Tales of the Ruby Rose and the Drummer

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi was in a bit of a sour mood. She had been obligated to attend a family function earlier that day, and considering the general dislike of any and all things involving her relatives, it was needless to say that she didn't enjoy it.

It was a relatively nice day (or as close to one as it could be in a desert) and she was walking through Suna's streets to calm herself before returning to her apartment to make her customary weekly maintenance to her arm. She wouldn't find much peace wandering around, however, as this day was the busiest day for the markets, and many people would be about.

Avoiding this social deathtrap, she ducked down a side street and made her way to a small tea shop. At least there she could be alone with her thoughts. Rubi sat and sipped her tea in silence, expecting this to be another ordinary day.

[Infinites]

Blah blah blah blah get out of the house blah blah blah, you're wasting your life away blah blah blahhhh.

Don't you just hate it when parents force you to do something? In this case, it was Yanagi's mom kicking him out of the house for the day, in an attempt to make him more social. She did this all the time, starting with a boring long winded speech, and ending with Yanagi coming home again at night and then it would start up again at some random day.

It was annoying. Especially when you're in one of those moods where you just want to relax. And even more so when the streets are busy as hell's gates. Just walking through the streets was like stepping into a mosh pit, something Yanagi had experienced too many times.

Anyway, breaking out of the crowds of the streets Yanagi pushed onto a side street, getting away from all these people was a must. There were still people here and there, sure. But none of them had anything to say to Yanagi, unlike the main streets where everyone and their cat was trying to sell something. Actually, I wonder what the cat would be selling......

Moving through the street at a leisurely pace, Yanagi found a small tea shop. Nothing big or corporate, just a little box of an area and ten little seats lined up in front of the counter. Well, that and a little shade provided by a small awning. It didn't look that busy. Just a girl a little shorter than him and some other guy.

Deciding instead of walking around all day like usual (though that did help keep him in shape), he would sit down and get a cup of tea and relax like he had planned for that day. He grabbed a seat against the wall, next to the shorter girl. Rather sit next to someone closer to to someone your own age. Even if they're a complete stranger.

"I'll take a cup of Earl Grey," he called out to the owner as he took his seat.

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Her train of thought was interrupted by a young man around her age sitting down just a little bit away from her. While this man's hairstyle and eyes were nothing impressive, the color of his hair itself was something else. Amidst brown spikes were bangs of a light green hue, clotted together as if he had just gotten up from an hour long nap.

One thing Rubi noticed about people was the way that they ordered something at a shop usually gave signs as to their mood. This man's nonchalant address to the shop owner gave Rubi the impression that he was looking for the same thing she was: peace and quiet. He certainly had an interesting choice of tea; Earl Grey wasn't entirely popular on this side of Suna. Despite Rubi's desire for solitude, she figured a compliment on his choice of tea wouldn't hurt. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper, almost as a gentle tide breaking on the shore. "You chose a good day to order Earl Grey. For some reason, they make it the best on this day of the week."

She wasn't really expecting any conversation. As far as she could tell, they were just two people minding their own business.

[Infinites]

If he wasn't in such a quiet side street, he'd have completely missed the girl's comment. Like she was whispering to him, trying to keep him from noticing by being so quiet. Well, she wasn't a business man, she wasn't a shop owner, she wasn't someone trying to get his money. So, she deserved a response. In Yanagi's mind, anyway. "I've never been here before. I just like Earl Grey, it's relaxing." Yanagi continued to talk in his usual nonchalant way. Just conversing with a stranger over tea, after all.

As Yanagi's tea arrived he picked up the cup and blew over it gently, not wanting to burn his tongue. Taking a sip from it, Yanagi saw what the girl said was true. Well, he didn't see it, but he tasted it. "Ah, you're right. The tea is pretty good."

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

When the young man responded, she could help but think that she was expecting something different, something... younger-sounding. The green-haired punk teenager had the voice of someone a good deal older than she assumed this guy was. She smirked in intrigue. "Your voice... it's deeper than one might expect from someone your age. Of course, your hair isn't exactly the most normal color, so you must be full of surprises."

As she said this, she brought her prosthetic arm down to pull out a wallet and lay her money on the table; being asked for money was a good way to ruin a peaceful moment, so she preferred to preempt that situation. Her elbow knocked on the counter, however, and instead of a dull thud, the pronounced clacking of wood could be heard as she smacked the prosthetic's elbow on the counter's edge. She grimaced slightly; sometimes having a prosthetic was a pain.

Undeterred, she pulled out a few bills and a couple of coins, setting them down softly in front of her pot of tea. Now she could at least pay attention to the conversation without fear of interruption from a nagging tea shop owner...

