A Promise To Be Kept (Rai Shikyo)

"Eh they just had busy lives I suppose. They were ninja after all and like you said, death sort of surrounds a ninja family. Now that they're gone though.. things have slowed down tremendously. You're the first person I've really talked to since I graduated the academy."

She reached up and rubbed the back of her hand slightly with the hand that she had not offered to him. She didn't show a sign of sorrow or anger but more so embarrassment. It was probably obvious that she truly had not talked to anyone seeing as how awkward she was acting. She wasn't used to human contact since the death of her sister; unless she was fighting someone anyway. Seeing as how she dropped her weapons and picked up the act of generosity, she felt as though she were out of her element.

"No matter I hope our sensei is good and as for the Raikage. Hmm. I don't know, it seems like an interesting job I suppose. Being important and all. Everyone would know your name for years to come. Even if you managed to be the top Jounin the generations after would start to forget you once you're dead but nobody ever forgets the Kages."

She then shrugged a bit before he finally took her offer. She pulled as he pushed and together they helped him stand. She took a step back away from him then before she crossed her hands behind her back; a habit she picked up from her mother.

"You know, I don't think you did as much damage as I originally thought. You're quite the noodle armed shinobi aren't ya!"

She chuckled just a tad before she gave him a very innocent, yet sinister, grin.

"If you want I can punch you again Mr. I was heaving in pain from being punched in the chest," she teased before turning away from him and walking forward. Her arms fell to her sides now as she listened for him to follow while shrugging to his question.

"No sure let's stroll through town until we find a place. We have a bit of a ways to get there anyway so maybe we'll think of something."

He better not have been one of those guys who took this sort of thing as a date.....
New found male and female friends couldn't seem to just go anywhere together without it being "a date". Maybe he wasn't the typical male though.

"Well", said Henshin, scratching at his scar, "if this is how you say hello, I can't say that I'm that surprised". He chuckled as she pulled him back to his feet and he wiped some more mud off his clothing.

"I dunno about being remembered. You don't have to be remembered to have done something good with your life. I'm sure there are hundreds of shinobi out there that have saved thousands of lives that are lying in unmarked graves, forgotten by the next generation. Doesn't mean they didn't make a difference". He thought about his parents, dying on a mission, probably unremembered by the rest of the Village.

Henshin pulled a mockingly hurt face at Rai's friendly insult. "Hey! Your punch wasn't what did the damage. It was when you ended up sitting on my chest that did me in", he retorted, pulling a face at Rai behind her back when she turned around. A bit childish perhaps, but it amused Henshin considerably.

The rain had begun to ease off a little at this point, although it was still drizzling at a nice steady pace. He jogged a little to catch up to Rai. "Could we swing by a food stall or something? I only had a small breakfast and our little to-do has got my appetite up", Henshin asked, pulling his haori closer around him before realising that it was just as soaked through as the rest of him. "And maybe a run by my home so I can get some dry bloody clothes on".

"Hey! Your punch wasn't what did the damage. It was when you ended up sitting on my chest that did me in"

"If you're calling me fat I'm going to give you more than just a bruise," she threatened, her eyes giving off a hidden fury as they transformed into a stone cold glare. She had stopped and turned around to see him, catching his silly expression before she scoffed. She then turned back around before casting him back a funny look; motioning that she was partially kidding. She didn't care to much to be honest. She was just trying to see if she could make him jump.

As they continued walking she thought over what all she may need to do later when she returned home. She had a mental checklist everyday of any house chores she may need to do and so far she figured up that she needed to do some laundry, wash dishes, and sweep the floors. She may even need to change her sheets and such and watch those. She couldn't remember the last time she had...

"Could we swing by a food stall or something? I only had a small breakfast and our little to-do has got my appetite up"

By the time he asked her this they were well in their way into the forest. The Agricultural facilities nearby this area would come into picture soon enough and then they could catch a train back to the main city.

"Thats what I was thinking of doing. I'm rather hungry myself. What sort of foods do you like?"

Maybe being his friend wasn't so bad after all. She could give a try. He may turn out to be a good alley. First she would see how they would react at the end of today and the days to come. He didn't seem like an average pants thinking male. Then again she could be wrong so she kept watching his body language as much as she could and listening to what he had to say. Truth was, she didn't know to much about body languages but she had a bit of experience than none at least.

