(A/N: I would like to warn you, at the end of this chapter, there is a scene briefly depicting rape. If you are offended by such a horrible thing, turn away now.)
'How am I to explain this mess to Master Zed?' Quaricho thought to herself, as she walked her way in the Red Light District, trying to avoid any attention to herself. Suddenly she smelled, the very strong smell of alcohol coming from behind her.
"I didn't know you swung that way, Quaricho." Commented a sultry female voice. Quaricho then turned around to find a woman with an artifical arm that was made out of bronze that had a black gem on the back of it, a black bikini bottoms, a volumputious figure, a gold scarf that matched her sleeveless shirt, Jade hair that was long and bronze boots.
"Figured you'd be here, Satchi." Quaricho said, "So are you done with your drinking?"
"Well I was sent to find you and I'd figured I would keep an eye on you." Satchi said.
"And you decided to see if the lovely hookers came around to want to toy around with, am I right?" Quaricho interrogated.
"Not quite, you see I came across a hooker who claimed a green ninja woman had just killed a man in the most brutal of ways," Satchi said, "and funny enough when that ninja left, she was seen with a Vastyan with funny ears. Now what would that be about?"
"Well honestly I dunno," Quaricho said, "but apparently Yuna is involved."
"Yuna? Haven't seen her in a while, how is she doing?" Satchi said.
"Well, in short I think she's lost a lot of intelligence under Zed, and she wants me to get him involved in whatever shit this is." Quaricho said.
"Well might as well go see what Yuna wants and what Zed thinks of the matter." Satchi said, before outstretching her bronze arm in the air and channeled Shadow magic, before forming a portal before them. Taking a deep breath, Quaricho calmed herself down of the wraith of Zed, before stepping into the portal with Satchi.
Akali paced back and forth within her cell, furious and wanting her fist to collide with Yuna's face. It was better than shivering from the breeze that would brush against her naked flesh.
'This had better be good.' Akali thought to herself, while she paced before she heard a knocking on her cell door, which caused her to stop pacing. Turning her attention, towards the cell door she then saw Yuna's now very punchable face staring back at her.
"What the hell do you want?!" Akali snarled, "To take a look at the handiwork, well I hope this image of me is burned into your mind."
"I came to see if you need anything." Yuna replied.
"Oh that's rich." Akali said, before marching up to Yuna, with her eyes burning with the desire to kill, staring right at Yuna before adding,
"Considering you stripped me naked, put me in a cell, I would like my foot up your ass."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Yuna said, "But I can say that your imprisonment won't be long, if everything is according to plan."
"Okay what part of your plan is this stage in?" Akali demanded.
"The stage in which Zed comes to meet me." Yuna said.
At that moment a slience grew between the two women, with a murderous aura blooming within Akali. Then Akali broke the silence by saying;
"Excuse me, what did you say?"
"Oh yeah that was the whole purpose of capturing you, so that Zed would come meet me here." Yuna said, "The whole you being Naked thing was to show him you are unarmed, sorry."
Akali growled in pure anger, with the heat from her rage nearly blinding her, as Yuna then left. As soon as she did, Akali then turned to find a random wall of her cell and started to punch it. With the thought of Zed, enjoying her body and Akali thanking him, by making sure it was the last beautiful thing Zed had ever seen, as the life oozed out of him, one drop of breath at a time, driving each punch without much care for the pain the punches caused her.
'It's for the better of Ionia.' Yuna thought to herself, as she walked away from Akali's cell trying to burry whatever pitty she had for the ninja. She understood why Akali would want to kill her, right then and there, but Ionia had to be saved from itself. Even though the idea had crossed her mind of stripping naked herself and putting herself in the same room with Akali to pacify her, she knew that would only result in her own demise. Yuna sighed, as she made her way to Syndra, who was simply outside of the tower on whatever bits of land remained of the thing.
"Got a minute?" Yuna asked Syndra, which caused the woman to turn and face Yuna.
"What is it?" Syndra asked.
"I think you might want to know, how I am familiar with Evgard." Yuna said, "The least I can do, considering that I am making you expect guests."
"Don't worry, all I have to do is-" Syndra said before touching Yuna's forehead with Syndra's golve full of dark energy, before Yuna herself could react. Syndra then focused her magic to dive deep within Yuna's mind, suddenly a zap of lighting occured, shocking Syndra making her withdraw her hand from her mind and withdrawing the spell.
"Sorry about that, my spirit is always protective of me." Yuna said, "So you are gonna have to trust my word on this."
"Alright then talk." Syndra said.
"You see while I was among the well respected members of society," Yuna explained, "there was this elder we were supposed to respect, that elders name was Evgard."
"Let me guess, he cheated and lied, to get to that position?" Syndra said.
"You forgot murdering people." Yuna said.
"Figures, I assume that people have some dignity." Syndra replied.
"Anyway, this elder had covered up evidence to suggest that a man by the name of Yasuo, for what purpose I don't know." Yuna said, "but what I do know is that he is a part of a corrupt trio of elders, which seeks to rule Ionia in their own twisted tyranny."
