A Random Word 4

Ishi looked at his sister waiting for her to speak. He had an idea of where she might say, but she had not yet mentioned it to him. She looked at Shiro and shook her head. "If he hates you..I'll kick his ass...and..there's a little chucrh nearby here..I guess we can go there and just ask them some questions. They might know something about Taimatsu..which could help us find out about where he's been in more detail."

Shiro nodded, not being convinced about what his brother's opinion might be. One hand held to his upper arm Shiro waited for them to get moving. His thoughts were still trying to trail off, whenever Shiro accidentally looked at Ishi. Why could he not stop these damned emotions to influence him? By now the boy should know he did not stand a chance to even get Ishi's sympathy again.

They rested about two hours later when they were far enough from the smell of burned corpse. Shiro sat down beneath a tree and almost immediately fell asleep before he could prevent it. His dreams were vivid and rough, mixing up the ritual, Taimatsu, his faceless brother and Ishi. The unbearable pain Shiro had felt during the ritual, followed by Manami's disappointed eyes because he could not bear it, his brother hating him for everything Shiro had done and for not avenging their parents when he had the chance... Taimatsu attacking him, stabbing him into the chest as Shiro had done it to the elder and Ishi standing above Shiro, holding him down to help Taimatsu, disappointment in his eyes, coldness on his face.

Screaming, his heart racing, Shiro awoke with a start, it was dark by now and he did not know whether he was alone or Manami and Ishi were still with him. Shiro had a hard time keeping himself from starting to cry but he felt it was all too much for him.

Manami was curled up asleep, tired from everything that had gone on. Shiro waking didn't wake her, she simply sirred slightly, turning over and put a hand on her face.
Ishi on the other hand had not been asleep. He sat under a tree opposite the two, now staring blankly at Shiro who look lost and frightened. "We'll be leaving in the morning. I suggest you get as much sleep as you can."

Shiro stared at Ishi as if he was a ghost, then swallowed all the emotions the dreams had caused as well as possible. Hoping Ishi would not notice Shiro looked at him sadly for a moment, then turned around and stared at the tree he lay in front of. The boy lay on his injured arm with his full weight but at least that would keep him from sleeping.

Now that his face was hidden, Shiro dared crying silently. He felt lonely.

In her dreams, Manami's mind was racing through lots of random thoughts. She was thinking about the tombs and everything in it, everything she had read. The puzzle key and the riddles on them. Everything was even more muddled up. She wriggled around, begin to become uncomfortable, the thoughts confusing her.

Ishi had known something was wrong with Shiro. He felt he should ask what was wrong but it wasn't like him to do so. Instead he stayed quiet, watching his sister move around in her sleep. Slightly confused he tapped her leg, causing her to gasp and kick her leg at him.
She woke up soon after giving him a strange look.

For the rest of the night Shiro kept himself awake with pain. It took him some time to stop crying, hoping nobody would notice the marks of it on his face the next day. Soon his thoughts moved in circles, even keeping his mind from getting rest. This resulted in a very tired-looking Shiro when they all got up early in the morning, his clothes partly stiff from his own and Taimatsu's dried blood. None of them looked perfectly clean, but Shiro guessed not many monks would allow him in like this.

"We leaving?", he asked, without looking at anyone, not complaining about hunger or pain or being tired. He simply wanted to get this over with.

Manami and Ishi had woken up early as usual and gotten ready to leave. Ishi had had bery little sleep, Manami a bit more after she had gotten back to sleep after her interuption during the night.

Not long after everyone was awake Ishi began walking away, heading in a general direction of a monastery nearby. Manami dragged Shiro off the floor nodding, not mentioning the marks on his face of the redness of his eyes. "Yeah, it's not really that far away..we should be there in like 10..20 minutes."

Shiro nodded, simply following her.
He almost wished they would find his brother there so this journey came to an end and he could not do any more mistakes and would not have to look into Ishi's cold face anymore. On the other hand he wished his brother would not be there or anywhere close because that meant to avoid the conflict of meeting him in the first place and it gave Shiro the chance to be with Ishi, even though the elder seemed to hate him - if he even felt that much.

Wiping his face quickly and tying the piece of cloth tighter around his arm, as the wounds did not close yet, Shiro took a deep breath and simply stopped thinking, counting numbers to look indifferent.

As Shro stopped so did Manami, she turned to him confused, "Shiro..?" After a couple of seconds he went back to his usual self and followed her again.

Ishi had walked ahead already getting to the monastery. He had gone inside, the monks treated him as though he were a lost beggar, bringing him inside, rushing around trying to find him food and clean clothing. Beofre Ishi could tell them not to he had been sat down, a younger monk bringing him a bowl of warm water to wash himself.
Not wanting to be impolite, Ishi began cleaning the blood from him, looking up to the man that had brought him inside. "Actually, I'm here to ask some questions about a man named Taimatsu..and if you have anyone here going by the name of Miyazaki"

The monk smiled and shook his head.
"I don't know, I'm sorry, Sir", he replied, while Manami and Shiro were brought in. All of them were given a bowl of warm water to clean themselves. When Shiro took off his shirt to clean off the blood, many of the younger monks looked at him curiously. The many scars as well as the new injuries had them wonder what might have happened to the boy.

