[ Imaginary Confrontation. ]

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

Ooc;

Use your character, use somebody else's. Know Naomi or not. This is [duh] completely imaginary. D: I'm just srsly bored.

He never imagined he'd return here; lose himself among the dunes and storms as he had done years ago. 17 now, Jounin level - he was still afraid of the past. He would probably never know what had happened, then, but it didn't bother him very much. Not knowing... Was ignorance the favorable alternative?

"Marvis... Hold." He tightened his grip on the harness, watching as the simple-minded beast came to a halt. He probably should have brought the creature to this unforgiving place, but leaving him behind might have been worse. He had learned the hard way that an Ox was not something to annoy. Grunting, Naomi squared his feet in the sand and hung the harness over one of his companion's horns, producing a small, 'alomst working' compass.

North he decided. His memory of the desert was fuzzy, lacking the detail it had known in the past, before he had fled in some wild panic. How long ago had that been? 5, 6, 7 years? Naomi didn't stop to remember the small things, the trivial little bits of information that would quickly lose their worth in a matter of moments. He had left Sunagakure no Sato in an act of cowardice; nobody cared about the exact date. 'Years ago' would suffice.

It would be a while before his birthplace came into view, shining through the driving storms like some ominous beacon. He wanted to stop, but he knew he had to proceed. Rumors claimed, screamed that the Resistance presence had grown in the past few years, and the situation was growing out of control. The NIA would not afford another 'Iwa.' Their tongues, they had to stay far from the sweet taste of freedom. It was the only way for peace to remain constant and sustained. Why could they not realize this.

"Yuusuke Naomi, traveling here from Kumogakure no Sato... I've been assigned here for the time being." Naturally, the he was allowed entrance without question. They were so desperate for reinforcements that even the inspection process was wavered. Sunagakure no Sato... how had it become so lax?

And now, the gates to his home opened to him, and Naomi wasted no time in Boarding Marvis up for the night. The Ox had done nothing to deserve the horror of battle that Naomi knew he was going to face. It was only a matter of time before he caught some sort of foul attention. It was only natural that he sulk into the back streets, lurking in the shadows. It was almost as if he desired confrontation.

Any normal ninja might have detested anybody who underestimated them, but Naomi embraced the idea whole heartedly. If you were not prepared, then how could you efficiently battle your enemy? Stupid heroic morons, constantly showing of their 'amazing' talents, brazenly ridiculing anybody who denied them their glory. In this, and in everything else, Naomi was not the average ninja. What was an average ninja, anyways?

Thought over power, speed over strength, strategy over recklessness. I'm not outstanding: my methods derive themselves from simple common sense.

He sighed in disdain, and ran a hand back through his hair, removing his Sunagakure headband, examining it. He had no idea as to the brutality of the Resistance factions, especially in a city so impersonal as this, but he did wonder if they would hesitate if face with one of their own. Naomi could have been one of their teammates or friends had he not chosen to desert hem; he could be one of their academy buddies. then again, if the idea of blowing up former friends did not faze him, then how could he hope the same for a resistance member? He was part of the force that had ripped their village from them, and killed their families, after all. If anything, Naomi might deserve little more than a torturous death in their eyes.

Edited November 19, 2006 by Captain Yaoi

[Fluffywerewolf]

((OOC: I hope this is acceptable, even if it is a little twisted))

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The blowing sand stung the shinobi's crimson hued eyes. He smiled as he ran his tongue across his blood-stained teeth. The last kill had been good, but it was still not enough. The wind snapped his hair, the same bloody hue as his irises, back and forth often pulling strands into his mouth and eyes. He had come to Sunagakure no Sato, from Otogakure no Sato, strictly for personal reasons.

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He had heard that it was here that the NCIA was most desperate for reinforcements. So desperate in fact, that the inspections were lax to the point of non-existence. He smiled, not a grin of contentment, neither was it one of happiness, for such feelings were beyond him. His smile bespoke a grim satisfaction in the sensations of his latest kill. For the past two weeks, the NCIA Gennin in Suna had been leaving or disappearing. Their bodies couldn't be found, and all evidence, when any could be found, pointed to them simply leaving.

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But this black-clad man, with the eyes seemingly stained with all the blood they had seen, knew the reason. Once more he ran his tongue across his sharpened teeth, savoring the taste and sensation of this poor girl's blood. She had been walking home, and was not quite attentive as a shadowy form crept ever-so-slowly toward her. She turned in time to gaze into twin pools of ink, broken only by the iris, a color so deep a red as to appear an ocular hemorrhage.

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She had been little more than a recruit, not even a challenge to the resistance hunter. He had been watching her for some time now, readying to take her. His eyes closed with the pleasure of the memories of the bloody death she had suffered at his hands. With her jaw wired shut, there was little she could do to attract attention. Her screams, horrible though they were, attracted no attention and the two were thusly left alone.

