Sun and Chrysanthemum [P] [NK]

Looking past this umbrella and past the sun, Shouhei guessed the clock was about eleven-o-clock; or in other words, almost noon. Which meant that lunch should be on his mind instead of walking through town like he had nothing to do right now. Admittedly he didn’t have anything to do after he was done with his errand at a local library. But at least one couldn’t say he was dressed as a vagrant while he walked around the neighborhood near the library, checking out the stores in one of the many marketplaces in Hoshi.  Rather, he wore his typical ninja outfit, a set of clothes which consisted of a tunic with a muted green color scheme and some light grey cut off trousers. That was not all of course as he also wore his flak jacket, a basic one that did not indicate rank, as well as his ninja sandals along with pouches where he kept his equipment.

As for the market itself, it was lively as one might expect, but not so filled with travelers nor that many people from foreign lands seeing as it was one of the local markets for people who just needed some groceries and the like. Still that didn’t stop Hoshi from being full of lively people of different garment and creed.

Looking around at the different stands, Shouhei sought inspiration for what he would have for lunch. A normal person would probably have looked at the different cafes or restaurants around and about, but Shouhei thought he might need to cook himself for once as his parents were out of town with most of their servants. However, he remembered he still had money on him. Shaking his head he thought aloud “Or I could go get me some curry rice.” He shrugged then walked with healthy strides over to a stand that served said dish where he would closed his umbrella and leave it next to his bar stool as he sat down. He pointed towards one of the pictures and said: "That one please."

Notes wrote:Word Count: 342

The warm desert sun radiated down upon the village, heating the people who were out and about against the cool winter breeze. A beautiful pinkette was making her way from the training grounds to one of the few markets Hoshi had to offer in her usual ninja attire of a maroon sweater crop top underneath a white jacket and brown shorts. The trip to the markets was uneventful, none of the civilians or the other shinobi tried to initiate contact with her, and she was thankful for the peace. Since Rosa had decided to take a break from her training to refuel her body with delicious food, she did not want to be disturbed by people aimlessly trying to befriend her while she walked. Friendships were nuisances, only ever dragging you down and hindering you from reaching your potential, and the Akari felt no need to make such frivolous relations with others.

Rosa strutted confidently down the aisles of the market, her brown ninja-combat boots thumping roughly against the ground with each long stride she took. The red cape attached to her left shoulder flowed majestically as she walked. She had to gracefully navigate her body to narrowly avoid bumping into people on the busy street, trying to make up her mind on what to eat as she passed the many restaurants and cafes, none of them sounding appetizing to the young Genin.

It was then she spotted a small shop, serving a multitude of dishes ranges from curry rice to udon noodles. Rosa thought such a variety of options might help her decide what kind of food she was wanting to eat, and thus, she made her way to the orange and white stripped shop, moving aside the overhead curtain as she entered the establishment. The place was quite busy for its size, the only available seat was next to a man wearing flak jacket over a muted green tunic and grey pants, and vibrantly bright hair. Sighing inwardly at having to sit so close to people, she casually made her way over to the be stool, her aquatic eyes noting the umbrella next to the man’s own seat. It made the girl wonder if there had been a potential for rain, yet the sky was clear and sunny, plus they were in a desert so it hardly ever rained. The only conclusion she could come up with was that he disliked being in the sun, and if that were the case, he wouldn’t make it very far in his career, as during missions one cannot be holding an umbrella and fighting at the same time. Unless, of course, the umbrella served as a weapon as well, although she highly doubted that was the case.

As she sat down onto the bar stool, a menu was already placed in front of her, and her eyes quickly scanned the pages. It took her a minute or so to figure out what she wanted, and as the waitress came to take her order, she would evenly say, “I would like a water and a small beef ramen please.” The young girl, roughly a year or so younger than herself, nodded her head and replied with a simple “Yes ma’am”, her black hair that was tied up into a neat bun wiggling softly as she bobbed. After taking her order, the waitress went off to give the chief the paper she had written down and continue serving the other patrons as well, leaving Rosa to her own thoughts, her eyes glancing around to survey the shop and its inhabitants. One could never be too careful as a shinobi in Hoshigakure, some of the civilians still harbored resentment at them for barging in and taking over.

