The Earth Laughs In Flowers

It was a bright and sunny afternoon, the breeze was a bit cool but otherwise the day was lovely. As most days were, as long as you only counted their loveliness by the effects of the weather. As a woman entirely dedicated to experiencing all the wonder of the universe, Zoe definitely counted the days as lovely. She had been constantly told that it was her calling to view things with a detached and logical outsider’s perspective. But she had never been able to. Somehow the beauty of the universe and its inhabitants demanded her sincere and emotional appreciation. Just as that afternoon demanded it. So she clothed herself in an assortment of fabrics that spoke to her; silk and leather, lace and ribbons. Interestingly and daringly draped over her so as to expose her legs and shoulders while simultaneously appearing as though they were one strong breeze away from exposing a good deal more. Her short skirt left little to the imagination, although the curious bits of metal and resins strung along her belt looked somewhat out of place on the otherwise black and gold outfit. Trinkets and mementos from her home world that she couldn’t bear to part with.

She had wandered a good portion of the streets of Kirigakure, her notebook in hand as she recorded everything she saw and touched. Because of course she touched everything. Zoe was a very tactile person, perhaps from centuries of not being able to touch the things she looked at, or simply because she didn’t know it wasn’t necessarily safe or polite. Either way, everywhere she went she would run a small hand over whatever she was looking at, excitedly recording the sensation once she was satisfied with her ‘research’. As luck would have it she had managed to find her way to a small flower garden, possibly maintained by the village, or happily vacant of its current tenders as she trespassed. She knew most of the species that she was looking at but she had never touched them, or inhaled their scents.

With a delighted squeal she would bound into a carefully curated row of roses and violets and kneel down among them. The smell was heavenly and she took her time to examine them all before taking out her notebook once more and recording her experiences.

‘Roses and violets. Far more beautiful and wonderful than could be described just by looking at them. The smell is divine, the texture is something that brings a smile to my face. The taste is delicious, although I think it’s one of those ‘acquired’ things. Like beer.’

Zoe had taken a rose petal and a violet petal and was thoughtfully chewing on both.

Arisu walked around the gardens, accompanied by Naitome and Yusuke, who trailed behind at a farther pace. Arisu wasn't yet comfortable going out on her own after her ordeal with Menza. Still, she also didn't want to always be surrounded by guards, and her uncomfortability being outside due to her fear was getting in the way of her life. She figured that the best place to reintegrate herself and to gain back some of her former confidence was in the gardens. They always helped her find some peace.

She paused in her walking when she spotted Zoe. The woman was eating flower petals, but that wasn't why Arisu had stopped. The woman was an absolutely gorgeous person. It took her slightly off guard that someone could look like that. The same had often been said about Arisu, but she wasn't a vain woman and paid little mind to compliments on the nature of her appearance.

Arisu was immediately attracted. There was something of a magnetic draw towards the woman, the same way that she had felt drawn to Naitome before. There was something other worldly about her, something that surpassed humanity. Arisu could relate. It was, however, the first time she'd noticed another woman's features, besides Tsubaki. To sum up: Perfection.

The Otsutsuki woman had taken to wearing several roses in her hair, most of them blue or white, with a single black rose in the middle. A reminder from Menza that she kept to remind her of her focus. It was that that drove her to finally begin taking training more seriously, and to focus on getting her strength up so that she was never accosted like that again. Arisu would never feel helpless against a person ever again.

Perhaps that was the reason that her feet had begun to move, to drift her towards Zoe, as if of their own accord. The first bit of human interaction that she was choosing, with a stranger who appeared to love flowers and nature as much as Arisu herself. She reached up into her hair and pulled out one of the blue flowers, before extending it to the blonde. This was done in almost complete silence, as Arisu hadn't actually said a word of introduction, and Zoe was currently knelt down to smell the flowers.

"Oh... ah... for you." she said, her voice tinged with embarassment. Yusuke and Naitome watched on in amusement, conversing among themselves. Arisu left Naitome to his own devices more often than not, choosing not to pilot him as much, letting his personality take hold of the body. Anything of substance, such as fighting or delivering a message, required her to direct him to do so, but anything apart from that he could do on his own.

