Fallacy

Maku spoke saying something about Youka asking instead of demanding. The male played no attention to it and continued his movement to turn his back to his long time friend, or at least he would have if he could move. Once again Maku has used his abilities to limit Youka’s movement. The male was always so one tracked minded serving his own goals and pleasures refusing to let anyone take that away from him. As Youka stood frozen in time not allowed to move even a finger as his friend approached he wondered what he’d do this time. Would it be a slap to the face for the honesty that Youka imparted, would it be him pushing them both deeper into another genjutsu to spite something else? He remembered the last time that has happened, the ability was something terrifying to not know what your reality actually was, to live and not know if your senses could be trusted to tell you what the real world feels like anymore or if you were another layer deep inside of an illusion. All of these thoughts ran through his mind only for the man to reach around and perform a hug.

What a weird thing to do and for a moment Youka felt confused before that too subsided into nothingness his eyes returning to a blank stare as his mind shifted back to what he needed to do in order to be whole again and ready for what was to come. The words his friend spoke about being glad that he was back escaped him as the illusion broke and they were returned to the realm of the living and current time. Genjutsu was always taxing on the body this time needing no exception if not more so due to his current condition. Not only was his body readjusting to a place where it has been ripped from only to be tossed back but his mind was fatigued from having so much information in a microsecond pushed into it.

Watching Maku walk out Youka hot right to work adjusting his bags and forcing himself up and around his lab to apping for everything that wasn’t broken out now melted in an attempt to salvage what he could. As time passed and the medicine did its job He could feel vitality and alertness returning to his muscles. The drugs wouldn’t return muscle mass or repair what was broken but it did bring natural strength back. He could now walk without anything holding him up for an extended period and he could feel his voice coming back ever so slightly as the rasp and pain in his throat dissipated.

Proceeding to his desk he wrote down everything that had happened and what was said so he would be able to recall it later. This information no matter how small could always lead to something bigger down the line. Closing the book and storing it away once more Youka would close the drawer and move to clean up some of the lab. As he finished he noticed the broken picture frame Maku had tossed across the floor, Shelly leaning to pick it up he noticed that half of it was now charred and burnt, the picture of he and Akihana. She still was in pristine condition, his side however had been left nearly unidentifiable, how fitting of a thing…he hasn’t recognized who he was turning into around her and now no one would recognize who truly was in the picture. Most of him screamed internally for him to get rid of the picture, finish the job and tear it up yet all he could do was clutch it and slide it in between one of his books that were hidden away.

As he finished cleaning and more so just pushing all of the destroyed things to one corner of the area to be dealt with at another time that was when Maku reappeared once again with more conversation. Laying papers along and speaking Maku would talk about them getting back to basics to say. Slowly reintegrating themselves back into the world. “Ok” Youka would reply with a deep raspy voice as his vocal cords grinned against each other trying to force even that little bit out. Looking at the forged documents that Maku was showing he’d nod his head in understanding of what was being said. It probably was a smart idea and he might use it but for now he’d simply wave it off and continue with their talk.

Watching his partner he knew that the man was performing the summoning jutsu hand signs before he slammed his hand on the ground with white smoke appearing around it. Looking at what appeared he could tell it wasn’t of this world even before Maku had explained they were from discord. Summons were always useful and if used correctly could spell victory when defeat was imminent. Youka was too tired to continue this let alone argue so with a quick swore he’d sign the scroll because he was sure Maku would find a way to force him to stay up and do it if he had chosen not to.

Once done the toad would disperse leaving just the two of them once again. Youka let his friend gather everything up once again. He could feel his body beginning to shut down once again this time due to lack of restful sleep, he would need to return to god tomb and sleep so the motive could really being to work. Walking past his friend he’d place one hand in his shoulder letting it slide off as he slowly walked by him. Turning the corner without looking back he’d say one word before meeting back into the shadows or the hall “sleeeep” it came out elongated and forced as he coughed after speaking. Tomorrow would be something new and preparing for everything once more would begin.

