Reflections (P)

So this was it. This was the place where her family had come from. This was the birthplace of her lineage, where, centuries ago, the Hyuuga clan was born. She had heard legends of this place, of its people. How could she not have? Konoha was a legendary place, and many stories of old revolved around this village. Her clan held it in very high regard, and that was part of the reason that transferral of power to her branch of the family was so controversial. Kirigakure did not have the respect that was garnered by the Land of Fire’s ninja village, although their recent victory proved The Mist was far more worthy.

The Hyuuga in particular disappointed the white eyed girl, who looked upon the girl she had recovered from the battlefield as she had her own dark thoughts. This one had fallen in battle, it seemed, for she had not regained consciousness since. She hadn’t even awolken in order to kneel before the Mizukage. Still, she felt she should at least ensure that the poor girl had a chance of surviving her meager injuries. While she was by no means badly wounded, her leg took it pretty bad, and she likely couldn’t stand. Lord knows why the shock knocked her out, and seemed to leave her comatose, but Aryll wasn’t going to leave the poor thing out in the rain to die of exposure.

The prospect of having someone available to her like this, however, was rather… Exciting. Out of sheer curiosity, Aryll had taken to studying a form of puppetry that used live subjects, or rather, subjects that used to be live. There was a method to preserve a body for use in this way, so long as one captured the subject alive. And, yeah, she was most definitely alive. The subtle, shallow breaths that could be heard, presumably from the sleeping uchiha, were proof of that.

Aryll had taken residence in a home within the Hyuuga district, the same place Haru had stayed during his exams, she had heard. He wouldn’t have needed them later, when he had that Uzumaki girl that he always seemed too embarrassed to speak about. The thought of that “Secret” relationship that Haru tried desperately not to speak of within the walls of Kirigakure brought a small smile to the Heiress’s face, the first that she’d experienced since returning to this home of hers. Aryll had known all about Haru’s attempted courtship of the Uzumaki clan head, and it had given the silver haired girl quite a few snarky comebacks to use as ammunition against her brother, during his “Fatherly” stage, immediately following the loss of her grandparents.

She frowned, before shaking her head, removing that particular thought from her mind and returning to something that might actually make her happy to reminisce of. She thought about Haru’s cringeworthy relationship with that girl once more. Apparently, they’d met when she entered the village illegally, and one thing had lead to another. It was profoundly out of character for Haru to make such an exception to the rules for someone like that, especially when she had long since suspected her brother of… Well… Of not being into women… Possibly even other people. Aryll had never known someone so single minded as her fool of a brother. When he was not sleeping, he was working, seemingly singularly motivated towards bettering himself as a ninja. He was quite boring that way. Perhaps that girl had been his attempt to bring some semblance of intrigue to his life? Perhaps he intended to use her as a conversation piece?

Or, perhaps, it was merely political, as Aryll very well suspected. The only thing Haru cared about more than the people of his village were the people of his family, and she suspected that, when the Hyuuga clan was at their weakest, dying out and quickly losing strength due to the meddling of that snake from the uchiha clan, Haru would do whatever he could to strengthen the clan’s hold in the villages, even if that meant faking it till he made it. Or, maybe he really had cared for her, and just lacked the emotional maturity to introduce her to the family. It was rather funny, actually, the way they only met in secret, their rendezvous rare due to their living in different villages, but she had popped into Tengakure quite a few times, and even then, Haru had actually gotten a hotel room, as if he was ashamed of bringing her around the house. Aryll had no doubt in her mind that he was, and that’s exactly what he did. Aryll had seen him working that day. She’d watched him with her byakugan, as the young girl often had. She had idolized Haru, after all, and any day she could watch him work or go on a mission, she’d often taken the chance. She was actually quite sneaky about the whole thing. She saw Haru meet the girl, question her, then bring her back and even rent a hotel room. At a certain point, disgusted, Aryll had finally gone away. She didn’t need those details filled in. No, indeed, she returned home after watching that… Ordeal, and she’d even covered for Haru when Grandma Kuni and Grandpa Haru asked where he was. She explained that he’d sent a letter saying he’d be off on important business for the night, and not to expect him to return until the next day. Oh, how lucky Haru had been to have a sister like Aryll.

