In the distance was the one Village that the Uchiha was able to go to and feel no bonds towards his family, specifically his mother in the Land of Fire. The last time he had been there, they had been living in one of the hamlets around the Hidden Leaf Village.

Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning was practically a second home to the Ronin, but he didn't think that his presence was particularly accepted within the walls of the Village, so he had dedicated most of the time he had outside, practicing what Katon techniques he knew, hoping to push himself over some invisible limit and to unleash his sharingan.

"It won't work!" He cried to the makeshift dummies in front of him. He was beside a small body of water, fresh since it came from the mountains, and he looked at the scorched branches. They had taken all morning to gather and to make so that they were on par with his own height.

Back when he was younger and his father hadn't been slain, Atasuke had been forced to read stories and the history of the Uchiha Clan, whatever his father could get his hands on and practically forced his son to force feed himself the knowledge of his ancestry. Was the information in those stories really so important? He crouched just beside the body of water, and brought his face close to it. He cupped his hands and brought the cold water to his lips.

As it entered past his lips he felt the cold stream of water as it cut a line through his dry throat, slowly cooling his body and refreshing him. As he looked up into the sky, he realized how dark it was, but he knew it was simply because it was soon going to rain.

May as well do some more training. You couldn't be entirely certain that it was going to rain, and the Village was too far away to even make it back to shelter, and even if he left by that time it'd be too late since the gates would be no doubt closed.

Lifting his head back up from the water, he rolled his shoulders back in his crouched position before actually straightening and pushing off the floor to get back to his feet. Continuously rolling his shoulders back, he had an unreachable kink on his right side and he groaned in annoyance. After a few minutes of trying to reach it with no luck, he eventually decided it wasn't important. It won't stop me from doing hand signs anyway. He brought his hands together, palm against palm, digit against digit, pointed vertically into the air as if in prayer, but he was really just thinking of which technique to use first.

He flipped backwards, dropping his hands to either side of him and inhaled, just as he landed he released ten tiny spheres of fire straight towards the five targets, two for each.

Four of the makeshift dummies were hit by at least one sphere, by the last one had been missed completely. There were scorches marks to show how he had missed his mark earlier in the training already. However, the dummies that were hit already didn't combust, thankfully. He had soaked the wood in water to prevent them from burning.

The first time he had done training like this he had burned the training dummies that had taken him a whole day to make, and on his first session with them destroyed them.

That was why he practiced besides water!

WC: 610

Akai was making her way forward through the unknown forest in Kumo. It was a little unexpected though for the red hair to be travelling through what seemed to be the same looking forest as that one of Konoha’s.  Long time ago, in her years of bright childhood, she had this mysterious image of Kumo village in her mind - with clouds and all kinds of buildings hanging downwards in the crystal clear sky, which resembled those only seen in fairytale books. But returning back to reality, the grass was big and kept touching her legs in an uncomfortable manner. As much as the red haired girl was trying to avoid any disturbance, the thick branches kept hitting some parts of her body once in a while. Simply told, this journey had taken just too long and tiredness was starting to kick in.

There was no exact destination or any particular people who could have accepted the girl at the point of her arrival. The more she thought about what could be done or where she could be heading next, the bigger the frown was starting to appear on her lips. The frown was getting bigger by every minute of walking. Soon enough it reached its peak and the girl finally allowed herself to let a deep sigh out of her tiny body. Yes, at times like these, she would just make a deep sigh trying to let out these uneasy feelings both of uncertainty and loneliness. Then soon after, this thought would appear of how it would be so much easier if she had at least one person she could trust and lean on. However, these kinds of feelings could not be gotten rid of just so easily. For an ordinary person it could take even a lifetime to achieve that. And she did not have that much of time at the moment.

The red hair suddenly stopped for a second, raised her hand in hesitation and covered one side of her face. It felt like a head ache was catching onto her. Could it be because she had been travelling the whole night without stopping to rest or at least to dry her wet kimono properly? Or could it be due to those messed up thoughts in her mind? She started breathing unevenly. There, there now, Akai, big girls don’t cry.

After a very short time, she shook her head in disapproval and took the step again. As the girl was heading forward, she raised her head to see what’s in the horizon for her. An invisible smile curved onto her lips as she finally saw the end of this uncomfortable forest. A bunch of mountains and a small pond of water appeared.

