Tour Guides Extraordinaire [P]

Mission Specs:

Daybreak in Kirigakure.

Merchants scurried this way and that preparing their wares, fishermen left the safety of port, and builders returned to their worksites. Mist hung low over the streets making seeing the ground on which one walked all but impossible until one's steps temporarily cleared it away. Overhead a ceiling of impenetrable gray clouds hovered ominously threatening to unleash a familiar drizzle onto the world below. All said it was just another day in the Village Hidden in the Mist, for most people anyway.

For the Mist's newest chuunin, Asami Miyamoto, today promised to be anything but 'another day in the village'. Wearing the attire of her rank, the young girl wound her way through the streets and down the beach to the 'arrivals' pier. Today would be her first official mission as a chuunin and team leader. However, such duties took a back seat in her mind because it was also one of the first times she would be seeing Hayate since Konohagakure and the chuunin exams.

She'd spent the last two weeks or so actively avoiding her friend and now circumstances beyond their control threw them together once more—turning down a mission in Kirigakure was tantamount to treason. The mission itself seemed pretty straightforward, acting as tour guides for a group of wealthy tourists looking to invest in the burgeoning village. Admittedly, she did not have much experience with tours per se, but how hard could they be?

In fact, nearing the pier, she found herself worrying more about her appearance than her tour guiding credentials. Earlier in the week, she had the bandages removed from the right side of her face revealing an inflamed scar running across her cheek and back to her neck, a memento from her fight with Hayate. The medical staff assured her that it would become less and less red over time, but Asami was not entirely convinced and the lack of a right earlobe made her all the more self-conscious.

Nonetheless, she soon arrived at the pier where her team was to meet the tourist's boat. Though, with neither tourists or teammates in sight, the young girl leaned up against one of the pier's large pilings and waited. Hopefully, Hayate and Nero had the good sense to arrive early...

---
TWC: 379

"On time is late. Early is on time.". Nero finished explaining why he was walking around so early to the old woman that he just went on an early morning errand run for. He waved the lady  goodbye, and started running towards the place he was to meet the team he'd be working with today; dedicated to... "What was it again? Let me think... Escorting... A noble? Tourists? Yeah I guess that was it. Wait... Should I have taken a right there, or should I be taking the next left?". Nero turned back, and went through the street he missed to the right; and appeared from the street in the left he was thinking about. "Okay, so neither.". He kept running.

After a few minutes, he found the meeting spot, only to see Asami already there. "Damn... I wanted to be here first... I even got up so early for it...". He tried to keep a smile on his face, despite a deep down feeling of shame against Asami. "Violence isn't an option. Yeah right." he thought, "Wait, was there even her words? Well I can't have been bothered by them that much if I can't remember the exact wording. Nevermind then.". "Hey Asami!". He walked slowly towards the Chuunin, who Nero assumed would be the leader of the team since she was the highest ranked. "You're early... I mean even earlier than me. That's great. How's it going?". Nero listened for an answered, if there was one, then after a few seconds of more silence, he'd continue, "By the way... I didn't get a chance to get a real one but...". He formed chakra in his hand, and used the Ice Release: Token Creation to make an ice cream shaped ice statue (about as big as a real one). He offered it to Asami, "I mean, it doesn't taste like one, but it's symbolic. I hoped it would be a way to break the ice...". "Ooops. What was that?". He chuckled, "That... Wasn't intentional, I swear. Hayate coming soon?". He looked around to see if Hayate was actually there or not. "We were gonna meet for a training today, until this mission came up. Guess things work themselves out. He's great by the way. Apparently came in second place in the Chuunin Exams against a girl called Azshari.". He would then continue waiting for Hayate and the tourists, with Asami.

[WC: 401]

The reflection of the mirror in his room showed a ninja with nothing out of place.  He had meticulously gone over each piece of equipment to ensure it not only was in good shape, but looked its best.  Apparently they were going to be providing a tour of Kiri to potential investors, which meant their appearance would matter as well.  

