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 Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:04 pm
The reletively small, smooth sided house is on the outskirts of the village. It's painted black with white spots placed randomly on it with one big white circle. There is great paint below it, hinting that it may be decorated further to match its night sky theme. It is two stories, but not large by any means.
The yard around it has a rose bush that is quite large compared to the small space around it. Nordia is trying to start up another one closer to the house instead of out in the middle of the yard like the other one. The blooms don't seem to stop coming due to Airu's constant care and occasional charka stimulant... The brilliant red blooms look marvelous when worn in one's hair as Airu found out when Nordia pelted one at his head and a thorn got stuck in his skull. ("Hey! The reds match!" he yelled as he pointed to his bleeding crainium and looked in the mirror.)
The first thing you see when you enter the house is a set of stairs and a mirror. ("Too keep the vampires away," Airu told Nordia one day as he hauled it in and mounted it on the wall.) The interior is a light blue with clouds painted near the ceiling. The floor is an emerald green, and thick. To the left is a doorway leading into the kitchen/dining room and to the right is a doorway leading to the large living room that takes up half of the lower floor. In the living room you'll find a couch on one wall, a fireplace on the other, a love seat across from the fireplace. There is a small painting of a lonesome battlefield with one man kneeling among the carnage as everything lay still. It obviously was after the battle, but the man held his sword tight as he kneeled. A slight aura surrounded the man, empowering him. (When Nordia asked about this, she merely got an icy glare and a: "Never. Ask." in reply. There is more to her brother than meets the eye.)
Going back into the hallway, there is one more doorway which leads to the cave-decorated bathroom. Rather creepy to shower in as there are yellow eyes painted all over.
Up the green carpetted stairs you go and you'll find a small hallway with three doors to it. There are clouds painted up here with blue swirls to show the wind. In one door you'll find a room painted like the outside of the house, black with many different white spots to it. A simple bed with black posts and black spread is pushed against the wall as the rest of the room is littered with books and weights.
Next to it is Nordia's room, which is much more normal. It had black walls with red roses painted in a vine-like manner across it. The thorns are rather large, but Airu is twisted in that way in his paintings. Nordia has her bed in the middle of the room, with her many pet books carefully placed on shelves in the corner. Scrolls of different types are in two others, and a small set of knives is in the last one.
What is in the last door? Don't ask. Don't ever ask. Nordia will squeak and get quiet. Airu will become cold and quickly change the subject.
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Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:57 am
With a grumbled and a groan Nordia walked through the front door of her home wiht Kidalo wrapped snuggly around her neck, asleep. A flash of bright pink slippers and a bathrobe was soon folowed by a dull pain and a snap of newspaper over Nordia's head. "God... Airu! What was that for?!" she yelled, rubbing her head with her hand and glaring at her pink clad brother. Of course, she knew why, but she wasn't going to outright say it.
"Because! Nordia dearest, you were out all night. Again. Hell, you've been gone for a week at once! Without warning!" His way of speaking was contained, making him sound like a kabuki actor. His voice softened and turned more normal with his sigh. "I just worry about you... I can't always be with you to save you. Not anymore..."
"Nii-sama, I can handle myself..." Nordia responded quietly with a dignified roll of her shoulders, upsetting the sleeping snake who gave a small hiss in discomfort.
"Don't even get me started on.. that!" Airu said with a disgruntled shake of his newspaper at the snake.
Kidalo hissed lazily, but did not have the energy to retort. But if he could it would most likely be about the bathrobe and slippers. So Nordia did it for him. "He's here for the same reason as that," she pointed to the robe, "He makes me feel pretty."
"Sleep now. Explain later," Airu said, pointing up the stairs with his trusty newspaper.
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:37 pm
In loose cargo pants and blue tee-shirt, Airu leaped off the middle stairs and landed with knees bent and a slight pop on the floor. "Yes! Ten points!" he yelled, thrusting his fists up in the air in celebration, causing some copper bracelets to jangle on his wrists.
Nordia ran after him, stopping at the top of the steps in a black tank top and cargo shorts. "Ha! I can totally beat that!" Nordia shouted, jumping off of the stairs three up from where Airu lept off and yelled a warcry as she landed on his back, causing him to topple.
"Nordia dearest, why are you wearing gloves? It's too hot outside for gloves. Not to mention they are out of style this year. Now, next year they are going to make a come back, but I'm feeling uneasy of letting my younger sister go out like that," he scolded, grabbing one of her hands. He pulled off one of them and clicked his tongue as he studied her scarred and scabbed hands. "Quit ruining your beautiful hands! I know our dear older brother would have been so ashamed to see your hands going to waste as a ninja... Why not be a florist? Or a painter?"
