Bitter 16 (Open)

Salzem woke up one morning, groaning with apathy as he realized what day it was. He could just see the pink flyer hanging above his bed, bright blue letters spelling "Happy Birthday Salzem, the man that let his friends die on his stupid quest!" He stared up at the imaginary banner with his sanguine eyes, blinking slowly only once, causing it to vanish from his view. As he got dressed, he sung the typical "Happy Birthday" song to himself under his breath, a tone of sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Happy birthday to me... Happy Birthday to me... Happy.... Ah, screw it." With everything in place on his person, he snatched his coat off the standing rack with just enough strength to cause it to topple to the floor, the loud crash causing the Sanguine-eyed ninja to grit his teeth in frustration. With a snarl, he kicked the rack away, causing it to crash into the nearby wall, causing it to cause even more noise as Salzem stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him. As he walked about the village, the dark storm-cloud above his head was quite obvious. Anyone that saw him either took a good 3 steps away from him before continuing on their way, or looked at him curiously, as if trying to read the source of his misery on his face. He blocked them from his vision as he made way, almost as a bull would as it charged. Birthdays were days to be celebrated, days that were all about him and his accomplishments. Well, thats what this was all about. He was a piece of work alright. He had accomplished a whole hoard of nothing along with a touch suffering, regret and death. A day all about him? Yep! Seemed about right. Time to reflect on his stupidity! The bodies piling on him! It was time to remember how much of a HELP he was to everyone who cared about him. Yes, it was time to remember the GOOD times he had with Isshin and Kasai as he carried their coffins on his back. OH, and lets not forget it was a day to remember how SCREWED he was, what with the Sand village being the only thing between him and a noose. Happy birthday to him! Happy birthday to mr. useless who can't take care of himself, let alone those whom he'd grown attached.

As he walked, he passed by an alcohol stand, selling the stuff by the bottle. Immediately, on a whim, he made a U-turn and made straight for the stand, buying himself a short bottle of Sake. The man looked at Salzem funny, but didn't question him when he saw his face. Guy must have seen people like him a couple-hundred times a month, just not his particular face. In a few years, he suspected that'd change. People like him always came back for a second bottle. Salzem, with his hand around the neck of his bottle, made his way to that bench, the one that overlooked the open gates, popping the cork from the top. He lowered his mask from his mouth, smelling the heavy alcoholic content sharp in his nose. He had never drank before... he knew not the taste, not the effect it would have on his mind. With his upper lip twitching slightly in irritation, he put the lip of the bottle to his and lifted up. A little bit of the liquid made its way down his throat, burning it agonizingly as it went down. Surprised by the pain it caused, Salzem flinched, taking the bottle from his mouth, coughing heavily. God, what was that...? What.......... His mind began to slow, fuzz up. Everything was changing, but staying the same... weird. His body relaxed, the complexion around the bridge of his nose and cheeks beginning to deepen into a rosy red. His body relaxed heavily, nearly slumping off the bench on which he sat.

Ashie was walking around that day, yet again she had visited the clothing store to talk to Mr. Mio, learning little by little by little that not every hyuuga was a proud jerk. Today she decided she wanted to look nice, she through on a cute little sleeveless sundress, it was a light blue with sky blue butterflies adorning the hem of the dress. Through the food bazaar she went, lots of stalls with all sorts of foods, some with baked goods, some with fruit, as she walked she noticed one with alcohol. She wasn't old enough for that stuff yet, but when she turned her head to the opposite side of the street she noticed her friend Sal who was slumped over on a bench. Worried she walked over and placed her left hand gently on Sal shoulder,

"Sal? Are you okay?" She was nervous the last time they met he was so upset...and then he had left without a smile on his face. She felt guilty...like all she did was make him feel worse and worse every time they talked to each other. Fate however, kept bringing them to little meetings like this, she didn't want Sal to be sad, but then when she talks it out with him...he just seemed to grow more upset...was it her? Was she causing all this pain? Was she even helping at all? In her head she made a deal with herself. If Sal becomes more upset or angry with this, than Ashie will do everything she can to avoid Sal. If not, then things will be alright. Ashie hated upsetting people, she wanted to help, but if her help isn't helping but making it worse...then what was the point? Ashie didn't want to cause Sal to suffer. She waited for Sal to respond, hoping that he wasn't hurt or sick.