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After a kill such as this the predator would usually retire to his hole to keep his head down until he felt sure that the drained corpse would not be identified. But this was no normal night. He raised his head, pulling a deep breath through his nose, inhaling the scents of the night air. Something was amiss. There was something new to the village Yowakusuru Shitai had hunted in for so long. Had he but gone down another alleyway and turned a left, he would have happened upon a young man sulking in the shadows, seemingly at home in the darkness. But Shitai, too worked up from his last kill went on his way, never noticing the youth in the alley.

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But did the youth notice him?

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

Ooc;

Oh, plz, Shitai's right up my alley~

Screams?

Naomi titled his head slightly, a frown creasing his face. The rock he had been playing with suddenly lay there, forgotten, and the teen's expression darkened. Faint, yes, but he felt sure that he had heard it. Young, terrified - form only an alley away. Could he help her?

He took of, feet making little sound as he bounced between the walls that framed the enclosed road. Ever the acrobat, he could not resist the liberty of flipping 'round once he reached open air, landing with a tap and then nearly floating across the roof top, dropping down beside the girl.

He had yet to notice the murderer.

"Oi... You." He did not deal with death very well, and perhaps that was why he refused to believe the girl was too far gone for him to save, had been before he arrived to save her - a loser in tin foil. Naomi reached down and took her shoulder, shaking her body with the gentleness of a mother, like she was his own. He was different now; there had been a time when he would have left her for dead. Now, though, she was a comrade. And now, he had been too late.

"Wake up!" His voice was louder than it should have been, tone hanging on a delicate string between cheerfulness and panic. He shook her again. "Come on, you. We have to go squelch the resistance and restore peace. You want that, ne? I'll... come on. I'll get you to the hospital."

Nothing. No answer. The hope she had given in that scream, hope for rescue, was ill-placed. It was only now that Naomi noticed the strange bite marks on her pale body, and the fact that she laid in no pool of blood, but simply on the unforgiving cobblestones like some useless piece of trash. Whoever had killed her was clearly not one to waste their time on formalities, or even honoring the dead. He uttered a quick prayer, and then stood, cursing himself and the unnamed killer.

Upon standing, Naomi pulled the hood of his cloak down, freeing wild brown hair from the constriction of the fabric. He took a breath, almost welcoming the few bits of sand that tainted the air, and started walking. He would alert head quarters as to the body's whereabouts later; right now, he had to play detective like some common child.

And still he had not noticed the man.

It was proof that Naomi was not the gifted ninja most claimed him to be. He placed too much time focusing on his goal instead of how he was going to achieve it, often digging himself into a grave instead of building himself a fort of victory. Another sigh, habit these days; he thumbed the chevrons that marked him a Jounin as he fixed his collar, and then exited the alleyway, sickened by the gory scene he had just left behind.

[Fluffywerewolf]

Even as he wandered his way through the allyways he now called home, Shitai had an overwhelming feeling that the body was to be discovered this night. And for some reason, that bothered him not in the least. Let them see what art he had created this night. Let them cower in fear of the murderous creature on the loose. Let them lie awake at night, ever watching their windows as they began to lose their edge from sleeplessness. Because as they did, Shitai would take them down. They would begin to fall asleep at their posts, and begin to stare without seeing. They would be his.

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It wasn't until a slight sound, a brief tap that would have gone completely unnoticed had it not been for the favorable direction of the wind, reached his enhanced hearing. Judging from the direction, and decibles of the sound, he knew that someone must have found the body. But, by the seemingly insignificance of the sound, by the lightness it had been made with, Shitai knew that this was no bumbling fool, nor was it a village leader, for they would have already killed him. No, it was someone his own level. It was a Jounin.

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The wind was favoring the ex-sound shinobi tonight, carrying the barest hints of a voice crying for the girl to live. He smiled the razor toothed smile that had instilled horror into the hearts of scores of helpless people before him. The fool. If he only knew what he was dealing with. It was time for the foolish Samaritan to find out the death that undoubtedly was to come to him. But, what good was the kill, if there wasn't a hunt first. He turned, using his senses to give him the basic idea of where this one would be, and bounded off, leaping from building to building without a trace of sound as only one so practiced in manipulating sound can.

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[Guest Captain Yaoi]

"If only I'd educated myself in the art of tracking... Seems the Swiss Army Knife of ninjas is yet to be completed."

His usual frown hung casually from his features, in no way highlighting the intensity with which he scoured the area immediately surrounding the dead girl, questioning the rare pedestrian harshly, knowing that, if they had seen anything, they probably would not have been walking around with the evening's shopping hanging from their arm. All of them, as he had expected, knew nothing.

Starting from square zero was not something Naomi enjoyed, and he was already beginning to feel as if he had jumped upon some impossible task. Somebody with a dog or other animal of the sort might have been able to turn up a better result, and he should have gone back to the headquarters to request a canine, but he did not.

The city of strangers did not give birth to an attitude of reliance. Friend were not something you hung off of every waking moment, and allies were not to be babysat like toddlers. Nobody was. Even in the smaller villages, everybody locked their doors; crime was no great tragedy, and a murder was little more than a frightening occurrence. There was no personal level.

