Starting Steps: Learning to run! [OPEN]

[Chikamatsu Shin]

The sun was slowly lowering from its apex as the day's heat was at its climax. The bright blue sky was free of obstacles or glimpses of other shades of coloured light. This beautiful blue was mesmerizing and if watched long enough one could see small trickles of leaves and debris dancing through the winds as fluttering seeds were taken from their homes to grow elsewhere. The chirps and songs of nearby birds created an inviting feel to the day as even the local frogs and toads were barking out their ribbits on their search for love. It was on this day, one where classes had finished and many students had already decided to head home, that we would find young Shusuke still in the outdoor training areas.

A quick thunk of metal on wood would slightly echo through the empty training ground as Shusuke continued to practice his shuriken jutsu outside of class. Though not hitting the bullseye constantly the small sharp stars were all on the wooden target. His piercing blue eyes would focus on the wooden target board as his pale hand would cross in front of his loose blue short sleeved shirt. A shift in his legs from under his tan shorts would give him the momentum needed to then release his grasp on the metallic weapon. A mere moment later another thud could be heard as Shusuke grinned and placed his right hand through his golden hair, barely enough to hide his fingers as they slid through.

"Piss.." The single word slipped from his lips as the shuriken's trajectory caused it to land four or five inches from the bullseye. Slowly dropping his hand down he would pat the holster that was attached to his hip. Empty. A sigh came from his annoyed face as he walked towards the target. Twelve shuriken seems like a lot more before you start actually using them.

 

[Takumi]

Ostensibly, the skies themselves were little more than an ever-stretching canvas for the gods, that day, to finally lay their paints upon it, making manifest a masterpiece of masterpieces. The weather was magnificent, coaxed many to forge stride after stride through it, each as purposeless as the one preceding it. Some dined outside for the mothering rays of the sun alone and a plump boy of thirteen years, unkempt, long black hair - he glanced about the unblemished sky and sighed so heavily, it evoked and ultimately bled into a full-fledged yawn.

“Why’s the weather so boring all the time?” These words were spoken in a mutter, self-directed and uttered as he moved away from the school. His intentions were far removed from forcing in some additional training; but another student caught his eye, throwing shuriken after shuriken with what he could only assume to be a level of success the other boy was not overly happy with.

When they appeared to be out of shuriken to throw, Ryuji approached from behind, slightly to their right and tossed a shuriken of his own. It failed to strike the bullseye. In fact, it failed to hit the target at all. It sailed harmlessly by. It only took one throw, one miss for him to snort, chuckle, and make his presence all the more obvious with a bit of self-made critique.

“Yeap. That seems about right.” He turned his attention to Shusuke. “But I guess limited training with a wooden sword isn’t lending much to my skill of throwing shit.” He reached to a pouch of his own, removing it from his waist and presenting Shusuke with it. “You wanna use these? You can throw a bit longer before having to go and pick those other ones up, eh?”​

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

((OoC: Sorry for the delay, I was giving people time to see if anyone else wanted to join))

From the corner of his field of vision Shusuke saw the trajectory of a poorly thrown shuriken wobble on by and miss the target. A single brow was raised out of curiosity as his strides stopped to turn a half pivot to allow him to see the newcomer. "It's a skill that could still be handy for you."<i></i> His eyes wandered down the boys body before coming back up to lock eye contact. "Especially for someone with your particular build. I don't know how agile you could be."<i></i> As he spoke his voice didn't carry the tone that most children have when they are trying to belittle or insult one another, but more of a flat tone as if just stating what he believed to be facts. Turning back towards the target, ignoring the offered shurikens he would once again begin to walk towards the wooden target. "No thanks. Its not that I don't trust that yours aren't in great shape, but I know how my set handles and I need to master this technique with the tools I plan on using in the field. After all I won't have you in my missions handing me tools all the time."<i></i> Pausing as he grabbed his first star to look slightly back towards the other student. "I mean unless that's all you end up being good for."<i></i> His harsh comments were the byproduct of his distaste for children, despite the fact that they were his peers in both age and strength.


As the breeze fluttered through the air Shusuke's loose shirt fluttered in the breeze slightly, exposing the tanto blade that was strapped to his belt. The concealed weapon was about eight inches long and seemed to be in pristine condition without a single scratch on the hilt or sheath. A small amount of force was needed to pull the blades out from their home within the wooden target. Once all twelve were taken from the log Shusuke would turn around and once again take twenty strides from the mannequin-esque target to his original position. "The name is Shusuke."<i></i>

[WC:299]

 

[Takumi]

Ryuji replied with an amused chuckle. The idea of focusing upon ranged combat with throwing tools was, to him, a hilarious thought. “Eh, I’ll aim for being just agile enough, I guess.” Clearly, the youth was not too bothered by what was said and it was a good thing. Since his aim was to mercilessly tear targets in half with a wraithful swing of his blade-to-be, it would benefit him to allow tactless, provocative words to slide off of him like water does a duck’s back. It was definitely a harsh line of work.

He retracted the pouch he presented the boy and snorted at the snide remark. “Eh, I dunno. I’m not sure if they’d let us graduate at all if all we could do is hand people shit, y’ know?” Ah, when a fumbled burn does nothing but reveal how dumb the one who birthed it truly is. Ryuji thought the youth before him could be a little better versed in insults, but he was not about to help him with that. His help had already been refused, after all, and that was really the only reason he had stuck around. Some rude kid was not exactly so appealing that the Nanjirou would stick around to hang out with them. So, with little more to do there, he appeared to follow suit. Ryuji walked passed the target and claimed what he had thrown and placed it back into the pouch.

“Cool,” Ryuji replied as he heard the boy’s name. “Well, nice meetin’ ya.” He halfheartedly waved and kept on the path home.

[thread left]​