“Ah!“ The red haired reacted in excitement. “An animal?!....A human being in a place like this though?“ A flow of good chakra could be sensed around, which seemed a little bit too strong for any bigger animal. The girl added more speed to her light feet and her sky blue eyes started searching the environment for any moving object. This sudden notice just gave her so much hope as her life could depend on it. Maybe she would receive some help finally, Akai was in the place she was not familiar with after all.

Soon the red haired girl found herself running faster and faster until she reached the little pool of water. Akai stopped due to the sudden sight she stumbled upon. On the other side of the little pond, there was, indeed, a human being, a male as it seemed from afar. He was surely in the process of training, as a huge wave of fire was vanishing in the air. Akai was standing still, somehow feeling too shy all of a sudden. She wanted to run screaming towards the boy, but some doubts kept interupting her mind. Is it safe to contact this person?

No. Actually, it‘s not the completely right question.

Is it safe for HIM to get to know HER?

___________________________
WC 670

His disappointment in his failure was soon forgotten and expelled from his thoughts. Failure wasn't one of his goals, and he was determined to not let it dictate his future. While he trained, he always thought back to the stories of the legendary forebears of his Clan, even the history of the Leaf Village, it was something that motivated him... It sometimes even brought a smile to his face, it was nostalgic in a way, as if he were still at home with his Mother and Father while he trained.

Unfortunately, as most people that had ever encountered him while he trained could vouch, he was no longer in the Leaf Village, and he was definitely not being shadowed by a fatherly figure. No, for the last handful of years, the young Uchiha ventured on his own, trained on his own, and maintained enough human contact so that he wouldn't become crazed due to a lack of human interaction. In his mind, he reviewed the hand seal of the Tiger hand seal. He kept his hands at his sides, as far away as he was willing them to go, and his lips thinned into a determined line.

The moment his hands came together to form the Tiger hand sign, he had already begun to breathe deeply, and he felt the gathering chakra in his lungs and throat, as he had gathered the chakra he had begun to lean back, pulling into himself as he summoned forth the chakra, and then it was as if his whole upper body lunged forwards, as his mouth formed a perfectly sized 'o' and expelled the Great Fireball Jutsu.

His father had told him that a saying was passed down through the lines of the Uchiha. He had forgotten it, but he still remembered the jist of it. You haven't grown up as an Uchiha, until you've mastered the clan's Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu. He doubted it had been that much of a mouthful when it came from his father's lips, but he was long dead, and he couldn't care to remember the exact meaning of things anymore. Especially things that had came from him.

The one thing though that he did take from that lesson was that the Fireball Jutsu was one of the Clan's techniques, and he had sworn to master it. He had done so, before he had even completed his studies at the Academy. He had skipped countless days to go into the surrounding forest and to scorch and chap his lips from the sheer power and raw heat of the technique. Once he had mastered it, as any Uchiha before him could agree, it was a satisfactory sight to see the pride in a parent's face.

I will not fail. He thought to himself, as it clicked in the back of his mind that someone was present. His head slowly tilted to the side as he peered over his own shoulder to look at the woman that had arrived on the other side of the small pond. It's a girl. He had gathered, based simply off of her clothes, and he could only wonder as to why she was out there in the Wilderness. Of course, he couldn't be one to judge since he had been doing it for quite some time now.

Placing a single hand upon his waist, he glanced up to the sky and then back towards the woman, and against his better judgement, he slowly raised his hand and beckoned her to come over to the other side.

WC: 610

Akai was standing there and watching the training session of this unknown person for a little while. The tiny red haired being was hesitating a lot. She raised her hand for an attempted wave and opened her mouth – was just about to shout something. However, thinking about the safety again, she stopped halfway and just gazed ahead. She decided to gather some information first, though in the end she realized it was not possible.

