Diving [Yumi]

[Samejima]

It's been some time since I last came here... Naoki mused, thinking back to one of the few times she did something that actually impacted the village. The area was just as beautiful as she remembered, if not more so as she's heightened her sense of hearing somewhat in the time she's been in Sunagakure. The water was warm, and she felt a sudden pang of homesickness, despite having visited a few months earlier. With a pair of contacts and some ad-libbing, she'd managed to convince her parents that she hadn't lost her sight without using the gate and came back relieved. It wasn't that hard either... Just gotta keep this up!

Along the part of the coastline that wasn't occupied, Naoki rested the bag she brought her towel and other effects in against a reasonably sized boulder and took off the outer layer of her clothing (wearing what looked like a standard school swimsuit underneath), sandals and headband before diving headfirst in there. Hmm~ Been awhile since the last time. Because of the way her sensing works, swimming gives her a higher awareness of what went on around her. Things were much less discernible, like looking through a kaleidoscope... But as long as she stayed in open areas it was perfectly safe, and she was able to sense schools of fish at a distance so she could be sure she wasn't scaring any off. Stamina depleted from training but still wanting to move around, she swam around randomly for a few minutes before stopping and just doing some underwater stretching. Might wanna add this to my daily menu... Water did have that element of resistance after all, she reasoned, weighing the pros and cons of swimming every day as she tried to work through her usual stretching routine, taking breaths between each set.

Resurfacing after a little while, she decided to try and float, ears still underwater. If anyone decided to splash in, she would get quite a shock, but otherwise just floating about like that was enjoyable. Swishing, lotsa swishing... She was a little ways offshore, but still recognizable as she soaked in the swishes of marine life.

[MFT]

 

[Kazumi]

She ached quite a bit, considering it was all just a dream... of sorts. Her shoulder and side were not tender, per say, but rather felt like fresh injuries that had been suddenly healed and but were too slow witted to notice it. After a quick swing by her temporary abode, she brought her duffle along with her towards the edge of the Undersea. She did not do this as often as she liked, but the cool water and relaxation might help her forget a little, might help those pains wash away if she was lucky.

As she approached the coastline of the Undersea she paused, seeing a bit of a splash occuring a moderate distance off shore. She couldn't tell what it was immediately, but it did not look like someone was drowning. Likely just another villager come to enjoy the water. In retrospect, she wondered why more of them did not come down here to cool off and relax in the waters. Likely it was simply a matter of her being a foreigner that kept her from understanding such strange local preferences, but the lack of a crowd did not bother her in the slightest.

Yumi set down her bag and began to work on slipping out of her land dweller's clothes. Undressing was much easier than dressing, she had found, though she managed both without much hassle. Finally she slipped her socks off and set them, along with the rest of her outfit inside of the bag, leaving her only clad in a form fitting black one piece swimsuit. She slowly walked herself into the edge of the water, letting out a refreshed sound as she felt the stress evaporating away as her skin made contact with the cool liquid. Basking in the moment she took to standing there with her knees just barely under the water's surface.

 

[Samejima]

Floating around~
Some kinda jellyfish~
Floating around~
Soon, Imma cook a dish~
But no fish!

Giggling a little at the weird song she just made up, she dived in once more, feeling the water around her. It seemed like someone had stepped into the water, judging by the slight displacement in the usual swishing, but she didn't pay it much mind, having already gone back down. Were there better uses for her time? Naturally. But this thought was put behind her. She was moving, so it counted as a bit of training! Even if she was rather tired... And it would be time better spent reading something, or actually working on the rest of the training menu for the day, finishing early to help her aunt out at the shop...

Guh... I should probably hurry back anyway... Still reluctant to leave however, she decided she'd take her time floating closer to the shore, like an actual jellyfish, but still moving her arms starfish style. She shouldn't bump into whoever just came in though, being able to tell where that person was. Unless there was a sudden change in movement of course.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi opened her eyes as she heard something getting closer to her in the water. Seeing Naoki, of all people, swimming in her general direction in a humanoid jellyfish form seemed to surprise her. "Naoki-san?" She called, sounding eagerly enthusiastic about her teacher's presence. She walked forward into the water until her chin was almost under the water, while her feet rested on the seabed below. In an attempt at a cute gesture, she lifted her right forearm nub to wave at the girl, should Naoki have heard her call.

 

[Samejima]

In this position, her ears were still underwater, and it took a bit of time for a familiar voice to register between the difference in medium and the weird song still absently bouncing in her head. Once it did however, Naoki would begin flailing her arms in an attempt to quickly right her orientation, facing the source of that familiar voice. "Yumi!" she spluttered, once she'd regained her bearings. She got closer to the student before addressing that thing she was hung up on. "Just Naoki will be okay, really..." she said, rubbing the back of her head with her left hand as her right attempted to keep her floating, still a distance from where Yumi was standing. "Here for a swim too?" An attempt at making conversation was made, one that would hopefully keep them talking for some time. The genin didn't exactly feel like getting out of the water yet... Her fingers hadn't even wrinkled!

