Open Beaten But Not Broken

[Kaen]

"Ugh, I thought I might never see these gates again..." A bruised and beaten Kaen emerged from the shimmering sea of sand that encompassed the vast majority of Wind Country. How long had it been since that pivotal and momentous day? He could barely recall anything at all, hell he was barely standing as it was. A rarity of the Hybrid, but whatever happened in that underground facility had a major effect on Kaen. His appearance had undergone a most peculiar transformation, not unlike what happened to his dear sister Kasen. All in all Kaen was a wreck and was in no shape to be wandering aimlessly through the desert.

Dazed as he was he payed no mind to the guards on duty at the gate and would shuffle right on by. "Excuse me! You need to check in with the appropriate paperwork. Hey, Sir!? Are you listening?" The individual would radio for assistance as a few of the guards positioned themselves in front of Kaen in an attempt to stop him. "Get out of the way..." The first shinobi that spoke up would now raise his hand at the still approaching Kaen. "I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot allow you into the village without performing the required procedures." A scowl quickly formed across Kaen's face as he lifted his head, their eyes now locking. Now a mere few feet away from the shinobi Kaen would raise his voice, he was in no mood for these 'procedures'. He was Captain of the Anbu, Lord Kaen under the banner of Lord Sousuke, a Hybrid of the Flame Court! ""Do you have any idea WHO I AM?!" His voice would boom outward in anger, surely there were others around that would hear him. Would anyone come, could anyone hear?

[OOC - I don't need entry as I never actually left the village, just trying to get that first post out and get back on track]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Usually shouting the phrase do you have any idea who I am would gather attention. It did in fact. Kaen was perhaps a little lucky today on all days as he had caught the attention of perhaps one of the very few people who could help him. Aki approached the guard and waved him to the side. He and the guard discussed a few things out of earshot before the guard had walked off. Aki sometimes had the power of persuasion, it was different from his father in the fact that his father had more sway than he did at least when it came to political muscle and respect. Aki was still working on both of those. He thought about flagging Kaen down to him, but he thought better of it. If he walked over to him, then it would show that he had put effort into this and thus paid the necessary respects.

Aki very much looked like one of two things to Kaen. One he would look like a young clone of Sousuke wearing the wrong clothes, wrong hair, and seeming slightly shorter. Aki’s hair was black and purple when compared to his father’s who’s was purple and grey. The eyes were wrong as well. Aki had a slightly more canine look to him whereas his father had a more hawkish look about him. Aki seemed less refined looking than his father in the sense that he was scrappy looking. His gear was a mixture of boiled leather and plates. The other thing that would come to Kaen’s mind was that if not a clone of Sousuke, then this was the poor man’s version of Sousuke. This was slightly true, but Aki was trying to discover his own style and be his own man when compared to the works of his father. It wasn’t that his own blacksmith was effective, it just wasn’t refined. Aki had a few belts on him which seemed to be holding his armour together as a whole. Aki would look Kaen up and then down, nothing the extreme differences in the man who had been at his father’s household quite a bit. The differences in what was before Aki were numerous. “Dad said you’d return to us one way or another. What was it he said about you that one time?” Aki rubbed his chin, “The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire? Yeah. That was it! He spoke referring to you as steel, which seemed odd at the time… but I think I understand what he meant now. You survived because the fire inside you burned brighter than the fire around you. Hah!” Aki paused for a moment. He opened his mouth with an enthusiastic look on his face, but then he figured he had been using a bunch of fire puns or words or wisdom which upon self realization it was not the best time for. “If you’re not Lord Kaen this is about to get hella awkward.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “You are in fact THE LORD SHINKU KAEN, the burning man who immolated thousands of invaders at the gate right?” There seemed to be almost a sort of fanboyish glee in his words.

