Team Cybele: The Hare and the Snake

[Princess Tracy]

"How can YOU not know? Doesn't she trust you at least enough to know where to find her? Maybe her home is embarrassing in some way?" Amon scratches her head in thought as she re-ties her bandana. "I was going to rest easy knowing that at least you'd be able to check in on her for me if need be. What do you say we make a project of it? Tell me when she's next meeting you and we'll coordinate to track her back to her home. I promise I'd let you know, unless there was a REALLY good reason she's not letting you in." Amon's mind holds back a barrage of possibilities, some romantic some depressing.

Amon ponders for another long moment before commenting. "I knew a user of a dojutsu bloodline once - besides Cybele, obviously. I... No, never mind. It doesn't matter anymore."

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Hint hint: Incoming backstory. Will be finished tonight. Although you may not have to create or integrate an existing dojutsu, since, well... you'll see.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke flinches at the mention of Hinami. He had promised the fallen Sand-nin to break the news to Yuri, but how did he do this without sounding insensitive? It wasn't as if he could say, 'Oh yeah, turns out she was a traitor who tried to kill my teacher the first chance she got. She died slowly and painfully while a poison killed her from the inside out, all the while knowing that she failed to kill her enemy despite her best efforts.' The thought of crushing her hopes did little to please him, and he pushes away the ice cream before he can get sick.

That probably wouldn't go over very well, especially with the mood as it was. To get through this he would need to do what every good ninja had to do. Tell half-truths. Looking at Yuri directly into the eyes he begins his 'confession.' "Actually, that is why I am here Tsumaki-san." Which was not entirely false. He had been planning on telling her eventually. "Hisakawa-san was assigned to my team the other day, along with her genin team, for a joint mission." This was the part where it got tricky to explain. "Before our teams...departed from our each others company she wanted to tell me that she would not be able to make it back in time and asked me specifically to relay her message, given our mutual acquaintance with each other. She is regretful but there were more pressing concerns at hand." Concerns like 'the poison that made her every shuddering breath painful to even hear.' But Yousuke was quite sure that Yuri did not wish to hear about that.

"She hopes you understand," he finishes with his eyes closed.

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede just shrugs. "I don't know one way or another, but she's very secretive about it. If you wanna track her down, well... Good luck. Momo's tried to track her down before, but it's never worked out." Kaede lets Amon explain if she wants, but otherwise doesn't pry. "However, if you want to visit her she usually spends her time at my home. She trains there, cleans, cooks, eats meals with us... If she didn't sleep somewhere else I'd say she lived there."

Yousuke

Yuri looks a bit confused as Yousuke starts off. Why did Hisakawa give Yousuke a message? Fear flashes across Yuri's face as she thinks about whether or not Hinami had ever intended to return. As Yousuke finishes through with his story Yuri just nods. All throughout Yousuke's story she slowly eats her ice cream. "I... I guess she never intended to return, huh. Oh well."

Yuri takes her cup back, and Yousuke's if he's finished with it, then returns with a glass of water for herself. She sniffs a bit, then gives the sky-nin a forced smile. "Well, there's plenty more birds in the sky, right? So. You aren't the type to take messages like that seriously. Why did you really come here?"

[Princess Tracy]

"Hmm. Alright then, where do you live?" Amon asks, as she brings the monocle dangling from her shirt to her eye, examining him as if expecting him to lie. "It's either I be the one to ambush Cybele or I have to try and pass any cute gifts to her in front of my teammates and embarrass her. Actually, scratch taht, she's really cute when she's embarrassed."

A thought occurs. Perhaps I can investigate what went wrong in this mission - specifically the ease at which Yusa escaped. Is it worth it to sacrifice my downtime on what is almost certainly a wild goose chase? "Hey, what do you know about the detention of high class criminals?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede shakes his head at Amon's question. "I can tell you how things like that go in Konohagakure, but not here. Soragakure's council doesn't allow me access to criminals or sensitive information, and for good reason."

