Overdue Homework [Open]

[Shinrya Riko]

Despite her advantages the fight was turning into something very one sided. It was becoming increasingly frustrating for her that her strength alone wasn’t enough to deal with things. After getting wailed on by Shouyu’s most recent assault She found herself suddenly tossed onto the ground. She gritted her teeth as she got back up. Shouyu was in a stance again, and she could feel that even her healing wasn’t keeping up with bruises now. Komora began to furiously form a series of hand seals. “Komora!” Before he could do anything about it she had already completed the jutsu. She exhaled a cloud of blinding scalding ash. Sparks and hot ash licked the air around Shouyu. As Akio looked on he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop her, he couldn’t even see her and the smell of the cloud was blocking his ability to follow them with his nose. “Crap.” He muttered. It seemed that Komora was done with being Shouyu's punching bag!

Now truly in her environment she stalked Shouyu like some kind of prey. She used the cover of the ash cloud to find a spot to hide. There she prepared for her own trick. She attached several wires to Shurikens and then threw them through the cloud where she knew Shouyu was in a volley. Then suddenly, a second volley intercepted the first and all of the shurikens suddenly changed directions so that they would capture Shouyu in the wire if he didn’t escape!

Akio noted that the smoke was starting to clear, but he saw a clear glint of something metal flying through the air. He realized that it was shuriken! “Komora!” He yelled. This was bad. She was using ranged weaponry. He hoped Shouyu was okay.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Komora arose after being tossed and appeared to be not liking the favor of battle. Shouyu took note of this, but at the same didn't want to take her lightly in any sense. He just hoped he hadn't gone too far in that last exchange, but he couldn't afford too many of those high power physical strikes she gave out, he would sure to suffer some type of internal bleeding.

When she got back up she wove hand seals again, different from the ones before so he knew he wouldn't expect a giant fireball oncoming but anything would be dangerous coming from this kunoichi. Sure enough an exhaled a black consuming cloud that seemed almost like volcanic shrouds after eruption. His quick thinking lead him to understand that his Kaiten wouldn't be able to blow away this cloud. And from the appearance it would seem not only deter his enhanced vision but could also cause damage. He clenched down on his jaw all the while he completed his own hand seals, but it appeared as if nothing happened, he gave a shout and a face of angered discomfort.

"Dammit! I don't have time!"

Low and behold, the jutsu he would perform would be Stunt Double, where Shouyu in an instant created a clone of himself and attempted to slide into stealth, but in this environment there was no place to hide so he would be seen reappearing about 10 feet to the right of the action sliding from a crouched position smirking.

His clone however, took the full brunt of Komora's assault and shouted as if Shouyu were actually attacked to help distract Komora if it could. Mean while Shouyu from his own distance from ten feet away would infuse chakra into the finger tips of his right hand that was risen to the sky palms up.

He dashed about five feet, left the ground leaping, performing a no hand cart wheel at the top of his arc, with his head pointing down and feet in the air he would shoot his infused chakra hand toward Komora releasing five even streams of electric energy, "Lightning Torrent Jutsu."

 

[Shinrya Riko]

A burst of lightning cut through the ash cloud. Akio just stared in horror at how quickly this whole spar was getting out of control. Of course they always said that it was best to train as though you had the intention to kill, but he couldn’t be certain what that meant if this was Komora talking about. Would she really kill someone?
Komora had her first introduction to lightning jutsu! She tried to defend by blocking it with a kunai! Whoa! Bad idea! Electricity began to flow through her body. She could feel her nerves were on fire as her muscles began to spasm out of her control. Another full hit. She could still feel herself twitching uncomfortable as she pushed the limits of her stamina against the damage she had received.

