Bleak. Stripped. Barren. Dead. Mere words, which came nowhere close to adequately describing the wasteland that was the Shinobi headquarters. The sky itself looked like heavy smog of blackened gases, either ready to drench the forests or descend at any moment upon the inhabitants of the land. Amongst the dark cloudlike forms, there were blotches of deep purple...a gaseous substance that's exact make up or proper name remained unknown even to the sect members themselves. The air lacked any of the vivacious electricity one finds after a rainstorm or just before a fresh snow; it was as dead as the soil itself.
The forest was composed of the occasionally hollowed, branchless trees dotting the landscape. The ones still standing were all lifeless and crumbling, the ability to live long gone due to a lack of nutrients, from the arid soil, and clean water; for not even the rains brought fresh sustenance, but instead were tainted because of the unnatural discoloration of the smog-like clouds. The dirt had neither water nor root systems to hold it together, which was needed to form clumps of soil, and even a wisp of wind would easily bring forth a land-based cloud of loosened dust.
Plant life, if it could even be called as such, was non-existent having long ago been disintegrated by the circumstances of the lands, before even Reisho's time as a Shinobi; this left large open areas of decomposed bark and wood in between the shells of trees. Stones held no mosses or fungi upon their rough surfaces, but instead lay bare to the elements of erosion either from harsh winds or the putrid liquids shed by the malignant clouds.
From a far distance, the acres of this darkened earth appeared to be nothing more than a blemish upon the otherwise lively expanse of the western territory. However, upon a closer inspection...well, one would wish they had never considered such an endeavor. Needless to say, there were no creatures of any kind living upon the dark terrain save for the sect members...though some beings would not call that living at all.
The caves of the Shinobi sect were no better than the area that enclosed them. A small rise of rocky crag jutted from the earth in the very center of the darkened blemish. This was simply the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, for beneath the deceptively miniscule mound of hard stone lay an entire infrastructure of cave systems, tunnels, and chambers; this tip was the only entrance into the underground world, and was heavily guarded by the Shinobi master, Reisho, and his awareness of the ki in the air. There was little comfort from the surrounding atmosphere to be found in these natural structures, for the initial cave more resembled a violent tumor, marring the already dying earth, than any welcoming sight after a long journey. At least that was the metaphor, which came to Touya's mind every time he returned to his "home".
He sighed heavily at the sight before him, now enclosed completely in his Shinobi issued cloak, as if the black cloth could shield him from the atmosphere. The smog always made Touya want to gag since it hanged in one's throat like a bad cold. Within the caves was the only place for cleaner air, for Jin was always more than happy to use his abilities to push out the stomach churning gases from the cave dwellings...at least while Touya was there.
Jin stood beside his friend just fifty feet from the initial cave entrance. His cloak, too, was completely covering his body, and he was grateful for the security it allowed Einin. Her presence would not be revealed until he and Touya deemed it proper. Her youki was far too diminutive for anyone to notice amongst the overpowering youki of the Shinobi clan members. She sat snuggled in Jin's large arms as he looked upon the caves with feelings of apprehension and disgust. Touya was right...who knew how long it would be before his eyes met another golden morning like the one they had seen yesterday?
"Well, home sweet bloody home, eh?" Jin said sarcastically. "Hope momma Reisho's here..." Touya shifted his eyes toward his taller friend, knowing that this humor was for the sake of breaking the tense atmosphere that only the two partners could feel...and besides, his jokes made Reisho seem easy to push aside even though that was not entirely the case. Touya was about to say something before he was interrupted.
"Well! Get in here damnit, or else I'll send out Bakken to make you both come in!" Jin's brow twitched in annoyance, his face grimacing into a look of intense dislike at the previously unheard, and unmissed, sound of Reisho's voice. It had always reminded Jin of some haughty Chihuahua that did not know how truly small, or insignificant it really was.
Touya frowned as well and closed his eyes before treading forward to be followed by Jin, who followed rather close letting his arm brush against the ice master's shoulder. The wind master had always taken to staying near Touya when in the caves, for that was when Reisho had often tried to continue his abuses...and Jin would no longer let Touya tell him to stand idly by while that happened. If Reisho tried anything to hurt his comrade, Jin would respond to keep Touya from harm. Touya seemed to sense this thought pop into the wind master's mind and nudged Jin's elbow with his shoulder. Jin turned to look at his friend. Touya leaned up to whisper just before entering the darkness of the cave's crevice.
