Finally Rectifying the Situation (Ashie)

This is my point right here, instead of messaging me, because you have me on skype, and you can always pm me if your THAT impatient with me, you have everything available to you to contact me, and you DON'T and DIDN'T use it.

So don't give me, 'there was nothing to be done' because there was, and you didn't do it.

(Whatever bud. like I said, If you want to void it, It's all you.)

Up to you, you want to void your leave so we can continue? Or you wanna leave and void the topic?

Last IC post voided (exit post), so that topic may continue.

Ashie listened to Salzem, how he saw little holes in her theory, it was nice knowing she could talk to someone serious like that, who tried to see from both fields and not just one. She was content with Sal's answer, but Ashie was dead set on her theory, there had to have been peace before the time of the shinobi, but it always takes one bad apple to mess it up for the rest of us. Ashie zoned back in for Sal's question, why she became a shinobi. Her face was stoic and serious. It didn't reflect her age at all, but, most of the times her mentality doesn't. Her brother was like that before their uncle's died...he was always considered the older one even if he was only born a few seconds before Ashie. Then Echo died...and their rolls seemed to have switched. She was so scared lately to get closer to Samuru...and she was a horrible person for it, scared to get to know the real Samuru...because that damn fox made sure Ashie had bonded with it instead.

This inner turmoil wasn't shown on the outside, Ashie seemed as poker faced as her father. Once a few moments of silence had passed, Ashie formulated her answer and she spoke freely, for once her age showing and honesty,

"I can't tell you the whole truth, but I did it for my father, he wanted to show us what it was like to live, instead of living in a perfect world. My brother came here before I, we were separated because he was to become the heir of the Uchiha, and I was suppose to grow up to become a proper lady. The Uchiha, even though we are so advanced, still believe in making strong bonds with other clans, marrying off the women who didn't unlock the bloodline. However, when my father brought me here, that all changed. My brother changed from the last time I saw him. I unlocked my bloodline, both of us did, and our clans scorned us, in time the Uchiha came to except us, but the hyuuga's still despised us and because of it, we have a strong wariness towards them. Slowly, it became about showing everyone that no matter what they think, someday they would have to respect us, my brother wanted to become the Head of Clan to show them that. I still didn't know what I would do, I just wanted to follow my brother, I was still being a little girl."

She paused for a few moments to let the air settle, staring at the vultures flying overhead, knowing full well they wouldn't dare swoop upon any of the students and shinobi training here, they were just circling.

"My uncle died and everything changed, you wouldn't believe it, but I wanted this world to burn so strongly. I wanted to world to feel everything I felt. Betrayed, hurt, disappointed, my wrath would someday become a law, but...somewhere along the way, I changed my mind. I don't know why I continue to fight, I like to think...that, I keep going so that way no one has to know how it feels...to lose the one's they loved like my family did. If I have children, I don't want to have to call them in to tell them that someone died in battle..." Her voice cracked as small tear starting to well up in her left eye before her blinking brought it back under the surface. It still pained her, she hasn't healed all the way, but she was making progress, two deaths so young is never handled easily.

"I wish I could talk to them now...I wish I could tell them how sorry I was that we weren't a happy, normal family, sorry I couldn't do anything to help, sorry that I couldn't save them no matter the situation...and only hope that they forgive us..." Her head would lower, choking on her words, they were words she would give anything to tell them right now, but she couldn't, they were in heaven, and she was still here.

"I'm doing it to give my family something to smile about, to be proud about, something that'll take away the pain. I want my father not to worry, and my mother as well, I want my uncle Koroshi to be able to live his life instead of watching over my brother and I constantly. I guess...it sounds selfish huh?" She tried to laugh it off, she knew she was being selfish, but she couldn't help it.

Salzem tilted his head to the side in confusion as Ashie stated that she couldn't tell him the "whole truth." What did that mean? Was it that she could and chose not to or that she literally physically couldn't tell him...? Perhaps she meant she couldn't tell him the truth because she couldn't remember it all... Were this anyone else, Salzem might've pried deeper, asking what she meant, demanding details, but, because this was his friend, his little Ashie Uchiha, Salzem kept quiet and let her tell the story she could. A dark story it was too, giving him a basic rundown of the Uchiha's recent history. While he did know about the general feuding between the Hyuuga and Uchiha (it was hard to miss), he never knew the backstory until today... She explained that back in those days, the Uchiha were set up a patriarchal clan, with the males training heavily to unlock their eyes while the females were married off into the other clans to spread the bloodline... It was when her father brought her and her brother here did it all change... When she unlocked her bloodline alongside her brother, the clans spurned them, including their own, only able to salvage relations with the Uchiha. But the Hyuuga still hated them, still for reasons the lycan couldn't wrap his head around. It was at times like this, Salzem wished beating sense into old bureaucrats would actually be effective, that he could punch people who made these kinds of decisions and make them see the light. If only it worked that way...