First of all, the person had no headband on which could give away the village he belonged to. Or might it be that this person did not belong to any village at all? Maybe he was not fond of his village, did something terrible and was announced a missing ninja? From that thought, Akai shivered a little. ”That would be really scary.”  On the other hand, he could be hiding away and not wearing the headband for some personal purposes, maybe hiding himself from someone. Like Akai herself did. This one was a more pleasant thought to the girl than that one of a missing ninja. However, the person seemed somehow familiar, black raven hair, minimal clothing style and this katon jutsu he had just performed gave her the impression she would know him from somewhere. Going through all the corners of her mind, Akai could remember only several clans with special abilities for performing fire jutsus of high quality. Though all of those clans were situated in Konoha, thus she logically denied them all at once.

After taking her time into this investigation, Akai did not notice that her presence was already known to the person on the other side of the water pond. Actually, at that moment she was waiting for something scary to happen, an attack of some kind or at least some tough words due to the intrusion she was posing on his training session. However, the girl was taken aback, when she saw a raised hand inviting her to come over to his side. Her lips parted a little and a surprised expression appeared on her face.

Akai turned her head back once and gazed at that patch she came from. The girl could not sense any followers anymore, though she was aware of the fact that they might come any minute. It caused her to hesitate for just a second. But the inviting hand in front of her might be the only chance for her to survive right now. “Well, I cannot sence anything anymore, I think it is okay just to...“

She gazed at what was in front of her and made her first step on the water. Akai was using the water walking technique she was very good at. Het feet was so light even so at times it seemed she was just simply floating over the water.

The moment the red haired girl reached this unknown person, she tugged her kinomo and fixed one bang of her hair behing the ear. Akai was a little too shy as this could be the first conversation she would have in  a very long period of time.

“Um...A-a-m....am I not intruding?“

A sentence like that got out of her mouth slowly in a silent tone. She raised her baby blue colored eyes to meet those of a new person. At that moment Akai got some shivers through her body. She suddenly thought she would know who the person might be. Hyuugas can really sense people well and they have great ties with some clans naturally, thus it would be hard not to get a feeling of familiarity around members of them. And this time, the red haired girl really did have that kind of feeling.

“Are you...um...could you be from Konoha?“

Another, more personal, question slipped out from her mouth without thinking and at the time the word "Konoha" was pronounced, Akai let a deep sigh out. After that she pressed her hand to her lips in reflex. Realising that she might be crossing the boundaries here and asking too much of a personal question, the red blush colored Akai‘s cheeks. On the other hand, it would be so nice to meet someone from her surroundings to get that feeling of being at home again. It is said that home is where your heart belongs and as long as there are people who wait for you to return, you have a home. Well, in this situation, this saying had zero truth. “Ah...home...“ Akai was away from home for too long, so long that she even forgot what the real meaning of this word felt like.

__________
WC 670 + 771 = 1441

Jutsu used, - 5 chakra :

Spoiler:

There was a long pause. One that he didn't expect, but maybe he should've. There was without a doubt in his mind that the girl was thinking about whether or not she should actually go over to him, and he raised a single concealed eyebrow. Is she going to come over? Is she going to stay there all day, is she scared, is it because of me? So many questions rushed through his mind, barely sparing a moment at the forefront of his brain before being replaced with the next one, and in that time he realized that she was looking behind her and after doing that, had begun to walk towards the water so that she could begin heading over to him. At first, it didn't occur to him that she'd walk over it, but in a world of shinobi, he berated himself for even forgetting that it was possible.

Raising an eyebrow as she crossed, he still wondered as to what made her take so long, and then he pictured her glancing over her shoulder and he realized it then. Was she being followed? Was she a danger to him, besides interrupting his training? He took half a step backwards and the hands that had been rising to his head to remove his hood had been halted, loosened, and then dropped to either side of his body as he decided against revealing his face. He didn't know her, and if she was indeed bringing trouble to them, then he couldn't exactly trust her, now could he?

As usual, the sleeves were too long to even show the tips of his fingers, and the young Uchiha was glad that that was the case. It allowed him to maintain a measure of secrecy and mystery thanks to the length of the cloak, not to mention protect him from the elements.

After she had crossed the small body of water and stopped mere metres in front of him, his dark, cold, ebony eyes gazed into her white ones, and it took him a moment before he realized that she was a member of the renowned Hyuga, a Clan that was known for it's Byakugan. In that moment, he remembered the journal that his father had left for him, and his right hand had slowly slipped into his cloak and grasped the leather bound journal and he exhaled his pent up breath. For a moment, the glare of the cold black eyes intensified, and then transformed into mirrors of warmness and even borderline kindness, removing that same right hand from his cloak, he pondered for a moment.