(WC: 625)

It would appear that today wasn’t the day where Shouhei he had the solitude to eat his food by himself. Shouhei did not mind however, for she was pretty enough at a glance. Although when he gave her a second glance he had a hint or two that maybe she wasn’t the type who wanted attention right about now and had only come for one thing….Before he could finish his thought she ordered from the waitress who had just a minute ago taken his order and said waitress took in both their orders into the kitchen. Now that he thought about it they had arrived at this establishment pretty close to each other.

He wondered if she noticed his headband when she sat down, he surely hadn’t seen hers, but Shouhei surely did notice something about her when he used chakra sensory on her. Not at first, but after closing his eyes for a second and rubbing his temples to pretend he was rubbing away a headache he focused and noticed that she had a larger than average chakra signature. She definitely was a hoshi ninja if that was something to measure her up against.

Shouhei smiled for a second then noted to the woman beside him. “I haven’t been at the training grounds for a while.” He looked absentmindedly towards the kitchen so he couldn’t see any potential annoyed looks from her. You can’t ruin someone’s mood if they can’t see your attempts to do so after all. “I’ve been busy at the medical facilities for a few months now.” Shouhei turned to look at the girl. “You look like you just came from there, though you lack the gusto of a workout. Lost a match did we?" A second later his voice took a jesting tone as he followed up. “It must have been that cape of yours that did it. Doesn't it get in the way of close quarters and against taijutsu users?”

Notes wrote:Word Count: 326.

Her thoughts of her plans for the rest of the day were interrupted by a male voice coming from beside her. It was umbrella man. Rosa sighed inwardly at her luck, first it was warm clothing guy bothering her and now this guy. She could never seem to find any peace, people always wanting to approach her and become friends. Did she look like the kind of person who wanted friends? She never smiled, nor did she try to act warm towards anyone, so why did these strangers take that as a signal to approach her?

It seemed the pinkette might never find out the answers to her inquiries, as she listened to the words the man continued to speak to her. He mentioned, strangely enough, that he had not been to the training grounds in quite some time. It was quite a random comment, she thought, for him to suddenly tell her about, as if she cared whether he trained or not. She wasn’t his mother, nor anyone relatively close to him, and, quite frankly, couldn’t give a care in the world about him.

Her icy eyes glanced over in his direction, wondering what could possibly be going through his mind, yet his face was pointing forwards, avoiding contact with her. This stranger, who started this one ended conversation, was the one looking away? It made entirely no sense to the young girl, and, as he mentioned, again oddly as if she wanted to know, that he had been working in the medical facilities for a month, he turned to face her. Given his facial features, he seemed to be around the same age as herself, potentially giving or taking a year.

Although if he were near her age, he would have, hopefully, known proper manners and the right etiquette when meeting someone for the first time. So far her first impression of him was spiraling downwards as he, quite casually, wondered, in a matter of fact tone, that she had been to the training grounds but thought she had lost a fight. His reasoning? She lacked perspiration. He must not have calculated for the breeze blowing outside to cool her warmed up skin, or the fact that not all training took vigorous amounts of work to accomplish. Some could be done sitting down instead of needing to be always moving or with full force behind them.

As he finished his statements and inquiries, Rosa returned her own gaze to the kitchen, returning the gesture as he had during the beginning, her tone even and lacking any hint of emotion, despite her annoyance with the young man, as she stated, “Your inquiries are rather odd to say to a stranger.” Her piercing gaze turned with her head as she glanced back at him, “I was not in a fight, nor does my cape get in the way of my combat.” If he didn’t figure it out by now, Rosa was a woman of very few words, only stating what is necessary to get a point across.

Before she could say anything else, the waitress brought out her water, and the genin gratefully accepted it, placing it down in front of her before turning back to face the stranger. Since he inquired about her cape and its use in battle, she felt it was only fair to ask about his umbrella, though she honestly couldn’t care less why he had the thing. If it were a weapon, though, it might be of some use to her to buy or craft such a thing, disguising a deadly item within a harmless looking object.

“That umbrella of yours, is it used in combat?” Her flat voice spoke up, taking a sip of water after she finished talking and awaited his reply. It was the only thing she had to ask him about, even his name was of no importance of hers, and even if it were, asking for his name would seem like she wanted to get to know him better. That was the one thing she had no desire to do with anyone.