 

[Kazumi]

She seemed to be a little confused by Naoki's request, but after a moment of odd silence she perked her head up with a full smile and nodded, "sure!" Pushing herself further into the water, Yumi swam herself over closer towards Naoki. It was then she realized... this was the first time she had gone swimming in months! She hadn't re-learned to swim with only one paddle. Pushing that thought aside, she bobbed in the water over towards Naoki and gave her another nod. Thankfully buoyancy was doing most of the work for her, "Yeah, I just left the Obsidian Palace for a mission! So I'm like... totally achey right not." Her enthusiasm continued, but there was a hint of something less pleasant beneath her words.

 

[Samejima]

Ooh, she went on a mission already? Man I wanna hear about that one... And isn't the Obsidian Palace the village's prison? She'd passed by it several times in her time here, and might have actually gone inside if she'd ever had any business with the ANBU at any point. "You went in there? What was it like?" Naoki asked, eyes widening in addition to her eyebrows shooting up. "It's way too scary for me to just walk into for sure... Always had this... aura to it? Something like that," head tilting, she absently rubbed the ring she'd been wearing for awhile now. The Power Ring of Saiga it was called, but she still hadn't put it to use in any way. Not much of a reason to be calling on powers in a time of peace after all.

Meanwhile, a small distance away from the two girls, a certain otter was about to make an appearance in the non-scary, daily life situation. After a spot of oyster hunting.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi gave Naoki a firm nod, "I did. It wasn't that scary, but I heard the deeper you go the creepier it gets. I only had to go to the first level though. I... still don't remember the details, but I had to get a scroll from one of the prisoners there." She bobbed a little and glanced over towards the sound before she continued again. "I still don't understand it, but a prisoner named Sora had a scroll in a genjutsu or a... dream or something. Sorry..." she replied with a little embarrassment, "it still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. A lot of strange stuff happened." Her side and shoulder began to sting again, as if the memory of that was what kept the pain real in her head. She momentarily flinched, and had to spend the next for moments struggling to keep herself above water from her sudden lapse in concentration.

 

[Samejima]

Reflexively, Naoki got closer so as to make sure the girl didn't drop while she stabilized herself. "Are you okay? Shouldn't you be resting or something? Seems like a pretty tough mission, especially if it had something to do with genjutsu..." The few times she'd encountered it, coupled with her inability to fully understand it, always left her struggling to remember what was real and what wasn't. "Ooh, or we could try to take your mind off it! Wanna try and find some weirdly shaped rocks or something...?" What am I saying, why would she be interested in weirdly shaped rocks? Hmm... There's always Marco Polo, but I guess I'd win that one hands down... I didn't bring a ball today, thought I'd just be swimming... Could I get some kinda substitute for a ball to throw? ...Rolled up bandages...?

Just as she thought of that absolutely brilliant idea, an unheard otter popped up from behind her, causing her to flinch to her right as it spoke. "Did someone need their mind taken off things?" he said, as if it was all completely normal. "Nothing better than a quick game of tag to refresh one's mind!" The otter was swimming circles around the two as he spoke, belly up and head tilted sideways to face them. Suddenly seeming aware of the fact that they'd have no idea what to think of a talking otter, he stopped the circling and introduced himself. "Oh, I'm Kaisou, the Contract Otter. Came from that girly over there," cue flipper point at Naoki, "who wanted to try and relieve your tensions," and flipper point at Yumi. "So then, what're your names?"

Somewhat dumbfounded for a few moments there, Naoki quickly switched to her curious mindset and grinned as she introduced them. "I'm Naoki, and this is Yumi! And tag, like chasing each other? Wouldn't that be a bit hard for us though, since you're an otter and all? And how are you talking? What's a Contract Otter? Are there a bunch of other Contract Otters for other people who have Contracts? Do you do that thing where you try to open oysters on you stomach? I read about that some time ago, it was pretty funny in my head but I don't think-"

"Shhh, shh shh. Don't ask; just swim." And with that interruption, he was off! Still above the water and visible, he'd gone in a straight direction opposite the shore, and would make a sharp curve to the right once he's gone far enough out to allow a decently sized area to swim in.

Noticing she'd been ignoring her friend for a good 30 seconds while all that happened, she now turned to Yumi and asked, "Can you swim? Let's go, I think it's us against him!"

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi looked slightly dumbfounded as a... talking otter swam up and around then. Unlike Naoki she was actually rather speechless at that. Contract Otter? She had never heard of any such thing... was this another illusion? Was it possible she was still in a genjutsu from before, and she never actually got to escape from it!? Beginning to internally panic a little, Yumi didn't hear much of Naoki's ramblings, and didn't fully phase back to reality until the girl began to speak directly to her. "W-wha?" she asked, looking and sounding slightly dazed as she slowly bobbed in the water.

