[Honō Kojirou]

So the Chūnin Exams were on their way… was what he would’ve said a month or two ago. In truth, it was beginning to happen right here and right now, and he couldn’t have been any closer to the place of interest than right this damn now. You see, Kojirou was no longer in the simple confines of grass fields and wooden establishments that made Kusagakure so relaxed and homely in his eyes and heart – he had ventured out of his village’s borders and further beyond even his country’s for, perhaps, the first time since helping out with that checkpoint. Though it was but one border to cross, it was still a thrill to see the Land of Earth for the first time…

Once Kojirou actually managed to enter the land, everything kept him on edge. Buildings… they were massive. Absolutely humongous- Kuwana was no better! So much for being a tourist attraction, made him think it was like Hohei-chō – those cloud grinders were ridiculous! And there were so many of them, most buildings already being like twice the height of many establishments in his own ninja village!

And the goddamn center was just a fortress from the divine realm. He dared not even look in that direction, it was too much.

… So, frankly said, Kojirou had a few useful skills under his arm, but finding his way across a marble labyrinth like this one wasn’t quite one of them. He had obtained his badge and was just going to hold onto it until the Exams actually began, but that was a week away and… he needed to find his way back to the hotel again. He was a little uppity and might’ve, maybe, perhaps, mayhaps, separated from the rest of the Kusa-nin who arrived.

… Maybe he’d be fine. He wasn’t armored to the teeth – still wore his red haori – but he did carry his sword pack with both of his katanas. He could take care of himself, even if… if… finding himself in completely strange territory like this wasn’t part of his plan.

…

…

…

"Okay, wait, no, you’re only supposed to use your feet,” the young swordsman explained to a couple younger kids while located in what appeared to be some sort of mini-stage or field at the corner of a square. In Kojirou’s hands was a bright, sand-colored but rubbery ball of just the right size for slamming your foot into it. The boy was showing these kids how to do so by lunging the ball up in the air, then taking a few steps back before running up to and planting his foot onto it just before it hit the ground-

It bounced in all directions…

Safe to say, the kids weren’t big fans of it for some reason – talked about fighting each other and some w-w-w-whatever word or something, and then they ran off. Leaving Kojirou with the rubber ball in his hands without anyone to play with.

WC: 496

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Arrival

Tsuchi no Kuni held a stark difference to many of the lands the various Chuunin participants had hailed from, but while the stony plains were strange and foreign to Azarea the tall mountain peaks reminded her strongly of her home in Kaminari no Kuni. The older genin carefully going through the line for the check in process, her Kage hovering over her and the other Kumo participants shoulders like a beloved worried motherhen before they were finally allowed to enter Kuwana in truth. The group checking into their hotel before they were released into the wilds under the orders to be on their best behavior.

Filtering out onto the streets Azarea kept her badge carefully pinned to the shoulder of her jacket. The older genin taking in the sights and sounds and the relative anonymity the crowd provided her. Until she stumbled across the odd scene of what appeared to be a shinobi with a rubber ball attempting to teach a bunch of excitable children how to play a new game. At least until the kids bolted off more interested in gawking at the variety of exciting foreign shinobi in the area.

"That's a pretty cool ball you've got there. Did you make it yourself?" Azarea calls out deciding to toss the nervous looking kid a bone as she offers him a twitch of a smile. Unable to really bring herself to do more still too numb from recent events.

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Justu Goes Here

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 240 | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Firstly, Kojirou was quite saddened to have been left alone like this – and by younger kids, more or less. Was it that hard to impress the youth nowadays?!

Secondly, his sadness was washed away when another Genin arrived and showed interest in his rubber ball – Kojirou’s eyes widened, noticing the badge on their jacket that was almost identical to his own. A participant, huh? To think that there was a chance for him and the taller gal to face off in the Exams made this encounter feel… heavier than usual. Yet, the topic at hand was about the ball, so maybe Kojirou was just overthinking things.

