[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

Akatsuki would not respond immediately when her name was called from the stillness that had settled after the shinobi had fled the scene, relenting finally after Sozin applied enough force. Eventually, they saw reason. But she was not alike her usual self--as though in a trance--it would not be immediate that she recognized Sozin had called out her name until he'd approached her.
    It was not the violence--for Akatsuki had seen much of it in her life. She did not easily lock up or become frightened--not at the prospect of being hurt or even of losing her life. But this was... something else. She couldn't quite identify it properly--but she understood it. And a part of her knew what she had to do--
    She did not understand Sozin's actions, or his motivations, or hardly anything about his behavior. She did not despise him, neither was there disgust--not toward his actions or his words, even as he spoke carelessly in an apology. I don't care what you did, the thought came as she tried to steady her shaky breaths, but she shook her head. I'm not afraid of you. I don't hate you. But still I-- She took a few steps back. I can't do this. We can't keep doing this. "I--"
    Akatsuki didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to say it--there were too many words to speak, and she didn't have the voice to communicate all of it effectively. She was uncertain if it was even worth trying. Did she tell him? She didn't want to. Self-preservation clung to her--she wanted to bury it deep down and never open up the box again. Turn away and pretend to forget--to flee and run away and go somewhere she'd never be found--
    "I think I--need to be alone." It was bad timing, she knew. Sozin would likely be mislead--thinking that she was afraid he'd hurt her, as though she were some timid, gentle woodland fairy who grew disturbed at the prospect of death or violence. Maybe he'd even think that she was upset since he'd been trying to protect her--and a part of her was--but he'd be wrong in all of it. She wasn't sure if it'd upset him, or if he'd get offended--she doubted it would hurt him--but the quell inside of her begged for abandon. 
    But she felt, more strongly than anything, that she needed to leave.

@tag | 400 Words | Notes:

Blue Text - Tsuchi Branch Kyōbō Only
Pink Text - Sign language
Violet Text - Common Language

Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

Was she paralysed from fear? His instinctive reaction would be to calm the whispers at bay - and she would be free of them. Yes, had it been other people, he might've used it to apply pressure. What he wanted from Akatsuki was trust - and trust couldn't be bought, it couldn't be mined, it could only be earned. Sozin was growing impatient with how long she was taking to enunciate her point and it would be audible in breath by his own exhalation.

She wanted to be alone? "Are you sure? Have you even slept?" He still needed to look for... "Let me look around for you..." Sozin would try and phrase it as if it was for her own doing. "The tent could be used. I think they have ... sleeping bags." Sozin would use the opportunity to go and actually have a look.

Inside the tent - well, more of a yurt, was enough room for a few people. Hole cut through the top: firepit in the middle, several sleeping bags strewn around. It was still dark... darker, even. As he squinted - he did see a table that had been set out. How long had it been here? He got closer, nearly fumbling into it. Oh. It was made out of... wood? Was this a jutsu? He couldn't tell. But as he ran his hands across the top he could make out the form of a stack of papers - was that his? He couldn't tell. He would grab what he could by the fistful and exited the tent.

"The tent is free to use." Sozin wouldn't explicitly offer to leave, but in the moonlight, he would audibly sigh a relief. It was his documents. Yes - strewn out, looked at. But together. Then - a few more rifling through the papers, matching them a certain way: and a second. "Good. Good." Sozin would

But unless she did anything else - move past him, leave... he was going to start a fire and get this all destroyed. All of it.

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

"I'm sure--" she spoke quickly, responding before Sozin could even properly finish his own thoughts. She hadn't slept--he could easily have called out her own bluff, or lie, or feint, or whatever it was that she was doing. She knew she was exhausted, she knew that getting some rest was wise, she knew that she should stay by his side--it was safer in numbers, after all. And if he wasn't her enemy, then she should have enough reason to trust him for the time being.
    But she could not bring herself to.
    "You're--" she didn't trust him. Something had changed in her mind, and it was winning. She crossed her arms--hugging herself tightly, she looked traumatized by. Something. "You're better now, and you don't need me. You're strong enough to fight, so--" that's what he was trying to communicate, wasn't it? If he was so insistent that he needed to be the one in charge, and that he had the power to fight and do everything else, then-- "You'll be just fine. So, this is goodbye. I'm sorry we met like we did. Take care."
    And, if she was not stopped, she would walk away from the scene and not look back.