In the journal his father had mentioned a Hyuga that had been his best friend. The solo remaining member of the squad that he had grown up with, the squad that had gone after his former friends turned Missing-Nin. A Hyuga, huh? What ever happened to that man, Atasüke had never found out, and he had never been interested until now... When he had met his first Hyuga.

Raising his right hand, he pulled off his hood with a sigh. If his father was capable of trusting a Hyuga, then he could too! And hopefully, develop a life long bond with one as well. To some degree, Atasüke wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, and starting at friends was as good a place as any.

While he had been taking off his hood, she had asked him a question. "You're not, I was about to take a break anyway," he lied, but she seemed timid enough and he didn't want to make her feel bad for interrupting. But even so, with a quick glance at the graying sky, he probably was about to end his training for the rest of the day anyway.

When she pinpointed where he could've been from, there was a pause and his teeth grinded upon each other. But, he let the personal question slide. He hadn't lived there in quite some time, the chances of someone even bothering to look for him here of all places, not to mention now, was silly to think of and he smiled a bit.

It may have resembled a smile of nostalgia to Akai.

"Yes. I am." A part of him wanted to say 'was,' instead of 'I am.' He could've, it had been on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't really believe himself to be one that had cut all of their ties to the Land of Fire, he had only left for answers... Among other things.

Looking at the Leaf Village insignia on her forehead protector, he hmmphed, and he folded his arms over his chest. "You're here for the Chunin Exams right?"

WC: 813

As Akai was waiting for the reaction to the question, she was getting more and more worried to the point that she thought about apologising for this unthoughful step for several times in her mind. Though, the red haired girl was really interested in that answer and truly hoped that it would be a „yes“, so did not apologise just yet. By that one, she would also hope to cause a sort of introduction to happen starting off with the village, then the name and the clan. Although Akai probably knew which clan this boy was from already, however, she wanted to make sure of her information being true before making any wrong assumptions, which could lead to later mistakes and mutual misunderstandings. The girl would not want that to happen, as she was determined enough to step out of the shadow, now she was ready to create a strong bond.

Akai observed carefully and she saw some different emotions mixed in the expression of this person.  Was it anger? Or more like disappointment? These are the things that were running in Akai‘s mind until he answered to the question with a positive answer. Right after that, his lips curved an uneasy smile, which gave the feeling of nostalgia to Akai. Not so long ago, being asked about Konoha, she would actually do the same thing. Nothing could be done now, after the experience she had and still was having, only a nostalgic smile was left. Besides the nostalgic smile, his answer was very short as well and this could mean only one thing - this topic should not be touched anymore, at least not at this stage of their relationship. However, this experience left some mess in the head of the girl.  Akai got very curious now. “ It surely is something wrong between him and his village, but what could it be?“ She got somehow worried about the person and started thinking maybe he is in trouble as well and if that was the case, will she be able to handle her own situation yet give a helping hand to him if needed at the same time as well?

However, then the circle of thoughts was interupted by the question from him about upcoming Chunin Exams. It seemed like it was an attempt to change the subject, but she did not mind doing that. It IS better not to talk about Konoha, or Hyuugas, or any of those matters which happened while being there. However, how should Akai answer to this chunin exam question now? If they were to trust each other, she wanted to tell no lies. On the other hand, was it save for both of them to tell the actual truth? Akai fixed her kimono again, which seemed a very uncomfortable gown for the movement shinobis normally make, but since the childhood the girl was always taught to look lady like and had always been training in kimono, thus after such long time, she could make any outfit work in the battle. However, tugging of her kimono had become a habit expressing that she is experiencing an uneasy feeling.

After a second of hesitation to answer, she finally relaxed more and raised her eyes to gaze at the boy as well. Akai could see the warmth in there, that comforted her and have her a boost of trust. She stepped forward and the quickly jumped to appead besides the raven haired boy. Akai raised her hand to her lips and leaned a little to the side as preparing to tell some kind of secret. The girl started whispering.

