Nara Yoku, iNPC
Despite what he had been told on numerous occasions, the boy refused to heed the good advice of his mentors. Susukino was a dangerous place for a young boy his age. Especially the sordid avenue that his connections were well acquainted with. He refused to let a few words stop him from following Souseiki in many times before. This was the blood and veins of his childhood. He felt comfortable slinking about in the dingy alleys. It hadn’t been enough to be almost murdered in those cold alleyways before to stop him from coming back. No, he had to learn the hard way. Like his mother that way, he was. But, never try to tell him such a thing.
The mutt blooded boy had been tortured for years by the cold hearted Nanjirou known as Souseiki. In exchange for his services to Souseiki, he’d be given information about his past that his near missing mother never gave. But, the man had suddenly disappeared with Kotaza reappearance. He was left again with nothing to go on. And so, he ambled about for years plotting a way to understand just who he was and what had happened in Cloud many years ago to turn his life into this. The most the man had ever offered were feigning remarks and vague details that didn’t interest the boy. It was not enough to go looking for a new source after his disappearance.
That was mainly his reason for turning every area of the district Souseiki frequented. He was hoping to gain something on his mother. Alas, he was far too inexperienced in such a wicked game. Although, he was very clever for his age, Yoku had no way to go about such dirty methods. It was on this particular day that he decided to trail the woman he called mother, but lost her somewhere along the way. Distracted by the thoughts of his younger twin. She had been so excited lately and he couldn’t place why.
Normally he knew everything about her. Maybe, he was slipping. He panicked at the thought. He couldn’t lose Yukimi. If she ever drifted from him, he would lose his mind completely. She was that soft song that quelled the rage in his heart. Without her, he suffocated under the weight of his irritation with the world and his anger at his family. Not to mention, he was never good with others. Something about her calm demeanor acted as a diffuser to his swelling anger. She was his connector to the world around him.
It was when he looked up from these thoughts that Yoku noticed he was lost. Deciding that the day was a loss, he began to wander the streets with no purpose at all. His feet dragged with hollow steps. A numb, young soul with much weighing on his mind for one so tender an age. He was getting sick of all the deception. Drowning in the cover ups of his mother’s past. He wanted to make her suffer. To take her into the darkest of places and watch her squirm and beg and cry.
It was those thoughts that frightened his sister. Those troubling thoughts that ravaged his mind. He never tried to fight them, but Yukimi made sure to keep a tight lock on them. He wondered, maybe Yukimi feared the man he would one day be. Did she actually hate her brother so much that she tried to control him? To keep him as human as possible. To keep him as far away from the person he was meant to be. Yoku had to force himself from thinking such a train of thoughts. He promised to always protect her and nothing would get in the way of his loyalty to her.
The raven haired boy with dead, dark eyes kept his sights to the ground. He grew more weary of those dark voices in his head. In that time, he made his way down a side street. As ever the cocky punk his father was, Yoku wasn’t afraid of the dangers of forbidden roads less taken. He should have been though, because lurking in this road was a hungry old friend. Even though Yoku didn’t recognize him (much less notice him), the man remembered the troubling boy’s face. He couldn’t forget the sole cause to his injury on one particular night when a strangely clad Nanjirou struck him down.
He had been after a much darker purpose then and would finish the job now. The boy walked past him, slouching and tired from the day. An easy target for the larger, barrel chested man. His hand thrusted out onto the boy’s arm. Yoku was jolted by the touch, quickly emerging from his thoughts. Those dull eyes widened with an adrenaline rush, shooting a glare at the man who went to seize him. In seeing his face, a small irritating reminder of his fateful night out nagged to remind Yoku who he was. And as he tried to pull his weight against the man’s grip, his arms were rendered useless under the force of his hands. His training and general desperation to survive kept his throwing his weight around in vain.
He growled in mad rage, but knew yelling was useless. No one would come to help in time or even care. The man pulled him in closer. His sweaty hands, soaked in grease and a vile stench, tightened around the young boy’s neck. Yoku heard the distinct sound of a switch blade being released. More desperate squirming. Hot breath creeped down Yoku's neck, sending his hair to stand on end in anticipation. The man was saying something completely uninteresting and too cliché for Yoku to care. Like seriously, who listened to that shit when they were on the threshold of death?
Yoku decided it was best not to die now. He had far too many terrible menial task to do. Yukimi needed her brother more than anyone. Or maybe he needed her. Then, there was all his unsettled business. He needed to know the events leading to his birth. He needed to bring that woman down. He settled down for a bit, acting like a general coward. It let the man get too comfortable as he toyed with the blade, gliding it across Yoku’s face. Letting the cold steel lick up all the blood and young flesh. The sick bastard let his hand dropped lower on Yoku’s body.
He saw the opportunity and wasted no time to do what most children his age were instructed to do. A swift kick to a choice spot and he was ready to run for the hills. Not before the man got his final try at Yoku. The reaction he made was a jerking motion of his whole body, which he used to direct the blade at Yoku. The knife embedded into his left shoulder, tearing downward on the skin and muscle. The sick rip of flesh exploded in Yoku's ear as a warning. Despite the agonizing pain, the Nara child did not stop his escape. The blade dragged further downwards as the man fell, until finally the nightly haired boy was freed from it.
He used the rooftops as a means to escape, judging that this man had no shinobi skills by the way he handled himself. There would be no pursuit, but a lovely trail of blood. At first, he made a mad run across the rooftops. He was blinded to his pain because of the adrenaline, but then it all set in on one crashing wave.
The damage set him to a limping walk across the roofs. He was confused by all the chaos to judge where he wanted to go exactly. His right hand covered the long rip of tattered flesh with not much help. The blood seeped out of his tattered, black coat and through his fingers. He just needed to get home…maybe? Or to the hospital? He wasn’t sure. The wound was bad. A messy cut from the top of his left shoulder, trailing down a few inches past the scapula.
In a jump between roofs, he tiredly missed his footing and clumsily landed with a roll to the ground. It was a struggle to even sit up. But, when he did, the Nara/Uchiha mutt noticed he was alone and his assailant had not attempted pursuit. He weakly pulled himself up, muscles shaking from the ordeal. Crimson blood dripping slowly around him. The spot on the roof where he had attempted to land dripped with blood. There formed a rosy red ring of life force spilled on the ground around him. He groaned helpless as he began to grow faint from blood loss. Yoku collapsed back to the ground, on his knees.
His intense stare watched the alley. Anyone who approached would see his grim glare with a warning: stay the hell away from me. He was angered at the fact that he hadn’t gotten away without a scratch. The last thing he wanted was pity from some stranger, but the light headedness kept him grounded. He reeled from his attack, but he wanted nothing more than for everyone to stay away.
