Preservation of Life: Do I look like a Monkey? [Wind]

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

During the time spent in the place he now knew was known as the “Forest of Sanctuary”, he learned a lot about the various forms of wildlife, as well as the rare forms of plant-life that grew around this place. He saw creatures that were bigger then any he had ever seen in his lifetime, big enough to fit into the skeletal structure he had once found near his home. The amount of creatures living here was much more diverse then the species that walked around the country of fire, though that might also have been a result of all the hunting that went on there. Yoroi knew for a fact that the dangerous creatures of the fire country had retreated into the area known to the people of Konoha as the “Forest of Death”, something that was the exact opposite in meaning as the place he was currently residing in. His time away from Konoha had allowed him a lot of time to train with Shakreido, the bronze scaled snake that had agreed to become his companion and personal summon when he had traveled to the border of the Grass country. What had started as a mock friendship made through trial and error had turned into a powerful bond of friendship and mutual respect.

One of the other things he had done in the jungle was fist fight with a Gorilla that stood at roughly three meters in length. Due to a scar in his face, Yoroi had named the ape “Soukon”, a name that literally translated to the word scar. He thought it was a fitting name, and Soukon did not really mind the name enough to object, so that meant he was at least cool with his new name. For some reason, the majority of the animals living in this part of the world was not as aggressive towards humans, probably because they did not see them often enough and had not learned to fear them like the animals of the fire country. It was funny to him, because when one of the animals in this place got near him, it did not mean they actually wanted to kill or eat him, something he had never believed would be possible with wild animals. He had been helping other animals finding food, even helping out a large crocodile with an open wound in his side, applying a special herb that would allow the wound to close faster without it getting infected, even though it meant the crocodile was not allowed to head into the water. Truly, Yoroi was proud of the things he achieved here.

------------------Present Time-------------------

Taking a hit to the face, Yoroi was knocked off of his feet and into the ground a meter or two away from the place he had been standing. Had it not been for the abnormal hardness of his skeletal structure, Yoroi would have been knocked out by the large black brute, though that was not the case this time. Opening his eyes while spitting a bit of blood onto the floor, he looked up at the large gorilla that was beating his fists against his chest, acting like he had already won the battle. Cracking his necks, a grin appeared on Yoroi’s face again only moments before he got back up, stepping into a fighting position. Hardening the bones in his chest and his fists, he would make the fight a bit more fair. Making use of his speed, he got himself within range of the large ape, sending a powerful blow to it’s abdomen, only to be blocked by a downward strike from the big black ape. Placing both of his arms above his head in a crossed formation, he took the hit from the ape and stood his ground. It was not easy to hold this much raw force down with his arms alone, though he had been training for situations such as this one.

Applying all of his strength in a sudden upward push, he threw the arm up long enough to be able of removing himself from underneath it, causing the ape to lose balance and tip over. Making use of this moment, Yoroi dashed closer to the ape from the side, making a low spinning kick to make Soukon lose the remainder of his balance and fall face first into the dirt like a clumsy kid. Brushing the blood off of his lips with his sleeve, he noticed that the hit Soukon landed on him earlier caused one of his teeth to push through the skin of his lip, this being the reason why he was bleeding in the first place. A couple of seconds after he had fallen over, Soukon sat up straight, rubbing his nose with his face, signalling that he had hurt himself when he fell over. Laughing at the ape for a second, he could tell that Soukon had enough of training for the day, something Yoroi agreed with quite a bit, hurting from the earlier punch more then he would like to admit. Yoroi had several things he wanted to do, things like resting and checking up on Shakreido, though he would show the decency to wait for Soukon to get back up on his feet first.

“This was fun Soukon, lets do this again sometime tomorrow!”

Watching the ape pound his chest with excitement, Yoroi copied him and did the same, pounding his fists against his bony chest. Having exchanged greetings and goodbyes, Soukon left to go back to his family that lived a lot further ahead in the forest of sanctuary. This was the best place for kind creatures like Soukon, not being able to handle life in the land of fire were the animals were not at all like they were here. After a few minutes, the large ape had disappeared in the treeline and the dense foliage. He was glad that he had been able to make some friends in this part of the world, not really caring whether they were human or not. Yoroi had gotten a lot more loose after he lost his temper and had allowed the full brunt of his rage to escape his body in a temper tantrum that almost caused him to kill a Jounin from Konoha. He felt so bad about what he had done back then that he had started this journey just to be able to come back as a changed man. Now that Soukon had left, Yoroi sat down on a nearby rock, turning his head from the left to the right and vice versa. After being hit with such a punch, he wanted to make sure his neck was not sprained, hating it if he woke up with a stiff neck in the morning.

