[Graded]Brush Away

[Kao]

Once again, the kunoichi found herself alone wandering the countryside. She had been traveling on her own for some time now; though she had found traveling companions - in fact, something that she once thought was more meaningful than a mere traveling buddy - something had...changed. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening in her personal life anymore.

All she knew is that she was somewhere in Waterfall Country, surrounded by cascading water. Her feet were dipped in a large pool of water at the base of a tall, thin waterfall. Fusae seemed out of it. Her eyes were unfocused, downcast, randomly peering around at her surroundings. Honestly speaking, she was unfocused and moody; she didn't even think to summon a bit of company.

With a frown plastered to her pretty face, she sighed as she buried her face in her hands.

[GardenSalad]

His shoes were being filled by pools of water. They had most likely been there from the rain, but it still managed to piss him off. He had been traveling for a few days. Finding new training spots to go to, and another place where he could get something to eat. But as usual, he was lost.

He could hear the sound of crashing water near by. Sieg was eager to wash himself; his body needed to be cleansed if anyone was to see him, especially if he spotted another beautiful person like him. Following the sound of the water, he reached his destination. Taking off his robe and placing it on a large rock (following it up by his shirt), he cupped his hands and splashed his face with water. Ahh, it feels good.

Wait.. I can sense something. Bringing his hands away from his face, Sieg started looking in all directions. Being out of luck, he looked through the reflection of the water, seeing what he thought was a woman. Bingo! Diving in without hesitation, he swam across and leaped out of the water. Noticing her physical appearance, he started to get excited. My senses are never wrong. Finally, I may have met someone as beautiful as I. Wanting to get a better view, he walked casually behind her and peered his head forward.

"My, my what do we have here?" With a smile on his face, he looked down to hers. "Oh.. are you okay?" Feeling the urge to do something, he went to wrap his hands around her. "It's alright. I'm here for you."

[Kao]

She was too unfocused to notice the man approach by water. The sound of the waterfall crashing nearly a hundred feet down drowned the noises of his swimming and splashing. Fusae was playing a dangerous game; her mind was simply unaware of her surroundings. Instead, the girl was lost within her teenage mind, worried about what most girls her age were: boys.

Of course, this boy was more of a man, but that didn't matter. Her thought process was so ordinary, so typical for a normal girl her age that it was almost laughable. As a missing nin, she should have been worried about more practical subjects for her profession: avoiding hunter nin; finding a place to sleep; looking for odd, potentially dangerous jobs, just so she could get enough money for food.

Still, that wasn't the case. She was worried about whether or not she would ever see that beautiful blue kimono again when her senses snapped to attention. A male voice resounded right behind her. Fusae couldn't make out the actual words, and she didn't wait to try to comprehend them. Her initial reaction was to freeze in place; she was so caught off guard that her body didn't react right away. However, that phase passed quickly. When she felt hands beginning to wrap around her, her hand darted to her weapons pouch, drawing two kunai.

She may not have been the best physical fighter, but Fusae's reflexes were reminiscent of a viper. In an instant, she transferred one of the kunai to her opposite hand. Now armed in both hands, she swirled around, simultaneously coming to a standing position as she slashed through the air with her left hand. With the other, she brought the kunai straight down, likely cutting his hand in the process.

"For the sake of your limbs, I suggest that you do not touch me." Her voice came in almost a hiss as she spoke. She quickly looked him over, noting his lack of clothes. When she got to his face, her eyes blinked several times in confusion. "Wait..you're..." An Awai? Hm. Somehow, she wasn't quite in the mood for a family reunion.

[GardenSalad]

Feeling his body being slightly pushed away, he tried to bring his hands back as a kunai headed in his direction. He went to reach for his sword, having completely forgot that he left it along with his robe before. Moving back as fast as possible, he was surprised by the speed of the woman. She was incredible. And with her appearance completely distracting Sieg, his hand was sliced as he dropped to the floor. "Dammit woman. Argh, that hurt." Bringing his hands together to try and stop the blood flow, Sieg glanced up as the woman spoke.

