Date: April 13th, 13 years following the Kyuubi's attack
Time: 5:30 PM
"Damn..." Sho Inugami - or rather Keitaro Urashima as he was currently going by - grunted as he set down the fifth book he'd read in the last four hours. This brought his total up to 30 since they'd left Konoha about two days earlier, but still left him less than halfway through the pile that Shao Fukamichu had left in the carriage for them.
"I never thought the day would come when Ino Yamanaka would actually be USEFUL to have around..." He said with a roll of his two forest green eyes. It was an image that was still taking some getting used to for his two companions, since his left eye was naturally a steel gray.
Crown Princess Reiyuriko wa Mizuzaki, currently being played by Kimiko Itou, looked up from the real princess's diary – where she was looking for clues as to how the slightly older woman thought and maybe a hint as to what happened to her… Although she honestly doubted that she'd find anything like the latter; so many people had likely gone over the small book in the last two months. She and Motoko...
'No! It's Naru Narusegawa until we finish this.' The chocolate brown haired kunoichi silently chided herself. She and Naru were sitting on the opposite side of the carriage from the med... 'Aristocrat.' She corrected herself again as she looked at him. "Swearing is rather unbecoming someone of your station, Urashima-san."
The young man blinked and looked over to the ersatz Princess as he mentally put himself into his role. The only one remotely within hearing range was Okito Tanaka, who was driving the carriage from the bench attached to the opposite side of the wall behind the two women, but by mutual agreement, all three of them were trying to keep themselves in character as much as possible while on the road.
"Forgive me for assaulting your ears with my foul mood, my lady. I just never realized how much could be said about so very little…" The young man sighed. "It seems like you've made botany your entire life, Princess. It just happened to remind me of a young woman in my home town who comes from a family of horticulturalists. Although the girl I speak of is a headstrong, half-witted annoyance that is obsessed with a young man far superior to her, her knowledge of this subject matter is rather extensive and would be very handy to have at this time."
Motoko and Kimiko both giggled at the unflattering, but extremely accurate, description of the blonde kunoichi on Team 10. "It seems like half your personal library is dedicated to the secret language of flowers: you know, how this flower represents this, but has different meanings depending on how it's presented. As if we humans didn't have enough ways to misunderstand one another... Roses ALONE have over thirty meanings depending on color and age of the blossom - that doesn't include the sub-meanings when you add in whether it is cut or live or if you have MULTIPLE colors arranged together!"
"But that is part of the charm, Keitaro Urashima." Reiyuriko answered with a sickening sweetness and a glint in her eye as her eyes flicked towards Motoko for a brief instant. "It allows people to express things that are difficult - or uncomfortable - for them to put into words. We," She said using the royal 'we.' "…rather enjoy sending flowers to others because they allow us to express true feelings that our station would not normally allow us to share, but do so in a way that gives us the ability to pretend we didn't." She flicked her eyes at Motoko.
"Plausible deniability." Inugami/Urashima remained impassive, a slight tension appearing around his eyes in an unspoken 'Shut up, Kimi.'
Kimiko/Reiyuriko gave him a 'not-in-this-lifetime' smile. "Indeed. Spending time in the royal gardens is perhaps when I am happiest; We get to play in the dirt like any other person, but we can get away with it because horticulture is a 'refined' past time that is worthy for us in the eyes of others."
"I concede the point to you, Princess." Sho responded with a morose sigh. Maybe opening up to Kimiko about his feelings for Motoko hadn't been as good an idea as he'd thought at the time… His teammate seemed almost compelled to get Hata-san and himself together since their heart-to-heart talk during the Hide and Seek mission.
He made a moue as he thought for a few moments. "And just to clarify, I rather enjoy flowers myself, but now I'm never going to be able to look at another flower without wondering if it's a well-meaning gift or an attempt to secretly say something to me. Or that a girl might read too much into flowers I might give her." He said, shaking his head as he picked up another book.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Ojou-sama, Lord Urashima, but it still seems unnatural, sir." Motoko Hata finally spoke up. Inugami's eyebrow arched as he glanced at her, causing the kunoichi disguised as a handmaid to flush slightly. "The speed at which you seem to be able to absorb the contents of those books, I mean…" She clarified.
The red haired young woman's unasked question gave the medic-nin pause. Her normally timid, reserved nature played well with her disguise as a maid servant, but whoever designed the outfits for the maids of the River Country Palace had definitely earned Sho's undying enmity... Motoko was a cute girl any day of the week, but, in her disguise, cute became mesmerizingly winsome and Sho had been trying to avoid looking at her because of it.
Her incredibly refined, yet demure appearance was making it even harder for him to give the cold shoulder to the only person in Konoha - outside of his immediate family - who had been nothing but kind to him as long as he could remember… And he remembered everything from the time he was about a month old; although the memories before he was two years old were a bit on the fuzzy side, the nearly 13 other years - he'd be turning 15 in about half an hour - were etched into his mind with a perfect clarity.
'But it's for her own good...' He reminded himself. 'I'm a monster and I would never forgive myself if I hurt her or she was hurt when the village finally needs to eliminate me. She deserves nothing but the best; something I'm not even within spitting distance of.'
The disguised medic shrugged, deliberately projecting the self-absorbed arrogance of his cover to the point where even HE found himself loathsome. "Sorry, can't explain this in character… Honestly, it's nothing special. With my photographic memory, I simply look at it now and allow my brain to process the contents while I sleep. When I wake up, the raw facts have been sorted into useful information." He grimaced slightly. "The nightmares I'll experience because of this forced learning method are an unfortunate side effect, but I will simply have to tolerate them…. There's no way we'll be able to pull this off convincingly if I try to study the sheer volume of information here in a more traditional manner."
Kimiko's jaw dropped open in disbelief and worried concern appeared on Motoko's face. Itou beat Hata to vocalizing her feelings, however.
"You're deliberately... To do a..." She sputtered, breaking character as she was unable to get a hold of her emotions faster than her mind was spinning at this information. "Sho Inugami, are you completely INSANE?!" The Princess finally demanded hotly. She had seen Inugami do some weird things over the years, but sacrificing what she viewed as his tenuous mental health for the sake of information was too much for her to accept as his friend.
Sho straightened his spine and squared his shoulders, assuming a painfully serious air. "I do not know a Sho Inugami, Princess." "Keitaro" answered blandly, pointing over the shoulders of the two kunoichi, in the direction of the drivers that were sitting on the opposite side of the wall in a silent reminder that loud voices could be heard atop the carriage; even over the ruckus of the four running, whinnying horses. There may only be a Jonin who was in on the charade there, but the point remained. "But I would say that the job takes priority over my health; nobility," Translated 'ninja,' "…Have to make hard calls like that all the time. Just because we're young doesn't exempt us from that onus."
Princess Reiyuriko frowned impressively at the white-haired member of her entourage. "You really have a gift for killing conversations; even those born out of honest concern for your well-being, Keitaro Urashima." She said disapprovingly.
"When you've been subjected to as many rants as I have, Reiyuriko-hime - well-meant or otherwise - it's not a gift so much as it is a survival mechanism." Inugami/Urashima said with a self-amused grin.
"A survival mechanism?" Kimiko Itou asked wryly; unable to fathom the joke. She glanced at Motoko Hata/Naru Narusegawa, who shrugged in curious confusion. The fake princess sighed, half expecting another of Sho's ribald answers. "All right, we're game... Why do you say that?"
Sho Inugami/Keitaro Urashima made the medic's negligent twisting roll of his right hand, a gesture that usually signified that he thought the answer was obvious. "Well, let's face it; I don't do ANYTHING without thinking it through beforehand, typically several times over. The fact that I'm doing something that others assume to be crazy means that I couldn't think of a better option THAN to do except something a bit crazy. Telling me that it's insane isn't going to stop me from doing what I plan to do unless someone tell me an alternative I didn't know about. Since the majority of rants I endure are rarely more than opinions and feelings devoid of useful facts, stopping their rant becomes a survival mechanism…" He gave her a wide grin. "…As it keeps me from being bored to death."
A giggle of amusement escaped Motoko Hata's orange-tinted lips as she appreciated the humor of the young man she was interested in. Kimiko Itou breathed a bemused sigh of defeat. I was kind of funny, but she still wasn't comfortable with the thought of Sho hurting himself to help her. "I should have known..."
Keitaro cracked open his book. "I just wish that I'd discovered that Whiskers had learned the Kage Bushin earlier than I did. If I'd found that out before he was leaving for his trip down to the Land of Waves, I probably could have talked him into teaching it to me… Learning that would have made studying THIS way completely unnecessary."
