Exsanguine I [Open]

[Chigokai Koga]

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• 
  
  Since day one, Koga had wondered what could have possibly inflicted so much damage on the mighty academy. Craters and all manners of impossible destruction formed an array of scars the structure proudly wore, like trophies of the Shinobi it produced. Today he learned what should have been obvious; students inflicted that damage to the building, inadvertently during training.
  
  He felt stupid, in a way. He at first theorized accidents involving dynamite or pranks, but... he didn't think anyone would've been stupid enough to pull such a dangerous hoax here. The mortality rate was already around ninety percent and he didn't know of anyone eager to add to that dreaded number. Just thinking about it brought shivers down his spine; Koga tightly gripped his shoulders, clad in his dusty white fur coat, a crude thing made by himself out of necessity. A cold wind was robbing his body of it's warmth... thoughts of how many students had died began giving him serious anxiety too, so he focused the entirety of his attention to his senses for a distraction.
  
  The feeling of the cool weathered platform beneath him came first to mind. He was on a stone roof amidst the Academy structures. It had been one of the taller structures - with no real classes just yet, he had climbed the building to challenge himself, perhaps as an exercise of willpower for the tests and trials ahead. A Chuunin had questioned why he was climbing the building earlier instead of just using the stairs, to which the explanation of 'regular training' seemed to suffice for now. It was getting later into the afternoon. Koga had watched other shinobi in training, and began to feel he was quite behind, even though the prowess displayed by the older students came from years of training and instruction that he didn't have. Looking across the thick foliage in the distance near the mountains, and the structures of the academy, reminders of the pressure on him only served to replace his previous anxiety with new stress. He had watched men throw fire... How was he going to survive here?
  
  He moved farther from the edges of the roof and immediately did a hand-stand, keeping his arms straight. His coat and shirt fell, exposing his abdomen and back to the cold winds, but he didn't care. He lowered and pushed his entire body up and down, over and over, desperate to get somewhere - anywhere. He just had to exercise this dreaded anxiety! He kept his legs tightly together, pushing up and down, up and down. Soon he did not feel cold anymore. He just felt heat, as the entirety of his senses were consumed in his handstand push ups. Though he doubted it would get him far, it did ease his irrational sense of fear, more as a means of asserting to himself that he could meet the challenges ahead rather than actual development. But training the body had it's own rewards...
  
  His arms, eventually, went numb with fatigue... he was pushing up and down slower now, but refused to stop. How could he trust himself later on in a life or death exercise to meet his limits if he couldn't do it on the safety of the rooftop? Asking himself that over and over, silently in his mind, was how he denied the temptation to rest. He couldn't stop - he wouldn't allow it. He was going to keep going until he literally could not push any longer.
  
  He didn't notice the salty, childish tears falling from his eyes, his face frozen in stoicism.

<i></i>

 

[Takahashi Ren]

When her mother had asked - begged, more like - for Ren to enroll in the academy, she'd imagined it to be an okay place. Not great, of course; any place that trained killers had to be somewhat odd, somewhat out there. The rumors surrounding it just had to be rumors: there was no way only a handful of students survived, and there was no way that some kids were snatched from their homes just because they showed a little more talent than others. Life didn't, couldn't, work like that, and her mother couldn't have wanted her to come to a place like this. The rumors were just rumors (they had to be), and Ren would graduate in due time, maybe make chuunin, and run mediocre missions until she retired. She wouldn't die a horrible death; she'd just be a...a glorified paper pusher. That was now her ulitmate goal in life.

She climbed up a set of stairs methodically, each step ringing louder than the last. Classes were due to start soon, and she'd wanted to get a lay of the land beforehand. Ren hadn't expected the academy to be a mess of holes and rubble. Sure, at first glance, the building looked impressive enough - but all it really took was a blink to see the rottenness underneath, to make goosebumps break out on her arms. Ren was raised as a civilian; she'd known she'd had some ability with chakra from her father's side, but the actual molding of chakra and expelling it out as energy to be used was beyond her. She didn't know any ninja, and had never seen a spar. So craters the size of her head made by kids her age, or even younger, made her feel just a little sick to the stomach. Which was why she was now shouldering open a set of doors that led to this particular building's roof: fresh air would do her good, and the endless churning in her mind would at least stutter, if not stop.

A breeze kicked up just as she stepped onto the roof's stone surface, and Ren reflexively huddled into her black jacket. Strips of hair fell into her face, and in the momentary blindness, she took a deep breath. Cold air settled into her lungs and hovered there for a second; then she let out the breath, feeling both light-headed and relieved. She would be fine, she told herself, reaching up to push away her hair. So what if she was a scrawny, short kid; so what if the last time she'd thrown a punch she'd bruised her hand more than the other guy's face. Ren was Ren, and that meant she'd pull through this through sheer stupidity if she had to.

Though, she admitted to herself as she caught sight of someone just ahead of her, she would probably have a better time at the academy if she learned how to do handstand pushups. Or even pushups in general; Ren could climb a tree like no other, but had never bothered with basic exercises. There had never been a point before, and she knew she'd be paying for her laziness later.

She hazarded a step toward the person - she couldn't quite gauge their gender, what with them being upside down and faces capable of being misleading - and immediately wished she'd headed back downstairs instead. Ren's eyes were decent enough that she could make out waterdrops under the person's head, and the wetness gathering in their eyes. Logic told her that they could be crying from pain - she certainly would be, in that position - but if that was the case, they would have stopped exercising by now. No, this was something more personal and Ren really, really wanted to back out and leave the person in peace. They probably hadn't seen her yet, so she edged backwards, paying more attention ahead of her than behind.

Unsurprisingly, her elbow banged into the same door she'd entered from. The sound lingered, and Ren flinched, feeling a familiar heat rush up her arm. She looked at the person hesitantly. So much for a hasty retreat - at the rate she was going, she'd end up dead and/or maimed before her first class's signups even started.


[mft: 708]

 

[Chigokai Koga]

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• 
  
  I will survive.
  
  At some point sheer willpower was not enough to continue performing the exceptionally difficult exercise Koga had elected to fulfill. A childhood of hardship and roughness mixed with undesired physical training at the hands of a bitter old man had taught him much about strength. As Koga's shirt and coat fell lower, the observer he was oblivious to would no doubt have a view of the many dull scars lashed across the boy's back. Koga hated those scars...
  
  Koga reached a calm state of mind, eventually. He still did not notice he was crying but it was no longer about anxiety and stress. That was burned away by the exercise, and he allowed it to go, like releasing a piece of paper into the wind and watching it disappear into the distance. His breathing became stable... and his push ups actually improved, gaining apparent stability moments before Koga abruptly stopped.
  
  He could do no more without hurting himself. He knew it.
  
  Slowly, his body began leaning backwards, falling on it's back with a small thud. It sounded like it hurt a little... but the endorphin rush produced by the strenuous labor and the sense of peace Koga found eased what sting he felt. He exhaled slowly and deeply, feeling a bit more prepared for the unknown ahead.
  
  A sudden bang echoed through the air, metallic and jarring, causing Koga to nearly jump out of his skin as he jerked his body upwards. Utterly surprised he could see a short girl who looked a few years younger than him looking feebly at him as if he were scary or something. Sitting up with his hands against the ground, Koga's yellow eyes studied her...
  
  Though eleven year old boys rarely possessed a wealth of masculinity some shapes of Koga's facial features did indicate his male gender to the observer, however the long pale silver hair falling over his porcelain face didn't help his situation. Even on the ground, he seemed a bit tall and his shoulders were about an inch and a half broader than the other males his age, but he was also on the skinny side which really watered down any kind of look of intimidating stature he might've had, though he seemed to have no problem frightening what looked like an eight year old to him. He wasn't quite sure to say; this was the first person he had met here.
  
  Briefly running his fingers through his hair, Koga mustered up the courage to introduce himself, at least somewhat. He'd just start with a question. "Are you new, too?" Koga asked the timid blonde. Even though the girl did not seem like much he did have a hint of suspicion towards her in his mind, as she may have already been trained in combat, and the rooftop was not the safest place for Koga to be at the moment.
  

<i></i>

 

[Takahashi Ren]

Ren ignored her vague sense of panic and looked on as the boy - definitely a boy, she could see now, close to her age - fell to his back, and then sat upright. He'd jumped when her elbow had crashed into the door, and now he was watching her with careful yellow eyes. They were interesting, she admitted, though her attention went to his covered torso. She'd only just caught sight of what looked like long, loping scars across his back, and as much as Ren wanted to ask if he was okay - mentally, physically, just in general because she was that kind of kid - she refrained. When she got bruised and banged up, she didn't like it when people poked and prodded her for answers, so unless the boy brought them up himself, Ren wouldn't mention it.

She jammed her hands into her jacket pockets as the boy asked if she was another new student. Whatever worry she'd felt was soon gone, leaving Ren standing almost comfortably on a school roof. It could be worse, she told herself; situations could always get worse, and from the looks of things, the boy might even be warier than she was.

"Yeah," she said, glad that her voice stayed true to her age even if her face didn't. If she sounded like a single-digit brat in addition to looking like one...well, she'd probably never leave the house out of sheer annoyance. "Uh - my name's Takahashi Ren. Sorry for startling you," she added, shuffling her feet absently. Her mom had pushed her out the house with instructions to "make friends" and "get used to her new school," but Ren didn't exactly know how to go about that. Her friends in her neighborhood were old, old friends; she hardly remembered the first time she'd met them, or what she'd said or done.

But, she thought, there was usually one sure way to get a conversation going. Ren stepped to the side and leaned against the wall near the door, and said, "That was pretty cool, the thing you were doing before." She briefly imagined what would happen if she even tried a normal handstand, and just barely kept a grimace off her face. Cracked skull, concussion, broken arm...the possibilities were endless. "Were you getting ready for classes?" she asked, shoving aside those gloomy thoughts. She had time, right? Time to play catch up and hopefully not make a complete fool of herself in the coming years.

 

[Chigokai Koga]

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• 
  
  
  Koga resolved to get up, shifting his hands around on the ground and pushing - only to realize he couldn't actually push. His arms really were totally exhausted. Faintly amused, he rose with only the use of his legs, which didn't appear as difficult as it actually was. He exhaled sharply after the feat of physical fitness and set his eyes on the girl once more, confused briefly by her voice... she looked younger but spoke like a girl his age, perhaps indicating she was not so young after all. Despite Ren's small stature there was a sense that he took her seriously, as he kept a formal distance even when on his feet.
  
  Several things became clear about Koga quite quickly; he refused to be laying on the floor in the presence of a new acquaintance even when quite tired. Whether it was a matter of self-pride or respect for others was unclear. Next, his arms crossed over his chest and his face maintained a rather rigid form, leaving Koga's vibe somewhat cold but sharp. A hint of brooding escaped him - you wouldn't expect to find a 'normal' eleven year old boy here, but the morose shade surrounding the boy's yellow gaze indicated he was a bit different even amongst the populace here. He hadn't noticed his own tears, which were almost entirely negligible in visibility by now.
  
  Koga gave a silent nod to her apology, moments before introducing himself after receiving the girl's name."I am Chigokai Koga." He spoke, hoping for once his surname would perhaps be of benefit to him, even if caste meant nothing here; which was ironic because even if caste were in place he was not actually a part of the clan that had sired him and hadn't been since infancy. Ren's compliment took his attention for a moment, unexpected. "Thank you." He replied, though the expression of his appreciation seemed to be limited. "Not quite, I was feeling anxious." He spoke, not really worried about admitting how he felt. Saying it with confidence made him feel better about it, too.
  
