[Yuki Kazu]

Kazu sat at a table, at a restaurant that had been predetermined. Lady Yuki had recommended meeting her assistant, saying that it'd be good for both Genin to meet each other. Kazu wasn't sure how he could help her assistant, but he came to the meeting anyways. A waitress came by, asking if he was ready to eat. "Still waiting on someone, but I'll go ahead and get some tea. Thank you." He answered. He didn't want to get his food before Kouki arrived. She went to get his tea, before bringing it rather quickly. He took a sip before nodding in her direction, a simple way of telling her that he would be fine for now.

The final round of the exams had begun the day prior. Kazu had fought Taru and Wahei, but he was expecting a much more difficult fight for his final one. It wasn't that Taru or Wahei were weak in comparison to the one he wanted to fight, but he had a lot more ways to counter those two. Shigure he wasn't sure had a weakness. He did have a couple strategies prepared, but he wasn't sure it'd be enough. The waitress returned once more, asking if he wanted to order yet. Kazu waited for a moment, hoping that Kouki would arrive shortly.

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝  This was going to be boring Kouki thought to himself. He was not entirely sure what the point was in meeting this Yuki clan genin. He was not sure what to even talk about. Kouki was on edge as the chunin exams had been going underway and he had registered to join. Truth be told, Kouki was still nervous about going back into the fray that was the chunin exams. His last and first time involved him almost dying and possibly flattening the whole of Yuki no Kuni. His control of his bijuu was steadily getting better but there has been no huge headway in that development at the moment. Kouki did not want to set foor into another exam until he knew another fiasco would happen.



Kouki made his way to the restaurant that was referred as the meeting spot by Lady Fifth. As he entered, he could see that the restaurant was doing well with business as the place was bustling with people. Kouki was tall, but even he was having a hard time surveying the crowd until he spotted the ice blue hair sitting in roughly the middle of the room. Kouki took a deep breath and sighed as he gently nudged his way past other patrons. Kouki stood next to the table before sitting as he didn’t feel like risking the chance of awkwardly sitting next to the wrong person. "Hey uuuhhh…..Kazu is it?” Kouki scratched the back of his head looking not very interested.

Yuki Kazu ⚬ Notes?

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AI ❤

[Yuki Kazu]

As Kazu sat at the table, surrounded by other customers, he saw the individual that matched Lady Yuki's description. Kazu wasn't really expecting someone so young to be an assistant to the village leader, so he was a little surprised. "Yeah, I'm Kazu. Nice to meet you, Kouki." He would say as Kouki approached the table. The waitress noticed immediately, coming to take their order. "I'll just take some water please; I already ate earlier." Kazu would tell them as they started taking the orders. He'd wait for Kouki to give the girl his order before making conversation.

"So, you're Lady Yuki's assistant? You don't look like you're much older than me, so I guess you're really committed to what you're doing or something." Kazu started the conversation, Kouki looked just as bored as Kazu was honestly. He wasn't sure what made Lady Yuki think that they should meet, but he couldn't refuse the request either. The other customers seemed to be sneaking glances at Kazu, and maybe Kouki as well? It made sense for Kazu, he was one of the exam participants and had won both his fights so far. If they were looking at Kouki as well though, how did they know him?

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝  Oh good. Glad I got it right the first time. Didn’t wanna walk around aimlessly.” Kouki landed into his seat with an audible thud. Decorum was not something he was thinking about at the moment. He was hungry and feeling impatient due to the growls in his stomach. As Kouki settled into his seat he leaned over to allow his chin to rest in his left arm allowing his forearm to act as a pillar to keep his head up. The waitress came by and asked for their orders. Kouki’s eyebrow raised when Kazu only ordered a water. Kouki made a small grin. "TWO waters for me please,” Kouki’s eyes darted over to Kazu as he said ‘two’ and then looked back to the waitress. "and a pork ramen bowl.” As the waitress went to the kitchen to drop off the order, Kouki leaned into the table more and peered at Kazu. "Why would you eat before a meetup at a restaurant? Weird.” Kouki stifled a laugh towards comment about being committed. "Thanks but…define ‘committed’, cause it’s basically just running around doing errands and helping with paperwork. At least you’re probably on a team doing missions regularly, right? Sometimes I can’t even squeeze in a D-rank here or there.” Kouki had also noticed a few patrons making glances at the two. Kouki proceeded to stare intensely at any eyes that made it to their table. "Damn what’s their problem?”

