Close encounters of the Botanic kind [Tsubaki]

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota strolled through the corridors of the academy, it'd been a little while since he had last been here but he could still remember most of it fairly well. He don't know why he'd decided to pay a visit today but it was a decision he had made whilst bored...and everyone knows that's when you make the best decisions.

However their didn't seem to be much around to satiate that boredom, there was a few scattered kids but they were already engaged in conversation and it would've just been awkward if Riyota were to go over and attempt to join in. The boy leaned against a nearby wall and sighed. "This was a stupid idea, from now on, I'm only going to follow decisions I make when I'm hungry, that will work out better." Riyota was happy with his knew found resolution, and decided it was time to leave the academy for now.

However in his satisfaction at his genius on when and when not to listen to his gut, and his hurry to try and find something to do. He wasn't really looking for random objects sticking out of the ground with the potential to trip up an unsuspecting person. Therefore Riyota tripped on a ruler that he afterwards was convinced was planted there and stumbled forward rather ungracefully. Equally unluckily, this was the exact moment a very unsuspecting young girl made her way through the door (what are the odds?) And as you might expect, ended up with said ungracefully falling boy tumbling on top of her.

Ow, I really hope what I crashed into was some sort of statue...otherwise this is going to be the second time I've crashed into a person.

After thinking this, Riyota very cautiously opened one eye.

Crap baskets... he thought.

 

[Kazumi]

Had these placed never heard of books before? Why did everything need to be sealed in its own small wrapped scroll? After seeing all of the progress the village had been making on the surface, Tsubaki was more than surprised to find that the academy was more backwater and old-fashioned in these things than most small villages she had passed through. So, with fifteen of the hand length paper cylinders cradled in her arms, Tsubaki made her way down the corridors towards the exit of the building.

The arm full had given her little trouble so far, and the height advantage she had on most of the students was enough to keep her without incident despite her unwieldy load. That was until she felt some form slamming into her just as she stepped out into the corridor to make a right turn. The carefully stacked and positioned scrolls scattered like pins as their nemesis, the bowling ball, crashed into them and Tsubaki found herself smacked prone onto the ground, the wind and sense knocked out of her.

Some of he nearby students paused a moment, but not to help, simply to chuckle in amusement as they went along their merry way. Her butt and hip hurt from the crash, and her head was still more than a little shaken up as she tried to pick herself gorggily up, only to find that something was pinning most of her to the ground.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

"Ow" was all Riyota managed to mumble out, although it was seriously muted by the fact that he was still face first in the person he had just crashed into, and Riyota knew he needed to get up before this got downright inappropriate. He placed his hands on the ground either side of the other person and lifted himself off them, blushing rather heavily. He bowed his head "I'm sorry about bumping into you, I hope you aren't hurt." he stammered out, very embarrassed that he had knocked the person over with no warning, he slowly lifted up his head to look at the person, and he realised it was a girl, and he also realised where his head had been those past few seconds. Which caused him to blush even harder.

He offered a hand to help the girl up and noticed the scrolls scattered around the floor. "I-I'm really sorry..." he repeated. After she was returned to her feet he would help her pick up some of the scrolls. "M-my name's Riyota" he told her, in an attempt to clear the awkwardness. "What's yours?"

 

[Kazumi]

What in the heavens? She thought as she realised that there was a boy incidentally pinning her to the ground atop of her. Luckily for him, his head's fall had been cushioned by two conveniently placed pillows that sat atop her chest. Looking confused as she heard some soft chuckles from the other students, she finally registered what had happened and silently joined in their humor as he stammered his way to his feet. Accepting his hand when he offered it, she quickly got to her feet and began dusting off her skirt that bore her clan's emblem.

As the stranger, who was apparently named Ryota introduced himself and began to pick up some of the scrolls for her she nodded appreciatively and began to make succinct gestures with her hands. It would be rather unlikely that he knew sign language, but she didn't seem to register that at the moment as she continued. 'Do not worry about it. I was simply not watching where I was going. My name is K O I Z U M I - T S U B A K I." After finishing she would grab up the last two scrolls before he had a chance to pick them up and would offer him a pleased smile as she looked down towards him.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota studied the emblem on her skirt closely and realised he didn't recognise it, it took a few moments for him to actually realise where he was staring and so he blushed and quickly diverted his eyesight. When he first saw the girl start moving her hands his initial thought was that she might be starting a Jutsu to hit him with. He began to silently panic until he realised that she was just using Is that sign language Riyota didn't know much sign language, but he knew a few bits and pieces. Worry about...Watch...Where...Going...Name...Koizumi Tsubaki he paled slightly as his mistranslation of the sign language led him to think she was mad at him for bumping into her. It took him a few moments, but he soon realised that the expression on her face wasn't of anger.