Naru Narusegawa blinked a few times, setting down the book with the assorted etiquette rules that were her responsibility to keep Kimiko aware of. "Kage Bushin… A Shadow Clone technique? What is that?"
"It's the top tier of clone ninjutsu; A-Rank difficulty." Sho answered as he began to flip rapidly through the book, giving each page little more than a few seconds' examination.
Motoko looked over at Kimiko, confused if this was continuation of Sho's unusual campaign of dismissal against her. The chocolate haired woman shook her head; Sho had answered her question, but had given the briefest explanation because his focus was on his study of the book. They just needed to ask a more detailed question.
"Keitaro?" Inugami looked up briefly. "What does the technique DO that makes you wish you'd learned it?" Kimiko asked, clarifying Motoko's question to get the answers the two disguised kunoichi were after.
"Oh..." The medic blinked as he began to order his thoughts. "Well, you know how Bushin makes illusion clones that duplicate what you're doing, because they're nothing more than manipulated light, right?" He asked as he resumed looking at his book, but now he was going slower than before since he was multitasking.
Both women murmured agreement; the Bushin no Jutsu was one of the fundamental jutsu the Academy taught those who hoped to become ninja, after all. "The next step up is the Elemental Clone techniques - Mizu Bushin, Ho Bushin, Tsuchi Bushin, and so on. Done right, those techniques make semi-real clones out of nature-altered chakra that you can control telepathically. Unlike the real person, however, water clones dissolve, fire clones detonate, and earth clones crumble when they are injured. The Kage Bushin, undoubtedly the most complex clone jutsu, also creates semi-real clones, but they're far more versatile."
"How is that Sh...? Keitaro-kun?" Naru Narusegawa asked, honestly interested. "Where is the difference between Shadow Clone and, say, Thunder Clone?"
"Kage Bushin clones are more than just mindless dummies like Rai Bushin or other elemental Bushin clones are; knock out the ninja and if the elemental clone doesn't pop out of existence, it just stops like a marionette with no one manipulating their strings." He clenched a fist over one hand, making it appear to wilt. "A Shadow Clone, on the other hand, has all the ninja's knowledge and self-awareness. In fact, during the clone creation phase, the ninja can evenly share his or her chakra reserves between the original and the clones, so the clone can actually use ANY jutsu the caster knows. The result is a fully autonomous copy that can THINK for itself, although they know they aren't the original and they can be directed mentally to perform tasks that the original couldn't safely do. In other words, a single ninja could use the technique to make three clones and be able to act as his own ninja team in certain circumstances. And that's not even the most useful part of the jutsu..."
Sho glanced up again to make sure they were keeping him. To his surprise, both women were watching him with rapt attention, clearly interested in what he had to say.
The medic placed a bookmark and closed his book. As it was clear they weren't just after idle conversation, but honestly wanted to learn, they deserved his undivided attention. He went to adjust his glasses, but his finger touched the bridge of his nose before he remembered that he'd left them back in Konoha. He shook his head in self-depreciating humor at his own foolishness, eliciting a smile from the two ladies.
He snorted slightly. 'It was kind of funny, after all...' The medic thought to himself.
"Anyways... The Kage Bushin was originally designed by the Second Hokage as an espionage-type technique. You see, when the clone is destroyed, whether by the crafter's choice or not, all the clone's experience and memories from the time it was created are then telepathically transferred back to the original ninja. In other words, if I send one into a cave, it runs into a tiger and gets killed, that knowledge comes back to me instantly so I can start running before the animal even starts thinking about going outside."
"Sugoi..." Motoko breathed in awe. "That's amazing! I never imagined such a jutsu existed!"
"Well, it's supposed to be a 'sealed' technique, put in a scroll following the end of the First Great Ninja War era and not permitted to be read except by the Hokage and his Advisors, although certain ANBU ninja are taught it by the Sandaime directly if he feels they can safely use it. In my case, I could have made two or three copies of myself and have each of us read a single book in the traditional way. Then, when I end the jutsu, the clone's memories of reading the book become MY memories of reading both books without the side effects."
"And you're saying NARUTO knows this technique?" Princess Reiyuriko asked, her brown eyes going wide in disbelief. "Naruto Uzumaki?! The same Naruto who could barely make a single Bushin copy and failed the graduation exam three times can make intelligent, thinking duplicates of himself?"
