Yamabushi, part I [Solo

Raiu Mizuki · 1 Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Mon May 07, 2018 10:25 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Part I, The Missing Peace

Day 1

The quiet before the storm had lasted for months now. Something was brewing on the horizon ever since the Kage Summit happened. Things had been slow. Bandits had stayed away after the massive sweep in the slums, infiltrating shinobi were either outsmarting Kumogakure's forces or had no interest in a Village that had been left to its own devices for years now, even the people moved on in life at a slower pace than usual. Like life itself wanted to slow time for a moment.

It had not been different for Mizuki. After losing her mother and her father, not knowing where her sister was, the kunoichi had felt the need to seclude herself from the world as she knew it. She had left the dojo that was now officially hers for what it was, its doors closed and its presence safely under the watchful eye of clansmen. She had felt no desire to continue her training, no desire to teach others, nor had she been requested for any executions since the formalities concerning a change in Executioners required time to be rounded up. All of what remained in life had left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Mizuki had found herself looking for quiet spots at an increasing rate. She left Kumogakure's center more often, looking to experience the peaceful surroundings of forests, rice paddies and mountain trails. Paths that she had been walking many times before as a shinobi during her missions and patrols only now started to be perceived in a different daylight. In quiet contemplation of her own future she had trailed one road after another without any distinct end point in mind, allowing the Heavens themselves to guide her to whichever place they deemed necessary.

All this time, the grey hawk Zhinu had been her only companion, enjoying every moment it could stretch its wings, hunt whenever it felt hungry and occasionally being offered affection in the form of a peck on its head or a stroke of its feathers. Seeing the bird enjoy such freedom brought the kunoichi to wonder if her sister had been right all this time. Was discipline truly the right path? Was loyalty truly the only quality worth remembering? It made her wonder when and why her sister's values had changed in favour of her wild adventures. What did she aim to achieve with it? Reputation? Honour? Riches?

An upcoming rice paddy pulled her attention away from her thoughts. A handful of people were all over the field, hauling in the rice they had cultivated with utmost care. A job of heavy labour said to earthen those who bothered to persevere. Was it not the most noble job of all, to work the earth and provide food to the masses? The kunoichi smiled at the sight of the beads of perspiration that flickered in the slowly lowering daylight. How would life have been for her if she had been born a peasant? She could only wonder...

As she passed by, somewhere halfway the rice paddy, a man about his forties ran up to her, arms waving. Mizuki halted, waiting for the man to arrive. As he regained his breathing, he took out a kerchief to wipe off the sweat of his face first, then bowed.

"Samurai, please, allow me to humbly ask for your aid."
"I'm no samurai but do tell me your request."
"A ronin then..? No matter. Would you please be so kind to help us out? The day is still young but we have so much to do."

It was as if the Heavens themselves had heard her thoughts. What would it be like to be a mere peasant, bending towards the ground to pick the rice so diligently cultivated? There was but one way to know. Nodding in acceptance, Mizuki followed the peasant to his tool shed, a bright grin on his face as new hope welled up in his heart.

"What's yer name, misses?"
"Please, call me Suzume."

He nodded, handing over a pair of boots and ropes so she could bind and tuck away the brown and gold kimono she wore into safety. Though the chances were slim she would succeed at keeping it clean, at least most of it would remain protected as the thought of dirtying her kimono was not quite something Mizuki was looking forward to. When she had rolled up her clothes wherever she could, she followed the man onto the field to where he wanted her to begin. A brief explanation later, the kunoichi was treading through the watered fields to pluck the rice.

It was hard work. A training of endurance, a battle against fatigue. The speed with which these peasants harvested their rice was astounding, easily doing double the work Mizuki was doing in the same lapse of time. Muscles rarely used before were put to good use, the simplest moves were like new kata to be trained. A far cry from the 'master swordswoman' she was believed to be these days, but the cadence of a mundane job was doing her good. The subtle flow of irrigating water, the splash of water as boots and hands plunged to take the stems. Earth and mud reshaping itself after every step. The soft mumbling of two peasants conversing. Birds and insects in the distance. And clouds above slowly moving. The world fully at peace. It allowed Mizuki to forget that she was a shinobi for a change.

The night would come fast. Before she realised it, the sun was setting, it's last sunrays colouring the sky in red and yellow hues, what little brightness that remained reflecting in the irrigated waters like a broken mirror. Though the kunoichi had enjoyed the labour, she had quite a road to walk back before she was home, all while feeling her muscles burn throughout her body. Rising up, she wiped the sweat of her face with her personal towel and looked for the man that had requested her help in the matter. Spotting him three rows further, she signalled him, upon which he walked over.

