Reborn in Ashes || [Kouzai]

Hideyoro walked through the streets, his staff leaned over his shoulder. It wasn't much, just a long wooden pole, a bit taller than him, rounded and polished. Dented and scratched here and there due to use, but nothing more than a wooden pole. It was originally his walking stick, but now was his weapon of choice. Ever since Hideyoro learned to "see." He once born blind, and lived in darkness until he was older.

It was then that Hideyoro learned he was a Spirit Bender, and was trained to "see" with his Spirit Bending. Now he could see spirits, people's spiritual energy and the like. If it was alive, if it existed on this earth as a living being, such as bugs, animals, even mice and trees. Their souls were visible to Hideyoro. He used that sight to navigate his way about the place. Even in a strange land like Nippon, where all of the spiritual energy of everything, even the plant life was different.

It was more natural, it was more...it was more peaceful. It was more divine. Nippon was a land created and cared for by the gods themselves, the oldest lands on the Earth and the first to be inhabited. It reflected in its life and inhabitants. Hideyoro had come to the town, simply to look around and take in the sights. Sei'an City was massive and it was the oldest city of Nippon. It was the city his ancestors came from...the great hero Nagi, once an Oina, moved to the city to defend Nippon from great evil, and his son, Konoe went off to the new world together to bring peace and bending to the benderless tribes. And so the Six Nations began.

Hideyoro paused, right beside the docks. A ship of incomers from the mainland was coming in. People looking to start over. He could tell they were from the mainland, their spiritual energy was not like those of Nippon. The ship itself was a glowing mass of spirits that shone like a beacon, as most crowds did. The amount of newcomers was limited and controlled. The current quota had been filled, so all that were here would be the last mainlanders allowed to come to Nippon, to live anyway.

Hideyoro walked towards the ship, hoping to catch a closer glimpse of those coming off the boat. Everyone gave off a unique energy, and while Hideyoro was not trying to memorize each and everyone, he WAS hoping to read them. The spirit reflected everything about someone, their feelings, their mood, their intent, their nature, their thoughts, everything. Right now, Hideyoro was looking for evil, or bad intentions, anyone who meant wrong in this land. Anyone who did would be sent home.

Hideyoro chuckled, staring at each and everyone with a wide smile. They must've thought him mad, for he did not dress like a royal, or like a noble. He dressed in normal yellow robes, with a simple wooden staff. A beard, long hair and his blind white eyes. He must've looked like a crazy blind man to them, standing amongst the guards in the crowd. The soldiers all knew who he was, but the civilians didn't. It was a nice trade off. Hideyoro hated the limelight anyway.

What seemed like minutes of shopping was hours of searching and exploring the market. Kyoko saw a group of people departing to the ferry, which took minutes to hit her. Oh no not again.
Kyoko grabbed her satchel which was now filled with food she bought and made a run for the docks.

Her brunette locks basked in the wind as she ran forth to the dock. She had ventured quite deep into the market which was a while away from the docks. Kyoko had inherited her mother's agillity and speed from the days when Azami Ryouji was a thief. Kyoko sprang herself up onto the roof of the stalls and began running and leaping across them all.

She managed to grasp a line of flags to hoist her up onto the building roofs as she ran across the clattering roof tiles. Reaching to the end of the block, she could see the dock in view. With this, she would increase her speed and leap off the roof.

The drop was medium. She managed to land on the floor with a forward-roll before getting up and running to the boat. Her stachel was swinging in the wind as did her hair. Within a split second, there was a person in her way. Not noticing how fast she was, Kyoko knocked into this figure and got knocked off the dock into the water.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Then a splash was heard as Kyoko plunged into the blue. With a spin of her legs, she managed to create a spout of water to hoist herself back onto the boardwalk. Sighing with distaste, she looked to the black-haired figure whom she bumped into.

Hideyoro saw a woman run towards him. Well, he couldn't see her, but he could "see" her. Her spirit ran towards him. She wouldn't really run into a blind man, would she? Wondered Hideyoro, She would stop, there's no way she would--the next thing Hideyoro knew he was lying on the wooden floor of the dock, and parts of his clothes were wet as the dock itself was covered in patches of salty water.