Kunai were back into her hands like two great steal fans. Then the torrent began. The shots were wild yet calculated. The sheer number of kunai she was throwing in a constant torrent was being used to not only cut off his escape but to land some crucial shots as well. Suddenly Akio was in front of Shouyu. He knew that Shouyu could perhaps defend himself but this had gone on long enough. Someone was going to die if this kept escalating. “Komora! Stop!” His Shout was followed by a loud howl that drew the attention of the entire field. The sound seemed to act as a barrier, causing the wide assault of kunai to be deflected.

“You too Shouyu. That’s enough.” He cleared his throat. “No more sparring for you two.” Komora twitched a little bit. It was probably the result of the thorough electrocution she had just received. Maybe he should take her to the nurse? Shouyu seemed fine though. That was good. It was a strange Irony that being electrocuted was less deadly than a kunai at times. Well -- a kunai from Komora were usually smartly aimed. Still… “Alright we’re going to go see the nurse.” He grumbled. “Lets go.” Komora fell in line behind Akio, she twitched and winced at the pain as she glanced at Shouyu with an indifferent look on her face.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

After Shouyu had struck true he immediately tried to position himself again. Komora was afflicted by his Lightning attack and she took it on full force. It would've been best if she avoided the strikes in all instead of being the ground for the lightning to run its current. He immediately felt bad but shook those feelings off, this was training. It didn't take long for Komora to recover either as she wielded her kunai rather menacingly. She began to whirlwind of Kunai projectiles coming so fast he didn't even have enough time to react with his Kaiten. He was getting large nicks and slices from the Kunai as he side stepped continuously the best he could.

Then, at that moment of kneeling down from the several severe cuts he endured Akio showed up shouting and Komora slowed to a complete stop. She twitched, probably still feeling the lightning effect. Shouyu was bleeding mildly, and some tears in his clothing baring skin and bruises. The other students across the plains stared with mouths open giving ooohhhs and aaaaahhhs. Akio suggested they call it quits, maybe because yet again they took it too far. Shouyu slowly rose to his feet and walked over to Komora who glared at him. He held his head down and sighed, holding his right arm as well where a deep cut was.

"I'm sorry Komora... I got carried away. I hope you are okay."

He would offer a helping hand if she needed it. But either he would walk rather close to Komora and Akio, not saying a word but only holding his dead down as if ashamed of himself, which he probably was for his actions. Blood seeped through his fingers that wrapped around his arm and he winced. He tried to ignore it but it stung ever so lightly that it annoyed him and he smacked his teeth.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

Akio looked at the bloody wounds and recognized the work of Komora quite well. The attrition. She often fought by letting her opponents bleed to death. He was actually concerned for the lad now that he had a moment to think about it. “Well...don’t eat yourself about it too much lad.” He told Shouyu. “You may not realize it, but you’re probably hurt more than her.” He pointed at the cuts with his nose. “Those as some nasty cuts.” He looked back to the path they were taking. “Better put some pressure on those wounds. You don’t need big cuts to bleed to death.” He nodded. “If you start feeling dizzy you can ride on top of me.”

They walked for the few minutes that it took to get to the nurses office. She barely gave Komora a glance. She had mostly healed by the time they had arrived thanks to her fast healing. She then looked at the cuts on Shouyu and immediately broke out the healing jutsu. “Those are some nasty cuts. I’m surprised you didn’t bleed to death.” She commented. Akio looked over at Komora who was leaning over towards the nurse and Shouyu. Her gaze was fixated on the Jutsu that she was using. “Interested in Medical Jutsu are you?” The nurse asked. Komora didn’t respond.

She simply watched her as she went from one cut to the next. Finally she formed several seals and held her over a cut on Shouyu’s body.The blood flowing out of the cut stopped as her chakra induced his blood to coagulate at the entrance of the cut. Then her hands were coated in a mystical green. The light cuts on his body began to seal up. Between the pair working on him “Wow… Are you going to become a medical kunoichi?”

“Heh, you don’t want to know.” Akio barked at the nurse. Then he nudged Shouyu. “See… I told you that she didn’t hate you.”

