A night at the inn

The town was neither huge nor tiny. It was certainly less grand than a hidden village, but its position along a major road offered much to its prosperity.

The town also appeared to be quite old. Buildings were built almost exclusively of brick and mortar, alongside roofs of wood, with nary the space between them for a mouse. No buildings stood taller than three stories plus attic, but few if any sat at a mere one story. The road was wide, but empty. However, the well compressed, grassless condition of the dirt road hinted that this road was very well used during daylight hours, and it was just after dark that it died down.

The inn was not exactly inconspicious. It was one of the few buildings with lights still on. There there was the large sign out front. Lefbvre Inn it read, carved into a slab of wood hanging from a pole on the wall of the second floor.

The inn itself stood three stories tall. The windows of the first floor were illuminated, as well as a handful of windows on the second and third floors. The triangular attic was unlit through its small window. Several chimney tops could be seen poking through the top of the roof from all around, presumably so that there was one in every room. Perhaps every other room.

Upon stepping through the doors of the inn, Shiroi would be accosted by the warm air. And the smell of alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Not bad. She liked the smell of beer, and could... normally, handle a single one.

Best to not risk it she thought.

There was a group playing pool in the corner. They were rambunctious. But they did not seem threatening.

At least not to Shiroi. That might have just been a gender thing.

There was a couple in another corner. They looked just a few sips away from making out on their way to a room upstairs.

Other than that, the inn was empty. Well, there was the bartender.

Actually no, it was not empty. There was one person left. They seemed to be passed out at the bar, and the barkeep seemed to be keeping an eye on them.

Shiroi looked over towards Mu-jin, assuming he was still there, and then walked up to the barkeep.

"Something filling to eat, warming (and non-alcoholic) to drink, and a room would be great if you can," she said. "Plus I wouldn't turn down some chatter."

The scraggly man smied. His years showed upon his face, the lines deeping as his lips grew and slimmed. "Coming right up. And the Mr.? Will you be sharing rooms?"

"Only if there's no option. Met him on the road and travelled this way with him."

"You got it, Ma'am."

He would walk away a little bit later if Mu-jin did not ask for something, or that instant of Mu-jin had not walked up to the bar.

The whole time he had been thinking about what had transpired, what he had told the girl, and how things were going to be now. Through going back he found something possibly useful maybe in the future, but he kept a tight hold on it like it was something he was very fond of. The staff held no importance maybe at this moment, but maybe in the future it would play an essential part of his life. As the two strolled into town he looked up for a moment just to grab a quick glance of his surroundings and furthermore to acquaint himself with the area. There was nothing better than knowing where you had been and what all was there especially when it came to a new place.

That being said he took in his surroundings assuring that nothing harmful (either to himself or his traveling companion) had been in the area and once he had assured this key factor he would return to walking alongside her until they had arrived into the bar. The cool air of the night was swiftly replaced with the warm, violent air of the bar as he took one step in and looked at the place. Definitely not as lavish as anything in Tanzaku Town or the Black Market yet it held its own little marvel among the recesses of his mind in an odd way. When she stepped up to the bar so did he, his left hand resting on it until he had sat down and the staff remained firmly in his right until she had began to ask the barkeep for a few things.

Feeling the encompassing feeling of hunger encroaching upon him, Mu-Jin looked around for three seconds before speaking," Just soup and bread will do." He didn't eat very much for some odd reason. Maybe a side effect of the experiments or maybe this was how he was before then. So many confusing prospects in his blank little mind caused a whirl of gears to turn before he blinked and relaxed for just a moment, but kept his wits about him," So what now? Tengakure was a bust in a sense unless you are going to go back periodically to check there," while her plans probably ended after this, he didn't quite know what to do with himself. Maybe go back to the market and wait out another plan or...maybe find a home of his home. Somewhere probably far from the other major villages or...he could just become a hunter.

