[DNM] Log: Kitaiji and Nen
11/4/2005 05:10 PM
-=[Five Points - Ame]=----------------------------------------------------------
Running flush up against the wet arms of a tall pine forest stands the imposing gates and wall of the Hidden Village of Rain. The gates themselves are massive things that require the co-operation of many men on the inside to open at once, and are plated with steel and copper. When the skies pour, the silver and copper plating comes alive with fish and water monsters, and the dragon spouts that line the walls spew gouts of white, foamy water down on those who stand below.
On the other side of the gates, the village opens up to either side, heavily populated with people wearing tall geta to avoid the deep mud and wide-brimmed hats. To the Northwest rises the misty Mount Haguro, its slopes peppered with shrines and its Northern cliff faces altogether unclimbable. To reach the base of the mountain, one must cross the orange-red arch fo the Shinkyo Bridge. Directly to the East is the close-built civilian area, where shinobi and civilians alike live, despite its name. Northwest is a collection of rather imposing buildings of an official sort, and behind them, the towering, lofty peaks of a huge mansion or graceful palace. Running along the West foot of the city wall is the slightly lower area where rice paddies stretch for mile upon mile.
-=[Players]=- -=[Things]=-
Suezo Fusa's ghost
Kitaiji A Big Pit
Nen Travel Brochure
-=[Obvious Exits]=--------------------------------------------------------------
Cobble Gate (CG) Paradise City - Ame
Civilian Park (CP) Civilian Park - Ame
OOC Grid IC Grid
Kitaiji says, "hey it's ninja Kanda"
Kitaiji touches.
Kitaiji checks for boobs.
Suezo ...
Nen ... "That's very unfortunate."
Kitaiji says, "Oh, no boobs. You're just a girly man."
Suezo says, "Please don't wrinkle my coat."
Kitaiji PINKS on your coat.
Suezo can handle that.
[Public] Kitaiji has joined this channel.
[Public] Kitaiji says, "TODAY I get to meet a tiger."
[Public] Kitaiji says, "I hear they're sweethearts."
[Public] Kitaiji prances off.
[Public] Kitaiji has left this channel.
Two days ago the palace found itself minus one Nen. Three years prior the palace attendants would have been unwise enough to send men to search for him and call him back. These days they let Nen attend to his own business and do whatever he wishes until he feels like returning. Either that or send Fusa after him -- neither have happened yet.
Today he is crouched in the middle of a road that will eventually lead to the heart of Paradise City. He's dressed from head to toe in black and gold clothes, tan arms outstretched to a group of stray cats. In his open palms are small pieces of meat and his brows are raised high on his forehead while he watches them take from his hands.
The sky above is cloudy and the ground is still slightly wet from an afternoon shower. The scent of rain stains the air and even Nen's bright hair wears the dim dampness hanging over the city. "Be good," he tells a few of them, lifting one hand up high so the cats on that side can't reach. One of them stands on its hind legs, paw on the back of Nen's wrist. "Don't eat so quickly. You'll only want more and get fat."
One thing Kitaiji didn't realize when he decided to come to Rain (having given up on learning anything of use in Leaf) was that it would *rain*. Funny, that.
Thus it is that he is not remotely dressed for the weather. His sandals are flat to the ground, meaning that they're pretty much invisible under a layer of mud caking his feet by now. His black jacket and leggings glisten with accumulated moisture. His hair also drips. Plinkplinkplink. Too bad it's still pink under all the water.
So to sum up: he's wet and tired from traveling, and this leaves him annoyed. He's been swearing more or less constantly under his breath for the past few miles of walking, and he only lets the steady grumble subside when he sees the strange figure in the path ahead of him. He stops, considers. He could be nice, as a foreigner in a strange village, and introduce himself and ask how much farther before he can stop, settle in, and wash the mud off. Or he could let off steam by bitching.
"Wow," he says, approaching, "you've got cats here? I didn't think they'd put up with this shitty weather."
Nen is going to love you already. <3
Kitaiji is a bundle of pink love.
Nen's mind doesn't catch the remark at first. It must have been to someone else. Who would knowingly address the Amekage in that way and approach him so quickly? As far as attention goes, Nen's focus remains on the cats.
Until Kitaiji gets close enough that Nen realises he's been willfully ignorant: No one else is in the area for Kitaiji to be speaking to. Slowly but surely, he tips his hands down so the meat scatters on the damp ground, leaving it for the cats to fight over as they wish. With a smile slashed across his mouth, he tilts a look over his shoulder.
His visible eye is blue and might leave the feeling of a hollow eggshell and the hint that there should be something /more/ there than there actually is. "Ah!" he almost squeaks, rising to a stand immediately. Merrily, he turns around to face the stranger and stare at him with pupils the size of pin holes. Not a second later, he claps his hands together. "You're a foreigner! Have you just arrived? Do you know where to stay? The cats stay because they like it; many here enjoy water."
Suezo heads to the East, down the main road to Civilian Park.
Suezo has left.
Nen hugs. "He left you alone! But that's all right -- you're still safe with me." <3
Kitaiji says, "...okay. D:"
Kitaiji has the vague feeling that this man *should* make him nervous. Somewhere in the back of his head, that is. He's not paying much attention to it. Mostly he's looking for a way to vent his excess annoyance. This strange man (who couldn't *possibly* be anybody important, he seems kind of nuts, really) is an excellent target. Or would be, if he'd stop *ignoring* Kitaiji.
"Yeah," he says, already scowling. "I just arrived and I've already been here long enough to tell you that the roads *suck*." He holds out one mud-caked foot, balancing on the other. "No idea where I'm gonna stay, but it had better have a good shower." He shifts the straps of his travel pack onto his shoulder, freeing up his arms so that he can cross them.
Then he takes a quick breath, as if he's going to pause for long enough for the Mysterious Man on the road ahead of him to get a word in edgewise. Instead, though, he says, "Is everyone crazy here or just the cats?"
Nen's laughter begins at a soft bubble, gentle like ocean foam. Eventually it bounces higher and higher up a scale like notes being struck on a xylophone. Behind him two cats howl a terrible screech -- everyone's heard that sound some point in their lives: It's the noise of cats who are brawling or making love. Nen does not move and the fighting pair do not strike anywhere near his legs.
"I have a secret," he answers, lifting a palm to beckon Kitaiji nearer. "Shhh... It's not the sort of thing that would do the village good to hear. Be very... very... very... quiet..." In a hushed voice, whether Kitaiji approaches him or not, Nen's hollowed out orange and blue eyes light up even more and fill with amusement. He finishes his sentence: "There are five monsters here."
He opens his mouth again afterward as if he has something more to say. After all, Kitaiji certainly required more answers than that. In the end, he decides against it and settles for pursing his lips instead.
Right. Now this place is starting to creep Kitaiji out. That just makes him...well, more annoyed on *some* level, but also kind of intrigued. Leaf wasn't anywhere near this interesting when he first got there. Even if it did have better weather.
