'Falling' Out Of Windows
The next morning brought a bright and warm day, Kiba waking up at around seven a.m. He started making his breakfast after putting Akumaru outside, and then his shuffling thoughts landed on Ryu. Maybe he should wake her up now before he left for training that way she wouldn't go without breakfast. He climbed upstairs and knocked on the spare room's door.
"Ryu, are you awake?" he asked. He waited a moment before opening the door, and poking his head in.
The extended lump that was under the covers proved that she was still asleep, and he walked over to her. He gently shook her.
"Hey, Ryu!" he said as he did. "Wake up."
A small moan came from her as she rolled over. He shook her again, and nothing came from her. He called her name a few more times, and, in venting his frustration, shook her a bit more roughly. The only thing this produced was Ryu burrowing deeper into her covers. A knocking from downstairs saved her from Kiba beating her over the head with a pillow.
He went downstairs and opened the door, restraining a yelp when Kurenai-sensei was there.
"Sensei? Why are you here?" he asked. "Training doesn't start for another hour."
"We're starting late today," she explained. "Is Ryu awake?"
"No. That's what I was just working on," he said.
"Can I help?"
"Sure."
She walked in and he lead her upstairs. She watched Ryu sleep for a moment before kneeling down to look into her face. She reached over and opened one of her eyes.
"Huh," she said after putting it back down.
"What?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No," she said. "But... Either she's an extremely heavy sleeper or she's in a coma..."
Kiba thought for a moment while Kurenai investigated a spray bottle in the room. He looked at his teacher.
"I think I've got it! Wait here," he said before running downstairs.
He went outside and found Akumaru. He then went back upstairs and placed the puppy on the bed. The puppy looked at him in question, and he motioned to him to do something to Ryu. Akumaru walked over to her face and started to bark. She moved the covers over her head while moaning.
Akumaru, not one to be defeated so easily, crawled under the covers, and started to bark at her from there. This went on for a few minutes. Kiba folded his arms, trying to think of another way to wake her up. The puppy climbed out from under the covers and went to sit at the other end of the bed. Kurenai picked up the spray bottle and turned to Kiba.
"What's in this?" she asked.
"Water."
"Oh, good."
She moved the covers off of Ryu's head and sprayed. Ryu immediately shrieked and sprang up onto the bed. She, seeing the spray bottle, quickly snatched it from Kurenai' s hands and sprayed her back.
"What's the big idea, waking me up like that?!" she said, not sounding too happy.
"Well, you wouldn't wake up through normal means so we had to improvise," said Kiba's teacher, completely calm as she brushed the mist from her hair. Ryu sat back down on the bed, Kurenai's cool soothing her temper.
"Oh, sorry," she said. "I sleep like the dead. It used to take my mom forever to wake me up."
"Now that you are," said Kurenai. "I need you to get dressed and come with me."
"Why?" both Kiba and Ryu asked at the same time. They looked at one another.
"You need to meet someone," she answered. She walked out of the room. Ryu looked at Kiba.
"Who do you think she wants me to meet?" she asked him. He shrugged as he picked Akumaru up off the bed.
"There are lots of people to meet in the Leaf Village," he said. Ryu folded her arms, almost pouting.
"That's not an answer and you know it," she said. He smiled at her, the points of his canines almost breaking through.
He then left the room for her to get dressed. He got downstairs to find his sensei inspecting the contents of his refridgerator. She looked back at him.
"I haven't eaten. Do you mind?" she asked him.
"Uh... I guess not..." he said, not exactly sure what to say about his teacher rummaging through his fridge.
Ryu came downstairs and joined her in looking for food. She found some yogurt and then turned around to face Kiba.
"Is it okay if I eat this?" she asked.
"Depends. Is it rasberry or strawberry?"
"It's... Rasberry."
"You can eat it. The spoons are in there."
Kurenai made toast as Ryu ate her yogurt, and Kiba munched at his cereal that had become a little soggy from the time spent waking Ryu up. His teacher finished before everyone, and quickly got Ryu out of her seat.
"We have to go now," she said. "It's not polite to keep people waiting!"
"But I'm not done yet!" Ryu protested as she fumbled for her nearly finished yogurt.
