The Lost War and Heart: Finding Hope and Courage to Fight [Original]

[Skitty Cat]

She hated it when Al acted the way he was, remembering that she had seen him grow serious only once or twice. River didn't suspect the gentle gust that sent her slidding backward. Hitting the wall she grunted in surprise, looking over to Kiran as he said, "I am going to head off that third group of attackers and dont worry, I have a trick up my sleeve. Are you going to be ok?"

"I'll be perfectly fine on my own."

She wasn't about to let anyone know she was spooked, meeting Kurai's gaze River wasn't surprised when he'd gotten back on his feet. River doubled over when his fist met her stomach, scrambling to her feet when she could catch her breath River glared at her opponent tossing a scroll over to him.

"What's this River?"

River knew that boys could be slow, but this ninja use to train with her and Kira, surely he couldn't have forgotten. "Nothing much, Kurai. Just a little gift I guess you could say."

~- Over with Ryohei -~

Busy with her own opponent, Kira blocked out the sounds of the others until a wolf growled, "Ryohei! Stand down, now!"

"No! How about you stand down for once! This is my business so I don't want any of you to interrupt or interfere!"

"Yes, yes, let the boy here attempt to handle his business. You can just watch as he gets defeated just like his poor ol' parents."

Turning to see who the new ones were, she realized that she was close to the mentioned one. Her gaze snapping back to the ninja Kira figured out how much the two young ninjas had in common when it came to this clan. Her ire already out of wack she felt it explode when Matt purred, "What's the matter 'Lady' Kira? You scared since you don't want to hurt anyone that you hold dear. If that's the case.... than you are as pathetic as your mother!"

Her eyes blazing at the jeer, she decided there was no way she'd allow anyone to interfere in this battle now. Kira knew she shouldn't let her temper get the better of her, but it was so hard when Matt openly insulted her clan and loved ones.

~----------~

OOC: I'll get something for Mikoto and Senka in here tomorrow morning. *yawns and scurries off to bed*

[booklet3]

"I'll be perfectly fine on my own."

Kiran noticed River had her own opponent. He started to head towards the third group when then remaining dark ninjas had surrounded. Kiran was alone. Kiran noticed there were more than before as well. "Must be clones littered in the bunch," he mumbled. Just then shurikans shot at Kiran from all directions. Kiran sighed and said, "I guess it cant be helped, I will fight these dark ninja rather the third squad." As the shurikans flew at Kiran, he reached over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of the Huro Scythe. As Kiran brough the scythe to the front of him, his chakra mingled with the scythe's energies. This cause wind to shoot out form Kiran in all direction causing the shurikans to get knocked to the ground. The wind that did shoot out from Kiran traveled across all of the training grounds.

Now Kiran stood surrounded by dark ninja, and he had the Huro Scythe in one hand and his reverse blade katana in the other. Kiran kept turning around in a circle to keep an eye on every ninja in the area. "Now how to go about fighting all of these nin," he mumbled. Kiran knew he only had 1 or 2 jutsu's left in him before out of chakra. The Huro scythe might help extend that by a little bit but not much. Much of the Huro Scythe's power was derived from the user.

Kiran decieded he would make the first move. "Wind of One-Thousand Blades!" Kiran swung the sword in a 180 degrees around him. The wind shot out cutting up anything in its path including the dark nin that got caught in it and cut up.

[BladeMaster Zane]

To be quite honest, Albireo was caught completely off guard when Sylfae reformed the dragon and warped behind him. He also failed to notice the entrence of Sirius, which was probably a fatal mistake on his part. The slashes from Sylfae's sythe were softened due to an air barrier he always had up behind him. This didn't mean some slashes slipped through. Deep crimson dots dripped to the grounds and soaked the back of Al's cloak. Once he regained his composure the young leader rolled out of her assault and dismissed one sword. "Now you're really pissing me off traitor..." he muttered as he wipped out 7 pieces of paper. Infusing each with as much chakra as possible, he threw all 7 towards Sylfae. This attack was quite tricky for the victim. Albireo gave the paper the property to adhere to and bind anything for a short period of time (usually a minute max). Two of the slips hit her mouth, 3 hit her right hand, and the last 2missed. This attack stripped her of the ability to speak and make use jutsus that required 2 hands for the time being.
"That should keep you busy for a moment," Al said with a smirk as he summoned his other blade once again.