Naomi placed his headband back over his forehead, tying it firmly, with a note of renewed resolve. Time away from this place had promoted the growth of acceptance and unconditional loyalty. He felt a connection to anybody who wore a vest like his, even if it was only weak; it was there.

"I'll find the killer, or at least find some trace of the resistance. Something..." He bit his lip, ducking into another alleyway, one that turned a corner and wound around an office block of sorts, lined with cushions of mould and decorated with piles of rotting garbage.

It was still much too early to assume that this mysterious killer was a part of the resistance, but the possibility hung in the air. The NCIA created a wonderful, secure peace in which the Citizenry could live, and the families of the fallen ninja had come to accept the deaths; those had had not had since been weeded out. Who else but some freelance assassin could be doing this?

"If it is the resistance... I'll be sure to punish all of them accordingly. Promoting such violence, harboring such a criminal... Even the NCIA has regulations on how to treat prisoners." He clenched his fists, an emotionally untrained Jounin. He did not hide how he felt, but expressed it freely, humanly. Naomi refused to be as stone face and emotionless as the dunes of his home.

Edited November 21, 2006 by Captain Yaoi

[Fluffywerewolf]

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From a building top a few hundred yards away, the hunter sat. Still as a stone fixture, he gazed down at the young jounin. To his eyes, so well trained as to be able to see in the darkest of nights, the man appeared to be in a state of emotional turmoil. He caught a few glimpses of words; but the wind, which had been favoring his return, had changed. All he could gather was that the foolhardy shinobi was under the belief that it was the Resistance that was responsible for these murders.

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But no, Shitai thought, No, its just one rouge out to kill. He smiled as the simplicity of that thought struck him. As a child, he had realized the truth of his existence, starting with his affinity for the hunting cats and snakes that were so common to his homeland. His destiny was to hunt. Unlike many who had tried to make themselves believe that they had some ulterior motives, Shitai accepted that he was to hunt.

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He held no illusions that he would free the villages from the NCIA, he simply hungered for the kill. A scent came to him as the wind shifted once more to favor the hunter. The man down there was angry. And disgusted. He could smell the man's hormones and chemicals as they combined, creating an adrenaline spike that shot straight to Shitai's brain.

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He wanted this kill. And he would have him.

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

You're being watched.

In a time that seemed so far away, Naomi had often acted on his own, without a team to back him up. Perhaps it was his way of attracting attention that had developed a sort of sixth sense; he just knew, or felt he knew, when somebody else was creeping about. Still, though, the sudden thought disturbed him. He drew a kunai, disregarding his utterly useless skills with most forms weaponry - especially blades.

Naomi continued on, gazing about wildly, his training long forgotten. He was too emotional, too Gennin. Anybody else might have been able to keep his or her head, despite whatever terms that had left on, but Naomi found it impossible. What was the worst that could happen, anyways?

He was heading for the center of the over-large village, pace slowing as the light wavered and faded, cooler desert temperatures setting in. This he could deal with, especially after spending so much time up north. Naomi might have laughed at his fourteen-year-old self had the 'prey' mentality not had such a tightfisted rip on him.

Figuring he might as well take a short break, Naomi passed under the beam of a streetlight and then leapt up to a nearby low roof jutting from the side of a building, once colored bright read and now impossibly worn from the constant attack by the sand that always danced on the air.

"Futile search... I should just quite while I'm ahead," He reached into his breast pocket and produced a piece of sushi wrapped in rice paper - the day's rations - and put the whole thing in his mouth, "Do I expect the killer to just drop out of the sky?"

The words, drizzled with foul temper, were spoken through a gob-ful of rice, seaweed and raw crab, carried on breath that held the sweet 'aroma' of the food. It was gross, really.

[Fluffywerewolf]

On the rooftops once more, Shitai's sadistic grin pulled even wider as the scent of the man's fear reached him. He saw him pull out a kunai, his actions evidence that he was aware of his pursuer, if not said entities identity. These were the moments that he lived off of, the scent of his prey's fear, the sound of their breathing hastening as they felt their downfall upon them.

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The young man was alone, and had no one on whom he could count on if things got bad. He was alone in the presence of a hunter, and was soon to find out the consequences of being a "lone wolf” Shitai's gaze followed the youth, gazing with an almost bestial intensity as the shinobi leapt onto the roof of a building. He heard him muttering to himself about the futility of his search, and the foolishness of hoping that the hunter would fall out of the sky.

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Oh, he thought, oh, the irony. Then, he forced himself off of the roof top he was on, and onto an adjacent one across the alleyway from where the NCIA agent was forcing down field rations.

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Then, with the precise movements of a man with a purpose, he pulled a tile from the ceiling and threw it toward the man across from him, aiming not to hit him, but to alert him to his presence.

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

Smash. Choke.

