Inkwell

Wed Feb 08, 2023 6:39 pm

"The chink of the ink bottle enchanted her, as a glass cage held its subject in rapture at the world it saw yet could never touch."

Engeki sat at her desk, twiddling between her thumb and index fingers a 50ml bottle, a little over three-quarters empty. The label "tsuki-yo" was worn by fingerprints and the deep indigo ink within swished rhythmically with her fingers. Her other hand propped up her head, laying on its side and gazing at the bottle the same way a daydreamer might stare at the clouds. After her recent entrance into the ninja academy in Ketsuekigakure, she had gotten the idea of starting a journal. Another girl in class had obnoxiously shown off her own the other day, leaving everyone captivated by her rather extensive life story. She couldn't help feel a little envious.

The pages laid before her, each as blank as fresh snow, as the pen she was using had long-since rolled off the desk space. Somehow, over the course of the entire morning, she had come up with exactly 0 words to describe her life. Now, here she was simply staring at nothing.

Swimming in her mind, Engeki imagined little nishikigoi dancing in what ink remained. Happily, they danced in the swing motion she produced. Lilting up and down, above the surface here one moment and again below the next, on and on...

She jolted the aquarium to the right. The koi flew. She flung left. The koi sank, their forms rising motionless to the surface. A sense of clarity washed over her eyes. Ceasing her repetition, she set the bottle down and stood, facing the window shedding the first morning lights. She squinted, but tentatively approached. Her face squished against the glass from her six-tatami mat room set six stories high, she marveled as the blossoming Village Hidden in the Blood unveiled its life below. The red glow still permeating the streets, she peered down as if viewing the wonders of a crimson ocean from the surface. Children playing tag, mothers and fathers plotting out their day ahead, shinobi sat tiredly at a ramen shop after an overnight mission: Figures so distant she couldn't make out faces but catching her eye nonetheless.

It was Engeki's first proper day in Ketsuekigakure. She had attended the first couple classes still living with Kiyo, but it came time for the ensemble to move on. As promised, she'd been moved out of the orchestra and given a real apartment building in the village for her to live in. Although it was still empty and could certainly use a thorough cleaning — such was the way of having a cheapskate for a guardian — though, it had a bed, a desk and cabinet, working lights, and a piano haphazardly stuck in the middle of the room. Engeki was still content - she had not engendered a need for things ever since she was small, so she was not about to start now. Looking over her new and first home village, however, she came to a decision.

No more was she going to hide herself away; her life shall be just as filled to the brim as her peers'! Changing out of her pajamas, the young kunoichi-to-be dressed herself in her signature white dress and black robes, sliding the unforgettable hat upon her head. What was it that fellow called her once — Pertinacious? Yes, this was just the occasion for that attitude.

(WC: 571)