364/Bamboo Nightmare

Bamboo Nightmare
Date of Scene:	04 September 2015
Location:	Pikarigaoka/Uminari City - Hikawa Shrine
Synopsis:	Seishi deals with nightmares in her own way.
Cast of Characters:	Seishi Tamashige, Hoshiyomi no Mikoto

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Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Summer break is over, but the summery weather lingers. Today was clear and warm, and as evening descends the air lies as thick as honey over the grounds of the Hikawa Shrine. It's past the time of day that the shrine sees most of its traffic, but the occasional visitor may still find their way up the path.

This visit has become a habit for Seishi, a way to kill some time in the afternoons and early evenings before she has to go home. No one else is around to see her go through the motions with an air of ritual - a few coins into the offertory box, a small jangle of the bell before she presses her hands together and bows her head in silence.

The prayer is always the same. In her head, Seishi knows that it's a futile gesture, a waste of spare change, but the heart is never so easily convinced.

When she's done, she turns away from the shrine proper and makes her slow, solitary way down the stairs to the torii. Under the symbolic gateway, she stops for a little while, gazing off along the path that leads through the woods back to the city streets. The shadows are getting long.

"Am I really getting anywhere like this?" she wonders aloud to herself. The still air seems to muffle her quiet voice before it can carry.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
The warm summer day's heat seems rather oppressive, even so long into the evening. Surely it should have cooled off at least a little by now. Maybe it has, and the heat is only really a trick of the mind, but who can say for sure? Even so, it isn't so hard to sense that as the evening grows, a forbodding feeling hangs heavy in the air, getting worse as time goes on. Something is waiting to happen, but what could it be?

The trip down the path back to the torii is mostly uneventful, but the moment Seishi stops to think and look out, whatever that presense might have been has decided to make its move. Somewhere in the woods to right of the path something can be heard. It's faint, probably far fainter than it should be, but unmistakably, it is the cry of some young person. A distressed sound that seems to cut off suddenly.

The long shadows of the evening seem to shift. It's a subtle thing, but something definitely seems wrong, or at least unusual. A sharp wind blows, leaves rustle, and it almost seems like the woods grow deeper, thicker. Was the path beyond the torii always so long? Were the woods around the shrine a bamboo forest? It's such a subtle change happening over several blinks of the eyes, but a change it is and surely someone like Seishi would notice that.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Seishi's contemplation is broken by a sense of alarm prickling over her nerves, some deep-rooted instinct that makes her spine stiffen and puts her suddenly on the alert. Once, maybe, she would have second-guessed herself into dismissing that faint cry, might not have recognized the subtle change in the world around her or the tension that lies heavy in the air - but not any more.

Standing under the torii, she reaches up to the ribbon that's tied back her hair. The words fall like drops of water into the stillness: "Twist the cord of fate."

In moments, she's transformed and running, fallen bamboo leaves rustling underfoot as Akashimaru races in the direction of the voice that she heard.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It really is bamboo as far as the eye can see, and it is safe to say Seishi is no longer in Tokyo. The last rays of the setting sun are nowhere to be seen, and instead the world is bathed in the pale light of a full moon, hanging larger in the sky than it should. Even so, there are still shadows a'plenty all around. The wind whistles through the closely packed shoots, filling the air with a rustling of stalks brushing against one another. But then... there is a light in the distance. A bright light that seems to be drowning out the moonlight in the immediate area, shadows stretching out away from it in all directions as if trying to run from it.

The light is coming from a less densely packed area of the forest. A small sort of clearing. At the center, a child, clearly unconscious, rests. Looming over her, hunched over is a figure of all black. At the moment it's hard to tell if it actually is black or if that's just from it being positioned in front of that bright light which seems to be coming from the young girl. Bright though it is, it seems that the light is some bluish form that looks remarkably like the young child--its face an expression of abject terror--being drawn out of her, held by the strange, unnaturally thin figure by a clawed hand sunk into the body of light's middle. The form, perhaps thankfully, is still tethered to the girl's body by a thin strand of light leading back into the child's chest.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"Hey!" Skidding to a stop amidst the bamboo, Akashimaru yanks the Shinken from her belt. The tessen flashes in her hand, unfurling into the arc of a bow as she lifts it; her fingers find the red string and draw it back, and in the next instant a heavy black arrow whistles through the air between the dark figure and its victim.

