Ending the Silence

[Ikara]

The storm clouds rumbled on the horizon; it was a rare site in Konoha to see rain.
A splash fell on Ikara's cheek, tracing her pale skin like a tear. Maybe it was a tear, she didn't know; it had been so long since she had last cried she had forgotten what it felt like.
She was desperate to cry a river, let out all the hurt and frustration she locked up inside. But her tears had dried up long ago.

"I need to snap out of this..." She muttered to herself, sighing with contentment as another, much colder, raindrop hit her on the forehead this time.

She pulled her hair back into a small ponytail at the back of the head to avoid the frizzyness that would settle after the storm was over.

She had never felt so alone in all her life as she stood at the streetside in the pouring rain; everyone taking shelter in their homes with family and friends. She leaned against a wall. Maybe it was about time she tried to make some friends.

Her ninja days were over so she didn't even have battles to keep her mind preoccupied.
She pulled up the collar on her jacket to try and shield some part of her face from the cold winds.
But who would want to be friends with her? First impressions were everything and humanity was a race that judged purely on looks at first. Scars on her hands and arms, a bloody bandage across one eye and a constant look of dejection and cold-heartedness. No, she certainly didn't look like the kind of person anyone but murderers and perverts would want to get involved with.

Looking around for any signs of life, Ikara sighed and scuffled along the road, heading back to her hotel room. At least there she could watch TV or something; it was a life she would just have to get used to

[Kira]

((OOC: Hi Ikara, hope you don't mind me joining ^-^ ))

Kira looked outside, only to see it start raining.
Her face broke into a grin as she rushed out the door, not bothering to put on a jacket.
It had been sunny previously, so she had been wearing a pair of long, black pants and a tank-top, and her arm with the tattoos, hidden under tightly tied wrappings.

Now that it was raining, she stayed in those clothes. Since it was so rare to see rain in Konoha, every chance she had, Kira would play in the rain.
She liked the cool sensation she felt from the liquid and thrived in it. As she approached the streets, she slowed down and started walking calmly, like she was just wandering around in the rain.

It had always been a habit of her's to be emotionless in public and around strangers, yet happy around her friends. To outsiders,she seemed lonely and dark but dangerous, with empty grey-ish eyes.
Kira let her long hair out of its ponytail and felt the rain turn her once dry silky hair, into slightly curly, wet strands.
The feeling of the cool liquid running along her skin made Kira feel relaxed. Her hair now hung some-what limply from her head and cascading around her shoulders and around her face, she was already pale, but the rain seemed to emphasize her skin tone.

Kira noticed that everyone seemed to have taken shelter in their homes, but ignored them and stayed in the rain, despite what people would've started saying about her.

Soon enough, something caught her eye. She noticed another girl that seemed to be heading in the direction of the hotel, looking a bit sad and lonely. Kira wanted to become friends with this stranger who seemed to hold a lot of pain in her heart, and some scars that seemed to make the girl look tougher because Kira was curious about who this girl was. Kira at first though about just ignoring her child-ish felings, seeing as this stranger could be a possible threat, but her emotions got the better of her as she ran towards the direction of the girl, calling out, "Wait!"

[Ikara]

no problemo ^_^

Ikara's ears pricked up. Someone was calling in the distance. Figuring it was unlikely to be aimed at her, the dejected kunoichi continued walking.

The call got closer. Ikara stopped in her tracks, raindrops splashing down her forehead, her hair saturated and flicked out in its short ponytail.
Slowly and cautiously she turned, clenching a fist just in case.

A girl was running towards her. She didn't look familiar. In fact, Ikara swore she had never seen her before despite the long periods she would spend in the Village.

Not saying a word, Ikara continued to watch the girl approach her.

[Kira]

Kira finally caught up to the girl and panted a bit from the run, but recovered quickly and smiled.

She thought to herself, "I swear this'll be the last time I become friendly with a stranger instead of using my emotionless mask!" Kira had promised herself many times already to keep up her mask, but she slipped once or twice, like this time, disappointing herself on those times, because she wasn't able to keep her word.

"Hi! I was wondering if you would like to perhaps hang out with me for a bit? I feel some-what lonely, staying out in the rain alone, so if you'd like to, maybe we can become friends. By the way, I'm Kira!" she said in a friendly tone, the smile still plastered to her face, but it was a small smile.

She was lying about being lonely while watching the rain, because she always stayed in the rain, by herself, but never felt lonely, she was fine with or without guests, but most of the time, she liked to be alone. Kira made an exception for this time.

She put up her hands to show she wasn't holding anything dangerous and meant no harm to the stranger.

