Desire

It was a cloudy night, so the moonlight was coated, only occasionally a shine from the space rock radiance. The air had a bitter cold feel as the breeze and lack of light kept the sane inside their toasty houses. However, this didn’t stop for the feel of party in the air around a very large house. Within housed a wild and self proclaimed “masquerade” even though the participants had done nothing to actually hide their identities.  Music blasted the main hall and there were many people within the hall dancing their worries away.

One such participate was Hato. For this night, she was a red dress with a leg slit, allowing some of her right leg to show off. Along with the outfit was a feathered scarf and some matching red silltetoes. She’d would have prefered her heel boots than the stilettos but she had just purchased the red dress and damn did it look good on her. Of course, her mask was a white mask that went around her eyes, basic mask, and some white bunny ears. It was an attempt to look cute whilst also being sexy. 

This “masquerade” was for a birthday party for an old party goer of Hato’s. He was turning 30, poor bastard, and felt like a party like this would make him feel young again. Hato found this humorous because a masquerade is a very old rich person thing to do. The konochi held her peace however and came to the party as a favor. 

Hato had to vacate the other side of the room to get the bar and to where the birthday boy was. The ballroom was massive, like most were. The size alone could fit another home within its walls if it were empty. The large chandeliers loomed over the guests’ head. The color theme of the entire room was golden and white, the colors of money. Or, like Hato would think, the colors of ignorant snobs. 

The blonde had been too a lot of parties of rich people, she was quite the popular. However, throughout her time in the parties, she had grown some well deserved spite of the wealthy upper class. Hato had grown in a old, broken down home with her poverus family. She hadn’t grown up with all these fancy parties and lavish friends. She grew up with dust and rats. Her only friends were the ones that she protected from bullies and her brother. As of late, none of those have lasted. So it was possible she was just envious. However, the fact that they waste money on stuff they didn’t need, irritated her. Or even worse is when they didn’t even make money! They just inherited from their rich families that did. It wasn’t all bad though, she still was able to enjoy these times by manipulating the rich into getting her own lavish items in return for some attention. 

The bar was full of people ordering their drinks and socialize or even flirting with each other. One man was passed out on the sumptuous couches in a very uncomfortable looking position. The birthday boy, Kabuto, was surrounded by girls and talking with guys. The ladies were literally clinging to scrawny and small Kabuto’s shoulders. “Nice party you got going on.” Hato said as her introduction into the conversation. “Heyyyyyy, if it isn’t Ms. Life of the Party?’ The konochi chuckled and hugged him, forcing the two girls off his shoulder for a moment. “Did you come here alone?” He asked her. “Aw come on, I thought the rule was to not get too personal at parties?” Hato joked as it was an inside joke they had when they were party mates a while back. “Well I got you someone to meet, he’s single and ready to mingle.” This wasn’t the first time Kabuto had tried to hook Hato up with some people in the past. “For the last time, you should hook me up-”  “Yokubo! I got someone for you!” “Kabuto, aren’t you listening?” Suddenly, she stopped before she continues as a tall, dark skinned man walked up to her. He smiles at her warmly. It felt as if the sun had came from the middle of the night and in the form of a smile. And his suit was so dashing. It was a blue and white mixture. This allowed his deep blue eyes to pop out in a brilliant display of colors. “Hello,” He introduces in a tone to match his looks. Hato was but caught off guard. “Oh hello,” she finally says after recovering. He chuckles a bit and give a heart throbbing smile. “My name is Yokubo, might I ask what yours is?” Hato smiled back. “Hato Sano.” 

After finally getting introductions out of the way, Hato was starting to get comfortable with his charming new gentleman. They talked through out the party and Hato actually found herself falling for this man. He wasn’t a cheap flirt. He listened to her. He actually seemed to care for people and even when people didn’t understand his methods, he wouldn’t hate them. Yokubo talked a lot about his orphans at the orphanage that he volunteered. What really struck Hato’s bleeding heart was that he talked about how awful the parents must be to leave such wonderful and mysterious beings that had a whole future ahead of them for nothing. It was as if he was talking to the younger Hato that was struggling with comprehending compassion and fairness because of her tragic upbringing. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Just as the party started, the party ended as the sun began to rise from the horizon. This meant that Hato was Yokubo would have to seperate for the moment. However, the vampire set up a date with him at a restaurant that had really good pork. 

Upon arriving home from the party, she undressed from the tight clothes and unformattable heels before hopping into the shower. Alone with her thoughts, she starts to worry. She hasn’t been able to keep some so good for long periods of time. Hato didn’t want to lose this boy. All her evil desires towards the village and people that have done her wrong seemed to go down the drain with the filthy water that washed off her body. All the thoughts were replaced with the thoughts of romance and love. Yokubo had broken the seal of vengeance on Hato. However, upon exiting the shower, her reasonable criticism came back She had to stay vigilant and not get caught off guard and be emotionally destroyed. 

