Last Christmas, You Killed my Family (P)

Aryll Hyuuga was in a really, really good mood that day. Her clan was as indifferent to her presence as ever, but that made no difference to the Hyuuga heiress, who pushed herself through the streets of Konohagakure without a care in the world, even if navigating this village was not as easy as her home in Kirigakure. The lack of smooth cobblestone and the excess of stairs hardly fazed her.

No, Aryll’s mood was far too pleasant for that. She’d just entered the arena for the third time in her life, and for the third time, she walked out a victor. This time was different, however. This opponent outranked her. This opponent had more experience than her. She had bested someone she could consider an equal, at least in raw strength, something she had thus far not been able to do. Shadowfax had not even shown up for their fight, and Angel was hardly the worthy opponent she had hoped for. Of course, that fight had come farther down to the wire than Aryll would have liked, but it still was not the challenge she sought. She couldn’t even remember the names of most of the other combatants, and though Kozurou had stolen most of the glory, he too had been bested by Aryll, even if it was in a prior altercation.

Her destination was the Hokage office, where she expected she’d find Xyxer, or at least, could be directed to Xyxer. The day was winding down, and she was hoping he’d set some time aside for her, because she really had not spoken to her friend since they left Kirigakure. She had since brought Ludwig home, parking him outside her temporary home, her battle attire still donned. She had changed into something more comfortable, a grey peacoat over a simple blue shirt, her silver hair hanging freely. Her legs were covered neatly with a blue blanket to stave off the sudden cold Konohagakure was experiencing today.  

She was directed to the Hokage offices, cursing under her breath with each individual step she had to pull her chair up, gripping the railing and tugging herself up with her great strength. Though she was likely not as strong as Xyxer, the girl had developed quite a bit of upper body strength in light of her condition, and had no trouble forcing her chair up the steps, eventually assisted by one of the attendants in the office. Aryll was quietly thankful, for while it was relatively easy for her now, it still made her look like quite the fool. Helped up the steps, she was escorted to the Mizukage Offic- I mean, the Hokage Office. She raised a delicate hand and knocked, to the tune of shave and a haircut.

If permitted, she would enter, and the scene would probably play out from there, unless Xyxer wants to say “Enter” and then wait a second round of posting for Aryll to enter, in which case, this topic will probably take much longer and include many more flashbacks to compensate for lost WC.

A discomfort roused Xyxer from within the confines of this village. He felt contained and restricted, staring through the eyes of a prisoner inside a cell. He'd expected clarity to come from the day he brought steel and fury to the mighty village of Konohagakure, yet he only received confusion and a deprivation of answers. Nothing he wanted was attainable. Viper had disappeared without a trace, unseen for a vast period of time.. Shinji Uzumaki's records had vanished all the same, and there was nothing on Kenchi. The only revelation he'd been blessed with were the orders for Sameonna's head, yet it brought no comfort. No deeper purpose nor underlying crux. 

His difficulty to relax while within the legacy of his greatest antagonist caused him restless nights in this godforsaken village, so much so that he now stood at the window of the Hokage office, simply staring out from the window in some kind of trance; was this something Viper himself would have done before he issued a repulsive order? A revolting, tiny man. Believe me, I know tiny men. As he thought about the hatred he harbored for the mysterious, raven haired fellow, he had to wonder about the similarities they possessed. They both desired the longevity of their home village and were willing to sacrifice others for it, they were both powerful if rumours were anything to go by, yet.. they weren't alike at all. Xyxer never hid what he was, nor did he try to conceal the monstrosity that he'd evolved into. At least, that was to most people.

He could feel the cripple's presence quite a way off as his chakra pushed through the vicinity. Its slow advancement towards him, and even the other signature that melded with hers as she moved up the stairs in the building. His lips were a narrow line as he waited for the girl to wheel herself down the hallway, yet thankfully she knocked politely. "Enter." He spoke as he continued to look outside. Xyxer watched his reflection in the glass pane as if it would reveal some truth to him, yet all he saw was the face of a corpse that hadn't accepted death.

