by Sorry its late...and it sucks. ^^ I had a really hard time on this chapter so its not as long. I hope to make up for it with the next one~
Chapter five:
Toshii sighed softly under her breath as she wiped the sleep from her left eye, the other gazed at the sky that had just started to show signs of first light. It was utter beauty. A simple beauty that did not have much to it, just a dim lighting and a nice cool chill of the bones that made her feel at peace. It made part of her grateful to be up at such an insane hour, but, just then another yawn would remind her of the other part that wanted nothing more to to crawl back into the sheets of her sleeping mat. She imagined it being soft and warm just waiting for her to return to it.
“Toshii?” A voice that belonged to the Yamakage brought her attention back to the real world that lay in front of her. The roads were empty at this hour giving them a creepy feeling that was intensified by the cold that always seemed to cut to the very bones. Even the Yamakage who stood a few feet away eying her looked like something out of Toshii's horror dreams. He wore nothing but a green robe that did not stand out anymore than the next. It was her opinion that none of the Kages seemed to dress to stand out, just the opposite, they tried there darnedest to fit in as much as they possible could. She shook that thought off fast as it hit her she had only ever seen two of the kages and it was a bit foolish to judge all of them by the actions of her own Kage.
The only thing that stood out even the smallest bit was the sword attached to the Yamakage's back. Not a normal mountain weapon by design, it was made by someone else. That was all she knew, and that was all the Yamakage was willing to share about this weapon that emitted its very own bursts of AMP from time to time. A fact that she had always kept her mouth shut on not wanting to stir up trouble.
“Forgive me, I saw you frozen admiring the heavens.” he said as he gave a lazy smile.
“It is I that should be asking forgiveness.” She lowered her eyes to the ground a bit disappointed in herself.
“Why is that?” he asked her.
“An escort should not lose focus as I did.” A burst of laughter from the Yamakage followed creating a very small moment of awkwardness for Toshii.
“My lord?” she said slowly as his his laugh came to its end.
“Forgive me again, I'm not used to such a thing. An escort? I thought you were just joining me for a refreshing morning walk to clear my head.” he fought off another laugh covering his mouth.
“You really should be thinking of the war to come my lord. There are things needed to be done. I'm doing tons of work-”
“I know, and I thank you for it. Lets have a war meeting, Now, what do they do at those?”
“Uh...” Toshii's face looked just as lost and black as his own.
“Right! We'll come up with it as we walk! The air will help us, eh?” He laughed. “Now the first thing I think we should do is-”
- - -
“I can still taste sand in my mouth” Yoyo moaned before bending down next to the river they had found just before sun up. She cupped her hands together and lowered them into the water allowing it to collect like a mini pool. Eying it for a moment she pondered if it was save to drink or not.
“We have tons of drinking water.” Q said from behind her making the pick for her as she rolled her eyes and splashed the water over her face and rubbed along her neck to wash away any dirt. She looked over her shoulder to view the Kazekage poking at a bee hive that lay on the ground with his staff.
“When we hit the Storm capitol, you're giving me two days for some R&R. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it.” she sighed.
“Normal people would never dare speak to me in such a way.” Q muttered as he jabbed the hive harder.
“Good thing I'm not normal.” She nodded to herself.
“Rank and power set you apart, Yurii, if not for them you would have been dead long ago.” He said sounding bored as the staff went through the dead hive.
“I told you never to call me that.”
“And I don't care. I rather liked the name.” he smiled as he played with the hive. “It's also the name people will rally behind in war...people will need something to rally behind.” she noted that he had whispered something so low she could not hear and a sudden change in the air around him and his face seemed to darken and age. He looked ten years older and his eyes seemed distant. A roar sounded from somewhere far off catching the Kazekage's ears. He let go of the staff and it turned to sand diapering into nothing. “Sounds like something big to kill.” he said hearing another roar, this one a bit louder. “And coming right for us, perfect.”
“Where are you going?” Yoyo called out to him as he started off toward the sound.
