Whispers drifted in and out of range all around. As if trapped in a wayward gust they encircled the ear only to drift fluidly away, out of reach. The whispers were soft, smooth, smokey. Slowly her head, heavy yet weightless, turned on her neck. She tipped her head left then bobbed right. Her ear chased the whispers slowly floating along. They were drawing her nearer. They twisted around her with the gentleness of vapor, lifting her and tossing her with them across the breeze. Her body felt warm and swollen, the same one would feel stepping out of a hot sauna - ready to just curl up in the sweet ecstasy of a renewed day. The vapors and whispers carried her along and she drifted in darkness. She could not see a single thing, but the vapors were there, and for the first time in her life, she felt completely safe.

It was almost too good to be true. These things naturally are when it's time for another twist of events.

Time didn't have a part to play on this stage. Instead it felt like life here was endless. As she went along the vapors enclosed her more closely. It felt comforting like a blanket. She sighed, smiling, nuzzling closer. The whispers continued to drift in and out and were gaining strength. She could almost make out the words. Cuddling closer to the vapors, they begun to itch. Her mind hesitated only to fall back into the flow as she envisioned the vapors to be a wool blanket, scratchy but comforting. She reached up with a relaxed hand and rubbed her shoulder down her upper arm. It burned as she did.

Confused, her brows furrowed. Her eyes flickered from beneath her lids. She knew if she opened them she would not be able to see anything. But her fingers… She lifted them and with her thumb rubbed them together. Her fingers were warm and wet. How strange. Had she showered or swam recently? She couldn’t remember. In fact now that she thought of it, she couldn’t remember how she had come to this place. It was all so strange and wonderful. Her mind softened as whispers tickled her ear more closely. “What are you saying?” she spoke, with a warm giggle. She swayed in the vapors, floating about in the air like a petal on the breeze. Warm and tipsy, she wondered if this is what is was like to be drunk. She’d seen people drink and sway like this. No wonder they did. It felt good. Maybe that was why she was there. She’d drank too much. She liked this feeling. She’d do it again.

A question of conspiracy settled in the back of her mind, but was hushed by the whispers. Something about this was familiar. They grew out of their muffled, sweet calls and voiced in her ear, “Revenge is ours…”

The phrase echoed across the emptiness around her with not one but many voices. Like a chant from old ages they sung to the core of her soul. Ice crystallized in her veins. What once was warm was cold all over. Her heart stopped beating in her chest and ached all over, stretching its arteries like the roots of a tree. It swelled. She feared it would burst in her chest. This caught her breath. She couldn’t inhale. The roots of her heart entangled her lungs, choking them. She felt like she was suffocating from sudden terror. She clutched her arms around her body, rubbing her shoulders with fingers that became wet and warm. She was clinging to the only strength she had. But only by a thin thread. Red light burst across the horizon, jostling her out of the surreal state. Her eyes cracked open slowly. She blinked heavily, braving the light that burned her eyes. The red light radiated with the heat of a blazing summer sun and swallowed the tender, steady breeze she once had. The vapor around her clung tighter, unchanged and unnerved by the intensity of the red light. It squeezed like a snake suffocating its prey. Her body felt swollen and screamed in pain. Her skin threatened to burst from the pressure. Baring the light she looked down. Her arms were bloody from claw marks. Her fingers were tearing her flesh apart. They kept scrapping and ripping and rubbing. She tried to scream but without breath it was all a losing battle. Her arms, searing in pain, bled profusely. She tried to will her hands to stop, only to find they weren’t listening to her command. They weren’t hers to control anymore. Over and over they dug into her shoulders and ripped long jagged lines of torn flesh.

Her mind scrambled for a way out. She shook her body, tossed it around this way and that but she couldn’t break from the vapor’s grasp. It was translucent but binding. Tears burst from the wells of her eyes like rivers. Her body felt like it was on fire, burning alive at the stake. Anxiety consumed her. Logic slipped from her mind as the need to breathe became the utmost priority. Her brain was fighting to survive. She struggled more and more. It was a losing battle.

