Oh the Pain of Popularity... [Private]

[Hirateuchi]

"Come back here you thief!!"

The cry for help echoed across the busy market streets, coming from a small ramen stand. An older man, clearly too aged to run after the miscreant, stood shaking his fist near the front of the stand, cooking utensils still in hand. A pained grimace crossed his face before he mumbled and retreated back to his cooking area, abandoning hope for retribution as he cursed the man loudly.

A younger shinobi, hair black as the darkest of Kumo nights, happened to be sitting nearby the area when the incident occurred. He had just finishing his own meal, and managed to catch glimpse of the delinquent. The lad was probably no older than himself, hurriedly pushing his way through the crowds of people, a stray noodle still hanging precariously from his mouth. A hit and run I see...

With a sigh, Hira stood up, his lightly colored kimono covered in wave-like patterns brushing gently across the floor as he did so. With one quick leap, he found himself on the rooftops, chasing the criminal overhead with ease. It was a short and ultimately unfulfilling capture, that ended with the man in question tied at the wrists with what appeared to be a small water prison. Hira lead him back to the shop and called the shop owner out to present his prey. As the old man stepped out, his eyes glowed with both excitement and vengeance as he began to yell at the boy.

"Hey old man, make sure you don't go too rough on him. We all fall on hard times now and again. And kid, just make sure you pay him. He's working hard to make sure he stay in business, understand?"

Hira gave his advice to both of them, and barely began to walk away when he heard a cheer roar out behind him, as a woman ran up and grabbed him ecstatically.

"That was amazing!" The woman yelled excitedly. HIra grimaced as the woman embraced him, pushing her off in a hurry before yet another woman flung herself onto his shoulders. As he looked around, he would see a group of them with bright smiles and watchful gazes. Jeeze, all I did was make the kid pay for his food... Is that really what constitutes a hero these days? How can I accept that kind of praise when I can't protect people when it really matters...?

Hira realized the danger he might be in, the crowd growing ever eager to grab onto his arms and shower him with praise. The shinobi saw only one way out of this dire situation...

RUN!!!

Through the crowded streets he pushed, not stopping to look back nor to catch his breath, and only when he could no longer hear the chorus of femininity did he find a small alley to hide in and find some respite. As he crouched down in the alley, he sighed, hoping that nobody else might find him and he could enjoy the rest of his day in peace.

[Requesting Nozomi]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

There was a noble cheer, a mob of people praising someone in public, causing her to look towards the commotion. It seemed a circle of people surrounded a single, black-haired shinobi to shake his hand, congratulate him, and to sing songs of praise for whatever he had accomplished. She watched as woman after woman grabbed a hold of him, thrusting him into their bosom in a tight embrace. Nozomi raised a brow and moved some of her hair over to the right side of her face. "Someone's popular," she stated. She couldn't tell if he was in pain or in pure ecstasy from the attention. Whatever he did, it would be news worthy, right? It wouldn't be something as petty as stopping a lowly thief. He must have saved this section of the village from a dastardly villain right?

Like a bat out of hell, the black-haired shinobi ran out of the crowd without them knowing. She didn't have anything to do today so she casually followed in the boy's footsteps, following him into an alleyway. She formed together a set of handseals, creating a massive wall of earth to prevent the mob of people from following either of the two into the alleyway. However, due to the alleyway now being quite enclosed, the light from Nozomi's flesh started to illuminate the alleyway. Her holy glow shining heavenly light into dark backstreet of Kumogakure. "What exactly did you do to get that kind of fanfare? Did you bring in a missing nin? Did you take down a terrorist? Did you bring the Hokage to justice for his crimes against humanity?" she asked, moving a gloved hand up to move some of her pink hair out of her prussian blue eye.

"Or am I in the presence of a legendary hero?" she asked coyly. She didn't know of too many legends within the village due to isolating herself to doing her own thing and concentrating on the jobs given to her. That was the downfall of being a professional assassin; they don't seem to have much of a personal life other than their jobs. It never stopped her from pursuing her hobbies though, but that isn't important right now. "You're too pretty to be a legendary hero though. Maybe a pop-idol? Actor?" she asked, rubbing the tip of her chin and tilting her head as she looked the crouched boy up and down for a moment.

After observing the child for a bit, she removed her massive spear and gently touched the tip of it to the ground. It was, as if without any resistance, the tip of the blade simply melted through the ground to impale itself in order to stand upright. Since the boy was crouched down, Nozomi whisked up the tails of her coat and sat upon the ground next to Hirateuchi. "You can call me Nozomi, by the way."

