Re: What We Leave Behind and When We Are Left Behind

Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:11 am

Morei had been taken away by a medical team that had been summoned from nearby. They were unsure of his diagnosis at the time, but he would be rushed off to the nearest hospital to provide him support. Isuru stood outside the storehouse, all the strength having left him. Flashbacks from what had befallen Silvia came to him unbidden. He felt like his world was turning upside down all over again. It hurt to breathe, as if his lungs were being crushed inside his chest. The world swam in shadows as he collapsed from the strain.

He awoke back in his bed with his mother watching over him. As he opened his eyes, she looked down and softly brushed the hair out of his face. He tried to sit up, but his mother placed a hand on his chest and shook her head. “You overexerted yourself, my little one. An entire night without sleep, followed by the shock of your friend falling ill. It is no wonder you have been out cold for hours.” Isuru felt his heart rate increase as he forced himself to sit up before she could stop him. “Hours?! Is there news about Morei?”

His mother hesitated and then decided to tell him, “Morei is in a critical state. The most we know is that it is a slow-acting poison that is causing his body to shut down. It was caused by some of the shallow wounds he received. With the amount of time that passed before he could start treatment, the odds of his survival are not high…” Isuru clenched a fist, trying to fight the rage inside him as he quickly slipped his legs out and threw himself away from his mother. She jumped to her feet, but could not act quickly enough to stop him from barging through the door of his room. He leapt over the falling door to land in the courtyard.

Several family members turned in time to see Isuru launch himself up to the rooftop and take off towards the only hospital he knew would be close enough for Morei to be taken. His feet carried him as quickly as they could, but every second felt too long to Isuru. He felt like he was losing more and more of his life the longer it took to get where he needed to be. Those on the street could see and hear him barreling over the rooftops as he flew past. Many looked up and wondered what was going on in the wake of his passing.

It took him less than two minutes to arrive at the hospital, yet his heart was already beating faster than the spin of a tornado. He landed against the wall of the building and quickly discerned where the intensive care unit was. As he sprinted down the side of the building, he could hear the words of that messenger flowing through his mind, I’m… sorry. He came down the side of the building and began scanning from one window to the next to find his friend. On the fourth window, he hesitated for a moment as he almost didn’t recognize Morei.

Morei was lying in a large hospital bed with his skin stained a deep purple color. His veins were clear against his skin and he appeared to barely be breathing. The boy opened his eyes slowly and looked out the window. He gave a weak smile as he saw Isuru and tried to raise a shaking hand. Through the windows, Isuru saw the heart monitor with a steadily weakening heart rate that was nearing the bottom. Morei’s eyes began to slowly close as Isuru felt his heart jerk in response. Without thinking, Isuru grabbed out his makeshift kusarigama and shattered the window under his feet.

An alarm sounded for a few moments as Isuru crash landed into the room and threw himself over the bed Morei was laying in. Morei gave a few half-cough half-laughs as he struggled to say, “you know… I held out as long as I could… to wait for you. You sure suck… at keeping time.” Isuru felt his heart clenching as the beeping from the machine nearby slowed. His thoughts raced desperately for any answer. If only his own heartbeat could make Morei’s stronger. If only he could have known somehow. “Yeah, I guess I couldn’t keep my word this time,” he said, their familiar back and forth. “But I will be here next time.” Morei gave a weak smile and said, “I don’t think… i’ll be able…to keep that one…man”

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t… be strong enough…” Isuru’s heart bottomed out in time with the heart rate machine flatlining.

Even as the medical staff and security both ran in, responding to the two separate alarms, Isuru was not aware of anything going on around him. For the second time in his life, it felt like his world had shattered.

{WC = 822}

Wed Oct 12, 2022 11:03 am

The tears that rained down from his cheeks softly obscured his vision of his fallen friend. Morei stood with an understanding smile as he watched Isuru fight with his emotions. The young ninja was shaking as Silvia placed her arms around his shoulders and hugged him again. Morei walked over and joined the two in a hug as Isuru bawled softly. “Why?” he asked softly, “why am I the only one standing here on my own two feet? Why am I the one who escaped?” Silvia softly ran her hand through his hair, looking sadly down on Isuru. Morei stood silently as he listened. “You two were so much stronger. So much faster. You both were moving up so quickly. I was just here to help you get stronger.”