Blackness drifted towards her like a wave of the ocean. It wrapped itself around her, winding and winding like a whirlpool. She looked about it terrified and worn. The vapor released her drifting to mold into the whirlpool, join the darkness as it spun faster and faster around her. She had only enough time to breath one deep breath before the depths of darkness consumed her.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. Alive? She couldn’t believe it. She was no longer floating but tossed to the floor like a rag doll. The floor was rough and warm. It splintered and left bits of wood in her palms. These hurt but not as badly as her body pulsed from its fever. Blood dripped from her wounded arms on to the dark grains of the floor boards. Wood floors. she thought absently. She lifted herself slowly. Her arms shook terribly but her legs, swollen and bruised, still had their strength. The little girl only made it to kneel hunched over, bracing on the little amount of balance her elbows and forearms allowed. Her body trembled. Crippling anxiety crept up her spine. She gasped as its grip electrified her with it’s endless extortion. Her head cocked back as she sucked at the air that was heavy and gray. It burned her throat going down. Her body fought and choked it back up. It only stung worse the second time through.

Muffled whispers came in and out again. She didn’t need them anymore to know what was next. What always came next. She closed her eyes tightly. Her fingers gripped the floorboards. A wave of heat and smoke exploded through the room. Suddenly an ever familiar sound of a beam snapping flew through the air. Her heart and its roots pulsed. She lifted one hand. Losing the balance she once clutched, she fell, rolling to her back to look at the roof. Smoke curled towards a blackened sky. The rafters were ablaze with flames. They cackled harmoniously. Her spirit inside was bleeding out more than the wounds on her arms. This realm was stealing away her will power. She was going to be sucked dry and lost to this plane of existence once and for all. Why did she ever think she would ever escape?

“Revenge is ours…” the whispers reminded her.

Her eyelids lowered as her body fell numb. She lay expressionless as her soul tipped the scales to the whispers favor. She could feel it slipping towards their gluttonous mouths. Feel it filling their bellies, stealing her strength, her dreams, her life. Their sharp teeth gnawed at her like steak, chewing and suckling at her essence. Terrified and exhausted, she was giving in. She didn’t want to care anymore. She didn’t want to fight any more. She was tired. She was worn. The war had been waged and she had lost.

Was this the end? Was she to die here? She didn’t know. And at this point, she quite frankly didn’t care.

“Revenge is ours…” the whispers spoke triumphantly. She could feel the heat from their dark smiles burn her skin.

“Uh-huh, I know.” she responded dully.

Time didn’t exist in this plane, but it felt like an eternity of them pulling the silks of her soul from her skin. Their grasps burned, but she didn’t acknowledge the pain. They didn’t deserve that much satisfaction. She only laid their in her pit of depression. She was fading away and it wouldn’t be much longer before she was gone. The world around her darkened, the flames dimmed as her body lowered through the floor into shadows. This place felt cold like ice. It was an actual pit. Her own darkness come to life. Still she didn’t move, she didn’t acknowledge the difference. She was numb to it all. At least, until a blue light flickered across her eye lids. Strange… She thought aimlessly.

Slowly she peaked her eyes open and what stood above her was an astonishing sight. A knight of some kind in blue armor leaned over her, knelt on one knee by her side. He held out a hand clad in black and blue metals. An aura of blue beamed all around him. All around him the ravenous demons hand sunk into the walls of the pit glowering at this new comer. Some hissed, others gurgled on their embers. They stood ready to pounce while cowering at the same. Were they threatened by this knight in blue armor?

“Who are you?” She asked tentatively. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this knight. Never had the demons cowered from her. Never had they felt threatened by only her presence. In the air their was great strength that wafted from the blue aura surrounding him. It was so powerful and yet so gentle.

The blue knight did not respond. His hand still held out to her. Looking about again, she felt nervous. What if this was just another demon of the dark? She had never encountered anything like this before. Was she losing her sense of sanity as well as her soul?

The knight didn’t waver. Cautiously she reached for his hand. Suddenly, in a blink of an eye he snatched her hand and leapt. Her weak heart fluttered. She was dragged upwards. They flew through the pit, through the flames and past the demons. They looked up at them with feverish glares. The young girl bit her lip and turned her gaze towards the knight. Just beyond them he was pulling her towards a bright white light. Her heart weighed anxious feelings. On one hand this could be heaven; a better ending than that of a demon’s lunch. On the other it was another ending. She was tired, exhausted from the endless torment, but suddenly she was gaining strength and will. She didn’t want her life to end. Bubbles of warmth seeped through her chest - the will to live.

