:: An Ill Omen :: ??? vs. Neo Kaitai

[killerinstinct]

Just the previous day, a "meeting" was issued to Neo Kaitai by a seemingly unknown person. The meeting was to take place on the dead plains, at sunset. Plains that were so empty... not a tree stood tall, nor grass to sway in the wind. The field was completely empty, devoid of life; not even the rays of the sun livened things. Any person to pass these plains would feel death surrounding them.

As the sun began to set, its rays tainted the sky in crimson... a scenery which would have been deemed beautiful, but in this case seemed creepy, almost gory; as if the sky was bleeding, its blood reflecting on the dried up ground.

The rendezvous was to take place at this moment. However... with no place to hide, no one seemed to be present.

At least, that's how it seemed.

[Wulfi]

The dead grass crunched beneath each step the neko took.

~"I've given up fighting! I need to be here for my brother!"~

Walking along the plains, lime green eyes dark and almost lifeless, his mind drifted back and forth from his current objective and the words from just a few days ago. His gaze was harsh, not holding the same energy it had held in the old days.

Scathing. That was a good word for it. His gaze was scathing.

~The sound of skin hitting skin echoed through the empty home. Out of rage, his creator had slapped him. "If anything, you should fight for your brother." Her glare was powerful, frightening. The sheer intensity of those hazel eyes was frightening, and her wild red hair only made her all the more intimidating.~

He touched his cheek. The pain was gone, but the memory was still there. He smirked grimly.

He couldn't smile anymore. The only person who could get a smile out of him was his dear twin brother, and even then, it didn't feel like a true smile. Of course, Kaoniban, in his blissful ignorance, had accepted it for the real thing. The boy's mind was fragile, after all, not unlike his physical body.

Hatred lie stewing within the depths of his soul. Hatred for his weakness, hatred for the ones he'd lost due to his weakness.

And most of all, his hatred for the Rose Children and that bastard, Min-Wei Bai, burned brightest. If it wasn't for that sharp-eyed freak, Kaoni would still... No, it was wrong of him to blame others for his weakness, even if he was an enemy.

Despite all the hate within him, he still felt sorry for Shukutsuki, the neko girl who worked under Min-Wei. Despite all the trouble she brought, all the people she'd taken from him and everyone else, he still felt sorry for her.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember her given name.

He was jerked from his thoughts when he sensed a faint presence all around him. He stopped in his tracks, eyes closed and arms by his sides, fingers curling. He couldn't place where it was coming from. Maybe he'd become rusty.

"Okurete sumimasen,*" he spoke to the air, face forward and eyes still shut. The atmosphere was dry, arid... dead. Still, he could barely feel the presence of something else due to his heightened senses.

He didn't know if the challenger spoke Japanese or not, and frankly, he didn't care. At least he was being polite.

Kaitai waited, midnight blue cat ears seemingly neutral but oh so alert. His tail was motionless, uncharacteristic of the old him.

He had no bow or arrows to speak of, but under his white, long-sleeve collared shirt, there was a sign. Along the upper parts of his arms were dark blue bands, two on each appendage. They seemed like tattoos, but were so much more. He was eternally grateful to Tidas. Once his enemy, the two didn't get along well, but upon losing something important to them, the two came together despite their past differences.

Kaitai would never forget the sacrifices. Never.

The old Neo Kaitai was gone, dead with the souls of his nakama**. This certain teenager was a new man now.

(((*Okurete sumimasen - "oh-koo-reh-teh soo-mee-mah-SEHN" - "Sorry I'm late."

**nakama - "nah-kah-mah" - "comrades/close friends")))

[killerinstinct]

For a moment, no one appeared. It seemed as though Kaitai was alone, but reality wasn't as it looked like. Silence reigned, while the strange presence persisted. And just when one would wonder how long this would last, suddenly...

"You came... I'm so glad. I thought you would never show up..."

The speaker was yet unseen; the voice seemed to have come out of nowhere. It spoke in a graceful manner, sounding so sweet, so beautiful... yet, in its beauty lies darkness so deep, so cold... as seducing as this voice sounded, it sent a chill down the bravest soul's spine. And then, as if to mirror the voice's demonic side, the ground suddenly darkened; a dark mist of sort covered it, while at the same time a soft, but cold breeze blew. The mist started moving to one point, accumulating at said point. It then began moving upwards, taking the shape of a person.

As the mist began to disperse, an evil chuckle resounded. When it all cleared, it revealed a young woman, garbed in a beautiful dark red dress. Her blue-grey eyes held some sort of mysticism in them, and her hair, long and raven black, elegantly swayed in the wind.

