Konoha Social [Katsumi&Kira]

[Mendokuse]

Thread Details
Locale: A hilly recess far below the Hokage faces. A cave about 6' tall and 4' wide extends into cool, damp darkness. A short, flat stone has been placed just inside the cave. This is where Katsumi comes to think and study shadows - The angle and lighting near this cave cast a wide variety of shadows in all directions. The ground in front of the cave is littered with thousands of tiny white pebbles, almost like sand, really, but much more solid. Around this little ledge on all sides are steep hills with exposed roots for climbing. At the bottom of a ~10 foot drop are many large, flat sun-bleached stones, good for climbing up. Below those are thick green trees, nearly obscuring this spot. The view is amazing, looking out over the village of Konoha, much like the Kages above.
For: Katsumi and Kira.
Goals: Character development and five points! 8D

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Konohagakure…The Village Hidden in the Leaves… and hidden to my heart.

I’ve lived here since the day I was born.
I’ve never seen another country.
I’ve never visited another village.
I’ve…never even been outside the village gates.

When I was a child, I discovered that I was gifted with a higher level of intelligence than many of my peers. My ability to comprehend information, analyze that information, and effectively utilize that information with little or no preparation was graded at the Jounin level. I know all of this...and yet I know just as surely that something is missing. This fundamental thing that I lack…it is something crucial that I can’t define by reading, listening, seeing, not even by dreaming. I know that it is close and familiar, yet its visage is so vague…its name is whispered in the meandering winds, written by the pattern of fallen crow-feathers, and revealed to me in the fires of my own passionate struggles. It is hidden under every shadow, and no matter how many I uncover, its mystery only intensifies…

Despite this emptiness inside of me, I feel so happy sometimes that I wonder if I can contain myself…I know it seems juvenile but sometimes I feel a need to stifle my happiness, as if exuberance was unbefitting of an intelligent young lady like myself. Maybe that’s the emptiness. Maybe a part of me is bitter about my upbringing…I was so sheltered, and spent most of my life studying to live up to everyone else’s expectations…And I get jealous sometimes, of the girls with bronze skin and strong arms and perfect complexions. Well…if that’s what it is…jealousy, or some desire to be something different, then I will live with this hole in my heart, because it’s a small price to pay to be the person that I am. I complain inwardly that my fate has been decided for me, or that my time has been robbed, but in reality, I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t decided to work hard and study and follow this particular path. In any case, I have Kagami, and I’m improving every day. I can make myself proud, the Nara Clan proud, and the Village proud, and all because of the sacrifices I’ve made…I don’t need those boys or those girls with their glances and smiles and notes. I didn’t choose that path, so I know that my heart doesn’t truly wish to travel along it. I’m just young…that’s it, I’m sure…


Katsumi’s daydreaming was broken when she became suddenly and powerfully aware of a presence nearby. Kagami? she wondered to herself, somewhat surprised. Had she withdrawn Kagami yet? No…someone else must have stumbled upon this spot. She could hear the sounds of movement, somebody clambering up the smooth, sun-bleached rocks towards her little shaded indentation in the hill below the Kage’s faces. She was disappointed that her hideout had been discovered, but…relieved. Excited, even. She’d been a bit of an introvert lately. Well, more than usual, anyway. Some contact would be nice. It would shake her from her isolated state of mind. At least she hoped it would. The rustling noises were closer now. Katsumi raised her hand and glanced to her right, where somebody was about to come into view…

[Heerosato]

Kira was on one of his usual walks but today he decided to take a different path. As he was walking along he was taking note of the scenery. There were many trees, bushes along this path, but when he got to the end of the path he was at the beach. So he walked along the beach line watching the waves splash up against the shore. Soon he seen a cave he was going to walk by it but then he heard some noises coming from inside it. So Kira walked over to the entrance of the cave and screamed, "Hello is any one in there, are you alright!" He waited for a response he was unsure if someone needed help in there or what was going on.

