Ramen And Noodle Things (Private,Kozan,NK)

Ashur walked to the ramen shop looking for Kozan, and wondered what exactly he was going to do here. He honestly loved ramen, but he also wanted to train. He then remembered reading about a special mark seal and considered marking Kozan. He would just slip in, and put a tiny black dot somewhere to... Ashur had no idea what it would do actually. He was very confused on the whole topic in general. He ordered two bowels of ramen, one for Kozan and one for him. He was friends with the chef since he came here about every weekend and the chef began to make it special for him. The process was delicate, and it all seemed from scratch too! Ashur watched as his stomach growled with the aroma of noodles being made. He got goosebumps, and began to look around again for Kozan. He really wanted to put a mark seal or something onto him, but will it hurt? Would this cause cancer? What exactly would this do to the ninja? Ashur practiced on his arm, and poked dots onto his arm. He wasn't the best at this, but he was learning. By the fifth dot he had made it almost perfect!

(204)

Kozan was already at the ramen shop, waiting for Ashur. Having just spoken with him, he'd been wondering when the boy would come around. Smelling the food while waiting for someone to get there... it was more pain than a non ninja could bear. But ninja were tough! ... right? Still, when Kozan saw Ashur saunter up, he realized that he was on the wrong side of the shop. So, he stood up and walked over, the slight breeze that blew through the windows ruffling his white hair as it went. Welp, so much for a cool, discrete entry. Now he looked like some kind of goofball. Oh well.
Indeed, Kozan was really hungry. He also wanted to make sure that Ashur wasn't mad at him for being late (which he kinda wasn't?), and hoped that he'd be able to be decent conversation for him. In any case, there he was, sitting next to Ashur.
"Hey... thanks for having me out to lunch."
Kozan would speak in a tone that he hoped wouldn't sound too awkward... at this point, he was just trying to "break the ice", as they called it. Yeah, he wasn't having much success. Sadly, he wasn't the kind of person who liked to interact with other people regularly...
[wc 211]

Ashur looked with a great grin at his friend coming over, but then that got him thinking if Kozan was really his friend? Was Kozan going to run away as fast as possible after getting his money? The boy then realized that either way he didn't care one bit. The boy thanked him for lunch, and Ashur was surprised to see someone who was polite in this village. He personally wasn't even the slightest bit polite, but that topic was for another day he thought to himself. He needed to formulate his response from the socially adept ninja next to him.
"Oh it's fine."
Ashur sighed inside, and wondered if he could have said anything worse then that. He then grinned a little thinking about worse statements. He watched as the chef laid the bowls in front of them, and Ashur smiled. He felt happy to see the bowl of ramen, then felt awkward thinking about how to eat it. He didn't want to be rude. He began to sweat a bit, and then gained his composure again. He knew what he was going to do!
"Excuse me for a second."
Ashur got up from his seat, and walked out of the shop. He released his pet frog onto the street, hopefully out of view.
"Brandon, can you go deliver these letters? I forgot to."
The frog sighed, and began to run down the street. Ashur returned to his seat feeling a bit more relaxed after talking to his pet. He then got a great idea of what to do next.
"I forgot to formally introduce myself. My name is Ashur, just Ashur. Also I am from the Shiroi Clan which means I can grow out wings, and can harness the power of feathers in jutsu. It seems underwhelming, but you will have to see sometime."
Ashur smiled, and then took off his shirt and flak jacket. His wings were spread out behind him, and some people began to spit out their ramen or choke on water in surprise. Ashur blushed feeling awkward, then held out his hand for a hand shake. He was going to put the mark seal on without asking hoping Kozan wouldn't figure it out, then decided it might be better to ask, and be kind.
"Kozan, Is it okay if I put the mark seal on you?"

