The Fresh Prince [P, NK, Ash and Rei]

From his experience, the outskirts of Hoshigakure were… Debateable. In patches, here and there they held a certain charm, but for the most part these sections of the city were deemed less important by the guard. Mostly because the nation’s poor, and hungry, and sorrowful all congregated to these districts because they either couldn’t afford the luxury life, or because they weren’t born into it. And because the guard deemed these areas to be of a lesser importance, the wrong deeds often went unpunished.

For a while, he had lived off of scraps, sometimes even trash. He had no place to call home, and despite the poverty of the outer districts, being in the city was still safer than travelling the roads. It was a wonder his dog didn’t abandon him, despite the subpar care that Azai was able to give Okina, but that’s not to say he wasn’t happy she stuck around. The bond they shared was certainly strange, given that they were two members of entirely different species. It wasn’t often that mongrels and mutts adopted other creatures into their litter, and it wasn’t even more rare of an occurrence for humans to view dogs as siblings. Buuuut it happened no?

Sitting atop Okina as she strode down the street to their usual alleyway on their way back from the somewhat new Shinobi Academy (this was about the second week he had been in attendance,), the boy began to fiddle with the beads on his bracelet. He did so while he was giving the lessons he learned in class some serious thought, trying to remember all that he had learned in order to hopefully pass the genin exam and become one of Hoshigakure’s shinobi forces. But why?

Why not? What’s an orphan with no job supposed to do to get cash? He wasn’t born into any of the wealthier or more fortunate families that ran the religious institutions. It’s not like he could afford to attend any academical school, so any other career choices would just land him in poverty, which was something he recognized and was currently trying to avoid. By circumstance, he was likely going to be thrown into a life of violence.

Or maybe not. If he got lucky the hostilities between the villages would settle and maybe he’d be able to just coast on the easy tasks that the citizens paid the shinobi to perform. Either way, he hoped he was stepping down the right path to find himself a happier future, or at the very least he was hoping to provide something better for his companion.

Coming to a stop at the mouth of the alley, Azai glanced around the street to make sure there were no shady looking individuals roaming about. Upon seeing no one too unfamiliar, he hopped off of his dog and gave her a pat on the ribs that sounded with a good thump. Recently, he had managed to persuade a local baker to trade the leftover loaves of bread in exchange for a few odd jobs here and there. Plopping down on the ground outside of “his” alley, (he had marked it anyway, several times in fact,) he removed his pack from his shoulder, placing the small sack in his lap. If he had much, he would have dug through its contents, but alas, the sack held nothing besides notes and and a half loaf of bread to prevent it from drying out so fast.

His dog plopped on her side, pressing her back against the boy’s thighs. As he unwrapped the morsel, caught a glimpse of his finger nails. Uneven, packed with dirt, and worst of all they were beginning to become discolored. Well, I guess to him it wasn’t really that bad, he was kinda used to it after all. As he continued to unwrap the paper, he became rather impatient and began to tear it from the bread beneath, before stuffing it in his shirt for later. If he needed to make a fire, the paper would make decent starter. After he was finished, he looked to his prize, a 13 inch long loaf of golden bread that was only beginning to stiffen as it became stale. Grabbing a handful, he broke himself off a small chunk before setting the rest down in front of Okina. The dog’s nostrils would wiggle back and forth before she lazily grabbed the loaf, using her mouth to move it between her paws in order to keep a safe watch on it while she dozed off. For some reason, both the dog and the boy were feeling much less ornery than they normally did.

Before Azai took a bite, he set the bread on his knee and removed his bracelet from his wrist. Placing the bead bracelet between his palms, he closed his eyes and meditated for a moment. One could make the mistake and assume that he was praying or saying grace, or something similar, but he was simply meditating for a moment before he ate. He found that sometimes it helped him stave off the hunger when couldn’t eat enough. Opening his beady brown eyes, he squeezed his hand into accessory, and began to eat his food. As he sank his fangs into the bread, there was only a slight crunch on the outside, but fortunately for him he got to the food before time could, and it’s sweet taste was still very enjoyable despite the stale bits.

