Rehab for Ancients <Open|Sousuke's House>

[Toraono Michino]

Returning to the public was about as horrible as Tama imagined it. 

For one when the group walked into the hospital all hell broke loose. Seeing the Steward walk in with a still smoking eye socket and electrical burns all down one side of his face was one thing; watching one of the Sunan Terrors being carried behind him on the shoulders of a Toraono was another. One of the villagers in the waiting area jumped up right at that moment and rushed at both of them, only being stopped when a member of the ANBU Corp clothesline the guy across the chest and brought him down. Almost instantly five other members of their black ops appeared around the Ancient and his son with weapons out. 
The situation was heavy for all of about ten seconds. It was Mako that spoke up in a harsh tone that caused the super ninjas to back down a little. She made a point about them all being a place for healing, not violence, and that everything could be sorted out once they were sure everyone was going to live. After that it was just another day at the hospital. The hybrid was admitted into a special room placed under heavy guard where he was taken care of only by the bravest and most neutral of doctors. 

In the decade that he had lost his damn mind the Ancient had done his share of damage to a third of the Sunan families living in the village. His actions of kidnapping random people throughout the years as both a source of food and fear tactics in controlling his men had ran his once proud name through all kinds of mud. Even the doctors who treated him kept muttering about wasting precious time treating a dead man. It was a harsh thing for the old scientist to go through as he watched old coworkers glare at him. The love he had for Okibi that drove him to madness in the first place was now the only thing keeping him going. To know of a child between them existed was more than enough to pull his fragile mentality back to a least a semblance of sanity; even if the world hated him.
Michino, though, was apparently never better. After running x-rays and doing blood work on the boy they found him to be nearly thirty percent healthier than he had been on his last check-up a month and a half ago when he had left the village for the first time. He had become a walking medical mystery overnight with what the tests showed about his spinal column. It boasted a possible reinforced strength that would allow him to sustain far less damage in natural falls, but also looked like a broken back would be the last thing he should worry about ever again. His spine had been transformed into something like that of a feline's and showed signs of continued repair even as they preformed their medical jutsu to test him. 
Of course poor Sousuke was another issue all together. Yet even as the medical team finished surgery on his wounded face his outcome looked good; yah know, besides horrible scarring and loss of half his vision. There was the usual barbs about him loosing limbs but the Steward didn't seem to be much in a mood for anything but sleep and pain killers. A solid week passed as the two recovered from the injuries given to one another. 

At the start of the next week a public hearing was held. While it seemed pretty obvious that the crimes Tama had committed was more than enough for execution, and the trial certifiably seemed to be leaning that way, a single witness managed to changed everyone's opinion. Sousuke himself, the man who just received injures on behalf of Tama, took the stand and testified on behalf the Ancient hybrid's defense. He reminded everyone, while still wrapped up in medical bandages, that he was a medical and scientific genius. The man had brought about a surgery that allowed even those who could only dream about becoming a shinobi a reality. It would be a complete waste to the village's resources to simply kill him off or let him rot somewhere. If he was to suffer, let him suffer for the village. When the judge asked what he would propose it was returned that the criminal would be allowed to live but only under a very strict house arrest while being forced to work on old medical documents that were considered "unsolvable." He would also be placed in Sousuke's house to be exact. Aside from the crowd's gasps of astonishment somewhere someone was clapping. Michino watched from a distance in the back of the courtroom. His look of disgust was obvious enough to think that Tama had stole something from him.
His innocence perhaps.
The entire time the Toraono looked for his father he kept an open mind. Always hoping that the man who seeded him into the world was at the very least not be a low-life but was prepared for that. What he got instead was a wanted criminal on trial for the deaths of at the very least thirty people. Part of the boy hoped the Kazekage would decide on execution along with the jury but strangely everyone was okay with Tama being forced to live in a single place. 
Of course there came terms. He was, under no circumstances, allowed to leave the house for at least three years. Secondly once those years had passed he still wasn't allowed to go anywhere without escort by no less than three ANBU - and only if they have the time to do it. Finally, for as long as he remained alive, Ryuu Tama was not allowed to leave Sunagakure ever again. The village he had done so much harm to would be his grave.
At first Tama thought himself the luckiest man alive. Being allowed to live and never leave a house again? Can do. He had all sorts of inventions and things he could work on. However that wasn't to be his fortune at all.

