LILIUM AURATUM

[Yokohama Naka]

[atrb=style,width: 350px;] The waters were calm in the circular grotto, the darkness of the cave only kept at bay by the soft glow of the lanterns that floated atop the waving tides. At the center of the lake was a small island, only a large boulder large enough for a child to sit. And atop it did a child sit indeed. Her auburn hair trailed down the back of her white kimono, dipping into the waters and flowing with it; it fanned out to encompass the island she sat upon so it was completely hidden from sight. On this day, she was undertaking an important rite of passage. A rite of passage specific to the young women of her clan, the Yokohama. It was unique in that no council oversaw it. There were no rules in place. It was solely up to the girl undertaking it when it should be done. The rest of the clan only knew when that girl began to act as women do. And when she did so, it was completely accepted. She'd had the self of sense enough to undertake it so it was their duty as her kin to accept such. The Yokohama were known for their special methods of spiritual healing based on their usage of special spirit grottoes located throughout the world. Before the clan settled in the Land of Rivers, or even became a clan, it was a troop of nuns who traveled the world in search of people to heal. After a life of providing aid to the poor and sick, the nuns would seal their spirits into the grottoes around the world. As more and more nuns passed onto the next plane, they too would seal their spirits leaving the world dotted with grottoes of spiritual and benevolent energy. Times have changed, and now, the nuns of the clan donate their energies to the existing grottoes once their journeys on this plane are at an end. In doing this, the grottoes are exponentially more powerful than they were in the past, enough so that a girl might go into any grotto and tap into the energies that lie there. It was the girls of the clan's duty, therefore, as young girls to study the matriarchs of the clan and the nuns who would sequentially donate their spiritual energies to the respective matriarch's wells of energy. In doing this, they would come to understand the spiritual missions of those women from each respective well. Should their self-discovered spiritual energies align with the spiritual missions of any given matriarch, they would attend their well of energy and tap into it. Such was the ceremony of Botsunyū (Immersion). She'd been seated in silence for many hours now, focusing her chakra through each hair strand and pouring it out into the water, reaching. She was unsure what to reach for--what to reach for. She only tried to do it this way because it was how her mother described the process to her. As if she were reaching out with her hands for someone to grab her and guide her and suddenly she felt a warm in her hands as if someone were holding her steady atop the wobbly island of Kona's Grotto. But this girl sat in another grotto, far from the land of Kona's Grotto which was in the Land of Wind. Kona was known for being a rock to those who didn't know stability and so she put her grotto in a land where stability was an unthinkable concept. There, she guided the poor and weak to shelter and security. Uma's Grotto. A newer grotto, come into fruition before the end of the Last Age of the Matriarch. Uma was one of the last matriarch's to live, born in the Lightning Country and traveling southwest for most of her life making it her mission to search for those lands where grief was most strong. With her soothing chakra and aura, she held onto those who would seek revenge for the sacking of their homelands. She would hold the children who were stricken suddenly into orphan-hood. She was hold back the hands of those ready to take their own lives. Perhaps it was in this very reason that reaching wasn't working. She needed to channel her chakra to appeal to the mission of her matriarch. It was the only way that Uma would share her power with her. She clutched her hands together now, molding her chakra to reflect the mission of her matriarch. Grief. But what did a girl of eleven truthfully know of grief? She barely had a wrap on the word, given how well the village and her clan had protected her. 'Okay,' she thought, thinking of the root of grief: 'Sadness. Sadness over what?' 'Loss of somebody I love.' 'Who do I love?' 'I love my clan. My mommy and my daddy. I love Oba-chan and Iyo-kun. I love the people in my village who protect me from the monsters from outside. I love Yogicho-sama who leads mommy and daddy when we have to fight the bad outside people.' 'Grief.' she thought on the word again. 'Grief means loss.' 'If I lost all those things...' she began to think, visualizing her mother and father dead in the middle of the street. She imagined the outside people running through the village, blood on their hands that came from Oba-chan and Iyo-kun. Men and women who she'd come to think of as uncles and aunts had swords in their backs and their heads mounted spikes atop the stones of the grottoes. And lastly was a black face holding Yogicho-sama's head by his long, sleek, black hair. And then, the sadness washed over her. She could no longer keep seated upon the island in perfect harmonious mediation. She had to weep. She doubled over, her face in her hands as she coughed up grief. She could feel the island begin to wiggle beneath her legs. The water began to ripple and wave, shaking her further until it erupted all up around her into the sky, throwing the lanterns to and fro. She could feel the world closing in on her, the waters crashing down and knocking her down from the island and swirling into the dark depths of the grotto. She floated. She floated. She floated. And then... "My sweet, Naka. My sweet, Lilium Auratum." 実現: 没入 (realization: immersion)