"Now...for the dragon..." the young leader was now running across the grounds toward the large shadow dragon. "Tachi: Gekko!"(note: ignore weird song in background.) Dragging his blades across the ground, sparks began to fly everywhere. Once he was near the dragon he jumped up, slashing along the side of the shadow beast with both blades. With both slashes came large chakra waves in the shape of the moon, each cutting through the shadows.

When the attack was finished Albireo appeared on the other side of the dragon, blades held out as if they were wings. Coughing, Albireo looked behind him, "Wow, that didn't do as much as I thought it would...oh well there's always this..." Again, Al dismissed a single blade and knelt to the ground. Placing his palm of the cool earth he said, "Crawling Rope: Hainawa!" Streams of air began to wrap around the beast, each one of them latching on to it. Once the jutsu was cast the leader got to his feet and performed quick hand signs while saying, "Come Spirit of Ice, encase my foe in a heavenly Glacier! Hyoton: Go!" Using water from nearby fountains, Al used his former knowldge of water jutsus and covered the bound dragon in ice. "Now, let's see if that holds..." he said as the jutsu finished.

Notes:
Tachi: Gekko means Blade: Moon Light
Kyoton: Go means Ice Release: Five (basically level 5)

[sephiroth2]

OOC: I hope no one minds that I end this battle! If it isn't ok, just tell me, and I can change it!


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Sirius looked down, from atop of the ice covered dragon that Albireo had just done. "A water binding jutsu, now that is impressive!" Sirius said to himself.
Raising his hand forward, Sirius held a long steel rod in his hand, before he lightly tapped it against the ice covered head of the dragon.

"Bellow from the dark depths, once again" Sirius started to chant as he held the rod against the dragon.
Suddenly, from beneath the ice, the darkness started to seep through, causing the dragon to stir again. A few seconds later, the ice surrounding it shattered, sending large chunks of it colliding with the ground.

Rearing back, Sirius controlled the dragon, sending it towards the ground, breathing dark fire everywhere, as it made it's way to Sylfae.
Opening it's huge maw, the dragon swallowed Sylfae whole, before disappearing into the ground. At that moment, the remaining dark ninjas scattered around the clan, disappeared as well into darkness.

[Akans]

OOC: What happened to the age-old rule of not being allowed to touch another person's character? That's power-playing guys... You can't force my character to not be able to speak or use jutsu's.
No matter, I like thinking on my feet XD

IC: Sylfae's eyes widened in surprise as Alberio's attacks hit her, inhibiting her ability to use jutsu's. She leapt back desperately, switching her scythe to her left hand, and about to initiate another attack when Sirius and her dragon appeared from behind her and swallowed her up.
It was still her jutsu, though, and she had some control over it.
Within seconds, she appeared right behind Sirius, spitting the remnants of the paper jutsu from her mouth as the chakra wore off. She glared at Sirius,

"I told you to come over and help! I never told you to come and bail me outta here! Now I look like a damn coward you idiot!" She screamed. "I had them! My chakra was full, Kiran was occupied, and Alberio was injured! And you have to come in and screw it up!" She sat down in a huff as the black dragon continued to soar through the sky.

Quietly, she asked Sirius, "Did you get what you wanted?"

[sephiroth2]

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"I told you to come over and help! I never told you to come and bail me outta here! Now I look like a damn coward you idiot! I had them! My chakra was full, Kiran was occupied, and Alberio was injured! And you have to come in and screw it up!" Sylfae said, as she sat in a huff upon the dragon.

Sirius turned slightly back towards Sylfae, as she shouted at him for interfering and ending the battling. "I apologize for that, but I would expect that Lord Sleif would not have been too happy for any more delays!" replied Sirius as he continued guiding the dragon through the skies.