“Take the family and get going, you'll be a bit ahead of me, take it as your 'R&R.' I'll catch up.”
- - -
As he lay on the bench in the far back of the Inferno’s Kage palace garden Raptor heard a woman’s throat clear just as the sun’s warmth was hidden behind the clouds of the sky. He was enjoying the sun’s rays and was a bit disappointed by the sudden change. He opened one eye and twisted his head to the side to see Clair standing a few feet away with a hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. She was bare foot and dressed in a thin red silk robe, her brown hair was curled and looked freshly done.
“I guess we both shared the same idea.” She said softly motioning with her free hand for him to sit up to make some free room. Raptor sat up and moved over only stopping when he reached the bars at the end of the bench leaving more than enough room for the Kajikage.
“If you mean trying to skip out on working then sure.” He said crossing his legs so that they did not hand down over the edge and laughing trying to act like this had been his first and only offense for doing so. In truth, this was the fourth time just this week for him.
“Ah, not really, I meant trying to relax after a day of hard work.” She said taking up a seat on the other side of the bench resting her arm on the metal bar.
“Well, I have been putting myself to good use, if that matters.” Raptor said looking over at her.
“Keeping my bum warm?” Clair joked her tone remaining soft.
“Na, the sun warmed the bench before me.” He paused and started rocking back and forth, his hands griping the edge of the bench for support. “The army is deployed across the country and ready to minimize the damage.” He finished and stopped rocking.
“So then you believe that the rumors.” Clair sighed.
“Mhm, my brother is calling it the Clan Wars, yet there are some that are calling it nothing more than a World War with a pretty name.”
“And there is nothing we can do to avoid it, is there?”
“If my brother is behind it…No. Protecting the innocent that could be caught up in it is the best we can do. Personally, I don’t care about the politics of the Kages, I’ll just follow your orders.” He started rocking again as Clair thought over his words in silence. After a long moment she sighed and nodded.
“From this point on, you have full commend of Inferno’s army with only one order: Defend yourself and the others that are unable to do so for themselves. Keep to your training that we try to instill to all my people.”
With a nod Raptor stood and paused muttering to himself in a whisper before rushing forward in a burst of speed.
- - -
Q stood his ground arching away just as the monstrous Behemoth lunged at him. Its front claws swiping at him in hopes of ending him swiftly for a fast meal. Its attack failed for the most part as the tip of its claws just barely scratched Q's face leaving the mark of three long cuts under his right eye.
“Purely amazing!” he laughed crouching low to the ground as the best spun around, its tail rushing right for him. As it soared over his head at lighting speeds followed by a high gust of wind. Q held out his head and sand appeared out of thin air, it took the form of a staff and became solid wood. “Now I've seen some crazy animals before, but you, my friend! You take the cake.” He said raising back to his feet. The beast snarled at him in reply before leaping at him again with its claws which was easily parried by Q's staff. He saw his chance to do some real damage to the Behemoth, he rushed in before it could recover from the recoil caused by the parry. He swung his staff in an upward motion hitting the creature's jaw sending it flying onto it's back. As it struggled to its feet Q threw his staff away having it disappear into a blur of sand before hitting the ground.
Q prepared for the worst as the Behemoth stabilized itself. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed it was madder then ever and sparks of lightning seemed to appear shooting out of its mouth. A split second later it let out a mighty roar that would have sent any man running. On the other hand, Q saw himself more then able to handle the predicament of a ten ton monster trying to bite his head off and just before he got too cocky, a volley of lightning bolts shot from the Behemoth's mouth right for him. It was again, an easy dodge for the young Kazekage, as he closed the ground between them again. Another volley came at him, this time it was not such an easy dodge, one of the bolts hit just an inch away this time. He was lucky it was not a direct hit but the explosion from the impact did catch him. It sent Q flying at the Behemoth, Q saw it open its mouth again to send yet another volley right at him. That or it was just waiting and hoping he would fall right into his mouth and he could swallow him whole. Suddenly Q's back had a dark red glow as his Inferno AMP tattoo lit up, his right arm burst into fire as he brought it back and then forward into the beasts mouth shooting flames down its throat. With a whimper of pain the beast fell over dead; Q coming out victorious with a new found scar that would make for one heck of a story.
