Starring:
Date: November 26, 2014
Summary:
After an unexpected and shaky start is prevented from growing worse with Michiko's assistance, Rise and the Inuzuka pair, Bandit & Kaido, find a middle ground through Bandit.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Pairings and Paring"
Beach [Land of Lightning]
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At the foot of the mountain, travellers converge on the warm beaches. There are those that aim to travel up the mountain, to the village at the peak. Others have just come down that trail, and are resting on the sandy white beaches. The mountains look very forboding from here, with storm clouds almost always present. The peaks of the tallest mountain can not even be seen, and it is there that Kumogakure is rumored to be located.
Although the white beaches proceeds in both directions, there is a large wooden dock to the southeast, which is where most of the foot-traffic is heading. It is through that dock that people travel to and from the Land of Water, to these mountains. Further north lays the mountain trail, leading skywards up a now dry riverbed.
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Ever since Kaido and Bandit had their little 'talk' with Hiei, Bandit's been on his best behaviour, refraining from making any dirty jokes, or bringing up any sort of inappropriate terms or comments around people, much to Kaido's relief. The pair were sent over from Konohagakure to help train the Kumo nin in scouting, tracking and how to do proper recon of targets. All skills which would be necessary in the coming months once the villages start the war against the Silence.
The pair are walking along the beach, enjoying the nice cool sea breeze, even if there's no sun and a storm probably approaching. It's something Kaido and Bandit haven't done much of, run around on the beach, just being a man and his dog, rather than nin-ken.
After pulling herself free of the sand, Rise stayed seated in the dug out and stared blankly ahead to the ocean. She was disorientated, more than anything else, so needed time to gather her wits about her. That's what she said aloud at one point in attempt to convince herself. But in truth, she just… didn't wish to have to think, or worry, or focus on anything at the moment. That is all. And yet, her gaze is eventually lured towards the playful pair making their way down the beach.
Kaido reaches to his tool belt and pulls out a chakram and says, "Ok buddy… it's time we had some fun for a change and get some training in at the same time." Bandit looks up at Kaido and grins and says, "Ninja Frisbee???" The nin-dog looks almost pathetically eager at this point and Kaido grins back and says, "Ninja Frisbee… and oh yeah, with a twist, I'm going to throw it around obstacles and have it curve towards you… at certain times I will be lacing the chakram with your dreaded sneeze powder. You'll have about 5 seconds in which to decide whether to catch the chakram, or kick it away. Let's see how good your nose really is." Bandit nods quickly and starts to run in the direction of Rise, looking back at Kaido as he readies to throw…
Unfortunately for Rise, an inopportune wind decided to kick sand in her face, not to mention also sending her bangs flying all crazily about. By the time she manages to put things remotely back in order, she only has roughly a few seconds to guess at the duo's intentions before Bandit comes running her direction. She stops thinking once more, and just acts on impulse. Impulses that demand she roll to her feet, charge bandit, and try to wrangle him into position so that his body faced Kaido, acting as her shield. Her legs and arms would still be exposed, but she hoped the threat of a kunai at the dogs throat (presumable if she's successful in the first place) would get her point across to not act until her higher functions returned.
Bandit was running and when some girl grabs him and squishes him as a shield, for a long moment there's a look of complete bliss on his features as he murmurs, "Ah…. Bazingas…" before he shakes his head and arfs and starts to flail, "HEY! What gives???" Sadly, chakram are not kunai… they don't fly straight, in fact, they're circular discs like the one Xena: Warrior Princess uses and so it curves around and lands next to Rise's head stuck in the sand and Kaido, seeing all this, facepalms and says to himself, "Oh great…" He then grabs a kunai and says dangerous tone of voice, "Let… my… partner… go… … NOW!"
Bandit just continues to flail in Rise's grasp and tries to get away as he says, "Get off me! That's animal abuse! I'm too cute to die!"
Rise almost lets go of bandit after he first speaks up. Almost. But then the chakram did go whizzing past her head, re-affirming her protective instincts. The more Bandit struggles, the tighter Rise's grip increases on the dog. If he didn't give up on his own soon enough, he may very well end up without the ability to breathe before long. Rise doesn't wait that long to whisper tersely in his ear. "Quiet now, before I decide to eat you." In the state she was in, the girl meant what she said. Rather or not it is enough to convince the dog to listen, Rise's attention cuts back to Kaido.
She sizes him up in much the same way a predator might do another before saying anything at all. Only the symbol of the Leaf Ninja seems to elicit anything other than hostility and wariness. It is surprise, if albeit it fleeting. She knew the leaf shinobi were allied with Kumogakure, but…
"Name and business?" She demands more than ask with a growl.
Kaido simply pulls out a blowpipe and fits a dart into it and says, "Either you drop my partner RIGHT NOW, or you're going to get the worst possible case of diarrhea you've ever had. You want an answer, you let go of my partner and step away from him…" Bandit continues to struggle, even as his face turns blue and starts trying to bite her on the hand to make her let him go. Kaido says, "You've got 10 seconds to comply…" His rage is rising further and seeing how his partner is being choked is just making him that much angrier.
Rise glared back at Kaido for the threat, though she was starting to struggle to keep her eyes on him. Bandits constant moving about and attempts to bite her was making it nigh impossible without the risk of hurting him further. Now she no longer cared as much. Rise applied a little more pressure, demonstrating her strength in hopes of proving to him just how bad an idea it was to keep this up.
