Fresh Air (Open) (Meet N Greet)

The rays of the morning sun peeped through the windows of one who was already awake. The night had been short due to him having to finish up some paper work that needed looking into urgently. He worked on this assignment through the night and by the time he set to sleep, the claws of the night made their way under his skin and preventing him from closing his eyes but that did not bother him. Since he could not sleep, dray had sat on the floor and lit candles around him and closed his eyes, meditating. This habit had become a part of him and it had let him calm down in almost every aspect especially the aspect concerning the berserker demon that was sealed in him. Dray now did not fear of losing control and going on rampage as long as he observed his daily meditation and kept his calm, he was alright. Just as the rays of the sun penetrated the cottons of the barely opened windows, the remainder of the candles burnt out as dray opened his eyes and got up from where he had sat all night. There was not much work to do today considering the fact that he had personally cleared out some requests from the mission board the previous day. The joutenkage pulled off his robes leaving only his white shorts as he picked up a towel and walked into the bath room. The morning bath was a cool but refreshing one with a particular soap that had an excellent fragrance. He walked out of the bath room and dried the water droplets on his body. He ran the towel through his silvery hair before hanging the towel to dry.

Few minutes later, dray was done with dressing up for the day. He was in black leather trousers, his black high soled shoe and a long white leather jacket. He also wore his pair of golden vambraces and his black belt with a huge bird’s head. He did not often dress much as he liked to look as simple as possible. The night’s work had taken quite a toll on him so of course, he needed to have breakfast. Dray walked into his kitchen and opened up his fridge. Something light would do, he thought as he picked out a loaf of bread and spread some butter onto it after which he poured himself a cup of milk. After his meal, he walked out of his house and found his way into the streets. He did not want to go to his office via an air pod so he had chosen to walk through the market and perhaps, check the situation of things in the village personally. The market of amagakure was as busy as any other morning market with every trader showing off their goods and making sure they make sales so as to feed their families, that was what they did for a living and they did it good too. Dray had not walked any farther into the market when he spotted a familiar face. He was one with a good eye sight so he did not think that it was only his imagination. He walked towards the person as he remembered what he could. She was Hitomi Shiruku, one of the shinobis that were promoted to the rank of chunin not too long ago. Yes, it was her. Dray closed in as he greeted calmy.. “Hello Hitomi..”
WC:508

The young lady turned back to check who it was that was calling her name and upon finding out that it was the kage, she took a stepped backward and looked down away from him. Dray could understand her a little. He had read her files and was aware of the incident with her family. Out of everybody in the universe, dray had the cause to behave how Hitomi was behaving and no one could have to question him. At a very tender age, far younger than he could remember, his mother was killed by a demon when she went out to get some herbs for his fever and his father also died trying to avenge his mother and protecting dray and in the end, the same demon that tore his family apart was sealed in him. What reason did he have not to live in solitude but he did not, because he believed in a future where he could make things right. If he had given up back then, perhaps, he would not have people looking up to him today so not as a kage but as someone who has undergone something similsr to what Hitomi had experienced, he had to try his best to help her even though she did not seem to need help from anyone.

Dray looked at the bag of items in her hand and figured that she had gotten what she wanted from the market and was headed home to her family. “Walk with me” he would say to her while walking towards the outsides of the market hoping she was close up behind him enough to hear what he had to say. He really did not know what to say to someone who really did not talk much but he had the feeling that once she got to know him better and perhaps when he had earned her trust, she might open up to him. Dray thought of ways by which he could do this but no ideas where coming to his head but then, he got one and even then, he knew he could not tell it to her straight away. Something to strike up a conversation was needed and any talk of her father was definitely not the best thing to start with or ever talk about. Nobody wanted to talk about lost family members. “How does it feel being promoted to the level of chunin” dray would ask hoping that was the right thing to start with, hoping he had picked his words well and if he had, he was sure to get a positive response from her. Earning some sort of people’s trust was equivalent to the task of saving the world meaning it wasn’t near easy.
WC:460

The conversation between dray and hitomi was not turning out good as she did not seem to ccome out of her shell. He understood that much persuasion was needed but he just did not like attempting things that did not guarantee positive results. He was the leader of this great village and of course, he did have other work to do but he had chosen to sacrifice his time with her and nobody was going to question him about that. He did remember that he had always thought of getting stronger so he could protect the ones that he loved and perhaps, that was what hitomi had been thinking all along. Her response to his question confirmed that. Becoming a chunin might not have meant much to her, it must have been another wall she had scaled over so as to get stronger. Dray had a few ideas in his head but how to put it was what he lacked at the moment. He could offer her the post of her becoming his personal assistant, that way, she could earn more money to help her family apart from the money that she received from completing missions but she may think that dray was pitying her and most people did not like the idea of being pitied. If getting stronger was what she had in mind, he could always create time to have a training session with her since he was also aware that she was skilled in the medical aspect. He also could assign missions to her to keep her from thinking about heavy things most of the time but the issue now was that which of the ideas he should serve on the table.

Dray looked at the young girl from the corner of his eyes as she was closely behind him and clutching the bags close to her. Dray would slow down so that he and hitomi would walk equally. He would breathe in softly and exhale a very cold breathe. For a moment, he thought about dropping all the ideas but then, none of it would make sense so it was to be done one by one but of course, right now he would pick the idea with the most probability of acceptance. “SO.. hitomi, I have seen your zeal to get better and I wondered if you will want a training session or two with me” dray would say and quickly add in “or perhaps, I could have you accompany me on one or two missions” He would then stop and face her while making up his mind. “I actually don’t know how else to get to you since you have barricaded yourself. The third option I had in mind was for you to become my personal assistant but I figured that you might refuse since you are not much of a talky person. I know about what happened to your family but not much people know what happened to mine. They might think that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and I was brought up knowing gold but the answer is no. Both my parents were murdered when I was young and I had to rise from grass to grace all by myself to protect the ones I love so you are hurting yourself and not others by doing this. I know you do not completely trust anyone but you could at least give them a chance..” dray would say to her calmly as he would carefully place one hand on her shoulder trying to get across to the young kunoichi.
WC:601

For once since their conversation had begun, the kunoichi managed to actually put words together and make a complete and meaningful sentence. Dray knew it was hard for her but he had also made the right call at some risks too but perhaps if she got to hear the story of another, if she got to know how he had lived, if she was spoken to maturely and not being treated by a child any longer, maybe then she might realize how much she needed to be around people. Dray could not help but clench his fist when he heard her say that the people that attacked her family were from the village and that they were living freely while her mother struggled with one hand and worked hard to raise both her and her brother. That was indeed painful and no one would experience such and not have to think about it once in a while. The thought of it all was saddening, killers roaming round the village when everything that dray had done since he had come in power was to keep the village and its people safe. Talking over the matter just wouldn’t do. It was hitomi’s matter that the attackers killed her father and hurt her mother but now, it was dray’s matter that some people killed his villager and hurt another one and they were still allowed to live freely in the village.

The young girl looked around as she spoke gently and dray knew well that she was still not sure of her surrounding thinking that anyone would just pop up and hurt her but not with him here. She stammered as she told dray that she could be his assistant. Dray was not expecting her to even talk about the matter neither was he expecting her to say yes but now that she had said it, he was glad. Having her close to him would mean earning her trust as much as possible and having her feel safe around him. This way, she could get her matter off things, get more money to help her family with and even look into some files concerning who had attacked her family. She then said that she would trust dray since he had shared his past with her and she admired his will to get stronger not out of fear. Even as a child, dray had had no reason to fear anything. His motivation to get better was always so that he could depend on himself, so that he could one day come in power and protect his village and that was exactly what he planned on doing now and finding the killers of hitomi’s father was one of the things he was going to do.

“I am glad that you thought about becoming my assistant. Resume at the administration building tomorrow morning and your work would commence. You can resume after seeing to your mother and brother’s needs and I’ll have you go home early enough to check on them again.” Dray would say as he would start walking again with her on the same pace as him. “So, how would you like to find the ones who attacked your family?” dray would ask her.
WC:546

The anger that dray felt towards the killers roaming about his village was the main reason why he had asked hitomi that question. He did not expect a positive reply from her, he just wanted her to know that it was now his problem since it was his village and the killers were in it. If she had said yes to finding the killers, dray would have been glad because he knew that not much would go through this experience and not seek revenge sooner or later but when her head fell and she seemed to go back into her shell, dray understood her perfectly well. The feeling that these attackers were strong, that the previous time she was lucky and this time around she may not have that luck. The feeling that she did not want others like dray to bear her burden for her but that was what dray would do, he would bear it for her. It was his duty to protect the village and each villager made of the village so by protecting them, he was protecting the village. It was probably not the right thing for him to say but he had to say it and if she was going to someday become somebody that did not live on fear, somebody that had goals, somebody that had duties, somebody that had something to protect, then she would have to always face the hard truths now, she would have to listen to the things that would make her fear, she would have to listen to the things that would make her sad and most of all, she would have to fall so that she could rise again.

“Without pain, we know not where we stand. We tend to believe that we have gone through a lot and we allow such incidents to take over our actions. Some live for the purpose of revenge while others live in the shadows of their experience running away from reality and denying it every possible way that they can. Pain is not meant to torture us rather it is another form of challenge that keeps us going. A life without challenges is far worse than a life with challenges. Only when we face challenges do we know our true worth, only then can we determine to push on or make a resolution to give up. If you decide to live for revenge which I believe is normal after what you have experienced, then I can say that you are not wrong but what you will gain after having your revenge is the paramount thing. If you choose to live in the shadows of those past experiences, then I will not judge you because feeling the same pain twice is far worse than anything can be but if you choose to live without the sole aim of revenge or the thought of living in the shadows, then you might have made a pleasant decision but whatever decision you make, I’ll always be on board with you, Hitomi.” Dray would say to her as he would have already left by the time she raised her head seeming more like he had faded away as the winds would carry his voice over the distance.

EXIT
WC:542 TOTAL:2657 training Str and rea to B3 for 1300 words each.