Apple Blossom Oolong [Festival]

[Kanade]

Chiaki waited outside of the Onsen, her still-damp hair braided up into an elaborate bun. It was a boon to have the butterflies, as they made the menial tasks like managing her hair all the more expedient. She had dressed herself in a blue kimono with waves on it, tied around the waist with a black and teal Obi. She had slipped into some woven grass sandals and was waiting, drumming her toes against the soft reeds, for Tousha. She had wondered at the Juicy Kage under-garments that he was wearing, and despite his shaggy appearance seemed to be a good soul with a sense of humor.

His gentle demeanor actually reminded her of a more laid back Takeo. Were all men from Konoha like this?

Her orange eyed gaze lazily drifted over the crowd as her butterflies hung in the air, busying themselves by burying their faces in the apple blossoms of the season. Truly it was a gorgeous time of year, and she didn't want for the festival to end. All good things, and all good people, however.

Chiaki sighed the lovelorn sigh of someone who sees time passing between their fingers and wishes to hold onto it. Her mother likened it to trying to hold tighter to water. The harder you grip, the less you have of it. She closed her eyes, a strand of her red hair falling over her left eye and she waited for Tousha in front of the Onsen, as she had instructed before.

[Toshi]

His poor, travel-worn feet soothed by the mineral rich hot springs, Tousha was feeling spry and downright refreshed. The seasoned Shinobi made his way out of the Onsen's changing room with a slight but noticeable spring in his step and a careless smile touching his lips, delighted at the smell of the apple blossoms that permeated the evening air. That combined with the scent of his freshly laundered clothes had put the Nara in an insatiably content mood.

Say one thing about Tousha, say he's a man who loves the smell of laundry.

Tousha would emerge from the hot springs establishment wearing his usual wayward wanderer attire: dark, durable clothing that had come to fit him like a second layer of skin. He also had a simple travel pack slung over a shoulder, which rested diagonally across his back. The Nara took in another fresh breath of apple blossom laden air and let out a loud, satisfied sigh. He stood near Chiaki, a stark, scraggly contrast to her effortless elegance. The Nara smiled at that, quietly enjoying how incoherent the pair must seem to any passerby.

"I would have dressed up but this is the nicest thing I've got on me," he said, pulling at his sturdy and slightly patchwork Samue jacket. "Here's hoping I don't embarrass you or your little friends there," Tousha added, nodding at Chiaki's fluttering butterflies.

[Kanade]

Chiaki looked at his Samue Jacket and smiled, "You look about as presentable as my student." She offered a warm smile with no condescending undertones at all. Her student, Hanako was the person second most dear to her, following Kirari her lover. She also had a weather-stained wind-worn set of robes in her pack at her hotel room and favored those over finery in most cases, "Would you like to get something a bit more-" She hesitated, looking at the jacket it looked as though the jacket was rather comfortable, as it had been worn in, but she could still offer, "festive?" It was a small pause but she didn't want to offend him in any case. She only knew his name, and he hers, she had no idea that he was a previous Kage, and she didn't know whether or not he knew that she was an S ranked Missing Ninja from Kumogakure.

It didn't matter! They were on a quest for the fabled Apple blossom Oolong. She reached out for his arm. If he was to be her chaperone, he may as well play the part. Nothing more embarrassing than getting lost from your companion in the midst of a crowd, "If not, we could always just start the search." She could cheat, using her butterflies as scouts, but that would take all the fun out of the wandering. Wandering was what Chiaki did best, it was how she ended up in the middle of the clash between the Grand Shogun and the previous Mizukage, it was how she had found Shinjiro and Maido, and it was how she found her lover Kirari.

The best things always came to her from wandering, and she wouldn't spoil it this time. She could tell that the anticipation would probably only sweeten the tea when she arrived. Her hand moved to rest on his arm as a butterfly would a leaf, a chaste way to tell people that she was walking the festival with this man, but chaste enough to let their minds wander. Were they siblings? A secret shared between Chiaki and Tousha if he would allow it.

[Toshi]

Tousha's smile was proud but ignorant as Chiaki compared him to her student. They must be a true spectacle of rustic fashion and comfort to be compared to the likes of the seasoned Shinobi, and the absence of any snootiness in her tone practically made Tousha glow like a paper lantern. That luminous delight did diminish, however, as his finely dressed companion mentioned looking for something more 'festive' to wear for their tea hunting mission.

"Well, you see..." Tousha began, flushing a little in his embarrassment, "I've been on the road for a while, and I haven't picked up an abundance work. 'Fraid I can't afford much in the way of festival finery."

The Nara pulled out a small coin pouch in the shape of a squat blackbird and squeezed its mouth open, where a small moth flitted its way out just to mock him. His mouth set into a firm, annoyed line as he watched the bug fly away. Tousha could have sworn he heard the thing laughing at him as it disappeared into the scented evening air.

He barely felt Chiaki's hand as it rested on his arm, but Tousha offered it as a perch all the same. His dark eyes met her amber gaze and he felt... Soothed. He barely knew the Kunoichi but from a mere touch he was certain a patiently nurtured kindness had taken root and blossomed within her. Tousha saw in Chiaki a genuine desire to help those in need that only emerged from suffering hardships that either tempered or broke a person. For a breath the Konoha Shinobi could feel his expression slip into recognition, and then understanding.

Tousha then realized that many moments had passed since Chiaki had finished speaking. An awkward amount of time without a doubt.

The Nara attempted a nonchalant smile at the Kimono-clad redhead and said, "Sorry. My imminent bankruptcy isn't anyone else's burden to bear."

[Kanade]

"Oh, it's no burden." She wondered silently if the moth was one of Kirari's. If it was, then Kirari was stealing money from people here at the festival. It sounded like the sort of prank that she would pull, and yet perhaps not that cruel. She chuckled and patted his arm, "I have plenty of funds from some missions that I completed recently, and from my work at the hospital that is burning a hole in my baggy." She took out a purse that looked like a silk cocoon, unzipped it and showed the ryo that she had in it, "I may be a wanderer, but I am also the head doctor of a multi-national hospital, it comes with some perks, but is more of a detriment to my time than anything. It is very rare that I get to spend money on anything that I enjoy, so it just sits there. Best to spend it with new friends." She motioned with her head that they should walk on and replaced the purse beneath her Obi.

"Where was it said to be, this elusively ephemeral tea shop?" She took out a fan that matched her gown, opened it partially and started to fan herself as she looked lazily at the nearby shops, trying to find the shop, but enjoying just wandering at the same time. It was the sort of energy people exuded when looking for herbs, or perhaps looking about a meadow for flowers.

[Toshi]

Tousha's bold brows popped up a touch as Chiaki offhandedly mentioned she was the lead Medical Ninja at a multi-national renowned hospital in a tone that someone would use to explain that they'd recently switched to a new diet. This humbling experience was elevated further as she flashed a not insubstantial amount of money in his direction before safely tucking the purse back into her Kimono with the subtlety of a skillful Kunoichi.

The Kage might have found such behavior obnoxious or distastefully cavalier if someone else had done the same, but Chiaki had an almost enchanted way of not making him feel like a poor, shaggy vagabond in that moment. And, considering that's exactly what he was, Tousha couldn't help but also feel impressed.

Tousha could only bow his head in respect and appreciation to Chiaki before saying, "You're too kind to me, and I'm far too fortunate 'a fool to be counted as your friend. Thank you."

With that, the vagabond took Chiaki's hint and started in the direction she suggested. The hunt was on, and riches untold awaited the unlikely pair.

"Oh I haven't the faintest idea where it is," Tousha replied cheerfully about the 'ephemeral' tea shop, walking dutifully by Chiaki's side as they aimlessly ventured into the hustle and bustle of the awaiting festival. The air itself was charged with the excitement of fresh experiences and wholesome, unfettered fun. It was almost as intoxicating as the quest for a new and exotic tea. "Heard about it from another rambler in a little tea shop where I'd taken up some work. Something of a tea pilgrim, that one. He'd traveled from some far off place just to get a sip of the stuff, so obviously I decided it was worth investigating. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place, but I do recall that he mentioned some signage: a cup of steaming hot tea with three tea leaves poking out from behind."

The wandering duo passed a small stand that was offering freshly caramelized apples, both whole on a stick and candied by the slice. As the owner of a notorious sweet tooth Tousha couldn't help but stare longingly at the confectionary treats while they passed, his concentration in utter shambles.

[Kanade]

“I ah, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to boast.” She reddened, matching her hair quite well for a moment, she cleared her throat, putting the fan away as it was only distracting her from the smells that were around her, blending them into something akin to cotton candy mixed with fried bread and savory beef. Each scent was good on its own, but a gentle waft here and there with her fan sent the scents busily tripping over themselves and made it rather hard to catch the scent of oolong and apple blossoms.

“I haven’t either, but I suppose that’s all the fun of wandering. Though this fan isn’t helping any.” She placed it into the side of her obi as well, the hard wood wasn’t that uncomfortable with the layers of her kimono.

When he mentioned the sign and the tea leaves she sent off a couple of butterflies to investigate. If they did end up getting lost it would be a good thing to actually have a success at the end of the wandering. She felt, rather than saw Tousha slow for the apples, and followed his gaze to the apple stand. “You know, I could go for some as well!” She chuckled, putting a hand over her mouth to hide it politely.

Steering him in the direction that his head was already pointed, she walked up to the stand, and waited in line, there was another couple that couldn’t decide whether or not to get a caramel apple, a candied apple, or one dipped in white chocolate, “Seems like apples are a best-seller here.” She sniffed, the scent of apple crisp hanging heavily in the air, the tops had been covered in a brown sugar, it seemed.

“I can’t decide on a chocolate one or a caramel one-” She ran her tongue over her teeth and frowned, “probably a dark chocolate one, hopefully granny smith. What about you?"

[Toshi]

Tousha beamed like a child on Ninja Christmas morning as Chiaki steered them both towards the candied apple stand. He was practically vibrating with anticipation as the couple in front of them went back and forth, seemingly unaware that a line was forming behind them. The Nara couldn't bring himself to fault them, however. He remembered what it was like to be young and unable to see anything beyond the reaches of the happiness surrounding him.

"I want to live in that booth," Tousha replied to Chiaki's assessment of the popularity of the apples here, also taking in the smell with unashamed abandon. The Konoha Shinobi wafted the scents closer with a hand, his eyes closed in olfactory euphoria.

The guy in front of them almost decided on the caramel apple slices, and then second guessed himself. The girl was giving the guy a very 'why are you like this' look.

Tousha let out a long 'hmmmm' at Chiaki's question, his pale fingers scratching absent mindedly at his bearded chin. "Never was much of a granny smith guy," he said, probably more seriously than the situation called for. "Too tart for my taste. A respectable choice though, from one apple pro to another."

The Nara's shrewd, thin eyes scanned all of the festival stand's offerings as though one would scan a row of shrubbery for a lurking enemy. Finally they fell on something that made them widen. In a section obviously meant for children he spied a creation that defied the beauty of reality itself. Tousha pointed abruptly at his prey and said, "Candy apple dinosaur."

Sure enough, there was a candy apple treat comprised of sliced apples in the crude shape of a dinosaur. It had also been dipped in dark chocolate, probably to resemble tar, and sprinkled with roasted nuts. A fire practically ignited in Tousha's eyes as he stared longingly at the work of delicious art.

