A New Chapter [Social | Private]

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The night was young and a lone figure would be seen roaming the streets of the village. Most people had already gone home to their families or other commitments. The silhouette figure wavered slightly as it made its way down the main streets. The silhouette belonged to none other than Sakuragi Kokoro, an aspiring shinobi whose sole purpose in life was to be strong enough to eliminate those who wronged her. And so with those thoughts in mind she had been training that night in the training grounds.

It wasn't that she had no home, her stepfather always waiting for her return. But she didn't want to go back. Her father was a nice and kind man but she always felt uneasy around him. She felt guilty for having him take on the responsibility of providing for her just because he had found her when she was a child. The bonds of father and daughter were simply not there. So she stayed away as much as she could, often returning home in the dark of night when she was certain he would be asleep. It became like a routine.

Her steps faltered ever so slightly and her vision blurred. She hadn't eaten for a few days, prioritizing training over the need to maintain bodily functions. Added to the mix was her inability to sleep at night. Her body was screaming for her attention, but pushing past her limits had also become a routine. The young girl fell forward, her muscles giving way as she turned into a dark alleyway. It was bound to happen, that much she knew. As her vision blurred and eventually became pitch black, she would see a figure in the distance, coming from the other side of the alleyway.

"Is it night already?" Sojiro would grumble to himself as he stepped out of his apothecary and would pull the door shut behind him, sliding the key into the lock and making sure it was secure with a soft tug. The man had been busy helping various patients throughout the day, the clinic aspect of the shop being more popular than he was originally expecting. It had been less than a week since the Inukura Apothecary had opened up, business flowing in steady enough that it felt like that had been here much longer. Regardless, Sojiro was actually dressed in a much different attire than usual.

While he still didn't wear shoes, his feet were actually wrapped in bandages to maintain some level of cleanliness while working and allow him full movement still. He wore a pair of black dress pants and a white dress shirt to match, a black-tie overtop his shirt. Over the whole outfit was a doctor's jacket, hanging down to his calves. The man didn't look much like a shinobi currently, most of the defining features hidden, but that didn't really matter to him much. Sojiro liked his new job, "What should I get for dinner tonight?" He would question to himself, thinking about how Mrs. Nash's place was definitely closed at this hour. As he walked down the street, he entertained the idea of getting some ramen but that had been dinner last night. Sojiro let out a soft breath, perhaps, he could go hit the BBQ place on the other side of town up then crash at the hotel.

It wasn't that he didn't have a home but he was getting older and while he respected his adopted father, the truth was they were two grown men living together, "I need to get my own place..." He would mutter, noticing he was starting to talk to himself a bit more than he liked and shaking his head. As he walked down the street, he stopped and turned to move towards an alleyway, which would help him get to the BBQ faster than he intended. As he came around the corner, he caught the scent and sight of a female on the ground and let out a soft breath, "Another druggie?" He questioned, this person wasn't a drunk, he would've been able to smell it on her. The man would shift closer to the female and let his brows press together a bit, "What the..."

It was clear that this girl was young and weak, he could tell simply from her breathing. Without much hesitation, Sojiro would move down onto a knee next to the girl and begin to check her vitals, "Are you alright? Hey, can you hear me at all?" He asked in a calm tone of voice, his touch being the gentle prodding of a medical professional. It didn't matter though, it was clear that the girl was unconscious and lacking nutrients. With a casual jog, to make sure not to jostle the girl too much, they were back at his clinic within minutes. Finding his keys and opening the door was easy enough, moving through the waiting room and into the back area, into one of the patient rooms. It was a simple check-up room, where he'd lay the girl on a reclining chair and would let out a breath. He would move throughout the building to get an IV for the girl, sticking it into her arm so that she would start to get rehydrated. From his office, he got a few bags of jerky, for when she woke up.

"You know, I was supposed to be off for the rest of the night." He would say to the unconscious girl, though it wasn't like he was complaining. As he would turn around after placing the food down, pulling a chair over next to where the girl was sleeping, he'd finally get a chance to look at her in the light. And he blinked. Then he blinked again. Sojiro would lean over the girl and stare at her pale face, his brows furrowed closely together. While she was out, he would raise a hand towards her eyes and rub at the markings there, "You don't get much... Sleep... Do..." And his words trailed off, he sounded like someone talking to... Well, him, when they remarked on his clan's markings. Sojiro blinked again and, feeling a bit of shock settle over him, would take a seat in the chair next to the girl. Rubbing his chin, he would go silent and wait for the girl to wake up.