All of them sounded like good ideas for the moment, but a simple day or two in thought over them wouldn't hurt as well. As he waited for their food he took small glances in the four directions. Looking at the door first over his right shoulder so that no one knew he was paying attention. Looking to the right and lastly to the left since he had actually known what was behind him. Despite the place being what it had been, he kept tabs on everything with his weird eyes.

Shiroi sat at the bar, resting her head against the wood, with her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. It was a few minutes later that, unsurprisingly, the couple started going up the stairs. The girl was basically clinging to the guy, they were still making out, and it was almost surprising their clothes managed to stay on until they got in the room.

Wait no, a shoe just went flying down the stairs. They didn't make it into the room first.

Shiroi sighed. She remember back awhile ago.

Well, she tried. She did not exactly have much memory of that night. She did remember the massive headache the morning after, though. And the day before it.

Anyways, Shiroi shook her head a little, shaking out the thoughts. Here eyes landed upon the singular man sitting at the far end of the bar. He was leaning against the wall, and just seemed to be... blank.

"What's his deal?" she asked softly to the bartender, not meaning it offensively to the person in question.

"Oh, he's... a bit traumatized, is probably the way to put it. Barely escaped from Tengakure. Seems he lost his kid. Won't tell me much, really. Just... kind of exists."

Shiroi thought on it for awhile. She wanted to know more about Tenga. But he was an obviously disheveled man. It may not be wise for her to speak with him. She was not... great at the whole "people" thing.

Actually, she was OK at it, but she did not think so.

The atmosphere was honestly throwing him off a bit, the subtle tapping of his left hands' fingers showing that he was at least trying to relax though his attempts were abysmal at best. The difference between here and the places in Tanzaku Town were its people. Most didn't stare and if they did they were spare glances. Not trying to see what was the deal with him and the staff in his hand. If someone would have tried to come and take it from him, the fear that he would slap them with it hard enough to knock their head from the shoulders it was on was high. He wanted peace and a place to accomplish that, and with the soft clanking of plates and a glass onto the wooden bar top he was finally about to get it.

Slowly he picked up the food and nodded to the barkeep before looking over to his traveling companion," I'll be on the roof...just need some air is all while i eat," the male didn't wait for a response and instead began to move toward the door only to disappear on the other side of it. The cool night air graced his face as he smiled and began his ascent carefully with the food in tow until he had reached the highest point, setting the staff to his right hand side as he sat down which meant the food would be directly in his lap. Legs were crossed and his feet pressed lightly against one another as he dug into the soup, a small smile on his face as he ate and stared into the distance. This was a lot to take in seeing as it was what? Two or so years since his departure from the rubble and now?

Because of him going back he found a staff and some useful information, the folded pieces of paper being de-crumpled and deciphered until he sat with a stumped look," They would've kept trying until they had succeeded...but this tells me nothing of why only what they wanted to achieve. I am that but....what the hell does this mean without a reason for it?," the question racked his brain for a moment or two as he continued to read back and front of the individual pieces of paper until he stopped and thought about what he had just saw. He should have been dead since the lab was under attack so...why him. The others had a higher aptitude for the serums and test than him and yet here he was breathing just fine.

The more he had sat there the more he began to think on the implications of the trials. They pushed every physical boundary and never allowed them to train spiritually or mentally. Just a bag that could take damage and dish it out hm? What about that healing factor of his? Definitely something that he wanted to look into, but at this point in time? He was better off not worry about it. A soft sigh escaped his lips as his pupils began to shift into their cross hair Esq form as he simply stared down at the staff and sighed," What are you...An experiment gone wrong just like me? Or something more...," he didn't know why he had been talking to the staff, but it was a question he would get to the bottom off.

Shiroi was brought her food and drink shortly after Mu-jin went upstairs. She was still casting glances towards the mystery man as she began to eat.

That's when she decided to do it. Her eye did a little dance, and it was time for her to examine her findings. The first thing she realized was that the man was not depressed about the destruction of Tengakure. That seemed to be only on the backburners of his sorrows. No, it seemed his depression spawned much earlier, and had had much longer to seed itself. Really, it was amazing he had not committed suicide, or perhaps gotten over it. Really though, it was probably the fact that he seemed to drown his sorrows away every night.