The girl herself was already in the ocean, but before Hideyoro could offer his help, the girl waterbent herself out of the water. Hideyoro saw the girl's spiritual energy, her chi, enter the water, and use it to lift herself up. Bending always amazing Hideyoro, a physical manifestation of the spiritual energy that made up all beings, chi.

"Are you okay?" asked Hideyoro, watching the woman land on the dock, or so he assumed, because the white figure that was her stopped moving after a certain point. He walked towards her, and stared in her general vicinity, though he looked at what he assumed was her face. "You should be more careful," said Hideyoro with a small smile, what irony, "You might get hurt."

Kyoko grasped her hair with two hands as she squeezed it. The ocean water dripped from it and slid back into the water. Her clothes were drenched and her hair no longer waved down her back, it was straight and a darker shade of brown due to the moisture.

Looking up, her crystal blue eyes would meet with this man's bright white eyes. Hearing his voice, she would snap out of the zone she had entered. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine, uh, thank you." Kyoko would say, brushing down her now wet white dress. She gave a smile when she heard the man speak. His voice was so soft yet very manly. "You should be more careful next time, you could get hurt".

"Well I am the clumsy one of my family." Kyoko would say as her eyes widened. She looked to the man here with shock.

"Oh my god, are YOU alright? I must've ran into you with quite force. How could I be so wreckless?!" Kyoko would begin mumbling to herself, shifting around in her place. Her eyes would once meet again to his white eyes. Oh my god, white eyes? Please don't tell me I ran into a blind person..

Hideyoro gave a sly smile. She just now realized he was blind, time to have a little fun with her. Hideyoro did love a good joke here and there. Leaning heavily on his wooden staff, "It's alright," he said softly, "I'm just a simple blind man. I'm used to it." Hideyoro began tapping the dock around him, as if pretending to really be blind. Which, he was....but he could see spiritual energy, so, to himself, he wasn't.

"I was just on my way to the Noble's Quarter," he said, walking precariously close to the edge of the dock. He followed what he assumed were the spirits of fish and seaweed below the dock and they helped guide him towards the edge. He almost took a step forward, as if looking to fall in, to scare the girl a bit, but stopped and turned around, heading towards the other end of the dock.

"How about yourself?" he asked, doing the same thing on the other side of the dock, only to spin around and repeat himself, again and again. He could feel the girl's heart rush every time he reached the edge. Hideyoro took everything he had to stop himself from laughing. "I am assuming you're heading somewhere very important, to be rushing around so fast," continued Hideyoro, "Why does this darn dock never end?" he cried allowed, faking confusion.

Kyoko's heartbeat quickened each time this man neared the edge of the dock. Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly started to notice his game. Giving a small chuckle, she'd watch him roam around the boardwalk edges.

"Well I was on the mainland, roaming around continuing with my four year long quest. I had searched ever so long yet I have never seen anyone mention anything." Kyoko said, fixing her headband. "So I decided to stop the quest and start a new life, which lead me to the Nippon Ferries. I had heared how wonderful this island was and I was eager to wash away my painful memories and start a new leaf." Kyoko shrugged, looking to the man with a smile.

"When I got here, I was overflowing with guilt because abandoning this quest for my own personal gains is selfish. That's why I rushed to the boats. Yet I did miss them because I happened to run into a blind man which catapulted me off of the deck." Kyoko would say, laughing afterwards. She sounded ridiculous. Bumping into a blind person, not even a child would do that. She was still a child, on the inside. She missed 10 years of her childhood worrying about Kei so the years had caught up on here.

"So Mr. I-Like-Making-Girls-Think-I'm-Going-To-Fall-Off-The-Edge-to-give-them-heart-attacks, you're headed to the Noble Quarter? I heard that place was really fancy." Kyoko stated, giving a giggle after giving Hideyoro that nickname. For the first time in ten years, she was having a little fun.

