Not Unlike A Good Meal [IO, NK]

Isaribi was no fan of Hoshigakure's general architecture, but she wasn't welcome in her own district nowadays, causing her to have to walk to the fucking city square to grab a bite to eat. She was wearing a pair of warm-ups and a jacket over a plain t-shirt. Genuinely, she could not be assed to dress in uniform when she was off duty, and if she'd left home wearing the whole shinobi get-up, there was a good chance people would have thrown rocks at her. Could she have just avoided them, or taken a more circuitous route? Sure, but there was also a kind of shame in dressing in a fucking overbearing paramilitary uniform in her kind of neighborhood. With all that being said, however, she still had her headband tied around what was left of her left bicep. If an emergency happened, she had to be identifiable.

To them, I am a traitor, moreso than any missing-nin. It was in this mindset that Isaribi found herself, standing in one of the most open and cheerful parts of the village at one of the most cheerful and sunny parts of the day. As a child, she might have passed through here on some grunt work for the Jaws, but the shops around here gave people like her funny looks when she tried to browse around, so she'd never really bought anything from here.

She had a seat on a stone bench and looked around forlornly. When they'd given her the headband, she figured that she was going to live a comfortable life and not bother anybody, but evidently even that was expecting too much from the world. At the very least, she could eat three square meals a day, and that wasn't worth nothing. It wasn't good food, mind you, but the feeling of not being hungry at the end of the day was almost beyond description.

[WC 317]

City of Stars, it might as well be a song written about Hoshigakure. The warm, fuzzy feeling that surrounded the village would be in sheer contrast to the turbulent times everyone had been through recently. But perhaps it were exactly the same hardships that allowed those in Haven to unite and overcome them together. Or how his teacher at the Academy used to say, it doesn't matter if you fall so long as you get back up. And that is what they did. Leaving the past behind, without forgetting it, and moving forward regardless of how long it might take.

Dressed in his usual attire which consisted of the Nova's armor, completely white in color, with a silken cloak worn over the rest of the outfit, Akaboshi found himself ending up at the City Square. As the central hub of Hoshigakure it was where people could access most of the shops, markets, restaurants and places of worship and entertainment. Having just returned from the White Clock Tower after handling some business now that the Nova Tournament had come to an end, the Commander figured a welcome change of pace wouldn't hurt. Especially when he considered what else still laid ahead of him.

Passing by many of the countless establishments his mind was already at Yasaki's funeral which would be held in one of the upcoming days. It was truly a shame, the loss of their previous Kage had already happened a long time ago, but due to unforeseen circumstances they never found the time to finally mourn his death. With his thoughts slightly occupied, Akaboshi eventually came to a halt at a place where they offered food and hot beverages. He removed his gloves after ordering something to drink, grabbing the small cup of coffee before taking a little sip.

Doing so, he walked towards one of the many stone benches in City Square where he'd finally sit down and take in his surroundings. As he did, Akaboshi noticed a young woman sitting on a bench next to his, dressed rather casually in a plain shirt with a jacket worn over. The Captain did not recognize her, wondering who this pale kunoichi with brown hair could be. As he continued to look in her direction, making sure not to stare impolitely, there was one thing catching his attention. As he laid eyes on the woman's headband and the place on her body it was tied around, it was hard not to spot the almost completely missing left arm, implying she must have lost it in the line of duty.

Akaboshi knew how some people preferred to keep to themselves, disliking when others didn't mind their own business, but part of him couldn't help but speak up in case the woman noticed he had been keeping an eye on her for a while now. "Your favorite spot or simply where you ended up?". Probably not the best way to start a conversation but at least better than asking if she came here often.   

(WC: 502)

Isaribi's attention was drawn by the man who approached her, wearing armor that clearly designated him some kind of status. *Oh, shit.* Her base instinct was to bolt, but she was in no way ready to escape from the heat that easily. At least, not unless she fell back on her ocular prowess, but the pain and increased attention were not worth it. How would these fuckers react if they knew she could have flown the coop at any time, and simply chose to stay in the prison? Yeah, they'd have her head for sure. Instead, she just sort of hunched over, giving the man a glower as he got closer.

Speaking of which, this fellow looked like yet another soy-chugger. Were all of the shinobi like this? The thought certainly wasn't pleasant. Maybe things worked differently outside of her little section of the village, but this was fucking ridiculous. The world really was a strange and terrifying place. Oh well, matters were out of her hands, now. If this guy had read up on all the criminal profiles they kept, he'd know who she was, and if he hadn't, then he probably didn't know her. Simple as that, really.

Oh, god, he was talking to her. Truly, this was an unmitigated disaster. Well, she was in for it now. If she didn't handle this right, it was back to prison with her for sure. Come to think of it, wasn't this kind of her own fault? Why the fuck had she come out here, anyway? You'd think that with such a modern, well-developed city, she could have gone to a place less patrolled by people like him, but there was no fixing that now.

