My numb hands are shaking, I can barely even feel as they pull open my bottom drawer. Colours around me fade in and out, objects moving in shapes I've never seen.
I need them.
I can barely even feel as my hands rip open the last ziplock bag of Xanax I've hidden under a pile of unfolded clothes. My brain is screaming profanities, telling my body to stop. Im already fucked up beyond what I thought was possible, on more things than I could count right now, who knows what would happen if I took Xanax too.
But that's not stopping me. These colours are beautiful, so beautiful. I don't want this to ever end, ever.
They were gone in a gulp, water dribbling down my chin. I don't regret it, cause the colours are beautiful and the shapes are pretty.
My body takes control, with my brain running behind. I crawl onto my unmade bed, ignoring the clutter and mess on my carpet. The ceiling is so beautiful. The view of the sky from my window is beautiful, as the sun starts to rise and the animals start to wake.
Who knows how long I sat there , staring into the abyss, seconds, minutes, hours? The brightness of the rising sun floods my vision and takes over my sight. The lightness of the white is beautiful. Everything just feels so warm, so beautiful. I stretch one last time as I let the white take over, my heart beating harder than ever.
"Why the fuck is the sun on?"
I roll over onto my stomach, simultaneously getting a face full of grass. "blehhh, I guess... I got too fucked up, again?" I muttered out, voice scratchy and dry from dehydration. Pushing myself off the grass, I scan my eyes around the clearing, wondering how the fuck I got here. I mean it wouldn't be the first time I woke up in a field in the middle of nowhere but normally I at least remember a bit of how I got there.
Stumbling to the stream in front of me, I reach down and cup some water into my hands, choking down as much as possible. I hope this water isnt like.. infected or anything. I should probably find my way back home, grandma is probably getting worried. Ugh. My knees wobble as I force myself to walk up the stream, oh god I gotta find me some weed, my head is killing me. I'm so fucking stupid how could I have forgotten all my stuff at home, I don't even have my phone! So dumb, I hope I find some form of civilization soon.
A slight wind shakes the tops of the trees, and the birds sing in the distance. The sweet smell of grass complimenting my senses as I let out a sigh. Kami help me.
"Hahah, you know it Hoza-kun. We're gonna find the biggest fish and bring it back to kaa, we'll show her!"
A deep, jolly voice called out from up ahead. Aha, finally some humans! I speed up my pace, hoping to catch up to them quickly, I don't wanna be outside for longer than I have to, it's too fucking hot out. And it's humid. Bleh. "Yoo! Old man!" I holler, waving my hands to get his attention. Probably look like an idiot but I can't bring myself to care, I just wanna get to my bed.
The plump man with a shaggy beard looks up at me, and waves back. "Are you alright boy? You're looking a bit rough." A little boy, almost like a weird younger clone of the old man pokes his head out from behind who I assume to be his father.
"Ummm, I don't really know man to be honestt. Can you tell me where we are? And like how to get back to the city?" I say while scratching the back of my neck, wanting to break eye contact at all costs, I glance around. Jeeeeez this is so embarrassing. But it seems I've found a target, this guys wallet is practically begging me to take it, hanging out of his pocket lookin all cute and shit. "I don't know about this 'city' you're talking about, but just down that way is the village of The Land Of Waves." He says, lazily pointing down the river, the direction they seemed to be coming from.
"Hahah, The Land Of Waves? Like in Naruto? The Elemental Nations? Hilarious, man! Welp, thanks anyway! Hug?" There is no way I'm still that high. Maybe he is? Either that or insane. Maybe he's a weeb? Hahah, Land Of Waves my ass, at this rate the next thing I know I'll be smoking up with Zabuza.
"Yeah, I mean where else would it be? Sure I guess, do you need us to walk you back to town? You're wasted." His sons face squishes up in discomfort, and he makes his way straight to the river to look at the water. Ohoho he thinks I'm drunk. Hahah this played out in my favour I suppose.
"Noooo, I'm goood. Thank you old man!" I open my arms and fling myself at the poor man, defenceless to my drunk act. Quickly I swiped the wallet out from his pocket and shoved it up my oversized sleeve.