Posts : 730

Kageru had been in the forest for very different reasons today, reasons few could have ever guessed. She was a shinobi, an assassin, a finely crafted machine made for the sole purpose of destroying the enemy in a swift and silent manner. She is dressed as always, her robes a uniform she lived in each day; however there was a touch of variation today. Slung over her back a simply burlap sac concealed a bundle of colored paints and brushes and a new square of canvass stretched tight in a light frame of wood. To look on her there are few who could guess just what was in there. Most on the outside might simply assume weapons; those who knew her may assume the same. All would be incorrect, for only a few had ever seen the girl paint, and none of them had been happy enough about it to encourage her in her trade.

Her inability to confess her love of art to anyone outside had always lead her to seeking privacy during her time working with a brush, however it was the utter beauty of the forest which had attracted her here. The Forest of Sanctuary was renowned across the world, let alone in Kumo, for its astounding beauty, the age of its trees, and the variety of uncommon and rare plants and animals. Such things were the dreams of artists, the chances to not only see something few have ventured out to lay eyes upon, but to capture it perfectly in timeless paint and canvass. She’d brought with her a whole variety of colors and brushes with which to capture the world, but as she ventured out it seemed it would all be for naught. Only two hours into her voyage she’d come across the sounds of battle, and even if it were only training it would mean there were to many eyes around to dare exposing her artistic side.

Concealed within the canopy she hopped silently from tree to tree, chakra covering her feet to both secure her grip on branches and stifle the sound of her travel. It was a strange scene she’d come across, some man battling with a gorilla. Kageru pauses there, standing up on one of the thick branches in simply peering down at the man, her head tipping just slightly to the side. The steel plate on his waist held a strange icon, the symbol of Konoha, which simply begged the question why? Why was he here? Why was her fighting an ape? Why did the gorilla just walk away when they were done? Did he know the beast? Just what the hell was going on here? Curiosity gets the better of her, so she lingers there ominously, emotionless in expression but staring down at the man to see what would happen next.

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

On his way back to Yoroi, Shakreido was softly gliding his long body through the trees with a fair amount of elegance and peace of mind. Despite Yoroi’s request for him to not eat anything, he had just devoured a large rabbit that was currently being digested in it’s stomach. Slipping and sliding along the branches, it’s tongue picked up on an unfamiliar scent a little while before his eyes could. Picking up the heat signature of a human being, Shakreido slithered closer and closer, being unsure whether he should lash out at the person or if he should take it easy and keep himself controlled. He had made a promise to Yoroi, that promise was to not hurt or kill anything, a broken promise he did not want to make worse by attacking and possibly wounding someone this close to him. It would be best for him to just make contact with the girl through speech, rather then through teeth. As he moved down, the bright bronze scales would glimmer in the sunlight, showing itself to the young girl right away, looking her dead in the eye with his own emerald green orbs.

“Well Hello there, spying on the master are we?”

Looking up the moment he heard the rustle made by Shakreido as he moved along the branches and heard his voice, he noticed that they were not the only human beings wandering the forested area of this still unknown land. Focusing Chakra into the soles of his feet, he rushed up the tree and set off, dashing away from the trunk and stopping on the large branch that Shakreido had rested himself upon. It was known land, he personally just knew little to nothing at all about it. He would love to learn about the beautiful land at all, so in a way, he would like it if this girl could help him with things. When he looked her over a bit, the first thing he noticed was her dark hair, as well as Shakreido who seemed to have engaged in a conversation of his own. Wondering why Shakreido was this talkative to someone he did not know and formed a possible threat to the both of them, he knew that he was trying to pull something off. Maybe he had done something he should not have done, something that was against the rules. Then again, he would figure out about that soon enough. The main focus right now was the girl that had been spying on him from the bushes.

