It was a cool morning in the desert, the soft breeze and 17C air saw to that. Izumi had woken earlier than most today, in time to watch the striking desert sunrise.  This morning when she walked out into the village from her humble apartment, it was almost empty except for the expected patrols. "Another morning in paradise.", she said watching the sun paint the sky into a prism of magnificence as it rose into the cloudless sky. Pausing for a few more precious moments to absorb the beauty of her home, she could hear the wind whistling in the distance her own body protected by the walls that rose around the village. The whistling clearly came from the gates, but why were they open this early? Leave that to the patrols, Izumi. Today is for training, not childish inquisition. Izumi grinned with determination as she set out to her favorite spot to train, a small neighborhood in an old part of the country that had been abandoned for newer, more suitable buildings. While dilapidated and outdated the buildings had many handholds and unpredictable unplanned alleys between the buildings.  The sandstone buildings that towered around her would be perfect for today's planned practice, free running. Wasting no more time with the silly machinations of a young woman's mind, Izumi found a handhold on a nearby building and began to climb to the well perforated rooftops.  Once reaching the summit of her climb, she broke out into a sprint. As soon as the cool air began rushing around her beautiful form, a smile appeared across her full lips. If there's no deserts in heaven I want to go where they went. Deftly avoiding the holes in the roof that would lead to a sprained ankle or worse should she misstep, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop doing acrobatic stunts in between, showing off for no one in particular. A flash of black in the corner of her eye caught her attention, her head turning towards where she thought she saw it in an instant. Izumi would look over just in time to see a fluffy tail descend over the side of roof to her left, belonging to an impressively sized cat leaping to the dusty alley below. Not a stranger to furry visitors during her training in this rundown neighborhood, she knew exactly what to do with the feline interloper. To an observer the game of cat and mouse soon to begin would be strange, especially since the mouse was actually a cat and the cat a woman. Izumi however, had a purpose for it seeing as cats are famed for their speed and agility why not use them to train these abilities for herself. Dashing towards where she last saw the cat, she leapt off the roof taking advantage of the curved wall across from the building she was currently mounting to slide down to street level. Izumi checked left then right, looking right just in time to see the wisps of the fluffy tail to once again duck out of her view.  Sparing no time for breath, Izumi took off in the direction of the cat sliding as she took the sandy corner at speed. The cat quickened, hearing the steps of the kunoichi in hot pursuit. At first the cat tried to outrun her, however it found this venture fruitless. Izumi was gaining on it, the clever feline sensing her pursuer hot on her heels began taking evasive maneuvers, cutting right down a short alley. Unfortunately for the cat, his first choice for direction wasn't the best. They had reached a dead end! "I have you now!" called out the unjustly triumphant woman. In her hubris Izumi forgot that the roofs weren't the only thing filled with holes around here. The cat finding an opening in the wall ahead of it, broke through only to be followed by Izumi who dove and rolled through a window just above the gap the cat shambled it through. Izumi left came out of the roll just in time to see the cat soaring through the window on the other side of the room she was in. Using a warped stool and an old desk she vaulted herself after the cat once again. Coming out of the window the cat was standing at the end of the alley licking one of its paws.  "Always my greatest challenge, aren't you old one eye." The cat unsurprisingly unable to understand human speech hissed at her before attempting to bolt past her. Izumi's hand shot down catching the cat by the scruff of his neck. "Gotcha!" The move proved foolish as the cat became a whirlwind of claws and yowls. Izumi cried out as the claws dug into her, she dropped the cat in surprise who ran off not to be seen by Izumi for the rest of her training day. Examining her bloodied hand, she resolved to wear the pain for the rest of the day, a reminder of the price of pride.

840

Shujin stood on one particularly high rooftop looking over a forgotten neighborhood. A plan to improve the slums long since abandoned. Resources looted and buildings no longer fit for even squatters. He was himself in the window of a bell tower of a long forgotten church. He had often wondered what faith had been abandoned here. What god had died in the hearts of the people. He had met his own gods now and knew that worship meant little to them. Merely their hands reaching out to claim him. The question was which of these gods were truly gods and which was the devil in disguise. Already the one he suspected to be that devil strongly had a clutching grip on his soul. He knew he was growing colder. Still he was far from death among men. He needed to practice his chakra control and he knew he didn't want her to see. This vantage point gave him a view over the entire abandoned neighborhood. Ruled by returning sands and the animals. A person would stand out easily if they attempted an approach. Too much open space and the buildings ready to crumble away. An ideal spot to seek out privacy.