As they came closer to the light they gained momentum. The knight didn’t waver in their path, he pulled them through it, bearing the great force. Meiyo’s hair whipped about wildly. She shielded her eyes with her forearm as the light grew blinding. Fear exploded in her chest as they passed through the light, tearing out of her throat as a high pitched scream that was lost to the winds and light.

Then, silence.

First she felt her toes on a soft bed of grass. Dew dampened blades of green tickled and teased at her sensitive skin. There was a light breeze that was warm - not blazing, blowing gently all around her. The air smelled sweet of earth and flowers, and most contently it smelt familiar. Slowly she opened her eyes, though she was still filled with terror of what she would find. It wouldn't be the first time she was tricked. Instead of a trick, she was treated with a sky full of blue and a field of grass, flowers, and tall trees. It was quiet here. She looked all around in wonder. “Where...What?” she didn’t have many words. She felt out of breath and dizzy. It was so beautiful here. It always was, it looked just like the training grounds, and one of her favorite spots. But how she came to be here, she couldn’t figure it out.

“Bright light and blue knight and…” She sputtered out. Her fingers twirling about as she tried connecting the dots. “It’s so real.”

“You do have one of the wildest imaginations I’ve come across in a long time,” a low male voice spoke from behind. Startled, she whipped about. Her long hair that normally smacked her in the face, floated as if gravity was, well less? She wasn’t sure. It floated gently around her as it settled softly back around her shoulders. Amazed at that and at the tall figure in blue metal before her, she fell to her knees.

The knight leaned over her at a slight angle. She stared up at it with widened eyes and a paled face. In this light she now had a better view of this… knight? If one could call it that now. It’s armor was more or less shaped to the muscular structure and purple in some places. It curved around in sharp angles like an exoskeleton. Curled up behind him wasn’t a cloak, there were metal wings as well a tail gently hung about from behind with a sharp end. Attached to its hip was a long sword as long as his leg that gradually grew in color from a dark midnight blue at the hilt to a blood red at the tip. The hilt itself was eye catching. Barbed with spikes and a blue eye jewel as blue as the owner’s. The helmet was adorned with four horns, two short ones atop that jutted towards the sky, and two long ones that curved downwards, one on either side of the head. A brief image of the devil flashed before her eyes. The helmet held sharp angles for the jaw and cheek bones lines, but also was split almost in half. There were a couple inches from the center of the forehead straight down into the heart of the chest that was black, void of any material or body. It was as if the armor was without a body. And yet it spoke and moved. It’s eyes were the most shocking. A vivid teal of bright lights sat in the two eye sockets. Glowing like flickering blue flames.

Her mouth fell drier than the sands of Suna. “Who are you?” She choked out.

“I am a warrior of the Dakuhanta. I am here because as a bond between your ancestors and my clan you are my responsibility to be guided.” Meiyo swallowed a dry lump of confusion.

Nodding back half heartedly, she responded. “Right, ancestors..Ancestors?” she asked confused. “I was left at an orphanage, I don’t have anything left but a note and a bracelet of my mother.”

The warrior of the Dakuhanta, as he calls himself, leaned back up and crossed his arms. “And you have yet to read the note? After all this time?” His voice carried hints of disappointment.

Heat rushed to her face, she looked away quickly. “I’ve been busy.” She summed up as a sorry excuse. With the brief moment of silence from the warrior, it was clear he realised this as well.

“Regardless, we have other matters at hand.” He held out a hand to her. “Rise.” She reached but hesitated.

“Are we going flying again?” She wasn’t sure she could take another ride.

“Certainly not.” he stated plainly. “Though this realm is in all of your control. I am but a visitor.” She took his hand and he helped her to her feet. “Now, there is much to cover. I shall begin with a brief history.” Meiyo peered up at him curiously. Though she still held an air of anxious feelings about her. All of this was really confusing and after the events of the evening so far she really didn’t know how much more she could handle.

