Starring:
Date: March 18, 2016
Summary:
Shinobu needs a new sensei to help her master the intricacies of the Lightning Four Legged Style. Kenta, Daichi and Shinobu approaches Taiki to ask for help.
"A Penny for a Pup's Thoughts"
Konoha - Chuunin Training Grounds
It's not very often that Kenta goes looking for Taiki. The senior medic is often too busy, so Kenta tries to bother him as little as possible. This is especially true after the injuries that Taiki received during a mission lately. Unfortunately, there's a matter that requires direct interaction with the older shinobi, so Kenta goes looking for him during lunch break. He has the subject matter of the discussion, Shinobu, in tow with him. Oddly enough, the young man finds out that Taiki is currently at the Chuunin Training Grounds, so he immediately sets off for that location.
Shinobu follows Kenta, sorta hiding behind him because she may or may not be very nervous. Kame has been trying to convince Kenta to carry her around, but that may not have worked out well. Whether carried or walking, the pup would accompany her partner, seeming pretty cheerful about whatever was upcoming. Very different from her partner sometimes. Also, Shinobu might have invited Daichi!
Daichi was invited, but he decided he wanted to prove he could be stealthy too. Which meant he was following Kenta and Shinobu from a short distance away and being all ninja like. Because of course he was a ninja. This involved him moving from tree to tree rather quickly, and keeping his steps as silently as possible. Hopefully he could at least hide from Kenta, but he knew Shinobu had a good nose.
And what would Taiki be doing at the Chuunin training grounds? Well, in this case he's supervising a replacement of medical supplies as a couple of new medic nins are taking an inventory. To his right are two rather large boxes full of supplies of various types, with most of them in sealing scrolls. Taiki himself has a scroll in his hand that he's using as a checklist as the other medic nins review the condition of the supplies already present. Sometimes they would have to confer with one another about some of them, but their reports to Taiki would be made with certainty. After all, if they couldn't decide, Nozomi has a habit of making her opinions known quite clealy. Shinobu is off to the side, watching in amusement. He smells the group approaching, including the one that thinks he's being stealthy, though Shinobu has the nose of a bloodhound sometimes and can smell him coming a mile away…
Kenta's keeping track of Daichi the entire time that his small group travel through the training grounds. He just doesn't let on that he knows exactly where the boy is. After all, Daichi needs to build up some confidence for the skillset he's learning -and- he actually -is- getting better, so why burst the boy's bubble? Ironically, Kenta may know what he needs to know about Daichi, but he has no idea that Shinobu's nervous at all. Kame seems happy enough in the young medic-nin's arms, so Shinobu's probably not feeling too different tagging along from behind, right?
"Konichiwa, Taiki-sama and Nozomi-sama and Shinobu-sama," Kenta greets when he enters the clearing where the Inuzuka Clan Head is supervising the supply replacement. He bows deeply with Kame still in his arms, which might or might not be too pleasant for the puppy. "Ummm… I'm sorry to interrupt you during such important work, but Shinobu-chan and I have something that we want to ask you."
Kame squeaks and wriggles a bit as she's sorta scrunched up in Kenta's arms. Hopefully the bow doesn't last too long! Shinobu would wave quietly to Taiki and sort of start edging away from the area because… Daichi was near! She could smell him clear as day. The girl was sorta making her way over to where his scent was coming from slowly, trying to make it seem like she wasn't backing out. I mean, she totally was… But only because she wanted to be near Daichi!
Daichi sits back in a tree before suddenly flickering to another one. Then from there he tries to listen, but can't hear much so he decides he has to get closer. He gets closer by suddenly trying to tackle Shinobu! HAHAHA! "Hey Shinbou. What are you and Taiki and Kenta doing?" He asked whether he got her or not. He was just chuckling a bit and sitting on the ground or sorta above her before sliding off to the side as he doesn't want to squish her.
Shinobu the ninken gives a soft wuff, causing Taiki to smirk and nod. One of the medic nins calls out an item number, proclaiming it bad, and Taiki reaches into the crate to pull out s scroll. After tossing it to the medic nin in question, he turns his attention to Kenta and seemingly ignores the antics of Daichi and Shinobu the girl, though his words soon correct that assumption, "Well it seems to me more like you have a question for me, as Shinobu-san appears nervous, and is currently being tackled by her boyfriend at the moment. But… what did you need?"