"Name and business." She demanded once more, ignoring the ill-feelings beginning to rise in her gut.
Now Bandit is panicked as his oxygen is cut off and starting to lose consciousness and struggles the hardest he ever has as Kaido's ire is getting pushed to it's limits and he says, "5 seconds…" He narrows his eyes, "If you let him go, I'll answer your question, but not before I know my partner's alright and safe. You're killing him, and he's not going to stop unless you let him go, so unless you want to be the reason that I go back to my village and tell the Hokage to end the alliance, because Kumo nins can't be trusted and kill nin-ken for no reason, be my guest." He says, "3…"
Rise senses bandits approach to nighty-night land, but makes no move to ease up on him. Uncouncious hostages tended to be less problematic in the long run in her experience. With that knowledge tucked in mind, her attention hones on Kaido fully. Even after all is said and done, Rise doesn't release bandit. She couldn't trust Kaido's words, nor did it matter to her in the moment what Kaido did afterwards.
Though… she could probably kill them both and secret them elsewhere.
Or maybe let Kaido return, and…
"2… 1…" She continued for him, eyes narrowed in anticipation.
And that's it, as Bandit passes out, he's had enough, his partner's life in danger and since she won't listen to reason he's not going to be nice any longer. He says, "You've made the biggest mistake of your life… he did absolutely nothing to you other than try to run and catch a frisbee as part of our training and you had to grab him and choke him to death. I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life, then drag you to General Hiei for judgement… pray he's more merciful than I am, because if it was up to me, I'd simply kill you and let the crows eat your carcass." He gets into a stance and then shoots a poisoned dart at the girl. Since poor Bandit's already unconscious (or worse) it no longer matters what he does.
Her eyes do not waiver even as Bandits struggling finally ends. He wasn't dead as far as she could sense, but aside from easing up her grip finally, the girl doesn't let go. "You just have no idea." She states emptily. It is the last words to slip from her mouth before surrendering completely to twisted instincts. She side-steps the dart with little the least amount of effort, shielding herself with as much of Bandit's bulk in the process. Luckily, it passes by without hitting either of them, though it is not a chance she would take again.
A flick of the wrist sends her Kunai sailing for Kaido's legs, distracting him, or so she hoped, long enough to toss Bandit over her shoulder.
Michiko comes wandering along the beach, intent on training a bit near the water, which happened to be a natural enemy of her skills. The girl blinks a bit as she feels light tremors through the earth that indicate some form of fighting about to happen. The girl moves closer to the sounds of fighting, frowning as she recognizes all the battle's participants. With no word of warning, the girl makes a hand seal that will lead to both Kaido and Rise becoming ensnared, as well as a quick barrier of earth to block the kunai that Rise sent Kaido's way. Whether or not this move works, the girl approaches both with a rather serious, and slightly angry, expression on her face. "Please tell me there's a good reason for this fight, Rise-san. Kaido-san," she says evenly.
When Michiko comes and binds him in whatever it is she uses, he struggles and literally is foaming at the mouth with rage and says, "SHE'S trying to kill my partner! She grabbed him for no reason while he was playing ninja frisbee with me. I asked her several times to let him go, and she wouldn't… now he might be dead and can't breathe and I'm not going to stand for it!!!!" He continues to struggle, tears starting to burst then, "Please… let him go… he's the only true friend I've got, I raised him from a pup and I love him more than anything… why… why did you do that… he never hurt you, he didn't even say anything to you… ooooh Bandit…" he trails off, stopping struggling as he sinks to the sand, crying for his friend.
Rise didn't know exactly what it was that set off the warning bells, but she acted upon the impulse to move away nevertheless. She leaps away away just in the nick of time, though doing so leaves her both taxed and perhaps more aggravated then she would've been had she been caught in the first place. Her landing is rough, breathing uneven, but not thought is given to gather her wits about her first before sighting the source of the interruption.
Seeing it to be Michiko confuses her more than actually calms her. "Shut… UP!!" She barks, whipping her head back about to glare at Kaido. "If I wanted him.. dead, he'd be dead.. already." She says, sounding just as feral as her eyes reflected. If given the chance, she'd stalk towards Kaido without a word of warning indicating the what she had in mind once she got there…
Michiko looks between Kaido and Rise, frowning still. She doesn't try to restrain Rise at the moment, but she /does/ send up a dome of earth to contain Kaido. At least so he can get his wits about himself. The binding is keeping him held in place, and the dome itself allows for small fragments of light to come in through the top. "I'm sure he would be, Rise-san… Kaido-san is a visitor from Konohagakure and intending to help us with our tracking skills, so he's not any threat. Nor is Bandit-san," she adds, gesturing to the unconscious nin-ken. "So please calm down for a bit and we'll let Kaido-san recover as well."
That does it! The girl won't even APOLOGIZE for possibly killing his nin-ken, who he still can't tell if he's alive or dead. He narrows his eyes and reaching into a pocket, not caring that this is going to hurt him a lot, pulls out a bomb and pulls the tag and drops it at his feet, hoping to blast open the bindings and the dome so that he can get at the girl.
That does it! The girl won't even APOLOGIZE for possibly killing his nin-ken, who he still can't tell if he's alive or dead. He narrows his eyes and reaching into a pocket, not caring that this is going to hurt him a lot, pulls out a bomb and pulls the tag and drops it at his feet, hoping to blast open the bindings and the dome so that he can get at the girl.
