Meh [P, NK,]

At the edge of her bed/couch, Risako hunched over, elbows on her knees, hands loosely falling between them, as a groan escaped her chest. As if early mornings weren’t bad enough, in her drunken stupor the night before this day she mistakenly invited Maloren over to her apartment, which consisted of two rooms. A living room/kitchen/bedroom, and a bathroom, each filled with random piles of junk, trash, and clothing. Clear plastic bottles decorated the counter, receipts and other useless and sometimes crumpled pieces of paper littered the floor, any and all uncommonly used surfaces (and some commonly used surfaces) had remained undisturbed long enough for dust to settle the point that it was visible. Dishes littered any and all of her usual eating spots, the nightstand/end table by her bed/couch was home to a leaning tower of bowls, cups, forks, and spoons. The ground around said night table was littered with chopsticks, some of which still had little bits of food adhered to them.

Well. She probably had an hour or so before he’d show up. Holding her right hand to her chest, two finger to the sky, she formed the seal of confrontation. With her other hand, she’d bite into the fat part of her thumb hard enough to break the skin. The resulting blood that would flow free wouldn’t go to waste, as she swiped it across the hardwood flooring, and summoned forth three separate foxes, one of which was unknown to her, a side effect of not having much skill in summoning was that an uninvited guest usually made an appearance when she would go to summon someone. No matter, if he was as mild mannered as the small black Utagawa to his left, but if so, they’d likely get along just fine. The medium sized fiery orange fox, Akami, spouted out a quick “Watcha need boss?” As if it wasn’t apparent.

“Take a look around,” was all she could manage to mumble out. As much as she hated to call on the smaller foxes, their combat uses weren’t very practical. Yet. So instead, she often times used them for aid on the less risky tasks, such as aiding her team in a mission, or helping to clean her apartment. Akami and Utagawa both respected her enough lend a hand, but this third fox, was a complete stranger, and he started by making himself at home on the bed/couch.

Pushing herself up, Risako sauntered over to the bathroom. She began her portion of the cleaning by throwing all the towels into the hamper by the door. Dragging the plastic bin into the livingroom, she began to gather up all the clothes (shirts, pants, shorts, socks, weapon pouches, even a flak jacket,) around the apartment, all of which were dirty or had sat there long enough that it wouldn’t hurt to wash them. The flak jacket would be left in it’s spot on the table that sat smack dab in the middle of the kitchen/living room. Akami meanwhile, began to scurry around the apartment, running whatever dishes he could manage to carry over to the sink, armfuls at a time. Utagawa was on trash duty it seemed, as he was busy scurrying around gathering up all the little bits and baubles that could be called junk.

The third fox was pretty much ignored, and he was content that way. Moving onto the next order of business, after she had finished gathering up her clothes, she pulled the hamper back to the bathroom door, setting right beside it. The lid was probably long gone by now, so there was nothing more that could be done with that. While the foxes did the rest of their work, it was time for Risako to get clean.

~smol scene transition~

After her shower, and mostly thanks to the foxes, the apartment was looking less like it had been ransacked by a college party. That’s not to say the place was spotless, or that it fragrant,, but it was clean enough and most of the smells from the dishes and food had managed to waft their way out through the windows Akami had opened, (couple that with the freshly cut grass and you’d almost have to be an Inuzuka to notice any funk at all.) Coming out of the bathroom in her usual (well it used to be usual anyway,) deep red v-neck that was baggy enough to hide any details aside from her collarbone, and a pair of loose fitting khaki shorts that went down just past her knee.

Considering she had heard no knocks on the door up to this point, she assumed that Maloren still hadn't shown up. Grabbing her current book from the end table/nightstand, Risako curled up into a ball next to stranger fox, who also happened to be curled up into a ball. Neither one seemed to mind each other's existence within their personal space, and it appeared that both Akami and Utagawa had decided to rest as well, so she saw no harm in just waiting around for a while. Leaning back a bit, into the corner of the couch, she cracked open the book and flipped to page four hundred and thirty five, where she resumed reading the interesting (mind you, that nearly anything could capture her interest,) tale of the Sun Wukong. With her right hand, she brushed her still damp bangs back across her head.