 

[Kaen]

A blurred figure approached from a distance, waving over the guard over. The ringing in his ears had yet to stop, but that was to be expected given the ordeal he had endured. One of his eyes was swollen, a fracture still trying to mend itself to no avail, this along with his chakra nearly depleted from keeping himself alive in the wild Sunan desert made it difficult to really make out who it was that was talking to the guard.

Soon Aki would approach the veteran warrior and Kaen's eyes would focus enough to get a better look at him. He was just about to greet the man as Lord Sousuke himself, the resemblance was uncanny. The first word said it all, but Kaen's mind was still trying to come to terms that this wasn't actually Sousuke at all. The photo he remembered seeing in Sousuke's office was a far cry from what stood in front of him, Aki had grown into a young man with a spitting image of his father.

Kaen would do his best to amuse the young man with the mirthful puns, a faint smile would reveal the telltale Shinku teeth. They would not glimmer as they once had, the toll to his body was not just limited to his outer extremities. They would seem dull and worn, as did the rest of him. Even his familiar heat that usually would have exploded from his body from his raised temper had been stilled. This was indeed Lord Kaen, but this wasn't his finest hour.

“You are in fact THE LORD SHINKU KAEN, the burning man who immolated thousands of invaders at the gate right?” Taking a deep breath, or at least as deep as he could before the broken ribs put pressure against his innards. With a painful looking wince he would reassure the curious, inquisitive Sousuke clone. "I'm surprised somebody would care to know such things. But yes, I am him, despite what you might be staring at right now. I'm... not sure what happened, but that's not important right now. I survived the forge once more and burned bright. Perhaps a bit to bright eh?" He would attempt to laugh a little, but that was a mistake.

Pausing a moment the Sunan Hybrid would grip his chest with a free hand and painfully cough, a small spurt of blood would drop onto the scorching sand. Rising back up to meet Aki's eyes he would continue. "Forgive me, I'm not in the best shape at the moment. I didn't mean to be so abrupt earlier but my situation is vexing. I have no papers, no headband, nothing but the clothes on my back... err rags I guess. Call who you need to get this sorted, but I really need some medical attention." The clothes he had were indeed raggedy and ruined. Rips, tears and singed bits riddled his clothing. He understood protocol with these matters, especially if someone were trying to impersonate Kaen Shinku. Hopefully there were avenues to take that would peacefully resolve this issue.

[OOC - MFT]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Aki would assist Kaen in what way he could. He would sling Kaen’s arm over his shoulder and he would help him walk along. It might have looked a little awkward, but Aki was doing his part as best he could. “I mean... I care to know such things. History is full of all sorts of inspiring and neat individuals.” Aki explained at first, he would help the injured Kaen going forward. “We’ll get you to the hospital first, and then call in Great Granny Mako while check you in ... or I’ll do it on the way out. She’ll root you out for sure if you’re not who you say you are. She’s always had that lasting impression on people... she’ll smoke out a rat if she even senses it. She’s skewered a number of rats in her day, and that’s something to be said.” Aki would attempt to administer some minor first aid in the form of some triage. Aki was not a skilled medic or even a medic in training, but he knew some very basic things. Aki would try to close a few minor wounds as best he could. “This isn’t my thing, but at the very least I can make sure you don’t bleed out on the way to the hospital.”



“This isn’t the worst situation we’ve had at the Gates. We’ve had louder and astronomically more ... intolerant people at the Gates.” He would add as the two walked. Aki looked like he enjoying this which was odd. It wasn’t that he was enjoying in Kaen’s suffering or misery, it seemed more like he was enjoying this in the context that he was being helpful and resourceful. “Alright well let’s get you to that hospital. I’m sure the twins are on shift. They owe Dad a metric ton of favours. I hope you don’t mind having to deal with conjoined twins. If Great Granny Mako can’t smoke you out in not being who you say you are ... well medical folk have all sorts of painful ways of making folks talk. I’m pretty confident we’re not going to have to get to that point.”

