Keeping Busy [open]

Kurai sighed and got up on stage, hoping no-one recognised her. Not one to be shy, she took the microphone and just got on with her performance. The spotlight on her was a little too bright for her liking but people would complain if she didnt get on with it.



"I'm going away for a while
But I'll be back, don't try and follow me
'Cause I'll return as soon as possible
You see I'm trying to find my place
But it might not be here where I feel safe
We all learn to make mistakes"

It was dark outside, about 8:00 pm. And rain. Lots of rain. So much rain.... Probably the most in months. Outside, a figure, about 16 and dressed in tight black clothing and a kage robe, grabbed the door handle of the club and pulled. It seemed to be stuck, so he pulled harder, and was almost knocked back because the door came open so quickly. He cursed under his breath and quickly walked into the club, slamming the door behind him. He tried to tame his raven hair, wet and a bit wild from the rain. His eyes were red, and seemed to glow frightiningly. He stepped into the light and you could see that he was dry, except of course his hair. There was a hiss behind him, and if you looked closely you could see a huge red snake outside in the rain. The man ignored the snake, and walked quickly to one of the tables in the club, sitting down with a sigh. He dropped a long blue sword with a red snake engraved on it on the floor and looked down at the table, not speaking.

Kurai continued to sing, the spotlight now getting irritatingly bright. She frowned slightly as she sang and a few thoughts went through her head like 'i wonder if i could smash it without people noticing' or 'maybe if i whack that amp over there just right it'd knock the light over'. The thoughts were a bit childish perhaps but it was stopping her from throwing a kunai at it to smash it to bits. The audience didn't seem to see her irritation. In fact, they were enraptured by her performance, swaying from side to side as her clear, smooth voice wrapped itself around them like a comforting blanket. Her one visible eye was half closed in a relaxed manner as her bangs hid her other eye which was now constantly inflicted with her kekkei genkai. If people saw it they'd probably ask questions and that was the one thing she could live without right now. But anyway, thats not what she needed to worry about. She needed to worry about the song.

"And run
From them, from them
With no direction
Run from them, from them
With no conviction"

She sung beautifully, exercising one of her lesser known talents to its full extent. The song was purely acoustic and that was her favourite choice. Acoustic and piano music. Although she wouldnt say no to some rock now and again. Eh, as long as she liked the melody and the lyrics, she wasn't gonna complain. I swear to Kami that if i meet someone here that i dont wanna meet i'll smash that frickin light over their HEADS She thought in irritation as a thought popped into her mind. Was she possibly bipolar? Ah well, C'est la vie.

The man, who's name was Sasuke Uchiha, continued to sit at the table, not looking around. Finally he seemed to hear something, singing. Sasuke didn't like singing. He slowly looked up, his piercing red eyes scanning the room to see where the noise was coming from. It didn't take long, since the spotlights were so bright, for him to see a women standing on the stage singing. He didn't know if he knew her or not, because he really didn’t care and wasn't paying much attention to her as he was the singing. He frowned, wishing there wasn't so much noise. Did the microphone have to be so damn loud? What if he wanted to relax?! That's what he was trying to do, but the singing annoyed him. He seemed to forget that this was a club, and that clubs are loud. Exciting. And more likely than not, there was singing. So why did Sasuke come to the club if he wanted to relax? He himself had no answer for that. Why did he do anything? Well, there are lots of answers to that question, but that's not going to help the fact that he came to a club to relax.

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes for a minute, trying to block out the singing. It was impossible. Oh well... I'm not going out into the rain again, at least not until it slows down somewhat. He turned toward the window, into the blackness. Such blackness. The rain was still pouring down heavily, and didn't give a sign of letting up. Sasuke let out another sigh of irritation, and turned away from the window. He knew he shouldn't have come. He should have went to his nice, big, quiet castle instead. But then again, the Sound Village was so far away. He was only here since he was on his way back from a mission and it had started to rain so hard. He hadn't gotten too wet surprisingly, since it started raining only a few minutes before he got here. He didn't hate the rain; he just didn't think spending five hours in drenched clothing would be very comfortable.

So here he was, sitting in a large club, filled with lots of people, and listening to loud singing when all he wanted was to relax. He didn't like being near so many people either. Large amounts of people make him slightly nervous, although he would never admit it. He suddenly felt very thirsty and got up slowly, walking over to the bar. He ordered a couple beers and took them back to his table. Getting drunk was the last thing on his mind when he opened one of the bottles and drank quickly, draining it almost instantly. He took the other bottle, opened it, and drank that as well. Suddenly the singing seemed so much louder, the lights so much brighter. Needless to say, the beers didn't help him relax. They just made things worse.

Kurai looked out into the crowd to see if she recognised anyone. Sure enough, sitting in the back as always, was Sasuke Uchiha. The look on his face made her want to roll her eyes. How on Earth could he look so irritated when he chose here in the first place? This WAS a karaoke club, if he detested singing so much then surely he couldve gone to the inn down the street, or if he wanted alcohol he couldve gone to the bar which was again, down the street. It seemed a little redundant to her, to come here when he knew there would be singing. Plus, the rain here was pouring down like the heavens themselves had split open. Surely if he was this bothered by things he could've just stayed in the Sound. There had to be bars in the Sound he could go to. Besides, he had a castle. Any idiot would be able to tell you that there would be alcohol in a kage's residence. Hell, Kurai had sake in hers. However, if she were to say this to him he'd get angry as Sasuke often did, so she didn't see a point in getting worked up over something so trivial. She continued to sing again despite his grumpiness, really going for it as if this song contained her heart and soul.

"'Cause I'm just one of those ghosts
Travelling endlessly
Don't need no road
In fact they follow me
And we just go in circles
But now I'm told that this life
And pain is just a simple compromise
So we can get what we want out of it"

This song connected with her on a personal level. She did feel like a ghost in a sense. Always flitting from one place to the next, never really finding where the properly belonged. Sure, she was only young and it was common for teenagers to feel a little lost. But this feeling she had was eating away at her on the inside. Feeling this lost surely wasn't healthy? Feeling as if everyone you care for really didnt care for you after all, and given the opportunity they would abandon you. Such a huge feeling of mistrust. It made her sick thinking about it but she supposed that her Spirit Form, being the cynical little voice in her head, was filling her heart with all of this doubt. It really wouldn't surprise her to be honest. All it seemed to want to do was make her miserable. To see her suffer. How could that THING have the same soul her mother used to have? It was beyond comprehension...Why?

At that point she flashed back to when she was a child and her mother warned her of all the dangers of being a Niwa. About how you would never really understand WHY you were given the job you had, you just had to accept it and get on with life. Helping people in need was their creed, their purpose in life, but why was this spirit she needed so cruel? If Kurai was meant to save lives, why was she given a soul that was intent on killing and making peoples lives a misery? Maybe it was a challenge from the clan. Perhaps it was to test her resolve. Yeah, that was it. It had to be. It had to be a test. Otherwise, this was just some sick game. Some sick, twisted joke that had gone too far. She couldnt help people if one of her demons was constantly egging her on to hurt others.