Nightingale Call (P,nk)

She would nod to the question if it was heavy to carry around, because it really was just that. "Well Kotos are not really meant to be played while carried. Usually they are placed on a table and then played while sitting or standing", she would motion the hand movements playing a little strangely because well on hand was missing.
Then he asked why she had to give it away. That kind of stung but she tried to not show it too much. "We needed the money to pay that man who saw off my hand as it grew numb", she shook a little in displeasure and then with an almost ironic smile added, "He usually only put down animals when they were sick. He was not quite the expert." She cleared her throat and was quite happy that he brought on other things to talk about.

After the first bit she would raise her eyebrows at him. "You are a close personal Shinobi of the Raikage", a short smirk rolled over her lips as her mind would rush over anything she could interpret into these words with an awful lot of double meaning. "Well then I am more than happy to have you as my shining knight today. Interesting what kind of people one can meet." After that she would listen to what he had to explain about his prison endeavour. While she would listen the girl would stumble upon something that at least given the situation now did not add up.
Still another smile would come back onto her lips while listening to him and his story. It felt nice to suddenly get involved with someone else's life like a friend or at least someone to get to know better. But now to the questions that had formed inside her mind. "You did not return? So there was a chase after you over the land? Did they drag you back? Am I asking too much?", she would peer at him kind of worried. She did not want to be seen as too curious or maybe invading personal space to much because, well she had just met him and did not want to scar him away.

WC: 367
TWC: 1907

She was explaining how the unique instrument was played and why it wasn't carried around like others. It was a large instrument from the way she was explaining it. It reminded him of a huge guitar that couldn't be held. That was the first thing that came to his mind when hearing the explanation. "Oh I see. That is a large instrument." Kyson said. He would then ask why she got rid of it. But he was unaware that her getting rid of the instrument had involved her lost hand. It was like no matter how much Kyson tried not to bring it up, he always said something to bring it up.


"I guess there was a lot going on at the time." He said with a sigh. Feeling like a bit of a jerk since he felt like he asked the wrong question. But the subject quickly changed as she asked about Kyson's relationship with the current Raikage. "Yeah, something like that." Kyson said with a chuckle. She mentioned meeting interesting people, Kyson thought the exact same when he came back to Kumo. The people he met here were interesting and didn't feel the same after he came back. Guess a lot can happen over the course of 5 years.


"Just glad I can help and glad I showed up when I did." Kyson said. Kyson had brought up prison and him being locked up. This was information he didn't tell people, but it doesn't matter now since he already did the time and everything was sorted out. "I don't think anyone realized I escaped until I was far gone. So I'm not really sure if there was a search party looking for me. And did they drag me back? Hmmm.. not exactly. More like a bribe and it was a offer I couldn't refuse at the moment type of thing. And trust me your fine." He said to her.

"I already did the time and I'm a free man. Though my time was only about 4 days. So I don't mind telling you at this point... By the way, if you don't mind me asking. I always ended up bring up the topic on accident. But what happen your arm? You don't have to tell me if its too personal." He asked.

The story turned out to be a little tamer than she thought it out to be. Still an interesting story that he went away was not really found right away and then returned just to get arrested for a bribe he had to take? She would think about what kind of offer that could have been, but she would not ask of it. Slowly she was swinging her legs back and forth and then smiled at him again. "Good then I am at ease about my nosiness", she chuckled a little and listened further. Funny though that they only kept him for four days, not even a week and normally people who left their village where killed for treason or something like that. Apparently he did not do so much of an offence.
With a shrug she would put it aside since if he was a close friend of some sorts to the Raikage, maybe this had a deeper purpose. She smiled as he asked about her hand not to make him any more uncomfortable around the matter as he seemed to be already since he felt like asking quite the intimate question. "Oh I don't mind talking about it", she said shaking her head at him and went in a more upright position: "Well I do have five older siblings and thirteen younger ones. My mother just keeps having children because... she is just weird that way, so we older ones where stuck with raising our brothers and sisters. I once got to talk to some Shinobi out of this Village and they told me about how amazing it had to be, to be a Shinobi and so I wanted to visit Kumo to be one myself", she said looking around.
"But the sister I had taken on the mother role for did not want me to leave her. I could understand that, but I did not want to watch sheep and babies all my life. I wanted to do more. Once we were watching the sheep and one got away. My elder brother sent us after it and we found it in a cave where one was not supposed to yell, well she yelled and the whole thing collapsed", she said sighing and looking at her hand, "My hand got buried beneath a barrage of boulders and broken. But my Brother got me out. First they tried to save the money for a medic because we generally thought we knew what to do about something like that", she rubbed the root of her nose.
"Well yes we totally did not, my arm started to grow darker and darker as no blood was coming through it anymore and it slowly started to die. Which was the point for them to sell my instrument and get the vet to look at it for help. Well he saw off my arm and burned the stump nice of him was to at least sedate me beforehand. After that my big brother, well the one who raised me found me and then took me here to have at least some skilled medics look at it and now we are here", she smiled at him, "So the sad story has a kind of happy End."

