AN: Yo this is the finale.
Chapter Title: It was the Oath Under Snow
Arc 7 End.
It was December twenty second, people were out celebrating the Tohji-Taisai and a huge festival was going on causing the village to cease most of its activities to allow everyone time off to enjoy all there was on offer to them. The celebration of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu leaving the cave after being calmed down from being angered by her brother.
For him though, something was wrong.
I thought it would never happen again…
That I'd never see it again…
Yet here I was…
The snowflakes fell with a grace unknown to man as they found their path and drifted along the easy breeze of cool Winter air, the frigid temperature temporarily forgotten as eyes cast themselves upon the snow that laid at the feet of all. Everything was slowly beginning to get carpeted in a new layer of the fluffy soft white snow, children cheering could be heard in the distance as the night sky starry open and vast let it fall from the dark clouds looming above.
The embrace of the snow that covered the Village Hidden Amongst the Tree Leaves filled many with joy despite the disruptive nature of it to the many businesses across it. The festivities continued with mirth and cheer.
In the middle of a street stood a boy- no a man with one arm, blood like coloured hair that had mostly become silverish grey, he stood alone in the spotlight of a street lamp as snow fell and covered him and the ground all around him.
He held a cold look of resignation and understanding at the loss he was presented with, he had yet again lost something precious to him… was there no end to it?
He did not know, and that's why he chose to strive for something at least while he was still able.
There was a part of him that still couldn't process what had happened to him.
She had confessed her love to him only for the moment he was about to respond to be crushed as a hole was blasted through her shoulder from a blade, the horror on her face and the surprise the flashed across his as he watched her crumple to the ground where he caught her picking her up and running away supporting her the best he could running into the building they had practiced Archery in for years together. He glanced at the wound and immediately wished he hadn't as the crimson liquid drenched the girls clothing, a Kimono and Hakama alike that of which they wore to practice, and covered the white shirt he had been wearing along with his pants and shoes. He kept her on his right side to ensure he could see everything as they tumbled through the heart of the building.
Rouge
His breath caught in the moment that the equipment that was laid on the floor caused them to trip and fall, where he found himself struggling to stand where they stood in the open air of the target range. She stood tall and strong with a new resolve over taking her in the moment the bow and arrows were aimed at the attacker and she pulled the notched arrow back further to increase the weight behind it only for the bow to snap-
Crack
She remembered this bow…
It was the one from earlier in the day that had a crack running through the length of it- she had taken it off someone before they could hurt themselves using it…
The light left her eyes as her resolve was shot and died in the moment-
The Squelch and Cracking of her chest being blown out- all the flesh and bone spraying viscera all over the snow covered it red like rose petals. His heart stopped as the one last time he watched the smile he had come to love disappear from her face as her head hit the ground dead to the world.
Rouge
It was Hell
Rouge
it had to be.
Rouge
The hand that was stuck through her chest held its position blood dripping from it and the blade in its grip.
He felt a surge of
Emotion that he'd never felt before it was so strong that he didn't even remember moving, everything was a blur in his mind as everything from his movements down to his breathing was decided for him as he battled the person to the death without really knowing how or why…Noir
When he felt his mind return he was stood alone in a field of Kunai littered around him with the corpse of his opponent dead, beaten, bloodied and butchered like an animal- or beast had gotten to it. All the kunai that were stabbed into the ground were covered in blood, small paper tags blowing in the wind as the words of a voice penetrated his mind.
"I'Ll SeE yOu In HeLl" the voice was distorted and choked as it came from the mouth of a body being strangled right before the throat was ripped right out of him.
There stood a man alone in a street far from any immediate people, covered in blood, his hair a similar colour though most of it had already greyed from the taxation on his mind, body and soul. His blood drenched appearance only made worse by how freshly it still dripped from his fingertips…
The snow beneath him had become a deep crimson.
"
I'm already in Hell…" the dark skinned man stood alone in the street said to no one in particular as his eyes cast themselves upon the night sky as the snowflakes fell.Rouge
The red flashed across his mind again, reminding him that it had filled his vision before he snapped.
His body of scars and heart like that of a chipped sword all screamed internally as everything settled in his mind, creating a hollow feeling of dread and anguish, all he could wish for was for it to stop.
"Oh? You're still waiting out here for me are you? If you keep doing this a girl could get the wrong idea." the voice spoke, it was someone he knew wasn't it? Surely?
