Starring:
Sabaku, Taiki
Date: February 10, 2012
Summary:
Sabaku talks with Taiki who seems to know little about goings on in Konoha.
"Chat time with Taiki and Sabaku"
Suna Training Fields
As per usual, Taiki can be found a lot in the training areas, working on one thing or another. This time, it seems to be his Raiton abilities. Shinobu is off to a side, watching everything Taiki is doing closely, as if trying to memorize it. The dog is of course an Inuzuka ninken, which means he's much smarter than the average dog. Still, a look of amazement can be descerned as Taiki finishes up checking his notes before flying through a short series of seals before saying, "Raiton: Bushin no Jutsu." A somewhat weak-looking, pale version of Taiki appears and seems to stumble to a nearby post, to attack it before disappating in a loud ZAP! Shinobu barks a couple of time, causing the genin to look at him and shrug. "It's closer than the other attempts so far?" the human seems to answer.
Sabaku is in the matches and already one her first round against another genin named Rise. But she knows her next match is coming soom and so practice seems in order. She heads to the training grounds and finds the Konoha nin here, a bit of a surprise but not too much of one since the town is open to the visitors. She hesitates then walks to the training spot next to Taiki. She peers over, looking first at the dog then back up to Taiki and gives a friendly nod of the head. She seems a tad curious as to what Taiki is up to but doesn't seem to want to interupt, as if waiting until he takes a break.
Shinobu, the dog, barks and yips a couple of times. The dog is large, very large, and seems to come from the malamute line. Of course the dog is very hot here, so he doesn't seem to do much other than rest, though a bowl for water is set by him. Taiki appears able to understand him though, almost as if Shinobu was talking a foreign language that the young genin can understand. "Well, I know you can't hold up much under the current heat, but it would be benificial if you watched this so you know how to react in case we need to use it during juujin," the human says. Flipping through the hand seals again, which appear to be a few more than the standard clone techique handseals, he calls forth the clone again. This one seems a tad steadier and capable, as is proven when a large scorch mark forms upon contact with the post.
Sabaku seems dressed for this heat, very light weight linen clothing in white and light tan colors and covering most of her skin, to provide protection from the sun. Really she's dressed more as a desert nomad than a normal nin of Suna. She tilts her head and continues to watch, as if trying to figure out what the jutsu is exactly that the Konoha nin is working on. She follows the clone creation and observes the scorch mark. "Trying an elemental clone?" She finally asks, hopefully between attempts by Taiki. "I haven't worked on any of those yet. I've never been particularly good at making clones of any sort, although I can make the basic replacement clone." She seems like she's working on being friendly, at least.
The dog 'muffs' as Taiki looks at the scorch mark and smiles. Deciding this is a good place to stop for the moment, he turns his head to look in Sabaku's direction. He is wearing a ninja version of a kimono, made of light-weight materials. His brown eyes seem different, mainly in color from the rest of his clan's, though the trademark fang marks are present on his face. "Hai, the lightning clone to be precise," Taiki says with a smile. "I actually know two other clone techniques… kinda… one of which is a clan technique. I'm learning this one to balance out my knowledge of Raiton Jutsu." He looks back to the dog, who has just barked at him, before pulling out a storage scroll and retrieving a large canteen of water. After pouring some into Shinobu's bowl, he takes a drink himself and says, "I'm Inuzuka Taiki, and this is my partner Shinobu, by the way."
The girl gives a small bow, "I am Sabaku no Hana, otherwise known as the Desert Flower. I am taking part in the chuunin exams, and have made it so far through the first round of the tournament. I know of your village, and have heard mostly good things." She looks over at the dog then back to Taiki, "I am sorry I can't help cool you off, but my techniques are fire and seals mostly. Not very useful when needing to cool down." She points out. "But they have served me fairly well in the exam. Nice to meet you, Taiki-san, Shinobi-san." She greets the dog rather politely.
Taiki bows in return and smiles. "Nice to meet you Hana'san," he returns himself politely. Oddly enough, he seems a bit… calmer than what most people would think of Inuzuka, quiet even compared to most. "Don't worry about cooling us down though, we're slowly getting used to the heat here. It just means that Shinobu must get more water than usual." Shinobu sniffs the air toward Sabaku for a moment, then 'muffs' in her direction. "He's pleased to meet you too by the way."
Sabaku grins a tad but it is hard to tell under her scarf, "Most people call me Sabaku actually since it isn't really a family name. More a nickname." She explains. "Did you travel from Konoha recently? Do you have any news?" She sounds almost eager for news from Konoha, and yet she also pauses to look around before looking back to Taiki. "I heard the uncle to your Daimyo passed away? Any rumors on who did it? Or?" She trails off before looking back to Shinobu, "Nice to meet you too. I'm sure the fur is a problem in this heat but it isn't so bad. This is late winter around here." She points out.
Shinobu lets out a plaintive whine at that as he looks toward Taiki. Taiki looks like he can sympathize with the rather obvious meaning of that whine. "Don't worry Shinobu, the exams will be long over before summer arrives, and we'll probably be back in Konoha by then." He then looks back to Sabaku and says, "His kind of ninken is not really made for desert climates, obviously. As far as the Daimyo's uncle? I really can't say much. I'm a bit low on the totem pole to be notified of anything really. We're here mainly to support one of our teammates."
Sabaku gives a small oh, and nods, "Which one? I mean, who is your teammate? Perhaps I have already met them in the survival portion of the exam?" She asks as she shrugs and move over to sit on a rock that normally is a simple target, "I don't have a team. Did once, but no more. It's nice to have a team that you can root for, work with. You mind telling me who is on your team? And who you are rooting for or is that ultra-secret information?" She asks, her tone a tad amused as she is clearly kidding a bit.
Taiki smiles, then laughs. "No, it's no secret information really. My teammate is Taniguchi Hitoshi'san, and he's still in it as far as I know. My other teammate are Uchiha Berii'san, and our Chuunin'sensei is Inuzuka Atsuro'san. His ninken partner is Taizen. We're team 10 from Konoha." Of course he doesn't mention the other two people he was cheering on, as that question wasn't asked. "If it's not too painful, what happened to your team?"
Sabaku shrugs, "I'm not entirely sure. I know at least one died, perhaps two. One… just sort of faded away after that and that left me. So I came to Suna to work here, and try for the exam. Perhaps after I pass, I will seek to form a new team. I don't know. A lot depends on what evils happen during the exams. Too many people here that I do /not/ like. People from Kiri, evil people. You probably don't like them much better than I, since they seem to attack your land constantly, yes?" She ventures, "Did you lose anyone in the last war? I heard many died then…. a great weapon of pure energy wiping out rows and rows of people, turning them into vapor?"
While listening to Sabaku's answer Taiki is checking on his ninken. It is obvious he is listening though when he responds with, "I'm sorry to hear that. I've known a quite a few people who didn't make it through either of the recent wars we have had with Kiri, and came close to losing my life during the first one myself," Taiki says as he obviously remembers the wars. "They were friends, and they're missed, but they live on in our will to survive despite whatever Kiri wishes to throw at us. None of my family was killed, thank goodness, but that's more luck than anything else."
The mood goes sort of dark and Sabaku sighs, then nods, "Too much death. Someone should take steps to ensure Kiri can no longer invade others. Take the fight to them, break their will to create these wars, break their tools they use to make wars. I once was someone who thought fighting just a thing we did, a tool, but… one to be used in the right place. Now? Now I think that tool needs to be used against them. They need to be stopped from trying to break the world again." She says, sounding rather bitter really. Her eyes furrow slightly and she stands back up, "Ah, I've said too much, and Konoha certainly seems content enough to let Kiri invade time and time again, to die on their own land."
"I'm sure there's a reason we haven't taken the fight back to them, but in my position I'm not the one to say what that is," Taiki responds as he looks at the post he's charred a bit. "I'm sure there's politics involved somewhere, but…" he shrugs once with obvious distaste for politics. Not one of his favorite things, obviously. "Each time we were invaded, we destroyed whatever tool they were using and made it impossible for them to use the same tool again. Unfortunately the country's low value on human life pretty much spurs them to come up with newer ways to kill, and they detest the value we put on teamwork and the Will of Fire. Short of killing them down to the man, I don't think there is any real stopping them." Shinobu barks softly a couple of times in agreement to Taiki's view on Kiri.
Sabaku starts to say something, "You could at least build fortifications along…." She stops then shakes her head, "No, I'm sorry, it is not my place, just the pointless death, it bothers me. I am a mednin and the way they don't value life, and how they take others lives, they are like a cancer that needs to be cut away. Or a disease that needs to be cured." She shakes her head, "Anyway, I hope your friend does well. My next opponent is Haruko I believe. She is from this land, and so I won't face anyone else from your land until after I beat her, if I beat her. I probably will, but you never know. Things happen." She tilts her head, "I wish your friend much luck, until he has to face me of course."
Taiki chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't worry, you're not saying anything that hasn't been said before. We even did have fortifications during the second war, until that beam thing disintegrated them all. I was there during the initial invasion, believe me, without that beam thing they would not have gotten nearly as far as they did." He then shrugs and nods. "Yes, let's get off of this topic please, talking about those battles brings back memories for me that I would rather not relive if I can at all help it, for either war. But I do wish you luck, at least until you fight Hitoshi. Then I hope you understand, I'll have to cheer for him." The last is said with a warm smile, even though it is mildly serious.
The girl nods, "You're right, it does not do to dwell on the past, and neither of us are in a position to do much at the moment, but in the future, well… we shall just see, won't we?" She ventures, "Anyway, it was nice to meet you. I think I'll go take a walk, I'm suddenly not in much of a mood to train. But I do appreciate a chance to talk with you. Perhaps we will meet again." She offers, "As friends I hope."
