Following Sensei's Orders [Private - Yumi]

[Koizumi Mao]

Well, that was entirely unexpected. Her exclamation brought the boy to lean back slightly in his seat, almost as if her yelling was blowing him away as much as their instructor's ninjutsu technique. Overall, he didn't look too bothered by the sudden snap her partner had given. It definitely wasn't his first time getting yelled at, and it likely wasn't going to be his last.

Even as she apologized, the boy remained silent. Her parents didn't want her training as her instructor ordered? Then why is she becoming a shinobi in the first place? It's somewhat rare to see someone enter the academy without being raised with the expectation to do so. His back straightened again, watching the girl while she calmed down. Maybe he just wanted to be sure that her temper wasn't dangerously elevated before he spoke again. "Come on." He finally spoke up in a calm tone. He finally budged from his spot, shuffling his legs in order to move to his knees, propping himself to stand with the cumbersome weight strapped to him. "Exercise can help you release some anger. Let's just try to jog for a little bit, and then we can rest again." A small smile crossed his lips as he tried to bargain with the girl, holding a hand out toward her to help her stand as soon as he got up to his feet.

 

[Kazumi]

The embers of frustration still glowed rather brightly within the girl, but they were being tempered by the soothing waters of restraint. She did not look up again until she noticed his hand out of the corner of her eye. Even still let it hang there a moment before she let off a small sigh, reached out and grabbed the wrist weights and took his hand with her free one. “I guess I can walk for a bit...” she conceded with a muted grumpy rumble as she tried to pull herself to a stand with his help.

The act would actually be rather difficult for the two, but with some time, effort and a little grunting she managed to get to her feet without collapsing. “I take it your parents are more into the ninja thing? They're not from here either and so I don't think what it involves has really sunk in with them yet... not that I really know either.”

 

[Koizumi Mao]

He was patient, holding his hand in place until she had finally noticed his offer and decided to take it. His other hand would clasp over theirs as soon as she had begun to stand, using his weight to lean back and allow her enough leverage to lift her weighted body up. Once they'd let go, however, it took a moment for him to completely regain his balance, setting himself into proper footing before he ended up falling back himself. Funny how such simple tasks became so much more difficult just by adding on a few pounds.

Now that they were both upright and ready to move, he would begin to do so, walking deeper into the dojo's halls at a slow pace, expecting the ditzy little blonde to waddle on after him like she'd done in their first class together. "I actually don't have parents." He stated matter-of-factly. The boy still kept his friendly disposition, waiting until the two found a mutual pace to traverse the massive structure before continuing with their conversation. "Was it your decision to try to be a ninja?"

 

[Kazumi]

She indeed would follow after him in a slightly labored walk. When he finally answered her question her grumbling expression faded to one of sadness and embarrassment. “O-... oh, I'm... sorry,” she quietly replied in a meek voice. She would remain silent for the rest of their journey until he spoke once again. Her steps were awkward as she followed along, doing her subconscious best to minimize the effort required to take each and every step, even though it would likely only lead to more discomfort later.

“I... no, of course not. It was my... ern... mom and dad's,” the subject felt extremely awkward to her, but she did answer truthfully instead of trying to brush the topic aside. Though, on a slightly more positive note the embarrassment and sad feelings did help to distract her from her aggravated leg and torso muscles.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

The emotional turn she'd made was expected, given his assumption of her. She seemed mostly naive when it came to the hardships of life, or others living in alternate manners. Maybe she was from wealth? Given the sake of their career choice, how much money they had didn't matter as much as how well they can stay alive, but there were probably situations where one would benefit the other. He kept his head turned toward her, another smile adorned along his expression to show the girl that her pity wasn't necessary.

"I never knew my parents, so it's normal for me. It's not really a sore subject or anything." He felt the need to be straight-forward with his reassurance so that she'd cease to feel so awkward about the subject of family. He didn't seem bothered at all by how he was raised. With that taken care of, he'd continue with his questioning. "If they don't know much about the shinobi life, then why do they want you here?"

 

[Kazumi]

Although he attempted to comfort her somewhat about how the subject did not bother him, she still retained a measure of unease about the topic. At least she did when regarding his lack of parents. To his final question she gave him a small shrug, “because it is what they think I would be good at I guess. My mom says it has to do with being self-sufficient and stuff, but my dad says I should just trust their judgement.”