Zoe was peacefully enjoying the taste of flower petals, oblivious to her surroundings as she mindfully noted the taste and texture of her snack. And so to the surprise of no one that knew her on Earth (which was all of three people at that point, four if you counted the bartender), Zoe did not notice the three people that had entered the garden. Right up until she heard a soft voice off to the side of her. She wasn’t exactly startled, she still had yet to learn the healthy amount of fear that kept humans alive in this war torn world, but she did laugh brightly as her senses came back from the petals in her mouth and focused on the woman standing and holding out a blue rose to her.  

Instinctively reaching her hand out for the rose Zoe’s eyes would take in the form of the woman holding it. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and Zoe’s hand would curl around the blue flower as she stared unashamedly. “Oh. . . I didn’t see you come in. Or not in, here. Into the garden I mean.” She would shake her head a bit and smile warmly as she pulled the blue flower to her face and inhaled, sighing happily as the scent washed over her. “Thank you very much, beautiful flower lady. I suppose I should have expected to see someone as lovely as you in a place filled with beauty.” It took Zoe a second to realize what she’d just said, and while it wasn’t very much different from how she normally spoke to herself, she didn’t usually say things like that so unconsciously. It was true though, the woman did look a bit like the flowers she saw around her; delicate and ethereal and something about her drew Zoe’s attention.

For the first time since arriving on Earth Zoe did not reach for her notebook when she saw something new. Instead she would gently pull off a single blue petal and place it in her mouth, all the while looking up at the pale woman. The flavour was similar to the red rose petal she had consumed moments before, but somehow different, more interesting. Rising to her full height of four foot nine she would still have to look up towards Arisu as she smiled widely, her blue eyes sparkling as she felt inexplicably drawn to the mysterious fellow garden appreciator. “Zoe Zor-El.” She said while holding out her free hand in greeting, should she accept Zoe would bend and politely kiss the back of Arisu’s hand as Madrigal had done with her own on their first meeting.

'So small...' Arisu watched as Zoe stood, only 4'9", almost a full foot shorter than the modelesque Otsutsuki. She hadn't noticed the oddness of her chewing on the petals, a waft of floral scent hitting her nose. Arisu smiled at the girl who had taken her hand and kissed the back of it.

"A pleasure, Zoe. I'm Arisu. Arisu Otsutsuki."

Arisu's eyes were quite purple, the Rinnegan basically always active in her eyes. It was rare that she didn't have Naitome around, and since the Six Paths of Pain technique being used kept her Rinnegan active, she was almost always exposed as an Otsutsuki.

She raised a hesitant hand to the blonde's hair, before pausing. "May I?" she wanted to feel Zoe's hair, it looked very soft, but also wanted to be sure she had permission before just grabbing. If granted, then Arisu would grab a few strands, playing with it lightly. As the hair moved, a floral scent wafted even stronger from the air, and it was that moment that she realized the scent was coming from Zoe herself rather than the gardens around them.

It gave her a moment of pause. "Interesting. You smell... refreshing. What scent is that?" she asked, her hand still tied up slightly in Zoe's hair, having twirled it around her index and middle finger.

-

Naitome motioned to Yusuke for the two of them to take a walk. It wouldn't do to interrupt the lady at this point, it was a more personal matter. Besides, Naitome was still able to see through Arisu's eyes, so if something happened, he'd know immediately. It was just rude to openly watch.

Zoe smiled to herself as she raised her head from Arisu’s hand, the pale woman’s skin was so soft against her lips she couldn’t help but smile. As Arisu introduced herself, Zoe’s face would light up at the sound of the woman’s name. There was something in the back of her mind that teased at her about the name of ‘Otsutsuki’. She understood vaguely the implication there, but was currently too enthralled by the woman herself to give much notice to the origins of the name and how it correlated with her own presence on Earth. Gazing up into the ringed purple eyes of Arisu, Zoe spoke almost shyly. “That’s a beautiful name. Arisu.”

