Remram
AchronumKazuhiko Taketori
Afternoon || Land of Lightning
The temple was impressive in a rustic sort of way. Carved out of a cliff, it offered both physical and mental solace through its lonely placement and offered scenery. On the wall were scrolls that indicated the temple’s purpose, and from the few characters Kazuhiko could vaguely recognize, mostly through familiar shapes or brushstrokes, the temple seemed to be one worshipping lightning or something relating to it. Seeing as they were in the Land of Lightning, this made perfect sense, and for the rest of the walk through the temple Kazuhiko focused his attention on these intricate carvings lining the columns and walls, trying to piece together scraps of knowledge to better understand what the temple stood for.
Soon enough, when they reached the center room, which had a roof of faded colors, Natsuko bounded out to the balcony, admiring the view as Kazuhiko and Koharu stood back, admiring the structure’s histories. With Natsuko occupied by the sights and sounds, no longer prattling away, the structure was almost soothing in its lost lore and purpose, offering a sort of comforting mystery that didn’t push Kazuhiko to decode it. Rather, it let him do as he pleased, waiting for him to progress at his own pace, be that a fast or slow one.
Walking over to a wall on which a scroll hung, brandishing fading characters like works of art for appreciation, Kazuhiko was aware of Koharu beside him, who was equally if not more appreciative of the temple’s internal significance. It was comforting that at least one of his teammates was as pensive as him, though he knew from experience that Koharu had moments to her when she could match Natsuko’s craziness. While he preferred to remain calm, grounded and in control of his actions and emotions, Natsuko had a way of throwing her emotions around like some mental weight, hefting it to strengthen her actions and thought processes. Many people seemed to prefer speaking to her because of it, perhaps because she could be more interesting, more unpredictable because of it, or because she became predictable as a result, freely allowing people to influence her. While to Kazuhiko this was a childish and rather careless way to live, he could understand why many people choose to live and think as such, and he sometimes wondered if he was too accepting of his lack of youthful energy. He could see that Koharu, for example, was drawn to Natsuko by her energy, was interested in casting off her mental wariness in favor of Natsuko’s bright whimsicalness, but unlike her, he wasn’t drawn to it. He understood it as a concept, understood why he could indulge, but he felt more comfortable abstaining, more secure in maintaining a tight grip on his situation. Maybe it was this difference that separated them, and while Kazuhiko knew Minoru wanted him to open up and act like Natsuko, he couldn’t see why it would benefit him to do so.
When Minoru told them to go off and explore, the group had a variety of reactions. Where Koharu lit up, clearly interested by the possibility of seeing more of the temple, Natsuko shrugged, probably due to her losing interest in the general situation. Given her penchant for human interaction over inhuman ones, her focus on the here and now rather than the past or future, she was bound to get bored sometime during this excursion. That said, she’d still tag along with Koharu and him, and he was similarly interested in the temple, though more so in the possibility of lost jutsu or relics. Just like in villages when families perfected jutsus, factions and organizations were always developing jutsu, and though they might have been strong or even applicable to the present, with so many different justu to compete with, lost jutsu were always interesting. Someone somewhere had thought something useful, and they’d invented that something. Applicable to the present or not, forgotten jutsu were a part of history, and no history was worth nothing.
“Will do, sensei,” Kazuhiko said, turning to head away with his teammates, but he found Koharu already turning the corner and Natsuko getting ready to sit down and wait for lunch.
Meeting his eyes, Natsuko groaned, standing up again.
“Okay, fine, I’ll come!”
“No one’s forcing you,” he said, walking down the hallway Koharu disappeared through.
“Yeah, sure. Totally. Some real hard training we’re doing here, Sensei!”
Looking back to see Minoru busying himself with the lunch, clearly ignoring Natsuko, Kazuhiko hid a smirk.
Natsuko Rinha
Afternoon || Land of Lightning
Natsuko trudged down the hallway, a little behind Kazuhiko and a lot less content. After all, it was hardly her idea to scale a mountain to train, then be told that actually no, it wasn’t training that they were going to do, it was exploring and eating. So what if she didn’t like training either? She could still be upset, and she would maintain that she had every right to be upset precisely because she could. Cliffs, old ruins, smelly scrolls were the only things around, yet for some reason Kazuhiko and Koharu were interested! Trying to understand why her two pent-up teammates were interested in an abandoned building from decades ago was like trying to understand why a turtle like cabbage over carrots: she didn’t have enough patience, and she might not even care all that much. Okay, so it might offer her some insight into their character, but she could find other ways to get the same information, maybe even for less. Boring herself over this all simply wasn’t worth it, and she did her best to make her dissatisfaction known, keenly aware that everyone else was either ignoring her or too interested in the place to notice, as in Koharu’s case.
