A break! Taking a little time for recuperation!

[Moongem]

Reizo let out a rather pleased chuckle and then closed his eyes and quieted himself, seeming to submerged himself into what seemed to be a state of deep concentration. He thought to himself, one could only guess what twisted thoughts were going through his mind at that time. Once he opened his eyes he sat up and sent a glare at his partner; a glare so wide his canines were visible. "Well then Kara-Kara... Let's not wait till morning, let's wait till the sun has set. Once darkness is all that's around... We'll go... What do you think?"

[Rinko]

"That's a pleasant surprise," she said, still standing. She extended her arm, and Kurai joined her by gently landing on it. She scratched the back of his head with her scarred arm. "The sooner we kill this thing.. the better." She looked at Reizo. Her face remained straight and emotionless, but she was eager to kill that thing, no doubt.

Kurai was a little uneasy, not really knowing if they could pull it off, but he believed in them. After all, the things Karasu and Reizo had been through had brought them closer as partners in a very odd way.. He tilted his head at them, concerned about whether or not they were well rested enough for the battle, but he knew better than to question them, after seeing how determined they were.

[Moongem]

The orange sky around them had darkened to an almost crimson color as the sun began to vanish behind the mountains, the same mountains that Reizo and his partner would be traveling to once the moon was the only light in the area. The male couldn't help but grin in anticipation as thoughts of cutting up a beast finally, FINALLY. Time passed, rather quickly in fact and finally, the sky was a dark blue. Night.

During the wait, clouds had rolled in, to their advantage, and covered the moon. Reizo grinned as he stood, pushing himself to his feet quickly. He stepped forward with a grin, "Come on Kara... lets go have some fun."

[Rinko]

Karasu smirked as she adjusted her katana on her back. Finally. "Yes.. Let's go.. I'll enjoy spilling the blood of this creature.." Her tone was laced with an icy chill, one so inhuman, it caused Kurai to shudder where he was, perched on her shoulder. Karasu nuzzled him with he side of her head while still looking towards the mountains, and he nuzzled back, still really creeped out. She set out, her movements automatic. She focused her Charkra, causing the gem to glow under her kimono. She reached out to other birds, and told them to keep watch in case they ran into any.. surprises. Karasu took to the trees, and leaped across the branches with Kurai flying with the other birds.

[Moongem]

Reizo focused chakra into the balls of his feet and he left the ground, moving skyward until he broke the tree line and firmly landed on the branch of a tree, the chakra on his feet gluing him firmly in place before he released the flow and leaped to the next branch. He landed on the branch and it creaked underneath his weight, but nothing more, and he then left it as quickly as he got to it, jumping to the next one and continuing these motions.

He felt the thrill of the hunt and his excitement was clear in his eyes.

[Rinko]

Karasu kept her eyes ahead, towards the mountains. This part was important.. the hunt. She frowned in concentration before jumping to the next branch, and the next. Her eyes were wide, unblinking, and focused. Her concentration broke when Kurai joined her, flapping gracefully. He said, "Kurasu-chan.. The other birds are keeping watch, they say nothing is around for miles."

Karasu kept her eyes ahead, the wind blowing her hair back, fully exposing her face. "Good," was all she said. Kurai dropped his pace, and joined Reizo, and told him the same thing.

[Moongem]

"Excellent." He responded to the bird in a monotone voice before pressing forward until he was only a few paces behind his partner. It didn't take the two long before they reached the base of the mountain. Reizo stopped on a branch, one knee and his hand balancing him upright, he turned his head back at the bird and spoke to it quickly, "Feathers, I'm gonna use your eyes. Fly along the wall of the mountain, until we can see the mouth of the cave, understood?" He said, basically ordering Kara's bird without a second thought. He figured, the two of them (Kara and Reizo) both were so thirsty for a beasts blood, that she might not even notice.

[Rinko]

Kurai nodded, fully understanding the urgency of the situation. He flew forward, until he was along the wall of the mountain, giving Karasu a passing glance. He flew very slowly, as to not attract any attention. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. He was very nervous about this battle.. and about meeting the demon.

