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Link / Link <- Kirigakure for those who don't know how this place actually looks =o

Sai leaned deeply into his seat, his legs crossed over each other as he watched his companions carefully as they sat across from him. The trio were currently resting on a cargo ship that was on it's way to Shimo no Kuni, they personally hiding out in one of the vacant cabins that they normally used for the crew or shinobi who required a discreet passage way from one village to the next. Closing his eye slowly, Sai allowed his mind to slip back to the long moments before they made their escape from Kirigakure.



Sai turned to face Sennyo, his eyes bright and yet dark all at the same time as he stared the boy down and thought over his answer in his head. All the while his hand carefully and deliberately turned a kunai between his fingers. After finally gripping it firmly for a second and returning it back to his pouch, the boy simply shrugged in response and turned away to attend to the affair of preparing a particular kunai with an explosive tag that was meant to pierce the final barrel, just in case something or someone impeded their original set up to cause the final explosion. Tossing the weapon towards hi brother upon completion, Sai turned back to Sennyo and re-evaluated him with a piercing stare. "Simple truth? Me and my brother, for reasons undisclosed, have been... well a word for it would be imprisoned for the last eleven years. Specifically since the moment of our parents death, and since that time Daimyō and Council has seen fit to force me and Sorain to train and be secluded from the world, yada yada yada. Long sap story. And now we're breaking free and this firework show is our ticket to getting a good head start before they come after us." The words left his mouth with a strange ease, as though the fact that he was paying with the lives of the villagers meant little to nothing to him. It was obvious that there was no way there would not be casualties and deaths but the thought had yet to cross either of the twin's minds and at the moment it seemed a small price to pay for their freedom.

Looking carefully at Sennyo, Sai shrugged and continued on with his preparations. "Take it how you want too. There's nothing you can do to stop as at this point, so it's on you if you stay or go. But just remember if you come with us, two people you have no clue about, there is no turning back. So think it over..."



Sai yawned loudly and let his body quiver with a heavy shiver as he pushed himself out of his seat slowly and gave both Sorain and Sennyo a shove. "Come on, we've docked. Let's get the hell out of here and go steal us some clothes, it's freezing in this damn country and we have no more money now." Crossing his arms over his chest and hunching over, Sai made his way out of the ship and into his new life. Maybe now the two could find that peace they always wanted...

***
Sorain sighed and rubbed the back of his head, his brother had told him that they needed to try and get more involved with the village, make people like them, make people actually happy to see them. That s**t was easier said than done, especially when some of the times it felt as though no one even really wanted anything to do. This went beyond simple unpopularity, it was almost as if people were scared to deal with them, or more so scared of what would happen if they did. It was something that he was sure that his brother had noticed as well but he was equally sure that his brothers care free mentality would cause him to shrug it off, something that Sorain was not as forunate to be blessed with. Instead, his logical and far more serious mind lead him to paranoia and stress, two things that might seem bad to some, but in a ninjas life could prove to be great assets. Hell, being paranoid could save your life.

Sorain looked down from the tree perch that he had been sitting in, the streets looked terrible this time of year. The shops were getting rid of all of the food that they could not afford to store during the winter, and so the streets were covered in god knows what, only to have the stray dogs and cats lurk all around the allies to scavenge the free meal. Through all of that, it made it look as though no one gave a flying ******** about the sanitation of his village. Sorain grunted, ******** what Sai was talking about. He had no intresest in making friends with these people. Sorain dove off of the tree and rotated his body mid air before landing with a thud on the ground, sending a chill down the spines of all whom saw him. A literal chill, one that could cause the body to shiver.

Sorain stomped his way up into a near by store that he could smell the wreaking scent of thrown out garbage radiating. He marched right up to the front door and recked the door loudly. After waiting a few moments a man around the age of thirty swung the door open roughly, "What the ******** do you want!?" He yelled directly in Sorain face. Sorain balled his face in an evil like glare before gripping the store owners neck so hard that he could almost swear that he was killing him. "Whats with all the trash huh? Momma never taught you to clean your own mess?" He said sarcastically. The store owner fought to speak ,"Garbage.. strike...." He said before passing out. Sorain shook the man as he felt the resistance leave his body, oh s**t, he thought hoping that the guy was not dead. Sorain listened closely for a pulse, relived when he heard it. Sorain lowered the man down and left the store shaking his head as he did. This was the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do but what did anyone expect. He had no idea what to do to be social, he had rarely if ever had any contact with anyone outside of his twin brother Sai, most of the time he tried to make sure to be on his P's and Q's but other days, such as today, he simply said ******** it.


