The mistakes we make

Training went well. Testing his new skills went incredibly well. Aeon was a fantastic ability, that even at the lowest rung of levels, still displayed marvelous potential in tandem with its secondary effects. For experimentation purposes Cole had picked up some pebbles from the park, stashing them away like a squirrel. It wouldn't be a good look to be seen collecting stones like a grade-schooler.

Activating Aeon was a work in progress, the force of intent needed to invoke the ability wasn't something Cole could do on a whim. It required trance-like attention and focus on his part, completely unsuitable for live combat. Insight's purpose was easily implemented into thoughts along the lines of: 'I wanna know more about this person.' or 'What are you hiding.', etcetera. Aeon needed more.

Just wishing to become stone didn't satisfy Aeon's requirements. He had to envision the properties he wanted to incarnate. How unyielding entire mountainranges are. How rock was only bested by time and the other primeval forces of nature. Once he had the images secured the ability took its course.

Grey breathed into his skin, a light shade that just made him appear more tan. His hands became less dexterous but gained a heft like someone tied weights to them - It sounded detrimental, but he couldn't even feel the burden on his body. And then was his stance. Whenever one of his feet was in contact with the ground, he was perfectly balanced and would never fall. An avenue of acrobatics was opened up to him that allowed for incredible kicks from the most unlikely positions. He wasn't a martial artist, but he knew ninjas would kill for his control.

The activated wood aspect, when touching a twig respectively, eluded him with its hidden abilities. It didn't have the same durability as stone, neither did he obtain supernatural , physics defying weight. It was just a lesser boon than stone. Cole could very well imagine that wood had hidden healing properties, but he had no way to test that.

When it came to Aeon's first ability, Cole was sorely disappointed. Like the wood changes, it was a purely durability focused increase. Though it had the added effect that he could dial up the intensity on selected parts of his body, hardening those parts of skin akin to boiled leather, decreasing the remainder of his overall defense in contrast.

Stamina worried Cole immensly. All of the described abilities so far couldn't persist longer than thirty seconds before he felt winded. It was a consumate kind of fatigue that made his bones rattle and fear the backlash that would follow soon after. Was that point reached, Cole had to wait minutes at a time before the next activation, or he would risk debilitating injuries.

But he was feeling festive anyway. Even with the drawbacks it was a cool and novel ability. Something wholly unique to him.

And then Naruto came along.

Cole groaned when he thought about the boy, or rather, his own stupid loud-mouth and the events that followed.

Although Naruto tended to be a mule-headed, albeit simplehearted person, he didn't expect him to storm out of his room after stiffling his cries.

Cole should have seen it coming. He wasn't thinking straight, hadn't yet realised that characters from a show lacked the depth of people in real-life. In his eyes, Naruto was this endlessly optimistic boy that drew people towards him like a beacon in the dark. Every setback was just that to Naruto, a setback, a minor inconvinience that would surely be surmounted by tenacity and grit alone. But that was too two-dimensional, that wasn't Naruto. He had his own motivations, he had his goals and dreams and hopes, certainly, he was not not the boy with a golden heart. But he also shouldered a decade of trauma, neglect and pain. Frustrations and fears that don't get resolved in one night, that couldn't be shelved away like a dusty old book. That was simply not possible.

Cole made the mistake of seeing Naruto as a charicature. In a sense he was very much like the villagers. They narrow-mindedly viewed Naruto as a beast waiting to be unleashed, a disaster waiting to happen, Cole saw only his boundless spirit and good cheer. Naruto had been beaten and bloodied, kicked even when he was down, and Cole was stupid enough to not realise what a lasting effect it had on him.

After what he told Naruto, he wasn't sure if the boy ever wanted to have anything to do with him ever again. The thought stung, but was well deserved.

The one time they met after that day, Naruto ducked out of his sight and hurried away.

He hadn't met Tenten afterwards either. He didn't know if she was supposed to be on a mission, or if she was lodging here in the first place. She made quite an impactful entrance. Treating him out of the goodness of her heart and generally being very astute and kind. He had wanted to talk to her, if only for the sake of getting an Insight finally off on her, but with the entire Naruto dilemma he wasn't sure if that was a smart idea.

This way Cole squandered the next day. Holed up in his room, familiarising himself with his newfound powers - an excercise he would love to do for days on end, for it was that intoxicating - and trying not to think too hard about the money he was spending.

He knew he was procrastinating, shirking his self-imposed responsibilities. But he had no clue where to start. He hadn't yet gained any personal strength, nor did he have the trust or the reputation that would allow him in places like the hospital, where he could start grinding Lay on Hands. What he needed was an opportunity and people that would have no choice but to let him help them, even with his meagre abilities.

An idea came to him. The night he appeared within Konoha, he hadn't seen any squatters, waifs or other riffraff society tend to brush under the rug. But there had to be, and he had an inkling where he would find one particular flavor of rejects.

Afternoon was biding its goodbyes and long shadows were cast over Konoha. Cole used the bit of daylight to locate the closest used goods store. He bought an airy cloak, a wide-brimmed satgat and a cheap shawl to bind around his face. The 200 ryō cut deep into his funds and his heart.

Cole waited until night came, using an alley to don the entire ensemble and turn into a masked enigma. The city came alive with artificial lights and people dead-set on drinking and partying their bad memories away.

In a world with ninjas trained in the art of maiming and killing, frustrations and desires were bound to be pent up out the wazoo. And where human's seeked an outlet to release those desires, businessmen found an opportunity to exploit and enrich themselves. From ancient Rome to pseudo-modern Konoha, some things never changed. And what place better to start his healer career in, than where misery made merry with more misery. Where desires were laid bare and carnality beget disease and sin.

It wasn't for nothing that prostitution was considered one of the oldest professions known to man, as old as human nature itself.

(Hope you guys like chapter 9, a short one again, although chapter 8 was supposed to be todays chapter, so yay for you guys!)

(Next chapter will very likely contain explicit pornographic imagery and 100% blood, mentions of ra.pe - in some form -, violence and all the bad shit that goes on in red-light districts. Be warned. Leave a comment if you like it so far!)