Popsicle? [P]

It was kinda lonely, around noon. Nonetheless, aside from a puzzled expression, which consisted of a raised eyebrow, her face was rather emotionless. Rather than the normal equipment she wore, today she donned a pair of black pants which were tucked into her grey toeless sandals. Her raven bangs were the only part of her hair which was pushed back, the rest falling about her head in gentle curls. Just so she was decent, she wore a v-neck crimson shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Below that, was a mesh shirt, which was only slightly visible thanks to the v-neck. 

Leaning on the same training dummy that Maloren practiced one his clan's signature techniques on, Risako replayed the events of yesterday in her head. Everything started out rather smoothly. Okay, well, maybe she struggled to put on pants, but that was normal. She made a friend, then trained with some other academy students and genin until the evening came to be. Then, it happened. After a blurry series of events, Kasai was put down in front of the gates. 

Was Risako upset? By all means yes. Was it visible? No. Just as she couldn't tell why Kasai attacked the village, Risako couldn't tell what it was that made her so. Jason died a while back, which was unexpected, and that left a big enough of a crater. Now Kasai was gone, and that itself only tore the scab from the wound too soon. Tatsuya was gone, or at least it seemed, and Salzem had left the village as well. Ryugia was nowhere to be found, so who exactly was left from her old group?

Only Risako. It was kind of lonely.

Maloren awoke at about eight in the morning and was surprised as he slept in an extra two hours. He shrugged it off however, as the only plans he had were to take Risako to lunch as a thank you. With this in mind he did his normal morning routine, shower, dry off, dress and such. He wore black pants, a white muscle shirt, and a black hoodie with white tribal designs, opting to keep it unzipped. He then left the clan compound with a large sum on him. More than enough to pay for lunch for him and her. The reason he had so much? Growing up with a clan did have a few privileges, one of which was a monthly allowance to spend as he pleased that he got until he completed his first C ranked mission. Considering food, home, and board were given as a clan, the only thing he needed to buy were his clothes. Needless to say he had quite a saved, and he intended to take Risako where she pleased.

He moved through the village a slow pace, knowing he had plenty of time to get there. His thoughts drifted back to yesterday to her helping him with his technique. He smiled softly as the thought, if inwardly cringing at how terrible his blush was. He was certain it would still be a problem today, but hopefully she wouldn't notice. In the end though, he'd made a friend, and that was precious to him. Being from a clan does give one a head start on a ninja career as well as etiquette. However, most people avoid them, especially because of their 'creepy looking eyes' that so many people like to comment on behind their backs. As such Maloren didn't have any friends, so meeting Risako was really making him happy. 

He moved to the training field and saw her standing against the training dummy he was training with yesterday. He blushed at seeing her appearance, especially as the wind blew through the area making her hair sway lightly. He really did think she was incredibly pretty. He shook that thought process out of his head though, he wouldn't have a shot in hell anyway. Keeping that in mind he moved over toward her, looking up and knowing that he was right on time, meaning she wasn't waiting long. He walked up to her and waved in greeting, a large, infectious smile on his face. "Good afternoon Risako-san." He started as he put his hand back down and sighed lightly at the lovely day. "Where would you like to eat today? You choose please." He insisted as he put his hands in his pockets and waited for her response.

Risako leaned forward off of the dummy, erecting her posture and sticking her hands in her pockets as she noticed her noticed her company approaching from the distance. After exhaling sharply, her shoulders were relaxed, and her mind cleared. With her signature wink, Risako met eyes with Maloren. 

As to not be rude, she greeted him with "Mornin'," despite the fact that it wasn't morning. Maloren's question was followed by a moment of silence while Risako's eyes drifted from his to the forest. They were staring at nothing and everything at the same time. Her hand went from her pocket to her forehead as she scratched the hairline where her bangs began. 

Slowly, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "It doesn't really matter to me I guess. Let's just walk around for a bit. I'm sure something will catch our eye." But don't people have two eyes? And, since this was a duo, weren't there four eyes in total? She questioned, "Or eyes, I guess?" 

That probably just offended a bunch of one-eyed people. 