As Kurai flew by, Karasu spoke to him in a whisper. She said, "Please be careful.." She drew her katana, the blade glinted in the low moonlight, banishing her affectionate emotions. Now was a time to kill.

[Moongem]

Reizo's eyes closed and he waited a moment, waiting until he felt his kekkei genkai activate. His eyes opened and he saw to screens of vision, Kara, directly in front of him and a bird-eyes view of the side of the mountain and the ground below. Reizo's orange eyes moved back and forth as he examined the terrain, but to Kara, or anyone watching him, it would look like he was some insane guy, looking for something.

In a few minutes he lifted his hand, as if the bird could see it and then spoke in that telepathic way the bird had, "Stop." He commanded. He examined the place that he suspected was the mouth of the cave. Reizo stood and jumped past Kara, falling towards the ground and landing with grace, despite his missing limb. As he passed Karasu, he spoke, "Your turn to follow me."

Once he landed he immediately set off in a mad, silent dash. A few seconds later he halted and spoke in his mind again, "Bird, back off... NOW." There was a sense of urgency in his voice.

As Reizo spoke, something happened at the mouth of the cave, a flux of chakra expanded like a ripple of water, invisible to the naked eye.

[Rinko]

Kurai heard Reizo's urgent voice, and was more than happy to oblige. He turned tail, and landed on Karasu's shoulder. She leaned her head against the nervous bird, calming him.

When Reizo told Karasu to follow him, she did just that. She strode behind him, her katana ready for blood. She couldn't help but shudder as the wave of chakra hit. All the while, the gem was glowing from underneath her kimino. "It's here.." she thought to herself, "This is it, finally.."

[Moongem]

Reizo moved again once the bird had returned to it's master, moving swiftly along the mountain, expecting his partner to follow him. After a few minutes, he reached an area of the mountain where the mouth of the cave was close and visible, but not where they were was not visible from the inside.

He peered forward into the dark cave until he felt comfortable and dashed once more, not stopping until he had reached the inside of the cave. He felt chakra wrap around him, it was unnaturally warm, matching the temperature inside the cave perfectly. He took a step and then heard a noise, it was a familiar sound, the sound of flesh colliding with flesh and then, voices. Reizo knelled down and listened.

"The Hakumei!?" A rather deep voice echoed through the cave, "You saw two of them sniffing around where we hide the stone and you waited till now to tell me!" The sound of flesh colliding with flesh again followed by a familiar whimper of fear and pain. "Did they see you!? Could they have followed you!?" The males voice went on, there was a small pause and then the girl's voice from earlier, "N-no... they didn't see me... I-I'm... sure that they couldn't follow me..."

[Rinko]

"So, the girl is his prisoner.." she thought to herself. Karasu held the blade out and nudged Reizo, motioning that they needed to take the battle outside, in lieu of the girls request, granted, if she didn't get in the way.. She lowered her blade again, and nodded, wondering what their course of action was, considering she was following Reizo.

[Moongem]

Reizo thought for a moment and then looked at her and whispered to her, almost silently, but enough for her alone to hear. "Go to the tree line. I'll force him out." He said slowly before looking at the scene. This explained why the girl had broke so easily... but if she didn't have some sort of fondness for the man, why would she try to hide him at all? He blinked, thinking and then shook his head of thoughts and put his hands together in a handsign before sinking into the ground like a stick in the mud.

[Rinko]

Karasu nodded, and slowly retreated for the treeline. Kurai was already way ahead of her. She shook her head. She could her her pulse banging in her ears. She was a little paranoid that the monster could her her as well. Once she was out of the cave, she took to a branch, and perched there. The other birds that followed had gathered above the lip of the cave, and the branches nearby.

[Moongem]

Reizo resurfaced in the shadows directly behind this retched creature and glared at it in the darkness. He stared with such malice, that he would not be surprised if the beast felt his presence, however it did not.

