Well, Iwa was certainly interesting... if you liked looking at rocks all damned day. Okay, so the place wasn't that bad: maybe her slightly irritated mood was just making her a bit cranky. She had woken up about an hour ago - the birds chirping waking her up far before her eight in the morning alarm was supposed to - to the arm that had been crushed almost completely just a week or so prior throbbing in pain. Amaya had told her it might happen from time to time, but it had almost been enough to make her scream: something she held back from doing since she didn't want Tre, Kenta, or their new friend to come running in thinking something was wrong.

No, last thing she needed was several people blowing a hole through the wall thinking she was in some kind of trouble. Nope, nope, and nope. Still rubbing her sore arm, and not yet bothering to change out of her white basketball style shorts or tank top let alone fix the messy bun at the top of her head, Nana left her room and entered into the main area of the suite. The moment her bedroom door was open the wonderful smell of brewing coffee reached her nose and she groaned in anticipation of the cup she was about to get.

Half blind at the moment given her eyes hadn't fully opened she stumbled her way toward the smell of the coffee, thankfully avoiding anything she might have run into. She grabbed a clean cup off of the counter, poured herself a mug full, threw some sugar and creamer into it, and then made her way over to one of the stools by the counter. No sooner did she put the mug down that she began to rub her previously injured arm again.

"... Fuck man." she muttered beneath her breath.

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Dreams were always interesting. In one's dreams, one could do anything, anything that they could imagine. Often, it was things of great happiness that one imagined; like being the best in the world, of finally triumphing over great adversity.

Other times, like now, it could be one's greatest nightmare. A dream where one feels as if they have no control over whats happening within. Something set on repeat, an endless loop of the worst moment in your life, playing before your eyes. A knife kissing flesh, the bead of red swelling up where they met. The tear streaked face of his mother as she urged her son to run, unknown to her that her son had been trapped in a Temporary Paralysis jutsu, forced to watch the gruesome scene.

The child's mind remembered, watching as the hand wrapped in his mother's hair jerked on her head, exposing more of the flesh as the knife kissed harder, drawing a fountain of vitae as it passed over the the elder woman's neck. The child could only tremble as his mother's eyes rolled back in her skull, the front of her of pretty white dress stained a dark red.

Wake up.

The thud was loud in his young ears, the sound of his mother's lifeless body hitting the floor. The knife flashed in the light, tears stained the child's cheek.

I'm so sorry.

His hair was grabbed roughly, pulled back to expose his own neck. And as the knife was brought to his neck to bite it, he could hear the sound of his father laughing as the male gripped the knife tighter.

