1 Embracing Inner Demons [Kensaku, or Invite] Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:18 am
Niala
D-rank
How did it ever get like this?
Genki stormed up the steps one at a time, each footfall sounding like a loud crash in his ears: the rage he was feeling leaving the beating throb of his heart in his ears. To say that he was angry was an understatement: he was beyond pissed off. The long talk of the night prior with his wife had uncovered many secrets his wife had been keeping from him: his little girl… how did things get this far? He knew who he wanted to blame, who must have influenced this: ’That slut of a man…’. Yes, he knew about Daremo. He knew about Niala meeting up with him, working alongside her uncle. It caused his rage to boil. Then his daughter went and did something like this. Unmarried. How could she? Did their rules suddenly mean nothing? Her and Kannon. Sure, one day they were meant to be married, but not for years from now. Not until it was appropriate.
No… this? This had to be dealt with, immediately! Reaching the top landing of the steps Genki crossed the distance to his daughters bedroom - she was the only child hope at the minute, and had been in her room all morning long doing god’s knew what. Reaching the door he paused on the other side of it, taking a deep breath and raising a fist to knock before stopping himself, ’She doesn’t deserve the courtesy after everything she’s done.’ No sooner had the thought crossed his mind did he reach down and grasp the door handle, turning it forcefully - fully intent on breaking the damned thing if it happened to be locked, which it wasn’t - before opening the door wide, ignoring the way the knob slammed into one of the build in bookcases that lined the majority of his daughter’s bedroom walls
He opened his mouth to speak before he found himself faltering, his rage filled eyes registering what it was he was seeing: in the center of the bedroom stood a small cage with an animal inside of it - a rabbit from what he could tell considering there was barely anything left of the creature. The small door of the cage was open, his daughter’s hand sticking through it and glowing with an eerie chakra. Medical chakra, but wrong, dangerous, tainted. His daughter was kneeling there, staring up at him with a mixture of shock and surprise on her face, but no remorse, no sympathy, no shame. What she was doing… he knew it well. He knew what this was. The diseased rotting flesh of the poor creature who, somehow, was still struggling and alive in that cage: cowering from his daughter's hand. This was his doing. It had to be. His own child now disgusted him: and he felt his rage become even greater. Whatever he had come up the stairs to say to her originally had faltered on his lips, and for a short moment all he could do was bring himself to stare at the sight in front of him.
I will learn to live half a life.
Niala’s head snapped up as she heard her bedroom door open, the wooden decorative board slamming into the bookcases behind it. There in her doorway stood her father, and yet he was looking at her as he had never done before. There was no love, no happiness. Instead there was only darkness, and.. Hatred. He was looking at her like he hated her, like she disgusted him. “Dad?”, she called out softly, her gaze never leaving his even as she withdrew her hand from the rabbits cage and closed it shut, leaving the creature to continue to die as she stood to her feet, all traces of the chakra that had been surrounding her hands disappearing. When she received no response she felt her heart skip a beat, and even as she stepped around the cage and began to cross the distance between herself and her father she tried once more, “Daddy?” Her words caused her father to flinch and she found herself faltering, stopping where she was; halfway between the cage and her father. “Daddy.. What’s wro---”
“DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT YOU… YOU DISGUSTING GIRL.”, Genki shouted, his temper getting the best of him.
Confusion and pain shot through her mind and showed plainly on her face. His words cut her deeper than any knife could have, and the pain was far worse than any physical torture could have brought upon her. Even as tears began to brim at the bottom of her eyes she found herself stepping forward again as her thoughts began to race. ’What’s going on? What did I do? Disgusting… what?’ Finding her voice among her whirlwind of emotions she spoke, her voice cracking from the sadness she felt, “What… what did I do?” He had never spoken to her like this, he had never lost his temper with her let alone insulted her like this.
Please, please tell me this is a dream. Please tell me this isn’t real.