[Topic Entered]

 

[Hirateuchi]

Hira thought he was in the clear but shuddered when just as quickly as he had escaped, he had found himself trapped in the alleyway by this new strange girl. Damn, I thought I had lost their trail. How'd this one find me so fast?

Something seemed strange about her though. She glowed as though from the heavens themselves, come down to greet him in this alley, and this thought was only further provoked when she put her spear into the ground effortlessly. Was there any chance that he had actually died back there in that crowd and this woman was the light at the end of the tunnel?

The thought was dispelled Soon after she began to talk. She clearly wasn't one of the rabid fans he had come to find himself troubled with, and for that he let out a grateful sigh. Still, her questioning put him in somewhat of an awkward position. She seemed to think that he had done a much greater deed that he truly had. What might she think if he were to tell her the truth of the matter? He was no hero, and had certainly not brought some dangerous criminal to rest.

"P.. pretty?" He stammered out as she spoke, cheeks glowing a bright red. Perhaps she was just another fan, but she had a much more gentle approach than what he was used to. He smiled awkwardly and responded to her introduction. "I'm Hira, but you don't have to try and throw that much praise my way. I'm certainly nobody famous that you should be worrying about. Why did you come down here anyways? I can tell you're a shinobi between the walls and the way you found me, but I can't imagine what would make you imagine I might be some kind of legendary person..."

He shifted to look directly into Nozomi's eyes, trying to gauge her reaction as he awaited her response.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Nozomi looked him over once he said the word 'Pretty' in a clumsy manner. She looked him up and down and then focused on his face, even getting up-close and personal with him. Crimson-dusted were his cheeks, almost embarrassed to mention the 'curse' he had to endure. She raised a brow and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you are quite good looking. If I wasn't so married to the job, I'd probably be out there in the screaming horde of fans too. Or maybe," she said with a raised brow. "Or maybe I'm one of those crazed fans that KNOW how to imprison the object of their lust, hm?" she asked, leaning her shoulder into him and nudging him in a teasing manner. The two were the same age, but his cute boyish looks made him look even younger; scary enough.

"Oh, I only thought you had adoring fans for being someone legendary or some famous pop idol or something. I didn't think that I'd be trapped in this alley with such a hunk," she said with faux disappointment and awkward teasing. She never teased someone, other than Momo, so she was still quite awkward doing it. Her life, until this point, never had time for fun-and-games with other people. It might seem rude to do it around a complete stranger though, but those were social queues that she had yet to master. Nozomi stood up and dusted off her rear before dropping the wall and poking her head out.

"He's mine, go away," she shouted with a booming voice before setting up another wall when she re-entered the alley. "That should do the trick. Hopefully they'll go away if they think you're already taken. But that might start rumors, huh?" she asked rhetorically, placing a knuckle upon her chin. She shook her head a moment later and held a hand out to Hirateuchi.

"Nice to meet you, Hira!" she said enthusiastically. Hira would look into Nozomi's eyes to notice the purple eye glistening with life and giving off a warm holy light. The golden eye, however, seemed devoid of life as if artificially placed into her skull. An obvious glass-eye.

 

[Hirateuchi]

Hira looked at the kunoichi in horror as she mentioned that she might be one of the rambling crowd so determined to do him in. Her presence was simultaneously calming and unnerving, and was made all that much more questionable when she continued to tease him and shouted out to the masses that she was claiming a prize... Did she intend to take him in and make him do her bidding? With that kind of earth jutsu he wasn't sure that he would have a chance of escaping so easily as losing the trail of the normal populace.

"I... I mean... what do you mean hunk, huh? If you're gonna do something just do it!" He stammered out as he blushed, his hands resting nervously on his legs, sweat dripping down as he wondered if he would have to try and make another quick escape.

For a moment he didn't even notice that she had dropped the stalker vibe and held her hand out in introduction. She had a kind look to her, and Hira had gathered the feeling that she must have simply been puling his leg. After all, with the way she made those walls, she could have easily trapped him since she had the upper hand in surprising him. It wouldn't really do him any good to remain suspicious of her for the time being, and here smile seemed sincere enough, one of her eyes shining through brightly as though reflecting the sun. Unless she was just trying to lower his guard so that.... no. He would trust her for the moment.

Holding his hand out, he shook her hand firmly. "My name's Hira, nice to meet you. Thanks for helping me out back there. I'm not actually sure what the issue is with that crowd, all I did was catch a ramen thief and made him pay for his meal... what brings you to this part of town anyways? I can see you aren't just another member of the crowd..." Hira motioned to her weapon in the floor as though she herself might not have seen the wonder.

 

[Hirateuchi]

[Leaving thread and site indefinitely]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

[Topic left due to my RP partner having quit]