"Hey sleepy head? You awake in there?" she came around and stood in front of his eye and waved a hand drawing his attention back to the purple haired woman.
"Y- you're… here?" the words found their way out of him with a tone that was filled with sadness.
"Uhm? I am yes. Are you alright?" Her eyes looked at the boy before her up and down searching for the problem.
He stood alone on a road devoid of people, covered in snow, his clothing covered in her blood. He screamed and no one came to break him from the hell he was in, forced to believe it real.
"I- I..." before he knew it he had wrapped his arm around her. "I'm so glad it wasn't real! That you're alive!" The tears rolled down his face as his struggle to tell the difference in the realities faded and they separated.
"I'm not really sure how to react to this if I'm honest." Yumi said with her arms awkwardly held out from the hug. "At the least I'm glad I'm not hurt either then." her voice unsure of how to deal with the situation presented.
"I was so scared I'd lost you..." his voice trembled at the thought. "I can't lose anything more… not again..."
She could hear the true amount of terror and fear presented in his words, everything he said was filled with an emotion she had never seen in him before. Even when he had come to the Dojo after losing his arm, he was relatively cheery then.
'So what happened to cause this?' she wondered as her thoughts lifted the apprehensive feelings she had about it and her arms reciprocated the embrace. 'Kaede said he had been having moments where he would slip but she never said what that meant, was this one of those moments?' all she wanted was to understand what had happened, yet nothing arose in her mind as to what the cause could be.
"Takezou?" her voice was soft as she asked the man that had become a boy through sheer amount of fear.
"Yes…?" his tone was still shaken, but she had gotten his attention at least.
"If you don't mind me asking, what- what happened?" Yumi wasn't exactly sure how to ask the question, if it would make him cry harder, if he would break down more or if possibly he would sober up and answer. How would someone normally deal with something like this?
"I said I love you, and it killed you… all I wanted was to show you my heart and have you return the feelings… but instead you were robb-" he stopped himself as it all resurfaced and he backed away from her breaking the embrace and throwing up the contents of his stomach into the snow.
'What did he say?' her head swam ignoring the contents of his stomach now being tossed out. 'He said-'
They stood alone in the street that was devoid of people, there was no one here, it was quiet. Her head swam at a breakneck pace trying to comprehend what she had heard, while he continued to vomit at the thoughts and images that plagued his disturbed and battered mind.
His mind was now the chipped blade that he had been warned of, so many fractures that the reality he views has become hard to distinguish from dreams and nightmares. Now they invade his mind when he was alone for too long.
Yumi watched as Takezou fell backwards onto the ground, she felt like hole was opened in her heart watching it as she dazed by her thoughts and he scrambled to keep himself up with his left arm that wasn't present only to hit the ground back first, letting out a pained noise he went still and the woman rushed to his side.
'Nothing is making sense anymore with him, why?' her thoughts asked with no answer being gifted to her by an omnipotent source or her own memories.
She picked up the much larger boy and carried him through the snow towards where he lived, she had visited a several occasions beforehand, but this would certainly be the worst yet seeing how every had been for her so far.
It had already been dark when she had left the Dojo her grandfather owned and was planning to have her inherit, but now it was later into the early night. The sounds of the villagers celebrating had begun to calm down and weren't as loud in the distance, though it made the empty place they were traveling along to be more eerie to Yumi as she trudged along through all the snow that was piling up.
Yumi arrived on the road that Takezou's home was on after about an hour of walking across the village to it.
There was nothing more than worry in her mind about the state of her close friend as they approached the house, another thing she hoped was that his mother was awake and might be able to give answers about what had happened. Several months ago around the time she heard about what happened to the Rakurai family from Kaede herself, the older woman had told Yumi that her son experienced 'slips' and that he would often forget them after the fact- that they were mostly fake memories altered by- something, she didn't expand on it exactly, but said to be weary of them, though at the time the dark skinned woman had also told her about the times when Takezou had blacked out and would end up in hospital which Kaede said might be connected to the 'slips'.
She had begun to think that maybe in one of these moments where his mind slipped that he had confessed to her and that it had taken hold of his mind and continued, likely made worse by his already unstable state. After all, his mother hadn't been the only one to visit her in relatively recent times, his Aunt Rei had come to Yumi and explained that he had thrown himself off the Hokage monument- also telling her that the rest of his family had been informed and were going to be watching him and that they'd like it if she could tell them if anything was off about him when he was with her.
