Is Blood Thicker Than Water? [Private]

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo thought it was unfair for him to feel this way, despite the hardships he faced he had great friends who he cared deeply about, food on the table and pretty much everything anyone could ask for. But despair had an interesting way of creeping up on you when you least expected it. Sitting under a park bench he was illuminated by both a simple street lamp and the full moon.

Tatsuo always kept a picture of his mother in his wallet, no matter where he went she'd always be with him that way. However it was rare for him to sulk about it, he missed his mother so much but the year after her death he was reduced to a shell of his former self. The energetic boy was shown the true meaning of loneliness, it wasn't long after his mother's passing that his father kicked him out of the house. With nowhere to go and struggling to keep himself afloat as missions available to a Genin were usually not enough to support a household the boy struggled to find himself able to pay all of the bills while also mourning his mother. He had just barely turned fourteen back then, while some people had faced worse and fared better it truly broke the boy's spirit.

When he received word of Miyu requesting help against her father's kidnappers the boy begged the Hokage to return to the Lightning Country. His life had lost all purpose, he secretly hoped he would die on that mission. Then he wouldn't have to suffer, but as fate would have it another shinobi received word of her plight. Okada, Kaji. Tatsuo's former sensei, who assisted Miyu as well, happened to come Port Cirrus at the same time. After an emotional reunion, student and master joined forces once again to save Miyu's father. When it was time to return to the Leaf village, Tatsuo requested to stay longer and train under the guidance of Kaji which, thankfully, was accepted by the Hokage.

More than anything Tatsuo needed time away from the Leaf. While he would always have a special place in his heart, for his homeland, staying around would've just drained all of the energy from the growing boy. In his short time in Kumogakure, he reunited with his old ally Hoshi. Alongside Hira, Tatsuo's ninja way was reignited. His will of fire grew as bright as it once did before. He was happy, truly content with how life was going. He had enemies to fight, friends to experience the world with, and role models to shape him-- But a mother's love is something that is hard to replace. So now, Tatsuo sat hunched over looking at the picture of his mother. It was the only real possession he had of hers, it was always was her favorite and one of the few things his father let him keep when they parted ways. He was holding back tears as he looked at the picture. Every once in a when he couldn't sleep he would walk around the village trying to clear his mind. Sometimes it was about some of the fights he had gotten into, other times it was about that girl he met in Ushani, but tonight was about his mother.

The snow was peppering his hair and the ground around them, the boy looked up and with a quick scan realized there probably wasn't anyone around this late at night and let himself cry. He hated to cry, he hated to have people see him cry. He wanted to be strong, strong enough to protect all of those who couldn't protect themselves, and strong men didn't cry. But everyone was weak sometimes, it felt good to be weak sometimes, to let it all out. So he cried. Comforted by the fact that no one would hear him, his wails grew louder until anyone on the street would probably hear his choked up coughing as he tried to contain himself.

Had you been stronger, maybe you could've done something. Crying now won't do anything, she's gone. Why cry?

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

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...Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics of form or measure. And all of it is irreplaceable…​

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<B>“She’s quite beautiful,” came the gentle call of a stranger’s voice. Through his tears, Tatsuo would see two black boots standing in the snow a few feet in front of him. Walking the familiar route home, Kahako heard him shortly before she saw him. Once she discovered the origin of the sound, it wasn’t hard to discern who created them. A boy, naught but a few years older than her own son, was bent over on a sidewalk bench. His shoulders shook with each sob, his red hair making him stand out against the falling snow even in the dim streetlight. With a gentle smile so as not to surprise the boy, Kahako nodded her head towards his hands. “The woman in your picture…. she must have been quite beautiful,” she repeated before digging a hand into the jacket pocket of her uniform.

Kahako pulled the object out and offered it to him. A small white handkerchief with a delicately embroidered insignia in the corner rested between her fingers for Tatsuo to take. Once taken, she would pull her red scarf that protected her ears and nose from Kumo’s bitter cold closer to her face. “Would you mind if I rested next to you for a bit? I still have a long trip home, and this is the last place of respite before I reach it.” Her last sentence carried a light-hearted tone to it at the end. As if the sentence carried an inside joke that only she would understand.