Sorain returned to the ally ways where he saw all of the trash and garbage pilled up. Sorain sighed before forming hand seals, after completing a quick string, the ground below his feet turned to rock hard ice. Sorain raised his foot and slammed it down against the air, causing it to crack until finnally breaking into hundreds of small shards. Sorain changed his hand sign by two seals and instantly the trash began to fall through the shards as if they were miniture black holes in the ground.

Dusting off his hands Sorain pressed his arms together trying to get a feel for the temperature, it was something that he could always use to determine the approximate time, being that he had lived in this village his entire life, and that Kirigakure rarely experianced seasonal changes like most other places in the world, the temperature itself could be used a creditable indication of what time of day it was. Sorain took a deep breath, the cool air spoke to him, letting him know that the sun was starting to set and that the day was breaking into the shade of afternoon. Sorain turned away from the ally, he wanted to continue cleaning up these streets but he was hungry now and that took more importance over this petty assignment he had given himself at a whim. What did he care really? It was not as though he was instructed to clean the streets up, he was not getting credit nor was he getting paid for it, even though he could easily head to the Missions Office and report on his actions that was neither here nor there, no one was expecting him to do anything and so why should he rush? Nah, he would take care of this on his own time, for now he wanted a drink.

Sorain turned down the narrow ally way leading into the buisness district of kirigakure. This area of the village was heavily populated with many stands and shops, as well as a few hotels, bars, and gambling huts. This literally was in the heart of the city where almost all of its local commerce went down, but like all places money attracted the evil in people. All around the streets he heard the snarls and snickers of hustlers and thugs, as well as the quirky hums of the harlots dancing around the corners in their loose fitted toga like robes. This was an area of the village that not many people ever spoke about, Sorain wondered why it was that people generally assumed that because Kirigakure was a Shinobi Village that it did not have the same underworld low life communities that could be found damn near anywhere else in the world. Where there was good, there was evil, where there was rich, there was poor, this was simply the way the world worked and Sorain knew that better than anyone.

Sorain made his way through the crowed, feeling a bit uneasy about being surrounded by so many bodies at once, he kept his head down, trying to not make face to face contact with anyone. The white wraps covering his eyes let everyone know that he was blind, it served more as a courtesy to them than to his own personal benefit. People would see him, notice the covered eyes, and understand that he was blind, hopefully that would make them aware enough to not stand directly in front of him, or to at the very least make sure to not leave things on the ground near him that he could not possibly see. Sorain ducked his head down into a corner shop. The shop was dug out so that the door to lead into it actually rested a about five steps under the ground, making the place very secluded and private looking, something that most of the customers appreciated.

Tucking under the curtain that hung in front of the entrance Sorain turned the handle to enter the shop instantly noting the ching of the bell as he did so. Inside a wafting smell of sour saki, ciggerettes, as well as the tangy smell of perspiration that radiated from the burly men whom each took turns punching at a rubber dummy of a missing nin. The bar was classic in feel, the walls painted a modest brown, covered with hung paintaings and portates of some of the more famous ninja from the village. Sorain made his way over to the bar and sat down on one of the seats. His long silver hair fell almost all the way down to the floor as he let himself relax for the first time today. "Serve me" he said bluntly, not really in the mood for the coy formalities that he sometimes played when he came here. The bar tender pulled out a small cup and filled it with a clearish drink and passed it to him, making sure to allow it to make contact with his hand so that he could find it. Sorain was no stranger to this place, in fact he came here almost exclusively for drinks. It was another one of those blind habits that Sorain found that he did, being blind, one generally did not like being in new places and would normally take some what of a comfort in being somewhere that they were familer with. To be in a new place, was to be truely blind.

