Times past and a path to the future.

Stuffy. So, so stuffy. The words ticked and tocked in her head like the second hand on a grandfather clock. They had been growing more and more. Steadily increasing in volume and heaviness in Baliquis’s mind as she sat at a desk and idly wrote away on scrolls and papers. The minimization of what she was doing was second-nature to her now, but what she was actually doing was much grander. Or rather it was of much greater value to her- and her sister Yuki- than just ‘idle writing.’ She was working on something her sister called a ‘Patent’- a type of design of Yukihime’s own chaotic and creative making.

The bitch wouldn’t read or write for shit, yet somehow she had the mind of an engineer and the hands to draw it out? Fucking ridiculously unfair if you asked Baliquis, considering she could barely draw a legible circle, much less a diagram for mechanical things.

Either way, Baliquis had taken it upon herself to write everything Yuki had dictated into a more legible and professional format. Still, she had been stuck in this damn room for hours, and her useless peers were no help. She couldn’t rely on them to assist anyways, considering Baliquis was trying to keep these under wraps. Even when Hana asked, Bali claimed the drawings were hers. There could be no allowance for fuckery from these shinobi, the rats of the world. They pushed their filthy muzzles into the most minor gaps in her words, her life, and her techniques and contorted themselves to maneuver through. Baliquis would be damned if she lost another sister to their ways and their witchcraft. She would not allow herself to bury another sister. However, she needed a damn break as her back was killing her, and she had been sitting here for hours on end. So when she finished the most recent page, she put her pen down, stood up, stretched, then left her office. She needed to go for a walk anywhere else than here. Her cloak hung, waiting for her orders and her warmth next to the door for her office, and she grabbed it, pulled it on, then pulled the door shut behind her and locked it. Tucking the key into her bra, she clasped the cloak around her and walked down the halls to leave the temple grounds entirely.

---

Baliquis had walked to the Water Gardens and let the smell of the flowers and the coming rain wash over her; let it soothe her and calm her. Water was so much more forgiving than she could ever be with the way it always allowed itself to be used, reused, and recycled. Baliquis prayed to God that she could be more trusting, forgiving, or “more.” She looked around and saw there were couples about, but there was a Gazebo not too far off that seemed only to have one person there, so she made her way over as they leaned back against the wood. Then she felt a drain drop on her face, hitting her just below her lower eyelid and rolling down. As if when she asked for ‘more,’ the universe decided she asked for ‘more tears’ and granted her wish. How nice. Still, she was not in the mood to get too wet, so she went over to the Gazebo, walked up the stairs, and murmured, “Excuse me.” to the white-haired male, moving into the gazebo before turning and sitting down on one of the built-in wooden benches within.

---

Post Word Count

587

Total Word Count

587

Tagged

@Shinrei Yamato

She saw it as Baliquis sat down on her seat and glanced over at him. A look she had seen before. The look of having seen a ghost. Her blood ran a bit cold.

Was he someone who knew Izayumi before her death? Her mind slowly began to twist. ‘What if’s began to trickle in like this rain around their gazebo. How many of them were out there?

How many people in the world knew her sister, unlike how she knew her? Who were they? Could Baliquis find them? Could she fight them, capture them, then force them to give over their memories to her? Was that possible with their shinobi witchcraft? Could she do that? Could she extract those memories from them and perhaps trap them in a jar or put them in a pool of water, so she could watch them play over and over as if she lived through them herself? Could she find some way to see the product of her sacrifice in motion? Or was the thought too far-flung and far-fetched, too outlandish even for the shinobi?

“So looks like we are stuck here for a moment unless you brought an umbrella. Name’s Yamato Terumi, Jounin of Hoshigakure…may I ask of your name?” The white-haired, light-skinned male asked. Lightning flexed terrifying, unpredictable talons across the skies. Thunder rolled and snarled; its roughness and strength were felt even by her within the gazebo’s sturdy foundation- foundations now being second-guessed. Her mother would be horrified by their conversation alone, but Baliquis was different,

“Nozomi Hozuki. Genin of Hoshigakure.” Baliquis answered, “You may call me Baliquis, though.”

