Being Human (Ganki)

The sun was hardly in the sky, with the light barely inching across the black canvas that was the sky. Salzem couldn't sleep that night, much like how he couldn't most nights. His blood wouldn't allow him. The lycan within him demanded constant movement, constant action, constant training. Although this tainted blood within him allowed him to take much more stress than a normal human, Salzem had started to feel the effects of sleep deprivation days ago. He was tired, he was irate, his was frustrated. Salzem walked seemed to slither through the darkness, moving smoothly, yet he wasn't quite moving straight. His coordination had been shot, the wolf was yelling in his ear and, to be honest, he didn't have a sliver of patience to his name. Shadows arched across the sandy earth of Sunagakure with the coming of the sun and Salzem stuck to them as best he could, trying to keep his body out of the punishing desert sun. He wasn't ready for it. It'd take him a hours just to tolerate it with what state he was in now. He held an irritated frown under his gas mask and his brow arched into an expression of annoyance. The lights were too bright, the dark was too cold, the ground seemed to slant 30 degrees to the side and not even his wall climbing technique would help him maintain his balance. Salzem didn't even feel hungry this morning. His eyes ached for sleep but his body disobeyed, flooding him with energy and vigor, not to mention the drive to smash something. Sometimes, he hated his lycan blood. All he wanted was the ability to just sleep for a week. Just for his body to give him the rest he desired. He didn't think he was asking for much but the wolf disagreed. It ranted and raved within him, sending sensations of power, strength, telling him that the world would be his, all he needed to do was be awake. To be strong. The wolf's major opponent, Salzem's humanity, was fading out into static. Tired, indescribable static. On one half, his brain was filled with the white noise of what passed for his humanity. On the left was the wolf, encroaching on the void. In this state, Salzem wouldn't be surprised if he bumped into someone. He was barely aware of the ground beneath his feet.

The letter that he held within his two hands was folded back up, placed into the stamped envelope that he revived from Tanzaku Town. It was time for him to leave Sunagakure. Not forever though, as he would still need to check up on Raizuko, the new Sakura Corp employee. If this new business deal went smoothly, then he could bring back some samples for Raizuko to work on. A good chance to play around with some DNA, add more experience under his belt. Ganki nodded at this thought, while thinking forward on how he was going to also bring to light the new creation, the Sakura Corp Juinjutsu. He really needed to get this product out on the market, and fast. The money he could have made by now if it was common knowledge would have been out of proportion. No matter, he knew he’d figure that all that out once this business deal was wrapped up.

Ganki, who was sitting on his king sized bed, rose up from it, now standing on his two feet. With the letter in hand, he placed it within the inner pockets of his, finely ironed, navy dress jacket, which matched with his navy blue dress pants. Along with his black shoes, his blood red tie matched with the rest of his outfit. His normal attire no doubt, but one of many which he possessed. The thought reminded him to pick up a set of clothes for Raizuko too, since he had made a deal with him too.

His upper body, coated with tattoos was obvious, due to some of them revealing themselves on Ganki’s neck, wrist and arms. Though his neck section wasn’t bad, since only an inch of ink was shown on top of his while collar button up shirt, it wasn’t nearly as bad as his wrist and hands. His right hand displayed a few birds, tigers and swords. On both his hands, Shogi symbols were displayed on his fingers, in between the joints. This symbolized Ganki’s soldiers that he possessed, when he was part of the yakuza. The rest of the ink, everything one, had meaning behind it.

However, before teleporting to the Fire Country, Ganki’s stomach rumbled, his hunger setting in as he even forgot to eat throughout the whole day till now. He takes peak throughout the window, leading out to the balcony. Ganki’s apartment as somehow the only one with a balcony, the privilege some people get is breath taking. Rubbing his stomach, after buttoning up the lower button on his dress jacket, he exited is apartment door, via teleporting out, appearing on the opposite side of the door, where the FTG seal was, and walked out into the open air which was Sunagakure. The Gleaming sun which normally was out, wasn’t really gleaming today, which was odd to Ganki. The day simply just started, yet the sun wasn’t out?  The tan he now has is all thanks to the sun here, he rubs his hand back along his medium length brown bladed hair. He couldn’t forget about the first time he ventured out here, after he gotten permission to leave the cloud village for a while from the Raikage, Yaju, was it? Ganki wondered where that blood hound, or lone wolf rather, went too. Tee, Alice, Jinichi, that blind kid, Lightwind, that Senju, all of them were gone, either MIA or KIA. Most of the cloud shinobi ran really, the rep that village has now…, it was bad. That alone was the very reason why Ganki wouldn’t really reveal his connections to the village, unless he got spotted by such, which he knew really a slim chance. Yeah people knew of Ganki Sakura, the famous heir to the Sakura Corp, but most really didn’t know of his background. The fact that Ganki was crazy rich.

