Far Away Boys

[Punslinger]

"Out. Get outside and don't let me see your mopin' face until it's got a smile on it." Soumei swung the broom at her grandson's head with purpose, who dodged it dutifully (although listlessly) and jogged out of his room and down the stairs. At the bottom, he looked back up to see if the old woman would follow through on her threat. She stood grimly at the top, pointing to the front gates with a fearsome look that only a matriarch can summon.

Dragging his feet, Oushi walked out the gate, instantly flanked by all four pets. They'd become accustomed to sensing his presence over the years, and were more or less immediately aware when he was going somewhere. The young bannin had been listless and silent for almost three days, and the entire family was becoming concerned. The evening of the nibi's attack, he'd been almost inconsolable with rage. Even though he'd managed to almost single-handedly prevent the bijuu's advance into the city, the demon had forced him to fight against the bodies of his fallen comrades. His psyche had barely been able to cope with the abominations he was up against.

He now walked dismally down the streets of Iwagakure, his massive hammer bumping lazily against his back, and four sets of sad eyes followed behind their master.

[Mortalvis]

"I'm going to have to murder the people in front of me if this keeps up," Tobi muttered. He tapped his foot impatiently while he waited in a never ending line of elderly people who were indecisive or couldn't remember why they were there or what they were doing.

The genin gripped the money in his gloved hand a little tighter and stood on his tiptoes to look over the shoulders of the people in front of him in an attempt to see what the holdup was. Tobi was a short fellow, but the old people in the line were just as short or even shorter.

At the front of the line, an elderly woman was rooting around in her purse for something that didn't seem to be there, and insisted that she had put it in her handbag before leaving home. After about ten minutes of trying to convince her to step aside to search and failing to do so every time, the store clerk looked just as exasperated as Tobi did.

"Bah!" Tobi pulled his scarf around his shoulders and pushed his goggles down over his eyes as he got ready to leave, mauling over excuses to tell his mother about why he didn't get what she asked him to buy.

Just then, by some holy grace, Tobi happened to be glancing down the street when he spotted a menagerie of animals with a familiar man leading their parade. The boy's eyes widened and he shoved the money into his pocket before he strolled down the lane to meet Oushi. He was halfway there when he realized that, in the relief that he was saved from the train of elderly folk, he was walking toward a formidable collection of animals that practically made his blood run cold; Patsu in particular brought back memories that made him visibly cringe.

Instead of approaching any further, Tobi thought that it would be safer if he stayed where he was and called for Oushi. Letting them approach at their own pace was far better than being the yet-to-be-trusted person approaching out of the blue.

"Oushi! Hey, Oushi!" Tobi called, waving his arms at the bannin.

[Punslinger]

Whether or not Oushi heard the call above the crowd or was simply ignoring it, he kept on walking. However, Tobi's efforts didn't go unnoticed. As he yelled, Patsu's hoary ears, then his entire head swiveled in the direction of a familiar voice.

The old goat rarely forgot a face, much less one that had fed him, and he cut a neat path through the surprised villagers to where Tobi was standing. Without waiting for the boy to react, his strong teeth latched onto Tobi's sleeve, pulling him gently (as possible anyway) but urgently in the direction Oushi had gone.

[OoC: What's that Patsu? Oushi's having an existential crisis and needs someone who speaks English to pimp slap some sense into him? Good goat.]

[Mortalvis]

If Tobi hadn't gone absolutely rigid as he grabbed Patsu's attention opposed to Oushi's, he likely would have ran far, far away at the sight of the ornery goat approaching him. The boy's heels were anchored into the dirt by the time Patsu reached him and he was one move short of wetting himself when the animal gripped his sleeve with its intimidating mouthful of teeth.

Tobi was literally trembling in his boots at that time and refused to budge from his spot. Although he was just as scared of irritating Patsu, he was too busy conjuring images of all the horrible things a hoofed and horned angry beast could do to his physical and mental well-being.

"Oh please don't hurt me!" Tobi cried pathetically, weakly trying to tug his sleeve out of the goat's maw.

[Punslinger]

Tobi was right, it wasn't a good idea to make Patsu angry. He was, however, oblivious to the fact that the best way to keep the goat temperate was to follow him, and the resistance only served to make the animal more insistent.

Sensing that the current tactic wasn't working, the goat let go, agitated. The crowd around Tobi had given the big animal plenty of room, some of them even fleeing the scene. The older ones looked on with amusement, correctly interpreting Patsu's action as nonviolent for the most part, while others stared in the direction he'd come from, where Oushi's back was seen turning a corner.

Seeing this, Patsu bleated with alarm and darted behind Tobi's rigid form, putting his head at the back of the boy's knees and flipping him neatly over his head. As Tobi landed on his back, he began galloping off after Oushi. Because he couldn't be sure that his passenger was on his back properly, the goat kept his speed relatively low, but the sound of hooves slamming into pavement ensured that most villagers gave the massive animal a wide berth.