Putting up a dome between herself and her target only agitates Rise more. Even so, it does give her pause long enough to listen to Michiko, if somewhat grudgingly by the look in her gaze. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem all that convinced of Michiko's words anymore than she was of Kaido. Was Michiko in on it too? Just the mere notion elicits a fleetingly surprised look from the shinobi before her eyes grow hard. She makes just one step — perhaps two before the explosion goes off. Whatever paranoid thoughts were floating about are put on hold after her attention jerks back to Kaido. "He.. blew himself up?" She asks absently.
Michiko seems ready enough to defend herself from Rise, but then she hears the explosion. "Well, I was hoping he would calm down and not commit suicide…" she says absently, much in the same tone as Rise. The walls lower so she can check on Kaido's condition, but the metal binding keeps its hold on the Inuzuka. "Rise-san, please check on our Ally. He's not a threat, so give him a second to explain his situation while I check up on his companion." She idly wonders if Kaido had ever met Rise before, moving towards Bandit with no further words. She's training to be a medic nin, so she at least knows what to do. Bandit is given a basic checkup, and if Rise does anything to Kaido, Michiko won't hesitate throwing up that wall again ._.
Rise doesn't say anything for a lengthy moment. She stares, eerily quiet as the walls lower. Seeing Kaido's condition elicits neither satisfaction or disgust, but instead prompts her start towards him again until Michiko spoke up. "…." Her only response before carelessly shrugging bandit off her shoulder and continuing on back towards Kaido. Bandit was still alive, if albeit uncouncious before she left. He might have a certain disdain for extremely pale girls in the future, but otherwise…
Before long Rise is crouched down next to Kaido's head, regarding him without an ounce of emotion in her eyes. "…Baka." She says with a shake of her head. Then, she falls onto her butt, pulls off shoe and sock, and holds it up to Kaido's nose, knowing the smell would knock out even a grown man. It should, in any case, but there was always the option of punching him out first before she bothered checking him over and seeing to his new wounds..
Kaido's probably one of the few who could withstand that kind of horrible smell, being used to making really bad poisons and working on immunity to them. Sadly though, he's so emotionally distraught and injured from trying to get at Rise or to his partner. He tries to combat it, still in a rage before the smell knocks him out.
Rise cannot help but look at Kaido with some degree of admiration for resisting for so long. But once he is out, Rise snaps back to the present with a shake of her head, then glances over at Michiko. "… Right." She murmurs absently as she turned back to Kaido, breaking the bands of metal binding him with only a minute bit of hesitation; only to flounder again afterwards.
After another brief pause, she returns to putting the finishing touches of her treatment. Knowing that she should wait, but also knowing Kaido would be in no mood for talking immediatly after, Rise cut free a locke of her hair, set it into his hand, and ball it up before setting it on his chest. SHe hoped it would be enough for him to catch her later.
"As if he'll bother with me first." She says with a smirk before taking off, knowing Michiko could take care of things from there.
It's much later in the evening when Kaido begins to stir from his spot on the ground where he got knocked out by Rise's 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Socks' attack and in one part of his brain he promises himself to at least analyze them to find out how to replicate it… that's powerful stuff! He groans and then winces as the pain in his blown up leg throbs and then he blinks and looks in his hand. There's a lock of hair there, and his leg has been taken care of a bit at least. He pulls himself to a sitting position and then comtemplates why the heck would someone have given him a lock of their hair. He then blinks and remembers and looks around for Bandit. Bandit is lying on his side nearby and says with a bit of a rasp in his voice, "Hey partner…"
Kaido's eyes tear up and then he gently grabs Bandit and hugs the poor nin-ken and says, "Bandit! You're alive!" Bandit pushes at Kaido (since his throat isn't quite healed up yet and says, "Yeah yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, stop blubering, you look like a little kid that's had their candy taken away." Kaido lets Bandit go and says, "So, that girl didn't kill you?" Bandit snorts, "What? Do you think I'm that weak that a mere girl could kill me… that's insulting!" Bandit then walks over and sniffs the lock of hair in Kaido's hand, "Huh… did you pull her hair out or something? That's pretty low, even for you."
Kaido blinks, "What? That's HRE hair?" Bandit snorts again, "OF COURSE IT IS, you nosedead Inuzuka fraud… She snuffed me into her gazongas as a hostage, I'd recognize her smell anywheres." Kaido just blinks and shakes his head and carefully wraps it up in a cloth and puts it in his vest pocket closest to his heart and says, "Well… I guess I owe her an apology, let's go find her then…" He carefully tests his leg as he gets up and winces, his medic-nin training telling him that his stupidity is going to cost him a bit of time in the hospital to repair the damage done.
Although a part of her wished to test Kaido's supposed tracking skills, Rise held back on applying what she knew. It would have kind of defeated the point of leaving behind her hair after all. When he does eventually find her it is at the mouth of a cave a little ways off even the lesser used paths leading up towards the mountain. Her back is to the cave wall, face uncovered and teeth bared. Serrated Teeth. Without mercy or manners, Rise tore into her catch, a skinned and half-roasted rabbit.
"Bout time ya goth here." She says without turning away from her meal or bothering to finish her last bite first. It is only after swallowing the first mouthful that she bothers to glance in their direction with the expectation of seeing hostility.