[Kanade]

"If they had it in dark chocolate granny smith I would totally do the same thing." Chiaki chuckled, hiding her chuckle behind her hand as the other couple finally stepped out of the way, "I uh, do you have the dinosaurs in dark chocolate granny smith?" She asked, her eyes aglow with child like delight, she looked down to her purse and back up to them, then back down to her purse, wondering how much it would be.

"Ah, sure, we could make it but it'll take a while. You could stand over there and we'll bring it to ya miss?" The shopkeeper, a man who was in his fifties, scratched the back of his neck and bowed his head before indicating where she could wait.

"I ah, that's alright I'll have the uh, the granny smith with dark chocolate apple then, and I um. Can I have that pre-sliced?" She made an indicator as to how with her hand, with a couple quick chopping motions, "Otherwise I'll ruin my lipstick."

"I'm sure your boyfriend?" He looked at Tousha, sizing him up and looking at how close they were together, "Would have no problem with you wearing chocolate as lipstick, but yeah, we'll cut it up for ya." He then turned to Tousha, crossing his arms, "And for you, sir?"

Chiaki started to rummage around in her coin sack for exact change while Tousha told him what he wanted, and would proffer it to the man, delicately trading denomination for tasty treat in a paper container. Once they were away from the stand she proffered him a piece of hers, "Want a try? the chocolate covers the tart quite well."

[Toshi]

Tousha was more than willing to wait for Chiaki's special order and opened his mouth to let the Kunoichi know it wasn't a big deal. He certainly wasn't in any rush, and considering she was paying for both of them it was the least he could do. But she decided to pass on waiting for the granny smith candy apple dinosaur, so the Nara thought it was better not to interject. Chiaki was obviously a woman who knew what she wanted, and it wasn't his place to tell her otherwise.

As the booth owner misplaced Tousha for the Kimono-clad redhead's boyfriend he couldn't help but grin, his nose and cheeks flushing sheepishly. "I should be so lucky," he replied amicably, waving a hand to signal that wasn't the nature of their relationship. "Trust me, she can do much better than this old fart."

When it was his turn to select his candy apple Tousha opted for the dark chocolate dinosaur confection. After their treats were handed over and Chiaki paid the man for his services, they were off again. The Konoha Shinobi munched happily at his candy apple, savoring every bite as if it were his last. Then his ears practically perked up at Chiaki's offer.

He smiled at his companion and said, "I'd love a piece if'n you're offering. How about a bite of my applesaur?" He offered his own treat to the Kunoichi and gladly took a slice of the dark chocolate covered granny smith apple. Chiaki had been right, the dark chocolate took the edge off the granny smith's tartness and left a wonderful aftertaste. Tousha let out a satisfied mhmm! and licked his fingers, content to taste more dark chocolate on them.

After he finished the Nara chanced a look at Chiaki, his expression whimsical. "I'm not wrong you know," he said with a knowing tone and kind smile. "A woman like you could have your pick of just about anyone here looking for company. Why did you want to get tea with me?"

It wasn't meant to be a question that made the Kunoichi doubt herself or make him sound ungrateful. On the contrary, Tousha had always preferred the company of women and couldn't have been more delighted to be enjoying a festival with such an apparent beauty as Chiaki. He hoped that sentiment rang true and genuine over the bustling din of the crowd.

But his curiosity often got the better of him, and this was a curious situation indeed.

[Kanade]

"Know what?" Chiaki grinned and nodded, "I would like a bite of it if you'd not mind, though I am not sure if I'll get lipstick on it." She pointed to her lips, which indeed had lipstain on them. She didn't know whether it had dried completely, but inspected the apple slice that she was holding in her left hand to see whether she could see the tell-tale stain on the apple. The dark chocolate, mixed with the low lights of the festival leant itself to obscuring that particular fact from her. She shrugged, "You might end up wearing my lipstick." She warned.

"Not wrong about?" Chiaki asked, not knowing what he was talking about, but instead was following her nose, which was currently all muzzled with the dark chocolate and taste of apple, toward what seemed to be a tea shop close by. It dawned on her a moment later as she stopped and chuckled, covering her mouth with a napkin which she had procured from the stand before they left, so as to keep the bit of apple that she was munching on from being seen, "You know, I get asked that a lot." She grinned at him and tilted her head.

"You seem to be a fun person, with a great personality, and I enjoy people." She nodded, "The most interesting people aren't the pretty ones," She shook her head, "Not that you're unattractive or anything, but you said I 'could do better' so I assume that is what you meant." She put a thumb to her lips, wiping off a bit of chocolate that had managed to melt and start to drip down her chin before putting it in her mouth and wiping her thumb off on the napkin.

"My whole life I've been asked, 'why do you do this, why do you do that.' " She open and closed her fingers, miming a mouth talking. "I am usually a butterfly, tossed on the wind, and where I land doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, or to anyone around me. I flit from this thing to that thing, and I am content to wander. I always seem to get where I want to go, and do it in the time that the gods allow." She nodded, "That is good enough for me."

"I've been monologuing." She groaned, putting her balled fist to her forehead and bumping it gently a couple of times, "Sorry, I have a tendency to do that too. But um, if you want to know why you and why here, and why now I have simple answers." She smiled, "You have kind eyes, a good temprament, and a good taste for food and tea. You are courteous and good company, and your general state of dress and wandering don't bother me. We got visitors at the temple that had the same world-weathered look about them." She nodded, and giggled, her perfectly smooth silicone features crinkled in a juvenile nostalgia, "They always had the best stories, and were the most interesting people."

[Toshi]

After Chiaki sampled a bite from his applesaur Tousha discreetly rubbed away any trace of lipstick with his jacket sleeve, happy that she didn't have to miss out on such a groundbreaking snack creation. The vagabond recommenced with the munching of his chocolate covered apple treat as the Kunoichi spoke uninterrupted. Tousha simply nodded and smiled at the appropriate times, displaying his exceptional active listening skills.

"Fwhy Phank phew," Tousha said through a mouthful of apple and chocolate as Chiaki tossed out that he wasn't entirely unattractive. As a forty-something year old man who often slept outside, he'd take what he could get.

When the Kunoichi was finished explaining why she'd decided to spend the evening with him Tousha gave her a cheeky smile and said, "Well I'm definitely not going to tell you how to live your life, Chiaki. I admire people who can be honest with themselves and know what they want out of this life. It's refreshing."

Then Tousha held up a finger and said with a serious expression, "Also I'm a big believer in doing things that don't make a lot of sense, especially to the people around you. I have it on good authority that it's soothing to the soul."

They walked past a very wealthy looking couple who were probably talking about how much money they had and how wonderful it was to have money. Tousha caught the words 'exploit' and 'shareholders' with his good eavesdropping ear and made a split second decision. They were definitely far too distracted with being rich to notice Tousha slipping his nearly finished applesaur treat into the man's expensive looking satchel.

Once they were a healthy amount of steps away from them Tousha said, "See? Did that make any sense? Probably not, but it still felt right. Sometimes you just have to try things and hope they work out."

[Kanade]

Chiaki nodded, it didn't make much sense, but then neither did much of anything in her life these days. Her family was gone, her friends were all either away or estranged, and Chiaki herself had given up the ability to start a family with Kirari. She felt utterly alone, which is probably why she craved the attention of others. She cleared her throat and nodded.

"I know how I want to live my life, but there is an obstacle that seems insurmountable given my condition, and I don't know whether or not I would 'give anything' to achieve it. That mindset got me into this mess in the first place." She looked up at the lanterns and smiled, "Still, it's not a bad place to be, with good company to boot." She looked around and sniffed the air, "There, that's where it is." She pointed to a shop with the kanji for "tea" written in calligraphic symbols above the pop up building.

"Let's go do things that don't make a lot of sense in there, after we do the sensible thing and order tea?" She grinned and waited for him to lead her into the tea shop. The gentle wafts of food around them were starting to die down to the overpowering and soothing scent of tea leaves being brewed to perfection. There was an art to it, leave the tea too long and it turned bitter, don't let it steep enough, and it would be hot leaf juice.

[Toshi]

Tousha's expression slipped into curious solemnity when Chiaki mentioned her condition and doubted her own fortitude to live the the way she wished. As the Kunoichi stood there, looking up and smiling at the lanterns that hung above them like fulgent ghosts, the vagabond felt a pang of sadness for her. He didn't wish to push the topic, prying was too tacky even for his taste. Still, there was a part of Tousha that hoped they would both find what they were looking for.

"No, not a bad place at all," he said quietly. He opened his mouth to speak of the company 'to boot,' but was interrupted as Chiaki pointed at a nearby teahouse. Sure enough, it was the shop they'd been hunting for.

Tousha beamed at the suggestion of doing things that didn't make sense while enjoying tea that did make sense. "I'd like to see anyone try and stop us," he said with a waggle of his bold brows. With that he escorted the woman to the tea shop in question, using his free arm to pull aside the banner hanging over the front entrance to allow Chiaki to enter unfettered.

"Welcome, welcome! Please have a seat and we'll be with you shortly!" a short, plump woman wearing an apron called out as Tousha and Chiaki entered the teahouse. The little shop was busy but not uncomfortably so, with many seating options left for the taking. Tousha motioned to a table nearby, a small, squat thing with two padded cushions that sat cozily in the corner.

"After you, if it pleases," Tousha said, allowing the Kunoichi to take her place before him.

[Kanade]

Chiaki smiled and entered under the arm and the banner of the shop and smiled at the plump woman, "Thank you miss." She bowed low to the woman and then stopped to take in the smells. The scent of apple blossom hung thick in the air, mixed with the tang of oolong, but there were spices too, cinnamon and nutmeg that wafted around the teahouse and she wondered what kind of things they could sink their teeth into here as well. Having to never worry about gaining weight, she simply could eat what she wanted, when she wanted. Even if it weren't the case, she would be able to do so as well, as she burned far more calories than a simple bit of sweeties would give her.

She sat down in the cushion and smiled at him lazily, "These oversized cushions are really comfy." Her eyes made their way lazily around the brightly colored room with the dark wood behind it, very perfectly accented, "Do you think that this is a pop up operation like mine was?" She asked, before letting her gaze fall back onto him. She placed her chin in her hand, looking him up and down, remarking how he was still very beautiful for a man.

With her silicone body, it made it easier to enjoy a man's company simply for the company, and she bet her was a really fine cuddler too. Thinking all of these things, they might as well have been painted on her face in bold black ink as she pursed her lips in an appraising way, then sank into a smug, dreamlike smile, before snapping back to the restaurant.

Picking up a menu she busied herself, "I think I am going to go with the warm matcha mochi, apple blossom oolong, and the parfait afterward to round it out sounds good too." They had other things that were finger foods here, but the restaurant wasn't for anyone looking for anything resembling an actual meal. They also had harder drinks available, sake, beer, and plum wine, along with some other mixed fruity drinks and spiked tea. They had what was called the 'apple blossom bomb' as well. It didn't have ingredients, but was listed under the alcoholic section. Chiaki eyed this menu item and then looked over her menu at Tousha.