If given the opportunity, Kahako would make her way to the open spot next to her new acquaintance. A small layer of snow accumulated along the back and seat, signaling to her that this stranger had been wallowing in his grief for a good while before she came across. Pulling her hand out of her pocket again, she lifted her palm to the seat before pausing. Hesitation washed over her face for but a brief second, before disappearing just as quickly. She was leaving in a few days. It wouldn’t do her or her comrades any good if she was completely afraid to use the one thing that would protect them all on their mission.

With a brief lift of her hand and wave to the side, the thin layer of snow followed the motion into the air briefly before falling to the side in a quiet ‘plop.’ The bench seat remained frigid cold, but the wood and metal was now dry. Tatsuo would feel an almost unnoticeable lift of weight from his head, as the small amount of water from the snow that melted into his hair also lifted into the air and flew off to the side. Another smile graced Kahako’s face as she massaged the hand she just used. “I apologize,” she said referring the use of her chakra on him without permission. “It’s been a while, and clearly I am out of practice.” With that, she sat next to them as they once more fell into silence.

Once fully situated on the bench, Kahako closed her eyes and focused inward to see if her mental defenses remained intact. She took a minute to confirm the small amount of chakra use wasn’t going to drive Sakana into a frenzy. Assured that all was well for the moment, Kahako return to the situation she found herself in at present.

It didn’t take her mastery in psychology to deduce that the man before her was grieving the loss of a family member. There were too many similarities to his physical features that of the woman. His mother perhaps? Kahako leaned back, fully relaxing despite how the snowfall began to pick up, a pang of sorrow filled her at the thought.

She didn’t mean to intrude upon his solitude, but something told her that she shouldn’t just continue on her way. Before too long, the silence would become awkward. So she chose to do one thing she did often to cheer up her own child. Kahako began to hum. The sound of her voice made it clear she wasn’t a professional, but at the same time the melody wasn’t unpleasant as it stuck to lower octaves that was common in a female range. Her humming was intentional. If he truly wanted to be alone, the boy could stand up and walk away without feeling as if he slighted her. Nothing more than two strangers passing on a cold, snowy night. But if he wanted a shoulder, someone to speak with… then she allowed herself to appear approachable enough to do so.

 

[Uchiha Izura]

...Everyone is entitled to their own MADNESS, for the mind has no limit to form or measure. And all of it…All of THIS...was bound to happen eventually...​

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Kahako’s humming was met with the humming of another individual…quite melodic as well, to be sure, but the tone gave off a ghostly, more uncertain feel as her voice intermingled with Kahako’s.

It was another woman. Her skin was like porcelain, contrasted against the dark, raven black hair that she kept tied neatly in a bun. Her movements were graceful, slow, and elegant. A silent wind, sweeping low across the ground in naught but a whisper. But as she drew closer, the ghostlike appearance was only more evident as the snow passed through her incorporeal body as if it weren’t there.

She was quite beautiful, perhaps even unnaturally so.

A figure of memory long past was what she was. Izura’s adopting mother, Asakura Sekai. A woman whose identity was as unknown and under wraps as the enigmatic Uchiha himself. A woman whose death was simply yet another piece of a fragmented past and a shattered empire, long lost from ages past. She was about 50 feet away, before her eyes turned crimson, and the pattern of a mangekyou sharingan appeared in them….

A simple message. A single, subtle suggestion.

This Friday. The Luxe Club. 2100, Meet me there...

And in the next moment she was gone...

Spoiler

Hypnotic suggestion was used on Kahako. You can choose to dispel it for your character if you wish since I need your OOC permission for the genjutsu to take effect. If you choose to dispel the genjutsu, Izura is nowhere in plain sight. He is actually invisible in the shadows of a nearby alleyway.

