Arc One, Chapter 2: The Man
"The new tune which was to be the theme-song of Hate Week (the Hate Song it was called) had already been composed..." - George Orwell, 1984.
Kaito flopped to the ground, panting heavily.
"Come on Kaito," Aoi cheered, "You can do it!"
"You're almost there!" Sora encouraged.
"I can't," he wheezed, "It's too much..."
"Just three more! Hayato's doing one, so that makes two!"
A tick mark appeared on Kaito's head.
"Why the hell do we have to push boulders up a hill!? And why aren't you helping?"
"The client said he wants to add these to his collection. And, I'm not helping because girls shouldn't have to do this sort of work."
"Was he drunk when he made this request?"
"I doubt it," Sora said, "Usually drunkards can't find their way to the mansion."
"Don't listen to him. I can name a number of times the Fifth has entered the mansion drunk." Aoi deadpanned.
Kaito stood up, glaring at the two ninja.
"Why aren't you helping, sensei?"
"Same reason as Aoi."
"Because you're a girl?"
"Oh, heavens no. Because I'm lazy."
"Huh. At least you have the courtesy to admit it." Kaito sweatdropped.
"What? No! I'm not lazy!" Aoi denied.
He began rolling the boulder uphill when Hayato came down. Kaito felt a surge of energy and pushed the boulder quickly. Hayato, who hadn't broken a sweat yet, pushed his boulder behind Kaito. When they got to the top, they rolled the rocks next to the others. An elderly man came out of a clumsily built house. He was very thin, and had pointy gray beard and a bald scalp that made him look like an old monk.
"Thank you," He smiled, "I really appreciate it."
"Phew," Kaito said, wiping the sweat from his face, "No problem!"
Hayato started on his way down as Sora and Aoi made their way up. Kaito leaned on one of the boulders. It started moving beneath his weight, and soon it pushed the others down the hill. Kaito fell to the ground, muttering "Oops." silently.
The eight boulders came crashing down like an avalanche, carrying dirt and grit with them. Hayato turned around and his shoulders slumped. They all deadpanned, their eyes twitching twice.
"If we survive this," Sora said, "Kaito better run. Fast." Sora yelled the last part loud enough for the ninja to hear him.
"Agreed." The two said through gritted teeth, and then the avalanche descended upon them.
The old man stood near Kaito, peering at the destruction below.
"It won't be too long, now, until they come after you. You should use this opportunity as a head start. Don't worry; I won't take any of the pay off. Now hurry on, young man!"
Kaito got up and ran, yelling "Thank you!" while the aged man waved good-bye politely.
"Kaito..." His team spoke in menacing harmony.
Kaito dashed through the streets of Konoha, searching for the Hokage's mansion. He happened to be in a crowded section of Konoha, a shopping center with tons of tourists and local villagers, tons of merchants set up. He turned right to find Hayato, his hair concealing his face. He cracked his knuckles and raised his head, his eyes burning a wicked red as he glared venomously at Kaito.
"You're. Dead." He said, and an evil aura around him.
Kaito gulped and turned left to find Aoi with the same scary aura, walking slowly to Kaito.
Kaito shivered instinctively, and looked up to see his sensei on the building above him, glaring at him with the same aura as the others.
He was trapped, with only one way to go: forward. It no doubt held a trap for him, but he'd rather that then deal with them. He ran down that street. Merchants spat curses at him as he bumped into them and their customers, but he ignored it. He could see the shadow of his sensei in the corner of his eye, leaping from building to building.
His sprint was short lived when he bumped into someone, falling down.
"Watch it!" Yelled a familiar voice.
Kaito lifted his head to see his friend Ren.
When he stood, brushing his clothes off, his eyes locked onto his friend. He wore his hitai-ate on his right elbow. Ren's eyebrows rose.
"Kaito!" He held a hand out. Kaito grabbed it, and he lifted the genin up. "Why were you running?"
A figure flew at Kaito. He back flipped and dodged Hayato, his fist leaving a crack in the ground. Aoi was suddenly behind him, Sora-sensei on the side of him. Sora raised his hand without turning towards the genin, and slammed it on his head. Kaito landed silently on the ground, his butt sticking in the air, and a small soul escaped from his open mouth.
"Haha..." Ren said nervously.
"Ren-chan!" A girl's voice squealed.
Ren blushed and swung his head around.
"Stop calling me that!"
Three people came to join Ren, one wearing a flak jacket similar to Sora's.
