Consequences

Posts : 65

A gentle mountain breeze blew right into Galateia’s face picking up her hair and forcing her to cover up her eyes to avoid the dust it picked up from getting to her eyes. The young woman was just wandering, walking around and enjoying her time. It hasn’t been so long since she had abandoned her village, the life of ninja just wasn’t for her, it wasn’t Galateia. The real Galateia is a proud and honorable warrior, not a cutthroat or whatever else ninja do. The more accurate way of putting it would’ve been what they don’t do…

In a lot of ways it could’ve been interpreted like ninja were servants. Fighting and working to fulfill the desires of the ninja everyone calls the most powerful around or the man with the most influence – the Lord. There was nothing wrong with servitude, it’s just that ninja did all sorts of things. Honor was nowhere near the list of their priorities. They cared little about honorable combat, having fun from facing a stronger opponent and learning from the experience, growing as a warrior and a person. They were all “serious” and “gritty” and their motto was: do everything you can and end your life if you disgrace yourself. That couldn’t have been all to it right?

Several days ago the warrior met a short boy, a boy she initially confused with an ancient, flesh eating, vengeful spirit – Jiangshi. Despite the boy’s greatest attempts at convincing Galateia that he was just a boy and not a zombie the nickname still stuck and sometimes Teia loved to call Aoi “Jiangshi-kun”. The boy showed remarkable interest in her, he seemed to follow her around wherever she went and started to think that they were friends of some sort just because Galateia saved him once.

It wasn’t like she saved him at all, she just happened to wish to fight the man who was troubling him, that’s all! Now he’s stuck to her and won’t let go of her lap. Galateia warned him that if she felt like wandering when he wasn’t ready or if he doesn’t keep up she’ll leave him but… That little zombie-boy was just so damn persistent. He always kept up with her step, always eventually caught up with her if she wandered off ahead and never gave up on following her. It started to amuse the warrior a little bit and she decided to wander off in the middle of the night when the boy was asleep, just to see if he’ll find her.

It was an interesting development to wander into this small town. It must’ve been one of those “rest-towns” that were so numerous around the Lightning Country. Places where a weary traveler could stop, look around and rest. The warrior was wandering the mountain paths the entire time and she decided to stop by the town, there wasn’t really a reason for that. She just wanted to look around, rest up, maybe get a bath and then pick another fight in the evening if she found someone strong to fight.

“Lady, lady, step right up! Ferry ride around the town for just a measly 1400 ryo! Won’t get this deal anywhere else, observe the spring from the little creek!” a ferryman started shouting out at her as Galateia passed by him. This man had a lot of balls, someone of the weight of Galateia with her sword and entire gear may have sunk his little boat like a brick. Or at least so Teia thought science worked… The young woman scratched her head a bit, she didn’t really have any money or anything to sell but she kind of wished to see what all this hype was all about.

“Oh! You’re a ninja?! Ninja can sail for free! Anyone defending my country can have the free rides and enjoy the spring!” the ferryman shouted out not losing an ounce of hype pointing at Teia’s weapon pouch. Galateia looked away and bit her lip, what was she supposed to do? Technically she was a ninja, a ninja with no allegiances or no obligations to any village. Then again, nukenin weren’t ninja and they didn’t protect the country, most nukenin were the people that the country was supposed to be protected FROM. She was probably the opposite of what this man wanted to give free rides to.

“What’s wrong, young missy? Don’t wanna sail? Too bad, you’re losing a lot!” the ferryman kept on his devil-like temptation. “I’m not a ninja, I’m a warrior.” Galateia replied. It wasn’t like her mind was trying to decide if she had to lie or not, lie was something entirely distant for the blonde, she wasn’t even capable of lying. She just had to twist her small brain really hard to realize if “nukenin” counted as the type of person that got free ferry rides.