As the hybrid Ancient ducked under the door frame to walk inside of Sousuke's house he felt his heart fill up with emotion. Not a single thing about it had changed. He could see the ghost of Okibi sitting at that dining room table, pointing and laughing at something. He blinked and shook his head for a moment as memories threatened tears out of him. The Steward lead him deeper into the home and set him up in the room that had once belonged to his ward. The inside hadn't changed since he had last been inside of the room. He threw a glance and smirk over at the bed in the corner where he had shared his body for the first time with her. His eyes continued to wondered through the room until they settled on a desk and lamp over in the opposite corner. On the desk was stacks upon stacks of folders containing medical mysteries and maladies. It was explained to him, rather bitterly as apparently Sousuke wasn't fond of being in the room, that while he was allowed to live he would serve Suna. The all of what he'd be doing wasn't explained in the trail for specific reasons. Most of the cases he had there were all old ones where the patient had already passed and his goal was to find a way to prevent that from happening again. About nine percent were active files that would be juggled while working on old ones and he would be working on those under a pen name. However before he was to get started on all of that the Steward placed down a single file in front of him with a rather sour look. Opening it Tama's eyes widened and his heart beat picked up as it explained that he would be fully in charge of fixing Sousuke's eye as his first assignment from the hospital.

Another week passed. Hell would probably have been easier for Tama to deal with as he now sat buried in his paper work with a scattering of metal parts and old books surrounding him. He probably would have been further along in crafting the eye but punishment was punishment and he wasn't being given anything easily. For one coming off a pure human soul diet was like coming off of a hard drug. He had sweats, bad bowels, vomiting blood, and a mess of other ailments that made it look like he was going to drop dead any second. Sousuke no doubt had an idea of why his old friend was going through but showed only the smallest of sympathy by offering him a live chicken; and that was at the end of the week. It was only given to him because he realized that Tama wouldn't be able to live or work without his own brand of sustenance.
"Once a week," he was told. Animal souls also had a very gamy taste to them as it turned out.
Today was a Thursday, nearly a week later. It was at the worst of times for the scientist as his cravings were getting to their peak and the medical files he had to work on while sparring time for Sousuke's eye kept piling up. Also since he started eating souls again the Steward had taken to staying in the room and just staring at Tama while he worked. Angerily. As if any second he was waiting for the old scientist to make a bad move. To cap it off today was also the first day he would be allowed to see the very reason he was choosing to stay alive, his son, and he wasn't sure if he was in the right mindset for the questions he knew the boy would have. He only wished he had the answers.

Seven o' clock rolled around and the grandfather clock chimed. A loud knock on the door to announce the young Toraono echoed through the house. The Ancient winced.

<MFT|1694 WC>

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The week had been described as turbulent. Sousuke was stuck going to the hospital to make sure no infections were going to occur from the surgery. He was told to take pain killers, which was something he thought was absurd at best given his great durability to take a hit and keep standing up. He did it anyways to please the doctors and the nurses. In between his daily visits, Sousuke also attended Tama's trial and delivered perhaps one of the most awkward defenses either. Most of the individuals were staring at Sousuke with an eyepatch and bandages as he was defending Tama who did infact cause the man quite a bit of bodily harm. One person tried to argue that Sousuke was not in his right sense of mind and needed to be sent back to the hospital for proper rest. That was overruled the second after Sousuke made a long form argument that he was indeed in his right mind and that the person making the commentary might have not been entirely sober due to the night before and the distinct stains on their clothing which was more than likely wine stains.Either way, Sousuke got Tama a better sentence which was basically house arrest. Tama eating souls was something that still made Sousuke uncomfortable. It bothered him because Sousuke wanted to beleive in the notion of an afterlife of sorts. Denying people or things that seemed rather cruel. Every time Tama did it Sousuke gave him an annoyed look about it. This was life, and this was going to go on and on and on.

Either way, today was day Michino was coming. As the boy came, he would be greeted by Sousuke's dad Judori. The old man was apparently not dead, and had emerged after a long time. Suffice to say Tama was present when son and father had words. It was a curious thing for Tama to watch, none of them spoke overly loudly at the other. It had seemed that Judori and his wife Chiyoko were held prisoner for quite some time by an old friend, who really had turned out to be a foe. Judori and Chiyoko were both very bitter about the experience. Given Tama's predicament, the two older nin both gave him a hard look. Judori would greet Michino at the door, the bald headed short man would bring Michino into the family room. There were offers of cookies, and pineapple cake. Judori would give the boy a hard looking, which was more or less a demand of him agreeing indeed to pineapple cake.

 

[Toraono Michino]

To say that Michino was nervous was an understatement. Three times on the way to Sosuke's house, as per the instruction that had been given to him, he had to stop and calm himself down from a panic attack. The boy's entire life all he wanted was a mother or a father that he could turn to. The Toraono clan in its entirety help raised the child and was there whenever he needed advice but it wasn't the same feeling. He wanted to know the love a parent has for their child not the love a cousin has for their family. Yet he had never imagined that it would be like this.

Now it wasn't to say that he was a fool. The boy full expected Tama to be a deadbeat dad with little reasons for not being there aside from 'didn't feel like it' or 'it didn't matter to me'. He could of come to understanding, even, if the man had been a drug addict. These were all bridges that the teenager had prepared himself to cross when he met his estranged father. Learning that his dad was a soul sucking serial killer that had been terrorizing Suna for the last decade was not something you could learn how to get over from a book. 
The boy hated it. It was already bad enough that he had self confidence issues due to his demonic blood and how strong it was. He was always terrified that he would fall back into the inky wells of evil that resided in his life fluids. Finding out his father's true colors only drove his worries deeper than before. 

