Issei woke that morning feeling bright, despite the circumstances. He'd been looking for a place to live for quite a while with no luck and he was running low on ryo, and though he knew he always had his parents to fall back on, he was far too old to be relying on them for shelter. He dressed himself in a multi-layered outfit of black and blue sweaters, a long coat, and his headband resting on his collarbones, tied around his neck. He pulled a majority of white hair back and tied it into a small ponytail, keeping just a bit free in the front to hang over his forehead. The image of himself he saw in the mirror looked back at him with the same hopefulness he put forth, and with that he grabbed his ninja tools and left the hotel as he strapped them to his left leg. His destination was the downtown area of Kirigakure, since it was a lively hub of activity and opportunity. Thought it was very unlike him, he wanted to go and see what was going on, experience the village, and meet new people. Though it wasn't necessarily his focus at the time, he kept an eye out for any "room for rent" signs as he moved through the bustling streets underneath the cloudy skies.

Nearby, a man sitting outside of a tall building begged for change and people passed by without giving him a second glance and Issei couldn't help but feel bad. Even when he was on the verge of being in a similar position, he took a few coins from his pocket and handed them to the man with a warm smile before ducking into a shopping district and taking a seat at the large fountain in the center. He took a moment to examine each and every store and restaurant and ended up finding a shop for combat gear and Taijutsu training, which naturally piqued his interest. He decided to stop there, next, but for then he took out a small journal and a pen from his back pocket and started to scribble down notes and ideas from hollow shells of unfinished plots in his mind. His writer's spirit was in full bloom that day, and he felt more in touch with himself and the world around him than he ever had. It was much more fitting to him than the path of a shinobi, but in his mind, a man could take whatever courses of life that he wanted at the same time if he so desired by finding a middle route to lead him there. "Writer by day, ninja by night" had a nice ring to it, even if his novels were never critically acclaimed or popular by any standards the way he wanted them to be.

The morning routine! If it could be called that, or even something synonymous to a routine or if anything near it at all. The fact of the matter was that Maigo tended to be sporadic in his dealings and how he went about his life. It drove his family crazy at home, sleeping in until late afternoons on some days and others he would be up early and clean shaven ready to go. Then there were times that he wouldn't show back up home and wouldn't let anyone know that he was going to be gone, often times not even knowing himself if he would be gone. That morning though was a nice and lackadaisical mix of that, not sleeping in or anything like that but also not being productive like he probably should have been. Once again he ended up in the market just bumbling around like he always did, well maybe not always but it wasn't a rare event for him to spend time just lurking around the village.

The first thing on his agenda, nothing, a thought of wandering around and exploring the shops and perusing all the things he couldn't afford. The shop he went in had a lot of combat gear, nothing fancy though, just the basics of things and some times there would be swords and other unique bladed weapons. His love for them never faded, but this particular shop he had been in more often than once, and his memory held to it for many a reasons. But his dynamic was not as great as it could be with the shop owner, so as he handled a basic dagger in his right hand flipping it about and catching the handle and admiring the blade, he heard a voice yell out. "Maigo!" the voice called out and burst through the empty silence, rough and tempermental like that of the shop's owner. "I told you not to mess with the weapons anymore and especially if you're not buying!"

Maigo panicked and grabbed the blade with his left hand, it cut slightly into his hand as he grabbed it from the air it was rotating in. He winced as the blood began to pour out and onto the blade and floor. The shop keeper began to yell, Maigo ignored his yelling as he opened his hand and let the blade fall into his right hand. He rubbed the blood from the blade onto his pants, not knowing what else to do with it, the shopkeeper quickly grabbed it from him and then handed him a small bandage. He wrapped his hand up tightly, covering the small gash up and letting the bandage soak up the blood while the owner ran the blade under the sink with some soap. It wouldn't be long before Maigo dopely finished and turned to the shop owner to apologize, but he ignored his words, leaving the knife in the water for the moment he went to Maigo and began to push him by his shoulders out of the shop. "Don't worry about it! You know my rules, and you're always in here causing trouble, so unless you're buying it'd be best if you just left!" he said quickly as he pushed Maigo out of the shop. His heels dragged into the ground as he was stiff as a board, it was all rather cartoon-ish really, he stepped awkwardly as he entered the street and the shop owner scurried back in after yelling about everything, yelling being an understatement.

