[Flashback+Chakra Training]

Banquo had begun to recover a bit more since leaving the clinic. The simple walk and fresh air had done him a lot of good and he could even feel his body begin to limber up. He wanted to talk to Twilight about what had happened, but he couldn't find her. So he decided to just sit beside the lake and think. He wondered if she would think that much different of him after the atrocities the she had seen him commit. He was still angry at her for invading his mind, but relieved that he had stopped it before she his worst moment.

Looking up at the sky, he scanned the clouds, looking for the outlines that formed semi-solid images. There was one that looked like a whale, and another that appeared to be a tree. The others where just formless blobs, floating across the light-blue plane of the sky. Wen he was little he liked to imagine that the clouds were just puffs of smoke from the pipe of a giant. It was a story told to him by his mother, a fairy tale from her younger days that was passed down from her own mother.

The legend told of a massive giant, bound to the mountains of the north. The giant had rampaged for many years, feeding on townspeople and livestock until he met a young maiden. He feel in love with her, and ended his evil ways. However the gods feared the power of the giant and that he would eventually become evil again. So they locked him away in a cave high in the mountains. Using his chakra, the giant bound to the rock forever, created clouds as a message to his love that she would always be in her heart.

Banquo always thought the story was rubbish, but it managed to make him feel happy about the idea that even a monster that killed thousands of people could find happiness and still maintain it even in the most dire of circumstances. It gave him hope that maybe his situation with Twilight wasn't un-salvageable. The things she had seen were heavy, and would probably cause her a lot of grief. He doubted that she could trust him again, but maybe if he showed her that he wasn't that boy anymore, they could still work together.

After deciding that he spent enough time recuperating, Banquo stood and looks across the surface of the lake, then to the tree that sat on a tiny little island in the middle. He had an interesting idea forming in his mind, when suddenly he felt a presence nearby. It felt familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was. He had an inkling and decided to act upon it. "You could have just hit me a physical technique. It's not like I violated your mind with my explosion or anything."

She was told to go on a mission today. There were 3 things Twilight normally did in a situation like this. She would either one submit and do a stupid mission, two complain beg or come up with and excuse to get out of it, or three run away and hide. Today's choice option number three. Her hiding spot, a lake she had taken a liking too. Twilight walked on top of the water to the middle of the lake before cutting of the chakra too her feet and plunging down. The water wasn't cold she didn't know why people thought it was. Might be because she felt strangely at home in the water. Twilight drifted and settled on the lake floor. Oh another thing, Twilight could hold her breath underwater for far longer than should be humanly possible. Twilight figured it was because she had the three tails inside of her.

After about 30 minuets she needed to come up for a quick breath of air. When her head popped out of the water she saw Banquo. He wasn't there before but he was there now. Then he asked her a question well actually it was more of a statement. He wasn't looking at her though. Maybe he was just preparing for when he did meet her. Well he was about to get a surprise because he was about to meet her again now. Twilight's heart ached though as she thought about his words. Her mind was also bombarded by the memories she had copied from him. They were not pleasant memories and they had left Twilight sleepless for many nights. Twilight ducked her head back underwater and swam to the edge of the lake, where she started casually walking out of the water. Once she was up and out she zipped up her grey hoody to hide her soaking wet white tank top. Twilight walked over to Banquo as if being soaking wet was the most natural and normal thing in the world. She sat on the bench with him. "I was angry and I didn't know just how......gruesome your life has been. I think you should take a break from being a ninja. What you did to those bandits wasn't right and if you keep this up your going to go down the wrong path."

Banquo felt the chakra signature come close and set beside him. He listened as she spoke, telling him he needed a break. She was right about that. He didn't know when the last time he had actually relaxed was. Since coming to Taki a few months ago, his life had been nothing but one long series of mishaps and training. His uncle had never let him make friends with the other kids, so he didnt have much experiences with others. Truth be told, Twilight was the first friend he had made since coming here.

He looked at her and realized that she had been swimming. Her hoodie was wet and clung to her body. He wondered why he had never sensed her before when entering the lake, but realized she must have been there before him. This gave rise to a whole new slew of questions, but he pushed them to the back of his mind. "You're right, it was gruesome and it has pulled me down a dark path. Every day I wonder if I'll be able to get out of it. It's like I'm walking down a tunnel, looking for that speck, of light, but it never comes."

