The start of each day for Kuan-Yin was much of the same since graduating the academy. He would rise from bed at a uniform 6:00 A.M. and walk directly to his shower after a stretch and a yawn. From that point, after a thorough clean, he would enter the kitchen area of his small one bedroom apartment and prepare one of two things; French toast or bacon and eggs. Regardless of which dish, he would enjoy a small serving of fruit and a cup of green tea. By 7:00 A.M. he would be out of his house and on a casual walk toward the Konoha hospital, where he would intern for twelve hours. He would then return home and sleep.

Today his circadian rhythm jolted him awake at 6:00 A.M. and he immediately realized he was. I longer interning at the hospital. In fact, he would soon be placed on a squad and begin his life as shinobi, in the thick of conflict. He had absolutely no obligation to be awake at this time and yet he could not go back to sleep. His shower water ran cold. His appetite betrayed him and he skipped breakfast. Everything felt wrong after weeks of repetition. Kuan-Yin had been excellent at his work in the hospital, and he could not quite shake the fear that he would not be so good at battlefield medicine. He did not believe himself to be a combatant, despite being quite skilled at it during the academy. He assured himself that he would not have to fight, and he sipped the last bit of tea from his mug before standing up from his table and walking out of his apartment, descending the steps to the ground level before heading toward the Market District.

His clothing consisted of a gentle set of grey robes with a white shirt beneath. His pants were standard black, and he wore wooden sandals. Despite having no idea what to expect when life's next big adventure arrived at his door, Kuan-Yin was determined to at least equip himself with the basic gear for being a shinobi. That would be most easily purchased at the market. He had been sitting on quite a lot of money, since he did not frequently make unnecessary purchases and worked for full time pay as an intern at the hospital. Medical personnel were known to make substantial amounts of money, and he was no exception.

As he made his way through the hustle and bustle of the very busy market, he seemed to flow like water, never brushing a single person as he navigated the crowds. Kuan-Yin was a graceful soul. The first thing he would purchase would be medical supplies. And that brought him to a sudden standstill in front of a small wooden market stall with a red cross painted on the front. His eyes scanned over the many herbs and tools, checking for quality and purpose.

WC: 501

Hakina waking up on the wrong side of the bed was something she expected today. Being a part of the Konoha-Kiri exchange had its downsides and waking up to a messy home was definitely one of them. Try as she might Hakina couldn't unpack all of her stuff in one day and her living environment was proving to be irritating.
   
    The small blonde tried her best to sort today. Hakina was aggravated that she had to tend to such a tedious task but what else was she supposed to do having woken up this early unable to settle again. She spent almost a full hour organizing her clothing before she decided to break to freshen up. She pulled on a casual knee length dress and sandals before stepping out of the house. Downside number two to moving so suddenly was definitely having to go out to eat all the time until settling.

 While annoyed with Konoha, Hakina couldn't call it ugly. The country was pretty and flourishing with trees. She could get used to the comfortable feeling of the warm sun on her skin. Hakina longed for a lake though or a river or even a puddle. It hadn't even been a whole week since she moved but she missed that about her country if nothing else.

  Getting lost in Konoha was easier than she'd thought but one road or alley after another she'd found herself in the market place. Her stomach grumbled lightly. This isn't exactly where she had hoped to end up but it wasn't a bad place to be either. She graduated the academy and immediately came to Konoha to be placed on a team here. She hadn't done much practice or even leaving her apartment unless for necessities and it was probably  best if she at least met one person today.

  Hakina has always been picky so it was no wonder she couldn't settle on even attempting to make friends with people who didn't seem fit. Getting more annoyed than she was before Hakina huffed and decided to look into some of the shops instead. The first one was a small shop for medical supplies. She needed to find a new supplier for her medication so it wouldn't have hurt to try there.

 She made her way through the crowd quickly grimacing at the amount of people out today. Everything was starting to seem more and more like a pain than a blessing to her. She walked up to shop and turned her eyes to a tall man who looked around her age eyeing some herbs heavily. She ran through a checklist in her head of potential reasons he wouldn't be an acceptable friend and stopped. She didn't want to shoot down another person and she didn't get a weird feeling from him so that should be enough shouldn't it? Abruptly turning and tapping him on his shoulder Hakina reached out her hand.


      "Hi, my name's Hakina."



WC: 513

It was as he held a piece of aloe vera in his hand gently that a voice from behind came cutting through the incredibly loud roar of the marketplace. It was a feminine voice, light and high, which drew Kuan-Yin to avert himself from the stand to face behind him. It was also the light tap upon his shoulder which drew him, wondering who would it be announcing themselves so openly like that. Hakina is what she had announced herself as. The Guanyin medic found himself looking only slightly angled down into a pair of deep red eyes and a face lightly framed by golden blonde hair. Her clothing indicated some sort of wrath or status as not a piece of it was without a brand name.

All of this analysis took place in only just seconds, being that Kuan-Yin was extremely perceptive. There was no evident break in the flow of conversation as he finished a full 180 degree turn to meet her gaze and respond.

"Good morning to you, Hakina. What brings you to the market with such a friendly demeanor. Haven't you seen how the rest of these animals behave?" He flashed a friendly smile as he made his jest. Kuan-Yin wasn't going to complain about friendly conversation in the midst of this hellish market.

He glanced back at the small medical shop and placed the piece of aioe back in its place, making sure not to meet eyes with the shopkeeper. As he glanced back to Hakina he spoke once more.