It was a bright and cloudless day in Kumo. Hato arrived at the restaurant that the two agreed to meet at. The blonde wore a red leather jacket and black pants and a black shirt with a red flower marks on it. It was a very different attire from what she met him in. Hato also hadn’t told Yokubo that she was a shinobi so she didn’t carry her village headband and she carried no weapons. 

Yukobo hadn’t arrived yet so Hato got the table and sat at it. Thankfully she didn’t have to wait long for him to arrive as he arrived. He sported some casual clothes, which was good because she wasn’t sure if she needed to be formal for this date. His deep blue eyes spotted her and he rushed over the the table. “Hey, sorry I’m a bit late.” He giltfully chuckled. “I didn’t wait that long.” Hato explained, chuckling. He had just come back from the orphanage. Hato started getting curious about why he was the way he was. So she asked him, “Why do you give these kids a second chance?” It seemed kind of rude but Yukobo understood why she would ask such a question. “I grew up with parents but they gambled. They didn’t care about me. They died because they weren’t able to pay the loan sharks that helped feed their addictions. I grew up further knowing that lots of other kids faced what I did. So I wanted to help them get through it together so they didn’t have to suffer like I did” Hato regretted asking the questions but it also made her heart bleed for him again. He was understood so much about life and he was willing to share it with everyone for their sake. He was selfless.  She explained how awful it was that they did such a thing and then she explained her. The reflection of her life made her realize that she could have behaved differently. She could be like Yukobo except she chose to be selfish. Every action was for her own benefit ; she never thought of another person's life.  Suddenly her self anguish was cut off when a comforting and pleasant hand touched her own. She looked up to see it was connected to Yoku’s. She blushed and allowed him to hold her. For him to comfort her. All her muscles started to become less tense, like his presence alone was massaging her every muscles. Her eyes brightened. 

From that time on, Hato would spend so much time with him. She even tried to reverse her selfish ways by helping him out at the orphanage. They were so young and innocent, Hato could see why Yuko would act on this. The two also spent a lot of alone time together. They would chat on the couch and Hato would get him “addicted” to tea like she was. They would even snuggle together until they both passed out. Everything they were in each others presence, Hato could feel her old life slipping away as she began to forgive and forget this mistreatment of her past. 

One afternoon, the cloud for a storm started rolling and this uncomfortable feel of dread was in the air. Hato was heading over to Yukobo’s house, which was just a small cottage, when she saw smoke. The vampire feared the worse so she rushed over to where the smoke was coming off of. Sure enough, it was the cottage. Hato rushed inside to see if Yokubo was still inside. Using her enhanced speed boost, she heads inside from a window. She looked around the cottage for any sign of Yokubo. She couldn’t find anything. Suddenly, creaks could be heard from the ceiling as it was going to collapse. Luckily, Hato was able to make it out another window before it could all fall on her. She choked a bit from the smoke and took in deep breaths one safely outside and in fresh air.  Since Hato didn’t see him in his cottage, she wondered why he invited her to his house. If he was out of his house and he wasn’t anywhere close by, where was he?

 Suddenly, a kunai could be hear from behind. Hato quickly avoided a direct hit from the random’s kunai. “Who are you?!” She called frantically and turning around. It was a two men, standing on top of a roof top about 10 meters away. In response, they started to retreat. Hato’s eyes turned red and she quickly formed the hand sign for body flicker. However, they were quick and the body flicker only allowed Hato to close the 10 meters to a couple meters away. The two of them hopped rooftop to escape from Hato. Just as Hato was starting to gain on them, they split in opposite directions. The vampire chose to go and chase one of them, allowing the other to escape. She turned left and chased that one. Noticing he was the one chosen, get jumped from off the roof top and into an alleyway. Hato chose to stay on the high grounds, chasing him from above. His choice turned out to be a mistake and he ran into a dead end. Hato jumped down and closed of his only mean of escape. “Who are you people? And what did you do?” Hato grabbed the pathetic thug by his shirt and slammed him against the wall of the alley. He struggled for a moment but gave up quickly after realizing that Hato’s grip wouldn’t budge. “W-we thought you would’ve been in the house by the time you actually arrived. It was supposed to kill you.” Hato snarled and slammed the grunts back into the wall again. “And HOW did you know it would be in the house? Where is he?!” Before he could say anything, a part of his body started to make a sizzle sound. It was a paper bomb! Hato quickly threw the man into the dead end of the alley and darted for the exit of the alley before the explosion could go off. The explosion cause the alley walls to come tumbling down. Luckily Hato was able to get out of the collapsing building. Suicide. He really didn’t want the information to come out. Now who would have that much power to bestow so much fear into their soldiers.  