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

He was cut up pretty nicely, Komora's precision was unrivaled. He limped beside the two as headed toward their destination. Akio suggested he apply some pressure to his cuts to force stop the bleeding while he could, he listened. He was wrapping bandages from his belt pouch around the more severe and immediate wounds. He left a small blood trail in the grass as they left the training fields. Akio spoke of dizziness but the kid wasn't light headed just yet, but he did feel his strength dwindling. When they arrived to the nurse's office he was pleased and took a seat immediately being fatigued from his blood loss. The nurse also gave her input on Shouyu's current physical status that made him smirk, he wasn't going to die so easily.

He allowed the nurse to do her duties, closing his eyes and letting himself drift in a light sleep, he could still hear the others talking, exchanging words. He winced, twitched his eyes every time the cold chakra touched a wound and the feeling of his body sealing itself up was a strange one. He had been saved by medical ninjutsu a few times before, but these cuts felt weird getting healed up, much different than normal bruising or other minor injuries, he assessed that he actually took quite some damage from that last move. Soon he felt two types of chakra onto his body, and he slightly opened up an eye to see, low and behold it was Komora.

This surprised him, she already knew medical ninjutsu? He was still too tired, even though his energy was returning he just closed his eyes again. Shortly after, he was nudged by Akio who made a sly comment about Komora, the kid just coughed out a small chuckle and smiled. His eyes fading back in and out of his light sleep. He never liked being to still, and he just wanted to get all this healing stuff over with so he could continue more training.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

The healing lasted only a moment longer but it looked like Shouyu had fallen asleep under the sweet ministrations of the women. Komora stopped when she saw that he had fallen asleep. Concern grew on her as she knew that people who went to sleep with wounds would never wake up. Just like Chou. She raised her hand far back. “No! No sleeping!” She slapped Shouyu as hard as she could. The nurse stumbled backwards in shock. Akio began to crack up and roll on the floor. “Bwahahahaha! What was that about!?” The dog rolled around briefly before returning to his feet with a tear in his eye as he examined shouyu. “Oh yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark.” He chuckled a little bit more. “You gotta pay attention around this girl.”

“Komora has homework. No time for wasting sleeping.” Komora stated plainly before marching out of the nurse’s office leaving Akio slightly stunned. “What the...That’s the most coherent thing I’ve ever heard her say.” He blinked and shook the shock from his mind. “But she’s right you know. We got several years to catch up on. You’re free to stay here and nap if you want but we got to get back to our studies.” He told Shouyu. “Although I appreciate your help so far. You’ve definitely given me some ideas about where she could specialize.” Akio pattered out the room after Komora, leaving Shouyu with the nurse.

“So...” She began. “Did you want to nap in one of the beds?” She began to dig into one of the drawers. She pulled out a large folded blanket and began to unfold it. “We can close the curtain so that you can have some peace and I have a blanket for you.” She slung the blanket on her arm as she peered around another drawer. “I’m sure we have a pillow in here somewhere.”

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

"THWACK!"

Shouyu felt a sudden breeze of wind before and immediate stinging of pain. Komora smacked him dead on the cheek and the shock not only woke him up but shocked his nervous systems and his heart was racing rapidly. His reaction was his eyes opening wide and him turning to his side holding the stinging cheek. In the distance he could hear Akio laughing and he just laid on side holding his cheek for a moment. Komora exclaimed, 'No Sleeping', and that she had homework, he could hear fading footsteps.

His cheek was still stinging as Komora left with her last statement he agreed to what Akio said about it leaving a mark, what an impression. He worked himself up to a siting position and listened to Akio's words rubbing his sore cheek with a pouting face. Akio and everyone else was under the impression Shouyu was tired or something but he really still had a lot of energy left. Akio suggested a nap or get back to studying, and Shouyu felt like he wasn't done with Komora just yet. But before he could respond, Akio was gone after Komora too.

