It would be five in the morning within the Living Quarters of Iwagakure. Within one of the poorer apartments of the area, which would be populated with apartments, houses, mansions, and all in between, lied the home of Hitoshi Yasuko, whom of which lived here for a few months now. Shortly after moving out his family still sends his siblings to check on him every once in a while and make sure that he's still subservient to the wills of the family, including at least on some occurrences visiting in order to continue testing himself against his siblings. Still though, Hitoshi was happier than he has been while living inside that apartment complex, and the fact that he finally has something to call his still makes him smile just from just thinking about it.

The Genin would be sleeping soundly within his bed, his hair messier than usual due to needing to shower for the day and dressed in only underwear, covered by blankets and sheets. The curtains of this one-bedroom apartment would be closed, enshrouding the bedroom, kitchen, and living room in a peaceful shroud of darkness. Everything would be completely silent for the Genin, whom of which remained asleep, save for the occasional ticking of a clock. Tick, tock, tick tock it went, signifying the slow, gradual transition between minutes. Closer and closer it got, reaching that ever so fated signal that is was yet another hour, and another new day.

Suddenly, sunlight would be beaming through his windows and into the apartment, immediately lighting the entire location with natural light as something would crash down into the small table next to Hitoshi's bed, sending small bits and pieces of wood flying everywhere and immediately waking up the Genin, alerting him to the fact that there would be a possible home invader within his home. Looking around in surprise, he would reach on the side of his bed, grabbing his Kunai, which he kept nearby for personal protection, immediately throwing it towards the unknown stranger, hearing a small thunk as it would get lodged in the forehead of the black and white mask, causing the intruder to let out a yelp in surprise as he took it off, revealing who, to Hitoshi's displeasure, it was.

"What're you trying to do little bro, kill me?" Hitoshi's older brother, Watari, would exclaim as he looked at his mask with a slightly disappointed look, dropping the mace he he just recently used on the ground, using his new free hand to dislodge and toss aside the weapon before rubbing a thumb over the punctured area. "Great, now I have to fix this up, and it's all thanks to you, little traitor." He's say, near mumbling the label at the end before shrugging the altercation off, going back to his usual, cocky smirk. As he was waking up, Hitoshi can see his elder brother was already ready for the day, what with his black and white coat, brown shirt, blue pants, and black boots, which generally was his usual attire.

That usually seemed to be his sort of style, however, as Watari was always the type to never change. Hitoshi always remembered his older brother to also be one of the least mature, and definitely the most arrogant. Watching him as he rubbed his eyes, Hitoshi wanted some answers. "What are you even doing here, Watari? I thought we didn't even have anything planned for the family today." Hitoshi would ask. Honestly, usually it was Oishi that comes by whenever Hitoshi is needed in family-related business, though he assumed that the reason Oishi didn't come by is because he's doing some sort of assignment for father, probably involving settling a dispute in the family.

"In case you haven't heard, Mom is dead." Watari would say nonchalantly as he turned around, pointing towards the Genin all the while. "She died from unknown means, Oishi is off helping father get her ready for the cremation. Nice underwear by the way." He'd say, shocking the Genin. "What... she's... dead?" Hitoshi would say in response as Watari would begin trailing to the nearby kitchen, grabbing a cup of ramen noodles. He never expected his mother to die out of nowhere, not to mention having died from unknown means as well, the added on indifference his own brother is announcing it with would only serve to further shock him. "How could you...?" Hitoshi would begin, only to be interrupted.

"How could I what? I didn't kill her, I just came by to tell you. Don't shoot the messenger because you think you're better than the rest of us." His brother would reply in a teasing manner, flicking one of two pieces of a pair of chopsticks towards the half-naked male. "You should go get cleaned up and head straight towards the complex, father will want you present for the cremation." Watari would say as he grabbed the prepared cup, picking up his mace and beginning to walk towards one of the windows, which turns out was open. "I'll see you there, Hito, don't be late or else it won't be the table I add my own personal touch to next time."

