Meet Me Half Way

“MMEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWWW”.

”You know. For such a small little kitten, you’re kind of demanding.” Samuru responded before tickling the kitten under his neck while it sat on his stomach, covered with a black jacket to keep the tiny creature warm. For some reason, the diminutive kitten seemed to grow attached to Samuru despite the little amount of time they spent together. When he first received it, he hated it… or rather he hated the way he had received it. It seemed like it was nothing more than a chore… a clever little technique to brush him off without actually physically brushing him off. Honestly, Samuru wasn’t sure if that was the case but he tended to overanalyze everything. He seemed to find meanings in things that seemed to have no meaning and if he couldn’t find one then he tended to create a meaning for it. To him, every action… every emotion… every event as a meaning and that meaning could be positive or negative.

In his book that was the truth.

However, since that time where he had been brushed off, the kitten and Samuru seemed to have taken a liking to each other. He fed it, gave it a bath and kept it warm and in return the kitten gave him somebody to talk to without a hidden agenda. He often asked it a question and told it to wag its tail one time for yes, two times for no, and three times for drop it. Of course, there is no real way for him to understand the kitten but it did seem like the little creature was actually listening. One of his questions was “Should I trust Kiyo?” and his little tail wagged once. Another question Samuru asked was “Should I trust Naomi?” and it wagged twice. Of course, it got difficult to understand the kitten when Samuru started ramble about his reasoning for not trusting the both of them but when met with reasoning the kitten started to wag his tail and meow as if the miniature cat wanted him to drop the subject.

”You’re a smart little cat eh? One day, you’re going to grow up and be big and strong. You’ll probably be the fastest cat in the world and you’ll get all the little female cats running around asking for your paw print. It’ll be awesome. You’ll see.” Samuru commented as he watched the kitten open his eyes and meow at the thought.

Picture that.

The kitten that scratched his hair and bit his head earlier and the man who almost tossed it in the street were sitting and communicating. Nature, man and beast could get along and this was proof.

”This is where Kiyo and I first met so she should be here soon. Granted she didn’t forget about us because of her super-important meeting.”

“MMEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWWW”.

”I can’t go any further than this. I want you so badly… It’s my biggest wish.” the boy sung as the melody seemed to put the kitten to sleep.


Ki:

The basket on her arm might have been heavy for a normal woman by Kiyo was hardly so, making the heavy burden seem as light as a feather as she moved through the cold plagued forest. Gone were the rainbow leaves she tried to remember; dead and buried by the cold colorless snow that blanketed the world. It was heard to hear much beyond the crunch of her own feet as she moved gracefully through the trees on memory. Shortly after her departure from the tower she had stopped the facade of sight she kept up to ease the peoples minds, allowing her eyelids to lay closed as she concentrated on the greatest of her senses.

And thus she heard him far before she saw him and slowed her pace from the quick step she hadn't realized she'd taken. It had been hard finding him after all, she'd assumed he would be in the city at the very least but after a few failed attempts here had been her last choice. Not that she would tell him this or the trouble it had been to avoid being followed by an Anbu guard.

She was as greatly changed as the area had been by the snow. Instead of ragged clothing she had first met him in Kiyo came now in a long, intricately designed coat with soft white fur lining the hood and on the sleeve cuffs. Her dirty hair had been cleans and combs and left to lay over her shoulder in a loose braid. Even her once bare feet had been wrapped in finely crafted boots that looked to have no sole. And there was also the basket.

She didn't disturb him with a greeting of any sort at first. Instead she settled her weight down beside him, letting the basket set on her other side. Daintily she pulled first one then another glove from her hand and set them on her lap then she pulled away a bit of the cloth covering the baskets contents. Pork buns were the most visible of the treats within, kept warm by heated stones put beneath the food, and she pulled two from their places quickly before all the warmth escaped. Silently she offered one of the two to him, waiting for an acceptance or decline to speak.

"It is like skeletal hands covered in ash to my senses. At least it is not snowing, I do not know if I would have been able to arrive here at all in such a case... I'm sorry for earlier. Protocol dictates I am to see another Kage before any other, I could not afford to insult a potential ally. You spoke ill of Kage before too so I thought to try and meet you again without that hanging over head." She spoke gently while contemplating her treat then taking a small bite. "Is he alright then?"

Sa:

”Your mother is here little buddy.” Samuru whispered as he sat at the base of the same tree where he had first met Kiyo. A lot had changed since then but the meaning of this particular spot still remained the same. It was covered in snow, a cold breeze seemed to flow through the area and the sun was hidden beneath a thick layer of clouds but this particular spot remained true to Samuru. It was a spot where he could sit and clear his head. Despite what people may think or which side Samuru decided to display, he was actually terribly insecure which is ironic sense he claims everyone else is insecure. He constantly badgered himself with different perceptions of himself taken from the viewpoints of other people and compared them with his own perception of himself… Nine times out of ten, they didn’t match up but with Kiyo everything was different. She really understood him and if she didn’t then she did a good job of masking it.

”I suppose I can understand that but this was what you desired. Your position back.” Samuru responded as he opened his eyes and looked toward the pork bun being held out in front of him before accepting it. ”I didn’t realize you wanted to eat. I wouldn’t have picked such an ‘odd’ spot. It is a little cold out here.” He called the spot odd but it actually held a great deal of significance to him. Before he met Kiyo, he had been contemplating suicide but something about her made him change his mind. She was compassionate, persistent, intelligent, brutally honest and beautiful. Her elegance… Her very way of living, saved his life on that day but he wasn’t quite sure if he should thank her or not.

Since then he had been on his own…

Days were becoming longer. Nights shorter. Overwhelming feelings of inferiority. An emotional roller coaster.

”How’d the meeting between super-humans go then?” he questioned with a slight grin on his face before taking a bite out of the pork bun. ”Wow! This is pretty good!” he yelled out with a surprised look on his face before Kiyo could answer his question. Yelling like that was uncharacteristic for him but the taste of the bun caught him surprise. He had eaten food at the Raikage Tower before and it wasn’t that good so this couldn’t be made at the cafeteria. ”Did she make this for me? Now I feel like an asshole for pulling her out here in the cold.” he said to himself as he kept his mouth shut and continued to eat the bun she had given him.

By the time Samuru finished it, the small kitten had already ventured out of his jacket and into Kiyo’s lap, purring for some type of warmth in its mother’s arms. ”I took care of him. Gave him some food, gave him a bath, found out how fast he was… good times.” he commented as he looked at the cat and poked his nose.

Ki:

The warmth of the food burned her tongue and she could feel the heat of it as it moved down her throat but both were a wonderful feeling against the cold. She might have denied her new title, apparently she was the kitten's new mother where she hadn't actually decided to take it on. Something told her that she probably would have to now even if a near silent creature would be a bit nerve racking.

"I had no inclination of my desires when I returned to this place just a sadness for the changes that had happened during my selfish vacation," The self targeted frown on her face lifted as she watched him take a bite though if she'd expected such an energetic response was a secret she wasn't willing to give up. Carefully she took another bite of her own bun, enjoying the taste of it this time. The recipe dates back to Clouds forming though to be honest it was an ancient Leaf mednin who first introduced it; although she may have been unaware. Along with the pork buns came a recipe for Onigiri and Dumplings and while you might think those to be very simple foods to make there is a something about these that make them very special," she said after swollowing her food. The traitor sister of Kiyo's own ancestor had gifted them to Lin in return for a place to stay when she returned a over a decade later. "Sister of the wife of the brother of the founding Raikage or something like that brought it along. Naturally I ended up with it."

Shifting the bun to one hand she picked at its contents for a piece of the pork and carefully held the bit out for the kitten to take from her fingers. She'd not gotten a very good look at it before and still the color of it was lost on her but he was right he was a sleek little creature. "I'm glad you had an entertaining day then. I found him alone in the cold so I was a little worried but if he is already showing off then I'm certain he will be fine."

"Your eyesight... it is better then?" her attention shifting to him without the use of her eyes as the Hashigaki were well trained to do, "I... I'm a little jealous. Had I- If Mot-." She paused, her eyebrows creasing in frustration and she shook her head, " I don't know but perhaps things would have been different but then I would also be missing a great deal of things that I found while I was gone. Besides, Cloud would have missed out on the great Aion's influence and the god Raiden would not have become so beloved. Still... what I gave to fail where you succeeded!" She took a large bite of the bun, chewing it angrily in silence then while lost in her own thoughts.


Sa:

The woman in front of him seemed to grow angry as she tossed around thoughts in her head, a few of which reached the surface. ”What is she talking about? What did I do?” Samuru asked himself as he looked at Kiyo with confusion while she angrily chomped on the delicious pork buns that she had made for them. ”Jealous of me? Why? Wait… Have I been selfish all this time? Did I really not notice before?” By now, it had become obvious to him as he looked at the frustrated woman in front of him, in shock. She was a Hashigaki and she seemed to suffer from the same stigmata that most Hashigaki, excluding himself, were marked with… the sudden increase of the audition sense which lead to the complete destruction of vision during childbirth.

Samuru was unusually lucky. Somehow, his body had adapted to the pressure of his increased hearing abilities which allowed him to see the world from his eyes as well as his ears. He claimed to have been blind before but his affliction was different. The world was becoming an unbearable place for him and he simply couldn’t bring himself to see its physical manifestations through his eyes any longer. Samuru’s body simply disabled the sense because of his depression. Once he resolved to live again, his affliction was cured but Kiyo’s affliction wasn’t self induced... or so he began to believe.

”I was never blind. I simply let darkness take over my life.” Samuru responded as he looked down at the ground, unable to look at the woman sitting across from him. It seemed like she had nothing but good intentions, however, the world took those intentions and twisted them until they meant nothing. Frowning, his fist trembling in anger and tears forming in his eyes he looked at Kiyo full of regret because of the opportunity she gave him because of her sacrifice. ”I’m sorry but your secretary was right. I’m a failure. I just need to make it right.” His voice seemed to have remained the same but the emotions running through his body were completely remorseful.

How much had she sacrificed? What did she sacrifice? Did it matter? Probably not…

She sacrificed her own self being for others and that in itself was wrong… wrong in the sense that the very people she sacrificed herself for shouldn’t have allowed her to do so.

Himself included…

Ki:

Kiyo's breath rattled in her own ears as she inhaled slowly. She could feel the pressure bulding beneath her eyelids, a warning of the bits of herself about to fall away. Despite their vow in this very place, despite whatever trust there was she held in her heart for this man; Kiyo was not ready to reveal the deep festering wounds on her soul. With care she tucked her chin in and seemed to contemplate his words before she spoke though there was still indescision in her voice."I- Of course." She let the bun in her hand fall to the snow, appetite lost to the moment. "How foolish of me to ho-. An affliction of the spirit then? It is amazing what our bodies may do to reflect our spirits." The smile she placed on her face might have fooled the greatest of actors and Kiyo allowed herself then to be distracted by his own mislead heart once again.

"Notare could not have meat what she said. That poor woman has been through a great deal since I have become Kage. You should not take her words to heart Samuru," the near truths of that woman's words had been the bite behind her remarks. She knew as well as Samuru that he'd quit being a captain of his own choice, there had been no failing. "Mednin often do not receive the respect they deserve in the ninja community. It is not a place we put those who fail to be killing machines nor a place for those weak at heart. To face a dying man and try to bring him back is far more difficult then stabbing another through the heart."

From her pocket Kiyo pulled a cloth and used it to clean away the grease left behind in her fingers. Only then did she allow herself to fun her fingers over the soft fur of the kitten still in her lap. He was much softer now that he'd been given a bath and now he felt like fine silk rather than rough cotton."Besides the job of a mednin within the city is safe enough, many wishing for family end up as such. It is easier to justify attaching yourself to others when your life does not seem to be hanging from a thin thread."

Sa:

”What’s the matter?” Samuru thought to himself as he watched Kiyo’s pork bun fall from her hands and toward the snow in slow motion. For some reason, she seemed more troubled than before. The first time they had met, she seemed to have issues with where her life was headed just as Samuru did but since then Samuru thought that she had accomplished everything she said she would. She claimed to want to change things… Now she was in a position to change them… Isn’t that what Kiyo wanted? Or did she desire something different? Did she take his “puppet kage” comment to heart?

All of these questions swirled around in Samuru’s head until the pork bun landed softly in the snow which was perceived as a loud smack that woke him up from his little daydreaming, reflection time.

”Maybe but respect and admiration are two things that I couldn’t care less about. They are nothing more than mere illusions which attach themselves to human perception in order for a person to feel like they belong. A person like me could never ‘belong.’ A person like me doesn’t ‘belong.’” Samuru thought to himself as he reflected on Kiyo’s words about himself as well as the respect or current disrespect toward Med-nin in Kumo. He was rather quiet as she spoke but that was only because he was at a loss of words. He wanted to say something but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. His mind was jumbled together and his thought process was off… more off than usual. Samuru wanted to change himself into someone else. He was convinced that the path he was walking on was the correct one, yet he didn’t have the courage to commit himself 100% to the change. One eye looked toward the future but the other looked toward the past.

”What’s wrong Kiyo? Something’s been bothering you lately.” he asked curiously in an uncharacteristically sympathetic tone. It wasn’t the question he wanted to ask but her answer to this question could satisfy the other if it was about her current position. ”I wonder if it’s the stress or the expectations that people are putting on her. Or is it something else?”

Ki:

Of course he was going to pick up on the web of unhappiness that she'd plucked the thread of but it was foolish of her to have even brought the topic up. There was no cure for what she'd become and even to have attempted to remove the very blood within herself would have left her with a dead pair of eyes. They were lumps of flesh now, deceiving tools to make the outside world believe she was the same as them. It would have been better had she been born this way, at least then she wouldn't know what she was missing out on.

There was nothingness beyond the skeletal trees.

Again she took a long moment to contemplate the words she wanted before she presented to them and yet this time her voice carried a simple grace that made them more then believable. Besides, who wanted to think their Kage;, the very pillar of the village, might have problems of their own. Of course they might exist but it was just too human to acknowledge their existance. "Kannagi-kun,  It is foolish to expect you to understand the depths of frustraition that make up my soul. I assure you that nothing is out of the ordinary and/or wrong in that sense." She smiled at him again, this time reassuringly, and continued her gentle massage of the kitten's head.

"You my fuzzy little friend, need a name. I doubt Samuru-kun would enjoy chasing you about calling kitten; some women might take that as an invitation." The kitten meowed in agreement and she giggled gently while moving her fingers to stroke it under the chin, "And such a strapping young boy shouldn't be stuck with such a wussy name either. Just because you're fuzzy doesn't mean you wont be a terror and a contributor to the lessening of the small creature population. I expect no mice in the tower, you know that right? None in my shoes either please, your company is a good enough gift." The kitten meowed again, the sound muffled by its own purring now and its eyelids were beginning to droop. Gentkye she pushed his to curl up in her pocket, certain that the little protection from the cold would put the kitten to sleep. "He's very smart, I was worried since he was abandoned like that. Lucky."

Careful of the little body curls against her she went for the basket one again. This time she pulled from it an Onigiri, the delicate little rice ball sitting perfectly within her hand. "Here try this one," her soft smile betrayed no pride over the food as she extended her hand for him to take the treat. There were still more of them to eat afterwards and now that her appetite was gone..."I'm sorry it isn't very sweet, I'm not a fan of sweet things." A half lie, she'd only been brought up to feel a great deal of guilt eating them but that wasn't something Samuru needed to know. It was amazing what a parent telling you over and over could make you believe.

Sa:

The wind blew slightly has Kiyo claimed that he wouldn’t be able to understand her frustration. His mind seemed to struggle to wrap around the thought of his own feelings ceasing to mirror hers. His mind seemed to become distorted as he felt that the person he trusted most in this disgusting place might not trust him in the same way. Before today, he had a feeling about his feelings for her being one-sided but now he was beginning to truly believe that they were one-sided. The best way to find out would be to just ask. ”Why? Why wouldn’t I understand? I thought I was… I thought we were… Am I wrong?” the young man thought to himself as he shook his head in frustration, thinking of a reason… any reason why he wouldn’t understand her.

He thought that by becoming Kage she had gotten everything she wanted but something seemed off. It didn’t seem like she had everything she wanted. As she talked to him, it began to seem as if she were holding something back. The stops in speech… the constant switching of topics…placing more emphasis on Samuru and his current path rather than Kiyo and hers. It seemed as if she wanted to say something but something was holding her back… maybe it was trust.

”What is wrong with me? Why do I feel so lost all of a sudden? I thought I had everything figured out but… I don’t.” he thought to himself as he looked up at the small kitten, purring in its mother’s lap. However, he wasn’t listening to Kiyo talk or looking at the kitten, he was staring directly into a void…

He was stating into an empty space where he saw himself being wrapped in chains that were constantly pulled tighter by some unknown force and a gag placed in his mouth so no one could hear the screams. Kiyo was there… She saw everything but she did nothing. Instead, she watched him squirm and call out to her with muffled screams until she got bored… then she walked away.

It was nothing more than a bad dream. One that showed him his innermost fear… that she was lying to him… that she would mean the death of him and his ideals… that “love” was an illusion.

He wondered how Naomi and Zaiken saw it…

It couldn’t have been this…

He was so envious…

To the point where he began to hate himself…

”I need you to trust me.” Samuru said softly as his eyes crept over toward the hand that held a little rice ball. Slowly he reached over toward Kiyo’s hand. ”I need you to trust me.” His mind… No not just his mind… His heart. His heart needed this. He wanted to know what she felt, why she felt this way and what he could do to change it. Samuru felt that he’d be lost unless he knew. He felt that love and trust would mean nothing unless he knew.

”Something is weighing you down. I can feel it. What is it? What is this darkness?” he asked her knowing full well that the darkness could just be nothing more than a figment of his imagination.


Ki:

Kiyo stopped and stared at Samuru, waiting for him to take the rice ball. She could tell he hadn't been distracted by her words, a poor choice those had been, and there wasn't much hope of the topic being dropped. Give an inch and suddenly they needed to know everything, even in a world steeped in secrets and stealth. She could still remember the oddly tender way Aion had taken the news of her degrading eyes or the gentle way Eimin had rubbed away the headaches she got from paper work. She'd been so busy feeling sorry for herself that she'd hurt them both terribly and yet had telling them anything made her weak or strong in their eyes? Had they simply wanted something to protect... even if they'd hated her too.

Her weight shifted and her body leaned forward so that her free hand could take his wrist of the offered hand. The other placed the rice ball in the palm of his hand. Gently she curled her hands around his own and pushed the food towards his mouth, "Try. It." She'd wait like that until he took a bite, her face a myriad of emotions that were difficult to distinguish. There was apprehension of course and a sliver of fear but others seemed to have no right in being there. Once he had done as she wish though, Kiyo would settle back in her spot.