Hayate let out a sigh, hanging his head a bit.  For a long time now, he had wanted to be able to do C and even B rank missions, tired of the genin fetch this and build that missions.  And now, when he finally got to, not only was it another boring mission, ranked up merely for dealing with outsiders, but the only reason he was allowed to was that Asami, now a chuunin, would be leading them.  Apparently there were a few visitors, and they needed multiple escorts in case they needed to go multiple places.  The day was bound to be such a headache he might as well stay in bed, but he wouldn't consider that for a second.

Instead he headed out to the docks.  The cool wind on his face felt strange when in full jacket, compression shirt, and pants.  Normally his face was hidden by the half mask, but he felt it didn't quite fit the diplomacy aspect.  He still wore his sword, he was a ninja after all, and it was to be expected.

It wasn't the best day for tourism, the mist being heavy and rain threatening, but then again, what day in Kiri was?  sunshine and clear view was so rare, so it would be good the investors would see what they were getting into.

Such thoughts kept his mind occupied until the docks came into view.  That energetic goofball he had met at the shop was apparently a genin as well, despite his age, and was casually talking with ...  Asami.  Nero has his back to Hayate, which meant Asami was facing Hayate as he approached, slowing down to a walk.  Hayate could clearly see the reddish scar down her cheek.  Desipite winning, she had come out worse for the wear.  After staying off his feet for a while the wound had been healed quite nicely, and any scars blended in with the tough soles of his feet.

When he approached close enough to speak, he stopped.  C'mon, you're friends with Asami.  She knew it was a match.  It's not awkward.  Say something to break the ice.  "Hey",  he managed to get out, raising his hand in greeting.  His eyes naturally shifted away from meeting hers, but managed to catch something else in the background.  After the shortest of pauses, right when anyone who wanted to respond would be opening their mouths but not speaking yet, he added:  "They're here".

His greeting turned into a pointing, as a ship approached the dock.

WC 480

“It’s definitely going,” Asami shrugged and eschewed the support of the piling for her own two legs. “I hope you’re ready for a long day.”
 
What happened next caused the chuunin to furrow her brow ever so slightly. She’d certainly heard of clans able to manipulate ice, the Yuka…Yukai…Yiki…something like that. However, she never had the chance to see a clansman work with the strange element. Perhaps there was more to Nero than his rather goofy façade gave away?
 
“Uh…thanks,” she accepted the construct, it felt cold to the touch. “It’s beautiful.”
 
Nero’s use of supposedly unintentional humor brought a thin smile to the girl’s face. As of late, she could count how many times she smiled per on a single hand. Yet, there was something in the boy’s unwitting execution of the whole thing that coaxed a smile from Asami.
 
Unfortunately, the smile was short-lived because while Nero continued to talk, the chuunin spied the mist-shrouded silhouette of the approaching Hayate. In place of a smile, she now wore a blank face, devoid of emotion and unflinching. It wasn’t that she was scared of seeing her friend again, but rather that she was scared to talk about the tournament. Was Hayate bitter? Did he resent her? Were they still friends? So many questions with no good answers filled her head at a dizzying pace.
 
So much for controlling your emotions. She scolded herself. She’d walked through this same scenario a thousand times since breakfast alone and yet all her carefully practiced lines left her when it counted. Come on Asami, he said ‘hey’ respond, say something...anything.
 
“Hey—,” she finally tried to sputter out suddenly taking a keen interest in the air above Hayate’s head only to be interrupted by the boy’s voice once more—the tour boat was here. “Yeah, here they are.”
 
She glanced over her shoulder and at the fast approaching vessel, the ice construct fell from her hands and shattered into peices on the ground.
 
“Follow my lead,” she returned her gaze to her team choosing to focus more on Nero than Hayate. “We’re going to be showing them the beach, the market district, and finish the tour at the administration building where we’ll hand them off to the village planning commission.”
 
She’d spent the previous day going over the official tour route for the visitors. It would, hopefully, showcase all Kirigakure had to offer. Supposedly, these investors hailed from the land of tea and had deeper pockets than some major villages; they were looking for a secure place to park their wealth and, as it so happened, Kirigakure was one of the most secure places in the shinobi world.
 
The ship, an elegant sloop, seemed none the worse for wear considering it had just traveled through the village’s large storm circle. If Asami had to guess the investors had hired the best crew money could buy and it showed. They made docking the ship look like a dance; each move they made look planned and executed without so much as a raised voice.
 
