After Being Transparent

Takin out a cigarette and lighting it Kyousuke would explain what being a chakra user was like. “Before Den and Aki, life for people like us was rough. People became orphaned daily or they were just killed. For example, my family was killed in front of me…” He would make a pause to inhale before continuing. “They only left me alive because they wanted to see me give up or starve. The problem with having an uncontrollable affliction is you can’t always control it, whenever I was hungry my body did the work without my mind telling it to.”


Maybe getting weird and talking about his past wasn’t the way to go, but if Shina urged him he would continue. “There were days where I decided not to eat and wanted to die, but my body wouldn’t allow that. My kekkei genkei absorbs natural energy once it reaches a certain point I lose control of it, my ability surfaced after my parent’s death out of necessity.”


“I killed many with my power not intentionally, both the innocent and guilty.” He held his head down so that Shina couldn’t see his face. “As I learned to control myself and face my demons the death that followed me decreased I could use my transformations for good. Around the same time is when Aki and Den showed up helping others. I remember seeing all the fear in people’s eyes being replaced with hope. Something no matter how many people I stopped, I could never do. That look in people’s eyes is why I decided to become a ninja. Maybe I couldn’t give them hope, but I could help usher it along. To see Akihana do that for other oppressed people is one of many reasons I choose to defend her with my life.”



He had a theory on what the war was, probably against the previous queens guard. “I know little of the war, but in the meeting I got the feeling that the previous members of the guard are a threat. If they tell anyone about what we were told to keep secret it could be the start of civil war. Which with my queen’s absence I cannot allow. When she returns I want Hoshi to be peaceful. ” 

The dark haired kunoichi unconsciously leaned closer to her friend as he pulled out his cigarette and then proceeded to smoke it, letting out a warm puff of smoke. Shina inhaled subtly, absorbing the smell of tobacco and Kyousuke and the night sky all rolled into one. It was still one of the most comfortable things she had ever experienced. Despite never smoking herself, she would always be around Kyousuke when he did.

The jounin let him speak, recounting his past. The problem with Kyousuke was that he felt things too deeply. Sure everyone had a tragic past around these part but her friend had suffered more. He blamed himself for things out of his control and dedicated his life to bettering the lives of others. Shina... was more practical. She did her job and she was proud of how well she did it. But she had none of the passion he did. She just didn't feel things as acutely, or least she thought she didn't. The sting of failure still burned inside her but the young woman couldn't honestly say if it was due to a personal failing or not getting the opportunity to serve.

When he hid his face, Shina reached out a small hand to touch his shoulder, patting it absently. If he acknowledged the small gesture she would completely deny it, insisting she was merely brushing dirt off his uniform. But if he ignored the soothing motion, it would continue. At least until he brought up the Queensguard, giving the kunoichi pause.

"That is only part of the problem as I know it," she admitted, biting her lower lip in hesitation before looking up at him directly. "I've been around the royals since I got here, through accident or someone's design, I don't know. But I did my research. Princess Tehniyat thinks she and Kanzaki are the only ones left to contest the throne. She feels the war brewing is meant to pit her against her cousin. Princess Kanzaki is too young to understand anything other than wanting to be Queen because it seems fun. She's only nine after all."

Th brunette paused, wondering how to frame her next thought. She could very well be accusing someone of treason, even if unintentional treason should she voice it out loud.

"The former Queensgaurd are divided, but not between two princesses." Mustering up her courage, she looked Kyousuke straight in the eye. "They are divided between three. Princess Tehniyat doesn't realize that there is someone who's claim to the throne is even stronger than both her and her cousin's put together because she has the love and support of the people. People like you who would readily lay down their lives for her even if she isn't of royal blood."

People who believed with all their heart that Akihana was the Princess that was Promised.

Even though she tried to hide it Kyousuke always noticed her move closer as he began to smoke. He would never offer her a cigarette though influencing bad habits in others was something a priest should not do. Smoking was bad enough enabling others to do the same was his personal line, so he always breathed out the smoke slowly around Shina so that she could take in the scent longer without giving her full on second hand smoke.