He took another swig from his bottle, feeling his sorrows and angers washed away in the ocean of drunken bliss. He silently looked through Suna's open gates, a melancholy gaze in his eye. It was almost as if he was waiting for the grim reaper to walk through those gates so he could be the first to introduce himself. Many thoughts ran through his head, but each coated in the alcohol, making them slippery. He was about to go for a third drink when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, almost like static. At first, he didn't even notice the hand, his reaction time slowed... Gradually the sensation reached his clogged brain and he sluggishly turned his head to face whoever's come to bother him, a dead look in his eye. He didn't recognize the girl at a first glance, not the look on her face or the voice she spoke to him with. He stared at her blankly before information began to fall slowly into place. Memories popped up of him and her, sluggish, fuzzy, but he could make out the general image. A name came to mind and slowly, a wide, sleepy smile formed on Salzem's lips.

"Ashie..." He said, his voice slurred just the tiniest bit. "Come, take a seat and help me celebrate my 16th birthday!" He spoke with a sarcastic enthusiasm, unknown which one was dominant. "Yes... let us drink to the day I came into this accursed world. A world where both your closest friends die just beyond your reach! Let us be merry to the fact I've been nothing but the north side of useless when everyone needed me the most, just like I am now, but the difference is, I'm acknowledging it..." He took another drink from his bottle, further blurring his vision and numbing the pain that came with his words.

"Let us toast to the guest of honor, for leaving on a POINTLESS quest, and to him learning the consequences of his actions! Cheers to me for letting another one of my best friends be devoured by the worms that rest in our coffins, for letting him fall to the reaches of insanity because I gave in to my own!" He laughed a little at the end of his speech turning his gaze back to the gates, raising his bottle in some sort of salute before lowering it again. They say a drunken words are a sober man's thoughts. He was going to need another few bottles before it would all come out in words.

She saw the slow smile form on his lips almost sloth-like as he uttered her name, he invited her to celebrate his birthday, but she was confused as to if he was just joking around or not. Was he...drunk? She offered up a nervous smile of her own before speaking gently,

"Oh your birthday? Why that's wonderf--" She was cut off by Sal's speech, he was going on about his past, cursed the world in which they lived in. He was still bothered by the loss of his friends, as he continued bad mouthing himself and the decisions he made Ashie's visage became stoic. She was trying her best to control the anger bubbling inside her, this was delicate and she needed to handle the situation with care. However as soon as he called himself useless and his quest pointless...now that was the last straw. She took her left hand and smacked the bottle out of his hand, the bottle would fall to the ground spilling its contents and shattering the glass. If Sal would look up her face would be angry. She had kept her cool, but the second he called his quest to finding the man who killed his friends pointless...that is what angered her. She might've been small but she was strong with Sal's senses dulled. with her right hand she pulled him down to her level by his collar.

"You listen here, don't you ever and I mean EVER. Talk bad about my friend again. You are not useless Sal, you never were and never will be unless you keep going down this miserable path! What you just said about finding the man that killed your friends was pointless?! Sal do you even hear yourself? The Sal I know would never say a thing like that. If you let your thoughts come true you really will have let your friends die for nothing." She released his collar letting him go, if she didn't, there was no telling what she was going to do to Sal. She felt like hitting him like the child she was. That wouldn't have helped, Sal needed sense beaten into him and she was going to be the one to do it. She folded her arms almost disgusted with how low Sal brought himself.

"You are better than this Sal, drowning your sorrows in alcohol, its spineless! You have a backbone stand up with your own two feet and instead of sitting here doing nothing and drinking, get your butt out there and find him!" She couldn't believe the Sal that she saw in front of her now, it was bothersome, it was wrong! If you want revenge you have to take it. You can't let your sorrows overtake you like this, this was what her father was trying to do when he was training her, trying to let her see that you can't let your feelings get the best of you like Sal had...like her father had...

