Water droplets rippling at the surface of water, the gentle sound they make is unmistakable. A plip here, or a plop there, the sound of the water could bounce off of the walls of caves to make the origin undetectable. In the underground abyss of Arcadia with the walls illuminated only by the reflections of precious gemstones stuck in the stone of the walls, being undetectable was a frightening thing. A man or woman could lurk in the shadows without a worry in the world, but still, these people had become accustomed to the low lighting of the area, but anyone else had no type of home field advantage, unfortunately. Now, was that not why people worked down here if they were aiming for some type of nefarious plotting or something along those lines? Undeniably so, but don't let the locals here about that. . . After all, they were a deeply thoughtful community who did not allow much of anything to pass along underneath of their noses. Unless they knew that it would end up being beneficial to them in the long run, but how many plans and conspirators truly took their home base into mind when they were finishing up with their devious plot lines? Not many. After all, did they not just use these places as a brooding hole to get out any of the feelings that might've crossed their mind out? After a while, home base would not be a fond memory. After all, misery would be born and bred there without a second thought. Especially if it came from a group of people, or one incredibly lonely individual. In the backwards area of Arcadia where children used precious gemstones as idle play toys and the like, people from the surface would not find it easy to assimilate within the culture. After all, one culture is literally day, and the other is night. Arcadians would find it easier to approach the surface of the Stone Village and assimilate into that hustle and bustle more than anything else, oddly enough. No matter how backwards a person was, they could change, but you could not change an entire community to your liking.
Metallic sounds would now add to the dripping water, and the water would drip heavily into whatever puddle it was sitting high above. Hushed sounds and whispers would be the other accompanying noise that flowed through the area. The Sea, it was dubbed, would wash up and down onto the curious little shoreline it had created, eroding stalagmites and the ground alike. The warm area was an ideal place for a gathering of minds that thought alike or anything along those lines to just sit back and relax, or even just talk while listening to the sounds of the water here. The attraction was cleared, though, with only a woman sitting back above the water on a rock, another figure working diligently with her body, and then, of course, what looked like a quaint little bassinet with a bundled up child within it. For the woman sitting upon the rock formation, it had become increasingly harder for her to leave the tiny child behind, and it had been nearly impossible without her growing feelings of attachment to the one being that accompanied her in her time of solitude and reflection. There had not been anyone else until he had been born, and even then, that was an incredibly bloody and painful affair that was one gigantic blur in the back of her mind. There sat her handmaid, Gai, before her who would touch and feel at her stomach where she had ripped flesh away from bone to ensure her child's safety. The scarring there was incredibly bad. The flesh was lighter with much scar tissue buildup, but still, the woman would work on it without any words. Her hands would glow a gentle red coloration as she stripped the flesh away layer by layer with the young woman known as Haruka sitting up and attempting to be as still as she possibly could. A culmination of blood and flesh would drop down into the warm sea, causing the sound of droplets and other such strange sounds. The metallic sound that would come would be Haruka working with two needles in her hands and attempting to keep her midsection still as it was layered away and away. She was working on what seemed to be a knitted toy, presumably for her child who laid sleeping, lulled by the heat of the area.