Keitaro/Sho nodded after a momentary pause, sensing a change in the air. "I saw it with my own eyes, Princess, and I was every bit as astonished as you are, but he has learned it nonetheless. Knowing Whiskers' reputation, however, I doubt he notices the memories from the copies of himself and uses the technique solely for making doubles to drown his foe in bodies."
He frowned in thought. "What really surprises me is he has the chakra to pull it off... I met this white haired medic-nin - we young men who go white early kind of have to stick together - while I was in Konoha. I doubt that he would be capable of more than one or two Kage Bushin clones. When I saw Whiskers using it, he had at least four of them running around helping him pack for his trip."
'Why did he suddenly go back to referring to himself and Naruto as if they were strangers?' Kimiko Itou wondered to herself.
Almost instantly, as if in response to the faux Princess's unspoken question, the carriage lurched to an abrupt stop that caused the piles of reading material to topple atop of Motoko Hata. The kunoichi disguised as a maid let off a surprised gasp as the corners of some of the books dug into her sides from the weight. Kimiko and Sho both jumped to the pinned young woman's assistance, pulling the books away.
"River Country checkpoint! Identify yourselves!" An authoritative voice shouted from behind Kimiko.
Itou blinked in surprise, recalling that Tanaka-sensei had said they would be reaching the northern border between the Lands of Fire and Rivers before sunset when they'd started in the morning. She glanced over to the curtains and saw that a shadow had begun to form at the top… Evening was approaching.
'Oh, that's why... We must have started slowing down and he noticed it. I was so focused on what he was telling us that I must have missed it.'
"We are Imperial Carriage number two!" Tanaka shouted back. "You will clear a path for us and the ninja hired in Konoha to see to our safe return!"
"Impossible!" The original voice countered. "Carriage Number 2 would be carrying nothing less than her Royal Highness, Reiyuriko wa Mizuzaki, and be accompanied by a cadre of the Imperial Guard's finest; not mere foreign ninja. And where is the documentation stating the estimated time of arrival? We've received no such message that Princess Reiyuriko was coming. It's a felony, punishable by execution, to make such claims if you cannot back them up!"
"Princess..." Sho murmured; gesturing to the curtained door of the carriage, which they'd kept covered to help keep them focused on studying the material they'd been given. "Perhaps a personal appearance would be in order?"
Motoko nodded in agreement, wincing slightly - the weight of the books hitting her would probably leave a nasty bruise on her side. "With a touch of annoyance at the delay... But no more than a touch; your inter-country trip was unannounced, so you knew there'd be trouble on the return."
"Princess Reiyuriko" nibbled on her lower lip nervously. It was one thing to be able to handle the disguise when she was expecting it, but NOW?! Both of her companions smiled encouragingly. Kimiko Itou took a deep, reassuring breath as she turned to open the door to the carriage. 'It's now or never, Kimi...' She thought to herself.
As the door opened, Kimiko could see that they were on a marble cobblestone walkway that was slightly bluish in hue. Miho-sensei stood just outside the door and blinked as she noticed the door opening. When the Jonin saw that it was Kimiko - Reiyuriko - stepping out, she nodded in understanding at the unspoken plan and pulled out the gold-and-iron wrought retractable stairs.
Kimiko placed her aquamarine slippered foot - for some reason royalty didn't care for sensible thick-soled shoes - on the stairs and then rose to her full height. Because the carriage was designed to have people duck their heads if they were standing, the ornate door hid her body from her shoulders down.
Looking beyond Motoko's younger twin, who was standing beside the horses as the front left point guard, Kimiko could see a heavily fortified wall. The wall carried a sizable gate that was identical to the one that surrounded Konoha, though not as large, and the numerous guards and sentries were easily visible. The gate was only opened wide enough to allow one, maybe two carriages to pass through at a time and was lined with rows of blue suited soldiers. Each soldier carried a gleaming steel-edged polearm and was built almost as heavily as Okito Tanaka - 'Seta Noriyasu!' She reminded herself again - which probably dissuaded most people from the suicidal thought of trying to overpower a guard or ignoring them outright.
"We are curious as to the meaning behind this delay." She began in the authoritative tone that Sho and Motoko had been coaching her to speak in for the last few days. She did not shout, but the strength of her voice allowed for no misunderstandings and practically dripped with displeasure. The hush that fell over the crowd of people attempting to enter the smaller nation allowed her voice to be easily heard. "We trust this is sufficient to prove our claims, yes? It has been a wearying journey and We have further yet to go before reaching the Palace."
