Time to Elucidate.[P, Kyle]

Age : 28 Posts : 223

The rays of sunlight struck the young Nukenin’s face as he made his way out of the second most popular bar located near Kumogakure. The black fishnet shirt Nao had been wearing was attracting all the heat. Exactly behind him was Ame, if anyone knew where his dad was, it would be her. Little was known about her throughout the village, and Nao hadn’t known this yet, but little was known to her about the village. The path was a downhill one, leading away from the main gates of Kumogakure. If Ame was as smart as Nao had considered her to be, she would instantly be worried about the purpose of the ongoing trip. How will I make her understand that what I needed to do was right, she has to be a fu*king patriot, like the rest of them. Nao’s feet started throbbing from the constant stepping on rocks, travel had become a necessity for his lifestyle, and he found himself facing the consequences of such.

Throughout the journey, Nao would be quiet, speaking nothing but a single line to the jounin from the village he had recently abandoned. ”Please hold your questions till we reach the destination, all will be explained. It would be unwise to converse in such an environment.” The true purpose of the statement was not to stall, but to hint the lady of the situation, and possibly allow her to understand that the only reason it would be unsafe was because he was a criminal now. He had hoped that she had understood it and would know what to expect. There’s absolutely nothing I can do if she attacks me, I would only prolong the inevitable. Damn you Shikani, why must you be the reason of my death. It was unusual of Nao to be so pessimistic, but the degree of risk involved was high for him to think optimistically.

Nao would finally lead the woman to an old and senile motel. The dusty signs, and flickering lights were enough to repel the travelling shinobi. It was the perfect hideout. Nao would take the stairs located directly parallel to the main office, glancing back to try and read the facial expressions of the company he would be having over. He had expected her to either be confused, signalling that she had not understood the hint, or she would be wearing a normal expression, meaning she had known what was going on and was possibly willing to give Nao a chance to explain himself. He made his way to a door with the number 345 engraved in it and proceeded to remove the key from his left pocket to unlock the door. After wiping his feet on the door mat located right outside, he would hold the door open inviting the jounin into his temporary place of residence. ”Please, come in.”

Ever since he had left his sister, home and village, this would be the first time that he has invited someone into his room. He had been travelling to nearby places often, and would never reside in any one place for more than 3 weeks. It was quite evident that the room had been rented for cheap, as there was hardly any furniture consisting of a desk, a bed and two windows. The room was covered with the stench of dirty laundry and mosquito repellents. However, the discomforting and agitating feel of the resident was the least of Nao’s concerns. He now had to explain to Ame how her sensei had murdered his own wife, and abandoned his two children, well not technically his children. As a habit, the young nukenin would wait for the kunoichi to make the first move.

Age : 31 Posts : 683

Ame was directly behind Nao and following him to god knows where after she took her first step out the door she immediately remembered why she had gone to the bar in the first place. Her clothes were still damp having not been able to change her clothes nor dry the ones she had on currently. Luckily she was in a noticeably better mood than before even though she had an odd encounter with a young man who couldn’t hold his alcohol or his thoughts about Ame. She was actually quite relieved when Nao came over to her even though at the time it made her remember some painful times in her life. Nao saved her from a very awkward situation that Ame really didn’t have the tools to deal with and for that she was grateful the least she could do for him would be let him talk to her in private. She discreetly looked around for Shikari in the early going to see if he was stalking her or something he evidently wasn’t so Ame let out a muffled sigh of relief. I wonder what kind of shinobi he’s turned out to be; I hope his dad paid as much attention to him as he did to me when I was his student. It quickly became apparent that they were heading away from the gates instead of towards them she figured she’d been gone for three years already it won’t hurt to be gone for a few hours longer. It was however, slightly apparent that Nao was a fair bit troubled by whatever he wanted to talk to Ame about.