He coughed up his mouthful, or what he had not swallowed, all over his knee and quickly brushed it off as he jumped to his feat, eyes watering from the sudden shock the choking had brought to his body. It only took Naomi a moment to locate the source of the tile, and he clenched his teeth harshly, ignoring warnings from dentists passed. Now, he though, now he was in danger. It was not hard to identify this unmarked man as a ninja, perhaps even of Naomi's ability. And with the brunette of the two clearly marked as an member of the NCIA for the emblem on the breast of his cloak, there could be no mistake that he was indeed, a hostile unit.

"Oi!" He called. Naomi's voice was cold and sharp, like a the crack of a whip on a winter's night, "I supposed I'd be correct in running under the assumption that you aren't just here to talk, ne?" The Jounin pulled a face, nearly a scowl, and reached for the clasp on his cloak, allowing it to drop; his mobility would increase, the chances of getting caught on a stray edge would lessen. He wondered, with a touch of nervousness, if he would ever see the article of clothing again, or if he'd ever find need for it once this day had passed.

His first instinct was to run and call for some form of reinforcements, and his second was to stay and fight... Or at least try, and both options seemed like the better of the two choices. Escaping, for getting out alive, Fighting, for bringing in a member of the resistance. One less of them on the streets.

At length, he decided to settle for a compromise. Battle, and then somehow lead this strange man towards the NCIA Sunagakure headquarters. It was an all-hours place, was it not? After all, war felt no fatigue; it did not need to rest, it needed no days off. Naomi shook his head and staggered his feet, ready to leap out of the way of any other assaults. He was quite sure that the next one would not be meant for the wall.

[Fluffywerewolf]

The thrown tile had the desired effect. The teeth of the man bared in a bestial grin, smiling that he had wrenched a reaction from the other. His blood colored eyes were glinting in the moonlight, and the slight breeze blew his crimson hair back and forth. His barrel like chest rose and fell, the movement barely visible. He was not even vaguely affected by the leaping and jumping from the rooftops. Slowly, so there could be no mistake in his actions, he stripped off the outer vest from his wardrobe, knowing that the garment would only get in the way. He dropped it to the rooftop, where the weight of it cracked the tiles. He would not use his weapons today, no, he wanted to relish this ones death.

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With the removal of his vest, three things had been revealed. The first, were several groups of scars, four vertical slashes with a diagonal running through them. There was also a fresh cut to the left of his last mark. Secondly, there appeared to be sound amplifiers grafted to the bones of his arms, and thirdly, and most notably, were the holes in the palms of his hands.

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Oi, called the opposing ninja, I suppose I'd be correct in running under the assumption that you aren't just here to talk, ne?

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Shitai just looked at him, still wearing the smile of a predator who knows their prey is in sight. He opened his mouth, a gentle laugh coming from his slightly parted lips.

"yes,” he said, dragging the singly syllable as it came out. "you are correct. I am not here to talk. I am here for the very simple reason that is this; you found the body of my previous victim. Therefore, you are the only witness, and I cannot risk you alerting your superiors as to my actions.”

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Of course in his mind, Shitai knew that the youth would not beat him, for he was too emotional, and far to devoted to what was referred to as "A greater cause” So many foolish humans suffered the same flaw, believing that their lives were dictated by some higher power and that if they sacrifice enough, then they will be allotted a share of the paradise that lived beyond. Fools. And if the other could not triumph, he would not survive the night.

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(( OOC: If we are going with statistic battle, what level should I make this character? if we are not, then I guess that the question is irrelevant. I mean, outside of just jounnin, are we going to fight like a practice arena match, or will we just go without stats and try to avoid god-modding one another?))

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

He's going to kill me...

Naomi grumbled under his breath, something about his dumb luck, and jumped backwards, higher into the roof. As if to herald some sort of event, the wind suddenly kicked up, if only for a moment, and blew Naomi's cloak to the ground.

This man was big, and what's more, he even looked strong. Perhaps even intelligent. Was there really a way to effectively combine the two qualities - brawn and brains - to form some... Higher being?

Naomi shook his head, cursing his own naïveté, and sheathed his kunai, slipping into an awkward sort of battle stance. He would have fallen out of it by the end of the battle, but at least he had a base to go off of. It was more staggered feet than anything, as if he were about to engage this man in a life-or-death match of volleyball.

Which Naomi wouldn't have minded; he was pretty good at the sport.

"Before you kill me..." He was only buying time, now, nervousness carrying on his loud voice. Perhaps he would wake up some more able-bodies ninja; perhaps he'd wake up somebody who could find one, "Why did you kill that girl? She was jus a Genin... How could she have done anything to hurt you? Even if she was a part of the NCIA, there was no reason for that sort of brutality!"

Naomi would never admit it, but he was rattled to the core; only a fraction of his fear was displayed in his voice, poured into his eyes. He had been in plenty of fights before, and many had fallen to his weaponry; it came with the job. By then, one might imagine that he had become some sort of living killing machine, as seemed to be the fate of his opponent. A fate, Naomi figured, that had already arrived.

