Itaru stood on the shore of a mountainside lake, still technically within the boundaries of the village’s training areas but on the more remote side. It wasn’t really a training area in and of itself, but it was a place that some people would travel out to visit for the closest thing to a nice day at the beach one could find short of descending the landscape to the north to the rocky coasts. For Itaru it was his first time spotting the tarn, so he wasn’t aware that it was somewhat popular when it happened to be empty when he arrived. The day was bright and warmer than usual, around lunchtime. The smell of clay deposits and still water filled the air.
He was bare of shirt and wearing a pair of shorts that were still dripping wet after a bit of a swim. The added annoyance of having to force shut so many eyes made it hard for him to tolerate the water for very long. It only took a couple of thrusts for one or two eyes to accidently open up and get flooded with the murky lake water, it was enough to remind him why he hated swimming.
His chest, back, and arms were covered in eyes that moved around observing the world all around him as he spent some time sharing his lunch with some ducks that made their home here. He had a peach that he was cutting little pieces from with a shuriken as the waterfowl stood in wait for a competition between each other to get the slivers he threw their way.
He caught sight of someone passing by the tarn with an eye right below the back of his neck. Several others turned that way, but he didn’t give any physical reaction other than a few other eyes desperately searching for his upper garb to hide his eyes beneath, but it was too far to get to without drawing attention to himself.
[attr="class","APP3"]As she had done numerous times before, Nana made her way through Iwagakure, out towards the remote tarn. She often found that during this time of day, the area was quiet and devoid of people. Nana didn't dislike her fellows from the Hidden Stone, but she did find it so draining trying to keep up the proper airs. Besides that, the tarn was a good place to practice her Kyujutsu or look for frogs. Today, she had chosen the prior.
Twigs snapped underfoot and leaves crunched in protest as she made her way through the brush; her bow kept readily in hand just in case. Nana was still within the territory of Iwagakure, which should be safe for a Genin such as herself, but that never fully reassured her.
Up ahead, Nana heard the protesting quacks of ducks, but thought little of it til she broke through the bushes. She jumped a tad when her focus locked on the figure in the water. There usually wasn't anyone here, and yet, there someone was. Completely ill-prepared for socializing, Nana opened and closed her mouth like a fish suddenly yanked out of water.
"Ah-- uhm--? I'm sorry--"
The polite thing to do was to look away but something caught her eyes. Nana noticed spots all over the lad and, when taking more than a brief second to examine him, she realized they were moving. With all her good graces caught off guard, she spoke bluntly.
"Are those--? Are there leeches in the water here...?"
Itaru’s eyes would lock onto the verdant haired kunoichi as she approached, but he still spun around to look at her with his own original eyes.
“Leeches!?” he asked as he forgot his inhibition and began patting all around his body. The eyes would begin darting back and forth looking for the insects. His face looked horrified for a moment until a grim realization came over him, and his lips sank into a downward curve. “No, they aren’t leeches. They are my eyes, I’m sorry!”
He moved past her and made his way over to his off-green undershirt and picked it up, pulling it up and over his head. After getting it back on, his arms were still exposed, as were the eyes on his legs. He tried his best to place his arms behind his back as well as one leg in front of the other in an awkward way that spelled out his discomfort with his own condition.
“I thought maybe I was far enough away from the village that no one would come out here,” he explained.
[attr="class","APP3"]Oh, she had upset him. Oops. But were they really--? As Nana observed the dark spots more closely, she could indeed see that they were eyes all over his body. Which was strange in and of itself but also because Nana was sure she'd seen him in Iwagakure before and had never noticed more than two eyes. She didn't take her eyes off the young man, even as he re-dressed.
"Oh. That's the same reason I come out here. Usually no one is here..."
A silence fell over them, Nana frowning as she internally mulled. She recognized that look on his face: the moment a fear is realized and worry for the future sets in. Perhaps she could mend this situation? After all, she understood his plight to some degree.