The warning shot vanishes into the shadows of the bamboo forest, but Akashimaru is already drawing back another, this one trained directly on that dark shape. "Leave her alone!"

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It doesn't seem to hear Akashimaru's approach, being so very focused on the work before it. A slight tug further up, stretching that thin line of light even tighter, and its other hand moves up, fingers aligning next to one another with clawed fingers aimed right at that thin shaft keeping the girl connected to the body of light. It moves, as if ready to cut that thread. An arrow halts that movement and its hold on the light releases as it moves its arm away from the path of the projectile. And that light falls slowly back toward the child, fading into her body. And there is only moonlight in the grove.

It's head tilts to one side, a bit further than a human should be able to and a low rumbling, echoing, seems to be coming from it. "More's the pity that my work is interrupted..." comes the echoing voice, seeming less a naturally deep voice and more like it has been pitched down. "But..." it begins, body twisting at the waist as it stands, legs coming to face Akashimaru before its torso begins moving, and then finally its head. A featureless white mask, save for two dark eye holes greets her, it's expression neutral. It's head shifts, leering down some, the light catches differently on the mask and it almost seems like those eyes have narrowed. "How fortunate to have a second prey come to me."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Things shouldn't move like that. Unnerved by the inhumanity of the figure's movements and the uncanny stare of that blank white mask, Seishi's immediate instinct is to shrink back. Instead she bites down hard on the impulse and faces the shape down, lifting her chin defiantly.

"Try it," she fires back, fairly bristling with bravado. The arrow and bow vanish into evaporating sparks, reverting back into the form of a tessen, and she snaps the fan open with a quick flourish. "I promise you, you will not find this Akashimaru an easy target."

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It's head tilts to the side, hanging at nearly a 90 degree angle to its body as it regards Akashimaru's movements. The light shifts upon the mast once more, eyes taking on a somewhat more wide-eyed surprise as the name is mentioned. This is a name it knows. "I see..." it mumbles more to itself than to anyone else. But for now, it has a mission, and something is barring it from that mission. So it takes one step toward Akashimaru, soft and silent. Another step, faster than the first, and so on. Each step coming more rapidly until it's in a sprint. It's fast, amazingly fast, closing the distance between them quickly.

A hand moves up to its chest, pulling something free as it approaches. A whip of its hand and a half dozen darts are flying toward Akashimaru as it jumps, clearing the rest of the distance. A hand moves down, fingers straight ahead and claws pointed for her chest. Something on those claws shines in the moonlight. It isn't metal though, and instead seems to be flowing like a liquid.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Me and my big mouth, Seishi has a split-second to think as the space between herself and her enemy rapidly closes.

Then there's no more time for thinking, only action. Akashimaru whirls the Shinken before her in broad, looping arcs, meeting the darts as they flash towards her and deflecting them to either side with a staccato series of sharp *ping*s of metal on metal. One particularly lucky shot actually bounces back at the thrower, but she doesn't get the chance to see if it struck home because that wicked-looking claw is driving down at her; throwing herself headlong into a wild forward roll, she only just manages to dive out of the way of being impaled.

Scrambling back up from her tumble over the leaf-littered ground, she whirls to face her enemy again, brandishing the Shinken like a shield.

Not good, she thinks. At least she's succeeded in distracting it from the girl?

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It's hard to say whether or not any damage had been done, or even if the dart managed to strike it. It hits the ground, back facing the evasive Akashimaru, hand buried up to the wrist into the soil. That same liquid drips from the claws of its other hand, hitting the ground with a loud hiss as it touches leaves. They turn a sickly purple, curling up and cracking as the liquid evaporates.

It almost sounds like the thing lets out a sigh of annoyance as it gives its arm a tug, breaking it free from the ground and tossing soil about, some of it showing the same signs it had suffered a fate similar to those poor leaves. It bends back after that, body arching so it can stare at Akashimaru. The thing's head turns a full half-circle as it rights its vision and only now is it clear that yes, the dart did hit it. The thin piece of metal hangs lose in one of the mask's eye holes, buried deep enough that it -should- have hit the thing's face. But it very clearly is rolling about loose in the mask. Turning the rest of the way around, it rights itself and stands up, plucking the dart from its face. "Bothersome..." it claims, beginning a slow walk towards her, fingers twitching slightly as if they can't wait to get a hold on her.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
If there was any doubt before, the poisoning of even the raw soil makes it very clear that letting even a drop from those claws touch her will be very bad. She can't let this thing get hold of her.