He raised his arm up and looked at the bandages wrapped around his wrist. He would need to change them soon, too keep the wound clean until it healed. As he looked over hand, he wondered about what astral's life was like. Maybe her's wasn't any better than his was. He looked back at her and spoke, keeping a straight face. "We should make this equal. Let me see into your memories." He didnt have the powerful genjutsu that she did, but he did have another technique. It was designed for mind-reading and interrogation, but it would serve perfectly for this purpose.

Twilight could sympathies with Banquo's struggles. In a way she had the same struggles just not as frequent. No instead her struggle only came up sometimes but when it did the struggle was almost unbearable both times she had only barley been able to hold herself back. It was only a matter of time though before she couldn't fight it off. She was getting really scared.

Banquo then asked to get even. Twilight's eye opened wide in response. She was sick of the nightmares and the torture. Now he wanted to cause even more. Twilight didn't want to accept but she also felt really bad for what she had done to him and to herself. Was it not justice enough that her actions had left her sleepless from nightmares? Then again she knew almost everything about him and he still knew virtually nothing of her. She supposed it was only fair to let him, but she was going to have to see her own past. It wasn't has bad as Banquo's but it was still bad. At least the beginning parts and the end parts. God this was going to give her more nightmares. "Ok fine, but be careful the stay clear of the Sanbi, it'll rip your mind apart."

Banquo was a little surprised at how easily she had agreed to the idea. He figured she would take a little more goading to give in to him, but supposed she must have some sort of reason for trusting him. He first formed six hand-seals, then hesitantly raised his hand up to her face. His palm was about the size of her cheek, and his thumb rested on her temple, while his pink rested at the bottom of her chin. His palm pressed against her cheek and he smiled as he felt the warmth again that he had felt before.

As he focused chakra into his palm, he tapped into the chuunin's mind. The world fell away and a cascade of memories flooded into his mind. It was a blurry stream at first, but eventually he managed to focus it into a small trickle so that he could control it. He watched Twilight as she grew up, starting in her infancy as she was left alone from the death of her parents, and the orphanage she was raised in, to the moment when she had taken on the role of the three-tails Jinchuriki. He could sense sadness she felt. All the years of loneliness that bad bottled up inside. They were like his.

It made for an interesting catharsis as memories swarmed of her adoption. The loneliness contiinued, but now she had a mother and father again. He watched as she grew up, afraid of showing her emotion and making friends. She wanted to change, but couldn't. Moving on, Banquo came to the memories of her graduation. She had been a genin for longer than him, because she was a lot younger in this memory. Then the more recent events played. He watched first-hand as she took on the bandits, and the moment she had a panic attack in the village.

Banquo came to the day that he had attacked her, the memory that he had dreaded. Thhe memories were now moving fast again, and he was losing control. He watched from her point of view as she attacked and the horrified feeling in her body as she watched him fall to pieces. The memories slipped away, replaced by fragments of dreams and nightmares. She lay alone as the horrors overtook her. He wished he could reach and stop the pain and the horro, but he could do nothng as the memories continued on.

Finally he came to the end of the memories, the moment when she walked up to him. He followed her point of view as she emerged from the lake and upon realizing he was there, zipped up her hoodie. The moment she sat upon the bench, the world faded again, replaced by black. In front of Banquo was a mass of chakra. The beast overloaded his sensory abilities and almost made him wince in pain. The beast formed out into the form of Isobu.

This what she had warned him of. She had warned him to stay away from the tailed beast. It was so tempting to reach out and touch the beast, to delve into it's knowledge. However, Banquo held back his hands. The ninjustu broke and he suddenly found himself sitting their, staring into her eyes. The eyes of a lonely girl, not un-like him. In the moment, he felt a true connection with her. He looked into her eyes before grasping her cheekly softly, then he did the most un-predictable thing one do after reading another's mind. He leaned in for a kiss.

