Kaito had earned little reputation for doing paperwork and more of a reputation for being soft-hearted and far too easy on small timing punks. That said, no one could believe their eyes when they saw Kaito at his desk every morning and every night, paperwork flying as he buried himself in his work and took case after case. He only left his desk to do some leg work on a job or grab some coffee; other than that, he worked like a dog and accepted no distractions.
He occupied his mind with this work because if he didn't, his mind replayed the images of Shion battering Kato with a brutal technique despite his lack of resistance. He heard the sounds of her chakra gauntlets pounding his legs into the roof the house, heard bones grind and break. Heard her anger, that their date had been disrupted. Had she done all that for him? She was the image of brutality then. He couldn't believe it. His Shion?
He shook his head of the thought. Instead, a break-in case, down by the hovels could keep him occupied.
ooc:
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:02 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI An out of place gust of wind roared through the communal offices shared by the officers of the APD. It only lasted a moment, but plenty long enough to scatter the neat piles of paperwork on Kaito's desk, knocking them to the ground. Should he move to retrieve his work, he would find himself flanked by a pair of white-robed figures. The two would tower over Kaito, goaring from behind two featureless animal masks -- one depicting a crane and one a reptile of some kind. "Your presence is requested by the director," the bird-faced agent spoke. His tone was soft, yet his words carried a gravity that Kaito could not help but be sucked into.
The trip was rather short; no doubt it was one that Kaito had made at least once or twice in his life. Just a simple hop, skip, and a jump across the compoud to the land of clandestine deals and hushed whispers of conspiracy. There, he would be presented with a door and a name plate: "Shion Mori: Director of Operations." The lizard-faced man shoved kaito into the door, opening it for the boy to fall through. "This is your stop, he quipped. The last Kaito would see or hear of the pair would be the bird-faced man sulk and shout "Dude, cmon that was my line!" as they vanished into the aether.
"You're a difficult man to reach, Officer Naga...ugh, no. Not like this. An all too familiar voice rang from across the hall; it was probably the last voice Kaito might want to hear, but that was too bad. He's in Shion's world now.
Shion slowly got up from her seat and hesitantly approached Kaito, pausing for a moment to release the death grip she'd been putting on the arm of her chair. "Look, i know you've been avoiding me and i don't blame you... I scare a lot of people off..." she said, words drooping to a sullen cadence in perfect synch with her downtrodden posture. "I... just wanted to say Im sorry for putting you through that. Im... Im..." her voice quivered as she struggled to make eye contact with Kaito. "Im not a good person. Im brash, lazy, sometimes I lash out... and I hurt people... really badly, like... REALLY badly..." Shion hesitated again, unsure of where she was even going with this. "And you... you're so... nice. You have this way with people that's just..." her words were barely audible.
All momentum she had was now struggling to move a snail's pace towards her goal. "When I think back to that day, before it all happened... i wasnt... mean. I wasnt that way..." No... this was wrong. In the middle of her heart-felt confession, a bit of an epiphany hit the girl. "No, you know what? Im dumb. Shion raced towards Kaito, taking his hands in hers. "Forget all that. Yeah, Im rude and am a powerkeg, or whatever that nerd Toso calls me, but you know what? That aint all I am, baby! I AM that nice girl you hung out with. I just need someone that I want to show that side of me off to the world with." Shion looked up, directly into those beautiful mismatched eyes, and grinned. "I want that person to be you..."
Snap back to reality for a minute? Shion suddenly let go of Kaito's hands, taking a few steps backwards as the full weight of what she just admitted hit her. Her face turned flush with embarrassment, not only at the comments, but at how she thought Kaito must feel. "Ah crap, Shion you idiot. You made it about you again," she grumbled to herself.
It wasn't every day one was whisked away by ANBU; unfortunately, Kaito didn't get to enjoy much of it. He didn't think to ask about where he was going until he was there, and at that point, it was nothing he could turn back from. He tried to school his expression and seem impassive as she rose from her chair and approached him, at first heartfelt and then passionate as she took his hands.
He couldn't help but look down at them and imagine those chakra gauntlets. Imagine, really, how much force she could exert with them. Would she hesitate to break his fingers if he interrupted her on a good day? On a bad one?
"I... don't want to be the thing keeping you from brutalizing people. I liked who you were at the bar, at the ramen stand, but that's not who you are." He took a brief second, trying not to be the emotional little boy he's always been. "That was all an act, wasn't it? I mean, you're a complete stranger. Director of Operations for the ANBU and apparently you're - what, a jinchuuriki? What else could that weird chakra have been? And you're capable, just capable of breaking a man's legs when he wasn't even resisting arrest... I get it.