The man's pain began far in his past, but to understand its breadth, Shiroi had to examine deeper.

There were two beautiful woman in his life. Three, actually, but two of them were different than the third. One was... remarkably similar, actually. Shiroi had seen her picture in Hoshi. Though she had been much older in the photos, unless Shiroi looked in backlogs or history books or other such resources.

The other woman was equally beautiful, but a complete unknown to Shiroi. The third was just a babe. Plump face framed by wispy blond hair, with poofy eyes that said she had been crying. Of course, a child always cries. But her blue eyes were beautiful.

The cause of the man's pain was his son. His son, who stole away the babe. The man had lost his wife and his lover, and now his babe. He was not even mad at his son. He just wanted to see his children.

This was the information that Shiroi had needed. This filled in the dots. A lot of dots. Dots she did not even know were dots. Dots that existed between different puzzles, ones that were secretly all the same puzzle despite having existed on different papers. The dots that Shiroi herself had drawn. The dots that Shina had drawn. Izaya. The letters from her guardians that Shiroi had read. All of them were connected.

It was like Shiroi was a god damn main character or something.

Seriously, what the hell?

But this was just the surface of what Shiroi had learned. She now knew the name of her clan, of her kekkai genkai. Her guardians had only known of its existence and its presence. Now she knew its name.

And she'd seen it before.

Shiroi had a lot of questions still. But she knew what she had to do. She would have to uncover her true form and return to Hoshi. She would talk to Kyousuke and get a DNA test. She would confirm it.

See, there was still doubt in Shiroi's mind. Everything fit so perfectly. But there was no binding glue. There was no confirmation that this man was who she thought he was. And she had no way to verify that. Even talking to him would be pointless. Unless she drew his blood, or stole his hair, nothing would come of it.

But she knew, deep down, this had to be it. So she would take a single lock of his hair, just to be sure. Once he fell asleep, not yet.

But she would take it. And she would test it. And she would get permission to test the other sample. And she was certain that it would be positive. They would be a match. Her match.

And you know what? She is right.

The bowl sat empty to his side as he stared up into the distance of the sky, his mind drawing so many blanks it wasn't even funny. The smooth cool air breezed past his hair taking it up slightly before he had looked down and scratched his head. So many things continued to play against him until he had finally had it. Standing up he took the staff into his hands and looked at it, fingers slowly moving along it to find something...anything that he could use to link it to him. It had been flawless enough in its crafting that he could tell it was made for fighting, someone with strength unparalleled and yet...somehow he didn't know how it worked. He had trained with weapons like this sure in the compound, but he had never known one to be this..weird. Call it a feeling or a hunch if you will, but in the end it was just that.  The longer he held it the more he wanted to test it to see what it had done, but if he had done that...hmm.

Such a curious thing he could have done and has he sat down he began to go through the notes once more, his eyes scanning them until he caught phrases and query's on the very thing he had been holding. It had a name and like him it was infact a project for whomever passed the last exam. Quite interesting these scientists were and as he began to fold them up he shook his head and tightened his grip against the staff," Well where one question ends fifty more appear so now...what shall we do with you hm?," he eyed the staff with childlike curiosity before swinging and bringing it to his side, his form coming back to the dusty bones since he hadn't fought with a bo staff in quite a while as he began to do basic jabs and swings keeping light on his feet until pushing the bottom of the staff into the roof and leaning against it.

Things were getting....A little weird for sure, but in the end he was getting answers.Though with answers he didn't quite what to do now. Everything came at him like a freight train and he had no destination per se. Maybe he could just use these talents with time to do something...hunter maybe? That would mean being involved with villages and that, should it ever come down to it would be a little...weird. He didn't want to be apart of one at the moment and the fact that he would at some point be "forced" to join one might be a little less than ideal. Then again he didn't want to just sit by and slowly be seen as a 'threat'. That definitely wasn't something to be on his plate so he just...didn't know. Taking his dishes into his hands along with the staff he began to move down the building and back inside where, if she had still been there, he would go and sit down beside her after giving the barkeeper his dishes back," So. How'd it go? Did you talk to him any?"

