11 Raging Flames

Nothing really interesting happened after I got involved in the "White-Masks" case—until a certain news reached both of my ears. No signs were given and the people who knew kept quiet about it until I came back home that fateful day. It took a lot of suppression just for me to not to shout what I had in mind.

I'm going to be a big brother.

It was nothing new really, since I had siblings in my past life (though we weren't that close to each other—only my little sister would insist for me to be with her every day). Like my former life, I was the eldest, and normally, all of the responsibilities should've been placed on me—but all of us grew up with a silver spoon in our mouths.

We each had our personal maids, butler—name it. We were raised in a rich family, well, my siblings were. Before my younger brother and sister came to the living, my family was living on the tails of our famous family name.

To put it into words, we were at rock bottom—we were just hanging by threads, trying to survive as the successor of the main family, the elder brother of my father, trampled on the image of our family, putting my father into blame for every dirt he made.

Of course, since I still lack the mind to understand anything at that time, and I seemed to have erased the memory from its insignificance, this story was told to me by my mother when we got everything when the successor died by unknown means. With that, my bastard father had taken the top of the main family, building up the company to its succession.

It's a good thing, I know… but I felt like we didn't deserve that life.

Enough dwelling on the past—I need to look forward on this new life. Many things are going to my accord, which is actually a bad thing since everything will come back in the worst case possible, from my experience, at least. Good luck would usually come to an end, and bad luck will rise.

The luck one worked hard to build will soon come crashing down like it's nothing.

It's like snakes if you look at a different angle. The reptile might look enthralling at times, but snakes are still snakes—they will still bite no matter how tame they are. Luck applies to one like that—it may look like everything's siding with you but, like I said earlier, it will all bite you.

Not that the logic happened in this life yet, I think.

I sighed as I bit into the red bean onigiri kaa-san prepared for me for my lunch. The savoury sweet treat made all of my pessimistic thoughts vanish.

"I was about to ask why you have a long face, but that's gone now, eh?" Kakashi sat down next to me, grabbing two onigiri from my bento box, tossing one to Karasu-niisan. "Kaiya-neechan sure do know how to make one smile with her treats." He smiled.

"Mhm." I nodded as I took away my gaze from him back to my lunch.

This uncle of mine doesn't like sweets, fried food, or anything of the like, but he loves whatever kaa-san makes. Sweet cakes, to simple but savoury dishes—name it, and Kakashi will probably there in an instant to eat it. That's how he is.

I looked back at him as he was pulling his mask up to cover his face. 'Fast as ever…' I stared boredly at him before letting out a somewhat silent laugh.

He raised a brow at me, probably thinking I've gone mad or something.

I simply shook my head and took a bite off of my sweet lunch. "What… do you think the baby will be?" I asked with my small voice.

"A niece would be nice." He looked up to see the blue skies, "But whatever fate chooses, I'd love them as much as I love you, my cute little nephew."

Too cheesy—I can't take it.

After a moment of disgust, I looked up at the sky with him. "A sister… would be nice…" I mumbled to myself.

It may not look like it, from all of my denying with my little sister from my past when I was still alive then, but I do miss all of her mischiefs and sweetness. She may be also the one who motivated me to use my talents long before someone special came. She was my little sister, after all.

Vinna was my light.

"Hm?" I heard my uncle hum. I am well aware that he heard what I mumbled earlier thanks to his amplified senses, but I do not know why he chose to have a blind eye over it.

I shook my head, packing up my bento box neatly before placing it inside of a storage seal. I put it away inside of my pouch before standing up, stretching my back after they got sore from training earlier this day.

"We finished pretty early, Ori-kun." Kakashi told me, standing up as well. "Why don't we take a walk?" He smiled, walking past me to take the lead. Without even looking he waved his hand, "Let's go, Ori-kun. You too, Karasu."

I wanted to ask where we're going, but I'm not that bothered, really. We rarely go anywhere where it doesn't involve training so, this is actually pretty nice—minus the looks we're getting from the civilians because, again, who wouldn't do a double take when there's a bird-masked man walking near a child?

