To Activate Massive Mayhem, Just Add Water

[Amara<3]

"Don't group all demons together," Keera said swiftly, beginning to walk away from him, but gestured in the direction they would be going, up the mountain. "But yes, he does happen to reside in a place like that. I'd also like you to note that if she weren't my friend, I would have sooner killed her than try to bring her back from his control. I try to wipe out his minions and followers to limit him in what he can do. I wouldn't be asking for help had she not seemed desperate for your help, either. We have to decide who's going to fight Naraku, and who's going to collect Mini."


Oh, that came out rude, Keera thought, mentally cursing herself. She'd decided that flying would be a good idea, it wouldn't take long for her double and Nayr to get back to Naraku and Mini. Rather than flying in broad daylight however, she'd gone into the clouds so people wouldn't see her and realize that she could fly now. She didn't know why, but she wanted to keep it a secret for a while longer. Then she thought about what Nayr had said about putting a leash on Mini. She laughed a little to herself as she wondered if he had meant it as an attempt at humour.


"I didn't until she left me and our child. It was only a few months old, and I've never been able to forgive her for that. She casts a very large shadow, and anyone she catches with it never sees it coming until she's bored of them," Naraku told Mini. His plan was working, and almost too well. It was amazing how quickly this little girl fell for his lie. Now he might not have to blind her from what she was doing, just maybe she would be able to fight Keera without holding back at all. The next time Keera came back, she wouldn't ever leave.

[Mini]

Mini gasped as Naraku mentioned a child with Keera. Biting her lower lip in concentration, Mini did her best to shift through the muddle of her memories to try and remember if she knew that Keera had a child. She almost instantly got a headache from trying to remember something from her past. Wait, why was she trying to remember? Everything Keera had ever told her had been a lie... right?

Sounding frustrated, Mini sighed again and gave up trying to remember. Her head was still throbbing. Vaguely, she wondered why her head hurt so much when she tried to remember things, but that seemed to make her headache worse. It didn't hurt when Naraku was making her remember things, though. In fact, having him in her mind thinking for her and telling her what to do felt good, she recalled.

Mini ran her fingers up and down the hilt of her katana, which rested at her side. She turned and looked at Naraku, feeling a slight shudder run down her back as she noticed just how big and just how red his eyes were. The throbbing in her head diminished slightly as she stared deep into his eyes.

"I... I didn't know that you two had a child together," she said quietly. "I'm so sorry that she took the baby from you. How horrible that must be, to know you have a child and not be able to see him."

Some part of Mini felt like staring into Naraku's eyes was a bad idea. She should look somewhere else, but she couldn't. His fingers still ran through her hair, doing their best to calm her fears and get her to relax. It was working. The thought that looking into Naraku's eyes was a bad idea dissolved away into nothingness. The throbbing from her headache was almost completely gone.

"She's coming back here, isn't she? Keera, I mean," she continued, losing herself in his eyes. "Master, I'm... I'm afraid. Afraid that if she comes back for me, that she'll play more tricks on me. I know she's strong, too. What if she plants more fake memories in my mind? What if she makes me forget of everything you just told me? What if I hesitate when I go to fight her, and she's stronger than I am?"

[Nayr]

Nayr hadn't hardly stopped speaking before a reply shot his way courtesy of the strange girl before him. He was slightly taken aback by the sternness of her reply, and also by how quickly it had come at him. Clearly there was some experience with demons there. Maybe she wandered the land with an enchanted sword, forever locked in combat with-

Wait.

Kill Mini?

That spoke to him. Mini and this girl were friends, right? So what was it about this demon that made her willing to slay a friend to strike at him? As he followed her up the mountain, he was suddenly possessed of a deep calm. What to him was an annoyance at most was deadly serious for her. She and this Naraku had history. Before he would commit to anything, there was something he needed to know.

"Tell me about this Naraku," Nayr said, his voice all business, "Every demon has his fetishes, habits, or compulsions."

Another statement for the "no-idea-where-that-came-from" file. Still, he pressed on.

"To be successful in this, I'm going to need to know everything you've got on this demon, including what hold he's got on you, because clearly there's history there. I need to know if there's anything he had on you that can make you stand down or turn on me."

He recognized that he was being a little unkind, but for some reason he felt driven and focused. He rarely ever felt this way, but it definitely wasn't the time to doubt himself, especially not that same old fear as always...