TWC= 7184
Claiming 71 stats +50 to Vigor,+21to chakra
Discord toad contract
Claiming Black receivers and Shinra tensei 2500x2=5000 wc
(EXIT)

The thing proceeded as Youka had said.  His blood and name awash on the contract, the toad vanished and a raspy voice stated he was going to sleep.  Well he actually just said the word but it was a reasonable assumption that that was what he meant.  Without a look back, the demon priest, Mortarion, Youka Tau, etc etc removed himself from the medical bay and returned to rest.  Leaving just Maku to sit within the room. Left with no one to talk to, he merely looked around the room.  Clearly an attempt had been made to clear the medical bay from the destructive black flames that had taken down some of the precious tools.  A single large pile of this trash was noticeable in a corner of the room.  Sighing, he would stand and make his way over to it.  With a great amount of effort he would make the many trips of taking the trash and wreckage up the stairs and out of the house.  Each load causing his arms to scream at the weight of the various instruments.  Eventually however, he had everything up and out of the place, leaving the medical bay not repaired, but at least cleaner than it had been an hour before.

Sweeping up to make up for the ramshackle of an attempt that was made before him, he would feel mildly better about his outburst.  He hadn’t meant to let it go that far, but it had.  Now there was nothing to do but move on.  The dynamic was still there, though it was different.  Both men had been through so much.  They’d encountered so much, and they still had so much to do.  There were hard feelings that some wore on their sleeve and others buried, but that didn’t diminish that for both….they were still there.  Nothing could take that away, no matter how much Maku attempted to exorcise them, or how far Youka buried his own.  They were still there.  How they would be dealt with in the current days was yet to be seen or known, but they would soon found out.  Perhaps the world as well depending on how things went.  It wouldn’t be the first time that others had suffered or perhaps been liberated by how they had chooses to spend their lives.  All a matter of perspective and who you talked to he supposed, though not all would agree.  

Making his way outside, the black flames would once again appear, this time covering the trash and completing what it had started.  Careful to make sure they stay contained he watched as they ate through the combustible materials, and then even ate away at the metals as well.  Various pops and putrid smokes would waft out, different colors briefly popping before consumed by blackness, in some circumstances it was quite beautiful.  Then however, as all things do, it ended. The flames would finish there work, and merely a charred space would remain, without any sign of the instruments that had left behind.  He’d done it in the area a bit away from the house.  It was here that he had once been assailed by an assassin.   How that man had found the place he had never figured out,  he’d claimed to have been hired by a high ranking official of one kind or another, though his story had never properly been vetted.  Instead the battle had ended almost as soon as it began.  The man thoroughly overpowered by illusions that he had no way to break free from.  His clone doing most of the work and failing.  It had at least been an excellent distraction.  

Though night was falling, he found himself not wanting to go in and to bed yet.  Despite Youka’s assertions that he would be back and strong by the next day, he had his doubts.  He’d been nearly dead, and while the medicine had done wonders, there was no way it could work a miracle such as that.  Though I’d anyone would come back from the bring of death he supposed it would be the man who know rested beneath the soil.  He’d bested death and coma once before.  During the echo fight he’d been buried by the rubble that had been caused.  It had been days before he had risen and went to attack Kumogakure and take it as his own.  Yet, despite this coma he had still risen back up.  As he always did.  Maybe the man was immortal, something to do with the forbidden jutsu that made his body consist of so many threads.  Perhaps it made him immortal, and also allowed him to rule his emotions so carefully.  He’d not always been like that( and in all the time Maku had known him he’d gone through several phases with how he acted.

There had been Youka Tau as he knew him.  A precocious and ambitious man, always wishing to test his skills and strength in the battle field.  Then there was the priest, who was kind and had offered solace and prayer despite his darker tendencies and urges.  Perhaps some and even himself would say that portion was a facade, but Maku wasn’t so sure.  Even more there had been the demon, that had been such a convincing personality it had spoken and led Youka to attack Yukigakure the first time.  Following it the Jester, a portion leading to a more chaotic side . A personality that through genjutsu Maku himself had taken on to unburden his friend.  It had been an interesting expierence , but one he had eventually crushed.  Then, Mortarion the Raikage of Kumogakure had reigned.  He did not know much of this iteration of Youka as that was when they had been their most disconnected.  He had ruled a county while Maku had fled to a new one.  Where he had worked as a shadow Kage for Denkitiki even without his knowledge at times.  By the time he’d made it to the country to inspect it Mortarion had succumbed to an illness brought on by a creature akin to the bijuu.  

