A Withering of Strength


Meruin, Nori, Rin

Date: July 29, 2011


One Kirigakure ninja training and another on his way back from training meet. Offensive is given and received and punishment delivered for it.

"A Withering of Strength"

Rock-Strewn Beach — Land of Water


As one walks along the coast from the ferry, things grow quieter- But for the sounds of the sea, crashing against the rocky shore. As the tide grows low, one can make out a rock-strewn path across the shallows, twisting and turning, ending at a beach of black sands about 50 feet out into the water- Crossing at a higher tide is possible, but dangerous due to the slick rocks. The faint sounds of obsidian singing against obsidian with the ebb and flow resonate across the water, giving the area- Trashed as it is with kelp, bushes, gravel, and boulders- an aura of near-tranquility.


Black-Sand Beach - (B) [Black-Sands Beach]
Southwest - (SW) [Water Ferry Docks]

Nori stands quietly next to a wooden effigy of a shinobi. Periodically he strikes it, and while it seems he hits them with full intensity, the dummy doesn't shake or move. After a while, Nori stands back and scratches his head, muttering. "This doesn't work at all. How am I to perfect this maneuver if I can't get someone living to practice on?" He sighs and looks around, and just as he takes his attention away from the dummy, it shudders and falls to pieces on the ground. Nori doesn't seem to take notice of it at all.

Meruin strides in from the direction of the beach of black sand, the nine year old's gait smooth, his pace studious, long platinum hair gliding through the air behind him. His eyes locked onto the falling remnants of the dummy as he moved closer, though it's hard to tell due to his lack of pupils. They moved, then, to the ninja who'd caused such neat destruction. It was impressive.

Nori looks as the Meruin approaches. Nori studies the other shinobi speculatively. "Hey, you've got natural body armour, don't you? Does it protect your internal organs a bit, too?" Nori smiles innocently. "Maybe you'd be willing to help me in a little experiment." Excellent choice of words, thinks Nori.

The nine year old looks up at Nori as he got closer, silent as the grave. His face was the still mask it nearly always was, his skin pale, making the child look wraith-like when touched by the mist as he was. He stopped not far from the dummy and merely stood there with a preternatural stillness, as though time had simply abandoned him where he was, waiting.

Nori stares at the silent kid. "Not talking today, huh?" He chuckles lightly. "Alright. Here's whats going to happen… I've developed the next level of Kudakeru Taijutsu. Its not a friendly technique, its destructive, painful… it probably won't kill in one hit, but it will certainly not be fun." Nori sets a stance and focuses on Meruin. "Basically, I'm going to pick to of your vulnerable points, and hit you in them simultaneously. Kinda like pressure point techiques… except I'm not that nice. If you don't want to participate, then just shake your head. If you're up for it, then you might want to think about protecting yourself." Nori's eyes flash slightly as he focuses his chakra and begins studying Meruin.

Meruin simply stands there, as still as he'd been moments before. But he'd heard and understood. Darkness began to spread over his body from his over the swirling mist of his eyes down his face, a chitin as black as lightless as the abyss. It spread over the whole of his form.
"How about we strike a deal?"

Nori hmms. "Sure, whats your deal?" Nori doesn't break his focus however, he just simply continues studying Meruin. The veins on his forearms seemed to glow and bulge with the chakra surging through them, his teeth grit, sharpening slightly with the intensity of his bloodline and chakra. Where before he'd been studying the most of Meruins Torso, it seems he's now tracing between specific points.

Abruptly, Meruin's ebony skin was covered in a close, flowing fur of platinum spider silk, four spider legs slamming into the ground from his shoulder blades, the force of their creation making shattering the dummy's pieces to smaller shards as he was lifted into the air. Apparently, this attack was of a higher caliber — much — than he'd first assumed.
"This technique seems to be of a powerful nature," said Meruin, voice as calm as though he'd been walking the park rather than waiting for Nori's strike to turn him into a more fleshy version of the wooden dummy he'd been using. "As such, if it harms me too much… and doesn't do enough to vanquish me… I desire one of the arms that do the damage to replenish myself. I have other duties to perform, today. You are a Kaguya. You may keep the bone, attached. You should be fine, afterwards, provided you seek medical attention."

Nori grins. "You take an arm, and I get to see whether or not you survive?" He chuckles lightly, and shrugs. "I think that sounds fair." For a moment, Nori doesn't appear to have moved at all, and then suddenly his standing in front of the chitin covered Meruin, one hand striking towards the upper right of the boys chest, and another swinging in and up just below his ribs on the other side. Theres an electric sensation to the air as Nori discharges his chakra, curiosity turning Nori's face as he waits to see the outcome of his new technique, should it work.