He scurries a bit closer as Nen beckons him, flinching only slightly at the screech of the cats. A secret? Sure, he'll hear a secret. He leans in close...monsters? Hmmm. "I guess that might explain the craziness," he murmurs, obediently keeping his voice soft even if he's quite disagreeable in other matters. "But are they *big* monsters or total pussies? There's a variety--"
He cuts off as he realizes that the strange man was, perhaps, going to continue. "What?" He cants his head slightly to one side, sparkly-blue eyes wide.
Now that Kitaiji is close enough, Nen leans down toward the boy to make their heights not so different. His damp orange bangs drip into his mismatched eyes and he meets Kitaiji's without hesitation. This is the expression of a man who has nothing to fear. In a whisper, he confesses, "I'm the second one."
When Nen happens to you it's a bit like that one F5 tornado that happened years ago miles and miles and miles away in the Western Lands. The one that almost broke the fujita scale and raised heated debates over whether or not there should be a whole new F6 category.
The first thing Kitaiji might notice is the way his legs are quickly and violently swept out from beneath him. The second is the way he falls back but never reaches the ground because a pair of strong arms catch him and lift him into the air as easily as they would have if he weighed nothing at all. The third is the way the cats break up their fight and scatter for cover whether under trees, behind bushes, or deep into the city where they can hide in alleyways.
The fourth is the way the man smiles as he braces one arm around Kitaiji's legs and squeezes around his torso with the other to keep the boy's arms from darting into any sudden handseals. "If you're not careful... we'll eat you alive."
Kitaiji says, "jfdlks okay so now I'm dangling upside-down?"
Nen says, "<3333 No, I'm holding you like a baby."
Kitaiji says, "...oh"
Kitaiji says, "that's not homoerotic at all"
Nen says, "I describe badly. FORGIVE ME. BUT I LOVE YOU X*"
Kitaiji says, "SO I SEE"
Nen says, "It certainly isn't. <333333"
Nen says, "Shhhh shhhh shhhhhhhhh"
Nen likes you.
That wasn't what Kitaiji was expecting. In retrospect, of course, it's kind of obvious. In this world of shinobi, strange men feeding cats on the road are rarely harmless. But Kitaiji doesn't *think* about these things. Or about much in general, really.
Anyway, the point is, he never has a chance of blocking Nen's moves. By the time he catches his breath, he's being cradled like a small fuzzy kitten himself. Aww. Except not so aww, because he flushes with indignation and the anger of injured pride. He grits his teeth. A moment passes.
Then, finally, he manages to suppress his angries long enough to grin back. "I'm skinny and stringy and I'd give you indigestion, so let's not try it." A beat. "I came here for training I couldn't get at home, or in Leaf. Will you teach me how to do things like that?"
Nen says, "orjglkaj you just asked------------------------- he's--------------- oh god you poor thing."
Kitaiji pauses, checks his stats and--wow, how'd I give Kitty int 4 :(
Kitaiji says, "MORE LIKE INT 1"
Nen says, "ROJFSK"
Kitaiji runs AFK for a bit to have some more dinner I'LL BE BACK IN TIME FOR MY DISEMBOWELING :*
Nen says, "OJFlksjflksjf DON'T WORRY it won't be bad :*"
Nen's face is the type animates with each and every expression. He is not steely like the stereotype of a ninja. In fact, his mouth gapes open and he inhales sharply, looking down in shock at the little pink thing's face. After this moment of stupid silence passes, Nen blurts, "How cute!"
It's been so, so long since anyone's last asked that question! "What do I think? I don't know what I think. What /should/ I think? Do I think I should teach him? Certainly, that would eat up a lot of valuable free time." While he speaks to himself, Nen begins to pace in a circle, Kitaiji clutched close to his chest. "They're doubtlessly going to start looking for me come tomorrow and then I won't have a chance to do anything Small Cat wants me to do. If I start today, I'll exhaust Small Cat and he won't learn a thing. It's terrible to train after a long journey without any sleep! What do you think, Small Cat? What do you specialize in? Where are you from? Are you allowed here? So many questions I must have answered before I decide!" But of course Nen might not know if Kitaiji was allowed here or not; he hadn't been in office for two days.
To add insult to injury, Nen squeezes Kitaiji and leans his head down to place a kiss on the top of his pink-haired head. He repeats, "So cute!"
So adorable.
So utterly /stupid./
Kitaiji says, "jkflds"
Kitaiji ANGRIES
Nen confess, "Kitaiji looks little. Nen actually really *likes* children so Kitaiji is pretty safe."
Kitaiji ANGRIES over being called CUTE
Kitaiji IS TOUGH AND MANLY NOT CUTE
Nen kiss. :*
Nen likes babies so much.
"*Cute*?" Kitaiji echoes in disbelief. Not that he really expects a clarification or anything. He just has to express the depths of his indignation at being called 'cute.' The whole *point* of being so annoying is that this way people will call him "obnoxious" instead of "cute," you know. But this freak still thinks he's cute!
He comes out of his fit in time to realize that questions are being voiced, although he's not sure if they're meant to be *answered*. "Of course I'm allowed here, I checked. Waterfall's on good terms with Rain. I wouldn't go where I'm not allowed," probably. Unless he thought it'd impress people or prove himself. "I'm a taijutsu specialist with a few ninjutsu but they're kind of stupid and my name isn't 'Small Cat' it's *Kitaiji*--"
He catches his breath in time to get squeezed and...kissed. He reddens again. How incredibly embarassing. Wait a minute... "What do you mean, they're going to start looking for you? Did you escape from your cage or something?" The worst part is that he isn't being sarcastic. Nen *did* say he's a monster. For all Kitaiji knows, Rain could keep him in a cage. Kitaiji is starting to think this would be a smart idea.
"Taijutsu, taijutsu, taijutsu..." murmurs the strange man thoughtfully, momentarily ignoring any other thoughts to ask two more questions. "What do you know? Do you use your fists or feet?" This doesn't stay that way long. In a matter of a moment Nen places Kitaiji back on the ground, mouth curved like a cat's while he backs up. His step nearly has bounce in it. "Kitaiji. Kitai. Kit. Kitty. Kitty, it's positively awful! They keep me locked up in a big cage all day and all night! I sit at a desk and they make me work on papers. Isn't that cruel? But I showed them--"
His weight shifts suddenly and he wiggles in his stance a bit like a cat ready to pounce. "-- I crept out the window when they turned their backs! My name is Sutehiko Hideaki; it's nice to meet you!"
Kitty? Something about that nickname just screams GIRLY. "Kitaiji," he mutters sullenly, but he's getting the feeling that Nen will call him whatever he wants. "It's *Kitaiji*." But he has to make the effort!
And then he flinches back as it seems, for a moment, that he's about to be *pounced* on. Now that he's back on his feet again, he'd like to stay that way. "...nice to meet you," he says lamely. Pleasedon'tkillmeyet.
And was he being asked a question? He pauses for a moment, then pulls two fans from their place at his waist and holds them out, still closed. "I fight with dual tessen." He slides his fingers through rings on one of them, then holds the hand in question up, demonstrating: fingers free if he needs to make handseals.
