Nagare sat down in the exact middle of the Thunder Grounds. It was around midnight, and the pitch black clouds overhead threw lightning bolts down from the sky here and there, cracking the ground with loud blasts and thunder. He didn't care if he was hit by lightning. His closest friend had just willingly killed him. Well, Horui, technically, but at the time, Gakuto thought it was him. All hope was lost for the once-so-kind Gakuto, who was shy, feeble, and intelligent. The potential he had was focused in the wrong direction. Nagare knew there was no way to stop him without killing him.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind, and Horui sat down next to him, still in pain from the wound that had left a hole in his throat. Good thing he didn't use it anyway.

Are you feeling okay, Nagare? thought Horui.

That's a stupid question. he replied.

They both new that they hadn't gotten any stronger than they had been as Genin, and something as minor as this combated with something as major as Gakuto's defection, left the two contemplating their purposes in life. Why did they become ninja in the first place? They wanted knowledge more than power. Isn't knowledge the equivalent of power? What's knowledge's purpose, anyways, and what's power's? Even the people with the most knowledge and power in life still died one day, and that wouldn't carry over into the afterlife.

They continued brooding quietly as the lightning flashed around them.

The darkness of the night had been illuminated by her glowing blue eyes, she had set off to see a boy, well a man actually, in the dead of the night in the midst of the habitual thunderstorm of the area. Her thoughts were muddled, still quite unsure why she was doing such a thing aside from the fact that the two were on the same squad. Perhaps it was the craving for human interaction that drove her? Despite her strong front the fact of the matter was that she was as human as anyone else, and as such there was a need for social connection with others... Or, perhaps it was the copious amount of oxycontin she had just ingested? A prescription given to ease the pain of a fractured hand, she had suffered a 'boxer's break', and on top of that fractured several metacarpals leaving her right hand wrapped in gauze and covered by a splint. She would never admit it, but the pain before taking the drug was near excruciating...

Regardless of the reason there she was approaching the man, catching his clone asking if he was alright only to catch a sullen reply. It seemed Nagare was distressed about something or others, leading her to ask why she had been brought there. She wasn't the most comforting person after all.

Thunder boomed, and lightning fell as she stood behind the man taking a moment to look into the pitch black sky, "When I was a young lass my father, who I haven't seen since the age of five," due to her being raised communally "He used to always tell me that lightning was the flash of our elders eyes looking down upon us, protecting our people, the thunder that followed was their unified voices reaffirming the tale...It's funny the things you remember about people past, I can barely remember his voice now." stopping herself with the feeling she was prattling on as her Sensei had done, in fact once she had finished speaking she couldn't think of a reason that she told her little tale. Probably those goddamn pain killers.

Staring at the man her typical demeanor returned as she asked, "So, why am I out here at this hour?" her left hand pushed against the hip, the right dangling at waist level.

Jishin approached from behind, and stood next to the two as she told a short story.

"When I was a young lass my father, who I haven't seen since the age of five. He used to always tell me that lightning was the flash of our elders eyes looking down upon us, protecting our people, the thunder that followed was their unified voices reaffirming the tale...It's funny the things you remember about people past, I can barely remember his voice now."

She paused a moment and finally asked, "So why am I out here at this hour?"

Nagare looked to the bandage around her hand. He was reminded of the mission, where she had smashed the puppet. His wounds were much smaller than hers, but he had many more of them. His back was covered in scabs and holes from the needles, but these were obscured by his deep red shirt. He shook his head, half-consciously. "Because a part of you cares about me. You knew I was out here, you had to have. It doesn't make any sense to come out here and sit in the Thunder Grounds when you can be hit by lightning so easily. I'm not sure why I'm out here myself, actually. A few hours ago, my old friend Gakuto who became a missing-ninja just arrived for another battle. He killed Horui, but thought it was me and awakened his Mangekyou Sharingan. He left right afterwards. I'm still not sure what to think of the situation; I may have just let a monster free in the world, with that Mangekyou of his. I'd rather not talk about it further. Come, sit down." he gestured to a spot on the ground next to him. Horui smiled as he made contact with her eyes, which were a specific shade of navy blue in the dark.

Maybe she does like you. he thought, but Nagare didn't reply.

Because part of me cares about you? ... Part of me cares about most people. she thought listening intently as he spoke of a friend with the fabled Mangekyou Sharingan, speaking that he had essentially allowed him out unto the world. Opening her mouth to speak she promptly decided against it, normally she would have scolded the bloody hell out of anyone who had made such a mistake, there would be no point in it this time as he already seemed to know the magnitude of the situation. Her beaming eyes glanced casually toward Horui locking into eye contact for a few moments before sitting beside the two, her eyes cutting toward Nagare as a flash of lightning lit the background, followed by the boom of thunder. Evident he didn't wish to speak about the man he, or so she figured, had let go she attempted to think of something else to talk about "So...", nothing came to mind. She had never been good at holding down conversations.


Sitting in silence she decided to wait for him to start a conversation, or if he wished she would simply sit there. Sometimes that's what someone needs, just a comforting gesture...Should I give him a hug? -- What the Hell am I thinking? I will do no such thing! her thought process was quite odd, then again she was quite odd herself. Still the thought lingered in the back of her mind, a nauseating fear that it would be odd, or she would be rejected if she attempted such an action. Story of her life.