Her eyes looked over towards and followed the creature as it swam away. No, surely this wasn't another Genjutsu. If she considered that possibility, then perhaps everything could just be one giant illusion! No no, she couldn't ley herself get trapped in that frightening possibility. "I... I can try, but-" before she managed to get out that last word, Naoki likey began off to give chase. In which case she would mutter something under her breath about talking with the girl about something. With a small sigh she began to try and swim after Naoki, it was somewhat difficult and she was slower than usual, but she managed it. There was no way, however, that she would be able to catch the creature.

 

[Samejima]

Being considerate despite her curiosity regarding the talking otter, Naoki swam at a fraction of her fastest speed. Besides, what fun would it be if she just caught him right off the bat? She slowed down enough to hear a little of the muttering, but with the echo in the area it was a little hard to make out what it was. "Didja say something? I wasn't paying attention," she said, slowing down to match Yumi's speed and stopping if she did.

Kaisou on the other hand, seemed to have picked up on the fact that he'd failed to engage the two. Now that I think about it, one of them only had one arm, and the other was in the middle of asking questions. But what kid doesn't wanna play tag! Somewhat dismayed (but unreadable, as it was an otter after all, there wasn't a large range of expressions humans could read off an otter), Kaisou made his way back and resumed swimming lazy circles around them, if they stopped upon seeing/sensing his approach. Otherwise he'd just keep swimming alongside them. "So tag's not your thing?"

Naoki shrugged in response. Yumi came here to swim... But maybe she wasn't looking for fast-paced stuff, not after that mission... Wonder if she dives.

 

[Kazumi]

For some reason the admission of Naoki's lack of attention annoyed Yumi. She never intended for the girl to hear what she said, but it irked her all the same. Instead of expressing hat, however, she shook her head as she worked to catch up with the girl. As for Kaisou, he would swim circles as Yumi seemed to have no real interest in chasing him. "It wouldn't exactly be very fair," she commented to the... otter. A strange prospect, but she had seem some strange things today. "Naoki, I was hoping I could talk to you for a bit?" She asked, unsure if she should bring it up or not. As the otter swam into her field of view she remarked, "in private...?"

 

[Samejima]

"Ah I got it, I got it. I'll just be off for a quick dive then," the otter then went back down into the depths, popping back up at a distance every now and again if the talk took more than a few minutes.

Now thoroughly concerned, Naoki sharpened her hearing so as to catch most of Yumi's changes in expression. "What's up...?" she asked tentatively, maintaining eye contact on instinct though it didn't do anything to help her discern how Yumi was thinking of saying. Couldn't have been the mission could it? Best way to unwind is to take your mind off whatever you're unwinding from after all... Or is it about Kaisou? But I have no idea how he can talk, and I did fire off a buncha questions just now, that can't be it. Something class-related maybe? Or a training question! But that wouldn't make her have to talk to me in private... Ohh I hope it isn't anything serious. What if she has to move or something? That'd be bad. Or did that mission make an old wound open up?!

Naoki didn't know how to project a sound underwater at that point however, and just sticking her head underwater to try and check would be rude. Additionally, oh wait no, then she'd go straight to the hospital. Hmmm... For now, all Naoki could do was wait for whatever was coming.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi made sure the creature had disappeared before she spun herself in the water enough to see Naoki. "Probably nothing, I guess. Just some really weird stuff happened in that genjutsu... dream thing. I was hoping you could tell how Genjutsu works? I mean... I did some kind of weird stuff in it and.. I was wondering why that was." Talking about this seemed to be confusing and embarrassing for her and she nervously moved about in the water both as she spoke and when she finished while she awaited Naoki's insightful response. Subconsciously she gripped her left hand, remembering lall of those strange sensations she had felt.

Surely it all was a dream of sorts. Perhaps it happened because it was what she needed at the time, or maybe Sora or whomever had planned it. It probably would have happened to anyone who had been in it... like a planned scene in a story or something. Even so it felt so... real. Vaguely she remembered a similar feeling back when... "You know a lot more than I do about stuff like that. Still don't know why they wanted a student like me for it."

 

[Samejima]

Naoki relaxed somewhat before she remembered that she didn't know much at all about how genjutsu worked. All she really knew was that it could change time, could make you feel pain even though you didn't have a scratch on you and that it let you keep the results of any training you did. Truly, if she knew how to use it, she'd try and slow time down like those first long two days and give herself more time to train. As for any information she knew how to express at that point in time... "I dunno a lot about genjutsu though... Always been pretty bad at it to be honest. All I can really do is a couple clones, and even those I'm not too sure about how to control them properly," she said, rolling her head about her shoulders a little to try and recollect something a bit more useful to the student. "But a genjutsu shouldn't be able to affect what you can do in it, unless it's an advanced one- oh, that's one that affects all your senses. What did you do though, was it something weird like, you wouldn't think about doing it normally? Or more like, you shouldn't be able to do it at all?"