Silvia smiled and leaned back from Isuru to speak, just as Morei punched Isuru across the jaw, sending him tumbling back into the grass. Isuru stared up at the sky in shock as Morei yelled at him. “Because it does not matter who was the best or the strongest! You survived because you deserved to!” Isuru slowly sat up and saw Morei standing, tears flooding down his face with a shaking fist clenched in front of him. “Don’t give me that crap about us being stronger than you or better in any way!” The tension drained out of Morei slowly as he looked down at his fist, opening it to look at the palm. “If it wasn’t for you, I might still be locked up at home. Afraid of all the teasing and taunting I went through when I was younger. You did not care what others thought about your dream to be at the top. You gave me the strength to do what I did.”

Isuru could barely speak, Morei seemed to shrink slightly in size as his intensity faded. The spirit of his friend spoke through his tears, “you were just as strong in your own ways. Just because other people said we did well doesn’t matter. Now does it?!” His friend shouted the last words, letting them echo through the empty courtyard. Soft shuffling in the distance made Isuru aware that his family was awake and may be listening, but that did not matter to him. “But… but you didn’t care what they thought either…” Morei shook his head, falling to his knees as the tears continued to flow. “I was terrified that I would fail. I felt like when I was apart from you two, the whole world was watching. It was when I came back and saw you again, it was like the fire rekindled in me every time.”

Silvia looked from Morei to Isuru and gave a small nod, tears beginning to appear in her eyes too. “Even in that cave system, you were the one who gave me the strength to go beyond my limits. Without you, I might still have been the strict by-the-book child I had been raised to be.” Isuru pulled his knees to his chest and said softly, “at least then, you would still be alive.” Silvia turned towards him, anger in her eyes as she marched towards him. He watched her approach and just as she reached him, she raised her hand above her head. Isuru pulled his head down into his knees and wrapped his arms around himself. Moments passed as Isuru heard Morei sniffling in the distance. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for my death.” It came as no more than a whisper from Silvia as Isuru looked up.

The young girl stood over him, tears flowing down her cheeks as she stood with her hand weakly held above her head. “Just because you gave me the strength to choose what to do for myself does not make you responsible. I loved you, and still do. I died doing something I felt was meaningful to me. You have to live with the fact that I died for myself. Even if you did save me, I still would have seen it that way.” Isuru was speechless to her words. Inside, a part of him was saying to just ignore her and accept that he would always be the cause of her death. Another part of him questioned her words and fought to see the truth behind them. All he could do for the time being was let his tears flow as he wanted so badly to let her words be true.

Silvia fell to her knees in the grass, her arm falling to her side as she leaned back and cried softly. Morei wept a few feet away on the tiles of the courtyard. The rest of the world sat silent as the three shared in their pain.

{WC = 790}

Thu Oct 13, 2022 12:06 pm

After a time, the three sat silently on the grass together. The mood was somber as the sun slowly rose. The Uchiha family was waking up and quietly staying along the edges of the courtyard to avoid the three sitting there. Even Isuru’s parents thought it best to keep their distance and let the three work out their situation. It felt like hours had passed when Morei finally spoke up. “You know… for a leader, you are way too emotional.” Silvia gave a weak giggle behind her hand and Isuru turned to face his friend. “Oh yeah? Well you are too emotional to be a commander.” Morei crossed his arms and responded, “a great commander needs strong emotions. That is how they lead their people!” Isuru crossed his arms as he replied, “well a great leader needs even stronger emotions to be compassionate for those people!”

The two glared at each other for a moment before soft chuckles led to them both breaking down in laughter. Silvia had been holding back her giggles before breaking down with them. The three teared up as they laughed together on the grass. Isuru laughed harder than he had in years and felt a weight slowly lifting off his chest as they slowly quieted down again. “It sucks that you two had to die. I didn’t really have much else to do when you both were gone.” Morei looked over at Isuru, “are you telling me that our great future commander of Sunagakure lost the will to fight just over us? Well isn’t that so sad.” Morei teased him softly and gave him a soft punch in the shoulder. Silvia giggled again as Isuru rubbed the punched spot and said, “well it isn’t as much fun without you two! Besides, you two were going to be my captains and all when I became a commander.”