"Our older brother has nothing to do with this..." she said in a dark, quiet tone. A bad subject. "And I don't have your painting ability, I can only paint what is in front of me, and flowers aren't my thing."
"Nordia..." he whispered, still laying on the floor. He pushed himself up into push up position with Nordia still on him. "Our nii-sama died with honor fighting for his village... I never understood his devotion to Konoha. It had so many other ninjas willing to die for it..."
"That is why you took me to the Crystal, is it not?" Nordia asked, going into push up position on her brother. Memories of her older, dark haired brother rushed back to her as she surpressed them. He was the first to know of the Shininari gift, or curse. It depends on who you ask. To be without emotions and without longing for emotion utterly and comepletely, not even boredom. No love, no hate, only duty for your mission and your team.
"Alright, on three. One, two, three." Airu began to do push ups with his light younger sister on is back doing them as well. Grunting as they went along, they continued until they could no more.
****
Nordia rolled off her older brother and stared up to their black painted ceiling. "Nii-san, I have to go... er... meet someone at the diner..." she lied, knowing her brother to not like her train, it ruined her beautiful features. But then again, he didn't like anything about her being a ninja.
"A booooyyyy?" Airu teased, laying next to her with his arms spread apart and legs together.
"No, just... someone..." she lied once more, hopping up and grabbing her headband off the banister of the stairs and tieing it around her head and pulling her bangs to cover the front. She quickly ran out the door before her brother could ask her anymore questions.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:44 pm
Nordia stopped abruptly at the front of their yard. Her movements grew more stiff as she had approached the house. She felt eyes on her, but none were to be seen around her. Her windows were all closed and the blinds were still motionless. The rose bush was as bright as ever and her green grass seemed to pop out to her. It almost... burned her eyes to look at the bright, cheery colors. She took a brave step towards the house as she was forced to close her eyes. Following the now familiar stepping stones she reached out blindly to the stoop with her gloved hands. Finding it she walked up slowly and opened the door with partially opened eyes.
The first and only sights she saw were a blurred fist and the forest green rug on the floor. She heard much more. An incoherent at that point in time mass of yelling, cursing, and whispered threats. And all went blank.
***
"Hush little baby don't you cry... brother's gonna sing you a lullaby..." Airu's gruff voice rang out as he carried his limp sister up the stairs. He had set her in the bathroom and had that summoned snake wash her. It worked out rather well. He had wrapped her in a bath robe and laid her carefully in his arms. Lord knows what she did while away, and he was not more worried about her than angry of her not coming home for five days. With a large foot he opened the door and looked at her dusty room with mild happiness, he never was in here but when he was she always threw things at him.
Airu completely went out of focus, remembering all the times... Until the snake slithered up his leg and gently bit onto Nordia foot, causing her to twist in Airu's arms. The snake pulled himself up to Nordia's lap and closed his eyes to sleep in comfort.
He put Nordia and her snake on their bed. She stiffly, on instinct, curled into a little ball as Airu laid the covers over her. "Sleep well, and may your interal bleeding be minimal..." With a hiss from Kidalo, Airu left her for as long as she needed.
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Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:10 pm
Nordia rose like a zombie from her grave as the covers slid down and Kidalo slid up her arm to her neck, playfully licking her cheek with his light tongue. Raising a hand to her throbbing skull, she groaned at the effort it took to move. Slowly setting her feet on the floor with a nearly silent 'plit' she moved to the window jerkily. She opened the hatch as quietly as she could and jumped to the tree, having to brace herself up as she stumlbed on her landing.
A white smile appeared in the shadow of her room as the tall form of her brother stepped out of the shadowed corner. " 'Bout time..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:57 pm
Nordia closed the door to her house loudly, though she knew her brother would be waiting for her anyway. She took off her sack and set it on the immaculately clean floors of her hallway. Opening her mouth to speak, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her close to another body. "Where is... Aibo?" a low hiss asked in her ear. The muscles on his chest rippled as he tightened his grip on the girl, causing her to gasp in pain of her ribs nearly breaking. "Girl! Tell me where is Aibo!" the demonic voice yelled in her ear, the area of his arm against her cloak growing unusually hot and Nordia clearly felt one of her ribs crack under the pressure of his arm. From the way he was always tense, Nordia could tell he was ready for action or was just muscle on muscle on muscle.
"Akuma! Silence!" Yelled a voice from the living room, it burned with anger and pure loathing. Nordia's senses spiked at them mention of a powerful demon, which says a lot for her rib was broken, she had not slept in a day or so, and she just got done sprinting home. The arm around her immediately released and the thing stepped back to the door.
"Akuma? As in Satan?" Nordia whispered lowly, taking a step forward and wavering at the burst of pain from her ribcage. The demon placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. His hand was dark and leathery from most likely being around fire all day and his fingernails were sharp to a point. If they slashed you, it may be hard to bear the pain.