[Amara<3]

Keera glanced back at him as she walked and talked. As he stopped talking, wanting to know every single little dark secret she held of and with Naraku, Keera didn't respond. "He holds very little power over me now," Keera said simply, not looking back again as it was her turn to speak. "Naraku will do anything he can to manipulate and turn people against their friends. He doesn't know anything about you, or I assume he doesn't, so it will be harder for him to try anything like that with you. That is, unless he's found the memories of you from Mini's mind. Let's hope he hasn't."

She shook her head. He probably hadn't seen them. He wanted her dead, and Nayr meant nothing to him right now. "I don't tell people of my past, not even if they ask, but you are right. He and I do have a history, and all I will tell you is that it came to the point where he and I had a child together. Then he tossed me aside and wiped my memories of ever having the little boy. I've only recently found out about him in the last couple months. This means nothing now, as the boy is safe in my... place of residence. Naraku is cunning, and will use you in every way if it benefits him. I've been through horrible things with him, and if I slept I'd have nightmares about him. Luckily, I don't. We're getting close." Keera pointed up the mountain a little ways, where purple mist enveloped the silhouette of a castle. "We have to go in there. I hope you can breathe in the miasma, otherwise I'll have to try and bring Mini and Naraku out of it and down the mountain."


Naraku stared at Mini for a few moments, thinking. He could supress the memories for her, like she wanted, but indeed, what if Keera could bring them back? "I'll lend you my power again, but there is no room to be afraid. Keera will play on your fear if she can see it or feel it. She prays on fear and hesitation, and will do anything to keep you under her viscous cloak of deception. Promise me you won't show her fear, and I will do everything in my power to keep you from going back to her. I'll even keep the memories of her surpressed, if that's what you want."

[Mini]

Mini could feel her cheeks turning a bit rosy. Was it just her, or did it seem a bit warm, all of a sudden? Naraku's arm that was wrapped loosely around her waist seemed to pull her slightly closer to him. He didn't speak for a while, but instead just stared intensely into her eyes. There was that feeling again, of being drawn in to him by some strange, seductive power. As Naraku started speaking, she felt all the tension that had built up inside of her just sort of melt away. She could feel his fingers run through her hair, brushing against her cheek. A shudder ran down her back. She couldn't help but smile just a little as Naraku offered to both give her more power and suppress the fake memories Keera had given her.

"I... I would like that very much, Master," she replied softly, leaning into the gentle caresses he kept giving her. They felt so nice. His hands, although cold, felt so nice against her cheek. "I promise you that I will show Keera no fear when I go to fight her. I won't let her snare me in her magic trap again. I want to fight her. I want to take her down, just for you, Master. You don't need to completely suppress all of my memories, if you don't want to. Just make sure that I know that anything she makes me remember is a lie. When your power is with me, it makes it so much easier to know that. It hurts to try and remember things. Maybe it's because they're not real. I just... I don't want to get distracted by trying to remember what's real and what's fake. You were right, you know. I remember you telling me that it's much easier to listen to what you say and do as you tell me. My head doesn't hurt when you tell me what you want me to do."

She paused for a moment, almost as if she had lost her train of thought. Her attention was definitely elsewhere at the moment. Naraku's eyes were so beautiful. They reminded her of rubies. Big, giant, sparkling rubies...

"My headache is gone," she muttered absent-mindedly, feeling herself move closer to his face, drawn to him like a moth to the flame. "Come to think of it, I don't have any headaches when you lend me your power... when your thoughts are my thoughts. Can you do that again?"

[Nayr]

Nayr arched a brow as Keera finished explaining Naraku's grand power. It was rather underwhelming.

"That's his thing? He manipulates people?" he asked, sounding incredulous, "I would have expected something drastic, like he spontaneously makes people grow tails where their legs should be or something weird and...I don't know...demon-y. Manipulation seems a bit mundane, don't you think? How does the guy even achieve fearsome status if his bit is manipulating people? The amount of time you'd have to spend on one person in order to make them do anything makes it almost not worth it as a shtick. Tell me he's got other powers to work with..."

As it was, Nayr wasn't entirely sure what the problem was, unless Mini was as careless in her choice of friends as she was in her choice of places to steal stuff from. The purple fog was also troubling, but less so.

"Also, what's miasma, and why wouldn't I be able to breathe it? Looks like weird colored fog to me..."

[Amara<3]

Naraku smiled down at Mini. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you know what memories she brings back are lies. I'll tell you, so you don't have to figure it out yourself. Her usual fake memories are the ones where she's in white, like some celestrial being." Which happened to be almost always. When she was heading into a fight was when she would avoid white, so it made the lie seem perfectly plausible.