"What I mean to say," she sighed, "is... Let's just go until something catches our attention." After the sigh was a tone of defeat.

Was the point across? Would she need to repeat herself some more? Hopefully not. Risako was bad enough with words as is. Kasai probably took more of a toll on Risako than she'd like to admit to.

With that, she began to walk towards the village, hoping to find something to talk about. A few black birds fluttered about the power lines in an unorganized scramble. Each bird just doing its thing. That didn't make for interesting conversation.

A few people were heading into the training grounds, a few that she recognized, but none that Risako happened to be familiar with. That also didn't make for interesting conversation. 

Presuming her companion had followed her so far, which wasn't more than a few steps, it finally came to her. A moment of clarity in a sea of mixed feelings and obscurity. With a little more confidence than what she had said before, Risako blurted out "Actually. I want sweets." 


"It's a bit early," she added on, "but I want some sweets. Preferably something cold." Her eyes stayed forward, looking at the village, where as they would normally be piercing the soul of whoever she was locked in conversation with.

Maloren instantly became a deep shade of crimson at her greeting, namely the wink. He remembered she did the same thing yesterday and realized it must be something she's known to do. He'd have to remember for next time. He thought as he absently watched her look around with something on her mind. He figured she was looking for something to talk about. She seemed a little awkward at conversation, but considering he was awkward in general he felt they could get along pretty well. He noticed a few people heading into the training grounds, but didn't recognize any of them. A drawback of training alone all of the time is that one had next to no social interactivity. 

He moved with her, as she blurted out her desire for something sweet and cold. He actually found her awkwardness kind of cute. She seemed determined to get this sweet, cold, food and smiled at the girls new found mission. It was as if nothing would stop her from her goal and he bit back a chuckle at the thought. He then nodded his head, even though she couldn't see it and looked in one direction of the village. "There's an ice cream place over that way a bit. They have ice cream, shakes, and sundaes." He explained as he turned back toward her to judge her reaction. His light blush from her wink earlier was still evident on his face, although he had no idea.

Ice cream was certainly a step in the right direction. Well, it was sort of on course, and pointed in the right direction, but it was still pointing slightly to the right, where as they needed to be pointing about another three or so degrees to the left. Risako came to a stop, her hands still planted firmly in her pockets, and audible "Hmm," came from throat. For a second, her eyes drifted off to the left. Then came a blunt "No." 

It wasn't a rude "no," but it was to put out the quick message that, Risako didn't want ice cream. Despite the sweet dairy treat being something that fit the description, it wasn't to her tastes at the moment. No, she wanted something lighter. 

"I've decided. I'd rather have a popsicle." At that point, Risako began to walk off, seemingly in a random direction. "Come come," she said, negligent of the obvious red color tinting her friend's face. Actually, she was ignorant of most body language. It was on so many occasions that, just maybe, being able to read a situation based off of expressions and body language, that Risako would be able to save her self a lot of trouble.

Maloren nodded and began walking along with her toward her frozen treat. The blush now fading as he walked alongside her. The day really was pretty, the sun was shining and the birds were flying around playing. He looked around and saw a few people staring and smiling at them, but he just shrugged it off as he walked alongside Risako. It was then he noticed that it was painfully quiet, awkwardly so, and he couldn't figure out if she liked it that way or not. He thought of something to talk about before a thought hit him.

So what's your favorite flavor of popsicle?" He asked simply as they walked down the road. That was as simple a starting place as any as it would get the conversation started. He soon caught himself stealing glances at her as they walked and realized he probably liked her a little too much, which in his mind was a bad thing. He couldn't get attached to someone that would probably not be around after the day after all. Soon however he shrugged this off and figured he couldn't really do anything to stop it.

"Hmm." 

As they walked along, she thought about the question. After a few seconds, there was no straight answer. "I don't really like the Yellow ones." 

Her right hand came out of her pocket, moving to the back of her neck. "The rest are all pretty good I guess." Risako didn't really have a favorite flavor, she just knew she didn't like Yellow. As they neared the vendor's stall, Risako's hand went from her neck to Maloren's back, and gave him a little shove. "Go ahead, I'll just have whatever flavor you get."

