there were so many electrical signals in a city, it was hard to distinguish between all of them. Kaekio stared down at the letter she held in her right hand. With the return address she was following. butterflies fluttered in the young sages stomach. She could fight off bandits, train with wolves, hell she even faced her kage with no fear, but when it came to this, she was more nervous than anything. She couldn't help but feel her hands get a bit sweaty, as she held the letter, and the bundle of red roses in the other hand. Her blue cloak flowing behind her has she walked made her look powerful and accomplished, but she still felt helpless inside of it. How would nozomi react? Would she be angry? would she be understanding? she couldn't know for certain. Kaekio let out a gulp. The guy at the flower shop had pointed her in the direction of the street nozomi lived on, and so far the directions seemed to be working out, as she turned on the street that the adress listed. Her eyes frantically searched from house to house looking for the one with the right numbers on it. after a minute or so, she spotted it.

Kaekio's nerves intensified. She took a quick whiff of her clothing. She had washed all of her clothes extensively after training with the wolves, but she was still nervous she smelt like them. Kaekio gulped again as blush littered her face. She stuffed the letter in her cloak pocket, and she let out a sigh standing in front of the house. "so this is her house huh?" kaekio said in a shaky voice. trying to take her mind off of being so nervous. It had been so long since she has seen nozomi. Kaekio wondered how much she has changed, if at all. Kaekio knew that she has grown up a little bit since she began her sage training. She wondered if Nozomi has grown up a little bit too. Although she can't really remember the girl being immature at all. Kaekio let out a small sigh. The only way she was going to get any of her questions answered was to go find out for herself. with that in mind, and blush still on her face kaekio walked up to her front door and knocked. She then held both hands on the flowers, and while she did so she extended the range of her Current perception, to give her a good idea of when Nozomi would reach the door. or even if she was in the house at all. Kaekio swallowed once more.

---

WC: 446
Total WC: 446

Nozomi had been somewhat busying herself at her house, having quite a bit of cleaning to do. She'd not been home in a while, and it was a little dusty, so she'd decided to do a little sprucing up. After her promotion, Nozomi was granted permission to take on a small squad of students, more personally than her tutoring sessions had been at the Training Grounds. To be honest, she was excited, and had been preparing for that for a while. Maybe if she was able to do so, she could convince the Mizukage to let her take her squad out on an expedition to Kumogakure, to improve some relations and get some training in before the Chuunin Exams. While she was there, Nozomi would be able to visit Kaekio, and see what was going on. It had been almost a year since the previous Chuunin Exams, and she hadn't even heard a word back from Kaekio yet.

As she went around cleaning, Nozomi opened her window up, to allow a breeze in to the small little house. It was another nice day out, and since they were few and far between, Nozomi wanted to enjoy it. She looked over near the door where her things were, her two flak jackets, her tanto's leaning against the wall, a backpack full of items, and the windmill shuriken casually laying on its side. She'd probably have to move them, because she was planning on opening up the door to let the cross breeze through. Having such things just openly there was a prime target for some thief to try and take. As she moved towards her things, to start moving stuff around, there was a knock on her door. Nozomi paused for a second, frowning. "Who could be here right now? I don't talk to too many people. Perhaps one of the Lady Mizukage's men with new orders?" she thought to herself, and forgot her plans, instead going to the door itself.

Nozomi cracked the door open and peered out. It took only a moment, but the girl stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widened in shock at who was knocking. Then the door flew open (inwardly, not outwardly) and Nozomi launched herself at the other girl, going for a hug. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to be visited by Kaekio in her own village, let alone her own home. Kaekio would be greeted by Nozomi's hug, wearing a different outfit than the one she'd worn in the Chuunin Exams. The striped shirt that Kaekio knew was still on, however, Nozomi wore a black Kimono top, with a white scarf tied around her waist like a belt, with the ends of the scarf shifting from white to pink, and cut out designs of petals near the end. Under the kimono was a pair of shorts, although they weren't much visible, and she wore normal sandals and grey stockings that came up to her knees.