Spinning around shortly after Aryll entered the office, a smile was plastered on his features contrary to his prior thoughts as he looked upon the girl he often times forgot wasn't his sister, "Well if it isn't Kirigakure's secret weapon. Times must be tough for us if you need help getting up stairs, Aryll." He quipped, taking a few steps towards her before he lowered his torso, extending his arms to the girl like he would to his other sisters. "Three wins now, right? I'll have to be careful before you get bored of the competition and challenge me directly." He chuckled, embracing the girl if she was to return his efforts. Once that was done, he'd stand back up from her before reaching out to the desk at their side to produce a small, cloth pouch which contained the relevant funds. He threw this to the girl, yet a little higher so she'd have to actively reach out for it unless she used one of her many puppetry tricks. "How're you finding it?" He inquired to the girl who may very well be his protege.

Hearing Xyxer’s permission of entry, Aryll’s face broke into a small smile as she turned the knob of the door, holding the door to the side as she maneuvered herself into the room. She had gotten quite good at this, and while a normal paraplegic might have had difficulty, Aryll was not your average cripple. She entered in time to catch Xyxer glancing wistfully towards the window for a moment, before greeting her with a smile, which she returned in kind.

Xyxer’s quip only served to bolster the smile that she wore, the pride in her eyes mixed with her fondness for the one who had become like her brother. “Kirigakure’s secret weapon,” huh? That sure had a nice ring to it.
”I’d have brought a friend to do it for me, but I figured the property damage wouldn’t be worth the time it would save me.” She said, alluding to one of her giant automatons. ”I only wish my opponents could measure up a little better. I didn’t get to test half of what the big guy had in store.” She said, gladly returning the hug to the demon that stood before her.

He tossed her winnings a bit high, and she reached with her left hand to grab the bag, a lone thread of chakra stopping the bag and allowing it to fall into the palm of her hand. She could hardly stand up a little to catch it. She might have made a snide comment at this throw, had she not been sure it was merely accidental. Why would Xyxer throw it out of her way intentionally?

”Do you mean the tournament, the village, or the results of the war?” Aryll would reply to the man’s question, before speaking once more, before Xyxer would be able to respond. ”Exhilarated, disappointed, and disappointed, in that order.” She said, wheeling herself into the room proper rather than just the doorway. ”What of you? Are you pleased with our progress?”

Aryll's response to his quip was an amusing one which also provided the male with thought for the lifeless husks that Aryll possessed. Malleable, ever-changing suits of armour which carried the cripple within their stocky frames, shielding her from protection while enabling a new style of attack.. He found it peculiar that he hadn't encountered many puppeteers before her when there were clearly many advantages. If truth be told, the capabilities of such beings were rather impressive given that they could fill all manner of niches, yet Xyxer would never tell the girl that he was impressed, nor even satisfied with her usage of puppets. Praise lead to an overdeveloped ego, or worse yet, content.

As the girl reached out for the pouch Xyxer waited for her nature to reveal itself, to see whether the rot had already set into the foundation he had once tried to build. A ninja's life could be made extremely easy if they allowed chakra to do everything for them, but that only lead to dependency.. which Aryll would prove to him as she extended a single thread towards the ryo. A cripple she may be, yet she had grown too comfortable with the benefits that her craft had enabled her. "You were supposed to reach higher; suppose you lose the ability to hone your chakra so precisely.. you'll wish you focused more time on your physical attributes, however limited they may be." He stated after the ryo was successfully retrieved, a single wave of his hand indicating her legs as if he was addressing the elephant in the room.

Secret Weapon proposed three different scenarios, all of which deserved a response come to think of it as this was their first meeting within this village. If his intel was to be believed she had taken up shelter in the Hyuuga district, which only made sense given her role after her brother's.. less than desirable banishment. Excitement for a tournament, yet disappointment for the village and a safe victory.. how bizarre. Perhaps she truly was more like the Mizukage than her brother, "I'm enlightened. I know to buy you a thesaurus for your birthday for one." Xyxer joked, his eyes unable to help but drop down towards her wheels studiously - Propose he broke the wheels of her throne and threw her onto the ground, would she be totally vulnerable unless she'd had the good fortune to hide a puppet in a seal? His eyes lifted back up towards her so that he continued without breaking a sweat, "The people within this village were untested and believed their false god would protect them from real threats, yet now they know this is not true. It only took a single runt of theirs and a blade in each of their palms for this fact to solidify itself in their memory, yet it will remain for a long time if they think about making a transgression against Kirigakure. We won the war with few casualties, I'd say it was a success myself." Xyxer briefly explained, finding it more apt to detail why the torture of a single person had been so vital to the goal he had aimed to achieve here. It was likely the most deplorable action he'd forced upon others, yet to realize you were no longer in control was a harsh slap in the face regardless of who dealt the blow.

