Starring:
Date: October 24, 2011
Summary:
The team of Hitoshi, Taiki, and Berii are finally called together under a sensei: a Chuunin named Inuzuka Atsuro.
"You are in a team at last"
Training Ground #16
The message has been sent to three genin: come to Training Area #16 at 12:00 noon today to meet up with their new team members and sensei. Whatever the genin might be feeling at the prospect of being on a team and doing real ninja stuff, today is a dismal day, a least in terms of weather. The skies are choked with dull gray clouds, which look as if they'll break out in rain any minute now. But if they want to become ninja, the genin are just going to have to deal with it. It's close to noon now, and whether or not the genin are there, there's no question that their sensei isn't. Not even a thorough search of the nearby woods will turn anything up. Either their new leader is very good at hiding, or they like cutting their arrivals close. Or maybe there's some ulterior motive
Taiki breathed a sigh of relief when he got that letter. Finally he'd find out who his teammates are. Finally he'll have a team. Oh, in a way he was a team with Shinobu, who was closer to him than just about anyone else, including certain interesting girls that he won't admit finding so… at least not out loud. Not even the weather can get him down right now, even though he knew that interesting girl would not, could not be on his team. She's to high above him for that. So here he came, again on his own… or actually with Shinobu, who seemed equally as happy as his human partner was. Together, they were ready for anything.
MAWARE MAWARE MAWA—
Oh wait.
This isn't Roulette. This also isn't Heroman.
R-R-R-REWIND. Hitoshi's message had arrived for him while he had been outside in front of the housing his family resided in… and he had been perched under a tree, reading. The weather may not be perfect, but it was still decent enough to manage to be outside. As he wandered down the trail through the village, and then toward the woods, though… he squints down the pathway, able to spot Taiki and his little partner on their way as well.
His walk turns into a bit of a jog, then, to catch up with the other boy. "'oy, Taiki-san!" He continues to run along, eventually coming to the boy's side, reaching out to lightly tap his shoulder with his fist in a greeting. "Heading out to the training grounds? Me, too."
The message had a bit of difficulty reaching Berii because, she wasn't home during its arrival. Someone else had to go and relay it to her as she was currently at Training Area #26. Starting the day early, she continued her shuriken work until the message came her way. Berii had gone freelance for so long that she had almost forgotten that she was supposed to be on a team.
Eager? Yes. Wanting to go all the way to Training Area #16? No.
The girl couldn't really ignore this though and so she made her way, showing up a bit before the other two appear. She wasn't sure if she managed to get here early or if they were later but, Berii waves to the other two, surprised that they were the ones on her team. "Aye! Hey Inuzuka-san, Hitoshi-kun!" With that she lowers to sit, a bit worn it would seem. After training for hours and sprinting most of her way there, she needed a bit of a breather.
The new sensei appears right on time. Atsuro walks into the clearing at exactly noon, followed shortly by a big shaggy dog wearing a leather vest and carrying what looks like a good armload of swords. Atsuro isn't really dressed any differently from his usual, but he does have another button done up on his shirt. This is a formal occasion, after all, a milestone.
Atsuro takes a quick glance over his new students as he enters. There's Taiki, who impressed him briefly before. And then there's another boy with a pretty unremarkable appearance, at least in Atsuro's opinion. And finally there's a girl who… defies description. He's briefly tempted to make fun of all of them, but then he remembers all that cuddly stuff he heard about before, like 'you can't belittle your students' and 'you can't swear in front of your students.' He lets out a long sigh, then pulls out a few folded papers from his vest. "Okay, so you're my team…" He carelessly flips through each paper, glancing up at each member of the team as he does so. "Okay, sure. You look like the people in the photos."
He squats down in front of the kids while his dog pads off to the side and lies down, watching and waiting to see how this will go. "We only have a few minutes before it starts raining," he says, pointing lazily up at the sky, "So if you don't want to get all wet, you'd better make this quick. Tell me your names and tell me what you do. Like this: I'm Inuzuka Atsuro, I specialize in dogs and swords." He points to himself, then sighs and says reluctantly, "And each of you gets to ask me a question about myself. But if it's something stupid, I'm going to make you answer it before I do, so don't try to be clever." He gestures vaguely at the genin. "First person, go."
Taiki and Shinobu had both heard Hitoshi's approach, not to mention the familiar scent that came to their noses as their fellow genin came closer. So he's not caught by surprise at all when the tap on his shoulder comes. Instead he merely turns his head and says, "Yeah, you get a note too? Cool." Yeah, he wouldn't mind having Hitoshi on his team at all. They knew each other somewhat from the academy, even if Taiki was originally one class ahead of him. "Any idea who our third is going to be?" he asks as enters the clearing.
Then he sees Berii waving at them and smiles. Okay, Hitoshi and Uchiha… the first name escaped him at the moment, but he did remember some things about her. That's when he stopped and looked down, his ears turning red. The most recent memory of her, fuzzy though it was due to blood loss, came to his mind. She petted his head! It was normally a sensitive issue amongst Inuzuka, but not in "do it and I'll gut you" way. It was normally reserved for family… thus Taiki's embarrassment. "H.. h.. hello Uchiha'san," Taiki answered, not looking at her directly.
Taiki turns as Atsuro comes in. It takes a moment to register what the chuunin is here for, but when he does he finally manages to clear the blush off his face. "I'm Inuzuka Taiki, please just call me Taiki or Taiki'san. I specialize in ninjutsu and soon, very soon, lightning manipulation. This is my ninken Shinobu. He and I have been partners for years. Uh… I can't really think of any questions at the moment."
"A no— oh. Yeah. Huh, you too, then?"
Hitoshi grins, and nods a little. "Guess that works out, then!" He thumbs up, and as they breach the treeline on the edge, he stops, blinking when he sees Berii. He beams, and waves his hand toward her in greeting. "Berii-san, hey," He beams, and then…
Well, it was time to shut up and pay attention, because the new teacher was here. Yeah. He looks up as he hears another person break into the treeline and into the clearing the training grounds are made out of. He blinks a little bit as he watches the older man, tilting his head… He turns, folding his arms on his chest quietly… some would possibly read it to be a defensive gesture. "Taniguchi Hitoshi-san… I specialize in Ninjutsu… And I'm still learning my affinity. Genjutsu and medical ninjutsu are also high on my interest list."
He pauses, then, glancing toward the large dog that seems to accompany the instructor… and he hrms. "What is your dog's name?"
Taiki's red face would be thought to simply be the result of jogging, so that would go more or less unnoticed by the girl she is more or less distracted by the appearance of Atsuro. He seemed to get things down quickly "Neh…" A trickle of sweat running down Berii's forehead as he lets out the long sigh, it seemed like he was already disappointed in them. Berii looks down and off to the side as he talks, her eyes shifting after he mentions the rain. Breathing in deep, enjoying the scent of incoming rain.
The Uchiha would be the last to respond, they all get their specializations out and Berii considers her abilities for a moment, she had grown a bit since getting out of the Academy though it would seem her techniques haven't changed really, "Uchiha Be…rrrrii." The girl would slow her speech, "Thhhrowing techniques and Fire Ninjutsu." With a solid nod, she quickly scans over all the questions she had in mind. Her eyes shift from Atsuro to the rest of the team and then back to Atsuro.
Being a bit bothered that she went so long without a team and then suddenly, out of the blue some random person took them in. "Why'd we get picked fo' the team, neh?" Not necessarily complaining, she seemed genuinely curious on what work goes into deciding teams if any.
Atsuro looks from student to student as they talk about themselves, taking mental notes on their behaviour and trying to figure out what their deal is. One is talking funny, one is nervous maybe, one is… completely uninterested in him, apparently. "What, seriously?" Atsuro raises an eyebrow at Taiki, "I go out of my way to do this touchy-feely crap and you don't even humour me by asking my favourite colour or something?" He turns to Hitoshi, "That's a little better, I guess. But he's not 'my dog,' he's my comrade. And his name is Taizen. And you…" He turns to Berii "I meant about myself specifically, but I suppose that's a good question. I've been— " He stops himself from saying whatever that was. "I'm a scout. You three have been chosen because the high muckamucks or whatever think you could be scouts too." He points at Taiki, "Obvious enough for you." Then he points at Berii, "You're an Uchiha. Enhanced sight so yeah." He doesn't point at Hitoshi. "I don't know about you, actually. They might have thought we could use a mednin on long scouting missions and that sort of thing. Which is true." He glances upwards, then holds out a hand, palm facing up. "Okay, rain's coming soon. I'm sure I can handle it a lot better than any of you, so if you have anything else to ask me, you'd better make it quick. If not, scram. We'll meet up again later."
It was probably well and good that Berii dismissed the blush as she did, for he was actually trying not to act too embarrassed about the entire thing. She couldn't have known, right? After fighting to get the blush out of his control he shares a glance with Shinobu. At first he was confused as to why the Uchiha was talking so slowly, but then it dawned on him… remembering the first few times he had heard her speak. That would be why. Okay.
After a few moments of committing the girl's name to memory he looked over at Atsuro and says, "Well excuse me, Inuzuka'sensei. I was a bit embarass…." He stops there, realizing what he was about to say. Damn he'd have to put a muzzle on his own mouth, lest anyone could read him easily. He sighs and shakes his head before he adds to his sensei, "Ask me later. And no, I won't ask you something lame like favorite color. I prefer to save my questions for when they're important." Taiki then shakes his head before turning to his new teammates. "It's nice to finally know who my teammates are. Please regard me kindly." With this he bows toward both of them, waiting to see if they have anything to say before he heads for cover.
"I have a thing for weapons, too… I still have a lot to uncover, though, as far as my potential goes."
Then, thunder. The rain was coming, yes.
He looks between Taiki and Berii in that regard, and he smiles to them both, thumbing up quietly. He then looks toward Atsuro quietly, tilting his head again… looking between the man and his comrade, as it were. "He's quite a comrade, in that case," he remarks lightly, seeming to try and make up for his mistake from earlier. However, he does change his tone slightly… "When will we be meeting again, Atsuro-sensei?" he asks, seeming to be keen on that very notion.
Berii nods, people seem to heavily believe she had good eyes for some reason, this was more or less the third time in a week! "Hnn…" Berii thinks over the situation, she was a sharpshooter but, sight was a small factor in it all.
"Okay…neh." Berii's head tilts to the side, frowning a bit, "Inuzuka-sensei? If you don't wanna be touchy fee…ly, then don't, hnn." Berii gives a quick nod, showing that she was okay with whatever she thought he may be like, there was a bit of offense in her tone even apparently offended with his approach. Berii does not look for cover at the time, she does a rather Uchiha thing and turns to some training posts. Reaching into one of her large sleeves, she produces a scroll and opens it up to summon a few bullseyes, attaching each one onto a post.
She listens in for an answer to Hitoshi's question as she backs up, preparing to pick up right where she left off. Sort of, weapon training was no longer on her mind. Her hands come up together for handseals or something, she hesitates for one reason or the other.
"Well, isn't that mature of you," says Atsuro, shaking his head at Taiki. "Seriously, you could have asked me literally anything." He shrugs, "Well, whatever. Anyway…" He nods briefly at Hitoshi. "We'll work on it," he says, "I dunno when we're meeting next yet. Probably soon." The rain is coming down at a steady rate now, and the air is slowly filling with the sounds of rain splattering against the ground. There's just enough time for him to answer Berii. "You may regret that sentiment," he says through a predatory laugh. "But not yet, because I'm outta here. Don't get caught in the rain. Later."
