Faithless of Fear

[Willoria]

Faithless of Fear: Part I The drink had dulled his wits and mind to damn near nothing, even seeing anything was such a burden that his eyes naturally closed. He could feel the pressure on his loins and chest and hear her simple breaths, yet that sweet nectar of drink that had already burned his throat now pulled his awareness into the dark. It was a simple thing, a falling sensation, a pull into a night that his mind would deem bliss as his consciousness simply slipped away. As his thoughts slipped into dream, he cared for nothing else save what he dreamed of, for this simple happiness, this simple bliss, was exactly why he turned to the drink.

---

A memory of a simpler day and a simpler time came to the forefront of his mind. Sitting at the table with mother, father, and sister they all laughed at some silly joke and then his sister piped up to tell them about some new critter she had seen. "I saw this adorable little fox!" she cried out, giggling in absolute joy as she spoke of the animal. "It's ears were huuuuuge! His head looked so tiny! You should have seen the look he gave me!" she continued to coo.

Young Arata looked at Akemi and grinned as he teased her. "Tell me you didn't bring it home! We don't need another one!" he said, verbally prodding at her as her smile turned almost instantly to a pout.

Akemi huffed as she crossed her arms and their mother attempted to hide a snicker behind her hand, and their father grinned as the scene played out before them. "No.... it wouldn't let me close enough to get it." she answered, clearly upset that this apparently adorable critter had no desire to become her pet.

Their father laughed, a great guffaw of a sound that, as always, caused both of the children to flinch as it surprised them. "Oh, Akemi! It's probably for the best, maybe he had his own little family to return to?" he asked his daughter, watching as her frown slowly went away and she thought about it a moment.

"True, I would have hated it if I had taken him from his family." she replied, giving her father a small smile as the man reached over and took her little hand in his large one and winked at her.

"Exactly. Families are meant to stay together." he told her.

---

Arata rolled over in deep sleep, smiling in his dream as he drooled on his pillow. He took no notice of the lovely young woman who was now to his back, clearly flustered by how his attentions had come to an end in his abrupt unconsciousness. She huffed and puffed as she gathered up her clothes and even threw a wooden sandal at his head.

At least it had been aimed at his head.

Instead it landed a foot away against the wall and to the ground, where she retrieved it from quickly before huffing her way out of the room.

Arata raised his head long enough in a half-asleep witless stare to see the door closed before grumbling his way back to sleep.

---

The two siblings, a bit older now, sat at a table together. Both still wore black, Arata in a simple pair of slacks and kimono shirt, while Akemi wore a full kimono dress that reached her bare feet, decorated in pale red flowers. The day had been long and the siblings could hardly even look up. The dining room table seemed so empty without the parents and no matter how hard they tried the two close siblings just could not make up for that empty feeling. Silence had reined for well over an hour before Akemi finally spoke up.

"Remember the time father dropped ice down the back of mother's dress?" she asked quietly, her eyes still fixed on her hands that were folded on one another on the table before her.

Arata couldn't help a slight crook to his lip as it tried to form a smile but didn't quite make it. "Yeah... mother was so angry at him she not only pouted for an hour, she guilted him into making dinner for the next week." he replied.

This time it was Akemi who began to smile and her eyes finally lifted to look her brother in the face. "Remember how terrible those meals were?"

This time Arata snorted, his eyes lifting to his sisters as a slight sparkle returned to them. "Yeah... he burned the miso so bad we were sick for two days."

Akemi grinned as she leaned forward and took her brother's two hands in hers. "How does someone even burn miso?" she asked, before the two fell into laughter.

Their laughter rang through the house for what seemed like an hour. Whether either were still laughing about the same thing or not afterwards wasn't certain, but either way the two went on for some time, fueled by one amusing memory after another.

When their laughter finally did begin to quiet, Akemi spoke softly into the eerie silence that seemed to follow. "We'll be alright, won't we?"

Arata took her hands in his now, giving them a light squeeze. "We will, we still have one another after all." he answered her.

---

Arata hardly felt the tug as the blankets were yanked off of him, he didn't even feel himself being shoved or the shouts telling him to wake up. He felt none of it, for where his mind was he was still with his sister, he was where he wanted to be.

---

All he saw was blood. It was on his hands, his wrists, his arms, and his clothes. He turned and picked her up by the shoulders, pulling her into his lap as the blood even bubbled from the corners of her lips. "Shhh." he told her. "It'll be alright, you just stay with me, Akemi." he told her, he begged her. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and even from his. He reached to touch her face with his fingers, frozen as he saw the streaks of blood he had left on her flesh.

