Man, it's been awhile. But I'm here, with an idea I've been messing with for quite some time. So I present to you an AU set in modern day Tokyo. Enjoy my lovelies.
Kishi Taisei
Wake from death and return to life
-Japanese Proverb
S I N G
By
WeHoldTheseTruths
"Did you hear? He's done it for good this time, the teachers are saying he's going to get expelled!"
"I heard he sent Takashi and his friend to the hospital. There's no way they'll let him off this time."
"He's just trash, I don't get why they didn't kick him out sooner."
"Good riddance. We'll finally be able to live in peace."
The whispers travelled along the hallway as the young man made his way toward the door. He'd heard enough rumors to know the general consensus. People hated him. People feared him. People misunderstood him. At least, that's how he felt. Because of his blonde hair and blue eyes, people isolated him. Upper classmen would harass him for standing out too much. People would automatically assume that he was a Yankee and pick fights. No one should blame him for defending himself. But they did, and this time the fighting had gone too far. But, what could he have done? Takashi had whipped out a switch blade and actually cut him. After seeing his blood, his body went into autopilot and the rest of the memory went blank. When he came out of his trance, Takashi and his friend were on the ground unmoving, and the cut was already healed.
He couldn't say that was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him though. It wasn't. In fact, weird things were happening all the time and he'd just learned to accept them as a fact of life. So, when he'd tried to explain what happened to the teachers, he wasn't surprised that none of them believed him. And he wasn't surprised that they were going to expel him. Sometimes he just wanted to be normal. To have a normal school life, to live with a normal family, to just be a regular kid; those were his greatest wishes in life. As he slipped on his outdoor shoes he felt a slight vibration rom his pocket. Curious, he dug through it and flipped open his phone. There was only one new message on the screen, and it wasn't from his guardian.
Do you want to change your fate?
"SHIKAMARU, WILL YOU GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF BED AND GO TO SCHOOL ALREADY?" His mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
It was the daily routine. He'd hit the snooze button four or five times before ultimately turning off the alarm and just wait for his mother to yell at him to get up. Grudgingly, he groaned and rolled over, hitting the floor hard. He'd been closer to the edge than he anticipated.
"SO HELP ME I WILL DRAG YOU OUT OF THERE MYSELF," she continued to yell. He let out a sigh. "DON'T YOU SIGH AT ME YOUNG MAN; I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO REALLY SIGH ABOUT IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE."
His mother was never a patient woman. So he sighs again (silently because he knows his mother will somehow hear him) and opens his dresser, pulling out a clean undershirt before going into his bathroom to change. Ten minutes later he's heading down the stairs back. His mother standing by the door with his lunch and some toast, "Here, you're going to be late." She shoves the food into his hands and kisses him on the cheek. He just accepts it and mumbles his goodbyes, praying no one saw.
His everyday life was the same. It wasn't that he hated it, in fact he liked the predictability his life offered, but he knew deep down his longed for something more. He wanted adventure and excitement or at least some part of him did. But he was just too damn lazy to do anything about it. He wolfed down the piece of toast as he walked toward his university. Lecture was always so boring. What good was it to sit in a classroom and listen to some old bag drone on and on about international economics?
Deciding he might as well take a short cut, he turned down a dark alley that connected two major streets. He often took this way when he wanted to avoid the morning rush.
"Hand over your money kid," a gruff voice wheezed behind him. The young man turned to face two hooded thugs, one holding a metal pipe and the other with a switch blade out. "Do it, if you know what's good for you." The thug added.
Shikamaru let out a long sigh. He always feared this might happen one day. Now, he wasn't helpless by any means. He could take care of himself if he needed to, but it was a pain. "Troublesome," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that punk?" the pipe wielding thug growled and took a step forward.
Instantly, he tensed, ready for the attack he knew would be coming. The fools probably thought they had an advantage. His mind was already racing a mile a minute, taking in all the details of the area around him.
"Over here officer!" a voice yelled. "Someone's trying to mug him!"
"Shit," the knife thug cursed. "We're out of here."
The two ran off, without sparing him so much as a second look. The young man let out another sigh, his body relaxing and returning to its previous state. He resumed his walk, shouting some thanks to the Good Samaritan who'd saved him. As he emerged onto the other side of the street, he felt his pocket vibrate.
Are you satisfied?
The young woman tucked her hair into the cap and pushed her glass up the bridge of her nose. One brief glance in the mirror told her that she was good to go. Another day of being invisible, another day of hell. But, being invisible was better than standing out in her opinion. She'd learned early on that people could be so cruel and judgmental. She would rather fade into the background than have people stare at her and whisper behind her back.