She would nod an emphatic ‘yes’ to Arisu’s request to touch her hair, at that very moment she couldn’t think of anything else in the world that she wanted. Zoe smiled dreamily as Arisu played with her hair, a slight shiver running through her at the sensation. It was rather enjoyable, and while the pull to write down her experiences was still quite strong, she stood where she was not wanting to interrupt the moment.

As Arisu commented on her scent, Zoe would laugh brightly. It wasn’t something she thought had very much about before coming to Earth, since everyone where she had lived previously was scented similarly. At least the Record Keepers were. “The scent is me, though technically it’s lilies you’re smelling. Where I come from we were. . . genetically engineered to be efficient. To ensure we were able to keep doing our jobs without needing to eat we, well I was made part flower. A genus that I believe grows here as well, or something like it anyway. I think it’s called ‘Uke-Yuri’ here.” She spoke of her homeworld without thought, inexplicably trusting the tall and beautiful woman who had given her a rose.

Arisu processed the fact that Zoe wasn't from this planet rather quickly. She talked similarly to Arisu when she had been freshly placed on Earth. "Oh?" Her eyes focused on Zoe and she activated an ability of her Rinnegan's. Calling on the unique connection that the Rinnegan held to the other paths, the Satya of the Forbidden World showed her the truth.

Zoe wasn't just from another world, she was also at least in part an Otsutsuki as well, one who walked the same path as Arisu. The other woman may not know her true origins, having given no noticeable notice of the name. But more than that, the Purple glow that Arisu noticed from her indicated that Zoe was one of the Rinnegan wielders, whether she knew it or not. That meant she could either be a great ally, or an enemy.

Given her infatuation, Arisu was hoping to make her an ally or a protege of some sort. "Uke-yuri. Interesting, as are you. Where you come from, do they have others like you? How did you end up here? What sort of goals do you have?"

One of the biggest indicators of whether or not she would be an ally would be whether she was here maliciously or what. Arisu wasn't really one to form a bond with someone who was evil or meant harm to the world. But unlike Naitome, who had freely offered himself as another Otsutsuki, Arisu didn't want to bind her in that way, especially given the issues she'd had with Menza. Arisu would only do another like that in dire situations. She'd rather they work together in a more natural and organic sense.

Her fingers stayed in Zoe's hair, playing with it absent mindedly while she asked her questions.

Spoiler:

Arisu’s hand in Zoe’s hair was distracting to say the least. Zoe was aware that she was being asked questions, she even had answers to those questions. But for the moment all she wanted to do, all she felt she could do was stare into Arisu’s purple eyes. With Arisu’s Rinnegan active, Zoe was treated to two pools of lilac as she stared up at the woman. “Your eyes, they’re beautiful.” The switch to the purple of the Rinnegan was not something that Zoe had seen and so she assumed that purple was the colour of Arisu’s eyes. And while she was smart enough to know what a dojutsu was, she was still unaware exactly what the Rinnegan was. Or that she could wield it.

Shuffling just a tad closer to Arisu, Zoe would answer Arisu’s questions honestly with a dreamy sound to her voice. “I’m from a planet called Hala, The Beacon of Light. It is far more advanced than this place, technologically speaking. There are millions of others like me and also none, all the Children of Light are created in the same way; we are engineered to fulfill a specific task. We do not have families or siblings in the way I have observed on Earth or anywhere else. We are created equally and yet not. I was created to be a Record Keeper, I existed to observe all the known universes and record my observations. I was told I was part of a small group created for that express purpose. That’s why I’m here, no wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.” Zoe would grin as she corrected her story, she was telling it out of order, something about Arisu’s presence was causing her thoughts to become slightly muddled.

