Starring:
Meruin (emitter), Sarasa, Kiji, Kogarashi
Date: February 19, 2014
Summary:
3 Kirigakure genin are sent on a D-rank mission to inspire a somewhat eccentric artist through their combat skills. What they create turns out to be a rather dramatic scene.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Artist's Block"
Rice Paddy Road
"It's perfect!"
Miremi Mukade looks up at at the scenery surrounding him. Spring afternoon with an easy but constant breeze rolling through. The mists were present, but low to the ground and a little thin. The sky was largely clear and sunny but for the mixing of darker clouds off in the horizon. And the rolling hills and passages of rice paddies, a water road reflecting the light of day — "It's all here." The man almost nervously fingers his thin mustache as he stares at the canvass in front of him as though trying to force it to sprout a picture. "The tension, the foreshadowing, the bright and the hint of dark, the motion, it's all perfect, everything's here /except/… For those shinobi." He strokes his thick, paint smeared beard as he looks back towards the village. "Where are they..?"
It was about fifteen minutes before they were due to arrive.
Sarasa is sniggering the entire time they go there. Of course they would have non-combat missions. But this took it several steps farther. Posing for a picture? She's not exactly an ideal model. Not a buxom woman or a heavily muscled guy. Then again, her companions are fortunately not too much older than her. At least it's a nice day for the painting. She looks up at the spacious sky, and then down at the rolling landscape. And lastly her eyes settle on her companions. She smirks. "Are you ready to strike a dramatic pose?" she asks. She sounds mirthful. Yet once they reach the destination, she wills her face to seriousness. Well, something that's close to seriousness. There's a crack in her mood, just a hint of humor.
Kiji arrived at the designated meeting place early as he had at the last meeting he'd been to. Though this time he did not try to sneak up on anyone. No, this time he walked straight toward his destination. The boy's eyes were opal, a blank expression on his face. He wore his usual white tunic over black pants and sandals. He had heard that he was to meet other genin and pose for a local artist to paint. Well, spar and thus pose in action sequences. The boy had thought about this mission in some length before deciding to leave his long black and blue hair down save for the two braids framing his fair face. As he approached the man a gust of wind hit him, blowing his hair around him. He would lift a hand to catch his hair and keep it from his face. Sarasa's question struck him as a bit odd. "A mission is a mission."
Arriving at the agreed upon spot, Kogarashi sighs out as they arrive and then looks at the others, "THis could be so much better a spot for relaxing and playing music than posing about." He nods his head and then glances over Kiji, "Of course, given how you hold yourself, I'm sure you are more than eager to stand around like a model." He chuckles and then walks over to a nearby rock jutting out and leans on it, already looking over his flute as he ponders playing a tune as other spose.
"Yes; Here they are!"
Once the artist spots the Kirigakure shinobi arriving, the man brings himself up to bear, shoulders squaring to meet them. Of course, he was able to see them from a fair distance, so by the time they arrived at him and his easel, he had already turned his attention to mixing his paints, looking up at the scenery that would be the setting of this scene.
He paused in this as the genin reached him, though he frowned over at Kogarashi breaking off from the group to go idle away on a rock like the boulder's tumor. He pointed his brush at him, "You there! Up and energized, my boy. If you think I'm going to let you sit around and still get paid like some charlatan, you should think once or twice again, you should! Come, come!" He beckoned to him, and then to the others. "I am Miremi Mukade. Introduce yourselves. Tell me who you are."
Sarasa ducks her head a bit to hide the smirk at Mukade's order to Kogarashi. She'd go up to them, dusting a few blades of grass off of her outfit, and tucking her hair behind her ears. It's very short so there's not much else she can do with it. Sarasa wears her usual clothes, just a tanktop with knee-length pants and shinobi sandals, all in neutral colors. She takes the time to bow respectfully to the artist. "I am Hozuki Sarasa," she says, "Genin of Kirigakure, and here to help you make your project go smoothly. I'm very honored to be a part of your picture." She sounds sincere — seems she can be polite when she wants to be. Then, she straightens up with more pep and enthusiasm. "Tell us what you want, and we'll get to it, Mukade-san," she tells him.