 

[Kaen]

Had Kaen met this Mako before? Racking his brain he surmised he had not. Names were not exactly his forte, rather it was reputation he sought and filed away in his mind. Though this elderly lady ought to have garnered at least some minute amount of attention. Perhaps it was her occupational field that caused Kaen to overlook someone such as she. No time like the present, however, to meet this esteemed Mako. No doubt he would enjoy such an encounter. His interest was piqued, or at least as much as it could be given his present capacity to think clearly.

While others may have been intimidated by the thought of being thoroughly examined and interrogated by a professional, Kaen barely payed it a second thought. He knew who he was as well as knowing for a fact he had not been captured and experimented on. So the chances of having been manipulated or brainwashed were slim to none. There was, however, a chance his consciousness had been copied somehow and placed into a cadaver and given the breath of life. But even then how could anyone differentiate what was real or not. But that line of thinking was just preposterous and implicated far more imagination and planning one would not care to venture towards. He was who he was, simple as that, right?

The pair were well on their way towards the Omni Prime Facility, Aki bearing much of Kaen's weight as he bravely limped along. Thankfully he wasn't as prideful as once was in his youth, otherwise this whole ordeal would not have gone over so smoothly. "I appreciate your help, I won't soon forget it..." He would pause a moment as he collected his thoughts. "My apologies, your name is... Maki? No that's not it, um Taquito? Ah wait, it's Aki right?" He did not mean to offend, he truly just couldn't remember Sousuke's son's name. It would be very plausible that his cognitive functioning would greatly improve after his visit to the hospital. Assuming he could pass granny Mako's tests.


[OOC - MFT - Leaving topic for a new one at the Omni Prime Facility]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

As Aki pushed the wheelchair he listened intently to the story Kaen gave him. It was riveting and had him captivated. These were the people his father worked with, and more importantly this was his father’s bannermen. Kaen was very much everything his father said he would be, and then even more. “Dad spoke of how one of the enemy had literally short circuited him and destroyed his servos. He’s very grateful that you guys made the call to spring back to the wall to deal with that one foe. He was in a silent foul mood for a few days, but he got over it. I think the fact that the enemy had disabled him entirely is what grinded his gears.” One might have thought that Aki was speaking metaphorically but he was speaking literally. The two would ultimately approach the room they were assigned to in which a physician would show up. Aki quite visibly was giving death glares when he was told that “Dr. Luthor” was going to be the one assigned to Kaen. Dr. Luthor was also nicknamed “Kill Luthor Kill” from time to time because of his very spotty record. After a while the nurse returned to state that Kaen was going to be given a different physician.



Aki would take a seat against the wall and look across at Kaen as the two made some idle chatter Aki would receive a call over the headset network. He would raise a finger, “Yes?” He would frown for a moment. What next transpired would be something very much in the vein of his father. “No. That was a triple homicide.” His eyes widened. “No. The autopsy clearly had ... ... ... ... No. That was a botch. It wasn’t a double murder and a suicide. It was a triple. ... ... ... ... No look at the exit point of the wound would paint a different narrative ... ... ... ... No. I don’t care. No, I’m not changing the narrative. ... ... ... ... No. ... ... ... Go send someone to investigate the ... ... ... ... No. I don’t care. Check the farmhouse again. ... ... ... ... What do you mean insufficient resources? ... ... ... Fine. I’ll look into it then.” Aki would sigh as he ended the call. “Someday, I would very much like to get into ANBU. It’s something Dad never achieved in his day. He was certainly a resource to them as he was counsel, but ... yeah. My adopted sister too ... she uh ... ah...” He would pause for a moment. Aki would not look Kaen in the face. There was a rumor or something that Lord Nobu had established that ... had some point indicated ... Kaen was dating his adopted sister...? Perhaps luckily another call came in on the headset. “Yes Great Granny Mako ... ... ... ... Yes. He’s here. ... ... ... ... No. I’m not going to ask him that. Why would you want me to ask if Lord Kaen to spontaneously sneeze? ... ... ... ... No. That’s dumb. I’m not going to do that.”