[PB] Hide and Seek

[Shikon]

"If I set the trigger activation as a preclude to the transformative clause, then let the action clause stand as a- no, that won't work." Aikou sighed to herself softly as she quickly scribbled out the characters she was drawing on the scroll in front of her. She set the pen down hastily and picked up the tea cup that rested to her left. "This isn't working. I can't have the transformative clause and sequential action characters work off a separate trigger. Even then, I can't have them activate simultaneously, as that would cause an initiative counter, breaking the sequence into stuttered grouping activations due to chakra drain." She sipped at the tea while thinking aloud to herself, trying to find a way to think around her current problem. Aikou may be a variable prodigy when it comes to Fuuinjutsu and Architectural Mathematics, but that didn't make coming up with an entire new Fuuin style and system any easier.

The young kunochi balled up her scribbled-on scroll and tossed it over her shoulder. It bounced along the hard wood floors and nestled itself in the now overgrowing pile of fellow crumbled parchment, various kanji and characters scribbled out with ink peaking over each of the pages. She had been working for some days now, putting off some training, and her book writing in order to focus on the creation of this style. So far, she had made zero progress. In actuality, the girl only managed to get herself more and more frustrated as the days went on.

She set down her tea and pulled out a fresh new scroll, taking to her pen and beginning new large strokes upon its surface. "Okay, set the activation last, making it an absolute activation over the entire seal, so it circumvents that stuttered grouping problem. Ugh, but then I have to put connection characters for each of the sub-actions..." She continued like this, muttering softly to herself with pen flying, and ink smearing along every part of paper it could manage.

"Master Aikou, you have a delivery." Toukiki stepped into the drawing room, a small scroll helped in his hand. Aikou looked up in response, cocking a single brow in his direction, her hand still moved, the pen flowing across the paper un-impeded. "It seems to be a mission scroll Miss, you have village duties to attend. Should I clean up your work for you?"

The girl set down her pen and rose quickly from her seat, taking the scroll from the elder man with a flourish. Just what she needed right now, a distraction, something to clear her mind and remove the mental block she seemed to be having over the last few days. If there was anything that Aikou knew, it was that having your mind to singularly focused on a mental task would eventually mean burn-out. You won't be able to break that barrier in your head, no matter how hard you tried, and sometimes the only way to get around it was to remove yourself from the problem for a spell. Just to reset your mind, gain a new perspective. She unrolled the scroll in her hands and quickly scanned it's contents. She got to the bottom portion, reading the "assigned" section, and a small grin grew in the corner of her mouth.

"Well, long time no bad date, wonder how this is going to turn out."

---

Aikou arrived at the front gates of Konohagakure within an hour of receiving her scroll. Although she already had a mission bag packed, ready with all the standard items she would need for their journey, the fact she lived almost all the way across the village from the gate meant a bit of a commute. She wasn't complaining of course, she wanted the extra time to get herself mentally zoned for the mission. Her thoughts kept flickering back to her Fuuinjutsu work, and that had to be shut down. She knew errant thoughts and distracts could be a deadly thing on any sort of mission, and so she spent her mind trying to center herself and put her state of mind into a mission oriented one.

After sifting through her bag, ensuring all the items she needed were in fact there she would stand near the gate, closing her eyes to gain some focus. She bit her lip thoughtfully, going into a mild meditative state, to set her nerves. It had been awhile since her last mission outside the forest. The anticipation and anxiety sent her heart fluttering a bit, and she was aiming at getting it under control. After just a couple minutes, she opened her eyes again, now much more calm and pulled together.

The girl leaned against the wall next to the gate, flickering her gaze over the scene in front of her. Merchants, shinobi and citizens alike buzzed quickly about the streets. It looked to be a hectic day, with a large amount of people seemingly with quite a lot to do. Her fingers twirled the ribbon tied in her hair absent mindedly. The metal charms in her hair chimed softly in rhythm to hands as the moved, a sound that Aikou found strangely comforting. She continued this, fiddling with her hair and scanning the area around herself as she searched for Fanho. She couldn't see him currently, but she didn't know if that was because she was early, or he was late. Either one wasn't a good position, and she could only hope he would show up quickly.

