[Kuronmeru Hideo]

It is the beginning of another morning for Hideo. It always begins the same with him painting the visage of the Jounin Hanchou people would see everyday. They didn't get to see his messy hair or tired eyes. The golden boy of the Kuronmeru made sure not even his clan members could see his bear skin beyond the face that looks down upon even them. Layers upon layers, Hideo dressed himself as the song of the rising sun rang through his ears.

The lyrics spoke of his duties, of his desires, of diminishing returns if he didn't prepare this portrait of a person to meet the Kuronmeru standard that some might say isn't healthy. For him, vitality was found in defining the spaces between perfect and derelict. Life came from strength, death only need wait for those that succumbed to their weakness. So as he applied his coal lotion, the song was sung through his mind.

All the little duties, all the petty responsibilities for his day-to-day bound the bigger, more important tasks he tried to undertake when he could. The hymns of exalted choices carried a beautiful tune compared to the belligerent bellowing of menial doings. Swallowing his disdain for what was to come and securing his clothing, the golden boy would finish putting his face on and calmly left his little world.

Where there was serenity, he used frustration to accelerate his steps towards stoicism by stepping into the real world. Walking through the compound, giving it a once-over to make sure its cleanliness was up to standard, the serenity washed away so that cruelty could come. As he passed over one of the bridges of their compound, it was there that he would see his pitiful little brother.

"Enyo." A cold regard. Hideo's arms laid still like frozen pendulums and there was no love found in his icy eyes. There was a time he feared for his brother, cared for him even, but that was the frailty and naivety of adolescence. Now, Hideo was grown and knew better. Was better. Enyo probably felt the same, which is why he has been such a spicy child. Hideo needed to meet his quota of checking his little brother's respect levels.

Despite being so detached, there was a murmur buried within. It wasn't legible enough to understand, so it was swallowed deeper as Hideo mentally checked Enyo.

[Kuronmeru Enyo]

blood as black as the ocean

Enyo had woken up earlier than the rest before the sun had dared to come up from the horizon to soak the village bathed in mist in some sunlight, right over the mountains. He stretched and dressed appropriately, taking great care and time to insure that his hair was in a perfect ponytail and that his face looked fresh, his skin pale but vibrant. It did not matter that he was not someone who held a high position in the village, did not matter that he was not like Hideo, Inei or their father. He would rise early, he would dress and make himself up so nicely that no one would think that he was different from the other men in the family. The men who were held in higher regard.

He felt jealous, horribly green and envious towards the way their father treated Hideo and Inei. It was markedly better, even if the seeming disdain for the two elder sons was still there. Enyo hated that he had so much to prove just by the luck of being born youngest... At least he was not Shiu, who climbed a different mountain entirely with his red blood and cold body. Their father was no more approving of the Yuki bloodline than he was of Enyo's constant failures.

The genin had come out onto the compound outside of the family home to train a little bit, having gently cut himself so that he might better learn the ways of the kekkei genkai. If he bled he could learn to stich himself up with the blood perhaps, it was something he knew was possible.

Black ichor dripped from his palm as he tried to force it into thin beautifully crafted threads to try and stitch his palm back together when his brother arrived to regard him coldly. Enyo looked up, he knew the voice it was one of the most familiar voices in his world.

"Hideo..." There was no respect, he respected at a distance. But their father expected them to fight and on this cold winter morning Enyo did not feel any different in testing his strength against his eldest brother. The concentration was gone and the blood in his palm dripped down to the ground.

"What do you want?"

Kuronmeru Hideo

aeron at thq