Studying, whoo! [Classic Kumo]

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Several days a week, and several hours a day, Kitsune would spend time at the library learning the Classical variant of the old language. Of course, as she didn’t technically have permission to actually learn it, she had to do it in secrecy. Fortunately for her, she was easily able to keep her activities concealed by changing locations every half hour or so, and glaring at people that came too close, with her Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Not that she’d hurt any of them, but it did serve as a brilliant deterrent to those that’d socialize or try to find out what she was doing.

Lets just hope Masao gets the letter I sent him by courier three hours ago. He should be here any minute. she thought to herself. Yup. She had sent a short letter to Masao, asking him to get his behind over to the library and help her out with something. She hadn’t said what, and she hadn’t said why. Hopefully Masao would remember the little incident they had earlier in the year where he had become stuck in the body of a woman, and had more or less become a raging lesbian. If he had any form of sense, he’d be on his way any minute.

Kitsune looked up from her books, and looked around before changing locations yet again, simply by gathering the books and warping off to another location in the library. Hopefully he’ll be able to find me. Then again, he’s a ninja, and the Sennin of the Main Branch. she thought and nodded If he can’t find me, he’s getting too old for his job. she decided and giggled lightly at the thought. Masao? Too old for his job? Hah! Not likely. He was getting rather grumpy on his older days, which Kitsune didn’t get at all. Come on, his body had been restored to peak physical performance, he was free from his lung cancer, what wasn’t awesome about that?

The books in front of her had all the symbols and letters of Ancient Kumo’s classic variant, and one of them even described the major differences between Vulgar and Classic. Fortunately, it was all pretty easy to grasp thanks to Kitsune’s logical mind. To her, there wasn’t much difference between the two except the way the words were said, and the way they were written. Of course, she had already prepared a scroll with text for Masao to see. So he could judge the work she had accomplished already.

Τα τριαντάφυλλα είναι κόκκινα, οι βιολέτες είναι μπλε, η ζάχαρη είναι γλυκιά, αχ βίδα αυτή, δεν είμαι καλός στην ποίηση. Μια φορά κι έναν καιρό, υπήρχε ένα χωριό στα βουνά, είχε αποκλειστεί από χίπις και τρεις στρατιωτικές βαρόνους του. Μπα, αυτό δεν θα λειτουργήσει καλά ... Πάρα πολύ κοντά στην πραγματικότητα, και ότι ποτέ δεν θα λειτουργήσει σωστά ... Πριν από πολύ καιρό, σε έναν γαλαξία μακριά. Περιμένετε όχι. Θα καταλήξετε ακριβώς αποκαλύπτοντας μέλλον σχηματικές αναπαραστάσεις και σχεδιαγράμματα μου. Αυτό δεν θα κάνει ... Αχ, βίδα.

[spoilername="Translation"]

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, ah screw this, I’m no good at poetry. Once upon a time, there was a village in the mountains, it was ruled by a hippy and his three military kingpins. Nah, this won’t work out well… Too close to reality, and that’ll never work out right… A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away. Wait no. I’ll just end up revealing my future schematics and blueprints. That won’t do… Ah, screw it.

[/spoilername]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Takaki Masao wanted his old job back. No, he had not been demoted or removed from his position as Main Branch Sennin – the problem was actually the opposite. With the prolonged absence of the Raikage of Kumogakure on a mission to Port Cirrus (damn, the poor liked to eat a LOT), Masao had been tasked with the allegedly enviable position of Acting Raikage. “Allegedly” was exactly that – it was a position that sounded good on paper and stiffened the erections of every power-hungry twerp in the village, but in reality, it meant that his workload had just doubled and that his pay had not.

And now Kitsune wants me to help her out with Shinbatsu-knows-what, he grimaced, reading the letter she had sent to him. Shinrya Kitsune was an old friend and had helped him during the darkest periods of his life, but he’d be damned if she weren’t terribly demanding at times, not to mention that the word “Ethics” had virtually no meaning to her. He shook his head slowly. Whatever she wanted, there was no point in ignoring or delaying it. The sooner she was satisfied, the sooner she could go back to being a smelly NEET (just how she liked it) and he could go back to ruling the village with an iron fist or something.

He arrived at the library and inquired about her. Although the librarians did not recognize her name immediately, they did mention a busty redhead who glared daggers at anyone who dared to look in her direction. He thanked them and went to look in the stacks.

Of course, the games never ended with Kitsune. Rather than simply greeting him like a good girl, she had of course obviously warped somewhere else just to screw with him. Godrotting shinobi and their godrotting games. Why can’t anything be straightforward?! He sighed and placed his ear to the ground, utilizing some unexplainable fuckery involving his Rinnegan to trace her. Those knockers had their own gravitational pull, too…

Aha.