Looking around, he noticed the weather was enjoyable. A slight breeze blew here and there, and the skies appeared to be clear. Unfortunately that meant he’d have to go to the well for water. And if things went like they did last time… He’d rather not lose another finger.

[960/1250 for Azai's Beads (Paying with WC not ryo.)]

As the boy closed his eyes, calming his mind to begin some sort of obnoxious religious something or the other....oh right. Appologies. It is not the place of the great omniscient narrator to add my personal opinions on the matters of beliefs or religion. I am simply here to tell the great tale of the twin terrors! So um, carrying on...... as the boy closed his eyes, calming his mind to begin a seemingly meditiative state that I who see all am fully aware was simply a prayer of some sort, a strange sound echoed through this particular alley way. How you ask? I mean, hell if i know. These two just happen to show up places and do wierd shit. I've given up on trying to understand them, cut me some slack!

"Blelelelel" THe sound was like to someone shifting their tongue within their mouth erratically, childish and nonsensical coming from a short distance away from the boy to his left.

"blululul" Once more the odd sound could be picked up, this time coming from the opposite side, much closer. A search would show there was no one on either side of the boy... Peculiar, but not as strange as what would happen next. From deep down at the end of the alley way a single word seemed to echo, "charlie." It was repeated several times seeming to come closer until it stopped directly in front of the boy, almost as if there was standing over him yelling.


At the end of the alleyway a girl sat with long black hair, holding several pieces of what looked to be scrap wood. She was clothed simply in a lavendar tank top and black yoga pants which looked slightly odd on her tiny frame. She looked to be no older then ten or so, screwing metal into the small sticks of wood. The longer this strange chanting continued the more apparently upset the girl got, until finally, just at the point with the strange boy would hear no one at all yelling directly in front of him, Reial broke.

"Cut. It. OUt. I SWEAR TO THE GODDESS ASHAREIAL I ASKED FOR ONE FUCKING DAY. "

As he placed his hands together over the beads to meditate, his ears picked up on the softer sounds of someone making some random ass noises coming from the left. As Okina lifted her head the direction the sound was coming from, she began to try and sniff out a scent. Aside from the regular ol' street smells and the bread, she got nothing. Losing interest, she placed her head back between her paws and began to doze off once more. At the same time that the dog lifted her head, Azai cracked open his eyes to see who was making the nonsensical racket. Peering to the left he saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, just the same people he saw before he took his seat, standing around and chatting with one another. 

Closing his eyes once more for a brief few seconds, he'd attempt to concentrate, when his right ear picked up on a similar yet different noise. This time, he attempted to tune it out a bit better and just focus on his meditation. The dog held a similar feeling towards the sound, and only perked her ears up and glanced around this time. Twas silent for but a second afterward, before the voice began to chant the name "Charlie," over and over. Alright.

He was done meditating. Apparently the voices that be wouldn't allow it, so instead he just grabbed the bread out of his lap and began to chew. As the voice relentlessly drilled the sound into his ears time and time again, he began wearing his frustration on his sleeve so to speak. With every iteration of the word "Charlie," the valley between his brow grew deeper. Practically choking the life out of the bread in his hands, he realized that he was probably getting a little too upset with this. Tearing off a small piece, he popped it in his mouth and began to eat.

Until the voice was right on top of him. Then he was pissed off again.

He had had enough, stuffing the remainder of the bread into his pack, he stood up and began to retreat into the alley so that he may eat in solitude, his dog picking up her piece of bread and following like a shadow. A large, dog shaped shadow.