"You don't have to feel bad, I mean--" she licked her lips nervously, "There's a lot of experimentation in Iwagakure, right? No need to be embarrassed!"
Nana was trying to sound reassuring, in her own way, though perhaps the assurance was more for herself.
Itaru took a deep breath in, and let out a sigh. His posture relaxed a bit.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said as he let his arms back out in front of him and took a more natural stance. The eyes glanced around in many directions, seeking anything out of the ordinary and occasionally fixating back on the kunoichi.
The ducks that he had been feeding began to waddle away, having decided that the human had lost their attention and that there wasn’t any more food to be had today. He gave them a subtle wave.
“It isn’t an experimental thing,” Itaru said. Then as he thought about it a small laugh erupted from his gut. “Well, actually it sort of is. The kekkei genkai I inherited here typically kills those unfortunate enough to inherit it. I owe my survival to experimental injections after all.”
He looked away. Fixing his glasses.
“Sorry, oversharing I know,” he said. “Bad habit.”
[attr="class","APP3"]"Oh. Well, I'm glad it didn't," she paused, "Kill you... that is."
Her words came out stiff and awkward but a genuine effort was being made. Nana's hands fidgeted along the length of her bow as anxiety fought with curiosity. She wished to connect with this Shinobi, as he seemingly would understand embarrassing body abnormalities but...
"I don't mind, I asked after all. I just... Do you ever..." she hesitated, reconsidering her words but continued onward anyways, "... hate them?"
Nana spoke the last two words in a hushed voice, as if she had said something taboo.
Last Edit: Oct 16, 2021 0:47:17 GMT by Nana Imamura
Itaru blinked for a moment and nodded his head at the kunoichi’s question. He didn’t look at her directly when he answered.
“It takes a lot of maintenance to take care of, and don’t get me started if I have to peel onions,” he said with a small chuckle. “It is hard not to resent them when it feels like I lost years of my life during their development. Thinking of what could have been is always frustrating.”
He squinted as some sun peered out through a cloud, he quickly squeezed each eye on his arms shut. He lifted his arm up to block it out after that, feeling the tinge of redness beneath each exposed eyelid. Although he didn’t say it, the sunlight was also a constant problem for him. It was hard to keep It from getting into one eye or another.
“You are very kind. What is your name?” he asked. “I am Itaru Tokuro.”
[attr="class","APP3"]Nana gave the shinobi an empathetic look as he spoke on his resentments and anatomical struggles. While she knew the former well, Nana couldn't help but pity the shinobi despite hating being pitied herself. She could hide her abnormalities with ease and they caused her few physical problems. As the shinobi squinted against the harsh sunlight that forced him to have to close all of his eyes, Nana knew she couldn't understand the level of discomfort his form caused him.
When complimented, Nana became paralyzed by her own awkwardness; slinging her bow over her shoulder in an attempt to look 'natural'.
"I'm... Nana. Imamura. Nana Imamura," she paused, opting not to acknowledge his compliment, "Nice to meet you Itaru."
While normally hyper aware of how poorly a social interaction may go, Nana never could help herself when it came to strange anatomy. She found the words would escape her before she had time to analyze them.
"Years, you said? They took years away from you...? How so?"
Itaru paused for a moment and took a deep breath in. as he closed his eyes. A cold washed over him, and he could hear the sound of a heart monitor inside his head and the discomfort of a thin hospital mattress against his back.
He opened his eyes again and sighed. “Prior to completely forming into eyes, they form as tumors beneath the skin that lack the correct structures to circulate blood flow correctly. I was one of those kids that was eager enough to go to academy I did it before finishing primary school. Or well, I was raised to think that was the best thing to do.”
He laughed as a thought about his old man came to mind.
“It takes years of anguish for them to develop and being medically retired at such a young age was horrible,” he said. “I was lucky that the tschukigae’s team took pity on me.”
He raised a hand up as if to dismiss talking about himself.
