Starring:
Date: January 30, 2012
Summary:
Hitoshi emerges from the cave, to find his team waiting for a reunion
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"Team 10 Reunion! Hitoshi Emerges!"
Outside the Exam cave enterance/exit.
It's only a few minutes before the survival exam is finished, and with Hitoshi apparently somehow not getting killed, Atsuro figures he ought to be there when his student or whatever emerges victorious from the caves. He's also made Taiki and Berii aware of the occasion, though he hasn't made coming mandatory — it gives him something to tease them about later if they don't show. He and Taizen are actually part of a fair-sized crowd waiting outside this entrance for examinees to come out. The air is thick with the crowd's chatter and anticipation, and it's not long until the caves' gates are opened up and the exam officially ends. Hopefully Hitoshi doesn't die before then.
There is no way in heaven or hell that Taiki is going to miss being there when Hitoshi came out. The fact that he was even in the exams at all was something of a shock to him, since he didn't know his teammate actually entered. He knew Eremi did, he knew Naru did, at least /they/ told him. But would his teammate actually open his mouth and say something? Ooooh nooo. That would only be… well… expected! Thus when Atsuro tells him the survivors are going to be let out he and Shinobu are there. Of course there's other people he hopes to ensure survived, but for now he's here for his team, and to ask Hitoshi for an explanation…
It was hot, way too hot today thank goodness for this ridiculous but, very breatheable outfit her father made for her! So the weather was somewhat bareable for the foreigner Uchiha Berii who managed to avoid burning away thanks to some intense sunblock!
"Nnn." Berii slips through the sweaty members of the crowd, thanks to the sunblock sweat mixture, squeezing through was a breeze. Eventually Berii would join Atsuro, managing to spot Taizen and pop on in. "Hnn. Hey." This simply said to make her small presense known, staring at the exit now.
It wasn't long until participants started filing out. It looks like those who were the worst off were coming out first… those with substantial injuries and the like were being helped out by those who, like them, were most likely scroll-less or only had their one scroll and thus, were out of the competition. Of those, there were plenty… then there were those that were decent in appearance, kind of dirty, but not so much hurt. Those were likely the ones who succeeded and were coming out last.
The first group… Hitoshi's face was missing from them. He was missing from the second round of participants that'd come out, too. He wouldn't come out until the last wave of people, those who had to finish packing up their little campsites, dousing fires, etc. - a mixed matchup of those who were mildly in bad shape and those in good shape… but the majority of them had come out with two scrolls in sight, tied to their persons.
And just like that, there he was. His backpack had a scroll tied to either side of it, dangling freely. He looked tired, dirty… a little worse for wear, but otherwise, he wasn't that bad off. Just tired. And maybe he was needing a shower. Dry showers and very little water… and no soap…
Yeah.
At first, he wasn't expecting to see many people waiting on him. Let alone the rest of Team Ten. But as he begins to head through the crowd, Berii's hair is what sticks out the most to him - Taizen second. The hair and the dog is what makes him realize that, hey, there they are in the crowd. And he pauses, everyone else milling about… and he stares toward them.
… Before he makes a mad dash toward them, bursting through a couple of folks, elbowing them out of the way…
"You guys came!" Those were his first words, spoken with a slightly hoarse, but full voice. "Hah! I—" A pause… and he squints slightly. "… Thanks for coming, Sempai… Taiki-kun, Berii-kun." He smiles, tiredly… "… How long've you guys been here?"
"Well, if it isn't my most reckless student," Atsuro greets with teasing affection, grinning widely at Hitoshi. He reaches out to ruffle the boy's hair, but stops himself when certain sights and smells inform him of Hitoshi's hygiene. "Daisy, those scrolls should come with some soap." Taizen wags his tail and Atsuro gives him a moment to bark in greeting before he answers Hitoshi's question. "Hours!" he says, "They told us that you'd be getting out last night, but we've been waiting here this whole time. Guess you're just lucky to have such a dedicated team, eh?" He point his thumb over his shoulder, out to a more open space behind him, "Anyway, what say we go over there for a little celebration before we plunge you into a giant vat of deodorant? I didn't come unprepared."
