|
|
Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 10:00:59 GMT -5
The Mirumoto let out his own gasp, a sardonic grin crossing his features as he felt the wood strike his form in the same moment he attempted to pull away.
"And I've never killed anyone," he shot back, noting her calling him 'her love' as he resumed stalking the Kakita again. "Mirumoto Okoro got what he deserved, but your family insults mine by refusing to return his daisho."
Another lunge, this time a feint as he attempted a defensive slash and sought to step back (hopefully) before she could land a strike in retaliation. "Your Clan permits a feud between our Thunders to spill over to the rest of our Clans. And then your Clan took something from me."
His eyes burned hotly as they found Uetani's, the grip on his bokken tightening, "Something that can never be returned."
|
|
|
|
Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 10:05:57 GMT -5
She dodges the next blow "I feel your anger. And you say it is I that allows the feud to continue?"
she shakes her head
"Petty feuds and anger will be the undoing of all of us. I cannot speak for our 'thunders' but the purpose of them is that they are just men. Fallible like any other"
A hit, the smile on her face at such is more than a little unnerving
"They have taken something from me ne? But sometimes they come back"
|
|
|
|
Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 11:49:53 GMT -5
"And the kharmic wheel doesn't work that quickly," came the Mirumoto's reply as he returned the smile with a darker look of his own. He staggered back a little at her strike, but it was the one she made with her words that cut deeper.
"Maybe not you directly, Kakita-san, but your family and Clan could put an end to it. They could return Okoro-san's daisho as a step in that direction."
He thrust with the bokken, then at the last moment spun his wrist to the right to slash at her left side.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 12:20:25 GMT -5
"And the Mirumoto could lay down their swords and proclaim Kakita the greatest sword that ever lived. I would not ask them to, nor would I expect them to, nor would I have the ability." she steps into the blow, allowing her to strike his side, hard enough to bruise "Who are you really angry at? Because you rage at me for being born, but I think that really, you are angry at yourself, for your limitation, for not having the strength to fix it all with a single sword stroke"
|
|
|
|
Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 12:49:57 GMT -5
"Limitation?" he growled at the Kakita even as he bruised from the strike she delivered him, face contorting into a grimace of pain. "I was a child! I couldn't stop it then any more than you can stop the Obsidian Moon from rising!"
His eyes burned hot with the fires of retribution and yet the fury became replaced with a cold calm as the Dragon shifted his stance, bokken tucked into his obi. It was the stance he adopted when they dueled before Nadeshiko earlier. "But right now? Right now I want to know why I can't get you out of my head every time I think of her."
|
|
|
|
Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 12:56:00 GMT -5
She steps into her stance as well "Because you fear me. Not as a rival, but as an equal. Because when you think of her, and think of me, you see people you do not hate, and you worry it will weaken you. Your hate has made you strong, so you nurture it, and now you fear to see it ripped away. You are not thinking of me when you think of her. You are thinking of the future we represent, and your place in it."
|
|
|
|
Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 13:03:10 GMT -5
"The only thing I fear," he offered as he breathed slowly, trying to peer into the Kakita's soul once more. "Is that I'm never going to be able to pay every last one of you back for killing my sister."
|
|
|
|
Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 13:05:47 GMT -5
She looked back "I never met your sister. But I see her each time we meet"
A breath, and she sees her again, behind those burning eyes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 13:13:13 GMT -5
Noboru shifted his stance just a little, then her words came; for the briefest of moments the Mirumoto loses his concentration. No one had ever seen him that deeply before and it made him doubt he'd seen everything the Kakita was offering him.
It was that moment of doubt that would serve to be his undoing.
The Dragon saw Uetani move and he shifted to bring out his own strike. Both were almost a blur in their movements and the clack of wood striking wood echoed through the room. He'd managed to deflect the strike but was a hair too late in recovering his own. Uetani's blade was at his throat while his strike was short of finding her heart. Were this a matter only settled by ending the life of another, Noboru would have been sent to meet his sister in Meido before his own blade could return the favor to Uetani.
He dropped his bokken and just looked into the Crane's eyes. For his part the fires were still there but the uncertainty remained as he saw new paths opening before him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 13:20:11 GMT -5
"You are afraid that if you lose your hate, you will lose her" Her breath is heavy, the passion that he felt earlier dripping from her
"Sometimes, it is best to remember them as they were, rather than as they are now."
She struggles to keep her breathe level, the tension in the room, the need that she is exuding could be cut with a knife
"She will never be gone. She lives in you, and one thousand of my blades could not cut her from you."
|
|