(WC: 682)
(TWC: 1,307)

Jep she was a hard nut to crack. Was where his thoughts went as she reacted to and replied to his comments. However, that was another thing that Shouhei noticed that might be a bit of an assumption on his part. She was trying way too hard to be disinterested and not even in that way some women shush off potential suitors. Shouhei smiled amusedly over the thought that she was such a teenager in the way she acted.

As to her answers they were pretty straight forward, and didn’t give much away. She hadn’t been fighting, and her cape allegedly didn’t get away of her fighting. “And that’s an odd way of replying to a stranger.” He said imitating her monotone voice back to her. “Though I have to say I would have to see that to believe it.” His tone returned to normal for this little reply of his, and he accepted the bowl of curry rice and chicken served in front of him. Shouhei started to sample his food, and appeared to be the type who did not bend forward to eat but somehow kept the food on his chopsticks on its long travel up to his big mouth.

Then came the moment of tit for tat, and she asked him about the umbrella. “Is it used in combat?” Shouhei looked at the lass with a raised eyebrow. “Not specifically. Just using it today because the east side of the city was experienced a bit of dust winds. Those kinds of annoying buggers.” He put down his chopsticks by his place letting the taste of the sample from earlier settle in as he kept looking forward at the posters on the wall behind the counter. “Though you know what they say. With enough determination and skill, you can make anything into a weapon.”

However, just as he spoke those words an audible cry of pain came from the waitress causing Shouhei to look forward. Time got slow as he saw the bowls of soup coming towards him, and in the few seconds he had he quickly took the umbrella and opened it in front of the two of them. Closing it again, he noted. “It would also appear that coincidences follow you today.” Then he closed the umbrella and directed his attention at the waitress. “Are you okay, miss?”

Notes wrote:Word Count: 392

His reply confused the pinkette slightly, having said her reply was just as odd. Maybe for someone not accustomed to her tone of speech already, but if he continued to speak with her he would soon realize her tone never changes. Her expression remained even while she listened to what he said, not letting his words bother you for they were not irritating or rude. Just speculations of things he knew not of. She glanced at him as her reply to his statements, having nothing else to say on the matters. Although luckily it didn't seem she needed to say anything, as after he finished his remarks, the waitress delivered his meal.

A bowl of curry rice and chicken.

Rosa mentally scrunched up her nose as she caught whiff of the spicy aroma wafting from the bowl. The pinkette was not a fan of spicy food by any means, her tastebuds preferring mildly to no spiced options instead.

While she asked about his umbrella, he nibbled lightly at his meal, testing the waters before diving head first it seemed. His posture surprised the young woman, eating upright instead of the typical way of bending forward. She concluded from this that he either didn't care if his clothes got ruined by falling food, or he was skilled enough in the art of using chopsticks to not spill anything.

His answer, that accompanied his raised eyebrow at her question, was rather dull, disinteresting the teen as his umbrella was only for dust winds and not fighting. His gaze wandered forward once more, pulling her own to the front as well, while he offered that anything could be made into a weapon if one had enough determination and skill. It was plausible, she'd give him that, but certain things would be quite useless as a weapon and functioned better as what they were built for.

Rosa thought her day had reached its peak of surprises, but as the waitress tripped while approaching them, she was sorely mistaken. She pulled her cape in front of herself but about half a foot (or just a couple inches) away from her body, using the crimson fabric like a shield against the liquid contents flying towards them. The young man beside her had quicker reflexes than she, pulling out his trusty umbrella and protecting it just himself but also her from the soup.

“I wouldn't say one incident could be counted as a coincidence, but either way, thank you for using your umbrella.” She retorted to the man, grateful for not wearing soup due to his actions. Even she couldn't ignore what he did for it helped her as much as it did himself.

The waitress steadied herself, sighing out of relief at not having fully fallen. As the man asked if she was alright, her eyes widened and she realized the soup had splashed all over the place, mostly on the floor from the umbrella reflecting it. “Y-yes I am fine. Are you both alright? Did the soup get on you at all?” Her slightly panicked reply came as she quickly approached them, wanting to offer assistance if they needed it. Another waiter started to mop up the remaining soup from the floor, making sure it wasn't a safety hazard to anyone else.

Rosa swallowed the sip of water she had taken before answering the young woman, “Yes, I am alright, and the soup never touched me.” After she spoke another waitress delivered her meal, placing the bowl in front of her to allow it to cool off a little bit.

(WC: 595)
(TWC: 1,902)