"Do not give him a reason to reject our request...please Jin. Be the wiser demon I know you to be and pick your battles with care. He will try to grate against our scales just to give himself an excuse for more harshness...let him make the mistakes," he said finishing quickly as they passed the threshold of no return. Jin nodded at this and silently thanked Touya for being here with him. He just hoped the company would remain this way through their coming ordeals.
The two partners continued to walk through numerous passageways downward, toward the center of the infrastructure itself. Each tunnel became colder and colder as they moved into the bowls of the earth, and the ground became moister with the condensed water particles from the air collecting on its surface. The air itself felt damp and stepping upon the ground one could feel their feet sink slightly, like treading on the topsoil after a fresh rain.
'Farther and farther from an easy escape...' Touya noted in his consciousness as they continued. Soon they both reached a ten-foot tall doorway at the end of one of the many forks to the tunnels. The doors were darkened by age, damp air, and the carbon dioxide released from the torches attached to the walls every fifty feet. Shinobi had long since gotten accustomed to the dark and required little light in order to see their surroundings.
Einin mumbled slightly under Jin's cloak and he jumped nervously. He quieted her hastily by holding her closer and she calmed once he gave her his finger to nibble on. Jin was for once grateful that he was required to wear this cloak in Shinobi territory...the size of it concealed any extra bulk around his torso and thus kept Einin out of harm's way for a little longer.
The two Shinobi were still standing outside the doorway when the floor rumbled, which indicated that Reisho was aware of their presence at the entrance. The trembling earth made the door jiggle ajar slightly, and Touya took this as the usual signal to enter and brief with Reisho after their mission. The ice master and wind master stepped forth into the space beyond the doorway to meet with Reisho in his main living chamber.
The room was circular, its walls rough with age and damp with the common drips from the wet soils above them. Farthest from this entrance were three other doors, two of them directly behind Reisho's back from where he now sat in an almost throne-like chair; Jin often preferred to think that Reisho had a bunch of books underneath him when he sat in that chair just to make himself seem more dominating. Jin snickered inwardly at this.
There were more than a few torches of firelight along the wall and a large, wooden table near the back covered with aged documents and other various papers. The floor possessed one expansive rug from the carcass of a long dead and rather furry demon. It always made Touya's stomach curl to see an innocent beast stretched upon the ground, killed for nothing more than its skin...there was little honor in destroying life to make one's chambers look more luxurious.
The other doorways most likely led to Reisho's main bed chamber and possibly bathing rooms...Touya was rather relieved to be left in the dark as to which room Reisho slept in. Being the master of this sect he was permitted more comforts than the other Shinobi were; Jin and Touya had always shared a humble room, though neither ever complained about the accommodations or the company. The ceiling of this chamber was mainly composed of stalactites, which always made the ice master think of spikes ready to fall upon anyone who dared disagree with Reisho. Jin thought they were there to someday bring divine justice right down on Reisho's skinny little...
"Come here and report you idiots! I do not have all day!"
'Stupid Chihuahua!' Jin thought after having his favorite dream interrupted. Touya was the first of the pair to comply by walking forward and then Jin followed for good measure; just because they needed Reisho to be less than dubious for once, did not mean Jin had to show any respect just yet. They both stopped about three feet in front of the wooden table. Behind Reisho were two new trainees of the Shinobi art, both cloaked in black and becoming better versed in earth manipulation under Reisho's tutelage. However, Touya could already read in their eyes that they had been brought here unwillingly. After years of being a complete sect only to loose one of their better members, Gama, Reisho had been desperate to enlist more recruits...but after their defeat at the Dark Tournament, demons were less than likely to want anything to do with the declining Shinobi.
Bakken, or "Biggie" as Jin deemed him, stood leaning against the wall off to the left side of the table watching with a knowing smirk painted across his large brown face. Jin wanted to smack it right off...but he remembered Touya speaking of tact and decided to remain motionless. Reisho, who had seemed in a great hurry before, was now perusing his papers disinterestedly, deliberately making the partners wait on him like dependants.
Jin soon became bored and started playing a little Irish ditty in his head looking off into space without watching where his gaze lay. Touya remained attentive, knowing quite well that Jin was probably off in dreamland reciting one of those songs that had always irritated the ice master...especially when he had been trying to sleep. Touya's gaze upon Reisho never faltered, even when Bakken made idiotic faces, behind Reisho's back, at the ice demon trying to distract him enough to break his composure. Ironically Bakken was too involved with his tomfoolery to notice the earth master's fist speedily moving to meet his face.