"I do! I get it. You have to disconnect from that, that pain others feel. In order to be a member of the ANBU. You have to know how to hurt someone with hesitating. But that's not who I am. Who I could ever be. I saw you disconnect with Kato: no compassion, no humanity." His voice cracked, and he dropped his gaze. He felt unsafe like this, in her office where only her ANBU knew where he was. In her territory. His heart ached for the Shion he had known ever so briefly. "You want me to, what? Forget what I saw?"
ooc:
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:04 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI Kaito might not have been much for fighting, but the damage he could deal with words was more than any blade or jutsu could inflict upon her in that moment. "That's... that's not what I meant." She started, fighting back the urge to shout back. "It is me," she muttered in a weak retort to the boy's accusations. She was ready to give up, to just let him leave and resign herself to another failed relationship. At least, that was until he brought up Matatabi. "No! You don't have any idea what I have to do! You think I just... what? Turn off my emotions and go kill people? I feel EVERYTHING! All the time! I can't turn it off! She wont let me turn it off. But I try my hardest to not let it get the best of me." Shion stepped back again, catching her break as she fought back tears. She took a few heavy breaths, hoping to steady herself; it didn't work. "I just... sometimes I slip up. Someones, Matatabi makes me feel something a little too strongly and whatever feeling that is, comes out in an extreme -- joy, sadness... anger. I tried talking to him... you saw that. Its just... what he did to the city... to civilians." Shion flinched, remembering the sight of one officer's leg being forcibly removed from his body by the weird gorilla thing; she dared not think what those creatures did to normal people. "Look, I can't make you forget what you saw. I..." She'd pause one final time, letting out a quivered breath and wiped at her eyes. "I just wanted you to know there is more to me than... that and that we could somehow move past it together. Kaito, how i was when I was with you was not an act. I really like you... like... really, really like you. And I hurt you; I never want to hurt you. I just... I want to try to make things better. Right now, all the thoughts in my head are telling me to just run away, to avoid getting hurt again, but I wanted to try to talk to you... I just dont know how."
He looked away from Shion, trying to regulate his emotions. He didn't want to cry in her office. "If you felt everything, why is there no remorse for your actions? Just that I saw them?" He understood her anger - watching Arashigakure destroyed at the hands of such a careless man hurt. That someone could do that with little compassion hurt. But her actions fell in the same category as far as he was concerned.
"I don't know how to fix this, either. Talk is cheap. I... I don't know. I need to see something. I saw the side of you untouched by your rage, but I'm not sure how it can fit with the Shion I saw attack Kato. I just need more time before I'm willing to look at you as someone other than a ticking time bomb. I mean, who could've stopped you when you were attacking that man? What did stop you? You were so intent on, on killing him."
It was judge, jury, executioner that he saw in her. And he had heard such words from Avalanche, that they were willing to do it, but he'd never seen such unabashed rage and violence from the vigilante. Nothing close to it. It had made him think about the Kogarashi war, how he'd killed those two men with no hesitation even though murder hadn't been the intent. But it took years for him to stop living with that guilt wearing him down, and even now, he didn't see guilt of the actions in Shion, just guilt that he'd seen it.
ooc:
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:35 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI Shion glowered at Kaito. It wasnt anger in her eyes, but a mixture of confusion and irritation. Did he really need her to spell out everything? "What? You don't think i hate what I did? Ive had that moment replaying in my head for a whole week; it's darn well torture," Shion wiped at her face again with her jacket sleeve, turning away from Kaito. "And it is not because you saw it.
Five years. Five very long years. That's how long it had been simce her last episode. Every day was a victory to her, another day she didnt lash out and hurt anyone. All that hard work, one of the few places she could draw pride from, was in ruins. "Matatabi stopped me," she'd begin, following his later comments. "It's funny. She's a monster... a demon of pure chakra whose purpose is only to destroy, but she's also one if my only -- er, closest friends. Its not her fault im like this. Well, it is, but she cant help it, so I dont hold it against her. We've grown really close over these past few years, and she's always there for me. Like... a second voice in my head helping me deal with things when the first one isnt loud enough." Shion put her hands down on the desk in front of her, staring down at the various files she had pulled out. "I dunno, I just thought if I can make it work with a monster...so could you." GeneralInfo
Kaito's eyes hardened at her words. He really, really wanted to believe her, but if he looked hopeful, she would know to capitalize on it if she was lying. He didn't like thinking others were manipulative, because he wasn't cynical, but from the day he was handed a shinobi headband, he had been given reason after reason to see the worst in humanity. He fought to prevail against it, but his - girlfriend? fling? - had surprised him in the worst way and he wasn't sure who he could trust if cheerful, lovable Shion had been capable of such malice.
"If Matatabi is keeping you from being yourself, being the bubbly and amazing Shion that I knew... maybe we should get that monster out of you." He stared at the ground as he suggested it, afraid he might see her anger, her Matatabi-fueled rage. "You're so accomplished and trusted in this village. I want to trust you, too. If that thing is keeping you back, let me help you take it out." His sealing abilities were not often showcased, since he didn't feel secure in them, but he was willing to study up to save her.
