The Demons of my Future

The Great Library of Aerogakure was a beautiful modern marvel to say the very least. "Modern" was pushing it a bit though, as the building was older than most of the oldest men still alive in this miserable world. It was huge, stretching even above the clouds this village already rested on. It had to have been at least thirty floors (later I would find out that it was 29 exactly) high, and several hundred feet wide, with towers connected to towers connected to wings connected to hallways. It was fascinating, so fascinating in fact, that I had to take a few minutes to just stand at the entrance to try to fathom its beauty. A man bumped into my on his way into the building, and said a rather rude comment to break me out of my trance. "I don't think I've even stared at a bare woman as intently as you are at the building. I hate to disappoint you, bite-sized, but it ain't gonna make love to ya." He then continued into the building while letting off a jolly boom of laughter. The man was rather huge, and smelled of burnt coal and melted steel, with a hint of sweat from a long day's work. I then recognized him as the blacksmith whom I had bought all of the weapons I had currently from a few weeks earlier. What would he be doing at a library?

I trotted up to catch him just as he crossed the granite threshold into the huge white library, and choked on my own breath as I took in the contents of the inside of the building. Rows of bookshelves climbed up the white walls, and golden gargoyles clung to the end of each shelf. I could not see the tops of some of the shelves, and honestly, I didn't think I wanted to. I was already having a hard time grasping just how much information was in front of me with the amount that I could see. "Sir, you were the smith that forged these weapons, yes?" I asked hurriedly while I tried to keep up with his giant steps. The huge man turned around and bent down to match my height to get a better look at my face from where he had been previously about 8 feet into the air. "Yeah, I remember you. You were the tiny man that ordered all of those weapons, some of my best pieces in fact," as he said this, he began to look around me at Rebellion and Oblivion on my hip and back. "Would you look at that, you can carry them!" He said this with another boom of laughter and began walking to the counter to talk to the librarian. "What are you here for anyway?" I asked, trying to brush off the comments about me being short. He ignored my comment and kept going towards the counter. I decided it best that I just watch, so I stayed put near the entrance and kept a watchful eye on the events to come.

The burly man made his way up to the librarian, and asked with a grunt, "Hey there, honey. Mind pointing me in the direction of the.. you know.. the secret section." He said that last bit with a wink, and the librarian's expression turned to that of disgust. She turned to the back of the circular desk that surrounded her and began rummaging through a draw, and eventually pulled out a single sheet of paper. She put her pointer finger on the paper and slid it down the edge of it, as if she were looking for something on the paper. "Ah, here we are," she said before looking back up at the big blacksmith, "I'm afraid you're on the list of people who are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever allowed into the forbidden section of the library under any circumstances whatsoever." The girl had guts, talking down to such a big man, especially seeing as though she looked to be only a few years older than me, and very attractive I might add. I chuckled silently for a minute as I watched the smith's smug expression turn to one of anger. "Fine then! I'll go to a different library... with more attractive women to boot!" He exclaimed before shifting his weight and walking towards me once more, and out of the line of sight of the librarian. His argument was childish, to put it lightly, especially since there was no other library in Aerogakure.

I put my hand out to stop him from walking out the door, and he turned and gave me a very offended-looking face. "What the hell do you want, boy? Leave me alone!" He yelled out at me. A slight grin crossed my face, and I replied to him, deciding to take out his temporary mental weakness to my advantage, "Listen, fatty, your specialty obviously lies in working metal, and not in talking to women. Why don't you tell me, the little man, what's troubling you so you can get back to sucking your thumb and pouting and leave the hard stuff to me, eh?" I looked him right into his eyes that had lines of fat extended out around the edges of them, and waited for a reply. He stepped back a few feet and his face turned from anger, to shock, and then back to anger. "Why you..." he started before I cut him off, "Wait!" I said while I put my hand to my ear as if to listen for something, and continued, "You hear that?" I started to look around, with a bewildered expression, and he began to do the same, falling for my verbal trap. "Oh, there it is!" I said as I pointed to a random point in the sky. He looked, and squinted, then said, "I don't see anything! What is it?" I replied, "You're obviously confused, so let me put your pea-sized brain out of its misery. Right there," I said as I pointed again at the same spot, "Is the crap that I was going to give you in exchange for more of the wonderfully breathtaking clusters of vomit that you call speech, and if you look real, real, real closely, you'll slowly begin to realize that... hey! It doesn't exist! Now tell me why you're here, and maybe I can help you out with the librarian. Got it?" I asked him as my Sharingan began to swirl as I got myself fired up. He leaned in really close to my face once more, and the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth tightened as he took on another angry expression. I looked down to see his right fist begin to ball up, and I loosened all of my muscles in order to prepare a counterattack. Right as he appeared ready to start swinging, he bent back and let loose a bellowing laughter, "Ha! You're a clever one, kid! I haven't heard a verbal lashing like that one in quite some time! And between you and me," he hushed his voice to a whisper, "My mother's quite worse." He then straightened his back up, pulled up his sleeves, and said, "Sure, I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm looking for some books."