"And what will the handsome man have for escorting the lady to the restaurant?" She put her coin purse heavy with ryo on the table, intending to pay for the meal and the pleasure of his company. So far he was one of the only ones at the festival that had yet to call attention to her weirdness, her strange semblance of living while not, and had treated her like a normal girl, without animosity or fear. She felt comfortable with him.

[Toshi]

With a small wave towards the tea shop's waitress, Tousha followed Chiaki to the table. Every step further into the charming establishment revealed new and compelling scents that intermingled wonderfully with the soft orange lantern light that bathed the entire shop in a perpetual aura of autumnal sunset. The crisp smell of apples and richly stained walnut wood furnishings only punctuated the appeasing atmosphere.

Giddy with anticipation, Tousha took a seat on the plump, delightfully comfortable cushion across from the Kunoichi. "If this is temporary, they're hiding it very well," he replied, also taking in the sights and sounds with unabashed enthusiasm. He turned back to Chiaki and smiled at her dreamlike expression, thrilled that she was enjoying the space as much as he was.

Say one thing about Tousha, say that he was dense sometimes and didn't recognize the look of a woman appreciating more than the lovely scenery.

The Vagabond picked up his own menu and nodded at Chiaki's order in approval, impressed by her coverage. "That sounds incredible," Tousha said, still perusing the teashop's offerings. But before he could decide, Chiaki shot another well welcomed compliment his way and placed her Ryo riddled purse on the table.

Tousha attempted his humblest smirk through a pang of sheepishness and said, "The Lady's loveliness is only overshadowed by her generosity. As your unordinary servant, you spoil me more than I deserve."

"Are we ready to order?" the plump woman asked as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere, her face still barely higher than Tousha and Chiaki's. "The Apple Blossom Oolong is a local favorite this time of year!"

Tousha smiled at the woman politely and said, "Ma'am, I have traveled long and far to sample just that. Two Apple Blossom Oolong teas, an order of the warm matcha mochi, a side of steamed pork bao, and the parfait for my captivating companion. Oh, and if you could hold off on that dessert until after we've finished dinner that would be much appreciated."

Nodding and writing their order diligently on a scratch pad of paper, the waitress beamed at her patrons. "Perfect! We'll have that right out! If you need anything, please let me know." She strode confidently towards the kitchen without another word.

And with that, the Shinobi were left to their own company.

[Kanade]

Chiaki nodded eagerly, "I spoil no one, I treat others as I would be treated, and you have not earned anything but my generosity yet." She smiled and waited for Tousha to be done with his order, watching his face while he did so, there were many things to read in the lines of it as he spoke and looked about, looked at her, looked at the waitress. It was like he was taking his time and savoring each interaction. He was the exact opposite of Chiaki herself, who was always rushing ahead, and the roses be damned, as they were miles behind her when she thought to even stop and smell them.

It was nice to sit down with someone who was so grounded, being a spirit that flitted about from place to place, from person to person, from village to village. It was true that she sowed chaos everywhere she went, but this man seemed to have a calming effect on everyone he had met. Her manic energy was balanced by his Zen way of walking meditative being. It was small wonder, then, when he was finished ordering that Chiaki was left staring at him, her lips slightly pursed and her eyebrows knitted softly together in a speculative way, the way that one would look at a new kind of fish they didn't know existed, or a bird that was singing in a tree that they hadn't seen before.

"You know, I believe that I probably would be a better person, having met you before now, and I hope to be a better person going forward." She nodded and smiled, "You are quick to compliment someone you barely know anything about." Sadness tinged the outsides of her statement, her eyes glancing to the floor on her right as she remembered all of the events leading up to where she was now. She felt on the edge of a precipice, and was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things that were as lovely as this festival never lasted for her. They were like fireworks, a flash of color and brightness, bringing momentary joy before the cold darkness of night settled in, more dark for having seen the momentary burst of color.

"Tell me a bit about yourself." The thousand mile stare from the silicone eyes shifted and parted, leaving Chiaki smiling toward Tousha. "I'm sorry if I am so pensive, it's been a very long time since I've enjoyed myself this much." She admitted. Her whole life she had been trying to do good, but this was one of the seldom moments that she felt good. The tinge of sadness that accompanies the last ten pages of a book, or the last bite of a bowl of ice cream shuddered up her spine, grabbing her by the base of the neck, and reminded her that this, too, would pass. She tried not to let it show, but it was there, echoed in the recesses of her gaze, tugging at the edges of her smile, clenching at the silicone muscles between her shoulders.

[Toshi]

"You know, I believe that I probably would be a better person, having met you before now, and I hope to be a better person going forward."

The Vagabond blinked, wide eyed and brows pulled high, at the Kunoichi's genuineness. Tousha admittedly had a difficult time catching what she had said after speaking those words because he was trying his best to play it cool and not reveal what kind of effect they were having on him. Regardless of his efforts, a feint rosiness bloomed across his nose and cheeks, and his eyes pulled away from Chiaki's to settle on a suddenly very interesting pair of chopsticks on the table between them.

Tousha couldn't be called a vain man. The Shinobi did little to maintain his appearance and he didn't have much of an ego to speak of, often to his own detriment. But one thing Tousha did pride himself on was trying to make the world a better place for Shinobi and non-Shinobi alike. Having someone like Chiaki openly admitting that his presence for an evening was a positive experience on her character was a better compliment than the Vagabond could ever ask for.

"No, you aren't being pensive," Tousha replied, absent mindedly scratching at the stubble riddling his cheek and trying to regain composure. "And I'm glad you're enjoying yourself because I feel the same way. I've had a hard time on the road recently and this has been a very unexpected but welcome surprise. I don't think I knew how much I needed a night like this."

With that Tousha leaned an elbow on the table and rested his chin on a hand. He could feel a boundary or two fall away as he stared at the woman, his dark eyes transparently genuine. "I'm from the Land of Fire," he began, still not wanting to reveal too much about his allegiances in fear of souring the mood. "When I was very young I wanted nothing more than to be a Shinobi, like my father was. Should have been simple enough all things considered, but I was born with hardly any Chakra. It was dangerous for me to perform even the most basic Jutsu. Actually almost killed myself trying to transform for some of my friends."

Tousha's head tilted, his expression nostalgic. "But then I found someone who believed in me. A man too good for this world. He taught me everything he could about being a Shinobi, but more importantly he taught me what it meant to be human. To be kind in a line of work that has no place for it."

Suddenly the Vagabond's eyes drifted somewhere very far away, despite still holding Chiaki's gaze. "I haven't thought about him in a long time. I'm sorry if that's not what you meant, Chiaki."

[Kanade]

Chiaki noticed that Tousha had quieted down and had found his eating utensils rather interesting indeed. As his words smoothed her doubt, they also bolstered her spirits. Someone was genuinely enjoying her presence. It was a blessing she hadn't had in a long time. Hanako had come with her out of a sense of duty and to train, she had come to be the best kunoichi for Kumogakure no Sato that she could be. Maido had brought her along and tolerated her because she had seen potential in her. Shinjiro had seen power latent and brewing within her, but had pushed her away as she stagnated into the silicone figure that was sitting across from Tousha, and the rest? The rest had left and/or forgotten her. To talk about enjoying someone's company was small talk to some, but she couldn't remember the last time she had heard it. Was it Kirari that had said it last? She found a genuine smile on her face before she knew it, a bright thing that was usually forced now that had bloomed there without her bidding.

"I feel a kindred spirit sitting across from me." She nodded at his words and chuckled, her smile fading to a smirk as she looked inwards, "I didn't know that I was allowed to have nights like this since becoming a Shinobi." She listened to his words, and reached across the table, attempting to rest her hand on his gently, seeing if he would pull away from the skin that was too soft to be real, the warmth that was a pale imitation to the real vigor of actual life. If he did, she would let it rest there, a companionable weight atop his hand, "That is exactly what I meant. I feel like, like this festival, this meeting this was all supposed to happen-" she cut herself off and sighed, her eyes turning to deep introspective pools of regret and sadness before flickering back to the now, it was better to live in the present, as she didn't get many times to be with someone like this. She looked at the man across the table from her, and saw that beneath the mussed exterior, the shaggy beard and the unkempt hair, behind the tatty clothes and the worn sandals was a man that had moved mountains, was as patient as the sea, and had a depth to him that she had seldom seen in other people. She had stared into the void that was the eyes of Maido, had burned in the gaze of Shinjiro and Vorashu, had been stunned by the electric glare of the Raikage, and had been turned to stone by the grip of the petrifying glance of the Tsuchikage. The man across from her was like plunging into a deep pool after a hot day of summer, she didn't know how deep they went, but there was no real danger of the ocean's waves, nor the swift galloping pace of a river, but the lazy spinning murmur of a freshwater pool, collecting itself after a long run in the river, getting ready to set out again in another journey toward the great sea.

Seeing the two at the table were in the middle of a deep discussion, the waitress bustled up, setting their food down on a folding standup tray next to their table, bowed and left them silently.

"I ah, what was I saying?" Chiaki shook her head and smiled, lightly chastising herself with a chuckle, "Oh right, if-if I had only-" She stopped and her brow furrowed, she looked around the restaurant, seeming to be finding the words to put together, "If I had this-" She looked at Tousha and the words spilled out, unbidden, "I feel like I have always walked a path toward what is right, a ship heading for a better world, but my wake stirs larger waves that capsize other ships," She nodded at the metaphor, it was fitting, "Unbidden I sow chaos in my wake, and in trying to seek harmony, peace, and understanding, I leave death, sorrow, and regret wherever I go. Such is being a shinobi, but-" She bit her lip and her eyes, which were holding his glanced down at the table, she let her lower lip slide slowly out of her teeth, hot tears had formed in her eyes, rolling unheeded, leaving cold trails down her cheeks, "But maybe if I had been here, met you, talked to you sooner, maybe that would have all changed." She looked up from the table, her eyes had a plaintive longing in them, a deep, visceral, soul-want. "Can you teach a monster like me to be kind in a line of work that has no place for it?"

[Toshi]

Tousha's eyes would flicker to where Chiaki was resting her hand on his. There was warmth there, but it felt... Strange somehow. Almost as if the heat from her body wasn't entirely natural. It was like feeling the warmth of a steaming cup of tea through a smooth, fired cup. The Vagabond's brief confusion was set aside, however, as that smoothness numbed the edges of Tousha's mind. For a breath the seasoned Shinobi was lost in how her skin felt against his, as if he'd never really understood what softness was until this moment.

The woman sitting across from him seemed otherworldly as she stared deeply into the core of him, a stark contrast to the suddenly ordinary tea shop that enveloped them both.

"Ah," Tousha said, pulling his hand away from Chiaki's as the waitress placed their food on a tray next to the table. "Thank you, ma'am," he added as the plump, aproned woman bowed politely and left them alone, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

Slowly, Tousha laid their food and drinks on the table between them while Chiaki spoke. His eyes never wavered from hers for long, his brow creasing with concern as she mentioned the efforts of her life and the impact they had on those around her. The thought of this person, who had shown a person like him nothing but kindness and empathy all evening, being such a destructive force was perplexing. Tousha certainly didn't know the Kunoichi's life and wouldn't pretend to have any other context but the past couple hours they'd spent together, but a small part of him couldn't help but sympathize.

Despite his good intentions, Tousha wasn't innocent of creating unintentional misery himself. It weighed heavily on the soul, more so than he cared to admit.

