winter wonderland

He wouldn’t let himself be ashamed of his failure. Maybe he’d been forced from his family’s home and brought dishonor on their heads, but he’d made his peace with everything. He wasn’t that kind of wolf, and once he’d more fully embraced his differences it seemed like the better his life had become. He had to admit that everyone from ‘home’ had seen the differences in him long before he had, and he didn’t miss any of them. What he did miss was the warm drink and food, and the relative luxury he lived in previously. This cold winter wonderland was desolate and void of much more than snow.

That may have been one reason he wasn’t paying as much attention as he might have otherwise. Sound was muffled and the air was too cold to take in a deep enough breath to smell much. His only saving grace was his pause to look around. Before Hattori spoke Kaiyo managed to catch the sight of the full fledged shinobi. Stormy eyes widened in surprise even as he was greeted. Was he seeing a ghost? Hadn’t his cousin a thousand times removed died recently?

Hikaru squinted slightly, but he didn’t leave. Even if he was facing a ghost chasing the young koi off was a difficult challenge. ”Hattori?” Kaiyo didn’t hide the surprise in his voice as he spoke their maiden tongue, ”Aren’t you dead?” He asked bluntly, giving the shinobi a glimpse at the world he left.