As he rounded the corner, Patsu saw Habi and Shuu turning yet another corner, toward a quiet alley just outside the market. Overhead, Fubuki could be seen flapping just above the rooftops with measured wingbeats, circling Oushi's position in a fashion that almost looked predatory, although it was far likely that he was being protective on the off chance anything were to happen.

Taking the situation at a glance, the goat resumed his chase, catching up to Oushi as the bannin sat down heavily against the dead end back wall of the alley with a grunt, closing his eyes with an exhausted expression, as though he'd been awake for days.

[Mortalvis]

The moment Tobi was once again on Patsu's back, the genin was entirely sure that his heart was going to give out on him. No matter how bad the last time this happened was, at least it was by his consent; this time, however, he was being carted off to somewhere unknown with no will of his own.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, too afraid to flail but dying to get off of Patsu. He was drifting in and out of consciousness, so the trip seemed short and blurry, and he barely noticed when Patsu had stopped. As the goat and Tobi came to the dead end, the genin took a minute to react before he began to squirm and struggle, looking to get away from Patsu. With some effort, he flopped off of Patsu and landed face-down on the ground. The dazed genin heaved and coughed as he gathered the strength to push himself out of the dirt. He managed to shift and sit himself down with his hands planted behind himself to hold him up.

"Ugh... I feel sick," Tobi mumbled, putting a hand to his head. When he was finished recoiling from the event, he looked up and finally realized what Patsu's intentions had been.

"Oushi...?" The older man looked much worse than he did the last time Tobi had seen him. Forgetting his own troubles for the time being, Tobi scooted closer to Oushi and sat facing him.

"Are you alright?" Tobi inquired, the tone of his voice implying his concern in the absence of a good look at his expression.

[Punslinger]

Again, Oushi made no indication that he'd heard the boy. In fact, he looked almost as if he'd given up the ghost, leaned back against the wall with his eyes looking somewhere upward and half closed. After a second or so of uncomfortable silence, Patsu snorted, turning his back to his master and kicking a smallish rock on the ground at Oushi's head with unerring accuracy.

The rock bounced more or less harmlessly off of the bannin's cheek, but it got his attention. Starting out of his daze, he growled dangerously at Patsu before noticing Tobi's presence.

"What the Hell Pats-...oh." his listless look returned for a moment until he recognized Tobi's goggled features.

"Oh, it's my little breakfast buddy. How long have you been there?" he asked with lackluster enthusiasm and a weak smile. For a second, he looked as though he were about to stand, and then decided against it.

[Mortalvis]

"Not long..." Tobi smiled somewhat, but it was hard to look happy when he could so clearly see that Oushi was in poor condition.

The genin crossed his legs and looked around, unsure of what to say to Oushi. He made brief eye contact with Patsu, glaring somewhat at the goat, but he could hardly blame him for what he did.

"So... Patsu gave me another ride," Tobi said, laughing nervously. "I think he wanted me to come see you pretty badly... Any idea why?"

[Punslinger]

Oushi's eyes flashed with recognition for a moment, genuinely concerned.

"He didn't hurt you did he? You're alright?" Oushi paused, looking the genin over. When he saw that Tobi wasn't overly roughed up, his dismal tone returned. "Yeah, you're alright."

In response to the second question, it appeared that the bannin wasn't going to answer for a moment. There was yet another pregnant pause before he spoke again.

"You really want to know? It's because I'm a failure. I could blow a hole in a mountainside if I felt like it, but it doesn't do me any good if I can't save anyone. I'll never be strong enough."

The bannin coughed, shifting positions and closing his eyes for a second. He pulled his flask from his vest and eyed it solemnly before taking a drought. His eyes had large circles under them, and his skin had taken a sickly pallor. Whether or not it was obvious that he hadn't eaten in days, it was painfully obvious that his mood was beginning to affect his health.

"Hey kid, you know what my nindo was when I was your age? Protect everyone. No matter what. I was sure that if I became strong enough, I could change the world by saving the lives of my countrymen. And a few days ago, I was forced to kill them. One by one, I desecrated the corpses of Iwagakure shinobi in order to save my own life." he stopped again to take another drink, and the burn of the alcohol sent him into another coughing fit. When he recovered, he looked mournfully back at Tobi.

"I don't deserve to live."

[Mortalvis]

In his dismal hopelessness, Oushi managed to strike the wrong cord with Tobi. The genin visibly stiffened, eyes narrowed behind his goggles, and hands tightly gripping his knees.

"Maybe you don't," he replied with utmost frankness. It was unlike Tobi to suddenly become so cold and insensitive, but somewhere between Oushi's body language and his tone of voice, the bannin had rubbed him the wrong way. The boy was far from sympathetic and closer to tearing the older man up for what he had said.

"Really, Oushi? Of all the sour, miserable people I know, I never expected you to be another. I'm fourteen, Oushi. Fourteen--and I'm not half as blind as you are to how stupid you sound. Do you really believe everything you just said?" Although Tobi had been stirred by Oushi's attitude, he couldn't help but sink slightly into his own depression. He too felt like a failure more often than not these days. Aspiring toward being a great ninja was no more than a hopeless cause to him, and every step he took was a bigger, steeper fall back to square one. To even think that Oushi, a bannin who saved Iwa from the nibi, could possibly feel like a failure made Tobi feel more hopeless than he had ever felt before.

"I don't think you get it..."

[Punslinger]

"What's there to get?" Oushi mumbled. "Your nindo is your honor, your life. I've failed time and time again to uphold mine. My sensei, my grandpa, my subordinates and my teammates. All dead, and I was nowhere around. How can I protect everyone when they die beyond my reach?"

Oushi halfheartedly threw his head back, but his immense strength cracked the wall behind him and shook the building. Somewhere above him, a loose stone tile fell, shattering on the bannin's upturned face, which he took with remarkable stoicism.

"Besides." he whispered hoarsly, "I'm tired, and I think the Gods hate me."

[OoC: Hohoho. Emo humor.]

[Mortalvis]

It was too much. Tobi looked at Oushi, fists clenched angrily, before he snapped and drove his fist into whichever part of Oushi's face that was closest.

"There are dozens of young ninja who look up to you. They aspire to be like you. Do you think they aspire to be this mopey heap of exhausted bones? No, I'm pretty sure they don't. They want to be like the Oushi that protected the village from the nibi. The one that did what he had to do to save his life so that he could protect the village--his people--again when they needed him. Right now, you're looking past all that so you can wallow in your own dang misery because that's what's bothering you. You think you were selfish because you had to kill for your own good? Think about how selfish you're being to say that you have protected no one when a whole village of people could live to see another day because of you!"

If Tobi had been anymore worked up, he would have been squeezing tears out by then, except all he could do was sit back down and avoid looking at Oushi. It was difficult to listen to Oushi go on about his woes and shortcomings, just as it was hard to see the bannin in such a sickly, listless state.

"And anyway... I don't have a nindo. I don't bother trying to live up to a motto when I know there are things I can live for instead." He huffed, tightening his scarf around his shoulders agitatedly.

[Punslinger]

Oushi's eyes shot open as the tiny fist made contact with his jaw. He stood, listening to Tobi with a dangerous stare. It wasn't that the blow had hurt, it was the sheer audacity of it. And for a second, it looked like he'd forgotten that even thumping the boy too hard might seriously injure him.

But the shock of the insult had gotten his attention, at least. When Tobi had finished, Oushi's silhouette loomed over him, picking him up by the scruff of his baggy clothes. But at eye level, the genin would be able to see that his usual half grin was now hovering just out of sight.

"You're right about one thing; I won't be saving anybody like this. The only thing worse than a failure is a complete failure."

Apparently deep in thought, Oushi began walking, Tobi still hovering above the ground like a ventriloquist's dummy as the bannin began making his way through the market square toward the massive wall that took up the most of the eastern sky.

"No nindo, huh? You got it mixed up. There aren't any other things you can live for besides a nindo, your nindo is what you live for, not some silly motto."

The procession of animals behind Oushi now trotted in line like parade members, happy to see some change in their master's mood. Passing a fruit stand, Oushi deftly snagged a large apple, flipping the elderly merchant a gold coin. Chomping down on the apple, the bannin began talking to Tobi in the other hand as he shouldered his way through the throng of people at a brisk, businesslike pace.

"Seems like both of us have some issues we need to hash out. I've got an idea." Now that they'd reached the wall of the village, Oushi casually began walking up the side, still holding Tobi like a rag doll in one hand as he finished off the apple, tossing the core down to Patsu at the wall's base, who happily caught the morsel and settled down to wait on the pair's return. Fubuki began circling higher, landing atop the wall to wait on Oushi's arrival.

After a minute or two of scaling, Oushi sat Tobi down atop the great wall's parapets, with the village stretched out for miles below on one side, and the valley to the outside world stretched equally vast on the other. Still visible was the blackened scar that the demon cat had left just days before.

"Follow me," Oushi said cheerfully, beginning down a staircase. "By the way, what was your name again? I'm ashamed to say it, but I've gone and forgotten."

[Mortalvis]

"T-Tobi..." the boy choked out. He certainly wasn't accustomed to being carried around like luggage, but at least it had been better than what Patsu treated him to.

"Where are we going?" His voice was slight as he gradually quelled his jitters, but his curiosity was quick to return. It eased him slightly to hear some cheer in Oushi's tone, yet he couldn't shed the fear that what he had said and done earlier was going to bite him in the rear eventually.

"And, uh... feeling any better?" Tobi timidly approached the question, looking at Oushi with undue reproach on himself.

