The Origin of Ciena IV [Closed, Flashback]

About a month would have passed since Ciena had been captured and brought to the mountain village. In that time, through good behavior, she would have been released from the cage that imprisoned her, and the more she pleased Lord Kyrojin, the more freedom she experienced around the village. Of course, there were eyes on her pretty much all the time, but Kyrojin was pretty confident that she wouldn’t be able to make it all the way down the mountain by herself and expect to live. There were many dangers that were associated with traveling up and down the mountain which included treacherous roads and inclines, wild creatures of varying sorts, spirits and unaffiliated bandits.

By now, Toshiue would have gotten used to his role as the guide and martial instructor of Ciena. As such, they would spend a lot of time around one another when Kyrojin wasn’t in need of Ciena’s use.

The current day would be bright and sunny outside. The blue skies would be clear with only the speckling of heavenly bodies overhead in the place in Terra closest to the celestial gates in the sky. At the moment, Toshiue would have taken Ciena to the village outskirts and would have her positioned on top of a tall bolder in order for her to meditate. As she did, he would walk about the base of the bolder and basically walk her through it. The current goal was to have her come up with her own method of purification imaging since she seemed to have grasped the basic manner he taught her earlier. While rotating about the base of the bolder, he would speak, “so what do you see?”

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The youth goes from idly walking around, into stanced movements as he pivots around with the last step of his walk and plants his back foot while setting a stance. He generally didn’t act boyish in front of others, but since her eyes were closed, he felt that she couldn’t see his movements. Though he specialized in blades, he did know a thing or two about martial arts. Hearing her words, he would say, “a mirror? Okay… go ahead and continue and explain how you are purifying your ki.” He would step forwards with a punch at chest height in the air and then step to the side, pulling his rear leg around into a circle round house kick before setting his stance. “What will you do with this mirror?” he asks in conclusion.

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“I see… and…” Toshiue would coax on as she continued her meditations. While in the process of training Ciena, the duo would find themselves interrupted as three young ladies around Ciena’s age would approach from the small pass that lead into this clearing among hills. Coming out of his stance, Toshiue would stand straight and turn to notice the approach of the girls as they came into view. They seemed surprised to see him here and looking at them, but they wasn’t here for him; rather the girl he was training. Among the village, the child known as Toshiue did have the reputation of being like a small prince, so he was pretty popular and well known by default. As far as his skill level went, he could keep up with people over twice his age, but he was far from the level of the adults. Being the village that it was, there weren’t too many that weren’t strong. Most of the people in it would be strong to their own accord, and a teenager form this village was said to be able to take out a hardened warrior of the low lands.

The trio of girls would be here to target Ciena in a subtle way. They were of varying heights, one with short red hair and catlike eyes, another with long black hair with her clothing oversized and hanging in a manner where her hands couldn’t be seen and then the other had mid length black hair with a red painted marking under her left eye. All were wearing the clan’s attire of black kimono like garbs with white underlining shirts. Questioning them with his gaze, the one with the long hair speaks up, “we bring a message, Toshiue-dono; your father says that he has an errand for you and is looking for you.” Toshiue’s brow would wrinkle, “father…? Understood.” He looks back to Ciena who was meditating. The red haired girl assures him, “we’ll walk her home, don’t worry. We’ve been wanting to meet the new girl.” She gives a kind smile, which Toshiue perceives an aura of ill intent, but not one of killing. He gives the girl a cautious look but she continues smiling, so not one to cause a scene, he would look to Ciena and ask, “is this okay with you?” The short haired brunette reminds, “you’re father is waiting, young prince.”

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Toshiue would accept her accepting this situation and would look to the girls before heading out the way in which they had come at a running pace. The girls would watch him leave and make sure that he was out of range before turning their full attention to Ciena. With her words, the red headed one would take a cocky grin and look to the others speaking, “oh, so the slave princess knows our name. Well… that’s… that’s just an honor, now isn’t it.” The long black haired girl brings her sleeve to her face as she speaks from behind it, “yes it is… I feel very honored… So honored I could puke.” Changing her tune the red hair would develop a sneer as she tilts her nose up at Ciena and speaks about her in third person, “look at the clothes they gave her. And those boots…” The short haired black one mentions, “the Wakazashi too… they’re spoiling her rotten.” Yoko would clarify, “it’s only because she fucks the lord. I feel sorry for his dick having to deal with her…” Momo would add speaking directly to her, “I don’t see what they see in such an ugly weakling from the low lands, but you need to know your place. You should address us with much more respect, got it?”

