[Training & Lonelies] End my Silence

[Willoria]

End my Silence: Part I It was cold in the mountains, yet still Ume didn't wear her cloak. It was spread out on the stone beneath her where she sat. Her legs stretched out in front of her, she leaned back with her hands flat on her cloak and the wind blowing her blue hair about. It might have made for a pretty picture, except for the tears running down the girl's face and the kunai resting beside her on the stone. Four days since she had kissed Kotaru. Two days since they had told Tatsuo. She had made her choice when Tatsuo told her to pick between the two, and she had chosen Tatsuo, the boy who had been her boyfriend for a bit now. It was hardly a choice in her mind, yet if she hadn't known any better she thought Tatsuo had been upset with her choice. He wouldn't let her touch him, she hadn't seen him since. She was trying to understand his pain, but it was so hard when her own was screaming in her ears so loudly she couldn't think straight. The young girl lay back on her back on her cloak and stared up at the clouds, tears still streaming down her face. "So I can't see Kotaru anymore at all..." she said to herself quietly. "...so I made a friend and lost him just as quickly." she added with a quiet sigh. "And the boyfriend I chose over him hates me and wants nothing to do with him..." She swallowed hard, new tears running down her face. "Did I make the wrong choice?" The girl rolled over on her left side, her back to the blade she left out as the sobs began to wrack her body once more. Silently thankful for the alone time, she screamed in her own anguish. 'I'm really alone now... I have nothing...'

It felt like hours, but probably only lasted for half an hour or so before Ume rolled over and sat up, reaching over for the kunai. She held it in her hands, feeling the cold steel in her fingers before she let the tip of it rest over her arm. It sent a tingle down her spine as a longing filled her senses. Yet something different happened. The girl suddenly threw it off the mountain and screamed. 'Why not?! Why don't have the guts?! I just want this pain to end...' Fourteen, she faced a situation she had never imagined. Her parents were dead, and she only had two friends in this world. Now she didn't have those. 'All I have is my guardian, and he hates me...' The thought of Koyama as her only ally in the world made her cringe and she shook her head before standing up angrily and snatching up her cloak. She wrapped the cloth around herself and turned to start her walk down the mountain.

The walk was long, taking her down a winding path that she almost tripped down more than once, and eventually through a small market. As she went she tried to wipe the wet tears from her face and for the most part was successful. She managed to at least look less like a wreck and more like just a girl having a bad day by time she got to the market. She stopped by a couple of stalls to look at the items they sold, pausing at one that sold candy when she remembered the night Tatsuo bought her dango as a treat when she'd been having a bad day. It took everything she had not to start crying again. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and walked away quickly, almost running into a man as he come out of a shop. It wasn't until he walked away that she looked up and realized that it was a tattoo shop. For a moment she just stared at it. She had never really thought about tattoos. They were painful, her father had hated them, but now that he was gone...

She stared at the sign for several minutes before making an impulse decision and making a beeline inside. It was an odd place, smelled strange. The front room was small with a table full of black sketchbooks. She sat down at a chair by it and opened up the books, flipping through a few before someone stepped out to talk to her. "What you looking for, honey?"

Ume looked up at the woman's voice and blinked a moment. The woman had dark hair, was tall, and had a couple tattoos of her own. Ume shrugged and looked back to the book. "I don't know..." Ume admitted as she flipped pages and suddenly paused. "What's this?"

The woman looked over her shoulder at the image of a bird and smiled. "That's a phoenix." she told her. "They say it represents rebirth, new life. It's a legend. A bird that dies in flame and rises from its own ashes." The woman looked at Ume a moment before looking at the book again and smiling. "You like it? It's kinda big for your first tattoo... it'll hurt. Its a long process, probably take most of the day."

Ume stared at it a moment, letting the woman's words sink in. "I like it." she admitted quietly. "And pain comes easy for those in my clan... let's do it."

The woman looked at her a moment before nodding and picking up the notebook and tucking it under one arm. "Clan huh? They're pretty strict aren't they?" she asked, biting the inside of her lip a moment. "If you're good with pain, why don't we do back of the neck? You can let your hair down and hide it when you need to." Clearly the woman wasn't going to turn down a paying customer, but seemed to care enough to help her customer hid it. She reached out and put a finger under Ume's chin to make her look up at her. "You've been crying. Starting a new life or just need to?"

"Just changing mine." Ume said as she stood up. "Violence breeds Silence, and I need to find my own words."

[Willoria]

End my Silence: Part II The day was quiet, the sun was out, and even Ume was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin. It was rare, after all the air all around Iwa was still cold. But the warmth of the sun's rays meant that Ume had pushed her cloak back and off her shoulders to simply hang behind her, lest she get too hot. It was just days since her Chunin Exam, and since her evening with Tatsuo, and both had left a smile on the blue-hair girl's lips. It was a great day to spend at the market, and already the basket over her forearm was filled with a few fresh veggies she planned to cook that night. She stopped by a market stall selling a few options for fruit before she saw her. "You're quite the determined combatant." Came a voice, smooth as silk, as someone's breath tickled the girl's neck. Ume jumped and turned, wide-eyed and staring at the person who had somehow gotten so close to her without her even realizing it. She was admittedly beautiful, with black hair that bled into a deep red and flowed down her back. Her eyes were a bright blue, and her outfit showed enough skin to cause Ume to blush simply glancing at her.

"Uh, who are you?" Ume asked, keeping the woman in view now as she silently wondered if she would have to fight someone, here and now. She could feel it, this woman was an Akari. 'Koyama would freak if he knew someone got so close to me without my knowledge, the fact that she's an Akari makes it so much worse...'

The Woman smiled all too sweetly and even chuckled. "Sorry, wasn't trying to scare you." She said, reaching out and touching Ume's chin briefly before withdrawing her hand. "My name is Akari Hina." she said, confirming Ume's suspicions, but also her body language seemed to leave Ume thinking this woman was more than a little odd somehow. "You probably didn't notice me, but I was in the stands for your Chunin Exam. As I said, you are quite the determined combatant."

Ume cleared her throat, torn between her own discomfort and a need to remain cordial. They were out in public in a market place, not a clan market place mind you, but a village one. Ume found herself hoping that was enough for a fellow Akari to exercise restraint and at least not attack her outright. 'I'll have to be careful on the walk home though.' she reminded herself, her mind already going over areas that Koyama had pointed out to her in the past where attacks could happen despite living outside the clan compound. He had gone through every possible route home with her within a week of moving there, just to keep her prepared in his paranoid fashion. Though in this moment, it didn't feel as much like paranoia. "Uh, thank you. I think." Ume finally replied with a nervous chuckle of her own, one hand coming up and running through her hair as she cleared her throat again and tried to force herself into some level of comfort in the conversation at hand, hopefully without letting her guard down.

Hina chuckled at Ume's obvious discomfort and shrugged. "It's a compliment, don't worry." she said, as if trying to reassure the girl. "Not many people would have done what you did. Most would break a barrier with a jutsu, but you? You broke it with your own body and it won you the match. I'd wager that man isn't going to forget such a ballsy move any time soon... or the kiss that followed." Another smile came from the woman's lips that honestly Ume didn't trust for some reason. With that smile the woman stepped closer, her eyes dropping to Ume's lips a minute and for a brief moment of panic Ume wondered if the woman was going to try and kiss her. "That was a fascinating jutsu... and the delivery... no straight man could resist that. What was that?" she asked, her eyes lifting to Ume's with that same odd smile on her face.

Ume looked at her a moment, blinking. "It... uh. Just something I'm working on."

Hina grinned and took a step back, finally giving Ume her personal space back and noticing the blue-haired girl let out a breath she probably didn't even realize she'd been holding. "Was it some kind of poison?" she asked. "I'm sorry I'm prying but... I heard he had to get medical attention afterwards. He spent a couple days in and out of the hospital, paranoid he'd been infected... or so the rumors say." As she spoke of rumors, she shrugged and chuckled, clearly finding the entire thing fascinating.

"Something similar to that." Ume said, not wanting to reveal the real source of the jutsu at all to this woman she didn't know, especially as she didn't know her. "Uh, why were you at my exam?" she asked rather suddenly, trying to fall into a similar state of calm as the woman before her, despite the hair on the back of her neck being raised. "I mean, I thought only officials and family went. I had two friends in attendance, but I don't know who you are..."

"Oh, how silly of me." Hina remarked, giggling again. "Yes you had your boyfriend there, Tatsuo right? And your guardian, Koyama." She could see the look Ume was giving her and knew her statements were getting under the girl's skin. "I knew Koyama once, when we were younger." she finally explained. "We used to be friends... at least until he started getting paranoid about the clan. He started accusing me of trying to steal his shiin, though honestly I never had any interest in his. I was his friend, and I wanted to be his girlfriend but... well, paranoia is a great way to keep people from getting close I suppose." She said, idly shrugging and reaching out to touch Ume on the shoulder. "You really are doing well, at least he's training you up right. I hope things keep going so well for you." And with that the odd woman stepped around Ume and left the area, leaving a confused girl in her wake.

Ume stood there for several minutes, watching the woman leave as she tried to piece together what happened. "Koyama never mentioned someone named Hina..." she remarked under her breath, blinking a few times and shaking her head as she tried to sort it all out in her mind. 'Should I ask him?' she wondered idly. 'She's right though, he is paranoid... I could totally see that happening and him doing that...' But no matter what thoughts ran through her head, Ume felt like she'd just meant a serpent wearing a woman's skin.