Looking up toward her face, he noticed the colour of her eyes. "Wait..you're..." saying it at the exact same time as her. He was completely stunned. She was exactly like him, but in a female version. He couldn't imagine a more beautiful woman. But her personality, now that was a shame. Physical Appearance, A. Personality, C-. Overall, 8/10. Damn, why couldn't you just be nice?!" Now completely ignoring her, he walked down to the waterfall to clean off his wound. It was quite deep, considering it went straight in, and the blood wouldn't stop either.

He was really starting to get pissed off. How dare she? It had been the first time he'd ever been rejected. It's not like he does that to many people anyway. Only to ones who are worthy. And not only that, she made him bleed. His beautiful hand having been sliced will leave a rather large wound. Now that would look ugly. Turning his head with a large grin on his face, he went back to grab his clothes "Well, I might as well put my clothes back on. Unless you want to bathe with me instead?" Chuckling slowly, he was being dead serious. He'd love to 'tap that'. No-one around to disturb, so they could do whatever they wanted. But he obviously knew that this wouldn't happen. He would actually have to work for once, to persuade a woman to like him. At least he knew his looks weren't a problem.

"So.. what brings you here, young lady?" He said, trying to get a conversation going.

[Kao]

"Oh, sure, I would love to bathe with you! Never have I had the pleasure of bathing with someone as lovely as you!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she watched him try to fix up his hand. Fusae bent down to stick the kunai point down into the shallows of the pool. The water around the weapons were stained red for the briefest moment before the man's blood dispersed.

Sighing, she stood to her feet and walked across the water towards him. After a few hand signs, she took his hand in hers. Green chakra engulfed their hands, and his bleeding slowly began to stop. "You should not sneak up on people, no matter what your intentions may to be." As she spoke, she couldn't pull her eyes away from his. She hadn't seen an Awai her age in so long that she couldn't help but gaze at him. His eyes were exactly the same as hers.

At his last question, she hesitated. There's no way he's still part of the village. I doubt Konoha would let him out on his own after they have lost so many Awai nin. Finally, she felt his hand stop bleeding. "I'm just doing a bit of traveling." She tried to keep her answer ambiguous, just in case he was some sort of hunter nin. When did she become so paranoid?

[GardenSalad]

..Bitch. Not only did she reject his non-resistible offer of a bath, she even countered with some sarcasm of her own. Very clever. "Sneak up on people? Now why would I try and attack a beautiful lady like yourself?" He said, while grabbing his arm to feel the bleeding had stopped. Sigh, what a relief. But he had been too casual. What if she actually was some sort of A, S-rank nin that could kill him in seconds? His father always told him not to just believe a person straight away. But this person being an Awai, seemed.. trustworthy. "Well, I've been up to some travelling myself. Although, this is probably the first time I've seen in Awai in a long time."

His stomach started to rumble. He hadn't eaten in probably one, or two days now. Well, that wasn't necessarily true. What he ate wouldn't really be considered food. Leaves, and mysterious fruit he didn't know about. He was lucky to not have been poisoned or even sick, but he just presumed, seeing as he thinks everything about him is perfect, that his immune system would hold. And surprisingly, it actually did. What he didn't know however, was how to enter this village. The only way to go forward was a massive waterfall, and to be honest his hair had already been too wet for one day.

"I've been told there is a village around here somewhere. I totally don't have any clue where to go. But I wouldn't mind travelling around with you for a bit. It's not like the two of us have the busiest schedule if you know what I mean." Scratching his head momentarily, he saw a tree in the distance. Noticing some purple fruit, he rushed over there and picked off a couple. Holding one out of his hand to the woman, he began taking a huge bite out of it; not realizing that this would make him really sick. "Oh yeah, my name is Awai, Sieg. Nice to meet you." He groaned, dropping the fruit from his hand as he held his stomach. "Gah, god damn fruit. You taste so juicy, yet why such disastrous effects? Maaan, I really don't feel so good."

[Kao]

"You're not very bright, are you?" Fusae was also unaware that the fruit would make him sick, but she was picky enough about her food to not eat a purple fruit. From her experience, purple was one of the worst food colors, next to black, fuzzy green and white, and blue with green dots. She tossed the fruit across her shoulder and stepped away from Seig.

After a bit of hesitation, she took him by the shoulders and guided him to some bushes. If he threw up, she'd rather him not do it in the water, nor around her clothes. "Not only do you eat strangely colored fruit without any prior knowledge of its effects, you're trying to enter a village." She watched him closely from the water's edge. He was several feet away, so if he started throwing up, both she and the fish living in the water were safe from his illness.