  Slowly, an odd smirk came on Koga's face. "So you took the stairs, huh?" He asked; that unsettling grin on his face did not seem quite... right.
  
  Despite appearances, however, Koga had nothing sinister in mind though he might have looked that way. He was actually just looking for an opener to brag about how he'd climbed the building, though some of the dust and rough scrapes on his hands might've indicated that already.

 

[Takahashi Ren]

When Koga stood, Ren felt more and more like a five year old. It wasn't that he was freakishly huge - he was just really, really tall, though not particularly broad. If it wasn't a feeling she had sadly gotten accustomed to over the years, Ren thought she might have stomped her foot in agitation and demand that he sit back down. As it was, she settled for keeping her eyes on his face; it, too, would have loomed over her were she standing right beside him, but at this distance Ren didn't have to crane her neck and so felt a little better.

The slightly creepy aura surrounding him was ignored. Ren had dealt with her fair share of creepy men, creepy women, and the occasional creepy grandparent; them, she'd had to worry about. Koga was (probably, unless he had been lying in which case she would kick him in the shins) another student, just like her. He wouldn't try anything and she doubted he even had the inclination to.

He introduced himself, and Ren tilted her head. She knew his surname from somewhere - she thought it might have been a clan, but at the same time it could have been part of a roaming circus troupe. Ren decided to go with the latter; even if wrong (which it most definitely was), it made the ever running commentary in her head that much more entertaining.

Her head tilted the other way when he said he'd felt anxious. Never mind the fact that the boys she knew rarely admitted to feeling anything but spectacular; Ren was more interested in why someone like him felt anxious. Koga was the first academy student she'd met since becoming one herself, and while she didn't have a measuring system, it seemed like he would do just fine here. She was just about to say as much, out of an honest belief that he really would do fine than as another attempt to flatter him, when he smirked (again - creepy, the kid was just a little creepy) and asked if she'd taken the stairs.

"The stairs?" she repeated, confused. Of course she'd taken the stairs, how else would someone get up here… Ren blinked, took in Koga's appearance again - white clothes, whitish hair, roughed up hands - and felt a vague twitch develop on her cheek. "Oh don't tell me - you climbed up here? Seriously?" Her legs were moving before she could think to reconsider it, and she brushed past Koga to stand at the roof's edge and point all the way down at the ground below. "You climbed from there. What are you, a spider? A spider-monkey?"

Her tone leaned toward incredulous and a little awed, but even Ren could hear the slight tinge of jealousy. She was a pro tree-climber, but vertical surfaces were just a touch above her level. Maybe it was a chakra thing? Or maybe, she thought ruefully, it was just a strength thing and her twiggy arms weren't quite ready yet. Alas.

 

[Chigokai Koga]

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• 
  
  Koga waited with wonderful expectation for the girl's answer, just itching to burst into vain delight - but his smirk faded a bit as he caught her eyes with his own, surveying his condition. He could see a very faint twitch... and the body language told him the girl already knew. The white haired male felt an abhorrent sense of disappointment.
  
  He couldn't really smile throughout the girl's speech. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, not quite wanting to make direct eye contact at the moment... she seemed upset with him, almost. "No, I'm not a monkey. Look at the craters." He replied, stepping beside her and pointing to them instead of the ground Ren's own finger was aimed at. "They are rough and allow for a good grip." He said, though the craters were too far apart for Ren's own arms... and a look to Koga's would reveal that it was actually more about the length of his limbs than his climbing prowess, as they were just right for grasping onto the ledges and scars upon the building's surface.
  
  

 

[Takahashi Ren]

Ren drew back her hand and felt a dull flush rise on her cheeks. Having only looked down, and feeling a little blindsided by the notion that Koga could have literally walked up walls, she'd forgotten all about the craters littering the academy's facade. Typical, oblivious Ren.

She willed down the embarrassed blush - that, at least, she was good at, since she was very experienced in creating cringe-worthy moments - and turned to face Koga. He'd come up beside her, and now he was definitely looming over her. Unintentional, most likely, but Ren's short stature was just about the only thing she actively disliked about herself. She had to get her mind off of it before she did something like ask Koga if he wore platform shoes, and if so, where she could get a pair; that would warrant a glare, a huff, and a swift punt off the roof.

