Starring:
Akimichi Kuma, Nara Toukai, Sinoe
Date: Feburary 8th, 2010
Summary:
A coversation over tea in Konoha
"Ono Teahouse Break"
Ono Teahouse
It's another scorcher outside in the land of fire that makes people just want to stay indoors or at least somewhere cool like the lakes and streams water. One of those people who would prefer to stay indoors at a time like this was Toukai Nara. He sits at a table he's reserved for his team, but it seems they would rather train than to sip tea and converse. So the young Nara sits there alone with a pot of tea and spring rolls staring out of the many windows they have about the place. "Geez….this is gonna set me back by alot….how bothersome…"
"Eh.. I got it." Kuma said as he took a seat, placing some change on the table. He made himself at home easily. He scrunched up his nose, deciding to relax for once since all the training sessions had started taking place quite often. He wasn't one for a lot of strenuous activity, and it seemed being he was a chuunin, he got a bunch of challenges from people not on his team who wanted to prove themselves or something. He was never sure about those kind of people, even those kind of ninja. "Hey miss! Bring me a glass, please!" He said loudly, a group of people looking at him with a weird look. "It's not a freakin library.. so shaddup with your shushes!" He grabs one of the rolls and tosses it in his mouth. "Akimichi Kuma."
Entering the tea house, Sinoe looks around, "Hi!" She waves at Toukai and then blinks as she looks at the guy with him. She hmms and then shrugs and starts toward the table, "Hi, new person." She declares and then nods, "I'm Sinoe!" She sits in a chair and then looks at the lady, "Please bring me a chai tea, thank you!" She nods and bows her head slightly before looking to Toukai, "You are found again not training." She waggles her fingers, "This is not good! Training is important especially when you are young!"
Toukai's eyes find themselves scanning the Akimichi that made himself at home at his table and a grin forms at thr corners of his mouth. "I appriciate that Kuma-san, thank you. It's hard enough trying to support myself and my sister with just the few missions I got on from time to time. I'm Nara Toukai by the way, you are more than welcome to sit her and eat." His hands still under the table, he looks to Sinoe who makes herself quite known as she walks in as well and the young Nara bows to her offering her a seat as well. When she scolds him for not training, Toukai chuckles slightly and says, "Nowadays, i'm always training. In fact…" He raises his hands from under the table and his hands are nearly blurring from the handseals he's making. "I'm training in my own way. If i'm going to be the support of my team i'll need to react fast to make sure they're safe." He places his hands back under the table for a moment and speaks to his two new guest. "Please indulge on this tea I have and spring rolls. It'll go to waste otherwise."
"Good to meet you, Sinoe-san, Toukai-san…" He nodded to them quietly. "Oh.. Akimichi Kuma." He said it with a smile as his cup was brought. He poured a glass from the tea in front of him and sighed to himself, finding himself relaxed now. "He's got plenty of time to learn…we all do. Life is one big lesson." He says as he glances up to paper lanterns, scratching the stubble on his chin. "Hmm… in fact… everyone does need to take a break an' come here… It soothes the soul…" He shrugged as he took another sip of the tea in his glass and placed it down. "So…any news on the upcoming war campaigns?" He was a chuunin who didn't know. It was because he really didn't have any chances to talk to the Hokage, and he had been training genin for the past few weeks. It was kind of sad that he was either that out of the loop or really that lazy.
"I don't know about the campaign." She shakes her head and Sinoe takes what is offered of her without question. She looks at Toukai and then at the other. She nods to them before sitting up and downing a little tea as it is brought. She grins brightly before saying, "And we are young." She nods, "And you are only young so long so you should use your youth while it is available and perhaps convince it to stay longer because you do not waste it!" She sagely nods.
"Point well taken Sinoe-san. I can be lazy at points, but my training comes when I have time for it. Sad to say that I was at times too busy to train trying to keep the house in order and to keep my sister fed and in the academy. Don't pity me though that would just be insulting." He looks to Kuma and shakes his head as he's heard nothing of the wars either. "I'm not sure that we're in for a war or anything anytime soon, but I wouldn't put the guard down just yet. For now, all we can do is keep an ear to the ground and make sure that we're prepared once it does come." His eyes cut over to Sinoe as he stops making his handseals and grabs his tea to sip. His features blush a little for some reason, but he maintains his composure and holds a stoic face that gives nothing away except that the tea may still be a little hot.