Even though Kira was always at the village, she never exactly took the time to ever get to know anyone, so there was a chance that she could've passed by this girl, without ever taking the time to talk to her.

[Ikara]

Ikara continued to watch the girl cautiously, even as she raised her hands as a gesture that she came in peace.
She figured it was the lousy weather that had put her in a foul mood.

"Can i help you?" She glared at her with an icy blue eye.

The minute the words left her mouth, Ikara regretted them. The girl was only trying to be nice and as usual, she was doing her best to make sure she remained isolated for the rest of her life.

With a sigh, she admitted defeat.
"Sorry for snapping, this weather always puts me in a lousy mood as im used to the intense heats of the desert...." She forced an apology grudgingly.

The girl had asked to be friends with her without even knowing her. This confused Ikara a lot. No one could possibly be so naive and friendly, especially in a ninja village. But then again, Ikara had only encountered people of a certain personality and temperament so perhaps this was how the ordinary human mind worked.

"Im Ikara...." She forced a smiled, trying to be just as friendly; it truly was painful

[Kira]

Kira smiled and replied "Its okay...the rain puts a lot of people in bad moods...it puts me in a happy mood though..."

She noticed that Ikara forced a smile and as if reading her mind, Kira replied "You don't have to force a smile..."

Kira could tell from experience that it was a forced smile, and it seemed as if Ikara was also a ninja, and Kira knew that a ninja would've never acted quite so friendly to another, and possibly so naive, so she figured Ikara was probably suspecting something. She was a ninja, herself, and would've probably acted the same way, or been even colder.

Kira wasn't exactly being naive, her guard was up, and she wasn't planning on being easily tricked, yet she wasn't being exactly nice.
Ikara, meeting Kira for the first time, probably thought that Kira was naturally this nice with everyone, but truth be told, Kira usually acted colder to everyone other than her friends.

A few times, she had let her cold mask slip, revealing a nice, but easily-angered girl who couldn't trust easily...it was how she made her closest friends.

Kira knew that her mask was starting to slip right now, but she didn't feel alarmed because she could defend herself, and she wanted to become friends with Ikara, seeing as how she looked sad and lonely earlier. But her friendship wasn't out of pity, it was because Kira had felt a bit lonely after her parents' deaths, and she didn't want pity, which she figured Ikara would not want either, mostly, she wanted someone to be there for her, and there came her friends, they were always there to catch her when she fell, and she felt the Ikara also needed someone to be there for her, so she wanted to be that person, seeming as no one else even dared to approach Ikara.

Whether it was from the way Ikara looked, or the aura she seemed to give off, no one should judge other's by outer looks.

The human society just seemed to judge everyone by there way they looked outside, never trying to find the person inside, yet they, themselves, wouldn't want to be treated in such a manner, yet they treated others that seemed different in an un-friendly manner.

Kira added "I'm not as naive or nice as you may think I am right now...I have many flaws in my personality...my offer of friendship isn't out of pity for you...its okay if you aren't a friendly person, don't worry about having to be friendly towards me, because I've been treated worse...just act like yourself and let your true colors shine..." Kira paused to smile a bit. She made sure not to reveal any personnel information that could later be used against her.

She always preferred to have someone show their true personality, rather than someone who hid it behind a false smile.

[Ikara]

Ikara was shocked. Normally she was a good judge of character but apparently, she had gotten this girl all wrong.

"Don't ever, ever ask to see the real me...." She glared, the faux smile on her face replaced by a look of cold malice.
"Not if you value your existence as a shinobi...."

She realised realised that if she was to engage in a battle with this girl, she'd likely lose having lost both her bloodline abilities and the sight in one eye. It was a large price to pay to ensure the Hidden Time didn't grow more powerful but one nonetheless she had been proud to pay as a Suna shinobi.

"Now....What's the real reason for talking to me? Who sent you? Why?" Ikara revealed the cold, spiteful part of her personality that she hadn't managed to free herself from. At least now though, she had control over when it appeared.

[Kira]

Kira got slightly ticked off and wondered what Ikara what talking about.
She had absolutely no control over when her anger came, but she was easily annoyed, making it seem like she was a mean person.

Kira, feeling that she should take a few extra precautions, in case Ikara were to attack, kept her hand near her kunai pouch.

She wasn't sure what happened, but she knew that when she said Ikara didn't have to act happy, she was suddenly thought of as a spy. Kira had no clue why she being considered a spy but felt that she needed to ask.
"What are you talking about? I work for no one and I'm talking to you because I want to become friends with you." Kira stated bluntly, before nearly punching herself for saying that she wanted to become friends with Ikara.

For a kunoichi to show feelings, especially feelings of wanting to befriend someone, was absolutely pitiful.

