Market Mischief (Sal, P, NK)

It's been a week since she went into Asgard and trained with her father, so it was nice to get some fresh sun and walk about her Uncle's village. Seeing the nice people, the trinkets and interesting fruits being sold. She was convinced that Suna must've had a green house with climate control to produce the right kind of climate for plants to survive. She was looking at the apples, first time she had seen them with a green color, she flipped some ryo to the man behind the stand and grabbed two of them, one went into her pouch for later and the other one she examined. The man behind the counter had chuckled at her bewildered look,

"Those are a little more sour, but they are still fresh, I much prefer those over the red apples, but if don't like them let me know and I can give you some red ones if you'd like." He offered Ashie with a bright smile, wow, she thought. She nodded her head and thanked the man before sinking her teeth into the green apple. Her eyes widened as she chewed her taste buds felt alive as her tongue tingled from the new flavor. Once she had finished her bite she swallowed and wiped her chin, the apple was juicy as well! She smiled and bowed her head sporting a light blush on her cheeks,

"These are delicious, thank you so much for letting me try one!" She giggled at the end of her sentence, the man waved as he assured her it was no problem and that he was glad she liked it. She waved goodbye and began her walk through the market place. As she took another bite into her apple, the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up, she sensed one of her friends were nearby, it felt like Sal, but different and she wasn't sure she was looking around wildly as people brushed by her.

Looking for him, turning, again, a third time, trying to find anything like a glimpse of his white fur. As she turned and looked she couldn't see anything, and he was a tall wolf too! How could she not see him? Was it just her senses messing with her?

Salzem wandered around Suna's markets, not really finding anywhere else he'd rather be. He was avoiding the training area, as per the usual, and the Kazekage has more important things to do than talk to him, so wandering the marketplace was really the only reasonable thing left to do. Salzem stuffed his his hands into his jacket pockets as he observed the various shops and their wares. One thing he could say for Sunagakure was the variety of items they stocked. There was the statue merchant, a jeweler, fruit venders... Their variation gave Salzem something fun to look at as he passed by. However, as he walked past a certain fruit merchant, he caught a glimpse of a familiar little girl. Ashie Uchiha munched happily on an apple, wandering the market as he was. Salzem was hesitant to approach the girl, still somewhat self-conscious about re-introducing himself in his human form. He felt embarassed by his inability to control his lycan side and with that side being the only side Ashie knew of him... it was one of embarassment. He feared that his human side would be worse.

Regardless of his feelings, Ashie appeared to sense Salzem's presence, turning around and around in an attempt to locate him. Several times their eyes met and several times, she looked away as if she didn't recognize him. It was obvious that she couldn't tell him from everyone else and somehow, that was a relief. It made him feel normal... But, as the old saying goes, normality is for squares and he walked up to the little girl Ashie, waving at her gently.

"Hey there, Ashie." Salzem spoke as casually as he could. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't keep that ring of nervousness out of his voice. "You may not recognize me, but I'm Salzem." He attempted  a smile of some sort, but it came out feeling lopsided. Whether or not it was, he dropped it in favor of a more accurate portrayal of his emotions: Worried and hesitant.

She kept catching this one stranger's eyes, red, glimpses of red underneath black, side swept hair. A Sharingan? She didn't know, but she didn't know the man who had his sights on her. She kept looking until he was in her line of vision again, waving at her to catch her attention. She watched carefully as he came into view, she kept eye contact as she was searching for the defined three tomoe, which were not there. It was a relief, for a fellow clansmen to even graze her direction with the Sharingan was an act of challenging her power. She untensed, she heard his voice, it sounded like Sal, he said he was Sal, but what convinced her was his lopsided smirk that slowly went down into one of nervousness and worry.

Her smile grew, from ear to ear, she giggled at his nervousness,

"Sal, are you tricking me today? Or was the wolf that I saw just a really good transformation jutsu?" She took another bite of her apple digging her free hand into her pouch to grab the other one and tossed the apple up at Sal, hoping that he would catch it and join her on her day back from training in Asgard with her father. The girl looked different, she didn't have her usual Konoha attire, she wore the outfit her uncle had bought for her when she arrived. A black Kimono wrap top and matching black shorts that hugged her stomach just right. Her black combat boots that conformed to her small shins shined in the bright sun. The girl had a different air about her, one of fresh confidence and everyone could tell she was part of her proud clan, on the back of her kimono wrap top she sewed in the proud Uchiha symbol. For a week she trained honing her knew fire style and reading about the Leaf and its history, stories about the great ninja wars and the Hokages that came before her father. She read about her clan and how it came back stronger than before from almost being completely wiped out. Her eyes reflected her knowledge and confidence as she stood with Sal people going around them instead of bumping into them or passing in between them.