I put my hands on both of his shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes, smiling like my life depends on it. "I love you ! Go and catch that fish and get home safe!! Thank you, for all the time we've spent together..." And before I could feel any embarrassment from that absolute chaos, focused on making my escape, I walked down the direction he pointed and walked away as quick as possible. "Stay safe!" The man shouted at me concerned, as I paced away not bothered to look back. Ugh. I just wanna get fucked up.
I push open the heavy metal door of the shady looking bar I found in town. It was bad out there, everyone's so small. There are children and adults alike begging for money, or anything out there. It was pitiful and sad. What can ya do though I suppose. Instead of like helping and shit, I just decided to find a bar and get actually drunk.
What a shit day.
The bar was surprisingly full for midday on whatever day of the week this is, but it mostly just seemed like regulars who had nothing better to do during the day. It may be midday, but the blocked out windows and low golden lighting, I couldn't help feel it was one in the morning on a Tuesday.
I slid towards the bar, and shakily sat on one of the old beaten up barstools. "Shouldn't you be like playing or something? What's a kid doing in this place?" The bar tender hummed, raising a dark brown eyebrow at me. "Oh? Shouldn't you be taking my order? I'll take just a glass of vodka. with some ice please? Need to chill, you know? Ahah.. Cause ice?"
Ah, the sober is getting to me. May god have mercy. The man just continued to stare at me, now both eyebrows raised at me as he gets to work on making my drink."Whatever you say man. You on something? That joke was absolutely terrible, never become a comedian please."
I let out a long sigh and slam my forehead on the bar, stretching my arms across the counter top and groaning as the tall man starts to fill a glass cup up with ice. "No, I really fucking wish. I don't even know where I am let alone where a to get shit. And, you know, I think just I will in fact, fulfill my dreams of becoming a famous comedian, just for you." I mumble out, a shameless huff of a laugh falling from my lips as I hear the sound of liquor being poured. The man blows air out of his nose in amusement, and slid my drink towards me.
"Wow, I'm honoured. Don't think you'll make it big though to be frank, considering your last joke. Follow me real quick, or stay half dead on my counter, either works really." He said smirking, wiping his hands on a rag and motioning for me to follow. That's a bit shady. I raise an eyebrow and grab my drink, hesitating for a second but following him behind the bar nonetheless. What's the man plotting?
He walks up to a worn down wooden door and opens it, allowing me to walk in first. It led to a hallway, long and dim with a couple more doors in it. The guy, closes the door behind him as he walks in and turns to face me with an amused look on his face.
"Don't look so worried, you need a dealer don't you? You're lucky you walked into the right bar. Weed? Shrooms? We honestly have pretty good variety." He drawled out lazily. Ohh I see what going on. I tilt my head slightly. What a plot twist. I wasn't expecting to find anything so fast though, I suppose it would make sense in a town like this. I'm honestly kinda surprised I didn't just get kidnapped.
"Well, I'd be down to by some weed for now, but I got nothing on me but some cash so I also need to find a smoking piece, do you sell any? I'm Hisoki by the way." I follow the dark haired man as he continues to walk to the door closest to us, floor boards squeaking as we took each step.
He nods, and smirks. "Well I got just the guy for you, Hisoki. The owner of this bar just so happens to be one of the biggest dealers around. I think we have a few, I donno though. I'm Souta." He opens the door and once again closes it behind us as we walk in.
It's official, I'm on crack or something. Straight up. I look up to see a large lounge filled with around 8 people, scattered on different seats throughout the lounge looking room. That's not why I'm on crack or something though. Sitting on a leather couch was a man I couldn't help but recognize as looking like an exact replica of The Zabuza, and right beside him a kid that looked around my age sitting straighter than I ever could, with long brown hair. He happens to also, resemble The Yuki. A couple other guys scattered around the couches, no one else that I happen to really recognize, I don't think.