The Lycan's expression withered a bit as hers did when she told the story of what happened after her uncle died. She wanted the world to burn in the fires of her hatred, for everyone to know what happened to her. She wanted to carve swaths in the earth with her rage and sorrow... Salzem understood that feeling... While he was in sunagakure the second time (time prior to this one), The lycan couldn't help but feel betrayal... hurt... and it only got worse when he found the mass-graves of where his friends used to be... Almost every one of them had dropped dead in his absence and now there was only a handful left... He felt that he'd rip up the earth's skin and let it's magma consume all man had made.... He'd let everything die just to cool his anger for a moment, to heat his freezing heart if only for an instant... Of course, when he woke up and realized the madness, he immediately stepped away from that path... just as Ashie had herself... The reason she fought was to live in a world where nobody died... where she wouldn't have to call in her family and inform them of a loved-one's death... He could see the strain on her face... the guilt... the sorrow...

"C'mere pal..." Salzem whispered, taking a step forward and embracing the little girl if she'd let him. And not only was he just going to hold her there on the ground... If she let him, Salzem would gently pick her up and hold her to his chest, softly patting her back as he embraced the younger ninja. If she continued, Ashie would attempt to laugh it off, stating how selfish it must be for her goal to give her family something to smile about, to help take away their pain. Salzem would gently shake his head, holding the little uchiha closer.

"Not at all..." He whispered. "Selfish is leaving your home when someone dies... Selfish is allowing yourself to be consumed by hate and vengeance because it feels better than mourning your loss... Selfish is refusing to understand that maybe... the person who wronged you and took your friend's life... maybe he didn't mean too... Selfish is coming home and... on some level... refusing to acknowledge that you friend is dead..."

She couldn't except the hug from Sal, and it was just because of her own pride, she would not be fussed over like a child unless it were her mother, father or uncle. It wasn't that she didn't trust Sal, or that she didn't like hugs from him, she just didn't want to be held at that moment. They were in such a crowded area and it made her nervous, she had a reputation to uphold even if she wasn't in Konoha. She backed up a step, listening to him talk about his own losses and how he had been selfish, not Ashie. Ashie shook her head,

"I'm sorry, some of what has happened, makes me think, am I being to harsh on the friends I am trying to make? Or am I doing what is right? There's so much that are different from how I was raised to how everyone else was raised...and it gets so frustrating on how different I am. I wouldn't mind it so much...if the world were just more open and accepting to my family and I." She tightens her little fists as her voice sounded a little bitter, not angry, and not directed towards Sal, just bitter. Ashie made very few friends, but the one's she did made were special to her. She rubbed her eyes and patted her face.

"A-Anyways, enough with this depressing subject! You wanted to train? I could use a workout buddy, would you like to work on hand to hand combat with me?" She was brushing it off, she was so tired of being sad all the time, she wanted something to smile about, to make her forget the bad and be thankful for the present, even if its only for a little while. She had a soft smirk on her face, half smile and half stoic from their conversation, she was trying, even if she wasn't very convincing.

Salzem would be a liar if he didn't admit that he felt a bit disappointed when Ashie didn't accept his hug, especially as she continued to lament on how different she was from everyone else... Yes... this was true... The little half his size was essentially an adult in the ways she thought, spoke and moved... She had missed something very precious in her childhood, he assumed, leaving only her adulthood to fill in the gaps. Salzem frowned as the girl wished that everyone was more accepting of her family, of her, resisting every erg to just hug her again... She looked so sad... so alone... How could one just leave her like that...? It would be cruel to but it was what she wanted... she made that abundantly clear...

Salzem didn't attempt to put on a fake mask of enthusiasm when the girl reminded him of his request for a spar, instead, looking her over with a gaze that almost sympathized with her. He could tell she was trying really hard to put on a front, but for him or her, he could not say... It wouldn't matter either way regardless for they both knew she was in a dark, dark place right now...

"Ashie... after this, I'm taking you to lunch." His voice was flat, commanding, like there was no way she was going to escape this statement. It was almost like a superior giving an order when in all honesty, she could very well wipe the floor with him like some kind of furry mop. Ignoring the possibility he was going to be beaten by a little girl, the lycan wasn't going to deprive Ashie of a little escape-time. Maybe while they traded blows, she'd forget whatever was poisoning her thoughts.