WC: 497
TWC: 497

Electical signals firing. Moving closer to the door. Kaekio took in a deep breath as she felt the person on the other side crack open the door. Had she picked the right house? was it her? how was she going to react? even in the brief moment, kaekio couldn't stand that wait any longer. She just wanted to see her girlfriend. That was all. She had worked so hard the past few mouths espically, and Nozomi had helped kaekio out more than she would ever know. She had been her biggest motivator in becoming a sage. The thought of getting to see that cute face one more time had kept kaekio alive during sano's training, and at this point she was just ready for that wish to come true. one more second, that was all the longer she, hopefully, had to wait. the door cracked, and kaekio saw the blonde's face light up. kaekio couldn't help but smile either, as nozomi sprang forwards. Kaekio openned her arms and caught the girl, holding her tight. Kaekio couldn't bring to words how nice it felt to have the girl in her arms once more. She did however manage to let out a small giggle and as she rested some of her weight on the smaller girl she said "Hi." Kaekio then closed her eyes. her nerves had calmed significantly, and she felt relaxed and at home. She honestly felt that she could stand there in this position forever.

After a few more moments in the hug, kaekio pulled back slightly, but not removing he arms around nozomi, as so she could actually see the girls face, she spoke again. "God i missed you. I thought about you everyday." then the thought struck her about the letters and she looked down at the ground, pulling away from the hug at this point. "I-i'm sorry about not responding to your letters. i read each one, i just... never had the time to get one written out." Kaekio couldn't look up at nozomi at this point. the guilt overwhelmed her. it was bad enough she never responded to a signle letter, but what she had done in the exams. that too was starting to eat at her. All of kaekio's mistakes were echoing in her mind, and she couldn't escape them. She tried to shake it off and gave nozomi a smile, and held up the bundle of roses. "here, i got these for you... i hope you like them." she sounded so awkward and shy she wanted to punch herself for it. but, at this point she didn't know what else to say. She was at nozomi's mercy, and kaekio wouldn't try to force anything. If nozomi told her to leave, she would. If nozomi told her to stay she would most gladly follow orders. Kaekio knew that what she had done was wrong, and she was willing to accept whatever punishment was headed her way. At this point she was just glad that she got to see nozomi again.

---

WC:516
Total WC:962

"I mean, I reallly missed you too! I figured you were too busy, but part of me was worried that you didn't care about me, and I was really nervous. I mean, now that I'm a Special Jounin, and I'll be getting a squad soon, I was thinking of coming to visit you. I mean, we might have almost just missed each other, you know, and then you'd be in Kiri and I'd be halfway to Kumo, and then that'd be rather unfortunate, but gosh, you're here!" Nozomi said, barely able to contain her excitement.

Taking the flowers, Nozomi giggled. "They're beautiful. I've seen these a lot lately, and I would have bought some for you if I would have known you'd be coming, and lets get them some water so they don't die, come in!" she said, grabbing Kaekio's hand and rushing her into the small house, although not quite running. She was lively, every one of her nerves on fire, although not unpleasantly. She hadn't been so excited in months, not since the Chuunin Exams when she'd got promoted.

Grabbing a cup from her cupboard, Nozomi filled it with water and place the roses in them so they would last a bit longer. They'd probably die soon, and she felt bad that Kaekio had wasted money on them, when Nozomi wasn't going to be in Kirigakure much longer as it was.

WC: 235
WC: 732

"I mean, I reallly missed you too! I figured you were too busy," kaekio held in a sigh of relief. That made her feel slightly better about the whole situation. She did understand. "but part of me was worried that you didn't care about me, and I was really nervous." and, back came the guilt again. kaekio frowned a litte, and then kissed nozomi's cheek. "I mean, now that I'm a Special Jounin, and I'll be getting a squad soon, I was thinking of coming to visit you. I mean, we might have almost just missed each other, you know, and then you'd be in Kiri and I'd be halfway to Kumo, and then that'd be rather unfortunate, but gosh, you're here!" kaekio giggled a little bit at her last bit of excitement and now she was glad she came when she did, because missing each other could have been disastrous, and probably would have meant they would have had to have gone longer without seeing one another. "i care a lot about you. it was the thought of you that allowed me to finish my training... and congradualtions on your promotion" kaekio said trying to reassure her, and she was excited for her. Kaekio had been made special jounin almost as soon as the chunin exams were over, but that was probably due to the fact that she was training right underneath the Raikage.