A few people here and there, he didn't take much notice of them as he noticed a young brunette girl on a bench across the street, very fair skin and probably no older than 25? Or something like that, but the age of beauty to Maigo was like wine and the experience that age bought was nothing to shy away from. So, a bit older than him but was that ever enough to stop him from at least trying? Absolutely not, he casually strolled across the street and ignored a few glances from passers by, last time he had this happen he ended up getting soaked by a very passionate and anger prone red headed girl. But to test his luck was to test fate! After making his way across the street he sat down rapidly next to the girl and put his arm around the back of the bench. The girl turned rapidly and was shocked, but Maigo gave her no chance to immediately respond, instead he spoke for her as he turned his head, "So... do you have a name or can I call you mine?" he said with the cheesiest grin on his face. Doing his best to be suave and make some impact, the woman just chuckled at him.

"Funny, and how old are you again?" she asked with a stupid grin on her face just like his. More laughing at the kid who was sitting before her than laughing with him.

"Age is just a number! And besides, I wouldn't judge you for yours or anything, especially if you stayed that beautiful forever!" he kept up his assault of compliments and whatever else he could think of. Doing his best to stay sharp and one step ahead of her, nothing he hadn't hear a hundred times before.

"No seriously though, what are you like sixteen? I don't think it'd be right to talk to a teenager." her voice let on as her smile began to fade.


"I'm seventeen actually! But it's clear that you don't believe in love at first site... so I should I leave and walk back by again?" he let off with another cheesy smile.

The woman laughed and tousseled his hair as if he was a kid, then stood up and spoke as she began to walk away, "It was a nice try, maybe when you're older..." she let on and continued laughing as she left.

Maigo couldn't help but yell out, "Kissing is a language of love! So how about we have a conversation and you let me change your mind!" he called towards her as he sat up in the bench slightly. She just kept laughing it off and walked further down the street. Maigo sighed as he leaned back into the bench, "It was a worth a try..." he spoke out loud as he looked up towards the sky. His last little bit was almost like a call out to any strangers still watching him and keeping tabs on what he would do and how. But Maigo knew when he was bested, and if he couldn't catch them on his hook in the first few moments then there was no way he would want to put in the effort to continue it on, even if he probably made enough of an impression on most of his attempts to make something of it. It definitely wasn't his style. So there sat Maigo, staring up at the lightly cloudy sky after his first failed attempt at romance of the day, perhaps it was him, perhaps it was that he needed a more clever pick up line, or perhaps it was the fact that it was still relatively early in the morning.

[1232 words]

Issei's eyes followed a teenage boy walking out of the nearby weapon shop that he had been considering going into. The kid had a long dark hair and a spark in his eye as he approached a young woman and started to talk to her. Looking further down, he noticed a bloodied bandage around the boy's hand and what looked to be a bloodstain on his pants. The two were just out of earshot and Issei didn't particularly care to listen anyhow, so he stood up and made his way into the weapon shop to take a look around. He was a Taijutsu specialist and he used his kekkei genkai in combat more than anything, but there were certain weapons that had caught his interest and they were enough of a pull to lure him into the shop. When he came in, a bell rang and the owner greeted him with a smile. The man had a blade in hand and he was feverishly polishing it. "Did something happen?" Issei asked as he ventured down one of the aisles in the center, his voice echoing throughout the small shop. The owner let out an annoyed sigh and replied with, "Yeah. This kid who always comes in here, Maigo, cut himself with one of my swords and he got blood all over it." Issei was attentive enough to put two and two together and understand it must have been the same teenager that was outside. Maigo, huh? Issei nodded even though the owner wasn't looking. "Oh, I think I just saw him outside. I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine, it's not your fault. Go ahead and let me know if you see anything you like in here." Issei remained quiet and stared at the large selection of kunai, shuriken, and other basic ninja tools that didn't exactly require anything other than a brain to use. Nearby were standard short swords like the wakizashi and tanto, and further toward the back were the complex things that looked pretty entertaining. Scythes, composite bows, kusarigama, fans, the works. He grabbed some kunai and shuriken and brought them to the front, paid, and left as quietly as he'd come. He walked out with a bag full of them in hand and saw that the girl and Maigo were still talking. The girl said something about a "nice try" and "maybe when you're older", which led Issei to believe that Maigo was trying to flirt with her. She took her leave of him and then he was there, sitting alone and looking a bit defeated. Issei felt the need to comment, for whatever reason, so he stepped towards Maigo and let out a laugh. "Maybe next time. You've got plenty of time ahead of you to keep trying."