Michino took a deep breath, pushed himself off the stone wall he was leaning on, and moved forward. He was dressed a little more appropriately than normal but it still had an air of simplicity. A white t-shirt, his go-to large open vest, and a pair of jeans he had imported from the Fire Country; it was his first time actually wearing them. As per the norm his feet were clad in nothing as the claw like nails on his toes ill-allowed him to wear shoes but, also he also just generally wasn't a fan of foot wear. Tucked safely in his right arm was a brown bag and inside of it some really pricey rum. When he had asked of his older cousin to buy something to bring to the ex-Kazekage it was the last thing he had expected him to return with. The boy made little noise as he padded up to the door step and then rapped his knuckle on the wood a few times. The man who greeted him wasn't who he was expecting and for a moment he thought this had to be the wrong house. Judori, however, was expecting the boy and ushered him inside. 

The building inside felt overwhelming. For most of his life the kid had spent it sleeping in a closet with only a small dojo as his home. It was connected to the rest of the Toraono Dojo and while that place in of itself was huge the living environment for the teenager was small. To see an actual house of this size was more than he had prepared for. He could feel his blood rate starting to pick up until something delightful started to tickle his nose. The smell of sweets and other delicious things wafted through the house and into the boy's rather sensitive sense. Handing off the alcohol to Sosuke's father while mentioning that it was intended for the Steward he was in returned motioned towards the table and given cake. 

Michino did not refuse.

While the boy was enjoying sweets an old haggard looking man was deep in the darkness of his room. A small hazy lamp that barely produced any light at all was shining down on what looked like delicate glass orb filled with wires. His lone blue eye was focused intently on the small object as he used a small pair of tweezers to move tiny pieces of plastic and metal inside of the fragile sphere. The other eye was covered with a leather strap so he could move between his dark room and the light in the rest of the house without hurting himself.On the desk next to him was a small beat up leather bound journal that was opened up to somewhere in the earlier parts. His original research on chakra coil replacement held some key components to the science he would need to transplant a fully functional eye for his old friend. Scattered across his desk were random other files for medical patients both old and new and some of the old notes on the pages had new hand writing that he had added in solving the mystery of the medical case. Every once in awhile he would turn away from the fragile glass and read a little more of his current medical chart then move his eye down to the journal before turning the page and going back to work.
This had been his life once he had settled in and it had been easy to get used to. Of course he hated every second of it because it limited him to work on anything but what he wanted to work on, but, he was diligent. The fact also that his body needed very limited sleep allowed him to work far into the mountains of papers that surrounded him; his vow was to be done in a year. Though as much as he hated doing paper work while inventing for days on end before rest he was much more prepared for that torture than he was for meeting his spawn.

Part of Tama wanted to deny the child just to avoid the painful contact with his past but the medical tests that were done during his hospital stay proved their genes was close enough to parent/child. He had no idea how the hell he was going to try explain himself because the hybrid had no doubt anyone in the house was going to believe him. Yet hopefully, at least Sousuke, would remember his sheer terror of the opposite sex. It had since passed in such a manner that he could be in their presence now but even still he despised being touched by women. Okibi had been the only one to break down that barrier and get to know the real man behind the obscure fear. The very idea that he would lay with another woman appalled the scientist, but, he knew it was going to come up and he would have to keep his temper in check. Down below were a whole mess of people he had no interest in making any more angry than he already had. It was way too close to his feeding time and a part of the scientist knew Sosuke was testing him. The Steward knew exactly how to poke at Tama and it had taken every ounce of will for the hybrid to just sink back into his old ways, but, he forged on through. Of course he was going to wait in the darkness of his room until he was called down being that he was still a prisoner after all.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Judori took Michino into the living room, he disappeared into the kitchen and returned with said pineapple cake. The older man sat it down on the coffee table and he would return to the kitchen and returned with a platter which held plates, forks, a knife, and tea. The former Steward would divvy out the cake and would pour the tea. The old man would take his seat on the sofa and would begin to eat. "My dear boy, you know I have not had this in over seven years. That is a frightening and terrible prospect." Judori chewed and seemed to be somewhere in heaven as he ate the cake. Judori was perhaps more grandfatherly like than anything else. "Now have some of the tea. It's quite good and it perfectly balances the sweetness of the cake." As the two ate. Sousuke would come in, his father looked at him. "Did you tell your guest, and our new guest?" Judori questioned his son. Judori knew Tama, and suffice to say ... it did not overly bother the old man that a deranged half human serial killer was in the house. The Takahashi residence in itself had a few secrets which may make Tama's skin crawl off of his own bones. Not to mention his mother-in-law who was in her own right and absolute terror. It was almost funny that Tama was more afraid of her than anything else, almost.