He was staring at their fading outlines intently before the nurse went on about napping, grabbing a blanket and on to looking for pillows. He looked at her with an upset face and gave a 'Hmpf', he crossed his arms and turned his head away from her.

"I won't be needing those! I still have a lot of studying to do as well. Komora! Wait for me!"

As exuberant as ever, Shouyu jumped from the nurses table and dashed in a flurry of dust to catch up to the two, where he would bump into Akio accidentally and stumble to Komora's side with a wide smile.

"So, there's this teamwork Jutsu. My lightning, your fire! What do you say?"

 

[Shinrya Riko]

“Huh - wait - wha-” The nurse called after Shouyu, but he had already dashed out of the office and down the hall to catch up with Komora and Akio. Akio just grinned at him from over his shoulder. “Oh lookie here. Not had enough yet huh? I heard of skirt chaser’s before never met one though.” He joked as Shouyu approached. Shouyu stumbled next to Komora. She grabbed his shoulders to help stabilize him, but she didn’t have any sort of concern on her face. Instead it was the characteristic blank expression… actually… maybe it wasn’t blank. Sometimes to Akio, Komora’s expression looked more like one that she didn’t understand than an emotionless one.

Shouyu was only interested in a team work jutsu though. She patted his shoulders once he had gotten stable on his feet again.“Team...Work?” she asked. “Komora does not know that jutsu.” She answered plainly. “Huh...” Akio paused to scratch his ear. “Don’t you think something like Water would go better with lightning? Or maybe Wind. You two just aren’t compatable that way.” Akio commented. “Besides that. Komora isn’t a ninjutsu kind of person. Sure she can use fire, but I honestly think its just for laughs.” He had to pause as he remembered her using the scalding ash cloud. “Hm… although maybe she is considering its merit? ” The dog gave a wolfish shrug. “Yeah that was a pretty good use of the Scolding Ash Cloud though. Using it to grant cover is an interesting thought.”

“Tell Komora about Teamwork.” Komora stated. She was looking at Shouyu without any kind of expression. To her this was something new and it was curious. She really wanted to know what it entailed even if she couldn’t express that fact.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Shouyu looked at Akio after his comment and repeated it to himself confused, 'Skirt chaser?' he looked down at himself who was wearing a navy blue apron over his loose fitted pants, and pouted, thinking Akio was making fun of him. Komora caught him mid stumble and he chuckled, clearing his throat awkwardly. Komora gave her usual blank stare and Shouyu smilied though she seemed to never understand what that meant. Komora repeated team work and Shouyu nodded.

"My jutsu with yours, could add damage when they combine the right elements!."

Akio then responded almost shooting down Shouyu's answer but he remained resilient. He listened to Akio's side and nodded in agreement, he was for sure right. But Shouyu didn't know wind, and it seemed Komora only really knew fire. Shouyu looked to Komora and Akio.

"I believe in Komora's abilities. Her fire ball ash cloud are amazing. By team work I mean this, she can perform an Ash Cloud, blinding our target while I bind them with ninja wire. I could easily funnel a lightning jutsu into the ninja wire, while at the same time, Komora could detonate the ash cloud, kaboom."

He'd make an explosion gesture with his hand, his large white hues were filled with so much excitement as he gave out an example of teamwork prowess, though it was still a long shot. Team work abilities would require team work and compatibility with each other. But Shouyu was sure he could find that with Komora, he held a raised fist stoically in front of his face as he nodded.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

“Yeah you’re right about that much. Even if the Jutsu don’t necessarily combine I suppose with some situational awareness you could set up some tricks like that with some good tactics.” He lead the group down the hall to the left once they came to the fork. The path winded for a ways until they arrived back at the classroom. The teacher was still tidying up the place. “Just a second. I have to grab the rest of Komora’s Homework.” He and Komora entered. Akio offered a weak excuse to the teacher for abandoning him earlier. Then Akio picked up a back pack that had been left in one of the corners. Komora slung the pack onto her shoulders and they came out of the class room.”How about we get some lunch? I feel like we’ve been running around and doing stuff all day.”

