Rayne Alex Rayne (Lots of history)

The only time Alex felt like talking to almost anyone was when he was teaching them something. Now, he never counted himself as much of a nerd but just as an intellectual. He enjoyed learning, studying the past great ninja wars and even the origins of the Original Chigiri no Sato, as fucked up as that time period was. Alex sat around a small fountain within the academy training grounds with his books open. Even though he never offered them and usually came across as rude as he possibly could with his answers, some of his fellow students had taken to coming there everyday asking him questions as to be tutored. Which was completely stupid because most of the time he would just repeat exactly what was said in his books. 

He looked down to the textbook in front of him and smiled as he opened the first page. "Rain Alex Rain" Was written neatly on the inside with a small heart next to it. Almost all of his textbooks had been a gift from his recently deceased mother. He recalled the first day he confessed to his parents that he wanted to be a shinobi..

"You what? Alexander that is pointless! You are far to intelligent to let that go to waste by running a risk of dying on the battlefield!" His father screamed throwing his hands up into the air. That morning had been the worst morning of Raynes life so far. He was sweeping the front of the shop, the bristles of the straw broom head brushed quietly against the porch. Alex stared down at the dust pile he had been slowly accumulating over the course of the past 5 minutes he had been sweeping and sighed, there has got to be more to life than this, he thought to himself as he rested his chin on the top of the handle. He let out a deep yawn and blinked a few times still tired from being woken up 20 short minutes prior. He was still in his blue and grey pin striped pajamas.

Ironically, he happened to be wearing the historic colors of Kirigakure that day and wouldn''t even realize it til a few years later. Looking back on it, it seemed like destiny almost. Alex began to fall asleep on the broom handle but somewhere between him almost falling over and his father screaming to "Hurry up you still have to change and set out todays fresh stock" Alex woke up mumbling under his breathe. " Yeah go fuck yourself old man."

He swept the excess dust off the porch and then went to work on the steps. It was a foggy morning, the moisture in the air was so thick he could cut it with a butter knife. Alex often thought to himself that it was a miracle that anyone could ever actually breathe in this place. That was just one of the few reasons he hated Kirigakure at the time. He stretched out one last time and finished sweeping off the steps before making his way into his fathers shop, also known as home sadly.

He was brushing his teeth when his mother came into the bathroom with her arms crossed. Her gray hair tied up into pigtails and her face reeked of disappointment. Alex rolled his eyes after making momentary eye contact in the mirror. she cleared her throat and start drumming her fingers against her arms rapidly which was one of Alex's many pet peeves. He turned around after spitting into the sink and wiped his mouth with his arm. 

"What? why are you staring at me like I just strangled the house cat?" Alex said crossing his own arms trying to avoid eye contact. He felt like he had a slight idea of why she looked so damn pissy but didn't want to draw any conclusions just yet. 
"Your father heard what you said before you walked inside, Alexander we have both had enough with your attitude. You're lucky to even be in the situation you are in Al-" but Alex cut her off. 

"Stop!, You say this everyday and to be completely honest I don't care anymore. Those other kids are training to go and protect our village, to safe guard our secrets and fight for a better future. STOP CALLING ME ALEXANDER, I fucking hate it, and I hate this Job. I don't want to run this shop I want..no I NEED to becoming a shinobi. "He said with passion in his voice. He put heavy emphasis on the word need and spit out his request to be called Alex with fire in his throat. Truth is he was on the verge of tears. Fed up with living a pointless life in a village full of war dogs and heroes. He pulled his shirt on and moved out of her way to grab his one strapped courier bag and made his way down stairs. He was going to just leave and not say a word. He had a bag packed with water and food and a change of clothes that he had packed the night prior after a very heated debate with his father about the politics of this village. His father had spent 2 hours in a inebriated fit screaming down Alex's throat about the treachery of Kirigakure, about how everyone is just brainwashed and there should be no pride held in such an evil village. Alex was 9, He had no business whatsoever hearing these things about the place he was born and raised. Then when he stood up to his father and started preaching on why he thought it was good well..