[Shimura Kumiko]

[atrb=style,width: 350px;] The skin on the girl's cheeks was soft under the old and calloused hands of Shimura Kumiko. She knelt before the island in the middle of the grotto, her dark eyes peering into those of the young girl. She was in a trance, taken with the process of fusing her soul with a portion of the spirits that swelled the waters of this grotto. Along each strand of her hair, was white sealing formulae, running down the length and into the water which shimmered white with pure energy. Kumiko had heard of the Yokohama and their mysterious spiritualism--but this was the first time she'd seen it with her own eyes. And the first time she would deceive one into becoming a vessal. The Yokohama absorbed a portion of all the spirits who rested in the waters when she underwent Botsunyū and after that bond was made and solidified, there was no turning back. Those souls were one and the same. It would be impossible for Kumiko to take advantage of their powers and skills at that point. So she'd followed this girl through her own spiritualism so she might catch her in this very moment. When her soul and the souls of her matriarch and accompanying nuns were braiding together into one. She too would braid a portion of her soul into theirs so she might dominate and use the Yokohama spiritualism. It was her only way of infiltrating their ranks. She knew He would be upon her soon. She had to be there before him. The girl began to come to, opening her eyes weakly. She would focus in on Kumiko before her, an elderly woman seeming to radiate as her skin reflected the brilliant white of the waters below. "Uma-sama?" "Oh, sweet Lilium Auratum." Kumiko responded, smiling sweetly as she poured her spirit into the twist of tumultuous merging that was occurring within the girl. "Aye, it is I, Uma, come to soothe your grief and reassure a lost girl." The girl smiled atop her little island, accepting Kumiko into her soul under the pretense that she was her most respected paragon. "I'm... glad to... finally see you, Obāchan." "And I you, my sweet girl." Kumiko said finally before she was fully in the girl, never to be seen again by her. It was complete. ... Right? Kumiko found herself surrounded by nothing. She couldn't tell the color of the place she stood in. Or what she was standing upon. Looking into the distance, it looked white. But then it was blue. And then yellow and then black. And then white again. Below her feet was no ground but the same color. And then, a figure came into focus. "Who goes there?" "Yokohama Uma. And you stranger?" "Shimura Kumiko." "No nun here goes by such a name. Tell me, how is it that your name is unknown to me? I know all the children who have come to seek my embrace." "I don't come seeking any embrace. I come for this girl, in the name of Konohagakure no Sato." "I have heard of this place from some of the nuns who have come to my well of late. But what would such a place want with this girl who knows not the lands beyond this one?" "I have need for the power you would give her. There is a great evil to face." "Then go and surely, this girl will go in the wake the evil and offer solace to the grieving as I and all her auntie-nuns have done in the past." "We need not solace to the grieving." Kumiko retorted, "Instead, we need a knife to stab the beasts." "Oh, but my daughter, you seek the wrong Yokohama nun," laughed Uma. "That sounds more like my sister, Nashisa." "Do not laugh, woman." "Watch your tone, girl." Uma responded to Kumiko's snide comment, not moving though a certain righteous energy began to radiate from her. An energy Kumiko couldn't even pretend not to feel. She felt her legs buckling under the pressure. No. She couldn't be pushed out of the braid. This would be her only chance. She had to fight back. "I will not release this girl. I will take your power, as wells as hers and the nuns who have devoted themselves to you to fight this battle--whether you like it or not, Uma-sama. Yield or fall." Uma did not respond. Instead, she removed the white veil that sat atop her head, removed the white comb that held her hair up neatly and slammed it down onto the ground. As soon as the comb touched the ethereal space they stood upon, Kumiko could see white energy constructs protrude from the ground erecting themselves like stalagmites to restrict her movements. 'Kuso...' she thought, glaring angrily at Uma as her brow furrowed. 'She is a matriarch for a reason, I suppose.' "Do not worry young girl. You are old in your time, but young to me. I shall purify the taint in your heart. I can see you grieve harder than most, even to this day." Uma said as she approached the immobilized Kumiko, smiling. "An uncle that died a villain when he was a hero. A shamed clan name and the will to protect it. You feel that you've failed your village by not being more prominent. It's okay, child. Failures are in the past, and the future holds the opportunity for more successes. Weep not with grief. Instead embrace life and happiness and the future fortunes to come. "Let me cleanse this taint, child." she said as her hands extended forward to touch Kumiko's forehead. "Back off, bitch." Kumiko said simply, releasing her energy to break her constraints and blow Uma back into the purgatory they occupied. As quickly as her dark energy threw back the matriarch, Kumiko bit into her fingers, drawing two circles upon the palms of her hands before she clapped them together. Three soul fragments peeled themselves from her body, charging after Uma's skipping body. The formation they took was akin to that of a square, one soul fragment on four sides of Uma, both hands outstretched, their circles of blood facing the center. "Tamashī no hako-!!" they cried in unison as a box of dark crimson energy erected from their hands to form a cube-shaped prison around the matriarch Uma. As if nothing had happened, she stood to her feet, looking at the original Kumiko from behind her prison. "You have won this battle, soul witch. But I will save this girl from the grief you will leave in your wake. Enjoy the time you have in control. It won't be long." "You're not the first bitch to tell me something like that." she chuckled as she placed a cigarette to her lips and lit it. She turned as she looked around and the space they occupied. "I'm sure you won't be the last." "I have to go introduce myself to Naka-chan. I'll be a good Uma Obāchan. Don't you worry that wrinkled face of yours."