"I'm looking for a book about a certain weapon. A weapon that I have been searching for for my entire life, and have recently hit a dead-end. And by recently, I mean a few years ago. It's truly a magnificent weapon, especially if you're one that is easily fascinated by folklore involving.." he said this as he leaned closely to my ear, "Demons, hell, and everything in between." He had obviously seen the cursed mark that rested on the back of my left shoulder near my neck. I was intrigued, and I wanted in on this weapon. "I am obviously too old to go after it now," he said as he gestured towards his large belly, "And a bit too heavy for anything strenuous. But you... you could do it. Here, I'll help you find the books you're looking for, if you can get us into the East Wing. Deal?" He offered me this proposition, and with nothing to lose, I agreed, "You've got a deal. Now wait here," I said as I left him at the entrance and walked back towards the librarian.

I strolled up to the librarian with a slight swagger in my walk, as I was usually a bit too full of myself, primarily with women. That was a trait that I had developed from seemingly nowhere over the past year, and the fact that I looked older than I was helped tremendously. Maybe the old man was a womanizer? Maybe that's how he landed my mom? I guess I'd never know.

"How are you today, sweetheart?" I opened up with. Women liked it when you prioritized your interest in them, inquiring about their personal lives before involving yourself in the conversation at all. She grinned a little but, but didn't blush, which told me she was used to this kind of flattery. "I'm pretty good today. It's been rather dull here at the library, but at least I have the books to keep me company," she would say while motioning towards the aisles in front of her that were almost completely devoid of visitors, save for the one or two people that appeared to simply enjoy the company of silence. "What about you?" she asked. Ah, small talk. I hated small talk. Meaningful conversations always appealed more to me than simple, careless talk. "The company of books isn't bad," I agreed with her, "But the company of another person is always warmer, wouldn't you agree?" As I asked this, I leaned against the desk, "I wouldn't mind keeping you company some time, that is." I wondered if the pick-up tactic would actually work.

It worked, to an extent, when I noticed her blushing. She did try to ignore it however by redirecting the conversation. With a smile, she asked, "So is there anything I can help you find today?" I smiled back and turned to face her before replying, "A sword." "I beg your pardon?" she asked, confused. This was obviously not a blacksmith, and there was a strict, 'No open unsheathed weapons' policy in the library. "A sword," I replied, "An ancient, powerful one to be precise. I need to learn of its whereabouts in order to retrieve it before certain..." I leaned in closer across the counter next to her ear to whisper, "Unfriendly parties that I need to beat to it." I stood straight up again, and noticed a confused expression lining her face. She struggled to pull out the list she had out earlier when the blacksmith had tried, fumbling out of embarrassment. She was blushing harder than before, most likely because of my sudden closeness to her, but she definitely didn't appear afraid. After looking over the list, she said to me, "Well you're not on the 'Forbidden' list, so I don't see a problem if its for a good cause.. and h-hey.. how do you feel about going out for tea some time? My place, tonight? I can take you there after my shift if you don't.. you know.. leave..?" I gently smiled back to her before replying, "How about you take me to the section where I can find these books, and then we'll talk about a date, hm?" She grinned then hurriedly stumbled through her desk before revealing a rusted golden key. "If you'll follow me, please." She then turned around to lead me to the Eastern Wing. When she turned around, I silently and quickly grabbed a pen and paper from the desk and wrote down, '30 minutes.' Then I followed the girl, and threw the note at the blacksmith who was still standing at the entrance. He picked it up and ducked out of sight before she noticed him. Why thirty minutes, you ask? Well, I like to have a little fun now and again.