[Infinites]

Hearing the clack of wood when she reached to put her money down, Yanagi noticed she didn't have a normal arm. Strange to run into the odd one out, meaning that it's rare to see people with prosthetic arms like that. Not so much in suna where the technology to do so was readily available, but over all it was rare. "You're not exactly what one would expect either. Arms like that aren't exactly common, even in suna."

After another sip, Yanagi continued. "And on the subject of voices, you've got a pretty gentle one. Kinda like an underlying melody." Of course Yanagi would bring the conversation to music in one way or another. He did eat, breath, and sleep music. Well, if you consider falling asleep at your drum set sleeping music, that is.

Giving the girl another look over, he noticed that her belt had the suna headband as a form of belt buckle. This probably meant she was also a ninja. That, or she had really bad fashion sense. "So, what's your name?" Yanagi asked in a expressionless tone, after taking another sip from his tea. He really was enjoying that tea, by the way. It was pretty rude to ask someone's name before giving his own, but Yanagi didn't really realize that he had done that.

Oh well.

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi was displeased that she had managed to bring attention to her arm. Needless to say, the sound of wood striking wood rose the other two pairs of eyes to look at her as well, and if there was one thing that Rubi hated it was peering eyes.

She quickly dismissed his curiosity and attempted to change the subject, answering in a straightforward, nonchalant tone of her own. "My arm is no different than another ninja's puppet. It's nothing impressive, really."

Her ears perked at his comment on her voice and she grinned. "Gentle, huh? That's smooth. I've gotten quiet, dainty, and even depressed, but gentle? Now that's a new one."

Rubi could feel his eyes as they scanned over her. She kept a hand ready to reach down for her short sword should the need arise. The last thing she needed was to be felt up by a moppy-haired teen... even if he was kinda cute. Fortunately, instead of being sexually assaulted, she was asked for her name. It was her turn to scan him now; she mentally evaluated him out of the corner of her emerald eyes before answering. "Rubi. Ibara Rubi. Yours?"

[Infinites]

"Well, I'm just saying it's not common." Picking up what she was trying to do, Yanagi decided not to pursue that further. He didn't need to be in a conversation with an angry kunoichi who wanted to tear his throat out. Even if he didn't have the best singing voice.

"Well, I like picking up tones. Even if drums can usually be heard loud and clear, sometimes you need to pay more attention to hear the more meaningful parts of the song." This was unusually deep for Yanagi. But again, he was speaking in a way involving music. He really didn't notice what he said was deep, though it was corny.

"My name is Shinnin, Yanagi. It's nice to meet you, Rubi." As he said this he reached out his right hand to shake her's, making sure he wasn't reaching out with the hand that would match up with her fake arm.

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

It was good to note that he picked up on mannerisms as well. "Yeah, well, you'd be surprised how much you can pick up off of someone's tone of voice. You, for instance, seemed to be looking for some place to relax; I could tell by the way you ordered your Earl Grey."

She smiled lightly as she shook Yanagi's hand. She was glad that he was at the very least considerate. Rubi couldn't count the number of douchebags she ran into every day. Meeting someone that was different and courteous was refreshing. "The pleasure is mutual, Yanagi."

She started to pick up on a recurring theme: music. His constant drumming references may have very well been a neon sign that flashed "Hi! I play the drums!" Needless to say, he was just begging for a music-oriented conversation. "So, you're a music man, huh? Interesting. And drums, too. Your parents must hate them. What got you into playing?"

[Infinites]

"Eh? You figure out that much by the way I talk?" Looking for some place to relax, huh...? Isn't everybody looking for a play they can relax, and just be them-self? At least that's what Yanagi thought of the world. Some people relaxed on the dance floor. Some people relaxed in their dreams. Even some people were most relaxed in the middle of crowds. It was all a matter of preference.

And with that, the conversation picked up a little more worth in Yanagi's mind. "Well, my room is soundproof, so my parents don't mind that much. Well, not as much as one would expect." Yanagi said this with a little more energy in his voice. Music was just more interesting that tea.

"I got into playing as an alternative to making hand seals. And after that, I just kinda fell into it." Yanagi smiled to himself a bit, remembering the past.

Yanagi turned his head back to Rubi as he spoke, "What about you? Do you play any instruments?"

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi's thoughts were ripped back to memories of when she was younger. Her answer was less enthusiastic than his, to say the least. "When I was young... I used to play the flute. My dad showed me how to do play some smaller pieces. I'd sit and play my flute while he did paperwork for the village."

She moved her tea cup in small circles, sloshing the liquid as she stared into it. "He never listened, though. He was always too busy with one thing or another. And let's not even talk about my mom. She was even more swamped then my father was; there were times where I wouldn't see either of them for weeks on end. And with the rest of my family and all..."

She let loose a sigh. "Let's just say that after a while, I lost interest. It's hard to enjoy something when the people you do it for don't have the time or the heart to appreciate it."

