Bad Omens
The Hidden Village was the kind of place where murders were hardly newsworthy, unless they were committed with magic. Then people started to worry.
Every human in the world had magic, of course, but The Hidden Village had somehow become a busy, multicultural hub for it, the air sharp with power and untold happenings. It had been a village that expanded into a small town, and being engulfed by a rapidly-expanding city hadn’t changed the enclosed, shadowed nature of it. The rest of the city knew to avoid crossing the borders if they could.
It was a town that distinguished itself with bloodshed, secret histories, and a population that knew they were being played, though largely ignorant of the forces that played them. Those who knew never told, if they even could. Noir Fantastic, concrete, spilled mana and graffiti that only few could see.
People there were rarely taught how to master their magic, specific or weak as magic often is, but the people of this town knew that secrets were shared with the strongest, tears and sweat needing to blend with the blood in order to get ahead. Some of the best mages in the world came from this town, and they largely spent their days as law enforcement or common thugs. Any suggestion that they squandered their gifts would be met with a stern glare, perhaps an amused smile. Here, only the best is needed. Demons wore human skin so often that people didn’t bother grabbing their torches and pitchforks to do something about it – demons had influence and power and most people merely whispered curses behind their backs. The status quo had been upset so many times there that no one was surprised when it would change again. The key was getting through these times alive and well.
Even the best could fail in the town where anything was possible.
In a world of magic and mischief, Rock Lee felt it was merely pragmatic to believe in things like omens and bad luck, and waking up that morning, his left side stiff and screaming from pain (moreso than usual, so much more than usual), he couldn’t help but shiver from sudden worry. He heard the knock on the door (and of course he’d overslept on such an important day, of course he’d be late, his day was going so well) and attempted to sit up, feeling the strain and pull in his muscles and bones. He must have taken a while to do it because the front door opened anyway, Tenten’s arm snaking in to wave something at him, and thank the gods she had coffee.
“Don’t suppose I can come in, can I?” she called out, poking her head round the door. She winced at the sight of him, and he managed a smile.
“Please do. I do not think I have ever been more pleased to see you, Tenten,” he replied as she strode through his apartment.
“Bad morning?” She sat on the edge of corner of his bed, her eyebrows furrowed. The pain made even small gestures like nodding hurt, but he did it all the same.
“It has not been this bad in a long time. I thought I was alright to go back on the force, but…” he muttered, hissing when she lifted his hand. She pulled and pushed at his limbs with practiced fluidity, aiming to bring some motion to the leaden joints if not a relief from the pain. “It is not a convenient morning for this, let me just say.”
“You’ll get there eventually, Lee. Even if you still get days like this, I’d still say you’re well enough to go back – and if you don’t think you are, then you need to take things slowly until you get there, okay?” she recited. He’d heard it said almost verbatim before, but on days like this, he didn’t feel up to questioning her too hard. “What do you mean, not a convenient morning? You got plans?” she added, conversationally, as she bent his leg in a way that he really didn’t appreciate. He grit his teeth, breath slow, and his response was a long time in coming.
“Yes. I was going to meet with Neji in…” He looked at the clock, a sinking feeling in his gut. “…an hour. He said he was onto something interesting, and would give me the scoop on it.”
“Oh yeah? I wonder if it has to do with…whatever it is he’s been so secretive about lately? I mean, we’re meant to be partners, but he’s been juggling a lot of things that he’s been telling me nothing about…” she pondered. She shrugged, and lightly smacked his shoulder to indicate she was done. “It’d better be a good scoop.”
“He assures me that it is – the best of my career, even.” Lee curled his fingers into a fist repeatedly – the pain was still there, somewhere deeper than his muscles and skin, but it was tolerable now, and the stiffness had largely passed. “…I have a bad feeling about this. Like something terrible will come to pass, or has already and I just do not know it yet.”
“Oh come off it, Lee. Sure, it’s a little shady, but he promised you he’d be there, right?” She handed him his coffee, and he let the heat permeate through. “And it’s important, so everything will go well, okay?”
“Yes, but…my body…”
“Lee, it was raining on and off last night and early this morning. It’s probably just the change in atmospheric pressure. Okay?”
