Prancing through some caves [P,NK]

Kaori had been on another herb hunt. This time not out in the borders, but in Sunagakure territory, a big cave system not too far from the village. As not many herbs really grow inside caves it might raise and eyebrow as to why one would go looking for them there. Truth is, she was here more for mushrooms than herbs... maybe she should not call them herb hunts, maybe material expeditions, although that might sound too complicated for weak minded folks. Regardless, as he last herb, excuse me - material expedition, turned out extremely successful, she came looking for these mushrooms as a direct outcome of that event. She would use them to analyze to boy's blood and extract the DNA code from it. The mushrooms unique to this location had a very interesting attribute as well as strong antibiotic qualities. It would help her greatly in the procedure. Unfortunately for some reason Sunagakure did not grow them in labs, the girl's guess was the dark and wet environment it required to grow, which was hard to duplicate in a lab. Also it was not so rare in these caves and if people needed them, they would do like she did and came here. Common sense, right?

And so she was, shadowing through the caverns with a torch in her right hand, looking for a familiar color. So far she had already collected quite a handful, maybe even enough, her spoils in a small bag she held in her left hand, which was hanging by her side. Although these caves were no secret to the villagers, so far she had not run into anybody here. It was all just dark and occasional sounds of water dropping, nothing unusual to the environment. But this time something interesting caught her ear, at first she thought it was wind, but it was unlikely. After a moment she realized it was voice, two people were talking, although they were nowhere close and the words were disrupted by the endless echos from the walls, so she could not make it out what they were talking about. This peaked her interest. Dropping her bag by a wall and leaving the torch not too far from it, so she could find it later as well as not to give away her approach with the light, she proceeded in that direction. Soon she entered a wide cave chamber, she knew it was fairly close to the entrance, if you did not make a couple of wrong turns going that way. For some reason the cavern was filled with mist, Kaori was sure it was not here when she made way through here some time ago. Then she heard a sound of metal clashing  against a stone. It was a safe bet the metal was that of a kunai or some sort of light weapon. Whatever was happening before seemed to have developed into a fight. Without knowing the situation and who was fighting who the girl could not decide whether to join the fight or not, and if she did then who she should fight. Then again, considering how her last material expedition went, maybe she got lucky this time as well. Maybe a friendly was fighting and by stepping into this mess she assured their victory, maybe there will be a corpse she could examine, or maybe even more than one. She waited there until the mist started to clear, but not enough for her to see who were fighting, only their silhouettes. There were two of them. From their movement she got an impression of them being about Genin ranked and about as strong as herself. As the fight in front of her unfolded, she dwelled on it - who could the two be, from this distance and because of the mist she could not see their head bands, although it was clear both of them were ninja or at least undergone some sort of training. If so, then who and from what village were they? Were they missing ninja, or something? Or maybe they were from Sunagakure just like her, in that case what made them fight? As she was not in the mist herself, they would probably not see her, so she decided to wait until it cleared, which seemed to be sooner rather than later, after all it was starting to clear already. She was eager to see what the fate had brought to her today. Maybe it would turn out to be more than corpses even.

755 w.

A sandal clad foot was the first thing Akira noticed as soon as the mist lessened. Unfortunately for him, it was too close for him to actually dodge it. So he took it like a man. Because the person kicking him was in fact terribly weak, pathetically weak even. You could say the person had the strength of a five year old. Because of this it didn't hurt as much as it could of, or how much Akira expected it to. In fact the only thing it managed to do was make Akira stumble backwards, as if he had simply been pushed by a child similar in age to himself. Akira was not one to stand idle however, and the hand wielding the kunai was swung upwards, kunai tip aimed to stab into the side of the leg that was being used to kick him. The power behind the swing wasn't much, only really enough to cause a small cut in the leg. Really it was only a tactic to try and annoy the person, after all a supposed divine being getting cut by a mere 'peasant' such as himself would probably anger the other blonde. 

After that movement, Akira backtracked. Taking several steps backwards quickly to increase the distance between himself and the insane person to that of ten metres. It was at that point that the mist simply faded away out of existence completely, granting both Akira and Gilgamesh vision of each other once more. Deciding not to rush into things once again, Akira simply stayed on the spot eyeing the boy, waiting to see if he would make another attack towards him. If he were to do that, then Akira would obviously act accordingly. And if he decided to give up, well he would allow him to. After all, Akira knew he was obviously the superior one here.

