Hunting For The Master

[Silence Sei]

(Closed. Of course, if you're Hyakureiki, you can PM for details XD. Note that this quest takes place after Sei recruits Zieg back into The Facade. )

He had made the first step into realizing the Facade's ideals, yet there was still no sign of Deus or Uccisore. Perhaps Haidia had not been a good place to start his search for such big names. After all, somebody such as Deus would surely stand out in a crowd with hair such as his, and even moreso a demon crowd. As a result, Sei temporarily bidded his friend Zieg dil' Tulfried a fond farewell and set back off to Corone, to his home.

The winds of Radasanth felt like a welcome embrace upon the face of the mystic. The smells of the market filled his nostrils as if they were his mother's home cooking. The sights, the sensations, he had missed them all so dearly. Now, standing with his daughter at his side, 'Silence' Sei Orlouge had a new goal in mind, one not even Anita Orlouge was sure about. A goal that would surely bring Adam Mada Deus back into the public eye.

"Papa," Anita said, looking at her deformed dad, "what are we doing back in Radasanth? Shouldn't you be building an army to take back Facade Inc?" Sei merely smiled the childish smile he now possesed and closed his eyes. "Yes Anita, I should," the mute responded, "but in order to do that, I want to have capable generals, people I know would aid me in the reclamation. I know of one such person who assisted me in a few wars I was in, a samurai of great skill. There is even a rumor that he saved the world once or twice, though nobody believes him."

"Then why should you papa?" Anita asked in a curious childlike manner. Sei simply looked to his daughter, his smile still beaming as he replied to her, "Because the chances of people believing that this particular samurai saved the world are the same as people believing I am the 'Protector of Radasanth." Anita nodded, "Good point," she added in. The mute continued to survey the land, to feel out his home once again, thinking about the closest place this samurai would be.

"Does this samurai have a name papa?" Anita asked, distracting her father once again from his reunion with home, "Yes, he is 'The Hopeless Samurai', Shiryko Alkaiser Benimaru." Anita blinked, feeling that the name was quite familiar to her, when she remembered that it was Shiryko who lead Sei's siege weaponry unit against the Yellow Lily Bandits. "You can't possibly want that womanizing clumsy bufoon to actually be a general in the Facade, can you Papa?" Sei simply nodded his answer this time and began to walk from the port into Radasanth. "Yes I do Anita, and if I know him, he's going to be at The Silver Pub."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was having himself some milk, the ivory mustache from the drink being ignored for the moment. His mind was on more bountiful fruit than his liquids, and that fruit being the rear end of his waitress. He watched as the girl worked her hips back and forth, trying to think of a proper pick-up line to use on her. As he thought about such things a rat, dressed oddly like a ninja, found it's way onto his shoulder. The man looked at the rat and patted it on the head, getting up from his seat and approaching his waitress.

"Excuse me Miss," he said, a smile on his face, "but I believe what I want is not on your menu." The waitress blinked for a minute and looked at him, "And what is it that you want Mr. Benimaru?" The long, black-haired youth then wrapped an arm around her waist and forced the waitress to him, "Why, your body of course." The resulting slap could be heard from several miles away, as could the sound of Shiryko Benimaru being thrown every which way across the bar by the pub's bouncer.....

[Reiko]

“Hey mommy, this is really good. Wanna bite?” Inari asked after she swallowed her food. It was a soup with spices, potatoes and clams, which had the young vixen slurping it up quickly. Kit had already eaten her steak and Inari thought that her mother was still hungry for she seen her mother eat more than that.

“I’m fine, I’ve eaten enough.” Kadenzaa had eaten her meal quickly even though she swore she’d enjoy the spiced steak and it’s juicy flavor as it was the most that she spent on food in about ever.

The mother vixen wanted to enjoy the evening to have a special night with her daughter for no particular reason though it seemed about the time that her daughter’s first birthday should have been but being raised and born in a kitsune den where time had no meaning made it hard to be sure and it was probably something that should have been celebrated every month with Inari already looking a teenager thanks to the fox den and some wild magic.

The silver pub seemed to be pretty quiet except for one man who seemed to be disturbing a waitress. Kit would’ve sworn she saw a young samurai but she doubted it, most samurai had more discipline and wouldn’t be anything but polite to the cute serving girl but there was always exceptions. The smell of lust killed Kit’s appetite and she took a sip of water to wash away the smell of it.

“The nerve of that man to carry a Daisho.” Kit mumbled as she drank more water though she got some satisfaction that karma led to the maybe bushi getting pushed around. Perhaps the man wasn’t the scum of samurai but he sure seemed to come damn well close.

“What’s the matter?” Inari asked looking at the evil look on Kit’s face but it wasn’t directed at her.

Kadenzaa twitched her three tails angrily. “He carry’s a samurai’s Daisho but acts like a hentai. It’s disgusting.” Kit was going to recommend leaving but her child was still eating so Kit merely slouched down embarrassed to see a fellow bushi act in such a manor. Though Kit wasn’t a real bushi she still felt herself as one. “You stay away from him.” Kit closed her mind as she tried to forget the man.

[Silence Sei]

Sei and Anita were still searching for Shiryko Benimaru, careful not to let people know that one of the two children was actually an experienced warrior. About this time, the ruckus that Shiryko was causing caught the ears of the two children, and they merely looked to one another. "Papa, you think it's him?" Anita asked, to which Sei nodded. Without saying another word, the two began to run towards the noise caused by the Silver Pub's interior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oof!" Shiryko exclaimed as he was thrown into a wall. The man who did the fighting had a good foot on the 5'11' warrior, and apparently did not care about the people that were around them. Of course, the crowd parted every time Shiryko's body was picked up and thrown in another direction. By the time Shiryko was done being thrown, he was leaning up against the face of a wall, the large bouncer making his way over once more.

