Sitting in serenity [p]

[Kei]

[enter]



It had been some time since Kei walked along the bustling streets of Takigakure. The past couple of days had been spent training in his backyard. As fun as training is, he wanted to be out and about among the people he helps to protect. Flowers were in full bloom around the village, and warm weather pushed more and more people out outdoors; spring was in full swing, and that meant his birthday was around the corner too. Thanks to the nice weather, Kei was sporting tan cargo shorts held up by a white belt. Attached to the belt were 4 stun grenades, 4 smoke grenades, 4 incendiary grenades, and 4 mine grenades.

On his top half is a plan orange t-shirt and covering the shirt was an unbuttoned, short-sleeved letterman jacket. The back of the jacket was hidden due to a scabbard that held his sword. To top off the outfit was his headband, which he wore proudly on his forehead.

With no destination in mind, the eleven year old shinobi walked around aimlessly until he found himself in a more desolate part of the village where nature has taking back its lost territory. Moss covered the Takigakure architecture, over grown vines hung from roof tops, and large trees were growing in the middle of the street. Kei had only ever been out here once and that was to play hide and go seek back in his academy days.

Twenty yards from where he was standing, a river flowed peacefully. Kei remembered if you followed the river it would lead you to one of the many waterfalls around the village. However, instead of exploring, he found a bench still intact and took a seat. He lost track of how long he had been walking, and wanted to take in the surroundings, how everything felt at peace here.

[miroki]

It was always rare for Miroki to show himself in public, especially during the day mostly sticking to the night for most of his public needs. He had been having thoughts as of late though, he needed more room to think and his cave didn't quite provide that. After swimming out of his home he climbed the bank to the service and hurried to the more or less abandoned fringes of the village; he had left the cave in such a hurry he was still only wearing his plain black cloak, his forehead protector that signified his loyalty to Takigakure was forgotten during his hasty leave.

He walked for awhile at a slow pace, mulling several different things over in his mind as he went. He found a pressing issue was a lack of people who thought the same way he did, he couldn't hope for progress without a following. That caused a whole new problem seeing as Miroki wasn't very well like for his views, but surely someone would at least level with him until he could help them open their eyes. After racking his mind for several minutes the teenager came to a small river which he happily took reprise in for a short break.

The Hozuki remained under the water the entire time, an easy task for someone like him. He let the current carry his body as it pleased, the boy finding a certain calmness in the water tossing him about gently. After a short time Miroki breached the surface of the water and made his way back onto solid ground, he didn't even notice the young child seated on the bench in front of him as he wrung out the bottom of his cloak. As he finished drying out his cloak to the best of his abilities he began to ponder the walk back to his cave when caught sight of the child in front of him.

Miroki waited for a moment as he observed the other boy as inconspicuously as he could. He quickly noted the headband that gleamed proudly from his forehead, a shinobi of Takigakure just like himself. The teen knew just from looking that he was the kid's senior by several years, and an impressionable mind was just what Miroki needed. He collected himself quickly as he began to approach the young stranger, he thought if there was any time to have his headband it would have been now, he just hoped the boy wouldn't flee at the sight of the blue-skinned man approaching him.

[Kei]

Kei let out a quick breath of air as he stretched his right arm back, and leaned forward. Three fingers gripped around the hilt of his blade, and silently unsheathed the beautiful cold piece of metal. A single beam of light bounced off the blade and shone in the boy’s face blinding him briefly. “Ahhh.” He softly sighed and let the blade down to rest on his lap. Tilting his head backward, the eleven year old ninja stared up at the passing clouds. In his head each cloud took a shape and came into life. A small smile cracked on his face.

Time was frozen out here, but everything was filled with life. The breeze brought the trees to life and carried the scent of flowers, deer treaded over the bank of the river, and birds soared freely seemingly weightless. Just sitting here staring up Kei swore he felt the world rotating. Neck cramps would turn his attention away from the sky, and sucked him back into reality. On the verge of getting ready to leave, Kei felt an uncomfortable rush over him. He heard rumors that this part of the village of haunted, but he didn’t believe in ghosts.

His right hand gripped tightly around the hilt of his sword expecting the unexpected. However, what he saw wasn’t as un-expecting as he thought it would be. No ghosts, zombies, ghouls, or water monsters came out of nowhere. Instead, a person was approaching him; a blue person to be exact. As different as this person appeared to be, Kei knew he wasn’t a paranormal creature. No headband was present on the person, but he was in the village so he couldn’t have been an outsider; no one else ever discovered the location.

“Um, hi.” Kei spoke up in a squeaky voice. Rising from the bench he sheathed his blade and flashed a goofy looking grin.

[miroki]

Miroki hadn't even noticed the sword on the child's lap when he began his approach but he was slightly relieved once it had been sheathed, he was not prepared for trouble. Once the boy had risen from his seat it was much easier to read him, he was short and thin, but that didn't seem to affect his ability to wield a sword. The teen was slightly taken aback when the younger of the two spoke first, his voice was slightly high and squeaky emphasizing even more so how young he was.

The older boy stopped just about a foot away from the new company and flashed a quick grin, briefly showing his hereditary razor sharp teeth. After a moment he finally spoke, “Hello, who might you be?”. His voice was soft and harbored no signs of any wrong intent.

