Enjoying the forest. (open)

[Ritsuko]

It was a sunny day, and the sun stood high already. Ritsuko was felt with curiosity this morning, she was playing in the forest, like always. She half ran, half jumped through the beatiful forest, among the animals, and the enormous threes, while she laughed a little. She arrived at a little beautiful lake, surrounded by some threes, and flowers. She picked a flower, and sniffed at it, and then she fell back, and laid between the flowers. Then her eyes fell at the sky, it was big, and todays colour was lightblue, there was a few clouds, and some birds. She enjoyed watching the sky, the birds flying around, the clouds forming like funny animals, and when it was night the stars. While she was laying there between the flowers, looking at the sky, a bird flew down to her. She reached out for the bird, and it sat on her finger. "hey little bird" She laughed. "Look at the sky little bird" she pointed at the sky. "Tell me, how is it to fly, i really wanna try it. Can u teach me to fly" She said and smiled. While having a conversation with the bird, a squirrel joined them for som company. "Oh, hey little fellow" Ritsuko said, when the squirrel jumped up to sit on her belly. She patted it and smile.
She laid back and focused on the sky, one of the clouds started to form like her. "Look, i can fly" she said and laughed. She really wished she could.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Nothing... That's been the only thing Ri has done for the past few weeks. There's been no big missions, just little things like finding some old lady's cat who ran away a few hours ago, or doing landscaping for someone who's too lazy to do it themselves. "I know I'm still just a genin, but I'm still stronger than most people my rank..." He mumbled to himself as he made his way to his usual spot when there was nothing better to do. It used to be the spot he went to so that he could avoid doing anything in the first place, but the taste of an exciting life left him wanting more excitement, more adventure. Not sitting around sipping sake while time moves on. But since there was no opportunity to do anything fun today, the only other option was to get as drunk as he can and hope that lasts until he needs to go to sleep. After all, everything is more fun when you're drunk. As he finished this thought, he'd already arrived at the forest. Now the only thing left to do was find a nice spot where he could sleep or stare at things. After taking a moment to admire the massive trees he sees every day, he began making his way into the forest. Just a few minutes in, and the hustle and bustle of the city was already gone: replaced by the chirping of birds, the whistling of the wind cutting through the trees, and the uncomfortably cold temperature that reminds you that you're in the mountains. Even his new scarf didn't help much with keeping warm...

Another 30 minutes later, and Ri came to what seemed to be a lake. Jumping into the nearest tree, it seemed he was right. The lake was nice to look at, and if he got bored with that, there was a flower field nearby as well. Not only that, but the spot he chose to get a better look, also happened to be a good spot to sleep. So he sat down, laid back against the tree, and allowed his feet to hang over the sides of the branch he was on. Pulling his hat over his eyes, Ri began to sleep. Sadly, however, this didn't last long, as what sounded like a child began yelling nearby. Opening his eyes, he saw that a small child was rolling around in the flowers and talking to animals. Many questions came to mind because of this sight, but the biggest one was, "Why the hell is a kid in the Ancient Forest?" This was something he had to investigate now, letting a kid get hurt in such a dangerous place wouldn't feel right later down the road... Jumping from his perch, the shinobi walked over to the girl. He arrived just in time to hear her talk about wanting to fly, making him pause for a moment. He may only be doing this to try and get the kid to leave... But why not have some fun and impress the kid too?

Ri flew through a few hand seals, and when he finished, it would begin to distort the force of gravity around the child, making it push up on her more than it pushes down on her. This should cause her to slowly float up, letting her fly just like she wants to! Whether this worked, or the child somehow got out of being lifted off the ground, Ri would crouch down and speak to her. You uh... Know this forest is dangerous right? He paused for a moment before realizing that might be too vague for her. "Like, you could die if you're not careful kind of dangerous." Ri would wait for a reply, and if he realized that making her float made the child uncomfortable or scared, he would release the jutsu to avoid any annoying situations that may come from those negative feelings.

 

[Ritsuko]

She continued to daydream that she could fly, and suddenly Ritsukos wish came true. She started to float up slowly, only a little over the ground where she just a little time ago had laid in the flowers and dreamed about this. She laughed. She was actually flying, she couldn't believe it she felt weightless. She was happy, how did it it happen, she thought it was impossible to fly, so her brother used to tell her anyway, but here she was flying "Little bird, did you make me fly, thank you" She said. But then she heard a voice behind her, she turned around, a boy was standing in front of her, and then she realized that this had to be his doing. "Did you make me fly?" She smiled thankfully at the boy, "i can't wait to tell my brother this" and then she answered his question. "My mom used to walk with me in this forest, and its here all of my friends is" She showed him the squirrel. "They will protect me" She said and laughed. But actually the thought of danger hadn't come to her mind, she was young and naive, and the forest was the place she loved to be the most.

 

[Rega]

It was a bit far off, but experimenting with her family communication skills wasn’t easily done even in the training halls of the ANBU, due to the rather dead nature of her kin. None the less, few things could be as important to an ANBU Captain as combat readiness, and that required the constant honing of her rather interesting skill set! Burrowing underground and using her mother’s body to spot out from atop the trees, the Dark Sage was blind and relying on not using a headset, but rather the sound of bells from above to mark where she should strike. Everything seemed to be sharper down in the cool earth, and her jutsu kept her hidden from the world. However, the lack of verbal communication would prove fatal to a poor cute Kumogakure resident as the sound of animals interacting caught her attention before she noticed there were human voices mixed in as well. A flurry of wooden tendrils thick as an arm burst out from the earth, impaling a squirrel and separating its bits in a bloody mist, before a woman with a giant hammer emerged a short distance away from the gruesome execution. ”Ugh, just a critter again?! I need to stop jumping at every little thing!”

Looking at the crimson painted log before using some hand seals to retract it back into the earth, she jotted down a few notes before noticing the young ninja and younger girl standing about practicing chakra artes of their own. Lifting her less than scary ANBU octopi mask off, the rather soft featured woman smiled and tried to dispel any hint of danger that she most likely spread with her sudden arrival. ”Um… you both look a little young to be this far out in such a dark and scary forest. Are you lost? Do you need an escort home?”

Marked for training, Word Count :: 309

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The girls reaction to suddenly floating into the air was about what he expected. After all, she was just asking animals to teach her to fly... One thing he didn't expect however, was the first thing to come out of her mouth after she realized it was him who made her "fly." He was expecting a thank you, or maybe even a little praise for doing something so awesome, but the first thing to come to the girls mind was bragging to her brother about it. Of course, she was a child, so he couldn't rely on basic mannerisms to get what he wanted in this case. Then she started talking about how her mother used to bring her to the forest in the past, and how the animals would protect her... A strange girl for sure, Ri even considered showing her how easily the animals that didn't kill her in this forest could be killed, but it seemed that someone got to that first.

Just before he could decide whether he should or should not kill one of the animals that the girl liked so much, a wooden spike shot up from the ground and blew up the squirrel. Blew up. The freaking squirrel. Although Ri didn't show too much of a reaction to this on the outside, it was certainly a surprise to suddenly have squirrel guts in your face. Not only that, but soon after the thing exploded, some chick with a giant hammer popped out of the ground too! Not that he was complaining about that, her figure wasn't bad... One thing that threw him off though, was the gargantuan hammer she had with her. He could only imagine what she did with that hammer, the mere thought of it made the shinobi shudder. When the woman lifted the mask off of her face, he also noted that her face was nice as well.

As soon as she asked if they needed an escort, however, any thought of how attractive she was left his mind. "I don't need a damn escort, I come here everyday! If anyone would need one, it's this kid." He pointed to the girl who was currently floating in the air, then realized he should probably let her down and did just that. After letting the girl down as gently as possible, he looked back at the woman who popped at of the ground. His brow furrowed a little at the thought of needing an escort, he may not train often, but he was confident in his ability to stay alive in this deadly forest. He's even seen what was essentially a demon and lived to tell about it! Not that he actually told about it, just kinda... Remembered it.

{MFT}

 

[Ritsuko]

Ritsuko smiled kindly at the boy, he seemed nice, especially because he made her fly. She was about to ask him about if he also could fly, but suddenly the squirrel she had in her hands blew up. At first she was shocked, and couldn't find a suitable grimace, did the squirrel really just blew up?" She wiped the blood of her face repulsive, and looked at her hand were the squirrel had bin. She looked over at the boy, he didn't even seem to notice that a squirrel had blown up in front of them. Though it wasn't like Ritsuko was about to cry or anything, but didn't the boy even get a shock? Actually he seemed rather admitted to something, or in this case someone.
While her and the boy had talked, and when the squirrel blew up, a girl had arrived, she was kinda pretty.

Ritsuko had almost forgot that she was still flying, or that was until she was suddenly not flying. "aw, did you have to make it stop" she mumbled, but the boy didn't notice, he was to busy starring at the girl. Ritsuko looked back at the girl, right in time to see her take off her mask, yeah she was right, she was pretty. The girl asked the same question as the boy did, was the forest really that dangerous, she had never experience anything that seemed scary or dangerous, besides when the squirrel just blew up in her hands, wait a second the squirrel?, and without further thinking about what she was just asked, she bursts out "Hey was it you who killed my squirrel" she stared angrily at the girl. "its not nice to kill others friend, you know" she mumbled for herself. She should definitely not be escorted home by her. She found her way out here alone, and she had bin in this forest many times before, she could find the way home by herself.

 

[Rega]

Looking at the red colouring all about, including on the boy’s face and in the girl’s hands, the ANBU woman nervously scratched the back of her head at the accusation of murder… before noticing that the squirrel died without a scratch on the child! Snapping her fingers and leaping into the air, she hollered out into the trees at an unseen source with unrivaled pride. ”Y’see that?! Didn’t even get a boo-boo! THAT is control, MOM! I told you I was good at this, you just need to be more on point with the stupid retreat signal!”

She kept looking silently into the trees at nothing, before what sounded like a woodpecker off in the distance disturbed the silence of the moment. Rega in turn was quick to nod her head as if in conversation before attempting to pick up the young girl and hoist her up into the air… as her hammer, as if by magic, floated in place beside her. ”I really am terribly sorry, my job demands that I hone my ‘killer instinct’ as much as possible, so I usually come out here where it is isolated and scary to… um… brutally murder animals and trees, mostly. But I swear I never let anything go to waste! I build houses and cook stew for the homeless, and I even use the bones for my experiments on… um…”

Altruistic enthusiam seemed to fail her for a moment as she pondered the ramifications of telling children about the rather unique method she used to unseal the body’s physical and mental limitations, or worse, how she sometimes utilized the remains of animals and people for combat… It was as useful, and integral to keep Kumogakure safe! But hardly appropriate for children and… the rather precocious boy aside from her. Maybe he would take it better, however… ”Terribly sorry if I offended you, young sir. Just, again, I don’t usually meet people out here when I’m training in the scary arts of the ninja master. Is this charming miss your sister?”

Marked for training, Word Count :: 341

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

Ri's eye twitched a little when the girl complained about being let down, but what was he supposed to do? Leaving her up there like that would've drained the hell out of his chakra, and that would've been annoying. Worse than that, however, was the woman who just showed up yelling at the sky like it was her mother saying that it was skillful when she killed the squirrel. "So killing squirrels is an achievement now..." He mumbled under his breath with a sigh. What was he going to do with these two? He'd barely know them for five minutes and they're already starting to wear him out. That is something that takes some skill. Usually his tolerance is a bit higher around irritating people. After she was done making a fool of herself, she began rambling about how she's a good person in an attempt to apologize to the girl who's friend she just killed. This allowed him to gain some insight, but she stopped just before getting to the good part...

After she was done rambling about.. Whatever it was she was trying to ramble about. She lifted the girl onto her shoulders, and her hammer just started floating next to her. Was this something similar to his own jutsu, or was it something in the hammer itself? It wouldn't be surprising if it were the hammer, he had seen an island FLOATING IN THE SKY before, so there weren't too many things that could surprise him when it came to technology. The girl, however, might be a bit impressed by it. Then she started trying to apologize to Ri.

"Don't worry about it," he sighed, "So what is your job? It's obvious you're a shinobi, but what do you do specifically?" He was so focused on figuring out who the woman was, that he forgot to answer the question he was asked. "And no, she's not my sister. I met her just a couple minutes before you showed up. He extended his hand to both of the females in front of him, waiting for whichever either one of them to take it, or not. Didn't matter to him either way, but if they didn't, then he would feel like the fool. "Shita Rirakkusu by the way."

 

[Ritsuko]

Ritsuko was offended of the girl, still standing mad looking in the ground. The girl started yelling in the air, that she did it. How could you enjoy killing someone that was helpless. Then the she started to explain why she did as she did, and that she after all was a good person. Nonsense. Ritsuko was just about to turn around, and start to head home, as the women out of a sudden lifted her up. "Hey what are you doing, put me down" She yelled, and wriggled, in a try to get down. The hammer the girl had, was floating next to them. Ritsuko was indeed fascinated by it, but right now she wouldn't show. But without noticing she stopped wriggling.

The boy introduced himself, and reached out for their hands. Ritsuko took his hand. "I'm Ritsuko Yumira" She smiled warm at the boy, he really seemed nice. Then she took a look at the girl again. "Will you pls put me down now, i'm way to old for being carried, and i don't like you" She said, waiting for the girl to put her down.

 

[Rega]

"Ah, I suppose greetings are overdue! I'm Rega Gateru, of the... um, mostly deceased Gateru clan. At one point, we mostly ran two branches of Kumogakure, but now my sister is on a bit of a hiatus and I'm only just now settling back in to my duties as captain of the ANBU Black Aces unit..." Her senses picked up the mumbling, as her demonic blood left her particularly sensitive to such things... but the comment was merely met with a sinister grin on the tiny titan. She pondered if the tall boy might be willing to see just why nailing the squirrel might be worth a bit of praise in the arena some time, but her days tormenting students were behind her... for the moment.

Returning her gaze to the squirming child, her heart actually sunk as the tiny cherub spoke clearly of her dislike. Nervously kicking the dirt, she pouted for a moment after placing the young girl back on terra firma. Picking up her proper composition again, she tried to mask her embarrassment once more with professionalism. "I just noticed you didn't like to be on the ground, was all... Well, miss Ritsuko, good sir Rirakkusu, it has been a pleasure to meet you both, but I'm starting to get the distinct impression that my presence is not well received. I shall bid you both good day, unless there is something my role of civil servant can provide either of you."

 

[Keigo Oen]

Sitting high along his perch he'd tracked down the woman he needed to see about the corps especially in the death of their Sennin. The time for lolly gagging was over. And it was going to happen with the ounce of courage he had within his body. He was recovering but his body was still a shell of itself. He was cleared to return to work though. Thanks to the healings of Kitsune he was still getting acquainted with newly attached things but he was definitely on the 'hunt' for his Captain. Stopping though, he would look down high above them like a hawk.

Listening to part of the conversation he would think that he would be leaving shortly after this... but when she outright ratted herself out. He would form a few handseals recording it with his snapshot jutsu. And continuing to record as he continued down. His mask was remade with the summoning jutsu but his eyes would just stare as he would leap and land down behind the woman. His voice nearly sounded doubled with a mechanism he attached to his throat that smokers would often use helping him have a bit of a grungy sound.

"What are you doing... You're not supposed to give out your identity to Students, civilians, etc. Being a Captain, you should know better...."<i></i>, he would frown before looking to the children and then back to her. "...I'll be taking this to higher-ups. Negligence, and in the wake of recent events... You should definitely be on your damn toes."<i></i>, and with that he'd form a few handseals before he'd head out in a flock of shadows.

[Topic Entered/ Left]
[S Rank - 30 Minutes Run time]
[Snapshot Used]

 

[Ritsuko]

The girl, was happy to be set down. "Thank u" She said, and gave the girl a crooked smile. "No thanks, i can find home myself" She said, and once again she was distracted in turning around, when a man jumped down behind the girl, and said something about she couldn't tell us who she were, and then leaved again. "He didn't seem nice either, people with masks seems like bad people in general" She said, and looked at the women, and smiled innocently.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

The shinobi noticed the sinister grin on Rega's face after he mumbled what he did, it seemed like she heard what he said... Not that it mattered too much if she did, but the fact someone managed to hear it, who else might have? This was an unsettling thought for sure, but if no one had confronted him about it yet things should be fine. It was almost surprising to see just how blunt the little girl was with their new acquaintance, Ri never expected children to be that way. Then again, when had he ever been around children long enough to know how they acted normally? After the anbu captain stated her name, the girl was placed back on the ground, and quickly took his hand and did the same. Now that he actually knew their names, it would be easier than just calling them "kid," or "woman."

"Nice to meet you both.." He said, with little to no enthusiasm in his voice. Rega seemed to think that she wasn't welcomed by the two, but this was mostly untrue. Ri didn't actually care if she was there or not, he hates everyone equally. But the kid, Ritsuko, definitely didn't seem to like her at all. Almost went as far as just walking away before she was lifted onto the ANBU's shoulders. Not long after all of the introductions were given, a strange man in a mask appeared directly behind the woman. He started saying something about not being allowed to reveal your identity to students or civilians, which made sense, but Ri couldn't help but feel he was being considered one of the two listed... Which pissed him off, but before he could ever try to do anything, the man was gone.

"It seems like your 'duties as a civil servant,' require you to go sort things out with your higher ups now." He sighed, "I guess I'll take over from here, follow her out of the forest and make sure she doesn't get herself killed." Ri hoped he mumbled this just loud enough for Rega to hear him, but not Ritsuko. Just like his original reason for approaching the girl in the first place, he would feel bad if he ended up hearing about some kid being killed in the forest, he would just know it's his fault, and that would be a pain.

 

[Rega]

The introduction of a voice in the wind didn't seem to faze the young woman as she rolled her eyes back and made a gesture with her hand like the rather terse fellow wouldn't shut up, and failed to look behind her to see if he was gone before sighing and shaking her head. This sort of annoyance happened from time to time, but the best way aside from punching a face to deal with it was usually just to ignore it, or at least that was the doctrine passed down from the founder of the Black Aces so many years ago Rega thought about as she spoke. "Geez, kiss-asses are such a pain with the ranks these days. Everybody wants to brown nose their way to the top of the food chain... sucks for him that it currently is me."

Willing her hammer back to her hand and looking at the girl as she mouthed off, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the fledgling ninja before nodding and speaking to her one last time in a stern voice. "You have no idea, young Ritsuko, just how true that is. Of course, it could be said that we all wear masks, and that ninja in particular are bound to be bad people because our power makes us into killers, blah blah blah... But us actual mask users really do tend to be bad people by the end of it all~" Her tone shifted by the end to that of almost whimsy, proud of the fact that at least her murdering allowed some level of peace for kids like the one before her to grow up in, before she turned around and mumbled one last bit to the pair.

"I'm sure that the dark dangerous forest won't be claiming the life of any cherubs today, but as for tomorrow... Look me up if you think you might like a mask of your own at some point, sir Rirrakusu."

MFT, Thread left unless stopped, Word Count :: 329

 

[Ritsuko]

Ritsuko was shocked about the answer, actually she just said the thing with the mask's as a joke, but it seemed like the girl's answer was dead answer. Did she then believe she herself was a bad person? Ritsuko looked a little surprised at the woman, and then gave her one of her cute smiles. The girl was about to leave, and Ritsuko didn't attend to stop her. After all she had to go home soon too. She jumped up on a stone besides her, looking for the bird. She wanted to say goodbye, but she couldn't see it anywhere. Maybe it had also gone home. "Goodbye lady, sorry about the things i said, i tend to be a little harsh in my language" She said, and waved.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Heh..." This was the only response Ri could think to give Rega's comment about brown nosers. It was true, even to him, that those kind of people were some of the most annoying people you could meet. Often times, they don't even have the power to be at the top. They just get there and end up screwing themselves in the end. In the ANBU's case, that might not be as true, but it's possible. "Guess that does suck for him." He stated quietly, there really wasn't much for him to say in this situation now. The ANBU captain seemed to explain things fairly well.

Her speech to Ritsuko about shinobi was something he'd never actually thought about before, but it made sense to him. To most, ninja probably seemed like the bad guys of any situation, or at least the antagonist. There was no way to have a peaceful life as one either, the world is full of hatred and it's their job to either fight it or encourage it. Really depended on what you or your village believed. "Perhaps." He mumbled when he heard what sounded like a job offer come out of Rega's mouth. Being an AiT didn't seem like the laziest of jobs, so he was unsure if would actually want to join. Even if he's had complaints about his lack of doing anything recently.

"Well, Ritsuko? I'll be heading out too. Don't get yourself killed on your way home." With that, the boy jumped back into the trees, where he would wait for the girl to begin making her way out of the forest. From there, he would follow her to the edge of the forest then get back to finding a nice spot to sleep.

{TLUS}

 

[Ritsuko]

She smiled and said "Goodbye" Waved and then turned around to go home. At first she just slogged slowly for 10 minutes or maybe a little longer and ran her right hand over almost each leaf she could reach, and greet every animal she saw. But gradually she started to go a little faster, with a happy rhythm. Though it was about to get darker in the forest, it was still very beautiful, and while she jumped through the forest she thought about what the boy an girl had told her. Was the forest really that dangerous, she shaked her head a little, she loved this forest, it was like her second home, so she would still come to this forest. Though it would,t be very often anymore, after some she just started at the academy, so she had a bit to see at, at home.