The Sun on my Face (open)

[Chikamatsu Shin]

It was the first day in a long while that the young puppeteer named Kugutsu Kumomi was topside, it may have actually been even a few years. Time has flown by, when she was younger she traveled around tons of times with her family but ever since she started the Academy she didn't have time for such trivial things. She was now forced to live the full time life of a Kunoichi. She was currently studying medicinal arts to help her advance her nano-tech puppets. If she could completely understand the spark of life maybe, just maybe, she could recreate it, but until then she would master restructuring the organic biomasses also known as people. The young genin, though most people her age were chuunin, roamed the topside area where her village was wanting to restructure.

The young girl today was wearing a beautiful silky black chador. It was decorated with a navy blue floral pattern along the hemming and a golden lace pattern along the facial cloth. Her eyes glistened a beautiful green under the sunlight and the gold of her her eyeshadow complimented her golden bronze complexion. This dark complected girl looked like she could be the center of attention if she were to be in any bar, especially with her plum colored lips and elegant cheekbones. Her hands were guarded by long satin gloves that seemed to disappear under her full body wrap. Her hair was pulled up and was completely hidden by the chador only allowing her face to be shown.

Her quiet footsteps were almost inaudible due to the sound of construction coming from every which direction. She lifted up a single hand and held up a finger. From underneath her black garment a single metallic insect crawled out and twitched it's wings before taking flight. If one were to be able to see the natural flow of chakra they would have seen Kumomi charging her chakra in a spiral fashion in the automaton Nano-Mosquito like a wind up to. The connection between her and the nanotech's chakra severed into a tiny puppet thread as soon as it took flight. As if almost acting on it's own, Kumomi watched the Nano-Mosquito flew off to take surveillance of the surrounding area. She smiled and lowered her hand. She clasped her hands together into a hand seal known as "Tori" and then lifted her hands to face them outwards. In a split second hundreds of Nano-Tech puppets were sent scattering throughout the area. She needed to know what was happening up here, and she needed to know sooner rather than later.

[MFT:428]

 

[Hoshirei]

This was the first time Kimi was on the surface since she was kidnapped almost a month ago. Her girls were with her this time, they had insisted. The sun warming her face was a welcome change to the artificial warm of the caverns. The air topside was a bit more arid than the underneath, but it was still very similar environments. With her eyes closed, she was more focused on smells and feels, therefore did not see the small swarm of nanopuppets headed her direction. Her eyes flew open as one struck her cheek. Her amethyst eyes caught a feminine figure clothed in chador just a few meters away.

She young woman's smell tickled a memory. It had been dampened when she first smelled it, but she still recognized it. A small smile graced her lips and she readily avoided the rest of the small swarm by crouching down on the sand. Once she was sure the little things were past, she stood and moved silently toward the young woman. When she was about five feet away, she made sure to make noise, just in case the woman had her eyes closed.

"Hullo there." Kimi smiled brightly and the twin tigers sat on either side of her legs, a peaceful look on their face. "I don't believe I have seen you around before. My name's Kimi, what's yours?" the friendly twenty year old queried.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Something perked Kumomi's interest. Almost as soon as she sent out her Micro-Puppets one ran into something. The girl's eyes quickly turned to see with what she had made contact. A woman was there, her and two large tigers. The girl's eyebrow raised at the sight of two jungle cats in a desert, something she wasn't used to. The woman introduced herself as Kimi and proceeded to ask her Kumomi's. The younger girl pulled up a hand and twitched a finger as a Nano-mosquito landed on it. She bowed her head slightly and with a grin introduced herself.

"Hello Kimi, My name is Kumomi. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I ask what are the names of these two here?"

As she asked for the names of the tigers a few more puppets came in and crawled back underneath the cloth she wore. The young puppeteer, as the puppets came back, was collecting information on the new area in which she was in. Her hand twitched slightly as her puppets reentered her chador. The young girl, after asking for the names of the tigers, turned and faced the buildings that were under construction.

"I have a question for you Kimi-Senpai. How do you think Sunagakure is going to thrive up here?"

She turned back to face the woman with her with a concerned look.

"I mean, so much of our community relies on the chakra crystals, but that won't be the case up here..."

She sounded sad as if the movement was a personal attack on her. She turned away and took a couple of steps. The girl placed a gloved hand on a nearby rock before leaning on it. She crossed her arms and looked down.