Soon three middle-aged men and a single younger woman disembarked from the vessel and made their way over to the three shinobi. They all wore different colored silks, red, blue, green, and pink; Mr. Red, Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, and Ms. Pink. All four of them, Asami soon realized as they drew closer, appeared to be a bit green around the gills, perhaps travel by sea had not agreed with them?
 
“Good Morning,” Asami bowed when the foursome stopped before them—hopefully her team followed suit. “My name is Asami Miyamoto, this is Hayate Seiteki and Nero Yuka.”
 
She gestured to each of her companions and unknowingly butchered Nero’s family name.
 
“Miss Miyamoto, thank you for meeting us,” the woman spoke with a strange accent. “As you no doubt know we wish to get to know your village a bit better. Please lead the way.”
 
“Most definitely,” Asami forced a smile and gave a nod. “Nero will be leading us on a tour of the beaches, after which Hayate will show us around the market district and then we will direct you to the administration building. If you have any questions along the way do not hesitate to ask.”
 
The foreigners conferred in muted mumbles but offered no objections. Asami gave a half nod to Nero, which she sincerely hoped he would understand as his cue to begin his portion of the tour. Assuming the Nero took the lead, the chuunin would try her best to stay as far away from Hayate as she could and still appear normal to any other onlooker, the tourist especially. 

Nope, totally not avoiding Hayate at all.

---
TWC: 1155

"Follow her lead. Seems easy enough. What could possibly even go wrong in a mission as simple as this. Don't overthink things Nero, What's the worst that could happen? Just go with the flow. With the mission. Follow the instructions, given with the mission. Escort. Tou guide. No violence. Violence bad.". "Sure let's go... Wait. We have a beach? I mean yeah, Island, Sea, but like a beach beach? With sand and everything? Nice.". Nero followed Asami to greet the guests.

"Wow." The ship looked more beautiful to Nero than any other he has ever seen, mainly because he had never seen a ship of this size and budget. He at most saw wooden boats made for up to 6 people. 4 people came out of the ship. "What that's it?" Nero thought, and he watched as Asami led the introduction. "What's she doing? No that's too cold an introduction. Wait.". Nero only then realized that while Asami might have been a higher ranked, even a stronger ninja, she was 16; and Nero was a 20 year old man who had been doing jobs all over the world for more than 8 years now, who had gotten used to finding a way to get along with any kind of employer. Nero looked closely to each of the individual that they were to guide, one by one. "Likes to be complimented, likes riches, likes power, likes to have attention. Done. Go Nero, show your magic." Nero quickly decided, however right his deductions were. 

"Ahahaha." Nero laughed in an overtop fashion, which would perhaps throw off Asami and Hayate, who have heard him speak and laugh before, but it gathered the attention of the guests in a positive light, "It's Yuki, nice to meet you. Us Kiri people, always joking around like this.". He leaned in closer to Ms. Pink, "We aren't called the Village of Hospitality and Warmness for no reason after all.". They smiled, Mr. Blue even laughed, and the woman, as was custom, spoke to the higher ranked member once again. 

