It was a dark and stormy night...

Isnt that how most of these cliche story began? "It was a dark and stormy night", often followed by some description of a mundane setting, and the author would begin thier draub tale of horror and gore. All too often, it was something terrible to read.

At this point, as another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky to strike a nearby tree and the downpour plastered the blue locks of his hair to his forehead, Kayn wished to any deity that was listening that this was just a book that he was reading. He remembred nothing of this place -- he could have swore that when he went to sleep, he was in a cave, and not some creepy forest. But that wasn't the point at the moment, no he needed to find something, anything to take shelter in to get out of this sudden storm.

He had been walking for hours at this point, his clothing soaked through and through: a sleeveless black shirt with a funnel-like collar, with white trousers that are black from the knee down and just a little short of being full length jeans. Rivets can be seen on his pockets and on the ends of his trousers. Around his waist, Kayn wears a white sash similar to an obi, into which he kept tucked a sword. His feet are wrapped in bandages up to his ankles and his hands and arms are also wrapped in bandages up to the elbow, nevermind the assortment of weapons that he carried on his person. The sword was always present on his side, tucked into the Obi around his waist, but he recently added to his collection of weapons: a pair of 'hidden' blades, were attached to his forearms, hidden beneath the bandages that were wrapped on them. Dubbed 'Patience' and 'Time' respectively, they were usually his last resort or when an unexpected weapon was needed. Hidden away on his person along with the various kunai and shuriken that he normally carried were two trench knives that Kayn made his main method of attacking; Ignorance and Apathy were usually the only weapons that the blue haired male required to win a fight. Tucked beneath the Obi was a length of chain that the young male kept for various purposes, like combining with the two Fuma Shuriken that were located on his shoulder blades, held in place via a neat trick he learned from his father.

Despite the various amount of weaponry that the male wore and carried and the rain that soaked his clothing, he moved as light as if he carried nothing. The main annoyance was the falling rain, and the fact that he could barely see save for the lightning brightening up the sky periodically.

But perhaps, his luck was changing. With the of lightning, the male could see something in the distance, some sort of structure. A house perhaps? There were no lights that he could see, but perhaps it would be enough to get him out of the rain for the duration of the storm, and maybe the night. Almost immediately as Kayn made the decision to investigate this place, he could hear something moving behind him....

---

541

.oO(Substituting Kaia~Mai in for Destiny as we discussed.)

”What… the… ****.”, eyelids framed with dark and thick black lashes had fluttered open only to find that what was being seen was not in fact what was there when the female had fallen asleep. In fact, the very last thing she had remembered at all was returning home after having received a gift from Amaya Uchiha and passing out in her lovers arms; she had been dry, warm, and very safe feeling. Not… soaked to the bone and alone? Or maybe not alone… no, the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck were definitely standing up as if something or someone was nearby and her instincts were on alert about it – was something watching her?

With her training kicking in Kaia forced herself to focus on just that, herself. She did a quick check, making sure she wasn’t injured which she wasn’t: not a single scratch on her, not a single long black hair out of place. In fact, there was no sign at all that she had been picked up, dragged, or otherwise moved to the location she was in: which was seated underneath of a tree which was doing **** all in keeping her dry in this kind of a down pour. The next step of course was checking to make sure all of her belongings were there starting with her clothing – hey, you never knew what kind of perverts lurked in the woods, right? Her white t-shirt with “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” written on the front was still in place with the sleeves rolled up as per usual and the black tank top underneath still in place, black leggings were still on, with white leg warmers around her ankles and wrist bands around her wrists covering the weights she had on. Feet were planted into a pair of typical open toed shinobi sandals. Even her gray beanie was still on in place, though it too was soaked through like the rest of her. Her weapons were likewise in the their various pouches: kunai and shuriken, and even a windmill shuriken. Everywhere was where it should be, exactly as it should be.

So why wasn’t she?

Getting up from the ground she picked up her gray jacket which had apparently been the only thing keeping her ass from getting soaked and made quick work on slipping it on: thankful the thing was still relatively dry and fairly warm. She glanced around with light blue eyes until she spotted a house nearby due to a crack of lightning across the sky. With no other option, and no real other place to go, she headed toward it cautiously, still unable to get rid of the feeling of the hair on her arms and back of her neck standing on end: it definitely wasn’t from the chill in the air, as her jacket was warming her up more than well enough. No, this was definitely a spooky feeling, an unexplainable one. So it was to the house that she moved despite feeling a deepening sense of dread in the process.

It didn’t take her long to reach it, and she walked up the several steps that led to the porch with relative carefulness: last thing she wanted to do was fall through and break an ankle, especially considering the excess weight she was wearing. ”Hellloooo… Anybody home?”, she called out even before reaching the door, and feeling a bit silly about being so spooked – she was a trained shinobi after all, this kind of stuff shouldn’t be freaking her out like it was. Then again, she had never been in a situation quite like this before.

