The Ragdoll and the Paper Boy (P, Artames)

The silver haired teen known as Kenshin could only give a small smile as he took in the early morning sunrise from his spot in one of the various training grounds of Hoshi, truly watching the sun rising over the large sand dunes deep in the heart of Haven Country was a sight to behold. Like most days the silver haired teen had come to the training grounds hours ago and trained in the extreme cool and darkness of the early morning in the desert, he much preferred training in the cold darkness of the mornings than the extreme heat and brightness of the days in the desert country of Hoshi, but despite how cold the nights and early morning of the desert was Kenshin had removed his black robes and his top hat so that he was only clad in a pair of black pants, a sleeveless black vest and a pair of worn grey sandals. He had done this for 2 reasons, the first being that he didn’t want his clothes to be covered in sweat by the end of his work out, and the second was that he found that the robes he liked to wear generally restricted his movements when training or sparring, and that was not something that he was willing to put up with even if it kept him a great deal warmer as he trained.

In his current attire a great deal of his heavily stitched and extremely pale skin was visible to anybody that decided they wanted to use the training grounds, but he didn’t mind that, he was actually proud of the stitches that covered a great deal of his body as he felt that they were a sign of the power that he held due to his Earth Grudge Fear. Speaking of his Earth Grudge Fear that was something that he had been practicing on this morning, well he hadn’t really been practicing with the Earth Grudge Fear itself but he had been practicing with something that the threads had allowed him to get, his water element, which he had only gained due to the second heart that he could feel beating within his chest, a heart that he had taken from someone back in the forests of Waterfall Country along with a set of Kidneys and a set of an unknown Dojutsu. He really would have to figure out what he was going to do with said Dojutsu and organs, he had possessed them for months now and so far they neither pairs had so much as left the jars that he had sealed away within scrolls that he kept hidden in his room.

Kenshin would shake his head lightly in order to focus his thoughts back onto what he had been training in this morning, Water Element Ninjutsu, and it was for this reason that Kenshin was very grateful that most of the training grounds in Hoshigakure came with their own small water gardens, because without the small water gardens then he would have had a great deal of trouble producing the techniques without using pre-existing water. One jutsu that he had taken a great deal of interest in learning was actually the Hidden Mist Technique, said technique only had a single hand seal and could be made by either using a pre existing source of water or produced directly by the user, in which case they exhale said mist from their mouths, and as the name suggested it allowed the user to create a thick and dense mist that covers an area of 50 meters around the user of the jutsu. The user is able to determine how thick they wish for the mist to be, the mist can be anywhere from a semi-transparent haze to so thick and dense that not even light was able to make it through the mist, making it downright impossible for someone to see through the mist without special means such as the Byakugan of the Hyuuga Clan

As Kenshin took in the image of the sun rising over the dunes in the distance he activated his Chakra Sensory and began to feel around for any approaching chakra signatures, as he had found from experience that people liked to come to the training grounds right as the sun began to rise, most likely because it is still cold but only just starting to warm up. His next move would depend on whether or not he felt any approaching chakra signatures

WC: 749

The young boy sat up from bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looked around the small room he had called home since he could remember. Artames struggled with the blankets he had someone managed to wrap tightly around his legs during his sleep. He toppled out of the bed catching himself at the last moment as the blankets finally untangled enough for him to get out of bed properly. Stretching carefully the youth would pull back one of the curtains to reveal a still mostly dark sky, it was just before sunrise. Drawing the curtains back in place over the window Artames would go to shower in the little bathroom that was connected to the room. Hair still dripping wet he would select a set of simple clothes; black jeans, blue button down shirt over a black undershirt, and a white jacket. Tucking his shirt in the boy would step out of the room, on his way to the kitchen. A simple breakfast, a glass of orange juice and a few pieces of toast. Grabbing a water bottle the boy would head outside his feet almost gluing to the familiar path as he wandered towards the training grounds. 

The sun began to rise, a beautiful scene however tainted by the pervading warmth that seemed to creep into the very earth as the first rays peeked over the horizon. He looked at the light white jacket and let out a yawn, finally rounding the last bend in the path to the training ground the boy would immediately notice a solitary figure sitting watching the sunrise, strange they seemed to have stitches that looked like they held the being together. Frowning to himself for a moment the boy would reach in his pocket selecting a small folded paper plane and checking it over once would smile again, fortune had allowed him to approach from behind the unknown man. Checking the folds carefully Artames would gingerly set the plane between his thumb and pointer finger, lining up his shot as the wind settled down. Holding his breath he would carefully lean into the shot the little paper plane gliding silently towards his targets shoulder, taking a rather wide arc as it sailed first up and then down at the target. The boy would watch the planes flight while holding his breath in pent up excitement. Letting a smile spread across his features the boy would slowly begin to walk up, letting out a small laugh. "You're one of those ninjas aren't you?!" He would carefully make his way over, waving happily while looking around, "its early, do all ninja come here this early to train?" the boy considered for a moment, " ...or are you late?" He would look at the paper plane nervously for a moment, "can I have it back? Its one of the best fliers I've made recently."  