ooc: kaito's religious upbringing + ignorance of bijuu = jinchuuriki racist (does that count as racism?). very misguided attempts here from kaito ;'(
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 2:12 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI "No!" Shion whipped around, fire in her eyes in place of tears and a weight to her voice that could rival the talled of mountains. "You shut the hell up, Kaito. You do not know anything about her." Shion marched right up to Kaito. No doubt the thought of what she did to Kato's legs would come flooding to the forefront of the boy's mind. Much to his suprise, he wouldnt find any chakra infused hands or explosive kicks directed at him, only a single finger prodding his chest. "You want to talk about how compassionate you are? How enraged or whatever *bullshit*? Listen to yourself! Matatabi is a living thing too, a*****e! What, you think she just enjoys being cramped inside my head? No freedom? No way to talk to her friends? She'd be murdered if she wasnt tucked away in here," she'd say, directing her finger from Kaito's chest to her head. "She'd be hunted down and abused... or worse, killed, by shinobi a lot scarier than you think I am. And more importantly, she's my friend. I know Im bad news or whatever, but I dont let my friends get hurt. Not her, not Toso, no body." Shion's face was bright red, burning up from her long winded speech. Then, reality set in again. Shion quickly rushed away from Kaito, back towards her desk. "Im sorry. I didnt mean to yell. Im not going to hurt you, I promise. I promise. Please."
It was cruel, but when Shion mentioned Matatabi not being able to talk to her friends, he laughed. "How long, exactly, has 'she' been in your head? I mean, how do we know what you're thinking is even your thoughts? It could be that demon!" He huffed, nostrils flaring. What was with Shion? Did she really believe a demon could be her friend? "Those things just destroy villages and cause wars. I can't believe you're defending it. This can't be you. You've lost your mind, that demon is making you say this s**t. We can stick that demon in a seal and free you from it! And your rage, your fits of rage can be over with!" In his excitement, in his hope that she could be fixed, his voice was louder and he was stepping closer to her, leaving little space. "Shion, just let me fix you!"
ooc: oof bad kaito is bad
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 4:01 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI "Do you... do you hear yourself? You just got done yelling about being nice and all that crap. You're talking killing something... someone. Kaito?" That quiver returned to her voice as Kaito approached her. He sounded mad, insane. Shion backed up, hitting her lower back against the rim of her desk. Panic gripped her. Shion lashed out. Her palm would find its mark against his face in an open handed strike. A slap, i think theyre called. Should he wake up, Kaito would see just how his comments hit her. Confusion, disgust, hurt... all of it written across her face. "Fix me?"
Kaito's gaze was unrelenting as he refused to consider himself a hypocrite for this. He stumbled a step backwards when she slapped him. He rested his hand on his struck face, looking at her with a snarl. "Was that you, or it?"
He took another step back. "Killing something that murdered more people than Kato, destroyed more of villages than Kato, had less regard for innocents than Kato. Shouldn't we rip it out and break its legs? Or let's not even kill it, just imprison it like we have Kato, in a seal or someone else. You're letting it dictate your life. Aren't you tired of it making you bloodthirsty and unhinged yet?"
ooc:
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 5:33 pm
SHIONxxxxxMORI As the boy took a step back, Shion followed through, pushing against his chest to create som more distance. "What the hell has gotten into you!" This wasn't right, was it? Was this actually Kaito? He wasnt even trying to listen anymore. Was it even worth bringing him here? No... this was starting to feel like a mistake. Her fists cletched, shaking under the stress of her own grip. She struggled to fight back the rush of emotions that leaked from each verbal attack. Finally, it broke her. Memories of when she was younger rushed to the forefront of her mind, memories of the constant berating she was now on the recieving end of. Sure, the contents of the insults were different, but they shattered her will all the same. Shion's fists fell to limp. Her head hung. Heavy breaths gave way to sobs. "Why... I... Im going home." Her words shook behind a voice quaking in heartache. She had no more words, no more talk. Talk is cheap, and Kaito only responded to action. And right now, the only action she would make is a slow trudge towards the door.
Kaito schooled his expression as she seemed torn between crushing him and sobbing on his chest. His heart ached, but his soul burned. He loved her and wanted to protect her, but he couldn't let her be possessed by a demon any longer. Matatabi was tormenting her. He couldn't let it continue.
He let her walk past him towards the door. He wasn't sure what else he could say to convince her. Like he'd said, talk was cheap. He had to prove to her that the demon was wrong for her. That she must be controlled by it if she thought it was a friend. "I think that's for the best," he said slowly. His mind was already racing for things he could do to show her the way. He would show her the light if it was the last thing he ever did.
ooc:
Cute Things in Jars
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:24 am
SHIONxxxxxMORI Shion felt like an idiot. Of course it would end this way; why would anyone find her appealing? There's just too much wrong with her. The tailed beast within her stirred, trying to get through the her host, but Shion tuned it all out. No words, no talk. Not now -- not from you. Shion stopped her exit, standing with her hand on the door for several seconds before letting a half-sighing laugh. "You're really not going to stop me, are you." She wanted nothing more to be stopped, to have Kaito rush in behind her and hold her close. Say he doesnt care she is flawed, say they can move past it together, but this wasn't a fantasy. This was real life; things dont go that eay. She'd linger a few more seconds before simply saying, "you idiot," and leaving. Her words dripped with venom, unbridled hatred given form, but they weren't meant for Kaito...
