KINGDOM COME (P)

[smallville]

"Are you sure that you have everything?"

"Yes."

"Matches?"

"Yes."

"Kunai knives?"

"Yep."

"A compass?"

"Mmhm."

"Explosive tags?"

"Yes.."

"What about--"

"500 ryo worth of emergency money, yes."

"Throwing-stars?"

"Dad."

Next thing I knew I was grabbed by my shoulder and pulled into the arms of my father, who was joined by my mother soon thereafter. Buried beneath their combined embrace, I couldn't hear a sound outside of the shuffling of our collective feet as we struggled to maintain our balance whilst holding onto each other -- that, and their hearts racing right in front of my face. I squeezed them back and pulled away, trailing both of my hands through my left pigtail. They stared at me, smiling. They weren't using their real smiles though. They weren't happy -- I could tell -- but they wanted me to think that they were. I could see their faces twitching, their minds working overtime to maintain their falsely-joyous visages, the heavy sadness lying just beyond their eyes. "You don't have to worry," I assured them. "I don't expect to encounter anything hostile. This is purely an academic expidition."

"We know, Soname, we just-- Couldn't you--" My father stumbled over his words, his composure faltering beneath the weight of whatever was obviously eating away his insides. Luckily for him, my mother was holding up better. "We just want you to know that we love you, sweetheart. We don't want any... discoveries that you unearth to make you doubt the feelings that your father and I both have for you." she explained.

"But this isn't about love, mom." I told her, although she already knew that, and I was certain that she knew that I knew. "This is about me. Who I am, who I'm supposed to be, where I come from... there are things about me that you are keeping from me." I stared at both of them, hard. They stared back, and even though it was blatantly clear that I knew that they were harboring unknown information about me, they didn't dare lie. Not a word was uttered by either of them for what felt like forever. "Disappointed" didn't quite live up to how I felt. I felt despair, because the only two people that I ever trusted have been keeping secrets from me. I sighed and slightly shook my head. "I'll be back as soon as I find the answers that you won't give me." I said as I lifted my bag from the ground and slung it over my shoulder. "I love you."


And I turned and started walking toward the forest, and the last thing they'd see of me would be my dark silhouette growing smaller and smaller against the brilliance of the rising sun.

KINGDOM COME

[NARRATOR³]

Ominous. It was the only word that could fully describe the scene. The sun was at it's apex in the sky, cascading rays of brilliance upon one of Hi no Kuni's thickest forests. The abundance of trees and greenery made it nearly impossible for the light to impose it's nature on the forestry below, so it hung in the air -- almost as if a veil -- whilst the ground below remained dimly lit. It was murky at this point in the land, and with each step one would take to delve further and further into the forest's core, it would grow incessantly dark. This was a realm not visited by many, the lack of any solid trails illustrated this.

But it was inviting-- as hard as that was to believe. As dark as it grew, as fast as the surrounding area seemed to dissipate the further one traveled, it's halcyon like nature continued to draw in those that became encapsulated by it's caress. Soname would be no different; her inquisition to seek answers would undoubtedly push her even further into it's grasp. Her innate senses as a shinobi would be no use in such a place for they, too, would be as easily tricked by the strange land's power.

As she pushed forward, forging paths seemingly never traveled before, she'd realize -- albeit if only subconsciously -- that she wasn't alone. She would not be able to see, hear, or even recognize this being, but she would know that it was there. Watching her. Analyzing her. Gauging her every breath.

Much like the forest itself, its prescence and strength was only amplified with each step she took into It's Kingdom. It was impossible for her to get a proper read on just what It was, but it was clear that it wasn't benign. It was cautious, much like she would be at this point, but curious more than anything. Occasionally it would hover before her as she walked, invisible to the naked eye, but nonetheless there.

A ghost? No -  that could not even begin to describe the entity.

[smallville]

Not long after I started my journey, I began to regret taking my father's advice of "staying off the beaten path." Not only had my map been rendered completely useless, but --

I stopped walking, silence falling immediately after my feet settled, and turned around to survey my surroundings.

-- there was something oddly... unsettling about these forests. I had not traveled outside of the village since my family and I relocated there years ago, and even then we followed the path that lead to Konoha's gates. I remember looking down on the forest from atop the gates on days where I had guard duty. Konoha seemed like an island surrounded by a vast, green sea. It was beautiful, I thought, and I'd always felt drawn to it. But being submerged in the forests made me feel... off. There was a noticeable absence of animal life which, admittedly, disappointed me. I'd studied about the flora and fauna native to Hi no Kuni extensively, but so far it seemed that the texts were false.  Aside from my movements and the sound of fallen leaves crunching beneath my footsteps, the forests were eerily silent and still.

But that wasn't even the unsettling part.

I stood absolutely still as I visually scanned my immediate surroundings, taking in everything -- the smell of the air, the height of the trees, the stillness and lack of life. It was all very odd, to say the least. But as I stood there I felt something. Something that I couldn't explain or begin to understand.

I felt safe. Not safe in the sense that I was confident in my abilities, but safe in the sense that, in the event of a hostile encounter, I was protected. I felt calm beneath a dense, green canopy that I'd never walked beneath, walking on earth that my feet had never graced. I was unsettled by this feeling of familiarity and safety in a place that I had never been in.