"My gods, you are pathetic. Thank the gods you and weak siblings are not my flesh or blood."

~~~~

Electricity crackled across the sleeping male's skin in response to his mental stress, burning lines though the bed on which he slept. With a jolt and a crack of thunder, the male sat upright, panting heavily. For a long moment, he forgot where he was until memory struck; he was safe. He was in Iwagakure with the Lord Hokage, Kenta Inuzuka and his guest, Satoshi. Even his cousin had tagged along, following them to the Village Hidden in the Stones a few days later. So, what the fuck was going on through his mind?!

Perhaps he needed something to settle himself?

Pushing out of bed, slipped into a pair of shorts so that he was decent to walk about outside his bedroom of the suite. As he walked out, he was greeted with the sight of Nanalie standing by the table in the main area of the suite and the scent of freshly made coffee. Blinking some, the male stumbled over towards the table and proceeded to pour himself a cup of the glorious black gold.

"Morning."

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As she heard a door open she automatically dropped her hand: she didn't like the idea of worrying anyone with the fact that she was still in pain, or worse making it seem like she couldn't handle her own while being here. The last thing she wanted was to end up sent home because she was still dealing with the aftermath of the attack against her. Instead she decided to occupy her time with lifting up her cup of delicious coffee and sipping it for a moment.

"Morning.", she responded after putting her cup back down, lifting her hand to stifle the yawn that then escaped. She was by no means a morning person. In fact, had it not been for the birds chirping that woke her up she likely would have snoozed her alarm another three hours or so and slept the majority of the morning away. There was a reason she wanted to be up at eight though, she just couldn't remember what that reason was.

"I don't know who made the coffee this morning but they're a god send...", she spoke softly, unsure if Kenta was up yet or not but smart enough to know the Inuzuka had senses greater than she could ever hope to achieve. The cup of caramel colored gold was brought back up to her lips and sipped. After another moment she glanced down into her cup, noticing with a small frown that it was almost empty. "Mmm... this is why I have a giant coffee cup the size of a bowl back home... it never lasts long enough."

After draining the last of her cup, placing the pitifully empty coffee cup down on the table, Nana took to rolling her shoulders for a moment until a resounding pop could be heard. "Might have to make a sling shot and eliminate those noisy birds before tomorrow... Did they wake you up too?" Absently, as she waited for a response as to why her cousin was indeed up at this very ungodly and unholy hour she began to rub her arm once more.

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"Morning."

Tre offered her a small smile as he stepped around her and set about making himself a cup of coffee. As the male moved, he became lost in the simple motions and lost in thought at the same time; it had been months since the last time that he had it. The last time he had this particular dream, his brother Due had up and vanished soon after. While he was sure Due was fine, the young man could not help but link the two events together. If that dream was an omen of bad things to come, then what was going to happen this time? Pushing the thoughts from his head, the male reached out the creamer to add to his coffee.


"I don't know who made the coffee this morning but they're a god send... Mmm... this is why I have a giant coffee cup the size of a bowl back home... it never lasts long enough."

Tre actually chuckled at this, nodding in agreement as he he stirred the creamer into his coffee then proceeded to add sugar. He could only assume that either the Lord Hokage Kenta or his guest had prepared the pot, but he was very grateful. After eyeing the cup for a moment and noting that he did not add quite enough creamer, he grabbed the creamer again to add a bit more.

"Might have to make a sling shot and eliminate those noisy birds before tomorrow... Did they wake you up too?"

Tre shook his head. While he would not share the exact reason as to why he was awake, he could give Nana an acceptable answer that was not completely a lie. Turning towards her, he offered her another small smile, taking note that she was rubbing her arm, the very same one that she had nearly lost recently. "I could not sleep, to be honest. Figured I would get up and do some sightseeing if I could." Turning back to his coffee for a second, he stirred it once more before his voice dropped to a seductive whisper, tongue peeking from betwixt his lips to give them a slow lick.

"Come here, you big beautiful cup of coffee and lie to me about how much we are going to get done today." The cup was raised to his lips, which in turn parted to allow the sweet, glorious liquid to spill over his tongue and flow down his throat in great gulps. As he drank from the elixir of life, the young male could literally feel his body come to life; the engine of destruction housed within him powered up, and he became ready to tackle the day.

As the warmth from the cup spread throughout his body, the male turned his attention to his cousin once more, an eyebrow perking up. Motioning towards her arm with the now empty cup, he spoke calmly and clearly, using that deadly precision he was well known for. "Have been taking your medicine, Nana? I saw you rubbing your arm; is it not strong enough?" Of course, he was concerned for his cousin; why should he not be? If the medicine was not working, then perhaps a stronger dose would work?

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"I could not sleep, to be honest. Figured I would get up and do some sightseeing if I could." That was something she could understand. She had trouble sleeping on the best of days and the only reason she had got any sleep at all last night was because she had been exhausted enough to truly pass out. If it wasn't nightmares keeping her awake at night it was something waking her up in the middle of the night, or at least earlier than she wanted to be up.

Nana brought her cup of coffee to her lips once more, attempting to ignore her throbbing and aching arm in the process. The coffee was deliciously made and it definitely was doing its job in waking her up more than she had been. Just as she was about to take another sip she heard her cousin say "Come here, you big beautiful cup of coffee and lie to me about how much we are going to get done today." and couldn't help but laugh: placing her cup down in the process as to not spill it all over herself - she didn't want to add burns to her list of injuries or else someone was likely going to stick her in a bubble for her own safety.