"Uh, I guess I ended up here, somehow." She wasn't lying, right? Now that she got a closer look at the guy, it was evident to her that the armor wasn't just for status. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

[WC 327]

It appeared the woman felt a bit out of place, similar to how it seemed she would have rather been left alone instead of now having to deal with another person's presence. She wasn't too sure of her own answer, a sign of being caught off guard as she most likely never anticipated someone else walking up to her and trying to engage in a conversation. Perhaps it would have been wiser to mind his own business, but for the small chance this could mean something for either one of them, Akaboshi knew it might be worth taking. After all, a bit of small talk never hurt anyone.

As he sat there, the Nova Captain would take another sip of the hot beverage, bringing the cup to his lips before enjoying the warm feeling it made him end up with. "Because you were lost in thought or because you didn't have anywhere else to go?". Some would call it ironic, the woman tried her hardest not to stand out but it was exactly that what made her catch Akaboshi's eye. A couple of questions came to mind, was she trying to get away from something or someone, or was she simply in need of a warm meal? More often than not there wasn't such a thing as a coincidence.

Assuming the kunoichi answered his rather simple question, most likely in a similar way as the one she used to reply to the first, the Commander would return to the topic of the shinobi headband tied around her left arm, or what remained of it. "Perhaps you being here has something to do with that injury?" Akaboshi inquired as polite he could be, hoping not to offend the woman in any way. Maybe whatever happened had left her with more than just a physical wound. 

(WC: 304, TWC: 806)

This really was turning out to be a whole interrogation, though maybe not in the vein she expected. Through the haze of her own thoughts, she realized that this might not be quite what she thought it was. Sure, she could switch on her sharingan, read his facial expressions and find out, but doing so would be the equivalent of drawing a weapon on what was probably a superior officer. Pull shit like that in the Jaws, and you lost fingers, if you were lucky. Her own unique injury had been unrelated to this, but the threat of maiming and the constant social pressure helped keep conformity in gangs like that.

Of course, the guy asked about the missing arm. Honestly, it was more of an inconvenience than anything else. Most of the working folk where she grew up had more gruesome deformities from their occupations, so it didn't bother her as much as it might have. She sure missed the tattoos, though, she'd paid out the ass for those. That being said, looking at this guy, getting more ink in that style would probably not be a good idea. People like him probably didn't take kindly to the Jaws-style patterns she'd grown up with.

"Uh, not at all," she said, "uh, sir." Asshole, she had almost said, but she wasn't about to fuck everything up for the sake of mouthing off to a baby-faced cringelord. "It's older than all that, you know what I'm saying?" Again, what she had wanted to say, was something like, it's older than you think, dumbfuck, but she had restraint. Come to think of it, maybe his line of questioning had to do with something other than her immediate whereabouts.

"Did you mean to ask in a like...", she searched for the word, and came up with it after a second of floundering. "... existential sense, sir?"

[WC 312]

His inquiry was met with a question of her own in return, a slight improvement to the handful of words he got out of her so far. "I think we both know you're not sitting here simply philosophizing about the meaning of life". She did mention it was more than that, the answer he received a little bit vague but clear enough for Akaboshi to understand. "For what it's worth, I'm already glad you didn't take offense to my interrogation about your injury, as I'm sure that's how you might be feeling now". He did mean no harm, but it would make sense for someone to feel as if they are being examined given the situation.

Assuming the young woman replied, or in case she chose not to, the Nova Captain would allow a brief silence to fall over their conversation, time he spent taking another sip of the hot beverage in his hands. He was aware of how strange or perhaps even uncomfortable the entire situation might seem to the mysterious woman next to him, but perhaps it would be all worth it in the end. "You are here, therefore you exist. Although it appears as though you'd rather not sometimes, given how you were sitting here by yourself almost as if you were trying to hide from something". By then Akaboshi crushed the cup, throwing it in one of the garbage bins nearby.

He would then put on his gloves after taking them off, not because he was feeling cold but because he had gotten used to wearing them. "Your arm", he returned to the original topic of his question, "with how talented our Medical shinobi are I'm sure they could help you out". It would make sense if that thought had crossed her mind as well, so perhaps there was another reason as to why she decided to carry that wound around. "Or is it guilt that keeps you from having it treated?". After all, some people chose to wear injuries as a token of repentance.

(WC: 339, TWC: 1145)

This guy also talked a lot, a trait that seemed to be common to the chucks and cucks of this unholy village. The difference, though, was that he didn't babble on or try to piss her off on purpose. It was a taste of fresh air, as far as she was concerned. At last, somebody who was talkative while also being completely normal. Well, mostly normal. Either way, she felt more comfortable now. If he had an angle, it wasn't one that she could detect without showing her fangs, so to speak, so why worry? Either she'd end up getting to know someone new, or her body would be found floating by the docks in a few days.

It did bother her just a little that he went for the arm question right away. Yeah, it was normal to ask, since it was her defining feature to everyone else, but it made her a little insecure. Not about her appearance, of course, she didn't need to impress anybody in that regard. No, she felt that maybe if she was still a whole, full person, then maybe there wouldn't be that much about her to be interested in, to begin with. Definitely an unsettling suspicion.