- - -
The people backed away and cleared the streets as Raptor made his way on horse back followed by four elite guards covered in Inferno armor. He found himself enjoying the whispers as he passed.
“Thats the great Raptor.”
“He looks tougher then the stories could ever tell.”
“The brother of the Kazekage?”
He even thought he could hear a girl or two mutter about how 'Handsome' he was. His mind flashed back to earlier that day where he had held a War meeting to think over Inferno's best move to prepare for war.
“If you would just take another look at my blueprints-”
“I have looked at them before, we don't have the founds or the manpower to really build such weapons.” Raptor sighed.
“But storm does.” Said the man on the other side of the table letting the idea hang in the air for a long moment. “If we can get to them to side with us, no one would be able to break through our defenses and thats the whole point!” he said as Raptor made no move to comment on the idea.
And so he found himself passing the gates of the village off to make a deal he did not really want to.
- - -
The eye bags under the Kazekag’s eyes were heavily visible as he squatted down locking them unto a rock that looked familiar. “So we meet again Senor Rocky.”
“Si.” It replied back a mouth and two eyes popped out of nowhere to give it a face. Dramatic music played in the Kazekag’s mind has they had a staring contest.
“You keep telling me the wrong way to go.” He went on to mutter.
“Si.” The rock nodded at him, its voice changing between a deep males and a young woman.
“Why would you do that?”
“Si.”
“That’s not nice, Senor Rocky.”
“Si.”
“Yoyo is fat.” He giggled.
“Si.”
“I knew you would agree Senor Rocky. You never let me down. Other then lying to me about where to go, but I forgive you, you see, I bet you just wanted me to stay with you.”
“Si.”
“I’m the greatest in the world.” His eyebrow raised as the rock said nothing this go around. He cleared his throat and repeated himself. Still nothing followed; they blankly looked at each other for a long moment. The Kazekage extended his finger out to poke at the rock but just then it opened its mouth and he heard his younger brother’s voice.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get Senor Rocky to tell me where to go.”
“Idiot, how long have you been here?”
“Three days.”
“He’s out of his mind. Get him up and on a horse.”
A sense of loss came over Q has he was pulled away from his friend who he had named Senor Rocky. He had only known him for three long days but he would never forget him. That was until he had a good night’s sleep and forgot all about his three day conversation that he had held with a inanimate object that was caused due to a lack of sleep. He played a sad song for his friend as he slipped into sleep on top of a Inferno horse.
- - -
Q awoke keeping his eyes closed and listened for any sounds he could hear, a dull quest. There was nothing to hear other then the sounds of his hands gliding along the silk sheets of the bed that held him. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up, he understood the room for what it was, a storm royal room fit for a guest like himself. He pulled himself out of bed and got dressed in a fresh set of clothes that were shockingly close to sand’s taste.
He sat on the edge of the bed as a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in.” He called out, the door cracked a bit and Yoyo’s head came into view.
“Hey.” She said not stepping fully into the room.
“You have really amazing timing.” He commented.
“Not really. I have knocked two times a day for the past few days.”
“Few?”
“Yeah, you have been asleep for about six days. I took care of everything and we can leave when you are ready. We got Saba’s and Clair’s signature, all that remains is Mist.”
“Wait, what? Clair is here?”
“No, but your brother is, Storm and Inferno seem to be working together in the war, they have been locked away for days.”
“Hm.” Q sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I feel…like coming here was pointless even if it was very productive. I did nothing here…I don't even get to see my little brother! What a jerk.”
“That’s why you have me, my lord.” Yoyo laughed shutting the door.
“Yeah…” Q muttered as he shook his head and shook off the bad feeling. He should be happy, just one more village to go, and it was one of his favorite.
