The Long Departed

Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:19 pm

Spoiler:

A new mission has come up for Zunair to complete and it was to go to the graveyard and clean some tombstones. So, on his way he went. As he entered the graveyard, feelings washed over him. The first time Zunair came here with heartache is when his mother died six years ago. He remembered seeing the soft rays of sunshine fall over the gravestones and make the snow patterned in his footsteps glisten and sparkle. It was beautiful as if He were seeing it for the first time. It was. But as fate would have it, within seconds of the warm light hitting his body he froze. No, not in ice. But in his own emotions. Thus began his remembrance of this place.

His senses and consciousness are preserved where he stood as he on-looked to the grave where his mother was, he couldn’t feel emotions or the cold prickling at his skin but he could certainly hear the wind blow through the trees or the mourning of those burying their dead in the cemetery. Zunair shook his head to come out of his trance and looked at the stone statue beyond his mother’s grave as it was perched on a marble base near the back of the graveyard where the old tombs are, perfect for guarding them he guessed. It sounds right to him as he headed in that direction. He wondered if they have been made with that task. Statues don't come to life for no reason, do they? It must have been a protector.

Zunair begins to think to himself, ‘Who comes to a graveyard at night? Nobody I know of, that's for sure. Or maybe I’m wrong? You would think of a graveyard to be a constantly depressing place, but when there is nobody around it is peaceful it seems peaceful.’ Zunair begin to start polishing the headstones as he walked past the statue. When you have nothing to do but sit still and watch what is in front of you all day you begin to pick things up out of boredom, so as this mission he signed up for.

The quiet of peace was interrupted when he saw a man in a light blue coat wearing a white baret that came and laid flowers down in front of a grave. When the man left, Zunair investigated the grave and found it belonged to someone recently buried named 'Momo.' There was no last name, which Zunair found odd, but he didn’t think too hard because he would never hear the reason why anyway.

As Zunair went back to his cleaning duties a couple of hours and then he saw people entering, seems to be a funeral service. He saw the man from earlier. He was a strong one that didn't cry that much, but he was pained. Another man stood by him when the coffin was lowered to the ground. From his spot by the tombs, he heard his name was Mathias and by his distraught look he picked up on his and Momo’s relationship. They were husband and wife. How sad to have lost your lover…but Zunair would never know. A woman and another shorter man tried to comfort Mathias but were shoved away. When the spiky-haired blonde stomped off with tears running down his face, the shorter men said their respects quietly. That was the last time Zunair saw Mathias there the rest of the evening.

It was almost a week from that day and Zunair has almost finished the gravesites, he did every so often see the man with short blonde hair and a white baret would come back to visit the grave of his friend. Each time the visits became longer until he was staying almost until dark. That wasn't hard as the winter progressed and the days got shorter and shorter but it was obvious he was finding this place as peaceful as Zunair did. Soon there was only an hour of daylight, and that was getting shorter as well.

Sometimes he took walks around the site and admired the crumbling beauty of the other headstones as if it were just to waste time and saw the polishing work that Zunair did. When he came by the tombs Zunair was always in his usual position, cleaning the tombs on his hands and knees. He wonder why the man in blue and white made me so curious, but he was. Zunair wanted to strive to reach out and tap him on the shoulder, perhaps bend over and whisper his name to get his attention. Though he tried his hardest, he never could.

His little eyes opened wide when he saw the small changes nobody else seemed to notice and he started making sure to walk by the young Hyuuga in his visits but he never would talk to Zunair. Zunair loved seeing him smile in awe when he discovered something new about the tombstones he cleaned. It was a nice change from the distant frown on his face by Momo's grave.

However, towards the last day, he spoke to Zunair. The tiny bit of sunlight was only around for perhaps ten minutes at best. The sun barely came up over the hills before it moved across the sky a few miles and sunk back down along the horizon. A little twilight and the following darkness were upon the cemetery that allowed me to move around without too much difficulty. People still didn't come at night, it was superstition. When the days did come to an end, Zunair was going to miss his visits from the man in blue and white.

The man, whose name is Cheza, walked around a little after visiting Momo’s grave and came to around Zunair like he always did. That perfect face lit up when he noticed the flowers from when the last time he saw the mint-eyes Hyuuga. He was smiling softly, but Zunair was frowning so hard internally that he was sure my jaw was going to crack. The man had a black eye.

Cheza looked at Zunair’s soft face watching the sun begin to set. Zunair wanted to do was know how Cheza got hurt and who did this to him, but he wouldn't tell him. He wouldn't talk to Zunair much more anyway. Talking to him was like talking to a brick wall, quite frankly, because Zunair could be a little bit shy, even when he did work at the ramen shop and was kinda crazy there. He chuckled to himself, Cheza he asked. "Hm…Do you have a name, anyway?"

