Starring:
Date: April 28, 2013
Summary:
Hibiki witnesses the gruesome powers of Masanori's scythe, only to come to conflict over the incident.
"Bubbling Tar"
Boneyard Gardens [Kirigakure]
The night is late and yawning. Stars scurry away, tucking themselves behind fast-roving cloud. The moon shines every now and again, blades of light chopping through the dark. The garden - in its shine within the flashes of moonlight - is bright and shut, only a few flowers awake at this sunless hour.
But a few there are, blooming like twilight itself, unfolding its scent into the night. It is these Hibiki is interested in.
The boy is standing before one of the open plants (white, dagger-shaped petals pushing, pushing into the Stygian beyond for some nocturnal creature to help spread its pollen), bent at the waist, staring into the symmetrical swirling depths of the flower, his hands tucked into his coat. The night is humid, but layered with cool, a mist weaving about the calves.
Masanori had a bad case of migraine yet again. So he went out into the cool humid air. The nourishment the humidity gives his body relieved some of the pain, but not all of it… "Blood." He just whispers after the weapon told him… he know what would get him rid of the pain… Blood… But he just came back from a small war, he wasn't going to get to another slaughter. Chi-o-nomu is becoming more and more thirsty.
"I can't offer you a lot, I made a vow not to hurt these people. It is not in our interest." Another jolt of pain, as if a dagger pierced straight through his skull. When he arrives at the gardens he doesn't even notice there's someone else. He simply saw three crows circling above the place. And it's over in a flash, he was on the ground at one time, and the next next moment he's sitting down on one knee, three crows fall down, each of them had their wings cut clean off. With Masanori pressing his scythe slowly into their bodies, getting as much blood out as possible, trying not to waste a bit. For him, it's ecstasy.. release from the pain, however short.
In the cotton-footed tiptoe of night, it is easy to here the intrusions of another, especially when words are involved. Hibiki darts behind a tree the moment he hears Masanori rustling into the gardens, the Genin watching the as other talks to himself, then leaps into the air, slicing the wings from several crows. But it is not the blade the boy is interested in.
Hibiki's mouth widens alongside his eyes as they witness the absorption of blood through the scythe, and the tension relieved from Masanori.
The youth stays still, eyeing the event, until - near its end - he takes a step back, unintentionally snapping a twig.
It is not a generous sound, but - in the cool, empty dark - it is certainly there.
He freezes.
Masanori suddenly looks up. His chuunin guard thought he was sleeping. If he would be out here counter-sneaking up on him… Masanori lifts up his scythe and disappears into the dark night. There's total silence. Especially if you look where he last was… well, he's just not there anymore. But when you turn back to look the other way he's right there in front of Hibiki. Inches away.
"Looking for something?" Masanori says coldly, staring at Hibiki with a slightly angry undertone. The blood still sticking to the blade, slowly being pulled up and into the skull. It's a very slow process, when fighting humans it's accelerated, though with this little blood the weapon has to work to get each trickle in. "State your business…" Masanori says while staring at Hibiki.
"State my business?"
The boy's surprise at the rapidity of Masanori lasted only a sprinkling of time, gobbled up now by insouciance. Hibiki shakes his head, a grin pecking at his lips.
"No, no, no. Our business is of no concern to you. But your actions are of great concern to us."
The boy leans closer, a whisper tumbling from cheeks so vivid in the moonlight, vigored and pink.
"Does the Mizukage know of this? That your weapon drinks blood?"
"The Mizukage knows everything he needs to know, and everything he asked about. Chi-o-nomu will not be raised to his villagers. Meruin, my supervisor is somewhat aware of the workings of the weapon. So you don't need to worry about it.." He sounds firm and slightly angry even. He's protective of his weapon and word spreading would mean his weapon would be an object of interest, something he has been trying to avoid. "Do we have an issue?" He asks sharply, gazing down at Hibiki with a tone of authority. Not that he actually has any, but maybe the tone is enough.
Hibiki stares forward into Masanori, breaking the other's tone with the stoicism chiseled into his chin.
But it cracks.
In fact, his whole face cracks, the boy's laughter hacking into the sky. It lasts a time - the worth of how humorous Hibiki found it to be - but as the cackles fade to chuckles, a hand begins to protrude from Hibiki's chest, to no concern or discomfort of the Genin. The hand - much, much similar to his own - slowly reaches into the boy's coat, and draws forth a kunai, the shining end pointed at Masanori.
But swiftly the hand flips, tossing the kunai in the air, holding it now towards Hibiki's chest, a straw grin cut along the boy's mouth.
"What a pity then - in this grand, dead escape of darkness - that no one would be about to know whether or not you actually did assault a villager with that weapon."
Masanori chuckles while watching Hibiki make the threat. "Don't be foolish." Masanori says firmly then, grabbing Hibiki's third arm's wrist, pulling it back, to divert the kunai from his body. "If you want to die so be it, but let it be by someone else's hand. There is no greater dishonor than pointlessly ending your own life. If you wish to die, give me the word, and I shall raise my scythe." He sounds dead serious, to him it feels like a moral obligation.
