The plush of the cushion would be comfortable under his butt. He would wiggle into it a bit, testing the softness. After deciding it passed all his tests, Chigetsu would fluff it a few times while still seated on it before he was completely satisfied. It was one of the few pillows that he had in his rather austere apartment. There wasn't much comfort present throughout his living space whatsoever, outside of his mediocre single bed either. It shouldn't have been completely unexpected though, given his position. The ocean-dwelling commune that Chigetsu was raised on taught him to live a lifestyle rejecting pleasures and living closer to nature, and even as he moved away from these philosophies they would influence him. With the exception of several house plants that he kept in on a stool besides a window, there was not much of anything of note that he owned. That would be from the perspective of outsiders though. From Chigetsu's perspective he simply had everything he desired. There was no need for unnecessary things only existed to look appealing. Things like curtains, table cloths, and furniture were considered unnecessary. Well, not furniture. The reality of the situation was that taking missions as a genin wasn't exactly a job that paid Chigetsu well. He just didn't have the funds to purchase things that were unnecessary, even if he wanted to. He was lucky on most days if he could afford heating and electricity. Water was absolutely a must, and the bill honestly consumed most of his pay. With how uncomfortable Chigetsu's bed was he had a habit of sleeping in his bathtub. That combined with the constant showering and excessive amount of water he consumed led the unfortunately high bill. It was worth it though. He refused to compromise from a lifestyle of excessive water use, feeling incredibly justified by his Hozuki heritage. It just felt natural and doing without it would be horrible. He needed the water.

In front of the Hozuki boy would be a variety of weapons, all placed out over a small brown towel. On this towel were all of his most prized possessions, organized very finely beside each other. On the cloth taking up the most space, and thus being of the greatest importance, was a single kunai. The blade was pointed downwards, faced towards where Chigetsu had seated himself. The kunai was Chigetsu's clear favorite out of all the items laid out on the towel. It was placed closest to him, and great care was taken in order to align the point of the tip directly towards the center of his own body. The blade held a pleasant and sharp shine as well, clearly being well taken care of. It shined in comparison to what was beside it. Three shuriken were placed around the kunai, with one to its left, right, and above it. The distribution of these three shuriken also emphasized the importance of the kunai, which was placed directly in the center. Each shuriken would be aligned perfectly with each other, neatly arranged. Off to the side of this arrangement of weapons was Chigetsu's metal forehead protector. The symbol for Kirigakure no Sato was carved into the metal, signifying Chigetsu's allegiance to his home. This represented the full extent of Chigetsu's current armory. It wasn't much at all, consisting entirely out of what was gifted to him for passing the academy. It wasn't much at all, but it was his. This collection of weaponry and his forehead protector were all that truly mattered to him, and it was why he carried them around at all times. They were his family, his friends, and his only true companions. Chigetsu smiled fondly down at them from his cushion. He had arranged this family meeting on short notice. The fact that he was currently shirtless should be enough evidence for all to see that. This was all prepared after his most recent shower. It was why Chigetsu wasn't wearing a shirt. Or any pants. He would be sitting in his boxer shorts on the cushion, his body still somewhat damp. The dampness applied to the towel he had placed the weapons on as well. The entire situation was clearly ad hoc, but it was good enough for Chigetsu. The weaponry didn't seem to be complaining either. Well, not yet.

"Is there any reason for this ritual?" There. It was beginning already. Chigetsu should have been prepared for it. "I struggle to see why you would need to meet us like this, especially at such a short notice. Couldn't you have at least put some clothing on, Chigetsu?" His kunai was always quick with the sass. He would huff in response, puffing his cheeks out a little bit as he stared down at it. Speak of the devil, and the devil will begin questioning your fashion sense. "Can't we just have a nice and casual get together? One where we all can have fun and hang out?" "No." "No." "No." "No." Four voices immediately rang up to him in unison. Chi would flinch back at it, huffing a bit further now. "Why not? We're all family. Can't we get along?" There would be silence for a moment, enough to make Chigetsu want to flinch again. "Whether or not we get along has no relevance to the state of this meeting. The content of what is to be discussed should be brought to our attention quickly and succinctly. There must be a reason for you doing this. So why don't you tell us quickly?" "If you brought us all together for it, it must be important too. I won't look kindly on you wasting our time." "Wasting your time? What would you be doing instead?" Chigetsu would huff a little bit. "You're stuck with me. There's nothing else that you can do without me." "I was in the middle of a very peaceful activity that consisted of not speaking to annoying little brats." "… Don't you think that one was a bit harsh?" "There's no reason to bicker further. Let's start." "He has a point though about us not being able to do anything else. Should we really care if he takes him time?" "Of course we should! A swordsman needs to respect of his weaponry. If he doesn't have our respect Chigetsu has no right to wield use in battle." "Do we really have a choice?" "Like I said, there's no reason to fight. It's just wasting time." "Wasting time? What else would we be doing?"

