Scarred || Kurai Tenshei

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It'd been a few days since he'd left the Koga shrine. Still scarred with the marks of that solemn night still blasphemed for betraying his oath. What was the worth in an oath meant to uphold righteous valor only to sneak in behind in the shadows and take that very same life your promised to duel honorably. What merit was there in honor? Shen trudged silently along the dirt trail hoisting himself weakly on a stick he'd found in the wilds, his features were muddled and dirty, no skin visible but the lanky fleshy arms that dangled at his side. His face was concealed by a mask, that mask veiled by a cowl he tucked up over his head and let draping long against his back like a coat. The tattered cowl held a stench like rotting flesh and death, the edges singed and tainted in dried blood. Under the cowl he wore a silk that stood out against the messy mesh he wore, a pair of neat gloves and boots gave away that he wasn't merely some sort of homeless drifter but the stench might draw more attention than his attire at the present.

Shambling along the road it looked like he had little more on his mind than getting to the nearest city, or acquiring some food. He was so very hungry. A loud growl coming from his stomach masked by a patting palm on the external softly cooing to the region before dropping to a knee. He was too weak, but if he didn't continue now. He would die.

[Kurai Tenshei]

Kurai Tenshei I love the dirty tricks and twisted games you play on me. How long had it been since she had stepped foot on her Father's land? To be honest, she could not recall. It had been at least a month, perhaps two? No, it couldn't have been that long. She would have noticed the pigment of her hair starting to give way to the silver color underneath, something that usually happened about a month and a half after she had dyed it.  Little fingers reaching around to grasp a few strands and pulling them down over her shoulder, examining the pale pink locks curiously. They were lighter, but there was still no sign of the color they truly were. Not that it really mattered. She was on her way home and soon enough she would be in the presence of the alchemist. He could fix her up with a new batch to do her hair with and then she could visit with her Father and tell him all about the things that she had been up to as of late.  He was going to be so proud of her, she just knew it. She had been creating a path of destruction behind her that was more than worthy of the reputation the man had built for himself. Of course, at his behest, she never gave out her actual name. It was something that bothered Kurai but when it came to her Father, there was not much the girl would not do for him when he really stressed the matter. In fact, her name and her need to learn to fight properly were the only things that he had ever truly stressed upon her. Beyond that, the man really did let the young woman get away with murder...both literally and figuratively.  A fond smile curling upon her lips as she slid her hand along the strap of the bag she was carrying. It held the clothes she would have to change into before she got too close to the house. The people of the land surrounding her home knew of her and if rumor got back to her mother of the pants and slightly revealing top that she was currently wearing....well it would be another fight she just didn't feel like having. Not when she had first gotten home.  Her mind playing over the last time she had been home, over the last fight she had had with her Mother, she was suddenly stopped by the sight of a man down on one knee. Her brow furrowing as she halted in her tracks, head tilting to examine him for a moment. "Are you alright?" No, she didn't care. In fact, she hoped he was dying so that she could steal whatever it was he had on him at the current time. Hence why she asked. Beyond that, he could just as easily not be there. Another step forward, the small woman lacking the sense of fear that she most assuredly should have possessed.  The Dark Angel TAG: @shen || NOTES: None template by skye

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"Are you alright?" Came a voice behind him stirring a momentary burst of adrenaline through his bones, eyes tensing, bones stirring stretched to life by weary muscles as he brought himself to a towering stature still leaning heavily into the long shaft.

"Quite-" A loud cough coming from under his throat as the first word was stifled by his worn vocal chords, his throat having also suffering the heat of the night his estate was set ablaze. "-Quite alright." He'd state with a meager bit of pride still clinging to him despite his weak appearance. A heavy bated breath raged in his throat may have put her off a bit, it was weak as though grasping out for every ounce of air he could muster.

"Pardon my haggard status my lady, but where might I find a leech to quell my wounds?"

Shen was slow with these words, his normally frighteningly deep voice quieter now as though on edge. He didn't like the idea of searching out a doctor because those skilled enough with the healing arts were generally tied with high status individuals who would seek his head, or the bounty attached to such.

