Sometimes You Feel [Shiruko Makoto/Private]

[Akako]

They had hoped they would be used to the stares and whispers by now. But it was different, to be pointed and gawked at in a foreign country while being all too aware, all too lucid about it all. They had hoped they would be used to it, with the way their own family – cousins, aunts and uncles and even their own parents – had done so back in Moon, eyes filled with disgust or fear.

It is... a lot less painful when complete strangers did it though no less annoying.

The two had gone to the markets in the hopes of procuring supplies. Though food is no longer a problem, what with the Kazekage being a gracious host, they had no other clothes than the one they already wore. Of course, they wouldn’t delusion themselves to think that there would be clothes fit for them here, they did wish to buy sewing supplies and clothing to alter for their use.

Cheongsams, hakamas, kimonos and simple shirts were easy enough to find.

What made this simple task difficult was the fact that the merchants would not accept the coins they offered, thinking the two to be petty thieves and cons. It seemed to be too complex an idea, when they try to connect the riches in the twins’ pockets to the drab rags they wore. The desert’s fault, not theirs... it had been a pair of respectable shift, once upon a time.

“I don’t want your money, you brats. For all I know, they could be stolen or fools’ money! And stop touching the clothes before you dirty them! Why don’t you go back to your freak show?”

It’d be far too easy to take the clothes for themselves, to slit this idiot’s neck and leave him to choke on his own blood. It was hard just to keep a neutral expression on their face... Had to remind themselves that these commoners weren’t worthy enough of their ire.

But they promised to play nice with Suna.

“I assure you, sir, that these coins are our own and that they are genuine,” Akane sighed in a bored tone as Akihiko refused to let go of the white cheongsam in his clutches. Had they been in separate bodies, this would be the point where the younger brother would have taken off with it, really. To his chagrin, he was anchored in place by his elder sister. “What will it take to convince you to let us pack our purchases and go? Shall we call for a banker, perhaps? Or perhaps I will ask for one of your law keepers to mediate?”

“Even if those coins were real, they could still be stolen. And you’ll not waste my time with banker or law keeper for such a paltry sum! Now, leave before I call the law keepers on you.”

It’d be really far, far too easy to just kill the bastard and go.

“We don’t need to take abuse from this guy, sis. If he doesn’t want our money, then it’s his loss,” Akihiko sneered, though he could not disguise the look of disappointment in his eye from Akane. “Besides, why content ourselves with such cheap shit? I told you we should have gone shopping in the Crystal District. Not this lousy flea market. I bet we can get some real nice linen and cotton there. Maybe even some fancy Moto clan silk.”

The murderous intent... it came mostly for him, didn’t it? Obvious with how agitated he was as he threw the clothes back into the pile they were from.

It was worrisome with how muddled the borders got between their emotions and sense of self.

But the calmer Akihiko will get, the better.

So Akane acquiesced in leaving the matter alone, pocketing their money in the meantime with a shake of her head. “If I recall correctly, it was I who said that we should go to the Crystal District and it was you who said you didn’t want to be surrounded by... quote, unquote: rich and fancy pricks.”

---

[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Welp.

[/legend]

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

It wasn't his damn fault they had to go to the market.

That was one thing Makoto would have pointed out, had anyone cared enough to ask. No, it wasn't his fault he hadn't been there when his traveling companions had gotten into another argument, this one with violent consequences that thankfully fell short of actual attacks, just containing thrown (and broken) items instead. Wasn't his fault he hadn't been available to defuse tempers. Wasn't his fault they had to go shopping to replenish supplies sooner than usual.

Didn't matter; he still had to go. Just so they would actually get things accomplished.

Wasn't spending time working together as a team supposed to improve their ability to work together? Instead, it just seemed to be making his companions want to tear each other to shreds.

Not that he was particularly cut out for peacefully separating two such forceful personalities anyway.
[col]

Kiyomizu Sheimi

Moon Warden

|

Shoukyou Tatsuya

Mercenary

[/col]

He was a ninja, not a miracle worker, after all. Even if to most the two seemed to overlap a lot of the time.

Sheimi and Tatsuya were in the middle of an argument over whose fault it was they were out there, an argument he had been anticipating since they left since Tatsuya could try the patience of a saint and Sheimi was assuredly not that, when Tatsuya abruptly cut himself off in the middle of a sentence and turned to search the crowd. A crowd that, consciously or subconsciously, parted from him and his creepy void aura.

Recalling the hole in Tatsuya's emotions from when Makoto had been an empath and able to sense such a thing, he repressed a shudder.

"What's the problem?" Sheimi asked irritably. "In case you didn't notice, we're supposed to be stocking up, not picking up girls."

Makoto followed Tatsuya's gaze to where

no

wrong

Was that a person?

