The Mist Seeps Out (open within reason)

It was over faster than it began.  Hayate couldn't tell why exactly his opponent had left before even a blow had been struck.  Had his opponent sized them both up and come to an early outcome?  Was he planning to forfeit from the start, and just had to show up for another reason?   It baffled the young genin as he sat cross legged on the floor of the waiting room, cleaning off and packing his gear for tomorrow.  Both the armor and sword were too conspicuous to wear around town, so he sealed them into a scroll.

Hayate stood back up, feeling much lighter in just the dark combat pants, the compression shirt that rose into a half mask, and his blue kiri headband holding the scruffy blonde hair out of his brown eyes.  He shook his head to clear his thoughts, smacking himself on the cheeks with both hands for good measure.  Whelp, no use feeling frustrated, a win's a win.  Lets go see asami's fight!.  His stomach grumbled at him.  He had kicked into a high gear of adrenaline, and his body demanded to be compensated, despite the short effort.   Not now.  I'll get food after.

Hayate was super disappointed to see people leaving Asami's arena as well.  He stepped in front of a random man exiting the area.  "Excuse me sir", he made a small polite bow to make sure he was representing kiri as professionally as possible.  "What happened? Is this round over?".

"Damnedest thing."  The man proclaimed.  "Usually these are worth a good show, but i couldn't even follow it.  That little mist girl just chucked a kunai straight into the other one, quick as you like."  He shook his head.  "Hopefully the other ones are longer.  I heard that Jason fellow is up against Allegro, and THAT match should still be going.  I'm headed over there if you'd like to know the way".  The man then noticed the mist headband on Hayate, and .. saddened?  shied? retreated? ... a bit.  He didn't turn hostile, but Hayate got the feeling he would suddenly be imposing if he followed the man.  "ahhhh, no i guess not.  You're that other mist contestant, i wager."  The man turned and left without a salutation, and Hayate didn't press it.

He found Asami's waiting room and still heard noises inside.  He knocked loudly on the door.   "ASAMI?  You in there?  It's Hayate.  Comon, lets go get something to eat."

Should Asami want to come out or him to come in, Hayate would be willing to talk about his fight.  If she wanted to talk about getting food or go get it, he'd suggest searching for either BBQ or spicy udon, though he doubt they'd do the red spicy udon sauce as well as his favorite stand in Kiri.  If she veto's those, he'd be up for other choices (though not seafood, they CANT do that well here, they just cant).

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The sounds Hayate would hear through the waiting room door were not ones of triumph. Perhaps were Asami another person he might have heard the heavy breathing of a hard-fought victory or even the tail end of some self-important pep talk. Asami was, however, only Asami and all one would be able to hear were the sobs of a young teenager forced to mature beyond her years before a cheering crowd. There was something sick about the way the people of Konoha derived so much enjoyment from watching children fight tooth and nail for something as petty as rank.

That said, the young chuunin-hopeful’s thoughts did not dwell on the perverse nature of tournament she now found herself in, but rather on her personal experience in it thus far. There had been so much blood. She thought, hoped, and believed that she was ready for it all. Her still somersaulting stomach and pounding headache, however, told her otherwise. Perhaps it had something to do with how sudden it had been? One moment the Uchiha had been walking towards her and the next she lay on the ground surrounded by medical shinobi with a red flower of blood blooming outwards from her wound and through her clothes.

Yes, that had to be it.

That was not it, though. The truth undoubtedly lay much deeper than that; Asami was not cut out to be a shinobi just yet. She had not hardened to the world, which, in Kirigakure, was considered a grave defect. Of course, the girl would never admit this truth to anyone. After all, how could she? The only way forward was to keep moving and so she would. How long she could do so, however, was another question entirely.

The loud knock on her door ripped the genin from her sobbing like a dreamer from a dream. Taking a breath and wiping her nose, she answered the door with eyes still red from crying.

“O-oh, Hayate,” she flashed the unconvincing smile of a girl trying in vain to hide her inner turmoil. “Food would be great, I passed a barbeque place by the gates on my way here.”

The boy didn’t seem to object so she led the way working to retrace her steps through the foreign village. Her normally quick pace was replaced with a sluggish meander that did not much suit her in the slightest. Along the way, they got a few strange looks as Asami still wore her full battle gear meaning each step caused a chorus of kunai and shuriken to jingle in her pockets. Indeed, with the way she walked one would be hard-pressed to tell that the young girl had actually won her bout in the arena.