Without thinking, Tousha reached into his dark traveling shirt and pulled out a small, folded piece of fabric. He offered Chiaki the handkerchief, leaning forward so that she wouldn't have to reach far. "I don't think I can teach you something you already know, Chiaki," he said, smiling. "You've been nothing but kind to me." Then he looked a little sheepish and added, "It's clean, don't worry. It might be the only completely clean thing I've got."

[Kanade]

"Ah, sorry." She sniffed, and blotted the tears away, her face which looked like it had been done up with makeup didn't show even the telltale lines that would have been there from the preparation, the foundation, the mascara. She sniffled, and sighed, her eyes weren't even red from the act of crying. She shook her head, "I..." Then looked up slowly and smiled "I wasn't worried about that. It looks like you keep yourself clean enough for me. I bet you won't believe this, but I am not unused to road dirt myself." She laughed, another tear rolling down her cheek. She hastily wiped this one away, it was for Hanako, for the struggle she had put her through, for leaving her family of Kyoukan practitioners, for leaving Lightning country behind because of the cage that the Raikage kept his ninja in. A gilded cage is still a cage.

She couldn't help but smell him while blotting her tears, her eyes slowly shifted from the rag to him, and she felt the onrush of a blush tinge the tips of her ears and barely color her cheeks. She smiled, "Well, I ah, I haven't completely lost my humanity then." She said, biting her lower lip she moved her hand hesitantly toward him with the cloth, thinking to proffer it back to him, as it was his best one and then thought that she should wash it before giving it back. Caught between two polite actions held her in the prison of inaction. She chewed her bottom lip, "I can wash it for you, if you'd like." She prised her eyes from the handkerchief and smiled at him.

"You-you know uh." Chiaki stopped and thought better of what she was going to say. She tilted her head and started in on her food, saying a short prayer, "Kami of this land, thank you for the bounty in front of me, may your home be ever plentiful and peaceful." She broke her chopsticks and took a small, experimental bite, before smiling and nodding, "Definitely worth the wait, would you like a bite?" She offered the piece that she had taken a bite from then, looking down at her plate, she hurriedly picked up an untouched piece, scrambling to offer it in what she hoped was a fluid motion to him. Why was she flustered when she looked into his eyes. She saw the depth behind them, but none of the sharp thorns that awaited in Shinjiro's or Maido's gaze, none of the razer sharpness to them, but a road-worn smoothness like a river stone.

Was it jealousy? Awe? She wondered how many miles she would have to wander, how many lives of men would pass before she achieved the easy, effortless calm that was settled behind his gaze. It made her wonder what her eyes told about her story.

[Toshi]

Something had changed. Tousha stared across the table at his dinner companion with what he hoped was a pleasant expression but his thin, dark eyes twitched here and there, trying to glean what he could from the Kunoichi's change in demeanor. Her movements seemed less confident and refined, her voice didn't have the same silken, almost hypnotic melody. The seasoned Shinobi felt a stab of guilt, hoping he hadn't said anything to disrupt the evening's repose.

The Vagabond gratefully retrieved the handkerchief from Chiaki's outstretched hand and said, "Please, it isn't worth the trouble you'd go through, but I appreciate the offer." As he was folding the small piece of fabric and slipping it back into the front pocket of his Samue jacket, his eyes darted back up to Chiaki's. She looked like she wanted to say something and then abandoned the effort.

He kept watching her, reticent, as the Kunoichi said a brief prayer to the Spirits before beginning her meal. It was an older utterance of respect, one that he'd heard his grandparents recite many times. Just another mote of curiosity that seemed to swirl around the Kunoichi without a care in the world, not unlike her butterflies.

Tousha finally broke his contemplative silence when she offered him a bite of her food, realized she had offered him the same bite she'd just taken, and then produced a fresh morsel. It was, in fact, not a fluid motion, and even subtleties rarely escaped Tousha's attention. "Chiaki," he delved cautiously, placing his hand on the one she was holding the chopsticks in and lowering it gently so they could see each other clearly, "have I said something to upset you?" He let the question hang in the air between them for a breath and added, "If I have I couldn't be more sorry. That wasn't my intention at all."

He tried to fight back another bloom of red from touching his cheeks as he gazed across the table at the Kunoichi, the impossibly soft skin of her hand once again numbing the weariness he felt of the world and traveling alone through it. The look in her vivid orange eyes was transfixing in a way he couldn't define, and the way she kept biting her lower lip was more than a little distracting.

Despite himself, Tousha was determined to practice active listening.

[Kanade]

Chiaki looked from the bite to him and blushed a deep crimson and shook her head, her red hair cascading over what she had once had, the scar that traveled over her eye, the one that her father had given her, what seemed like a lifetime ago. She shook her head once more, “Ac-actually the opposite. You see, I haven’t been treated like this since… well since I can’t remember when by a human.” She smiled, it sounded weird, but she walked the land of spirits, elemental bodies, and Jinchuuriki who were thinly veiled animals. It had been a while since she had interacted with anyone that she could call, ‘just human’. Hanako herself had asked whether or not to go through with an elemental body transformation. Living in a world inundated by things like her, how could she not say ‘by a human’. It still rolled around in her mouth, even after she said it, tasting of the bitter tears of past mistakes.

“Before you ask-” She cut off the inevitable question, “My traveling companions have been Elemental Bodies, Puppet bodies, Jinchuuriki, Yokai and Onryo.” She listed them off one by one. Then looked from the table up to Tousha’s gaze once more. Finding the serenity there gave her the courage to divulge a bit more than she had been willing to, lately, “I have been traveling with non-human people for so long that I fear that I have, myself, become inhuman.” She was using human here to mean feeling, caring, knowing, experiencing, rather than just… enduring.

There was something hollow in knowing that she would never leave a permanent mark on the world through a child of her own. She could leave little bits and pieces in the interactions with others, and sure, she could leave the world a better place for her being in it, but how long would it take to sweep away those bread-crumbs of her personality, leaving nothing, not even the name of a faceless wanderer in her wake. The uncertainty in her eyes pulled at the left corner of her lip, bringing a rueful smile to the fore. She shook her head a bit and let her kimono fall open just a smidge, on purpose of course, exposing more of the faux flesh beneath. She didn’t know what kind of person he was, but she was willing to put this out there to see. Some men would grab at the opportunity, but some would join in the dance, one step measured, and mirrored by the other dancer. Best to make this into a good situation, if it could be salvaged from the turn in the conversation. Was she always this awkward? Everything had been so easy before she had looked into those eyes of his.

“I am introspective right now, but I-” she hesitated and then nodded to herself, giving herself the shove to ask him the question burning behind all of these memories bubbling up, “if you would like, in a more private setting than this, I would love to talk about the old times with you.” She looked around and smiled. There was age in the smile, and a longing for companionship of a sort, to be interpreted and determined by Tousha “Even restaurants such as these grow ears when someone like me enters them.” She left her offer ambiguous enough, hopefully tantalizing enough for him to take the hints.

[Toshi]

Tousha shot the Kunoichi a confused look. 'By a human?' He did, in fact, start to ask what she meant by that when Chiaki continued speaking, answering the question before he could ask it. The Vagabond sat there on his overstuffed cushion, intently listening to his companion as she spoke of elemental bodies, puppets, and Jinchuuriki. His imagination ran wild with the possibilities of her travels and adventures, his brow raised in palpable curiosity.

Then, as she mentioned her fear of becoming inhuman, Tousha's brow knitted in concern. The way she was smiling back at him, her lips turned not in happiness but in what he recognized as regret, made him suddenly desperate to help the Kunoichi understand that wasn't true. In fact, from where he sat, she seemed suddenly so imperfectly human in a way he could empathize with on a spiritual level.

"Chiaki, I-" he started, and then couldn't help but glance down at the Kunoichi's exposed skin. Her kimono had parted with such deliberateness that he could only assume she had done it on purpose, despite his denseness. The Vagabond was so disarmed by the impossible smoothness of her shapely body that he'd completely forgotten what he was going to say.

Realizing he was staring, Tousha forced his eyes up to Chiaki's as she was mentioning something about going somewhere more private. That she was concerned about someone overhearing any details she might share about her past. There was an implication in her smile, a look of deep want that Tousha hadn't seen aimed in his direction in a very, very long time.

And then all the evening's hints clicked together in shockingly vivid detail.

Tousha's eyes darted left, right, back at Chiaki's vibrant orange eyes, then down at the kimono, then back up to her eyes, then at the tea he'd completely forgotten about, then up at her lovely, inviting eyes again.

"I'm really sorry if I'm reading this wrong," he said, his voice hushed and a little embarrassed, "but are you... Hitting on me right now?"

[Kanade]

Chiaki blinked, then tried very hard not to laugh, which pinched her mouth into a tight line with both the sides curving up, her right corner a bit more than her left. She leaned in her eyes still on his, but brought her ear closer to his as if she were going to be telling a secret, but instead showed more of her neck and just the barest amount of skin more, “That depends entirely upon whether or not you would like for me to be hitting on you.”

She sat back, shrugged her kimono a bit so that she wouldn’t have some sort of a wardrobe malfunction and let the smirk become an easy smile, looking at her tea in front of her and focused on it instead of him. She finally felt a bit more at ease with the situation, this was an old song and dance that she had picked up in Kumogakure no Sato. After taking a long sip from her tea, she set the teacup back down, and only then looked back up at Tousha. She had given him enough time, she hoped, to make up his mind. She was older than she looked, and wiser than her years, but still she probably looked rather young to him. Vanity had kept the lines out of the silicone when she had made her new body, and pride had made her put a little bit extra in the front that the original Chiaki did not have.

Still, she felt every sensation, tasted every sip of tea, smelled every savory scent that wafted from the kitchen, a bit of burnt toast, but otherwise an overwhelmingly pleasant atmosphere. It all coalesced around the both of them, but brought her attention back to here, now, and Tousha in front of her. “We can get to know each other a bit better if you would like.” She took up a bite of her food, forgetting what it was until the mochi hugged her lips like a warm forbidden and stolen kiss, the matcha bringing a bit of the bitter spice that she had smelled when entering the restaurant to the fore. She pursed her lips around the bite, then sucked her lips in, licked them, bit down a bit, and showed how red they could be from the added stimulation of a bite.

She raised an eyebrow, a silent question that hung between the two of them.

[Toshi]

Chiaki's perfume, a fragrant blend of lilac and jasmine, filled his senses and dispelled any doubts he had about her intentions as the Kunoichi leaned in close to whisper in his ear. Her voice made his head swim pleasantly with its low, honey-sweet tones, luring him further from the tea shop's quaint charms. Tousha's gaze couldn't help but stray from the woman's winsome eyes and venture down her faultless neck, collar bone, and then the new skin her ever retreating kimono revealed.

Needless to say, Tousha was in over his head. However, he wasn't trying to save himself from drowning in the warm, deep waters that were Chiaki's advances just yet.

The tea shop came back into sharp focus when Chiaki pulled away from him, though her scent lingered and gamboled with the aromas of the food and drink laid out between them. Trying not to appear too affected by the Kunoichi's less than subtle flirting, but failing miserably, the vagabond reached for the apple blossom tea he'd come to Pebble Country for in the first place. Suddenly it paled in comparison to the woman who stared across the table at him with the confidence of a prowling large cat, its eyes set firmly on its next meal.

