Immaterial (Alice)

The scene from yesterday played out like a dream in Akihana's mind as the kunoichi held on to the slim bar attached to the pro of the boat that was currently skimming the waves of an otherwise clam sea. The tide was relaxed, the sun high in the sky and her blonde hair whipped behind her, stray curls escaping the high ponytail she had piled them that morning. The last twenty four hours, her mind had simply been playing catch up, trying to comprehend what had happened. Parts of it had seemed so unreal that the medic had found herself making a list in her head of the things that had happened and putting mental checks in front of them.

Did I cry on my couch? Check

Did Yaju become a Jinchuriki? Check

Did he promote me to ANBU? Check

The last one was what she was having trouble digesting the most. Even as the grey Disciplinary Squad Haori streamed behind her in in soft waves, the newly promoted Black Ops operative couldn't understand why he had thought this would be a good idea. ANBU were assassins, they were meant to kill and no matter what the Raikage had to say about her tenacious side, he knew as well as she did that Akihana Akari did not enjoy violence. Asking her to murder would be cruel because he knew she would do it, do it at the cost of her own morals and sanity but she would. And it would make her inefficient if her mental health deteriorated. However, his plan had become clear as Yaju ushered her into his office that morning with a new mission.

Her orders were simple, to go to Bijuu Island and find a ninja named Alice Hyuga who specialized in the genjutsu arts. Yaju had revealed that while she may not be cut out to be a conventional assassin, the blonde was a medic and equipped with enough techniques to become a decent interrogations operative. And of the techniques she lacked, this mysterious Alice Hyuga would teach her.

Despite being familiar with most of the ninja population in Cloud, Akihana had to admit she had never heard of this genjutsu specialist. But then again, perhaps that spoke of how good she was at what she did? The name was only familiar as one she had seen scrawled on the mission roster at the office now and then and today, at the prospect of meeting the owner of that hand writing, Akihana found herself having some misgivings.

Genjutsu was not something she had ever thought of as being her strength before. Admittedly she hadn't researched it much but still, what if this expert saw through the thin veil of competency and realized that Akihana would never have what it took to be in her position. It took some convincing upon herself to even make the journey, arguing that if Yaju had arranged the meeting, then she at least owed it to him and Miss Hyuuga to see the appointment through.

The boat touched sand, jolting Akihana from her thoughts.. Thanking the young ninja at the wheel, Akihana hopped off the pro and into knee deep water, her waterproof boots navigating through the wet sand and small waves easily until she reached proper shore, only to realize she could have walked on the waves instead.

"Oh well, too late now," she mumbled under her breath, making her way to the treeline about ten meters away from the beach where she had been told Alice would find her.

Alice yawned as she awoke for the day, well more like afternoon. Getting her own place had seemed like a great idea to her at first, as she got to whatever she wanted and never had to clean or be annoyed by her aunt, but it also had its many downsides, such as Alice waking up in strange circumstances in the morning and with a less then healthy liver. Empty bottles of sake and vodka littered her floor and clanged together as she moved around to get up and a dull grey smoke wafted through the room originating from a group of still lit cigarettes piled on her coffee table. Alice felt as if a kunai had been stabbed right into her skull when she stood as she was rocked by a terrible headache that was only intensified by the clanging of battles around her. She she had a mission today that would require her to travel to an island. Unfortunately when looking at her clock she would find out she had slept through two of the three boat times that would take her to the island, and the next one was in thirty minutes! Alice moaned with irritation and dread, but began to get ready as fast as she could. She would place the file on this Akihana Akari she would be training, on her counter and move to go to her bathroom to freshen up. As she walked past she noticed a tall dark skinned man sprawled out on her living room carpet. The man looked rather muscular and masculine and had a long dark beard. The only thing that took away from his masculinity was the fact that he was only wearing a midnight blue colored woman's thong and had two bright pieces of metal clamped tightly on his man nipples. Next to him was a woman with short brown hair dressed in all leather, with a black strap on tied around her waist. Yup, it was definitely another Thursday for Alice.

Alice stepped silently out of her house into the afternoon air. She had managed to wash out most of the alcohol and shame from her long black hair that reached down to her lower back. Her hair was now pulled back, revealing more of her forehead and ears and breasts. Her outfit consisting of a long pink sari-like skirt, covering her stitched together legs with a partially-zipped purple leather vest with a V-neck line and a white rose printed on the left breast near the shoulder that exposed her stomach, and the the thin black stitches that zigzagged along it. Most of her arms were exposed, revealing even more of dark black stitching that was wrapped around her two arms. Her sunglasses hung on her forehead acting somewhat like a head band to keep her hair back and she completed her look with her black shadow boots, and a pink backpack. Her cloud ninja headband hung around her neck, and her strange stitched up mouth was covered by her signature veil, this time a deep purple in color. Her disciplinary squad haori streamed behind her as a chilling breeze blew past her. She had read over the file as she had gotten ready and knew she was only an hour late for when she was supposed to have been on the island, an improvement for Alice, she was sure this akihana would be fine anyways. 

The trip to the island had not been an easy one for Alice. Her stomach was not in any condition to deal with the churning waves, causing a trail of vomit to follow the ship on it's journey to the island. By the time they were almost to shore vomit covered the ship's deck and Alice had skillfully been able to avoid getting any of it on her shoes and person for once. Alice thanked those above that the ship finally stopped ans swore to herself she would never drink again, until tomorrow. As she walked off the boat, the crew stared at her half in anger as they now had to clean up her puke, and half in shock that one girl could puke so much in one hour.

Alice looked around the island, the sun beginning to set behind her, for the girl she was supposed to teach. Alice knew the girl was a medical ninja and that was she had been assigned to teach her some of her unique jutsu and the the secrets of genjutsu ad yin release. She had never head of this Akihana Akari, meaning she was problem relativity new in the ranks. Her pure white hyuuga eyes would scan the area, her chakra sensory picking up on a strong body of chakra near by. Alice made her way to the tree line, she hoped the girl hadn't left, Alice was only an hour late after all.

Upon initially arriving at the designated spot for the meeting, Akihana had done the polite thing and waited for Alice to show up. Twenty minutes of doing just that had yielded no results, making the blonde even more self conscious. Had Alice really decided she had better things to do than train a newbie in such basic ninja arts? And if she had, wouldn't someone from the Raikage's office had informed Akihana of the change in plans. Ten minutes later, the self doubt had turned into niggling worry for the late ninja. What is Alice was in trouble? Akihana may not know who she was and what she was like but Alice Hyuga was a kunoichi of the Cloud, a person who deserved someone worrying about them as much as everyone else did. The young woman had to dissuade herself from that line of thinking before finally deciding to take up a meditative pose to keep her mind from forming even more wild theories in its loneliness.

So dressed in her usual training gear of shorts and a red sleeveless west zipped up to cover the mesh shirt underneath almost completely, Akihana took a seat under a tall tree, crossing her booted legs in the all too familiar yoga pose and letting her mind focus on the energy of the island she was on. Refining her chakra sensory was among her other future goals and now seemed as good a time as any to practice as she waited. It must have been another half hour or so when before her ears picked up the sound of the boat engine - and was it accompanied by the sound of someone being sick? - her chakra sensory picked up the signatures sailing towards the island. One of the multiple signatures were definitely shinobi, and quite capable shinobi too.

Blinking open her soft golden eyes, the medic slowly rose to her feet, dusting herself of the dirt and leaves that might have clung to her shorts during her meditation period. As always, a polite smile started on Akihana's face when she heard the other kunoichi approach.

"Good af-" the smile froze halfway however when she took in the girl coming her way. Taking in the outfit and the glasses and a pink backpack she herself would have approved of, the Light user found her eyes lingering on the stitches all over the girl's body. In a way, Alice Hyuga reminded her of a child's rag doll, sewn together too many times because she was too well loved to be simply discarded out of said child's life. Akihana remembered such a toy of Arata's. Mr. Wabbit the sock rabbit she had stitched for him and which he couldn't sleep without until he was four. That sock rabbit had been torn so often and every time she had suggesting making her son a new one, he had cried as if she was taking away his bestest friend friend in the world. It was both a frightening and sad realization. The golden haired ANBU operative also realized with a start how much her five year old would love to meet this Alice.

"I apologize," she lowered her gaze. "I didn't mean to stare. I'm Akihana," she introduced herself politely, extending a hand to shake the the Byakugan user's. All the while wishing she could give Alice a hug instead. She hoped the stitching hadn't hurt. But then again Alice was skilled in the medical arts too so there was hope that the process had been relatively painless. "I can, umm, fix the hangover for you if you like," she offered in lieu of reconciliation. The hurling noise earlier coupled with Alice's general air of austerity implied all the signs of a night spent drinking more than was healthy or necessary.

Alice's first impression of Akihana was that she was very...blonde. Now Alice would never say that she hated blonde people just because of their hair color, but she certainly disliked them for it. Either way she had a job to do and perhaps this girl would not be so bad despite her hair color, though the closer Alice got the less she believed that, as it appeared even the girls eyes were a golden color. She was the perfect counter part to Alice's own dark and mysterious look she gave off. She heard the girl stop mid sentence, and Alice already knew why. Her unique appearance always caused new people to stutter and she was used to it by now after so many years. She accepted her stitching and would not hide it, it was apart of her and she was no longer ashamed, well accept for the ones around her mouth, but that would be dealt with at a later time. 

The girl would attempt to apologize, but Alice would cut her off, "It's fine, believe it or not you are not the first person to stare, it's a normal reaction." She would say walking past the girl to look at the forest, disregarding her open hand shake. The girl would offer to cure her hangover, and though a nice gesture Alice was not in too good a mood at the moment. "Well good it seems you have the hearing a ninja of anbu rank should have, and you seem to be at least confident enough to cure hangover, much better than I anticipated."  Finally turning around, Alice disciplinary squad haori would blow slightly in the wind, the number three clearly visible on it. "We don't have much time till  nightfall, so we'll save genjutsu training for a later date, for now we will focus on something you already seem to have a grasp on, from my reports it seems you need help with offensive medical ninjutsu, luckily I been appointed to help you, the techniques I plan to teach you are incredibly dangerous and top secret, I have not disclosed the way they work to anyone before. We will start when your ready." Alice would say sternly, her white devoid of pupils eyes staring into the girl's golden ones, like lion does when determining the strength of its prey. Alice Hyuuga was not one to waste time on manners.

"It's fine, believe it or not you are not the first person to stare, it's a normal reaction."

The newly appointed ANBU nodded, it made sense, even if it didn't make it right. Alice was certainly trying not to make a big deal if it and Akihana owed her the courtesy to follow suit. Still, she wondered if there was a part of the girl that had ever thought of hiding the stitches given her own skill at Genjutsu and her considerable medical prowess. As a medic, the blonde knew most shinobi shared a special relationships with the scars they carried, either trying to hie them completely or displaying them with pride as medals of war. Growing up in Konoha, Akihana had been taught to judge how good a medic nin was by looking at their skin and how blemish free it was. If it was clear then they were either good enough to remove all signs of combat or never got hurt in combat in the first place. Clearly the ideology had both been misguided and highly biased as looking at Alice in no way made Akihana think of her as weak or unskilled.

Even as the dark haired kunoichi snapped at her in way of a subtle compliment, Akihana found herself wondering how old this girl was, and what could have led to her forming such a pessimistic view of the world, a world in which one couldn't even openly pay another a compliment without coming off as demeaning or too generous. The young mother herself had no such qualms and despite the ignored hand shake attempt, still smiled kindly at Alice. "Thank you, I'm a sensory nin more than anything else." There was no need to tell Alice how good or bad she was, seeing as the other kunoichi had claimed to read her file.

As Alice told her the plan, adding that the technique he was about to teach Akihana was top secret, Akihana nodded once more in understanding, schooling her features into a look of concentration instead of concern for he Byakugan user. White eyes were something she was used to, having her own unusual eye color and living in a ninja village did that. When Alice told her to get ready, Akihana took a breath, exhaling softly.

"Your secret's safe with me," she assured the Hyuga in her usual soft tone before raising her head, the sun rays catching on the small crystal adorning her forehead. "I'm ready, just tell me what to do."

Alice would look back at the girl, something this Akihana Akari gave her certain unease. It was not just because of her blond hair and bright eyes, but also because of the maternal feelings and aura she gave off. Alice did not have many parental, and more specifically mother figures in her life as she grew up. Her own mother had committed suicide on the leaf borders after delivering Alice to kumo to her aunt. She had never known her mother, and old had a blurred image of what she actually looked like, as her aunt had kept to pictures of her mother as she was a missing ninja, and had brought dishonor to the Hyuuga name. She had been a missing ninja, allowing an enemy ninja to escape from the leaf in exchange for the power of the Earth Grudge Fear. Her father had also allowed this, but in the end he had wanted to come clean and tell the leaf, which lead to her mother's second offense, murdering a leaf jounin, her father. Her parents had chosen power over their family and friends, over their village, and that power had cost them too much. They lost their love for each other, their family, their village, their friends, their daughter, and even their future. The only thing Alice had from her parents even, were the stitches that now decorated her body, and ran across her pure skin. The Earth Grudge Fear, a forbidden jutsu, that had also changed and caused Alice herself loss.

In truth, Akihana did remind her of one her person, the only mother figure she had really ever had, her aunt Linda. Now obviously their personality were not similar, this Akihana seemed sweet and kind, giving out compliments and trying to be helpful, Alice's aunt had been a tad different. Linda had been strict, tough to please, demanded respect, and always expected the best from Alice, everything the main branch of the Hyuuga clan stood for. Alice and her aunt never got along anymore and were now distant after Alice moved out, but for a long time Linda had been all Alice had. Alice grew up with Linda, and though Linda had been strict, she had still loved Alice, and Alice had loved her. Linda had always told Alice how beautiful she was, calling her pale and blemish free skin, long dark hair, and byakugan the pride of the hyuuga clan. Sadly things in Alice's life always tend to take a turn and her life with Linda had been no different. The day of graduating from the Academy Alice began to become curious about her birth parents and asked about them, and Linda had no idea what to say. Alice began to snoop around and found the scroll containing the jutsu that Alice's parents had died for, the scroll containing the Earth Grudge Fear technique. Alice's mother had left it with Linda to give to Alice when she was ready, sadly Alice found it long before she was. Alice manged to perform the jutsu, almost dying in the process as her small chakra reserves at the time could barely manage it. Alice was comatose for a long time after performing it, and when she awoke the world was much different from before. Linda never looked at her the same way, and made a habit of looking away when talking to her. Linda no longer combed her hair, or told her how beautiful she was. She was no longer the pride of the hyuuga clan, her skin no longer blemish free, instead covered in scars and threads of a monster. Alice did not even know she looked different for many months, and when she did finally see the reflection she learned three things. Not all dolls are pretty, mothers did not always give unconditional love, and that some times "love" is really just skin deep affection.

"Your secret's safe with me," she assured the Hyuga in her usual soft tone before raising her head, the sun rays catching on the small crystal adorning her forehead. "I'm ready, just tell me what to do."

This snapped Alice out of her thinking. "A..all right, well watch closely and stay right there, I'm going to step a bit back, this technique had a knack for..collateral damage. Alice would move 8 meters back, so that she was now 10 meters away from the girl. "Now, as medical ninja I am sure you are well aware of the process known as apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Usually this does not happen naturally, and it is usually forced to happen to deal with things such as uncontrollable cell growth in the medical world. From this process I came up with a theory, what if a ninja was able to control and manipulate that process with medical chakra, and then enhance that very same process with chakra to drastically speed up the cell death? The more I thought of it, the more plausible this theory became, I mean there already many jutsu that control and enhance the growth and creation of cells, such as that diamond seal on your forehead, it should not be too hard to do the opposite right? Immediately I began training and researching to make this theory reality, and this is the result, a technique that turns a person's very own body against them. This technique causes no pain, and leaves nothing but bones behind, it is the very breath of death, it is known as  Aliento De la Muerte. Now please keep your distance, even you may have trouble healing from this technique, even with Creation Rebirth." After finishing her speech, Alice would perform the hand signs needed for the technique.

rat-> snake-> seal of confrontation

After completing the final hand sign a dark purple smoke would begin to exude from Alice's very pours and swirl around her in a 5 meter radius. "Any organic material that comes in contact with this smoke will have their cells invaded by this chakra. After that...well see for yourself." The grass beneath Alice began to die and brown immediately, and soon the 5 meters around Alice was nothing but barren ground. "Now, forming and manipulating medical chakra to go against what it is meant to do, and to do this is one thing, controlling the smoke is another. Through chakra control and training you will be able to manipulate and control the chakra inside of the smoke to move it around how you please, it should not be too hard for you to learn, you are a medical ninja after all, and you have the very pinnacle of chakra on your forehead. Now watch closely. " Alice would say, and then point behind her. Instantly, the smoke moved at blinding speeds 10 meters behind her spreading out into the forest. All the trees and grass that came in contact with the smoke began to rot and die instantly, as if they had aged years in a second. In mere moments the entire 10 meters behind Alice was nothing but dust and earth, a barren wasteland devoid of all life. A small squeal arose from where the smoke was, a squirrel had gotten caught in the smoke as well, right then and there its fur began to deteriorate, along with its flesh, and in seconds it was nothing but bones. " As I said before, it is easy to cause causalities, and this is not a jutsu you can use effectively with others near, even with supreme and perfect chakra control. That is the one rule of this technique that I have made, to never use while comrades are close by, not only because you can hurt them, but also because it is almost impossible to reverse the effects once they begin. Most medical justu is ineffective against this technique, it is not poison, and it not foreign chakra doing this, the person's own cells are doing it, only a cell creation jutsu of your creation rebirth's status would have any luck in treating the effects of this jutsu, and only if used quickly after being effected, the only one immune to these effects is the person that smoke comes from." Alice would say this all with a serious tone, and then would dispel the smoke, causing it to fade into the late afternoon sky like a dark purple cloud. "This technique violates many rules that medical ninja are supposed to follow, it cannot be used to intimidate foes and keep them away from patents as it cannot be used with many people around, it inverts healing chakra itself, and needs a medical ninja to be at the front lines to be used effectively. Only master medical ninja and myself have the right to use this technique. A technique blessed by the grim reaper. There is no other offense that I can teach you, greater than this." Alice would say solemnly looking up as the dark purple cloud drifted away and up into oblivion.

As Alice stepped back, Akihana did the same, increasing the distance between them. Her hearing and sight perfectly functional and better than most due to her sensory ability, she could see and hear the Hyuga despite the distance. Akihana nodded as her fellow medic nin explained the theory behind cell death. Alice was right in assuming Akihana would know of it. It was the very process medic nins by profession worked to reverse. When it came to healing, they used techniques like mythical palm and basic medical ninjutsu to energize and repair cell damage. What Alice was suggesting was... helping the process along at a much faster rate. A sickening feeling washed over the blonde as Alice continued to explain how the cell death jutsu worked. The young mother understood the technicality of it, she understood Alice's brilliance behind the invention of it, what she couldn't understand was the kind of emotional state someone must have been in to even contemplate going against the professional oath of saving others to this technique which made any area around the caster a wasteland.

With quiet horror, she watched the purple cloud of smoke leave Alice, targeting every form of life in its corrosive path. It seemed to have a wide range, a part of her mused even as another focused on not vomiting as she saw a squirrel stripped of its flesh in a matter of seconds. The technique was deadly no doubt but the intent behind it was crueler still.

"Alice I..." she began, trying to keep her voice steady as she did so, The sights and smells of death and decay clogged her senses, or perhaps that was simply her imagination as the jutsu had been so quiet, so utterly quiet and deadly that no one could have seen it coming. It certainly didn't leave a mark unless you could call time a marker. Had Akihana not seen the accelerated process of living cells dying before her eyes, she would have simply believed this place had decayed over a century, a slow death hastened to meet the jutsu's requirement.

"I don't think i can do this..." she finished, her pale cheeks glowing red with shame and her throat almost choked with nausea. Her head was spinning at the sheer amount of damage Alice had done, and in a practice session. No wonder she had the rules about not performing it with comrades, they would be dead within seconds as well as the enemy. The smoke didn't discriminate between friend and foe, human and non human, it just... destroyed.

Holding up her hands to demonstrate her failure, Akihana focused on the process of apoptosis, her chakra instantly turning to the signature medical green of a healing hand. It was involuntary, her hands always raised to heal and the chakra glowing naturally. To turn it into a damaging force required conscious effort, the intent to hurt, and that was something Akihana could not muster. Not yet anyway.

"I'm sorry," she managed, looking at the ground, not daring to meet the Hyuga's pale gaze.

Alice Hyuuga watches the girls reaction to her jutsu, she knew first hand that it can be quite shocking to see her technique so up close. The total destruction and rotting of all organic matter in seconds. Days, mouths, and years stripped away from a body all at once, certainly not to pretty of a site for a girl such as this Akihana Akari. The jutsu truly did go against the medical code in a sense, but it was also just that, a jutsu, a weapon, the deviousness and immorality of it were decided on by the user, it was not evil on its own, just as a sword or knife were not deadly or evil unless wielded by an evil person. A weapon could only be as evil, or as good as the person who wields it. It was at this very moment that Alice realized that those Akihana Akari most certainly had the skill to face this technique and master it, she did not yet have the stomach or balls to handle it, and as a medical ninja that was most certainly unforgivable. A medical ninja needed to be able to go face to face with any disaster or gruesome entity, and face it head on, never flinching. A medical ninja needs bravery beyond that of any kage or beast, the team lives and dies with them, there is no time for hesitation or sickness. 

Alice began to walk over and noticed how sickened the girl truly was. The girl's face was flushed and she seemed to be slightly trembling. She was obviously trying to keep herself steady in front of Alice, but it was painfully obvious to anyone that Akihana Akari was most definitely not steady. The girls cheeks grew redder as she approached and she was mumbling something so quiet Alice could not hear. Alice would guess it was nausea clogging the poor girls throat, a reaction that was certainly surprising to Alice, who had not seen human emotion to this degree in quite some time. Akihana Akari certainly had a great deal of compassion and humanity left in her, a rare sight for someone of anbu ranking and of the disciplinary squad. Any other circumstance Alice would be in awe that the girl had been able to retain her humanity so well through the ranks, and would applaud her for it, unfortunately hen training with Alice, humanity would not do much good. Alice had lost hers at a young age, and the lack of it had kept her alive so far. Love, compassion, kindness, and humanity were all nice pretty terms in the world, but at the end of the day these things will only lead to being hurt and taken advantage of. Love will not stop ninjas from killing, compassion will not stop a village destruction, kindness doe not stop ninja from raping and pillaging, and humanity will certainly not help when dealing with Alice Hyuuga, especially when dealing with things concerning her village, her squad, and the future of the world.

Alice would reach Akihana Akari just as such demonstrated her dismal and disgusting try at trying to understand her technique. The girl would be looking down at the ground, too ashamed to even look Alice in the eyes after her disappointing performance, a natural reaction for a normal person Alice supposed, but now for a medical ninja. Alice would place her left hand in between Akihana's two outreached hands, and with her right hand she deliver a swift and loud smack to the girl's cheek. The smack would echo through the forest, though Alice had not put enough strength in it to actually seriously injure the girl, just enough to maybe leave a red mark, and wake her up from her personal pity party she seemed to be having by herself. "Akihana Akari, What the hell are you doing here? I was told I would be assisting a talented medical ninja and member of the Cloud's Disciplinary squad, the top squad of the village charged with protecting all the villagers from danger. Instead I find myself with a sniveling girl who can not even take seeing 20 meters of destruction? You are a medical ninja, that seal on your forehead and that title does not give you the luxury of breaking down and giving up the minute death breaths near you. The team lives and dies with you, if you crack the second  you see something gruesome your team is as good as dead and their blood is on your hands. Death, disembowelment, rape, dismembering, dissections, stabbings, beatings, and worse, the results of all these may end up right in front of you, are you going to cry and say "sorry" then? You are not going to be able to protect anyone the way you are now." Alice would pause for a moment after this, she needed to show the girl what she meant. Hesitantly Alice took off her purple veil off revealing her gruesome mouth.Stitching zigzagged across her lips, and the corners of her lips had thread lopping through them. Stitches and threads would decorate her cheeks, and for once Alice Hyuuga would not look like she had been in just a terrible accident, her stitches no longer looked like that of a recovering victim, instead now looking like that of a rag doll that had been beat up time and time again, and had just not stopped putting itself back together yet, it was truly a gruesome sight, a living rag doll.

"Akihana Akari, the world is a terrible place filled with horror and inhumanity, it is not just going to stop and wait for you to collect yourself before starting again. There are monsters and inhumane things out there just like me with weapons and powers just as or even more destructive than this one I showed you, the evil of a jutsu does not come from its abilities or creation, but from how it is wielded. If you want to not see destruction and death like this, then get up and do something about it, get stronger, stop people like me. You have a duty to your village and your loved ones to be able to protect them, and if you cannot do that... then you might as well pack up and turn your ninja head band. Now are we going to train and learn, or are we going to pack up and leave. If we go now I can certainly make it back in time for happy hour." Alice would say all this with a very serious tone, there was no disgust or hate in her voice however as she was simply concerned for her village and the future. her gruesome face would look down at Akihana waiting for an answer.

The sheer aura of destruction threatened to block Akihana's senses as the young woman averted her gaze from it, not wanting to see what Alice was capable of, not wanting to see what the human mind was capable of once it started down a destructive path. It went against her nature to understand cruelty in any of its forms. Akihana lived with the firm belief of helping, or believing the best in everyone even when they couldn't bring themselves to believe in their own best. Perhaps it had to do with the element of light ever present in her soul but the medic firmly believed that as long as a single spark of light remained, total darkness would never conquer. But what Alice had done was total darkness. An all consuming entity that spared no one save its creator. it was one of the grounding essence of a mortal playing god and she, Akihana with all her light and hope, could do nothing but tremble in its presence, unable to even behold its power without her insides knotting painfully at the idea.

She felt Alice coming closer but did not raise her golden eyes to meet the other kunoichi's gaze. There was nothing left to say other than apologize to the byakugan user for wasting her time. It had all been a mistake, choosing her as an ANBU, believing she had what it took to fight. Because in the end, all the blonde was goo for was standing frozen in one place as the world around her withered and died.

The sharp slap striking the medic made her jerk her head upwards, unintentionally looking into Alice's eyes which seemed both angry and annoyed. The sting of the hit began on her cheek and automatically Akihana could feel healing chakra gathering at the spot without any conscious effort on her part. The slap hadn't been hard enough to cause serious damage, it had only been used to serve as a wake up call.

As were the words that followed.

As the dark haired ninja mocked her, called her out on not being a talented or even worthy ninja who couldn't face a few meters of destruction, Akihana simply hung her head and listened. Alice was right, and no one knew this better than Akihana. She neither deserved her spot on the Disciplinary Squad nor the ANBU units. The golden haired kunoichi opened her mouth to agree with Alice when the latter finally took off her veil.

Looking at Alice's patched up skin, no, patched up was not the word for it, looking at Alice's skin threaded and held together by stitches more than the actual bone structure underneath made Akihana gasp. But this time, instead of taking a step back as she had done when first seeing the rag doll like kunoichi appear, she instinctively took a step forwards, her hands already raised in healing chakra as her instincts cried out to help this girl. Even if Alice had just hit her and demeaned her, all Akihana wanted to do was help heal her face because no one deserved that. And more than the pain, the stitches showed Alice's resolve. How many times does one have to be kicked before they stay down, Akihana didn't know but Alice Hyuga seemed to be taking that question as a personal challenge judging by her face and her entire body. It looked like the young Hyuga had been kicked down plenty, and if she could get back up... then so could Akihana.

"I'm not packing up," the Light user uttered softly, her voice still quiet but a the beginnings of determination peeking through her tone. "I don't agree with you that the world is a bad place," she added, her hands slowly clenching into fists by her side as her resolve strengthened. "There are no monsters, and you certainly aren't one," she spoke, now raising her head fully to meet Alice's gaze.

"But there are people who need to be protected. What happened to you... I don't know the details but I do know that no one, absolutely no one deserves that to happen to them. So if I must harden my heart and do this to protect everyone... Than i will." The quiet conviction rang clear in her voice as Akihana performed the seals Alice had shown her earlier, turning away from Alice in case the jutsu actually worked. The raven haired female may have used her knowledge of the world and all its evil to be the driving force behind channeling the jutsu but Akihana used simply Alice as her motivation. Her mental faculties locked on the young woman training her, her strength and her resolve and Akihana's own promise to ensure no one was treated that way ever again.

The puff of light purple smoke that emitted was barely more than a wisp but its corrosive properties were nonetheless the same as the cloud Alice had conjured earlier. The blonde watched the little wisp of smoke float towards a nearby plant, deadening it to a sick, lifeless brown in seconds.

It seemed even Akihana was capable of monstrous acts when she put her mind to it.

TWC - 3021

Claiming 15 AP
Claiming 3000 + 259 = 3250 for Aliento de la Muerte
Saving 21 WC