They left anyway, Kurenai ignoring Ryu's arguments and Kiba wondering what exactly his teacher was so worked up about. Kurenai lead Ryu through the morning crowd, making sure to keep her close so she wouldn't get lost. Which wasn't so easy as the girl was easily distracted by the new surroundings and people they passed. They stopped at a tall, tan building with symbols written in red on the front. Kurenai took her inside and she talked breifly to a person behind a desk while Ryu took in her new surroundings.
She then beckoned to the girl to follow her up some stairs. She ran over to her and they started to climb.
"What kind of place is this?" Ryu asked. "There are so many different ninjas here."
"This is where the hokage is when he deals with village business," she said. "We're here to talk about you."
"Oh... So, we're- Wait a second! What?!"
She didn't have a chance as Kurenai nudged her through the door and found herself in a brown room facing an old man behind a desk. He wore the unique red and white hat of the hokage. Four other ninjas were in the room, about the same age as Kurenai. Or so she guessed, but she wasn't so sure about the guy with silver hair and the ninja headband over one of his eyes. She gulped as she was frozen in front of the leader of the village.
"So," said one of the ninjas, who had shiny black hair in a bowl cut. "What's so important that we all had to be here? And who's the girl you brought with you?"
"This," said Kurenai, gesturing to Ryu. "Is Ryu Akihara, the daughter of Tetsu Akihara."
About everyone in the room except for the hokage seemed more awake now. The man with the bowl cut seemed thoroughly surprised. The one with silver hair cocked his head at her and came closer to her. He bent down to look into her face. Ryu tried not to fidget.
"Uh-huh," he said, his voice even and laidback. "That's Tetsu alright. I'd recognize that face anywhere."
He straightened up. "I knew your dad when he was your age. We grew up together."
"Me too!" the man with the bowl cut chimed in. "Maybe he told you about us. This is Kakashi,"
He gestured to the ninja with silver hair in front of her. He then jerked his thumb back at himself.
"And I'm Guy," he said. He then gave her a big smile.
Ryu guessed he was trying to be friendly, but she hated to admit all he had accomplished was proving that he was crazy. His movements were jerky and animated, something she herself was prone to look like, but he made it seem... slightly strange. She liked Kakashi though. He seemed slightly more normal, and she liked his voice. Now that she thought of it, their names did ring a few bells. She looked up at Kurenai.
"Did you know my dad?" she asked her. She shook her head.
"No. Tetsu was a bit too wild for my taste." she said. Kurenai looked over at Asuma.
"What about you?"
Asuma shook his head. "We didn't get along too well. I thought he was nuts and he thought the same of me."
Ryu looked at Guy and Kakashi. "Well, now that I think of it, I think my dad did tell me about you." she said. "I think he said something about you and Kakashi being rivals or something like that. He always had to try and calm you down."
This she said to Guy while pointing a finger. He seemed a bit uncomfortable at this news.
"If I remember right," said Kakashi. "It was us who always had to calm Tetsu down. He was a character. Until he met Shana that is."
Guy laughed. "I remember that! It was as if she hit a magic button when they met and he became almost normal. He was actually able to sit still through an entire lesson after they started seeing each other."
The hokage cleared his throat and everyone became still. He looked straight at Ryu.
"So, Ms. Akihara, what has brung you to the Leaf Village?" he asked. "Tetsu's parents disowned him after he married your mother since she was from the Sound Village, yes?"
Ryu nodded her head. "I came here because I had nowhere else to go," she said. She bit her lip as she looked over at Kakashi and Guy. "You see, both my parents are dead so I came here to see if my grandparents would take me in."
After hearing this the room became energized as Guy burst out in questions.
"Tetsu's dead?!" he exclaimed. "When? How?"
Ryu hesitated before answering. She hated answering qustions like this. All it did was dredge up bad memories of greif and terror.
"He... He was attacked by a tiger. And he died from his injuries." she said. A hollow feeling welled up in her chest as she remembered the rest.
"He actually died... six years ago."
Guy became silent and leaned against the wall as the hokage continued his questions.
"And your mother?" he asked. Ryu bit her lip. This was even harder.
"She..."
More memories that made her want to retch clawed up her throat. She folded her arms to hide that she was holding herself. Old scars on her legs and arms burned in remembered pain.
"She died from a snake bite," she said quickly before her voice decided to leave. The hokage leaned forward, folding his hands.
"Did your mother or your father teach you ninjutsu?"
She was able to recover some of her composure now. Thinking about her lessons always steadied her.
