Strummin' [Open]

[Ikuraka]

Current song

"... now that we're here, it's so far away an' I feel like I can face the day. An' I can't forget that I'm not ashamed... to be the person that I am today..." Ikuraka finished singing, and the sound from his guitar slowly hummed to a halt. He paused with his hand hovering in midair, pick held firmly between index and thumb finger, and reflected for a moment with his eyes closed and mind shut off from the world around him. That was a song his father had taught him to play and sing, and he had to admit that it would have sounded better if he'd had a full band to play it. Unfortunately as he had yet to form such a musical group, he was soloing to himself on a bench.

Eyes closed, he began to strum out a tune, letting the music flow from his heart and mind to his hands. The fingers of his left hand danced elegantly, showing a seemingly unearthly grace as he those fingers held down and let up on specific strings, while his right hand picked out an anonymous tune that sounded cheerful, but was ironic. It was one of his favorite little ditties about a hideous creature that would slaughter all of mankind and was released by some moron who ignored common knowledge. A nice fictional little ballad, and one that he didn't care to sing at the moment.

It would have sounded better with a harmonica and a harp, but all he had was his guitar. Strumming out the folk tune, he began to hum a bit but never actually broke into song. Eyes still closed, he focused on the rhythm of the song he played, and not the fact that he was sitting on a park bench in the middle of Kumogakure.

Sitting on a park bench with people that had come to the park listening to him play.

[Shikari]

"Another boring day..." Shikari's mind echoed over and over again as the young shinobi walked through the streets of Kumogakure. He didn't have his usual heavy equipment on at the moment, today was strictly an R&R day after the previous mission he had just returned from, and he only wore his normal under-clothes and the Sky blue Jounin's vest that he had marked as his trademark. His crystal blue orbs were dull and lifeless as his eyelids hung low. His hair laid lazily in his face, and his hands to stubborn to wipe it away. Letting out a sigh, his feet guided him down the sidewalk, taking him no where but somewhere all in the same.

Passing through a small archway, he passed into the park, a favorite spot in the village to come and take a few sketches in his book from time to time. Few others walked through the park, several civilians and shinobi all in the same walked together through the park; laughing, playing, and enjoying their time. Shikari's eyes scanned from side to side as he examined the people as they walked passed. There were no familiar faces to him, being in the ANBU squadrons, faces had become a faded memory for the only ones he saw were of the Raikage, those whom he killed, and the cold white porcelain masks of his comrades.

Walking further into the park, the distant sound of a musical instrument began to ring into his senses. His eyes flashing with a moment of life, Shikari's blue hues shifted forward to seek the source of the music. Walking ever closer, he had come upon the boy who sat upon the park bench with his guitar. Being an artist himself, Shikari could appreciate the boy's actions as he played openly in the park, and the music he played as well. Stopping just before the bench, Shikari watched and listened to the boy play, his hands stuck in his pockets as he leaned back against an adjacent tree. The boy was quite good he thought. "Is he a shinobi...or just another civilian?" His mind questioned as he watched the boy play his tune.

[Ikuraka]

The guitarist's hands froze in place abruptly as he thought for a moment. Recalling that there was a song that he hadn't practiced in some time, he lowered his left hand to the base of the neck of his guitar, flicking a string with his right hand and sliding his finger along it with his left ring finger to begin playing a song.

He let that first note hang in the air before shifting his hand and picking at the strings once more, allowing the tune to flow from the guitar he held while his eyes remained closed, unaware of anything save the music that poured from his instrument. His hands moved deftly, flicking a string here and pressing a string there, letting up and sliding and almost literally dancing across the neck of his guitar, each touch gentle despite the strength of the music that poured from it.

As he played, the emotions of those around him shifted. They became visibly energized by his playing, as though someone had just flipped the 'On' switch in their body, forcing blood to flow somewhat faster and electricity to jump across their synapses, eliciting reactions ranging from sitting up to attention to others, younger ones, getting up and running around.

About halfway through the song he shifted the style to a slower tone, drawing attention back to him before ramping it back up to the previous level and then dropping the speed even lower. He carried on at the slow pace of playing, the new pace calming the people down that he had excited previously. As his playing reached the end of the slow segment, however, he picked up once more and returned the energy level around him to a moderate level.

And then the song came to an end, with a final swish of his right hand he released all of the strings with his left as the pick strummed them in unison and clamped his hand back down tight to cut them off. The song ended and people started clapping around him, drawing the musician back into the world around him. Opening his eyes and lifting his head, he gazed at those people around him and blinked.

"Oh..."