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“Oy,” the red headed Yoko would warn, “you’re starting to piss me off.” The long haired Momo would be as calm as Ciena, if not calmer as she would explain, “don’t you get it. She thinks she’s strong just because the little prince taught her now to meditate.” Still hiding the lower portion of her face behind her sleeved appendage, she would point out, “after all, she’s a lowlander who has found out what Ki is for the first time. She’s been here a month while we’ve been training it all of our lives… each one of us here is stronger than her teacher Toshiue as far as battle strength goes…” The red head looks from Momo back to Ciena and grins, “yeah, you got a point… look at her stance… I’m sure she doesn’t even know the basics of foot work.” The short black haired Kisa would remark, “what’s the use of a blade if you can’t use it?” Momo tilts her head and speaks in a mock sweet tone asking, “do you know what age you start running assassination missions here… Twelve… Meaning we’ve been killing for more than three years already. How many people have you killed, Slave Princess?”

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Yoko looks to Momo, “she talks a lot for a slave.” Lowering her head and giggling, Momo would agree and would offer, “go ahead if you want. Let’s get this show on the road.” Kisa would complain, “but that’s not fair…!” Yoko would grin, “first come first served…” Momo would order, “but don’t leave any noticeable bruises on her. We don’t wish for it to be obvious what happened.” Yoko would smirk, “of course, but then again, that makes it harder on me since I can’t hit her body too hard… you know whores don’t wear clothes inside.” Disgruntled, Kisa, would crouch and then leap backward, flipping once and landing crouched on the rock behind her (Skyleap, PRJ1) before taking a sitting position, lifting one knee to fold her arms on and rest her head while watching. Momo would step back from the clearing as Yoko would remain with one hand on her hip, speaking, “I don’t see what you’re looking around for; your opponent is here. Using the three of us just for you would be a dishonor… plus if you accept the fight, it’ll justify my actions.” Her plan here was to be blameless and she had two witnesses here with her. “So what about it slave princess? It’s not bullying if you want to fight. You ready? If you beg, I’ll let you cower back to the village.”

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The redhead would grin now that everything was settled and in place. A ambitious girl of the village, she had always been training in order to one day be strong enough to confess to Sunji. She loved his cool and confident personality and his no nonsense mannerisms. She had grown up watching him after falling for him as a little girl. She made a promise to herself that she would be his bridge someday, and from that point on, she focused on her training for that purpose. She even purposely positioned herself under one of his captains just at a chance to train under him. She would often recount his training movements in her mind while spying on him from afar with the bliss of a school girl in love. But that wasn’t for now; now was serious time as well as time to teach this uppity slave a lesson.

The smirk still on her face, she wouldn’t set a stance of any sort. She would simply stand upright, lowering the hand that had been on her hip. Leaning forwards, he would begin her attack by lowering her body and swiftly dashing across the distance that separated them. Generally she would use more of a bear claw type of attacking style, but since she didn’t want to leave any marks, her style would revert to open palm. Her speed of this dash would be comparable to Ciena’s with the force of the strike aimed for Ciena’s sternum, which would only hit at an average amount of strength. A good blow against someone like Ciena, but beneath what would be expected coming from someone like Yoko (Basic Strike, DMG1, STR/DEX withheld).

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The first attack would be a feign in order to gauge whatever small amount of potential that Ciena would had managed to work up in the short amount of time of her being in the village. In witnessing the blocking counter attack, the red head is able to measure the strength of Ciena’s strikes as well as the speed of her reaction and movements. Reading this, she takes into account that Ciena might be holding back at the moment since the attack seemed both very basic and not very well trained. Yoko’s eyes are on Ciena’s footwork as she seems to have developed a basic movement technique, though its effectiveness would be questionable; in fact, it would seem as if she had just learned it and was no way near close to perfecting it. If at its full potential, the speed burst would have brought Ciena to Yoko’s naturally trained speed of Strong rating. But an effort is made, and when the arm is reached for and grabbed for the hopeful toss, Yoko would simply pull her grabbed arm back while bringing her opposite fist down and bashing into the back of the head of Ciena with a good amount of ease (Basic Strike, DMG1 @ Strong Strength), “tsk.”

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Yoko would feel the release on her arm and watch Ciena use her acceleration technique to attempt to flee. Unfortunately, what was a technique to Ciena was normal pace for Yoko. Already leaning forwards with the punch that no longer needed to come out and showing her own burst of movement, she would follow Ciena’s movements (Shadow Dash, MOB2, MOB2) and have her right foot ready to meet with Ciena’s face by the time she was in the process of getting back to her feet. As a warrior, she would not up in battle, especially when it seemed her opponent was using skills that were taxing on her body just to keep up. “Ora ora,” would echo in the background of the high speed roundhouse (Legwork, DMG1 @ Strong Strength, ERT1) which would have about the same amount of push back force on it as the full strength of a ‘normal’ human.

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Yoko’s leg would remain in the air for a moment in an after-kick pose before he allowed it to lower to the ground with the passing of her handy work. The trail from Yoko is made by Ciena causing Momo to whistle slightly at the brutal attack. Kisa watched on from the top of the rock as well; she had pegged Ciena to be down for the count and for this to be over quickly, but she is proven wrong when the Ciena gets back up and continues the attack. Kisa would complain, “you held back too much…” This would be ignored as s Ciena comes in; Yoko would lean back from the punch and would read the kick as well, lifting her leg from being hit as she steps back planting herself in her stance. Her recoiled palm would make a bee line for Ciena’s chest in an attempted strike (Basic Strike, DMG1) and she would attempt to grab hold of Ciena and pull her inwards into a sharp head butt to the top of her head (Basic Strike, DMG1).