Maigo sat slumped into the bench, his thoughts and eyes beginning to wander around in the sky for a moment. His recent rejection affected his mood in no way, he'd become so use to that outcome that it almost didn't phase him anymore. As Maigo sat there, only a mere moment passing by, he heard a nearby step and a laugh following it. His eyes shot towards him but his stance on the bench almost unchanged as he let his eyes fall towards the man that appeared. "Maybe next time. You've got plenty of time ahead of you to keep trying." Maigo sighed loudly, more of an exhale from stretching rather than that of a sigh of defeat. Then he sat up and brought his legs towards him as he sat up like a normal person would in public, his head down at first he then quickly glanced over the man. His first thought was that the man was... older? If that were the right choice of words for it. But without much thought or reading into the situation he casually moved to one side of the bench as he spoke, "That's the truth if I've ever heard it!" he laughed a bit as he relaxed back into the seat some. But with a still reasonable stance and one that wouldn't be completely unreasonable, as if he was merely sitting down into a meal, relaxed and yet somewhat formal.

The space saved for the man to sit if he would want to, a quicker glance he noticed that the man didn't seem too old, not like an old man or one of the geezers he had seen around the village. And yet, he still had white hair and years embroidered into his complexion, while Maigo was only 17 and just beginning to gain the scars and blemishes the life of being a ninja would bring upon him. With another exhale he would bring up a question to the stranger, "Would you mind if I asked you a question? Something a bit more abstract than anything..." he would pose and wait quietly for an answer from the man.

If he would accept to answer Maigo and hear him out on whatever he had to say, then he would crack his neck and begin, but first, he would introduce himself. "Also, the name is Maigo Mugetsu!" he said with a smile on his face and then after a brief pause would go on ahead. "Anyways, you remind me of time. And you're someone that has been around longer than I have. Who's probably figured out a lot about the world and all..." he led on as his eyes would wander around the street. "What do you think of the world? What is it that motivates you? Or keeps you from being motivated?" his voice had grown a little melancholy. His thoughts kept him from being able to formulate the question properly like he wanted to and like he envisioned in his head. But despite that he would sit quietly and turn his head towards the man and wait patiently to see how he responded, he held a straight face with as blank an expression as he could have had, inquisitively listening in to him.

[551 words, 1783 words total]

The teenager didn't seem to defeated after being rejected by the girl, and he was overall fairly relaxed in his demeanor, which helped ease Issei's general discomfort around strangers. He let out a sigh as he stretched and then responded with, "That's the truth if I've ever heard it!", with a lighthearted chuckle. He was sitting a bit to the side of the bench, clearly leaving room for Issei to sit if he wanted to. Issei refrained from taking a seat just yet, but the boy continued speaking to him. He said he wanted to ask Issei a question, and introduced himself as Maigo Mugetsu before going on some slight tangent about how Issei was basically older and probably wiser, which caught Issei off guard. He wondered if he was starting to get wrinkles or if it was the white hair that made people assume his age was on the higher side. It wasn't an incorrect assumption by any means but he liked to think that he was still in peak physical condition, especially considering his shinobi training. Nonetheless, the tangent ended and the question was "what do you think of the world?", put simply, along with "what motivates you?". Issei figured it would be strange to continue standing and talking down to Maigo, so he took a seat, very gingerly leaving space between them so that they wouldn't make physical contact. His expression had hardened again and he was back to looking stern and pissed off as ever, even though he was feeling fine.

"That's a pretty vague question. The world is harsh and life is fairly pointless. My favorite things are the beautiful and fleeting, like a sunset or a mountain view. Something I can sit back and enjoy before I take the inevitable trip to my grave. But my biggest motivation as of late is vengeance." He stopped there, not wanting to get too deep into it. He figured it was only polite to ask the same question, whether or not he cared to hear the answer. He leaned his arm against the railing of the bench, resting his chin in his palm as he turned to Maigo. "What about you? And why do you ask? Expected me to be some kind of omniscient sage who's lived a million years or what? I'm only 30, you know..." He neglected to mention that he was coming up on 31 very soon.

Maigo slid over a small amount as the man approached the bench and sat down, not enough to make any real difference in space but more of a gesture to create those few centimeters of room more between them. Maigo noticed his face fall sullen, much more introspective perhaps, and more stern than he imagined. Wondering briefly if he had set off some trigger of anxiety or grief with his question, drawing attention to an existential crisis of his own that he might be having as well. He continued to listen though, his eyes ran slowly around him as he listened, drawing ever slowly back to his face and melancholy expression, matching the words he spoke all the same.