Kiji had not yet come to an understanding of Kogarashi. The younger boy had seemed to dislike Kiji almost immediately and though Kiji had decided not to make any snap descisions toward Kogarashi, he wondered if the kid was honestly that insecure about himself that he felt the need to constantly try to bait him with badly disguised insults and jibes. However, Kiji had reason to let him be. First, it made no sense to engage in a fight over simple rudeness. He did not hold a position yet that demanded polite behavior as a matter of course. Second, he had a reputation to build. He had to keep the future in mind at all times and learn to be a leader. As such he would hopefully learn how to deal with such uneasy people as Kogarashi. Thus, Kiji did not react to the insult. Kogarashi's actions, however make the elder boy frown slightly, his eyes shifting into a pale yellow hue.
"Participation in this mission is going to require more of you than a simple flute, Kogarashi-kun." He then turned his back to Kogarashi entirely and continued to walk toward the artist.
When the artist suddenly spoke to Kogarashi, Kiji had to bite his lip to keep from smiling a little, but then it was on to business with the artist introducing himself and asking them for their introductions. Kiji waited for Sarasa to finish speaking. Kiji had had to bite his lip harder when he caught Sarasa's reaction to koga being scolded as well. But then the man's eyes were on him and he bowed gracefully, his long hair fluttering about him in the light breeze. "Shimizu Kiji. Thank you for your business, Mukade-san, just tell us what you would like."
A sigh comes from Kogarashi as he pushes back up and puts his flute away, "I'm Yukimura Kogarashi." He nods his head, "Just tell us what you need." He doesn't seem affected one way or the other. He has his hand resting on his katana as he steps forward and it is very clear that he either didn't notice or didn't care about the other two's amusement at his scolding. He doesn't even seem to take much care in the scolding either. He simply looks at the man and tilts his head, "Not sure how well one can draw the wind but feel free to request what you need, Mukade-san." He then idly starts rubbing a finger into his ear to pick at some wax.
"Merry meet, Sarasa-san." Mukade looked to the others, "Shimizu Kiji. Yukimura Kogarashi. Merry meet to the each of you! But you misunderstand." He raises a finger, leaning forward slightly as he looks between the young men and woman, passion threading through his voice. "As good as it is to know, I do not need your /names./ Those will never find their way onto the canvass. I need to know who you /are/ not what you call yourself. Thus far our dear Sarasa-san is the only one to show any real personality! This simply will not do — not one bit, so tell me again." He looks the each of them in the eyes.
"Who… are you?"
What??? He asked for their names and a bit about them, they gave it. Well, at least she gave a bit. But it was more a polite greeting than divulging some great secret about her personality. Sarasa takes a few moments to think about that then. What kind of personality does she have? She hasn't really thought about that much. Not at all in fact. Eventually, she says what she's heard other people say about her. "I sometimes get carried away with my sense of humor," she says. "I like to make people laugh and smile. I'm sneaky. And when I have a goal I go after it like a wolf." She can't really think of much else off the top of her head. She gives an affirming nod as if to confirm her words, and crosses her arms, before she looks to the boys.
Kiji blinked a few times when Miremi tells them that he needed to know who they were not what their names were. Kiji felt confused for a moment, his eyes drifting visibly from the pale yellow he'd had when he had spoken to Kogarashi and into a vivid purple as his confusion showed on his face. Sarasa helped him, however as she described her likes and dislikes. Ah indeed, so the man had meant he wanted to get to know who they were inside. Kiji tossed his long hair over one shoulder before he spoke. "I am a servant. I serve the village and the Mizukage. I will study under Yoichi-sama from now on…. " He paused.. perhaps this was not good enough.. Sarasa had spoken of things she liked to do… And so his eyes drained of the purple to be replaced by blue, like the sky. "I like to train and study things…" He hoped that helped… Oh wait.. "I use my family's kekkei genkai to manipulate blood."
