There was something to be said about escaping from one’s past: you could only escape so far mentally if you remained near it physically. If you constantly had reminders pushed upon you time and time again of the places that you called Hell then you would only be able to heal so much and so far before regressing once more. The mind was a brilliant thing of course, but it could be downright terrifying when it continued to open boxes and wake up demons better left for the cobweb covered and dust filled corners of the mind. Even with the drive and motivation that Jihi had, one fueled by the ever present thoughts of vengeance and death, she could understand that a vacation was in order: not simply for her own sake, but for Simikiel’s as well. While she had always put herself second this again was no different: she felt perfectly content surviving on the rage that drove her despite the suffering it sometimes caused her, but she didn’t want Simikiel to suffer longer than he had to. She wanted him to find peace, if only for a little bit, and she knew that the best way to do that was to head to a place untainted in their lives: Konohagakure.

Thankfully the pair had arrived without a scratch or a problem: the trip had been a peaceful one filled with both moments of lighthearted talking and comfortable silences. Traveling hand in hand away from the place that they had known as Hell for so long. She knew that they would both have to go back to it, but she had pushed those sorts of thoughts back to the furthest reaches of her mind, choosing to focus instead on the fact that her and Simikiel were together once more and as free as two shinobi could ever be.


From the moment the pair had arrived in Konohagakure Jihi had found herself falling into a sense of ease. While she still looked over her shoulder and kept her weapons on her at all times there was a general peacefulness that had fallen around her. This place was untainted by her past, a fresh start in a way. She knew she would have to return home eventually, but for now they could simply enjoy their vacation for the time being and focus on doing some healing - the gods knew they both needed it, especially with how their reunion ended: all of that death, the scent of burning flesh and the screams that filled the air. It was so potent in Jihi’s mind that sometimes, when in the dark and in the quiet, she could still hear them even though they were long since gone.

So yes, this was a vacation that was greatly needed for the both of them, even if Jihi would forever be too stubborn to admit it.


As per usual Jihi had awoken early to her stomach roaring with hunger: it was something she had learned to ignore over the years simply because she didn’t have a choice, but with their new situation she found herself more inclined to sate the need instead of sitting or laying there quietly and starving. She had climbed gingerly out of bed, scrawled a quick note to Simikiel about where she was going and how she was heading to get them both food, and then she had dressed and left.

Now, nearly half an hour later, she found herself unlocking the door to their hotel room and stepping inside quietly with a heavy bag hanging off of her arm, ignoring the way it bit into her flesh. The door was shut and immediately locked behind her, the deadbolt and chain also being thrown into place - while she might feel safe here in Konoha, far away from the slavers who once held her captive, she refused to take any chances. Moving her way to the small kitchen area she called out in a soft-toned voice, ”Simi?”, unsure of whether or not he was still sleeping or had woken up while she had been gone. As she waited for a reply she began to empty the bag of it’s contents of sealed containers, having brought home food for the both of them since she hadn’t wanted to eat without him and leave him waiting.

Once the containers were out of the bag she went about grabbing a few plastic forks and spoons, pausing only to pull her shaggy stark white hair out of her nearly coal black eyes - eyes that had changed since she had shed so much blood and taken so many lives: since the day of her escape.

Word Count: 840

When they had arrived at the hotel, sometime last night, Simikiel had thought he would have some trouble going to sleep. For, despite having been a few weeks removed from his mother’s clutches and everything that entailed, his body was still very much condition to the routines of the old. As such, he had expected to be waking up at varying hours of the night to the sight and feeling of his mother as she did whatever she wanted to him. But, surprisingly, none of that happened, as soon as everything was in order, he promptly fell asleep, not waking up once throughout the night.

Although, not waking up throughout the night was anything but good for him, kept, somewhat, hidden from his companion was the night terrors he had been suffering from since being rescued. Frequently, he forces himself awake before they could get too bad, and when caught by Jihi, merely saying he could not sleep anymore, and hope she believed him. Though, this time around, for some reason, the dream did not allow him to force himself awake. Keeping him capture in reliving one of his more . . .disturbing moments in the mansion; the time where he almost died due to his mother going a bit too far. In the dream, instead of his mother realizing the mistake in time, she kept on going till he was nearly at death’s door, and only when he got there did the dream restart. He was forced to re-experience what had happened multiple of times with no way of escaping. It was the movement of Jihi which broke the cycle.