"Did you get what you wanted?" Sylfae quietly asked Sirius as she sat upon the dragons head. "I did! This will please Lord Sleif greatly!" Sirius said as he withdrew the scroll from his clothes, before placing it back in.

Suddenly, the dragon instantly started nosediving towards the ground, before colliding and disappearing into darkness again.
A moment later, the dragon rose again from the ground, now outside the darkness clan, coming to a complete halt upon the ground.

"I trust yous have done nothing more then exceptionally well with the task I gave yous?" Sleif asked Sirius and Sylfae, as at that moment he appeared right in front of them.
Leaping off of the dragon, Sirius landed a few feet away from Sleif, and as he started to walk towards him, he withdrew the scroll from his clothes, and knelt in front of him.

"We have my lord! It was exactly where ou said it would be!" said Sirius as he held the scroll up to Sleif. "Very good! That's one down now! You and your warriors can rest now!" Sleif said to Sirius, causing him to stand up straight at that moment.
"Thank you lord!" Sirius said, bowing to Sleif, before leaving and walking into the clan, leaving Sleif and Sylfae alone.

"I see you've made use of my gift to you! Impressive that you have grasped the concepts of them so quickly!" Sleif said to Ssylfae, as he looked upon the large darkness dragon.

[BladeMaster Zane]

ooc: Hehe ^^; that's what I get for not thinking when writing, sorry >_< Rather bad habbit of mine when writing for battles. Anyways, will edit later-

EDITED EDITED EDITED
---
Albireo dropped the twin blades as the Darkness ninjas retreated. The swords dissolved into air before they could hit the cold, blood stained ground. He could still feel blood dripping from the syth wounds on his back. Sighing, he said, "That could of gone better..." Looking around the grounds he was glad there were no students out during the battle. Though, he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. There was a good chance that Sylfae's attack was just a distraction so another force could infiltrate the rest of the village. "The alaram hasn't been raised...so they didn't attack the main village...they must of stolen somethi....oh crap..." his thoughts quickly turned to the archives near the Council Chambers. Before rushing to see what was stolen he turned and walked over to River and Kiran, who conveniently had a hostage over his shoulder.

"I hope you checked to make sure that wasn't a reanimated ninja," Albireo said to Kiran with a small laugh. Switching his tone to one of concern he asked both of his friends, "Are you two ok? You guys weren't to badly injured were you?" He said this while trying to make his own wounds un-noticeable. "They had to of attacked for a reason...and I doubt that reason was to really kill us. They had no reason to bail like that unless they found what they were looking for or it wasn't here..."

[booklet3]

Kiran watched as his attack ran through part of the dark nin. Just then as if they were called, all started to run for the shadows. Kiran watched as they run into the shadow and disappear, but Kiran set his eyes on teh nearest one. "O No you dont! Vacuum Vortex Jutsu" With the last of his chakra, he swung the Huro Scythe at the enemy. What look like a twister appeared but it flowed horizontal also flowed backwards. The dark nin got caught in it and instead was drawn towards Kiran. As the dark ninjas came closer to Kiran, he turned his scythe around so the blade would not hi the nin and swung it into his head. The ninja was knocked out by the force of the blow.

Kiran looked around but could see no more ninjas. He then sat down and kept watch over his new hostage. Once he recovered a little bit, he put the ninja on his shoulder and started to walk in the direction of Alberio.

((OOC: hope its all right taking a hostage =P))

[Akans]

"I see you've made use of my gift to you! Impressive that you have grasped the concepts of them so quickly!" Sleif said to Sylfae, as he looked upon the large darkness dragon.

Sylfae made a sound of disgust at that comment. "Your loyal servant Sirius found it necessary to end the operation at a critical point." She stalked away in fury towards her house.

Once inside, she collapsed on the hard bed, and rubbed her eyes. This was insane. She was running hot with chakra and ready for battle! And Sirius just had to interfere!
Muttering curses, she walked off to the area where she had practiced before. Summoning her strength, she released a flurry of Jutsu's, one after another, in quick succession, trying to rid herself of her anger, but failing to do so. Finally, she sat down, tired.
"Sleif... send me on another mission damn it!" She muttered to herself.