The chanting was still continuing as he walked between the two buildings, and he noticed a younger girl at the end fiddling with some wood and screws. Weird, but she didn't appear to be the one that was annoy-

He pressed his lips together after she had shouted out, his eyes already holding a deadpan stare. Even if she wasn't the same voice, this girl seemed to like talking to herself... Which was weird. Was it really so much to ask for peace and quiet while he ate? Having no home, he really didn't have anywhere else to go eat, and he frequented this alley rather often. Meh. It was big enough he supposed, he would just have to put up with whatever apparition was following him, and the girl who talked to herself. Plopping down about halfway through the alley, he would attempt to start eating once more.

Plopping down a little further in the alley, he once again began to try to eat.

[1,510 WC
1,250 going towards Azai's Beads
260 going for the transformation technique.]

"Chaaaarrrrllllllliiiiiieeeeee" from seemingly out of nowhere, if nowhere reffered to the roof of the two buildings that created this particular alley way, two w..what. That's it. I'm done. I. Don't. Need. This. Job. I'm finished. Goodbye readers, I wish I could say it was fun but I hate literally all of you.

..........I've been informed I'm not actually allowed to quit. Please forgive my outburst, but when one has to explain to you, my most dear readers, that somehow suspended in air several feet was now two floating unicorns, well. Frustration happens. I'm sure you understand. So yes. As I explained a moment ago, two unicorns would begin to float downward from seemingly nowhere, their bodies held in air by invisible chakra strings latched onto an apparatus controlled by the blond haired twin to continue her strange scene. You'd think after a while she'd get bored.

Rei was less then thrilled with the current situation. As the boy entered the alley way her eyes shifted upward from her work, noticing a new challenger in her sister's game. "Ashareial. Seriously. As much fun as slowing down my progress in creating the next set of puppets to ensure our protection is..... Theres an innocent. Please dont subject them to your stupidity." The response was.... Not exactly what she was hoping for.

"A new challenger has appeared!!!!!" The blonde peeked a little too far over the edge of the building, excitement building at the reailzation that there was another to join in the fun of her latest set of cosplays, losing her grip. THe result was quite explosive. The two unicorn costumed puppets fell to the ground, landing with a loud crash of wood on concrete. Ash meanwhile would find herself dangling from the edge of the roof, struggling to try and pull herself up with any hopes of continuing her silent narration lost.

(676)

What? Innocent? Who was she talking to? Azai could only assume that he was being referred to as innocent, but maybe the girl in the lavender tank top wasn't talking to anyone but herself and she was nuts. Not many kids decided to play with scraps of junk in alleyways, hell if this very distant relative to the Inuzuka bloodline had his way he wouldn't be in the alley either. Maybe it was time to find a new alleyway to call home? Before he could either run away or plop down and begin eating his bread, he heard the same voice that was making itself a nuisance suddenly coming from above. Glancing up, he'd notice that the person behind the voice was a total ditz, and accidentally threw herself over the building. 

His expression had mostly remained the same up until this point. It was now that the eyelids covering his beady brown eyes were peeled back in panic, what if she did fall? It flashed through his mind, the young girl making a splat after she hit the ground. Sensing his panic, Okina began to carry on with the barking. It'd just be wrong to sit by and let it happen right? No? He began to try and rack his brain for a solution to the problem, glancing to the black haired girl who seemed to be too absorbed in her activity to throw any attention towards this. His knuckles popped as he clenched his fists, trying to remember what the academy instructor had told him about being able to stick to surfaces using chakra, and it was something about...

Maybe he should have taken notes or actually paid attention. 

[1791 WC]

"Serves you right. " THe statement was cold and filled with annoyance as rei watched her sister dangling from the edge of a building more then twice their height. It was clear that these two, which slight observation would show were definitely related, had quite the unusual relationship. Rei simply continued to go back to her work, setting up more frame work for the puppet she'd been working on and leaving her sister dangling for her life. 

"Rude. Rei come help me. I might fall" Ash swung in the air as her body weight shifted her left and right, threatening to take her grip from it's position clinging tightly to the metal rain gutter. Her voice was filled with a slight twinge of fear, but still the black haired twin was having none of this. 