As Watari would exit through the window, Hitoshi would remain at his bed, still in shock about what had just happened. "She's really dead.."

wc 911

Hitoshi would be exiting his home, entering the streets of Iwagakure themselves. With his head hung low, he would merely look towards the ground, staring at the stone walkway as he would begin walk. Looking at the sandals he wore, he begun to wonder why he was even leaving the home of his. It wasn't like he was actually close to his mother, let alone the rest of his family, it was just that, out of all of them but his younger sister, Mino, his mother was the one that allowed for at least some sort of leniency. Much to his father's disgust, of course, but unlike him, she still somewhat saw her children as more than just tools for increasing the family's status in general. It made Hitoshi wonder sometimes that, if it weren't for his father, would his mother possibly be a somewhat normal individual?

What disturbed him most was the fact that her death wasn't exactly revealed to him. It had left a pit in his stomach, as he wondered whether or not her death was truly accidental or not. He knew his siblings hated him, and he also knew that, even for a relatively young family, his siblings were especially ambitious, as his father did mention in the past how whoever proves themselves to be worthy of becoming the new family head also inherits the fortune he made in his past life, but surely none of his siblings were truly pathetic or greedy enough to actually attack and kill their parents for it? Surely not, not even Watari, whom of which seemed to exhibit the least bit of care and restraint, was actually someone who would commit murder for something so petty.

So what was it then? was the entire death of his mother truly a mystery, an illness perhaps? If so, wouldn't he just be told about how she had succumbed to illness instead? How hard would it truly be to just inform the Genin that she did that, instead? Maybe he was thinking too far into things and his father merely wanted her buried and gone, not even wanting any medical specialist to look her over. He never was the type to dwell on something for long when it came to dealing with emotions. It made the man come off as rash or rude, but Hitoshi always just assumed he did so more for his own sake than for others. From what he experienced, he was a man that never really cared much about emotions as much as he did about what the next step has to be in order to reach his goals, though unfortunately, that also means his own family is little more than a set of stepping stones, as well.

"Hito?" A voice would call out, knocking Hitoshi out of his thoughts. It was an all too familiar voice, for sure, as he would turn around and see that Mino was standing there, looking at him with a concerned look on her face. She would only be an inch shorter than him, herself, with skin that would be tanned, mostly due to the outside training she has done. She, like their siblings Suda and Yei, had inherited the bright blue eyes of their mother, and she herself would have her hair styled in a pair of pigtails, partially for style, partially for the sake of being practical. He always liked her the most out of his other siblings, mostly due to the fact she too, was at the bottom of the totem pole, both popularity and skill-wise, though the latter even more-so than Hitoshi, though it would be the opposite in regards to the former.

She was well-liked by the family, of course, as she was essentially that neutral ground in their arguments and disagreements, not to mention she in return was also kind to all of them. She was also a Genin, just like him as well, so it gave the two of them something else in common on top of their spending most of their childhood together. Honestly, Hitoshi wished he could have brought her with him so they can live together, but after the brutal beating he received when he announced he was leaving, they both knew that would be nothing less than a pipe dream, for the moment.

Facing his little sister, the two would embrace, hugging one another for a short moment. It felt nice, to receive a hug after also receiving news of their mother dying. It made Hitoshi not wish to let go, but nonetheless, he must, and so he did. Releasing his hold of her, the two would begin to walk towards the direction of their home together. "I came because father told me to. He's wondering where you've been, since the ceremony started without you." She would tell him, already knowing what the first question would be. "I guess I am late.. I just never actually was considering that something like this would happen. I-I'm still in shock." He would say, his body language expressing how tense he was at the moment, what with his shoulders hunched up, the bags under his eyes that helped add on to the already disturbed look on his face. Even the hasty look of his clothes appeared to have made him look somewhat frazzled from having recently received a hard awakening.

Looking at his sister, it helped make him slightly feel better that she too, appeared troubled. In comparison to Watari, whom of which didn't  even seem anymore bothered by this than if he saw someone stomp on a bug, Mino, at least, seemed just as bothered as he himself about this. It was the only thing that bothered him more in the end, where his own family didn't really seem to care at all about what had happened, so it was reassuring to see that he wasn't the only one out of the bunch at this moment. Granted, Hitoshi himself never truly loved his parents due to how they were raised, but like he thought earlier, his mother was a decent enough person to at least give the Genin a reason to care now that she's gone, and he's happy that he's not the only one that felt like this, either.

wc 1065

twc 1976