Sousuke blinked out of one eye, which was his only good eye at the mention of going to get Tama. He blinked again. "He's brooding."<i></i> Tama did that alot. Sousuke would look over to Michino who was eating cake with his father. This was a sight that Sousuke missed really, that sense of family interaction. "Tama that is."<i></i> He turned his head to Michino. "Hello Michino. I'll go poke your father out of his brooding."<i></i> Sousuke would turn around and head upstairs. Sousuke would stand in front of a closed door. He would knock three times on the door. "Tama. It's time to socialize with your son. My father is entertaining him at this moment. Secondly I can assure you Mako is not present. There will be no cheapshots, or any remarks about your age, or anything overly unpleasant that will upset you."<i></i> He waited at the door for a number of moments. Hopefully Tama was decent, and was wearing clothes. Hopefully he wasn't asleep or something of the sort. Sousuke never quite understood the biology of Ancients. He had a small idea of how they worked, each court had their own habits. Tama was of the Solar Court, which meant that his pride was going to be highly obnoxious, but hey ... he had his grandmother present to go and beat it into submission.

Sousuke would look down to his flesh arm which had a watch on it. He would begin to time Tama and find out exactly how long it would take for him to get up and out of the room. If this made past five minutes, then Sousuke would have to re-evaluate his methods of getting Tama's attention.

[Marked for Training]

 

[Toraono Michino]

The cake was placed before him and the boy stared at it for a moment as he tried to relax himself in a strange environment. After watching Judori pick up a piece and express his joy over a treat long time coming the teenager decided to try it. He picked up the plate, took the fork in his right hand to chop down over a small piece, scoop it up, and place it into his waiting mouth. For the first moment he didn't sense anything but after he bit into the pastry a flavor unlike anything he had ever experienced exploded onto his taste buds. Tears of absolute joy welled up in the corner of his eyes before he began to eat his slice of cake with gusto. Then tea was suggested and handed to his waiting hands. For a small space in time the boy simply stared at the light tan liquid as a cat might at something curiously. He had never really tried drinking tea before and had only heard of its use in high establishments. Bringing it towards his lips he caught the scent of the liquid and the taste to come; his mind exploded at the thought of the experience. The awkward teenager brought the hot drink a little too fast to his pallet and recoiled at the first singe of heat on his tongue and lips; however the flavor did settle in. Judori was right on the purest example. This was a beverage of the gods.

Right as the boy was finishing the Steward came to greet him and Michino beamed at his presence. A large part of the reason he talked himself into coming over was this was the man he now considered to be one of his biggest role models. There were questions he longed to ask his father but at the moment seeing the Stewart's presence was a little more important. The kid's heart ached a little to see him with only one eye and the surgery scarring which was still looking rather angry. His eyes narrowed a little to get a better look but, for as far as his rather extensive knowledge of medical went it didn't look infected. Right as he was finally starting to become relaxed Sosuke mentioned going to retrieve his father from his brooding. Instantly a shock of nerves shot up the Toraono's spine and his anxiety reflected on his face all over again.
"Y-yeah...been, ya know...waiting for this," his eyes were downcast in both shame and nervousness.
As the ex-Kazekage went up to retrieve the teenager's father from whatever the hybrid was doing to stay occupied.
The soft rap at the door caused the scientist's pointed ears to tilt back a little towards the sound. He had heard the mumblings and musings of the mortals and their snacks downstairs and knew by the thud of Sousuke's mechanical leg who was at his door. With a sigh Tama closed his good eye and leaned back into his chair. His mortal frame cracked and popped as he moved and for good measure the man tilted his head towards each shoulder quickly to crack out any other hidden kinks in his old frame.
"I am on my way down," he called back at the door.

He leaned back in the chair and stared at the wall above his desk. Lined in a strange but cohesive fashion was picture frames of all shapes and sizes. Photographs of himself that he had no idea existed, pictures of Okibi, Sousuke, and a mixture of all three along with other portraits of the Takahashi household that were both photographed and painted. As he looked over all of them in both remembrance of why he was here and who watched over his sentence, his heterochromia eyes always landed on the same wooden frame in the end. It was a picture taken on the night of Okibi's eighteenth birthday when they went out to diner for the first and last time as a family. He sat there for a moment and just stared at that picture as if he never wanted to do anything else until he heard a second rapping on his door. The old man jumped a little bit having gotten lost in his memories for no telling how long. 
The aged Ryuu gripped the edge of the desk to help pull himself up with a groan. The joints in his knees and feet all cracked and groaned in protest with him as he tried to work the stiffness out of his muscles. He was nearing the end of his fourth day awake and soon he would be allowed to feed and rest, but first he had to deal with the spawn downstairs. He bowed his head to the picture frame of the Wild Child posing by herself and muttered,
"Oh love, send me the patience to deal with this child of ours..."