"No thanks. you got yourself into it, you get yourself out. " With a loud huff Ash released her hand hold, performing the surface walking technique to slide down the side of the building, stopping horizontally with only an inch between her nose and the pavement below.

Normally, at this point, Azai would have buggered off and found his own peace and quiet. I mean, don't get me wrong he's relieved the situation was handled, but. She couldn't have just saved herself in the first place? Really he only stuck around because he now saw an opportunity to make his work easier for himself. With his look of relative excitement easing back to one of neutrality, he merely gave the girl the same deadpan expression he gave the girl in the lavender tank top. Looking down at the girl who stood on the side of the building, from where he was standing, (about four or five feet away,) he kinda gave her the same deadpan expression he gave the other girl just a moment ago. 

The instructor had said that he needed to learn it on his own, but the instructor obviously didn't know shit now did she? If he could con this girl into parting the knowledge unto him, he'd be able to get where he wanted to be in life. Raising his eyebrows, and forcing a convincing fake smile, he kinda hoped he could use it to get the girl to teach him what he wanted to know, "That was cool, I wish I could do something like that!"

[2005 WC]

"Wh... ACH" THe moment Ash realized the boy was there, which sadly enough was not when her sister pointed it out or the various other times that he moved about the are she was watching intently but when he finally spoke, She lost concentration, dropping herself the last inch and a half to hit the ground. "OOOOWWWWWW WHAT THE HELL REIAL!"

"Um. Do something? she didnt uh... do anything. No wierd ninja magic here no sir ree. " Rei jumped in, ignoring her sister's cries. If this boy was a normal villager then they were about to be in serious trouble. "We're just to regular people uh.... Sitting in an alley?" In emphasis the wooden skeleton that was to be her next puppets mouth moved, mouthing the words she spoke as Rei pointed it at Azai. She wasn't helping. 

"what are you talking about? We're ninja thats what w....oh. Right. Yea so um... we totally arent ninja please dont report us to the queen."

Did they think he was stupid? Even the dog knew what was going on, and the dog was... a dog. Hmm... Maybe he could mess with them though? "Oh your ninja!" He'd shout, just loud enough for the sound to escape the alleyway. "My parents say that we're supposed to report those no good hoodlums," he said as he began to back up, showing his hands so that the two would know he meant no harm. "Don't kill me please, please I'm just a poor kid with his dog!" 

Okina was a champ, and began to play along, whining and whimpering like some poor pound mutt. Really, she may as well have been, given the care that Azai was able to provide her with.

[2129]

"SHit. SHit shit shit" Ash's elloquent speach unfortunately failed to explain the intricate thoughts flowing through her mind. Just kidding. IN her head she simply spoke the curse word over and over hundreds of times. It was clear Rei would have to step in and take over.

"Now now. Of course we aren't ninja. No need to jump to conclusions" She had a plan. It was a good plan that would involve manipulation of this young child in order to protect their identity. Ash also had a plan. Let's see how these two interact hm? I'm predicting a disaster.

"Shit. Sis. We have to kill her" The tiny blond was an emotional wreck as she attempted pathetically to think through the situation at hand. In true Ashareial fashion she jumped immediately to the worst possible plan and resolved that it was the only possibility.

Rei stood flabbergasted for several moments. Had she really.... Out of all the tools at their disposal the best plan Ash could think of was we have to kill this innocent person. Fuck. "We aren't going to kill him. For fucks sake Ashareial. Listen. So like... Sure we're like ninja or whatever but we're at least the good kind? Actually." Using her vast knowledge of manipulatio of the human mind she immediately created a plan to make the boy completely forget waht he'd seen. "So. LIke what if instead of you telling people and us having issues in the village because you guys dont like ninja... What if we took you out to a fancy dinner and then you forget this ever happened?" The best plan.

(1290)