Kin's mood is clearly written all across her face, her lips pressed together in a thin, tight line as she stares at you. But for a moment, you don't see her.
You see a pale man with straight, dark purple hair falling over his hitai-ate, a teasing smirk on his face as his callused, gentle hands helping clean the skinned knees of a young girl, her hair tied up in buns.
"Because it was the right thing to do."
You echo his words then, an unbidden smile on your lips as the memory never fails to warm you. Lady Tsunade may by your role model for what kind of shinobi you want to be, but he was your model for what kind of person you wanted to be. Someone who wouldn't think twice about helping someone who needed it.
Kin looks at you uncomprehendingly, and you try to elaborate. "A long time ago, someone once did the same for a civilian orphan girl with no relatives." You pause. "That was me, by the way. The orphan, not the doer."
You pause as you remember how all those memories end, you were six when the Massacre happened. It...had hit you hard, for awhile you had thought you'd made "Mr. Policeman" mad somehow, and that was why you never saw him again. You had only realized later the real reason why.
You pull you legs up into the chair you're sitting in, taking a moment to compose yourself before continuing. You had eventually moved on, but you'd never forgotten. " Why wouldn't I help?"
Kin's face curls up in a rictus mask of skepticism at your words. Some of the fire that you saw in her match against Shikamaru returns to her eyes as glares at you. "Don't bullshit me. Not even a Leaf-" she practically spits the word, "Would go around helping their enemies because they're hurt. It's idiotic."
<Wants to convince herself as much as you>
Huh.
That raises the question of what she's trying to convince herself of. That it's stupid? That she's your enemy? That you're lying to her? You bit your lower lip as you mull through it, because whatever the answer is, it's not being particularly forthcoming.
"No." you admit with a little laugh, trying to inject some levity into the situation. "I mean, I don't think anyone who isn't a monk would go around forgiving people who were trying to hurt them. If you were attacking me, or someone I cared about, my first priority would be to stop you. But after that? Yeah, I'd do it again, if I thought I could help. Even if it was a bit risky."
Kin doesn't saying anything, preferring to turn away slightly and hide behind her hair. The only indication she was listening to you was her hands tightening into fists on her lap. The silence drags on for a long moment.
You shift a little on the chair you've sunk into, the leather cushion far softer than anything you have in your apartment. Not that that is a particularly stellar accomplishment given you only have a cheap wooden chair you bought on consignment for your desk. Maybe I should spend a little less money on weapons and more on furniture.
You pause to consider that thought.
Nah.
Maybe once you get promoted and can start taking more taking higher earning missions.
Wait no, focus Tenten. You reach out and pick the book she was reading off of the table, taking a second to touch the black Konoha leaf etched onto the front. Out of the corner of your eye you see Kin stir, but you don't look at her. Not yet at least.
"For much of my life, I have been the recipient of the kindness of strangers; wouldn't be here today if I wasn't. Everyone in the Village has those kind of stories. "The entire Village is a family" is what they tell us the Academy, but that's not really it. It's about doing the right thing for other people, even when it's hard. That's the ideal."
You lean forward, your eyes catching hers as you push the book into her hands.
"We don't always succeed, but we are supposed to try to live up to it, y'know? That's the important part."
Kin just stares at the book in her hands for a long time, her fingers tracing over the image on the cover, and when she speaks it's in a whisper so faint you can barely make it out. "But what if you don't? What if you can't?"
<Wants an answer she can understand>
You open your mouth to say something, to tell her that it doesn't matter if you succeed or not only that you try, but you close it again. That's no good, you doubt it would convince you, if you were on the other end. It didn't the last time you were, after all. When you first joined Team Gai, when all your carefully laid plans started to fall apart. It wasn't quite the same thing.
But it was close enough. So you go with what worked for you then.
"Then you're going about it wrong." Kin blinks, but you press on before her confusion has a chance to become anything more. "It's not a matter of can or can't, once you find something to believe in, some dream to work towards, you can always find a way to make it work. Even if it's not the way you wanted it to be, but you can't achieve anything you wish to do by only doing what you want to do."
Thank you Gai-sensei for that little nugget of wisdom. He may be nonsensical half the time, but it's for stuff like that you listen to him at all.
Kin is clutching the book in her arms, "But...how do I know...How do I-"
"That's not for me to tell you." You say softly, "That's something only you can figure out."
You glance around only to discover there's no actual clock in the room, still though, it's probably time for you to leave. You push yourself up out of the chair, and say your goodbyes to Kin. She gives a slight nod, but her eyes are far away, like she's looking at something only she can see. You hope that means she's considering what you said.
As you leave though, you think you see a small smile on her face.
Choose what to do on your next bit of off-time:
Spend Time with Someone?
- [ ] Who?
Go Somewhere?
- [ ] Where?
[ ] Write-in
Well, that took longer than expected. Had to change some stuff in the stunt to actually fit.
Anyway, here's how the vote is going to work, you pick who you want to spend time with next (it can be multiple people for the record). They have to be people Tenten has met before. For some of them you can also select something you'd like to do with them (like going shopping with Ino and Sakura for example.) for a bonus, or do something on your own (for a random encounter).
For this vote I'll probably be a bit more active in providing feedback on votes, just to give you guys a sense of what I'm expecting.