As he talked and Shina touched his hand he took note and looked at her briefly. But then she said she had to brush off his uniform. Here, I thought she was feeling bad for me. She was just dusting off my uniform, I guess to her this uniform is supposed to be spotless and I managed to dirty it in mere hours. “Thanks you, Shina.” She reminded him to get his armor clean, Tehniyat would flip if he didn’t. He would continue his story where he left off before the other jounin dusted him off.

It was a war over the crown, the former queens guard were involved somehow but the war was between Tehniyat and her cousin Kanzaki. That was surprising as the new guard were instructed they were to guard both. What was even more surprising was that there was a third unknown candidate, the ninja was about to ask who before he realized she was talking about Akihana.

“If that is true, why would she put myself and Arashi in charge of her protection?” It wasn’t so much a question for Shina as it was for himself as Shina also said the former guard wished to make Akihana their queen. Was the promotion a play to get us into her camp? Doubtful Arashi would never betray his mother and she already knows I am sworn to Akihana.



“The princess has little to worry about on that front, I don’t think Akihana will try to take over control of Hoshi. Besides I think currently Tehniyat is doing a great job, she is winning over the ninja right now and her having no chakra abilities guarantees her a majority of the religious vote.” To him her trying to claim Hoshi as her own and as queen was merely conjecture if it did go that route though where would he stand? If it was something Akihana wanted he would stand beside her, if it wasn’t well then he would throw anyone out who wished her to be queen.

"I don't think she realizes Lady Akihana is a contender yet," Shina answered truthfully. She could be wrong but the Jounin had spent enough time around all three females to get a good picture of their thought processes. Tehniyat was a creature of duty. If she were to be Queen, she would taker no joy in it and mostly try and fail to live up to her idealized version of Queen Shiera's leadership. Princess Kanzaki was nine, she would order the palace walls be painted pink and make it a law that everyone got cake on her birthday. Akihana though... she was a lot like her friend, dedicated to the people of Hoshi, and that probably made her the most dangerous candidate for the throne.

"Not that I blame her royal highness for not realizing. No doubt she is intelligent at what she does. And certainly Lady Akihana would never make a claim to the throne or do anything that would lead Princess Tehniyat to believe she would be a problem," Shina clarified, reassuring him that she wasn't accusing his Queen of anything. "But Tehniyat doesn't realize the sheer mount of public support Akihana would get if she laid a claim to the throne. Everyone has a reason for disliking the current two princesses. Kanzaki is a half blood and therefore has no right to the throne, Tehniyat was not born in Haven so half the majority claims she isn't even eligible for it regardless of blood ties."

The kunoichi paused, her next words laid out carefully. "But have you ever heard any side, any faction at all, say anything negative about Lady Akihana? She was accepted into religious groups before ninja were accepted widely. She was in the council before it became common practice to have a proper council. There are children on the street who know her better than they know Tehniyat because she used to walk on those streets with those children. But you can't know these things unless you walked with her."

And if there as one thing Princess Tehniyat had not done, it was to walk her own streets to see how her people were faring. It wasn't the Princess's fault, no Queen before her had done that. As it happened, Akihana's arrival had just changed the standards of what a Queen could and couldn't do.

"I don't like Lady Akihana nearly as much as you do, but even people like me like her better than our current two options, that's the extent of the power she doesn't know she hold within Haven."

Akihana was indeed loved by the people, maybe there was more to Shina was saying than he had originally thought. If she wanted Akihana could get the support of the people and also gain the vote of the ninja. If Tehniyat were to become aware of these facts she might try with everything she had to keep Akihana from returning. I cannot speak of this to anyone. I don’t want my queen barred for a possibility.


“You are right, there would be much support for her to take the throne and she is generally highly regarded.” The ninja had to admit everything Shina was saying was beginning to sound like a conspiracy, she had definitely given more thought to this than he had. He had to wonder what she would do in his position. Would she tell the princess of this or not, Kyousuke was of the mind to hopefully forget it.