[Infinites]

"I'm sorry to hear that." Yanagi replied toward her rather down beat story. Though his tone didn't change at all. He just met this person. Why would he know or care about that stuff? Or at least, at the moment. If she was his friend or something maybe he'd care. But she wasn't. So he didn't.

"I wouldn't know. I play for myself." Yanagi took another sip from his tea before he continued. "I play for other sometimes, but I play because I like to play." Again Yanagi went to take a sip from his tea, but it was empty. "Huh, guess I drank more than I thought..."

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Yanagi wasn't expecting sympathy and she most certainly didn't want pity. Luckily, Yanagi gave nothing but a listening ear. She noticed that his cup was getting empty. She frowned slightly. "It seems like our conversation is coming to an end..."

But Rubi thought about it a little more as he drank his last sip, and she realized... that she really didn't want him to leave. While they had just met and she had no real relationship with Yanagi, it had been so long since she had just had a normal conversation. She had forgotten how refreshing it was.

Without a word, she picked up her kettle and filled Yanagi's cup with her own tea. For reasons unknown to the normally isolated kunoichi, she couldn't entirely handle the thought of him leaving just yet.

[Infinites]

Smiling a tiny bit, Yanagi took a sip of his newly filled cup of tea. "It looks like our conversation isn't over after all, huh?" Yanagi put down his cup and put his arm together, pulling them over his head and stretching his torso a bit. As expected of such a small shop, the chairs were pretty stiff. "So, what would you like to talk about?" Yanagi asked as he returned his body to it's normal position.

Normally Yanagi probably would have ended this conversation awhile ago, but he was bored. Nothing to do, nowhere to be, and she had even been nice enough to refill his cup of tea for him, though he hadn't thanked her. Yanagi seemed to be making a habit of this lately. When he was bored, he'd go outside, run into a random person, and somehow use them to keep himself entertained. Not very nice using people like that, but who cares anyway.

((OOC: crappy post, sorry))

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi shrugged. She was talked out at the moment. Besides, she tended to follow and end lines of conversation, not start them. Nothing readily came to mind, so she decided to shift the responsibility of choosing the topic back to Yanagi. She sipped a bit from her tea cup, then turned to him and asked, "What made you get into music in the first place? Before you started using them in your techniques, I mean."

She patted herself on the back for that one. If she was lucky, they'd be able to keep this string of conversation going for quite some time. If there was one thing that Rubi had too much of right now, it was time.

(OOC: Don't worry man. I posted really badly, too. Sorry about that.)

[Infinites]

Yanagi's face straightened up a bit as he answered. He felt like he said this already. "Um, I got into music to use them for techniques. That's what got me interested in the first place." Yanagi took another sip of his tea, waiting for something interesting to happen.

Yanagi felt this line of conversation going right into a brick wall. They already talked about music. And even if Yanagi loved music, too much of a good thing and all.

((OOC: Yeah, I got nothin.))

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi shrugged her shoulders; her curiosity had been sated at the very least. She also sensed the downward spiral this conversation was taking. She decided to change topics. "So, what made you want to become a ninja? Was it your lineage? The desire to serve your village? You thought it'd be cool?"

Now, despite her rather odd way of asking this question and its somewhat cliched nature, it usually garners some really interesting answers. Rubi couldn't wait to hear his.

[Infinites]

Maybe this topic could hold. At least for a little bit. "Well, I pretty much just went into the academy. My dad was a ninja, so I guess I just got entered on my own. Nothing special." Yanagi paused to take a sip of his tea. He sure was drinking a lot today. Maybe he should drink more water. Whatever.

Yanagi turned back to Rubi as he turned the question back on her. "What about you? Any special reason you became a ninja?"

((OOC: I THINK WE'RE IN A SLUMP))

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi sighed. She never really did enjoy talking about her past very much. Still, for no other reason that she had nothing better to do at the moment. She took a deep breath before beginning.

"When I first heard about the ninja academy from my parents... I didn't want to go. I thought that my parents would always be there to care for me. What can I say? I was a pretty ditzy kid. I was always so optimistic. But then, I started paying attention, and I realized how often they were gone. I saw how many times I was left waiting for them to return home for days on end. All those nights, I fell asleep from sheer exhaustion; I kept trying to remain awake for their return."

After taking a short sip, Rubi continued with her monologue. "The day I realized that it was their work as ninja that was taking them away from me and how often they were to be gone from me, my childhood fantasy of my family was shattered. It was also at this time that I realized how little my extended family cared for our little family; apparently they didn't approve of my parents' choice of career, and I was scorned so that my cousins wouldn't be 'deceived' into becoming ninja, or some random crap like that."

She started moving her cup in tiny circles, almost as if she were trying to distract herself from the fact that she was discussing her family life with a complete stranger. "I don't know why I entered the academy exactly; it might have been to be like my parents, it could have been to rebel against the rest of my family, or it could have been something else entirely. But I know why I stayed: I realized that in this life, there are very few people that can be trusted besides oneself, and even one's family isn't excluded. I found that I had to be able to take care of myself and that help from the people who were supposed to care for me wouldn't be forthcoming."