It takes Kaido some time to track Rise down, mostly because he's injured and has to rely on Bandit's senses to track her but when he finds her, he stops about 10 feet away. He isn't /happy/ but there's no outward sign of hostility. He comes in a few feet and gently places the cloth with her lock of hair down on the ground and says, "This is yours, I take it?" He asks conversationally, as Bandit is as far back from Rise as possible in case she tries to grab him again. Kaido continues, "To answer your question from before… my name is Kaido, this is Bandit" He motions to the nin-ken behind him and says, "And my business was attempting to have some fun by playing ninja frisbee and get some training in as well…" He says before he back off a pace or two. He then says, "I guess I owe you some sort of apology for thinking you'd kill my friend and partner, even though you could have, but you didn't so that counts for something in my book."
No attack. No yelling. Not a wiff of anything other than displeasure. It is more than enough to grab her full attention, and re-examine the duo more closely. Aside from her eyes growing more narrowed as Kaido continues to approach, Rise doesn't act or say anything. For a second time and more visibly so, Rise is taken aback by Kaido. So much so that her first attempt to reply winds up abandon before so much as a sound slip past her lips. The most she can manage is a belated nod before taking another bite out of her meal, wary still.
"Shirokiri Rise…. For what its worth, I'm.. sorry, for putting in that position. Its been…" She frowns and furrows her brow for a brief moment, then relaxes as she shakes her head. Her gaze drifts from her catch to the fire then back to her catch before she buries the skewered critter stick first into the ground nearby and dusts off her hand. She rises immediatly after, and regards Kaido for a lengthy moment before bluntly asking, "Well, what are you waiting for?"
Kaido blinks himself, almost jumping back at that from the girl and he looks at Bandit then back at her and Bandit looks at him with a look that says, 'don't ask me'. Kaido finally and carefully comes inside the cave, he keeps his hands out, as if expecting her to take any move he makes as an attack and says, "I also owe you thanks… for fixing up my leg…" He says carefully as he moves past her to sit down by her fire.
Bandit is sure as heck keeping Kaido in front of him and in front of her, definitely not wanting to get within her grasp. Kaido sits down and then reaches into a hidden pocket of his vest and offers a flask and says, "Peace offering? It's a special brew of tea I made… I was trying to brew a colorless and odorless and tasteless poison, using some plants I found while I was travelling around the world… I found out all they were good for was make a sweet beverage that's tea-like in nature… it's quite harmless… I assure you."
"…"
Rise peered between both the offering and Kaido at least twice before regarding the man with a look that screamed 'Are you serious?'. After a few moments more of silence she folds her arms across her chest and says with a frown, "That's… fine, I guess, but…. Are ya sure that that's all you want?" She turns finally turns to bandit, posing the same question with a look before returning her gaze to Kaito. "Are ya sure ya don't won't to strangle me, or have Rex over there maul me?" She adds bluntly.
Kaido simply puts the flask down near Rise and says, "Why? Bandit's fine and it was just a misunderstanding so what's the point?" He shakes his head as he takes off his backpack and starts to rummage in it for something, pulling out a sweet smelling paste and starts to apply it to the wound on his leg, before rebinding it. Bandit slowly creeps around from behind Kaido and says, "Not me… I'm not dumb enough to want to take you on…" Apparently Bandit knows when he's out matched. Kaido then says, "Besides, I didn't come to this village to make enemies… I came to make friends" He then looks down and frowns and mutters, "And forget someone…"
Rise watches Kaido's movements like a hawk. But as soon as answered question, she cannot help but look away and chew on her bottom lip. Occasionally, her attention flickers back to Kaido as he went about his business, curiosity having gotten the better of her briefly. Aside from those glances Rise kept on silently mulling over his words until Bandit spoke for himself. She smirks and opens her mouth for a reply, only to clamp down tightly and refocus back on Kaido. "A lover..?" She asks tenatively as she walked past, then knelt down before bandit. "Or the person that gave ya those scars of yours." Her hands start to raise as if she meant to reach out for the dog…
Bandit seems to draw back a bit, but looking at Rise suspiciously for a moment and then leans forwards if she's trying to pet him. Bandit speaks up, "Oh the scars ain't from this girl… get this… he fell in love with the Hoka…" Kaido narrows his eyes at Bandit and says, "She doesn't need to know about that…" Bandit continues, "The Hokage's intended, the Uzumaki princess, Tsukino and he got sent here so that the Hokage wouldn't k…" Kaido growls, "BANDIT!" Bandit snerks and says, "He's completely hopeless, all she did was fall into his arms because she was weak with blood loss from a spar she took too far and act all princessy and googly eyes, just like the Kiri assassin that gave him those sc…"
That's when Kaido dices to cover Bandit's mouth, "No more… enough… she doesn't need to know the whole sad story of my love life, she's probably got much better thnigs to do."
Petting is all Rise had intended, but seeing Bandit draw back as soon as she reached out for her made her hesitant enough to reconsider. All she had to offer in hopes of assuaging Bandit is a small, sad smile, followed by a shake of her head if she saw any relunctant attempt at offering his head to her. Despite her desires, Rise refused to force it upon him if she could help it this time. But if all went well there would be the added bonus of some behind the ears scratching before she grudgingly gave him space once more.
Regardless of what the case may be, Rise listens without interruption, and eyes glued on the dog even as Kaido tries to get him to stop. Well, mostly on the dog. The bit about the hokage and an Uzumaki princess was just too juicy not to lay a teasing smirk on Kaido. Her gaze cuts to Bandit quick as soon as assassins get mentioned. Once that excited glint is in her eyes, even seeing the dog get manhandled doesn't dim it in the least. At first…
"Yeah… better things to do." Rise says quietly and sadly, hiding her eyes behind a veil of black bangs. After a moment or two she rises abruptly, turns on her heels, and makes her way back to the campfire before the cave with the intent to plop down before it.