It took him a moment longer to realize Tatsuya was already pushing through the crowd in that direction. Sheimi huffed and followed, and Makoto barely managed to avoid scrambling to keep up with the two of them. Damn them both and their longer strides, anyway. He hated being short. At least in the wake of that aura there weren't really people for him to push through.

He'd gotten mostly used to it, himself.

Tatsuya had abruptly halted a few feet away from the...person? people? What on earth...?

"Akane, Akihiko." People, then. Wait. "What...what are you two doing here? Does mother know?"

Oh.

Oh.

He'd heard of what had happened to his new cousins, vaguely, in the sort of off-hand way one hears of bad news of any distant relative. He hadn't imagined...this. When he'd heard 'disfigured, badly' and 'sewn together', he hadn't pictured them being, well, actually sewn together. It had sounded like hyperbole. He'd barely registered it enough to think that it didn't sound like they ought to be able to do much of anything. Much less travel halfway across the continent...and why?

He and Sheimi had halted slightly behind Tatsuya. When he glanced at her, her eyebrow was up, her expression thoughtful and not an ounce of pitying. No, it wouldn't be; she didn't believe in pity.

"I dearly hope," Tatsuya continued, ignoring the two of them in favour of his siblings, "that it wasn't anything so foolish as coming looking for me. Someone could've just told you I'd had no choice but to go for a while."

It really did seem as if that was the strange branch of the family, didn't it.

 

[Akako]

With their mission to acquire new attire deemed a failure, the two saw little reason to stay around in the busy streets of Sietch Zensunna. Why would they? It was filled with maggots that sought to insult them at every turn. Their attempts at politeness had been met with scorn and disdain. Flaunting their foreign wealth garnered them accusations of thefts and counterfeiting. Only Death would clean these streets and they could not be bothered to bring that upon them.

There was little reason to stay among the filth- that is until they felt the Void.

It was a deep thrumming that shook them to their core. But, unlike anyone else who would be terrified and repulsed by it, it brought a sense of calm to their being. This vast emptiness that the normal human being would rather flee from brought comfort to the strange pair. It was a peaceful paradise to the two who so often were assaulted by the many, both dead and alive, due to what they are. This black hole that drained all in its reach meant home. It meant their-

“Brother?” the two intoned, just as Tatsuya spoke their name.

Their eyes widened a fraction and there was a sense of joy. Who would have thought they’d actually find him in Sand of all places? He could have been in Cloud! They’d been there once, after all (though they had to take care of a body, the last time). Maybe even Leaf? Well, okay, maybe not Leaf. But what were the chances? Yet, here was Tatsuya... and they were in trouble.

“Mother... knows?” Akihiko said lamely, looking at his twin for some help.

Not that she could be of much help in the face of their brother’s admonishment. Very little could knock Akane off her usually calm demeanor. This is obviously one of them. “Technically she should know by now? We’ve been gone long enough, right?” It certainly didn’t help that Tatsuya hit the nail on the head, more or less.

They had missed their brother greatly. And they would gladly take any punishment for their act of rebellion. The two only loved their parents out of obligation, on the mere fact that their existence was because of them. Otherwise, they might as well be of different families.

Each and every one had thought the two were off on some grand adventure, one which they’d rather not think or speak of. It had never occurred to them that the two would never stay away from family for so long willingly. When many of their brethren heard of their capture and the fate that befell them, the words they whispered when they thought the two weren’t listening were... unwanted.

Failure. Disappointment. Freak. They were poor little children who had gotten way in over their heads and had suffered for it. Some had even come to question if the two were still of clean blood. They could have easily been contaminated with a bloodline while they were in captivity. Some of the elders had even considered treating the two as they would a blood traitor, thought of disowning and exiling them. It was only the smallest of comforts that they knew their brother, the heir, would never agree to that.

But their staying in Moon wasn’t in question; it was a given that being in a safe environment was for their own good.

They had locked themselves up in their room, trying to avoid the stares, both of disgust and pity. And, after days of extreme isolation, it had gotten restless. And the Void had been one of the few things that kept it calm. Their brother knew it, to an extent. Not quite a third personality but close enough to it. It which was the bases of instincts, near animalistic in nature, only sought the safety and comfort of this body if it thought the two were not up to the task. It having grown restless and needy, took over and whisked their body off into the night away from these humans who dared pretend they were family.

“It wasn’t our fault! Aka-” Akihiko pipes up, to defend themselves but stops just as quickly when he realized others were paying attention. They didn’t need to know about it. Had no business in it. Had no right to see them bare themselves. These maggots who would saw them as nothing but monsters.

In an instant, the two drew closer to their brother, hands clutching at the hem of his shirt. Not out of fear, no. The two could be flustered, be in despair, become perturbed and maybe even a tiny bit bothered and worried... but they have never encountered anything that had yet to truly strike fear into their hearts. It was more of a protective, almost possessive gesture, than anything else. For a moment, they bared their teeth in a snarl but they were quick to school their features into an aristocratic mask.

“Of course we came looking for you. We swore to be your sword and shield the moment we could form proper sentences, did we not? The elders saw to it. We think mother would be proud that we can still be of use. But, more importantly, who are they? Friends, dearest brother?” the two chimed together, an eerie thing to see and hear for most, especially when their crimson eyes stared, almost boring into one’s very being. They reached out with their empathy, looking for signs of deceit, of malicious intent; anything that might say they were a danger to the Shoukyou heir.

And for a moment, foul power flared from them in warning, making bystanders recoil or leave their vicinity altogether. Their power was near opposite of their brother’s. While Tatsuya was the Nothingness, Akane and Akihiko were both Life most foul and Death most pure as well as everything in between.

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

There is definitely something inherently wrong with this branch of the family, Makoto thought as he traded another disbelieving look with Sheimi, who took on a scowl he was more accustomed to seeing from her during trainee review. Perhaps it's the parents, perhaps it was Mist, but there is something wrong with them.

Then he discarded the Mist theory; there had been nothing wrong with Nanami, who was ostensibly from Water Country.

Tatsuya raised an eyebrow in the twins' direction, still ignoring his companions. It would likely be a very...familiar...eyebrow raise. The 'you already know you're in trouble and don't think you can talk your way out of it' eyebrow.

"So she doesn't know where you are, she just knows you're gone," he summed up. "Yes, I see. So you took off without telling anyone, without letting even a single person know where you'd gone, probably without even leaving a note. As thrilled as I am that the two of you have mentally recovered so much, I'm not sure you're in any state to go bouncing halfway across the world on a whim."

And what must have been on a boat for a decent leg of the journey, he did not say. The complex at home may have resembled a kicked-over anthill.

...Or, as more likely, their mother may have just quietly pretended nothing was wrong. As she did. Everyone in their family was making leaps and bounds, socially speaking, but it wasn't as if their mother acted as if the twins weren't dead to her. It was very rare she even mentioned them, when the two of them made time to speak.

So maybe he could see why they'd run off, when the one person present who didn't have to care about them (well, by their family's standards he didn't) but did anyway had left. No matter what his reasons.

But the expression on his face vanished entirely when Akihiko mentioned...that.

That broken thing, that he'd found in the body of his siblings in Lightning Country those years ago.

He didn't even have to say 'ah;' he knew they'd realize by the shift in his expression (or Akane would, at least) that he got it. Even if they wouldn't have been able to pick it up directly off his emotions.

Tatsuya carefully draped one arm around Akane's shoulder, being gentle with them as he usually was since their transformation.

"Mother..." he chose his words carefully; his relationship with their mother had improved, but theirs most certainly had not, "has issues with things she sees as imperfections against our family, you know that. Your state as such is not one of the things we agree on, mind, but there is little I can do to convince her."

He glanced back at Makoto and Sheimi, both of whom were giving him curious looks--though the former at least was able to be subtle about it.

"These are my traveling companions, yes," he said, still fairly certain that he couldn't count either as a friend. "The pretty girl whom I am not allowed to touch is Sheimi, and the short one is one of our new cousins, Makoto. The youngest one."

Makoto twitched very slightly at being called short, but merely inclined his head stiffly. Tatsuya's aura was not something you got used to easily.

The twins were...unnerving. Not necessarily to sight, though a bit to that as well, but they also had their own disturbing auras. Although they were apparently better at controlling theirs than Tatsuya was with his. That was something, at least.

He still wasn't overly fond of Tatsuya, but he was at least provisionally accepting they were on the same side. Same family, same goals. Relatively speaking. Personal dislike of the man's personality didn't really factor into it, for him.

Sheimi was still scowling with a bit of a wrinkled nose, but she nodded lightly, hands not even twitching toward her weapons. They weren't a threat, even if the civilians bolting around them thought otherwise.

Pesky, annoying little siblings, no doubt, but that man could certainly use one or two of those. Her scowl was more at the thought of her own little brother, then, not them.

So all she said, since she couldn't just not say anything like her probable future brother-in-law, was a simple, cool, "Hey." She smoothed out her expression and added, after a slight pause, "nice to meet you."

Not falsely, not really, but she could hardly be expected to be excited of the addition of more complications toward an already complicated mission.

"Don't overwhelm them, now," Tatsuya murmured, with a spark of amusement. He really didn't expect much else, and at least it didn't appear as though their dislike of him would impact the twins overmuch.

 

[Akako]

The Shoukyou matriarch was a control freak. And coming from even Akane, that was saying something. And their family could be a cruel and harsh place, even compared to that of the outside world, when they tried. The talk of mothers and fathers, cousins and elders, were best left done behind closed doors though... with lots and lots of privacy seals so they dropped that particular train of thought and anything dangerously close to it immediately.

Instead, they focused on their brother’s traveling companions.

Not friends.

Tatsuya would have told them, if that was the case.

They reigned in their killing intent, that dark aura that would strike fear in any sane man’s heart. Though it lingered in the air and it might just very well be a constant. Because the truth of the matter is that it was and will always be there, much like Death will always be. The two strangers would only be able to recognize it for what it was now that the source has revealed their taint, the stain that their mere presence leaves in the air.

Slowly but surely, the two take pity and let go of Tatsuya’s shirt and step away. They give the man and woman a curt bow, posture and air changing entirely from the near wild children they had seemed to be into a noble lady and lord. All they needed was the attire and they’d be good to go for a day in court.

“A pleasure, Sheimi-chan. I suppose we must thank you for taking care of our brother in our absence,” Akihiko comments in a spirited manner, a subtle jab at the elder sibling more than anything.

“Hopefully he hasn’t caused you too much trouble? You have to get used to it, if you are family,” Akane adds in, though her tone is dry compared to her twin brother. “All of the male Shoukyou from the main branch seem to have the affinity for trouble.”

“You wound me, sister dearest.”

“Well, you do ruin everything, brother dear.”

The back and forth between the two almost makes them seem like normal siblings for a short while until red eyes fix themselves on to Makoto. He had yet to speak, after all.

“We aren’t overwhelming you, are we, Makoto-kun?” the two ask, voices in sync again, and their auras creep out more than flare this time. It reaches out, like slimy appendages, threatening to latch onto and press on him. No doubt, the level of control is disconcerting. But it was gone, just as quickly as it was came. “We do hope we aren’t overwhelming. Wouldn’t want to scare away a cousin. We just love meeting new cousins. Did we ever tell you that we met a few, brother, while we were... away? In captivity, they mean.

“Cousin Aika found her half-brother, Gin, when we last saw her. And we met a Nanami-hakase too. Isn’t meeting new family wonderful?” They’re like little children. Trying to impress with their stories.

It’s just... weird.

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

Sheimi's mouth quirked upward at one corner, not falsely. Their banter somewhat reminded her of her own with Touko; the demon didn't have any control over her body when Sheimi didn't want her to, but it was still, in some ways, very similar.

Not so much her relationship with her spoiled little brother, mind. That part was...not here. But that was just as well.

The entire family is a very specific kind of bonkers, and I'm pretty sure I have them pegged. Yeah, these two make perfect sense.

Touko stirred in her mind; the reindeer demon tended to nap when they were out as a group due to not wanting to build Sheimi's temper and make her any more likely to pull out a demon cloak. Especially not around Tatsuya; she could maybe trust Makoto at some point in the future, but she knew Tatsuya's type, smooth promises that you couldn't trust and always hiding something, showing a false face to the world.

It's fine, she told Touko.

There's a strange feeling, I thought for a second you needed me. The equivalent of a yawn, in the back of her mind. But if you don't, I'm going back to sleep.

Strange feeling? Certainly there was one there, but Sheimi tried not to concern herself with such things out of battle. Which was hard, walking around with Mr. Power Incontinence, but she managed.

"Good to meet you," she said easily, sketching a light bow of her own. Her status was military-based, not noble, but it was there. "Nearly family, I suppose--but then, Moon is small enough that anyone friendly to your family might as well be."

Belatedly, she realized that made her sound like a retainer, but decided she didn't really care. If they cared about a clarification, they'd ask for one. These two were more tolerable sorts than their brother, so she had no ill will against them.

And if they made it to here on their own, they must be competent, too.

There is something definitely not right with those two.

Oh, it wasn't the conjoined part. Makoto knew about that ahead of time. He wasn't quite sure how Sheimi was managing to ignore their strange auras, unless it was her own bullheaded stubbornness.

...Actually, that sounded about right. He didn't have near that much of his own, but he could certainly try.

Do not worry, Makoto. It is not harmful.

Merely meant to unnerve, he realized, which made it easier to filter.

When he gathered his voice and spoke, it was his usual smooth, even tone, cultured and not particularly deep for a man, but which he'd been told oddly seemed to match his appearance. He'd also been told he ought to take up singing, but he certainly wasn't going to do that now.

"Quite all right, thank you. You merely caught me off-guard." Not entirely true, but they didn't need to know that. And the phoenix was ever-present in his mind, its warmth flooding through him in a sort of vague, encouraging sensation.

