"I'm just saying, time isn't real, so do we actually need to worry about it?"
Moriko gave the older ninja cousin a look that was half-hopeful and half-annoyed. Sometimes that worked to let her not do boring things, and have them handed to someone else instead.
Sometimes. Other times, family tradition of making the youngest ninja do boring things won out. And Moriko was still the youngest ninja, and would be until one of her younger cousins unlocked a bloodline trait and was allowed to attend the Academy. There were several that were old enough to start according to official village rules, but none that had met the Tsurara clan's fiddly requirements. Because if a Tsurara attended the Academy and people didn't know to expect the exact things from them as every other Tsurara in the history of Sunagakure, the world would end. Apparently.
This unfortunately seemed to be one of the latter times. "Nuh-uh, sorry. It's your job. Find the key. Maybe animals, maybe vandals."
"If it's that then maybe have some issues with the guards," Moriko said, but there wasn't any point in complaining, then. "All right, fine. I'm going, I'm going."
Of course it was 'very important.' The stupid giant clock (that didn't let her sleep past noon with its loud chime that echoed over the clan compound) was part of keeping up appearances, and nothing was more important to the Tsurara clan elders than appearances. Hence the 'we have to be known to use ice' part of their ninja identities.
...She may have been feeling particularly ornery today.
The first stop was the clock itself. There was a small room at the base from which the clock was wound, and the large brass key was indeed missing from it. The door was too heavy for the small children to open, she discovered, so the odds of it being an animal were...low. And the odds of it being a thief--well, if you managed to break into the compound of a well-off clan, why would you take a giant brass key and nothing else? She'd call it 'bait' but it was nonsensical even as that.
So maybe it was something else.
Twenty minutes later saw her in the Bazaar, casting out eyes toward what she had used to think of as the ribbon table and what she now thought of as Tsukiya's family's table. She pushed through the dense mid-morning crowd full of people shopping before the heat of the high afternoon hit, wincing as she occasionally brushed someone else's bare skin--not that anyone in Sand tended to complaining about the pushing--and halted in front of her quarry.
"Good morning!"
Ah. The absolutely smug grin on Tsukiya's face told it, though she wasn't sure anyone else would be allowed to see it.
"You could've just come and got me," she grumped at him.
"Could have," he agreed cheerfully. "But you were asleep and I'd rather you snip at someone else for waking you up, so I just swiped something harmlessly that would lead you to me. No harm, hm?"
"...I suppose," she said. She could always lie about a raccoon or something taking it. "Did you also want me to spring you?"
"I don't have to be doing this," he said. To prove this, he turned to a man who looked vaguely like him and waved. "I'm heading out!"
"Mmhm," the man said vaguely. With a jolt, Moriko realized he'd sold her ribbons before. That must be Tsukiya's father. "Have fun."
"He doesn't seem all there," she said, knowing he didn't mind bluntness. Previously she'd just thought the man generally preoccupied.
"He's not," Tsukiya said as they pushed back out through the crowd. "She's just as bad. I'll be well-shot of them once I can be."
That sounded nice, but she wasn't really capable of that. Maybe differences in outlook like that were why her father had absconded with her brother.
"What did you have in mind?" Moriko asked once they were clear of the crowd. "I imagine it's something. Right?"
"You could say," he said. "Considering we're both out of the Academy now, you can leave the village on your own. Yes?"
"...yes," she said, not sure where he was going with this.
"I thought we grab some ice cream and possibly drinks and go have a decent picnic in that berry field to celebrate," he said. "Soound good?"
She considered this. "You waited a bit for that."
"Given the circumstances of your promotion, it seemed prudent to give it some time," he said. She had of course told him everything about the mission. "Besides, it's good we got a few other things ironed out before-hand. As...if you are open to it, I would...like to consider this a date?"
She hadn't heard Tsukiya sound so uncertain ever before. Was she going red in the cheeks? It felt like it.
