An Evening Stroll (Open)

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Water. There was something oddly calming about it, not just mentally but also physically for Daisuke. The longer he was away from it the more discomfort he felt from within, it was strange to say the least but it was a feeling present since before the Minamoto boy could remember. Yet this did not phase him on his walk back from the hot springs. Since his admittance to the academy, the hot springs of Konoha had become his second favourite place to visit. The warmth of the water caused the boy to find an inner sense of relaxation that differed from his regular hyper-aware self. However, now he was out of the hot springs his purposeful observance of everything in his environment returned.

The day itself wasn’t quite over, the setting sun and retreating wildlife said as much. Instead of taking his regular route home, Daisuke found himself wandering through the streets of Konoha with no interest in returning to see his parents. This was not for lack of wanting to see them, but rather this evening seemed to be something worth exploring. It wasn’t often that he got time to spend alone to reflect on the village he was born into. None of his family members were originally from Konoha yet they all still seemed to call it home. Daisuke brought a hand up to press against the tattoo of the Minamoto clan under his right eye. In reality the division between villages confused the Minamoto boy, if his family was anything to go by then surely nationality wasn’t all that important, especially not worth the lives that had been lost establishing the different villages and their territories.

If he were to show his emotions then Daisuke would have sighed at the thought, but this was not the way of the shinobi in his eyes. No. A shinobi should be void of emotions and practicing such a skill constantly would enable the blonde boy to become an exemplary shinobi. As his training demanded, the boy stayed silent with a blank expression on his face. Every now and then his eyes scanned his environment, his awareness was second to none at the academy. Or so he thought. But hey, it was something to take some kind of pride in.

Despite his thoughts, Daisuke walked on. It was time to get to know his home properly.

MFT
[Topic entered]

 

[Maikeru]

Night time always felt odd to Maikeru. It was both peaceful, and deeply haunting at the same time. The quiet serene nature of it seemed to put your mind at ease, while the shifting of the shadows and sounds of the unseen seemed to spike every anxiety hidden in your primal DNA. Regardless, this was something Maikeru had to get use to as a shinobi, night was when they did the majority of their work after all. He rubbed the back of his hand at his soot covered cheek as he walked through the streets, trying his best to get the accursed substance off of his face, even though he knew nothing but a hot bath would clean him of the sweat and grime that covered him. Blacksmithing was relaxing, but it sure did have it's downsides.

He was surprised to see another soul that he knew, even vaguely, at this hour. What was the boys name again, Daisuke? He would say that the boy looked troubled, but, he was hard to read. He seemed to always keep a blank expression on his face, as if all the emotion was beaten from him at a young age. It was something Maikeru frequently saw in shinobi, though not usually in one their age. What exactly happened to the boy in the past that he had become so jaded and closed off so young? He didn't always agree with the way Riku went about things, but at least that boy never shirked from showing how he felt. That was how a child, how a human, should act. Not.. whatever the blonde haired shinobi acted.

Perhaps it was residual feelings of an older brother left over from his little sister, perhaps it was just understanding what it meant to feel alone. Maikeru didn't know exactly what it was that compelled him to do the following, but it was a powerful compulsion. As he walked, he veered his path, standing in front of the younger boy and blocking his path. His posture wasn't threatening, in fact, it was very open. One hand rested on his hip, while the other hung limply at his side. It was a very vulnerable position, it left all of his vital spots open, which was something he was sure another shinobi would instantly notice.

"Yo, Daisuke, right?" He asked of the younger shinobi, looking down at the boy in front of him. "I've got a bone to pick with you."

Maikeru paused for a moment, before throwing on a small smile. As much fun as it was to tease the boy, to make his mind wonder to the places he was sure it would go, he wasn't some sort of psychopath that got off on torturing children.

"You and I haven't had a proper conversation yet, and that's a damn shame. I can see your hairs wet, so you were probably just at the hot springs, but, we're going back and we're gonna talk." He nodded his head towards the direction the boy had just come from before continuing. "You've got a chip on your shoulder, and that's plain as day for anyone with eyes. Well, we Uchiha have a bit better eyes than most so I noticed it immediately. Don't worry about money, it's on me."

He began to walk past the boy, hoping he would follow behind him.

"If you don't come with me, I'm gonna tell Saitou Reicheru all sorts of awful things about you. Maybe that you even like other boys. That might not sound bad to you, but, she is Kahora's best friend. Just think about that."

 

[Soromon]

The peaceful night would be betrayed with a scream.

"AAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

The terrible, shrill cry would reverberate through the city streets as twilight approached. This was a time to wind down, to settle in and find a warm cozy corner. Well, it was for everyone besides Soromon. You see, Soromon was on a mission to find a lost cat. "Fluffy" was her name, she was a fancy purebred that belonged to some snooty Haku lady but she paid well or that was what he heard. Soromon had only graduated the academy a few weeks ago and this would be his first mission. Yeah, it was nothing glamorous but everyone needs to start somewhere, even the future husband of the hottest girl in Kohonagakure. The hunt did not take long, he found an orange tabby that mostly fit the description on the mission request: Orange cat with dark markings, a white underbelly and yellow eyes. The weight was a bit lighter than the cat in the window looked but women always undersold weights. He had found it, down the street from the very place he had gotten the mission request just sitting there in the window. This was providence!

It was a residential building, locked front door. Windows sealed. They had stolen the cat and locked them away. Monsters truly but it was not Soromon's job to bring the kidnappers to justice only to bring poor Fluffy home to her owner. So Soromon did what any reasonable child would do -- he waited until there was nobody near and when there was none he smashed the window with a rock and then scooped up the cat in his arms and dashed off. Dashed off in the direction of this very encounter. Sadly, this cat was not friendly. The mission did not warn poor Soromon of this.

Soromon could feel it rumble in his arms, it was as if a spawn of Satan had resided in that feline's chest cavity. An then as if the cat was possessed by something far more terrible than a woman PMSing that cat threw itself at Soromon's face.

Scree! HISS! HISS!

The perhaps girlish scream that the Genin let out would herald Soromon's rapid approach. "Not the face! Oh GOD Not the face!" The unfortunate boy cried. His feet pounded on the pavement as he got closer. "NOT THE FACE!" Sormon would have to protect his face, that was the real moneymaker here. He would peel Old Yowler off his head and he would fling the cat with all of his might at the two boys. Would the cat hit either of them unintentionally. Hit both of them even... hard to say really, it was not as if the boy was aiming or even realized that they were there and about to enter some sort of tense anime-style dialogue.

Soromon, victorious over the feline hellspawn would pant, scratches and bite marks covered his face and his forearms. He would cringe at whatever it was that he saw.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

The medical chief was taking a nightly stroll after long hours in the hospital, something that he found relaxing. Calm even. Well, tonight wasn't really gonna be like that.

He heard a scream, using his ears, he could hear four blood flows, one of them, belonging to a small animal. It's blood flowing fast with adrenaline, along with the blood of a small child, so he guessed. In a few seconds, he found where the screen were coming from and was there just in time when the kid took the cat off his face and threw it. Threw it right at the other two kids.

The Chigokai lept in a single motion, catching the cat in his arms, before landing gracefully on his feet. The cat wasn't exactly happy, but Ziren set the feline terror down to the ground. Afterwards, it kind of gave the Medical Chief an evil look, but just stood there.

"Well. That just happened." Ziren said plainly. "How are we all this fine night?" he said looking over at the three kids, not really talking formally, but as if what just happened, was a norm.

(Topic entered)

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

For the time of day, there seemed to be more people than anticipated in the area. That was, of course, a foolish assumption as there was no effective way of judging the volume of people in a village full of shinobi.

Maikeru was the first to find the blonde haired boy. Daisuke’s icy gaze shot towards the figure of the older academy student, it was evident that the Uchiha had been labouring – the carbon residue that remained on his face was evidence of such. It became clear to the Minamoto boy that he wasn’t the only one engaging in analysis, Maikeru was making observations of his own that was the only explanation Daisuke could come up with for the initial lack of conversation. Though that soon changed as Maikeru stepped forward to block his path and spoke up.

“Yes.” That was the simple response to the question of his name. Daisuke chose not to question why there appeared to be an unaddressed issue between himself and the Uchiha boy stood opposite him. Yet he also didn’t resist the potential of one existing. There was something interesting about the situation, mainly that it was unanticipated by the Minamoto boy; as such he decided that now would be the time for further notes on Maikeru’s personality. There didn’t seem to be anything malicious in his words or tonality but the presence of some sort of agenda was obvious, to find out more though Daisuke would have to go along with the older student. He Uchiha’s insurance was to come next in the form of a targeted threat. Daisuke knew that allowing his guard to drop around Kahora would lead to problems for him and this was exactly the result of it. “What is it that you want to talk about?”

Before his question could be answered, the sound of something going on in the distance filled Daisuke’s ears. For now his chakra was being poured into senses other than his sight as that was engaged with the current conversation. Initially he heard only one commotion but this was quickly followed by the sound of another set of footsteps. The scream that followed was less than pleasant, especially for Daisuke’s enhanced senses. The boy’s right eye slightly closed as the smallest of winces made itself visible on his face, he would need to be careful about enhancing his senses in the future.

That wasn’t all he needed to be careful about though. Within moments the figure of another yung shinobi appeared with a feline in tow. Though this boy was not quite as refined in his movements as most shinobi, it seemed as though that was due to the uncontrollable cat that was rapidly squirming to break free from its captor. And within moments… it was.

Thankfully the second set of footsteps that Daisuke had previously heard were rapidly approaching. As such Daisuke stood still, he could either have faith that the coming mass of chakra would be skilled enough to intercept the clawed projectile, or he could prepare to deflect it himself. The muscles in his hands tensed for all but a second and then relaxed as the boy allowed for the now present Ziren to catch the cat rather skilfully.

A breath expelled from the young academy student’s nose as he one again composed himself fully, even though little had changed the boy did not want to appear at all phased by the sudden burst of events that had just taken place. His eyes flicked over towards Soromon. “What is it that you were doing with this cat? Do you require assistance?” With this said, he turned to look at Ziren with a nod of thanks. “Your intervention is appreciated.”

 

[Maikeru]

As Maikeru had been walking away, his plan working for once, he let out an internal, annoyed sigh as he heard the commotion behind him. Well, no plan survived contact with the enemy he had supposed. Still, he had thought he would at least make it to the hot springs before someone had intervened. Jeez, what did it take to help a younger boy with his issues nowadays?

The two who had showed up were mostly unknown to Maikeru, though he knew a bit of the older, blue haired shinobi. Ziren was the chief med nin of the combat medic branch of the Medical branch. A mouthful to be sure, but he was sure the Chigokai had earned at least a little bit of respect. The other boy however.. was unknown completely to Maikeru. He had a leaf headband, and he was chasing a cat, so he figured that he was probably a Genin. But, if this goofball was a Genin, and Maikeru was still an Academy student? He wondered who that said more about.

"Ziren-sama, it's rare to see a chief med nin walking around in the middle of the night. Especially in this sector. I hope you weren't up to no good with all these impressionable young men around." Maikeru jested, moving to stand near Daisuke. "As for the cat.."

Maikeru had learned about this sort of thing from the blacksmiths who he was training with, and from his parents. He supposed that enlightening Daisuke on this was a somewhat of a substitute for what he head in mind, so, as he stepped in front of that cat, kneeling down to it's level, he began to talk as the cat hissed at him.

"The cat mission is the staple of which Genin missions are built off of." He started, holding out a hand to the scared cat, allowing it to take in his scent. "Cats are a good study, for both shinobi and swordsmen. They're light on their feet, and dexterous. On top of that, they have surprising power for their size. Well, at least this little ones bigger cousins do. Tigers, Lions, that sort of thing. It's a bit dangerous to send new Genin after those though, so this mission was created in it's stead."

As the cat began to look at him, he changed his black, coal like eyes to the bright red Sharingan, channeling his chakra through them into the cats ocular socket. As he did so, the cat mellowed, making it's way towards Maikeru, and curling up at his feet.

"The point of the mission is to catch an opponent who is, most likely, as equally dexterous and agile as you are. A cat is a pretty fair match for a fresh faced Genin on most cases. It's a good basis to build your skills for fighting and capture enemy shinobi further down the road of your career. But, this young man seems to have missed the point of that, and instead tried the brute force option. Me? I prefer subterfuge and genjutsu, but, to each their own."

He picked up the cat with one hand, cradling it in his chest as it moved to nuzzle against the Uchiha it now perceived as it's closest friend. He moved to the Genin, holding out the cat to him.

"You may want to move quickly. This genjutsu will only last for about an hour."

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

"You're welcome." Ziren said, nodding to Daisuke. He couldn't tell why, but the kid's face was familiar. He knew he hasn't seen the kid around, but the facial features. It reminds him...

His attention turned to the other boy that almost got attacked a a furball danger. He could tell that the boy was trying to joke around. The Chigokai smiled, and said, "I have spent countless hours at night in the hospital, working where I'm needed most, of dealing with fatal wounds. Just finished stabilizing some patients, leaving them to the care of the nurses to look after. And now I'm just on a nightly stroll. Something I find calming nowadays. Well, that's when I came across this little one being launched at you two."

The man turned to the other boy, who had stayed quiet, he patted him on the head and said, "Take care, okay? Even the smallest of animals can bring out a lot of anger if not treated right."

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

(topic left due to inactivity)

 

[Maikeru]

[Topic left due to inactivity]

 

[Soromon]

[Leaving this thread because I have not been here in over a month, Inactivity I guess]