Nero started leading them to the beach (and by 'leading', what I mean is he tried to subtly cover the fact that he didn't know the way, by finding excuses to not stand on the front, but between the group, constantly chatting with their guests on the way. "Beaches. My area of expertise. They wouldn't have put me on this mission if I wasn't. Let me tell you. You might have seen beaches before, Land of Fire? Sure. Sunagakure? Basically a beach with no water, right? But you have never seen beaches like these, I assure you.". The men chuckled, the woman laughed in an over-the-top way with a high pitch voice and then did an "Mhm." whatever that was. "We in Kirigakure care deeply about our beaches. Those are our gates to the water, after all.". After a few minutes, they arrived at the beach. It was giant, vast, empty... Even Nero was surprised. The guests realized it. He realized that they did. "I... Can't help but be amazed every time I see this view. Isn't it breathtaking?". The guests didn't seem to be as amazed. "So, they need some convincing." Nero thought as Mr. Green answered, "Isn't it a bit... Plain?". Nero smiled. "My cue.". "It's... Nature... In its purest form. Take a look around, my dear guests. Even if all Kage that ever existed came together. Even if all the money in the world was brought in... You couldn't create this view by force. It's impossible. Smell the air. Breathe it in. Come on, with me, close your eyes.". Nero closed his eyes and started slowly breathing in and out. Ms. Pink was the first to join Nero. The rest of the guests followed their lead. Nero wasn't aware because his eyes were closed, but he was hoping his teammates were following his lead. Nero opened his eyes, "Ladies and gentlemen, THE GRAND KIRIGAKURE BEACH!". He allowed the guests to enjoy the beach for however long they wanted. And they did. They really did... Until Nero realized he couldn't leave them there for however they wanted, because they had a schedule to keep up with. "Okay, dear guests. We have a lot more wonders in our precious village to present to you. Please follow our lead. It will be Hayate's area of expertise next.". Nero felt a rush of euphoria as the pressure was now passed on to his friend. As they were moving on to their next location, Nero found a time to whisper an advice to Hayate, "Just make everything sound more important and famous.". He then subtly kept walking as if he hadn't said everything. On the road, he kept chatting up the guests.

"Ah. I guess I kind of missed jobs like these. No violence needed, no danger, no pressure. Just act accordingly to your 'guest', and as long as they're personally pleased you're good.". He looked up to the sky. "But it also doesn't feel anywhere near as satisfying.".

[TWC: 1240]

The cool sea breeze ruffled Hayate's hair as he stood with one hand shielding his eyes, looking out at the dock.  He listened to Asami as she confidently outlined her plan, though he kept his eyes on the approaching sloop.  A pretty nice one, as any Kiri native could recognize.  It was a solid plan as well - she'd obviously spent time on it and wasn't just winging things, but was taking her role seriously.  Good.

Nero, on the other hand, was a completely different person.  He was all jokes and smiles. It was hard to tell if the guests were enjoying his congenial attitude or good naturedly putting up with it, but either way they didnt' seem offended.

As they set off for the beaches, Hayate decided it he should have a quick word with Asami, just clear the air quick, while all attention was on Nero.  But the the older genin quickly maneuvered Hayate in front, and he was forced to lead for a ways.  Once he managed to find his way to the back of the pack again, Asami had shifted to the other side of the group, and then somehow she had ended up leading.

Hayate stood a few feet from the back of the group, arms folded, looking around as the tourists followed Nero's speech and excercises. Hayate didn't bother to join in.  A life in Kiri brought you more than enough smell of the ocean.  Besides, it paid to be alert, just in case.  The passing by villagers spared a glance or two at the obvious out of towners, but no one stared for too long, or followed them, or even gave much of a second glance.

The group walked up the beach towards the beachfront stores and warehouses, taking the heavy, purposefuly steps one has to in sand, they reached the first street that gave way to Kiri proper (one that they had cleaned before, as genin).   Nero handed off the attention, and Hayate felt the eyes upon him.  He gave a short bow.  "I'm Hayate Seiteki.   I'll be showing you the market district."

Alright, Seiteki.  Give them professional and businesslike.  Just keep talking, about all that stuff dad used to gab about.  And what they said at the academy.   All that we're the crown jewel of the ocean, Rah Rah cheerleader stuff.

"It starts right here, at the the sea.  As you could guess, most everything needs to come in or out of those docks over there, held in some of these warehouses"  He gestured away from the little seaside cafes and stores and over to the bigger, plainer buildings closer to the docks.   "Safe behind the walls of the most secure village the world has ever known."  He was pretty sure he heard that somewhere, and it just had to be true, right?  "I'm sure you got a good impression of that on your way in.  Then we get into the town proper."

He turned to lead down the road into town.  They group approached a fork, and he began leading them to the right.  "Down the other way you'll find a lot of good restaurants, culture, and housing.  But over this way, we've got the trade and business area." 


"First is the food market.  We get in a lot more than you think, fresh daily.  And of course the seafood in Kiri is well known, though if you get the chance, I'd rather let one of our restaurants show you their skill."  The street was actually pretty wide, but it seemed narrow, as the sides were taken up with tables and carts of hanging fish, fresh produce, even the occasional butcher with meats.  The cool moist air of kiri kept the fish and vegetable in perfect condition most of the time.

