Snoozing and Searching [OPEN]

[Hoshirei]

Kimi had come into the library yesterday to read up on tigers and to help get a better understanding of veterinarian abilities. She needed to be able to help her girls if they got hurt in battle. She had fallen asleep when reading a book about different methods of claw care. Lucky for her, she definitely didn't drool when she slept. Groggily, she sat up and stretched in her seat. She then looked down and saw Kora and Katsu were also asleep curled up into each other. She smiled gently and reached down to shake them awake.
"Kora, Katsu, wake up girls." They mewled and stretched as they opened their eyes. It took a moment, but they were soon on their feet and jumping into Kimi's lap. The nudged her jaw and purred gently. "Enough girls. We need to go to the academy section now." The young tigers nodded and hopped off.
Kimi collected her books and placed them in the roller cart to be re-shelved. The three followed signs to the academy area and she walked through the halls. She could smell people there, but she couldn't quite tell where. Today was one of her off days, but she liked to see if she could find any new friends.

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

Mamoru gave his lower back an idle scratch. It burned more than usual today, or maybe he'd just spent too much time awake over the past few days. The seal's burn was the kind of pain you could ignore for a while, but if you didn't give yourself occasional respite in the form of a good, long snooze, it could really wear on a guy. Today it seemed to be wearing Mamuro down from a giant of a 12 year old back down to the bored child hiding on the inside.

"Why do I have to have a test tomorrow? Can't we just do a little more review?"

His mind was sluggish, trudging along behind the thick book on basic anatomy he had propped in his lap. It didn't help that he had no interest in the medical field whatsoever. He'd signed up for the course primarily because, well, saving lives had been the business of the Matsumotos sine his grandfather became the first med-nin in the family. Of course, one didn't necessarily need to heal wounds in order to save lives, but it seemed like the most efficient way to get his numbers up. He sighed, realizing how horrible he felt for looking at saving people so.... analytically. Saving people shouldn't be about numbers, but that's just what it was to the Matsumotos. He would only have one lifetime to save 100, so having people who needed saving delivered right to his operation room seemed like the most logical way to go. Still, though....

Anatomy.... yuck. I don't ever want to see another liver in my life!"

Mamoru snapped his book shut in utter boredom, stood up to his full 5'-and'then'some height, and stretched with all his might. A groan to wake the dead released from his throat. He gave his watch a quick glance and was appalled to see it was already past 5:00 pm. He'd studied right through dinner: his favorite time of the day!

"I guess I'll go get something from the fruit vendor," he said, this time aloud. He didn't expect anyone but himself to be lurking in the academy this late in the day.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi and the cubs were walking around when they smelled someone around the bend. Kimi poked her head around the corner and saw a tall boy. From what she could see, he was pretty cute. He smelled really good too. She kind of wondered how to approach him and then got a good idea. With a smile, she explained her plan to her cubs. They were going to able forward, mewling and then rub against his legs with cute little looks on their faces.
She sent Kora and Katsu foward and watched with a soft giggle as they carried out her plan.

((Sorry it's so short. Btw read your history, it's awesome!!))

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

((O, don't worry about. I'm just getting back into RP-ing myself. My posts won't be too long either until I get a little bit better of an idea what kind of person Mamoru is. I'm glad you like my history though! I enjoyed writing it!))

No sooner had the words "fruit vendor" echoed through the supposedly empty halls than they were answered by what sounded to Mamoru like the mewing of two house cats. Having always been a bit of an animal lover, he turned excitedly to greet his unexpected visitors.

"What are you little guys doing...." he started to say, but cut off as he jumped back in alarm. The "house cats" turned out to be two tiger cubs, feigning for all they were worth innocence and good will. The sight so frightened Mamoru that he found himself unable to regain his balance after the startled leap and fell right back onto his buttocks, his anatomy book flying into the air and landing several feet away, right by the corner of the corridor.

