((Kinda late D:))

Zanji successfully pushed a few Yure away but they just kepy coming. When he thought he was making progress, the worse had to come, a Yure was charging at him like a bull and he was wearing all red. Zanji barely had anytime to react to this attack, but he tried to defend. He put up the shaft of the naginata in between the two horns of the Yure, but it was already too close. One of the Yure's horn pierced through his armor in his right shoulder causing a minor stab. The other horn deflected off due to the armor shaping.

"Dammit, I was hoping to get out of here unscathed!"

He kicked the Yure straight off of him back into the group, pulling the horn out of his shoulder. Whilst recovering from the attack, he noticed a group of horse riders coming towards his their direction. Cheers came out from the large group, reinforcements had finally arrived.

Zhang sighed, there was moments left before they would have nothing much left to do, and in that short span, this man managed to get himself injured. Shoving many Yure out of his path, he made his way towards the one that had injured his companion and crushed it under his hammer. Turning around and sending some Yure in the air with his hammer in the process, he face his injured companion.

"You fine?" he asked from beneath his helmet, the sound echoing within.

"If I wanted your half-hearted-" Suzu snapped before the elder Akane cut her off.

"That is enough from you Suzu," she spoke evenly and sternly. Akane didn't bother with honourifics when chastising youths, "I will not have you flaunting your titles and being rude to your elders. The issue of your health notwithstanding, Onimodo-sama has requested me to keep you inside until he returns."

The girl's expression changed. In it was a mixture of defiance and sadness. Sasaki needed not be an empath to understand why. It was then that the shouts of victory were soon heard.

The sun finally peeped from over the horizon and shone from the east at last. The Yure who had made it through were the first to be banished back to whence they came. Ryouichi, and Zhang saw them dissipate like mist, silently yet slowly. The Riders roared in triumph, joining the celebratory din.

On the dark side of the hill, the Yure had yet to disappear but Çetinkaya's lance found it's mark. The first one went down without even knowing what hit it. The second one went for his horse, ripping through the poor creature's legs. It ignored Çetinkaya and it would no doubt be a mistake if the wrestlers could gather himself for it.

As the plan unfolded before Karakurt, he realized how quickly it had gone sour. He could only blame this on his misinformation. He had never fought a Yure, nor had ever learned of their strength nor their dexterity. Under his breath, he cursed the men who told him of the Yure; however, it was not a total loss for him. He had no wounds and was certainly not dead, and therefore he still had a chance.

His main objective was the deliver the message. Unfortunately, that was of higher importance than fighting off that remaining Yure. Judging by the speed of his fall, he would have to shift his body weight tremendously to land even an inch away from the Yure, and as far as he knew, it was not humanly possible, even with all his training.
However, it was his only option that had some plausibility to it, and therefore he began to shift his weight forward in an attempt to land away from the Yure. He also wondered whether the Yure could respond to an obstacle from above with the speed it responded to the horse. This popped into his mind because:
A) The Yure had already known that he was arriving, and had reared back to prepare an attack
and
B) The horse ran a straight bee-line for the Yure, making it an easy target.

If Karakurt was falling from above the Yure, and it had not noticed him above, surely that would mean that the following collision would happen too fast for the Yure to realize that Karakurt was above him, and therefore he would crush the pathetic creature.
While an interesting theory, it would probably not play out exactly.

The Oiled Tiger leapt above the Yure, which was too busy slaughtering the horse to bother with the ominous shadow overhead. Çetinkaya came down like a sack of bricks, only to a wall of steel. It was painful but it was enough to make even the hardiest of Yure carapace buckle. Hissing in complaint, the Yure faded from underneath him and the sun finally fell on the Tartariyan, next to his slain horse and fallen lance. Now was not the time to rest on his laurels as he still had to deliver his message though perhaps a quick intake of breath was need.

A top the hill, the fierce battle was over and many of the dead and dying still lay on the hillside. Priests went about, ministering last rites, ensuring that the dying left with little regret. Those that could be saved were carefully tended to as the regiment of horse which came to the aid of the town formed up. They dismounted and saluted to the fallen in respect before parting in the middle to reveal the mass of survivors of the town. It seemed more like a funeral procession though, a body being carried a top towards the fronts and the participants with their heads down as if in prayer. There were shouts too. Names mostly, and sometimes, thanks to the One True God.

A runner from the procession made for the one of the buildings. Akane, Sasaki and Suzu were still in their silent stand off when he came bursting in. Quickly lowering his head and bowing deeply, he started,

"I have come to deliver Onimodo-sama's final request." he said, his voice low, "I am sorry, Suzu-sama. A Fox's Wedding does not suit me after all."