Briefly, his eyes fluttered open when he felt a sudden shift on the bed, looking around, and immediately found Jihi who had her back facing him. Only staring for a second, looking at his companion calmed his nerves and eased his mind, and by the time she had turned back around, he had fallen back to sleep. This time though, his dreams lacked the previous night terrors. He did not sleep long though, his eyes fluttering open only ten minutes or so after Jihi had left. It would seem, despite the night terrors, his body was rested enough that it could not sleep any longer.

Sighing, he stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before deciding to get up out of bed. Sitting up, legs swung to the side, a shiver running down his spine from the cold touch of the floor, as he stood up. The linens falling away to reveal him only wearing a pair of boxers to bed. Scratching the back of his head, Simikiel took note of the letter, reading it before tossing it into the nearby trash can. From the note, he learned Jihi was going out to get breakfast which was kind of her. He would have cooked them both something to eat, but neither felt like buying groceries last night.

“I should straighten up.”, He spoke to the empty room, looking around at the messy bed. With the thought in mind, Simikiel took a few minutes to tidy up the bedroom shared between him and Jihi. Once done, the young teenager headed to the bathroom to freshen up before Jihi arrived with the food.

Wrapped only in a towel, Simikiel exited the bathroom. His head turning towards the sound of hotel door being unlocked. Knowing it could only be one person, Jihi, Simikiel went about getting dress. “I’m up. Just putting on some clothes.”, He spoke, his voice being loud enough for jihi to here the answer to her question, as he slipped on a plain white t-shirt and dark blue cargo pants. His green hair was merely placed in a low-hanging pony-tail, he did not want to go through the hassle of doing something different. Now dressed, Simikiel made his way towards the small kitchen, assuming that were Jihi would be.

He smiled brightly upon spotting her and closed the distance between them, his hand lightly brushing up against hers as he helped with gathering the utensils needed for the food. Speaking of food, there was enough here for feed an army, “This is only for us right?”, He eyed her curiously, “Because, I don’t feel like sharing it with anyone else". With everything set, he moved to pull out a chair for Jihi to sit, and once done, scooted it closer to the table. Moving to a sit across from her, Simikiel took one of the seal containers, “What do you want to do today?”, he asked while cracking open container, the steam rising from its contents.

---

775

While Jihi couldn’t prove it she was fairly certain that Simikiel was having just as much trouble sleeping as she was. They were both used to having to deal with certain things that occured throughout the nights while they were captive, and the terrors and monsters that still lurked inside of both of their heads were more than likely happy to spring up random horrific events at random points no matter how peaceful one or both of them were sleeping. While Simikiel hadn’t been upfront with her about such occurrences she couldn’t help but to suspect them regardless. She cared far too much about him to simply ignore the fact that it might or might not be happening, which was one of the subconscious reasons behind her going out and getting breakfast for the both of them: it gave them a chance to speak in private without having to risk someone overhearing and an issue occurring such as someone trying to put their own two cents into their private lives. No, this was definitely a topic of discussion best left to their comfortable hotel room.

Hearing Simikiel respond as she called out, indicating that he was awake and getting dressed, a small smile formed across her face while she hoped he got enough sleep. She had no idea what they’d be doing today - the plan not yet discussed - but she definitely wanted to do something more than just sitting around the hotel room all day long. As she heard him exit the bedroom she glanced upwards, pausing briefly in what she was doing to take in the sight of him, a smile far larger than the one previously on her face appearing there as if often did these days when in Simikiel’s company.


Sometimes she found herself caught off guard, as was the case when they briefly touched, at how easily she accepted it. She loathed the feeling of another’s hands upon her in any way - attempting to avoid even strangers brushing up accidentally against her as they walked down a busy street - except when it came to Simikiel. It was as if her world circled on a different axis when it came to him. Gentle and subtle touches that from anyone else would send her recoiling or cause her jaw to lock didn’t bother her in the slightest when coming from her best friend.