[910 wc]

Maloren awoke that morning with the worst headache he'd ever had in his life. He laid in bed later than he ever had before nursing his head before finally sitting up and forcing himself up. He moved over to the restroom at a snails pace and began to take a shower. He couldn't really remember a damn thing about what he'd done last night, and that was a problem. He did know however that he was never drinking again, ever. After he cleaned himself and dressed in his usual gray t-shirt, brown cargo pants and combat boots he walked downstairs to eat. His monstrous headache had mostly gone by that point but he certainly would not make the mistake he made last night again. He proceeded to sit down at the breakfast table and eat the food that had gotten cold, no one had expected him to sleep in so late for no reason. He did however notice something interesting next to his plate.

It was a small necklace in the shape of the Hyuuga Clan symbol, he picked up and read the attached note his father had left him that morning. It was a family heirloom and he wanted him to have it, in time it might help him grow stronger by feeding on his chakra as it had his fathers. So he put the necklace on, and slipped it under his shirt. It would be safest there after all, he then continued eating trying to remember what in the world had happened last night. He remembered drinking an entire bottle of Jack Daniels in about ten minutes, a mistake he was not likely to repeat. He also remembered the Hokage proposing to his now fiance, something that was indeed awesome. It was at this next thought that his blood ran cold, he remembered distinctively looking at Risako in his drunken state and acting like a complete idiot of himself. He gulped and further remembered that she had invited him over today. "Was she angry and wanted a place to hide the body?" He thought, completely overreacting to the situation. 

He sighed and finished eating before checking the time. She'd be expecting him soon so he'd need to going. He'd arrive fashionably late as it was, so he stood up, cleaned his dishes, and left. He moved through the town at a fairly slow pace, in some way dreading what was to come. He liked Risako a lot after all, and he couldn't believe he allowed himself to act like an idiot. He also distinctively remembered calling her "Sako-chan" which further led him to believe that he was marching to his death. He shrugged it off however and decided he wouldn't keep the lady waiting any longer. He picked up the pace a bit, picking up a book at a local bookstore about a group of people trying to save their world from the evils of some dark lord and trying to keep him separate from his ring of power. They gave the ring to a little person in their group and he was journeying to a distant volcano to destroy it. He thought Risako would enjoy the store, it was a good thick book with two others just like it in the series. He had it wrapped and then continued to move toward where Risako said he apartment had been. 

He moved up to the apartment complex and looked around, it was in a decent enough part of town, although even if it hadn't been she could take care of herself, hell she could turn him into paste if she wanted. He thought back to which apartment number had been hers and moved over toward it, before giving it a polite knock on the door. He then proceeded to stand there and fear for his natural born life. He could imagine her doing all kinds of things when she opened that door from throwing kunai and shuriken, inviting him and murdering him for what he'd said and called her. The funny thing is that he knew he was overreacting tremendously, but that didn't make him any less nervous. He began to spot check his appearance subconsciously, he did want to look presentable to the girl he actually liked after all and his headache had been so severe he hadn't thought of it earlier. He looked like he normally did though, and he knew that was what Risako would be expecting so he figured that would be alright. He held the book under his arm and when she finally did answer he'd smile, give her a polite wave and proceed to give it to her and say "I figured you liked to read, it's tends to be a hobby most people like us who would prefer a quiet day pick up after awhile." Afterwards if she invited him in he'd go inside to see a fairly clean apartment. His quick eyes would instinctively look around for windows to leap out of in case of actual danger that didn't involve Risako, after all he'd deserve whatever she would do. He just always liked to be cautious about things such as possible exits. He noticed a few cleaning supplied sitting on a counter which caused an internal grin of relief. If she had gone through the trouble of cleaning to make things presentable for his arrival then he doubted she would murder him, yet at least.


