Tea by the Fountain [Open RP]

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

Mid afternoon. That's what she realized it had been, looking up. Her day had seemingly just started. Waking up later on in the day had become somewhat of a routine in the last few weeks. A habit she knew she'd have to change soon knowing her Academy days are coming quick. With her parents out on another mission, she'd been left at home alone again. Responsibility was bestowed upon her at a young age, so she knew how to take care of herself, though her dietary needs are always overlooked.

"Tea." she muttered, looking around. "Nothing else matters. Just....tea." As she looked around, her eyes fell upon the fountain. She'd taken a liking to it recently, usually sipping tea, or eating some kind of food near it. The water to her was not just calming, but empowering. She felt at home near the water. She quickly snaps out of it, running over to her favorite place for tea, paying for a cup and walking back over to the fountain, careful not to spill any.

Setting the cup gently at the edge of the fountain, she sits in front of it, her hand gracefully flowing through the water as a smile breaks her generally serious demeanor. "Why do I enjoy water so much? I don't understand..." She picks her cup up, taking a sip, and wafting the soothing aroma. Though the plaza had been bustling with life, everything around her had seemed to just fade away. Tea by the fountain is such a wonderful way to start the day.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Kirei Zoro & FuwaFuwa-sama​

Together walked Zoro and FuwaFuwa-sama, looking back and forth between the shops. *Bark bark* "I know FuwaFuwa-sama, we've come here a lot lately. And for some reason, tea always seems to be involved." *brark*"Yeah, I don't see how tea is all that important either. Give me some crystal clear water any day." The two stopped before a stall serving steaming meat buns. "It is a bit nippy, a warm meat bun sounds good. Want to split it?" *bark* "Great! One meat bun please mister." The owner of the stand handed the small academy student his food, and the boy scrunched his nose. "And some napkins. Meat buns can be messy." The burly man rolled his eyes as the child, but offered him three napkins. "Thank you." Turning on his heels, canine and human walked the streets again in search of a place to enjoy their mini meal. Spotting the clear fountain, Zoro smiled. "Let's eat at the fountain. It always looks so beautiful."

Taking a seat on the fountain's edge, Zoro laid a napkin in his lap, placed one in front of FuwaFuwa-sama, and shoved the last one in his pocket. Splitting the meat bun, Zoro placed the shih-tzu's share on the napkin before digging in to his own half. After finishing the food, Zoro dabbed his face with his lap napkin before folding it neatly into a triangle. At this moment, a girl around his age sat at the fountain as well, placing her tea down. Zoro watched as the purple-haired girl gently played with the water, and a blush came to his cheeks. "Wow. Clean water definitely makes girls cuter." *bar-brar bark* Zoro stuck out his lip in a pouting fashion. "Why don't you marry her?" Bringing his attention back to the girl, the blonde caught her question and smiled. Being the bold child he was, he rose from his seat and approached to answer said question. "Because water is the most beautiful substance in the world, that's why!" Anything that was pristine was considered beautiful to Zoro, and the fact that water could make things as such made him love it all the more. His smile broadened as he pointed to himself with his thumb. "I'm Kirei Zoro. And this is FuwaFuwa-sama. Anyone who likes water instantly becomes my best friend. What's your name so we can make a note?"

[Topic Entered with NPC]

 

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

As her question was answered, her hand stopped in the water. She looked up as the boy began to recite off his name, as well as the name of his companion. Her hand rose out of the water and as it did, her expression seemed to drop slightly. While still keeping what was left on the smile on her face, she placed her hand in her lap. "Izumi Amaya. I must admit, it's the first time I'd been approached here." She looks down to the water again, the last of the ripples from the drops coming off her hand finishing and the water becoming still.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it seems as if we both love the water." She stares back up, a bright smile now back on her face. She reaches for the cup, finishing off the tea. "Besides, water is seemingly the life force of the land. It helped to create this delicious tea." She looks down at FuwaFuwa-sama. "And it may have helped to create that meat bun that the two of you so kindly shared!" Amaya stands up, lightly brushing off the back of her skirt and holding out a hand.

"It truly is a pleasure to meet you, though I must ask. What compelled you to come over to me?" Her hair seems to catch a slight breeze as a few strands flutter in the wind, her light pink eyes sparkle. Though it was a bit nippy out, it hardly seemed to phase her.

