Open Drinks on Yuuto!

[Kureji]

Kureji had gone to the bar that Yuuto had suggested as the missing ninja walked around the commercial district. Yeah.... He's lost.... Again.... He scratched his head as he thought about what was the name of the bar that Yuuto had talked about. Kureji had his guitar strapped to his back as he walked around.

His own chaotic energies would seem to make people acutely aware of him and his energies even if they don't have the powers to see his energies. It seemed that wherever he would step, the ground would shimmer as if it would change into something else. Ultimately, it was not permanent, but there would be many civilians and even other ninjas would do a double take as they see random things that shouldn't belong there before it had went back to normal.

To be honest, the rock star was lost in thought. It might be, because of that, that he was unknowingly affecting the environment around him. Either way, more and more people were steering clear of the missing ninja as they were seeing the energies surrounding him. It wasn't until he realized that he was lost that the chaotic energies subsided around him.

The rock star would look around, not really knowing that he was in the right place or not. It wasn't until he asked some people the directions to the bar, in which he had finally made his way in the right direction. But even with the help of directions, he wouldn't get the bar that Yuuto mentioned until another thirty minutes. Finally, he would find it. The Rusty Kunai. it was a half bar and half inn. But Kureji was only here for the food and drink and to catch up with his brother.

Walking into the bar, it would be quiet, with its own jukebox playing some music. The bar itself gave a feeling of those old movies where people ride horses with these weird hats and go yee-haw! Yeah, there was a lot of people who would fit the stereotype of the movie, even some people would look at the missing ninja as he would walk in. Possibly some people sizing him up. No doubt there would be some drunks that would think that they could take him in a fight. One man even stood up with a look in his eyes, but one of his friends had talked him down, someone that is obviously a sensor type ninja that would both see how strong Kureji is and the chaotic energies that surround him.

He would sit at the bar and the barkeep would immediately come up, "What can I getcha?" It was a man that had a beard and tattoos all on his arms and face. To the regular civilian, he would look like tough guy material. To anyone that is a ninja, one would think that he is simply overcompensating for something. Trying too hard to look tough and all that jazz.

"Just waiting for my brother to show up. He told me that he will cover my bill." Kureji would say as he would wave the bartender away.

 

[Rakujo Reika]

The door opened with a low, unhurried creak. Cool evening air slipped into The Rusty Kunai before she did, carrying a faint trace of desert sand. Reika stepped inside a moment later, dust-stained cropped jacket hanging open over her wrap top, bandaged forearms catching the amber glow of lanternlight. The door shut softly behind her. The jukebox warbled on. Conversations dipped. Not because of her. Because of him. Even with the worst of it subdued, there was still something wrong about the air near Kureji. A subtle distortion at the edges of vision. A pressure that made civilians glance twice and then decide they hadn’t seen anything at all. One drunk stared a little too long before his friend tugged him back down into his seat.

Reika paused just inside the threshold, not theatrically. Just long enough to read the room. Her gaze found the silver-haired musician at the bar. Guitar on his back. Shoulders relaxed. As though the desert hadn’t bent around him not long ago. She moved. Her steps were quiet against the old floorboards as she approached the counter, choosing a stool two seats down from him instead of directly beside him. Close enough to speak without raising her voice. Distant enough to imply choice. The barkeep looked her over. She met his stare without challenge.

“Tea.” She said simply. “Hot.” No alcohol. No flourish. As the barkeep turned away, she let her gaze shift, not fully to Kureji, but near him. A subtle acknowledgment. “You clean up well indoors.” she said mildly. There was the faintest pause. Her eyes flicked briefly to his profile then, studying him with quiet curiosity rather than suspicion. “I was beginning to think you only made dramatic exits.” She added, tone dry. A beat passed. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly, controlled, almost private.

“Though I suppose I can’t criticize that too harshly.” Her fingers adjusted idly against the rim of the bar, as if recalling something. Something impulsive. Something that had ended differently than expected. The faintest hint of color brushed her cheeks before she looked forward again, as though dismissing the memory before it settled too deeply. Reika accepted her tea when it arrived, steam curling softly upward. “I assume you found what you were looking for.” She said at last, voice calm and level. “Or are you still pretending to be lost?” The question was light.

But her presence wasn’t. She didn’t lean in. Didn’t invade. Didn’t retreat. She simply sat beside the chaos as though it were another patron in the bar, waiting to see whether tonight would bring conversation... or another unpredictable crescendo.

 

[Masaru Yuuto]

The door to The Rusty Kunai opened with a low creak that blended into the quiet murmur of conversation inside. Yuuto stepped through a moment later and let the door settle closed behind him. Lanternlight spilled across the room in warm tones, catching the worn edges of tables and bottles behind the counter. For a moment he simply looked over the interior, letting his gaze drift across the patrons scattered through the bar while the old jukebox hummed quietly somewhere along the wall.