Yuki Kazu  ⚬ Notes?

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AI ❤

[Yuki Kazu]

Kazu laughed as Kouki voiced that he didn't wanna walk around the restaurant looking for him, "Yea, that'd be a bit of a waste of time." He agreed. Kouki didn't take long to get comfortable, leaning his chin on his arm. Kouki seemed to want to one up Kazu as he ordered his food, asking for two waters instead of just one. He also ordered a ramen bowl, Kazu's most common choice for food. "Why wouldn't I eat first? Gotta keep up my strength for chuunin exam stuff. Plus, I usually eat with Masahiko-sensei while we discuss how previous rounds went and whatnot. So, I ate with him earlier."

As they got into the topic of their different roles in the village, Kazu was a little confused. "Okay that's fair but if you're not committed then how would you have gotten to be the assistant? And while yea I get to do missions a lot, they're mostly boring. Plus, I get no time to relax. The most I had to fight was some bandits that didn't have chakra in their vocabulary." Kouki noticed the stares from people too, good thing Kazu wasn't just crazy. "They probably just aren't used to seeing shinobi from other villages, I'm sure it's fine." 

[Yoshioka Kouki]

_❝  Kouki’s eye twitched at Kazu’s mention of senseis and competing in the chuunin exams. Even now, the exams were a sore subject for the yellow-haired boy. It was annoying for Kouki to see Kazu in the midst of doing what he had done previously and obviously excelling further. Jealousy pulsed through Kouki as he gripped his hand into a fist to channel his anger. He did not want Kazu to be able to see that his comments made Kouki visibly annoyed. However, Kouki can be a bit of an open book if one was to study Kouki’s face for long enough. "Must be nice having a sensei” Kouki coarsely stated. Kouki cleared his throat. "I mean, having that second opinion and coaching must benefit you right now?” Kouki over compensated the inflection of the question in an attempt to bury the hostility of his previous statement. Kouki was starting to feel that more eyes were starting to fall on him at the restaurant even though the crowd of hungry patrons seemed to subside their staring. Kouki’s other eye twitched at Kazu’s statement about being ‘not committed’. Was Kazu trying to get under Kouki’s skin? "Well, I guess I’m special or something for Lady Fifth to personally request that I’d be her assistant. I don’t get much rest either y’know. Kind of at her beck and call all the time.” Kouki raised an eyebrow at Kazu expressing fighting low tier bandits. "Well, if you ever need a challenge, you can always spar with me. It’s how I try to pass the time.” Kouki began to tap his fingers in a wave on the table as he became more impatient waiting on the food.

Yuki Kazu  ⚬ Notes?

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[Yuki Kazu]

It was pretty obvious that Kazu's statements had frustrated Kouki in some way, which made the boy feel bad. Why had Lady Yuki even set up this meeting in the first place? It wasn't like either of them could really learn much from each other. 

As the conversation went back to his sensei, Kazu thought for a bit, letting Kouki finish his statements in the process. "Having a sensei is nice, but he doesn't know how to coach me too well in some cases. He mainly uses genjutsu and medical ninjutsu, both of which I'm horrible at. Plus I use my clan's techniques a lot more than anything else. I didn't expect that you get a lot of rest either, there's always some kind of work to be done, regardless of your position."

Kazu smiled at the thought of a spar with Kouki, "If I survive these exams, sure. It's highly dependent on that though." He hadn't really voiced a concern for dying in the exams yet, but this was the third round. If there was any time that would have death looming over the participants, it was now. The boy lacked the nervousness that most people would have though. He was worried, but confident. Plus, the idea of sparring Kouki got him excited. Something to look forward to once this whole ordeal was over.