Konoha Library:

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"I see..."

Hisaki mumbled to herself, looking down at the book that lay open on the table in front of her. Unlike the old tomes on fire release and chakra control that she usually found herself reading, this one was glossy and new, still smelling as if it had been freshly printed. The book's position on the table hid the cover from anyone looking, but a glance over her shoulder would reveal that it was a self-help book, one that had come out recently. The book's title, which was printed at the top of each page, would have been a dead give-away to anyone who wondered why Hisaki would be reading this particular book, at this particular time.


The Chuunin Exams were coming to a close, but Konohagakure was still filled with shinobi and supporters from all over the world. And although Hisaki hadn't been able to participate in this year's exams, she had spent a lot of time watching them. And watching the other genin. It occurred to her that a lot of them tended to hang around in groups, just like the genin from her own villages. Groups of...friends.

Now, it wasn't like Hisaki didn't have friends. There was Minori--and Minori counted as two friends in one! But while thinking about it, Hisaki realized that she had more or less stumbled headfirst into her friendship with Minori, and that probably wouldn't have happened if they hadn't been assigned to the same mission. If their paths hadn't crossed, Hisaki probably would have continued existing in a friendless state, and she was starting to realize that that was not something she wanted. She liked having friends, even if she wasn't sure she was a very good friend yet.

Unfortunately, she wasn't sure how to start. She had acquaintances from the Academy, of course, but she felt as if it was too late to befriend any of them. And her mother, if she asked, would have said friends were a waste of time. So, the library it was. The book, at least, was fascinating.

Hisaki pulled it closer to herself as she continued to read.

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WC: 383

Mugen was very curious on many of the different places of the world. He had been growing for many years and intended on doing his absolute best to become the strongest he could become. His years spent training and doing things that catered to his genin rankings. Taking on a lot of simple missions and going about meeting a lot of simple people. His life was by all means and average and thereby he decided to go on an average ceremonious visit to the village that would host the Chunin Exams. The exams themselves were well known especially for those in his similar rankings that wanted to prove themselves and jump the ranks. If they failed, then at least they walked away with decent experience, usually.

The experience learned would not be something of interest to the young adult genin. Mugen didn’t really care about the exams and was hoping to pass expectations using his own methods. Acquiring his own prowess through his excursions. He would compliment this ambition by viewing the exams and looking around the villages of the world. One of the best places to acquire the most knowledge in any village was by checking their libraries. The very addition of knowledge to your arsenal was exponential.

So Mugen had made his way to the library during the breaks. He didn’t really know if he was allowed to do that or not, but he wasn’t wearing his headband, and seemed a lot like a civilian as he walked around as a result. The library bustling at its own pace and held an accountable number of people in it. It seemed that most of the buzz revolved around the Chunin exams and not studying. That was unfortunate because Mugen was hoping on meetings all kinds of friends that shared similar interests to his own.

At this moment, Mugen was a legal immigrant, and held no quarrels with people coming into villages under legal pretense. He didn’t want to get his visa revoked and held it in his heart that he would be on his best behavior; if someone want to come to his village legally he would hope for the same thing. His excursion to the library was holding very little result, but he had intentions of seeing the differences in knowledge and history the two villages and how it was noted.

It wouldn’t take long for something to come to the young adults attention. He was wearing rather casual attire and didn’t have intentions of coming across as confrontational. He had simple black shorts with some extra pockets that went down slightly below his knees, some neato ninja sandals with socks on. He was really used to wearing these sandals, especially at the tightness he did, because he was always ready to burst himself into a situation without tripping over himself. He would be complimented by a white t-shirt, a little baggy for his build, and it went down below his waist, but Mugen forgot to do laundry, and his Mom just recently told him to do his own laundry. This stopped Mugen from having a lot of clothes, unfortunately, because he always forgot to wash them.

At least the shirt didn’t have any stains so he could walk around confidently. Walking around aimlessly until he took not of a young girl reading a random rather suspiciously. Hiding the cover and holding it very close to her; she appeared to hold intense interest in the subject matter. Mugen would awkwardly come up behind her, trying his best to be quiet and not startle her attention through any of her traditional senses, but not in a pedophilic kind of way, of course, and peak over her shoulder. His keen eyesight and superior height allowing him to read along with the young girl, who he wasn’t interested in, because he was really old.

He’d read along for a moment, hopefully undetected, and if he was figured out, then all he could do was really shrug and sigh while anticipating the future scolding. If not, then Mugen would eventually break any awkward silence after a couple seconds of realizing the book was more or less useless to him, and probably rather important to the girl.

Well, friends in different places were beneficial.

”If you wanna make friends, then all you gotta do is ask.” Mugen would awkwardly open with, creepily staring down at the young girl from over her right shoulder, a smug look on his face that meant nothing at all, because it was actually just his face.

Without context this seems like a very weird situation, but fear not, for Mugen is not a pervert.

It was sometimes said that Hisaki had a one track mind.

It was, by all accounts, a good mind, able to keep, retain and parse information, and able to focus her attention on whatever it was she needed to focus on. Some of that had been nurture instead of nature--working with fire release from a very early age and separating fire into its three natures meant that a focused outlook was essential, or she would end up getting herself or someone else hurt. But some of that focus had been what she was born with. It had helped her over the years, allowing her to learn and master jutsu quickly, allowing her to sit through meditative exercises that put her other cousins to sleep.