Chapter five:
Toshii sighed softly under her breath as she wiped the sleep from her left eye, the other gazed at the sky that had just started to show signs of first light. It was utter beauty. A simple beauty that did not have much to it, just a dim lighting and a nice cool chill of the bones that made her feel at peace. It made part of her grateful to be up at such an insane hour, but, just then another yawn would remind her of the other part that wanted nothing more to to crawl back into the sheets of her sleeping mat. She imagined it being soft and warm just waiting for her to return to it.
“Toshii?” A voice that belonged to the Yamakage brought her attention back to the real world that lay in front of her. The roads were empty at this hour giving them a creepy feeling that was intensified by the cold that always seemed to cut to the very bones. Even the Yamakage who stood a few feet away eying her looked like something out of Toshii's horror dreams. He wore nothing but a green robe that did not stand out anymore than the next. It was her opinion that none of the Kages seemed to dress to stand out, just the opposite, they tried there darnedest to fit in as much as they possible could. She shook that thought off fast as it hit her she had only ever seen two of the kages and it was a bit foolish to judge all of them by the actions of her own Kage.
The only thing that stood out even the smallest bit was the sword attached to the Yamakage's back. Not a normal mountain weapon by design, it was made by someone else. That was all she knew, and that was all the Yamakage was willing to share about this weapon that emitted its very own bursts of AMP from time to time. A fact that she had always kept her mouth shut on not wanting to stir up trouble.
“Forgive me, I saw you frozen admiring the heavens.” he said as he gave a lazy smile.
“It is I that should be asking forgiveness.” She lowered her eyes to the ground a bit disappointed in herself.
“Why is that?” he asked her.
“An escort should not lose focus as I did.” A burst of laughter from the Yamakage followed creating a very small moment of awkwardness for Toshii.
“My lord?” she said slowly as his his laugh came to its end.
“Forgive me again, I'm not used to such a thing. An escort? I thought you were just joining me for a refreshing morning walk to clear my head.” he fought off another laugh covering his mouth.
“You really should be thinking of the war to come my lord. There are things needed to be done. I'm doing tons of work-”
“I know, and I thank you for it. Lets have a war meeting, Now, what do they do at those?”
“Uh...” Toshii's face looked just as lost and black as his own.
“Right! We'll come up with it as we walk! The air will help us, eh?” He laughed. “Now the first thing I think we should do is-”
- - -
“I can still taste sand in my mouth” Yoyo moaned before bending down next to the river they had found just before sun up. She cupped her hands together and lowered them into the water allowing it to collect like a mini pool. Eying it for a moment she pondered if it was save to drink or not.
“We have tons of drinking water.” Q said from behind her making the pick for her as she rolled her eyes and splashed the water over her face and rubbed along her neck to wash away any dirt. She looked over her shoulder to view the Kazekage poking at a bee hive that lay on the ground with his staff.
“When we hit the Storm capitol, you're giving me two days for some R&R. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it.” she sighed.
“Normal people would never dare speak to me in such a way.” Q muttered as he jabbed the hive harder.
“Good thing I'm not normal.” She nodded to herself.
“Rank and power set you apart, Yurii, if not for them you would have been dead long ago.” He said sounding bored as the staff went through the dead hive.
“I told you never to call me that.”
“And I don't care. I rather liked the name.” he smiled as he played with the hive. “It's also the name people will rally behind in war...people will need something to rally behind.” she noted that he had whispered something so low she could not hear and a sudden change in the air around him and his face seemed to darken and age. He looked ten years older and his eyes seemed distant. A roar sounded from somewhere far off catching the Kazekage's ears. He let go of the staff and it turned to sand diapering into nothing. “Sounds like something big to kill.” he said hearing another roar, this one a bit louder. “And coming right for us, perfect.”
“Where are you going?” Yoyo called out to him as he started off toward the sound.
