Two in the A.M had never been an ideal time for a walk, but a certain dark-haired ninja had a lot on his mind that was keeping him awake. The streets of Konohagakure were dimly lit by road-side lamp posts, illuminating his walk through the mostly empty roads. Every so often he'd see a couple walk by or a drunk stumble his way from one bar to the next, but whatever verbal exchange between them was kept either short or nonexistent. There was no destination that he headed for, he was simply wandering around. Eventually his aimless walking had lead him to the Konohagakure Graveyard, a place he had never actually visited before. He had no reason to, after all.

He didn't know anybody that had been buried there, it was just another location. Takao had no reason for walking through the graveyard, and yet there he was. He passed by dozens of tombstones, giving one of them a quick glance every so often as he passed. "This place is a lot more depressing than I thought." he said, quickly dismissing his thoughts with a sigh as he stretched his arms and continued onwards. A yawn escaped his lips as he walked. It wasn't his intention to be out all night, but it seemed the short walk had already began to tire him out. "Maybe I'll head back early 'er somethin'.." he said, using a tone that was clearly only intended for himself. He kept on walking forwards though, eventually breaking out into a fit of rather monotone chuckles.

"Talkin' to myself now? That's new." It wasn't a habit often practiced by Takao, but it had been becoming more frequent with each day that passed. He wasn't crazy though, it was only ever short comments that he said. Takao wasn't maintaining entire conversations with himself, that would make him look like a crazy person. Besides, who was out at this time? Especially in a grave yard?

The Graveyard was never a place Ryūji wanted to be, but rather a place where he felt he needed to go. He stood quietly in front of a grave not moving an inch - a monthly routine. In the darkness it was hard to make out the letters, but if he'd come any earlier he'd risk bumping into his family, an event he was trying to avoid as much as possible. Earlier that night he'd crept out of his house in nothing but loose-fitting dark grey t-shirt and trousers, trying to be nondescript as possible.

Ryūji knelt down to get a closer look at the grave, tracing the outlines of the inscriptions with his fingertips. The Shinobi let out a sudden shudder, his body not yet accustomed to the cold night. He risked a quick look around the graveyard, several sounds disrupting the silence which had settled around him.

The thought of encountering somebody he didn't know was quite scary to Ryūji, but at the same time he wanted to socialize with somebody who wasn't an Uchiha for once. "Although somebody walking around a graveyard at this time could be seen as mysterious." he thought to himself. He could also hear a voice in the distance, which sounded like it was coming from a male around his own age.

"Hello? Anybody there?" asked Ryūji, his voice barely loud enough to be heard.

He passed so many names as he walked down the path of the graveyard, each of them having a name and a story that meant nothing to Takao. It was pretty harsh to think about it like that, but it was true. They were people he'd never meet, and people he'd probably never learn about. Some people might think that walking around a graveyard was creepy, but if it wasn't for the fact that the graveyard felt so peaceful Takao would have left a long time ago. Putting aside the fact that he was walking amongst the buried dead, the graveyard was actually a very nice place to walk. Maybe not so much in the dead(hah) of night, but the landscaping was... pleasant.

Something had caught Takao's attention, diverting it away for his bland conversation with himself. A voice, which was pretty creepy to hear in a graveyard at night. He wasn't expecting anybody to be mourning anybody at this hour, nor could he think of anybody who would want to take a walk through a graveyard.
"Hello? Anybody there?" the voice said, using a tone just barely loud enough to Takao to hear. He stopped and removed his hands from the pockets of his black trousers, then gave the area around him a quick survey. Did he just hear a ghost?

"Uh... Yeah, I am." he said, not quite sure how to respond to a supposed ghost or.. person, maybe? The voice sounded friendly enough, but Takao had never been skilled with deciphering the emotions or intentions of somebody using their voice.

"Uhh... Yeah, I am."

The voice made Ryūji freeze. He instantly regretted his decision to call out. The other person could have been anything, a missing-nin or maybe even a dark spirit which had taken to haunting the graveyard. "That's impossible, ghost DO NOT EXIST!" he thought, trying to reassure himself.

In one quick fluid movement Ryūji managed to pull himself back up from his knees, trying to appear in a more dignified position. A slight feeling of fear gripped his heart, his breath escaping in short shallow bursts. He had fought other shinobi before, but never experienced killers. At that moment Ryūji had never felt more helpless in his life, he was not even wearing a single piece of protective clothing.