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Pink Text - Sign language
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Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

She was trying to speak and he found himself for the second time being annoyed by the time it was taking for her to formulate thoughts, even if he did understand and sympathise to a degree that she had not slept.

Sozin wouldn't let her leave just like that. "You need to sleep," He was being incessant. It had been over a day - 24 hours, if not longer? He had been watching her for the last few hours and she was only as useful as getting them to their destination, but now she had done that - and her purpose had been used - she needed to take care of herself. Disappearing into the woods? "You'll freeze to death, damn it," was the voice coming from the direct internal monologue in his mind.

'Arm. You're needed. Go to the temple.' A voice rang through his mind. 'I'm busy.' Akira would respond, as she was speaking - trying to get him to. So much going on. 'That was not a request, cretin.' Sozin wanted to sigh but then the communication back might've been heard, and he didn't want to risk that. He needed Brain off his communications so he could focus on. This.

'I will be there. I'm injured, so I'll be in the morning, most likely.' Fuck. Fuck. It wasn't 12 hours to the temple. But there was no response - they must have known. The Brain always knew where Akira was. Fuck. "...I have to do something with these papers and... you can be alone. Rest here. I'll come back for you in 2 days. I need to get them back to Kusagakure. I promise." He would be back, as he promised. She didn't need to leave.

Unless he could delay it? Sozin could communicate back... but no... he had his own priorities. Servitude to Akui was more important than Akatsuki. A thousand times over. She was secondary to his God. What if they needed him for something important? He needed to do this. Needed her to not die, too. His face was a show of stress as well, with the competing interests at bay.

'Get her down. Get back. Come back.' That was the mantra.

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

She needed sleep. She knew it was true--her exhaustion was felt more thoroughly than he could ever know. But, still, every part of her wanted to fight him--hating this--insistence he had over her care. Acting like he knew her better than she did-- "I won't freeze, damn you--I've gone through so much worse than this--stop acting like you know anything!" The two grew increasingly more frustrated with one-another. It was not the first time that she had traveled through the snow in the dead of winter--she knew the harshness of the world better than he gave her credit for. And she resented his insistence that she was weaker--less than she was--
    "Your promises mean nothing to me," she yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes as Sozin tried to force his plan upon her. He'd allow her the peace she requested--and he'd come back for her, he promised. She knew Kusagakure was further than a two day's travel. She knew she didn't have enough supplies to survive on her own for another two days--the winter season was always the most dangerous, and it was times like these that she relied more heavily on the resources provided by towns and cities. Travelling through each one like a constellation--but it didn't matter. Even if they weren't in the middle of nowhere, even if they were in the safety of a town-- "And I won't be waiting for you! I'll leave--and go somewhere far, far away where you'll never find me, and I won't even do so much as leave a trace for you to follow. So go--away! And leave me alone, dammit! I don't need you, either!"

@tag | 276 Words | Notes:

Blue Text - Tsuchi Branch Kyōbō Only
Pink Text - Sign language
Violet Text - Common Language

Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

Why - WHY was she acting like a child?

Her anger was actually fuelling his in return. Some things... never grew old.

Sozin was weary of the response. Why leave her issues unaired - why even bother nursing him back to life? Why care at all? Fuck the Brain. They wanted him to fail, so he could be punished. It would be a sprint for a long duration - he wasn't quite at health in order to make a journey in any reasonable amount of time. So it would be at the behest of injury. But he had given himself a timeframe, spoken too soon in a moment of stress.

"You just want a snow coffin, don't you?" Akira spoke bitterly. "You have a camp, you have a bed - even when there's no fucking fire you'd rather hash it out in the fucking snow and dark where you'd throw your life away." He didn't wish it upon her - didn't desire it for her. "You're not even putting your goddamn miasma to use-" Akira just wanted here to sit it out. This was a camp: they had likely been here long enough to set up a goddamned yurt with equipment inside, they also likely had supplies if they hadn't been taken or foraged away by natural predators.

