Perfecting [p/nk/ris]

Kanshi made his way over to the shop he was now head manager of with the dragging thoughts of his death. Something explainable inside of him was taking away everything he had and slowly converting him to what he assumed to be nothing. Everyday he became more and more transparent and felt weaker as the days went on from some kind of plague inside of him. Was his soul finally rotting away to nothing or was it some kind of punishment for existing? This couldn't get him down, nothing could even death. Death doesn't scare him, but wasting his final moments if these were it, was something more traumatizing than any hell he could imagine. Kanshi looks around for where the stand was and found it was replaced with an actual, permanent shop. With his eyes practically dancing around the scene, he sprinted to the shop with a prideful grin. In minutes he was on duty with his own pair of gloves and tools to make weapons, tools, and god knows what for the town. He was in front of the new, brick shop with his own seat and tiny work space. Business was booming, but he kept a determined look on his face as he was slowly decaying.

After awhile, the other workers were exhausted just as Kanshi was getting all fired up. When the others seemed to start hammering, he was already polishing and finishing off two more weapons. He was vastly efficient and a master of his trade with quick hand motions and an unbroken work ethic. Anything difficult, such as enchantments and engravings were sent to either his boss, named Baku, or him. Kanshi took pleasure in his work and was definitely happy with the new rush of people from their now permanent shop. This shop was really the only place you could hear people talking about anytime weapons were mentioned in conversation. Kanshi smirked to himself as he saw a few idiots buy some penny kunai from the shop and then started up on his next shuriken. Baku's Blacksmiths was booming with the grand opening of their new shop, it was a line from the front counter that actually blocked the road it was off of!

[371]

With her hands planted firmly into her pockets, Risako was standing in the middle of that line formed to the new blacksmith stall-turned-shop. She had read on a flyer somewhere about its grand reopening, and she wished to go see what all the fuss was about, hoping to score a trade on some sharper tools than the ones she was used to. A grey clip kept her black bangs out of her face, showing off her silvery-almost byakugan like eyes. The legs of her pants were tucked into calf high toe less sandals, and underneath her chuunin flak jacket, she wore the regular Konoha attire.

As the line began to move along, she would peer past those in front of her in an attempt to see what was going on. She cocked an eyebrow, taking note of the rather energetic black haired blacksmith that seemed to be working much harder than the rest. Seeing as he was putting the most energy into his work, her immediate assumption was, "He's either really good, or he's an idiot, but he seems more passionate than the others." As the line would continue to shorten, she wold eventually break off and walk straight up the guy's area, keeping a safe enough distance. For now she would just observe his work, making personal notes on his productions.

Another long day of work and the rush seemed to be slowing down. As he hammered and melted iron into swords, various kunai, katanas, shuriken, and once even a scythe used for combat, Kanshi realized within this time that he had some kind of lost child looking at him. A man walked over and handed Kanshi a slip of paper that described an interesting war hammer that costed more than any other item that sold that day. Kanshi grabbed the paper with his left hand and read it over with a smile on his face for the challenge. It was going to have hidden mechanisms and have a carbon fiber handle! Reaching for his tongs, he began to brainstorm all the ways of building this hammer of a deity. Sadly, as his hand went to grab the tongs, his fingers went through and caused him to slip and fall onto the ground. It seems whatever was eating him spiked a little and he looked up with wide eyes to see if the girl noticed.
"Oops my ha-"
Kanshi stopped mid-sentence as he saw this lost child was wearing a flak jacket.
Is this some kind of joke? Did they let a child become a Chuunin?
He looked at her Chuunin jacket from the ground with his demonic, fully blackened eyes as if she was some kind of ghost.
"You're a Chuunin? Aren't you a little bit young to be wearing something like that?"

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For the little while that she had gazed upon the guy's work with silvery eyes, she began to notice his habits and his work ethic. Somehow, he managed to keep his interest buried deeply in the work, despite it seeming somewhat... tedious. But what did she know, she was no smith, for sure. Just as she was about to turn away and peruse the rest of the work from the others, the boy decided to take a trip. A quick, "Heheh," would escape from Risako as she watched the boy fall. Of course, she wasn't some rude little twat, so naturally she walked a little closer and offered her hand to help him back on his feet. 

It was then that she noticed his blackened eyes... Well, she had seen people who could pull their bones out of their own body, so to be entirely truthful this wasn't too weird. Her reaction would purely be a mental one, showing no physical signs that she had even noticed the eyes off color of the eyes. As she pulled him up, if he accepted her hand, she would say, "Fifteen is too young to be a chuunin?" The sarcasm would be apparent, like white writing on a black piece of paper. Or sorta like the text of this post clashing with the black background. Yanno. 

Her statement would be followed by another short chuckle similar to the one before, except she would quickly insert, "If that's the case, you look a little young to be hammering away at a smithy." While she couldn't guess his exact age, she figured he was an adult. That, or there was the possibility he was a preteen who had just hit his growth spurts super early, in which case she would have to have a word with the man who owned this stall... Come to think of it, she was twelve when her ninja career started, and that was probably far more dangerous than working the fires of a blacksmith's shop.

If the boy took her hand and accepted her pulling him up, afterwards she would take a step back, placing her where she was before.