(905 wc this begins the process of attuning Maloren's chakra to his crest. At 12.5k words it will be complete and give him the stat boosts found here)

Did Maloren plan to wait until later in the evening to make his appearance? Risako was a classy lady, her nights were to be spent by her lonesome until at least the fourth date, and even then, that only applied to sleeping within the same household as a member of the opposite sex, let alone the same bed. Achieving that feat would take much, much more.


After another four hundred or so pages later, she finally heard the knocks on her door that would signal what she would hope was Maloren. After glancing at the page number, she closed the book and set it on her nightstand/end table and sprang forward from the couch/bed with a running start toward the door. It wouldn't take but a second for her to yank it open, greeting Malo-


Her neighbor. Seems like the mail got mixed up again.


After relaxing once more, it would be but a short while before once again, she heard knocks. With far less excitement this time, she stood up and calmly sauntered over to the door. Rather than yank it open in a burst of excitement, however, she merely turned the doorknob and opened it enough to peek out. This time, it was Risako's intended guest.


Books were always nice, but she didn’t want to seem like some psychopath when she took the book, and she certainly didn’t wanna seem too eager about it, for reasons that were obvious. Gently, she lifted the book from Maloren’s hand, and invited him in as she clutched it to her side. She’d start the tour of the one room apartment with “This is Risako’s hidey hole,” and with her free hand she would gesture towards the small table that sat in the open area between the kitchen and living room. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s my table, or at least that’s what I think it’s called.” The short glance she gave Maloren afterward was to ensure that he knew she wasn’t being serious, as her tone of voice didn’t really give it away. Swaying to the couch, her hand would signify her sleeping quarters, “That’s my bed, and that,” she’d say as her hand snapped to the side of the room with the bathroom, “is my bathroom.” For the most part, her words fell flat.


“If you’d like, we can take a seat or go for a walk or something.” Hmm. Maybe, just maybe. Nah, she wasn’t sure if the foxes would mind her bringing a stranger to them. Then again, “If all else fails or seems too boring, we could always go to the Valley.”


Surely maloren wouldn’t know what the valley was, but she could fill him in if he asked.


[1365]

While Risako was happy with the effect of her jokes, two out of three of the foxes were a little… Unsure that showing off the valley was the best idea. Looking from Risako to Utagawa, Akami had tried to lowkey express his concern for the matter. Utagawa shifted the weight of his gaze from himself to Yu, the tiniest of the foxes. Yu’s smiling demeanor was unchanged, which probably expressed either an intense hatred of all in the room, or his uncaringness of who or what happened to be in the valley. But who knows? He could very well be plotting their deaths, or he could just be an innocent cute lil shit.

With that, Yu would poof away, voicing nothing against the two going to the valley. Utagawa, unsure, would follow suit, leaving Akami alone to transport the two across the country.

Meanwhile, Risako would begin to tell Maloren what the valley was, starting with “Ever hear of the tales of Mount Myoboku? This place is kinda like that, but it’s where th-” Her words were cut short when the two poofed away into smoke. “He comes from.”

Afterward, unless Maloren had anything to say, her small pause would lead to an awkward silence. Which she would end with, “Well. Let’s go I guess.”

Akami would scamper across the room to them, and if no objections were made, he’d place a little paw on Maloren’s shin. Moving a step closer to Maloren, so that the fox could reach, Risako would make him aware of what was about to happen. “So we’re gonna rev-”

Poof.

Appearing within a meadow, the two would be “teleported” smack dab into the center of the valley. Because I’m tired and don’t wanna type, here’s a brief description as to what it looks like. There’s a bunch of grass, some cobblestone pathways, a temple to the north, and valley was inhabited by foxes and cherry blossom trees. gg, hardcore descriptions op.

[1691]

Maloren nodded his head at her explanation of what the valley was. It made sense, it was the summon realm that the foxes originated from and that would certainly be an interesting site to see. He looked over to Yu and Utagawa, raising a curious eye brow at the small ones seemingly uncaring gaze. He seemed to not care either way of what happened, utagawa however seemed concerned. Yu ended up just leaving when Risako was explaining things causing her to shift her speech to match. He move closer so that Akami would be able to reach both of them easier. After the little fox got to them and placed his own paw on Maloren's shin they would vanish in a poof of smoke. 