He'd let the question sink in before he sighed and slid the papers he had with him toward her," Here's what I have on the experiments since you asked about it," of course he kept the page on the staff to himself but he would continue," I'm only showing you this because you had been looking at something in the compound quite heavily and it "might" be able to help you find whatever you were looking for. Sadly even with a genius intellect you won't be able to recreate the experiment because those main notes are missing and whatever they used has been destroyed, but it might shed some insight on what you needed," he didn't say much after that so that she could soak it all in and talk if need be.

Shiroi looked at the man. How had he known she was considering talking to that guy?

Then she thought about it, and she had been rather obvious. If the guy had not ben so wasted, HE probably would have figured it out. Hell, he very well might have, and was just too wasted to care.

"...In a way," she replied. It was simple and to the point, and hopefully Mu-jin would decide to drop the topic there.

Next came the matter of his papers. Lots of them. "Um, thanks..." she began as she took the notes. She was not sure what to do with them for a bit, instead staring at the remaining bits of her food. Eventually, however, curiosity overcame her. She began looking for the symbol she had seen, the one she knew.

It took a fair bit of hunting, but she eventually found it.

Attempt ██-█ (Indefinite life support constructs)
Result: Failure
Notes: This method has shown repeated success within range, peaking at five kilometers. Further attempts of this method are not recommended due to the cost of scaling the method even two the five kilometer mark, and the fragility of the setup.

Well, that was... lukewarm to know. It meant that Shiroi did not know the secret to immortality.
It also meant that Shiroi did not know the secret to immortality.

She started skimming over the other pages. Well, it was not really skimming. She was just analyzing words on the pages. Her eyes jumped around, spent but a moment on each page. If something caught her eye, she would spend a few moments longer. The first time she stopped longer than this was at a mention of a white desert rose.

Attempt ██-█ (Preemptively cure everything)
Result: Failure
Notes: Who even came up with this idea? The rose has been scientifically proven to be a myth. Every single patient that achieved a "miraculous" recovery due to the rose was actually already on the path to health. At least we've pushed them to near extinction, so maybe the myth will die.

That one made Shiroi smile.

A few others caught her eye for a little longer, but none worth mentioning.
Well, none except one. Mu-jin's picture was in the corner of one sheet.

Subject ██████████ (Mu-jin)
Result: Success
Method: ██-█S
Origins: ...........

And it continued like that for awhile. SOme of it was illegible, some of it was perfectly readable.

But the interesting line was one of the latter. 'Result: Success'.

"Wait," she began, dropping the other papers onto the bar. "Does this mean..." She moved the paper over towards Mu-jin, pointing her finger at the line in question. "On second thought, perhaps we should take this conversation to a private location. Innkeep, I'd like to prepay for a room for the night, two beds if doable."

The innkeeper nodded, quoted a price (with a sly smile across his face), and handed over a pair of keys as Shiroi payed the price. If all went as described, she would then go up the stairs, to the room.

The room itself was small. There was a small walking space between the two beds. There was a single nightstand in the middle, a wall on either side. A lamp and a clock sat on the nightstand. A small window revealed the outside world. Otherwise, however, the room was bare.

Her answer was all that he needed at the moment to gauge that it didn't go so well but...she had ended up getting something out of it at least. The good thing about this night was at least he had some semblance of a path to walk on and from here he could help her until they went their separate ways. Speaking of...He was forgetting something," So what are you going to do now since you've found what you have needed? I am guessing you are going to return back to your village?," depending on the answer he might have found something to do in the meantime or at least sight see outside of the village. Depending on the answer she had given him to his prior question would shape his next initial response so he would wait until she had fully finished speaking on the matter to know what to say.

