Abandonment

Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:34 am

Night Zero: Captured
Abandonment Page-break-12_orig

A full moon illuminated the silent streets of the the village hidden among the stars as the blonde kunochi traversed through its chilling streets. While winter was nearly nothing but a distant memory, the desert air still felt like frozen upon the young lady's skin. Why had Hikari chosen to wear her formal outfit to leave Konoha again? She had expected to appear before Lord Hogokage himself, sure, but the maiden felt very confident of the fact that Valen would of forgiven her if she had decided to forgo formalities in order to be more comfortable for a night after having to do so much for Hoshigakure over the last few months.

On the matters of the Hogokage, the deputy kage had sent the leader a messenger pigeon right after she split off from the newly crowned Chunnin of Hoshigakure. It was a quick dispatch, just a heads up that the the star village had its resident Fuinjutsu expert back on active duty, and that during her time in Konoha she had finished preparing a barrier jutsu for the village defenses, and that she was going to implement them tonight before retiring for the evening. And that was just what the girl was doing, going around to all of the villages major assets and locking them down. She had already created barriers around the forbidden section of the Kozai Yuki archives, the dimensional seals of Hoshigakure (and reset the code on it, since it had been some time since its last update. Hikari would also send out another messenger bird out with the code to whoever she thought needed it.) the summoning site at the ninja academy, and was on her way through to the kage chambers to lock up the treasury.

It was still eerily quite as Hikari made her way to the front of the royal palace. The woman slowed her breathing, attempting pick up on the slightest sound from the palace, but couldn't hear anything. Not from the Royal Family sleeping, not from guards patrolling the walls of the palace, there was just no one anywhere inside the grand center point of the village. What was going on here? Even if the monarchs were all staying in their private homes, there should of been at least a few Queensmen or Nova Operatives to protect the capital building at this point. What was Valen and Ser Lancelot doing? Not having anyone guarding the palace was just trouble waiting to happen. Perhaps the Nova captain could call someone in to guard the palace? The lady of light would reach her right hand up to her left shoulder, about to summon a member of Hoshigakure's Anbu force, but would lower her hand with a sigh. If any of the Nova Ops she knew had the night off, they would obviously be asleep right now. Which meant....

'No rest for the weary, huh?' The Power of Hoshigakure would think to herself. Well, Valen may of made a mistake about who he put on guard duty tonight, but he made the right choice picking Hikari for being second in command. Maybe she didn't want this job, but Valen was right that she would go above and beyond for her country, and her personal fatigue wouldn't stop her from preforming whatever task the village needed to get done.

The heels of the Fuinjutsu mistress would make a clinking sound as she quickly made her way through the palace's front garden and to the front door. The woman was scared for a second that she was going to have to break in, but to her shock, the door wasn't even locked. What was with this security? Namikaze was going to have to have words with Lancelot, Akari, and the rest of the palace's staff about just the most basic's of what you should do when you are the last to leave a property. Rolling her eyes, the female kage would open the front door and make her way to the Kage's Chambers. Upon her arrival, it wouldn't take her to long to get to work, the village treasury being in a large walk in closet side room of the treasury. She would open up the door and start applying the seals to protect the treasury. Of course, this seal meant that only Hikari could have access to the treasury at this point, but Hikari was sure that tomorrow or some time soon she could grab Valen anyone else that needed access to the defenses. The preparation would take all of about 15 or so minutes before the barrier was up and operational. Hikari felt very confident that this protection would repel anyone who wasn't an ally away from the ryo hidden in the large safe. With a smile, the girl would leave the side room and take a look around, looks like she was going to be resting her head here for the night, Maybe she could find a blanket and get to work on the many thousands of forums that she was sure piled up in the time she was away? Hikari could only guess that the royal family had to of had many in their rooms, but the kage figured she would probably be put on trial if she took one of those. Maybe there was some in a closet or something like that?

After scanning around for her something to warm her body, the deputy kage noticed something on the Kage's desk. A letter? Hikari would make her way to the mahogany made piece, activating her Golden Eyes to give her the ability to see better in the ill-lit room, and cast her gaze upon the letter. This, couldn't be right. The dispatch that was on the desk was the dispatch that she had sent explaining the situation not two hours ago? It came here? And why was it open? If it was, then someone had to of been here recently and opened it. What was going on? If it was Valen, than why did he leave before Hikari had arrived? On second thought, if it was anyone that would be looking at the kage's messages, wouldn't that person want an update from Hikari when she returned to the village?