"The fog is a toxic gas that surrounds the entire castle. Not many people are able to breathe in it, some demons can though. We'll have to get close enough to see for you. His manipulation is that he makes people believe him, like it's no trouble at all. Once he starts, he doesn't stop. His also emits the miasma, so be aware of that," Keera said, rolling her eyes at Nayr. He really seemed new to this world. What had he done in the last, oh, how ever many years he'd been alive? Live under a rock? "He makes puppets of himself, which grow roots under a baboon pelt. You have to destroy the head to kill it. I doubt he'll actually come out himself if he knows that I'm bringing someone else. He's also somewhat of a coward. Let's see," Keera said, taking a deep breath, trying to think. What else could he really do?

"Well, he's a demon made from hundreds of other demons, a couple hundred years ago. He can also change form. He very well could come out as Mini, and we wouldn't even know about it. Or someone we know. Hell, he could come out as my sister, who is also his daughter. If I didn't know where she was, I might even believe it was her."

[Mini]

Mini nodded as Naraku spoke to her. She started to calm down a little bit, reassured by the fact that Naraku was going to help her figure out what to do. It was nice knowing that she wouldn't be completely by herself. Naraku would be there in her head, telling her what to do.

"In her fake memories, she wears white? She... She almost always wears white. Then that must mean that the things I can remember aren't real," she said quietly. "But I can't entirely remember..."

[Nayr]

Nayr nodded. The picture was becoming clearer now, and the disdain deep within him only grew. So perhaps he had some kind of power that made his words persuasive well beyond their usual capacity.

Okay, magical manipulation is worth noting, I suppose. The toxic cloud might be troublesome, but otherwise kind of a side note.

Keera was not yet done, however. She went on to list a couple other noteworthy items, including that he could make copies of himself to do his work for him, which would undoubtedly prove ridiculously troublesome. Well, with powers like his, Nayr decided, he might hide, too. Oh, and then there was the shapeshifting.

Wait, what?

He could walk out of that miasma as basically anyone he wanted, both him and his copies most likely.

Nayr continued nodding, his thoughts moving faster now. Still, he kept the conversation moving.

"So how does one identify who's real and who's a shapechanged copy of Naraku? For that matter, how does one identify between copies of him and the real one?"

Not that he was worried, anyway. Even if the girl he walked with was a shapechanged Naraku copy trying to manipulate him, he still was simply a man on a mission, and this girl, regardless of who she really was underneath, just so happened to have both information and a road in common with him. She was useful until their purposes crossed, then she wasn't. If she got in the way, she was just one more roadblock, and Nayr knew well what to do with roadblocks...

[Amara<3]

"You won't need to worry about that, dear one," Naraku said quietly, leaning in closer to her. "That's what I'm here for." He gently moved his hand around her head and pulled her the rest of the way to him. He kissed her gently on the lips, his power flowing through her like electricity.


"Well, I don't know how others do, but I can sense if he's made copies. I can just tell if it's not really him. Generally, from what I know, his copies don't change form. I believe only he does." Keera looked at Nayr, and sized him up from she saw. There didn't appear to be anything fantastic, and she began to doubt Mini's hurried explanation and eagerness for her to find him. If he turned out to be as easily swayed as Mini, she'd have one hell of a fight on her hands. She couldn't take on three people at the same time, at least not properly.

What if Naraku was already thinking of that? It would do more than trap her there. It would make her change and destroy everything. Maybe she could do it as her copy, and not need to change. She realized just then, that perhaps it was wrong to trust him so quickly. Oh well. Seemed to her that he would be easily delt with if alone and picking a fight with her. She glanced at the miasma, then to Nayr. "Guess it's time to figure out if you can get in. Let's go." She started walking first, not too worried if he killed her copy. It just meant she come swooping down soon and take him out. He'd never know what happened.

[Mini]

Mini felt herself drawn towards Naraku as he leaned towards her, practically whispering right into her ear. She was completely lost his eyes. He sealed the gap between them as he reached around her and rested his hand gently but firmly on the back of her head and neck, pulling her against him. His cold lips pressed against her own. Her eyes fluttered shut. A delightfully soft moan slipped through her lips. Power flooded through her, invading her body from both his kiss and where his hands and arms were holding her, keeping her pressed tightly against him, almost as if he seemed scared of her trying to pull away from him.