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Her eyelids would flicker ever so slightly, as she felt someone pick her off the ground. Though quite blurry, she somehow felt an unusual sense of safety as she was carried. Her eyelids would feel the brightness of what she guessed was fluorescent lights as they moved from the dark alleyway to some place indoors. And that would be the last of her memory as she fell into deep slumber. It felt like almost forever, when it was probably only fifteen minutes when her eyes would slowly open. Her pupils adjusting to her surroundings, the young girl would notice the IV on her arm. She must have been found by a doctor or nurse.

And then her eyes would finally rest on the man sitting next to her. She studied him for a moment, adjusting her position in her chair to look at him more closely. "Did you bring me here? Where am I?" Her voice came out as a faint whisper. The room looked like that of doctor's clinic at first glance. Although it was smaller than a hospital room, it had that local clinic vibe resonating warmth. Her head turned around to face him again, looking at his attire. The only thing that gave away he was a doctor was his white jacket. An interesting attire, she thought to herself. It was only when she studied his face that she gave a little gasp, an uncontrollable utterance as she leaned in closer.

Those markings under his eyes! They looked so familiar, so dangerously familiar. The man's facial features also struck a chord in her brain. It wasn't a good chord. Kokoro's expression went from surprise to confusion and then to slight anger as she studied him. He was not much older than her, she observed but those markings under his eyes were a distinct representation of her clan, a secret she had kept to herself since being adopted. She had thought she was the only one, other than the menace she couldn't even call father that had these markings. Who was this man then? Why? How? All these questions flooded her mind as she tried to understand the circumstance presented before her.

Sojiro would have still been sitting in the chair, mostly with his eyes closed as he waited for her to awake. When she finally had stirred, there was no surprise that she had a bunch of questions but he would just watch her curious. There was something that he was waiting for... And then she noticed the markings underneath his eyes. There was obvious shock that washed over the female as she noticed, meaning that she thought the same thing he had; that they were alone in this village. Sojiro would stand up from the chair he was sitting in and rub his brows a bit, "Well, let's start with the basics, I guess. Yes, I brought you here. You were unconscious in an alleyway, there are too many crooked people who live in the slums for you to do that." He chastised her the same way that a doctor would a patient, moving to a counter.

He'd grab a bag of beef jerky and move to sit next to her again, opening the bag up and then offering it to her, "Second, you need to eat. The IV will keep you hydrated for now but it won't change the fact that you haven't been eating." After that, he would sit back in his chair and cross his arms over his chest. Kokoro would be able to see the man's sharp teeth as he spoke, his claws as he offered the bag over to the female. As he looked over the girl one more time, he would bring his eyes upwards to meet the gaze, "And finally, my name is Sojiro Sakura. And I'm a member of the Inukura Clan. My mother was Rinmoku Inukura, my father was a man by the name of Hitomi Inukura. I thought I was the only one left." The man spoke calmly to the woman, curiously watching the girl for her reactions. If she was proof of other Inukura in the land... Then was there a chance there was even more out there?

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Kokoro was only half listening as he chastised her about passing out in the alleyway. She knew she was to blame, always putting everything else over the basics of surviving. It wasn't the first time someone yelled at her over it, as she recalled the countless times Ren did over the years. But that wasn't important right now, she thought to herself, waiting on his explanation of who he was, even though technically she should be the one to tell him first. Technicalities aside, she would reluctantly take a beef jerky as he offered it to her. The salt flavour seemed stronger than usual, probably since she hadn't eaten for awhile.

Hitomi Inukura...her brows furrowed at the utterance of that name.  It had been many years since she had heard that man's name that she had mentally blocked it out almost. Kokoro's body shook a little as she closed her eyes, the memory of the beast playing back like a video recording. the horrified image she had come home to that night when she was a mere child, how he had shown absolutely no remorse whatsoever as he stood over her mother's body. That bastard...her hands clamped into tught fists as she finally brought herself to speak, her voice barely audible. "So I see there's another, fathered by that demon..." she would open her eyes again, her gaze staring directly into Sojiro's eyes as she continued. "Inukura Kokoro. My mother was Inukura Sachiko. And my father..." she dropped her gaze to the floor. It had been so long since she'd used that last name that it felt like she wasn't talking about herself as she spoke.