"I trust you enough to come and visit you here, in the forest, without an escort of any sort knowing full from records of the potential of your power. I trust you enough to have given you more information then I am already uncomfortable with; so please so not be upset when I say that it would be very difficult for me to continue giving away the weakness' of my soul," her face settled on sadness and loneliness wrapped tightly around her like a tight, protective blanket. "Heh, you still remind me on Aion but without the biting bitter comments and blade at my neck. Perhaps it will come to that to, I can't seem to ever do this right." The urge to run started up then but instead she curled her knees up to her body and hid her face against them.

Why did those skeletal hands seem to be reaching for her, closing in?

"You don't need to understand,"she muttered gently enough that only they could have heard it. She half expected him to leave now, to hate her now but what did it matter anyways. Life always came to that anyways; it would simply be getting it over with sooner. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."


Sa:

The chains grew tighter as he began to gasp for air while his chest tightened and his face turned blue. Someone was pulling on the chains and it seemed as if each tug brought him closer to death. He wanted to scream but he could not. He wanted someone to help him but he didn’t have many friends. The world around him was black, the clouds gray, the trees dead and the chains stained red from the blood of the man being strangled inside of them. Samuru’s spirit, his very soul was beginning to slip away and the worst part of it all was that he was fully aware of it.

”If I lose her then wha—“ there was a very important thought process that he needed to undergo in order to bring the woman in front of him back to her senses but all that was interrupted by a tiny little rice ball. Kiyo “playfully” used his own hand against him and shoved the diminutive rice ball in his mouth before responding with words that he had heard plenty of times before…

You don’t need to know…

You don’t need to understand…

It seemed as if this perceived notion of trust between the two of them was beginning to disintegrate and with it… the bond between the two.

After scoffing down the rice ball, his facial expression and aura seemed to soften. He closed his eyes and shut out the physical environment around them, focusing only on the woman in front of him. She seemed to be hiding from something… No… Running from something and whatever it was, she seemed to be shaking from it. Inner turmoil? A threat against her life? Maybe a threat toward Samuru? It could’ve been any one of those things…

”If you truly do trust me then you will allow yourself to open up and allow me to shoulder some of the burden that afflicts you.” he responded in a delicate tone as a gentle smile formed across his face, his eyes slowly opening in order to gauge her physical response. Samuru truly was there for her and if she couldn’t see that then it was her own fault.

He wouldn’t be held back by chains any longer…

If she wanted to be held back then she’d have to be held back by her lonesome. However, if she truly wanted to escape from whatever chains that held her hostage then Samuru was the key.

The dream… A man stood in a dark environment with chains surrounding his body. The place around him was beginning to decay, the grayish clouds seemed to blacken, and the chains seemed to tighten the more he hoped for a savior. The woman in front of him didn’t try to help him but it seemed that was because she couldn’t. Samuru was so focused on himself that he forgot about his loved one’s own affliction and that ignorance might lead to the downfall of their relationship…

However, there was no turning back.

Suddenly the man roared as he burst out of his chains, his chakra erupting and tearing up the very landscape that he stood on. It was then, in this land of nothingness that he met the man who held him captive for so long…

It was himself…

”Kiyo must be the same way.” Samuru commented to himself, his eyes suddenly changing back to the clear blue hues he was born with.


Ki:

The wind caught and brushed the soft fur of her hood against her cheek. In her memory she knew what it looked like, millions of tiny bending pins amassed to build a greater whole. The colour would be white as she had requested for white was the hardest to remember in her blackened state and yet there would be a little yellow undertone beneath. Yellow was the small of lemons, honey and the feel of warm sunshine. Her memory held blossoming sunflowers in contrast of the perfect blue summer sky. Blue was fresh air and, taste of blueberries and the smell of ocean spray. Green was...

"Green was the smell of mint and the feel of grass on finger tips. There was mint in his room and green was have favorite color. I loved to sit and discuss the things that matter to him but never did I tell him how much I loved those talks," cautiously she sat back enough to stare at him as a cornered animal might. As if she were devuldging more information then she wanted to be and yet she continued to speak.