Akio began to lead the pair to the cafeteria. He certainly hoped that they had something other than dog food for one whose constitution was like his. Meanwhile Komora shuffled in silence that contradicted the roar that her thoughts were. She had a lot of things she wanted to say or do, but not many of them could get passed the wall in her mind to become thoughts. She blinked before looking around at Akio and Shouyu. “Is homework important?” She asked as they stepped into the cafeteria.

The aroma of hot food filled the room and the sounds of chatter as students at the various tables excited talked with each other and their friends. Komora looked down the meal train. She saw that other people were standing in line and that people were handing them things from behind the glass. Without asking she walked over and stood in line with a tray much like the others had. “What’ll it be sweety?” Komora just held up her tray expectantly.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Shouyu followed Komora and Akio he gave a response to Shouyu's ideas, and he nodded at hearing Akio agree with him, but he still seemed against it, but was willing to give it a shot. This made Shouyu rub his chin and think if maybe he should look into learning some wind jutsu, but that would be difficult. He finally took note of their surroundings and realized they were headed back to the classroom. Akio mentioned getting homework, returned and put up an offer for food of which Shouyu smiled at, his stomach agreed too with a light growl. He gave a thumbs up and a quick, 'Hai!'<i></i> at Akio and let him lead.

"Food sounds very appealing at the moment, I could use a bite!"

He followed after Akio and looked at Komora who seemed lost in thought. This small time around her and Shouyu was able to kind of pick up on how Komora, acts and reacts. It was her usual blank face, but Shouyu could almost sense that she was thinking of something, and he knew if he just asked normally he would not receive a normal answer, so again he was perplexed. Komora looked around and at Shouyu even before sparking a question. "Is that what she was thinking about? She must not like homework then, hmm." As they walked in he would answer.

"Homework may seem redundant, and boring Komora... I don't like it much either, but homework is the act of applying what you have learned into daily life, so that what you learn becomes second nature to you. Like your art with ranged weapons. Even that took homework, haha."

Shouyu picked up his tray, standing next to Komora as he looked down to see what food was available, he could easily see what he wanted and so he spoke up, for himself and Komora.

"Uh, she likes green beans... I'll have some grilled fish, and rice, plus whatever veggies you have available, and I'll be fine."

He said with a smile still looking around for more food.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

A serving of Green Beans was put onto her tray. She looked at it wit ha curious expression and then looked at Shouyu’s tray that had grilled fish and rice also. She pointed at Shouyu’s tray. “Komora wants that also.” Fish and rice was added to Komora’s tray. She watched as the steam lifted from the plate into the air. “You got anything for dogs?” Akio asked as he approached the line. “We don’t have any dog food sorry.” Akio made a sour face. “Dog food? Gross. Protein, Meat!” The staff looked at each other then back at Akio. “We have fish?”

Akio shrugged. It would have to do. “Put it on her plate please.” They put another serving of fish for Akio onto Komora’s tray. Komora looked at all the tables that had other students at them. “Meh, lets go sit over there.” He gested to an empty table. Komora wandered over to the chair and sat down. She put the tray down. She pulled the plate with fish off of her tray and slid it over to her left. Akio took the chair to Komora’s left and looked down at the grilled fish. “Eh, it’ll have to do.” He grumbled. They clearly didn’t know how much a mastiff could eat. As he started to chow on the fish he paused for a moment.

“Where do you even get fish in the mountains?” He looked down at the fish. “It’s big like a salmon… I don’t think fish that big grow in ponds.” He scratched his ears. “Maybe next time we should do homework at the Inuzuka compound. At least then we can eat something edible.”

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Shouyu noticed Komora getting the same as Shouyu, Akio as well but seemed like he had to settle for the fish. He saw other foods and gave a pout that he chose too soon seeing other foods he was more interested in. Skip suggested a table alone and Shouyu just followed, he figured it was a good idea anyway.