She wanted to know. She felt compelled to ask him if he had met Izayumi, but she needed to keep it together; the fewer people who knew they were two separate people, the better, but she was desperate. For years, all Baliquis had to go off was written reports and gossip of those reporting to her. They got to see her in motion, and she had to be stalking those fuking red-pillared halls of the temple, through in and out of those rooms that were heavily hung with choking smoke of the incense, negativity, and little prayers for the solace of mind and alleviation of guilt.

“Do I remind you of someone, Yamato?” She shouldn’t have asked, but she couldn’t help herself over what could have been a glass of water equivalent’s worth of information to someone dehydrated and dying of thirst.

---

Post Word Count

411

Total Word Count

998

Tagged

@Shinrei Yamato

When she asked that question, he seemed to stare at her for a long while, but she didn’t know why. She hopes it was for the reason she wanted it to be- and indeed, it seemed so.

“Yeah, you do…an old friend, a flame, someone that I was jealous of their power. I know this is sudden Baliquis but once the storm passes by would you like to grab a bite to eat? In exchange, I will answer whatever questions you have to the best of my ability. I feel something that draws me to familiarity with you and if my memory serves me correctly…your clan has been here in Hoshigakure for a while. Was there anyone in your clan that went by the nickname of Geni?”

The storm around them and the gazebo were continuing, and it was prominent, but the words Yamato spoke seemed to make them fade out into nothing. They didn’t matter. Not this Gazebo, this storm, the scent of flowers on the wind, or even this village. None of it mattered.

Everything paled in comparison to the knowledge she could get from this situation. “Sure; I would not mind getting something to eat.” Baliquis started, but with his mention of their clan, she wondered- did he mean the Hozukis or her mother’s clan? Either way, she knew perhaps where the name came from.

“There was a priestess who took the name ‘Lady Genosis’ within our temple where I stayed, yet when she went out into the Shinobi world from the temple, she took on the name ‘Genevieve Oasis.’” Baliquis said, “I suppose that could be shortened down to ‘Geni’- However, I do not recall her as such.”

“I simply know her as her birthname ‘Izayumi Hozuki’, but to me, she was just ‘Yumi’, my younger twin sister.” Baliquis said, then asked,

“Did you know her well? "

---

Post Word Count

313

Total Word Count

1,311

Tagged

@”Shinrei Yamato"

Baliquis watched as the man came, sat down, and seemed smiling. How much did he know? Thankfully he seemed talkative, so she would not have to lower herself to the level of torturing answers out of him. Bali wouldn't want to spoil whatever appetite she could muster up to eat with him.

Every passing day? It drew harder and harder to register if she was hungry at all, let alone if she had eaten. Food was beginning to lose its taste as well. She wondered inwardly if it was some type of sickness or illness, but it did not matter either.

Losing her sense of taste if she could get enough power to annihilate a whole shinobi village would be a small cost to pay, in her opinion. There would be many steps, but Baliquis knew taking shortcuts were short-term solutions, band-aid solutions to bigger issues, so treading carefully and planning ahead would be best. Like right now, with Yamato. As they talked, all she could think about was remembering and filing this information away, then followed up with the alluring question, 'how much did Yamato know?’. Then what to do with him afterward?

“Yes…yes I know Izayumi, the best female shinobi I have ever worked with.” He said, and he leaned his head back, not impeding the rain from falling on him, “When we were first introduced, she actually did not see much of me…I was a simple child, and quite literally a soldier…I think I was eight when I joined Team Winter…I was a different person then, with a different name.” He voiced then added, “Yet I thought she was beautiful and honestly thought if I tried my hardest, I might have a shot…funny to think about that now though. So Geni…Yumi is your sister?” Then he asked it: “What happened to her?” Anger flickered in her mind first over the use of the intimate pet name,

“You are not welcome to call her that.” Baliquis said icily as she narrowed her blue-grey eyes, “Call her as you know her or by full name…However, in regard to what happened to her, I am still looking into that myself.”