[Punslinger]

"Tobi! Of course, I remember. I've had nothing to drink or eat but sake for the last three days. I feel like I just had a pack of lions turned loose on me. But I'll live."

Oushi's voice echoed as he continued down the stone staircase to a circular office area. There was a large stone table in the center, and the walls were lined with nooks that contained scrolls of every shape and size.

Walking with certainty to a largish one that was probably close to Tobi's size, the bannin pulled it out with one hand and laid it open on the table. Forming a few handseals, he placed his palms down on a seal at the bottom of the page, and what could be seen before as a massive topographical map of the Five Nations suddenly became a three dimensional replica, complete with landscapes, mountain ranges, rivers and major cities along trade routes.

"Now." Oushi said, "Pick a spot."

[OoC: Hooray for pop up books!]

[Mortalvis]

Tobi was overwhelmed by the size of the map. How could he ever just pick one spot? It was huge! He glanced quizzically at Oushi, hesitantly interpreting the bannin's intentions.

"Anywhere?" he asked to clarify, but he was already certain that Oushi had meant anywhere. Thus, Tobi went about poking around the three-dimensional map, sightseeing while he decided. He stopped periodically to graze his fingertips over the peaks of mountains, or run them along the length of a meandering river. Tobi was a shut-in, so seeing the world in such a fantastical replication sparked new wonderment for the sake of it being something new and mysterious to him.

"It looks so much vaster than it does on the maps they have at the Academy..." Tobi murmured, still rather taken aback by the sight. By then, he had traced a river back to River Country and was hovering there, examining its topography.

"What about River Country? It seems nice but... what's this all for? I don't understand."

[OOC: "It was huge!" I call TWSS before you can.]

[Punslinger]

"My grandpa used to say, 'when you think you've reached a dead end, you're forgetting to look up.'" Oushi said matter-of-factly. "We're in a rut, the two of us, and I think a little fresh air would do us good. This village has seen too much killing and Hell lately. So, we should get out of the village for a while. Climbing out of the rut, so to speak."

Before Oushi could continue, a Kinjuu guard puffed into the room, holding an official looking scroll.

"Oushi-san, the report on the battle last week."

Oushi's face, which had been almost a grin a second before, looked as though it had been suddenly fossilized in a frown. Indeed, his poor complexion only made the matter worse as he thanked the guard and sat down on a stool to read the document. Almost as an afterthought, he turned to Tobi apologetically, although his face didn't change.

"I'm sorry, but I have to read this. I need to."

[Mortalvis]

When the guard arrived, Tobi was still gawking over the three dimensional map, studying it with little enthusiasm, but great curiosity. However, as he heard mention of the report, his attention was promptly snagged by the document in Oushi's hands. Tobi could tell by the look on the bannin's face that reading it would only cause grief, but he doubted that he could convince Oushi to just leave it be. Aside from being important, it had the potential to help Tobi's friend over this hurdle that he was facing.

"So, uh..." Tobi paused, moving toward Oushi, "What's it say?" He smiled nervously, mentally smacking himself for allowing his curiosity to get the better of him. The genin was fully aware that it was none of his business.

"Never mind!" he quickly added, turning back to the map. He prodded at some mountains while his curiosity ate at him, wondering how long he could keep his composure before he turned around to see Oushi's expression after he had finished reading it.

[Punslinger]

Tobi was again roundly ignored for the third time that day, as Oushi's broad shoulders quivered violently. His jaw looked like it was about to break under the strain, and his big hands clenched, crushing the ends of the scroll into dust. Crumpling up the paper, Oushi stood, facing the guard.

"Would you please inform Tsuchikage-sama that I'll be requesting an audience with him later today, and that the matter is urgent? I'd appreciate it. Dismissed."

The guard left with a startled look on his face, and Oushi turned back to Tobi.

"How would you like to visit another friend of mine in the hospital?"

[Mortalvis]

Tobi couldn't decipher what that had been about, but there was no use in beating the dead horse by asking again. Instead, he turned to Oushi and shrugged. The genin was starting to become a bit antsy, seeing as though he had been asked to buy something for his mother and he was afraid of how she might react to his latent return. In spite of his anxiety, Tobi nodded to Oushi, wondering who this friend might be, and why in the world Oushi wanted the boy to accompany him on this excursion.

"No, I don't mind, but who is it?" Full of questions this one was; it was an impulse, and in light of that, he never really expected any answers.

'I'm starting to wonder if this really has anything to do with me at all...'

[Punslinger]

"Oh, just another genin I've shared a meal with. About your age, too." His tone was light and he smiled, but the light in his eyes that had been there a moment before had been replaced by worry and something else.

Out on the wall, Oushi once again grabbed the back of Tobi's clothes as Fubuki dropped lazily off the wall into a steep dive toward the center of the village. Below, the remaining pets could be seen running in the same direction as Fubuki. They apparently knew something the genin did not.