"I have a long road yet to walk back and it will be night soon. I'm afraid I have to leave now."

The man looked as if he was about to panic. He quickly glimpsed behind him at the still richly filled rice field and scratched his head in realisation there was still too much to do. Reluctantly, he turned around, his expression about hopeless.

"I'm sorry I have to ask this, but... If I arranged food and accommodation for the night, would you mind staying until tomorrow? We really could use the help with this year's abundant haul."

Mizuki eyed the heavy work load on the field. Could she spare the time? There was no one home waiting for her, no missions to currently undertake, and the distraction would probably do her good too. Besides, it was getting late and the strain in her muscles agreed with the man's offer that a nearby bed was a better option than a distant one after such hard work. Making up her mind to stay a day longer, she agreed to his offer. The man bow deeply, thanking her ten times over before returning to his own place with a bright smile. Seeing such gratitude, she couldn't help but smile herself, feeling she had made the better decision.

1243

[1243 / 4000] All stats B-1 -> B-2

Raiu Mizuki · 2 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 09, 2018 9:02 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Day 4

"Woah... Suzume-neesan. You're really good at this!"

What could she say? A kunoichi of her rank was not easily surpassed in the art of skipping stones. A good stone, a trained grip and the sight of a hawk. The skill with which she threw those stones over the river would only have been rivalled by other shinobi of her rank, but since those were not around she could fool around some without worry. The kids of the peasant families loved to see the stone hop and hop and hop in its desires to reach the other end, even though the stones faltered somewhere halfway and sunk to depths to never return. To see these kids smile in amazement by such simple things was a heart-warming feeling.

"All is possible with a good stone."

There was far more to it than the stone, of course, but there was no need to tell that to the kids. Seeing them happy to find their own miracle stone and try to break their own record each in turn was an amusing reward on its own. They were so young, without worries or duties, driving Mizuki to wonder if her sister and herself had been like this way just as well before shinobi training started. She couldn't remember anything like that, but she was fairly certain her parents must have looked at the two of them with much the same eyes she was looking at these kids today. Little lives full of hope and energy.

It was a good thing today was a bright day. On a free day such as this, with the sun out, the kids were at their best. Running through the field playing tag, showing off their knowledge on beetles and insects, greeting the farm animals. Life here was simple but the kids never seemed to grow bored, rising up to grab the next creative opportunity to have a game or whole new adventure with the most silly of things. Mizuki couldn't help but giggle at their antics as she experienced a care-free world she had never known before, but adult or not, she wasn't abandoned by the youngsters. She was filled in with every detail of their world just to make sure she understood what was going, and preferably pulled within that world to play along with them.

The sparrow entertained them some but remained mostly aware of potential dangers that could harm the kids. The 'battlefield' Mizuki found herself in would not be filled with shuriken, weapons and jutsu but thorny vines, mud pits and other dangers seemingly menial to even the lowest of shinobi. These now formed great hazards to the safety of the kids as they cavorted throughout the day, and once again were far more tiresome than what she was used to do on a daily base. The lives of the shinobi and that of the peasant.. two disparate lifestyles, their perspectives so unalike it felt like stepping in a whole new world.

Musing on the differences, Mizuki's thoughts wandered to a life where she would be raising her own kids. Would she do so in Kumogakure, a village that had been on the decline for years, or was it better to find a quiet spot in distant lands, far away from expectations, duties and traditions? A safe place was of great importance. A place where her children would have a future for themselves. Growth potential. Options. What sort of lessons...? There would be a chance her kids would inherit her ranton KKG, meaning proper ninjutsu training would be a must even if only to know what it was and how to deal with it. She worried it would force them into inevitable shinobi training... So perhaps her children should not inherit the Storm Release affinity? A bleak future, if anything. And she wanted them to learn the basics of proper self-defence if only to safeguard them against the cruelties of the world.

Mizuki's thoughts rode with the rollercoaster of dreams for quite a while as options were weighted in favour of, or against distinct futuristic visions. There was so much to think about that learning the Executioner Arts had almost seemed a joke in comparison. Allowing herself a soft smile despite herself, she decided she'd worry about this once she actually found a husband worth loving. That on its own was a challenge to be considered as the kunoichi driven by duty had barely found the time to care or sustain such romance. Though her parents certainly had never been against her happiness, the weight of expectations and the increasing pressure to walk in her father's footsteps had not exactly allowed love of that sort to blossom.

Things were different now.

Instead of being driven to go home, she mostly avoided it. Instead of taking pride in her techniques as kunoichi, she was reluctant to maintain them. It was as if she wanted to escape all she had been and known as kunoichi so far. No. There was no 'as if', Mizuki really wanted to escape the person she had become. Embrace the solitude rather than to fear it, gaze at the horizon and the skies rather than to oppose them. Mizuki was not sure what to make of this strange feeling slowly settling within the core of her heart, nor about the quickly disappearing grip she generally held on her thoughts and goals.