"Come on Fanho-kun, where are you?"

[Director]

Fanho had been asleep in his bed all lop sided, disorganized, and a heap of a mess. It seemed like today would be the first time he was able to sleep in, no immediate assignments or concerns he needed to assist with. His promotion in ANBU along with his Specialist Jounin rank, Fanho had a heaping plate of responsibilities commanding a squad, leading a genin team, and still fulfilling missions made his life a living hell of paperwork, physical labor, and dealing with kids that wouldn't stand to be taught. As he was drifting off into a dream he fount himself in a dining hall somewhere enjoying the finest cuisines they had to offer as a steady tapping on the window began then hushing itself before beginning again. Almost repetitive in a melodic rhythm. It seemed as if it were rain starting and stopping but it became louder. Soon a large rapping at the window before Fanho shook awake.

His foot rested in the window sill of his room as his arm dangled off the side of his bed, a bird was outside his window steadily tapping before it rested to cock its head at Fanho. Questioning whether or not he had the integrity to get up and answer the damn window to let him in. With a large exaggerated sigh that turned into a low volume groan as he sat up wiping the sleeping sands from his eyes he flicked the window open as the small wood pecker, how fitting, sat in his lap with a letter tied to its leg. Fanho unrolled the paper before scanning it hazily before his eyes fluttered over the 'assigned' section he gave another low gutted groan as the bird flew out. "HASN'T THE COUNCIL EVER HEARD OF NAP TIME?"

As fellow Awai clan members glanced towards the window as they raked their yards, cut the grass, or maintain their plants as he had left his window wide open for the rest of the compound to hear his gripes. He quickly slammed the window down as he planned for the rest of the day.

---

Fanho slump walked through the village towards the gates as he tugged at his Chokuto sling across his chest scanning the crowds that he walked through in the mercantile district. He was taller than a good chunk of the population as his eyes scanned the tops of heads he yawned as he slipped his hands into his pants pockets. He was already a good ten minutes late so rather than to waste time he stepped into an alley way as he fluctuated the chakra to his feet walking up to the roof top before skipping his way through the Konohagakure skyline. The genin playing above on the rooftops, some Jounin lecturing their teams on the rough housing and other non-nonsensical games. He came to a large roof top close to the gates as he peered down spotting Aikou.

The Special Jounin dropped down as he circled around towards his special friends blind spot before approaching stealthily the best he could, if not by stealth he had her beat by speed at least. With a yawn and slipping his hands into his pockets he shot a sly smirk with a cockeyed look. "Well its about time you made it." He shot a joking grin at her before he shrugged his shoulders nodding his head towards the looming gates that seemed to never shut as they never needed to.

"Well I think we can both agree its been far too long." As it was because the last time they had met, Fanho was just a recently promoted Chuunin. Now he was taller, leaner, and seemed more grown and mature. His tone, conjecture, all changed from a spry young kid excited to a mellow, calm adult. He also had joined ANBU becoming a squad leader and a Specialist Jounin since.

[Shikon]

The young Kunochi had been waiting too long, perhaps only a few minutes or so, but still she was starting to get a bit restless. Fanho may be in a briefing, he did out-rank her now after all. Perhaps he was just getting back from a different mission, and didn't know about the new assignment yet? It was certainly possible. Though, Aikou still had a sinking suspicion that he was in fact simply off goofing around somewhere. If her memories of the Awai were correct, he did have a rather young an naivete sort of demeanor around him constantly. She wouldn't be surprised if the shinobi was out lecturing a few people on how great a task helping out the elders in the village was.

What did surprise Aikou though, was suddenly hearing Fanho's voice from over her shoulder. The girl jumped at the sound, and spun around quickly ready to give a well aimed punch to his stomach. When she caught him in view though, she was taken aback by how much he had changed over the years. He was certainly taller now, nearly a half foot above herself. He stood with far more confidence, but not laced with an oozing cockiness akin to most male shinobi of his age - though some of that was evident. He shot a grin her way, one that Aikou couldn't help but return.