Nao’s silence about their destination and that unknown locations increasing distance from the village was beginning to worry Ame terrible thoughts began racing through her mind about her former sensei, Nao’s father’s wellbeing Ame quickly put this away as being paranoid only to have such thoughts replaced with ones about her own sister’s wellbeing. As they walked she was able to push out all this “nonsense” and replace it with pure hatred for water and its effects upon clothing. Normally rain and damp clothing wouldn’t bother her as she had become accustomed to it however she was able to dry her clothing every night when she was staying with Nōmu. She figured she’d start to love water and rain again once she remembered what it was like to be dry and warm again but for now water wasn’t held high in her regard. Her odd mental ramblings about water were cut off and quickly forgotten when Nao spoke up, ”Please hold your questions till we reach the destination, all will be explained. It would be unwise to converse in such an environment.” At first when she heard him say the word “please,” she hoped she would finally get to hear him say what was on his mind however what came afterwards only served to slightly annoy her and restart the mental rambling loop of worry and hydrophobia this time the thought path started with a new section: wondering who could possibly be listening out here in BFE but she quickly moved on to worry after her sojourn into annoyance. She decided to look into the horizon to see any signs of a clear destination for them only to see dull seemingly abandoned buildings whose maintenance was severely lacking she figured there was a building among them that Nao was residing in for what she hoped was only a short period of time. Well if he wanted not to be found by anyone too nosy this would definitely be a good place for it but why would he want that…. Her now altogether too familiar loop of worry started again this time there was a stop in worry about Nao town as she hoped the boy hadn’t done anything foolish; even if he had, Ame doubted she could bring herself to raise a hand against him unless he had threatened her first.

Finally they reached what appeared to be the beginning of the end of this harrowing journey. The sight put before her was no less harrowing the motel they had arrived at appeared as neglected as Ame’s conversational needs were at that moment. As they headed for, and subsequently, up the stairs Nao would glance back towards her what he’d find on her face would be her normal expression with a dash of worry. The fact that this place was so … shitty would serve only to reinforce her suspicions that Nao was hiding and that he most likely had in fact done something foolish. Ame would never hurt the young man who in her eyes was still nothing but the boy she would see in the background watching her with envious eyes. After reaching the third floor, he would lead her to room 345 and unsurprisingly invite her in, he even had the manners to hold the door for her to enter first. The inside of the room was Spartan and unkempt At least the outside matches the inside, no false advertisement here. Ame figured that this would be more than a quick chat and very quickly scanned for a proper a place to sit and deciding she should probably just take a seat on the bed seeing as there wasn’t really much of a choice. Her combined worries and hate for water blocked her ability to form a full sentence however she was able to muster up one weakly spoken word: ”Talk.”

Age : 28 Posts : 223

Nao waited as the libidinous and mature kunoichi made her way into the rectangle room/residence of the nukenin. As Ame passed by Nao, he would feel a brush against his forearm, it would come as a surprise, not because of the slight physical contact that had happened, but because of the damp ambience he got from it. He let that pass, and continued to close the door behind Ame, and for the first time ever, walk behind her. His eyes were fixated on the behind of the kunoichi as she finally opted to take a seat on the bed. Am I being fu*king serious right now, what am I? Fifteen?! Nao would go on to follow the girl and decided to stand awkwardly leaning against the wall directly in the line of sight of the jounin. As a ray of light would hit the woman from the open window, it had hit him. She was wet, in the literal sense. There were a number of places she could be coming back from , the most likely one to be from the Rain Village. The fact that she had not said anything about the happenings of the village made it evident that she had no idea. She was oblivious to the phenomenal changes that have occurred, some for the better and some for the worse. Drake’s expression would shift from worry to relief and back to worry.

”Talk.”

Nao’s thoughts had been abruptly interrupted by that one word, he had never encountered a situation until now, where the word talkhad the ability to make things so intense. The walls of the rectangle shaped room were closing in on him, and the timer was coming down to the ticking of the final few seconds. He had to make his move. ”A lot has changed since you have left. I’m not sure where you have been, most likely the rain village, or for how long. But the fact that you are indifferent to the changes is due to the fact that you are currently ignorant about them. Please. Let me complete, then you can have your say.” Nao would pause for a second and make complete eye contact as he swiftly proceeded to the second part of his semi-speech.

”Two years ago, after I was promoted to the chuunin level, a drastic shift had happened in my life. It has led me to be where I am, and forced me to continue living as I am. A couple of days after my promotion, my mother had come clean to us. She had been working as a spy for Kirigakure, and was going to be secretly killed by her village elders as a precautionary measure. She had approached my father for help. In exchange, my father asked her to tell him everything she had been hiding. I wouldn’t get into the specifics of that right now. Eventually, my father, Isoya lost his temper, and murdered her, in front of me and Shikani. Unfortunately, since that day we did not have any contact from him. Soon enough, due to these unusual circumstances, I chose to make a drastic decision and fled from the village successfully.”
It had been a mouthful that the boy had said, and he knew the kunoichi would need time to process everything he had just told her. Her reaction wasn’t something that Nao was looking forward to. She could either sit there and understand what Nao was going through and give him a chance, or she could attack him, capture him and take him back to the village. The latter seemed to be seeming more and more likely by the second. At this moment, Nao had completely forgot the friendship he had with this woman ever since he had been a boy, their friendship was there, but in a way it wasn’t. His conscious constantly covered by envy, Nao never let himself accept that fact.