Aika and Gin? Where do I know those names from? Then it clicked, right as they spoke the name.

"Ah, Nanami." He nodded. "I met her before, the last time I was here. Mizushima Nanami, yes? Civilian medic, originally based out of Water Country?" They weren't going to one-up him with that sort of information, though Tatsuya was giving him an indecipherable look. "I hope she's doing well, and I'm glad to hear she's met up with her friends again. Well, cousins, now that she's aware of that."

No need to know that I told her such, of course.

Tatsuya kept his expression carefully neutral; at no point had he heard that Makoto had made the acquaintance--discovery?--of a cousin of theirs by himself, previously. One that would be closer to the Mist branch than the Moon one, by the sounds of it.

The names were not at all familiar to him, in fact.

"Is that so?" he asked the twins, with a slight smile and a lilting tone. "But I think we ought to get out of the crowd, for the moment. I've been here long enough to find a few places to sit and have an out of the way discussion that I think we need to have. The three of us, plus Louise," he added, meaning the snake that briefly poked her head out of his pocket to hiss a greeting at the twins, who, as she'd put it before, 'smelled like him, clearly from the same nest.'

"No offense," he added to the other two, "but I would like to speak to them for a bit. You can catch us up at Point...C, I think we called it. All right?"

Makoto traded a glance with Sheimi, who shrugged and made a slightly rude motion toward Tatsuya with her hands. He was in no real mood to run interference between the two of them anyway, so this seemed agreeable to him. Plus, well, they could deal with...this.

"We'll finish picking up supplies and meet you there when we're finished," he agreed, inclining his head toward Tatsuya. "It's doubtful you'll run into trouble, but if you do, we both have our headsets."

"As do I," Tatsuya said cheerily, waving them on. "See you later."

The second the other two disappeared into the crowd, he would lean down and say to the twins, in a serious tone, "With me, then. We really do need to speak about some things."

He would hold out an arm for either or both of them to latch on if they so desired--habit, long since ingrained from childhood--but make it quite clear that either way, they ought to follow him down the maze of streets.

 

[Akako]

Sheimi was friendly enough and it didn’t bother them if Makoto was a bit standoffish. As long as these people knew their place and as long as they treated their brother right, the twins found no reason to truly dislike the two Moon nin. Of course, concepts like loyalty outside of contracts and friendship were fleeting for them. If they were given reason to, if their brother gave the order... they would watch the world burn for him.

For now- “Nearly family is family enough for shinobi without a home,” Akane smiled at Sheimi though the expression falters when the Water Country doc’s whereabouts are brought up. Sister stills and Akihiko grits his teeth for a split second. “Nanami was here, huh? ¿̙̖̘̫͔̖s̬̳̰̘̙̘ṋ͙̠̼̭̞͢ ̖͕̗̹̙͎ǝ͈̩̻̣̦ͅʌ͉ɐ̯ǝ͏̫̰͔̖l̸̖̠̟̖̝̗̹ ҉͕͇n̟̭̲̪ǫ̼̞̲̤͔͕ʎ͓̥̳̹͖͝ ̶͍̯o̟̠̳̱̲͞ͅp ̰̕ʎ͜ɥ̤̦̖̳͕͖͇ʍ ̷̫͚͈͙̟̣̯'ǝ͕̦̞̞̫̭̼u҉̜̰̜̟̩ᴉ̘̘̦͉̙̩͚ɯ̧͉̱̻ɐ̝ͅℲ͙͈̙̟͡ ̣ɹ͖̟̞͡ǝ͉̪͈͈͚͝ʇ͡s̛̼̮̞͉̥͖ᴉ҉̙̩͇Ś̻ ”

But the disturbance is only for a moment and Akane is animated once more. This may be the first time Tatsuya has seen her sister do something like this. But it’s definitely not the first time her twin has seen her behave this way. Certainly, Akihiko still looks perturbed for some reason but puts on his mask. “Nanami’s a good kid,” Brother says with a strained smile and a small nod. If it weren’t for the woman, Akane would be- they would be... Ugh. There was no point in worrying or even thinking about it right now.

It’s easy then to see how quickly their elder brother can commandeer all their attention. His words alone make them focus on him. The plan to have a little lunch with just the three of them sounded good to their ears and Akihiko waved enthusiastically at the fleeing duo. “See you two peeps later!” he calls out as Akane gives a small wave of her own.

Though before they could ask who exactly Louise was, their questions are answered with its appearance.

“She’s beautiful,” Akane is quick to awe and marvel at the serpent.

“Since when did you have a snake, bro?” Akihiko laughs with a shake of his head.