As these questions and more filled the golden haired maiden, Hikari could hear a faint sound from outside her gardens, the sound of soldiers marching. Not just any soldiers mind you, but highly armored knights. And this was no small number of them, it sounded like a war party was on their way here. The Akari would look out the window into the Foyer of the gates she had come in by, to her bewilderment, the girl saw that a large number of knights had surrounded the foyer and had formed a semi circle blockade around 5 meters in radius around the opening of the gate. Behind that stood dozens of these metallic queen's men, many armed with crossbows and lances. It was hard to get an exact number of how many knights there were, but between her golden eyes and the flames of the torches many of them held, Hikari estimated there were well over a hundred solders a part of the formation, if not closer to two-hundred.

Among the masses, Hikari heard a voice, loud and booming, scream out. She recognized this voice as Ser Lancelot, the captain of the queensmen. In an explosive shot, he cried out "LADY NAMIKAZE! WE KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP AND NO ONE HAS TO GET HURT!"

Looking down at this, the deputy kage felt a chill down her back. Her honest to goodness reaction was her trying to figure out what the heck Shiroi had done, but then stopped when she recalled that the pale Hiyu had died in labor almost a year ago. Hikari would try to take a second to figure out what this could be about, but eventually gave up, thinking it may be better for her to just go down and sort this mess out.

The maiden's form would disperse into dozen's of golden butterflies, before coming together at the palace gates, in the center of the semi-circle. It should be mentioned that the Deputy Kage ignored the orders to raise her hands, not feeling like it was necessary. That being said, the girl wouldn't have a smile on her face, understanding that there was something very wrong about the situation. As her form manifested, Hikari could see the queensmen starting to shift. All of the knights weapons, crossbows and spears alike, would be aimed in her direction, however, Hikari could also feel the death stare of every last man among this small army focused at her. Once again, the question of what was going on crossed the maiden's mind. The only difference was that this time, Hikari was going to voice it.

"Ser Lancelot," The Power would ask in the direction of the crowd, "This is a rather unique welcome home party for the right-hand woman of the commander of your military force. What is the meaning of this?"

It would take a few moments before the lady of light would get any sort of response, and even then, it wasn't an immediate answer, but a shuffle around of a few of the knights. One would come out from the back line and enter the semi circle with Hikari, stopping a good 3 meters away from her, close enough that the two could speak, but far enough a way that he would probably think that if the golden eyed Kunochi did anything, he would have time to dodge whatever came his way. Judging from his uniform and his stature, the disoriented Kage didn't need to ask for the knights name as she knew it was the queensmen's captain. As he approached her, he drew his massive two-handed cleaver from his back and held it up in a way as if he was going to block anything that the female would try.

From behind his mask, the Knight would speak, his voice loud, but not shouting like he was before.

"You should know what this is about, Lady Namikaze. We have a warrant for your arrest. You are to stand trial in front of the court for high treason. We have orders to take you in alive, unless you prove to be to much of a problem. In which case, we have orders to make sure you don't escape, no mater the cost."

The Deputy Kage's eyes would widen in shock for a second, before narrowing as she giggled to herself a little. A warrant for her arrest? For High Treason? "You Jest." Hikari would declare, unwavering in her resolve. "While I know the Queensmen of Hoshigakure may prefer the High Court, the Shinobi force and the Hogokage is the second highest power in the land, only below that of the Royal Family. You know the High Courts don't have the power to arrest me. Only an order from the Hogokage or the Royal family would give you the right. Now, lower your weapons and I will assume this was one large misunderstanding, and we can get back....."

"Our warrant doesn't come from the Court or the Church." The knight would cut off the woman in white. "Our orders come from Princess Tehniyat herself. With the passing of her Grace Akihana, she is the highest power in the land. These orders are irrefutable. Now, Lady Namikaze, are you coming with is quietly? Or are you going to force our hand on this?"

The woman's eyes would narrow again, trying to get a read on Ser Lancelot. While the two had their differences, Hikari always looked at the knight as a man of his word. Surely he wouldn't be fabricating this story, but at the same time there was no way this story was true. Princess Tehniyat was ordering her capture? The gentle woman that proctored her Chunnin exams? It was impossible.

