Starring:
Date: March 14, 2013
Summary:
Goh finally catches up with Rise after his time away.
"Rising Again"
Kumogakure
Goh's feet were tired! The pickler had been walking across the continent for the better part of a month, catching up with all of his friends and allies across the countries. First Konoha, then Sunagakure and lastly, Kumogakure.
Having travelled across the beach and up the mountain, Goh was tracking Rise to the best of his ability. She was a difficult kid to locate, despite the extraverted nature. With a bit of a sigh as he reaches the village gates, he opts to take a break. She will likely pass by the gates at some stage, either coming or going. He can just catch her in that period of transition.
So, dropping his duffle bag and sitting down, the pickler rests. His mouth opens to yawn, his black cloak catching slightly in the wind.
Only three minutes later he's asleep. Perhaps tired from his walk, Goh has fallen victim to the nice warm sun and the subtle wind sweeping across the pathway. Using his pack as a pillow, he's sprawled out next to the pathway. Snoring loudly.
Goh would not be the only on the look out for someone. In fact, while he was busy gallivanting across the continent playing catch-up, recruiting, and just having a grand 'ol time, Rise was kept busy trying to hunt him down! Consistent failure to capture the wanderlust driven pickler eventually drove Rise to give up the ghost and return the mountains of her homeland. Intentionally at first to train, but as time progressed she found herself drawn to Kumogakure, reminiscing amongst other distracting actions.
With those things aside, Rise awoke this day with the intent to finally renew her search now that she felt more at ease again. Blinded by determination, Rise did not pay the vagabond passed out along the road much heed at first. Then it hits her, and in a dust cloud summoning burst of pure speed, Rise dash back and slid to a stop at Goh's side.
It was mean. It was vicious. And it may very well make him reconsider taking her up as his apprentice. Still, Rise cocked back a rage fueled fist before driving it down into Goh's abdominal area.
"BA-KA!!"
Goh's eyes nearly pop out of his head when sudden pain shoots through him like lightning. He wheezes, the air rushing out of his lungs as his body nearly contorts around Rise's fist. "H-oof!" The pickler gets out, before crying out. "Ye-ow! What the…?" He squints a bit, trying to look at the person who just thrashed his belly.
What he sees surprises him. Blinking a bit, Goh sits up straight. "Oh! Rise." He beams broadly at his little sidekick. "That's quite a punch you've got on you, huh? That hurt." He rubs his stomach, before then opening his mouth to yawn loudly once more.
"I've been looking for you everywhere. Should have thought to check back here first." He pauses. "Well, I've come to get you, so we can start making you ultimate." His tummy still throbs from the strike, even as the man stands up from his seated position.
He looks a bit different since having last encountered Rise. As if he's filled out more; more intimidating… something like that, anyway. He'd look a whole lot more bad-ass if he wasn't smiling like a goof most of the time. But it seems his time alone had been filled with something that has forced him to 'toughen' up a little.
"How've you been, anyway?"
Rise soooo wanted to punch him again if only for the sake of wiping that goofy smile off his face. But she didn't, nor could she maintain her only anger over Goh's current and previous antics without finding herself a strange mixture of sorry and… fearful of the pickler. His new appearance after all was not lost to her completely. It just took a few awkwardly silent moments on her part to take it all in before accepting the change. Mostly.
"… Well, it ain't like ya did'n have that one commin." She stated pointedly, arms folded beneath her breast and nose turned up and away. "… Still, ya did come back at all so… eto…. *sighs*.. Yeah, I'm about ready to start up again. BUT—" She held up a finger. "I wanna know some things first!"
"True, I did deserve it. I'm sorry, Rye." Goh says. "But I had to take care of something from the Southern Lands. Way, way too dangerous to take you along. Especially since you were just coming off the Chuunin Exams, and… well — yeah. Anyway, it's all past now. I don't plan on letting you out of my evil grasp again in the near too future." He raises a fist in a joking manner, as if pretending to be some sort of evil lord.
"Know some things? You don't want me to teach you something annoying like genjutsu, do you?" He pulls a face, as if he just ate something very sour. "Ew. I suppose, I guess, that's my job as a teacher." Lifting his duffle bag up from the ground, he slings it across his shoulder. Perhaps already keen to move?
Rise listened and nodded along subtly in agreement where appropriate at first… but then, Goh just had to try and play at being an evil lord. Which in turn gets an eye roll out of the young shirokiri alongside and half-hearted "Uh-huh" in agreement. She giggles despite herself when genjutsu is mentioned and waves off the suggestion rapidly. "I ain't quite interested in that stuff, Goh-baka-sensei~… I just wanted to ask*double blinks*Wait a minute? You meant head'n out right now?"
"Sure. Well, I assume you have some things to pack maybe, or a friend or two to say goodbye to, but yeah. We're on a fairly tight schedule, y'know. We gotta hit up Jump, so I can get you all registered for it. Then maybe take a job or two. Get some good food and drink in… then we head up north. Very very north. Possibly with another member of Jump. Some big things going on up that way which promises to be fairly exciting." He grins widely.
"Is this a problem? What did you want to ask, anyway? If you weren't keen on learning about illusions and such."
Rise nodded along at first, then rapidly shook her head and leered at Goh. "Why so far up nor—no, forget it. *huff* I just, well, I think, sorta believe…" With brows furrowed in frustration, Rise inclined her and pouted. "Gaah! Just get it out already," She emitted more to herself then of Goh before raising her head up sharply to practically leer into her sensei's eyes. "Kyn-ku-*coughs*… T-there's this guy named Kynshin-san I met a few days ago who.. well, I told him a little bit about some, stuff… and… *sighs* Mind if I someone tag along with us as well?"
"Oooooooooooooh." Goh gets out, long and slow. Dragging it out as much as possible. A big, big smile comes across his face. Seldom is he in this chance! "That's cute. A boyfriend for Rye, huh? Kakaka!" Goh throws his head back to laugh loudly, before ruffling the Chuunin on the head. "You don't need to keep it all hush hush. Jump is a public place, so you're free to tell anyone you like about it."
"As for him coming along with us, that's a completely different kettle of fish. If he's a wanderer, sure. No problem. If he's a registered ninja? Maybe not. Kynshin will need to get that cleared from the leaders here, and we can't get involved to influence that call." He tugs the string on his duffle bag a bit.
"Want to tell me a little bit more about him? Who is he? Skills? Rank? Age? You're not dating someone way older than you, are ya?"
As soon as the change in Goh became appareant, Rise shirked back out of fear. 'He's not—' But of course, he went there and made matters worse by ruffling her hair. This act immediatly turns Rise's entire face red in seconds. Futily, Rise attempted to speak or cut him off before her sensei really got on a roll. Unfortunately, all attempts to do so only resulted in some murmured mombo jumbo following her pantomiming the antics of a fish for a second or two.
By the time Rise does finally gather the wits about her to speak, Goh has long since finished speaking. "Goh-sensei…" She raised her hands out towards him with both thumbs pressed together and fingers partially curled. "Insert neck please?" She asked in a sickening sweet kind of voice. Even if he does not listen to her 'desire' Rise would remain keen on picking Goh up by the waist and squeeze. "He's, Not, My, BOYFRIEND!!!" She'd cry out regardless of success.
"Wahahahaha!" Goh throws his head back to laugh loudly, even as Rise tries to pick him up by the waist and squeeze him. She probably does have the strength to pick him up, but given the continual laughter from the pickler, it seems the squeeze isn't doing a whole lot to dampen his spirits.
when he is eventually put down, the laughter sort of dies out to a few chuckles and then nothing, the topic of conversation moving on.
"Anyway. Are you going to tell me what this guy is like? I'm just curious more than anything. Jump is always looking for people to take in, but… yeah. If he's happy here, we don't want to turn his family upside down and stuff. It's a tough life on the road, remember. And that's where he'll be spending the most of his time. Without the protection of a Ninja Village. It can be hard. Especially for youngsters."
Rise stomps her foot as she glared daggers up at the pickler for a few intense moments even as he speaks. With a little more time the young Shirokiri eventually succumbs to defeat, shoulders sagging and a exasperated sigh released. "Its Kynshin. Tenka Kynshin. And he's a pretty darn good swordsman if ya ask me, though I'm not sure if Jump could use them or is against those type of specialist." She shrugged lamely.
"He said.. well, I.. I haven't told him bout Jump quite yet, but he was interested in hitting the road with me, Us, so long as its alright with ya." She explained, deliberately skimping on a few details and idly hoping Goh doesn't notice. A part of her knew to she should doubt that though.
"Uh huh. Well, to begin with, we're not against any particular type of shinobi or person at all. Like I said, it was more curiosity on my part than anything. We have regular farmers that join Jump and do nothing but take up mentor like jobs, teaching other people to farm. The fact he's a swordsman specialist is no big deal. In fact, I'm not surprised at that at all. Sort of the way in Kumogakure."
Wrinkling his nose, he seems to look at Rise carefully, an expression that shows he probably WAS aware that she was withholding information. But he doesn't say anything, instead choosing to look back into the Village proper. If she wanted to keep information to herself, she was free to.
"I have no problem with it, but I'm not apprenticing him, Rye. Just you." He looks back to Rise then carefully. "And if it's just us, there might be some times when he's on his own, as I'll have to take you to the Caves on occasion. A place he can't enter. But like I said, this is all minor stuff. He needs to get approval from the Village first. Shinobi just can't up and leave."
Rise grumbles. "I know already… geeze..", She muttered, pouting with her arms crossed beneath her breast and eyes averted from Goh. A sigh escapes. "Look, Just.. *brow furrows*.. just give us a day at most, and if he hasn't already gotten permission by then, well… *deep breath* Then we'll just ditch him."
Speaking those words left a sorrow taste in her mouth; but even so, Rise knew that had to be said aloud for her to accept it. Mostly, in anycase. "Will that work for you, Goh-sensei?"
"Ditch is such a harsh word, Rye." Goh muses. "We can't ditch what we haven't picked up. But we will have to leave him behind, yes." Rubbing his hands together a little, he nods in agreement. "A day it is then. I can wait on the docks and organize us passage to South Beach in the mean-time. This might be a good opportunity to tell you, too. Likely travelling with us northward will be at least one person. She's from Sunagakure and very, very strong. So you'll be in great company to learn some fairly nifty tricks and skills. There's also the off-chance that another young person will be joining us, but that's really up in the air for the moment."
"We will have times when it's just us training, but when it comes to the actual travelling, we might be moving in a slightly larger group than I anticipated. Especially if Kynshin joins up too." He rubs a chin. "Not that this is a problem, I guess."
Rise frowned, but bit back her retorts. The whole point of leaving with Goh in the first place was to 'change'. But if she just continued to slip back into her old habits then there really was no point. And that's not even taking in to contact how many peopel she would be disappointing by refusing to take things more seriously. Plus, Goh did mention something about someone from Sunagakure joining them as well. Which -definetly- peeked her interested more than enough to let go of her anger.
"Hnn… guess this that's that then, so… I should probably get back to the village and relay all of this to Kyn-kun.. Huh.. not to mention getting my snow gear together too." She commented off-handily as she peered skyward. "Mmm, well, Ja ne, Goh-sensei~ I'll meet'cha at the docks tomorrow okay?" Rise asks, though she doesn't stick around to really listen afterwards. There were very big fish she needed to fry, and quickly at that too!
