A Day Off in the Mist (Open RP)

[Kirihara Takumi]

“Not that I know of.”

Well, that was good... Naturally if she didn't know about it, she wouldn't be able to say. It was, in fact, about the best answer he could hope for. Now, though, he'd run out of ideas for useful questions to ask. He was positive he'd come up with more later, but for now... nothing was coming to him. Instead, he decided to ask a very different sort of question.

"... If you had one wish... what would it be?"

[Hishime]

‘If you had one wish, what would it be?’ Hishime blinked, was there something behind this question? Maybe he was testing her. Maybe he wanted to know if the whole situation was bad enough for her to wish that she could start over again. Now she thought of it, would she really wish that as she had only one wish?

“H-honestly..?” The female asked, her face suddenly turning bright pink. She bit her lip slightly, looking away from him. Why was she blushing? She wasn’t even 100% sure herself. “I.. uhm.. I..” She was stuttering again, and she hated it. For some unexplainable reason, it was embarrassing for her to tell him. “T-that I could love, w-without any of this crap..”

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: Well... that was odd. Sorry again for the delay, an old friend of mine just showed up for a quick visit. I haven't seen him in ages...)

“T-that I could love, w-without any of this crap..”

"That I could love..."

Takumi was dumbfounded. He'd expected that she'd want to change something in her past, or that she would just make something up that just about anyone would wish for... Even something like "I wish you'd stop asking questions"... He wasn't expecting this. Her face was practically glowing pink... Takumi stopped staring and looked down with a little smile.

"Is there someone you have in mind...?"

[Hishime]

‘Is there someone you have in mind?’ Hishime glanced up at him, a piece of vegetable half the way in her mouth. The pink color on her cheeks slowly being replaced by dark red. Her mind seemed to stop working for a second. She just stared, eyes wide and blushing madly.

“Uhh..” This was all she could say at the moment. Her heart was racing in her chest. What was happening? And why was he asking in the first place? The girl dropped her chopsticks, letting them fall on the plate in front of her. “Y-yes..” She mumbled. Then, like she was just realizing what she had said, she quickly shook her head, waving her hands in front of her. “I mean, no! I mean...”

She had to be honest; she knew damn well there was someone. She sighed deeply, her eyes turning into a sudden glare. It wasn’t the hard, painful kind of glare, not a death-glare. More the kind of glare that basically screamed ‘Stop teasing!’.

“C-can’t you just shut up, and eat your food?!” She was starting to feel rather uncomfortable, the blush still remaining on her cheeks. She was acting very dangerously, almost completely letting her guard down.

[Kirihara Takumi]

"Stop teasing!" The message her glare sent came across loud and clear - especially to Takumi, who spent a lot of time reading people as it was. It was all he could do not to laugh - this woman, who had worn a mask nearly the whole time he'd been with her, was showing a side that was much more... human. He had to admit, he actually liked this side of her. It was much, much better than her 'mask'.

“C-can’t you just shut up, and eat your food?!”

"Hah!" Takumi chuckled to himself. "Well, it looks like the answer is a definite 'yes,' anyway..." He couldn't help but wonder who she meant, but he could see that there was no way she was going to tell him any more - or at least, not that she would let him get away with.

"All right, all right... ask me something, then. What do you want to know?"

[Hishime]

“It’s not funny!” The shinobi looked away, arms crossed over her chest. He was chuckling, actually chuckling! There was nothing funny about this, not at all! Still, she was wondering why he was asking. Was he just teasing her? Or was there more behind it? But, it wasn’t that important, it could wait till later. There was no way she would tell him about her precious T--

‘All right, all right. Ask me something, then.’ Takumi said. ‘What do you want to know?’ Slowly, the girl looked back at him, a little less red on her usual pale face. This was a great opportunity to get some answers out of him, not out of her. Then again, asking something like that, it wasn’t the right moment. At least not after the little fiasco about her crush...

“Well.. Yes, I have one question.” She told him. It was easy to see that she was still feeling slightly uncomfortable, nervous because of his previous question. “Where am I going to sleep tonight?”

[Kirihara Takumi]

Takumi blinked. He'd made himself open for questioning, and this was what she asked? It's not like it was a bad question, but...

"Hmm, yes... where indeed? Well, I suppose it's entirely up to you. There's only one bed, but you're quite free to use it. I sometimes fall asleep right here on the floor anyway."

It was true, there had been plenty of times where he'd been lying on his back, daydreaming, and woken up hours later to realize he'd fallen asleep at some point.

[Hishime]

Yuki smiled. This time, it wasn’t the same little smile that she always used, this one was a little bigger, and not as fake as all the others. Maybe it had been stupid to ask something simple like that, but she had her reasons. Her real questions would come later, when he would least expect it. And when that time came, he wouldn’t be able to avoid any of them, like she always did.

“I don’t think it would be correct if I slept in your room, don’t you agree?” She was pretty sure that he still didn’t quite trust her, and yet he was offering her his own bed; that would be a very foolish decision. Had he even thought about what she could do if she was allowed to enter his bedroom? She could set up a trap, and kill him with ease if she wanted to.

Still, it wasn’t like she would actually do something like that. It wasn’t the way she liked to act. She wouldn’t kill someone with such a dirty trick. But, hadn’t he thought about any of this? Or was it just a test; did he want to see how trustworthy she really was?

[Kirihara Takumi]

"Huh...? Why's that?" Takumi asked, totally oblivious to what was going on in her head. "It's not like I'll be in there too... And... aren't they all mine?" Since he'd lived alone, he had never really seen the need to have a specific 'bedroom'... There was a room with a bed in it, sure, but that didn't mean he always slept there. In fact, he slept pretty much wherever, unless he had some specific need for a bed. Still, she didn't seem to approve of the idea, so...