They arrived similar to summons on their side did, in a plume of smoke. As it dissipated into nothingness. Maloren activated his byakugan to get a good look at their surroundings. The veins around his eyes bulged as he brought his eyes to activation and he looked around at the area. They were standing on a cobblestone pathway that was surrounded by a grassy field. The pathway seemed to lead up to a huuuuge temple to their immediate north. All around them were cherry blossom trees in full bloom giving them a breath taking view and foxes of all shapes and sized ran around, many, curious to the nature of their visitors. Maloren felt his eyes widen at the sudden attention they were getting. He knew they'd recognize Risako as their summoner, but he didn't have that distinction and it was plainly clear in their curious eyes. He unconsciously stepped a little closer to her as he looked around and they seemingly surrounded them. He knew they were curious, and that they wouldn't hurt him without her expressed permission at the moment. But that didn't mean squat if he disrespected them and he couldn't get away without them. He'd be dead in the water. 

He looked over to Risako curiously, he didn't want to offend them. So he'd let her lead on, lest there be some secret handshake or something. He would give her a ghost of a smile before deactivating his own eyes. It was rude to have them on without purpose after all, and his initial purpose of searching their surroundings had already been done. He was still tenses up like a highwire though and ready to move in an instant if something required it. This was something she would have to get them through in his mind, and that fact that he couldn't really do anything to save his skin should something happen irked him. He knew Risako would never be harmed here, he knew that much about summons. They trusted her on a deeper level to allow her to do such a thing such as summon them into battle, or menial chores even, if that wasn't the case would be completely impossible. They did not trust him however, he gave her another ghost of a smile, hoping his nervousness wouldn't be visible, it could construed as rude after all, and awaited her lead. 

1943

After the two were whisked away to their target location, Risako finished her sentence. “-erse summoning…” Akami immediately scampered off into the grass, for he had other important foxy business to do, like uhh… Relax in the grass? Bask in the sun? I don’t honestly know what little foxes liked to do. Yu sat in front of them, confident that Risako knew what she was doing, and he didn’t really worry about Maloren knowing the location of the valley. They were far enough away from any landmarks or other identifying features, that Maloren probably didn’t know which way was home. 

Unsure of where to really begin, she pondered her options. Even she hadn’t been inside the temple, so that was most likely off limits. Glancing to Maloren for ideas, she noticed the veins popping around his eyes, and her first thought was “Here? Really?” Then she noticed that she herself was not what his eyes were affixed on, but instead he was catching the sights of the valley. Unable to produce any fun activities, she would just propose they walk around instead. The odds of anything dangerous happening were relatively low, so that was in the back of her mind. 

Either way, she took note of Yu’s unwillingness to begone. So rather than make him a third wheel, she crouch down to pick up the small fox. As she did so, he didn’t really struggle, which she assumed meant he didn’t care. But what’d Risako know? He could have been plotting her death as she did the deed. Standing back up, she’d turn to Maloren once again, noticing that he was stepping closer… It could have meant one of two things, either A.) He was making moves, or B.) He was nervous about the foxes. 

Given the events of last night, when he was drunk… She was going to assume neither one, but hope that it was B. “You can probably relax, they don’t really bite too hard…” 

“Soooo. Wanna stroll around for a bit?” She’d ask, hoping that would suffice. If not, she hoped he’d offer something to do instead. She was still clutching the book to her breast, and if they had too, they could just go read that somewhere a bit more quiet.

[2067]

Maloren had seen her pick up the small fox and almost gasped at the things chakra level again. "That is no weak fox summon.." He muttered before he had deactivated the byakugan. He smiled at her words of reassurance towards the foxes and looked toward the little one in her hands. He smiled at the image of her holding the fox and blushed obviously at how cute she looked with it. He then realized that the little thing hadn't spoken the entire time. He looked at the little guy and spoke softly "So what's your name little guy?" He asked politely as he noticed that Risako had brought the book with her. "Evidently she's afraid things might be boring." He thought with an internal chuckle as he finally cleared the blush. That meant the temple was probably off limits and with the seemingly lack of things to do for fun they'd have to make things up on their own. He grinned as a thought occurred to him. It would be fun, and a little spontaneous. He looked toward Yu and gave him a grin "This might get a bit bumpy little fella, so I hope you don't mind." He said as he reached over and gave the small fox a scratch behind the ears. 