Long distance to Kynshin: Rise really is.
Bandit sees that sad smile and tilts his head and blinks and then slowly, walks over and plops into her lap and says, "Hey lady, what's wrong, why so sad?" He nuzzles her face as Kaido raises an eyebrow and moves to sit down next to Rise and says, "Ok, since it's out there already… the story of my scars goes like this…" He glares down at Bandit, "My nin-ken… quite frankly is a huge hentai… when he was a pup, I had to train outside of Academy time and had to leave him alone a lot, so to keep him occupied, I got him books to read." Bandit gives a doggie grin as he curls up in Rise's lap, no longer afraid of her.
Kaido raises an eyebrow at his partner but then continues, "So this was like when I was 12 and err… 'interested' in girls and all and underneath my bed was…" he looks down a bit embarrassed, and says quietly, "A stash…" Bandit pipes up, "Oh yeah, and what a stash it was!" Kaido glares, "THIS little furball managed to find them and read and MEMORIZED everything in them… and he still pipes up with innappropriate comments and things even now." Bandit just looks innocent and Kaido shakes his head.
Kaido continues, "So about 6 or 7 years ago, Kiri sends a delegation to Konoha, obsensibly for diplomatic relations, including some of their Council members and one in particular, brought his daughter along…" He looks significantly at Bandit and then back at Rise and continues, "So Bandit… being the little hentai, was going through a phase where he stole girl's panties and sniff girl's butts… you can kind of guess where this is headed…" Bandit looks a bit heavenly, "And hers smelled soooo good!" Kaido says dryly, "Clearly…"
Kaido sighs, "So long story short, she was mortified, the Council member was braced and decided to send an assassin out after me… thing was, they thought I put Bandit up to it, so they got a beautiful woman to get close to me." Bandit snorts, "I told you she was a spy long before she attacked you…" Kaido growls, "Oh stop it!" He continues, "So she and I went out on dates until finally the time came and we were going to be… intimate… that's when she attacked… She hit me with a S-Rank fireball that only because Bandit jumped and knocked her aim off… and by the grace of God, it only burnt half my face and torso before I fell into Konoha Lake…."
Coming down from one of the paths leading ot the beach, having come back with teh others from Konoha, Kynshin was out looking for a new place to train. Dressed for training and his sword is slung behind him and sheathed, not really knowing if anyone is here or not, Kynshin is dressed differently, his clothing is more like a warrior monk in a way. (Think a Jedi.) As he starts walking down the beach, he looks around and as he looks around he notices a few people around and once he looks to them, a knot forms in his stomach when he sees Rise here and another guy and his dog. Kynshin pauses but taking a breath, he walks over to where they are. "Hello Rise-san." he says, then looking to Kaido and Bandit, "Hello."
Rise jaw grew taut at the question, and eyes stayed glued on the fire. Her half-eaten meal is all but forgotten at this point. Then came Bandits nose. Her eyes wattered a little, lips trembled, and before long the only thing keeping her from wrapping her arms around the dog's neck and hugging him is the fear — minute though the chances were — of either Kaido or Bandit mistaking her intentions again. Distracted as she was, Rise doesn't pick up much of the beginning half of the story until Bandit was nice and settled in her lap (much to her personal chargin).
The rest on the other hand, she gives Kaido her full attention, though her hands absently run across Bandits back from time to time as she listened. Only once does she offer anything more than quiet spectator, and that is from a small giggle fit resulting Bandits antics with the words "So stupid.." emitted in between.
"The doublet must've really been combined to have wanted that much…. But what happened.. next?" She asks, though her attention wavered near the end. She sensed Kynshin approach, but tried to deny it until Kynshin stood before them. Rise… offers nothing in return except silence and a pointed focus on petting bandit. A few times she may have dug a little too deeply, but short of leaping out of her lap, she refused to pay any cries for help any mind..
Kaido starts to continue the story and says, "Well, she knew I wasn't dead and so…" He stops when Kynshin walks in, he might be an idiot and Bandit a hentai, but even he can sense the tension between Kynshin and Rise. Bandit looks up and growls a little at Kynshin as Kaido looks up and waves a hand, "Yo…" Bandit gives Rise a look that says, 'Want me to bite him for you?' as he glares at Kynshin, nuzzling Rise and acting pretty protective, which makes Kaido raise an eyebrow and mutter, "He LIKES her??"
Kaido then stands up beside Rise, putting a calm hand on her shoulder and says, "I'm Inuzuka Kaido, and this here's my nin-ken and partner, Bandit… we're from Konohagakure… here to train you Kumo nin in scouting, tracking and doing recon, whassup?"
When he is ignored by Rise, he lets out a breath. But when Bandit growls at him, Kynshin looks to Bandit then to Rise, then to Kaido. Upon introductions, "I'm Tenka Kynshin, Chuunin of Kumogakure." he says bowing his head politely. Noticing how Kaido moves and places a hand on Rise's shoulder. He averts his gaze slightly, but does nod his head and offers a smile, "Nice to meet you Kaido-san and Bandit-san." he says to them both looking at them both. "I've just come from Konoha with my sensei Hiei-sama helping with training there." he says as he looks to all three.