His foot had stuck home as he felt the gentle pushing of a face underneath himself; how quaint. Using that to bend his knee and quickly do a backflip off the peasants face, the kunai would strike thin air as Gilgamesh landed on the ground about 5 meters from his opponent. He smirked as he noticed the tainted blood of a commoner dripping from the boy's piggish nose and pencil lips; they were weird features to see on a boy, but hey, who was he to question the homeless of Sunagakure No Sato? Oh right.. he was Gilgamesh, he had every right in the world in and then some. His katana still held in his right hand, the boy simply smirked as he rose his free hand, the katana pointing downwards towards the ground but ready to be manipulated at any second should a challenge occur. However, for now, it was time to show superiority. Doing just that, his free hand rose up and pressed gently against his forehead, cheek and jawbone, his head tilted downwards ever so slightly. His smirk was still easy to see however, and his red eyes were now closed. His ears were keen however to hear for any sound of movement because he knew the homeless were quite tricky fellows when they wanted to be. He spoke once more with a strong sound of arrogance, "You see, little mongrel.. I am far more capable in the destruction of organisms and structures than you." After saying that, the boy would remove his hand from his face and open his red eyes, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side and a bit back as he looked down his rather perfect nose at Akira. Speaking once more, his teeth reflecting whatever light was within the cavern, "As you see before you, the majestic image of a King.. a divine being. I am Gilgamesh, and you, peasant, what is the name of the homeless trout that swims so far from home?" It was quite true though, Gilgamesh was quite the divine interpretation of a sexy man, and he was pretty perfect if he did say so himself, and his vassals would clearly say the same thing as well. What was not to like about such a beautiful, ruthless tactician that loved to beat up infi- wait a minute.. something was up with the picture. From the corner of his eyes, the boy noticed a reflection on one of the walls of another homeless seeming figure. Oh lord, what had he got himself into?! He was hair deep in homeless territory! None the less, the brilliant boy kept his cool and simply rose his free hand up once more, flicking it towards himself and Akira as he indicated the girl that he could not see, "Come closer, Dove. Grace your peers with a view of your visage, lest this cowardice before me decides to plant one of his meager, poorly forged kunai into the back of a superior combatant."

Right before the mist settled down, the two silhouettes came together, which looked like an exchange of blows maybe and the went apart against, this time remaining still. And then it would slowly clear up and Kaori would see the fighters. Both we blond boys about her age, maybe one a bit younger, and both of them wielded weapons, a kunai and the older one even had a katana. He would speak, his manner a bit unusual, but Kaori managed to get the vital pieces. The boy was named Gilgamesh, an unusual name for sure. His tone was fairly arrogant and he even called himself a King, in a way. Kaori got sincerely intrigued. Even more when the boy noticed her and let the other one know. That gesture made Kaori wonder if they were maybe friends, having a spar. If they would not both turn on her now. There was always that risk, of being overwhelmed when walking into a fight. "Come closer, Dove. Grace your peers with a view of your visage, lest this cowardice before me decides to plant one of his meager, poorly forged kunai into the back of a superior combatant." After being discovered and exposed, Kaori had no other choice really. Well, she could always try and make a run for it, but none of the two in front of her seemed to show any direct intention to harm her, yet, so it would look very not cool of her to smoke out. Lightly stepping out of the shadows the girl revealed her face as it was requested. But her face would carry a mask of a normal girl, hiding her thoughts of the two. For now she would play cautious, her eyes carefully observing both of the bodies, her smile being light, though growing on a hidden 'I'd hit that, like I hit that kid on the cliff'. She wanted to respond to Gilgamesh in the same manner, but it got away from her. So she improvised, her attempt to copy the manner easily turning into an ironic mimic of his words. "Well, then. I heard your name, so I suppose it's only proper to let you know mine, o great King. Kaori for clan Vex... So, I guess you two are ninja? From Sunagakure?" She ended it with an attempt to get more information on them. If she knows where they're from, maybe she might even be able to sort this mess out.

411 (1166) w.

Akira was rather happy for a brief moment, it seemed that this person was not going to carry on with his futile attacks. Though the happiness left him when the boy once again began to speak, oh how he disliked this guy. Then he introduced himself as a king named Gilgamesh. This puzzled Akira, he had no idea that there were any Kings around this area. Perhaps he were foreign? That would explain why he looked rather strange...and also why he talked strangely as well. A decision was made by Akira in his mind, and the kunai in his hand returned to it's previous position of inside the pouch at his hip. His posture returning to a more relaxed one like before the guy had tried to back flip at him or whatever he was doing. Then something rather surprising happened, it seemed Gilgamesh had spotted something, which after an invitation to come out was revealed to in fact be a female. Yes indeed, a female. What Akira found rather confusing was how she seemed to refer to Gilgamesh as a king while introducing herself as Kaori. Perhaps this guy really was a king.

With that in mind Akira decided he should in fact introduce himself as well. "My name is Akira Zahard, and I am not in fact homeless. I was carrying out an exploration of this cave system when you so rudely attacked me. Oh and I'm a Genin from Sunagakure." He decided to add that last bit in to respond to the question asked by the girl. After all, it was rude to ignore someone when they ask you a question. Unless that person happened to have blonde hair, red eyes and went by the name of Gilgamesh. "You speak strangely Gilgamesh, and you also look rather strange. Are you perhaps from a far of land where Kings exist?" The question came from curiosity, Akira being the great explorer he was wanted to know more about this. And of course the chance to learn about a foreign land is a chance he would never miss. That is of course if this guy is in fact from somewhere else and isn't you know, insane.

