his pipe.

[Chickey 383]

Saigo led the group down a path silently as he thought about the mission. The path they were taking was clearly in the direction of the Zetsumei Docks. Saigo himself wasn't a huge fan of using a ship to get places. Or water in general, as he tends to think that it just slows him down. 

 

Rinsame almost got an embarrassed look as she heard Isamu ask about her teeth. But it quickly faded when she realized that he wasn't going to make fun of her. "Much like my skin tone, I inherited from my parents. My father was a shark Kyujin and my mother was Human. So I'm guessing I'm sorta in between. However I'm guessing someone could file their teeth down to get a effect close to this." She explained

 

Daikuma thought for a moment. "I see... however gaining good swordsmanship all by yourself and enough magic to actually hit Lord Saigo in just a year is quite remarkable even by Zetsumeian standards." Daikuma responded in his gruff voice.

[Octavia's Bow 2,035]

Arashi looked at Kaito with bewilderment.

 

"No, Shiho-chan was right. And, Kaito, what you were thinking about is called Taniaku", Arashi wondered how it was that Kaito know about Taniaku but not the island of Tani. He took another puff

 

"What you are all here for is expressly the reason that Kaito was saying. The Taniaki. Until recently, the Shogunate was actually unaware of these items, even the legends. We had never heard of them. But we recently had a recon team scout the island. They found this", Arashi clapped his hands and two females in kimono came in. The were both carrying one end of a lockbox. They placed it next to Arashi and walked out of the room backwards as they bowed. Arashi stood up. He pulled out a black iron key and stuck the key inside the keyhole to the box. Even though the key was what unlocked it, unbeknownst to the others in the room, if anyone other than Arashi, the Emperor or Arashi's assistant were to put the key inside the lock, the box would have exploded with magical force that would claim the life of anyone in the premises of the explosion. Arashi unlocked the box and procured the red leather gauntlet with mirror like scale armor on it. The very one that was recovered by the recon team.

 

Arasi held the item for everyone in the room to see.

 

"It doesn't look very special, to the naked eye. However," Arashi placed the gauntlet on his right hand, "One of you, strike me down with your weapon. I know this is an odd request, coming from the Shogun. But one of you, I don't care who, should slash their blade at my skin. It doesn't matter where, the face the torso, the legs. Strike me down" Arashi said with a smile as he took another puff from his pipe.

Loyalty without question, obedience without regret. In an eye blink, Natsuki push her tanto into Arashi's chest, a slow death that a healer could manage if it turned out to be bluff. It didn't puncture, however, and she pulled back before she jarred her wrist.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Dawnpath - Dusktrail

[Azura 1,107]

@,

Akira didn't really realize that she has obtained such a huge amount of power through the years until she was reminded by Kuma, but how can her power be measured by simply hitting Saigo? Is he some untouchable being? "Just because I could hit Saigo doesn't really mean much, does it?" She questioned Daikuma with a rather confused look in her eyes.

[Chickey 383]

Daikuma thought for a moment, his voice growing quiet. "There has only been only one time where I've seen him take damage in a duel myself. And that was back in the Zetsumei coup, the scar on his chest under his bandages. Even this however, was self inflicted." He said.

[Azura 1,107]

Akira knew that her blade never made contact with Saigo, only her poisonous needles did, but it was obvious that it didn't affect him at all and would leave no scars behind. "He blocked all of my attacks, so does that count as hitting him? If you're referring to my needles, maybe it's because he's never fought against a magic user." She replied.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Azura

[Chickey 383]

Daikuma simply gave a nod as he walked, leaving a trail behind. Even his footprints made rather large deep imprints in the ground due to his size. "I'd still consider it a hit myself. He's fought a few, and his weakness is indeed range. However they were just as easily slain and parted from their weapons as their predecessors." He continued.