Shouyu took a seat across from Akio and Komora, looking at his steaming plate and before he spoke or tried to give a response he would dig in. He peeled good piece of meat off the side of the fish and complimented it with a clump of rice tasting the two in unison. His Hyuuga eyes lit up in glee, the food actually tasted better than he thought, he was able stomach it with no complaints, after he finished chewing he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Well Akio, the mountains would be a source of the finest, purest water I am sure. Fish are so plentiful it's hard to believe there not to be any where water is abundant."

He paused thinking of his old village and a lake they had where he and his father would fish for mother to cook. He continued to eat, looking down at his food intaking more food for nourishment. It seemed like every bite gave him more energy and restored his depleted chakra pool.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

Akio gave a very dog like shrug as he tore into the fish with his teeth with a paw on top of it to keep it steady. “I’m not a fisherman that’s for sure.” He grumbled to Shouyu with a mouthful of fish. Komora looked at Akio and then to the food on her plate. Her eyes wandered over the mound of steaming rice and the scent of grilled fish with lemon zest. Then her eyes fell on the green beans.She grabbed the whole serving with her bare hand. “Its hot. Komora thinks its hot.” She seemed to be complaining but didn’t show any signs of discomfort as she stuffed the full serving into her mouth at once. The few green beans that couldn’t actually fit just fell limply onto her blouse as she chewed on the green beans.

Akio looked over his shoulder at Komora from eating his fish. “God Dammit girl.” He sighed. “Can’t you eat like a human being?” The he paused and looked down at his own paw on the piece of fish. He sighed and face paw’ed. “Eh… actually… I don’t think I have any grounds to speak on this. Continue eating in whatever manner pleases you.” He began to eat like… well… a dog. After the green beans she pushed her other fish over to Akio. “Oh thank you.” He chuckled and began to wreck havoc upon the fish without a second though.

The girl stared at her rice until suddenly she whipped out a pair of shurikens. She through one into the air and the second one in a boomrerang arc. The danced precariously over the other students heads. Akio looked up from his fish with a horrified look on his face. The two shurikens suddenly collided. One shuriken embedded itself into the ceiling. The other stuck into a tray on a table on the other side of the room. The tray was about to tip over onto the floor until the shuriken bit into it and pinned it to the table, allowing a portion of it to hang over the edge. Komora went back to staring at her rice with an uninterested expression.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Shouyu was swallowing a mouthful of food when he seen how Akio was eating the fish, much like a dog. It was true he could speak, and do human things but he still had canine tendencies as he could see for himself now. Shouyu laughed to himself in his head and took another bite, chewed the small piece and enjoyed it. He heard Komora talk and looked towards her, exclaiming the green beans were hot. She had the whole bunch in her palm and proceeded to devour them as a whole.

Shouyu's eyes grew wide as he coughed a bit, pellets of rice escaping his mouth at Komora's feast. He banged his chest with a fist a few times and gave himself a drink to wash down the food. He gave a sigh of relief and chuckled lightly at Komora. Before he could say anything Akio was already at it, berating Komora for her antics, like his was any different. Shouyu just assumed that Komora followed what she saw. And so he spoke.

"Komora, it's good to eat them one at a time. We are not in any rush or immediate danger, you can properly enjoy the food without burning yourself. Try blowing on it lightly before you eat it, it should help. See?"

Shouyu took a clump of rice with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth, while peeling off another slice of meat from the fish's rib and giving a soft blow of his breath, before also ingesting the fish with his rice. He chewed slowly and thoroughly and pointed at his moving puffy cheeks so that Komora could properly see his example. She seemed to not like fish or rice, as she pushed it over to Akio offering him more. He shrugged and looked at his plate about to chow down on another chop stick full of rice before he heard a whistling sound like..... Flying... Shuriken...