A frown at that and Kogarashi looks over at the others as they speak. He idly looks at his blade and then taps his Katana lightly before looking up at the artist. Kogarashi idly frowns again and looks to the side, "I am one who death sought and death protected and now I deal it." He looks at the Katana, "I am the wind." He states and shrugs, "I make beautiful music with one hand and destroy lives with the other." He then looks up at the artist and shrugging.
Miremi Mukade listens to each of the answers with the same level of unshifting, nonjudgmental attention, a hand continuously stroking his thick grey beard. By the end of them, the man took a few more moments to mull over the information before nodding to himself.
The paintbrush pointed at Sarasa: "You don't know a thing about yourself."
To Kiji: "You know almost everything about yourself. Mostly because there's not much to know."
To Kogarashi: "And /you/ are PERFECT!"
"/You/ will be our main antagonist," spoke the artist. "You two," he said, pointing to Sarasa and Kiji, "You will be working together to take him down. He is the maker of beautiful music, yes, but also the destroyer of lives. You have no choice but to take his. Move swiftly now, take inspiration and fly with it!" He gestured towards the place he'd been looking at, a distance beyond his easel with the backdrop he'd prepared for, urgently directing them that way. "Go,go, go — be art!"
Sarasa just has to be relieved the painter doesn't try to press the point about what her personality is. She's really not the type to much get in touch with her feelings. When Mukade critiques the others, Sarasa looks — and they'd assume correctly — as if she's trying not to make a joke. Not much to know? Perfect? She seems to shrug it off. And then she has to think about what kind of scene she's going to show. The most convincing pose would be one that's real, like actually slugging Kogarashi in the face, or stabbing him, but he may not take too kindly to that. In the end she pulls out a fistful of kunai and draws it back to fling at Kogarashi. But right before they're about to fly at him, she freezes in the action of throwing them. Well, she tried. She really doesn't know how to be art.
Kiji blinked at the artist's critique. He showed little reaction to being told he was two dimensional. He was still new to this whole emotion thing to start with. He had heard it all before at the academy. He raises an eyebrow at Kogarashi being called perfect but otherwise simply nods at Mukade and heads out toward Sarasa's position, drawing his sharp ring down his forearm and preparing a medium amount of blood as he prepared for an attack…. "Sarasa, hold still." He focused and moved his hand so that several large drops of blood hit each of her kunai. When she threw them, the blood would either transfer or mix with Kogarashi's if he was cut. Then he waits, channeling his chakra around him in preparation.. the mission /had/ spoken of a spar after all….
Looking at the artist, Kogarashi lets out a sigh and draws his blade. He looks at his Katana and takes a breath before looking at the pair. He watches as Sarashi moves and moves his blade ready to react when she simply pauses and he blinks at that before tilting his head and watching what Kiji does next. He looks at the pair and hten hmms, "Are we…actually fighting or are we posing?"
The artist scowls at the assembled genin, pointing at them. "Do none of you take this seriously? Or were you not briefed like you were supposed to be? Art is /life./ If I wanted to paint statues, I would make them. Strike, punch, leap, dash, show some… some vitae! This must be real. You shinobi beat eachother up for practice all of the time. Let's see some of that action." His hands once more flicker, urging them away, "And let's see it further away from my easel. I'm not going to be a part of this piece."
Sarasa scratches her head as she ponders what to do. Maybe she ought to punch the artist in the face, that'd drive home that she's a real shinobi! Or maybe she should follow her personality, but it's strange. When she tries to draw it up there's like this huge fog. She can't even really remember what she did earlier today. She shrugs. She supposes she'll have to go at this, she'll just fight the way she actually does. So she steps back, and seems to melt into the background. Not left, right, or behind. Kogarashi may be able to sense her in time as Sarasa appears behind him to aim a kick straight at his back. One that'd send him stumbling forward if he was hit, but with no serious weight behind it. Followed by a low duck that would end with a log kick to sweep him off his feet. Though the Genin would be waiting at any time for the painter to give some signal to stop.
Kiji nodded his head at Sarasa, encouraging her to go through with the attack and nodded again when she had launched herself forward. He drew two kunai himself, sliding them through his own blood before he glanced at the artist.. He wanted action…hmm.. Kiji then took two steps forward, twirling to add flair as he threw both kunai at Kogarashi's center of mass. Another spin, his raven hair flying out and around him on the wind, he threw his arm out, narrowing his blood into needles int he air and flinging them with both hands, ending in a low bow, knees bent like a dancer's. His eyes were rimmed in orange now while the inside was still opal pale…
Even as Sarasa seems to fade away, Kogarashi steps back and holds his blade out before him, one foot sliding backward. He stares where she was only to end up kicked in the back, stumbling forward and rolling over her low kick and to the ground. Then a kunai barely even comes near him as he rolls to his feet and sends his blade upward. The blade moving upward isn't what stops the kunai though, it is very literally a gust of wind going upward and then the needles come in and his left hand raises up and slides downward with a sudden swipe that sends another gust of wind to take t hem out of the very air. Kogarashi stares at Kiji and then looks to Sarasa.
His eyes raise slightly as he then suddenly kicks a foot up with a roundhouse snap toward Sarasa's head that ends with him putting his back to her only for the moment it takes to finish a hand sign and swipe his blade at Kiji. He is far too far away for the blade to hit…but then the true devilry is the gust of wind he sent out that is meant to knock Kiji fully off balance as Kogarashi rushes in to cut him down with a single slice. This doesn't appear to be the lazy boy that arrived here to lean on a rock anymore, his focus suddenly found.
"Yes! YES!" Mukade gestures towards the group with sudden energy. "/That/ is what I like to see. Sarasa, beautiful movement. Kiji, your energy is so much better. Kogarashi, you are EXCELLENT! Continue, continue!" The man's brush dipped into paint and it soon touched to canvass with bold strokes, the man's gaze moving swiftly from scene to his work as back.
She's certainly glad that Mukade isn't angry. In fact he's very, very happy. Sarasa doesn't usually have such an enthusiastic audience. She has to resist the urge once again to laugh…this mission is ridiculous. She'd heard about a smelly fish one. Now she's almost…nah, this is better than the smelly fish one. And she starts to fall more into a rhythm. Kogarashi's kick lands squarely on Sarasa, but she immediately vanishes in a puff of steam. She's not behind him this time — in fact, she's barely moved from where her clone disappeared as she draws back her arm. She flings it out, but instead of projectiles flying at the antagonist it's a long lash of water. The whip of water completes her arm instead of a wrist and hand. It's so tightly condensed that it wouldn't splash him on impact, but it'd sting pretty badly. A moment later it's withdrawing, becoming flesh and bone.
Kiji saw Kogarashi's blade come at him and he brings up a clone to defend himself, but he misjudged the attack, taking the gust of wind just before he can bring up his clone defense properly. As a result he stumbled back a step, catching himself just in time to realize that Kogarashi was taking another swing at him. He shifted, however, having no hesitation to directing that slice to his left arm rather than where Kogarashi had intended the damage to be done. His eyes shift into an orange entirely and he smirks. "Thank you, you saved me the trouble." He immediately threw his right fist at Kogarashi's face, his sharp ring intending to do damage to the younger boy's face both as a distraction to allow Sarasa to get her attack in from behind and for himself to gather more blood. He lunges suddenly, left arm out, trying to smear his blood on Kogarashi's neck and chest.
