It was the early evening in Iwa, the sun was beginning to set and people were winding down their days as they got ready for night. Ebisu himself was on his way to his plans for the night which he had been looking forward too. Recently he had helped out a sushi restaurant catch some fish so as a reward they offered Ebisu a free sushi dinner in which he could bring whomever he wished to. At first he thought of going with friends, but they were busy and so was his mother. So, he decided that he was just going to enjoy the dinner by himself. So after his daily routine of practice he decided to leave to go for the dinner.

Currently the black-haired male was strolling down the back road on his way to the restaurant with barely any pedestrians around to be seen his pale face shining slightly under the setting sun. Since it was just a day for himself he was wearing his usual black attire with his jacket unbutton and a gentle smile spread across his lips. His stride was relaxed as he held a calmed composed air around him. Despite how he appeared at the moment he was only paying half attention to his surroundings making so that if something appeared in front of him suddenly he would most likely become flustered shortly.

The sun was setting in the west. Jade could see it slowly sinking between two mountaintops to the west of Iwagakure, from her spot in the corridor outside her tiny apartment. She was currently leaning on the railings, bent at the waist as she displayed an uncharacteristic show of nonchalance, something anyone who knew her would not attribute as one of her more usual traits. Another thing unusual had been the slight gentle smile that etched across her lips, in place of the usual thin frown or the scowl whenever she was dealing with Suezo’s antics.

She could tell from the way the sun cast a warm orange glow over the village and the country that it was going to be a peaceful evening, and she was overdue for a peaceful evening, considering what she had been through. The past few years flashed in her mind like it all happened yesterday, and the funny thing was, the very last bit of imagery she saw did happen yesterday. She reminisced how she had broken out of Shuko Yoshihara’s grasp, fleeing into the woods before arriving at Iwagakure, only to realise her parents had already been gone for years. Not dead, but gone. She remembered how she had signed herself up as a Genin of Iwagakure to receive some form of protection from Shuko potentially tracking her down. She remembered how she had bumped into Suezo Kawagishi and been offered jobs that bordered illegal, all so that he could slip her small tidbits of information regarding where her parents’ location was.

That part made her frown. He had slipped her so many false tidbits of information that she sometimes wondered if he truly knew where her parents were, though everything about him screamed that he did. The way he dangled that piece of information in front of her so casually and confidently, knowing that she could kill him if she wanted to; the way he had that sleazy smirk on his face every time his information turned out to be purposefully wrong just to string her along… It all spoke of a man who knew what she was doing, and as much as her temper wanted to rip out Suezo’s throat at times for playing her like a puppet, she ultimately knew that it was a bad idea to take him down alone.

Until yesterday. Yesterday, she had gotten fed up with his antics, of lying to her and having her do his dirty work for him, and had confronted him. Coincidentally, two other souls had been interested in him as well, and all three of them had proven far too much for even his experienced bodyguards, who weren’t ninja, to handle. The man had fled for his life, going into hiding after giving them the information that they wanted, and it seemed that their future all lied in the same place: Kirigakure. Now, it was a matter of time before the three of them would leave for the Mist.

Just a matter of time.

Deciding that she wanted to enjoy the evening, she walked down to the ground floor, hoping to go to Ono Sushi, a rather well-known sushi restaurant, to celebrate. A small part of her told her to go get either Shindou or Ranmaru along with her, to enjoy the meal as a prospective team, and so she set on what she thought was the way to their houses. She found herself humming a small tune as she walked down the beaten back path that led from Ono Sushi, not quite paying much attention to her surroundings as her mind for once was filled with dreams of reuniting with her family again.

She couldn’t want to see them, for they had been apart for so long. She didn’t know what her parents were doing at Kirigakure, but she knew it was for nothing tied to shinobi business. According to the records, her parents had resigned as shinobi before they left, so there wouldn’t be any conflicting interests between her and her parents. Kiri and Iwa were also allied with each other, so there wouldn’t be the complication of another village suspecting she was a spy. She would be allowed mostly free reign in Kirigakure, especially in the civilian districts, which was more than enough for her if it meant she could spend time with her parents.

It was only her instincts screaming at her that told her she was about to bump into someone, and jolting back to reality, she realised that a man stood in front of her, roughly her age, with a black shirt and an unbuttoned jacket, with a smile gracing his face. She stopped abruptly.

“Sorry,” she apologised with a smile. Not even her small mistake could get her down at this point in her life. “Were you going to Ono Sushi?”

816

When did she appear, is what Ebisu was asking himself as he suddenly saw himself face to face with a female. He was looking down at her while blinking slightly as he was trying to gather his thoughts before speaking to her. Being the logical person he was he quickly went from being careless to watching the area around him to see if they were the only two here. After he got a good look at her Ebisu gave a relaxed stance as he let out a sigh of relief. After all instead of being surprised with an attack he was greeted by a beautiful woman who seemed to be around his age. What intrigued him though was that she seemed to being going to the same place as him by the question that he was asked.

The slightly pale man put a hand on his head scratching slightly as he let out a soft chuckle. "Actually, I am." He said as he moved his hands to his sides looking at her with a friendly, composed look. It was then that he got an idea that seemed like it could make his night get more interesting. "I helped catch some fish for them, so they're offering me a free dinner as thanks." He stated his voice making it quite obvious that he was in a good mood. "Originally I planned to go alone, but since it seems that you were going would you like to join me for dinner?" He asked earnestly. Most of the time this would probably been seen as flirting, but in Ebisu's case he just thought that it would be more fun to enjoy dinner with another.