"W-Who.. Ryūji stammered, not quite sure what to ask."You're not going to attack me are you?" He couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh, his nerves being revealed by the awkwardness of his question. Although he had made an idiot of himself Ryūji had finally started to settle his nerves and think more rationally. "If there really was an attack on the village the older shinobi would have noticed it and the whole village would know by now." The thought made him feel a little more sober.

Axel woke up and immediately got ready for the rest of his day. It might have been early for everyone else, but for him, it was normal. He strapped his sword on his back and walked outside. It didn't take him long before he was up and about. The stores we're all closed. Well, all but some of the bars. As he continued on, he could hear a slight of talking nearby.

"Wonder where that noise is coming from..." He thought to himself. Switching between looking in the direction of his destination and the noise, he decided to take a small detour to the cause of the noise. Axel made his way closer to the source of the talking and it eventually lead him to the graveyard. Tilting his head, he saw a person in some loose clothes. He simply walked up behind the person and tapped their shoulder. "Uh... Excuse me?"

Takao had continued to walk in the direction that he had previously been after speaking, the sound of his boots hitting the pavement echoed around the otherwise quiet graveyard. As Takao advanced closer to the voice he'd just heard, he stopped under the light of the moon. “Attack you? Why would I do that?" he inquired after having come close enough to Ryūji to see him. Only seconds later he saw another person emerge from behind Ryūji, but Takao stayed quiet and observed. It was really strange to see so many people out and about at this time...

For a graveyard, the place was actually quite lively. Especially at this time of night? Maybe graveyards were always active at this time of day and Takao just didn't know as he'd never actually been inspired to visit one in the middle of the night. Upon hearing what the new approaching person had to say, which wasn't much at all considering, Takao leaned against a dimly lit lamp post. “Awful lot of people out here in a graveyard at night..." he muttered to himself. Honestly? Takao didn't really care why they were out here, he looked just as suspicious as they did.

A figure appeared from the darkness of the night, and almost instantly he was relieved. The other voice had been a young male around the same age as Ryūji, and although at first look he might have passed as an Uchiha, a second look revealed the truth. The stranger appeared friendly enough, and seemed to not want to cause any harm.

"Attack you? Why would I do that?"

"Well now I feel like an idiot," he thought while also silently cursing. "What did I need to worry abou-" It was at that moment that he felt a tap on his back.

"Uh... excuse me?"

Ryūji jumped out of his skin, the sudden surprise had thrown him off balance. It took him a minute to straighten himself up, but that time he'd managed to distance himself away from the new arrival. This one seemed to be a tad more colourful, with light red hair and a more youthful look than Ryūji.

"Sorry about that... I didn't think you'd harm me, I just got a bit nervous is all." Ryūji put on a big smile to try and ease the tension. Then he turned to the newest arrival "Is there something you want?" he asked while trying to be as nice as possible.

Axel laughed slightly when this other person jumped. "Well... I heard a voice this way and then saw you... You looked kind of... well... scared." He tilted his head look past Ryūji and directly at the other. "And you must have been the other voice." Bringing his hands up behind his head, he smiled at the two and took a step back. "I actually didn't think anyone but me was up this early. Guess I was wrong... Say, what are you two doing here anyway?" Axel's voice sounded curious as he asked them the question. It was quite odd for some to be up without a reason.

The scene that Takao had been anticipating to see was rather amusing as he watched it unfold in front of him. It was pretty easy to tell that the Uchiha was jumpy, but the environment they were in at the time was enough to put any sane being on edge. However, upon seeing the Uchiha jump out of his skin in shock, Takao couldn't stop himself from laughing. Maybe it was just his lack of sleep, but jump scares were just too good to not laugh at.

"No worries, it makes sense to be a bit jumpy. After all, we are in a graveyard in the middle of the night. Not exactly prime visiting hours." he said. Was the graveyard even open for visitation at this hour? Most likely not, but Takao had never seen any kind of groundskeeper around before so he wasn't all that worried. But, then again, Takao didn't visit the graveyard very often... Oh well.
He looked towards the newest member of the graveyard meetup and shrugged in response to his question. "I was just out for a quiet walk after I couldn't fall asleep. What about you two?"