Sorain took a swig of the drink, savoring its sour taste and tis hard burn going through his chest. Sorain looked up and wrinkled his mouth into a frown before saying roughly, "Hit me.." His voice was course and exaggerated, as if he was deliberatly trying to put on a tough guy act. The bartender cocked her eye brow at him and made an even deeper manly voice, "Sure thing bub" He said snickering, Sorain's mouth moved into a grin before letting out a short chuckle, the bartender finnaly spoke in a voice that was much unlike the fecade she was putting on before, this time her voice was soft and gentle, something highly out of place in such a rough bar, "You know, you may not be able to see me, But I can see you clearly Sorain. Loose the red dead act for awhile huh?" She said giving him a wink that he could not see. Sorain rubbed the back of his head before returning his voice to normal," Oh yeah, I forgot that the world was not nearly as dark for everyone else" His tone was that of a joke, yet it was obvious that he spoke the truth. Honestly he did sometimes forget that everyone else could see, and that his eternal darkness was his burden alone to deal with. Sorain wondered what her face looked like, in fact he wondered what a face looked like in general. Having never been able to truly open his eyes, he had no idea what many things looked like, not even enough to imagine it. What was a color to a man who was blind? What were lips? What were eyes? What was hair? All of these things registered no image in his brain, forcing him to see the world through a imagination that literally had no reference to go on. In his head he could only describe each human with there scent and there sound, he pictured no bodies, he pictured no faces, he simply pictured them as a whole, something that if he had known better would have made excellent poetry, however for it was simply what his world consisted of. Sorain tilted his head up, allowing his face to show clearly in the dank light that emitted from the crooked lamp above his head.

The women smiled as she gazed at the pure beauty of the man whom came in for occasional drinks. It was something about his soft face that she never could quite grasp, he had that long silver main, a crisp chin, yet soft features that spoke greatly to his personality. Aside from the white wraps covering his eyes, she often felt as though when she looked at him she saw right through to his soul, she scanned his face, registering every curve in his expertly sculpted jaw line. Sorain remained still, keeping his face rock solid as if he were a statue being examined. He rarely did this for anyone, not that he had ever met someone who had even wanted to. He had done his best through out his life to make sure not to look directly at anyone, something that was damn hard to do when he had no sense of vision. Being blind, he hated the idea that someone could see him and he was entirely ignorant to there physical appearance, at times he simply wished to be as invisible to the world as they all were to him. But it was something about her that changed that part of him, something that did not make him fear her judgement at all, something that told him that it was ok for her to "see" him. Sorain moved his face down, having enough of the sensation that was slowly breaching the line between intriguing to down right awkward. Sorain opened his mouth to speak, " Just fill up my cup and dont give me no lip" he said while pushing his cup towards her. Sorain was not a man for rudeness, but the sad fact of it all was he had no sense of manors. He had very limited contact with anyone other than his own brother, leaving his social skills desperately lacking.

The bartender did what she was told and filled his cup, she normally did not like the crude demands of men whom order drinks from her bar, but his mear presence demanded such respect and authority that one rarely thought about disobeying a direct order from Sorain.

"You must have had a long day, going for a double already?" Her voice told him that she was prying for answers, something he was not exactly willing to give," Yeah I guess you could say that" he responded shortly before knocking back another drink before slamming it onto the table and tapping it with his finger to indicate her to fill it up. She did so without hesitation before leaning down onto her elbows to prop her chin up directly in front of his. She wondered if he knew how close she was to his face would he withdraw from her, at that thought, she was glad that he was blind.

Sorain remained still, he hated it when people got that close to his face, it was almost insulting. Honestly, just because he was blind did that make him stupid? Was he honestly not to recognize when someone was so close to his face that she could stick out her tounge and kick his forehead if she desired? The thought sent a tremble down his spine, there it was again, the feeling he always got when he was near her for too long. He needed to get out of here, three drinks was his limit anyway. "Ill be going" he said pulling out a random amount of money and throwing it onto the counter. Normally he would have his money sorted so that he could easily tell how much he was giving away, but he had belt up sort of a reputation in this bar as someone who would always return, so even if it was a little more or a little less, there was no harm done. Sorain hopped up from his seat and turned to head for the door, sensing her eyes on his back he turned and gave her a short nod before exiting the bar.


* * *




Sorain sighed to himself as he thought back to his last day in the mist village, spent doing pretty much nothing. He tucked his hood once more to cover his face before turning and following his brother and new found ally out of the village, headed towards their new destination.

Kurosai watched with amazement as Kaji repelled Novvus with his aura. He watched as Novvus retreated into the mirrors, and saw the dark skinned boy come dashing out again to attack Kaji. He barked a warning to his friend, but for some reason he did not respond. It was as if he didn't hear Kurosai at all, and by the time he did turn around it was too late. Novvus landed a powerful uppercut, and sent Kaji flying into the air. Kurosai's fur bristled with anger as he watched his friend falling back to the ground. When Kaji managed to land on his feet and shake off the blow like nothing had really happened even Kurosai was surprised.