At this point, she was uncertain if he was a missing nin or traveling for a mission; still, she found it strange that he couldn't tell who she was. To her knowledge, there were only two other missing nin from the clan, and she was the only female Awai to abandon the village. "So, what do you want? Are you here to take me back to the village? As a fair warning, I will blow your limbs clear from your body before I let you take me back to Konoha."

Her threat was strange; though there was obvious malice in her words, her tone was completely polite.

[GardenSalad]

"Well, I try my best."

Starting to gag with water forming around his eyes, he refused to throw up. Not only would it look bad in front of his lady friend, but he couldn't stand seeing something disgusting coming out of his body. Plus, his symptoms were starting to die out, with only his stomach feeling funny. "If I really wanted to take you back, do you reckon I would have came up behind you to try and cheer you up? I'm not too big of a fan of Konoha myself." Moving his hand to his pouch, Sieg flicked it open as he gripped onto his headband and threw it in her direction. There displayed a large, thick line across the Konoha symbol. "I don't bother to wear it. It looks ugly anyway."

Now adjusting his robe behind him, Sieg walked along to the waters edge. His body was swaying side to side with his arms shaking heavily, as be begun to feel queasy and his head starting to burn up. For some reason the fruit he ate earlier had somewhat a late reaction and was a lot worse than he expected. Hearing a noise from behind his friend, Sieg charged without hesitation and formed raiton chakra around his hands; dividing them evenly. Announcing the words "Dageki Ryuu • Joumae Tacchi," Sieg brought his hands forward and completely missed his target, falling into the water. What he actually saw was an illusion of a person, and the sound being most likely from either the waterfall or a school of fish. Whatever it was, the outcome was bad. Sieg's body felt as if he was paralyzed, and was unable to move his body. "Help!" he tried to say, as his lungs started filling up with water. Sieg really needed to be saved before it was too late, and a medical nin to get rid of his symptoms.

TechniquesShow

*Dageki Ryuu • Nijuu Higyou [Shock Fist Style • Double Strike]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
Requires: 6 in control, 5 in taijutsu, all D-ranked Dageki Ryuu techniques.
This is a somewhat simple technique that allows the user to divide their electric chakra between both hands. This can either be used to use the same technique with both hands to increase the chance of affliction, or two different techniques for an effective combo.

Genin: Can use 2 D-Ranks.
Chuunin: Can use 2 C-Ranks.
Jounin: Can use 2 B-Ranks.

*Dageki Ryuu • Joumae Tacchi [Shock Fist Style • Locking Touch]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Requires: 4 in control, 3 in taijutsu.
The user will flood one of their hands with electric chakra that focuses on the opponent's muscles. A well placed blow will cause the afflicted area to be unable to move for 2 posts.

[Kao]

Her hand clasped around his headband when he chucked it in her direction. She didn't necessarily need to see his hitai-ate; most likely, she would have accepted his word. Still, seeing his scratched headband was more than a little comforting.

What happened next was nothing less than a farce; Fusae all but face-palmed. She watched with some interest at he basically attacked the air and comically fell into the water. He started to splash around a bit, gurgling as water moved into his mouth. With a small sigh, Fusae walked across the water toward him. "Hold still!"

As she dragged him to shore, she went over her options. He was obviously sick from the fruit, and there wasn't much she could do about it. Her skill in iijutsu was at the minimum, so she wasn't able to help him. Their only option was to somehow find a village with doctors. She hit his chest and back a few times, trying to get him to cough up the water. "Sorry, but, there's not exactly a ninja village around here. Maybe you'll die, hopefully you'll live."

