The first meeting: Team 1 assembles

Get the alarm. Coming out from the electronic clock as it reached to 8:30, the mild sounds of jazz filled his room. It was a slow moving song, the saxophone mellowing into the flow of the piano. He could imagine the fingers roll off the white and black keys, his eyes closed as he felt the music flow in and out of his hands. It's time to get up the voice in his head said, Staying in the bed and contemplating about this song wont get you out of here any sooner. Reluctantly, Kaisen listen to the little voice in his head. He open his eyes and released that the blankets covered the entirity of his body. He also notice how his hair was over his brow seeing the ends of his hair, the dark green tint of it.

Pulling off the covers, he twisted his body upward and his feet landed on the cold wooden floor. He was debating whether or not he should wash up or not but he was meeting his team for the first time and of course there were two females among them. It would rude for him to have a pungent order and it was decided he needed to wash up. He moves over the creaky floor and towards the bathroom, small as it was, it was clean and in order; it was a trait from his mother that would usually have everything in a tidy fashion that made the house he use to live in orderly. He lets out a large yawn feeling the ache in his jaw. As he smacks his legs, he looks at himself in the mirror

Looking a bit rugged right now the voice said again. He moves the hair away from his brow and then shakes entire head, afro and all. The afro moved independently and it expanded outward. He scratched his chest, naked in the mirror reflecting back. The scars were still there, though it was now two shades lighter than his coco skin tone. He rubbed his neck and then cracked it. He moves over to the shower and turns the hot knob, To his surprise, there was hot water coming out. Looks like the neighbor beside him either hasn't woken up yet or he woke up and didn't take all the hot water. He didn't mind either way, he was too relaxed from the steam. He turns the cold knob a bit and steps into the shower. It was just right and he stood there for a good five minutes before washing his entire body. When he was done, he stepped out, grabbing the towel on the rack beside the shower. He wrapped the towel around his waist and moved out to the main room. He had jumped over the bed and took a few steps to his closet. There he spread all the available clothes, which wasn't much in honesty, and stared at the new clothes that he recieved from the Raikage

"It would look totally badass" he said with a cracked smile on his face that sorta made Kaisen's eyebrow rise a bit "You should understand that your situation is much different than most. You are the jounin for this experiment team. You are the assassin that will wipe away all those who stand before me. You are a sword Kaisen and I want the sword to be badass looking shishishishi" that laughter was not annoying nor sinister but almost instinicitively convincing for Kaisen to shiver in his spine. It was only that laugh and faint smell of blood from the cup he was sipping on that had given Kaisen the thought of vampires and sparkles? Where in the hell did sparkles come from. His cup had glisten, a small red rubies gave a dim shine and that's what caught Kaisen's attention. He saw Kaji's face as he put the cup of blood down. He seemed a bit agitated. He then realized that he probably read his thought about the sparkles and it was the most irritating thing he could combine the two together ever again. His face changed again back to it's cat-like smile and said "Take these and meet your team. You can choose the time, I'm not really in a rush. Just make sure you meet them."

In the closest was a single pair of an all black attire: Black pants, black shirt, black boots, black trench coat, hell it even had a pair of round shades. What is Kaji trying to reference from, a movie? It did kind of reminded him of a movie he saw long ago with his father. He forgot the name but apparently the protagonist wore outfits like this because they were some part of a group that were against a group called the "machines". He thought so cause he never seen any jounin with something of this sort. Nevertheless he pulled the outfit out and proceeded into putting it on. When he was done, he moved over to the bathroom mirror. Well, it appeared the Raikage had a interesting sense of humor or a really good taste in clothing. The trench coat was actually very interesting: It looked cool and he didn't mind it now. He pulls out the shades that were in the trench coat pocket and placed them over his eyes. He looked alot older with them on, almost appearing as if he was in his twenties. Looking down on the side of the sink was his katana, condensating as it was. He grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist. He does a quick eye shrug and proceeded out of his apartment where he locked the house and jumped off the platform and towards the rooftops.