Call it a stroll or whatever so, it's supposed to be peaceful. It was, until a blur ran to us—with its familiar feature in sight.

"Haha! Taking a youthful walk, I see!" Guy patted (smacked) my uncle's shoulder. Stepping back slowly to not get noticed, I froze when he called me out, "Ah! Your youthful nephew is here too!" He approached me and held my hands before he started to shake them, "Oh, I'm so happy you're greeting me!"

"I haven't even…" I trailed off, seeing that it was no use.

With that, we got Guy with us in our supposedly peaceful stroll. It wasn't as tiring before but now, just seeing him with the sun radiating off of him is exhausting.

I walked by Karasu-niisan's side, just behind the two rivals.

This is my safest spot to not get caught with their conversation and to not melt with all of this energy. I'm not really anti-social, but when energetic people are around, I get drained really easily, so I tend to avoid them even if they're nice. Actually, introvert might be better to describe myself because I'm generally fine with a small group of people surrounding me.

Wait…

It could be because of my Nara blood… but then again, I'm like this since my past life so…

I snapped out of my thoughts when I bumped into my uncle's back. Rubbing my nose, I took a step back and was about to say something when a certain item caught my eye.

"Oops—gomen, Kakashi-kun…" The jounin bobbed his head, struggling to lift the heavy item with the help of four more ninja's—chuunin's or the like. "The owner doesn't want us to place it in a storage seal…" He semi-whispered. "Although, I think he's going to get rid of this sooner or later so, we don't really know why he's still taking care of this." He awkwardly laughed, moving along and out of our way.

"It looks sad…" I mumbled, realising that I had already took a step in front to see them carry away the dusty grand piano.

"The piano does?" Kakashi took a glance at me.

It's actually been a while since I've seen an instrument I'm familiar with. I've seen a few traditional Japanese instruments and some are even scattered in the house somewhere, but I've never seen a piano here until now. I just thought that there would be none, but I assumed wrong.

Those words just kind of slipped out of my mouth. I guess that… my love for music is still inside of me, somewhere.

"It seems like whoever the owner is, they're trying to get rid of it…" Kakashi gave me his eye smile, "… do you want to see it?"

I know he's been nice and all, but to see a piano just came out of nowhere... I sighed, looking at my fingers as they began to itch before looking back at him with an uncertain smile. To be honest, I'd love to… but why does he want me to see the poor instrument?

"Then, let's go follow them." My sometimes sadistic uncle said in a warm tone, taking my left hand as we walked side by side.

Sometimes, I don't understand what's in his mind… but I still followed him nonetheless. Maybe it was out of curiosity, or maybe it was because of my love for music—so, I really wanted to know what fate will befall on the much-cared piano the four jounin's were carrying.

We arrived in an open area full of greens and flowers. The jounin and his team had placed the piano in a flat and raised clearing, looking as though they were taking the masterpiece on its final resting place. We stood at a distance around the dusty piano, pondering on what would happen after they placed it down.

I looked up at Kakashi, who's still holding my hand like the uncle he is, and gave him a small smile. I might be too embarrassed to say this out loud, but this scene sure is a beauty.

"It's sad, isn't it?" A hoarse and shaky yet warm voice came out of nowhere, making all of us glance at the owner of the tone. "Letting go of a much-loved treasure is tough."

The man who stepped in front with those words looked to be around his sixty's—with his cane, wrinkles that are scattered throughout his body, and his greying shaggy hair. His square glasses defined his saddened brown eyes that stared at the old piano. He looks like he could be someone who could play the instrument, but why would he give it up now?

He looked back at us and bowed his head, "My apologies for not introducing myself—my name is Klavier Rukas." He then gave us a thankful smile, "I'm a bit touched that a few had decided to see this day. I never expected to see anyone except for those four kind-hearted shinobu's who accepted my request."

"It's our pleasure, Klavier-san." Kakashi bowed, and of course, we did too (by "we", I mean myself, Guy and Karasu as well as the jounin group).

The old man didn't tell us anything yet, but all of us got a whiff of what's happening. He approached the piano with a soft smile, sliding his fingers along the dust-covered keys. He took the stool from the top of the piano and set it up in front of the said instrument before sitting on it after, adjusting it, of course.

"I know that you don't really know this old man, but I'm here to see this piano one last time… though this dying man wants to hear music from this one last time." His lonely tone reached our ears, and no one dared to speak as we do not know how to deal with this.

Well, I might be able to but…

As I looked down, I felt eyes fixed on me, making me look up and see the eyes of the old man. I could've sworn they flickered in different colour, but it was too quick for me to believe myself. "Your eyes shines brightly with passion…" He spoke and smiled, "Your enticing eyes says it all."

Eyes are the windows of our souls, huh?

"Why don't you join me…" He patted the space beside him.

I looked up at my uncle, who only nodded and patted my head, as if he knew that I so badly want to play the precious thing.

I don't really know why, but I felt really excited as I neared the dusty, black piano. The old man lifted me up and made me sit down on his lap, seeing that I really couldn't reach the keys when it's adjusted for him. He quickly blew the dust away from the covers and lifted them up, revealing the shiny black and white keys.

"The white keys are merely the blank pages for you to fill with your music and wishes…" He suddenly spoke as he smiled down at me, "… and the black ones are the ones that will save your music from their missing pieces."

I sort of understand his deep words, but I know there are more behind those simple words.

He then laughed, placing his left hand on the keys in front, "That's what my son told me."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked down at his hands after hearing his words. He didn't say another word after that, and started playing instead.

I never knew such tune could exist in this world—after all, the composer of "River Flows in You" came from the world I had lived in long before this life. The old man's pace was slow, yet it was overflowing with different emotions. Regret, sadness, content, and love filled the tune as he pressed down on the keys.

Not really thinking about the consequences, I acted on my own and placed my right hand on the keys, matching his pace and filling the song with my sympathy for this old man. It's been so long since I've played the piano, so I admit that I'm a bit rusty due to the fact that I didn't have the opportunity to play one until now. But since this was also my sister's favourite composed music, of course, I can't forget about this one.

What could be seen as minutes felt like seconds when I played the piano. So, when it came to an end, I was only snapped back to this reality after hearing a soft cough that came from the small group watching us play the instrument.

A laugh then made me look back at the old man, "I've never had a duet ever since that 'fateful' day happened, bōzu." His smile masked the sorrow behind his tone.

'I'm more taken aback on how one person didn't take me as a girl, actually.' I inwardly chuckled, letting him ruffle my messy hair.

Not too long after that, the old man escorted me back to our small audience who were seriously giving me questioning looks as we approached them. Cold sweat ran on my forehead as I neared the scarecrow, curious of what he would ask after all of this, since me playing an instrument "new" to my eyes is a sight.

The uncle of mine simply stared at me with his closed-eye smile, patting my head before lazily placing his hand on my shoulder. "I'm gonna ask later." He whispered in a tone of mirroring curiosity.

After a short chat, our group finally bid our goodbyes to the jounin group, who later left after us, and old man Klavier since the sun was already setting at the distance. Kakashi, Karasu-nii and I know all too well that once the sun completely sets, we're gonna be in big trouble since kaa-san's home and is probably already waiting for us.

We parted with the scarecrow's rival just before we reached the Nara Forest.

We were terrified because of an angered image of my kaa-san appearing in our thoughts, which made us quicken our pace—with me being carried by Karasu-niisan on his back to not slow our pace down. We really didn't expect anything major after that, but it seemed that our naïve selves had caused a single life that following night.

__________

His tired eyes blurred as the kind-hearted audience of his disappeared off into the distance. He really didn't know that he'd be able to play the piano one more time before he leaves his beloved piano into its resting place, but that young child simply sparked his interest in a single gaze.

He sighed, wearing his spectacles that he took from his inner pockets.