Speaking of Koharu, though Natsuko was a teensy, weensy bit peeved that the girl hadn’t noticed her annoyance, she still appreciated Koharu much more than the other two members of Team Six. Minoru was the one responsible for dragging them up to this god-forsaken place, and she’d caught that sly smirk Kazuhiko had done his best to cover, which she definitely wouldn’t have caught if he’d put actual effort into hiding it. At least Koharu was ignoring her for genuine reasons, even if Natsuko couldn’t understand those reasons.
Glancing out the window as she trekked along behind Kazuhiko, Natsuko wondered whether Hachiro had settled down at home okay. Admittedly she hadn’t gotten along great with the boy, but she liked to think that there was some sort of vague rivalry between them, a bond born of a love of mischief and competition and a mutual agreement to never let the other person hog the spotlight for too long. Though this ‘rivalry’ may all have been in her head, she didn’t mind having him around too much, especially now that she was thinking about it. He was another kindred soul, of sorts, who helped liven up the group, and he brought out a gentleness in Koharu and Kazuhiko that she herself envied. That was, perhaps, what she envied most about him.
Turning back to the stone hallway, Natsuko glanced at Kazuhiko out of the corner of her eye, racking her brain for something to take her mind off the little boy who wasn’t present. And, stumbling upon an idea, she grinned.
“Race ‘ya there!”
He whipped around to look at her, eyes widening ever so slightly with surprise as she took off down the hallway ahead of him, a wide grin on her face.
Kazuhiko Taketori
Afternoon || Land of Lightning
In all honesty, the polite thing to do was to allow Natsuko her victory, because yeah, she did catch Kazuhiko by surprise, whether he wanted to admit it or not. For that, she deserved a little glee, but because he couldn’t guarantee that she wasn’t going to hold a footrace victory over his head as well, and because Kazuhiko didn’t exactly want to deal with her needling him for the rest of his time here, he decided not to let her win. And, well, the rest was easy, unfortunately; speed had never been Natsuko’s strong suit.
“Damn you, Kazu!” she yelled after him as he sped ahead, breaking an amused grin. It’d been her idea and therefore her fault that he was winning—or, at least, that’s what he’d tell her when she caught up to him.
Rounding the corner, Kazuhiko caught sight of Koharu in what seemed to be a rudimentary library of sorts, complete with shelves and benches carved out of wood. The few rows of shelves there were contained a sparse collection of scrolls, some unwrapped and some not, and as he got closer he realized that scrolls had been scattered around the room as well, over both the benches and the ground, some even torn. There was no doubt in his mind that Koharu had nothing to do with it all, since she was hardly the type to leave a mess, and that alarmed him
“Koharu, what happened?” he asked, coming to a sliding stop beside Koharu, but before he could say anything else, the cliff wall of bookshelves slid back with a heavy thunk.
“Now, see, this is what I’m talking about. Actual tips—good tips. Tips I can genuinely cash in on. Do you know how much this is worth?”
A man stepped out of the new doorway, completely white from his pale hair and skin to his clean tunic and cloth sandals, which were so immaculately white that they looked like they hadn’t even touched the floor. His eyes, a pale yellow, snapped up from the scroll he was carrying—the only non-white part of him, being a dull tan instead—and seized on the two genin in the room.
“Oh, what do we have here? Some Konohagakure ninja here to intercept me? Or two unlucky children playing in the wrong place, at the wrong time?”
He tipped his head, stepping into the room. Behind him, a trio of black-clothed men filed out, drawing their katanas.
“Tell me, children, are you genin or chunin?”
He smiled, showing a mouth of perfectly white teeth just as—
“Damn it, you coward! Die!”
Kazuhiko barely resisted a flinch, whipping around to see Natsuko charging at him with such fervor that it wasn’t until she almost got her hands on him that she saw the other four residents of the room.
“Oh. Um,” Natsuko said, glancing at her teammates. “Who—”
“Tsk. What a waste of time.”
The man in white turned to leave, and Kazuhiko was very alarmed to note Natsuko’s eyes widening beside him.
“Excuse me, what’d you call me, chalkhead?”
The man froze, and Kazuhiko resisted the urge to groan, instead reaching behind him and retrieving three kunai from his pockets as he sized the katana-wielding men up.
“Oops.”
@Sunflower