Flowers for a Grave

Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:43 pm

Mission:

Damon was standing outside the village gates with his arms crossed. It was early in the morning, as the sky had still retained the yellow orange hue from the sunrise and the lone star itself sat lazily in the sky, refusing to move higher. Clouds were scarcely seen, and those that were had been dyed a beautiful shade of lavender. He had been assigned the rather lackluster job of trimming the bushes, watering plants in the desert of all places, and then perhaps even replanting some. He had not slept since his night up with Yurei and Akio, where they had trained some jutsu together in the dead of night, and Yurei had broken the news that his father had died. The details of the event remained undisclosed, however. Damon was waiting patiently for Yurei outside the main gates. He had requested that the pale Uchiha join him for the simple mission. It would give the two something peaceful to do and allow for a bit of relaxation. Hopefully it would take his mind off of everything. They could even bring the flowers that they picked back to the grave of Yurei’s father. Damon was wearing simple clothing, a mere grey sweatshirt and jeans. He would have to go back and change anyways before visiting the grave. It was a custom to wear black kimonos, and he wanted to bathe beforehand so that he did not smell like a garden during the visit. He looked off into the distance as he watched the horizon.

WC: 254

Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:06 pm

It had been a restless night for the pale Uchiha boy. He hadn’t slept in the days since his father’s passing. That was 3 days ago tonight, but it still felt real and the pain had not lessened, despite whatever facade Yurei tried to put on to cloak it. Every time Yurei shut his eyes he dreamt of his father, what he did. The guilt was eating on him like flies on a dying animal. No medicine or food could help his aching stomach, even if he did eat. His once bright eyes had wilted like a beautiful rose slowly fading.

It felt like an eternity, and, despite all the cheering up Akio and Damon did, despite the jutsu he had learned to keep himself busy, nothing staved the pain for long, that throbbing in his chest. It was tight, like he was suffocating under the pressure. Maybe I deserve this. This is his way of punishing me. I’m so sorry, Dad. Yurei wiped his tears and rose from his bed. He had been lying still, awake, for several hours. It was the only way to stop the vivid night terrors. Every dream was like reliving that moment.

The albino rose himself out of bed and onto the floor. He wiped his tired eyes and looked out at the moon. Damon was waiting on him. The genin had made a nice gesture to take Yurei on a mission, gathering flowers for his father’s grave nonetheless. It was the most compassionate thing the boy had witnessed in a long time, and it helped the pain to subside.

Once Yurei was dressed, he stepped outside his home with his shoes and walked to Damon’s meeting place. It was cold. Monstrously cold. Hoshigakure was in a constant battle between frost and fire, and now chill had taken domain over the land. Yurei could feel every breeze, every clutch of howling wind and cold air grasping him.

The pale Uchiha stepped over the sweeping hills of Hoshigakure and finally saw Damon at the main gates watching the horizon. The pale boy trudged to Damon, yawned, and rather flatly said, “Hello, Damon.”

WC: 357

Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:42 am

Damon turned towards the now familiar voice that, truth be told, he had already picked up using his chakra sensory and smiled. “Morning, sleepy head.” Damon could tell the signs of insomnia, as he himself staved off the dreadful nights himself. The baggy eyelids, the seemingly lack of light shining within the eyes of oneself, and finally the simple posture, as exhausted people tended to slouch more and not hold themselves well. Honestly, he was worried about Yurei. The funeral had been the day prior, and today he had been invited to visit the gravesite. He was most assuredly going still, and not because his father and Yurei’s were friends of any sort, even if the man turned out to be a customer or whatever. He was going in order to support his friend who had just lost a father. He was being the friend that he himself needed when his own father was killed by radicals not long ago. He himself had never even had a funeral. His death was merely another casualty in the seemingly endless war between shinobi and the religious intolerants; a war that was one sided in the very least. “I know I told you that we’d be picking some flowers, BUUUUUUT while we’re out here, we’re going to need to do some landscaping. Trimming, watering, replanting and whatnot. I’d be happy to do anything that you don’t want to, just let me know if you need me to cover you.” He’d smile once more as he’d point at the side opposite of where he was currently facing. “Why don’t you take the left side of the gate and I’ll take the right. We’ll be able to finish twice as fast.”

Damon would then head over to his mentioned side as he began the arduous process of maintaining the greenery around him. He would probably rather be practicing a fire technique but that would just burn everything down to the ground and that was a big no no. Safe to say he did not have a green thumb. Speaking of jutsu, now was a good a time as any to try out some sword techniques with the new sword that he had just recently acquired. All for the sake of maintaining order amongst the wild flora, of course. Pulling the sword off of his back, Damon tried to channel chakra into this new blade in order to increase the sharpness of said weapon. The technique that he was trying to get a hold of was called Sakura First Step, and it would allow him to effectively remove the flat of the blade, allowing for the entire thing to grow sharp. His four foot blade seemed to glow with a whitish, grey chakra that emanated from the sword itself. Sakura rose petals then seemed to begin to materialize around the blade within a two inch radius. A field of sharpness grew around his sword as he looked at the dreadful shrubbery. If the Knights of Ni were around, this would make for the perfect present. However, they were not, so he instead took his sword to begin hacking away the excess branches and trimming the uneven leaves. When he had finished the first few bushes, he cancelled the technique and turned his head to face Yurei, in order to see how he was progressing. He would help as needed, obviously.