"Stop!" Shiryko exclaimed, extending his palm out, "Do you not know that I am Shiryko Benimaru?! I am a Master Samurai! I saved the world on several occasions!" At this exclamation the rat (which had miraculously stayed on Shiryko's shoulder), made a sound. Shiryko shot a glare at the rat and simply said "Shut up Jumpei," which was misinterpreted by the bouncer as an insult. As a result, the 6'11'' bouncer wrapped his grapefruit sized hand around Shiryko's neck and lifted him up, growling in a very deep tone.

"Wow...." Shiryko said, continuing to be a smart alek, "I like.....the view... from up here... you can... really see....Chrome Dome's.... top!" Shiryko was refering to the one that was holding him, which caused the reaction of that large hand squeezing the samurai's neck even more. The rat squeeked once more as Shiryko nodded and grinned, sticking his tongue out at the bouncer and giving him a rasberry.

Before the bouncer could react, the butt end of a sword slammed into the side of his neck, sending him flying. The force was so strong, the hit was sending him straight towards a couple of Kitsune just minding their own business. Before the large man could crush their table, however, a large blur of ghost white appeared in front of them, and knocked the man in an opposing direction. When the blur actually paused, it was none other than Shiryko Benimaru, bruises all over his body from the bouncer and two swords being held in each hand.

Shiryko turned to the Kitsunes and bowed in respect to them. "Forgive me for disturbing your meals. Please accept this as compensation." Shiryko tossed a small bag of gold upon the table as he took off once again.

As the bouncer landed on the floor, holding his head, he began to sit up, only for his chrome dome to meet with the tip of Shiryko's sword. "It's dishonorable to blindside your opponent, it's dishonorable to fight without introducing yourself to your opponent, but it's most dishonorable to make others have to move for a personal quarrel. I have no more business with you, now leave or taste the end of my prevalida sword." The bouncer's eyes widened, and he took a hard swallow before standing, walking back to the entrance of the bar and doing his duties as if the fight never happened.

Shiryko sighed and walked back over to the Kitsune duo. "Forgive me for involving you two in my altercation. I am Shiryko Alkaiser Benimaru, practicioner of the three-sword style."

[Reiko]

“Saved the world, we have quite the kengo.” Kit had a bit of sarcasm in her voice; she didn’t really believe this man had truth in his claims. But it seemed to be entertaining as he was getting beat up and kept with his trite antics.

“Mom didn’t you saved the world before.” Inari earnestly asked with her tail wagging.

Kit shook her head and went back to watching. “Only a couple of towns.” She seemed to get some enjoyment of the absurdity; the bouncer practically throttling the swordsman but still the savoir of the world managed to blow a raspberry and turned the tables on the big bald bouncer.

“Well he does have some skill but a kengo.” Kit said before she yelped as the large man almost collapsed with her table if not for the fast action of the samurai. “I could barely keep up with that.” Before she could finish the words a pouch of gold fell on the table and the samurai apologized.

Inari giggled and waged her tail as she watched her mother discreetly pocket the gold. “He doesn’t seem so bad. I think he likes you.”

“I’m sure it’s his own code of honor.” Kit blushed and she watched the man claim victory for threatening with a prevalida blade. “If he can afford one of those then the coin he gave would hardly be a trifle.” Kit knew about the rare and precious metal but during all the ups and downs of her adventuring life she never had the money to get one forged. This man must’ve been a samurai lord.

The next thing Kit knew was the samurai was introducing his self to the mother and daughter. It was strange but Inari might possibly be right. Though if he even tried to touch either her or her daughter like the waitress Kit would be sure to cut something off but he seemed to be polite and Kit decided to return the favor.

“I’m Doji Kadenzaa, ronin and fox. But please call me Kit. And this is my daughter Inari.” Kit pretty much gave away the fact that she had some history with a samurai and her father was one. Both she and Inari smiled at the greeting though the daughter’s was more honest and pure than the unsure smile of the mother.

[Silence Sei]

Sei and Anita had almost made it to the bar when the noise began to calm down. A few moments later, a large man walked out of the bar, with a few black and blue bruises all over his body. Anita giggled as she pointed at the man's head, which got the bouncer to let out another low growl at them. Sei sent a cold glare back at the bouncer, who quickly became very quiet. Anita giggled again and looked to the child beside her. "Papa's even intimidating as a kid!" She exclaimed.

Sei looked back to her and thought for a moment. "Anita, the chaos in that bar seems to have ended, but if Shiryko is in there, it is just a matter of time before it starts back up. Let us go in." Anita nodded solemnly as Sei and her entered the bar, Sei glaring at the bounder once more as if to dare him to try and keep these two unsupervised children out. The bouncer, pretending like he did not see the mystic's glance, continued looking straight ahead, trying to find someone he could pick on to validate himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I am honored to meet you Kit-Sama," Shiryko politely said, tempted to take the Kitsune's hand and kiss it, but resisting the urge. This 'Kit' seethed ronin, Shiryko could tell, and it would not be very good if Shiryko was to have to fight another samurai. "It is also a pleasure to meet you as well Inari." Shiryko bowed as low as he could go to show respect for the little girl. The samurai rose and smiled to the two, "I apologize for my earlier actions with the waitress, sometimes my hormones get the better of me, despite what my mind tells me."