The next street over was much less crowded with things and seemed bigger for it, and he turned to take them a ways down it.  A wider, longer street, the buildings matched.  The small tables and carts of the previous road were replaced with long, official storefronts.  Proper businesses, with full staff.  "As you can see, this is the main road you want to be on.  Banks, large stores, import export, large boutiques - the island nation supports it all.  And down at the end you can see the begining of the tech sector - we started with the advanced tech Tengakure left behind, and have been moving forward from there."  His dad had been sure to boast of that to him pretty often, so he just reused the line.

He let the group look at and walk into a few of the buildings, on this end of the street - the tech sector was noisier and messier and didn't really have a lot out in the open for sale, so he figured this end was better.  After a few minutes of that, letting the group split up if they wanted to go with different shinobi into different stores, they met back in the street, and began to head toward the administration.

As the passed the street he live on, a medium sized road with a lot of individual storefronts, he mentioned "  And on our way back to the administration, here we've got a lot of the the individual stores - repairmen, specialty items, a seamstress or two, some metalworkers, the kind of stuff one person can run a store with."  The smaller street had almost houselike buildings, smaller, with small signs and windows here and there down the row.

He was approaching his limit on the stuff he knew.  Despite living here his entire life, Hayate never really thought too much about the business aspect of a town, or how an outside would see it.  The stuff was just... there, and he knew where to get what he wanted.  He hoped his general sweeping statements had been ok.  Surely Asami would step in and correct him if he missed something.  She could be shy sometimes, but she had taken charge of this right from the start, without hesitation.

He was just glad his section was coming to an end.  For what seemed like the first time, he looked over at Asami to try and catch her eye, to let her take over.  This wasn't really his thing, and he was glad to be done with it.

WC 1053
twc 1533

Nero was…an odd duck. In fact, Asami found it hard to believe that the boy was actually a man and a twenty-year-old man at that. How he had managed to remain a genin for so long was beyond the chuunin. And, though she did not want to judge, she could not help but do so. Yes, he was definitely strange; he seemed to sometimes retreat into his own world. That said, he didn’t give a half bad tour, so the young girl couldn’t complain too much.
 
Then came Hayate’s turn. Throughout Nero’s antics she dutifully avoided her friend, however, when he took over the tour he found herself unable to ignore him completely. She nodded along where appropriate and even stole a few glances down at Hayate’s feet. His stride seemed fine, long and even. One could never tell that he’d once had metal spikes forcibly inserted into his feet. This small detail didn’t put all of Asami’s worries to rest, but it did help to alleviate some of the weight she’d been carrying around with her since her return to Kirigakure.
 
However, said weight came crashing back down when she met Hayate’s gaze for the briefest of moments. There was something about the tension of words unsaid that invited the young girl to assume the worst. Her overly active imagination read malice and resentment in her friend’s eyes despite there being none to find. Thankfully, it was her turn to act as the guide.
 
“And,” she broke eye contact and picked up seamlessly from where Hayate left off. “Supporting all these individual storefronts is the village administration annex.”
 
She took a hard left onto the main avenue of Kirigakure and lead the way towards the administration buildings. While lacking the individuality of the storefronts, the buildings looked imposing and official. The hope, Asami figured, was to project a sense of central control.
 
“These buildings to my left,” she gestured with a gentle wave. “Are home to much of the banking services. Then, to my right, you will see the permit offices. This is where you’ll want to go if you plan on building anything in the village.”
 
The tourists nodded and murmured amongst themselves.
 
“Personally, I suggest going early in the morning. They close for lunch at roughly noon and the afternoons are usually quite busy.”
 
At last the small group came to Kirigakure’s main administration building.
 
“And this is the last stop on our tour and where we’ll be leaving you. If you go right through these doors,” Asami rushed forward to hold the door for the investors. “The head of our permit office should be waiting for you. I hope you enjoyed your tour.”
 
The silk-clad group filed through the door and muttered their sincerest thanks to both Asami and the rest of her team. With Ms. Pink being the last of the group to enter the building, the chuunin allowed the door to close behind them. This left the small team of three outside and one C-rank mission richer.
 