"Red is the feel of heat after being cold, it tastes like cinnamon and the first bite of an apple. It also is the tang of blood in your mouth and the pain of a burn. I liked that one; it is such a beautiful contrast. Orange is easy in taste of course and yet so difficult to grasp in feel, perhaps an orange fees like orange as well. If I was to guess I would say the kitten is orange, orange and white and black. Aion wore red in so many ways." A deep frown formed on her face as she spoke of Aion and yet she didn't let that stop her. With a strain on her muscles she rocked herself forward to her knees then stood slowly as she spoke. She made sure the kitten was still safely tucked away then swept her basket in one arm.

"Suzuka, Samuru, Kyoumou, Aori, Miyako, the little anbu... You have no color. Don't even begin to think you can shoulder the weight I was born and trained to take upon my shoulders, Kannagi-kun. Nor could you ever hope to remove the scars of my own failures. I asked you to follow me, I did not ask you to pry into my matters, I apologize if you might have taken what I have said differently." Visibly she squared her shoulders and and her body still had the tense look of someone expecting to fight their way out, who knew. 'I'm afraid but I'll still fight instead of giving in', a clear message.

"Perhaps in my youth, had you not still been a child then, I might have trusted you so easily and yet..."she shook her head; at a loss of what to say beyond that. It was as if she was unaware of the face she bore or the fact that in body they could not have been more than a few years apart, "As it stands, I will not allow myself to be use- feh never mind it. I should be going..."

Sa:

”So that’s it then. The world around you is dead to you because you refuse to look at yourself in the present… because you refuse to allow yourself to view a future version of yourself. Instead, you cling to the past as a safety mechanism without realizing that clinging to the past means that it’s virtually impossible for you to move forward. I used to be the same way.” Samuru thought to himself as he watched the woman in front of him stand up before claiming that his very existence meant nothing to her by saying that he didn’t have “a color” in the way that she perceives the world. ”The past is nothing more than a dreamlike state of past glory or illusions of grandiose past experiences. It’s also completely one sided and shallow… The past creates a story where the hero of the story has no faults and views himself or rather… herself as a larger than life figure with a perfect life… lovers… friends… family… The truth is much different… The truth is dark.” The boy’s eyes remained locked onto the woman’s figure as he quietly and slowly rose from his snowy seat, grabbing the necklace that he had made during their last encounter.

”Now I understand. Seems I misinterpreted your impression of me along with the bounds of our relationship. You wanted me to become your slave… You wanted another mindless slave like those robed abominations with masks that hide their faces from the outside world. This was just another means of control since the other way was ineffective.” Samuru responded as his voice began to fill itself with malice and his hands began to itch in a way that required him to soothe it with drops of blood.

”This is your true nature… This is the true nature of a person who gains this position. I thought that she was like me but now I see the difference.” he thought to himself as he squeezed the necklace so tightly in his hand that his nails began to dig into his skin, forcing small droplets of blood to fall toward the white snow. Sickening thuds they made for a person of keen hearing as he opened his hands and allowed the debris from the smashed stone of their friendship disappear as the wind carried it away.

”The deceit… The lies… The beauty… The false kindness… The darkness… The illusion… The masks. This is what you’re about. It all makes sense now…” Samuru claimed as calmly began to shake snow off of his black jacket before slipping it on and brushing small strands of kitty hair off of the shoulders. ”Every fiber in my body feels betrayed and I keep getting this feeling… This ache in my hands… This voice in my head… It’s telling me to kill you.” the young boy commented as a slight grin formed across his face as he gracefully turned in the opposite direction and looked toward the sky.

”From this point forward you are dead to me… colorless if you will.” he commented softly before walking…

He didn’t know where…

But he was free and that’s all that mattered to him…

"The borderline was just too far away from your resistance point huh? Selfish bitch."