Here they thought they’d have a pet snake before Tatsuya did! But now the two are gushing over the little beauty in their brother’s pocket, asking question about its diet and whether it could speak or not like some shinobi trained animals can. Though they weren’t able to go too far with their cooing when something popped out of their own pocket.

A hand. A severed and reanimated limb, cut off from the wrist up, peeked out from the pocket by Akane’s hip. And, like some sort of fleshy spider, it starts to climb up their shirt and down Akane’s arm. Its’ fingers drum an impatient and erratic rhythm almost as if it was intimidating the other pocket pet. Tatsuya would no doubt remember This Thing, the first ever weapon the two had made in their youth.

Many of their relatives complained about the twins lack of practice in weapons making. But, what they often failed to realize is that the two did in fact make weapons. It wasn’t their fault that they were more interested in using organic material.

“Aww buddy, are you jealous? You’re still our boy... or girl, Double T,” Akihiko snickers, patting the hand on the... hand. “Hope you don’t mind if he joins our little sibling get together too, ei? I’m sure he’d be thrilled to have some finger food,” the boy quickly adds, miming a gunshot towards the air.

Akane simply sighs before holding Tatsuya’s hand.

---

[legend="[b]Out of Character Notes[/b]"]

• Marked for Training
  Words: 585
  Training Date: Feb 20-26

[/legend]

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

Makoto glanced at Sheimi as she grinned slightly, tilting her head in acknowledgement. She really did seem to have taken a liking to the twins. It wasn't in her personality to feel sorry for people, even those in such circumstances, so it seemed like their expressed competence and lack of annoying (to her) auras really was enough to make her okay with them. The fact Tatsuya had seemed annoyed with them at first doubtless didn't hurt.

Though she could hardly have missed the...whatever that was.

It...still wasn't something to worry about, right?

(Why did that side of the family all have to be so weird? Clearly, shinobi villages were just weird places themselves, and he was very glad not to live in one.)

Well...he would just not call attention to it, for now, then. Put it on the backburner, so to speak. That didn't mean he'd forget about it, but he could ignore the weirdness, a bit.

Tatsuya, on the other hand, had acquired a slightly fixed expression, not entirely hiding his worry. Any sign of that...that brokenness he'd seen in them when he'd retrieved them back in Lightning Country was a cause for alarm. Even more, it seemed to be important to get them alone and make sure nothing was too far out of sorts.

Fortunately, that wouldn't be difficult.

"Yeah, we'll get out of here," Sheimi said, unbothered. It would have been hard to miss the strangeness, but it wasn't her concern at all. She grabbed Makoto by the sleeve--not the arm, he hated being touched--and tugged him away. He gave her a half-hearted glare and went with her. In moments, the two least-disturbing members of the group disappeared into the crowd back toward the main part of the market.

"I've had her since before we met up again before, actually," Tatsuya said while he guided the twins in another, less conspicuous direction. "She just didn't show herself before. Some of the people in Moon think she's some kind of spirit, she finds it annoying. Are you in the mood for tempura? Never mind, I doubt you'll refuse it when I'm paying."

Louise flicked her tongue at the air to scent it, a habit for when she was thinking.

"I speak," she said. "I eat meat. You scent like his nestmates, so I do not mind speaking to you."

Tatsuya let her slither up to his shoulder to perch as he led the odd procession down to the stand he'd pegged some weeks earlier as having the best tempura, even though they didn't get quite as much seafood here as he was used to. Vegetables were still fine, though he suspected his present company would disagree on that count.

Oh, for the love of...

Of course they still had the hand. No sight nor sound of any of the twins' retainers in ages, not so much as a peep from any of them nor any communication anyone knew of between them and the twins. Not even a sign of multiple fully-grown, able-bodied, combat-capable adult humans, but this. This they had.

Exasperation would definitely be the emotion they were picking up on.

(Louise, for her part, reared up a bit in surprise, scented the air to ascertain the hand smelt enough like the twins to be a non-threat, and then settled again, doing her best wit her snakelike apathy to pretend to ignore its antics.)

"It's a shame you two are so attached now," Tatsuya settled for quipping dryly to Akane. "I'm sure otherwise I could get us a new brother, cheap. Though you have a spare, I have no such luxury."

They reached the place he'd had in mind, and he followed his usual routine of finding them some place where it was unlikely they'd be overheard. Discussion of the nature he was intent on would likely sound like gibberish to any outsider, and even if he hadn't trusted his teammates to the extent they wouldn't spy they had no means to do so.

And, for the twins, he'd picked a place that had benches rather than chairs. Not that he'd cop to it if asked on the subject.

"We'll start the discussion after we order," he said cheerily after waving a waitress over. "For now though, I am only deferring being annoyed at you for coming halfway across the continent, since it may have been out of your direct control--if I hear you two've done anything else, I reserve the right to change that."