"Stop that you imbecile! Do not disgrace me in front of our new trainees nor before these two...or would you like to take their places on the next mission?" Reisho asked rhetorically with a bite to his voice. Bakken rubbed his injured face and backed toward the wall to show submission. Jin's lip curled in disgust...he had never understood why Bakken had been so loyal and obedient to Reisho when the earth master had never given him anything in return, or any respect at all for that matter. Touya, on the other hand, empathized slightly with Bakken, though his pride would never allow him to openly admit it to anyone, save for Jin. He knew what it felt like to be trapped, feeling one had to respect someone who did not deserve it simply because they held a certain title or rank.
"Remove your hoods..." Reisho said airily as he pushed his papers aside, finally looking upon the pair. His black pupils held a kind of humor at ordering his renegade Shinobi around. His eyebrows cocked haughtily...in a manner than Jin felt welcomed a good deck to the face. 'Touya would'n be likin' that though would he?' Jin thought as he once again kept his desires at bay. To distract himself Jin rubbed Einin's little foot with his hand...the soft touch seemed to soothe the both of them.
Jin used his wind manipulation to lift his hood off of his head, while Touya simply used his hand. Both of the Shinobi had their heads exposed while all else was still swathed in ebony folds. Touya sighed mentally as he prepared to begin this ritual of returning to report their findings and mission status...because he knew Jin was certainly not going to do it.
"We have returned, Reisho, from our previous mission," he began now bringing out their notebooks from within his cloak. "Here are our noted reports of what we found in the half-breed village. I only beg, Sir, that due to the graphic nature, we not read them aloud." Jin silently thanked Touya for this request...he had always hated giving those gruesome accounts.
The ice demon leaned forward a little to place the notebooks on top of Reisho's desk. The earth master took them in hand and perused the first few pages of Touya's report. His brows jumped to the top of his head and his pupils dilated as he processed what was being read. Bakken had leaned over to look as well and the sight made his smirk grow; he seemed pleased with the findings rather than outraged. Jin's brow ticked but he did nothing more. He knew he would have his time later with "Biggie".
"The entire village?! Obliterated?!" Reisho started, now standing in indignation. His apprentices backed away frightened of his reaction; neither Touya nor Jin blinked once. "How is it the both of you could have failed so miserably while together?! I find your incompetence mind boggling..." Touya cleared his throat slightly to try and explain. Reisho snapped his gaze and gave a sharp nod, letting Touya know he should explain himself.
"Reisho, by the time we arrived to the village it had already been destroyed and burned to the ground. There was nothing to be done except record and report back here," Touya said calmly, careful to keep his face free of all unnecessary emotion.
"I gave you three freaking days to get to the village!" This visibly took Touya aback.
"But Sir, that was the problem...you only gave us three days to get there when you had known of the coming attack a whole week in advance," Touya started. Bakken snickered slightly as he saw Reisho bound around his desk to get in the ice demon's face. The earth master stared down at Touya's face in a domineering manner and clenched his fists. Jin's ears were tense and he took in all he was seeing, almost asking for a reason to begin defending his friend. But the ice demon gave no such signal, and Touya remained perfectly still. The wind master wondered how his friend could possibly keep his composure when faced by such a hateful demon as Reisho who'd done so much to hurt him in the past.
"Are you, of all demons, daring to question my leadership, you soulless ice pixie?!" he said harshly in a dangerously low voice. Jin could not hold back the growl in his throat at the bastardization of HIS nickname for Touya; luckily Reisho was so focused on the ice demon that he failed to hear Jin's grumbling. Touya swallowed absentmindedly, deftly searching his mind for the words that would placate Reisho for the time being.
"No not at all Reisho, Sir," he made sure to use the honorific tone. "I am merely stating the facts...we were not asked to leave until a week after first learning of the coming attack...I make no judgments upon your leadership. We arrived about a day too late." Reisho calmed and thought about what Touya had said.
"Well then perhaps the foul mouthed, imp should have flown you both there instead of dawdling on trails and the like," he exclaimed now turning his angry gaze to Jin, while moving a bit closer to the wind master. Jin stiffened and knitted his brows. 'Tryin' to blame me eh? Complimentin' you is a far more foul thing than anythin' that's ever come out of my mouth!'
"You, Sir, ordered me not to fly to the mission," Jin said putting an almost mocking emphasis on the word "sir"...it did not go unnoticed by Reisho, whose teeth gritted. "You had said that flyin' would attract too much attention and that bein' discrete was the best road to take...so that's what I was bein', Sir." Jin ceased his response waiting for whatever Reisho had to retort with. He gave a humph before stepping in front of the wind master while grabbing some papers from his desk.