If Aryll was to speak to him on that matter further he'd indulge her and wait before speaking again, otherwise he'd wait in the silent moments which passed between them. If he was to be successful in a conquest on the world where loyalty was the most important factor, it could not be based on the cracked foundation of a lie, or in this case a truth that was never relayed. His dead eyes remained on her face as if he was a ghost watching the corpse of its former self, a string of words following from his lips as his expression remained stoic, indiffent to the new information he would reveal, "You're a growing girl and you've served me faithfully, so it's only fair I return the favour by telling you something that I don't believe Haru revealed - Your grandparents were executed on my say so." He didn't expect her to understand why or even believe him at the start, yet to confront the venom before it seeped into the rest of the vitals was the only way to go about reprimands; cut the limb off before the rest could be infected.

Xyxer’s words hit Aryll like scolding upon a puppy, her eyes darting first to Xyxer, then to the pouch in her hand, then once more to Xyxer, her face a mix of disgust and surprise, as if the implications of what she had just done were now dawning on her.
”I-I…” She began, before holding her tongue. She wanted to protest, that surely it was foolhardy to expect her to rise higher when she was physically incapable of doing so, that her puppets were not merely a crutch, but an extension of herself, that it was like second nature for her to catch the bag this way… But she couldn’t bring herself to protest against Xyxer. She merely hung her head in shame.

”I see. I am sorry, I won’t make this mistake again.” She said, her voice a steely monotone. ”I have been training physically, this was just a moment of carelessness. You are right, I shouldn’t be so careless.” She agreed. The conversation seemed to return to a more cheerful place afterwards, however, with Xyxer joking about her choice of words regarding the village, the war, and the tournament.

He seemed satisfied with her answer, and the answer he gave was telling. He didn’t relish in his own fight, but rather, the act of breaking the complacent village and teaching them humility. Aryll noted and stored this information, also noting that the few casualties experienced by Kirigakure lead him to consider this battle a success. She wouldn’t comment on that, still a little shell shocked from their previous exchange, and so the two sat in silence for a short amount of time.

Then Xyxer broke the silence. He revealed something that Aryll would have never wanted to know. He was the one who had ordered the death of her grandparents. Aryll sat there in silence, unsure of what she was supposed to say. This information took quite some time to process, and in that moment, it all came flashing back to her, the man who had entered that house and who had tied up Aryll and fought grandpa Haru to the death, before finishing off grandma.

She felt herself reliving the old wound that had ruined her once before, that had seen her brought to depths she had never sunk past, even when confronted with the loss of her legs. Xyxer, her closest friend, had been the cause of it. Everything seemed to make sense now, Haru’s hatred for Xyxer, his despise for their friendship, the reason he’d been so on edge on the day he attacked the other man… It all made sense now. Everything seemed to click, all at once, and it all hinged on Xyxer Gyojin. Everything seemed to hinge on him, the man who had destroyed her family.

”...Why?” She finally asked, breaking her silence. She said nothing more, for she hadn’t a clue what else to say.

Aryll had taken it as well as he could expect from a victim who had witnessed the executions first hand. In all likelihood, it was probably the initial onset of shock which had prevented any form of aggression against him, or at least that would be the justification he made for her. His grey eyes continued to watch the expression of the girl as it seemed to fluctuate at random intervals to display emotions which confused the male, ones that almost seemed as if she felt betrayal.. a realization that monsters were not merely some fabrication that hid under the beds of insolent children. She stood before one, and his flesh was as real as hers, his bones just as strong.. yet his monstrosity separated them from ever being equal. Perhaps that was why Xyxer had difficulty seeing himself in so many of his peers, or even feeling pity for their perishing.. They could not be like him for as long as they retained some semblance of humanity, rather than the veil he wore. Perhaps he should envy that of the girl before him.. despite the guises she hid herself within; tall and formidable as they may be.. she still wore fewer masks than him.