So it didn't take him long to spot the young lady climbing up the walls and jumping around the roofs like one of the animals at play. Appearing a simple being to him he would watch with eyes like blue glaciers. His cold gaze would follow her for a time. Watching as she moved from roof top to roof top with a mixture of grace a foolhardiness. So much of him awaited her to land on a weak spot. Some dark side of his amused and twisted soul waiting for her to slip up and know the pain of her mistake. What did he want that for though he wondered silently to himself. Did he seek pain in order to go and laugh at her expense? Did he simply see happiness in another and wish to crush it because it was not his? An intricate idea. He would take a deep breath all the same and let the thoughts leave his mind. He didn't need to evaluate his own inner demons just yet. He knew them by name and that was enough for now. Instead his interest was more on her demons. What would it take to know them?

Still he would spot an opportunity as she began to chase something. A small ball of fur from where he stood. She appeared to be chasing it more for fun than for food. A strange thing to see in the slums. Still he wondered if this meant she liked animals. Something certainly had been brought forth to answer his questions. He would let a thin smile play on his face before he would step off the ledge. Hopping from the bell tower to drag his right hand and foot down the side to slow his decent. Dropping two stories before launching off it to move at a run along the new roof. His speed increased for a moment due to the drop as he dropped to the ground from the one story roof and running along that parallel to her path as he watched her as they passed street to street. Always keeping a building away and only matching her pace. She was slower than him. If she wasn't seeking to eat or torment the cat that would do him some good. If she was simply thinking kindly and playing with the animal it would go poorly for him. He wanted to know so he would find out.

He shifted as she crashed through a building and peeked around the corner. Watching as she slammed out the other side in pursuit of a cat. His cold gaze taking it all in. The cat rushed passed her or rather tried to when she snatched it up. Slow hands too. as was her realization of her mistake. Blood was shed from her hand as the cat retaliated and broke free. She was concerned with her wound as the cat ran towards him having not noticed him yet. With a flick of his hand puppet strings flew out of his left hand. Three blue strings slamming forward like snakes launching. The cat saw it and avoided the first one but the other two were already upon it. Snagging its hind legs with one and its midsection. Both lifting it into the air and then the third lashed back to catch its front paws. Hauling it up in the air in front of him. There he stood in tan cargo pants. Combat boots tied around the ankles with a yellow button up shirt untucked. A blue open hoody with the hood pulled up with a kunai strapped to his right thigh. His tanned skin matched the sands at night and his hair the clouds in the sky. Falling about his ice cold eyes. A pack of senbon on his left leg with a sun headband on his right wrist. Still he held up his left hand which held the screaming and hissing cat in the air. It wasn't in any pain but it wasn't happy.

"Did you misplace this? Or can I claim it?"

886

As Izumi examined the cat scratch and determined it was nothing to concern herself with, she saw noticed that the cat was suspended in the air in front of her by blue chakra strings, two around his hind legs and one around his fluffy belly. ”Did you misplace this? Or may I claim it?”, said the handsome man standing in front of her, he was taller than her but not by much, his form however was quite larger than hers, he appeared to have at least 40 pounds on her, most of it muscle definitely not someone she would want to come to blows with. Izumi hopes things wouldn’t come to violence. Izumi don’t recognize the white haired man wearing a yellow shirt and cargo shorts. She canned his body from the combat boots to the open hoodie that covered the blue eyes that were staring at her awaiting her response to his question. Her hesitation continued while she tried to assess whether he was threat or not. The man wasn’t much older than her, but he had a look of experience about him which combined to tell her that even if he was a friendly Shinobi she definitely would have no reason to know him from her academy days. Her eyes darted across his body in search of the tell tale headband of a Sunagakure Shinobi, unable to find one she decided she should great the man amicably until she can ascertain his intentions and origin.

