Brilliant Daybreak [IO,NK,Yen]

Kozachi hated dogs. It was to the point that it was actually kind of dangerous to keep them around in the house, as she had a tendency to kick them when nobody was around. She was spending less and less time in the house now, however. While her parents had made it clear that she was not to deviate from her devotion to her clan and her clan alone, she was spending as much time away from them as possible, following more or less the path she wanted to. However, the girl knew that this rebellious phase couldn't last forever.

She didn't quite know what she was looking for now, as she headed out of the compound. It was one of her days off, and for once, she had nobody to spend it with. Anri was dead, Kenjiro was off who knew where, and she didn't know many other people that she really liked hanging around. Well, that was fine. She'd just have to spend it alone. Not the first time, for sure, but there was a unique sense of disappointment and discontent now more than ever. The girl was realistic, though, and was glad that she wasn't the impressionable kind of teenager that let these kind of things affect her for long. Her anger at her brother and her mourning of her girlfriend had passed, and life moved on.

It was early morning, and the sun had yet to rise. Times like this were the best, in her opinion. Cool air, and little activity. The night shift shinobi were just about to come off, and the morning shift ones were getting ready to go. Calm, but at the same time full of anticipation. She frowned, finding herself lost in idiotic thoughts again. Come to think of it, though, there wasn't really anything to focus on.

Her mind drifted again, going back to the time when she was still in the academy, years ago. She'd hid with Kenjiro in the basement while Kirigakure made short work of the far weaker leaf ninja above. In the days following the invasion and takeover, she had seen some faces and notes about the event in the news, but was too young to really care. All it was at that point was yet another change in leadership, which was apparently nothing new for Konoha. It seemed that the age of chaos had ended, which was fine by her. The less turmoil in her life, the better.

Despite the sentiment, however, Kozachi felt that more and more of her control over her own life was vanishing by the day.

The girl made it to a park bench and sat down. It was the same little grove that she had met Suzume in, at one point. Now, Kozachi counted herself lucky that she hadn't accidentally burned it down that day. From the outside, her internal misery was hidden, but not particularly well. The observant shinobi could see the slight flaws in her sitting posture and facial muscles that denoted a lack of contentment.

Still, things could be worse.

[WC 512]

fickle is the mind. We still to this day lack a true core. An consciousness without direction will only be that. Should it wish to grow or improve. It will need to absorb and of course adapt.

The thoughts of yen were various. Sure times, and responsibilities have changed accordingly, however it did not mean that there was a little time to rest. His body clock had shifted accordingly. From his lazy natural state which would love to lounge in the afternoon sun. To a now more strict early morning and late nights. He really had only enough times to sleep, and ate while on the move.

Times were  once simpler. Leaders rarely had a showing, but then again the raging battlefield only widened as one achieved higher ranks.  The single  tasks of an genin, and now to the mountain of reports to scour over as an jounin placed in the right hand of the kage. The correcting of mistakes in a mission, and and calculating the possibilities, and the failure to suscess chances of  the many teams at work. Including  the proper rating of missions. Many duties was on the aburame's plate.

However, he handled this like he did his insects within his body. They scurried, buzzed, lived, and died in a vicious relentless cycle of life and death. He had long numbed himself from the pain of these close losses, and so his mindset took the duties as the deputy in fhe same way. Gentle, but not afraid to play sacrifices. The bodies of enemies and allies alike were no more diffrent then a bug. Expendable if necessary, but often left to their devices normally.

He slowly traversed the early morning pathway as he ate a sweet bun on the way to the office. The sweet contents were an quiet guilty treat every now and then as his single eye scanned the paper in his hands.  He carried in his off hand an small bag of treats to accompany him during the day at the office. some more hot pastries  sure to go cold  after a few hours.

Hm? another mishap in the field. Perhaps these guys need to return to an work session for improvement. The genin will need an more harsher measure placed on them.... perhaps a week on another team?

The thoughts was accompanied by a slight soft hum of his voice as he glanced ahead. The black rimmed hat spotted an girl sitting on the bench roughly 20 ft in front of him. As he was an caring induvidual yen had a heart to gift an random person.

well then this should be nice for something to eat for her.