“Oh, a nukenin with an honor code, huh? She ain’t no warrior, old man, this girl’s a nukenin who caused a huge bar fight in a small town nearby injuring multiple hard-working townsfolk. She ain’t even a good nukenin, she’s just small-time nuisance!” a powerful and commanding voice reached Galateia’s ears from behind. The young woman turned back to face three men, all of them had the usual “Security Force” uniforms. That man though… That man who spoke… He smelled so… Scary but also… Amazing!

“Blond lady, come with us. You are accused of hooliganism and you are to serve your punishment in the arrest house.” The man said with a bit of pity in his voice. He looked so disappointed and unhappy, also so angry. Why was someone with this powerful aura and these eyes of a killer so unhappy? Galateia was intrigued, she didn’t want to fight back. Sure she’d spend several days in the arrest home but… This man… He smelled so good, his eyes were so deep and so full of anger!

The young lady took off her claymore and held it with both of her hands handing it to the officers. As she reached for the sword all three of the security force tried to race to their blades but at some point they realized she was moving too slow for a surprise attack and just accepted the surrender. It took two of the officers to even carry Teia’s sword around while the third put some sort of restraint on her hands and lead her forward. “I’d say “Don’t try to escape, I know you can” but the thing is that I’d love for you to try! I haven’t killed a criminal scumbag in ages.” the one with an intriguing rage filled eyes said to Galateia as the girl obediently walked where the men took her.

Posts : 65

“Yoruma, Galateia… You were reported having caused a fight in a bar and severely injuring several people. Have they been innocent and hard working townsfolk you’d have faced prison in Kumogakure. Much to your luck, these people were just as much of small-time scum as you are so we are forced to tolerate that behavior and call it “hooliganism”. The Security Forces of Lightning Country towns cooperate together and share information, your face was wanted around at least four small towns by the time you’ve been caught. According to our code you have a right to defend yourself. Feel free to use that right.” the officer that interested Galateia so spoke as the girl sat locked down to the table.

"I won’t, I did fight.” Galateia responded with a small grin. Granted, she was certainly not satisfied with that fight as it turned out to be much more of a senseless scuffle with a bunch of crazed criminals than an honorable fight.

“You were reported having caused a multitude of similar barfights around at least four small towns around the town you were in, what do you have to say about that?” the officer asked, his eyes were different, they no longer were filled with rage and didn’t try to incinerate Teia where she was seated, instead they were cold and emanated a certain aura of strength from them.

“I did fight. I’m a warrior, fighting is what I do.” Galateia replied to the man and continued to look right into his eyes curiously. She could not understand just what was this attraction to him that she felt, he just felt… Good. Not in a sense that he felt like a nice person, his eyes and the strict way that his eyebrows were shaped reminded the girl much more of her father than a nice person but… Teia just wanted to be around him.

“Well then, where’s your accomplice?” the officer asked as he threw the papers on the table, without a doubt they were meant to incriminate Galateia if she decided to lie to him. “Accomplice? What’s that?” the girl looked at the man’s eyes with even more curiosity than before as the wish to find out what this complicated word meant added up to it.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s accused of “Hooliganism in self defense", he was supposed to get a warning or whatever but what’s the point… Take her to the cell.” the elderly officer that attracted so much of Galateia’s attention waved at the younger coworkers. The men untied Galateia’s hands and held her, “Aren’t we supposed to take her sword?” one of them asked, “Whatcha can’t handle a girl?” the other replied.

“Don’t bother, look at her dumb face, she’s a warrior but if she wanted to escape she could’ve already. She’s too dumb to do something she doesn't want to so that means she wants to be here. Take her to her cell, I’ll see what to do with this later, we have actual criminals to catch…” the officer waved with the strangest face. His eyes were angry but his mouth was… Grinning?

