Yamabushi, part III [Solo

Raiu Mizuki · 1 Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Thu May 17, 2018 3:02 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Part III, a sparrow in the mountains

Spoiler:

Day ??
A remote valley such as this was hard to find even to those that generally knew the area. The lush green area, rich with wildlife of all kind, was secluded from the world by the mountains that bore it. It rested like a green tongue behind the sharp fangs that formed the mountain spires of Iwagakure. Though a valley, the hidden area was rather high in altitude and allowed a rich view of the countless little paths that lead through the Valley of Mountains. This area was 'familiar' to Mizuki, as far as she could consider herself familiar with the Land of Earth, in that sense that she remembered having walked on one of those roads before in service of Kumogakure. Other than that, the whole place was a maze of paths, little water streams and pocket valleys much like hers. Mizuki could only imagine what a hell this place must be for Iwa's patrols.

The kunoichi had been here for weeks now, having lost the count of days as time progressed. She suffered some troubles early on, not used to live in the wildlife, but such hardship had been surpassed little by little. The dead branches of nearby trees served as the base of a small makeshift tent. Those branches were in turn covered by greens and dead leaves intended to cushion the downfall of rain and guide them away from the inside of the basic tent. It wasn't much, but it allowed Mizuki to sleep somewhat sheltered and decent. Over the course of time, she had provided the tent with a layer of boar furs to soften the earth she slept on, making it quite comfortable and warm, with the single fur of a small bear serving as a bed sheet for colder days. Aside from the tent, her makeshift camp offered a rack where she could hang her caught fish and hunted rabbits and a small campfire, a stark difference with her generally luxurious lifestyle back home.

In similar fashion, the kunoichi's otherwise elegant wardrobe had made room for a basic outfit. Her hanfu had seen the best of days, small cuts and tears having turned it into a clearly worn basic layer of clothes only serving to preserve a sense of modesty, here and there patched with some fur or crude leather. It didn't matter that much, since her protection came from her custom armour, which she had come to wear on an almost daily base. The rivers nearby allowed her to bathe when she wanted to, keeping most grime off her body, while a couple of local plants rich on natural soap had come to substitute her preferred soaps in lack of better options.

To accommodate to the new lifestyle, Mizuki had mostly made use of Artemis, her longbow, as it offered a better approach in the situation she found herself in than her katana would do. Granted, a short hunting bow would have been better still, but with Mizuki's skill in kyujutsu and her grey hawk, she was doing fine taking down small wild life. Mizuki didn't eat much. Needing only a little of the available prey that grazed around, she generally added some small amount of own cultivated vegetables and rice with it to complement her meal, or diversified her dish by catching a fish or shoot some poultry.

Her days would be filled with simple pass-times. Revision of kenjutsu kata, shooting at a makeshift target, picking up basic spear practise, training and feeding her pet hawk made sure discipline and skill remained high. Hunting, fishing, maintaining her little allotment, feeding and bathing sustained her basic nourishment. Her days would further be filled with long walks in exploration of the lands, making sure not to miss a single hiding place and trying to memorise the abundance of roads that ran through the Valleys. This whole area was a veritable maze. The more she explored and learned about it, the happier she became that she had encountered a couple of Iwa-nin along the road during her last mission. Without them, she could have been wandering around for an eternity to come.

As the weeks passed, she became more familiar with the whole area and occasionally dealt with roaming bandits threatening her. Rare were the times she killed them as she preferred to preserve life rather than end it, but with it the rumours of a 'mountain demon' started to spread. A beautiful woman, quiet as the winds, defeated roaming brigands time and time again, only sparing them because they had not threatened her beauty. An amusing tale despite not being quite correct, but such was the nature of fear when left to the fantasies of those who resorted to violence rather than understanding. To those who did bother to ask her name, she would reply "Suzume", as since her trial through the Thousand Stairs a cyan mark had formed itself upon her arm. A name given by the kami, perhaps, since Mizuki had no idea in what other way the tattoo came to be.

