Headphones on and eyes closed, a blond haired shinobi could be found lying a deck chair by the side of the pool. The tall man was dozing, wearing a simple pair of swim trunks with one finger placed neatly between the pages of the book on his chest that he clearly had been reading before he’d drifted off.  It have been a rather uneventful day this far for the genin who hadn’t scheduled much to do for the day. So, he had spent the morning training and studying techniques like he usually did when he woke up, but it hadn’t taken much longer to get a little restless. While he liked training, there was only so much that he could put up with doing of the same sort of thing.

So here, Ginza was getting a change of scenery. Or, at least he had been before falling asleep on the deck chair with his book. Admittedly it was very dry reading: A book on theory and medical ninjutsu. And considering that he'd been up late the night before, well, it had lulled him right to sleep. But Ginza had spent the first hour at the pool doing laps before pulling himself out and drying off to spend the rest of his time on the pool chair getting rays of the afternoon sun, and falling asleep.

Now, he wouldn't have been able to fall asleep without his headphones in his ears. There were children running around, screaming and enjoying there time, and parents yelling, trying to keep their children in order. But, that was none of Ginza's business. He was rather solitary. But suddenly, without warning there was... what Ginza's startled drowsy mind considered a typhoon of a splash that covered him up to his waist. And he was very much awake now with a rather undignified startled noise. He sniffed, searching for the culprit and staring disapprovingly at them before packing away his book and headphones into his bag, leaving them on the chair.

If he were wet again he may as well spend some more time swimming, so into the pool he slipped.

WC: 361

Aisling, in her attempt to avoid the young children running about and the parents trying to reign them in, had decided to keep herself to the deepest end of the pool. She had done a few laps but otherwise had planned on relaxing for a while. The water was in her opinion of the perfect temperature, and rather soothing after such a long trip from Suna to Konoha. It was the perfect way to start her little journey as well.

So, this was why, as Aisling relaxed with her neck resting against the edge of the pool ledge, and her arms holding her place while her legs floated freely, she got a good view of a splash of water hitting an individual with headphones on. She cringed, wondering if their headphones would end up destroyed due to the water and hoping not. She had thought about doing something similiar but hadn't wanted to risk it after seeing how many children were running about.

She glanced quickly toward the children, double checking that none of them were near her, before turning her focus back onto the one who got splashed. She saw him getting into the water. She smiled slightly and then tilted her head back comfortably and closed her eyes for a moment. She was hoping that the children would get called away for lunch or dinner soon - she had no idea what time it was or how long she had already wasted in the pool - so that it would quiet down a bit. It wasn't that she minded children running around and playing, but she had been hoping for a somewhat peaceful swim.

"At least the water's a perfect temperature...", she said softly.

Wordcount: 286

Being rather tall, it didn’t take very long for Ginza to make it to the deep end of the pool where it was easier for him to sink into the cooling water. And, being a person that enjoyed being solitary, he supposed that it was an advantage of being tall. He was able to be in most of the deep end and find himself able to stand without getting his hair wet, and the plus of this was getting away from the rowdy children that seemed to swarm the shallower waters like flies. Still, sometimes being under water was calming enough, and he needed to cool off a bit after the rude awakening that he was given by that child.

With a sigh, Ginza dipped below the surface of the water, remaining still for a moment with his eyes closed. It was enjoyable, how the world seemed to be so muted under the water even with the children only a few meters away from him.  It took him a moment of simply floating there before he found himself opening his eyes again and swimming a length under the water before his lungs began to burn with a need for oxygen.

This left him coming up by a woman who was resting against the edge of the pool. Her pink hair was the first thing that he caught his golden eyes, studying her for a moment before hearing her voice. She sounded rather calming and relaxed compared to the others in the pool area, so compared to everyone else, he was finding himself holding her in a rather high regard. He took a few deep breaths to get his lungs to stop protesting having been under the water for that long before blinking at the sound of the woman’s voice, giving her a small nod in agreement and acknowledgement, though he didn’t speak.