Shifting and moving with alacrity, Kogarashi sidesteps and spins away from the various attacks, a slip of the movement there, a slide out there, the attacks are not landing on him. The very last one is the only one that succeeds in getting any blood at all on Kogarashi. He glares at Kiji for that and then slides back away from both for a moment after all his movements as he looks at the blood on his long sleeved top and then glares at Kiji again. The blade is raised and pointed at Kiji before he steps in quickly. This time he sends a slash toward Kiji then follows it up with another hand seal that causes a burst of wind to launch up from the ground and into Kiji's position before he follows with an attempted headbutt right towad Kiji's nose.
"Woah… Sarasa, that was lovely! More of that." Mukade's gaze continued to soak in the combat that was unfolding, his sharp eyes flickering between the canvass and the shinobi, lingering as long on the shinobi as his talent would allow. "Kiji, I am /loving/ the tension you bring up with you and Kogarashi — excellent work. Give me more of that." An abrupt gestures points his brush towards the group. "We need more fierceness here! Sarasa needs cuts in her clothing; Kogarashi needs some dirt to go with that blood!"
Sarasa springs in quickly to help her 'comrade.' The attack hits her right on the head and stops it for a moment. Ouch! But then a log clatters down onto the ground in her place. Where the heck did she get such a nearby log? Oh well. Kiji will have to fend for the following attacks. In the meantime Sarasa has to marvel at the absurdness of this. Wait, did he just want her to take off her clothes? Back in Kiri she'd be punished if she treated combat — even a spar — this humorously. And yet now she's doing it bold as you please, and she's getting paid for it on a sanctioned mission. This may not be one she wants to brag about to her family. As she's having these thoughts Kiji is defending against the attacks.
So she makes another whip of water from her arm and swings it with all her might at the ground. It'd send up a wave of debris to shower Kogarashi. And it's shortly followed by Sarasa aiming a flipping kick right at his knee. Not to break anything, but to hit a nerve and make his whole leg buckle.
Kiji blinked in suprise as Sarasa stepped in to defend one of the attacks meant for him. It was a pleasant suprise, but he could not dwell on it for long…. The wind attack seemed to hit him, making him stumble back, take the attack aimed at his face.. but then no… The clone disappeared into a poof of smoke. Where had Kiji gone? He was behind Kogarashi now, his eyes a deeper orange. He paused long enough for Sarasa's attempt at showering Kogarashi with dirt. He gathered the blood from his arm, using both cuts to draw out a large amount of blood and form it into a kind of mist over both his hands. He focused his chakra, eyeing his target. Earlier he had gotten blood on the younger boy in setup for this attack. He activates the blood on Kogarashi's shirt, forcing it into spikes where it lay, hoping to drive them into his skin. He follows this attack with two more, a small cloud of blood needles from each hand whipped at Kogarashi with a flick of the wrist.
The man wants art? He wants what he thinks he wants but Kogarashi isn't having it his way. Kogarashi rarely did precisely what anyone else wanted. Even as the attacks come in, Kogarashi throws his sword up into the air and makes a quick set of hand seals, even as he does he begins to spin and create slashes in the air, wind whipping up around his body as the blood on his being is turned into spikes, debris falls around him and more blood flies in at him. He makes the motions with his hands and declares, "Ichijin!" As the wind whips up around him sending blood, dirt and debris fly up around him and away. A moment later he catches his sword and turns quickly to Sarasa for three quick attacks that are more meant to simply hit rather than do any real damage.
Ok, so maybe there is one part of the artist's request he can get behind.
"You're a natural, Sarasa!" shouted Miremi Mukade after the girl slams the ground near their foe to raise up a cloud of dirt and debris. "Excellent work!" And the sight of Kiji drawing up a cloud of his own crimson ichor, "Shimizu Kiji, you have a sense for the dramatic I wouldn't know where else to find!"
At Kogarashi's stunt with the whipping winds and the perfect defense, the artist shouts out a powerful, "YES! Ryo well spent, every single one of you are worth every single coin. Now follow it up, everyone. Now is the time! Give me fury; give me intensity! Things are coming to a head. No side stands above! Change that!" Abruptly, he reached over and scooped up a rock, giving it a solid chuck over towards Kogarashi, aim surprisingly good. "Kogarashi, lookie here!"