Word Count: 620

Another crack of lightning to illuminate the area, and as Kayn looked back to see what was behind him, his heart dropped; in the darkness there were a multitude of red, seemingly glowing eyes staring at him. With the crack of lightning, the forest was illuminated just briefly, and he could see them clearly. Great beasts, of a variaty of shapes and sizes looking in his direction, each with a maw that was filled with too many teeth. The closest creature seemed to lick its lips, before pausing to sniff the air and growl in Kayn's direction.

Well, shit.

The young male had no idea what these creatures were, but they were not friendly looking; in fact, they looked like strangely mutated dogs. Nothing about them said 'family pet', and Kayn was not about to take any chances with them. Slowly, the male reached into his pouch and produced out the trench knives, Ignorance and Apathy. At the sight of the twin knives, the creatures began to growl louder and snarl, with some taking a step in the young male's direction. It would seem they were somehow aware of what the male was attempting. Nevertheless, he slipped the trench knives onto his knuckles, and took a step backwards. The growling and snarling increased, and Kayn lost it.

"NOPE! NOPE! NOOOOOPE! NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!"

With a turn on his heel, and a burst of chakra, the male took off in the direction of the house in the distance. Behind him, he could hear the creatures howling into the night, followed by the sounds of a multitude of feet impacting the ground. They were chasing him; they had to be. Thats what bad shit did in situations like this. They chased you up to old haunted houses in the middle of the woods where some crazy old witch lived that like eat the flesh of children..

”Hellloooo… Anybody home?”

What the hell? He was only joking about there being a witch in a house in the woods -- was there actually one here? Perhaps not -- illuminated by another crack of lightning, there was a figure on the veranda of the house. Judging by the sound of the voice, it was female, but Kayn did not recognize it.  Either way, she was about to have some company in a moment; the young male could hear the snarling and snapping behind him as the creatures crashed through the forest in pursuit of him. They sounded like they were getting closer, and young man could only imagine and dread what would happen if they actually caught up to him. Surely, he would be a meal for them.

No. They would not catch him. If, no...  Once he reached that house, he would put his back against the wall and he would go to war with them.

Tonight, the fox would hunt the hounds, and the hounds would know the fear that he felt. All he had to do was reach that house.

The young male would burst from the edge of the treeline, yelling at the top of his lungs to attract the attention of the person up at the house. Even as he moved, he knew the pack of hellhounds -- at least, he thought they were hellhounds -- were right behind him. If the person at the house was friendly, perhaps they would be willing to help him with this situation. If they were not, well then they were just one more obstacle to get over...

---

584 | 1125

… Okay, so she hadn’t actually expected anyone to answer her call, but it had been worth a shot, right? With a sigh that was a mixture of annoyance and a bit of unease she reached over toward the door knob only to suddenly pause: noise was coming from behind her, shouting and the sound of many things – some kind of many legged creature – moving straight toward her general direction. The thought of attempting to see if the door was open left her mind as she turned toward the sound: as soon as her bright blue gaze took in the sight of the young male running in her direction chased by – what the **** were those? - hell hounds the idea of getting inside of the house was gone. Instead her training came into effect, wiping away all of her unease and fear and forcing her to be steady, calm, and focused. She couldn’t very well run inside and leave the young man to fend for himself: she didn’t know him, she had no idea if he could be counted as an enemy or a friend, but her conscious would not allow for her to leave while another needed help. It was not in her nature to be that type of person – it was precisely this kind of mentality that caused her to become a wanderer in the first place instead of blindly following the orders and laws of someone wearing a fancy hat.

In practiced and skilled movements she took a running leap, clearing the stairs to the porch, and landed on the ground in a crouch. ”GET LOW!”, she’d shout, hoping like hell that the male being chased would actually listen. As she stood and spun to build up momentum she reached into her pouch, pulling out several kunai and shuriken which were each placed between her fingers quickly and skillfully. Ensuring her aim was true – taijutsu and weapon use being exactly what she had trained in the longest in her shinobi career – she thrust her arms forward at the height of her momentum and sent the weapons flying: each one attached to her hands via a nearly invisible string of chakra which would allow for better control and retrieval: a lesson she had learned the hard way one day. Lightning flashed, causing glints of the metal to be seen as the projectiles soured unhindered through the air, each aimed at some kind of vital organ of the beasts chasing the male: necks, eyes, and so forth – and not a single one heading in the male’s path to ensure he didn’t have to slow down or dodge too much.

As each weapon hit its mark, beasts faltering and stumbling, causing others to crash into them if they weren’t quick enough to jump or dodge out of the way, Kaia skillfully pulled the weapons back toward her using the chakra strings only to swing them around and send them right back out towards more beasts – causing slashes and cuts, hitting more vital points, and taking more of the beasts out. Yet, they seemed as if they would never end: was it her imagination, was the darkness playing tricks on her, or was there just a never ending supply of these horrid beasts that looked very much like they would like to make a meal out of the pair. Either way, if her technique with her kunai and shuriken didn’t do the trick to cut down the amount of these beasts significantly she was prepared with a plan B: busting out jutsu and lighting the world on fire if needed.

Word Count: 602 | 1,222
Chakra: 250 – 5 = 245

Puppet Technique:

Kunai:

Shuriken: