Starring:
Date: August 23, 2010
Summary:
There is a chance(?) encounter at Kirigakure's lake between two children. Their relation ship takes an undefinable turn
"An Unlikely Bond"
Kirigakure's Mist Lake
The day is cold, almost bitter in its bite, as though it felt the world had leached its heat and sought to steal it back. The wind howled in one moment and mourned in sullen moans the next, the lakes looking almost sepulchral in its eerieness, the mists that were battered by the winds curling into ghostly hands and ghoulish visages.
Meruin sits in a bare tree, the branches bereft of foliage and creaking in stress as the wind pulls at it. The seven year old looks out over the lake with glazed eyes, facial expression distant. He wears nothing more than his usual silk shirt and leggings, not seeming to notice the cold as the wind tears through it. Two spiders, fist sized, lay on his shoulder, hunkered down for warmth and rest.
And Sekisetsu? Well, this would make an awkward day, the girl being seen entering the area in an old black Kirigakure jumpsuit, rolled up at the sleeves, and legs and appearing to be really baggy on her person. Of course, for the cold, the girl had been wearin some sweats beneath it, as she would walking into the lake area, haphazardly. It was a day of wandering for the student. She had went to the academy for the first time in a week, and she had been in class, just seemingly to get out the house. But while her body was class, her mind, well, that had been somewhere else. Now for most people, that seemed to not be so strange for Sekisetsu anyway, the angry girl often being rather absentminded anyway in class. However, this time had been different.
Thoughts had ran through her mind, the most important ones she could ever think. It had been self reflection, and the first time she had ever done so ever. It was awkward for her to be this quiet. Normally, even when she was alone, she made enough noise for anyone around to know that she was there. However, a slow step, and a rather darkened demeanor would be brought into the equation this time around. Eyes had bags under them left by lack of sleep. Her face drooped, and for the least part, she looked tired.
Despite the soft approach of the listless girl, Meruin heard it. Her slow, dragging steps had not been loud, but they were enough for him to catch on in one of the bouts when the wind died down, noting that it was not of the natural sounds the lakeside gave off. His head turned in her direction but his eyes remained staring off into the waters, as though unwilling to turn their attention away. He managed to drag his gaze from there to Sekisetsu, placid eyes recognizing her and quiet.
When arriving, the girl would plop to the ground, and then fold her arms, her head hanging for a moment, before she would say, "You can come out now. I won't hurt you.. not now, and not ever." being shouted. Had she known Meruin was around? That seemed fairly weird. Her voice had been loud, true, but it hadn't contained the usual brashness that it normally contained. It was more just to get his attention. After all, it made no sense for Meruin to be around, and for her to ignore him.
Meruin jumped down the the tree, walking towards Sekisetsu with a slow ambling step, his face as implacabale as falling snow, unperturbed by the realities of the world around him. His smooth gait, graceful in the sickly manner of spiders than than the sinuous one of snakes, took him to the front of Sekisetsu. The small boy sat on his haunches, knees to his chest in a manner most young kids stop to look at a particularly interesting bug or pebble, thugh his expression showed none of that.
It would make Sekisetsu cringe at how close Meruin had gotten to her. Not only that, but while he seemed to look upon her, as if she had been some kind of specimen, or a weird creature, his face would seem to be the weirdest thing Seki had ever seen. She would soon began to return the same gesture, sitting on her haunches, and staring back at the nin, rather observantly, like he had a mole or something. She would, however, be alot more interactive, as she would take and pinch his cheeks, at both sides, stretching them, to see if this had been a mask of some kind.
Meruin simply sat idle, letting the student examine him, showing a bit of her personality in her lack of scruples and inhibitions. His eyes simply stared at her, their misted depths slowly swirling with a grey mist, greens and purples melding with the glaze. After a few long moments, the corners of his lips twitched up in a mirthless smile, the rest of his face unaffected by unusual motion. "You are a foolish girl," said the boy. And then he leaned forward and kissed her.
It was funny at all to actually see this whole interaction. For a moment it seemed that these two, weren't ninja, but actual kids that had been curious about how their own faces work. It was something that was both rather cute, and at the same time, really, really, really odd. If any hardened, ruthless Kiri veteran had been looking on this, he would probably have been prone to either scold them, or have them lashed, for cuteness. But none had been, and for this reason alone, the naturalness of kids at play, would seem to flourish unhendered by the limits and ties of real life.
For a moment, in Seki's world, life hadn't been so rough for her. She had been, for the first time in a while, finding something entertaining to do. As Meruin would call her foolish, she would cackle in laughter, and push him playfully. Or least that was what was supposed to happen. Sekisetsu had never gotten to the pushing part.. She would be kissed. Right on the lips that had managed to curse him, threaten him, insult him, and scream for his head to be stuffed on a silver platter. Sekisetsu would freeze, and then turn red, steam seaming to boil inside her, and come out her ears, not out of anger.. but pure, and utter shock.. Can you believe it? Shock.. from Sekisetsu. She would push Meruin away, and cry out, "EEeeeeee!!!", still blushing as she would seem to scurry back, to a tree, and cling to it.. Petrified!
"Un-freakin-real!!", would be shouted as she would stare at the boy, as if he had been some monster.. What in the world had that been for? She wasn't exactly scared of Meruin, but the fact that Meruin had done this, was enough to make her wet her pants. "What- In the- hell?!"
Meruin automatically leaned forward and dug in with the balls of his feet at Sekisetsu's push, the mvoement making him slide back a few feet from the strong girl, but otherwise leaving him stable. He watched as she clung to the tree, face still smooth, still untouched as he examined her with a placid gaze. He settled his forearms on his knees, hands hanging between his legs. And he waited.
As Meruin would look to her, waiting, Sekisetsu's grip of the tree unloosen slightly, and then she would look the boy right in the eye. His glance. He had kissed her, and yet still, here he was, just as stoic as always. She would think for a moment, and then look to him more. He was testing her.. yet again. She would look to the boy, with a gaze that was extremely suspicious. It was one that would probably have seem to cut daggers into him, but nothing of anger would be behind it. "So.. yet again, you have something more devious behind this. No wonder I hated you. You seem to always be thinking. Never anything spurt of the moment. Just.. plotting." She would come to a plop as she would sit near the tree, and sigh. For a moment, she would have actually been at least surprised if Meruin had did this on impulse. But knowing they way he had been in the passed, Seki wasn't going to believe that this was actually him being… funny.
"Actually, I had not decided to do this until this very moment," said Meruin, the quiet boy's voice ringing high and pure. "I have decided to observe your reccomendations, Sekisetsu. I am doing what I desire to do, for the first time." The seven year rose to his feet in a single supple motion. "And I have decided that you are mine. It is so. Recognize this." With that statement, he turned and began to walk away from the lake, leaving both her and the horizon behind.
The girls jaw would drop, as she would look to the boy, and try and figure this out. Had Meruin gone nuts? What had he mean by, 'your recommendations'? She would look to Meruin cluelessly. "I told you.. to kiss me?? Why in the hell would I sa—….Ohhh…Oooohh…….. EEeeh?!!" Looks like she was remebering. That day at the gardens. Her favorite tree, that seemed to look over the Land of Water's capital. Her /real/ home. Meruin, had remebered. But had it really drove him to do this? Really? Had this boy liked Sekisetsu that much? She would look to him and say, "I think you might have taken what I said to you just /alittle/ to far in the wrong direction." Sekisetsu seeming to be on the defensive. This was getting a tad bit on the creepy side.. "Besides.. aren't you younger than me?"
"You are one year my senior," said Meruin, his voice floating over his retreating shoulder. "And it makes little difference. It is done." His voice remained smooth and supremely confident.
And with that she would seem to march off, steaming, before saying, "You won't see it now, but give me 2 weeks, and soon, you'll find yourself either in the hospital, or in the grave!" And with that she would began to march off like a little angry dwarf, walking out of the place, and looking toward home.. But just before she would seem to exit the place, she would seem to utter alittle giggle. For some reason, this whole thing, had made her fill better. Meruin had listened to her advice, probably alittle more than she did her own self. In the end, did she really want to kill the kid? While the words she used seem to say yes, the blush on her face seemed to say no. "A shame he has to die.. the little rodent's kind of cute when he's like that.", and with that she would seem to began skipping home.