That's not all though, a quick glance to my left lets me see a short man with insane hair counting money at a wooden table with two other men. That's very clearly gato, but might I add how much uglier he is in person. So basically I'm on crack, this is a hallucination, I'm sure. Dear kami, when I said next thing know I'll be smoking up with Zabuza I was joking! Ugh.
"Yo! This kids looking for some weed and a pipe or something, I gotta get back to the bar." Souta shouts into the room, he turns to me and nods before exiting the marijuana smelling room like a coward, leaving me alone with this group. All eyes turn on me, as I stand there blank face with a hand in my sweater and a drink in the other, the gears in my head slowly turning. What the fuck. I know that old man said the land of waves but, what the fuck.
"Zabuza, you deal with it." Gato grumbles out, as soon as he says that everyone turns back to what they were doing ignoring me completely. Zabuza let out a groan and sat up straighter, turning his head to me.
"Name?" He drawled out, quirking his left eyebrow up. I walk up closer to him and sit on the couch across from Zabuza's, where only one unknown guy sat. Getting comfortable and taking a huge gulp of my drink to suppress a sigh, hoping it'll counteract the fact that my brain is literally melting of pure confusion. "Uhh, I'm Hisoki. You're Zabuza?" I question, raising an eyebrow of my own. He nods, and grabs a scroll from inside a bag beside the couch and unrolls it onto the table in front of him.
His hand moves to the centre of the scroll, and I watch in awe as the writing on the scroll expands, a puff of white smoke billows into the air and ignore the strange looks from a few of the guys scattered on the couch's. That's some cool shit. Magic. Left on top of the scroll once the smoke dispersed, sat a jar full of weed, some bags and a scale. Taking another sip of my drink I push down the urge to laugh at my current situation.
"Okay, how much you wanna buy? Haku, grab the scroll with the pieces." He grumbles out, turning on the scale and glancing towards Haku. The boy nods and stands up, leaving me to my thoughts. I don't even know what the currency here is, considering that old man had like 780 dollars on him. That's a weird amount to have on you, especially when the town here is so poor. I guess I'll just wing it.
"Uhm, probably just a quarter for now, how much will that be? I'll probably be back soon to buy more." I say, ending my sentence with another sip to the half empty drink in my hand. The goons had finally gone back to quite small talk with one another.
I mean on one hand if this is just some weird trip, which it probably is, it won't matter and I'll never see them again. But on the other hand, I've never experienced anything like this, it feels like I'm sober, it feels real, realer than a lucid dream, so justtt incase, I need to make sure I have a dealer for this strange ass trip.
"A quarter is 355 ryo. Why you in The Land Of Waves? Never seen anyone look like you around." Is that an insult? Or what? Zabuza grabs a scroll that Haku had held in front of him. Where he had gotten it from, I had no clue. Haku looks, glancing at me quickly before moving to sit on the couch where he sat before.
"Ah you know the usual, took too much shit and woke up in a field with nothing." I mumbled out, sighing as I ran my hand through my unruly, dyed hair. As Zabuza pops open the newly obtained scroll, I grab the stollen wallet out of my pocket, shoving all feelings of guilt to the back of my head.
"Ah so you're not from here? Where you from?" He questioned, his eyebrow raised slightly as he starts to weigh out my weed. The couch men -I have decided to call them- seemed to be suddenly interested in our conversation. "Here are all the pieces we're selling right now, take a look. You're lucky we even have some, we don't have them often. Pipes are 160 ryo, bongs are in between 315 and 945 ryo."
On top the scroll sat four pipes, and three bongs of various different shapes and sizes. What caught my eye though, was a simple light purple glass pipe with a built in glass screen. I picked it up and admired the small speckles of gold all over the piece. "This one should be great, Id assume. I'm from a different world man, I got really high and woke up here, wherever here is, to answer your question."
Zabuza nodded along, looking un phased and casual as always as he stuffs the drug into a baggie. "Hm, aren't we all kid. Five hundred thirty ryo. Here's your weed, you can smoke in here, or whatever." He tossed the baggie at me. He isn't all that far off considering the whole Ĺtsutsuki thing, huh? Alien chakra n whatnot. Pulling out 530 ryo, I placed it plus my drink on the table top and grabbed my stuff.