[Kei]

With the uncomfortable feeling washing away, Kei grew a lot more confident as he approached the taller, and older blue male. After a couple of steps he allowed this mystery man to close the remaining gap. A quizzical look occupied the young genins face when he witnessed the shark like teeth flash him a grin. Kei wasn’t unsettled by this man’s appearance, but felt more curious than anything else. However, his Mother had taught him not to ask hurtful questions, and he saw it better to hold his tongue at the moment.

“I’m Kei Taira.” He spoke confidently as he rubbed the tattoo covering the back of his right hand. It’s a mark of his family crest. It represented the long line of proud samurai, and it served as a reminder that his handling of a blade wasn’t up to par yet. “Who are you?” Kei pepped up as he extended his right hand towards the man. “Are youa shinobi?” Another question was spit out of his mouth. Kei didn’t notice a headband on this man, but he sometimes ventured out without it on.

[miroki]

Kei Taira, he let the name echo through his head for a few seconds before answering the child's first question, “I am Miroki, of the Hozuki clan, descendants of the great Sagasu tribe.” His voice was still gentle and quiet but the pride in his voice was unmistakable. Slowly his own hand slid out of his cloak and grasped Kei's softly, he turned their clasped hands ever so slightly to get a better look at the child's tattoo which he had first noticed when the boy had first introduced himself. It interested the Hozuki greatly but he made no mention of it, nor did he even show any outward signs of fascination with the mark.

Miroki didn't allow their hands to stay in contact for long and quickly brought his arm back to his side before relaxing. He had but a brief moment before being asked whether or not he was shinobi, to this the teen merely nodded before adding, “A genin, much like yourself I imagine.” He figured the child would take his word for it, even if his headband wasn't on him right now. Already he could see Kei's endless value to him, chances like this hardly ever came to him with such ease, it would seem that Miroki had made a 'friend'.

[Kei]

A soft smile cracked on eleven year old lips. Sure he met other kids in the academy, but they lost touch a few days after graduation. Everyone else was placed on a team with the exception of Kei; he just drifted off and trained. This is the boys first post academy friend. The age difference didn’t matter to him at all, after all they were comrades. “Nice to meet you Miroki,” He paused as Miroki named the clan he was a part of. “I’ve never heard of either. History lessons never drew my attention in at the academy.” Kei admitted with a shrug.

Miroki didn’t seem to mind the rapid fire of questions Kei was letting go. Just as the young genin expected, he too was genin. “I’m not a genin… I’m a jounin.” Kei allowed his voice to trail at the end of the sentence and glanced quickly at the sky. Kei returned his gaze back to the blue man known as “Nah, I’m just joking around, I only graduated from the academy a couple months back. Haven’t even been on my first mission yet.” The boy admitted. “Maybe if you got some free time…” Again his voice trailed as he kicked the dirt beneath him.

[miroki]

The Hozuki's demeanor darkened for a second as he scoffed at the child's ignorance, to not know his blood's history was nearly heresy to him; but he calmed down just as quickly, assuring himself that everyone would know in time. His eyes narrowed as the child continued to talk, whether out of lingering anger or interest one could not be sure. Kei's joke didn't do a thing for the older of the two, nothing could have been considered a sign of amusement. Though a child fresh out of the academy had much to learn, and needed someone to teach them , '...and who better than Miroki' the teen thought inwardly.

Although the young boy hadn't come right out and said it Miroki understood the implication that he Kei wished to go on a mission with him, and admittedly the idea wasn't entirely thrilling. He knew he needed to earn some favor in the child's eyes yet though and after a brief debate over it inside his head he decided to oblige. “Well, I am free today” he wasn't sure how to act friendly, so he simply kept his voice soft.

[Kei]

Kei didn’t notice his new friend’s demeanor change at his ignorance. The boy had been in one place for way to long, and his attention span- while impressive for an eleven year old- was still short. In his head he was playing out multiple outcomes to various missions. The boy only gets the chance to go outside of the village once a year, and adventure just keeps calling his name. Hearing Miroki mention he was free today brightened Kei’s mood like giving candy to a baby. “Awesome, I know we could find something to do! The Takikage Tower has a whole list of missions.” The boy quickly spewed it.

Off in the distance something could be heard collapsing. Whatever it was caused the ground to shake. “Well that was weird…” Kei said after everything settled. “Maybe the Kage will have us investigate that! It sounded like it came from outside of the village.” Kei kept talking as he started to walk away from the abandon ruins. “Meet at the tower?” He asked as he turned and looked at the Miroki. Before running off in the direction of the tower.

[exit]

[miroki]

Although it was slightly annoying to Miroki after a while the child's enthusiasm was something that undoubtedly could prove useful in the future. The teenager simply nodded as Kei went on and on, he had just been preparing to walk away when there was a heavy rumble somewhere in the distance. It wasn't much of a surprise that the young boy was immediately interested in it, and began to hurry off. Before disappearing completely from sight the child turned to ask Miroki to meet him at the the tower, to which he again just nodded. He departed quietly and swiftly knowing he had to return to his cave before going anywhere, he hadn't entirely been expecting to go on a mission right away.

[exit]