Salzem ended up chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as Ashie giggled.

"Uh... no. That was genuine, as is this form. I could show you later, if you want." Upon closer inspection, Ashie wasn't quite the same person me met the first time. Aside from her change of attire, she appeared more confident, more sure of herself than before... Not taking his eyes off her, he snatched the apple out of the air before tossing it up and down in his hand repeatedly. The change in her demeanor wasn't extremely drastic. It wasn't as if she came back from war and became a new person, but the changes were noticeable. When he peered into her eyes, he could see how much strength and knowledge she'd gained in such a short time. In fact, by his estimate, she was probably around his level now. Perhaps higher. This observation was both scary and exciting. It was scary in the fact she closed the distance between them practically over night and the Exciting part was that he now had someone who he could fight with on equal footing potentially. Salzem looked down at the apple in his hand, then at Ashie, before taking a finger to lower the mask covering his mouth.

Salzem supposed he could show Ashie a small transformation... He forced a wide smile, exposing all visible teeth. Then, in an instant, they began to grow, twist and sharpen until she was no longer looking at human teeth, but wolven fangs. Salzem then took a large bite out of the apple, tearing it open as if it were tissue paper, only slightly spraying juice everywhere. With the bite in his mouth, Salzem shrunk is teeth back to their normal size and swallowed the large chunk of apple before wiping his mouth clean.

"Yeah. So... I can do that." Salzem said, shrugging his shoulders. "While I've changed that way, you've changed a lot yourself Ashie... You seem a lot more... confident than before."

She smiled gently at his compliment, he was sharper than she thought, she thought carefully about her words, if she said she went back home for a week, it wouldn't make sense it's almost a three days walk from here to Konoha. She couldn't tell him the truth either, her father forbid it.

"My father came to visit, we trained all week, showed me what it means to be strong, showed me the history of my clan and village. We trained until my chakra reserves were dry, and then once I was well rested, refined my skills even further. It wasn't easy, but I pushed through my training regardless." She brushed off him morphing his teeth, seems his wolf form might've been a kekkeigenkai of sorts. The wolf she saw a little more than a week ago was one of Sal's forms. She didn't prefer one form over the other, Sal was still her friend no matter what form he was in. It was ultimately up to him whether or not he prefer one form over the other. She motioned for him to walk and talk with her as they go where her Uncle had took her the other week. That inside waterfall. For now though, they would walk and talk,

"You're wolf form is pretty unique! You're the only person I've seen take that form. It's cool! If I could take a form I'd be something with wings! I'd spread my wings and soar through the sky." She caught herself taking on her innocent tone again, something she just had to grow out of eventually, but for now she was in the presence of her friend, there was no need to seem like something she wasn't. She lifts her apple to her lips again taking another bite and savoring its juicy flavor before swallowing, she still had manners and talking with your mouthful definitely wasn't polite.

"However I like this form too! Both of them are Sal, and now I know what you look like! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, its my first time seeing you like this. What sparked the sudden change though? I'm curious, if you don't want to tell me though that's okay too!" She was still Ashie, she still had a heart. Nothing stopped her from caring, even through their training she cared about her father no matter how harsh he was on her. She cared about Yensung and Zero even though they are still in Konoha while she was far away. She still cared about Sal, whether he wanted to be human or wolf, she would support him with her friendship either way. What's on the outside didn't matter to Ashie.

Her mind took her back home for a moment, when she met Kyoto, one of her cousin's, unless her having the same last name as her other Uncle Kurisu was just a coincidence. She was beautiful, long, deep red hair and a perfect hourglass figure. Ashie knew what it was, she was older than Ashie and that was natural. Ashie was six after all. She wondered what her Uncle Kurisu was like, she didn't get to meet him before she left, but maybe someday she would visit the office. She gulped, was that a good idea? What if her father and Uncle weren't on good terms? Koroshi still got along well with her father, but was that only because they both wanted revenge on Uncle Echo? She shook her thoughts from her head, she was over thinking it too much, she would just go with the flow.

"Hm... I can see he taught you well..." Salzem said, following Ashie as she motioned for them to start walking. The little uchiha made various comments about how "cool" his form was and how much she liked it and, with each comment, Salzem couldn't help but remember his helplessness as he failed to control his own form. It was something of a reminder of his own lack of self control, that form. As if he needed another testament to that whole thing. He was fully aware of each and every one of his mistakes that lead him here and his wolven form was just the physical embodiment of those things, or, at the very least what he slapped those mistakes on. 

