13 Bad Feeling (1/2)
Klavier Rukas had to admit that he had his fair share of wrongs and rights; but never in his life would he think that he'd be afraid of his coming death. Ever since his son had passed away, he knew this day would eventually come, but neither did he expect to feel such sadness nor agony of dying in his own kin's hands. Though the fated day had come, he wanted to cross over to the other side with his beloved treasure.
Moving into Konoha was a hassle, but moving AND maintaining a grand piano was a lot harder than crossing through borders and climbing through mountains. It was, in fact, a bit of his fault for refusing to place the damned piano in a storage seal because that's how he dearly loved the piano.
And, it wasn't just an ordinary piano.
Though dwelling in the past is not good, Klavier recalled the events that occurred hours before; meeting kind shinobis who accepted his small request to move the piano in an open field and for them to witness his last performance just to reminiscence his old days with his kin, and meeting someone who loves music as much as he does.
Sure, the old man might've had rusty senses, but the one thing he's really good at—looking into people's eyes to learn who they are—definitely made him discover someone that he thought he'd never see again in his timeline. The young silver-haired child was beyond his expectations.
Klavier's keen eyes didn't ignore this.
The seemingly innocent face pasted on the young boy's head truly hid the way how his eyes had looked like. The young boy was pitying the piano. The piano. Moreover, those eyes do tell otherwise of how innocent he might've looked; again, those eyes shouldn't look like they've went through hell and back.
The old man really wanted to approach the young boy, but doing that right now would be a bit inconvenient. He hesitated at that moment. He didn't want to linger in a child's memory knowing that this would be his final day.
But it was too good to pass up. So, when opportunity came, he approached the child when their group decided to come with them… and he was right; the child have a heart for western instruments. It's rather comforting to know than other than his old clan, another person admires the unusual piece of instrument.
When he invited the young child to be with him, he couldn't shake off the fact that the child reminded him of his own son. Though they differ in looks, their passion with music is definitely through the roof. He didn't think twice and played, preferably his last play, the piano, hoping that the child would be invited by the tune to play.
To his surprise, the child was a complete natural. The young boy play extraordinarily for his young age. It was honestly enthralling. He didn't want to question whether the child was only guessing notes beforehand in his mind to play, or he knew the piece from the very beginning.
Klavier was tempted to sit back and watch the child play. The little fella's little hands moved like a professional. His closed eyes gave away that he's confident about the piece he's playing, not doubting himself to make no mistake.
It was almost a shame when their duet ended.
He never really thought that something, or someone, would be able to make him want stir him away from death's path. He realised that he fears death more than anyone right now. He wanted to say a word to them, hint them something; he knew this day would come, but why did he feel fear all of a sudden? A bit of regret too, since he wanted to see the silver-haired boy grow up with an audience watching him play the piano.
Then, just like that, they've come and gone in a flash; his death drawing nearer.
Receiving a message saying you'll be dying on your considered deceased son's birthday from a mind-controlled Hyūga clan member was rather unsettling, especially when that Hyūga's eyes are staring deeply into your soul—in a very creepy way, adding the fact that their eyes already seemed empty.
Klavier, at first, didn't fear this message, knowing whom the letter belonged to, but as days came and went by in a rather quick rate, he really couldn't sit still. It was terrifying, knowing when you would possibly die.
Alas, the day came; the man who had kept Klavier waiting, exchanging some unspoken words together. He himself knew that this day would mark the day a horrid force would loom over the Hi no Kuni because…
… he knew his son more than anyone else.
The reason? Xavier would do anything to get what he want—even destroying the village that once took them in. Though Klavier didn't exactly know what his son wanted by going with the lengths of using their clan's Kekkei Genkai, mind control using any musical medium, but judging on how Xavier hated his guts, there's only one reason.
He doesn't want to remember, but the memory kept haunting him. He never wanted for his son to see the horrible mistake he had done yet his son had witness every wrong doing he had made. It only made sense that his son would comb through the whole village to find where he was hiding, for what he did was rather unforgivable.
