The sound of her pencil scribbling quickly across the unlined notebook in front of her would be the only sound to come from her. Even her breath was held for the moment, the tip of her tongue between her lips as she drew. She was drawing, had been for an hour or so now. She had found herself this particular rocky spot before, seeing as it wasn't far from the temple she called home, and found it rather comfortable for drawing. She was currently seated upon one rather flat rock, with another behind her that her back rested on. She sat, for the most part, Indian style, with the notebook laying on her lap to keep it flat.

The wind blew her black and white hair into her darkened eyes, but she didn't even budge, just kept on drawing the nose of the portrait she was currently working on. It was a female, or at least the features said as much, since she had yet to draw hair or anything, yet. After a deep breath she began to hum, a soft yet cheerful sounding tune.

Letting out a whistle from his mouth, Sanosuke began to whistle to himself as he strolled around Kumogakure. There really wasn't much for Sanosuke could do. He had just met up with his squad for the first time, and he had also met with a genin that had just started his journey as a ninja from Kumo. Things, all though they could be more interesting in Sanosuke's opinion, was starting to look up for Kumo. The amount of shinobi Sanosuke was seeing meant that Kumo was about to go through a change very soon.

As he walked, he saw a girl on a rock drawing something in a notebook. The girl looked around his age and had silver hair. She was wearing pretty warm clothing even though the weather didn't demand for such large amounts of layers. Her eyes looked as though she was very enthralled in her drawings that it made Sanosuke rather curious about what the girl was drawing. Sanosuke walked close to the girl's shoulder so he can look to see what she was drawing. "Hey what are you drawing there?" Sanosuke asked the girl.

Scribble, scribble, scribble, and the nose was complete. That was about the time she heard the male speak from over her shoulder. She flinched back, before catching herself. Mentally scolding herself for being so jumpy she glanced up at the one who had spoken. "It's a girl I saw one of my cousins with the other day... It's not finished, yet." She turned her darkened gaze back to the drawing, her hand moving to the top of the page as she began to move the pencil again, forming life-like hair.

She threw a glance back over her shoulder, her social awkwardness making things ten times more complicated when it came to making normal conversation, to the point to where she had to remind herself mentally not to be rude. "I'm um.. Ai, by the way. Ai Tsukino." Oh well, she'd at least try and be polite, not that she wasn't.. her shyness just made things so overly complicated.

With each scribble the girl made, more and more of the drawing that the girl was sketching began to become more clear. There the nose of the drawing was completed; the drawing in it's entirety was yet to be finished, but the drawing was quite good. Sanosuke had to hand it to the girl, she really did know how to draw. When he spoke to the girl as she drew, the girl flinched. The girl looked at Sanosuke with her eyes and got a good look at her face. Although they were about the same age, Sanosuke didn't particulary recall seeing her before in the academy. They both were definitely from the academy and Sanosuke most likely had seen her before but didn't remember anything particular about her.

"My name is Sanosuke, Sanosuke Flynt" Sanosuke said as he walked around the rock that the girl named Ai was sitting on. When he was standing in front of Ai, Sanosuke sat in front of the girl cross legged. "Mind telling me what a girl like you is doing all alone drawing on some rock?"

Given that he was now sitting in front of her compared to looking over her shoulder, the scar that went from her right ear, down her neck, over her shoulder, down her right arm, and to the end of her middle finger would become more noticeable, even more so as she pushed her black and white hair out of her face. She turned her gaze from Sanosuke back to her drawing, her hand once more moving across the page as she added more and more strands of long hair.

She bit her bottom lip for a moment, as if contemplating her answer before with a sigh she spoke, "I guess, I was bored.." She shrugged lightly. "Sometimes I just feel the need to be outside, doing something else other then training.. or studying.", her voice became soft, though still loud enough to be heard, but almost as if she didn't want anyone else to over hear her explanation. Of course, Ai thought she could better be spending her time training and studying, but she just couldn't bring herself to stop drawing and do it. She glanced back up to Sanosuke for a quick second, "What are you doing around here?", she asked with a voice more filled with curiosity then any sort of judgement, her gaze flickering back to her page to make sure she was drawing what she should be.

