[Solo

Haka Osada · 1 [Solo | Plot] The Call of the Ivory Spine Fri May 18, 2018 3:19 pm

Haka Osada

Retired

EP : 3

610

Character sheet
Chakra:

(420/420)

Ever since suffering Noiralane's genjutsu, Haka hadn't felt quite the same. Particularly the last fragment had left her uncomfortable, almost scared of what human emotions could do to a person. How much control one lost by succumbing to it. Even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, the passing days had passed with ups and downs. Listless, mostly. As if life ever sense held little meaning. She still loved to hunt, of course, and still had her plans for the future. But it felt so... shallow, as if something of greater value had to fill it up. A different reason than being Sero's weapon. A need to search for her own identity, perhaps, something fulfilling that would make others understand she was her own personality.

Quietly jumping from one roof to another, Haka could come to spend nights by herself just wandering around in a simple white dress, its colour almost indistinguishable from her long white hair. The red amber eyes lacked the burning passion that had come to flare up upon awakening the katon within her blood, her predatory nature hidden under her habitual cold layer of apathy. She bore a simple silver necklace with a little cross for no apparent reason other than to fit in with 'girls' of her age, generally using it as a masquerade rather than to hold any sort of attachment to what she was wearing. As had been stated before... Human girls liked it, and boys considered her cute with it. It was the perfect addition for her human disguise so as to direct the attention away from her monstrous aura, ever growing in its power to oppress its surroundings as she grew in strength herself.

Her thoughts mostly turned inwards, she attempted to regain the grasp upon her rigid mind but it felt much like every time something small slipped away. Something she would otherwise have been able to keep under the calcified mental construction of her logic. But tonight, for a first in a couple of days, she was out to indulge a whim of hers. Kirigakure, much like every other Village, had varying districts. Areas where the rich lived, and areas where the poor resided. Within the rich district, there were several rows with mostly villas and a couple of manors dotting the tapestry of green grass and tiled roads. She had previously been checking upon those manors, curious to see how alike they would be to the one she lived in under Sero's care, trying to figure out how or why they would be any different. She tried to capture to the 'humane' manors versus that one of the Spider Clan.

The differences were huge, with the biggest ones being the absence of cobwebs and giant spiders lurking wherever they could. Everything looked brighter. The walls were painted in a lighter colour, decorations were structured and kept clean, curtains were without holes, the windows clean and allowing sunlight inside. All of these details didn't matter much by themselves, but where she had been unfazed by the looks of Sero's manor before the desire to 'improve' upon the lair had been poking in the back of her mind. It wasn't that she wanted it brighter but much like her recent days, it felt lacking in something.

She had eventually come to discover what that something was when she was halted by a series of sounds upon one of her wanderings. Soft tones had danced out of a large room near the front garden of a manor. The curtains had covered most of the windows, but a small opening had allowed her to take a peek inside. A dying man breathing out the last of his moments was listening to a last goodbye offered by the servant of the house as he smoothly played the grand piano near the window. His finger danced over the ivory and black keys with grace, making the grand piano sing as the room's light seemed to enliven the whole place.

The light-hearted tones would have been great to get a ball going as they set the tone for a fast-paced dance. Minutes passed quickly as the spider observed the position of his hands, his movements, his soft approach and his passionate surrender to the music. Haka was mesmerised by the instrument and how so many different tones could come out by tickling the keys. How the difference in pace set the tone for a different mood. The genteel approach of the maestro was beautiful to hear, but his sombre play was even more captivating. Slow, deep tones changed the mood in a few seconds from a light lilting climax into the old man's first knocks on Death's door. The soft and sombre mood fabricated by the piano was where the old man drew his last breath. The sound of the piano still lingered on. One last goodbye from the servant in respects for the master he had served for so long.

Was it surprising that Haka had returned this night? The man had died a week ago, the house had remained empty. The curtains covered the windows for most part, most furniture had been draped in a white sheet to be protected against the dust that had already settled quietly in the abandoned building. No light, no warmth. With the man's last dying breath, so too had the house gone to rest. Empty and alone. The ideal chance for the spider to come claim something that belonged to no one now. Landing on the roof with bare feet, she would silently walk down to the first window, making the window click open with a basic Fuinjutsu unsealing technique. Soundlessly she would move inside with all the subtlety a spider could muster, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dark for a moment before taking in the scenery of the upper floor.

Moving with an almost ghost-like silence Haka took the long stairs down, hand brushing the rails to feel the texture of the wood that had been smoothed and lacquered to a pristine shine, the difference a stark contrast to the two stairways at home. This manor was more lively, though smaller as a whole. Interesting to visit, but too proper to the spider's liking. It lacked the dark nature that was brought forth by survival and death so typical to the Spider Islands. Ending on the first floor, she would push open the door to the single room she had been able to peek in and look at the grand piano covered under a white sheet, its majesty denied from being admired. Haka pulled the sheet partially from the piano, revealing the beauty of the instrument she had so unexpectedly come to appreciate. It was a vast piece obviously too heavy for anyone to just carry up and run away with, but all Haka wanted was to sit where the maestro had been sitting and allow her little fingers to touch the ivory pieces of this black ominous organ.

Spoiler:

She pressed the first of keys much like she had seen the maestro do, evoking a single sombre tone that filled the entire room and lingered a few seconds before it would die out. Then she pressed another key on the other side of the piano, a dulcet ring chasing the first one. Remembering a few of the moves the maestro had performed, Haka then mimicked them from memory, trying at first but picking up the tune soon enough. Just for a moment. Just to hear its sombre call once more.

Having made up her mind, Haka then stood up and rolled open a scroll, molded a good amount of her chakra and sealed the entire instrument within the scroll. As it disappeared from the room, the white sheet fell down slowly. Picking up her scroll, Haka would return the way back she came as quite as the ghost that had entered. No traces left but that of her bare feet, none would ever be the wiser who and how had taken away this instrument as she crawled out the window, locked it again with a simple Fuinjutsu and flickered away in the lingering mist of Kirigakure.

[EXIT]

1380

Training:

1 [Solo | Plot] The Call of the Ivory Spine Fri May 18, 2018 3:19 pm

Haka Osada

Latest topics