"They both taught me everything they knew," she answered. He nodded.
"Good. As much as an academy might of taught you?"
She nodded her head. "My dad kept journals of his academy years, so he taught me from them. I learned everything he learned here, and then some."
The hokage cocked his head. "And then some?"
"Uh-huh. The Akihara jutsus."
"Ah. Very good."
He looked at the teachers and around him and beckoned all of them to come closer to him. As they started to talk amongst each other with the hokage, Ryu found herself ignored. She started to wander around the room, looking at the different pictures of the past hokages. She paused at a picture of the Third Hokage. She had heard about what happened to him. She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She then walked over to some plants next to the window. She looked up at Guy, who had broken off from the group to stand next to her.
"Ryu," he said. "Do you think you could stand right here?"
He gestured toward a spot in front of the open window. She blinked at him in question, but then did as she was asked.
"Right here?" she said, pointing at the floor at her feet.
"Yes, there."
His attention was suddenly taken by something out the window.
"Hey! What's that?!" he said, pointing out the window.
Always curious, Ryu quickly whirled around and leanded out the window a bit to try and see what he was pointing at.
"What? Where?"
Guy then pushed her out the window with a quick shove. Kurenai had turned just in time to see him do it.
"Guy?! What did you just do?!" she shouted. He looked at her, completely calm.
"I was just testing-"
"But she might not know that jutsu yet!! Are you crazy?!"
Ryu then appeared at the window, whisps of white cloud trailing off her wrists and ankles. She stood there, floating at the third story window, and she was not happy. Guy's back was to her, and she quickly smacked the back of his head.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" she screamed at him, her eyes gleaming ferociously. "You could of killed me!!!"
"But I didn't," he said smugly while rubbing the back of his inflicted head. "You know that jutsu so that means you're already pretty good at wind control."
This only seemed to enrage the girl even more. Ryu's eyes turned a violent shade of purple as she started to scream offenses at him. The teachers and hokage stood there until the hokage decided to step in.
"Ryu!"
She snapped out of her temper to look at him. "Yes?"
"Do you wish to stay in the village?"
She nodded her head.
"Do you want to continue your training?"
She nodded her again as she stepped back into the room. "Yeah."
"How is your taijutsu?" he asked her.
The question sounded strange to her for some reason. Ryu fidgeted as she contemplated how to answer without embarassing herself.
"Well," she said, sounding unsure. "It's... not something to boast about..."
The hokage sat back in his chair. "Could you... elaborate please?" he said.
She hung her head. "It's sucks," she said. "My taijutsu's horrible. I can barely break a board."
"Would you like to be better at it?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Alright," The hokage straightened some papers and grabbed a pen.
"Ryu Akihara, we've decided you're going to train under Guy Might."
Ryu blinked then looked back at Guy.
"Wait, you mean with him?!" she said, exasperated. The hokage nodded.
"But-but- he pushed me out a window!! Don't you think assigning me to him might not be a good idea?!"
"Guy's a little strange when it comes to his students," said Kakashi, sensing that Ryu would stomp right out of the room and not come back. "So what he just did isn't as life threatening as you think. He wouldn't of pushed you out that window if he didn't think you wouldn't be able to save yourself. It was just a way to test your strengths."
The girl sharply turned around to face Guy, her arms folded and her face stubborn and determined. Her eyes held a little mistrust and anger toward him.
"Will you teach me taijutsu?" she asked him straight forwardly.
"I'll do my best, but it really depends on you." he said.
She looked down at the floor in thought, her foot tappping a quick beat. She then looked back at Guy.
"Okay," she said. "I guess I'll go along with it."
He then gave her that large smile again, and he clapped his hands together.
"Alright, let's get down to business!" he said. "Come follow me and you'll meet your other teammates."
She followed him outside the room, and waved goodbye to the hokage and the other ninjas. Kurenai waved back; she had found she liked Ryu. She had spunk that was for sure, and the fact that Kiba had warmed up to her so quickly was a good thing. As they walked down the stairs, Guy was already starting to ask Ryu questions about the extense of her taijutsu training.
"How many pounds can you lift?" he asked.
"Um... About fifteen."
"Can you pick a person up?"
"Uh... I can pick a seventy pound kid up. I think..."
"And how long can you hold him up for?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you know how many sit-ups you can do in a minute?"
"No."
"What about push-ups?"