At Simikiel’s question about the food she found herself pulled from her deep and silent thoughts, lifting her head to look at him as she nodded a yes in response. ”Just for us. I might have gone a little overboard, but I’m starving. Dinner last night didn’t really fill me up. Suppose it’s all of the training I’ve been doing…”, her voice trailed off thoughtfully - she was fairly positive that was in fact the reasoning behind her constantly being hungry. Though, if truth be told, she had put her body through more things in the past few weeks than any professional athlete or high ranking shinobi did in a year. But, vengeance was one hell of a motivator, and she had plenty of rage to burn and to use to push her through whatever pain or consequences came from her exhaustive training routine.


The thought crossed her mind as she watched Simikiel pull her chair out, which she sat down gracefully in after removing the bow and quiver from her back and placing them beside her leaning against the table in a way that spoke of her having forgot she had been armed with them, unable to help the smile that appeared there once more as he pushed the chair in for her before taking his own. Opening up the container in front of her, steam rising from hers the same as it did for Simikiels, she began to poke around a the delicious contents, feeling her mouth beginning to water as she did so. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed, as she listened to Simikiel’s question. Due only to the fact that she loved and respected her best friend she ignored spearing herself another bite of food in favor of focusing her coal colored gaze onto him in response to his question, ”I’m not quite sure yet. I do know I want to talk to you about something that’s been on my mind lately… Other than that, maybe we could do some exploring. I intend on sticking around here for a while so long as things remain peaceful, would probably do us some good to get to know the layout of everything and locations of everything just in case.” Ah yes, the ‘just in case’, Jihi’s way of being paranoid: then again, after all they had gone through she had a damn good reason to be.

She would give pause for a moment, giving Simikiel a chance to speak or respond while spearing several more bites of the delicious food, chewing, and then swallowing each one. She was fairly certain he’d be curious as to what she wanted to talk about, and Jihi was by no means the type of person to beat around the bush - some could even say she was almost painfully blunt about things. Then again, that was just Jihi’s style. In this case though her words were laced with concern as she turned her gaze back to Simikiel once more, ”How have you been sleeping? And I mean more than just waking up constantly… have you been having night terrors?” Even as she finished speaking her coal colored gaze remained on Simikiel, ignoring her food and her growling stomach in favor of keeping her hues locked on her best friend: concern filling her gaze just as much as it had her voice.

Word Count: 1,020 | 1,860

Oh, how he vividly remembered his mother asking him the question after a night of twisted passion. Sweat clung to their bodies, the linen protecting their modesty, yet, she did not mind it at all as she snuggled up against him, her perfectly trimmed nails trailing along his naked upper chest. Those eyes, which he had grown to hate and yet loved, stared up at him with a sense of innocence and curiosity, both being nothing more than a lie. He remembers how she repeated the question. The tone of her voice was telling him she wanted an answer, and not to brush it off like all the other times which she had asked.


He remembers the taste of bile in his mouth when he spoke that single word. Out of everyone who he had ever met or known, he would die for her. The look on her face was what one would expect, her eyes widen slightly, and her lush lips formed into a coy smile. She asked him about Jihi, and he would die for her as well. He said no. The only person who he would die for was the woman sharing the bed with him. He remembered how she seems pleased with the answer at first, happy to see that her lover, her son, would choose over anyone else. But, such happiness did not last, for her smile turned to something wicked, as the lightly caressing of his chest turned violent, her nails cutting into him as she spoke one word: “Lie.”

I did not lie, mother.

   Indeed, as he was making his way towards the kitchen, turning the small bend that obscured most of it, Simikiel thought back to the answer he gave to his mother all those years ago. He did not lie when he said, “You”, but it was not directed at her, but at Jihi; the woman who he thought about a lot during those times. She was the one who he would die for without hesitation. The only person in the harsh world that he gave a damn about. As long as Jihi was safe? Everything else can go to asunders. Such dark thoughts also extended towards his family. While there might mean something to him, they did little in trying to find out what happened. From his understanding, his father gave up searching for him within months and moved on with his life. So, for all purposes, the only family he has left was the woman standing in the kitchen.