"Guilt? Over what?" She couldn't even begin to imagine what- Wait, what was that? "Uh, treat how? It's not really all that new." An injury received before her long stint in prison didn't really need anything new, as far as she was concerned. There was a phantom pain, sometimes, but that was supposed to be par for the course. Without her sharingan activated, she had kind of a hard time assessing his intent, but she was pretty sure he wasn't pulling off some kind of vague, bullshit insult. Maybe he was talking some kind of physical therapy, but therapy (she was pretty sure) was for pussies.

"I must've lost this, uh..." she tried to keep track of time, but gave up. If only she could've traded the missing arm for a bit of extra brain. "... back when that Hayato guy was Hogokage, I think." She thought. It was easy to lose your fucking mind in solitary.

[WC 360]

Just when the woman was about to touch on the subject of guilt and whether or not it was something she experienced, her mind suddenly changed when Akaboshi had mentioned the possibility of trying to have her injury, old or not, treated. "It seems you didn't expect to hear such a thing" the Nova Captain voiced, noticing how the person sitting next to him appeared to be visibly confused, surprised even. He wasn't aware of her history nor her past, similar to how she seemed not to have a single clue how far their Medical research had come. 

The woman tried to recollect her thoughts, going back to the time when she lost her arm. Eventually she remembered, sort of, mentioning it happened back when Denkiteki used to be Hogokage. "Quite some time has passed since then, time well spent improving our knowledge of the human body". Not that Akaboshi was the expert on the matter, far from it. He knew about the use of transplants and some of the people that dipped their toes in said practice. The Commander wasn't a fan of it, but he had learned to accept its benefits. Regardless, the most he experienced himself had been the application and use of his Curse Mark.

Considering the woman had no idea, or at least the thought of healing had yet to cross her mind, Akaboshi figured it wouldn't hurt to give her a little bit of hope. "Although our village is quite strict when it comes to most cases, exceptions can always be made depending on circumstances". By then she most likely figured out where he was going with this. "Meaning you'll have to be completely honest about your injury, how and where it happened". The only way for them to be able and help was for her to come clean, not leaving anything out, not even the slightest detail, no matter how small it might appear.

(WC: 321, TWC: 1466)

Yeah, no kidding. Isaribi didn't show it at all, but hearing that injuries like this could be treated beyond what cursory methods existed among mundane folk was not a little upsetting. How many of folk like her had lost limbs in fights, or worse still, lost bits of themselves while working in factories or warehouses? Maybe it was some kind of military secret? She very much doubted it. One might think that if medic shinobi like that existed as a common factor in the village, life would have become better in the past fifteen years. And yet, as she looked around her, she could not help but come to the conclusion that it had not.

As to the nature of her injury, it was no secret. She suspected that the guy interpreted her silence as some kind of reluctance to yield up parts of her past, but in truth, she just didn't trust shinobi. It was pretty clear to her by now that he wasn't some kind of insane, maniacal interrogator, just a curious ninja concerned with the safety of the village and of his colleagues. Things that she didn't care as much about, excepting her own neighborhood and people.

"It's not a secret, really. I used to run with the Jaws, got caught up in a job gone bad, and just like that", she slapped her thigh in lieu of clapping her hands, "arm gone." She had lost more than that, on that fateful day, but he had only asked about the details of the missing limb, so it followed that he didn't want to hear the mushy bullshit about personal failings and lost friends. "Did a hell of a long stint in prison, but I'm out, now, so it is what it is. Can't do nothing but move on with life, right?" She gave him a grin that didn't reach her eyes.

[WC 314]

As they sat there, the woman started opening up about her past, sharing some but not all information. Made sense, completely understandable even. Considering she tried her best not to get noticed by anyone around, it wasn't more than normal that she answered the question as straightforward as possible. "I see, Jaws of Grima" Akaboshi replied after her. For anyone not living under a rock it was a name well known in Hoshigakure. The Nova himself had already had his fair share of running into a couple of them, Griff being the one coming to mind. Not much longer after apprehending the red haired bastard he spent the day interrogating some of their accomplices together with Shina, hoping to get some information out of them.

Although her answer was short, Akaboshi listened attentively. "So, what's next for you? Simply survive or do you still want to make something out of life after prison?". He didn't expect her to claim to have found herself during time behind bars, or that she went through enlightenment. However, that didn't mean there would be nothing out there for her. If anything, it seemed she found peace with the circumstances she found herself in, having accepted everything that happened as it would be impossible to turn back time, at least to such an extent. Realizing that life moves on might as well be one of the most important things one could do when faced with situations like that. 

It was hard to find the right words to say, he could hardly claim to relate to what she had been through nor could he even begin to understand what all happened to her. Perhaps the woman would have done things differently, maybe she wouldn't have gone to prison if she did, or her arm would still be attached to her body, who knows. It's always easy to say, in hindsight. Akaboshi then pointed at the shinobi headband before speaking up once more. "I take it you haven't given up on that part of life either?". Maybe she was going to use this chance to finally start over. 

(WC: 351, TWC: 1817)