Chigetsu cleared his throat, attempting to draw the attention of his assorted weaponry. His kunai was usually nice enough, but the shuriken could get excessive with how much they mouthed off at him. Chigetsu suspected it was the difference between a weapon that stayed close to its wielder compared to one meant to be thrown at a distance, but with his small sample size he really just had no idea. That would be something he had to figure out though. "I have an announcement to make." Chigetsu quickly announced, attempting to speak his mind before he would be distracted again. "Yes. We know this. That's why you brought us here." "There's nothing wrong with being formal. "… Yeah! I just wanted to be a bit formal about it." Chigetsu would cross his arms over his bare chest, glaring down at that one shuriken who seemed unreasonably upset with the situation. He would have to keep an eye on that one. "… What I wanted to say before I was so rudely interrupted...." He would stick his tongue down at his shuriken. "… was that we need to consider adding new members to our little family." After letting that loose Chigetsu would pause, allowing the chance for all of his friends to respond. "… Is that all? Of course, a weapon master would need to collect more weapons." "Waste of time. I told you." "No! That's not all." He would be quick to interject. "I don't mean that just typically though. I mean lots more. More of everything. Even more shuriken and kunai. I was thinking though, when I started to get so many of the same kind of weapon, it would be hard to tell you all apart! It's already pretty hard to tell the shuriken apart, so I -" "He admits to it! See? I told you he always favored the kunai!" The three shuriken would immediately erupt into angry chattering, cutting him off with their own bickering. "N-No! I didn't mean it like that! I love you all equally!" "Then why do you always carry the kunai around with you, and keep us in your pouch?" "Because the kunai has a handle that makes it easy to hold!" "Yes. It's simply that I am more practical to use than shuriken." "Oh, 'I'm just more practical!' Yeah right! What a total load of -" "Come on! Let's not fight!" Chigetsu would have his arms up to cover his eyes now, frustration evident on his face. "What I wanted to say was that I'm going to need to start marking you all and giving you direct names so I can tell you apart... It'll make it so much easier. Wouldn't you all like having names too? It'd be better than just calling you shuriken and kunai. I wouldn't confuse you all anymore either..." "Names are for humans. A weapon is a nameless tool who completes a task. You're foolishly humanizing us, when you instead should focus on weaponizing yourself." "I have to agree. The use of names for weaponry seems pointless. You should focus on reaching a state where you may be able to abandon your own name as well." "Abandon my own name?" Chigetsu would repeat, flabbergasted by the suggestion. "I guess it would make sense, but... If I don't have a name how will people know who I am?" "The only one you should be concern with knowing you is your master. They should know you inside and out, up and down, enough so that there would never be any confusion." "The sort of familiarity that you apparently lack with us. The fact that you can't tell your three shuriken apart just shows what a failure of a weapon master you are." "Unfortunately, I have to agree again. Not being able to tell the shuriken apart is a weakness of yours. Trying to compensate that weakness with names would be a corruption of what it means to be a weapon." "Abandoning my own name...?" Chigetsu would huff again at the idea. "If I would do that, it would have to be with somebody who already knew me like that. In that incredibly personal and absolute way... I don't have anybody like that right now." He would shrug his shoulders a little bit, hunching as he sat now. The idea of getting rid of his name was beginning to be a little bit of a bummer. He really liked his name! It ran off the tongue in a nice way - Chigetsu Hozuki~ It just sounded good. Plus, that was him, wasn't it? What was he other than his name? "It's something you'll have to do eventually if you wish to become like us." "I... Okay. I can't promise that I'll do it right away, but I'll try to eventually work towards that goal..." Chigetsu would turn his eyes downwards, staring with a frown at the ground now. "There's no reason to fret. Nobody would expect you to have all the skills of a master at such a young age. There are still many years of training you have before you will be able to have a complete control and understanding over what it takes to be a weapon master."

The male would sigh. His body was nearly dry now, the entire conversation taking place in the open sunlight streaming in through the open window. He would turn now, staring towards the light. The plants he kept were mostly in the way, and most of the light would be absorbed by them before passing on to him. "It's such a beautiful day out, isn't it?" "How are we supposed to know?"

Chigetsu broke out into giggles.

