Path of illuminated shadows [Private]

[Tao]

A figure walked towards the gates of Iwagakure, so blurred and distant it was hard to make sense of what it actually looked like, but it was apparent that it is a person. As the person came closer, the guards could slowly tell what he looks like, he was had quite light skin and dressed in what seemed to be old used up rags of fabric used normally for packages like potatoes and other vegetation's, sawn together to form a cloak covered in dirt and many tares. The light skinned male had white hair and his face had shadow dropping on it thanks to the powerful sun that was shining down on the road on that day. Some parts of his cloak were covered in old blood stains, it seemed that it wasn't washed for quite some time. However unlike the way he was dressed, the man didn't seem tired or dehydrated at all, it seems like he was walking only for a short while.

Tao slowly got closer to the huge earthy gates at the base of the mountain with two huge statues of what seemed to be warriors holding a shield and a sword. He didn't know where he was or how he got there, but it seemed to be a place populated by those curious creatures he used to communicate with for so long... He didn't know what to make of it, he felt that it was the place he should be in right now, a place full of people he could learn from and observe just like he was intended to, much more than ever before. As Tao came closer to the gates, he halted his walk instantly and stared at the entrance. There seemed to be two people watching him from beyond the gates, they were dressed differently than the people he met before and they had a metallic plate on their forehead with some kind of symbol, he noticed then that there were others with that metallic plate on their foreheads, these people were walking in and out of the gates so casually which made Tao wonder, if he had this metallic plate strapped to his head, he could get in. But he didn't know where to get one, that was his main problem, he needed a plan...

"Maybe I should ask someone if I could get their metal plate...?"

A thought went through his mind, he had to try, its not like he had something else to do anyway. Tao started to approach one of the guards but when he opened his mouth, something odd happened...

"Do... K-know... Where... This... I... Get...?"

He could barely speak, he wasn't nervous or anything, he just didn't get a lot of chances to practice his language, now that he recalls it, he never really communicated with others through words, he did listen to people talk all the time, but apparently he couldn't copy their speech that easily. The guard looked at him and wondered to himself if he was some native brut or something along these lines. The man took a step back and spoke up

"State your name and business stranger."

The guard was slightly overwhelmed by the question presented to him earlier, he did what felt natural to him, that's all there is to it.

"I... T-Tao..."

Tao tried to communicate with the guard again, it was difficult, he never thought that it would be that hard to speak with a human before, he never had to use words before anyway, all he had to do is shine and bring food...

"That's it! If I shine at him he'll give me that metallic plate! Yes, it'll work."

Tao smiled radiantly with joy and clapped his hands together, a powerful pulse of light was emitted from Tao's body, so bright it blinded the guard for a moment, but the other guard managed to cover his eyes in the last moment, now they were alerted, they figured that Tao thrown a flash bomb at them to try and sneak his way into the village or maybe kill them, so the guard sprinted at Tao and pinned him against the opened gate.

"You are under arrest! Don't move or do anything, you hear me!"

Tao was suddenly pushed against the gate and had his arms locked behind his back which soon were handcuffed together with what appeared to Tao as metallic rings connected by a chain. Tao didn't understand why they were violent towards him all of the sudden, but he nodded in agreement to the guard's statement, he didn't know what Arrest meant, but he knew that he was asked to do absolutely nothing, not even move.

[MFT WC=769]

 

[Rounin Nao]

"Detective Satsu sir"

A voice came from behind Rounin Satsu as he was sitting at his desk at the precinct Millpol office, he turned around to see a young Genin standing at attention in front of him at attention. He never really gave any consideration to formalities in the ranks, but it was protocol and he couldn't do much about it.

"What is going on?"

Asked Satsu the young shinobi. Satsu was already buried under too much paper work so he couldn't chat much with anyone.

"sir this just came in, you are needed to go to the village gates and make sure that the shift switch is going according to scheduled"

Answered the Genin and handed the detective a paper with the orders on it. Satsu gave it a short look and placed it on his desk. It had something to do with
a failure of shift switch last month, and ever since then every day a Jounin was sent to the gates to oversee the switch between each shift.

"oh well, I guess it's my turn now"

Said Satsu and got up from his chair. The Jounin stretched a bit and then started making his way to the gates at titan's keep. It was very true he had allot
of work to do, but it cant be avoided. Every Jounin how was assigned to do this task had work to do, but never the less a task is a task and it needs to be done... the sooner the better.

Satsu walked the inner streets of Iwagakure and even though he was inside the vast streets inside the mountain, where little sunlight ever reached he still wore his shades as ever to hide his unique eyes. more than that he wore his usual clothing, and to his hip a powerful sword that was given to him by his father a long time ago.