The barred door slammed shut trapping Galateia in a small cell, she was kept alone, for her own safety or the prisoners’. The lady warrior just sat down on the small wooden bench and continued to stare at one point right in front of her. She didn’t know how long she was sitting there when she came back to her senses. Will she see that officer again? Was he anything like that other officer in that other town? No. This one was WAY stronger. Who was that guy? It’s like he emanated death and power…

“You’ve got an ancient spirit in you, you’re a child of the wrong times. If you were born a couple of hundred of years ago you’d have been the perfect woman you know… Now… You’ll be eaten up, the times are different, you need to learn to “law up” next time you’re captured.” Galateia heard the voice she was hoping to hear before her sentence ended. “Why? If fighting is a crime I’m ready to pay for it, I’m still going to do it though, it’s in my soul!” Galateia replied with a smile looking at how this officer will react.

“Heheheh…” the man laughed out gently, he stroke his moustache and moved his hands on the lock. “I used to be a bodyguard of the Daimyo once… My lord died, killed by a nukenin, I thought that nukenin was like you but now I see he is nothing like you. I thought that you were the perfect “Aku” for me to stay sharp, to return to the days when I mattered, to finish the formula that I lived by as a young warrior…” the officer spoke with nostalgia in his voice, his voice was much softer though. As if in he understood and could connect to Galateia somehow…

“Formula?” the girl asked softly, she didn’t know some of the fancy words that this man used but he was interesting to her. The girl now understood why she liked him so much – he was just like her, used to be like her before he… Became this… It was clear even to Galateia that the man didn’t like to be a simple Security Officer.

“Yes… Aku-Soku-Zan… It was the motto by which all of the Daimyo’s bodyguards lived, it was our life, we killed evil without hesitation. But then, after I did nothing wrong, I killed the man who killed my master they told me to commit seppuku… Why? I did not forsake my principles! And here I was brought down to this… From the most honorable post that a sword wielding ninja can achieve down to not just a Police Force officer, a measly town Security Force officer… Nothing remains of Fukumo Tsume, the man who once lived by Aku-Soku-Zan.” The officer walked back to a chair and sat down. He looked depressed and down.

Galateia finally understood his words, he wanted to feel back like in his old days so he treated the girl like she was evil – "Aku". He wanted her to be irrational and fight back, to resist so that he could fulfill the “Soku-Zan” part. She liked that principle, to kill all evil people was a noble way to carry on with life, fitting a great swordsman. Suddenly Galateia was overcome by an urge to fight Tsume, she giggled to herself as she simply moved her slim hand through the large gap in the bars and twisted the key that Tsume left in the lock leaving the cell.

“There, old man, I am “Aku” now… Return to the times you are comfortable in, return to your prime.” the girl giggled and placed her hand on the handle of her sword looking at the man. Tsume started laughing intensely even going as far as to grip his own belly as the laughter made him feel pain in that area. He took a boken off of the wall, meant for training the new recruits who pursued the path of a sword wielding officer. He then assumed fighting stance. “Aren’t you going to fight me with your sword?” Galateia asked as her face changed from excitement to confusion.

“If I would I’d forsake “Aku-Soku-Zan”, I will play around with you but a girl who isn't afraid to die to make an old man like me feel the joy of life is not “Aku”, my sword has no right to claim your life.” Tsume replied with the same confident smile. Just what level of power did this man, one who was trusted with the most important life in the country have?

Posts : 65

Galateia carefully observed the environment she’ll be fighting in. The young lady took her fights incredibly seriously despite her somewhat goofy and carefree approach to pretty much everything else. Fighting was her life, it was the only thing that fulfilled her passion, the only thing that mattered to her. What she was fighting for mattered somewhat, if the goal would have been despicable Teia would’ve felt bad, any negative feelings impact performance in battle. That was the only reason why Galateia fought for what she deemed “right”, so that nothing else mattered but the fight, that there were no stupid reasons like her own feelings eating her up.

The environment was small, a square holding room with a spacious office where the officers protecting the arrested prisoners watched over them. It was actually fit for combat and had several emergency weapons on the walls. The main observation was just how small the room was, the officer may have known how big it was in “meters” or whatever, Teia used her instincts instead – she had the advantage. If this man was a speedy swordsman he won’t have much room to utilize it and Galateia’s sword could beat his in reach. He’d have to work double time to properly avoid her attacks.