The shaking mass had run outside before anyone else had time to intervene. Stopping in front of the procession which laid Kutama to rest at the square of the temple, she only stared silently, tears rushing as they all got on their knees and prostrated themselves before the one who had truly saved the town. The head priest was waiting patiently and silently for Akane, who would follow shortly to pay her respects before finally surrendering Kutama's body back to the One True God.

Ryouichi and Zhang could see Kutama from where they stood. His expression was one at peace but the white cloth that was draped over his body was so bloodied one could only guess as to what wounds he sustained before capitulating. Beside him was the Whimsical Hurricane. Sheathed, it lay on his left, so that should he miraculously awake from death, he would be able to draw immediately.

Akane tried to collect herself as best as she could, but to no avail. The tears she shed were few but they were genuine as she sat in seiza silently with her junior by her side.

"Selfless and poetic to very end," she said, her voice faltering before trailing off, "you liar."

With effort she stood up, ready to pay her respects. It was a time for mourning.

((Random trivia: A Fox's Wedding is actually another name for a sunshine shower, in Japanese!))

Otomo crawled from under the body, groaning all the way. Finally out, he stood only to fall on his knees out of exhaustion. He stared at the body of Yamada, unconcerned about everything else. "To think, I could've joined him without knowing." he muttered. Dusting himself off and muttering a small prayer for the deceased, he looked around, to get a better idea what was occurring around him.

Karakurt lifted his sore body from the ground. He had crushed the Yure as he had hoped, but he felt off balance from the impact. Rubbing his hindquarters, he brought his head up to the structure standing before him. The temple as was described was before him. It was not a magnificent site, the Shokun was inferior to his Tartaryia in all aspects. The structures were much more appealing in his opinion, and this Shokun temple was an eyesore. Still, he was instructed to travel here, and so he did.

Upon entering the temple grounds, he scanned around until he saw an open door in one of the buildings. Instinctively, he judged that as his stop. Inside were several individuals, much to his surprise. He had expected most, if not all, to have been killed by the Yure, but it seemed as if they were either strong enough, or were just damn lucky.

"I have a message for," he pulled out a slip of paper and read from it, "the adopted brother of Hohoemi Shiranui," stumbling as he read aloud the name. It was quite obvious that he was not from Shokun by now.
"I also bring with me a sword for the adopted sister of Hohoemi Shiranui," he continued.
He paused once finishing this. It was clear he was not done with his announcement.
"However, I will only relay the message and sword to the recipients if one of whom can defeat me in a competition of Yağlı güreş, or as you pathetic Shokun would call it, 'Oil Wrestling'."

She could here the cheers of the warriors outside, had she been one of those religious nuts, she would have assumed that the One True God had made the sun rise right on time. However she felt that it was probably around the time when the sun would have began to rise anyways, though that's not to say that it stopped her from quickly murmuring a silent prayer of thanks. Mitsuki didn't care for the unpleasantness of Suzu, and she was glad that Akane-sensei was there to maintain the peace, though it did nothing to stop the tension that seemed to crackle in the air.

Their attention was drawn by a man who burst into the temple, and she whirled to see who had entered, as did the others. She didn't know the man, so she waited for one of the others to say something, but before anyone could he bowed and spoke,

"I have come to deliver Onimodo-sama's final request." he said. Mistuki's eyes widened and her attention was grasped, final request?! She nearly gasped, and her heart fell as she saw the reaction of Suzu to the news, the poor girl. "I am sorry, Suzu-sama. A Fox's Wedding does not suit me after all." Suzu ran outside before anything else could be said, and Mitsuki followed behind her. Even though she barely knew the man, it was hard to believe that such a noble life had been extinguished, she respected him.

She gasped once they reached the body, covering her mouth with the sleeves of her kimono, she didn't need to look under to see what had become of his body. The accursed Yure had mutilated and dishonoured him. Her eyes teared up and she furiously wiped them away. He could have lived, was her thought. She wasn't one to point fingers but had the other two not been so quick to flee then perhaps, perhaps...No it was his fault he should never have told her to go, how selfish of him to decide what she was to do. No it was all wrong, it was her fault, she could have stayed, she could have fought alongside him, perhaps even used a few talismans, she still had the strength after the summoning of the storm. She didn't have to listen, she would throw away her honour for the safety of his life.

Her vision blurred through her tears, though her reasoning returned. It was no use dwelling on what could have been, nor would it do her any better to aimlessly hunt down Yure. She would let his death be a lesson to her, and a reminder of how important the choices are that one takes. Standing up she wiped her eyes once again, silently offering a prayer to the One True God, that this warrior would be received with the greatest of honours. She only wondered what would become of Suzu-sama.