After a few minutes of walking he finally reached the cliff overlooking the gate below. It was a long way to hike down, it would take the normal person at least two or three hours to go down. But thankfully Satsu was a very well trained Shinobi and he could take the shorter way down. And so with much ease Satsu channeled chackra to his feet and started sprinting his way downwards, every now and then jumping from stone to stone. and in no time he was with in sight of the gate. He landed on the path not far from the entrance to the village, but then he saw something that made him stop for a moment. A bright white light came from the gate and then vanished. Satsu started running towards the source of that odd anomaly and when he reached the open gates he saw the guards arresting a man who seemed to be just a bit older then Satsu, and to the detective it seemed that the guy was more confused than anything els.

"what is going on here boys!"

Said Satsu aloud and flashed his badge to identify himself to them. At once one of the two guards stood at attention while the other kept detaining the suspect who Satsu guessed was the source of the bright light, but what was the reason behind it he wondered.

"Sir this man here tried to blind us to get into the village, fortunately enough Kinji managed to cover his eyes in time and took the upper hand in the situation"

Said the one at attention. Satsu then turned to the one holding the suspect.

"is that true?"

He asked the guard.

"sir yes sir"

Stated the guard formally.

"very good, but if you don't mined me asking, when he blinded you... or at least attempted to do so, did he make a move to enter the village?"

Asked Satsu the two guards. After so many years in the force he learned to look at the big picture and consider all the factors in play before arriving to a conclusion, after all he was a detective. the guard at attention spoke again this time with less conviction then before.

"well no sir but im su...."

"did he try to harm ether one of you or the ones passing by?"

Satsu cut him off mid speech because he knew where it was going and countered him with another question to which he already guessed the answer to.
The guard lowered his head as if shamed.

"n..no sir he didn't"

Replied the guard, but Satsu already guessed so.

"so what did he do after trying to blind you two?"

Asked Satsu now with a smile to try and reassure them so they wont feel like they are in trouble for anything.

"well... he just stood there sir, he did nothing else"

Said the guard still with his face to the ground.

"very well... and after you saw that he did not attack you or try to sneak into the village, and you did see that he was just standing there did you ask him why he tried to blind you?"

Asked Satsu a question he was pretty sure was rhetorical.

"no sir we did not"

Replied the guard.

"ok then, so it is safe to assume that he is ether harmless or the worst criminal in the world, on ether case I believe we can sit him down and talk"

Said Satsu and when the guards sat the man down Satsu approached him and sat down in front of him.

"so my illuminating friend, would you like to.... shed some light on this predicament...so to say?"

Satsu said with a smile and a little giggle, he thought he was being clever, maybe he was.

 

[Tao]

It didn't take long for a new voice to appear, as the other guard was still rubbing his eyes to get his eye sight back, the voice started to interrogate them on what was going on. Why were they angry at Tao, he still couldn't figure it out, but the pieces began to come together as the stranger began asking his questions...

"They thought that I attacked them... Why...? Aren't people normally happy to see me shine...? What kind of weird upside-down world is this...?"

Tao had a hard time grasping the concept that people viewed him as a threat, it was an odd gesture as far as he was concerned. Tao could feel that his body was no longer forcefully pressed against the wall, the forearm was removed from his back and he was given a bit more freedom to move. Then the new guy asked Tao for an explanation onto what happened... Tao didn't know exactly how to explain it, all he wanted was to get into the village and make people happy, but how could he explain it, he could barely speak... He cant use his arms anymore since they were tied behind his back so all he could do is either wave his head or use words, two options he wasn't very found of. He closed his eyes and tried to construct a sentence that could satisfy them enough to not only let him go, but also allow him to enter the village, the question was how.

"I, ask how to get this... S-shiny thing. A-and I shine... And, they attack me... "

Tao replayed not exactly sure how convincing it came out to be.

 

[Rounin Nao]

Satsu listened intently to the man sitting in front of him. surprisingly enough he couldn't manage to speak the common tong well, almost as if he didn't know it very well at all. Satsu smiled warmly, he did not know what it was about this guy but he got the feeling that he wasn't much of a threat at all, more than that he might be a little more confused than wretched. Satsu more than one occasion relied on his intuition, he was a good detective and very well at judging people. In this case he wanted to see what was that strange light the guy was talking about before going any further in his assumptions, especially when it seemed that he wanted to receive a headband of the village. A very strange man indeed.

"you shine you say hmmm?.... it sounds nice could you maybe shine again to show me too?"