That was when Youka had died once again.  This time it seemed he would not wake up.  Having taken his body away, he built the house and tomb that they both now lived in.  Once again he had risen from death, to return to the world . Only now he was once again a different iteration of the same man.  This would make the sixth iteration if he counted right.  They were all his friend, but they were each different as well.  How many hearts had Youka had throughout his life, and did something of their life blood translate into a personality?  Was Youka’s original heart, the one he was born with still beating in his chest or had it been one that had been discarded?  He wasn’t sure, and though it likely didn’t matter it was something he wished to know.  Maybe that was the key to why he was the way he was.  Or perhaps there was no ryhme or reason and he was placing meaning in a place where there was. None.  All these thoughts rushed through his head as he poured a dark amber liquid into one of the few glasses in the house.

Sitting on the porch he would sip the string drink, feeling it hit his tongue and throat with a burning pain that satisfied.  There was no telling, but then again how often had he changed as well.  Maku had begun as a child ruled whim and want equally.  He’d grown up during his time with Echo as a mercenary, but not very much.  He had grown even further as the head of Yukigakure.  Learning to take on responsibilities while still dealing with his own eccentric ways.  After that, he’d gotten colder.  He’d had that vision of the different versions of himself, and he had chosen to be colder and more decisive.  It had   Worked, without it the rampage that continued never could have occurred.  Where had it gone wrong then?  What had brought him back?  With a drink he didn’t need to think hard.  A blonde woman with a picnic basket, and a large fox demon.  An unlikely paring but that had both in their own way brought him back to his old self.  Further the realization of his brother and a found blood family.  Though he never had made it with his birth parents, he’d found comfort in Den’s precense.  

If there was any regret, it lied there.  That he could not have done more for his brother, and that he still wasn’t doing more for him.  Though, maybe this was it.  Perhaps this was the best he could do, and that was seperat e himself form him and return to who he had been.  So that no matter what he’d never be tied to the good doctor again. He would be free to live his life, Maku would make sure Youka never touched fang country from the inside; and life would continue on for him.  Maku’s life for however much longer it would last would continue on as well.  He wasn’t sure how long he sat outside, first by the burnt spot, and then by the koi pond.  The sound of frogs and crickets making the night time atmosphere calm.  It was funny just how calm it could be, in a place where so much was brewing.  The creatures that lived her didn’t know or care about what was to happen.  About the repercussions of resurrections currently being unfolded.  Just like the people all around that too laid gently down tonight without care or knowledge.  

Time would pass, and then he would return to his room.  Laying his head down in the pillow, sleep did not come easily.  There were still so many emotions and feelings to be felt.  He envied the way Youka had buried them, if he could have in that moment he likely would have done the same thing.  Maybe it was just a reflex, a way to cope and deal with everything that had happened and was going to happen.  Not for the first time the thought of putting Youka down; and then himself crossed his mind.  Just for a flash, something not to be acted on but still….it was impossible to keep it fully away.  He feared that thought would always be there for as long as he should stay alive.  Like an old friend who you only saw every once in awhile, it offered a small bit of comfort though you knew you’d never be any closer.  Sleep would eventually come for the former waterfall shinobi, it didn’t come easy but it did come.  He would rest and well below him Youka Tau would rest as well.  The night time would claim them for now.

Within his dreams there were several visions.  He stood across a great chasm, a familier place, the smell of a grill.  Once conquered and once release.  The second vision was of a crumbling leaf, withered from a lack of water and care.  The third an endless ocean churning with the fighting of creatures unseen.  Each of these were potential way points to anchor his mind, and yet in each he continued on.  A lightning struck mountain, and a castle of glass.  Al off these things crossed his dreams, and he wondered what they truly meant, and the order in which they fell.  Waking up several times, eventually morning would break, the sun beaming through his window.  Forcing himself up; he made a cup of coffee.  He hated coffee and had no intention of drinking it, but the smell was comforting and provided it’s own wake you up affect.  Gathering up all the scrap paper in the house he could find, he wondered down to the lab.  Making his way to the medical bay he would see if his friend was awake, and how accurate he’d been with his recovery….then….it was time to get to work.   

TWC - 8029

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Claims

160ap

+8029 towards rinnegan