Kimimaro

It was an exceptionally pale little face, yet one of startling delicacy.

He wore ordinary, thin gray-white clothes, utterly out of place on a winter night.

Yet in those clear eyes, there was none of the madness, pain, or numbness common among the Kaguya Clan.

There was only an almost unreal... purity.

Yes, purity.

Like a little white flower growing in the middle of a filthy swamp, untouched by the slightest stain.

The instant he saw him.

Guy's heart softened as well.

If Kimimaro was the Kaguya Clan's once-in-a-century Shikotsumyaku genius.

Then he was also the Kaguya Clan's once-in-a-millennium "oddity."

That was meant as praise.

He was too clean.

Completely unlike those clan members who were born fanatical, belligerent, and twisted.

He had inherited little of the Kaguya Clan's thirst for slaughter.

He was an outsider who did not fit in with the clan.

A pure flower that should never have existed in this filthy place, yet had miraculously bloomed nonetheless.

Guy pushed open the heavy wooden door of the stone chamber and walked inside.

Curled up in the corner, Kimimaro heard the sound and slowly raised his head.

He saw an unfamiliar figure wearing a conical hat.

There was neither fear nor excitement on his face.

He merely tilted his little head slightly in confusion, almost instinctively.

And quietly looked at Guy with those clear eyes.

He did not ask for help.

He did not cry or make a fuss.

There was only an almost instinctive observation.

Guy smiled softly and raised a hand to pull off his conical hat, revealing his face.

A gentle, warm smile appeared on his face, one utterly out of place with this dark prison and the atmosphere of the entire Kaguya Clan.

Kimimaro froze.

A blank little expression appeared on his face.

"Such