Out of habit she called out her goodbyes, before reminding herself that she was no longer living in her parent's home. She'd moved to the city a year ago in fate hopes that she might fit in better. But the first week had been a disaster, and she went back to being who she was before the move.
As she walked down the stairs and toward the train station, she wondered why people cared so much about looks. In the end, everyone would grow old and their looks would change. They wouldn't be young forever. Though, she considered, it made sense for people to be vain now while they had the chance. It was a short fifteen minute walk before she got the terminal. She swiped her pass and waited in line with everyone else. She faintly heard the ping of the feminine voice over the loud speakers, the train was approaching. She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't realize she was moving along the crowd until she was forced to grab onto one of the handles as the voice announced the train's departure. Everything was going as it usually did. Until the train jerked to a sudden stop.
"We're experiencing a minor technical difficulty now; we thank you for your patience."
As the announcement sounded, the young women had been pushed and lurched forward. In addition to her strange outer appearance, she was unbelievably clumsy to boot. She tripped and fell, not noticing her hat and glasses and slipped off of her.
"I'm so sorry," an apologetic voice said as he rushed to help her up. "I wasn't paying attention and-" he paused as he caught sight of her. "Whoa. Is that your real hair?"
The girl's hands flew up to her head and she realized her hat and fallen. One hand flew to her face, in search of her glasses, but those were gone as well. She scrambled to find them, but she was already attracting attention as it was. The whole car was looking at her now and whispering.
"Here," the same man said, handing her the lost items. "Your eyes are amazing as well." He commented.
The girl said nothing, hating the feeling she was getting. She felt like she was under a microscope. Immediately, the train started moving again and everyone took their places once more. But, she could still feel the people around her staring, chattering even after she'd put her hat and glasses back on. It was an agonizing fifteen minutes before she was finally allowed out of the train. She pushed her way through and ran to the bathroom, locking herself in a stall so she could just calm down before heading into work. She stared at her shaking hands and took several deeps breaths before she heard her phone's delicate dinging from her purse. She pulled in out and stared at the screen in confusion. And address she didn't know.
What are you ashamed of?
"Seriously, you're exactly as they said!" a young woman hissed. "Go to hell!" a resounding slap echoed in the hallway, quickly followed by the swift clicking of heels.
A young man sighed as he rubbed his sore cheek. Another one bites the dust, he decided. Oh well, there were always plenty of other fish in the sea. He shrugged and waited a couple more minutes before heading back out. He really hated it when girls confronted him at school. It meant his friends would see and tease him for yet another failed relationship. He usually played it off quite well. Always saying there was another girl. Flirting, talking, dating, messaging, all of those things were just a part of the game. Though, if he had to be honest, then he would admit he was just doing it to find 'the one'. His idiot father had run out on his family, and ever since then he had to admit he was kind of afraid of commitment. I mean, look at it this way: if you can't commit to your family how can you commit to anyone else, let alone your soul mate?
So he hopped from girl to girl, looking for the legendary feeling of falling in love. And every time he'd jumped into a relationship, he failed to find it. So, in the end he'd get bored and move on. He knew it was wrong, he knew he was hurting other people, but loyalty in a relationship was never his strong suit. Hell, he'd go so far to say it was in his blood. But, that wasn't a good enough excuse. So, he ended up in these situations quite often and many times with multiple girls.
"I'm surprised you're still finding people to date," one of his few girlfriends (as in platonic relationship) commented. "I thought all of Tokyo would know about you by now."
"Shut up," he halfheartedly sighed. He couldn't help but feel a little drained. That last girl was so demanding it exhausted him to no end. To be honest, he was a bit relieved that she dumped him.
It was the end of the day, a precious day off from school already past, when he was walking back to his apartment. The street was a rare quiet and serene, and it was just nice to relish in the night time sounds. Crickets chirping, dull chattering from the houses around him, cats meowing in the night, the occasional dog barking. Overall (despite the getting slapped thing) it was a good day and he was looking forward to going to bed.
"Oi," a gruff voice called out to him from behind.
The young man turned and found the girl who'd dumped him earlier, surrounded by a bunch of guys. She smiled smugly. "You're going to get what you deserve asshole."