At this, the rat upon Shiryko's shoulder squeeked again. "Didn't I tell you earlier to shut up Jumpei?" Shiryko said, glaring at the vermin, and then looking to the Kitsune, "Oh, terribly sorry about that. This is Jumpei, my best friend. He claims he's a ninja, but I'm not quite sure," at this Shiryko was bitten on the earlobe by the rodent, causing a loud yelp from the samurai. Shiryko proceeded to whack his friend off of his appendage and look to the two again, his cheeks glowing red in embarrassment.

"As I said before, I'm a practioner of the three-sword style. The guy over there didn't deserve three swords though, he barely deserved two. I've been a Ronin myself as of let, as nobody wants to hire someone nicknamed 'The Hopeless Samurai'. The people who do want to hire me I have no interest in, for they are without honor." Shiryko thought for a moment and shook his head. "Forgive me, I am rambling. I will let you ladies get back to your meals. I apologize once more, and it was a pleasure to meet you." Shiryko bowed once more, and went back over to the bar, ordering another milk.

[Reiko]

Shiryko was definitely strange, as he had controlled his self very well during introducing his self to Kit and Inari. Kit was worried that he would pull a stunt but her was truly polite and it didn’t even seem like restraint but was natural, he had the manners of a samurai lord though it seemed funny that he apologized to them for the treatment of the waitress when it wasn’t the two girls problems. Hormones, no one’s in heat. Human’s can be so funny.

“It’s ok.” Kit said as she sniffed again, maybe it was hormones the smell of lust seemed to have died off. Kadenzaa was starting to feel comfortable.

Inari giggled as she saw the rat in the black garb of the ninja jump on Shiryko’s shoulder. It was so cute and so absurd at the same time. The little vixen wanted to pet the rodent that Shiryko introduced as Jumpei but he seemed to have hit a sore spot with the ninja rat and it bit the samurai’s ear and then was swatted away causing Inari to sigh in disappointment.

After that the Samurai spoke about his three-sword technique. Kadenzaa wondered if it used magic like her own technique that used three swords that danced to the playing of a flute. The vixen thought to start a gloating game but she decided against it and Shiryko went down to his own seat at the bar.

“I told you he likes you. He treated you much better than the other girl.” Inari chirped happily and caused her Kitsune mother to blush and nervously fidget with her tails when she was done eating.

But once Kit had a second to recover she retaliated. “I think you’d get along way better, you order the same drinks.”

“That so?” Inari said not fazed or embarrassed in the least. “I didn’t know grownups liked milk.” Kit failed and looked about the bar as everything looked quiet and dull.

Inari too was bored and she surprised Kit into utter shock when she called out. “Hey mister Shiryko! Can I see your stance with eh three blades? I wana see if it’s like mommy’s.”

Kit found her self blushing. “I think he’s done with us. I don’t want to do any showing off.” Kit felt her eyes hit the floor as she wondered why in the world her little girl would do such an embarrassing thing to her like that.

[Silence Sei]

As Sei and Anita found themselves a seat at the bar, the two began to scan the crowd for Shiryko Benimaru, if he was even here at all. Sure enough, Anita found the Hopeless Samurai flirting with two kitsune at a table. Anita tapped her father on the shoulder and pointed, trying to stifle a giggle. "Shiryko's tastes are getting a whole lot younger, Papa!" Anita exclaimed, to Which Sei himself even had to laugh a bit. The mute began to get off of his bar stool when Shiryko approached the two, taking a seat right beside them and ordering milk.

"Mr. Shiryko," Sei said, which got the samurai's head twisting and turning, "it as been a while." Shiryko began to look around, calling out to the mute. "Sei? Is that you? Where are you pal, I can't see you anywhere!" Shiryko asked as Sei pulled on the man's garbs, only for the samurai to wave him away. "Not now, boy, I'm trying to find a friend." Shiryko scanned the room looking for Sei before he sighed. "Fine, if you want me to admit you're a master of stealth, I admit it, now show yourself you darn cherub!"

The child beside Shiryko now growled. He hated being called a cherub, though he now resembled one more than ever. The boy's face grew red and his cheeks puffed up as if he was acting the age he appeared. Shiryko looked down and smiled at Sei when he saw this, "Don't worry boy, I'll talk to you in a minute after I find Sei!" he said. However, before Shiryko could do either, Inari asked to see the three sword technique that the young samurai practiced. "I don't see why not," Shiryko replied, "I can still look for Sei while I do it."

Shiryko then took from his robes what appeared to be the hilt of a sword. "This is the Asura, I got it when I save Golem City, and Corone." Shiryko smiled as he pressed an inconspicuous button upon the handle, causing a large blade of red energy to appear. Shiryko then used his free hand (AKA his left) to take out a normal looking sword, it's metal hard to determine. "This is Shiraki, my original blade, it started off as steel but now I don't know what it is. It's bathed in the blood of the Chimera so it has special effects on beasts now." Shiryko carefully put Shiraki in the same hand as the Asura before taking out his Prevalida Blade.

"This is my pride and joy, given to me by Andrew Lesnar Octane, one of the best warriors I have ever known. It is made of prevalida, so I gave it the name of the metal it is made from." Shiryko took the prevalida and carefully put the blade in his mouth, clenching his teeth down upon it to secure his hold on it. Afterwards, the samurai place Shiraki back in his left hand, and he posed, though you can't look all that impressive with a sword in your mouth. "Fat's faught ah, I cah aldo use sord-kaku (That's not all, I can also use sword-chaku)," Shiryko said as his rat companion made his way to the Kitsune table.

"Oh God, there he goes showing off again," the rat said aloud with a sigh before his eyes widened, "I mean, squeek!"

[Reiko]

Kit felt relieved when the two kids came into the tavern looking for Shiryko, it meant she didn’t have to try and see who has the better three-sword style but Inari had a down look as the vixen really wanted to see the style, she really liked her mother’s and was curious to see the strangers.