He regretted every single bit of it. His wife died in his own hands four years ago, and the worse part it, Xavier was there. He witnessed everything.
Klavier wanted to speak, but his puppeteered body wouldn't respond. He was hurt, but he understood that Xavier was more than hurt—since what his eyes told him was unforgettable, to see his own father kill his mother and own kin.
Xavier fell sick, and Klavier had to carry him across borders to escape to Konoha; to escape from that man—though he wasn't sure whether to call him a man or a young boy. Of course, his son took it hurtfully and started using music to tell untold stories in passer-by's mind. Soon, Xavier had gone missing—and after days, months, and years of search, he was nowhere to be found and had been considered dead.
Now, as he's being engulfed with the warm fire, the masked-man, his son, bit his lips as he turned around and away from the scene before pausing as a tune reached his ears. Klavier started playing the piano, looking over to his son's sad, warm eyes.
'You knew about the truth… yet you still gave yourself away to serve the very person who killed your beloved kin.' The old man thought, sending him a smile and mouthing a warm sentence, ”But I still love you.”
Xavier slowly faded into dust as the old man was being consumed by the raging flame, his tears unnoticed for he was behind his white mask, which was soon left there to be his mark.
All Klavier wishes was to hug his son one final time, but that won't happen anytime soon, it seems. He wanted to apologise for being weak… he wanted to sincerely say sorry. He had his share of regrets, but watching his son stir on the wrong path was the worse.
__________
”I'm… sorry…” Kakashi hung his head low, ”I've brought you such bad news on this early morning.”
Karasu-niisan and I remained silent after the scarecrow spilled the beans he had been keeping since earlier at midnight. It seemed as though we left far too early yesterday, leaving old man Klavier all alone with his beloved piano—burning grand piano.
It was still unclear whether the old man burned himself, or someone had done that to him. I'd say the latter for a few pointed reasons—Kakashi had told us that the old man only knew how to control music jutsu's (thanks to his bloodline) and not the angry flames, and he still have his ”bucket list” to be fulfilled—but that won't be finished anytime soon.
”It seemed like they both finally reached their well-deserved rest—the piano and Rukas-san, I mean.” It took me a lot of effort to not do a double take at the man who rarely speaks. So this is how the crow pays his respect to the dead, huh?
The scarecrow slowly nodded.
I simply whistled and tucked my lips into a thin line, neutral about the news my uncle brought us. ”That's… unfortunate…” I scratched the back of my head, making my uncle raise a brow—probably thinking why I reacted that way. ”At least, I made a great memory with him before the incident. He seemed to enjoy the duet I did with him.” I smiled.
Kakashi and Karasu-nii directed their gaze towards me before they revealed their smile through their eyes. ”Looking at the bright side, huh?” My uncle smiled and ruffled my hair, ”Taking everything easy, am I right, my cute little nephew? Though I still have many questions with your music capability, but that's saved for later.”
I sweatdropped at the name he called me—still not used to the ”my-cute-little-nephew” thing, like the ”-kun” stuff I absolutely hate internally but chooses to not speak about it anyways.
”For now, we'll let the Konoha Military Police Force deal with Klavier-san's death.” Kakashi explained with his apologetic stare before walking past both Karasu-nii and I. ”Oh,” he suddenly stopped, making both of us turn to him, ”you have all of this day to train or something—but your main task, Ori-kun, is to get Karasu's mask.”
”Huh?” Both Karasu-nii and I blinked.
Before he could poof away to somewhere, my uncle saluted, ”A~nd, you can start now.”
”He's leaving… just like that?” I asked no one on particular. ”What a drag.” I sighed, slowly placing my gaze at the ANBU beside me.
Kakashi had often left without a word for his duties as an ANBU captain. He never once really gave us any tasks before leaving unless he knows he'd be gone for a long period of time. This time, I'm sure something urgent happened, which meant that that Hatake plays an important role on the 'urgent matter'.