Kira felt ashamed, knowing that she had become weaker than when she started out her life... "Mother and Father are probably ashamed of me right this minute...I promised them I would become stronger, but I've only grown weaker..." she scowled at herself, feeling like she would've been better off if she had just stuck to looking emotionless in public and acting cold towards strangers.

She felt more guilt added onto her conscience as she thought of how she was supposed to have acted emotionless. It was a vow she made to herself, that she had broken once again.

Part of Kira still felt like it wanted to befriend Ikara, but another part of her felt hatred growing deep inside....but the hatred was because she couldn't keep her word...she had shamed her parents.

In appearances, it seemed as if Kira suddenly realized something and became cold and emotionless, yet again.
Kira had always hated the fact that she couldn't control her emotions, but the adding guilt was starting to make her feel worse. It suddenly seemed as if realization finally came into her life and it wasn't pretty.

"Well did I expect my life to be perfect? I knew that being friendly would one day get me into a mess..." she continued to put herself down mentally while she also grew more curious about what Ikara was talking about.

She asked the question in a whispering voice, "What are you talking about?"

[Ikara]

"Well....were you or were you not sent here to infiltrate me and try and pry information out of me?" Her voice adament.
"But i must say, you truly are a shamble of an espionage ninja. Didn't your sensei teach you to study your target in depth before approaching so as to learn how best to approach them?" She glared.

Ikara bit her tongue before going any further; if she were to battle the girl now, she would surely lose. She had none of her weapons and she wasn't wearing the proper attire for ease of movement.
Then again, the girl could be telling the truth and just simply be looking for a companion.
Ikara chuckled at how naive her thoughts were; there was no such thing as a person who would offer unconditional warmth; behind every smile was a persons true ambiguous feelings. The friendliness they showed to others was just a mask to hide the ambiguity

[Kira]

Kira scowled slightly at the thought of her sensei. Her sensei, was a girl, not too old, but a missing-nin, and she made Kira train mercilessly when she came to the village. Of course, her sensei had to sneak into the village and then they had to train in a private spot.

Kira sometimes wondered what made her sensei so cold, but knew better than to ask. Of course, her sensei could show a tiny bit of kindness at times, but all the same, they was never anyone to really teach her about life.

Her dad was killed when she wasn't too old, and after that, her mom started ignoring her, until eventually, she just committed suicide, leaving a lonely, little girl, who would have to fend for herself when the impact of the ninja life came crashing down upon her.

She was never exactly looking for friends, she would just let her mask slip once in a while, and she would make friends with that person, or someone would confront her first, and then after many years, Kira would trust the person, but not much...she trusted no one fully, no matter how long she had known them, because truth be told, you could never let your guard down...

"I am not here to information out of you..." Kira started, "I just know what it feels like to have to fake your feelings, and no one is ever truly happy doing that...when I told you that, I was just letting you know that you didn't have to pretend to be nice around me, but I you can fake it if you want...it's your decision."

Kira knew what it felt like to have to act, using fake feelings, because she did it sometimes. It would've been better to just be your true self, because eventually, your true feelings will slowly bottle up inside you and explode out, revealing you true nature...

She knew that no one could offer ever-lasting kindness of unconditional love, because no such person existed in the world.

All Kira wanted to do was seem friendly, and spread a little kindness because the world needed more of it, yet she still thrived on the fights she got into.

"I must seem so naive right now..." Kira told herself. "I'm sorry..." she suddenly apologized. "I must seem quite naive to you right now, or just straight out stupid..." Kira felt no need to go on, and was willing to leave if that was what Ikara wanted. It seemed like today, the rain wasn't anything lucky...

((OOC: lol, its like everytime I reply, the posts just keep getting longer and longer...apparently, now-a-days, I post long replies/intros, but it's good because I'm obeying the 60 word rule, right? XD ))

[Ikara]

[ooc: kudos on the long posts ^___^ *gives Karma*]

Ikara bit her tongue yet again; the moment called for a sarky comment but she couldn't provoke the girl.
She kept silent and folded her arms, staring blankly at the girl. The rain battered her forehead.
She was about to turn and walk away from the girl when she heard a familiar voice call to her


"Ikara...." A cold voice whispered. Teorau stepped out from an alley, the grey and blacked hood of his jumper cloaked his face in darkness, his hazel eyes standing out from his white skin.
He brushed a few strands of light, almost white, grey hair behind his ear and into the hood. The rain drops battered his body but he remained completely composed.

"Who are you..." His warm, deceiving eyes darted over at Kira. He placed a hand on his hip, the grey and black of his jumper cloaking it and trailing past his fingers, his thumb poking through a deliberately made hole.