Kurosai was preparing to make a move against Novvus when Kaji disappeared from where he had been standing. All Kurosai could perceive was that Kaji was moving, and that was only because there was a change in the winds that were carrying his scent. When Kaji reappeared for a moment behind the dark skinned boy Kurosai expected him to attack, but instead he disappeared in a blur of motion again. Kurosai knew that Kaji had changed directions and was heading his way because the winds had changed again, and Kaji's scent was getting much stronger.

When Kaji reappeared beside Kurosai he half spoke, half growled for the black wolf to follow his lead. Kurosai nodded in agreement and waited for Kaji to make his next move. When Kaji charged toward Novvus, the black wolf waited until the dark skinned boy was focused on Kaji. While their opponent was distracted Kurosai circled around to flank Novvus, and attack from his blind spot. When Kurosai was close enough to attack he charged his claws with lightning chakra causing them to arc wildly, and then leaped at Novvus. Kurosai intended to fry the dark skinned boy with lightning as his claws tore through flesh, blood, and bone.

A twisted smirk crossed Kaji's face as he watched Kurosai's claws tear into Novvus's back, but in the back of his mind he knew that he shouldn't be so happy about seeing the closest thing he had to a friend his own age in pain. As his internal struggle continued Kaji's chakra cloak lashed out at Novvus again in the form of a wolf head. It was during that assault that Kaji noticed that Novvus hesitated for a moment, and instead of striking Kurosai he encased himself in ice.

For a few moments Kaji's aura died down and he looked at Kurosai. Kurosai simply stood there ready to attack as he waited for Kaji's orders. Kaji's inner turmoil grew more intense, before he was suddenly drawn back to the gate inside his mind. "WHY DO YOU NOT STRIKE?!" Fenrir demanded. "Because he does not wish to harm me, and because he is my friend!" Kaji exclaimed as his own chakra flared up around him. Suddenly the first lock on the gate re-appeared and closed itself around the latch. "YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Fenrir exclaimed as kaji slowly faded back into reality. As his chakra cloak dissipated Kaji felt himself growing weaker, and slowly he fell to his knees as he realized how much stress had been put on his body. It took all his efforts to keep himself from falling unconscious, let alone standing. Kurosai let his aura die down as well and rushed to Kaji's side propping him up so that he could recover his strength.

Kaji looked up at Novvus groggily as he reached out to help him. Kaji couldn't understand what he was saying as he slowly faded into unconsciousness. When he woke up he was inside of of Novvus' house again. Kaji tried to move but couldn't as his body was damaged by the sheer force of the chakra flowing through it. He also knew that his chakra reserves were low, and tried to call out to Kurosai, but it seemed his vocal chords were too dry to produce a proper voice as all that came out was a hiss. Kaji knew that Kurosai would hear him though, and he was right. Kurosai walked up to the couch bearing a bowl full of water and placed it on the couch next to Kaji. When Kurosai realized Kaji couldn't move properly he nudged the bowl of water up to Kaji's face and tipped it to his mouth so he could drink.

As the water entered Kaji's body he felt his strength grow slightly and he was able to move his fingers. When Novvus offered him a bean that was supposed to heal him Kaji was hesitant to reach out for it, but after a moment he opened his hand as best he could and tried to extend it to Novvus. Kaji's arm fell to the floor limp, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Damnit! Why can't I move?!" He growled inside of his own mind.

Kaji coughed as he tried to swallow the senzu bean. He shut his eyes tightly as a wave of pain washed over his body. He swallowed the bean as best he could but he could still feel some kind of strange chakra building up in his body. Slowly an aura of malignant chakra formed around Kaji, but this time it healed the damage he had done to his muscles. As the aura got stronger the seal on Kaji's chest began to glow brightly. It could easily be seen through the holes in his clothing, and eventually the glow even showed through the fabric itself.

As the aura faded Kaji slowly sat up. He noticed that there was a bowl of soup and some peanuts laid out on the table for him. "No thank you...I'd rather have some meat. I appreciate the offer though." Kaji said as he looked up at Novvus. He shook his head slightly as he wondered why the dark skinned boy hadn't finished him off right then and there when he had the chance. "Kurosai, I can't hunt like this but we need meat. Do you think you can manage on your own this time?" Kaji asked the black wolf as he fell back into the couch. Kurosai barked affirmatively and ran off to go hunt for some small animals to bring back to Kaji.