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Due to Yoko just being naturally stronger and faster and Ciena, the block to the chest strike would only be partially effective in its execution. As for the strike to the chin, the precision and reaction speed wouldn’t be there in order to complete the task of the counter that Ciena had performed in either reflex or thought in the time she was given to do it. These two factors, coupled in with the fact that that her technique wasn’t trained enough to be effective would result in the head butt hitting its mark while stuffing out the attempted strike. In the low likelihood that it was needed Yoko would simply power through the counter attempt to accomplish the hit (Toughness, JUG1). With the head butt, whether it caused Ciena to become unstable or not, Yoko would push Ciena back, releasing her hold on her while exerting a force of energy through her hand (Force push, ERT1). With fluid follow up rush to the pushback, Yoko would appear pretty much inside of Ciena’s personal space, while pulling her leg around once more aiming a spinning roundhouse kick to the young lady’s gut in order to sent her back to the ground Legwork, DMG1 @ Strong Strength, ERT1).

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Yoko takes a deep inhale before he exhales to catch her breath after the barrage of attacks. She stands upright looking over towards Ciena. When the forfeit comes, the red head emits a “hmph” not needing to rub it in anymore; she had proven her point. Leaping from the rock, Kisa lands to her side and Momo approaches from the other side, her sleeve over her face. She speaks, “we said we would walk her to the village, but I don’t think she can get up…” Kisa would yawn, “too bad…” Ciena would no longer have their attention as Momo would say, “ne ne, Yoko, how about we catch the end of Sunji’s training… I know you want to see him.” Blushing brightly, Yoko would complain, “moe~! I’m not interested in those sorts of things.” Momo would begin walking off with Kisa by her side as she calls back, “oh well, we’ll be sure to watch thoroughly for you.” With an exclamation popping over her head, Yoko would quickly keep up while speaking, “I’m only going so you guys don’t do anything indecent…”

They would exit stage left and Ciena would be left there on the ground where she had fallen. The blue sky would float above her, with clouds pushing slowly towards the south. Suddenly, a shadow would block out that light and a body would be beside her in a crouched position and looking over her. “Are ya broken…?” a familiar jovial voice would ring out as white locks would hang down bordering a closed eye smile. Kyrojin would be squatting over her to her side with his arms resting on his knees; there was no telling how long he had been in attendance to the area.

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Kyrojin would look over her as she spoke and say, “that right…?” His hand would come to the side of her face and his thumb would brush against her lip as he inspected where it was hurt at looking with a curious sort of attentiveness. He answers, “for a while… ya did good though. Ya used your fists instead of talking them to sleep…” He thinks about it, “though talkin them to sleep might have been easier.” His hand lowers from her face and looks towards her stomach. It wasn’t that he was looking at her stomach, but more so something inside of her. With a nod, he would get the information he had been looking for and would realize the change that had gone on in this young woman within less than four weeks. He would conclude, “ya dirty.” With that, he would reach down and scoop her up in his arms and stand up abruptly. Without saying a word, the world would seem to blur around them as he pushes off from his current position and hops from rock to rock taking the high route back to the village; at times it even seemed as if he hopped on air as if it were solid.

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When the world stopped rushing past, Ciena would be held in Kyrojin’s arms as he stood on top of the roof of his house. Crouching, he would sit her down on the roof; it was a place not too many people were able to go. In fact, it was Kyrojin’s hide away when he didn’t want to deal with clan stuff, or just when he wanted to be lazy and lay down and watch the sky. Up to this point, no one else had been allowed on the roof and it was thought that not even Toshiue knew where his father went when he vanished. After sitting her down, Kyrojin would crouch on the roof and begin to lay on his back as she speaks, “I’ll have ta kill ya if ya tell anyone about this place.” It was more or less a serious statement; though he might not kill her, the point was gotten across that this place was secret and it would be bad to tell others. He folds his arms behind the back of his head as he lays back and watches the sky above. He wouldn’t explain why they were up here or anything to that nature; he would simply rest in Ciena’s presence. With his eyes already closed, it would be hard to tell if he were going to sleep or not.

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There is no answer or acknowledgement from Kyrojin. Instead his breathing regulates and his remains still with his chest lifting and falling, his face facing upward with closed eyes. The rooftop was quiet. There was the sound of the men training in the background, a constant noise that seemed to hum about during the day, but quieted at night. The sound of children playing reverberates in the air as well as mountain fowls and wildlife. A soft and mild chilly wind blows through the rooftops, bringing the pure scent of the mountain air, an atmosphere untouched by the pollution brought to the low lands by the people of the past. The setting would be set to be peaceful and serene.

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