 

[Osuteno]

Young Osu hopped from roof to roof following a cat through the district while taking a break from training. He had been practicing all morning and needed to grab some lunch. He hopped down into the market and purchased a few plates of dango and a pot of tea. He started heading towards his usual spot when he noticed Zoro-Senpai and Fuwafuwa-sama over by the fountain speaking with a girl he didn't recognized. He closed his eyes and nodded twice before deciding he was going for a change of pace today for lunch. He was going to train a little while he was at it. Osu kept his eyes closed and stealthily drifted through the crowd without bumping into anyone solely by listening to the blood running through everyone's veins.

As he approached from behind Zoro he realized Fuwafuwa-sama could probably smell him. He quietly whispered just loud enough for only the ninja hound to hear, "This is Osuteno, FuwaFuwa-sama. I am trying to see if I can sneak up on Zoro. Please don't expose me." Hopefully Zoro's nose wasn't as sharp as it could be yet and Osu could get the drop on him. Whether or not he was successful he formed a solid dark red umbrella from nowhere (a closed umbrella) and tapped Zoro on the shoulder lightly with the handle, while wearing his usual polite yet stoic attempt at a smile.

"Good day Zoro-senpai." He looked at the girl who seemed to be somewhere around his age if a little older, red eyes meeting pink. "I hope I am not interrupting anything, Koji Osuteno at your service, my friends typically call me Osu. It is a pleasure to meet you." He let go of the umbrella (which already started losing it's solid form before it hit the ground, becoming a puddle of blood then quickly disappeared) and gave the girl a polite bow before pulling up a seat near the fountain and sitting down with them, and enjoying his dango and tea with company. He wondered if Zoro-Senpai would be interested by his new trick he had picked up after discovering his bloodline. He also wondered who this girl was, especially since he was not used to seeing purple hair like his own around here.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro was blissfully unaware of the sneak attack in progress as he listened to the girl speak. He crossed his arms at her question. "I came over here because I wanted to. Clean conversations are always fun to have." Thinking back on the girl's words, they felt oddly familiar. So factual and formal. As he pondered this, FuwaFuwa-sama became fully aware of the situation at hand. Upon Osuteno's request to remain silent, the dog nodded once, giving a wag of his tail in approval. Finally it clicked for Zoro. "Wow. You remind me a lot of my other best friend Osu-WAAAAAAH!!!!" Zoro shouted in surprise at the feeling of something on his shoulder. He hopped forward and whirled around, brushing his shoulder off as he did so. Feeling a sense of chivalry, Zoro held a protective arm out in an attempt to guard Amaya from whatever was after them. The blonde's eyes lifted to see his best friend holding a weird red umbrella. Zoro pouted his lip out. "Osu! Super best friends don't sneak up on each other and OHMYGOSHWHATISYOURUMBRELLADOINGISTHATBLOODEEEEEEEEW!!!" Feeling rightly grossed out, Zoro rushed to the edge of the fountain and began to frantically wash off his shoulder with the water. "Yuck yuck gross bleck ugh!" No amount of scrubbing could make Zoro feel clean again, and he frowned. "That's super nasty Osu! Amaya doesn't want to see that!" Feeling a need to retaliate, the blonde boy quickly did three hand signs and held out his palm. A gush of water burst from it, aimed for Osuteno's chest.

 

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

Amaya's eyes slowly shifted, so long as to not make aware that the boy behind Zoro had been sneaking up to him. It was clear to her, as the smile on her face widened again that the blonde haired boy in front of her had absolutely no idea what was about to happen. "Fair enough. Clean conversations are definitely worth having." As Zoro's reaction had happened once this Osu person's umbrella tapped his shoulder, Amaya nearly fell over laughing. Her eyes began to water as she tried her absolute best to not fall over or laugh out loud. When he held an arm out to try to guard her, that's when she lost it. She calmed down as he began to try to wash off his shoulder.