"As if death be any escape but for the foolish. Now dislodge your grasp, or your wrist will be taken."
The boy does not seem vexed by the situation he's in: the frivolous disconcern of mania. But surely there is - or can be seen, in the sticky graces of moonlight, the clouds becoming less and less and the moon more and more - assurance in the boy's eyes — clarity, perhaps. Vigor, certainly. He looks as youth should: young.
"Hibiki is feeling rather tenacious today, I assure you."
A thick grin slides its way onto the corner of Hibiki's lips.
"Besides: would it be worth killing me to know that Meruin would be chasing you?"
Masanori seems… irked by his threat. "Boy, I said my scythe will not be raised at the villagers. His right hand moves swiftly, attempting to clasp around Hibiki's throat, pinning him by the throat up against the tree, before sliding him up so his feet are off the ground. "But a boy who hung himself won't warrant investigation." Masanori says, staring at Hibiki through his mask. His free hand slips into his pocket to pull out a kunai, ready to block Hibiki should he decide to try and cut Masanori's wrist off. "Now, I said I mean you no harm before, and I meant it. But if you wish to harm me… I will not hesitate to end your life for you…" He leans in slightly. "Free of charge…" Masanori holds Hibiki in place (if he got hold of him at all) until Hibiki at least calms down or stops struggling. The pressure on his throat is big, but not big enough to inhibit breathing all together. "Now, will you seize your empty threats, so we can converse like normal people?"
That quiet voice, would reach out from nearby shadows of Masanori and Hibiki. The tree having been the latest spot he had picked up in terms of watching the two. There was no ticking, Time Keeper was either hidden, or not active yet. "Mayhap, Masanori, you should put him down? If you have not particularly noticed this eve.. he is not normal in a common sense. He is unique, like you, in his way. There for, should still be treated with respect. I understand the particulars of youth may be foreign to you. However I really advise that the physical part ends, now."
Masanori remains calm under the voice. He however doesn't release the pressure just yet. "He's not in danger, merely restrained." Masanori says calmly. "And while things are foreign to me, the fact he has his quirks hasn't gone by me either." Masanori gazes up into the tree. "This is not my first encounter." Masanori keeps his gaze fixed on Hibiki. "And he has nothing but my respect. That respect has kept his kunai from striking himself down." Masanori speaks completely calmly. "Now, take away his weapon, and then we can talk about me releasing the pressure. I fear for his life otherwise."
The grin has not left Hibiki's face since Ishino arrived, but now it is filled with humor, and angst. The boy doesn't fidget as he's held aloft, only a small choke keeping his breaths from being full. Slowly, two kunai slide from within the unfilled edges of his coat, and from his chest two arms begin protrude, their deft fingers picking kunai from within the boy's coat, until there are four edges aimed at various parts of Masanori.
"Hibiki pities you that you think we would harm ourselves to serve any piece of your doing."
The boy's eyes flicking upwards towards Ishino in the tree.
"But perhaps your respect is better served for others."
Ishino shakes his head slowly. "It's very simple now. Everyone lets go, and that's that. I respect you both enough that I haven't used genjutsu to end this. I'm telling you now to end it. Otherwise that will be my next step." Ishino launches off that branch, landing off to the side from where the two were at, Hibiki with the multiple kunai, Masanori with the grip on Hibiki's throat. Ishino's eyes were hard, narrowed as he'd look at them. "I am not fully sure who's fault it is that you two are to this point. In the end, I don't care. Let go. got it?"
"As a meditator of peace, you're doing a bad job." Masanoni explains, nodding at Hibiki. "Hibiki is holding a kunai to himself, I'm stopping him. And all I get is a threat. From two people.." He smirks behind his mask. "When do you people learn threats don't get you very far… If he dies, it's out of my hands." Masanori says simply, releasing his grip on Hibiki. "I'm at my quarters if you need me…" Masanori states, turning around, even defying Hibiki's kunai threat by turning his back on him. Though his ears are sharp. He's ready to block if something comes his way. He just doesn't show it. "Good night.."
Hibiki drops to the ground, the grin following Masanori away, a plain face regained once the man of tar is departed. The two protruding hands and the usual hands all tuck their kunai away with the empire interior of the coat. The boy looks over at the other.
"A fool, we're afraid. Calls you a poor mediator of peace, yet-"
The youth spreads his arms to the dark, encompassing gardens.
"Here we are."
A chuckle escapes the youth, who shines with a bit more than vigor now, a thin sheen of sweat gleaming his face.
"And quite a propostrous lie. As if I would harm ourselves for the face of that one. We think he is too dangerous to be in our village."
Ishino shakes his head slowly. "There are plenty of dangerous people in the village Onkyou-san. You, me. Masanori-san. Everyone has a potential threat." Once Hibiki stood down as well, he'd finally ease out of that guarded stance. "Considering what he has gone through, I would like to ask, if I may as a personal favor, please do not continue to push him, ok Onkyou-san?"