Michino sat there waiting for a good twelve minutes when he finally heard a door open upstairs His eyes glanced nervously up at the top of the staircase where his father came walking down bundled in a large kimono. A pair of glasses sat halfway down his nose and both his beard and hair were both cleaner and far more majestic than the boy was expecting. While it was impossible to say how old the scientist really was it seemed clear that he knew how to hold it well. Yet upon closer inspection, as his father neared the table, the boy could see the wear and tear of the hybrid's flesh. The crows feet that threaten to become his eyes and the dark circles under them. His face seemed taunt and pale as if he was sick and his hands were covered in both ink stains and electrical burns. It was obvious that he had tried to wash them off but to little avail. The feline like boy started to protest but quickly remembered all that his old man had done; he quickly second guessed himself. Simply he stated in a shaky voice,
"H-hey," to which his father replied with the same tinge of fear, "H-hi."

The evening was just getting started.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Judori and Sousuke looked at each other and watched in what was perhaps horror as to how this was going to work out. Judori looked to Sousuke. The old man was not happy. "Boy." He spoke, it was not immediately certain who he was speaking to at first. "Get out the book of Pretend Wizards. We're going to play." Sousuke's expression which was always neutral turned to a very concerned look. There was something disturbing in this. Sousuke blinked rapidly a few times. The Steward said nothing and disappeared. "Brew tea, and bring another whole cake in." The former steward demanded of the younger Steward. Sousuke returned first with an entire pineapple cake, then brought out a large tea set, and then returned a third time returned with a very large tome which had the picture of an odd looking demon creature that was basically a floating head with one eye. The book was entitled 'The Very Big and Glorious Book of Pretend Wizards'. Judori would then be seen wearing a very odd coned hat that was blue with white stars. It would have looked silly, if only Judori did not look very angry about the whole thing.

The old man spent the next hour explaining the rules of Pretend Wizards. It was a three player game that was very heavily based in team work. It seemed like the three of them had to pretend to be something they were not. Sousuke was going to be some sort of weird monster man who employed guns and shot people called the Noble Gunman. Tama was going to play Cosmic Cleric, whatever that meant, but apparently he was going to heal people using the darkness and reverse time to heal wounds. Then Michi was tasked with playing the Arcanist Mystic, which sort of sounded like a person who used ninjutsu to do stuff? There was something disturbingly focused and intense as Judori explained to them that he was not in fact Takahashi Judori he was the Game Master who was going to send them on a grand quest to go murder and liberate treasure from a floating head monster, who was in fact the same creature on the book. Judori even had little miniatures of these characters. He handed one to each of them. Sousuke looked oddly at his little beast-man who was in fact a gunman.

Judori would then unfold a giant map and place it on the table. He pointed at them to start at a particular place to put all their tokens. Sousuke would put down his token first. Judori would then give Tama the side eye. He was fully expecting him to join in. "Put the mini on the table boy."

 

[Toraono Michino]

Tama turned a wary eye to Judori expecting something of a fight based on his outburst. Watching the older man demand a game, put a wizard hat on, and command that he and his son sit the hell down and play right now, or else, was something of a sight to see. The aforementioned spawn could only sit there for a moment with his mouth hanging open before bursting into a fit of laughter. For the boy the tension that was in the air faded as he looked up wantingly at the old man who was supposed to be his dad. Since being forced into Sousuke's house and handed the entire hospital's backlog to work on while also recreating said man's eyeball...this had to be the worst offense. All the silliness, the family connection, and the raised hopes of stubborn optimism only stuck the Reminder Knife into his side. All of the things he was looking upon as the table was being set up could have easily been fathomable if Okibi was still here...
The old scientist's knuckles went white as he repressed the rising darkness. One didn't just go from king of the underworld with a grudge to settle to being locked into the same house with said person one had the grudge for and just change alignments. The only reason he was tolerating any of this was for Michino as his heart wouldn't let go of the build up anger there; even if it was all completely unjustified. His heterochromatic eyes caught his son's and the man's black heart skipped a beat. With a relenting sigh he shifted his clothing about so that he could sit in the chair next to his kid, staring with seething at the small figurine handed to him. Judori mentioned the rules and his eyes shot up. If nothing else he was going to exploit them to make everything as sour as he could just in spite for being forced into something so inane.

After the rules had been explained, the Toraono having to be nudged a few times to pay attention, the game was underway. The story, setting, and endgame were all off the top of the older gentleman's head making for a fun ride as the hours passed; try as he might Ryuu Tama could do nothing to spoil any of the fun. Even when he'd try to make a move that was so obviously spiteful and sent the mood into an awkward level, as the scientist gave Sousuke a hard eye every time he was asked to role-play his character, Judori would turn the act around and make it absolutely hilarious. After about his third attempt to derail the game the old man just gave up and played along until eventually he too was finally relaxed in the company of people. The time was rolling into around midnight and Michino had asked if they could stop for the night even though he was super curious to see what the hell goblins had to do with great deals on merchandise. It was the first time the boy had ever had so much sugar and the crash was starting to hit him hard.

