Discrepancy (P, NK)

Altar, the newly appointed Jounin, was strolling about the village. It was late in the afternoon, the sun sinking well below the horizon. He was out and about to find the things that would interest him. There wasn't much here in Tengakure, but there were some worthwhile past times just sitting, waiting to be discovered. Most were shinobi oriented, but a few required little skill and were fairly luck based. Of course, these were mere games. Altar was out to find something that interested him, a hobby, and he had yet to find one that fit him. He had hoped for something that would feel...natural to him. But he was having trouble. Nothing came to him, or spoke out to him in the way he had expected. Sighing, he would continue walking down the street, hands in his pockets, wondering if he would find something tonight, or if he should drop the search and continue tomorrow.

The Wrath of Tengakure, now the Tenkage, was strolling along the village he now owned. Previously during his years as an ANBU member he would trail along the roof tops, silently watching and protecting the village where he sought fit, but now, he walked along the streets with his people. He had abandoned his Tenkage hat inside of the office, after all, that was for formal occasions, right now he wanted a snack, a little sugary treat as a pat on the back for all the work he had been doing for this village. Upon his strolls, he seemed to have found his way next to some male with black hair that was trailing at the pace of a snail, naturaly, passively recognising his chakra signature Xyxer patted him on the back and continued with his movements. "Come, young one. I'm going to the bakery."

The rumble of a busy village was in the air of the day. And Youta, the protege of Singing Blade Yozora, was walking the streets of Tengakure. It was one of those rare occasions she would choose to go out on her free time and the reason for that was she spend a lot of time lately learning from the book that was her master's legacy. Words and meanings would gather like a cloud over her head and it needed a breeze to blow this heaviness away. Taking none of her normal weapons or armor except for her ninja pouch which contained the regular weaponry, she would go out for a stroll.

Wanting some calm to clear her head she would head for the village gates, which would lead her into the open plains outside. Not taking the path of the rooftops, the girl would suddenly stop, as she entered the area where most of the common markets and services were located. Her chakra senses would pick up two strong signatures just around the corner. Both while somewhat similar in nature would bring completely opposite feelings, one a warm of the sun and joy with something else, while another nothing but cold, fear and a sense of danger. And she would quickly name both, the first belonging to Altar and the second being the man's who introduced himself as Xyxer.

Altar, half following Xyxer on his quest for sweets, would round a corner, and see the market area where most of the shops and good stores were. He recognized a familiar face, and smiled brightly at the girl he knew as Youta. He was happy to see her here. He had been somewhat eager for another meeting after their last...endeavor in the plains. It had been a strange meeting, and a stranger parting. It left a lot of things unresolved. They had since come to be clear to Altar, but he had yet to know if they were clear to Youta. But those were thoughts for another time.

Altar would walk up to the girl, his smile showing. He wasn't exactly sure of just how to approach her anymore, so unless she did something, there would be no greeting action on his part.

"Youta, it's nice to see you again. What brings you here?" Altar would say. For the moment, he had forgotten about Xyxer. He assumed the man had either continued on his quest, or was somewhere close to him now.

Xyxer was on his way to the delightful bakery that they were now actually just a couple of steps away from, Petite Luxuries.. Oh, how that place truly did invoke a childish delight inside of the hollow murdering machine. Pausing at the doorway, Xyxer had noticed something.. the footsteps he had now grown to recognise, Altars, had changed their direction and he was moving elsewhere.. Pausing in the doorway, the blue haired male twisted his torso and his legs a little, turning to see where he had headed off to and that was when he saw it.. A weakness. A gift. He did not know what he could call it.. He saw a grin that could match the cheshire cat on the face of his lackey, one of happiness.. One of.. passion? Seeing the girl, assumingly smiling too, at Altar, Xyxer did not truly recognise whom she was at this point, instead he continued to stared for a few seconds, a deep emotion inside of Xyxer roaring. In his mentality, he saw this exact same scene in the same area.. The only difference was, the actors were changed. Xyxer was doing the exact same that Altar had done, with Sameonna standing before him. He paused momentarily, taking in the memory with his mouth hanging slightly agape, a sense of longing once more stirring in his heart. Once the illusion had faded, Xyxer's lips slowly closed and curled upwards, a genuine smile having been evoked from the sight before him.