Suzume, yamabushi of the mountains.

She was fine using that name. She was fine living away from everything she had once known as she searched to figure out who or what she was supposed to do. Mizuki found it a strange occurrence that the loneliness she suffered from losing her parents only revealed itself when she was in the city, seeing all these people going out with their family members. Over here, there was none of that. It was just her and Zhinu, and whatever the land had to offer. The other option was going back to Kumogakure, where it would be just her and Zhinu as well while living in a place that was torn by strife, criminality and soon-to-be war. The choice was not hard to make for a person that had nothing more to lose. A person looking to find some peace in mind and heart. Looking at the horizon, the future looked bright now.

1009

Last edited by Raiu Mizuki on Tue May 22, 2018 1:00 pm; edited 2 times in total

Raiu Mizuki · 2 Re: Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Tue May 22, 2018 3:21 am

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

Building up a reputation had its drawbacks. Mizuki's fame yet didn't stretch far. The yamabushi of the Valley of Mountains was a solitary woman that disliked roaming bandits, but to the local bandits she had become an omen of ill luck. They saw her as an akuma in disguise, her skill with the blade far beyond anything they had seen. To cross her while they were going on about with their unsavoury business resulted in a failure they would not soon forget. Most of their lives were spared, but the bandits didn't see it this way. To them, the akuma was keeping them alive so it could torment them further with failure.

But the bandits were learning to avoid the kunoichi. More and more often, lookouts and guard dogs were being used to alarm them when someone was nearing. More and more often they left in time when she arrived, their victims still somewhat spared as the bandits scurried away in fear. To make matters worse, the bandits grew bolder as the days passed. They trained their skill, recruited new members and started to scout and map the Valley beyond their general turf. Though finding Mizuki would not be that easy, she understood that it would not take too long before she would have to slay the first of many that would discover her remote little paradise. As unfortunate as it could be, she would be obliged to strike first by proactively hunting the bandits.

But the land here was vast, and the bandits scattered. Even if she could catch small groups off guard, she would not be able to take down all of them in an efficient way. And unlike the organised crime in the slums, these small gangs had no headquarters. They were down-trodden people looking to cope with their needs, springing up like mushrooms in false belief life would be easier this way. Their dark dreams usually scattered even before they had to mug a person as guilt crept in their hearts, or at the moment trained forces opposed them. It made Mizuki wonder if there was a single Village even remotely free of corruption and poverty. A hidden Village full of shinobi with one goal and direction. Did such a thing exist?

Answers would likely not come, but downright slaying all criminals felt like to harsh an execution for something that could be changed. Was it advised to meet with the Tsuchikage to debate such things after the Raikage's antics with his raiton spear? This was a task for the forces of Iwagakure rather than that of an outsider but Mizuki always had a hard time denying those in need of help. The travellers here needed protection. The criminals needed to be shown the proper way. Maybe Iwagakure was in need of assistance, how unlikely that had seemed to be the case the first time she entered here.

Mizuki sighed. No. She shouldn't be helping them out. Not only would it potentially blow the cover of her peaceful life but she had not come to reconciliation with her past just yet. The last thing she needed was meddling in shinobi affairs when everything about that world had thrown her world upside down. She couldn't blame the shinobi for trying to preserve her mother's life, but something deep inside urged her to do it despite. Her father's death was on her hands, but all of that laid with the origins of their responsibilities and traditions imposed by her own clan and some deluded ronin lineage that had succeeded at persevering despite the shinobi training. No, she was not to blame someone else for this. The only one to be blamed was herself. For not being strong enough to deny her father. For not having chosen her own road. For chasing her own dreams too hard.

...

She could name a thousand reasons. Blaming would not undo what had happened. Mizuki watched the horizon, her father's last words ringing in her mind. "Eyes on the horizon, hands resting on the blade, and heart reaching for the Storms". He had repeated those words a thousand times throughout his life. Every time Mizuki had nodded, believing she had understood what they meant. But did she really? It often felt her sister understood the words better than she did. Resting her hand on the pommel of her katana, eyes fixated to the distance that would never come, one question remained. What did her heart truly long for in this inner turmoil?

