guardian of the storm | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Two ~ Nokari Blood

~Chapter Thirty-Two~

War had long since ravaged the ruins of the desolate marble building. Pillars were singed black, cobblestone cracked violently, ghosts of the pass whispering their remorse to any who would listen. Deep groves looked as if the claws of a tailed beast itself had swiped at the floors- several feet deep and quite wide. Rubble decorated the scorched earth and black sand piled up against tilted walls. It took a moment for him register the sweeping towers, the sharp points.

It was a castle.

A very destroyed one at that. Kasumi weaved in and out of the pillars, hopped over rubble and sniffed the lingering flakes of ash. Her tail was wagging from side to side in a low, never changing rhythm. Her ears perked up and she dashes deeper into the remnants of a once powerful place. Eien could feel a faint hum of chakra still laced deep into the stone and saw hints of a great battle- scratches from serrated swords, drops of crimson thrown about, a half melted crown resting on a cracked throne. Kasumi barked softly, standing on the other side of what Eien assumed to be the throne room, scratching at a closed door. Eien makes his way across the destroyed memories that must lay in the floor and over to Kasumi.

The door was a thick metal, a singular scratch lying diagonally across its frame. The door knob was a burnished copper and Kasumi whined, scratching at the knob making it rattle. Mustering up some courage- after all this place was filled with the whispers of mourning ghosts carried on wind, the sighs of lost lives -he gripped the doorknob and twisted it, pushing open the heavy door. It creaked and shuddered before giving way.

Dust flew up in a mad flurry and faint streams of light came in through a dirtied window high up. The room was huge and devoid of mundane furniture. Padded mats covered half of the floor, a rung ladder attached to one of the many beams high up in the ceiling. A row of ancient weapons lined the far west wall ranging from simple katanas to an extravagant hsu quandao, the blade a pure gold with a ripple of blue showing it was of the highest quality. Black feathers decorated the ground and this looked like the one place that had yet to be ravaged by the trials of war. Tilting his head to the side, Eien crouches down examining the ground. His eyes widen and he starts to straighten up noticing the footprints that wandered around in the dust. Glancing around his gaze lands on a crumpled up cloak in the corner nearest to him.

High collar. Black in nature. Red clouds. White outlined.

The Akatsuki.

Kasumi warning bark didn't reach him quick enough. The singing of a blade being freed from its sheathe vibrated in his ears and everything went black.

***

She stood over the intruder who laid face up, her glaive back in its sheath. Her eyes traced over the smooth skin, the black eyelashes brushing against fair cheeks, messy matte hair in even more disarray than normal. A trickle of blood escaped from his forehead, painting his pale skin a deep red. The wolf stood a few feet away, stalking towards her with its hackles raised, wary golden eyes sharpening with anger at the girl.

Not bothering to move, she continues to trace the contours of his face with her eyes. Looking, no, searching. Searching. Searching. Searching. She'd always been looking, scouring different dimensions, risking her life to find someone to pass her knowledge onto. Always searching. And not once had she yielded desirable results.

Until that night, that fateful night she discovered someone in the void. Until she decided to forgo all rules and go to the one dimension that was forbidden.

And now she knew why.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of dimensions. Out of all of those, two were without chakra therefore it was highly dangerous to travel there for you may never return. And one was forbidden. Because here laid a clan with similar aspects to her own. Here laid a dimension that held the most powerful ninja she'd ever seen.