Once the silence was broken with her faint question, Xyxer was unsure on what to say. He could say all manner of things and she would have no idea as to whether it was the truth or not, whether he had forged a story to appeal to her better nature and to portray her brother in one that made him take most of the blame.. yet that would be counterproductive. Few were able to understand what motivated Xyxer, and he wasn't one of them, however he still felt some divine feeling from within to explain his reasoning as best he could, and how could it be explained any better if it was from the beginning before Haru had even crossed the cursed man's path? 

It was an inappropriate time to smile, so he'd forego that courtesy for the greater good of his friend, although the absence of a sardonic expression during the revelation of a painful moment was a curious thing for Xyxer, yet he afforded it for Aryll as he spoke, "I witnessed the destruction of my home village due to the actions of a man who once stood here, we were too weak to protect Kirigakure and its inhabitants, I died alongside my village." Or so he had wished, as all he could think about the years that followed was how he'd failed the village he treasured above all others, yet a longing for the past ensured a short future, "Inside Tengakure, the former sponsor of Kirigakure, I thought I'd found a home, yet my misguidance was soon revealed to me in the most splendid way; slaughtered before the Tenkage by the Missing Shinobi he let within the walls. I truly did die that day, yet death's embrace was stolen from me. I wasn't ready to truly die and I was spat out from the great mouth that devours all, back into the cesspit of the world. Perhaps.. a part of me wasn't restored." He alluded towards his empathy, yet he knew that was a lie in itself. He'd never felt for the people he killed, and that void had served as both a boon and a burden, highlighted moreso by this quaint interaction.

The remembrance of his execution served as a potent reminder of the mortality he craved to feel once more. From each execution he performed, he wondered if another like him would be forced to walk the land again.. to become the new bearer of the curse.. to see a world bathed in flames and drowned in blood. "I happened across your brother during his tenure in the ANBU Corps and I saw something within him that sustained my hope for the village. A flame that needed to be kindled to release the intensity he was capable of exuding.. yet once I saw the sharingan that was embedded in his skull, I knew how. He'd undergo the same fate as I, and be forced into an undesirable event. His village was soft, yet I'd make something of this man for its future. Just as I lost my rolemodel in the shinobi world, so did Haru. He spoke so nobly and often of his grandfather that it was an easy choice. I was informed later that the grandmother was simply collateral." He continued to explain, yer brushed off the deaths he'd ordered. In all honesty, they did not bother him in the slightest, yet the chances of Aryll being as understanding were murky to say the least.

For a moment, his eyes dropped from the girl to look at the floor beneath them so that he could contemplate for a few seconds. He didn't ponder on whether his actions had been appropriate or not as he knew they were the best course of action, yet he wondered how his words would make him seem. What he had said would not paint him in a positive spotlight in the least.. and he may have just cost himself the friendship of the girl, and more importantly, her loyalty. Yet an unfinished story was no tale at all, so he'd continue to weave his words for as long as history yearned for it, "He continued to serve his village unto death, so your grandfather is a greater shinobi than many will ever aspire to be. His sacrifice, my order, granted a future to the people of Tengakure, yet it pushed a weight upon the shoulders of your brother which he wasn't capable of bearing. Bit by bit, it broke him down on the inside, and although his sharingan had increased his power tremendously.. he'd changed. I didn't anticipate that. Perhaps.. it's funny that when my leader was killed before me, I struck my Kage instantly and without regret, yet I didn't wonder how Haru would react to this knowledge. Father always said I never thought ahead." Xyxer finished, a faint smile on his lips as he spoke about his father, yet there was no love lost between them. That man had spoke about the old ways to him, the ways of Kirigkaure which had been forgotten under the reign of Suzaku Shina. The ways of the bloody and the ruthless.. and all the while that he spoke about them he adhered to Suzaku's regime, yet Xyxer hadn't. He'd lived the way of the bloody.. as in his eyes, it was the only way.