The way that Ai began focusing on her drawing instead of the conversation that Sanosuke started was really starting to bother him. It looked like Ai was very uncomfortable with the conversation, but all they said was their names and the girl was already acting as though Sanosuke had asked her a very personal question. It was just Sanosuke's luck to find a cute girl who won't even acknowledge him. But then she spoke about what Ai usually does when she has free time, and that out Sanosuke at ease. As though he wasn't wasting time asking questions to someone who obviously didn't want to talk to him.

Then she asked Sanosuke what he was doing here. That was actually a good question; what WAS he really doing here? "You know Ai, I don't even know that myself. I had just met up with my squad for the first time ever. We're gonna start training very soon, my sensei said." Sanosuke answered. He began to smirk and chuckled at what he said next. "My sensei is the Raikage himself, but he doesn't seem anything too special. What about you, how is your squad like?"

The pencil fell still in her hand as her head tilted and her gaze once more rested on Sanosuke, her attention fully shifting to him for the moment. "Really? The Raikage himself?", her voice was filled with curiosity, though it lacked any sort of awe. She was curious yes, but it took an awful lot more for her to even begin to feel anything like jealousy, thankfully. Then she heard his other question, and a small frown slipped across her face. "I don't have a squad, not yet, anyway..." She gave a shrug, as if the topic didn't bother her, though the quieting of her voice spoke otherwise.

She turned her gaze back to her drawing, the pencil once more beginning to move across the page as she finished up the last few strands of hair of the young woman she was drawing. "So... you didn't have to do any training at all today?", she threw another glance up his way, obviously trying to keep the conversation going, while also attempting to keep it deflected off of herself, even if the attempt was rather obvious.

"None not at all. But I'm a bit bummed out about it. But anyways I'm sorry you don't have a squad yet" Sanosuke replied. Although he didn't have any training, Sanosuke was still a bit hungry for a fight. And fighting the Raikage was the only way he could remedy that hunger. But at least he had a clan. Sanosuke knows full well how lonely it is to not have a clan and be left to fend for himself. Of course that he got to where he was because of his own will, but the burden of loneliness was at times unbearable. Being apart of a squad is definitely going to be a new experience for him.

There's a possibility that Ai might not even get assigned a squad for a long time. Sanosuke stood up and placed his hand on Ai's shoulder and smiled. He hoped that by doing this, he would have gotten the girl's attention. "Don't worry Ai; although we just met, I want you to know that I'll be here for you. Whether it be training or hanging out. That's if it's okay with you" Sanosuke said and smiled at the end of his claim. He met every word he said and really wanted his words to reach out to Ai.

She flinched again as she was touched, not because it hurt, but because of the high risk of her shocking Sanosuke, even something as simple and small as a small static shock. "Careful.. sometimes I accidentally shock people when they get too close.", she said by way of explanation. This was why she avoided contact with others, she hated to have anyone thinking she purposely attacked them.

She took pause for a moment, thinking over his words; she wasn't bummed about the lack of squad, at least not that much, it was more over the lack of friends, really. She had friends, but none really outside of those within her clan, and even then.. they were her clan, of course she was going to consider them friends. But a true friend? Someone she could just hang out with? Maybe train with? That made her day. A great big grin spread across her face, causing a twinkle to appear in her darkened gaze. She placed her pencil down on the sketch book, ignoring it as it rolled over the finished drawing of the female and bumped against the binding of the book where it rested. "That would be great, I usually just stay in the temple all day... and training and hanging out with the same people day after day gets boring, it'll be nice to have someone outside of my clan to talk to.", she said excitedly, her shyness all but gone for the moment.

When first putting his hand on Ai's shoulder, Sanosuke was thinking that it would be a bad idea. Who was to say that Ai wouldn't appreciate his sudden touching and his kind gesture. He was really sincere about his words when he spoke to Ai, Sanosuke was never one to lie about the words he meant. Every word and promise Sanosuke says, Sanosuke carries them to close to his pride; breaking even a single promise would deal a lethal blow to his pride. But when Ai gave him the smile, it put Sanosuke more at ease knowing that Ai smiled at him. This time her smile was more personal, than the polite smiles she gave him. Sanosuke smiled back at the girl so that she can see the look of appreciation that was on Sanosuke's face.