One does not usually find comforts within hell. They usually end up experiencing the terror all by their lonesome, without anyone to confide into. Simikiel considered himself extremely lucky that he had Jihi. While he wished she had never been caught in the first place, it was nice to have someone who understood him better than everyone else. There had been many of times, day and night, where he sought out the woman, either for comfort, or simply to check up on her. Many of times he managed to stay with her for an extended period of times, whenever neither of them was of used to the others in the household. All those nights and days where he would find her injured, and without saying a word, would proceed to heal her. No words were needed to be said as the silence was comforting for them both, as well as each other presence. Yes, for the longest of times, it had only been the two of them, and that was how he liked it.


Her response to the amount of food she came back with, brought forth a chuckle from him. “A little overboard?”, He asked, eyebrow being slightly raised as he looked at all the containers on the table. Saying she had gone a little overboard was an understatement, Jihi had brought back a lot of food, enough for them to potentially not have to worried about food for the remaining of the day. “Training would do that. . you glutton.”, He jest, the words having no bite to them at all. He knew all about Jihi’s extensive and hellish training she been doing. It was hard not to know about it when she comes home, covered in dirt and grime. He does worry about her at times, but, he knew she would not go too overboard. . .he thinks away.

Grabbing one of the containers, Simikiel opens it up, the steam rising and bringing a delicious aroma with it. He took his time in spearing a few pieces of the food, plopping it into his mouth and chewing and swallowing afterward. As he ate, he waited for Jihi to answer the question which was asked. He did not have anything planned today, asides from spending time with the woman sitting across from him. Yellow eyes focused on her as she began to speak. His head tilting to the right side as he began pondering what was it she wanted to speak about. Usually, there was no hesitation between the two when they needed to talk to one another about something important. So, the fact, whatever Jihi wanted to talk about had been on her mind lately, got him curious, to say the least. He refrained from asking her what she wanted to talk about, instead, focusing on what else was said. “Adventuring sounds nice. It is a good way to map out the place without suspicion.”, He spoke, being on the same wavelength as Jihi. He knew why she wanted to do it, and he was perfectly fine with that.

Simikiel paused mid-bite and sighed, placing the food back into the container as he focused on Jihi. A soft smile appearing on his face, of course, she would notice, “Not well. Been reliving some memories wholeheartedly want to forget. Painful memories.”, His voice trailing off, eyes staring into Jihi, but being glazed as he was momentarily lost in thought. Shaking his head, Simikiel focused back on Jihi, “You know how crappy it is to relive the moment where you almost died? Reliving every second of the time, your mother”, the word being spat out as if it was poison, “nearly killed you out of anger?” He snorted, “Mother dearest, almost killed me when I 'accidentally' made a mistake filling out some contracts for her. Someone was going to buy a few slaves. One name, in particular, was removed by me, because I dared not to have her being sent to that man. Well, mother got mad and nearly killed me for it. She came to her senses after I explained why this slave could not be sold, and the rest is history.”, he paused, allowing time for Jihi to absorb the information and connect the dots on who the slave was, before continuing. “Usually I been able to wake up from night terrors, but, last night? I could not wake up at all. Each time, the memory would progress further and further, until the last one, I was dying. It was only when you got out of bed, the sudden movement, which woke me. Yeah. . .”, he voices trailed off, as he waited to see how John would react to the information.

---

1217[1992]

Jihi couldn’t help but grin a bit on the guilty side of things at Simikiel’s comment, her coal colored hues sweeping over the assortment of containers full of food that she had procured during her venture through the market. To be fair the vast array of things had more to do than just her being hungry: Konoha had different food choices compared to home, so she had grabbed what she knew would be familiar and comforting, as well as new and exotic and rare. She hadn’t gone too over the top of course - she had her limits when it came to food - but she had ventured a bit out of her comfort zone, and perhaps even Simikiel’s as well. If they didn’t eat it she wouldn’t consider it a waste, but she figured it would at least be fun to try.