[WC: 480]

Kenshin would give a smirk as he detected a rather small chakra signature heading towards the training grounds, honestly he had expected to feel quite a few more heading towards the grounds but for once he was glad that his expectation weren’t met, he absolutely hated it when he went to train only to discover that the training grounds in question were crowded, as being around crowds or large numbers of people still had the effect of making him very nervous and paranoid, and he knew that training in such a mindset would only ever end badly. Kenshin was only half paying attention to the chakra signature as it got closer and closer to the training grounds, his attention completely focussed on the stunning sun rise in the distance, back when he was a missing nin he could never simply sit down and enjoy moments like this, back then he couldn’t afford to let his guard down for even a second. While Kenshin may miss some of the freedom that came with being a missing nin he was glad that time in his life was finally over, he truly had been walking down a dark path and the further he went the darker it had been getting, and despite the fact that he was never going to truly step into the light he was at least taking steps in the right direction.

Kenshin would be paying little attention to the slowly approaching chakra signature, that is at least until he felt something extremely light land in his silver hair, and almost immediately after he heard the rather small and child-like chuckle released by the only other person in the training grounds. “You’re one of those ninja aren't you?!” Kenshin would hear the unknown child say in a rather excited tone, something that caused the small content smile on Kenshin’s face to morph into a clearly amused smirk, he would continue to take in the feel of the child's chakra signature as he got closer and closer to Kenshin’s position. As he continued to sense the child's chakra signature he had to admit that he actually rather impressed, the child had sounded remarkably young and yet he possessed chakra reserves that were double the size of Keito’s, a fact that caused the smirk on his face to widen, he wondered how his...old acquaintance would have reacted if he found out about this. “It’s early, do all ninja come here this early to train?” he would hear the child ask in what Kenshin took as a curious tone of voice, but before he could answer he child would speak once more “...or are you late?” he would hear the child ask, something that only made his smirk widen even further

Kenshin would open his mouth to answer the child when once again he would hear him begin to speak “Can I have it back? It’s one of the best fliers I’ve made recently” He would hear the child ask with a hint of what the scarred teen took to be nervousness in his voice. Honestly the silver haired teen found himself wondering exactly what the child meant by one of the best fliers he had made recently, but it was obvious to Kenshin that whatever got stuck in his silver locks was what the boy was referring to, so he reached his hand back and carefully plucked whatever was stuck in his hair out and held it up in front of his face, revealing that it was nothing more than a paper plane, something that caused the amused smirk on the pale skinned teens face to widen even further. Now he understood why the kid had said that it was one of the best fliers that he had made recently, and he had to admit he was a little impressed by the plane, he was by no means an expert on origami nor making paper planes but even he was able to see that each and every fold of the plane was perfectly straight and precise, and there was no doubt in his mind that such precision in making the small paper construct would make it fly a lot better than most other paper planes could.

Kenshin would give a light chuckle just loud enough for the young child to hear, before turning his head just far enough so that he could spy the child out of the corner of his strange looking eyes “Sure thing kid” Kenshin would say in an obviously amused tone, taking aim with the small paper plane and softly launching it towards the boy. “And now to answer your other questions, first off I am indeed a shinobi, a Genin actually, secondly, I was not late, in fact if anything I was extremely early, you see from my experience most of the shinobi in this village prefer to start their training right around now, as the coolness of the night is just starting to wear off and it’s not yet reached the extreme hearts of the day. I personally prefer to do my training in the cold darkness of the desert night because with my skin this pale I tend to get sunburn very easily, and that isn’t exactly the best trait to possess when living in a desert” Kenshin would explain to the child with a small chuckle, what he had said was partially true, he did indeed prefer to train in the cold darkness that was the night of Haven Country, but not because his skin got burnt easily like he had told the child, but rather because he preferred to do his training away from any prying eyes. Call him paranoid if you will but the silver haired teen didn’t like other people seeing his true training because then they would know what to expect from him if they were to fight him sometime in the future, he preferred being the unknown factor, a person whose true level of strength was unknown by others

With his questions answered Kenshin would give the child a rather curious look out of the corner of his eye “So kid, what are you doing down here so early in the morning, getting in some extra training to impress your teacher or something?” the scar faced teen would ask with a hint of curiosity in his voice. Kenshin would await the child answer with a small smirk on his face

WC: 1071