Kanshi accepted the help and was pulled back up to his feet while hoping the girl didn't see his hand just slip through his tongs as if they weren't existent. Chuckling while also being slightly annoyed by her remark, he spoke.
"I guess I am a bit young, but I have been doing this work for a long time."
He said this gladly as she took her steps back. Kanshi thought for a second and absorbed that this girl was actually a ninja of Konoha. The thought may have bee silly, but could she actually free him from his cursed state? She seemed nice to him, but his mind went into a tangle as the thoughts of becoming human flooded in.
It's worth a shot at least, right?
Kanshi held out his transparent hand for a firm handshake, happy to make her acquaintance.
"I'm Kanshi, also a Chuunin of the leaf. Maybe we could go grab a muffin or something at this bakery I know. I am pretty sure I could use my break about now anyway."
Maybe that was a bit sudden, but he was desperate to try before he vanishes away to nothing. First his hand for a second, next stop was probably a ghost! He had to be quick and do the ritual soon, he knew this pretty well after his fall back there. Time felt like it raced as he began to wonder if he was wasting his time.

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A long time eh? She'd have to keep that in mind.

Muffins? Gross. Food? Not gross. Her thoughts shifted to Maloren, who would probably grow red with jealousy if he were to know about Risako going to lunch with another guy. Even in her book that was almost downright treason, even if it wasn't a romantic thing. That said, she was going to have to decline his offer.

But back to the muffins thing. The mere suggestion that she would even put herself around such degeneracy was a mockery of her being. Though she wouldn't show it. Going to shake his hand in return, she would blurt out "Risako Akar-", her sentence being cutoff due to her sudden grasping at air. Her eyes darted down to where her hand should be, and what it should be shaking. She noticed that in the place of his hand, was a ghostly outline.

"..."

An eyebrow peaked in interest beneath her short, unkempt bangs. Looking back to Kanshi, she would wait for a moment, and if it seemed like nothing was going to be said about it, she would go ahead and break the silence. "Why's your hand gone half there?"

The girl went to go shake his hand as she gave her name, but suddenly stopped before she could finish. Kanshi looked at her completely confused on what exactly was the matter. It seems that Risako had seen a ghost or some creature to him. Letting he silence ensue, he stood awkwardly before he realized why she wouldn't want to shake his hand. As he was about to start opening his mouth to speak, she asked a question that made Kanshi tense up a little about his hand.
"Well... I figured you would see this eventually. I was born this way at the age of 4 through what my parents called a miracle and what I called a curse. For some reason, I had survived from falling down a flight of stairs when the injuries left my body without any hope of actually living. After the incident, I found myself looking like this hideous ghoul and couldn't tell you what I was like before the age of 4. Eventually, I was lead to believe that I somehow became a half soul human and studied a mythical clan called the Surebu clan. It's a long shot, but I am pretty sure there is a way to become human again through a ritual that only benefits two parties greatly and enslaves me with golden chains as they become god of this world."
Kanshi caught his breath after that mouthful and had a more distressed look on his face. The boy couldn't dare make eye contact to her in fear that he would see an expression that would only make him more unsettled by the whole situation.
"Look, if you don't want to go somewhere to eat or whatever, then that's cool. I appreciate your interest in my smiting though."
He pulled his hand away to his side after saying this unless she would make an effort to reach out and shake it.

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"Mhm." Her eyes reflected her blank stare, as she gazed forwards. To herself, she thought, "What a mouthful," While her mouth opened to blurt out, "That's quite the story." Not that she meant to imply that he was lying, that wasn't her intention at all actually. "So how would one go about fixing this issue?" 

She was never really one to get too involved with others, but helping someone not die? Right up her alley. Come to think on it, it was more of her duty not to let her comrades die. If she ran around letting everyone die, what state would the village be in? Well technically, she hadn't really saved too many people yet, and most of the villagers were pretty capable of handling themselves. Most of the ninja were anyway. My point still stands dammit! 

Quickly, before the boy could answer she would add onto her last sentence, "And how could I help?" Her arms would slowly cross, as she shifted her weight (what little there was,) onto one foot.

Kanshi looked in awe as she asked how about how to fix it.
Is she talking about this for just information? I am sure she couldn't want to help right?
Then she asked how she could help and Kanshi just gawked at her as his heart rate sped up a little. This never happened before... ever. The thought of freedom from his curse could drive Kanshi to go mad with lust and here this girl was asking how she could help. She is a god, a selfless god, Kanshi thought to himself. He watched as she crossed her arms and looked as if she was just delighted to help. It was crazy that someone was just offering you the only thing you wanted more than anything else in the world at the perfect time then waiting for the response on what to do. Kanshi's bottom lip trembled a little as he tried making sense of the situation.
"Y-you... actually want to help? Once you do this, I become your servant for a very long time..."
He looked at the ground with widened eyes trying not to cry. Mustering the strength to make eye contact with her, he held out his shaky hand.
"...just grab onto my hand. I promise this will only benefit us both."
Kanshi felt the rush of emotions going through his body as the thought of this ending sour would probably ruin his life for good. It was a matter of a handshake and doing something he only read in books.

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Nodding when she was asked if she really wanted to help, she thought to herself, "Servant?" In her mind, this wasn't as serious a thing as the boy had portrayed it to be, despite the whole god thing, playing that off as just clan tradition and story. So she wondered exactly why the boy looked as if his whole world was about to change. "Hmm."

Extending her hand out to meet Kanshi's, she would grasp his hand with about the most firm handshake anyone could give. Not to brag, but even the most interesting man in the world had a hard time beating her hand shake. In all honesty, she didn't really believe him too much. Well, not that she didn't believe him, but she didn't believe much in the whole soul aspect of this.