"… Oh, I did! Hey… you’re going to participate in the Exams, too?” he stated the obvious, his widening eyes glaring at the apparent badge on… name, name, name, what was their name? "… I’m Kojirou. Wanna play kickball?” It had another name, he knew that, but Kusagakure’s secret spare time activities were jealously preserved-

Or, well, not anymore since… since he was willing to play the game with someone from outside the village, but still! At least, he wouldn’t reveal the true name of the sport.

"I’m… I’m not trying to cheat and injure you before the Exams. Let’s just get that out of the way,” Kojirou cleared himself with a wide smile free of malice, "That’d be a coward’s act, not worthy of my clan’s name. Not like this ball can hurt anyone.”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Names

The name on the badge simply read [Azarea] next to a number #7 and nothing more. Though the young woman did wear a Kumogakure no Sato headband tied around her upper left bicep showing her village allegiance as she canted her head to one side in consideration. "Should I have been concerned about you attempting to injure me before the exams? I mean it's not like I'm one of the big name participants." She pointed out tapping her badge and offering the younger kid a rueful if somewhat sad grin.

"You should really hang onto those strategies until someone worth taking out comes along." Azarea adds with a laughbefore gesturing to the ball, "But sure. Tell me how you play Kickball? I'll warn you I'm pretty terrible at these sorts of things, but I've got time." The Kumo nin offers seeming inclined to indulge the excitable other shinobi in the spirit of good will and all that jazz. Honestly maybe it would even be nice to cut back a little and just do something for fun for once instead of working herself to the bone attempting to catch up to someone she'd never reach. It was likely high time she simply relaxed. Even if relaxing meant attempting to wail on a ball.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 212| Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Kojirou couldn’t help but panic a little, shown as a slight vibration on his face while trying to keep his smile up. He really didn’t want to come off as threatening to a stranger he’d just met – that’d just cause problems for him, for his village, for his family, for Chisai-neechan and for his life in general. This was such a big event that he couldn’t afford to screw things up over misunderstandings, okay?!

"I-I-I-I-I-I-wait… w-wait, no, no, no, no, no… I, uh, I came off at the wrong end.”

… Awkward silence followed, leading up to Kojirou scratching the back of his head. "Forgive me…”

Although, it ended up being quite a laugh for her, although at the expense of some self-esteem in his ears. "Wha- we haven’t even fought yet! You’re probably just hiding your inner strength… but I’ll allow it. As long as you show me if we ever face off,” he made clear to her with crossed arms and a gaze full of the pride of a lion. His rubber ball had dropped to the stony floor and bounced a few times before coming to a standstill, revealing its bouncy texture and status as something that was likely to fly very far and wide if hit moderately hard.

"Well, the rules are simple – you attempt to kick the ball towards one of the, uh, those gate-looking pole forms at the walls over there… but you can’t use your hands,” he explained before rolling the ball up to his foot and launching it straight up in the air, "Like this!” Waiting for it to reach the floor again, he kicked it straight towards-

*Boing!*

… It didn’t get through the goal.

"… M-My aim’s not the best, but you get a point each time you get it through that goal over there. The opponent tries to stop you and send the ball through another gate, and that’s how we just try to get more points than the other one.” Watching the rubber ball roll back to his heel after having flown around the square was comedic, but Kojirou hadn’t really shown any worries for the ball’s trajectory yet. It was as if he just expected it to reach his hell at one point.

With a gentle push with his foot, he rolled the ball over to… oh, Azarea. "Your turn, Azarea… Azarea… huh… that’s a sweet name. What does it mean?”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Flowers

Ok the speech about her hiding her inner strength from him did garner a laugh as Azarea lets out an amused snort shaking her head, "Ok yeah sure Kojirou-chan I'll do that for you." She promises because hey she intended to give her opponents a good fight regardless though she thought he kid was way over estimating her capabilities when there were doubtlessly more impressive opponents possibly lurking around ready to outshine the somewhat jaded twenty-one year old genin and former hospital resident. Still as he bounced the ball towards her Azarea caught it with her foot rolling it under the heel of her boot as she got used to the texture and elasticity.

