Who would have thought that Kyoufu would ever come back to this place again... the hideout where she'd been held prisoner for years. It simply didn't make sense to return to it, and yet she felt herself drawn to it. She needed closure, and to see this place from the other side. She had survived and she had escaped, and her captors were dead. But she was back.[break][break]
Staring at it from the outside, the building looked like simply a wooden shack, however Kyoufu knew the truth. Beneath this shack was a complex series of tunnels. It was a dungeon, and Kyoufu had learned that if you were on the wrong side of a door in there then you may never be able to get out.[break][break]
The young girl took a step closer to the shack, venturing toward the door but remaining outside of it. She wondered if she could ever take another step inside. Would that be dangerous? Or would it take away the power that this place still held over her?... but she didn't take that step. She remained frozen, only a couple feet away from the inconspicious wooden door.
And yet, where was he to go? He had no home to go back to, and when you've been stuck underground for almost half your life, the world has a tendency to change dramatically without you. And so, as much as he disliked it, Kaji Uzamaki was forced to stay in the now empty dungeons he had called home for the last eight years.
He cleared out the dead bodies, along with cleaning up the blood, though the stink of it still lingered. His captors had some books he could ready to pass the time (anything related to their research he promptly burned), as well as some food to tied him over.
However, there was only so much, and after a day or two, the food was running low. It was becoming clear that Kaji would have to go out and forge for something to eat. Leaves were edible, right?
And it was at that moment, when Kaji stepped through that door for the first time in days, that he came face to face with a very familiar face. Kaji froze in the doorway, eyes wide.
You?! The red-haired male called her out as though he knew her... but she didn't know him. In fact, Kyoufu couldn't remember meeting anyone for the eight years she was imprisoned in this facility. For her it had been a largely solitary experience... unless something had happened which she was forgetting. Or, more likely, maybe he had been one of the people working with her captors. The majority of them, after all, wore ANBU masks covering their faces. [break][break]
She stood before the male, quite nearly ready to draw out the kunai that she held on her person, however she decided it would be better to pretend she was defenseless, if need be, so that he wouldn't get a chance to take precautions if he wanted to harm her. After all, a ninja's best defense was her deception.[break][break]
Her eyes were locked onto his, and she was reluctant to speak... however the silence eventually got the best of her.[break][break]
"Who are you? And what do you want?" she asked upfront. "How do you think you know me?"
It seemed that though he recognized her, she didn't seem to recognize him. Understandable really, since every single time thry encountered eachhother, she was always in a rather bad state. Whenever they needed her healed up to keep her from expiring on them.
Still, he could understand her confusion, and any apprehension she would have to finding someone here.
"My name is Kaji Uzumaki," he explained, "I was held here, like you were." He gave a small, rueful chuckle, "Though I guess you'd recognize me if I had a bag over my head."
He still wondered why they did that. Maybe it was to make him appear like a faceless body for others to bite on. But they seemed unaware that he could somewhat see through the bag at times.
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2021 16:46:39 GMT by Kaji Uzumaki
Kaji Uzumaki? She certainly didn't recognize him by name... and she couldn't recall any particular individual with a bag over his head either. She was coming up pretty short on knowing who he was, but that also didn't matter to her much right now. After all, he was introducing himself... and if he was one of her captors would he really be wasting his time trying to talk to her and tell her who he was? In any case, she wasn't about to fall into a trap either by trusting him too much too early. She kept her guard up.[break][break]
"Kaji Uzumaki, huh?" she reaffirmed, while gazing up toward him. She scanned down his body before meeting his eyes once again. "Well, I guess if you were a bad guy you would have just attacked me, huh?"[break][break]
So he was a member of the Uzumaki Clan... Kyoufu was somewhat familiar with the clan, it being referred to as the sibling clan of the Senju... however that was long ago. These days all of the clans were removed from each other in a way they hadn't been in the past. Now all of the members of both clans were spread across multiple different countries throughout the world.[break][break]
"I'm Kyoufu Senju," she introduced herself politely as well. "How long were you in there? Do you know?"
Well, at least she didn't think he was going to attack her. That was a step in the right direction. At her comment about him not being a bad guy, Kaji chuckled. "Trust me, even if I was, I'm in no real shape to fight anyway."
Indeed, he didn't look be be in the best shape. Rather thin, his hang hung messing across his face. Looking at his arms, one could notice multiple, faint scars. Almost like...teeth marks?
Well, she introduced herself as well. He didn't really think anything of her family name. Why bother, if she was in here just like him? "A very long time," he replied, rubbing the back of his head, "From what they left behind, I would say...eight years?"
Eight years. It was a magic number, apparently. That was the exact amount of time that Kyoufu had been locked in that prison as well. She wondered if Kaji had been brought there at the same time then. As a matter of fact, Kyoufu wasn't even aware that there had been other prisoners there, but now Kaji had her wondering just how many people were being trafficked down here and if there was anyone else like her in that way.[break][break]
She didn't doubt his story, especially not given his physique. Kyoufu had come out pretty weak as well initially, and she was still working on redeveloping her own muscle mass and getting strong enough to resume life as a kunoichi. [break][break]
"So if you were trapped down there too... then why are you just trying to leave now?... they've been dead for like at least a week?" She questioned. Surely he didn't want to just live down there for the fun of it. They had all been in prison for so long that it seemed he would have jumped at the opportunity for freedom.
Kaji gave a short, mirthless laugh. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go. I have no idea where I am, I'm pretty sure my family's long given up on me, and after being stuck in here for so long, I have no idea how the world even is!"
He leaned against a wall. "So...I've been staying here. They left some food behind, so I haven't been starving to death. Cleaned up the bodies, and, well, just letting time go by."
He paused, letting out a frustrated sigh as he slapped his forehead. "Man, it sounds even more pathetic saying it out loud! I'm stuck in a cage for almost half my life, and now that the door's open, I don't know what to do with myself!"
What he said did make sense. They had been there long enough to become disoriented and to really feel like they had no place to belong. However, on the contrary, Kyoufu definitely felt like she had a place to go when she left and it was straight home to her parents. Unfortunately, that bubble had been burst before she could take one step toward them as she had been informed that her parents had been killed trying to rescue her by her savior, Tengfei. It was because of that she had no where to go.[break][break]
"Well, you definitely shouldn't just be staying here... that much I know," she explained to him. Obviuosly he was a stranger and she had only just met him, but she could also feel some empathy for him, having been through a similar situation herself. The only difference was that someone had taken notice in her and brought her along after this facility had been ransacked. [break][break]
Kyoufu reached out, taking the red haired Uzumaki by the hand.[break][break]
"Well, you don't have to be alone. You can come with me, I think," she nodded in affirmation. "Though I do have to ask, why would you think your family's given up on you? They probably just don't know where to find you."
What Kyoufu suggested, honestly surprised him a little. She wanted him to come with her? In all honesty, after everything she had possibly been through, he couldn't blame her if she wanted nothing do with this place, or him. Instead, she was gently taking him by the hand, causing the lanky Uzumaki to blush lightly.
Then came up the subject of his family. Kaji's face fell. "My family always saw me as a failure," he replied, "All this chakra in me, and no way to actually use it. Couldn't pull of Jutsus to save my life. Hell, it was here that they found out 'Hey! If we bite this kid we can heal ourselves!'"
He gave a frustrated sigh. "Sorry about that. I know you didn't come here to get ranted at. But heck, sure. Anything's better than staying at this place. And it's hard to argue with a cute blonde for a companion."
He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, half expecting a punch for that comment.
She loosened her grip on his hand, but didn't quite release him yet either. To hear that his parents thought of him as a failure was unfathomable to her, and Kyoufu was certain that maybe he had misinterpreted their love in some way or another. She wished for nothing more than to see her parents again because she understood and believed that no love could be so pure and true as the love of a parent for a child. Although she was much of an adult now, even if she hardly felt it due to those years in isolation, it felt strange to think she needed to be independent. She felt like she needed her parents now more than ever.[break][break]
What shocked her the most was that this man standing before her seemed to relish in his independence. He didn't even seek any type of society. Was he just going to live out here in the forest like some kind of animal? Away from the harshness of humanity?[break][break]
But what's more, after telling her that he couldn't use jutsu, he then went on to explain that he had discovered an ability. An ability to heal... and then the light bulbs were going off in her head. [break][break]
"OH! I do know you!" The girl nearly jumped forward and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "I mean, I don't know you, but you were really the only pleasure in my life..."[break][break]
It was a weird thing to say considering that they'd never actually met before. But in a world of isolation where her only purpose was to be dissected down to her organs, the best part of her day was the bite when not only was her body healed, but she could feel a powerful high that there was virtually no other way to attain... and no other form of entertainment.[break][break]
"I must have bit you a thousand times then..." she said... before her expression softened. "I-... I didn't even think about... I'm sorry. I never even really consciously thought of you as a person. And they probably didn't even give you a choice. All I can say is th-thank you for healing me. Please forgive me."