Then she’d returned again, And it seemed that the silly girl was starstruck with Haru. Aryll hadn’t expected to ever see her again. The whole encounter was quite out of character for Haru, and while perhaps they were just his repressed desires finally coming out for one short moment, it seemed now he had to face the music. She watched her profess her love for him, watched Haru awkwardly squirm as he responded in kind, and actually rolled over with laughter at the occurrence. Aryll knew that was a load of horse shit. He’d most definitely lied on that front, whether or not he actually had feelings for the poor girl. It appeared now that the Uzumaki heiress was really quite easy. She was the type of girl to say “I love you” on the first date, and Aryll thought it was hilarious. She’d had quite a laugh recounting the story to her team…

”Oh.” She muttered.

Aryll had not thought of her team in quite some time.

And just like that, the Hyuuga heiress was back in Tengakure, within a watch tower, bound and gagged. Her eyes flashed brightly with intense focus as her byakugan activated, and she saw her brother and her grandfather approaching through the walls. She shrieked, trying to get their attention, foolishly forgetting that they too could see through walls. Her captor turned on her, slapping her hard across the face and creeping over to whisper in her ear.

”Shut the hell up, you dumb bitch.” He had whispered softly into her ear, in a voice that was almost singsong. ”Or I’ll cut out your tongue and stuff it down your throat.” He continued, raising a blade to her neck. Aryll screamed once more, shaking the gag free of her mouth and biting at the man, managing to sink her teeth deep into his ear and draw blood, leaving a mark and nearly biting it in two. The man shrieked, drawing back, and Aryll felt a hard blow collide with her face, disabling her Byakugan and causing her ears to ring and her vision to blur, the shock and pain of the occurrence leaving her almost unconscious. Still, she held her cold, steely gaze as best as she could as the man glared at her, his knuckles bloodied from beating his fist into the girl’s face.

The man was talking now, pointing towards her sensei, who was collapsed on the floor. When she didn’t respond, he moved to one of her squadmates, a small framed, lanky boy named Kenji, whose dark hair framed a pair of broken glasses. He pressed a blade to his neck, and at last, Aryll could hear again. The other squadmate, Mizuki, a raven-haired beauty who rarely spoke, looked on in terror.

“-so be quiet, or the boy gets it.” Said the leader of the group, putting a knife to her squadmate’s neck. “You’ll be released as soon as we get the ransom money.” He assured her. In her pain and fear for the life of her teammate, Aryll actually forgot that she had spotted her rescuers, and in her moment of weakness, she silenced herself, gritting her teeth.

Suddenly, the concrete above them was crumbling, a fist driving through it as the robed body of Haru appeared, crashing through the ceiling in an explosion of stone and rebar. He landed right on top of the leader, crushing him under the very ceiling and knocking him out cold. He pulled something small and white from the inside of his robes, shaped curiously simmilarly to a human rib, and hurled at at one of the bandit’s throats, before turning and striking the man beside him in the gut hard enough to create a shockwave and send him flying into the walls of the tower they were held in, a loud crack audible as his spine was crushed, paralyzing him in a way that Aryll found much less heroic than she had at the time, a shiver running down her own spine at the thought. He moved to Aryll, drawing a kunai from his belt, not another of those riblike blades he had used before, and quickly cut her bonds. Aryll’s hands, bloodied from straining against the rope, were now freed, and she hugged her brother quickly and tightly, refusing to let go as her eyes welled up with tears.

“Haru!” She squealed into his robes.

“I’m here.” He said reassuringly. Kenji breathed a sigh of relief. Mizuki looked as white as a ghost. Aryll, confused, followed her line of sight to see...

Behind Haru, who had, in an astounding display of arrogance and poor judgement, deactivated his byakugan, the rubble moved, as one of the men stood up to full height, brandishing a piece of rebar.

