Is it just me, or...?

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:52 pm

Cooky smiled gently at the sight of her two subordinates getting along so well. The most important part of an organization to stay afloat -- trust. "That's a good idea; we'll have to find someone who specialises in that sort of thing, or at least has a lot of talent in the area." She grinned. "Good job, Nena-chuu."

Cooky held her head, staring down at the paper with the strange handwriting. Familar handwriting. "...It... couldn't be... could it?" She muttered, more to herself than anything else.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:56 pm

Nena saw the shift in Cooky's eyes as she was lost in thought. "Cooky? Did you think of something?" She asked while preparing for an order to find someone or do something.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:58 pm

Nikki nodded, "That's a great idea." She inwardly wished she could sense chakra better than she could. She had a slight grasp on it, and since she didn't have very much chakra herself, her own chakra never got in her way, but she hadn't had much practice.

Nikki took a step closer to Cooky's desk, "Couldn't be what, Cooky-sama?" She was staring to get a little nervous, she'd never really thought about who was paying off their debt, she was too focused on the fact that her job got a little easier.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:02 pm

The VP smiled, sensing the younger girl's slight disappointment. "Don't worry about it, Nikki. You've got enough to worry about already."

Cooky stared down at the paper for a few seconds longer, silent. Her eyes remained glued onto the hauntingly familar, messy handwriting. Memories -- notes being passed, laughing, being punished... Instantly, the face came to the front of her mind, and she murmured a single word quietly.

"...Unjou..."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:04 pm

Nena cocked her head in confussion. "Un-who?" She asked. "Who's that, Cooky?" She asked while taking note of Cooky's immediate reaction to the epiphany.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:07 pm

Nikki nodded, trying to to think about it too much.

She gulped, "Unjou? Someone you knew...in the past?" She was cautious about asking Cooky about this person, not knowing who this Unjou was, and how they were associated with her VP.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:15 pm

Cooky remained silent for a few more seconds, before resting her forehead on her desk and swallowing her entire head within her arms -- a protective shell. "...Unjou is a... friend of mine... from where I grew up."

An almost inaudible sob came from the VP's hidden face. "I never thought I'd hear from him again... that goddamn idiot!"

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:18 pm

Nikki felt herself flinch at Cooky's sudden change in behavior. She wanted to go comfort Cooky, but she honestly didn't know how. It made her heart ache that she didn't know what to do.

"Cooky-sama..." She slightly reached her hand out toward the VP, slightly hesitent about actually making physical contact with her. She'd never seen Cooky break down like this.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:20 pm

Nena placed an arm around Cooky. "Boys are stupid, hun, that's why god gave us rocks and ice-cream. Rocks to throw at them and ice-cream to eat afterwards." She knelt down to Cooky. "Is there anything you want to talk about? Any reason he might be sending money?"

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:26 pm

Cooky laughed slightly, though it cracked due to her tears. "Great, now I've joined the emo brigade." She lifted her head from her arms, grinning shakily. "And... you don't understand. Me and Unjou were both--"

She froze immediately, covering her head once more until her voice muffled. "...Never mind." Her carefully placed mask was slowly beginning to slip after all these years, and she didn't like it one bit.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:30 pm

Nikki frowned sadly at Cooky, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. No matter how much my curiosity is nagging me, my heart is telling me to let you choose who to tell, and how much to tell..."

She laughed sadly, "That was probably one of the cheesiest things I've ever said..."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:33 pm

"Listen, you've been the one keeping it all together this whole time. You're allowed to let yourself hurt." Nena said soothingly. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. If it makes you feel better we're hear for you whether you want us to know or not. Just . . . tell us what we can do to keep that frown off your face. We love you either way but your tears don't compare to that familia goofy grin."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:38 pm

Cooky stared at her desk from beneath her arms. These girls, really... why was it that the minute she met Roy and the organization came to life that everything she'd been so carefully hiding for so many years seemed to be bubbling to the surface?

Slowly lifting her head, she eyed them both carefully. "...Okay." she finally admitted, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "I'll tell you guys. But don't freak out when you hear, okay? ...I... couldn't take it."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:39 pm

"We're hear to listen, not judge. We're here for you.." She said while crouching beside Cooky.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:42 pm

Nikki nodded, she was pretty good when it came to remaining calm in these situations. "We won't freak out."

She, finally, took a few large strides toward Cooky, and settled herself on her other side. "Don't force it all out, okay? Just tell us what you're ready to tell us."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:45 pm

Cooky remained silent for a few minutes, inwardly cursing herself for being so weak infront of people. Wasn't she just screaming about "goddamn emos" not even half an hour ago? God, she was such a hypocrite...

"...I've been in prison since I was 13. For treason."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:48 pm

Nena became confused. "Treason? Against who? A-are you being hunted down?" Nena asked with concern. She had half a mind to call the Warden and get some security on this situation for Cooky.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:49 pm

Nikki nodded at Cooky, keeping her calm outer apperance. Inside, her head was slightly spinning, why would her VP be in prison for treason? She didn't seem like she'd ever do anything like that...she couldn't bring herself to blurt something out, fearing that she might say something that would cause Cooky to shut down.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:00 pm

Cooky just smiled, though the corners of her lips were tight. "Not the kind of treason what you're imagining, I'm sure. And you have no need to worry about me being 'hunted down'; I took care of that little problem a few months ago. I wasn't born in the Hidden Villages like the rest of you... I was raised in Amagumo, a small town in the Lightning Country. And everyone -- man, woman, child; no matter what age -- was to be apart of the army. We were trained to be the perfect killers, because our leaders thought we were God."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:03 pm

Nikki felt herself frown more deeply. "So you were put in prison because...you refused to be a part of this army?" She was guessing, but it was a slightly educated guess, to say the least.

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:04 pm

Nena resisted the urge to let her body shiver at the thought. "What do you mean they thought you people were 'God?'"

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:11 pm

Cooky nodded at Nikki's words. "Something like that. Unjou and I created a resistance -- though we were the only ones who joined it, as everyone else was too afraid of our leaders. But, one day, Unjou just vanished. And I went a little..." She chuckled weakly. "...Crazy would be the word. I attacked the leaders while they were in a meeting, and it's safe to say it didn't go well. I was thrown in prison instantly."

She paused, before glancing over at Nena. She could sense the disgust the younger girl held back, and a sad smile curled her lips. "...Our village name. Amagumo, or 'above the clouds in the sky'. They took the term a little too literally." She frowned, glancing out the window before muttering under her breath, "...They want to enslave all the Kages, so they can prove that definition."

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:17 pm

Nikki soaked in the information, now resting her head on Cooky's arm. "That's just...I can't describe it; I've never even experienced anything like that." She was practically at a loss of words. Nothing she said could ever help Cooky right now...

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:24 pm

Nena looked at Cooky. "How did you manage to escape?"

Subject: Re: Is it just me, or...? Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:33 pm

Cooky shrugged. "That's the thing -- no-one really knows how. Hell, I barely know myself. I just remember a loud explosion from right behind me, and lots of screaming..." She paused. "...And then I woke up in some miscellaneous village, staring at the sky for the first time in what felt like centuries." She smiled gently, staring out the window. "I like to think that maybe it was Unjou who busted me out, but that's just the fantasies of a idiot 12-year-old who still misses her only friend."