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[HATA ŌJIN]

[atrb=style,width: 350px;] "So... here is the grotto we're looking for!" the painted suriculturist chuckled, comparing a photo of the statue to the statue that stood to the side of the entrance to the caved lake. "So... this is Yokohama Uma's grotto." He looked over to his horned companion, smiling widely. "We've found what we came for now." Truthfully, Hata Ōjin had just met the women he was traveling with now. She was a recruit brought to his attention through Ami (The Net), the information network established between the Bijūtsukai using their troop of followers. Her abilities were of interest to him which led him to seek her out on the same mission that he would seek out Naka. They would be of particular use in his next undertaking--with the ninja world being generally unresponsive to his first warning, it was now time for him to take matters into his own hands. It was time to take all the Tailed Beasts for the world's betterment. "Tyn, keep your spirit calm here. These Yokohama folk are very attuned to it and whatnot. Disturbing them could have some pretty steep consequences, ah?" Ōjin said light-heartedly as he progressed into the grotto, though his face betrayed his true feelings. In truth, he felt great trepidation just stepping over the threshold of the place. The Yokohama were known for benevolence but no man had ever dared cross the nuns, what some would call witches, of the clan. No stories existed of such events--mainly because no man ever lived after crossing a nun, and those who would speak of such events had their tongues removed. To step into a sacred place such as this was, therefore, a great offense to their traditions. The pass into the grotto was narrow and short but when it came to the clearing, it was beautiful with a girl seated in the center of the pond, exhausted. "Here our girl is, Tyn-chan!" Ōjin said, appearing gleeful. He wasted no time in moving closer to her, stepping onto the sacred waters slowly in anticipation of some ancient power that would repel him. It wasn't there. He exhaled as he affirmed himself of his own safety and then approached the girl normally. "Yokohama Naka-chan. Wake up, sweet girl." the Hata clansman said, smiling at her as he shook her to consciousness. "Tyn-chan--come say hi to our new friend!!"

