Insanity

Some people believe this world is madness. Others believe the world drives you mad unless you're strong willed enough to resist. And some just let it pass them by without a care in the world. Although the world gets the blame, it is never at fault. People cause madness, war, death, murder, rape, scarring mental or physical. Yet for some reason it's never enough. That was the reasoning. That was the motive behind this...this...dominian.

Cities fell. One by one, brick by brick crumbling to nothing. Streets of people hurrying past, no eye contact, only the simultaneous clacking of heels on pavement was heard at all. The once playful children quickly silenced by mortified parents at the thought of being caught talking. Talking in public was naturally outlawed, or at least frowned upon. Although it wasn't uncommon to see a person being dragged down the street, screaming at the top of their lungs until it was quickly stifled.

Great grandparents, grandparents and parents had passed on the tradition of the law. Each generation immediately conforming under the world they knew no different from. Although a few, very few could remember the time before. Memories treasured and placed into the back of their mind where they would remain. Only coming out for the select person to enjoy before being buried once more.

Koda sighed, placing her head on the pinewood table before her. Snowy ears pressing against her skull. Burying those memories exhausted her, far beyond the norm. The light chill of the breeze hit her back and she could almost sense what would happen before it did. A firm hand squeezing her shoulder.
"Sit up." The cold voice demanded, the face hidden by a large blue cap and shadowed by the thatched cottages around the village. Shrugging the hand off her shoulder she scowled lightly.
"It won't kill me to sit like this."
The hand pulled back on her shoulder, forcing her into a sitting position. She sighed, idly stroking the edge of a small blade inside her cloak. It would be so easy so easy to kill him. Kill him and run. Gripping the gilded handle of the blade, she pulled it out of her cloak, burying it into his chest. Quickly removing it she darted over the table, heading towards the sanctity of the forest.

Kana sighed, staring up at the sky. The shadows of the trees stretched out eerily infront of her. Her ear twitched slightly to the left, picking up a noise, dark eyes sliding to see what it was.
"Just a damn rabbit."
She had been walking through this forest for longer then was strickly necessary, trying to confuse anyone who might be trailing her. The stiff chill breeze helped, but it also kept her from scenting anyone that may be coming. The kitsune looked around her surroundings carefully, taking everything in. "Just a few minutes." She mumbles to herself, lowering herself to the gound, back against a massive oak. Her eyes start to slide shut as soon as she lays her head against the rough bark, thick tail curled around her legs.

A crashing noise jolts Kana awake. Someone was running through the woods, fast by the sounds of it. They were heading directly for her.

"Stupid goddamn guards telling me how to run my fucking life..." She growled as she sprinted forwards, desperately trying to remove the blood from her hands, the liquid congealing where it remained into a pasty substance.
Pushing some branches apart, she fell into a heap in the floor, her foot catching on a rock. Sighing she pushed herself up, inspecting the fresh graze on her knee. She glanced up under her ivory locks, picking out the best place to go. Spotting the girl on the floor she jumped, immediately pulling the small blade back out.
"Who the fuck are you?"

I stared up at the white haired girl infront of me, ready to attack, then it hit me.
"Not a kitsune...a neko?" I whispered, tilting my head to the side, evaluting her.

She had obviously been the one who had been running. She still had blood on her hands, a shocking contrast to her pale skin. Was this girl a threat? Well, obviously. She had a blade naked in her hand. But was she a specific threat to her?

"Shouldn't I be asking who you are instead? I mean you're the one who just woke me up. Not to mention I'm not the one running from something." Kana bluffed. Of coarse she was running from something, but how could a neko know that?

She growled lightly, shoving the blade away.
"I run because I must simple as that. But you, you say that you are not running yet it is oh so clear that you are. Why else would you be sleeping outside and well concealed in the middle of summer? It is safe enough and warm enough to sleep in the open. Please do not insult me."
She rubbed her hands together, slowly peeling the rest of the blood away.
"Yes, a Neko. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Maybe I enjoy sleeping in the shadows of the trees?" Kana says smirking, standing up, brushing off her skirt. "And everyone is running from something, I think you know this as well as I do."

She holds out her hand in a gesture of peace, "I'm Kana. I didn't mean to sound insulting when I called you a Neko, you just suprised me. When you fell infront of me I thought you to be another Kitsune, is all. I was still mostly asleep." Kana finishes with an embarassed smile.

