by Hibiki Tue Apr 09, 2024 1:57 am
It was probably for the best that the Hokage refrained from explaining anything about the reason behind her long nap. Talking about something as serious as suicide could put the wrong type of idea into Hikibi’s impressionable head.
With how limited her framework was she was prone to bouts of monkey see monkey do type situations where she would imitate the people around her in order to better fit in. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it was wildly inappropriate simply because she didn’t know better.
As Airi spoke the younger girl hung onto her every word. Doing her best to parse every unfamiliar turn of phrase. The Silver tongue part made enough sense, she supposed. She could turn parts of her body into steel after all. The second part about growing up to break hearts though was concerning. Hibiki still wasn’t all that great at that nounce thing. She wasn’t quite sure if Airi was being literal or the laugh at the end signified if it was a joke, not something to be taken too seriously.
“I prefer to think of myself as a heart-mender.” replied Hibiki with a serious expression on her face. The facade of over excited exuberance that she usually wore in an attempt to appear to be more like a normal girl had faded to the point it would almost seem eerie how calm she was being right now. Like a wavy lake had suddenly turned placid.
It wasn’t the monotone from when she had first been rescued anymore, just her being herself for once rather than what she thought people expected from her. She was coming out of her shell sort to speak because Airi was doing such a good job at making her feel comfortable.
It was a different context than what Airi had meant but she’d broken plenty of hearts already. How many times had she been forced to hurt someone else? Forced to perpetuate someone else's suffering? She was quite frankly sick of it all.
“I want to help people. The way you helped me.” Hibiki reaffirmed. She wished she had a better, more eloquent way of saying that. Unlike the fancy way many of the grown ups around her talked this was the best she could manage.
Taking the seat that was offered to her, Hibiki pondered how to answer the question about food. It was complicated because for one she was wondering what the heck this curry stuff was and secondly because she didn’t really know much about the dish called beef stroganoff beyond the fact that it tasted good, unlike the green paper bills she’d been given which she’d mistaken for a weird kind of lettuce at first. Those were totally unediable.
“It's beef,beyond that I, I don’t know….” She admitted reluctantly, her face slightly flush with embarrassment over her ignorance. But it would have been even more embarrassing to try and cover it up with a bald face lie. Lying being something Hibiki was well aware she was terrible at. If it was just some random stranger she might not care, but she couldn’t bring herself to try lying to her big sister.
Calling the village a mess seemed a bit like an understatement. Right now parts of it resembled the literal war zones that Hibiki had practically grown up in. She’d heard it was supposed to be a fairly nice place but sadly she hadn’t had much of a chance to experience it before it had been torn up.
Now Hibiki didn’t have the greatest grasp of math. She could do some basic Addition and subtraction without too much trouble, and maybe a little multiplication and division with some intense concentration. She wasn’t sure if 50 meters was like a lot, or if it was only though if it was deep enough for a child to be in danger of falling it was obviously a problem that needed fixing.
“Leave it to me. I’ll see that it gets done.” reassured the young girl. She was still pretty terrible when it came to using doton jutsu on her own but like Airi had said she could use some help which gave Hibiki a brilliant idea. If she worked together with the couple who’d helped her with her earth jutsu training recently, the three of them could make short work of just about any hole in the ground. Well as long as it wasn’t the size of the grand canyon or something. They’d probably want a share of the pay but Hikibi was fine with that since she didn’t know what to do with the money in the first place.
“Are you ok Sis?” Asked Hibiki. After being asked to take care of the hole in the ground she’d noticed the shift in Airi’s demeanor as the older girl was thinking about something that was apparently very difficult for her. By most definitions Hiibki wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. She might not be the brightest but perhaps because her own emotions had been so dulled until very recently she was very sensitive when it came to the emotions of other people. She wasn’t sure what, or why but she could tell something was off with the person she admired the most in the world.
[4]