“Well, I kind of am...My official reason is chunin exams, but it is only the official one...and I do not intend to get back after they will be over, even though I am supposed to.“

After a little whisper thing, Akai jumped back to maintain the proper distance again. She did not want to evade the personal space of the boy, but it was the only way for her as she decided not to make up some lies for him. One could never know who could be listening and with situation like that, being heard by someone she was trying to avoid the whole night of travelling would do much damage to Akai. And even to this person she was just getting to know.

“What about you? Is it what your training was about? Getting ready to roll in the exam?“

Akai made a little pause and continued with a tiny introduction. This time is different and If she is starting a clean slate, there is no reason to lie about the name and her bloodline anymore. The red haired girl as well hoped, that maybe self introduction could encourage the boy to introducuse himself too. She saw earlier that he is not that fond of personal questions,thus Akai decided not to ask anymore.

“ By the way, my name is Akai...I am....Urggg...from Hyuuga clan of Konoha.“

It seemed that the second part of the sentence costed her much energy to pronounce and by telling the name of the clan, a tiny frown of disappointment appeared on her face. “Noble Hyuugas... I wish all could see how really „noble“ we are...“  Remembering that name, she remembered the three ninjas she was being followed by earlier. Reacting to that, Akai scanned the environment quickly with some quick gazes around. Fortunately, she could not get good a grip onto any nasty chakra around yet. Then she got back to the boy she was talking to again.

"Hmm...it's out of topic, but...do you sense anything around?"

_________________
WC 943 + 1441 = 2384

Atasüke stared at the woman in front of him. He didn't really know how to proceed after asking her those questions. She looked nice enough, maybe even timid, but he didn't know how to handle awkward and or shy people. He was usually that person in those scenarios, but usually he was shunned, ignored, and shooed away so that he'd stop pestering people back in the Hidden Cloud Village. With the smallest smiles, not one of malevolence, cruelty, or anything of the sort, it was a smile of empathy at her shyness and what seemed to him to be awkwardness.

It was always refreshing to see someone who could share his troubles. It gave them a sort of bond, a way to make it easier for them to interact he thought. He knew it'd be obvious to all those who experienced the same things, all it took was a little bit of eye opening, so he hoped his smile would be enough to open her eyes to his want to help her out.

But then her words made him raise an eyebrow in question. She wasn't going to return to the Land of Fire after the Chunin Exams? He frowned, but he didn't really know how to answer that, should he let some high ranking shinobi from Konohagakure no Sato in Kumogakure no Sato know? He had no idea, he hadn't been in a situation like this before!

"You should get back home after the exams end, but if you don't want to go right away, you should wait a few weeks until you're ready..." There was a pause. He didn't really know how to phrase this next part, but he forged on ahead nevertheless. "You have powerful eyes, and if you're caught away from home after the Chunin Selection Exams, then you could be in danger..." He let that last part drag out. He was an Uchiha, but he didn't even have his sharingan unlocked, there was no reason for him to be scared of dojutsu hunters, but this girl, one of the only links back to his home was hurt because she didn't want to go back home even if it was her duty... "I wouldn't want you to get hurt." He imagined his father as he was cut, but he didn't let his emotions rise up.

"And no, I'm not enrolling in the Exams, I don't think it'd be good for me to." To him the Exams were simply a way for the Major Villages and the Minor ones to auction off their shinobi to the highest paying person, something that Atasüke wasn't prepared to do in the name of any Village.

"You don't need to tell me your Clan name." He said, too late, she had already said she was from the Hyuga Clan. Did she think him stupid or something? It was obvious with eyes like that. And for a moment it was silent, so he replied with his own name, "Atasüke." He didn't give her his Clan name. There was no reason to.

Then she asked him if he sensed anything. Did she mean danger, or people? How was he supposed to answer that? So he simply shook his head, "No. Why?" Then he was certain of it, she was certainly someone who was a danger to him and he took a step backwards. "Are you trying to get me in trouble, Akai?" He said her name with a very obvious emphasis on it.

wc: 610

Akai was keeping herself at a safe distance while observing the reactions of this boy.  Her senses were starting to catch up onto something, though for the boy‘s sake, she was trying to ignore that fact as much as possible and stay normal in her bahavior. For the moment the boy seemed calm and emotionless. However, the red haired girl noticed a tiny gesture of a risen eyebrow just a second after her confession about the exams was made. Due to that facial sign, she understood that the boy was getting suspicious at some point. “Ah, great...Now I got myself into even more trouble...Maybe I made the wrong decision.“ Soon enough she received the boy‘s spoken answer suggesting her to go back home after the exams. This got Akai even more dissapointed. Like she could ever go back. Like she would want to return to the clan prison and that ridiculous dominance Konoha was in at the moment. Well, if things would change, like the rules, the system and some people would be gotten rid of, then it would be safe to go back. However, at that moment it was how it was and she alone could not make any big changes. All Akai‘s allies had been already gone after all. Gone or dead, what‘s the difference.