WC: 541
TWC: 2448

As she was getting ready to tell her story about her arm. Kyson didn't want to keep bringing it up but he thought he might as well know the true story. Some say it was probably rude to ask, but since she didn't mind, it didn't look as bad. He didn't know that she wanted to become a shinobi. Better yet, he didn't know her reason for joining Kumo was to become a shinobi. It seemed odd to Kyson a bit since she's the first person he met that actually wanted to join Kumo and become a shinobi. Especially with the field at the front door of the village.

As she was explaining the events that happened when the sheep escaped. Kyson was locked into the story a bit. To think all of this happened because of one little sheep. It was crazy how one small thing could change one's life completely. Once she said that a huge boulder had crushed her hand, he already assumed they had to cut it off unless a great medic could easily fix. But that was probably hard to find at the time and would probably be expensive unless some random shinobi did it. But even that could be dangerous and risky.

After hearing the rest of her story, at least it didn't have a bad ending to it. Guess every place has their good and bad. Which Kyson is probably just starting to realize. Her story was very interesting to him. "Wow.." Kyson said as he was a bit lost for words at the moment. "Your a strong girl you know that?" He doesn't think a lot of people would even be the same or still have a happy vibe within them. Guess that's just how life works, some are just naturally stronger than others. Which is another thing Kyson was just starting to learn as well.

"So your trying to become a shinobi huh? Well, I'm not sure if your in the academy or not. But I will tell you this. Being a shinobi isn't for everybody, not saying you aren't ready. But this life isn't the brightest one, there's some light.. but there's also a lot of darkness in this world. Some can try an erase that darkness, but even that won't work. In order for the world to have order and a perfect cycle. There must be darkness and light and not too much of either. Sort of like animals that live off of eating plants and some that live off eating others, its the cycle of life." Kyson would say. He's experienced a lot during this young life of his. From leaving his home village. To finding a place and making it his new home. To having his new home be taken over. EVerything he knows now has just come from experience.

"I'm not saying this to discourage you or anything. But I'm not the type to sugarcoat things and tell you a shinobi's life is easy. And then once you become one, you get unprepared because someone told you something different. I'm just telling you what to expect." The boy would say.

(WC: 2118)

Yasumi would look at him as she ended her story and he seemed at lack of words for the moment and she would smile at that motion since she did not think of him as a person to easily lose their speech. But when he regained his ability to speak he delivered a sentence to make her blush a little. She had never really seen her this way, strong. Most times she thought of herself more as weak and in the way of everyone and everything since she could not do everything as good as she should. "Thank you", she would reply with a bright smile and her slightly roughed face and while he continued to give his view on the work of a Shinobi her face calmed down and returned to his usual colour as she was listening to him closely while he said words usually heard by older teachers who wanted to remind them being Shinobi was not fun and games all the time it was just a stand against the darkness and sometimes even the chance of being engulfed in it. "I have already enrolled in the academy and as soon as I have mastered the skill to wave hand seals with one hand that Komon showed me I will be able to complete it and become Genin", she answered the unasked question inside his speech.
Afterwards she would look up in the sky: "We all are born with the potential to do good and bad. We all consist of light and shadow. Most people strive to become even lighter but usually everyone has their small shadow parts they never go away full do they?", she would tilt her head slowly and then look back at him again, "Shinobi face the shadows for others, we take them on and become darker and darker on the outside until we kind of do not really show any difference to them anymore. Still there is a difference though", she would put her hand to her heart, "A Shinobi's soul shines like the last star before Morning, true and hopeful like a lighthouse in a storm and his heart stands for his village and therefore has to be stronger than anyone else's."
She would look at his eyes and then chuckle a little: "Corny isn't it? Still thank you for being a light for this land, thank you for taking on the shadows we do not dare to face. Soon I will do that too so the burden will become a little lighter for everyone I believe", she would gently nudge her shoulder against his.

WC: 434
TWC: 2882

Hearing her thoughts on what Kyson was saying. The way she was speaking, it didn't really seem like she was an academy student. She he had a mindset of someone who's been a shinobi for a good amount of time. But then again, you don't have to be a shinobi to see the darkness in this world. There's just as much darkness in this world as there is light. So seeing either of the two isn't really that hard. Kyson saw darkness in the world before he even became a shinobi. Truth is, the darkness was the reason why he became a shinobi. So everyone has there reasons for what they choose to do in life.