"Nope. What exactly does this all have to do with taijutsu?"
"Everything!" Guy declared, almost making Ryu jump. "Taijutsu is about strength and being one with your body!To become stronger both physically and spiritually is the key to bettering your taijutsu!"
She looked at him for a moment as they walked out of the building and onto the street.
"And that specifically means...what?" she asked.
"It means I'm going to make you train. Hard." he said as he lead her through the crowd. "To be more specific, by the end of this week, I expect you to be able to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups."
"What, in a row?"
"Yes, in a row!"
"What?! I'll never-!!"
"Aha!" Guy boomed. He turned on her, his eyes gleaming. "That's your problem!"
Ryu looked at him in question. "What is?"
"You need to stop thinking 'I can't' and start thinking 'I can'!" he said this while tapping her forehead. Purple splotches started to bloom in her brown eyes so he stopped before she could start screaming curses at him again.
They started to walk again. "So, you meam I need to think positive?" she asked. Guy nodded.
"But I already do!"
"Then what's wrong? Why do you think you can't do what I asked?"
"Because... Because..."
Ryu searched for an answer that wouldn't embarass her. He looked back at her, expectanat. She looked back at him.
"I guess you could say," she started. " it's because I'm too skinny. And I'm short."
They had traveled far enough to the training sight that the village was behind them. He turned around to look at her and see if her claims were accurate. She was a little on the scrawny side, and, if he was right, the girl barely made 5'1. The skinny part they could fix, but the height...
"Well, you won't be skinny for long if you eat right," he said. He started to walk again. "C'mon, we're not that far away."
The way to training reminded her of the way to Kiba's sight, but her's didn't seem to have as many trees. A clearing opened up and she saw three kids that looked her age doing various tasks. One of them, who was doing push-ups, reminded her of Guy so strongly that she wondered if he was his son. There was a girl with her hair up in buns who seemed to be practicing markmanship. She noted the Chinese style of her clothes, and then turned her attention to the other boy.
The first thing that sprang into her mind was 'cold-eyed' when she analyzed him. He seemed to be concentrating very hard on the padded log he was hitting. When both she and Guy entered the clearing, the boy who reminded her of Guy stopped what he doing, but didn't move. Guy whistled.
"Team! Come here! I want you to meet someone," he announced.
They came forward, and each one looked at her, giving Ryu the slight feeling of being under a microscope. Guy gestured to her.
"This is Ryu Akihara," he said. "She's just been assigned to us."
Ryu waved, and gave a feeble smile. The girl smiled back and the boy waved as well. The other did nothing, but seemed to regard her with ice in his pale eyes. She resisted the urge to fidget. Guy pointed to each one as he gave their names.
"That's Lee," The boy then spoke.
"Hello," he said, sounding friendly.
"Ten-Ten," She nodded.
"And Nedgie," The same cold look.
He looked back at her. "They're your team now, and teammates look out for one another. So, you take care of them, and they'll take care of you." he said. He then gestured for them to go back to what they had been doing.
"Lee, come here!" he said. The boy spun around from his walk and came forward.
"Yes, Guy-sensei?"
"Apparently, Ryu knows nothing of taijutsu so-"
"Hey!"
He looked down at the obstinent face. Ryu was frowning at him in stubborness.
"I said my taijutsu sucks, not that I don't know anything!" she said. Guy tried not to roll his eyes.
"Alright, what do you know then?"
"I know Wings Ascent and I've been working on Four Dragons." she said. "I also know a few small moves."
Guy thought a moment while Lee decided to ask questions.
"What is Wings Ascent?" he asked Ryu.
"It's a family jutsu. My dad taught it to me." she answered. Lee looked at her, a few more questions buzzing in his head. But Guy made up his mind before he could ask any more.
"Alright, Ryu show me what you've got," he ordered. "Lee, you're the dummy; Ryu, attack him when you're ready!"
Lee looked a little nervous at this. Unlike Guy, he had noticed Ryu's legs which, though they were small, moved with strength and balance. He wasn't exactly eager to know what a kick from her felt like. But, he did as he was told. Ryu looked at Guy questioningly.
"You use your students for test dummies?" she asked dubiously.
"Once in a while. This is just to measure your skills."
She shrugged, and turned to face Lee who had gone off a few yards. The white whisps of cloud flared up around her ankles and wrists as she took a stance. One foot in front of the other while her hands were put up in front of her chest in loose fists. Nedgie and Ten-Ten had stopped what they had been doing to watch. She took a step forward as her feet left the ground to hover.
She then started to 'run' toward Lee, if you could call what her gliding over the grass running. She was definently fast as she was in of Lee before he could put his hands up. But just as she was about to hit him in the front, she dissappeared.
"Huh?" he blinked, but then felt a blow from behind.
Ryu had reappeared behind him, hitting him in the back with a lash from her forearm. She had used a straight hand like a whip. But-
She then came around from behind him.
"Come on!" she said, hands on her hips. "This isn't going to work if you don't attack me!"
"You want me to attack you?" he asked.
"Yes!"
"Okay!"
He went after her, ready to execute a Leaf Hurricane. She was able to effectively dodge it, being able to match his speed. He had been prepared for her to do that and improvised by throwing a punch. She dodged again, making Lee wonder at their matched speed. He had never met anyone as fast as him before. It appeared that Ryu hadn't either, but she grinned as they sparred.
"This is fun!" she said, her eyes dancing as she continued to dodge. "I've never met anyone as fast as I am before! I think I like you!"
Lee smiled. "I hope you still like me if I beat you then!" he said.
"Ooh, is that a challenge?"
"Perhaps,"
The girl laughed wickedly, and gave him a wild grin. He began to try to hit again, but she was a good dodger. He noticed that her movements were steadily guiding her downward. So the next attack he aimed lower then where he actually wanted to hit her. It looked like it was going to work until Ryu dropped to the ground, and the next thing Lee knew a heel kick had sent him into the air.
Ten-Ten described it to him later as a fast hand-stand with Ryu's ankle aimed at his jaw. Another kick hit him in the back, and he found the blows going in a zig-zag line. He was about to stop the next attack by grabbing her leg, but as soon as she reappeared to do so, she dissappeared. He was floating now and he looked up to see Ryu above him, flying. She crossed her arms into an 'x' and, in putting her hands arms at her sides, sent a wave of wind at him, followed by her feet into his chest.
When he hit the ground, the wind made a crater around him. Ryu landed away from the crater and looked at Guy.
"How was that?" she asked.
"Not bad," he said. "It was nice to watch."
Lee then sat up in the crater. "That didn't hurt!" he said, sounding very surprised. Ten-Ten looked at him.
"It didn't?" she asked.
"No! Not in the least!"
Guy looked at Ryu a bit sternly. "Alright, what'd you do?" he said. She smiled at him sheepishly.
"I used my wind to cushion the hits," she said. Lee climbed out of the crater and he came over to her.
"I'm glad you did cushion them. You may have broken my ribs with your kicks," he said. Ryu shook her head.
"I couldn't of broken your ribs if I tried," she said. "I didn't even have to put that much wind in to cushion them. You're just a toughie."
Lee shrugged as Ten-Ten approuched her. "You said you used wind to cushion the blows," she said. "Does that mean you can control wind?"
Ryu nodded. "Yup,"
"How?"
"The Akiharas," Nedgie finally spoke. " are a family who can control wind. It's a jutsu they're born with giving them many different abilities involving it."
"That's right," said Ryu. "But how did you know that?"
"They used to be well-known," he answered. "And the last of them were supposedly dead from the Sound invasion. Where did you come from?"
The questions seemed innocent enough to Ryu, but she didn't like the look on the boy's face while he asked them. She didn't like his voice either, as if he was doing her a favor by looking down on her. To her, he seemed to radiate a kind of arrogance mixed with anger. He seemed very emotionally supressed, from her point of view anyway.
"My grandparents, the ones you said that are dead, disowned my father after he married my mom. That's where I came from." she said. He looked away, giving the air of being satisfied with her.
After all of this, Ryu had decided she didn't like Nedgie. She didn't like the way he looked at people in general, and the way he had spoken to her. That inner rage she felt from him wasn't doing him any favors either. She turned her attention back to Lee and Ten-Ten as Nedgie went back to whatever he had been doing. Guy folded his arms.
"Okay, so now that's in the open, I want you to demonstrate your wind control." he said to Ryu. "Your dad wasn't terrific, but at least he knew how to make the wind blow during summer sessions."
"Okay," she said. She ran a few yards away and the cloud whisps came up again.
She started to glide over the ground again, making sharp turns and twists. Ten-Ten decided to voice a question she had had for a while.