He points, "And don't you dare dodge that!" If he didn't, though, he'd take that to the face.
Sarasa has to smile as the fight goes on. Kogarashi sure knows how to dodge, that's for sure. And Kiji isn't a bad partner. They wouldn't make bad sparring matches in the future, that's for sure. One could almost forget all the blows are being pulled, and the attacks barely feel like taps. In fact, when Kogarashi's sword descended Sarasa would just stand there and take the blows without even defending. It's pretty obvious what it is, as Sarasa turns into a log. And Kogarashi may sense the shadow descending on him from above. Not from Sarasa but from bullets of water aimed to land sharply and painfully on his shoulders and head. No sooner would he be recovering from the initial attack than Sarasa is behind him, whipping around to send a twirling kick at his back and knock him clear off his feet.
Kiji leapt back as his attacks all came to nothing. He could still use the blood that was on the ground of course, but he could tell that all that dodging would be taking a toll on Kogarashi soon enough. Kiji waited for Sarasa to get her attacks in before he focused on the blood on the ground, drawing it up and around Kogarashi in a spinning circle of crimson ruin. His orange eyes flicked between the genin and the painter.. he was tempted to see what the man would do if a kunai came flying his way… but he curbed that thought quickly. There was the future to think of after all… And attacking a client wasn't the best way to do that… Thus at the same time from three different directions, Kiji send blood needles at Kogarashi's center of mass once again….
"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" And then he takes the rock right to the forehead and stumbles back a step have some of the water attack land on him before the fake him poofs away as he slips back and away from the attack to leave a clone to be attacked. With the clone gone though, he attempts to slip out of the way of the needles, his vision now clouded by blood from the wound the rock made. Kogarashi stumbles back several steps and finally slips out of the cloud of needles, now bleeding pretty pretty well from the many little cuts he has sustained.
Pulling forth his blade and holding it out before him to face both his enemies, Kogarashi appears to be very fatigued and growls as he mutters, "Who the surrealism throws a rock at someone's face and expects them not to dodge?!"
"Beautiful," spoke the man to his canvass in a fervent tone. "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful — simply splendid!" His paint brush whipped about, his artistic block seeming to have been vaporized by the shinobi's combat.
"Somebody! Anybody! Give me rain!" He points to Kogarashi with his paintbrush. "This is it; this is the end! Under the falling drops, rush to close this chapter! Come together in a final clash fit to end our scene!"
Sarasa watches the rock throwing incident with incredulity. It's not that she's astonished that the client threw a rock — he was a batty one all along — but that Kogarashi didn't dodge. If he took one look at her, he'd be able to tell she's trying hard not to burst out laughing at him. First he didn't dodge it… then more attacks… lots of drubbing… hehehe. She supposes he's in some pain, but more than that he'd looked awkward, all the worst after he'd done all those graceful acrobatics and techniques.
Sarasa suppresses the smile quickly. A cheerful smile probably isn't what the painter wants, not after he created 'blood-face' after all. When he asks for rain, Sarasa glances around. Well there's some water on the ground, but not enough. She shakes her head slightly. "I can't…do detached water," she murmurs quietly. But for good measure she'd aim a whirling whip of water at Koga.
Kiji watched Kogarashi take the rock to the head and tilted his own, curious why the prideful genin had allowed such an attack from a normal person to hit.. Then again it /was/ their mission to give the painter what he wanted…. When Mukade asks for rain, Kiji turned his eyes to Sarasa for the obvious possibility that she could manipulate water, but, alas, there was no chance of that happening. He chewed his lip for a moment, glancing around him before he took off at a fast run, circling both Kogarashi and Sarasa with his hand up, calling out to the already spilled blood on the ground and on Koga, to raise into the air… It formed a crimson mist above the three of them.. At the last second Kiji stooped to scoop something from the ground and leaped, headed straight for Sarasa as he let the blood fall as rain over all of them. Assuming no one ran like pointillism of course. But At the last second, Kiji dropped to one knee at Sarasa's feet, his hand held up dramatically and there in his hand was a flower. It was pale white and it took a considerable amount of concentration to keep the flower clean of blood from the rain… but perhaps the artist would appreciate something flashy like that….
