Come. Talk. (Private)

[Kairyuu]

In all of the ongoing construction of the clanhouse, Maki made sure at least one room was simply his. No ornate gildings, no outlandish mockeries of the work of others, nothing that screamed ‘money’. It wasn’t the largest of rooms, but neither was it the smallest. A den of sorts, the floor was quartzite tiles with a large rug in the middle upon which was stitched an old fashioned shrine to the gods. The walls had some paintings of the countryside of Fire, and a liquor cabinet that was kept well stocked.

In the middle of the room upon the carpet were four sofas surrounding a large coffee table made of white oak. It was here Maki sat, staring at the drink atop the table and not touching it. He was wearing his usual outfit, leading one to perhaps wonder if he had anything else to wear, or did he have multiples of it now? Maybe he washed it nightly? Either way he wore it now, but his weapons were nowhere to be seen. His one remaining eye was staring, rarely blinking. The left sleeve of his shirt appears empty where the stump of his arm was.

He sat. He waited.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to look at the Clan House, to say that it was one of the ones that stood out inside Leaf, though nothing fancy on it, it still stood out compared to the other ones that he had visited, as he entered into the domain he allowed himself to walk threw the house as he knew full well that this visit was overdue, he just didn’t know how to look into the man that he called a friend, how to look at that face and admit that he had let him down, his eye and arm had shown that much, it cut to the very core of the Uchiha as he let out a deep sigh before walking into the house.

As he made his way inside of the property in those few seconds he allowed himself to walk into the room as his eyes glanced at Maki, though he decided to wait, decided to show the respect he had for his friend he allowed a small smile to escape his lips as he looked around the room, studying that room and trying to come to terms with the lay out that was in front of him. Though it seemed that the coffee table that the Sofas surrounded was where he was going to be having this conversation, he allowed himself to come in his casual clothes, those that where barely seen by anyone. Standing silent, the Uchiha cloak fluttering off his black top and trousers, still holding the boots as always.

“Do I get a drink? Can’t let our tradition now can we my friend?”

He waited in those few minutes, waiting to see how this conversation would go, and how Maki was doing.

[Topic Entered]
[MFT: 287]

 

[Hoshirei]

From the moment he had finished decorating it, Hoshirei had always liked Maki's sitting room. It almost felt like her old home with it's simplicity. She was standing near the liquor cabinet already pouring herself a drink when she heard Takeshi enter the room. A quick glance told her that he was comfortable and certainly here more as a friend than as their Hokage, though did someone ever really step out of their positions try as they might? A soft tinkle of glasses and a second was poured.

The young woman softly walked across the room, almost floating in her own way. She set the two glasses on the table before moving to the couch on Maki's left, giving the man a kiss on his right cheek on her way there. If they wished her to leave, she had no issue with it. However, she had been the smallest bit clingy since Maki returned, though it only manifested in her being more likely to be where Maki was. His injuries didn't horrify her, she was just proud that he survived and made it back to them, no matter what had or would change.

She took a small sip of her glass as she sat comfortably on the couch, one leg tucked under the other and leaning back against the corner. The new glass was there for Takeshi once he finally entered the room, but Hoshirei remained silent. Hoshirei simply smiled softly at the Hokage, allowing Maki to make the final decision on his entry to the little haven away from the clan.

 

[Kairyuu]

Maki looks up at the intrusion, nodding in greeting before looking back to his drink. The intensity with which he was staring at it could easily lead one to realize his mind was anywhere but here. As Takeshi asks for a drink, Maki makes no response. As Hoshirei pours some drinks and sets one before Takeshi, Maki makes no response. As she kisses his cheek, Maki makes no response. Silence would reign for several long moments as he stared at the drink. It would be subtle at first, but after a few moments become undeniable that his drink was spinning to spin in the glass, forming a vortex in the center.

With a crack, it shattered, shaking him free of whatever hold was being had on his mind as he blinks slightly then looks to the other two. With a deep breath, the Sennin sits back and collects himself. ”Greetings to you. I wish I could make them warmer, but they are there.” His face showed he’d definitely seen better days. The socket of his missing right eye was permanently scarred shut, and across his entire face were the scars of the hellfire that bitch had used to cauterize the wound she’d created there. He’d never had a perfect complexion thanks to all of his fighting, but never had he looked like this.

”Tell me. What….what was it for?” Indeed, all he knew was Frost was involved. Frost, the ancient enemy that was destroyed generations before Maki was even born. And like a nightmare, they’d risen from the dark to try and stomp him out. And sadly, they might have succeeded if the little display seen earlier was becoming the norm. Maki’s mind was slipping away from him, seeking the safety of fantasy over the harsh, cold grip of reality. Even he couldn’t deny that these wounds might never heal, the ones in his mind.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to tilt his head as he watched Maki for a few moments, the drink in his hand allowed himself a couple of minutes to swirl the drink as he looked at it, though the face in front of him was still of the man he called friend, it was clear that it had been warped. Scared and battered to a point that it would take adjusting to. He allowed his eyes to come back up to Maki as the man spoke, he wanted an answer, an answer that honestly the Hokage had no idea about. That was the hard part for him to swallow as he looked at his drink once more trying to come up with an answer.


“Being realistic, the information we gained was worth it, it always is, we wouldn’t have known about the threat to leaf, the fact that there is three Sennin level Shinobi that are well organised, gives way to the fact that their troops will be the same.”

Takeshi sipped from the drink that he had been given as he pondered the next words he would be using. He was being selective and careful with each of the sentiments that where his to give as he looked back at the man that had given so much in the name of the village, it was something that Takeshi appreciated even if it had left the man questioning everything.

“How are you both coping with the changes, I cannot imagen that it is something that is easy to adjust to?”

It seemed that Takeshi wanted to see how his friend was doing mentally, the question was would he get the answer that he wanted from the man. Or had he become more closed than before. Only the words spoken by the couple would tell that truth.

[MFT: 304]

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to tilt his head as he watched Maki for a few moments, the drink in his hand allowed himself a couple of minutes to swirl the drink as he looked at it, though the face in front of him was still of the man he called friend, it was clear that it had been warped. Scared and battered to a point that it would take adjusting to. He allowed his eyes to come back up to Maki as the man spoke, he wanted an answer, an answer that honestly the Hokage had no idea about. That was the hard part for him to swallow as he looked at his drink once more trying to come up with an answer.


“Being realistic, the information we gained was worth it, it always is, we wouldn’t have known about the threat to leaf, the fact that there is three Sennin level Shinobi that are well organised, gives way to the fact that their troops will be the same.”

Takeshi sipped from the drink that he had been given as he pondered the next words he would be using. He was being selective and careful with each of the sentiments that where his to give as he looked back at the man that had given so much in the name of the village, it was something that Takeshi appreciated even if it had left the man questioning everything.

“How are you both coping with the changes, I cannot imagen that it is something that is easy to adjust to?”

It seemed that Takeshi wanted to see how his friend was doing mentally, the question was would he get the answer that he wanted from the man. Or had he become more closed than before. Only the words spoken by the couple would tell that truth.

[MFT: 304]

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to tilt his head as he watched Maki for a few moments, the drink in his hand allowed himself a couple of minutes to swirl the drink as he looked at it, though the face in front of him was still of the man he called friend, it was clear that it had been warped. Scared and battered to a point that it would take adjusting to. He allowed his eyes to come back up to Maki as the man spoke, he wanted an answer, an answer that honestly the Hokage had no idea about. That was the hard part for him to swallow as he looked at his drink once more trying to come up with an answer.


“Being realistic, the information we gained was worth it, it always is, we wouldn’t have known about the threat to leaf, the fact that there is three Sennin level Shinobi that are well organised, gives way to the fact that their troops will be the same.”

Takeshi sipped from the drink that he had been given as he pondered the next words he would be using. He was being selective and careful with each of the sentiments that where his to give as he looked back at the man that had given so much in the name of the village, it was something that Takeshi appreciated even if it had left the man questioning everything.

“How are you both coping with the changes, I cannot imagen that it is something that is easy to adjust to?”

It seemed that Takeshi wanted to see how his friend was doing mentally, the question was would he get the answer that he wanted from the man. Or had he become more closed than before. Only the words spoken by the couple would tell that truth.

[MFT: 304]

 

[Hoshirei]

Hoshirei's smile stayed on her face as Maki welcomed Takeshi into the room. She was glad Maki wasn't shutting out his friend. For the few times she had met him in person, she knew Takeshi was a good man, not just a good Hokage. The man playing with his glass wasn't out of the realm of normal behavior for people in general, she had done it herself a few times while waiting for Maki to return. However, Maki making a miniature whirlpool until the glass shattered made her raise her eyebrow a bit.

With nary a word, she set her glass down, got up, and brought a towel back to Maki so he could dab up his drink if he wanted. The towel ended up draped over the arm of the couch nearest Maki to be used. She'd get the glass later. Takeshi's answer to Maki's question made sense, and even if she wished Maki hadn't been the one to learn it, she wasn't sure if anyone else would have been strong enough to return home as anything but a ghost.

For how short a time he was home, let alone out of the infirmary, Hoshirei believed he was coping quite well with his ordeal. They hadn't talked about it much beyond Maki talking in his sleep. The most she knew was something made Maki rather fearful of tea, at least when unconscious. She was able to soothe his nightmares most nights, but there were a few times that were less successful than she would prefer. She decided to stay quiet, at least until after Maki expressed his thoughts.