Hato returned to her apartment and started suiting up. She put on her black, leather outfit, attached was her whip and her weapon pouch. She was about to find out who was targeting her and Yukobo.

The night was still young and Hato was scanning the area where they thug exploded himself to see if his accomplice would’ve noticed the explosion and investigated. There was a crowd around the damage, some citizens that were awoken from the explosion and some patrol ninja that also heard the explosion and made the their reports. Hato had strategically placed herself at the top of a tall building so she would be able to see everything that was going on throughout the area. 

Suddenly a presence from behind her made itself known, “Boo!” It was the other thug. Hato was caught a bit off guard with the sudden appearance, leaving herself open. The thug went for the upward strike across her chest with his kunai. Fortunately, Hato was able to put her weight behind her and move backwards. It was a so close that the metal texture could almost be felt against her chest as it grazed by. She continued to fall back and did a sweet backflip to get some distance from this masked man. Hato pulls off her whip from her side to counter is on comings from a distance. As she was pulling the whip of it’s hilt on her belt, the masked stranger wasted no time and started his charge at her with his kunai. Hato would position her whip and swipe her whip horizontally to the man chest. Unfortunately, the man dodges the attack by quickly ducking undernegth the whip. However, Hato was done with her assault. She would continue the same swing above her head. Once her forearm are parallel to her head, Hato would swipe her her arm down, causing the whip to down vertically on him. Due to his unusual position,  he wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack as quickly. The harsh whip slammed into his right shoulder, pinning him to the rooftop. As he laid their, recovering from a lash like that, the vampire would grab the man by the back of the shirt and throw him into the rock formation that the building was built around. It wasn’t enough to knock him unconscious, but it did knock the air out of him. Hato grabbed the mysterious man by the front of his shirt and held him up to the formation, grasping his fabric firmly. “Who are you? What did you do with Yukobo? And Why are you after me?” No response. She rips the mask off of him, he was handsome man with dark hair and the same skin tone as Yukobo. It wasn’t Yukobo but it would take two glances to figure it out. Hato demand again, “Who are you?! What did you do with Yukobo?! And why are you after m-” He cut her off. “Don’t be making me out like the criminal, you’re the cold blooded killer.” She slams into the wall yet again. “That’s not the answer!” He coughs a bit before giving a legitimate answer, “he’s in the orphanage, we set up a bomb in there to go off in…” he thinks to himself to figure out how much time she had left, “10 minutes.” Hato quickly panics and rushes over to the orphanage. Not before dropping the man off the high building. 

Hato arrived at the orphanage, she busted through the door. She looked around the front room frantically looking around for any trace of them. She listened and heard muffled voices in the attic. She climbed up the staircase of the two story building. Then Hato located and busted open the entrance. Right away, she spotted Yukobo in the crowd of 20 orphans in varied ages. The vampire rips off the cloth that covered his mouth so he and the others couldn’t cry for help. “Save the others first! We’re running out of time.” Yukobo cried. Hato looked around at the other orphans, wanting to protest. But he was right, there was no time for conversation. She first grabbed three of the children and bolted down the attic and outside. She realized that would take to long, so she grabs two mattresses  from one of the children’s rooms and sets them outside. Hato runs back up stairs and into the attic. There, she opened the attic window and threw the kids down safely onto the mattresses. Finally, the last kid dropped and it was just Yukobo and her. He rushes over to her so they could escape, he tells Hato to go first. Suddenly, she could hear the fuse go off. They both heard it. Hato then felt a shove from behind her, pushing her outside of the window. As she fell, everything seemed to move slowly. She witness, as she is turned around as she falls, Yukobo smiling at her as he is engulfed by the flames. The force of the blast was enough to knock her unconscious as she fluttered down the ground like a piece of ember towards the ground.  

Her eye’s open the bright light of the window and the white painted room of the hospital. The burning memory come back to her now and then. The burning picture of him smiling as burns at the hands of injustice. His death wasn’t in vain and all the orphan made it out okay. However, Hato was felt with his feeling of guilt, hatred and confustion. This man was perfect, yet his life was taken away from this world because of Hato. If he hadn’t met her, he’d still be alive. He’d still be able to take care of the orphan’s he loved. He’d be able to find a nice woman and live the rest of his life out in harmony. But because there is no real love in this world, he wasn’t spared. Hato got to live but he didn’t.

Upon further investigations, Hato found that it was only those two that died that were the perpetrators of this atrocity due to the orphans being witnesses. The orphans were relocated to different orphanage around the village. Hato was left alone. Alone in her strif for true justice of this world. This also allowed a new realization into her life. Since he died, no one is safe from injustice death.

WC: 3233
Exit 
Claiming: 
16 stats 
Damage Reduction Shield (4250/4250) continuing after this
Chakra Suppression (2000/2000)

Approved