Kuma scratched his head noticing the blush and all the talk about his family and simply smiled to himself. "I will not dishonor anyone with pity…we can all improve some way or another." He took another sip of the tea before refilling it up. In truth, he would rather be at a place with lots of different types of food, so his mind was beginning to mingle around that thought. But he was not hungry just yet. He sipped on the refill, looking around a bit more. He didn't come here often, but the music in the background was kind of soothing. He heard a bamboo flute being played. He had to remember to tip the musician. He sighed again, feeling even more relaxed. He wondered when he would ever get a girlfriend of his own….if that was possible for a Chuunin and an Akimichi. Hmm. Busy and Overweight…bad combination for a future relationship.
A glance at Kuma and then at Toukai and Sinoe huffs, "Jeeze!" She declares, "You two are really kinda a bummer for a ninja who believes in hard work." She nods before shrugging and going back to her tea, "I guess there are different ways to train when you are a Nara or an Akimichi." She shrugs and ponders, "I don't know myself." She than eats on a pastry, "I have to work hard to keep strong!"
Toukai looks to Sinoe and leans in very close to her with his right hand on his chin. His eyes analyze her for a moment and he leans back. "Judging by your hands and arms you're mostly a taijutsuist correct? You have no real talent for ninjutsu nor genjutsu so you solely rely on your strength and talents in martial arts. Also, your eyes tell me that you've been on your own for quite some time….an orphan perhaps like Nari and I? My abilities lie beyond just making seals and throwing things at you. I analyze the scene before going in headlong and causing the others to save my bacon." He sips his tea and bows slightly to Sinoe adding, "My apologies if i've overstepped by bounds. Just wanted to show you that my mind is always working….that's a Nara's way of training."
The young Akimichi Chuunin seemed to be off in another world and then he suddenly came to attention and stood up. "Food!" Kuma said loudly. "Food and more food! That is how we train. We eat because we like it and we train because we like it. We use our weight to build muscle, to build chakra, and to build nutrients and other things we will need when we get out there on the battlefield." He heard a few shh's and he glared at them, pointing his pointer finger at them. "You want me to crush you? No…then shaddup!" He seemed to get really excited when asked about his training methods. He grinned and took a seat again, lowering the volume on the loud talking. "If you need a victory… you take it by brute force…that's why I was named Kuma…. and became a ninja. Tis my destiny." His name meant bear… a hungry beast that took food whenever it wanted and however. Not something to be pissed off.
A blink at Toukai and Sinoe frowns, "I'm never alone. Never on my own. Konoha takes care of me." She nods her head and then looks at Kuma and raises her fist, "Yosh!" She states and then grins, "Though I'm sure I use a bit more finesse than you." She grins and then looks down, "My skills are in my fists and in my feet." She nods and then ponders, "And perhaps eventually in my weapons. I plan to train to use a few."
"I meant no harm in my words Sinoe-chan, but I know an orphan when I see one. This war have left alot of us in the care of the village." To Kuma's enthusiastic outburst, toukai holds up his cup of tea and salutes the chuunin and then Sinoe as she chimes in and takes a sip. "There's more than one way to skin a cat and we have our own ways of getting the job done. I'd like to fight alongside of the two of you to make great use of your skills with my own. If hitting things is what you like to do then my ability to lockdown opponents will make fighting like a serious sparring session. Having a open shot on a stunned opponent is highly effective." Setting the cup down now, the young Nara rolls his left shoulder and sighs a bit as his muscles are starting to tense up from sitting there. "Oh by the way, this whole time i've been making our shadows dance under the table." He chuckles to himself and sips his tea once more.
Kuma grinned but said no more as he watched the two of them thinking of what this place might be like without war. How nice it could be. He wished he had a chance to actually find out how nice it could be, but he guessed that would have to wait for when he was old and useless, other than as a chef, that was. He could cook or make anything out only a few ingredients. Times were tough, and you learned to use what you had. He loved making food as much as he ate it, not to mention the smell of it drove him wild. He sipped on his tea, still contemplating, a little bit of it shown on the expression on his face.<
"You what?" Sinoe looks down and shakes her head before looking up, "Anyway." She shifts some in her spot, "I hope that all this war is over soon." She nods her head, "It isn't good for proper ninja work." She smiles, "Ninja should be helping people not fighting each other." She sighs before looking up and then back at Kuma. She peers at him for a long time and then leans toward him before nodding her head, "You are quite big." She declares and then grins, "I believe I shall have fun fighting someone from your clan at some point just to see how good I am!"
Toukai sits there and allows the two to interact as he takes this time to eat a few spring rolls himself. The talks of war soon would spread throughout the teahouse which upset some of the customers. "Geez…these guys act like war can't happen here. I swear sometimes ignorance is bliss….." He bites the last part of his spring roll and reaches to his pockets and sighs. He thinks to himself, 'I just met this guy I can't have him pay for my food…..' He scratches his head and tosses the pouch of ryo to the table and the waitress makes her way over towards them to collect.
"I am." Kuma said in response to her as he peered right back at her. His facial expression went from slightly threatening to simply smiling in an instant after she said the bit about fighting someone. He chuckled. "Size isn't everything… at least in a fight, it isn't." He grins at the thought that passed through his head and then shrugged it off. "I have seen smaller people take huge people down just by using a genjutsu." He shrugged and then reached to grab a roll, noticing that the Nara boy was eating the last one and calling the lady over for more. "Add some in for me!" He said grabbing some change, lint, and notes from his side pocket.
Toukai bows to Sinoe and says, "Of course, I was just about to…" He's then cut off by Kuma ordering more food and Toukai nervously chuckles as he looks to his poor wallet on the table that he was trying to pay for the food they had thus far. "Please Kuma-san let's not overdo it yes? It's just a snack after all!" He rubs the back of his head as he sweatdrops hoping that he has enough to cover all of this. The poor Nara thinks to himself as he turns away from the table, 'Nari's gonna kill me….'
"Psh there is no such thing as overdoing it with me…" Kuma said with a grin, placing more than enough coin down for it. "I get a little extra here and there… keep it." He sipped on the tea, feeling his stomach growl a little bit. He sighed to himself and glanced back to the woman that was standing there idly after hearing them. "Imma hungry… please go grab something." He glanced over to Sinoe to continue the conversation. "Speed can be outpowered by strength… Keep that in mind in your training. All one needs to defeat speed is strength and patience." He smiled and sighed to himself glancing back to the Nara. "We can take this one on the road, buddy." He chuckled.
Looking at Kuma, she nods, "I know…that's why I train my body in all ways." She nods and then taps her foot on the ground as she stands up, checking her sandals before leaving a payment for her own tea, "Thank you for the food!" She nods and bows to Toukai and then to Kuma, "And for the company." She grins and then turns to run off toward the exit, "See you soon." And with a burst of speed she is gone, off again on her typical day…training and training.
Toukai watches Sinoe speed out of the teahouse causing a few peoples tables to flap from the wind sheerwhich makes him grin to himself. He bows to Kuma as well saying, "Thank you Kuma-san. I'll repay you once I get out of my financial funk as it were." He stands up and bows to the waitress as well and grabs his pouch and leaves a tip. He didn't want to leave without paying for at least something. "Well I should get going as well. I have a mission coming up and my sensei would want me well trained and rested for this one. Take care kuma-san and if you ever need me you can find me where it's most quiet…or at least where it should be quiet." Toukai throws Kuma the dueces and steps out into the outdoors and heads towards the training grounds to find his team that ditched him for training.
Kuma watched as they left, nodding to them until the buttered rolls came in, his gaze would float from them exiting fast and slow, to the buttery dreamy fluffy goodness in a basket in front of him. He sighed dreamily and scarfed one as soon it was sat down on the table, just staring at it and taking it in. He would need to talk to his team soon, probably tomorrow about getting a mission, maybe the Hokage could find them something… that or they would have to look for their own. He wondered how many people might need help anytime soon. He shrugged at the thought and scarfed another one dowm, chasing it with some of the leftover tea. After eating, he heads to the training grounds himself to find his newly assembled team.
