Home Sick [Open]

[Shouyu Hoshi]

It was after hours of classes at the academy. The field would be wide open for anyone seeking to train alone. Hoshi wandered through the corridors, looking into the empty classes, some with students left studying with tutors. Hoshi, the fourteen year old ANBU Mempo, or chuunin to otherwise normal world, hung his head low with sweeping black hair breezing by. He was down in the dumps clearly, aside from a student noticing him as contestant for the prelims, he asked for an autograph. For a moment, Hoshi broke out his slump, looking over to the child he smiled, signing his sword scabbard and giving a high five.

Finally the shaded inside room ended, and the orange light of the sunset spilled upon his light skin. The first touch of light was warm, it felt good in fact too. The pupils of his grey hyuuga eyes dilated adjusting to the new shade of light. He'd reach for his eyebrow with his right hand, shielding his precious hues as they adapted. Onward he walked into the training grounds. He looked left to right, slowly, yet his thoughts raced like horses around the track. He remembered his own academy days, that was five long years ago. Four years ago, he was invited into the ANBU branch, where his life changed drastically.

He took a seat, upon a hill, overlooking one side of the training grounds, the obstacle courses. From his collective thoughts came a conclusion he thought to himself, 'I miss home. I miss you guys. Sometimes, it still feels like I'm all alone here...' He admitted to himself, feelings he had been bottling up for years now. His only true release was, writing and drawing, or the thrill of combat and training. But even then, nothing could fill the hole in his heart that love once filled. He felt empty, and that emptiness made him feel misplaced. He threw a random pebble down the hill and watched it tumble, speaking aloud.

"Why am I letting myself get so wrapped up about this?"

 

[Siu]

The glory and warmth of the orange sun, as the day retreated into evening, was a beauty that Siu always enjoyed basking in. In the past, she never visited the obstacle course on her own will. In fact, it used to be the very last of places she'd ever wanted to see, being both bored and oftentimes completely fed up with the academy. Yet, after her previous experiences with a certain instructor during her training here, she'd now found herself visiting the area much more often, perhaps for nostalgia's sake.
However, despite the fact that she now visited the area much more often than before, it still didn't mean that she was training there much more often. Instead, the place now served as an additional retreat to continue her greatest pastime; reading.

Having recently learned the technique of tree-climbing through the focused control of her chakra, the skill had proven to become much more useful than expected. Though, undoubtedly, not useful in the way her instructor most likely had intended. With her newly-learned skill, she had now received the perfect way to effectively reach new reading spots with ease. It would be at one of these reading spots, where she would hear the unfamiliar voice of the nearby stranger.

"Why am I letting myself get so wrapped up about this?"

"Eh?" Came a startled mumble, as the young academy student found her concentrated efforts at reading suddenly distracted by the nearby voice. She had been lazily lying across a high tree branch, with her head lying against the trunk, hidden by surrounding leaves, as she peacefully engaged in her introverted passion, novel in both hands.

Curiously looking downward, there, on a hill not far from her location , was a boy sitting by himself. It seemed, he had the same purpose of separating himself from the others, just like herself. Though, his reasoning seemed to be for a more depressing purpose, as he didn't seem to appear in the happiest of moods.
Although very shy, Siu couldn't help but to ponder if the young boy was okey or not. While Siu herself was a unique case, she pondered this boy's reasoning for separating himself from others, instead of being out and about the obstacle course and training like 'normal' usually people did.

The boy looked quite older than the other academy students, also like herself. In fact, judging off outward appearances, he even looked quite close to her age. She stared at and observed the boy from her high position for quite some time, debating whether or not to engage conversation with a complete stranger or not. After some confidence building, along with strong concern for the boy's well-being, she eventually found the bravery to say something.

Closing her book, she leaned up, in order to sit upon the branch with both her feet dangling downward, similar to sitting on a swing.

"Um..Excuse me," She called out nervously, her hands moving some of the leaves aside, in order to reveal her peeking face from behind. "A-Are you okey?"

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi jumped up quick at the sound of someone's voice. His eyes activating in response to his combat instinct. He'd turn around with veins bulging from the amount of chakra now flooding his eyes. It took but only a second to find the highlighted chakra source of a shinobi in the trees. Her legs were dangling down from a branch with her face semi hidden behind some leaves.

He was about ready to take stance before he realized. There was no threat, his pounding heart began to slow. The veins around his eyes retreated, and the glinting shimmer of his pale hues reflected the tropical twilight. He would then stand straight up, and propose a question to himself, 'When did she get here?'

"Well, y-yeah. I guess I'm fine. But, how long have you been in that tree? Did you skip class up there?"

Hoshi rubbed his chin, he heard of a new flock of students coming in. He was feeling the new wave of shinobi, more than likely he was wrong, and Hoshi being the recluse he is, just hasn't met this person yet. At the moment, Hoshi was beginning to think if she had successfully skipped past him while minding her own business. Which made Hoshi feel like he was, out of order, or lost in translation.

"Well, I usually come here to think, to be honest. Nature helps me let things go."

 

[Siu]

As the boy suddenly jumped up, appearing greatly unsettled from her unexpected greeting, the young girl's eyes widened with caution as she reactively somewhat retreated her face back into the leaves in response. The peculiar phenomenon of his eyes, was quite an unusual sight for the inexperienced shinobi to see, and undoubtedly the first time she'd ever witnessed such an event. Though the veins around his eyes later retreated, Siu could not help but to continue to gaze at his pupils curiously. There appeared to be no actual color within his pupils, unlike most normal humans, yet at the same time he did not 'appear' to be blind.

"I-I'm sorry!" She apologized nervously. "I-I didn't mean to disturb you! I just saw you..alone. And you looked..not so happy." There was a massive feeling of guilt upon her, in regard to the disturbance her sudden greeting had caused to the stranger. Hearing the young boy speak, however, was greatly relieving for her, as he did not seem to reply with any anger or aggression in his tone.

"No, I didn't skip class!" She quickly replied, her words seeming rushed, in order to quickly to defend herself. "I...just don't stay along long after." With that statement, she looked downward somewhat guiltily, as it was not the proudest thing to admit. "I've been up here, I guess, a few hours."

Disappearing back behind the tree leaves again for a few moments, her arm would later be seen emerging from behind the foliage with an object held out in her hands; a book. "Nature helps me think too!" She spoke, as her face could be seen revealing itself once again, with a smile, "Do you like to books?" She suddenly inquired, revealing her passion to the young stranger. The title read, 'The Pursuit Of Art', a novel she had been working on finishing for quite sometime now.

 

[Shouyu Hoshi]

He didn't look happy she said. Hoshi looked down at his feet when he heard that. He was anbu operative, and yet, he wore his emotions on his face like a children's book. Easy to read, easy to decipher. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head. These thoughts ended abruptly when she exclaimed she hadn't skipped class and Hoshi smirked. It was good to know that somebody wasn't slacking in their studies.

She claimed to have been here all along, longer than Hoshi himself. That assured him that he was losing his touch, or becoming so wound up by feelings he was lacking awareness on needed focus. The girl concurred with him on expanding his mind by soaking up nature's presence. A smirk grew upon his face. The girl proposed a question to him, causing him to turn his head in her direction once more with a hum.

"Books? Well, I read if I must but sure, if it's interesting enough I love to read."

He noticed the work she held up, a familiar read he once stumbled upon in the library. He held a thumbs up and nodded at the girl. Before responding once more, he chuckled covering his mouth. Hoshi pointed towards the book afterward and excalimed,

"Hey, I've read that book! What's your name? Its strange we haven't met if you are a frequent visitor at the library. I usually read to study up on the unknown ya know, cause. A life as a shinobi, there's no telling when your time may come. And if it does, I want to prevent it. And so, that is why I read."