"I really don't mind seeing things like that. It was clever. Well done!" As she noticed Zoro begin his retaliation, the hand she had behind her back weaved the signs to freeze the water, hoping she did so before it hit Osu. Her hand dropped as she smiled. "Izumi Amaya, and I must say, you're one hell of a prankster Osu." She looked back at the water. "Zoro and I were just discussing how beautiful we believed water to be." She knelt down in front of the fountain again. Her hand dipped into the fountain as she lifted her other hand. "I have been experimenting a lot with water jutsu, trying to figure out how to get the ice jutsu to work out for me. Originally, I had figured that it was just an extension of water, but soon after I added wind to it..." She weaved a sign for Ice Clone as an ice clone popped up beside her. "It was odd, really. It felt as if water had become much more beautiful when it was frozen, don't you agree?" She smiled, undoing the jutsu and looking over to Osu and Zoro.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu tapped the ice just a bit from his chest. "Almost seems like that made it a bit more dangerous." Osu said with his best stoic attempt at a smile. "But thanks all the same Amaya-senpai." He walked over to Zoro with an apologetic gesture. "No blood should have come off on you Zoro-senpai, it was pretty solid, but if any did, I'm sorry. I can just draw it off or if the chakra is drained from it it will just be water anyway." And Osu proceeded to begin attracting any blood off of Zoro's shoulder.

"Water is very beautiful, and so is ice, but have you considered the beauty of the liquid in our veins? The water that is life to us?" He held out his hand and blood started forming different shapes in his free hand. Blood is so many different things to people. It symbolizes bonds, love, death, war, healing, pride, honor, worship, pain and much more. We shinobi can even use it as a weapon. As he said this the shape became that of a katana, then a rifle, a mace, and kept changing into more weapons as he continued to speak.

"Water is a graceful and adaptable thing, what any ninja should aim to be." He then realized he had been lecturing. "I apologize, I have been very full of myself. Please ignore all of that."

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro glared at Amaya. "Yeah, ice is dangerous. It's pointy and hard. Pretty...but you should be more careful." Though still a bit bitter about Osuteno's prank, he forgave his super best friend after the purple-haired boy offered to remove any blood from Zoro's clothes. Feeling a bit more secure, the blonde watched as the girl showed off her ice jutsu, and he frowned. "No way. Ice isn't more beautiful than water. Water washes stuff. Ice is just hard water and can get dirty like any other solid object." Zoro crossed his arms to show his dissatisfaction with the turn their conversation had taken. Then Osuteno took a crack at explaining why blood was beautiful, and Zoro sighed loudly. "You guys don't get it! Beauty lies in cleanliness. Blood isn't clean. Ice isn't always clean. Water is clean. ...Well...as long as people don't pollute it...but that doesn't count. Also those people need to die, then water will always be perfect." Zoro placed his arms behind his head, showing his growing disinterest in the discussion. He wouldn't force them to share his beliefs, but if they were smart, they would. *bark bark* Zoro whipped his head to face FuwaFuwa-sama. "Hey! No one asked you. Crystal and ice are different!" *woof* "But blood is gross! Water is clear while blood is red, therefore blood is dirty liquid." *barbark* "Wait...so you're telling me if I bathe in water and am dirty.......I'm making it dirty?!" Zoro fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands. "You're right FuwaFuwa-sama! I've been such a fool. All this time I have been contaminating the purity of water! How can I atone?!" The blonde stared at the ground, a look of misery upon his face.

 

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

Laughing almost hysterically at the reaction of Zoro realizing he had the chance to dirty water just by bathing in it, Amaya held her tummy. Zoro, beauty doesn't depend on cleanliness, although I'll admit that clean silver does look much more appealing than dirtied silver. She stops and thinks for a moment before looking to Osu. While I'm at liberty to admit that blood can have its beauty as well, I don't look at it as a beautiful substance unless it's created without taking a life. Her hand extends as if to provide an example. Take your blood umbrella. You seemed to create that simply out of providing correct elements with water, correct?

She smiles. Any water jutsu can be looked at the same way. Crystal, blood, acid. Beauty is relative. She sits down on the side of the fountain. By the way Osu, is that tea and dango you've got lingering there? She had smelled the dango, and tea wondering where he'd put the teapot. It hadn't seemed to be in the immediate vicinity, but she knew it was close. You really going to drink it all to yourself? It was obvious what she was hinting at.