"So he taught you that skill huh? I actually know how to do hand seals with one hand as well. Actually, the person who taught me only had one hand as well. He lost it during battle and adjusted to the change just so he could get back to protecting his village." He said as he was remembering the guy he met back in Suna. It was an interesting conversation with the man. But he could tell he had a goal and didn't let anything stop him from achieving it. But everything she said was just about the truth. Us shinobi take on the darkness others can't handle. Though in Suna, it was the total opposite. There was never darkness in the village and we tried our best to keep the darkness outside. 

"Its no problem. Besides, I went from keeping darkness away from people. To sorta consuming it in the place of others. If people only knew the things that went on behind the scenes. But as you reach the ranks as a shinobi. You'll soon understand what I mean." Still getting used to the business side of a village. He thought being a shinobi was so easy until you were responsible for almost everyone around you. Looking at the moon as night time showed up. "Well from the looks of it, you seem to have a good mindset for someone who isn't a genin yet. So I think you'll be just fine as a shinobi." Kyson said with a smirk. This village never cease to amaze him. Guess this place has changed quite a bit since the last time he was here. Which he was glad to witness.

She would nod understanding and smile at him: "Sounds like an amazingly strong man to have gone through this and still his only wish was to continue." Now she paused and thought about what he just said. She weaved a soundless thank you at his compliment about her having a good mindset for someone who was not even a Genin yet. Looking at the moon as well she would blink a little confused. The time had flown by as they had been talking and then night had covered the sky without her knowing of it. Stars shimmering like small pieces of crystals and the moon like a silver platter. Quite nice actually but still it meant other dangers had awoken to seize the streets she would soon be walking.
Still there was something else it was bothering her because still with the moon up it was now dark. Subconsciously she would draw closer to the young man beside her, her body shaking a little as she tried to cope with the feelings inside her head pressing on. Slowly she would look up at him: "I am sorry can I ask something of you? Please", her words were shaky, "Could you walk me home? Could you bring me through the darkness?", she would look at him carefully and gently reaching out with her hands towards his arm touching it before gently grabbing a hold of it, she could not fight it right now she was scared.

WC: 245
TWC: 3127

"Thanks, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do." Kyson said with a smirk. It was getting really late out as the moon was shining bright in the sky. But not bright enough to light up the darkness in the village. People were beginning to go back into their homes as shadows overcame the place. It seemed it was about time to go. As he noticed Yasumi shaking a bit, it seemed she still wasn't used to this kinda of scenery. As she spoke and asked for a request, he was all ears.


"Sure go ahead." He said as he waited to see what she was going to ask. She asked to be walked home. He chuckled a little bit since it was kinda written all over her face that she was getting a bit scared. But Kyson nodded as he accepted her request as he would walk her home.


"I'll walk you back this one time, but since your striving to become a shinobi. You'll have to learn to walk through the darkness on your own from now on." He would say to her. Not in a arrogant or serious manner. But just casually and in a friendly way. Even though she may only be in the academy, it would be better to start early instead of later.

It was a relieve to hear that he would not mind taking her home, but still he would remind her that this would be the only time. Slowly she would nod at him: "Okay I'll try to get by on my own more frequently." She would stand up and reach out then stop since she now saw she was on the wrong side of him which made her quickly change to the other side so her left hand could lightly hold onto a part of his sleeve. Was this too much already? She had kind of balanced it out in her mind and thought of it was okay at least it was when children did t. She was no child anymore but right now she felt as tiny as one.

"Thank you by the way, I liked talking to you so much that I forgot everything around me for the time being", she would shake her head a little at herself while slowly directing them towards her home. It had put her mind at rest to be able to forget some stuff for once and not worry about it all the time. All thanks to a knight that had appeared out if nowhere.

WC: 203
TWC: 3330

As he continued to help her through the dark. Following her directions to lead the two of them to her house as the shadows covered the village. She used her head to tell him which home was hers. "No problem, I enjoyed our little talk." He said. As he followed the direction and would eventually reach the house she was referring to. It seemed that their trip had come to an end. "Is this it?" Kyson asked Yasumi as he assumed it was the home she pointed to. 

If it was, he would then wait for her to head to the for he left out. "Be safe Yasumi. Judging from the little talk we had. I can tell you'll be fine as a shinobi. But just remember what I warned you about." Kyson said to her. As he left off one more wave as he turned around. "I'm sure I'll see you around ." He said as he walked off.

(EXIT)

(TWC: 2860)

Claims:
- 2250 words towards Extreme Conditioning (-25%)
- 310 words towards Dancing Blade Risk