So.. what was the current Yanagi clan head doing? Trying to kill herself, more than likely.

Earlier in the day the wise idea to go swimming had popped into her head. She couldn't bring herself to care that the water might be a bit on the.. freezing.. side of things. It honestly didn't matter to her much. She was avoiding her clan, again, and avoiding the duties that came with being clan head. So, cold swimming? Excellent idea!

She had wandered her way to the lake wearing her usual attire; black under shirt with a white long sleeved top over this with several cuts and holes in it, a pair of white pants with black knee length shorts underneath, close toed shoes, and white spiked hair that complimented her bright ice blue colored eyes. Simple.. and yet she stood out like a sore thumb, especially with the facial marking on her left cheek that symbolized her position. She hated it, all of it.. but it was what the clan was supposed to wear, and she wasn't about to give them another reason to bitch her out.

She stood at the water's edge for the moment, staring at it in contemplation...

Ahh... Such a beautiful morning. It was a bit chilly, and the cold breeze didn't help much, but the young red head didn't care. He had some biscuits with nuggets dipped in chilly sauce for breakfast, so he was still feeling... Quite warm. Ara was currently making his way to the Waterfall Point; or better yet, the small lake the waterfalls were pouring in. He would stop there occasionally, pretty much just to enjoy the sound of the crashing waterfalls, and the clear water that perfectly reflected the sky. He was currently on a morning stroll, before he went on a mission. Or went back to sleep for the rest of the day, probably the latter.

He was approaching the lake; the waterfall crashes could already be heard; when he noticed a figure he never seen there before. As usual, there was Shigin the fisherman, and the lady that walked her kids to the lake. But at this time of the day, it was usually quite empty, so Ara was surprised to see this new person. Wasn't exactly tall, probably around Ara's age. Short white hair... Quite strange. Arashi walked up to the shore of the lake, and realized... The figure was a girl! And by the look of the reflection in the water, a pretty one actually! It was a long time since Arashi talked with a girl... The last ones Alessi, the girl he met on the cliff. But she's a bit older than Arashi; no need to get his hopes up. Arashi quickly checked what he was wearing; a red long-sleeved shirt, (that complimented his glorious red shining hair perfectly!) with a short-sleeved black shirt on top of it. He wore some white pants, with occasional black samples and his signature red sandals. This was a pretty good day for him; a fashion disaster what Toushi would've said... Arashi slowly walked up to the white-haired girl; it didn't appear as he was spotted; and decided to rely on the trick Zenchi taught him a while ago. Here goes nothing... - he thought, as he bumped into the girl.

Arashi's plan was to "gently" bump the girl into the lake, and while she's falling; grab her hand. Wait for a second, make eye contact. Blush. Pull her back to the shore, and apologize. He would say the following.
"I'm sorry, it was an accident! I tripped..."
He would smile and close his eyes; it would appear as the situation was very awkward to him, which it probably would be a little.

She felt the bump, having only one way to go which was forward. And just as she was closing her eyes, awaiting the freezing cold contact that was about to happen any second now when she met that water.. her hand was grabbed, and her falling stopped. She opened her eyes again, her body having turned upon being grabbed. Spotting the one who had stopped her, and seeing it wasn't in fact one of those clan assholes, she couldn't help but smile a little, even as she internally cursed herself for not paying attention, more accurately for wearing shoes and blocking her natural abilities.

"That's quite alright.. accidents happen.", she responded, lightly pulling her hand free after she was fully situated standing again. Her stance automatically widened, giving her better balance to keep herself from toppling backwards quite so easily.

She took a glance around before turning her attention back to Arashi, taking in his appearance for a moment with a smile, and not bothering to hide the fact she was doing so. She'd long ago stopped caring what people though of her obvious methods. "So, would it be too bold to ask for the name of the guy who almost sent me flying into the lake?", she asked with a sly smile. "I'm Marquetta."

"That's quite alright.. accidents happen."
Oh shit, did she get it? Arashi was instantly worried, but somehow managed not showing it in his face. The girl went on, and introduced herself.
"So, would it be too bold to ask for the name of the guy who almost sent me flying into the lake? I'm Marquetta."
Arashi tilted his head a bit, and responded with a smile.
"No, not at all! I'm Arashi, nice to meet you."
He took a closer look at the girl, noticing what was, a tatoo? Beneath her eye. She was wearing all black and white, and it went perfectly with her white hair and slightly pale skin. Her eyes... Blue as the clear frost eyes. Arashi didn't notice; but he was blushing. And bad.
"Sorry for that once again..."