But that focus had a downside. It was all-consuming, and when Hisaki was focused on something, truly focused, it would take an explosion to distract her from it.

As you could imagine, that was not always the best trait for a shinobi. And while Hisaki was aware of this to a certain extent and tried to spread her attention out when she was training, she was off-duty today. She wasn't even wearing her headband, although she had dressed like a young shinobi today, opting to wear a long-sleeved red shirt and a pair of black shorts instead of her usual kimono. So she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, was completely engrossed in her book, and didn't notice that there was someone looking over her shoulder.

Until he spoke.

"Eek!" Hisaki's heart jumped into her throat as she realized someone had been standing over her this whole time. She let out a shout, leaping to her feet and taking the book with her. The chair fell over loudly as Hisaki jumped back, hugging her book close to her chest. A red color spread its way across her face, accompanied by a wave of warmth, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the man in front of her.

But she wasn't disturbed for any of the normal reasons a girl her age might be disturbed about having a man loom over her. No, actually, those thoughts had never crossed her mind. What did cross her mind was that he knew what she was reading! And what if he told someone she knew?

It was possible, right? He looked much older than she was, in his twenties probably, which meant that if he was a shinobi, he probably wasn't a genin. But that didn't mean he didn't know any other genin. He might know someone she went to the Academy with, might know someone in her clan. She could already imagine the rumors now. 'Hibana Hisaki has to read books to figure out how to make friends!' Oh, she would just die!

"H-How long have you been standing there?!"

"Shh!" a librarian hissed.

A hush fell over the library, a circle of silence forming around Hisaki and the stranger. Belatedly, Hisaki realized that everyone was staring at her. She looked around, feeling herself start to panic, her heart beating faster.

Would she make more, or less of a scene if she vanished right now?

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WC: 540 + 383 = 923

The coming scene was eventful as Mugen stared deeply back at the young girl. His eyes holding a tint of curiosity as he himself wondered what just happened. He would sway his arms at his side and wrap his open palms on his waist. His posture relaxing as he came to an understanding of what had just happened. It didn’t really cross him that he might have done something wrong, but given the circumstance of the situation it was quite obvious that what he did was probably weird, or something.

The young lady would shriek and cause commotion with her actions. Jumping to attention with the book firmly in her grasp as her eyes would fixate upon Mugen’s as she stared deeply into his soul, or seemingly so, at least. She would speak to him and ask him a rather simple question, one he could definitely provide an answer, but the transgression against library policy caused an audible hushing from somebody in the room.

Much more attention was brought towards the two as the sequence of events unfolded. Mugen would look around, shaking his head back and forth, hoping nobody would suddenly deport him from the village due to the situation possibly being perceived as him picking on a young woman. He had no way of knowing she was from the village, of course, but she had no way of knowing he wasn’t either, and he hoped to keep the altercation between the both of them.

Mugen, being the honorable man he is, would take a couple steps towards the girl after he put his arms completely to his side. Swaying as he took his steps and stopped before him. Her question still lingering on his find.

”Long enough to see what it was about.” He’d reply. Extending his right hand towards her in hopes that she would accept it and come back to her feet. Mugen knew how it felt to not really have any friends. He only oh so recently began to come up with friends of his own. He was always surpassed by those around him and held it within himself to still grow stronger in ranks despite his age. Making a new ally would definitely help. If he couldn’t get anywhere to where he wanted to be with his own power, then maybe the power of others would lighten the journey.

397 words

There was a moment of panic as Hisaki realized what was happening. She had shouted at a stranger who didn't appear to be doing anything wrong, disrupted the activities of the other library patrons, and had generally caused a commotion. More than that, she had made a scene. Her face heated up further, her mind racing to assess the situation. People were staring at her, and some of them looked close enough to her age to probably, maybe, know someone who knew her. But she didn't recognize any of them at first glance, and her outfit covered up most of the burn-like birthmark that would have told anyone in the know what clan she was from. So they probably had no idea who she was. And would probably forget all about this if she stopped making a scene.

Her eyes drifted from the crowd to the man who stood in front of her, holding his hand out to her. People were staring at her, waiting to see what she would do. Feeling sheepish, and not wanting to disrupt things further, Hisaki took the man's hand. She let him pull her to her feet, although all things considered, she didn't really need the help, and hugged the book protectively to herself with her free hand. She didn't know what was worse, the mortification she felt at knowing that a complete stranger had seen what she was reading, or how embarrassed she was for the way she had overreacted.

But she would only make things worse if she didn't address the situation, so she searched for something to say. What would normal people say at a time like this?

"Erm, well..." she said, releasing the man's hand. "This is just...research! You know, research! For...class?" She wasn't making any sense. She could practically feel how flimsy her excuse was. Still, she was already committed, so she had to keep talking. "I have to write a..." Oh, this was hopeless, wasn't it? Hisaki was going to live her life as a hopeless case.

The thought robbed her voice of any of the enthusiasm she had left, making the lie very obvious as she looked away and finished her sentence.

"...book report."

There was no way anyone would believe that, would they?

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WC: 389 + 923 = 1312