"And maybe a run by my home so I can get some dry bloody clothes on".

Did she think to soon? She knew she needed to calm her thoughts down and not worry so much about things. Her worry was her down fall after all and judging wasn't nice.

"Oh, sure. We may as well eat first and run by later though unless you have an umbrella. I'll just wear this I suppose... even though it isn't to decent."

She wasn't in the mood to go to her house. She didn't like the area she lived in anyway and traveling so casually would probably prove to be dangerous. Best to avoid the slums..

The menacing looks in Rai's eyes made Henshin's hand twitch towards his pouch for a weapon, but he managed to restrain himself from pulling one free. Instead he just gave a smile (although to her she would only be able to see his eyes crinkle) when she cast him the funny look. With someone as changeable as this girl seemed to be, he needed to stay on his toes lest she have a sudden switch of temperament.

Walking through the forest on their way to the train back to the Village proper, Henshin thought about the things he would have to do when he returned home after everything was done today. After thinking it over for a few moments, he realised that he had nothing to do when he made his way back. His house was empty, filled only with the essentials he needed to stop from starving. The only interesting thing he had waiting for him was the scrolls his parents left him and he had already gone over those at least twice apiece.

Rai had asked him what kind of food he liked and he contemplated the question. Thinking about it, he could not think of a single thing that he found that he had eaten in his life that he had disapproved of, mainly because if he did not like it then he would go hungry. His parents were tight-fisted and did not like spending money much. "Hmm... You know, I'm not sure. There isn't that many foodstuffs out there that I wouldn't eat. I don't really have any favourites to be honest. I'll eat pretty much anything".

Rai continued to speak and he shrugged at her next statement. "I don't have an umbrella but you're right, might as well eat first. Anything dry I put on now will just get soaked again". He thought about lending the girl his haori, but since it's condition was worse than her current clothing he did not think it would do her much good. Instead, he shrugged it off and held it above his head to shield against the rain. Apart from the occasional drip from it's already wet underside, it did a good job. Holding the other end out to Rai, he said, "Grab that end, it's big enough to cover us both I should think".

Noticing her close observations of him, he cocked an eyebrow in query. "Something you're looking for?" he asked in an amused voice.

Rai began to ponder over where they could go to eat. Seeing as how she was a tight ass who didn't enjoy spending to much money on anything besides essentials, the choices were limited. Her first though was that maybe they could hit up one of the old fashioned street stands. There were few left since Kumogakure's apparent industrialization but those few were the strongest of the majority. It was almost like a game of evolution. The strongest defeated the weak and then feasted upon the leftover prey as much as they could. A shame though. Rai could see the stands' numbers dwindling even more in the upcoming future. This was merely because the large corporations were taking over and although their food wasn't as tasty it came in greater varieties; and quantities. She wasn't sure whether this irked her or not. For the most part though she was truly to young to understand the overall picture and sometimes thought with her stomach more so than head. There was difinitely one thing Rai enjoyed more than fighting and that was eating. What was odd though was no matter how much she ate, and she ate A LOT, she managed to stay skinnier than a twig. Talk about high metabolism.

Due to her partially zoning out she nearly missed Henshin's offer regarding the makeshift umbrella. She glanced over at him with in a bit of a daze before the quirkiness of reality slapped her in the face. This drew every thought back from her mental dark abyss and foraged a smile across her face that could only strengthened her switching personalities even more. It were almost as though she continued to take off and put on new masks. Her face molding near perfect to its template form.

"Oh, sure, thank you," she grinned fake heartedly. She was grateful but it dug deep since she didn't think of it first. She had a lot of pride and wasn't always the type which thought of ideas second. This sometimes even made her motton: Ready, Fire, Aim. Which tended to get her into a bit of trouble sometimes.

Once she had been returned the cruel world she then returned to her old ways of watching Henshin. Of course little did she know he had caught on to this until he actually said something. She made a mental note of his observance and did her best to not appear startled as she said the first excuse which came to mind.

"Who me? I'm not watching you I'm looking around at our surroundings. Safe or sorry right? For the most part it's just rainy though so nothing to special," she said before letting out a nervous laugh. Now that truly was the dead give away. Hopefully the Genin wasn't THAT observant but she didn't put it past him. So instead she changed the subject, barely allowing a second of silence to come between them.

"So I was thinking and well, what if we went to the local ramen shop. I mean sure, the food's mostly imported from Konoha and such but hey it's still good right? Who doesn't like ramen either? Maybe today's an all you can eat day!"

Her excitement surely peaked at the though and along with it came a more high pitched tone and hyperactive personality. It wasn't a dull day with her. She was like a reusable match who, once snuffed out, simply re-lit with a new flame and blazed with might. Some could even call her Bi-polar. Funny thing was though, she wasn't. It was all just her natural defense to those she was unsure how to react around. To keep them on their toes was all she searched for. A means to keep herself safe. This was how she was raised. This was the outer shield of Rai Shikyo.

Seemingly deep in thought, Rai almost to miss his offer to get under his large haori. He was about to retract it back to himself when she gave her reply and got into the cover provided by the improvised umbrella. Something seemed to play across her face when she thanked him, but it was gone quickly and he put it from his mind.

When she realised that he had caught her giving him glances, her retort reminded Henshin of when Rai replied that it was a 'pleasure to meet him too' when they had bumped into each other in the training grounds. He grinned to himself as he decided to be playful with her. "That was lame! What where you really doing, checking me out? 'Cause I'm not that kind of guy you know", Henshin said, pulling a mocking shocked face and putting on a prudish tone of voice. But his eyes crinkled with a playful smile, betraying the friendliness of his good natured ribbing.

Squinting through the rain, he replied to her suggestion for a food stop. "Food's food to me, doesn't matter where it came from so long as it's edible. And you can't go wrong with an all you can eat day!" he said cheerfully, noting that her voice seemed to change when she talked about food. Maybe she was an amateur cook or something, or just really enjoyed eating.

For a moment, Henshin thought about making a joke about his previous joke about her landing on him being more damaging than her punches, but decided to leave it. From what he had gathered, young women were somewhat touchy about their weight and he did not fancy getting into another scrap again so soon over such a thing.

A spark of agitation crossed her eyes for a moment but was quickly snuffed out much like the rest of her emotions. She then grinned half-heartedly, "check you out? Why would anyone want to? I don't have time for men." For a moment she grew serious and then like an actor in a drama production, she changed masks to a smug expression, "Besides! I was trying to look past your big head!"

To could play that game but sadly she wasn't exactly more equipped to doing so. She could be unemotional at times and more reserved that a young religious girl when it came to throwing come backs at people. Normally she only did so when she was pissed off or in battle; so this was kind of new. Like most new things it felt kind of awkward too. She tried her best not to let this show though.

"To the Ramen shop then" she said with a bit of awkward excitement. It was probably obvious at that point that she wasn't exactly a people person. Her communication skills were a bit lacking and thus not many new topic ideas were thought up between them. Before long an awkward silence may come over so rather than letting that happen, she decided to give something a shot.

"Race you to the train," she said with a grin. She punched his arm half as hard as she had during battle and took off running through the crystal shower. Her arm was raised above her head to block the rain's drops from stinging her face and more importantly from blinding her sight. She ran as fast as she could yet cautiously so she wasn't slipping or sliding anywhere. Seeing as how she was already wet, there wasn't much of a point to avoid not getting drenched. She just hoped she didn't smell bad once they were in the train and such. Then she may have to try skipping the shop and go home to cook for herself. Maybe she could invite him over too. Which would be a little weird... but it would be another way to study him. Was this what she really wanted to do? She was beginning to grow uncertain.

Henshin laughed out loud at Rai's weak comeback. She did not seem too good at making witty retorts, at least not in this setting. He pulled a face in mock pain and made a hissing noise like he had been stung. "Ooo, good one. Consider me well and truly burned", he uttered sarcastically, but in a friendly tone.

Henshin could tell that if they were placed on the same team he would have a lot of fun sparring with Rai, verbally and in training simulations. He gave more thought to who their teacher would be, and if there would be another team mate they would have to meet and get accustomed to. As a unit, they would have to learn to work together as a team, for they would certainly suffer for lack of it.

When she gave her exclamation and started to run towards the train station, it took Henshin by surprise and he slipped when she dashed away, falling down into the mud once more. Scrambling to his feet, he shook his fists at Rai's general direction and called out some obscenity muffled by the wet dirt in his mouth. Spitting in disgust, he chased after his new companion, smiling despite the large new layer of mud that coated him.

Yes indeed. This should be much fun.

[FIN]