"Ryu," she called to her. "What do you call what you're doing right now?"
"Air sliding,"
Ryu then flipped up into the air, creating a loose whirlwind which spun itself out. She started a few more and then dispersed them. She went back down to the ground, and turned to Guy.
"I'm going to do a Dragon's Blade Dance," she said. "My dad never could get the hang of it so you've probably never seen it."
Guy nodded his head. Ryu actually did seem to start dancing as she started the pattern for the jutsu. She leaped and landed on one foot, spun on that foot, and then did the same thing over again about four times. She then jumped to the middle as four whirlwinds started up in the places she had spun. The whirlwinds grew to small, contained tornadoes as Ryu began to spin in place.
A new tornado started to form around where she had been and the other four were drawn to it. They joined up, making the tornado larger. Suddenly the air around it started to shimmer and gleam. The trees around the shining wind started to rapidly lose leaves, showers of them coming down in great heaps. Ryu then came out of the top of the tornado and it suddenly dispersed, shredding the air above them with blasts of white.
She was followed onto the ground by several sliced tree branches. Guy nodded.
"Very nice," he said. "But you're right. Your taijutsu sucks compared to your genjutsu and ninjutsu."
Ryu couldn't help but cringe at this half-way compliment. Guy looked at Lee.
"Lee, tell me what you do everyday." he said to him. Lee looked a little confused at why he was asking him this.
"I train." he answered, feeling somewhat silly.
"Uh... Be more specific."
"I try to do 200 squats, 300 jump ropes, 400 punches and 500 kicks."
Guy looked over at Ryu. "Did you get all that?" he asked her.
"I wish I hadn't," she replied, her eyes much larger then they already were. "You're not going to try and get me to do all that, are you?"
He shrugged. "Not so much. But starting today I want you to work on your punches. I didn't see one punch during all that, and the only thing you did close to a punch was that horrible excuse of a chop. Get over to the logs and start practicing!"
The girl's spirits visually dropped at this command as she resigned herself to start walking over to the padded posts. When she got over to one, she tentively poked it, wondering how soft or hard it was. She heard Ten-Ten giggle behind her.
"It's not going to eat you, Ryu!" she said. "Go ahead and punch it."
"It's breaking my knuckles I'm afraid of, not a piece wood wood eating me," she said. This made Ten-Ten laugh even more, though she could tell it wasn't in humiliation. Guy clapped his hands.
"Alright, Ryu! Start punching! And let me know when you get to a hundred!"
"What?!"
By the time Ryu was able to drag herself back to Kiba's house, dinner had already been finished for an hour. Kiba was outside in the yard messing around with Akumaru when he heard her come in.
"Hey Ryu!" he called to her in greeting. "You missed dinner!"
"I did? Aw man..."
He let Akumaru have the rope they had been tugging back and forth as he went in to check on her. She sounded really tired. He saw she had collapsed into a chair, her top half draped over the table. He then noticed her knuckles which looked sore and bruised, one or two were even bleeding.
"What happened to you?" he asked as he sat down next to her. She sighed.
"I was assigned a team,"
"Really? Who?"
"Guy."
"Oh." That explained the knuckles. Lee had told him about the training he did once, and it didn't sound like fun to him though Lee had been smiling when he told him.
"Do you want something to eat?" he asked her.
"Yes, please."
He went over to the refridgerator and took out the food they had saved for her. He thought of something as he got her a plate.
"Y'know, you getting assigned to a team explains something," he said as he brought the food over to her. Ryu weakly sat up in her chair and shakily handled her chopsticks.
"Yeah? What does it explain?" she asked as she spooned some rice into a bowl. Kiba reached into one of his pockets and took out a Leaf Village band.
"Kurenai-sensei asked me to give you this," he said as he handed it to her.
She took it and handled it for a while. She ran her fingers over the Leaf symbol, feeling the grooves and turns in the metal. She looked at Kiba.
"What do I do with it?" she asked.
"You wear it."
"Where?"
"Anywhere, really."
Ryu looked at again for a bit, then bent down. She then tied the band above her right ankle. She lifted her leg to see how well it looked; she decided she liked it there. She pointed at it.
"Can I wear it there?" Kiba nodded.
"So," he said as she started to tentively eat. "How was your first day with Guy anyway?"
"Horrendous. He pushed me out a window,"
"He what?!"