Twilight waited as he read through her memories. She wondered what his reaction would be when he was done. When it was over his reaction was not something Twilight had expected. He leaned in and it was obvious he was seeking a kiss. Twilight swiftly stuck her hand out on his chest and kept him from leaning any closer. "We get in a fight, you attack me, I rape your mind, it gives me nightmares, you read my mind as pay back, and the first thing you want to do when you're done is kiss me?" Twilight was no interested in a relationship least of all one where both members of the party are screwed up. Who would want her anyways? All she was; was a lazy, shy, friendless nobody. Not to mention she would kill all those close to her the day the Sanbi won and Twilight was sure that day was steady approaching. On top of that inevitable doom she'd been having nightmares and have been dealing with fighting off the Sanbi rather frequently. She was not emotionally ready for any relationship. In fact just the mere thought that he was attracted to her was emotionally taxing. In fact the sanbi was taking advantage of this. "Fuzz!" Twilight yelled out loud as the red chakra began consuming her again. She quickly removed her hand from Banquo's chest so as not to burn him. However thats all the time she had before the sanbi blitz to take control. Twilight brought her legs up next to her chest as defensive instinct. She clutched her head and yelled as she tried to fight off the bijuu. Twilight needed to calm down she needed to find her happy place. Where was her happy place......the water! Twilight ran towards the lake still clutching her head and jumped in diving into the water. This calmed both the bijuu and Twilight just a little bit but that little bit was enough to force the Sanbi into a retreat. Banquo would know when she regained control because the chakra cloak would stop evaporating the water and causing gas bubbles to greatly disturb the surface. Twilight did not rise from the water however she was perfectly fine where she was.

It was odd, the only reason she had such an affinity towards water was because of the bijuu. Otherwise her main element would probably by lightning. In fact the bijuu was a part of her now and forever. You couldn't have Twilight without the bijuu because without the bijuu Twilight would die. So there was no point in saying she didn't have an affinity for water that just the bijuu. No the bijuu was her and so she had a great affinity for water. In a way she was kinda luck. Its not like everyone can jump into a lake and bam it calms them down.

Banquo felt a little hurt by her actions. Perhaps he had tried to soon to. Maybe he should have waited. Perhaps a hug would have sufficed he thought to himself. He was about to explain himself when Twilight began to become nervous. He felt her chakra change and became nervous as she pulled back.

He didnt want her to go back into that state, now that he knew it scared her. He simply watched as she ran to the lake, helpless to do anything as she used the water to calm herself. To calm the heat and the pain that had been caused by him. He realized he had hurt her a lot recently, and maybe he had misread the situation a bit.

Standing up, he walked to the edge of the water and watched as it boild with heat. After a fe seconds it stilled and he decided it was time to give this another try. Forming a hand-seal and focusing his chakra into the soles of his feet, he moved to the spot where the bubbles had been heaviest. With a sigh, he released the water walking technique and quickly sunk down into the cool iciness of the lake. Reaching his arms out, he wrapped them around her. Pressing his foot to the bottom, he pulled her up to the surface.

"Again, I'm sorry." He spoke quietly. "I'm just so new to these feelings of having a friend that I tend to get them mixed up. I saw how you were so lonely and only had your adoptive parents. It was that same way for me, only having my uncle. He would never let me have any friends, but I always wanted them. When I saw how alike we were, I kinda of jumped the gun just like in the forest. Why don't we start back over, now that we're even?"

Banquo fell into the lake and grasped Twilight before pulling her out. Twilight could feel rage building now and the red chakra that had enveloped her was ready to do so again. How dare he remove her from her comfort zone. "Again, I'm sorry." He seemed to whisper to her. "I'm just so new to these feelings of having a friend that I tend to get them mixed up. I saw how you were so lonely and only had your adoptive parents. It was that same way for me, only having my uncle. He would never let me have any friends, but I always wanted them. When I saw how alike we were, I kinda of jumped the gun just like in the forest. Why don't we start back over, now that we're even?" Twilight's rage instantly melted away and instead was replaced with tears. Twilight looked up at Banquo with the new editions to her face streaking down her cheeks. "Yea were even now." Twilight said before resting her head on his shoulder.
[exit]

[OOC: What its a good note to leave off on."]