What a Shame (Solo)

“And I said get out of here, you creepy shit. We've been closed for hours, and if I see your disgusting ass 'round here again, I'll have to sic guards on you.”

“No problem, friend-o.”

Sabrina sighed, looking up at the sky, blotted out by clouds.

What a shame. At least she wasn't alone in shittiness tonight.

Laughing to herself, the young woman continued on her path down the dark streets of Kumogakure, looking back and forth at all the different buildings. 'This place looked so much different a few years ago...' She thought to herself, remembering what the village looked like as she was growing up. “It wasn't much prettier, but it didn't look like this.” She caught herself saying aloud, glancing back and forth to see if anyone heard her. Supposedly not. You could never be to careful on these streets. Word of spies always bounced back and forth between the members of her small apartment. 'Though I guess that's how things always were.'

Moving swiftly past another night-walker, Sabrina feels her stomach turn, as another wave of crying threatens to overtake the crisp demeanor she liked to call her usual look. Her heavy heart always hurt so much around... Three in the morning. A quick glance at a nearby clock was all it took to begin to feel worse. 'I'm up so late, again... Though, I guess that's how things always were.' Sabrina laughed softly to herself, a soft, echoing cackle that swept through the seemingly empty, dark-windowed buildings. The cold collection of brick and wood houses greeted her wearily, as the gentle cacophony of the woman's feet wove through the scarce plant life on her endless walk. Passing a certain house, Sabrina felt her face weave into a look of disgust momentarily, before falling back into a frown. She stopped at the porch, and looked up into the curtained window, to the left of the cracked walling. Staring for... God knows how long, the wail of the coming wind snapped her out of her trance, if only momentarily, to fix the jacket around her body. Passing a side door of the house, Sabrina quickly picked up the pace, shivers wracking her body.

It was much too cold to be traversing the streets this late at night, but of course this was the only time of day that the young Montague could move around comfortably. During the day, the streets were crowded, and the blazing sun always made her feel sick and frail. As the streets turned into a path weaved through the area, the young woman stopped at a small body of water, perching beside it, and looking deeply into the water. She gently brushed her fingertips against the surface, watching the ripples pass, before swirling her finger into the icy blackness, and finally pulling it free, stuffing her hand in a pocket to reheat. Gently grinding her canines against her lower teeth, Sabrina took a seat by the edge of this pool, before deciding it would be more fitting to lay, and gaze at the beautiful rocks above.

As her left hand warmed up, she felt it necessary to trace pictures with her right. Once cluster could look like a scorpion, one could look like a spoon, and yet another could look like whatever Sabrina felt like imagining. Beginning to sing softly, she closed her eyes, the only factor keeping the woman from slumber being the ever present wind, biting her cheeks and ears cruelly.  Before Sabrina could get up to move, it was already light, and she was being poked by some asshole walking by. Guess wind doesn't help as much as you want it to.

She quickly sat straight up, hissing at the child that decided it would be a good idea to touch a sleeping woman, only to be greeted by the sweet sound of a shrieking young boy. As he ran away, she felt a small smile cross her face, but that soon turned to a frown as her eyes adjusted to the blinding light. Standing up briskly, and brushing all the dirt off of her back, Sabrina pulled her jacket closer. Whomever spread the rumor of the sun warming things was probably an idiot. Looking at her pink and slightly purple fingers, the Montague sighed, unhappily. Sliding her hands up to her bare sides, she bit her lip. Damn, was she cold. Attempting to warm her hands she, continued back to her home before a very angry mother moved up to her, eyes filled with rage.

Uh oh.

“Why would you scare my son like that!” “What is the matter with you!” “Dumb girl!”

It all blended together. Sabrina had heard the angry parent speech time and time again, and she was finally sick of it. Slapping the woman, she kicked her close child in the stomach, before leaning down and whispering, “Next time, I'll show him what it's like to mess with someone who can kill him in an instant.”

No, not really. “I-I'm sorry...” Sabrina started, but she was drowned out by the twerp slandering her flawed reputation. As the mother began to get angrier, Sabrina felt herself slink back, feeling an onslaught of tears rising to the surface. As soon as the old woman went silent, Sabrina took a deep breath, looking to the child. “I'm sorry for scaring you.”

The kid looked up at her, innocently. “I'm sorry for pokin' you. I thought you were a dead body! My mom never lets me touch em, and I was excited.”

“O-Oh. Okay.” Sabrina glanced back and forth, a bit uncomfortable. “I'm glad you got a chance to poke a dead body?” She scratched the back of her head, looking to the mother for approval. 'Nope. Nope. Nope.' The mother looked even more distressed. “It seems to be about that time again.” Sabrina nodded.

“Time for what?” The woman said, hand on her hip.