[Topic Entered and then Left]

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo had intended to be alone, there were somethings a man had to face by himself and he thought this to be one of them. He had been too busy wailing in his own grief to notice Kahako make her way to him. Even as she stood right in front of him the boy wasn't aware of her presence until the words, 'She's quite beautiful' cut through his sobs. Perking up to face her, he wiped his face before taking in a deep breath trying to gain his own composure. He came all the way out here to be alone, at this time of night he expected no one to notice him, much less for anyone to confront him. He didn't want to be like this, he was a shinobi, a proud member of Konohagakure. Tatsuo never liked to be weak, no matter what it was, he never liked to leave himself open. But here he lay, broken and battered at the feet of some women he'd never met. In between sniffles and coughs he responded to her, "Y-yes. She was quite beautiful." The boy clenched his teeth as he tried to gain his composure, he sat back into the bench taking in a deep inhale. The cold pierced his lungs and he felt like crying once again but he managed to keep it in. For now at least.

Tatsuo hesitated at taking the handkerchief. He was no stranger to kindness but he had already opened himself up too much just by being caught here. It took him a few moments before he finally took it and muttered "T-thank you." He used it to wipe his face and clean his nose. When she asked about sitting down he said nothing but moved himself to the side, the snow crunching and falling off the bench. He continued to take deep but broken breaths, despite wanting nothing more than being somewhere else he knew there was nothing he could do. Perhaps if he said nothing she would just leave him alone, allowing him to once again face this pain alone.

When she moved the snow, Tatsuo bit down hard on his bottom lip. Not only had Kahako seen him like this, she was also a ninja. There weren't that many Leaf ninja in Kumogakure and as far as Tatsuo knew he was the only one. What would everyone say if they knew he was not only crying by himself in the snow but also caught by a foreign shinobi. Whether from the embarrassment or the bitter cold his face was growing redder by the minute. Caught off guard by her apology he looked over to her, but avoiding any eye contact, "No it-- It's okay." Keeping his mouth closed made it easier to keep the tears in, but every time he spoke it felt like he would break down into tears right after. He took another deep inhale, followed by a broken exhale.

The silence had gotten awkward and he had hoped maybe she would leave. If he didn't say anything maybe she would just forget about it, some kid she saw in the park this time. She didn't owe him anything, whether she knew it or not, he wasn't even from the same village so any nationalistic camaraderie she had would be null the moment she learned his identity. The irony was thick enough to cut with a knife. Had Tatsuo seen anyone, in Konoha or Kumogakure sitting alone he couldn't just leave them to wallow in their own pain. But it never crossed his mind that Kahako might feel that same duty to humanity he did.

It had almost gotten to the point where he was ready going to beg her to leave, curse at her, make her think he was crazy or dangerous, something to just get her to go. To leave him alone where he could just suffer without feeling weak but he was more than caught off guard by her humming. Just moments before he had finally managed to stifle his crying but his mother would do the same thing when he was young. She always would sing. It brought Tatsuo back to the days when he was young, he could almost feel the warmth of Konoha kiss his skin and the soft grass under his feet as he ran barefoot in the yard, chasing his friends around a sprinkler. He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help it. His sobs grew louder and louder until it was just like before. Once again he had been beaten in this physiological game, she managed to not only make him feel bad about crying in the first place but continue breaking into tears. How could he ever protect those he loved if he couldn't protect himself. In between sobs and cries he managed to get out the words, "I-i'm not weak. I promise. I'm strong." Even when crying like this, he felt the need to defend himself, leave some sort of barrier between him and Kahako. "I'm strong. I promise i'm strong."

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako continued her hum as the boy beside her struggled, and ultimately failed at reigning his emotions. It hurt her to see someone so broken, so seemingly alone that he didn't feel close enough to anyone to help him bear the weight of his grief.