The Saint of Haven would look upon the group of knights, a scowl would plaster her face. "Ser Lancelot, we both know that you couldn't take me in if you had ten times the forces you posses here. If Princess Tehniyat wanted me to stand trial, she would of gotten Valen to bring me in. I am the sword of Hogokage Akari, to live and die by his behest. So if he doesn't wish it, you know I can't allow myself to be captured." Upon these words escaping her soft lips, Hoshigakure's first female Nova captian would summon four blades behind her from Lux Athrena, Shapeless, the first Hogokage's Sword of Sealing, his Sword of Slashing, and Valen's Akari's own Twilight. With one hand, faster than any of the queensmen would see, Hikari would form the proper hand signs in order to create another sword in her hand, a basic rapier made of light.

Another shift could be seen among the knights as Hikari could tell the majority of them were re-positioning their crossbows, taking aim, preparing to execute the young girl when an order was given. There was no way. Were these men actually going to go through it? They couldn't actually think they could take her in, could they? All of them must of heard of the events that transpired at the Queengaurd's promotion tournament, and knew that she could end their lives before they could even blink. So why the resolve. Why?

Hikari would look at the helmet of Ser Lancelot, focusing in and trying to see the face of her soon to be executor. Behind the rage, behind the anger the knight held for Hikari, the kunoichi could see another emotion that the man's eyes gave away.

Fear

The fear of an animal trapped in a cage, the fear a mouse would show once a cat had caught it and was merely playing with its food. The fear of a prisoner on death row. It was a fear that the maiden saw any time she had to go deal with the Jaws of Grima. A look of a person who knew they were far out of their league, but had a job to do and was being forced to put their life on the line to complete it. The Maiden would continue to look around at the soldiers with weapons pointed at her. Many of them she couldn't make out in the light of the touch's flames, but she did recognize a few of them. Among them she recognized Ser Alphonsins, a father of three beautiful daughters. Ser Guiraud, a newer queensman who had a wife at home that was 7 months pregnant. Hikari could also make out Ser Heriot, the lone father who struggled to take care of his only son after his beloved passed from illness two years ago. While there was to many to name them all, Hikari had taken the time in the past to go out of her way to meet each and everyone of the queensgaurds in haven in the three years since she arrived at Hoshigakure. Each and everyone of these men had a family to take care of, so why were they so willing to throw their lives away?

Hikari bit her lower lip as a tear formed below her eye and fell. It was a mindless question for the Akari to ask that. She knew why. The path of a queensman was an honor filled road. Once you signed up, you were expected to live and die for the country, to offer your life for the crown. Fear wasn't a human emotion for them, but a sign of treason. Any queensman that refused to go on a mission regardless of the chance of success or failure, would be captured, tried, and executed promptly. However, any queensman that died in the line of duty would be given the highest honor. His funeral would have no expense spared for it. His comrades would tell stories of how he was a hero, but most importantly, the royal family would see to it that the family of the lost would be taken care of for the rest of their days. To give your life for your country in the line of duty meant a good life for your children and spouse. Survival by desertion meant a short life filled with pain and starvation. For a father who would give anything for his family, the choice was very obvious what to do, even if it wasn't an easy choice to make.

Namikaze would once again look upon the army that was to take her in. All of these men stood here not out of a desire to capture the young maiden, but a desire to protect their families and offer them a good life, even if it meant that they were required to give up their own. The deputy kage gritted her teeth, attempting to steel her resolve. She couldn't allow herself to fall here. The Shinobi of Hoshi were after all only kept due to their strength, even though they were hated by the civilian population. So if the kunoichi just gave up and went into custody there would be all the reason in the world for the church goers to believe that the Shinobi of Hoshi weren't worth keeping around and just decided to rid themselves of the demonic worshipers. On top of that, what would Valen think of her if....

The deputy kage's thoughts were cut off by Lancelot's command. He barked his order as he backed away from the power "Men! Ready your weapons!"

Most of the men already had them aimed at the golden haired Akari, but the order acted more as a warning of the knights intention to go through with this suicidal plan. 'You don't need to do this.' Hikari would silently plead with the man.

"Aim!"

'You can just turn around and walk away, you could pretend you never saw me and just tell the princess that I never returned. Please, we can all live to see tomorrow!'

There would be a pause in the man's order, giving his men time to harden their resolve. The knight would eventually give his grave order. "FI....."