Turning around, Xyxer, now warmed by that memory, paced towards the counter inside of the sweet shop, browsing the wares with a growing hunger that would have to be satiated, he looked towards the baker and smiled, "I'll have three buttermilk cookies with chocolate chips, please." Still shaken up by that memory, he had paused before speaking once more, "Oh, make that the christmas tree ones, please. It's getting close to those festives times, ya' know." Chuckling, he paid the baker and received the three cookies wrapped in sugar paper, that was one of the neat little benefits of this shop, they truly did make you feel as if you were in a fairy story. Turning around, he walked out of the shop and towards the two, assuming they were still in sight, handing one cookie to Altar and another to Youta, he smiled between the both of them. "It's nice to see.. friends in such dark times, it warms my heart to know there is still a sense of humanity in it." Perhaps his sentence did seem dark, but Xyxer had never been one to be able to properly convey what he wanted to say, perhaps, if he was, his entire life would have turned out much differently.

Sensing the two chakras get closer, the girl would soon see Altar emerging from around the corner. Her last encounter with Altar was out on the plains at night some few weeks ago. It was a very unique experience and she had made several important observation as well as a few decisions. She had admitted to herself that she liked the boy and hopefully he left the same. Smiling back at Altar she would make a step towards him, about to reply to his inquiry when she saw the person behind him.

The person was Xyxer, no doubt, even though she had not seen his face the last time, but his chakra clearly gave him away. The Chuunin knew that the monstrous man had become the Tenkage, but it would not pardon his actions during their last encounter. From the smile at Altar, her expression would immediately go opposite, to that of open hate, as she looked at the other man. Going past the boy she would approach in a hostile manner the man who just came out of the store with sweets in his hands, the man who... "You! You attacked me, injured me, tied me up and left me to bleed!!" She would shout at him, making her position rather clear - who the hell did he think he was to do that to her. As she accused him, the girl would lunge forward aiming a punch at his face. "I barely survived, you idiot!" If it connected or not, she would stop, given the chance finishing her tirade with a near whisper "...and to think we have you for a Kage now."

Youta took a step towards Altar, her mouth opening to reply, but it quickly shut as her eyes were drawn to something over his shoulder. Her face quickly contorted into one of pure, unfiltered hate and rage, as she darted off to something he had yet to see. Turning around, Altar saw Youta making a beeline for Xyxer, who had just come from the door of the bakery he had so dearly wanted to reach. 

Once she had reached the man, she was shouting something about how he had left her tied and bleeding. Wait, had he heard that right? Altar would move closer, moving faster and faster as he got closer. He was a small bit away when he saw Youta throw the punch. Ducking his head down, Altar would move forwards, aiming to grab Youta. He had to restrain her somehow. This wasn't right, things needed to calm down and he needed to know just what was going on. Altar would aim to get between Youta and Xyxer, and he would grab ahold of Youta by her arms, gently, and lead her away from Xyxer. Once they were at a good distance, Altar would look to her.

"Okay, mind telling me what just happened? From what I heard, you had pretty okay reason to do that, but that doesn't mean you can just go and hit the Kage in public. Believe me, I had my moments of wanting to hit him, too. But I want to know what happened between you two, and you need to calm down, okay, love?" Altar would say, hoping to calm her down. Of course, it took him a second to realize just what he had said. When he did, his cheeks would flush slightly. He hadn't been thinking and had made a slip of the tongue, an error in his speech. His words, though, were rushed and hushed, so he just had to hope that Youta hadn't heard the last bit.