Ooc;

Eh... I'd prefer a role-play battle, but I imagine that Shitai would be a good few levels above Naomi. Go ahead and make the first attack if you want. Also, you don't have to leave everything open for me to respond to. Some attacks are going to hit; feel free to assume if you want.

[Fluffywerewolf]

He saw the look of horror that crossed the other's voice. He was afraid, and he liked it. He watched with the smile of one whose confidence in his ability was absolute. He knew he was better, and the other seemed to as well.

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"Why did you kill that girl? She was jus a Genin... How could she have done anything to hurt you? Even if she was a part of the NCIA, there was no reason for that sort of brutality!"

Shitai's full bodied laugh reverberated through the streets of Suna. His laugh had a sadistic quality, as though he was not merely laughing at what had been said, but at the memory of what he had done.

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"Why?" He started, "why, there is absolutely no reason why I do what I do, other than it gives me pleasure. Her rank, position, and ability to hurt me don't come into play. I beat her, then killed her all for the sake of my own contentment you foolish idealist. Do you honestly think that I care a shred for the fact that she was NCIA. Oh…I get it now.” The smile that accompanied those words would have left mercury frozen, so cold was the heart that it gave window to.

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"You think that I'm killing the NCIA because I'm resistance right? Oh no my dear boy, I have nothing to do with the petty resistance. I am killing for the sake of feeling my prey's body fall, helpless against mine,” as he said this, he held his left hand out, pooling his chakra into a swirling purple orb, glowing with latent energy. The heat radiating from it was so intense that it could be seen as a hazy fog, partly obscuring Shitai's face . "I kill so that I can see their soul flee the mortal realm, and I kill because I can.” With that final statement, he hurled the purple orb toward the Jounnin.

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

He kills... for nothing but his own pleasure. There's no motivation but his own bloodlust. How... How could anybody be so heartless?

Looking back in the situation - whether from life or whatever loomed afterwards - Naomi would have wished he had reacted to the glowing ball that hurtled towards him, glittering and winking with an air of malice not unlike that of its creator. It entranced him, drawings him in with a seductive air carried only by the promise of death.

He broke eye contact with the ball only a second before it would have come barreling into his chest, hissing in irritancy and pain as the sphere passed but an inch away from his upper arm, searing off his sleeve and attacking the skin below, blowing an acrid stench into to the air: that of burned flesh.

He held a gloved hand over the shining red wound, his bare fingertips risking just the gentlest touch, and the metal on the back of hi hand reflected the light of the rising moon, fat and full in the sky.

If only for a second, Naomi was reminded of the tales of folklore, and dared to wonder if this strange man found any sort of power from the rounded moon, as most beasts of the night did. Perhaps this murderer drew his image from Fairytales; perhaps Naomi was trying to sugarcoat things, running away from the fact instead of facing it head on.

"Damn you!" Naomi didn't even think about what he was doing, drawing his hand away from the burn on his arm and mashing his hands together in messy seals.

The rooftops exploded.

It seemed almost as if daylight had come early; the spikes of glass reflected the moonbeams with such intensity. A second of calm, and then every spike - there might have been a hundred or more - shattered into millions of pieces, flying about in the air as if carried by gusts only they could feel.

Nomi had not even stopped to watch and see if Shitai had been hit, and took off the other way instead, sparing only one glance over his shoulder before jumping off in desperate panic. He thought only of escaping, and not where he would escape to, survival, and not a plan, as was his usual method of retreat. The city of strangers had wrapped his cold fingers of fear about his mind and heart, twisting him in ways he had felt certain were impossible.

Ooc;

Double Rapture. A big jutsu, but not AoE. Causes severe bleeding if it hits. Feel free to insert minimal bleeding, or none at all. Naomi's aim is completely messed up, anyways.

[Fluffywerewolf]

The foolish shinobi stood, obviously stricken as well as sickened at his blatant admission. It seemed as though he couldn't accept the simplicity that he wanted nothing more than to kill. Humans, he thought with a cynical air, always so concerned with the higher purpose. It distracted them from the here and now.

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His thoughts were proven correct when the NCIA member had to throw himself sideways to avoid his orb, too distracted by the swirling vortex to react swiftly enough to avoid it all together. Instead, the air filled with the sweet aroma of human flesh cooking the scent itself sent Shitai's mind swirling into ecstasy, the delicacy of this ones skin making him all the more appealing to the cannibalistic shinobi. He felt his mind's eye sink into a fantasy, one where he was sitting by a fire with his captive chained to a wall, releasing the most exquisite of screams as Shitai removed clash piece at a time, making sure to cook it slowly as to draw out the greatest pain. He pictured the tortures he would inflict, smiling widely.

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His imaginings were interrupted by his adversary's voice.

"Damn you!” The pain in his voice almost made Shitai moan. The scent of blood filling the air, the sound of his victim's in pain, the aroma of adrenaline and endorphins as fear kicked a chemical cocktail into the air. These were the things that drove him, and made him stronger.