“That wasn’t too bad, was it?”
 
She asked the question to no one in particular, but only Nero and Hayate would be able to hear her.

---
TWC: 1685

Nero’s over-the-top expressions faded. So did his ‘barely fake, so much so that people can’t tell they’re fake’ expressions. He looked tired now, even though he wasn’t, physically. That could be seen from his motions, still skipping around, throwing punches into the air, pulling out kunai from his pouch (though trying not to do it in front of kids), spinning them in his hands, even trying to juggle a few shuriken at some point. He was doing all of it with a much less expressive face though, which seemed to be the only thing that has changed. “I mean.” his voice was (just a little bit) lower than both times he met one of his teammates, “Nothing specifically was bad. It’s just… Not fulfilling to do… Nevermind.”. He put his energy back on, smiling as widely as when Hayate and Asami had met him, “It’s fi- It’s great. As I said before, my area of expertise, apparently.”.

Nero leaned against the wall of the administration building, or whatever it was. To be honest, he had already forgotten the name of the building when they first talked about the plan to get here. Leaning against said wall, he created a thinner ice kunai out of chakra, and started playing around with it. “It’s also still pretty early. While 3 of us have gathered up, if you don’t have plans to be elsewhere; do you guys wanna do something? Maybe take up another mission? Maybe something we really have to push ourselves to succeed in?”.

He took a deep breath. It also somewhat sounded like boredom. “Still no good enough. I mean it’s not perfect, but it is pretty good. Not perfect is not good enough. It’s… Something? Something isn’t anything. I… I need to try harder.”. Nero dropped the kunai to shatter when it hit the ground. It at first looked like glass shattering, but there were no sharp parts flying around, it just quickly dissolved into the pieces. Nero smiled, taking a look at both of the new “friends” he’s made. “What’s with them? Are all Kiri ninja this cold? I mean. We are. Not in this sense necessarily though. It’s weird. Even Hayate is acting like Asami now, he seemed much more kind yesterday. I mean he must be. His father was pretty nice. I was hoping I could at least make a couple of friends here… Friends?”. Nero looked up, his smile replaced with a fake one; but he had become an expert at that, showing no signs of it. “You don’t have friends. You won’t. Hayate or Asami. Either will kill you if you cross them. Hayate will kill you if you face him in the Blood Games. You will too. You have to. Do I? I don’t know. It’s weird. Asami probably has a lot of aces up her sleeves, being a Chuunin at that age. Hayate at first glance looks simple enough, presumably a Taijutsu user perhaps. But he doesn’t look like he’s trained his body as much as most Taijutsu users I’ve seen; not that the size of the body makes all the difference in Taijutsu. Maybe he’s more of a close quarters Ninjutsu specialist. One like I’m aiming to be. Maybe he already is. He does look and sound like he has a simple mindset, but he made it to the finals in the Chuunin Exam too, so maybe he’s really strong. Or maybe it’s not only brute force he has. Either way. I can’t let them kill me. They will try though. Will they? Maybe… I should at least look out… They don’t feel friendly enough for some reason, even for strangers. Oh wait. Hayate mentioned losing to a person named Azshari or something, right? And, Asami is a Chuunin. Wait. Maybe…. Just maybe… Asami is Azshari’s sister?”.

Nero wanted to chuckle, but he held himself back, imagining it would look pretty weird if he all of a sudden started chuckling. He turned the Asami, and asked, “So, what’s the plan?” He then turned to Hayate, and started naturally looking at both once in a while, “And what’s with all the silence by the way? Why are we acting like enemies here? As far as I know we’re pretty much the only people in this village, in our level. Granted, Asami, you’re a Chuunin, higher ranked than us, and that’s great. But you get what I’m saying. There seems to be a larger distance between you and the next big guy than you and Hayate. In a power-sense? You get what I’m saying right? I mean, if you guys want to keep this going, it’s fine by me, but… Nevermind. Where are we on the mission thing? Or maybe a training, spar? I don’t know.”. Nero waited for an answer, playing with a kunai he pulled out of his pouch.

[Total:2048]

Nero wrote:“And what’s with all the silence by the way? Why are we acting like enemies here? 