"You do that again, there will be consequences mister." Her hands rested on her hip, and she shot him a quick motherly glare. But it faded just as quickly, and her mouth curled into a smile once again. "but yes, it has been far too long. You've changed quite a bit I see." She moved around him, taking a view of the Awai full circle before stopping in front of him again. Her cocked to one side and she squinted slightly, as if trying to notice something that was hidden in a painting.

"You still have your childish eyes though, your soul shines through them bright as ever Fanho-kun." She gave a wink before turning away and walking towards the Konoha gates, fully expecting him to catch up, just as always.

She paused the needed moment to sign out for the mission at the gate and continued onward toward the main road and outside the village. Once a few meters into the the dirt path, Aikou turned herself due south towards the town in question for their mission. She nodded towards the trees with a quizzical glance. "Fastest way is through the Forrest. The sooner we get there, sooner we get back and you can start your nap time right Fanho-kun?" She didn't wait for a full reply and instead jumped out into the trees tops, bounding toward along her own make-shift path to the destination, surging forward at first, then cutting back into a comfortable pace.

She waited for Fanho to match her strides, staying in rhythm for the journey. Even at their enhanced shinobi speed, it would take a couple of days to make it to the town, so there would be plenty of time to kill. She looked to the young S. Jounin, remembering the few times the had been together. The training fields, the trip to the scroll-shop. Although sometimes awkward, and sometimes frightful, she couldn't say they were bad memories at all. Hopefully this one will turn out to be the same, if not just slightly less eventful and disastrously exciting. She's dealt with enough "excitement" on missions already, and far too many "events" that occurred outside those Konohagakure walls.

"So, what do you think this package is huh? Special intelligence? Trading contracts for the village? A new recipe for pork broth ramen?" She started the small talk as they moved, letting out a sentence between each landing of a branch. Her speech taking the same rhythm as her movement. All the while, keeping one eye trained in front of her and scanning for whatever random threats might be lurking about. This was the wild forrest after all, who knew what things lived and roamed inside such a place.

"Oh! How did my dating advice go?" She asked, remembering the pointers she gave Fanho after the rather failed "date" they had helping out the elders at the Scroll store. "You find yourself a nice lady friend yet Fanho-kun?" She asked the last question slowly, drawing out the syllables in a teasing manner, trying to make the experience as embarrassing for the shinobi as possible because, well, she enjoyed it. Aikou was ever the emotional sadist after all.

[Director]

Fanho stood still as the fist made its way, but fell short as her face contorted in a sort of awe and amazement at his growth. After all it had been a good while since they talked, and he had done a good bit of growing up. Her awe continued as she made a full circle inspecting him. It was weird almost as if he were being graded on his looks or growth. With the mention of the childish glint in his eyes he shot a smirk with a joyful eye roll as they walked towards the gate. Fanho giving a wave at the gate guard before Aikou signed out. As she nodded towards the forest with the mention if it being the quickest route, and soonest time for nap time. Fanho leaned his head back with an exaggerated nod. "Trust me, you have no idea how bad I need it."

As Aikou picked up pace beginning to hop through the tree tops. Fanho followed behind, albeit faster, he set himself at her pace. A comfortable medium and break from the pace he usually took at high speeds he was comfortable and at ease for this mission. It was nice to recollect, and just work with his friends. And well what he considered to be a romantic interest for himself just to talk. Enjoy a nice pace through the trees, and a mission that wasn't high ranked. Just a perfect pace kind of deal with someone he really enjoyed being with, and something he could use to pass the time with and keep himself limber.

As the small talk ensued, the questions of what were in the package would arise. Fanho himself even wasn't sure, even being apart of ANBU, and being a Specialist Jounin. The details of what inside wasn't devolved by the employer. But none-the-less it was a mission, low-ranked at that even so the two shouldn't have an issue dealing with it. Fanho gave a shrug in regards to Aikou's questions. "Beats me, even being a Specialist Jounin, whoever paid for the mission didn't wanna say a single word about the package just that it was something minor. Guess that's why they tagged me to go along. Or just because you requested arm candy." He shot a playful grin at Aikou jokingly.