"You're a pretty looking guy, aren't you.” He said as Zunair’s face blushed.

"Uh-oh…it's getting late." Cheza looked to the darkening sky and blinked. Though being in a cemetery at night was bad luck, he seemed reluctant to go. Zunair still wanted to know about the black eye and wanted him to stay as well. But hopeful wishing gets you nowhere, and soon the man in blue and white was gone. Zunair finished up his work.

—————————

On the last two days, there was no sign of Cheza, before the endless night came. Zunair spent the last few days exploring and cleaning the tombstones and thanking each one for their service and sacrifice headstone. It gave Zunair something to do and he wanted it to be in pristine condition the next time Cheza came back…who knows when that will be, though. Normal people would freeze to death for being out here as long as Zunair did but it was no problem for him. Zunair then heard a noise in the dead of a starless evening (or was it morning? It was impossible to tell when he was working all night. Someone was coming by the graveyard? At night? That was certainly a first. Zunair quickly took his place by the statue. The darkness would conceal the fact that he was there too whoever was crazy enough to venture into the resting place of the dead on such a cold moonless night. Zunair was too shy for his own good.

A figure stumbled into the graveyard and made a beeline for the heart of the cemetery. Zunair could hear their ragged breathing from where he stood as they found a grave somewhere around Momo's and sunk to their knees. The person bellowed an angry cry that quickly turned to a shriek of anguish.

"Wh-why did you just go?" the person shouted at the grave. Zunair knew that voice somehow, but it was too choked with sobbing for him to tell. "Why did you do this to Mathias? You're the only thing that h-held him together! My life is hell now thanks to you!"

Now he understood who this sobbing person was. It was Cheza.

"I h-hope you're happy, Momo! Why did you leave? Why did you leave!" The man's voice gradually became lower and lower until Zunair couldn't hear him anymore. To see this man so broken and distraught left him feeling rather broken-hearted. He was all alone, and Zunair knew how much being alone could hurt.

Before Zunair could stop himself, his legs had carried him over the frozen ground and to the man. He didn’t notice Zunair coming up from his light footsteps. However, Zunair noticed that he held his arm over his chest in a sling. He got hurt again?

Cheza's sobs immediately stopped when Zunairs hand went to his shoulder. He whirled around so fast that he fell over in his surprise. He yelped when Zunair stared down at him, not sure what he was doing but knowing he had to do something. Zunair realized what he might see, a small shadow. He wasn't surprised when he covered his face with his good arm and began to pray that God forgives him for treading the path of the dead at night and spare him from this beast.

Zunair chuckled as the man took off running out of the graveyard and the Hyuuga let out a breath. All he wanted to do was help him, now he might never see him again. The summer days would be as lonely as these winter nights.

Thump.

A sound brought his attention towards the fleeing man again to see he had fallen on the ice. Zunair quickly trotted over to make sure he was alright. He wasn't moving when The mint-eyed genin turned him over. A small dark splotch on his forehead told Zunair where he fell. Cheza must have hit his head and was groaning in discomfort in his arms when Zunair picked him up off the cold ground. He didn't open his eyes and Zunair checked his new wound. Squinting, he could see the blood but it wasn't too bad. He concluded it would be fine but he healed up with his healing hands.

“Hello, I’m Zunair,” the genin smiled as the man stood up, looking around, seemingly embarrassed that he tried running away fourteen years old.

“Uh-um, Zunair?" he said meekly. "I need to be getting home soon, so…I really should get going."

"Okay,” Zunair said as Cheza began walking towards the entrance without looking back. "Hey!" That got his attention. Zunair usually never calls to him. "G'dbye?"

A look of surprise in his eyes. "Oh, yeah! Goodbye!" Cheza waved and turned around the corner. Zunair hoped he didn't do anything to make him not want to come back. Whatever it was bothering him, hopefully, he can get over it.

Zunair then went to the tombstones and paid his respects to rows of the deceased elder Shinobi. He stopped at his mother's gravesite and laid a lotus flower on her tombstone. Zunair talked to her, telling her all about his medical training with Anima and how she took him under her wing and Hyuuga training with his father was going well as if she was listening. Maybe she was. With that, he kissed her tombstone and asked her if she was proud of how far he is coming along. After a few moments of silence, he then departed the graveyard.

[EXIT]
[ WC: 2008/2000]
Claiming:
4,000 Ryo
(+100 Ryo for Genin Salary)
+20 AP
+40 AP (for maxed stats)
WC: 1,500/1,500 for Gentle Fist Overload
WC: 508/2500 for Hyuuga Valor

Sun Nov 21, 2021 8:30 pm

Approved

The Long Departed

The Long Departed

Re: The Long Departed