“A few weeks ago, her corpse was returned to the temple she left to join the shinobi world, the official branch of it.” Flashes of the day flickered across her mind, and Baliquis pushed them out, “I did the funeral rites. I was told she died of natural causes. Her children came to view the body before I had it cremated. Unfortunately, the shock was too much for the children, and they had heart attacks.” Baliquis took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly,

“Originally, Izayumi was meant for the position I hold within the temple, but she did not want it. When the shinobi came looking for priests to join their forces, I stole this position out from under her so that she could be a part of your world- the Shinobi World.” Baliquis said and added icily, “And the Shinobi returned my sister to me as a corpse. I am looking into what killed her, but as far as I am concerned at this point? The shinobi of Hoshigakure killed my sister.”

“There are many questions that remain, and their answers she took with her to the afterlife…when I took this position within the temple, I did so on the condition that I renounced my family and was forbidden to speak to or see them anymore. I had people watching her. However, those same people were killed and left within various parts of my temple or their quarters and homes, perhaps as a warning. I lost track of her for about four years before I got her corpse. I am trying to piece together a timeline; which is why you find me here, in the Water Gardens, rather than at the Temple where I am meant to be… under close supervision.” Baliquis softened and said,

She wanted to scream and shout. Baliquis closed her eyes to focus on calming herself even in her seemingly stoic state before she could see it-

She could see images of possibility. Of how she could get up, lunch across this shitty little gazebo, and grab him by the throat, or rip his adam’s apple from his throat with her nails alone before burying them into the hollow of the hole she would make as if digging to remove his thyroid herself manually. A disgruntled, depraved back-alley, laughable imitation of surgery without its care for complexity and safety. “What information I can offer in exchange is limited, unfortunately.”

---

Post Word Count

765

Total Word Count

2,076

Tagged

@Shinrei Yamato

“That…is terrible to hear…I am at a loss for words currently….” Yamato said, and she just sat there, “Baliquis…I know I do not speak for the entirety of the village, but you and I are…alike. I witnessed the deaths of my family without answers to questions raised due to the problems brought on by the village. If the answers you seek are here, you should look for them; I have a different path that will eventually lead me out of this place eventually…The reason I am speaking so plainly is because I am disheartened by the knowledge of hearing of another member of Team Winter’s demise. However, I am no slouch, and if I may be of some service, then I will do whatever I can so that you may find peace.”

Peace? He wanted to help her find…peace?

“What I can offer is even more limited as the way Geni had presented herself…she was not the easiest to approach, but she was family to me…I…no, we…we will avenge her.”

“Our mother was the kind that wasn’t meant to have children, and our upbringing was strict, So I hope you will not judge the Geni that resided in your memories too harshly for being unapproachable. We all are to some degree.” Baliquis said simply as she looked down,

“The only thing keeping me here, I suppose, are the answers I’m trying to look for.” Baliquis said, “There are only some things I know. I was able to sneak out of the temple to go and watch her when she participated in the Chunin Exams…It was the first time I saw her in years, and the Shinobi said she lost that fight.” Baliquis scoffed, “You sit in front of me and mourn ‘another member of Team Winter’s demise’- every day that I walk among you, it sinks in deeper in deeper how you shinobi think.”

“She did not matter to the shinobi. She did not matter to Hoshigakure or to this country. What happened is that she represented a number in your military force. She was my entire world, but to all of you, she didn’t matter. Just like how in her Chunin Exam, she summoned some sand monster and a dragon, and yet she still lost when those others didn’t do that.” Baliquis’s eyes hardened when she looked at Yamato,

“I’m not interested in avenging the person the shinobi or Hoshigakure thought she was. I’m invested in learning how the shinobi and Hoshi viewed her and what you all saw. I want to know the side of her that she made for you. I want to see what my life paid for, and I want to see the entirety of what was stolen from me, even if it was just a facade.” Baliquis said,

“Where did she go? What did she do? How did she act around her teammates? Was there a boy she liked? Or a girl? I know nothing outside of the Geni, you know, besides the chunin exam and the fact that I have her children’s corpses in a storage freezer and her ashes in an urn… I appreciate your well-meaning and your words, but I want more. I want more than people to look at me and see my sister and then be left hollow when they realize I’m not her and I cannot fill the void she left to any degree.”

---

Post Word Count

566

Total Word Count

2,642

Tagged

@Shinrei Yamato