-A Moment To Wonder [P]

[Not Masakuni]

-A Moment To Wonder

Kusagakure.

Shiro couldn't believe it. Even after everything he had been through, all the things that he had seen, he still had trouble believing what had transpired. Had his village really returned from the dead, all the while claiming that it had never fallen? He had been there to see the town burn down. No one could tell him it didn't happen. And yet, here he stood, among those same buildings, most of them restored to their former splendour. The whole thing made him feel as though he was dreaming.

But he wasn't. He knew that this was reality. He leaned back, the bright sun casting golden strands through his blonde hair. He stood with his back to a tall tree, in one of the many little parks dotted between streets in the Hidden Grass. Pale eyelids were closed over vermillion optics, for the moment, hiding the world from his gaze. All he could see was the red haze of light filtering through his skin. It felt good to be able to relax. It had been too long. If it was like this, he might have a chance to let some of the past go.

Maybe.

He cracked a single eye open, hooded crimson regarding the world around him. He heaved a faint sigh, but the expression didn't quite match with bemused smile on his face. He couldn't seem to get rid of that smile today. He wondered if any of the people he saw walking the street had experienced the same woes he had. He wondered if any of them had only recently returned home, and marvelled at the enigmatic restoration that had seemingly taken place, deep within the forests. Perhaps it was time to strike up some conversation...

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[Akikou]

When my eyes opened, I found myself someplace strange, someplace that I didn't recognize. Again.

Except this time, I did recognize it. I was still inside of the village, but the sun was shining. It would be slightly past midday, if my calculations were not completely wrong, and I glanced about me in a daze. What in the world was happening to me...?! My stomach clenched in fear, and I almost vomited. However, I managed to maintain my composure just long enough to see another person, one who looked almost as confused as I did.

Did he wonder why he was here? Or where here was? Although, there was no point in questioning that anymore. After all that I had seen, it was clear that this was Kusagakure, but something inside of me told me that that idea was impossible, even though I didn't know why that should surprise me so. I knew then that I needed to speak to this man. It would be, perhaps, my only chance to talk to somebody about what was going on inside of my own life.

The fear releasing itself from my body, my stomach finding itself instantly settled, I moved with the lithe grace of a shinobi towards the man. I smiled towards him, revealing perfectly straight and white teeth, and made a waving motion with my right hand.

"Good afternoon, sir. I'm... Akikou. You seem, perhaps, just as surprised as I am to see this place, although... not quite as confused." I had paused when I said my name, finding it strange to be introducing myself after losing however many of my years that I had. It felt weird knowing for sure that that was my name. It was weird to speak to another person. The only thing that gave me any sort of strength was the knowledge that, somehow, this conversation felt right, and it hadn't even started yet.

Maybe the Gods would shine on me today, after all.

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[Not Masakuni]

-Not So Alone

Akikou.

It was a beautiful name. He watched as she approached, sizing her up. She was a little under his height, and looked to be around his age. She didn't have the same world-weary look that he did, after his years of war, but her physical form certainly suggested that someone who had only just finished growing into an adult. She had skin darker than his, with striking blue eyes and brown hair tied into a ponytail. Her attire, a blue tank-top over blue pants and a brown hakama, fit her figure well, and was probably nice and cool in this warm weather.

“I am surprised, yes.” His tone was friendly, if a bit cautious. He watched her for a moment more, quietly considering her words. “I'm Tsukune. I've only just returned to the village and it's all a bit... overwhelming.” That was something of an understatement, he reflected dryly. He opened his other eye, fixing her with a more alert look. It seemed only polite, after all. He pushed his back of off the tree, facing her more fully. She seemed a lot more confused than he did, even if she was mostly content with it.

I wonder.

“Do you know how you got here, Akikou-san?” My question was innocent, but pointed. It was only a guess, but she barely seemed to recognize t he village at all. The way she looked around suggested that it was the first time she had seen most of the things around her, but she moved with an ease and familiarity that suggested she had been here before. It was hard to make sense of the conflicted pieces of information. More important than that, he didn't like the idea of leaving a girl to wander about without a clue...

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[Akikou]

His name was Tsukune. That was a relief. It wasn't Madoka. But wait... who was Madoka? My eyes would express my bewilderment for a moment, but then the man's question would catch me off guard. Did I know how I got here...? How did he know that I didn't know where I was?! Wait... I did know where I was! What was the matter with me? I'm so lost!

I shook my head. "I know that we're in Kusagakure. I can remember being a Shinobi... a young one, before the start of the war. I just... I just don't remember anything. I don't know who I am. I'm Akikou... but I don't know what that means! What kind of person am I? What can I do?!