Her eyes flick to something behind the Neko, ears perking up. "On second thought, lets save niceities for later. We need to move." She says in a rushed voice, grabbing the white haired girls still slightly bloody hand. She turns to run, dragging the taller woman behind her.

She kept pace with the femme, pulling her hand back.
"I'm Koda and no I wasn't offended. But when you hear people ask you of your race all the time it gets tiresome, especially when they then ask 'Why are you not a slave.' After all that time my patience for it whittled away." She took the females hand again, dragging her into a small cave. "Shush." She motioned, moving back into the shadows, several heavy men ran straight past, all wielding large and heavy weapons.
"Regonds." She muttered. "They take their orders from their master, kill any law breakers, no matter how small the crime. He plans to burn down the forests as they are the only place that hold some form of freedom...I worked for him for many years...not through choice, but when you figure out the horror that happens...well I ran, of course I did..." She remained silent afterwards, trying to catch her breath, not entirely sure why she had told the female all of that.

She listened intently to what Koda had to say, annalizing every word. For some reason this girl decided to open up to her. Maybe she had just been locked in a world of horrors for to long and saw a kindred spirit...

She took a deep breath, brushing her bangs out of her face. "You were right. Before. I am running from something. My husband, and his little flunkies. I was forced to marry him as a peace offering. Our families had been at war.." She waved her hands infront of her face, cutting herself off. "That's not really important. What's important is that if they find me, they'll take me back to him, and he will probably torture me slowly until he's broken me, body and spirit, then kill me." She looked away, staring at the entrance of the cave. "That's why I thought you were another kitsune. I thought they had finally caught up with me."
She turned back to Koda, staring into those moltant gold eyes, "I won't let them take me alive. I would rather die then return to him." She smirked then, "But I really have no intentions of dying any time soon. My intent is to kill my husband. Only when his corpse is rotting at my feet will I be free to live."

She made an amused noise and shook her head, clearing away the conversation. "This man you worked for, he really has the kind of power to basically slaughter people and destroy what he wishes? Sounds like my husband." she says sarcasticaly at the end.

She tilted her head.
"Not as such. He desired dominion over the land, sold himself to Satan and got his desires. But naturally to much power will drive one insane. His laws must be followed because he is always watching. Most people are ow born into this idea of a world, never knowing better. I know different, if only just. I can remember when it was ok to play in the streets, talk without fear and just do what you wish...Still all that was lost so long ago." She muttered, twining her fingers together. "I bet him and your husband are great friends by the sound of it."

Kana paled at the thought of her husband having any connection with this place. Koda was right though, this man sounded like someone her husband would associate with.
"My husband has a lot of influance with a lot of powerful people. I met a few of them, before I ran. Of course I was never allowed to speak, my job was to sit there silently and look pretty, but he couldn't stop me from listening. I remember one man who said he made a deal, and now all his visions were coming to fruition, I wonder if it could be the same man?" She speculated, seeing his image in her mind.
"Is it safe for us to stay here?" She glanced towards the opening of their shelter. "I don't know much about the men looking for you, but if it was me, a cave would be the first place I would look."

"Of course I'm not staying here. Just waiting until they leave. I can't be caught...I don't mind death...but it would worse than that. I actually want my soul..." She rubbed her hands together, they sparked under the contact, soon turning into a small ball of flames. "Besides. Sometimes there's only one way out..." She dropped the ball onto the ground, lighting the undergrowth. Creeping backwards into the cave, she turned and ran as the flames snaked across the ground, licking up the dry wood. She headed to the back of the cave, a small pool of water laying in front of her.

That stupid cat! Did she think the flames would hurt me? I'm one of the most powerful kitsune alive! Fire is one element I control well. So use me being trapped by the flames as a diversion for her to get away huh? Sacrifice me to save herself...I don't think so.

she turned and follow in the direction that Koda went in. She could of walked through the flames, but they were sure to of attracted someone by now. Kana looked over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes. The flames intensified to the point of being unpassable. If the girl thought about it rationally, it would be more adventagious for the two of them to stay together. Afterall, they were basically running from the same person now.

She spotted the pool, surface still rippiling from where the Neko had jumped in. "Great, now I have to get wet." She sighed, diving in after the girl.