Kenta rubs the back of his neck, bracing Kame with one arm while he does it. What a time for Shinobu and Daichi to get into their antics. "Ummm… they're not boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, they're not nearly old enough for that type of thing yet. Both of them are years away from reproductive age," Kenta clarifies before things can become misinterpreted further, in his mind. The young man lifts on his toes and then rocks back onto his heels. "Ummm… Actually, we wanted to see if you're up to taking a new student. Shinobu-chan is trying to learn how to incorporate lightning chakra into her Inuzuka clan techniques."
Shinobu squeaks and gets tackled by Daichi! The girl doesn't fall over, which makes it actually hurt a bit more… But she snuggles a bit regardless. Kame would snicker at Taiki's words and yip a few times so that only the Inuzuka would understand. ~Kenta's shoving me and Shinobu to you, if you can! Also, I like Daichi. So I think he's good~
Daichi heard Taiki, but paid no attention to him really. He just hugged Shinobu, and then looked over. "So what's going on? Why did only Shinobu invite me? Did Kenta not want to invite me?" He asked with a raised brow. "Seems I don't get invited to anything." He then sighed and looked back at Shinobu. "How are you doing today?" He smiled, and dragged her literally if she didn't follow along willingly to the others.
Taiki watches the two "friends" tumble for a moment, then looks at Kenta and says, "Riiiight." He then shakes his head as he responds to Kame, "Yeah, I'm getting that impression too." Finally he looks at Kenta and says, "I know she has some of the basics down, and she's asked me before, but that was during that whole Zori debacle. I hear that's been resolved though, but I'd like to hear from Shinobu-san herself on this."
"Shinobu-chan never mentioned that to me," Kenta says with surprise in his voice. The young man looks over to where the Genin are roughhousing. Well, was roughhousing, since Daichi's now trying to bring Shinobu over to the small group. "Ummm… Shinobu-chan. Taiki-sama said that you asked him to train you before, back when he was too busy with other matters to take you on. He wants to speak to you and make sure that you're still interested."
Kame would huff at Kenta, extending a bit of genjutsu so the medic could understand her barking. ~You're always so busy at the hospital or busy with Jounin stuff!~ Of course, even when they see Kenta, they don't mention it. It was mostly put out of their minds because Taiki said no initially.
Shinobu would wander over with Daichi and sorta keep behind Daichi because it felt safer there. She felt fine around her clan head, but it was just sort of a habit to keep behind Daichi. "Umm… Hai…" she says quietly, mumbling a small 'good' to Daichi before she'd speak up louder for Taiki and Kenta's questioning.
Daichi nods and hugs Shinobu again before listening to their words. "So she was just looking for someone to teach her other things?" He nods to himself, and waits to listen to what is said next. Probably expecting a yes, and just wanting to be here in general because of Shinobu. His eyes shifted between all of them before settling on Kame though who he waved to.
Taiki continues to smirk even as he folds his arms over this chest. "Kenta-san here tells me you're till looking for a teacher for Four Legged Style," he starts. "I'm aware that things have, for the most part, settled down with Zori. At least I haven't heard anything about him lately, even when he's returned from Kumo. What are your dealings with him now?"
"Umm… the Zori thing seems pretty settled to me. I mean, I didn't hear anything bad about him since he returned either. I don't even see him much these days, which means that he hasn't been getting in enough trouble for that to happen," Kenta mentions when the former troublemaker is mentioned. But there's something equally important to talk about, or that Shinobu needs to talk to Taiki about, so Kenta doesn't blabber on too much longer. He quiets down, but gives the girl an encouraging smile to go ahead.
"Umm… I usually… stay away… Just in case… And I haven't had to see him on a mission…" Shinobu would say. "So… I guess none…' the girl would glance over to Kenta for a moment before she looks back to Taiki. "Umm… And … Hige-kun is always busy… I would ask him, but…" Busy. "And you're busy too… And Atsuro-sama is even busier…" Is how she sees it. So she's just been having to learn a lot of skills on her own after being shown something a couple times.