[sephiroth2]

OOC: It's ok booklet3 if you take a hostage

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"Sleif... send me on another mission damn it!" Sylfae said as she sat upon the ground, finally tired. "Well then, it looks like I came at the perfect time!" Sleif said as he appeared behind the exhausted Sylfae.

"I know, you didn't get the, workout, you were hoping for, when attacking the wind clan. But I have something which I believe, will be more of a challenge for you!" said Sleif, as he handed Sylfae another scroll.

"Your second gift! Enjoy this one! And study it more carefully then the last!" said Sleif as he began to walk away.
"Choose anyone you want for this mission! When you have decided who to bring, see me and it shall be done! Once ready, we shall attack the moon clan!" Sleif said as he faded away from the area.

[Skitty Cat]

OOC: Do to certain reasons I am not going to say, planewinds left Zal in my control. He won't be back for a while, just thought I'd tell you guys this so you won't ask about it. I'll get something for the others in really soon.

IC: "That could of gone better..."

Seeing that Kiran had a Darkness ninja on his shoulder, she checked for a pulse to see if it was brought back to life. Laughing softly, she listened as Albireo said with a small laugh, "I hope you checked to make sure that wasn't a reanimated."

Grinning at her friend's comment she didn't understand how he could be so calm. She heard the switch in his tone as he asked, "Are you two ok? You guys weren't to badly injured were you?"

"I'm fine, and the ninja wasn't reanimated like the others. I already checked that while you were asking," she laughed, "anyway, why do you think we'd be badly injured?" She asked, the playfull tone gone from her voice.

"They had to of attacked for a reason...and I doubt that reason was to really kill us. They had no reason to bail like that unless they found what they were looking for or it wasn't here..."

Exhuastion gripping her limbs, River fell to the ground coughing. Unable to understand the sudden fit that washed over her. River looked up at her two friends, realizing that she looked weak she scrambled to her feet once more.

Her skills shaken she thought about what Kurai said. She shook her head dimissing it, looking at Al and Kiran trying to see if they were badly injured. River grinned as she asked, "So, now what do we do?"

[Shadows Fall]

"Ryohei! You have to understand that you're unable to take on someone of his rankings! You may be an expert but this man managed to take on BOTH of your parents by himself!" shouted the wolf, Yun. He hoped that what he was saying would eventually get into the boy's mind but from the looks of it, that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Ryuuken rammed his fist into the expert's stomach, following up with an uppercut to Ryohei's jaw. The young expert staggered back and was dazed, attempting to throw a right hook out of retaliation but his vision was far too blurred. The opponent simply shoved his fist downward and then connected with a roundhouse kick to Ryohei's temple who had stumbled over and collided against a near-by tree. Ryuuken simply walked over to where his opponent had staggered over to, grabbing his by the head and forced him to turn on his back. Letting go, he unleashed an onslaught of punches all over Ryohei's chest and stomach area as well as throwing a few jabs here and there to his face.

The boy was now limp and slumped down against the tree, an imprint of his back being revealed on its bark. A smirk was now etched on the opponent's face as he then grabbed Ryohei by the head once again, lunging his arm back and then ramming him into the tree with such force that he literally caused Ryohei to crash and break the tree in half.

"How sad." was all Ryuuken could say as he watched the tree collapse, shaking his head and chuckled. "Didn't even stand a chance."

[booklet3]

Kiran finally reached where he left River. Then he saw Alberio appear from the woods and approach them.

"I hope you checked to make sure that wasn't a reanimated ninja,"

Kiran smiled back, "Already ahead of you." Kiran hit the man hard enough to have him bleed. This was to make sure that he was real and now reanimated body. The blood had been coming out of the hostage's ear.
Kiran looked back at Alberio. " I am fine though." Kiran then noticed some cuts on Alberio, who was trying to hid them.