“Many centuries ago, when the world was still young my kind thrived upon the lands. We dedicated ourselves to practices of the spiritual kinds. We grew in strength and wisdom, however as our era came to an end, and man’s began, we sealed our world inside an ancient tome. For centuries we remained unbothered. Then one day, during times of war for man, a warrior of men by the name of Yatame, Yagatoma discovered our tome. Heavily wounded, he passed in our shrine. Having died a true warrior’s death, his soul passed through into our sealed realm. We had awaited so much time for a true warrior to unlock our seals. And as Yagatoma met our expectations of this, we shared with him our warrior spirits. We would honor his descendants for all eternity with our gifts, so long as we are respected. Else grave consequences would befall them. With agreement from Yagatoma, we sealed the bond with what your clan calls the Yatame Seal. We returned Yagatoma back to the world of the living healed and strong.

Your clan grew on from Yagatoma, and despite issues with man, another story yet to tell, we have maintained our bonds through the seal.”

Lost for words with all of this befalling her ears, she sucked in a sharp breath doing everything she could to wrap her brain around all of the history and that of what it meant for her. Slowly she pulled a bit of long bang behind her ear, hardly realizing it was not the color she had dyed it. “So, what you’re saying is I’m of this Yatame clan? Yagatoma is my ancestor and you are my, what did you call it?”

“Spirit Warrior.” He filled in.

“Yes, thank you, Spirit Warrior.” She nodded slowly, speaking even more gradually. She had not only a family, but a clan. There could be others out there. She had a history. There was more. She had a spirit warrior, whatever gifts he spoke of. She wasn’t a nobody anymore, she was a somebody! “Are there… Are there more of my clan out there?” She asked tentatively.

“Yes, many.” He confirmed.

Her body sunk with relief. One hand clutched her heart, the other her knee beneath a billowing white dress she had yet to realise she was dressed in. Tears of joy flooded like rivers from her eyes down her cheeks. “Really?” She asked in gasping disbelief. “Where? Are my parents alive too? Why did they leave me? Can we go to them? Go to any of them? Can we go now?”

The warrior reached a cladded hand up and scratched the back of his helmet. “Well that's complicated.” He coughed. She shook her head, brows furrowed.

“Complicated?” She pried.

“Yes, well first you must wake up.” From the further confused look on her face he continued. “ Your in your dreams right now.” with a thought the demons, vapors and now this strange but familiar place, it made better sense as a dream than reality.

“Oh so how do I wake-” she begun to ask. The warrior reached for her desperately.

“Now, wait!” She heard just as this world slipped out of focus and her nightstand cast in the warm glow of a dawning sun came into view.

Blinking drowsily she peered around her bedroom. Her body felt tender all over, but everything was still in place. Her bed, her nightstand, the carving of the many names lost tree, the candle still lit, the world was quiet all around aside from the occasional cawing of her neighbor’s rooster. Carefully she rubbed her shoulders, no marks, not even the slightest scratch other than of course the scars that were there yesterday. Other than covered in so much sweat her nightgown stuck to her skin, everything seemed okay and back to relative normal. She touched her forehead tentatively. Was any of it real? Was she really a Yatame? The Spirit Warrior, was he real too? She shook her head, not wanting to think too hard on the subject. At the moment all she wanted was tea and a shower. She slipped on her slippers, crossed the room, set the pot on the stove top and headed for the bathroom.

Only when she looked in the mirror she stumbled, knocking her clay toothbrush holder to smash on the ground with a loud crack. She stared in horror and amazement at her reflection. For she found her hair pure white and her eyes purple and black slits for pupils. Long gone was her rainbow hair and golden eyes.

“Oh wonderful,” Spoke an all too familiar voice from beside her. She peeked over with her newly purple eyes. There he stood in all his blue armor glory, though faded, something like a ghost or… spirit…“You’ve taken on a better family resemblance.”

-End Part One-

WC of the 3000 WC required - 3585
Clan Post Application: From Undiscovered to Yatame
Undiscovered Clan Link: http://www.narutosaga.com/t18515-the-undiscovered
Yatame Clan Link: http://www.narutosaga.com/t17959-yatame-clan