Air Drill Practice (Privite, Invite only)

Mezurashii could only watch in surprise as Itami reacted so out of character, she tried to tell him she was fine but he seemed so certain that he had inadvertently hurt her.

When he moved away she immediately followed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him tight, stroking his hair with one hand in an attempt to calm him.

"Shh, shh. You didn't hurt me, it was an accident, nothing more. I'm fine, I don't hate you. I could never hate you, your my first friend Itami. Everything's okay, it's okay" she continued to whisper to him, holding him tight and stroking his head, and she meant those words too.

His emotions so hightened, Itami didn't even feel arms wrap around him and only managed to calm down a bit when he heard his friend's words. It was inconceivable to him that she was the one trying to calm him down, when he thought she was going to get angry. He couldn't believe she still wanted to be his friend. He felt so lucky he met her. Any other person would abandon him by now.
When his breathing slowed down to normallity, he slowly reached for Mez's hands and stopped the hug, but turned to her and still held her hands in his own. He was embarrased he acted like such a child but it was a part of his personality that sooner or later came out. It was the result of living without a mother. It was purely psychological and he couldn't quite explain it himself. All he knew was that he felt incredibly embarrased by his outburst and incredibly happy that Mezurashii didn't think he was a freak.
"You're so great Mez." he said and looked down at the ground. "I can't believe you want to be my friend." he added and looked back up again.
His eyes have turned from his usual soft red, to intense red which was something that begun to happen recently and was a trait of his family. He didn't yet know that about himself but he knew his father's eyes always flashed blood red when he was angry or hurt. Itami would find this about himself shortly in the future because as he grew up, his eyes would colour redder and redder at hightened emotions. For now though, he was unaware of this.

As he looked at Mezurashii, he felt an ache in his chest because for the first time since he lost his cousin, he felt like he had a genuine friend.

Mezurashii smiled gently at him as he held her hands, she noticed how his eyes had changed but with so many oddities in the village she couldn't find it in her to be surprised. She gave his hand a light squeeze, gaining his attention.

"Well believe, I'm you friend and I'll never abandon you. Come on" she said gently as she stood up, albeit shakily, and tugged him with her "I'll make you some tea, I live close by" she whispered gently as she began to guide him to her house, keeping a supportive grip on his hand the entire time.

When they finally made it home she took off her shoes and slid the door open, already knowing her papa was out, and gently tugged Itami to the kitchen.

"Make yourself comfortable, all we have at the moment is lilac tea. It's usually used for special events but I think this is more important" she said, smiling at the white haired boy for a second before focusing on making the tea.

Itami smiled back a grateful look on his face. He let himself be pulled up as Mez stood up.
He heard her speak again, not believing what an amazing friend he had now. He felt reassured and followed along as they walked towards where Mezurashii lived. He let her guide him because he didn't really know where she lived plus his legs still felt a bit shaky. He dismissed the embarrasment of that and continued walking, promising to himself that he was going to get tougher and try to control his emotions in the future.

Arriving at her house, Itami's head was quite clear again. He looked around in wonder and noticed every beautiful detail of her home.
They entered the kitchen and Mezurashii started making tea.
"Thank you" he mumbled and sat down in a chair, feeling a bit out of place, like usually when he was visiting someone else's house. He felt honored by her treatment which amplified his embarrasment a little. He still felt like he didn't deserve all of this.
He loved tea though and he was glad they came here. The training and his emotional outburst tired him out quite a bit.
"Your home looks really nice." he said awkwardly, wanting to break the silence, as Mezurashii poured the tea in the cups.

Mezurashii handed him a cup with a smile "thank you, it was a mess when I first came here though. You won't believe how messy papa can get" she laughed a little at the memory. She smiled as she took a sip, she noticed how Itami looked a bit shaken.

"Forgive me if I'm being to forward here, but you can come here whenever you want. If you want to talk or just have a little safe haven you'll be welcome here, and it seems like you need a little peace in your life" she said shyly, but smiled kindly nonetheless. He was her first friend and she wanted him to know that.

Itami giggled a little and accepted the cup. "I believe ya."
He took a sip of the tea and nodded approvingly. "Wow this is really good. I've never had this kind of tea before."
He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, still looking around. When Mezurashii started to speak again, he bit his lip nervously and listened.
"Thank you, that is so nice of you Mezurashii." He moved his gaze to the tea, suddenly finding it incredibly interesting. He didn't know what else to say. He doubted he'd take her on that offer, as nice as it sounded. He'd feel like he was imposing and disturbing her peace. He wasn't used to talking about his problems to others and it would make him feel week, like he couldn't handle himself.
But he promised himself he was going to make it up to Mezurashii, for her kindness. Sooner or later.
Itami continued sipping his tea in silence. He then thought of an interesting topic to discuss and the curiosity that suddenly appeared in him got him talking again. "Hey, have you learned any jutsu since you became a genin? Apart from the one we are trying out?" He knew most new genin were so thrilled on finaly being able to learn jutsu, they usually started on one in their first month in.

Mezurashii smiled as he complimented the tea, she tilted her head at his hesitant expression but figured it was part of his personality. After all he probably wasn't used to being invited to a persons house, she put her cup down as she thought over his question.

"Actually I've already made one of my own. It's called Wind Wave, it's meant to knock someone off their feet, I'll show you sometime. There's Air Wall, another personal creation, it diverts thrown weapons and I think it has the potential to divert punches as well... And there's Chakra Infusion, for wind element it sharpens a weapon and it pretty easy to learn. Otherwise I've been mostly been doing physical training or meditating" she finished with a smile.

"Would you like anything to eat? I can make some cold onigiri if you want" she said as she pulled out the rice and began shaping them absentmindedly, she turned to him as she made the food and smiled.

"What about you? Have you learned anything new?" she asked as she placed the first rice ball on the plate, waiting patiently for her friend to answer.

Itami stared in awe at Mezurashii. "Really?" he managed to blurt out. It was so amazing, he hadn't met anyone this smart before. She already made 3 jutsu of her own, at such a young age. Only geniuses did things like that in his experience. He couldn't imagine actually creating a jutsu of his own, only learning ones that already existed.
He stared at her, not even replying to her question about Onigiri.

He shook his head at her question then, and ran his hand through his messy hair.
"Yeah, I have. The most recent one I've learned is chakra infusion as well. Other than that, I have been working on shadow clones which is a really hard tehnique. I read about it in a book I found in my attic. It's quite complicated. Oh and I've also learned the Spiraling wind ball jutsu. My father used it quite often so I picked it up from him."
His eyes followed the rice balls Mez was making as he continued. "I've also trained quite hard for the past few weeks. And even managed to spar some."

Itami tilted his head and looked up at Mezurashii. "I've just realized that, but, we haven't ever sparred together alone, have we? It would be quite interesting, us both having the same affinity, don't you think?"
He was getting a bit chatty now, the tea pleasantly warming him up and calming his mind.

Mezurashii smiled pleasantly as he spoke, her fifth onigiri finished and the sixth one in process. She tilted her head when Itami mentioned they never sparred alone together, she brought up her past battles and nodded slightly.

"We haven't have we, well later on we should definitely. It would so much fun" she smiled brightly as she finished the rice ball and grabbed the plate, placing it between them as she sat and poured the tea again.

"Though if you want to learn more wind techniques you going to have to calm your mind, you can do that by meditating. Freedom of the mind can be a big help in a lot of area's, plus you can make what's called a 'mind-scape' and not only can it be used as an escape but also as a defense against mind invaders" she explained, pausing to nibble on a rice ball.

"Though those take a lot of time and chakra, plus you must be really good at meditating. I find it best to start with music and then progress from there" she added before taking a sip of tea, Mezurashii was enjoying this greatly. This was the first guest she's ever had and hopefully she being a good host.

"Agreed" Itami replied and smiled. Sparing was quickly becoming his favourite social activity. And it prepared him well for the future. He was a little worried about sparring with Mezurashii, because he didn't want to hurt her in any way, but he was confident she was able to take care of herself. He knew they were pretty matched in strength.
He grabbed one of the rice balls and ate it slowly. He listened to Mezurashii with interest and then asked: "what do you mean by defense against mind invaders? How exactly would that work?"
He trusted Mezurashii knew a lot about this and he was very willing to learn and improve. He actually did some sort of his own meditating, when he climbed high and the wind blew calmly around him. His mind was able to rid of all thoughts then, though he didn't really know if that counted as meditating.
He supposed he could try Mez's way of meditating, by listening to music or something like that. Though he suspected he wouldn't be able to focuse that way, as music usually brought on more thoughts then less.
"What are some other tehniques?" he asked the redhead and took a sip of his tea. He was quite curious about the subject.