The alcohol is Salzem's blood seemed to catch on fire as Ashie knocked the bottle from his hand, spilling the liquid across the sand. She grabbed his collar, forcing him to stare into her eyes as she lashed out at him with her words. He grabbed her collar with his hand as she let go, mouth curled into a snarl, revealing the twisted fangs of his teeth. Even though the drink still clouded his thoughts, his fueled rage cut some clarity through it all. If there was any benefit to the alcohol in his blood, it got rid of the restraint that kept it inside.

"The hell...? You talk like you know something about this... like you know anything about me." Salzem hissed.  "'The sal you knew' was a FAKE. Everything he said to you was either a LIE or watered down. You couldn't begin to comprehend what he kept from you... And do you know what he learned, Ashie? His teacher and one of his closest friends committed assisted SUICIDE by attacking his home. He was told that the man WANTED TO DIE, his friend that was practically family, practically an older brother and model to him. And do you know why that happened? Because he wasn't there to save him. Use your head for this one now..." Salzem shoved the little girl away from him, getting to his feet with wet, but hard eyes. "Why couldn't he save him? Because he was right here, wasting away, unable to LEAVE or GO! HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT SIT HERE AND PRAY EVERYONE WOULD BE ALRIGHT! 'The sal you knew' was here, because he made the STUPID decision to leave the village in search of a monster that took the life of his friend. Do you know that he was imprisoned when he went back...?" He asked, appearing to loom over the girl. "Oh yes, 'the sal you knew' spent days in a cell for trying to return to his people. And do you know why he wanted to go back...? Because he KNOWS where the killer is. Back in his home, probably killing MORE of his friends."

Salzem glared down at the ignorant little girl, his muscles tensed and fists clenched. "And do you know why that first life was taken, the one that set him on that stupid, unproductive path?" He asked with an edge in his voice. "Because 'the sal you knew' was too damn weak and stupid to protect his friends, let alone himself." He sat back down on the bench heavily before glancing back in the direction of the uchiha girl, murder practically dancing in his eyes. "Before you criticize me with that toddler mind, know that when you and everyone else dies around me, I'll be the one to carry your corpses."

Even though she release his collar Sal still lingered dangerously close to her, his words spat out with as much anger as a dragon spitting fire. She sat there and listened to him berate her for believing in the Sal that believed in her and soon after he explained further she was met with a shove which not only sent her back but when she put her hands back to catch herself before she hit the ground, her elbow met with a few rocks scraping and bloodying both her pale skin and her dress beneath her tore. One of her sandals fell off her foot from the momentum and that's when she kept her head down. She was trembling, but there was no sound coming from the young Uchiha. One could assume she was crying because of her age, but they would be sorely mistaken. She was hiding her hurt expression, she wouldn't let an alcohol enduced friend who felt like taking his frustrations out on her get to her. She still listened as she spoke and when he finished her teeth grit as her rage was seething into her words, almost like a hiss from a cobra.

"Did they hold a kunai to your through when they 'made you stay'? Did they tie you down to stop you? You had a choice to leave, you chose not to...and now your punishing yourself instead of moving forward! You say the Sal I knew was weak, but I believed he was strong. The Sal in front of me now? I think is weak. Sitting here and pushing a friend away when all she does is try to help you?!" Her voiced cracked and she stopped, her teeth gritting as she fought back the impending tears. If she did that now, Sal would win. She didn't want him to be right, she didn't want him to hurt himself like this anymore. Hearing him insult her scarred her deeper than him pushing her.
She became emotional in that moment, she picked up her sandal, stood herself up, her head still allowing her bangs to hide her eyes from eyes hateful gaze. Her age starting to show at this exact moment.