“Oh, it's right there.” Sabrina pointed to a sign on the corner, and by the time the small family looked back, she had already been on her way. Biting one of her nails on the way down the street, Sabrina felt herself get hungry. With nothing at home, it would be hard to find a meal on... 5 ryo. Great. 'Shouldn't have spent all my damn ryo on that stupid ninja starter pack. I know I won't find any use for it.' She sighs, but touches the small weapon pouches anyway, touching the small weapons inside of each one. Moving quickly to a new area, or perhaps an area where she could find a cheap meal, she stopped at a greasy, disgusting food cart.

“Eyyy, missy.” The man working the cart vomited out, his eyes buldging. “What can I get your pretty self today?”

“What can... Uh... Five ryo get me?”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Nothin'.”

“What can five ryo, a few rocks, and a crisp high five get me?” She asked, putting down all she owned in front of him.

The man grinned, and guffawed at her meager savings. “I can mix you something up.” He said, and Sabrina felt hopeful, that for once, she pulled a diamond out of the rough.

The man reached into the cart, and pulled out what looked (and smelled) like the most delicious thing that would ever come out of that damn cart. “How about that high five?” He said, grinning proudly. Smiling, Sabrina gave him a high five, before he reached out the morsel for the young woman to grab. As her hand came into contact with the food, he dropped it, letting it fall to the ground. Laughing loudly, the man gave a disgusting look of pride to her. “You'll still have to pay for that!” He said, bursting into another fit of laughter, as Sabrina glared. “Arm wrestle me for food.” She said, putting her elbow on the table. “Scuse me?” The man looked as if he was going to laugh again. “Arm. Wrestle.”

The man put his arm on the table, and the game began. Sabrina held out for a few moments, before her defeat, and the man laughed, proudly. “Nope. You'd better bring more money if you want anything.”

Looking around to see if anyone was near, she leaned close to the man, almost throwing up her lack of lunch into the cart. Apparently, the food was the only nice smelling thing around the cart. “How about I pay for it in with something you couldn't get with five ryo?” She said softly, blowing hot air into his ear softly.

She pointed to a vacant building a few feet away from them. “I'll meet you there soon. And trust me, I won't need to eat anything from here in there~” The man's jaw almost dropped, and he quickly composed himself, and handed her another, fresh meal.

Walking to the building, Sabrina tossed the meal into the bushes after taking a single bite, wiping whatever was on her lips off. “Looks can be deceiving...” She mumbled softly, spitting out whatever taste was left from that disgusting food, and walking in the building, moving into a corner to wait.

The building was pitch black, and it didn't take Sabrina long to adjust. Perching in her corner, she heard the door open, then close. “Where are ye?” A faint whisper trailed through the small house, and Sabrina felt a grin break out against her will. “Over here~” She whispered sexily, moving a bit to the center of the room, repeating her phrase, then moving to the side again.

“I can't see a damn thing in here.” The man said, and by the sound of it, he was taking his greasy clothing off. “You'll have to speak up.”

“Mmhm.” Sabrina said, before she began softly singing, moving towards the man.

“What language is that shit? Frenchwanise?” He mumbled. “I don't understand a li-”

Sabrina grinned, as the man fell to the ground. Moving close, she noticed the kunai she threw sticking out of the side of his head, but his eyes were bulging, more than before. He opened his mouth to scream, but Sabrina quickly shoved the leg of his pants into his mouth, silencing him. As soon as he seemed to be passing out from the blood loss, she pulled the leg out of his mouth. “A-Are you killing me f-for lettin' you starve?” He whispered, the light popping in and out of his eyes.

Sabrina grinned a large grin, before pulling out another kunai, and forcing it into his skull, silencing him for good. “Nah. I'm killing you so I don't starve.” Moving down to his fat neck, she slowly opened her mouth, and savored the feeling of her teeth piercing human flesh. Digging deep into his jugular, she felt blood spray into her mouth. His blood was delicious, as if it was made at a five star restaurant for bloodsuckers. Draining the man until she couldn't get anything from it, she set to the task of slicing his neck beyond recognition. If anyone even suspected that someone was going around sucking human blood, she would be in a great amount of trouble. “I usually don't even go for humans like you~” She mumbled, using a third kunai to wedge her knives out of his skull, “But I guess there are some special occasions.” She looked down, and some of her jacket was a bit dirty from her meal. “At least I have seltzer water.”

After changing and leaving a fake ransom note, Sabrina quickly slipped out of the building, taking a small snack from the food cart to get the smell of blood out of her mouth, and set to finish the walk back to her house. Though the blood made her feel strong and nourished, the sun hurt her eyes, and she needed to get home before she caught any sicknesses. Quickening her pace, the young woman smiled to herself, before returning to her previous dull mood.

As soon as she got back to her house, she couldn't even remember what the man looked like. “What a shame...” She mumbled to herself, moving to clean off her knives, as well as sharpen them again. “What. A. Shame.”