The beast; a man with wind swept black hair and a rather masculine face lifted the girl by the collar of her shirt until she was off the ground. He looked the girl dead in the eye and shouted, "Why would you even go there in broad day light!? Are you trying to get your only friend killed!?"

It was at that moment that Reizo acted, lunging from the shadows and grabbing the man by his throat. "Blood Style! Muscle Amplification Jutsu!" Suddenly, his single arm enhance by three fold in both size and definition. He lifted the man off his feet and kicked the girl square in her chest, forcing her from the man's hold. He didn't stop though, he made a mad dash, carry the man to the mouth of the cave and hurled him out of it. The man's body hit with a 'thud' and soon after, Reizo stepped from the darkness, his arm now normal size and and covered in a layer of blood.

[Rinko]

Karasu heard shouting from inside the cave a tensed. Moments later, she saw the beast sail out of the cave and hit the ground. She was out of the branch in the blink of an eye, her katana at the man's throat. She glanced at Reizo, to see if he was alright. Her cold stare, filled with hate and blood-lust returned to the manat her feet. "You.. You die tonight, demon!"

[Moongem]

Reizo didn't waste any time preforming one handed hand signs and planting his palm firmly against the ground, "Sealing Jutsu! Four corners Barrier!" Black writings shot from his palm and created a well sized box around the three of them. The box was formed of a kind of purple chakra that could be seen through, as if invoking false hope. Reizo grinned and walked towards the two of them.

"W-what!?" He shouted as he felt the cold steel against the flesh of his throat, "Y-You two! Your the Hakumei that she saw, aren't you!?" The temperature darted skyward suddenly.

Reizo noticed the temperature, "So... you must be the fire affinity beast... the hawk." He said, slowly, "Caution Kara; he can manipulate temperature and fire."

[Rinko]

Karasu watched, impressed, as her partner sealed the barrier. He never ceased to surprise her. She held her blade where it was, and answered the beast saying, "You know who we are.. Then you must know why we came.." She pressed the blade against his neck, the cold steel reflecting the purple wall of Chakra. As the temperature rose, her vision became warped-- like looking at the heat coming off of a tin roof. Her eyes narrowed. In response to Reizo's warning, and more to herself, she muttered sarcastically, "Perfect..." Her eyes darted from her scarred arm, back to the beast.

[Moongem]

"My stone! You guys couldn't even touch me if I had my stone!" the beast howled with apparent rage. He looked at the blade, the only thing holding him back from lunging at Reizo. He felt that he could still control this, even though he knew that only elite ninja were allowed in the Seidai and he was out numbered.

Reizo prodded at the beasts rage with his words, "You mean the chakra amplified Azurite? Yeah, the girl told us all about it... So we took it and put it somewhere you could never get it." Some of this was obviously a lie, but the beast wouldn't know that.

In a fit of rage that beast pressed himself back, pushing against Karasu's torso and allowing his own torso to become visible to Reizo. A sudden flame shot forth at the young man, who's words had obviously done what they were intended to.

[Rinko]

Karasu frowned at the creature being so close to her body. She didn't like where this was going, and Reizo truly was doing what he did best.. She knew the beast was going to try to attack. She frowned. There were a few birds trapped in the box with them.. Not including Kurai, which made her a little nervous. She focused her chakra, beaconing them to aid, but not until she needed them. Karasu remained where she was.. she figured Reizo would either charge our counter.. she didn't want to be in the way of his attack.

Meanwhile, Kurai sat on a branch watching the scene before him.. He was a little nervous about not being near Karasu. He hopped towards the cave, and flitted inside to see if the small girl was still alive after the beating she took.

[Moongem]

Reizo grinned, his words had obviously worked. He fell to his chest, avoiding the spire of fire that had shot from the beasts chest and the sunk into the ground as the beasts vision was taken for a moment by the flash of his own attack erupting on the barrier wall. Reizo shot up from the ground, his hand on the beasts chest, where it had shot the fire from. "Seal! Release!" He shouted, and suddenly, the purple barrier collapsed on them until it had completely invaded the beasts body.