"He pushed me out a third-floor window to test my wind manipulation skills. Or so he claims." she explained. Kiba looked at her in question.
"You can manipulate wind?"
"Yup," she said between bites. "It's an Akihara jutsu. We're born with it."
She turned to him. "Do you want to see?"
"Sure,"
She held her hands out in front of her and had them parted a few inches away from eachother. The air between them started to shimmer and twist around until he could see a ball of swirling wind between her hands. She then took it in one of her hands and tossed it back and forth like a real ball. She grinned at Kiba, a mischievous light in her eyes.
"Catch!" she said as she tossed it him.
She laughed as he fumbled for the ball of air. But when he did put his hands on it, the ball suddenly exploded in a burst of small lights. He looked at her, a little exasperated at her trick which she continued to laugh at. He quickly snatched her chopsticks from her hand and then popped a vegetable sushi in her mouth. Ryu's face turned several shades of green after he did this, and she jumped up from her seat.
It was Kiba's turn to laugh as she spat the sushi out of her mouth and into the trash. She then whirled on him, her eyes turning from brown to purple in a second.
"Don't ever do that again!" she half-snarled at him. "I hate vegetables!!"
He blinked. "You do?"
"Yes, I- Well, actually no. I like carrots and potatoes, but that's about it."
Kiba then started to laugh again, much to Ryu's distemper. She was about to hit him when she remembered her knuckles. They screamed in protest as she tried to curl them into a fist. She glowered at him.
"You're so lucky I can't hit you right now," she grumbled.
"Oh, sorry, Ryu," he said, realising the misunderstanding. "I wasn't laughing at you; it was what you said."
She blinked. "Oh."
He looked at her knuckles, the scent of her blood hitting his nose at that moment. A fresh cut was spreading across one of them.
"By the way, what exactly are you going to do about your knuckles anyway?" he asked. She looked down at them.
"I don't know. I didn't think of that during training."
Kiba rolled his eyes as he got up. "Follow me," he said as he walked upstairs.
She followed him as he lead her into the bathroom. He opened the medicine cabinet and started to look for the bandages and medical tape. Ryu looked around the place and poked her head into the shower.
"Where are your parents?" she asked, her voice echoing in the tub.
"My dad had to go meet someone in town, and my mom's out shopping. Come out of there, and let me fix those knuckles."
She did and held her right hand out. He spread the antibacterial ointment on them before he started to wrap the bandages around her hand.
"You've got really small hands," he remarked as he did this.
"I know. That's why my taijutsu's so bad; you can't throw a decent punch when your fist is the size of a light-bulb."
She flexed her bandaged hand as he started to work on the other. "What are you going to do tomorow? Isn't Guy expecting you to work on the same thing tomorrow?" he asked. Ryu shrugged.
"I'll think of something." she said. She remembered something then. "Oh! Guy said he might try to help me find an apartment!"
He looked at her. "He did?" he said, a little surprised. "What, does he think I'm going to kick you out or something?"
"No," she said. "He said something about it not being a good thing for me to be staying with you. Something about me being a girl and you being a boy; I dunno, I wasn't paying attention to him."
Kiba rolled his eyes. Blasted nutball, he thought. I work with dogs; that doesn't mean I am one. He gently patted her newly wrapped, carefully avoiding the knuckles.
"Ta-dah! Good as new!" he proclaimed. She looked at her hands.
"Thanks Kiba," she said. She stood up and stretched.
He heard a couple of bones pop, the sound making him flinch. He hated the sound of bone.
"I think I'm gonna go to bed," she said. "I'm beat after Guy made me run those laps."
He left the bathroom with her, and they parted ways. She started over to the spare room, and he was going back downstairs to work with Akumaru. He turned as he thought of something.
"Oh, wait! Ryu!" he said to her back. She turned around.
"How am I going to wake you up tomorrow?"
"Oh, you can just use the spray bottle again; that seemed to work pretty good." she replied. She then turned and opened her door.
Kiba went back outside and tagged Akumaru. The puppy barked imputence then started to chase him. Upstairs, Ryu could hear him. She watched them from the window for a bit. She giggled as Akumaru tripped Kiba in their small game of tag. She then flopped down on the bed, fatigue quickly taking her senses. She kicked off her sandals and curled around the blankets. It wasn't long until all she heard was her own breath and heartbeat.