 

[Osuteno]

"Technically the only element involved is water but there is a bit more to it than that of course." Osu was not entirely sure how to describe how the addition of more non-elemental chakra resulted in blood so he decided to address her other comment. The corners of Osuteno's mouth turned upwards minutely and pulled the plates of dango and a pot of tea from... well no one really knows where. "Come over here Zoro-Senpai and eat some dango, you will feel better." It was odd to be comforting his Senpai, but that is what Osu assumed friends do. He looked back at Amaya, "Shall I refill your tea Amaya-Senpai?" He said with his small polite smile but went ahead and did so before she replied. "I do feel compelled to remind both of you that blood's most beautiful work is mostly unseen," Osu said pointing to Amaye's heart. "Many people fear blood, but they should honestly cherish it. We only have so much keeping us going." Well most of us he thought considering the fact he had a lot. He honestly didn't want to mention to the already freaked out Zoro that the non-elemental component included his actual blood.

Osu placed a plate of dango down for FuwaFuwa to eat and continued on. "But you are right that beauty is relative." Here he went, Osu was about to attempt a joke once again. Without warning Osu reached across and brushed his fingers through Amaye's hair and seemingly pulled a blood rose from behind her ear, making extra sure this time the blood was hardened to the strength of steel to prevent any blood from being left behind. "Of course the exception to that is that beauty will always be found in purple hair." He said while pulling another rose from behind his ear. He wondered if either of them would think this was funny.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

The sound of the girl laughing pulled Zoro out of his self-loathing, and he glared fiercely at her. Thinks ice is more beautiful than water? Thinks she can laugh at me?! Negative fifty-bajillion points! Zoro rose and puffed himself up. "I was going to give you a friendship napkin to celebrate liking water together, but obviously you don't deserve it. Beauty DOES depend on cleanliness. Are you saying you find a muddy dog beautiful? Are you saying some rotting hobo in the slums is beautiful? Cleanliness IS beauty!" By now, Zoro was breathing heavily, and a hint of a growl could be heard in his throat. FuwaFuwa-sama fidgeted, sensing the blonde's growing rage. At this rate he might embrace his Inuzuka blood, whether he wanted to or not.

The sound of Osuteno's voice calling for Zoro to eat dango with them successfully cooled his fury, though only slightly. As he took a seat beside Osu, he sharply crossed his arms and gave a huff. The pout was strong in this one. The blonde mumbled a grumpy thank you to his friend before chowing down on the offered food. FuwaFuwa-sama gave an appreciative bark before eating as well. Zoro was only barely listening to the conversation now, as it was focused on the completely wrong subject. These two seemed to be stubborn, and FuwaFuwa-sama had told him to just let it go, so he remained silent. The boy rolled his eyes when Osuteno mentioned relative beauty. Zoro then watched as Osuteno produced red, he could only assume blood, roses from behind their ears and claimed that beauty was in purple hair. Due to Osu's straight expression, Zoro thought his friend was being completely serious. Fuming yet again, the blonde rose from his spot and punched Osu in the arm. "NO! Cleanliness is beauty! I'm the most clean person you'll ever meet, therefore I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!" *Bark bark* "I AM PERFECTLY CALM!" *bwoo* Zoro almost looked like he was going to cry. He turned to the direction of his dorm and began running. "You guys are jerks!" FuwaFuwa-sama gave the purple-haired children an apologetic bow of his head before sprinting to catch up with Zoro.

[Topic Left Unless Stopped]

 

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

Amaya blushed slightly as Osu pulled the blood roses out from behind their ears, smiling. "Well aren't you the charmer." she remarked softly. Although she'd heard Zoro's remarks, she tried to put them behind her, because everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, and it seems as if Zoro would need to learn that eventually. Why not sooner rather than later? "I definitely see your point on the beauty of blood, but would part of that beauty be that it dies and reproduces without us even realizing it?" As she hears Osu's perception that beauty is always found in purple hair, she looks over to him, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Saying praise like that. Are you looking to score points with me, Osu?" She calmly laughed. Not even a moment after, Zoro had an outburst causing a scene in the middle of the area surrounding the fountain. "You guys are jerks!" Those words played over in her head a few times.