He wasn’t really one for talking very much, but the water was indeed very nice.

WC: 361 + 331 = 692

Aisling opened her eyelids slowly, frowning a bit as she glanced in the direction of the rowdy children: they were so loud it was obnoxious. She had made great strides in getting better after the horrors of her past, but there was only so much noise she could take. It was while staring at the children that she caught someone out of the corner of her eye nodding in agreement with the words she had spoken. She turned her gaze fully toward him to see it was the same person who had been splashed just moments ago by one of the children running about.

She couldn't blame him for joining her here in the deep end of the water; the children were avoiding the area so it was the only real chance for peace - though, it was hardly quiet. "I'm hoping it's dinner time soon... I don't mind children normally, but I was hoping for some peacefulness.", Aisling added, not really sure if she was talking outloud to herself or to the male nearby her.

Just as she was contemplating introducing herself as a means of not being rude she caught a flash of color out of the corner of her eye and looked over in time to see a pool diving ring, red in color, come falling into the deep end where it then proceeded to start floating down to the bottom. She glanced about then until she saw the thrower: a young kid who was looking quite upset and weary as he eyed the deeper end of the pool. Not wanting to see the poor kid drown himself in his attempt to get it himself - as it was certainly inching forward like he was going to try - she shifted her form and sent herself diving beneath the water; pushing off from the pool wall to easily propell herself to the bottom. Once there she reached the ring, grabbed it, and then pushed off from the bottom of the pool to send herself jetting upward to the surface.

As soon as her head broke the surface of the water she looked about to find the boy once more. Spotting him she tossed the ring over into the shallow end nearby him while treading water. The boy called out a thank you to which Aisling nodded before returning to the spot on the wall she had claimed as her own.

Wordcount: 402 + 286 = 688

Ginza was a little surprised that the small nod that he gave the woman was acknowledged. It wasn’t unusual that his small gestures went unnoticed since he didn’t talk very much. He was more of a background character in general settings, though if you put him into a leadership position it was often that others would actually be graced by his voice. He nodded again at the second comment then looked up at the sun. Judging by how high it was in the sky, he wouldn’t be surprised if the children were going to be called away to dinner soon. It would certainly nice to have the pool cleared of them, leaving what lingered of the adults.

He turned his gaze back to the woman, contemplating speaking to her to at least reveal his name in greeting, but that thought left him as the woman dove away from her position without another word. Perhaps introductions weren’t in order after all, not that he minded. He glanced after her watching the way the water moved through her pink hair as she swam towards and object. A diving ring? He raised an eyebrow and looked up and away from her, spotting a child who looked fit to burst about having thrown his toy a little too far in. As he was watching he saw the woman toss the toy to the boy, making it sore across the water.

That was kind of her, and in his mental books the pink haired woman went up a few marks.  Kindness was important in people for Ginza, while mindless cruelty was probably one of the worst things. As long as people were kind he had a certain amount of respect for people. He hummed, breaking his gaze on the woman and diving under again, doing another round before coming up for air by the pink haired woman who had gone back to her place leaning against the wall.

“Kind of you to do that for the kid.” Ginza stated briefly, as he looked at her, dragging a hand through his blond hair to put it back in order and push it from his face.

WC: 692 + 363 = 1055

Aisling busied herself for a moment with attempting to get her hair, which had been plastered to her face when she resurfaced, out of her eyes. In the end, after several failed attempts to move the long strands and knowing full well that even if she did it would look absolutely rediculous, she simply dunked her head under the water quickly and tilted her head back so that as she surfaced again it was all backwards and out of her face.

Satisfied and comfortable she looked over to the male nearby her who had commented about her deed and gave a small smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "I didn't want to see the little kid come to harm by trying to get it himself; and I had every feeling that's what he was going to do." she said simply. She wasn't exactly sure how to handle the compliment: she wasn't all that used to recieving them after all.