Opening the baggie, I pinch off a small piece and pack the bowl of my new pipe. I wonder if grinders are even a thing here? "Thanks man, could I borrow that lighter?" I ask nodding my head slightly towards him, the ninja just nodded in response, tossing the lighter off the table my way. I start to light and inhale from the smoking piece. The lack induced headache slipped away as I exhale the large cloud of smoke, finally. I needed that, it feels like it's been centuries. Everything begins to slow down and my head suddenly hurt slightly less.
"So clearly you smoke, but how old are you kid? Don't look that much older than the ice brat to me." The silent man who sat beside me finally chimed in, turning his head to face me. His face scared, but his fluffy and frizzy green hair covered most of the mans face, including his eyes. I guess he does speak.
"Uh yeah.. well... I'm almost sixteen. I've only been smoking for like... six years? I donno." I say while packing another bowl. Why must he make me think so hard. The man nodded along slowly almost sadly, also from what I can tell very highly. "Started smoking at nine? Eee, I think I was about the same age. I suppose that's how it goess. Specially in Kiri tho, am I right boys." He slurs out, bursting out in laughter after mentioning, what I assume to be his birth place. With that conversation sprung around the group. I smirk slightly as a few of the other men burst out into laughter and agreement. Of course my brain would dream up me with a bunch of traumatized stoners, it's almost cliche.
Gato and the two men beside him stood up from their whisper of a conversation, proceeding to walk towards the only door. The room falling silent until the the click of the latch was heard. As soon as Gato was out of the vicinity, the awkward air that I wasn't even aware was there, lifted. Taking another hit from my pipe, the guy beside me joined in as he grabbed a bong with yellow water in it from off the table beside him, the room slowly filled with more smoke.
"Finally, thought they'd stink up this room forever." The green haired man grumbled, side eyeing the now shut door. Isn't he their boss? A short laugh comes out before I even realize. One of the other couch men, with long dark drown hair and a forehead protector with two horns attached, let out a snort. "Says you, Kando, you stink up every room you walk into." He drawled out, causing a chain reaction of chuckles from a few of us. Reaching to grab my drink I gulp it back leaving about a sip left.
The conversation continued to flow throughout the night, the process of going back and forth between the front of the bar to get a few more drinks, and going to the back to smoke a bit more with everyone else distracted me from my current predicament. With people coming in and out as the night grew wild, more of gato's little minions started piling up like dirty laundry around the whole bar, not letting this opportunity go to waste, I ask if anyone had a deck of cards. That's how my night was spent, partying and gambling with a bunch of fictional criminals. Not counting the extra drinks I happed to buy at the bar, by time we stopped I ending up with double the ryo I started with. Whatever that even means.
"Ayoooo, Soutaaaa! Can I get another one! Pleaseeeeeeee. No chase or anything, my guy!" I shout from the corner of the front bar, where I sit at a table amongst the, probably, alcoholics. I see the man across the room smirk, which he seems to do a lot, and nod. "Fine kid, but after this you're cut off for the night." He called out into the room from behind the bar, but I chose to feign ignorance, jumping up from my seat and practically skipping towards the man making my drink. Sliding onto the only free stool, I slide him the cost of the drink slowly towards him. "You don't mean that, do youu? That's so cruel. You'd turn down a, paying, customer?" With all the drama I can muster, I sulk sarcasticly. The man quirked and eyebrow at me.
"Not only have you bought enough to be four paying customers, but you actually have social skills now, and it's scaring the people who watched you come in sober. Mainly me." He says, with a straight face and a no negotiating tone. Turning to the person sat beside me, ignoring the way my the red flags went flying in my brain as I recognize that two people sat on the stools beside me. Not willing to let this go, but willing to ignore the fact that this whole ordeal is fucking insane, his response only showed to increase my theatrics. I let out a large sigh, and lean towards the boy beside me. "Hakuuu, do you hear this guy? I finally start acting normal and he shames meee! And I thought I was mentally ill, Souta mus' be off his rockers!" I whine out, ignoring the snort coming from the man himself, choosing instead too take a gulp of my drink, not sure what it even is this time.