Klavier was deeply thankful for the white-haired young boy for letting him play once more. The young boy simply ignited something inside of him, which reminded him the times when he used to play the piano for his beloved son. He thought that the young boy resembled his son's passion with music—and his son was also at the young boy's age when he started playing the lovely instrument.

Too bad, after all of the love his son poured into his burning passion for music, all of it also kindled the greed for power and status. Four years ago, he lost his beloved son because of the hunger for power residing in his tainted soul.

'He would've been twenty today…' Klavier sighed at the thought.

Almost instantly, he froze up after hearing the sound of a menacing tune coming from a violin echo in the flowery plain. To some, it could be heard as a lovely melody, but some could hear the cursed tune of the forbidden piece—and the old man is one of the ones to hear the cursed truth.

"He had already died." Klavier said in a cold, yet saddened tone. "Why must you come?" He asked the figure approaching over to him, sending him his icy-cold glare that he could muster.

The tune suddenly stopped as the white-masked figure nearing the old man pause his actions. Lowering his instrument, he disappeared to where he was once before and reappeared sitting on the grand piano with his right leg over his left—with his instrument nowhere to be seen.

It seemed as though, in closer look, there's something engraved onto to the masked-man's mask, but the old man's eyes aren't fit to see such intricate details.

Klavier simply sighed, lifting his gaze away from the mask and onto the white-masked man's eyes. "Xavier had died. He's no longer here." He stated, bitter about the fact that the one in front of him chuckled at his stated.

"Why must you not accept the truth?" The white-masked man rolled up his white sleeves, revealing a ticking wristwatch latched onto his left wrist. "The time to rise has already come. An old man like you couldn't possibly save this cursed world."

"I may not be the one to save this forsaken land," Klavier paused, running his fingers along the keys of the piano before him, "but a single shadow might be able to destroy your desired pages."

"Hm…" The masked-man hummed pausing at a sudden thought. "I've been watching..." He trailed off, glancing at the ticking clock on his wrist, "… you seem to adore a certain young boy."

"His eyes are burning with passion that… resembled one that had already went through the joys and misfortunes in life… but at such young age, it shouldn't be in his eyes. The eyes that had seen death doesn't belong in someone as young and fresh as him." Klavier praised the young pianist.

"Oh?" The maksed-man curled his lips behind his mask, "Doesn't it all ring a bell? A déjà vu, perhaps?"

"Xavier is much different than you." The old man said in a stinging tone, full of hatred and bitterness mixed with pity and sadness.

"But he… died, right?" The younger male emphasized the word of death, sounding as mockingly as possible.

The old man closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He did…" He trailed off, looking at the young man in front of him, "So why should a man like you replace him like he was nothing? Controlling the weak with your image is so low, Shi-kun."

The young man shuddered at the nickname before regaining his composure, placing his gloved hand over his mask, "Masks as this? Those people were simply enthralled be my music. My beautiful masks have nothing to do with them."

"A bold statement coming from a bold man." The old man chuckled, clutching something dear from his breast pocket.

"Welp." The masked-man hopped off of the grand piano after a short chuckle, popping the last letter of his last word before dusting his white pants. "I know you already know why I'm here." He shrugged as a cane suddenly appeared in his hands with a poof.

"May this last moment remind you of who you were before." Klavier smiled, placing his hands over the piano.

"Pfft—" The young man laughed. "You're funny." He started to swiftly go over a set of hand seals.

"You know," Klavier opened his eyes and stared at the masked man, "Shiro does suit you well."

The young man momentarily paused at the phrase he considered as an unintended pun—since he's wearing a white suit and all, before completing the seals. "Goodbye, old man."

A flicker of red flames ran across the body of the piano, trapping the kind old man in the middle with his dear instrument.

Shiro, the masked-man, bit his lips as he turned around and away from the scene before pausing as a tune reached his ears. It seemed as though the old man is playing the piano, waiting for his death to come and engulf him… but this music strongly reminded the young man something that should've already been forgotten.

He slowly faded into dust as the old man was being consumed by the raging flame. 'You're the worst… pops.'