Shiryko was not the most polite as he decided the kid was a ventriloquist act and Kit almost could agree since the child sounded much more mature than he looked, probably a midget. “Come on Inari, I think our new friend has important business.” Though what business a bushi could have with a couple of kids were beyond the mother vixen.

“Aww I thought he’d show me the sword style.” Inari protested slightly acting a bit closer to her age than Kit liked. The ronin mother often swore it was Inari’s incredible maturity being the only reason she had any success as a mother.

But Shiryko answered the younger vixen’s pleas as he showed the stance, which had the girl’s blue tail wagging as she saw the man take the sword in his mouth. Both kitsune guessed that the stance was for humor and bragging rights as it was hard to see how effective the third blade would be, still Inari clapped and Kit had a giggle as it was pretty entertaining.

The ninja rat was now on the table next to the foxes and decided to speak at his master’s showing off.

“Tell me about it.” Kit said trying and failing to hold a strait face. “But it made Inari happy so I can’t complain. But I think we should be going, Shiryko looks to have some things that are more important.”

“Yeah I guess.” Inari admitted with a hint of disappointment but her tail wagged nonetheless as she saw the trick that she wanted.

Kit looked to the little boy and girl, he had a funny irritated scent like he was being patronized but there was something else about him and the way he reacted to the name ‘Sei.’

“Well I have a feeling that we’ll only be getting in the way now. Nice meeting you, Shiryko and farewell to you two as well.” Kit ushered her daughter up to courtesy to the boy, girl and samurai. “We wouldn’t want to interrupt anything important.”

[Silence Sei]

"You're not interrupting anything important," Shiryko said, blinking, "I'm sure Sei will show his ugly mug around here when he's good and ready. He loves to trick me like that cuz he knows I'm not as bright as most people." Shiryko smiled, thinking that he had figured the mute out. The child, meanwhile, was once again pulling on Shiryko's robes, sighing in disatisfaction. "I am not tricking you, I am right below you, moron!" Shiryko looked down to the boy tugging at him finally, his eyes widening.

"Kid you're starting to bug me, can't you see I'm trying to find my friend? Say, you look a lot like...Sei?! What the hell happened to you?!" Shiryko's surprise knew no bounds as his rodent compatriot crawled back atop the samurai's shoulder, sighing. "It's a long story, and one I care not to explain right now. Understand when I tell you that you are in grave danger, Lord Benimaru, there are people after your crest."

Shiryko blinked as he sheathed his swords, taking a small wooden cross from out of his robes. "They're after the Crest of Dreams? Is it the Facade again?" Shiryko looked to the child, who was soon joined by his daughter. Anita shook her head, answering for her papa, "No, they don't have an official name as far as we know. We've just been calling them 'Crest Hunters', because that's all they seem to be interested in, and we have reason to believe that you're their next vi---"

Before Anita could finish, the familiar sounds of a fight began to ring out into the ears of all three people as they looked to the door. The bouncer that had been agitating Shiryko was laid out on the ground at the feet of what appeared to be a dwarf. His long platinum beard was thick and shaggy, as was the hair connected to said facial hair. In his right hand he held a hammer, though it was in the more traditional sense in that it was a small hammer used to nail objects into other objects, not the type of hammer typically associated with dwarves.

His armor looked too large for his chubby dwarven body, and the colors painted around his pale skin allowed Sei to realize that the Crest Hunters had found them. "Papa, the stripes on his face and arms, they're silver and black!" Anita exclaimed, already knowing of the ferocity of Crest Hunters with such a color scheme. Sei merely nodded as he looked to Shiryko. "That dwarf is a Crest Hunter, and from what we've gathered, the tiger stripes on his body represent the type of hunter he is. This one is proficient in magic and physical strength."

Shiryko simply nodded as he drew his swords, "No problem, he should be pretty easy between you and me," he said with an arrogant smile. Sei simply shook his head to his friend as the walls were plowed through by two other dwarves, looking similar to the first one, only weilding more typical dwarven weaponry. On the right side of the first dwarf was a hunter with blue and black stripes. "A warrior," Anita said, looking at this dwarf before turning her gaze to the third, "and a mage type," she said as she eyed the red and black stripes. Papa, this is going to be tough."

Sei nodded as the lead dwarf (the one with the small hammer) simply said "Get them."

((feel free to control the dwarves))

[Reiko]

Kit decided that Shiryko didn’t want her or her daughter to leave as he spoke with the newcomer. It seemed the little boy was an old friend of the samurai but Shiryko expected a grown man. Kadenzaa looked at her daughter with some curiosity. “Hey sweetie, you remember that spell you cast back when you were little. The one that made you grow up?”

Inari shook her head. “I don’t remember, everything’s blank after I read the words.” Inari sighed out and smiled. “I think I cast it wrong anyways. I mean it also gave Ziggy a tail.” Inari giggled at the fact that her mother’s new boyfriend went from human to fox boy from a simple casting.

“Yeah I guess it wouldn’t help here either.” Kit admitted as she eased dropped on Shiryko’s friends. For some reason the kitsune mother thought that their conversation might be important so she listened in.

“Mom, you heard of ‘crest hunters’ before?”

“No…”

It seemed that Inari had been listening in as well but before the two could make heads or tails out of the conversation the doors busted open as three dwarves entered.

They wore what looked to be some strange body paint but seemed too complex in making the stripes tiger like. Must be some strange nature. Sei’s girl seemed to know a lot about the crest hunters, which the dwarves were called.

There was barely any time before the dwarves made their offense, not having much concern for the two kitsune girls but going after Shiryko. “Inari, you go after the blue one and I’ll take the red. They don’t seem too concerned with us so it should be easy.”