Hideyoro paused and laughed. "I guess you got me," he said standing up straight, slinging his staff back over his shoulder again, where he preferred it. He looked down at the girl again, she wasn't much taller than his shoulder, but she was taller than most of the girls he had seen. "It is a very nice place," he said, "The Noble Quarter is filled with willow trees and cherry blossoms. Canals with beautiful bridges span across the noble's quarter just like they do in the commoner's quarter. As I'm sure you've noticed, this city is built upon a lake, Lake Biwa. That's why the boats come up and down the river before heading to and from the sea."

Hideyoro looked out at the commoner's quarter. It too was beautiful, and looked the same as the Noble's Quarter, only without the willows and zen gardens. No palace compounds, and the beautiful Imperial and Regent Lord's palaces were not there. The pagodas and shrines were non-existent in the Commoner's Quarter, as they were all in the Noble's Quarter. All peoples in the city worshiped at shrines in the Noble's Quarter regardless of their position and wealth. And there were Kabuki and Noh theaters, and even the occasional Bunraku theatre, run by the three great play families, the Nakamura, the Tamasaburo, and the Okuni-no-Danjuro. He had tickets for the Tamasaburo Kabuki play tonight and he intended on going, he had just remembered.

Hideyoro then listened to the girl's story. He felt bad for her, but the next ferry would not return until the morrow. "Would you like to join me?" asked Hideyoro, "As I'm sure you've guessed, I'm not entirely blind. I do see...not by conventional means, but I can see. And even I can see you have missed your ferry. I don't expect you to wait here all day and night, so why don't you come with me, it will give you something to do." Hideyoro smiled at the girl, holding out his arm, as any gentleman would, though he was blind...it may have made him looked like he needed help. Laughing, Hideyoro lowered it, "Being blind makes it hard to be a gentleman," he chuckled.

Kyoko smiled at the thought of Zen gardens and cherry trees. It gave her the blissful thought of her childhood garden. Frolicking in the flowers and looking to the trees for ripe fruits to pick. Kyoko then looked to the blind lad.

She listened to her surroundings, watching people shop in the market and chatting with their tea cups clattering. Everyone seemed so peaceful which is what Kyoko admired about Nippon. Alas, she still had to find her brothers. The thought of Kei being lost for 10 years made her stomach churn. She missed him, as she missed Katsuo aswell.

Kyoko then listened to his offer to join him in the Noble Quarter, which made her smile brightly. She could not remember the last time she had a friend to journey with. Her eyes scanned his face as he explained how he knew she missed her ferry. Impressive.

"Well since my journey home has left, I'd love to join you." Kyoko would say with a cheerful smile. She watched as Hideyoro tried to be a gentleman by holding out his arm. Kyoko let out a sweet laugh, before holding his arm in place and looping her arm through it. She held onto his arm here, excited for her new journey in Nippon.

With the girl now on Hideyoro's arm, he walked her through the Commoner's Quarter.  They walked down the center street, past fountains, and over red wood bridges that led across the canals.  Ferries went down them, going back and forth, bringing people where they needed to go.  Hideyoro smiled away the whole time, taking the time to look at each of the trees as they passed.

"Nippon is truly beautiful, is it not?" he asked as they reached the bridge between the quarters.  It was a massive, long bridge.  Red, and made of wood.  With massive beams that seemed to stretch far across the lake to the Noble's Quarter.  This was where most of the traffic in the city was.  Attendants were going from the Noble's Quarter to the Commoner's Quarter for their masters.  Certain Noble's were travelling down to the Commoner's Quarter to shop.  Travelling artists were going to their rich patrons to perform for parties.  And people were going to the shrines to pray or to the theatres to watch plays of the Bunraku, Kabuki or Noh format.

Hideyoro smiled again as they passed through the gate that led to the Noble's Quarter and it proved to be as beautiful as ever.  Of course all he could see was the spiritual energy of everything, but if anything, that made it all the more beautiful.  "Is it not as good as I said?" noted Hideyoro, "I have been here for half my life now...and each time it's just as beautiful as the last."