Before she could respond he took a few steps in the direction of Ono sushi before turning to look at her his face appearing brighter in contrast to the black locks that cradled his face and flowed down his back in a ponytail. He planned to lead the way since it would be his treat and of course waited to hear her response. If she'd accompany him he would begin walking to the restaurant. Though he stopped for a moment looking at her once more. "Oh, and my name is Ebisu, nice to meet you." He said since introductions were important if she was going to join him for dinner

”Actually I am,” came the answer. “I helped catch some fish for them, so they’re offering me a free dinner as thanks. Originally I planned to go alone, but since it seems that you were going would you like to join me for dinner?”

Dinner? Well, she supposed she had been on her way to Ono Sushi herself, and having company didn’t hurt. She had been about to go to either Ranmaru or Shindou for company when this boy had caught her on her way, and kindly offered to do the same. She had been hoping to eat with either of the two, preferably the latter so that she could maybe string his sister Sena along; gods knew the girl could work wonders with her hands, and not in a completely medical sense either. She would have to chalk it up to another time to eat with either ofher two prospective teammates.

Besides, she still had a long way to go before she was even eligible for the Chunin title. That equated to a long way to go before she would be able to ask for a momentary leave from Iwagakure, so that left plenty of time for her to get to know her prospective teammates better in the future.

Having made her decision, she was caught slightly off guard when the boy walked towards Ono Sushi, taking a few steps toward the sushi restaurant without hearing her response, even after inviting her to join him. After the initial few steps, though, he turned around invitingly and introduced himself further, “Oh, and my name is Ebisu, nice to meet you.”

Jade stared at him for a second, drinking in his appearance - the silky black ponytail draping down his back, the dull black tinge of his vest, shirt, and pants, the pale complexion of his soft skin, and those red, red eyes - before giving her reply.

“Call me Jade. And, lead the way,” she answered, walking beside the man.

Searching for her parents could - would have to - wait. She would enjoy herself for one evening, especially if it was someone’s treat.

353 + 816 = 1169

OOC: Sorry for the short post. There wasn't much to work with.

Jade, What a wonderful name for a pretty looking stranger. He didn't say this out loud since he knew that would probably make him seem sort of creepy especially since he just met her and invited her out for dinner. Though he was going to stick by his decision since she seemed nice and it was always good to have someone to talk to during dinner, at least in his own opinion. As he saw her walking by his side he turned his head to her slightly a please look upon his face. He was happy that he had someone to accompany him, but in general he was curious about the girl.

As they walked he decided to ask a question since they weren't too far from the shop and would be there soon enough. "I'm a shinobi if you couldn't tell, and I'm guessing her just by observing you a bit, but you're also a shinobi aren't you?" He asked looking to her slightly. He only guessed this since there were quite a few shinobi and since Ono sushi was popular among them. As he waited for the confirmation if this was true he continued to walk down the road thinking about her. He wasn't sure why just yet, but he found the stranger he was going to treat to dinner interesting.

The sun continued to set as they walked a soft humming sound of insects could be heard as they were coming out for the night, it was quite obvious that when their dinner would be done it would be night time and most people would be at home. Though for Ebisu it would be the normal time for him to return home to his mother. He was usually out at night fishing, or even going out for a walk by himself. Solitude was nice, but so was companionship either way he loved be awake at night.

After a few minutes had passed by they had finally reached the shop they had been meaning to go to. It wasn't too busy of a day, most people were leaving though there was a couple or two along with a family. He nodded to her to signify that he would talk to the them. A man walked over to Ebisu and nodded slightly before showing the two to a table near the back that was next to a fountain they had inside the store.Before sitting down himself he pulled out her chair so she could sit down. There was list on their table that had all of their options of sushi along with their drink options.

"Mm feel free to take your time deciding on what you want, since the dinner will be free we can get whatever." He said nodding to her as he began to hum looking at the list. "Though i'll probably order what I want right now and get more as we eat." He said brushing his raven hair back slightly as he looked at the list trying to think of conversation topics for them both.

The restaurant was a rather nice place, Jade had to admit. She had come to places like these a few times before in the past few years, though they were normally too pricey for her to frequent on a normal basis. Rather, she kept it strictly for important occasions, such as meeting up with friends, discussing information with brokers like the sleazy Suezo who she had somehow come to depend on entirely for her high-end information, or on the off chance that someone from Iwagakure’s administration wished to meet her.

Nevertheless, she was given free reign to choose from whatever she wanted here, so she wasn’t going to pass that up. That wasn’t to mean that she was going to spend as much as she could; rather she would try not to hold back on her choices. There was no point in making the restaurant lose more money than they otherwise would with such a generous gift, especially if she wasn’t going to enjoy the gift as much as she was. Might as well choose something she like and not something of high value, so that it would evolve into a win-win situation for both the consumer and the producer. That always gave the best results.

She sat in her chair, quite high end if the texture as anything to go by, and leaned against the back as she brought the menu up to her face and perused the options available. Sitting across the white clothed table was Ebisu, who was similarly looking through the menu, though unlike her he seemed to already have something on his mind - something that he wanted to order, that was.

Jade brought her attention back to the menu in front of her and looked through the appetisers, before deciding that she wouldn’t enjoy any of them, especially not with the price range that they were in, even if she had been extended an offer for a free meal. Rather, she flipped the laminated page and looked at the main course. All the sushi options were placed in nice square boxes with their descriptions and titles at the bottom and top of the boxes respectively, and they were sorted according to their prices. The page she was currently looking at contained all of those that were of the cheapest value, so she turned the page once to see something that was more often taken.

Eyes picking out some of her favourites, she set the menu down, stating, “I’m done. Do you know what you’re going to eat?” she asked, trying to pass the time while the waiter arrived. She would order several salmon and maguro sushis, but other than that, she was likely to pass. Everything here didn’t seem worth the price, though she supposed that was the purpose of high end places like these.

480 + 1196 = 1649