"I see," he said quietly, suddenly feeling very self conscious in the path of Chiaki's brazen attraction to him. It felt like his ears were going to melt to the cartilage from the heat that radiated in them.

Tousha took a measured sip of the tea and tried to regain some composure. It was a lovely cup of tea, made with the love and care that gave tea its signature taste. Many would argue that tea was just hot leaf juice, but seasoned tea enjoyers like Tousha scoffed at the criminal lack of appreciation for nuances in the world. For the briefest of moments his attention was turned away from Chiaki, an achievement in its own right, and the sheer enjoyment of a well made cup of tea washed over him.

With a deft, practiced movement, Tousha produced a small notepad and shortened pencil from the interior pocket of his Samue jacket, opened it to a fresh page, and jotted down some notes for his upcoming article in Tea and Tea Accessories Monthly. Potential romance and dangerously attractive women aside, Tousha was a professional who took his side gig very seriously.

His pencil did scratch a dark, jagged line across the notepad as he he looked up from his work at Chiaki, who had mentioned they could get to know each other a little better before biting into a savory mochi bun with lip coordination Tousha didn't know was possible. He coughed a little, bringing his pencil back to the paper and trying to finish his notes despite being cripplingly distracted.

As Chiaki sat across from him, that silent question hanging between them like a table decoration plain as day, Tousha sighed.

"First off, I'd like to say I'm truly flattered," Tousha began, his tone cautiously explorative. As he spoke the vagabond fiddled with the small yellow pencil nervously, though he tried to hold the Kunoichi's gaze with something resembling poise. "I don't usually... I mean to say I'm not... Um, approached like this often. Definitely not by women as... Women who are..."

He faltered for a moment, clearing his throat and taking another sip of tea. He opened his mouth to continue and decided to fill it with a bite of Mochi. It was excellent, of course, but it wouldn't save him from Chiaki's probing yet alluring stare. That eyebrow was sending him to places he didn't even know existed.

Tousha rested his elbows on the table, opening his hands to the woman imploringly and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to play hard to get here. Trust me, I'm not capable of doing that. I just have to know, are you trying to lure me into a trap or something?" Tousha hoped the question sounded more like he couldn't believe someone like her was interested in someone like him, that it seemed too good to be true. Suspiciously so.

If anything he hoped his honest and flustered appearance would benefit him for literally once in his life.

He motioned at the Kunoichi, at all of her, and added, "I mean, look at you. You're like a piece of art sculpted by someone with devastatingly good taste. You're a walking, talking definition of 'stunning.'" Then Tousha gestured at himself and said, "Look at me, Chiaki. I'm a weird old man who likes dinosaur shaped apples."

[Kanade]

Looking at the way that his pencil moved across the notepad, it reminded her of how she would take medical notes. He had a different shorthand than she did, but she shared it with the medical community, "PRN" meant as needed, "Q1D" meant take one a day, "LMT" meant Laceration of the Medial Torso... etc. It was interesting to see what short notes others made of their craft. As he put them away, she left the question there until he answered,

Chiaki smiled and nodded, she believed that he should be flattered. After all, she worked hard on this body, which he had the good sense to compliment. Then her smile turned brittle as her eyebrows furrowed a small amount. Why would she set a trap for him? Especially here, in the middle of a festival that was all about making new friendships, tying new bonds, forging new alliances? The confusion finally completely masked her smugness from receiving the compliments. Her eyes narrowed, had he been lured into traps before? She looked up and to the left, looking inward as she repeated the question to herself. Had she been lured into a trap before? If she had, she actually hadn’t known about it. Her life had thus far been either head on collisions or natural disasters that had attempted to kill her.

She blinked a couple of times and then laughed, not at his attire, but at how ridiculous the whole situation that he was spinning was. She couldn’t help herself, and didn’t know whether it would drive him off or whether it would keep him at the table. She finally calmed down enough to clear her throat and chuckle out, “No, it’s not a trap, if it was, I would be the stupidest woman in the whole country.” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and then smiled at him, the tension that she had felt before had been broken, but the warmth that she felt between the both of them was still there. “I’m sorry for laughing, but I am not good at laying traps, and I am even worse at keeping quiet about things I really should be.” She shook her head. Perhaps this was the reason that she was only a Jounin and not a Bannin. Bannin were trusted with secrets, and she had almost no secrets. Having not kept any, she wasn’t great at keeping them.

Chiaki swallowed the next chuckle down and exhaled, trying to get the butterflies out of her stomach that threatened to send her into another giggle fit at how ridiculous he made her sound, “I am happy that you enjoy my looks, I worked very very hard on them, actually. Probably moreso than any other woman has.” She shook her head, “But, to be honest they are a type of shield. If you had seen me before I had this appearance,” She shook her head once again, the smile coming back to her lips, it was wry and full of the pain of rejection. It seemed silly that he would think that he was unattractive given her previous appearance. Then her eyes went wide and she pointed at him, “I know, I’ll show you what I looked like before.” She wove a set of very familiar hand seals, so slowly that a genin could follow them, and the jutsu was one that even a Genin would recognize. It was the transformation jutsu, the one to hide your appearance or make it seem like the person was a different person altogether.

Relaxing into the jutsu, she pictured herself in her mind’s eye as she used to be, unkempt red hair pulled taut into a ponytail high on her head, the ruined-looking orange eye, the scar that ran from the tip of her head to the tip of her toe in a jagged spiral, the curves of a middle-aged woman, and the scars that she had gained from working with medical tools, fighting in shinobi battles, and working with her hands at the smithy. She blinked and looked at him, giving him a crooked smile, “This is uh, this is who I used to be.” She faltered and brushed the hair over her damaged looking eye, shrinking back into the booth’s cushions. There were several reasons that she had sculpted herself the way she was now, and one of those was that she was ashamed of the woman that she revealed to Tousha now.

“So um.” She looked at him with her one good eye, trying to think of what else to say, but stopping short. She wondered whether this would put him at ease. Her clothing had disintegrated into the black priestess robes of the Kyoukan, and the symbol on her brooch, pinned to the illusory robes had the same symbol. She waited, and watched, and felt more skittish than she had the entire night. It was his turn to turn her down.

[Toshi]

Tousha couldn't help but laugh along with Chiaki, relieved that the perplexity he felt at her offer wasn't taken in poor taste. He'd genuinely meant no offense towards the Kunoichi, but Tousha had grown unaccustomed to maneuvering sensitive situations like these. A much younger Nara Tousha would have been much quicker on his feet and would have literally jumped at the opportunity to spend an evening with a beauty like Chiaki.

The older, much more jaded Tousha sitting in front of the Kunoichi this evening was more hesitant to believe that the universe was throwing him a bone.

The seasoned Shinobi smiled and sipped at the Apple Blossom Oolong tea as he watched Chiaki bloom with an infectious warmth. Any tension between the two seemed to melt away in the orange glow of the tea shop's interior, warded off by their tandem understanding in the ridiculousness of the situation. He could see it in the way Chiaki shook her head and smiled at him, that she was choosing to be herself in the rarest of ways.

When she apologized for laughing at his 'trap' theory, Tousha simply held up a hand. "I should be the one apologizing," Tousha said, still chuckling. "In our line of work we can't be too careful. Just had to check."

Tousha's eyebrows curled in confusion when Chiaki explained how she had worked very hard on her looks, that her outward appearance was a shield to protect her from the world. He watched as the woman's warmth ebbed away as if a harsh, winter wind had swept through the tea shop. The way she smiled at him when she mentioned how she looked before doing all that work, the look of a person putting on a brave face in a time of hardship, cut him to the quick of his soul.

"Okay," Tousha said as Chiaki offered to show him what she used to look like. The vagabond's tone was gentle and encouraging, anything to ease the discomfort the Kunoichi was going through.

Then Tousha's eyes widened slightly as Chiaki changed. Where a faultless sculpture of a woman once sat, a brutally sincere beauty stared back at him. She was older now, much closer to Tousha's age. Her long, red hair was pulled back into a flowing ponytail, one of her once vibrant, orange eyes was clouded and fractured by a long scar that seemed to split the length of her body. As Chiaki made a deliberate effort to hide her damaged eye, covering it with a length of lovely red hair, he saw that that her hand was marred with the work of someone who wasn't by any definition delicate.

Tousha couldn't help but stare in open wonder at her. As he grew older, Tousha had come to respect and admire self honesty more than almost anything else. It was something he sought in himself with a desperation he couldn't put into words. Seeing Chiaki, someone with such a strong drive to do good in the world with her talents, hiding her true self from the world in fear of rejection made Tousha's heart ache to show her that she didn't need to hide at all.

Before he could second guess his instincts, Tousha's form blurred with sudden speed. Chiaki would blink with her good eye, only to find that her dinner guest had vanished. Tousha sat next to the Kunoichi, very close now, on her blind side. With a steady hand he brushed the lock of hair hiding her scarred eye away so that he could see it clearly. It was beautifully flawed, like a cracked pane of stained glass.

Tousha wanted to tell her that. It would have been a good line, but he found himself suddenly very unable to speak.

So instead Tousha quietly leaned in and kissed the scarred skin of her cheek, just under the damaged eye. 'This is who you still are,' he hoped the lips on her cheek would say in their own way, 'and that's okay.'

Tousha pulled away from the Kunoichi, his face still close to her own. He didn't want to push his advance any further, not until Chiaki had a moment or two to make her own decision. "So. Um," the vagabond said uncertainly, hoping the kiss hadn't been too bold for Chiaki's taste.

[Kanade]

Chiaki recoiled as she lost sight of Tousha and then felt the brushing of her hair aside. It was all in one motion, or seemed to be, She looked up at him through her seemingly broken eye and gave him a weak smile.

Then he leaned in for a kiss, and she didn’t have to pretend that startled her. Her eyes went wide and her eyebrows lifted. She wondered what he expected of her, what she expected him to do, what this whole thing was about. She wondered whether or not he had misunderstood her about her being a monster, and her bodily transformation to be rid of the self that she was showing now. The form that she had taken blushed with her own embarrassment.

“I, um.” She touched her cheek lightly where he had kissed, the feeling had stuck with her and she cleared her throat. Very eloquent of them both to be speaking in a language so elegant and high falutin as the conversation they were having. She decided that she didn’t really need, or want to be more eloquent than that. She wasn’t a raconteur, so she couldn’t really say what she felt. It was flattering that he liked her better this way than what she had shown him earlier.

She decided to skip the words for now, and just return the kiss, this time it was on his lips, a small kiss, barely enough to warrant a kiss, actually, a quick meeting of lips and a hasty parting, her eyes darted from his mouth to his eyes, twice and then rested on his eyes. Her chin tucked, eyes wide, she found that she was breathing heavily, and wondering what he would say. Anything that she could think of would be awkward, and she hated to break pregnant silences like this. Perhaps the silence was a good thing.