“…Bad weather can be an omen sometimes, too…” he murmured. Tenten sighed and shook her head.
“Lee, omens aren’t a thing. You’re just being silly, and everything will be fine.” His face still looked grave and severe, her cynicism doing nothing to cheer him up. She shrugged, putting on a smile.
“Alright – well, if it goes badly, you can meet me for lunch to cry on my shoulder, and if it goes well, then you can meet me for lunch and spill the beans.” She patted his head, her hand stroking through his hair as he gulped down his coffee, lingering just a moment longer than was necessary. The coffee was exactly how he liked it, bitter and strong, still piping hot. She always remembered his coffee orders to the letter, delivered to his house every morning at 8am on the dot, and his heart was always warmed by it. It felt good, having such a wonderful friend.
“I would love to take you up on that, Tenten, but I unfortunately have other plans,” he said, a smile that wasn’t forced finally making its way onto his face. “If I have to cry, then it will not be on your shoulder.”
“Who’s shoulder is that, then? Is it Hinata? I mean, I always kind of figured that Neji would try and set you two up at some point…” she whispered, like a secret.
“No, no, it is not her, although I do not think you are wrong in that assessment. I do not think you know him?”
“Ooh, a ‘him’? First you’re going out to note down all of Neji’s secrets, and then you’re off dating mystery men. Truly, you lead a life of intrigue and suspense,” she joked, before smiling softly. “Seriously though, have you ever dated a guy before? I mean, I knew you liked guys as well, but I wasn’t sure if you’d dated any. Are you okay?”
He nodded, his cheeks a dark pink. “I think I am, yes. It is not as if that was due to fear, or a lack of pride – I have no fear of rebuke. Besides, it is more of a ‘getting to know you’ kind of date. He seems nice enough, but so far I am not sure.”
Her hand drifted down his neck, hesitating before patting his shoulder. “Well, he isn’t going to want to get to know you if you turn up naked and filthy, is he? Come on, I’ll be here if you need me.”
By the time he’d gotten himself ready to face the day, the meeting was five minutes away and Tenten was shuffling him out of the door and towards her car with little discussion outside of “If you go without your cane today then Neji won’t be seeing you at all. Just test me.” He sighed, and went back to get it – he rarely needed it, but today was one of those days where it might be necessary to have. She knew him too well to let him slip out without it.
Tenten always made it a habit to drive slow when she had Lee in the car, going through the short-cuts to make up for time, and they talked so much that Lee almost shook off that persistent unease. Almost.
“Who’re you calling? Neji?” Tenten asked, seeing Lee fiddle with his phone out of the corner of her eye.
“Just making sure that he got to our meeting spot on time,” he said, his smile nervous. More like if Neji got to the meeting spot at all, if the ringing of the phone would be answered by his most likely tired or irritable voice. A voice stated Neji’s unavailability, and by the fifth time it happened, Lee couldn’t keep the panic off his face.
“…Lee, on my phone, I have an app that lets me track his phone. We’d agreed on it, if a case called for us to be separated. You can use that to make sure where he is, okay?” Tenten said, concern dripping from her voice. “I’m sure he just…can’t hear his ringtone. Yeah.”
Lee looked through Tenten’s phone, stumbling with his left hand, and his mounting unease reached a tipping point when Neji’s phone was traced to a specific alleyway on the pier. He stumbled out of the car, expecting to see him standing proudly before them, his heart sinking when he wasn’t. He only had to briefly look over the are to see it – a pale hand raised, almost like it were waving, out of the tip before them.
“Tenten…I am not seeing things, am I?” he asked her, rooted to the spot.
Lee didn’t even need to see the rest of the body, those hands overwhelmingly familiar even at a distance. Those hands had defeated him in combat too many times for him to mistake them.
“What do you mean, seeing things? Lee…?” she asked, poking her head out of the car window. She saw it too, and fell quiet. He went back in the car, the two of them sitting in silence for several long moments.
“…So…what was that you were saying about bad omens?” he asked quietly, his voice breaking down into a waterlogged mess.
He ended up crying on her shoulder after all.