Private Reflections

[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha would be making her way back from the Byoin from visiting her mother. Even with all that is going on, she has to focus on her private home life that is slowly deteriorating what with her own mother being sick. She's honestly been a little bit weighed down as things start to pile up. It really started with learning about Aria's death. Mitsuha can't fault her for her own misfortune. But in the long run, not only is she having to watch her mother slowly die before her all the while being looked at like she should be guilty of escaping a similar fate in the future once she lost her Kaguya powers. Seeing how Aria's death effected Keniwa, learning of his rise to Sennin-hood. Announcing herself as his rival and learning of a potential mission that could result in the Fifth Hokage's death if things aren't done perfectly. Going on to Otakemaru, seeing him fully hurt from Aria's death.

It wasn't until a few days later that a gunshot rang through the Village and Mitsuha had seen Ishi's dead body at the gates. Her own mind had relived that moment in which an armored and masked ninja had attacked Leaf Gates some years ago. That moment was the closest that she has ever been to death and left her mentally scarred. Despite her own efforts to try and forget it all, it seems that she will always remember it. She has all of this weighing heavy on her mind as she would make her way from the Byoin to her mansion.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

As Mitsuha walked, buried deep within her own thoughts, she would soon find her path impeded by something small and fluffy. There was a very cat-like whine, followed by the sensation of something with paws jumping up at her leg. Unmistakably, it was Morutobu, but weirdly, no sign of his big brother, the two usually quite inseparable. The little adolescent Shiba whined, as if he were mildly in distress about something, a clingy look in his eyes. Most of all, he seemed frustrated that he was trying to convey something to the Chuunin, without his usual interpreter on hand.

"Hey, Mor- Oh," said Keiyaku, finally turning the corner and running down the mud path to find his mischievous little partner pawing at Mitsuha and begging for something, "Moru, seriously, you can just wait for the freaking release day."

There was another indignant whine..

"I knowwwww. You said that already, but-"

Keiyaku broke up, heaving a sigh and looking up at his colleague. There was a very tired expression on his face, and his skin was pretty pale and sickly-looking, his eyes baggy. He seemed to be going in and out of sickness and health with each lunar cycle, and right now, he wasn't looking like he was feeling too special.

"Hey, Mitsu," he said, smiling guiltily and scratching the back of his head, "Moru uh.... heard that the manga... you know... the one you were reading when we first met ages ago - he's figured out there's a new issue about to be released and he's pegged it across half the village to harrass you for an early preview of it..."

Moru, at last, looked satisfied. Keiyaku, on the other hand, not having interacted with Mitsuha a great deal since her considerable number of changes, was not sure how she might take this.

"I'm.... yeah, sorry about him."

 

[Yume Izanami]

Her thoughts were interrupted when a small dog pounced on her leg. She recognized it as Morutobu. Scratching behind his ear, she would say, "Where's your other half, huh?" And as if on cue, Keiyaku showed up. She would listen to what Keiyaku had to say, translating for Moru. "Oh yeah, that was today, huh." She could tell that Keiyaku doesn't look like a million dollars, what with looking tired. She wondered if he could see the tiredness on her as well, the look as if there's a lot weighing her down.

"I'm sorry," She started, rubbing the back of her neck, "I've had a lot going on recently and have had very little 'me' time." She would stare out into the sky, orange and purple hues mixed in the sky, night will be coming soon. "There should be a manga cafe that's still open at this time."

She would say before going off in a different direction away from her home. Once there, they would be greeted by a waiter. The place itself felt cozy enough, purple LED lights ran through the ceiling with the smell of coffee and baked goodies in the air. There were many different manga lined throughout the entirety of all the walls with special editions and new releases safeguarded in glass containers by themselves. Of course there would be prices on those manga in particular since they are a rarity in of themselves. Mitsuha would talk with the waiter, asking if they have the most recent manga that Keiyaku was talking about, along with ordering a latte along with a banana muffin.

As she bought the newest release, she gave the manga to Keiyaku and bit into her muffin. She stayed quiet for a while until she finally spoke up, "So... How's things going for you?" Even though she is no longer shy, she is still an introvert and thus doesn't really know how to carry a conversation unless if she one-hundred percent thought and planned it out.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Well, that certainly made two of them. 'Me' time was like gold dust these days, so yeah, it'd be nice to take a load off and read some manga for a little while. It did surprise him that there was a bookshop open so late, but it was weirdly comforting in a way.

"Yeah, I'd really like that," the Inuzuka smiled, both he and Moru walking in-step alongside Mitsu.

When they got there, he admired the florescent purple glow of the lights and the mingling scents of sugar, coffee beans, and freshly minted ink. Keiyaku wasn't exactly hungry in his current state, but he could tell Moru needed some food, so he ordered himself a tea and got an oatmeal cookie for his little brother. When Mitsu came to hand them the book, Moru looked as though as he was going to pass out, his short tail violently thumping the arms of the chai where he sat. It was a good thing this place was so dog friendly. Turning the page with his paw, he began to read intently, nibbling at his cookie.

"Yeah," Keiyaku said, leaning on the table and looking up at Mitsu, sipping his tea with one hand, while resting his cheek against the other, propped up on an elbow, "not so good. Full moon's tomorrow night and it's making me a feel... kinda shitty and ill."

He definitely looked like he hadn't been eating or sleeping all that much lately, but he was still able to hitch a warm, friendly smile onto his face. There was concern in his eyes when he looked at Mitsu, her own face seeming to carry some tension too.

"Yourself? Been a shit week, huh? How're you holding up, Mits?"

 

[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha would listen as best as she can while scratching Moru behind his ear. Full moon? She remembered reading that some people just go crazy during a full moon, though Keiyaku doesn't strike her as the type to go crazy during a full moon person. "Maybe drinking some medicinal tea and burning some calming incenses can help? My butler makes the best medicinal tea around."

She would go quiet as Keiyaku would ask her of what's been going on with her. Her fingers would close around her mug as she took a deep breath. "Gee... I don't know where to even start... I guess things started to pile up when I awoken to a new power. And because I have woken this new power, I've lost my Kaguya bloodline. I can no longer manipulate my bones. Because of that, I have been feeling... I don't know if it is resentment or anger from my parents about it." She would sit back in her booth shaking her head, "You'd think that once that was happening I would start wanting nothing to do with them." Her voice was a tad bit cold, but her face said differently, "Then I find out my mother is now on her deathbed. How? Because there is a rare disease that only effects those of the Kaguya bloodline. And now every time I look at my mother, I feel horrible, that I had escaped a fate like hers. She's... Just in so much pain all the time..."

She would stop petting Moru and interlock her own fingers as she thought about what to say next. "Aria... Even though I didn't know her as much as anyone else, she trusted me to deliver important messages to people that she cared about. Because of that, I've learned to talk to people more by helping them through their grieving process. Keniwa saw her as a sister. And Otakemaru, I could tell wanted a future with her. I was trying my best to help them despite what's going on in my personal life."

She would pause before continuing on, "Then, the incident at the Gates. Ishi... He's not the first dead person I've seen, as I've seen others at the Gates before. I... Don't remember much, but I do remember a masked and armored shinobi that came and attacked Leaf gates a couple years back. I was lucky that I didn't die that night. But every now and then, that image from so long ago pops into my mind once more."

Mitsuha would take a deep breath and sigh before saying, "If you don't mind my asking, what do you mean by the Full Moon? How does it effect you?"

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Keiyaku laughed, forgetting sometimes that Mitsuha lived in what was, to him, essentially a palace. It really put living in the wood into perspective, "you know, I will have to take you up on that sometime. You can't go wrong with medicinal tea!"

Moru seemed to be in dog's heaven, reading a book, eating a cookie and ear scritchies on demand! Sometimes he had such simple wants and needed.

Keiyaku listened to Mitsuha describe her recent events, and why she looked so different. She actually lost her kekkei genkai in favour of some other power? Well, at least it helped her avoid this disease; he had always heard the Kaguya clan's kekkei genkai tended to be a bit... unstable. He supposed that the power to manipulate your skeletal structure in such a way would become quite taxing eventually.

"Mits, uh, lemme know if there's ever anything I can do, 'kay? Even if it's just like... this, tea and a chat. This new power though... I guess that's why I barely recognised you at first. I'm guessing it's like when Ayeka... you know, Keniwa's little sister, started losing her Kyoujouran clan kekkei genkai, and started.... you know, sprouting horns. Did you go through something similar? Or is it something else?"

The subject of the gate incident came up, the thing with Ishi. He had been present of course, in his mask, on duty at the gates, and it had happened point blank in front of him. She went on to recount the encounter with Yong too, whom Keiyaku also attempted to stop. He didn't really want to talk about the gates anymore.... It didn't reflect very well on his job.