Without a warning the officer charged at Galateia, he charged from the textbook basic kenjutsu stance holding the sheathe of his sword in front of him. The warrior knew just what sort of attack would follow and could’ve somewhat predicted how to defend against it, that was what troubled her – the man must’ve known that, he definitely would have known the basic nature of his attack. Galateia greeted his charge with a forward dash of her own, it’d take too much time to draw her sword now, her sword was longer, his battojutsu slash would reach her before she’d draw her blade.

Teia blocked the diagonal sword draw technique with still sheathed sword, she then let go of the sheathe and pulled with a powerful roar, drawing the sword from a sheathe still hanging in mid air and spinning around her axis with a backwards slash at the man’s right hip. To block a powerful blow from such a large sword would mean losing one’s footing and footwork was everything in such a battle. The warrior could hear a faint laughter coming out of the man. He knew how good Galateia’s attack was.

The drawback of battojutsu was timing, there was time before and after the draw when the user was open. For that reason most swordsmen Teia fought in her life used the open blade techniques, sacrificing some force and speed for a more balanced and consistent attack. With the way that she came at the man Galateia exploited the brief moment of opening that the man had after being blocked. Her spinning slash would’ve had some time of opening as well but the smart part was Galateia’s impeccable timing – her opening synchronized with Tsume’s. The man couldn’t have possibly punished Teia’s attack. Not with his sword at least, but his body was tensed up from using all of the force on the draw – he was effectively paralyzed by his own attack.

Shock! Galateia’s sword clashed with Tsume’s boken without breaking the piece of wood and without the man losing his footing. “What?!” was the only thought that popped in Galateia’s head. How? How could he block her attack without losing his puny boken or losing his footing from the tremendous amount of force? Maybe Tsume had some amount of physical strength but his bamboo sword couldn’t possibly have had enough endurance to take the clash. Only then it occurred to Galateia – he moved backwards, he used up the small amount of force he managed to recover to take a couple of well measured steps back. He was in perfect position where Teia’s sword lost its momentum so he could effortlessly block it. The young lady’s eyes were open from surprise and disbelief, this man was impossibly good.

“Not bad. Analyzing my technique, adapting in time and responding properly. You could become a great swordswoman one day, girl. It’s too bad that your head is so dumb and you’ll let the world chew you up. The age where sword was law is no longer here, the future belongs to ninja, samurai, common folk equally now. Sword no longer matters, only influence, money and smarts.” Tsume spoke. For a moment during their brief clash Galateia could almost believe that he was back in his glory days, he was almost smiling and his eyes looked like they were somewhere else entirely. Now his mind returned the gritty reality where he was no longer someone deserving respect. Rage filled the girl’s mind, how could she have been so weak that she couldn’t draw out the man’s hidden swordsman for more than a moment?

Furiously Galateia swung her sword multiple times, sacrificing strength for speed. Who cares if she’ll destroy the boken or not, she doesn’t WANT for the fight to end, she doesn’t WANT to destroy Tsume’s sword. She wants to stay here fighting him forever. Left, right, diagonal slashes, thrusts to the upper region, Galateia herself started losing track of her relentless combination of swings. Despite her giving up on sheer strength the power of the swing was definitely great enough to break the damned piece of wood. And yet… Tsume just gently poked each swing of hers sending Galateia’s attack away from him. The amount of speed needed for such a response was impossible. As the finisher of the combination Galateia swung one last diagonal slash to the left side, she was left handed which gave her an unexpected advantage of speed, precision and strength when using force from the left side of her body and the enemy didn’t expect to be attacked at his non-dominant hand.