"Hold on. We're going to be moving pretty fast." What Oushi said turned out to be an understatement, as the minuscule crater he left in the wall's surface when he took off would attest.

The brief few moments flying through the air must have been terrifying for someone unused to moving so fast, but the ride was mercifully short, and in almost no time at all, the pair were outside one of Iwagakure's larger hospital buildings. Setting Tobi down, Oushi strode purposefully inside, the look on his face daring any medical ninja to try stopping him as he made his way to the end of one of the quiet wings, stepping into a well lit room with a curtain shading a bed. In the bed was a young girl, as Oushi had failed to mention, sleeping peacefully.

Walking gently over to the beside, Oushi looked down at the clipboard with the girl's medical chart on it. As Tobi entered the room, he asked, quietly.

"Tell me, Tobi: what do you see here?"

[Mortalvis]

"What ever happened to walking?" Tobi griped, holding a hand to his spinning head. He shuffled toward Oushi and stood next to him at the girl's bedside. With a tilt of his head, Tobi leaned slightly over the bed to get a better look at her. About his age, pretty, with baffling blue hair and eyes afflicted with complete heterochromia. She was a sight, but he couldn't find anything desperately obvious about her that might cause Oushi to ask what he saw.

As he finished observing the bedridden girl, he stood back and shrugged his shoulders.

"I see a girl. What else am I supposed to see?" Tobi was still unsure as to whether there was anything deeper to be seen, having not even an inkling about the beast that lied deep within her petite form.

"What's wrong with her, Oushi? Is she sick, or injured?" Tobi pushed his goggles up and stared down at her a little more clearly. His gaze was intense and troubled as he sought to sympathize for the girl. It wasn't often enough that he counted himself lucky to have been healthy most of his life, give or take a few mishaps.

[Punslinger]

"So to your mind, there's nothing wrong with her, right?" Oushi asked. "Because I want you to remember that later. Remember that what you saw wasn't anything but a girl."

Reading off of the medical chart, Oushi began in a hushed tone. "Ishiko, no surname. An orphan and ward of the village. Thirteen years of age. Registered genin, participated in numerous cleanup activities after the Yonbi attack on the village. Smart, too. Got perfect scores on all her recent exams."

Setting down the clipboard, he went on.

"And just a few days ago, someone broke into her home, dragged her outside Iwa's walls, and stuffed a demon inside her. She's going to have to live the rest of her life with this curse, one she never asked for or maybe even wanted. All because I couldn't..."

The broad shoulders shook again, and the bannin moved toward the window to compose himself. The pen that had been attached to the clipboard was still in his hand, and it shattered with a tiny crackle in his vice-like grip.

[Ein]

Ishiko had over-done it. Her recent endurance training had been a bit too arduous, and upon reaching the village, Chuunin had immediately escorted her to the hospital. Funny thing was that she never remembered getting free medical treatment prior.

She spent the majority of her time taking naps, drifting in and out of consciousness, and generally being lazy. After two days of this, however, the Genin was about ready to leave. Doctors insisted she stay. Her reservoirs of stamina were abnormally high, and they wanted to test why.

Disregard the fact that I was training, she'd mutter under her breath every now and again. Of course they wouldn't listen. No way could Ishiko have developed the amount of chakra in her body. There must be some other cause!

And so, as the two walked into the room, Ishiko's ears perked up. Recently, she's become an extremely light sleeper, awakening at little disturbance. And so she heard tid-bits of Oushi praising her for being pretty darn smart (rightly so, too), and briefly summarizing her career as a Genin.

The last few bits were just uttered just as she slipped back under consciousness, trying to wake herself. One eye would open, reveling a cat's golden eye glancing between the two. There was some recognition when it rested on Oushi, and a disregarding glance towards the Genin. Sniffing at the air a bit, Ishiko grumbled,

"It smells," glancing over the two. Her other eye opened, revealing the mis-matched pair, her arms reaching out and stretching, yawning as she did so. "Last time I checked, I wasn't allowed any visitors," she'd say under her breath, glancing away from Oushi.

She had no idea he could be so destructive when they had first met, and the memories that weren't her . . . well, Oushi just looked a little scarier than that first time they had met a while ago. Now all she remembered when she looked at him was the intent to kill that had been in the Nibi's heart as this man came down and took down a Bijuu with a hammer.

It was unfair, and she knew it, but right now, when she saw Oushi, she saw all the dead people that he'd fought. The worst part was that the smell that lingered around him was the scent of the dead. Or was it just her imagination?

[Punslinger]

Oushi stiffened at the window as the little voice behind him piped up. An audible sniff could be heard, but Oushi was all smiles when he turned around.

"Hey, look who's awake. I heard they brought you in on suspicion of working too hard."

Walking back to the bed, the big man gestured to Tobi.

"Oh, Ishiko-san, this is my friend Tobi. Apparently, I have nobody my age to eat lunch with. Tobi, this is Ishiko. Should the situation arise, be careful with her clothes, she's very particular about them."

