Cocoon of Fate [IO, NK]

Kozai retreated to his library office, and locked the door. He moved to the windows, and closed and locked them too. Well, even if Echo wasn't responding to his calls, there was one reliable person he could ask about the afterlife. He stretched out his senses, making sure that there wasn't anyone observing him, put all his paths in an inert state, and reached out with his power. He'd only tried this a couple of times, with varying results. Sometimes, the souls he looked for didn't want to talk with him, and sometimes they weren't anywhere to be found. It wasn't lost on Kozai that this was essentially necromancy, as the villagers called it, and precisely what the Church was suspicious of the shinobi forces for.

"Agito River."

The call went out into the blank void of the Pure Realm. If his friend's soul was there, and was willing to come to him, he could manifest him once again in this world easily. Kozai was standing in the center of the office room, and attempted to materialize the dead man's soul close to the door, away from the window. No point in taking any unnecessary risks, though he had some measure of control over the soul once it had materialized.

[210]

A faint calling....A familiar Voice.....a light shining..... and it gets brighter and louder

when suddenly what appeared to be the shape of a doorway formed and upon stepping into it a figure emerged into the room, feeling not completely there. He looked up and saw a familiar face and he smiled. After what seemed like an eternity there was his friend again, He was different yet...still the same. It made memories rush back to the first day that they had met. He had tried to leave the village and it was this very face that had stopped him. a man who knew about his brothers, the man that would become his best friend....

"Kozai Yuki"

The familiar twinge of his own voice reverberating in the room as he spoke the name. His eyes sparkled, he looked slightly different from one of their last encounters before the absolute final one. For the Man had cut his hair during Kozai's Ice coffin days. A lot had happened to Agito during the time his friend was away, and he had even left him many videos during the time frame and how hard it was to adjust without his friend.


Yet he was still giving off the same vibes as he did while he was still alive, and his apperance was rather the same sans the hair and all Agito could do was smile. He had some recollection of his time in the pure world, seeing his brothers and getting to spend that lost time with them, yet as much as family meant to him, This was his brother in his heart. This man helped develop him into who he was and was why in the end, he stood up for his village instead of trying to desert it. Agito took a moment to look around the room and then up at Kozai and raise an eyebrow " I feel as if I am not fully here, yet here I am... I assume I am not here to stay then?" Agito would tilt his head in a all too familiar inquiitive way as he usually did at Kozai and then that big smile with the hand behind his head as he chuckled a bit " Was to much to hope for I suppose, So what can I do for you Old Friend"

There was a part of his mind that truly thought the jutsu might not work. That the Outer Path wouldn't be able to connect him to something he thought he'd truly lost. However, his doubts were soon dispelled as the phantom manifested. Kozai stared at it expressionlessly for a few seconds before drawing up a chair and sitting down. After a few seconds, he removed the glasses from his face (he didn't really need them to begin with), placing them casually on the table. In front of Agito, the *real* Agito, he could be genuine. As he did so, it was almost like he became a different person. The stiffness and emotionlessness seemed to bleed away from him as he leaned forward to speak to Agito, replaced by a fusion of what had always been within him: controlled fury and meticulous disdain.

"You know, I didn't think you'd come. Few of the others have bothered to answer me." It was true. Kozai had never placed much stock in other friendships, and it hadn't taken much thinking for him to make himself believe that wherever Agito had gone, he'd found something more meaningful than Kozai.

"No, I can't keep you here forever, I'm afraid. Bringing you back, body and soul, would require costs and I both will not and cannot pay."

[220]

Hearing his words would make Agito's mood more somber. He was not Kozai's first pick, and so Kozai did not think he would answer. Agito would put his right hand out and place it on the opposing shoulder of Kozai and with a reasurring voice spoke up " Kozai, you are my dearest friend, and more like a brother to myself then my brothers were, if you ever need me, Call me and I will always answer. So Tell me Old Friend, why the search for old friends long gone?" Agito would give a reassuring smile as he spoke towards the end. Lookin over at the seats he would nod to them "How about a seat?" At which time Agito would take a seat, and look to his friend and if he would sit would follow him with his gleaming orbs to the seat, waiting to hear the answer or rather maybe question, or questions that his old friend may have towards him.

"I have two purposes in calling the dead, but we can get to that later." Kozai would pull down the one-way glass over his windows, and pull up the blinds. The office was pretty far up in the Archives, which by this point was more like a skycraper, tower or barbican. Outside the window, Kozai and his friend could see over the glittering lights of Hoshigakure by night, the village's activity slowing down as the day came to an end. Kozai didn't really feel one way or the other about it. Neither the village nor the night sky above held beauty for him. They had always been facts of life.

"I don't think this village had, as of yet, been established when we last saw each other." A mistake. Kozai remembered vividly, the explosive projectile headed towards the ground, and making the split second decision to save himself, and sacrifice Agito. Quite possibly, the only decision he ever had any kind of true emotional investment in. It had paid off, and he had lived, of course. But it was his sole regret in life, and one that he now had the opportunity to work through, if Agito allowed him to.