"So," Tama quipped as the table was being cleared and he sipped on some fresh tea, "How was the Academy?" It was an off the cuff question but after watching how much quicker his son caught onto the game than he raised the intellectual's hopes for a number of things.
"Oh, terrible," Michino returned destroying those dreams, "I was actually a bad student. Not that I didn't get the book work, that part was easy...it was putting theory to practice that I sucked at..."
"You...weren't naturally gifted? That seems...really odd," the older man put his hands up in defense as he realized what he said could be misconstrued, "Not that I don't think you're an amazing shinobi already! I mean, you were able to keep up with me and Sogay...but...my genes alone should have carried over, not to mention Okibi's."
"Okibi is not my mother," the Toraono stated firmly with a hint of edge. He continued on but was looking down at the warm beverage in his hands, "My mother's name was Senshi Akata. She was a distant cousin to Toraono Kuro and very little is known about her because she was a black operative. Even the current head of the clan can't get information on her due to some of her missions being kind of...messy apparently.
"All we have on her was her back at the dojo was that she was a cousin, and even the paperwork there doesn't say how her parents were related to Kuro's immediate family, just that she was. I've also tried getting information about my grandparents as they died not long after I was born during the Cabal invasion but those records are just...gone."

Tama rubbed at his chin trying really hard to ignore his son's first sentence. He had the urge to hit him so hard at that moment when he disowned Okibi but the man bit his bottom lip and held on. The rest of the information given to the scientist was confusing at best. The Toraono were a proud clan who held onto their history and blood ties like a goblin holds onto gold. It was hard to imagine even the end of the world erasing the existence of the Demonbeast King and his spawn. Either Michino was lying to him, was trying to hold back enough information to trick him, or he honestly had as little clue as the Hybrid did to who his mother was. There was so much here that made little sense, especially the timing of his birth. If he had been born before the Cabal attacks then there was no way the boy was related to him and someone was pulling the biggest prank ever. Neither Okibi or himself had become sexually active until maybe a few weeks before the attack. Yet even now as he looked down at the boy's honest face he could see himself and the woman he loved looking back. It was as if someone had taken the lover's child while it was still in utero, traveled back in time, and placed it in the womb of another; all of which was impossible as far as he knew.

[MFT|1056]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Upon the conclusion of their adventure, Judori would close the book and grin. There was a proud grin upon his face. Judori was a father first and foremost. In this particular moment he had become something more, surrogate Grandfather. His son had yet to find the one girl, he was close, very close but being the Steward of the realm carried with it numerous enemies and difficulties. Yume was a sweet girl, and perhaps the best thing for Sousuke. Unfortunately a Jashinist named Shouki existed, who made things very miserable, it was a low point in his son's life and one he did not want to talk about. Judori knew the concept far too well, and was very much the same during certain phases in his life. By the end of the night, it seemed like everyone was doing well and seemed to be all the more comfortable in the setting. Judori leaned back into the chair and smiled, knowing that he had done his job in trying to help make the situation between son and father a less difficult journey.

Of course with a single sentence, the good works seemed to end. Father and son were in disagreement again. Judori would look over to Sousuke for confirmation. The two Takahashi had would say nothing, but a small gesture from Sousuke seemed to validate what Michino was saying. Even Sousuke as brilliant as he is, sometimes had a difficult time in unraveling every single thing. When Michino had said that information was lacking on her, well he was not wrong about the matter. The woman in question was mismanaged, and her handler? Sousuke saw to him being fired. What precious information there was? It was written in poor form, and it took Sousuke quite some time to decode and decipher its meaning. Which really it boiled down to it being nonsense. Suffice to say one of two things were at work, a drunk man or someone who straight up knew Sousuke did his back checks and screwed things up for a reason. What it was? Good question. "Akata was ... maybe ... is? She is a ghost for the most part. I know people better than they think I do. Unfortunately she is one of the few people I have not met in person."<i></i> Sousuke bridged his fingers together. He looked to Tama and first, he watched as the man was repressing something. He looked ready to get up and hit the boy, but he didn't. Slight human twitches tell you things about the individual. Sousuke's eyes which were still locked onto Tama narrowed. There was not going to be violence in this household. "He does have some minor features of Okibi, but that is perhaps because ... I'm expecting it. I've biased myself in this situation, but ... well I've come to learn that not everything will present itself when ready. Sometimes one merely needs to keep digging, and eventually one will find the right path. "<i></i>

Judori would focus on Michino as Sousuke was focused on Tama. Judori would begin to cut another piece of cake for Michino and would hand it to him. "Cake always makes things better." He would then fill up the tea cup once more. He smiled at the boy. "Now Michino." He would speak very seriously. "I've been missing for some time. My wife is getting caught up on her baking. Now let's make a weekly ritual of this won't we? No. Weekly isn't nearly enough, how about twice a week? Being retired is very boring." The older man spoke in the most serious of tones. Quite frankly it seemed like he was spoiling the boy, which in itself may or may not be a good thing considering his father lived in the same household as well. Did Judori care? No. He knew that his son and Tama were going to be busy most of the time. The boy would need someone to ... well ... maybe make his life much more jovial and ... spoiled? Yeah!