Cetinkaya's challenge was heard but only a few cared enough to have it register. Chief among them was one of the elder priests. He hobbled about bald with a walking stick but he had been fighting on the front as it was required. A bony hand shot out from his black robe and grabbed Cetinkaya's wrist. It was not a forceful grip but a firm and steady one. With his stick he tapped the back of Cetinkaya's legs lightly.

"Show some respect," he spoke in a quick manner, "just deliver your message be on your way, messenger."

Otomo saw before, two familiar sights. One, was Kutama, and two, Sasaki. The former was the dead and the latter tearing up at his side.

Karakurt ripped his wrist from the priest's grip. He was unnerved by the tone of the elderly man, as well as feeling a tad humiliated. He was a Tartariyan! Superior in might, superior in skill! A Shokun knew nothing of him, no less a priest stationed in a putrid Shokun temple!
"Ha! Respect for a Shokun pig! That is a powerfully tough statement from a frail bastard such as yourself!" He bellowed in his thick accent, his eyes afire in his self righteous position. Yağlı güreş discipline states that one must hold high respect for another to garner complete harmony, yet, discipline only applied to competition and battle, not situations outside of such.

"As a proud Tartariyan, I find your principles disgusting. Your religion is moot to me, and therefore a priest is no more than an elderly bastard who prays to a nonexistent being in hope that the deity may satisfy the people, and therefore he himself will have satisfied people who care little for him whatsoever! To them, you priests are but a middleman to their savior deities, and they have no true relationship with you other than having to retreat to you when their wells break so they can contact a group of spirits to fix it! They hold no reverence for you! They only respect you because they otherwise could not fulfill their own selfish desires! You are a slave to the people and a slave to your own gods! I have no respect for a man such as this! You are nothing!"
Karakurt paused, allowing his message to soak in, and then continued,
"Bring the bastards who are receiving the message. The challenge was a ploy, I am only intent with relaying it to them and then leaving before you Shokun whine further."

Before her sensei could restrain her, Mitsuki turned her neck quickly to glare at the piggish slob who dare deny the One True God, and to respect an elder as well. Each word he spoke made her cringe, adding multiple insults to injury. A man, much more honorable than the swine who uttered his nonsense, was dead. The least he could have done was waited until they were done mourning their loss, had he lost one of his men she most certainly would have been empathetic to his loss, even though his people were barbaric and probably wouldn't understand the notion. She chided herself, reminding herself that she must not let her anger get the better of her and to most importantly not to generalize an entire nation based on one slob.

Mitsuki kindly walked up to the man, not even sure if she was allowed to do so herself, but the punishment later would hopefully be balanced in proportion to whatever occurred here, and she did not intend to do anything most would call "drastic". It was a bit of what she would call "vital education". Mitsuki would educate the man and remove his ignorance one way or the other. She bowed before him as custom dictated, though inside she cringed, and smiled at the man.

"Greetings foreigner, I am Sasaki Mitsuki. As you are a foreigner it is quite understandable that you are ignorant to the way we uphold our traditions and most importantly how we hold high esteem to our, how you said, "nonexistent" gods," she chuckled her fan open in front of her face while she laughed innocently. "Firstly, we only have one god, the One True God, his existence made evident through the gifts he has bestowed to the chosen of our people, such as myself. Dishonour is a great shame, and we wish not to have such a burden placed upon your head, however your liberal speaking is unwelcome and uneducated. Especially while we mourn the loss of a great warrior, you may take temporal lodgings in our temple, until we are ready for you or you may give me the message which I shall be most honoured to give to those it is directed to." She bowed once again.

"Bah! Your warriors mean nothing to me!" Karakurt retorted, spitting at her feet. He was growing evermore impatient with the Shokun by the minute. They spoke of ethereal beings and spirits that co-existed within the fabric of the universe. Absolute hogwash in it's entirety. There were no spirits. Even the basis of Yağlı güreş has no talk of spirits! It is not spirits but a force that controls harmony. Harmony is not influenced by invented spirits, but rather the decisions made by the participants. In this case, the decisions made by those in the world affect harmony, and spirits have no place in it.