"But I don't want to make things uncomfortable, so I will go." he says simply. He pauses for a moment as he looks to Rise, "Sorry for intruding. Have a nice night and if you need anything while your here Kaido-san let me know." he starts to turn away, "Rise-san, nice seeing you again." he says and offers her a bow of his head and a smile. A warm smile of someone who cares for a loved one. He then turns and begins to walk onwards towards the other end of the beach.
Rise wanted to both strangle and hug Bandit for the look, but restrained herself to a sigh. She had hoped — With a quick shake of her head, the line of thought is dismissed… for the most part. By placing a hand on her shoulder, Kaido disrupted her efforts and earned a half-hearted glare for doing so.
"WAIT!" The words are out of her mouth and a hand is outstretched towards Kynshin before she even realizes it herself. After an awkward moment of silence she settles back in her seat, glances from one of the trio to the next, then finally allows her eyes to remain on Kynshin. "Sit." She says in a tone that brokered no argument. If push came to shove, she would even whisper to Bandit to drag Kynshin's butt over by the fire, ignoring whatever pain that shot through her chest from watching the attempt happen.
Bandit tilts his head to Rise and simply glares at Kynshin for a moment, before he settles back down in her lap, looking up at Rise and nuzzling her when the tension on her face grows too much. Kaido on the other hand looks from Kynshin and Rise and simply raises an eyebrow and wonders how he gets himself into these situations… … for two seconds before one word pops into his head, "Bandit". He glances at Bandit and warns him to behave himself and pats Rise on the shoulder, quirking a smile as he can see there's things she needs to say to Kynshin and heads outside the cave to do some more first aid on his leg. He leaves Bandit to keep Rise comfort.
Kynshin stops and frowns a little not turning around to look back. "No it's alright." he finally smiles back to the two, "Really, please enjoy your evening." he says. The growling from Bandit was even a more incentive for him to keep going, "Kaido-san it's alright. Please don't go, I will see you around." he says holding up a hand and waving. "G'night." he then flickers away. As much as it was hurting Rise, it was hurting him too, but this was what she wanted, not him.
Bandits nuzzling goes unrewarded by attention. Her whole world and everything hinged on how Kynshin responded to her words. Although the fact that he refused to turn back to her at first did not fail to hint at what his decision would be, Rise held on to hope. It is wasted, for in the blink of an eye, Kynshin is gone. "Kyn…" The name came out hollowed and quiet. Her body soon began to tremble. But no matter how much she wanted to get up and race after him, to… yell at him maybe, or finally explain fully why things had to be — to just hold on to him and be comfortable with being vulnerable — Rise couldn't bring herself to even try. The fear that kept her silent then, still held sway in the present.
So she stared off in the direction she felt him go for a long moment before returning her gaze back to the fire again…
Kaido is silent for a long long time after that, as Bandit simply tries to comfort Rise as best he can, doggie-style (OOC: no hentai jokes please). Kaido simply shakes his head and moves to sit next to Rise and says, "You both got it bad… don't you?" He whistles and Bandit simply eyes Kaido before settling back down in Rise's lap. Kaido shakes his head then and looks at his hands and then pulls out another flask and takes a long drink and passes it over, "Here… I find things look better after your drink… it's sake, I got it from the village… you look like you could use some right."
When Rise looks out where Kynshin left, if she just focuses a bit more, she would see just a small bit of movement. Watching her, he didn't want to see Kaido, didn't want to the other guy or his dog. Kynshin stays crouched where he is and just watches her, before throwing a rock near her with a small parchment on it. Bandit would smell Kynshin's scent on it, but if looked for he is gone.
Rise tried to ignore Bandit again, but to no avail. Her arms found themselves coiled about his neck, and her face is buried into his coat. At the question, Rise starts to shake her head, but stops herself short. "Ya think?" She replies dryly before turning her face back into Bandits fur. The scent… She couldn't understand or cared to try and figure out why it was so strangely calming at the moment. All that mattered to her at the moment was that it was better than the alternative.
As for Kaido's offer, Rise regards it for a lengthy moment before smirking at Kaido. "Thanks, but trust me when I say that in my case, that's not a good thing at all." She says, offering a small but grateful smile.
The movement isn't quite caught by Rise, but the subtle sound of the rocks landing is enough to attract her attention. She only hesitates for a moment or two before snatching it up. Well, try to before either of the two Inuzukas in any case. Unless prompted to do so, she refused to read the parchment attached to it. If it was her father or another mysterious source then… then she really did not need to be bother with it at the moment.
Both Kaido and Bandit noted the rock being thrown, but said nothing, nor did they try to pick it up. Maybe somehow they knew what was going on. Bandit simply curled up more with Rise and let her be comforted by his nearness and Kaido simply puts the flask away and nods, "Fair enough…" He doesn't ask her to read the parchment, why embarrass her further and says, "You know… you'd think love would conquer everything, smooth over all differences… but it sure doesn't. It forced me to leave my village lest the Hokage kill me… and he stated it flat out that if he caught me near her again, he was going to finish the job on my face for me…" Kaido seems to smile at the memory, "That's when I told him he was welcome to try… but that if he did, he'd better not eat, sleep or poop because I would have so many traps laid out and I know enough poisons to not only kill him, but make his death the most embarrassing, terrifying and utterly horrifying possible." Bandit lifts his head and says, "Oh yeah Rise-chan, you should seen them, horns locked like two bulls until Tsukino-hime marched in and told them if they fought over her, she'd kill them both. She was AWESOME!"
Rise sighs in relief, and relaxes her hold on Bandit a little more, then mouths a silent "Thanks." at Kaido. With one wait off her shoulders for the moment, the shirokiri was able to allow herself to open up as the story progressed. Albeit, the somber note to start did make things a little difficult…
But in any case, by the end she's snickering and nodding her agreement. "She sounds like my type of woman." She says in-between breaths. As soon as it clicks what she says, she flushes and looks again back towards the fire. "… Did… Do you really love her that much?" She asks quietly.
Kaido blinks at that question and Bandit looks up to raise an eyebrow at Kaido, wondering what he's going to answer. He's silent for a long moment and then says quietly, "I think… I was in love, with the IDEA of her… I mean, here she was, this beautiful princess falling into my arms like out of some of that trashy romance novels housewives like to read. She was kind, shy and not at all like you'd think a princess would be… she didn't put on any sort of airs or act like she was better than anyone." He falls silent and both of Bandit's eyes raise to his forehead in literal shock.
Kaido continues, "I guess when I heard that it was an arranged marriage between her and the Hokage, who I've never liked personally, he's always been a jerk to the Inuzuka clan, I guess part of me wanted to 'save' her from him and be that romantic idiot hero that gets the girl." He looks down and stir the fire with a stick, "Too bad that they never show in the novels that there's no such thing as a happily ever after, and that it's fleeting at best." He sighs, "Real relationships only work if you're willing to work at them, to bridge the gaps your differences bring by complimenting each other with your similarities. Despite the fact that Tsukino and I shared this really intense, really romantic situation together when she was at her most vulnerable… we really don't have that much in common." He looks at Rise, "You know what I mean?"
No answer is forthcoming. Rise still needed to digest his words while keeping herself distant from her own experience. To say the she is not entirely successful would be an understatement, but she kept trying nevertheless until realizing how impossible her goal was. So, she is swept away with hardly any warning except her hugging Bandit more closely to her body again…
"Yeah…" Rise blinks away budding tears. When that proves to be not enough, she turned to wiping them away with her fingers. A growl is emitted every now and then from the stubborn water ducts. Soon after, Rise comes to a decision. Following a bit of struggling to dig into her pockets (what with bandit on her lap), Rise digs out the note again and starts to read…
As Rise reaches for the letter and Kaido pointedly looks away and Bandit whimpers, seeing the tears and tries to lick them away as Kaido, still looking pointedly away, holds out a handkerchief and says, "Here… darned cave must be playing havoc with your allergies huh?" He says, trying not to make the poor girl feel more miserable than she already is by calling her out on her crying.
He leaves Bandit with her and moves to put more sticks into the fire, busying himself with the task and motioning to Bandit to not look to give her the privacy she needs to read whatever it is that was sent to her.
After the second attempt at leaning away from Bandit, Rise outright takes him by the nose and glares at him until the message is clear. It is a half-hearted attempt at best, and weakened further by the redness to her eyes (well, eye, seeing as how the other was perpetually covered by her bangs). "Huh?" After an awkward pause it finally clicks to her. Flustered, Rise can say no more; only smile gratefully and take up the offering.
Wordlessly once she is done, Rise pockets the note and lays back against the cave wall, casting her eyes upwards. "Baka…" She murmurs before closing her eyes and letting out a quiet sigh.
Kaido plays with the fire some more and then comes back and says, "That's a good sign…" He offers as he takes a seat beside you, "Calling someone a baka is the 1st stage of healing…" He sagenods then as Bandit just looks at Kaido like he's an idiot… which he is. Even Kaido looks at himself in askance as he goes over what he just said. He scratches his head and then says, "Look, I'm probably the last person on this earth to give advice about love and relationships…" Bandit pipes up, "Oh, CLEARLY!!!!" as Kaido glares at him for a moment before saying, "But it looks like he really cares about you and it's obvious you're head over heels for him… what's the problem?" He finally asks, flinching, probably expecting Rise to eviscerate him for daring to ask the question.
Rise smiles faintly and shakes her head lightly without turning face away from the cieling. Despite an earnest attempt to restrain herself, hearing bandits quip fueled the growth of her smile into something more genuine and open. She owed them so much, so…
"Me." Rise opens her eyes once more and levels it upon Kaido. "Seeing as how you were at the butt end of it earlier, I… well… you saw how I was earlier… Now picture that without restraint, devious, and… just ten times worse than that." Rise doesn't bother letting her gaze linger for long on Kaido after that. She couldn't face it if…
"I'm… not well, Kaido-san. I already hurt him once before things got as bad as they are now. I… I didn't — don't want to even imagine what may happen now…"
Kaido just shakes his head then and says, "Oh boy…" He sighs and then squats down in front of Rise and lifts her chin, "Ok… so you're a huge whirling dervish and you've got chakra abilities on top of that." He takes a breath and looks into her eyes, "Now, did he dump you, or did you dump him in some sort of martyrish self-sacrifice because you're afraid of hurting him?" He tilts his head, already starting to get a bit of the picture here. He then says, "Because if he dumped you, then he is a BIGGER idiot than even /I/ am."
Rise heart leaped at the contact, but doesn't pull away or fight against Kaido. For one brief moment, she thought he was gonna try and kiss her. But not for one did she entertained the idea of letting him get away with it without earning either a fat lip or a bloody one. Relief visibly floods her eyes when he talks instead, though it doesn't last long in the face of his words. "That's…*sighs* close enough." She frowns a little, then just shakes her head, dismissing the thought entirely. "I did call myself an idiot earlier now didn't I?"
Rise heart leaped at the contact, but doesn't pull away or fight against Kaido. For one brief moment, she thought he was gonna try and kiss her. But not for one did she entertained the idea of letting him get away with it without earning either a fat lip or a bloody one. Relief visibly floods her eyes when he talks instead, though it doesn't last long in the face of his words. "That's…*sighs* close enough." She frowns a little, then just shakes her head, dismissing the thought entirely. "I did call myself an idiot earlier now didn't I?" She asks with a roll of her eyes.
Kaido just shakes his head, "Well hallejuah! Brother! Bandit, what we've got here is a holy woman bucking for sainthood!" He tsks then and then moves to sit next to her and puts her head on her shoulder. If she wants to beat him up, he'll take it and gladly as he says softly, "Do you still want him? Or do you just want to forget him?" And the question is important to him, it'll determine whether he plays Cyrano de Bergerac between the two or not. He does go on to say, "You need to follow your heart… yeah, sometimes it's gonna lead you astray and get you hurt… trust me… it's happened to me more times than I want to remember." Bandit quips up again, "9 and counting… not including the Kiri assassin." Kaido makes a face at Bandit, "You actually count the number of women that have broken my heart?" Bandit smirks, "It'd be higher, but I chased away the other dozens or so who weren't good enough for you." Kaido blinks, "What? Is that why some of them wouldn't talk to me after the first date???" Bandit just snerks and cuddles up to Rise… she'll protect him if Kaido gets violent.
She would indeed protect bandit, though that's assuming she could work up the courage to answer Kaido's question first. Otherwise, she might not feel as if she deserved to be the one to do so. Then again, he did man handle her into resting her head against his shoulder first, so…
"It doesn't feel like a question of rather or not I still want him or not, but rather or not he can forgive me." Her gaze is lowered to bandit. "And a bit of me not deserving him…… But… yes, I do still want him. I want to try again." She finally admits, assuming of course if Kaido didn't interrupt her at any point. "Just… not tonight… My head is bout ready to explode after all of this."
Kaido shrugs and then places a soft kiss on top of Rise's head and says, "Then rest… and I'll take care of everything… If I have to I'll hog tie him and drag him back here tomorrow and then make sure the two of you hash it out. Both of you don't deserve to be this miserable." He shakes his head and looks down at Bandit, "Bandit? You got his scent?" Bandit snorts, "Uh… yeah, not that hard, even for a braindead Inuzuka human like you… he stinks. He's also not good enough for my Rise." Bandit cuddled Rise and Kaido's jaw drops to the floor, "YOUR Rise???" He sputters and facepalms, "Oh great… after ALL this time of harrassing me about MY choices in women, now YOU like someone????" He mutters, "Why couldn't it be an expensive poodle or something…" Bandit snorts, "What? Can't I like women too? Besides, she'd be perfect, we both like S&…" Kaido freezes and blanches and quickly slams duct tape over Bandit's mouth, "BAD PUPPY!!!" He sweatdrops and tries to inch away from Rise in mortification and says, "Umm… just ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about and it's probably a bit of brain damage, right!" He sagenods quickly, sweatdropping more.
Rise harrumphs at the kiss, but doesn't exact revenge for it yet. She hardly had the strength to do more than listen at the moment anyways. "I'd appreciate that." She replies, sounding only half-joking about it all. Absently, Rise allowed herself to rest more fully on Kaido as she listened to the two converse. Against her better judgement and darker nature, Rise cooed at Bandits claim, and shifted so that she was cuddled up to him in return. "My Bandit-kun." She teases with a dreamy look in her eyes, only half listening at this point.
About the only thing that pulls her out of that in-between state is hearing the bit about S&… something else. "Mm… Alright.. but that last bit did sound like it could be..fun, I guess." She says carelessly before letting out a yawn. "N'ewayz… Ba… *headshakes*…. Thanks for all the advice 'n all, but I'm goin to sleep… You two are welcome to stay, though it'd prolly be better for ya to get going before the storm hits."
Bandit rips off the tape to say, "S&M! Kaido's really into I, mean, he's got a thing for women who like to give…" Kaido just sighs and says, "You're doing it again Bandit, we talked about this…" Bandit snerks, "She looks like she knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about, she's not some naive little girl." Bandit winks at Rise and then whispers into her ear, "He's also into candle wax you know…" Kaido just shakes his head and says, "I think we'll stay, it's too late to head back to the village and my leg needs a night to heal anyways…" Kaido looks at Rise then and says, "Listen, it'll all work out in the end, it may not be the result you want… but it all tends to work out for the best no matter what… ok? You have me and Bandit on your side. No strings attached, and no hidden agenda… well, not on my part at least." Bandit just raises an eyebrow at Kaido and Kaido amends, "Ok, beyond the wanting to spend time with a beautiful woman at least…" He sweatdrops.
Rise honestly didn't get the term even after Bandit mention candle wax being involved. Still, she played along if only to tease Kaido, relieving lingering stress with something normal for a change. Her teasing smile and snickering come to an end with Kaido's declaration. She tried her hardest to fight down a blush, but doing so only seemed to make matters worst! So, she pulls bandit up high enough to shield her face, and nods absently. "J-just stick to your side of the cave, and everything will alright." Without another word, Rise lays down on her side with bandit tucked closely to her body, knowing she'd need the extra heater… and protection if she was to be more honest with herself.