She noticed movement in the corner of her eye, and couldn’t help but take a quick glance to see if it were a person who would be of any aid to this poor boy’s plight. Maybe a friend? But no sooner had she laid eyes on the spot had the image vanished. Another trick of her mind or was it the shadow of an animal? She paid it no further heed as she turned her attention back to the man next to her.

Spoiler

Snow filtered through the tree line in the few breaths it took for Kahako to gaze upon the woman. Were Tatsuo not trapped in his grief, he would notice Kahako’s apparent distraction in the distance as she continued her sad tune. But five seconds for the Sharingan user felt even less to the mednin. For the suggestion was so well planted, so well hidden, that Kahako would never know that it was not one of her own making.

From within, a soul most foul perked her head from her cage. The bars weakened… but not by the means of her bailiff? She realized the rods on her iron door were not as solid as it had been before. Rusty, almost easy to break. Twisted, saccharine glee marred her face as she began shaking the hinges violently.

But just as soon as the clanging noises of her tiny cage made echoes through the maze that was Kahako’s mind, another soul, one spitting image of the host herself, yet with much longer hair, appeared from nowhere and reinforced the metal with the touch of her hand. The rattling slowed, but the tension only rose higher. Green eyes and red eyes matched glare for glare as neither entity cared to speak with one another. The free doppelganger whipped her head around as a voice she did not recognize echoed all around them.

This Friday. The Luxe Club. 2100, Meet me there...

Shaking, apprehensive fingers tightened around iron as the long-haired woman looked all around her for the source of the voice before quickly refocusing on her task at hand. Slowly but surely the cage returned to its strengthened form. The terrifying rattling finally put to an end. Letting go and stepping back, she realigned her emerald eyes to the red-eyed prisoner within. Her frown being mirrored by a twisted and curious smile, and the woman inside the cage curled back upon herself with only her sick mind to keep her company. For the time being, at least.

For neither were shinobi and so neither knew what just transpired. But what was for certain: It was strong enough to force its way in, and almost strong enough to let Sakana out. Sukino had no way of warning Kahako, so whatever was to come to pass, she could only pray to her God the kunoichi would be prepared for it.
[OOC: Hypnotic suggestion accepted]

Strong. He swore himself to be as such to a complete stranger. A promise that there was no weakness inside as tears cascaded down his face. He staunchly refused to look her in the eye before denying a second time that he held no ounce of weakness within him. Indeed, it was a strange thing to say to a person who just wanted to sit down and rest for a few minutes before heading home. He was clearly trying to create a barrier between the two of them, but his lack of walking away levelled to her how much he wanted hers or anyone's company. To the point where he may not have even realized it. So, he attempted to push her away. To keep the very intimate moment he was having from burning him, and to keep some from of his wounded pride intact.

Kahako allowed the silence to stretch for only a moment longer. Weighing her words carefully so as not to insult him anymore than she unintentionally had. So many times, she’d seen the idol of masculinity parade itself as a battle hardened solider. A scion of strength to be respected and maybe even a little feared. And so many in the world clung to that idol. Believed it to be the peak of true perfection and the source of all strength. And as a result this adolescent before her struggled with the image he saw as perfection and the reality that lay around him.

“No one said you weren’t strong.” Kahako said gently, her voice almost above a whisper. Her face and tone serious, as she stated what she believed to be mere fact. “Sometimes strength come from simply facing the demons within and feeling them for what they are.” Kahako looked at her own hand, feeling the chakra pulse throughout her being as it delighted in the water that floated around them. If nothing, her affinity to water was the very symbol of a special strength found in gentleness. In the gentle bubble or violent roar of the feminine psyche and how the connection to one's emotional side could hurt just as badly as it could heal. She looked forward again, reciting aloud what first seemed like a random poem.

“’Travel to the moon, and while you sleep a dream untangles. There is no one else while we play in the starlight, and we can bring back the smile we forgot in order to become strong again.’

“’Travel in silence. I was sure I could touch you if I reached out, but you are far away, so it must all be in my head. I can hear your voice if I close my eyes and even this pain is dear to me.’”