“Take the family and get going, you'll be a bit ahead of me, take it as your 'R&R.' I'll catch up.”
- - -
As he lay on the bench in the far back of the Inferno’s Kage palace garden Raptor heard a woman’s throat clear just as the sun’s warmth was hidden behind the clouds of the sky. He was enjoying the sun’s rays and was a bit disappointed by the sudden change. He opened one eye and twisted his head to the side to see Clair standing a few feet away with a hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. She was bare foot and dressed in a thin red silk robe, her brown hair was curled and looked freshly done.
“I guess we both shared the same idea.” She said softly motioning with her free hand for him to sit up to make some free room. Raptor sat up and moved over only stopping when he reached the bars at the end of the bench leaving more than enough room for the Kajikage.
“If you mean trying to skip out on working then sure.” He said crossing his legs so that they did not hand down over the edge and laughing trying to act like this had been his first and only offense for doing so. In truth, this was the fourth time just this week for him.
“Ah, not really, I meant trying to relax after a day of hard work.” She said taking up a seat on the other side of the bench resting her arm on the metal bar.
“Well, I have been putting myself to good use, if that matters.” Raptor said looking over at her.
“Keeping my bum warm?” Clair joked her tone remaining soft.
“Na, the sun warmed the bench before me.” He paused and started rocking back and forth, his hands griping the edge of the bench for support. “The army is deployed across the country and ready to minimize the damage.” He finished and stopped rocking.
“So then you believe that the rumors.” Clair sighed.
“Mhm, my brother is calling it the Clan Wars, yet there are some that are calling it nothing more than a World War with a pretty name.”
“And there is nothing we can do to avoid it, is there?”
“If my brother is behind it…No. Protecting the innocent that could be caught up in it is the best we can do. Personally, I don’t care about the politics of the Kages, I’ll just follow your orders.” He started rocking again as Clair thought over his words in silence. After a long moment she sighed and nodded.
“From this point on, you have full commend of Inferno’s army with only one order: Defend yourself and the others that are unable to do so for themselves. Keep to your training that we try to instill to all my people.”
With a nod Raptor stood and paused muttering to himself in a whisper before rushing forward in a burst of speed.
- - -
Q stood his ground arching away just as the monstrous Behemoth lunged at him. Its front claws swiping at him in hopes of ending him swiftly for a fast meal. Its attack failed for the most part as the tip of its claws just barely scratched Q's face leaving the mark of three long cuts under his right eye.
“Purely amazing!” he laughed crouching low to the ground as the best spun around, its tail rushing right for him. As it soared over his head at lighting speeds followed by a high gust of wind. Q held out his head and sand appeared out of thin air, it took the form of a staff and became solid wood. “Now I've seen some crazy animals before, but you, my friend! You take the cake.” He said raising back to his feet. The beast snarled at him in reply before leaping at him again with its claws which was easily parried by Q's staff. He saw his chance to do some real damage to the Behemoth, he rushed in before it could recover from the recoil caused by the parry. He swung his staff in an upward motion hitting the creature's jaw sending it flying onto it's back. As it struggled to its feet Q threw his staff away having it disappear into a blur of sand before hitting the ground.
Q prepared for the worst as the Behemoth stabilized itself. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed it was madder then ever and sparks of lightning seemed to appear shooting out of its mouth. A split second later it let out a mighty roar that would have sent any man running. On the other hand, Q saw himself more then able to handle the predicament of a ten ton monster trying to bite his head off and just before he got too cocky, a volley of lightning bolts shot from the Behemoth's mouth right for him. It was again, an easy dodge for the young Kazekage, as he closed the ground between them again. Another volley came at him, this time it was not such an easy dodge, one of the bolts hit just an inch away this time. He was lucky it was not a direct hit but the explosion from the impact did catch him. It sent Q flying at the Behemoth, Q saw it open its mouth again to send yet another volley right at him. That or it was just waiting and hoping he would fall right into his mouth and he could swallow him whole. Suddenly Q's back had a dark red glow as his Inferno AMP tattoo lit up, his right arm burst into fire as he brought it back and then forward into the beasts mouth shooting flames down its throat. With a whimper of pain the beast fell over dead; Q coming out victorious with a new found scar that would make for one heck of a story.