Akai sighed very deeply and gazed at the boy‘s appearance again. Now she had indeed realised who he was. It was even surprising how that did not come to her mind after that fireball justu back then. Must be the tiredness to blame. Akai was thinking how unusual this Uchiha boy was. Most of them have that innate temptation for doing bad deeds, shallow personality traits or at least breaking some rules once in a while. Though this one seemed the quite opposite. His answer let the girl assume, that he was not fond of breaking the rules at all. Akai wondered if the same went for the people who did so,  did he despise that kind of people as well? This though was quite dissappointing for the red haired Hyuuga also as was behaving like one of that kind at the moment. However, it must be clarified, that it was not like Akai was doing inappropriate things on her own will. She was forced to do so. Though, it should not be forgotten that there was a thin line between playing a character and actually becoming it.

Soon after a little pause of silence, the Uchiha boy continued to speak. It seemed that he was concerned, or at least made it look like it, because he was talking about the doujutsu hunters, who could capture Akai and carve out her eyes with a knife or so. Akai wondered if Uchiha boy had ever encountered those hunters if he mentioned them in this conversation. But she decided not to ask such a question. Doujutsu hunters as such was not a new information to the girl though. Akai had some examples in her own clan circle, but these things were being very carefully hidden by the authority. So that it would not encourage any panic or whatever the reason. However, Akai was never afraid of that kind of thing to happen to her, she was not so fond of that byakugan of hers as it was the most recognizable symbol of Hyuuga clan. Sometimes, Akai even thought that it would be a  blessing to have these eyes removed, in that case she could go to Kumo or Kiri and live her life as a free spirit, without any burden of the clan, nor the village. Now the nostalgia Akai was feeling towards Konohagakure no Sato at the begining of the meeting grew into anger or even hatred. The girl groaned.

As the red haired girl‘s emotions were rising and the blood was starting to boil in her veins, she suddenly calmed herlsef down after hearing  the Uchicha boy speaking in a relaxing voice again.  It appeared that he is not erolling in exams due to unknown reason. Akai now assumed, that he was still a genin, as he presented this answer in a meaning like he should have participated, but he did not do so because of personal reasons. Akai immedialely thought this idea to be interesting. A person who does not think fond of the most official, strict rules and much supervision requiring event has a rebelious tendency already. “Hm...maybe this one could be able to handle the pressure after all.“

And just the moment Akai started feeling hopeful and wanted to make a step forward, the boy, whose name appeared to be Atasuke, backed away a little bit. It appeared that he got suspicious all of a sudden due to her previous question. That was true, Akai did sense those three nasty follovers around, though assuming Atasuke was a genin, she just wanted to make sure he did not sense anything and Akai would have a chance to leave him peacefully if the moment would come.  First, the red haired girl was searching for an ally and thought that she had finally found one, but then she got this feeling that Atasuke was too pure hearted, he surely did not need to get involved into this mess or worse – into a fight. However, despite these hesitating thoughts, Akai started to move closer to Atasuke in slow manner, the red kimono added a lot of grace to her moves. While moving, she started talking in very calm voice.

“Would you be scared, If I told you YES?“ Akai did not stop moving towards the Uchiha boy. She got to him and stopped right in the same line, simply beside his shouder, so that each of them had the sight of what was behind other‘s back. Akai tilted her head to the left a little to recude the small gap even more and asked another question in a more silent voice. “Would you run away then?“

______________
WC 1002 +2384 = 3386

The Uchiha was unsure as to how to respond to the situation now. The woman had put him on edge, and he was unsure as to how he was going to respond at that moment. He had already determined that she was bringing trouble with her, and in that case he didn't want to get involved with her, did he? Technically they were one in the same, both wanting to escape from their home, but Atasuke had already done so, and in recent times he was beginning to regret his decisions... He couldn't allow this Hyuga Akai to feel the same as he had.