Not wanting to think to much on it she allowed her thoughts to switch directions. "I'm Aisling by the way." She didn't bother with a last name: she never really did, not until she got to know someone that is. Her last name always gave away her abilities immediately due to how well known her clan was, and at the moment she had no reason to trust or distrust the person next to her so she was playing it safe until she was sure.

As Aisling waited for the male to respond, if he did, she focused her attention on the children who were slowly being ushered out of the pool and into the locker rooms by their parents: definitly dinner time due to some of the conversations she was overhearing. As the children left she found the noise level dropping dramatically. A soft and happy sigh escaped her as nothing more than a soft murmur was left due to the quiet conversations of the other adults within the pool area: she could handle that far more easily then a bunch of screaming and shouting children.

Wordcount: 348 + 688- = 1,036

So the pink haired woman was modest too. Ginza gave the woman a rare, but very small, smile in reply to her attempt at trying to brush off her deed, which however small it had been, had still been noble in his eye.  Modesty was a good quality to have, and Ginza himself was modest to a point. But, he also knew that to an extreme point modesty could be a hindrance. You had to have a certain amount of pride to be able to continue on. He studied the woman, wondering how much modesty she let herself have.

Still, he didn’t comment. The woman was speaking again to introduce herself to him. Polite, though she had dove away from him so quickly before. Still, in his mental books this woman was definitely going to be held at a high standard from this point on. Aisling. That was an unusual name, but not one that was unpleasant. If he remembered correctly from his books Aisling had it’s origin in a genre of poetry, though he’d have to double check at some point in order to be certain.

He did note, of course, that the woman hadn’t told him her last name. It wasn’t that rare of an occasion for a first meeting not to know someone’s last name, but generally he was used to knowing. It was his thirst for intelligence that drove him to know all that he could. Perhaps the woman had something to hide? It wouldn’t be surprising. In this world filled with shinobi and espionage, there were always secrets. For now though, he wouldn’t pry. He’d be passive and perhaps at some point in the future he’d be able to find out.

Still it would be rude for him to not introduce himself as well, and Ginza certainly wasn’t one to be rude no matter how impassive he was with dealing with others. “ Kaigara, Ginza.” He hummed his name in introduction, inclining his head politely to the pink haired woman. He’d said his last name, purposely, but without any inflections on the word. No need to make it seem like he was saying it purposefully. He was just interested to see if the invitation of his last name got Aisling to say hers.

WC: 1055 + 389 = 1444

The pool area was far quieter then before. A few adults were swimming laps, and a lone child remained who was diving after rings in the much shallower ends - not making any noise and simply keeping to herself as she went about her little swimming adventure. Aisling couldn't help but think that she was likely imaginging some adventure in her head as she went about her business, but she couldn't let it distract her for long as the individual whom she had introduced herself to was responding.

Attention snapped back to him and held appropriately enough. A last name had been offered up despite the fact that she hadn't given one. Not wanting to be completely rude she smiled gently and inclined her head. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm of the Nara clan myself." About as smooth as she could play it given the circumstances. Given how forthcoming he had been with his own clan it seemed very wrong to withhold her own. Besides, he'd know which clan she was a part of soon enough if he happened to see her leaving the pool area - her jacket said it all. But, for now that wouldn't have been the case.

So, now there was the normal awkwardness for someone like her. She wasn't a social butterfly, but it was quite strange to just leave the conversation where it was at. Definitely weird. But, social wasn't here, so she was definitely going to take a stab in the dark on this one. "So, any particular reason for the visit to the pool today? I decided to take a sort of mini vacation myself, and the water is strangely calming. Nothing better than disappearing under the surface and letting the water drown out the world around you...", she suddenly broke off, realizing she had given away more private information than she had meant to. Would he think her weird for liking to be under the water? She had no affinity toward the element, but enjoyed it just the same. Weirdness for the win!