The guards on the left side - and those that Itou could see on the right - immediately dropped to one knee and their weapons straightened to look like a row of spikes. "The Pearl of the River has returned to us!" The original voice, the front guard on the left suddenly proclaimed, naming one of the Imperial Princess's official titles. Kimiko was surprised to see that most of the people trying to enter the Land of Rivers had also dropped to one knee as well.
'Shao's description of the people's feelings for Princess Reiyuriko seems to be accurate; maybe even understated...' She thought to herself nervously. 'I'll have to be careful not to let this power go to my head.'
"Forgive my rudeness, m'lady..." The lead guard spoke. His gruff voice closer than it was before.
Kimiko blinked, the guard now stood a few feet away from her... She glanced at insignia on his shoulders, but couldn't recall its meaning. 'I really hate improvising...' She whined to herself even as she gave the man a beaming smile. "We understand, good sir. Knowing our father's majordomo with all the preparations for the coming Convocation, our return must have slipped his mind."
The guard smiled slightly. "That is undoubtedly must be the case, Princess. I could see that poor Fukamichu-sama was nearly at his wits end when he arrived yesterday on a horse that had been ridden so hard it was on the verge of collapse. And Fugato-sama, the Majordomo's assistant, didn't show up until two hours later saying something about his horse throwing a shoe." He shook his head. "Forgive my digression, Princess... Will you be interacting with the public on the way to the Palace as you usually do?"
Kimiko froze. 'Was that usual? Reiyuriko didn't mention it in any of her journal entries that I read... What do I do?'
There were two squeezes on her knee that was hidden within the carriage.
Sho or Motoko had just come to the rescue despite the unexpected curve ball! Two rapid fist squeezes was the sign of negation in the ninja non-verbal sign language. But since she couldn't see them, they used her leg instead. "Princess Reiyuriko" gave the guard a sad smile.
"As much as we love our people, we fear our long trip was so arduous that we cannot give our people the respect they deserve. We will simply have to do so on a different occasion, but for now we wish to rest for the night and hasten our return home in the morning."
The leader of the gate guards bowed respectfully. "It shall be as you wish, Princess." He glanced at the angle of the sun. "Night is fast approaching, Ojou-sama. About ten minutes down the road is a small inn that my guards can quickly secure. It is rather humble for one such as yourself, but it is the best available in the area."
Kimiko/Reiyuriko glanced at the sky, the setting sun turning it nearly the same shade as Motoko/Naru's hair, and nodded in acceptance. "Very well; I will gladly take your recommendation. If there are other guests already at the inn, however, do not chase them off – my presence was unanticipated and I will not put people on the streets for the sake of my own safety. Miho-chan here," She gestured to the female Jonin to the right of her, "…Has been a loyal friend and guard on many occasions and will make sure I'm well protected."
There were practically tears in the eyes of some of the people at Kimiko's act of generosity – one that the real Princess would have done according to her own journal. The leader of the gate guards nodded in acceptance. "Units Two and Three; Standard honor guard formation to Hinata House!"
Eight of the guards hopped to their feet, one of whom began to run down the street heading to a small inn just barely visible from their position, while the others formed a triangular wedge to guide the carriage. Miho Hyuuga nodded to Kimiko and followed the man to confirm the security as Takahashi stepped up to assume the Jonin's place beside the carriage.
Kimiko gave the man a genuine smile. "Thank you very much; I'll make sure that word of your exceptional performance reaches Shao-kohai's ears." The man saluted as the ersatz princess ducked back into the carriage and pulled the door closed.
Motoko – whom it turned out was the one who'd given her the warning – gave Itou a hug. Kimiko smiled at them both and made a swiping gesture at her forehead of relief – without actually touching skin; she couldn't risk damaging the painstaking effort to put Princess Reiyuriko's makeup on one moment sooner than necessary – as the carriage resumed forward motion at a slower pace…
Keitaro Urashima made a silent gesture of applause for her performance. "Inspiring words, Princess Reiyuriko... Is it any wonder that you are so loved by your people?"
Kimiko Itou smiled wanly as she ran what he said through her "Inugami Translator" as she had jokingly come to call it. His words were cumbersome and it was phrased as a question, but she knew that he had just said, "Good job."