“Hello, my name is Yoroi, what’s your name?”

He had no idea if she was a non-hostile Shinobi, a hostile Shinobi or maybe not even a Shinobi at all, though the way she had concealed herself from him and managed to move silently through the trees, he was rather certain that it was either the first or the second option. He could hope that as a response to his own kindness, that she would have the exact same kind of answer for him. It was however an unlikely thing, especially since she was one of the people that most likely lived in the place. He would hate it if she turned out to be a hostile target that would choose to attack him, a bad thing in and of itself. Yoroi would hate to hurt something for no reason, but if he was attacked, he could not ensure the opponent and their survival at all. Chances were that the girl would die if she would try, especially with two of them being prepared to fight against just one person.

Posts : 730

Kageru’s right hand makes a subtle shift, sliding over only inches to wrap her lithe fingers softly around the black laced grip of her katana. It could be taken as a threatening move, though she makes no further motion to draw her blade. Instead she simply stares at the snake for a moment, coal black eyes drilling back into the slitted pupils of the large creature. Animals shouldn’t talk, it always bothered her when they did. A snake was good eating, and short of harvesting venom where good for little else. She ignores it and diverts her attention over towards Yoroi. At least he’d beat her to the punch, answering the first question she would have asked without her needing to ask it. Instead she moves on to the next most obvious question. Before speaking her left hand rises, concealing her mouth and the lower portion of her face from view behind a wide, ornate silk sleeve.

“Why is a Leaf Shinobi lurking in these woods?” she asks, her voice lifting to be easily heard at the fair distance between them. There is not emotion in her voice, no threat, no promise of friendship, only empty words seeking information back. Nothing about her seems enough to put one off their guard, except those eyes. They were vacant and vile, black as the abyss and seeming completely devoid of life, passion, joy, and even fear. They were like staring into the eyes of some mannequin which stared back unblinkingly, not even seeming to register the forest, the snake, or the person their focused on. They oozed an unsettling sensation, like the chalk white skin of the girl may mark her for some dead body back from the grave, come to explore the woods and haunt those who still dare to draw breath. After fixing on Yoroi they fix there and do not waver, lifelessly watching his every move.

She remains alert, however, while staring at the shinobi her other senses come alive, ears listening to the rustle of scales over bark, her nose drawing in shallow breaths to pick up the subtle scent of death, the aroma of a predator lingering to close for comfort. Though she was focused on the ninja, she was no less aware of the large snake lurking near her kill zone. Should the snake approach to close, her sword could be out in a flash, and sharp steel trumps snake scales almost every time.

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

“I’m sorry, I did not know I was not allowed to come into places like these. I’m not from around here you see, me and my Snake merely came here to get something to eat and drink.”

He said, answering the somewhat rude woman that refused to give him her name and just threw a question his way. It was rather rude, though not too long ago, Yoroi had been acting just like this when people stepped on his turf. This large grove did not seem like it was a home to a human being, but if this was her home, then he had to make sure not to offend her when on her territory. He could tell that the woman was armed and ready to attack both him and Shakreido with her weapon. As a means of avoiding conflict, he sent out a whistle, calling Shakreido out of the tree so as to give the woman some more free space. It was often so that a cornered animal became dangerous because they were afraid, humans not being all that different from animals. With a snake as large as Shakreido so close to the woman, he could not blame her for being as offensive as she was now. Showing her this sign of good faith, the least she could do was get less offensive and answer what little he asked for.

“If you live in this place, you should put up some signs about it. Besides, still have not gotten your name yet stranger, would you mind sharing it with us or would that be too much of a hassle?”

All he could do now was simply wait for the woman and the response she was willing to give him. It was really her choice to either answer or keep silent, though she was not really keeping Yoroi’s attention by acting like this. Shakreido was slithering by his feet, anxiously awaiting whether the woman would choose to become a threat to them in upcoming minutes. He would never be allowed to eat another human being, though he was known to ignore Yoroi's will when danger was nearby. To the bronze snake, this woman was clearly a threat that just kept playing around with a weapon. Against Yoroi's body, weapons were pretty much useless, making close combat far from her best interest. In fact, it would be best to just speak and remain friendly with one another.

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

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