The Annoying Bird (Open)

[Mal]

A small bird was chirping on a tree as Mal slept. He was locked into some strange dream. He was locked in a prism as his brother ran around rampant, destroying everything. His eyes widened at the slaughter. Since he was having this dream, he had a feeling his brother was as well. A small chirp was heard in the background. The chirping constantly got louder and louder until Mal heard, in a feminine voice, "Wake up honey".

Mal's eyes opened loudly as he yelled and jumped, slamming onto the floor. "Dammit Hyo." He muttered as he glanced to his side, looking at the blue jay. It gave him a pause, almost calming him down. Since Mal shared thoughts with his brother, Hyo, and Hyo knew how to sound like other people through thinking, Mal was constantly part of Hyo's little pranks.

"What?" Replied the brother. A smile was on the lips of the seemingly lifeless head at the back of Mal's neck. "Oh, I'm so sorry Mal-Senpai! When you're the raikage, please don't kill me!" Mal glared at the thought as he walked towards the door.

"Look, just don't screw with me today, alright?" As Mal twisted the doornob he felt a need to add, "Or any other day, for that matter." Immediately after he knew he had asked for too much. Once outside of his hotel room door, Mal wandered outside and walked towards the gate. He looked up with a smile. Under his breath, almost as a sigh, he said "Someday, I'll be worth something to you."

[Kinz]

Asa had been out a bit to late the evening before. In truth, he probably shouldn’t have been out at all, but the women and wine seemed to flow from every direction, and their call had been to much for the fun loving chunnin. His head was still spinning as he headed for the gate. What a night. “The highlight being the three chorus girls who…”

Asa’s words trailed off as he saw a young boy walking the same direction as he was, and heard the young boy say something along the lines of “Don’t screw with me today, or ever for that matter.”

Was he talking to Asa? What did Asa do? Well…if Asa was going to be blamed for something that he didn’t do…or could have done in a drunken stupor and not remembered then he would earn it. His hands formed seals like lightning and a small spike of earth would sprout near his lead foot, in an attempt to trip him. If it worked, Asa would stroll by laughing, his usual toothy grin in full bloom on his face.
"Watch your step kiddo."

[Mal]

It worked to perfection. Mal fell flat on his face. "Ow!" He noticed a man walking by. "Sorry, sir." He didn't know if he hit the man or not, but he figured he'd appologize. As he got back to his feet, his brother chimed in He tripped you on purpose. Mal doubted this was the truth, he didn't do anything to the stranger. "I told you not to mess with me today!" It would seem like he was yelling behind him this time, his eyes glancing to his lower right. "So I fell, you don't need to make such a big deal out of it, ok?!" His voice was starting to get really loud, getting the attention of quite a few villagers. He covered his mouth, and said through his hand, "Sorry". He then let out a small growl to his brother.

"Hyo," he whispered, "people are going to think I'm yelling at them if you keep doing this. So stop, alright?" That was met with quite a bit of laughter from his brother. "Stop laughing at me!" Mal roared at the top of his lungs. His eyes went wide again as he stared at the villagers. "Dammit," he muttered, glaring as close to his twin as he could. Since Hyo's head was on the back of Mal's neck, it was a bit hard for him to look at his twin, so the glare normally had little effect.

[Kinz]

Asa was originally quite pleased with his prank, but the boy seemed apologetic, then angry, then confused or sorry for his anger. The mood shifts weren’t normal. Asa’s smile went from amusement, to a frown of confusion. He came closer to the boy, and Asa inspected his eyes, looking for pupil dilation. He had heard that that indicated a concussion of brain injury….or something. Asa really wasn’t sure. He just thought it sounded right, so he followed his gut. Speaking in a concerned voice, Asa would reach his hand out for the kids forehead.

“Listen kid, I’m sorry for tripping you, but I hope I didn’t knock anything loose in there. You ok? Let me help you to the medical facility or something.”

Asa knew reaching out for the kids head was pointless. A fever didn’t always accompany sickness or injury, but it was a habit that Asa had picked up from his mother back when he was a boy. It seemed the thing to do. Hopefully Asa wouldn’t come to find this kid belonged in an institution, because Asa would feel awful if that was the case.

[Mal]

As if in fear, Mal's eyes grew wide. "No, no that's quite ok. I don't need to go anywhere. You see," Mal turned his head, revealing the head on the back of his neck. He pointed at the head, "My brother was making fun of me." Great, so everyone in this village think's I'm psychotic. Mal let out a sigh. He turned his head back to the stranger. "I'm sorry I seem so weird. He can communicate with me through our thoughts, but...sometimes I choose a more verbal form of communication."

"I am Mal Soushi," Mal said with a bow, "And my brother is Hyo Soushi. He's a bit lazy, so my body is the host for both of us." Mal smiled, the entire concept of a host body confused most people, but it was pretty normal to him. "Would you mind if I asked for your name? I don't want to call you stranger." Mal gave a small chuckle.