"I don't know if you remember that trio who worked for our kage for a short while. Youka, and his companions? The one who destroyed Iwagakure went on to abide here." Of Youka, Kozai said nothing. He'd tried calling his soul to the material plane, with no success. It frustrated him that he couldn't forcibly bind the souls he needed, but he supposed that it couldn't be helped. The jutsu, in the end, was useful enough for his purposes, and that was as much as he could hope for.

"I've embedded myself as an authority figure in this village pretty deeply. As soon as I form relations with the new kage, I'll be able to expand my influence everywhere here, and finally bring about the plans that I had intended to initiate in Iwa." Which had been interrupted by Maku, of course. Inconvenient, but in the end, as long as time was a factor, Kozai would win. Outlast everything. Endure everything.

Kozai turned to his friend. "Well, what do you think? I've done well, haven't I?" Only in front of Agito could he be genuine. The umbral desire to gloat that lay within every man, the mortal need to receive recognition was particularly strong in Kozai. That reptilian, cold and furious portion of him loved to bask in the radiance of the fear or admiration of others, though it really didn't matter which.

[433]

Agito would stand up and walk up beside Kozai after he had lowered the one way mirror. Agito looked out with Kozai and he let out a soft sigh as he listened to his friend. No Agito did not recognize the description of this place, for it seemed similar to the description of Tengagakure, yet it seemed set further back in time then Tenga had been rumored to be. Agito would shake his head no as Kozai spoke about this place to confirm Kozai's suspicions on the village exsistance when they last met. Then Kozai began to talk about Youka and his companions... Agito had no recollection of such people, But he did not get to stick around long when he had been summoned to Takigakure for that meeting once.

Agito once again had shook his head no when Kozai asked about if Agito remembed them "Never got the chance to meet them. I did not know that ...What was his name... Maku Jemuzu? was that what he called himself....Or maybe the Pure world gave me some manner of insight to the incident... However I never knew that he had worked for Echo Uchiha, So was it upon Echo's Orders Iwagakure be destoryed? or was it the leader of that group?" Agito had asked questions, not meaning for them to be answered, just things that quickly came to mind.

Right then, thats when Kozai began to almost Monolauge about his success like he was a villain in some story. Yet Agito never thought of Kozai as a villain, that was his best friend, despite their difference they got along just well. Kozai gloated about becoming a figure head in the community, then Kozai began to speak of placing himself with the graces of the current kage of the village and completing his goals that he started way back in Iwagakure. Followed Shortly by Kozai asking Agito if he had done well?

This was the Kozai that only Agito knew and only ever could Agito know. Kozai would not let himself have a moment to regret like the day in Iwa again, and Agito knew that about Kozai. Agito would look back out to the village and he would respond with a question in return "Are you Happy, Kozai?" Then he would look over at his friend "If so, then Yes, You have done remarkable. If Not, then maybe you should ask yourself this, What would make you happy? Forgiveness? What is there to forgive Kozai, You made a choice, best one you could, for yourself and the village. I am certain given more time to analyze the situation and more knowledge you have now, You may have made a different choice, possibly even something similar yet in a way that got the more desired effect. I harbor no ill will. I have gotten time to get to know Near unlike when I was alive. And Leon was there too.... Also your sister Says Hi Big Brother and she wishes she could see you once more, and we all were in agreeance, those of us that care about you.... We want you Happy, so do whatever it takes Kozai, and reach that happiness." Agito would look back out to the village and take a deep breath and slowly release it.

"When will we get to do this again? If we get to do it again? While everything is great with them, I miss the biggest part of my life, You stopped me from leaving Iwagakure, You helped me with unlocking my clans potential, and even helped me get to know who and how my brother was before he was killed. If I could return in any possible way I would take it at this point. Just to be around you and see what all has changed since I have been gone" Agito let out a soft chuckle before he looked up at Kozai and would say to him "Might do you some good too if I could stick around"

Agito would then stretch out as he stood up entirely after having leaned on the window ledge on the inside and then would ask "so Old Friend, is it time to get to the point of all of this? Or was the point simply to reminace and possibly seek closure to things left unsaid or mistakes made in the past?" Agito would look back at Kozai while his arms stretched over his head, one hand on the back side of the elbow and pulling, and then swapping to the other arm.

Kozai glanced at Agito, but declined to answer most of his questions. They were as brothers, and Agito knew him well. He knew that happiness had never been the objective. Not once had Kozai pursued a goal to its end because it made him happy. He satiated desires and quelled appetites, but none of these things had been done for happiness. It was almost a foreign concept to him. Kozai knew what it felt like to be a machine that had fulfilled its directive, or a predator that had finished a hunt, but this... *human* quality? He had no need for such things.

Neither did he respond to that mention of his sister. In truth, he really didn't give a flying fuck. She was dead, and he hadn't even thought to call her soul. She was of no use to him, and was only another figment of his past to chain him down. Kozai's soul yearned to be free of chains. To cast aside the bonds of the old, and rip into the new. Family, of course, had no meaning to him. They were just like other people, really. Was this why Kozai wanted to erase the legacy of old Iwagakure so badly? Had he not, after all, fled the village and stole its knowledge to plant elsewhere?