 

[Hansame]

Noroi was visiting the surface because he was wondering why the storms suddenly stopped. He had heard some rumors in the red lights where he lived in an alley, but he didn't know if they were true or not. Today feven though it was crazy hot and he would probably pass out from heat stroke, he wore his usual oversized long sleeve shirt and knee length shorts. His shirt had a whole bunch of things tied to it with string; Kunai, water, beef jerky, and even a bottle of rice wine he was planning to sell sometime later. Noroi had learned from experience that it was a lot easier to carry most of his things on him for safety and so that they wouldn't be stolen. Laying down on the flat, sunny area, he stared at the pretty sky, which was something he had not seen in forever, perhaps when he was an infant, but not before he could remember. He moved his gaze from the sky to the sun and gazed directly at it until his eyes began to burn, which he then say up and rubbed his eyes, the dull pain of the sun didn't bug him much. As if on cue when the word bug popped up in his mind, he felt a small insect land on his forehead. Noroi blinked for a few seconds before it flew off, and then saw where the big swarm was. His first reaction was fear, since the desert held many lethal things, but looking closer he saw two people and two other figures. The bugs didn't seem to be eating them, so he came to the conclusion that they were safe.

Standing up and starting to walk towards the duo and....tigers? 'How do tigers live out in the desert, or even in caves?' He wondered as he continued to walk towards the duo. When he got close enough that they would hopefully notice him, he would wave his sleeve slightly to show that he meant well and wasn't going to hurt them, even though he doubt he could lay a hit on them even if he tried his complete hardest to do so. Nervously scratching the deep scar on his neck, he finally made his way. He couldn't tell how old either of the duo in front of him was, and was a little nervous of the Tigers, not being used to large animals, but he tried to make sure that his face didn't show it.

"Er....u-um....h-hello, m-my n-n-name is Noroi, n-nice to meet y-you" he stammered out of habit, and instantly regretted giving them his name. They could be killers from another village for all he knew, but then again, aren't all shinobi killers at one point in there lives?

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi smiled brightly when Kumomi asked the names of her girls. Sometimes new people either forgot to ask or assumed that she would offer up their names.

"The one with the red collar is Kora and the blue collar is Katsu. As for how we'll thrive up here, I expect we will do things fairly similarly. We might be used to crystals for everything, but that was because we were under the sands. Lights at night will probably be crystal based, and stoves and other things like that will be the same as down in the caves. I know it will be really odd for a while, but we'll all get through it."

The Nekozuka smelt a third human approaching, and this one was a little nervous. As the figure approached, Kimi smiled softly at the young one.

"You don't have to be anxious, young one. My name is Kimi." "I'm Katsu!" "And I'm Kora!" "We are all part of this village. What brought you topside, young Noroi?"

 

[Sagasu Yume]

It had been ages since it had been safe to dwell on the surface. Yume remembered being bundled up tight when they would caravan to Soon's Haven to ensure her skin wouldn't be torn from her bones, and the rare occasion she had to sit outside of the Maw with her father as he told her stories about the stars. There was a youth that came with being out of the cavern and on the horizon, if the three looked, they would see a small confined dust cloud with two forms in the center, tumbling over the dunes.

Come on. Catch me!

Neesan! Get back here! Oofgh! Almost! Haha!

Almost doesn't cut it, CooRoo! Ahhh!

Back and forth the two would dash, the woman with turquoise locks being chased by a slightly younger looking man with flaming orange hair, pointed ears on his head, and a tail swishing out behind him. There was a joy and a kinship that was obvious from their familiar tone with each other. Turning in opposite directions they crashed into each other as the boy threw his arms around her and they tumbled the rest of the way, ending almost at Kimi's feet. Knees to either side of Yume, CuRua in human form raises his arms triumphantly.

Ah ha! I am the victor! Hi Kimi! Hello girls

Getting up, he dusts off his knees before reaching down and leveraging the mednin to her feet. With a whoop of glee, she spins up from the sand and hugs her companion tightly. It had been far too long since they had played as children. Patting the dust from herself, Yume looks around at the group with a smile. Her hair was a little disheveled and her face was dirty but she felt free.

Oh! New people! I'm Sagasu Yume, formerly of the Inzuka clan. How do you do? This is CuRua. He is my companion and a fox. We were playing tag.

