Private Family Bonding Time [Req. Raizo]

[Kazu]

Kazu gazed up at the octagon made from silver-stone, his eyes lingering on the symbolic statue of strength and heritage represented through the cast-gold form of Primus, and wondered how in the world he was going to do this. 'It's just Cousin Raizo,' he thought. 'There's nothing to worry about. He'll understand.' The thought, Kazu knew, was the truth.

But, then, why did he hear his heart pounding in his ears? Why did his stomach feel like it was twisted in knots? Why were his hands slick with cold sweat?

'I can't avoid this any longer,' thought Kazu. Woodenly, he began to step towards the front door of the Kazekage Tower.

---

Approaching the front desk was a young teenage boy with charcoal black hair, crimson red eyes, strange black markings underneath his eyes, and an air of nervousness which some might even consider endearing. For the receptionist Miko sitting at the front desk, it certainly was so. Giving the young boy a smile, Miko spoke calmly and sweetly to try and soothe whatever nervous energy she could. "Hello there," she said, drawing the kid's attention directly to her. "How can I help you today? Is this your first time in the Kazekage Tower? I know it can be pretty overwhelming at first, but it's not nearly as daunting as it looks. Just another place, like any other." That was certainly not true — some of the most important business in the entire village was conducted here — but a nervous kid didn't need to be thinking about that. "Why don't you tell me what you're here for today, and we'll see what I can do to help."

The way the kid's eyes darted back and forth reminded Miko of a cornered Sandrunner — 'concerned and frightened' is how she'd describe it. He was dressed in what appeared to be typical shinobi attire: a black form-fitting shirt with a lightly tanned cloth robe draped over top to protect against the harsh desert rays, a darker brown pair of slacks which tapered off and were tied in place around his calves by an attached drawstring, a pair of simple desert sandals (designed to tread lightly on sand and aerate one's feet) at the ends of legs which were completely covered by tightly wrapped bandages, and a smattering of different belt pouches and containers for various supplies.

'He's a shinobi,' she concluded, despite the uncharacteristic behavior he displayed. ’He must be a new graduate of the Academy. Although, isn’t he a little too old for that?’ Miko’s curiosity had become piqued. Eventually, the young boy managed to speak up.

”I’d like to see the Kazekage, right away, ma’am. Is he in his office today?” Miko blinked. ”Eh?” She couldn’t get anything else out amidst her sudden confusion. ’Is this kid joking?’ He didn’t have a prankster’s smirk anywhere about him, but such an outrageous request could have only been a prank. Pulling herself together, Miko’s sweet voice had soured somewhat. ”Listen, kid, you can’t just walk up to the office of the Head of State and request to see the Kazekage without an appointment! Lord Raizo has many responsibilities to attend to, especially in the middle of the current crisis, and he doesn’t have time to just-”

”So he’s in his office, then?”

Flabbergasted by the gall of this little twerp, it took Miko a beat or two to close her hanging jaw. It only took a quarter beat more for her to start grinding her teeth in frustration. "Where else do you think he'd be?! You know, you've got a lot of nerve, kid! First you come in here asking completely unreasonable things, then you don't even have the proper respect to listen while your elders are speaking, and on top of all of that you're being incredibly rude about the whole thi-" The young boy had already turned to leave before she could finish what she was saying. "HEY! YOU GET BACK HERE, KID! YOU NEED SOME SENSE KNOCKED INTO YOU! HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU! I SAID GET BACK HERE, AND—!"

---

Kazu couldn't wait to be out of there. 'Pointless bureaucracy just makes my mind glaze over,' he thought to himself, still hearing the yelling from that fire breathing dragon of a secretary through the closed doors. 'Still, at least it wasn't a total waste of time.'

Kazu began walking around the outer edge of the tower. He was inspecting the upper floors, looking at windows, and trying to make out where he thought Cousin Raizo's office would be. 'Might as well just go check it out,' thought Kazu as he placed his right foot onto the wall, then his left, and began to climb up the side of the building. 'He should be up there, right? I'll just go let him know I was in the area and decided to drop by.'

Walking past more than one window with an occupant inside, Kazu was creating quite the ruckus within the Kazekage Tower as various people began exclaiming about 'some kid outside their window.' The young boy was either unaware of the commotion he was causing, or (more likely) he didn't care, as he continued to search the various windows for signs of his older Cousin. 'There's only four floors in this building,' thought Kazu. 'How long could it take to find him?'

Eventually, if Kazu stumbled upon a window with his Cousin in it, the young boy would stop and knock of the window to get the occupant's attention. Kazu gave a big smile and a wave, before pointing upwards and gesturing for his Cousin to "come on." With that, the young boy would continue his pleasant stroll up the side of the building until he reached the roof.