To think that such beauty, elegance and grace could hold so much evil is terrifying. But, something seemed odd about the woman; all over her body, there were dark marks, like tattoos. Could they have any relation to the evil that surrounded her?

The young lady gazed at Kaitai, and smiled.

"It has been a while... hasn't it? I wonder if you still remember me..."

[Wulfi]

He couldn't believe his wavering eyes. Kaitai stood in shock, unmoving. Indeed, he knew this woman, and the fact she was standing before him was frightening, to say the least. Paling immediately upon her unveiling, Kaitai's face was locked in a look of sheer disbelief, eyebrows furrowed in a scowl, yet eyes wide and irises quivering.

A bead of sweat rolled down his jawline. His heart gave a heavy thud as she spoke. "Y-you're... But you... I was there, I saw you-...!! You can't be her!!"

And then, as realization dawned upon him, his eyes became half-lidded as he calmed down. The young man was back to his normal glare. Upper lip raised in a silent snarl, he spoke to her in a low, gravely voice.

"You're not Elvina. You're the thing that was inside of her."

Scathing. Ah, yes, how scathing his eyes were...

[killerinstinct]

Elvina, or at least, whatever posed as her, laughed heartilly.

"The "thing" inside of her? What is that "thing", pray tell? Do I not look human enough to you...?"

A smile traced upon her lips, while her eyes hid something sinister.

"That saddens me, Kaitai. To think that you only regard me as a "thing", different from the person you call Elvina... I'm upset. I am Elvina, the very same one. Can't you see?"

Elvina slowly walked towards Kaitai; each step she took echoed in the air. When she got close to Kaitai, she stopped, and spoke in a near whisper.

"Or do I look this much different...?"

[Wulfi]

To say he was angry was an understatement. Kaitai visibly shook out of rage, fists clenched so hard that his knuckles looked at if they'd break skin. Two drops of blood dripped from each hand. His claws were burrowing inside of his palms.

Glare intense, he spoke, voice still low and deathly. "What is it you want?"

[killerinstinct]

"I just wanted to tell an old friend hello. Did you not want to see me? After all, you did agree to meet me here... Your presence says so."

The raven-haired woman gazed at Kaitai's eyes. She stared intently, reading what they were saying. His glare, as intense as it were, did not intimidate her; nothing did. Nothing seemed to matter to her, nothing scared her. Even her eyes said so; the void that can be read in her eyes said so. The hollowness in her eyes resembled death.

The smile that was on traced upon her face had disappeared. Her icy stare still on Kaitai, Elvina spoke in the same low, near-whisper voice.

"You mentioned a "thing" inside of me... but tell me... what is this "thing" inside of you? The Kaitai I knew was so much... different... than the one I see now."

She smirked. "It doesn't matter now. There is a reason as to why I called you. I believe we had left something... unfinished... and I intend on ending it now."

The sun continued its descend, covering everything in a bright scarlet light. Soon, the sun will disappear behind the horizon, leaving its place to a full moon; their only source of light then.

[Wulfi]

Since when was I considered a friend to this girl? he thought to himself, eyes not showing his inner-mind processes.

Kaitai stood, eyes no long wavering with insecurity. His grip had loosened considerably, fingers lax and a single drop of blood sliding down his right palm. His gaze never left hers.

The only flicker of some emotion other than hatred appeared when she mentioned a "thing" inside of him.

Surprise. However brief, surprise flickered over his line of sight for a split second. If she had blinked, she wouldn't have noticed the change at all.

He waited until she was finished speaking, then took it as his signal to speak himself. "The "thing" inside of me you speak of is nowhere near what I witnessed during the tournament battle," he spoke in an even, neutral tone. His voice wasn't as hostile as it had been previously, yet his gaze was still as cold as ever. "The Kaitai you see before you has been hardened by loss, by war."

The way his voice dropped at the end was stunning. His eyes had shivered ever so gently, the last two words an emotional breath.

"Che," he clicked his tongue. "You want to fight?" He glared at her, eyes never leaving her own dark ones.

[killerinstinct]

Elvina's eyes, as light as they were, seemed dark; as if their blue-grey color was masked by darkness. Darkness that caged her spirit.

And these eyes never blinked once while they gazed at Kaitai's. They had witnessed the brief second of surprise that passed through his eyes. It was unmistakable; Elvina couldn't be fooled. The cold gaze returned to his eyes, to which Elvina continued to contemplate.

"Hardened?" she inquired, a tone of amusement in her voice, "or perhaps... weakened? Could it be that you're hiding from everything, trying to run away from it all...? You could talk to me, you know...
"... Oh, but it seems you're much too impatient now. As a matter of fact... yes, I do want to fight. That is precisely what I meant by something... unfinished."