Morei propped himself on one arm in the grass and looked at his friend. “Then find new captains. I bet you could find ones that are way hotter than Silvia too.” Silvia glared intensely at Morei, who pretended to not see her. Isuru shook his head and said, “they wouldn’t be nearly as cool as you two. Plus, Silvia is too hot for other people to compare to her.” Silvia’s red face of anger instantly turned into a full-faced blush as she quickly turned away. Morei sputtered out laughter at his words and fell over into the grass covering his stomach. Isuru grinned at the two, feeling like it was old times again. “But seriously. I really miss you two. Things just are not the same without you here. It feels like I lost parts of myself when each of you… disappeared from my life.”

Silvia turned back, her face returned to normal, and Morei looked to his friend. Silvia softly pressed her fist to the top of his head and said, “you idiot. We may be gone from this world, but you are still a part of you. Why would you cry so much over us if there wasn’t some part of us still there?” Isuru went to respond, but could not find the right words. Morei nodded and said, “exactly. It does not take a genius to realize that we are always going to be with you in spirit.” Isuru groaned at the terrible joke and said, “you still suck at humor. You listened to your dad waaay too often.” Morei grinned and said, “the worse they are in general, the better they are when I hit a really good one.” Silvia just shook her head, refusing to accept that reasoning.

“To be serious though,” Morei said as he looked at Isuru, “we aren’t really gone.” Isuru stared at his friend as he listened. “All the things we did together, all the things we joked about and accomplished, they still exist. In your memories. In your actions. What you do carries on what we wanted to do.” Morei pointed a finger at the center of Isuru’s chest. “You carry on our will and memory with you. That is why we could be here today. To tell you to let go of the pain you keep stupidly blaming yourself for and to use our strength to do what we dreamed of.”

Isuru nodded and gave a small smile, just before a wave of worry flooded over him. The finger that Morei was pointing at Isuru was beginning to fade before his eyes.

{WC = 744}

Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:10 am

Morei noticed Isuru’s concern and looked at his hand. He was shocked for a moment before letting out an irritated sigh. “Well, looks like we only get to yell at you and hit you for so long.” He chuckled softly, “Maybe we can do this again next year? I mean, if we can…” Silvia held her hand up and saw it was slowly beginning to fade as well. She gave Isuru another hug and softly whispered, “just know that I do still love you. But don’t be an idiot and pass up making someone else happy too.” Isuru hugged her back and nodded. She leaned one shoulder against his while Morei shifted over and leaned against the opposite. The three sat as the sun slowly reached its peak directly above them.

“So… what is it like on the other side?” Isuru asked softly. Morei gave a grin and replied, “boring as heck. So many of my old family members complain because of how young I was when I passed. You would not believe how many times I have had to listen to the ‘by the time I was your age’ speech. The only real fun thing I found there was telling all the other kids our age about the cool stuff the three of us did. Well, that or watching lots of the guys hit on Silvia.” Silvia blushed again and punched Morei in the side of the head. He gripped the spot she hit and crouched down as she said, “shut up! It’s weird having people hit on you and you are both already dead.” She relaxed back against Isuru’s shoulder, “it is strange. You can pretty much conjure up anything you want there, but nothing really lasts or exists. I mean, even now I am not sure if that is the afterlife.”

Isuru turned slightly to her and looked confused. “Well,” she started, “I mean, we are dead. We were in this other place when we felt you calling us. It just… felt kind of strange. Like I question if we really are who we are, or if we are just sort of the remnants of who we were formed together on some other plane?” Isuru scratched his head, trying to keep up with this idea. Morei patted him on the shoulder and said softly, “do not worry man. I don’t really get what the heck she is going on about either when she talks about this stuff.” Silvia stuck out her lower lip in frustration, “what I am saying is that there is no way to tell if this is really where people go when they die or if we are just a bunch of energy shaped to our memories!”

