Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

Night in the Museum

Thumb and Mana walked alongside one another at a casual pace in total silence. One in occasion took the time to look at the other with curiosity and intent to examine what was going through the mind of the other. Thumb was by far the worse offender of the two as far as this expression of curiosity was concerned.

"Okay, what is this weapon of yours all about?" Thumb relented at last.

"It's just a wand made of Audra alloy. It is almost the same quality of weaponry as an actually imbued with chakra weapon is due to the unnatural properties of the alloy." Mana tried to both not lie and keep the personal sentimentality out of it since it would most likely result in the burglar laughing it off and these type of painful and personal memories were not something Mana was okay leaving in the laughing matter drawer.

"Fair enough, sounds pretty impressive and yet..." the woman closed one of her eyes as she left the tease hanging in the air resulting in an annoying sound most similar to the mooing of a bored cow. "It is not quite like you to go out of your way and switch to the bad girls' team to get your hands back on it. No offense, but you're the last person I'd reckon be switching teams for a whole lot of power if you know what I mean..."

"It was once a sword. A sword that belonged to my teammate who was killed in action. It's a long story but it is the type of story that I cannot completely shake my input out of so I will never stop feeling at least partially responsible. My best friend took that sword after I gave it to her and made a wand out of it. It is extremely chakra conductive and perfect for casting techniques without needing hand seals due to Audra's natural properties." Mana explained, closing her eyes as if knowing she'd be laughed at in a handful of seconds.

"If it is so dear to you, why did you give it away to your best friend?" Thumb ran in front of Mana, turned around and began hopping backward instead of walking beside the magician.

"I felt much more guilt then than I do now. Seeing it by my side every day would have been unbearable, leave alone the fact that Meiko is a pretty good swordswoman. I would have brought shame to my friend by wielding his sword too..." Mana shrugged, feeling a little easier talking about it now. Somehow not even knowing or being able to find out Thumb's real name and knowing that the two would not be knowing each other for too long made it a lot easier to just spill the contents of her soul out clean.

"It's never just one reason, is it?" Thumb grinned before returning back to Mana's left side as the two made their way through the empty and dark Shukuba streets.

"You are more right than you believe. It is not just that it once belonged to my lifelong friend whom I feel like I've failed in life. It's that it was remade by someone I treasure and given back to me. Meiko is a crazy enthusiast of a blacksmith, the fact that she did that with me in mind... I think it's quite beautiful. Not only does the wand symbolize the path to peace that I will build wielding that wand in my friend's name, it also means the entirety of Meiko's friendship to me as well. I cannot let all of that get lost." Mana stated firmly.

"Ouch! Sounds like a pretty hassling way to live..." Thumb relaxed and stretched out before placing her chilled hands inside her pockets.

"What about you? You wanted to become a Shukuba Security and yet you ended up on a completely different side." Mana turned to her friend.

"It was not my lifelong dream or anything. It's just that I am looking ahead. Back then, acquiring these skills was the only way I could survive. After all this is over, the Shukuba Security is the only place they can be useful. Even if I wanted it as a kid, Security would have had little use of a hungry, dirt-poor, runaway girl with no standout skills." Thumb shrugged the topic off. It did look kind of obvious to Mana that the burglar was just trying it to seem like less of an interesting topic to talk about for the sake of it being left alone.