But she wouldn't pull away from him now. She couldn't pull away from him now. Not with all of that incredible energy pouring through her. Oh, it felt so good. She relaxed against him, into his kiss, surrendering to his will. His power wrapped around her like a velvet blanket. She felt it seeping into all the little nooks and crannies of her body, causing her aches and pains to melt away. His power coated her mind, whispering dark little words that only she could hear.

Let me in. Let me help you forget. Forget everything about her. You don't need your memories of her. They'll only get in your way. Let me take them from you, his voice whispered to her, as he kissed her even more.

She moaned again, helpless in his arms. Yes, she thought, knowing that he would somehow hear her. Yes, she didn't want to think about Keera and her lies anymore. His power snaked through her mind as soon as it had permission to. She could practically feel it wrapping around her memories of Keera, pulling them away from her, sealing them far away in darkness. She felt light-headed, almost giddy, as she felt them slip away from her, replaced instead by more power and an incredibly deep urge to obey Naraku's every word.

Finally, the kiss ended. She moaned softly in protest as he gently pulled away from her. The flow of power dwindled, but she could still feel it there, seeping into her from his touch. She could still taste it - taste him - on her lips. Her eyes slowly fluttered back open as she looked up at him, instantly losing herself once again in the pools of red that were his eyes. Her eyes weren't blanked and glazed over as they were when he had completely taken her over, but they weren't entirely blue as they were when she was herself. Now, it seemed, there were small little flecks of purple and red in her eyes, causing her eyes to look more purple than blue. If her eyes were anything to go on, it would seem as though she was half herself and half Naraku's little puppet.

With her new heightened awareness, Mini was able to sense the instant Keera's doppleganger had stepped into the very outer edges of Naraku's miasma cloud, which reached partially out into the dead forest surrounding the castle. She was still a fairly safe distance from the castle, but she would soon be near the entrance. Of course, she didn't know that the Keera she was sensing was a fake one. Neither did she really realize who Keera was, since Naraku and his dark power had taken her memories away from her. Whenever she tried to think about Keera, she almost instantly heard the voice inside of her head whispering to her, reminding her of how much Naraku hated Keera, which meant that she should hate Keera. The voice told her that Keera had done nothing but lie to her and lie to Naraku, and that she must be stopped at any cost. Keera wasn't even worth the effort it took to think, the voice reminded her, and anyway, Naraku was the only one who needed to think for her now.

Mini blinked twice and shook herself a little, as if trying to fully awaken from a deep sleep. Hearing the voice in her head made her feel a little spaced out. The instant she looked back at Naraku and back into his eyes, though, she looked ready for action.

"Master... I can sense her," she said in a soft voice that sounded rather void of emotion. Her hand drifted absent-mindedly to the hilt of her katana. "That... That girl. Keera. The one who lied to you. The one who lied to me. She's near. I think there might be someone else with her, but I can't tell for sure. They're too far away right now. What do you want me to do?"

((... Yeah, I deffly think some of my Nameless writing style slipped into this post. ^^'' ))

[Nayr]

At the sound of "Naraku's copies can't change shape," Nayr relaxed, though not visibly. He was keeping his appearance under control for the time being. That meant that Naraku could only appear in disguise if he also exposed himself to the possibility of harm, which was helpful. It meant that if this Keera he walked next to was really Naraku, he could eliminate the man with one stroke. With that, they reached the miasma. Moment of truth. Could he survive in the purple crap before him, or would their operation become that much more complicated? He stepped forward.

After a moment spent expecting something horrid to happen, nothing had. The purple fog reeked, to be sure, but it wasn't stifling at all. He turned to Keera.

"Would I have noticed yet if this crap was going to affect me?"

He pondered an additional moment.

"Also, what's his vulnerability? If we're gonna take care of this guy, I need to know how to take him down."

[Amara<3]

Keera smiled as Nayr asked her if he should have been affected yet. "You would have been on your knees by now. It's kind of surprising, but atleast I don't have to bring the fight to you." Also means he's not completely human, she thought to herself. That's good. She was about to turn away when he asked a vital question, which made her turn back. "If I knew that, I would have done him in a long time ago. I assume the only way to stop him for good would be to slice his head down the middle. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that hasn't been done yet." She almost felt like telling him to go away with all his questions, she'd answered more of his questions than she had for anybody her entire existence. It was insane.