Taiki came up quietly behind Atsuro and Berii, and thus probably wasn't noticed or noted by either one of them. When the participants start coming out, he channels chakra to his nose and ears to pick up on the people exiting. He sees Emeri leave without two scrolls, and sighs and shakes his head. Ah well, there's always next time for him. He waves to his friend and gives him a look of promise, they would talk later. Then he goes back to looking through the crowd.
The next person he spots is Naru. He breaths a sigh of relief that she's alive, and in reasonably one piece. He wants to run out there and congratulate her, but her team is there as well, and they need some alone time with her. Still, his face brightens when he sees her two scrolls, and he smiles warmly at her, waving as he catches her eyes. This is another person he'll have to connect with again, preferably before the third exam. But for now he waits for another person… his wayward teammate.
As Hitoshi finally comes out, Taiki's nose picks him up first. He looks over his teammate and smiles. Okay, he's not too hurt, though it looks like he's gone through hell. So maybe Taiki will lay off the slapping around part, and just give a lecture about letting his friends know the important stuff. Instead he half-smiles, half-smirks at Hitoshi and arches a brow. "How long have we been here? Hnnnn… Intersting question that, with a couple of different answers. If you mean "How long have you been in Suna?" Oh, just under a month. Just after we found out you had entered the exams and gotten to the second round." Taiki then shrugs as he's preempted by Atsuro for the other part. "What he said."
Berii's hands disappear in her sleeves when she clasps them together, she'd rock on her heels a few times until eventually just stopping on the tips of her toes to try and spot Hitoshi within the waves of people coming out of the exam. Some of the participants are familiar from either being within her own clan, went to school with her or, simply were around the village in general. They would more or less get nods, Berii wasn't exactly friendly with much people anyway.
As for Hitoshi…
Given the terms they last parted on and the fact that Berii was overjoyed that he was at least alive but, also passed no less. Berii would completely ignore the sour smells coming from the boy, putting him in a crushing hug and sort of… squealing. Some momentary, "Eeee~" Would come from Berii before she pulls back and grins at the boy.
As the boys conversate, Berii tilts her head at Hitoshi. "Hnn." She looks him up and down, "Huh, Hitoshi-kun you… wook diffewent. Must be the… dirt?"
While Hitoshi wasn't quite expecting this, he -definitely- wasn't expecting the over-warm intent of the rest of them. Atsuro was being mightily cheerful… and— crunch. Berii's hug almost knocks the air right out of him, and he gasps a bit in surprise and the fact she almost knocks the air out of him when she bounds up and just -grabs- him so. Up close, yeah, he reaks. But if she's powering through it… more power to her. And yes, those smudges and the dirt are the most apparent up-close. He does his best to hug her back, his bag sliding off his arms before he does so, and he backs off after a moment, holding her at arms length…
He looks to her quietly, and with the straightest face he can, he simply states: "I have sand in places I never thought -was possible- to have sand in. I'm -sick- of -sand- and sick of -caves.-"
He then looks to Taiki and Atsuro, smiling a little bit. "—a month? We've been in there a -month?-" It didn't seem like it. He just kind of stares at them both, and looks up, toward the sun… and for a moment, he squints.
Cue this face:
"… Daystar," he whispers. Then he hisses. And begins to transform into a hideous bea—
Rewind on that. To where he's still kind of staring at Taiki and Atsuro. "… wow. Well… I guess that works, then," he remarks softly. "I'm just glad to be out."
"It's actually only been a few days. Probably about the same time as you," Atsuro corrects, "And while we're on that topic, I showed up about ten minutes ago. Funny, eh? Anyway, come over here." He leads (or attempts to lead) the group over to the spot he indicated before. It's not much more than an open space away from the crowd, but there are some nice rocks suitable for sitting on. Atsuro takes a seat on the biggest, then reaches into Taizen's pack. After a little fishing around, he produces several champagne flutes and a quarter bottle of champagne. "This is for me only," he says, "Sorry kids. You get this." He pulls out a regular sized bottle of sparkling grape juice. He hands it over to Hitoshi. "You can do the honours. But don't point it at me."
Taiki sighs and shakes his head. "Felt like a month though…" he doesn't elaborate on that point, but follows Atsuro over to the rocks. He is dressed in his normal ninja attire, so it should be no surprise when he pulls out a scroll and unseals some rabbit jerky in a bag. He tosses the bag toward Hitoshi and says, "Eat, before you fall over and die before I can ask what I want to ask." He gives Hitoshi another smirk and only adds, "Congratulations by the way."
<Public> Ei has disconnected.
Berii gets a momentary urge to light Hitoshi on fire, he was turning into a mon-
Berii blinks, the sun probably getting to her as she comes back to from her daydream. "Weiyud…" Berii blinks a few times and shakes off that strange daydream by just smiling away at Hitoshi until well… sheer willpower and the distracting emotional state she was previously in on seeing Hitoshi faded away and she manages to get a deep whiff of their smelly teammate.
Berii's expression goes flat, then sour. She then pulls back with a bit of a whimper, thank the KAMI she wasn't an Inuzuka! That smell would've probably been enough to kill her if she shared the clan with the rest of Hitoshi's welcomers.
The whimper is quickly covered up by awkward giggling as she does her best to make some space between herself and Hitoshi but, her nostrils were already tainted by that smell… that smelly smell that smelled. So… there were a bit of tears in her eyes now when she hops onto a rock-seat, crouching on it for the time being.
Berii spots the glasses, giving the team captain a quick questioning look until producing the child friendly drink right after.
Then Taiki gives him something, Berii? Well she had nothing for him at the moment. Though she had a strange aura of scheming while watching Hitoshi intently.
A bottle of grape juice, and then some jerky. Man, Hitoshi's team was turning it all over on him today! As they all begin to take seats, he also sits down, careful to take a seat that's kind of strategic - between Taiki and Berii both. And downwind - no more horrific smells today, not for them. A shower will be appropriate, immediately. If Berii doesn't do something lilac-awful, of course.
Right, Berii? :|
He then considers Atsuro's instructions, and he looks to the bottle. Then to himself, looking at his current state of dress. Yeah, these are clothes he can throw out.
Rose it.
He points the bottle at himself, and promptly commits Grape Suicide - he pops the cork, forcibly, and sprays himself down with what initially comes out. At least the grape smell will -mask- that stench, which had just become apparent to even himself. Nevermind the cork, which went shooting, nailed him straight in the forehead… and left an interesting pump knot, which was throbbing slightly, he held his tears. Big Boys don't cry over things like that.
Once that's done, he grabs a couple of those glasses, and pours himself, then Berii, and then Taiki one, in no particularly real order… and then, he chomps down on some of that jerky. "Thanks, Taiki-kun," he replies to the boy's congratulations, and he grins a little. "It got down to the wire for a bit.."
Holding a finger to his lips, Atsuro shakes his head. "Shh, Taiki, that's coming in just a minute. Patience." He waits for Berii and Hitoshi to get into position, then grabs his own bottle. He starts to remove the cork until he realizes that Hitoshi is about to fire it at himself. Watching the boy bean himself in the head, he simply shrugs. "Well, that's one way to do it. I guess you /did/ need a shower. And a bop on the head." He looks over to the crowd, picks out a target (some random person) and pops out the cork. It hits the poor guy perfectly. "Oops," Atsuro calls over, "Sorry!" Smiling to himself a little, he quickly pours the overflowing bottle into his own glass. "Okay. To Hitoshi, who charged into this whole exam thing without due deliberation!" He raises the glass.
Taiki takes a moment to look at Atsuro when the chuunin shushes him, but nods. Okay, his chance to grill his teammate will have to wait. Though it did seem to rankle slightly that Berii was the only one on the team not seemingly ready to chew him out over not telling them. Taiki notes this, and can't help but to smirk when Hitoshi beans himself with the cork. He takes the glass, but spills it after his first sip when the true meaning of Atsuro's toast hits him, causing him to laugh out loud. That, and the relief the grape juice is giving his nose… Taiki /IS/ an Inuzuka after all…
Berii is innocent! Although she is still locked onto Hitoshi and became a background character once more until Hitoshi makes an idiot of himself, managing to smack himself in the forehead with the cork. Berii doesn't look worried at all with that little accident, just a little annoyed. That brooding, scheming aura seems to intensify until Hitoshi looks her way and hands her the glass.
The girl appears to realize what she was doing and with a quick shake of her head, she shifts to a smile and with a light bow of her head. "Hnn. Thank you." The girl seemed to have slown down a bit but, does snap back into full focus once more to quickly look between Atsuro's bottle and the people ahead of him. "Sen…" Pop. "Sei… nevehmind." The nevermind tacked on as not only was it too late but, Atsuro probably did it on purpose now that she thought on it.
Berii raises her glass into the air to Atsuro's toast and takes a sip of the grape juice. Another sip, then… chugs it. The girl places the glass down, "Hitoshi, you shouwd west, hnn." With that Berii gets up and bows to the group, "I'm gonna head back to my woom." A pleasant smile is given and she sort of just suddenly departs.
Wince.
In the background, Hitoshi was sure that in retaliation to Atsuro's fake-as-buttercup apology, he heard someone cuss the man. That'd make perfect sense. And as he begins to sip on his grape juice and nom quietly on his jerky, he listens to Atsuro's toast, he pauses, and then glances around toward him, wrinkling his nose slightly. His smile falters, then, and he sort of wilts slightly, shaking his head a little bit.
"… I -did- kind of seemingly run into this without any real provocation, didn't I?" he asks outloud, and then he rubs his nose a little bit, reaching up to do so. He looks toward the rest of them nervously now… and then Berii chugs her juice with an odd expression on her face, and makes to disappear. "Hey, now, wait a se—"
… The snapdragon?
Meh. He looks toward Taiki and Atsuro for a second, taking a breath… "I do kinda owe you guys a bit of an explanation, yeah. But… can I give it -after- I get a shower and some rest?" His eyes are kind of following the pink hair that's bobbing away steadily…
"Ber— " Atsuro pauses and just sorta watches her walk away. "Well, that was weird," he comments, "I wonder if she has a meeting with somebody." He looks over at the boys… or rather, one of them in particular, "Do either of you two know about it, Hitoshi?" He pauses to take a sip of champagne, smirking a little when he hears the victim of his 'accident' swearing. "You did," he tells Hitoshi, shrugging a little, "But whatever, you're still a kid. Maybe a kid chuunin in a few weeks, who knows? Point is, you're allowed to exercise poor judgement now and then." He grins. "But don't abuse it. Anyway, if you wanna go ahead and… get some rest, go ahead. I'll take you kids out to a restaurant or something. You know, once you smell better." He glances over to the leaving Berii.
Taiki stops laughing and frowns slightly as Berii leaves. He then shakes his head and sighs, then shrugs. "Sure, you can explain things after you rest and bathe. Definitely bathe. I had my senses up until you came over to us," Taiki says as he sniffs the now empty glass he's holding. "In the meantime Shinobu and I will go off and work on a few things." The dog barks then looks at his master. "But as you work out whatever you are going to say, let me plant a couple of thoughts in your mind, okay?"
Taiki waits for Hitoshi's attention before continuing, his face serious right now. "First of all, congratulations on your success so far. I was worried as these exams are dangerous, but I had every confidence that you were strong enough to at least survive, if not prosper as you obviously did. But that said, I do admit to being a bit peeved, and a little hurt. It is obvious Berii knew what you were doing before either Atsuro'sensei and I did, and probably from before you left for the second stage. I may lead a tough life, and be slightly socially inept because of it, but I'm not blind, so I'm not mad that Berii knew you were doing this. What I am upset about, and slightly hurt about, is that I had to find out you were in these exams after you left, from a strange chuunin. Now, I would like you to think on what that made me feel like. Do not answer now, as you do need to think about this. In the meantime, I'm going back to my room to rest." He gets up and starts off himself, only pausing long enough to turn back around. "Keep the jerky, consider it part one of my congratulations to you. I am proud of you, don't forget that." With that the genin and his dog walk off.