"Discrete?! Mighty big talk coming from the renegade Shinobi that was reported in the woods not a day ago!" Jin flinched inwardly at this. 'Great...now he knows about the bloody scoundrels in the woods.' Touya turned his head at this and his mouth opened a little. He had hoped the news would not spread so quickly, but the ice demon did not in the least regret asking Jin to stop his torrent and allow the other demon to live...although they had inadvertently ensured a conflict with Reisho, Jin's decency lay intact and this was far more important than any present difficulties. Better to make Reisho enraged than be like him. They would just have to maneuver around this one.
"According to this report you accosted two demons, who were only walking down a trail at the time, and killed one of them instantly, without warning, before nearly killing the other! Do you know what could have happened if one of the Makai lords had stumbled upon this news before I hushed it down by paying off that maggot of a demon?! By the way that money is coming out of your salary! Not to mention you also stole...a freaking cow?! Are you brain dead?! Thieving a cow into the air right in front of its owner is not being discrete!" Reisho continued unable to hold in his indignation. "So don't you dare tell me about keeping a low profile, wind imp!"
"Reisho..." Touya started softly, before being met in the face by Reisho again.
"And you! You filthy little pixie! Where were you when this was going on?! I only allowed you to go with Jin because I thought you could handle him...keep him in check and following orders. That maggoty demon told me that you did nothing to keep Jin from killing his comrade! You'd get off too easily if I don't thrash you right h..." Reisho's hand only twitched forward the slightest bit in response to his torrent of words. At this Jin made a move to the left to face Reisho, at the same time stepping in front of Touya defensively. Though flattered by his friend's protective nature the ice demon sighed inwardly, 'Crap...here we go.'
"Don't ya' be blamin' Touya for any o' this blarney! He 'ad nothin' ta' do wit' it an' besides if not for Touya, I would'a killed the o'er one and ya' never would 'ave heard a word 'bout it, spewin' fro' 'is pie 'ole! Tha' lil' maggot, as ya' call 'im, I felt, posed a threat ta' me partner so I decided ta' protect 'im! So if anyone's ta' get screamed at for the dead body in ta' woods, let it be me...my actions and me consequences! An' no one will be thrashin' ANYONE ya' hear? An' watch who ya're callin' filthy, ya' master o' dirt n' dust!" Jin finished his rant and Reisho, ever so reluctantly, backed away to the edge of his desk while crossing his arms...trying to make it look like he was still in control.
The wind master's youki was reverberating off of the walls and Jin himself trembled slightly, trying to keep his energy contained. Touya stood wide-eyed staring at his partner. 'Jin must be incredibly angry,' the ice demon thought to himself. 'Whenever he gets like this, his accent becomes even thicker than usual...I couldn't even understand the first part of what he said! And Reisho...he must have noticed it too, and feared it enough to back away from Jin in front of his subordinates no less.' It had always taken a strong burst of emotion from within Jin to make him revert to his normal speech patterns of near-Gaelic pronunciation.
Jin's face relaxed a bit before he continued, "Besides...Biggie over there pulled a far worse one when he attacked a Makai lord's guards while on a mission...especially since he was drunk at the time!" Jin smirked a bit at the look of hate on Bakken's face. He had been hoping Reisho had forgotten the whole incident. However, by the look on the earth master's face, as he turned to face Bakken, Reisho held no thought of forgiveness in his cold eyes.
"Hmm...despite your belligerence...you have point there," Reisho said poignantly glaring at Bakken, who was now bowing his head with his back to the wall. Touya held his breath as Jin just looked on with a more amused countenance playing on his features. "Fine, fine. You are all lucky I am so lenient at this point...well I suppose it is of no consequence anyway. They were only half-breeds and mixed ones, correct? No real loss here save for the hush money," Reisho said rather nonchalantly. Jin tensed all over again, but this time Touya stepped to the left side of his friend to address Reisho.
"Yes...well..." Touya hesitated.
"Well?!" Reisho snapped, his patience growing thin once more. Touya turned to Jin and gave a quick nod. Jin grimaced, his body tense, and silently wished he could leave Reisho in the dark on this. Reisho looked expectantly at Jin, who still kept himself from lifting his cloak. Touya sighed, and carefully reached over to Jin's cloak and began pulling up the fabric.
"However," he started, revealing the squirming infant in Jin's arms to the dank air of the cave and the waiting eyes of Reisho. "There was a single survivor..."
TBC (aaack sorry about the delay...phew finally all that stuff is over with and I can get back to writing, hopefully this is a good chapter...please tell me if I need to correct stuff!...next chapter up soon! I have already finished half of it!! excitement face!)