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He saw the light glinting off of the glass shards mere seconds before they exploded. Shitai threw his arm in front of his eyes, making sure they were shielded from the flying shards. The rest of his body, however, was hit by the glass, each piece digging a miniature canyon in his pale flesh. Several of the gashes started to bleed. At the scent of his own blood, which soon permeated the air, Shitai moaned aloud. It had been so long since anyone had made him bleed, and he had forgotten the pleasure that came from the sensation of pain.

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He stood there for a few moments more, focusing on his pain and the scents in the air, making sure that the chemical trail the fleeing shinobi had left were authentic as to prevent a goose chase. Finding the correct scent, Shitai leapt off in pursuit, ignoring the bleeding wounds in his chest and arms. They could heal.

[Guest Captain Yaoi]

Luckily for Naomi, he was fast - abnormally so. He jumped from rooftop ot roof top, pushing forwards with semi-powerful legs, bouncing off of ledges and corners like some frenzied animal. Every so often, he would pause to lay down weak explosives, hoping Shitai would be too entranced by his suffering to notice.

When he felt he was safe, or had enough of a lead on the man to care for himself, he landed in a secluded alleyway, hiding in one of the forgotten corners, over shadowed by an old dumpster. Hopefully, the stench rising from the rubbish would mask his scent, a blessing Naomi would remain ignorant of. He had no idea that Shitai was tracking him by way of scent.

His actions were quick and purposeful. Burn cream and a thin strip of gauze were pulled from one of his many pockets. The first was gingerly rubbed into his smarting wound, the other wrapped around his arm - over the short sleeve, because he had no time to remove his shirt.

And then, he began to formulate a plan, breathing heavily with fatigue, and beads of sweat gathering around his hairline, palms clammy. He leaned back against the disgusting wall, and ignored the horrid smells tat surrounded him, coaxing him into madness, driving him from his hiding spot.

Naomi waited.

He immersed himself in thought as he sat there, waiting; it looked like, for death to arrive. He had no idea how Shitai intended to slow the pace of the blessed release, but it would not have been overly difficult for the frightened Jounin to relate torture to his pursuer; it would not have surprised Naomi had the man created for him, from his bare hands, a world of pain and strife just for the teen to enjoy.

"Daybreak has to come sometime..." It had become pitch black by then, and Naomi could barely see ten feet in front of him for the buildings blocking the moonlight. But he knew, and it gave him a false sense of comfort - hat the blacker it got, the closer morning drew. Would he even live until then?

Edited November 24, 2006 by Captain Yaoi

[Rayn]

From the beginning of time one could constitute darkness as fear in the flesh...

With only the dull moon to illuminate the otherwise barren city, as unearthly shadows crept across the flat rooftops, seemingly feeding off the dull radiance... If that in itself was not enough to terrorize the human senses, it was accompanied by a silence, one that could not be depicted through words. To disturb this silence was meaningless, as your voice would only be followed by dead-air once more. One can only hope this outlook is spoiled by the dawning sun, which is but hours away...

...Can you survive?

~~ I Just saw an oppourtunity to depecit the current scene? Hope you don't mind =P

If anything just completely ignore this post...

P.S. Nice RolePlaying =) ~~

L.M. -1-

Edited November 24, 2006 by Rayn

[Fluffywerewolf]

(apologizing for the delay, just couldn't think of anything good enough to put here)

Shitai set leapt off of the building tops, following the scent trails that he advanced sensory organs put him on. The shinobi he was after had proven to be far more dangerous to him than he had imagined, inflicting several deep gashes in his arms and chest. These, he ignored. The thrill of the hunt was on his side, his endorphins creating a barrier against any pain. His grin seemed perpetual, each thought creating another grunt of laughter, and each grunt giving way to another thought. His smile fell slightly as his foot impacted a small piece of paper, and then left the building tops.

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He flew backwards, the warm dry suna winds caressing his face until the moment he hit a rooftop a few feet away. He looked down at his foot, and released another howl of laughter. The tag hadn't even damaged his boots, so it was apparent that this one had little experience using explosive tags. But it did mean that there were traps ahead of him. He staggered up, a frown evident on his face. The hunt had taken a turn for the worse, and now he may actually have to do something.

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He dropped down into the streets as an epiphany of an idea dawned upon him. This jounnin was NCIA and was here to protect people right? Well then, Shitai's mind began Why not make the jounnin come to him. He realized of course that his plan would be a risky one, but that made it all the better. He wandered aimlessly down the streets of Suna, finally finding a house that fit his need. Inside, there was a family sleeping, the father on the couch with a newspaper over his face, and the other members were sleeping contentedly. He grabbed the door handle, gently testing it to see if it was locked. It was.

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Locked doors, however, were no obstacle to one of his caliber. He reached into a side pouch, and pulled free a bit of ninja wire, using his internal energies to cut it down to the size he needed. He cut several small sections, and bent them with his teeth. With practiced ease and uncanny silence, he fit the ends into the lock, engaged the pins, and had the door open. The father still slept contentedly.