"Don't do it!" Hikari would cry as she collapsed to her knees, the blades she had created starting to fade back into her alternate dimension. Tears would start to rush from down her face as she realized she couldn't bring herself to slaughter the men who would give up their lives for their country. How many children would be fatherless if the two forces met? "I can't go through with this. Please, I have come to know and love all of you! There is no way I could possibly harm any of you. Just take me in! I won't resist!"

For a few seconds, nothing could be heard in the silent starry night besides the sound of a young girl attempting to hold back her tears. Through her misty golden eyes, the maiden would keep sight upon the knights, ready to defend herself, but only if the situation gave her no choice. Eventually, Lancelot would step up and break the awkward moment. "As I stated, we only have orders to use force if you resist. So rise, Prisoner Namikaze. You will be escorted to the dungeons for interrogation." The sound of relief could be sensed the the captian's voice as he spoke.

The woman in white would slowly rise to her feet, still fighting the tears that flowed from her eyes. Well, on the bright side, that was one crisis adverted. However, there was still another large problem that she had to deal with. "I....I..... I still don't understand though, I haven't done anything. I have been away at Konoha for the past few months. Where is the Hogokage? Why did the princess order my arrest? What is going on?"

Lancelot would make his way to the young woman. Out of his back pouch he would pull out two pieces of cloth and a pair of handcuffs. "Turn around and place your hands behind your back. Seeing how you are trained in the dark arts, I have been told to see to it that you are gagged and blindfolded as well, to make sure you can't cast any of your illusionary magic."

Hikari would turn around and place her hands behind her back, not wanting to put up any sort of fight, but the power of Hoshigakure wasn't about to stop her questions. Through her tears, the maiden would press on, "Ser Lancelot, I have never practiced any of the shinobi's genjutsu arts, and you know that nothing you are doing would stop me from using any of my jutsus. Also, please don't ignore my questions."

Clapping the chains on her, the knight would start to put the blindfold on her. "Orders are orders, Namikaze. My orders were to gag and blindfold you, so I will. But yes, I know this method of bringing in shinobi wouldn't even slow you down if you wished to break out. As for the answer to your inquiry, you know that I don't have the authority to divulge the details to the prisoner. Your Inquisitor will answer all your questions."

Hikari knew she was about to be gagged, but she had one more thing that she had to say. "You know, Valen will not stay quiet about this. He will come for me." These would be the last words that escaped the woman's soft lips as she felt a cloth being shoved into her mouth and tied into place, the knot feeling like it was much tighter than it needed to be.

"For your sake, Namikaze, I hope he does. Now march prisoner." the Knight would order. With a forceful shove he would turn the woman around and guide her with a strong hand to the dungeons of Haven.

To be continued

WC: 3801

AP Usage:

Mid-thread claims:

Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:19 pm

I am so sorry, I missed the spoiler with the claims

Approved.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 10:49 am

Going to go ahead and exit this, I'll make finish this up in another thread.

1,300 Words to Fuinjutsu Placement Mastery Finishing it using the max stat discount and Hoshigakure's Library discount.

2501 Words to Space Time Barrier using the same discounts, and throwing in another 99 words from my saved WC to complete it.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:15 pm

Can't stack those discounts

• Max stat characters gain a -25% Word Count going to training. (Ie; Specs, Elements, jutsu etc.). This (or any) discount does not stack with other discounts. You only get the highest word count reduction available to you.

Sorry hon

Fri Jul 26, 2019 11:44 am

Sorry, I just saw that this was denied. (Pretty sure a certain member of former staff changed that, but I don't have any proof so I'll roll with it.)

By my math That means I have another 200 WC for the skill and 400 WC for the jutsu, I'll just go ahead and use stored WC For that to finish this off.

Requesting re approval.

Fri Jul 26, 2019 2:11 pm

Im relunctant to stand by that denial since tge rules do state that you cant stack wc discounts.

Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:18 pm

Can I get the new WC usage without the discount approved then?

Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:28 pm

confusion.jpeg

Are you asking to use the wc already placed with the max discount or the hoshi library discount? or are you asking to just use the wc without the discount?

Fri Jul 26, 2019 3:30 pm

I'm asking to spend an extra 600 stored WC to make up for the library discount not being used.

Fri Jul 26, 2019 4:40 pm

Oh. Okay. Thats cash money then.

Abandonment

Abandonment

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