Wordcount: 1,380

"Nice to meet you too, Aisling" The blond replied, a small upturn to his lips that formed a small and brief smile. His is passive introduction to see if the other would reveal her last name had worked, Aisling revealing herself to be a Nara. A shadow user. He'd never actually met one in person before, though of course, like many of the clans that used to call Konoha home he knew a decent amount about them from his studies when he had been at the academy all those years ago. They were interesting in the way that they could use shadow instead of a generic element or even an advanced element. They were special in the fact that they typically could only use shadow.

"Change of scenery, really. One can only take so much of a library or training field." Which was where he had been spending most of his time lately. He didn't really mind it, but being cooped up so much never really had agreed with him, so he needed changes every now and then from the normal beat of things. He turned his gaze to lookout at the crystal clear water of the pool again, observing all that were still there, enjoying how calm the water was now without the children stirring it up with all of their splashing. The pool was certainly quieter now, and it was almost blissful. This was the way that he liked to see the water. Calm, and easy to slip under and forget all the worries of life.

His eyes didn't linger long on the water and the few individuals that still joined them in the pool, turning his gaze back to the pink haired Nara. "By vacation, are you from Konohagakure, or are you on vacation visiting the villiage?" He asked, unable to keep his curiosity from breeching his mouth, which was rare of him. But there was something about this girl that he wanted to find out about, and he had a feeling that if he never asked, answers wouldn't be given, even if he waited patiently, so breech his code of quiet, he would.

WC: 1444 + 361 = 1805

Aisling smiled gently while listening to Ginza's reasoning for coming to the pool: it reminded her quite a bit of herself. If she wasn't hanging around family, or one of the very few friends she chose to have, she ended up spending time training or reading.

As her hair began to dry Aisling noticed a strand of the pink colored stuff attempting to fall and pushed it over and behind her ear: she couldn't stand it in her face, especially when it was wet. It was then she paused due to having heard his next question. Was she from here? Well... that was an interesting story, but how much should she tell? She could keep it short and sweet... or detailed. She hadn't told anyone about herself in a while, and it wasn't like the people who had hurt her so long ago were still around - she was certain the majority of them were dead after all, the rest deep in hiding. "I was born here, but my family chose to travel a lot... After some... things... happened, I just decided to keep wandering about. I decided it had been a while since I visited the rest of my cousins and family so I came back for a while..."

Was she finished here? Or would she say more? It felt good to talk, it really did, even if the person she was speaking to was no different then any stranger she passed on the streets - minus the fact she knew his name, and that he trained and spent time at the library that is. "My cousin Amaya has to finish patching me up anyway... Best medic I know."

Annnnd cue the silence once more. As she waited for Ginza to speak she glanced around everywhere else: she was sure he'd have more questions, and given her strange mood she would likely end up answering them if he did - at least somewhat. You couldn't speak of being patched up and then go tongue locked as to the reasoning why after all.

Wordcount: 1,723

Ginza watched as the woman brushed back a strand of her dying hair as it attempted to fall back into her face. That was one of the things about being in the pool that he didn't really like. The chlorine in the water could do murder to one's hair,  and it could do a lot to his especially since he was blond. He remembered that once when he was a child, his blond hair had been turned green by the chlorine because he hadn't rinsed it out after swimming. It had been the most annoying thing for the boy who had even taken pride in his appearance as a child. Now, though, he had a routine to keep his hair from being tainted by the annoying chemicals in the water. He nodded when she finished explaining about her life. Perhaps a little more than he really needed, but he didn't mind it.

Perhaps he'd give a little more than he usually would as well. "I wasn't born here, but my family came here when I was too young to remember anywhere else, so I was raised here for a while. I did live outside of the village until four years ago." There was a ghost of pain that showed in his eyes for a slight moment, but it could easily go unnoticed by the woman that he was talking to, and he wouldn't mind if it was. It wasn't usual for him to say much about himself, let alone show emotion on his face.