Koda dived under the water, repressing the shiver that ran through her body at the contact with water. Ducking under a large rock, she breathed out, letting a stream of bubbles out behind her.
Resurfacing on the other side she took a grateful gulp of air.
"That...should...distract them for...long enough..." She panted, pulling e=herself out of the pool. Wringing her hair out, she pulled the long scarlet ribbon from her wrist tying her locks back. "Can't get out through the forest else..."

Kana followed the path Koda took, just barely catching her shape around a large rock.

She surfaced, gasping for breath. Kana glared at the Neko who was tying her hair back with a red ribbon. "So sorry I didn't stay there and sacrifice myself so you could escape, but i'm kind of selfish, what can I say?"

She hauls herself out of the cold water, ringing out her hair, "Don't worry, no one will be able to make it through that cave for quite a while. I used the fire you started and intensified it, nothing is getting through there."

She stood, looking up at the other girl, "I say we have two options at the moment. We can go our seperate ways, which is just fine with me, or we could try to make it out together. You seem to have knowledge of this place, and I have, well, power to put it bluntly. It's why the bastard wants me back or dead."

Kana rubbed her hands up and down her soaked arms, "I was just fine sleeping on my own until you ran into me. I'll be fine if I'm on my own again, but please don't try to use me as a distraction. If we work together and not try to sacrifice each other every two minutes, we might just make it out of here alive, and with our souls intact." She shrugged now, "But if you don't want to, that's alright too. Afterall if I get caught all I have to worry about is a lot of pain ended by death. If you get caught, well you said it yourself, your very soul is in jepordy."

Koda froze midway through ringing her T-shirt.
"Wait. You thought I was going to sacrifice you? You actually thought I would kill an innocent?" She shook her head dis contempt crawling onto her features. "No. You would've followed me whether or not I asked you to and we both know that."

She ran a finger along the damp fabric of her body, steam slowly rising in spirals from the cloth.
"I can use fire, make it as strong as i wish. It's just draining. I only wished to set the forest alight and burn those so called 'men' or at least startle them enough to not follow into the cave. You may stick with me if you want. If not the nearest town is that way." She replied, pointing to the left. Smoothing her shirt down she walked out of the cave, the bright light shining in her eyes. Blinking, she looked to the right, before slipping outside.

Kana sighed, watching Koda exit to the right. She walked out, having every intention of heading to that town. Kitsune weren't exactly the most sociable creatures, prefereing to be on their own. She got about five steps before her earlier words to Koda came back to her. "Shit." She whispered with feeling.

Kana turned on her heel, catching up with Koda quickly. "I'm sorry. If you knew the people I do, grew up with the people I did, the idea of someone sacrificing another for their own well being wouldn't be so outragious. After all, that's what happened to me, how I got into this mess in the first place. My own kin sacrificed me to save their own skins."

She nodded lightly.
"Everyone thinks of people differently. I would never kill someone without good reason as I know how much it hurts." She sighed. "I lost my brother a few years back, mauled by wolves. I never really got over it...but I could never force that feeling on someone else, because people become consumed by vengance. That leads to hunt and run. Which will lead to war no doubt. Or at least death."
She rolled her shoulders back, the bone clicking quietly.
"And if your kin did that to you, I guess it's a good thing you don't want to return."

"Believe me, I know all about vengance and war." She trailed off, thinking of the war between her kin and her husbands clan. She slipped her shirt over her head, revealing a thin white tank top. She began to ball up the heavier black top, getting the moisture out.

"I'm sorry about your brother. I lost my brother in the war for power, but we were never very close. His ideals were to different from my own. That man use to brag about how he tore his throat out with his barehands..." She stopped, rubbing her hand up and down her back, feeling the raised scars.

"I suppose the difference in us is being that my brother was like my son and I loved him very much." She replied, feeling the familiar know in her stomach at the thought of Luka. "W-we should keep heading west. He hasn't expanded everywhere yet and some cities are free...if only just. It'll take a couple of days to travel. A week tops, still, it might be fun to have new company..." She mused.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your brother. I have a sister that I feel like that about. She's only three. I don't know what I would do if she...died. It's part of the reason I have to kill my husband. I'm terrified that if he can't have me, he'll take her when she's of age. She's already showing many of the same gifts I have, but she has an affinity for water, not fire. That's very rare among Kitsune. I can not let him have her. I would return to him and sacrifice myself first before that happened." She said fiercly at the end.