[Azura 1,107]

Akira just smiled back at Daikuma. She couldn't wait to explore the lands of Tani. "Now that I think of it, I wonder why the best of Zetsumei were sent to retrieve the artifacts hidden within the woods." She thought out loud without even knowing it, so she wasn't expecting an answer. Aki just continued walking like nothing happened.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Azura

[LOLINKLOL 6]

"Interesting lineage you have there, Same." Isamu realized he would need to know his comrades well in order to have success in this campaign. He decided he would do his best to get to know the three warriors he had just met well, before they arrived at Tani. "So," he said, "What do you use to fight with Rinsame? Anything special I should know about?" 

[Chickey 383]

The docks weren't all that far away now, they would be coming in sight soon. Before Daikuma could reply to Akira's though, Saigo started off. "Obtaining these objects are critical to our success against Narumi. If we were to send in simple soldiers and lose, we would probably also lose everything.  We can't risk failure, so we're sending the best of the best to make sure." He explained.

 

Rinsame gave a slight chuckle. "Weapons eh? That's a fun topic." She said as she pulled out the two serrated wakizashi swords. "There isn't too much special about these besides the sawtooth blades. But they do the job as backup." She explained as she re-sheathed the two swords. And then pulled the serrated scythe off her back and spun it around like a baton. "This however, is a bit more fun. Mainly because it can do this." She said as the top half shot off towards the side, still connected with a chain to the staff. She spun the top half around by moving the staff for a while before it retracted back into the staff. "It makes a pretty good surprise weapon. Plus I can keep myself at range too."

Edited March 6, 2014 by Pumkin

[Azura 1,107]

Akira was a bit confused when Saigo answered her thought. 'I must have thought out loud.' She guessed. "And what makes you so sure that the Narumi won't send an entire army against us?" Aki questioned Saigo without expecting him to know what the opposing faction plans on doing and who they're sending to Tani. "Hey Saigo, I was wondering if you know anyone from the Narumi."

[Samurshy 708]

Arashi felt the swift movements of Natsuki before she even made them. He could tell by the eye movements, and the twitch in her muscles that she was ready to strike a split second before she did. Arashi had to force himself to not react according to muscle memory. If he had, his sword would have already sliced through Natsuki's arm. But he managed to allow the blade to come in contact with his chest. As soon as the blade reached within an inch of his chest, the blade bounced off an invisible wall. It was as if Natsuki's blade came in contact with thick plate armor.  

Arashi smiled

"Well, you certainly know how to follow orders." Arashi said. As loyal follower's go, a warrior who can kill their commander under order of their commander is definitely worth while. 

"As you can see, the Taniaku items have immense power. Each item varies in ability. Our side has seen three Taniaku first hand. This gauntlet is one of them", He said as he placed the gauntlet back into the chest and locked the chest back up. He took another puff from the pipe as the wispy peach smoke floated in the air.

"Our goal- This team's mission is simple, find all of the 22 known Taniaku on the island of Tani. We will have to take a boat, and we leave port tomorrow morning. It will be a three day venture, but the boat is stock full of food and other plush commodities that you should enjoy. In fact, to pass the time, I was thinking of holding a tournament, a fighting tournament. The winner, gets to carry the first Taniaku we find. That means, of course, utilizing it's abilities in combat as well. It also means that it will be your own personal Taniaku for as long as you serve the shogunate. But know this. The Taniaku are Narumi property, desertion with a Taniaku is akin to treason and you will be sentenced to death. The Taniaku are powerful, and some have a problem with sharing that power. If you are not up to the task of collecting Taniaku for your country, if you feel that you would betray this country for the sake of personal power. Know this... I did not become shogun by sucking dick. I became shogun through intensive training, and skill. If I think for even a second that any of you plans to betray this country, I will not hesitate to cut you down on the spot." Arashi smiled in between puffs.

"Do I make myself clear?" Arashi asked. He puffed a few smoke rings upwards to the ceiling as he awaited an answer.

 

Edited March 6, 2014 by Phoenix Flare