WC: 818

Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:41 pm

Yurei was not one for words or any exaggerated reactions, or reactions at all today. He felt awful, just dreadful, like something was going to burst out of his stomach or that his chest was going to crush his lungs and heart then shatter into a thousand pieces. Yurei gave a small, visibly forced smirk at Damon’s sleepyhead comment, then listened as he laid out the plan for the small mission. The gesture was nice, incredibly compassionate, but it was so difficult to think of anything remotely positive today.
Yurei nodded as Damon gave his instructions, then moved on to the left side of the gate. The pale Uchiha boy tediously picked at every overgrown flower and vine with his kunai, forming a small bouquet while also cleaning up the various plants that lined the gates. He forced every movement as he trudged along, digging his hands into the sandy dirt and carefully lowering turned over cactuses and other plants. It was tedious, but it kept his mind off of things. Yurei glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Damon was performing some kind of odd technique. The albino shrugged, the pressed on.
Yurei closed his tired eyes, resting them for a moment, until his heard the soft call of his name. It was a deeper voice, deeper than Damon’s or his own. He jolted, recognizing it instantly as his father’s. “Father,” he murmured, looking around the vast, sweeping desert. The Uchiha sighed. He looked at his kunai, tightening his grip. “I need to rest… but I can’t sleep…” Yurei took a deep breath wrapped his gathered flowers in some of the longer and more flexible vines. He had made it about half way. Despite his restlessness, the mindless duties of tending to decorational plants were simply that - mindless.
His schedule was built to do so. For now, he had look after plants, but later today he had been assigned a less lengthy mission, gathering supplies for villagers. It was simple enough, and more than what was needed to avoid thinking about his father’s demise and how he caused it. It was just that he felt he was hiding, and that thought ached him more than his chest or stomach. He felt cold even though the sun had now risen.

WC: 743

Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:01 pm

Yurei seemed off in his own little world, so Damon decided that it would be best not to bug him for now. Instead, he turned his own attention and sword back to the task at hand. There was not as much trimming as he wanted to be done, so for now, he sheathed the sword and headed over to use his own hands. Stooping down next to a cactus, he did his best to avoid the needles. The last thing that Yurei probably needed to see was blood. Once again, Damon did not know really any of the details, but if it was full of gore, then there should not be any semblance in the slightest. This was to sooth Yurei with some busy work, not bring about flashbacks. He withdrew a kunai for a more delicate cut and separated the short stem of the flower from the cactus itself, pulling the flower up as he did so. The bud bloomed in his very hand, with pink petals and a yellow center. So frail. He signed a couple of handseals, opening up a pocket dimension and placing the bud inside. Something to put on the gravesite later. He had already attended to funeral the previous day and was planning to visit once more with Yurei. He had still never broken the news that his own father had passed. And here he was taking care of a boy who still had a mother, whereas Damon had never known his own. So he thought back to his rather adolescent comfort zone. Heroics.

He stood up and withdrew his sword once more, infusing it with his own chakra. Faint pink petals that nearly mirrored that of the cacti flowers began to emanate off of the blade itself. He began slashing through overgrown flora in perfect cuts, as there was no flat of the blade left to skim against the rarely overgrown leaves. He approached a dead bush, which although desert like, was rather an eye sore. So he went about cutting off the tips of the branches around the entirety of the branches, slicing them so thinly that they could fall to the ground and disappear within the sand in mere moments thanks to the wind… aided by a kick of sand into the air from his foot. Back to heroics. It was no secret that Damon desired to be a legend. In a juvenile attempt to comfort himself whenever he began to feel these surge of feelings that caused chakra to build up in his eyes and pound against his brain. His sword swing faltered as it came towards the branch and dropped to the ground at his feet. The chakra infusion stopped and the golden rose petals halted their continuous fall. Damon simply stared ahead as he tried focusing on his comfort zone. Legends. I want… need to be somebody that someone can look up to… He clenched his fists as he thought about tales that he had heard before. There was one such book that the shop had carried and he had skimmed through a few times: The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto. The story of an orphan boy who had grown up and saved the shinobi world. Twice. If someone like that could grow up to be such a successful and beloved hero, without the guiding hands of a parent, then maybe one day, he could as well. He stooped down to pick up his sword and wiped away a solitary tear from his cheek. Raising the sword, he would channel his chakra once more and watch the brilliant display of pink sakura blossoms dance around its blade. With one fell swoop, he hacked the trunk of the bush and caused the entire thing to fall. Turning around to see if Yurei had managed to make any progress, he would announce himself, “I think I’m almost done over here. How are things on your end, Yurei?”