Let it not be said he wasn't a fair man when it came to his little siblings.

 

[Akako]

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Louise,” the sister smiled up at the serpent on their brother’s shoulder.

Of course, the two can’t help but grin at his obvious exasperation. They knew that he wasn’t too fond of This Thing, all things considered. The eldest Shoukyou child had, after all, spent days and weeks agonizing over making his first weapon. Meanwhile, the two had just found this severed limb, played with it for a while before having the idea of turning it into... this.

Suffice to say, most of the clan elders were not amused when they had presented it as their creation. Some were downright horrified at their sealing capabilities to even pull off such a thing considering it had no head, let alone a brain, to be able to act so autonomously.

Whether it was true autonomy or a well programmed drone hidden behind a believable deception had yet to be seen.

And as it saw that the snake wasn’t doing anything to steal its masters from it, it stopped its agitated movements before settling on top of Akane’s head, fingers splayed wide.

“You know we’d never turn down good seafood,” Akihiko laughed as Tatsuya led them down the street. “Especially if it’s your treat.”

“This is, indeed, a fact. Oh, I would kill for some nice and fresh sashimi. Though Akihiko has managed to be on a seafood diet as of late,” Akane hummed, earning a confused look from her twin seeing as it wasn’t quite feasible in a desert village. “Whatever food he sees, he eats,” she continued in a monotone manner, though it was betrayed by the twitch of her lip.

“Ha! Course I am. I gotta feed the two of us, don’t I? And this heat absolutely makes all the fat melt anyway,” he laughs in turn.

“Yes. If only a chainsaw may solve both of our problems, big brother,” she agreed mockingly with a sigh.

The amusement died down a bit, apparent on Akihiko’s face, though he forced himself to keep on smiling. He was sure that she didn’t mean that. She wouldn’t even think of joking about it if he knew what had forced them to be this way. The boy could have told her, really. Admitted to what he and Nanami had done. Helped her fill out the gaps in her memory from their time in captivity. But, as far as he was concerned, the window of opportunity had long passed especially when he had spent their first month back in the land of the living as a barely incoherent, barely lucid mute.

It said a lot of the horrible things they had gone through for it to have reverted the both of them to near primal beings until they had mentally recovered.

Thankfully, the place Tatsuya had chosen had benches instead of the usual single person seats. They were quick to take the one nearest the corner and window and farthest from the other restaurant diners when they took a table too.

“We’ve been behaved, outside of leaving Moon, dearest brother,” Akane smiled as she accepted a menu from the waitress and looked at Tatsuya for permission to order. Meanwhile, Akihiko had no qualms about ordering a jumbo Tori Karaage and an Ebi Bacon Furai for himself. “Anyway, how have you been?”

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

Tatsuya absently ran his finger along Louise's dark purple scales. His exasperation at the hand more ran along the fact that it seemed to mimic Akihiko's general sense of humour, which could be rather trying at times, though it was hard to tell sometimes with something that couldn't speak and thus make terrible puns.

Probably best it couldn't, all told.

"There aren't as many seafood places here as we're used to, no." He shrugged lightly, not wanting to disturb Louise, with just a slight quirk of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "This one isn't bad; it'll do for lunch at least. Especially since the focus of this little outing isn't really lunch."

He didn't do that often anymore--that is, have clandestine conversations under the cover of food. It was mostly unnecessary in Moon, since their family owned a number of restaurants under the strange cover-but-not-cover they employed in their very difficult to follow cold war with the local government. Neither Shiruko sibling who had spoken the phrase to him had been mistaken about the 'idiot politics' of Moon Country.

In fact, probably the last time he had done so had been with Hoshikata, when they had met up in Lightning Country. The last time he'd ever seen his friend alive, in fact.

"You're both terrible, by the way," he said blandly. "Next time you get in a fight, you should try just making some of your jokes. You'll kill them in a matter of seconds."

He affected not to notice the sudden, quick tension in Akihiko's expression. He didn't feel as it did any good to call either of them on serious things; there was no point and it wouldn't solve anything. Besides, he probably had good reason to keep whatever-it-was secret. Despite the airs he put on, Akihiko was no fool.

"Well-behaved, hmm?" Tatsuya said with a glance at Akane. "I'm not sure I entirely believe that. Crab tempura special," he added to the waitress with a flash of one of his charming smiles. This seemed to put her at ease in the face of the odd trio as she collected the menus, with only a slight backward unnerved glance as she departed.

There's a more loaded question than they're likely to realize.

It wasn't as if either of his siblings were any kind of idiot, no; that didn't mean they had his training in politics. They had some--of course they had some--but usually when a Shoukyou encountered a difficult obstacle in the political arena, they could, if they chose not to go the difficult route, simply crush it. That option was open to some circumstances still, but not the ones providing any difficulties.