It seemed she now finally remembered him. Guess when you went such hell you wanted to forget everything. Kqji could relate. But he didn't expect her to suddenly hug him, stating he was the only pleasure in her life. "Oh! Um, glad I could help?" he was flushing brightly from the contact.
And then came the thanks and the apology. He could imagine she might feel a bit guilty, even if it wasn't her fault. "Don't worry about it," he replied, giving her a reassuring smile. "Better my chakra get sucked out to keep someone like you alive, then some of the other things they tried with it. I'm just glad some good can come of it." He looked into those soft eyes. After years of cruelty and pain, they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
He blushed lightly and shook his head. "Well, we should probably get going. The sooner we leave this place, the better." He paused and thought for a moment. "By the way, what happened here anyway? I just wake up one day and find everyone here dead."
Kyoufu released her grip on him and took a step back, only to laugh at his remark that her life was worth saving in comparison to some of the other uses for his chakra. This made her curious as to what else they actually had tried to use his chakra for in the past outside of healing... or maybe he meant that they had him heal some nasty people. Either of those were a possibility. In any case, she was happy that he had managed to keep her alive because hat was what had brought her to this moment in time. [break][break]
Without him, she would have been a pile of organs somewhere most likely because her captors had done things to her body that should never have been able to be healed, or so she assumed. And they also did a terrible job at managing her pain, likely because they didn't care about it. So she was certain she would always be thankful for all that Kaji had done to keep her going, even if he didn't have a choice in the matter from the beginning.[break][break]
"Oh... that's actually a really good question," she responded to him, knowing that he probably had pretty poor insight into how they had all been released and how everyone had died. "We were saved by Tengfei of the Hidden Mist Village, my home. He and his squad came to kill the leader of this organization, freeing us in the process."[break][break]
It was serendipitous at best, and the two of them were lucky that Tengfei's squad had decided to release and not to kill the captives here in this godforsaken place. Either possibility would have made sense, honestly, especially in the world of shinobi.[break][break]
"And that's my home... I'm from the Village Hidden in the Mist, Kirigakure no Sato," she expanded upon her answer. "And given that you've lived here... I take it you don't actually have a home, right?"
Ah, so a group had gone in here and cleared everyone out. Guess it made sense. The sheer carnage he found couldn't have been done by just one person. Still, it made him feel a little annoyed that he had been left behind. He had been in his cell and entire day before he had known anything had happened.
Well, that wasn't important now. So, she was living in the hidden village of mist huh? When she asked if he had a home, he shook his head. "Not anymore. I was born in the Lightening Country, but who's to say it even exists anymore. I guess I really have nowhere I belong now."
He looked at Kyoufu. "The only thing I really have in this world right now is, well, you. And we've only just properly met for the first time today." He couldn't help but chuckle at that.
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2021 21:19:20 GMT by Kaji Uzumaki
The Lightning Country? Kyoufu didn't know politics very well but she never would have imagined a whole country could disappear. Hidden Villages were a different story though. She knew from her parents that the Village Hidden in the Leaves had been destroyed long ago, as had the Village Hidden in the Sand. But destroying villages was different from destroying a country, right? Certainly he could go home to Kaminari no Kuni if he really wanted to... but whether or not he wanted to was a completely different story.[break][break]
However, from there he made quite the leap... that the only person he had in this world right now was her. It may have been a strange statement, but it was also true that the two of them held a shared experience that very few other people in this world probably had. And for all Kyoufu knew, there were no other prisoners in the dungeons down there.[break][break]
"Well... if that's the case..." the girl paused for a seocnd as she pondered some things. "You can live with me!"[break][break]
The girl suddenly smiled with a certainty that she was making the right decision. [break][break]