The wiggle-pounce movement stops but only in favour of Nen bouncing on his heels twice and clapping his hands three times. Obviously he's pleased. "Like Amakaze-senpai! Amakaze-senpai uses tessen! It's a beautiful art. Hideaki has never had the pleasure of learning how to fight with tessen!"
After he's finished bouncing like a child, Sutehiko-san steadies himself. "Hideaki fights," he begins, raising one of his arms to the air. He lifts his other arm but only to extend his index index finger and tap it against his elbow. "With elbows and knees. Remember this for whenever you're disarmed: Punching a man is your body's weakest method of inflicting damage. You can break your hand. It's infinitely harder to break an elbow. Perhaps Kitty may know what Hideaki knows, but many idiots think punching is best. Hideaki has to be sure."
Kitaiji knows two things, at this point: "Hideaki" is insane, and he is also an excellent fighter. So, as much as he wants to mouth off and in general be a jerk, Kitaiji forces himself to be quiet and attentive. He cocks his head to one side (pink hair falling in front of one eye) and listens.
"Elbows, huh," he says. Then he slams the tessen back into place at his waist. "Well, I'll keep that in mind, but I don't *get* disarmed." He lifts his chin proudly. "I'm too fast for that."
Hideaki grins. Both of his arms remain in the air for the purpose of stretching them. He bends them at the elbows and crosses his hands behind his head. "Sssssshhhhh," he hisses, implying that this is Top Secret Information that shouldn't be shared around. "Hideaki is a /Hunter./ Hideaki thinks it's all right if they know his face and hear his name because that's all the more challenge: He'll catch them if they run anyway!"
He pauses.
"Kitty knows Hideaki is quick and Kitty wasn't quick enough to avoid Hideaki's leg or arms. He should also know Hideaki has been disarmed several times in the past."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Kitaiji begins. "If you're into the whole cat-and-mouse game thing, anyway..." He trails off as he realizes that Hideaki is about to speak again. He listens patiently.
"Oh." Yeah, that's pretty good logic. Kitaiji stares at the ground for a moment. "I suppose that's true...oh!" He snaps his fingers and returns to looking smug. "If I'm disarmed, I use ninjutsu." He folds his arms over his chest again and neglects to mention the chakra depletion problems he has with ninjutsu, because that would spoil his smugness.
"It's the assassination attempts that are fun," he confesses. During Nen's lifetime there have been no shortage of assassination attempts, and most of those happened while he was Sho's attendant. His expression perks a little more when he hears Kitaiji's fallback. "Ninjutsu?" Hideaki tilts his head to the side, mouth pursed in a curious shape. "What if Kitty doesn't have enough time for handseals? When your enemy is up close you may not have a chance to complicate your fingers. That sort of scenario is likely when your enemy also specialises in Taijutsu. What then?"
...assassination attempts? Wait, maybe this Hideaki isn't actually a monster kept in a cage. Didn't he say something about having to do paperwork? That sounds more like--
Never mind. Kitaiji gets distracted again before he can finish that thought. "Then..." He falters. "Then I retreat until I have enough distance to gain the time needed for handseals." He's kind of aware that he's on losing ground by now.
"Kitty won't have time if his enemy is faster than he is. But that's enough, that's enough! Too much talk about work when Hideaki isn't even certain he's going to help Kitty yet!" Hideaki doesn't retreat. Quite the opposite: He takes a step forward and drops to a crouch again, both palms placed on his knees. He looks at Kitaiji and meets his eyes as fearlessly as before even though he's now the one looking up.
He smiles. It isn't very nice. "Let's talk about something else! What do you know about Amegakure? What of the Amekage? What of the Bloody Man who lives in the Clocktower? What of The Panther who used to rule before the current Amekage? I'm so curious! Waterfall is a good distance away. What rumors have carried there?"
Kitaiji says, "All I know is that they're all gay."
Nen says, "ROFL"
Nen says, "don't tell HIM that ok"
There's something so very girly about 'Kitty.' Embarassing. But for so long as there's potential for Kitaiji to learn something from this freak, he'll tolerate it. Probably.
He stares down at Hideaki, suddenly looking suspicious. "I...don't know much," he says slowly. "Some people say that the Amekage is bloodthirsty. But some people will say anything." Now that he's talking about *other* people, he's full of caution. So long as it's not *him* doing the insulting.
Nen says, "socute;;;;;;;;;;;;;"
Kitaiji pinks angrily. >:O
"That's terrible," says Hideaki sadly, but there's a fire in his right eye while the left remains delightfully like ice. "There are animals who lose their instincts and kill for the fun of it. Those are the kinds who should be killed immediately. Nen-sama isn't that sort of man."
Kitaiji will find many men brainwashed this way in Amegakure.
Hideaki places a palm on his cheek, sighing thoughtfully. "The Bloody Man in the Clocktower is a man who tortures people simply because he enjoys it. You can see it there," he stretches the hand out toward the rising figure far in the distance beyond dozens of trees and hundreds of small and ancient buildings. "Avoid him if you want to keep your skin. His nickname is Bloody Suezo -- but Hideaki didn't tell you that! Please!" His voice suddenly takes a turn for the desperate. "He'll /hurt/ Hideaki if you tell him! Bloody Suezo is the first monster!" For all he preaches about hurts he doesn't seem to care for keeping his voice down.
Those too-bright blue eyes narrow slightly. Kitaiji has a vague, uncomfortable feeling that something is wrong with what Hideaki is telling him. As nice as he seems, something is wrong.
Oh. That's it. The niceness. For a self-declared monster, Hideaki seems awfully (gay) nice. "Right, so he's the first monster. And you're the second. Do you have a cool nickname? Bloody Suezo, Prancy Hideaki?"
"Dead Hideaki," answers Hideaki, who promptly sticks his index finger in his mouth, both eyes gazing longingly at the tower so far away it's like a dream. There's a quake to his shoulders and a glassy, hollow, terrified look in his expression as if he can see something despite the distance. "Because Hideaki is a dead man if he's caught. Bloody Suezo is Kanaye Suezo: A man who is fond of traveling. Perhaps you've even seen him if you've appeared at high-class events." By and by, Hideaki's voice begins to tremble. "H-he wears a large red coat and when he str-r-r-r-r-r-r-" each r rolls off of his tongue in a wonderful trill, "-rrrrretches his arms they... they spread like the wings of a bloody phoenix. He... won't die. He just /won't/ die if you try to kill him. He's terrifying!"
Well, that's not helpful. Kitaiji places one hand on his hip, blissfully unaware of how gay this makes him look. "I don't appear at high-class events. Nobody invites Waterfall to high-class events, and my mom probably wouldn't let me go even if they did," he adds plaintively.
Then he takes a moment to think, lifting one brow skeptically. "So what about the other three monsters? I bet you could give this Suezo a beating if you teamed up with them. Or just toss him out the window of that tower of his."