It was true Ryūji was being jumpy, a lot more than he usually was. The Uchiha found this place to be quite disturbing, and he had a few bad memories there. The whole atmosphere which surrounded the graveyard also didn't help put him at ease. When Axel accused him of being scared he couldn't help feeling a little insulted. He folded his arms and put on a stern expression before answering him.

"I wasn't scared... just mildly anxious. This place doesn't feel natural." he tried to explain, his voice getting quieter the more he spoke. It was dawning on Ryūji that he didn't know these people, and his initial shyness was beginning to appear.

When Axel asked the question the air seemed to get colder, and the young Uchiha shuddered. With the sudden arrival of new people his attention had been diverted, but now he once again turned to the gravestone. After hearing Takao he realised it was his turn to answer, and although he didn't see the point in lying, Ryūji also didn't want to tell them everything.

"I came to visit a family member." he said in a melancholy fashion. Although his grandfather's death wasn't particularly gruesome, it still had an affected Ryūji.

Axel tilted his head once again. "I always get up around this time... I don't sleep well at night so I figured that I would start getting up really early and going to bed early as well. And as of right now, I was going out to go train with my sword." After he mentioned his sword, he turned his body slightly to show it off. It wasn't in the best of shape, considering it was just for training, but Axel was proud of it nonetheless. His logic of when he wakes up made sense to him, but might have sounded quite odd when other people would have heard it.

Axel paused and turned back when Ryūji mentioned a family member that he was visiting. "Oh..." His eyes drifted to the gravestone. "Might be kind of rude of me to ask this... but who was it?" He quieted his voice as he talked, considering he was being a bit intrusive now. To ease anything that might come up, he took a step back and gave a neutral expression.

(OOC: Are we sticking to a posting order of:

- Takao
- Ryūji
- Axel

Or should I reply for now since my character was asked a question?)

(OOC: I think we shouldn't post in that order. It would be a lot easier if we just post when we can. But obviously not one after the other.)

(We should probably stick to an order as it keeps things from getting unorganized.)

Takao's attention was directed towards Axel as he provided his "excuse" for being out so late. Takao didn't particularly care about why they were there in a graveyard at night, but it did interest him. The scene in front of him was definitely strange and not something he would see often. "You're up this early to practice swordplay?" he questioned, though his question was more of just confirmation to ensure that he had heard correctly. "Well, that's not strange... Do you normally train in a graveyard?" he said, then his head turned towards Ryūji. "Not that it's my place to ask, but why are you visiting at night? It's a pretty awkward time for that."

He shrugged it off and looked back to Ryūji who had mentioned that he was visiting a family member, but so late at night? Well, he had his reasons, and Takao wouldn't pry. Axel on the other hand didn't seem to have a problem in asking, but Takao was a bit more reserved and wasn't going to force questions on people, especially about a deceased family member. "That's a bit personal to ask, don't you think?" he said, his question directed towards Axel.

OOC: I'm gonna throw myself the now. Hope this is alright :) If not then say so, I'll delete and then re-post when it's my turn. Or so to speak.

Despite it being 2am, the moon was still out. Shining amazingly as it usually has done. The wind was gentle and the ground was soft underneath Kenta's feet. It was Aoi's birthday...and the day she had died...The feather attached to his hair which Aoi had given him when they were children. Aoi's favourite rainbow feather. It had no magical capabilities mind you but the sentimental value was priceless. Kenta valued this feather more than his life. No wonder.

Kneeling down, now eye-level to the headstone, a small smile grew across his face. All those memories of Aoi beating Kenta up whenever he did something wrong, memories of Aoi stealing his sweeties when she got bored and the pranks they pulled and she got away with it. Fun times indeed. Pulling out a small lily, Kenta gave the flower a good sniff before gently resting it down next to a small shrine that he had put together the day before. The flowers petals slowly bristled against the cold, hard headstone. Running his right hand across the name on it he got up slowly and smiled again, the feeling of water began to well up in his eyes all of a sudden. Shocked by the sudden show of emotion, he wiped his face and shook it off, his eyes now slightly puffy.

"That's a bit personal to ask, don't you think?" That voice...why did that sound familiar? That's rather strange? He was now interested in this. Bowing slowly to the headstone he walked away to the ruckus ahead of him. Getting to the scene, Kenta looked upon three males. Roughly his rank maybe? Who knows but he kept his guard up just incase. After all, he was in a cemetery and it was late...Hiding behind on of the further away headstones,, Kenta ducked away out of sight but not too far so that he wasn't in earshot...just enough to go undetected

(Sorry about the late reply, I've been a little busy.)