Although he was trying to be polite, Oushi was probably much to hung over to realize how inappropriate and awkward he'd just made things. With that in mind, he looked at the door as if he'd remembered something.

"Tobi, can I leave you here for a minute while I handle a small matter of business? I won't be gone long."

[Mortalvis]

Being the slightly dense type, Tobi was barely fazed by Oushi's statement. The genin shrugged and pulled his goggles back down over his eyes, the room darkening as he viewed it through the obsidian lenses once more. It made it less conspicuous that he was still observing Ishiko, unable to sate his curiosity about the girl just yet.

However, when Oushi mentioned that he was leaving, Tobi perked up and looked as though he were going to drop and beg that he wouldn't. He was perfectly fine with another person there, but as soon as he was alone his epic social ineptness would be an unstoppable power; it was a suffering far worse than any goat-back ride.

"I-I uh, dunno... really, eh, do you think you should leave? Um... if you really need to go, I guess--well, maybe..." the genin stammered, poking his index fingertips together. It was already beginning: that horrible, merciless, unbecoming stutter that would promptly make a fool of him. It usually only happened around people his own age and it gave him all the reason in the world to always wear his safety scarf when among similarly-aged peers.

"Don't be long... eh-heh... Really. Don't be too long. You won't be long, right? Okay... um, come back soon. I-I'll be alright, right here. With Ishiko. And not you. Yeah? Yeah... alright, see you later Oushi. Don't forget about me." With a nervous smile creasing his trembling lips, he turned to Ishiko and waved at her.

[Punslinger]

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be right back." Oushi said as he strode out.

---

"WHERE ARE YOU. I KNOW YOU'RE UP HERE." Oushi's bellow rang out atop the mountainside above the Tsuchikage's tower. Ishidai could easily escape from the window of his offices to the cliff side and away from any unpleasant work he was avoiding. In this case, he'd somehow known Oushi was coming, and had attempted a halfhearted escape, to no avail.

"I'm right here, you don't have to yell so loud."

"You didn't tell me you were going to use a child." Oushi growled dangerously. Under normal circumstances, there was no way he'd be so disrespectful, but the Tsuchikage had kept him in the dark after the battle with the nibi had ended, and Oushi had been too tired to object. Ishidai had crossed a line, and he knew it.

"Would you have tried to stop me if I'd told you?" Ishidai was challenging Oushi, hoping to cow him, but the young bannin had no intention of being bullied. His tired eyes radiated barely suppressed anger, and the kage could smell the sake on his clothes. He instantly realized the anguish that his subordinate had been going through, and a pang of guilt shot through him.

He looks just like his grandfather.

"Yes. I would have. Anyone would have. You could have used me. Someone who knew the risks. Someo-"

"Oushi. I want you to be her guardian."

[Ein]

Ishiko quickly grew from the reserved demeanor that she'd been trying to posess into the girl Oushi had met that first day. At the comment on her clothes, she quickly grew beet red, reached under her head, and tossed a pillow at Oushi as he walked out.

Missing, since her aim wasn't the first thing on her mind. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BROADCAST THAT!" She yelled out, flustered and embarrassed at Oushi's comment. Huffing, she'd cross her bare arms over her stomach and insinuate pout-mode.

Her typical clothes were folded on a chair nearby, leaving the Genin dressed in a baby blue gown. Grumbling something about Oushi running around with a miniature zoo, and something more about stains, Ishiko stopped herself.

She'd completely forgotten about Oushi's friend. Slowly turning her head to face him, she'd catch sight of his wave, returning it with a blank stare, tilting her head. She was simply looking at him; half-wondering why he's dressed so warmly. It was Iwa, after all.

A full two minutes of looking at him passed, before Ishiko finally said, "Tobi, was it? You don't like being left alone with me?" She seemed to ask, her voice following light nuances that hinted at mild curiosity. He hadn't exaclty made a secret about it, but she was curious to hear an answer.

[Mortalvis]

Alone. No more Oushi... just Ishiko and he. Of course it had nothing to do with her directly, but Tobi would have a good time trying to communicate that.

"N-no, it's not that at all! I mean... well, I'm just..." Tobi trailed off, nervously rubbing his upper arm. He was fine with just saying it wasn't her, but he felt the word vomit coming on.

"It's just... I get nervous and all... you know? Just nervous and I'm bad with one-on-one situations... ... ... I'm sorry!" The genin blurted out his apology with half a mind to elaborate on it to cover any and all stupid ramblings to come. Good first impressions were hard to come by for Tobi, and all he could do was pray that she'd hang around long enough to see that he wasn't such a doofus.

By then it was time for Plan B.

"It's nice outside with the sun and the birds and the... yeah you're in the hospital I really should just shut up," Tobi sped through his sentence, forgetting to verbally punctuate, but that was the least of his embarrassment. He wasn't blushing, but he certainly was slouching a little lower and bowing his head ashamedly.