[GardenSalad]

"Bt I'm to bootiful t dy!" He said, coughing up water from his mouth. Sieg not only felt like crap, but he made a very bad first impression. Hoping to feel cheered up, he looked up to the beautiful ladies face. Unfortunately, it wasn't what he expected. His symptoms still hadn't gone anyway, and when he saw her face, it looked.. strange. Her face was starting to melt and the skin was dripping onto his arm. She was also beginning to grow extra limbs, which completely freaked Sieg out. His eyes were now blood-shot red, as he pushed his body away from her. "AHHH... GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Putting pressure onto his hands, Sieg lifted his body up. He continued glancing back at the 'freakish looking woman' and tried to get away as fast as possible. Sending chakra to his feet, he started walking on the water. No matter how many times he looked, she still had a half-melted face and six arms. By the time he noticed and his symptoms again started dieing down, Sieg had already walked backwards to the waterfall. It was too late to turn around now because the water had already pushed him into the waterfall. Losing complete concentration, the chakra underneath his feet went away as he dropped into the water. Swinging his hands behind him, Sieg managed to grab onto something as he felt the full throttle of the waterfall on his body.

The only problem now was that he couldn't move. His hands were slowly slipping away because whatever he was grabbing on was wet, and the pressure of the water was slowly pushing him forward. His only option now was to try and use a jutsu to get himself out of this mess. Slowly bringing his hands together, Sieg formed his hands into the correct handseals before falling into the water. Disappearing in an instant, Sieg re-appeared behind the waterfall. "Hey, check this out. There is something behind here after all." Looking around the area, he noticed a path that lead somewhere. Where he was now was something like a cave, with the path ending with a strong light. The cave was dark, but his doujutsu allowed him to see easily.

TechniquesShow

Suimen Hokou no Waza [Act of Water Surface Walking]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
A variation on the Kinobori no Waza (Act of Tree Climbing), the art of water surface walking allows a ninja to walk on water as if it was a solid surface. Focusing an even amount of chakra out of the soles of their feet, they can balance themselves on the very surface of the water.

Shunshin no Jutsu [Body Flicker Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance.

[Kao]

Fusae frowned as he flailed about, seemingly afraid of her for some odd reason. She glanced at the half-eaten fruit on the ground and kicked it into the water. She leaned against a rock as he went underwater. If he drowned, it was completely his fault.

Luckily, he somehow managed to get out of the water. When she heard his voice coming from the other side of the waterfall, she sighed. In an instant, she was standing next to him. As much as she wanted to get rid of his symptoms, she didn't want to venture forth into a strange cave...with a light at the end. Something told her that might not be the best of ideas. She noticed he was talking clearly and raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be recovering."

Peering towards the end of the cave, she poked his shoulder several times. "You do not seem to be using your head, so I will do it for you. Do not. Stupidly explore a cave. You are a missing nin, you need to be more careful." Despite her words, she wanted to see what was on the other side herself. She was positive that there was no real shinobi village in Waterfall Country. Even so, she knew better than to blindly wander around with her criminal status. "Let's go." With that, the took him by the shoulders and started to edge him towards the waterfall.

[GardenSalad]

Dammit woman! But for some reason he didn't mind too much. Her soft hands against his shoulder, and even her presence of just being near him, helping him after barely surviving the effects of the purple fruit made him have a large cheesy smile on his face. The only problem was that he was so eager to see what was at the end. Sure it may be dangerous, but who cares? And it's not as if his invitation for her to come behind the waterfall was without thought. He did have a reason behind it. How cool would it be if they were walking along and perhaps a ninja appeared? And being the man Sieg was, he would dramatically save the day by defeating the ninja and then hearing countless amounts of praise from the lady. He could hear it now. "Oh my savior, I am forever in your debt. I will do anything you say." His cheesy smile turned into a large grin, with his eyebrows raising slightly from the thought.

Before he knew it he was right next to the waterfall. If only I could have dreamed a bit more.. But right now he wasn't in the mood for a swim. He was in the mood for an adventure. And that's when he did the unthinkable, by dashing off toward the end of the cave. I'm going to find some ninja, beat him up and bring him back to show her how tough I am. And then she will admire me! My fool-proof plan will not fail! You here me? It. Will. Not. Fail! And as luck had it, there actually was something there; a large shadow, which seemed like a man who was most likely 200kg of pure muscle. Sieg's eyes started to light up. This would make him even more cool in front of her. Bring back this large guy, and then he could introduce her to his friends; 'Des' and 'Troy' which were written on his left and right bicep.

The only problem now was that in fact, this large, 200kg guy of pure muscle was not actually the large 200kg guy of pure muscle he expected. It was... a bear. Not a small, nice, little bear cub. But one massive, big ass bear which looked like it wanted to tear off Sieg's face. Now this wasn't fun. This was scary. And Sieg really didn't want his face clawed off. He had just met a beautiful lady who will eventually admit that he is the sexiest man alive. But before that, he must survive. and the only way to do that was.. to run.