Inari nodded and went to her bow and quickly drew an arrow; it was too easy. The vixen smiled as she stuck out her tongue as she concentrated on aiming. Once she got her hands to hold the bow still and had the arrow aligned she released the string and the arrow shot out. The red striped dwarf quickly turned and held his axe in front of him then the heavy blade jarred as the arrow bounced off and fell behind a table before chasing after the little fox girl.

Kit didn’t do much better. Her three red tails twitched as she took out her wakizashi in two hands and went forward in a fast charge, hoping to get surprise against the blue striped man. He had a hammer and turned while giving the fox girl a good stare and held out his gnarled palm in one hand. Out came a fire ball that Kit had to dodge or get her face burned. Sadly the dodge was one of Kit’s more graceless and ended up landing on her butt which was now sore with her tails. “Inari, you alright?”

“Yes, mother.” Inari sounded a little more irritated than usual as she just found a hiding spot behind the bar but then the dwarf showed up again with a growl that made the young fox girl screech as she puffed up her blue tail, but she also conjured up a flare of fox fire and hurled the ball of blue fire at the crest hunter who got burned as he was finally surprised but sadly he still was up to fighting though Inari had tome to hop over the bar and lose him again.

[Silence Sei]

Kit and Inari were quickly going after the two dwarves that went after Shiryko, much to the dismay of the samurai. However, once Shiryko saw that their leader was all by himself, he smirked. "Guess that leaves the big dog for you and me, Sei!" Shiryko exclaimed as he took out Asura and Shiraki, the momentum of the blades shooting Prevalida up high enough for Shiryko to clamp his teeth onto the blade in mid-air. "Impressive," Anita said with a surprised blink, to which Shiryko merely replied with a wink at the child.

The samurai then charged the dwarf with the small hammer, all three blades ready to strike. As Shiryko charged the mini-man, however, the dwarf simply placed his hammer directly in front of himself at the last second. Shiryko's chest ran directly into the top of the small hammer, and the samurai collapsed on the ground. It felt like he had just been hit by a tube sock full of GP.

As Shiryko laid there, gasping for breath, the dwarf lumbered over him, his hammer raised. "Too easy," he said as he looked to the kitsune distracting his kin. The fact that the dwarves were distracted with Kit and Inari, and the fact that one of the dwarves had yet to kill Inari only meant one thing. "Another crest," he said, pointing at Inari, "Capture."

As the dwarf looked back down at his prey, he had found that Shiryko's body was now gone, and behind the for of Sei Orlouge. "Anita, can you sense anything from them?" the mute asked, getting in a defensive stance. Anita nodded and looked to the dwarf looking for Inari, "That one's undead, but I can't determine what type, most likely a zombie." Sei looked to his daughter and nodded, for they both knew what they had to do.

The two of them took off in opposite directions, Sei for the leader dwarf and Anita for the dwarf chasing Inari. As Sei dashed towards the dwarf, he pulled his hammer forward at the last second once more. With Sei, however, this did not generate the dwarve's desired effect, for while Sei did stop dead in his tracks, it appeared to be willingly. The mute smiled as he leapt behind the dwarf, as to protect the rest of the group. The sound of glass shattering filled the room as shards of glass appeared to break all around Sei.

As the dwarf turned around, he realized that he was in trouble, but it was too late. The glass exploded in a dome formation around the pub. Given the distance between the dwarf and Sei, most of the glass shot directly into the small mans face, which caused a loud howl from the small man. Opening his bleeding eyes, the dwarf realized he could not see, and began swinging his hammer around furiously. "Death to Orlouge!" he said, much more of an exclamation than an order to his peers.

The dwarf Anita was going for, however, was distracted by the howl and the scream, despite the fact that he had located Inari. As the dwarf turned his head back to the little Kitsune, he met up with Anita, who was holding a small bottle of something. "Have a drink!" she shouted as she threw some of the liquid from the small bottle into the face of the dwarf. Upon contact, smoke began to rise from the dwarf's face as he covered himself. The stench of burning filled the room as the horrific screams rang out in decibals, Anita covering her ears as the dwarf melted into a puddle of goo.

Turning back to Inari, Anita smiled. "That's one down. I love you Holy Water," she said as she kissed the bottle and put the cork back atop it, looking at the puddle that had once been a Crest Hunter. Anita put her hand out to Inari as if the horrific scene never even took place. "I'm Anita Orlouge, what's your name?"

[Reiko]

Inari thought she lost the evil dwarf but the thing always seemed to find her and the leader had a moment of interest in the fox girl as well. This time it was worse as Inari was cornered at the far side of the tavern, all she could do was hope her next shot or spell would end the crest hunter’s life but before the young vixen could make a move the young human girl waylaid the stinky dwarf and poured a solution on the poor creature. The keening wail hurt Inari’s ears and forced the vixen to duck down and hold her ears down.

When Inari felt safe she rose to her feet. The other young girl that saved her introduced herself as Anita. Inari smiled and bowed her best despite the chaos in the tavern trying to act as if she was now in a sanctuary where decent introductions could be made. “Doji Inari.” The blue hair vixen panted as she patted down her tail, she was pretty winded from the flight. “Thanks.”

*~*~*

Kit at least got off of her back before the red striped dwarf could send another bolt of fire to try and damage the woman. Her three tails flicked about, as she was frustrated at being pinned down; she had to get close or something. Kadenzaa knocked down a table for cover and dove behind it to find the wooden object quickly break into splinters from the spell. Damn weren’t dwarves not supposed to cast such spells? Kadenzaa couldn’t think and only thought to retaliate by sending her firestorm spell the dwarf’s way to buy some time. And indeed the stout humanoid called a shield spell to ward off the fire but that spell meant he couldn’t cast a another offensive spell and Kit was up and moving forward with her blade ready to take a life.