"Might be kind of rude of me to ask this... but who was it?"

The question made Ryūji feel quite uneasy. He was normally a quite private person, not many people knew anything to do with the private details of his life. Axel was right, it was quite the rude question. The Uchiha had turned his head to peer briefly at Axel, but he now found it hard to keep eye contact. His gaze wavered and he once again focused on the grave-stone next to him. Thoughts of his Grandfather came to him, a powerful and Honorable man just like his father, but his heart had been much more kind and forgiving. Tears began forming at the edge of Ryūji's eyes. "Get yourself together!" he thought "You're normally nowhere near this bad." The other Genin had caught him at an emotionally vulnerable moment, but luckily he was able to pull himself together and not let it show.

When Takao responded to Axel before he could, Ryūji felt somewhat relieved. It was nice to know that not everyone at the Graveyard was blunt. Suddenly he felt that talking about it wouldn't be so bad, he would only have to say how they were related, not all the details would have to be discussed. "I don't mind, although thanks a bunch for showing consideration." he had turned to Takao now, his thanks also showing as a small smile on his face. "He was my Grandfather, Makoto Uchiha." Ryūji's voice had now become calm and collected, betraying none of his inner sadness, and although he felt rejection from the other members of the Uchiha clan, others knowing he was an Uchiha didn't bother him.

"Yeah... Like I said before, I always get up this early to go train." Axel gave Takao a funny look and started to give a sarcastic tone to his voice. "And yes... I obviously like to train inside a graveyard..." He shook his head slightly and grinned. "I was actually on my way to a small spot that's good for my training, but I guess I got distracted when I heard some voices in here..." It never really occurred to him that his personal morning schedule could be considered somewhat odd and unbelievable.

Axel's eyes glanced at the grave once more before he got back to Ryūji's quick statement. "Sorry if my curiosity is a bit... intrusive..." He sighed and took a single step back. It was somewhat obvious that he wanted to leave and go train, but something was keeping him with these others. "Ah... forgot... My name is Axel Nekonote. Might as well introduce myself before anything else comes up." He proudly nodded once after speaking his name.

The reason Axel gave for being out and about at such an awkward time for training was less than believable, that was for sure. Takao couldn't form much of an opinion on it, however, as he had no reason to either believe or not believe it. Even if it did sound a bit suspicious, he had met people with much weirder habits in the past. The sarcasm that Takao picked up in Axel's voice as he responded was both amusing and a tad annoying, but Takao replied with a light fit of chuckling laughter regardless. "Sue a guy for askin', yeh?" he jokingly said, doing his best to keep a tone that sounded much less than serious.

His attention returned to Ryūji as he mentioned his grandfather. An Uchiha, huh? I've heard plenty about them... This will be pretty interesting.. he thought to himself while pushing himself off the lamp post. Upon hearing the beginning of introductions, Takao took a few steps to approach the other two.
"I'm Takao Kimura, a genin. Cool to meet you, Axel and..?" he said in response. Takao gave the graveyard an almost routine look around, his paranoia getting the better of him. He was in a graveyard in the middle of the night, after all, and this was normally the part of the horror movie when things start going wrong... Not that he was expecting anything to happen, of course.

Listening in to everyone's conversation gave Kenta some time to think. They were all in a graveyard to either visit someone who died or too train...rather suspicious to say the least...well, the ones who are here to train obviously.
"Huh?" He whispered. This Axel has a nice spot nearby? Strange. Kenta had been here s many times and he's never found any nice spot before. Rather strange...
Getting up slightly, Kenta leaped from the headstone that he was at and moved into a rolling motion before getting behind another headstone, the dust just being kicked up slightly as he skidded to a halt. Biting his lower lip, he had hoped that no one had seen the dust nor hearing the skidding. Mind you, it was only a small skidding noise so it was unlikely.

Ryūji found that Axel's explanation of his presence here was quite fishy, but he had heard more bizarre things than training near a graveyard. Although the Uchiha had at first been weary of the red-headed Shinobi, the apology had made him much more bearable. After a few seconds Ryūji walked away from the grave, and approached the other two men. "Breath..." he thought to himself "Don't be too nervous now." When he stopped near them he gave a slight nod, his confidence finally restored.