And he ran as fast as he could. Going straight back to where the waterfall was. "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU STUPID BEAR!"

[Kao]

With a frustrated groan, she turned as Sieg broke free from her grasp, running towards the cave like...well, like an idiot. She didn't really feel like going after him, though she knew whatever was at the end of the cave was probably nothing very welcoming. Of course, she was right. Sieg ran past her so fast that she was almost knocked from her feet. Her eyes could make out - go figure - a bear lurking in the shadows.

The beast's cry was shockingly loud as it echoed off the cave walls, filling her chest with a touch of fear. Unlike her kin, she stood her ground, forming a few hand seals. She lifted her hand into the air and almost immediately, a bright, purple light filled the cramped space. "Taiyou Kokuken no Jutsu..." It condensed above her hand, forming a thin disc that she almost immediately hurled towards the bear.

The light slashed through the animal's chest, sending splatters of blood onto the cave walls. The animal gave a final, mighty roar before collapsing onto the dirty cave floor. Fusae stood there for only a few second before she moved to the waterfall. She inhaled before she dived; a few seconds later, she was swimming to shore.

"Good job, Sieg-san. How very brave of you. It was just a bear, you know." The kunoichi didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that she took an animal's life without so much as a second thought. At that moment she was inspecting her clothes, being sure none of the animal's blood stained her. Satisfied, she looked up, wondering where Sieg ran off to.

[GardenSalad]

"I'm not that heartless." Sieg was already resting on the rocks. He had ran so fast that he completely mis-timed his jump, and basically just fell in the water. Luckily, the current of the water from the waterfall was that strong, that it pushed him to shore. "I may be childish, but I'm not that bad of a person. The bear was just protecting where it lived; I'm sure I'd do the same if there was someone in danger that I loved." His hard breathing finally stopped. He hadn't really opened to someone like this before. Well, besides his family. But at the moment, she was probably the closest family he had, even though he had only met her today.

"This scenery sure is great. I haven't seen anything like this in a while. Although, I'm starting to get too much fresh air, if you know what I mean. Maybe we should head off somewhere else? I'm not really in the mood to explore the cave again. And I don't reckon I'll get any training done here." With a small smirk on his face, Sieg picked up all his gear and headed in the opposite direction of the waterfall. He was hoping she'd follow. He had nothing to do, and two people were better than one (especially two good-looking people, now that could come in handy). It would be easy to fool others by pretending to be a couple. They could be the perfect partners in crime.

Suddenly, his stomach started growling. "Hmm, maybe I should have another piece of fruit." Reaching his hand out to the tree, he picked off a fruit and and tossed it into the air. Opening his mouth wide, he stopped, grabbing the fruit and hurling it back toward the waterfall. "Just kidding." His smirk had turned into a large grin, followed by a small chuckle. But still, he was hungry as hell. He was thinking about whether eating bear or not, but he couldn't stand being here any longer. Hopefully wherever he went next time was more interesting, and had a little less drama.

[Kao]

As the young man talked, Fusae kept a faint smile on her face. She somewhat listened as he continued talking, but she couldn't help but continue thinking about the first thing he said. Once he finished talking, she reached out a gentle hand and touched his face. "You haven't been away from the village for very long, have you? This world of ours is 'kill or be killed,' even more now, since we're classified as treacherous criminals." She glanced back at the waterfall. Concealed behind it was the cave along with the dead bear; thanks to her, the cave was now a tomb.

"Mercy is a luxury that we can not always affort, Sieg-san, especially with our lifestyle." After patting his cheek, she dropped her hand, using the opposite to reach into the bag on her back. She spent a minute or so rummaging through the pack, her face lighting up when she took out a small, wrapped bundle. Within it was a bit of bread and onigiri. "There's a town not too far away from here. We'll find something to eat here."

Fusae tossed the food into his arms before heading towards the village's location. "Oh! my apologies. I haven't told you my name." She took his hand in hers, though only briefly. "I am Awai Fusae." With that belated introduction, she picked up the kunai still lodged into the ground, returning it with a clink to her weapons pouch. "Let's be off then, shall we?"