"I can be your ward but god forbid I try to intervene with your saviour complex," He would run his tongue along the inside of his scarred mouth as he grew closer to her in his harsh angry words. This was meant to be pleasant, why was she ruining it?

The reality of life was often most dissapointing.

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

Akatsuki stood there, her hands curling into fists as he yelled back at her, and she felt her temperature rising--the beat of her heart raising in its tempo. You just want a snow coffin-- "Damn you," she muttered. "My miasma doesn't keep me warm, idiot, all it does is hurt--" the words slipped before she could catch them. He didn't know what he was talking about--acting like he knew her so well. He didn't. If her violet flames provided her warmth, she'd never turn them off and she would have scoured every inch of Yuki no Kuni without any fear of frostbite. If her flames provided her warmth, she would not bother wearing warm clothes during the winter. If they provided her warmth, she would not have slept by Akira's side clinging closely just to feel his heat--
    It just caused her pain.
    It was why she could walk on a broken leg. It was why she could laugh with broken ribs. It was why she could push through and carry on despite all hell slamming her down to the ground--she could hurt, she could break, she could fall--
    --But she always had the strength to get back up again.
    To carry on despite any agony.
    Even when every odd was against her--
    The violet flames were not a fire--they caused her great pain, and it was only through her tolerance of it that she was able to use them at all. She was used to its sting.
    Other people were not.
    "What I do with my life--" she bit back, frustrated, "--does not matter to you. If I die quietly somewhere--you will not know, and it will not affect you in any way, shape, or form." She'd given up on trying to kill herself--she'd already decided that she was going to live. But, still, it was a difficult thing for her to argue to him. She couldn't, really. All she could do was--
    --Try pushing him out, turning him away so his eyes would be blind.
    "And you're not interfering with whatever you think is going on with me--all you're doing is trying to strip me of my autonomy and being an ass."

@tag | 364 Words | Notes:

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Pink Text - Sign language
Violet Text - Common Language

Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

Apparently she would stop herself from devolving into baseless back and forth, even if it did ... give him more understanding of the heretic God's fire powers. Not fire. Miasma powers. "But you're here, not somewhere." but if she truly cared - she would have stayed. She was just being difficult. Here nor there - she was a vagabond. A vagrant. If it was so important to her that she needed to travel then she should haven't had asserted she was going to settle down in a village.

"Fine," He would say. Fine, she might've responded back. "Have your fucking autonomy," he grumbled lower.

"I'll be back in a few days." Akira would grumble at her. Him leaving might've been the catalyst for a cranky child who needed to work through their anger. She wanted space? Fine. Let her have all the fucking space in the world. Akui was more important than her right now.

Before he went, though...

Add one more crime to the list: he would take some clothing from one of the lesser torn but still dead Shinobi. Just a flakjacket, outer clothing: not revealing raw skin to the world. Then some weapons. Then, he would finally be outfitted. There was- a glint.

His knife!

Sozin would pick it up. A sigh removed. One less thing to worry about.

He could - would leave now. "If you die, I'LL KILL YOU!" Sozin would depart there, and take off, walking. He would need to speed up soon enough - but he would wait until he at least left her vision for him to do that.

A new panic set in: get to the temple on time.

chapter 01.
fin.

[brief intermission]

