[Introduction] Oh young Mariner...!

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka hears the click of a boot heel on cement, and becomes aware that the feet are his own. His red-gold hair ruffles in the moving air, and moisture beads on it. A fine mist of icy rain is wafting over the terrace where he stands. He is dressed in a naval uniform of the late 1890s or early 1900s, a brass-buttoned jacket belted over well-

Comments

[gettin2old4this]

In the main room, Hisoka might run across a tiny old woman reading a huge tome of Chinese poetry. (With the characters and everything.) She may not look it, but she's a incredibly powerful psychic with senses that are sharp, (if not a little more annoying) as Hisoka's.

She looks up, and her eyes tense. A empath... I've only heard about these people in books and records. Then again, Genkai could claim that she's never seen elves, time lords, different sorts of shinigami, and possibly a vampire or two. Well, until she came here.

She puts down the tome, rather large for her size. "Good Day.", she utters neutrally.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka turns around and stares directly into those large brown eyes. Then, quickly, he drops his own gaze, realizing that his startled reaction might be taken for rudeness.

"Good day," he replies, softly.

Psychic. And powerful.

Now what?

"You are a lover of classical literature?" he asks, gesturing to the book. Hisoka does not speak any of the Chinese languages, but his knowledge of the kanji characters makes it at least possible to figure out that it was poetry she is reading.

[gettin2old4this]

It's perfectly fine, she would say. It's only your power, there is no reason to be ashamed of it. In a split second, her large eyes twitch a little more. A Shinigami as well? Curiouser and curiouser...

"Yes. I am this is a collection of traditional poems..."

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka blinks.

How odd. The sensation of being known, known for what one is.

He tentatively directs a thought to her: Thank you, that is kind of you. In both my lives, my family was afraid of power. It took some getting used to.

"Literature expands the mind, does it not?" he says.

[gettin2old4this]

Hisoka may not notice it at all, but a small knowing smile is on her face.

She directs a thought: I know how that feels, I was shunned in my own village for having powers as well. But that was a long time ago, what is your name, Empath?

"Yes, may I read a poem to you?"

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka does notice the little smile.

He returns it with one of his own.

He responds in thought: My name is Hisoka Kurosaki. What shall I call you?

"Please do!" he replies aloud.

[gettin2old4this]

She covers her mouth, it's rare that you see a smile from the old cranky bat herself.

She gives him her name, or rather title: Genkai. Pleased to meet you, Hisoka. Where do you come from? I've never seen a empath before with my own eyes...

She clears her throat a bit and starts to read out loud to him. Her gravel voice adds pathos to the poem. She reads it as it's written, in Chinese, but the mansion translates:

After the battle, many new ghosts cry,
The solitary old man worries and grieves.
Ragged clouds are low amid the dusk,
Snow dances quickly in the whirling wind.
The ladle's cast aside, the cup not green,
The stove still looks as if a fiery red.
To many places, communications are broken,
I sit, but cannot read my books for grief.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka responds: Japan is my country, but I was reborn in another world, in a land called Vohemar. I've met very few psychics so powerful as you, Genkai. What is the land of your birth?

He listens to the poem, and his eyes grow soft and a little distant. Then he nods, and smiles.

"Did you choose this one for a particular reason?"

[gettin2old4this]

Genkai's large eyes twitch once again, the lights might actually flicker a bit: Japan as well, near the borders. Now, now, now... I'm merely a human with a heightened sixth sense.

By the 'The Borders' she means the borders of Demon World and The Human World. And Genkai is just being humble.

"Perhaps... I relate to it in a way."

[in_summer_leaf]

"Because you are a veteran of many battles?"

Hisoka knows of the Demon World. He and Tsuzuki had had an encounter with one of the demon kind, back in their original universe. It had been a costly fight.

[gettin2old4this]

She is silent for a moment.

"Yes." Some of which she regrets. Genkai may be friendly with some of the demons now, but there's no changing that she's part of a generation that didn't look upon their Demonic brethren so well.

They don't call her 'The Huntress' for nothing.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka speaks silently: It was the same in my original world; the Demon People were regarded as an evil race. I didn't discover until much later that they are as various as we are.

[gettin2old4this]

Genkai looks a little distant for a moment. Some may tremble over the sound of her title, but she's had a complicated relationship with Demons. Some were her friends and allies, some were her targets, her love became one out of sorrow, and most ironic of all, by being a child of the borders, theres is a chance that Genkai could have Demon in her blood. As if she wasn't a outcast enough.

No wonder she had a bond with her most successful student.

She replies back: It's good thing that you have. I only hope that the generations after can learn. Hopefully those bridges can be made.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka nods. I hope so, too, he replies. And I, too, in my way, was a child of the borders. I think that for us, existance can never be less than complex.

"Genkai, I should leave you to your reading, now. I do thank you for taking the time to commune with a newcomer. May we talk again sometime?"

[gettin2old4this]

Genkai smiles, a real one with no threat attached to it, glad to find someone that is so young, yet understands.

Well, that is makes us unique. She relays back. We sit in the crossing.

"I did not mind talking to you, Hisoka. And yes, yes we should."

FTB after you? I love how this turned out!

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka nods, and smiles.

So we are. And so we do. And we will.

{{Ok with me. And I do, too! XD}}