"Ah it means Azalea. My mother was fond of flowers," She explains though she wasn't certain if there was meant to be a deeper meaning to it as her Mother had once espoused or if she'd just been named for the flowers planted on the windowsill. Either seemed likely or plausible as she gave the ball a good kick, the rubber bouncing off the side of the goalpost with a sharp *POING!* as it impacted. A small amused smirk warming the woman's lips.

"Ok it does make some kinda fun noises. Have you ever thought of making like hand toys with this stuff? You could throw and catch?" Azarea questioned glancing towards Kojirou, "So I told you what my name means. What about yours?" She adds after a moments thought.

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Justu Goes Here

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 244| Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

The way she caught the ball under her heel was impressive. Maybe it was instinct, but… this was going to be a real match. That was his hunch, as lacking as it was of more evidence – I mean, most would attempt to stop the ball with their foot like that, but maybe it was just a keen eye for sport detail. Kojirou had been playing this sport for a few months, and he already saw himself a freaking patron – it was definitely an easy sport to catch on to, so it was likely a testament of Azarea’s instincts.

Obviously, Kojirou hadn’t thought that far into it himself. He was just glad to see that she was interested in playing the game with him.

The meaning of her name threw him off. Azarea sounded like Azalea, and he should’ve made that connection a while ago, but alas, here they were. Still, it was heartwarming that her mother was that fond of flowers to name her own daughter after one, a pleasant piece of information that otherwise would come off as damn irrelevant to anything if not for Kojirou’s own, soft interior appreciating the small things in life. Might be that laidback, Kusa-simple lifestyle influencing all of its inhabitants.

Kojirou quickly ran after the bouncing ball after Azarea’s kick, trying to catch it with his foot before it jumped too far away from the field. Still, he heard her question… and pondered with a hand holding his chin. "… That does sound pretty fun. Like small orbs, or maybe dolls,” he replied in dreamful vigor. The idea intrigued him, and it would likely eat at his psyche all the way back to Kusagakure.

"My name? It means tiger- wait, no, sorry, wolf…”

… Wait, didn’t it mean lion?

"… Or lion. Either one of those three – my parents told me to find out which one for myself. Parents and their cryptic messages and all, amirite? It’s obviously lion.”

Definitely due to his clan’s pact with Lions did he choose that then name meant that, ‘lion’, while the true meaning of the name eluded him. Each kanji making up each syllable; ‘ko’, ‘ji’, and ‘rou’ (虎, 獅, and 狼) stood for a different beast mentioned; tiger, lion and wolf. A mystery that Kojirou would likely fumble with forevermore… unless if he started remembering his literature.

"Alright, you got what the game’s about now… how about this-" Kojirou spoke up again while walking towards the small pole gate that he used as a goal post, "Try and kick the ball through this gate now! I won’t let you, though!”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Lions, Tigers, and Wolves Oh My

"Yeah I think small bouncy balls or dolls might be nice. Something kids could squeeze and play with without hurting themselves or breaking the toy," Azarea agrees with a thoughtful nod watching the boy chase after the ball with interest. A chuckle spilling from her lips as he tries to explain his name and which animal it relates to. Without seeing the kanji Azarea herself couldn't be certain, but listening Kojirou try to figure it out brought a smile to her face.