Riyota decided that the situation was slowly becoming awkward again, so he carefully handed back her scrolls and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of a conversation starter, hoping his very basic knowledge of sign language would help him at least a little. "Sign Language...That's really cool...um...I like your name, Tsubaki, Flower with no scent....I think? I like that, it's sort of like a name that isn't trying to tell you what to do." He grinned nervously. Why am I so nervous? I'm just rambling on and on, OH NO I'M BORING HER. Riyota tried to think of the reason why now of all times, he was stuttering and stammering so much. Eventually it clicked "It's because she's really pretty!"

It took Riyota a solid 5 seconds to figure out he'd said that out loud.

And you could not find a blaze redder than the colour his cheeks turned in that moment.

[Awkwardness /10 would bump into again]
[MFT 293]

 

[Kazumi]

The fact that he seemed to understand what she was signing brought a cute smile to her face as she nodded with simple approval. She stood there, looking down to him listening with a content expression until he suddenly blurted out the most random, and embarrassing of utterances. Reflexively, she raised her hand to cover her mouth as she looked away, not blushing but feeling a little embarrassed, if not flattered, by it. As she looked back towards him, hiding her widened smile under her mouth she noticed that he was juts beginning to realize what he had said.

Quickly piling the scrolls into her left arm, she began to make signs once again with her right hand. It would be akin to talking with a mouth full of marbles, easy for experienced practitioners of the language, but without the use of both arms it might be more than a little confusing for the less knowledgeable. "Do not worry, it was a cute thing to say. Could you show me where the scroll lockers are? A student said that it was a good place to study alone, and I do not yet know my way around this rather large building. I just moved here a few weeks ago and I am still learning my way around. If you would not mind, of course. R Y O T A -san" After she finished she decided to simply stand there, allow him to gather himself, looking down towards him as if she expected some sort of answer.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just blurt that out..." Riyota apologized, blushing heavily. He thought he caught a hint of a smile out of the corner of his one eye. So he took it as a sign that he was ok for now.

As he saw she was communicating once again through handsigns he tried to translate what little he could, and attempted to fill in the gaps as well as he could. Let's see...Skip the first part, no idea what that means...Something about scroll lockers and studying alone? Moving, weeks ago...learning way...Wouldn't mind? Riyota-san? "You want me to show you the scroll lockers? I think I remember where they are..." He smirked slightly, then chuckled "No need for the San part, it just sounds wrong at the end of my name, Tsubaki-sensei-san-chan-sama." He laughed. "Follow me" He began walking.

He offered to take the scrolls for her and decided to ask her a few questions. Why do I feel like this? my stomach is doing some kind of agility training, I've been around girls before, how is this different? Riyota thought to himself. "Someone's in loooooooooove." The voice chimed in. Riyota was not in the mood for it's taunting at the time.

"So...um...Where did you move here from? Do you like it here?" he asked her, something simple to start with...he hoped.

 

[Kazumi]

Seeing his offer to help her carry the scrolls, Tsubaki gladly accepted as she offered him the remaining few. He was simply being gentlemanly and it would have been rude of her to not accept his assistance; besides, this would allow her to communicate more quickly. It was not exactly rude to try and communicate with one had, like it would be to talk with one's mouth full, but that did not mean it was not discouraged.

"Thank you, R-kun" Continuing with tradition, she appended his name down to the character R as she accented it with her thumb. This was all done with relative care as she moved along side him through the hallway, not seeming to be bothered by his attempts to gracefully maneuver himself through language, though he failed quite spectacularly. "My family has lived in many places. Wind is quite hot on surface, cooler down here. I prefer the surface, being underground quite strange."

With their height different, it was easy for her to keep pace along side of him, even with his familiarity and honed shinobi prowess. Had this been a race of sorts, she would have not held a candle, but for a leisurely stroll through the old academy building it would suffice. As students passed them by, she would give each a faint nod of her head, a smile and a wave if one was given to her first. "Are you from here? Strange to believe people can live out in desert. Few resources and long travel to civilization. So, you are shinobi?"

 

[Miroku Riyota]

As he took the scrolls and continued to walk with her, he intently listened for the answers to his questions "Oh, you prefer the surface? I always preferred it down here, I found the surface is too hot, y'know?" He smiled at her as they continued their way through the academy, giving polite gestures to the other students. Riyota was glad he was starting to pick up on the sign a bit more, perhaps he should read a book about it when they got to the scroll locker, it would give him an excuse to spend more time with her at least.

