1 From Tragedy to Friendship [Invite Only][No-Kill] Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:31 pm
Chou
D-rank
...This couldn’t be part of his doing, he wouldn’t harm innocent people...
As Chou sat off to the side at the outpost, her clothing and the gray scarf she wore covering her head and face covered in soot, she couldn’t help but look out towards the orange ball in the distance: the burning village of Sunagakure no Sato. People were still rushing past, victims of the blaze rushing to the outpost in search for loved ones while others – mainly shinobi – headed back towards the burning village to see if there was anyone else that could be rescued. Even though Chou had known that something bad was going to happen tonight – her father hadn’t seemed the type to bluff after all – she still hadn’t expected something of this magnitude. The way he had spoken his own assault was to be aimed strictly at those who were in charge – not this, not the innocents who had suffered. She just couldn’t believe that this was his doing. He was too kind, she saw too much gentleness still in his heart to believe he was capable of something of this caliber.
...I really hope he’s okay...
Each time someone tall and bearded headed past she couldn’t help but perk up, hoping and praying it would be Syekren safe and sound – yet each time she was equally disappointed. With yet another false alarm she slumped forward tugged down the scarf from her head, pulling it away from her face as well to reveal her naturally bright red hair. Her golden yellow eyes caught the flames in the distance, causing them to dance and gleam across the color as if they could just absorb the flames and snuff them out. If only it were that simple.
...What if something bad happens to him? I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want to go back to that place...
Even as her little legs began to move and sway, kicking the barrel she sat upon with a gentle thump noise each time, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander to darker thoughts. She hadn’t stopped to consider just how dangerous what Syekren was doing was, or what would happen should he fail. She had been so sure he would accomplish what he came for that she hadn’t stopped to think of what all he could be put up against. She hadn’t been realistic about the outcome of what was occurring, or the potential for it to all go wrong. ”Please let him be okay...”, she muttered to herself, the same thing that had left her lips two or three times now. It was something she had heard others utter around her, though they spoke not of her father but rather of their own family members and friends still lost in the blaze.
Of course, Syekren wasn’t the only one she was concerned about – though he was at the forefront of her mind. There was of course Izumi too, or “boob lady” as she had jokingly begun to refer to her as from time to time in her head. Izumi and her had rescued the Academy students and bring them to the outpost, and then both had went back to help some more – yet she was another person Chou hadn’t saw for a while, and she was beginning to get worried that something had happened to her, too. ”Please let Izumi be okay, too...”, she muttered with a worried sigh.
...A night filled with such horror and tragedy. Yet it still does not trump the images of my parents murders and torture in my head...
Chou glanced to the side of her, watching as a small family with crying children hurried past and into the outpost, they looked worse for wear and smelled the same as everyone else – like smoke – and Chou couldn’t help but to shake her head. It was then she felt a familiar tickle in her throat and brought her right hand up to her mouth even as a coughing fit began. She didn’t bother trying to hold it back as she knew it would only make it worse, and simply let it roll through her until it finished – by which point a good twenty seconds or so had passed and the violent force had caused tears to spring up along the rims of her eyes which she wiped away with haste.
Word Count: 731