"...Sorry. I, uh... so, are you a genin too?"

[Punslinger]

"What?"

"I said I want you to be her guardian." The kage had tried saying something shocking in order to distract his subordinate, and it worked. He took a deep breath, trying not to look relieved.

"Look, she's an orphan, and we already know that she'll at least tolerate your company. You're also arguably the strongest bodyguard we could find for her anywhere, and frankly, you'd sooner die than let anything happen to her, without even thinking about her...condition.

"You mean that demon you stuffed in her."

"Watch your tone, son." The Kage, sensing that Oushi had come back to himself somewhat, saw an appropriate time to assert himself, and Oushi obeyed.

"My apologies, Ishidai-sama. But I sometimes wonder if you would approve of your actions from where you were as a jounin at my age."

"I'm afraid I don't have the luxury of such a narrowed perspective." the Kage said curtly. "Now can I trust you with Ishiko's care?"

Oushi crossed his arms, scowling. "I'm not sure. Can you?"

"Son." the old man's voice dropped dangerously low, daring Oushi to utter one more disrespectful word.

"What I mean is, is this just another title that you're saddling me with, or do you actually trust me to make sure nothing happens to her?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Even if we leave the village?" the question made the old man flinch.

"Not without a team of jounin."

"I have my own team." another wince, and Ishidai sighed almost painfully.

"Very well. Yes, I trust you."

Oushi looked pleased, and made as if to go before stopping.

"This doesn't mean I'm her parent or anything, right?"

The old man laughed, probably for the first time in days. "No, no, we just want you to make sure she's happy and healthy and stays that way."

[Ein]

Ishiko continued to stare intently, scrupulously, and quite mercilessly at Tobi. "Uh-huh." She said, her manner taking on a examining aura.

She listened to what Tobi had to say with something resembling steady patience. She continued to do so as he began to comment on the weather. She offered him a smile, laughing a little at his shyness. "Yeah, I'm a Genin level kunoichi. I completely and totally agree; it is a nice day out. And I know what you're talking about with one on one situations," she'd finish, settling into her bed. True, she was poking a bit of fun at him with her answers, but she seemed to be comfortable enough.

As for the same being said for Tobi; that was something that just didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

While she was a bit flustered at what Oushi had said, this boy didn't seem like he had quite registered what was implied. So that made it all right, so long as he didn't know. As Tobi finished his stammering, Ishiko continued to smile, rather entertained. Or at least playing along.

"Are you more comfortable around guys? You don't seem to have this problem with Oushi," she'd say, a bit of her naiveté showing itself. A part of her was already dissecting Tobi's social anxiety, the other part wondering playfully at why he was such a peach.

"Mm. Ya know what, don't answer that," she'd say after sometime of leaving the question in the air. She'd lean sit up, her mis-matched eyes locking in on Tobi. "So, all that aside, would you mind telling me why Oushi came to see me?"

[Mortalvis]

Tobi managed to stop fidgeting, which was a good sign at least. If not for his interest in Ishiko's responses, he likely would have rambled on about something completely unrelated. However, the more (though still little) he got to know about the girl, the less he felt threatened by the situation. She had a pleasant disposition as far as he was concerned, but a few minutes could hardly bring to light any deeper character in her or even him.

Even though he was warming up to the idea of being alone, Tobi would still periodically look around to see if Oushi was back yet. Tobi could only wonder what the bannin had run off to do after he dragged the poor genin there just to leave him with the friend Oushi had specifically come to see.

"I really don't know, to tell you the truth. When I first saw him today, he was all dreary and drunk... he's still drunk, but he's lightened up a little I think." Tobi folded his arms across his chest and sighed. Although Ishiko couldn't see his eyes past his goggles, he was casting a fairly troubled look in an unspecific direction.

"I think he's still pretty upset about the Nibi attack. I dunno exactly... somehow we ended up here, though." Again, Tobi sighed, shoulders slouching miserably.

"And somehow I got taken along. I think he wants me to take a trip with him... Maybe he wants you to come too? I don't know." At least Tobi had lost his burdening stutter, speaking with noticeably more confidence, all to be attributed to his worries superseding his awareness of his ineptness.

[Punslinger]

Back at the hospital, Oushi stopped outside to see the group of pets that had gathered in the street outside, waiting on him. After passing out a round of treats for good behavior, he went back inside, walking down the hallways quietly to Ishiko's room.

Once there, however, he stopped just outside the door, listening. He caught the sound of Tobi's voice saying that he'd been "upset about the Nibi attack". It wasn't like the jounin to eavesdrop, but he realized that he'd probably left a pretty awful impression of himself in the minds of the two genin through his actions that day, and was hoping for a cue that might redeem him in their eyes somewhat.