She brushed the bangs of her hair behind her ears, revealing her soft face once more. "I became a ninja because I wanted to survive. I wanted to stand on my own two feet and say that I did so without help. I wanted... to be strong."

She gripped the cup she held a bit more tightly, her emerald eyes reflecting the lonliness within her heart. "It's funny though... all of the strength in the world can't save you from loneliness..."

[Infinites]

Well... Uh... Yeah. Awkward moment indeed. Yanagi's just sitting there, having a friendly conversation with a stranger, and then... She pretty much completely spills her guts... What? Why? That's just weird. Sure, It's good to confide in others, but in people you've never met before? People you just happened to run into at a tea shop? That's just weird.

And to a person like Yanagi, it was a knife to the heart of the conversation. He didn't know how to respond to that. It may seem mean since she did spill her guts to him and all, but... Yeah, it just makes everything awkward after saying something like that.

Sure, he felt bad for her, don't get me wrong. She was obviously struggling as she told him. She even took reluctant to tell him. So why did she tell him? Was Yanagi just that type of person people like to confide in? He sure hoped not. When people did this kind of thing to him, he never knew how to take it. A compliment that they trusted him enough to say this? A curse that he was given said knowledge? He could never tell.

When she finished though, after seeing that lonely look in her eyes, he knew he had to say something, anything. Otherwise he'd just seem like a complete jerk. Though, after that, she probably would think that no matter what he said. Replying to her, a little reluctantly, Yanagi slowly began to speak, "Nothing gets rid of loneliness besides people... I've been lonely before, but it never really bothered me. I just kinda do my own thing."

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi sighed. "That would certainly be an idea... if most people were willing to spend more than five minutes around me. Our conversation is the longest I've had with any one person since... oh hell, I can't even remember the last time I had a real conversation. That's how bad it is."

Rubi chuckled a bit, trying to add a small amount of humor into the conversation. "I know I'm chuckling, but it's almost pathetic; I walk into a room and it's like people are magnetically repulsed. The only person who isn't awkward around me is the Kazekage... and he's the Kazekage. He's supposed to be easy around everyone."

She sighed again, almost as if she was geting something off of her chest. "I mean, I know I'm not the most approachable person, but... I don't know. It feels like I'm not being given a chance to open up, and it's too much trouble to change the opinions of those who have their views of you fixed in their minds anyways."

[Infinites]

Kay.

Kay...

Time to go.

Shush, it's not him trying to be mean or anything, he's just.... Well, this is exactly the type of situation Yanagi would cut a finger off to avoid. Much longer, he'd be pinned down. Stuck here, talking to this girl and helping her think about her troubles. That was just depressing, and awkward. Especially to a stranger.

Trying to act as normal as possible, Yanagi started to drink more and more of his tea as she talked. Yes, the tea was boiling hot. He could feel that searing hot liquid slide down his throat. That was going to hurt so bad in the morning. Oh well, a small price.

As Rubi finished talking, Yanagi gave slow reply, trying to make it seem like he wasn't trying to jump away. Even though he was. I mean, holy shit. He wanted to fucking bolt. Yanagi is a nice guy. He'll talk with you. He'll hang around. Hell, maybe he'll help if you're in trouble. But theres two things about him. One, if you're a stranger, he's not going to talk about feelings. Hell fucking no. Two, if you're outside his circle of friends, he's going to hit you with every insult he can think up. In his head of course. Yanagi doesn't have the balls to go around spurting insults at people.

Anyway, his answer. "Well, maybe you shouldn't try to change their opinions, but instead show them another side of you." As Yanagi finished saying this he pulled a few bills out of his pocket, handing them to the shop owner. "]And with that, I'm off. It was nice talking to you." As he finished talking, Yanagi stood up and began to slowly walk away... until he made a turn out of sight, then he moved much, much faster.

[Infinites]

(OOC: Double post, but you should do a little wrap up post for Rubi.)

[Yasashikaze Seiken]

Rubi sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her hand over her face. 'Great,' she thought, berating herself. 'You did it again, Rubi. Why can't you learn to just shut your damn mouth?'

With a sigh, she laid some bills on her table as well, finishing her tea with a final sip before gently setting her cup down on the table and taking her leave. She slowly walked down the street towards a small park. She sat on a bench there, staring at her gloved hand as time passed as slowly has it had before. Was she really that odd? She knew that she wasn't the most socially adept person, but she still couldn't understand why people avoided her. Was it this arm? Was it her? Was it because she spoke so softly and yet so bluntly? What was it that caused people to push her away?

There she remained, pondering these things as a calm wind blew through Sunagakure...
Fin