It sounded as though Sanosuke had made another friend. The smile that was on Sanosuke's face turned into a chuckle. "Well if it's someone fun that you're looking to hang out with, then I'm the guy who you want to see. But really just staying in a temple all day sounds too boring. How about we go out somewhere so we can just hang? Unless you rather just draw all day" Sanosuke said with a wink as he made a playful step away from Ai to make it seem as though he would just leave her alone on that rock she was sitting on.

A playful twinkle appeared in her eyes, giving them a slightly brighter appearance. Without hestitation she closed her sketch book, wrapping the pencil within its confines. "Well, where did you have in mind?", she asked, curiosity filling her voice as she stood from the rock she had been sitting on. "Anything is better then being stuck inside all day.. and I could use a break from drawing."

Yup, she was all for finding something else to do.. Especially with a new friend. Her social awkwardness was ebbing away a bit more, meaning that the smile on her face was more friendly in nature, compared to being polite like it had been. She was rather excited for once, a rare emotion for her, given her normal keep-to-herself ways.

The smile on Ai's face looked more natural, true there was still a bit of uncomfort in the smile but it was still progress. From the way Ai was looking at Sanosuke, she really was more intrigued with Sanosuke now. That was good, Sanosuke could tell that she was someone who really preferred to be left alone to her own devices. But if you spent all the time by yourself, doing the same things over and over again you'd miss the rare turn of events of life. Sanosuke turned around this time with a smile. He cocked his head to the side to joke around with his friend "Hmm, how about you try to read my mind and guess to figure out where I'm gonna take you. Maybe I might take you all the way to Yuki, maybe I might just simply take you to the Durian tree Who knows?" Sanosuke teased. He turned around walking away for real this time, secretly hoping that Ai was following him. "I guess you'll have to follow me to find out."

Ai giggled, the innocent and somewhat more free sounding. She bit her lip for a moment, looking down at her sketch book as if contemplating leaving it behind. She looked at the rock, then to her book, and then back again, before tucking it under her arm; having decided that she didn't trust leaving it behind, in case someone happened to come along and find it. Another giggle escaped her as she readily followed Sanosuke. "I can't read minds.. so I guess I'll just have to follow you."

She giggled again, her mood shifting to a far more playful one. Her movements and speech filling with more ease as she became more comfortable around her new found friend. Having a friend wasn't as hard as she thought, she just had to stop doubting herself, had to remind herself to stop caring about being the 'perfect' person, and to just be herself. "So, what sort of hobbies do you like to do? Since you obviously know now that I like to draw..."

Walking with Ai, Sanosuke felt more relieved. For a second, Sanosuke thought that he might have scared the girl away. When Sanosuke turned around to see Ai, he found that she was smiling at him. This smile was more freely given out than any other smiles she had given him since the short time that they had known each other. Sanosuke smiled back to hold back the blush that was coming onto his face; she was cute before with that shy attitude of hers but this new confident Ai was just as cute. Shaking his head out of wishful thinking he decided to listen out to Ai.

Then Sanosuke thought about Ai's words that she asked him. What hobbies did he enjoy. "Well you want to know what my hobbies are? Well I may not look like it but I actually like reading books and training. Yeah I know it's almost as bad as being cooped up in a temple all day like you. Depressing right?" Sanosuke answered and laughed out loud joking with what he said. Hopefully this new Ai can understand the meaning of a joke.

She walked beside Sanosuke, glancing about from time to time as she tried to guess where it was they might be heading to, not that she minded, the walk was lovely in itself. She listened to him as he spoke about his hobbies, and laughed softly at his joke before shaking her head slightly. "I guess so."

She took a pause, trying to organize the many questions she had floating around in her head for her new friend. She brushed a strand of hair out of her face as she thought about it, before glancing sideways at him. "What sort of books do you like to read? I like all kinds.. but history and adventure type books tend to be my favorites... probably because I've always dreamed of going to new places.", she fell silent then, giving him a chance to answer her question without her rambling on.