"I know what this place is, and it is every ounce as familiar to me as breathing, but I don't know why I know it is! I don't know how I got here, or why I'm here, or how long its has been since I was here. I'm so terrified!"

And just then it hit me that I was spilling my entire story to a complete and utter stranger. Scarlet bloomed throughout my entire body as embarrassment filled my core.

"I'm sorry, Tsukune-kun. I... I have to go." Taking a step back, I bit my lip to look at him for just a moment longer before turning on the balls of my feet and beginning to run. Where was I going? I just didn't know... like everything else in my life.

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[Not Masakuni]

-Panicking

Wow.

She erupted into activity pretty quickly, her mouth starting to race so fast that Tsukune had a bit of trouble keeping up with her words. His mind kicked into high gear, working hard to process and analyze everything she said, even as she continued to speak. She was an amnesiac then, one who had apparently lost her memory of the entire war. That meant that she was, on the inside, barely thirteen years old, assuming she was around his age. The thought sent a few slightly shameful feelings through him for noticing her body before.

Well, how could I have known?

“Woah, woah.” She blushed as red as a rose, and with that, she was fleeing from him. He blinked a few times, still thinking. Everything she had said... He knew what the war had done to him. He couldn't imagine what she was going through. Without much deliberation, he moved, his feet kicking up dust as he hurried after her. He was able to keep pace with her, but desperation was lending energy to her legs that he struggled to match. He bit his lip, trying unsuccessfully to order his thoughts.

“Akikou-san, hold on,” he shouted ahead of himself, trying to catch her attention. “Just relax, it's alright. It's alright.” He carefully avoided stopping her by force. Things would only get worse if he dragged her down. He kept pace, his breathing starting to get ragged, as he tried to calm her down. With a growl of determination, Tsukune put on an extra burst of speed, throwing himself ahead of her, into her path. He faced her, his hands spread cautiously. “Look, I can help you. Just stop running!”

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[Akikou]

My steps were quick, but it seemed as though Tsukune was just as quick as I. I felt terror course throughout my body, and I wondered if he was going to kill me. I knew that, no matter what, I could escape him. I'm not sure why I felt this way, but to my credit, I found myself beginning to run even faster, almost as if the wind around me was being pushed aside to make room for me.

However, Tsukune was still keeping pace. My faster movements hadn't been enough to shake him, then? Well, I would just have to...! Whatever it was that I was thinking faltered as he spoke (well, yelled) at me, telling me that it would be alright and that he could help. Could he really... help me? Figure out who I was? What I was doing here? Why I was here, what my purpose was, why I couldn't remember anything, why I knew things but didn't know what they meant?!?!

I skidded to a halt, but not in enough time. My body, which had been moving at the sort of speeds that only a trained shinobi could produce, would collide with the other man's body, if he didn't move, and send us both toppling over. The shock of meeting another person, not just talking to them but actually coming into physical contact with one, was something that I hadn't experienced in a long time, and suddenly I found myself reverting to my old ways. You know, from when I could actually remember who I was.

Groaning, I would rest for just a moment before rolling off of the guy and exhaling a sigh. Sitting up, I'd glance over to Tsukune and found that remorse mixed with a hint of concern took prevalence over anything else.

"Are you okay?"

The question was simple, but it was multi-layered, filled with more context than Tsukune probably realized. In it, she asked not only for physical health, after having just been collided into, but also his emotional and spiritual health as well. Did he remember everything? Could he tell her anything? Was he still of a sound mind...? Or was it just I, the forgotten shinobi, who couldn't remember a thing?

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[Not Masakuni]

-Tumble Down

Oh.

Tsukune hadn't thought much about what would happen once he jumped into her path. He had been hoping it would slow her down, really. He hadn't expected her to charge right into him. The pair of them went down, tumbling tail over tea-kettle, into the dust. A faint cloud of debris went up around them, drifting through Tsukune's shaky vision into the clear blue sky overhead. He just lay there for a moment, trying to regain his bearings. That had not been what he had been expecting from this meeting.

A moment later, he became acutely aware that the girl was on top of him. His body stiffened slightly at the unexpected contact, and he tried not to move as she pulled away. That, too, he had not expected. He shook his head, clearing it, and sat up, regarding her with a faint frown. He looked her over once, making sure she wasn't hurt. He knew enough first aid to take care of the little stuff, but thankfully she didn't look injured. He checked himself over as well, feeling a bruise spreading up his elbow with a wince.

Me?