Sojiro would continue to watch the girl but as she spoke, his face would go stoic. So that was the play here? This girl was claiming to not only be an Inukura but, his little sister at that? Tch, there was no denying that they were of the same clan but for them to also be related, "That seems a bit convenient." He would state bluntly to the girl, standing up against and moving over towards one of the cabinets and beginning to grab a few things, "Before you say anything though, I also understand you gain nothing from lying to me about this." Sojiro would come to sit back in the chair in front of the girl with two separate syringes, "I want to test our blood." He would state before taking his own blood first, sticking himself with the needle and drawing the blood, healing the wound with ease afterward.

He didn't really ask the girl for permission to do this, moving to reach for her and if she didn't fight him, he would take her blood, "How long have you been living in the village? I've been here for seven years. I was sure both of my parents had died of starvation."

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 "That seems a bit convenient." 

She didn't know whether to be insulted and offended by his words. "I don't call having a tyrant and murderer of a father anything convenient." Her voice was still a hiss as she looked at him with defiant eyes. She would continue to listen to him talk about how lying to him wouldn't get her anywhere. She gave a bitter laugh as a response. This cocky bastard, she thought. How could she even be possibly related? But then again, she wouldn't put it past her birth father for bringing up someone who mirrored him. Like father like sun, she supposed. Kokoro looked away from him, scattered memories of her parents returning by just looking at Sojiro's face. How she hated the resemblance...

The girl would squirm a little as she felt him take her arm. "Who do you think you are? You might be a doctor but you have no right to draw my blood." She had nothing to hide but simply didn't want to have to prove anything to someone she didn't know. She would forcefully take out the IV in her arm, a sting from the needle being ejected from the skin. She would start to get up to leave, turning back to Sojiro as she did so. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't really care whether we're related or not and you should wstch your attitude." She really hated cocky men.

Sojiro would look at the girl as she stood up and had started to speak angrily at him, his face becoming confused for a moment as he furrowed his brows together, "I'm sorry, but what?" He would ask with complete seriousness as he would relax in the chair that he was sitting in. He wasn't going to force the girl to sit down and talk to him but, "Are you seriously telling me that no part of you is curious to see if we're related? To know if you have more family?" Sojiro wasn't usually one who cared about the family nor was it actually about family right now, he was curious about the chance of others being out there. There was a chance this girl new more.

He would gesture to the place that she had gotten up from, "And even if you are upset, at least stay until you're ready. I'm still a doctor, after all." He would then move to stand up and assuming that she didn't leave, he would actually move towards the door instead. "You don't want to be near me that's fine, but don't be an idiot." He spoke again and, unless she had stopped him, would walk out of the room and down the hall to his office.

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Kokoro wasn't even sure if she was angry at the situation or at him but his words only fueled the fire as he questioned her about not wanting to know if she had family left or not. Was he dense or just utterly ignorant? If she had wanted to, she would have done so when she first arrived at the village. But she bit her tongue, knowing that talking to Sojiro was kind of like talking to a wall, that knew how to talk back. She heaved a sigh and sat back down in the chair, slightly defeated as he pointed out his profession once again and that she should leave when she had physically recuperated. Well...at least he was a good doctor, she thought to herself, giving him that much credit. Whether he was a good person...that was another story.

"I never had much family...and never thought i would." her expression didn't change as she looked at the chair, avoiding his gaze. She was not a sentimental person but she really didn't enjoy talking about her past. Kokoro shifted slightly in her seat and continued, "i don't want to have to prove to you if we're related, it's nonsense." her voice never went above a whisper while she spoke. She had wanted to feel love from her family before, had wanted to be cherished like a daughter should be to their parents, but no matter how much she sought, she didn't receive any. And now...she simply didn't believe there was such a need for kinship, as her relationship with her stepfather wasn't exactly close either.

As he moved towards the door and she moved towards the chair, he watched her do so and was still prepared to leave. And then she spoke to him, so he stood with his back facing her and his hand on the handle of the door. Listening to her words, he would take a moment to stop looking at her like a patient or someone trying to threaten his life and instead like a little girl. A scared little girl who was clearly scarred by her father, did it matter if the two of them were blood right now? He would let out a soft breath and curse Hikari and Gen underneath his breath for making him soft, slowly turning around to look at the girl, "I'm sorry if you felt like I was making you prove it. I just let my curiosity get the better of me."

