Beneath Forever's Memories [Not Open]

[Mei Ling Orioko]

Are You Searching For
Long Lost Landscapes
Hid By Flowers And Crystal Cascades
---

A soft, warm zephyr danced its way across the soft grass of the hill. Well, as grassy as it gets in sand country. The girl's long hair whipped this way and that with the sudden changes of the breeze. Her storm-colored eyes were shut gently, leaning with her hands behind her head against a large leafy tree. She yawned slightly before opening her eyes and flashing a casual glance across the mid-day horizon.

It had been a while since she was here. At least half a year she suspected. Still, nothing much had changed. The same boulders stood strong in their places, the same mighty tree stood above, casting the same gentle shade it always had. The rays of the sun passed through the leaves as they always did, performing little tricks of light on the ground, dots of brilliant light dancing about like day-time fireflies. The same scratches were left on surrounding rocks and roots, from when she and Moku had always played games with father's kunai's and shurikans. She laughed softly at this thought, they'd been scolded when they were younger, but as they grew they learned, and she remembered the first time they'd both hit their desired targets in unison.

She stood, and looked at the tree, running her hand slowly over the dull carving in the tree. She smiled as memories flodded her mind. Her hand ran over carvings of stars, and hearts, ribbons, dogs and cats, kunai's and wind. How she missed those times. Back when she was young, when she was innocent, when he was still here.

---

"Ok, I'll be the cat as long as I can have a ribbon." the young girl said, nodding her head as her dark brown curls bobbed up and down. She kneeled on one knee before the tree, and carved in a fairly good cat for a little girl, then carved a ribbon next to it. "But I get to be the dog next time because it always wins and gets all the Ramen and kunais." she complained. "Fine, but I want to be the biggest" the little boy said, moving his brown hair out of his eyes. "You can't be the dog and the biggest!" she said, stomping her foot. Finally they came to an agreement. The cat would be the biggest as long as the dog got to sleep on the roof. After their game, they were called home, laughing. The dog and the cat raced home with broad smiles on their faces.

---

This young child, now woman, ran her hand once more over the childish dog carving. She looked down at it lovingly, remembering how high up they'd carved it. She laughed at how now it was feet below her. She leaned back against the tree and sighed before letting herself slide down the trunk of the tree. Sitting against the tree she stried to stick her hand in her non-existant pockets. She was wearing her usualy dress hich had no pockets. Oh well. She glanced around again, feeling a hint of loneliness, especially here. She was almost always her with someone. Father or Moku before they had passed away, and more recently Amara and even Akuma. Amara had volunterred to watch after mother today, so Mei was all alone. She sighed and closed her eyes, slightly bored, ears intent for the sound of footfalls.


---
Are You Hunting For
Mystic Mountains
Where The Air Is Like Liquid Laughter

[Umehara]

We dance as the embers atop the flames..
..And still yet, we are more passionate than their origin..

Indeed, the mid-day's humidity was manageable upon that plain. The sun's aggression was absent at that particular interval in time, the cool wind of mother nature sweeping along the ground and caressing the emerald blades that leaned over in entire torrents to pay homage to her whisper. The soil was untampered for the most part, one capable of viewing only the footfall that had left imprints of soles as evidence of life passing along where flora and fauna resided.

Branches lingered, suspended in mid-air whilst casting themselves back and forth in a slow sway that signified the gale force's ability to wrap its tendrils around the bark and manipulate kinetic energy to its full use..even if only for moments. The base of every tree, in contrast, stood tall though..as if figurines that lined the forestry, granted a permanent relationship with the nutrients in conjunction with its roots spiraling and burying themselves to and fro amongst the earth's surface.

Yet, amongst all the behemoths of bark and grass alike, twin entities ambled forward with calculated footsteps. They appeared to be conversing about nothing in particular, the full lips of the kin moving fluently as if coaxed into a topic that required in-depth focus and only the utmost respect for that which was fact, and that which was fiction. In this case....just the right amount of pecans that needed to be present in ice cream. Hand gestures were made to accentuate their point, though the western of the two could not do much; he was simply tentative to the words being spoken, nodding his head. Obsidian tresses wafted to and fro as small gale advancements lifted his follicles to shield his gaze only slightly, the armor upon their frames making no noise as they trekked along the grounds.

There were, of course, insurmountable amounts of sand that rested and lay nestled in nooks and crannies of the area. That much was apparent as small grains passed along the atmosphere seldomly, though not able to hinder the eyesight of the twins as they continued their path forward. The shadows cast its bosom to them as they moved under trees before emerging from the harmless oblivion grasping their frames but for moments. They would eventually find themselves in a particular stretch of terra firma that yielded small shade, and there they both would stop their journey to view what appeared to be another entity inhabiting the same area.

Rather familiar it appeared to be; the curvatures of the body, from what they could view from their distance, gave off the impression of femininity. As such was concluded, they would also take note of the stray follicles that were surrendered until the manacles of wind pushing through the area at that time. Should he have approached with offensive intentions? ...No. If one could inhabit this land and not complaint or show lack of restraint for a climate such as this, then surely they had been abiding by this land's geographical requirements for a great time. In that analysis, they had proven mentally that she must have inhabited these lands prior to his approach.