[Mendokuse]

[OOC: Lol it's nowhere near a beach if my memory of the map of Konoha is correct but okay, that just illustrates the scenery more to me so let's roll with it. Maybe there's a lake or pool if not a beach. who cares. ]

IC:


"Hello! Is any one in there? Are you alright?"

These were the words that drifted like gulls up to her scenic perch. She became aware of the smell of salt, too - Some body of water she'd never noticed before. Cupping her hands over her eyes, she glanced towards the sun, noting that it was later than it had ever been - she'd really gotten carried away today. Usually she was home before the sun got this low. The tide must have shifted - that's why she was only now realizing how close she was to the lake, or pond, or whatever it was.

She got to her feet, dusting the dried, broken leaves from his skirt as she did so, and walked to the outer rim of her ledge. She brought her hands up and carefully pushed aside some of the thorny branches. She poked her head through and glanced down, twitching uncomfortably as the rough leaves grazed her jaw. Below, she could see a quiet cove that she'd never noticed while hiking up the path, And standing on the rocky ground between the water and the hill was...Kira? Katsumi was relieved. Really, apart from Shinju, there weren't any other people she'd want to share this place with.

They didn't really know each other, but they had worked together with an unspoken mutual trust ever since the day they'd met under their sensei Jinsei's command. She thought for a moment about the emptiness she had been trying to define, and another subject stole her attention: She had never really tried to get to know Kira as anything more than a comrade, and he was still standing there, wondering about her while she zoned out. She shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

She spoke a bit timidly. Though she had made the effort to befriend the genin, she felt timid now that they were socializing outside of the team.

"Kira-kin...It's just me, Katsumi. Don't worry, I'm quite alright."

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then a bold step.

"It's nice up here why don't you join me?" she asked breathlessly. Part of her wanted him to leave, and another part dreaded that. She wanted an actual friend, and she was on the verge of sabotaging herself just for the comfortable familiarity of solitude! She wiped the distant, embarrassed look off of her face, for fear of alienating him...or weirding him out. She reached out a had and gestured for him to climb up the side, wearing a sincere, encouraging smile, but when she let go of the branch, a thorn dug into the pad of her hand below her thumb and she cried out in pain, withdrawing from the edge and studying with swimming eyes the massive thorn embedded deep in her flesh.

[Heerosato]

(ooc:sorry this happens to me a lot I read one thing but my brain thinks of something different if i make a mistake just tell me and ill fix it)

Kira then seen Katsumi above him offering to help him up to where she was. Then he seen that she had hurt herself. So he climbed up the rock side and took a seat next to Katsumi, and was able to tell now that she had hurt her hand. "Are you ok? He asked with a somewhat said look on his face. Though Katsumi was on a team with him he did not know much about his teammate he always kinda wanted to find more out about them but poking and prodding into peoples lives is rude. Though he was always curious about things he kept his cool most of the time and stayed a polite young person.

[Mendokuse]

Katsumi glanced up at Kira, somewhat surprised to see him. It was then that she remembered that she had been offering him help when she'd gone and hurt herself and disappeared. She blushed furiously, feeling ashamed, but her palm throbbed as if it were on fore and she let out a long, shaky breath, her green eyes vivid behind a veil of tears. He clearly wasn't offended, and seemed genuinely concerned about her. She studied his blue eyes for a moment, unsure of what to think, but even Katsumi, who had never really risked a good, long look into anyone else's eyes, could see that he was a kind person.

"Mmf..it..hurts, but it's not serious. If you pull it out, I can heal it myself..." She looked up at him, willing herself to trust him. She wanted to so bad. She couldn't rely solely on herself in this world...she couldn't rely on her clan's textbooks, or her own natural ability forever. Sometimes a friend could help you out. That wasn't something Katsumi had experienced before, and so she closed her eyes, swallowing hard in fearful anticipation, and offered her hand to Kira, the other wrapped tightly around her wrist to control the shaking. She knew that it would hurt. Though the thorn was skinny, it was buried deep in the flesh and muscle of her hand. It would be excruciating for a few moments before she used her medical ninjutsu to stanch the flow of blood and grant comfort to the wound. Despite this fear, she was determined to get it over with. One thing Katsumi knew about herself was that she was prone to fear, but never let that stop her. While others might get credit for being fearless, Katsumi constantly overcame her own self-imposed limitations...and by being vulnerable to this boy she barely knew, she was facing one of her biggest limitations: Her lack of connection to her peers.