Haruka, on the other hand, was having one hell of a time attempting to breathe in the humidity and mess of this area. Why she subjected herself to this place was beyond her, but she quite enjoyed it. After all, this had been the first place that she had come across Akechi in all of his strange and uh, nearly nude glory. Enough to make any woman red in the face, of course, but she attempted to stand firm and tall, but eventually crumbled and ran away. Gah, what an embarrassing time for her. She was just happy that she could control whatever she had inside of her now. Even if she had lost a bit of her prowess, she knew that she could build herself back up to where she once stood, and that much was proven by recent battles where she did not yield to anyone or anything that may have stood within her pathway. Though, it did still feel incredibly weird to meet back up with the man who gave her her son, she thought that she would be able to handle it so long as he didn't attempt to seek the small child out under any kind of circumstances. After all, she didn't know how she would handle it. He was the one that pushed her away because of her position, but now look where she stood. . . Forced out of what position she might've held onto in the past with no one so much as fighting for her in her absence. Ah well, she didn't need the people who consistently fucked with her and made a mockery of her stance. She proved that much by the way she stuck it out nearly by her lonesome for a year and a half. Now, she knew, that she just had to sit back and let the people whom proved themselves entry into the oddly icy heart that she had. Forcing a small breath passed her lips, it would collide with the humid and hot air, causing a wispy cloud to float up and away, eventually dispersing into the air beyond sight. Opening up, though, was some kind of task that she found herself struggling with a bit. It was harder than she thought when before she had to keep her mouth shut, back straight, and her face devoid of any emotion that might've given her away. Now she had the freedom to say what she wanted, to slouch when she sat even though she choose to keep her posture, and her face could become some kind of book for people to read, even if she did not want it.
Life was such a curious thing to her, and it really made her think. As she knitted there, she would slip one stitch to the other needle in a fluid motion, not even skipping a beat as she worked her way around in a small circle befitting of her son's forming skull. It was a deep blue colored yarn that she worked with for the moment that she could only describe as peacock colored. The yarn would work it's way around, two carefully knit rows of that color, and then it would work into an onyx coloration. Naturally, these had been the colors that she picked when she was nesting and working on his quaint little nursery. She did not know what exactly she needed to expect out of the tiny boy, but that had to have been most brand new parental figures. Though with her oddly skewed lineage, it made it a bit weird. Did her son become some kind of time traveling necromancer? Did he become one with ice? Or did he become attuned to the shadows? Or would he take some other unnamed genetic pathway that would take her for surprise? All she knew was that she just wanted him safe and sound, and she would do whatever it took to make it as such. Nothing would stop her, and there would be no measures that wouldn't be taken. With another layer of her flesh, there would be another row of knitting complete on her small needles. The flesh would be brushed away along with any blood, and then a soothing feeling would swash over her as Gai began to heal her flesh with a tender caring, making sure that it would not scar back up again. They may have been the tiger stripes that Haruka had earned, but she did not need them as she did not need them to clue anything in to anyone. There were only so many lies, so many stories that you could tell people before your information began colliding into one another and the rumors began to spread. And that was why she had chosen to tell Souji the truth, even if it might've made him all the more curious into the life she now lead behind the scenes.
The runoff of her blood would dissipate into a salmon coloration into the water, flowing away to the end of the waterfall that fed into the very ends of the earth here. Her rows of stitches would grow smaller until they finally culminated to the small point at the top of the little hat she created. There was no limit to the outpouring of creativity that she had for her little, blonde haired munchkin. Every piece of clothing that he had, she took it upon herself to create for him. Though sometimes it seemed that he grew out of his clothes so fast that it was hard to keep up with him, but some how she always managed to see everything through. Topping off the small hat, she would feel a smile spread slowly across her features as she attached a little knitted ball atop of it just to give it that last hint of cuteness. Another creation worthy of being proud of in the back of her mind. And it wouldn't give the abundance of hair atop of his head any kind of weird brim of hat hair or anything like that. The thought made a small laugh pass her lips and then Gai would look up towards her with her silver locks falling over her shoulders now. The other young woman held a distinct smile that caused Haruka to quickly look away in embarrassment. She didn't mean to laugh out loud, but here she was, and every time she did something stupid, she always got caught. Jeez, could she have gone back to being a closed book yet? It didn't seem like it would come any time soon, though. And that was quite unfortunate in the back of her mind. Casting her knitting off of the needle, she would use one of her sharpened canines to rip the working end of the thread away and then she would wave her hand just slightly, sealing her needles and yarn away into a scroll to be used later. She was fond of such an action, really. It saved so much space. In her room, there were scrolls upon scrolls stacked away and kept for a later date. Those had been all of the weapons that she had kept locked away in the Cage of Rubies. She was thankful that she could get in and out quick enough to grab onto her belongings before they cast those away as well. Tch. . .