Aryll hadn’t expected an answer. She didn’t expect anything, at the moment. The world had just been turned on its head for Aryll, and she didn’t know what to think or what to say. She sat there dumbly, drinking in the silence as Xyxer began his tale, her voice dead and her ears numb as she stared blankly at the man. No tears came across the face of the fragile Hyuuga heiress. The pain of the revelation was coming in waves, and as she experienced once more the deaths of Haru and Kuni Hyuuga, her pale face was a blank slate, absorbing Xyxer’s tirade.

Her best friend, her most trusted ally, had ordered the death of her grandparents. No, he had ordered the death of Grandpa. Grandma was just collateral. She could have been collateral. Xyxer’s gaze drifted to the floor for a small moment, and Aryll wondered if he felt shame. If he was even capable of such a thing. Would he have cared at all if Aryll too had been put to death? If their assassin had cared a little less, would she have been killed, all for the pursuit of power?

...And that was neglecting the elephant in the room. Haru’s sharingan, her brother’s own quest for power, had been the undoing of their entire family. That was the factor that doomed them all. His disgusting alteration of his own body. How disgraceful. She didn’t know who to be more displeased with, Haru or Xyxer. She didn’t even know how she felt. That familiar numbness that surrounded the girl like one of the armors she wore into battle was drifting through her form, and soon, she didn’t know if she would even care.

There were so many things Aryll wanted to say. So many thoughts that flew through her head like a swarm of insects, venomous and hateful. Angry. Scared. Afraid. More alone than she had ever been. Numb. Always, she was numb. It was how she had learned to cope. Shut it out, shut yourself inside your own mind, and it would sort itself out. She could do that now. She could go home, forget this ever happened, and nothing would change. Their relationship would be untarnished.

But could she ever again look into the eyes of the demon who had finally shown his true colors?

”Collateral…” She muttered, clinging to the demon’s choice of words. ”Was I collateral, Xyxer?” She asked, her sharp eyes falling to her own legs. Perhaps that had not been exactly what she was referring to, but it was nevertheless a consequence of Xyxer’s actions, now that she had the entire story to take into consideration. Xyxer had made her lame. Xyxer had killed her family. Xyxer had jailed her brother. What else was he willing to do to her? What lengths would he go to? Did he truly care for her at all?

The Mizukage had surely feigned a positive relationship with Haru, and while the two had not been as close as he had been to her, Aryll’s mind raced with the very real possibility that her one friend, the same that had pulled her from the depths of her despair and showed her the spirit of a true warrior, never cared for her at all. Used her as a king would a pawn. Was that all she was? “Kirigakure’s Secret Weapon.” A pawn.

As she spoke, she did not meet his gaze. She could not bear it. She knew that Xyxer had made a fool of those who chose to avoid eye contact for cowardice, but she couldn’t stand the thought, nonetheless. She didn’t want to see the grey, inhuman eyes that were no doubt boring into her now, picking her apart and examining her steely features. Could she hate the one who viewed her through those eyes? Even with this new information, could she ever hate the demon that had done so much for her? She did not know. The question bore into her mind and had no easy answer. She would need far more time to process this. She pursued something else instead. Something that she could understand right now, something that was simple. Rage. But not for him.

”I’m owed a favor, Xyxer.” She breathed. Her words were like silk, soft and smooth, but also unmistakably forced. She would much rather not be speaking at all. She didn’t know what she thought of the man before her, the man whom she had taken every step she could to imitate, her greatest role model, now turned into a monster before her eyes. It was, therefore, a bit humorous, in a morbid way, that she requested what she did. Perhaps her mentor would be proud of her, even.

”I want Haru dead. I want to do it with my own hand. No puppets, no tricks. I want to tear that Sharingan out of his fool head, and I want to let him die for all the trouble that my blood traitor of a brother has caused my family. I want our cursed line to die with me.” She hissed. Perhaps she was still holding on to hope that Xyxer’s intentions had been pure. She didn’t think to question if he had lied to her, trusting as she was, and while she had not had the time to process her feelings towards the one she had once considered her brother, she could easily channel the rage she felt for Haru, whom she perceived to have caused their misfortune with his incessant meddling with other bloodlines. Grandpa had turned a blind eye to it, but look where that had gotten him? Aryll still held true to the old ways, and the morbid sense of disgust she felt for her brother was the only emotion she could easily identify.

