To Stir Malevolence [p]

[Sayomi]

"Are you awake?"

A voice from within, smooth and soft reached out for Anzu's attention, stirring her from slumber. Arisen, she groggily opened her blurred eyes, blinking several times before shape and color took solid form the girl titled her head up looking past the canopy of the tree and into the midday sky. With a weary yawn escaping her lips she rolled to her side before standing on her feet. Whatever dream she was having had been shattered and lost forever within the annals of her morbid mind. Yet, there was no time to ponder though, the All Mothers voice, it called to her.

So... Anzu called back....

"What do you require of me?"

The silence absorbed everything, there was nothing. Only the stillness of the land, the slow sway of the brush and the low chanting of insects. There was no reply, nothing. Standing Anzu looked around confused as to why the All Mother would wake her she picked up her bag that has sat beside her and begin walking back through the path that led out into a marsh like field. "One week in the land of rain and no rain yet i'm the crazy one!" Her travels had brought her here, for what reason she did not know. Only the All Mother knew and she wasn't very responsive.

She hadn't been for the past four days so Anzu had been stuck on her on, wandering the countryside. Looking to her right after but a few minutes of walking she eyed a small pond behind the thick of the tall grass. Spinning gleefully she took exaggerated, long steps while making her way towards it. Anzu knelt down upon her knees and gazed into the clear water, her pale face reflected from the lucid, glossy mirror below. A single touched caused ripples to erupt and break the image apart as if it were mere glass that fell. Her hands cupped, she dipped them into the cool waters and brought it to her face.

It was cold.

Her hands rolled back, pushing her hair backwards and revealing the large oval like black tattoo on her left eye. She could see it staring back, something evil, something dark that lurked. A curt giggle rolled from her mouth at the thought of that. It was pleasant to have such a dark entity housing within her, she welcomed it as she was sure it her. Anzu's lips curled into a sharp, jagged like smile while she hovered above the water. leaning over she gazed into its depth, er eyes wide as if she were looking for something extremely important.

"I . see . you"

The girl whispered to herself as she splashed her hand in the water, but to as who she saw?

Its unknown....

[Messatsu!]

A week without rain only meant one thing within the Land of Rain. Nature within said land had fallen out of it's natural balance. Whatever caused it's imbalance had yet to be determined, however, one thing had been certain, the balance was eventually restored - even if it hadn't been readily apparent.

The single ripple the young girl saw soon turned into two, then four, and eventually hundreds. The rain fell once again, harder than it ever had done before. Thereafter, he arrived, the new leader to one half of Amegakure's noble family - kekkai.

With his orange hair drenched from the rain, Ji slowly approached the kneeling girl and carefully crouched beside her as he himself looking into the agitated body of water, refusing to allow the 'image' to restore and steady itself. Looking over at the girl, Ji smiled.

Hi, I'm Ji, nice to meet you. Any particular reason you're sitting out here by yourself? I don't like for people to be lonely and I could use a friend. Whaddya say?

Overly kind to the young girl, he truly needed a friend that he could count on considering that a great many of the people he came across thus far were the only people he'd ever seen aside from his own mother.

[Mitternacht]

The rain made him think the world was crying.

What a cliche idea... Yūrei chided himself silently. Perhaps the planet was crying. Mother Earth was pretty old, she probably had a lot of woes and worries. But, really, why would she cry? She was so beautiful, so big, so never-ending. Were they even tears of sorrow? Could they, perhaps, be tears of joy? Elation? Pride over how man had advanced?

Well, hardly. It seemed like every step forward was followed by three steps back. Once civilization came, war came. Once chakra was discovered, and used from good by it's ancient discoverer, it too would soon be perverted. Forcing brother against brother, clan to clan, bloodline to bloodline, nation to nation. Humanity at it's core was perverted and ever-perverting.

And Yūrei's...experiences just cemented his ideas more and more with each passing moment. Life was just a struggle, and there was really no reason to struggle in the first place. He was only living right now because, despite all his strange, macabre thoughts, he didn't feel like dying. Like it wasn't his time to die, yet. But, fighting his inner demons constantly brought his desires to draw nearer to the sins that plagued his mind.

"I can win this fight."

He walked about the country, aimlessly, speaking not to anyone in particular. He often thought allowed or spoke to his surroundings. Perhaps the birds, or bees, or air cared what he had to say. Didn't seem like anyone else did. The ground was, oddly, slightly dry. Even with a week's worth of dry weather, the soil was still so soaked with water that the sun had yet to fully evaporate it. Yūrei loved the rain. It was one of the reasons he didn't leave Amegakure. The past week, he had missed it. It made life so much more dull, without rain.

