After Being Transparent

Finding Shina was not easy. Kyousuke first tried at her house knocking on the door, her roommates were nervous upon seeing the uniform of the queensguard luckily he was still dirty from looking for slugs to completely keep them from talking. “Is Shina here?” The chuunin would shake her head no, before the ninja thanked them and ran off to the Gazebo.

The ninja looked around for Shina’s chakra signature, but couldn’t find it there either. So he hopped from roof to roof looking for her. As he kept moving and was still unable to find her he decided to head to the palace and maybe talk to the other queens guard, Shina would be at her house tomorrow hopefully so that they could talk.

At the palace he finally felt the chakra signature he was looking for. She seemed pretty high up, was she inside or on the roof? Knowing her she was on the roof. There were guards at the palace entry, Kyousuke introduced himself of course they stiffened upon seeing the armor. “I’m new to this, but I’m going to climb the building now my friend is up there.” With confused looks the men allowed him to climb the building.


Once at the top he could see the black haired girl, she looked upset still. Seeing him in silver armor probably wouldn’t help, but maybe having a way to contact Akihana would. Either way hopefully she wouldn’t be mad and maybe laugh at the already dirtied equipment he had just been given.

The first emotion Shina truly remembered feeling acutely was anger. It didn't make for the most romantic story, it didn't even make for an interesting story. Mostly because the young kunoichi had a lot of reasons to be angry at the world. Orphaned at a young age, traveler with a guard company that treated her as a part time hit woman part time laborer, part time cook and full time punching bag, forced to learn ninjutsu for fear of losing her job if she stopped being useful to a group of despicable men who only had one thing going for them: they at least kept her fed.

Yes, Shina had never seen the good life even before she had arrived at Haven so many years ago, but it wasn't any of those things that had triggered that first bout of rage she remembered. it was something so minute, she sometimes wondered if it even justified the emotion it brought about. Someone had left a bit of wire on the ground and the then fourteen yer old had tripped on it, cutting open her knee. The next few minutes should have been spent healing that cut with the basic medical ninjutsu she had newly mastered but instead, the dark haired girl had flown into a rage, marching into the camp and started swearing up and down the tents about picking up after oneself.

She had gotten fired, but she had also gotten something a lot more valuable that day. Her anger, she found, was somethings she could cling to when everything in the world abandoned her. Anger was safe, it was something she knew, it was something she had in spades and most importantly, it was something she could deal with, both on the giving and receiving end.

Over the years, her fits of rage had dulled to incidents of annoyances and a somewhat permanently irritated demeanor. It was the only way Shina knew how to be. Staying perpetually annoyed at the world was the closest she had come to serenity and most of her friends knew that. Some were even kind enough to not mind.

Lady Akihana hand't minded. Neither did Kyousuke.

Neither had Den...

A small film of liquid obscured the ninja's vision, making her raise her hand to her eyes only to realize there were tears in those light orbs. A puzzled expression came over her face. Why was she crying? Why was she crying perched atop the palace tower of all places? Shina didn't cry. She got angry, that was her thing. And today of all days she had the absolute right to be angry. Closing her eyes, the fuin user furiously tried to stop the flow of tears gathering behind her closed eyelids, tried to summon all the rage she had come to rely on over the years.

But alas, it seemed her one real comfort had abandon her today too. Giving up after a moment, the brunette curled in on herself, hugging her knees to chest as she brought her head down to her knees, the silent trails trailing down her trousers and into her ankle bindings.

Shina couldn't remember the last time she had cried. And now she didn't know how to stop.

It was worse than Kyousuke had imagined, he knew Shina would be upset he did not expect tears though. Maybe he had made a bad decision in coming, but he couldn’t think that way. He was her friend if she was feeling sad it was his responsibility to console her. As she curled up the large man hopped onto the roof and without trying to frighten her put a hand on her shoulder and tried to hug her.

She could hit him and resist all she wanted, if he got punched well he deserved it. All that mattered was that hopefully by the end of the silent hug there would be no more tears. Just two friends hanging out as they used to. Maybe even enjoy a cigarette and talk about Kyousuke’s discovery. Maybe that conversation wouldn’t even happen that night, perhaps they would both just drink until all of the troubles in the world were small.

Kyousuke remained quiet it was likely Shina had a lot of yelling to do. If she didn’t start the conversation though, he would start talking about whatever to get her mind away from the meeting. Tehniyat was crazy not to choose Shina as one of her guard, she was as dedicated to Hoshi as anyone else in that room. She certainly deserved the position over himself, Tehniyat had a point though in saying Shina would not be happy about only getting the job because another turned it down. There was so much that happened in that short time, so much laid out to them.