He shrugs at that. "I suppose they're worried I'll want to free somebody or something."

[Princess Tracy]

"I knew it..." Amon mutters, before speaking up to Kaede, her point apparently proved. "Then why would the missing-nin from Iwagakure be allowed to help in the transportation of such a high class criminal as Yusa of the Black Sand? Someone must have set it up specifically to give her the chance to bust her out, don't you think?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede raises an eyebrow at that. "Yusa of the Black Sand?" He whistles low and long. "That's not good. She's pretty famous in the criminal underground. Sounds like someone wants to cause something to happen, but who's the target? Someone untouchable normally, I suppose. Like a Kage or something."

[Princess Tracy]

"Cybele and Team 5, including myself, were put together with a group of suna-nin and Hinami. We met not 24 hours ago and were to escort Yusa of the Black Sand, under the effects of a genjutsu, to the Kazekage. However, through some basic trickery, Hinami was able to set it up that both teams believed the other was guarding Yusa, and so neither was; Hinami and her partner were able to unseal her, and yusa ran off without a second thought, making our mission a failure. God knows where she is now." Her retelling is quite mechanical, having gone over it many times in her head, but she folds her arms and darts her eyes in concern throughout. "We only turned our back on Yusa and Hinami for a few minutes. Whoever had that Genjutsu on may not have been very thorough. Is Yusa of the Black Sand really strong enough to kill a Kage?" Amon asks, clearly worried what destruction her negligence has wrought.

Wait a second, why didn't Shoin find Yusa's tracks?

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede shrugs. "Genjutsu are fickle and easy to break given time or stimulus. It's possible that whomever made it had little skill in them, but it's also possible that Hinami simply knew the key."

He answers Amon's question about Yusa casually. "Potentially, if she's able to get close enough. She has absolute control over the iron sand in her body, and it could be used as an assassination tool with ease."

[Princess Tracy]

The key, eh? Might be worth looking into. Why would she need to know that? Did Cybele know it? Hmm... If not, I may have found my loose end

"I guess I'm rather glad she didn't stick around to finish us - I don't imagine we would have died pleasantly in that case." She thinks, although, does that mean she dashed straight for her target?

Amon sighs. "Give her a hug from me though, okay? I'd say a kiss, but well, you and I both know why that wouldn't be a good idea. Oh, and here." She reaches inside one of her pouches, producing from her stack a nifty little business card. A drawing of her own smiling face, golden locks, bandana and all, her tongue sticking out and her chibi self making a thumbs-up sign despite otherwise being disembodied beyond her head. 'Amon Yamana, mechanic and ninja' followed by contact information, but not for her house; rather the construction area where she does most of her practice and has made herself a little base of operations without anyone's official knowledge. 'Sky Train Maintenance Pit 5, Northeast Corner, 2 storeys up, door marked by marionette ninja'. "Just don't show that to my parents. I'd hate to have to move all my nice things. Anyway, just so you and Cybele generally know where to find me away from home."

[Princess Tracy]

Once she's given him her business card, Amon bows. "I suppose I shall leave you to your sunrise-based premonitions. Just promise me if some doom is upon us, you'll take good care of Cybele-chan throughout it. I know, I know, she's strong and can handle herself, but... as it stands, she's someone I'm not powerful enough to reliably protect. So consider it a favour to do it in my place if I'm not stronger by then."

She turns to leave, but stops. "You know, I'm not entirely sure when i might see you again, Uchiha-san. Are you sure you can't give me one little hint on how to contact you? I promise to not think about such a clue unless it's an emergency that calls upon me to figure it out."

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Diplomacy check (1d20+5)[8]

"Well, either way, at least you know where to find me - swing by sometime if you need help taking your mind off what worries you. You know, I think I rather see what Cybele-chan sees in you. It's lucky for her I generally swing for the other team or I'd snatch you right up from under her. On that note, I was quite shocked to see her true form after spending all day around her more... mature self." She giggles as she gives a little twirl. "Oh! I just thought of an idea! If you see Cybele, tell her to meet me once she's made a recovery. I have a technique she may be interested in learning from me, a hijutsu of mine I'm working on. I think it would suit her abilities perfectly. It's - no, never mind. I feel it's only fair with how defensive you get that I get to be a little secretive." She blows a raspberry like a child.

