It's Just Dinner, Right? [Private, Hayate]

Hayate insisted upon paying and she insisted upon cooking. One would think these things were at odds until they looked at the insides of her cupboards. While less barren than in days past, it was certainly lacking. They came to a compromise, Hayate buying the groceries she would need to prepare dinner. That wasn’t all though, Azami was something of a lost duck in the market place, floundering as she tried to check the items she would need off her list until Hayate pointed out to her where she could find the stall that sold them.

As the produce and other foodstuffs began to pile up in her bags it became evident just how much her arm hurt. Once more there was a bit of a back and forth, Hayate having to wear her down until she accepted his help and let him carry the bags. Thus, did they arrive outside the door to her second story apartment. The entrance was in an interior corridor, the lighting dimmed to hide the dingy appearance of the walls and floor. Azami dug for her keys, fumbling with the lock while Hayate stood behind with her groceries.

“You’ll have to excuse the place. It came to me furnished and I haven’t had the time”, nor the money, she thought before continuing, “to redecorate.”

She gave a twist and a heavy push against the door that stuck somewhat in its warped frame, the wood of the door creaking as it rubbed against the frame. Inside there was carpet that had seen better days and a linoleum tiled floor that was spotlessly scrubbed. There was a bed against one wall, a circular kitchen table with a few books stacked on top of it, and a couch that looked like it had been rescued from the curb. Everywhere that could be scrubbed shined while the textiles and other surfaces that took stains showed clear signs of the previous occupant’s slovenly behavior.

As a studio unit, the apartment had a kitchen, a combined living room and bedroom, and bathroom down the end of a short hall. You could see the whole of the place standing just inside the front door.

“Just set everything down on the table there. I’ll just change really quick and then I’ll get started on dinner.”, she said, leaving him standing in the doorway as she went over to the chest of drawers that served as both wardrobe and night stand by the bed. She quickly went through the drawers, taking out a few articles of clothing before retreating to the bathroom to change.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be out in just a minute!”, she called back to him before shutting the door to the bathroom behind her.

[455 words]

Well... the apartment wasn't large.  But he was still impressed she could manage to keep her own place, without a job or doing missions yet.  Must be some sort of patron, which is why she's mentioning just following what everyone says.  That probably made the most sense.

Distinctly aware he had just been practicing too, Hayate set the groceries down on the counter - he'd let her sort them, his mom always wanted them a specific way in the fridge at home - and went over to the sink in the kitchen, performing the chakra cleanse then splashing his face and arms with some water, and using a nearby handtowel to dry off.

While he was there, he checked to make sure she had ice in the freezer.  The apartment looked about as organized and well kept up as possible, but you could never be sure.  He called out to her, in a raised voice "Hey - make sure you have something to wrap your arm in too, you'll want to ice it", hoping she heard him.

He did feel uncomfortable just sitting in waiting in someone elses house.  And being armed too, the sword didn't always work so well sitting on, say, a couch.  He detached the sheath from his belt and removed a scroll form his leg pouch, sealing the spatha away inside it, and returning the scroll to his leg.  Azami still wasn't out yet, so Hayate would go over to the bags of groceries and start at least removing them from the bag and laying them on the counter.  It was really nice of Azami to offer to cook.  She must really not get a lot of guests if she would rather invite him over and cook, especially with a sore arm, than eat out.  He knew after his toughest practices he usually just wanted a warm meal, a hot bath, and to sleeeeeeeeeeep.  Then again, it was a good way to get him to buy useful groceries instead of one meal, which, judging from her pantries, she was in need of.  As a genin, she would probably start going on missions soon and making at least pocket money.  Maybe he'd even show her the ropes on one or two.

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In the bathroom she stripped out of the more formal dojo clothes, examining the black and blue flesh on her bicep in the mirror over the sink before folding them and setting them aside. She pulled on a fitted white t-shirt, taking a hissing breath as the sleeve of the shirt pulled over her arm, before slipping into a set of black denim shortalls that left most of her thighs bare. It was the type of outfit you’d imagine wearing a swim suit under down at the beach. Given the constant mist that hung around the village, it would have likely been too cold for her to wear something like this out. Thus, the outfit had been relegated to house wear.

She was a girl though, everything took longer than expected when it came to getting ready, leaving Hayate waiting in some strangers home longer than he was comfortable with. She came out just in time to find him rooting through the bags on the counter, laying out the groceries.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. Why don’t you sit down and relax? I don’t have much in the way of entertainment, but I have a few books. Their a little dry for reading, but you might like the one about the human body. It’s got all kinds of diagrams of human anatomy as it relates to fighting. I mostly just read it to fall asleep, but you might find it more interesting than I do.”, she admitted somewhat sheepishly.

“Here, I’ll take that…”, she said chipperly, reaching to take wrapped package from his hands. With the short sleeves of the t-shirt, the whole extent of the bruising was revealed, her bicep nearly split in half by a rather angry splotch of swollen black and blue flesh.  Should he hand it over she’d take it over to the counter, unwrapping the fresh caught fish as she laid it out on a cutting board for preparation.

“So, you had a lot of questions back at the dojo. What do you want to know?”, she asked, taking a knife from the drawer and beginning to fillet the fish.

Hayate surrendered the groceries to the determined girl, not going to sit down.  Instead he stood, leaning against the closest wall, facing her from her side.  One leg was crossed over the other, and he folded his arms.   "Oh, I was just wondering how things were going since we last met.  Ya know, if you had a chance to get used to the village and all.  Really do anything besides just ninja training.  Find a favorite shop, or some people to get together with, or ... "  he let the thought trail off to indicate it could be anything, while he looked over and saw the bruise on her arm, quite large by this point, and shook his head.