It had shocked her greatly when she heard about his attempted suicide. There were no words that she could muster, though the next time she saw him she was very aware that he had watched her almost the entire time he had visited the Dojo.
Everything was so jumbled up around him that she didn't know what to think anymore and had no clue what her own thoughts about him even were anymore.
[The Oath Was Movie Like In Nature]
Kaede had put her daughter to sleep just half an hour earlier and was sitting in the living room of her house reading a book while wrapped up in a blanket with a heater on when there was a knock on the door, she hadn't been expecting visitors of course- especially not the night of a huge festival where she had already been out to it during the day with her Daughter of whom had been asking her to buy nearly everything she laid her eyes on. So it was a surprise for sure, the only person she could imagine it being was her son, but it would have made next to no sense if he had knocked like this, normally he came right in and announced himself- something she was grateful he did, she had enough of her late Husband coming into the house as quiet as a mouse with his skills from being a Shinobi and frightening the daylight out of her.
This was someone else, not necessarily family she would wager seeing as the other members of her Husband's family/his siblings all had their own children to take care of, so it had to be someone who was either desperate for something. Or in the unlikely case it could be one of her son's friends from being a Ninja… Hinata, she remembered the name of the shy girl who she could only see as an adorable new daughter- but no it couldn't be her for fact that she seemed far too nice to ever come over unless she was already with her son.
She was also sure it wasn't any of her friends, they all had children of their own and because of their jobs she didn't get to see them much. Point being that Kari and Asami were likely asleep and had no reason to visit her.
Narrowing down her options as she closed in on the front door of the house she heard another knock, she decided to waive any ideas as to who it was and just opened the door.
It was a familiar face either way, it was the girl with the beautifully coloured hair that she could never quite place the shade of purple to, the one she was sure since the first day he had come home from Archery Club was in love with. He had talked about her a fair amount without even knowing, he would always mention her when talking about being there.
She noticed another familiar mop of hair, that of which was mostly silver and had a fair amount of snow covering both.
Kaede didn't give the girl before her a chance to speak, instead rushing the purple haired girl inside ignoring taking off shoes to allow her to head straight in and off load her son onto a couch so they could warm up then talk. Before that though she disappeared into the kitchen and began whipping up food and something warm to drink for her guest and son who she assumed would wake up and be hungry, Yumi had been over enough times for Kaede to get what foods she liked out of her.
It wouldn't take long for her to cook up rice, make miso soup and fry some chicken in teriyaki. She had gotten good at cooking with having to do it for her husband and son, both of whom ate a lot due to all their training. She was glad her daughter hadn't taken any real interest in being a Shinobi. Though she did seem to like the bows Takezou had in his room.
Anyhow when the food was done, Yumi looked very much livelier than she did when they came in, and she had a chance to now realize her son looked like someone had pushed snow into his face and tried to wipe it with it. Setting the food down both women began eating letting the purple haired girl relax from being relatively tense.
"So… what happened exactly?" Kaede asked the younger girl who was sat across from her with Takezou wrapped up in blankets next to Yumi.
"Well- I… I had finished up at our Dojo and was leaving when I noticed he was standing outside in the street waiting, he was staring up at the sky and stars, he looked lost I guess?" the purple haired girl paused and sipped at her tea, placing the cup down she continued. "Something about him seemed off so I walked up to him and started talking, when I did at first he didn't seem to notice me after a few minutes though I said some more things to get his attention- and so when he noticed me the first thing he did was cry and tell me how grateful he was that I was alive and that whatever he had seen wasn't real- then he hugged me and simultaneously declared his love for me..." She still felt very conflicted and confused about it all.
The woman of Lightning heritage was silent for several minutes as she thought about what was said and how to deal with it all, her son had become such an enigma to her and even the people he was closest to. He no longer felt the same and often forgot things he should know or about people he had known for years, the phantom pains that plagued him every once in a while and now these moments where he seemed to have his head filled with an illusionary world where things turn to the worse.
Deciding to lighten the mood somewhat Kaede focused on what was the least of their worries. "Well I knew he would confess to you eventually, it was just a matter of when." she said with a slight smirk building as she watched the girl before her splutter about it.
"Uh-Oh? You did?!" Yumi squeaked out indignantly as she looked between herself and the older woman then Takezou's unconscious form several times.