"Corrupt trio you say?" Syndra said, her curiosity peaked.
"Yes. I cannot go any further than that." Yuna said, "for your own safety."
"Have you no idea of who I am or what I am capable of?" Syndra replied, feeling that Yuna had compared her to an insect.
"Yes on both counts," Yuna said, "but no one can know who I am truly am, at least not yet."
"What have you or I to fear?" Syndra said.
"The other elders, one of whom wants me dead for being born." Yuna said, before leaving.
Upon the shadow portal opening, both Satchi and Quaricho found themselves at a dark temple where the area was covered, with shadows.
"What is Zed gonna say, when he gets wind of this?" Quaricho said.
"Honestly I don't know." Satchi said, "but in case you die I wanted to say you are very well developed for a Vastyan."
"Thanks, I guess." Quaricho replied, before the two women started walking when suddenly they stopped as a man suddenly appeared before them. The man had a stainless steel mask that covered all facial feautres, had a red cloth cloak worn under the rest of his armor, dark blue baggy pants and black boots.
"So Quaricho, mind telling me where you were?" the man asked.
"Master Zed, I was doing a favor for your old student Yuna," Quaricho said, "she wanted me to go follow Akali around."
"Funny," Zed said, "I gave clear instructions not to bother the Kinou order, did you not remember those exact orders?"
"Well master, it not only appears that the rumors about Akali leaving the order were true but I saved her life from something twisted." Quaricho said.
"Do tell." Zed said, engaged.
"Well, I'm not sure if you would even believe me." Quaricho said.
"You'd be surprised." Zed replied, "Now tell."
Quaricho then took a deep breath before saying;
"I saw an old man getting shot by a bullet from Akali's shadow, then suddenly his head fell appart, as if though it was a wilting flower-"
"Say no more," Zed said, "I know what you speak of."
"You do?" Saitchi said shocked.
"Yes," Zed said, before turning his attnetion towards Saitchi, "Get Kayn and Himawari, tell them to meet with me so we can discuss this matter among ourselves."
"Yes Master." Saitchi said, before she channeled a shadow portal, walked through it and disappeared. As soon as she had left, both Zed and Quaricho.
"Tell me Quaricho," Zed said, "Who was the man?"
"An Elder," Saitchi said, "apparently he had picked Akali to speak with because she left the order, and the conversation involved someone called The Golden Demon in regards to the infamous top student of my old school."
Zed suddenly grew silent, which caused Quaricho to become worried for she had never seen Zed like this, in all of her years of training under Zed. So she approached Zed, putting a hand on his shoulder before Zed suddenly swatted it away.
"Are you sure you heard that exact phrasing in regards to the golden demon?" Zed said.
"Yeah, why?" Quaricho said.
"Of all the mistakes the Kinkou order made, keeping that demon alive is one of them," Zed said, "To the point where the noxians were to despire my pitty all they have to do is pray for The Golden Demon to show up. Even within this scenario, they do not deserve such a monster, understand?"
Quaricho gulped before saying,
"Yes Master."
"Good, now come." Zed said, regaining his composure, "It is time for this meeting to see if Yuna deserves our audience."
With that both Zed and Quaricho both walked to the temple steps and into the temple.
Balance was good for many things. This was something Shen was taught, but as he learned later on in life, there were exceptions in life that could not be balanced.
Case in point was his blood pressure as the ninja read over and over again the charges of the wanted poster that had his former fellow student Akali, in his room, to make sure he read them correctly and to Shen's horror they read as follows;
"Former member of the Kinkou order, Akali is either to be captured or killed, for her unquestionable role in the gruesome murder of Elder Hitari. There will be greatcompinsation for your coperation in doing either."
'Akali what have you gotten yourself into?' Shen thought to himself as he tore the poster away. He knew Akali killed, that was part of her job, the part that drove her away from the order, but this, Shen knew without a doubt. Besides the first and last time Shen heard the words gruesome and murder in the same sentence, that incident began Zed's path of darkness. Before Shen knew it, a hamster like creature came in wearing a purple ninja outfit.
"Is it true? Is it true? Is it true? Is it true? Is it true?" the hamster like creature asked at a hyperactive pace.
Shen sighed before saying;
"Kennen I'm afraid it is true, the Ionian government believes Akali was the culprit." Shen said.
"But it can't be her, she can't even cut at that rate."
"I know that, and I know who is behind this," Shen replied to his friend.
"Why don't you do anything about it then?" Kennen.
Shen sighed before saying;
"The last time I confronted the individual, it was with my father and Zed, we were never the same after that."
"Shen..." Kennen said, before suddenly a member of the Kinkou order suddenly arrived.
"What is it?" Shen asked.
"Sir there is someone at the door, claiming to be the new person to prune the tree." the man said.
"Alright I will see what this person wants." Shen said, before walking throughout the ruined area, they called a base, making his way towards the front gates to find a woman waiting there. The woman had ink black hair, wore a midnightblack cloak with silver armor covering it, a pair of oversized scissors on her back, eyes that were milkly white, red boots and dark blue baggy pants.