A boy that stood slightly taller than Ren, with short spiky brown hair, dark brown eyes, walked next to him. He had a dim blue zip-up jacket, black Shinobi sandals, and gray pants on. He wore his hitai-ate on his forehead.
A girl a little smaller than Ren ran next to him. She had blond hair wrapped in a high-ponytail, cut right below the shoulder-blades, and three long strands of hair on the right side of her face. She wore a yellow short-sleeved qipao-style blouse with red trimmings, dark blue shorts, blue sandals, and fingerless gloves.
A man scratching his head slowly walked to stand next to the kids. The man has black hair which he ties into a short, high-top ponytail. He also has a goatee and dark-green markings underneath his eyes — which gives him a somewhat lazy, or tired appearance. Attire-wise, he wears the standard outfit of the Konoha shinobi consisting of the standard flak jacket and uniform. He wore his forehead protector strapped on his left leg.
"Oh, hey Ensui." Greeted Sora.
"Hey." He replied tiredly.
"Sensei, who's this?" The blond girl asked.
"We're Team 11." Kaito said, staggering his way next to his team.
"I'm Aoi Suzuki." She bowed.
"Hayato Maki."
"Kaito Koizumi!" He tapped his headband with his thumb.
"I'm Sora Hayabusa." The man waved.
"Team 10, nice to meet you," the girl said, "I'm Emi Tachibana." She bowed.
"Ren Yoshido." He bobbed his head.
"Takehiro!" He gave thumbs up and smiled. His teeth were so white that they twinkled.
"Ensui Nara." He said nodded, his voice had a tint of sternness in it.
"Where're you guys headed to?" Aoi asked.
"Hey!" a woman who's booth they crashed in front of yelled, "Are you starting up trouble in front of my booth?" The woman had her hair in a bun, straight bangs covering her entire forehead also while wearing red dangling earrings. She sported a long-sleeved white blouse with a high collar and red fastener and edges paired with similarly coloured, puffy pants that look like a hakama, with the exposed parts of her legs near the waist covered in bandages. She tapped her foot impatiently on the ground with her black, open-toed sandals with low heels, and the shoes extend to the lower ankles.
Her store was one that sold tons of weapons. It was a very peculiar weapon shack, because there were a set of weapons labelled "not on sale" that looked pretty useless. All there was was a gourd some rope, and a giant fan. Pretty lame if you asked Kaito.
"I'll have you know-"
"Nii-chan?"" Takehiro blinked.
"Wha- Takehiro? What are you doing here?"
"We're heading back from a mission."
"Same here," Aoi shot Kaito a cold look, "We had to leave our mission to Sora-sensei's clones due to a... mishap."
Emi whispered in Ren's ear, and then retreated to the side of him.
He sighed and said, "What was your mission?"
"We had to carry fake boulders with a special sort of rock in the middle of them."
"W-wait, fake?"
"Yes, Kaito, fake. It has some sort of special rock in the middle, though, and that is what makes it heavy. I don't think you could roll an actual boulder." Aoi stated.
"I could've if I tried..." Kaito pouted.
"Yeah. We know." Sora said, shaking his head. "You guys got anything planned for today?"
"We're going to celebrate our passing today." Takehiro said, "I'm also showing some merchandise. Need any more kunai? How about shuriken? I've got them at the cheapest of prices!" He flicked his wrists and three shuriken appeared in his left hand, five kunai in his right.
Tenten sweatdropped. "At this point, I'm not sure if he got the idea from me, or if I got the idea from him..."
"Probably the second one nii-chan," Takehiro smiled, "But how about it guys?"
"No thanks..." They all said simultaneously.
"I've also for some good deals on explosives!"
Sora looked intrigued. Kaito noticed the facial expression and realized the horror that might take place if Sora actually got some explosives.
"You know, I think we've got everything!" Kaito said, chuckling nervously.
"Okay. Tell me when you want some, though. I've got them at the cheapest prices."
"Back on that celebration subject," Kaito turned to Sora, "When are we going to celebrate?"
Sora blinked.
"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin, "How about with Shikamaru's team? You don't mind, do ya?"
"I-"
"Great!" Sora exclaimed. "Come on team! Let's do one more mission." He shoved the three ninja forward hurriedly.
"Ugh..." Kaito complained.
Kaito noticed that Emi was staring at Hayato, and when he glanced her way she blushed, hiding behind Ren.
"Wait!" Ensui called, but it was too late; they already left, disappearing within the crowd.
Ensui sighed with resignation. "I need to speak quicker..."