Morei shrugged at her and said, “I mean, what’s the difference? We are still who the people here knew. Even if we are just a collection of memories and stuff, aren’t we still the spirits of the people who died here?” Silvia shook her head, sitting up as she confronted Morei, “no! We would just be gathered energy. The real spirit of the person would be somewhere else!” Morei went to confront her back, just as Isuru threw up his hands in front of both of their faces. “Enough! You two were bad enough when you had bodies. Having spirits yelling at each other in broad daylight is just weird.” The three looked at one another for a few moments before breaking down laughing again. As they lay side by side in the grass, Isuru glanced over towards Silvia and knew his time was short. He could see the far wall of the courtyard through her more and more clearly by the second.

“I am glad you two came back. It felt like everything fell apart when you died,” Isuru said sadly. Silvia looked at him and gave a soft smile as Morei said, “Well of course! Anytime you get too far off course, we will come knock you right back where you need to be!” Isuru nodded, feeling the pain from the past having receded within him. He looked to Silvia as she slowly faded away and said, “I do still love you and you will always be the girl who took my heart, but I will move on. For both our sakes.” Silvia leaned over and kissed him on the lips and said, “Same.” He then turned back to Morei, his features barely recognizable as Isuru said, “looks like we finally managed to meet on time.” Morei looked surprised then chuckled softly as he said, “that we did man. Glad we finally got it right.” His voice softly fading with him as the last of his outline disappeared.

Isuru lay in the now-empty courtyard as the soft sounds of shuffling left him in his isolation. Even alone now, Isuru still could feel their strength inside him.

{WC = 811}

Sat Oct 15, 2022 12:13 am

The next day was dawning as Isuru sat on the rooftop of the family house. He looked out over what he could see of the village of Sunagakure. It felt like the first time he was truly taking in the village in a very long time. The weight of his fallen friends felt like it was pushing him forward, rather than dragging him down. With a slow breath in and a concentrated mind, he stood and crossed his arms. In his mind, he was set to pick back up his goal of becoming a true ninja leader and leading others to find their own strength. He desired to take apart those that threatened his people and to shape a legacy that he and his remembered friends could be proud of.

His family had been delicate around him, giving him a wide berth at times. Many had overheard the shouting from the main courtyard and some were aware of his history and those that he had lost. His parents were supportive and gave him encouragement towards his goals, yet most did not understand. He felt like much of his suffering was behind him now. He realized just how much the words of his friends meant to his own ability to move on and continue growing. Even with the belief that strength comes from action, not just what people say, he still felt that knowing the desires of others aligned with him made him stronger.

He began practicing his movements and combat styles again that morning. He was able to borrow an actual kusarigama from the weapons shop and practiced his usual combat dancing style along the rooftops of the village. It felt like the weight of his heart had been released, so his footsteps were lighter than ever. The wind flowed alongside him as he moved and each breath led him to his next step. The shadows that cast over him felt as if they molded to his movements and the light bent softly with his passing.

As he reached the center rooftop of a row of buildings, someone yelled over to him. “Hey there, boy. Mind helping me with something?” Isuru stopped and glanced back to see an odd figure crouched on the opposite rooftop. She was dressed in a faded dark gray robe and sat with her chin on one hand. Isuru raised an eyebrow as he approached the edge of his rooftop. “What kind of help are you looking for?” he asked the strange woman. Her eyes slowly scanned the buildings under them as she spoke, “a few things. Like, have you seen any ghosts around lately?”

Isuru gave a nod and carefully said, “yes, we have had quite a few spirits around lately.” The woman nodded and scanned in the other direction, “has anyone figured out why yet?” He felt like something was off with how she was asking her questions, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. “Not really… the best we can figure is that it might have to do with some other dimension.” The woman looked directly at him suddenly and Isuru stepped back in surprise. Her eyes appeared wild, as if there were small flashes of humanity and something else mixed together.

“Another dimension you say?” She asked, slowly standing up. “Now that is fascinating. With all the chakra coming off this place, I guess it makes sense.” Isuru was confused as he asked, “all the chakra…? What are you talking about?” The woman chuckled, going from a low pitch and raising to a high one rapidly before responding. “Yes! This place is just soaked in chakra. It seems like a looooot of activity has gone on here.” The woman grinned oddly as she stood and slowly tilted her head to one side. “Don’t you feel it?” she asked as if it was obvious, “this place is flooded in chakra. It probably drove that other dimension here and opened it.”