Daichi frowned for a moment. "I was put on a mission with Zori like the day he came back. And he still seemed like he might do something stupid." He frowned, but shrugged. "No matter." He sighed and poked Shinobu in her side. "You doing good though on your training huh? Probably better than I am even."
"I wasn't asking about his tendencies or disposition. That has no bearing on my training you," Taiki explains to both Kenta and Shinobu-girl, but mainly to Shinobu. "What I am interested in your feelings, thoughts, and actions toward him now. You say you try to avoid him, this is a good thing, it shows some wisdom. And I don't expect either you or Kame to /like/ him, for that would be far too much to ask. What I want to know is now, when you think of him, what do you think and feel?"
Kenta gives Daichi a questioning look, but doesn't comment. This is Shinobu's moment to explain herself to Taiki and gain his approval. But the fact that Daichi thinks that Zori's still not acting very smart bears looking into. Kenta doesn't look quite as worried as he can though, since there's little proof beyond the brief statement that anything might really be wrong. He does nod slightly towards the boy to indicate that he did hear the comment.
"Umm… I don't know… I just want to stay away to avoid bad things happening… Since bad things happen around him…" Shinobu says. "Umm… He sorta makes me… Nervous… Because he just likes to grin… And I don't think he likes Kame…" Not that that matters. "I don't… really hate him… Just … feel uncomfortable around him…" Kame would prod Kenta's hand to try and get some pets. Yip! ~As long as he doesn't bother us, I'm fine. I just think he's annoying now… Though if he hurts Shinobu I'll get super mad.
Daichi nods with Kame's words. "Yes. I would too." He seemed mad just thinking about it actually. But he just listened to what was said next as he didn't have much he could say right now that would help anything. So he just waited. Maybe Taiki would move onto something else next more interesting, but he expected at least a bit more Zori talk.
Taiki nods once as he thinks about their responses. "Good. That's far more acceptable than last time," he says with a pleasant smile. He then looks at Kenta for a moment, then says, "So we are now back to the first question I asked when you came to me last time. Why do you want to learn this? I know you know the basics, and you surprised me with your medical knowledge, but why do you want to learn from me?"
"You're the best," Kenta points out after Taiki asks the question. "Ummm… but I'll let Shinobu-chan explain her own thoughts." The young man shuffles his feet slightly, knowing that he shouldn't have interrupted at this point and time. He reflexively starts to pet Kame at the puppy's subtle urgings. Now that the petting start, Kenta remembers that he never gave Kame a treat, so he pauses mid-pat to fish into a belt pouch for a meat flavored biscuit.
Shinobu chews a bit on her lip as she thinks over her answer. There were a number of reasons that came to mind, of course, but a lot of them were more like 'excuses why I ought not be taught by the Clan Alpha'. Umm… Well, can't say those. The girl would shuffle a bit in her spot and say, "Umm… Our skill sets… are similar… So I thought it'd be easier… If you taught me things… Because Kenta-san can't really… help with taijutsu… And his ninjutsu doesn't match mine… Plus, he can't teach genjutsu, so… He's more just to lead… Than to teach… But I need a teacher more than a leader…" She hopes that makes sense.
Daichi hugs Shinobu before looking at Taiki. "She needs a mentor in her shinobi arts. Kenta is a good team leader and knows how to utilize her talents. You on the other hand would know how to allow her talents to grow you know?" He smiled and squeezed Shinobu a tiny bit.
Taiki considers her words, and pretty much shrugs off Kenta's original statement. After all, it doesn't do too well to pat your own back… Instead he's most intent on the meaning behind Shinobu's declaration, which he considers very carefully before finally answering it. "Very well," he says after a few moments. "I'll teach you whatever you want to learn. I ask only one thing. Please try to lose some of your hesitance around me. It would be easier to teach you that way."
Before he can say more, another medical Ninja appears and whispers to Taiki. He sighs and nods to the man before saying, "Take over for me here. Nozomi! Shinobu! We have to go." He then turns back to Shinobu, Kenta, and Daichi and shakes his head. "Sorry, I have a medical problem to attend to at the hospital. I must go. We'll arrange a time to meet and discuss your training, Shinobu-san." With that, he and his partners dash off out of the area, headed ultimately to their stated destination.