Leaning back, Kahako looked up, allowing a couple snowflake fall and melt on her face before clarifying her words. “It is the song I was humming. I often sang it to my son before I left for a mission.” She let out a quick chuckle. “Well, before he became too old to be sung to, at least.”

Kahako sighed, unsure if what she was saying was making any sense to the man before her, or if it was even something he wanted to hear. “Both are the main verses, but it was always the second refrain that meant something to me before I left. ‘Look at me. I’m here waiting for your even if I’m lost and alone. Blown upon the wind, I’m here waiting for you while gazing up at the sky. My heart will always open my hands to protect you. Until the you back then will turn to look at me there is no need to cry.’”

Kahako allowed the silence to fill between them once more. Pain. Deep, emotional pain that came with loving someone, wasn’t a sign of weakness. It was a sign of his humanity. For what good was having strength without it? “You don’t have to say anything if you want to… but I’ve recently learned first-hand that trying to deal with your inner demons by yourself is an unnecessary burden to bear alone.” She motioned to the picture again. “Tell me about her. Not just the bad things. The good ones too.” She smiled warmly at him. “And if you're worried I will see you as weak... well... we may never meet again after tonight. Saying something to me might end up being easier than saying something to someone you care about. If that becomes the case, whether I think less of you after tonight will not matter as much if I remained a stranger, no?”

 

[Tatsuo]

She was right, he tried his best to create a barrier between them. It wasn't like she was his enemy, he couldn't form a handseal and have his armor protect him from blows, he knew he wasn't strong. He was sobbing like an infant in a public park, his declaration of strength was more for himself than it was for her. He needed to know he was strong, that this wasn't wrong. Inside him he knew it was alright, everyone deserved to cry once in a while but that's why he tried to do it in private. As the woman began to explain her song Tatsuo's breathing slowed and his wailing quieted. A sniffle here and there, he wiped some of the tears from his face. He had no idea why she was explaining her song, but for some reason it made him more comfortable. She opted to avoid the subject of his crying and just spoke of something he saw mundane, raising his spirits even if just a bit. "I-it's a nice song." he said in between broken cries. He honestly wasn't able to hear most of it over his crying but it started to dawn on him perhaps the lady was just nice. He thought what he would do if he saw someone crying in the street, he would never just walk away and leave them alone. Perhaps she was the same.

When she motioned to the picture, Tatsuo almost brought it to his chest as a feeble way to protect it. But as she asked him to talk about his mother, he rarely did. Even Kaji knew a detail here and there. Most of his other friends were orphaned or some other situation with their parents that made it an uncomfortable subject to bring up. "She was caring. Timid at home but when it came to me she'd fight the whole world tooth and nail just to make sure I didn't stumble. "She fought with my father when they supported the force fighting back the Samurai who occupied the Village. I don't know if you know about any of that, but she was really great. No matter how often me and my dad would fight she would always be there. Even when I was wrong she forgave me, but once she died I didn't really have anyone. My dad kicked me out of the house, we never got along, so I was barely thirteen, just a Genin and expecting to continue going on missions while also having to prepare for myself. I managed to do it for a little while.. I'd go on missions every day, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed I was out on a mission. Ya' know? Genin don't make that much, the type of jobs we're limited to just.. well they aren't very good. I ended up getting so tired from missions I was beginning to fail them, getting paid less, ostracized, all that. It all looked pretty hopeless until I got a letter from this lady named Miyu. She was someone I helped on my first trip to Cloud, her father had gotten in trouble and she couldn't afford to pay a shinobi from the Cloud Village but she requested me. I begged the Hokage to let me come, which he did. But I didn't actually want to succeed on the mission, I was hoping i'd die out there. All by myself, forgotten to the wind, I was more excited about dying then seeing my old friend. But i'm here now obviously."

Tatsuo shook his head and frowned, "Sorry for rambling, I just had to get it off my chest. I kind of told Kaji, but not really all the details." Tatsuo was no longer crying, he still spoke softly and looked very defensive but he wasn't the same broken mess he was just minutes ago.