[Heerosato]

Kira blushed a little not knowing how to react to Katsumi but still remained calm. He gently took her hand, and quickly pulled out the thorn. After that he let go of her hand and looked down. He was very embarrassed of himself, for blushing. Though no girl really ever acted this way around him. In fact ever since his mothers death he had stayed away from most girls. He did this because he feared becoming attached to another woman again, and the fear of losing them was to great for him to bare.

All this thinking made him remember his mother and he became sad, and was unable to hide it. He remembered the last day he seen her telling him to train hard and that she will be back soon to help him. Then when he got the word the next day that she had died a great part of him died inside that he was never fully able to recover from. "Are you ok, I'm sorry if i hurt you," he said as he looked at her. Then realized that she was looking into his eyes. He did not know how to react so he sat there, trying hard to hide his emotions from his teammate.

[Mendokuse]

As Kira plucked the thorn from Katsumi’s palm, she flinched violently, jerking her arm away from Kira. She did this involuntarily, not to get away from him. If anything, she was glad for his presence. It had been scary, at first, to try to make a friend, but he was a nice person and had done as she asked, instead of asking her to do it herself, or worrying that he would hurt her and allowing her to sit there in pain with a thorn in her palm while they argued. Instead, he’d taken the thorn out of her hand, and she felt respect towards him for that. He hadn’t treated her like a child, and she realized that it felt good to have a peer.

She pressed the thumb of her opposite hand to her bleeding palm, and looked at Kira again.

”I’m fine, thanks to you…don’t feel bad. It would be worse if it was still in my hand.” Already, her face had relaxed and a cool green light was beginning to spread from her fingers and touch the wound, kneading her torn skin with a soft, tingling pressure.

”Heh…I bet you think I’m an idiot, hurting myself like that…I wasn’t exactly ninja-like just now, I guess…” She blushed, using laughter as a shield; though she made fun of herself playfully, she really felt like an absolute imbecile and her playful nature was really a test to find out what he thought of her. Still the quiet Nara he’d barely known, or a clumsy crybaby? She waited for him to answer, averting her eyes and focusing instead on repairing her injured hand.

SpoilerShow

*Ketsueki Keppei no Jutsu [Blood Clot Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Chakra is used on a wound to make the coagulation of the blood occur quickly, causing the bleeding to stop. Though the bleeding has stopped, the wound remains. Time varies depending on the size of the wound, and can take anywhere between several seconds to a few minutes.

[Heerosato]

Kira sat there looking away not knowing what to do with himself, but soon realized that she was talking to him. He felt bad that she thought it was his fault he was sad or so he thought was the case. "No I don't think that your a idiot for hurting yourself we all hurt ourselves sometimes. Its just one of those things in life we can't help so its ok," Kira looked at her smiling. Though he was still very depressed inside since those was words that his mom spoke to him when Kira hurt himself. Soon he realized that she was blushing and laughing so he got embarrassed, and looked away from her and up at the sky.

[Mendokuse]

The blood flow had ceased to leak from the gash in Katsumi's palm and she breathed a sigh of relief, massaging the tender area of skin around the wound, pulling the closed skin to the sides to try and discover just how deep the wound was. She looked at Kira sheepishly as he spoke, and nodded her understanding. He looked troubled for some reason, and she wanted to comfort him, so she clasped her hands together gingerly and placed them neatly in her lap.