Standing up straight and adopting a ‘serious’ stance and voice, Zoe would continue with her story, the blue rose still tightly clutched in one hand. “Record Keepers must always remain impartial, the nonjudgemental archivists of physical history. If you don’t remain dispassionate then your recordings will be tainted by your emotions. Remember! Facts, not Feelings!” At the end of her mocking recital of a lecture she had heard hundreds of times Zoe would relax again and shake her head gently while chuckling. “Except that being detached means centuries of observations get rather dull. Anyway, so I had my job but I wasn’t very good at it and eventually a group of resistance on Hala helped me escape to Earth! And the first place I saw was here and so now I live here I guess.” She wasn’t sad about living in Kirigakure, the bright smile on her face as she looked up at Arisu said she was very, very happy about it.

“As for why I’m here, well I loved Earth. It’s so beautiful and the people are so interesting! I had watched Earth for so long but I wanted to experience it. To truly appreciate something I think takes more than just watching or listening to it, you know? So I want to explore all of it! And maybe I could be a journalist or reporter, or maybe host a radio show. I just want to celebrate all of the wonderful things about this place and its people.” She became decidedly more animated the more she spoke of her love for Earth, the passion readily apparent in her voice.

[Flashback from here]

"My eyes are special, even among my own people. The Rinnegan." The princess explained, moving her hand from Zoe's hair to gesture at her face. She'd explain it more later, but for the time being, she didn't want to interrupt Zoe's explanation of where she was from and who she was.

As Arisu had already figured out, Zoe was from another planet, but what she couldn't understand was how this woman also had Otsutsuki blood running through her veins but didn't know anything about the Rinnegan or react to her being an Otsutsuki. As far as Arisu could tell, the woman wasn't aware that she herself was a Rinnegan path wielder.

"So then you're here because you love this planet?" Arisu asked, a bit redundantly considering it was obvious. "Very well, then since you told me about your original home, I'll tell you a bit of mine. Like you, I'm not from this planet. My home world is known to its natives as Eccorix. We are a clan of... ascended beings known as the Otsutsuki. Eccorix is one of the places that raises Otsutsuki, training them to be placed on different worlds, and to find the other Rinnegan wielders. I learned how to be proper nobility, as an Otsutsuki is of divine potential from birth, and it's as much a responsibility as it is a great honor."

Gesturing around, to the planet mostly, Arisu smiled. "I understand your love of this world. My people... our people," she locked eyes with Zoe as she said that, "are the ancestors of many of the denizens of Earth. Many of the Kekkai Genkai of this world are derived from watered down bloodlines of the original Otsutsuki colonizer here, this planet's original Goddess. I believe it is my duty as one of the Rinnegan wielders to complete my eyes, reuniting all the Paths into one or unite the Otsutsuki who have arrived here under one banner and then protect the people of this world."

Zoe was finding herself having to take in quite a lot of information. Which was just fine and she was managing like a champ, seeing as that was exactly what she was engineered for, it would have been shameful had she found the task difficult in any way. Ordinarily at this point she would have taken out her book and be writing in it furiously, recording all the new bits of knowledge Arisu was granting her. But instead she just stood there and stared, doe eyed, up at the stunning woman. She stayed that way until Arisu was finished speaking, half aware of the words that were spoken as she kept her focus on every subtle movement the white haired woman made.

There was a brief pause as Zoe’s brain caught up and she tilted her head to the side, her nose wrinkling a little as she tried to make sense of everything Arisu had just told her. She was not so self absorbed to believe she knew everything, quite the opposite, which was why she was forever asking questions. But most basic facts, especially names of planets and peoples, were sort of her area of expertise. So when she didn’t recognize the names Eccorix or Otsutsuki she was puzzled.

“So you’re an Otsutsuki, which is apparently a race of people, that is not from this world but from a planet named Eccorix. And through your eyes you wield the Rinnegan, which I assume based on your explanation of Kekkai Genkai is a chakra based power. And you’re here to either reunite your people or. . . their eyes?” She slowly summarized what she had just learned, the same look of puzzlement on her features. “I believe you, I just want to start with that. It’s just. . . I haven’t heard of most of that. And for me that is. . . odd. It was my entire purpose to observe and collect information like that, and to not have heard. . . hmm.” The gears in her head were turning on overdrive as she tried to piece everything together, one of her hands would come up with her thumb resting underneath her chin and her index finger tapping lightly on her lips as she thought.