Whether Raizo had chosen to follow Kazu, or whether he'd been elsewhere within the building and had simply heard the commotion throughout the halls about "a kid with black hair, red eyes, and strange markings under his eyes walking up the side of the building," the young boy would be waiting on the roof. Seated at the edge, with his feet dangling over the side, Kazu would be found staring out over the village before him. Waiting for the sound of the access door to the roof opening — or, perhaps, some other sound that would announce someone's arrival — Kazu would begin to speak in a calm and distant manner without turning to face whoever had come to join him.

"You know, I never thought I'd find another place that I could call home. I always thought that title would be reserved exclusively for the Ryuzaki Estate." The young boy would pause for a moment before continuing. "I thought I'd take you up on your offer to come visit sometime. We haven't had a chance to sit down and chat since I started my training here, huh?"

Kazu had assumed Raizo would join him, but it could have just as easily been someone else who'd answered his call. Kazu wouldn't bother turning to look just yet — the view from up here was just so beautiful.

OOC Actions Breakdown/TL;DR:

— Kazu attempts to walk in the front door, and causes the receptionist to become enraged and yell.
— Kazu walks up the side of the building, without trying to be stealthy, and attempts to locate Raizo's office from the outside.
— If Kazu finds Raizo's office, he tries to get Raizo's attention by knocking on the window and gesturing for Raizo to follow him.
— Kazu goes to sit up on the roof and wait for Raizo (or someone else, if you so choose) to come join him.

[ OOC: Setting this thread after the General Assembly thread and before the Welcome to Terminus thread. ]

 

[Raizo]

His chair would spin slowly around once more. His eyes, fixated upon the ceiling, would lazily continue to glare off into the space above him. The General Assembly, his first big call to action, had been something he was not fully prepared for and something that went down a path he could have never seen coming. Somehow, it had been hijacked by family drama, mostly between the Miroku, and his father. Yet, the topic shifting away from his grand speech and assignment of tasks wasn't what was bothering him.

"This isn't it..."

Pulling himself up out of his seat, he would push open the window and begin to make his way up the side of the building. It was a rather simple child's trick that apparently was taught in some instances as a tactic in the shinobi academy. Sure, it was a rather neat trick in helping people understand and put to practice chakra manipulation, but still... it seemed more like something a child would do to show off. Still, it would pay dividends right now, giving him the ability to circumvent going out of his office and into the interior of the tower, where he would most likely run into someone needing him or wishing to talk, and allow him a direct route to something private.

"I wonder if I should have told Miko I was stepping out of the office..."

His mind didn't linger on this question much longer after it had left his mouth. She was a capable one, she would either figure it out or just assume he was in there. Either way, he did tell her he was busy after all. Out of all the assistants manning that post, she was by the most efficient at keeping people away when he said he was busy. Granted, he wasn't busy, but Miko never bothered to ask. He would typically repay this devotion with sweet treats, it was wise to keep her happy.

Finally reaching the top of the tower, he would gently, and abruptly, collapse to his back. His arms and legs would be sprawled out as his eyes once more returned to blankly staring upwards. This time, however, it was the wide-open sky that he was staring up at instead of a stuff old ceiling. There was something calming. Something pleasant about just staring out into it, yet there was still a feeling. There was still something gnawing at him. Was it the missions he would be sending the shinobi out on? Was it this Golden Sanctuary Merchant's Guild? No, that did feel right. What was it...

At that moment, his head would raise up and he would notice his cousin Kazukura hoisting himself up to the roof as well.

"Little Kazukura?" he would ask in a puzzled tone. It would have been strange to find anyone else up here, even though unbeknownst to him his new friend Uzi had used this very setting with a strange lady as well, but it was almost more strange to see his cousin.

Pushing himself up from the ground he would head over to Kazu and join him sitting on the edge. Listening, he would smile as he would look out over the village before them.

"I guess we haven't! I assumed you were hard at work, and that Sousuke has been filling my head with more lessons than I ever had the entirety of my life before this point. I thought our clan teaching methods were challenging, that guy... sheeeeeeesh." This would be followed by a laugh before he continued, "But this place is something... it is special. I am really happy it has accepted you, myself, and Yukina the way it has. There was always a fear coming here that it would turn out that all of my dad's fear-mongering was correct and this place was our enemy..."

Letting out a sigh followed by a chuckle he would turn his head to Kazu.

"So, made any friends? Girlfriends?" he would pause for a moment before raising his hand up to his chin, "Boyfriends?" Honestly, he wasn't truly sure what Kazu desired. "Did this convo already become too weird?" He would start laughing uncontrollably. It was a mixture of actually tickling himself and his own coping method for dealing with any potential discomfort from his line of invasive questioning. "Maaaaaaaaan, I don't know what is going on with me lately... I just feel like I am in a funk. You ever felt like that, Kazu?"