. . .
Kaito and his team arrived at Yakiniku Q after completing their final mission for the day. They entered the restaurant and went to Ensui's team. Takehiro was at another table, offering flash bombs to a couple that were in the process of declining as politely as possible. The restaurant had green cushions on their seats, menus plastered on the walls. Each table has a charcoal brazier built in the centre and is equipped with tongs for cooking, which customers use to cook their own food after ordering it. Ensui's team had already ordered the food by the time Kaito's group came, and the smell of cooking meat began filling their area.
"Hey Ren!" Kaito exclaimed, holding out his fist.
"Yo!" He fist-bumped his childhood friend.
Hayato sat quietly in between Aoi and Sora, directly across from Emi. She slightly blushed. As it stood, Kaito was on the end, on his right Aoi, then there was Hayato, and then Sora. Ren had just taken his seat in front of Sora, Ensui on his right, Emi after, and an empty seat in front of Kaito. Kaito assumed Takehiro would be sitting there, and his suspicions were only confirmed when Takehiro came back, failing to gain a customer.
Takehiro sat in front of Kaito, staring at him for a moment.
"Who are you?"
Kaito looked around in disbelief.
"Me? I'm Kaito. Don't you remember me from earlier?"
"Huh? Was it today?"
"Take-san," Emi said, shaking her head, "You forget too much. We're working on that from now on."
"Sorry!" He smiled, scratching the back of his head. He picked up a chopstick and put pieces of meat on a saucer near him. Kaito did the same, and suddenly the plate was gone.
"Who took my-"
"Thanks!" She chimed in, placing a piece of pork in her mouth. Aoi waved her hand, smiling.
"Hey! Give it back!"
"Nope. You owe me this from earlier. Just make another plate."
"Fine." He said reluctantly, grabbing more pieces of meat.
Kaito took his first bite of the pork "Mmm." He moaned in delight, the taste of the meat indescribable.
"This is so good!" Emi blushed, touching her hand to her face.
"I've been here a few times. My cousin suggested it. I'm glad you like it." Ensui smiled.
"How often do you come here?" Takehiro asked after devouring several sticks of celery.
"Only on special occasions. I think you guys graduating is a big deal, so I thought of this place almost instantly."
"This place is great. I can't believe I've never eaten here before." Sora said.
Ensui pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We ate here two weeks ago..."
"Oh yeah!" Sora snapped his fingers, "That's when I brought that sake! Boy that Akimichi guy sure can eat."
"Yeah. Ino, Shikamaru and Sai want to see me after the day is over."
"Ah, do I have to go also?"
"Nah, it's just a personal matter."
"Oh, ok."
"Sorry I'm late," A man entered their area, "Shikadai needed some persuasion to trade."
"Shikamaru! Speaking of the devil!" Sora cheered.
The man named Shikamaru had an open high-collared short-sleeved white coat over a black shirt, a peculiar necklace draped around his neck. His pants were black also, his sandals open-toed and his hair tied up in a ponytail. His narrow brown eyes peered at the genin. "This is certainly more than four, Ensui."
"I agree. Sora joined last minute." Ensui nodded.
"What's that saying? 'The more the better'? I like that saying." Sora smiled. "Here Shikamaru, a seat right here!" He patted the seat at the end of the table. The man simply made his way around the table without complaint. If that were Kaito, Sora would have to pay for Kaito's meal just to get him over there.
Shikamaru sat down and Ensui handed him a plate. "Ah, thank you."
"Is this the man who you were talking about, Ensui-sensei?" Takehiro asked after placing some meat into his mouth.
"Hmm? Oh, yes, Shikamaru was the one who suggested this restaurant to me."
"You all like it?" Shikamaru asked. "Yessir!" Kaito grinned. Everyone else nodded in agreement, smiling pleasantly at the jonin.
"Great," He smiled, "Working with Naruto and dealing with village issues- Boruto especially- is such a trouble. Coming here helps me relax sometimes..."
Everone blinked. "Waaait, wait wait wait," Kaito put down the meat - and that was saying something for Kaito - and stared at the man before him. "You work with the Hokage?"
Shikamaru turned to Ensui, then back to the genin. "Yeah, I'm his advisor and personal guard... I thought Ensui told you this."
Ensui shrugged as shoulders as if to say "Whoops!". Kaito's gaze turned from one of baffled to awe-inspired. "That's awesome! Why haven't we seen you?"