"As for what happened though, there's been a few times before where he's been making dinner for us and he suddenly zones out like how you described and when he does he comes back and seems to frantically start looking for something- normally when he catches sight of myself or his sister he calms down." The older woman had a concerned expression as she thought about the times it had happened previously.
"Is- is there anything we can do to stop these instances from happening or-" the Kyudo instructor stopped herself as she began to hear an uncomfortable desperation in her own voice.
"We'll just have to look after him until- until it gets better." Standing up Kaede moved around the small coffee table between the two, the other woman preemptively stood to see what she was doing only to be surprised when Kaede hugged the girl tightly and spoke again.
"You may not be my daughter, but just like his teammates I consider you all my children-" the older woman squeezed the younger. "And it makes me over the moon to see how much you care..." she looked to her son for a moment. "Lets just hope he wakes soon so this nightmare of his will be over." the red haired woman released the girl and gave a bright smile.
After all, the only thing they could do was wait.
After sitting back the purple headed girl decided to clear the air about something. "My name is actually Yumiko… I know it's been a while since I met Takezou, but I never actually said my name to him because my grandfather just told him that I was Yumi instead of saying my actual name." She felt odd about finally using her name like she did, Yumi was just a nickname, it had really always been Yumiko.
Deciding to tell the truth as well she spoke "You know..." Kaede said looking to the short haired girl in front of her as emotions muddled her head. "I never did tell him the truth and the longer everything goes on the more I don't want to tell him about what really happened that night."
"You're talking about the night he lost his arm aren't you?"
The mother nodded the sad expression she wore forming a grim hollow smile.
"Mm… that night Takezou killed his father- Nobuyuki, he was the one that gave me this cut on my face..."
Yumiko watched the woman letting her continue on her own without really knowing what to do.
"Takezou had screamed and started radiating chakra when we found in on his floor before he exploded at Yuki and they fought- while they did I had gotten Akatsuki out of the house to Yuki's parents' before coming back to find them still fighting..." the memory haunted her greatly as images of the night ran through her mind.
"Take threw a sword at his father who dodged it and it passed by my face cutting along my face- then as Nobuyuki turned and saw me he didn't have the time to stop Take from trying to do some kind of fire jutsu… it failed and blew up in his face killing his father, destroying part of the house and the awkward chakra must have destroyed his arm..."
"I was left with a destroyed home and family because of this stupid-" she clenched her fists as her normally loving smile had been completely replaced with the stress lines of someone decades older than her and hardened narrowed eyes that held years of held in resentment towards whomever or whatever bestowed such a cursed Kekkei Genkai upon her family.
AN: So, that's it. the end of A Vagabond In Death, I'm grateful for any and all support that people have shown and will show as the story gathers dust, though the story has a likelihood of coming back one day I'm fairly uncertain of how it would continue. Though speaking of which that leads into the second part of the chapter where it's basically a sneak peak at what I had been considering for the second part to this story. So here is what I would consider extra content for the story that isn't entirely canon to it's narrative unless I come back and continue the story saying as much. /-/ Chapter Title: It was a dream like state.
I was surrounded, alone and had nothing but the loose fitting padded armour clothing and two swords, they were my Miao Dao and the Chokuto that I vaguely remembered buying. The large blade was in a half sheath on my back for easy usage and the normal length blade was on my hip.
From what I could tell I was in a pine forest on a night where the full moons light cast down upon a clearing I was in, the ground around me was rough and an odd mixture of grass, dirt and stone that was roughed up from having been trampled on by the feet of people with particularly heavy feet, probably armoured soldiers if I had to guess.
Lifting my hand into view I realized that I wasn't complete, my fist tightening and tension in my lone arm as said realization settled. As time went on and I calmed I gently ran the fingers of my right hand over the stump of my left arm- my lonesome mulling was interrupted when I caught the sound of clinking metal, I wasn't sure what to make of it. Could it be weapons? Armour? Or just a loose set of keys? Small metal pieces banging together with movement?
My question was answered as men began filling into the space of the clearing, all of them were wearing at least a chest piece and a few of them wearing bracers and greaves. The men were armed with varying weapons, from swords, axes to maces. I had no idea what was happening, the men, far too many for me to count made it so there was no immediate escape by surrounding all possible spots. Feeling my breath hitch at the sound of a feral roar from several of the men as they charged me I was forced to immediately dodge out of the way of four men converging on me at once.