"So you've done it before? Climb buildings and stuff, I mean," she said, clasping her hands behind her back. It was a habitual motion; Ren figured that if her hands were kept occupied, she'd be less likely to blurt out something unsavory. She tapped her foot on the ground, and then grinned almost sheepishly. Her embarrassment, like her uneasiness earlier, faded away, and now she was just curious. That, and she wanted to clear the air - a jealous, edgy Ren talked far more than she was supposed to, and she was starting to remember how she'd made friends as a child. Lesson one: don't accuse would-be friends of being animals, even if spider-monkeys were way up there on her list of wanted pets.

Ren looked down the roof's edge again, and mentioned, "I've only ever climbed trees - never thought to try buildings. It felt too…superhero-ish. Out of my league." She looked back to Koga, and her sheepish grin grew a little. "I guess you don't have that problem."

 

[Chigokai Koga]

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• 
  
  Koga lowered his arm and looked down expectantly at Ren, only to realize that he was imposing his height over her. That and... he was really close to a girl. The natural effect of the opposite gender suddenly got Koga's heart beating faster and he could very quickly feel a fluttering, uncomfortably sudden sensation within himself. He took a few steps back, hoping to cool off, and hoping he hadn't been rude. Not quite as good at concealing embarrassment as the other with him, one might notice Koga was a bit tense after creating some distance. He broke eye contact for a bit, returning it only moments after Ren's query.
  
  "Uh, yes. I used to get really bored." He poorly replied. After that he just listened to her, and half pretended to, often finding himself thinking about that fluttering sensation that started stirring up in himself again. The only thing that really gripped him was the word 'superhero'... obviously Koga wasn't that impressive, so he felt as if the girl had been sarcastic. It stung a bit more than it would've had he not felt lingering attraction but he maintained composure. Then he had doubts about his assumption, and just resolved on forgetting it. "Want to climb down with me?" He asked suddenly. It was a bit of a brazen, sudden thing. He didn't know where the courage to ask had come from and he was sure she'd probably say no...
  
  ... But if she didn't, he had an excellent plan to look at her butt on the way down.
  
  

 

[Takahashi Ren]

Ren watched curiously as Koga stepped back, his eyes darting to her face and then away. She briefly wondered if he was just unused to people being around him - though he'd been the one to move closer, it had been more of an instinctual thing - and after a moment, she decided to leave it alone. Whatever his issues were, they weren't hers, and it wasn't like he was freaking out because of something she did or was.

He mentioned getting bored (which made Ren want to know how he got bored, he obviously spent a crapton of time - in her mind, at least - training, surely he didn't have time to do anything else) and Ren nodded slightly, just to do something. She was a nosy brat with her friends, but she didn't quite have that luxury here. Still…more than wanting to know about his past, Ren really, really wanted to know why looked so antsy. Was there something on her face? Did he read her mind about the platform shoes? And if he had, would he secretly push her off to her doom?

"Want to climb down with me?" he asked, out of the blue. Ren glanced at him, her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. Then she glanced down the side of the building for the hundredth time. Most kids would have felt their stomach swooping in fear, but Ren just noticed a handful of juts and rocks that she could grab onto…if she was feeling particularly suicidal, that was. She loved to climb because it gave her a height advantage for once, but…seriously, vertical climbs were damn near impossible for her.

"…If I fall," she said at last, talking more to the ground way down below than to her companion. Okay, now she was feeling just the tiniest bit woozy. The grass was a vivid green, and she had a vision of what it would look like with her body splattered on it. Her tombstone would read, 'here lies Takahashi Pancake' in honor of the sight it made. "If I fall, I will come back and haunt you. For life."


[mft: 353]

 

[Takahashi Ren]

[Topic Left Due to Inactivity. Sorry! >_<]