"Raising a son and handling someone else's son has its toll you know... I caught a cold from Shizune who caught it from Boruto..," Shikamaru shook his head, "It's all a dra- A lot of work." He corrected himself.
"Say, Shikamaru," Sora finished eating, "Where are you going to later?"
Shikamaru stopped eating for a moment, then smiled. "Nowhere," he said, "Just to go visit an old friend."
"Oh, alright."
Kaito couldn't tell if Sora wanted to press on or just wasn't interested at the point, but regardless Sora sat back and asked no questions. In the corner of Kaito's eyes, though, he could see the Shikamaru reach into his pocket and fumble with something silver.
"This is our sixth mission! Are you as excited as I am?" Sora asked, shockingly with not a bit of sarcasm.
The team was utterly tired, and had no energy to reply to their sensei's question. They could barely drag themselves out of bed this early in the morning. Sora was a morning person on certain occasions apparently. Unfortunately for them, missions happened to be one of the occasions.
"Oh, come on, you little killjoys. The early bird catches the worm, right?"
"The early bird dies when that bird is pushed out the next and falls." Kaito glared at the hyperactive man.
"Why do you hate us so...?" Aoi whimpered.
"Oh come on. Waking up a tad bit early can't be that bad."
The team had a moment of silence for the hours of sleep that been killed before their eyes. Kaito almost shed a tear.
Sora opened the door and walked into the room, his squad walking wearily behind him.
There stood a long table where the Hokage and other ninja sat, distributing the missions. Shikamaru was there also, and greeted Sora's team appropriately.
The Hokage's face was concealed by the customary Hokage hat and hair, shadows cast over it to disguise his facial expression.
"Hokage-sama?" Sora asked cautiously as they walked up to the desk.
His head suddenly fell to the desk with a hard thud.
Aoi screamed as Sora and Shikamaru rushed to his side. The ninja around him helped the Hokage up, placing him on the seat.
"Is he still breathing?" One ninja asked.
"Uncertain."
Then, without warning, a loud snore rang throughout the entire room. The ninja around the Hokage face-vaulted.
"The Hokage is ... Asleep...He's just...wow." said Hayato.
"Agreed." The other two said simultaneously. Then they both blinked. "Did you just speak?" Kaito asked incredulously. Not another word was uttered from the raven-haired genii's mouth.
"Why you little!" A ninja said, shaking the blond furiously.
"Huh?" He came to, rubbing his eyes. "Ahehe... Sorry. I was a little sleepy." He scratched his face.
Sora regained his composure.
"Naruto-san, please don't scare us like that. We'd like to request a mission." Sora stated politely.
"Oh, I've got just the one. It's around here somewhere..." He began searching through an unorganized pile of papers. The Hokage's eyes had heavy bags under them. In fact, as Kaito peered more closely he could see some red paint on the Hokage's cheek.
"Here it is!" He beamed, raising the paper high. He cleared his throat. "You need to find Sen's several dogs."
"Old Man Sen?" Aoi asked, "I know him! He lost Jun, Kimi, and Rina?"
"Uh-huh!" Naruto shook his head.
"Poor Sen-san..." Aoi shook her head.
"Where does he live?"
"He lives near Old Man Yama, the guy we helped yesterday. The one with the rocks?"
"Oh! He seemed pretty cool."
"Yeah, well sometimes Sen can be the opposite of Yama. Just don't aggravate him."
"Me?" A huge grin appeared on Kaito's face, "I could never aggravate someone! Right?"
"Wrong." She replied blatantly, turning around and walking out the room.
. . .
"Whadd'ya want?" The old man groaned irritably, glaring at the Shinobi.
"We've come for your request... Do you remember?"
He blinked.
"Of course I remember!" He yelled, swinging his cane in undirected anger, "Hurry up and get to the job then!"
As he turned around, Hayato stopped him. He whispered in the man's ear, and the man suddenly burst into laughter. They whispered amongst themselves furtively as Hayato maintained his blank, iron face. Kaito and Aoi glanced at each other uneasily until Sora cleared his throat.
"Can we please get on with the mission? Do you have any-"
"I lost them around the time I went around the gates." He interrupted. His tone was no longer the grumpy old weary man, but a happy, ingenuous one.
"Uh... Thank... Thank you." Aoi stammered. Aoi was clearly at a loss of words. And Kaito couldn't blame her; if all he'd known were the loathsome forgetful man she knew, seeing him happy at least once would totally throw his world around.
"No problem." Sen smilled. They began to leave when Sen stopped Sora. "Keep good care of that boy. He's a smart one, he is!"