Moments later, after walking towards the food vendors, in the shade, he stops abruptly as he sees a man, who seemed to be clinging on to dear live. The gas mask didn’t help his appearance at all in his opinion. Was there trouble, Ganki thought? Was he sick? Ganki had a schedule to keep, since he gave a date and time for his contact to meet up with him. However, due to the amount of time he spent in Sunagakure, their friendly attitude rubbing off on Ganki, Ganki decided to see what was troubling the rather tall guy, well not really, Ganki was somewhat his height too. Seeing how it was the Suna thing to do, he asked him what was wrong, from 6 feet away right In front of him, seeing if he would stop or not. Face to face he asked, “Hey you alright, You look like you could use some sleep?”, he asked, his blue eyes widen upon staring at the gas mask. “So I guess not all you Sand villagers can get used to this heat. Hell, this tan I got makes me look like a local”, he said, smirking afterwards. He waited for a reply, after which he would ask for his name next.

Salzem blinked at the sound of a man's voice that came right in front of him. He.... he wasn't there a second ago, was he? Salzem thought? He came to a halt, nearly stumbling into it. His sanguine eyes finally caught the shape of a man about his height in front of him. He had long, med length brown hair and some kind of tattoo markings along his arms. Salzem was too tired to determine what the were though. His eyes were drooping already without him needing to focus. His body was drooped over slightly like a dying plant. His skin was a lighter shade of pale than usual, except for under his eyes, which sported dark, grey-black rings beneath them. His short black hair was tossed and wild beneath his hood, further exemplifying his sleepless nights. It had taken the exhausted lycanthrope a second to comprehend what this man was saying. Oh, he had heard the words, it was just that his brain's processing speed was much slower.

"Yeah... Yeah I do need sleep..." Salzem replied, gearing up for some kind of biting remark born out of pure exhaustion. He thought better of it though. He didn't need to insult any of these travelers. They knew not what he was going through. At the man's second comment, Salzem rolled his eyes. Of course they were used to it. Salzem however was born from a place from which green was the main color and cool breezes was the average forecast.

"I guess so, although I wouldn't know." Salzem stated. "I'm not from here."

He could barely understand the man through the gas mask, his words somewhat muffled and such. Ganki’s eye brow rose upon hearing that he wasn’t from the village, he should have known that due to his pale skin, couldn’t stay like that if he wasn’t from here. Then again, Ganki’s skin was too on the tan side. He shrugs off the thought, still staring at the gas mask, an awkward silent fell upon them. The chatter of the passing villagers took over the scenery which the two belonged in. He didn’t want to seem too pushy, too prying as to ask why the gas mask. Who wears one in a desert? Perhaps for a medical reason, he thought, why sticking both his hands into his pocket, fiddling with the contents. “So…, why the gas mask? If you don’t mind?”, he asked with a smirk. After which, Ganki  looked on behind the mysterious stranger, looking towards the vendors over yonder, eyeing what he could eat, before his trip out of this cooking pot of  place.

As he waited, a rumbling noise erupted, whether the man answered or not. His curiosity and impatience manifested into such, he pulled his jaw to the side, trying to avoid eye contact. A slight embarrassed he was, “Man…, I’m hungry…, I could use me a big plate of rice and sliced meat…, with something to drink. Like one of those big pitchers beer. But they don’t have that much alcohol in it, do they? ” He leaves a gap, seeing if the man would speak, hoping if he too was hungry. Like before, his main motive, the faster he got out of Suna, the better. “You know what, I should probably get mixed drink, have a couple of those and they can get you wide awake. Am I right?”

The more Ganki continued to think about his need for food and alcoholic beverages, the more he started to recap on when he was promoted to jounin. That night to him was definitely the craziest night in his entire life. The endless partying, the liquor, the girls, it was just pure bliss. The thing about most, if not all cloud villagers, is that once they begin to drink, they simply don’t care about the next day, because basically they are a bunch of alcoholics. In fact, the drinking age changed so much, that hardly anybody every kept track of it. However, the number always stayed under 10. Those were some days, the best days.