Asked Satsu, he was feeling exited and he was very intrigued by the man. With his usual shades over his eyes the light would not effect him to harshly, and he was on his guard just in case something will go south. It was apparent that he wasn't the only one on guard, the two gate keepers ware already redyeing their hands over their eyes. Satsu did not blame them for being alarmed, after all it was a very unusual day so far yet he was still very eager to see that bright light and give verdict for himself. Right now he was just looking at the man waiting for that special illumination to appear, positively thrilling.

 

[Tao]

Tao looked at the man as he slowly turned around to face him, he was utterly confused, what did they want from him, at first they ask him all those weird questions, then they attack him when he shined at them and now they ask him to shine again? Tao couldn't make sense of it all, but he didn't see any sense in arguing with the man, he could clearly see that there was no other way out of it but to obey the request, just like he always does... He then started to remember what happens when he messes up, will they try to hurt him too? Probably will, it was unavoidable after all. Upon the newcomer's request Tao clapped his hands behind his back as he was still handcuffed and started emitting light. It started as a faint brightening of his skin as his eyes and hair started to glow white, then in an instant intense light erupted from his body in a flash of overwhelming light, this time much stronger than before, he wanted to make sure that man was pleased from his performance, he wanted to see them smile again, just like before. The light went away as quickly as it came and his skin, hair and eyes turned back to normal.

"I-I... Do good...?"

Tao asked slightly unsure of the response he might get in return to his performance, he was a man that wanted to make everyone around him happy, some may call this feature being a saint but for him it was a much more simple aspect. He wondered how long will it be before he'll be let in under the guidance of someone who can teach him the ways of these people, he wanted to absorb as much information as he could and evolve even further to a more complete state, all for the purpose of understanding these beings like he was intended to do.

[MFT WC= 322]

 

[Rounin Nao]

Satsu watched as the man in front of him lit up, but this light wasn't alike any he had seen before. It was white and extreamly bright, but it was not like a chackra pulse or jutsu, it seemed to flow from every inch of Tao's body. This light wasn't even warm or cold, it didn't hurt or anything at all. It was just brilliant
it was an amazing sight, and Satsu now understood why this man shined before. Not out of any ill intent, on the contrary Satsu believed that Tao was not very good at communicating verbally and didn't have much interactions with other people... very unusual but there was a purity that Satsu couldn't explain yet, much like a child trying to empress his parents by doing something that attracts attention to himself. It was then when Satsu remembered a poem he once read a long time ago, he didn't know why he remembered it now of all times but as the light shined he recited the poem in mind.

'There was a day of days
when the devil took way
to a forgotten land of old
to which only stories told

The devil not much evil by heart
more broken from his love torn apart
he roamed and strode to this kingdom of old
to a kingdom which only stories told

A kingdom of peace and sooth
a kingdom where the earth itself moved
a Kingdom of heaven and hell
a kingdom that only stories could tell

And then on this day of days
a sight came to the devil's gaze
it was god playing in a field of green
a sight unlike any he had ever seen

A day when the devil found god was unheard of
a day when the sky smiled and so did the angels above
for when they faced each other there was no evil or good
and when they shook hands time itself stood

There was once a day of days
when god and devil took way
together to a land of old
together to a kingdom only stories have told'

The light faded away and sitting there was Tao looking at Satsu asking him if he did good. Satsu got up and drew his sword, he knew he might get into trouble for what he was about to do but he didn't care, there was something about Tao that he couldn't quite explain but it was worth taking a chance for.
So Satsu cut the restraints off of Tao and sheathed his weapon. He reached out his hand and smiled.

"you did good enough for me friend, it is time to welcome you home"

He said, and he knew that this is a start of a very unusual friendship.

[Topic left with Tao when done]

 

[Tao]

Tao's smile faded away for a moment in the instant the man drew his sword out, was he going to be punished? He didn't like that, but before he knew it, his handcuffs were cut loose and the blade was sheathed again. The smile grew on the man much wider now than ever before with expressions of happiness and overwhelming joy, he was being taken into the village, his eyes started to sparkle with excitement (I know what you think, but no, its metaphorical). Then Satsu said that he is welcoming him to his new home, Tao heard this word before, it was spoke by people who were leaving him most of the times, his smile began to shrink, but then he remembered, the first time that word was used in front of him was when he was taken to his first job, the circus.

"... Home..."

Tao whispered under his breath, not too sure what to make of the new word he just discovered, was he wasn't sure what kind of emotion to combine with the occasion. He at this point wasn't smiling at all, he just nodded afterwards and fallowed the man silently, he was at somewhat of a lose at the very unique occasion where he had to react to a word so simple and yet holding such a wide variety of different interpretations all giving a different result. Tao prayed that now, he could finally find a place to settle down in, he was growing emotionally tired of traveling aimlessly through the world in search for a place to belong to without being referred to as a monster that he was.

[MFT WC=274]
[Topic left with Satsu]