[Kurai Tenshei]

Kurai Tenshei I love the dirty tricks and twisted games you play on me. He spoke and yet his words seemed to betray the stance that he took. A slender brow arching a bit as she slowly moved to fold her arms over her chest. She was naive in a lot of ways, but that did not by any means mean that she was stupid. In fact, she was smarter than most, having skipped schooling entirely since the age of seven and having learned everything on her own. There was something wrong, and she chalked his words up to the male pride that so many suffered from. Nothing more. Another step forward, she paused as he asked for a method with which to tend to his illness. Curious. Though she had already figured out that there was something wrong with him. "There is a village at the end of this road. It is several days journey." She nodded. She had just come from there, having left in a bit of a hurry after murdering the innkeeper and his wife in a rather brutal and gruesome way. Of course, she had not been caught, but she did not need to stick around so that people began to ask questions. It was best to return home for now, this way she could return to that same village at a later date. "My home is half a day's journey through the woodlands..." She nodded, her mind working over the various things that could come out of offering him such an option. She saw no use in him, but her Father very well might have. True, she was rather skilled at medicine, having learned to heal herself rather than go to the healers within the villages, but that did little good out here. She did not have the proper materials. Perhaps in the woods, or the mountains, but then where would be the point in that? She would get nothing from it. The Dark Angel TAG: @shen || NOTE: None template by skye

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Concern of course being the first thing that came to mind. He'd heard stories of mythical sirens that lived in these woods, that lured men out into their depths and dragged them down to their inevitable demise. He wasn't the superstitious sort and chalked it up to simple carelessness of drunken fools letting their minds get away from them. But this scenario proved rather tricky, leaving the road was a definite plus he'd be less likely to be found away from the beaten path but in the same hand he was trekking a much more dangerous route one that he may never return from. The alternative, march back to a village at the end of the road miles away to which he would likely never make. So his options were death or death. Lead to Death by a pretty lady seemed the much lesser of two inevitable ends.

Shen would tip his head still veiled in the cowl and mask, never too keen to reveal his features to strangers, the motion offered in thanks. "You will have my gratitude then kind goddess." He felt that last word slipping a bit, his vision blurring a tad as well and the pain setting in. Beneath the mask he bit his tongue in silence attempting a bit more measurable leverage on his focus to straighten the world around him out.

"Lead and I will follow."

[Kurai Tenshei]

Kurai Tenshei I love the dirty tricks and twisted games you play on me. She could care less for his concern. She had been raised with the same rumors and more than a few times, men who she had lured to their deaths, would compare her to such. She was fairly sure that some had even believed, in their dying breaths, that she was a siren. A woman capable of luring them away with kind words and an intoxicating figure. Hell, her Father treated her as though she were something other than a simple human girl...His Dark Angel. His world. He worshiped the ground she walked upon, at least in some way, and that was enough for her. From him. As for everyone else? They could bow at her feet and it still would not please her. No, nothing would please her until the rest of the world was drenched in blood and the screams of the innocent echoed upward into the heavens. Until the ground became so tainted with darkness that it began to overtake the things that grew there. It was a wild and outlandish dream, but it was one that she held none the less. He spoke, yet another man referring to her as she truly was...a goddess. A slight grin, one that could easily be taken as nothing more than an innocent gesture, as she would incline her head politely. They were alone here, but she did not yet know if she stood a chance against this masked figure. She would have to wait...there was no other option. "This way." She motioned to the direction she had been heading, her hand which remained wrapped in that white scarf, just like it had been since she was a child, held out in front of her as she waited for him to gather himself. "Do you require assistance?"She didn't really want to help him, but if it was the part she had to play in order to get him home to her Father, or at least off the road so that she could kill him....she would. The Dark Angel TAG: @shen || NOTE: None. template by skye

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A spiteful eye looked up in protest and while she probably meant well in asking if he needed help he did not take it as such. To a ninja it was insulting, to a warrior a farce that he didn't need on his honor what little there was left of it.  

"No." Shen stated in a cold voice pitching himself upright with a limp in pursuit his eyes deadpan set forward, his status seemingly reinvigorated with life as though the prospect of insult to his injury was far worse the the inevitable death lingering just behind him. "I'll make it of my own accord or die just the same" 

To think so little of his life Shen found himself a little bit down but this was neither the time or place to get down on oneself he had to hike through these woods with a stranger and come out the other end in one piece. And then? 

And then he could worry about what would happen next later.

[Kurai Tenshei]

Kurai Tenshei I love the dirty tricks and twisted games you play on me. She knew she had offended him and yet she really didn't care. A slender brow arching as he gave her such a cold, curt response. She was not about to apologize, no matter how hard she may have been trying to act like the concerned, caring woman that most wanted her to be. She had done nothing wrong and she would not take the blame for such no matter how big or intimidating he may have thought himself to be. "Very well." She nodded, her own voice mimicking the cold response that he had given to her. "It is strange. One would think when a person offers you assistance without so much as inquiring about your name, let alone how you came to the state you are in...that you would at least have the honor and decency not to offend." She shrugged, motioning to the path ahead as she once more began to move. She had made her offer and she would stick by it, but there was no part of her that held any doubt of what she would ask of her Father when she returned home. She wished for this man to be taken in and perhaps not in a way that he himself would agree upon. But then, she really didn't care what he wanted as it was her own needs and desires that mattered, not those of anyone else. The Dark Angel TAG: @shen || NOTE: None template by skye