Word Count: 476

Nozomi decided that she'd been lax enough lately, and really needed to start getting on with her training. Sure, she did some here and there, but on a whole, she'd been relaxing most of her time in Kumo. Or doing... other activities. Nozomi's face turned an interesting shade of red every time she recalled. A lot of people knew, it was hardly a secret. There were rumors, as Nozomi was staying with Kaekio while she was in Kumo. Kaekio was well known after all, being the former student of the Raikage, and the winner of the Chuunin Exams that had taken place before last. Everyone knew about their match, and the rumors had started there, as they'd started the fight rather hesitantly, and then ended it after a hug, although the details were a bit murky about what really happened there, as tales were stretched sometimes for dramatic effect.

Nozomi's hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with a hair clip to keep her bangs out of her face, which she'd taken to doing lately, as it was starting to annoy her when it was constantly in her face all the time. her headband was tied tight around her forehead, proudly displaying her Kirigakure colors, showing her to be a Kunoichi of Kiri visiting Kumo, although she'd been here for quite a while already, originally for the Chuunin Exams, but stayed longer for some time with her girlfriend Kaekio. She wore the usual Kirigakure uniform, which consisted of dark cargo pants, a form fitting dark long sleeved T-shirt, her Flak Jacket, some kunai holsters that were strapped to her thighs and arms, and the open toed sandals. Her windmill shuriken was strapped securely to her thigh, hanging off her left side harmlessly enough. Her twin tanto's were strapped into the small of her back horizontally, easily able to be quick drawn from both sides, and the superior tanto she'd taken from the shinobi was strapped behind her left shoulder blade, vertically positioned. Her kunai were spread throughout the kunai holsters and pockets of her cargo pants, as were here shuriken. The Senbon all fit neatly into one pouch of their own, strapped directly on her thigh for quick draw access, and she had a utility belt that held her makibishi and metsubishi in random pouches. Suffice it to say, the girl was armed tooth and nail, and her physical abilities were hardly a joke either. She was a deadly force, and didn't do much to hide it.

Walking into the Battle Plateau, Nozomi breathed in a deep breath, relishing the smell of the arena. She liked to idle her time away in Training arenas, and it was something she did at home in Kiri quite often. It was the same here, and she'd remembered that from when she had been here before, training with Gin. They didn't meet often, but Nozomi had hopes that her sensei would perhaps be here. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be so, but it was to be expected. Not much of a let down, Nozomi started over to a corner of the arena, content with keeping to herself for the most part, when she saw something that was slightly out of the ordinary. She saw her fair share of Kumo-nin here, and out and about, so it wasn't any surprise that she'd see someone familiar. But the surprise was WHO it was that she saw. Her unusual eyes widened slightly in surprise, vibrant colors signifying her full health and chakra reserves at the moment. Making her way over to him, she smiled and waved. "Toshiko Uzumaki! I haven't seen you since our Chuunin Exams!" she said cheerfully. It wasn't like she knew him very well, but she remembered that he'd fought her former team mate Sero Osada. At least, she was pretty sure he did. "It's me, Nozomi from Kiri. I don't know if you remember me, we never ended up paired off for a match, but I think you fought my team mate Sero?"

WC: 697
TWC: 697

Nozomi's mind went back to someone she'd used to know, as Toshiko's nose burst into a flow of blood as she walked up to him. She couldn't remember the boy's name, but he'd had a similar reaction to her for whatever reason. Sometimes people were just strange. Shaking off the odd feeling of familiarity, Nozomi smiled none the less. To his credit, he was embarrassed and attempted to clean up the flow of blood. She herself felt a little bad about the fact that she'd elicited this reaction from him.

He was quick to recover though, seeming to have remembered her after she brought up who she was. "Sero's a bit of an oddity though. He kinda walked out on his match with Kusono, so he could have very possibly won them. Instead my girlfriend did, so I'm not too concerned with how it turned out. That wouldn't have been a fun match to watch. Bloodthirsty teammate versus my girlfriend? Like, who would I have rooted for?" she mused, mindlessly bumping his clean fist with her own.

"Ah, but that was a long time ago, it seems like. Sero's probably going to make Jounin soon, and if I'd had more time to train before having to take my team to these Chuunin Exams, I might be right there with him. But I mean, Special Jounin is great, and none of us were Chuunin's for a very long time in the grand scheme of things." she fidgeted slightly, looking around at the training grounds. "That reminds me. I was here for the Chuunin Exams, what brings you to Kumo though? Did you have a team here or something?"

wc: 299
TWC: 996