"Milady, everything here is complete. What I want you to do next is to take a long soak in the hot water to remove any bacteria from the surface of your skin. Your body may be a tundra where bacteria and viruses cannot thrive, but your son is very much warm blooded. It certainly is a wonder how he even survived as long as he did within there." She'd laugh just lightly, patting at the young woman's stomach which had been healed up. "I will take Kei to your home here in Arcadia and put him to sleep in his actual crib. I advise you sit and soak for about an hour, and for heaven's sakes, try not to freeze up The Sea or anything like that. I know you love your cold, but keep it a decent tourist attraction for everyone else~. And here," Gai would pluck the small hat from her hands and pick up the scroll that had sealed away her work, and Haruka rolled her eyes just a bit. "I'll see you in about an hour."
"See you, Gai. Take good care of him for me. I won't be long." She'd speak quietly, pushing herself up to a stand upon the rock. Reaching up, she'd pull away a pin that held her hair bound up to the back of her head in a neat and orderly bun, and her braid would fall out down along her back. Thankfully the braid itself would not unravel. Her fingers would run gently through the hair at the top of her head that was loose and she would shake her head from side to side. She'd watch as the woman carried her belongings and her son away, disappearing off into the distance and she would give an annoyed sound. It sucked that she had to stay away when all she wanted to do was cuddle him, but she could understand her handmaiden's reasonings very well. A yawn would pass the young woman's mauve lips as she would look around. It was a late hour, one of the times that she liked to come out because there were not many people around and the dark could be her shroud against anyone that might've recognized her. Lifting her arms above her head, she would listen to her spine pop and crack from where she had been sitting still for so long. Dropping her arms, she would use her feet to jump off of the flat rock that she had been sitting on and she would drop to the floor with a dull thud, not really wanting to be graceful with no one else around.
She would pull the white shirt that she had on away and then she would pull away her black pants that she had on, nearly stumbling forward. Skinny jeans, man. A person, shinobi or not, really had to grease themselves up to get them on. Thankfully they had been low riding so that Gai could work on her properly. Stepping forward over to the water's edge, she would look down towards her reflection carefully and trace her fingers over the scars which now only looked like thin lines along her flesh. She no longer looked like she had been attacked by a bear, or something like that. Truth be told, she did a real number on herself, but no matter what it was, nothing threatened a Mama Bear's cub, Nothing at all. Even their own inner-workings and things of the like.
She would then pull away her undergarments, leaving them with the disorganized pile of clothing that she took off and she walked into the warmth of the sea, giving a slight grit of her teeth. She could feel the cold leaving her extremities first, and then the warmth would invade her core as she shifted herself to go sit back against a wall. If she were to go to the center, she was certain that she would melt away here within The Sea and that was not something that she wanted at all. She could feel a sting at her stomach where she had been worked on, and what she had always been told was that was the feeling of germs or whatever else was there being killed off by whatever was there. So, she would let the water work it's magic for a few moments before, drawing in a breath to dunk herself beneath the surface tension to get her hair wet as well. Silently, she would contemplate how she would keep herself sane having to stay here for an hour. Bleh. She could do something like sing a song, maybe. . . Or she could actually attempt to freeze The Sea solid and blame it on some crazy and unnatural force, but she knew that there would be three more fingers pointing back at her. Chaos was not necessarily her calling, unless it was a controlled embodiment of chaos. Now, that was something that she could get behind. Pushing herself back up from below the surface of the water, she would feel her feet touch against the odd little stones that lay beneath the surface and she would give a wince. They were a bit sharp, but thankfully she was not made of paper. The pain that seared there would dissipate after a few moments and she would be left with her thought process once more. It was odd. She was surrounded by her natural base element, but. . . It was not a friendly form of that particular element. It was a lot like the fire that she had been experimenting with in her time of training. She knew that if she was not careful, she would end up scalded by this water, but she would not slip up. The dull drippings of the water would echo in her ears as she watched silently on. It seemed that maybe only a minute or so had passed at this point, and in her mind, she was most certainly counting down on every second until she could go home and be close to the young child that she called her own.