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[Tyn]

Tyn tilted her head to the right, pondering this place and Ojin's words. She had no cause to anxious, really. Ignorance truly was bliss, for she was not aware of the reputation preceding these nuns. She also believed in Ojin's strength. These things kept her calm, whereas Ojin was unknowingly anxious. Ironic.

She followed Ojin onto the water, walking gracefully on it's surface.

"Hello, Naka-chan," she greeted, smiling. Children were something of a weakness for Tyn. She had a fondness of them. Truth be told, she once tried to have a child. However, an ugly encounter with the Jinchūriki of the Gobi had ruined her chance for a lifetime. She knew, first hand, that the presence of the Bijū was a tragedy for the world to endure. There was no better reason for her to join the Bijūtsukai; so that tragedy would not befall others at their tails.

[Yokohama Naka]

[atrb=style,width: 350px;] It all happened to fast. She was pulled into the water, heard the voice and then silence and white. And then, here she sat once more, atop the wobbly rock island in the middle of the water. How was she here again? What was going on? Had she successfully underwent the ceremony with Uma? She thought these things when she'd regained consciousness, her psyche stirred by the shaking. What was shaking her? She mustered up all her strength to open her eye lids and raise her head so that she might see what was shaking her. Her breathing was irregular, labored. A voice. There was a voice before this one too. Two people were before her. Odd. No one breaches the sanctity of this ceremony. Who were they? The questions dispelled the grogginess and she shook to attention, looking up at Ōjin and Tyn wide-eyed. "Ho--how do you both know my name?" she asked skeptically, her hands balling into fists below the abundant amount of cloth that formed her kimono. She was prepared now to use the power Uma had given her to remove these two from defiling her ceremony. She could feel the power swelling beneath her stomach--and then a sudden calm shooting down from her chest. What was this? 'Listen to their words, girl.' she heard. She'd never heard a voice from within that was not her own before. This had to be Uma's voice. She had to listen. "Who are you two?"

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[HATA ŌJIN]

[atrb=style,width: 350px;] Ōjin looked to Tyn as the spike of energy came and went from within the little girl. Ōjin knew Tyn's abilities. She wasn't one so intuned that she could sense chakra--Ōjin wasn't the sort either--but he was sure she felt that. Because he did. However, there was something even more unsettling than the sudden spike in chakra from the girl--an amount and ferocity of chakra that could never be attainable to a girl only eleven years old. It was that it was suppressed so quickly--suppressed at all. It told to his worst fear concerning this girl because there was no alternatives. She was here already. Her goals were obvious to Ōjin--to infiltrate his ranks. To his dismay, he would not have another chance at the Yokohama in the foreseeable future so he'd have to willingly play into her hand. The Leaf's Hag was a resourceful and trained player of the ways of war. He kicked himself for being so simple as to be deceived by her. Ōjin was sure to be cautious in how he went further, an aura he radiated to his companion, Tyn, by his very body language. Gingerly, he placed a hand atop the girl's shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. "I am Hata Ōjin and this is my friend Tyn." he began. "We came here because we knew you were a special little gir--forgive me, Naka-chan, I should first apologize to you for intruding upon this ceremony. I know it was uncalled for on my part. However, you must understand as one who would dedicate herself to Uma, that great grief will soon grip the world. "We came for you because we needed someone to wash it all away as quickly as possible." he paused a moment as he allowed it all to sink into her young mind. "Do you think you can help us? Help the world?"

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