"That." She cleared her throat; something was stuck in it. "I. Yes. What kind of ice cream? But also, yes. It can be a date."
"Any kind you like," he said, and she realized they were heading toward an ice cream place. "I think I'll prevail on you to keep it from melting, if that's all right."
"I'll keep the drinks cold, too," Moriko decided. It was good fine detail practice anyway. "You don't need to worry about asking me for things that make sense for me to do."
"Of course," he said. "I just don't know what expectations you have about dates. Considering you're part of a large clan, you might have been raised with some."
"None," she said. "Well. They tried. I ignored them."
Tsukiya snorted. "All right, I should have guessed that. Here we are."
It was a small-ish ice cream place, but a good one, and they both fetched waffle cones and a bottle of juice each. Moriko then switched to leading while keeping a chill in the air solely localized to the two of them moving, though the odd passerby was brushed by it and gave them a curious and sometimes grateful look; the day was heating up.
"I don't think ice cream and thimbleberries are lunch," she observed as they hiked to the berry patch, the glint of the bird-repelling foil, "but I'm not complaining. Do you have something for us to sit on in that little pack thing of yours?"
"Yes," Tsukiya said, and handed her his ice cream (caramel swirl; not a bad pick) to pull out a very folded-up blanket and shake it out, then set it down on the ground. She handed him back his ice cream and sat down next to him. She had been tasked with carrying the juice, which was strapped in next to her shuriken.
It was...nice, she decided. She found it very easy to relax around him, moreso than anyone else. Technically they were out in the open, despite the slight shelter of the berry patch and the rises of sand and rock around it, but she felt better and safer than she did in the clan compound.
Talking was easier too. There was no pretence, no formality, no worries of rank (all right, she rarely did that anyway), no expectations. Just...the two of them, a blanket, and ice cream.
Not talking and just letting silence hang was also comfortable. There was nothing she did with him that wasn't. Moriko suspected the two of them could be put on a mission together, a real one and not that disaster in the under city, and still be perfectly relaxed.
They finished their ice cream and Moriko lay down, to Tsukiya's evident surprise, but he flopped next to her and they just listened to the wind for a while, interrupted only by the occasional bird call.
"Do you know what I find most attractive about you?" he asked after some time had passed. "How remarkably unselfconscious you are. You don't seem to care about what anyone thinks of you."
"I care about what some people think," she said mildly. "They just have to earn it first."
A pause, and then, "Have I?"
This was a serious question that deserved a serious answer, so she thought about it. "I think I've gone beyond that with you, really. I check myself and hide some things that would be inconvenient for people to know around everyone. Everyone but you. So I guess you've earned me acting like, well, me. I don't think I've ever done that with anyone else before."
"Including the soft spots you like to pretend you don't have," he said, and she knew her expression had twitched. "I mean it. You don't allot those to many people, do you?"
"No," she said, and hauled herself up to a sitting position almost in tandem with him. "No, I don't."
She shuffled around and met his gaze, which was...something, a softer look in his own eyes than she thought she'd seen before. Perhaps it was the same way for both of them. No, rather, it was; this line of questioning was him teasing out that she was along the same lines as him.
"So I wonder," he said lowly, "if...possibly, you might be all right with a kiss."
Her breath caught.
Out here, nowhere, with no one around but the two of them, with no expectations and no pressures? He could hardly have picked a better spot.
"More than all right," Moriko said. She did want to see if this kissing thing was worth it, too. And, well, who was she fooling? She wanted to try it specifically with him.
She leaned toward him and the same time as he leaned to her, and she paused and let him close the distance. Not because she had changed her mind, but because she wanted him to.
He tasted like caramel ice cream.
~
On the way back, blanket folded and drinks in hand, the two of them walking side-by-side back to the village and her place, Tsukiya's left hand found her right, and she laced her fingers through his.
If anyone in her family noticed on the way in, they didn't say anything.
[Word Count: 1766]
Moriko gave the older ninja cousin a look that was half-hopeful and half-annoyed. Sometimes that worked to let her not do boring things, and have them handed to someone else instead.
Sometimes. Other times, family tradition of making the youngest ninja do boring things won out. And Moriko was still the youngest ninja, and would be until one of her younger cousins unlocked a bloodline trait and was allowed to attend the Academy. There were several that were old enough to start according to official village rules, but none that had met the Tsurara clan's fiddly requirements. Because if a Tsurara attended the Academy and people didn't know to expect the exact things from them as every other Tsurara in the history of Sunagakure, the world would end. Apparently.
This unfortunately seemed to be one of the latter times. "Nuh-uh, sorry. It's your job. Find the key. Maybe animals, maybe vandals."
"If it's that then maybe have some issues with the guards," Moriko said, but there wasn't any point in complaining, then. "All right, fine. I'm going, I'm going."
Of course it was 'very important.' The stupid giant clock (that didn't let her sleep past noon with its loud chime that echoed over the clan compound) was part of keeping up appearances, and nothing was more important to the Tsurara clan elders than appearances. Hence the 'we have to be known to use ice' part of their ninja identities.
...She may have been feeling particularly ornery today.
The first stop was the clock itself. There was a small room at the base from which the clock was wound, and the large brass key was indeed missing from it. The door was too heavy for the small children to open, she discovered, so the odds of it being an animal were...low. And the odds of it being a thief--well, if you managed to break into the compound of a well-off clan, why would you take a giant brass key and nothing else? She'd call it 'bait' but it was nonsensical even as that.
So maybe it was something else.
Twenty minutes later saw her in the Bazaar, casting out eyes toward what she had used to think of as the ribbon table and what she now thought of as Tsukiya's family's table. She pushed through the dense mid-morning crowd full of people shopping before the heat of the high afternoon hit, wincing as she occasionally brushed someone else's bare skin--not that anyone in Sand tended to complaining about the pushing--and halted in front of her quarry.
"Good morning!"
Ah. The absolutely smug grin on Tsukiya's face told it, though she wasn't sure anyone else would be allowed to see it.
"You could've just come and got me," she grumped at him.
"Could have," he agreed cheerfully. "But you were asleep and I'd rather you snip at someone else for waking you up, so I just swiped something harmlessly that would lead you to me. No harm, hm?"
"...I suppose," she said. She could always lie about a raccoon or something taking it. "Did you also want me to spring you?"
"I don't have to be doing this," he said. To prove this, he turned to a man who looked vaguely like him and waved. "I'm heading out!"
"Mmhm," the man said vaguely. With a jolt, Moriko realized he'd sold her ribbons before. That must be Tsukiya's father. "Have fun."
"He doesn't seem all there," she said, knowing he didn't mind bluntness. Previously she'd just thought the man generally preoccupied.
"He's not," Tsukiya said as they pushed back out through the crowd. "She's just as bad. I'll be well-shot of them once I can be."
That sounded nice, but she wasn't really capable of that. Maybe differences in outlook like that were why her father had absconded with her brother.
"What did you have in mind?" Moriko asked once they were clear of the crowd. "I imagine it's something. Right?"
"You could say," he said. "Considering we're both out of the Academy now, you can leave the village on your own. Yes?"
"...yes," she said, not sure where he was going with this.
"I thought we grab some ice cream and possibly drinks and go have a decent picnic in that berry field to celebrate," he said. "Soound good?"
She considered this. "You waited a bit for that."
"Given the circumstances of your promotion, it seemed prudent to give it some time," he said. She had of course told him everything about the mission. "Besides, it's good we got a few other things ironed out before-hand. As...if you are open to it, I would...like to consider this a date?"
She hadn't heard Tsukiya sound so uncertain ever before. Was she going red in the cheeks? It felt like it.
"That." She cleared her throat; something was stuck in it. "I. Yes. What kind of ice cream? But also, yes. It can be a date."
"Any kind you like," he said, and she realized they were heading toward an ice cream place. "I think I'll prevail on you to keep it from melting, if that's all right."
"I'll keep the drinks cold, too," Moriko decided. It was good fine detail practice anyway. "You don't need to worry about asking me for things that make sense for me to do."
"Of course," he said. "I just don't know what expectations you have about dates. Considering you're part of a large clan, you might have been raised with some."
"None," she said. "Well. They tried. I ignored them."
Tsukiya snorted. "All right, I should have guessed that. Here we are."
It was a small-ish ice cream place, but a good one, and they both fetched waffle cones and a bottle of juice each. Moriko then switched to leading while keeping a chill in the air solely localized to the two of them moving, though the odd passerby was brushed by it and gave them a curious and sometimes grateful look; the day was heating up.
"I don't think ice cream and thimbleberries are lunch," she observed as they hiked to the berry patch, the glint of the bird-repelling foil, "but I'm not complaining. Do you have something for us to sit on in that little pack thing of yours?"
"Yes," Tsukiya said, and handed her his ice cream (caramel swirl; not a bad pick) to pull out a very folded-up blanket and shake it out, then set it down on the ground. She handed him back his ice cream and sat down next to him. She had been tasked with carrying the juice, which was strapped in next to her shuriken.
It was...nice, she decided. She found it very easy to relax around him, moreso than anyone else. Technically they were out in the open, despite the slight shelter of the berry patch and the rises of sand and rock around it, but she felt better and safer than she did in the clan compound.
Talking was easier too. There was no pretence, no formality, no worries of rank (all right, she rarely did that anyway), no expectations. Just...the two of them, a blanket, and ice cream.
Not talking and just letting silence hang was also comfortable. There was nothing she did with him that wasn't. Moriko suspected the two of them could be put on a mission together, a real one and not that disaster in the under city, and still be perfectly relaxed.
They finished their ice cream and Moriko lay down, to Tsukiya's evident surprise, but he flopped next to her and they just listened to the wind for a while, interrupted only by the occasional bird call.
"Do you know what I find most attractive about you?" he asked after some time had passed. "How remarkably unselfconscious you are. You don't seem to care about what anyone thinks of you."
"I care about what some people think," she said mildly. "They just have to earn it first."
A pause, and then, "Have I?"
This was a serious question that deserved a serious answer, so she thought about it. "I think I've gone beyond that with you, really. I check myself and hide some things that would be inconvenient for people to know around everyone. Everyone but you. So I guess you've earned me acting like, well, me. I don't think I've ever done that with anyone else before."
"Including the soft spots you like to pretend you don't have," he said, and she knew her expression had twitched. "I mean it. You don't allot those to many people, do you?"
"No," she said, and hauled herself up to a sitting position almost in tandem with him. "No, I don't."
She shuffled around and met his gaze, which was...something, a softer look in his own eyes than she thought she'd seen before. Perhaps it was the same way for both of them. No, rather, it was; this line of questioning was him teasing out that she was along the same lines as him.
"So I wonder," he said lowly, "if...possibly, you might be all right with a kiss."
Her breath caught.
Out here, nowhere, with no one around but the two of them, with no expectations and no pressures? He could hardly have picked a better spot.
"More than all right," Moriko said. She did want to see if this kissing thing was worth it, too. And, well, who was she fooling? She wanted to try it specifically with him.
She leaned toward him and the same time as he leaned to her, and she paused and let him close the distance. Not because she had changed her mind, but because she wanted him to.
He tasted like caramel ice cream.
~
On the way back, blanket folded and drinks in hand, the two of them walking side-by-side back to the village and her place, Tsukiya's left hand found her right, and she laced her fingers through his.
If anyone in her family noticed on the way in, they didn't say anything.
[Word Count: 1766]