Isuru was getting all kinds of bells going off in his mind about how this person was acting. It felt like they were a threat, yet unaware of that themselves. “Sure. We have a lot of chakra here. But if that is what opened the dimension, why wouldn’t that just happen all the time? Why now?” The woman tilted her head back to the other side, the grin disappearing as they took on a neutral smile. “Well, aren’t you the one asking the right questions now?” She took two steps and reached the edge of her own rooftop. “I guess, the only person who could answer that would be my Master then.” The woman took out a knife and held it out by the end of the hilt in two fingers. The point of the knife pointed downwards at the street below. Several villagers were walking by below them, unaware of the two on the rooftops.

“Woah, what are you thinking of doing with-” Isuru began, but watched as the woman let go. Her words trailed behind in his mind as he watched the knife fall in slow motion. “It is better to learn through action, I always say” was all he heard as the knife fell towards the street. Isuru dove off his rooftop, aiming to intercept the knife halfway down as he grabbed out his kusarigama. He spun rapidly, extending the chain for the sickle to reach out and divert the knife. Just as it was about to hit, the blade seemed to melt out of existence from the tip up to the handle.

Isuru collided a few floors under where the woman stood on the roof. As he looked up, an odd sight greeted him. Just above him, what appeared to be a puddle was floating in midair just above his head. Through it, he could see odd glowing shapes, similar to his spiritual friends days earlier. He saw the woman above him wave softly at him and heard her say, “until next time!” before she jumped off the roof. She fell straight into the puddle and disappeared. The puddle made a slow slurping noise and began to close in front of his eyes. Out of reflex, Isuru rammed his fist into the bottom of the puddle, only to have it reflect his hand back.

His hand felt oddly cold and heavy as he gripped it in a fist. The slurping noise ended as the puddle disappeared. He felt disappointed as he looked up at the spot where the strange woman had escaped to, wondering exactly where she could have gone. As he stared, he could feel the weight in his hand slowly grow. He lifted his hand up to look at his palm and a small multi-colored stone sat in his hand. The stone shimmered softly in the sunlight and gave off an odd sensation of energy flowing over his hand. With a moment of focus, he fed chakra into the stone and the air began to sizzle softly. A small hole appeared, similar to the puddle from earlier. When he stopped feeding chakra into it, the hole closed again.

“Learn through action, huh?” he asked himself as a few people below looked up and pointed at him attached to the side of the building. “I wonder who will be teaching who,” he said softly to himself, feeling as cheesy as Morei had been with his jokes. He tried to flood the stone with as much chakra as he could manage. Focusing on the spot below him, the hole expanded out under him until it was as large as the puddle had been. Isuru took a deep breath, hoping that he could find some way to come back one he was through. For now, he needed to keep moving forward.

Isuru leapt off the side of the building and fell into the other plane. As he landed, many of the spirits around him looked at him in surprise. A voice in the distance spoke up saying, “You know, we just left. Did you really need to follow us so soon?”

{WC = 1342}
Post (#): 1: 404 2: 566 3: 553 4: 940 5: 686 6: 523 7: 565 8: 581 9: 614 10: 655 11: 822 12: 790 13: 744
14: 811 15: 1342
TWC: 10,034 + 3500 from rewards = 13534 (rounded to 13500)
1. Spooky Doll
2. 1,000 Ryo
3. 500 WC
4. B-rank jutsu scroll
5. Kamifuda x2
6. Summon Voucher*
7. 5,000 Ryo
8. Firecrackers x2
9. 1,000 WC
10. Heaven or Hell Dice
11. A-rank jutsu scroll
12. Yokai Yum-Yums x3
13. 10,000 Ryo
14. 2,000 WC
15. Spirit stone
Ryo: 16000

+135 stats = 50 Speed, +20 strength, + 55 Chakra + 10 Vigor

Sharingan 1 tomoe - 2000
Skill Learning:
One Handed Seals - 2000
Chakra Infusion - 2000
Flowing Arts - 2000
Total - 8000

Jutsu Learning:
A Rank - Sky Shredding Dragon - 2500
A Rank - Perfect Body - 2500
B Rank - Temple Style: Bark - 500/1750

Sat Oct 15, 2022 11:51 am

Well like I told you before, claim the rewards on the spirit fest thread. However, Approved.