2036

Hidden Mist Technique (1000/1000) Learned
Water Replacement Technique (1000/1000) Learned

Claiming 10 stat points

Soon after doing all of that ridiculous edginess, Sabrina decided that it was finally her time to train herself. Sabrina decided that it would finally be her time to rise above the equivalent to a street rat, and she smiled as she thought how great she could one day be. To start, Sabrina thought for a moment, before quickly coming up with a plan. What better way to train then to attempt to focus on her own chakra? Not only would it help her learn more about herself, it would also be a nice, spiritual experience, considering she had a soul. Sitting down at the Kumogakure training grounds, she sighed, closing her eyes. Sabrina quietly began to relax, and slowed her breathing, slightly and slightly, as she relaxed more and more. Although she could relax, attempting to meditate brought her nothing but failure and stress. The events from the day continually broke her focus, her mind wandering off on its own tangent faster than she could relax herself. The thoughts kept creeping into the sides of her mind, returning many times after she pushed them away. "Damn it..." She mumbled to herself, flicking her temple gently. She hated times like this, when she couldn't focus properly, and everything seemed to blend together like some gross putty full of unwanted memories. She rubbed the sides of her head, and stood. This training seemed that it would have to wait until she worked out some stress.

Moving over to a target, she kicked it, watching the dummy sway slightly. She gave the inanimate person a small smile, and imagined what it would be like picking a fight with this dummy if it were alive. Quickly ducking to the left from the invisible foe's attack, she punched it in the side, following with an uppercut, before faking getting punched and falling onto the ground, giggling quietly. Sitting up, the young woman smiled. At least she could still have fun, though she was quickly growing into an adult. She got up onto her feet and decided to try to use the Hidden Mist technique. She started this attempt by first by trying to exhale the vapors from her mouth. Opening her mouth before anything else, Sabrina formed the Tiger hand seal, and tried to breathe out mist. Although a little of what seemed to be steam came from her mouth, she frowned, as it was not the technique she was aiming to do. Performing the hand seal again, Sabrina tried her hardest to exhale mist from her mouth. Again and again, she would get nothing but the gross steam, as if it was coming from her stomach. After a few more attempts, Sabrina felt confident she could finally complete the technique well. Sadly, no matter how hard the young woman tried Sabrina ended up straining too hard, and gagging, almost vomiting. "Ugh..." She growled under her breath, rubbing her throat gently. Hopefully, this didn't leave her with a raspy voice, otherwise she'd be incredibly upset. She decided to quickly move over to a water source, and begin her attempts anew, only this time with a source of water instead. Grimacing, Sabrina attempted to form a mist, but, lucky her, nothing came up this time, not even an annoying steamy cloud.

Luckily, Sabrina got a thin mist up, though she didn't get the technique's progress anywhere close to where it could be used effectively. She couldn't control the density of the fog, it just more or less hovered around lazily, as well as being extremely thin to begin with. As the mist cleared, the young woman decided that she should also try learning a replacement technique, though with water. "Tiger... Boar... Ox... Dog... Boar..." Sabrina tries this and frowns. Perhaps she wasn't doing the right seals? "Tiger. Boar. Ox. Dog... Ah, yes! Snake!" The young woman smiled as she completed the jutsu, quickly moving to a puddle of water near the location of the jutsu.

"Hey! That was easy." She smiles, before quickly realizing that she didn't decide to go to that puddle, she just randomly went somewhere. "That's what I get for assuming something was easy..." She mumbled, scratching the back of her head and sighing. Before long, though, she quickly got the jutsu down, smiling happily to herself. Thinking about what she should try next, Sabrina felt the moon gaze down on her, filling her with a want-- no, the need-- to become powerful. To live up to her true potential. Smiling at this thought, Sabrina tried to plan her training out a bit more. "Before I do so... I may as well try to focus on my chakra again." As she sat down, Sabrina felt a steady calm fall over her. There was no outside noise, other than her breathing, and the soft beat of her heart. It was much easier for her to relax, now that she finally did decently at learning a water jutsu. As the calm caressed her and held her, Sabrina saw herself, becoming more and more in tune with her thoughts. Smiling through her meditiation, she focused on her Root Chakra. 'This... Represents foundation and the feeling of being grounded.' She thought to herself, feeling the red chakra point burn with passion.

Moving on to the next, Sabrina smiled. 'I could use the most help with this one.' The Sacral chakra... The connection and ability to accept others and new experiences. Though it still glowed, it was a dull, lackluster orange, and Sabrina frowned, not liking the weakness of this chakra. Opening her eyes, she sighed, her concentration broken. Laying back, she decided to meditate while laying down, if she could. "The ability to be confident and in control of our lives..." Sabrina sighed, as this yellow chakra was also dull, causing Sabrina to become increasingly upset. Though, as she visualized the chakra over her heart, she noticed it glow a bright green, causing her to smile from her trance-state. "My ability to love..." 

She quickly stood up, and stretched, smiling. "I guess it's time to get back to the old grind."

[1015/3051] (4k word goal)

Water Clone Jutsu (1051/2000)