Octopus's Garden

[Infinites]

A loud annoying sound filled the air, humming and beeping, and ringing and all kinds of sounds that would make you grab your ears in pain. However Yanagi was still sleeping, halfway on the floor. From his waist up he was laying on the floor. Well, the back of his shoulders were supporting the rest of his body from falling, but he was mostly lying on the floor. His other half was still on his bed, half covered by his covers. Inside his room it was as loud as it could possibly be, he had at least ten alarm clocks set up to get him up today, of course they weren't working. Yanagi's hearing was fine, but he could sleep through an earthquake when he was tired. Nobody would even notice he hadn't gotten up though. Yanagi's room was soundproof from the inside. A precaution his mother made him take when he started to take up drumming.

Yanagi turned in his sleep and fell off the bed, this finally woke him up. But not in a very ideal way. He had landed on the ground with one of his alarm clocks slamming right into his crotch. He quickly rolled onto his back, writhing in pain and holding his lower regions as he rolled back and forth on the hardwood floor. He came to and realized what was going on. He looked at one of the alarm clocks as he turned of it's alarm. 12:47PM. He missed breakfast, and lunch. He'd need to make his own food to eat now, as his dad would be long gone and his mom would have gone out to do shopping. He slowly walked around his room and turned off all of the alarm clocks.

When he finished he walked out to the kitchen to prepare himself some breakfast. He looked around for what to eat. It didn't really matter, he just needed something. So he poured himself some cereal. The little marshmallows floating in the milk made him feel childish, but it tasted good. But still, the box had a picture of a bright purple bear on it, he couldn't help but feel like a little kid.

Yanagi went back to his room when he finished and took a set of clean clothes from his dresser, tossing his current clothes into the dirty clothes pile on the way. One hot shower later he came walking out of the bathroom feeling fresh and clean. At least as fresh and clean as a guy who creates ooze from his skin can feel that is. He walked into his room as he dried off his head and hair, draping the small towel around his shoulders.

When he got to his room he made a B-line for his old wooden drums. They were worn and the paint was long gone, but they produced a warm solid tone that Yanagi loved. He ran his fingers across the thin drum head. One could feel this drum set's age easily, but it was the drum set that made the best sound in Yanagi's opinion. He sat down on the small stool in front of it and picked up a pair of drum sticks that were lying on the floor near the set itself. He started to tap out a quiet beat at first, one that seemed to flow peacefully, for drums anyway, and drip lower and lower. Then Yanagi slowly raised the volume of his playing, more and more until a thunderous roar rang through Yanagi's small room. He continued to follow the beat in his head, he had it memorized of course. He was playing the drum section to one of his favorite songs as the other parts played in his head.

He stopped suddenly, deterring from the beat to play the same note repeatedly, this was the best part. Yanagi broke into the drum solo, pounding away at the old drums and cymbals. Near the end of the solo he added in his own contribution to the song by following up with a quick fill before returning to the beat of the song. Once he finished the song he leaned back on the stool and stretched his back and arms. "Good morning~" he half yawned as he did so.



~2 hours of playing later.



Yanagi placed his drum sticks down on the snare drum and stretched his arms around. About now they felt like they'd been doing hard labor. Which they pretty much had. Pounding away at drums with skill takes a lot more energy than it looks like it would. Back on track here, Yanagi stood up and left his room, closing the door behind him. He needed to rest his arms for a while. If he overworked them they might cramp up on him while playing. Would not be fun.

Yanagi walked down the hall into the living room and plopped down on the couch in the living room. Today was so boring. Like everyday lately. Yanagi needed something to do, and he knew it. Practicing all day got him closer to being a better and better drummer, but sitting around doing nothing all day got him closer and closer to being a recluse. He eyed the door for a bit, thinking over his choices. Drum, go outside. Relax, go outside. Eat, go the fuck outside. He didn't really have a choice, once the thought entered his head he knew he was going to be going outside.

He slowly raised himself off the couch and walked over to the door. He stood there for a moment, staring out at the village outside the small window near the door. As he watched for a few minutes some people walked by. He sighed to himself quietly as he pushed open the door and pushed himself outside. I'm going to regret this... He had no idea....

[Infinites]

A Day in the Life - Part 1

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Blah.


Blah blah.

This was all Yanagi felt like he had heard the last three days. The world had just become plain annoying. Between running errands for his mother, practicing his drum playing, catching up on his jutsu, a mission here and there and meeting more and more people that he cares to keep track of, because his mother just shoves him out the door, Yanagi was just plain exhausted. He didn't want to talk. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to think.

He didn't even want to play his drums. Now, that might not seem like too much, but to Yanagi that is giant. Drums have always been Yanagi's way of escaping, doing something he cared about, forgetting everything. When he played his drums, his pent up feelings just seemed to drift away into nothing. Now, it may seem strange that repeatedly banging his drums over and over again without any of the other music to the song would be relaxing to, well, anyone. But to Yanagi it was sweet sweet music. Anytime besides now that is. He felt unnecessarily annoyed with everything. He just wanted everything to go away or awhile.

Now, I should give you some more to go on here. Now, what I meant by a mission here or there is that Yanagi did the bare minimum of missions. He didn't want to go out and do all that stuff for people he didn't know. He rarely did stuff of those levels for people he did know. It was just awkward and annoying to have to help someone you didn't really care about. Well, for Yanagi at least. Some people liked that stuff. Then again, there's a difference between people and a person.

So because Yanagi did so few missions, he was always getting bugged to take on more. To take some initiative. To have some passion, and "show why he was a ninja". Maybe that was it. Yanagi didn't really know why he was a ninja. He never woke up some day and decided he wanted to be one. He didn't ask to go into the academy. He didn't ask to be born with some unique ability he could use in jutsu. He didn't want to be a protector, or an assassin, or anything like that.

Yanagi just wanted to be.

Now, getting back to Yanagi. He wasn't happy. He wanted the world to stop and stay still. Just stay there, with him laying on his bed, his father hanging out on the couch just in the living room, and his mom working on dinner. If things could just stop, he wouldn't need to deal with all those annoyances anymore. Stuff like being bugged to do work or make friends wouldn't matter. Stuff like going on wild hunts to find crazy ingredients for his mother wouldn't exist.

"Maybe the world would be better if it just stopped..." Yanagi accidentally said aloud.

"But then pie would never be ready to eat, champ." Yanagi's dad said from the doorway.

Yanagi bent his head backward a bit until he could see where his father was standing. He had been laying on the bed sideways with his head half leaning off the bed when he father came in. "Oh, I didn't see you come in, Dad." Yanagi sat up and scratched his head a bit before continuing. "So what's up Dad? Dinner ready?"

"No, not yet." Yanagi's dad said as he walked into the room and plopped down on Yanagi's bed as if it was his own. "You just seemed a little off lately. Well, off for you at least." He was already making himself comfortable, just like him I guess. Whenever Yanagi's dad got into a room he just kinda got all settled in, like he was going to be there a long time and couldn't stand still for five minutes. If he was going to be still, he was going to lay down.

Yanagi groaned. He hated when his dad did this. His dad always thought he could figure Yanagi out. Like Yanagi was an open book, and he was the librarian. "I'm fine Dad. Just a little annoyed," Yanagi said as he slid off his bed and in some flip flops. Not waiting for his dad, he started walking out of the room.

"[color=C40000]Annoyed about what?[/color]" Yanagi's dad pursued as he followed Yanagi out of the room, and through the main family room.

When Yanagi was out of the house and firmly seating on the steps outside his house, he ventured to answer his father's question. "Annoyed about life," Yanagi grunted.

Yanagi didn't fell like explaining it all to his dad. His dad was a tall, handsome, smart guy. By the age Yanagi was a genin, his father had been a chuunin at that age. By the age Yanagi had a few hairs on his chin, his father had a goatee enveloping his chin. And it wasn't just small things. It seemed like it was everything. Yanagi was always second fiddle to his father. Except in music. Music was the one thing he had over his father. And he loved it. Anyway, it wasn't really that he was always second to his father that bugged him. It was more so that his dad never acted as if he cared that his son hadn't been able to surpass him. And when Yanagi rarely did surpass all expectations, the most he got from his dad was a pat on the back and a smile. Don't get me wrong, Yanagi's dad wasn't a bad guy.

Yanagi just kinda resented him sometimes.

Yanagi's dad sat down beside him and lite up a cigarette. "Maybe you shouldn't be so vague all the time, pal."

Yanagi glared at the cigarette between his fathers lips. It was a common thing. Whenever Yanagi's dad was trying to look cool, he'd start smoking. For all Yanagi knew, that was the only reason he smoked at all. Yanagi never saw him smoke any other time. Even when he was upset or if he failed a mission, he didn't smoke. To Yanagi's dad, Smoking was about looking cool. So Yanagi thought. Looking back out into the sandy streets, Yanagi answered his father. "Maybe I'll stop being vague when you stop trying to be so smooth."

"So you'll always be vague. Got it."

There was one thing Yanagi's dad had in his personality that Yanagi didn't think he'd ever seen in anyone else. He was always so honest. About everything. He once stood up in the middle of a funeral and walking away, flicking a burnt out cigarette behind him as he left. That was Yanagi's dad's way of saying he was bored. If he was bored, he just left. If your breath smelled, he would outright tell you, in the smoothest way possible, that you smelled like you swallowed a rotten fish. Even about himself. He always admitted his shortcoming openly, and if you pointed one out he just laughed along with you. Needless to say, Yanagi's dad has tons of friends. He just seems to get along with everyone.

"Do you always have to be so blunt?" Yanagi sighed, turning toward his father.

Flicking his burnt out cigarette at Yanagi's forehead and hitting dead center, Yanagi's dad replied. "Do you always have to be so dull?"