"Kira-kun, are you alright? You have that far away look in your eyes...I've noticed it before, but I didn't think much of it until spending time with you here. But now I can hear the different tones in your voice and understand when you're feeling bad. Did I bring up some painful memories somehow?" Katsumi was too shy to touch his shoulder with a comforting gesture, but she looked at him intently and tried not to sound too overbearing. Still, she wondered if maybe she was coming off a bit like a smarty-pants. The last thing she wanted to do was appear to be condescending at this moment when it seemed that he needed some support as badly as she had.

[Heerosato]

Kira was still looking up at the sky when he seen her finish healing her self out of the corner of his eye. He looked at her paying attention to what Katsumi said trying not to be rude, then speaking when she was done. "Yes I'm ok i was just thinking about my mother that died some years ago thats all. Is your hand ok i feel bad that you hurt yourself trying to help me up I'm sorry." He always felt like things was his fault, so he always tried to apologize for it even when its not. Though this small conversation was helping distract him from his memories. Though they always come back and he will be sad once more since this is the fate he was dealt.

[Mendokuse]

Katsumi frowned with sincere sympathy when Kira told her about his mother's passing. She thought about her own mother, then. Her beautiful face, the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes she'd earned from years of laughter. The way she would capture her husband in Kage Mane and make him do the things he hated to do such as dishes or sweeping the kitchen...She couldn't imagine how painful it would be to lose someone so important. She hoped with all of her heart that in this lifetime or any other she never had to experience the death of a loved one. She knew, though, that as a Shinobi that was merely wishful thinking. Still, it would be nice...

"I'm so sorry Kira...I had no idea until just now. I can understand why you look upset..."

He changed the subject, then, asking her about her wound. She frowned but didn't question him...it was clear that it was a topic of pain and discomfort for him. Although she wanted to support him, and her natural instinct was to talk about this with him, she didn't want to alienate him, so she smiled for his sake and spoke with a hint of cheer in her voice.

"Oh yes, it's all better now. It was my fault that I got hurt, I wasn't paying attention to the thorns. It's not your fault at all, believe me. Incidentally, since you pulled the thorn out for me, I was able to stop the bleeding. Without you I wouldn't have been able to do that and would have had to climb down this path and go to the hospital all alone. I'm glad I'm not alone." She smiled at Kira and stood up. The sun had sunken lower now and the shadows were beautiful...to her, at least.

"Hey, you know what? My hand feels a lot better. Why don't we go down by the water? The moon will be here soon. I'm sure it will be nice." She wanted to do something nice and get away from the subject of death and injury. She felt that Kira would appreciate it, even if it was unspoken.

[Heerosato]

Kira hopped down and stretched a little the turning to face the road. He had a small smile on his face now feeling like it was not totally his fault she was hurt. "Well it has been nice talking to you, but I have to get going home. I'll see you later Katsumi." Once he was done speaking he started to walk up the road to go home.

[Mendokuse]

Katsumi couldn't help feeling insecure...Kira had said he didn't think she was dumb, but with such a sudden departure, it was hard for her to think logically.

He must hate me. He must think I'm a moron. Or maybe I'm being too nice and he thinks I have a crush on him but I'm not pretty so of course he wouldn't want that...oh I don't know. I guess it could be something simple, like it's too late to stay out, or he's tired, or he's afraid of water...

Katsumi watched as Kira climbed down the hill and disappeared from sight. She sighed deeply, trying not to think the worst of herself. Today had been...different. She felt different. Maybe that emptiness she'd felt was gone? Yes, in fact, she felt...lighter. And yet more whole...so maybe she felt heavier? It wasn't something she could define...and realizing that, she realized that she'd probably found the key to her emptiness. She'd said that she didn't need anyone else, but she knew now that it wasn't true. Talking to Kira and experiencing...friendship...had been wonderful. She stood up and looked over the thorny bush at the water, watching the moon shimmer, reflected in its shallow depths. Katsumi smiled wide and took a deep breath, and then followed Kira's trail down the hill. She couldn't wait to tell Kagami about her day.