- - -
The people backed away and cleared the streets as Raptor made his way on horse back followed by four elite guards covered in Inferno armor. He found himself enjoying the whispers as he passed.
“Thats the great Raptor.”
“He looks tougher then the stories could ever tell.”
“The brother of the Kazekage?”
He even thought he could hear a girl or two mutter about how 'Handsome' he was. His mind flashed back to earlier that day where he had held a War meeting to think over Inferno's best move to prepare for war.
“If you would just take another look at my blueprints-”
“I have looked at them before, we don't have the founds or the manpower to really build such weapons.” Raptor sighed.
“But storm does.” Said the man on the other side of the table letting the idea hang in the air for a long moment. “If we can get to them to side with us, no one would be able to break through our defenses and thats the whole point!” he said as Raptor made no move to comment on the idea.
And so he found himself passing the gates of the village off to make a deal he did not really want to.
- - -
The eye bags under the Kazekag’s eyes were heavily visible as he squatted down locking them unto a rock that looked familiar. “So we meet again Senor Rocky.”
“Si.” It replied back a mouth and two eyes popped out of nowhere to give it a face. Dramatic music played in the Kazekag’s mind has they had a staring contest.
“You keep telling me the wrong way to go.” He went on to mutter.
“Si.” The rock nodded at him, its voice changing between a deep males and a young woman.
“Why would you do that?”
“Si.”
“That’s not nice, Senor Rocky.”
“Si.”
“Yoyo is fat.” He giggled.
“Si.”
“I knew you would agree Senor Rocky. You never let me down. Other then lying to me about where to go, but I forgive you, you see, I bet you just wanted me to stay with you.”
“Si.”
“I’m the greatest in the world.” His eyebrow raised as the rock said nothing this go around. He cleared his throat and repeated himself. Still nothing followed; they blankly looked at each other for a long moment. The Kazekage extended his finger out to poke at the rock but just then it opened its mouth and he heard his younger brother’s voice.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get Senor Rocky to tell me where to go.”
“Idiot, how long have you been here?”
“Three days.”
“He’s out of his mind. Get him up and on a horse.”
A sense of loss came over Q has he was pulled away from his friend who he had named Senor Rocky. He had only known him for three long days but he would never forget him. That was until he had a good night’s sleep and forgot all about his three day conversation that he had held with a inanimate object that was caused due to a lack of sleep. He played a sad song for his friend as he slipped into sleep on top of a Inferno horse.
- - -
Q awoke keeping his eyes closed and listened for any sounds he could hear, a dull quest. There was nothing to hear other then the sounds of his hands gliding along the silk sheets of the bed that held him. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up, he understood the room for what it was, a storm royal room fit for a guest like himself. He pulled himself out of bed and got dressed in a fresh set of clothes that were shockingly close to sand’s taste.
He sat on the edge of the bed as a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in.” He called out, the door cracked a bit and Yoyo’s head came into view.
“Hey.” She said not stepping fully into the room.
“You have really amazing timing.” He commented.
“Not really. I have knocked two times a day for the past few days.”
“Few?”
“Yeah, you have been asleep for about six days. I took care of everything and we can leave when you are ready. We got Saba’s and Clair’s signature, all that remains is Mist.”
“Wait, what? Clair is here?”
“No, but your brother is, Storm and Inferno seem to be working together in the war, they have been locked away for days.”
“Hm.” Q sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I feel…like coming here was pointless even if it was very productive. I did nothing here…I don't even get to see my little brother! What a jerk.”
“That’s why you have me, my lord.” Yoyo laughed shutting the door.
“Yeah…” Q muttered as he shook his head and shook off the bad feeling. He should be happy, just one more village to go, and it was one of his favorite.