He materialized silently out of a cloud of black chakra-dust behind her. As he peered over her shoulder, he laid eyes on what she was doing. As he had suspected, she was here attempting to learn the basics of the Ancient language of the village. The tongue of the First Men, as it was called. Funny, he didn’t really recall her ever being granted permission to study it, but then again, she was one of the few people in the village who actually deserved to in the first place. He started to read her composition. If she was anywhere as good at poetry as she was at medicine and chemistry, this would be a pleasure to…

“Kitsune. What is this…this garbage? Are you fucking with me?!” he growled.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

At Masao’s outburst, Kitsune turned around in her seat and raised an eyebrow at the man. ”Considering neither of us are naked, and that this is a library…” she started and gave him a sly smile ”No. I’m not fucking with you Masao. I am, on the other hand, trying to learn this language. I’m not a poet, I’m not a scribe. I’m a scientist. Would you prefer then, that I write up every single chemical compound that went into fixing your body?” she finished with a tone that more or less said ‘I fixed you. I can ruin you just as easily.’

Kitsune stood up and turned to face Masao, and looked him straight in the eyes. ”As acting Raikage, I’m assuming you’ve got authority to release the proper books and materials for me to read, correct? If so, then allow it. Give me something to translate. That way we’ll have something new in the library, and I’ll learn a language that’s my birthright as a citizen of Kumogakure, and as a noble of Kaminari no Kuni.” she said to him and moved a chair out before sitting Masao down in it. ”And what’s with the grumpiness Masao-chan?” she asked him with a teasing grin. ”Sure, your workload is doubled. Your pay isn’t. Your right hand-man Natsu-san is rather absent, and your daughter is dating one of your assassins. On the plus side… Your body is still at its peak, you’re able to pretty much do as you please, and you’ve got me to take care of you.”

 

[Takaki Saeko]

“You’ve always excelled at being flippant,” he sighed, shaking his head in response to her comments. “And being a scientist is no excuse for being a lazy writer. At least when you drugged me without my consent, you obviously put a lot of effort and passion into coming up with that compound, didn’t you?”

”As acting Raikage, I’m assuming you’ve got authority to release the proper books and materials for me to read, correct? If so, then allow it. Give me something to translate. That way we’ll have something new in the library, and I’ll learn a language that’s my birthright as a citizen of Kumogakure, and as a noble of Kaminari no Kuni,” she said, her eyes flashing with resolve. Masao raised an eyebrow at her sudden forcefulness.

“You’ve pretty much outlined every reason for me to be grumpy. And right now you aren’t taking good care of me. Not when you abuse a language like you’re doing,” he sighed. “Look, Kitsune-chan… I have no objection to giving you access to the scrolls. In fact, you’re one of the few people who should actually be granted access to it, unlike some others who have. But you need to know this: languages are like instruments – they want to sound beautiful. When they’re mishandled or abused, they feel pain. So if you’re going to learn how to speak, and especially write them, you need to treat them with respect. And also, love.

“Ancient Kumo is a delicate, sensitive language that can express the deepest sorrow and the most ecstatic elation. It was actually sung, not spoken, when it was first created. It is a tongue that connects most deeply with the soul, more so than even the Runic of the ancient Sand, or the R’lyeh of the Mist,” he said, rising from his chair to search the bookshelves for a particular text. Finding it, he took out a surprisingly thin text bound in heavy cloth. Gingerly, he opened it for her and set it on the desk. “This is a poem called ‘The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter’. This is the original text, and next to it, a translation by Nigami Eimin.”

Ενώ τα μαλλιά μου ήταν ακόμα κόβονται ίσια μέτωπό μου
Έπαιξα για την μπροστινή πύλη, τραβώντας τα λουλούδια.
Ήρθες από μπαμπού ξυλοπόδαρα, παίζοντας άλογο,
Μπορείτε περπάτησαν περίπου το κάθισμά μου, παίζοντας με μπλε δαμάσκηνα.
Και πήγαμε για τις συνθήκες διαβίωσης στο χωριό Κοκαη
Δύο μικροί άνθρωποι, χωρίς αντιπάθεια ή υποψία.

Στα δεκατέσσερα μου παντρεύτηκε Κύριέ μου σας.
Ποτέ δεν γέλασε, είναι ντροπαλός.
Μειώνοντας το κεφάλι μου, κοίταξα τον τοίχο.
Καλείται να, χίλιες φορές, ποτέ δεν κοίταξε πίσω.

Σε δεκαπέντε Σταμάτησα συνοφρύωμα
Θέλησα σκόνη μου να αναμειγνύονται με τα δικά σας
Πάντα και για πάντα και για πάντα.
Γιατί θα πρέπει να ανεβείτε στο βλέμμα έξω?

