Starring:
Date: February 1, 2012
Summary:
Berii drags Hitoshi out to prove her worth but, gets much more.
"Rank Up! Best Friend -> Boyfriend"
Outside Sunagakure
Click, click. Click, click.
After a long day of training and a subsequently long, hot walk back to the hotel that the competitors and likewise, those who's teams had come to support them, were being housed in, Hitoshi had managed to get himself set up in his room properly. It was sparse, with a small futon, a few chairs, and a squat table with room for up to four people to sit and eat. And, of course, a radio, which cranks out some sort of quiet tune right now… Something that is easy on the ears, not too harsh.
All the while, where was Hitoshi? Splayed out on that futon, which was currently folded out to function as a bed, in a pair of ultra-baggy pants and a t-shirt. His forehead protector rests nearby with the rest of his gear… it's been re-polished and kept clean overall, from the looks of it. His kunai pouch also looking as if it'd been restocked with smoke pellets and the like.
He was going to be ready for the end of the week.
But for now… he's just on that futon, splayed out, feigning sleep. He's rested, trained… and rested.
Uchiha Berii was, well, an odd duck, she was all happy go lucky the entire time she was in this 'wasteland' known as the Land of Wind going about seeing the town, meeting a lot of new people…
Yet, upon seeing Hitoshi successfully come out of the second round she became all secluded, her appearance was more or less scarce. So, maybe Hitoshi forgot about her at this point or maybe that could've been all the more reason to worry about her! Regardless, suddenly a terrifying shadow looms behind the entryway of Hitoshi's room.
DOOM! Wait know, it's that little powderpuff who pretends to be on his team.
"Neh, Hitoshi-kun? You in thewe?" Berii calls out, knowning full well he was in there though sounded genuinely questioning nonetheless.
Click, click, click, click. The ceiling fan above Hitoshi's continues to rotate and cast a momentary shadow from time to time, causing Hitoshi to blink once or twice when the blades cast that shadow. He was physically kind of tired, and that soft 'click' was enough of a monotony that he could've fallen asleep to it… Almost, anyway. He was actually on the verge of falling asleep when, suddenly, there's a voice at the other side of his door. And he blinks, a little blearily, before sitting up some and rubbing his head. Berii? What could she want?
"It's open, Berii-kun," the boy calls out, rubbing the back of his head some. A towel remains draped over his shoulders, indicating his recent shower. She may not be so worried about approaching him this time, with such an obvious sign that he had been groomed and cleaned.
When he turns to the door, he waits for her to enter, and when she does, he smiles a little toward her, lifting his hand. "Berii-kun, c'mon in. Make yourself at home," he jokes slightly, gesturing to the sparse amenities… the tune on the radio transitioning into something a little more upbeat, but still quiet.
Berii takes a moment to slip out of her shoes before stepping into Hitoshi's room, a quick glance around and then she settles on Hitoshi who seemed pretty comfortable. This got her jaw to tense, quickly shifting to a smile as she shuffles over to Hitoshi, and stands over him for a moment before sticking her hand out, seemingly wanting him to take it.
"Hnn, come on." This is said as if they had something planned, if he did take her hand she would help him up before heading back to the door, apparently having no care for him just coming out of the shower. "I'm gonna be at the gates, see you there, hnn." A dismissive wave is given as she goes to step outside the door and put her shoes back on.
As Berii enters, he has brought the towel up to finish drying out his hair, blinking a little bit at her from under the towel as she lets herself in and takes off her sandals. But then… it gets weird for a moment as he notices that jaw tensing, then the smile. What is with her lately? He smiles back when she smiles, and then…
When Berii offers out her hand, Hitoshi blinks at it, unsure. He lowers his towel, opening his mouth to say something for a moment, but then he thinks better of it, taking her hand and letting himself be helped up, as she then lets herself back out, apparently extending some kind of invitation to him.
"The gates to the village?" he asks himself lightly. "What could she possibly want there?" A blank look is given toward the mirror, and he promptly shakes his hair out, looking at himself for a moment. He decides… on a quick change of clothes, then.
