I came over early in the morning, before sunrise. The paper lamps were still glowing in the alley, swaying gently. Several different kinds of cautious and nervous, I knocked on Aoba's door, and waited for the answer. It came shortly- Aoba is already up and dressed, and he quietly motions me in. We step into the den, and Aoba takes a seat on the coffee table. "Ready?"
"Yes…" I sit down on the cushions in front of him, and he takes a deep breath before touching his fingers to my forehead. At once I can feel my emotions rising up in me: my fear, my joy, sadness, all of them springing up and competing for attention. Their strength makes me shudder. I open my eyes, and I see that Aoba has taken his sun glasses off, and is staring deeply into me. I close my eyes, but the sparkle of Aoba's eyes seems to come from within now, reaching in farther and farther. Old memories of my childhood and things I keep hidden during my daily life start to emerge, and I start to tremble from the strain of feeling all of this at once. Time seems to stretch out and slow down, and I forget just how long it had been since this started.
Aoba exhales loudly, and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. "Got the first reading done. Have you changed your mind about the second half?"
"N- no, I still don't want to know. But, I am wondering, how will you know?"
"The Daiyagan allows emotions to be seen as colors, so once the technique is complete I'll be able to see what colors are present or not present, and interpret that."
I glance around at the room, filled with a sudden desire to see how it's accented. "Okay… I'm ready…" Aoba nods and forms a long string of hand seals, and then touches his fingers to my forehead. My skin tingles with a rushing chill up my spine, and my emotions surge to the surface again, stronger than before. Stringing together another long chain of hand seals, Aoba then puts his palm to my forehead, and my vision goes black. I started to panic, then realized I emotionally couldn't feel nervous; I can't relax either. I start to cry from the weight of all my emotions, tears slowly leaking out. With one last numbing surge, I'm released from the Divine Eye technique, and my eyes fly open as I try to catch my breath. Aoba is breathing heavily, his eyes closed. The early morning silence is deafening, but I can't find anything to say.
"Well…" Aoba begins, but he pauses for several moments. "...If there was a jutsu or memories implanted in you, I would have sensed them during the readings… I didn't find anything out of the ordinary…"
I can see that this wasn't easy on Aoba either… I think we both need some time to recover. "Th- thank you, Aoba… I'll be back later." He nods, and I try not to run as I leave.
Later in the day, Ino, Tenten, and my baby sister Hanabi have joined me on the way to Aoba's house. "I didn't think you'd be the type to let someone watch," Ino says.
"Aoba told me to bring a few friends," I say quietly.
"I didn't really think Aoba was that type either," Tenten adds, apparently not having heard me. "Maybe he'll have a camera set up-"
"Aoba's house is the one with the green lantern," I point out as we turn down the alley.
"A cozy little place," Says Ino, as she looks around. "It'd be a nice spot to settle down, start a family…"
"It would be…" I speed up, and thankfully we get to Aoba's house before things can keep going too long. The door opens almost immediately after I knock- Aoba is wearing an apron, and waves us in.
He takes up a spot behind the kitchen counter, and takes the cover off of a very large raw steak. "You are all here today… because you felt you lack something, because you needed a taste of something beyond what your daily life can provide. Today!" Aoba says, banging his fist on the counter, "I will prepare for you the legendary Yamashiro dish, the Steak of Five Spices."
"Don't most normal rubs and marinades already have a few spices in them?" Tenten asks.
"That is true. But such ordinary techniques cannot prepare you for flavor of this magnitude. First! The marinade, the Tears of Deep Heavens!" Aoba takes off his sun glasses and forms a few hand seals, and shoots cerulean blue beams of light from his eyes at the steak! They splash a little, and a couple drops fall on me. "Second: The Bitter Herbs of Life's Unfolding!" Making a few more hand seals, Aoba then shoots electric yellow beams out of his eyes at the steak, which convulses and twitches! I didn't even see a hint of these techniques when I was reading about the Yamashiro a couple months ago. Aoba pauses and look up at the ceiling dramatically, and then stares at each of us in turn. "The third! The rub, The Longing for Days Far Past!" With another set of hand seals, this time Aoba shoots a golden-tinged brown beam of light at the steak, which seems to shrink in on itself a bit. There's a bit of something covering it, but before I can look too closely Aoba is already moving on. "Now, the fourth: The Fires of Passion!" This beam of light is red, and causes the steak to sizzle. "And now, the last, the fifth! The Joy of Distant Horizons!" The beam of light is a ghostly silver, and upon hitting the steak it slices it up into several portions.
"Okay, pretty light show. But how's it taste?" Asks Tenten.
"Experience it for yourself," Aoba replies. He hands us forks and knives, and we say a quick itadakimatsu before we each take a bite.
"I- it's firm, but so juicy…" Tenten says in awe.
"And the spices…" Hanabi starts, before crying and becoming unable to finish her sentence. I too feel my eyes tear up, partly because the steak actually is really good, and partly because it reminds me of the Divine Eye technique. By the time my serving is almost gone I remember I didn't even ask for a drink.
"I'm not sure any steak will ever compare to this," Ino says as she looks down her plate.
"Thank you very, very much, Mister Yamashiro," Hanabi adds. I nod in agreement, and quietly finish my steak. I'm not sure how I'll be able to repay Aoba for today...