Dead Hideaki might as well have been a real name even though it was made up on the spot. Hideaki's stare is as intense, focused, and blank as a dead man's. "Twoflower is..." Slowly with the pads of his fingers touching wet sticky earth, Hideaki rises as if he's going to get a better look at the tower by standing. "Twoflower is a... is fffffsssssssssssssshhhh," he hisses. "Ffffool. He's the third of us. Then there's... they say Sho still haunts this city. Nen-sama killed him, you know. Sho was a bad man. He should be the first but he's only the fourth. Dead men walk in Amegakure."
As if to prove his point Hideaki changes direction and turns toward the northwest, loosely gesturing there instead. His tone changes to something more steady again. "That is Mount Haguro. It's around there you can find Soldier's Belly. The gates are open for us but they're closed to the dead -- and be lucky. They would be all over us if they could get out. Be careful if you decide to see what it's like there."
If Kitaiji had more common sense, he'd be creeped out instead of curious. And he wouldn't be so indignant about the 'Twoflower' thing. "Hey," he says, "flowers can be deadly. My jutsu are all about flowers and they're pretty scary. I--" He stops abruptly and stares down at the ground. He just admitted that his jutsu are all about flowers.
"Never mind," he mutters. "Uh--uh. So who's the fifth monster? And--" He makes a face. "Do dead people *really* wander around Amegakure or is that just a story?"
"I believe Kitty," answered Hideaki, whose voice sank back into trembles and sadness. He didn't seem very bothered that Kitaiji's jutsu were all about flowers. "Isobe-san is a sort of herbalist who deals with flowers and poison; they're deadly."
How he felt on the inside, however, was another matter entirely.
How cute, how cute, how cute!
"Fifth... they... we... we're not allowed to speak of him. He's the type of man who... he's given up on jutsu. He's given into alchemy. Dreadful, dreadful art that..."
But at the last question, Hideaki's eyes dart toward Kitaiji and there's a smile on his mouth again. "Kitty can find out if Hideaki is telling the truth or not, but Hideaki will not lead him there. Too scary!"
Kitaiji says, "FULLMETAL EIKYUU;;"
Nen says, "actually he's just a dumb scientist nen is just making him sound better than he is."
If Kitaiji were an ordinary high school student in another world, he'd be the first into the haunted house to prove that he could spend the night there. Then he'd spend the night dealing property damage to keep from being scared, only to discover in the morning that it was somebody's summer house and he'd have to pay for the damages.
Anyway, the point is, Kitaiji listens attentively to Hideaki's words. "Alchemy, huh. What does that *do*, anyway? Maybe I should--well, never mind, I'll look into it later. What's this place you won't lead me to?"
There is something nostalgic about Hideaki's smile while he gestures toward Mount Haguro again. The happy, hyper, and occasionally trembling voice that so-well suited Hideaki was gone and replaced with something more sturdy. This was the voice of a deep and gentle river. "The place I won't lead you to is the place where most of the dead walk. The place where, seven and seven lives ago, the descendants of this village laid Waotaka Otogorou, the Feudal Lord who reigned in the Palace of Amegakure, to rest. Soldier's Belly -- the place where prisoners of war were tossed inside to rot. And they have. But their souls haven't left."
For just a moment he looks as if he's about to start wiggling again. "Aaaaaah~n," he puffs, closing both of his eyes and siii-iii-iiighing. "I haven't been there in years! Ask the peasants. They'll tell you not to go there, but if you tell them a man with a blue eye and an orange eye sent you they'll tell you immediately!"
As an after thought, Hideaki adds, "If they ask, tell them you saw me over in some direction opposite of here and point."
And the little pink thing listens with his eyes wide. Wow, that doesn't sound pleasant. But it does sound like it's something he should check out! For certain liberal values of 'should.' "All right, then..."
And then Kitaiji pauses. His big blue eyes narrow. Something's a little wrong with that... "What if I tell them Hideaki sent me?"
"Heeeeei!" Nen's laughter bursts, caught off-guard at the very intelligent question from a very small, stupid and pink thing. "Heiheiheeeeeei~ they'd be very surprised! Very, very surprised!" He wiggles again like a cat about to pounce and claps his hands together. With a grin as sharp as a knife, Nen answers, "Dead Hideaki is a dead man. He died roughly ten years ago!"
Because Nen likes it when he leaves his company without good answers, he turns his back and hums a dull note. "Mmmmnnnnnnn~ I should go. They'll catch me if I stay here. There is a large temple in the village that will allow you to stay if you need a place to rest. I won't tell you which, but they work separately from me; my words hold no sway. You don't need to tell them you've met me. But I need to think now, is that all right? I'll find you if I decide to teach you something!"
The force of pink does not necessarily leach out one's brain. It just helps the process along. "Isn't that interesting--" Kitaiji begins, but he stops (albeit reluctantly) when he realizes that this strange man who isn't Hideaki also isn't listening.
"Well, all right," he says, as if he has any choice. "I'll just be at that...temple place." He kicks a muddied foot at the ground, scowls some more, and then turns to go.
Over his shoulder without even looking, Nen calls, "Point the other way if they ask about me!" And then he's gone.
Nen says, "he just has to remind u"
Kitaiji says, "rofl LAZY AMEKAGE"
Nen says, "That's SO BORING."
Nen says, "BORING BORING BORING. Where's the war?!"
Kitaiji doesn't want a war he just wants to prove how cool he is :(
Nen likes things when they're being killed.
Kitaiji says, "you're a bad man Mr. Nen"
Nen says, "shhhh no i'm HAPPY"
Nen says, "I'm full of HAPPY"
Kitaiji says, "happy as in GAY?"
Nen says, "once when i raped two men for trying to talk back to me :("
Nen says, "they were asking for it."
Kitaiji says, "jdflkdsjfklds"
Kitaiji says, "inoshi doesn't count as a man"
Nen says, "i actually didn't rape that one. i liked it too much."
Nen says, "i liked to break its ribs."
Kitaiji says, "jfkdlfjds"
Nen says, "he kept passing out i don't know why???"
Nen says, "I guess bodies don't like it when pieces of rib break off and are wiggling into your intestines and you shake them?"
Kitaiji says, "aaaaa OW"
Nen :( yeah the medics were angry with me they thought i should just KILL him or something if i was going to do that???
Nen says, "They didn't say it, of course, but you can tell it in their eyes. :'("
Kitaiji helpfully, "You could threaten to gouge out the eyes of medics who look at you like that."
Nen says, "Siiiiigh but it's no fun if EVERYONE has to go and have a missing eye."
Nen says, "Because I don't /lie/ to my people and then I'd have to /do/ it."
Kitaiji says, "awww"
Nen doesn't like to do mean things. Very understanding, patient, and kind.
Kitaiji says, "oh of course"
Nen says, "It's just sometimes they make me /so/ angry."
Kitaiji says, "such a NICE AMEKAGE"
Nen says, "I am."
Nen proud of being pleasant.
Nen IS THE KING OF PLEASANT.
Kitaiji says, "kittons like you"
Nen loves them.