The man would shelf the idea of them being related until she was ready to talk about it again but he would walk back over, sitting in the chair next to hers, "Why don't we try this again, yeah? My real name is Shin Inukura, my adopted father named me Sojiro Sakura. I've been here for seven years after being left at the gates for dead." He didn't seem bothered by his past or anything but it had been so long since he had used his own name that it almost sounded foreign to him.

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Was this man...suddenly being kind?

It was such a change in personality, at least to her, that Kokoro was visibly taken aback. She would blink for a moment before nodding her head. "I'm sorry I lashed out at you too..." she had never apologized to anyone before and it felt very strange to do so when it technically wasn't eve her fault. But there was just something about Sojiro's demeanor, something that made her feel guilty when she calmed down. He really did have that image of an older brother. She would re-evaluate him as she sat in the chair, listening to him talk.

Kokoro could see a little clearer now, his physical and facial features more defined as she took a better look at him. On the one hand she felt that he was kind of scary, but then remembered that she probably didn't look much better, being from the same clan. But if he really was like how he was now speaking, she actually wouldn't mind having an older brother like that. All she wanted was to be protected, to feel safe, to have someone look out for her. "My birth name is inukura Reika and I was adopted by my adopted father when I was seven or eight, so everyone knows me by Sakuragi Kokoro." The girl would extend her right arm out to him before adding, "You can take my blood...if you want."

Sojiro couldn't help but continue to examine the girl as she spoke, truly shocked that there were other members of his clan that existed. As she continued to sit there defeated, it was clear the girl was just trying to find somewhere to fit in. He remembered being like that for a bit when he first got to the village but he had given up on that some time ago. As she confessed her real name he would say it softly under his breath, committing it to memory, "Reika..." But when she offered her arm, he raised a brow curiously for a moment and would think it over. After a moment, he would slide his hand over so that he could grab the syringe and pull it from small table nearby.

It would be a quick and easy process, finding a good place to take the blood and summoning a small amount of chakra to his finger and healing the wound. He would do himself next, filling a different vial with blood, before moving to get up, "I'll be back in a few minutes, just relax for a bit and I'll be back." And with that, he would go out of the room and down the hall to his office. He would run some tests.

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Her heart pinched as she said her own name. Reika, a name she had long forgotten or had forcefully chosen to forger, was hard for her to say. All the memories tied to the name surfaced, playing back to her like a horror movie as she sat in the chair, one hand on her head. Her head hurt, but not as much as her heart did as she replayed the footage of finding her mother's dead body over and over in her head. She now recalled what her father had said to her when he walked past him, something she hadn't remembered until this very moment. "That woman...she is a disgrace of a human. Thinking she can control me and tie me down. You too, you little brat. No one can get in my way." His tone had been as cold as ice, his face even colder. He had killed her mother because she tried to convince him to stop being power hungry.

To be a normal human, husband, and father.

But that was too much to ask. Kokoro had seen her parents fight over his power obsessed ways. her mother was just a normal kunoichi who wanted to live a normal life. She had hoped that marriage and later starting a family would be the keys to turning him around. But there was no turning that creature around, and her mother had found out the hard way. Tears streaked down Kokoro's face, her body trembling as she literally fell off the chair, both of her hands holding her head as she knelt, a small scream of agony escaping her lips. The sudden rush of memory was too much for her, it seemed.

It was a short walk to his office at the end of the hall, where he'd go routing around in some of the shelves until he found a simple-looking device. He'd plug it into an outlet before placing both vials on blood into it, allowing the machine to start running the tests. As he leaned against the cabinet thinking about his time before coming to the village, everything was mostly a blur for him. He remembered running across the desert, being free and hunting. He remembered losing his mother... And he remembers waking up in the village. Everything else was a blur and he had never really cared enough to think about it. As he started to think about it, there was a small beep from the machine and he would turn his head. As he started to read over the results, the man would hear a scream from the other room and run out.

As he came into the room Kokoro was in, the man's face was a bit shocked to find her on the ground crying and screaming. He looked at her and there was something similar about the scene, it reminded him of his first couple of nights sleeping at Ren Sakura's house. What had the man done to try and help Sojiro? With a soft breath, Sojiro would move to sit on the ground next to the girl and then lean over, aiming to wrap both of his arms around her. The motion felt foreign and strange to him but it was all he could think to do, trying to pull her into a hug, "Shhhhhh......."