“I'm fine,” He said at once, dismissing her concern lightly. Then he frowned, considering it a second time. “Mostly, yeah. I'm fine. I never knew that this village survived the war.” He turned to look at her, his expression unreadable. She was a mystery of a girl. Strong emotions, for sure, but missing a whole chunk of her thoughts. “I always thought this place had been destroyed, and then just recently it reappeared, seemingly out of the blue.” He hesitated for a long moment.

“I don't know exactly how long its been, but... it sounds like your last memory was over seven years ago...” He regarded her intently. “If you want me to tell you about what's happened since then, I will.”

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[Akikou]

Did I want him to tell me what's happened?

The whole idea that it had somehow been seven years since I had last had a memory shook me to the core. What had I been doing for the past 7 years of my life if I couldn't remember? And what did he mean, that the village had disappeared, been destroyed?! I didn't remember that at all! Except... I could faintly remember running away, terror filling my being, as the place that I had called home burned to the ground. But that was just a hallucination, wasn't it?

Wasn't the fact that we were standing in the middle of the city now a testament to the fact that such destruction hadn't been real? I trembled slightly before glancing away from the blonde haired man. He was being exceptionally nice to me, and I appreciated it. I felt like an idiotic child, someone who couldn't even keep her own thoughts together.... Fighting back tears, I decided instead to continue engaging this man. Tsukune.

"I... would very much like to know what has happened, I think."

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[Not Masakuni]

-Look Back, Wince

Sigh.

Tsukune closed his eyes for a long moment, allowing his mind to wander over the archives of his memory. The last seven years seemed like a dream, and even now, he didn't like to indulge his own sorrow by digging into the memories of the past. This was different, however. He wouldn't mind doing it for someone who needed it. It was fascinating, in its own way, to explain the war to someone who had never witnessed it. Every adult alive today remembered it. Even those that didn't want to remember it.

“The Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand were skirmishing, if you remember that. Having little vanity battles, border conflicts. Nothing unusual.” He sat for a moment, remembering. “Things escalated, this time. Iwagakure was drawn in by alliance. Kumogakure and Kirigakure both saw a chance to strike at their enemies in a moment of vulnerability. Soon, all Five Great Nations were engaged in the war. They used our country as a battlefield. We had to fight just to defend our own land.”

No one saw it coming.

“Everyone was waiting for the war to end, and it never did. It just went on and on. The small countries were the first to fall. Amegakure, Takigakure, Kusagakure... All of them were completely destroyed. The Great Nations were decimated. The whole world was on fire, it seemed like. Soon enough, though, it all just stopped. No one had any troops left. Everyone was dead.” He stopped for a moment, swallowing. “The rest of us... We wandered, trying to survive without a village. I did that for years... And now, all of a sudden, there's a village again.”

He smiled faintly, searching her eyes. “In some ways, I'm as confused as you.”

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[Akikou]

War! Of course! I knew that we had had one. Everyone knew that. But it didn't really click with me until now. Remembering back to the time when I was a young girl, a Gennin, I replayed the scene in my head from when I had seen the Konohagakure shinobi and ran from my life. It was peculiar to me that it hadn't dawned on me that, by this point, we had been enemies and that, as a nation struggling to survive, most Gennin had been recalled into the village area proper in order to receive better training. I gasped as all of this knowledge flooded into me, and then I looked into Tsukune's eyes.

In some ways, I'm as confused as you.

In some ways, I'm as confused as you.

In some ways, I'm as confused as you.

That singular thought echoed through my mind and I began to shake. I glanced down to the ground and tears begin to fill my eyes. If Tsukune, a man with perfect remembrance of his past, was confused, then what hope was there for me? I... I couldn't remember a goddamn thing. I was the worst, most worthless type of Shinobi. Hell, I couldn't even recall the types of jutsu that I could use... if I could use any. My right fist would clench, nails digging into my sun-dark skin, and I would make a vow to myself right then and there.

"I will remember who I am. What I am. Why I'm here. I will serve my country. I will see it become victorious where the Great Nations thought us decimated."

And then I gasped, remembering that I stood right next to Tsukune. My shaking stopped and I blushed.

"I'm sorry, Tsukune-san. I must appear a terrible wreck to you."

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[Not Masakuni]

-Outside Perspective

Poor girl.

Tsukune could see the things he said affecting her. He didn't want it to be like that. He wished he could tell her that the past had been sunshine and rainbows and world peace for nearly a decade. No matter how much he wished that it had never happened, the war was reality. The pain and suffering were the truth. He had lived for seven years, learning to insulate himself to that pain. She was just discovering, for the first time, that the world had ripped itself apart, probably taking her loved ones with it.

