Entrance Exam: Hayate style

The blonde bobbed his head in acknowledgement of her comment and soon the duo were enveloped in the embrace of silence, something she wasn’t bothered by as many others tended to be. However, it was short lived for moments later the Kumo shinobi was greeted by Hayate, the Kiri man asking why he was there and met by a brief stare. It seemed the brute didn’t want to have anything to do with them despite being in foreign lands. Hikari thought he must’ve felt very confident in his own abilities to not want to make allies with the native members, something she both admired and felt was foolish.

It didn’t seem to phase Hayate though, as he soon turned back to her and started asking her something, only to cut off and turn to the light haired man behind him. It was slightly amusing to see the two bicker, and for the blonde to call the taller one a tool was an insult she hadn’t heard before. His fellow village member gave in to his request, albeit reluctantly she bet, and dropped the ice made sculpture to the ground.

Then he continued what he was going to ask her, his brown eyes giving her full attention again. His question caught her off guard in the sense that it meant he either didn’t care that she wasn’t from Kiri, or truly believed she had always been from there, yet the snowy kunoichi which was better.

Before she could reply the man whose clone had held up the exclamation mark asked Hayate about her, believing she was a shinobi of Konoha from the way he asked his questions. She chose to answer the man she knew first, “Yes, it seems I’ll be back for quite some time.” Her voice was calm and even, not betraying the fact that she wouldn’t be gone for, potentially, ever again. “Congratulations on making Chuunin by the way, you definitely deserved it.” A smile small danced upon her pink lips, and it would be hard for someone to tell she was forcing it.

Then the other Kiri man turned his gaze towards her, finally remembering she also existed it seemed, although his reaction to her was unexpected. He hadn’t been cold or rude as she had expected given how he had appeared to feel when he first saw her, “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nero. I’m Hikari Hyuuga and this is Kuro.” Her hand would then gesture down towards the large wolf beside her, his red eyes looking between Hayate and Nero, his fangs protruding from his lips despite his muzzle being closed due to how long they were.

(WC: 1,120)

Hayate turned to Nero to answer his question. "I've met Hikari in town before. It was that fishing festival right after the forces returned from the conquest of Konoha." Man that had been a long time ago, a different lifetime, it seemed. The crowd of new friends, running around without care, still studying at the academy. That night their biggest worry was if they could nab the tastiest stall food and still make it in time for the fireworks. The memory was pleasant, but bittersweet. That crowd had slowly been narrowed down person by person until just Hayate remained - until Hikari showed up again to remind him of it.

"Man, I was still in the academy back then. Time flies, huh?" He then graciously thanked Hikari for her compliment on his new rank, subtly shifting his bandaged left hand out of view behind him.

The way Hikari phrased her stay made it seem like her visit might be long, but was still temporary. But before he could process that more, nero introduced himself, and Hikari followed in kind.

Hayate put his right hand behind his head, looking slightly sheepish. "Oh right. Nero, Hikari. Hikari, Nero." He left out the wolf, as he hadn't met it before. The large fanged beast looked the picture of menacing, something that might be in a childrens storybook chasing the main character, but it had been a long while ago in his ninja training since Hayate had feared an animal. Annoyed, yes, by a certain little orange cephalopod, but feared? It didn't phase him.

While she answered Hayate, he went ahead and responded to his friend, explaining how the two met and when. It had been such a long time ago yet the memories were still fresh in her mind, as if it had happened yesterday. The man before her had been but an academy student with his companions, and now he was the same rank as she when they came to know each other. Time sure was flying by for everyone around her, they were all getting stronger and ranking up while she remained the same, stagnant in life. Hikari couldn’t move forward, her heart stuck in the past and refusing to let go.

Yet she forced herself to appear as if she was living in the present like everyone else, as if her heart didn’t ache every single second of every single day. “Yes, I can’t believe how much has changed since then.” With the smile still playing across her visage she accepted his gratitude, feigning ignorance about the fact that he shifted his left hand out of sight. It seemed talking about the exams made him realize he still had bandages on and made him self conscious of such a fact, or perhaps he didn’t want her to try and heal his wound even if it wouldn’t be a problem for her to do so.

The blonde seemed as if he wanted to say more but was cut off by his friend introducing himself as Nero and Hikari doing the same. At this point the Chuunin also gave them each others names, his right hand rubbing the back of head in an embarrassed manner. It was obvious he felt bad about forgetting that form of greeting, but she didn’t mind or particularly care that he had. Kuro continued to shift his gaze between the two strangers, noting that they didn’t seem threatened by his presence at all like most people usually are when they first lay their eyes upon him. It was a pleasant change of pace for the wolf.

She wasn’t sure what to say or ask after formally meeting the snowy haired man for certain topics would easily give away the fact that she was not from Kiri originally even if she was joining its ranks now. Making enemies in this foreign land was most definitely not on her plan of things to accomplish, so she remained quiet and hoped Hayate or Nero had things to say or ask.

(WC: 1,530)

Nero's mind had wandered off some time ago. Not wanting to disrupt the conversation going on between the others, Nero himself wandered off.

[EXIT. WC towards Rain Tiger At Will (155+339=494/2500), 1 stat]

Ok

Hayate stood with the lady that had once been such his senior as nero wandered off behind, unbeknownst to him.

The pause in the conversation stretched and turned awkward, and Hayate kicked his foot at a small dusting of sand littering the planks of the pier. The particles fell in an arc, sending small ripples out as they hit the water below.

Finally he decided to say something "So, Hikar..... hey Nero, wait up!". He interrupted himself as he saw Nero wandering off in the distance. Darn him, didn't he hear we had to report to the admin office before anything? Hayate muttered to himself.

He went to chase after nero but turned to provide a short excuse to Hikari. "Sorry, I have to make sure that knucklehead doesn't get too far. I'll catch up later!" He waved as he jogged off after nero.

exit
1022 words
1000 words to upgrade Split Second From A to S rank
5 points to speed.

What felt like ages was only but a few lingering moments as the two waited in comfortable silence for the other to break it, and just when she felt words forming at her lips a deeper voice echoed out in a rushed tone. The blonde man was hurriedly chasing after his companion and calling out to her at the same, apologetic for having to suddenly depart and end their reunion. She waved at his retreating form, all the while not paying much heed to his disappearance, knowing there would be plenty of time for them to chat once more since she was now a full fledged member of Kirigakure.

With that thought lingering on her mind longer than necessary, the kunoichi and her wolven companion took their leave from the salty docks and headed to find a place in the village to call their home for the time being/ They never knew when they’d have to move out of blue as they had for the one from Konoha to here.

(Exit)
(TWC: 1,700)
(Will make claims tomorrow)

(Claims: all 1700 wc towards Cell Enhancemenf, putting it at 1700/3000 with max stat discount. Plus 8 stats for Kuro the familiar <3)