He drummed his fingers on the flat wooden table idly for a moment, then stopped.

"Well enough, I suppose," he said, letting their likely shenanigans slide--for the moment; he'd attempt to blindside them later. "This is, apparently, a diplomatic mission, but of the strangest sort. I am to understand it's a covert diplomatic mission, in fact, and that we are to come down on Sand's side should anything unusual happen." He shrugged. Mist had never had ill dealings with Sand--or indeed, really any dealings at all. He didn't mind that particular order. "But we were not asked to directly make contact with anyone in authority here. A most unusual circumstance."

He honestly didn't know how much of Moon's politics the twins were aware of, and wasn't inclined to elaborate on them unless asked. There were intricacies he wasn't even fully sure of. And indeed, as the waitress approached and dropped off their water glasses wasn't the time to do it either.

 

[Akako]

The two laughed and grinned at their brother’s exasperation. They knew he was only pretending to be so. And they really were terrible, weren’t they? In some ways more than most. “You could say our jokes are to die for,” Akihiko barked.

But stopped when the waitress had forgotten to take Akane’s order before leaving. Sister withered at that, a slight scowl on her face and brother was ready to make a fuss over it. He was ready to call the waitress back, complain to her, maybe complain to management. But she merely shook her head with a small sigh. “It’s alright. I’m... really not hungry,” she reassured them with a strained smile.

Really, there was no point in her eating, as long as one of them had taken in sustenance. Most of the time, eating and drinking was turning out into a novelty for her so that she could experience taste. Yet there were days when she felt dead and empty inside and she saw no point in eating because everything that touched her lips tasted like ash and dust. Or point in much of anything really. Even if she did feel like eating, she could never feel the satisfaction of being full. It wasn’t her innards.

There were times that at Akihiko’s side, she feels like a ghost. She feels like something is missing. She just felt so tired. Maybe its because they’ve been too close. Yes, they grew up a unit, closer than even the usual brother and sister. But they’d been able to have their own identities even then. That... they couldn’t have that now. It was them, they, the twins, Akane and Akihiko. Never Akane or Akihiko. It was suffocating.

Akihiko didn’t look pleased at all at this. She was supposed to be the responsible twin. Not him! “You still should eat, sister,” he pressed out sternly.

“You ordered enough to sustain the both of us, Akihiko. I’m fine,” she replied just as firmly before fixing her gaze back on their elder brother, ignoring the heated look from her twin. “As you were saying, Tatsuya-niisan? That truly is a strange set of conditions for a diplomatic mission. Is there anything we should be aware of? Actions that we must partake in or avoid in order to not disrupt you with your objective? You know we’d assist you with anything you ask of us.”

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

"Sometimes you two make me wish I was an only child," Tatsuya said with an eyeroll. Not that that ever happened in their family; three children per set of parents was normal.

He pursed his lips when the waitress--no doubt trying to get away from the sources of all the strange auras and emotions that hit her--ignored Akane. Perhaps she hadn't even realized there was another person there, perhaps she just wanted to leave. It was still not very good. But he could deal with it in more subtle and effective a way than drawing overt attention to it as Akihiko had, the next time the woman showed up.

(Not terrible at subtlety, either of them, but perhaps not the best at determining when to use it. In Tatsuya's mind, subtlety was a default reaction to most things.)

"Not a whole lot, honestly--unless the two of you have gone a sudden shift of personality, I doubt you'll be disruptive. And that doesn't seem like it happened, which is in some ways not related to the mission regrettable." His repeated eyeroll indicated clearly what he meant by that, and that he wasn't really being serious. "You're not to initiate hostilities against any law-abiding Sand nin, not that I expect you would anyway. Try and stay on the good side of any you meet. If you have the opportunity to ingratiate yourselves to anyone in authority in Sand, go ahead and do so; I'm presuming even out of practice you're still good at that. Well, Akane is, anyway," he added as an afterthought, reaching across the table to try to playfully ruffle Akihiko's hair.

He was debating getting into a bit more depth regarding his suspicions for the mission--and possibly, his teammates--when their waitress busted past on her way back to the kitchen from some other table.

It was of practically no effort at all for a Taijutsu specialist like Tatsuya to reach out and neatly snag her arm, gently but firmly enough so that she wasn't too badly upset. Physically, anyway.

"Excuse me," he said pleasantly, with his usual 'public face' smile, "but my sister is ready to order now. If you would?"

He glanced across the table at Akane and raised a single eyebrow, as if warning her that not doing so also wasn't an option, regardless of whatever byplay she and Akihiko had had previously.

Big brother card, played.

 

[Shiruko Makoto]

[Inactive left, I guess?]