As Aikou then turned the conversation to the scroll shop, which Fanho groaned in his thoughts about. It was painful enough experiencing it then as a young impressionable sixteen year old. Which to be completely fair, he was only a year older since then. Not to mention dating was not even a factor in the young shinobi's mind, he wasn't really interested in anyone. And since not seeing Aikou in a long time, the idea of an interest in someone never came to mind. "I haven't really been in the dating mood. Nor had the time for it at least."

He gave a chuckle and a sly smirk with confidence. Even though he was awkward then, Fanho had resounding confidence. But not the typical cockiness most carried, but a sense of humble confidence permeated his words. Ones that seemed like they could reassure even the hardest skeptics. "And to be honest,
its not like I haven't been able to see my favorite person." As he winked at her with his kind playful grin still plastered on sorta goofy on his face.

[Shikon]

So not even Fanho had the details on this package? Well, whoever paid for this mission didn't want people to know - that was obvious - but it only spurred Aikou's imagination even more. A low ranking mission, something simple as this, wouldn't carry super sensitive information, that didn't mean it was important though. Maybe after picking it up, they'd get some kind of clue, either from the person who hands it off, or a suggestion from the nature of the package's physicality itself. She wasn't sure, but it intrigued her ever analytical mind. The part of her that always looked for the answer to the puzzle, the solving of the riddle. If she wasn't careful, that part of her mind would be the end of her some day.

"Merchant travel routes, new building plans, some item of strange sentimental value? What would be worth paying a shinobi to get, but not worth at least a B-Rank mission?"She thought to herself silently. Aikou bit on her lower lip as her brain worked, trying to go through the possibilities and isolate the most likely one. But that simply sounded easy, and she only managed to narrow it down to a few dozen possibilities. She was still cheweing her lip a few seconds later before she napped out of her thoughts, figuring it was a fruitless effort to try to deduce anything with what info she had.

She let her curiosity slide to the background as Fanho answered her other questions. It turned out he hadn't put an effort into dating. This was a bit surprising to her, he seemed like the typical young teen boy the last time they saw each other, and she assumed he would have a girlfriend by this time at the very least. "Well I-" She had started to speak, just as Fanho finished, but she cut herself off. Her mind only then registering the wink he had sent her way. The young Kunochi tried to hide a smirk, turning away a bit from Fanho. So the Special Jounin did still have dating on his mind, just unknown to Aikou herself, his mind one a one track pony it seemed.

While Aikou used to be rather oblivious to the more subtle interaction of the standard populace, over time that had changed, and she was picking up much more on the mannerism that used to escape her. The wink was an easy one, and it didn't take the analytical part of her mind to figure out what Fanho was teasing at. Her feeling on the realization though, took a lot of her brain to figure out. It was going in super time, running computations at lightning speed, but still pulling circles and hitting error codes. The final result that came back - only a half second later - was "Cannot Find Result, Input Additional Information or Clarify your Search".

"Oh? Well its okay Fanho-Kun, I'd be willing to bet she's not avoiding you for any stupid reason, I'm sure it's a good one actually. " She shot a wink back at Fanho, trying to keep up the lightheartedness of the conversation.

[Director]

The package also plagued Fanho's own mind with several questions, but obviously if Konoha had deemed it a real threat the mission would be upranked. But alas it was just B-Rank, enough for the two to handle. After all Aikou was pretty much a Chuunin without the title, and Fanho was newly promoted to Specialist Jounin so he was confident in their ability to improvise if it got hairy. However Fanho even got to meet the shifty man requesting for the package to be picked up. He seemed paranoid, if not just downright not on the same capacity as everyone else, a little unhinged even.

Well as the conversation still continued about his love life, Fanho watched as Aikou's brain faced a situation she finally couldn't analyze her way out. Very much so like his friend Gene who seemed to over analyze nearly everything, her speech was a telling sign she was at a loss of words. Which in all fairness, Fanho was very direct with the flirt not attempting to hide it by blatantly winking. He could only just tease her for now, he made her flustered as she tried to hide her expressions, but the involuntary blushing sent him signs of what was only her embarrassed nature instead of Fanho being the bashful one.