Nen has tigers in the palace, too. <3 <3 <3
-=[Five Points - Ame]=----------------------------------------------------------
Running flush up against the wet arms of a tall pine forest stands the imposing gates and wall of the Hidden Village of Rain. The gates themselves are massive things that require the co-operation of many men on the inside to open at once, and are plated with steel and copper. When the skies pour, the silver and copper plating comes alive with fish and water monsters, and the dragon spouts that line the walls spew gouts of white, foamy water down on those who stand below.
On the other side of the gates, the village opens up to either side, heavily populated with people wearing tall geta to avoid the deep mud and wide-brimmed hats. To the Northwest rises the misty Mount Haguro, its slopes peppered with shrines and its Northern cliff faces altogether unclimbable. To reach the base of the mountain, one must cross the orange-red arch fo the Shinkyo Bridge. Directly to the East is the close-built civilian area, where shinobi and civilians alike live, despite its name. Northwest is a collection of rather imposing buildings of an official sort, and behind them, the towering, lofty peaks of a huge mansion or graceful palace. Running along the West foot of the city wall is the slightly lower area where rice paddies stretch for mile upon mile.
-=[Players]=- -=[Things]=-
Suezo Fusa's ghost
Kitaiji A Big Pit
Nen Travel Brochure
-=[Obvious Exits]=--------------------------------------------------------------
Cobble Gate (CG) Paradise City - Ame
Civilian Park (CP) Civilian Park - Ame
OOC Grid IC Grid
Kitaiji says, "hey it's ninja Kanda"
Kitaiji touches.
Kitaiji checks for boobs.
Suezo ...
Nen ... "That's very unfortunate."
Kitaiji says, "Oh, no boobs. You're just a girly man."
Suezo says, "Please don't wrinkle my coat."
Kitaiji PINKS on your coat.
Suezo can handle that.
[Public] Kitaiji has joined this channel.
[Public] Kitaiji says, "TODAY I get to meet a tiger."
[Public] Kitaiji says, "I hear they're sweethearts."
[Public] Kitaiji prances off.
[Public] Kitaiji has left this channel.
Two days ago the palace found itself minus one Nen. Three years prior the palace attendants would have been unwise enough to send men to search for him and call him back. These days they let Nen attend to his own business and do whatever he wishes until he feels like returning. Either that or send Fusa after him -- neither have happened yet.
Today he is crouched in the middle of a road that will eventually lead to the heart of Paradise City. He's dressed from head to toe in black and gold clothes, tan arms outstretched to a group of stray cats. In his open palms are small pieces of meat and his brows are raised high on his forehead while he watches them take from his hands.
The sky above is cloudy and the ground is still slightly wet from an afternoon shower. The scent of rain stains the air and even Nen's bright hair wears the dim dampness hanging over the city. "Be good," he tells a few of them, lifting one hand up high so the cats on that side can't reach. One of them stands on its hind legs, paw on the back of Nen's wrist. "Don't eat so quickly. You'll only want more and get fat."
One thing Kitaiji didn't realize when he decided to come to Rain (having given up on learning anything of use in Leaf) was that it would *rain*. Funny, that.
Thus it is that he is not remotely dressed for the weather. His sandals are flat to the ground, meaning that they're pretty much invisible under a layer of mud caking his feet by now. His black jacket and leggings glisten with accumulated moisture. His hair also drips. Plinkplinkplink. Too bad it's still pink under all the water.
So to sum up: he's wet and tired from traveling, and this leaves him annoyed. He's been swearing more or less constantly under his breath for the past few miles of walking, and he only lets the steady grumble subside when he sees the strange figure in the path ahead of him. He stops, considers. He could be nice, as a foreigner in a strange village, and introduce himself and ask how much farther before he can stop, settle in, and wash the mud off. Or he could let off steam by bitching.
"Wow," he says, approaching, "you've got cats here? I didn't think they'd put up with this shitty weather."
Nen is going to love you already. <3
Kitaiji is a bundle of pink love.
Nen's mind doesn't catch the remark at first. It must have been to someone else. Who would knowingly address the Amekage in that way and approach him so quickly? As far as attention goes, Nen's focus remains on the cats.
Until Kitaiji gets close enough that Nen realises he's been willfully ignorant: No one else is in the area for Kitaiji to be speaking to. Slowly but surely, he tips his hands down so the meat scatters on the damp ground, leaving it for the cats to fight over as they wish. With a smile slashed across his mouth, he tilts a look over his shoulder.
His visible eye is blue and might leave the feeling of a hollow eggshell and the hint that there should be something /more/ there than there actually is. "Ah!" he almost squeaks, rising to a stand immediately. Merrily, he turns around to face the stranger and stare at him with pupils the size of pin holes. Not a second later, he claps his hands together. "You're a foreigner! Have you just arrived? Do you know where to stay? The cats stay because they like it; many here enjoy water."
Suezo heads to the East, down the main road to Civilian Park.
Suezo has left.
Nen hugs. "He left you alone! But that's all right -- you're still safe with me." <3
Kitaiji says, "...okay. D:"
Kitaiji has the vague feeling that this man *should* make him nervous. Somewhere in the back of his head, that is. He's not paying much attention to it. Mostly he's looking for a way to vent his excess annoyance. This strange man (who couldn't *possibly* be anybody important, he seems kind of nuts, really) is an excellent target. Or would be, if he'd stop *ignoring* Kitaiji.
"Yeah," he says, already scowling. "I just arrived and I've already been here long enough to tell you that the roads *suck*." He holds out one mud-caked foot, balancing on the other. "No idea where I'm gonna stay, but it had better have a good shower." He shifts the straps of his travel pack onto his shoulder, freeing up his arms so that he can cross them.
Then he takes a quick breath, as if he's going to pause for long enough for the Mysterious Man on the road ahead of him to get a word in edgewise. Instead, though, he says, "Is everyone crazy here or just the cats?"
Nen's laughter begins at a soft bubble, gentle like ocean foam. Eventually it bounces higher and higher up a scale like notes being struck on a xylophone. Behind him two cats howl a terrible screech -- everyone's heard that sound some point in their lives: It's the noise of cats who are brawling or making love. Nen does not move and the fighting pair do not strike anywhere near his legs.
"I have a secret," he answers, lifting a palm to beckon Kitaiji nearer. "Shhh... It's not the sort of thing that would do the village good to hear. Be very... very... very... quiet..." In a hushed voice, whether Kitaiji approaches him or not, Nen's hollowed out orange and blue eyes light up even more and fill with amusement. He finishes his sentence: "There are five monsters here."
He opens his mouth again afterward as if he has something more to say. After all, Kitaiji certainly required more answers than that. In the end, he decides against it and settles for pursing his lips instead.
Right. Now this place is starting to creep Kitaiji out. That just makes him...well, more annoyed on *some* level, but also kind of intrigued. Leaf wasn't anywhere near this interesting when he first got there. Even if it did have better weather.