Naraku smiled as he felt and heard Mini's small moans against his lips. He could feel falling deeper and the way she was kissing him back, it told him she would do anything for him. It took a long time, but this was worth the manipulation. The first time it's worked in his favour for many years. Keera had seen to the death of everyone he'd managed to snag, but she couldn't kill this girl, this friend of hers. Now he had her between a rock and a hard place. Kill Mini, or be killed.

As he broke the kiss, Mini began to speak, only confirming his thoughts of her complete submission and trust. "If you feel it necessary to go meet them before they come into the castle, then by all means go," Naraku said, now confident that Keera could no longer affect Mini in any way. "Do make sure to somehow lead them to the courtyard though. That will make it harder for Keera to fight you. She likes open spaces better than closed in ones."

[Mini]

"Lure them into the courtyard. Right. I'll make sure to try to not wreck the entire castle, too," Mini said, pulling herself away from Naraku as she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. Every single one of her fingers and knuckles cracked with a satisfying pop as she stretched. "Hopefully this fight doesn't last too long. With any luck, I'll kill her within five minutes of her stepping foot inside the walls. Or maybe I should make her suffer. Suffer for everything she's done to you, Master. Hmm... Well, we'll see. If you want, you can even kill her yourself, after I beat her within an inch of her life, that is," she added, her smirk growing wider.

Having said her piece, she vanished from sight. If one looked hard enough, they would see her lithe form scale the wall and race across the rooftops of Naraku's domain. Her feet barely even seemed to touch the tiles as skipped from tower to tower, working her way over to the large stone wall that surrounded the entire castle. With a graceful flip, Mini landed right on the edge of the wall in a crouch. Her purple eyes scanned the horizon for signs of the intruder. What she sensed headed her direction surprised her. It wasn't just Keera - someone else was with her. The miasma made it hard to sense who or what it was, but she could definitely tell that there were two individuals, one of whom was Keera, coming towards the castle.

"Hmph. Bringing reinforcements to come and fight my master? What a coward. Let's see what you think about this as a welcoming present," Mini muttered to herself as she pushed back the sleeves of her jacket.

The sky, all ready dark and dismal looking, gave a loud rumble of thunder as Mini held her hands out in front of her, forming a small round orb of what looked like condensed lightning. Sparks shot out madly around her as the wind picked up. Grinning with the tingling rush of power she felt spreading through her, she stood up, pulling her hands apart. The orb grew as she did so, until it was about the size of a watermelon. She hurled it up into the sky, watching it vanish into the clouds. In the blink of an eye, the entire sky lit up as thousands of lightning bolts streaked across the sky in every direction, followed immediately by a deafening thunder clap. Several bolts shot down into the forest, splintering several of the trees and sparking small fires. Mini made sure to focus her energy into making sure that one very large bolt struck the ground several paces right in front of where Keera and Nayr were walking, causing the ground to blow up as if a small meteor had fallen out of the sky.

Mini stood on the top of the wall, watching her lightning storm continue to streak across the sky. The air was practically buzzing with static electricity now. She chuckled to herself while she waited for Keera and her friend to arrive. "All the better to fight you with, Keera. You, and whoever else was dumb enough to trek up here with you."

((Naraku's courtyard ; Naraku's wall and a really creepy picture of Naraku looking like Michael Jackson while he's standing around in his miasma ))

[Nayr]

...and there was the crux of the matter. Keera had no idea of how to take Naraku down, but she knew quite a bit about his powers. On the up side, the miasma apparently didn't harm Nayr at all, but he dismissed it just as easily. If it wasn't a hindrance, then it was irrelevant. Maybe a good indicator of where Naraku takes up residence, but useful as little else.

"What about Mini?" he asked, "How badly off is she going to be? How good is Naraku at this manipulation kick of his? Because if she's completely his by now, then I need to know how far you're willing to go to bring her down. I won't be taking on Naraku just to have the girl we're here for stab me in the back because you couldn't handle it."

Before Keera could even hope to reply, though, a very subtle sense passed through the world. It was only detectable to someone who knew the signs of impending electrical storms. Nayr looked up, being one so attuned, and noted the sky behaving oddly.

Then the sky fell.

That was the best way to describe it. The sky spat bolts of unearthly fire all around them, striking trees, striking the brush, striking the ground directly in front of where he and Keera walked. The ground in front of them exploded into a shower of ejected rock and dirt, and Nayr was able only to raise his arms before his face in defense. There was no escape from this, nowhere to run or hide. Without any kind of magic available to him, Nayr had nothing to do but try to keep his head safe from the flying debris.