She gave herself a mental pat on the back at her calmness now, being completely at ease compared to before. She thought over her next question while waiting for his answer, and hoping she wasn't about to annoy him to hell and back with the many questions she had; but that's just the type of person she was, if she wanted to know something she asked. Though, she was going to try and restrain herself from asking that many questions. She didn't want to drive her new friend away before she had a chance to really get to know him, or at all for that matter; though she seemed to be doing good so far, which was a first.

"hmmmm I have to say my favorite books have to deal with fantasy, you know stuff like magical weapons and magical people and what not." Sanosuke tried to explain. Well it was true, Sanosuke was a fan of those kinds of books. Normally those books are for kids but hell Sanosuke loved them, and he would try his best for Ai to understand that. "I know, I know. Someone like me is too old to be reading those kinds of books but I love them anyways. It's like when I read those books, I can escape the real world and go some where else." Sanosuke caught himself from rambling. He had a habit to doing that so he decided that he should just stop talking to allow his new cute friend to speak.

"So Ai, if you had any other place to go, anywhere in the world; where would you go?" Sanosuke asked with interest. He really wanted to get to know his new friend some more. All he got from her was that she likes to draw, which was cool. Hell there were times when Sanosuke wished he had the ability to draw like that.

She listened closely to him as he explained what he liked, and then went on to explain why. She nodded her head in agreement. "Ah, I understand. Maybe I'll have to start reading books like that. It would be nice to escape from the world for a while, especially doing something I also like; reading." She laughed softly, for no other reason really other than the fact that she was overly happy.

His new question amused her slightly, and she bit her bottom lip as she thought it over. Her head tilted a little as she continued to walk beside him. "Oh.. I dunno. I never really thought about it before, honestly. I mean, I've always thought about going other places, but I've never really picked anywhere in particular. I guess it wouldn't matter, so long as it was a different place." She shrugged lightly, while hoping that she made as much sense as possible. "Have you ever gone traveling anywhere?", she asked curiously, looking to him as she did so.

The sound of Ai's laughter really put Sanosuke at ease, it seemed as though she really let herself feel comfortable with him now. She talked about how she would like to read the books that Sanosuke usually reads. "Well if you want then maybe we can head off to the library and get some books together. The librarian, Aoi, she's a sweet heart and always reserves the best books for me because well I guess I'm her favorite." Sanosuke suggested to his friend.

Then he thought about what Ai asked him, it was the same question that Sanosuke had asked her. "Well unfortunately, I haven't yet. I've always been in Kumo since the day I was born. Never been outside of Kumo before, but I wanna see the world sometime." Sanosuke stopped to look at the sky. The clouds looked so cloudy today. It was expected; he was talking about the village hidden in the clouds. But these clouds gave Kumo the beauty that had him so intrugued him for so many years. "I wanna see how the clouds look in other parts of the world" Sanosuke muttered allowed as he almost felt his conscious being pulled away from his body. He shook his head clear and looked at Ai and chuckled. "Sorry about that you must think I'm weird don't you?"

"That sounds like a good idea, I need some new books to read for a while. Aoi's a sweetheart. She always lets me know when new books dealing with history and the like end up coming in.", she said softly.

She listened to him answer her question about traveling and shook her head with a friendly smile. "Not at all. I've thought things along those lines before." She shrugged lightly. "Won't know until I get the chance to go on a little bit of an adventure. It'd be nice... sometimes, just seeing and doing the same thing day in and day out gets rather boring.." She smiled again, shifting her sketch book closer to her as she folded her arms across her chest and around the book. "Besides, my swords should be finished by now, and I'm sure that there are some great training methods out there that we don't have here, and vice versa."

The topic about swords really did peak Sanosuke's interest. He hadn't known that his new friend Ai was a swordsman like himself. As far as Sanosuke noticed about Ai, she didn't look like someone who uses a sword. But hell Sanosuke knew way better than to judge someone by appearance alone. "I didn't know you were a swordsman Ai, that's pretty cool. You're both a swordsman and you're beautiful" Sanosuke laughed as he began walking on a mountain trail. It was a bit narrow but Sanosuke decided it was best that Ai needed someone to guide her down the mountain trail. He offered her his hand.