She did not look to be questioning it all in fact, as if simply following what her parents wanted her to do, even blindly, was perfectly normal. “What about you? How do you... I mean on your own and stuff. Are you homeless?” She looked a little concerned at that thought, her aches and pains being slowly forgotten as she walked along with him at a measured pace.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Strangely enough, the boy couldn't help but feel somewhat awkward about the conversation for the same reasons Yumi did. The peers he'd interacted with his entire life were living with him, and also had no parents. Perhaps that was why the girl's answer made no sense to him. Is that all parents were? People that told you to do what they request, and that it was in your best interest to do so? That doesn't sound too different from any other superior or elder, so what was so special or different about it in the first place? "Just like that, huh? Sounds...simple." His voice drifted slightly as he considered his own reasons for becoming a shinobi. Was it really all that different from what he'd just heard? To become self-sufficient, and trusting the judgement of the village that raised him.

Before he could dwell on it too much, her questions snapped him out from his stupor. "Huh?" He turned his head to face down toward the girl again while they continued walking along. "I'm not on my own. The village put me in an orphanage when they found me. I got a roof over my head just like everybody else." In a brief moment of hindsight, Arata couldn't help but chuckle by the way she phrased it all.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi looked at him sideways when he started to suddenly chuckle. “What's so funny?” She asked in a honestly confused, but curious, tone. As they walked down the halls together a few dozen others passed them by, paying them as little heed as the pair did to them. The majority of them were accomplished shinobi of one fashion or another, they did not see a single other academy student during their walk so far.

The unfortunate side effect of passing by others in a building designed for the purpose of training was undoubtedly the smell. When they first arrived it was not so overbearing, but the closer to the heart they got, and the more people they passed the worse it became. Yumi's nose wrinkled after she finished her question, and it was all she could do to keep from hiding her nose even further. She simply was not used to such... odors. People where she was from knew how to bathe frequently and rarely did much strenuous exercise.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

He only chuckled for a moment or two, managing to contain his amusement after hearing her next question. "I guess it's just weird to be asked something like that. All of my other friends live at the orphanage too, so I don't really get questions about the way I live." Maybe it's just what some people assume when they hear about a child that has no active parents. In his position, he couldn't exactly say for sure. The boy didn't take any offense to her curiosity, though, holding his friendly smile.

Arata wasn't unfamiliar with the smell that permeated the air. Where he was from, people bathed as per normal, though they were no stranger to physical labor. He's had his own fair share of sweat and hard work so far in life, and he knew that it'd only just begun. Still, he couldn't help but spot Yumi's face wrinkle up a little bit. Taking the hint, he began to alter his course, taking a gradual turn in the hall to walk back from whence they came, albeit at a slightly faster pace in order to keep up some sort of exercise routine.

 

[Kazumi]

"Maybe you should get out more," she commented with a slightly defensive tone as if he was making fun of her question. As he suddenly turned and made his way back she stopped in her tracks for a moment before turning to hurry after him once again. "Where you going now?" She asked curiously, having apparently forgotten her defensiveness not a few moments prior. "Forget something?"

Back from the way they came the distant sound of rumbling could be heard, and the sound of stone scraping against stone. The building was sturdy enough to not flinch, aside from some dust falling out of the corners of the ceiling. It was a miracle that some shinobi did not get carried away at some point or another and flatten the entire building, or perhaps they had? Yumi didn't know anything of the history and this was the first time she had ever actually been here.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

He found that the distant rumbling sound gave this place more atmosphere than a bunch of sweaty warriors punching each other. It gave him a lingering feeling of danger, eerily similar to what he'd experienced during his first visit to the shinobi academy. They were wandering around where legends were raised, after all. And it was always possible that either he or the ditzy blonde could become one of them.

"Hm?" His head turned back toward the little girl catching up to him. "Just picking up the pace. We're training, remember?" Given the way they were beginning to walk back and forth in the large hall, they might as well be chugging along on a treadmill.

 

[Kazumi]

From down the hall a faint humming sound could be heard, and it grew louder as the pair continued their walk. Out from around a corner stepped a shaggy haired guy in his mid teens. His hair looked as if it had been dyed in the past, as it went from a darker blonde down to a vivid green near its roots. He walked with his hands in his pockets and continued to him loudly to a song only he knew. As he noticed the two down the hall he looked up and stopped in place as he recognized those glasses.

“Heya there! Look who it be! Just A little Rat!” The young man snickered and resumed his step so that he could walk up to greet the pair. Arata likely would remember him, as he was one of the older boys in the orphanage, a few years older than him. He was known for being a bit of a rebel, even more so than most of the orphans, and he always seemed to have a beat going on in his head that he didn't mind sharing (even if you wanted him not to). He wasn't outright mean, but he didn't take people's feelings into consideration... ever, as one might guess from Arata's friendly 'nickname'. “What you doing here?” He looked over towards the girl with him, “got yourself a girl already? Such a player you are!”