All of this was just fine as it was for now. Soon enough she would have to return home anyway. When duty called, she'd be there.

940
[2183 / 4000] All stats B-1 -> B-2

Raiu Mizuki · 3 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 09, 2018 5:46 pm

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Day 7
There was a nip in the air today, but it didn't stop the farmers from working the land. Used to the hardships of the weather, they hardly noticed it, skin hardened throughout the years. As had been the case in the last seven days, Mizuki and the peasants rose when the first sunrays splayed across the land and went to rest when the sun had so much as disappeared. It made the days long, but the kunoichi didn't complain. In fact, she enjoyed distracting her mind with such a cadenced job, progressively seeing how the rice field was emptying the more had been hauled in.

They day would take a turn for the worse as a random wanderer, a rather bulky looking man but otherwise not exactly dangerous, walked up to Aki. The girl was about fourteen, already working hard, and had a certain youthful beauty about her. The man called her over since she was closest and the two conversed for a short moment. Then, as she wanted to return to work in the field, he grabbed her by the shoulder, pulled her back and kept her in a tight lock. Digging up a knife, he pressed the blade against her throat and grinned.

"I want food, water and a cosy place to have some fun with this kid."

His shouted it loud enough for everyone to hear it, making them all look up in shock. Aki's mother started to wail, while her sister quickly ran off to fetch the food and drink he requested. Mizuki could see the men trying to figure out a way to get Aki free, but unarmed and untrained for combat there was little they could at this point. Powerless, they allowed Shizune to bring the man his food and drink. Pocketing the food in his vest, he took a big gulp of the tankard that he had been given, one arm still holding the child pressed tightly against him. But that moment of distraction would cost him as the kunoichi quickly formed the hand seals of the Raiu's signature technique. Seeing bright light being formed from the corner of his eye, the man stopped drinking in wonder of what was going on. Just a second, he did, before a dozen laser beams pierced his body from various directions with so much as no other warning.

The man dropped like a sack of rice as Aki escaped his loosened grasp, but the adults' faces slowly turned to look at the wandering ronin that had been helping them out this entire week. An awkward moment and unsure what to say against a stranger that just slew a bandit in a matter of seconds, necessary work in need to be finished urged them to continue on, only the mother and her child leaving the perimeter to recover from the ordeal.

480
[2663 / 4000] All stats B-1 -> B-2

Raiu Mizuki · 4 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 16, 2018 4:29 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Day 9

It was a difficult decision, but it was for the best of it. Even if Mizuki liked it here, the very thought that these peasants could be brought in danger by her presence urged her to move on. Power tended to draw power, and the chances for retaliation were big what with Kumogakure's forces being thinly spread these days. The decision had thus be made, Mizuki now well on the road to a new destination.

It pained the people to see her go as despite the short period they had grown quite attached to her help. What had started as small talk had eventually grown into deep conversations of the sort Mizuki had sorely missed in the last years. One of those conversations had revealed an ancient temple road known as the Thousand Stairs of Strife, running deeply into the mountains and leading to an old shrine in reverence to some old forgotten mountain kami with an inclination for war and strife. While Mizuki was not one to rely on faith, the treacherous path could prove an interesting challenge while it gave her some time to think about the future.

By now, she had reached the first steps of this forgotten path. A small shrine, or what remained of it, stood on its last legs as moss overgrew it. Red ribbons were attached around the wooden structure, an old ritual of which the intentions eluded the shinobi but could easily be assumed as a desire for a blessing. Having no red ribbon with her, Mizuki bowed lightly, reciting a general prayer she remembered and stepped upon the first of many chiselled out stairs that lead higher into the mountain.

After a long climb of hours, the stairs slowly vanished to make room for a small, windy path in the mountains. The Thousand Stairs had been a sobering trek with little catching the attention. Just here and there an old paper lamp remained, but most had been blown away by the wind. A truly forgotten path it was. It was possible the stairs had counted a thousand in number, but Mizuki had given up on counting them after reaching two hundred thirty five or so, growing bored of the monotonous activity and instead quieting her mind as she proceeded to undertake the arduous task of reaching the end by foot, as jumping ever forward would have been too easy a task to undertake while possibly making her miss the trail hidden in the mountains. It would be a good training for her conditioning and endurance as those were on the weaker side due to the illness she had inherited from her mother.