Alex shook that recollection away and went back to looking at his text book as a young boy and girl approached him. The boy 4'8, slightly short for his age and the girl actually being taller then him. Alex looked up momentarily Shit, these two again. He sighed and then stared back down and the neat little message from his mother. His mind began to wonder once more..

As he made his way down those stares with full intention of just leaving the village in general his father stood at the bottom looking up at him. His face was red and his veins were popping out slightly. Alex didn't look up at him. He didn't move. He halted at the 4th step and kept his head down awaiting his scolding. "Alex who the fuck...First off where do you think you're going we have to get this shop running and we don.." Alex halted him mid sentence and threw his bag at his father. He stood up and stared the man down. His hands were fists and he was shaking, tears running down his cheeks in a constant stream. "Is that all you ever fucking care about? Every single day you have the same mantra. ~Fuck the village, fuck shinobi, run the shop run the shop run the fucking shop~" Alex mimicked. "You have never once stopped and said thank you, or even asked me how my day has been, I leave and you don't even ask me where I'm going..then last night..when you were drunk.." Alex looked up revealing his black eye. "And that's not even it." He said as he took off his shirt and turned around revealing perfect belt shaped purple welts and cuts on his back. "You get drunk and you lose your mind and don't even bother asking for forgiveness. Yet I'm supposed to pretend Like I have it so mother fucking good. Like life is peachy and I enjoy sitting in this shop wasting my fucking life away. I don't want this at all..I want to become a Shinobi. Thats that...and that's what I'm going to do..." Alex started walking towards his father slowly. He didn't care about the consequences of the words he spoke. He wanted them to sting, sting like his aching back and puffy throbbing black eye. He made it to the step in front of his father and as history dictates, prepared himself for the incoming abuse. He didnt care. He was tired of living his entire life in absolute fear.

But what happened next scared Alex even more than anything. His father dropped down onto his knees and pulled Alex in tight wrapping his arms around him. At first silence seemed to grab and choke the room. So quiet that the fog shifting outside could almost be audible. Then came the sobs and Alex didn't exactly understand what was happening until he felt the warm wet feeling creep against his shoulder. His father was crying..

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"Hey! Are you listening?? Rayne come on seriously we need your help. We COMPLEEETLY spaced out in class yesterday. Rayne...Rayne!" The female interrupted Alex's little day dream and he snapped out of it letting out a slight gasp at the sudden realization someone was watching him. "Rayne are you crying right now?" The girl asked as she noticed the single tear streaming out of Alex's left eye. He quickly closed his textbook and wiped his face looking at the too with the most serious face he could muster.

"no, i was staring at this page for so long my eye's started to water. What do you plebes want?" He said hoping his words would come across aggressive enough to make the two walk away. He drummed his fingers on his book and thought back to how his mother would constantly drum her fingers when she was pissed. He smiled slightly and then caught himself. The girl looked confused for a moment before she began speaking. "Plebes..? fuck it. Hey can you just go over the few key bulletin points in kiri history. Like just the stuff we went over in class the other day? I was sick the first day of the lesson and everything else kinda went over my head because I missed like an entire day." She looked fucking pathetic but Alex couldn't blame her. At least it wasn't sheer ignorance that brought her to him today. Alex stood up and sat his books next to the fountain in a neat stack. The biggest book was stacked first and then the other 3 in order from biggest to smallest on top of that one. Alex pursed lips staring at the books and then pointed back at the girl without looking. 

"First, you owe me lunch, Second sit down next to these books and get ready to take some notes, I'm only gonna say this once and I'm going to say it fairly quick. I refuse to repeat myself even one time so prepare yourself, Also plebe..like plebeian..? meaning commoners..the uneducated...ah fuck it. Ready yourself for this assault of knowledge." Alex said as he took a drink of water out of his canteen he kept in his equipment pouch. He cleared his throat and began to speak. 

