Kaiji Kyudoka whistled quietly as he drifted through the Hidden Leaf, and whereas he would usually talk to himself, he was disdaining from doing so as it tended to draw way too much attention. So, the sixteen year old strolled in near silence, nary a purpose to his venture. He had been doing a lot of thinking as of late, about the whole mystery surrounding Sachiko, about achieving the next stage of the Takamegan, and about his new friend Nayoko Nozara, among other things. It was while lost in thought that the pink-haired archer unintentionally wandered into an area of the village that he was presently unfamiliar with. The charade of of not talking to himself dropped immediately. "Huh..." he pondered, "I don't recognize this place, but then again the village is pretty big, so it makes sense that there are some parts I don't know about." Kaiji shrugged, shoulders unusually stiff. "I should get some training in soon, can't let myself waste away over personal matters." In this unknown section of the village, there were a couple buildings here and there, most likely shops and some houses. A bridge with a tree that sat smack dab in the center of the area drew Kaiji's eye , and a set of wooden benches were placed nearby, giving him a sort of 'park' vibe. "I have been walking for quite a while. Hmph," he tutted, "A little sit-down wouldn't hurt."

The benches were grouped together overlooking the bridge, and as Kaiji approached them to have a seat, he noticed that another person had had the same idea. It was a woman as far as he could tell, with jet black locks of hair longer than Kaiji's. Her ensemble consisted of a light-grey shirt and a blue skirt, accented with white stripes along each side. Drawing closer, a Konohagakure headband stood out, tied about her head like a bow. A fellow shinobi, he thought to himself. His serendipitous meeting with Nayoko instantly came to mind. Should I... say something? The choice of whether or not to speak brought about pangs of anxiety. Shaking slightly, Kaiji Kyudoka took a seat on an adjacent bench, staring forward, petty fear in his heart. M-maybe she just wants to be left alone..? And certainly, he did sense an aura of cold about the woman. Attempting to inconspicuously glance at her, but not being one for nonchalance, Kaiji found himself staring intently at the raven-haired woman. What he realized was that he couldn't tear his gaze away. She's going to notice sooner or later, he fretted in the confines of his mind. It's now or never...

"H-hello," he stuttered, voice doing more shaking than the leaves on the trees whenever the wind blew them about. "The weather's n-nice, don't you think?" Kaiji paused momentarily to gauge a reply, before continuing on. "I love the weather here. W-wait, that makes it sound like I'm a tourist or something, heheh," his signature nervous laugh. "I'm Kaiji. Kaiji Kyudoka, a shinobi like y-you, or maybe not like you, I-I don't want to assume."

This conversation was playing out about as well as a train wreck.

WC: 548

The archer's eyes widened comically to the size of dinner plates as he experienced the unabashed verbal assault coming from the stranger he'd encountered mere moments ago. "Wha-wha-wha-what!?" he stumbled over his words. "S-Sannin? M-me? No. No, absolutely not. I'm j-just Kaiji Kyudoka." Kaiji was feeling a hodgepodge slew of emotions ranging from shock to fear. "Umeko-san, was it? L-let's set the record straight. Y-you've got the wrong guy, no doubt. I'm only a Genin. I d-didn't even know the village still had Sannin." Before the boy was able to assess the situation further, he realized that he was no longer sitting on the bench and had stood in his confusion. "S-sorry for my, well, I guess it was sort of an outburst. Your, um, claims may have overwhelmed me a tad bit. But I scare easily, s-so don't worry about it, heh." Kaiji returned to a seated position and crossed one leg over the other, breathing slightly easier as he hoped that the situation had been diffused. Despite hoping to the best of his abilities, these particular hopes were dashed against the rocks like a shipwrecked vessel meeting its end. In the blink of an eye, while the pink-haired sixteen year old was in the middle of adjusting his glasses, the girl named Umeko left her bench of origin and haphazardly plopped down right next to him. Another eye-popping, jaw-dropping situation to add to the already interesting series of events on this day.

"U-umm, Umeko-san?"

She was staring directly into his eyes, expression and body-language foreign and unreadable to Kaiji, being mostly unfamiliar with human interactions, and even further unfamiliar with those of the female persuasion. A rivulet of sweat swam down his forehead and into the corner of one of his eyes, and although it stung, he was strangely mesmerized by Umeko's gaze. Her excited string of words, never missing a beat, barely registered with him. She was like a... a snake, hypnotic glare lulling him into submission. Seconds, minutes, then hours seemed to pass while he sat trapped like doomed prey under the raven-haired woman's spell. In reality, the exchange was closer to instantaneous. As if he'd never fell for the black-magic allure at all, Kaiji shook his head side to side and he was free--for the time being.

"You... huh? Secret... dangerous... a mission?" he questioned with a genuine lack of understanding. Umeko was proving to be a difficult one to follow. Kaiji was truly unsure if he could keep up. "A-as I said, I'm a Genin as well, and nothing special I might add. Just... a regular, no, a below-average shinobi drifting in the wind like that leaf right there," and he raised his arm, index-finger stuck out towards a leaf shimmying in the gentle breeze. "I've no doubt that you're capable though, eheh," he giggled, though his expression quickly switched from one of laughter to one of anxiousness. "I, I didn't mean for that to sound weird, h-honest!" Kaiji put his head in his hands and stared down at his boot-clad feet. "I'm so bad at first impressions..." he murmured woefully. "Clearly I'm not the amazing person you were expecting here today..." The Kyudoka looked back up at Umeko, politeness overcoming melancholy. "I-I'll leave, if I'm not up to your standards..."

Up above, the sun was shining with not a cloud in sight. It was a beautiful day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Down below, Kaiji Kyudoka was on the verge of tears. His mood was unaffected by the beauty of the day.

WC: 637
TWC: 1185