"Well... maybe you could sleep in the room over there? The one with the mirrored closet...?" It seemed to him like the next most suitable place to sleep.

[Hishime]

He did have a point there. This was his house. All rooms belonged to him. She was sure that he didn’t know what she meant, or he was acting like it at least. If he would use his brains a little more, he would be able to figure it out for sure. Maybe it was a lack of sleep; which was often a problem for her when it came to such things. Now she thought of it, it was getting late, and if they were indeed going to fight tomorrow...

“Sounds good to me.” Hishime said, nodding in agreement. She had to admit, it was a nice room. Not big, but not too small. And for one person, it was about exactly the right size. Also, the mirror would come in handy now and then. She had to look after her appearance, she was a girl after all.

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: ... Okay, I'm gonna stop apologizing for my lateness now. I'm doing it way too much. )

Takumi nodded and yawned. All this talk about sleep was making him realize how late it was, and how tired he felt. Looking down at his plate, he noticed that somehow, between all of their conversation... he'd actually managed to finish it all off. Well, he did tend to eat pretty quickly.

"Thank you for the meal," he said, bowing. "It was very good."

"While it still had some trace of warmth left," he added to himself. Not that it was bad compared to what he was used to... just not nearly as good as he'd been pleasantly surprised with before.

"It's getting late... perhaps we should turn in for the night? After all, we wouldn't want tomorrow's match to be a disappointment," Takumi grinned.

[Hishime]

(OOC: That's my little boy! )

“It will not be a disappointment, I can promise you that.” Hishime replied, a smirk appearing on her face. Oh no, it would be anything but a disappointment. Tomorrow’s match was supposed to be one hell of a fight. Takumi, wanting to know her real name, would fight with everything he had. Hishime, herself, wasn’t planning on losing and giving away the name she had kept a secret for so long. At first, the battle was supposed to be testing her skill, but now it seemed more like they would be fighting for one single name.

The young girl glanced at the door of her new ‘bedroom’, the expression on her face making it clear she was, indeed, very tired. But, there was one last thing that she really needed. The problem was; would he allow her to have it? Her bag. It’s contents meant a lot to her. It weren’t only weapons and medical supplies she kept in that pouch, there were things that were much more valuable to her.

The female ninja directed her gaze back to the man. “Is there a chance I could have my gear back?” She asked. It wasn’t really a question, and not a suggestion either. In fact, it wasn’t just like she ‘wanted’ it back; she had to get it back. “I will need it.”

Hishime yawned quietly, closing her eyes tightly for a moment. “And a pillow and a blanket, perhaps?”

[Kirihara Takumi]

"Is there a chance I could have my gear back? I will need it."

"Seriously?" Takumi thought. "Then what was the point of giving it to me in the first place?"

“And a pillow and a blanket, perhaps?” she added.

"Perhaps," he replied, and walked out of the room.

Minutes passed, and after what seemed like just a little too long, Takumi reappeared holding three things. One was a pillow, and one was a blanket - these he tossed over right away. The last one...

"Here," he frowned, holding out her bag. "But you'd better honestly consider me your ally now."

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you right now, I hope you understand that..." his eyes said as they locked with hers. "Don't make me regret it."

[Hishime]

Takumi obviously didn’t like it when she asked for her bag. And she wasn’t surprised; he still knew practically nothing about her. All she gave him was a false name, and a small part of her ‘situation’. Hishime wandered across the room dreamily. He was certainly taking a long time to only grab a few things. There was no way he could have forgotten where he had put her bag, and a pillow and a blanket wouldn’t be so hard to find.

Maybe he was taking a look at her stuff. It wouldn’t be a strange
thing if he was; he only had a little, very little trust for her. Then again, she also had a very little trust for him. Giving away her gear like that, if only for a couple of hours, was a really big thing for her to do. Also, he would have the advantage when it came to their battle tomorrow. Not only did he know the landscape and was used to the cold, if he had also seen what kind of weapons she used, he would most likely win.

Another minute passed before Takumi finally appeared in the doorway. Hishime turned around, immediately catching the two flying object as they were thrown at her. She approached the boy quietly, holding the pillow and blanket tightly against her chest. The frown on his face was telling her enough, but she was thankful that he was willing to give her pouch back, even if he had taking a look at it’s contents.

‘Here.’ Takumi held her out her bag. ‘But you’d better honestly consider me you ally now.’

Hishime smiled. It wasn’t her fake smile, this was a true smile, one that you would hardly ever see. And although it wasn’t a big smile, not even close to big, it showed all her gratefulness. Slowly, she stretched out her arm, carefully taking hold on the pouch like it was made of glass. The girl turned her back towards him, opening the door that lead to her new ‘room’.

“Let's see if we can change that into a friend.” Hishime said. Her voice was soft but also serious, her cheeks turned a very light shade of pink. She could pretend all she wanted, but saying something like that just made her feel a little... nervous.

“Sweet dreams, Takumi-san.” With that, she closed the door behind her, leaving the shinobi alone in the other room.

[Kirihara Takumi]

“Let's see if we can change that into a friend.”

Takumi sighed and slumped to the floor after the door closed. A friend...? He wondered if she'd really meant that. From what he could tell from her face... she really had. A friend... Takumi hadn't really had any friends for a long time...

He had almost looked in her bag; he'd stood there staring at it for so long, arguing with himself. Should he check it? Should he refuse to give it back? Should he just trust her?

Takumi wasn't sure why he'd decided what he had, but... he could only hope it was the right choice. Wrapping himself in his robes, he closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.