[392/597]
(Mark Seal learned so far)

At that moment, Kozan's stomach would give off an audible rumble, just as the frog was leaving down the street. Kozan was trying to fix his rudeness, so he waited politely (and somewhat reluctantly) for Ashur to come back to his seat. Despite usually not caring about others and what they did, while in Ashur's presence, he felt an even greater pressure than his mother exerted on him.
Was this... was this what they called "peer pressure"? Kozan, outwardly, maintained his cool, but inside, he felt like running away screaming. Was hanging around Ashur going to be bad for him? He recalled his mother telling him not to hang around with the wrong people...
Ashur seemed pretty chill, though. Maybe he was more experienced and such, too... Kozan remembered that he had first approached him to see if he could learn anything, but now it seemed more and more that there was something else between them. So, they could work together...? Partnership and friendship? Kozan felt good about this. In that case, maybe he should-
His thoughts were interrupted by Ashur standing up. Huh...? Kozan hadn't even started eating yet, and something was about to happen? Well, time to see this through.
He was a little surprised (and impressed) when Ashur took off his shirt before taking off his flak jacket... how DID he do that? What skill...! He took a look at Ashur, then at his wings, then back at Ashur. How...
How impressive.
Kozan might have, at one point, thought that the wings were silly. However, Ashur being a ninja, Kozan knew that there was more to those feathers than met the eye. He nodded, then stood as well.
"I haven't been completely open with you either." He spoke in a voice at a level that only Ashur could hear. "I am Kozan..." he paused for a bit, then decided to be honest. "... Takami. My clan... is one that I am not proud of. However, my bloodline... is one that I shouldn't in front of people. They might panic."
Indeed, his ability to summon weapons was something that might not be appreciated in a restaurant. They might get kicked out!
As to Ashur's question... well, Kozan knew what the mark seal was. He himself had learned it before becoming a genin. It was simple, just a placement of a nodule of chakra on someone else.
"Very well... as long as you allow me to place one on you as well."
[TWC 623]

Ashur put on his shirt and jacket, and began to think about the entire situation. Could he trust this boy? Something seemed wrong with the unfamiliar clan the boy talked about. He tensed up, thinking that the boy plotted to kill him in some way. Ashur had to think for a second, what would make him and this boy have a trust between each other? He felt as if Kozan had secrets as Ashur does. Something seemed honest in the boy's face though. Something seemed.... dangerous as well. Ashur decided that being paranoid wasn't going to help out with making a friend. He thought back to what had worked with his parents to get them to reveal how they felt. Confrontation! That would work! He saw the boy hadn't eaten yet, and realized he had just been zoned out for awhile.
"You probably are hungry, lets eat first! Also, Kozan, I feel we should become partners. The ninja world is very large for us, and you seem to have some hidden talents."
Ashur began to eat some of his ramen, then stopped again. He took off his blond wig, to reveal his feathers for hair. He then took a finger, and plucked one off to show Kozan.
"I am going to be honest with you. I am part of a bird clan that gave me this horrid, feather hair. I also made my wings, and was not born with them."
He looked at Kozan for approval and continued.
"These feather have made myself into a mockery, because the idea of using feathers seems silly. What people didn't realize is, the sheer power within every feather I use. You see, Kozan, with a simple infusion of chakra..."
Ashur infused the feather with chakra, and it began to emit a soft, white glow. It looked beautiful, and people began to look at it oddly. Ashur then picked up a single noodle with chop sticks, and slid the feather through the noodle as if it were air.
"They can become razor sharp. This is common for people to use, but I find it to be average and overrated. What I like to do is special. It is beautiful, art, that brings great joy to my heart. Kozan, each one of my feathers is an art piece of mine, and when people see that.... they will find out that my art is an...."
Ashur threw the feather into the air, and then made the feather vibrate. This released a burst of air, causing the feather to go up away from people and out of the way of the ceiling. He then smiled, and then infused it with more chakra. The feather was kept out of reach from the ceiling and others by the bursts of air, and Ashur then grabbed an ice cube from his drink. He then threw the ice cube into the feather, and grinned.
"Explosion!"
The ice cube touched the feather, and then made a small explosion instantly. Ashur smiled, knowing he had just quoted Deidara. He knew this, of course, from his book on the tale of Uzumaki Naruto. He then would look at Kozan with a large grin on his face.
"Cool right?"
Some people gave him dirty looks and left, and then Ashur remembered the mark seal.
"Hey, I almost forgot, you can place the mark seal on me as well. Just don't do anything stupid with it."
Ashur began to eat his ramen again after finishing his sentence. He was too immature to realize that he had just made a scene, and was being very rude to the other people sitting around him. It was like he was raised by no parents... oh wait.