Kana slips her shirt back on over her head, the fabric cool against her skin, making her shiver slightly. "I'll trust your judgment when it comes to directions, I really have no clue where we are." She laughs slightly. "It will be nice to travel with someone. I've been on the run and alone for so long now, seems like years. It takes a lot for me to trust someone..." She trails off for a moment. "Being a Kitsune I kinda stick out. Luckly most people confuse me for a Neko, which can have it's own problems. As you mentioned earlier, many people look at a neko and think "Slave". Speaking of which, how did you end up in your predicament, if you don't mind me asking. I promise not to judge. You seem like a very kind person, if not a little untrusting of others. Which I completely understand. As I said before, it takes a lot for me to trust someone, so why should you be any different?" She stopped again and began to laugh.

"I'm sorry. I'm rambeling. It's been so long since I had someone to talk to, that I'm letting myself get carried away. You can just tell me to shut up at any time. I don't always talk this much, actually most of the time I'm pretty silent. My clan was matriarical, so the women spoke their minds, and people listened, or else, but my husbands clan was the oppisit. The women were there to be seen, they had no voice. They were expected to be submissive, demure, follow orders, and never ever talk back. I can't count how many times I was punished for speaking my mind or scolding my husband for the way he treated his slaves. It was completely worth it though, "She laughed harder, "Except this one time. I don't even remember what I did, if anything, to anger him. He nearly killed me. I spent two months lying in a bed, trying my best not to die. Kitsune heal quickly. So his normal beatings weren't to bad. He almost never went for my face, saying if he had an ugly wife it would ruin his reputation..." She stepped lightly over a fallen log. "But that time...if my guards had not pulled him off of me, I would of died. Of this I'm certain." She rubs her back, scars acheing slightly against the cold of the shirt, "My spine was showing from where he clawed my back. I actually scared. It's almost impossible for us to scar." She stopped here, giving an embarassed smile. "I'm sorry, you really didn't need to know all of that. I'm done now."

She nodded quietly.
"I guess it was a lucky escape then." She replied, flattening her ears against her skull in embarrassment at her lame reply. "I guess we might as well tell each other things, no doubt we'll go different ways soon and will probably never see each other again...So I guess it doesn't matter."
She sighed lightly. It was going to be a long couple of days.

(OOC sorry for short reply, am very busy.)

She walked silently behind the girl, feeling dumb for talking so much earlier. Something to the right caught her eye, raspberries. She walked over, slipping her long sleeved shirt off again so she had something to carry the sweet fruit in. She shook the bush, allowing the over-ripe ones to fall off onto the shirt, then began to pick other ones, throwing them down. She gathered up the cloth and walked back to the other girl, popping a berry into her mouth, "You want some? They're good."

(OOC: Don't worry about it. No rush on posting hun.)

Koda shook her head.
"No thank you. I can't eat things like that. A lot of my species cannot survive on it. Usually it has to be kill they've caught themselves otherwise they get very ill. Though it changes region to region. I get a bit ill and other, usually of auburn or blonde hair, tend to get incredibly sick if they eat it. So I'll pass."
She smiled, padding over a patch of nettles. She sighed as they came face to face with a bank, water cascading through it, frothing into white foam at the edges.
"I hope you can swim...well."

"I didn't know that about Neko's. So depending on your lineage you have different dietary requirements? It's not like that with Kitsune's, but then again there are so few of us that we are all related in some way, if not distantly." She said, eating a handfull of berries.

Koda walked off smiling. It was good to see the girl smile. Suddenly she stopped, "I hope you can swim...well."

"Oh you have to be kidding me?" Kana groaned, staring at the water. "I hate water. But yes, I can swim...pretty well." She made a face. It had been a long, LONG, time since she had to swim against a current in a river. She really hoped her swimming skills were still up to par...

Koda rolled her eyes.
"Kidding, there's a bridge just a little bit further up. I'm hardly about to swim through that."
She took the words into consideration, already padding up the path towards the wooden bridge.
"I suppose it could be defined like that. It runs deeper, a lot deeper but I guess that's the easiest way of describing it...I suppose in your lineage you have to be careful so your children are not deformed. Although I do doubt you are all related. I have come across a few...what I would consider 'wild' kitsunes. They do not appear to look like you but they may be of relation." She ruffled her ivory hair hoping her words made sense.