Then there was the mid-meeting I’ve done more for Hoshi battle which in his own opinion was what put a final stop to the meeting. If no one would have feuded the talk with the princess could have been lengthened perhaps. There was so much to take in, during that time it was hard to process it all.

Kyousuke Snow had many defining features. The first was his obvious bulk which made it absurdly easy to pick him out from a crowd. The second was his chakra which she had seen evolve in the time she had known the newly appointed Queensguard. She had witnessed it go from erratic to calm to focused as he navigated each stage of his life and now knew the ebb and flow of the aura as well as she knew her own. However, his most distinct feature was to turn up beside her at the most annoying time, or so she told herself because Shina did not know how to admit she needed a friend.

So when a great big paw tried to grab at her shoulder, the kunoichi wasn't surprised. Though she was too upset to pick up his chakra signature as he had probably scaled the wall, she knew it could only be him. No one else would think to come find her when she specifically came here to be alone. The fuin user struggled a little as he tried to pull her into a hug but her heart wasn't into it. Any other day and he would find himself pulling fuin curses out of crevices of the body he didn't know existed but today... Today the brunette simply crumpled in his arms and continued to cry, dampening his uniform and spitefully hoping it would make extra work for the royal launderer. Right now she had no charitable thoughts for anyone associated with the royal fucking palace.  

When her sobs finally subsided into small hiccups and then just sniffles, Shina tore herself away from the comfort of the hug, reaching a balled fist up to her eyes to scrub way the remains of her tears. "This n-never happened," she tried to glare at her friend, attempting to sound threatening despite her pathetic state. "And if you tell anyone... " She trailed off, unsure what to threaten him with.

It was when he opened his mouth to speak however that she raised a hand, motioning for him to stop. "Don't you dare, Snow," she hissed, the anger she was looking for earlier slowly seeping back into her voice. "Don't you dare make excuses for me or what just happened. I don't want to hear about how terrible the princess is at judging shinobi or how I deserved the promotion more than anyone. I'm not a child, I know when I'm not good enough for something and I certainly don't need coddling."

The nineteen year old lowered her gaze, sadness enveloping her slender frame once more. "I'm not good enough okay. Everyone in that room had an edge over me, every single person. Princess Tehniyat made the right choice, and.. Congratulations I guess, Ser Snow."

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” He would say when Shina threatened him about not telling anyone about her crying. It was the least he could do for her at the moment, he continued to hold her until she was done shaking and as he was about to speak she shut him up. The girl knew everything he was thinking, but it wasn’t something she wanted to hear. It would only upset her further to let her hear his opinion on it, so he dropped it and moved onto another subject.

“After the meeting, I found a way to contact Queen Akihana.” He let Shina go, so that she could have a little space. Making seals he would bite his finger drawing blood and place his hand onto the ground. “We can send messages through these guys, I should have thought of this earlier. I have already sent one and haven’t gotten word back, I figured you would like to send a message too.”



Hopefully, Cookie was capable of the task and when Akihana summoned him he could deliver the message. “Are you a talking slug?” The silence that followed made the answer clear, but the ninja gave the slug a piece of lettuce he had picked up from his house.

Shina grudgingly accepted his agreement to never speak of this. That was the reason she supposed she hung around him despite the fact that genuinely nice people usually drove her up a wall and then over it to get as far away from them as possible. Kyousuke was an exception to the rule, though in his defense he had enough street cred in his past to make up for what he was now. At least that's how the kunoichi justified it. When he mentioned a way to contact Lady Akihana, the brunette genuinely forgot her troubles for a moment, a hopeful light entering her eyes.

"How?" she asked before she could even continue. "Where is she? Is she alright?"

As the monk explained about the slugs, Shina simply listened and watched. When he finally summoned a slug and asked if it could talk, she had to work hard to bite back a smile. If her friend had been going around looking at slugs and asking them to speak... well she could see how he would gain a reputation. Though she had to admit the premise of his idea wasn't bad at all. "I can't believe I didn't think of that. There's always one of those little critters attached to her, to think we could have gotten in touch with her this whole time."

When the slug Kyousuke had summoned made no response other than to look at them judgmentally, the fuin user whispered "I don't think this one talks... That or it's being very shy around me."