Bloodied already, Kogarashi watches the final attacks coming in and makes more hand signs quickly before spinning his blade around him in several slashes and then more hand signs and he flings both hands up to send blasts of wind up around him as well. As he finishes, the water still hits him, splashing over him but much of the blood swirls around him in an almost dust devil of blood, a blood devil if you will. He holds his blade up for a second only to stand up straight as he sheathes it and turns to walk away as Kiji proposes in the blood rain to Sarasa with his flower. This little stunt is definitely over for Kogarashi, it seems.
"Bravo! Brah! Voe!"
Miremi Mukade stood clapping for the finale provided by the Kirigakure shinobi, "Wholly fantastic! Utterly sublime! The each of you have my gratitude for your magnificent performance. A little melodramatic with the flower, Kiji, but everything was perfect otherwise — the blood rain particularly amazing, and the way the air currents were done — just beautiful. Sarasa, M'dear, you and Kiji should consider taking up modeling or acting as a second job. Kogarashi might be a tad too prickly." These words are said with a hand at the beard, stroking and smearing paint.
"But! There is work to see done. Masterworks to create. The payment will be given to the village, as per usual and I'll personally see to it that all of you are given a nice little stipend as my personal thanks for your work. You three are free to go." He brings his brush to bear, dipping it in his paints. "Consider your mission very well complete. And Kogarashi, very good composure with the rock, my boy, I'm impressed!"
And with that, he gets lost in his painting.
Sarasa takes the flower and looks down at it. Not exactly an inspiring scene, looking down at a flower after all that intensity. When they face a torrent of praise from the painter, Sarasa hands the flower back to Kiji. "I thought it was a nice touch," she murmurs under her breath. She listens to what the artist has to say. Sarasa doesn't bear any ill will towards. After all, he wasn't chucking rocks at her head out of the blue.
She bows to him when he says he appreciates their work and will give them a stipend. "You're very generous, and I hope to see your work," she says. Then she'd go over to Kogarashi and rummage in her pouch before pulling out a bandage. "You're bleeding," she says clinically. And she'd loop the bandage around his head, tying it firmly. It'll keep well at least till they get back.
She nods again to the painter, but he seems engrossed now in his artwork. She murmurs to Kogarashi almost silently, "You made the painting a success. It's all thanks to your idiocy, for not dodging that rock." Well done, Koga!
Kiji accepted the flower back from Sarasa with a small smile. He had not expected her to act 'girly'… honestly he hadn't expected much of anything. He had seen a lot of pictures in books where the man was on his knee with a flower or something in a box before the woman.. so he figured it couldn't hurt… But as he stood up he looked down at himself, covered in his own blood he was a bit of a mess and it was going to take forever to get it all out of his hair…. He started working his fingers through his hair and wandered over to get a glimpse of what the man had painted…..
Sarasa does notice how tired Kogarashi is at this point. No wonder. He dealt with their combined attacks. Even if all of them didn't land with terrible force, that'd still be a lot of maneuvering to do. She turns to Kiji. "We should help him back," she says. "He's pretty tired." She smiles to Kogarashi. "As your comrades, we'll walk with you. That or we can carry you between us. Never leave a man behind." And she'd lean down to help him to his feet, and give him her shoulder if he wants it.
Kiji glanced up at Sarasa and Kogarashi, the painting forgotten. He walked over to Sarasa's side and offered Kogarashi a hand, eyebrow raised in question as if asking if he wanted help. Kiji himself was pretty worn out and slightly paler than he should be, but he kept his own fatigue to himself, allowing Koga an extra hand if he wanted it. "If you cannot walk I can carry you."