Scoffing Genki shook his head as if he were in disbelief: did she really think he was so stupid? “What did you do? Do you even have to ask? Did you not think I’d be told what you did on your trip? Is that why you wanted to go so badly? So you could balatently defy my rules?! It’s bad enough you come home with all of these piercings and dressed like this, but then I have to find out my daughter was out acting like a… a whore?! But then this?! What you’re doing to that rabbit, it’s not right! It’s disgusting! I guess I should expect nothing less though, you hung around your uncle long enough!” Genki’s hands clenched into fists, his rage radiating off of him, almost as if it were attempting to fill the air around him.
Each word, each accusation, only further increased the pain that Niala felt: only increased her shame. But it was nothing compared to what she felt with Genki’s next words, “You disgust me Niala, I’m ashamed of you. You are no child of mine. Pack your shit, you have fifteen minutes, and then I want you gone. Never darken my doorstep again.”
As tears began to stream down Niala’s cheeks a mixture of pain, sadness, and heartache showed on her face; there was no hiding this, no way she could suppress it. He was kicking her out. He was claiming she wasn’t his child anymore, that she disgusted him, that he was ashamed of her. She found herself looking around her room, looking at all of her stuff, as panic began to set in, her heart racing: where would she go? She was nearly broke, having spent the majority of her money on her new puppet during their trip. She had no backup money to rely on. She didn’t really know anyone in Iwagakure, hadn’t really got around to making friends: she kept to herself or her twin and fiance. There was no one she could call on for help, no one whose house she could crash at until she figured something out.
This has to be a dream, a nightmare. This can’t be real, can it?
She felt as if her mind was in a fog, as if she were drowning. She was aware of her father - no, Genki - walking out of her bedroom and slamming the door shut behind himself: she was aware of the lack of footsteps meaning he was hanging around outside of her door. Yet she didn’t know when it was that she grabbed a bag - forgetting entirely she could seal her items away - and began to fill it with… what was it? Clothes. Yes, clothing, that’s what was in her hands. Items hastily rolled up and stuffed into the bag, filling it as much as she could. Her weapons were added too, so was her money pouch with what little money she had left. Picking the bag up she went to turn and knocked a picture frame to the floor, the glass shattering.
Dropping her bag down besides her she kneeled down and picked up the picture frame, staring down at the photograph: it was one that had been taken shortly after they had got the house, a picture of herself and her twin, Hanae and Genki, all smiling and waving - it had been a happy day, the first after such horrible darkness. With shaking hands she turned the frame over, pulling the back off and removing the picture. Folding it in half she stuffed it into her pocket as more tears began to fall down her cheeks. Then, she heard her bedroom door opening, unaware of if the fifteen minutes had actually passed or not, Genki standing in the doorway once more. “Go on, get out. Times up.”, Genki spoke, his voice heartless and flat, uncaring and unkind.
In one last attempt she crossed the distance to Genki, reaching for him. “Please don’t do thi-----” The hit came unexpectedly, no sooner had her fingers touched the sleeve of Genki’s shirt did the back of his connect with her cheek, the sheer force behind the slap knocking her backwards and off of her feet. With a thud she found herself sprawled out on the floor, dazed and confused - but only for the briefest of moments. With pain shooting through the right side of her face she lifted her head and turned her gaze towards Genki: the man who stood still in the doorway, his hands clenched into fists, seething with rage, and looking down at her with hatred and disgust, but no remorse for what he had just done.
Scrambling to her feet Niala dived for her bag, grabbing it by the handle before reaching over and ripping a blanket off of the bed - if she was going to be sleeping outside tonight she was certainly going to need it. Not wanting to risk going back her former father, not wanting to risk going anywhere near the man out of fear of him attacking her worse than he just did, she focused on herself and the items she carried, body flickering herself out the open window.
’Where was she going to go? Where would she end up?...’ It was across the village on the outskirts that she would finally come to a stop, having reached one of many cliff ledges from which a nearby waterfall fell - the noise covering up the scream of anger and sadness that she let out as she dropped to her knees, unaware of the droplets of blood that dripped onto the floor from her broken nose: her swelling face and the damage to her nose nothing compared to the emotional pain that had filled her.
She had never felt so alone.
Word Count: 1,845