And almost as if in response to his earlier thoughts, rain fell from the sky. It was the usual Amegakure rain; a downpour so heavy one would think a great lake or ocean had dropped from the sky. Something caught Yūrei's eye from his peripheral vision- orange. He locked his gaze upon it, about twenty feet to his left. What could that be? He stepped up his pace in that direction. It was...a boy. A young one, probably a year or two Yūrei's junior.

Orange hair? In Amegakure? "Could he be a Kekkai?" The words were soft, spoken only to himself. As he drew closer, he saw there was another person too. He could hear parts of the conversation, but didn't really want to interrupt. But, he didn't want to stand on the sidelines, watching them alone. Before he did anything, he checked his person. Good. His Amegakure headband was wrapped snugly around his arm, proudly proclaiming his allegiance. If this boy was indeed Kekkai, then he would recognize the symbol carved into the metal. So he called out, not threateningly, but loud enough to be heard over the rain.

"Hey boy, what's your name?"

[Sayomi]

Whatever was reflected became dispersed by the rain that finally fell. It tickled her nose and sent a long, callous shiver throughout her body. She had been so immersed within her head she hadn't noticed the stranger behind her. She didn't move, instead Anzu waited for him to crouch beside him. It was strange for her to interact with others, how would she act, what would she do? Anzu didn't know so she'd like things unfold. With her eyes still fixated upon the pond she listened to him speak. Lonely? It was a foreign word to her, one Anzu didn't quite understand. It was quite laughable, so beneath the downpour she fell into a mad laughter that resonated. Cutting off the rest of the boys speech she than fell onto her back holding her stomach.

"HAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAHAA!"

Suddenly it fell quiet again, eerily so. Her head turned while laying on her back and from her grounded perspective she laid eyes upon the orange haired boy. Finding herself looking into his eyes a twisted smile carved into her lips as she broke the quiet atmosphere.

"I am never alone... The All Mother is always with me."

Anybody outside the mind of Anzu would be baffled by such a statement, this enigmatic figure she spoke of was very much a part of her and real as anything definite in this world. Sliding to her knees she slicked her hair back with both hands revealing the black, circular tattoo that surrounded her left eye. The rain was so soothing she thought. Mesmerized by it she almost forgot their was another person beside her. Standing up now and using a small spin to face toward Ji, her headband in clear view while she spoke.

"I used to have friends, but they always leave me now..... always. "

She was alluding to the past, ever since it happened. Thinking about it made her pause briefly; however, it was a tale for another time. On further inspection she took in all the details she could about this boy under the guise of the falling rain. "Are you sure you have what it takes....?" People who have crossed paths with her have ended up dead, having nothing to do with her or simply labeling her as insane. It was a long shot, but would he do the same?

"What it takes to be my friend?"

During her words, another voice entered, calling from the other direction. It wasn't her he called for though, it was the boy.

"Interesting.... this must have been what she woke me for."

A smile crept onto her visage.

[Messatsu!]

Surprised and startled by the girls sudden outburst of laughter, Ji's brow raised in confusion, wondering what exactly it was that he said that had been so amusing. For a moment, he waited in silence to gauge her reaction after she laid across the ground upon her back, hands just above her stomach.

She claimed that she'd never been alone, always and forever accompanied by someone or something called 'The All Mother'. Ji knew nothing of this 'All Mother' and, at that point in time, refused to try to wrap his head around the entirety of its meaning. Before long, the girl the girl slide up onto her knees before going into a full stand to face Ji properly.

With her hair slicked back, he noticed she wore one of the headbands everyone seemed to care about so much, however, the one she assumed had been different than the ones he saw back in Hi no Kuni. Connecting the dots, he figured she either hailed from a distance land or perhaps some sort of organization, either way, she wasn't them. Following suit, Ji stood up with the girl who'd only been an inch shorter than him in height. Facing her properly, a quick retort had been given in response to her inquiries.

"Well, just like Mr. Namyeol would say it, there is only one way to find out, but--"

Ji's lips froze as he his head snapped back to look over his shoulder, pinpointing the location of a third and unfamiliar voice. Turning to face the black haired man properly, he offered his name.

Ji, Jiseidai Kekkai. . .

For a moment, he paused.

"And you are?"