"Are you the master of this order?" questioned the girl.
"That is correct I am." Shen said.
"Good I am glad to be of service as the one who prunes the tree." the girl said.
"I'm afraid you must be mistaking-" Shen said, before the girl handed Shen a letter. Shen then took the letter and read the following;
"Shen,
Due to the incident involving your former student Akali and the former Elder Hitari. I among the other Elders, have decided the best course of action was to apoint someone we feel can do the job of Pruning the tree that would elminate elements that would cause misbalance both within and outside of the order. If you find yourself confused by the former thing, allow me to enlighten you, The Elders and I agree that your order has the potential to be a threat to Ionia, which we have decided based on both this recent incident and the order of shadows, both things caused by a lack of oversight. Do not worry about qualifications either, we looked around for what we determined is the best canidate for the position, hence the woman Kawa, who should be handing you this letter. She has recived training from both Elder Souma and a survivor of Wuju arts, in addition to many other styles of fighting which proves helpful in terms of pruning the tree. As my duty as Elder, I hereby order you to accept Kawa, as the one who will prune the tree. This is not up for discussion. I hope the rest of the order understands why you must take her in and welcomes their newest member with open arms.
Elder Evgard."
Shen then looked at the girl before saying;
"Are you Kawa?"
"That is correct." the girl said.
"As you can see-" Shen said, before Kawa interjected;
"I'm blind."
"Oh sorry." Shen said, embarassed. It took him a while to regain his composure before saying;
"Anyway your duty as one who prunes the tree, means that you must eliminate all those who are a threat to the equilibrium of this world, now come inside." Shen said.
"I don't think I will just yet." Kawa said, "I have my first duty to fufil from the Elder Evgard himself."
"What duty would that be?" Shen asked.
"Reclaiming your former temple, of course by any means necessary." Kawa said, before she walked away from the gates of the base of the Kinkou order, while humming a hauntingly beautiful yet militaristic tune.
Shen sighed again, before looking at the letter before Kennen quickly came to Shen's side.
"What did that person want?" Kennen asked.
"She came here to become the one who prunes the tree, and she had the authority of Elder Evgard to do just that," Shen said, "With her duties now both applying
within the order and outside the order."
"Within the order?!" Kennen said, "What does that mean? Aren't we peaceful? Where is she?"
"On her way towards our former temple." Shen sighed, "with the idea to reclaim it by any means necessary, which I suspect is not her only order from Elder Evgard."
"Oh, but we have to do something." Kennen said.
"We can't, or lest we be traitors to Ionia." Shen replied.
Kennen then hung his head in defeat, as he walked away from Shen, back to the base, with his hope crushed about everything.
Shen burned that image into his mind, knowing this was him regretting the teachings that balance applies to all things, and in this scenario balance did apply, in the case of a great discord for both the Kinkou order and the order of shadows.
Kawa was walking through the forest humming her tune, walking through the mountainside, ready to fulfill her duty when suddenly a robber appeared from out of nowhere and held a rusty knife to her throat. The robber wore a black cloak which did not hide his distressed unshaven face.
"Give me your money and you shall leave here with your life." he said.
"Do you know who I am?" Kawa said, before she punched him in the solar plexsus, causing the robber to drop the knife in new found disorintation. Before he had the chance to react, Kawa then pulled out her giant pair of scissors and bisected the robber into two, without any hesitation.
"A pity." Kawa said as she stood over the bisected body of the robber. Suddenly a woman with black hair appeared wearing nothing more than a tattered old cloak rushed through and stopped upon seing the bisected man. The woman then fell to her knees horrified upon what she saw, then it turned to sorrow, with raindrops emerging from her eyes.
"I remove withered Flowers, Why do you look so sad?" Kawa said to the woman, who looked at her with furious anger.
"How dare you! He was trying to provide for me." The woman said through tears.
"You were his wife?" Kawa asked.
"Yes!" shouted the woman, and before she could react, Kawa quickly pinned her down to a tree and tore the cloak off of her.
"By the laws of Madam Hidan, Bloodstained Goddess of womanhood, she who husband victimizes another maiden must be blessed with the pleasures of the maiden she victimizes in order to rid herself of the filith her husband bestows upon him, for in the end all women need in the end is eachother for mere pleasure and there is no grander pleasure." Kawa said, before kissing the woman against her will. The woman tried to struggle her way out of the mess, tried to fight back. In the end The woman could only pray this would be over quickly as Kawa's strength over the woman.
"Do not worry my sister," Kawa said, before defiling her with her fingers while similing, "I will save you from the corruption you husband has brought upon you."
(A/N: Well, what can I honestly say about Kawa other than she is Blumenkranz incarnate, down to the raping women part. Also Blumenkranz was the tune she was humming and quoted. Anyway I apologize in advance if I depicted this scene poorly. If anyone has advice on how I can do scenes like this better, please let me know. Also the bloodstained goddess Madam Hidan, is not a real goddess but a Buddhist like figure worshipped by a cult, I hope I can explain more about her in future chapters. Leave a review on this story if you would, so I can improve. Thanks and have a nice day.)