"Uh... Alright." Sora blinked, and then caught up with the others.
"Boy, what'd you say to him Hayato?"
"I just told him if he didn't work with us I'd split his skull open with a dull blade."
His teammates stopped in their tracks as he kept walking.
"And that worked?" Kaito asked incredulously.
"Yup. He told me, 'I'd sell my soul to a demon before I'd let you touch me', and I said, 'That demon would be a fool to get in my way'. And then-"
"No, no," Aoi interrupted, "I've had enough of this for one day."
"Enough of what?"
"Nonsense."
"Ah," Sora nodded, "That's fair."
. . .
"We're going to split up. If you find one of the dogs, meet up at the old man's house. I'll search in the village while you search near the gates. Break!" At the final word, they all scattered.
Hayato was the first to find a dog matching the appearance the owner described. The pup was whimpering in a dark corner of an abandoned building. Hayato looked around; then, making sure no one was watching, bent down and scratched behind the puppy's ears. It weakly licked his hands, so Hayato gently pat its head, picking the dog up carefully. He then took the long way to the man's house, playing with the small canine along the way.
Aoi was the second, finding a dog with a golden collar, "Kimi" engraved roughly on it, playing with a small group of children. Aoi politely asked could she get the dog back, to which the kids responded by sticking their tongues out. She sighed, then in an instant she disappeared. The kids looked around until they spotted her far away, the dog in her hands. She waved slyly before going back to the house.
When Kaito found his dog, it wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be. A dog with "Rina" scrawled fuzzily on the silver collar that was wrapped firmly around the dog's neck was quietly roaming the streets. From far away the dog looked harmless. Unfortunately for Kaito, he wasn't far away. As soon as Kaito bent down to pet it, it bit his metal-covered arm warmer with a ferocious grip. Kaito screamed in fear, trying to shake off the canine. But the dog had clasped onto the iron like, well, iron. Kaito glared at the dog before running to the owner's house, hoping he would have the answer to getting the beast off. The dog growled menacingly while biting rigidly into the poor ninja's arm, almost as if telling Kaito his hopes were to be in vain.
. . .
"Get him off!" Kaito complained, shaking his arm with all his might.
"Rina. Release!" The dog let its grip go, dropping to the floor as soundly as a leaf. "Good girl!" He rubbed the dog's head.
"Thank you. I have already given your sensei the money." Sen smiled innocently. "Now scat!" He slammed the door.
"I hate that guy..." Kaito uttered.
"I don't hate him," Aoi made a confused look; "I just don't get him. I mean, why-"
"Guys." Hayato interrupted.
His teammates stared at him. This was the first time he came into a conversation without being asked a question. This was a rare sight to them.
"Sora's over there." He pointed towards a of mass of people that surrounded a small stage.
"Where?" Kaito peered into the crowd; his eyes squinted, and said "I can't see him." An irresistible urge to look at the sky overtook Kaito; it was pale blue like his mother's eyes, he remembered faintly, the few clouds in the sky fairly fluffy and resembled jumbled cotton balls. The sun's burning passion had died down this day, he also noticed, and this struckKaito as strange; the past few days the sun had been outrageously cruel, waking up without a pack of ice on Kaito's body becoming a more and more impossible task.
Without a word, Hayato started walking to the crowd, snapping Kaito out of his trance. Kaito and Aoi jogged to his side as they entered the cluster. They quickly found Sora near the front. There was a loud voice that sounded on the stage. "If we believe in a truly just world, why don't we all migrate where we please? Why can't we freely go to each land? I'll tell you why. Because one war can't solve everything. There are still differences. There are still people out there. The very man who assassinated the Third Hokage has been sighted! This day and age, they claim that peace and prosperity are ruling the land. It only took one death to spark a war. The jinchuuriki are back. How do we know that Orochimaru will not do the same thing Madara and the Akatsuki are doing? I say we put an end to this. Enough questions! I say we get answers! Have civilians go in on Gokage meetings! Or, better yet, have them in the open! Enough of this age of secrecy! Join me, friends. Join the Leup movement! To a new world, a trust world, a just world!" As soon as Kaito had reached their sensei, it was as if the flesh-to-fabric contact had sparked a fuse in the crowd. The hymn of chaos arose, and that's when the shouts began.
"That's stupid!" A man yelled.