"Okay so as you know,  Kirigakure's society was split into a form of caste system since the founding of the village. The highest ranking civilians were those whose family lineage originally stemmed from within Kirigakure, the second caste was for members of families who were allied with Kirigakure on the battlefields in the past while the last and lowest caste consisted of members of the families who were defeated on said battlefields and annexed into the village. From the early days on, the members of the third caste were handled with caution and had to complete the most perilous and dangerous missions for the village — thus keeping them occupied and preventing them from revolting. Now the history of the Kage of this village is shaky and I suggest asking someone else about that but I can tell you this at least While nothing is known about the era of the Third MizuKage, his succesor's reign was a time of darkness for Kiri, with corruption plaguing those in charge and the pursuit of power becoming paramount for many. In the Academy, students wishing to graduate (only members of the lowest caste) had to fight to the death, and only those who survived could advance to the ranks of the ninja. This practice earned the village the nickname as the "Village of the Bloody Mist"."

The boy snickered at that last part, Alex turned his head over to him. "Oh It's funny? Growing up with someone knowing that you might have to kill that person that became your dearest friend, just to get further through the ranks? You should count yourself lucky that we only have to draw blood nowadays because you would have been killed. I would have snapped and murdered a lot of you but thats besides the point. Look at how even today genin teams are rare. This village isn't very team oriented even now some 400 years in the future and why? Simple, because our past taught us not to be." Alex turned his attention back to the girl who was still scribbling notes down in her notebook. She stopped for a moment to rub her hand and Alex laughed, If it was for any other reason he would have made her suffer by continuing his filibuster with no breaks. He smirked knowing what he could do to her and choosing not to was reward enough. I could destroy you right now, He thought to himself but instead chose to let the girl catch up to him.

She finished writing and looked up at him and Alex took that as his queue to continue. Clearing his throat and taking another drink he held up his hand and closed his eyes as if to scan some sort of imaginary board. "Where was I? Oh yes Blood games. So because of this what happened?" He said awaiting an answer he knew he wouldn't receive. Sighing and pressing his fingers together on the bridge of his nose to show his physical annoyance he continued. 

"Defection became widespread amongst Kiri's ranks,The Academy's graduation methods were discontinued after a certain individual , not yet a student himself, killed an entire year's graduating class, but by then the Bloody Mist had irreparably tainted the Villages reputation. Now we all know that there has been many ninja war that Kirigakure has fought in due to manipulation and many other reasons, but what about internal conflicts? One major problem was this; In addition to foreign conflicts, Kirigakure has experienced several periods of internal unrest. The Kaguya once waged war against Kiri to quench their lust for battle, but were slaughtered by the village's superior forces.Those with Kekki Genka were regarded with suspicion by the people of Kiri and the wider Land of Water due to their efficiency during times of war. As such, persecution and even murder of anyone with a kekkei genkai was common." 


Alex sighed then continued with his lecture, "sometime after the Third Shinobi World War Kiri and Iwa began having tensions. Thankfully a reformation happened years later that once again brought Iwa and Kiri together as allies again.After the 5th great ninja was, Kiri  tried to move passed the memories of the Bloody Mist by reforming internal policies and improving its image abroad as being an open-minded nation. Now that's really all I have time to explain seeing as we have 5 minutes to get into class before we are late for this written exam."


The time to take the exam came and Alex passed with flying colors. He was shaky on the subject of current political pro's and con's because he hadn't bothered to study much on civics being under the assumption that this test was going to be strictly about history. Alex grabbed his bag and made his way home. 

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Alex laid in his floor, sobs could be heard from the upstairs that rang throughout the empty dusty shop downstairs that used to be his families. He lay sprawled out on his bedroom floor with a blanket pulled half heartily over his body. A constant stream of tears flowed down his cheeks as he clutched the note from his mother in is hands. The crumpled piece of paper was getting worse and worse everyday but that didn't bother Alex. He just stared, letting all the pain he held in earlier today flow out of himself. "I did it mom, I passed another exam today..I miss you..I'm sorry." And with that he cried. He continued to cry until those sobs became snores and he slipped into a dream, A dream where he was standing next to his parents. hugging them both with big smiles and a Kirigakure head band in his hand. 

WC-1,592

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