Who I was... [Open]

[DeeDub]

"What have I been doing?"

A messy beard; sliver like his hair which mopped over his eyes like a flimsy curtain. His hair grew wild on maintenance offered by its master were a weekly dousing and a light brushing. A barber was out of the question as his pockets were empty. Besides a unkempt hairdo he cared for his finger and toenails being qualities that hindered his stealth. Daily showers muted smells that may stall his social life or what was left of it...

He kept his place, just a hole in the wall anyway. Masa assaulted anyone looking to evict him. Between squatting and scrounging for scraps, Masa wandered. Mist Village is a living breathing being. Every soul had unique tendencies, personalities, situations and decisions twisted by their environment. Masa made seeing changes in their lives his life. His skills meant for espionage and war bent to facilitate a dysfunctional lifestyle.

A specific subject reached an apex today: An older, twice-divorced, loveless, hefty woman[Seishia] and a much younger pretty boy wuss seeking a mother's attention[Shofusha]. This short-for-cash couple had a voyeur making a show of their lives. A selfish purchase by Shofusha set Seisha over the edge.

A shouting match filled the narrow alleyway. Masa sat across from the conflict on a roof chewing a sandwich. Partially hidden behind a parapet where he rested a thermos of tea.

"Goddammit, Shofusha.. we're behind on everything and you come home with this!" Seisha opened up.

"Its worth it, babycakes. We hold on to these. They gain value and well sell high." Holding firm on his conviction.

"Its a SCAM!" Masa choked on tea from the ferocity in her voice. "They're insignificant pieces of shit and inedible!" Masa cleared his throat.

"We could all stand to lose a few."

"Ooh.." Masa wanted Shofunsha to take that comment back. Ambient city noise: A suiting build-up track eminent rage and blood-thirst emitting from Shofusha's live-in cougar. A plate crashed on tiles.

"Idiot!" Her haughty voice scared a passersby.

"Baby NO!" Plates flew crashing into walls. Shards of ceramic showered their floor.

"Shofusha is a fast one..." Masa commented to himself. His evasive maneuvers cornered him front and center of Masa's spot. Seisha held a rice cooker power cord dangling onto Seisha's bust. The appliance held aloft like a shot-put.

Shofusha edged towards the open window retreating from a red-eyed monster whom he shared a bed with. She hefted the appliance with muscles layered under round fatty arms with the velocity of a rocket. An agile Shofunsha dropped leaving Masa in the line of fire. Splintered wood and shattered glass exploded from the portal ahead of a weighty plastic missile. Though the shrapnel fell short.

Dulled skills and a general lowered quality of life left him vulnerable. The flying rice cooker made uncontested, solid impact with the crown of the unlucky onlooker. Masa blown flat onto his back and lay comatose on the roof. The toppled rice cooker spun spilling warm rice onto the roof's hard tiles.

[DeeDub]

Time.. A measurement of our sun circling the earth given significance in hours, minutes and days, months. The man known as Masa had no recollection of how many hours, days or minutes passed as he lazed away on the roof. A sticky crust restricted his eyelids. His vision restrained to a sliver of afternoon sun, he placed an unwieldy hand on his forehead. He pulled away a dark red sticky substance.

"My blood..."

His words weak from exposure. Water Country summers are forgiving. A cooling breeze coddling its populace on its most heinous of days. Masa strained to sit up as silver locks weighed down with blood clots hung over his eyes. He ran his fingers through getting caught on the clots. "This is not good." He sized up his mane as wild and untamed. He lifted the clotted bangs to survey his surroundings. "A roof.." A woman leaned from her window.

"Hey guy, you're bleeding. Are you alright?" A woman known as Seisha leaned from her window.

"I''m fine, Ma'am. Just.. lost." Skepticism crossed her face.

"Well lemme get you a water." She squeezed back inside and returned tossing a bottled water to Masa. He caught it and took a copious swig.

"Ahh.. Thank you. Thank You!" He yelled feeling rescued.

"Anytime." She shut her window.

A pouch at his waist bothered him. Reaching inside he drew a kunai. "A ninja tool." He shrugged. He quickly snipped the clumped hair and cut his mane down to something manageable. A discarded rice cooker provided a mirror-like surface to aid in his upkeep. Masa rubbed his goatee, liking the bearded look and left it alone. He dumped the remains of the bottled water on his head soaking his silver hair. Washing away blood gummed on his forehead. Shaking like a wet dog, water speckled the roof which evaporated in the heat. Masa strode to a edge of the roof and studied the city before him.

A new sight carried vestiges of scattered memories stood before him. Symbols of the Hidden Village shook his psyche. Etched upon its walls, on its buildings; a mischievous sign of pride. Cold rushed over his body drawing him into a fetal position on the tiled roof. Fragments collided in his mind; his vocalization a mental gymnastic.

"Water Country.." Feverish hyperventilation punctuated each statement. "I'm a Kaguya.. Masa Kaguya... Hidden Villiage of Mist... Genocide.. Was I captured..? Captured..? No.. I... I... I live here.. Home.. My home.. I'll... I'll go..."

He picked himself up and dropped to the street. Hugging his own shoulders despite the looks of strange faces that looked back at a disheveled man.

[DeeDub]

His mind wandered as well as his feet. Strolling through the village as if driven on pure divination. Letting familar sights and smells guide him, Masa wandered on not letting his clean slate of a forward consciousness disturb the ouija pointer of his buried life.

A slum drew him past prostitutes, beggars and trash being prepared like food. Children dirty, pot bellied, disgusting creatures pointed at his pouches. An easy mark; those ninja. Masa's senses filled him with warmth. "I'm in a familiar place." A canopied curtain drew a double take and going farther made his body warn of him "getting cold." He lifted the curtain revealing a blackened door "Camouflage, like shadows. There's a door here." A dull keyhole set dead center on the hidden door unlike most others set to the right hand side. A lump in his pocket radiated relevance. He grabbed a key from within fitting it into the well hidden lock. A smoothed mechanism made a minute click.

It pushed open revealing a dingy single room. Light never touched this place meant as a space made between two actual structures lacking windows. Despite its closed off feel, fresh air was funneled in by ceiling vents creating a narrow spinning pinwheel of light. It beamed directly onto a short table making dancing shadows of mismatched dinnerware. "Its home.."

A chest caught his attention. Floors textured with pebbles and dirt tickled the undersides of his feet as he crossed it. Kneeling before the chest it opened on a broken hinge. Beads wooden and silver rested on random scraps of paper. The item next to it sent a shock through Masa: A headband etched with Kirigakure's symbol bonded to black fabric. His quivering hands pulled to the headband despite his tenacity.

"Is this who I am? ... A ninja." Scattered images came to mind but nothing of his affiliation with Kirigakure. Just flashes of others wearing it pridefully. "This is who I am..." A conflict grew in his heart. "No.. this is who I was." Masa's former life became sealed within like a frozen lake. Its contents visible from above with a dull blur misleading all who sought its truth.

The beads however held a concrete meaning: His clan and family. Silver being his sister and the wooden being of Kaguya blood. He sectioned off a strand a replaced the ornaments to his hair which dangled playfully. He stowed the headband deep within his pouch. Beyond that, nothing here seemed important. Important enough for a lit match placed in the chest the scrap papers curling under flame. Before smoke blew from the exhaust vent he would be long gone...

[exit]