A deep chuckle eminated from the strong one called "Akuma". "No, it is a common name used by mortals to describe those powerful enough to..." he left off there, footsteps coming closer.
"Akuma, Aibo is still dead despite what you believe. You are free and can return to Hell...." Airu entered the lit area from the shadows of the living room with a stiff step. He studied the demon with a demeaning eye before he sighed. "Alright.. just this once... The tea is on the coffee table, I put a lot of surgar in it just the way you like it..." Airu's voice was mildly depressed and put out, almost defeated as he told the new one this.
"Yosh!" the demon rumbled happily, throwing one of his fists in the air out of celebration. He turned Nordia with one hand to get a look at her and Nordia got a look at him.
Her mouth dropped. She's seen this demon before. But she thought she was dreaming. When she was young, she'd see this horror watching her from a corner of her room and she'd ignore him. One of his horns was broken off and splintered as the other curled to an upwardly spiralling motion. His skin was dark as night, and as leathery as could be. His towering height managed to astound Nordia, she was guessing he was about 7'9". He wore a pair of leather pants and had a surprisingly normal body, despite it being more muscular than any other man she's seen.
She hated it when nitemares became true. He broke into a twisted smile and hugged her. "My, Norduli, you have grown..."
"I will entertain our guest and send him home, you've been gone for a month and I heard your rib crack... Sleep. Now." Airu pointed up the stairs and Nordia willingly obliged, wondering who "Norduli" was.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:14 pm
Nordia's pearly white hand gripped the rail like a life-line as she looked down to the foyer. She stood on the top step of her stairs as she had just gotten out of bed. She's been known to sleep for days, but something kept her awake. Was it her broken rib? Maybe. Was it because a nitemare had just hugged her? Most likely.
A hand placed itself on her shoulder and she immediately got on her knees to swipe out the person's feet. A bad move. She yelled in pain and collapsed completely, a noseful of emerald green carpet kept her from whimpering.
"Good Lord, Nordia... what happened to you while you were away?" a playful voice whispered in her ear. Roughly, her brother hoisted her up to her feet and held her there with a surprisingly firm grip.
"Painting... Nightmares... lemme go report to Ryu..." she told him, her head hung and the only force keeping her up was her brother's hands. Her blue bathrobe was tied loosely around her otherwise naked body, which caused her brother to click his tongue.
"You will do nothing of the sort! You're naked for crying outloud!" Airu yelled, shaking her light enough for the robe to stay up, but hard enough to get his point across. "Into your room, get some ********' clothes on, than you can go to see your precious oyabin!" His grip was growing tighter and tighter on her shoulders until it felt as if he was breaking them.
Nordia let out a whimper of pain and he let go, his gaze following his hands as they dropped numbly downwards. "Just do it..." His voice quivered as he spoke. He did not look up to her as he stared at his hands as if they were covered in some horrible slime.
*****
Nordia exitted the door of her house with an uneasy feeling of dread filling her. She shook it off as she continued along the path away from her house. She put a tight wrap around her chest to keep the pain away somewhat and her cloak defended her from having to reveal her bandages to anyone who might see down her shirt.
Her pack held her paintings and she was set in mind to find Ryu.
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:11 am
Nordia walked up the stoops to her house and smiled softly, knowing her brother to be the angry type, and because of that she may not live through the night. And she was fine with that. Her emeralds of eyes were calm, and wise. Like that of an old woman, only with the spark of intelligence instead of a senile glint, even though that had been known to appear in her eyes.
She opened the door without ceremony and set down her pack onto the deep green floor. A still had settled over the house which unsettled the young kunoichi as her long black shirt rustled in a non-existant wind. A flicker of movement caught her right eye, then to her left. She back up towards the door, reaching down to grab her knife. Her arms and chest were covered in crystal as she had been practicing Crystal Shield, obviously trying to get back into the habit of training.
As her hand grasped the handle of her favored knife that was that of a large hunting style, a hand grasped her shoulder tightly. A cold chuckled echoed through the overwise silent house.
"Nordia-chan... It's been over a month since you last came home, do you have an explaination?" her older brother whispered in her ear as his hand gripped her shoulder like a person over the edge would grip a rail.
Nordia simply sighed and chuckled. "I've been in solitude. My mind needed to be cleared and so it was. I'll be sure to keep at home for a while... for one condition. Train me, Shininari Airu. I am in desperate need of it. Taijustu was your speciality, and so it shall be mine..." she told him in an equally cold tone, her hand grasping the knife coming up and showing the slightly rusted instrument to her brother.