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

Here, there, somewhere-- "I was somewhere," she returned, her voice wavered--bitter, still, but less emotionally charged. A different emotion. The memory was still fresh in her mind--even after a year had passed, the torture had been etched so thoroughly in her body that she could not erase it. She had been crucified--and she could not even say, with certainty, that she hadn't died at that time. "But it didn't matter, then, and it wouldn't matter, now. Whether you know about it or not." So she'd prefer he didn't know.
    Sozin fought with her--frustrated in his own right, which was fair of him. Bitterly allowing her to have her freedom--begrudgingly, and with anger. Moreso at her behavior than her desire for liberty. "Thank you," she'd snarl back.
    He would begin gathering his things, muttering in his frustration at her.
    --He would be back in a few days.
    "--I won't be here," Akatsuki retorted.
    The man grabbed his things and began to leave, before shouting a threat at her--
    "THEN KILL ME THEN!" Akatsuki would yell back, her words likely falling on deaf ears. "I DARE YOU! YOU WONT." It didn't matter. It was needless yelling from two tired, frustrated people. Even as she yelled at him, and he yelled at her, she knew, for some reason, for something she couldn't understand, that he did care about her. Angry at her lack of care--but caring nonetheless. She didn't want him to care. She wanted to write it off--say that it was just a generalized empathy. Or maybe it came out of pity--because he thought little of her. Like she was some little, weak, pathetic--thing that he was compelled to take care of. But she wasn't as convinced, anymore.
    And she didn't know what to do about that.

---

A day would pass from that time. Akatsuki had spent most of it sleeping, after Sozin had left her. She'd rested for longer than she would have liked to, but she knew her body had needed it--and while she hungered, she felt better after waking up. She wasn't certain for how long she'd been unconscious--but she hadn't been murdered in her sleep, so there was that, at least. Whatever the case, she figured that wherever Sozin was--whatever he was doing--she'd not given him enough time to return, yet.
    The young woman would look around the yurt upon waking up; searching for resources. She had some dried crackers with her, but if there was anything that she could take to add to what little supplies she had left, she would. She checked for spare clothes--if there was anything left behind that Sozin had not already taken for himself. If there had been spares, it was likely there had been enough for more than one person--
    --There had been fifteen of them, after all.
    Akatsuki cared less for armor--shinobi flak jackets were of no interest to her. But warm, layered clothes--
    --Her clothes were pretty warm, and she was already wearing plenty of layers, thick wool lined with fleece. But, also, she'd been covered in blood. And while she could manage--she'd spent a great deal of time traversing the wild in less than ideal situations--though it was often her own blood, rather than someone else's, that she was drenched in. Still, if she could change into something clean--she always preferred.
    She took better care of herself than Akira probably gave her credit for.
    Still, she was... uncertain. If she should actually stay here and wait for him, or keep true to her word and leave everything behind.

@tag | 590 Words | Notes:

Blue Text - Tsuchi Branch Kyōbō Only
Pink Text - Sign language
Violet Text - Common Language

Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

[several hours after this thread]

Sozin turned up earlier than he had expected. They had intended to keep him twenty four hours, after he had arrived and for him to fulfil his promise, to show up in two days for Akatsuki would not have been possible. It had actually been a consuming thought for him, knowing she had let her down in the past. So, he was travelling back at pace.

Though, for several hours - he did not adorn the eyepatch now being fully healed. Healed, but back to being in a state of tired from the jog he'd upkept for several hours. His body was in better shape: everything was more oiled and in general, he was more resistant. But while he was improved, there were things he wished weren't.

More trauma ridden, he supposed. Anger had taken over - his memories during his jog back reminded him of the beat of his body against another.

---

"Stop- STOP, I'M TELLING YOU-" Akira kept on pumelling. Grabbed the Tongue's head with his own two hands, and began to rock it back and forth against the hard rock. The Brain stood back - still. But, where they had been still before: Akira had been too in his own attacks to notice they had moved several yards back, retreating from the arm. That was even further than the distance the Tongue's powers reached. The way the poison was exuming into the air... Akira didn't care.

His own body was falling apart, the poison clung to him like a disease in the way his body was just pushing through the pain. It stimulated him: and though he knew he had succeeded yet again in causing a death because the Tongue began to regenerate, regrowing where the head had previously been, he pinned the being down at the throat - his own body falling apart by the poison eating away at his body. Raw, unbridled fury: screams of death. He had been through this with a Bijuu. He had been through it all this time and he persevered, body alight with energy - he had never been this far in and he was SO alive.

And... he kept attacking. Body falling apart or not.