She felt her face continue to burn hot, and knew that she was almost as red as her hair. She reached up to tuck a stray strand back behind the ear of the cheek he had kissed. Looking away she pursed her lips and gulped, wondering what to do now. Kirari hadn’t been this tender with her before, and neither had Shinjiro. Her other lovers were all deft and quick, and lovely, but this was-. The genuine acceptance and, not a lust for her, but an understanding of sorts between them made her scoot a bit closer, press her shoulder to his chest and bring her hip to rest against his leg. She placed one hand on his leg and decided to leave it there as she took a very deliberate sip of her tea, then offered it to Tousha silently.

[Toshi]

For one, horrifying breath, Tousha thought Chiaki had been repulsed by the kiss he'd given her. The Kunoichi's eyebrows remained arched and in a look of shock, she brought her work-worn fingers to touch where his lips had met her skin, and she stared at him with an uncertainty he couldn't place. His dark, thin eyes searched the woman's face as she struggled to think of what to say before leaning towards him, her lips pressing against his for the briefest of moments before pulling back again.

Had he done something wrong? Was she just humoring him?

"I... Chiaki, I'm-" he started to say, but was cut short as the Kunoichi pressed her body against his. He felt the curve of her shoulder settle into his chest, and her hip settle against his leg. Then her hand rested on his thigh, her fingers squeezing ever so gently.

Tousha felt warmth touch his cheeks, nose, and ears. The vagabond's head swam pleasantly once more, his senses shrinking so that only Chiaki's touch and scent remained.

The last thing he had expected from the Kunoichi was a display of profound shyness. Seeing her flustered like this, red-faced and seemingly unable to speak, made Tousha realize Chiaki was out of her element. The Kunoichi had radiated confidence when she spoke of getting to know one another better, and allowing a wordless question of a night's company to linger between them. It was a game she seemed all too familiar with, playing the role of an alluring prize to be enjoyed and not understood.

'Has she never been treated this way?' Tousha couldn't help but ask himself as the Kunoichi took a slow, deliberate sip of her apple blossom tea.



A memory flashed through the vagabond's mind, sparked by the way Chiaki tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. He saw a red haired woman, garbed in the blue, gold, and white robes of nobility. She had a cowlick that tormented her constantly, her hand mechanically smoothing a shock of red hair behind her own ear dozens of times a day. Her eyes smiled at him when her mouth couldn't. It wouldn't have been proper after all. He felt her fingers touch the wrinkled, knitted skin between his brows, her words mocking how serious he looked all the time. Then there was darkness, but he could feel her warm breath on his neck.

"You should be more confident," a bright, chiming voice said to him. "It looks good on you."



Tousha watched as Chiaki offered him a sip of her tea, her eyes expectant and searching. Her face was still flushed, her hair an all too familiar shade of red. He stared at the cup for a long moment before taking it from her hand gently, and then putting it back on the table. His left hand ventured to her waist and pulled her closer, the fingers of his right hand settled gently on her neck and jaw, angling her face towards his. Tousha closed his eyes and kissed Chiaki firmly, his mouth moving with a lonely hunger against her own. He breathed in through his nose, taking in her perfume and allowing himself to fall into a world of mind numbing warmth.

He would keep kissing her as long as she didn't pull away. The hand at the Kunoichi's waist would hold her close to him, welcoming her to press her body to his. The fingers at her neck and jaw would gently squeeze at the muscle and impossibly smooth skin there, his thumb rubbing at her cheek in lazy, tender circles.

"I don't want to be alone tonight," Tousha would say after an amount of time he couldn't place, his voice soft and fragile. "It's been so long since..." he stopped, trying to find the right words. Eventually he said, "I'm so tired."

[Kanade]

Chiaki felt a small gasp escape her as he wrapped his arm around her, his hand on her waist and then led her into a kiss. All tension left her as she closed her eyes, she found it rather difficult to do anything with her right arm, so she settled for placing her left hand on his shoulder gently, resting it there. As he finally parted from the kiss he had given her, she licked her bottom lip, before biting it nervously. Perhaps that meant she hadn’t overstepped?

As soon as he started to speak, she could hear the pieces of broken glass that were trying to fit together into a sentence, into a plea. She could feel her heart cut itself on those pieces as she nodded, “I know the feeling.” The smile she wore was am empathetic sad smile. It lingered for a moment before her eyes brightened, and the smile tugged into a grin, “But you don’t have to be alone, I have a hotel room near here.” She took out the spare key and dropped it into his pocket, “Just in case you need a place to hang your coat and get comfortable.” There was obvious intent behind the words, as she leaned in and spoke them, her lips brushing against his with every word. She pulled away, looking up into his eyes, “But first, we should finish our lovely tea.”

She looked at the table and furrowed her brow in thought, “Or-” She drew out the thought, “I could make us some tea at the hotel, and we could sit on a more comfortable couch, and listen to the rain patter on the windowpanes.” She looked at the window, indeed a bit of a drizzle had started outside. It would be a downpour in about an hour, but clear up soon enough, as all spring showers did. “I can nab the rest of the food, and we’ll pay on the way out?” She offered, a small shrug and a barely raised eyebrow punctuated that she would wait for his answer.

[Toshi]

The vagabond's thin, dark eyes tried to take in every small nuance as Chiaki spoke. The way sad understanding touched her smile, how her eyes brightened when she said he didn't have to spend the night alone. He didn't even look down as her deft hand slipped a key to her hotel room into his pocket, her lips brushing against his with each inviting word. All of it had an almost ephemeral quality, as if the hard, unforgiving edges of reality were becoming smooth and welcoming.

"Lovely tea," Tousha said, hardly aware of what he was saying. "Sure."

The Shinobi was pulled back to reality when he saw the Kunoichi's expression change, clearly deep in thought. She mentioned making them tea back at the hotel, a comfortable couch, and listening to the rain. Tousha's gaze followed Chiaki's as she peered out a nearby window. He could hear the feint pitter patter of rain outside now that his senses weren't entirely focused on the woman he still held close.

After she had finished proposing her plan, Tousha turned his attention back to the Kunoichi's face. It still hovered mere inches in front of his own. He smiled sheepishly and said, "I've got some things stashed just outside town. I can grab my stuff and meet you at the hotel, if that's okay?"

He couldn't help but bridge the small distance between them and kiss the Kunoichi's lips again before she could answer, this time gently biting her lower lip for her. Tousha pulled away after a few moments, his ears and nose flushed with a rising heat. He looked around, suddenly realizing with no small amount of embarrassment that they were very much in a somewhat busy restaurant. Several customers from a couple tables over were shooting curious glances their way and muttering in low tones.

The tea house's waitress was grinning nearly ear to ear as she stood at their table holding the dessert Chiaki had ordered, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Would you like the check?" she asked. "A to go box, maybe?"

[Kanade]

Chiaki, swept up in the kiss like some lovelorn girl closed her eyes and her senses to the outside world. It was ages since someone had made her feel, well, human. When Tousha pulled away, she caught him looking around the restaurant, which in turn made her jutsu falter, slip and fall as the woman was approaching the table. There wouldn't be much amiss from afar, maybe a trick of the light that could have thrown her eye color off. Chiaki was the self-same smooth skinned woman when the waitress came back.

She pressed her lips together and sucked on them before nodding to the waitress, "That'd be lovely if you could." She gave a smile to the woman as she took out her purse, setting down a sum that would have paid for both their meals and a tip. Chiaki stared off for a moment, lost in the wondering of how long it had been since she had such polite company. She had been on dates, yes, but never something as 'quaint' as this. Quaint wasn't the word. Her brow furrowed for a moment before she dismissed it, it was a lovely and simple date.

"Ah, yes, go ahead and grab your things, I am staying here." She pressed a card down on the table as the waitress set down the dessert to-go. Chiaki took another sip of the tea, "I'll go ahead and make the room welcome for you." She pressed her fingers to her lips, then pressed the fingers to his lips, gave a wink and walked out of the restaurant toward the hotel.

--

The drizzle had already started to pick up into a nice rain, and Chiaki didn't doubt that it would turn into a downright downpour in a moment. She, even though she had a jutsu that would have been more than perfect for the situation, found herself looking at the cobblestones biting her bottom lip. Was this going to turn into a tussle and cuddle like all of her other adventures, or was she going to make a friend that she could see later on when she wished? Memories of past lovers flashed through her mind, and she nodded as she approached the large green sign, looking up at it. The rain pattered against her forehead, and what looked and felt like her hair. It even dripped against her eyes that stared unblinkingly, staring past the sign into the past whirlwind of what, four years? All of that living in only four years? She had enough to last a lifetime and a half. She clenched and unclenched her fist a bit, feeling the smoothness of the skin, the perfect way that her muscles worked without fault, without any tremor of age or infirmity. She would have an eternity to sort out tonight if she made a mistake here and bungled this.

Entering the hotel, the concierge took one look at her and ran to get her a towel, which she accepted and patted her head dry before wrapping it around her neck and letting it hang on her chest as if she had just come from the pool. She let him know that she would be expecting company, and that he would have a key, and to let the man in and show him to her room should he ask it. The four story building was a marvel of modern engineering with the front desk and a sitting room in the middle of the entirety, ringed by rooms on either side and also above. The lovely light wood accented the hard brass coated joists that held up the whole of the building. She looked up at where her room was, on the third floor. Enough money to land her a third floor room that didn't overlook the street that had the lights on all the time during the festival, and instead looked out over the town to the hills beyond the wall.

She climbed the stairs, feeling her kimono tugging at her wetly as she made her way up, and confronted with the door, pressed her hand against it and channeled a bit of chakra before appearing on the other side of it, without use of a key. The room was dark, but that was easily remedied with the lighting of a few of the lamps that were hanging on the wall, running off the gas, they were extremely bright. She would have to light some of the other small lamps in the room if she was expecting company.

Dripping wet, she sloughed off her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the landing before going to get a fresh and fluffy robe. Frowning at the wet garments, she took them and hung them in the bathroom on the left to dry. She would have to call for a launderer later on, as it was included in the hotel's steep fee. She walked out of the bathroom to the left and started a kettle, thinking that if she was cold, Tousha would be freezing when he came in. He had a body to keep warm after all, and she didn't want him catching cold on her behalf. Thinking better of it, she also added some of the soup that she had made the night before to the burner in another pot.

Leaving the two to start simmering, she checked the wardrobe and carefully picked out what she would be wearing when he came calling, and from the sounds of their parting in the restaurant, she didn't want to look too uncomfortable. Her butterflies moved around her in dizzying flurries, carrying the outfits from the wardrobe to the mirror and back as she tried on three outfits before settling on one.

Sitting down on the couch facing the fireplace and the front door, waiting, she ran her hand over her silk housecoat, which was covering her red lace teddy. The fire had been lit by the maid and was now cherry coals. The room was thankfully warm enough for them to he comfortable, but she could add the wood to the right in the small iron wood holder, if they should need a bit more warmth or ambiance. The lamps on the walls with the harsh yellow light had been put out, Chiaki opting for the more soft orange glow of the handheld and table lamps, and of course the coals from the iron fireplace, set into the wall between the bathroom and the living room. She had decided on the couch, as the chairs seemed less cozy and communal. On the chair to her left, closer to the front door and kitchen was a dry fluffy white robe for Tousha to use when he came in. Chiaki's butterflies fluttered around and landed on her, the bed, and the floor around her, taking flight and settling in, almost as restless as she was, but looking like wind-tossed white iridescent rose petals. She had it all ready, tea already steeped, soup hot off the oven and two bowls and China that she had borrowed from the hotel were waiting to be filled with the hot liquids to chase away the damp and cold that the outside air would have blown through Tousha.