[WC: 2088]

The weaponry he had placed so delicately on the towel would be collected quickly. They would all be moved to the stool he had instead, sharing it with the potted plant he had resting in the sunlight. The damp towel that had been their resting spot would then be collected by Chigetsu. Similarly to the weapons it would be placed in the sunlight streaming in through the windowsill to dry. This was his main way of doing laundry for himself. There was no washing machine he had access to, so rather than go and pay extra for a laundromat Chigetsu simply learned how to wash clothing by hand and would use the natural sunlight to dry them off. This all had to be done indoors unfortunately. The mist that covered Kirigakure was around year long, and it would doubtful that anything would ever get 'dry' if put outside in the mist. That was just one of the natural quirks of this country. For all the good that the mist did it would be hurt to be upset with it for making this one aspect of his life more difficult. With the towel taken care of it would be time for Chigetsu to get dressed. While at home he typically spent most of his time in his boxer shorts, but he wasn't as comfortable with doing that while outside. He had tried once and gotten some rather strange looks. Of course, that was in a bathing suit rather than just underwear, but functionally they were all the same thing. That's what Chigetsu had always thought at least. It was so weird how it was okay to wear a bathing suit while swimming or while at the beach, but just walking around in your underwear wasn't considered acceptable. It was a bit too chilly for Chigetsu to be doing that in Kirigakure anyway, but that was irrelevant. Chigetsu just wanted to have that sort of freedom! Most of these thoughts came to him as he was staring at his pair of swim trunks, wondering if he should wear them today. It was a combination of his own social anxiety and the realization that he would be very cold if he did that prevented him from doing it, but he really wanted to! He would put the trunks back into their drawer before moving on to something more realistic. A more typical outfit would be selected from his drawers instead. A pair of black pants would quickly be selected, pulled out and placed along the pathetic cot that he called a bed. Choosing an outfit usually wasn't all that hard given how little clothing he actually owned. Besides the pair of black pants a beige belt would be placed. It was completely necessary to wear a belt with whatever pair of pants he owned to ensure they fit. Nearly everything he owned was a size or two too big for him. That was fine though, as he would hopefully end up growing into it. A similarly black shirt would be placed beside it. Chigetsu enjoyed the way black contrasted with his paler visage and white hair. It also didn't stain very easily, which was definitely relevant with how he ate sometimes. After laying his planned outfit out, as simple as it was, he set out to put it on. There was really no reason for him to lay everything out before putting clothing on, but it made him feel a bit better when he did. It was just another one of the rituals that Chigetsu lived by. After tightly strapping his belt on, Chigetsu would remember that he had forgot to place on his socks. It was only ever he had already put on his pants that he would remember this, and so he would go through the same routine as he felt like he did every day. His belt would be unbuckled and pants slid down so a pair of well-worn white socks could be slipped on. The same process would be repeated again afterwards, with his shirt slipped on afterwards. His sock-clad feet would be slipped into a pair of similarly worn leather boots, and from there he would work to attach the various waist pouches to his belt. Immediately after he would return to his weaponry, patting the various pouches he had attached to his belt. One after another they would all be placed inside. The kunai obviously got a spot to itself, while the three shuriken shared a pouch. They never complained about having to share a space, so Chigetsu figured it was fine. He sort of thought of the three of them as being siblings, or something along those lines. It only made sense that they would share a home together in the same pouch, right? It only made sense. With his outfit prepared Chigetsu would then turn to the bathroom.

The Hozuki boy would have a smile on his face as he dashed into his bathroom. The lights would quickly be flicked on as he entered, with the old lightbulb sputtering a bit before finally deciding that it would turn on. His bathroom was similarly small, as would be expected of the economy sized apartment Chigetsu had as his home. It had a certain homey feeling to it though that Chigetsu was unable to shake. Not that he would want to anyway. He really loved his bathroom! He spent an inordinate amount of time in there, much more than the normal person probably would spend in their bathroom. Normally rather than his bed he would draw a bath and sleep in it, whether it be over night or just for small naps. There would be still a bit of residue left over in it from his earlier shower this morning. For a moment he considered slipping in to suck all the extra moisture away from the white tiles, and would only be dissuaded by the amount of time it would surely suck away from his day. Instead he would get down to the business he had entered the bathroom for. The toothbrush. His little toothbrush would be taken out of its cup holder and held firmly as a stretch of toothpaste was applied. He would quickly apply that to his teeth, brushing back and forth furiously. Like many others within Kirigakure Chigetsu was blessed with a set of extremely sharp and triangular teeth. It was a genetic trait that went back at least as far as the first Mizukage, and possibly further. Nearly everybody in his clan had the teeth, so it wasn't that unusual that he had them as well. Chigetsu was extremely proud of them though despite how mundane they were within Kirigakure, watching them closely as he brushed. The only downside to having such cool looking teeth was that he had to be careful or else he could cut up his tongue and the inside of his mouth pretty bad. He had done so a few times before, his Hydrification Technique not managing to save him from horrible bleeding. Blood didn't taste so bad, so it wasn't the worst drawback in the world. Defintely worth it to look so cool. It was why Chigetsu took such good care of his teeth. Brushing them three times a day was part of his daily routine. He was very much a man who kept to routines, preferring to have all aspects of his personal life taken under control and itemized whenever possible. It made things so much simpler, and also removed a lot of anxiety from his life. Once he knew what he would be doing when during the day he didn't have to worry about trying to figure out blindly what next step he would have to take. It removed a lot of the constant guesswork that could make things difficult, and just all together made Chigetsu more comfortable. He would spit down into the sink after a few minutes of brushing, cupping his hands around the water coming from the faucet and bringing a handful up to his mouth to swish around. He would spit a second time before finishing, setting his toothbrush back in its holder and recapping the toothpaste. Everything seemed to be in order here. Chigetsu would flick the light switch back off back before exiting, making sure the door was completely closed behind himself.