"Give me a break," would be the quiet murmur she'd give, tilting her head back to look up towards the ceiling. Tick, tock. Would there be anything or even anyone to provide some form of amusement here?
Metallic sounds would now add to the dripping water, and the water would drip heavily into whatever puddle it was sitting high above. Hushed sounds and whispers would be the other accompanying noise that flowed through the area. The Sea, it was dubbed, would wash up and down onto the curious little shoreline it had created, eroding stalagmites and the ground alike. The warm area was an ideal place for a gathering of minds that thought alike or anything along those lines to just sit back and relax, or even just talk while listening to the sounds of the water here. The attraction was cleared, though, with only a woman sitting back above the water on a rock, another figure working diligently with her body, and then, of course, what looked like a quaint little bassinet with a bundled up child within it. For the woman sitting upon the rock formation, it had become increasingly harder for her to leave the tiny child behind, and it had been nearly impossible without her growing feelings of attachment to the one being that accompanied her in her time of solitude and reflection. There had not been anyone else until he had been born, and even then, that was an incredibly bloody and painful affair that was one gigantic blur in the back of her mind. There sat her handmaid, Gai, before her who would touch and feel at her stomach where she had ripped flesh away from bone to ensure her child's safety. The scarring there was incredibly bad. The flesh was lighter with much scar tissue buildup, but still, the woman would work on it without any words. Her hands would glow a gentle red coloration as she stripped the flesh away layer by layer with the young woman known as Haruka sitting up and attempting to be as still as she possibly could. A culmination of blood and flesh would drop down into the warm sea, causing the sound of droplets and other such strange sounds. The metallic sound that would come would be Haruka working with two needles in her hands and attempting to keep her midsection still as it was layered away and away. She was working on what seemed to be a knitted toy, presumably for her child who laid sleeping, lulled by the heat of the area.
Haruka, on the other hand, was having one hell of a time attempting to breathe in the humidity and mess of this area. Why she subjected herself to this place was beyond her, but she quite enjoyed it. After all, this had been the first place that she had come across Akechi in all of his strange and uh, nearly nude glory. Enough to make any woman red in the face, of course, but she attempted to stand firm and tall, but eventually crumbled and ran away. Gah, what an embarrassing time for her. She was just happy that she could control whatever she had inside of her now. Even if she had lost a bit of her prowess, she knew that she could build herself back up to where she once stood, and that much was proven by recent battles where she did not yield to anyone or anything that may have stood within her pathway. Though, it did still feel incredibly weird to meet back up with the man who gave her her son, she thought that she would be able to handle it so long as he didn't attempt to seek the small child out under any kind of circumstances. After all, she didn't know how she would handle it. He was the one that pushed her away because of her position, but now look where she stood. . . Forced out of what position she might've held onto in the past with no one so much as fighting for her in her absence. Ah well, she didn't need the people who consistently fucked with her and made a mockery of her stance. She proved that much by the way she stuck it out nearly by her lonesome for a year and a half. Now, she knew, that she just had to sit back and let the people whom proved themselves entry into the oddly icy heart that she had. Forcing a small breath passed her lips, it would collide with the humid and hot air, causing a wispy cloud to float up and away, eventually dispersing into the air beyond sight. Opening up, though, was some kind of task that she found herself struggling with a bit. It was harder than she thought when before she had to keep her mouth shut, back straight, and her face devoid of any emotion that might've given her away. Now she had the freedom to say what she wanted, to slouch when she sat even though she choose to keep her posture, and her face could become some kind of book for people to read, even if she did not want it.