Amaya? He'd met her in passing quite a few times during his times in and out of the hospital when he'd helped out there. Was Aisling injured? His eyes moved along her body for a moment to search for the injures. "Are you injured?" He asked hesitantly, an amount of worry sprouting for his new companion. "Amaya is certainly one of the best medics in the village."

WC: 1805 + 331 = 2136

So, he had been born outside of the village, moved here, but lived otherwise outside of the village until about four years ago. He didn't mention why that was but from what she could tell it bothered him for some reason. Most people likely would have pried, but she didn't want to push the issue if he didn't want to speak about it.

Instead, she focused on his question to her. A gentle smile formed on her face at his concern and she gave a half tilt of her head. "Yes and no. I have injuries, but they're not new. Amaya has been treating me for a while now. Has me come back to Konoha every few weeks so she can check on the progress of things..." Aisling contemplated saying more, perhaps explaining where her injuries had come from: but this was nothing listed under 'normal'. No, her injuries has been the result of someone who had captured her torturing her - and a bunch of other people - in an attempt to make them compliant members of his own personal guard and army. He had wanted followers who wouldn't question him - then again, he was a sadist who would torture even those who obeyed him in any way possible.

As she contemplated wanting to say more, or if she would be willing to answer questions were they asked, she fell silent and simply waited to see if Ginza would say more. She was seriously thinking about offering up some more information, perhaps just for the purpose of getting it off of her chest, but she was still hesitant due to her usual quiet personality.

Word Count: 1,999

"I hope that you're injures are healing fine." Ginza assured Aisling, entirely honest. The girl seemed kind hearted and just the kind of person that he would have been friends with once upon a time. But now, he didn't know. He did know that serious injuries that took a long time to heal could be quite hard mentally and physically, from his own experience before he was able to return to Konoha to receive medical care. Even then it had taken a long time for him to get back on his feet. He gave Aisling another small smile, saying a bit more than he normally would. "I'd offer my help, but I'm not nearly as experienced as Amaya yet." He hummed before glancing back up at the sky.

The sky was beginning to turn pink with the sunset that they weren't quite privy too because of the walls around the pool and the buildings of the village, but just the yellow and pink hues in the clouds were beautiful enough. Though, with the fact that it was starting to get dark, the others in the pool had mostly departed, leaving himself and Aisling as the only two who were still lingering. That probably meant that the pool would be closing soon. That was a shame. He enjoyed the company of the pink haired Nara at the moment, but they'd both have to leave soon. He doubted the pool would be staying open much longer.

With that knowledge, the Kansen-suru clan member shifted to swim over to the edge of the pool next to Aisling before pulling himself up and sitting on the ledge with only his legs still in the water. The air was a little cool in the evening, lowering his body temperature, but it wasn't enough to make him uncomfortable. "...Pool's probably going to close soon." He hummed, a bit of reluctance clear in his voice.

WC: 2136 + 327 = 2436

"Some of them are, some of them will take some time...", Aisling responded in a moment of honesty to his comment about hoping that her wounds were healing well. Of course, the wounds she was talking about takng some time were not the visible wounds that could be seen as she too began to pull herself out of the pool via the ledge but rather the emotional and mental ones: no, the scars that littered her back from a variety of whip marks and burns among other things were healing quite well compared to her inner problems.

When Aisling fully pulled herself out of the pool she would make quick work of putting on the robe laying nearby, one she had brought with her for the soul purpose of keeping the various scars remaining hidden. There were large splotches on her back of completely healed flesh: that was where the worse of the wounds had been, the ones that had required Amaya's immediate attention. The ones remaining had been those that had been lesser of a danger to her immediate health.

"Perhaps I'll see you around again." she said upon turning around and looking over toward Ginza: she really meant it. He was quiet, calm, and seemed to be quite a nice person to be around - he didn't annoy her like the majority of people these days.