Sadly the dwarf recovered from the spell and the fires died down, Ki was almost on top of him but she was too close to dodge the next bolt that burned into he torso between her belly and breast. The three tails cried out in pain but kept her body moving forward, the hit burned horridly but her kimono’s enchantment took the worst off the damage and soon the dwarf had no time to dodge and tried weakly to parry the short blade but Kadenzaa knocked the hammer away, spun her blade to reverse and brought the sword in a fatal upward blow.

“I’m so rusty.” Kit moaned as she stood up and looked around for her daughter then she staggered towards her daughter and the other girl. Luckily she got over the pain and could walk normally but occasionally whimpered when her body entered a position that strained the wound. “You’re alright!” Kit whimpered as she hugged her daughter, the pressure hurting the wound.

“Mom you’re hurt!” Inari sobbed into her mother’s bosom but didn’t hold tightly

“It’ll be alright, just a minor wound it hurts worse than it is.” Kit smiled while hiding her pain. “I’ve had worse.” She then released her child looked to Shiryko and Sei. “You guys need any help.” God she was rusty, She had worse wounds that didn’t have that bad of an effect on her.

[Silence Sei]

Shiryko had gotten up by the time Kit had asked if the duo needed assistance, and the samurai turned to the Kitsune, a smirk on the face that was holding a sword. "If fould be apefiated (or, 'it would be appreciate)," Shiryko said as he looked to Sei, who was being brought to his knees by the dwarf. The mute had tried to engage the small man in a weaponlock, to which the strategist was losing. The child was now at half the dwarfs size, and leaning backwards inch by inch so he would not be smashed by the force of the hammer.

Sei smirked for a moment as he heard Inari's question to the two, and it gave the mute an idea. The mystic locked eyes with his adversary, becoming straight-laced rather quickly as something sprung from the back of the child. It was two large butterfly wings, as big as the youth himself. The mute smirked as the dwarf looked in awe at the orange and black wings. It was now that Sei took the opportunity to slam his foot into the groin of the dwarf. It was not very sportsman like, but neither was trying to hurt children. The dwarf cringed in pain as he held his privates, Sei now overpowering the somewhat smaller form and pushing him towards Shiryko.

"I want you two to attack him together! Anita!" Anita nodded almost as if she knew what her father was going to say, and pulled out a long sword from the bookbag upon her back. It was dripping with a green substance as she smirked, looking to the confused Shiryko. "It's a Posionblade," she said, placing the tip of the weapon on the ground while grabbing the hilt with both of his hands. "Papa wants you two to distract him when I strike at him. even together, it would take great effort to defeat him on normal terms. That's why we're going to posion him."

It was odd, she spoke as if the dwarf was not even there, and what was weirder was the fact that the dwarf didn't even seem to hear her. Instead, he looked at Kit with a fire in his eyes, smelling the wind a bit. "Crestholder..." he said, eyeing the girl up and down as if looking for something, "Give."

Shiryko was already charging by the time the dwarf was looking at the kitsune, and so was Anita. The three would have to attack together if they had any hope of defeating this cresthunter even somewhat easily.

[Reiko]

The other two crest hunters were easy compared to this one that was holding both Shiryko and the kid at bay. Kit saw how well the child fought and knew that he wasn’t getting in the way and making the fight tougher. Heck, Sei was even capable of dealing a blow that would have ended the fight then and there if it weren’t for the dwarf’s unreal pain tolerance.

Kit was going to be needed for the next plan, something simple and dangerous, overwhelm the single fighter and use a poison blade. A gambit that if one thing went wrong then it would be a catastrophe, especially with the little girl using such a big sword that dripped with poison. If the girl were to over swing and the dwarf dodged then it would be Kit or Shiryko be the one poisoned and the foe in perfect shape.

Kit groaned when she saw the strange dwarven eyes roaming her body, but not like a pervert, as the eyes did not stray at the hips or breast but still it made her nervous and the faster beating heart seemed to make the wound hurt more.

“Crest holder?” Kit asked almost perplexed. She was a ronin and only a Daimyo’s (or Shogun’s) favored samurai were allowed to wear such a symbol. Kit had three tails, a pair of fuzzy ears that prevented her from becoming a lower samurai let alone one that was permitted to wear a crest. Still there was no time to wonder as she made her move and cursed the pain and the fact that Shiryko and Anita were charging.

Kit tried to yell to stop but it would be too late, the interruption would only cause the assault to fail if they heeded it. Outnumbering the dwarf and using the numbers was a good idea but a charge would ruin it. If this dwarf needed to skilled ronin and a girl of unknown skill to defeat then he could easily dodge and then it’d take quite a bit of skill just to keep from harming each other accidentally, Kit could stop her attack and probably Shiryko and hopefully Anita could too but if she put too much weight into the attack it would be a disaster since the weapon was poisoned.

Kit had to think quick, another attacker would only change the way that the dwarf dodged and wouldn’t add enough surprise that the attack would be successful, she needed to do something special. Give the creature had demanded Kit as he searched her and that was her only idea. “Fine here you go.” Kit took a gold coin and threw it to the creature hoping he’d try and catch it, if he did the hunter would catch Shiryko’s and Anita’s attack and if not it’d be the same if she joined the charge,

[Silence Sei]

Sei watched as Shiryko and Anita charged, shifting his gaze over to Kit as she remained still, an expression of shock upon her face. The mute released a coy grin, realizing that the kitsune had seen was Sei had, that directly charging the dwarf would end in disaster. However, Kit seemed to be almost as quick as Sei in mental capabilities. Like it was nothing, the girl agreed to the dwarf's terms and tossed a gold coin into the air. Sei smiled as the dwarf looked onwards at the coin, reaching his hand outwards as if he were trying to catch his kinfolk.