"Here take my hand, the mountain trail is a bit narrow here" Sanosuke said. He really didn't want anything bad to happen to Ai, if she wasn't careful on walking down the mountain trail she might fall off.

What did he just say? Her mind all but blanked at the compliment. She'd never been complimented before; not like that at least. Her cheeks reddened, severely, as her mind clicked back on and began working once more. She opened her mouth to respond and had to close it again. Her mind was a jumble of words, but she needed to respond; to say something. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth again, figuring to give it another try, "Um.. thank you, for your compliment.", she said softly.

She reached out without hesitation, showing she was now more than comfortable with Sanosuke's presence, and placed her hand in his; accepting his offer of help. Figuring she need to say something, anything else, she spoke again softly, "I just recently made them... I went a bit overboard with their designs... they're a bit on the artsy side of things." She giggled softly.

They walked down the ledge holding hands until they finally reached leveled ground that they can walk together side by side. He wished that Sanosuke had half the artistic skill as Ai had. He always wished that he can design his own swords maybe Ai might help him out with creating his own sword. He turned around to face Ai as they walked. "I think that's great Ai, you know I was thinking of taking us to go to the Sky Bar but it's closed today." Sanosuke had just remembered out loud. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand and laughed nervously. "So how about we go to pick up your swords?" Sanosuke suggested. Then he looked down and saw that they were still holding hands as they walked together.

He tried to focus on other things to stop his face from blushing so badly. Finally decided that he can no longer continue holding Ai's hand without keeping his face from having a noticeable blush on his face. He let go of her hand as they walked and put them in his overcoat's pockets. The fresh air was helping him compose his face so that it didn't show him blushing. He normally didn't feel this way around girls, he was usually composed. But with her she was different. He shook his head to see if that helped him stop his mind from getting overrun with hesitation and nervousness . Just stay cool Sano, just stay cool he thought to himself desperately as he felt his blush die down.

She thought over the idea of going to pick up her swords; she really hadn't had a chance to use them, yet, let alone really carry them around or show anyone them. The idea was appealing to say the last. She nodded slightly and smiled. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll have to make a trip to my home to get them."

She took notice when he let go of her hand, smiling lightly. She was slightly disappointed that he had let go, though she couldn't reign her emotions in enough to understand why. This.. this was a whole slew of new emotions for her being that she kept to herself usually. Her own blush rushed to her cheeks as wrapped her arms around her sketch book once more, looking at the ground and kicking lightly at a small rock.

When Sanosuke felt as though his blush had died down, to the point where he can look at Ai without his face looking too flustered, he decided to look at Ai. She was holding her notebook close to her as she walked, the grip on her notebook made her bones white. He wondered what made her clench her notebook so close to her. As she walked, there was an elegant bounce in her stride with each step she took; even when she kicked a simple pebble from the ground made Sanosuke be lost in Ai's beauty.

Sanosuke mentally kicked himself so his mind wouldn't be flustered again. Focus! his conscious shouted at him so he can figure out a way to fill up the awkwardness in the air. "So we're going to your house? I thought you lived near the temple. Wouldn't that mean we'd be having to walk back to your lovely rock I found you sitting on?" Sanosuke playfully asked, unintentionally taking a step close to Ai's side so their shoulders were only an inch away from each other as they walked.

Ai looked up from the ground, her gaze focusing on Sanosuke as her blush finally died down. She gave a small nod and smiled again. "I live in the temple, actually. All of my clan does. It's quite nice.." She thought about her home for a moment, head tilting a bit in her deep thinking, though she kept walking the entire time, heading towards her home; or more importantly the place she had last stashed her swords.

As she snapped out of her deep thoughts she realized that Sanosuke had moved closer. Something in the back of her mind said she should care, said she should be cautious because of the passive shock she naturally gave off; but the other half of that subconscious was telling her not to worry; that she hadn't harmed him when she had held his hand. 'I've never let anyone get those close to me before... but I like it...', came her mental musing. Realizing she should probably say something else to keep the conversation going as she walked she asked, "Have you ever made any decorative swords before?"