"Well all three of those are powerful animals. You know my village has a wolf contract so we see them around sometimes up in the mountains on patrol." Azarea explains waiting for him to kick her the ball as the woman blocked it with her foot, the bouncy rubber poinging off her boot and rolling away leaving her crow hopping till she could get the ball under her shoe. Eventually succeeding in stopping it from rolling as she eyes Kojirou with a narrowed gaze. Taking a few steps back she jukes aiming to kick to his right with the ball before twisting and slamming her other foot into it in a little hop to send it left... well sorta. The ball going wide instead as it bounces off the wall ABOVE the goalpost instead of into it. A bit anti-climatic really, but yes she was trying.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Kojirou had jumped up in the air to catch the ball before he even realized that it was way out of bounds. It was just a reflex, c’mon, he couldn’t help it – one had to be ready for sudden maneuvers like this one at all times when playing this sport. His feet had launched him up in the air thanks to a method he had also used when sparring with Shigure-senpai; the unstability of chakra releasing from his foothold could, in a way, propel a shinobi in one direction. He bet that it was a classic skill among all, though.

The ball ended up bouncing over the field and into the rest of the plaza, which prompted Kojirou to charge out after it. "Your turn to defend the goalpost!” he quickly reminded Azarea before running out to get the ball back, wanting to let her know that guarding the gate and preventing the ball from entering at the behest of her opponent was just as big a part of the sport as kicking the ball into the goal was.

…

There he came, galloping with the ball dancing between his feet! Unrelenting charge, just like he had practiced back at home, with the intensity of a herd of rams. "SAVE THIS ONE!” he warned in wild heat, pulling his right leg and foot back and swiping them across the floor, sending the rubber ball off at a high speed towards the goal. The ball was spinning a little, suddenly moving out of range of the goalpost in a path to miss completely-!

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Goalpost

"Oh yeah sure let's trade~" Azarea begins to say as she moves forward to take Kojirou's position in front of the goal, but the boy has already taken off at high speed, "out." She finishes lamely before chuckling and giving a shake of her head as she settles into a defensive stance not entirely certain what to do. As she recalls Koji hadn't actually told her if she was allowed to defend with only her feet or not though she'd seen him use his hands. So many it was ok.

Her thoughts quickly becoming derailed as the boy came charging back onto the scene like a stampeding herd of cattle. Kicking the ball in front of him with fire in his eyes and a determination in his step that had the Kumo nin tensing and remembering how poor of an idea it usually was for someone like her who was long range to get into a dust up with someone more physically capable. Her expression briefly revealing her nerves as she tenses and decides to do the best she can without injuring herself lunging to knock the ball out of the air knowing her hand would come away red from the impact when... The ball kept going. Bouncing off the wall with a loud twang as the two of them watched it impact and roll away.

"You know..." Azarea drawled out her tone thoughtful, "I'm starting to think neither of us is very good at this game." She muses.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

A poor display of skill, Kojirou. Do better.

"I’m still practicing, okay… I-I never said that it was the easiest sport in the world,” Kojirou protested in his own stead, watching the ball bounce back towards his left side where he side-stepped rapidly towards in order to catch up to it, "Just give me a little more time to warm up, I’ll show you something really cool… just need to warm up, that’s all…”

With the ball back between his feet and a flame escaping his irises, Kojirou was more than determined to show just how much skill he really had in the sport. It would leave Azarea’s mouth gaping, her jaw on the floor and her eyes poked out of her skull, really!

"Try and save this then – now I’m really serious!” he proclaimed before doing something new – with the bottom of his foot, he rolled the ball back towards himself and quickly planted his foot on the ground. The momentum he gave the ball let it roll up his toes and upper foot, where he balanced it for a little bit before lifting it up in the air and kicking it a few times, sort of like juggling with his foot.

Then, a heavier kick was given to it, and the ball flew up in the air. Kojirou turned his back towards Azarea and the goal, and then he did the unthinkable – a backflip! Up in the air, then pull his weight backwards to flip and slam his foot on the ball right when it was over him. Luck was on his side, and the ball went flying straight towards Azarea – although, Kojirou needed to recover his balance real quick, for he hadn’t done a backflip in a while. Shinobi work didn’t exactly list it as a core requirement.

