1 Sound and Shadow [Private/No Kill] Wed Sep 14, 2016 5:09 pm
Shinako
D-rank
A young member of the Nara clan was returning from an assassination mission in the land of grass. It was the rainy season, and his trip was slowed by mud. His camping was miserable, and he had not been warmed by a fire in many days when he came to the Naka River. Due to the rain, the Naka surged at almost three times her normal height, threatening to break free of her banks and flood. It was impossible for the young Nara to cross, and the sight of the river perplexed him.
In his frustration, he caught sight of Master Shikamatsu on the far bank of the river, peering into it thoughtfully. Yelling to his master, the young man asked Shikamatsu how he could cross to the other side. The Master surveyed the water and looked over it to the bank beneath his student's feet. "But my young friend....," said Master, "....you are on the other side."
As she did every morning, Shinako had awakened before dawn, bathed, dressed, and equipped herself. In keeping with custom, she then embarked on her morning run. Even her path through the still sleepy village had been unchanged. All of her daily nods, waves, and smiles occurred, more or less, in their designated places and at their expected times. The streets still smelled like freshly baked bread, and the Genin still darted from home to home, delivering the day's newspaper. On her face, Konohagakure never changed.
What made this morning different, was that, as Shinako came to the normal bend in the road at the end of her circuit which would take her back through the village gates, she did not turn. Instead, she broke from tradition and ran off the road, headed north into the forest. Not once did she look over her shoulder, back to the village. Nobody seemed to take notice of the young woman breaking through the underbrush. If they had, perhaps they would have thought her a mad girl, escaping from reality for a while. Perhaps they would have thought that something inside her had cracked. They would not have been particularly far off.
In truth, Shinako had not made up her mind until just that moment. As she ran, her appointments for the next few days rushed through her racing thoughts, begging for a justification of her act of abandonment. She could find none. Her body moved on its own, in defiance of everything strict and ordered in her. The rational, in that moment, separated completely from her motivation, and she had to slow her pace and catch her breath. Soon, as the moment threatened to overwhelm her, she stopped beneath the trees, panting heavily. Her body and mind both threatened to betray her...to strike her down for this last act of hope. A few dizzy moments, stemming from the emotional and physical exertion of it all, pinned Shinako in place, just as her shadow could steal the motion from a living thing.
After a long while under the shade of the trees, she began to run once again.
515/515
In his frustration, he caught sight of Master Shikamatsu on the far bank of the river, peering into it thoughtfully. Yelling to his master, the young man asked Shikamatsu how he could cross to the other side. The Master surveyed the water and looked over it to the bank beneath his student's feet. "But my young friend....," said Master, "....you are on the other side."
As she did every morning, Shinako had awakened before dawn, bathed, dressed, and equipped herself. In keeping with custom, she then embarked on her morning run. Even her path through the still sleepy village had been unchanged. All of her daily nods, waves, and smiles occurred, more or less, in their designated places and at their expected times. The streets still smelled like freshly baked bread, and the Genin still darted from home to home, delivering the day's newspaper. On her face, Konohagakure never changed.
What made this morning different, was that, as Shinako came to the normal bend in the road at the end of her circuit which would take her back through the village gates, she did not turn. Instead, she broke from tradition and ran off the road, headed north into the forest. Not once did she look over her shoulder, back to the village. Nobody seemed to take notice of the young woman breaking through the underbrush. If they had, perhaps they would have thought her a mad girl, escaping from reality for a while. Perhaps they would have thought that something inside her had cracked. They would not have been particularly far off.
In truth, Shinako had not made up her mind until just that moment. As she ran, her appointments for the next few days rushed through her racing thoughts, begging for a justification of her act of abandonment. She could find none. Her body moved on its own, in defiance of everything strict and ordered in her. The rational, in that moment, separated completely from her motivation, and she had to slow her pace and catch her breath. Soon, as the moment threatened to overwhelm her, she stopped beneath the trees, panting heavily. Her body and mind both threatened to betray her...to strike her down for this last act of hope. A few dizzy moments, stemming from the emotional and physical exertion of it all, pinned Shinako in place, just as her shadow could steal the motion from a living thing.
After a long while under the shade of the trees, she began to run once again.
515/515