For what was seconds, probably seemed like minutes for Aikou, at least the response took longer than Fanho assumed as she racked her brain for something to respond with. The final result somewhat surprised Fanho as she took the oblivious approach, assuming she didn't mean what he meant, but oh well, he would just play it sweet and slow because it was a very direct approach he took. So he would give her some space before attempting something so brash again. "Well if she is avoiding me, the best thing I can do is wait until shes my knight in shining armor." He gave a slight chuckle before turning the attention towards Aikou.

"So whats up with you? I heard there were Chuunin exams around the corner, and if I remember correctly your name was on one of the lists."

[Shikon]

Fanho took her sidelining rather well, he didn't look flustered. At least not that Aikou could tell anyway. Again though, She wasn't exactly sure if that was good or bad, this friendship thing wasn't what the girl was used to, not for a long time now. She was apparently earning the friendship of quite a few people lately, and she couldn't figure out if she was going about them the correct way, if she was going to mess them up, or how.

"Well if she is avoiding me, the best thing I can do is wait until shes my knight in shining armor", he laughed, giving Aikou a reassuring feeling. So it really wasn't mad.

"Knight in shining armor huh? What about a stylish one with good taste in dress?" she asked. "Unless you prefer the more manly ideal. Is there something you're hiding from me Fanho-kun?" She shot a wink, teasing the Special Jounin heavily. The girl was pretty sure that the Awai wasn't looking for the "manly ideal", but hinting at was sure to catch him off guard.

It was a bit of an underhanded play, but at the moment Aikou felt like she was playing defense in this tit-for-tat teasing exchange. Putting Fanho on the defense would make her feel a bit more in control. Which what she liked, being in control. In her relationships, and in general, she liked being the one in control. [ ]

"So whats up with you? I heard there were Chuunin exams around the corner, and if I remember correctly your name was on one of the lists."

The kunochi raised a brow at this. Aikou hadn't heard anything yet, but given Fanho's promotions, of course the Awai would be privy to more information that she was. Even so, she was surprised that the leadership was putting that much trust in her. Given the bit of otherwise common knowledge in the higher ranked individuals of her being, at one time, considered a rogue ninja she would have thought she'd have to really work to earn that rust back. She could only assume that her constant good behavior, her joining of the Mamorinuku, reports from Cross-sensei and Kuodachi-sensei, and carried some collective weight to turn the decision in her favor.

"I didn't know. Maybe someone found out about my awesome arm bandaging skills and thought it worth promoting." she laughed, trying to stay nonchalant about the news. "But if its true, I guess I better work on some training when get back from this operation." Her eyes shot back to Fanho quickly, her eyes flaring wide for a small second. "Wait, I won't have to like, fight you or anything will I? Is this like part of the test? Oh god, i'm totally not dressed for a chuunin exam!" She groaned loudly, her natural paranoia now sparking but up again quickly.

"Damn it Fanho-kun, isn't this supposed to be like secret stuff? now I'm gonna be thinking about it all day." she said, once again biting her lip anxiously.

[Director]

With a cock of the eyebrow raised in question of a stylish one with a good taste in dress. His lips furled into a smile as she pressured more homoerotic questions onto Fanho. Which he answered with a playful eye roll as he smirked with his eyes darted towards slyly. "As long as its the same dresses you're into." He flashed a teasing grin at her. He could tell the conversation being turned on herself made her feel somewhat more in control of the situation which Fanho chuckled a bit at how she would react with it being turned on her. After some time Fanho had grown up a bit learning a bit how to play the field slightly and traverse the land of women even though he had never been in a relationship.

As the conversation turned towards the Chuunin exams he flashed a wink of reassurance towards her before elaborating a bit more on what it'd detail, but he could tell the anxiety was pegging in the back of her mind. "Maybe you will fight me? Who knows, but I can promise you the anxiety of it is worse than the actual exam. I mean I came out with three broken ribs, but I got paired with people I had never associated with before the exam itself. I think you'll do better than me anyways." With a reassuring grin as they flew through the trees getting closer to their target, with each step.

"Also the examiners are volunteer, they're not necessarily forced. I got the ballot on my door step earlier this week. That's why I ask."