"Let him go, Kara-chan." He said, unconsciously giving her name a prefix, "He can't do anything, his chakra's sealed." Reizo grinned at him with crossed arms, "Unfortunately for you, Mr. Fire Bird, we have a bit of pent up agression against your kind... especially fire ones."

Once the barrier invaded his body, he felt a sudden weakness take over him and he slumped, what had that brat done!? He heard Reizo explain and stared at the ground with wide eyes, how had this happened?

[Rinko]

Karasu grudgingly moved her blade, but dragging it across the disabled creature's skin. She moved away, and joined Reizo. She stared at the slumped being and said, "Yes.. Oh, we hate fire.." She glared into his eyes. She felt as though she could pierce into the very depths of his soul, and set fire to it. Just looking at it made her blood boil with rage, butt o the outside she was a cold as the land of the ice they visited before.

Kurai flew deep into the cave, wondering where the small girl was. Despite him being one of Karasu's weapons, so to speak, he was actually a fairly caring individual. He couldn't outwardly speak the human tongue, so instead, he squawked repeatedly.

[Moongem]

Reizo grinned as his partner spoke and then he leaned down and grabbed the creatures chin and forced it to look at him. "You will die, it will be painful, we will enjoy it and once it's done, it'll be because you begged for it." He released his chin harshly and grinned before standing full height. He turned his head to his partner the question, 'who goes first' clear on his face.

The girl heard the squawking of some sort of bird and it pulled her from her small state of unconsciousness. She pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around until she saw the bird. She just stared at it, feeling a bit light headed.

[Rinko]

Karasu returned Reizo's gaze. there was a light smile on her face, but it was gone as soon as she faced the monster. She strode up to him, grabbed him by his hair, and forced him to be sitting on his knees. She held her burnt arm up to his face. "Look at this.. Look at it!" Her eyes were wide with rage. She didn't care whether the beast looked or not. She strode up to it, and kneeled at eye level, inches from his face. Her gaze was cold. "You have no idea what we've gone through to find and kill you bastards.." She spoke in a icy, menacing whisper, "You are the scourge of the earth, and I swear by my sword, I mean to rid the world of your kind, or die trying, you hear me?" She straightened, and looked down at the creature feeling to remorse. She lunged forward, and planted her knee right into his stomach.

Kurai landed, and hopped towards the girl. He briefly closed his eyes, and focused his Chakra. He manipulated it to go into the girls ears. "Don't freak out," he said. His voice was that of a male, calm and young. "Are you hurt badly, miss?"

[Moongem]

The man felt the knee lodge into his stomach with such a force he felt the air evacuate his lunges. He struggled for breath, but something stopped him, he looked up and saw the arm of the other one, the boy and his fingers were wrapped around his throat. His feet began to kick violently in a struggle to survive.

Reizo grinned as he felt the man's life force flicker and he then released him, before that flicker could die. The man fell back, gasping for air desperately. Reizo looked at his partner and then the man again. He stepped towards him and knelled down. He placed his thumb on the man's arm and then forced his thumb nail through his skin, resulting in a stream of blood. "Blood Style: Dead Pulse Jutsu." He murmured. The man felt his arm go limp and dangle to the side, as though it was dead. He stared in horror. Was this the power and madness of the Seidai?

The girl flinched at the voice she heard and then looked around before looking back at the bird, "B-bird?" She said in an amazed, yet unconvinced voice.

[Rinko]

Karasu stood back, and watched the man's arm go dead. Her hands clenched in fists of rage, recalling the pain of having her arm seared time and time again. She also felt the anger for Reizo.. He no longer had an arm. She took a few steps, and was at Reizo's side. "What shall we do with thing thing," she asked. Her voice was heavy, laced with a very calm anger. "Shall we skin him alive? Or break every one of his joints?"

Kurai hopped closer to the girl, his eyes bright. "Yes, that would be me. Don't be frightened, I won't harm you. It looks like you've been kicked around enough to last a while. I came to see if you were alright." He titled his head, and adjusted his feathers.