Aria

The moment her name was mentioned, Keiyaku's jaw seemed to tighten a little. He knew he should be sorry she had died, but given what she did to him, and then had the selfish inclination to get herself killed right away... well, over the months, he found it harder and harder to be charitable toward her memory. He knew Keni took it kind of hard, and most of all, Otakemaru must've been badly crushed. Poor guy was sweet on her, he knew.

"I can't say I got much love for Aria's memory. She straight-up dumped a curse on me, then dipped. I know I should be grateful; she did save mine, Keni's and Akio's lives, but she's gone where none of it can hurt her now."

He supposed that lead nicely into Mitsuha's next question. Should he have mentioned about the full moon before? Was that careless? He didn't care... sometimes it felt good to talk about it, especially now he was getting a better handle on it.

"The full moon, yeah. That's what I got Aria to thank for," he said, lowering his voice and casting a look around the café to ensure no one was listening in, "it was how Aria defeated this giant rock wolf-demon thing we met on a mission. Bastard was gonna crush us until she had the idea of taking the thing's soul and shoving it inside of me. Now, when the full moon gets closer, I start getting really sick, and I get these nightmares that get so bad I can't sleep."

Keiyaku was looking rather detached and numb, the smile dropping from his face as he described his sometimes.

"Every full moon night, it forces me to go through these transformations, turning me into some kind of human-wolf thing. There... there aren't words to describe how it feels. But I believe the politically correct term, is that I'm a 'Werewolf'."

He had been in denial about it for a long time, but starting to accept and acknowledge it had put him on the long, winding road to recovery.

 

[Yume Izanami]

"Mine's a bit different." She would start. "You've heard of the mythological creature called the dragon? Well they exist. I happened to save one a while back. The one I saved had reality warping powers. And when I saved it, it decided to give its heart to me. I'm speaking in the literal sense of terms as I now have a dragon's heart rather than a human heart. It was because of this that I had undergone a drastic change, lost my bloodline powers and the powers of the Jashin." She would pause before saying, "Yes, I had the powers of the Jashin, that was when I went crazy and stabbed Keniwa. And even despite all that, he wanted to help me and be my friend. I guess, that when Aria asked me to carry out her final wishes to Keniwa and Otakemaru, I finally started to ease up on him. That, and that one time when he stood up for me against a perv."

She would drop it right then and there. She'd rather not have to recount how vile that guy was and was actually grateful to an extent for Keniwa. Mitsuha would listen to what Keiyaku had to say on the Full Moon thing. How Aria had took the wolf demon's soul and put it into him. And because of that, he now undergoes a transformation each full moon. She thought about what he had said, trying to make sense of the situation and trying to find an angle to help him out. "Well, if you ever need help with your... Werewolf self, then maybe I can help you out, along with some of the others. It might just be a theory, but if you and your demon sees familiar faces, then quite possibly, you could force your will onto it. We battle it on the outside, while you fight it on the inside. I have no doubts of the capabilities of Keniwa, Otakemaru, and the others, along with my own. Because your problems won't go away if you just decide to live with it, and sometimes, it is best to ask for help."

She knows the irony of what she just said, as Keiyaku is currently living with a demon in his body, but maybe if him and a group of people that he trusts puts their heads together, they can beat this thing.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

The revelation of dragons and having lizard organs implanted into humans might've been insane, but in this day and age, nothing could surprise Keiyaku anymore. Of course, as an ANBU officers, he was usually privy to most of the more peculiar goings-on in the village. He tried to feign surprise, but it didn't come off as very convincing.

"Jashin? Is that... the name of the voice you had in your head, like you said?" Of course, ancient eldritch entities and death gods weren't something Keiyaku could claim much knowledge of; at least dragons were tangible and readily observable if you had the guts or the stupidity to take one on.

"That... sounds like it was an experience. Must've been pretty painful though, huh, altering your body in such a drastic way? Still, you seem to have pulled through okay," he said, trying to avoid the topic of Mitsuha trying to stab his boyfriend to death, still finding that a little hard to forgive, "I hope Take took it okay; I've been on missions with him since, and he seems to be holding up okay."

Moru gave a sudden little squeak; evidently something very exciting had happened in his manga.

"Ooohhh," Keiyaku said, giving a falling-tone whistle, looking amused by the idea, but at the same time seeming to be genuinely touched by her offer of help, "that means a hell of a lot that you would even say that, Mitsu, that you'd want to help me. I really do appreciate it."

Keiyaku heaved a sigh, looking down for a moment.