A genuine laugh emitted itself from the stony Airu. The house's tension seemed to melt away as his voice echoed through it, and the cold of winter seemed to disappear. "Oh, dear Nordia... You always know how to make me smile... Something is definately different about you. More determined... And as much as I hate it, you're going to be a great ninja one day, or die trying. And I'm not even kidding about that..." Airu's tone changed at an almost shocking pace. He went from muderous to cheery older brother. Nordia was mildly shaken, but could only smile. "Now, Nordia-chan. Let's start with body flicker..."
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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:46 pm
The home was still as death and it seemed as though a thin layer of dust had settled over all of the belongings in the home. Stepping into the home would cause a shiver even up the bravest of men's spines. You'd have to be almost god-like to enter such a dead dwelling and not feel the cold aura. But over this layer, sometimes, late at night, light footsteps seemingly made by a ghost could be heard. The dust would stir then settle as if nothing had happened. Over time, these occurrences became less and less. Soon, about a month after life had left the house, they stopped. The chill of winter and the cold of memories best forgotten advanced on the property. But still, everyday, it could be seen the snow wiping away footsteps towards a large rose bush in the center of the front yard. The bright red buds refused to open, possibly under the weight of the snow, or perhaps the one visiting in the night is sustaining them just enough to keep them alive. It is unknown.
All was quiet on the western front of the property and the sun was setting lowly on the horizon. The twilight was beautiful as it glanced off the snow and the red and green rose bush seemed to jump out as if ambushing someone compared to the pale snow. The total darkness of night set in and only the clear, crisp moonlight with speckles of stars lit the way of two dark, cloaked figures that hovered among the hills. They moved in a pacing pattern, circling the other with their heads down. One was definitely shorter than the other, but had better posture. As the night wore on, the figures seemed to disappear behind one of the hills and all was silent. Their foot prints were washed away by wind, the dry snow covering them almost immediately as the winds grew more fierce. Hushed voices spoke in raspy whispers from a place unseen and soon the dark, hooded figures seemed to glide as they reappeared. Their footprints being covered by the mysteriously strong winds. They made their way to the door of the silent house and they laughed low, chilling laughs in unison. The taller figure pushed open the door and ushered the smaller one in.
"Welcome home, Nordia-chan," he said in a murmur as the smaller once pulled down her hood, revealing....
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 11:10 am
A face caked in mud and blood, with green orbs in the center that shone like lanterns in the dull light of the home. Her hair was tied behind her in a high ponytail and it had not been washed in a long time. It was stringy and covered in a layer of dirt. There were cuts on the girl's neck, some that still bled, that were light, but many in number- as if she had the stem of a rose wrapped around her neck like a choker. Her face was emotionless and blank, her lips blood red from, most likely, blood. Wisps of hair escaped th tail and framed her face, making her look much older than 16.
"My, how you have changed after your training, deary..." her older brother said as he circled her. There was a faint 'whump' as he closed the door with his heel, but Nordia had grown to know how to know, but not react until the time called for it. "You've grown taller, at least you hold yourself that way. You're more proud in your posture, and your expression. Almost regal, some'd say..." He circled her once more, until he was facing her. He pulled his cloak off in a flourish and folded it on his arm. A sick smile crept onto his lips, that were in much better condition than Nordia's. "Welcome home indeed... Shower, clothe yourself, then come downstairs so we can discuss a few things..."
*********
The bath was a clay brown after Nordia got out of it, and the air a sticky, almost jungle like consistency and smell. She wrapped herself in bright yellow towels, which showed that she lost weight immensely. There was barely any fat on her, even in the places it should be. Her face was slightly more freckled than before, but it seemed longer and more worn in her expression. She walked on the balls of her feet, making her legs seem longer and herself taller. "Niisama?" she called in a cool voice that lacked the insanity she usually held.
"In the living room, Nordia-chan," Airu called back, his voice echoing her tone. When Nordia entered, she saw her brother staring at the painting on the mantle-peice. He heard her enter and he turned around, smiling smally. "Home... after almost six months... home... Do you think you'd like to speak to Ryu-kun? He will be impressed at how you've grown. I know I am. You've got talent, but you had no teachers. That is a sad thing. You could go very far, my dear... Very far indeed... Now, sit. Rest. Watch me draw, if you'd like. You deserve it." Airu's smile was very childish mischievious, like he had another plan behind it. But, at his orders, Nordia sat and crossed her legs, bouncing them as she watched her brother set up his canvas on the coffee table before her. His paints were spread around him like flowers and his brushes like knives to a chef. He centered himself for a moment while he knelt before the blank piece of paper. He picked up his brush and bent over the paper, tracing flowing lines along the paper in water to outline his future work. Nordia began to lose interest and her mind wandered...
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