The winding path would eventually scrape on the side of the mountain, dangerously small and easily teased by the increasing winds that had decided to keep Mizuki visit. But the view over the endless mountains of Kumogakure and possibly even Iwagakure was magnificent. Not the slightest of human activity to be seen, the area looked like an eternal confrontation between the rocky mountains below and the expansive skies above. Two opposites that never relented yet all together seemed to accept each other's powerful presence. Then, when the sun set, the idyllic display of colours was easily the most magnificent of moments Mizuki had witnessed as brown, red and yellow washed out to meet sky blue and midnight ink. Gradually, the night would swallow it all, leaving the kunoichi as a forgotten dot between the slumbering rocky giants that formed this mountain range. A long and quiet night would follow, the sound of its serenity only broken by the steady step of the Raiu. Even if her tread was as elegant as that of a crane, the difference would yet be noticed by the spirits until, eventually, Mizuki would find a small cave to pass the night in.

640
[3303 / 4000] All stats B-1 -> B-2

Raiu Mizuki · 5 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 16, 2018 5:47 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Day 10

By the time the sun had reached its zenith, Mizuki arrived near the remnant of a small temple. The wooden structure had seen better days. Its doors laid on the floor, pulled out of their hinges by the winds that teased the area. The tatame that made the flooring were dirty, the paper walls inside torn and in need of repairs. Despite all this, the small temple expressed a solemn aura of devotion, standing all by itself on a small platform in the mountains. Passing a single statue of a dragon roaring at the skies in defiance, rather well-preserved despite the general condition of the abandoned area, Mizuki stepped into the temple.

As proper respect dictated, she removed her soles and walked inside on bare feet to explore the single large room of the empty building. Where the kamidana was supposed to be, she found a smashed table, the incense and candles spread out on the ground nearby, scrolls depicting the words, "Strife", "Prosperity", "Divinity", strangely preserved with the exception of a few smears of dirt. Taking her time to clean up a little, Mizuki straightened the scrolls and removed the remnants of the table. Placing the tumbled over incense holder and candles in front of the scrolls to somewhat restore its integrity, she would then kneel before the new 'altar' in meditation much like she had done countless times at the dojo back home.

"There is a difference between showing proper respect and worship", her father had always told her. To honour the spirit of the house, the land, the kami, was to humbly recognise one's position in comparison to greater powers such as the elements. To learn this sort of respect for the world around them meant hubris and arrogance had a harder chance to take over the mind, and would not easily sway the heart into foolishness. Mizuki couldn't say if this was true or if it would really make a difference in life not to perform such small gestures of respect, but she had never questioned the noble intentions and the elegance of being they brought with them. The philosophy behind it was one she had always been able to appreciate, and one she would always uphold.

Finishing her meditation, Mizuki would walk out again, not forgetting to put on her soles. This should have been the end of her trip, but the path she had walked on lead even further into the mountains, its destiny hidden from sight. Overlooking the area, Mizuki expected to be somewhere at the border between Kumogakure and Iwagakure, but there was nothing stating that for sure. The urge to move forward and discover the end of the trail pulled her towards a direction in favour of discovery as there was no saying where this path could lead. A hidden or forgotten road leading to a different Village was valuable information worth investigating, no matter for what purpose it would come to serve so Mizuki turned her back to the path she came from and moved to walk the path that laid ahead.

The path ahead was nothing different from the one she had already been walking. Narrow and clinging to the mountains, it was almost miraculous a citizen would be able to go on without falling down from the insurmountable heights as Mizuki was forced to use the Supernatural Walking Practice herself. The increasing dangers of this ill-forgotten path included entire pieces of road having broken down by rock falls, debris blocking the way and the wind itself mercilessly trying to sweep away those who took on the trial of the Thousand Stairs. Any mortal lacking preparation or skill would not have been able to continue this path, leaving the hardships of the forgotten kami to those who had slowly grown to surpass the power of well-trained mortals. Strife, prosperity, divinity. The message of the forgotten kami was of a different sort than the one her father had always shared with her, as if it hinted that all those who would continue this path could no longer be considered 'mere humans'. As if continuing this path meant shedding the limits of the flesh to reach out to the essence of gods. As a storm was brewing in the distance, Mizuki wondered but one thing.

Was this how Hastur had come to be?

[EXIT]

727
[4030 / 4000] All stats B-1 -> B-2

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1 Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Mon May 07, 2018 10:25 am

Raiu Mizuki

2 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 09, 2018 9:02 am

Raiu Mizuki

3 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 09, 2018 5:46 pm

Raiu Mizuki

4 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 16, 2018 4:29 am

Raiu Mizuki

5 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot] Wed May 16, 2018 5:47 am

Raiu Mizuki

6 Re: Yamabushi, part I [Solo | Plot]

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