"Get out of here!" Another civilian screamed, throwing paper at the man on the stage. Soon they all began rumbling up papers and throwing them. Kaito caught one and unfolded it to see a burning leaf logo drawn onto it, a caption of " THE LEUP MOVEMENT: STAY JUST TO STAY FREE" written on the bottom of it. Kaito looked onto the obviously hand-built, wooden stage to see the man that had challenged their form of government.
The man on stage had black spiky hair tucked underneath a black top hat. The man's peculiar azure eyes stayed calm, and he wore a black vest over a white button-up shirt, and black dress pants with matching shoes.
He absorbed the hits as if they were pillows, the viciously thrown tomatoes and fruit leaving stains on his shirt. Kaito looked at his sensei, who stared at the man with interest, until Kaito became enraged. Acts like this were crazy and down right dirty. "Sora-sensei, why are they doing this? Why can't they just walk away? Do they have to punish them? Why don't you stop them!?"
Sora looked at his student with sympathy. The look burned a raging fire in the student. If he wasn't going to defend the defenseless, then Kaito would. Before Sora could speak, the genin ran on stage putting himself between the crowd and the man.
"STOP!" Kaito yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Why are you protecting him? He's gone mad!" a woman cried.
"Get away from him so he can't contaminate you with his lies!"
"We're getting rid of ridiculous ideas like his. These are ideas that started the war that killed my son! We shall get rid of these tainted ideas! The hard way!" They screamed. Kaito knew of these people. In this district of Konoha especially were the ones who's family had been killed in the war. It took lots of healing, and some unhealed scars still lay here. Kaito wondered why the man in the top hat would choose this area out of all the others, one where the citizens were trying to forget of their pain filled pasts and move on to a brighter future.
Aoi glanced around nervously. 'This can and will quickly escalate.' She thought, panicking slightly.
"Kaito!" She hissed, "Get off the stage! He can handle his own problems."
"No! No human deserves this treatment." He said firmly. Kaito was wiling to hold onto the steadfast beliefs his parents had instilled into him... Before they had to...
"Stay out of this!" A gruff voice yelled.
"No!" Kaito roared. A tomato sailed towards Kaito. Kaito crossed his arms, but before it hit him, the tomato was suddenly gone. Kaito blinked, and turned to see the man throw the tomato in the air. He pointed at the tomato.
"You have until that tomato falls to the floor to leave. I suggest you follow my instructions and leave this child be." He told the crowd calmly. The crowd had grown silent quickly until a voice challenged him:
"Is that a threat?" A woman spoke, "I'd like to see you try."
The tomato flew fairly high, so when it began its descent Aoi guessed it would smash into the ground in about ten seconds.
'One, two, three.'
The man swiftly moved in front of Kaito, grabbing something that glittered out of his pocket.
'Four, five.'
"You'd best hurry." He now had a mischievous grin on his face.
'Six, seven, eight.'
Half of the crowd left, mumbling insults under their breath and deciding he wasn't worth their time. The ones who stayed were simply here to call his bluff; they wanted to see what he'd do, if anything at all, and then they'd attack him like a lion on a herd of zebra.
'Nine'
The tomato was near the ground. The man threw a large amount of glitter, the sparkling thing he took out of his pocket, into the air. He made Tiger hand seal.
"A ninja?" Hayato muttered.
'Ten.'
Splat! The tomato hit the ground. The man sucked in a huge breath, then blew a huge wave of wind, sending the crowd flying with the silver glitter.
"Wind Release: Scattering Stardust!"
Kaito watched from behind as wails went up, women clinging to their husbands, and men reaching out their hands in a failed attempt to grab something that would end their flight.
Aoi appeared next to Kaito, kunai gripped firmly in her hand. Hayato appeared on the man's left and Sora on his right.
The man chuckled to himself.
"You." He turned and pointed to Kaito, "You have a good heart. I respect you for that." He paused, and his lips curved into a clever smile. "We will meet each other again. Until then." He graciously bowed.
"Wait-" But it was too late. He blew at the glitter around his feet, turning in a circle until a glitter cloud blinded their vision.
When the silver dust cleared, the man was gone.
"Sora-senpai, who was that?"
"I.. I can't remember..." He stared into the distance, and then shrugged. "He was probably some weird ninja doing some prank. I think it's about time we do something else today. Let's report this and head onto a new task. I guarantee it'll be fun."
Kaito stared at his sensei's smiling face for a moment and examined it.
That very day, Kaito could see tons of things shooting around in Sora's eyes. What Kaito noticed, however, was that not one of those things in his eyes were the joy or excitement that he feigned so expertly.
Updated: 1/19/15 3:27 Central, U.S