[Moongem]

"Psh." Reizo scoffed arrogantly, "Only one of the above? Why not both?" He grinned at the man with certain kind of insanity that could only be reached by few, it was obvious that the both of them had this insanity. Reizo flung out his one hand and a spike of blood covered his hand accordingly. He took steps towards the beast with sealed chakra and gave a grin that brimmed with malice. He lifted his arm and swung it at the other arm of the man, aiming for his wrist. The side of the spike collided and resulted with a disgusting, bone crunching noise. Reizo watched as the man's face twisted into pain.

The beast brought up his arm but was unable to do anything but stare at it in it's clearly mangled state. The blood stained bone stuck out the side of his wrist and it nearly made him fall into shock.

Reizo acted before that could happen, he grabbed the wound and spoke, "Blood Style: Adrenaline Compensation." In an instant, the beast's pupils expanded. "No falling asleep now. Let's keep those nerves sending signals to your brain. Your turn, Kara-Chan."

"A-A bird... that can talk?" She said nervously, "W-well... kind of..." She stared at it and then tilted her head, "Why... did you come to check on me?"

[Rinko]

Karasu moved forward, and knelt in front of the mangled beast. She held her arm in front of her, her palm inches away from the man's stomach. She wasn't ready to finish him... but she thought this was needed. She closed her eyes, feeling the gem's warmth against her flesh. She was focusing her Chakra. She needed to focus.. she was conducting a mental experiment.. Her eyes opened, and were locked onto the eyes of the beast. They were an icy light lavendar. "My clan would have disowned me for this..." She pulled her arm into her sleeve, and returned it to its previous position. Perched on her fingers was a small red-eyed raven. "She lifted the raven to her lips and whispered, "Now.." Within a second, the bird flew out of her hand, and landed on the man's cheek. Its eyes glowed red with hate and malice, to match the one who had made it. It lunged, plunging its beak deep into the man's eye, again and again.

"Well... more or less. I don't really know if I'm actually a bird, but I can speak, yes." He remained where he was, examining the extent of the girl's injuries. "I wanted to know if you were alright. No one should be treated like that by friend or enemy. Tell me, why has he kept you here, anyway? Not much of a living space, if you ask me."

[Moongem]

Reizo grinned with delight as he watched his partner do what she did. It gave him a bit of peace at heart to know that he wasn't the only one who wanted FUBAR something. He took a step forward as he heard the man began screaming, his eye being destroyed by the raven's sharp beak. Reizo knelt down beside Karasu and moved a hand over the man's mouth. For a moment there was silence, then, a wet flop, and then a light scream, then a muffled scream. Reizo pulled his hand away and revealed what he had done. As he pulled his hand away, It was shown that the man's lips had been burnt together, his mouth, now gone.

The girl kept her eyes on the bird and swallowed nervously before answering. "A-about a week ago, that man's beast was set free... and he destroyed our village... he killed everyone... once he was finally able to tame the beast, for the time, at least, he found me amongst the ruble and told me that he knew a place that we'd be safe from the beast..." She looked up quickly, and nervously "He treated me like a friend for a while... and then at night, he made a seal between me and that blue gem... if I get to far away from it... or it gets to far from him... I'll die..." She shuffled and looked around the cave, "After that... Well..." she lifted her bruised arms as an explanation.

[Rinko]

Karasu stood up, and backed off a few steps, surveying the pain-ridden fool. "Sad.." she began, "You can't even beg for death now, can you, beast?" Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "Where is the great power of the Jinchuriki now? I don't see it," she extended her arm to her side, her sleeve hiding most of her hand, "I just see a pathetic mass of self-pity. Are you even worth my time? No, you aren't. Not one damn second.. But I can't give you the reward of killing you quickly, oh, no." She flung her arm in a downward arch, and five larger, red-eyed ravens came spilling out. They landed at the man's feet, and began pecking at them, removing only the flesh.

Kurai nodded. He was aware that if there was no way to break the seal... the girl would not be able to accompany them. "Fair enough..." he began, pondering, "Then is there a way to remove this seal?"