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

When he mentioned his village being occupied, she immediately realized this boy was not a civilian of Kumogakure as she originally assumed, but instead a shinobi of Konoha. She heard of their civil war in passing, but never paid attention to what happened outside her own country. This put her on edge, but she hid it well. She should err on the side of caution with their conversation. Alliance or no alliance, there were things outsiders didn’t need to know.

But it was hard to flippantly give him that label. An outsider. The other. Although different from her own, his tale brought her back to a time before she was the heir to the Shinrya clan. A dark period of her life she rarely spared a thought on anymore. A time when her true family scorned her for her ability to wield chakra. Almost overnight they saw her as a weapon of destruction instead of their beloved daughter. It wore different clothes, but rejection was a painful companion to have when you were so young.

And the feeling of being unwanted at that age hurt more than words could ever describe. Their villages may have found them old enough to hold a weapon, but a teenager was yet to fully shed the innocence of childhood. The sting of rejection from family. The grief that came with the loss of a parent. Kahako felt his pain. Not only from the perspective of being the child, but also the fear of being a mother. One day her boy could be exactly like this Konoha shinobi. Alone on a cold night, in tears over losing her. With naught a soul but a stranger to provide meager support.

The spiraling thoughts sometimes drove her to consider leaving her post with the medical branch behind. She could physically taste the guilt at the thought of leaving Susumu motherless. But the longing of wanting to do the right thing, wanting to protect her village—her son’s home—and support her fiancé kept her solidly where she was. Conflict ran deep in her heart when her duty as a mother fought against her ambitions. And the boy before her was a living symbol to the reason why.

“nnNnn…” she responded with a weak smile and a shake of her head from side to side. “It’s best to let emotions out rather than let them build. Life sometimes puts us in an unfair and unkind situation. It’s understandable to want to give up.” Rubbing her hands together, Kahako blew on them to give her fingers a little warmth. “Did you ever change your mind? After your mission with this Miyu-san?”

 

[Tatsuo]

In a situation like this, the idea that their two nationalities would separate them carried no weight to Tatsuo. For someone who had met so many great people in different villages, the lines of loyalty based on nationality blurred quite a bit. He would trust the average Leaf Ninja over the average Cloud Ninja, but at the end of the day his most trusted companions hailed from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Therefore he tended to look for the good in everyone despite their nationality. The only people that level of hospitality was not extended to would be Samurai, some wounds never healed, and the Civil War was still fresh in the impressionable boys mind.

He could feel the shift in the air as he identified where he was from, but that tension was soon eased. Perhaps he was just lucky, but he always seemed to be able to connect people. In a time like this it wasn't all that difficult. Anyone willing to stop in the cold to help cheer up someone they did not know would likely be someone worth knowing. And once she asked that question, he smiled a bit. Rubbing his tears as he thought back to just how silly he had been.

"Yes, a lot changed. I met back with Kaji-sensei, he let me stay with him in Cloud, get back on my feet. Ya know? I met Hoshi, I met Hira.. I gained friends that will last me a lifetime. I just.. I don't know why I still feel so bad, it's not all the time, but on nights like these.. it just seems to come out. I've got a home, i've got friends, food on the table, why do I still feel so bad? Why is it I sometimes see kid's and there fathers and feel a tinge of guilt that I wasn't a good enough son for my father to love me like that? Or maybe had I been stronger, or more attentive, I could've helped my mother? I'm not even sad, I mean.. I am right now. But in general I think i'm happy. I wake up every day ready to take on the world, but why is it, sometimes i'm still reduced to a crying idiot in the street." he said letting out another chuckle at his own self depreciation.

It was hard to admit these things out loud, Tatsuo wasn't really even a typical macho man who spent most of his time trying to prove himself strong. He felt strong inside, but when he was torn down like this it made him feel weak. Then he felt guilty for being weak, because if he was weak he wouldn't be able to protect those he cared so deeply about. Inside he knew, he knew he wasn't weak, he knew he was strong. Facing enemies stronger than him tenfold, staring death in the eyes without flinching. His lack of self preservation would make him seem like an idiot to most of the population. He only feared being weak, for whatever reason.