WC: 1474

Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:46 pm

Yurei yawned, sawing at each plant with his kundai. It was a tedious task but it kept him busy. Back and forth he would just through the thick desert flora, carefully trimming them so that they still looked full but like overcrowded. That was a difficult medium to find, so Yurei found himself backing up and observing the gates from afar, admiring his work like an artist with his canvas. The pale boy made mental notes of which plants to trim before moving back to do his work.
The boy looked over to Damon who he found to be slicing by channeling his chakra into his blade. “Is that,” Yurei squinted his eyes to get a close look, “Is that his chakra? His sword’s glowing.” It was less tedious, a bit flashy, but most likely not as precise. Still, it looked more entertaining than slowly cutting and picking at cacti. Yurei would have to remember to ask the dark-haired boy about that. It seemed very useful. And powerful for that matter.
Yurei’s thoughts wandered as he sliced through the foliage. He developed a sort of rhythm, rapidly cutting through the plants faster and faster but keeping his precision. Slice after slice he cut through, adding to his bundle of flowers and making the plants that lined the gates beautiful.
Before he knew it, he ran out of plants to trim. This was soon followed by Damon’s question, to which Yurei replied with a soft, “I’m just wrapping things up.” The boy examined his work as he backed away, checking for any overly full areas. After a few touch-ups, Yurei completed his work, wiping his forehead under his headband yawning. The dark circles under his eyes had grown, and, despite his best efforts, he was slouching and hazily looking around.

WC: 1042

Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:10 am

Well this seems to have only made things worse.
Things being Yurei, that is. While Damon may have successfully distracted the boy, perhaps hard and basic physical labor was not the way to do it. He himself had only been using a sword for the majority of the task, yet he had even broken a sweat from the sheer heat of the sun basking in its desert home. He looked up towards the sky, silently cursing the shimmering splendor. He had decided to do this task early in the morning in order to AVOID the rise in temperature but it ended up taking longer than he had meant for it to. Oh well, all’s well that ends well. Damon was preparing to go home as he took one last look over over his handiwork. Not too shabby. He then turned away from the plants, anchored in their sandy homes and sheathed his sword. It was a pretty dope sword actually. Wanting to show it off, because that just seemed to be his thing lately, Damon would approach Yurei and get his attention. This was totally a distraction for the sake of the albino, totally not an excuse to show off or anything. “Hey, check this out.” He unsheathed his sword, the blade gleaming in the fresh sunlight, probably catching the eye of the boy who had seemed to take a liking to it earlier. “Its name is One Winged Angel. Can you guess why?” He set the pale Uchiha up for a snarky comment or something, unless he was too tired and lame to do so. He was definitely taking up a more casual tone now that their task had been completed, and he felt as though he could finally relax a bit. Life had been hounding him lately between chuunin exams, accidentally stopping a civil war, and a death in the family. He gave the white haired boy a look over. Family… The word was nearly foreign to Damon, but between Yurei and Akio, as well as Esu, he had hope that he would finally have a family of his own.

After whatever snarky remark or silence or tired answer or whatever, the Uchiha would demonstrate the ability of the sword, that had really been the entire reason that he had bought it in the shop. The gates of Hoshigakure continued, as the walls were built on a somewhat higher elevation than the rest, meaning that the path to the outside world would be somewhat lower in elevation. Damon backed up, holding the sword in hand and tightening his grip around the handle. Gritting his teeth, he immediately broke into a full out sprint. As he took a step where no ground should have been, his foot felt a small disc of pressure. He smirked and used this to leap off the ground 2 meters higher where he met another air disc. He then began running full speed in the air, his feet touching down on pressure discs wherever he stepped down. He looked down towards Yurei and smiled. He then stepped down like a staircase before coming to a halt. “Pretty cool, huh?” He waited a moment. “Want to try for yourself? Or we can just head to the gravesite. Your call.”

WC: 2018

Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:34 am

Yurei laughed once the sword’s name was revealed. It was tacky, but it screamed Damon. He stopped himself with a short yawn and then smiled. The boy followed his name reveal with an impressive display, but Yurei couldn’t keep up with most of it.
As the boy descended back onto the ground, Yurei clapped and stretched. “Yeah, that’s very cool Damon,” he said, popping his fingers and yawning. “I’ll pass, though. Let’s go.”
The pale Uchiha took up his makeshift bouquet and held them tightly. He entered the village gates then turned to face Damon. “Thank you for this, Damon. I appreciate it.” He awaited the reply, smiled, and turned back in towards Hoshigakure.

--EXIT--

WC: 1156

Requesting: Mission Rewards

Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:41 am

Damon simply widened his already present smile. “My pleasure.” He sheathed his sword once more as he withdrew his own makeshift bouquet from the pocket dimension that he favored so much. “After you.” With that, the two headed towards the graveyard to pay their respects, leaving the bushes outside of the village neatly trimmed and presentable.

WC: 2074

--Exit--

Claiming: Mission rewards, Sakura First Step (2000/2000)

Sun Jun 25, 2017 5:00 am

Approved at both for 1000 ryo and 3 ap each
Approved at Damon for Sakura First Step.

Flowers for a Grave

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