Spelunking {P, NK, Hirako & Akira}

Hirako sat in the middle of a large rotunda like room deep in a cave system. Although it was not pitch black. This cave system had intermittent hole in the ceiling that let in vast shafts of light and made the cave system seem more alive. Where Hirako sat was right in the middle of a large chamber that had an equally large hole in the ceiling that made the chamber look like more of a hole in the ground than an actual cave section. But, sure enough there were various passages that led to this chamber. It was here that Hirako often came to train. Ad today was no exception. He sat in the center of the circular room building up chakra and quickly releasing it. He found that training in these caves gave him a nice refugee from the hustle and bustle of Sunagkure. Though maybe today would be different-he did not know.

{Sorry for the meh post.}

Akira often liked to go exploring. One could say that it was his favourite thing to do..which it was. Today he was once again exploring. He had heard of a series of caves that were located somewhere out in the desert. Of course the people who had talked about it had no idea where they actually were. So annoyingly Akira had spent most of the last few days searching for them. And today was no different, and the results had been no different. He came to a stop on top of one of the many dunes within the desert and let out a dejected sigh. Maybe they had simply been lying when they had told him about it. He felt like quite a fool now and wondered if that was their aim to begin with. Damn them. Feeling rather ashamed at having believed them Akira turned to head back home. It was then that he had lost his footing on the loose sand. Time seemed to slow down as he fell backwards and went tumbling down the sand dune. The momentum gathered was enough to send him rolling for a good five metres across the desert before he came to a halt. Groaning he went to stand up when his eyes caught sight of something. At first glance it seemed to be nothing more than a ditch in the sand. But as Akira moved closer he came upon the realisation that it was in fact a hole. He knelt down and peered down into the hole. His eyes widened in glee at what he saw. It appeared to be a tunnel of sorts that went underneath the desert, perhaps this was the cave system that he had long been seeking. Without thinking he jumped down through the hole and into the tunnel.

His eyes scanned the area quickly and his suspicions were confirmed. The walls appeared to be solid rock, mostly jagged with pieces jutting out at random intervals. Though as he looked further on he could see that it began to smooth out at certain places, the reason for this was not obvious to the boy, though he assumed it may be due to the sand from the desert, which seemed to be spread along the floor. Possibly due to the wind blowing it into the cave system through through the hole in the ceiling. Akira's sense of adventure overtook him and he walked on in a random direction. As he walked his eyes kept scanning the cave system as he ventured through it. It surprisingly wasn't that dark at all, he assumed it was due to the holes in the ceiling that he noticed every now and again. He also came to a conclusion of why some of the walls were so smooth, it must have been the sand buffeting against the rocks for the past hundreds of years...maybe. His thoughts came to an end when the tunnel ended and he came out into an open cavern of sorts, perhaps one of many that could be found in the cave systems. What caught his eye almost immediately was that there was a person sitting in the middle of the 'room'. The shock of finding a living being here was quickly overcome and Akira spoke out to the boy, "Uh, hello there!"

Taking deep breaths Hirako had now closed his eyes. There was no one else in the world right now save for himself and the inhabitants of the cave. He felt at peace. It was these meditation exercises that made Hirako feel at peace with all things. It also helped him calm down after a fight or argument. The atmosphere of the cave assisted in this calming effect. There as no one to disturb him save for the gentle drip drop of water far back in the cave like a leaky faucet. As he got into his meditation state all things left his mind save for that faint drip far back in the cave. It was like a metronome to Hirako's very soul. His heart slowly fell into step with the rhythm it created. How odd it was that one's heart could fall to such a low tempo, but like magic Hirako's heartbeat fell to a slow rate. It was not due top any life threatening disease, no. Instead it was merely a side effect of deep meditation. h had surrendered his mind for the time being and allowed it to flow like a river from fancy to notion to idea. Not consciously thinking about Hirako started to mentally put together a puppet. It was odd that his mind subconsciously thought of such things, but Hirako's did just that.

Though there was something nagging at Hirako's thoughts as he sat there. It nagged so much so that it forced him to come out of his trance. Heartbeat by heartbeat he started to come back to normal. In matter of a minute he was back to normal and once again plagued by the thoughts of every human: fear, hunger and rage. Luckily he did not have that much time to dwell on the thoughts that came flooding into his mind as he heard footsteps from a certain passage that led to the entrance of the cave. Did he have an unwanted guest? Maybe it was a wild animal. Last time a wild animal got stuck in the caves and Hirako felt obliged to help it out. Hopefully it was just his imagination, because helping another animal out of the caves would be a really bitch. Especially if it was like last time and he had to help a female dog out of the cave. That was just irksome.

Only time would tell who it was walking through the oddly lit cave. And indeed it did tell when a figure came into view. The boy was probably as shocked as Hirako was himself-Hirako almost took off his sun glasses to get a better look, but dceided against it. He had never had a person wander in on him while he was training. In fact, Hirako half thought his mind was playing tricks on him-it must be a trick. However, this thought was dashed when the boy spoke. Not forgetting his manners Hirako spoke up from behind his mask after the boy said a rather awkward hello: "Hey, who are you and would you happen to be lost?" Hirako figured the only way someone would have found him was if they were lost and just wandered in here. On the other hand if the boy was not lost it would be all the more interesting as he may have found another person who likes caves as much as himself. All the same Hirako could only wait for a response from the strange boy

{TWC: 734}

After the pathetic hello he gave, Akira quickly gave the only other person in the cave a quick look over. There was not much to actually see, the boy appeared to be clad in black, complete with a mask and sunglasses. Akira found that quite strange, not the mask and sunglasses, but rather the fact that he wore black. After all, the sun was almost always out around here and it seemed to be a rather bad choice of clothing. Maybe that was why this person was in the cave? To stay cool maybe. His thoughts ceased when the person spoke up in a reply to his greeting. Akira blinked and scratched the back of his head as he began to think of an answer. "Uh, my name is Akira Zahard. I am eleven years old and live within the village of Sunagakure. My birthday is the 5th of June and I live with m-" He quickly came to a stop, his mouth clamping shut as he realised that he had begun to ramble. He felt the heat rise to his cheeks and he let his eyes wander over to the left away from the boy. Akira was sure that he had made a fool out of himself already, what a great start.

He waited for several seconds before he decided he should answer the other question the boy had asked. Clearing his throat his eyes once more moved towards him. "I'm kind of sort of not lost." A frown accompanied the answer due to his poor reply, "I had heard stories of caves somewhere in the desert and decided it would be fun to explore them. After all I am the World's Greatest Explorer!" A childish grin would appear on his face accompanied by placing his own thumb against his chest, as if to emphasise the fact he was talking about himself. The grin soon faded and his hand dropped back to his side. "Now then, it's your turn to answer. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Akira decided that while he waited for the answer he should look around the cave they were in some more. Walking clock-wise around the perimeter of the room his eyes looked up and down the walls. At random intervals he would run his hand along the rocky wall as if it held some significance, Akira felt as if it was something an explorer would do so he did it. Coming to a halt at the opposite side of the room he turned to face the center of it once more, to see if the boy had done anything in the time it took him to walk there.

Waiting for an answer from the intruder Hirako decided that this was no stray animal, which he supposed was always good. Then again humans were maybe just as annoying, so really it was a toss up. On one hand animals did not talk, which was always good, but they were also not too smart. While humans did talk and were often times fairly smart. Honestly he did not know why these thoughts crossed through his mind, but they did and they did with a fair amount of fluidity. His thoughts now broke as the boy began to speak. The boy talked far too much for Hirako's liking. Though that was not something he could fault the boy with as he was after all only eleven years old, which even when compared to Hirako was young. And it was clear that the boy seemed to be uncomfortable as he quickly shut his mouth after rambling for quite a while about things that Hirako did not really need to know. Apparently the boy thought much the same thing Hirako did as he saw as some color rose into the boy's cheeks-he was looking rather foolish.

Hirako did not hold his breath as a time of a few seconds passed. The boy was probably contemplating his next words. Hirako on the other hand was still trying to figure out how the boy got here. Even if he did just wander in it must have been by chance and nothing else, right? However, the boy's response made Hirako quirk an eyebrow up in disbelief, the world's greatest explorer? Hirako had thought that all explorers were dead old people, but go figure here was one right before hi eyes-how interesting maybe this boy was an old man in disguise? Regardless he continued to listen to the boy until at last he asked a reasonable question. Upon asking this question Hirako half considered lying to the boy, but chose not.

A speaking up now in a slow even voice Hirako responded to Akira's question that closely mirrored Hirako's not too long ago: "The name is Hirako Aburame and I am a newly graduated genin of Sunagakure. As for why I am here? That is simple I am here to train. It is..er was peaceful here, so I figured why not. Though now that you are here why don't you help me out a bit. I haven't really ever sparred before, so I am sure it will be good practice for us both, no?" At this point Hirako got up from his seated position and turned around to face Akira who, assuming he did not change course, was in the place opposite of where he once stood upon entering Hirako's chamber. The chamber itself had a fifteen meter radius and the ceiling of the cave was about ten meters high. In the center of the ceiling relative to the circular room was the large hole that allowed sunshine to stream through. This hole had a seven meter radius. This made for the perfect battleground the ground was flat all that remained was for the fight to break out if Akira did indeed wish to get some training in. Hirako would simply wait for a response in either a verbal form or a physical one.

{TWC: 1283}

Akira had reached the opposite side of the room by the time that the boy, apparently called Hirako, had began to speak. He listened silently to the answers to his questions and nodded. He was caught off guard slightly when he suggested sparring against him. Normally he would say no straight away, after all he was a Genin as he had stated. However, he did say newly graduated. Akira believed that this meant that he couldn't be that much better than him. At least he hoped so. When the boy stood up and turned to him he became aware of the height difference between the two. It seemed that Hirako was around a foot and a half taller than Akira himself, so that probably meant either he had an insane growth problem or he was older than him by a few years. Akira decided that the latter was the correct reason for the height. Remaining silent for a few seconds he quickly mulled over if he should accept the offer to spar or not. It's not like he really had anything to lose, and it would be a good test to see how far off he was from becoming a Genin. So he accepted the offer naturally, "Sure, let's spar."

Akira's inexperience in battle kicked in almost instantly, he didn't take his time to formulate a plan and instead went for a rather simpler option. He took a deep breath in, narrowed his eyes to try and look as fierce as possible, and rushed forward. After his first five steps his small hands balled into fists as he ran. The gap between Hirako and himself, if the boy didn't move from where he was standing, was closed in a few seconds and Akira went for his first strike. Seeing how Akira was very uncreative when it came to fighting, he went for the easiest move he could think of, a punch. His right hand swung upwards wildly, if Hirako didn't actually do anything to retaliate against the punch the knuckles would hit against the underside of the masked boy's chin. After that move was done Akira had a brilliant idea, why not aim for something at his own height level. This was such a brilliant idea in fact, that Akira stood still for a few seconds to bask in his own genius. He then remembered that he was in an epic battle and snapped back to attention, his left fist being thrust forward aimed towards the stomach.

[Total Wordcount: 1420]

Hirako was pleased that Akira had accepted his offer to have a spar. It would give him some battle experience before he was put on a genin team, which would further give him an edge. That was something he could not complain about. Even before the bugs inside him seemed to whir to life it was time show what an Aburame was capable of in battle. It would be interesting to see how Akira chose to attack first, because Hirako was not going to attack first that was for sure. Attacking left one open while defending allowed one to take everything as it came and react accordingly. However, this time Hirako chose to meet his opponent halfway. It would be fun to see how Akira reacted to getting swarmed.

The second Akira took his first step Hirako had his bugs move as well. He called upon 50 of his kikaichū to do battle with the small academy student. Hirako would not have to move a muscle. Instead his bugs would swarm towards Akira. Once the academy student was halfway to Hirako the kikaichū would have already reached him unless he chose to run away deeper into the cave system or try some interesting techniques. All 50 kikaichū would be on a direct course for Akira at their maximum flight speed (20). 20 of the kikaichū would be on track for Akira's head and face while 15 would go for the left hand and another 15 for the right hand. Were Akira unable to ward off the swarming insects then they would start eating at the boy's chakra. Granted they would stop before they really hurt the boy, but it would be enough to vastly weaken his chakra pool. Plus for good measure the bugs would bite the boy, which would inflict some welts were they to bite him. All the while Hirako would be prepared for Akira were he to get through or somehow out maneuver the speedy little bugs. In fact, he even had 50 more kikaichū ready to launch should the current 50 be defeated by some off hand chance. This was why Hirako loved strategies-they all fell together one way or another. And hopefully this plan would come together another way, because Hirako did not want the spar to end on the opening move.

(Current amount of kikaichū: 150. 50 of which can be used at a time.)
{TWC: 1666}

As Akira began to move he glanced upwards and noticed a swarm approaching. From Hirako's lack of reaction to them he assumed they must be in some way related to them, and so took it in his stride. He kept running forward, his sleeves being tugged downwards to try and remove some of the exposed skin from his body. With his hands turned into fists his hands were pretty much completely covered from exposure, unless the bugs were to try and go up his sleeves. Now left the last exposed part of his body, sort of, his face. A quarter of the way to Hirako Akira had formed a plan that may work, or may fail horribly. Hopefully it was the former. About a metre before colliding directly into the swarm he dived forwards. His aim was to dive under the bugs, but if they did still manage to latch onto him he had a backup plan. Which was enacted immediately after. His dive was soon turned into a forward roll, a roll which would most likely crush any bugs that had perched themselves on his body before they had the chance to try and bite into his exposed face. This roll was kept up closing the distance between Akira and Hirako to about five metres, at which point Akira leapt to his feet. Aware that there may possibly be some bugs left over behind him, he had to act rather quickly. His arms were moved upwards so cover his face somewhat, like a boxer guarding themselve from punches..but instead it was bugs. A few steps were used to close the gap and then Akira raised his right leg upwards and lashed out. A kick being aimed towards the left side of Hirako's right knee. All the while he would be alert in case he found himself once more set upon by bugs.

[Total Wordcount: 1734]

As Hirako stood there a thought occurred to him: a rather important one at that. He was late for a very important date. Thus just as Akira started his roll Hirako turned tail and started running down the passage way that led out of the cave. Shouting as he ran Hirako apologized to Akira: "Sorry I'm late for work!" Hirako, getting the head start, would probably be able to escape as both Hirako and Akira had the same level of speed. Naturally Hirako's kikaichū would follow suite and buzz off in a swarm after their master and ignoring Akira as they would no doubt fly past him. Running through the caves Hirako went over exactly what he was late for. He was late for his shift at the family flower shop. Last time he had been late Hirako had been chewed without end by his father who did not tolerate tardiness. Thus, running through the winding caves and through various shafts of light. After a few minutes of walking the rather confusing path out of the cave Hirako made it out into the desert dunes. Trying not to waste time Hirako used the water walking technique on the sand to support his feet and in turn speed up his travel. So, in a few moments Hirako arrived at the flower shop in matter of ten minutes.

Arriving at the store Hirako was put right to work. he was sent on a delivery that was on the exact opposite side of the village. Rather irked by this Hirako resolved to finish off this work and get back to training. Oddly enough this was an odd change from what Hirako normally thought. Normally he hated training, but the small taste he had that day awakened something new in him. Perhaps this was resolve? he did not know, but what ever it was it was like a fire burning in his heart. It was an almost nice feeling. These were the winds of change and they were blowing in such a way that gave Hirako a new goal and a new "game" to play.

{Possible Exit. TWC: 2020, +10 Stats & +20 JP.}

Akira was confident in his ability to at least do well in this spar. At least that was until he had finished his roll and glanced up to notice Hirako disappearing down the tunnel that led out of the cave. He heard the apology being yelled towards him and simply stood there motionless. It took a few minutes for what had just happened to sink in. He paid no attention to the bugs that flew past him after what appeared to be their master. As the time ticked by Akira decided that he could always come back in at a later date. It seemed like the chances of the boy returning to this cave seemed highly likely, he seemed like the type to prefer quiet places rather than the crowded village.

He pushed the thoughts of the boy who was no longer here to the back of his mind and began to walk. He back tracked through the tunnel that he had entered through and spent the next few minutes wandering through the cave system until he by luck stumbled upon the exit, the intense sun blinded him for a moment and in the distance he saw on the horizon the outline of the village. So he began his long trudge through the sand back towards the village. Which took another hour or so, you'd think that after doing this for the past five years or so he'd be used to walking across sand by now. But no, he still found himself slipping and falling over every five minutes. Which made it take even longer to get back than before, so by the time he actually got back he decided it would be best just to head straight home instead of finding something else interesting to do.

[Exit]

Total Wordcount: 2031

+20 JP
+10 Stats