Given how quickly it can move, that may be easier said than done.

Rather than wait for that slow, implacable advance to reach her, Akashimaru takes the offensive, centering her stance and then lunging forward to meet her adversary. As she does, she strikes out with the edge of the Shinken, a whirl of fluttering red sleeves and sharp-edged metal. "Sundansen!"

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It stops its movement forward when she takes on the offensive, head tilting some as it regards the charge. Its eyes seem to show curiosity now, as if wondering why she wouldn't run. Then again, if she is who it thinks she is, there's little reason to think she would run. Its master made it clear enough how stubborn the fool would likely be if awoken.

The strike comes, a bit faster than it had expected, and so though it hops back, the edge of the fan does strike its arm. The material, being a leather armor, does have some resistance to it, as would be expected, but its arm bends rather unnaturally at the impact. There's only a hint of resistance within that arm, but mostly it almost feels like there's just empty space within it. It spins with the blow, as if dancing and comes around, foot leaving the ground as it does. It's heel clearly aimed to take Akashimaru in the side of the head, near her jaw.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Flesh and bone shouldn't give like that. There's so much that's so unnerving about this whole thing that it's hard to be surprised, exactly - but she was expecting a shock of impact, and the way the creature's arm bends where the tessen strikes it throws Akashimaru off.

Is it... hollow?

It's exactly the wrong time to be distracted. The kick catches her solidly in the side of the head and sends her sprawling, bursts of light dancing across her field of vision like phantom fireworks.

She can practically feel her brain rattling in her skull, but she doesn't dare lie there vulnerable. Dry leaves crunch and rustle as Akashimaru rolls, instinctively putting space between them before she surges up and onto her feet again, blinking her eyes back into focus. "Come, wind that blows away illusions--"

In her hand, the Shinken is glowing with a red light like a sunrise. "--San-kyo-sen!"

Akashimaru sweeps the fan forward, creating a rush of wind to batter at her enemy in a flurry of kicked-up leaves - not bamboo leaves, but the leaves fallen from the trees that ought to surround Hikawa shrine.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It finishes the spin even as Akashimaru moves away, foot firmly planting to the ground with a sound that suggests it is a great deal more solid than it apparently actually is. It's arm is twisted over on itself and it really should be mangled, but it looks at the limb and with a roll of the arm, it snaps back into place like it should be. Fingers do flex, though, and it seems intent on those movements, suggesting that perhaps while difficult to do, it is possible to inflict lasting damage on it.

It looks up, and begins the steady approach toward her once more, head tilting curiously as the area is bathed in a red light. Just what is she intending to do now? It does not take long for the thing to find out as the wind hits it. It's pushed back at first, feet planting firmly on the ground to brace itself before blowing over, crashing through the bamboo. There's a cry that echoes as if it came from the thing, and certainly seems like it is one of pain, but it doesn't appear that it is in any hurry to come out of the cover of the forest.

For the moment there is only the sound of the wind and leaves rustling in it.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
She takes the opportunity to steady herself, but even so, Akashimaru regards the thick green darkness of the forest of bamboo all around her with narrowed, wary eyes, weapon held at the ready. She can't see it, but she doesn't believe for a moment that her enemy is gone that easily.

Her breath comes harshly in her throat, heart thrumming behind her breastbone, nerves jangling with fight-or-flight. She calls out, voice low and rough with an intonation that belongs to a different life: "What are you?"

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
Silence hangs heavy in the air long after the question is asked. There's simply the wind. But something within the forest shifts, the sound of something moving within it. And then the echoing voice comes from the darkness within those shoots of bamboo. A simple, single word, "Nanashi..."