"It's ..." Hayate began, not sure how he was going to finish.  A sideways glance at Asami was meant to help him figure out how to simplify things into words, but he was on the wrong side of her for that.  He saw the still healing scar leading up to the shortened ear blemishing the youthful look of the once shy yet happy genin, now an in charge serious chuunin.

"It's nothing.". He looked at the street as if it was interesting, wishing he had at least the comfort of the half mask.   Was this what he was becoming now, not only a loser but a coward who backs down and hides from simple?  Standing between the short Asami and tall Nero, Hayates fists clenched a bit as he thought about it.

Nero continued on, flipping his kunai as he was prone to, while Asami continued to find points to look at that weren't her companions.

Instead of answering Nero, Hayate unclenched his fists.  Despite trying to leave it alone for weeks, play it off like it didn't really matter, deeper down that just wasn't him.  "Dammit, it was something." He muttered to no one in particular, then stepped into Asamis line of sight.  For once, Hayates full face was exposed while in ninja garb, with the only adornment to his head being the blue Kiri headband holding back the blonde hair, which was actually pulled into some semblence of order for today.

"Asami, I didn't mean to hurt you.  I mean, I was trying to win and all, I did throw a shuriken at you, but it was the exams, you know?  It wasnt like real when it was at those konoha ninja.  I wasn't trying to hurt hurt you.  It didn't sink in until you got hit.".  Amid the torrent of words that just came rushing out, Hayate realized he was instinctively using the passive voice to protect himself.  He remembered the surprise of seeing the crimson flow running down Asamis cheek, and the guilt and realization of what he was doing that made his sheath his sword.  But he also remembered the fact that despite all that, he still didn't stop.

"Until I hit you.". He corrected himself.   Hayate took a deep breath.  "It was just.... It was fucked up, you know?"

Hayate bowed to her, looking straight at the ground.  "I'm sorry.  I know youre chuunin now and things will be different.  I'll follow your lead.   But just know I didn't mean to take things that far."

Catching Hayate’s sidelong glance, Asami’s eyes became slits. For the first time in a while, a red blush crept into her features as she felt the boy’s gaze fall onto the unsightly blemish that was the right side of her face. Embarrassed and ashamed, she turned her scarred face away from her friend. Quite suddenly the goings on in the administration district became more interesting than they were previously. Her gaze came to rest on a rather comical interaction between a rather expressive foreign merchant and a less-than-thrilled native bureaucrat. Her ears, however, listened to every word Hayate said with an unwavering attention.
 
Yeah, Nero, it’s nothing, she thought. Pay no attention to us.
 
Then, in a blur of motion, the young chuunin found her view of the merchant-bureaucrat pair obscured by the one person she had been avoiding all day, Hayate. All it would have taken was a quick few steps and she would have disappeared into the after-lunch crowd. Instead, she found herself rooted to the spot matching the boy’s brown-eyed gaze with her own cold gaze of gray.
 
She froze up and the whole world fell away around her. Nero was no longer there, the merchants evaporated from her peripheral vision, and the hum of the administration district faded to nothing. She only saw and heard Hayate. And, yet, for a few heart-wrenching moments her words failed her as Hayate humbled himself before her.
 
“I—I know,” a flicker of emotion sparked in her once dead eyes and she absentmindedly ran a hand over the right side of her face. “I know, Hayate…”
 
She then matched the boy’s bow with one of her own.
 
“I’m sorry too, it’s just been a lot,” her voice quivered, she couldn’t bring herself to talk about her parents just yet. “I know; it’s just going to take some time.”
 
She rose from her bow.
 
“Sorry to bother you with that, Nero,” the flicker of emotion that Hayate had sparked now danced behind Asami’s eyes. “Either of you know a good place to grab lunch or something? I’m starving.”

She did not want to linger on the previous subject—the feelings were still too raw.

---
TWC: 2033

[Mid-Thread claim: 1333/1333 mission done. Requesting mission rewards, +1303 words towards Cosmic Siblings, +486 words to Earth Release: Earth Wall, and remaining 244 words will go towards creating a clone with the aforementioned Cosmic Siblings technique. From this post forward I will be claiming stats and jutsu training as if it were not a mission thread.]