Στα δεκαέξι θα αναχωρήσει,
Μπορείτε πήγε σε πολύ Kυ-το-γιεν, δίπλα στον ποταμό δινών στροβιλίζονται,
Και θα έχουν περάσει πέντε μήνες.
Οι πίθηκοι κάνουν θλιμμένος γενικά θόρυβο.

Θα σέρνεται στα πόδια σας όταν βγήκε.
Με την πύλη τώρα, τα βρύα αυξάνεται, τα διάφορα βρύα,
Πάρα πολύ βαθιά για να καταργήσετε τους μακριά!
Τα φύλλα πέφτουν νωρίς το φθινόπωρο, στην αιολική ενέργεια.
Τα ζεύγη πεταλούδες είναι ήδη κίτρινη με τον Αύγουστο
Πάνω στο γρασίδι στη Δύση κήπο;
Θα μου κάνει κακό. Μεγαλώνω.
Εάν σας έρχονται κάτω από τα στενά του ποταμού
Παρακαλώ επιτρέψτε μου να γνωρίζουν εκ των προτέρων,
Και θα βγει για να σας γνωρίσουμε
Όσον αφορά Κο-Θου-Σα

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-Fu-Sa.

-By Rihaku, Translated by Nigami Eimin, Raik.

“Eimin did perhaps the most well-known job translating this poem, however it still has some room for improvement. But before you go about tinkering with this, though, I want you to tell me what the poem actually means. What it’s actually saying. Do you think you can do that?”

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune smirked ”Well. Yeah. Comes with a youthful attitude. And you’re right, I did put a lot of effort into it. Why do you think I decided to use it on you, and not someone else?” she asked him and smiles ”And, well, I’ve been waiting for a promotion for almost four years now. That’s a pretty good reason for me to be grumpy. But do you see me being grumpy? Nope. I’m as happy as always. If you don’t keep positive, or at the very least neutral about things, you end up being a pessimistic old person that’s giving up on life. Remind you of something?” she finalized.

She listened closely to his explanation about the language, nodded and mhmm’d where appropriate, and took a few notes as he spoke. Then, when Masao unwrapped the texts from their cloth, she looked closely, even detecting faint traces of chakra imprinted onto the paper. ”Y’know. The letters themselves, on the original, have a faint chakra echo. I see, quite literally so, what you meant by the language connecting with the soul.” she commented and read the translation three times before answering Masao’s final question. ”It’s about love. Lost love. As far as I can tell, it’s the 16-year old wife that’s written it to her travelling river merchant husband. She started shy and withdrawn, and eventually changed for the better.”

After a short breath, Kitsune continued her analysis of the poem Masao had given her: ”In give months she hasn’t heard from him, and considering the age of the poem, that’d have been before any significant forms of long-range communication, so sending him a letter would likely take several months. Thus she’s got no way of knowing if he’s alive or not, and her heart is aching because she misses him.” Kitsune finalized and sighed. ”A love-story if I’ve ever seen one. Even if it’s a sad one. However, I don’t quite see what could be improved on from the translation. Then again, I don’t have the same kind of relationship with the language that Eimin did. Nor do I have the same kinds of tools that he must’ve had.”

 

[Takaki Saeko]

He did not respond to her retort. After all, she was merely waiting on an overdue promotion from an evil bastard of a boss. Meanwhile, Masao’s wife was dead of suicide, and the man responsible was still on the run and in possession of a rogue nuclear bomb – the Sennin had every reason to be pessimistic.

He nodded in approval of Kitsune’s interpretation. It was far better than what candidates usually said about the poem, which was typically something along the lines of: “I dunno, this bitch gone full yandere cuz her baby-daddy flew the coop, and she won’t stop calling his cellphone and texting him and shit.”

“…however, I don’t quite see what could be improved on from the translation. Then again, I don’t have the same kind of relationship with the language that Eimin did. Nor do I have the same kinds of tools that he must’ve had,” pouted Kitsune.

“And that’s where you’re wrong again Kitsune-chan. Seriously, if you think Eimin’s translation is the cream of the crop you have bad taste indeed. He was a dabbler and a ditherer. A dilettante who enjoyed these things on the most superficial level possible, and probably translated this in five minutes so he could score some pussy,” snorted Masao. “No, it has some flaws in it, and I will have you help me correct them.

“Now, if I were revising the first stanza, I’d change it to…

I was but a girl with shorn hair
Pulling flowers at the gates of my home
When you came by, playing at courtship
And leaving gifts of Blue Plums at my seat.
We were too young for more, but
Became childhood friends in the Village of Chokan.