Life was such a curious thing to her, and it really made her think. As she knitted there, she would slip one stitch to the other needle in a fluid motion, not even skipping a beat as she worked her way around in a small circle befitting of her son's forming skull. It was a deep blue colored yarn that she worked with for the moment that she could only describe as peacock colored. The yarn would work it's way around, two carefully knit rows of that color, and then it would work into an onyx coloration. Naturally, these had been the colors that she picked when she was nesting and working on his quaint little nursery. She did not know what exactly she needed to expect out of the tiny boy, but that had to have been most brand new parental figures. Though with her oddly skewed lineage, it made it a bit weird. Did her son become some kind of time traveling necromancer? Did he become one with ice? Or did he become attuned to the shadows? Or would he take some other unnamed genetic pathway that would take her for surprise? All she knew was that she just wanted him safe and sound, and she would do whatever it took to make it as such. Nothing would stop her, and there would be no measures that wouldn't be taken. With another layer of her flesh, there would be another row of knitting complete on her small needles. The flesh would be brushed away along with any blood, and then a soothing feeling would swash over her as Gai began to heal her flesh with a tender caring, making sure that it would not scar back up again. They may have been the tiger stripes that Haruka had earned, but she did not need them as she did not need them to clue anything in to anyone. There were only so many lies, so many stories that you could tell people before your information began colliding into one another and the rumors began to spread. And that was why she had chosen to tell Souji the truth, even if it might've made him all the more curious into the life she now lead behind the scenes.
The runoff of her blood would dissipate into a salmon coloration into the water, flowing away to the end of the waterfall that fed into the very ends of the earth here. Her rows of stitches would grow smaller until they finally culminated to the small point at the top of the little hat she created. There was no limit to the outpouring of creativity that she had for her little, blonde haired munchkin. Every piece of clothing that he had, she took it upon herself to create for him. Though sometimes it seemed that he grew out of his clothes so fast that it was hard to keep up with him, but some how she always managed to see everything through. Topping off the small hat, she would feel a smile spread slowly across her features as she attached a little knitted ball atop of it just to give it that last hint of cuteness. Another creation worthy of being proud of in the back of her mind. And it wouldn't give the abundance of hair atop of his head any kind of weird brim of hat hair or anything like that. The thought made a small laugh pass her lips and then Gai would look up towards her with her silver locks falling over her shoulders now. The other young woman held a distinct smile that caused Haruka to quickly look away in embarrassment. She didn't mean to laugh out loud, but here she was, and every time she did something stupid, she always got caught. Jeez, could she have gone back to being a closed book yet? It didn't seem like it would come any time soon, though. And that was quite unfortunate in the back of her mind. Casting her knitting off of the needle, she would use one of her sharpened canines to rip the working end of the thread away and then she would wave her hand just slightly, sealing her needles and yarn away into a scroll to be used later. She was fond of such an action, really. It saved so much space. In her room, there were scrolls upon scrolls stacked away and kept for a later date. Those had been all of the weapons that she had kept locked away in the Cage of Rubies. She was thankful that she could get in and out quick enough to grab onto her belongings before they cast those away as well. Tch. . .
"Milady, everything here is complete. What I want you to do next is to take a long soak in the hot water to remove any bacteria from the surface of your skin. Your body may be a tundra where bacteria and viruses cannot thrive, but your son is very much warm blooded. It certainly is a wonder how he even survived as long as he did within there." She'd laugh just lightly, patting at the young woman's stomach which had been healed up. "I will take Kei to your home here in Arcadia and put him to sleep in his actual crib. I advise you sit and soak for about an hour, and for heaven's sakes, try not to freeze up The Sea or anything like that. I know you love your cold, but keep it a decent tourist attraction for everyone else~. And here," Gai would pluck the small hat from her hands and pick up the scroll that had sealed away her work, and Haruka rolled her eyes just a bit. "I'll see you in about an hour."