So instead she sat quietly, hands draped around her knees awaiting conversation, with an softening enraptured look within her eyes.

Jishin awkwardly muttered, "So..." and trailed off. Nagare thought that it was adorable how hard it was for her to be sociable. She sat down next to them, and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking ahead. Nagare smiled, and cracked a smile. "So how was your night? Better than mine, hopefully. And how's that hand healing up?" Horui's attention span thinned and he turned to the lightning bolts in every direction far and wide.

Catching his smile an impending sense of embarrassment fell upon her, the reason as to which she felt such a way was completely unknown to her; the feeling of nonsensical judgement passed through the back of her psyche. Squirming upon the ground awkwardly in search of a more comfortable sitting position she remarked on the question of how her night and hand were doing, "I suppose I don't have any complaints about my night. My hand is another story entirely," pausing for a moment she looked toward her hand "doctor said I shouldn't be using it for the next few weeks, might further the injury. Needless to say, no punching puppets." the last bit about punching puppets was spoken in jest, her tone slightly joking.

"Doctor gave me a prescription for some major painkillers, typically I don't indulge in such things, but they seem to be doing wonders for the moment.", She was a tad bit under the influence of the drugs, which may have been loosening her tongue up a bit more than she was used to.

Looking back toward Nagare an old and extremely terrible joke popped into her mind quickly deciding to tell it she quipped, "Got a joke for you, better listen because I usually don't tell them." Jishin quickly cleared her throat before beginning the joke, "So, one day there were these three tomatoes walking down the street, poppa tomato, mama tomato, and baby tomato." her eyes bore a hole into him in an attempt to tell if he was paying attention to the joke as she continued "Anyway, so Baby tomato's lagging behind, walking too slowly, so poppa tomato, he goes back, jumping on baby tomato and says 'Ketchup!'", a faint smile crossed her face as she couldn't help but enjoy her little joke "Get it? Because tomatoes, and ketchup." the explanation was probably completely unnecessary, but hey it probably added to the overall charm of how terrible the joke was.

Nagare stared at her for a second. "Ah. I see. The similarity between the phrase, 'Catch up', and the condiment Ketchup, produced from tomatoes. It's a play on words. Very clever." But he didn't laugh, simply because jokes that pulled on homophonic sayings or words were under the large variety of jokes that he just didn't find funny. He looked up into her oceanic eyes, waves rippling in her irises in the form of reflections of the lightning. It was magnificent. He inched closer to her face unconsciously, and murmured, "Thanks for coming out here. I really needed someone to talk to."

Her joke hadn't had the intended effect as the boy picked it apart, killing the fun of it in its entirety. A smirk sat upon her face as she realized that there was no point joking with the man, clearly he was far too serious to appreciate it.

It seemed while giving his analysis upon the joke he had also decided to begin to move in closer, causing her to move further away, she disliked having people in her personal space. Such a thing would be odd considering the two were alone The Hell is he doing? she wondered continuously moving backward as he spoke about how he appreciated having someone come and talk with him, "Yeah, no problem." annoyed at the fact that he hadn't laughed at her joke and now was seemingly trying to get in close to make a move or something of that sort she figured it best to shut him down in his tracks, "Just because I'm out here doesn't mean this is going to turn into physical familiarity," weird word choice, "so you can stop closing in on me." if anyone was going to move in on someone, it would be her on him. Just not at that particular moment in time.

"Yeah, no problem. Just because I'm out here doesn't mean this is going to turn into physical familiarity. So you can stop closing in on me."

Nagare felt offended. He honestly hadn't intended to do that. He didn't know how to comprehend emotions very well, but he felt quite hurt. He brushed off his pants and stood up. "I'm sorry if that's what it seemed like to you, but I'm better than that. I'm not some mindless pig. I really have to be going." he stood up and turned, adjusting his glasses. The lightning intensified and the entire area was illuminated by incandescent sparks. The emotion in him flared equal to the flashes. Horui hadn't been paying attention, but noticed Nagare getting up to leave. He waved goodbye to Jishin and ran to catch up to Naga.

The boy seemed to have a little tiff, obviously offended by what she had said. Jishin stared disappointed, clearly he was overly sensitive "So. You're going to scamper off like that? Here I was thinking you could handle one little comment." shrugging she watched as he walked off, wondering if he would return, thinking perhaps he was bluffing.

Not that it really mattered either way, if he left she could finally get home and catch some shut eye. She gave a halfhearted wave to Horui as they walked away, sitting in silence she waited to see if Nagare was worth her time, if he could take a little insult, if he had the brass to return and tell her to shove the comment up her ass. The situation was doubtful at best.

Nagare knew that it wasn't like Jishin to be open and helpful, and he knew that he should've expected something like this from her. He was falling for her for a lot of the same reasons that they weren't meant to be together for. Two of the same kind of people don't attract, especially when one of them is much more sensitive than the other. Then again, if he was so much more sensitive than she was, they weren't really the same, were they? He didn't care. He didn't want to think about anything. A lightning bolt crashed behind him and Horui as he took his final steps toward the village before fading into the shadows.

{Exit}

Standing she watched as Nagare drifted into the cold darkness of the night, she was disappointed to say the least, "I was expecting better." dropping her head she began to walk off in the opposite direction enveloped by the same cold darkness Nagare had just moments before.



[exit]