With that taken care of, all Chigetsu had left in his morning routine would be to get breakfast. Of course, that would be a bit difficult to do while still at home. There was very little food that he kept in his apartment, with the exception of emergency supplies of cup ramen, canned soups, and military rations. Usually he ate out. It was a habit that definitely put a dent in his wallet, but Chigetsu had no idea how to cook. Making anything more than microwavable ramen was a bit beyond his understanding, and the idea of learning how to do so gave him a bit of a headache. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew he should learn how to cook properly, given that his role as a tool would probably eventually lead to him having to cook for his master or provide for his teammates in some other way. Still though, that would be something he'd put off for another day. His journey towards being a weapon would require him to become a master of using weaponry first, and then auxiliary talents could be focused on. Cooking was theoretically something that Chigetsu should be fantastic at. He was excellent at following directions, and pretty handy with all sorts of knives. It was more from fear of trying to learn without a teacher that Chigetsu never dipped his toes into the culinary arts, rather than lack of talent. The only way he would be able to learn how to be skilled was to be taught. Just developing those necessary skills on his own felt somehow fundamentally wrong, even if it was out of necessity. As he approached the exit to his apartment he would frown. The idea that he should probably start to learn how to cook was ringing around in his head now, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. What if he needed to take care of somebody who was injured during a mission? If he couldn't cook for them and provide at least basic first aid that would be a death sentence. What sort of teammate would he be then? A pretty horrible one. He cringed at the thought of somebody else starving to death because he didn't know how to cook. It was a pretty horrible feeling, one that stayed with him as he exited his apartment.

Well. He knew what he was going to do after he ate breakfast now.

[1819/3907]

The delicious gooey rice-egg mixture would quickly be scarfed down, with sips at his juice being taken in between mouthfuls. It had an incredibly savory taste that didn't particularly mix well with the sweetness in the juice, but Chigetsu was hungry. It was breakfast time and he was a growing boy. He could handle some clashing flavors anyway. Chigetsu wasn't particularly picky with what he ate as long as he kept it contained within a schedule of some sorts. Egg and rice had plenty of calories though and would be a perfect breakfast to keep him running through the day, so he ate it rather often. Occasionally oatmeal was eaten instead, but that was only during the special holiday that came at the end of the month when he needed to pay his rent. That was definitely Chigetsu's least favorite holiday. The bowl he had been given was being quickly scraped clean, only a few sticky grains of rice remaining stuck to the bottom of the bowl. As soon as he had collected every last grain of rice that he could manage to reasonably get loose, Chigetsu would move on to finish the juice. The rest of it would be guzzled down at once, Chigetsu swallowing until the glass was empty. The little fish shaped pastries would be the next target of his attention. A big bite would be taken out of one of them, biting through the waffle-like exterior into the sweet red bean paste inside. As soon as it was swallowed Chigetsu would rise from the stool, palming both of the taiyaki. Rather than sitting to eat them as he did with the rest of his meal, Chigetsu would be bringing them with him on the rest of his morning journey. Licking the remnant sweet pastry paste out of his mouth, Chigetsu would wave towards the nice elderly man who had served him. "Thank you, again!" As soon as the words had left his mouth Chigetsu would be off. The old man didn't have enough time to dedicate any more attention towards him, especially as more and more customers were streaming in now.