The thing about Crest Hunters was that, while most of them were strong, they were quite stupid when it came to crests. The dwarf fumbled and stumbled in order to try and claim the coin, finding out too late that the coin was not the crest. Shiryko's charge had been caught off guard, as the dwarf moved, Shiryko was sent tumbling downwards, carried by his own momentum into a table. Anita, however, had more luck with her attack, letting her steel pierce it's sharp fang into the forehead of her adversary.

At first, it seemed like the girl's force had only cracked the skull of her nemesis. Yet, Anita took no chances as she tried to use her full force into the target of her desire, the blade's tip barely glimmering out of the back of the dwarf's head as Anita pushed the blade full force into him. The girl panted, sweat pouring down in beads from her hair as she fell onto her bum, her enemy also falling backwards into his death. It was undertermined whether Anita's mighty blow or the poison from her weapon had killed the dwarf.

Either way, the small man laid on the floor with his brethren, blood and venom dripping out of the back and front of his cranium. Sei blinked as he walked over to Kit, his eyes shifting upwards to address the woman. "I am Sei Orlouge. That was quick thinking on your half, Miss. My real strategy was to use the three of you as a distraction while I finished the leader off from behind. You disrupted that plan with one of your own, and it happened to be much more efficient and much less elaborate. Might I inquire your name?" Sei was honest, but considering he had just told this woman he used her, Shiryko, and his own daughter as bait, Kit might not take that very well.

[Reiko]

It was a surprise that Kit’s ploy had actually worked, the fox girl seemed to be best known for being unfox-like in mind. But sometimes the ronin three tails had a trick up her sleeve and this one worked. Shiryko and Anita made short work of the distracted crest hunter and Kit sighed in relief. The pain in her chest eased as if the ache and agony was linked to the dwarves and their magic, though the wound still hurt it was as bad.

The boy introduced his self as Sei and revealed his full plan that had her being a pawn though praised her for the quick thinking. “I’m Doji Kadenzaa, you may call me Kit.” The vixen bowed and smiled while being polite. “Come here, Inari.” Kit summoned her daughter and Kit led the younger vixen to sit next to her in a booth that didn’t take too much damage.

The younger daughter complied and sat next to her mother while her tail twitched and fidgeted nervously. “Who were those guys?” The fox daughter asked.

“I’m going to find out.” Kadenzaa motioned that she wanted the childish looking Sei and his daughter to sit next to him and she made sure Shiryko had a spot as well.

“You seem to know those ‘crest hunters’.” Kit started with a statement that was pretty obvious. “They looked at me funny as if they wanted something like I had something. A crest, I guess.” Kit felt and sounded inquisitive. “I really want to know what they were after and why they took interest in me and my daughter. I need to know, what if more of them are out there and I don’t know what they want.” Kit voice was growing desperate in the last bit. They were tough and might’ve harmed Inari if it wasn’t for the other girl. She had to know.

[Silence Sei]

Sei nodded as Kit told her daughter that she was going to find out what was going on. "Yes, I suppose an explanation of that quickly escalated outburst does deserve the truth," Sei said, motioning for Anita to follow to a seat beside him. Shiryko did not even have to be told, quickly taking his spot at the table so that he was between Kit's group and Sei's. If things got out of hand, the samurai would have to play mediator, after all.

"To know about these Crest Hunters you must know about Facade Incorporated," Sei said, his eyes moving over to Shiryko. For a moment, the samurai just returned Sei's look with a blank stare. When the Hopeless one realized that Sei would have rather Shiryko explain Facade to Kit, he shook out the cobwebs with a quick "Oh!" and began.

"Alright, so here's how it is," Shiryko said, getting straight to the point, "Facade Incorporated is run by Adam Deus, a man of great and terrible power. However, despite his great power, he was a good man at heart. His goal was to find people who carried magical items of power, called 'Crests', and unite them in the cause of creating the ultimate crest, the 'Crest of Hope'. The Crest of Hope was said to grant those who helped create it one wish per person. With a tempting offer such as that, how could anyone refuse, right?"

Shiryko paused for a moment, reflecting on his own question. Reaching into his robes, the samurai pulled out a small wooden cross. "This is my crest, the 'Crest of Dreams', I can basically use this thing to enter your dreams and effect them how I see fit. Now, you might not think that's a very good power, but whatever I do to your dream body, happens to your real body. Likewise, I can also pull objects out of dreams into the real world how I see fit. It's a very powerful crest, and it's why Facade Inc. tried to recruit me." Shiryko's eyes shifted downwards.

Without missing a beat, Anita jumped in where the older man had left off. "Like Shiryko said, some people refused to join Facade, and that drove Deus mad. Why wouldn't they want to join his great organization? Why wouldn't they want one desire they always wanted to come true? Deus became ruthless, starting to use force and even recruiting evil people with crests all in the name of establishing enough people to make the Crest of Hope.."

Anita paused for a moment to breathe. Things were abouyt to get a little more complicated. "Deus' only shred of kindness left was in the form of his right hand man, Robert Uccisore. He kept Facade from going under by staying the kind and compassionate man that Deus had lost sight of. However, the other organizations did not like the Facade and it's place at the top of the food chain. Ever heard of The Bandit Brotherhood? The Red Hand? Those were the two other big fish, and they united with all of the other smaller clans in an attempt to take Deus, and the Facade, down."

