Hey gooooise. Long time no see huh?
So I totally had this super entertaining shpeal about why it's taken me so long to update, but then my internet decided to cack out right in the middle of me saving the revised version of this, and I hate writing things twice. So... yeah. This is whatcha get.
Sooooorry!
But I hope you enjoy.
Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept
Flashback Twenty-Four – Stench
Andora was an interesting and dangerous place, Sasuke was quick to realize. It seemed more like a shanty town than anything else, pieces of trash and debris pulled together to make barely-hanging-on apartments and homes for the ruffians that found solace in such a place. Patches of sheet metal and wood made up a large majority of the structures. If they were lucky, the toilet flushed and the public baths weren't packed full of people that hadn't showered in about a month. It was a village that had been created with no clear view of what it was to become in the future, and the streets were much like a maze, incredibly confusing and no clear flow from one portion of the city to another. On one street there would be open air food carts and clothing stores, and you turn one wrong corner and the bright, dirty lights of the red light district would blink appealingly at you as the whores called to you from the balconies above, waving their fans and scarves in the wind as they gazed down. The air was filthy with sewage and grime and too many people packed into too small of a space, and sometimes not even the swift mountain breeze could carry away the stench.
But there were untold riches in the city. Tycoons and assassins and drug lords that had taken refuge within Andora had poured their money into the areas they found the most appealing. While one street was falling apart, rust-covered and over-crowded, the next street down would be metaphorically dripping in gold and luxury. Preferably, Sasuke noticed, the whorehouses and the bars. The women leaning out of the windows had diamonds dangling from their ears as they cooed, and the finest silk that hung from their balconies curled into flowers and birds, the four-stories buildings made of strong, solid wood with guards standing at the doors. The bars were about the same level of security, with darkened windows and shady characters. Zabuza had made it very clear that he didn't want Haku or Sasuke going anywhere near those places.
Outside of those danger zones though, there was no escaping the constant threat. Vigilantes and villains and sinisters of all types lived in Andora, and there was always some sort of scuffle or another. The leaders of Andora had made one law of the land very clear though: disrupt the everyday workings of the village, put those in the village in danger, and whoever was responsible would be thrown back into the long arms of the very law everyone had been trying to escape from.
Cruel, but effective. Because of that very rule, Andora was actually a functioning, mostly productive member of outcast society. The fights were small, and the balances of power remained stable – for the most part. One could actually consider the village peaceful under the right circumstances and weather conditions.
Zabuza had managed to get a tiny little apartment (more like a hotel room than anything) with two small beds and a miniature kitchenette in the somewhat decent part of town. Tyra and her charge had gotten a place in the same building. At the very least, it didn't smell rank and Sasuke didn't feel like the floor was going to cave in at any moment. Prices were steep, but that was to be expected, seeing as how Andora got a large majority of its supplies through illegal trade and shadowy conquests.
Zabuza had spoken of training and making good with Sasuke's bloodline, but the Terranova didn't see how that was possible. The battles he witnessed weren't even battles. Arm wrestles in comparison to what he had been expecting. He didn't see what good the Sharingan would do when the rules were so strict.
Besides, he didn't want to give anyone any hint as to who he was. Haku and Zabuza had readily accepted his decided last name, and though Haku had questioned its origin, Sasuke hadn't been able to give him a straight answer that wasn't full of lies, so he had simply shrugged. For the moment, they lived without fear of being hunted or caught. For a while they had another chance to be a weird, dysfunctional happy family like they had during the Land of Waves' fierce winters. It was lovely.
But Sasuke's dreams still haunted him.
Hungry it was hungry it wanted food warmth strength no escape no escape power strength what it felt in its bones was powerful and undeniable it craved flesh it needed meat it wanted MEATMEATMEAT-
Sasuke woke with a slight start, the beginnings of a scream dying in his throat as he recognized his surroundings. Haku breathed quietly and easily next to him, curled up onto his side and facing away from Sasuke, towards Zabuza who was sprawled across the other bed with mouth open in a loud snore.
Why does this keep happening?
Silently, he slipped out of bed and breezed out the door. They were in a relatively quiet section of the city, so he felt as safe as he could in a place like this walking out into the cool mountain air and making his way down to the first floor.
There was a courtyard that the apartments surrounded, a small, circular little thing that stood between the building and the sheer rock wall of the bowl the city sat in. The pathway was stone upon stone, and a single lonely tree stood off-center with a circular bench beside it. It was a quiet place – probably the only quiet place that existed in Andora, and Sasuke had appreciated it the instant he had discovered it.
When he walked into the light of the half-moon though, he realized somebody else knew this place existed too.
Tyra looked up from her hands at his approach, sitting on the circular bench with one knee up, foot pressed against her opposite leg's inner thigh as the other foot dangled. Her red hair glowed bloody silver in the light – like a blade that had just discovered a fresh, living torso.
"Well," she began with a small smirk as Sasuke immediately looked around for the little girl but didn't see her. "What have we here?"
End Flashback Twenty-Four – Stench
Filler flashbacks. Uuuuuuuugh
Did you enjoy? Could you let me know? :3
Much love!
DDB