The two swords clashed, Galateia could hear some strange sounds coming out of Tsume’s boken – it most definitely was taking damage. “You thrust at the tip of my blade to soften the swing before clashing so that you don’t lose your boken… Amazing.” Galateia commented, she didn’t even notice Tsume doing that – that’s how fast he was, she only knew he did it because it was the only possible way to have stopped such an attack under such circumstances. Tsume started pressing the blade harder, Teia responded. Their physical strength was somewhat equal but the girl could feel incredible difference in skill between those two.

Tsume started to run, Galateia followed. The two kept their clash and still pressed on, trying to confuse the opponent and make them lose the balance of force in their legs and their clash. To run while maintaining a clash with an opponent of equal physical strength would’ve needed incredible focus and balance, slowly but surely Teia was losing the struggle of balance. Luckily their run was concluded as the two jumped back from each other after leaving into the yard where the officers were training. Some more officers ran out of the corridors having been observing the clash from their offices.

“Amazing, daughter of the Yoruma clan, I’ve killed many of your kin during my work as the bodyguard of the Daimyo. Your kind have great potential but die too soon before they can bring it out, all because of that bloodlust of yours... I would have never assumed one would be able to bring out the man I once was again!” Tsume shouted out in excitement, his eyes were different, his pupils were gone. He was no longer a man – he was monster. He felt, looked and smelled like someone who kills people because they were evil, because they threatened his lord. He embodied the “Aku-Soku-Zan”. Tsume changed his stance, as Galateia suspected battojutsu was not his forte. The man just stood tall and still with naked blade twisted sideways, he had an evil smile, a grin of a man who wasn’t afraid to take a life.

“So that’s why he took up a boken, he has no control, no restraint when he brings out his killing instinct. He didn’t want to kill me and knew he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself…” Galateia realized as Tsume charged forward, it was just a simple combination of strikes but right after the first strike was blocked Galateia understood the incredibly painful truth – this man was out of her league! The speed of his casual blows would have ended her life in an instant in a casual fight, just so her bones aren’t crushed by the strikes of the bamboo Galateia roared again as she activated her “Quickblade” technique. Using the technique to aim her slashes to counter Tsume’s. A loud crack echoed – Tsume’s boken broke. Galateia lowered her claymore as a signal that the fight was over.

She couldn’t even see the fist embedding itself deep into her side of the face and sending her back into a wall blowing down some bystanders. This man was now beyond stopping, he was just as hungry for battle as Galateia was. The girl drove her claymore into the ground to help her stand up as the Quickblade placed incredible strain all over her body. She couldn’t counter another attack like that… Tsume looked at a trainee with a death-threatening look and pointed his finger at the poor man’s boken. Galateia tried to straighten her body up to get ready but she knew there was no way she’d stand up to the next attack – only with Quickblade could she hope to stand up to the man at all, now with her body exhausted the battle was as good as over…

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Posts : 65

As Tsume got into his stance it seemed as if the air itself was getting heavy. Galateia wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure, the terrifying killing intent around. This man managed to change the air around him just with his presence, was that the power of an elite swordsman? Despite Galateia’s observations about how even the spectators of the battle were affected, she still was the one in Tsume’s point of the sword, when he sets his final attack out Teia will be the one to get hit. What sort of attack will the ex-bodyguard of the Daimyo himself use? Without a doubt his fighting style claimed the lives of many assassins and if the man’s words weren’t empty, even some Yoruma.

There it was, with a powerful gust of wind the man twisted his blade like a point of a drill in the air using nothing but sheer strength. Galateia knew that this was some sort of a technique, she had no chance to counter or survive it by just standing around. She had to charge at the man and try to clash with a technique of her own, to decide the one that the victory will choose over the other. One swordsman clashing his killing technique with a youth trying to take in the old man’s experience. Just like the ancient days, if this didn’t bring Tsume back to his days nothing would have!

The warrior jumped forward dashing to the man right before cancelling her dash with the “Rising Sunset” technique. Just as she jumped up and started spinning, the man thrust his palm to the end of the sword’s handle pushing the drilling blade forward. Galateia knew that in a clash her technique was going to win, she’ll move right over the Tsume’s technique and cut him in the back – she has this! But no, at the last moment when her sword touched the drilling blade just softly her trajectory was messed up, she was pushed sideways and her technique stopped, Teia was stuck in the air as the man passed her with his boken.