She laughed a little nervously at Yumi's mention of giving her that particular mission instead of Naoki. Yeah, I mean... I'm a genin, I should have more experience. Why'd they choose her for the mission and not me? She wouldn't have been able to pinpoint it, but she was feeling a twinge of envy, even if it was a life-threatening situation that Yumi got to participate in and she didn't. "What was the mission about anyways? Just getting a scroll?" she asked, expression likely somewhat tense.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi nodded a little to both of Naoki's initial questions. She was not sure how to phrase everything, and saying such odd things outright seemed even worse! What if it made her uncomfortable? What if Naoki decided she was a freak because of how strange the dream... thing was? Surely she wouldn't but... what if she did? As Naoki asked about the mission parameters, Yumi almost missed the question entirely. "Huh?" She remarked as her brain processed the girl's question. "Oh, yeah. I think that was all."

Her red eyes averted from Naoki for a few moments, accidentally causing a short silence between them before she finally spoke up. "It was really advanced and stuff I... I think. I didn't even know I was in one until I was out of it. There was this demony dog thing and it bit and clawed us. There was a lot of blood everywhere... and I had to do something or else he would have died!" She sounded rather defensive, as if Naoki had already begun questioning her as to why she did these unmentioned things.

 

[Samejima]

It was an advanced genjutsu even... That was really dangerous then! If I remember right... People have been trapped in genjutsu so long they can't wake up and eventually just... Naoki shook her head, and her face formed a concerned expression. "Well, they probably didn't know that one had the possibility of being so tough... Did you tell anyone else about it so far?" It was starting to look less like she had been skipped over and more like they'd handed Yumi a much tougher mission than they thought. "You did it though! That's really... really cool! Man, you've gotta take me on another one of your missions!" Naoki beamed, sincerely hoping Yumi's luck would be able to help her with new experiences. It's a win-win right? More experience, and I can help! I think...

The more she thought about it, the less she was liking what she'd just said. What if those missions are... too much? I mean, we're pretty much the same age, even if I do have more training and stuff, but if it was that dangerous... I don't... She seemed to have sobered a little from the initial excitement, unsure of how she should react to Yumi either saying yes or no. Both were equally appealing and unappealing, though she had to admit a joint mission has always been a plus. Sharing in the thrills and chills with a friend is always a nice thing to experience.

 

[Kazumi]

Naoki's reaction seemed to startle the girl, as if she did expect some sort of hostile push back to her unfinished story. "Oh... well, they didn't seem interested in the details at all. They got the scroll thing, so that was all that mattered." Which certainly was true. She successfully completed the mission, retrieved the target item and did not get killed in the process. No collateral damage or other unfortunate side effects. With a by the book grading system she had performed with flying colors. Then why was it she didn't feel all that great about it?

"Oh, yeah... sure. Not sure what help I'd be on a mission that takes place in the real world though." Surely what she had done in there was simply a dream. Besides, she could perform ninjutsu, so it must have been some sort of wish fulfilment or... or something. The Tsukino girl hesitated for a few moments and quietly mentioned, "I remember doing something with all of the... blood..." It was not intended for the girl to hear, more to get the thought off her chest, but Yumi did not think to remember her friend's super powers.

 

[Samejima]

Now freshly confused, Naoki reviewed the notion that her friend might actually have gained some kind of ability while in that genjutsu. "You can't do that in the real world? I haven't heard of genjutsu giving people abilities they didn't already have... I mean, even while I was under a training genjutsu, I wasn't able to do anything I didn't try and think through first, and I didn't gain any actual physical capabilities, had to go through regular speed and strength training for that..."

Maybe it's a special genjutsu...? Like, one developed especially for training or... Oh! "Maybe you can do it, but you haven't tried it since, well..." There's no blood. How were they even going to get enough blood to test it out... Hurt someone? Hurt... ourselves? She thought some more, and even more, until something struck. "Let's spear some fish, see if you can use their blood for stuff!" she exclaimed, likely causing many of the fish in the area to shudder (to the best of their abilities) with the killing intent they felt from an experienced fishsassin.

 

[Kazumi]

Now this response certainly did take Yumi by surprise, initially because she didn't expect her utterances to be heard, and then by the response it received. Awkwardly she looked away from Naoki as she shifted herself away in the water. "N... no, it was just a dream. Besides, I can't do ninja stuff like you all can anyway. I accepted that a while ago." She glanced over he shoulder and turned a little, still managing to keep her head above water. She gave Naoki a small appreciative grin, though part of her was curious...