"From here? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am, I have no reason to think otherwise, at least." He chuckled, they were nearing the scroll lockers and just before he opened the door for her, he stopped to answer her final question. "Shinobi? Well, not quite, I mean, Sorta? but not quite...I'm still in training. What about you?" he asked her, opening the door. "Also, out of interest, are you actually mute? or just super shy or something?" Riyota was curious to know, as to someone who could only hear the conversation, it would sound a lot like he was talking to himself.

 

[Kazumi]

She looked to him, smiled and nodded along with him as he spoke. "Yes, surface is too hot. Underground feels strange. Never lived anywhere like this. As they arrived at what she assumed to be the lockers, she looked around for a moment with puzzlement. She was not sure what she had expected, but she felt they must have looked different in her head.

As if belatedly noticing her companion's response, she nodded in understanding and signed, "I am most experienced shinobi. This is why I require escort to Scroll locker." The nuances of her slightly exaggerated gestures would likely be lost on the poor kid, but she gave him another reassuring smile which likely cued him in on the fact that she wasn't simply making fun of him.

After he posed his final question as they paused at the threshold of the door she paused, and her gaze broke from his as she looked off towards the room's contents. A few more awkward moments ensued as she did not respond, broken only by the sound of her footsteps as she walked into the room and looked round. This most certainly was not what she had expected, and somehow she doubted those artistic markings on the wall were educational in any manner.

After taking in the room, she spun around on one foot to face him and gave him a wide eager smile before she signed, "Do I look shy to you, R-kun?" It didn't answer his question exactly, and the answer it suggested wasn't exactly true... she didn't lie either. His presumptions was his own after all.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

He laughed slightly "I suppose I should've guessed, but I thought I'd ask anyway." He told her in response to the few words he'd caught from what he assumed to have been a sarcastic joke.

She almost stopped dead at his final question, and Riyota worried that he had offended her in some way. He opened his mouth to apologise before she stepped into the room, followed by her turning around to face him. She asked his opinion on whether or not he thought she looked shy. "Well...it's kinda hard to tell, neither of us really initiated this by choice, and I've heard of people that don't talk out of choice rather than necessity." Riyota was starting to get flustered. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the girl he'd happened to have bumped in to today. He wasn't sure if he was saying the right things, if he was starting to get on her nerves, or what. So he just slowly followed her inside, took a deep breath and asked her. "What about me? What do you think of me?" He asked her, nervously.

 

[Kazumi]

The sudden inquiry as to her opinion of her seemed to catch the girl off guard, but she recovered and hid it with a pondering tilt of her head. Reaching up and stroking her chin she held that pose for a few long seconds before brushing it off with an amused shrug. "You seem nice. Certainly shy. It makes your look cute." She reached up and brushed some of her hair back over her shoulder as it tried to encroach on her chest.

Before he responded she had already spun around and stepped further into the rather large, disorganized and almost barren looking room. With all of the construction going on up surface-side it seems this area had been quite heavily neglected. A fleeting though made her wonder why there were no other students here, but the thought passed as she walked over towards a table cluttered with fast food wrappers, scattered papers and empty cans. Kneeling down she used her arm to push it all to one side of the table as she stepped aside and gestured for the kind shinobi to place the scrolls there on the table. If he complied he would be met with a respectful and appreciative smile immediately after her unloaded his cargo.

"What is it like? Being shinobi? I know relatively little. Stories and rumor. Academy has taught me some but unclear." After she finished her signing she stood there and patiently awaited his answer, still wearing that soft confident smile as she watched the shorter boy.

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota blushed heavily and pouted slightly I-I-I'm not Shy...And I'm not cute either...I'm a Shinobi, people like me are tough, brave warriors." the girls comment had certainly thrown him off, he wasn't expecting a response like that, and wasn't quite sure how to react. Afterwards he complied with her wish to place the scrolls down on the table, he was glad that he was getting better at translating her hand signs. It was almost like learning to read again, he just had to cross reference sounds he knew with no ones, and assume the rest of the word.

What is like...being Shinobi...some unclear? Riyota could mostly make out what the girl meant. Riyota started on a tangent of the lessons he'd learned on being a shinobi, but eventually his voice trailed off and he let out a sigh. "I'm not quite sure...I guess it all depends on the type of person you are, the type you wanna be." He scratched his head, not sure if what he had said had made any sense at all.