by Ashitaka woke to the sound of a scream of rage and pain -his own. It almost managed to drown out the noise of the wall near his bed shattering as his fist and a surge of chakra blew a two meter-wide it to splinters. The real pain in his hand distracted him from the phantom pains in his arm, his chest, and in his mind. He still felt the Raiton searing through his nerves and forcing his muscles to spasm haphazardly as his bones splintered. He faintly tasted the memories of blood and alien chakra where he needed air. He smelled... so many dead bodies, some burned, some not. And the soothing scents of the nearby wood that his blood was intrinsically tied to, gently reassuring him that none of it was real.
He'd had one of the nightmares again. The memories. Or more than one of them. Maybe all of them. They blurred together so much, it was hard to tell one apart from the other. And they bled into the waking world to such an extent that he struggled to tell clearly when he'd crossed the threshold between it and the realm of dreams. Given the difference between the world he knew and the one he lived in, he honestly was never sure that he ever did.
"Sir? Sir! Are you all right? Has there been an attack?" a voice called from the door opposite wall, which he identified as one of the numerous servants that came with his prestigious position. Though not necessarily useful in a fight, they were quite adept at getting word of trouble out when it was required.
"No... I'm not really. And yes, technically. But it wasn't an intruder, just another nightmare." He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh as he massaged his exhausted face with both hands, then ran them through his hair. Of all the things he'd gone through, the radical aging was frankly the least strange and concerning. "You're dismissed."
"Yes, My Lord." the attendant responded, and Ashitaka felt their presence depart. He stared at the hole in the side of the building where the wall used to be and rubbed his face again to the tune of another long sigh. How many times was that now this week? This month? Since he arrived in this bizarre paradisical hell? This had to be bad for his Clan's confidence, seeing him in this state all the time. He was going to have to do something about it. So he got up, washed himself with his elements as per usual, then dressed and geared up.
...he almost left without word as to his intentions, but remembered that this Senju Clan actually cared about him and took his claim of Clan Head seriously, so he penned a letter explaining that he was going to seek healing for his condition. He pinned the paper to the door with a senbon and exited through the hole he made. He paused briefly as he tried not for the first time to recall any of the techniques he'd invented specifically to deal with this kind of damage and failed yet again. Giving up, he decided to leave the matter of repairs to his subordinates and walked away.
[Exit thread.]
He'd had one of the nightmares again. The memories. Or more than one of them. Maybe all of them. They blurred together so much, it was hard to tell one apart from the other. And they bled into the waking world to such an extent that he struggled to tell clearly when he'd crossed the threshold between it and the realm of dreams. Given the difference between the world he knew and the one he lived in, he honestly was never sure that he ever did.
"Sir? Sir! Are you all right? Has there been an attack?" a voice called from the door opposite wall, which he identified as one of the numerous servants that came with his prestigious position. Though not necessarily useful in a fight, they were quite adept at getting word of trouble out when it was required.
"No... I'm not really. And yes, technically. But it wasn't an intruder, just another nightmare." He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh as he massaged his exhausted face with both hands, then ran them through his hair. Of all the things he'd gone through, the radical aging was frankly the least strange and concerning. "You're dismissed."
"Yes, My Lord." the attendant responded, and Ashitaka felt their presence depart. He stared at the hole in the side of the building where the wall used to be and rubbed his face again to the tune of another long sigh. How many times was that now this week? This month? Since he arrived in this bizarre paradisical hell? This had to be bad for his Clan's confidence, seeing him in this state all the time. He was going to have to do something about it. So he got up, washed himself with his elements as per usual, then dressed and geared up.
...he almost left without word as to his intentions, but remembered that this Senju Clan actually cared about him and took his claim of Clan Head seriously, so he penned a letter explaining that he was going to seek healing for his condition. He pinned the paper to the door with a senbon and exited through the hole he made. He paused briefly as he tried not for the first time to recall any of the techniques he'd invented specifically to deal with this kind of damage and failed yet again. Giving up, he decided to leave the matter of repairs to his subordinates and walked away.
[Exit thread.]