---

It was hard to think about anything else. The edge of the pain still hadn't receeded from his mind. There were - stages of pain. A scratch. A punch.. a stab. But what they did? It was unlike anything. There was blinding hot white, unconsciousness levels of pain. But what they did, somehow scratched something at the insides of his soul, a static that was so physical, yet could not be touched by a hand.

And in some ways, he craved it - like when you were missing a tooth and you know you shouldn't have, but keep running your tongue along the space that was in pain. But he never wanted to feel that again. Didn't think anybody would have been able to coax that feeling from him again.

It was harder still to shake off: even during his jog he found himself rolling his head around his shoulders and trying to pull the muscles in any direction as if to try and ease the stress from them. Before he did get to the camp though - it took him a bit longer than he would have liked, since he had left in the dead of night and was returning in sunset - the landscape looked different. But, as he arrived at the landscape, the yurt - the eyepatch was readorned to his face as a feature.

It was better this way.

But - one thing at a time. A sigh of relief, since it was no longer pitch black. "Akatsuki?" Sozin would call out, loudly.

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

The morning would come after the first day, and Akatsuki stayed at the camp. She knew she had time to think--though if she spent too much time contemplating it all, undoubtedly Sozin would arrive at the scene once more. She could question, and think, and lament for days--she knew--so she'd have to make a decision before then.
    On one hand, she could wait for him. She didn't understand why--but he'd demanded that she stay put, and he'd promised that he would return after a couple of days.
    But Akatsuki had more experiences with him lying than him telling the truth.
    Though--she understood, to a degree, why he did. Flooding her heart with empty promises, building their friendship on white lies--he paved a road of torment and suffering, with only good intentions in mind. It was why--it didn't really matter to her, if Akira returned to her after twenty-four hours or three weeks. All that mattered was--
    --That she couldn't understand why.
    And every time she believed him, trusted him--he only hurt her in the end, and she was left feeling--used? Naïve, more than anything. Stupid.
    No, I already decided to cut him out of my life, she thought to herself, taking in a deep breath as she tried to find her resolution. I didn't say goodbye, then, and I don't need to say it now. It's fine if I leave. It won't hurt him--
    But he'd be disappointed, wouldn't he? Upset?
    Only upset because he can't control me and tell me what to do. He certainly hadn't asked her to stay--not nicely, at least. She couldn't even say, with confidence, that it was what he wanted--he was still, probably, motivated by some. Sense of obligation. Pity, maybe. Because he thought so little of her--not any actual concern or desire. Just--begrudgingly, annoyed, feeling like he had to. After all--it wasn't like he actually wanted to be around her. She'd found him, and even that--it had been a coincidence. It wasn't like she'd been following him, or had fought the remaining shinobi to keep him safe--
    She'd been there for herself, and fought to protect herself. Finding Sozin afterward was--just.
    Fate.
    Or something.
    Akatsuki stood at the edge of the camp site, her gaze fixed out into the woods as the sun began to rise. I don't want to hurt him, either. If he asked me to stay, because he didn't want to lose me, I would. If he told me to wait for a hundred years for him, I'd stay patiently in place just so he knew where to return. I'd do just about anything he asked if I knew it would make him happy. She closed her eyes and took in a sharp breath. And even if he was yelling and being a complete ass about it, he did tell me to stay put. Which isn't the same as asking, but I know he was probably just too upset--or maybe too stubborn--to have actually just asked. And I shouldn't give in to his demands--because I'm not going to engage with him if he's going to act like that, but I know it's still just his... poor way of trying to communicate that. And I'm not--
    Akatsuki sighed, shaking her head a little.
    Sozin means nothing to me. And I know I already left, and I said I was going to leave, so I should stay true to my word and just forget about it. And him. And just--leave him in the past. I know he'll be just fine without me. I know he's not missing me. I know he doesn't need me. I have no reason to listen to him. But, at the same time. She furrowed her brow and pressed her lips tightly together. I'm also stubborn. And if he's. Trying--even if it means nothing to him. Even if it hurts me just to be around him. I won't so easily give up on him.

