Questions Without Answers

The other side of the room had sat dormant, untouched, and in complete disarray contrary to the side that now housed Maku. Torn pages from books, a fully decomposed body, and various other things including an awful stench encompassed the dank, dreary darkness that was Youka's home. Time hadn't stopped while the decrepit ailing body of the once plague lord had sat in stasis. That was evident by the amount of muscle lethargy he was experiencing on top of the obvious things as dead skin rolling off him in flakes. The stringy raid hair flowed into his face as his head lowered to his chest, he wasn't supposed to have awoken, the world didn't want nor need him and the one person who had understood him had long been gone.

His slightly pointed ears perked as he heard voices coming from the other side of the room, both sounded familiar but also very different as if they were companions but lost to him through time. The side of the room that he inhabited shook slightly with the movement of his body as he tried to shift his weight. The walls moaned in a soft hiss of agony while Youka's eyes blinked attempting to once again get used to being open to the outside world. Contrary to Maku and his beast that shared a mutual connection, Epidemius said nothing nor did it rustle now that its host was back in the realm of reality. It knew this brief period back would be but a fleeting moment before the host returned to the depths of his own mind in a eternal slumber once more.

Youka had traded his bulking armor for his black priests robes before he entered meditation. The gold sewing in various places along the robe were etchings of right side up and upside down crosses, the original purpose of these robes had long since been lost upon him. Griping his chair, the strength he possessed had been forgotten as the wood splintered into his hands as he pushed his body upwards to the standing position. There was no time to get his body antiquated with moving freely and the various fine motor skills that came along with all of that. Youka opened his mouth to speak for the first time in a very long time, his deep voice scratching at the air as if repulsing even the very air he needed to breathe.

"What are you both doing in my chambers?"

Is what he wanted to say, however what had come out were deep growls and slight mummers as an acidic drool fell from his open lips onto the floor causing it to bubble by his feet. It seemed his ability to speak had been taken away or he had simply forgotten the language due to his absence. Ignoring the boy that was in the room his attention solely focused on the other male that stood opposite of him.

"I..thought.....you were.....dead..."

Each breath was ragged and every word he spoke sounded as if he was phonetically trying to pronounce them. The deep crimson of his own sharingan meeting that of someone he had once called brother. Brothers didn't leave others to believe they had perished, they didn't leave with missions half finished without a word. Half the kages mind wanted to believe this was just a dream he was having inside his own mind. The beast inside him did occasionally like to play these tricks, however the other half knew that was not the case and it infuriated him even more. His low chakra spiking back to that of his prime just for a moment before dying down once more, his body not being able to handle such a jolt at this point.

For the briefest of moments his eyes turned to Max glaring into the boys body, tendrils worming under the skin on his face, a few making their way out of his eye sockets before returning back under his skin. The boys visage had not been lost on him, he still remembered those ninja from when he walked this village. At the moment he simply didn't care.

Max would ponder Maku’s statement for a moment, unsure of what to say. Build him the other eight tailed beasts? What exactly did he mean? How? Max would stroke his own chin with his index finger and thumb, mulling it all over. He was in no position to refuse such a request, as this was the only way he was going to be able to learn about the details regarding Senshi’s demise.
 
“So Commander Maku, you say you would like me to build you puppet replicas of the other creatures. How close would you like them to be to their originals? Kurama there is rather large…” Max would say before changing his statement, “At least normally speaking, that is. Do you seek life size replicas, and are they all that big? If you give me the specifications of what you want built, I can… no I WILL build them as requested.” The boy would say this as Maku grabs the scroll from his desk and then hands it to the boy for inspiration.
 
Max would nearly open the scroll to inspect the puppets before a cracking noise from the other side, the side that housed Lord Mortarion rung in the boy’s ears. Looking over to the chair in which his Kage sat, the arms were crushed under the power of man’s grip.
 