[Kinz]

Asa started out confused as the boy began explaining about the brother he was speaking to. And when the boy turned to revel the ‘face’ on the back of his neck, Asa’s hand recoiled and he stumbled back in surprise. The combination of gross misappropriation of body parts, with the stumble, and the previous nights debauchery caught up with him as his stomach was no longer to remain full. It emptied with Asa spewing its contents all over the ground. The feeling one gets after throwing up is one of weakness. A shakiness spread over Asa.

Asa had missed most of what the boy had said after showing off the head that sat on the wrong side of his neck. He realized how insulting his throwing up may have been, so in between fits of coughing, spitting and sputtering, Asa tried to convey an apology

“Sorry kid….to much, *cough cough cough* I’ve been kinda sick recently. That’s all.”

The people in the area were beginning to slowly move away from the crazy man who was talking to himself, and Asa who was throwing up in every direction.

[Mal]

"Uh..." Mal just stared blankly at the man who was throwing up, then at the people who were slowly backing away. His formed a hew handsigns as his hand started to glow green, and he put his hand on the man's stomach when he was done throwing up. "Relax, this should make you feel a bit better." Mal looked up at the man and smiled, "That's not the worst reaction I've gotten."

Mal looked to the ground. Nobody would be able to see his power because of his bloodline. That's why he became a medic ninja. Blood, vomit...nothing really made him queezy. That, and people were typically a lot nicer to someone who saves their life. "Feeling any better?"

You should turn that green hand blue and make him feel what real pain is. Mal just ignored his brother's comment.

[Kinz]

The green energy filled Asa’s cells, making the nausea stop. The bile quit flowing from him and he spit one last time in a vein attempt to clear the taste from his mouth. Scrubbing his hand across his lips, he was able to hide the disgusted look he had, and was able to replace it with his usual smile quickly enough. “Listen kid…I’m sorry for tripping you. I thought you were talking to me when you were yelling. And, I’m sorry for the reaction. My name’s Asa.”

Pushing himself off the ground, Asa rose to his feet slowly. Then he’d reach his hand down to the young boy who had tried healing him and probably had to kneel to do it.

“So you’re a medic huh? I think that’s pretty sweet. You get to heal people, have them be grateful and all that. It’s probably a lot better for you then the kind of crap I’m forced to do sometimes.”

Asa dusted himself off in an effort to shy away from the question he wanted to ask, but couldn’t help himself.

“Listen kid, you’ll have to forgive me, but what was that? Are you like….one of a kind? I know you said that was your brother, but the curiosity is kind of nagging at me.”

[Mal]

Mal was a bit surprised at how dead on the ninja was. About almost everything. Mal gave a soft smile when asked about his brother. "I'm not neccessarily one of a kind, there are others, but there aren't that many. When I was born, I was chosen to be the host twin. My brother lives inside of me. It's my kekkai genkai."

Mal formed a few handsigns. "Well, why don't I show you. Uh...you have a soft stomach so you may want to cover your eyes." Mal put his hands towards where Kuraga's eyes were to block his vision. When he moved his hands, he looked like a normal boy. His brother was yawning behind him.

Hyo, his brother, spoke. "Mal, what's the big deal? Everytime you try and make a friend you have to call me outside." He walked towards Mal and put his hand on Mal's shoulder. Almost instantly he disappeared, being absorbed into Mal's skin.

Mal flinched a bit, "Uh...let's just say he's shy." Mal looked towards the ground. He wanted to cover the ninja's face when his brother refused with him as well.

[Kinz]

Asa looked on as the boy formed handseals and explained through visual examples. His brother burst from him and then almost a moment later, after voicing a complaint merged back into the boy. Asa was a combination of shocked and intrigued.

“Well….that was unexpected. You think you’ve seen it all, but I guess there is always something else out there huh? Don’t worry kid. I got funny blood too. The abilities I got were nowhere near as interesting, but to each his own.”

Stepping closer, Asa clapped him on the back, and chuckled a bit. Then he continued to talk in a jovial tone.

“Come on kid. You cleared up my head and stomach ache, so I’ll buy you some lunch. You probably eat for two so it probably gets expensive. Let me help you out. It’s the least I could do after tripping you.”

Almost pushing, but always in a friendly manner, Asa would begin ushering the boy ahead of him towards his favorite restaurant. It was a barbeque house, whose delicious smell permeated the surrounding area. He wasn’t about to take no for an answer. Not only did he feel bad, he was interested in what this kid could do. After all, medics were useful, and this guy was basically two medics. For his future plans that could come in handy.