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Feeling about in his pouch, he fished out a particularly gruesome dagger. It was only about eight inches long, with serrated edges and an eerie red tint to the blade. He walked over to the sleeping form, his feet not making a sound despite the heavy boots he wore, and set the blade against the man's throat. His eyes opened for just a moment, and he gazed into the eyes of death. Shitai's hand moved slightly, pulling down and to the right, cutting through the mans adam's apple and stopping any forthcoming screams. But the wound, made by a man so practiced in the arts of death, did not kill him. It would eventually, but for the moment all it did was stop him from making any more than a vauge gasping sound which sounded like music to the twisted shinobi.

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And then, he started toward the room where he could here the woman sleeping.

[Guest Chosmexaylovur]

Ooc;

Fluff - S'okay. I suppose I didn't leave you much to go on, anyways.

Rayn - Ahh, that was pretty~~~! Thanks for the compliment, too.

There was something wrong, and Naomi knew it. He had heard the explosive device go off, some distance away, as only one who had spent as much time around the tags could have. His pursuer had been close, and yet he had abandoned the trail. It had been a good five minutes since then, since the first inklings of worry began to form in Naomi's heart. Had the target shifted, or was the man simply lying in wait for him to make a wrong move?

The Jounin stood, allowing himself a moment of trembling before he jumped up onto the dumpster and then used a fire escape to ascend to the roof of the building he had used to prop himself up. His heart hurt, it had been beating so fast. The teen felt it might explode at any second, as would he, if he did not find a source of comfort soon.

He traced his explosives back to the one that had gone off, sighing and peeling the remnants off of the surface beneath his feet, tearing them into pieces so they wouldn't go off in the face of a civilian. It wouldn't have been hard to trace the 'accident' back to Naomi, scream negligence, sabotage. He frowned.

This place has changed since I have been here last. How can I be so sure that I have any idea where I'm going? Now would be a great time to alert the rest of the Suna 'Corps,' but... It seems as if this guy has been around for quite some time. If they have not been able to eliminate him thus far, then what makes me think that they will be of any help now?

He shook his head and set off again, pausing now and then to collect himself, his level of frustration rising by the second. The night taunted and teased him, noting with a hint of glee how his bravery seemed to ebb so harshly, and at the most convenient intervals, too. Naomi almost told the blackness to shut up aloud.

It was by chance that Naomi noticed the door that had been left ajar, and even more so that he found it suspicious. Who in their right mind would leave their door open like that in the middle of night, anyways? And all the lights were off... Naomi scowled and descended from his perch, landing in front of the door. He might have played Good Samaritan that one time, but the breathing, that horrible, almost non-existent breathing... It caught his attention, sickened him. Somebody needed his help.

"Hello?" Naomi's voice was small and hesitant, he entered without closing the door behind himself, and let fly a small gasp at the sight of the ailing man - the source of the breathing. He might have stopped to fret had he been fifteen, even sixteen - immersed in his Chuunin years. But, now, he knew that other lives were probably at stake; there was nothing he could do for the mal except save, or try to save, the rest of the people within the dwelling.

As he stepped away and turned, Naomi caught sight of a shadow, inhaled sharply, and then rushed after it. He knew who the caster was before he actually caught sight of the man, but went forth anyways. This was the only way to save them, he knew.

"Hey..." His voice was quiet; he did not want to wake anybody else. He wanted to save them the suffering, "stop it. Stop killing people, without reason no less. Take me, then. Just don't hurt these people any further. And if you can, attend to that man's wound." His eyes seemed to burn with both hatred and determination. The fear was invisible, but Naomi could feel it breathing down his neck.

[Fluffywerewolf]

OOC: yeah, thanks rayn. and i loved the description.

Shitai stalked silently toward the room. He could hear the woman's shallow breathing, and could smell her through the door. He gingerly reached down and grasped the door handle. He was just about to turn it, to reveal to the occupant inside his crimson eyes, that he may view her fear and feast on the bloodshed that was sure to follow. His prowling was interrupted by a quiet voice.

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"Hey...” it spoke, the volume making the jounnin's concern obvious. "stop it. Stop killing people, without reason no less. Take me, then. Just don't hurt these people any further. And if you can, attend to that man's wound."

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Shitai's laugh boomed through the house, mocking the jounnin's concern for the sleeping family. He had hoped to get at least halfway through the torture process before this punk showed up. But, all would be taken care of in time. As the hunter turned to face him, a form appeared at the door, it was the woman, awaken from the sound of his laugh.

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"wha-”

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she got only that syllable out before Shitai trust his arm out and back, the cruel jagged dagger still clenched within his fingers. The blade, keen as a razor, tore through the woman's thin nightgown and sank deeply into her chest, accompanied by a gout of blood as Shitai tore the knife free.

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His lips curled, as a child's would when given a new bike, a smile of sheer joy with her death. Were it not for the fact that his arm was covered in the woman's blood, one may have thought that the smile was one of genuine joy. The scary thing was...It was.