 

[Toraono Michino]

There was a sordid thickness residing in the air. Without realizing it the demonkin’s sudden bad mood was releasing the demonic chakra inside of him and it started to intermingle with his negative emotions. As if sensing it Jidori placed another slice of cake in front of Michino as Sousuke explained his research into the boy’s mother and its failures so far. The teenager looked down at the cake wondering if he should and if it wasn’t for the older man urging him to eat more the teenager probably would of refused. A single bite of the slice given to him reminded the boy what a good mood felt like and the presence of his darkness lifted almost instantly; Michino remained ignorant of it happening.

“Y-yeah,” the teenager replied at first, “I think I can work in twice a week. I still haven’t resigned back into the military yet so I have the time…” he glanced at his father expectantly who returned a confused stare. He wasn’t sure why he said it but the words left his mouth right before taking another bite of cake,
“It’s going to take some getting used to, though, being related to such a villain.”

There was an obvious shock of anger that flashed through Tama’s eyes but in good faith he continued to restrain himself. It was coming to a point, though, that the older man was getting tired of the youth’s smart mouth. The truth hurt far worse than any insult the boy could have hurled at the Hybrid and being his son he was probably aware of that. The scientist let go of a loud sigh and leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed as he regarded his son out of the corner of his eyes,
“Hey, I got to get used to the idea of having a child without any of the fun in between. Not exactly my cup of tea either kid, No doubt Kuro is the reason you’re having problems accepting me.”
“Please leave my cousins out of this,” the teenager growled, “I’m having problems accepting you because you’re a mass murdering asshole.”

His pride unable to take yet another insult so soon the Hybrid stood up suddenly. Without thinking about it he started to call his hold over the sky but the moment he even began to draw on that energy a seal that had been placed on his back after the trail activated. Suddenly a cursed seal leapt up and covered the scientist in black runic markings that here hidden beneath his robes. They showed only on his revealed flesh -face and hands. A pulse of energy and the old man dropped to the ground unconscious as the seal slowly started to draw itself back to its starting point. During all of this Michino didn’t even take a second to look up from his plate as he calmly finished his food and set it back on the table. His blue eyes looked down at the old man laying on the ground and there was an unmistakable sadness in there. Pushing the chair away from the table with his feet the teenager stood up and stepped over his father. He placed a hand on Sousuke’s shoulder,
“I’m sorry but I have to go, I’ll be back next week and hopefully we’ll both be in a better mood.” He turned and waved at Jidori before making a quick exit as tears welled up in his eyes. The boy didn’t dare stop even if the Steward’s father bellowed after him for he too had pride - and he didn’t wish either of the men he respected watch him cry over his jaded fate.

It only took about five minutes but the scientist slowly found himself opening his eyes with the unmistakable smell of cleaning chemical on the tiles he laid on. As he gathered himself he realized that his son was no longer there and that the two men still remaining were glowering a large cloud of negativity at him. A stubborn grunt and the elder was back on his feet as he glowered right back at Sousuke and Jidori; his mood was bad enough to not care.
“Well. This could have gone better.”

[MFT|760]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke gave Tama a deadpan stare, and so did Judori. The two of them combined were not pleased with how this unfolded. Tama probably could have drowned in with the amount of unhappiness present between the two of them. Tama, without Okibi, had this uncanny ability to be maliciously miserable to everything in proxy. At the same time Michino could have done better all the same. Judori and Sousuke would in unison both shake their heads and put their heads in their hands.

The funny thing in all of this was the look Tama gave Judori, which was responded to in kind of an older stare back. Tama may have looked older, but in truth he was not. Nor did he have the wisdom the old man had either. Tama was impatient, ill-tempered, and knew right went to put his foot in his mouth. "You only get once chance with your children. Sometimes you never do know when you're going to see them for the last time. I've had some regrets with Sousuke. It is for the best you don't have the same with Michino. I'd say the same to him, but he's not here to hear it. Either way pride is a dangerous thing. At least it's easy to see where that came from." Judori would rise up. He would look to the clock. "I'm going to retire for the night. Good night boys." He spoke before heading out and up the stairs.