He then reached over and poked Risako dead in the center of the forehead with a small grin "Tag." He said simply with a laugh before disappearing as fast as he could manage at half his max speed. She should hopefully have some trouble keeping up with him, and that would make this fun. It certainly gave them something to do. Plus it would do some good to release some pent up energy. He hoped she actually did come after him but if not they'd figure something else out instead. Maybe do a bit of training? They hadn't trained together before after all. The last time they had used a training field together she was helping him correct his foot work to learn his clans Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. It would be a refreshing change of pace if they trained together this time around. Besides he was positive there were quite a few things she could teach him. 

He looked around and grinned, he was in the forest, a good way up the cobblestone path. He hadn't gotten quite a good enough head start. He should be able to reach max speed in a bit and then she'd never catch him unless for tricked him. Of that he was most certain. He looked up and noticed the sun peaking in the air, that meant it was about noon and he figured they'd use the next hour or two playing around and chasing one another around the realm of the foxes. Then maybe they could read that book. Or she could and he could meditate. it was one of his favorite past times after all. This place would give her the peace and quiet to read and him the same to meditate. He could definitely learn to like it a lot here.

He observed his surroundings and noticed a few foxes hanging around the area, sleeping peacefully in trees and in patches of light that filtered through the canopy of the woods that surrounded them. He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Could she use them to track me...now?.." He said simply before suddenly realizing that he needed to move quickly again. He took off at half speed and moved through the trees, avoiding the branches and bushes so as to be quiet as possible. He would do his best to make this difficult. 


2552

On of the two of her black eyebrows took a hike up her face to signal a bit of curiosity towards what Maloren had mumbled out. “Not a weak fox?” Risako thought to herself, “What is that supposed to mean…” as her eyes drifted down to Yu. He looked absolutely harmless, and was just barely comparable to her hand in size. Besides, she had never heard of this one, while Akami had spent hours going on and on about Kioshi. Not to mention the brief fight that ensued when she first tried to summon that fox, which the conclusion was “Neither was good enough to best the other.”

Yu’s eyes merely squinted into squints when he heard it, otherwise his expression had remained the same.

Looking back to Maloren, she had barely noticed the red tint on his cheeks. On some level, she knew what it was about, but… Then again she wasn’t sure exactly. Her previous “Here? Really?”, now actually wasn’t being used during a misunderstanding. Or, maybe it was a slight misunderstanding. Whatever. Drawing her attention once more to the fox, Maloren had asked it what its name was. For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence as the tiny being peered deeply into his soul. If his Byakugan were active, he might have felt the true intent of a purely malicious being…

Or maybe he was just shy and didn’t like attention? It’s not like I know the answers to that or anything. Watching him reach for the fox, Risako moved him slightly away from her body, so that there wouldn’t be any “accidental” touching. Not that she… Well. She moved the fox, that was all that was important. The fox, once again, had no reaction aside from that icy stare. Was it really icy?

Slightly concerned with what he had meant by “bumpy,” her cheeks had began to ever so slightly darken. Was he really making move-

Nope. Her fears were cast aside as soon as she had registered the word “Tag.” In place of the fear, the corners of her lips turned up into a grin. Before she began to chase her target, she set the book on the ground, and seeing as the weather was both dry and only slightly breezy, the tome would likely be safe. Worst case scenario: She’d have to wrestle it away from a fox when they were done with their game.

With the smaller fox on her shoulder, at speeds civilians could only dream of, she slid each of her sleeves up to her elbows. Slamming her hands together, her left thumb wrapped around her right and all of her middle and index fingers pointing to the sky, she formed the ram hand seal in order to body flicker over to Maloren. Or, at the very least this action would put her in close proximity as they entered the forested part of the valley.