One of the older monks sat down behind Shiro, tending the infected wound on his shoulder. "You should of taken care of it earlier", he scolded the boy with calm, dark voice. "I'll need to give you some stitches, if I may", he added. Shiro simply nodded, he did not care much about these things. A young boy brought a basket of things the monk would use on Shiro's wounds and little later the street boy already winced while the monk sewed the wound on his shoulder, then moving on to the two stab wounds on his arms. In the end Shiro's face was pale and he felt sick, his arm and shoulder hurting as hell.

"How about you all stay a little and get yourselves some rest?", the monk offered them. Shiro looked at Manami and Ishi, hoping they would agree but again not daring to ask for it.

Ishi and Manami both bowed their heads thanking the monks for their generosity. "Thank you for trying to help with my enquires too...and for taking care of the boy. It is very kind of you all." Ishi pushed away the bowl and stood up asking if there was anywhere quiet nearby as he needed to write a letter. The older monk nodded to him and sent a younger boy off with Ishi showing him to a room nearby where he could have his privacy.

Manami washed any dirt and blood of her, trying to dab it off her clothes too when a young monk brought over clean clothes for all of them. She laughed and tanked him putting the clothes he had for Ishi on the floor next to her. "This is all very kind..you don't have to do this.."

"Giving is the essence of happiness", some of the monks replied in unison, smiling at Manami. Shiro simply nodded and put on the clothes right where he sat. 'The boy', Ishi had called him. Maybe Shiro was taking it too seriously but he felt Ishi had done it on purpose to show the boy he did not care about him much.

The monks showed them the property of their monastery, a peaceful garden in its centre, where Shiro returned to after they had shown him the room he shared with Ishi. Only Manami had her own room as she was a girl. Sitting down on a flat stone the boy stared into the water of a pond, the usual thoughts filling his head, getting louder and louder until Shiro held his head. He wanted to scream to make them stop but he knew he could not.

When the monks had taken her to her room, Manami stayed in there to get changed. Once she was done she threw any stuff she had with her into a corner and left the room. Never having been in a monastery before she was curious. She wandered around, the monks bowing to her and coming out with strange sayings as she passed them. She simply smiled and carried on walking until eventually she got to a room where the monks were sat in a circle, they seemed to be chanting quietly, meditating possibly. Curious she stood nearby, observing.

Ishi had sat in the small room, writing two letters. Once to the Kazekage, alerting him of what had happened and that Taimarsu was dead. The other to his uncle who had helped before, asking him to find anything out he could about Shiro's brother living in monasteries in Suna. When he was done he opened up a small window that was in the room and whistled loudly. A few minutes later a large bird flew down, Ishi rolled up the ltters and tied them to the birds foot and sent the bird away, hopefully delivering them to Suna.

A young monk of about 20 years old was walking through the garden as he saw Shiro. As he looked as though he were in pain, the young monk worried. Wanting to help he slowly walked over and sat beside him, "What is troubling you, young one?"

Shiro turned around surprised as someone spoke to him. He could use some company, therefore he tried to be nice and polite for once. Getting up he smiled insecure. "It's nothing...", he replied, "... only too many thoughts about too many things... How... how is it possible to feel lonely if you're around people all the time? And how can you be afraid of someone you don't even know?", Shiro asked. This person was neutral, they did not know each other yet so maybe it was safe trusting him with his emotions and thoughts...

After she'd stood there for a while, a monk came up behind Manami, asking if she wished to join in. She mummbled nervously as the monk guided her towards the circle, sitting her down. "Just do as they do, clear your mind, the chanting helps." Manami smiled awkwardly at the monk, crossing her legs and closing her eyes. She tried to clear her head and began chanting with the rest of the monks.

After he had shut the window, Ishi headed out into the dining hall, not really knowing where he was going. Feeling slightly hungry he asked if it was ok to join the monks in eating before sitting down to a plate of some kind of broth. Feeling grateful for the men feeding him, he began eating.

The young monk smiled peacefully at Shiro, slowly standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You must empty your mind of these thoughts. You should never feel loney as there is always someone watching, looking after you, even if it not obvious. If there is someone close to you that shows you kindness, this is how our Lord acts to help you. As for fearing someone you don't know, that it simply the minds way of protecting oneself...it is normal.."

Shiro did not want to believe the monk's words, they made it sound so simple and Shiro felt weak for not being able to 'free himself' of these thoughts and emotions. Instead, he fled into his usual mechanism of self-destruction, knowing pretty well that the path he was going to walk was a forbidden one. Again, physical closeness to Shiro seemed to be the only way to escape the loneliness he felt.