He inwardly groaned. He should have never taken her back to his place. Now he had to move so she wouldn't be able to find him again. To a normal bystander, it was surprising that he wasn't more worried. He was outnumbered five to one and he was most concerned about the girl following him home. The fight passed in a blur. Really, even if it was five guys they were nothing. Weak, he'd decided. Just boys trying to prove themselves. He watched as they scrambled up and ran away, leaving the girl screaming in frustration. He turned to walk home, already slightly annoyed that his favorite jacket got dirty. The girl was still screaming at him, swearing up and down that she would get him back for humiliating her. And he continued to ignore her. The familiar ringtone signaled that he had a message. He wondered if it was from one of his friends asking him to a gokon.
Do you want to find your place?
She shouldn't care, she thought as she dragged herself into the locker room. She shouldn't care that she was the only girl in the club, nor should she care that she was getting picked on. Actually, she shouldn't care about anything that they said because she actually liked what she was doing and all of those jerks could go fall off a bridge and die for all she cared. Okay, she took back the dying part, because that was really harsh.
She took a deep breath and exhaled. It was another rough day of practice. The boys were always unnecessarily rough to her whenever there was sparring matches. It's like they had something to prove or whatever. She was just one little girl, really she should be treated like a princess or something. She let out a snort, yeah right, princess. She was far from being a princess. She preferred cargo pants and jeans to skirts and frilly dresses. Her hair was forever up; never down because it got in the way, but at the same time she was just too damn lazy to cut it. She hardly ever wore make up (not that she didn't know how, she just hated the feeling of it on her face) and she hardly ever did anything that was even considered close to feminine. No, she preferred martial arts. She preferred judo, kendo, archery, and aikido. She would much rather be slamming against mats than sitting seiza performing tea ceremonies (she also knew how to do this, but really hated the formality of it).
She finished changing and quickly exited the dojo. She didn't want to run into any of her club mates who were sure to make fun of her even more than they already had today. The young woman plotted her course home, mentally noting she needed to stop at the market because her mother asked her to pick up some soy sauce and eggs. It wasn't long before her errands were done and she was walking up the steps into the family dojo grounds.
"I'm home," she called. She could hear her brother laughing from the family room.
"Welcome back!" a chorus of deep voices chanted.
"Oh, good you're back!" her mother greeted her at the door, taking the bags. "Wash up and help me make dinner."
She nodded and padded off to her room to change and drop off her bag. A few minutes later she was in the kitchen with her mother, peeling carrots and potatoes.
"Ten-chan," her mother began. "About your club activities."
"I'm not changing my mind, mother," she replied swiftly. "I like being in judo."
"It was fine in junior high, it was pushing it in high school, but you're a young woman now! You need to start thinking of your future, who you're going to marry."
"Ten get married?" one of her brother entered the kitchen and snorted. "Yeah right, no one would marry this gorilla."
"Shut up," she hissed and violently began peeling again.
"Look at her mom, she loses her temper easily, doesn't have a cute bone in her body," he continued. "Really, she might as well have been born a man."
She felt the tears well up and burn in her throat. She tossed down the vegetables with a hard slam, and stormed out of the kitchen, ignoring her mother's calls. How dare he? She didn't care if he was just teasing, it had gone too far. She grabbed her wallet and phone before pulling on her running shoes. She just wanted to get out of the house.
She wasn't feminine enough to be a girl, but she wasn't manly enough to be one of the boys. She didn't understand why people wouldn't just let her be who she wanted to be? She had already exited the grounds and made her way down the path to the old shrine. It wasn't fair, she thought, it wasn't fair that people threw their expectations at her. She wasn't almighty, or all powerful. She was just her. And it was never enough. She reached the top of the steps and sat at the old shrine, head in her hands. She heard her phone ring and flipped it open (she was expecting to see her mother or brother calling and was ready to hang up) and saw a box blinking across the screen: One new message.
Who are you?
The woman sat at her desk, hands folded under her chin as she stared at the computer screen. Multiple files were open and she read over each one carefully for the umpteenth time.
"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.
The woman didn't look up, but merely grunted in acknowledgement.
"The messages have been sent," her assistant said. "We're waiting for the replies now."
"Good," she replied, leaning back into her chair. She was so glad she decided to have a custom order made. It was worth the extra money. "Have you notified the others?"
"Three of them are coming back to base as we speak," the dark haired woman replied. "The other two are still caught up in missions."
"It'll do for now," her boss replied. "Set up the meeting place. We should be hearing back from them soon."
Shizune bowed, but answered hesitantly. "How can you be so sure?"
Tsunade grinned and swirled to face the window. "I just am."