"See you, Gai. Take good care of him for me. I won't be long." She'd speak quietly, pushing herself up to a stand upon the rock. Reaching up, she'd pull away a pin that held her hair bound up to the back of her head in a neat and orderly bun, and her braid would fall out down along her back. Thankfully the braid itself would not unravel. Her fingers would run gently through the hair at the top of her head that was loose and she would shake her head from side to side. She'd watch as the woman carried her belongings and her son away, disappearing off into the distance and she would give an annoyed sound. It sucked that she had to stay away when all she wanted to do was cuddle him, but she could understand her handmaiden's reasonings very well. A yawn would pass the young woman's mauve lips as she would look around. It was a late hour, one of the times that she liked to come out because there were not many people around and the dark could be her shroud against anyone that might've recognized her. Lifting her arms above her head, she would listen to her spine pop and crack from where she had been sitting still for so long. Dropping her arms, she would use her feet to jump off of the flat rock that she had been sitting on and she would drop to the floor with a dull thud, not really wanting to be graceful with no one else around.
She would pull the white shirt that she had on away and then she would pull away her black pants that she had on, nearly stumbling forward. Skinny jeans, man. A person, shinobi or not, really had to grease themselves up to get them on. Thankfully they had been low riding so that Gai could work on her properly. Stepping forward over to the water's edge, she would look down towards her reflection carefully and trace her fingers over the scars which now only looked like thin lines along her flesh. She no longer looked like she had been attacked by a bear, or something like that. Truth be told, she did a real number on herself, but no matter what it was, nothing threatened a Mama Bear's cub, Nothing at all. Even their own inner-workings and things of the like.She would then pull away her undergarments, leaving them with the disorganized pile of clothing that she took off and she walked into the warmth of the sea, giving a slight grit of her teeth. She could feel the cold leaving her extremities first, and then the warmth would invade her core as she shifted herself to go sit back against a wall. If she were to go to the center, she was certain that she would melt away here within The Sea and that was not something that she wanted at all. She could feel a sting at her stomach where she had been worked on, and what she had always been told was that was the feeling of germs or whatever else was there being killed off by whatever was there. So, she would let the water work it's magic for a few moments before, drawing in a breath to dunk herself beneath the surface tension to get her hair wet as well. Silently, she would contemplate how she would keep herself sane having to stay here for an hour. Bleh. She could do something like sing a song, maybe. . . Or she could actually attempt to freeze The Sea solid and blame it on some crazy and unnatural force, but she knew that there would be three more fingers pointing back at her. Chaos was not necessarily her calling, unless it was a controlled embodiment of chaos. Now, that was something that she could get behind. Pushing herself back up from below the surface of the water, she would feel her feet touch against the odd little stones that lay beneath the surface and she would give a wince. They were a bit sharp, but thankfully she was not made of paper. The pain that seared there would dissipate after a few moments and she would be left with her thought process once more. It was odd. She was surrounded by her natural base element, but. . . It was not a friendly form of that particular element. It was a lot like the fire that she had been experimenting with in her time of training. She knew that if she was not careful, she would end up scalded by this water, but she would not slip up. The dull drippings of the water would echo in her ears as she watched silently on. It seemed that maybe only a minute or so had passed at this point, and in her mind, she was most certainly counting down on every second until she could go home and be close to the young child that she called her own.
"Give me a break," would be the quiet murmur she'd give, tilting her head back to look up towards the ceiling. Tick, tock. Would there be anything or even anyone to provide some form of amusement here?
Silence. A blank stare encompassed the entirety of his face as Haruka spoke and he did his damnedest to listen to what she had to say. She was a bit modest about it, but even she reaffirmed his guess about her power. His Sense usually gave him a rough idea about a person's collective "strength" but it was damn unreliable at times. It was always nice to hear it firsthand from the source, anyhow. Next she told the rose-haired airhead about her curse. It was always the supernatural, wasn't it? Kiri was home to a number of crazy things from different planes of existence, so he wasn't exactly a stranger to this sort of stuff. Now did he understand it even in the slightest? No. No he did not. 
Fingers scraped along the ground as they drew inwards to form clenched fists. Any loose dirt or rocks that had been beneath his hands were now clutched tightly in his closed palms.