“AKU: KUSHIZASHI NO HIKARI!”

The man’s exclamation of the name of the technique used was overshadowed by Galateia’s scream of pain as she dropped her claymore on the ground and gripped her broken right arm. By just gently passing by it the boken absolutely demolished her arm, this was a boken! Now the blond girl understood what the man meant when he took the boken into his hands instead of using an actual blade. Had he went at her with a katana her hand would have looked like it went through a meat grinder. Wherever it would’ve been at the moment…

The girl once again fell on her knees and just barely could keep herself from rubbing her face into the ground, she could feel her sweat dropping on the mud. The pain made Galateia’s vision blur, the girl took up her blade with the left hand and turned at her opponent, he had already assumed the same stance and went for her again… Galateia had absolutely no chance to react to the man’s unparalleled speed and his flawless execution of his technique. The drilling boken hit Teia right in the chest.

“AKU: KUSHIZASHI NO HIKARI!!”

Was the last thing that the girl heard. She could feel herself flying backwards, she could feel sharp pain in her chest and hear voices of the spectators around her. Nothing else… Galateia’s mind was somewhere else and she knew that she lost. She had to be alive though, right? Else how is she thinking about all of this? Dead people can’t see the light, dead people die! Galateia just couldn’t return back to her body, it was like her consciousness was floating all around but it was separate from the girl’s body. This was all just a big dream. The girl didn’t want to wake up, it’d be too painful.

“I… I think she’s dead… Tsume-san killed her!”
“She’s got a pulse, she’s hyper ventilating!”
“Holy shit, that girl just flew through our office wall”
“It takes someone to survive Tsume’s “Aku”, she took two of those…”
“Someone take that shard out of her chest…”
“Jeez… Look at her eyes… There’s blood everywhere…”

Galateia blacked out…

With pain and lots of effort the warrior peeled her eyes open again. Teia did not know how much time had passed since she went lights out. Galateia woke up in her cell with a clean white top similar to hers nearby. As the young lady changed her clothes and peeked through the bars she noticed Tsume walking up to her cell, he smiled to her in a way she had never seen him smile. “Sorry about that, Galateia-chan…” he uttered and scratched the back of his head as he unlocked her cell. “I knew I’d lose control but I didn’t know you’d draw the worst out of me, you’re good.” The elder swordsman spoke out as the girl walked out of the cell.

“Yep… Gonna train real hard and challenge you again!” Galateia yelled out raising her fist up in the air with a happy look, only then she noticed that her right arm was in a cast. “Keep it like that for a day or two more, you ninja heal pretty quick, you’ll get over it… You’re also free. Turns out my beatdown on you counts as “Security Brutality” and that means you’re free to go. I’ll probably be cast away too but it’s for the better, you’ve reminded me what being a warrior was all about, maybe I’ll go bounty hunting…” Tsume grunted out with an annoyed tone. “Now all you need to do is repay us for the two boken you busted up…” Tsume said in a joking manner, it should’ve been obvious that he was kidding but Teia didn’t really get the clue.

“Nope, I’ve got no money…” the woman replied as she kept walking off through the corridor outside where she was knocked out. Galateia felt a sharp pain in her chest, her bones there must’ve been completely busted up as it still hurt to breathe. “You had a shard of the wood stuck in your chest… That’s why it hurts so much…” Tsume said to her as he noticed her scratching her chest. “You keep training and getting stronger…” the man said as a farewell as Galateia left through the small gates that surrounded the yard.

“I’ll find an answer to your “Aku”, definitely, old man!” Galateia thought to herself as she smiled, the girl hasn’t had a fight like this forever, this was literally the first of its kind during all of her travels and something made the girl feel like many more will eventually follow. She just had to train and become much stronger!

[EXIT]

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