Max would immediately bow to show respect to the man whose power was both a goal and Max’s own inspiration, “Lord Raikage” the boy would say in hushed tones, not expecting any response from his superior. He would rise again and watch the man that held such a strange position in the mind of the boy. The monster of a Raikage, a nigh unstoppable force in the shinobi world. A large hill to climb indeed…
 
Max would watch as a few droplets of spittle would fall to the floor of the office, immediately sizzling at the wooden planks beneath the man. Even in this state the man exuded a sense of power that most other shinobi simply lacked. And those evil, crimson eyes… the eyes of demons and monsters. Never had he met a man with those eyes that didn’t cause this world great pain, nor did he ever expect to.
 
Max would then be amazed by the next words out of his Raikage’s mouth, his eyes growing wide and his jaw nearly dropping as the statement slowly and almost haphazardly fell from the lips of his Lord and made way to his ears.
 
He thought Maku was dead? How can that be? Lord Mortarion had appointed Maku as their military commander some time back… Was his memory merely foggy since he had just awoken from a slumber, some distant past event being brought to the forefront of his dreaming mind? Of course, there was another possibility, and this was one that made Max truly worry. Had Maku merely tricked all of Kumo, pretending to be appointed to his position? None of it was making sense to the boy, but hopefully these two would clarify what had occurred.
 
Max wasn’t sure what the immediate future held, but he would try his best to be ready for anything that might happen next.

Max would watch as Maku and Mortarion interacted, their relationship being a rather unique thing in the eyes of Max. Despite the almost overwhelming aura between these potent ninja, Max would somehow feel almost at ease. Such piece of mind was rather strange, something he hadn’t felt in what had felt like almost an eternity.
 
Merely touching Mortaron seems to sizzle at the skin of Maku, much like the flooring before it. Even in this state, barely awake and functioning the man still is as lethal as anyone he has ever met. The words of Maku suggest that Mortarion was merely remembering things incorrectly, but until Mortarion confirmed it Max would never know for sure. The seeds of doubt were planted in the fertile mind of young Max.
 
Kurama looks rather upset with Lord Mortarion, though the boy does not know why the little fox shows such aggression now in the presence of the Plague Lord. Perhaps it was something that had occurred in the past, another enemy that had a distaste for our Lord. It had come to Max’s attention recently that more and more of those people that stood against Kumo and the village’s leaders were coming out of the woodworks. Max had known that there were groups of enemies that wished to see Kumo fall, but at least the 9-tailed beast seemed to be on our side.
 
Maku would offer a drink to their Lord, though the man seemed to still be rather groggy from his slumber. Max waited, allowing ample time for some sort of response from the man but he seemed to be having some sort of difficulty forming any response. Perhaps his mouth was dry and he was unable to answer. Maybe he should accept that drink, as it would allow his parched throat some needed relief.
 
“It seems as though you both have a lot to discuss. Would you prefer I leave for now? I can go and begin the research required for this undertaking I have agreed to.” Max would say to Maku, breaking his silence and the silence of the room.
 

Of course, the boy would await permission from his military commander (or Lord Mortarion) to leave. If they had any further requests Max would address them before his leave.


OoC: I skipped Youka, as it has been almost 2 weeks since the last post in this thread. I didn't think that this would be an issue. Hopefully Youka will be more available to post sometime in the future, as I would love to see more of his writing.

It would seem as though his superiors had no further questions or assignments, and so Max would leave the Kage's office, everything he had just witnessed fresh in his mind. He held on to the scroll of puppetry diagrams and made his way back home. He had work to do.

---Exit---

WC: 4256 (Splits between Max and Napa for 2128 each)

Max's Claims:
Maku's puppets (Obviously since it was refunded you aren't able to use any of the puppets. It is merely for CD and interaction. - Maku)
2128 WC towards Mystical Palm (now at 3136/4000)
20 AP (since I didn't use max stat discount)

Napa's Claims:
2128 WC towards Mystical Palm (now at 2481/4000)
10 Stats

Approved big dawg

approved my guy