[Toshi]

Tousha left the tea house grinning like an idiot. He still felt the Kunoichi's soft fingers pressing against his lips, a vibrant orange eye winking at him before leaving him to his task. He walked through the festival in a haze as people moved here and there, shielding themselves from the heavy drizzle that was beginning to dampen the night's spirits. Well, at least for some. Somehow Tousha seemed ignorant to the rain, to the disapproval it stoked in the crowd. The crystal clear image of how Chiaki's hips had swayed as she left the tea shop was more than enough to distract him from any mild discomfort.

It distracted him for a while, at least.

The rain had picked up more than expected. Much, much more. The nearly fifteen minute walk to Tousha's makeshift camp had been bearable but certainly not ideal as a light drizzle turned into a shower, and then amassed into a downpour. The warm, soft thoughts of Chiaki waiting for him back at the hotel were somewhat dampened like the rest of him with each passing step. The soaked Nara couldn't help but grumble that all of this would have taken no time at all if he'd been allowed to weave a Jutsu. But rules were rules, and the thought of Chiaki waiting for him in her room while he was getting tossed into some Samurai jail cell filled Tousha with a dread he didn't want to linger on.

Feeling the chilling rain water already seeping through his sturdy Samue jacket, the vagabond gathered up what measly possessions he'd left in the makeshift camp into a single duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder. He sighed to himself, the sound drowned out by the falling rain. He stood there for a moment, peering back at the lights of the town. He spotted a tall building, lit up with a pleasant glow from the myriad of lights that bloomed from within. Somehow he knew the Kunoichi was there, awaiting his arrival.

"You're going to do fine," Tousha told himself, taking the first sodden step of what would be a very long journey to the hotel. "Don't say anything weird. Don't do anything weird. Just... Be cool. For literally once in your life, be cool."

Tousha repeated this mantra for most of the trip.



---



Of course the hotel Chiaki had chosen was one of the fanciest places Tousha had ever seen, let alone been allowed inside of. The concierge watched Tousha walk into the lobby, a horrible, dripping mess of a human being, and did not offer a towel. What would have been the point? You couldn't loofah away a swimming pool and no hand towel was fluffy enough to save Tousha from his waterlogged fate.

The world was suddenly terribly quiet save for the damp, squishing sounds Tousha made with each step towards the hotel's front desk. It seemed painfully far away and the vagabond was acutely aware of just how much sound he was making. His moist footsteps echoed throughout the lobby, turning the heads of nearly everyone there. Finally he made it to the desk, staring at the concierge through a sopping mop of long, black hair that clamped in an undignified fashion to his skin.

"I have a key," Tousha said, holding up the key as proof.

The concierge's eyes darted from the key, to Tousha's face, to the mess that was the rest of him, back to the key, and then finally settled on Tousha's eyes.

"Of course, sir," the man said as politely as possible, as if the thing standing across the desk didn't look like it just crawled out of a swamp. "The Madame is waiting for you on the third floor. Please... Try not to get anything wet, sir."

Tousha turned, already heading for the stairs. "Where's the fun in that?" he asked no one.

No one answered.



---



Several minutes and many stairs later, Tousha stood at Chiaki's door. He sighed, trying to gather the eldritch horror that was his hair into something respectable. He shifted his drenched clothes as if it would make him look in any way more presentable, and took a final, deep breath.

"Do what you used to do. Before you became an old person," Tousha muttered, slowly raising the key to the reader. "Be smooth. Say smooth things. Things that don't sound like you haven't done this in... Some number of years."

He pressed the key to the reader, the door opened, and Chiaki would watch as Nara Tousha, a "flee on sight" level threat in the Shinobi Bingo Book, shuffled into the romantically lit room with the grace and wetness of a sea cucumber.

"The uh..." Tousha said, trailing off at how immaculate everything in the hotel room looked. The lighting, the smoldering coals in the fireplace, the smells, the fluttering of the beautifully ephemeral butterfly wings. Finally his gaze landed on Chiaki, sitting on an incredibly expensive looking couch, wearing a silk housecoat, and staring at him with those eyes that made his head swim if he looked into them for too long.

He simply stood there, dripping rampantly and frozen to the bone, drinking in the shape of her. The duffle bag slipped from his shoulder and flopped onto the floor like a dead fish. Tousha's open, dumbstruck mouth started to form words despite his brain short circuiting from the Kunoichi's loveliness.

"The rain," he fumbled at quietly. "There was a lot of it."

[Kanade]

Chiaki watched with more than a little bemusement the look that spread over Tousha’s face. She paused, waiting for him to elaborate on ‘the uh’. While she waited, Chiaki rose and collected the house-coat, walking over to the door she took it from his hand and waved a hand at his bag. The butterflies took her meaning and brought the whole thing to the bedroom.

“Yes, there was a lot of it.” She nodded slowly, her eyes on his wet person, straying here and there, but playfully staying away from his eyes, “Let’s get you in the bath and warmed up before anything. You’re already soaked, so just hop on in and warm up for a minute.” Chiaki talked through the gesture of depositing the housecoat on the nearby empty coat rack and started peeling off Tousha’s samue jacket. She held it out and more of her butterflies, unladen with the bag took it and rushed off toward the linen closet. “They’re really helpful, I only have to think it and they do it. Something something pheromones.” She waved her hand and the butterflies swirled in an infinity sign for a bit as she gripped the kimono, pulling at the cloth band that kept it in place, before shrugging it over his shoulders and handing it to the butterflies as well.

“Right.” She looked at the mesh shirt that was tucked into his trousers. Tapping her chin playfully, she sank down to hook her fingers through both layers of his trousers and, if he gave no resistance, pulled them down, her eyes on his own the entire time. Lastly, she pulled the mesh shirt off, giving it to the butterflies who were stretching the other clothes out on the drying rack. They busied themselves as Chiaki took the housecoat and draped it around his shoulders, pulling it closed and fastening it for him.

“Bath mister.” She pointed and smirked cheekily, “And I’ll bring your tea. You can join me when your lips and fingertips are the right color.” She glanced at the place between his legs in a rather pointed way, then raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips in concern, a bit of her motherly sternness seen in the crease that normally didn't adorn her too-perfect features, before busying herself to the kitchen.

Looking at the tea that she had set out, she wove a series of intricate hand seals and held her hand over the pot. It wouldn’t do much to someone who was the right temperature, but for someone with hypothermia, or someone who was suffering heatstroke, it would right their temperature and keep it stable for a good long while. The tea itself was a pu-erh, aged six years and steeped at a high temperature for a short while. She had added a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, and red chile powder to it to drive out any semblance of a cold. Chiaki took a good inhalation of the tea, letting the warm slightly spiced tea fill her lungs before she nodded.

Placing the teapot back onto the bamboo carrying tray along with two tea cups, saucers, and matching creme and sugar bowl, she turned around and sighed. Taking a quick glance revealed the butterflies had put the drying rack behind the couch, still in the warmest room of the house, but out of the viewshed from most angles. The clothes would likely be dry by midnight. She motioned with her head, and the butterflies flew to the wood pile, tossing in a couple of small round logs, they stacked rather messily, but would catch in due time from the cherry red coals that were nestled into the cracks of the basalt stone that made the fireplace.

Walking back to the bathroom, she knocked, carrying the tea, “Tea is ready!” She called through the Shoji, placing the Tea beside her and kneeling on the floor, waiting for his say-so to bring him the hot beverage.

jutsu trained and jutsu used (649/400 March Training)Show

(trained)
Tabe Mono Iijutsu: Temperate Tea
S ranked Tabe Mono Iijutsu
Requires Tabe Mono Iijutsu concentration, 40 control
The user weaves hand seals over a pot, or cup of tea, pouring their chakra into it. This tea regulates the person who drinks this tea's temperature, protecting them from up to 1 S ranked effect that would either raise or lower their temperature to dangerous levels. This lasts for 7 posts and can be used within 5 posts of consuming said tea.

Tabe Mono Iijutsu: spoonful of sugar
A ranked Tabe Mono Iijutsu
Requires Tabe Mono Iijutsu concentration
The user takes one post to weave a delicate blend of hand-signs over a spoonful of sugar. This sugar, (one tablespoon’s worth), when consumed, spreads through the body at the cook’s [control] speed and eats away at the poison in the target’s body at [control] strength This effect lasts up to [control/10] posts and can be dispelled by the ninja consuming the soup jutsu. This jutsu also stops the affects of the same poison for the entirety of the length of the jutsu.

[Toshi]

Say one thing about Tousha, say that he was suddenly very overwhelmed.

"O-okay," Tousha stammered as Chiaki mentioned getting him into a bath before peeling away the soaked through clump of fabric that was his Samue jacket. He watched as an organized swarm of butterflies up and carried his duffle bag away into the bedroom while a fresh batch of fluttering butterflies did the same with his jacket, all without so much as a word of command from the Kunoichi.

Everything was happening so fast Tousha could barely keep up with what Chiaki was saying. "Wait, pheromo -?" and that was all he could get out before the butterflies circled and weaved in a dazzling display. He watched them, wide eyed, while Chiaki's deft hands rid him of his kimono shirt.

Soon enough that fluttered away as well to who knew where.

"Oh. Wow," Tousha said, feeling warmth bloom in his otherwise chilled cheeks as Chiaki confidently pulled his trousers and undergarments down in one, smooth motion, her orange eyes locked onto his. "Aren't we uh... Wait, how'd you do that?" Tousha was certain that he'd never be able to take his own clothes off this quickly, and the Kunoichi had him stripped down to nothing like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Was it usually this easy? Tousha didn't remember things being this easy.

His ninja mesh was carried away to the same drying rack as the rest of his clothing as Chiaki fitted him with a warm, fuzzy housecoat, pulled it tight, and synched it closed. His pale face was burning like one of the fireplace's coals by the time the Kunoichi ordered him into the bathroom, claiming that she'd bring his tea to him shortly. There was also mention of lips and fingertips, but the world around Tousha was spinning and most of his faculties were focused on not losing consciousness.

"Yes, ma'am," Tousha said, pulling his housecoat together a little more as she very deliberately inspected his less than pristine hardware with a look of worry. Tousha walked into the bathroom, closed the door, thought on it for a moment, and peeked his head back out.

"It's not... I mean I'm usually... It was cold."

He shut the bathroom door, stood there in the fuzzy housecoat, and rubbed at his face in embarrassment. A beautiful butterfly woman had graciously offered to share an evening with him in possibly the fanciest building Tousha had ever been allowed inside of and he'd shown up like a half drowned rat. Now Chiaki probably thought he was just a joke. That she was slumming it with some weird old guy and regretted ever bumping into him at the onsen.

No. Confidence. He needed to be confident. He could salvage this. There was still time, there was still hope. He'd come back from worse.

With a deep breath Tousha removed the fluffy housecoat, hung it on a nearby wall hook, and drew himself a nice, hot bath in the hotel bathroom's surprisingly large bathtub. It took several long minutes for the water to fill up the tub even halfway. The vagabond slipped into the tub with a half pained, half satisfied groan. The tub's hot water sent lances of painful relief through his hands and feet, chasing away the chill that had numbed them.

