Confrontations

It was time. For standing in a place so familiar, Kouji felt unbelievably foreign. Like an invader, something that didn't belong in a beautiful suburban area in front of one house amongst many. Anyone passing by wouldn't see his fixation, the building didn't stand out from its surroundings. Just another home, just another family. But it was his family, and he needed to have words with his father. And yet... he couldn't move.

He'd been standing there for over an hour, staring at that door. A door he had gone in and out of hundreds of thousands of times. He'd grown up passing through that door. Each time he passed through he was a little taller, a little braver, a little smarter. It wasn't something people typically thought about. But a home, a house, a building, holds almost infinite history. Where a person could last a century at best a building could last for millennia, or at least centuries. Their perspective was unbiased and silent, only their wear and tear truly marking the passage of time and, of course, their change in inhabitants. He wondered what the building would say if it could speak. Would it swing open that door, welcoming his coming defiance? Or would it slam shut trying, even in vain, to hold him out to stop him from making a massive mistake? It was time, he thought again. But this time, he actually moved.

He marched somberly across the street and opened the door softly, not wanting to announce his presence quite so soon. He knew where to go, where his father would be, and his feet led the way. It was long before he opened another door and he had arrived. His destination? His father's study.

"Kouji? I'd have expected you'd be resting up for your next set of missions tomorrow. To what do I owe the pleasure?" His father greeted him, nose firmly pointed downwards as he read a book on his desk, not even gracing his son with the courtesy of a look.

"Why?" Kouji asked, unable to form more words than that. Each letter was a weight against his tongue, each syllable a ton that somehow still fell past his lips.

"Why what, son? I think I've taught you to be more eloquent than that?" His father replied, still not looking upwards and merely gestured to a chair opposite him.

"Why... have you been lying to me?" He forced the words out, his words coming out in more of a cough than anything else. He hacked each one out, each slightly easier to say than the last but his throat felt rough, like it was thick with sawdust.

This time his father did look up, a single eyebrow raised and a bemused expression fully settled upon his face. "I have no need of dramatics, boy. Say what you need to say, but mark that as a warning if you keep this performance up."

Anger swelled inside Kouji's chest. It made his heart feel hot and bursting. But he kept the sensation in check, molding a small amount of ice chakra to soothe the growing heat brimming within him. "It's not dramatic if it's the truth! How can you sit there and pretend like nothing is different that nothing has changed? Like you don't already know why I'm here? I have an uncle? Why have you never told me?" His hands tightened into fists as he spoke, his trimmed fingernails biting into the insides of his palms. It seemed the coolness of the chakra flowing within him wasn't enough to cool his temper, to soothe this coal of anger burning a deep wound inside of him.

His father merely sighed and sat back in his chair and gestured once again at the chair beside him. "Are you going to sit down? I figured we would have this discussion like adults. Uncle or no, you're still a Masaki and there is a certain way we behave. Or perhaps I need to take your training back in hand again...?"

The words sat there floating in the dead air, a warning or a promise. In either case, only a fool would ignore such a thing. Kouji walked stiffly over to the seat and put his hands on top of it. His nails found purchase in the wood this time and he was grateful that at least it would take his abuse instead of him continuing on until his palms were bloody. But he didn't sit, he just stared at the man who raised him, a defiant look in his eyes as he raised his chin and nostrils flared with barely contained anger.

His father sighed again. "Very well. I suppose that's fine enough, but remember you are always a reflection on the Masaki name, never forget that. We have a lot to live up to, and now you know, a lot to make up for. Your uncle was... a mistake at best. But at least he's in the ground now, and by a Masaki hand no less. I no longer need to avoid the Mizukage's eyes, or even the rest of council for that matter. Regardless of how you're currently feeling you've done our clan a great service."

"Our clan?" He replied angrily, "Our clan is only the two of us! Barely a blip in the wind let alone a proper family inside of Kirigakure. Unless you've been lying even more to me? Perhaps we have more relatives hidden away somewhere? Am I only going to find out when their blood stains my hands again? How could you?!"

"Theatrics." His father said, a firm warning in his voice as he shook his head at his son. "I will have none of that. Speak with me calmly or you'll get no answers at all." He paused again to let that sink in before continuing on, "No, there are no more relatives for you to discover. No grand secrets hiding behind the wool I've supposedly pulled over your eyes. Your mother did die in childbirth, we have no other living close relatives. Your uncle was the only one. If I could I would have struck his name from the very annals of the village history itself! He was a blight upon our name and household and I won't apologize for treating him as such. I'm honestly surprised you haven't deduced the reason for yourself yet. You always were a bright boy, use that brain of yours before making wild accusations."