"Perhaps he has a point, Hisoki-san-" He said after taking a questioning look at my drink, he pauses for a second then looks back at me. "You aren't from here right? Do you even know where you're sleeping tonight?" Haku continues slowly, which causes me to chuckle cause, what the fuck? Isn't this my first official conversation with Haku?
"Nope! I'm like a nomad.. like the airbenders from that one show- cause those dudes were totall stoners too, totally. I'll probably, like sleep in a tree? It doesn't matter really." I mean if I'm just gonna wake up at home in my bedroom I don't really think it matters where I fall asleep here. Unless I can get some sort of lucid dream sleeping pains? Scary.
I chuckle and look up to see Haku scrunching his eyebrows in thought. "Kid, I know your unstable but what the fuck is an airbender, and from what show? Is it like.. some sort of jutsu?" Zabuza finally chimes in, and honestly is he drunk too? I laugh genuinely, at the chaotic ordeal that is this whole situation. I feel like a snake basking in the nice warm sun, thriving.
The conversations continued to flow, me jumping around from group to group, finishing my last drink and maybe perhaps, smoking a bit more. Glancing at the clock I take in the fact that it's almost four in the morning and I've been here for like, so long. Drunkenly I say goodnight to everyone left in the bar, which is honestly more people then I would've thought for this hour, and head out the back door exit Souta told me I could use. Backtracking the path I took to get here from the forest, I try to go hunting for a good sleeping tree.
From an outside perspective I was probably stumbling and swaying but I'm on a dedicated path, in need of sleep. Overly intoxicated, I purposely avoid the people roaming the streets, fearing my vulnerability and just how easy it would be to jump me right now. Everything was so blurry and wavy, nothing about anything right now makes sense.
Speeding up my pace I make it out of the village, I spot a good looking tree, with some longer flat branches I could sleep on, if I can even get up there. I'm feeling rather unsure though, considering my struggle to get here. Letting out I sigh I look up at the large tree looking over me, trying to shake some sober back into me for a second. Grabbing a lower down branch I start climbing, and while yes, I almost died twice, once I finally got up there and looked down at the ground bellow me I felt accomplished.
I wrap myself around the large branch as if I'm hugging it to death, and let my heart rate fix itself up. The sun was slowly lighting up the horizon, just slowly enough for it to be not dark, but not light out either. I watch as the crows wake up and start scouting around the area. My head is starting to hurt, along with the rest of my body, so slowly I close my eyes and I try to review what's happened so far in my head, hoping that sleep would embrace me and this disaster would be over. It was fun and all, but fucking exhausting and I'm over it.
Laying there with my eyes closed just waiting, and waiting, and waiting,
and waiting, waiting again, and maybe for just a bit more before the darkness slips me away and I fall deeper, and deeper, and deeper,
and deeper and deeper..
The sound of panicked banging on my door is what woke me up, sitting up with an urgency I never knew I had in me, gasping for air so deeply. What the fuck. My whole body feels like a bucket of ice water has just soaked my entire being.
"Hisoki! Are you in there? Open the door! I'm worried you have been sleeping all day, come unlock this door! Before I call the neighbour to come break this door down." The banging doesn't stop, and my grandmother continues to call out for me. What a weird fucking dream, all I can think about is how realistic it was, not even concerned about my panicking caretaker outside my door. Slowly I slide out of my bed and look around, surely confusion written all over my face.
Walking over to my door, I unlock it and slowly open it, looking at my grandmother with a raised eyebrow. She looks more stressed then I am, and I just experienced one of the weirdest things to ever happen to me. She lets out a relieved sigh. "I thought you were dead in there, Hisoki! You can at least say something, even if you're half asleep. You missed breakfast, as usual, but I made lunch a bit ago, though it's almost dinner. Go eat, now. You don't look good, you need to take care of yourself better." Nodding along, used to her worrying, I thank her and go eat lunch, trying as hard as possible to forget all that just happened.