"Alas", he began, with genuine chagrin, "The means to return you to this world permanently, body and soul, would require the sacrifice of a life; probably my own. It's certainly unlikely that I would find someone else willing to give up their own existence for yours." He could try tricking and manipulating someone, but even this was not a likely outcome. No, bringing back Agito in the flesh at any time in the near future was not possible, and he wouldn't give his friend any false hope. That was considerate, right?

"Anyways, to business, then. I want to know more about the Pure Realm." He brushed his hair back and gave Agito direct eye contact as the Rinnegan manifested within his eyes once again. "This doujutsu enables me to manipulate many forces of the universe, to a small extent, and one of these forces is the boundary between life and death. That's how I was able to bring you across so cleanly. Now that I've succeeded, I want you to tell me precisely what the other side is like. Is it similar to any of the myths we were taught as children?"

[410]

Agito would fall silent and he would let out a soft sigh....So that was Kozai's reason "Always the same Kozai...."

Agito would look at the ceiling for a moment before he would begin to speak "Before I give you the answer let me ask you a question, For what reason do you want to know about the Pure realm?..... " Before Kozai could ask, he would give him time to think it over as he began to describe it. "Well it seems to be how you would possibly Invision it. It is based around those you love, or Care most for....For me it was Near, Leon and Rin.... Each told me that while I was in theirs, our surroundings seemed.... different, While I saw brightness, Leon saw Darkness surrounding him, I feel it might be retrospective to how you view yourself, the actions you take... The most basic and yet almost ridiculous concept to base ones actions on... I may be looking into it to much though."

Agito would look over at Kozai and Tilt his head slightly at him " However I know there are no such concepts to you, there is no White and Black, its all just grey in the middle, and its perspective that determines how you see things, Mako believed he was right doing what he did, and yet it seemed opposite to us and we believed our path to be right. So who knows how yours will look.... Heck knowing you, this could be your Pure Realm, Maybe you are visiting me instead of me visiting you, You seem more at home with books than people" Agito would chuckle softly as he looked around the small office.

Ah, Kozai remembered now. Agito, always challenging him to see things from the strangest points of view. It wasn't as off putting as it used to be, now that Kozai had reached that sort of age. Well, this was news to him. In theory, his Pure Realm then would most likely be some colorless, grey fog, or something of the sort. How distasteful. Kozai would have to put a note down somewhere. Reminder: Never die. It sounded like a fucking ordeal, and spending all of eternity in a bland haze sounded, well, quite unappetizing. There were still things he wanted to do, sights he wanted to see, and the Pure Realm was now not on that list.

"In truth", he began, "I was hoping there was something back there I could use. Maybe I could use this brand new power to pull some of whatever stuff that counts for matter in the Pure Realm. It seems like it's variable in form, which is great, but with what you've told me, I think I'll hold off for a bit." He got up, and removed a sheet of paper. He'd heard through his paths and from some of his sources around the village of a newcomer to the village. Kozai figured he should get to him first. He began to write down a note on the sheet of paper, essentially notifying the recipient that his presence was requested in the Archives by the Master thereof.

"I must thank you for your help, Agito, and I am... genuinely sorry that I can't do more for you. I trust, however, that you'll be, er, rooting for me, as it were, from the afterlife." He placed the letter into an envelope and sealed it shut.

"I suppose the other thing I wanted to call you here for, was to apologize. I'm sorry, for sacrificing you as flippantly as I did. I had no choice, but I wish it could've gone differently." With that, Kozai tried his best at a smile, and gestured, banishing the ghost back to where it came from.

Kozai felt vaguely uncomfortable. The experience of talking to Agito for the first time in years had been jarring. It was time to get a change of company. He handed his letter to a messenger, and sent him off to find the newcomer, this stranger from the volcanic regions, perhaps, and bring him to the Archives.

[402]

Agito would give his friend one last smile as he he spoke, Agito knew these were his last moments. Agito would nod and say as he slowly began to fade away " I always route for you , Kozai" as his final words left his mouth, he finished fading away back to the pure realm. While sitting around a fire with the closest people once again he smiled at them and nodded to them "He is going to do just fine" And they would quickly fall into chatter , Agito telling them all about his adventure he just went on , seeing Kozai and informing them all on just how their friend and brother was doing in the world, one thing they all agreed on was how proud they all were.

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Stein was out in the middle of the town when a letter suddenly found him, he was called to the Library by the Master of the Archives. Stein being curious would answer the call, and when lead up to the office of the Master he would immediately say "I promise sir, Every book was left in the library and nothing was done to them, all information was still there when I left with that man Arashi" He would Ramble on, being clueless as to why he was summoned by such a man of power. However stein being all the time calm, he would slide his hands into his pockets.

His Glasses glared for a moment till he lowered his head revealing his eyes, as he would put a cigarette into his mouth, but did not light it at the time, it was mostly just a habit , his hands back in his lab coat pockets he was wearing. his ghastly white hair hung around his head almost like an upside down crown. The stitches across his skin would give away to an educated being what he actually was.