A Person in the Void(Akane)

This was as close as Salzem was ever going to get to freedom it seemed. Wandering the seemingly endless desert, always keeping an eye behind him, memorizing his trail. His days were not very good ones, especially after the discovery of his deceased mentor. There was barely sleep, he lost his enjoyment in eating, training was simply a waste of time... Everything just appeared to have as much meaning as one of these grains of sand. Why should he even bother with getting up in the morning? No real point to any of it anymore, was there?

He was exhausted, and yet, the sanguine-eyed ninja wandered about the seemingly endless golden sands, looking for something that was clearly nothing: a purpose. Losing friends like Salzem had was like losing his family. His heart was in pieces, bleeding out in his chest. People tried to help him, recognizing his suffering, but he couldn't see it as such. His eyes were too muddled by the tears. He was broken, twisted, rotting, just like his family's bodies as they rotted in the ground. Salzem loved them, gave his heart to them, and they all drop like he was poison. Salzem snorted, shaking his head at the heartbreak he felt pour within his chest. Those that try to aid him tell him to "man up" to "let-go" and he KNOWS they're correct! They are right that he has to let the dead die, let his family rot silently in their holes and not dig them up to apologize to them! They are right for Salzem to detach himself from those he will never see again! They live in an age where anyone can die at any moment, an age of war. Monsters and demons stalk the wilds, worse things on the roads and in the villages. Salzem became one to track one and only now, in this void, does he allow himself to see it. In civilization, he has fingers to point and so many targets. He can vent on anyone because there are just so many people to hit. He can cry his eyes dry, smash the village to the ground and feel just as much pain as he did before. Here, though, when there is no one else to blame and no targets to crush, Salzem was alone with nothing but his own guilty self. His friends are dead. It was a cold reality out here. A void such as this has the uncanny ability to make all extreme emotions seem pointless. They were dead and he wasn't there to do anything to stop it. It wasn't his fault. His teacher simply passed as the ninja he was. He was a wonderful man and died doing what he believed was right. Salzem KNEW all of this... but why did it still hurt so much? He didn't know. His heart remained broken, but together, held that way by the stitches this place provided him. Bravado. He wandered the desert quietly, a ghost on the sand.

Salzem was so far in his head that he didn't notice the girl walk up to him until she was already introducing herself. He looked at the girl strangely, almost perplexed as to how she got up to him so quickly. Maybe he was just that dense today. It would seem that way. The unknown girl introduced herself as Akane Tokiyama, a name Salzem had never heard of or anything like it for that matter. Then again, no one has ever heard of anything  like his name either. He stared at the new-comer in silence for a moment, as if he was trying to identify her purpose for approaching him at all. He hadn't seen her out in the village... nor had he seen her out here during his previous ventures into the desert. Mysterious. Eventually, Salzem did speak up, though quietly, guardedly. The enthusiasm in the unknown girl's voice put Salzem on edge. Outside villages, all kinds of people roam the land. It wouldn't be smart to be open and kind with everyone initially. They'd just take advantage of that.

"I'm Salzem." He said, peering at her through his exhausted sanguine orbs. "What are you doing out here?" Salzem's voice had something of a defensive edge, as if he were expecting the girl to immediately whirl the question back on him. The reason Salzem was out here was to find a reason to go back, to find the patience and the will to spend another moment in the sand. The real question was Why would Akane willingly brave this agonizing heat for anything less than the very important? Whatever the girl was doing out here must have been something on that level.

"Out here...?" Salzem asked, gesturing to the desert around them that went on for miles. "You are looking for an adventure out here...?" Immediately after asking this Salzem would simply shrug and check the sun. Still noon-ish. Hopefully a breeze or something would pass over them and make their conversations a little less painful.

"Are you from the sand or something, Akane? I don't see a headband on you." Salzem would note, raising an eyebrow semi-suspiciously. He had already concluded she wasn't much of a threat, what with her chakra signature being well within comfortable parameters and with her open demeanor. Despite the chilling and rough personality Salzem had presented her with, She was kind enough to keep her optimism high, responding to him just as enthusiastically she had when she ran up to him. Salzem's week was a bad week, one of misery and loss. However, he found the strength within himself to retract his chilling, edged persona. Upon hearing her response, Salzem would nod his head, then rub his neck with one hand, looking off the the side semi-sheepishly.

"Yeah... Sorry about the way I treated you when you walked up. Its... Its been a rough week for me. Lotta... 'annoying' stuff floating around I had to deal with and I was short on patience... so... yeah. Let me start over. My name is Salzem. I come from the Sand and I, unlike you, am doing absolutely nothing with my time." He managed a small smile at that. "A pleasure to meet someone out here that doesn't want to kill me, you know? So many bandits and outlaws out here these days."

Salzem would ask Akane if she was really looking for an adventure out in the desert of all places and she would answer, "Yes, sir! It is the only place to look for one anyways, we are in the Land of Wind after all." Suddenly, he'd ask her what village she was from and she'd simply reply with, "I'm not from a village, I grew up a Missing-Nin here. Although personally I don't like hurting people so you could say I'm too soft to be a Missing-Nin." Akane hoped that he was somewhat the same and that he didn't attack people pointlessly as he seemed to have a lot of experience behind him and looked as if he was extremely strong. He looked strong enough to be able to take her down in a couple of minutes with ease without even breaking a sweat. 