Coming from the darkness, the mask suddenly appears, moving in strange ways as it approaches the clearing. It really just seems like the mask moving through space, but close and careful observation shows that the body is there as well, less black and more a deep green closely matching the flora around it. It moves in strange ways, letting light and shadow play across its form in such a way that its sharp seems to break up and disappear against the background. But then it leaves the cover of the forest and it seems to move much more like a human. A stalk of bamboo is through it, completely through it from chest to back, in about the place one would expect something humanoid to have their heart. As it walks, it takes hold of the stalk and jerks it free of its body, a strange, noxious looking vapor pouring from the hole.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"Nanashi?" She echoes the name aloud - the answer to the question she asked, but knowing it doesn't really tell her anything.

Akashimaru holds her ground when the mask comes back into view, watching its approach tensely. The way it moves and blurs into its surroundings makes it hard to track; her eyes hurt from trying to stay focused on it by the time it resolves itself into something like a proper shape. The kick to the head she took a few moments ago doesn't help.

She watches, almost incredulously, as it wrenches the bamboo stalk out of its own body. How do you fight something like this?

Taking a step back, Akashimaru snaps the Shinken closed and raises it before her, fingers finding the string out of thin air as the tessen once more becomes a bow. Drawing back the arrow that materializes between her fingers, she aims for the center of the white mask.

"What are you hunting for, Nanashi?"

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
A tilt of its head, fingers flex, it remains at a distance away from her, waiting, observing. That fan is troublesome, that it gives her the ability to attack at range is also somewhat bothersome. The light seems to catch the mask at a different angle and its eyes appear to narrow. A threatening look? A scrutinizing look? It's hard to tell when there's only the shape of empty eyes to go off of.

And then she draws back and an arrow is aimed at it. Its posture changes, bending over some, legs spread slightly, as if anticipating the attack that might be coming. That vapor continues to leak out of it, the wind catching it and swirling it around, but otherwise it doesn't seem to do anything when it comes into contact with anything. There's the question that comes and its head shifts, apparently looking off in the distance to the girl, still unmoved from the spot it left her. It regards Akashimaru once again and... shrugs? It certainly looks like it shrugged. "Dreams..." it finally says, with that matter-of-fact tone as though she should have already known the answer to that question. "And," it begins as it slowly begins to slowly approach, still at the ready, waiting for that arrow. "You, I suppose."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
The first part of that answer, she was more or less expecting. The second... not so much. Uncertainty and surprise flicker over Akashimaru's expression for a moment. "Me?" Why her?

Now, with Nanashi moving steadily closer, is no time to ask. She breathes in, focused on that one pinpoint spot on the white mask. Just like the bullseye on the archery targets at the range, but those have never been animate, never been this ready and willing to kill her.

The bowstring twangs. The arrow releases.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
Well, it might have answered the question if not for the fact that she appears quite ready to end it. So there's little chance for the question to be properly addressed. Instead, Nanashi, anticipating that arrow, jerks its head to one side. It's a bit too slow though, and the arrow does manage to catch the side of its head, tearing through some of the cloth there and chipping the very edge of the mask, causing a very small crack to form where its cheek might have been. More of that vapor begins leaking from the opening in the cloth but, unlike the much more ridged leather around the hole in its chest, the cloth is... gripped by that vapor and pulled tight, closing the hole. Not much can be done about the mask though.

A quick motion of its hands to its hip, one taking hold of something while the other hovers over it. The sound of metal on metal as it draws a knife from somewhere on its hip, the blade passing over the hand hovering there, that fluid from its hand coating it. A sudden flick of its wrist, the blade flying toward her, with Nanashi close behind it, a hand reacing out, fingers spread, poised as if meaning to anticipate the direction she plans to dive for to avoid the knife.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
Akashimaru's breath hisses between her teeth in frustration at the failure of her shot, and the realization which follows immediately after. Too close. The bow turns back into a tessen in another shower of sparks, but Nanashi is too close and too fast; it's already too late for her to deflect the knife the way she did the darts earlier. She has no choice but to dart to the side, out of the way of the poisoned blade--

--directly into the path that Nanashi predicted.

She realizes her mistake the moment she makes it, eyes going wide in alarm. All she can do is lash out blindly toward that reaching hand with the blunt bar of metal that is the closed Shinken, a last-ditch effort to force Nanashi back.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It hadn't expected the knife to actually strike, but better to ensure a killing strike if it had. Some poor tree behind them is not enjoying itself when that knife meets it. Instead he'd been banking on the evasion. The desperate attack to force it back was expected, arm twisting at an unusual angle so it can wrap around the Shinken, body bending some to absorb the impact to its side.