“See? I think it flows easier on the tongue, and gives you more of an idea of the setting of this romance. In this case, the childhood friend actually wins in the end. Now, the next stanza is essentially about her being really Tsun after their parents arranged their marriage. I want to see your take on it.”

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune had to stifle a laugh. Doing translation work to get laid? Joke of the year material, right there. ”Now you’re just being pessimistic again Masao-kun. Lighten up, or I’ll make you lighten up.” she said, with just the subtlest hint of a thinly veiled threat hidden in her words. Of course, they both knew that Masao had better combat skills than Kitsune had, but she had the advantage of being able to warp around at will. But if Masao kept being so negative, she’d have to do something about it before she could focus properly on the documents in front of her again.

”Okay. How about this then?” Kitsune said and cleared her throat before continuing ”At fourteen I married you, my lord. I never laughed, being shy. Lowering my head, I looked away. You called a thousand times, but I never looked back.” Sure it was merely cosmetic and a hack job, but Kitsune wasn’t a poet, nor a linguist. But it did seem to flow a little better, or maybe Kitsune just imagined it. She definitely wasn’t a fan of having to do all this translation work on a poem, it felt too much like the tutoring she had gotten as a kid forty years prior to present time. And she still hated it.

She looked at Masao, trying to gauge his reaction ”Are we going to try and reformulate the entirety of the poem, or just the first few bits? Because, to be honest, my wordsmithing skills aren’t strong enough to create suitable prose for this sad little story.”

 

[Takaki Saeko]

"Kitsune, for such a smart mednin, you're surprisingly bad at composition," he sighed. "You realize, of course, that Ancient Kumo is a language intended for poetry, and not for attempting to metaphysically game your opponents in shinobi legal proceedings, right? I feel like that's all anyone tries to learn it for these days. Regardless, your translation was not as terrible as some others I've seen, even if it was mostly cosmetic in nature and would never stand against real scrutiny from the dissertation committee at Lightning National University. While I cannot respect your taste in aesthetics, I do respect your willingness to listen and the effort put forth.

"Keep practicing writing and speaking the language. Up to ten hours a day is the minimum recommended time, but I realize that means you'd become a NEET if that actually happened. Nevertheless, effort does pay off, and you will become a respectable woman. I will make sure of it. I will teach you," he said, making a fist in the air.

"For now, however, you may take a break. I expect you to be practicing again whenever I see you, though."

[Ancient/Classic Kumo granted, dismissed]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

”You’re welcome to drop by the mansion at any time Masao-kun~” she said with a smile as he made a fist in the air. ”You might be right in regards to the University. But fortunately, I’m still a newbie to the flow of the language. But I’d like to take you up on your offer of teaching me~” she finished with a sly smirk as she got out of her chair. ”Tell me, Masao-kun~ Have you given any thought to remarrying at all?” she asked him and let her right hand run up Masao’s arm, just to get a reaction out of him.

Hopefully Masao would give a non-grumpy reaction, and perhaps even a sad smile. It had been some time since Rin had died after all. Hopefully her death hadn’t broken him completely. It’d be a sad day, the day Masao broke down completely, both a great loss for the village, but also a great loss to anyone that knew him. ”Do you even have any interest in women anymore, Masao-kun?” she would ask in her best innocent voice with those innocent-looking purple eyes, as if she wasn’t up to anything at all. Especially not trying to coax information out of Masao by using her body as a tool for the job.

[Great fun was had. Imma go log it now.]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

“Remarrying? No,” he said, trying to disregard the pleasurable feeling of contact from her. Objectively, he knew what she was doing: trying to provoke him with flirtatiousness. And as a woman with probably more prior lovers than even Kagetsu Kiyo, she was very experienced and skilled indeed. Men turned to putty in her hands – all except Masao, of course. Even when they had been imprisoned together with no hope of return to Kumogakure, he had not done more than embrace her in solidarity. Then again, at the time he had not known of Rin’s ultimate fate, nor was he in an arguably right state of mind. “It’s…it’s too late for me,” he said, shaking his head and looking away.

”Do you even have any interest in women anymore, Masao-kun?”she asked, continuing to provoke him. He sighed softly – it would have been a lie to tell her “no.” After all, he was still a man, and still moved by the same desires as any human male. But he was no longer the handsome young academy graduate who had flirted with every girl in the village and kept a willing woman in every port. He was a Sennin now, and one of the oldest shinobi in the village. A respected elder statesman could not go around debasing himself and staining the honor of his station by groping at the bottoms of young kunoichi. How would women like Hikari respect him if he were known as some lecher about town? No, such things in life were forever closed to him. Now, he sublimated those desires into hatred and his pursuit of the man who had taken Rin from him…

“Of course I do, Kitsune,” he said softly. “Of course I do. But I’m okay.”