'Maybe this job won't be as bad as I was afraid it was going to be...' She thought to herself.
Not that she believed it for a minute...
* * *
Approximately twenty minutes later, Princess Reiyuriko sat on a cushion before a low table as the wait staff of the inn carried in a sumptuous dinner for their crown princess and her guest, Keitaro Urashima of the adjacent Land of Fire. Miho Hyuuga stood by the entrance, her Byakugan fully engaged, to check each servant as they came in as the first line of defense and Motoko/Naru accepted the dishes intended for Kimiko as the final line. Okito/Seta stood in corner the behind and to the left of the ersatz royal daughter and the remaining Genin of Teams 11 and 13 stood in the other corners of the room.
"We hope you find our minor offerings are sufficient, Ojou-sama." The host of the inn said, bowing deeply to the princess as the last server departed.
Kimiko gave the host the slightest of nods. "Our apologies for not giving more sufficient notice before our arrival; everything you have presented looks wonderful and Our handmaiden will let you know if there is anything else We require."
The host nodded but paused just beside Miho Hyuuga who nodded. "There is one final item, Ojou-sama… Your kunoichi here informed me that it is your travel companion's birthday today." All eyes were on Inugami at these words, causing the white haired young man to sigh and rub his forehead in embarrassment. There was a grin on Miho Hyuuga's face as a final servant came in with a small white cake with blue icing that was large enough to serve everyone a piece and placed it between the two "nobles."
"Urashima-san, you scamp!" Kimiko/Reiyuriko said with a too-wide grin of delight at her team mate's discomfort. "You didn't even give me a hint that today was so important!"
"Forgive me, Ojou-sama; I'm not used to others being interested enough in me to care about such matters…" He noticed that they'd left off the candles – Keitaro was supposed to be five years older than Sho. He bowed to the host. "It is a beautiful desert; thank you kindly."
The host smiled and departed, leaving the eight ninja alone. Inugami arched the eyebrow normally over his grey eye at his Jonin after she made an "all clear" gesture to indicate no one was close enough to hear. "So THAT'S why you went ahead of us… Karin?"
Hyuuga shook her head. "Your mother."
That brought a genuine smile to the medic-nin's face; his mother had been so busy once that she'd forgotten his 10th birthday until nearly a month later. She'd felt so guilty she swore she'd never forget it again. She was now 5 for 5 on that oath. "Thank you for their messages, by the way."
Motoko Hata looked over to Inugami, clearly making a mental note of the slightly older teen's birthday. "Congratulations, Sho-kun." She said softly.
The medic-nin nodded confirmation. "Thank you, Hata-san."
Kimiko got a slightly sad look. "Man, Sho, it's your birthday and the only things you're getting are nightmares from your effort to help me sell this part…" That perked interest from Miho and Okito, but neither said anything; mostly because they knew the white haired youth probably wouldn't explain in public.
"It was my choice, Kimiko." Inugami said simply as he took a bite of the meal and nodded acceptance of the taste. "Besides, it's just another day for the rest of the world and the mission comes first." He nodded to his Jonin, remembering his sister's message. "But thanks for arranging this, it's… refreshing… to get a surprise on occasion."
Kimiko Itou shook her head with a sigh; Sho could be so frustratingly logical at times. "Well, everyone, grab a plate; there's far too much for just Sho and I to eat on our own."
* * *
An hour later, Sho/Keitaro – now officially fifteen years old – had retreated into his suite for the evening, his social obligations satisfied. Kimiko had done the same with Motoko and Gods only knew what they'd be talking about.
'I'm going to give Karin such a noogie when I get home; she must have said something that triggered Kaasan's memory… That project with the Hidden Rock ninja's corpse she's been working on has been the only thing on her mind for two weeks now.' He thought to himself in frustration.
> Oh, knock it off for Gods' sake… So they celebrated your birthday, so the hell what? < A voice, similar to Sho's own, but different enough for him to realize it wasn't his own thought, whispered in his mind.
Inugami dropped the book in his hand in surprise. He'd spoken to himself before, but never like this! "Who's there?!" He demanded, looking around.
The voice gave the impression of a blink… Somehow. > Wait, you mean you actually HEAR me for a change? Thank the GODS… I've been yelling at you for YEARS, but you've never heard me before! <
Sho spun about, his hands glowing blue with the unconscious defensive activation of his chakra scalpels. But there was no one in the room but himself. "Where are you?"
