Little Steps

[Senju Shizuka]

Enthusiastically sliding down the roof she jumped toward the ground, rolled once, ended up on her feet, and silently continued her journey toward one of the bridges across the village. She hadn’t meant to break that vase, but her apology had met deaf ears and before the vendor got a hold of her Shizuka disappeared between the crowd. Only his loud yells of indignation had been able to follow her quick feet. She was really grateful for her training now, even if it wasn’t meant for this. Still, escaping was the same no matter who was chasing you. An enemy shinobi or an angry man in his forties, to the ten year old Senju they appeared quite alike.

Looking over her shoulder she noticed that things were safe now. Some of the disapproving adults hadn’t opted to give chase, she wasn’t sure why but you didn’t see her feeling bad about it. A little smirk crossed her lips; the winner of this round was clear. She had made it, and it was time to slow down.

At the end of the bridge she was merely jogging, zigzagging between the other pedestrians with her mind on tomorrow’s class. She wasn’t sure if she was excited about it or not, but knew that there wasn’t a way of ditching it. Getting up early would be a thing, a minor inconvenience her mother would say, a must and part of routine was what her father called it. Shizuka didn’t really like it.

Lost in thoughts she barely paid any attention to where she was walking. Through the street and around the corner her feet had carried her, and suddenly she found herself walking into something soft. Or rather, someone.

“Oh!” she gasped, awkwardly stumbling back while trying to regain her balance. Her bright green eyes sought for the face of the one she had so recklessly walked into. Hopefully it wouldn’t turn out to be an old, grumpy man of sorts, or an angry lady.

“Didn’t mean to!” The words were out before her brain had registered who she was talking to. Once it had, she found herself relax a little. Nothing about the boy’s face spoke of rage or disgust, in fact, she thought to see him smile.

“Hi there, sorry for that.” Shizuka tried again, giving him a pleasant smile while brushing back a lost lock of hair.
**

 

[Funai Ikko]

Now if Ikko were a mind reader, and it was rather advantageous for many, many, many people that he was not, the boy would have been rather cross with being considered a "soft" target to run in to. He frequently vacationed in delusional fantasy realms where was, in fact, rather muscular and imposing and not a scrawny little boy. It was because of that desire to be marginally less scrawny that had led Ikko to the marketplace today. Ikko had made a mistake, a dire one. He had let slip that he was not especially partial to green vegetables, or green fruit, or thankfully green meat...all in all Ikko was just not especially big on the color green when it came to edibles. Normally, letting that slip would be met with a profound "whatever" but Ikko had let it slip near Minako, which was entirely disastrous. There are few things in this world that inspire true terror. There are clowns, spoilers, bears, and, of course, Minako. Never before has the world seen a more tyrannical monster and once Ikko's secret had been uncovered by this mythical beast, the worst had occurred. Ikko had mentioned that he didn't like Green Foods. This resulted in a 3 hours lecture about how Ikko needed to have a better diet and that abstaining from green foods was the worst thing ever and there was also hellfire and whips and Minako insulted him, his hair, and his entire family which was impressive since neither of them knew who Ikko's family was.

Some...well...most all of that was made up, but Minako had, unwittingly or otherwise, had managed to land one especially scathing remark. She had mentioned that unless Ikko started eating his vegetables and fruits he'd never get any taller. So, Ikko found himself here in the marketplace with a basket full of nothing but green garbage as he made his way back toward the dormitories, looking down at his haul and wondering what had possessed him to waste money on a basket of things he had no intention of actually eating, before getting cut off by the hailstorm of limbs crashing in to him. Ikko hadn't really reacted much as the girl crashed in to him, being more bewildered than actually inconvenienced by the collision. Despite the girl having about 5 inches of height on him(damnit) Ikko had been the beneficiary of a considerable amount of physical training lately. Despite his scrawny appearance, the boy was rather durable and his legs were rather strong, so as she crashed in to him and stumbled backward, Ikko's form barely even moved and she was met with mostly stunned silence. However, that stunned silence quickly shifted to a realized opportunity and then, importantly, a plan.

Hoping her stumble had distracted her from his initial reaction, once Ikko's brain processed the possibilities, Ikko's hands shot up in to the air, throwing his basket high into the air in a relatively blatant fit of overacting as Ikko's feet leaped from the ground in an over exaggerated fall as Ikko crashed into the ground only moments before a rain of broccoli, cabbage, edamame, and various other green foods crashed down around him, decorating the sidewalk as Ikko, still clearly not nearly as good an actor as he thought he was, extended his arm toward the carnage as he was prone on the ground.

"NOOOOOOOO...my...green stuff....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Her words were mostly lost amidst Ikko's "grief." He recognized that she was talking, but for the most part being able to justify his excuse to not eat that garbage was way more important. He craned his head over his neck to look at her as her apology rang out, Ikko attempted to form his face into a look of grief stricken rage, but he mostly just looked like he had an upset stomach.

"How could you, you...you person you!"

Thinking on his feet with massive amounts of intellect and wit, always.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Perhaps she had imagined the smile. Wishful thinking often didn’t match with reality, at all. This quickly turned out to be the case here, because it was raining vegetables and the one she had run into was.. was doing what, exactly?

“Your.. green stuff?” she asked skeptically while trying to remain polite. Somehow she didn’t think that he was serious, but saying so would look as if she was trying to shove her blame onto him and his odd behavior. So, there was little else she could do aside from helping out getting them all back, or at least most of them.

“Allow me to help you gather them,” Shizuka said somewhat stiffly. Most of her panic was gone because she simply couldn’t take his outcry seriously now that her brain had processed it.

Studying him out of the corner of her eye she realized that he wasn’t very tall. It had her thinking about how she had so easily fallen out of balance while he had barely moved. That was until his basket went flying that is. But she was still suspicious about that bit.

“Here,” picking up a broccoli she handed it to him, then crouched down to get some of the other things. A few had rolled away, a couple were a bit dirty - she awkwardly brushed off a cabbage in her hands, then there were some that hadn’t survived the collision.

“we can get you some of those, I’ll pay for them, it’s my fault you’ve dropped them.” Unsure if he would agree she nodded to add some strength to her words. A vague gesture in the direction of the things she had been unable to gather, like the scattered edamame, she then turned to curiously eye the guy.

With hands sliding into the pockets of her jacket, she waited for him to either burst out in anger about what she’s done - a part of her expected him to turn out to be some drama queen, that would be some tough luck - or smile, maybe it would even look the same as what she had thought it to be. Thin line growing broader, curling corners. She offered him one in an attempt to keep away the potential shouting.

 

[Funai Ikko]

Damnit, the girl was helpful. Normally, Ikko would love helpfulness. Helpfulness was great, but right here, right now, he had kind of hoped he had run into a cranky mean person or as it would have it, had a cranky mean person run into him. As soon as she moved to help him pick up his downed produce, Ikko quickly leaped up to his feet and wildly waved his hands before him, in an attempt to block her off from the casualties like he was having some weird muscle spasms in his arms. He wasn't hurt or anything, Ikko just didn't seem to have mastered subtlety, or moderation, or anything useful really. When she then went one step further, Ikko legitimately started to panic. Now his ploy to not have to eat his disgusting vegetables might make someone else waste their money instead of just him wasting his money.

"No no no no no, that's okay."

Ikko laughed uneasily, against subtlety wasn't a strength, and once again tried to block her off from the fallen food and the store from whence they came. However, when the girl did not seem to be relenting and continued to eye him suspiciously, Ikko with an exasperated sigh, fell backward, landing unceremoniously on his rump as he looked up at the girl with a sheepish grin splayed across his face. He didn't see much point in keeping up the ruse any longer. For one, he was a horrible actor, for two, he didn't especially enjoy "acting" to begin with. Honesty was a lot easier and required way less thought. The boy scratched the back of his head as he uttered his confession.

"Heh, I'm sorry. I just really didn't want to eat the vegetables. They're...like...green. If I tried to eat the grass people would look at me weird but Minako can make me eat broccoli and suddenly it's healthy for me. It's not at all fair. You don't need to replace them. In fact, please, please please please please don't."

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Had there been some sort of light panic in his voice or was she imagining things again?

Carefully studying him she kept her delicate smile but couldn’t help but to frown a bit more. None of this made sense until he spoke up, then all fell into its right place. It quickly became clear why his fall had appeared to be slowed down and why he didn’t want for her to pick up the vegetables. Because at first she had thought to have misunderstood his protests.

Staring at him for a moment she felt her lips curl further. The tension passed, and then she chuckled. At first the sound was very quiet, then, gradually, it grew a bit louder. She hid her laughter behind her free hand, then regained her composure and offered it to him in hopes of pulling him back onto his feet.

“Well, grass isn’t healthy for people, vegetables are, so you should eat some of them. Just add the ones you do like to your meal, don’t exaggerate by trying to replace all of your food with.. green stuff.” Laughing a bit more she waited for him to take her hand. This guy was really amusing. She found his quick thinking regarding getting rid of the vegetables quite impressive.

“My name is Senju Shizuka,” with that out of the way she put the vegetables she had gathered into the basket, eyes looking for anything else that was missing. “perhaps I can get you some vegetables that I like, so you can try them, they don’t really have to be green. I think.” It wasn’t as if she was a pro at putting together diets, she most of the time went with what her mom made, but that didn’t mean she had no idea about food in general.

“Oh, and fruit is good too, you can get vitamins from it as well. That way you can eat sweet, healthy and nutritious things as well.”

Having mostly forgotten about the broken vase, she waited for him to decide whether or not he wanted to give it a shot.

 

[Funai Ikko]

Unlike how most might have reacted, Ikko did not seem to especially mind being laughed at and indeed as her chuckle began to shift to a more raucous laugh, Ikko's grin seemed to simply grow wider and wider as if he were enjoying the joke that was at his own expense. As she chuckled, Ikko steadily dragged himself to his feet as she laughed, dusting himself off in the process. He enjoyed, first and foremost, avoiding a potentially disastrous situation where he managed to offended someone in the village who might otherwise be a friend and possibly more importantly offended someone who was going to make him buy more vegetables...but Ikko also thoroughly enjoyed laughter even if it was directed at him. However, when she did finish enjoying Ikko's eccentricities, the tone of the conversation immediately switched back in an undesirable direction.

"Awwwww come on. You sound just like Minako."

Clearly Ikko was not especially interested in her dietary suggestions, partially because he was a stubborn child, but also partially because outside of the offer to actually pick things out for him, she had seemingly just been parroting things his teammate had been chirping at him for the better part of the last two weeks. However, before Ikko could pose more of an argument against this cruel and unusual nutritional punishment, her words were finally properly processed in his brain. His head tilted to the side and his expression of playful defiance was replaced with one of perplexed curiosity.

"Senju..."

Then the proverbial dam broke and Ikko jumped slightly in place in excitement, clearly having come to some great revelation.

"That means you're related to Tatsuo! So you can make a bunch of plants and trees and plants and bushes and plants and trees and plants and shrubs and more plants! That's so cool, they go like vroom and then creak and then they hold people and then Tatsuo gives a speech about how important it is to train really hard and then he'll go all like "grrrrrrrrr" and give a speech on the power of friendship and goodness and about being the hero of the story and..."

There didn't really seem to be an end in sight to his speech as Ikko pantomimed his little internal monologue, motioning the sprouting of plants and the wiggling of...bushes, Ikko wasn't much of a botanist, but he seemed to make up for it with youthful exuberance, but the more and more he talked about it, the more and more Ikko spoke, the less and less steam he seemed to have as more and more things were, slowly, processed in his mind and his look of happy energy slowly shifted to a frown of skepticism and concern.

"Why do you want me to eat plants then though...shouldn't you want me to eat something else? Well, maybe you're not supposed to...has an Inuzuka ever argued that dogs were delicious...?"

Clearly Ikko was a great philosopher of our time.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

While being unsure who this Minako person was, Shizuka still took the comment as a compliment. Mostly because the way he spoke about Minako, she sounded like a reasonable person who only wanted to make sure that the young man here ate healthy food. His face obviously suggested that he didn’t agree with the girls’ idea on a good meal, but perhaps that would change when he found his favorite vegetables and fruits. It was frequently like that, people didn’t try a certain food because they assumed it to be bad, then, when they did, they rapidly added it to their diet.

“Hmm?” she tilted her head to the side, slightly confused about the sudden change in his facial expression. The way he spoke her name made it seem that there was more to it than him just trying to memorize it.

‘Yes, Senju’, she was ready to say but before she was able to he buried her beneath a storm of enthusiasm led by an unfamiliar name and lots of confusion. Words mixed with sounds as he kept on going without any sign that there would come an end to it any time soon. Stopping him seemed impossible, and she wouldn’t know where to begin, so Shizuka just stared at him as if he was slightly insane. Perhaps he was.

Once the stream of sounds had died a little, she blinked, then coughed into her curled up fist. What came next had her frown, especially the way he appeared to be proud of his conclusion. Definitely insane, was her last thought before she found the right words to explain to him that she had no idea who Tatsuo was, among other things.

“No, I’m yet to learn the wood style jutsu, but yes, one day I will be able to weave structures out of trees and roots. Less so out of actual plants. That’s not the Senju way. And, I don’t know who this Tatsuo is, to be honest. So I don’t know if we’re related.” Nodding, she then sighed before addressing the second part of his, well, she couldn’t call it rant, so an odd type of inquiry would do.

“We wield wood, but that doesn’t even matter, it’s … you can’t compare it.” Shizuka shook her head, a frown marking her pale face. “If you wield water it doesn’t mean you don’t drink it.. or earth jutsu doesn’t mean you don’t walk on the ground..”

Using her hand to gesture while explaining, she hoped that it would help her drive the point home. Because she wasn’t sure how to explain it, only that it wasn’t the same and he was being weird. In the end, with her hand still in the air, she inhaled deeply then let out a half-chuckle while putting her hand in her pocket.

“I bet you’re just trying to confuse me so I can forget about getting you new, healthy food.. Well, I can’t really force you, so.. want to grab some daifuku instead? There is a neat stand a couple of streets further.”

They could still bring the part of the vegetables which has survived the collision.
**

 

[Saotome Asami]

A lazy day. That was what Asami had in mind, and thus far, it was what she had managed. Her definition of 'lazy' was much looser than most kids, however. The daughter of a businesswoman struggled to slack off, having emulated the behaviour she had grown up with. Most of her day had been spent on a leisurely stroll around the village - far, far away from the academy. The trails were a bit too busy for her liking. Window shopping passed a bit of time, but she had come out mostly empty-handed. Mostly. She held a milkshake as she travelled - peanut butter and banana, to be exact. A personal favourite, if not the healthiest option.

With her casual attire and relaxed demeanour, there was very little to suggest that she had been enlisted - partially against her will. Perhaps that was the purpose of the day: to bring herself a little closer to the normal child she had been a few years before. The two she passed were (presumably) just as unassuming in appearance, but the boy appeared to be a little more animated than most. That's not fair, she reminded herself. He was quite young, and kids were excited by default. His partner, on the other hand, looked much less amused. An awkward conversation, she assumed. It probably wasn't helped by her slowing and staring from a few feet away, and it took her much too long to realise she was doing it.

A mild curse echoed in her head. They were going to think she was a weirdo if she didn't salvage the situation. Asami showed her trademark smile, hoping to pre-emptively ease tensions. She came to a halt and used her free hand to wave at them. It didn't take long for her to think of a cover. "Ah... Excuse me?" She focused on Shizuka and her vegetables - it appeared she was missing a few! "I think you dropped a few of those. It wouldn't be great if they went to waste." Asami would not be the one to use vegetables dirtied by the floor, but the least she could do was try to seem useful. She took a few steps closer and claimed a stick of kale, offering it to the Senju, and then to the Funai. "It'd be terrible if you got home and realised you were missing ingredients, right?"

 

[Funai Ikko]

Well, that was annoying. Ikko should probably have stopped assuming everyone around him was not especially bright awhile ago...or simply because Ikko still had trouble reading and writing and that assuming other people to be unintelligent whilst he lacked quintessential life skills was a little ill-aimed, but regardless he had hoped by acting eccentric, as much of an act as it was, he would be able to dissuade her from further pursuing the disgusting plant carcasses that now littered the ground. In fact, it seemed to work a little too well. The expression she adopted rather clearly showcased that she pitied him or, at the very least, thought him insane. Perhaps he had gone a smidge too far...well...nah. He went just far enough. Besides, she didn't really adequately explain why it was acceptable for a Senju to eat vegetables but if he suggested that the hindquarters of a puppy were delicious when breaded he'd be a complete monster.

Before Ikko could press her on this point however, she quickly figured out just what kind of person she was dealing with and offered to go get some food that would actually taste palatable. Ikko, now visibly excited, could again not fully revel in this new exciting news before someone once again interrupted his train of thought. The boy's head whirled around to see the newcomer and his look of confusion slowly morphed in to one of excitement before slowly morphing back to one of depressed resignation. He was initially excited, new friends were always great not to mention that it was a terribly amusing demographical anomaly that there seemed to be considerably more females in their age group than males, but then she ruined it by, again, drawing attention back to those infernal vegetables. Ikko threw his head back in frustration as she engaged Shizuka about the fallen fiber, not at all thrilled to rehash this conversation.

However, with his head thrown back, Ikko noticed something that once again got him excited...the time of day. He had a way out of this now. Without warning Ikko reached forward to grab the new girl's hand and, with a firm but gentle grip, he did an about face and tore off down the street in the direction that Shizuka indicated there was Daifuku.

"Shizuka come on! I know where we can eat!"

It was clear from his excitement, that Shizuka's participation was just as voluntary as the girl's that he had just effectively kidnapped. Moving with a speed that was not at all fair for the girl's milkshake, Ikko tore through the crowd before skidding to a stop at the Daifuku stand. From the lack of headbands, Ikko deduced that the pair of them had not yet quite made it to Genin which meant that Ikko, as the only one with a job, was tasked with actually purchasing the food. He didn't mind, between kidnapping and going over the finer points of puppy cuisine with Shizuka, he probably owed them dinner. As soon as he paid for food for the three of them, Ikko again took off, his eyes fleeting to the horizon to see the sun on its downward trajectory, a smile creeping on to his face as he skidded to a stop once more, this time at a stand selling quilted blankets. Purchasing two of them, Ikko once again tore off, still not relinquishing his grip on Asami.

It did not take them long to get to their destination, one of the larger mountainous towers in the village. Ikko flashed Asami another grin and ran up the side of the cliff, carrying Asami and their food in tow as the blanket balanced precariously on his shoulder. It did not take them long to reach the top and once they did, Ikko finally relinquished control of the girl's hand, effectively setting her down on the roof of the tower. He didn't seem to notice any form of protest she might be making as his eyes were fixed on the horizon with a wide grin as the setting sun lit up the sky with a striking reddish orange color, so striking that it seemed to even color the clouds. Ikko used his now free hand to splay one of the blankets out for them to sit on and setting food down on top of it.

"Pretty isn't it?"

He said this with such a cheerful tone and expression that indicated he was quite clearly oblivious to the fact that Asami had not exactly given her consent to this. The cheerful look did change to one of dawning and horrible comprehension for a moment that looked, ever so slightly, like Ikko might have realized what he had done, but that notion of empathy was quickly squashed as his speech slowly shifted into a shout down the side of the tower.

"Oh no, Shizuka might not know how to walk on walls...SHIZUKA CAN YOU WALK ON WALLS?"

 

[Senju Shizuka]

“Oh, thank you, but those aren’t-” she started out while taking the kale from the friendly lady, but didn’t get far because a second later Ikko was already dragging the woman along.

What?

Shizuka awkwardly stood there, holding vegetables in a basket that weren’t hers. As the two turned smaller and smaller she knew that she would have to pick. Either put down the basket and catch up with the duo, or keep someone else’s potential dinner? That sounded silly. So, she went with something that was a mixture between the two but heavily leaned on the first option.

In one, high, leap she made it to a nearby roof. Placing down the basket she figured that it was unlikely that anyone would take it from here. Now Ikko could get it later if he would want to. That way she wouldn’t feel as if she had thrown away something that wasn’t hers. With that solved, the short student made use of her new position to spot the pair running through the streets. It appeared that the boy was still holding the stranger hostage. Or was it someone he knew, perhaps?

With every passing second putting more distance between them, she shook off the thoughts and followed with her eyes on the long, pinkish hair. Aside from her remarkable hair, the girl was taller and easier to see in the crowd. Zigzagging between the people, Shizuka realized that her evening was the continuation of her afternoon. Running, running, pushing, and more running. Not that she minded it. Lately her cardio had been becoming better, and she was quite proud of that.

Sliding to a stop she wanted to protest that he was buying her food while she was the cause of half of his vegetables rolling over the ground, but he had none of that. In fact, he was still as happy as the moment she had busted him being glad to have gotten rid of the ‘green stuff’ as he had put it.

“Do you guys.. know each other?” The question might have gone lost between the crowd, because Ikko was already on the move once again. Shaking her head, Shizuka followed. By now the little Senju was getting slightly moody from all the running and no talking. It’s why there was a large frown above her eyebrows when they made it to the blankets stand. The only reason why she didn’t call Ikko out on this madness was because she didn’t really know him.

“What’s with the hurry..?” Unfortunately, she was left standing on her own, again. Bristling like an angry kitten, the girl almost turned around to head back, but her curiosity got the better of her. That’s why she found herself walking up the tower she had seen him run on some moments ago. About to reach the top she almost slipped when he shouted downwards, attacking her ears with noise coming only a couple of yards away.

“I’m here!” You idiot, she added silently. Eyes narrowed with annoyance until they found the pretty view. Her irritation came out in the form of a heavy sigh, then she turned her attention to her two companions.

“What was the running all about?” That was directed at Ikko, for the girl she had something else. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name? I’m Shizuka.” But she might already know that from the conversation below, in the streets. Oh, yeah, and the yelling Ikko’s done before running away like a psychopath.


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

Asami had only meant to do a good deed. Well, a good deed that covered up her odd staring. Perhaps it was her punishment, to be abducted by a crazy child. Granted, she had the ability to free herself, and what little training she had in taijutsu should stop the ‘civilian’ if she had something to fear. More importantly, by the time she had considered her options, he had already led her down the first of many streets, and she had only offered a look of shock in response. It seemed that this was her life now. At the very least, she didn’t have to go quietly.

“H-Hey! Where’re you taking me?”
“Aren’t there laws against this?”
“You might pull my arm off…!”
“Wait, where did the other girl go? Was this a set-up?”
“My milkshake!”
“Ah! Excuse me, sir, sorry, pardon us…”
“Why are you ordering food? How do you even know I like daifuku?”
“…You did order some for me, right?”
“Is somebody calling us?”
“Isn’t this a bit informal?”
“What about the vegetables?”
“You’re not even listening, are you?!”

A heavy sigh marked the end of her objections, and yet, she had made no effort to free herself. The final surprise came as the boy seemed set on running into a building. She knew she could scale walls without issue, but how was a civilian going t-
Oh. Oh. He had enlisted as well, and apparently more than happy to take her anyway. That was great for her – she needed to focus on protecting her drink from the forces of gravity. By some miracle, it survived the trip – the drink was naturally thick, though a few awkward turns had caused her to lose a few sips. Having it meant her mood was fairly stable, but she was still no closer to understanding what the boy was up to. It wasn’t until he placed the blankets down that she put the pieces together. Her lips pursed, and her cheeks showed a slight shade of red. “Is this a date? No, a… double date? But where’s the other boy? Wait, more importantly, I don’t want a boyfriend!” She took a step away from the Casanova, finally showing a mild frown. She directed it at the other girl, but she quickly realised that they were in the same boat. “Gosh… Sorry. Asami. Nice to meet you,” she added – mostly out of habit. “Why are we here, though? What is your friend up to…?” She gave Ikko quite the disapproving look, but something told her he wouldn’t care anyway.

Word Count: 428​

 

[Funai Ikko]

Ikko, grinning ecstatically, turned to face the voice of the girl he was looking for as she stared him down with a mixture of what looked like irritation and impatience...maybe she had to pee. He supposed it was rude of him not to ask if she had emptied her bladder before they made their way to this spot. He would need to learn to be more considerate, he kept getting scolded for that. But then Shizuka asked something that prompted a confused look out of Ikko who tilted his head toward her, as if he were pondering as especially difficult question as his brow furrowed and his lips pursed slightly.

"What's...with the running...? How do you usually get to places?"

Ikko plopped down on the blanket next to where Asami had been standing and tossed Shizuka's Daifuku to her in an easy to track arc before patting the spot on the blanket next to him, signalling for Shizuka to take a seat and enjoy the sunset. Normally he'd have been a little more ceremonious with the food, but if Shizuka had already learned to walk up walls he imagined she was coordinated enough to catch a pastry. Granted, it wouldn't be the first time he had gotten into trouble for assuming things erroneously. Granted, it would seem that he was not the only person who was going to run into trouble with wild assumptions. As Ikko heard Asami's voice behind him, the boy wheeled around to her with an utterly bewildered look on his face, as if she just suggested she thoroughly enjoyed...eating slugs or being tickled or spending time with Kiri. That last one might have made him throw her off the tower just to get the disease away from him. Instead he just stared at her with that look of utter confusion as if, you know, she were the crazy one out of the three of them. The look would soon dissolve into hearty laugh as Ikko fell backward onto the blanket so he was laying down, looking up at the waning red of the sky around him.

"No no, Asami. Not a date, but I'm flattered you think I'm attractive enough to have the gall to ask someone as pretty as you on a date."

If anyone else had said that, it would be quite clear they were A.) Awkward at flirting and B.) Trying too hard, but when Ikko said them it was as if he were pointing out that grass was green or that water were wet, as if he were reading a fact off a piece of paper instead of paying someone a compliment. After he spoke, Ikko's head rolled around to the side to face Shizuka, the wide smile still on his face as he spoke.

"Speaking of which, you're too cute for me too. It's not fair really. But I brought us here because if we were just going to have a conversation, we might as well not get in other peoples ways and it wasn't fair if only I had something pretty to look at."

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Should she have said that this wasn’t awkward in the slightest then she would have lied.
At least Asami looked as startled as Shizuka was feeling. Not that it made matters any better. Then came the association with Ikko which had her quickly shake her head from side to side with eyes widening in an upcoming panic. A firm ‘no’ could clearly be read from her facial expression if not from the gesture. They weren’t ‘friends’. All of this was a mere accident. An annoying one. But now that she was here, and had gotten this far, maybe something about the whole situation could be redeemed.

“I don’t know.. we eh.. We’ve just met, actually.” Well, it didn’t sound any better when she said it out loud. What made it even worse was that it was the truth. As silly as it appeared, they had all just met, and Ikko had somehow shamelessly improvised a picnic for all of them.

Perhaps the strangest part to Shizuka was his lack of awkwardness and the sincerity behind his words. Of course she couldn’t be sure about him being entirely honest, but if he wasn’t then he had to be a very good actor. Which.. he shouldn’t be, if she went by his overly dramatic display from before.

She caught her snack, he had her.

“Thanks.. though, you could have warned us about-” Gesturing to everything around them she found herself unwilling to continue this discussion, or to bring it up again in any sort of way. It would be better to just roll with what had just happened and with whatever would come next. If nothing else it would definitely be easier that way. So, she took a bite from her daifuku, chuckled to herself with a trace of disbelief still lingering in her eyes, then made her way to the side of the blanket while silently chewing on the sweet.

Once her legs were comfortably folded beneath her she turned her gaze to the other two. First, she thanked Ikko, properly, or something. “This is nice, thank you.”

When Shizuka took the next bite she chewed more slowly, enjoying the treat. Now she had a bit of time to wonder about Ikko the oddball and if he always was this open and easy-going when around strangers.

Shifting a little she made herself more comfortable on the blanket. “Those vegetables were his, by the way. I’ve left the basket on a roof nearby, in case,” she turned to look at Ikko. “you want him back.”


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

Asami struggled to buy it. The boy was either painfully oblivious, or very good at acting the fool. The latter was more likely for a shinobi, but the former was all too common in children. In what may have been another show of her naivete, she decided to attribute his cluelessness to being… weird. A weird kid. Yeah, that sounded about right. She’d heard her mother mention it a few times, how the young killers-in-training often lacked social skills in some form another. Coincidentally, any and all badmouthing of shinobi stopped as soon as the subject of her enlistment came up.

She was getting side-tracked again. Hopefully, they wouldn’t notice her staring for long. The stranger provided enough of a distraction as he fell onto his cloth. If he hadn’t commented on his looks, she might have thought that his sanity wasn’t all there. Surprise showed itself again, only for the look of disapproval to return in short order. “You’re being weird.” She said what her comrade seemed hesitant to, but as much as she tried to sound blunt and annoyed, she couldn’t quite manage it. It would take a lot more than that to upset her, especially when neither of them seemed to be trying to be difficult. “Nobody just… does that. Take people and run them across down without even asking for a name!” She got halfway through folding her arms before the milkshake stopped her. At least she had that to fix everything. The cup was moved closer to her mouth as she continued. “You didn’t even say your own name. It’s… not like a gentleman.” ‘Rude’ was the word she was looking for, but she hesitated to use it on such a broad smile… Just like Shizuka had. Damnit. “And… Nobody said anything about being attractive!” A slight inflection on the last word hinted that she took it a little personally. “It’s besides the point! I think… Right?” She looked to the other girl – surely, she would back her up on that! In the meantime, she stayed where she was – standing before the two, sucking on her shake, staring down at the two as a mother would after a good scolding.

 

[Funai Ikko]

"Want who back?"

Ikko had turned his head back to Shizuka, inquiringly, but he would not really be able to search for an answer for very long from his Daifuku munching companion before Asami redoubled her efforts at pointing out that Ikko was not quite right and she was sort of right, in both directions. Ikko was, in fact, substantially more intelligent than his normal, every day behavior might suggest. He acted like an idiot quite often, but assuming he truly was the moron he portrayed was a recipe for disaster. However, most people typically either just assumed he was an idiot or they assumed he was not and didn't challenge him on it. "Portray" might not necessarily be the best word though because despite what seemed to be the case, Ikko's behavior was not exactly an act, his behavior just required a few layers to be peeled off to see the logic and reasoning behind it...as well as generally ignoring common social conventions. As Ikko's eyes rolled back toward Asami, a sort of troubled, exasperated look was adorned there. Ikko picked himself up to a sitting position and turned himself toward her, his movement pushing Asami's untouched Daifuku container toward her in the process.

"My name is Funai Ikko. I am a genin in Kumogakure. I thoroughly enjoy eggrolls, long walks on the beach, and punching bears."

As if they were all equally normal things, Ikko smiled up at her now that introductions were finally all out of the way. The rest of her response was equally amusing however as Ikko watched quietly, grinning wider and wider as she spoke further. He didn't really have any romantic designs or anything for Asami, or Shizuka for that matter as he was honestly both a bit too young and a bit too preoccupied with a small gypsy girl, but Ikko thoroughly enjoyed watching the flustered responses from women when any romantic entanglement was even remotely implied. He had often been told that girls matured quicker than boys and he supposed in a lot of ways that continued to be the case, but that only really made it more fun to pick on them for these little "mature" ticks that girls their age seemed to enjoy. Ikko, still grinning widely as if this was one of the most amusing things in the world, spoke once again.

"Just because you have not seen it or heard of it does not mean that nobody does it. You live in a Shinobi Village, you should probably stop making so many assumptions. Especially with some of the people we have here. More importantly though, what you're saying is you're not too attractive for me? You mean I have a chance!?"

Ikko would fall backward, angled toward Shizuka and he would land rather softly and comfortably with his head on her lap, again not especially considerate of her personal space as Ikko's crystal blue eyes smiled up in to her face, grinning as widely as his mouth, as he got more comfortable than it was safe for him to be given he was now in a very easy position to get punched in the face, but the prospect did not seem to phase him in the slightest. Whether it was overwhelming confidence at being able to avoid face punching or overwhelming ignorance at the ease of which he could be punched would forever be a mystery. He seemed rather non-plussed at either concept.

"What about you, Shizuka? Are you still too pretty for me?"

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Oh damn, she hadn’t meant to say ‘him’, it was supposed to be ‘them’, the vegetables. Now she just sounded like a complete retard. Luckily she could still blame Ikko for being confusing and odd. Yeah, he had just thrown her thought process in disarray, so she was allowed to make mistakes. From what she had gathered from Asami, the two girls appeared to be siding together. She too thought that Ikko was sort of weird.

“I meant to say ‘them’, the vegetables. They’re on a nearby roof. You can get them later.” Gesturing slowly with her free hand she tried to clear up the misunderstanding, and figured to go with Asami instead of making herself look like a fool for even longer than she already had.

“It’s completely besides the point, Asami-san is right. And the way you’ve grabbed her like that, she must have felt.. assaulted.” Nodding, as if she was proving a point in the court, she lazily grinned when Ikko mentioned punching bears. What a strange young man he was. Not that she was any better, but at least she hid it well unless she actually knew the people she was with.

Devouring the last bit of her sweet she placed her hands next to her sides, shifting a bit back to relax, allowing her elbows to touch the blanket so she could lean on them while talking. Or rather listening, for now. The way this conversation was heading slightly amused her. Poor Asami, she thought, but soon fell victim to the guy’s shenanigans herself.

“Excuse me?” His face framed with dark hair was suddenly in her lap. Slightly taken aback she stared at it for a moment, then used both of her hands to push him away by pressing on his shoulder. “You have about three seconds before I electrocute you,” she warned with green eyes narrowing dangerously. No longer pushing, she brought her hands together, readying herself to make the necessary seals.

“It’s a nice view, and the daifuku was really sweet, but please, do keep your distance.” Sliding to the side she considered to get up onto her feet. Perhaps even leave. But figured that it wouldn’t be fair to leave Asami behind with Ikko whose ideas on what was socially accepted were kind of skew.

Still, she would find out more, and judge later. Digging her ankles underneath her, she found the new sitting position not too bad. At least right now he wouldn’t drop in her lap. Unless he wanted to be hit by a lightning jutsu or a fist to his innocent looking face. “Tell us, do you frequently bring people you run into on the street all the way up here?”

What was his plan?

Skeptically throwing a look towards Asami she wondered what the older girl thought about this scenario. Was all of this just a result of her recklessness, his somewhat turbulent nature, and Asami's curiosity?


**

 

[Saotome Asami]

The girl opened her mouth to speak. There were too many words she could have chosen to describe the boy, but the urge to start a tirade vanished with a few wise words. Her mother’s, to be specific. ‘That boy might just be a lost cause.’ The exasperation left her face, lingering beneath the skin for a little longer. She sighed, looking more disappointed than irritated. “Never mind.” He was an uphill battle she wasn’t prepared to tackle. “It’s… nice to meet you, Ikko. Maybe try to be a bit more… normal, next time.”

Was there a better way to phrase that? Probably, but that would require her to give more thought than she cared to by that point. Instead, she tried to make herself comfortable, just as Shizuka had. She finally accepted the daifuku box, took a few steps forward and sat cross-legged atop the cloth he provided. An awkward few seconds passed. She could honestly say it was the first time a stranger yanked her day off-course, so what was she to do? “…You’re right. The view is nice. And thank you for the food.” Another pause. “I’m just a student. At the shinobi academy, of course. I wouldn’t call myself a very good one, but I’m not dead yet either. That has to count for something.” She tried to laugh, but what came out was closer to a nervous chuckle. It ended almost as quickly as she started – she knew it wasn’t like her to be so timid in front of strangers.

“Not today, though. Today I just wanted to relax. Walk around, clear my head and treat myself a bit.” She tapped her milkshake cup, showing a pleasant smile once again. “It’s supposed to be the little things that make you the happiest, isn’t it?”