And then, he's on his way, forehead protector in place on his left arm. He'd be on his way, and ready to meet up with Berii not too long after she left. He's in his normal style of dress, as always… just with the forehead protector moved…
Assuming she's there, he approaches her slowly, blinking. "Berii-kun?" he calls out, curiously… Sand. Gah. It crunches under his feet.
Berii smiles, waving rapidly at Hitoshi as he makes his approach. Berii then begins to run off, looking to the guards, "Aye, we'll be back in a bit!" The guards, don't entirely worry about two Genin from another village going out of their village, they were quite lazy looking anyway.
Maybe that's why Sunagakure kept getting attacked… anyhoo!
Berii zooms off, taking a hard right before turning away from the village once more and continuing to run and going over a sand dune until the village was out of view, not that they were necessarily /that/ far away. Just the dips in the sand managed to hide them away.
It would be here that Berii finally stops, Hitoshi would find Berii sitting on a large scroll acting as if she had been there ALL DAY waiting for him to catch up. A teasingly bored expression worn when/if he appears.
"Wha—"
And when Berii takes off again, Hitoshi begins to follow after her, taking off into the sand again… thankfully, it was kind of dark, and the sun had sunk down. This way, it wasn't so hot. He could at least almost keep up with her… Key word, almost. So, why the hell was she bringing him out here? He has -no- clue. He just decides to follow, unsure of what to say or even bring up. He remembers his conversation with Ei… and he sighs a little as he runs along, shaking his head.
"Tonight?… Maybe…"
He'd have to think of it. As he tops the dune and sees her sitting nearby on the large scroll, he blinks, coming to a stop and tilting his head. He walks down the dune, eventually sliding down, and he blinks a little, looking her up and down… and blinking at the scroll she sits on. "What's this?" he asks her quietly, blinking a little bit and tilting his head… "What're we doin'?" he asks her softly…
Berii seems to get a kick out of Hitoshi's expression, beaming at him before she gets up off the scroll. When this is done, the kanji for medical supplies are revealed. The scrolls size was more or less to have the psychological effect on Hitoshi, there wasn't really much in there.
"Hitoshi-kun, I know I haven't seen you fight much, hnn." Berii scans him once more, "Maybe you got a wot betteh, maybe you've been hiding something othe' than signing up fo' this exam." Berii frowned and hoped this wasn't the case because then, maybe, just maybe, he could've saved her from being stabbed up by that weird armored man during the war.
"How did you get by?" The Uchiha stares at him, her expression no longer that of a frown or a smile. Her current mood seemed, eerily blank. "Hitoshi-kun. Cwanwess, Hitoshi-kun…"
"The written exam wasn't as hard as I expected it to be," Hitoshi begins softly, "but then again, at the time, I wasn't expecting to pass it, either. When I realized I was going to be thrown into the second portion of the exam, though… I was worried," Hitoshi remarks softly, shaking his head a little bit, sort of… thrown off by the situation. He's kind of unnerved by that stare, that blank slate she's giving off. "I— was very lucky in the caves," he explains quietly, shaking his head, watching her and stepping to keep her in his sight as she begins to scan him and wander a little… "Naru-san, Eremi-kun, and myself worked together for a little bit, as long as we could… Eremi-kun didn't make it, though, and he's out now…"
He sighs, shaking his head. "I wish we could've avoided that. If anyone deserved to get through, it was him. He really is a lot stronger than I thought he was…"
A pause, then, and he looks back to Berii… Her words kind of sound off on him, and he squints his eyes a little bit as he looks to her. "I found the determination in myself to get through, one scroll, two scrolls, or no scroll. I was at least going to make it out, alive, just to show I could at least do that. I wanted you guys to see that I had a little worth," he explains to her. "A little talent, even if I didn't make it. But I did…"
Now what?
The boy gets a perked up eyebrow Berii probably didn't like this answer. "Huh." Berii nods slowly and then takes a step forward, "Hnn, I was hoping fo' something a bit… hnn…" Berii trails off and shrugs her shoulders, for a moment her eyes flash red and she clears her throat. She takes a few steps forward and took up a taijutsu stance, "I wanted to twain with you again. This time a bit mo' sewious, hnn."
Berii's speech impediment made her creepy demeanor, sort of lack creepiness. In fact it seemed like she was just carrying on casual conversation, turns out all Berii wanted to do was spar.
