Looking for Something [Plot Mission]

Mission Details:

Loneliness. It was a feeling Kenji was well accustomed to by now, it was practically all he knew and he wasn't about to change it any time soon. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he always came back to this feeling, first was his parents, then his adopted parent, then his friends at the academy. No matter who they were, no matter what they said, they'd always leave. And he'd always be alone. It was a fact he accepted long ago, so when Hikari and Sojiro left him, he wasn't surprised. Yet he still hated to see them go. He hated this feeling. He hated being so lonely for so long. But he hated losing people more. A lesser of two evils in the end. Why try and fight what will always happen? It was the motto he lived by for so long and it was why he didn't try and why he didn't care, because no matter what he did or how hard he worked, he'd always be alone.

"Well... Not completely alone, huh buddy?" Kenji asked his puppet companion, the only thing that has ever stayed by his side even after the damages it sustained. Even if it was shattered in millions of pieces, puppets could always be rebuilt, could always return, could never leave him. Kenji only sighed as the howling of the wind was the only sound he could hear in response to his question. To say his puppet was his only companion wasn't far from the truth, it was really the only thing Kenji could even consider to be a friend, even if it was an inanimate object that didn't talk back. He at least could pretend it was alive and listening to him talk about his bad day or about his fears or anything that sprang to mind. It was his only way to cope with the loneliness he felt throughout his life.

Kenji wasn't even paying much attention to his surroundings as he went through the mountains, he didn't really care about what could be making these tracks, he didn't really care about anything. He could hardly even find a reason to get out bed in the morning, so why would he care about mysteries he'd never solve? People he'd never see again? People who will only leave him in the end? Kenji begun to brink away the tears slowly building up, he couldn't do it now. He'd still need to meet up with the others when it was said and done. Reaching into his pocket, the one eyed shinobi took a candy stick and placed it in his mouth the cherry flavor bringing him back to a better time.

His mother always used to buy him these things when she went out to the nearby shop, it was his favorite snack even back when he was little. Any time he had a bad day, his mother would go give him one, even to this day Kenji has no idea where she hid the seemingly unlimited supply of the candy sticks but it always served to make him feel at least a little bit better. He always thought he was manly for "smoking" the candy sticks, most kids his age just ate the candy sticks but Kenji wanted to be something like his father, a frequent smoker so of course Kenji picked up his own "smoking" habit and would happily pretend to just "smoke" the cherry flavored stick.

Kenji let out a soft sigh as he shook his mind from the memories, he needed to get his bearings and focus once more. The only thing he could think to do to get himself out of his own mind was to meet back with the others, he couldn't bear this loneliness any longer. This loneliness was always the worst, at least with others he could pretend they wouldn't leave him, even if it was only for a little while. As for the mission? Well, he'll simply have to tell them he found nothing.