Shouyu looked up and saw the shurikens meet, they made a loud clanging sound and Shouyu hit the deck, toppling his he left over plate onto the ground. When everything had calmed down and all the students in the cafeteria realized what was going on, everyone was looking around for the culprit throwing ninja tools around in the lunch room. Shouyu looked to Komora with a distressed look, while she sat there with a blank face. Shouyu stood up with a pouting angry face.

"No. Bad Komora!"

 

[Shinrya Riko]

“Komora is not bad.” Komora asked. She pointed at the tray. It was about to fall off if it wasn’t for her shuriken. “Food on the floor is bad. No food on the floor okay?” She tilted her head at Shouyu as she tried to figure out the expression on his face, but to her it all just seemed to blend together with the exception of those strange eyes. “Yes but you shouldn’t throw shuriken in the cafeteria. I know you know what you’re doing, but someone else might walk into the path.” Akio tried to back up Shouyu. Komora shook her head. “No! Komora knew where they were going to be.” It was hard to explain. The way they moved. It just made sense. There was too much information to really put it out in the world. Komora pulled out some more shurikens and twirled them between her fingers. “Komora knows. She knew where it would go. She knows where they would be.” She reaffirmed.

“Komora...” Akio groaned. “Shurikens kill people. You need to be careful.” Perhaps its was the first facial expression Shouyu had gotten to bear witness to. The girl had a shocked look and then she looked like all of her hopes and dreams had just been crushed. “She knows this Okay? Stop telling her already. She already knows this.” Komora’s eyes were beginning to water. She looked away from Akio at and at Shouyu instead. After trying to find some kind of support in his face she put her head down on the table instead. “She already knows. She already knows.”

Akio paused as he looked at her. “Hm...I’m starting have second thoughts about this.” The dog shook his head. “Would it really be okay to send this girl out on missions? To kill people?” The dogged glanced over at Shouyu so that he could judge the young man’s reaction.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

He listened to Komora and followed her pointing finger, which was in the direction of a falling tray, captured by a shuriken. Komora than explained that wasting food was bad, Shouyu nodded in agreement but still thought her actions were rather brash, he sighed lightly. Akio tried to second Shouyu's comment but was also shot down by Komora's reassuring remark. It's true she was exceptionally gifted with Shuriken, even to do so in a large room with people. Then again, it was still a risk. Shouyu returned his gaze back at Komora.

What he saw was a surprise, Komora actually had a face. She seemed stun, or bewildered by Akio's comment, his brow rose in response. He could see the glint in her eyes from gathering water, was Komora going to cry? His mouth was agate, jaw dropping from disbelief. Shouyu rose from his seat and quickly sat down next to Komora, wrapping his left arm around her and pulling her into his chest, he hugged her.

"Akio, it is fine. I will protect her. She is more than adequate teammate and I will gladly trust her with my life. I think, if I could come to just understand her more, this could work. And, I have a big heart, I know I can kill if I must, without hesitation if I am protecting something! And I will always, protect Komora!"

He hugged her tighter, feeling ready to carry the burdens for him and the young girl.

 

[Shinrya Riko]

Shouyu pulled Komora to his chest while he expressed his sentiments to Shouyu. Akio rolled his eye at Shouyu. “Descendant of the Hyuuga, you have no idea what you are talking about.” Akio looked up at the ceiling and closed his one good eye. “Kill if you must without hesitation… You’ll protect Komora? Don’t be so sure of yourself. This isn’t a game.” Akio lowered his head and gestured with a paw at the whole of the cafeteria. “The students here might be only playing ninja right now, but you’re soldiers. That means that your promises sometimes don’t get fulfilled because you don’t get to choose if you go home or not.” Akio thought back to his own experiences where his master had returned back to Kumo in a body bag.