He scurries a bit closer as Nen beckons him, flinching only slightly at the screech of the cats. A secret? Sure, he'll hear a secret. He leans in close...monsters? Hmmm. "I guess that might explain the craziness," he murmurs, obediently keeping his voice soft even if he's quite disagreeable in other matters. "But are they *big* monsters or total pussies? There's a variety--"
He cuts off as he realizes that the strange man was, perhaps, going to continue. "What?" He cants his head slightly to one side, sparkly-blue eyes wide.
Now that Kitaiji is close enough, Nen leans down toward the boy to make their heights not so different. His damp orange bangs drip into his mismatched eyes and he meets Kitaiji's without hesitation. This is the expression of a man who has nothing to fear. In a whisper, he confesses, "I'm the second one."
When Nen happens to you it's a bit like that one F5 tornado that happened years ago miles and miles and miles away in the Western Lands. The one that almost broke the fujita scale and raised heated debates over whether or not there should be a whole new F6 category.
The first thing Kitaiji might notice is the way his legs are quickly and violently swept out from beneath him. The second is the way he falls back but never reaches the ground because a pair of strong arms catch him and lift him into the air as easily as they would have if he weighed nothing at all. The third is the way the cats break up their fight and scatter for cover whether under trees, behind bushes, or deep into the city where they can hide in alleyways.
The fourth is the way the man smiles as he braces one arm around Kitaiji's legs and squeezes around his torso with the other to keep the boy's arms from darting into any sudden handseals. "If you're not careful... we'll eat you alive."
Kitaiji says, "jfdlks okay so now I'm dangling upside-down?"
Nen says, "<3333 No, I'm holding you like a baby."
Kitaiji says, "...oh"
Kitaiji says, "that's not homoerotic at all"
Nen says, "I describe badly. FORGIVE ME. BUT I LOVE YOU X*"
Kitaiji says, "SO I SEE"
Nen says, "It certainly isn't. <333333"
Nen says, "Shhhh shhhh shhhhhhhhh"
Nen likes you.
That wasn't what Kitaiji was expecting. In retrospect, of course, it's kind of obvious. In this world of shinobi, strange men feeding cats on the road are rarely harmless. But Kitaiji doesn't *think* about these things. Or about much in general, really.
Anyway, the point is, he never has a chance of blocking Nen's moves. By the time he catches his breath, he's being cradled like a small fuzzy kitten himself. Aww. Except not so aww, because he flushes with indignation and the anger of injured pride. He grits his teeth. A moment passes.
Then, finally, he manages to suppress his angries long enough to grin back. "I'm skinny and stringy and I'd give you indigestion, so let's not try it." A beat. "I came here for training I couldn't get at home, or in Leaf. Will you teach me how to do things like that?"
Nen says, "orjglkaj you just asked------------------------- he's--------------- oh god you poor thing."
Kitaiji pauses, checks his stats and--wow, how'd I give Kitty int 4 :(
Kitaiji says, "MORE LIKE INT 1"
Nen says, "ROJFSK"
Kitaiji runs AFK for a bit to have some more dinner I'LL BE BACK IN TIME FOR MY DISEMBOWELING :*
Nen says, "OJFlksjflksjf DON'T WORRY it won't be bad :*"
Nen's face is the type animates with each and every expression. He is not steely like the stereotype of a ninja. In fact, his mouth gapes open and he inhales sharply, looking down in shock at the little pink thing's face. After this moment of stupid silence passes, Nen blurts, "How cute!"
It's been so, so long since anyone's last asked that question! "What do I think? I don't know what I think. What /should/ I think? Do I think I should teach him? Certainly, that would eat up a lot of valuable free time." While he speaks to himself, Nen begins to pace in a circle, Kitaiji clutched close to his chest. "They're doubtlessly going to start looking for me come tomorrow and then I won't have a chance to do anything Small Cat wants me to do. If I start today, I'll exhaust Small Cat and he won't learn a thing. It's terrible to train after a long journey without any sleep! What do you think, Small Cat? What do you specialize in? Where are you from? Are you allowed here? So many questions I must have answered before I decide!" But of course Nen might not know if Kitaiji was allowed here or not; he hadn't been in office for two days.
To add insult to injury, Nen squeezes Kitaiji and leans his head down to place a kiss on the top of his pink-haired head. He repeats, "So cute!"
So adorable.
So utterly /stupid./
Kitaiji says, "jkflds"
Kitaiji ANGRIES
Nen confess, "Kitaiji looks little. Nen actually really *likes* children so Kitaiji is pretty safe."
Kitaiji ANGRIES over being called CUTE
Kitaiji IS TOUGH AND MANLY NOT CUTE
Nen kiss. :*
Nen likes babies so much.
"*Cute*?" Kitaiji echoes in disbelief. Not that he really expects a clarification or anything. He just has to express the depths of his indignation at being called 'cute.' The whole *point* of being so annoying is that this way people will call him "obnoxious" instead of "cute," you know. But this freak still thinks he's cute!
He comes out of his fit in time to realize that questions are being voiced, although he's not sure if they're meant to be *answered*. "Of course I'm allowed here, I checked. Waterfall's on good terms with Rain. I wouldn't go where I'm not allowed," probably. Unless he thought it'd impress people or prove himself. "I'm a taijutsu specialist with a few ninjutsu but they're kind of stupid and my name isn't 'Small Cat' it's *Kitaiji*--"
He catches his breath in time to get squeezed and...kissed. He reddens again. How incredibly embarassing. Wait a minute... "What do you mean, they're going to start looking for you? Did you escape from your cage or something?" The worst part is that he isn't being sarcastic. Nen *did* say he's a monster. For all Kitaiji knows, Rain could keep him in a cage. Kitaiji is starting to think this would be a smart idea.
"Taijutsu, taijutsu, taijutsu..." murmurs the strange man thoughtfully, momentarily ignoring any other thoughts to ask two more questions. "What do you know? Do you use your fists or feet?" This doesn't stay that way long. In a matter of a moment Nen places Kitaiji back on the ground, mouth curved like a cat's while he backs up. His step nearly has bounce in it. "Kitaiji. Kitai. Kit. Kitty. Kitty, it's positively awful! They keep me locked up in a big cage all day and all night! I sit at a desk and they make me work on papers. Isn't that cruel? But I showed them--"
His weight shifts suddenly and he wiggles in his stance a bit like a cat ready to pounce. "-- I crept out the window when they turned their backs! My name is Sutehiko Hideaki; it's nice to meet you!"
Kitty? Something about that nickname just screams GIRLY. "Kitaiji," he mutters sullenly, but he's getting the feeling that Nen will call him whatever he wants. "It's *Kitaiji*." But he has to make the effort!
And then he flinches back as it seems, for a moment, that he's about to be *pounced* on. Now that he's back on his feet again, he'd like to stay that way. "...nice to meet you," he says lamely. Pleasedon'tkillmeyet.
And was he being asked a question? He pauses for a moment, then pulls two fans from their place at his waist and holds them out, still closed. "I fight with dual tessen." He slides his fingers through rings on one of them, then holds the hand in question up, demonstrating: fingers free if he needs to make handseals.