Blades catching nothing but the air in the space that previously held me they pushed on more joining in on it, ducking around I began to see what I was being forced into. Drawing the Chokuto and wielding it in a reverse grip I fought back causing the man I attacked to quickly raise his sword in defence only to be to late as my muscle memory worked its magic and I slipped into his guard stabbing him up through the neck into the skull- pulling the blade out with my back to the falling corpse I pushed forward switching grips and jumping into another unprepared soldier stabbing him through the chest.
Moving like the flow of a stream I parried an attack from behind and slashed at my attacker cutting his forearms off, following this I kept up a pace of killing that was sickening my soul to its core as the loss grew larger from my continued combat. I was without chakra. I made the realization as I had attempted to split a man in two, leaving the short sword lodged in the man's body forcing me to leave it as I dodged more the swords and axes coming for my body. Finding a moment of reprieve in the scarce nature of their morale I drew the Miaodao giving me a greater reach with my attacks and allowing for wilder movements and attacks.
Crimson liquid sprayed the foliage and people around as the attackers found reason to continue on this escapade of which I was still unaware of the reason for.
They all started to look vaguely familiar and I couldn't place who exactly yet, though everything about this scenario felt like something I had been doing for years now.
It was when the bolt of a crossbow flew past missing me entirely and killing one of the soldiers that my thoughts returned to me. My stamina was lessening at a greater pace than before as I narrowly dodged being skewered and the minor injuries across this body started to take their toll.
'What am I doing here? In this wretched miserable place… who or why was I doing this? Was it for Hinata? Kaede? Akatsuki? No… I've no clue- really I should just focus on fighting and getting out of here...'
Swish
Stab
Dodge
Slash
The fighting continued for what felt like hours as the damage to my body racked up in a way that left me waning from side to side ready to collapse, unsure of why I was fighting or what for.
Finally it all came crashing down upon me when I collapsed into a tree sliding down it and holding my sword against my chest as my body shuddered from the pain, every inch ached and refusing to let me go beyond a shallow slumber ready to be woken at any time.
Hours passing my shivering sore form tense and full of confusion as I lay here waiting, for what, I didn't know.
When I awoke I was lying on the ground still clutching the black blade close to my chest, it offering a modicum of peace to what was left of my ever withering soul. The chips were too large, the cracks had left a mess and this blade was left in sore need of being reforged so that it might come out on the other side stronger.
Was this the product of something I did?
So much of the scattered thoughts left it harder for me to remember who I was, a name always came to mind, but the images of who that was never seemed to fit the name.
What was even true at this point?
Ever since the day I split I haven't been the same have I?
I remember meeting him, the way he looked so alike me, yet something about the way we stood was so different. He resorted to the darker options of dealing with it all while I was forced to watch like a passenger to my own life, they all talked and hung out with the fake, forcing me to cringe at the way he acted. Every word he spoke continued to slowly drive him away from me and who I was.
I had been so determined to understand what it was I wanted and he ruined it all, when he took over, that part of his act annoys me so damned much.
He's nothing but a mongrel and yet still I have no power over him, even though he's in a coma, I can't make any change to it all. He hasn't seen me since the time we split and all I wish for is the chance to get him back for this, it's been over a year since it happened. All I want is to take back the reins seeing as he can't handle what's floating around in here.
[Mind Numbing]
A few more days had passed and he was still out, Kaede had come by a few times to talk aloud to us, I'm not sure if she knew whether or not we could hear it. But I think she just did it to help her have an outlet with all the things she has been dealing with, I could understand that.
Yumiko… I knew that was her name, but he didn't and she thought that I had just never actually known what her name was. I had known since I had joined the Kyudo Dojo, the old man told me what it was and said that Yumi was her nickname and that he had unintentionally said it instead of her name.
She hadn't come over since she had to drag his sorry ass back home, hearing Kaede finally say to someone else that he had killed Dad was comforting in an odd way. Knowing that she had finally let go of that piece, I had been forced to watch that whole experience, it was awful to see obviously, but at the same time I think that I had just been so jaded to it all by that point that its weight had been lessened. Though I had spent the entire time trying to take over and stop what was happening, all I managed to do was blow our arm off.
Hell.
I was so damned tired, I wish I could just take a break from all this. But I'm not even allowed to sleep when I'm like this, I have to always be active watching and listening to everything.
Nothing but boring days of sitting alone waiting for sound, Akatsuki loves coming in the room and trying to get him to wake up which is always fun to watch, but that's about it for entertainment. I can't even look back on my memories here, I can only really look back on things that are always floating through his mind.
