Scrolls and books littered the ornate wooden table before the straw-haired kunoichi. She was practically buried beneath the legion of academia, her build just slight enough to be dwarfed by her base of operations. Tanned, calloused fingers turned the page of a particularly dated text, austere blue eyes scanning every word at a speed almost inhuman. This, too, was an exercise within an excuse to study - she would time what it took her to get through a page and resolve to beat that scoring on the next page over. The issue was both scanning the words and absorbing their meaning, something she was slowly grasping.
Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side, the bob of her ponytail sending it in a slow collapse over her shoulder until it tickled the very top of her book. She didn't seem to notice; or, rather, she didn't seem to care, not allowing anything to break her concentration. It would be easy - she found herself overly sensitive to even the slight shifts and changes within an environment, every noise and image in the corner of her eye sending a tense spark through her muscles. A deeper exercise, then, one in concentration. Cool breath blew across that bundle of hair, sending the strands scattering across the edge of the paper until she was able to turn the page.
She thumbed through the book meticulously, finding a pace that wasn't rushed yet wasn't lax enough to lull her into security. A perfect balance; lord knows she had the time to settle on it, considering just how long she had been waiting already for someone she had long decided was unlikely to show. There would be no complaints from her, though - it was out of her hands and this opportunity was afforded to her, a clean way to make up time wasted. Surrounded by so much knowledge she found no reason not to learn what she could about the few - relatively, to her rank - things she didn't already know about the duties of shinobi.
That's why she barely twitched when she heard those approaching footsteps grow ever closer. She had noticed him, of course, the moment the library had been entered; from the corner of her eye, without taking it away from the words in front of her. It was nothing more than an employ of caution - the possibility of any threat within the village itself was low, but that was never quite enough to settle Tenko down from her guard. The touch of paranoia that constantly pervaded her thoughts did not equate to her being jumpy, however, and she maintained her cool as always. There was nothing wrong with a shinobi remaining prepared for any situation. This is what she would tell herself, every time her surveyal felt a little overeager.
"He isn't here," she spoke, concisely, the tenor of her words as steady and ascetic as her expression. It was only when she finished her spot, able to turn the page again, that she looked up to better greet the arrival - purely out of desire to avoid a discourteous social performance. People weren't her strong suit; serving her village (or at the very least, training to reach a point where she could) was. Her hand marked her place, the cover turned over to reveal the subject as Kumogakure Law. "The teacher, that is. It isn't my place to presume his whereabouts but I don't believe he'll be joining us today."
There was no embellishment to any of her words, nothing to betray any emotion. A look in the gaze that fell upon him would convey the same effect. At the very least, she recognized the convening party as a superior - he wasn't a fellow student, and this earned him a tilt of her head forward as a show of respect. "That's why you're here, is it not? For the class on law study?"
If she was wrong, she was wrong. At any dismissal she would be free to return to her studies.
Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side, the bob of her ponytail sending it in a slow collapse over her shoulder until it tickled the very top of her book. She didn't seem to notice; or, rather, she didn't seem to care, not allowing anything to break her concentration. It would be easy - she found herself overly sensitive to even the slight shifts and changes within an environment, every noise and image in the corner of her eye sending a tense spark through her muscles. A deeper exercise, then, one in concentration. Cool breath blew across that bundle of hair, sending the strands scattering across the edge of the paper until she was able to turn the page.
She thumbed through the book meticulously, finding a pace that wasn't rushed yet wasn't lax enough to lull her into security. A perfect balance; lord knows she had the time to settle on it, considering just how long she had been waiting already for someone she had long decided was unlikely to show. There would be no complaints from her, though - it was out of her hands and this opportunity was afforded to her, a clean way to make up time wasted. Surrounded by so much knowledge she found no reason not to learn what she could about the few - relatively, to her rank - things she didn't already know about the duties of shinobi.
That's why she barely twitched when she heard those approaching footsteps grow ever closer. She had noticed him, of course, the moment the library had been entered; from the corner of her eye, without taking it away from the words in front of her. It was nothing more than an employ of caution - the possibility of any threat within the village itself was low, but that was never quite enough to settle Tenko down from her guard. The touch of paranoia that constantly pervaded her thoughts did not equate to her being jumpy, however, and she maintained her cool as always. There was nothing wrong with a shinobi remaining prepared for any situation. This is what she would tell herself, every time her surveyal felt a little overeager.
"He isn't here," she spoke, concisely, the tenor of her words as steady and ascetic as her expression. It was only when she finished her spot, able to turn the page again, that she looked up to better greet the arrival - purely out of desire to avoid a discourteous social performance. People weren't her strong suit; serving her village (or at the very least, training to reach a point where she could) was. Her hand marked her place, the cover turned over to reveal the subject as Kumogakure Law. "The teacher, that is. It isn't my place to presume his whereabouts but I don't believe he'll be joining us today."
There was no embellishment to any of her words, nothing to betray any emotion. A look in the gaze that fell upon him would convey the same effect. At the very least, she recognized the convening party as a superior - he wasn't a fellow student, and this earned him a tilt of her head forward as a show of respect. "That's why you're here, is it not? For the class on law study?"
If she was wrong, she was wrong. At any dismissal she would be free to return to her studies.
To say that Kiri frequented the library recently was an understatement. He practically lived there, almost. After being reassigned to his current rank, his menial chores at the hospital lessened, but the paperworks increased. Moreover, because of his own curiosity and inclination towards anatomy and surgical innovations, his responsibility for further research had doubled. And perhaps that was the reason he was quickly becoming notorious for his teaching method, particularly with his chosen student Eishi. But today, as he walked through the reception, flashing his identification pass, it had nothing to do with research plans that would ideally involve the boy. He’d give the student a break for once, which meant he would have to devout his time in finishing a report.