Yen thought as he would stop by the bench, and hand the speak as he offered the girl an fresh strawberry jam filled pastery. The scent would be sweet. Just like an fresh baked good that was recently purchased

"You seem up early. Here have one. eat up or it will go cold pretty quick."

Yen offered as he swept an glance over the girl breifly and shot a warm smile. He still took sometime to address people. An mistake that many higher up leaders made in his rise through the ranks. if he could'nt share a small pastry with an genin. Then  how could he expect to be an leader in the village. There were times to be off hand, but working on the ground played an greater role then many will admit.

wc: 586

At heart, Kozachi was a cynic. Thus, it was somewhat of an unpleasant surprise that a strange man came up to her and told her to "eat up". She thought of giving him some kinda snarky answer like "sorry, I don't swing that way", which while true, wouldn't exactly be the most genial way to start off a conversation. Well, maybe it depended. His face seemed familiar, and she was quite sure that he was a leaf shinobi of repute. It had nauseated her to think of it, but she needed information, and needed some way to ply that information from the people who had it.

Well, at least she had enough pride left to prevent herself from going that far. All this, of course, was while recognizing that pride was a useless tool, used by those who had few talents and a deplorable work ethic. If things really got desperate, or if she wanted something bad enough, Kozachi had to admit to herself that she'd gladly cast aside that pride that had been trained into her since birth. Anyways, as she was saying before, this guy looked really familiar. His face was partially concealed, and what she could see wasn't that interesting to begin with, but she knew she'd seen that hat somewhere before.

She looked at the pastry the man had given her. Probably just a gesture of goodwill, she thought to herself. No need to be jumpy around coworkers. Giving the fellow a wry look, she wrapped the food up and placed it next to her for later.

"I like them cold." She tried again to remember where she'd seen that damn hat before. It stuck out in the sea of shinobi like a sore thumb, so she was frustrated that she couldn't put a name to it at all. It didn't ruin the man's first impression at all, however. Yeah, sure, he dressed a little oddly, but he wasn't the only one. Sometimes she felt like the collective of ninja in the village were more like a costume party than anything else. So difficult to take seriously, huh. That's the hidden leaf village for you.

Well, Kozachi was never one for subtlety in public social conversations. It was just kind of a waste of time in general. To that end, she broke the ice with the big question.

"I know I've seen you in the news before, dunno where though. I'm Kozachi, and I live in that stupid compound over there." She indicated the Uchiha clan compound, lounging sullenly a few blocks away. "Who're you?"

[TWC 941
sorry, post was short by about 100]

Yen grinned a little at the girls words. It was an honest assesment of memories. He had been perhaps seen by many at one time. However, the meeting he had to go was urgent. Still he kept in mind the girl wanted cold pasteries, and the complex she lived in.

"Unfortunately i have to get going. But i am yensung aburame. I shall remember to give you a cold pastry next time we meet."

Yens words were soft, but he also kept moving. The flapping of his long black cloak would reveal  the jounin jacket he wore underneath his cloak. The short steps of his disappeared from the bench area where the girl sat. He had to pick up the pace.  The looming size of the hokage building grew steadily larger.
The closer he drew towards the building.

As yen travled through the morning village. He always appreciated the peaceful appearance of the sleeping village. The lights were off, and the sound of an occasional snoring induvidual. It was at least nice to see another face amid the crowd.  Still another morning when he had time to chat.

He would figure a way to even improve the complex's living conditions. As comfort for shinobi in his village was a priority of his. Still  it would be but a fraction for the deputy kage. Reaching the steps yen glanced up at the hokage office.

The hokage probably pulled another allnighter. As long as he gets a few winks of sleep. Or a bit of meditation. It will be a good thing for him. Otherwise i might have to tell him to take a day off, and leave the haggeling to me.

Yen thought as he noted three leaving anbu. Their shifts had changed, and yen smiled softly. As he flicked a few hundred ryo towards the three. The three stared with an look of wonder and surprise, but yen raised a hand, and smiled speaking up.

"Grab yourselves something to eat you three. This week im treating the anbu for your hard work "

The surprise act of generosity from yen was perhaps the greatest shock of all. The three bowed graciously, and dissappeared home. Sweeping by the secutary desk yen slipped the girl an now cool pastery, and headed off upstairs  towards the hokage office.

(Exit)

Twc:970

All words going to yin release sensory dampening mist.

Approved @ yen