It was mildly windy at this point, it wasn't too windy as it has been for the past few days but he wasn't going to assume that these storm like conditions were to stop. He was unshaken with each landing and jumping he did from rooftop to rooftop. Being on the lower side of town, there wasn't many high towers to climb which made travelling easy and bit fun. He had an urge to do a bit of parkour, to get the adrenline flowing but he didn't want to get sweaty and continued to get all wet. Even with the hood he had placed over himself, he was most likely to sweat and he wasn't far from the village sector so there was no point right now.

He had jumped and landed on the sidewalk where a group of people stopped in a bit of awe as the young shinobi rises from the ground. It was a bit dramatic from his perspective and interestingly enough he probably shouldn't of done it but at this moment Kaisen had very little worry. It was 8:53 from what the clock said. Seven minutes before his team showed up. He had a thought that a few of them were going to be late. It was typical for them the voice in his head said. Dont be surprise if they haven't showed up on time. He jump over the cross walk, wasting no time to the village square. There, he saw the large towers that overlooked the entire village. A bit overkill much Kaisen said to himself. Fuck off little Kaisen, they are my towers and I do whatever the hell I want with them. Dont tell me they are overkill or I'll fuck your little asshole sideways and beyond a horrid shrieking voice in his head said. That was not his voice and he knew it. He rubbed his forehead before saying "I think I'll need a vacation after all of this is over"

He walks to the bench in a little area of a park. It was newly refurnished and by this time around it was well completed. There was a small calm from the rain, only sprinkling a little bit. Sitting down, he crossed his legs, waiting for the rest of his team to show up. It was 8:55 from what the clock said. He lets out a soft sigh.

A figure is shadowed by the absence of light, but is soon to be completely visible. Sothe sits upon the roof of his home and is watching the sun rise. He usually does not do this, but the night before his uncle and his friends were playing Go and drinking sake, making a ruckus. Thus, Sothe was unable to gain much sleep and wasn’t able to fall back asleep when they drunks passed out. So there he was, doing something to pass the time by. Soon the sun rose and overtook the darkness. His eyes were pained by the sudden direct sunlight and he had to turn away. Even though that short moment was slightly painful, he felt at peace. As the soon kept rising and eventually was fully visible, he sighed. *Now what should I do?*

After a few minutes of pondering, he decided to grab a bite to eat. Sothe didn’t usually eat this early so he was unsure how his stomach would quell with it. To his surprise, there was virtually no difference. Actually he was hungrier than usual. (Most likely due to him staying up so late) So there he was, making loud eating noises at 6:30 am.

With a hangover on a nearby couch, Uncle awakes to the sound of vacuum-like eating. “Sothe! Calm it with that mouth of yours. “His mind was very sensitive to sound as a result of the hangover.

Sothe however, simply kept eating at the same rate as he was almost done anyway. By appearance, it looked as though the entire food pyramid was falling into his gullet. Clearly, staying up had thrown his eating habits out of whack. After he was finished, he felt strangely alive. Odd as it seemed, but after staying up his body seemed to go into overdrive and gave him extra energy. Now Sothe, being the anti-slacker he was felt that he NEEDED to do something with this newfound energy boost. So he went to his training room to perform his daily stretches.

Now, everything in the house Sothe lived in was fairly modernized, except for his personal dojo. It had traditional Japanese sliding doors, polished wooden floors and did not have any lighting besides candles lit and spread around the dojo. He bowed before entering and closing the door behind him. He started off with a simple stretch, mountain stance and slowly made his way into different stretches. He eventually ended with a one handed hand stand with a tree style leg lock and his free arm lifted horizontally.

After the intense stretches, he was interrupted by a dizzy Uncle who said, “A letter came that said you gotta meet your sensei at the village center, 9 am.” He then tossed the letter at Sothe, who fell over from his one handed pose and caught it.

”Alright, thanks Unc-“ Sothe was cut off and slightly pained.

“Don’t yell. I mean, don’t talk. I…Forget it I’m going to bed. “Uncle closed the door very softly and walked away. Sothe was left there and he gave a slight chuckle before heading to the shower. He gained a sweat from his dynamic stretches and wanted to clean up for his first meeting. Leaving the dojo; closing the sliding door; entering the bathroom and flicking the on switch; He took off his pajamas and began to shower. When he exited he noticed that it was 7:52 am. Soon after brushing his teeth and making his way to his room, he clothed himself and headed out at around 8 O’ clock am.

Sothe lived a pretty far away from the village center, giving reason to why he left an hour before the meeting would actually start. Along the way, he ran into various village people that he knew, saying greetings when necessary. Smiles here and there, until a sudden slight downpour came upon him; for some reason, the past two weeks had been very rainy. During that week, Sothe lost the need to stay away from rain and now simply walked through it, nearly carefree.

~Time skip to 9:56~

Sothe entered the village center, noticing that the new construction had been fairly completed, even though it seemed to rain at the project’s finish. As he walked he suddenly realized that he forgot what the said about his new Sensei. He checked his pocket and it seemed that he forgot to bring it with him. A slight panic grew over Sothe. How was he to find his new teacher, if he didn’t know what he was looking for? With a little pep in his step, Sothe moved throughout the village center looking for something that he didn’t know. Two minutes later seemed like forever and Sothe was becoming very nervous. He looked down, losing hope and thought, *This is hopeless. There is no way I am finding him now.*

He took a deep sigh and then looked up. In the distance he saw a man with an afro and dark skin color. His mind clicked and connected it with the notes in the letter that said of such a man to be his sensei. There were not many people with afros in Kumogakure, if any at all, so there was little chance that it would be the wrong person. Sothe rushed forward and introduced himself.

“Sensei Kaisen? I’m Sothe Dokuga, one of your new pupils.” He gave a slight nervous smile, eyes a little endearing and posture a bit clammy.

Saib yawned a little as Aoitori more or less pushed her off of her bed. She woke up on the floor with the blanket still loosely wrapped around her and half glared at him, but she just didn't have the energy to keep it up. 'I still can't believe that everyone's... gone...' thought Saib quietly as Aoitori came over and helped her sit up. "I'm sorry..." he murmured quietly before going over to the closet and drawer, pulling out various articles of clothing. "Look... you've got a meeting today, so go take a shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and get dressed. Don't worry about your dad and them all. You're not Daimyo, you don't have to follow his orders anymore, isn't that what you wanted?" he asked quietly, setting the clothes next to her in a neat pile.

"I... I don't know... I thought I did... but... I don't want it to be like this. Even if my Dad never really knew me or showed that he cared, he does care... And my Mom... I thought she died or something because I hadn't seen her in so long but when we got the report and when you went to see it... She... And brother... he... his wife... and... I..." started Saib, blinking away the tears and rubbing her eyes. Aoitori mentally sighed and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm about her. "I know... I know... but you still have Gaeul and Areumdaum... You still have me. Don't worry too much. Really. You're still living with the Raikage, sort of, so that must mean something. And no one's targeted you either, so that's good."

"That's not true! If I get involved with Gaeul and Areumdaum even more someone might... they might hurt them... And... and you're more likely to die than me since you're my bodyguard! A-And maybe its just because they think I'm weak?"

"... Saib... Have faith in yourself, will you? How many times do I have to tell you that? You're lucky you're not Daimyo right now either. Passing it onto the Raikage might not have been a wise choice... but... its better than being Daimyo yourself. You're safe from danger, you still hold political power, you're going to help raise one of Kumo's Genin Teams, you still have friends, and you still have family. I gave you a whole week to think over this, now stop moping around and start acting the Chuunin you are! Ninja shouldn't be burdened by such little things! And if you care so much, then find out who did this, get revenge if you want. Just don't sit there and cry all day. You've already done enough of that. Save your tears, Saib. Something more painful is probably going to happen later on. Losing your family is hard, but it happens and you can move on. You'll find something else to cling to and hold onto and when you lose that, you'll hurt again. Pain and misery is just something we have to deal with as humans."

"I... okay... " mumbled out Saib, starting to get up before bending back down and hugging Aoitori, holding him close to her. "Thank you, Aoitori..." she whispered before slipping off into the bathroom.

Sighing, Aoitori only shook his head and stared up at the ceiling. Truth be told, he had been worried when he first sent his report that day and nothing had came back, but he had given the Daimyo the benefit of the doubt, that he was busy or wasn't caring at the moment. Wrong. Three days later and still no reply, something had to be wrong. And then the news had come that the Daimyo and his compound had been murdered reached them... Yeah, that was so not normal and he was getting suspicious too, very.