At this point, both would likely being moving their full speed. Watching Maloren move almost as fast as she could was a bit of a surprise, for the last time either one had done anything similar to training was when she taught him how to work his feet. In hindsight, had she not taught him that, he might not be so difficult to play a game of tag with…

Well hopefully he wasn’t so fast in other areas of his life, because that was going to cause some issues. Placing an open palm on her ribs as she weaved around the trees in an attempt to keep up, she would focus her chakra into a fuinjutsu formula to increase her own speed. Was it cheating? Yes. But so was surprising her when her hands were full! (huehue)

While it wouldn’t take effect immediately, as they continued to hustle through the woods, she would continue to pick up her momentum to catch up with Maloren.

In the meantime, while it was taking effect, she kept her eyes glued to the Hyuuga, using her peripheral vision to avoid running smack dab into any trees. Multi tasking, she formed her hands flurried into the rat, ox, dog, horse, monkey, boar, and finally tiger handseal. At a glance, she was about three to four meters behind and to the side of Maloren, placing her roughly on his four o’ clock. Pointing her mouth towards his noon, she’d let loose a stream of fire with the intent of cutting him off. Of course, the foxes nearby would scatter to avoid getting hit, so that fortunately no casualties would occur. (Aside from that, she used only enough chakra to form the stream.)

If Maloren had stopped, she would redirect herself to be sprinting straight at him.

[2853]

Maloren raised an eyebrow at her blatant use of ninjutsu in a friendly game of tag before a grin formed on his face. It made things far more fun in his opinion. Besides, he could play that game. He didn't have any ninjutsu, but he could certainly throw her off her game with what he did have. He knew the repercussions of the other night were in her mind. She knew how he felt, and if she was half as cautious as he thought she was then she had likely assumed a few times now he had been trying to make a move. He should theoretically be able to use that to his advantage. He figured maybe if he could catch her off guard with something she thought would be him coming on to her, or maybe even actually doing something simple. It might distract her enough for him to get away. As such when the fire stream cut him off he pivoted on one foot to face her as she came straight at him. He would grin as he opened his arms and try to catch her in a hug before grinning and saying "And here I thought I would be the one to try and heat things up first." He would say before giving a peck on the cheek and letting her go, moving to tap her forehead again to make sure she was still it before disappearing again. 

If that worked as planned he would dash through the forest, probably on death row dodging branches, and foxes alike. He knew she'd probably kill him for what he just did. or at the very least punish him severely. But if she could play dirty, so could her. As long as things went as planned as he was out of sight of her he'd charge up a moderately powerful Vacuum Palm and activate his byakugan to check around him for a direction he could fire it without hitting any of the foxy inhabitants. He'd discover he could fire it toward the west and make it perfectly seem as if he ran through it quickly, without regard for leaving a trail. He would then grin as he followed the very trail he just made. Careful not to make any extra markings. The hope was that she would assume he was too smart to leave a trail like that and look somewhere else. It could easily backfire, but you never know. 

He'd run at top speed for a few more minutes before dashing into a thicket of trees that would allow him to hide. He would fire off one more quick Vacuum Palm to create a similar trail to the north before ducking back into the thicket to hide out. Hopefully without her noticing. He would rather live for a few more minutes after all. He knelt down and began to meditate, using the moment to clear his head. He was still fully aware of his surroundings in this state, so he could easily come out to either run or counter any trick or prank she played. He stilled his breathing and began to think over what he had just done.

She knew how he felt, and now he just kissed her cheek. He couldn't even use the fact that he was drunk this time. Which made it a problem, seeing as he didn't have any excuse. He shrugged that off, he would be honest if she asked why. It had a dual purpose after all, the other night he had only said that she was pretty, the rest of the night was still quite a bit hazy. But he didn't remember actively telling her how he felt. If she pressed the issue on what he'd done he's simply tell her the truth and leave it at that. Assuming she asked questions first and saved the maiming for later. 

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