1 Meeting by the White Lily of the Sand [Sanosuke/Plot] Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:01 pm
Suzume
D-rank
2 years prior…
The sun beat hot on the narrow path, which wound through the fresh spring garden like a cobbled stream. I thought there would have been more people on the garden tour on a day like today, but I hadn't seen a single soul since I had set foot in the greenhouse about a hour back. As I walked, I saw a small placid pond choked with leaves fallen from a gathering of oaks, huddled around the pond like a Savannah watering hole. To my right, I saw a refurbished bird bath tipped carelessly and never righted. It didn't seem like people came back here often to fix anything.
Looking into the glassy surface, I saw my own reflection and reflected that I needed a bit more sun. It was a decent day to go out and tan, too, even though it made me look a bit young for my 23 years of age. The sun, which passed through the overarching glass canopy, hit my face in subtle beams and another leaf gently fell into the pond, sending ripples across the water. I knelt by the pond and watched each ring in the water expanded calmly as their energy was spent and the water had returned to a state of peace.
I often lost track of time here, the world seemed to fall away. I flexed my long forearms, taut from my time spent climbing up the walls around the village. It was exhausting, but the peace that I felt here was the perfect remedy. I let my mind recede, watching the ripples slowly fade in reverse. Picking up the pace of the receding, I soon found myself in a distant memory, my eyes getting lost in the memory once it spotted a white lily resting upon the pond’s surface.
Meeting up with the rest of my squad, taking on a mission to stop a group of brigands from oppressing a town by the coast. There were only three of us: Miho, Ichirou, and I. We had found the group heading down the valley that lead straight to the coastal town. Now I remembered what was going to happen, and being stuck in the memory, couldn’t stop what was to happen. The three of us leapt down, falling from the sides of the valley. We had the brigands by their flanks. There was no hope for them. Yet, just like a cornered beast, they managed to strike back. The fight went on for hours, far too many than were supposed to have been allowed. By the end, it had been too late. We were just chuunin, sent to take on an entire group of experienced brigands. How naïve we were back then. How naïve I had been. In the end, only I had made it out of the valley. And from then on I had been given that nickname.
My eyes opened, tired of reliving that memory. The white lily still floated. Solitary and standing firm, it floated.
”Some things never change, do they?”
I said more to myself than to the lily. The white lily, the very nickname that had bumped me up to Specail Jounin and the everlasting reminder of the cost it took to give me that name. I slowly got up and turned away from the pond, unwilling to look at the lily again.
The sun beat hot on the narrow path, which wound through the fresh spring garden like a cobbled stream. I thought there would have been more people on the garden tour on a day like today, but I hadn't seen a single soul since I had set foot in the greenhouse about a hour back. As I walked, I saw a small placid pond choked with leaves fallen from a gathering of oaks, huddled around the pond like a Savannah watering hole. To my right, I saw a refurbished bird bath tipped carelessly and never righted. It didn't seem like people came back here often to fix anything.
Looking into the glassy surface, I saw my own reflection and reflected that I needed a bit more sun. It was a decent day to go out and tan, too, even though it made me look a bit young for my 23 years of age. The sun, which passed through the overarching glass canopy, hit my face in subtle beams and another leaf gently fell into the pond, sending ripples across the water. I knelt by the pond and watched each ring in the water expanded calmly as their energy was spent and the water had returned to a state of peace.
I often lost track of time here, the world seemed to fall away. I flexed my long forearms, taut from my time spent climbing up the walls around the village. It was exhausting, but the peace that I felt here was the perfect remedy. I let my mind recede, watching the ripples slowly fade in reverse. Picking up the pace of the receding, I soon found myself in a distant memory, my eyes getting lost in the memory once it spotted a white lily resting upon the pond’s surface.
Meeting up with the rest of my squad, taking on a mission to stop a group of brigands from oppressing a town by the coast. There were only three of us: Miho, Ichirou, and I. We had found the group heading down the valley that lead straight to the coastal town. Now I remembered what was going to happen, and being stuck in the memory, couldn’t stop what was to happen. The three of us leapt down, falling from the sides of the valley. We had the brigands by their flanks. There was no hope for them. Yet, just like a cornered beast, they managed to strike back. The fight went on for hours, far too many than were supposed to have been allowed. By the end, it had been too late. We were just chuunin, sent to take on an entire group of experienced brigands. How naïve we were back then. How naïve I had been. In the end, only I had made it out of the valley. And from then on I had been given that nickname.
My eyes opened, tired of reliving that memory. The white lily still floated. Solitary and standing firm, it floated.
”Some things never change, do they?”
I said more to myself than to the lily. The white lily, the very nickname that had bumped me up to Specail Jounin and the everlasting reminder of the cost it took to give me that name. I slowly got up and turned away from the pond, unwilling to look at the lily again.
Last edited by Suzume on Fri Mar 25, 2016 5:28 pm; edited 1 time in total