On the other hand, any idiot could see Hayate had won his fight by looking at him. He lacked any noticeable wounds and, given his energetic knocking, the boy seemed in good spirits. Yet still, Asami found herself asking the question that the circumstances demanded.

“I trust your match went well?” she mumbled after having been quiet for most of the walk.

As the two walked a large sign advertising barbeque emerged from Konohagakure’s cityscape. They still had some ways to go before they arrived, but at least they would not be getting lost anytime soon. The owner of the barbeque place clearly had a handle on the whole ‘visible advertising’ thing.

TWC: 567

His hand still hung in the air from knocking.  Seeing Asami's red eyes startled him for a bit, and his mind went through a few possibilities while she began to respond and move past him.  Was she hurt?  Maybe the battle wasn't as easy as the man made it seem.  After all, with no witty retort or wry quip, this wasn't the Asami he was used to.   His eyes scanned her up and down but didn't register any wounds.  Wait - had she been crying?  Didn't she win?

After Asami was a good few steps past him, Hayate let his hand drop and jogged a few steps to catch up, but then a normal walk kept him besides the usually quick genin.  At home he was just barely getting to the point where he could keep up with her without her slowing down as she teased him, but now she was plodding along like an everyday person.  He didn't quite know what to say.  He began to tentatively reach out a hand to her shoulder when she wasn't looking, but before getting even halfway there he faltered and then let it drop.

He was grateful when she broke the awkward silence, and the words came tumbling out  "I guess?  I mean I won, like you, but 'odd' is a better description than 'well'."  It became clear Hayates mind was now reliving the fight and not on the situation at hand.  "So ... I threw a shuriken at him and tried to follow it in, you know, like I sometimes do?  And he sidestepped the shuriken and just raised his hand and quit.  It was all i could do to stop before plowing into him.  and he just turned and walked away!  I mean, like it didn't even...."  His eyes came to rest on Asami again.  She wasn't even looking at him, just looking slightly down as she walked, and he seemed to all of a sudden remember the mood before the conversation.  "I mean, yeah, I guess you could say it went well."


Hayate stuffed his hands in his pockets as they walked a few more paces without saying anything.  Should he bring her behavior up?  Or distract her?  What was the right way to deal with ... whatever was happening with her?  Damn it, they had won, that was supposed to be a good thing.  Too bad you couldn't just sneak and slash your way through a social situation.  He wished someone else was here, one of the other genin, her family, an instructor, ANYONE who would know what to do, but it was just them.  I guess if he wanted to be a team leader someday, he'd have to do SOMETHING.

"So ...  is it as green and hot as you hoped?"  He asked in a slightly softer voice than normal, kicking a stone as they plodded along a little closer to the BBQ place.

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Hayate’s response was lost on Asami. At first, she tried to nod along, smile, and do all the things she knew were to be expected of a friend, but this façade soon fell away. Indeed, as it fell so too did her gaze and she found herself getting lost in her own head. Why hadn’t her opponent just given up? No, that wasn’t the right question. Why hadn’t Akane Uchiha just given up? That was the issue, she hadn’t been matched against a training dummy—she had faced and hurt a real human being.  It didn’t make sense, why did following through on her training feel so…so wrong?

“That’s good,” she murmured once the boy finished his story.

Her gaze, however, never rose from the ground and it didn’t take a genius to tell that the genin had not been listening to a word her friend had said. Silence reigned for another block only to be broken by Hayate once more. The tone of his voice caused Asami to glance over at him with hollow eyes.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I guess it is."

Her gaze returned to the ground. The vibrant greens that had once so excited her now looked washed out and dull while the humid heat weighed on her shoulders like a weight when it had once felt more like a refreshing sauna. Truthfully, the whole world seemed different, worse even. The only vivid color she could now recall was the red of her supposed enemy’s blood. It was horrible, it was all so horrible.

Taking a hard right onto one of the village’s many side streets, the pair arrived at their destination, Uncle Gao’s BBQ. Thankfully, most people were still caught up in the remaining fights, which meant the genin of the Mist did not have to wait in line. Instead, they were ushered in by a rather plump man who could only be the man who gave the establishment its name, Uncle Gao. He seated the pair at the front of the restaurant where they could watch the street and those who walked it while they ate.

Sitting across from Hayate, Asami could not help but let out a deep breath. She felt her eyes welling up again and quickly hid her face behind the restaurant’s blessedly large menu. There was no way she could face the younger boy if he caught her crying. Her pride, quite simply, wouldn’t allow it.  

“Now, what can Uncle Gao get for you kids?”

The plump man returned with two glasses of water, which he placed in front of the two genin before flipping out a small pad of paper clearly meant to take orders with.

“I-I think I’m fine…” Asami handed her menu back. Her eyes swam and she swallowed back what tasted like bile. Both common sense and her empty stomach said she should eat something, but for some reason, she didn’t quite feel up to heeding either source of intuition.

“Very well,” Gao nodded, visibly concerned. “How about you, boy?”

Asami was far from 'fine'.

TWC: 1074

The pair slid into the padded booth on opposite sides, picking up the large menus from either side of the small grill embedded into the middle of the table.  Even with the concern for his friend, Hayate couldn't stop his mouth from watering at the sight of the pictures plastered across every inch of the available space.  There was so much meat!  It made sense, of course, seeing all the farmland they passed on their way, but his eyes darted from item to item, each seeming better than the last.  He settled on perhaps more than necessary, ordering hanger steak, garlic chicken, spicy pork, rice, asparagus, and mushrooms, but he had won his first round, so he figured it was OK to splurge a bit.  Plus, he noticed, Asami didn't order anything.  But she might change her mind in a bit.  After all, she had suggested the place.  And no one, Hayate decided, could resist such treasures as would eventually be simmering right in front of her face, aroma wafting right under he nose.

The plump owner wrote the order down and gave Asami another glance before mentally deciding things were probably OK and it wasn't his business.  He tucked his pencil behind his ear and walking back behind the counter, sparing once more look over his shoulder at the pair.

Thats it, he decided, all she needed was a full stomach and he was sure things would be back to normal.  Maybe.  Hayate saw Asami was still half hidden behind a large menu despite professing to not want anything.   He stared for half a moment longer at the back of the menu/fort before noticing her fingers.  Her hand was tensed, gripping tightly while holding only the light menu.  He turned to look out the window for a moment to think, watching the light early afternoon traffic walk up and down the street in the strong sunlight.

"Asami... You haven't called me a name once since the matches.  Are you ok, should I get Naoki?" He half joked, hoping to lighten the mood so that he could fully savor the delicious meal that would soon arrive.  He was already struggling to enjoy the hollow victory as much as he thought he should, and he knew he'd have to be ready for the tougher opponents that legitimately won their first rounds.  From the back of the restaurant Hayate could hear the owner slicing meat and chopping vegetables. There was no way that what he had done so far had impressed anyone enough to make chuunin, so he'd just have to keep winning.

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The young girl’s death grip on her menu relaxed with Hayate words. She had to pull herself together. She couldn’t very well go about having a breakdown in the streets of Konoha. The last thing she wanted to do was worry either Hayate or Naoki. And, though she wasn’t too sure that Naoki had the capacity to worry about anything, she knew Hayate did. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them if she became a burden. Plus, she’d just won. Hell, Hayate had just won too; now wasn't the time for being down in the dumps.

Alright, time to stop being a stick in the mud, Asami.

“No,” she lowered the menu and allowed a soft smile to creep across her face in spite of herself. “It’s just the after-effects of the fight getting to me.”

She gestured to her red eyes and continued speaking.

“Akane, my opponent, used some kind of gas attack,” she waved her now free hands around her head as if to show how thick the gas had been. “It was everywhere. The medics said I should be fine, but that I’d look like…”

She paused here as her mind worked to catch up with the lies her mouth was telling.

“…well that I’d look like this,” she shrugged as if she couldn’t care less about her situation. “It’s nothing worth bothering the deputy kage over.”

To keep from weaving a more intricate web of lies and half-truths, Asami gulped down her glass of water. As the last drops of water trickled down her throat, however, the young girl’s body betrayed her as her stomach let out a low rumble that would be rather hard to ignore. She hadn’t eaten since before her match and there was no lie she could tell that would fill up her empty stomach, so she opted for the truth.

“On second thought,” a familiar blush rushed across the girl’s face. “Maybe I will have something to eat.”