"You really should ice that you know, I wasn't kidding, you'll regret later on if you dont.  Here, got a hand towel and plastic bag?  I'll get it ready."  He stood up from his relaxed post and, assuming she didn't protest too much, rummaged around for a towel, plastic bag and some ice.  He put the ice in the bag, then wrapped the towel around it to provide a heat buffer so it wouldn't be just ice on the skin.  He once again took a scroll out of his leg pocket, laying it on the table (away from the food) and using his palm to remove a roll of medical tape, leaving the scroll open.

"So why are you learning Kenjutsu anyways?  or being 'told' to, if i remember correct.  You dont seem like the average hopeful that finally gets admitted to the Kenjutsu academy."  He'd ask.  Assuming she let him make the ice pack, he'd hold it and the bandages up, wordless asking if he could apply it.

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twc 657

“Oh, well I haven’t gotten out that much. I’m still sort of lost whenever I go out besides the academy island. But I guess you probably already saw that earlier.”, she replied as she fetched a knife from the block on the counter. The fillet knife was thing and long with a flexible blade, perfect for preparing fish, though this one wasn’t very well taken care of. She pursed her lips as she considered what to do with it as he began asking about items to make a cold compress.

“Yeah, I should somewhere around here…”, she commented, laying the knife down as she began pulling out drawers near the stove, searching for plastic bags and towels. A few tries later and she had found the items he had asked for, setting them down on the counter.

“Ice is in the freezer.”, she commented, back to searching through the drawers. This time she had to search quite a bit longer to find a whetstone to sharpen the knife and scour the rust from the edge down to pure steel once more. Azami took it to the sink, dribbling a bit of water from the faucet onto the stone. She swirled it around over the surface before setting it on the countertop next to the fillet knife, picking it up and angling the blade against the stone.

“Well, it’s a family tradition. Sword work I mean. When there are high level disputes, swords are one of the methods of resolving them, not that I expect to ever end up in that kind of situation. I think that it was probably negotiated for as part of my curriculum. Since I’m away from home, the village has taken over the responsibility of my training. Kind of strange, I know. It’s partially why I’ve had so little time since I got here.”, she spoke while sweeping the blade down the stone in even strokes, making a calming ‘shing’ kind of noise with each pass. She stoked away from herself then back towards herself to clean up both sides of the edge.

“What about you? Was it difficult to get into the academy?”, she asked, headed to the sink to give the knife and stone a quick rinse before moving on to prepping the fish once more. Her knife work suggested familiarity with the task, sliding and bending just so to take the fillets off the sides of the fish as if it were no big deal. With the flesh of the fish prepared, the rest of the bones and bits went into a large pot which she took over to the sink to begin adding water to.

“It seemed like the class size was really small. I’d almost say, exclusive? Do they take on many students?”, the water running as she chatted away.

As Azami looked busy cutting up the food, so much so she didn't notice the proffered ice pack, Hayate just set it down on the counter for now.  It could wait a few minutes.  He almost smirked at her response as he did so, but managed to catch himself.

"Yeah, you MUST be new to Kirigakure.  Swordsmanship may be a tradition in your family, but here it's a full blown legacy for the entire village.  I'm almost surprised you had heard that, even if you aren't from the hidden village itself.  There's such a long line of swordsman shinobi, that almost everyone that wants to be a ninja here gets at least a basic proficiency.  The academy itself is for further learning, and they normally only accept those they've tested and found had the capacity to be well above average - if trained correctly.  Thats why classes are so small - it's not mass 'teach everyone the basics', its very focused on making a few individuals exceptional.  Its not something everyone interested in learning gets into.  So either you've got quite some leverage to get in, or they saw something in you."

Hayate went to fill a glass of water, taking a sip and returning to the dining room table.  He was awful parched from practice, and she HAD say to make himself at home.  He grinned wickedly as he took a seat, turning the chair to face Asami again.  "To early for ME to tell, though.  We'll see soon enough."

She was making good progress on the dinner, and it did look like he'd just be in the way helping - she was determined to do it, despite the occasional wince at the occasional task which used the bruised upper arm muscle.  Still, her confidence in the way she prepared things convinced him it was going to be pretty good - she had known EXACTLY what she wanted at the market.


318 words     twc 975

They continued to talk as the dinner was prepared and the table was set.  Hayate and Azami, being of an age, had a lot to chat about.  For example, Azami was actually older then her new swordsmanship teacher, though in months rather than years.  Also, the discussed more popular places in town, and the missions that Hayate had been on so far.

With enough to talk about, both genin were able to keep the conversation away from subjects they thought might be to sensitive to broach - for example Azamis past and benefactor.  His mind flashing back to his instructors warnings about not teaching her too much above the basics, for "reasons", Hayate kept away from any special techniques or village ninja practices(which wasn't hard, since he didn't know much yest), and his mom's jutsu and history.

The food was indeed good - it turns out as much as she kept being a ninja a secret, her cover of housemaker wasn't a lie.  He could see how she'd do ok on her own, being a good cook, and able to clean enough to make even this place respectable.  He shuddered to think what it would look like if HE had moved in to a place like this alone.  Though perhaps, once he made chunin and had a bit more money coming in, moving out and getting a roommate might not be the worst thing.

Soon after dinner, Hayate had to beg off - it was getting late, and that should do for an apology and "welcome to swordsman training".   Hayate headed home, hoping he'd see more of the girl in the future.

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EXIT
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Claiming
6 stats
179 words to hidden arms (finishing from 821/1000 to 1000/1000)
1065 words to B weapon tech: Iai Beheading   (from 0/3500 to 1065/3500)

Approved.