Holding his hands up to Shina he would stop her at “I don’t like lady Akihana nearly as much as you do…” “I think they do, if this is a topic.” He would say jokingly. “I do see your point though, things could get bad if my queen wanted the position of this nation’s leader.”



Looking at the other jounin he had to ask her a favor. “Could you do me one favor, it’s kind of big?” If she said yes or nodded he would continue, if the answer was no he would stop. “Would you not tell anyone else about this? I’m glad you told me though, thank you.”

It couldn't have been easy for the redhead to come to the realization that as selfless as the one he served was, she also wielded immense power and could potentially put herself and him in danger. Most people who knew Lady Akihana seemed to know for certain that the blonde didn't have an ambitious bone in her body. Shina's opinion was the different one, the unpopular one.

Only someone who wanted nothing in return could play the hardest games, and Hoshi politics was the hardest. Save her loved ones, Lady Akihana feared losing nothing. She cared not for power, riches, influence or title - all things the royalty seemed to crave. And should they be made for run for their money, it was no secret which way the race would go.

It really was a good thing that Lady Akihana seemed to love everyone.

"Tell anyone about what?" the brunette asked innocently, looking up at Kyusuke with wide eyes. The indication was clear, there would be no more talk on this particular subject between them, or with anyone else for that matter. Letting out a light chuckle, Shina leaned back once more, contemplating the stars and the smoke curling up into the sky from her friend.

"I don't want to go home," she admitted after a moment. "News would have gotten out by now about my lack of promotion and the people I live with would have prepared an annoyingly cheerful dinner with tons of comfort food. I'd rather be eaten alive by rodents than face that."

"Exactly." He would say jokingly to Shina's question of telling people things. It was obvious she didn't understand what he meant though, with the subject done over though the female ninja move on to other subjects.

There were options if she didn't want to go home. Hang out on a roof being the least fun. "We could go get hammered and sleep at my place. I'll take the couch or we can skip the booze." Personally, he liked the first idea best nothing says forget your problems like a hangover. If worse came to worse and one of them had alcohol poisoning he could regrow the liver and everything would be okay.

With that he would stand and offer a hand to Shina. "They'll see someday." See what an awesome ninja they missed out on. The last bit he kept to himself, hopefully she didn't know what he was talking about though.

At his offer of getting bind stinking drunk, the kunoichi let slip a full grin on her lips. That sounded just about the best idea ever to the young jounin right now. She didn't need her roommates making her food, she didn't need Den trying to justify the princess's decision or even telling her how capable she was. All she needed was a bottle of whiskey and a place to crash after.

"Are Queensguard even allowed to get drunk?" she joked, taking his hand and hauling herself up to her feet. It was only a half rhetorical question, she had never seen the elite of the guards imbibe, publicly at least. What they did on their own time was their business.

On her feet now, she let to go of his hand, choosing to poke him on the forearm with an elbow instead. "Also, what's the deal with your noisy midget?" she asked as they headed to the edge of the roof, ready to climb off and head to one of their usual taverns. "And no holding back, I want the full story."

Taking a knee at the edge to give herself more momentum as they got ready to shunshin, she took a moment to lean close to Kyousuke, whispering n his ear. "By the way, you're picking up the tab, Snow." With that, she was off, her soft laugh lingering for a second in the night wind.

(Exit Shina)

Shina must have liked the idea of getting drunk, she was smiling at the least. When she asked if queensguard were allowed to get drunk, he had to wonder. He hadn’t made any such vows or anything like that. “I’m not supposed to drink the church wine either, but I do that.” Of course he always replaced it.

Once she stood she asked an odd question. Something about his noisy midget, meaning Shiroi and she wanted a full story. Tell her the truth or give her the wrong idea? It could make for an awkward situation later. “There is nothing going on between me and Shiroi, we are very different people.”



After he was done speaking Shina took a knee and whispered into his ear. Sounded like he was paying of course. When she flickered away he would follow trailing behind her she should be the one to pick the bar.

Claiming Rewards: Cookie Bond
(Exit)