Tousha sighed, a content smile on his face, as he practically melted deeper in the tub. He rested his arms on the tub's tall sides and leaned his head back against a small built in pad. A couple more minutes passed before he heard Chiaki knock on the door.

The Nara suddenly became very self conscious, propping himself up to a rigid sitting position and doing his best to look proper. As if one could look 'proper' sitting stark upright in someone else's bathtub.

"Come in," he said, hoping to sound alluring but failing to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.

[Kanade]

Chiaki opened the door, still sitting on her heels, pushed the tray in, and then moved in on her knees as was customary when entering a room that was occupied. She had her back to the tub and blinked. Oh, this was actually probably somewhat embarrassing for him, hmm? The thought only now crossed her mind as she had taken care of people in the hospital with pneumonia with much the same routine. The only thing that jarred her back into the reality of the situation was that she was wearing something completely different.

“Oh, uhm.” She hesitated and poured his tea for him placing a small amount of the sugar into it before stirring and, then offered the cup and saucer to Tousha. She suddenly wished she had a clay cup rather than the dainty china. “Uh, yeah, so um, get that down and you’ll start to feel better, I guarantee it.”

Was it weird to him to have her in the bathroom with him? She looked anywhere but the bathtub and poured herself a cup of tea, before sitting on the bench in the antechamber of the bathroom. What had she been thinking? Best to run along off and make herself comfortable and make the room more comfortable for him when he got out.

“D-don’t worry about the cold thing, I er. I was just worried.” She closed her eyes, turned around to face, what she hoped was his direction, bowed quickly, hit her forehead on the doorframe at full-speed and then backed out of the room about as quick as if she had sprinted out, rubbing her thankfully rather thick skull. No damage because she was made of silicone. Well, except damage to her pride.

She shook her head twice, slapped her cheeks and pumped her fists at her side, “Right, fire and then er.” She looked at the soup and kettle, still on warm burners. Nodding to herself, she got a few more pieces of wood and added them to the fireplace before bringing down the lights of the whole room to a soft orange glow, the fire in the fireplace the chief source of light.

“Why am I always so awkward?” She asked herself miserably while he steeped in the tub. She rubbed her forehead, not because it hurt, but because she had made a complete fool out of herself, and let any illusion of grace fly completely out the window and over the nearby hill. A peal of thunder shook said window. It was going to be a lovely downpour at least.

[Toshi]

Tousha could only stare, deeply confused, while Chikai came into the bathroom with a fully stocked tea tray, poured him some tea, and then nervously sat nearby while avoiding any amount of eye contact with him. The vagabond arched a brow, looked down at his cup of tea, then back at the Kunoichi enjoying her own cup, and took a tentative sip. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Tousha sighed and closed his eyes as the wonderfully spiced tea. He felt it warm him from the inside out, meeting the soothing bathwater at his extremities.

"This is fanta- oh! Oh, okay, thank you," Tousha began saying but was interrupted by Chiaki stammering through an explanation about why she had been worried before smacking her head against the doorframe and making a hasty retreat.

Tousha stared at the closed door, gingerly sipping at the tea, and heard the Kunoichi muttering to herself about the fire from the hotel's main room. Needless to say, Tousha was having a hard time reading both Chiaki and the flow of the evening. One moment the Kunoichi was the picture of composure and elegance , the next she was serving him tea in a bathtub and avoiding eye contact at any cost.

It wasn't like he was a smooth operator by any means but...

'Wait,' Tousha thought, his brow creasing in realization, 'is Chiaki trying too hard because she thinks this is what I'm used to?'

Just after having this thought, Tousha heard the Kunoichi's faint voice through the bathroom door. She was scolding herself, her tone self demeaning. Tousha looked at the door, back at the tea, where she had been sitting, and then back at the door. Then the vagabond eased himself back into the tub, suddenly feeling a desperate urge to let Chiaki know that she didn't need to do anything fancy or special just for him. Hell, he was thrilled that someone like her cared enough about him to bring him out of the cold and offer a bath.

After a few more moments of quiet contemplation, Tousha stood and stepped out of the tub. His movements were deliberate and confident. It was time to start trying, and to prove that Tousha very much wanted Chiaki to feel desired.


Tousha stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, freshly washed and only wearing a towel at his waist. The seasoned Shinobi wasn't an especially muscular man by any means, but his body was lithe and well toned. The life of a wandering vagabond had carved away any excess fat he might have carried with him, leaving only a leanness befitting a Shinobi of his caliber. In the dim, orange hotel room's light and without any shabby wanderer's clothing giving him the air of an innocuous old man, the former Hokage gave off an aura of predatory grace.

His thin, dark eyes set themselves on Chiaki as he strode across the hotel room to where she was standing in front of the well-fed fire. Without a word he stepped in close, his hands finding their way to her waist. He paused for a few breaths, taking in the contours of the Kunoichi's body and face with deliberate slowness. Tousha's fire lit features settled into quiet admiration as he took in every ounce of her loveliness, hoping that his gaze was flattering.

Finally he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and kissed Chiaki firmly on the mouth. Tousha lost himself in the woman's taste and touch, his body urging her to explore him however she wanted. His fingers found their way under her silk housecoat and caressed the faultless skin of her hips and upper thighs, his lips and tongue still moving against hers with earnest want.

The pale, petal-like butterflies fluttered through the air as the two shinobi embraced each other tenderly. Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance, rain pattered against the windows. Timber crackled as it burned, filling the room with glowing warmth.

He would pull away from the Kunoichi after some time and hold her gaze steadily, his warm breath teasing her neck and his hands running up her back. "You don't need to be anything other than yourself with me, Chiaki," he said, smirking a little. "I appreciate all of this effort, I really do, but..."

The Kage breathed deeply, looking a hair sheepish through his flushed cheeks and nose. "I haven't been with anyone in... A while. Like this. I don't want to disappoint you. So..."

With that Tousha leaned in once again, kissing gently and slowly at Chiaki's neck and jaw. "It would help me if I knew what you wanted," he said between kisses. "Can you tell me what you want?"

[Kanade]

Chiaki moved like a dancer with a partner. She knew this sort of dance, she had been dancing with others like this before. A slight turn of the leg, a gentle nudge with her hip against his hand, her face slowly lifted to let her eyes meet his. She noted the scars, the lines on his face and found them beautiful. More beautiful than hers ever were. More beautiful than the flawless mask that she now showed the world. Her eyes settled on his lips beneath the scruff of his upper lip, lips that were neglected and want for kissing. He brought her in slowly and as he did so, she leaned in, her stomach resting against his waist, her head slightly upturned as he kissed her, and she kissed back with the want of someone who had been looking for this tenderness for a long time.

A couple of butterflies landed on her hair, pulling it back off her chest and nestled there like animate hair clips. She smiled at him, the smile was a bit broken and her eyes cast themselves downward as he told her she could be herself. The self that let Maido into her country and helped destroy a hospital? The self that beat that nurse within an inch of her life? The self that helped mass murderers like Shinjiro and Maido? That self?

She looked back up into his eyes and found the answer. It was the deeper 'self' the one that tirelessly drove her onwards toward the goal of helping people. The one that wanted to start a hospital that could serve all of the people that were ravaged by violence, no matter the village. She felt a bit embarrassed at that and cleared her throat, her voice hoarse from tears. They weren't necessarily bad tears, but ones that longed for this to have been the reaction of anyone any one person in Kumogakure before she left. The want for this to not be the last time she saw this look in someone's eyes looking at her.

"I-" She hesitated, she had lain with many people, and had even been with Kirari at this event, but had she truly been with someone 'like this' before. She thought back to her past sexual encounters and shook her head, "I guess I haven't either, to be honest." She chuckled and placed a hand on his cheek, smoothing downward with the grain of his rough scruff there.

"Let's start slow, I would like to share some intimacy with someone that's so gentle and accepts me for who I am, behind the Kunoichi." She guided his kisses with the hand as they trailed down her collarbone, a butterfly tugged at the sleeve so that the robe opened more, falling off her shoulder to reveal the lace teddy she was wearing underneath, a bright red to contrast with the blue of the robe. The sheer fabric left little to the imagination, but covered her now partially exposed chest.

She kissed his ear as he kissed along her neck and collarbone, "We have all night and tomorrow too, so let's take our time." She moved her hand from his face down his neck to caress his shoulder and moved her other hand like water through a narrow canal into his robe, running her fingers along his abdomen, trailing along his obliques and finally resting at the top of his hips. She noticed the multitude of scars, and felt a small pang of guilt, muddled over by the sense of longing that was building in her. The guilt, she realized days after, was because he was all there, scars and all, and she had run away from the world, and could only offer the mask.

Her smooth thumb stroked back and forth along a scar she had found idly as she kissed the tip of his ear, then the hair just behind it. She stepped forward pressing herself against his leg, her warmth indicative of her want to continue. She whispered in his ear, "We could move to the couch, where it's more comfortable." The whisper was so quiet that the crackling of the fire almost covered the sound of her hot breath near his earlobe, on his neck. By contrast another peal of thunder rolled through the hotel, echoing like the loud and rapid beatings of her silicone heart.

[Toshi]

"Yes, ma'am," Tousha said softly as Chiaki suggested that they take things slow. She mentioned that she wanted to 'share some intimacy' with someone who accepted her, and Tousha's gentle kisses quickened at feeling such a kindred bond with another soul. He allowed the Kunoichi's hand to guide his head wherever she wished, and he happily answered her wants.

Assisted by the butterfly, Tousha's hands deftly opened Chiaki's silk robe and slipped it from her other shoulder as she whispered in his ear about the couch. The Kunoichi's housecoat fell to the ground and he felt Chiaki press herself against him, warmth radiating from her impossibly smooth body. The Kage's hands explored Chiaki's newly exposed skin and kneaded the muscles of her back as he kissed her bare shoulder.

Through the haze of kisses and touching he felt Chiaki's thumb playing with a scar on his midsection. One of the dozens that he'd picked up over the decades. He couldn't help but wonder how different they looked standing there, holding each other near the fire. Tousha, a weathered and worn wanderer marred by countless combats and Chiaki, a hand crafted vision of elegance and refinement.

"Whatever you want," he answered, completely lost in the sound of her voice and the caress of her lips.

He kissed those lips as he hoisted Chiaki up with surprising strength and held the back of her thighs, allowing her legs to wrap around him for support while he carried her to the couch. Tousha gently laid her there on the couch's plush cushions, still in awe at the shape of her. He followed after the Kunoichi, letting his own body naturally rest on top of hers so that she was comfortable and unmitigated. Their legs intertwined as Tousha kissed Chiaki on the mouth again, more eagerly now. He wanted to take things slow as well, to enjoy the time they had together and not rush the evening even a moment, but Tousha found himself unable to contain his desire to feel this closeness with someone again.

Without thinking, Tousha pressed his lips against the small of the Kunoichi's neck before gently biting her there. A hand slid down the curves of her body, settling on her thigh and pulling her leg up to wrap around him. Their bodies would lock in a passionate, interwoven embrace that didn't offer much in the sense of nuance.

Breathing heavily, Tousha's face emerged from her neck and hovered an inch from her own. "Too fast?" he asked, admittedly surprised by his own forwardness.