---

Akatsuki had made up her mind, but she was snarky and passive-aggressive even in her decision. When Sozin arrived at the scene, he would not find her there. He could call out her name, and scream and yell--and he would be met with no response.
    She had left. Just as she said she would.
    Though, her footprints would be in the snow--visible and easy enough to track. And while she'd walked away from the scene, she hadn't gone very far. He'd be able to find her easily enough--seated on a tree stump, braiding her bloodstained hair and using a sheet of frozen ice to provide her a reflection.

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Pink Text - Sign language
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Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

Akira stepped out the clearing as he broke free of the trees and onto the cracked fresh snow. A new layer had parsed out over the land and it had covered some of the bodies. Though the night would be shortly breaking into darkness - he had a bit of light left in the day.

The lack of response from his environment told him that she had gone.

Really - Akira was tired. Numbed. Defeated, at least mentally and emotionally. But - he was older than he once was and the decisions that would have led down darker paths into alcoholism were no longer present. Perhaps it was the stabilisation of his hormones at the older ripe age of the thirties. He had let Akatsuki down before and it didn't surprise him that she had left. There was no basis for him - or reason for her to stay. A sigh broke from his chest. He slowed down. He took his time to walk to the middle of the camp site.

And he moved into the tent. Started a fire. It wouldn't hurt to stay here another night so long as he didn't need to fight or stay off any newer predators. When that was set, since they had been smart enough to gather and dry out firewood (that they no longer needed in death) for him to get a billowing, cackling fire going. It was smoky to begin with, but it would settle as he exited the tent, coughing.

So instead Akira would look around - he found some of his other items. Bound together, his kunai. Cold to the touch - like it felt his skin would adhere to it if he held onto them too long. Then, somehow, the shinobi bodies were not... doing too well. He would slide a holster of a corpse and onto himself: and then pocketed his own equipment and shook the snow of it from where it had fell in the previous day.

Even in spite of his raw soul being bared, it was already healing. Some food - back on to his quest and he would be right as rain. He felt like a Nukenin. No responsibilities... and a nobody travelling across the nations. He felt very free. The sky dotted with stars and a beautiful gradient of blue into dark purple as the sun disappeared.

Akira would ground himself - that started by turning his head down... and noticing a track from afar. The herald turned his body. It was a different direction: a set of tracks that had not been made previously. Now, he was no tracker: but he remembered Azarea's words and some small teaching about tracking in the snow... and he set off. They didn't appear to be that old, though his inexperience could have meant it had been a full day; but maybe it would lead to a town and he'd have a clue?

What was the point?

Akira would give up before long, but until he did he carried on the path... watching out for blobs of darkness amongst the trees. And she would be there: what he'd thought as a still branch for a lonely tree until he saw its movement. There was wind as well, so it wasn't exactly howling but the movement was too unnatural and he recognised it as the form of Akatsuki.

His younger self - the less matured version would have easily reacted with anger and defeat, though he had been annoyed with her earlier (the day prior) right now he was just... done with it. Whether she'd done it out of pure stubbornness 'i'm going to move a hundred meters that way so it breaks your rule' while also staying there.

Or maybe it wasn't her? Still, she would have known of his return sooner - because light and smoke dotted into the sky, and an orange glow would outline his own figure: dimly, given how far away he was. "You stayed behind." He could have focused on the fact she might've been stubborn, and he came out with something... neutral. Just in case it wasn't her.

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[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

Akatsuki would hear him approach before he'd even speak, and she would keep her back turned to him--not immediately looking at him as he spoke up. Her hands would waver--for but a moment--before she'd eventually finish putting her hair up. In truth, she didn't know what to say. She'd thought about it--for the past couple of days, she'd thought about nothing else. Her mind had been consumed entirely by him--if it had just been Sozin, things could have been different. Easier, perhaps. Still confusing--but less painful, for her. Even now, she still... didn't know what to do. Not with him, not with yourself.
    She'd stayed. "I did." It wasn't what she wanted to say--but she didn't even know what that was. Should she try to give a justification? Give some reason for why she'd stayed behind, other than simply because it was what he'd wanted? She could have--for better or for worse, she did have some last words to give to him, even if they were short and seemingly childish in nature--it would have been important enough to her to depart the knowledge to him. But, still, to act like that was the only reason she was still here felt... insincere. "I didn't want to." Another truth. Not even for their fighting--she was less mad at him, though no less frustrated with the situation than she'd been when she was tired. Simply... better at hiding it, now. 
    The young woman would turn her head, slightly--not fully looking at him, but he'd almost be able to make out her profile.
    Her voice was quiet--meek. Wounded. Uncertain--and hesitant. "Why... did you come back?"

