backina: (Default)
namikaze minato ([personal profile] backina) wrote in [community profile] one_long_mission2012-11-24 09:30 am

intro post: ghosts in the fog

 He comes in as dusk settles, walking through the thin fog that clings around his legs and the tails of his coat, seeming to solidify as he walks.  Even the sound seems to remember itself slowly, for at first he's a silent ghost and it's only as he nears the faint golden ponds of light from the outlying village windows and the flicker of their bonfires that the sounds of soft footsteps in the frost begins.  Blond hair moves a little in the night wind, smoke and crisp autumn chill, and it takes the blue eyes under that fringe a long time to focus in the calmly neutral face.

He's not sure where he's going, just that there's a path in front of him that seems to lead somewhere and he supposes he will follow it for the moment.  When his chakra dissipated from his son's life, he hadn't expected to find himself anywhere - yet here he apparently is.  Lost so long in the mists of his child's life, drifting and unsubstantial, it's hard, now, to think of what's before him as any more real.  He's a dead man's chakra, released from its mission, a ghost from the past as sure as some of the old furniture and unwanted love letters being tossed away to the flames tonight and it's a strange relief that his hand doesn't pass through the tree he comes to stand near on the edge of someone's bonfire, pausing in his journey onward because the road can wait and even ghosts seem able to appreciate the heat from a stranger's fire in the falling night.



ooc:  just a note - Minato's actually very solid but it's going to be a bit before he gets past the idea that he's a lost ghost.  Or that what's in front of him is really there either.  He's been unable to touch anything for a very long time.   Head-canon says a part of him is still trapped with Nine-Tails Yin inside the death god so there's a part of him missing but he'll solidify despite that as he goes.  And I apologize in advance that I am a very slow tagger.  Life is busy right now but I couldn't resist.  
openedthebasket: (mouthopen)

omg you broke Neji, it took forever for me to think of how to properly respond ahaha

[personal profile] openedthebasket 2012-11-27 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
This time, he can't mask his surprise, mouth falling open at his praise. One of the things he'd been working hardest to do, to change everyone's perception of him as the genius who only believed in fate, and the Fourth Hokage knew him for it. His hands clasp tightly at his sides as he finally stirs to offer a deep bow from the waist, holding it there for a long moment as he tries to control the sudden way his heart raced in excitement.

"Thank you, Yondaime-sama," he manages after another moment, his voice soft as his long bangs fall down around his closed eyes. "I... am truly privileged to be known as such to you."

Something was a little odd, though, and Neji forces himself to focus, opening his eyes and lifting his head to study the other's face. "If I may... I was not aware you had a son, Yondaime-sama."
openedthebasket: (surprise)

no regrets!

[personal profile] openedthebasket 2012-12-02 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
The Hyuuga Jounin's brows furrow as he stares at the other, but he's not about to ask for clarification, not yet. If that was the hint the Fourth would give him, then he would puzzle it out from there. Was there supposed to be a meaning to it, or was it just a confirmation that his son knew him? Then again, the older man had said Neji was important to his son, so he could hardly be an utter stranger.

As soon as it hits him, he feels like a fool. The physical resemblance alone should have been enough, and it was more than obvious with the other standing before him, rather than just a photograph. His jaw slackens as his head tilts.

"You don't mean to say -- Uzumaki Naruto?"

And to think Neji had once told him that those who would be Hokage were destined for it by birth...
openedthebasket: (surprise)

[personal profile] openedthebasket 2012-12-04 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Neji can only nod at first, still not quite able to hide the shock obvious in his eyes. After all, this was Uzumaki Naruto -- for as much as he'd learned his own mistake and come to respect and care for him, after his own fashion, he had always been the dropout. Dead-last, he was pretty sure his nickname had been. But none of that changed the fact that Naruto had been the one who had saved him from darkness, and his fingers flex into an open palm at his sides, the smallest sign of his distress. After all, while Neji knew the truth about what a great shinobi Naruto had the potential to be, how much of the village still reviled him for reasons Neji had strong suspicions for, but in reality could only guess at?

"I... am not certain how much is known to you, Yondaime-sama, but I owe your son a great deal," he says finally, softly, his eyes coming up to meet the other's for a moment to impress his sincerity before respectfully dropping again. "Please allow me to thank you for everything you have done for our village."
openedthebasket: (neutral)

[personal profile] openedthebasket 2012-12-07 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
He can only bow again in response to the praise, eyes closed at the honor. Then the other asks a direct question. This was something Neji could answer far more easily, something that didn't deal with him personally. Eyes still respectfully lowered, his back stiffens as he prepares to give what sounds like a mission report.

"Most of us here have been training, from what I understand. We cannot risk losing our skills to complacency in this place. Whenever the person who has summoned us here shows him or herself or selves, we will be ready to strike back and escape to return to Konoha."

A moment of hesitation, then he continues, "There are... shinobi here from different times and places. Some of whom are very different from how someone such as myself is accustomed to seeing them. For example... I have become very familiar with a Naruto who is your... daughter, rather than your son."

The lightest of flushes colors just below his cheekbones as he admits that, but he's quick to move on, not certain that it's entirely appropriate to inform the Fourth Hokage of just how familiar with her he is. "But no matter what, we are prepared to strike back the moment the opportunity arises, Yondaime-sama."
openedthebasket: (neutral)

[personal profile] openedthebasket 2012-12-09 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Neji is eager to move beyond the topic of his daughter; ordinary circumstances would have prompted him to first ask the Fourth for permission to date his daughter, but circumstances being as they were, they just happened to stumble headlong into what he was reasonably certain was called a 'relationship.' It's unlike him to do something so spontaneous, but, well, where Naruto is concerned, there isn't ever much room for planning ahead, as any version seems adept at foiling any plan in an instant. And asking for permission now seemed far too late when he had no intentions of giving her up should the other disapprove.

Someone as skilled at reading expressions as the Hyuuga Jounin can't help but see the way the older man raises his eyebrow, but he presses on as if he hadn't, his own control over his voice keeping him from making a fool of himself by speaking more awkwardly or quickly as he moves directly to the spoken words beyond the visual cues.

Another bow in thanks at the praise, then he answers, "Both of my team members are here, two Chuunin -- Rock Lee and Tenten. I have not yet been able to find Gai-sensei. In addition to myself and Naruto, I am also aware of Hyuuga Hinata-sama, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Itachi," there, he can't quite hide a flicker of distaste for the two Uchiha before it's gone, "and their mother, Uchiha Mikoto. There is another Konoha-nin whom I have only seen from a distance, but I have heard that he goes by Sai. Though he seems to be of my generation, I am not acquainted with him personally."

His head dips. "That is all the Konoha-nin of whom I am aware."