Nori's blow slammed into the child's chitin covered body, the force of it sending him sliding backwards, his spider's legs making deep furrows in the sand , tossing larges rocks and small boulders aside. Looking at him, face still calm, Meruin spoke.
"That could not have been the offensive maneuver you'd boasted of." He couldn't move his body, true, but he knew that it had caused very little damage for the energy it had taken from Nori. "Again."

Nori grunts, his eyes narrowing. Chakra surges through his body and into his arms, and once again he swings his arms in, this time attempting to hit a similar but just slightly varied point on the spider-man's body. Now's not the time for questions, its the time for action, and training, and proving that the fist is mightier than the snail!

Meruin's body was thrust backwards, though now he simply swung back and forth, his arachnid legs keeping him planted in the same location he'd started in as he stared at Nori, a little blood marring the paleness of his silk-covered chin. "I can't move my body. There's been adequate internal injury for a powerful Chuunin classed technique. I doubt, however, that that attack is…" He pauses, taking in a silent and slightly shuddering breath, a little more blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "…Anything less than a B+ classed technique. It was inefficient in resource use and ineffective in damage output. You were not worth my effort, Kaguya Nori. Come pay your debt."

Nori grunts. "Eh, thanks." He sighs, and offers up his left arm, he watches fascinated to see what the Okumo will do. "You're not going to cut the hole thing off, will you?" He chuckles lightly. "I haven't been practicing my one handed seal techniques, though I suppose this will give me a reason to."

"No," said Meruin, arachnid legs bringing him forward and dipping, bringing him level with Nori's arm. The nine year old's small hands found his bicep and forearm, moving his body up along beside the outstretched arm. "I am going to destroy it. Bringing it back will be your own issue."
Abruptly, his mouth was closed over the Kaguya's arm, his fangs sunk deep into the man's flesh. Immediately, a powerful but very short-lived paralytic toxin started to take effect, rendering Nori still for just long enough for Meruin to feed. And feed he did, corrosive acids being injected directly into the arm of his current prey, liquifying the muscle and fat, painfully stripping it from the bone before beginning to eat at the bone, though, as a Kaguya, Nori's wouldn't be bery much dissolved.
Meruin began to drink.

Nori looks aghast as Meruin sinks his teeth into his arm. (Start crazy anime scene) "AH! Demon Teeth! What are you doing?" Nori shakes his arm up and down, waving the omnomnoming Meruin in the air. Suddenly Nori stops and sits down. "Wooo, I feel light headed…" Nori laughs slightly, and then looks down at his withered arm. "Oi, maybe I shouldn't have agreed to this." With a grunt, Nori struggles back to his feet, plants his foot on Meruin's head and then forces bone spikes out of his arm to try and get the little bastard off.

Approaching from the beach is the figure that arrived with Maikeru just yesterday; Onryou Rin. Wearing his same attire and his expression under the mask invisible- he doesn't seem bothered by the two fighting at all. Though he does seem a bit interested as he approaches slowly; watching curiously.

"You've wasted my time and energy, Kaguya Nori," said Meruin, having detached quickly from the Kaguya with the bones sprouting from that arm and taking a smooth motion backwards. "It is not to be spent lightly on such foolishness. The bargain was met. Now, however, punishment is in order." The nine year old's hair flared out behind him of it's own volition, undulating in a sinuous motion as his arachnid legs, twice as long as his body, lifted him higher into the air at eight feet.
"I will take your other arm in compensation."
The boy vanished and reappeared almost in the same moment, now on Nori's other side. He made a move to thrust his hand into the Kaguya's hair and pushing it away, opening the neck as his other hand grabs his arm. Rather than going for the neck, however, he'd thrust his fangs towards the man's upper arm, letting the paralytic agent keep him from moving as the corrosive acid once more flooded Nori's limb to dissolve flesh into a meal for Meruin.

As Meruin dove in for a bite, a blast of chakra emits from Nori, sending sand and stones flying outwards from the Kaguya's body. Evidenlty Meruin was faster than the chakra release, and suddenly Nori is dropping to his knees. "Ah, Satan's teeth," he curses as darkness closes on his vision.

Rin applauds the Okumo as he approaches slowly- seeing Nori has fallen. "Hah, what a interesting turn out." His voice is a deep raspy bass as he says that. "You really are all savages and brutal." He goes on. Proceeding to beat some dust off his shoulders he says, "But was that really necessary?"

Meruin lets Nori to the ground and continues until he's finished consuming what he'd broken down, more to get it out of his body than to further replenish himself. That done, he picks the Kaguya up and puts him over his shoulders. He looks to Rin for a moment, sees that he wears no headband to represent himself, and looks beyond him. He vanished, reappearing further down the beach, much closer to the docks and on his way to his village, moving in this manner.