“Look out!” Shouted Aryll, watching in horror as Haru turned just in time to see a blur of motion, concrete and rebar suddenly shattering against his face and sending him flying against the wall, hard enough to leave a sizeable crack. He fell to the floor, dizzy and disoriented, as the man dropped the club, putting a knife to Aryll’s neck, and pulling her back towards a window.


Aryll didn’t remember what was said after that point. She remembered the man pulling her through the window, she remembered the shattering of glass around her as he moved, a blur of motion, and she remembered the sudden inertia pulling her to a stop, the g-force causing significant pain to her as the man was grabbed by her grandfather. In an expert display of martial arts, Haru Hyuuga senior struck the blade from the man’s hand, delivering a solid haymaker to his face and wrestling Aryll free, before a swift kick to the head sent both of them flying away as he fled. Haru gave chase, and after that, everything was a blur to Aryll.

Later that day, she’d been reunited with Haru, who had successfully killed the man known as Lynch. She remembered the shock of learning that that man was the one who had killed her father, and the satisfaction of learning that Haru had killed him. Haru, who got all the glory that day. Haru, who always got the glory. Haru, who always doted on him. Haru, who may have loved someone from this very village.

She chuckled again as she returned from her daydream. She had not seen the Uzumaki during their takeover of Konohagakure. She wondered if she would even be recognized by the girl. No, it appeared that she had made herself scarce before the takeover. Such a shame, she’d never know what had happened to her love, Haru. Or, maybe she did know, and she did what any good Juliet would do for her Romeo…

Her thoughts had truly become morbid, these days. Hardened by unfortunate circumstance, the Hyuuga heiress was not the same person she had been then. She’d at least shown some fight, but she’d crumpled at the first threat sent towards one of her precious teammates. Despite her loss in mobility, she was strong enough now to save them. Strong enough to avoid capture. Strong enough, too late.

Their sensei died, finally succumbing to his injuries. The trio of teammates were leaderless and alone, but not for long. Soon, Kirigakure rose, and in the move from Tengakure, the three became jaded and distant with one another. It was unfortunate, and it seemed that Aryll had lost two friends along with their village. While they still trained together and spent time with one another, something was undeniably different. It was no longer the same. It never could be.

When the two died in the Blood Games, it only cemented that fact to Aryll. Her friends were gone. Her sensei was gone. Just like her brother, who seemed so blinded by his own pain that he couldn’t be bothered with hers. For someone so self righteous, he sure could be narrow sighted. He’d never had time to notice his poor sister’s condition, at least, not until Gran and Grandpa finally kicked the bucket.

Some disgusting pig of a thug broke into their home and killed them, sparing Aryll for some reason. Maybe she was too young to kill? Maybe he was afraid of the consequences? How laughable. Aryll still wondered if she’d ever get the chance to punish the fool who had ruined her life. She wondered if she could ever do what Haru had failed to do. For as much as he cared about his family, he never succeeded in protecting them.

His love of family never seemed to come into play at convenient times. It made her look weak, that she couldn’t defend her own family, that she had to pray for Haru to save her, that still, it wasn’t enough. It never was. The power demonstrated by Xyxer’s tailed form was what summoned Haru to her side, that was what Aryll had come to believe. She wondered if his attack had been premeditated, for he seemed far more concerned with killing Xyxer than protecting Aryll. Perhaps his grief had finally snapped him, just like he snapped Aryll’s spine. Perhaps his intentions had once been good, perhaps he actually had wanted to help her, but his rage had blinded him, and been both of their undoing. He had come to save her from Xyxer, fearing that he would hurt her, but in the end, the only one who had hurt her was Haru, whose carelessness changed her life forever. The ferocity with which he struck indicated that the attack was not merely out of love for Aryll, but also out of hatred for the Mizukage, the one who her brother hated so badly, for what reason, Aryll did not know. Though he was a hard, sometimes cruel individual, there was kindness in him. He was kind enough to care for Aryll when she had nobody, and that was enough for her. It was all she needed, really. A friend. He was what Aryll had truly needed. But this had not always been so. Once upon a time, Aryll relied on Haru for everything. Training, moral support, advice, guidance, encouragement, everything. When she was taken hostage in Tengakure, Haru saved her. When she needed a training partner, Haru was ther He had been the guiding force behind her life, even more so than Haru senior or Kuni. He’d saved her, and he’d nearly brought her back from the edge. Then, when she said she didn’t want to leave Kirigakure, he simply left. Gone with the wind. When he returned with the tide, he was changed, even more brutal and irritable than before. He was not the same, and he was not her brother.

