Trauma and Hope [closed][Takeo and Hitomi]

There she was, training hard as usual. Casting off her wind jutsu and looking weary. It was a nice day but her body sure didn't show it. She was bruised, cut up a little, tired, and gasping for breath. It was like she was battling against herself. She seemed so exhausted that she should collapse but wouldn't. Not since what happened, she couldn't sleep from it.

Her hair was messed up, her bright blue eyes that showed hope was more barren, her stance unsure. She was giving more than her all just because she couldn't handle it. She stood up once more just barely holding on then let out a gust of weak wind jutsu. It was barely enough to move a leaf. The gist of it was she was tired.

"I'm not strong enough..."

Takeo had decided to dedicate today to training. Becoming a Genin meant he couldn't train as much as he'd like to since he had to do missions now. He was happy to be getting experience as a ninja but that only happened with some missions, usually C ranked. The D ranked ones usually required him to find a pet or help an old lady get home. That was the downside of being a Genin in Takeo's eyes. He knew he was helping the village but fighting bandits always sounded cooler to him than walking someone's dog or picking up trash.

As he arrived at the training grounds Takeo pulled his katana out of its sheathe. It was nothing special, just a normal katana but he didn't mind. Takeo had considered getting a better sword but he found his katan suited him just fine. He had considered trying to learn a new Jutsu today but decided it'd be best if he trained more on his Kenjutsu first. Takeo noticed a girl around his age in the distance. Although he was a bit far away from her he could tell she'd been training for a while. That or someone had attacked her. Takeo hoped that the reason for her exhausted and beaten look was the former of the two.

Takeo decided to see if she was okay. He knew how much his dad worried about him when he'd trained for too long and how using up too much chakra was never a good thing. As Takeo approached her she seemed to say something to herself although he didn't hear what it was. "Hey. You okay. You look like you're gonna drop dead. And that wouldn't look good for me." Takeo asked her as he chuckled.

She started up once more to use her wind jutsu however once the boy entered the court she stopped and huffed in a tired motion. Placing her hands on her knees to try to get some air into herself. She barely at this time wanted anyone near her, let alone a stranger to herself. She took a gasp of air before standing up with a bit of a hunched back. She was aching, especially in her lungs, it was like all the air she breathed was to much to do. When he begun to walk over to her she was surprised and a bit scared. She tried to back off from him a bit, not really up for trusting anyone.

She could only barely hear him speak since she was dizzy from blowing out all the air she needed to breathe in. She then heard his laugh and frowned at his joke. She wasn't in the mood for jokes or playing around. "Just leave me alone..." Her voice sounding raspy and quiet. She wiped her forehead of some sweat before huffing once more.

Takeo stood on the spot feeling the awkwardness of the situation as the girl seemed to take forever before she could catch her breath and speak somewhat normally. "Sorry but I can't just let you train yourself to death." Takeo replied. Wondering if that could be considered a cause of death. Takeo looked around for a water source, the girls throat sounded like it was drier than the deserts in Sunagakure. "You got any water? You should really drink it if you do." Takeo asked, his tone of voice becoming more concerned.

Hopefully this girl will have some common sense and go home soon otherwise I'm going to have to take her back to the village by force for her own good. That shouldn't be too hard though considering the state she's in. Takeo thought to himself before asking the girl another question. "How long have you been training? And for how long? Even I've never tired myself this much." Takeo asked. He wasn't sure if asking those question was considered being too nosy but he'd already spoken so there was no going back now.

She breathed deeply for a moment then looked down before coughing. "Why do you care...and yeah...I have some water." She said before putting one of her hands to her throat feeling it was painful. She walked to the wall nearby where her small bag laid. The only items in it being a sandwich and a bottle of water. Of course adorning the food was a note from her mother. She didn't bother to read it however.

She then walked back tiredly to the boy. "3 days...2 nights...non-stop. I will train until there isn't anything left to learn...I want to make sure that no one could beat me..." She said in a way that sounded rude at first but her facial expression gave off something else. It wasn't that she was in pain from the training, she was in pain because of it. She feels she needs to and that's the it of it. "I'll make sure they can't beat me, because then I'll know my family's safe then..."

She took a minute to think realizing she told him stuff she really wouldn't trust to tell anyone. She would keep going with her training and train till she passes out but, with someone watching she feels it would be embarrassing and being seen as a nuisance isn't the best idea. "Just...leave me alone, it's not like I can trust anyone here..."

Takeo's eyes widened as she revealed to him how long she'd been training. Takeo was amazed she wasn't dead or unconscious yet but he wouldn't be surprised if her body gave in within the next few minutes. He leaned against the wall and listened to her as she continued to talk. Takeo hoped that if stayed near the girl long enough she'd maybe stop training long enough for her body to recover, even just a bit would make Takeo feel a little better about her current state of health.

