Desert Flower (IO, NK)

Golden strand of hair, pure as the sunlight itself, flittered through the soft breeze. Big, bright blue eyes, more beautiful then a cloudless sky, blinked, taking in the sunshine around them. The pitter patter of little footsteps could be heard along the side-walk and a beauty trotted by. This magnificent creature was known as Amaiko Shimai, the Desert Flower of Suna. Small and slim for even an eight year old, she seemed fragile, like the petals of a lone flower. But that was not the case, however. The young child was also beautiful, a fact plain as day, even at an age so young. She was sweet and kind as well. Perhaps this is why she is known as the Desert Flower. Ama skipped down the side-walk, a bright smile gracing her lips. Today she was going to meet some new friends, and maybe get a little ice cream along the way.

Kojin stretched his arms and squinted as the bright sun shone into his cerulean eyes. He had just left from doing a bit of training and his body was very sore. He sighed and shoved his hands into his black shinobi pants. Instead of shorts, he decided to wear what most ninja wore. Those things were becoming small on him anyways. The boy started to fan himself since it was hot today, as it usually was. Sometimes he wonders how anyone could stand the heat. He even wonders how he did it himself! Kojin shook his head and dismissed the thought, continuing to walk while looking at different things around him. Since the genin wasn't focusing on what was in front of him, he missed the 8 year old beauty skipping in front of him as well.

The boy would bump into the girl and fall straight onto his butt. "O-oh! I'm so sorry, are you alright?!" he would ask, getting up off the ground. The genin would then look over to see if the girl was okay.

Ama was also knocked right to her bottom. flicking away the stray strand of golden hair that had fallen into her face, she said with a smile, "Sure am! What about you?" She blinked again, her big blue depths disappearing for a moment, only to reappear a moment later. They were dazzling. She stood up, holding a hand out to the boy in front of her. "I'm Amaiko Shimai, also known as the Desert Flower of Suna. What's your name?" he said, as cheerful as ever.

Kojin immediately shut his mouth once he laid eyes on the girl before him. He tried to open hit mouth, but nothing came out no matter how hard he tried. The only word the boy had actually managed was "Pretty". He quickly shook his head and a light red came onto his cheeks. Not one to do it much, he cursed at his stupidity and cleared his throat. "I-I mean.. My name is Kojin Manashi. Nice to meet you. Of course, you can call me the 'Lightning Blitz' if you prefer" he replied with a cheesy grin. He had recently come up with the name after mastering his chidori. He thought it fit since he was speedy and his main affinity was Raiton. The genin briefly looked into Ama's eyes and blushed once more. Kojin turned away, hoping she wouldn't catch a glimpse of it.

"Uh, sorry about bumping into you. I wasn't aware of where I was going" he told the girl. 'To think I'm a ninja, people who are supposed to be alert at all times, bump into someone' he thought with a small frown. He then shook the hand Ama had held out.

Amaiko's eyes changed colors a little, both eyes now being mainly blue with spots of a deep, beautiful brown. She blushed a little as well. "Th-thanks..." she said. She smiled as he spoke next. "Oh, well nice to meet you, Kojin! I see we both have a nickname, eh?" she said, giggling a little. "It's no problem, by the way. I was just about to buy some ice cream from the stand over there. Want some too?" she said, gesturing to the ice cream stand across the street.

The boy had saw the small change in her eyes. He scratched his head in confusion and decided to investigate on the matter later. Right now, he was focusing on socializing with a new potential friend. He smiled like a fool at the sound of ice cream "Of course! That's music to my ears, especially if you say 'Cookie Dough ice cream'. Then you'll always have me hooked. Or lost... either one" he replied with a small chuckle. Not wasting another minute, Kojin would hook his arm into Ama's and drag her over to the stand. "Don't worry about paying, I have a lot of ryo on me. Besides, the ice cream here is 2 for 10 ryo. I bought some with a really good friend a few weeks ago" he said. Talking about Kira made him wonder if he should send a message to her. He hasn't heard from the Cat-girl for some time now, he was getting a bit worried.

The boy had even heard some talk around the village about people getting kidnapped. It killed him to know if Kirameki was okay or not. Kojin really hoped it was the first choice. "So which flavor do you want?" he asked, trying to ignore his thoughts.

"Well that's nice! Hmm... Vanilla probably. I know most other people choose like chocolate or cookie dough, but I've never been one to follow the crowd," she said, smile twinkling. Her embarrassment soon faded, and with it, the brown in her eyes. She now had the deep, beautiful blue back. "And thank you! That's very kind. So, Lightening Blitz, eh? How'd you get that name? I got Desert Rose from people around me. Apparently I'm pretty, and very sweet," she said, smiling. She loved her nickname. Desert Roses were beautiful flowers, her absolute favorite. She could only smile when people started referring to her as the Desert Rose of Suna.

They duo had made it too the stand while Ama was talking. Their arrival didn't distract Kojin from listening to her, it was her eyes. He had seen it change back to its normal blue and it intrigued him. He awkwardly smiled when she brought up the question about his nickname. He scratched the side of his left cheek with his free hand. "Well, I made it up myself. After I mastered my new signature move, chidori, it just came to me. I'm already as fast as most jounin and my affinity is lightning, so it just fits" he replied with a golden smile. With his arm still hooked in Ama's, he took her to the front of the stand with him. There was surprisingly no people in line at the moment, but they were still rolling in. "Vanilla and Cooki Dough please" he asked the man.

After being told to wait for a moment, Kojin returned his attention to Ama and grinned. "And the part about you being pretty and sweet is way true! You look like an Angel to me, personality to match it" he said. The genin drew both his hands back to himself and took the ice cream the man had handed him. Before he did this, Kojin had already put his 10 ryo onto the counter. He held out the Vanilla one for Ama to take, already taking a small lick of his ice cream.

Amaiko blushed, her eyes changing to mainly brown with bits of blue. She grinned cheekily and took the vanilla. "Thanks..." she said, cheeks red. She spotted a bench, finally open. She grabbed Kojin's hand and tugged him along to it, sitting down gently on one side. Ama took a lick of her ice cream, smiling thoughtfully. Specks of green flickered in her eyes for a moment, and then faded with the brown to leave the blue once more. So his friend, huh? I wonder what she's like. she thought. Suddenly, a bad thought came to mind. "Kojin, there have been some kidnappings lately. I think it was a Aburame and two older kids with cat ears, if I'm not mistaken. The girl of the two cat kids seems to have been killed. You didn't know any of them, did you?" Amaiko asked, brown concern slowly forming in her eyes.

Kojin blushed a bit when Ama had grabbed his hand to lead him to the bench. Not much people ever did that, especially not a girl. He quickly took a large lick of his ice cream, not wanting it to melt like last time. Once they had made it to the bench, the boy plopped down next to Amaiko. He froze once he heard about kidnappings.. involving kids with cat ears. When he heard one of them was a girl, his blood seemed to have froze. The boy almost dropped the ice cream in his hand and turned his head at Ama. "W-what? No.. that can't be right. K-kira can't be... no they must be lying! I heard of kidnappings but not of anyone dieing!" he shouted, not harshly though. He just couldn't bring his head around the idea of Kirameki getting killed.

And what about Raijin? How will he react when he hears about this?! 'No.. it's not true Kojin.. not true' he thought. His free hand was clenching and unclenching.