(617/1214)

Kozai would nod, and take his seat as well. It looked like Ashur didn't mind making a scene, while he himself liked to stick to the more quiet paths (unless someone really pissed him off, then it was killing time). The sword that he had most recently acquired, Nightblood, seemed to be pretty obsessed with killing... it was always tell him to "off the evildoers" and such, which was annoying. As Ashur removed his wig, Kozan raised his eyebrows, but neither smiled in ridicule nor frowned in disapproval. Maybe, a week earlier, he might have made fun of Ashur for this, but that would be a bad idea. Not only would he lose a buddy, Ashur would probably kick his ass.
He hadn't last time, but there was no doubt in Kozan's mind that, given another chance, Ashur would pound him into the ground. He needed to play it safe around this guy. Especially since, now that he was showing off his feather's abilities, Ashur was even greater in power than Kozan had first thought. So, that was what his bloodline could do. Imagine what he could do, given more range and power... Kozan could probably never achieve such levels in as short a time.
Unless.... he blinked slightly, trying to get the picture of his aunt's face out of his mind. Misaki Ametsuchi... the supposed great "demoness" who had done nothing to defend her village. If that man with the blades had done so much for their defense, then what kind of power did she have? But she had just sat there, and let Kumo burn... pathetic. Even his grandfather had been strangely absent from the battle. His family... it was all worthless. How could he possibly embrace such a legacy? But to attain power... power above all others...
He had to. He had to follow in his aunt's footsteps. And that was the one thing that he didn't want to do. To sacrifice his integrity for power.... was it really something he was willing to do? The sight of the beautiful glowing feather calmed him slightly, as unlike some people, he did admire the aesthetic value in some objects. Especially this feather... it, too, held a hidden power. He hadn't heard of sharp feathers, before, but he supposed that was what made Ashur's bloodline so special.
It was... unique.
He didn't think that Ashur's hair looked any weirder than his own (or his aunt's, for that matter.)
"You look fine to me."
Kozan spoke in response to Ashur's comment about his own appearance. It was an objective statement on his part, not just an empty comforting statement.
Ashur's feathers were unique, kind of like Kozan's spatial armory, the requip. Other than whatever other Ametsuchis that might be out there, he was the only person at this moment to be able to have access to this power. However...
He could feel Misakis weapons in there... their cursed nature calling out to him... dragging him down their path. What was he supposed to do? It seemed so easy for Ashur to embrace his own clan's bloodline, why couldn't he? Was he just that inadequate? Maybe... but then again, he had Nightblood. That twisted hunk of cursed metal was his, and his only. It wasn't some kind of legacy of any other of his family members... not that he knew of, at any rate.
Well, it looked like Ashur was speaking again.
"Sounds good." Kozan responded, a little in awe at the explosion.
"I guess we'll just place them on each others hands, then? That seems like a... uh... non-intrusive place."
He took another bite of his ramen. Good food, this... he'd definitely come back here again in the future.
[TWC 1242]

Ashur nodded at Kozan, he felt he wasn't reaching out enough. He needed someone he could trust his very existance to. He wanted Kozan to become a person he could take on missions, and have help him with battles, at this rate, the boy seemed like a friend but was too silent. Something lay hidden in the very eye's of Kozan, something mysterious. Ashur then began confident he had misread Kozan as being gay earlier. Ashur, after staring Kozan in the eyes, held out his palm. His bowl was almost empty at this point from the amount he stuffed in his face.
"Put it on my palm, I feel the palm is a very dangerous, yet controlled point, perfect for the mark seal."
Ashur would wait a bit for Kozan to put the seal on if he chose to, and then would finish off his ramen. He would then hold out a hand for Kozan to put his hand onto, and leave a finger ready to give the seal.
"Kozan, have you ever read about Deidara? He is a very large influence on my life, and his works make joyful from the bottom of my heart."
After giving the seal in the direct center of Kozan's palm if Kozan had held out a hand, he would pull out his book on "The Tale of Uzumaki Naurto," and flip the page to the fight between Sasuke and Deidara and show the page to Kozan. It had a picture of Deidara, and a few of his explosive clay art pieces.
"The author of this book was able to get both halves of the story, and seemed to know a lot about Deidara. I also learned alot about Deidara from books about the old Akatsuki who made the ones today look like sissies!"
Ashur was making a heavy assumption here, and was simply glorifying his violent role model. All he knew was that the ones today was now a group of hundreds of ninja! They were rumored to have bijuu's and even doujutsu unheard of! The academy really did have a tendency to stretch the truth.
Ashur was highly enthusiastic, and began to go on for awhile about Deidara knowing true art and how everyone else was stupid. He also began to go on about Deidara exploding the entire leaf village, this book seemed to be stretching the truth in some areas.
"And, and Deidara exploded all those filthy leaf village members, just because he wanted too! Cool huh?"
Ashur smiled, awaiting Kozan's response. Ashur dreamed about becoming like that member of the Akatsuki. He wanted to go around exploding everything in site for the joy of it. Ashur began to calm down realizing he had been fan girling too hard.
"Do you have a role model, Kozan, like your Mom, or an Uncle?"
Ashur grinned, waiting to hear a response.