“It's alright,” He said gently. “It must be a lot to take in at once.” He couldn't imagine what it would be like; to live in that pre-war bliss, only to have all the consequences of it suddenly shoved in your face. She didn't even have the rage, the righteous anger that Tsukune felt, to sustain herself. Whenever her memories did return, too, it would probably be nothing but more pain for her. He lifted a faint sigh, doing his best to put a smile on his face as he regarded her intently.

This is the consequence.

“Hey, look,” he said, a certain uncharacteristic hesitation in his voice. “You may not know me, but... I can help you. What you're going through...” His throat tightened. “No one should have to deal with all this alone.” Not like he did. He didn't want anyone to spend years of their life cursing the gods for everything. He didn't want to see someone searching for answers and getting nothing back from the world, save for cold silence. “We should be friends.”

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[Akikou]

We should be friends.

They were simple words, but they were profound. To me, a girl who had lost everything (memories, knowledge of myself, and everything that went along with that knowledge), the fact that somebody was willing to stand by my side so that I wouldn't have to face that alone was breathtaking. Tears which had previously threatened to fall down from my eyes now came out gently. I did not sob, but I did cry, letting my emotions once more take control.

These weren't tears of sorrow, though. They were peaceful tears, letting me come closer to another person. To share one's experiences with a complete stranger and not have them reject you, and instead pull even closer, is a kind of feeling that is impossible to match in the world. Even while I cried, I smiled, and it would take only a few moments before I would lift up my right arm, using my forearm to wipe away my tears.

Then, looking at the man who had been so kind to me, I increased the width of my smile only by a fraction, but it would be enough to make the appearance of my white teeth radiant. "Thanks, Tsukune-san. You're an incredible person, you know that?"

And with that, I would stand up and then extend my arm, doing all of my part to form a handshake with the man.

"To friendship?"

[/justify]

[Not Masakuni]

-Radiant Sun

Ah.

There it was. Something subtle changed in her face, and slowly but surely he saw her expression changing. It was tough to see the poor girl crying, but all of a sudden, the sobs had been arrested, and the tears were something a lot brighter than sorrow. He felt something warm inside of him as she smiled. Her smile lit up the whole street. At least, that was how it felt to Tsukune. He felt himself smiling back at her, without even thinking about it. He was glad to see that on her face.

“I'm not that great,” He said with a grin. “I just can't stand to see a girl cry.” He shrugged, but inside he was pleased. He hadn't really had the opportunity to talk to someone like this for a very long time. It'd been all about revenge, all about war. Even when he sought out that old journal, the moments he had spent with the villagers had been focused on bringing judgement to the Great Nations. It had been years since he'd sat and talked about anything other than doom and gloom.

“Yeah,” I said, rising to my feet and brushing myself off. I grasped the extended hand, and instead of shaking it, I used it to haul her to her feet. “To friendship.” As the sunlight filtered through the street, shining on eyes both crimson and cerulean, Tsukune felt a certain stirring inside him that he had forgotten all about. Maybe it was happiness. Maybe it was something as simple as contentment. He supposed in the end, it didn't really matter. This, right here, in his hand, was what mattered.

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[Akikou]

To friendship.

Finding myself pulled up, I couldn't help but continue smiling. It felt so weird, this moment. The random meeting of this person who had calmed me so thoroughly. I almost didn't feel like an outsider anymore, like I was some intruder in a place that I was supposed to belong but didn't... and it was all because of Tsukune-san.

"Tsukune-san... would you want to go and do something? As friends? Although I'm not exactly sure what all there is to do in this place..."

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[Not Masakuni]

-Possibilities

Something?

He cleared that thought from his head, perhaps a half second after it occurred to him. Sometimes, he hated being an adult. When he was a kid, he never got these desires, which flashed out of nowhere, assaulted his capacity to think properly, and then disappeared, leaving him only with a vaguely awkward sense of embarrassment. He twitched slightly, a quick motion of his head, as though expelling the thought out one of his ears. He dropped his hand from her hand, all-together too aware of the contact.

Well...

“There's a few places,” he said thoughtfully. “Parks everywhere, and I know a cafe or two if you wanted to be outside. There's plenty of dark, dingy bars if you wanted to be inside, too. Nice ramen places. Stores, if you're into shopping, though I'm about as broke as you can be. A few theatres for plays and stuff... Depends on what kind of stuff you're into.” He quirked an eyebrow, awaiting a response to his somewhat ambiguous question. There was a whole town at their fingertips...

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