 

[Kairyuu]

Maki listens to Takeshi’s words somberly, his face betraying nothing as the answer he’s given is simply that Leaf had information on a threat. Information that had cost Maki his arm, his eye, and if he was guessing correctly his very sanity. He could feel reality slipping through his gray matter like sand through loose fingers every time he tried to focus on that event. He did not like losing control of himself like this. Maki prided himself on that mental fortitude and now he was left without it. As Hoshirei sits beside him, he reaches over and gently puts a hand on her own as a silent thanks but the towel goes ignored for the moment as he looks back to his friend.

”And that information was worth my sight? My fighting ability? It was worth me being left a quivering pile of worthlessness?” His eye was a golden color right now, not the typical green of anger or red of passion. ”What ties have I to this village, Takeshi? I was happy wandering. I was content. And ever since I joined this village I’ve had nothing but problems in my life. Some of them, have worked out well. While I do not regret being married to Hoshirei here, the circumstances of it were anything but pleasant. And those circumstances were brought about by the threat of people under my care due to being in this village.”

He rises from his seat and begins pacing in a square around the room. ”I was nearly blown up in a mission because leaf kids wanted to stop a bank robbery and ignore the mission. I had to go back to Sand after what happened there because Umashi wanted me to. I came back and had to try to deal with Yomi as a Hokage and we both know how I felt about that. It’s been nothing except crisis after crisis since I joined this village. A village that, near as I can tell, I have only one tie to.”

His eye turns to Takeshi now. ”So tell me. Why. For what have I lose my abilities? For what was I tortured? Who the fuck is this woman and what does she want? Because when next I see her, I am going to rip her head off and scatter her to the winds. And I want to be able to grasp her soul in my hands and force her to watch as her dreams die slowly, as her desires slip away from her like so much sand.”

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to continue to drink as he looked to Maki the man that he called his friend before calling him a Sennin. It was clear that he still had a lot of work to be done he looked to the broken man, the man that he used to need to be strong and knew that he was hurting. Not just a little it was safe to say that he was nearly broken. Takeshi refiled the drink already finding himself onto his third glass as he looked into Maki’s eye, the one that was ruined as he let out a sigh.

“You are one of the few I call friend Maki, hell closer to a brother would be more accurate, but if you tell me once more that you have lost your abilities, lost the power to fight, one more god damn time, I will smash you around so hard it will make our spar look like a joke. And take these words as they are from a brother to his own. You are still the one that I rely on, never forget that. You lost for once, so what I’ll be dammed if I let you crawl into a hole, you build yourself up and you come back stronger, that is the Maki that I know. Get your fucking head out of your self-pity hole.”

Takeshi allowed himself to never leave the eye contact as he drained the third glass, truth be told he felt at fault for the wounds that had been done to his friend, though he would never admit that to the man’s face. His frown was clear on his face as he pondered the second as he heard about how he wanted to take revenge, making it painful and slow, revenge could lead a man to a dark place and it was slowly creeping into Maki.

“It seems that we have been attacked by a village that does not like us, they sent the ANBU first to scout out, they wanted to give you all the information about the village and resorted to torture but you did not break, your will is of a man who will stand there and take everything but never bend or break. We will get this sorted we will get things back to what they should be. You both have my word on that no matter the price I have to pay.”

[MFT:403]

 

[Hoshirei]

Maki had not told her exactly what had been behind him going along with their wedding, though she herself had been manipulated into agreeing. Tenken, for all that he didn't like their clan, was remarkably like past clan heads in that manner. She hadn't told Maki that fact either come to think of it. For the first time since Takeshi arrived, Hoshirei decided to speak, "Tenken is an ass considering the kindness he likes to exude. You weren't the only one threatened with the life of someone you cared about. The feelings were rather new, but he told me they would kill you if we didn't marry."

She set her drink down on the table and stood to move around the room herself. "I never once have taken Maki to be weak. Surviving that woman just proves his strength," she said looking at Takeshi. She then turned to her husband, taking in his form and noting how it almost seemed to blur at the edges. He had mentioned once, before she got her cat Mouna, that he used to be able to see ghosts too. Were his abilities shifting again? "I think you will find, husband, that you have abilities beyond what you know. Yes, some of your abilities may be unavailable or lessened, however, that only gives you opportunity to grow and learn. After all, a shinobi who has ceased to learn is a dead shinobi. And once you are ready, I'll help you tear her apart so she can't even come back as a ghost once we're through," said Hoshirei with a rather shark-like smile. "Sound good?"
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WC: 269

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Topic Left Due to Inactive topic.