"T-t-t-t-t-tigers! What are tigers doing in the academy?" Mamoru scrambled to his feet, terrified that the cubs would pounce while he was down. Maybe it was unreasonable to be so terrified of two creatures that could hardly be considered threatening, but Mamoru had heard of the tigers in Fire Country and Lightning Country, how vicious they could be if they caught a man unaware. All the stories were coming back in a rush as he stared at the cubs, still mewing and inching toward him.

"O god, I hope the mother isn't around!" Mamoru could barely speak as he turned to run away to the other end of the corridor, his anatomy book completely forgotten.

 

[Hoshirei]

"Mister, why you scared?" "We no hurt mister."
Kimi walked out from behind her corner with an apologetic look on her face. She walked over slowly and the two cubs came bounding over to her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! Come back, you forgot your book!"
She picked up the book and flipped open the cover. She saw names of past students and one that smelt fairly fresh, but she couldn't be certain if one was actually the boy's name. If he didn't stop, she'd tell the girls to follow her and run after the boy. One nice thing about being part cat, was that you could run pretty darn fast.

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

Mamoru froze in his tracks. "We no hurt mister" echoed through his mind for a split second as he realized what he was hearing. The tigers... the tigers were speaking! Slowly he turned to confront the infant beasts who he now saw were accompanied by a not-quite adolescent girl. She must be about Mamoru's age, probably just as new to the academy as he was.... but what was an academy girl doing with two tiger cubs? Two TALKING tiger cubs, no less.

"D-d-d-d did they just speak?"

He was stammering like a stroke victim at this point, hardly able to believe what he was seeing and hearing. The girl had picked up his textbook and opened to the front page with the names of its past possessors. He hadn't written his name in yet, so she surely wouldn't be able to guess it, but that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi approached the other student cautiously. As she walked, she snapped the book closed, a little loud for her taste, but it worked. The two cubs stayed behind her on either side.
"Yeah, they can speak. I taught them how to speak. They're not great at it yet, but they do fairly well."
She reached out with the book to hand it to him. "I'm sorry if we freaked you out. I didn't mean to scare you or anything. My name's Kimi. Nekozuka Kimi, and these are Kora and Katsu. Kora has the blue collar and Katsu has the red one."

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

Mamoru was flustered to say the least. His brain seemed to be backed up with more new information than it could reasonably be expected to process. Talking tigers, a girl who taught them to talk, and they had colored collars to tell them apart, no less. Granted, the collar bit wasn't quite as shocking as the speaking, but it was still a piece of information that snagged on the boy's attention for a moment or two before floating into the abyss of grey matter behind his eyes.

"I-I-I......I don't know what to say."

Mamoru hung his head for a second as he realized he'd been stuttering nonstop for the past five minutes or so. He wasn't typically a stutterer, but this girl had a way of making him incredibly nervous, from sicking friendly speaking tiger cubs on him, right down to the way she walked, she was simply unsettling.

"I'm Mamoru", he finally managed to say as he took his text book from Kimi's hand.

"How did you teach tigers to speak?!" He'd managed to maintain his composure long enough to introduce himself, bu just barely. The next sentence came out in a rush, after which Mamoru wanted to kick himself. He was not at all himself around this girl.

 

[Hoshirei]

Kimi watched him with studious eyes, a soft smile on her face. She smiled brighter when he returned her introduction. "It's nice to meet you, Mamoru-kun." His next sentence made her giggle slightly, especially how he said it.
"It was kind of hard, but I managed. It helps that I can understand and talk to them in their language. It's part of my clan's abilities. Does your clan have anything special like that?"
Curiosity sparkled in her eyes, she could kind of see that he was nervous and she didn't want him to be. She knew she probably looked odd, especially with her catlike purple eyes. Kora and Katsu walked over to the closest wall and curled up for a nap.
"So, why are you studying anatomy? Are you thinking about being a mednin? I know I am. Most of my family become either veterinarians or fighters. I want to work with humans and animals."
Oh dear, she sounded like she was babbling now.

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

His back burned, his face burned, and his dignity was a bit wounded to boot. Mamrou was in no state to be dealing with girls, no state at all. That's not to say he ever was in such a state, quite the opposite in fact, none of Mamoru's states were suitable for interaction with the fairer sex, however, this one was particularly unsuitable. He stammered a bit as he answered her probing into his family's profession.

"My, uh, my family is mostly med-nins. On my dad's side, anyway. My mom's side doesn't do much except sell fruit. Yeah, they're fruit salesmen." He reached back and scratched the back of his head for a moment. "I uh, don't really want to be a med-nin myself, but I kind of have to."

That last part, why did he have to add that last part? He hoped she wouldn't ask him to explain, he hated lying about his family. The truth simply wouldn't do, however, and he was practiced enough in nonchalantly reciting the same line, "My family expects me to be a med-nin. It's just what he'd do!" He'd then grin sheepishly, trying for all the world not to let anyone know how much shame he felt.

His hand seemed to find its own way, moving from the back of his head to his back. It scratched, for an instant, before Mamoru jerked the rogue appendage back to his side and attempted to divert the conversation to something more.... safe.

"Are you all... cat lovers, I guess?"

He bent sideways to glance at the two tiger cubs, giving them an unsure yet friendly wave.

 

[Hoshirei]

She listened with a soft smile as he explained about his family. Wait, did he just say that he has to become a mednin? She was about to open her mouth to ask what he meant when he spouted out a line about familial expectation. Within her mind, her eyebrow raised a lot, while on the outside it only raised a little. That really really sounded like a line. One that you'd just say to cover up something uncomfortable. She'd let it slide this time, she didn't know him after all, though - she took a good look at him again - she would like to get to know him. What? She thought he was cute.
"My family normally all become fighters. A lot of my ancestors were actually Anbu because of their special abilities. I don't know about any of the recent generations though. I'm not really one to want to always stay in a hospital. Maybe we could be combat medics! That'd let us fight some but still be mednins!"
Kimi's eyes lit up as she realized a way to solve their little dilemma. She kind of drifted off into a small "vision" of the future. They were fighting side by side, protecting patients or alternating healing and fighting. A sharp mewl brought her back from her imaginations and she smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck once or twice.

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

Mamoru saw it; saw the slight elevation of her eyebrow when he mentioned his being born into a line of med-nins. He knew she'd seen through his excuse, at least a little bit, and that put him even more on edge than he had been before. It occurred to him for a brief instant that maybe he and his father shouldn't be quite so ashamed of something a man they had never met did over a hundred years ago, but the thought was fleeting. This was Suna, after all, home to the descendants of the first men. Lineage was everything. Speaking of lineage,

"My family normally all become fighters. A lot of my ancestors were actually Anbu because of their special abilities. I don't know about any of the recent generations though. I'm not really one to want to always stay in a hospital. Maybe we could be combat medics! That'd let us fight some but still be mednins!"

Combat medics? The thought hadn't occurred to Mamoru before. He'd always imagined his fate would be to sit behind a desk in the Caduceus Tower, waiting for his next surgery to erase the next name from his cursed back. Always waiting... that was the fate he'd already resigned himself to, but to be a combat medic... that sounded exciting! Mamoru's eyes lit up almost as much as Kimi's as he thought of the heroics he'd be known for, the record of lives saved in the heat of battle, the record of... kills. There was no getting around it. A ninja in the field was a ninja with the responsibility to kill when necessary. No Matsumoto had taken a single life since Kira, and Mamoru had decided long ago he wouldn't be the one to find out if it would be possible to add names, and the pain that came with them, for his future descendants to worry about. No, nothing involving combat was an option. A moment's realization had taken the wind entirely out of Mamoru's sails.

He saw Kimi stratch the back of her head, not unlike himself when he felt a bit embarrassed. He wondered why she would be embarrassed about such exciting aspirations.

"No, I, um, I don't really want to kill anybody. I guess that's weird for a shinobi... but I really don't like the thought of killing people... so I guess I'll just be an ordinary med-nin. You can come see me if you get hurt!"

That last part was followed by an uneasy grin. He wasn't sure just how tactful he'd been, but he hoped she'd understand, or better yet, not understand and simply accept his excuse at face value. Mamoru's favorite kind of friend was the kind that wouldn't pry too much, the kind that wouldn't go around smearing sand on his bare back, the kind that didn't know....

 

[Hoshirei]

"I guess I didn't think about killing anyone while being a combat medic." Kimi said with a furrowed brow. "I'll have to think about it some more I guess. If I do decide to become a combat medic, I'll be sure to come to you for help."
Kimi smiled brightly and waved her cubs over. "You know, they're nice. You could pet them if you want. They like being pet. Isn't that right girls?" Instead of talking, they just nodded there heads and shot Mamoru a kitty smile.

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

"Um, sure. I'll give you two a pet, I guess."

He was still a little uneasy approaching two tiger cubs, even despite their apparent friendliness. Nervously he knelt down on one knee to give each cub a scratch behind the ears. Most cats enjoyed a good ear scratch, he just hoped tigers would be the same. A few seconds of scratching and he stood again to face Kimi. Such a strange friend he'd stumbled upon.

"By the way, I was about to get some fruit or something for dinner... do you want to come with me?" He gave another uneasy smile, hoped she'd say yes.... and at the same time hoped she'd say no and end the discomfort Mamoru had been subjected to for the past few minutes. It would have been impolite not to ask though, or so he told himself.

 

[Hoshirei]

The cubs purred and smiled as they were scratched gently behind their ears. When the boy asked if they would like to come with him to get some food, the cubs looked at her with an expectant look. Kimi thought for a moment before she spoke.
"It is about that time, isn't it? I wouldn't mind coming with you. Unless you'd like to meet a nice panther. My dad's companion is a panther. No, he doesn't talk, but he's sweet when not fighting. Not to mention that dinner would be free at my clan's home." she offered with a sweet smile. She knew he was a little uncomfortable, but she wanted him to be comfortable around her. After all, they'd probably be around each other a lot.
"You don't have to if you think it'd be super uncomfortable."

 

[Matsumoto Mamoru]

((Hey, so sorry about the delay. My net went out for a few days and I just got it up and running again.))

Are they having me for dinner... or having me for dinner? The thought flashed through Mamoru's mind as he pictured what it would be like to walk into a house full of killer felines. Panthers and tigers and lions, oh my.... Mamoru couldn't remember if he'd heard that phrase somewhere or come up with it on his own, but it triggered a mental slideshow of every picture he'd ever seen, every description he'd ever heard of the family of felines known as "big cats". It sounded like Kimi's home would be a menagerie of retractable claws and more lives than one could throw a shuriken at. Then again, he had been friends with an Inuzuka not long ago. Their friendship had come to a rather...abrupt end, but he had never felt particularly threatened by the wolves at his friends house. Maybe his discomfort with Kimi had to do with him being more of a dog person....

"Um, that sounds good, I guess. Are you sure there will be enough food?"

 

[Hoshirei]

((It's alright. I don't mind.))

Kimi couldn't help but laugh when Mamoru asked if there would be enough food. A hand moved to cover her lips as she started chuckling instead of laughing. A throat clear later and she was fine to talk again.
"Oh yeah, there'll be plenty of food. Dad loves to cook, and he always makes way too much. Dinner normally becomes lunch the next day, there's so many extras. I think tonight is chicken night. Should be yummy enough!" Kimi smiled and picked up the fairly large cubs easily, one under each arm. They protested a little before eventually shifting so that they balanced on her shoulders.
"Won't be too much longer and you two won't be able to be up there. Not at the same time at least." she chuckled again.
Another big smile, this time showing her fangs a bit, preceded her hand extending out to the boy. If he took it, she'd pull him along slowly toward the exit of the Hall. If he didn't she'd just wave him along. Hopefully he'd walk beside her instead of following. She didn't really like when people followed her, even if it was a friend.