@tag | 271 Words | Notes:

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Shin of GS + Adox

[Deleted]

That was a good question. A fair question. One that deserved an answer. There was what should have been perceived as a sleight: but she did stay even if she 'didn't want to'. So... why? But - she'd ask the question and that deserved first response.

"I promised." Akira responded. Had that not been enough justification?

It did provide all the rationalisation behind how he had made some of the choices he had in his past several months: inhabiting a body which wasn't "truly" him. But, even still, it instilled why he couldn't share that information. Not without the comfort of being safe. But all of the people, had she not been the most true with him?

There was no quantitative method or formulae that would give him the statistical comfort he needed as to whether or not her truth included any mention of his name. Truly: information was a vital tool. Oh... he was too tired to think these thoughts. Only - it was not physical in nature but a psychosomatic response. Akui's gifts were plentiful to those who followed it. So perhaps more literally his faith fed him in this case. "Were you able to rest?" There felt like a very physical wall between them, and so Akira remained where he was. When she answered, he would tailor his response there. But - curiosity beat out another question from him. "Why did you stay?"

Akira was better dressed now and as a result while he did feel the cold, it did not effect him as much. But - to be out here for several hours? He couldn't do it. He needed the warmth - but he could at least make her comfortable and wrapped up in a bed of sleeping bags if she needed it. He only needed the one... and the fire.

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{Spoiler}Add any jutsu, relevant information here

[Akatsuki]

 

- THIS IS THE END OF ALL HOPE -

"Deathwish without a prayer"

That's not a good reason, she thought. Well. It was. Promises were important to her--even hasty, spiteful ones shouted in fits of anger. She tried to stay true to her words, so that anything that fell from her lips was as trustworthy as any promise or swear. She had her moments--and that was why she held her oaths and devotions to a higher degree--but she still tried to live her life as authentically as she could. And, so, she... appreciated that he was keeping to his word, too.
    But, still, it wasn't the answer she wanted.
    But why did you promise? Why did you want me to wait for you? I don't understand your motivations at all, and you're being elusive and mysterious-- she closed her eyes tightly and sighed. --Just like always.
    "Yes, I did," she spoke quietly in her answer, and when he gave a question of his own, she wouldn't respond immediately. In truth, she wasn't... entirely sure. She'd had half a mind to leave--she'd almost convinced herself to, even. And she wouldn't have felt too bad about it--their official titles weren't anything of any significance to one-another. A councilman and a vagrant. Like a prince and a pauper--they were of two separate worlds, and there was nothing that connected them. She knew otherwise--but that truth had been discovered, not established. And even that--had been a complicated, messy string of feelings that she wasn't certain quite what to do with.
    But what did she say?
    That she didn't know?
    She'd done nothing but spend her time thinking about it--all the reasons why she should leave. All the reasons why she should stay. She didn't know what to tell him.
    "The eyepatch I gave you; it was a gift from my brother. He made it for me, so... it's important to me." One of the only tangible things she had left of him. "I'm letting you keep it--but if it gets destroyed, I'll never forgive you." She didn't look at him, instead turning her attention back once more to the world away from them. "I wanted to tell you that." It was a truth. "And." And. "I suppose I'm... still trying to figure out what I think about you. To see if... perhaps I was wrong about you, and..." she'd pause. "I can't learn if I don't... even give you an opportunity. So... I stayed just to... give you a chance, I suppose." It... only seemed fair.

@tag | 409 Words | Notes:

Blue Text - Tsuchi Branch Kyōbō Only
Pink Text - Sign language
Violet Text - Common Language

Shin of GS + Adox