It was slightly embarrassing to admit to such frivolous behavior but there was something about coming to the surface that replaced shame with juvenile wonder.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

The young girl let out a sigh, so many people have arrived to view the new upper-realm of the village. It makes a great deal of sense as seeing that the village would be moved up here soon. She turned to the newcomers, took a couple of steps forward, and bowed her head to acknowledge them. She looked to the stammering child, he seemed to have basic equipment tied on him as if he didn't own the proper equipment to store his tools in. She then looked over at the other two. A girl with turquoise hair and her pet fox that seemed to be in the Human-Beast Clone technique.

"Greetings all, I am Kumomi."<i></i>

She took a couple of steps back to lay her back on a larger rock. She turned her head and faced the great expanse. She lifted a single finger and watched a Nano-Mosquito land on her knuckle. She grinned slightly. Quickly turning to face the group again she stepped towards the boy.

"Noroi-kun, question. What is the reason you are becoming a Shinobi?"<i></i>

The young kunoichi stared at the boy. The life of a shinobi can be a treacherous one.

 

[Hansame]

The timid boy was a little nervous/scared of all the things that suddenly happened, but tried his best to stay calm, even though his legs were wobbling madly and were threatening to just give up, and would cause Noroi to fall to the ground, but Noroi took a few small breaths and his legs stopped their wobbling. Smiling out of nerves to all of the people in front of him, he took a minute to take a good look at them. The lady with the Tigers sounded pretty sincere, so Noroi took a few steps and positioned himself at an angle where he could look at all of the other people and Tigers. Noroi was a tad bit curious about how the Tigers spoke through her, but slowly accepted that she wasn't the average shinobi.

"S-sorry miss Kimi, and M-miss kora, a-a-and miss k-katsu. B-but I guess I came over to the surface to see the sun. I never really s-saw much l-light, so I guess th-th-.that I really w-wanted to see the s-sun. I-it's really f-far a-away...b-but it a-affects all of us a-and it's s-such a p-powerful th-thing" he said quietly, but trying to keep as much eye contact as he could.

He then looked at the turquoise haired lady, Sagusa Yume and the orange haired man , CueRa, with...fox ears and a tail? Well, not the strangest thing Noroi had seen. She seemed to know Kimi, and the Fox seemed pretty energetic too. Noroi didn't judge them in the slightest about them playing tag. The surface was such a new and exciting place from what he was used to, and He just wanted to play and lay down in th clear sky for hours on end, even if he was fried to a crisp in the process.

"N-n-nice to meet y-you m-miss S-Sagusa and m-m-m-mister CueRa. M-my name is n-Noroi n-Ningyo, er...N-ningyo Noroi" He said, a little louder and feeling a bit more confident.

When the older girl kumomi came up to him, Noroi tensed up considerably. Nervously scratching the deep scar at his neck, his windpipe to be exact. The reason he chose the path of a shinobi. He heard that question been asked before. By the intimidating teacher..kurisu? He took a few momen to process his train of thought, then figures out what he he had to say.

"Why I b-became a sh-shinobi? I-I f-first w-wanted to t-to be a M-med n-nin, b-but now I-I want m-my life t-to have a-a p-p-purpose. I-I a-also w-want t-to b-become one t-to help my comrades. I-i can t-take th-the pain instead of th-them. I-I wouldn't m-m-Mind b-being the sc-scapegoat.." He said as confidently as he could, but his legs started to wobble again.

 

[Hoshirei]

Katsu and Kora's ears perked up as they heard something coming in the distance. Kora pawed at Kimi's leg and directed her attention to the blur. The smell coming from the twister was extraordinarily familiar and brought a bright smile to the Nekozuka's face. The duo landed almost at Kimi's feet and she couldn't help but try to scoop CuRua up in a hug.

"CooRoo! You're so cute! Look at your ears and tail!" Kimi squealed softly so as to not hurt sensitive ears. "And Yume! We need to catch up sometime! I had quite the adventure a couple months ago. You might have heard about it from our mutual friend, but the story is always better from the horse's mouth."

Kimi felt for this poor child who stuttered and wondered if there might be any way to aid him. She saw the boy rub his throat and immediately knew at least one cause of his speech impediment. His statement that he wouldn't mind being a scapegoat made her growl internally. The growl was silently echoed by Kashiro. If the great demon had his way, this boy would be her kit. She slipped closer to the lad as he wobbled, ready to catch him if he fell.

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Sorry this has taken so long...