At his stopping point, Maigo leaned back and exhaled through his nose briefly and yet sharply all the same, letting his back rest further against the seat and his eyes fall straight ahead. Contemplating for a second as he asked Maigo in return, giving a slight retort at the end about his age... as if Maigo had a care what his true age were? His response would come after a long and sullen sigh of his own,

"30 or 300, still older than me..." he added, his eyes still forward focusing in on nothing in particular, "And that was a depressing answer... I don't know the answer either. I don't think I'd be as bold to call life pointless though. Otherwise everything would be pointless, wouldn't it?" he continued on and turned his head sharply towards the man to see his reaction towards it.

"You say you love the beautiful and fleeting, and yet, if life is pointless, then why do we gain value from that? I understand the want for vengeance... anger boiled up, but if it's pointless, then why do we care? The fleeting means nothing in the eyes of the fragile. If we're to gain more from this life, then it has to mean more.. it has to, I won't accept any less than the truth of it all..." he spoke. His words were ideological and thought out, well pronounced and stern, yet his tone was light and fragile as he returned his focus back on to the few people passing by. He barely spoke at a conversational level.

"Whatever that truth is though, it beats me..." he added again after a brief pause, continuing his forward glance and waiting for a response from the man if he were to give any.

[421 words, 2204 words total]

The rather solemn subject matter at hand seemed to put a damper on Maigo's mood, although Issei probably looked the same way, but realistically Issei always looked to be some degree of unhappy or upset because his face was bent into an everlasting frown and his eyebrows seemed to be permanently furrowed. "I don't think I'd be as bold to call life pointless, though. Otherwise, everything would be pointless, wouldn't it?" Issei nodded and thought to himself Precisely like the true nihilist he was, but he didn't bother to interrupt Maigo, who continued speaking in a very low voice. He seemed genuinely upset, unwilling to accept the possibility of pointlessness, saying that he wanted to seek the truth, though he wasn't quite sure what it was. Issei didn't break eye contact with him, staring directly into his soul so to speak though Maigo seemed to be focusing on people walking by and not Issei. Once he got whatever he wanted to say off of his chest, Issei chimed back in.

"Just because something is pointless doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy it while it lasts. Everybody lives; some people seek knowledge, others power, most of the time both since they go hand in hand. The thing everyone really wants is stability. But tell me, once you die, what's left? You lose everything you ever had in life and you don't exist to the world, eventually forgotten like every ancestor before us. Tell me, what was the point if it's all going to end one day? It's not about me gaining 'value' from the fleeting and beautiful, it's about doing and experiencing things that I enjoy so that I can have a good time. There is nothing of value, in the greater scope of things, and whether you agree or not, my prerogative is not to gain anything from life because once it's over I'm going to lose it all anyway. It's a wonder I'm not self-destructive or suicidal...I think there's some kind of optimist in me, underneath it all." Issei cleared his throat, finally breaking eye contact with Maigo to turn to the side until he heard his neck pop. He brought a hand to it and rubbed it softly, figuring maybe his age was getting to him after all, with a chuckle. Considering he could manipulate his skeleton, he should have been the least likely to feel stiff and have chronic pains in his bones.

Maigo listened briefly, his mood dampened by the moment, even if they were really depressing on their own, Maigo felt his mind dampen a bit further beyond that. Listening to his words and his attempt to change the mood, perhaps it was less brightening the day up and more of justifying the nihilistic personification of their thoughts incarnate. Everybody lives; some people seek knowledge, others power, most of the time both since they go hand in hand. The thing everyone really wants is stability. But tell me, once you die, what's left? the words cut through Maigo's brain more so than any of the others did. For whatever it was worth, Maigo could relate to it, having had the same thoughts himself. Further delving deeper and beyond into that so called Uchiha curse of hatred, he wondered if there were redemption and this realization and existential crisis burned in his mind, though for different reasons than perhaps this own man thought. He seemed far more inherently negative than Maigo's own situational depression, from the path that he led himself on. And no amount of flirting and catcalling was gonna let him escape that reality, not now and not for the foreseeable future.