"Well I hate to break it to you but you won't be able to protect anybody if you keep this up." Takeo replied, feeling a bit guilty for sounding so harsh but it was the truth. However, this girl seemed to be blind to something as simple as common sense. Takeo sighed at the girls last comment. "You can't trust anyone here? Not a single person? Please tell me you're not some insane conspiracy theorist." Takeo asked as he burst into laughter, not taking the situation as seriously as he maybe should have been.

She heard his remark to her sense of thought and shrugged. "Well what would you do if your family was threatened, lay back and just let the days pass? I don't have the time to sit back...not with such little time as it is..." She said in a sort of pissed tone. No one knew what went on between her and her family. She wanted to keep it that way, because it could be anyone who was the one with the threat.

"I trust very few, ones who I deem couldn't be threatening to my family." She took a minute looking down at the bottle of water in her hand. "Just...go away, it's already bad enough that I lost my sensei...now i'll be even slower in training." She said in a huff of anger but also sadness. She took a minute to drink some water quickly before sighing out. She then looked at him quickly with a serious expression.

"Well of course I would train to get stronger but not to the point were I'd become unconscious or even die. Plus I would ask help from the village. Pretty sure they wouldn't let your family be killed so easily." Takeo replied. It was obvious he was getting flustered at the girls 'plan' to keep her family safe. Takeo seemed to ignore the rest of what she said. Normally he wasn't one to be so cold but he was quickly getting annoyed at this girls idea of keeping her family safe.

"In my opinion, trusting almost no one will probably bite you in the ass eventually. But your plan seems solid. Train yourself to near death and not ask for any help." Takeo said with a sigh as he walked off. He remained in the same area as Hitomi so she was still in sight but he didn't feel like talking to her anymore, unless she finally gained some common sense. He pulled out his katana and began practicing, hoping to improve his skills in Kenjutsu. Every so often he glanced over to see if the girl was still okay or if she'd finally decided to take a break.

She took a moment to listen in to what he said, she frankly didn't care to hear it but she felt she had to. With that however he did have a point, not only training until she gives out but not trusting anyone is as bad as trusting everyone. She was a bit confused and for the moment she was just angry so she went to the wall and sat down putting her fingers through her hair to her head to think and cool off. She took a moment before jumping a bit looking down still holding her head in her hands. "I...sorry..." she said in a very quiet tone that still had some spat of anger in it but it was genuine. "I don't trust anyone...because I did put my trust in them and they either die, or stab me in the back...okay?" She said with a ting of a odd vocal reaction. As if she was scared, or sad she wasn't sure herself.

"Can't even trust some of my family...how messed up is that?" She said with a small whine in the back of her throat ducking her head on her knees. She didn't want his pity but here she was breaking down in front of a stranger. She was either to tired to hide or to broken down to care. "I want to trust others...but I'm so scared...i'm so scared of them betraying me. How much it hurts me and everyone else!" She said in a quick shout shaking a little before calming down due to her tired body.

Takeo's eyes widened and his head snapped around to look at the girl who was now sitting against the wall who had apologised. He smiled a little, maybe she wasn't as much of a lost cause as he thought. Takeo slowly approached her as she continued to talk, explaining why she had a lack of trust in others. Takeo began to see her point of view, somewhat. He still thought her lack of trust was a bit stupid but at least she had some reasoning behind it.

Takeo glanced around to see if there was anyone else around, he felt awkward standing on the spot as the girl broke down in front of him. Oh great. What the heck am I supposed to do or say? Takeo thought to himself, worrying that he may use the wrong words to help comfort the girl. "I can see your point...but...I guess you've just got to take risks sometimes...especially for your family." Takeo said with a smile, chuckling slightly as he realised he hadn't even asked this girl what her name was. "Sorry but I didn't ask you your name. I'm Takeo. Takeo Hanamura." He said to her with a smile

She was still pretty sad and a little angry but getting that info out helped a little. Of course she didn't care towards his correction. It would take more than some guy's words to really get it to her. But atleast he cared. Even more so a name, Takeo, she listened in quietly before taking in a breath then sighing out to calm down. "Hitomi Shiruku...and trust me I have taken risks...and they've failed to show even a hint of safety."

She placed her hands to her side and slid her knees down. "But like I said, you don't know me...my name is not my story. You don't know hell until you've run through it and come out burnt." She said pausing to think as she looked up at him. "But for now, I trust you...only because you're listening...something that's rare all on it's own." She said not really smiling but giving off a vibe of serious recognition.