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Kahako felt relief when Tatsuo confirmed that he had changed his outlook on life. He made friends here, started his life anew, stranger or no, she couldn’t help but smile slightly. It was probably not the best thing to do, given the boy continued to depreciate his own feelings, but Kahako couldn’t help it.

“You can continue going over the ‘what ifs’, but the results will still be the same.” She said standing, brushing off the snow that gathered on the crown of her head, and looking back down at him. “Your father is human. Like with all humans, sometimes he will say or do something to intentionally or unintentionally hurt other people.” Tatsuo would see that her next words meant more to her than just an attempt at encouragement. The pain in her eyes clearly expressing that she understood his feelings in a way that only someone who went through the pain would know. “Even parents can hate their own children, and find a reason for doing so.”

Looking up to the sky, Kahako closed her eyes as she tried to reign her own emotions back in. She recounted the day she first met her aunt. Shipped off from Kelmura, to an aunt who only took care of her for appearances sake. How she called what Kahako did and learned ‘unnatural.’ She also remembered the day she was officially adopted. How her relative by blood told Kitsune that Kahako wasn’t as innocent as she seemed. That she was deceiving her new mother just so she could gain power and influence in the shinobi world. But she also remembered the day when she first laid eyes on Susumu. How she promised that chakra or no chakra, she would not treat him how she was treated. That she would do whatever she could in her power to keep him safe from harm.

“But I think… if I was your mother, I would not only be proud, but also humbled by you.” She turned away from him, still trying to reign in her chaotic emotions. “There were no promises that things would get better. Life did its best to mess you up with no reward for getting through it. But you tried to do right by yourself regardless. When everything seemed to be at its end, you—so to speak—lied, cheated, and bluffed your way through with the cards you were dealt. And at the end of it all, you found a form of solace. A purpose again. And from talking to you now, you didn’t lose who you were in the process. Changed, maybe, stronger even, but not lost.”

Spinning on her heel, she graced Tatsuo with a somber smile. “To be the one person that a person like you cries about at night… to know I was a reason you held onto your humanity at the end of the day… I wouldn’t think it a short-coming at all …it would be a truly humbling feeling.”

In the distance, the village clock struck midnight. Shaken from her conversation, Kahako checked her watch before making a ‘oh crap’ face. “…I have been gone for way too long. Susumu’s nanny is going to have a fit. The boy is probably still up giving her problems.” She said with a sigh and a slight slump in her shoulders. Despite her love for her son, he could sometimes really be a handful.

Looking back at Tatsuo, she gave him another smile. “Well, it seems our time has come to an end, and I still don’t see you as a weak-willed individual.” Folding her hands over thighs and straightening her back, she dipped into a bow that was expected from someone of wealthy status in Lightening. “My name is Shinrya Kahako. Should you ever find yourself in need of respite, please feel free to visit me at my family’s estate.”

After exchanging farewells, Kahako would offer a final bow before heading home. It wasn’t everyday she found herself in the middle of the street with a sobbing foreign shinobi, but she at least hoped she had helped him in some way.

[topic left, have fun getting back to leaf land!]

 

[Tatsuo]

The moment of kindness that Kahako displayed would be something that always stuck with him. Even after she left Tatsuo continued to stay on that bench. She was kind enough to invite him to their estate, they must've been important from what he remembered of the estate area. Thinking of all things, of his family, of his friends, of his village, of the issues that plagued this world. He had the familiar dry heave after a long bout of crying. For some reason you always felt calm after a large bout of emotions, perhaps to even things out.

Spending the next hour or so just watching the snowflakes fall and the twinkling of stars above him he finally decided it was time to call it a night. No matter what happened, he would always remember this night and Kahako as well.

[Topic Left, have fun going to sand land]