Gathering their wits, the two would slowly allow themselves to slide into her peripheral vision before peering down at her facade. It was...her. The eyes flickered with anticipation but for a moment, before the two would beat back the desire to simply exclaim how pleasant it had been to encounter her once more. With prior ministrations under their belt, they were free to pick up from previous concerns that required immediate attention. He was rather content with such, the clone on the right opening his mouth while the other's remained pursed. His indigo occuli studied her as he would give speech:

"It has been a while, Mei.."

[Mei Ling Orioko]

Are You Searching For
Long Lost Landscapes
Hid By Flowers And Crystal Cascades
---


The weather was nice and Mei was taking in what little shade she could. It wasn’t often you could relax with a decent temperature to accompany you. She closed and opened her eyes repeatedly, not being able to decide whether to enjoy the nice day awake or asleep. Her cloudy eyes glanced whimsically over the grass which was swaying in rhythm to the heartbeat of the wind. She pulled a few blades of grass from near the tree and simply held them in her hand, letting their cool temperature dissipate into her palm. She then dropped the blades of grass back to the cold earth.

She finally decided to close her eyes once more. She could swear she heard someone walking. She opened her eyes casually and lent the horizon a quick and steady glance, nothing quite yet. She had a feeling there soon would be, though it might just be a passerby. She didn’t hold much hope for any conversation. Little did she know she would end up being quite incorrect. It would be quite the interesting conversation.

She closed her eyes again, having made her decision. A nap would be nice, a relaxing sleep under her favorite tree at the perfect temperature, in her favorite place. But, this decision was overruled when she heard voices and once more her faded lavender eyes fluttered open. Once again, she saw no one. She pondered standing and waiting to greet whoever was approaching, but decided not to. If they intended on talking to her, they would come to her and then she would stand. Still, she kept her eyes open. Just in case.

She pushed her bangs from her face as the soft breeze picked up once more. She watched as small tufts of sand rolled across the reluctant grass, refusing to allow the contamination of sand. The sand continued to roll until it reached the edge of the grass and fell back into the endless sea of its own kind. She watched the sand roll of into the distance, little clouds of sand rebelling and shooting with the wind into the sky, before once again surrendering to the dunes of sand. When she averted her eyes from the sand, two men stood not far from her. She almost fell back seeing that one was Atsuhiro, and the other was also Atsuhiro. For a moment she considered the possibility of a clone, but these thoughts were quickly pushed aside by her confusion. She was easily fooled and not quite logical at every moment of her life.

Eyes still wide she forced a smile and hastily jumped to her feet. She heard him speak to her. “It’s been a while, Mei” he said, and she nodded instantly, still slightly disoriented. “It has, it has. It’s wonderful to see you again. Is this your brother?” she asked, not taking time to consider any other possibilities, or logically think through her question.



---
Are You Hunting For
Mystic Mountains
Where The Air Is Like Liquid Laughter

[Umehara]

We dance as the embers atop the flames..
..And still yet, we are more passionate than their origin..

It was...wonderful to see him again?

Perhaps his ears had deceived him, but it was long ago when someone actually gave positive reaction to his arrival. Perhaps, he thought, the forceful choice to make the battlefield one's home had interfered with his ability to believe in himself a man who could bring greatness to anything..or anyone, for that matter. He was tempted to protest, eyes furrowing only slightly before he decided against such a rare compliment. He took and etched the words into his memory...after all, it was a luxury for the Destroyer to find respite in someone's smile in regards to him. There were usually scowls...glares...spitting.

"Indeed. I've missed you." he gave. He was too busy researching her question to elaborate on that statement, the sheer absence of expectation with such a response almost startling him.

The compulsion to step forward and embrace her was high until she asked her question, the almost instantaneous jerk of his body forward and backward within the same moment enough to cause a slight disorientation of his cerebral's comprehension levels. She appeared to be rather oblivious to the state of both entities before her, yet one could not blame her; surely, there was the consideration that they had both been born of the same biological parents. It was simply the conclusion that such was not often considered with the abilities that shinobi possessed now-a-days, but strangely...it was refreshing. He could not help but find a certain admiration for her human nature, instead of being absorbed and completely drawn into a world where only chakra and ninjutsu where present.

It was rather uncharacteristic of him to find his eyesight unable to deter itself away from her countenance. She was..insightful, to say the least. The gale forces were lucky enough to be permitted to wrap their manacles about silken tresses of hair, randomly displacing the strands of elongated silk to flow gracefully about her form. Her eyes, as gems, cast themselves in his direction, his own humility forcing a softer tone to the usually sharp, piercing gaze that he held. She was even more radiant than he had encountered in previous acquaintances, though perhaps the strenuous training and tedious tasks as an official had deprived him of being able to define true beauty in its fullness. Thus, he was more than grateful at his ability to coalesce analytical processes with knowing just what his eyes found the most pleasing.

And in that moment, reality was the most pleasing..

Jet-black tresses shielded his eyes as they flickered, a soft laughter escaping his lips as her words found placement amongst his audible ability. The two joined her closer, stepping forward only to seperate themselves by at least three meters as they took to humorous response. The left Atsuhiro spoke this time: "Hmm..well, yes. I suppose that that is one way of calling us that." he said. He had never been one to enjoy the various aspects of reality..but around this woman, he seemed to be forced into such activities. How unorthodox..or better yet, how cliche', it was for a man to be unknowingly taken out of his normal range of devices and placed into a state of alternate being.

Regardless, he would advance. Part of him (One Atsuhiro) would have liked to interject and coax her to sit once again since they had interrupted her comfort, the other (The other Atsuhiro) rather absent to the gesture.