Her smile disappeared. "Unless it's yellow."

Maloren nodded his head as they walked side by side through the village toward the popsicle stand. He could easily work with that as he wasn't much of a fan either. he preferred the red or blue ones and he was about to voice his thought as he felt her give him a little shove. He grinned back as he moved toward the vendor "Pushy pushy.." He joked as he walked over and bought two blue popsicles. He moved back toward Risako and handed her hers before he started to eat his. He enjoyed the cold treat and he spyed a nearby bench they could sit on to enjoy the weather and their frozen treat. 

"Let's go sit over there." He said as he moved toward the empty bench and sat down, relaxing slightly. and sighing as he enjoyed the treat. He looked over to her and studied her a little bit. He personally thought she was very attractive and blushed slightly as he realized he was probably staring like an idiot. He didn't do well in these situations sadly, preferring to relish in the peace and quite with someone. To take pleasure in their presence rather than converse too much. Sure talking was great, but being able to enjoy someones mere presence was what mattered to him. He turned his gaze up toward the sky and tried to desperately think of something to say. 

He fell hopelessly short however and sighed as he shook his head in annoyance. He finished his own chilled confection and turned toward her. "Look Risako, I'm sorry for being awkward, I'm not good at conversation generally. I honestly enjoy the peace and quiet and enjoying someone simple presence, and conversation tends to turn awkward. So I apologize for seeming like a special breed of idiot." He said as he looked back up toward the sky and the birds, flying around, and enjoying their lives.

Risako was all too eager to take the popsicle. Gently, her fingers grasped the stick as Maloren handed her the frozen treat. With the same lazy, slouching stride she had maintained to this point, she was more than eager to take a seat with her peers. Internally, she thought about the situation at hand. For the most part she wasn't one to merge her work life with her personal, but only because most people didn't ask to do anything with her. This was the first time in recent memory that anyone wanted to do something aside from train with her. "Not a bad change of pace."

Eons seemed to pass as the two sat in silence, enjoying their delectable sticks of flavored frozen water. Risako's eyes flittered about the scene, from person to person, from the ground to the birds, no little detail went unnoticed by the silvery eyes. Well, maybe one detail went without being picked up on, or maybe it was intentionally missed. She noticed when he put his gaze up to the sky though. Risako did the same.

Then she heard the sigh, frustrated. Locking eyes, she let him speak his piece.

Risako liked the quite too. 

"Yea. Me too," was her response. Taking the last bite of her flavored ice on a stick, she threw the stick behind the bench. Slowly, she lied her head down on Maloren's shoulder. Sitting in the silence was okay.

Maloren had finished his popsicle as well, tossing it behind him at about the same time as she did. What she did next however surprised him. Her laying her head on his shoulder caused him to blush rather badly, but he forced it down and relaxed letting his head gently lay against hers. He couldn't help a small smile from forming on his face at the interaction, he didn't get many of them after all. So he relished it while he could, enjoying the quiet and peaceful village with Risako. 

Time seemed to slow down while they were there, as if father time himself saw the moment and froze it so they could enjoy the peace and quiet with someone else, rather than being alone. Eventually however things had to move on. An hour had passed by before too long and he'd long since lapsed into his mind, thinking about his training, wanting to protect those around him. As well as the girl currently laying on his shoulder. He wanted to see her again, but he didn't know how to bring it up without sounding like a creeper. 

The sun slowly moved across the sky until Maloren almost fell asleep. He couldn't even be angry though, it's not like the time was wasted. He could most definitely do this again sometime. It was however time to get up. He gently gave Risako a tap to make sure she hadn't dozed off, after making sure she was awake he'd stand and stretch, letting out a groan as his he did. He the looked at Risako and couldn't fight the small blush.

"I know we didn't do much today, but I'm actually really glad the day went like this. I wouldn't mind spending more time with you if you're up for it sometime. Enjoying the peace and quiet of the day is always nicer with someone with you. Thank you for letting me buy you dessert, and for spending your time with me today." He told her as his blush got a little bit redder, he fought it back as he maintained eye contact however, he wouldn't be rude. He wouldn't allow himself to seem it.