It did not take long to find who he was looking for.

Kureji had always been easy to spot in a crowd. Even when he was sitting still, the air around him had a tendency to behave strangely. Subtle distortions clung to his presence, the sort of thing most people would dismiss as a trick of the eye after a second glance. Yuuto recognized it immediately.

A faint breath left his nose in quiet amusement. At least he managed to find the place. Yuuto crossed the room at an easy pace, weaving between tables before approaching the bar. As he drew closer his attention shifted briefly toward the woman seated a short distance from Kureji.

Reika.

Recognition came without difficulty. Their last encounter had not been particularly long ago, though it had taken place under very different circumstances. Seeing her here now, seated calmly with a cup of tea while Kureji occupied the neighboring stool, made for a strangely ordinary picture.

“Reika. I didn't expect to see you here.”

Yuuto’s gaze moved briefly between the two of them.

“Kureji and I are about to discuss something that will likely end badly for everyone involved." he'd chuckle at the thought of their would be suicide run.

With that offered, Yuuto took the open seat at the bar. The bartender approached soon after, clearly remembering the earlier comment about someone covering the bill.

“Whatever their drinking is fine. Add it to my tab.”

Once that was settled Yuuto turned his attention fully to the man beside him. For a moment he simply studied him, the faintest hint of amusement touching his expression.

“You managed to find a pretty soft place." Yuuto looked around taking in the solitary nature. "It's better than I expected.”

The humor faded after a moment as Yuuto leaned slightly against the counter, his expression settling into something more thoughtful.

“I do owe you an apology though... When we fought with Ryūni I expected the fight to escalate. But I didn't expect was for him to burn his own damn heart just trying to prove a point.”

A quiet breath followed.

“If I'd realized he was going to take it that far I would have stopped it sooner... but I guess everything happens for a reason right.” His appearance was more than enough to prove that.

The bartender set Yuuto’s drink down shortly after. His hand settled loosely around the glass while his gaze drifted briefly toward Reika again. The last time she had seen him certain things had been different. The absence beside him now was not difficult to notice. Yuuto did not elaborate on it yet.

“Drink up, we got a lot to talk about tonight.”

 

[Kureji]

Kureji merely waited for his brother to show up. He didn't care much for the people who tended to stare too long or had sensed the chaotic energies that well around him in an almost semi-permanent way. He would look over the menu that the bartender had brought him before he heard a familiar voice. He would turn way from the woman and mutter, "Shit..." Under his breath. Unlike Kohana, he has no real problems with the woman. It's just... She's pretty but Kureji wants to be one-hundred percent loyal to Kohana.

He would move his head slightly to see the woman at the corner of his eye as she said that he cleaned up nicely. The hell she means by that? "Dunno what you mean." The missing ninja said while looking at the menu. She quickly moved on to the topic of having a dramatic exit. Kureji shrugged, "As a rock star, I've learned to do nearly everything theatrically. I'm not exactly a subtle person that would try to be something that I'm not."

Letting out a deep breath, he would go on, "I don't know if you're speaking in riddles or not. I came here cuz I'm gonna hang out with my brother. Yeah, I may have gotten lost on the way here, but I'm here now." Kureji genuinely doesn't understand why people have to talk in riddles. It confuses him entirely. That and he's learned to not trust much people who talk in riddles, someone that had lied to him and his bandmates and left out important details about a gig they were doing. Despite not knowing whether or not the woman was speaking in riddles, there was no real bite in his tone.

But another voice had caught his attention, one that would make the missing ninja smile and be more at ease. He took note of the name he called the woman, but knowing himself, he will probably forget it. The bartender would look to Yuuto first, before turning his attention back to Kureji, "Whiskey for me." He remembered how one of his old band mates loved whiskey. Shinjo. The guy was someone that surely knew how to party and Kureji came to respect. The bartender would come back with an empty shot glass and a bottle of whiskey. The rock star would pour himself a shot and then raise it up, a toast, "To my mates that found their own meanings in life." He would then down the shot in one go.

It was after he set the glass down that he realized that outside of talking to Kohana, this is one of the very few times that he has even mentioned his mates. The original people that he started a rock band with.

"Thought you had said something about the Rusty Kunai, brother. Took me forever to find the place. I'm kinda bad at directions." He would chuckle in response to finding this place.

But the missing ninja's face turned serious on the talk of Ryuni. One of the very few people that Kureji has respected enough to remember their name. "The kid had powers that neither one of us has ever experienced before. Ain't not a single person perfect to find a way to make everything work for everyone. If that was the case, I wouldn't be who I am." He can't speak much for Yuuto about what the man has done in his life up till now, nor the woman named Reika, but Kureji has been around the world, talked with his mates about why they went missing from their Village. Much different from the reason why he left Sand. But after he found his own purpose, not under his father's thumb, he figured it was best this way, that he had defected from Sand.