She looked Hayate in the eyes for the first time since their arrival in Konohagakure.

“After all, I couldn’t forgive myself if I let you get fat.”

As if on cue, Uncle Gao bumbled over to the table with food in hand or rather what would soon become food. The older man had diced, chopped, and sliced the meats Hayate requested and now the onus lay on the two genin to make sure they didn’t go burning the man’s work to a crisp. Hopefully, Hayate possessed a better culinary sense than Asami because otherwise the two would soon find themselves eating nothing but charcoal. The young girl was many things, just not a chef.

TWC: 1517

A creak escaped from the worn bench and Hayate relaxed back against it.  Apparently, without being aware of it he had slowly inched and leaned forward to the edge of his seat. 

So she was fine.  All she would need was a good rest and some food after all. A wave of relief washed over him that he wouldn't have to figure out some bigger problem that he knew nothing about.

Responding to her comment about the eyes and gas, Hayate said"Oh, that's good to hear, that you'll be OK.  Sucks it sticks around that long though." as he pulled down his half mask, preparing for the food he could smell being prepared. Once her hear her banter about the food, he grinned knowing she was definitely back to the old Asami - at least, from his casual view.  "Me, fat? You must be dreaming."  He curled his left arm up, flexing his muscles, gripping the bicep with his other hand in a strongman pose.  "Just need some fuel to keep the machine in top shape.  You definitely should eat some, maybe you'll grow a bit and be more like me"  A laugh played across his lips, threatening to escape.

As the food arrived, Hayate made sure to add an extra order of rice and some short rib, now that Asami would be eating too.  It became apparent Hayate did not have the heightened culinary sense that had been hoped for, but he could at least keep things from being burned - as several times he had to make an emergency last minute save of a piece Asami had left too long.  "charcoal is for cooking, not eating!“ It kept things lively at least.

The food was delicious.  At that moment Hayate was convinced that even if they had to leave right now, the trip would have been worth it. He leaned back, stuffed, smiling contently. Yet slowly his gaze turned once again, and he found himself staring out the window at the rising crowds as they day passed and more exams finished. 

"Hey Asami...." he said, without taking his eyes away from the people passing by, a serious and contemplative look on his face now. "You think anyone out there might be, ya know," he paused for a second, then almost sheepishly and hopefully "rooting for us?“  Quickly he continued, as if dismissing his own hope as foolish and unrealistic.  It was best to dwell on what was real.   "nah, that'd be stupid, right?  We just gotta make our own way and make em acknowledge us."  He covered with false bravado, adding a forced smile.

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A swift kick under the table relieved the threat of Hayate’s imminent laughter and left Asami with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. She had never been the tallest person in the room and had long since become accustomed to the offhanded remarks about her height or rather lack thereof. That said, she did not take slights against her lying down as Hayate’s shin now knew all too well. It certainly wasn’t a wound that would stick with him for terribly long, but it would hopefully be enough to stave off any more mentions of height for at least the rest of the day.

Thankfully, the arrival of the food cut through any awkwardness that might have hung in the air previously. Good food had that ability; the ability to break down barriers and make even the bitterest enemies into friends, not that Hayate and Asami were anything close to enemies, of course. The meal progressed as one might expect given two hungry genin. The meat quickly disappeared, the mounds of rice vanished, and the vegetables, well, they went away too, just not as quickly as the meat. Indeed, as Hayate leaned back, clearly filled to the brim, Asami did the same absentmindedly picking a piece of rice out of her teeth.

However, as Hayate’s gaze wandered to the street, Asami’s moved in the opposite direction, to the open kitchen. While her friend watched people walk this way and that, she watched knives move up and down in a well-practiced staccato. Uncle Gao clearly knew his way around the kitchen and it seemed he did it all on his own. Perhaps he had helpers come later in the night when it got busier, but Asami liked the idea of ‘Uncle Gao’s Barbeque’ being a one-man show. The man seemed genuinely happy to be working.

Hayate’s pregnant pause drew her attention back to the boy across from her.

Were people rooting for them? It was a question the young girl lacked an answer to. Though, like any good teenager, she was more than willing to provide an answer. A lack of an answer does not, after all, preclude a response no matter how nonsensical it may be.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” her tone bordered on thoughtful, a rarity for the girl. “Sure, I doubt we have many friends in the stands, but that doesn’t mean no one is rooting for us.”