"Leave her...." Ikara swung a hand round and placed it on Teorau's chest
"She means you no harm....just go; i'll be back soon,"

"So the devil has a heart...." His voice still bore no hint of emotion.
"Very well, as you wish..." He bowed to her and turned away,
"Your brother wishes to see you," He added before waling away

[Kira]

((OOC: Yay! Thanks Ikara ^-^ ))

Kira stared at Ikara and the guy that just arrived, with confusion written all over her face.

She was tempted to ask questions, but just couldn't seem to speak anymore, because she was partially afraid of angering Ikara any more. Normally, she was the one with a bad temper, which had made others believe she was mean, but her friends knew the simple truth: she was just easily angered.

It seemed that on rainy days, she just couldn't seem to get angry as easily. it was like the rain put out the flame of anger in her heart.

As much as Kira would've liked to say more, the words got stuck in her throat.

She sighed audibly to herself, feeling a bit sad that she had been unable to make a new friend.

By now, Kira had been feeling naive for thinking that she could make friends so easily, but she also felt that it may have been because she had became friends with the group she had now, easily.

Then of course, she knew that they had at least some kind of kindness left in their hearts, but now she was doubting whether becoming friends with Ikara would be that simple...

Kira was glad that her friend, Miki hadn't been here, because Miki had a temper when it came to people insulting her friends or being a bit impolite in any way, but when it came to she, herself, being that target, she could start bawling for hours at a simple comment.

"I wonder what it would've been like to be friends with Ikara...", she unintentionally said out-loud.
When she realized her mistake, she bowed down and started apologizing. "S-sorry! Those were supposed to be my thoughts! I'm also sorry for troubling you!"

The words of apology felt weird rolling out of her mouth, because usually she was the one being apologized to for her anger-management issues.
Kira was still a bit determined to show Ikara that she wasn't a spy or anything, but simply just someone that seems naive at times, had anger problems, and wanted to be her friend.

=__= sorry, the reply is sorta bad, but I couldn't really think of anything to write, that would keep the thread going AND still be good >.< plus, I highly doubt that the fact that its late, and my brain pretty much shut down on me, is gonna help me write anything that's good <_< >_> ))

[Ikara]

[ooc: sorry it took so long but i've had loads of staff stuff to sort out!]


Ikara was confused as the words left the girls mouth.
I wonder what it would've been like to be friends with Ikara...
She didn't even acknowledge the apology the girl was trying to make as she tried to figure out what possibly the girl could want to be friends with her for.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, the sky darkening and the rain saturating everything in its path.
"We're both going to die of pneumonia if we stay out here any longer," Ikara turned to face the direction Teorau had headed in,
"You can dry off in our hotel room," She nudged her head towards the hotel, signalling for Kira to follow her.

"I should warn you about my companions in there though:
Teorau whom you just met is more anti-social than myself, Arisu and Shuya are out so they won't be a problem...my brother on the other hand is very likely to flirt, hug and try and girly chats with you...." Ikara muttered, her tone changing to that of disgust when mentioning her brother.
She hated the fact she now depended on him. He was more two faced than her; he acted cool and fun around everyone but he was as twisted and vengeful as herself. She had experienced first hand what would happen when you crossed him having spent the past year of her life avoiding his sword and his murder attempts on her.

[Kira]

((OOC: no problem XD))

Kira nodded, and replied "Okay..." before running a bit to catch up to Ikara quickly. She couldn't understand why Ikara was suddenly acting nicer to her, compared to before, when she was nearly accused of being a spy.

She felt a cool liquid pelt her head, as it started to rain again. Personally, she would've loved to stay herein the rain, but she would rather make friends with someone new and interesting, and miss a chance of rain. Besides, if she wanted to be in rain, she could always go to the rain village.

Kira heard what Ikara said about he friends and her brother, and noted that Ikara seemed to dislike her brother a bit.

She figured it was a sibling rivalry and she probably wouldn't want to ask too many questions. It seemed that Teorau reminded her of Katsuo, and Ikara's brother reminded her a bit of Kuri.

[Ikara]

"So are we going to stand here all day?" Ikara asked, once again her voice turning cold. She hate the cold weather; she'd spent the majority of her life in Suna where the atmosphere was rarely anything but dry; it was to much of a change here and Ikara wasn't one who tolerated change well.

"Lets go...." She began to walk down the street, slowly so as to allow the girl to catch up with her. The streets were desolate and eerily quiet; a deafening silence echoing through the alleys.
The wind whistled as it blew between buildings and Ikara felt her hand tremour slightly; she'd always been deadly afraid of the wind. It was an irrational fear that she'd never tell anyone, not even on her death bed.