Amon suddenly swoons, collapsing back a bit. If Kaede makes no effort to catch her, she manages to push her mass forward, keeping upright and balancing herself into the odd moment of exhaustion passes. "Ah, even with soldier pills, her curse really took the energy out of me... I was going to try and trick you into grabbing breakfast with me, but I need to go sleep this off, sorry."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede just shrugs. "If there was ever something ready to doom us all, then I don't think I would have a choice. Cybele wouldn't allow me or Momo to get hurt, and attempting to protect her... Well, she'd just knock me out if it was necessary."

As Amon asks for another hint as to where to find him, Kaede just smiles and waves her off. "You have my name. What more do you need?"

Kaede just chuckles a little at Amon's assessment, and responds the same way he would have if it had been Cybele. "You're a great kid, but a bit young no? Go out and experience the world a little more first. Things like that can wait."

He tries to catch Amon, but is a bit slow on the uptake since it had came about so randomly. Regardless, Kaede does wave goodbye. "Just don't push yourself too hard. You're a lot like her in that way."

[Princess Tracy]

Amon catches the tail end of his 'rejection' as she swooned. She just chuckles as she recovers, wondering if he had said those exact words to Cybele at some point. At his final commend of her being like Cybele, she holds back a glib remark of 'I hope you mean in the capacity I'll fill out that well under an Aging technique' and formulates a different tact. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not nearly so prone to being lovestruck as her. And don't call me a kid - I'm nearly 15 and a genin of 2 years, that has to count for something, I'm sure I'll bag a woman twice as foxy as you ever had soon enough!" she says, making a childish expression, pulling donw on her her eyes with her finger as she sticks her tongue out. "And you know why? Because I like a challenge, and boys my age are too easy, and men your age are too smart to fall for me just yet. But I'll show you. Maybe I'll scoop up Cybele-chan if you don't act on her soon, Uchiha Kaede. MWUHAHAhAHA!" she cackles as she lightly jogs away, her words 90% concentrated satire.

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It's a japanese expression i see a lot in anime, ut I couldn't find a decent picture nor the exact name of it. I'm sure you're probably familiar with what Amon just pulled though.

Amon considers going home, but things better of it as she instead goes to the hosprital. She checks in privately, asking the Matron, with whom she'd managed to force some begrudging arrangements out of before she even became a medic, to help her out off the books by having someone look at her. She'll try to get a bed until the afternoon to sleep in. Whoever is given the job of checking out her condition, she described the curse to the best of her abilities and asks them t make sure she's okay. Once they've done all that they can, she uses the sleep technique...

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....(using a point of chakra reserve to not use all her chakra pool and thus empty herself, instead leaving her with a single point of chakra - I autosucceed at tapping my reserve even without taking 10, I think, so I won't bother)...

....And just continues to sleep even after the technique wears off, sleeping through the sickness of soldier pills, for at least 8 hours or whenever the pill's aftereffects wear off, whichever comes last.

[Bad Situation]

That posed a very good question. Why was he here anyway? He distinctly remembered that it had something to do with running and that a spare ticket had been mentioned at some point. A spare ticket that Yuri would have to give him because Satsuki had already given hers away to a 'friend'. Yousuke groans and buries his face in his arms, bitter at the thought of Satsuki having a boyfriend that she was afraid to tell him about. "He is no doubt, some sort of scoundrel. With facial hair and...and a job that doesn't involve killing people. How do I compete with that"

Unless the 'friend' happened to be a girl. Though, knowing his luck, said girl would probably have facial hair too. However, this was not a time to be moping. Yuri was in one of her rare good moods, meaning the ticket was as good as his! Jerking his head up suddenly, Yousuke looks straight into Yuri's eyes. "I must have your running club event ticket!"

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

Yuri gives Yousuke the flattest, most deadpan look she can muster. "What." She shakes her head quickly, then resumes her normal emotional reactions. "I-I mean. W-Why? I'm no--" Then it dons on her. Satsuki's captain of the track team.

"Oh. You want to see my sister." Her normal mischievous tone when discussing Satsuki has fallen in favor of matter-of-fact statements. "I'm sure you already know when the meet takes place. You can have my ticket. I had planned to throw it away anyway. Meet me in front of the school gates tomorrow morning. 7 AM, sharp." Yuri doesn't say anything more unless Yousuke asks for it. She just gets up and goes back to quietly cleaning the shop in preparation for opening.

[Princess Tracy]

On her way out, Amon is asked by the matron if she'd rather pay for her bed by money or by pulling a shift. She's about to just shove some Ryo into the feisty old one's hand when she catches sight of a familiar name on the the registry in her hands. She feigns an interest in doing a shift, knowing she can't really stay that long with sharply limited downtime, just long enough to get the room number before paying with cash up front all the same. Done with her dealings, she slips off to the current room of the hospital-frequenting Yoshizaki Kaoru. She's in luck, it seems as he appears to be asleep or exhausted, no need to disguise. She sits down at the end of his bed, thankful to see the room otherwise empty.

"Hi, Kaoru," she says, quietly at first. "Last time we met an I showed myself I said I'd do you proud, that I'd make the most of the potential you gave up to save me. So I thought I'd give, you know, an update on that But Omki said she didn't want you to have to lay eyes on me again of she'd find some way to hurt me, so I guess... I guess I'll just vent while you're asleep. Sorry."

Making sure the room was sealed and otherwise empty, Amon starts retelling everything that happened to her in the last day, contenting herself to look out at the noon sun as she talks to his unconscious form. "I got a new team. They seem alright. Especially the teacher - turns out she was my age the whole time. Her disguise was a knockout, but her true self only makes me want to want to hug her and make her feel safe. Then there's Houshi - a quite boy. Well, boy, he's a lot taller than me. Or you, even. Honest guy. Kind of like you really, I'm sure you would like him. And then here's Yousuke... he has a sword. We don't like each other very much. I guess you would try to get on with him anyway - you were usually like that, I mean, you put up with ME. But he mentioned my wounds and I just kind of snapped and we got at each other's throats. He's pretty stupid, but I can't help but feel bad for getting him so upset. Wonder if I can make amends. I'm abour done with this whole 'being hated an distrust by my own teammates' thing after her, you know? Our first mission was yesterday. It didn't go so well. We were supposed to escort an enemy into custody, but they escaped. We got chewed out by Sonia the Deathless of all people. She got really mad that I saved a suna-nin's life. Well, not really mad, but i just thought it was weird to be that mad. I mean, she took a deathblow aimed at Houshi, so she'd be worth saving even if she was an anemy today or yesterday, never mind tomorrow. I only have a few days to get ready for the next mission and I'm starting to feel how weak I still am. Don't suppose you know a good way to train quickly, eh? Oh, it's fine. I wonder how Omki is doing. I wonder what I'll tell my parents about why i was away for a solid 24 hours. Will they be mad or happy that I'm back? They love me, but they've been pretty mad at me for becomng a proper ninja again lately. ...I've been working on this thing you know. I have another sensei on the side. I don't think you'd like him very much. He teaches me strange things. Useful, but strange, and even then only when he feels like it. Do you keep up with Omki still?"

She continues like that for a while until her stomach growls so loud she's worried she'll wake him up, and she realises she's only had about half a lunch box to eat in the last 24 hours. Time to go home then, if only to get a change of clothes. My poncho is still soaked form the rain. "Thanks for listening," she says as she stand, making to leave. If nothing interrupts her...

...
~10 minutes later.
...

Amon heads home, considering scaling the building to her room to grab the supplies, but a quick grumble of her belly dispels any notion of skipping breakfast. Bracing herself, she gives the door a quick tug, reasserting the damage the lock picking did yesterday (realsing she is without her key and making sure to remember to fix the door later) as she lets herself inside with a jolt and a creak. A little meekly, as she clears the threashold, making sure to have packed away all her dangerous equipment ahead of time (except for her sword cane, of course, though they don't know it's a sword), she declares her presence quietly "Amon's home..."

[Bad Situation]

Nodding gratefully, Yousuke gets up from the bar to leave. He could not honestly remember a time when dealing with Yuri had ever been easy and speaking to her so easily now left him feeling very awkward. Pausing at the door he turns back to Yuri and smiles. "It was nice talking to you Yuri. Keep your ching up, like you said there are other birds in the sky, and though this morning has been pleasant I must profess that I am unaccustomed to seeing you subdued."

Yousuke exits and returns home, knowing that his grandfather sometimes had very strange training schedules.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

The rest of the morning passes uneventfully, and Team 5 has time to train or rest without interference. Eight hours of time bring about the afternoon rather quickly, and soon it's past noon. Each genin has their own things to do and worry about, and go about their days on their own.

Yousuke

Yousuke doesn't find his grandfather at first, but eventually the old man wanders in sometime after noon. He just looks at the young man, then immediately goes off to make himself lunch. Youki looks no worse for wear than yesterday, and his cooking proceeds much as it did during breakfast. Flashes of steel fly through the air as Youki prepares something that looks vaguely like stir-fried beef. Grandpa doesn't talk throughout his preparations, because the old man tuned out everything while he was working. Eventually, a brown lump of... stuff, sitting on top of a white lump of... more stuff, drops on the table in front of Yousuke. If Yousuke tries it, then it's definitely beef.

Finally Youki starts talking. "You've got this look of a man with woman troubles. I'd be happy to go if I'm interrupting. Just be sure to treat her right, grandson. Some great grand children would be wonderful after all."

Houshi

All throughout Houshi's training exercises several groups of genin, chuunin, and even one pair of jounin arrive to do their own work. The sounds of so many people struggling to do their best, to overcome their own problems, and to better themselves is the perfect background to Houshi's own efforts. Immediately after Houshi's finished his training for the evening he's greeted by a pretty amusing sight. A quartet of ninja--none of whom Houshi recognizes--enter the training grounds. The leader is a pudgy young man, probably only a couple of years or so older than Houshi, whose dirty blond bangs dominate his face and head. The hair hangs down and obscures his eyes, and it's probably fairly hard for him to see anything. From his height of five foot even the poor boy probably has to look up to make eye contact with lots of people his age, and would strain his neck to look up at Houshi. No headband could be visible under his hair, so the Soragakure symbol is wrapped around his upper forearm. He wears a strange black-colored full body suit, and a huge scroll rests against his lower back like a sword. He's talking animatedly with the young boy at his side.

Second in line, talking with the boy with bangs, is a handsome young man with no really eye-catching features. The boy's of average height, average weight, doesn't carry a weapon of any type, has no vest for protection, wears a plain black tee-shirt with matching pants, and lacks any truly distinct features aside from his handsome but childish face. He does, however, get along with the boy with bangs rather well given how they're the only two talking to one another.

The third in line is a thin girl framed by a cascading waterfall of black bouncy curls. Her thin frame and short body seem weighed down by the shear amount of hair she's got. Her hair reaches beyond her waist like Cybele's, but it also expands outward in a curly untamed ball. She's fairly nondescript beyond her massive hair. Her lack of a dedicated uniform showcases a body that reminds Houshi of the budding Sune, but she lacks the same graceful look as his teacher's sister. She's wearing a set of jeans, a tee shirt, and doesn't seem to have a ninja vest on. Her Soragakure headband wraps around her waist like a belt. Her pale blue eyes stare off into the distance as she feigns interest in whatever the two boys are discussing.

The last in line's a tall thin man wearing the standard light blue ninja vest and jumpsuit that Cybele wears. His headband is tied tightly around his left bicep. The man could pass himself off as a professional body-builder based on his size and muscle. Despite being three inches shorter than Houshi he's visibly more muscular than the young genin. He seems to be their teacher based on the way they look toward him during breaks in the boys' conversation, but he doesn't make any attempt to connect with them. Like Cybele he's stand-offish, but unlike her he doesn't lower his shield at all. The jounin(?) rebuffs any attempt the group makes to include him in the conversation, and says nothing unless directly spoken to. The dark-haired and dark-eyed ninja treats his team like robots, and the damage it's done to their cohesiveness shows.

The strange team of sky-nin are headed toward Houshi, and he's just about to pass them when he spots a familiar face. Purple crystal clear eyes lock on to the young man from across the field, and the young body they belong to immediately kicks into overdrive. Sune crosses the distance between herself and Houshi in the span of just a few seconds. She leaps through the air near the end of her run, sticks her arms up into the air, and extends one foot as she comes flying toward Houshi's chest. "Ha! Did you think I'd forget about what you said?! You owe me you know!"

Amon

Amon's hospital visit goes off without a snag, and Kaoru doesn't wake up or stir. His injuries seem to have healed a bit better than before, but the look of him still tells the story of someone whose daily life is simply painful.

---

Home is where the heart is, except for the Yamana household. Amon returns home to find a note explaining that the Yamanas had gone to their summer home in the northern section of the Country of Rivers. The note tersely explains that Amon would find premade meals in the fridge, the keys on the coffee table, and that none of the servants or staff would be at home. Clearly her parents were still very upset, and took it out on Amon by separating the young girl from her family. The young genin won't find anyone else in the house if she looks around, and thorough searches reveal absolutely no one around. Not even the family butler remained behind, and doubtlessly had to be ordered to leave by Amon's parents. The girl's luxurious mansion, furnished with antiques and hand-crafted furniture worth more than some families homes, stands utterly empty and alone except for the one little genin inside.

After about ten minutes a knock on the door echoes through the massive mansion. If Amon goes to check she finds a package--brown paper wrapped around a small three by five inch box--sitting on the doorstep. If Amon opens it she discovers a card covered in red seals. The back displays a clown's face wearing a silly hat, with a silly grin, and sillier makeup haphazardly brushed across its face. The box is otherwise empty and without decoration. No mailman or mail ninja are visible, and likely whomever delivered it left immediately afterward.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon spends a good few minutes searching the house even after finding the note, as if expecting it to be some kind of trick or they somehow forgot something. At the very least they should leave Sis around so she doesn't miss any classes. But no, alone. She doesn't even grab food, just sitting on the floor of the lounge, feeling like a damp brick. Only when they weren't there did she realise how much she'd wanted to see them, everyone. She really wanted to hug mother right now. She almost died last night, that's an experience you never get used to. And she wanted to tell Sis about all that happened, 'creatively editing' it to sound a little more heroic. She could use someone around the house now... She'd throw a party as she hears kids around her age sometimes do, but there's no one to invite to it. Everyone back in school hated her. But then, they also showed interest in keeping in the good graces of the rich kid. So they would come, but she didn't want them to. Don't mother and father like me though? No, of course they do, they love me. They just aren't used to this, they think punishing me like this is for the best. I have to endure, to show them this is who I am. Then they'll love who I really am. Right? Even though she reassures herself, in the silence her doubts and sadness just accumulate.

As she considers breaking into her parents scotch and generally feeling sorry for herself, she hears the knock on teh door and immediately rushes to it, disappointed to find no one there. She immediately senses chakra upon seeing the package. Faint - only so bad it could be, right? Still though, one must be cautious. She knew better than to trust herself to mysterious packages.

Taking it inside slowly, she sets it down as she dons her gloves and takes her tools, dismantling rather than merely removing the packaging, never touching it if she could avoid it. She wondered if having Cybele laugh in her face for dying in a stupid way otherwise would be worth it to at least see that girl laugh. She thinks of the oddest things when her mind strays from a logic puzzle. The package taken apart, she holds the card in her gloves hand, eyeing it oddly as she studies it. Clown and seals? Is it some kind of joke technique? Perhaps this is Sensei's doing. Things get weird whenever he tries to be funny. It's definitely Funinjutsu. Why did I never take any crashes in that? I have no idea who this is from or what it does. It might be very dangerous. You know, they had a similiar tag on... nah, couldn't be, could it? With nothing else to do, Amon spends a fair 20 minutes or so screwing around with the card. She barks random command words at it, including the names of every ninja she'd met in person; she pokes it with every kind of object she has, and stops just short of pouring some of her blood on it. God knows what might happen. if nothing activates it, she takes it in her bare hand and tucks it away in teh now reconstructed box it came in as she makes a note to ask anyoen she can to help decipher its meaning

[zeone3000]

Houshi takes notice of the other team but can't find any reason to care. While their Jounin similar to theirs in his aloofness, he was even more stubborn. Though, he was slightly surprised by his physique. He may have to ask him about his technique. That was until a small girl missile was making his way towards him.

Houshi panics, nearly dropping his sword, "Owe you what?!"

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke shiftily looks away before admitting, "Something along those lines grandfather." Sliding away the half-eaten 'beef' dish, Yousuke stares resolutely at Youki. "But that's a matter for another day. I need your guidance grandfather, now more than ever. Mother will be home in so short a time but," Yousuke looks down and ashamedly admits, "I feel as though my training has all but halted to a stop." Memories of the mission gone wrong come unbidden.

"All my life I have imagined myself as skilled, deluded into believing in my skill and until yesterday's mission I had no reason to believe otherwise." On his first mission he had been pitted against ninja only two or three years his senior and yet in the face of their overwhelming difference in strength he could do nothing.

He had tried to rationalize it earlier in the day, in response to his teammates, and to some extent he had accomplished just that. There were many ninja in the world revered as geniuses after all, and being related to two such ninja he could understand that they existed. But in spite of his logic he could not address his real question, "Why am I not one of them?" He had the pedigree, the clan training, and one of, if not the best swordsman in the whole of the Elemental Countries as his personal instructor. With everything working in his favor, how had he turned up so remarkably average?

"What do I do grandfather?" he asks desperately.

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

The card does not respond to any of Amon's attempts to activate it.

Houshi

Sune lands foot-first into Houshi's chest, and bounces off. She does a quick back flip, sticks the landing, and points at Houshi. For the first time the tall genin is able to get a good look at her appearance, and she's wearing a blue blouse and matching slacks. The girl's casual wear speaks of a day on the town, but her angry tone clashes harshly with her youthful look. "For what you said! My sister's so much prettier right?! Well I couldn't get revenge yesterday, so I'm gonna get it today!"

Sune points toward the business district. "You owe me a lot, and you're gonna work it off. I need to go shopping, and you're carrying my things."

Yousuke

Youki's eyes soften as the boy sincerely asks for his help. He and his grandson had a comically close relationship, but this was another matter entirely. Youki's eyes close, he takes a deep breath, then says.

"Give up."

Youki looks sternly at his grandson before continuing onward. "If something as simple as a single failure makes you want to give up, then there's nothing more I can teach you." Youki's seriousness permeates every word. He truly believed that if Yousuke had such powerful doubts then he'd be better served not bothering.

"You lost. It happens. Did you think I had won every duel I had been in? That your mother never lost a single challenge? That our ancestors were invincible under the sun since its inception? No. Failure comes, and it should be remembered, but one should not dwell on it. You must learn, grow, and move on; or give up."

Youki extends his hand, open palm facing skyward, and motions for Yousuke to hand him Yousuke's sword. "If you give up right now, then give me your sword." Youki then holds up left hand which holds Youki's own blade. "Or hold on to it, and look forward to the future without dwelling on the past. Those are the choices you have."

[zeone3000]

Houshi sheathes his sword and place his upturned fist into an open palm, "Oh that. Well, turns out that was lie anyway with a ninjutsu. You two could be twins otherwise. On another note, why do you even care? You knew her appearance was a lie." He asks with a very confused look.

Then, with dead serious intent, Houshi shakes his head, "I don't think so. If you haven't heard already from your sister, our mission was a utter failure except that we came back live. I have a lot of training to do and then I'm going to eat, then bed. Solider pills did a number on me. So, find yourself another pack mule for today."

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi

"That doesn't matter! Whether it's ninjutsu or not, I'm still a girl and that still hurt my feelings!" Sune continues onward even when Houshi gets serious.

"I don't care what you wanted to do! You're my pack mule today, and I won't let you get away from that." The young girl points toward the city. "Now shoo. That's an order from your superior."

[zeone3000]

Houshi stomps, nearly causing the ground to crumple, "Then court martial me! I don't care about your petty feelings when my team, no my friends and your sister could've die because of my inadequacy!" He now looms over Sune, clearly more pissed then he has ever been in his entire life. He couldn't believe the selfishness of what supposed to be his superior.

[Bad Situation]

How could he have been so foolish. His grandfather was right. His grandfather was always right. It was one of those annoying traits he was beginning to attribute to the man. A Konpaku swordsman more than any other, lived or died by the blade. And Youki was in all ways, a swordsman who had truly lived his life. The patriarch of the Konpaku Clan always stood high and proud but in this moment, more than any other, Yousuke was proud of his relation to the aged swordsman. His grandfather had all but reached the pinnacle of skill whereas Yousuke himself had only begun his ascent. The life ahead of him was surely full of difficulties, and on that path lay obstacles that would sooner see him dead than successful. But right now the only obstacle was himself. And having lived such a full life, his grandfather probably knew that better than he did.

Smiling proudly, Yousuke detaches the sheathe from his belt and holds it up for Youki to see but grips it tightly, unwilling to relinquish its weight. "I promise you grandfather, the day I return this blade is the day I inherit the Roukanken. You have my word. Not as your son but as a fellow swordsman."

Yousuke bows graciously before moving deeper into the compound to train. But first, he stops at the threshold of their kitchen, "I would be honored if you trained with me grandfather."

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi

Sune throws Houshi's anger back at him. "Do you think worrying about death matters?! Everyone can die! Every mission means you might not come back."

Sune glares at the giant genin. "You just wanna waste all your time dwelling on what could happen? Fine. But what kind of man worries about what might happen instead of living in the day? Would spending your days worrying ever accomplish anything? Hell no! Go live your life, because you could be dead! And don't give me any bull about being afraid of death, because you signed up for a short life when you became a ninja!"

Yousuke

Youki smiles. "Alright Yousuke. Let's go. And no holding back." Yousuke's grandfather follows his grandson deeper into the compound. The older man provides his wealth of knowledge for Yousuke to learn from, and his great insight into sword techniques provides Yousuke a powerful stepping stone toward any sword-based techniques.

[zeone3000]

"That's why I'm training! So I won't have to worry you stupid girl!" He sighs deeply, "I'm not going with you and that's that! Deal with it! My life is mine to do want I with it! I gonna be so strong that no one has to worry about anything! That's not gonna happen shopping!!!"

[ZeroNumerous]

Houshi

"You just don't understand." Sune turns around and starts walking away. "Stupid! You think you can just decide how things are going to work out? Do you think you're a god?!" Sune leaves, bumping into the approaching team when they don't notice her in time. Their jounin eases them away from the angry girl, and Sune continues storming off.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon clutches the card for another moment as she considers the significance of the clown on the back.. Maybe it's triggered by comedy? "Why did the rooster cross the road? TO prove he wasn't CHICKEN! HAHAHAHAHA!" Amon waits to see if forced laughter and bad jokes she associates with clowns triggers the seals.