Taking the flowers, Nozomi giggled. "They're beautiful. I've seen these a lot lately, and I would have bought some for you if I would have known you'd be coming, and lets get them some water so they don't die, come in!" she finished speaking and then she, grabbed Kaekio's hand and took her into the house. It seemed kind of small, but then again kaekio's house was roughly the same size. Kaeio let out a big grin as the girl took her inside of the house. while nozomi's attention was turned, she drew in the nature chakra around the house an absorbed it into herself. She ears on the side of her head faded, and grew on the top of her head, now covered in blue fur. And, her blue tail grow long, almost to the point of it touching the ground. It was swishing back and forth uncontrollably, and kaekio couldn't help but blush at that, unable to control the visible representation of her excitement, and her cloak not doing a very goo job of concealing the movement. Her nose and ears, seemed to pick up more stimulation, and she could easily pick up nozomi's scent without having to be near her. She smelled wonderful. Kaekio's face light up with more blush at that thought. wasn't smelling people considered weird? Then Kaekio would wait until the girl turned around. Kaekio had already had her hood off, so there was no need to take that off, but she did pull off her cloak, and set it on the kitchen table. her two black sword in their sheathe now much easier to see on her back, as well as her tail swishing back and forth due to excitement. It would be easy for nozomi to tell kaekio was in sage mode, and not just transforming into a dog of some kind, because of the coloring around her eyes, that were signature to sage mode. Probably the last thing Nozomi would noticed however is kaekio's eyes being brighter to the point they almost seemed to glow. Kaekio's ears would perk up when nozomi turned around, and she would stand there and say "Soo?? what do you think?" she would say with a slight giggle. Then after the girl responded kaekio would say "So... are you really going to come to kumo?... i'd have a place for you to stay and everything. Although my house isn't big enough to hold your entire squad, but i'm sure i could find a place for the younger ones." kaekio said kind of shyly. trying to contain her excitement, which was hard to do with how fast her tail was moving back an forth behind her, and blush that littered kaekio's face.

---

WC:715
Total WC:1677

Even as Nozomi turned around, she noticed something different about Kaekio. It took a couple of seconds for it to register, but when it did, her face turned red. "Oh.... my... gosh that's adorable..." she said, barely in a whisper. She really wanted to reach out and touch the ears and tail, but decided against it, forcing all her will power into not doing anything completely embarrassing. And yet, even still her hand almost shot up towards her girlfriend's ears. Eventually, she stopped fighting it and she scritched Kaekio's hair for a moment. "Sorry." she said quickly, yanking her hand away.

"But um, yeah, I was going to be heading to Kumogakure soon, yes. The Chuunin exams are coming up soon after all, so there needs to be some preliminary reachings out with um... relations between the nations. So I was going to take my squad up early and spend some time scoping out Kumo's up and coming shinobi, and maybe get my team some nice training outside of Kiri. Sometimes it's better to learn from other places than just one, you know?" Nozomi responded, trying to distract herself from the swinging tail in front of her.

"The only problem is, I don't actually know any of my squad members except for Riss. Like I said in my letters, I teach classes at the Training Grounds. Well, I did as a Chuunin. But Riss was one of my students. Now she's a personal student, as I asked Lady Mizukage to assign her to me because she wanted to take some personal lessons, and I promised them to her, but then I got promoted, and I'm running on and on and on, sorry, I'm just excited!" Nozomi said, and moved forward, kissing her girlfriend.