“Anyways, you seem to be in the know about the way things are around here. I don’t see any outward modifications to you though. Are you a medic or something?”
[attr="class","APP3"]Nana's gaze slid over the eyes visible on Itaru as he described how they formed. The sheer number of them that she could see, the years it took for them to form, and the physical and-- no doubt-- mental pain they caused him.
Colour flushed her cheeks as Itaru questioned her. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed by her own self-consciousness in the face of someone who'd clearly suffered much more. Perhaps, however, this Itaru could be an understanding ear.
Nana thumbed at the wood of her bow in thought, building up the courage to talk.
"I have a modification," she murmured, casting a worried glance around them, "I've always been embarrassed but I feel... silly now. It's well hidden and hasn't affected me, not like your eyes."
“Oh! I am sorry,” Itaru said as he watched her face flush. He looked concearned that he had perhaps offended her. “I should know better since I feel the same way about myself.”
He did look at her curiously, trying to spot the modification for a moment but failing. He felt ashamed of being nosey and looked away, but then glanced back at her and gave her a week smile as he adjusted his glasses. He paused for a moment and fidgeted as he tried to gather himself up to say something impactful, though his posture didn’t come out as being confident.
“We’re more than our quirks and modifications,” he said, although his voice inflected almost as if he had asked a question. He swallowed air, and then seemed to find a more positive tone of voice. “Even if they are what the village finds useful in us, we are still people. So instead of telling me about your modification, tell me more about yourself, Nana. What brought you out to this lake today?”
[attr="class","APP3"]Nana listened intently and did her best to let Itaru's words sink in. She wanted his words to be as impactful as he tried to make them, to have that "ah-ha!" moment that would set her down the path of confidence. In reality, it was just two insecure young people trying to prop each other up.
Even Nana-- as dense as she could be-- noticed Itaru's multitude of eyes peering about for any signs of her modification. While she knew he'd never see, it still caused her to unconsciously clench her teeth just in case.
While it was a nice sentiment to say they were more than their modifications, it sounded like not even Itaru was so sure of that fact. Nana certainly wasn't. And as he shifted the subject to be about her, she felt a familiar anxiety rise in her chest.
"Do you really believe that? That we're more than just the modifications?" She ignored Itaru's inquiries about herself; her mind focused on what he'd said and what she felt was implied.
Nana realized she had no idea who she was outside of her minor modification. She'd worried about it her whole life. It was all she had.
Itaru lowered his gaze to the ground and the edges of his lips curled downwards.
"No. Not for me anyway," he said in a hushed tone. "It's just something that I like to tell myself. It makes me feel better even if it is a lie."
He turned towards the lake and picked up a smooth flat stone the size of a coin. He flicked it into the water and it skipped across the surface desperately until it sank into the depths.
"The only reason I am around is because they thought there might be some use for the kekkei genkai. I do little else but try to repay the debt so that they aren't left disappointed in their investment."
He didn’t turn back, but an eye on his arm still peered at her. “I think it's better than the alternative though. I wasn’t ready to die or be a burden for the rest of my life.”
[attr="class","APP3"]Nana watched the stone as it skipped all it could muster before disappearing into the waters. She didn't think less of Itaru for not really believing in his own words. People often gave the advice they wanted to hear and he had done just that. She wanted to believe him too. But there was a big difference between them. Just one glance at Itaru and Nana could tell he was going places with such a different kekkei genkai. Her modification was... barely anything. Perhaps even... pointless?
"I see," she paused, "I understand."
Nana turned as Itaru had and plucked a similarly flat stone from the ground.
"I kind of envy you, Itaru," she said, mimicking his prior movements in order to skip the stone. It hit the water with a resounding plop. Nana couldn't help but smile at the failure.
"Because... I think all you've gone through will result in a great shinobi one day with your eyes and experience. Like, they'll benefit you greatly. I can't say the same for myself and my modification..."
"What was the point of it all?" Nana seemed to be asking this question more so to herself.