Reaching for the hand on his shoulder, Shiro shared an intense look with the monk. "Don't you feel lonely sometimes?", he asked with a soft voice. The street boy felt he knew what to do to avoid the elder's defences, the monk was still young and definitely as much a slave to his hormones as any twenty-year-old man was - this was Shiro's chance. Moving only little closer Shiro acted the role of the young boy needing comfort - one he had been successful with many times before.

Though he only held the monk's hand very lightly he did not let go of it - physical contact was something very rare to monks, Shiro knew that much. Therefore it became his strongest weapon.

The monk looked into Shiro's eyes, trying to fight his urges. 'It's sinful. Unholy. The Lord would be dissapointed in me.' Thoughts ran through the monks mind, trying to convinse himself not to act upon these urges, but the boy wanted it to. Was it so bad? Not thinking, the monk pressed his lips again Shiro's, pulling back after seconds, feeling guilty. "I..I'm sorry. I should not have done that.."

Shiro shook his head, then locked their lips again, pulling the monk a little closer, trying to overstrain him just enough to make him willing. "It's not a sin...", he whispered, "I don't want to be lonely anymore." This way it sounded like the monk was doing a good deed. Kissing the elder again, Shiro's hand trailed down the monk's chest while he was tasting the breath of the handsome man.

Thoughts continued to run through the mans head, telling him it was a sin, but all the same the ma could not fight his urges. He began to think or reasons this was ok. He was comforting a poor soul, making him feel better. Surely this was an act of God. He himself had said someone showing kindness was how god acted to help him.
Giving in to Shiro he pulled the young man closer, kissing him back.

Shiro knew he had won over the monk's moral.
He let himself fall into the elder's arms, letting him take the lead.
Soon he found both of them hidden by some bushes laying on the ground, their clothes somewhere behind them. Shiro huddled against the man, kissing him again and looking up to his face gratefully. For now he felt like being close to this stranger could drive the loneliness away. Still, his thoughts were with Ishi, this man being nothing more than a substitute.

The young monk let go of all of his thoughts telling him this was wrong. His brain was no longer in charge of his body. He smiled softly at the young man, then kissed him with great passion, running his hands down the youngers body, reaching for his penis, forgetting all about his vows of celebacy, and his belief that the lord was watching.

Elsewhere, Ishi had finished eating. He thanked the monks and headed off to his and Shiro's room. He opened the door slowly, not knowing if Shiro would be in there. When he saw he was not, he removed his clothes to his boxers, folding them and throwing them on a chair into the room. Exhauhsted from not sleeping for the past 2 days he crawled into bed, drifting off to sleep within seconds.

Manami felt peaceful. She felt as though her mind was free, her thoughts becoming pure. She felt as though nothing need worry her at this moment in time, as though she could do anything. No longer completely aware of what was going on around her, she continued to chant.

Shiro simply let it happen, he had closed his eyes by now to imagine Ishi close to him like this, touching him, wanting him.

Panting with pleasure due to the monk's skilful hand Shiro repaid the favour to the elder, both of them lost in their actions so they did not hear someone approaching...

Shocking the monk, an older monk grabbed him by the arm and dragged him from Shiro and threw him into the icy pool in the centre of the garden. He grabbed the young monks clothes and threw them at him whilst praying, asking for the lord to forgive this monk for his moment of weakness. When he was done praying he turned to the monk and began shouting at him, "Why would you do this!? Do your vows not matter to you! This is a sin in the eyes of the lord! You should never have done this! REPENT!"

Not far away from the chaos, Manami was still meditating. The other monks had apparently heard what was going on and ran outside to see, Manami had blocked everything out, until one of the monks accidently kicked her foot as he ran out. This brougth her out of her trance. She saw everyone running outside. Worried something was happening she jumped up and followed them outside to see a naked monk in the pool, and Shiro cautiously looking out from behind a bush.

Shiro was definitely surprised and a little embarrassed. Of course he felt sorry for the monk but for now he guessed it was better to save himself and his comrades from trouble and vanish... Though probably the older monk recognised him anyways, since his marked body was more than conspicuous.

Gathering his clothes, Shiro tried not to draw any attention towards himself while he got dressed. Then he hid himself in one of the larger bushes, making it seem as though he was gone - after all hiding himself was something he was good at. Only if someone had watched him, they would know he was still there but most of the monks were still looking at their fellow in the water.

The poor monk was obviously deeply ashamed of himself and could not find words to say. Quickly dressing himself in the water he crawled to the older monk's feet, begging for forgiveness. This little escapade could cost him a lot...

Manami kept silent. She had seen Shiro in the bushes but chose not to make matters worse. The elder monk seemed only interested in the sins of the monk now at his feet. He told him to repent, to beg for forgivness from their lord, and if he punished himself, he would be forgiven. The monk then scurried off back inside to pray. The elder monk made a small speech to those stood around him, telling them to learn from the young ones mistakes. He then told them all to go back to their business, each one of them wandering off in different directions. He himself then formed the sign of the cross, across his body and walked back inside going to check on the younger.

Manami simply stood there, staring at the bus Shiro was hiding in, trying to figure out what she were going to do.