This was always the part that bewildered Xyxer when he revealed disparaging news, at least to himself. Nobody other than Altar had tried to harm him after the revelation, and even then he'd always mocked the boy for his brash antics and his inability to fully carry out what he wanted to. Aryll sat there, motionless and monotone as the information flood through her and took a while to drown her in its horrific implications. She seemed to be caught up on whether she had also been collateral in the grand scheme of things, and Xyxer felt no need to profess some greater reasoning for everything that had unfolded. He simply nodded in response to her question, although he was unsure as to whether she would see it given that she looked down towards her useless legs. The Hozuki had more of an impact on the Hyuuga heads than the clan did.

After that her eyes failed to ever meet his again while they were within the room which evoked a feeling of calming rage from within him, yet he'd hold himself back. With the personal information he had just revealed in tandem with her brother's reasoning, he felt in some way challenged by the girl's defiant gaze at her legs. Xyxer wanted to throw the desk at her, but even he knew these weren't the thoughts nor desires of a rational man. He was losing himself once more just like he did in the days of Tengakure where he'd executed a child to prove a point to his best friend in this rotten life. To show him that might determined what people could do and how far they could push others.. yet the frozen, solemn look on Kenchi's face had never left his memory. That dreadful event was replicated on the face of Aryll as she refused to cry before him, yet she was visibly damaged. He wasn't sure how to put it into words, yet he felt something unfamiliar.. was it guilt, or is that what he wanted to feel?

Xyxer watched the girl for a few more moments before she spoke about the favour she wished to cash in. This was certainly going to be interesting given the nature of what they conversed about just seconds prior, yet it was something that caused him to do a double take on the situation. Her request was of a gratuitous nature and of a crime that transcended most civilizations. To murder your own family was unfathomable, yet it was exactly what Aryll wanted to do.. to cleanse her family of a 'blood traitor'. Silence filled the space between them as he tried to think of something to say before he settled on something that was less than optimal, "Fratricide is a sin that'll stain your bloodline more than your brother's sharingan ever could. He did what he did to try and keep your village, and by extension you, safe. You should revere him as a hero rather than an abomination." He'd never been too good at counsel when it didn't regard violence, yet for some reason.. he cared about how Aryll viewed her brother. Perhaps Haru truly had left more of an impression on him throughout their encounters than he would have thought.

A simple nod was all it took to confirm her fears. Xyxer would not have cared if she had been put to death. A necessary sacrifice, she would have been, to ensure that her brother ticked the necessary boxes to awaken his Sharingan. Disgusting. After all this time, Aryll no longer blamed the thug that killed her family that night. His mission had been to kill her father, and her own survival was a deliberate decision on his part. She could not forgive him for what he did, but she understood that he was just following orders. Aryll too had killed without question on orders, and those that she killed most certainly had families. 

They, too, had been nothing more than collateral. Was she really so high and mighty that she thought herself above them? No. She had killed her own friends on orders from above, but she'd never ordered someone's death. She extended mercy when she could, she had spared Angel despite the fact that doing so earned her less favor with Xyxer, because she saw no great gain from the senseless slaughter. Had the death of her family really been worth it?

Now, the uncomfortable truth of things was revealed to the Hyuuga, and the hatred she had harbored for that nameless thug had nowhere to go. It floated in the space between her thoughts, aimlessly waiting for new purpose... In the back of her mind, Aryll knew the direction this emotion would eventually take, but she hadn't the time to make it so. The girl took time to process things, to analyze them, to burn every detail into her mind. This was why she had sunk so low before, in the depths of her depression, for she had nothing better to do but sit and think about it. What she would do with this anger, she did not know. Her temper was not the same as Haru's, not as brash, not as uncontrollable. Not as easy to forgive, either. 