"So I have undergone the status of dishonor because I have differing opinions on the matter of spirituality? It is disgusting that a foreigner with values that contrast your own is so horribly treated out of this difference. I matured under a completely different set a values. In the schools of Yağlı güreş, they teach not about spirits influencing the harmony of existence, but about harmony being influenced by man! Man's actions result in either balance or unbalance in harmony! Spirits are a invention so that the narrow minded can better understand these ideas. I do not need a spirit to guide me to harmony, I have the ability to set my own path! I am free while you are chained to your gods! That is our difference! To find that I am shunned and dishonored because of my ideals is disgusting. I had always known you Shokun were terrible bastards, but this has gone further!"
Karakurt's rant came from from his mind, but from his soul, the fiber of his very being. He truthfully believed in what he was preaching, and he would die defending the sacred Yağlı güreş teachings. His eyes were ablaze, staring down the girl before him. In spite of his anger, he would not grab her and plummet her skull into the stone floor, no matter how enticing it proved to be. He was to prevent this argument from reaching violence that was unjustified by harmonious interactions. He had harmony in mind alone at this moment. One must never fight with the sacred techniques without mutual understanding and sportsmanship between the two, and therefore he could not fight.

"Bring me the adopted brother and sister of Hohoemi Shiranui! I must give them this message immediately, for I must make haste to my homeland for the great festival!"
He had calmed down a bit, but a fire was still burning deep within.

Mitsuki chuckled lightheartedly once again while hiding her face behind her fan, long years of training and punishment was the sole reason she managed to refrain from scowling at the man. She was probably already in a whole heap of trouble for speaking to the man Oh well, she was young, she could try to earn her honour once again in her later years. "It is not a dishonour to refuse to believe, foreigner." she said calmly with a smile "It is a dishonour to speak ill of the traditions that one upholds in their own nation. If I were to go to your "she paused, not sure if she could consider the barbaric realm he came from one" nation, I would try to respect your traditions and your people. You are a guest, and as such you must respect our traditions, however currently you are rather...unpleasant" She said every word in a flowery manner making them seem as if they were discussing their favourite flavour of tea.

Mitsuki didn't quite understand how the man could not believe in spirits, what did he believe the Yure to be? Has he not yet witnessed the power of the Weh no Su? She pointed her closed fan to the body and Suzu-san who mourned beside it. "I believe, most respected foreigner, that they are whom you seek" she said while bowing.

Karakurt turned to where the woman directed him. A man dead and a girl mourning, a perturbing sight, no matter whom it may be, Shokun or Tartariyan. While it should not have bothered him, he could not help but feel moved by the pitiful display of raw, human emotion. Needless to say, it tore him up inside, and his mood shifted completely.

"I apologize for my earlier actions, miss." He remarked sincerely, still focused on the mourning girl. "I has no grasp of the horrible situation you must have gone through. I was misinformed, as well as mistaken. Forgive me."
Inconceivable; he was breaking down. How could he, a mighty, invincible hero of sacred tradition, grow so weak? This display of emotion had stirred deep feelings within him.
"In my hatred for the Shokun, I had forgotten. I had forgotten they were human, as I and all my people are. I had dehumanized the Shokun in an attempt to find myself as their better. Of course, I see now. We are still humans. I am sorry, allow me to restart."
He paused, and turned to the woman, the rage that was once in his eyes replaced by deep sadness.
"I am Karakurt Çetinkaya, Oil Wrestler from Tartariya. In my homeland, my ring name is Kuzhuk Temujin Borjigin. May I have the honor of knowing your name as well?"

((Funny how I had to actually attend a real life funeral. Well I'm back and it's nice to see some activity while I was gone, let us pick up where we left off.))

By the time the rabble rouser had finished his tirade he had the attention of the assembled, Otomo, Zhang and Ryouichi included. He calmed himself at the sobering sight of the mourning girl whom turned to him as soon as the gigantic noised halted himself. Recalling as hard as she could, her descriptor was mentioned, that of her adopted sister of Hohoemi Shiranui, Suzu immediately looked at him. Though he was attempting to make up for his lack of social graces on arrival by introducing himself to her immediate senior, Sasaki as soon as he calmed down, she was not swayed by his attempt to make ammends. Hers was a face that could chill a room, a piercing, slightly disapproving stare, steeled by determination. He had something for her but she would be only as polite as formality dictated.

Ayane had emmerged from the building in response to the shouting. Her first sight was that of Kutama's body. Asking for momentary forgiveness, as she would pay her respects shortly, she turned to Suzu, who frowning in a way most characteristic of her. What a troublesome child, was Kutama the only one who could make her smile? Well that was beside the point for now; Suzu had approached the messenger with silent alacrity.

The captain of Midnight Riders had likewise clip clopped to his guest during the noise and was well within the peripheral vision of the champ and he signalled him to focus his attention to the girl that seemed to have ghosted towards Cetinkaya.

"I am Hohoemi Suzu," the girl spoke neutrally, "I believe you have a delivery for me."