"Despite the fact that I often like to support the little fish in this marketplace, the prices at this medical stand are extremely higher than the ones at the main medical supplier just down the street. They supply directly to the hospital, so it's all trusted and cheaper. I would skip this stand if I were you."

He never dropped his gentle and kind demeanor, as he looked out over the crowds to determine which direction lead to the general medical supply store from this small shop. As he figured out that he would just need to head Northeast to get there he beckoned to Hakina before saying "I'm not traveling through that crowd like a civilian again, it's so tedious." He assumed he would learn whether or not she was a shinobi based on whether she followed him as he dashed quickly to a spot on top of one of the stands and seemed to flicker from place to place over the heads of all of the shoppers.

The medical shop he would lead them to was much larger and more corporate looking than the one they had just left, but there was no denying the fact that all of the supplies were marked down heavily. Even more so if you bought them in bulk. Kuan-Yin had made many quick runs to this place in his time working for the hospital, resupplying them mid-shift.

WC: 500
TWC: 1001

Hakina rose an eyebrow at the young man. He was a bit strange but still didn't seem threatening in any way. In fact, the more she looked at him the more he looked thin and tall like a piece of wheat or a cornstalk. He wasn't unattractive though and from his earlier statement she could only assume he was a ninja as well. She was a bit shocked at the revelation because he looked gentle like he wouldn't hurt a fly. Looking from the stand to him she was certain he was some sort of medic. Swallow her questions Hakina decided to finally answer the man after pausing so awkwardly.

   "I wouldn't know much about the prices here. I've only just come to Konoha and haven't left my apartment to much. One can only stand so much move in clutter at a time."

It was true. The inside of her apartment was treacherous. She had stayed up half the night to clean and slept when her body couldn't handle staying up any longer she passed out for about two hours. She would've slept more if not for the thoughts of bugs in her room. A messy apartment always attracts bugs even if it was just boxed in her opinion. She'd have to make it a point to buy the strongest pest spray there was on the market. The thought of going back to her potentially buggy apartment  loomed over head like a heavy storm cloud. She wasn't going back to that time place  just yet.

 Her stomach grumbled angrily at being neglected. She had come out all this way for the sake of food and instead is at some medicine shop. Pursing her lips and looking out to the crowd that had gotten thicker Hakina decided against footing it through the endless stream of people.

"Is there a place to eat near that med shop? I can't find anything and I haven't eaten all day."  She paused for a second wondering if it was her wisest idea to follow a stranger to a place she'd never been. He hadn't done anything off putting so she shoved that thought down.
 
 "I hope that's  not too much of a bother. I'll have no problem keeping up. I'm quicker than you'd think."

Hakina flashed a cheeky grin. She ran faster than most of her friends back in Kiri and she was quite proud of herself for it. Whether she'd admit or not it was nice to have someone to talk to and maybe even eat with. Hakina had a lot of acquaintances and the thought of things being different was exciting. The thought of friendship almost made her want to squeal with glee. She hasn't felt the need to act differently around this guy. It was different and she liked it.

She looked back at him. He hadn't told her his name. His eyes were a very muted dark green. They look like seaweed she stifled a small laugh.

I'll just call him that until he remembers to give me his name


WC:544
TWC: 1,057

As the two darted over the buildings in a fun, lighthearted use of the physical prowess being academy graduates had likely afforded them, Kuan-Yin smiled the entirety of the way over. He had not had much time since graduation to invest in meaningful friendships or even time for relaxation and fun. As he gently touched down on the ground, now relocated to the center of the marketplace near the medical shop, he changed destinations from the medical shop to somewhere they could grab a bite to eat, as per Hakina's request.

There was a very cheap, quick food vendor on one side of the street, and a more high end, dine in restaurant on the other side of the street. Both places had some similar dishes; Lo Mein, Fried Rices, noodles, and kabobs. Kuan-Yin knew from his experiences as a medic that more people would end up in emergency care due to food poisoning at small scale food stands than any other place. But was it socially improper to invite a new friend to a sit down restaurant? Would she think oddly of him or that it was an advance of some sort?

He couldn't have been sure. So he waited for her to notice the options and gave her the opportunity to make the decision on her own. He stared around at this part of the district. It was a little less occupied, strangely. Likely due to the fact that getting to this point was often such a stressful process, essentially forcing any traveler to practically crowd surf to this point. It was also rather expensive to shop here, besides the medical shop, of course.

Clouds swept in and gently covered the sun, creating a gentle tint of shade in the immediate area. The sky was a beautiful cyan and those same clouds were a smokey white. It was somewhat adorable to look back and see his new acquaintance hopping along behind him. Her hair was that sort which seemed to bounce without fail each time her feet touched down. She looked happy. Everything was going to be okay.

"How beautiful"

The sky itself was extraordinary. One could have painted this scene and made a small fortune if the talent were there. For weeks, Kuan-Yin had been deeply contemplating what life would be like the day he was made to take on the reigns of actual shinobi life. If this was day one, the days forward looked optimistic.

Or was that a naive point of view? The young medic was completely and utterly aloof, thinking or rather overthinking everything. If Hakina hadn't focused on choosing between the two obvious choices of where to eat, she would have likely seen that he was spaced out.

Regardless of how, Kuan-Yin would snap out of his daze and immediately resume normal function, regaining his calm and aware demeanor. This was all strange to him, he had never been known to daze and lose track of time like this before.

WC: 504
TWC:1,505