"Have been taking your medicine, Nana? I saw you rubbing your arm; is it not strong enough?" The question caused the smile that had formed on her face to vanish and she actually squirmed in her seat a bit like a little kid in trouble. She didn't believe in lying, especially when it came to family, so she would have to answer Tre with the truth even if she didn't want to. "I uh.... haven't been taking it actually." Goose bumps broke up across her flesh at the thought of drugs - even those considered medication. "I know it's from a doctor so it's not... wrong... but I'm..." God, this was hard to admit, even to family: she was frightened, she was terrified of getting hooked again. Even though the drugs had been forced on her, that taking them had not been her idea, she had become addicted just the same and the path that addiction had taken her life down had not been a glorious one. She was terrified to repeat it. "I'm afraid to take them... I brought them with me like Doctor Amaya requested but I haven't taken them. I can't bring myself to do it... I just keep remembering how my life was before... and I'm afraid... of becoming addicted..."

Nana went to reach for her coffee then, falling silent in the process, but as she reached for the glass mug she found that her hand was shaking too badly to grasp it. Instead, she closed her hand and dropped them down to her lap, staring at them in a way that spoke of trying to avoid eye contact. In an almost absent like way she began to pick at her nails, trying her hardest not to look at anyone or anything even though she knew her cousin was still present beside her.

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"I uh.... haven't been taking it actually."

What..? Why was she not taking her medicine? Recovering from what she went through, the pain must have been terrible, so why was she not taking her medication?

"I know it's from a doctor so it's not... wrong... but I'm... I'm afraid to take them... I brought them with me like Doctor Amaya requested but I haven't taken them. I can't bring myself to do it... I just keep remembering how my life was before... and I'm afraid... of becoming addicted..."

It clicked in the young man's mind then; to Nana drugs were drugs, prescription or not. A prescription drug was just easier to obtain, and just as easy to get addicted to. Despite not having been into drugs himself, he could sympathize with how Nana felt. It had to be hard for her, having been clean all this time and to be given something by a well-meaning person that could very well start her back down that dark road. The male paused, biting his bottom lip for a moment. There had to be some way to get her to take the medicine, and yet make her feel safe to do so. Perhaps, an indirect route would be best? He would need to talk to her doctor, Amaya Uchiha, before any decision could be made -- and of course, he would need Nana to agree to such changes. For the moment, he made a mental note to bring this up later.

"All.. right. I can understand how you feel about the situation, so I will not push it right now. Lets put a pin in that, and get some breakfast instead?" Almost as if on cue, his stomach rumbled loudly, causing a grin to break out over his face as he patted his belly. Damn thing had a mind of its own sometimes, and coffee only made it hungrier. "I am sure you could use something to eat as well; I would hope that we could sample some local flavor today."

Stepping away from Nana and the coffee table, the male ducked back into his room for a moment, pulling open a drawer to a night stand; he was sure that he had seen some brochures to a few nearby restaurants when they had checked in.  Sure enough after a moment's search, the young man found the brochures and pulled the out. Returning to the common area where he had left Nana a moment before, he held out the the five or six flyers for her to inspect.

"Take your pick, Nana. The meal is on me today, do not worry about it.

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-Thread Exit-

”All.. right. I can understand how you feel about the situation, so I will not push it right now. Lets put a pin in that, and get some breakfast instead? Her cousin seemed to have accepted her explanation easily enough: not entirely a shock to her considering he knew all about her past and what she used to be involved in - whether it was her fault or not. Unlike most people she had been lucky enough to find a few compassionate souls in her cousin and Kenta sensei who looked past what used to be and focused on what could be. It was nice not to be judged harshly all the time: it made it easier to ignore those who did. She watched as her cousin walked out of the room and back into his bedroom for a moment. While sipping her coffee she could hear him doing what sounded like rifling through a drawer for a moment before he returned holding several brochures for local places to eat around the village. ”Take your pick, Nana. The meal is on me today, do not worry about it.”

Out of the handful Nana picked three that looked interesting and took a moment to look through each one. The first seemed to serve what looked like a lot of raw food; mostly fish. The second looked a little bland: the same sort of food they could get any time on any day back home. The third brochure seemed to be more to Nana’s appetite: exotic meats and other food that looked good and which she hoped would taste good too. There were plenty of foods she had never had, had never tried, that looked more than appetizing.

”Hmm… let’s get some food from here. It looks good at least… and if it tastes as good as it looks I think we might have found a little spot of Heaven on earth.”, she said with a playful grin, her decision made unless her cousin found something else more appealing than that.
As she waited for Tre’s response she found herself shutting the mental and proverbial drawer of the pain medication talk. It was easy to be distracted when around people she cared about, especially when they were making plans to do something like go to a good place with good food. She was by no means a glutton, but she could eat most people under the table - there was little dainty and ladylike with her when it came to eating: she had manners but just barely. Easily able to hold her own when it came to eating: she was by no means a salad and carrot sticks and celery type girl. She wanted meat, and she wanted a lot of it. Salad could be saved for the rabbits. Even now as she thought about her stomach began to grumble and roar with impatience as it demanded to be fed good food in large quantities: thank god she was an active ninja with a fast metabolism.

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