After giving her the notes and sliding the ones on the staff deep into his cloak, he would just simply sit and watch as she went over each paper and noting her reactions. When they slid over to him and her finger pointed at a picture of him well in his youth he blinked and looked at the date as well as the what it said for him before blinking," i-," he was well cut off before she suggested they talked in private and stood up as she talked to the barkeep. With them finally having their own room he followed behind her in silence now puzzled on his own take of the situations that he had known...was he simply just oblivious to the truth? He'd be the last in the room as he closed the door and went to sit on what he assumed would be the bed he slept on, his eyes closing and reopening as he began to think.

Before the female could ask any questions he would hold his right hand which would have been freed from the staff that had been sitting beside him and he shrugged," Before you ask I don't know...I don't know when those papers were published but...if they were dated before the collapse of the compound then that means I wasn't the failure they told me I was...So maybe it had something to do with it not directly affect....Mmmm," his mind became a jumbled mess as he began to slowly mumble to himself in thought. Almost immediately he would slump into the bed and look over to her," Alright go ahead and ask your questions and i'll "try" to answer them as best I can. This has just made me question a lot more things. Why would it be...Hmm," he had still been paying attention to her questions taking the time to think them out before properly responding. Of course if their were things he didn't know his silence would tell her that. The first question that she was about to ask before they came up here would be what he tackled first.

"To answer the first question of was it actually successful? Yes. It was because I was the only one that had survived the explosion of the place, no scars or bleeding it made me think...Did it work? I tried to save those I could...those i called family choked on their own blood smiling that i was alive because they were happy to see me...Stupid they were," he wasn't happy...bringing up that memory caused him to shake for a few seconds, every single moment of that time creeping in his body slowly but surely. After a moment or two he began to take small deep breathes as he always did when he had these nightmares and crossed his legs in the bed. She could see that those moments shook him to the bone. He had no family and when he finally had one he lost them while he was the only one alive...It sucked. When he was finally back to normal he would open his eyes, the cross haired pupils looking at her to signify that she could continue asking questions.

"Yeah, I'm going to go back to my village. I've got a lot of things to discuss with a lot of people." She hummed over the words she said, acknowledging that she would have a LOT of talking to do.

A lot.

And them came the upstairs conversation. Shiroi sat on the bed opposite Mu-jin. She intertwined her fingers and leaned forward, elbows on knees, chin on knuckles. She heard him out, and let him breath as his emotions tried to win out. When she figured he was capable again, she began.

"So, you're immortal. Like, completely? I could stab you in the heart, cut you in half, and rip your head off, and you would be fine? Do you age? Or is it, like, you never age but can be harmed normally?" Immortality was such a... strange concept. Immortal life without immortal youth was a curse. Immortal youth without immortal life... really was not a curse. It was pretty good off, actually.

For now though, that would be her only questions.

So she was going back. Which means he might have traveled with her at least to the gates where he would make his departure unless something persuaded him to actually go into the village. Depending on how it looked he might have, but then again...he was best left not going into another village unless it was done for. After his little mini episode he sat straight again and centered his mind before answering his question. There was a lot he still didn't know when it came to the immortality or its limits, but he had not changed since he had turned sixteen, keeping the same face and everything else so maybe his aging stopped at whatever point they did the experiments on him. With that being said he simply scratched his head and began to answer the question," To the first few yes. I was impaled shortly before going to Tanzaku Town by a few bandits that thought i was easy prey, left me for dead with four pieces of metal pinned between them and the ground. I don't remember how long I was exactly there before finally wriggling myself free. Took a forever to regenerate back," he wasn't exaggerating about it either. If he saw those males again he would probably return the favor ten fold.

To her second he shrugged and began to slowly run a few fingers through his hair," I haven't changed since I began the secondary trials for the experiments so you're guess is as good as mine. Judging from this photo you had shown me i'm stuck in time as well. ,"Now there was more he didn't quite know about himself, but the more he talked about it to someone the more it made him feeling of what the hell was going on. Sooner or later he would find the answers he had been searching for this entire time. Since that was the first bit of question she had he relaxed more on the bed and began to tilt his head a bit as he waited for the next question.