The voice snickered derisively. > Dude, you're acting as dense as half the people in the village right now… I KNOW you know you aren't hearing with your ears right now. <
The chakra scalpels faded as Inugami's stomach turned to ice… "Oh shit… You're the Demon, aren't you? The moment I've always feared is coming, isn't it?"
Again, the voice snickered, but gave the impression of a shake of its head. Again by some method the medic was at a loss to explain. > No, that's not me… I mean know where to FIND him – something YOU don't want to know how to do – but I'm not him, no. I'm not entirely sure who and what HE is, but he's definitely not what you'd imagine him to be either. Honestly, I'm not scared of him the way you are... <
The voice gave the impression of someone pacing about, evaluating the change in circumstances. > No, as near as I can tell, I'm your subconscious mind… You know, the thoughts and feelings that you suppress to keep everyone at bay. Because my world is different than yours – I only see bits and pieces of the real world when you ponder something – I see things from a different angle than you… I guess us turning fifteen opened a mental bridge so now we can talk. <
Now Sho paused. There WERE hundreds of cases documented in the Inugami family's history on the male side of multiple personality disorder, but none of them described this kind of condition before. Nothing about the Inugami men hearing voices… "So, you've been there all this time? My cognitive dissonance made self-aware?"
A mental shrug. > Who knows? You and I share the same brain, so your experiences are MY experiences and I remember everything we've been through, but you're in the driver's seat as it were. I know that differences started to form between us when you started keeping everyone away after HE saved us, so maybe I'm a fragment personality created by the trauma finding that boar caused… <
Inugami took a seat on the futon mattress; the boar had been rather traumatic to be sure. Not just the discovery of the remains, but the moment when the Demon had emerged to "protect" him. He unconsciously rubbed his left forearm in remembrance of the pain… He hadn't shown Kimiko that part of his memories. "I guess only someone who can enter the mind like Ino's father would be able to tell where I end and you begin…"
The voice snorted. > Not that you or I would willingly submit to such a check… Our family has too many secrets to risk it. <
"True…" Sho said taking a long breath. "So, I'm not losing my sanity?"
> Eh… Debatable. < The voice said with wry playfulness. > I think you're out of your damned mind for trying to push Motoko-chan away. You SORT of heard me when you found out about her feelings, but you only got the gist of what I was suggesting that time. And that uniform she has to wear for this assignment..? < The voice made a moan of sexual frustration.
Inugami felt his cheeks color. "All right, all right; you're my inner Haruno, I get it."
> Jeez, you really know how to hurt a guy's feelings… < The voice said making a fake sniffle of hurt. > But, hey, it's a fair comparison… After all, I handle all the feelings you have for her that YOU don't want to try and deal with. That's why I get a bit testy when you're an ass to Motoko-chan and everyone else who you like and are keeping at bay. <
"So you're the reason I get those lurid dreams at night? Thanks a lot." Sho said sarcastically.
The voice gave the impression of a ticking finger. > Not guilty there. I'm your SUBconscious mind, not your UNconscious mind. When you sleep, I sleep, but I'm not connected to the part of the mind that creates dreams out of your experiences or even see what little you retain of them when you wake up… Unless you dwell on them; that's the only time I get to see them. <
Inugami frowned to himself – literally. "This isn't going to be a regular occurrence, is it? People already think I'm a freak; talking to myself isn't going to help…"
> Nah… < The impression of the voice flipping his hand negligently came through loud and clear. > Only when I'm genuinely frustrated at you and speak my 'mind' as it were. Ja matane... < The impression of the hand wiggling its fingers in a mocking goodbye came before the sensation of the voice's presence faded.
"Oh. Joy. A new thing to deal with…" The medic-nin muttered sarcastically as he pulled the blanket over himself. He raised his hands in the Ram sign. "Forced sleep technique, wake up trigger…" He looked at the window and realized that he was on the east side of the inn he opened the curtain so he could see the stars. "…sunlight on my face. Begin."
The medic's chakra pulsed as he forced himself to fall asleep; a handy skill to have when one needed rest and couldn't relax fast enough to do so. Inugami fell back onto the plush mattress and into a void of nightmares as his brain began collating and cross-referencing all the information he'd absorbed in that day…