[Gurē Rikuto]

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One of the caveats of Rikuto's natural appearance is that it could be a useful tool for his work as a shinobi if he could embrace it. Being able to have flesh that can blend in the shadows with ease would prove invaluable for his shinobi career so if he could get over his hurdle of hating his mutation he could make good use of it. Yet the teasing and ostracizing he got from the kids of his orphanage days left mental scars on him and made it almost impossible for him to find a training partner to help him while he was in this form. So he tended to rely on his altered form for training, but using so much chakra just to change his outer appearance was such a drain on his chakra and it was getting more and more annoying to keep up the façade.[break][break]

So he decided to train in solitude. Using the cover of night while also the shadows of trees as cover along with the cloudy sky to obscure most of the moonlight he would lurk in a training yard trying to improve his stealth. This was done mostly by walking around the area seeing if he could keep himself in the shadows, but it was proving difficult. Sure he was sneaking around just fine, but he had no idea if he was indeed being stealthy plus he found himself looking back and forth occasionally. He felt a slight tinge of panic in himself as he tried his best to keep an eye on his surroundings after all if someone showed up he would be exposing his vanta skin to the world and he wasn't ready for that yet.

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[Honō Saya]

Saya shouldn’t have been awake.

The moon hung low in the midnight sky, bathing the training ground with its pale glow, her honey-yellow gaze sharp and focused on the dummy before her. A shinai sat comfortably in her hands, the length of wood snapping left, right, up, down in a series of simple but rigorous kata as she attacked the mannequin, hammering away at it with quiet determination. With only a week before the village sent out its candidates for the Chuunin Exams, the Hono girl wanted to prepare as much as she could- and while she had practiced her sword forms all day, something about what she had been doing hadn’t sat right with her. Which was why she was here, well past when she ought to be in bed.

Because she had to be better.

Apple Blossoms in the Wind flowed out from her neutral stance, an aggressive form consisting of three quick strikes, left-right-left, meant more to batter an opponent’s weapon aside than actually strike them; she followed it up with Threading the Needle, aiming for the dummy’s right shoulder, only to twist her wrist at the last second and shift her thrust into Reaping the Barley, arcing the shinai across the dummy’s ribcage. The shift felt slow though, and before she even finished the follow-through the redhead was cursing herself for the mistake, grimacing at the shock of wood on wood, her body covered in sweat despite the chill in the air.

Too slow. Kojirou would have been able to do it. Her cousin was good with blades- better than her, though not as creative or willing to take risks. They had both learned from the same man, fought with the same style, but his way of fighting was straightforward, blunt, and focused on power. She had always been about speed and precision, about taking her chances and maximizing what damage she could do in a given moment… but that wouldn’t be enough. Not if what Koji had said about the Chuunin Exams was true. She needed to be better than good- she needed to be spectacular.

And right now, she simply wasn’t.

Letting loose a long, slow breath, Saya lowered her practice blade, wiping the collected sweat from her brow as she looked up at the moon, her limbs aching. "Shouldn’t be up right now.” She murmured, her voice carrying across the training yard as she closed her eyes, taking slow, steady breaths to regain a bit of her stamina before lifting her arms once more, returning to a neutral stance.

She shouldn’t have been up. But she was, and if she couldn’t sleep, at least she could train.

Gurē Rikuto

[Gurē Rikuto]

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Despite his wariness and his alertness the night sky and quiet nature of the darkness would ease him constantly. It was so peaceful this time of night and Rikuto would unforcedly let his guard down during his training not even noticing the new person joining him in the yard. Only being made alert to their presence when they commented on not being up right now. Quickly and rather hastily Rikuto would hide but not before gasping and making a bit of noise. Hiding in a nearby bush he would stay hidden in the night hoping to keep his appearance a secret for as long as he could.[break][break]

His mind racing in a panic he forgot he could use his jutsu to cover his pigmentation and instead simply waited to see what this new arrival was going to do. He had no escape outside of his mitigation, but that took a bit of time for him to set up at times so what was he to do? He could try and use some of his other jutsu to try and escape, but honestly attacking another shinobi might not be in the best taste so he sat there in his bush and waited, watching the girl to see what she would do.

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[Honō Saya]

Saya heard the noise and, before she knew what to think, was moving, Hitsuiken twisting in her arm as she spun towards the course, honey-yellow gaze narrowed and focused. She was tired, but there had been no mistaking the noise she had just heard; that had been a person’s voice, attempting to be quiet and failing as they hid in the dark. Had her mutterings scared them? Or was something else going on here? One way to find out, I suppose…

Reaching into her back pouch with a grimace, the Hono girl pulled out a kunai, twirling it in her left hand as she scanned the foliage and trees, looking for any signs of life. She couldn’t see anything concrete, but there was something about one of the bushes… the way it swayed every so slightly, despite there being no wind. Almost as if someone were hiding in it.

"Huh. Maybe I was imagining things." Saya said after a few moments, sheathing her sword as she spoke, shifting the kunai to her right hand… only to throw it, hard, at the center of the bush, aiming to flush whoever had been watching her train out, one way or another.

Gurē Rikuto

[Gurē Rikuto]

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Silent he would sit in his hiding place hoping no praying this person who appeared would leave and he could escape without being seen yet they kept closer to him. Or did she? Rikuto wasn't sure it might have been the night ambiance that made him feel like she got closer to his hiding place when in actuality they hadn't moved from their position, but he was certain they were looking his way. Doing his best to keep his rather brighter appearance hidden as much as possible he prayed that his dark complexion would let him stay hidden.[break][break]

Silence would linger in the area as the two practically stared at each other in the darkness, but it seemed like the girl was giving up on believing she heard him. This made Rikuto feel relief and figured he would stick around in the bush for a bit longer till she left before leaving himself. At least that was the plan he hadn't accounted for what she did next. She threw her kunai and in his panicked state, Rikuto jumped to the side of his bush to avoid the kunai. This would cause him to fall face-first into the dirt by the bush fully revealing his appearance, but hoping to keep himself somewhat hidden he would keep his face in the dirt. This was because he knew he had long white hair so it would cover the nape of his neck and if he kept his face to the dirt one wouldn't see his vanta complexion and believe he was simply wearing all black.

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[Honō Saya]

Saya saw her kunai fly true, the projectile screaming for whoever was hidden in the bush with deadly accuracy; a black blur leapt from the darkness a moment before the weapon struck, the vaguely man-shaped being tumbling into the ground face-first in a way that spoke more of embarrassed panic than cornered pervert. Black seemed to be the main theme for her interloper’s clothes as well- had he not rushed out of the bushes in fear, she might not have spotted him at all, so deep was the black that coated his entire frame. Except his head… which was still stuck in the ground.

"Listen… whoever you are." The Hono girl said, lips pursing in a tight frown, a thought niggling at the back of her mind as she spoke. "I’m not really in the mood to play games, so if you’d just… go, that’d be great." There was a pause then, a moment where she would give the stranger a chance to reply, or at the very least move, her thoughts crunching as she wondered just what was going on. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was something familiar about him, something about his choice of clothing that tickled a memory, though she couldn’t quite-

"...Rikuto?" She said, more to herself than anything else, the memories clicking together in her head as she looked down at her fellow Kusa-nin, unsure. She and Rikuto hadn’t spent any real time together, but she remembered his unique fashion sense: all black, from head to toe, and always with every inch of his skin covered but the face, even in the heat of summer. It was distinctive look, one she hadn’t forgotten, even all these years later- though why he was here, watching her practice in the middle of the night, was beyond her.

"What’re you doing here?"

Gurē Rikuto