In his mind she had to return home, even if she didn't want to, it didn't matter what the problem there was. It wasn't because he was one who followed the rules, it was because one couldn't make change by running away. You made change by making opportunities and then employing them to your advantage. To change the way how Konoha was was based on politics, and if you didn't understand that, then Atasuke wasn't sure as to how he'd be able to associate himself with this woman.

How she knew he was an Uchiha simply based on his chakra wasn't possible since every living being had their own unique chakra, it wasn't easy to tell what clan and heritage someone belonged to simply from chakra. Although the Uchiha gene was strong, after generations of being scattered throughout the world and being separated from each other, the family's characteristics would've slowly changed over time, and specific family's own traits would change. The only similarity between clans would be the trademark blood red eyes of the sharingan. Because he didn't have it, there was no way to identify him as an 'Uchiha' similar to the ones within the Land of Fire.

He frowned.

From the beginning of their meeting the girl had looked at him as if she knew who he was the entire time, and he was certain they had never met in his life. After all, he didn't even live in Konohagakure, but he had gone to the Academy when he was five and graduated by the time he was seven, and then he had left the confines of the Village.

His eyes scrutinized her, as if he was trying to look through her.

"Don't presume we're friends simply because we're from the same country." His teeth grinded upon each other. Then she started to move towards him and he refrained from tensing, she was presuming that he'd allow her to get in close to him? For a moment, he allowed her to speak, so close to his ears, her body so close to his own unsettling him in mind alone.

"You made a mistake." He said, while simultaneously grasping the woman and guiding her along with him. If they were going to be in trouble, he couldn't allow them to be seen in the open like that, right? So he guided her behind the thick tree line.

"You should be more careful."

WC: 523

In one second Akai witnessed the change of Atasuke‘s behavior.  As nice as he was from the start, now he was frowning and actually telling her that she made a mistake.  What kind of mistake? What did he mean by that? Was it because she approached him too close? Did she actually make a wrong choice to grow her trust in this person? Or did he get scared of her and all of those words were simply his fear talking?  To the girl‘s thinking, any bond is not worth of creating if anything could break it that easily right from the start.  People who were willing to trust each other would not feel irritated about the lack of the decent distance between them. People who were willing to trust each other, would not back away if one of them would get into trouble. Though, due to his words and expressions, it seemed that Atasuke was not fond of the idea of getting himself into trouble for other person, as well as the idea of letting someone closer to himself.

All those strange thoughts started to bother Akai‘s mind. Actually, she should not worry over such a thing, they had just met after all. Though for some unknown reason she was really starting to care about where all of this interaction would lead to. The red haired just locked her eyes onto Atasuke and waited for him to explain further. No further explanation was given though. While she was still thinking about the anwer to those questions herself, Akai felt an unexpected touch against her thin silk kimono.  A slight flow of electricity ran though that place of skin at that very moment. As appeared, it was Atasuke grasping  her out of the sudden. On top of that, he started to drag her along with him to the thick tree line, which appeared to be the only one Akai had ever seen during her stay in the Land of Lightning. She was taken by surprise as all of her previous assumptions had been destroyed in one second. Perhaps he was willing to let somebody closer to him.  Perhaps he was willing even to get in trouble with that someone, rather than dwell safely alone.

Akai was hesitating to follow him a little, and that could be felt due to her walking much more slowly than she actually could. Some doubs had been keeping her at a slow pace. She remembered how strong those men were, how many people they had killed under the order of her father. They would slaughter ninjas with their families and even children with not even a single twitch of their eyebrows. Akai suddenly stopped moving and gazed back at first and then at Atasuke‘s eyes again. It seemed as if she was standing on the line separating two totally different sides. Maybe it was not a good idea to get Atasuke ivolved into this, he really seemed like a decent person. It was still not too late to disappear withouth leaving any consequences for him.  If anyone would come to him inquiring about today, he could just state that he dis not see anything or meet anyone. This way seemed rather simple. However, If Akai would make that step forward with him, there would be heavy consequences and Akai would have to take full responsibility for them. Was she helself fully ready to do so? There is this saying that when one tames an animal, one gets responsible for it. The same tendency goes for humans as well.