[size=41]"Maybe he is shy, I get shy when I see my face too." The ninja lightly pet the slug getting a bit of slime on his finger. He tried to casually wipe it off onto the roof. The other option was go in for another hug and slide the stuff across her jacket. That plan was bad though, getting caught meant getting a seal of something, somewhere.

[/size]
[size=41]Cookie peacefully ate his lettuce and didn't respond. "I talked to a slug earlier, he said he would send my message to Akihana. I believe him, if you want a message sent attach it to this guy that way when he returns he can give the contents to another slug who will pass it to our missing queen."

[/size]
[size=41]Looking at Cookie, Kyousuke held up a finger to represent the number one. "I'll owe you one head of lettuce deal?" Of course there was no real confirmation besides some wriggling, but he would take it. Beggars can't be choosers right. "Okay, it's settled... I think."[/size]

Shina wasn't entirely unsettled by the slug, not only having seen one attached to Lady Akihana almost all the time but also having been around Denkiteki's wriggling little snakes. However when her friend patted the small creture, transferring the slime on to his finger, Shina glared at him, almost daring him to do what she knew he was thnking about. Not that she blamed him, in his position, she too would have tried the same. Luckily for the knight, he decided to go the safer route of wiping it off on the roof instead.

"Hmm, I think I should send a message," she agreed, disregarding is comment about being shy of his own face. He was trying to make her laugh and she was not about to give in that easily. Pulling out a chit of paper the same size she had slipped to Shiroi earlier, the jounin began to write.

Lady Akihana, if your current location needs to remain undisclosed, at least let us know if you're alright and when you plan to return. Hoshi misses you greatly.

The brunette paused, wondering what else to write. She was never very good at being personal or sentimental. Instead of giving herself grief over it, she concluded the short note with her signature and rolled it up in a tiny cylindrical scroll the size of one of Kyousuke's cigarettes. "Do you think you can get this to her?" she asked man and slug alike.

Once the message was taken care of, the kunoichi sat more easily on the roof, her stance now cross legged and her back slightly stoops forwards. The stars were out, they were always out but now the wind had picked up, making it easier to breathe. After a moment of contemplative silent, she turned to the redhead beside her.

"Why do you call Akihana the Queen? I mean, she isn't technically royalty. And aren't you supposed to be too loyal to the crown to liken them to someone else?" There were very few times in the kunoichi's life when she wasn't being sarcastic, this was one of them. She was genuinely curious as to what in the missing blonde had demanded such fealty from the monk beside her.

Kyousuke nodded writing a message would be quick and maybe Akihana would reply to both of their messages. He remained silent for the duration of her writing. He mainly focused on what Cookie was doing he was a hungry little thing for sure.

When Shina spoke up he turned his head and answered. "I think we can manage." Then taking the note he would tie it loosely around the slug. "Okay bud, I'm counting on you." With a quick thanks he would send Cookie back to his home in a puff of smoke. And now we wait.

Slapping his leg to pass the time as he couldn't think of anything to talk about, Shina broke the silence with a question. "Akihana is the only queen I serve. I see the royalty in a way I see others. As just people."


"I think Akihana understands that. She isn't from a palace or fancy castle she is just like you and me, but she rose up to make this village better. Sure, there were others involved but without her charisma not many would have been spurred to make a change. I see her as a person who can not only change this village, but the entire world. Not through violence, but peace. Call me lazy, but I prefer it that way."

A soft wind whistled through the night, playing through both Ninja's hair and clothes, lending to the feeling of calm and peace underneath the starry sky. If she focused, she could smell the hint of tobacco that somehow always lingered around the large man, only adding to the feeling of familiarity. She could understand his explanation, to a certain degree.  

"Was it really that terrible before she and Denkiteki arrived?" The brunette asked, more curious than probing. Shina had heard the stories, everyone had. Some of them were even true and others were drafted to make shinobi look good and endear them to the locals. On the whole, the kunoichi had no doubt ninja had improved the lives of citizens of Haven, but she had never really seen it as one person's doing.

"I suppose you're right, even if I don't understand devoting my life to one person. There are so many others like you who also think of her as the Princess that was Promised. Your friend Shiroi in there." she gestured with a thumb pointed in the general vicinity of the palace library where Princess Tehniyat was no doubt working into the night.

"She thinks the war is between whether shinobi are accepted in Hoshi. Little does she know Princess Tehniyat is getting ready for another war entirely." Shina paused, wondering how much Kyousuke knew and how much she should tell him.