Suddenly, and not a moment after Salzem finished his statement, The lycan would take a step forward and thrust a fist right at Ashie's cheek in a right hook, a spontaneous blow that would mark the start of their spar (speed 125, strength 40). The shock of the blow would most certainly send the little girl reeling if not completely knocking her flat if it hit (not to mention making the lycan feel a little guilty as well). If not and the uchiha managed to dodge, Salzem's arm would loop around towards his opposite waist, drawing a certain blade from his belt: Olympia. He hadn't used this sword in a long time... Never needed too until now. As he drew, Salzem would slice across Ashie's stomach, reaching just far enough to make a light scratch upon her skin and rip her shirt and nothing more (Speed 125, strength 40 Sharpness 91 (with sharpness booster from sp+st/4)

The girl heard him demand that he take her out to lunch, she stopped for a moment and raised her other hand to rub the back of her head laughing shyly, the perfect moment for a strike, while her eyes were closed.

"Sure I'd like to get something t--" That was when the blow landed on her cheek, she felt his force knock her head back a meter or two, she felt the hard impact of the ground beneath her as she skid to a stop. There was a moment when Sal drew his blade that Ashie took a few moments on the ground to measure the full gravity of what had just happened, was that what her uncle's called a sucker punch? She wasn't sure, she felt her cheek throb but she bit back the pain and tears. It was always so odd, when someone hit her, the pain was impossible to get through but when she hit other people they bit through it like a champ. She would have to ask her father what she could do to improve that tolerance for pain.

The girl got to her feet brushing off the dirty keeping her eyes and face hidden for just a moment, her hand reaching behind her before revealing it again, her feline knucklettes graced all five of her fingers, metal shaped fingers with sharp thin blades blessing the ends ( health and sharpness both 50 for reference) She never used them before, always scared of cutting or hurting her opponent, but she felt something snap within her and she soon lost sight of simple hand to hand combat, her face lifted to show her eyes, they changed from her normal pink to the sharp silver with the three black tomoe. Her face wasn't angry but it wasn't happy either. The girl with her free hand held up the sign of Ram and focused her chakra into her feet as she body flickered forward (135 + 100 = 235), until she reached Salzem she thrusted her clawlike blades up and across his torso, meaning to scratch him, perhaps ripping his clothes or tinking off of armor or metal he might have on him (135 for the slice).

The lycan couldn't help but feel a little guilty as his fist connected with Ashie's cheek mid sentence, cutting off whatever she was about to say with a damaging blow. He hit her so hard, in fact, that she was launched at least a few meters away, landing hard on her back, her face hidden in her hands. Salzem paused a moment, watching the uchiha girl as she slowly got to her feet, almost worried that he had done more damage than he intended, that he had actually HURT her with that punch of his... Luckily, when she lowered her hands, he couldn't see any tears of blood on her cheek or her lip... Unluckily, the girl was not amused... He would've preferred anger or shock to the intense neutrality Ashie displayed, her eyes flashing from their normal pink to a dangerous silver almost instantly, the sign of her unique sharingan... Almost instantly with the weaving of a single sign, the girl was gone, appearing before him an instant later, her hand cocked back, steel claws now coating her fingers. Before he could do anything, dodge, counter or otherwise, the little uchiha girl made him pay for his sucker-punch, swiping her claws across his chest, the force of which throwing Salzem to the ground a few meters away in a similar way he had to her a second ago.

Slowly, warily, Salzem got to his feet, looking down at his chest to reveal that the girl had actually cut right through his jacket and into his chest, grazing his skin and causing him to bleed a little, but that was the extent of the damage. The lycan smirked as his skin immediately regenerated, a passive effect of his healing factor, making short work of the cuts she'd inflicted. She wanted to play with claws...? She'd get claws. At a speed of 150, Salzem's arms would grow and contort, becoming more muscle-bound and wolvish, his fingers curling into fangs and taking on a white-tone as fur sprouted over them. Instead of human arms, Salzem had mutated them into his wolvish state alone, the look in his eyes almost relishing a clash. He'd never gotten to do something like this before, get to brawl with someone who possessed weapons like his... Now, with Ashie wearing those strange gloves... he was eager to see who's claws were sharper.

Closing the distance at a speed of 125, Salzem would swipe at Ashie's cheek (the one he DIDN'T punch), following up with another quick cut across her chest to pay her back for the one she delivered herself (Speed 145, strength 50, sharpness 75). The cuts he'd deliver would be light, deep-flesh-wounds at worse, perhaps only bleeding in superficially large amounts. He was wary not to cut too deep, to cause any damage that would result in scarring or irreversible damage once it healed... the last thing he wanted was to REALLY hurt her...

AP: 909
-10 AP Partial Transformation