Tsuya
Jōnin - 上忍
Glass Kunoichi
h o n e y b r o w n
Posts: 56
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Post by Tsuya on Jan 7, 2009 12:31:31 GMT -5
Ran being dead was hard enough, but now she had to try and explain the conundrum or mystery that surrounded her best friend. By this time she was leaned back in her chair, slouched, face turned out at the window across the room. It wasn't fair - and she often thought this back then - that everyone could on on with their lives while she had to live her's carrying the fact that three of the five people she had in this work were gone. All she had in the way of family was Adashino and Ginko left, but now Kin was back, and she didn't quite know where he fit in anymore. Tossing an arm over the chair, she pulled the cigar from her lips with the other hand and tapped the edge of it on the little silver ashtray on their table.
Her eyes stayed down on the ash.
"No one knows...where she is."
She tapped the round brown cigar again, then left it there. She wasn't a smoker, not at all. Her sensei had taught her not to defile her lungs if she wanted to be the fastest ninja alive. But this night was an exception.
"She...went missing. Like," She paused to scratch the back of her neck. "Maybe...a year after Ran died. I mean, they didn't know what to say for awhile, till...they found her clothes..."
Sheesh. She should have left this to someone else.
"...at the oasis. There...looked like foul play. Pretty much e'erybody says she's dead." Tsuya grabbed a pepper and slid the whole blackened snack in her mouth, bit down, and pulled out the end, flicking it across the room somewhere.
"Bu' I don' be'eve s'e 'ead." She mumbled, mouth full of crispy, salty pepper. She slowed down to swallow, wiped her mouth, then leaned over and crossed her arms on the table. "I mean, Ginko was one of the ANBU assigned to the investigation team, so he had the inside scoop." As the alcohol hit her, her lips felt a little looser. In a whisper, she cupped her hand around her mouth and indulged. "They think she may have defected. But they're not sure. So, to keep from tarnishing her name if she were in fact dead, they just said her end was unknown."
Her cheeks rosy now, Tsuya propped her chin up on fingers laced, elbows supporting her on the table, then nodded at the peppers. "Be careful. They say one out of ten is a doozy."
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Post by kinyōji on Jan 7, 2009 13:01:41 GMT -5
He choked, coughing on the spicy pepper, his eyes watering yet the sting almost soothed the welling pain in his throat. The waitress came around, placing the bottle of sake down and smiling at Kinyōji who seemed to be hacking up a lung. "Are you okay? Do you need some water?" She giggled, Kinyōji finally fell silent, waving the girl off. He'd pulled away from the table before him, hunched forward, staring down at his own feet as he sulked.
He reached over, popping the cork from the bottle of sake with his thumb, pouring himself a new glass. Nothing had changed? Hilarious. If only he could go back five minutes when he was saying that to witness it himself. Nothing had changed. Yeah, except the whole world he knew back then went missing or dead. Ran and him may not have seen eye to eye, but they were still like brothers nonetheless, and Kyōmei...
It felt like something sinister wrapped around his chest, sinking it's clutches into his heart, clawing at his flesh. He wouldn't let it show, at least not that much, that wasn't him. He tossed the drink back, beads of sweat formed on his brow as he thought back to those years they spent together. Day in and day out, it was their faces he saw, from when he left his home to when he was out on mission and tbe last people he'd say goodbye to after they returned to the village was Ran and Kyōmei.
"If I were here..." He muttered under his breath, the cup in his clutch trembled, his brow twitched. The feelings were bubbling over, he'd lost them, he'd lost her. How selfish he was, placing all the blame on himself. He wanted to crack a joke so badly, just say something sarcastic or something that made it seem like it didn't hurt as much as it actually did--but he couldn't. He opened his mouth, but nothing funny came out, nothing funny came to mind. His fingers slid across his lips, his head rose, placing his back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling.
For once in his life, there was nothing Kinyōji had to say.
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Tsuya
Jōnin - 上忍
Glass Kunoichi
h o n e y b r o w n
Posts: 56
|
Post by Tsuya on Jan 7, 2009 13:32:08 GMT -5
Tsuya pursed her lips to the side and grabbed the bottle of sake from Kinyoji's vicinity. The boy had no tolerance. Who knew what he would say/think/do in this state. She put the rim of the bottle to her lips an took back a shot's worth of sake. The more numb her mouth became, the easier it was to drink it.
She twisted her lips a bit, coughed, then did it again just to see if she could feel them. "If you were here, what, Kinyoji? You could have saved Ran from being killed on a mission? You could have kept Kyomei hold up in her room so she didn't do her ninja duties? Shit like this happens in the world we live in, bro." She said with an antsy voice. Truth was, there was mystery shrouding both of their apparent deaths, but that would be too much for him right now.
Tsuya slid her chair back, then tried to stand. Whoaboy. This was gonna be a little harder than anticipated, but she knew someone had to walk Kinyoji home. "Uh, 'ey. Kin-kun. Let's...get outta here. Okay?" She reached in her pocket and pulled out some money, tossing it on the table beside the plate of unfinished peppers. "You should really sleep all of this off."
She held out her hand for him to take, anchoring herself with a chair. Last thing she needed was both of them in the floor.