[Mal]

Mal was slightly taken back by this gesture. He did have to eat for himself and his brother, but he never really put much thought into it. He walked along with Asa until he had to stop. "Uh...hold on." Mal took off his shirt, revealing chain marks, bruises, and a chain itself. "Hyo, you better not take advantage of this." Mal moved the chain around his body towards his waist, revealing a burn mark from his skin rubbing against the chain for so long. He put his shirt back on and looked onward, seeing the barbeque house.

The smell went through his nose and almost instantly Mal was in love with the place. "Barbeque's my favorite food!" he said with a smile, turning his head around the area. "I've never really eaten here, though. I kinda live off of ramen and riceballs." He laughed as he walked inside of the barbeque house. Since Mal supported himself, and had the wages of a small child, he didn't really eat out, so this was actually a bit of a treat for him.

[Kinz]

Asa continued to lead the boy, until he stopped abruptly. Apparently he wore some sort of chain underneath his clothing? Asa noticed the chafe marks that were left in the chains wake. Apparently that chain kept his ‘brother’ at bay? Interesting. Mal seemed to be easy enough to get along with, and easy enough to manipulate should the need arise, but if all else failed maybe there was a way to manipulate his brother.

In all honesty, Asa had rarely thought of things like this, but his recent experiences with the corrupt treasurer and his encounter with the beautiful Uchiha girl had altered his resolve. He was still determined to help the village, more specifically the common folk, but he refused to turn a blind eye to certain things like other officials had done. Though it might be immoral to manipulate people, he felt fighting fire with fire was the best course of action. But Asa was getting ahead of himself. He could make this boy an ally now, while he was young without manipulation. A simple smile and a kind gesture would probably be enough.

Smiling still, Asa continued to lead the boy into the restaurant, and sit down at a nearby table. The waitress came by, a plump women, and Asa laughed boisterously “Well, I’ll have a rack of ribs, and double that for the boy will yah? He needs some meat on his bones if he wants to get big and strong. Hahaha.”

The waitress would be off, and the two would be alone once more.

[Mal]

Mal gave a polite smile, "Thank you for doing this, sir." He gave a light bow. He didn't know if he'd be able to eat two racks of ribs, he doubted he'd be able too, but he had a feeling his brother would be more than happy to eat what he didn't. Mal looked around at the area. There were quite a few happy people eating, and it made him happy. He heard something from the back of his head.

I think I'm going to spend some quality time with ya, Mal. Mal sighed and closed his eyes as a figure formed to the chair beside him. It was his brother, Hyo. "Hey everyone!" Hyo gave a smile, ready to eat more than he probably should. Mal looked around the area once more, his eyes avoiding Hyo. Hyo was in full control of Mal, and it was blatantly obvious. He had the ability to make Mal yell in public, look insane, and even give Hyo all of Mal's food.

Mal let out another, light sigh as he turned his eyes towards Hyo, but then looked back towards the tables of people. He noticed two brothers, fighting over a little toy. It reminded Mal of his academy days, and Mal let out a light laugh. "Hey, Hyo, remember that plastic kunai we used to fight over?"

Hyo just looked at Mal, and then moved his eyes towards Asa. I don't trust him. Nobody's this nice. He wants something...but what?

[Kinz]

Mal’s body seemed to shift as his brother exited into the seat next to him. They were spitting images of each other. It was uncanny how alike they were. Asa assumed that the one who moved into the nearby seat was the brother known as Hyo, while Mal who was the main host remained where he started. Hyo let out a greeting, and Asa flashed him a bigger grin. Mal seemed to be attempting to reminisce, but Hyo seemed distracted. Asa was concerned. According to what Mal had told them earlier they could speak telepathically. Could Asa fool both personalities with this charade?

“So boys, you seem to be genin. What plans do you have huh? I mean, genin don’t stay genin forever. Where do you see yourselves in a few years?”

The beef arrived, and Asa began gorging, only hesitating to order himself a bottle of sake. He would of course allow either kid to get whatever age appropriate drink they wished. The waitress would head off once more, as Asa awaited an answer.

[Mal]

Both of the genin gave completely different responses. Hyo began, "Well, I'm going to get the hell out of this village as soon as possible." He laughed, "I really don't like it here that much. I'd much rather go rogue, to be honest." Mal just politely smiled and looked down at his food as he took slow, small bites. "After I leave, I'm probably going to kill people for the money on their head. It'd be a fun life." The smile Hyo gave could only be described as evil.

Mal was the next to speak. He gave a wide smile before saying, "I've always wanted to be a medic ninja. I get a great feeling of satisfaction whenever I heal people." He took a bite of his food. "Of course, it sounds like I'm going to be opening up a mercenary business." The polite smile resurfaced, "The money in that kind of business would be nice, though, I suppose."

"It would be very nice!" Hyo corrected, shoving some of Mal's food into his mouth, "It'd be amazingly 'nice', Mal! I'm telling you, bounties are where the money's at." Besides, you're still helping out people. Mal nodded while taking another small bite.