Sousuke sat saying nothing for a long time. "Kuro is already having his own issues. He's got some bad blood with others I work with. He's been on this odd ... path. He's seemingly of the mind that everyone hates him and blames him for the death of ... alot of people when the Cabal perished."<i></i> Sousuke didn't agree with some of Kuro's policies, but he did question the notion of having the Miroku clan present in Sungakure. It didn't sit well with him, and Sousuke could not trust the Miroku clan. He trusted them enough to be in some form or another dishonest, and he was expecting a betrayal. You can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest, but a truthful person those you have to be careful with. "You never did really tell me what happened to you and Okibi after the two of you left me. I think I'm owed that much."<i></i>

 

[Toraono Michino]

For a moment long after everyone had said their peace and left did they two friends just sit there in silence. The scientist felt judged sitting in Sousuke’s presence but he wanted to wallow in this guilt. This whole father thing was going exactly the opposite as he had dreamed it in his youth and it was really nagging his mental state. When the Steward spoke the older man jumped a little as his train of grief thought was jolted back into reality.
“The truth…ah…I do suppose it is better you know.” For a moment the elder just sat there before standing up suddenly and moving into the kitchen. Tama felt the desire of alcohol beckoning his mind and he knew he was going to need to feed into his human wants a little if he was going to tell Sousuke what happened to his daughter. On the counter of the kitchen where some of the baked goods remained was a bottle of rum that his son had brought for the house owner as a thank you gift. With a darting hand the old scientist grabbed the bottle and fished around his friend’s cabinets until he came back out of the kitchen with two 8-ball glasses and the rum. Placing one down in front of his captor and one in front of himself he removed the cork holding down the contents of the glass bottle and poured a small amount of the golden-amber colored liquor into their glasses before setting the bottle down, open, and picking up his glass. After sitting back down with a weary grunt Tama slowly raised the glass to his face and breathed in the liquid inside enjoying the sharp and mellow scents of the beverage. After a second he sipped down half of what he poured and coughed a little with his eyes closed.

Ryuu Tama had never been much of a drinker or even one who imbibed in any inebriants at all to keep a sharp mind. Yet since the disappearance of Okibi the Ancient hybrid had learned quick to find solace in poisoning himself with liquor. He had never much worry of hangovers as consuming a soul would cure any of his ailments instantly. He no longer had such privilege. His eyes stared down at the drink as even with the burn in his throat and the warmth crawling up from his stomach to his mind he could not bring himself to look Sousuke in the eye.
“Remember when we were forced to split up during the mission to find Okibi’s captors? I was pitted against an Uchiha that had powers far beyond what I was expecting. He pushed me into using my old Black Seal which was the peak of my powers at that time and still nearly killed me. It was only because I consumed his soul was I able to move forward in that mission at all and was a part of the reason I had such doubts about following you into the village. I was worried that my cravings would come back as they had before in battle and I might lose my mind…yet it seemed that was destined to happen anyways.
“The soul I had ‘consumed’ still held its conscious in the swirl of souls I keep inside of my body at all times. He was somehow able to draw on their power to force a take over of my mind and…,” Tama’s face scunched up as tears welled into his eyes, “He made me attack her. He forced my hand to harm the one thing I swore never to see fall to harm ever again. Okibi was able to easily overwhelm the thing that had taken over my body and nearly beat me to death in order to save herself. The last I saw she was walking deep into the desert with a hand over her stomach. During the battle apparently I had laid a strong blow there and a worried look was etched deep into her face as darkness overtook me…” The scientist finished his drink and began to pour another as he let his story sink in,
“And then,” he started again once Sousuke had at least drank a little of the rum he poured before him and let his words sink in, “Once Mikaboshi had fully unlocked the powers I inherited through my father’s mysterious bloodline and I stood as a true Hybrid I set out away from the village to search for her…Sousuke I…I’m not sure if I found her or her sister…but…the Okibi we knew no longer exists…” his voice hitched a little as he stifled his tears. With a quick movement of his arm he rubbed the water away from his eyes and took another long sip before coughing. He tried so hard to compose himself as he continued to remember things he had tried hard to forget in the last ten years,
“It took me three long years of combing the desert, or, at least areas I could access without risk to my shell. There were spaces that even I couldn’t wander…but eventually I did find her or someone like her. She was thin, malnourished, and running with desert a pack of desert wolves. She looked…happy. I tried to approach her but the moment our eyes met I knew in my gut that she had no idea who I was. I even called out her name and she just stared at me…like she was trying to figure out if I could be eaten or not. I suppose she decided I wasn’t edible as she turned and sauntered off into the desert with the rest of her pack. Naked and on all fours…”

Tama sat there and stared at the floor for a moment after finishing his story. As the silence between the two stretched on for what seemed like an eternity even though only a few seconds passed, the Hybrid slowly stood up, finished his drink, and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. He gently patted it and moved past him to go up the stairs. The old man was tired from all the emotional stress and decided that perhaps he would sleep a little sooner than normal…
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