"Well, Ashie, its good for this and that."  Salzem said, shrugging his shoulders. When the little girl mentioned wings, Salzem couldn't help a smirk as he imagined Ashie with wings. She looked something like a cherub or something. Adorable. Ashie had said his form was unique and his smile fell again. Yeah, to his knowledge, he was the only one of his kind. In one respect, it was a relief because that meant no one had to suffer this form. In a greater respect, however, Salzem felt an even greater sense of isolation. He didn't have anyone who knew exactly what he was going through and couldn't fully open up to them as a result. They just wouldn't get it. When Salzem couldn't transform back, Koroshi thought it was all a dream and Salzem STILL didn't didn't believe that explanation. In fact, he took it more as an insult to his pride.

"Yeah. You didn't know me in this form so it's okay." Salzem said, once again nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. It was when she asked what caused the change did Salzem pause his response.

"Well... its not mine by birth. My parents didn't have... whatever this is. There was this dog. It was crazy and was apparently attempting to tear the whole village down. I went in to stop it and... it bit me. A few days later, under a full moon, I transformed into that wolven form you saw. I always assumed it had some kind of disease... So... yeah. Its not a special blood-linked technique like the sharingan or anything. I'm sick with whatever disease that causes me to change shape." He'd pause, catching Ashie's reaction and, if it turned negative, he'd explain further. "It's not contagious by anything other than bite, as far as I can gather from... my own experience. Don't worry. Its not like you're gonna turn into a monster by simply being around me."

She heard Sal compliment her father's teaching and she bowed her head in a silent thank you, she hoped that she wouldn't disappoint her father and the effort it took to get her to this point. She listened to Sal speak, she did her best to open her mind to the things he was saying. He said that he was sick from a bite from another wolf and that it wasn't contagious unless another was bitten. Sounded like one of her brother's comic books, except it was a disease that made humans turn cannibal. She finished her apple and tossed it into a trash bin that they had passed by, soon they were coming up to a brick building and she opened the door and motioned for Sal to follow in with her, should he follow she would hold the door until he passed through.

Inside was a waterfall, and a few meters from it was a fountain, her Uncle had showed her and her brother this awhile ago, it reminded her of home. The room was cool from the constant running water, the stone floor beneath them had special grooves meant to stop people from loosing their grip and slipping from the water. No one was inside the building today except for Sal and Ashie, she brought him here because it was a peaceful place, might even allow Sal to wind down a bit. She sat upon the edge of the fountain looking at her friend, to see his reaction of the place that she brought him. This was like Asgard to Ashie, she could always come here to be alone, her father stayed in Asgard so he'd always feel her emotions, she couldn't always be alone there. Here was different, the sound of the water almost drowned out all sound from the outside.

"Well, I trust you Sal. Sometimes I forget how little I am, how much I still have left to grow. I am glad you are feeling better, even though your wolf counterpart was strong, even in this form you still carry your potential. You look so nervous though, relax, I'm your friend Sal, I'll never think any less of you, wolf or man. My trinket that I gave you should still prove that!" She smiled while tilting her head to the side. Even though she had more of a silver tongue so to speak, from reading a lot of her father's books and scrolls, she still had her childish demeanor. She leaned back to dip her hand in the water feeling how nice and cool it was, hoping that her words and this place would help Sal calm down.

Salzem followed Ashie into a strange building where an entirely new environment was hosted. It was much cooler inside with not a speck of sand to be seen. A waterfall crashed down in a pool and next to that, a fountain, sprinkling away. Their feet clacked against the tile floor as they made their way inside with Salzem gazing around the room in surprise. It felt like he was back in Konoha with how cool it was... The running water drowned out any noise from the outside so there was hardly any reminder that they were actually in a desert. With Salzem spending many months in a scalding desert, entering a place this cool was almost a shock. Without his notice, he smiled, enjoying the spontaneous change in temperature. Eventually, his sanguine eyes returned to Ashie who was now sitting atop the fountain's edge, observing him. 

"Its a nice place." He commented, nodding at his surroundings. "I like it." It was then that Ashie began speaking, telling him that she trusted him and how he should relax. She said she wouldn't think less of him and that her trinket should prove that. Salzem's hand immediately went to the yin-yang necklace that hung beneath his prayer beads. He held the trinket in his hand, looking at Ashie with an odd expression. No matter what her intentions were when she spoke to him, it still stung. Really, it wasn't her fault. She wasn't trying to make a jab at him. She was trying to be his friend and that was what really hurt. He didn't feel as if he deserved such kindness from someone. It was the guilt he'd built up within himself, the stupidity of his actions, all of that was what made him accepting her gracious acts painful. Salzem glanced downward, releasing his grip on the amulet. His eyes were now on the ground by his right foot, not quite able to make eye-contact. Before he could stop himself, he asked the question that played in his head whenever anyone had been this nice to him.