(478/1692)

Kozan didn't know much about "good points to put mark seals at", but he assumed that Ashur was just more competent than he, and he would exchange seals with Ashur, placing one on the palm of the other boy's hand, while receiving one on his own as well. He didn't know a whole lot about the mark seal or what it did (other than its sensing function, which was pretty useful), but he knew that neither of them would exploit the fact that he currently had the seal on his friend. That was, after all, what friends were for... trust, right?
Kozan was now a little surprised to see that Ashur had brought some kind of book with him. Wasn't this... some kind of ancient history drama? Kozan kept his opinions to himself, and instead looked at the section that Ashur was indicating. Some guy who produced explosions? Well, Kozan could very well see how Ashur looked up to this guy as some kind of great man. Whether or not he had actually been an amazing ninja was something that they would probably never figure out, due to the subjective nature of such history books, but at the very least, Ashur had something good to go on, unlike himself...
It was then that Ashur posed the question to him.
...
A role model of his own? Such as... a relative? It was like Ashur already knew... unwittingly, Kozan's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white as he did so. His breathing sped up a little, as he realized that he had to face the truth at this point... as much as he told himself that he hated his aunt for being so useless and such a shameful being, he had looked up to her and his grandfather... even if it was for the sole fact that they were powerful.
"I..." he started to speak, and found that the words had difficulty coming out. But... he was talking to Ashur... a friend? He'd have to go through with this after all.
"... my aunt." He blurted out. "She... wasn't the best person, but she had power. And that's all that really mattered to me when I looked at her, I guess. Now that she's gone, I've been able to look back and see how despicable she was... a shame to our clan, just like her father."
Kozan's words were tainted with the bitterness that came with long evenings of reflection on what exactly had been wrong with his relatives. He was sure that, whatever other Ametsuchis were out there, were also scum in some manner or another. It would be obvious to Ashur at this point that Kozan had lost faith in his own family. Even his mother, who wasn't a clan member, was weak in spirit after his father had left.
[TWC 1710]

Ashur rested his book on the table, and listened to what Kozan had to say. After Kozan had finished, Ashur took a second to absorb what the ninja said. He looked shocked, Ashur felt Kozan was just like him!
"Well tell them to go screw off, your a ninja now! You can do whatever you want with whomever you want. Kozan, just don't do anything stupid, you will regret it! It is better off to ignore them, and fill the family gap with power and friends."
Ashur smiled after saying the corniest thing he had ever said. He was garbage at cheering people up, but he tried at least.
"And if escape isn't possible, I will blow a hole into the figurative wall and rip you from their arms if I have to!"
Ashur was fired up, and suddenly became much happier. He then pointed at Kozan again.
"We are going to get dessert now!"
Ashur grabbed Kozan's arm, and began to pull Kozan from his seat. He would then drag the boy across the ground if he had to.

(180/1872)

Kozan was a little surprised at the forwardness of Ashur's statement, but agreed to some extent. True... as a ninja, he was free from his own path. However, he wasn't free from the nightmares that plagued him... of his aunt, with that cruel sadistic smile on her face... and those weapons and armors.... they could be his, but then, he'd be just like her. The same powers, the same abilities. Already, he knew, he had the same elemental affinity that she had; lightning. His hair was even the same color, approximately (though the difference stopped there for sure). It was the small things like that that got him worried, despite Ashur's assurances.
He barely managed to mumbled "But my aunt's dead..." before Ashur started talking about dessert and gripped him by the arm, dragging him off to somewhere else. Huh... he could sure use something sweet right now. Thankfully, he had finished all of his ramen by this point... wasting any would be a poor use of Ashur's money. When eating out, he knew, it was always good to somehow make it more worth than the cash spent. Things like small mints and lollipops, and even free toothpicks were used to achieve this.
However, he hadn't had time. Oh well.
"Where exactly are we going now?"
[TWC 1926]