”That cat belongs to the ruins, but I suppose it is none of my business if you decide to take the demon. I hate to be rude but, who are you? I am Izumi Karisuma, kunoichi of the sand.” Izumi was upset at herself for being so oblivious to her surroundings especially outside the walls of the village proper, the deserts are nothing to trifle with especially one in a great Shinobi nation. What would Izumi have done if the man hadn’t had a desire for a chat, she wondered to herself, hoping that indeed was all he wanted. Izumi was panting, recovering from the exertion put into the effort her pursuit of the one eyed monster cat. Trying her best to cover up the exhaustion, she managed to look as formidable as was possible for the young woman, which is to say not very,  her progress since leaving the Academy left something to be desired. But then again even the greatest were once weak so Izumi didn’t beat herself up over it too badly. The wind was starting to pick up sending dust and debris through the air, at same time the sun was coming up over the buildings and she was facing east. Putting her hand up to cover her eyes from the new distractions as well to give her eyes respite from the pain caused by the bright flash of sunlight in her eyes. The wriggling and screaming cat was beginning to get on our nerves ”Whatever you do with the beast decide quick, I don’t know how much more of the screeching I can take”

A bit of motion through one of the second story windows drew Izumi’s blurry vision’s attention, she squinted trying to make out what it was. Between the sand in her eyes and the blazing glory of the morning sun Izumi had a hard time distinguishing anything through the window frame. At best it was just the wind playing tricks on her eyes, or possibly another of the abandoned people factory compounds fauna residents. At worst, Izumi was outnumbered at the end of an alley in a rarely visited part of the village. Izumi doubted she was even a match for the older, larger man standing in front of her, let alone him and another Shinobi at the same time. Izumi decided her best course of action would be to ensure she had a way out should she need it. Remembering the stool just inside the window that she used as a launching point for her dive through the window she sidled to the right towards the window slowly while gathering chakra in her right hand. Reaching through the window she lid her palm on the stool transferring the small amount of chakra to it. Taking a few steps forward towards the man she smiled and said ”And again sorry if my intrusions are insulting, but I really must know why you were watching me.”

[Exit due to inactivity of Hika and upcoming travel]

Training:

[740 | 1580]

Chakra Pool:

Shujin would watch her with cold eyes. The screeching cat a mild annoyance to him. A weak creature thinking it had some right to scream at him simply for detaining it. Her actions didn't seem to be hostile towards him for holding it though. Not her pet than he could assume. How interesting that she was just chasing some random beast. It writhed in his strings as his fingers shifted with its movements. As it tried to force its way free his fingers would stop moving and flex. The strings tightening as it halted all the cats movement entirely. Leaving it with a mere growl and a whine as it was no longer capable of escaping. It hated him now but it was obedient. So long as he held power over it the ratio would not change. It was much like the village itself. Still her request to silence the great beast of the slums was more or less accomplished. One simple step away from him snapping off its oxygen. A weak bag of flesh and bone so vulnerable to his touch. Still she had inquired of him a name. His lips would form a frown as her clan had just given away her greatest strength assuming she wasn't lying. He would not do the same, though he no longer looked her in the eye.

"You may call me Shujin if you must. Also a member of the rank and file here. Even if this village is a shit hole."

She would look up at a window as if she saw something then and squinted at it. If it was an ally of hers up there she was terrible at keeping it a secret. Deciding that no one was that foolish he assumed whatever or who ever she saw up there was not with her. Another stranger. There was some discomfort in that. Another unknown variable watching him. He didn't bother looking up himself as he would allow himself to appear ignorant. It usually helped with ambushes if the enemy considered you unaware. On the other hand there was the possibility of it just being a witness. The sand blew across the street between them. Like a stand off with a cat between them. If the bell tower had been a working clock tower instead it would have been perfect. Still he wasn't sure why he had come down here. This wasn't as fun as he had hoped it would be if she wasn't going to try and save the cat.

However without any subtlty she moved back over to the window. His own steps carried him from the sight of the window to lean against the wall. If someone inside wanted to see him they would have to lean out the window. Let him see them as well though it looked like he just wanted some shade while he decided if he was going to kill the cat or not. She reached into the window and did something. Before pulling her arm out empty handed. Certainly a suspicious action. A hand off of something he hadn't seen? Unlikely. Still she would take a couple of steps towards him and spoke before his hand flashed down to his thigh and back up holding a kunai with the black blade pointed at her. His head shifting back as he leaned it against the cool stone wall. The blade was only being held out at arms length for a moment as he stared at the sky keeping her in his peripherals. Reconsidering if she was with someone upstairs and this was some elaborate robbery.

"Thats close enough. As for your inquiry, since you really must know. Your obnoxiously loud and active. In such a peaceful place where meditation was working so well."

1523