He continued to listen, a soft exhale about doing and experiencing things, he spoke some truth, but it wasn't enough of a justification for anything. Maigo wouldn't impose though, that was his truth, but Maigo's eyes saw reality, and what the world really stood for. It was only worth a damn because it was short, and something that doesn't last long had to serve some sort of purpose, else-wise there really was no point. A small half smile broke on Maigo's face amidst the melancholy of their conversation, at his quip about being an optimist. "An optimist' body but a nihilist mind, at the very least..." he turned to him and laughed a bit as he stretched and cracked his bones.

"There is some truth there, I've found power and always from pain, there's nothing there for me and yet it's really all I have to my identity all the same. It's almost like the curse of a shinobi, maybe I'm just fighting against that loop and lifestyle, I've thought about it for sometime now..." he offered and let his gaze rotate around, to the shops and passers-by, and to the sky above them to find a pair of small birds flying along. After a short pause, assuming he hadn't said anything in response or questioned Maigo of anything, he'd add another bit just off topic for the moment,

"My name's Maigo by the way, Maigo Mugestu. I don't think I caught yours?" he would ask and rotate his hand a bit so his palm was up as he looked towards the man, perhaps a basic introduction was long overdue. They certainly had similar enough thoughts, even if for different reasons at the base value and all.


[509 words, 2713 words total]
[Exit Thread]

Training:

The man facing Issei admitted that there was some truth to what he was saying, and related it back to an infinite trade-off of power and pain and essentially what being a shinobi boiled down to at its base. There they were, two Kirigakure ninja with the same endgame, regardless of what came before them. Their affiliation to the same village as warriors for some transient cause and way of life in a village kept Issei interested enough in this new subject, this teenager who openly and unashamedly flirted with girls and yet managed to hold up a fairly complex philosophical discussion, with his long black hair and his lips that remained somewhere between a smirk and a simper. But then, there was a name to place on him, which in a regular conversation would have likely been the first thing out of a person's mouth, in a rush to identify themselves, to leave a decent first impression, to make a stranger think the best of them although most of the time it didn't really matter anyway. Issei liked that the name came last in this instance. Reminded him again of the boy's seeming disregard for social customs, though he hadn't had enough time observing him to quite know what to predict from him next. "My name's Maigo by the way, Maigo Mugestu. I don't think I caught yours?" The alliterative name rolled right off the tongue, smooth yet rhythmic all at once. Issei went over it in his thoughts more than once, pushing it back in hopes that it would find its way to the image of Maigo he had committed to memory. Then was the time for a response, and Issei toyed with the idea of saying his long-forgotten penname rather than his actual name for just a brief second before deciding it would be more of an inside joke to himself than some grand reveal of his status as a "famous" author.

"Issei Momochi. Shinobi, novelist, historian, world traveler, killjoy, et cetera et cetera. Pleased to meet you, Maigo. I hope you don't mind me dropping my silent, stoic act for a bit to get to know you. I assure you I don't always spout didactic ramblings on and on senselessly when asked a question like this." Alas, he had other errands to run that day, and there they were, nagging at him in hushed tones inside his unnaturally malleable skull. A grim thought, but sometimes he wondered if he could commit suicide by compacting his skull until it crushed his brain. It would certainly be a dramatic way to go, a gruesome, internalized kill switch if he ever grew tired of it all. But! The show couldn't end there, not yet, so he smiled at Maigo one more time. "This old man needs to get going. Believe it or not, I have to go find a place to live. It was nice talking to you, Maigo Mugetsu. I'm sure our paths will cross again, whether it be as civilians or shinobi."

Issei started to walk away, heading west toward the sun which would be setting within a few hours. He knew that there were a few open places for rent in the area of the village closer to the gate, so that was his next destination. He was reluctant to leave and would have liked to stay longer and relax, but simultaneously, the idea of continuing to socialize seemed so alien to him that he didn't mind fighting through his initial unwillingness to continue doing what he needed to. It was nice to have made a friend in Maigo, and so he left it at that. Furthermore, he understood that things take time and so long as he was putting in the effort, he would find a new place to stay as well as accomplish his long term goals both as a fighter with a taste for vengeance and a human being with a sharp sense of curiosity and a desire to explore. Everything kind of tied together in a nice little bow. Daydreams of passionate affairs and good food in the Land of Stone, or the peace of mind provided by the crashing tides just outside the Mist Village. Focusing on his goals and where he wanted to be was his secret to staying calm despite the general disarray that surrounded him; you could even say that it filled him with determination.


[ Exit Thread ]

Training: