Want some ramen? [P,NK]

Lexia casually walked throughout the village of Kumogakure, moving to a nearby restaurant which she frequented as it served her favorite ramen in all of Kumogakure. She was often visiting these stores, ordering a cup of ramen and simply remaining there for some time, eating as she drifted off into her own thoughts, usually consisting of the strange sights she had seen during her occasional visit to the borders of the Village, catching a glimpse or two of strange wispy lines of strange shadows, or even a distant figure which seemed to look back at her every so often, her thoughts were upon that very same figure and of her impending test from the Academy, as she had yet to - after several years - study properly or even sometimes show up for the exams, it was a wonder they still allowed her to attend, really.

Sighing deeply, Lexia would take another mouth-full of ramen and swallowed it, leaning forward onto the counter slightly as she used her hands to support her. She did not seem to be in the best of moods, but neither in the worst of moods, simply exasperated and annoyed at all the stress that was being imposed upon the not-too-young Student. She simply remained seated, gazing off into space, awaiting anything that may come without truly waiting, as she was lost within her own thoughts still.

[229]

Inijo had just walked outside of his home, wearing a brown shirt, not necessarily long or short sleeved, but the sleeves had stretched down to his elbows, and were rather loose, and black pants. On his pants was a weapons pouch he normally carried with him, along with the single Kunai inside. He only carried one weapon at the moment because that was all he had on him, not that he couldn't afford anymore, though he just found himself too lazy when it came to going out to purchase weapons. However, right now he was heading out for food, which he didn't mind spending the effort to go and get. He was out for ramen on that day, for lunch, as it was around noon, nearly the afternoon if he were correct. He adjusted his headband, tightening it a bit as he walked into the ramen shop, as it was coming loose and falling into his view.

He sat down in a seat, ordering what he would typically get here, only to be informed that they were out of an ingredient, which he didn't really mind, so he kept to his same order and had made a simple substitution. When he got the bowl back, there would be multiple pieces of meat, and flavored ramen. He would pick up his utensil and begin to feast.

Lexia had noticed the presence of the new man as he entered the shop, hearing his footsteps echo out against the floor as she lifted her head, turning to glance over at him as he sat and made an order. She would watch him order and then, once he had received his food she would say quite simply: "Hey, how's it going?" in a casual tone, attempting to make small-talk with the person who had sat beside her, this was for no real reason other than she felt like she wanted someone to talk to, and she was a bit bored to be truthful. 

Awaiting a response, Lexia would adjust the bow in her hair, this was a force of habit rather than a nervous tic however, though it may still be perceived as such. Afterwards, Lexia would eat another mouthful of ramen before then asking: "So uh - You're a real shinobi, because of your head-band, right? I heard that only the graduates get those, and i'm still kind of - well I failed a ... few times." She would say, adding more as another way to coax more small-talk out of the man beside her, it would seem probably a bit strange, to mention these things to him, but she did not seem to care. She merely was bored, and rather lonely at this time of day, since no one was at home and most of her friends were too busy studying. 

While she spoke, her mind wandered again to the figure she had seen outside the village gates: Sleek white cape, piercing red eyes through a veil of black darkness, and a sword which seemed to radiate corruption and black energy. It was so conflicting, the two images; One of a Hero and one of a Murderer. Which had she seen? She wondered, before her mind began to return to the shop and to the man beside her, attempting not to look as if she had day-dreamed just now. 

[560]

Upon receiving his order, he would hear someone a mere few seats away from him begin to speak. She would ask him how he was doing, upon turning towards her direction he would notice a red haired girl who appeared to be somewhere around his age. "I'm doing kay, I guess." He replied, responding to the girl's question, though he had assumed she were talking to him. Out of courtesy, he would return the question, "How are you doing, then?" He would ask. At this point, he would continue to face in her direction, though his eyes gazed towards a rising utensil which carried a group of noodles which hung and partially remained in the bowl. Upon reaching his mouth he would blow on the heated ramen, and then begin to silently slurp them into his mouth, proceeding to chew, and swallow, and then stab into some of the meat in the bowl, though returning his sight to the girl.

Assuming she would reply, and after doing so, supposedly, she would then ask if Inijo was a 'real' Shinobi. He figured the head band was evidence to the fact that he was a shinobi, though he would begin to speak anyways, after she finished. She had mentioned that she had failed the genin exams a few times already - So Inijo assumed she at least knew some basic skills as a Shinobi. "Oh?" He would begin, "Well, yeah. I'm a real shinobi," He would say, exaggerating the word 'real' just as she had done in her sentence. "But what's your problem with the genin exams then? Like, what are you having trouble with?" He would ask, figuring he could help with something, considering she appeared his age and hadn't even graduated from the academy yet, which, appeared a little disappointing in the eyes of Inijo, though at the same time rather complimenting, considering he was already a Chuunin, and the same age as the woman.


He would then eye his bowl of ramen again, though still facing the direction of the woman. He would pick up the piece of meat he had stabbed into with his utensil just earlier, and then take a bite of the meat. It was somewhat hot, despite him having let it cool for a minute, so he simply exhaled a bit, before proceeding to chew the small chunk of meat he bit off the beef. "Oh," he would say, with his mouth somewhat full of the recent mouthful of his meal, "my name's Inijo, by the way." He would say, swallowing. "Inijo Senju."

At Inijo's response to her first question, she would lean back slightly and relax her posture to become more casual as he then asked her in return how she was doing, to which she simply replied: "I'm fine, Nothing's really wrong, but nothing great either." Lexia would then observe him take a mouthful before he returned his gaze to her, then answering her second query with both an answer as well as a question. He had replied that he was of course a "Real" Shinobi, then proceeded to ask her on what subjects she had failed the exams in. To this she would reply honestly: "I guess i'm not all that good of a fighter, yet. And I'm not powerful enough to use the techniques they want us to use in order to pass, not even one clone." She would then sigh deeply, rubbing the back of her head nervously as she felt a bit embarrassed now to having admitted her faults, making her feel as if she were not worthy of becoming a true shinobi, if she could not even perform a simple Jutsu. 

Eventually, the man would take another mouthful and mention his name, Inijo Senju. She smiled faintly at this, nodding. "Name's Lexia, Lexia Noel." She would say, then adding: "Pleasure to meet you." before she went back to her meal and finished the bowl, letting out a content sigh. "Hey, uh -" She would interject now, raising her head to look over at Inijo. "Since you're a shinobi and all, do you think you could maybe - - - Help me train? I mean, if not I guess that's alright, I just think that maybe we could help each-other out. Two heads are better than one, and all that." Lexia would say this whilst still looking over at him, still conceding a small smile toward the man as she sat up straight, awaiting a response. She hoped that this man could help her, but she knew also that if he was unable that she would return to her studies and - likely - fail the exams once more, until she grew stronger. It was difficult for her, to train alone, as she always began to wander off into her own mind and explore the strange things she had seen since she had begun to traverse the Village Gates upon occasion, while of course not leaving the area she was allowed to cross, avoiding such troubles. 

However, now she was simply awaiting a response, for once not wandering into daydreams as she did so. It was the first time in a while that Lexia felt she had a possibility of passing the exams, if only she could get this help here and now, she could finally become a true shinobi and bring honor - or at least something of the sort - to her family name, and then she would be able to discover the meaning behind the things which lurked outside the village walls, almost like they were taunting her. Finally, all these mysteries could be put to rest.

[1,065]

The girl responded to Inijo's question saying that she was fine, and proceeded to explain that there was nothing really happening to otherwise influence her reply positively or negatively. While she would reply, he kept his gaze towards her, and picked up another chunk of meat, biting it off. It was still attached to the utensil, he had never put it down since he had begun the conversation. He was taking small bites off of it, he preferred to eat food slower, letting it cool off as to not burn his taste buds off. When she began to reply to his question on why she had failed to pass the genin exams, she responded with the assumption that she wasn't a very well capable fighter, and that overall she failed to possess the ability to perform a single technique, not even a mere, lower ranking clone, which, according to memory, was what the Genin exams were mainly focused entirely on, and having nothing relevant to fighting skill. He merely remained silent, not sure what to say as he wasn't the best at social situations. He wasn't sure if he should offer his aid or just reply with the saying 'tough luck, maybe you'd be better at something else,' though, he didn't see himself so rude, so he just remained silent, though hid the fact that he didn't want to comment by taking a rather large bite of meat, the rest of the piece to be exact, and stuffing some noodles in after, to the point to where food would spill out should he open his mouth to speak. He was breathing through his nose, as he chew somewhat slowly.

Once he returned his gaze to his food, he would think she wouldn't continue on about the topic. Though he thought otherwise once he had heard her speak once more. She would make the request, that since Inijo was already a shinobi, and had passed the genin exams, that he help her train. He swallowed, after a moment, because he hadn't thoroughly chewed the mouthful he had consumed before she had finished speaking. He swallowed only a slight bit at a time, preventing himself from choking. "Sure." he would say, "I'll help you, I guess. I mean, I can probably assume what's wrong, with your clone technique at least." He would say, and it was true he had a pretty good idea on what the problem was. He was somewhat sure he had a short amount of chakra in terms of quantity, which may present a problem, though he wasn't or sure. There couldn't be any other reason for her inability to perform a basic, E ranking, cloning technique that casted nothing more than a simple non physical illusion in the eyes of others. Of course, there may be numerous other problems, such as perhaps she was messing up the hand seals, though he doubted this, unless she was really incapable of performing the simple set of hand signs after years in the academy. Regardless of what he thought, he figured he would eventually find the problem. "Oh," he would begin, having forgotten his manners due to his full mouth of food which he had consumed to avoid having to comment over the topic earlier, "And nice to meet you," he continued on, after all, she had introduced herself before she had made the request, which he had seen as quite polite, "Lexia." he finished, with a small smile.

Smiling Lexia would utter a pleased: "Thank you," to Inijo, before adding; "Sensei." with a gentle chuckle, having finished her meal she would then stand and await for Inijo to finish his meal, if he were to finish soon she would now say: "We can head over to the Training Grounds now, if you want, or we could just walk around for a bit - You're in charge after-all." She would explain, beginning to walk down the village streets - hopefully with Inijo in tow - and gazing every-so-often toward the village gates, where she had only recently seen strange sights that had distracted her for the past several weeks with the way in which they occurred and the fact that they were so strange. She had seen the black, dark mist move and seem to hiss at her as she observed it, the powerful energy which came from it causing her to shiver as she continued to watch it, carefully, until it had disappeared over the horizon. However now she would only shudder the memory as she walked, eventually turning her attention to Inijo once more. "So uh, what do you think the problem is, anyway?" She would ask, drawing herself from her memories and saying this with a tad nervous tone, as she was worried about what could be causing her constant failure and if she would ever be allowed to graduate at this rate, disgracing the honor that she had hoped her family name had still.

Lexia hoped that Inijo would be able to help her finally end the cycle and graduate, she wanted nothing more than to be able to consider herself a true shinobi and help her village, as she felt a strong bond to the village itself that had been her home, even when her parents had not been there, she always had a home, within the village of Kumogakure. She smiled faintly at this thought, of being able to display the headband, identical to the one Inijo wore, and present herself as a Genin, or possibly more one day. It was an entertaining thought, and one that she continued to day-dream about as she continued to walk to no particular destination, unless Inijo had insisted they go somewhere, in which case she would move toward it when the time came, but for now she simply waited with her hands behind her head and her eyes turned to the sky. 

[1,468]

Inijo, having been thanked for agreeing to teach Lexia how to at least graduate from the academy, would begin to finish his ramen in a hurry, as Lexia had already finished and was standing in wait for him to finish. Upon finishing, he would hand the bowl to the man who had served him, for him to wash for the next paying customer, and would turn towards Lexia, who had begun to speak. He would stand up, and begin to reply to the statement of being able to meet at the training grounds. "Aye, go ahead and meet me there. I've got to do something first." He didn't really need to do anything, he was just testing how fast she could get there. He waited for her to move first, in the direction of which she wanted to head to get to the training grounds, because for all Inijo knew she knew some short cut that involved heading the opposite direction from the training grounds. After she would move, to the point to where she would no longer see Inijo, he would begin to move in a blurry like manner towards his home, where he would wait for a few minutes. Judging by the distance to from the restruant to the training grounds, she was likely to have a long walk, or sprint, whichever she decided to do.


After waiting the short amount of time, he would begin to move in the direction of the training ground. He doubted the girl would get there before him, as his speed was already well trained to the point to where it could barely be enhanced by natural means, compared to her's, a flunky of the most basic ninja 'rank.' Though, with the time provided, it could be likely that she would be waiting for Inijo at the training grounds, even if by only a few seconds, as his home wasn't that far from the training grounds. Either way, he would arrive in a slow, walking manner, and begin to search for lexia.

Lexia would have taken a small detour to her home before making her way to the Training Grounds, this was so that she may change into the outfit she considered as her "Shinobi" outfit, even though she was not quite one just yet, it consisted of a red dress which above the hip seemed truthfully more l ike ordinary clothing than a dress, but at the hip it billowed out in a long wave of red and white-lace to nearly the heel of her red boots, of course there was a skirt upon the dress as well, which was short - though, not too much so as to appear revealing, merely non-constrictive - the rest of her outfit consisted of black stockings, white arm-bands which went from below the shoulder to her wrist, marked by cuff-links, and lastly a sparkling red gem just below her neck. Her bow remained within her hair, being the only piece of clothing which remained untouched by her change. She had done all of this because she felt that if she were to train with a shinobi, then she would wear her chosen "Shinobi" clothing. 

Eventually, she would step into the Training Grounds, entering an area which provided little to no shade offered only by a few trees, this did of course not bother Lexia, as she was perfectly fine with the sunlight and - truthfully - rather enjoyed it, she would lean against the tree - which happened to be a fruit-bearing apple tree - however as she would wait for Inijo to find her among the area and, if he were successful, she would utter a casual "Hey," before smiling at the man, then plucking an apple from the tree and taking a bite, plucking one more and tossing it to Inijo - though merely to give it to him, not to throw or attack him with it - as she swallowed her bite of apple and uttered: "So, What's the plan?" curious as to what exactly Inijo had in store for their training, and if it would be more difficult than the training she had endured in the Academy, though she did secretly hope it was, just for the sake of having a bit of fun for once.

As she would wait, Lexia now took another bite of her apple and chewed, gazing up at the sky before once more wandering to thoughts of the outside world, and what secrets it held and just how much she had already been shown by her dreams and own eyes. 

[1,885]