The wiggle-pounce movement stops but only in favour of Nen bouncing on his heels twice and clapping his hands three times. Obviously he's pleased. "Like Amakaze-senpai! Amakaze-senpai uses tessen! It's a beautiful art. Hideaki has never had the pleasure of learning how to fight with tessen!"
After he's finished bouncing like a child, Sutehiko-san steadies himself. "Hideaki fights," he begins, raising one of his arms to the air. He lifts his other arm but only to extend his index index finger and tap it against his elbow. "With elbows and knees. Remember this for whenever you're disarmed: Punching a man is your body's weakest method of inflicting damage. You can break your hand. It's infinitely harder to break an elbow. Perhaps Kitty may know what Hideaki knows, but many idiots think punching is best. Hideaki has to be sure."
Kitaiji knows two things, at this point: "Hideaki" is insane, and he is also an excellent fighter. So, as much as he wants to mouth off and in general be a jerk, Kitaiji forces himself to be quiet and attentive. He cocks his head to one side (pink hair falling in front of one eye) and listens.
"Elbows, huh," he says. Then he slams the tessen back into place at his waist. "Well, I'll keep that in mind, but I don't *get* disarmed." He lifts his chin proudly. "I'm too fast for that."
Hideaki grins. Both of his arms remain in the air for the purpose of stretching them. He bends them at the elbows and crosses his hands behind his head. "Sssssshhhhh," he hisses, implying that this is Top Secret Information that shouldn't be shared around. "Hideaki is a /Hunter./ Hideaki thinks it's all right if they know his face and hear his name because that's all the more challenge: He'll catch them if they run anyway!"
He pauses.
"Kitty knows Hideaki is quick and Kitty wasn't quick enough to avoid Hideaki's leg or arms. He should also know Hideaki has been disarmed several times in the past."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Kitaiji begins. "If you're into the whole cat-and-mouse game thing, anyway..." He trails off as he realizes that Hideaki is about to speak again. He listens patiently.
"Oh." Yeah, that's pretty good logic. Kitaiji stares at the ground for a moment. "I suppose that's true...oh!" He snaps his fingers and returns to looking smug. "If I'm disarmed, I use ninjutsu." He folds his arms over his chest again and neglects to mention the chakra depletion problems he has with ninjutsu, because that would spoil his smugness.
"It's the assassination attempts that are fun," he confesses. During Nen's lifetime there have been no shortage of assassination attempts, and most of those happened while he was Sho's attendant. His expression perks a little more when he hears Kitaiji's fallback. "Ninjutsu?" Hideaki tilts his head to the side, mouth pursed in a curious shape. "What if Kitty doesn't have enough time for handseals? When your enemy is up close you may not have a chance to complicate your fingers. That sort of scenario is likely when your enemy also specialises in Taijutsu. What then?"
...assassination attempts? Wait, maybe this Hideaki isn't actually a monster kept in a cage. Didn't he say something about having to do paperwork? That sounds more like--
Never mind. Kitaiji gets distracted again before he can finish that thought. "Then..." He falters. "Then I retreat until I have enough distance to gain the time needed for handseals." He's kind of aware that he's on losing ground by now.
"Kitty won't have time if his enemy is faster than he is. But that's enough, that's enough! Too much talk about work when Hideaki isn't even certain he's going to help Kitty yet!" Hideaki doesn't retreat. Quite the opposite: He takes a step forward and drops to a crouch again, both palms placed on his knees. He looks at Kitaiji and meets his eyes as fearlessly as before even though he's now the one looking up.
He smiles. It isn't very nice. "Let's talk about something else! What do you know about Amegakure? What of the Amekage? What of the Bloody Man who lives in the Clocktower? What of The Panther who used to rule before the current Amekage? I'm so curious! Waterfall is a good distance away. What rumors have carried there?"
Kitaiji says, "All I know is that they're all gay."
Nen says, "ROFL"
Nen says, "don't tell HIM that ok"
There's something so very girly about 'Kitty.' Embarassing. But for so long as there's potential for Kitaiji to learn something from this freak, he'll tolerate it. Probably.
He stares down at Hideaki, suddenly looking suspicious. "I...don't know much," he says slowly. "Some people say that the Amekage is bloodthirsty. But some people will say anything." Now that he's talking about *other* people, he's full of caution. So long as it's not *him* doing the insulting.
Nen says, "socute;;;;;;;;;;;;;"
Kitaiji pinks angrily. >:O
"That's terrible," says Hideaki sadly, but there's a fire in his right eye while the left remains delightfully like ice. "There are animals who lose their instincts and kill for the fun of it. Those are the kinds who should be killed immediately. Nen-sama isn't that sort of man."
Kitaiji will find many men brainwashed this way in Amegakure.
Hideaki places a palm on his cheek, sighing thoughtfully. "The Bloody Man in the Clocktower is a man who tortures people simply because he enjoys it. You can see it there," he stretches the hand out toward the rising figure far in the distance beyond dozens of trees and hundreds of small and ancient buildings. "Avoid him if you want to keep your skin. His nickname is Bloody Suezo -- but Hideaki didn't tell you that! Please!" His voice suddenly takes a turn for the desperate. "He'll /hurt/ Hideaki if you tell him! Bloody Suezo is the first monster!" For all he preaches about hurts he doesn't seem to care for keeping his voice down.
Those too-bright blue eyes narrow slightly. Kitaiji has a vague, uncomfortable feeling that something is wrong with what Hideaki is telling him. As nice as he seems, something is wrong.
Oh. That's it. The niceness. For a self-declared monster, Hideaki seems awfully (gay) nice. "Right, so he's the first monster. And you're the second. Do you have a cool nickname? Bloody Suezo, Prancy Hideaki?"
"Dead Hideaki," answers Hideaki, who promptly sticks his index finger in his mouth, both eyes gazing longingly at the tower so far away it's like a dream. There's a quake to his shoulders and a glassy, hollow, terrified look in his expression as if he can see something despite the distance. "Because Hideaki is a dead man if he's caught. Bloody Suezo is Kanaye Suezo: A man who is fond of traveling. Perhaps you've even seen him if you've appeared at high-class events." By and by, Hideaki's voice begins to tremble. "H-he wears a large red coat and when he str-r-r-r-r-r-r-" each r rolls off of his tongue in a wonderful trill, "-rrrrretches his arms they... they spread like the wings of a bloody phoenix. He... won't die. He just /won't/ die if you try to kill him. He's terrifying!"
Well, that's not helpful. Kitaiji places one hand on his hip, blissfully unaware of how gay this makes him look. "I don't appear at high-class events. Nobody invites Waterfall to high-class events, and my mom probably wouldn't let me go even if they did," he adds plaintively.
Then he takes a moment to think, lifting one brow skeptically. "So what about the other three monsters? I bet you could give this Suezo a beating if you teamed up with them. Or just toss him out the window of that tower of his."