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Post by kinyōji on Jan 7, 2009 14:42:44 GMT -5
He sat there in silence as she offered her hand, totally in a drunken daze. His world wouldn't stop moving, constantly rotating, the lights above danced a seductive dance. His invisible gaze fell upon Tsuya, blinking behind his shades.
"Huh?" He shook it off, shutting his eyes tight. "Oh, uh...yah..." He muttered, taking her hand and standing. The earth moved under his feet, causing him to stagger forward onto Tsuya before he caught himself and swallowed hard. "Hey..." Kinyōji whispered, backing up slightly, pointing at himself with a smile.
"I'm...M'stupid..." He admitted with a giggle, he swayed backward, trying to stay vertical. "M'sorry...I--I didn' know that me bein' not here would suck so bad..." He sniffed before chuckling, throwing his arm around her shoulder. He leaned in, not being able to keep his balance, placing his head to hers. "M'sorry, m'sorrym'sorry...m'sorry..." He chanted in his drunken stupor, eventually his voice trailed off into a mumble as he struggled to walk straight.
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Tsuya
Jōnin - 上忍
Glass Kunoichi
h o n e y b r o w n
Posts: 56
|
Post by Tsuya on Jan 7, 2009 15:27:04 GMT -5
Tsuya used what wits she still had about herself to support him and not fall over. It would have been a tragedy to see. Slowly, the two stumbled from their table to the front door, and out into the streets of Suna.
It was still early evening. At least, for Tsuya. If it was before midnight, it was an early night. As they trudged down the dusty road toward his apartment, she realized she'd left Adashino in hers. Knowing him, he'd lock up and such, but she wanted to make sure he knew that she was okay.
"Pit stop."
She carried him down the next street, struggling to keep him on his feet. She'd never drink this much again. This far away from her apartment, at least.
When they arrived outside her front door, she struggled to find her key. "Freakin'...bloody...damed..." she muttered for each wrong one she thrust in the door. What did she have so many keys for anyway? Just then, before she could find the right one, the door opened, and there stood a smiling Adashino, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"You kids are earlier than I expected."
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Post by kinyōji on Jan 7, 2009 16:04:47 GMT -5
"Grmblemumbl...Meh-Meh's okay..." He incoherently mumbled, his droopy eyes teetered back and forth as the woman heaved him through the empty streets of Suna to her home where she struggled to find the correct key. He went on singing a childhood song, snickering and giggling like a maniac until the door opened.
o____=
"Hooer yu??? I don't gots no munniez..." He bumbled, reaching and tapping on Adashino's lens with his fingernail. "Thoser nice...wantsa trade??? How many chicks can yu pick up with them thangs on?" Kinyōji snickered, yet didn't stop tapping at the glass lens, "hello little fishy, hello little fishy~"
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Tsuya
Jōnin - 上忍
Glass Kunoichi
h o n e y b r o w n
Posts: 56
|
Post by Tsuya on Jan 7, 2009 16:47:36 GMT -5
Adashino simply stood there, blinking blankly at Kinyoji. "Still not tolerance to sake, I suppose." He said, turning his gaze to Tsuya. "C'mon. I figured you'd have to get him drunk." The man adjusted his rectangle lenses, then got on the other side of Kinyoji and lifted his weight off of Tsuya.
There was no furniture, so the three of them sat on the shag rug. Well, two of them. Kinyoji was laid out grumbling to himself. Tsuya thought it best if he was already on the ground. "So, you told him, huh?" Adashino said softly, sipping some tea he'd made for himself.
"Yeah, well, someone had to. I mean, he has to grieve for what we grieved for the last three or four years..." Tsuya's voice trailed off. She laid on her side, propping herself up on one elbow. "I don't know how he'll do once he's sober."
Adashino sipped this tea silently, then shrugged. "He's too loopy to recognize me right now, so...I'll come back tomorrow." By this time, Tsuya was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling as she'd done earlier. "Wait, aren't you gonna help me take him home?"
"Not tonight. You both can barely walk. Just let him sleep it off." Adashino was standing now, gave her a warm, genuine smile then crept out the door, shutting it as quietly as possible.
"Guess it's just you and me, buddy." Tsuya pushed up from her spot on the floor, and walked into her room. There was only one mat. But she wasn't a generous person. Guess he'd be sleeping on the rug tonight. She slid open her closet door and found a short blanket that she'd used on her regular one when it would get cold at night. Desert nights could get pretty bad. She shook it out, then walked back to Kinyoji who was still laying there, mumbling something.
"Bedtime." And without warning, she chuked the blanket at him, slapping dead in the face with it.
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Post by kinyōji on Jan 7, 2009 17:14:59 GMT -5
The morning sun in Sunagakure, how he hated she who beat relentlessly upon his back. He was up before her, sitting in the center of her unfurnished living area, seemingly silently coping to himself while peering out the window with a destroyed expression on his face.
He stood eventually, the sun beaming through his shades and revealing his sorrowful eyes. He looked in the direction of Tsuya's bedroom, taking a few steps toward it before freezing in place and walking the other way. He placed a hand to his seemingly shifting head, uttering something about hating drinking under his breath.
Slipping the door open, he didn't bother looking back, he never did. Without a word, he was gone. There was stuff he had to do, people he needed to see and things he needed to do. He took a look at the rising sun on the horizon, rising above the sand-worn buildings. Only question was where to first, right?
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