Word Count: 2,230

Ginza nodded hoping that she was being honest about her ability to heal. He did find himself enjoying her company, and perhaps in the future they could be friends if he could get past his need to distance himself from others the way that he had for so long now, so he hoped that she would be able to survive for some time. In spite of the injures that she described. His gold eyes could see the scars that she had as she pulled herself out of the pool, and none of them looked to be from a normal source. Not to mention that the sheer amount that she was sporting was concerning. Whatever had happened to her certainly hadn't been good. He had his own fair share of scars from horrific events too, but after four years of healing, a lot of them had faded considerably now.

But he didn't let himself keep his eyes lingering on her scars. He knew that someone watching someone else like that could be an invasion of privacy. When he'd first come back to Konoha he'd been desperate to keep himself covered and hide the scars he had. He still was, really, with his clothes that normally covered him head to toe, but in the pool, no one really could see much of the scars anyway. He moved to stand, shaking himself a bit to get most of the water droplets off of himself before moving back to the pool chair that his things still resided on, taking his towel to dry himself off as a call from one of the pool's staff echoed that they were closing. He gave the man a wave and a nod before turning back to look at Aisling as he heard her voice again.

"Yes, perhaps. I'd like to see you around." Ginza nodded, giving the pink haired girl a smile. He had high hopes that he would see the girl again, and only had well wishes for her in his head. It was nice to talk to her, considering with everyone else he tended not to speak at all. He gathered his things and tossed his shirt and shoes on before offering her a wave and heading in his own direction, pleasant thoughts in his head for once. Talking to someone, as limited aas their conversation had been had been relatively freeing, he supposed, and the long walk to his home was one that he took relatively leisurely.

Once at home, he set about his usual routine that he had after being at the pool. Conditioning his hair was an important thing to keep the effects of the chlorine at bay, not to mention simply washing off the chemicals that always left him feeling quite gross after the chemicals had dried onto his skin. Once the routine was over though he found himself in his tiny kitchen cooking himself some dinner and eating, nice and fresh, while his mind lingered on the younger Nara.

There were certainly mysteries about her that he'd like to find out about her. Perhaps it was a fault in him, but he found people very much like books once they peeked his interest, and he liked to read them. Though, perhaps this wasn't a fault at all, considering that he spent most of his time with the books he owned. Books were commonly his friends rather than people, but perhaps this would change soon...

- Exit Thread -

WC: 2436 + 581 = 3017

Trained:

• Strength : E-0 -> D-0  [ 3017 - 750 = 2267 ]
  
• Speed : E-0 -> D-0  [ 2267 - 750 = 1517 ]
  
• Endurance : E-0 -> D-0  [ 1517 - 750 = 767 ]
  
• Perception : E-0 -> D-0  [ 767 - 750 = 17 ]
  

Left over wc = 17

Ginza said that he'd like to see her around and smiled, all of which Aisling took as a positive sign. She returned the smile and then finished closing her robe up before heading into the changing area: she had stored all of her stuff in a combination locked locker to keep anyone from stealing it. Once inside of the changing area, which she found to be completely empty, she quickly emptied the contents of her locker and made quick work of properly getting dried off and dressed.

Once finished she forced a brush through her hair simply to keep it from looking like a rats nest as she made her way home. She tossed the robe and towel she had used - both of which belonged to the pool - into the appropriate basket. She gathered up her shoulder bag and then headed out and through the village. While she made her way to where she was staying she thought about her encounter with Ginza and all of the information she had been so willing to give out: it wasn't like her, and while it was a bit unnerving to deviate so far from her norm it was also quite nice. It was also nice to have gotten a bit of that off of her chest and off of her mind, too, if she were being honest with herself.

Her thoughts brought her home before she even knew her feet had gotten her there. Once inside she gave herself a proper wash, spending extra time on her pink hair and the scars on her, before finding something comfortable to lounge around in and picking up the book she had been reading before heading off to the pool...

Word Count: 2,517


Trained:
Strength: E to E3 (450 words)
Speed: E to E3 (450 words)
Endurance: E to E3 (450 words)
Perception: E to E3 (450 words)
Reaction Time: E to E3 (450 words)

Remaining: 267