As Xyxer had exited the store of treats, he was confronted by a rather angry looking female, one who's appearance was slowly becoming more clear to him, in fact, it was when she had declared what he had done to her when it had dawned on him, and the image of Sameonna was flickering on her during her lunge towards the male, her arm outstretched, her hand clenched.. A sign of hosility, a meaning of ill.. Disdain. Still holding three biscuits, the male did not bother to drop or throw them up, he was instead.. captivated. He did not feel as if he should react at the current moment, maybe she would stop, right? Her fist, no matter how small or feminine, made a solid impact on the side of his face in her savage jab, of course, making a loud thumping sound with Xyxer's head instantly twisting to the side from the impact, a slight twitch emerging in his body from the hit. Still holding the cookies, he continued to do nothing and instead remained in shock. Almost instantly when the attack had been performed Wraith and Jester had both swarmed the area, both five meters either side of Youta.

Throwing his left hand forward, the cookie that was intended for Altar left the hand of Xyxer and sailed over the right shoulder of Youta, towards Altar and what not. It was at that time, when Xyxer's hand moved itself up, his palm facing the girl and his fingers extended, almost as if he was waving stationary or hailing a taxi of some sort. The two ANBU either side seemed to be awaiting something from the Wrath of Tengakure, a signal, perhaps, maybe an order? His fingers twitched, curling inwards slowly and the muscles of both ANBU also tensed, their bodys ducking and preparing for a lunge. However, another illusion flew into the head of Xyxer, Sameonna was standing next to Youta, both in their youthful brilliance and ferociousness, but Sameonna was smiling once more.. She could see inside of Xyxer, only she could see the good that was trapped inside of Xyxer. His feelings of hatred, his desire for revenge on the attack.. Swept away by the smile of an angel. She had wanted him to be good, to have feelings. He had to. Xyxer himself smiled, dropping his hand as he spoke in his mind to the figure.

"I still have a soul, Sameonna."

With his words, his friendly apparition seemed to fade and he was left back in reality with all parties seemingly filled with rage, his hand having dropped and his words known to him alone, both ANBU glanced at one another but understood the signals that Xyxer's hands had, and as such, they jumped away back into the shadows until they were needed once more. Xyxer did not speak, nor did he hear what Altar said, instead, he remained in this sort of trance, vulnerable as if this was a means to show Sameonna that she had changed him.

Although the hit seemed to connect, Youta would be pulled back by her forearm. Knowing it was Altar, she resisted little and would soon be taken somewhat away. While she would note the appearance of the masked figures and the threatening gesture from Xyxer, all of it would be swept aside with Altar's words, to which she was partially paying attention, her mind actually rather focused on the actions that she accused Xyxer of. And though she was quite calm on the outside, in her mind was a huge maelstrom of emotions. That last bit would pair the storm in all different colors.

Not sure, if it was a legit confirmation of his feelings or just a single word that had little meaning, but Youta would hug Altar and stay still, as tears would begin to gather in her eyes and slowly make their way down her cheeks. Maybe she was just happy that both of them were alive. "I'm calm, I'm calm." She would say as she regained her tone.

Altar was genuinely shocked as Youta turned around, wrapped herself around him, and hugged him. Altar didn't know how to proceed, his mind was drawing blanks every way he thought. Luckily, his instinct ran before him and took hold of his body. Altar's hands would wrap around Youta's, hugging her to him. After a bit, Altar noticed that Youta was being still in his arms. Releasing his grip somewhat, not sure whether to let go just yet, Altar would take a small shift back, and look at Youta's face. Tears had welled from her eyes and rolled down her face. Altar's smile dropped a bit at seeing this. Was this his fault, or Xyxer's? Either way, it was something that would need to be remedied. Upon hearing that she had calmed down, Altar would completely release her and step back, looking her in the eyes.

"Good. I hate seeing a pretty girl upset. Now, please explain just what happened. I'd like to know why I just had you crying in my arms, and just what they were tears of." Altar would say, smiling gently at Youta. He hoped that he hadn't pushed her in a state of emotional weakness, or he would hate himself for it.