And what do you know? The Raikage makes a rather personal appearance and more or less vows to protect her in a way and help her by becoming Daimyo until she feels she's ready for it. But he knew Saib, she wasn't one to rule over a country, but she would gladly give it to someone else if she thought she could entrust him. He was suspicious of the new Raikage to begin with, but... Saib seemed to trust him. Why he didn't know. Did she like him? Maybe. What did he know. Still... it wasn't like he could actually do anything. His position was merely serve and obey.

The door opened and Saib slid out with a towel about her body and Aoitori merely handed her her clothes, almost having to help her dress seeing as she was still a bit depressed and de-energized (and who wouldn't be if they hadn't been eating correctly for a week or so?). "Alright... You're meeting them at the park. You're the Assitant, remember that. Most of the Genin there have special bloodlines, the other one that's normal is blind... but she's rich. Maybe you can make friends?" he added a bit lamely at the end.

But it worked. Saib laughed and smiled, "Yeah, an 18 year old befriending a bunch of 14 year olds. Who's the Jounin?" she asked, feeling a little better. 'Then again... maybe I can try? It might help...'

Aoitori grinned a little at her question. "He's two years younger than you... Kurayami Kaisen." There was a brief moment of silence before Saib nodded and started to leave. "... Okay..." 'Damn it, this is gonna be awkward...' she thought, starting to become a little hesitant at meeting them, but she was a ninja. Ninja. Yes, remember that. As a ninja she couldn't be too easily intimadated and besides... she wasn't exactly from a ninja family or anything to begin with... well on her mother's side but... argh, just get it over with.

"Oh, and Sai... you have thirty minutes to get there," yawned out Aoitori before he went back to lay on his own bed in the room. "Hurry, hurry. Don't want to be late do you? Don't forget your coat! It'll probably rain later and there are heavy storms!" he yelled after her. 'Ahh why do I do this? She's old enough to take care of herself.' 'Because you care and you know she's bound to forget these little things when she's upset.' 'Yeah... But what am I going to do for today? Saib siad I could take the day off...' 'And we've never had a day off... at least not in a long time, so what are we going to do?' ... ... ... 'Let's go visit that Natsumi girl, she seemed nice. You guys haven't talked in awhile either.' 'Yeah... kid's got to be better by now, right? Wonder how she took gettin blown off by the Raikage as a bodyguard though...' 'Let's go find out then!'

And so, whilst Saib went off on her own (surprisingly) Aoitori decided to go check up on Natsumi. He'd probably drop by later and resume his duties as her bodyguard, even if he wasn't getting paid a decent amount anymore...


'Ahh where is it... With all the new upgrades its getting confusing finding things here. I just got used to Kumo too,' thought Saib in annoyance as she started to enter the relative area where the team was to gather. Slowly, but surely she made her way there. Seeing as she hadn't really been in a good mood to look at much, she didn't actually know what her team looked like... just their names. But she did spy a young man sitting on a bench that looked like he was waiting for someone to show up. She supposed he was either the Jounin or one of the Genin. If the Genin were there or not, she wouldn't really know. Sensing Genin apart from the regular masses was a little hard because most of the Genin she had contact with didn't differ all that much from the regular people, sure a few things stuck out here and there, but most of the time when she wasn't focused on sensing people or reading them... they appeared as regular citizens.

But as she strode towards him, she began to sense a sort of aura from him that definitely confirmed him as the Jounin. He was just... strong that was all she could say, but he didn't look like he flaunted his power or anything. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad working under him for awhile. Not really much of a people person to begin with, or knowing how to react with people again ever since she'd locked herself up in her room at the Raikage's Mansion she wasn't really sure how to talk to him or even if she should talk to him...

Instead she just closed her eyes briefly and tried to forget about everything that was worrying her and stood off to the side, leaning against a lamp post slightly with her arms crossed. And so she waited for the Genin to arrive and wondered if the young Jounin would want her to do anything soon... and how was she to be of help today? It was 8:55. Was she late...? 'This is gonna suck if I'm the last one to get here...' thought Saib softly.