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He started slowly, making sure that he got his point across. "How many times must I reiterate this point before you get it? Your concern and false ritiousness will serve no purpose here than to irritate me further, and thusly, cause these people more pain. From the moment I entered this dwelling, all within were dead, they just didn't know it yet. So, yes, I will take you, and afterwards, I will take the children, and finally the father. And when I am done, I will move on, hunting and preying on the weak.”

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The only way out, is to kill me, and if you do, the father dies along with me, leaving his poor children orphans in this harsh, cold world. No matter what you do, this family is dead.

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He turned, his shoulders squaring up to those of the pompous youth before him, and smiled, this one, however, was one of purest evil.

[Guest Rachel]

"Coward." The insult held no backbone, seemed only an arbitrary comment, but Naomi believed it, knew it. Naomi did not move to go back and help the man on the couch, nor did he duck around Shitai to check the condition of the woman. He only stared, keeping his venomous eye contact with he red haired man. He was too far deep to back out now, and fear as much as bravery kept him rooted to the spot, defiant.

He knew very well that there was no way for him to win, that Shitai held this family in the palm of his hand. He should have just taken the Father away, or waited until he had gone into the woman's room and snatched the children out from underneath his nose. Shoving himself into the situation in hopes of playing the tragic hero had probably been one of his worse decisions.

Naomi backed off after a moment, fixing his spine against the wall and regarding Shitai with less intensity than he had been; he was almost calm in the way he stood there. He could not save any more lives here, but perhaps he could save them afterwards. If Naomi had any say in it, this house, these murders... They would be this man's last. He hated how he had begun to think, as if nothing so precious as human life was worth anything to him. But he knew that, if these people were sacrificed, then so many more would be saved.

Ooc;

It's so short. D: [insertpenisjokes]

Edited November 26, 2006 by Rachel

[Fluffywerewolf]

Shitai's eyes seemed to glow in the sparse light in the house. They twinkled with an intensity rivaled only by the stars in the skies. It was time for the hunt to come to it's end. As well as this noble upstart's life.

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The time for conversation has ended, and thusly, so has the time for which you have to live. Your hours have slowly declined until they have reached this needle-fine point. You will die this night.

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Even as his voice, quiet and dangerous, rang out, a thin haze of purple energy began swirling around his fists. And with little more than a thought, Shitai had pulled the potential energy in the oxygen molecules and converted it into kinetic, causing a slight conflagration on the edges of his knuckles.

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He raised a flaming fist to his face, and smiled once more before throwing a heavy punch at the insolent worm before him. Unexpected, the punch lifted the other jounnin from his feet and sent him flying into the wall to the far right.

[ooc, i did a little asuming here, so...meh]

[Guest Rachel]

Indeed, Naomi had been caught completely off guard and, like a rag doll, he was sent flying across the room, uselessly falling to the floor in a pained heap, clutching his burned abdomen with one hand as he fought to rise. The boy was dazed and confused, bitter at the way in which Shitai had caught him completely unaware. Naomi had hoped to get outside, at least, where he could unleash his power without hurting civilians.

"Damnit," He was standing now, leaning against the destroyed dry wall and pink insulator that had forced its way out of the cracks in the crater of his impact. Thinking quickly, or quickly for Naomi, the Jounin reached into his back pocket and pulled out an explosive tag, which he folded in half and stuck to his right palm - for later. What could he be planning for later?

Could he relocate their battle to outside without invoking the murder's rage upon the children? Naomi hardly had to worry about the walls and rooms hindering the accuracy of his attacks, but the house could collapse, as could the rest of the neighborhood. He didn't want that, no matter the injury to Shitai.

Efficiency.. Brutality... Is there a difference?

He took a few steps towards the door.

[Fluffywerewolf]

No, Shitai bellowed, We will finish this here.

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He reached into an inner pocket of his vest, pulled out a kunai, attatched to it, was a hair thin line of ninja wire, and hurled it toward the retreating jounnin. the end of the wire still clutched in a blazing fist.

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Shitai's eyes blazed as his darkly as his fists as he spoke, his voice promising the most painful of deaths imaginable. Why do you run? Why prolong your own agony for the sake of these mere humans? He chuckled at the whole thought. Why place yourself in danger for a non-shinobi? And most importantly why do you stand in my way? If I need, I will bring this entire building down around your head and I will laugh as the screams of trapped children herald in your dying breaths.

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Shitai was growing irate at this cowardly shinobi, this one who would go to what seemed like any lengths to protect these inferiors. But why?

[Rayn]

~~ This Is Probably One Of The More Interesting RP Practices I've Read, Hope You Don't Mind If I Add A Bit More. Keep It Up! ~~

Unlike the dark skies outside the house was gleaming with light, illuminating the facial features of the two rivals, as they stood boldly amongst the chaos.

An agonizing stillness stifled the air within the small confines of this residence. It was a showdown to say the least, both shinobi waiting for the other to compose the initial move, schemes formulating in their minds; truly a battle of wits, as intellects and ideals clashed.

L.M.

[Guest Rachel]

Delete me, plz.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Rachel