On the other hand, turning back at this point would mean not to grant this new bond even a try. Even though it had started off quite odd, it might grow into something bigger as time would pass. Akai raised her ghostly white eyes to the baby blue sky of the Lightning Country, which gave her the boost of promising ideas in her head all of a sudden. The girl curved an invisible smile on her lips. She already made such a risk coming here, being afraid to risk even more sould not be keeping her from going further, from doing what she wanted, especially from seeking her own freedom.  Akai turned her head back and made the last gaze to the direction she came from just an hour earlier. The path leading to the Village Hidden in the Leaf. While gazing,  the girl let a long and deep sigh out of her body. “Sayonara.“

Suddenly the red haired felt relieved, she reached for Atasuke‘s hand and started to pace at full speed towards the thick line of trees. At that moment, she was the one who was taking control of the situation and dragging him along. If they will go full speed and hide their trails at the same time, they will get lucky and would be able to have up to a day or two without having to constantly worry about being hunted down. It would be the best to make that happen and then make any further decisions. There were no time for doubting at this point.

While speeding deeper into the woods of some sort, Akai locked her Hyuuga eyes to the ones of Atasuke for the brief moment. The sunrays could not reach that much of this place due to the thick branches of all trees, thus this darker environment gave Akai much more confidence.

“Thank you for caring..." Her lips trembled a little while saying the words out loud. One could see throught to her blushing expression that those words were truly honest. “ And actually, I do not think I am making a mistake. I made many in the past, but I am definately not making one now.

That being said they both disappeared out of the sight.


_________________
WC 964 + 3386 = 4350

Perception from E to C3 trained, total WC 4350/4325

To him, the frowns had been necessary while they were together. The Hyuga wasn't one that had seemed trustworthy, but he wanted to have a Hyuga Companion, one that he could rely on in the future if they were to ever encounter each other again. From his father's journal, he had learned plenty of what they could do with that famed Byagakugan, and how a certain one had fought to the end with Atasüke's father, and who was no doubt still alive in the Hidden Leaf Village. Whoever that white eyed man had been, he knew he wouldn't find him due to the account that he had no name, and he doubted that it was polite to go searching around the Hyuga Grounds. Plus, he was kind of in another country at the moment.

In that instant of touching, he felt as if he and Akai were connected on a deeper level, as if they were bonded to each other permanently. Electricity flowed through the points of contact, his stationary hands acting as clamps as they held her body close to his own as they disappeared through the scenery and away from their location. Usually the Uchiha would clean up after he left a training spot, but he knew it was too late. He had already grabbed, and if she was indeed being chased he didn't want to have to engage in any fighting. He was already tired from his past training, and he didn't want to have to engage with an actual threat. Sparing a glance for the Hyuga that he held, he felt as if he knew she didn't want to either.

Although it was a well kept secret, the Uchiha was one that didn't allow people to get close to him without him wanting them to. Atasuke played interactions with people safely, as the one with Akemi Haruo was evident. They were little more than acquaintances, but they had both kept each other at arm's length. Maybe it was because they were both shinobi and he knew that within a heart beat they could be enemy's of each other, or maybe it was simply how they both interacted with new people, but it never hurt to be cautious of strangers. A sentiment that he had apparently forgotten as they moved through the clump of trees. It was one that he felt she had never entertained, she seemed too kind. In nature he was a pessimist and he was beginning to believe that he was indeed in the wrong for assuming she was a trouble maker.

The thought never left his mind however, it was simply pushed to the side as they escaped potential danger.

After a few moments, she took his hand and he looked to the red headed woman he allowed her to take the lead, but only with his guiding hand towards the Village in the Clouds. If they were going to run, a safe place would be Kumogakure no Sato. The darkness that surrounded him gave him confidence, and he realized that it did the same for Akai as she had finally begun to complete her sentences, and if they weren't running he would've maybe nodded his head at her words.

"No doubt," he grunted as she gave thanks and then said her final words of having no more doubts, or making no more mistakes and then they were gone.

WC: 579
TWC: 3745

--EXIT THREAD--

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