Akemi shook her head and reached up to touch his face as he stared. "It's... okay... we have... each other..." she whispered.

Yet a moment later he didn't have her, a moment later her hand fell to her side and the light left her eyes. Arata could only stare, he didn't even know he was screaming her name, he didn't know he was shaking her, or that he was begging her to come back.

He thought he was still frozen.

---

The ice cold water barely splashed on his face before he was up, his hand on the offenders throat and the other hand held a blade to the pale flesh of the neck as the girl gasped in horror and barely managed to speak. "S-s-sir... your... your time is up..." she stammered.

Arata blinked a moment and glanced around the room, reminded that he was in yet another brothel, that he had yet again fallen asleep before completing the task he had paid for. With a grunt he sheathed the blade and tossed the girl back, nearly tossing her off the bed. He stood and dressed without a single word and downed the drink at the bedside, and a moment later he was out the door.

[Willoria]

Faithless of Fear: Part II The sun was only just beginning to rose, her grand flaxen robes splashing about the grassy plains all around, her sweet kisses of ginger and rose caressed every grain of sand as the people of Sunagakure began to rise. Yet one man sat on the edge of a rooftop, the home below long since abandoned to decay of wind and earth, his childhood home. As beautiful as the sun was as she rose, he saw not her, he saw the face of another as the tears slipped down either cheek and the drink in his hand had long gone warm. How long he had sat there he wasn't sure, but he knew he should welcome the warmth, he should worship the rise of the sun, but he'd have none of it. Suddenly the drink flew from his hand and shattered on the empty street below as he bellowed his curse. "Fuck you!" He stood and stumbled backwards, wiping the tears form his face as he took a few steps towards the middle of the roof, and looking up he would swear she was there before him. "You were supposed to stay..." he snarled under his breath as hands fell to either side of he and shook in a rage as his fingers curled into fist and clenched. "FAMILY IS FOREVER, AKEMI!"

From within his robe he withdrew what appeared to be a hand-rolled cigarette and lit it, the smell coming from it was far sweater than any tobacco, with almost a thickness to the scent. He looked over, swearing she was glaring at him with disapproval and he made a sound through his teeth of absolate disdain. "Don't you start! You're the one who left! You swore to me you were alright! You were supposed to be okay! You could handle yourself, right?! Well look how that turned out!"

The tears were flowing even more now as the man dropped to a single knee, the rolled cigarette hitting the ground with a light 'hiss' of a sound as he shook his head. "You were supposed to be safe with me..." he whispered, his head slipping into his hands as his shoulders shook a single time, trying desperately to choke back a sob. "You should have been safe... this village... this Kazekage..." He spun suddenly and shouted at the sun, as if all his woes were laid at her feet and done in by her hand. "WHAT GOOD ARE ANY OF YOU?! SOME GOD YOU ARE! YOU COULDN'T EVEN SAVE HER!" he screamed, his desperation evident in his voice.

He was a man in a village of faithful, with no faith of his own. His faith was lost the moment her life slipped between his fingers. Even now he could look down and see her blood on his hands. "You preach faithfulness... if we only believe in you, the Kazekage, the village, if we're only faithful then everything will be fine.... WELL IT WASN'T FINE WAS IT?! SHE STILL DIED! YOU NEVER HELPED, DAMN YOU AND YOUR FAITH! DAMN YOU AND FUCK YOU FOR LETTING HER DIE!"

If he had anything else he could throw in a rage he probably would have. But his hands were empty, even his weapons were back at his apartment. He turned away from the sun, putting his back to it as he turned to stare at his sister's ghost he could swear stood in front of him. "I wish you'd speak..." he said quietly. "I don't care if that would make me crazy... if you could say something... say anything... god I don't care what it is, I just want to hear your voice..." his words trailed until they were barely a whisper, and the man dropped to his knees in front of her ghost. "I can't do this, Akemi... I know you'd hate me if I did it... I'm a coward already... I just can't do it because you'd hate me... I'd never see you again..." He was a broken man, falling to pieces in front of no one as he slowly laid on the ground that was the roof of his childhood home.

Today was the one day when the tears flowed freely, one day a year he came here and let it all go, let it all out. Tomorrow he'd be the cynical asshole the entire village knew the faithless samurai to be. But today that armor fell to pieces and he became the boy who lost his closest friend, his last remaining family.

"Please Akemi... Just a word, that's all I ask..." he wheezed, begging a ghost that wasn't even there to give him the solace he so desired.

"Without you I have nothing left... there's nothing left to fear, little sister... I have nothing..."