After both Axel and Takao introduced themselves Ryūji started to talk. "You already know I'm an Uchiha from my Grandfather, but Ryūji is the name. I'm also Genin rank. Nice to meet you both" The young Uchiha offered a quick respectable bow. "I hope I didn't make too much of an arse of myself." joked Ryūji, following up with a genuine laugh. Although he appeared shy at first he was quite friendly to people he was close to.

Axel looked at the two of them and nodded. He grinned and looked off in the distance. His eyes were directly staring at his spot for training. After a few seconds of staring, he broke away, sighed, and looked back at the two. "So... Yeah..." Lifting his hand up, he scratched the back of his head. "Well I'm stumped now... Stay here and talk with these guys a bit longer, or leave and go train in my spot..." He shook his head with this slight internal conflict. "Well, I can't leave now... I haven't even met these two before... And they seem pretty cool." Axel grinned once more. "You guys want to go do something?"

Takao looked on at the group of two as the introductions went around. It was always nice to have a bit of social interaction, Takao thought, as he had wasted a lot of his time as a genin already. He gave his back a good stretch until a satisfying crack echoed around the fairly silent graveyard, still giving his surroundings a few good looks despite having not seen anything of interest yet. Takao finished his approach towards the other genin and came to rest his hand on Ryūji's shoulder in a friendly way.
"Don't worry about it. On the assumption that Axel is also a genin, are you guys going to give the chuunin exams a shot?" he asked, a bit of genuine interest could be detected in his voice.

Takao hadn't really done... well, anything at all to prepare himself for the chuunin exams. He'd learned a jutsu and had a single training session with his squad, but other than his daily routine, there really wasn't anything at all he could think to do. So, why not get to know his competition a little bit? Or, at the very least, get to know his allies. His attention was directed towards Axel as he asked another question.

"Go do somethin'? Like what? I can't think of many things to do in the middle of the night... Well, anything that's legal anyways.." Takao said in response, his words accompanied by a dismissive shrug towards his own comment.

Coughing, Kenta began to slowly rise up from behind a nearby gravestone and stare off at the folk, gathered around just ahead. Flicking his fringe he frowned and played about with the multi-colored feather in his hair.
"What're you all doing out here at this time in the morning?" He asked, just to look as if he hadn't been listening in. He needed to do something and these guys were the only people about so why not? Maybe strike up a spar or something. Something that'll help give him an edge.

Walking round the side of a headstone, running his fingers along the side of it, some dust being dusted off as he moved by. His golden eyes examining everyone around him. Takao...He wasn't sure if he had met him before or not but there was a strange familiarity about him...Kenta needed to know more.
"You. What is your name again?" The question directed mainly at Takao but was slightly intrigued by the rest of them.

Takao bringing up the Chuunin exams made the Uchiha really start to think. Years ago he would have jumped at the chance of becoming more than a Genin. But his past left victories such as that feeling empty, did he really need to become a Chuunin to become stronger. Ryūji hadn't even had much time to prepare, with other things having kept him significantly busy. "I don't know, probably not," he answered Takao, careful not to make his voice too loud. "Although there is always a chance I will go, and if my team decides to go then so will I."

When Axel asked if they wanted to do something together, Ryūji began to think. "Maybe he wants to fight? Probably to find out his competition for the Chuunin exams if anything. Or maybe he just wanted to go for food?" The Uchiha could worry about it all day, although nothing would come of it, and he figured it'd be fun trying to make new friends.

As he was thinking Ryūji noticed a figure approaching from the distance - another Sninobi by the looks of him, although he could not make out the features of the person. When the person in question asked what they were doing, Ryūji looked towards Axel and Takao for reassurance - not quite sure of what to say.

Axel gave a light smile and glanced up at his spot once more. "By something, I mean maybe training... or just getting to know each other. You two seem pretty cool." He laughed to himself slightly and rested his hands against the back of his head. By doing so, he was able to stretch his back and shoulders out slightly.

He heard a quiet voice behind him and looked over his shoulder. There was another person in the graveyard. "Aaaaand it looks like we have another person in here... What's with people and this graveyard...? It seems like this is the new hot spot for meeting new people." Axel laughed slightly and brought his hand down. This new person was directing their attention at Takao, so he just waited to see what would happen with this new guy.