"If you never move forward, you will never surpass me, I moved forward when my uncles died, I moved forward when I found out that the brother I knew and love was a monster locked inside him pretending to be my brother! I could've let my sorrow consume me like you're letting yours do to you, but I didn't!" She turned, her shoulders trembling signalling that he got to her, that he was winning. She sobbed out softly, just enough for Sal to hear her,

"No one will carry my corpse because I will never die...have a nice birthday, jerk." That was the last word she spoke before she ran, her speed thrown off by her bare foot not looking where she was going from trying to use her free hand to wipe at her tears that were now making the sand on her hands smudge her face. If Sal would run after her, she wouldn't let up her speed and keep running trying to get away from him. If he stayed she'd run home to the Kage's office, running past the nice secretary that always asked her how her day went, not wanting anyone to see her like she was.

(Possible Exit if not stopped by Sal or anyone else that jumps into the topic)

His rage fizzled out as quickly as it had ignited as the little uchiha girl struck back with her own retort. She accused him of being weak for not moving on and, in another circumstances, that might have made him angry again, but in this one, he could hear the heavy emotion in her voice: the outrage, the sadness... the betrayal... Even if she tried to hide her grief from him, Salzem could hear it in her voice, see it in her body language. One of the apparent perks of his lycan senses, he could pick up on that garbage. Eventually, her tough facade broke down too, leaving her standing there, sobbing softly next to him for a moment, claiming she'd never die and sarcastically wishing him a good birthday before running away with tears running down her face. Salzem sat there on his bench, dumbfounded, his heart stinging from her remark. Really, it was her ending word "jerk" that go to him above everything else. Ashie wasn't the kind of person to insult people like this, even with such a mild word. He felt like the scum of the earth, watching her flee towards the kage office, and he knew that if he didn't fix this, their relationship would be permanently damaged, if it wasn't already. Even if it was, he had to try anyway. He had made a little girl cry as she tried to help him... This realization sobered him up real fast.

"Ashie, wait!" He called after her, reaching out an arm to stop her despite the girl being several feet out of reach by now. He got to his feet and attempted a run to catch up with her, but his legs fumbled beneath him, not quite recovering from his first drink. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said...!" He tried to call out to her, unsure if she even heard him. It was becoming a familiar phrase. He wasn't even able to do his max speed with the state he was in. Maybe somewhere between 40 and 50, he attempted to catch up to the fleeing girl, chastising himself along the way with every step. Even with all these other villagers watching him awkwardly trying to limp after a crying little girl, Salzem still pursued, trying his best to plea for her to slow down, and apologizing all the while.

She got a good distance towards the office before she heard Sal moving after, she wasn't running full speed, and because of her sandal missing from her foot, it made it harder for her to run. She heard him call out for her to wait as soon as her hand was on the door to the office. She stopped, should she give him a chance? Most people would've been done at this point, Ashie just wanted to help, and deep inside her the adult within her was telling her that some people weren't worth the effort. She turned around seeing Sal stumble as fast as he can, the alcohol still effected him. She wiped her remaining tears before tilting her head up to look at him, her eyes still watery. She waited for Sal to make it to her location taking her time to recover, she dropped her sandal and slipped her foot into it as she waited. She was ready to leave if needed, ready to run past the receptionist and lock herself in her room. It was hard enough that she was in a village that she wasn't familiar with, most of her friends in Konoha. She waited until he was close enough to hear her, her words harsh and full of hurt,

"Oh now the toddler's friendship means something to you? I should feel honored I suppose." She was lashing out now, it wasn't fair, it never was. Ashie's feelings never mattered to Sal, why would it be any different now? He was gonna apologize only to do this all over again. It was stressing the little Uchiha out, she was already ready to spend a few days inside.

Nobunaga was someone who preferred being alone. He enjoyed solitude, not having to converse with anyone, being in his own frame of mind and with his own thoughts. Therefore for the majority of his days the Hiyu would simply walk around the village, patrolling on his own as he pondered. Today was no different. Nobunaga found himself performing his usual rounds of patrol. Nothing assigned, just going wherever his legs took him, not planning out his course or anything, all the while thinking to himself in silence. While he did so, he made sure to watch what was going on around him. How people acted, how they conversed with each other, watching their behaviours and mannerisms. It was something he had been doing since he was a child and he had gotten quite good at reading people. Being able to tell their emotional state, how they were feeling or what they were thinking had become second nature to him due to all the time he spent in solitude and watching others. However this unique skill he had developed was not needed to judge the situation before him.