He realized that he was being completely selfish, only thinking about his feelings. Isoya had been her sensei as well, a mentor who had helped her become who she is now. Having held such respect for the man, he knew she couldn’t be taking the fact that he had become a murderer lightly. Thus, there was no way he was going to tell her that he actually wanted his father to do what he had done,meaning he wanted his mother….dead.

Age : 31 Posts : 683

As Ame walked into the room she brushed against Nao his skin felt very warm compared to her own and much more dry which was a very welcome feeling given the circumstances she had nearly wanted to embrace him in that moment however that would’ve been a bit odd so she continued with her original plan to sit on the bed and to let out her attempt at communication. Nao was leaning against a wall appearing to be slightly uncomfortable by her presence not as an individual but as a female. His body language indicated he wasn’t sure what an appropriate place for him to stand/sit would be so he just sort of stood there in front of her leaning on the wall. Had it been a less familiar person to her she may have giggled a bit at his awkwardness however she had a fair bit of caring for this boy given his connection to her and the urge never crossed her mind. He clearly was worried about how this would turn out, which only served to make Ame worried as well. Ame made a resolution in her mind that no matter what had happened she would show him the support and care it appeared was lacking at this time. For the few seconds after Ame’s single word of communication it seemed a lifetime was passing the short, silent, torture was liberated when Nao began to speak. He started by conjecturing as to where she had been and doing so quite accurately, then as was becoming the theme he asked her to be silent until he was done she didn’t mind that it’s just downright rude to interrupt people and being polite is important. The upsetting part of this initial statement was that a lot of things had apparently changed she was likely about to find out how deep this went however her lack of knowledge on the subject wasn’t surprising considering that not many people knew of her location while she was away and it is quite difficult to contact someone in the rain village. At the end of his short introduction he would look her directly in the eyes this time instead of harrowing her it comforted her it was like looking into the eyes of the father that she didn’t have as a child given how similar they were to her mentor’s. However instead of care she saw pain and worry in his eyes which served make her feel guilty before he even began.

Early on in his short monologue things seemed good Nao was a chuunin now He’s grown… it would quickly be brought down to the depths that Ame expected it to reach when he indicated that his life had a large unexpected change some of her deepest fears for how this could go seemed would be coming true I just hope Unmei is safe. Ame immediately felt guilty that she could be so selfish when this wasn’t about her sister. Nao would go on to explain that his mother was a Kirigakure spy and was set for death by assassination ordered by the Kumogakure administration. His mother asked Isoya who quite justly had asked her to explain everything she was hiding. Apparently one of her or a combination of various secrets caused something to snap in Isoya leading him to kill her in front of Nao and someone named Shikani who Ame could only assume was his younger sister. The last revelation hit Ame like a boulder Iso-Isoya-Sensei is a murderer? the despair caused by the situation was worsened by the implication that Nao had no idea of his whereabouts Ame could only hope he wasn’t planning something hasty and drastic in the Water Country. Ame was hoping there was no more bad news and that Nao was out here in the slums because he was trying to track his father, Nao shattered this hope explaining to her that he had left the village illegally but without notice. Never hurt the ones you love. Her post would dictate that she should kill or capture Nao however the one thing she valued more than duty and honor was loyalty to family and while she wasn’t too close to Nao in her younger years; Isoya was the closest thing she had to a father growing up.

It seemed time had somewhat healed the wound that these events caused Nao and he was well composed. Ame felt terrible in her head she was screaming at herself, WHY WEREN’T YOU THERE YOU SELFISH BITCH? Ame could tell while Nao was composed on the outside on the inside he probably felt just as bad as she did at this moment. Ame rose from her seat trembling and slowly walked towards Nao when she got in arm’s length of him she forcefully pulled him close to her and tightly embraced him, normally if Ame was trembling she’d be angry with herself for showing such weakness however she wasn’t in public and she had to let the trembling go to fight off the strong urge to cry. Ame gathered words in her head and was able to muster up enough to softly say in his ear, ”I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you guys … I may – I may have been able to stop it or to at least take care of you and comfort Isoya. All I can do now is promise to help you with whatever you need and apologize. Apologies are shallow without actions, b-but I’m sorry … I swear I am… At the end of the last sentence Ame couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer and began to quietly sob however given her current proximity to Nao it would be very clear she was crying. She felt weak for crying in front him when he maintained so much composure this whole time Ame was able to muster up one complete sentence through her sobbing however came out as a whisper … sorry for crying.”