One of Elvina's hands raised, extended towards Kaitai. She traced his jawline with a finger, and with a smile, she spoke in a sweet, low voice. "I do hope you're ready, my dear Kaitai."

[Wulfi]

Her fingers chilled him to the bone. Kaitai's glare became all the more fierce. He gritted his teeth as he popped his knuckles absentmindedly with his thumbs, arms never moving as he did so.

"Don't," he said, voice a deadly whisper, hoarse and threatening.

In a flash, he jumped back twice, distancing himself from her by a good two meters as he stuck his right arm up and pointed his index and middle finger at her, mimicking a gun. His gaze, however, showed that he definitely wasn't playing around.

A sudden wave of sheer power surged through the landscape, causing even the grass to tremble. It died down to a low vibration within the surrounding area.

"Don't you dare call me that, you bitch," he growled out, eyes wide with fury. The drop of blood on his right hand made a tiny explosion as it turned into sparkles of pale red light, then circled around his two fingers. "You are not allowed such a privilege!!"

Suddenly, the massive power returned, finally revealing its location. It was coming from Kaitai, but the pure intensity of it was so large that it was hard to tell where it was originating from at first. The sleeve on his right arm seemed to rip from the force of his aura, leaving his entire limb bare. The other sleeve shredded itself as well, lone pieces of fabric falling to the ground due to the lack of wind.

On each upper arm were two bands, spaced apart by two or three inches each. From these bands, his energy solidified into translucent, thin pale blue wings. They were small, each only about nine or so inches. One sprouted from each tattoo-like ring. The awesome power collected within these appendages, causing the suffocating energy surging throughout the area to fade.

However, since the power was within such tiny, smoke-like structures, the release could be enough to wipe out the entire field. He'd have to concentrate hard to harness such raw, intense power.

He lifted his left arm, hand open and fingers spread. A powder blue bow seemed to form from the wisps of smoky energy that shot up the length of his arm, the string appearing to be nonexistent.

He knew he had to fight. Despite his desire not to shed any more blood than necessary, he knew she wasn't going to back down, either. He put the two side-by-side fingers on his right hand to the notch of the bow and drew his arm back. As he pulled back, the pale red light settled into a pale red arrow of light.

He released it, aiming for her shoulder.

[killerinstinct]

Elvina simply watched Kaitai as he backed off of her. A small smile appeared on her lips, amused by Kaitai's reaction. Even as a surge of power covered the entire land, Elvina didn't budge, and neither did the smile. No matter how much power Kaitai seemed to possess, it didn't do anything to Elvina, not even instill fear. Her eyes were as dark and empty as ever, a perfect mirror of her soul.

When Kaitai aimed at her, Elvina stood still, the smile still on her face. The red arrow of light shot out, nearly getting to her shoulder...

... And Elvina was no longer there.

In her place, there was a puff of dark purple smoke. The arrow had gone through the smoke, without doing any damage of sort. The smoke dispersed, then began to condense. The mist materialized into Elvina again, the smile still on her face.

"My, my", she spoke in a bemused voice, "you've gained a lot of power since I last saw you. Unfortunately, I don't think it will help you in any way."

She raised a hand, and mist appeared in her hand, the same that materialized her. This one, though, seemed to glow with power, giving off a reddish-purple light. "I also think I have more than enough privilege to call you whatever pleases me."

And with that, she threw the ball of mist at Kaitai, the orb leaving a burning trail of mist in the air behind.

[Wulfi]

He gritted his teeth, fangs bared. He could feel the recoil of the release burning inside of his arms. He wished he didn't have to fight, truly. Not only did he hate this sort of violence, but ever since gaining this bow, the Entwined Soul, the massive power it contained would hurt him from the inside out. Within this bow was the soul of not only Arash, but the man who had given it to him, Tidas. With each passing, the previous owner's soul would be sealed within the bow.

It was a curse he was willing to lay upon himself.

His muscles were aching, burning dully. If this battle went on any longer, he wouldn't be able to make it out alive. He flinched, closing one eye in pain. He could feel his arms shaking.

He rolled to the side, dodging the attack, and rose to one knee.

"I don't understand," he managed to say though gritted teeth. He took a deep breath and spoke to her without a clenched jaw. "Why are we fighting?! I wasn't the one who killed you!!"

[Wulfi]

(((Since this is going nowhere, obviously...)))

He looked up to find no one, but heard Elvina cackling as her voice faded off into the distance. Kaitai stood erect, still alert until her presence was completely gone. He sighed, looking mildly annoyed.

"What the hell...?"

(((Sorry for Godmodding a bit, but I'm making a new little thing. Elvina can choose to come again if she wants. I just wanted to get the ball rolling again. ;; )))

[killerinstinct]

OOC: Aww... I knew I should have revived this...