For a moment, from the corner of her eye, Aryll thought she might have seen something human in the Mizukage's face. The faintest glimmer of something, maybe guilt, maybe regret. There for an instant, then gone, so fast that she hardly knew if she had ever seen it to begin with. Perhaps it had been the first time she had seen through the mask of Xyxer, or perhaps she had only imagined it. 

For what might be the first time, Aryll managed to put Xyxer at a loss for words. He seemed to be struggling with his request, the words he needed being wrenched through his wretched mind, unsatisfactory, but serviceable nonetheless. He offered his say on Haru's guilt, and the crime of fratricide, her brother's heroism, even, and if the mood were something more pleasant, she might have scoffed.

"And who did he end up saving?" She snarled, her voice taking on the smallest hint of emotion. Rage was building in the heart of the Hyuuga, slowly. Bubbling deep below, slipping towards the surface. "Not Grandma. Not Grandpa. Not me." She said, her last words uttered fleetingly, her gaze rising to meet Xyxer's for a moment. She regretted it instantly, but her composure did not fade. Not yet. A fire in her eyes that was slowly rising. They carried a glimmer, just a spark, of something older, something ancient, and for a moment, Aryll looked just like her brother. The same rage in their eyes, the same fiery determination and resolve, and perhaps, the same folly.

"If he had never thought of betraying his bloodline, if he had never stuck that damned eye into his skull, you would have never-" She stopped, eyes widening. Her gaze fell from Xyxer's once more, the two points of silvery light falling to her legs. She didn't want to speak it. She didn't want to say those words with her own tongue. She couldn't bear it. She just stared down at her own useless legs once more, the look of determination gone from her eyes, replaced by one of immense turmoil.

His calloused hands stretched out either side of his body so that his muscles could adequately tense and his body would start to warm up, preparing himself in case anything was to happen. It was doubtful, yet death waited for a momentary lapse in judgement. Sameonna had discovered that when she tried to find her friends. He was unsure on how to deal with this situation, one that required much more refined tactile thinking and finesse. He'd said he would not lie to the girl and so he wouldn't try to dampen the damage he'd already caused, yet there must be some token, a vestige of hope, that he could sprout out from her pat that had been baptised in blood; unwillingly sacrificed.

It was clear to Xyxer that Aryll didn't understand the importance of how a village was perceived, the image which shrouded the entirety of its people in its visage. Tengakure had been known as a shining templar of technology and development.. it'd been a beacon to criminals and their activities. A village that could be tested and pushed around, and it'd been the cause of Xyxer's death whether it was due to the Tenkage himself or the village's image. People feared the image he'd carved out of Kirigakure, the one of a truly bloodthirsty, savage nation that executed on a whim if a target was deemed useless.

"If a soldier seems impressive enough, they never have to fight to prove it. Nobody will want to test them out of fear of the repercussions." He explained, yet the difficulty came when people arrived that didn't care about the feelings of others. They pushed, shoved, scratched, and eventually mauled when left unchecked. His grey eyes dropped down towards her legs once more as he started to understand that her crippling had been an afterthought of an attack on him. He'd been the reason she'd been crippled. He'd been the cause for Kenchi to disappear from the lands. He'd been the reason that Sameonna ventured to Tengakure for her last breath. His right hand flinched as if it was preparing to swing a weapon with the flick of the wrist, the only defense he felt he could truly rely on.

"You're under the strongest person walking this Earth because of his actions, Aryll. He's saved your life, although not in the way you desired." He stated with a slight shrug of his shoulders before she continued on about the sharingan in his head, and perhaps.. Xyxer was unsure. Would he have still killed off Haru's grandparents just to eliminate any attachments he had to the village? People who could see through the farce of his humanity? Back in those days when he was still adjusting to true leadership rather than leading ANBU.. perhaps that'd been where he went wrong. Believing he could be anything more than a ferocious killer, leading a band of savages.

Nibbling on the inside of his cheek for a second as he considered his options, he eventually decided to push up from the desk, standing not too far away from Aryll. "The sharingan guided my actions, but they were my actions without his consent. Nobody would ask for their relatives to die. You can choose whatever favour you wish within reason, but I advise against harming your brother." He finished off with, his hands clasping behind his back.