Yumi was looking kind of confused by this point and she was not sure what to say. She was already breathing heavily from their super hard training, and undoubtedly that was not making this any easier on the girl. So, she simply raised her hand and offered him a small hesitant, If slightly confused, wave.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

The boy didn't seem so bothered by the humming, as other people surely roamed around these halls as well. For a moment, though, he couldn't help but wonder where he may have heard that song before. He didn't really listen to music so often, so he couldn't exactly place just what it was. And then he came around the corner, Arata immediately recognizing him as that strange older kid. Not many of the other orphans his age liked him, and his charm was more than likely to have something to do with it.

"Hey Ren." Good ol' Glasses didn't seem to mind him all that much, though; likely because he didn't seem to mind the awful moniker the older boy chose for him. At the mention of the girl next to him, he couldn't help but glance down at Yumi briefly before returning his gaze to the person in front of them. "She's a classmate. We're both here to train." It was probably difficult to imagine a boy with such giant spectacles to be popular with the ladies. He mostly kept to himself, but he wasn't socially awkward or anything.

 

[Kazumi]

“A... friend of yours?” Yumi tentatively asked as she glance over towards her 'classmate'. She looked back over towards Ren, who had by now stopped a few feet away from them with his arms crossed. Yumi looked back and forth between the two older boys, looking and feeling slightly awkward. Any time Ren met eyes with her she immediately diverted her eyes away in embarrassment.

“Me and Rat go way back, don't we?” Ren gave Arata a sly smirk which would grow into a knowing smily if Arata paid him any mind. “So, Rat, since when did you start wanting to become a ninja? I always figured you'd be a doorstop or a librarian, something borin' like that.” Again he smiled wide, before he broke out into a self-amused snicker, “naw, Arata here's a good one. Didn't think he'd become a bonefide shinobi or anythin'. Say, where's your plate?” He reached up and tapped the metal forehead protector that seemed to hide under his thick hair.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

"Me and Rat go way back, don't we?" Another sidelong glance cast down toward the girl from beneath the obscurity of his glasses, speaking up himself after the older boy's comment. "We grew up together in the same orphanage." It was pretty clear that Ren was never the most considerate kid when it came to interacting with others.

He looked forward again, returning the knowing smile with one of his own despite the brash statement about him. Clearly he knew enough not to take offense by Ren's habit of saying whatever crops up in his skull. "I just started up at the academy a few days ago. You ended up graduating, huh? How's the work treating you?"

 

[Kazumi]

"Work? Paaah, who said its work! Little tedious maybe, but one day I'll be sticking knives in people's necks like the best of em!" He stepped froward and gave Arata a friendly shove on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get good enough one day! Never hold a candle to the Ren, but good enough!" He busted out in a self-amused big of laughter as she began to walk past the pair, stepping on through the hall way until he rounded a corner then dissipated.

Yumi looked... confused to say the least. She had watched him talk to Arata and then depart without saying another word, and even after he left she simply tuned to look at Arata with that same confused look. Those two, Ren and Arata, did seem to be practically night and day and all, as far as Yumi could tell. Perhaps orphans couldn't be picky about who their friends were?

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Normally, the shove on the shoulder wouldn't be too bothersome; though in this case he happened to be lugging around a bunch of extra weight somehow attached to his clothing. The boy needed to take a small step back in order to keep his training gi from throwing off his balance. "I'll catch you later, Ren." He spoke in a somewhat gruff tone that time, not that Ren would likely care. It wasn't as if he particularly cared for anyone's feelings apart from his own, after all.

His head turned to watch Ren round the corner before those big glasses directed themselves back down toward the smaller girl at his side. The confused look wasn't difficult to spot, and it was even more so difficult to misunderstand the intent behind it. "He's always been a jerk, if that's what you're wondering. He doesn't always mean it, but that's who he is." Arata seemed to accept that, and somehow look past it. One could imagine very few others even make an attempt to do the same when ignoring and avoiding the rambunctious older kid would prove far easier a task. Whether or not that really made them friends was up for discussion, but they weren't particularly hostile toward each other.

After a moment or two, he decided to turn forward again, continuing on their journey back toward the entrance from whence they came. "Do you have any friends or peers where you live?" He spoke up again to keep her attention. Arata had a rough idea of the area of her home given her mannerisms and attitude. Those that come from better means weren't exactly hard to spot.