”Just a little! I also figured we could try some new things that aren’t native to Kirigakure. Well, that and I really am starving.” She knew her hunger came from her rigid training methods, but that wasn’t going to change anything: she had to make sure her calorie intake was high enough to make up for what she was burning when she was kicking ass - usually her own. Of course, she also had to make sure she didn’t go too far overboard on days like today when she wouldn’t be doing her usual amount of physical activity.


Jihi had been thinking much the same: adventuring around, mapping everything out without seeming suspicious. Of course, it made sense for people new to the village to want to know their way around, but their reasonings were likely a bit more paranoid and precautions than the average visitor. It wasn’t that Jihi doubted the shinobi of Konohagakure were capable of handling some slavers, but it was simply that Jihi wasn’t willing to take that risk anymore, nor for herself or for her best friend. It was better to be safe than sorry, overly prepared rather than caught slipping: Simikiel’s mother was still out there after all, off in some location they were unaware of, doing the gods knew what.

To Simikiel’s statement she simply nodded in response thoughtfully: they would have plenty of time to explore and get to know Konoha throughout the day, and perhaps even find something else to do if they grew bored of that.


As the topic switched back to Simikiel - and her real reasoning for wanting a sit down breakfast just the two of them - she found herself pausing before taking another bite, listening to his response. She had assumed he had been having trouble sleeping, having even gone so far as to assume that he was having bad dreams considering the life both of them had been forced into. This, however, was worse than she had originally thought it would be. She kept quiet while he spoke, giving him a chance to vent and to get everything off of his chest: knowing that it was better speaking about things such as this compared to holding them in. As she kept her gaze focused on her the coal color began to change as sadness and compassion filled her gaze along with love and understanding, taking on the beautiful silver color it once was.

They hadn’t really had a chance to talk in detail about the things his mother had done to him, yet she knew they had been horrible and terrible just the same. This though, having to relive what Simikiel was describing, being unable to wake up from it? It concerned Jihi more than most things could. She wasn’t quite sure at what point during his explanation that she had got up from her seat, or when she had walked around the small kitchen table to stand behind Simikiel, but she did. Leaning down her arms would wrap around him, her chin resting lightly on his shoulder before she placed a gentle kiss to his cheek - ignoring for the moment how much colder her body would feel compared to his due to her icey chakra nature.


While her gaze remained silver in color, and full of love and compassion and concern, her thoughts were a violent mass filled with torture and murder. She wanted to kill Sakura, what was worse was she wanted to draw it out, to torture the woman: she wanted her screams to fill the air, and for the woman to feel double or triple the amount of pain she had put Simikiel through. What she had caused Simikiel in emotional pain Jihi would make up by giving the woman the same equivalent in physical. Yes, if Jihi ever got her hands on the woman it would not be a killing blow that would be the end of her, but rather her body and mind giving out from the sheer amount of agony she was being put through. If the fates were kind they would see to it that Simikial got to her first, because Jihi would live up to her namesake otherwise: No Mercy.

Pushing all thoughts of that vial woman from her head Jihi focused instead on her best friend, arms tightening around him in a hug, pouring into the action what she didn’t have words to convey: he was safe, she would never allow that woman to touch him again, and she would do all that she could to make sure that such a thing never happened to him, and most importantly that she was there for him and always would be. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed softly, not bothering to let go, though keeping her grip loose enough as she always did in case it was too much for him to bare and he needed to move away. ”I’m sorry, Simi. I know it doesn’t fix things, but I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. If I could change things I would, in a heartbeat. But know that I’m here for you, and I will do all I can to make sure you’re never again put into that position, that she can never again do anything to you.” It was a vow, one that was taken as seriously as it could be: she meant each and every word she spoke to him. She truly would make sure he never befell the same fate again, that he would forever be safe from that vile and wretched woman, even if it was the last thing Jihi did.


Word Count: 1,165 | 3,025

Training Bukijutsu B -> A: 3,025 - 3,000 = 25
Discarding: 25 words