Her brother had always been stronger than she. When they had lost their father, he was the first to recover. He seemed to draw strength from their father’s death, as if it had somehow made him better. She remembered the day he said he was becoming a shinobi. The fearful look in the eyes of their grandmother, Kuni, who had served as a medical ninja herself. The pride on the face of their grandfather, Haru Senior, whose face poorly hid the pain in his eyes. Haru trained relentlessly. He had mastered his academy jutsu within a month, and his own personal taijutsu training was quickly leading him to become one of the very fastest students in the academy. He passed his exams with flying colors, all the while, Aryll watched silently from the sidelines, unmoving, unfeeling. Broken. When Haru became a genin, his training only redoubled in intensity. She remembered how fast he grew. She had vivid memories of him taking their dog and chasing him through an old warehouse, trying to track him with his byakugan as he began to master the art of controlling it. That was when he finally convinced Aryll that she should stop moping. His absolute determination and tenacity inspired Aryll, and she began to idolize her brother. Training with Haru had given Aryll all the confidence and resolve that she’d needed. She remembered the first time Haru had asked her to train with him vividly, because she remembered seeing for the first time that Haru was indeed incredibly powerful, and someone she needed to chase if she wanted to get stronger. It was ironic now that the man who had inspired her to get on her feet and begin her career as a Kunoichi was the very same who shattered her body with a careless, vengeful attack upon her friend. It was ironic how the same man who’d once been everything to her had now taken everything from her. It was sad that she’d probably never see him again. And yet, she was happy she wouldn’t. All these conflicting emotions stirred and writhed in Aryll’s mind. The notions gave her a headache, and made her want to cast them all aside. It was pointless to dwell on these thoughts, as they gave her neither solace nor comfort. Really, they only served to bother her even more.

She shook her head once more. Since she had lost her mobility, she’d often drifted into thought like this, forgetting herself and her surroundings, reminiscing, or sometimes, reflecting. Now, however, she had more pressing matters to attend to. She couldn’t keep losing herself to thought like this. She thought about how depressed she had been when it happened, how she thought that her life was over, how she thought that she no longer had any meaning, how she should just give up, retreat into her mind and never come out. Give up. Submit to being… Broken.

”Broken… tch.” She cursed herself. How pathetic she had been. How weak. How worthless. She was thankful for what Xyxer had done for her, leaving her alone in that house, alone, weak, and contemplating merely ending her own life to escape it all. How pathetic she had been. How strong she had become. She was glad that she was now free of the chains that bound her. With these puppets, she did not need to give in to what she had lost. She could begin again. She could live a new life. And indeed, she would. She had to. She couldn’t afford to keep falling back into the depression that had consumed her when she first was… Handicapped…

God, she hated that word.

She pushed her chair back from the desk she was sitting at, glancing at the girl who laid on the small sofa that was provided in the room she was staying in. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do with her, but as she didn’t know the girl’s home address, or, indeed, anyone of any relation to her, she’d just hold on to the poor girl until she awoke, or perhaps until someone came for her.

If things continued to look grim, however, well…

She could always practice that technique. A new puppet would be nice to have around.

(Exit with Celeste, topic closed unless she wants to wake up and interact)
(TWC: 3466)

+3422 words to One Body
+44 words to Ludwig because why not
+14 AP
+10 stats, 25% discount applied since I’m now maxed. If we’re not lenient on that anymore then I’ll put the 44 words to One Body instead and strike the AP

Approved