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For a good few moments the girl was on her knees, weeping and wimpering like a child. She didn't want to remember the things she had chosen to forget. Her mind had carefully crafted itself to block out what it knew she wouldn't want to remember. And yet, and yet this small interaction with a doctor would shatter all of that. Kokoro couldn't believe how trivial memory was, and how earth shattering it would be if drawn to the surface. It was painful, and she didn't know how to ease the pain. She knelt there while Sojiro was out running the blood tests, her head pounding and making her nauseous.

She felt arms around her suddenly, a warmth so foreign it made her look up, her hands still clutching her head and tears streaking down her face. Her eyes met his, and they seemed so soft and gentle. Kokoro couldn't make up her mind about this man in front of her. Was he a jerk? Was he not? Although he seemed like one at the start, his words and actions afterwards contradicted, leaving her feeling rather conflicted. The girl searched in his eyes, wanting to find safety that she had never truly felt all these years. She felt physically safe with her adopted father, Ren, and he provided for her. But she had longed to feel mentally safe, to have a family, to have protection.

She fell into his embrace, her hands shifting from her head and wrapped themselves carefully around his body. She hadn't cared in the slightest if they were related before, but now she was suddenly curious. Could they really be brother and sister? Could it be that she wouldn't be lonely anymore? Kokoro would release him from the embrace, wiping the tears from her face roughly with the back of her hand before asking softly, "So...?" Her mind was mentally bracing herself for either response from Sojiro.

The man would hold the girl as she got a hold of herself, holding her close and as she hugged him, he tensed a bit. He didn't really like this type of emotional content but he could handle it for the sake of this girl, after all, she had been through enough. Sojiro let out a soft breath as he got comfortable in his lap and it was like he was doomed to this fate, and he just accepted. As she asked the question, he would give a laugh, "So? You're curious now?" Of course, there was a soft grin on his lips, he was teasing the girl. He would take one arm away so that he could scratch at his cheek sheepishly.

"Well, it seems you weren't lying about who your father was. It seems that you are my little sister." He would say this more bluntly than someone would with pure excitement. It was more of a statement said by a doctor, than a brother.

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By now she had gotten a grip of herself, the distressed look and demeanor almost completely fading. It was strange how a simple hug could make miracles. Kokoro would still be kneeling on the ground as she waited for Sojiro to speak, thinking of what would happen if it turned out they weren't related. Well...she would just have to go on the way she had been this many years, but the small glimmer of hope she got from this encounter had made her seek for the comfort of family she hadn't done in years. The girl shot him a soft glare as he jokingly pointed out her now very apparent curiosity. It wasn't her fault, she thought.

"Well, it seems you weren't lying about who your father was. It seems that you are my little sister." She smiled, her grin so wide like that of a small child getting her favourite candy. She would tackle hug him a little, even though she was well aware that he probably wasn't the type for close physical contact, wrapping her arms around his waist. She would whisper softly in his arms, "Nii-sama.." How strange that felt to say it out loud. She could have chosen to call him Sojiro or some other informal nickname. But she had chosen nii-sama, an honorific only used for those of respect and class. She respected him, though she still found his personality slightly...cocky.

As the girl would take in the information, process it, and then lunge at him... He thought he was under attack! The girl wouldn't get a chance to hug him, instead he would have been on his feet and landing a couple of feet away in a single motion. The man knocked over the small table before and slammed against the cabinet, his body tense and eyes watching her intently. As she had spoken the name, at the same time, it had taken him a moment... To realize how big an asshole he just was.

The man would slump over slightly before moving to walk over to the girl, offering a hand to her so that he could help her up, "Alright, alright... Let's start small, I'll take you home and we can chat on the way?"

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At first her expression would be filled with hurt, until she realized who exactly she was dealing with. The man had literally jumped back a few feet, the paranoia of sudden human contact perhaps too much as he knocked over a table. Kokoro would look at him, into his eyes, searching. He was like her, she thought to herself. She wasn't all that keen on hugs as well, having lost a little bit of control just because she was relieved and happy to have found her kin. But because Sojiro didn't know that, it must have made him tense. She suddenly felt a little apologetic as he walked closer to her, offering his hand to help her up from her kneeling position.

The hurt on her face cleared into a small smile as she took his hand and stood up. He was offering to take her home! The thought of a home seemed so foreign to her, not really returning to her own house where her father lived enough to begin with. The thought that she could and would be able to call some place a home surprised and scared her, but she nodded her head. By now she felt physically better, having the IV had helped wonders. The girl would follow the man out of his clinic in silence, her mind preoccupied by what her brother's house looked like.

[Exit]