With his two pastries kept in his left hand, Chigetsu would take to the streets again. It was defintely much easier to work up the energy to tackle the day if he had a few handfuls of sugar with him to go. "Relying on external supplements is a weakness." His kunai would pipe up suddenly. "I suggest you kick that habit while you still can." Chigetsu would have the urge to blow a raspberry in response to that but doing so would have made a huge mess with the pastry he would currently nibbling on. "You were completely silent the entire time I ate breakfast. Why didn't you say anything earlier?" The kunai would be silent for a moment, not responding immediately. "I hadn't wanted to interrupt what was an otherwise acceptable choice for breakfast." "How is having external supplements a weakness too? Relying on them when out of energy to provide an extra boost seems like a good strategy in combat." "Perhaps in combat that could be useful, however the situation here is not in combat. Supplements were perhaps the wrong way to describe it as well. Relying on the function of a soldier pill to restore yourself in combat is perfectly acceptable. The same could not be said about eating a massive amount of sugar in the middle of combat. Or for breakfast, I might add." Now that Chigetsu had swallowed he really would blow a raspberry down at the kunai in his belt pouch. It probably would have seemed incredibly weird to anyone passing by who saw him, but after eating such a great breakfast and having a nice snack Chigetsu wasn't as concerned. "What's wrong with having a little bit of sugar for breakfast? It's good." The first pastry would be finished, the rest of the fish's tail being shoved into Chigetsu's mouth. It was a bit too large for him to eat all at once, so as a result his mouth would be stuffed full of it and he would be forced to chew slowly.  

"The unrestricted consumption of sugar will lead to bad habits, just as any supplement would though. Unrestricted consumption of soldier pills will lead to addiction. Unrestricted consumption of sugar will do the same." Chigetsu wasn't exactly in the best place to be disagreeing with his kunai, given how his mouth was absolutely stuffed with sugar now. There probably was a bit of wisdom in what his kunai was telling him, however he had already bought these treats for himself. Not eating them now would be a complete waste of money, and Chigetsu definitely wasn't happy to do something like that. As he swallowed down the remainder of his taiyaki the second one would be placed down into one of his empty belt pouches. "Fiiiine... I'll try not to eat too much more of it in the future. I already bought these though, so they're fair game." Chigetsu would lick his lips a bit, trying to get whatever remnants he could that had stuck to his mouth. "Why didn't you say anything about my juice too, if sugar is so bad for me?" "Juice has a decent amount of vitamins in it. Eating the raw fruit would be preferable though." "Where am I supposed to find a pomegranate though anyway? It would take way too long to eat that for breakfast too." "Then perhaps choose another fruit to eat in the morning? Oranges would be a good choice."  

The talk about food seemed to fit in with his earlier plans. His kunai seemed to know a thing or two about a good balanced diet, and given how Chigetsu had earlier today confirmed his need to learn how to cook that was very useful. Asking his kunai for advice on how to cook though seemed like a poor idea. Finding somewhere to learn how to cook would be difficult though. There was no stove in his apartment to experiment with on his own time. Even if he wanted to buy a cookbook and just religiously follow the recipes within to their exact order Chigetsu had nowhere he could even attempt to cook at. His microwave was the only cooking appliance he had access to, which made it especially difficult. There very likely wasn't going to be a microwave for him to use when out in enemy territory on a mission. Come to think of it, there probably wouldn't be a stove for him to use in that situation either. It was something he would have to think on. Even if he wouldn't have access to those sorts of appliances when on a mission, it probably wouldn't hurt to learn how to use them as well. Maybe it would build knowledge of the fundamentals in cooking? It might also lead to a situation where he might be able to cook something for himself instead of always eating out. Replicating his simple breakfast probably would be the first step. Eggs, rice, and sesame seed were all cheap and easy to buy. The only thing that even needed to be cooked was the rice. Given that he watched them make the rice at that little stand nearly every day, it couldn't be that hard. Right? "It can't be that hard, right?" He would ask down to his kunai. "What can't be that hard?" "Cooking rice?" "Of course not. Especially with the addition of a rice cooker."  

Chigetsu quickly came to the decision that he would have to buy a rice cooker.  

Probably some rice too.  

[WC: 1303/8042]

[Thread End - Story will be continued]
[Training Jutsu]
[Heavy Handed Water Clone - 1000/8042 WC] [-150 Ryo]
[Cephalophilia -1000/7042 WC] [-150 Ryo]
[Anemone Technique -1000/6042 WC] [-150 Ryo]
[Meat Searing -1000/5042 WC] [-150 Ryo]
[Water Release: Gunshot -1000/4042 WC] [-150 Ryo]
[Rain Hopping - 500/3542 WC] [- 50 Ryo]
[The Rest of the WC will be distributed at a later date]
[Total WC used (5500) | Total Ryo spent (800)]