A silence fell after Salzem's reply. Perhaps the man would move on, deciding that whatever uninteresting conversation they were having wasn't worth it. He almost hoped that this bystander would go on his way instead of bothering him. Slowly, the sanguine-eyed ninja realized that this man was no longer looking him in the eye. He was looking at Salzem's mask. He was just like everyone else. He thought he had forgotten how it felt to be self conscious, but now thanks to him, he was reminded. Salzem shifted uncomfortably under the man's stare, his own gaze no longer on his face. Instead, they combed the sand beneath him, displaying his less-than-social behavior. Finally, the man popped the question: Why the gas mask? That already put him higher than most villagers who would just gawk like he was a circus attraction.

"I need it to breath." Salzem answered before he could stop himself. It is true that he HAD needed it to breath, but since that fellow, Stein, had given him new lungs, he was able to breath on his own. He supposed he was just being defensive with that statement. Usually, it drove people off. Just like that. This man, however, didn't seem to be the kind to be disturbed by something so ghastly.

"I was poisoned." He continued. "My lungs were destroyed. This mask gives me air they can process." Just as soon as he finished, the man started on a tangent about beer and rice. It threw Salzem a bit, the non-sequitur. He asked him If they have much alcohol here and Salzem shrugged, eyes still combing the sands beneath his feet.

"I don't know..." He responded, slightly quieter. Just then, as soon as he answered, the man offered to get him a drink or two, one of those like hard cider or something. A mixed drink. He waited for Salzem to respond, to which he shrugged again.

"I don't know..." Salzem said again. "I never had one before." This man held a presence that displaced Salzem's sense of anger or courage. Even the wolf had quieted in his head. Perhaps it was because he asked about his mask. Perhaps it was because this man approached him so casually. Salzem's guard had completely dissipated, revealing the soft underbelly of this person: Someone who was cautious and slightly scared of everyone who bothered to talk to him for the first time. He couldn't meet the man's eyes again, not wanting to see the potential judgment that would add another scar on Salzem's being.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that…”, Ganki said to himself, mentally. Poisoned? How? Perhaps this guy deserved it, or maybe not? Ganki started to think if this person may be a shinobi, perhaps he had a little accident in the field. Ganki, while the awkward silence was still in effect, took a quick look towards the masked stranger. He feared asking anymore questions like how he did before, might trigger a negative response, well, while in his current state. In just that moment, our capitalist came up with a way to set a better tone to the setting. All he really needed to do was loosen the man up a bit, kumogakure style.

He completely changed the whole direction of where the conversation was heading, towards a direction that would be more enjoyable than discussing old wounds.

“You know…, not too far from us, behind you, there are a couple of bars and food venders. I’m telling you, a few drinks might help you bounce back to life. Mopping around here all day just isn’t how you are supposed to life your life”, he said with smile. After that, he then noticed that he never gave out his name, since most people actually notice him by face. Life of the famous, right?

“Oh damn, my bad, I’m Ganki. What's your name?”. Ganki asked, casually saluting his hand towards him at an angle, after walking up to him, now standing a foot away.

((Short post, lo siento mi amigo))

(sal good man)

Salzem looked back up at the man as he noted the various food and drink establishments behind him. He knew the layout of the village, though he'd never really went out to eat in Suna (or drink for that matter). He usually just went shopping, and used up his day's groceries. Salzem raised an eyebrow at the man as he noted that moping wasn't a good way to spend his life. He wasn't moping! Was he...?

"I'm not moping..." Salzem grumbled quietly in protest. Regardless if the man heard his comment or not, he would walk forward, closing the distance between him and Salzem so that they were only a foot apart. He introduced himself as Ganki. A strange name, Salzem noted. He hasn't heard anything like it. Salzem nodded his heavy head, returning the greeting.

"My name is Salzem." He said, shrugging his shoulders as if Ganki forgetting to ask his name was any big thing. Although his hunger was still masked by the overwhelming exhaustion, he knew he had to eat. "I guess I'll take you up on your offer." Salzem replied, relaxing slightly.

(I think I'm going to exit due to the Jounin exams coming up and that this topic is taking too long. Sorry :s)

On second thought, Sal decided he had another place to be. Being offered to be made drunk by a stranger wasn't the most appealing of Ideas, even to a ninja such as himself. Salzem turned around and made his way back the way he came, but not before giving Ganki the common curtasy of good-bye.

"Sorry, but on second thought, I really don't have the time. I hope we meet again." With that said, he continued on his way, not really sure where he was going to next.

(Exit)
claiming nothing.

After waving away at the masked man, Ganki too made his away from the location, and onward towards the food stand. Moments later, after eating and drinking, and left his fare for the vendor, and teleported away from site, instantly with the use of his FTG. He makes his way to the land of fire.

((Exit, traveling to Tanzaku. adios sal!!))