"......Why?" Salzem asked, his voice nearly overshadowed by the sound of the running water. "Why are you doing this... Acting this way toward me...? We hardly know each other..." It wasn't as if he couldn't reciprocate these emotions of friendship. He surely understood the concept full and well. It was just... he didn't feel he deserved it. To most people, it would come as a pleasant surprise. To Salzem, it felt as if he was being given something he shouldn't have. It felt like he was stealing a better person's comrade.

"Ashie... We've only met twice and one of those times I yelled at you... I scared you... Why are you still trying to know me...?"

She watched him go to grab the pendant that she made him, and after a few moments his hand fell at his side and his sight fell to the ground after looking at her. Her smile turned into a frown of worry. Did she say something wrong? She fell silent as she heard him ask her why. Why she was still trying to be his friend even after that one time. He had a point there, he did scare her, but not in the sense of scared he was going to kill her. Scared as in, she was frightened that she did something wrong. She was a child who was abused herself, she wanted to break the cycle. Instead of showing people the same abuse she had gotten from the Hyuuga's, she showed nothing but kidness and respect when earned. When he had finished talking she allowed herself a few moments to think. To really place the words in the correct order for maximum effect.

"Why? Because the hurt in your eyes...reminded me of myself. I have a friend back home, who knew who I was, and instead of hurting me, he held his hand out to me in friendship. I wanted to do the same for you. Before my friend, Zero, I was isolated, scared, cold...and it was because I felt like I had to act tough to protect myself from getting hurt any further, but there he was, talking to me, treating me to lunch, bought me a stuffed animal. I felt like I didn't deserve his friendship because of the hurt that the Hyuuga clan had caused me. I was a dirty half-blood to them, and I shouldn't have been born. Zero made me feel like I belong, that I had a chance to be happy." She looked down slightly before back up at Sal to watch his reactions, her own words stung herself, to admit her pain so easily. It didn't effect her anymore, now she had the power to prove she had the right to live. She was Viper's heir, and she'll make sure the world knew she was a proud Uchiha.

"I think, that everyone needs a chance to be happy, even you Sal. You're correct, I don't know much about you, I don't know the things you may have done, or the things people did to you. I don't care about that, the past is the past, there's nothing you can do to change that, not even myself. That doesn't mean you can't hold your head up high and strive to be better in the future. That's why, I want to be your friend, the same reason why Zero became mine, because I care, because I want to." She smiled gently, her eyes reflected her fire inside of her. She meant what she said, and she said what she meant, an Uchiha is faithful one hundred percent.

Salzem listened to Ashie's story, still unable to make contact with her eyes. His own began to burn as the story grew deeper, as she told him of her troubles as a "dirty-half blood." She said she had found someone, a person named Zero who'd turned her perspective on life around, gave her a reason to live happily... Salzem had that person too... except he was dead. Salzem had saw him die right in front of him. Everything he had done since then in his friend's name had only ended worse and worse. Now he was a half-human beast border-lining on intense depression, a far cry from the relatively happy human he was back in the leaf. He had fallen so far... become something almost inhuman to him... All because he made a brash and stupid decision he couldn't even go back on. 

"A chance to be happy..." Salzem repeated, clenching his eyes closed in an attempt to reign back the tears. He leaned his back against a nearby wall, covering his face in his hands. His heart throbbed horribly in his chest, responding to Ashie's words with emotional thump after emotional thump. He wanted so badly to believe it... He wanted to... but he couldn't... not yet. With his face covered, he didn't see Ashie's smile, but it wasn't likely he'd respond to it if he had. He tried so hard to draw inward, to bottle up all these boiling, writhing emotions, but he just couldn't do it. They bursted forth before he could put a cork on them. Tears formed at the side of his eyes and ran down his cheeks as his breath became irregular. No matter how tightly he squeezed his eyes, he couldn't stop their flowing.

"Ashie......" Salzem moaned in something border-lining on despair. He was unable to keep the truth of his past locked up anymore. It just spilled forth from his blubbering mouth as he cried. "I betrayed them..... My village.... my family.... I tossed them aside so I could kill a man...." He slid to the ground, hiding his head in his knees. "I took their trust.... I took their belief in me and I destroyed it for something selfish...... I'm a m-o-n-s-t-e-r........."