Kouji began to tremble, it first started in his hands, then traveled up his arms until his whole body was shaking slightly. He had to hold onto the chair, his fingernails digging even deeper for purchase in the wood. This time so he could simply hold on and not let go and either fall or strike his father. The man was infuriating. Could he not see what his lies had wrought? Or how useless they were? He spoke slowly, his voice dead with the ice inside of him, not betraying the fury that begged to be released from within.

"You're seriously telling me it was all just to protect our family name? Yes, the man was a terrorist, but he was still a Masaki! No one deserves to be treated like that. He may have been mad but in the small time that we spoke I could see he cared for this village. He just went about it in a different way than the rest of us. He was misguided, yes, but a blight...? He was your brother! How could you simply toss him aside? Will you do the same to me once I stop being of use to our so-called family name? Once I'm no longer a source of pride for you, but a disappointment? You-"

Pain. He was on the floor, and he couldn't figure out how he had gotten there. It took a few moments for him to piece together what happened. The consistent sting in his cheek was a giveaway, as well as the heat that radiated from the new hand imprint upon his face. His father was standing now, towering over him, to any other eye he would seem calm. But it was a deadly calm, one Kouji had learned over the years that betrayed a howling rage thrumming within him. His own anger seemed to pale in comparison to that and the furious winter in his father's eyes. He felt like a child again, weak and useless.

"Don't you dare speak to me of him. You know nothing of your uncle or the pain he put me and our family through. He was raised just like me, just like I've raised you. Taught to sacrifice everything for the village, that is what being a Masaki is. We might not be a large clan, especially now, but our loyalty has never been in question, never! That is how we help in ways beyond what even the largest clans can manage. Every single Mizukage has utilized us and trusted us completely. Your uncle betrayed that. He betrayed everything simply because he couldn't handle our position under Hoshigakure! We fought and fought over it. He just wouldn't see that with this the village would be no more, and so for the sake of our village living on we have given up our pride to serve another. Each day we carry on is a victory, and it protects each and every person that lives within these city walls. Instead, he sought to rid us of them, not caring who he hurt in his quest, and not caring that without Hoshigakure's protection, we would cease to exist. We would be overrun in due course, nothing but a bit of dust in the history of the shinobi world." He paused for breath, now fully looming over his son, the desk no longer between them.

"You don't think this decision hurt me? He was my brother! We were raised together. But even a shred of doubt on our name, our loyalty, would hinder our effectiveness to the village, it would hinder our duty. Our course was clear, the only option left before me. I had to cut him out, scratch his name from our family tree, and expel him completely. Only such a drastic action could possibly save us. And it did, barely. It took time but trust was placed back in us, and I led many aims to hunt down the rebels, trying desperately to put an end to him and the remaining disgrace on our name. But I never could. If I couldn't accomplish it, how could I ever expect you to do so? I still don't know what pulled him from hiding, or what would cause him to attack citizens directly, let alone in the slums. But that doesn't matter, it's over now, and I hope you can treat it as such." As he finished speaking he turned and headed back around the desk and sat again, as if he had never risen, never stuck out at his own flesh and blood.

A long silence stretched between them. The dead air stretched on and on, a void waiting to be filled. The silence was almost deafening and total, filled with so much unexpressed words and emotions. Finally, Kouji stood back up, slowly, and let his hand fall from his heated cheek. He stared again at his father, trying to puzzle the man out, to somehow reach him and reach beyond his flawed logic. Finally, he merely said, "But why lie to me?"

Anger flared behind his father's eyes again and he stared at the boy. He let them do the talking. The silence continued to stretch on as a league of meanings flashed between the two of them, no words spoken and yet so much communicated. Kouji held his gaze firmly, not backing down but finally, not letting his anger seep in. This went on for moments turning to minutes until finally his father let out a sigh and looked away. He swung his chair around, with his back facing his son, a clear dismissal. But as Kouji left the room, after standing for a moment to comprehend his father's actions the head of the Masaki clan spoke again. "One day you'll understand. One day you'll know the full weight that comes with being the head of our clan. I wonder if you'll judge me then? Or if you'll hold onto this sentimentality and be as quick to judgment.  I wonder..."

As the last words settled on him Kouji kept walking. There was nothing left to say here. Nothing at all.

WC: 2,104

Exit:

Max Stats:
21 x 2 = 42 bonus AP (New total bonus AP: 503)

Training:
338 WC One Handed Seals (the rest learned here)

25% max stat discount:
750 WC Kori E No Mizu C rank
1,016/3,750 Talented (Ninjutsu)

Kouji Masaki wrote:

WC: 2,104

Exit:

Max Stats:
21 x 2 = 42 bonus AP (New total bonus AP: 503)

Training:
338 WC One Handed Seals (the rest learned here)

25% max stat discount:
750 WC [urll=https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t53175-kori-e-no-mizu?highlight=yuki]Kori E No Mizu[/url] C rank
1,016/3,750 Talented (Ninjutsu)

Approved