"They had to of attacked for a reason...and I doubt that reason was to really kill us. They had no reason to bail like that unless they found what they were looking for or it wasn't here..."

Kiran responded, "Well, is there anything you can think of that the Darkness Clan would want to take in out village. If you cant think of anything, we always got our little friend (hostage)" Kiran waited for Alberio's response.

[Skitty Cat]

OOC: Zane's computer's acting up so he needs me to control Al for a little. *looks at Shadows* And his character for Melodies. He should be back in two days being the soonest, maybe seven or ten for the longest, hopefully. I don't mean it in a bad way Zane, I'm just sure your hoping you'll be able to rp for yourself before too long. I'm just making a total fool of myself.

IC: " I am fine though."

He felt Kiran's gaze on one of his injuries, smirking to hide his pain. Alberio turned his attention to River when the girl started coughing. Moving over he placed one hand on her shoulder, he watched the girl scramble to her feet.

Concern flashing in his brown eyes the young leader looked over to Kiran as he responded, "Well, is there anything you can think of that the Darkness Clan would want to take in out village. If you cant think of anything, we always got our little friend (hostage)."

"The only things I can think of is important scrolls," murmured River.

Alberio's gaze snapped back over the icy-blue haired ninja. Nodding his head in understand, he took on a stern tone as he said, "That's what I'm concerned about, and as for you, River, you've got to be careful. What would Kira say if she ever found out that I allowed harm to come to you?"

Chuckling at the laugh that tore itself from River. Alberio found it hard to know that she was the same little girl that use to have no interst in being a ninja.

Knowing that they had to get moving, his eyes went back to the way they normally are. "Come on, let's get moving."

"Al, I still can't understand why you're so carefree."

~- Battle in the Wolf Clan, Senka's POV -~

Looking at Yun her eyes pleading, she whispered, "Must we stand by and watch Ryohei and Kira be treated the way they are?"

Covering her ears, she tried to block out the horrible noise of the tree breaking. Senka looked over at the state of her clanmate. Rage caused her pelt to bristle, she called out, "Ryohei, come on, you can't allow that pathetic excuse of a ninja to disgrace you, to disgrace our clan!"

Lifting her hands they hovered over her bosom, she knew that the other she-wolves topped her on that and main other things. The truth is that she could truly care less with this whole thing. Lifting her head to the clear sky, Senka whispered, "I ask nothing from you, but please don't let my clanmates die!"

Senka watched as Kira dodged her opponent only to crash into Ryuuken's back. Tensing every muscle in her being, she listened to Matt call to his fellow ninja, "Hey Ryuuken, you up for pummeling someone else?"

Glancing at Master Yun, she desperately wanted to help them but knew she had to recevie the okay. Think back to something her own sensei had said once, Senka repeated softly, "There are some battles you can help, but there are others you cannot. The two battles are: to protect a loved one, which you can help with; the other being one for honor, the kind you mustn't interfer in. This is one of those fights."

~----------~

OOC: That's it for the night. G'Night! *scurries off to bed*

[Akans]

"Your second gift! Enjoy this one! And study it more carefully then the last! Choose anyone you want for this mission! When you have decided who to bring, see me and it shall be done! Once ready, we shall attack the moon clan!"
Sylfae growled as she received those instructions. She didn't want to fight the stupid Moon Clan. She wanted to go back and show Alberio what an idiot he was to pass off her promotion. And wipe that stupid confident grin off Kiran as well...
She just needed an excuse.

Arriving back at her house, she saw that Magisakaj was standing in front, holding a scroll. She didn't want to talk to him, but whatever. He might have some useful information.
"What?" She growled.

He coughed. "I have to casualty results from the attack on the Wind Village... there seems to be over 11 ninja's dead, and 22 injured... 4 of our Mercenary troops are dead, and... one seems to be missing. His death wasn't recorded, but he hasn't came back. We think that he may have been captured."

Sylfae grinned. "I guess the only thing we can do then is to save him then! Come Magisakaj, Sleif gave me orders for another mission, but I guess we have to make a detour first..."