That forest fight was something that happened pretty often while I was waiting in here for the days to go by, though it often changed depending on what his mind was doing. He seemed to have these weird moments where his mind just stuffed up and he'd start seeing things and during those or after them I got sent into those fights. The forest was familiar, but I could never tell why though it was always followed by a fight on a huge battled field and then capped off with a duel on a snowy hill under a pine tree- which had a few variants to itself as well actually. There was one under a huge pine tree on a snowy morning where I was forced to fight a ton of guys and no matter how well I did in that one I could never come out of it unscathed.
I can't do anything about whatever they were either.
The normally bland space around me began to morph and shift into that of one of the many scenes I seemed to always find myself in while stuck in this head of ours. Something about this new scene was off though, it felt like something wasn't right-
Noir
My view was obscured for a short time and when it finally left allowing for me to take in what was now surrounding me, I found myself at the enormous machine in the land of snow where they turned the country's snow off somehow- I sure that had massive implications on the wildlife and whatnot there by the way, just saying.
The mountains were all snowy and rocky as ever though, completely unlike how we left it, so I guess this was some kind of memory then. And if it wasn't I had no idea what was in store for me going forward.
Casting my gaze around I noticed that the valley was eerily quiet, the only noise was the winds and distant sounds of creaking oaks, evergreens and pine trees as they sway in the wind. The lumbering structure of the enormous monoliths that made up for the conduits of the weather changing device were all intact at the moment, the one that Naruto punched or rasengan'ed the guy into wasn't damaged in any way.
It did seem like the ice on the lake was fairly thin, it must've been changing the longer I stood around because when I arrived it was impossible for me to see through it now it was getting quite clear.
I had been here for what felt like an hour now and nothing had happened yet, I hadn't moved either, my body felt like I was sitting in a warm room somewhere despite me being sat on the snowy ground.
If I was honest then I'd say that I could probably just say here til the end of time, but even then I'd be lying to you. It was cool here and at the time I had wished the country had stayed- well you know? Snowy, because I liked the snow and it had been a cool experience walking around in it before they had basically turned it off. Though from what I heard they didn't manage to get the machines running again so it was back to perpetual winter there.
[Snowy Tundra's of a Distant Land]
The sky offered me nothing by an abyss to lose myself in as I watched it for hours.
It was nice to gaze long into an abyss sometimes, even if they tended to gaze long back into you.
People always made that out to be a bad thing didn't they? Was it really that bad? I feel like everyone should do it a least a couple times in their lives, so that they may understand something about themselves they didn't know beforehand.
I began to realize something after a while, where I was sitting had changed. I was now in a forest, it was still snowy and cold.
How I hadn't noticed I couldn't tell you and if anything this place was unfamiliar to me, at least I had memories of the mission to the land of snow, whereas this just looked like a random forest that could be anywhere. Often these scenarios I found myself were reflections of our mental state or even just these weird ideas that came out of nowhere, though they did help to pass the time on occasion when I wasn't watching him fumble around and fall apart.
So that begged the question of whether or not I should go looking around and it seemed like I ought to, but I was still feeling like I should just sit around. I was dressed in a navy blue Kimono and had straw sandals on with tabi, so it wasn't really like I needed to get someplace warm even if I felt chilly at the moment. Though that brought something to the forefront didn't it? I could never use chakra in these things and I don't really know why, I mean it's in my head surely I would be able to?
After a few minutes of mulling it over I decided to start walking around through this forest, I didn't find anything immediately, and its not like I expected to. What I did end up coming across was a set of footprints in the snow that hadn't been filled in yet, so I was assuming they were fresh and that I should find the first character of this act. Or if I'm lucky I'll end up getting killed and being forced into an infinite loop until I figure it all out like that one I got a ways back.
Walking along trailing the footprints I continued to think, it was a wonder I hadn't thought myself to death after all this time really with how much time I've had to tear myself apart from the inside out like this. Suppose that opened the dialogue of wondering as to how much longer I can go on like this until that finally happens, it would suck for sure, but if anything it makes sense to a degree doesn't it?
I stopped as I looked up from the ground and came to meet eyes with someone, they- well I honestly would have said they were the woman version of me if I hadn't known any better, she had long silvery hair, dark skin, amber eyes and was wearing that black Kimono with the red Obi and tiger design on it that I ended up in way back when I went on the fishing trip with my Aunt, the Kimono that was apparently my mothers. Other than that though she was wearing straw sandals with white tabi and had a Katana and Wakizashi on her hip.