WC: 297
TWC:1029

Kaekio held her breathe as nozomi turned around. She wondered what her reaction would be to her sage mode. The girl's blush however signified what was too come. "Oh.... my... gosh that's adorable..." The girl said barely audibe. Or what kaekio would assume would be barely audible, her wolf ears however could pic up the dog barking a crossed the street, and so nozomi talking in a hushed voice wasn't that hard to pick up. Then nozomi hand shot up and scratched the top of kaekio's head. As she did so her hand brushed against kaekio's ears and it sent a tingle down her spine that made her shiver. It was now obvious to kaekio, and should be obvious to nozomi, that while her ears were soft. They were extremely sensitive."Sorry." she said quickly, yanking her hand away. kaekio almost wanted to grab her hand and put it back, but she felt that that would be weird. so she let out a small giggle. "hehe, it's fine. I actually ind of enjoyed it..... who know that the almighty wolf sage mode would have such sensitive spots." kaekio said look down on at the ground. her tail swishing back and forth. she was trying so hard to contain her excitement from just being around nozomi, but it was increasingly difficult.

"But um, yeah, I was going to be heading to Kumogakure soon, yes. The Chuunin exams are coming up soon after all, so there needs to be some preliminary reachings out with um... relations between the nations. So I was going to take my squad up early and spend some time scoping out Kumo's up and coming shinobi, and maybe get my team some nice training outside of Kiri. Sometimes it's better to learn from other places than just one, you know?" kaekio gave a nod. she needed something to take her mind off of the excitement coursing through her body, and small talk was a good way to do it. "Erm yeah. Training here in the land of water has done me good. so i can understand you wanting your students to train aboard. Plus, it'd be incredible to have you so close."

"The only problem is, I don't actually know any of my squad members except for Riss. Like I said in my letters, I teach classes at the Training Grounds. Well, I did as a Chuunin. But Riss was one of my students. Now she's a personal student, as I asked Lady Mizukage to assign her to me because she wanted to take some personal lessons, and I promised them to her, but then I got promoted, and I'm running on and on and on, sorry, I'm just excited!" Nozomi said, and moved forward, kissing kaekio. Her tail shot straight upwards in surprise. But as the surprise faded, her tail swung viciously back and forth. Kaekio leaned back into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Kaekio had missed this more than she could ever hope to bring into words. she wanted to never ever let go, and hold onto this moment forever. This meeting was long overdue.

Kaekio would hold the kiss for view more seconds before reluctantly pulling away, but still maintaining the hug that they were in. She was so close to the other girl, and she wanted to be closer. Sadly she knew that that was physically impossible. "I'll tell you what. i have a few more days before i need to head back to kumogakure. and, so how about tommorow we go the administration office, and get everything cleared up about your squad hmm? plus, we can do many many more things while i'm here. i mean if you want that is. Kaekio said, pausing for a brief moment. "Sadl,y i'll probably have to leave before you and your squad can go. But, you already have my adress, so when you get into kumogakure please be sure to stop by my house..." And with that she leaned in for another kiss.

Kaekio would spend the next few days in kirigaure, never leaving nozomi's side, except of course when she needed to go to the bathroom. but, she spent her time getting to familiarize herself with the cute blonde, and learning what each had done over the past year. Kaekio would, of course, go into sage mode anytime that the girl would ask her too, and she enjoyed absolutely every minute she got to spend with her. However, kaekios few days, cam all too quickly and she needed to leave. She gave nozomi one last kiss and hug, before she set out towards kumogakure for her journey home. she would be looking forwards to the day when she say nozomi and her squad back in kumogakure. Kaekio stopped after she was outside of the gate. and turned back towards the village which she had just spent the past few days exploring with her girlfriend. then she let out the words "I'll see you soon, nozomi" and with that, she turned her back and set out on her journey back to the land of clouds. she knew that she had a long journye ahead of her, but she also knew that just as her sage training, that the though of nozomi would help push to get too her goals. She also knew that she would have a lot too tell sanosuke about. although, the raikage still didn't know about her girlfriend, so that might be interesting to explain to him, but kaekio might hold that off until nozomi was there with her. Kaekio was now excited to get home, and see her sensei again, an so she began to run towards her village.

---

[exit thread]
WC:971
Total WC: 2648
Chidori Training 2000/2000
648 words left over

OOC: I was thinking we could maybe cover the gap with some flashback threads later if you wanted.

OOC: I'm not really in a position to think and make a good post to end this, unfortunately. /close thread

Strength: B-> B-1 700/700

Remaining WC:329