“Look. Komora is just a talented girl. She should put her knife throwing tricks to the circus. She is not a reliable teammate. I’ve been working with her for months now. I would know. She is way too emotional for this kind of stuff.” Akio scoffed. He imagined it was weird calling Komora emotional when most never got to see the turmoil of emotions inside of her. He had come to learn better than most that she just had trouble expressing herself. In the end, for all of Komora’s faults she was a confused little girl at the center who was struggling to hear and be heard by the world around her.

Komora lifted her head up from Shouyu. She looked at both of them. “No. Komora will make her own choice.” She pushed herself away from Shouyu and stood a few feet away from them both. There were still tears going down her face as she glared at Akio. “YOU’RE NOT KOMORA’S MOM!” She screamed at him. “You can’t tell her what to do.” The cafeteria went cold.

Akio growled at her and leapt from his chair. He was really a big dog. Especially now that his eye turned red in fury. “Then tell me what you want to do hmm?” Ice seeped from his words. “Komora will become a ninja.” She huffed at him defiantly. “You want to die in some cold land far from home?” he took a massive step forward. “Why do you want to be a ninja? A few weeks ago you were content devouring raw flesh out in the wilderness.”

“A-buh-kah-juh-” Komora seemed to stumble over her words as she tried to answer Akio. The dog smirked and pushed her down to the floor with a single massive paw. “When you’re having your guts torn out of you, what will keep you from telling the enemy everything you know?”

He then looked over at Shouyu. “Yeah. I’m having second thoughts about this. You can’t trust a team mate like her. She might care about people she knows but she doesn’t care about the village.” He gave Komora one last gaze. “Yeah well you tell me when you know why you’re becoming a kunoichi. Until then you can find your own way.”

Komora watched in stunned quiet as Akio walked away. Komora looked at all the faceless people staring at her. Moving towards her. It was too much. She stood up and calmly walked the opposite way that Akio had gone.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Akio began speaking and Shouyu parted from Komora looking at the canine with a brow risen high on his face. Although it was his first time meeting the pair, he was still learning a lot about both of them. Akio just seemed grumpy, a big downer, Hoshi scoffed in response and crossed his arms. He retorted in a stern voice to Akio.

"I will always protect! What are you saying?!"

Akio continued to belittle Komora and attempt to have Shouyu reason with his understanding of this. It was true Akio known Komora longer, and maybe on a more personal level. But still, he seemed so supportive earlier when they met and now seeming as if his mind was unsettled about her. He even went so far as to say that she was too emotional for to be a ninja, which widened Hoshi's eyes in response. He looked over at Komora who had pushed him away and voiced to maker her own decision.

Komora had an outburst, apparently upset and angry with Akio, Shouyu held his head down. Maybe she was always so expressionless because she has so much going on in her hand, and outside forces such as himself and Akio also imposing on her rampaging thoughts, causing her to lash out like this. Hoshi figured they were just pressuring the girl, and stressing her, he sighed.

Akio jumped up, Shouyu stumbled back reflexively, he could tell Akio was now angry too. The two were going back and forth, Shouyu would slide in a concerned, "Hey!" every now and then between their back and forth banter. This was getting heated fast, and Shouyu was beginning to believe that Akio was going overboard. Komora's last statement finished with Akio pushing her down, to which Shouyu twitched in response with his jaw dropped. He was now angry at too at Akio. Before he could say anything Akio looked his way and verbally explained himself while Hoshi heatedly furrowed his brows together pouting.

After Akio finished he stormed off leaving Komora and everyone else puzzled, but she soon too was up and off in the opposite direction. Shouyu just stood there with a fist balled up and too many young emotions to deal with it. Should he chase after Komora and try to comfort her, or chase down Akio and give him a stiff jab, smack square in the snout?! The kid stood there for just a second before he decided to chase Akio, grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking him to turn, Shouyu would shove two palms into the dog's torso.

"Hmpf! What do you know huh?! If Komora can protect friends, she can protect the village! Doesn't everyone deserve a chance?"

Shouyu would try to walk away and get to Komora who was leaving.