Age : 28 Posts : 223

Nao silently watched as Ame began to lose her composure and started coming closer towards him. He suddenly remembered what the jounin could do, as he recalled the incident with the drunkard in the pub. She was able to..he wasn’t exactly sure what she did, but she had done it without moving an inch of muscle. The young Nukenin started to daven and hoped that she wasn’t coming up to hurt him or attack him even though she could’ve done it by standing in the place she was, but he noticed the girl quivering and what had happened next removed all doubt of her loyalty to his father and her friendship with Nao. She had pulled him towards her and started hugging, tighter than he had ever been hugged before. She was still damp after returning from the rain village, and the scent of alcohol was mixed with that from their recent encounter in the local pub, however the vibrations he felt from her overshadowed any other observation he had made, she was crying, for him. For the first time since it happened, he had received sympathy from someone and he wasn’t exactly sure how he could describe the feeling, besides using one word, relief. Nao continued to prolong this comforting act by putting both his arm around her and resting one on her back and the other on the opposite side of the waist, and started hugging tighter.

Nao wasn’t certain of the words coming out of the young lady’s mouth, but he could make out from it that she was apologizing for not being there. 2 two tears, specifically, came rolling down the cheeks of the nukenin as he heard what Ame had to say. He however wanted to keep his composure, so when the tears fell on the right shoulder of the jounin, he hoped that she wouldn’t notice due to the fact that she had been wet from the start. She’s making me all emotional, this isn’t good, I wish she’d stop saying it was her fault, it’s not like she could do anything about it.He decided it was about time that they got down to real business, he needed Ame to do only one thing for him, and he was sure that she wouldn’t decline. As the girl went on to apologize once again, but this time for crying, Nao released himself from the affectionate hug and held the girl by pacing a firm grip on the girl’s shoulders. ”It’s okay, it wasn’t like you could genuinely do anything about it, you couldn’t have possibly known.” He looked straight at the woman’s eyes as he tried to be convincing. Damn, I hope my eyes don’t give away the fact that I may have cried a little..

”There’s only one thing I ask of you, I need you to look after my younger sister, or not really sister, who knows. Kessho, Shikani is her name, you can do it in any way you find correct. I will be on the search for my father, and I need to know that she is safe. Its going to be a long journey for me, and it would be wonderful to know that someone like you is supporting me in this journey.” He was able to tell Ame exactly what he wanted from her, and exactly what he would be doing in one complete sentence. It seemed that it would be to good to seem true if Ame were to not object over his decisions. But he was quite sure that he could convince the jounin as he awaited a reply.

Age : 31 Posts : 683

While Ame trembled and sobbed, Nao returned her embrace and pulled her in tightly which served to comfort her and ease her road back to composure. It had been a very long time since she had been embraced by anyone; and even longer since the embrace had belonged to a man, for a brief moment inappropriate thoughts raced through Ame’s head, she quickly dismissed them as thoughts born from her current weakness and not from genuine attraction to the man who was more a brother than a suitable love interest. Nao would break off the embrace much to Ame’s displeasure as she had enjoyed the warmth, he would go on to firmly grip her on her bare shoulders, in most situations she would’ve shied away from such contact however she felt comfortable with Nao and it instead made her feel safe as well as further assisted her efforts to calm herself. He looked her directly in the yes and told her it wasn’t her fault, Ame cleared her throat and wiped away her tears and then returned his gaze. She would still sniffle sporadically through his speech where he asked for her help him by taking care of his younger sister who held the name Shikani Kessho. He would go on to inform her that he would be on a search for his father, Ame wished with all her heart that she could go with him however they both knew that her place was in the village and his was not.

Ame took a deep breath so that she could give a complete, and mostly coherent response ”I wish I could help you find him so you could just come home, but we both know that can’t happen. Of course I will watch over your sister and I promise to protect her as if she were my own. But you need to promise me one thing, promise me if you will keep me updated on your progress and should you actually find where he is, you come straight back here and tell me. He was as much a father to me as you and I won’t see either of you hurt. It was great to see you again Nao, but I need to get back home. Promise me you’ll let me know.” Ame would wait for Nao’s response, after it is given she would give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek; assuming he needed nothing more of her she would leave the room and head back to her home. His response never came so Ame assumed he was done with her and he needed nothing more, so Ame proceeded to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and walk out the door. Before she crosses the threshold she’d look back at him and say ”Oh yeah and don’t tell anyone you saw me cry, that would uhh be bad and stuff. Bye Nao.”

EXIT