His patrol had brought him to the centre of the city, right along the Kage's tower. Walking up to an intersection, Nobunaga would come to a sudden halt when he saw a young woman running across the adjacent street. She was clearly in distress, running with one foot bare and sobbing as she made her way to the Kage's tower. Despite her frail state, Nobunaga could sense the potency of her chakra and it was a powerful one. It was odd to him to see someone with chakra like that sobbing like a child. Shifting his eyes down the street Nobunaga gazed upon Salzem, the obvious source of the girl's distress. He was clearly drunk based off the blush on his face and his uncoordinated running. The situation before him was one where Ashie appeared to be in trouble, being chased and harassed, maybe even harmed.

As was his duty to protect the citizens of this village, Nobunaga quickly dashed forward right as Ashie reached the Kage's tower and placed himself in between the two. Stepping in to intervene, the giant brute of a man would turn to face Salzem. Clad in an oversized black weather worn cloak that concealed his body from neck to ankle, Nobunaga would look down at the youngster with a stern, unmoving facial expression. In a deep voice the Hiyu would ask the intoxicated Salzem "Do we have a problem here?"

Eventually, Ashie stopped, turning to face him with obvious scorn on her face. With enough sarcasm to last them both, she asked if a "toddlers friendship" meant anything to him and asked "if she should be honored" by that. Salzem flinched, and not just from the intensifying headache. He could tell she was in a dark place, or at least, approaching one. Someone like Ashie going to that kind of place was unacceptable, especially because it was his fault. Running that distance in the shape he was in left the sanguine-eyed ninja breathless. Taking a moment to get his air-intake regular, he thought about what he was going to say. How could he apologize for what he did? It didn't seem like anything he'd say could make up for it. Well, he had to say something, or his silence would just lead to a darker stain on their relationship.

"I..." But before he could get another word out, a giant suddenly appeared between them, looming over Salzem the way he loomed over Ashie not a moment before. Salzem didn't bother looking the man in the eye, fore Ashie was who he needed to talk to, but he could feel the man's gaze pierce his neck. By now most of the sanguine-eyed ninja's blush had dissipated, queuing the due hangover headache and impatience, leaving Salzem more twitchy and unfocused than twisted and slow. The man's face was like chiseled stone the way he glared down at the shorter ninja, but his look was the last thing on Salzem's mind.

It was at this time the man asked if there was a problem and it was at this time, Salzem looked up at the man's face for the first time. His looks certainly matched that voice he spoke with, the grit on his face and the lines on his mouth. His eyes might as well have been rock with how they glared down at Salzem. He stared up with his own sanguine eyes before responding.

"Yes. My problem." And with that, even if he could step around the man, he'd talk through him. "Ashie, I found out my mentor died less than 2 days ago and received his parting words. I know that doesn't excuse my actions but I think it'll help you understand. I'm so twisted and gnarled inside with everyone I care about appearing to die around me... I'm sorry for what I did, what I said, and I know you've heard that enough times to make you sick of it, but what else can I say? What else can I be? You're right to be angry and if our friendship comes to an abrupt end because of my shortsightedness and inability to see what you've been trying to tell me, then that's your choice and I wouldn't disagree with it. I've been stupid and callow in the way I've treated you when you've helped me so much and if there's any hope for us left as friends, I ask: Can you help me let go?"

At that point, Salzem would take a deep breath and run his hand through his hair. "It doesn't have to be today and it doesn't have to be tomorrow. I don't even expect you to trust me as a person anymore after this... So... Yeah... Come find me if... you know... I'm worth your time anymore." With that, Salzem would begin to walk back to his bench, hands in his pockets, head still throbbing like it was being smashed by cymbals. If he isn't stopped, he'd return to his bench and bury his head in his hands, half from misery, the other half... well... the hangover.