Though somewhat calm and, not really big on sparring, she was worried that Hitoshi would say no. Something in the back of her mind was already not taking no for an answer, her blood was boiling. It was weird, her facial expression would shift to that of someone confused as she began questioning her own mentality.
"… Train with me?"
Hitoshi and Berii hadn't trained for a while. It'd been a point of contention with him, sort of… he had been doing his own thing since after the war, really. So, when Berii seems to be offering, Hitoshi seems to furrow his eyebrows a little bit, clearing his throat slightly and giving a slight nod.
As she slips into her stance, Hitoshi nods, and moves to take his forehead protector off. He moves it back to his forehead, tying his hair out of his way with it. "I can't really say no, Berii-kun. If you want to train… or fight…"
A pause. "I won't say no." With that, he slides into a stance, breathing in quietly and readying himself. He seems to breathe in slowly, readying his mind, and clearing it. "I've learned a couple of tricks since our last sparring session… I hope you're ready."
A couple more seconds of the breathing, and Hitoshi takes himself up… his eyes close for a little bit, and then re-open.
His fingers turn over on the hand furtherest out, and he gestures her forward.
The Uchiha gives a sigh of relief, that was odd. "Hitoshi-kun…" Berii sort of mumbles to herself, looking down to the sand beneath her for a moment, "Give it yo' all, p-pwease. Hnn. I want you to be stwong enough to win aw of it." With that said her fist tighten and her body tilts Berii zig zags towards Hitoshi.
Getting a feel for the situation it seems as when she clothes in, she goes for a set of strikes.
Her body goes low and her right hand cocks back as she goes for a forceful swing at Hitoshi's chest with the other hand pulls back going for another strike at the boy. Sure Berii was quick but, her punches didn't really have much more oomf to them, perhaps she doubled in strength but, that made her strength mediocre at best.
It would seem that Hitoshi was going to go with his usual format of defense: clones, lots of them. Berii would probably remember that Hitoshi's main defenses also centered around using Ninjutsu. When she closes in, the first clone is apparently ignored, but, when he's struck in the gut, he ducks, the second clone he formulates moving to take his place to take the body shot strike she's attempting, both clones POPPING with a poof. In the meantime, he's already recovered from the Uchiha's strike, and he's flipping backwards to put some distance between himself and her again.
"That was good! But you've gotta be close-range to deal with something like that! My fighting style's changed a little bit in that regard…"
And with that, he begins to form a set of handseals, before he bows back and starts spitting forth bolts of fire, which, as they fly in different directions, spread out in directions Berii could go, they begin to take the shape of shuriken… Apparently he's also picked up some new Ninjutsu, as well. That's not what he's expecting to impress her with, though…
Berii glares at the clone as it disappears, her eyes squinting through the smoke and locking back on to Hitoshi. Her assault aiming to be relentless though she is thwarted by the oncoming firebolts, her hands come together to form a hand seal as she twirls around the first.
The flourishing dodge slows her a bit and shuriken hits her in the thigh. There would be a wince of pain as an obvious burn mark is left in its wake.
The unpleasant smell of burning skin reaches her nose but, it is not met with pure disgust for the first time. The child tolerates it and in a swirl of sand she vanishes, appearing high in the air with a large fuuma shuriken in hand. "Hnn." Her eyes lock on to her target below with a hard swing of her arm it comes sailing in, followed by an obvious smaller shuriken.
Both come in at slightly different angles, it was obvious which way to go to avoid them but, would Hitoshi pick up on the third attack? There was a second massive shuriken hidden behind the first and at the last moment it makes a trajectory shift as it appears out of what seems to be out of the air itself.
So, Berii was doing her even best, and Hitoshi could -definitely- see it. Picking up on her, he looked up, frowning a little and watching her in the air… Man, she was graceful. He began to flicker himself, now, moving with the same speed, trying to match her… however, one time, when he does, he -does- get knicked, and he winces a bit, growling some… The forms of clones popping up around him again, each one nudging him out of the way abruptly… One, not quickly enough, but it still takes a large brunt of the hit, while the other one does the same, taking the whole shot and both POPPING again with a flash of smoke, once again leaving Hitoshi shrouded to cartwheel himself out of the field of fire again.
Once back on his feet and straight, he was closing his eyes, taking a breath and rolling his neck some… His arm was bleeding slightly from where she'd managed to knick him, but it wasn't serious. He grins a little, realizing he had hit her… but the point here was to focus. And clear his mind… Which, breathing in and out, with his eyes closed, he finally does… and he fixates himself.
"Good. More."
Berii falls from the sky, landing without a sound atop the sand, her hair seeming to ignore gravity for a bit as it takes its time to fall. Berii makes note of the damage done, curious on what happened there that he managed to fail avoiding the first two but, the challenging one he got over. "Must've been wuck, hnn." Berii's stance is taken up again but, as she moves her hands into the fighting position, a kunai appears in each.
While Hitoshi appeared to be gathering himself, Berii did the same. He did get a lot better, it looked like she could throw herself at him as hard as she hoped. Her chakra gathered into a combat ready form as she speaks, "Hnn, Hitoshi-kun. I'm not gonna mess awound. You betteh not quit though!" Her right foot shifts in the sand, her weight is adjusted into something more defensive.
Chakra was still gathering, slowly and descretely. Her brain was flooding with data, attempting to predict what would happen next. While she would always try to think a battle through, this mental rush almost felt forced. Yet, something was missing from the calculations, there was a mental block.
"Then don't mess around," Hitoshi replies, digging his feet into the ground for a moment as he begins to ready himself. The distance between them, he measures it… takes it into account, and then he nods a little bit, before beginning to charge forth. He keeps an angular motion, moving to the left side to try and outflank Berii. As he does, he forms his handseals, trying to keep himself abreast of the situation… She may very well recognize the handseals he's forming, too… but by the time it may dawn on her, he may already be bowing back…
"Katon, Goukakyou no Jutsu!"
He comes skidding to a stop, and he bows back, his fingers formed in a finger as he blows through them… the fireball he's formed growing, and growing, and growing, until it finally launches from the boy with a powerful force. He may or may not have the best control, of course, but nontheless, it's a pretty powerful attack. He follows it up with, likewise, another carefully blown out Blazing Shuriken, aimed toward where she may try to escape to. Distance!
"Wait."
Berii looks hesitant to make any moves as Hitoshi starts forming handseals that were so familiar, a technique that took up so much of her time to learn. Years after being taught how to release fire. A birth given right and here goes Hitoshi, doing it so shortly after finding out he can even use fire in the first place.
Suffice to say, Berii was impressed. So impressed that she is engulfed in the flame and burned to a crisp.
During the gout of flame, Berii's moment of being impressed was instantly replaced with annoyance, is this how he did it? Sure he mentioned team work but, so many others most likely used team work. Does he simply get… better?
The fire clears and Berii had completely disappeared for a short moment, phasing back into reality up into the air only to flicker away again, this time on the ground going into a full charge at Hitoshi. Target was locked, and what charged at him could easily be recognized as Berii but, her eyes currently spoke of someone entirely different.
Each one red with the fury of the Uchiha clan, the girls pace had kicked up to something fierce and in a small puff of smoke a that giant chakram of hers appears. Berii's speed does not slow she just charges right by Hitoshi and in that split second of her rushing by she somehow managed to swing a weapon that was nearly as big as her twice. The ring blade disappears as soon as the attack is over and she was rapidly forming seals, eyes locked onto her own hands for a moment to focus and perform the seals more quickly than humanly possible. "KATON: GOUKAKYOU NO JUTSU!"
Berii inhales deep, her hand comes up and makes a pinching motion to guide the fire. Never before had she used this technique in a friendly fight but, she felt she had something to prove.
Clones did absolutely zero good in this case, and when it came down to it, perhaps Hitoshi was tiring from using his NInjutsu so blatantly. As she begins to come down and counters out with her own gout of fire, he raises his eyebrows, and begins to form the handseals to likewise return fire…
A Non-Uchiha and a Uchiha, both with apparent wills of Fire burning in both their souls… as he releases the flaming ball, he bows back, blowing… and what happens when he does is quite -amazing.- The two Fireballs collide in mid-air, and while it doesn't quite work out like Hitoshi meant for it to, it does somewhat help… but nontheless, the attack is slightly dispersed, and when it washes over Hitoshi, who had no chance to move, he crouches down, letting the fire wash over him… it scalds, burns, and is otherwise horrifically unpleasant. When it is over, he's standing on a slightly raised spot in the crater, his clothing and the like singed, and otherwise smoking… but he's not too horribly hurt. He's breathing deeply, hard, and fast, as he looks toward Berii, lowering his arms from having guarded himself. She's not far from him.
"That… was… intense."
Without missing a beat, though, he takes off again, this time simply charging straight at Berii, hoping to use the very small gap between them as a surprise cushion… to tackle her, outright, to the ground. … And nothing else.
Just tackle her. And then… be there on top of her.
If Berii wasn't busy focusing on her fire technique, she would've let off a jerkish 'hah'. That's what happened in her mind at least, he may of learned the technique quickly but hers was superior. Berii managed to prove a point that… most likely no one was going to argue against. With the flames dancing within her eyes, a strange sense of glee washed over her until…
The end results of her attacks were shown, the burns all about Hitoshi was a bit of a mental slap and in that moment where he came charging at her in slow motion(at least she saw it in slow motion) Berii had simply watched on with a shocked expression, something had changed in her for what may of possibly been the worst.
The boiling blood would calm her eyes simply following Hitoshi casually and it wasn't until he was practically on her that she made an attempt to protect herself and put up a guard, bracing herself for impact and soon after she was down on the ground.
"N-neh?" Berii just sort of starts to squirm still recovering from that mental shock, she does her best to avoid trying to violently escape from him.
The tackle did exactly what Hitoshi meant for it to. It sent him and her both skidding across the sand for a moment. Despite the appearance, Hitoshi wasn't that seriously hurt… and the bleeding on his arm had already stopped. He just looked a little burnt around the edges, really. And it's just as apparent when Hitoshi lays there on top of her for a second, looking down at her and just grinning slightly, shaking his head.
"You've changed, too, Berii-kun. Your eyes… You were able to unlock that power." He grins a little bit, still, nodding in approval. Now, it comes down to it. They were both here, very awkwardly at least… and close. Very close. His hair was kind of doing this odd curtaining thing around their faces, too. His conversation with Ei is still fresh in his mind, as well…
If you don't tell her now, you may never get the chance.
At this point, the boy rolls off the top of Berii… but he doesn't let her get away… and instead, he reaches out toward her, trying to keep her there… a possible (vain) attempt to lightly grasp her hand as he looks up toward the sky.
"I'm… I'm glad you were able to grow, too, Berii-kun. It makes me proud that you're my teammate and friend… But… nn." He stops. "That's not what is on my mind right now." He takes a huge gulp. "There's something i need to tell you…"
Berii would just lay there, looking as if she were glaring though that was not the case. These eyes just had that look to them while Berii was busy tripping on chakra vision, which was kind of painful to stare at this long, this close. Hitoshi was appreciating what was currently causing her to delve towards a slight headache.
Berii's eyes glance left and right, slowly fading out of battle mode just after Hitoshi rolls away, saving her from fully enduring the awkward moment. The unnecessary hand holding gets her to heat up a bit, her combat flush going a deeper shade.
Berii's mind races for a moment as he stumbles through the words and is holding her hand, Berii makes some sort of weird, "Eeelp!" Sound, whatever that was, she gets up onto her feet, her hand slipping away… unless he's iron gripping it!
"You'we not wooking too good, Hitoshi-kun I didn't mean to use fiyah, just uh I don't have the stuff fo' that, hnn. Hospital befo' it's permanant, neh?"
Words a bit rushed, Berii tosses an awkward smile, the Sharingan still sticking around.
And just like that, Hitoshi realizes what Berii is doing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. He just kind of squints at her from where he lays in the sand, and he shakes his head a little, sighing and closing his eyes. He saw the Sharingan was still lingering, and he knew that it was probably playing havock on her mentally… but he couldn't help that. She could stop it, right?
"… I'm -fine,- this is nothing more than a ruined set of clothes; a new set of clothes and a couple of bandages for my arm, and I'm good to go," he remarks, eyes still closed. "It wasn't even bleeding- anymore when I looked at it last." A pause, and he opens his eyes quietly to look toward her, tilting his head a little bit.
"… If you want to go without hearing me out, then go." He's giving her the out. "But I'm trying to be sincere here… and if you don't wanna hear it, that's fine, I guess. But if I don't tell you now, when am I going to? Tomorrow? When the exams are over? Nah… why don't I just do it now, and save myself the humiliation of doing it when there's a ton of other ears listening?…"
Berii peers at Hitoshi, the boy seemed pretty set on what he had to say to her. She already pulled out her greatest tactic and he shut it down. This left Berii in an awkward spot, she does not plan on denying him his words. Berii's hands slide into her sleeves and she nods slowly, eyes shutting as she sighs. "If you'we sure you'we okay, hnn." Her eyelids rise up and she looks onto Hitoshi with her plain dark eyes.
"Hnn, Hitoshi-kun… what is it." Berii puts on the best uncaring face she could manage, no matter how flushed her… entire body started to get.
"We've known eachother for a handful of years since I came to the village… We've trained together, worked hard together, grown together in our own ways. I've always tried to cover you, and you've tried to have my back since we were teamed up together. We work well together… even if we butt heads from time to time," Hitoshi muses quietly, continuing to lay there in the sand as he keeps his own eyes closed. He mulls over his thoughts, and he takes in a breath as he does… "No matter how hard either one of us tries to hide it and keep it buried down or subdued, I feel like we care a lot for one another." He chews on his tongue, considering the next part. "I ran into this Exam thinking I had something to prove to you and Taiki and Atsuro-sensei… Like I was worth being counted as a Shinobi. It was a foolish and selfish thing to do… and I didn't consider how it may've hurt you or Taiki-kun. And for that… I'm sorry. I know now, though… I've gotta learn to know that when I rely on you guys… sometimes, you rely on me, too."
He pauses, then, taking a breath and sighing. "That's not it, though. That's just part of it. Berii-kun… While I was gone, I thought a lot about how I view you. Sure… I view you as a very good teammate, and good friend… who's pushed me, been there for me… and helped me through everything, practically. I wouldn't have been inspired to do half the things I've done, I feel like, if I hadn't had you there to stand beside me."
He gulps, then, and opens his eyes, looking over toward her. "I think you truly had me the morning we ran into one another at Hiro and I almost set the store on fire by accident while you were working," he chuckles… "… You looked like yourself. And you were perfect. You're always great. Even when you're mad."
"… Berii-kun, I think I've fallen for you."
Uchiha Berii, was not the most intelligent person in the world. Neither was she dumb, she knew where this was going long ago yet, she wanted to stick around to hear all that he had to say about her.
All the while a small smile creeps up on her without her noticing it. Berii takes a few steps towards the boy, not even letting him finish his final sentence before she drops down next to him and leans in. Berii had no idea what to actually do in order to get this done correctly, she just sort of awkwardly mashes her lips against his.
Berii pauses and then slowly pulls away, looking away. "Don't waste you'we time saying stuff wike that. You shoud be twaining, hnn." Berii gets up, not sure why she just did that at all.
The girl pulls completely back and crosses her arms, she should've thought that through more. Her brain bounces around for a moment as she tries to regulate her heartbeat. "Uh… so…" Berii grabs her scroll she wasn't sure what to do next beyond going back.
RANK UP!
Uchiha Berii has maxed out The Taniguchi Hitoshi social link in the Magician arcana! She has formed a true bond that cannot be broken…
Hitoshi will now die for you.
When she leans down and kisses his lips, even awkwardly, he blushes deeply, and smiles a little bit, shaking his head. "Totally worth the time it took for me to figure out how to say it, if I gotta say so…" he remarks softly, smiling still and blushing. As she seems to be caught in a daze, he moves to stand, and he towers over her for a moment before reaching down toward her, offering her his hand in assistance to get up.
Once up, though, he wouldn't let go, instead walking back toward the village slowly, holding onto it.
Hitoshi would be the sweet enough gentleman he is to walk her back to her room, drop her off, and even provide one more peck on the forehead before returning to his own room… so that he could collapse and start working on his injuries.