Upon noticing the clunking of metal on metal, Gilgamesh found it safe to assume that his opponent had yielded and approved him of him being the victor of their combat, just as expected. With a single fluid motion of the wrist, the boy sheathed his katana before turning his head in time to see the girl reveal herself. His face now lacked a smile and only a stern expression was on it, his lips strewn out thinly and his eyebrows narrowed slightly as if he was concentrating, but of course, he was not. Taking in the girls appearance, he'd turn his head to the side once more, ignoring briefly what the girl had said to focus on what his adversary had said. His back straight, he spoke with a noble tone as he did before, "I am Gilgamesh Uzumaki of the village Sunagakure No Sato. I am a King as I hold power and I am rapidly gaining more power; the title of Kage is too quaint and feeble for a beacon of hope such as I am."


Looking between the two briefly, he did have quite a fondness of them. One inherited blonde hair in a village where black is common and the other was well, a female. That was why he came up with what he said next, keeping his unimpressed look on his face, "However, I am feeling considerate for the people that wish to truly find glory and power. If you two desire, you may join me on my conquest as my vassals; you will exhibit my will and you will exert my judgement, whether you find it morally unappeasing or even if you think the task will be too difficult. You'll be my property, and as such, you will be under my banner of protection." Once more Gilgamesh would look between the pair, his red eyes seemingly scouting the two for any use they may be of to him.

It seemed that with her appearance the fight was halted, for the moment at least. And her introduction made others do the same. The younger kid now spoke, giving them his name, which was Akira Zahard as well as saying that he was a Genin from Sunagakure, just like Kaori herself. This was an obvious reason for her to ally with the boy, in case the fight broke loose again. But she did not have to wait long before Gilgamesh gave them his full name and... apparently he was from their village as well. At this point it was obvious there was no need to butcher one another and this ending as a friendly spar would be more than suitable. What intrigued the girl though, was the boy's named Gilgamesh last name, which was Uzumaki, indicating he traced his lineage from an old and powerful clan that had powerful bloodline limit and was known for their sealing expertise. Dark thoughts swirled in her head as the conversation continued. Kill him? No... Not like this. If she wanted to learn the secrets his blood held, befriending him carried better chances of success in the matter. As she was thinking that, the boy's offer caught her ear. Translating all the fancy talk and crap, in a rundown it would seem that he offered them to become his subordinates. This bode well and almost instantly a plan was hatched. Smiling Kaori would raise her right hand, pointing her finger at Gilgamesh for a moment, then taking it back and folding it into a seal of confrontation - ninja version of glove slap, if you know what I mean. "Since we're all from Sunagakure here... Gilgamesh, you will need to prove to me you are worthy of my allegiance if I was to be your vassal. From what I have seen and heard so far, I assume it would not be too difficult to a King of Heroes like yourself."


326 (1492) w.

Gilgamesh flickered his eyes to the girl upon her challenge to him.. did she truly believe herself to be capable of surviving an encounter with him when his goal was to end her life? Did she truly believe she was even equal to him? His brow contorted a little before he fully turned around to see the girl directly, his arms resting easily at either side of his body as he addressed her directly, "Dove, you wish to start a battle that will result in the demise of you and your side of the heritage? No.. you are to prove yourself to the King, as is Akira.." With that, the boy would walk to the edge of the wall before spinning around, folding his arms over his chest before looking at Akira and addressing him, "A vassal is what I said. You are my hand and you do what I please, whether it be slaughter a baby or punt a granny in the head. You follow the commands of a King and you are rewarded appropriately."

It was now where stuff would get interesting however as he looked between the two, he had just the idea in mind to scout their talents, "Now.. you two should participate in combat to show your worth as Vassals. Of course, I do not want any deaths just yet.. you both may serve purpose to me."

To Kaori's surprise Gilgamesh did not wish to fight her apparently. Walking a bit away and leaning on a wall of the cave he answered Akira's question about vassals, a thing that Kaori knew. Nevertheless, Gilgamesh now wanted to have them fight each other, rather than him. This the girl did not anticipate actually. She expected the boy would be eager to prove his superiority over anyone who dared to question it. But now it seems his arrogance went way beyond that. Considering the situation Kaori turned her head at the Akira boy, who actually seemed to her more skilled than the other one. Rethinking back, she remembered the mist, which was certainly not a local phenomenon, so... a jutsu? In that case one of the two must have cast it. And it was clearly water release, so if she was to face the Akira boy, she should be prepared for it. 

She finally decided. "If there would be no killing, then fine. I'll fight him." With her seal of confrontation now directed at the other boy, she waited for him to accept the duel. Hopefully...

186 (1678) w.