The smile on her face faded, a slight frown now worn. As she tilted her head, her hair came loose from her ear, falling in front of her face. She sets down the cup she had been about to take a sip from, thanks to Osu graciously refilling it for her. "I...I just...." Tears formed in her eyes. She was never very good with confrontation, especially when it involved people getting angry with her. Battle, she could do. For the most part, she could even handle yelling, but when someone publicly declares that she'd done wrong to them, she gets quite upset. Wiping away her tears, she looks over to Osu. "What should we do?"

 

[Osuteno]

Osu really did not understand what Amaya meant by 'scoring points' but assumed it was a good thing, it seems his joke went over well. Suddenly Zoro grew very angry and hit him. Osu looked at his arm where he had been punched and back at Zoro who was storming off while in a bursting fit of anger and Osu returned a confused bow to FuwaFuwa-Sama. He stood up for a moment to follow after Zoro but decided against it and sat back down a bit dazed, though his face did not show anything. Was it his joke? Was it that bad?! In front of him Amaya had stopped drinking her tea and started to cry. Oh no, the joke was that bad, what had he done he needed to apologize, but how? But then he heard he ask what they were supposed to do and it dawned on Osu that it was Zoro that caused Amaya to cry. It did not help that Osu realized the scene had caught a lot of attention. Osu gathered their stuff up onto a tray in one arm and led the teary eyed Amaya to a nearby path just off the main street with much less traffic. He thought carefully about the situation during the walk and led her to a bench he knew of. Setting the stuff down he refreshed her tea and handed it to her.

"I am not entirely sure what was wrong with Zoro but I can assure you it was probably my fault, I am not that good at social interactions. I will probably wait a bit and see with FuwaFuwa-sama if Zoro-Senpai has cooled down so I can speak with him. Please do not be upset with him, I am sure he did not mean what he said, he is just frustrated. I hope you will forgive him, I think he was hurt by my joke somehow." The 8-year-old looked at the older girl before closing his eyes and nodding twice. "Amaya-Senpai if there is anything I could do to make this up to you just say the word, so long as it is something I am capable of, feel free to ask."

 

[Kasamatsu Yukari]

"I'm sorry Osu. I probably looked like an idiot there." She sniffles, wipes her eyes and regains her composure. "I assure you, it's not usually like me to just break down like that. A lot has been happening, and I guess it all just caught up to me." A smile lights up her face, so as to signal she's alright. "Though, it's kind of nice to have a kouhai who cares about their senpai, no matter who." At this point she's just trying to lighten the mood after she made it worse since Zoro had left. She looks around at the change of scenery staring over to the fountain. She sighs. "This is not how I'd seen this day going. Simple tea by the fountain turned interesting. It would have been a shame to see it stained red..."

Standing herself up and brushing off her skirt she looks back to Osu. "So? You should probably go after your friend. He was sweet, but it seems like he just needed a proper kick to knock him out of his stubborn ways, yes? I mean, that's usually what friends do, right?" Amaya said this, knowing not how to deal with situations like that. She smiled placing a hand on Osu's head. "Pretty sure that's all he needs right now. At least, I think so. Do be kind and tell him that I apologize, alright?" She laughs before turning to exit the alley. "For now though, I think I'm going to head out. I've plans to bring to fruition. I do hope we meet again, little kouhai. And when I do, I hope it's under good circumstances." Her light expression drops to her usual stern demeanor before she turns the corner, her hand waving, slowly disappearing around the corner.

[Topic left]

 

[Osuteno]

Osuteno simply stood there and watched as Amaya dried her tears and he heard her advice. Apparently it was Zoro who made her upset. Osu did not really know what to do about that. She suggested that he should kick the stubbornness out of Zoro but there had to be a gentler way of calming his friend's temper. He could not help but smile a little (at least on the inside) from having his head patted. The girl spoke of some sort of plans and walked away her happy demeanor quickly dissipating and replaced with a stern look.

Osu thought about heading straight to Zoro's place but decided against it. He needed to give the older boy some space. He would try to get FuwaFuwa's attention later on and figure out a way to calm him down. For now Osu finished his lunch and went back to training. As he reached his bloody clearing Osu wondered if perhaps he might need to be a bit more stern with his friend, but quickly decided that would be unnecessary. He was sure all it would take was good calm communication to convince his friend to see reason.

[TLUS]