So yeah, she was in front of me now.
Being as mundane as I was I just said "Hello." giving a small wave as she glanced me up and down her eyes seemingly unimpressed with what she saw.
There was a short few minute long silence as we stared at one another waiting for something to happen before the woman eventually spoke, breaking the silence and the odd staring competition we were in.
"Well come on then, it's way too cold for anyone to just be standing around out here like this." with that she turned and began trudging through the snow, I followed after not really caring for what might happen.
We walked through the forest quietly, that is to say we didn't speak rather than out footsteps were silent seeing as walking through snow was fairly loud. Though the unnamed possible genderbent version of myself occasionally looked back on me to see if I was still there, I started to wonder where exactly we were going, would it be a lone house, a hamlet or even a village. Who knows? Well I mean she does obviously, but like anyone else here right now doesn't.
The longer we traveled the more my thoughts had time to continue wandering on their own off into a world of oddities and foreign concepts seeing about understanding something that was likely running through his head rather than anything of my own volition. Occasionally that caused problems for me, but at the moment it was something of a welcome distraction from the now creeping cold that had begun to take over my body.
Eventually I was brought from my head when I heard a voice.
"So who are you?" the woman asked.
"Ah..." I fumbled my words as I drew a blank on answering. "Oh! I'm Takezou- who are you?" I asked back after finding my bearings.
"Takezou, Huh? Well I'm Fuwa." there was the vaguest amount of surprise in her tone at repeating my name. "Well, it's nice to meet you I guess."
"The feeling is mutual." I offered as her eyes met mine again for a moment when Fuwa looked back on me slowing down slightly so we were next to one another.
"So how did that happen?" Fuwa asked, pointing at my missing arm with a raised brow.
"In a fight" I answered with a shrug. "Can't remember exactly what took it, but I'm pretty sure I got caught in an explosion of some kind." it was technically true, there was no lies in what I said.
"Right..." there was a lul of silence for a moment before she asked another thing of me. "Alright, how about why were you out here in the forest like this?"
"It's kind of hard to answer." came my response not really knowing how to answer.
"Try me."
"Well I just sort of woke up there if I'm honest." I answered with another shrug, and I mean that was true as well wasn't it?
The strange look I got out of the woman was about what I expected considering what I said to her. "So, anyhow-" she said, clearing her throat. "We're heading to my house, its another twenty or so minutes until we get there."
"How do you know?" I was curious as to how she came to that conclusion.
"I marked all the trees so that I could tell how much longer until I arrived home, see that-" Fuwa pointed out to a marking on a tree a few meters in front of us. "That one says that it's about another fifteen minutes."
"Nifty." I was impressed with the idea more than anything, though it's not really like I've ever needed something like that while living in Konoha and all.
"Sure is useful that's for sure."
As we walked into a large opening I saw the large old style japanese home with tiled roofs and all, there seemed to be a bamboo grove behind the house from where we walked up to it at. There was also a planter out the front across from a large open space that had a faded outline of a sparring/dueling ring like Ume had at her house. It was nice seeing something familiar in that way even if it wasn't exactly like hers.
Yet here I was feeling a sense of relief and nostalgia as we got closer to it all, Fuwa must've noticed my change in mood because a hand landed on my shoulder in boisterous way that felt like we had been friends for years rather than the hour we had been walking with one another through a forest in the middle of nowhere.
"Seems like you're already feeling safer here- there something I should know?" her tone was light and yet caring.
"It's nothing much, I just grew up learning how to use a sword in place that was fairly similar to this." I answered with a fondness reminiscence for my childhood.
It wasn't exactly related to my current scenario, but a flickering of my past made its way through my head courtesy of him and I realized that I swore like some sailor all the while he never did, and any time it seemed like he was it was just the few glimpses of him being weak enough for me to push my real thoughts through to the top.
Out of nowhere I heard Fuwa speak again. "If you don't heal what hurt you, you will bleed on people who didn't cut you"
"So this is one of those then is it?" I said turning to face the sky above.
It did look like that now that I thought about it.
There was something I wanted to do first though, pulling a knife out of my kimono I put it to the back of my neck and slashed, cutting the long hair that had long since overstayed its welcome.
I guess it really is about to be one of those huh?
AN: