Criminal Scum (Open)

Salzem sat in his public cell, leaning against one of the concrete walls, staring blankly at the other wall, occasionally sneering at the people who'd come to see him. Most had been other ninja, lashing out at him, yelling, insulting, the works. Nothing he hadn't experienced before, just with a fresh coat of paint. How stupid they all were. Every insult, every time they throw themselves at his door, they do it on assumption. No need to pay them any more mind than it took to steal their energy. He had also taken note that all his gear was left with him. Funny. They didn't shackle him either. They left him there with all his explosives, weapons and skills. Perhaps they thought he wouldn't attempt escape. At least their assumption was correct in that regard. Another couple of people came around in cell, peering inside with an inquisitive eye. Salzem merely smiled back at them as if he was having the time of his life in the cage of grey. Gradually, people stopped coming, and Salzem welcomed this, drifting in and out of reality, enjoying the relaxing silence.

Kaneki walked through the streets of the village with a slight whistle escaping his lips. It was a fairly normal day in the village hidden in the leaves, as far as he was concerned. His white hair was hidden under the matching hood that was attached to his shirt. A soft sigh escaped his lips before he continued to look around. "This place can be beyond boring some days....but it's home." Though he was only an academy student Kaneki loved the idea of leaving the village for far off lands, fighting other shinobi and conquering in the name of his village.



Maybe his views were a bit dramatized but he knew that the life of a shinobi was for him. He spent all of his excess time practicing his jutsu and perfecting his chakra control. Though he still had a few more weeks at the academy, at least. While he felt he was ahead of his peers he still had much to learn. After a few more minutes of walking the shinobi happened across a type of cell, odd how it sat in the middle of the village. As he walked towards the metal bars he began to move cautiously. As he looked inside he saw a man that was almost a staggering opposite of Kaneki. Where Kaneki had snow white hair the man inside the cell had hair black as night. In a similar comparison the man appeared to have red eyes where Kaneki's were blue. 

Kaneki took special care to pay other people little to no attention, but in this moment he felt like talking for once. "Hey...uhm...Are you awake? Why are you in this cell?"

Salzem gazed outside his cell door, seeing yet another person peering into his cage. He was about to give him the same leer-like grin when he saw that this was a child. Children were coming to mock him now? He knew this was coming, though he hoped against it. There was only so much squeaky voices and terrible, uncreative insults he could take. However, when the boy spoke, the first words out of his mouth weren't insults, nor were they the tedious giggles of an amused kid. It was a question Why was he in the cage? That's the first time someone even bothered asking him that. Salzem said nothing, surprised at this turn of events. He got up from his place on the floor and walked up to his door, getting a better look at the kid. He was quite a bit shorter, and, from what Salzem could tell, was the absolute opposite of him. White hair, blue eyes, slightly shorter than him...

"I'm in a cell, am I not?" Salzem began. "They put criminals in here. Ironic that I should suffer the same treatment..." Salzem said these words more to himself than this new kid. "I guess they decided Konoha needed a new form of entertainment. Do you want to see tricks? Because I can do tricks." He quipped sarcastically.

Kaneki was not one to entertain jokes or quips like the man had sent his way. As he pulled his hood down and crossed his arms he simply looked over the man more. "So you're a criminal? What are you a murderer? Rapist? Ramen thief?" His own joke was in poor taste but he could not help but carry on with the shadowy individual. Kaneki watched as people nearby spoke about the man, but no one directly spoke to him or even made eye contact. After a few moments Kaneki even heard someone speaking of him, wondering why he was talking to the man in the cell. The young student simply pulled his hood back up before looking to the criminal. "What's your name? I'm Kaneki, Kaneki Itchki." 

As Kaneki looked to the man he wondered what caused him to be put in the cell. Did he really kill someone? If he did why would they have him in the middle of the city? It was like he was an animal in a zoo, that thought caused Kaneki to bite his lip softly,

Salzem had to congratulate the kid on one thing, he was all business so far, ignoring his quips and moving with his question. Salzem winced as the kid called him a criminal, and on top of that, questioned if he were a Murderer, rapist or thief. Why do people keep assuming that...? Does he really strike people as one of those? Maybe Salzem should have used that paper the guards had given him for a mirror...

"I left the village." Salzem responded flatly, fingers clasping the iron bars that separated his face from the child's. "Without permission. A stupid reason to throw anyone in a box, isn't it. On top of which, I'm sure they encourage the people outside to say I'm going to hang or die for this because that's what they keep saying to me." Salzem smiled again, one of those daredevil, got-nothing-to-lose smiles. Truth was, he really didn't besides the gear they were so kind to allow him to keep. The boy told him is name, then asked for his in return. That's a first, at least for that one time he met the warden. Nice guy. Had a torture fetish.

"My name's Salzem. What would bring you to my humble prison cell? I'd invite you in but I don't think my caretakers over there would be so inclined." Salzem said, gesturing to the guards at either sides of the door to his cell.

When the man said that he left the village and that was his crime it caused the boy to pause for a moment. His father had often warned him about leaving the village without authorization as a shinobi, doing such can have you labeled as a missing-nin, or a renegade. He nodded before shrugging. "It doesn't sound like you're a bad guy." Kaneki looked to the two guards and paused before shrugging once more. "I guess. I just finished my last class at the academy so I thought I'd take a walk."

Kaneki looked to the man before sitting down in front of the cell, content to get comfortable. "So you're a ninja right? Are you Genin? I bet you're strong. Do you use fire style? Do you know how to use the substitution jutsu? Have you killed anyone?" The bombard of questions may have seemed out of the blue, but for the young boy who had a fascination with jutsu it was a valid response.

Salzem found himself snickering internally. A prisoner holding a conversation with a child. What will they think of next? On the outside, Salzem kept his face neutral. Furthermore adding to his internal snickering, Kaneki observed that he didn't seem like a bad guy. FINALLY. Someone who didn't take everything at face value. Guy in cage = bad guy. At least this kid didn't think that way. There's some hope for him yet.

"Yes, I am a ninja, though not a genin. I am or was a Chuunin. Perhaps the strongest in terms of brawn. Sadly, I don't specialize in Fire jutsu. Or any for that matter. I prefer to fight with Taijutsu." Demonstrating, Salzem smashed his fist into the nearby concrete wall with a resounding crack that could be felt through the stone-like material. As Salzem removed his fist, there reviled a small crater in the general shape of his fist. Just then Salzem felt the pain of punching concrete and winced. He skinned his fingers. He'll take care of that later.

"As for the substitution technique, sure I know it, but I seldom use it. And as for you're last question, I haven't. People tend to make up stories to satisfy their imaginations. Seeing me in a cage for example..." Salzem gestured to himself. "Because, by the iron fist of our laws," Salzem rolled his eyes. "I'm a traitor, people like to make me look worse than I really am."

After taking in all the answers Kaneki looked into his bag for a moment. "I'm guessing the food you get here isn't the best. Here why don't you eat this. It should be pretty good." The boy handed the chuunin a small bento box filled with his lunch. "I'm not really hungry and probably won't eat it anyway." After handing him the food and zipping his bag back up the boy simply continued to sit there. "You were a chuunin. So you had to have been at least a decent ninja, why would you leave the village?"

His curiosity was beginning to spread as he spoke to the ninja. This was the only ninja Kaneki had ever seen imprisoned like this, he wanted to make sure he did not share a similar fate. Kaneki crossed his arms as he listened to the boy, but as he did he noticed that he'd skinned his knuckles in his show of strength. 

Why did he do that? Kaneki could not help but wonder before smiling softly. "So what's gonna happen to you? Are they going to ever let you go?"

Salzem stared at the Kid's offering. A small lunch box. He was sure he'd heard something like this happening before. Somewhere... Salzem smiled warmly at the kid and took his gracious gift. He was right. The prison food here was appalling. A small bit of bread and a bowl of mostly-water-flavored-with-vegetables soup. Really? 

"You are most kind, Kaneki." Salzem said, opening the box. Inside, three rice balls decorated the right edge filled with a sandwich in the middle. He thought about digging in immediately, but He felt he should be shared between them instead of just going one way. Salzem took out two of the riceballs and offered them back to the kid, guards eyeing him suspiciously all the while. 

"Lets share in this." Salzem would say and wait for the kid to take the first bite. He knew he said he wasn't very hungry, but that might have been just the kindness talking. If he initially refused, Salzem would still hold them out to him.

"Humor me." If he refused him a 3rd time, he would shrug, take the rice balls back and begin munching on them.

"Well..." Salzem would say, swallowing the food in his mouth. "I was a chuunin, but I was never really a nice guy. I was shy, and cold. I never had that "good feeling" about anything. I was afraid of everyone." Salzem smiled lightly. "I guess being in a cell puts everything in perspective. As for why I left, I didn't agree with the previous kage, Jason Senju. He and his Predecessor allowed a murderer to escape who killed my best friend. I refused to just let it happen again with someone else so I went to Haven, up north, then Suna, back down here. Well... I found a lead that he would be in Konoha's territory and hoped people would have forgotten about me in my absence. I was wrong apparently." Salzem looked around at the walls of his cell, expression unreadable.

"I like to believe they constructed this one for me personally. Makes me feel special." He gave Kaneki and knowing wink.

"Well..." Salzem said in response to Kaneki's last question. "They'd have me believe I'm going to be dead tomorrow. But they said that yesterday... and they day before that.... Makes meditation a bit harder you understand. More likely than not, I'll get my turn under the axe and die. They tell me they have to uphold a standard. Wouldn't want to disappoint them, would we?" Salzem's smile widened.

"If I were to be let go in the foreseeable future, It would likely come with the terms of parole. I'll be chained to another ninja, not let within 10 meters of the gates, yada yada yada."

Kaneki listened to the ninja before taking the riceball with a slight nod. "Shy and cold....I can relate. I don't really have...friends. All of the other students at the academy treat me...differently. I don't know. My father told me it would happen but I don't get it. It doesn't matter though, one day I'll be stronger than them all. I'm going to be the Captain of the anbu after all." Kaneki smirked softly before looking to the guards that stood over him, both had looks that caused his stomach to turn. "Jerks." He muttered before returning his attention to his new friend.

"Hopefully they don't kill you. You're one of the few people in the village that isn't stupid. Anyway I have to go now. I need to return to my training, if you're still alive tomorrow I'll bring you more riceballs." Kaneki laughed before waving and turning towards the training field. "See you later, Salzem."