@inkpots-n-sass: “ your nose is bleeding. ”
memes, accepting
at fourteen years old, morino ibiki has obligations. seeing his little brother off to academy. cleaning their home and cooking balanced meals. intensive training sessions toward his ninja quest. learning the art of interrogation. how to gather critical information. how to physically and mentally hurt a suspect.
the pads of his fingers bear callouses. the caverns and crags of his boyhood face reveal silent, unproclaimed struggles. (hasn’t eaten. hasn’t slept. he was a machine. powering. adapting. functioning.)
the chūnin exams will take place soon. study, study, study.
ibiki, his complexion tanned like pottery clay, idles inside the herbal shop. his sandals trudge. as though you traverse quicksand rather than solid, reliable ground. the boy’s fingers tremble, twist. he greets reni and her father. he huddles off toward a shelf. medicine. tea. salves. botanicals. the boy nearly windmills into reni. his coordination was flawed, feeble. wet, gooey blood seeps from his nostrils.
“ i, er – ” silverado eyes bounce unsteadily. chakra exhaustion. “ what did – what did you say? ”