"I'm afraid to say, it ain't that simple. Keni thought he could help me... and then we almost tore each other apart when the moon came up. This thing, he doesn't have feelings like humans do - he just wants to fuck shit up, really," he explained with a slightly grim chuckle, "the situation's kind of in hand already... My sensei is helping me get a handle on it. We made an agreement... this inner-asshole and I. Dude gets my body on the full moon, and in exchange, he does his best to behave the other 27 days. I just need to make sure I spend one night a month chained up in an underground bunker."

He spoke the last sentence with an enthusiastic flourish, like he was describing his dream vacation at a holiday resort.

"It's taken a long time to come to terms with the fact I'm gonna be a... well.. a werewolf for the rest of my life. But it comes with a few perks..."

The Inuzuka smiled and closed his eyes, concentrating hard. His teacup began to rattle a little, and with some effort, it levitated into the air, revolving slightly, before slowly settling back down. Moru didn't even raise his head.

"Having the power to mess with gravity is pretty sweet... Providing the asshole gives me some of his chakra to play with. Gets stronger when I'm angry though."

As he looked at Mitsuha, a very different view of her was dawning on his face; he'd been so mistrustful of her since Coffee City, but now, she was so much more mature and put together. And her concern for him, despite what he'd though of her for so long, genuinely made his heart smile.

"Thanks for uh... listening to me ramble on. Sometimes, just talkin' about it to someone who won't think I'm some sort of ticking timebomb really helps."

 

[Yume Izanami]

"Jashin." She would repeat him, "God of death. Promises his followers immortality to kill in his name. No doubt his followers might see me as a potential target once they get word of someone turning their back on Jashin." Sighing, not really wanting to think of that, she would then say, "As for the transformation... I don't really remember much. Just sometimes, whenever I'm focused on fighting, reality warps around me, forming me into a half dragon. I haven't perfected it yet, but eventually I'll get there to make this power my own."

She would stop talking and listen to Keiyaku speak of how he had to deal with the monster soul inside of him. How his sensei helped him out and a deal was made. To be honest, it sounded horrible, but at least he has a plan figured out to deal with it. "Well it helps since you're talking to an ex-ticking time bomb." She would smile, hoping her joke gets to him, making light of the situation. "But seriously. If you ever feel like you need help, you can count on me. Heck, even a simple sit down and talk can do wonders."

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"If you say so..."

Keiyaku wasn't entirely sure he believed her; the idea she was being contacted by some sort of cultish Shinigami sounded so outlandish and weird... Then, he had to remind himself he had the spirit of a cannibalistic wolfman made of rock, who appeared in the midst of an earthquake, riding a moonbeam like a waterslide, and so he decided to re-examine his idea of 'outlandish' a little bit. All this dragon stuff was making his head hurt as well - people seemed to be sprouting wings all over the place, swapping body parts with fire-breathing lizards. He thought he understood this world, but apparently not.

Moru sneezed.

"Yeah, I really appreciate that, Mits. It's easy to forget to stop and decompress sometimes, you know? But yeah, you can always come to me or Moru if you need someone to help you declutter your drawer."

Keiyaku looked over at his little brother, who seemed to be done reading and had now buried his nose in his book, snoring quietly.

"Might be time I take him home. I'll never be able to wake him up tomorrow."

 

[Yume Izanami]

Mitsuha would nod at what he had to say. Though a small funny thought of if she felt only talking to Morutobu rather than Keiyaku. Yeah, so this happened today, what do you think? Bark! Yeah, you're right. Mitsuha would laugh at that little scenario popping up in her head.

Looking over at the pup, she couldn't help but smile at the sleeping dog. She would nod when Keiyaku would say that he should head home. "You take care." Even as she said it, it felt weird. Most of her life she was a shy mess. But here she was, telling Keiyaku about all of the things that have been heavy on her mind. How when they first met Asuka had said that they were dating and she outright said that he was not her type. Heck, she still doesn't feel that way towards Keiyaku, but she cannot deny that there is something between the two of them. Maybe it is trust? Friendship? Yes, it has to be. She would wave to him before taking her leave to go back to her mansion.

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[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"You too. Get home safe okay?" He said, the irony of telling a dragon lady who could stretch reality like silly putty not lost on the Inuzuka, but it felt too impersonal to say anything else. The conversation they'd just had, their vulnerability together, it gave him a rush of fondness for the former Kaguya, and he hoped she felt the same in return. Heaving a sigh, he picked up the manga, and scooped the sleepy pup into his arms, heading on home.

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