Dead Hideaki might as well have been a real name even though it was made up on the spot. Hideaki's stare is as intense, focused, and blank as a dead man's. "Twoflower is..." Slowly with the pads of his fingers touching wet sticky earth, Hideaki rises as if he's going to get a better look at the tower by standing. "Twoflower is a... is fffffsssssssssssssshhhh," he hisses. "Ffffool. He's the third of us. Then there's... they say Sho still haunts this city. Nen-sama killed him, you know. Sho was a bad man. He should be the first but he's only the fourth. Dead men walk in Amegakure."
As if to prove his point Hideaki changes direction and turns toward the northwest, loosely gesturing there instead. His tone changes to something more steady again. "That is Mount Haguro. It's around there you can find Soldier's Belly. The gates are open for us but they're closed to the dead -- and be lucky. They would be all over us if they could get out. Be careful if you decide to see what it's like there."
If Kitaiji had more common sense, he'd be creeped out instead of curious. And he wouldn't be so indignant about the 'Twoflower' thing. "Hey," he says, "flowers can be deadly. My jutsu are all about flowers and they're pretty scary. I--" He stops abruptly and stares down at the ground. He just admitted that his jutsu are all about flowers.
"Never mind," he mutters. "Uh--uh. So who's the fifth monster? And--" He makes a face. "Do dead people *really* wander around Amegakure or is that just a story?"
"I believe Kitty," answered Hideaki, whose voice sank back into trembles and sadness. He didn't seem very bothered that Kitaiji's jutsu were all about flowers. "Isobe-san is a sort of herbalist who deals with flowers and poison; they're deadly."
How he felt on the inside, however, was another matter entirely.
How cute, how cute, how cute!
"Fifth... they... we... we're not allowed to speak of him. He's the type of man who... he's given up on jutsu. He's given into alchemy. Dreadful, dreadful art that..."
But at the last question, Hideaki's eyes dart toward Kitaiji and there's a smile on his mouth again. "Kitty can find out if Hideaki is telling the truth or not, but Hideaki will not lead him there. Too scary!"
Kitaiji says, "FULLMETAL EIKYUU;;"
Nen says, "actually he's just a dumb scientist nen is just making him sound better than he is."
If Kitaiji were an ordinary high school student in another world, he'd be the first into the haunted house to prove that he could spend the night there. Then he'd spend the night dealing property damage to keep from being scared, only to discover in the morning that it was somebody's summer house and he'd have to pay for the damages.
Anyway, the point is, Kitaiji listens attentively to Hideaki's words. "Alchemy, huh. What does that *do*, anyway? Maybe I should--well, never mind, I'll look into it later. What's this place you won't lead me to?"
There is something nostalgic about Hideaki's smile while he gestures toward Mount Haguro again. The happy, hyper, and occasionally trembling voice that so-well suited Hideaki was gone and replaced with something more sturdy. This was the voice of a deep and gentle river. "The place I won't lead you to is the place where most of the dead walk. The place where, seven and seven lives ago, the descendants of this village laid Waotaka Otogorou, the Feudal Lord who reigned in the Palace of Amegakure, to rest. Soldier's Belly -- the place where prisoners of war were tossed inside to rot. And they have. But their souls haven't left."
For just a moment he looks as if he's about to start wiggling again. "Aaaaaah~n," he puffs, closing both of his eyes and siii-iii-iiighing. "I haven't been there in years! Ask the peasants. They'll tell you not to go there, but if you tell them a man with a blue eye and an orange eye sent you they'll tell you immediately!"
As an after thought, Hideaki adds, "If they ask, tell them you saw me over in some direction opposite of here and point."
And the little pink thing listens with his eyes wide. Wow, that doesn't sound pleasant. But it does sound like it's something he should check out! For certain liberal values of 'should.' "All right, then..."
And then Kitaiji pauses. His big blue eyes narrow. Something's a little wrong with that... "What if I tell them Hideaki sent me?"
"Heeeeei!" Nen's laughter bursts, caught off-guard at the very intelligent question from a very small, stupid and pink thing. "Heiheiheeeeeei~ they'd be very surprised! Very, very surprised!" He wiggles again like a cat about to pounce and claps his hands together. With a grin as sharp as a knife, Nen answers, "Dead Hideaki is a dead man. He died roughly ten years ago!"
Because Nen likes it when he leaves his company without good answers, he turns his back and hums a dull note. "Mmmmnnnnnnn~ I should go. They'll catch me if I stay here. There is a large temple in the village that will allow you to stay if you need a place to rest. I won't tell you which, but they work separately from me; my words hold no sway. You don't need to tell them you've met me. But I need to think now, is that all right? I'll find you if I decide to teach you something!"
The force of pink does not necessarily leach out one's brain. It just helps the process along. "Isn't that interesting--" Kitaiji begins, but he stops (albeit reluctantly) when he realizes that this strange man who isn't Hideaki also isn't listening.
"Well, all right," he says, as if he has any choice. "I'll just be at that...temple place." He kicks a muddied foot at the ground, scowls some more, and then turns to go.
Over his shoulder without even looking, Nen calls, "Point the other way if they ask about me!" And then he's gone.
Nen says, "he just has to remind u"
Kitaiji says, "rofl LAZY AMEKAGE"
Nen says, "That's SO BORING."
Nen says, "BORING BORING BORING. Where's the war?!"
Kitaiji doesn't want a war he just wants to prove how cool he is :(
Nen likes things when they're being killed.
Kitaiji says, "you're a bad man Mr. Nen"
Nen says, "shhhh no i'm HAPPY"
Nen says, "I'm full of HAPPY"
Kitaiji says, "happy as in GAY?"
Nen says, "once when i raped two men for trying to talk back to me :("
Nen says, "they were asking for it."
Kitaiji says, "jdflkdsjfklds"
Kitaiji says, "inoshi doesn't count as a man"
Nen says, "i actually didn't rape that one. i liked it too much."
Nen says, "i liked to break its ribs."
Kitaiji says, "jfkdlfjds"
Nen says, "he kept passing out i don't know why???"
Nen says, "I guess bodies don't like it when pieces of rib break off and are wiggling into your intestines and you shake them?"
Kitaiji says, "aaaaa OW"
Nen :( yeah the medics were angry with me they thought i should just KILL him or something if i was going to do that???
Nen says, "They didn't say it, of course, but you can tell it in their eyes. :'("
Kitaiji helpfully, "You could threaten to gouge out the eyes of medics who look at you like that."
Nen says, "Siiiiigh but it's no fun if EVERYONE has to go and have a missing eye."
Nen says, "Because I don't /lie/ to my people and then I'd have to /do/ it."
Kitaiji says, "awww"
Nen doesn't like to do mean things. Very understanding, patient, and kind.
Kitaiji says, "oh of course"
Nen says, "It's just sometimes they make me /so/ angry."
Kitaiji says, "such a NICE AMEKAGE"
Nen says, "I am."
Nen proud of being pleasant.
Nen IS THE KING OF PLEASANT.
Kitaiji says, "kittons like you"
Nen loves them.
Nen has tigers in the palace, too. <3 <3 <3