Soon after she spoke, Salzem would speak once more and would apologize for the way he had treated her and would tell her to let him start over. Which she allowed him to do with no problems whatsoever, she had plenty of time to waste and she wouldn't mind spending it talking to him. After he finished speaking, she'd speak once again and would say, "You're fine Salzem! You didn't really treat me badly anyways, I've been treated worse than this before." while smiling softly at him.

Salzem cocked his head to the side, wondering what she meant by "I've been treated worse than this." It made him wonder how someone as nice as this girl was treated. Then again, he was no one to judge and therefore said nothing on the topic. It was her personal history and one Salzem shouldn't pry into.

"I'm glad!" Salzem said in response to her distaste for harming others. "Like I said, a lot of bad-guys run around here, so I'm happy to see a friendly face." Salzem offered his best smile, despite it seeming far weaker than the softer, gentler grin he gave him. In this horribly intense heat, Salzem could hardly fathom how she was willing to put up with his initial rough exterior. She said she had grown up here as a MN, so maybe she was born with some kind of tolerance Salzem had the misfortune of missing out on. Whatever way you slice it, Salzem found himself jealous of how she could ignore that good-for-nothing blob of fire in the sky. Even if he didn't admit it to himself. "Well... Being a missing ninja... without a home or protection you can stake your life on... I know what that's like. I don't belong to a village either." He might as well unveil his life story to her, minus a few key details. She was open enough to him to tell her of her status so he should be as well. It was only the polite thing to do. "You see, I made a mistake a while back and, through that, I was pulled out of my village and I ended up here. Jokes on me, though." Salzem sighed and looked up at the sky, mere inches from the sun itself. "I swear that sun up there is just here to spite me." Although his voice was completely serious, Salzem's mouth was curled upwards into a slight grin, enjoying the somewhat dark humor of his situation. He let out another sigh and lowered his gaze back to the seemingly older girl.

"You find anyone interesting enough to go adventuring with?"

The young woman would listen to him as he shared some information about himself and would pay close attention to what he said. Akane felt that it was important to listen to people so that she could make sure she didn't risk saying something that might harm the person when making a joke or just speaking in general. She didn't like to hurt people's feelings and it made her feel bad about herself when she did do so. After he was done sharing her history Akane would share some of her history and would say, "I'm not even supposed to be a missing ninja. I acted in self-defence trying to protect myself from other missing-nin."

After she spoke Salzem would ask her if she had found anyone who was interesting enough to adventure with and she would answer him while smiling, "I have actually, but he's just a Genin from Sunagakure. I'd rather not try to take him from his village to go on a boring adventure with me." The Genin that Akane spoke of was one that she had thought of highly, his name being Haruki Akari. Haruki was like a little brother to her even though they had only just recently met each other.

"Not much of an adventure if it's boring, is it?" Salzem noted dryly, before rolling his eyes and gesturing off in the direction of the village, motioning for them to talk while they traveled. "Listen... I don't know how long you've been suffering this Missing Ninja rank, but I've been doing it for about 2 years now. I lost a couple good friends to this whole thing. Believe me when I tell you, I hope it doesn't happen to you with this genin you spoke of." Salzem shrugged lightly as he walked, reflecting on what Akane had said. She claimed that she was acting in self defense, trying to protect herself from another Missing ninja, resulting in her becoming one herself. What did this mean? Did she hurt and/or kill someone she wasn't supposed to? Did her defense turn aggressive and cause far more collateral damage than she intended? What could she have possibly done to have her be discarded from her village? Salzem found himself intensely distracted by all the possibilities that lead to this girl's exile. She could have been a murderer. She could have been something of a terrorist. She could have been framed all these things and been completely innocent. Salzem wanted to believe the latter, but he was unsure. Her explanation was fairly cryptic. Instead of prying further into her personal life, however, Salzem decided to turn the conversation off her specifically to avoid sounding like a creep. He was silent for a few moments, trying to come up with some conversation topic that didn't end up with him siphoning knowledge out of her.

"Uh... So..." Salzem spoke oh, so confidently as emphasized by the rubbing of the back of his head. "Thats an interesting outfit." Salzem commented, nodding at her skirt and button-up shirt. Of course, Salzem was no-one to talk with his heavy black jacket, combat boots and steel gloves. Hell, compared to him, a shaved chicken would seem normal. It was just that he'd never seen such a.... unique style before. Maybe he was ignorant. who knows?

Ignoring Salzem's comment, Akane would begin to follow Salzem as he walked towards the village while listening to him talk about his life as a Missing Ninja. It seemed that it had been a hard one, but it hadn't been a long life as a Missing Ninja. Akane had been a Missing Ninja for a good eight years now and knew the pain of being a Missing Ninja, pain that she hoped to help Haruki avoid by keeping him on track with his life, making sure that he wouldn't make any mistakes that may ruin his life.

Once they both fell silent Akane would try to come up with something less depressing to talk about, but Salzem would beat her to it by calling her outfit "interesting". When he called her outfit interesting she would giggle and would say, "I think yours is more interesting. I've never seen anyone wear that kind of clothing in the Desert before!"