"But thanks to a daring strategy by me," Sei interrupted his daughter, while trying not to sound overconfident about himself, "Facade only lost it's island. There were to casualties in the war attempting to rise. We lost contact with one another after the war, seperated for fear that we would be attacked if still grouped together. Now, the other groups have also dismembered, and are now trying to reunite their members. It is time for Facade Incorporated to do the same.."

"But Deus is missing, as is Robert," Anita said, taking the explanation off of her father's hands. "What's more, there are zombie-like creatures, called Crest Hunters, they come in various shapes and sizes and hunt for people with crests ruthlessly. We have no idea who created them or where they came from. We just know that they can detect inactive crests just as much as other people with active crests can." Almost as if on cue, a faint purple glow began to emit from both Shiryko's wooden cross, and Anita's body.

"Apparently, they went after you and your daughter, Miss Kit," Sei deduced, "Because either you or your daughter have a crest, if not a crest yourself like Anita here is my crest."

"And now Sei and Anita are recruiting people back into Facade. Apparently, since Robert was not the one to approach me, that means him and Deus must be missing, right?" Sei nodded as Shiryko asked him the question. The samurai shifted his eyes over to Kit and Inari, "They'll keep coming after you guys, those Crest Hunter people. Maybe it'd be best if you joined Facade, and began to be among those who know how to battle them"

All three personas paused for a reply to the long-winded explanation before going on.

[Reiko]

Kit listened intently, the story was fairly long to her fox ears but it seemed important. Even the bit about the Façade Inc and Adam Deus had some importance to the girl, they meant potential allies and that would be important. Though what Kit thought was truly important was the crests, they were items of power that they had and it was what those strange dwarves were after.

“Interesting story. Not sure how it fits together.” Kit shrugged. “But it seems I’ a part of it now. Those things will come after us no matter our allegiance.”

Kit looked to her daughter who seemed to have dozed off, not finding the story engaging to her young mind, sort of funny that the girl enjoyed reading mages’ books to learn all kinds of magic. Well Kit could fill her in with the important stuff if she needed. Though it was a tad rude of the girl to do that.

“Inari wake up” Kit said softly as she nudged the blue tail kitsune who stirred all of a sudden.

“Oh sorry, I guess I’m still tired from the fight.” Inari yawned and stretched as she looked at her mother then made an apologetic bow to Shiryko, Sei and Anita.

“We have to find which one of our items is the crest, empty your pockets of everything and we’ll go through it.

Both foxes did just that as they made a rather messy pile of stuff, mostly coins or saved candy in Inari’s case. “Wow!” Inari spoke up as she looked at the pile, “I didn’t thing we could hold so much stuff in our clothes.”

Kit nodded and looked to the three. “I think I’ll join the Façade, I will help out when needed and expect something similar but I don’t want to become a slave to the organization, I can’t see myself answering every beck and call.”

Kit then noticed the tow pendants that she bought a while ago for her daughter’s birthday. They were quite pretty gold and silver, meant to be able to be put together and form a yin and yang: the symbol for energy and balance.

“This must be it!” Kit cheered as she picked them up, why she thought it was one of the two. “I guess we can try it out. Early happy birthday, Inari!” The three tails tossed the mostly silver pendant to her daughter who put it on and so did Kit… nothing.

“I guess I was wrong.” Kit shook her head and looked to her child. Their eyes met and they both felt something odd. A tingling and an image of the yin yang pendants together and whole and then they felt weightless and flew into each other with no control. It must have been like what a flash stone felt like when thrown into another for the flash was the last they could remember as soul beings of that moment.

After that there was a nine tails in violet hair and golden kimono sitting on the pile of items that were tucked away in.

The soft purple furred tails writhed with happiness as the fox girl looked to the three others, her face seemed alight with joy. It was so strange to feel this way, to have two souls but this was like being born again as something else. “Hey Guy, I think it worked. I’m um… Ki!” It was the first thing that came to her mind so it seemed a fitting name for her.

The nine tailed girl smiled as she got off the table, her body seemed similar to the older part of her but their was some girlish traits of the younger one, such as lack of scares and less muscle and a cheery smile.

[Silence Sei]

The trio sat in awe of the new being created from the crest. It was no wonder why the Crest Hunters had been sent after the mother and daughter. Sei could literally feel the raw energy emanating from the two, pulsing with power. Anita gripped her father's arm in fear of the creature, and Shiryko stood back for a minute, unsure of its allegiance.

"Well, I guess there's not much to say," Shiryko said in relation to the nine tailed warrior before them, "Other than, welcome to Facade Inc..." Sei nodded in agreement with his friend, though he took a step back from Ki. So it was that a new member had joined the once powerful group known as Facade. However, the good fortune would not last long.

While on different adventures, Sei had lost contact with both Ki and Shiryko. The mute grew worried for his friends, and did everything he could to reach the two. However, his letters and searches always came back with nothing. Eventually, the mute had to deduce that the warriors had been slain by someone or something. Though normally Sei would have went to avenge his friends from whatever took them from him, he decided that he could not do such a thing and raise Anita.

So he went into hiding, and waited. Waited for the day when Radasanth would once again need its hero. Waiting for the day that evil would show its face again. Waiting for the day where the Dragon of Drantrak would once again let out its massive roar.

He would wait, and then he would avenge.

[Breaker]

Mood: Distant
Music: Who do they kiss? By Hawksley Workman

This made me laugh several times. Seeing how Reiko has improved made me wish he was still around. Anyway, condensed rubric.

Story: 13/30

Character: 19/30

Writing Style: 16/30

Wild Card: 6/10

Total: 54/100

Silence Sei gets 1300 EXP*2= 2600 EXP!!!

Reiko gets 600 EXP*2= 1200 EXP!!!