A quick jerk on the weapon to get her off-balance, its knee coming up to meet her torso. Suddenly, once again, its body seems to suddenly be more solid than it otherwise has been, putting actual force behind the attack. All the while, those eyes of the mask seem to hold a complete indifference to what it is doing. A complete lack of expression as it apparently goes through the motions.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"Nnh--!" Weapon entangled, pulled off-balance, Akashimaru can't even begin to shield herself. The knee plows into her full-force, driving the air from her lungs in a stranged gasp of pain. She thinks she can feel her ribs crack.

Struggling to breathe, she wrenches the Shinken out of Nanashi's grasp. There's a voice shouting in the back of her head as she staggers free of her enemy with a lurch, insisting that she must rally herself and fight - but how can she do that when she doesn't understand what she's fighting.

Her eyes fall on the collapsed figure of the young girl not far away across the clearing, and for one moment the thought flashes across her mind with crystal clarity: If I die here, who'll help her?

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
The strike lands and Nanashi lines up its hand, meaning to drive those claws right into the side of Akashimaru's neck, but the sudden recovery and jerking of the Shinken staggers it, grip releasing from the weapon. The thing doesn't seem to be overly bothered by it, though, and resumes its steady march toward her.

"I had expected more," it says, voice almost sounding disappointed, head tilting some, light catching on the mask differently. Are those eyes suggesting a frown? Sorrow? Disapproval? Again, hard to say what. "But it seems you are only a shadow of that man."

As he draws closer, its hand comes up. The moon shines off the dark metal of the claws tipping its fingers and so close it is easy to see that fluid seeping out of the claws, beginning to coat its hand once more. "Now, let us end this."

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
"Go to hell!"

Akashimaru bites it out, voice harsh and half-choked and almost masculine. Without pause to think twice, she snaps to a decision and flings the Shinken at her foe, sending the fan slicing through the air like a spinning blade. In the same movement, she dives away from Nanashi and into a sprint, body carried low as she charges toward the unconscious girl.

Her ribs scream in protest, but she grits her teeth and ignores the pain, hunkering down to grab hold of the girl and hoist the deadweight as best she can. Nanashi won't be thrown by that desperate move for more than a few seconds at best - she's going to have to make a run for it.

Hoshiyomi no Mikoto has posed:
It does throw the thing for a moment, and a moment is likely all Akashimaru needs. The weapon comes fast at it, and Nanashi's foot comes up quick, snapping down on the fan as it comes flying toward him, drilling the weapon into the ground. It had expected the attack as some last attempt at surviving. It had not expected her to use it as a distraction to go for the girl and escape, else it would have simply evaded and intercepted. As it is, by the time it realizes what has actually happened, Akashimaru is heading away with the girl. It gives chase for a short time, but it ultimately seems content to let its prey go. Or perhaps it can't effectively chase because the consistency of its body seems to be growing less and less. A result of the wound in its chest perhaps?

Just as it began, in a few blinks of the eye, where the bamboo forest was, slowly the woods and path from the shrine return to the world. Standing somewhere in those woods, Nanashi's head tilts, its eyes looking as though it were very displeased. It turns, heading into the shadow of a tree and... just like that, it is gone.

Seishi Tamashige has posed:
She doesn't stop running - or at least, trying to run - until she's dragged her human cargo all the way up the stairs and through the torii. There, as though she's crossed some invisible threshold or else just finally run out of strength, Akashimaru stumbles to a halt and sinks to her knees, one hand reaching to support herself against the torii's post.

It worked. She halfway can't believe it.

O-Yasu's going to kill her for leaving the Shinken behind, she thinks, and having thought it she reaches a shaking hand outward, back the way she came. Concentrating, she closes her hand in the air... and grips a familiar red cord.

With a tug, the Shinken comes flying back to her hand. Still supporting the unconscious girl, Akashimaru clutches the tessen against her own chest until her transformation fades and she's Seishi again.

In just a moment, she'll call for help for the civilian. Just as soon as she stops feeling like she's about to have a meltdown.

What was that?