[Ein]

Oushi never struck her as anything but a nice guy, if not a bit mixed up. Sure, he seemed a bit loony and careless, but he seemed like he was a decent guy. Now she's become all-too-aware of an Oushi that ripped through scores upon scores of zombies, showed terrifying ferocity, and got drunk afterwards.

Ishiko's eyes glanced down as she bit down on her lip a bit. Oushi; I don't really know you at all, do I? After something of a pause, Ishiko continued, too absorbed in what Tobi had said to let it register in her mind that she her the scuffles of footsteps.

"Ah, yeah. I guess anyone would be pretty bummed out about the Nibi attack," she'd mutter. Brief flashes of the Nibi's Attack faded in and out of her mind. Dipping into her subconscious and rising every now and again just for a taunt. "So, uh, you guys usually break into a girl's room and watch her while she sleeps or am I the exception?"

She seemed to lose sight of wanting to keep up with this conversation, and obviously had Oushi on her mind.

[Mortalvis]

"Well, I don't, but I dunno about Oushi..." Tobi mumbled, smirking somewhat, but he was quickly tiring of the smalltalk. It wasn't anything to do with Ishiko, but it seemed that they both had other things on their minds.

All the boy could think about was what Oushi had said earlier--that line about the both of them being in a rut. Maybe the bannin was right... yet Tobi remained hesitant to agree that his problems could be solved the same way that Oushi thought he could solve his own; he figured that this was the entire meaning of what had happened that day.

Tobi shifted his weight to his other lag and looked down at his feet.

"You think that Oushi'll be back soon?" Tobi asked, unaware that the older man was standing outside of the door. If anytime was good to jump in, it was then.

[Punslinger]

And that's exactly what Oushi did. Stepping inside the room as though he were still trying to be quiet, he closed the door with the utmost care, a casual way to dissuade any ideas that he might have been listening in.

"Alright you two, I have a proposition for you. How'd you like to come with me on a road trip? No mission objectives, no rules, just a chance to get out of the village for a while and do some good old fashioned training."

From the look on the bannin's face, there was no doubt that they'd want to come, asking simply seemed to be a formality. One of Oushi's more glaring social ineptitudes.

[Ein]

"Oushi," dropping the suffix with a natural, fluid motion, "I don't think I can go with you guys." She'd stand, slipping out of her bed with careful, deliberate posture.

"My team--I can't just leave them. They've been wanting to take the Chuunin Exams. And," she'd stop, trying to find the best way to say it. "They need me for that." She seemed to regret saying this. She knew staying would be leaving herself at the librarian's mercy while Oushi ran about on a road trip, but she needed to help her team.

"I can't just leave them, Oushi," she said, turning around to let out a sigh. "Or are you going to drag me along like the Librarian does?"

[Punslinger]

Sufficed to say, Oushi was quick on his feet, but just as quick a thinker. In a second, his plan had already been revised, revisited, and submitted for approval.

"The who?" Oushi looked puzzled. "No, I didn't say anything about that. And there's no reason we can't go after the exams. They're only couple weeks away, right? That'll give Tobi some time to convince his dear mother, and me some time to...shave..." he mused, scratching the wiry stubble that was beginning to form on his jawline.

"Tobi, what do you think? Think you can get the old lady to let you out of the house long enough to get some real fresh air?"

[Mortalvis]

Tobi was hesitant to reply. Of course he wanted to say yes, but there were other things influencing his decision making. Who knew how long this trip would be? He wasn't even sure if he could survive more than a couple days being around other people regularly. However, these were menial in relation to the problem he would face when he tried to convince his mother to let him go. Although she was all for encouraging him to be outside, she was protective, especially after a few incidents in the past that occurred as a result of Tobi being out on his lonesome. It was going to be difficult... but he, at that moment, promised himself that he would at least try.

"I'll do my best. She's going to be hard to get through to... but I'm sure she'll understand eventually." Tobi looked between the bannin and genin, smiling slightly at them both. He had high hopes for this adventure, despite the anxiety he had about the obstacles in the way of getting to it.

"...The Chuunin Exams, huh?" he said, turning to Ishiko. "Forgot that they were coming up... guess it'll be a while before I'm ever going to be a Chuunin. Ah, well..." he trailed off into thought, though he didn't seem terribly disappointed about his loss.

"Eh--anyway, I'm in and looking forward to the trip. Really."

[Punslinger]

"Then it's settled!" Oushi said, decisively putting his fist into his palm. "We'll meet in three weeks at the Great Wall, and go on the most awesome road trip ever taken."

With that, a massive crash shook the air outside, rattling the window. Looking down, Oushi saw that one of the orderlies for the hospital had taken offense to a bunch of animals lying right outside the door and had tried to shoo them away. The hapless man was now running down the street with a small army of angry pets on his heels.

"Uh....you kids have fun! Bye!" the bannin dashed down the hallway and out the door, trying to catch up before Patsu did something atrocious involving his hoof and the orderly's backside.