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Block

"That is pretty impressive," Azarea called out as the boy juggled the ball on his foot as the Kumo nin moved to applaud him. Only to realize that not keeping her hands free was a terrible mistake. As he suddenly slammed his boot into the orb sending it flying towards her at rapid speed. Leaving Azarea scrambling with a muttered "Shit!"

The woman lunging up as she had seen Kojirou do to attempt to block the ball only she had mistimed her jump succeeding in blocking it... but failing to block it with her hands. As with a loud *THWAP!* it impacted the woman's forehead as Azarea stumbled back holding her head as she groaned. The ball bouncing away and back out of bounds as she glanced up through her red bangs trying to hide her redder forehead to see how Koji had faired.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

The ball flew straight towards Azarea, and she appeared taken aback by its sudden charge. Hopefully, she was ready – although, it was lucky of the swordsman to have been able to hit the ball with his foot like that. He hadn’t practiced nearly as much as he should on the sport, just letting things happen on their own… very much akin to how he sparred against Shigure. It appeared, once more, that Kojirou’s body spoke for his mind in cases like these, moving forward and advancing without further preparations for the scenarios unfolding in front of him.

… But he rarely managed to expect the results of those leaps in time. Azarea was bonked right on the forehead by the rubber ball, and the swordsman quickly ran over to her with sweat pearls of worry escaping his face. "H-Hey, Azarea, you alright?!” Upon reaching Azarea again, Kojirou kneeled down to take a closer look at her forehead – that rubber ball really hit her squarely, a red mark still apparent.

Thankfully, it was a rather harmless Rubber Balloon. It was usually a Jutsu meant to store gases or a scroll, so that the user could let it float away to safety and pop the contents out into the air on command. It wasn’t meant to harm, unless if there were harmful gases within. Unfortunately, Kojirou had yet to learn some reliable, ash-based Jutsus.

"… S-Sorry about that, I got carried away…” Kojirou apologized genuinely, even going as far as bowing to Azarea with his forehead planted on the granite floor, "I’ll make sure to practice more, so that won’t happen again… b-but hey, did you see that?! I didn’t think I’d hit the ball, actually…!”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Food

"You got me good there~!" Azarea snickered out her chuckles spilling into laughter as she rubbed her forehead and straightened offering Kojirou a smile. One that quickly morphed into a frown to see how worried the boy was. "Hey hey! It's fine! It's just a bit of redness. It'll fade. Really I'm all right." She assures the boy reaching out to pull him upright by the arm clearly uncomfortable with him kowtowing to her like that.

"You know I've worked up quite the appetite. How about you? Why don't we go grab some food? I think I saw a market with a lot of street food vendors one road over. We could get some kebabs and something cold to drink and cool off after all this play. How's that?" She offered hoping to appease the boy a little and prevent either of themselves from further embarrassment as she offers Kojirou a lopsided smile.

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流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Yaaaaaaaaay! Azarea seemed just fine, in the end – no lingering pain, just as supposedly expected. Rubber Balloons barely hurt anyone, what, with their bouncy exterior and tendency to bend much more of themselves than whatever they hit. Kojirou let himself up on his feet again with Azarea’s help, his eyes sparkling with joy.

The Rubber Balloon located further away from them had rolled a bit into the plaza at this point. Kojirou was temporarily putting all of his attention on the notion of getting something to eat, which was immensely needed – a good Honō knew when to stuff their belly, so that wrathful enemies wouldn’t be able to kick it all out of their maws again… or something like that. Apparently, having eaten just before a fight was ill-advised due to the chance of puking. But their ‘fight’ was over, and Kojirou nodded eagerly. "Maybe they have some shish too, I could eat a whole field of shishes right now…” he dreamed out loud, up on his tippy toes and ready to follow Azarea whenever she was on her way. Kojirou, remembering how he ended up here in the first place, dared not take the initiative – he got lost, and he’d get both of them lost if so.

Still, he did quickly perform Dragon handseal out of nowhere, causing the Rubber Balloon that they used as a football to pop. Its rubbery fabric began dissolving into nothing after a while.