“I know my parents are pulling for me back in Kirigakure,” she lifted two fingers to signify her parents and lifted another one for each person she mentioned further. “Deputy Gekou is surely cheering for us, and the Mizukage himself has made his favor known.”

The ryo-filled envelope from the Mizukage weighed heavily in her pocket even now.

“I’m sure there are plenty more back home too,” she lowered her hands. “Who knows? We might even have some fans here in Konohagakure.”

The more she thought about it the more confident she felt that they did indeed have fans in the Leaf. Otherwise, her victory would have been hailed by boo’s and rotten food, not the thunderous applause she had received. Yes, she had to believe people did not fill the stands with the hope of seeing a Mist shinobi felled by one from the Leaf. How else could she go back out there?

TWC: 2073

Allegro reached into an envelope and pulled out enough Ryo to cover his tab and tip generously. He sat it gently on the table for his waitress to collect earnestly. The music in his headphones were blasting loudly even while on his head as he bobbed to the sound of the beat. The boy was treating himself and any that cared to join him to a treat at the local barbecue house. He sat in a private booth in the back corner of the restaurant, but still had a good view of the entire restaurant and the view outside. In a matter of minutes, there were an assortments of meats, vegetables, and seafoods that would peak the Uzumaki's taste buds before he could even taste them. Just as he began to snap apart the chopsticks he was provided with, he overheard some casual conversation nearby. 

It was the ninja from Kirigakure who were participating in this year's exams. Allegro casually laid giant slices of pineapple on the hot grill as he listened on through his headphones. He learned that they had both won their matches. This obviously meant that Akane Uchiha and Shotomaru Senju had lost. Allegro could only bring this to mean that the Mist ninja were very strong, since he had nothing but high expectations for his fellow leaf comrades. This also meant that Asami and Hayate were likely to be his next opponent when Round 2 of the exams came about. Both ninja looked rather plain with no distinguishing features. Allegro also heard the mention of a man named Gekou, apparently the deputy to the Mizukage. He looked at the envelope full of cash once again. He closed the flap to restore the seal of the Mizukage that kept the letter sealed closed. So, the Mizukage has enough investment capital to wager on both Kiri and Konoha ninja. 'What a powerful man he must be,' Allegro thought to himself as he lifted a juicy slice of pineapple to his mouth off the blazing hot grill.

Cho was finally out of her combat attire and showing as much skin as she wanted. Her hair was tied as usual into a long and majestic french braid with solid gold accesories around each knot. She walked down the avenues of downtown Konoha without a care in the world. At first, the kunoichi had expected more of her fans to approach and congratulate her, but none of that happened. She had just finished her fight in the chuunin exams and won in round 1. In said match, Cho overpowered her opponent with her kekkei genkai and won the match in a matter of minutes. It was not much of a spectacle, since most of the match was shrouded by her opponents Hidden Mist jutsu. Nonetheless, Cho found that there gossip in the streets regarding her match. Cho had gained a reputation as a powerful and bloodthirsty kunoichi who would be a force to be reckoned with in future matches. The gossip had tickled her uncontrollably. Not only did she love the attention and the notoriety, but she had hoped that the rumors would help intimidate her future opponents. This was not the only gossip she heard in the streets however. She also heard about Allegro's match against his own teammate, and the victory of both Mist ninja, an upset here in the Leaf Village. This was news to her, and would cause her to fall deep in thought about how this would effect the exams going forward. 

Cho took interest in a barbecue shop in the periphery of her vision. She had seen Allegro in the window bobbing idiotically to the sound of his music. 'That kid...really did win, then?' Cho walked in after him and would sit down in his booth. Along the way, she would pass the table that the Kiri shinobi she had heard so much about were sitting at and make eye contact with them both before continuing on her way. She said nothing, except for a unbothered "Hmph". As she passed by, she flipped her hair dangerously close to Asami's face in the moment she broke eye contact with her. The tip of her braid would just miss Asami's face. Cho would eventually sit with Allegro and almost immediately help herself to the mounds of raw meat assorted before her. She had allowed the meat to simmer on the grill just enough to enjoy a fine medium rare meal. With her mouth full, she finally greeted Allegro.

"You understand that this means if you lose from here going forward, I'll have to kill you, right? I won't forgive you unless you win the entire thing, dammit Allegro!"