Nagging Cat Yearns for Home [P][NK]

What a remarkable nap, Reizo thought, groggily awakening from his unprecedented slumber. A voice boomed in his head immediately thereafter: IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME. I was ready to go crazy in this empty head of yours, the blue fire cat wailed. It surprised Reizo, but he didn’t quite understand what she meant. He chose to ignore her for the time being and simply quieted her. He couldn’t remember a lick of what had happened on the night he had perceived to be the previous one. In truth, however, that was several months ago. After he had consumed his spiked drink, he couldn’t recall anything. He wasn’t in control of his own actions, and he certainly wasn’t aware of his surroundings. Now, he woke up in the room he had been staying in all this time in Hoshi. Nobody had seemed to check on him in all that time, and it seemed as though nobody had even remembered where he was.

Slowly reeling himself out of his bed, the frame groaned having been released of its burden. He walked over to the mirror and gave it a long look. He could barely recognize himself; his face had a light patchwork with the first signs of facial hair, and the hair on his head had grown a good 6 inches, dropping his blonde locks just below his shoulders. He pushed the hair away from his eyes so he could get a better idea of what happened after these long months. “Did I… age? Just how long was I asleep?” Reizo pondered.

His immediate reaction was to see if he could sense any of his friends nearby, and when that failed he concentrated harder with his Mind’s Eye to expand his search. It confirmed his fears- he was alone. The boy wasn’t scared, but rather curious. Just how did he get left behind, and why was there nobody around to wake him?

After cutting his hair back to its shorter length with a kunai, much like Sakura the feminista (the most appreciated and universally loved character in all of Naruto fandom; take THAT patriarchy), Reizo packed all of his items into his knapsack and took the streets. He made sure to suppress his chakra from here on out just in case he’d be recognized as a Kumo nin, and deliberately made sure nothing on his person could identify him as such. He even wore long sleeves and pants to conceal his unique tattoos given to him by Senshi. After chatting with a few vendors, Reizo learned just how long he had been out of it, comparing the dates of the parade celebration to now.

Filling up with much needed food, Reizo recognized it was long overdue to return back to Kumo. Walking over to the Hoshi Village gates, Reizo hoped he soon would be reunited with his friends whom he so dearly missed.

The blonde was stopped by a teen roughly his own age. He was a slender boy, far leaner than Reizo himself, but was clearly given some authority over the village’s military. Despite his casual and friendly word choice, the tone made it clear that he was all business.

”I’m returning to Kumo. I was here for the celebrations, but it’s certainly time to head back. It’s great to see a fellow warrior performing their duties, especially one around my age. You must be really capable,” Reizo brown-nosed. Just then, as though he were told by a friend through telepathy, or something, the Jounin recalled his pseudo-visa card, the one he should’ve been keeping on him at all times. Trying his best to make it clear he wasn’t going to fish for a weapon, Reizo kept one-hand open toward the border patrol agent as he reached his other hand into the front of his bag. He pulled out a dilapidated and wrinkled mess of a card, folded strictly along random lines as it had been pressed that way for months by the weight of the objects in the bag. ”This might clear things up? I was told to keep this on my person by Lady Akihana herself,” Reizo said, offering the notice to the enforcer. He hoped the additional context would maybe give him some leverage to leave this disgustingly arid place.

Assuming everything checked out, Reizo would walk through the gates and head back to Kumo, starting at the Hoshi Country borders.

----- EXIT -----
748 words

Claims:
Exit Hoshi
+6 AP
748 words toward 2nd tail v2 mastery

approved