759
Total: 1768

Raiu Mizuki · 3 Re: Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Tue May 22, 2018 4:13 pm

Raiu Mizuki

Retired

EP : 10

876

Character sheet
Chakra:

(460/460)

The last man dropped at Mizuki's feet. Shaking the blood of her blade in a single motion, she sheathed Seiun and watched the kid cry in a crevice of the mountain. Barely five. He had seen too much bloodshed already. Terrified, alone. His parents lead dead on the floor, killed by the bandits Mizuki just came to slay. His mother had stood no chance, unarmed, trying to defend her son against swords and spears. His father had tried in vain, taking up his walking stick to protect his family. They had been simple travellers looking to find a new place to live. Perhaps late Suna refugees, maybe just people wishing to settle somewhere else with new hope. She would never know, neither did it matter. What would become of this kid?

Mizuki walked up to the child, embraced it tightly as she tried to soothe him with words. Five more minutes of tears before exhaustion and forced acceptance urged him to quiet down. All she could do for now was take him along to her little living place. Nourish him and be there for him. Hoping he'd grow out of the trauma. Was he to stay? Or was he to be brought to a orphanage? Was he to live a simple life as a hunter, or was it wiser to teach him the basics of shinobi training? The answer would reveal itself in time, through mediation.

"What's your name, child?"
"Kazuki...", it sniffled, his voice laden with grief.
"Kazuki. That's an auspicious name. My name's Suzume, a yamabushi."

He looked up, saddened eyes in Mizuki's blue-green pair. She smiled softly as he lowered his eyes.

"I will bury your parents so their souls will not haunt us. Will you come with me after that? I'll give you a place to sleep and something to eat."

His eyes shifted to meet his dead parents. Life seemed to have died out there where joy and mirth once found a home. A long pause followed, before he nodded softly. Mizuki nodded too, then rose up to begin the tedious task of creating a grave for the unfortunate pair that fell victim to the bandits. An hour would easily pass, allowing the two to stand in front of the new graves. With Mizuki's arm wrapped around him, Kazuki wished his last goodbyes.

The first month was hard for the child. Nightmares of his dead parents plagued him night after night. Mizuki could only comfort him, unable to relieve him of the mental pain he suffered. His days would be filled with sadness and agonised rage as his heart would find no rest in the injustice he had suffered. Unable to express himself properly and having no means to properly get rid of his boiling emotions, he eventually caught a high fever. Saddened for the boy, the yamabushi didn't want to let go of him. Believing he deserved a better future than this, she did what she could to soften his pain and remove the ailments he suffered with the help of the medical knowledge she had once been taught by Lin, her mentor.

Much like the child missed its parents, she felt the pain of not having her dear friend around clearly. Of all moments, Lin's healing would have helped a big deal now. Her knowledge, her skills. She would know better than Mizuki how to deal with situations as this. Unfortunately, Lin was not here. Mizuki would have to deal with this by herself. She knew her medical skill was lacking as she had not maintained it after Lin's disappearance. The fever was caused by inner turmoil, not illness or infections. She knew that much. But the knowledge to heal something that stemmed from the heart, the desire to forsake life itself, that was beyond her. The only way she knew how to deal with this was not the way she wanted to use. There would be but one option left. An option that felt as heavy as a mountain itself, for it would mean confronting a facet of the shinobi world that had already failed her twice - the help of a medical ninja.

703
Total: 2471

[EXIT]

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1 Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Thu May 17, 2018 3:02 am

Raiu Mizuki

2 Re: Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Tue May 22, 2018 3:21 am

Raiu Mizuki

3 Re: Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot] Tue May 22, 2018 4:13 pm

Raiu Mizuki

4 Re: Yamabushi, part III [Solo | Plot]

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