She had not missed the locked gaze at the words ‘our people’, and the meaning therein. She couldn’t claim to remember every person on Hala, but Arisu didn’t look like anyone she’d ever seen there. So if Arisu wasn’t from Zoe’s planet, and Zoe was almost perfectly certain that she wasn’t from Arisu’s planet, then what did Arisu mean by ‘our’? The word possibly didn’t mean anything worth ruminating over, however Zoe liked puzzles. And knowing things. And usually the knowing things came after the puzzle. And frankly, she wouldn’t mind spending some time figuring Arisu out. “I guess there’s many wonderful things in the universe I’ve yet to explore. Maybe with time I’ll see them all. I would love to hear more about you though, where you came from, what you do here. I must say it makes me very happy to hear that someone else treasures the humans as much as I do.”

Arisu's mind went a little blank as Zoe's head tilted to the side, her nose crinkling slightly. The sight was so adorable, the scent she was giving off so intoxicating, that the Otsutsuki's mind was unable to process anything beyond a simple string of unintelligible emotional responses, the barest of instinctual and natural physical responses. It certainly wasn't usual for her to lose her composure very easily, especially to simple appearance, but whether it was a pheromonal response or something else, Arisu found herself unable to regain herself as easily as normal.

She found herself staring at the woman's lips as she had started to speak, clarifying some things that Arisu had said previously, Arisu's gaze shifting every few moments or so, taking in different parts of the woman. Her lips, her nose, her eyes, her ears, her neck. Then her hand as Zoe brought up a hand to her chin thoughtfully. The delicate and soft looking skin, smooth and warm looking.

After a moment, the words began processing in Arisu's head once again, catching up a few moments after Zoe had finished speaking. Arisu's eloquently delivered response commenced.

"Uh..... uhm..... mmmm...."

Biting her lip in frustration, she shook her head.

"R-right. I'm one of the princesses in the Empire. Honestly there isn't much to tell, I'm just me. I've kind of already said all there is to say about me."

Analyzing other people was easier. Arisu wasn't a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but when it came to reflecting on what made her tick, or thinking of anything about herself, her mind just never really was able to come up with anything. To her, that's all there was. Arisu was an Otsutsuki, a princess, a goddess in the making. She wanted to protect humanity. That was all there was to her.

Zoe usually spoke a lot. And she’d found that when she did, usually those that she spoke to began to pay less attention as time wore on. As she spoke to Arisu though she noticed that the tall white haired woman was paying more attention to her, not less. Though possibly not to her words, it was difficult to tell. She did see Arisu’s pretty purple eyes pass over various parts of her, seemingly following her every movement. When Arisu went to speak Zoe’s face lit up as an adorable string of noises came out in place of words. Zoe could feel a strange fluttering in her stomach as she watched the woman bite her lip and shake her head. She was fantastically beautiful and that was enough to draw the eye. But the rest; her graceful movements, her voice as it carried on the breeze. The way she smiles as she spoke to Zoe. . . it was captivating.

She especially liked when the taller woman was suddenly tongue tied. Until that moment she had been eloquence incarnate. But now. . . now she was perfect. Zoe could see and hear the emotions, not name them exactly, but they were there. And that emotion was the final piece that bound together the tapestry of otherworldly perfection that stood before her. She had had similar feelings regarding great artists and musicians, their art was beyond compare and then the passion that was interwoven amidst technical perfection made it godly. She had not felt so strongly before, she hadn’t experienced the strange fluttering, or the perhaps imagined? skip in her heartbeat.

She didn’t miss the non answer that Arisu gave her, and she wondered if perhaps Arisu didn’t see the majesty that Zoe saw in her. Not wanting to ruin the moment with such a line of questioning, she would instead take a step forward and shyly reach for Arisu’s hand to attempt to lead her towards a nearby bench. “Well then, Princess Arisu. I would be happy to just sit and listen to you tell me. . . well. . . anything. If you have the time.”