Hearing his name she smiled and nodded. "It's nice to meet you as well." Then something caught her attention; was he blushing? Yup, he definitely was. That amused her slightly; though she hid it well. Most guys she knew, being those in her clan, never blushed over her.. hell, they treated her like she wasn't even a female, especially when they saw her outright brutality during trainings.... So this.. this was rather nice, if she was being honest with herself.

Though, she wasn't going to play too much into it for the moment.. she didn't know the guy well enough, not yet. "So um... what brought you to the lake?", she asked curiously, attempting to keep the conversation going.

"So um... what brought you to the lake?"
"Nothing in particular... I come here every now and then. For a morning stroll."
The sound of the waterfalls was really getting to Arashi's head by then. If you asked him, there was hardly anything prettier and more magical then the sight of a crushing waterfall, not to mention it's appearance. He drifted away for a moment, even closed his eyes.
"God I love these waterfalls."
He smiled, and stared at them.

She watched him for a moment with a smile before turning her attention to the waterfalls as well. She had to agree, she loved it here, too, especially because of how peaceful it always was. She threw a quick look over her shoulder, half expecting to see one of the many annoyance she was avoiding at the moment to come lurking up behind her.. but so far, she'd succeeded in avoiding them.

"Well, I was just about to go take a walk myself... if you'd like to join me?" And out on that limb she went..she hoped he would, she wanted some company for once, a new friend to be more precise.

"Well, I was just about to go take a walk myself... if you'd like to join me?"
Huh, that's funny. She answered my question before I even asked. It was true, Arashi wanted to ask that exactly, but it looks like Marq beat him to it... Not a problem at all, actually. I mean; a walk's a walk. Who in their right mind cares who suggested it. It's the reason why I came here in the first place...
"Sure, let's go."
Arashi would let Marq choose the direction, and follow besides her. He would ask one more thing, to keep the conversation up.
"So, Marq, you have any hobbies?"
That was really the best Arashi could come up with at the moment, he didn't even know if Marq was civilian or a fellow shinobi. Though, she looked quite strong for a girl of her age...

She walked slowly, gaze locked upon the lake up until Arashi asked the question. She glanced at him with a light smile and then shrugged. "None that are too special really... just training, and trying to keep my clan from falling apart... or one of them sticking a knife in my back as it were..." She couldn't help but chuckle at the very real possibility of it all. "So far they're tolerating me.. but who knows?" She shrugged again, obviously not too bothered at the concept of it.

As if to change the subject she suddenly looked back to Arashi, an eyebrow raising. "What about you? What are your hobbies?" Yup, she was deflecting.. of course, she'd probably answer any question he asked.. she just wasn't going to give out more information than what he wanted to know.

[OOC: Dun deflect frum Iwa! You have alts everywhere... 3: ]

"None that are too special really... just training, and trying to keep my clan from falling apart... or one of them sticking a knife in my back as it were... So far they're tolerating me.. but who knows?"
A shinobi, just like me. Except she's... A clan head? Is she in trouble? Ara was listening to Marq with much attention. Marq then asked Ara.
"What about you? What are your hobbies?"
"Oh, nothing special either... Sleeping, training, doing missions. Mostly sleeping though..."
He chuckled a bit around the last part, he tried to make a joke. He wasn't usually good with it, but this one seemed at least... Mediocre.
"Now that you mentioned it... I wonder, from which clan are you, if I can know? I never met anybody quite like you..."

"From the Yanagi clan...", she said softly, with a light shrug, as if it was no big deal. She fell silent for a moment, contemplating things as they continued to walk around the lake. "If you've ever seen a small group training by kicking boulders and such at each others faces... that'd be us.", she grinned, chuckling. "It's one of our training methods to strengthen us up a great deal." She glanced around again, though it was more in a casual way than a watching her back sort of way before she turned her ice blue gaze back to Arashi. "But.. it also makes us all a little bit on edge and most of them tend to be overly competitive...", she added with a grumble.

So, she's a Yanagi. I think I heard of them... Or maybe I haven't. Iwa sure has a lot of clans. Arashi laughed at Marq's joke, and closely listened to her. When she finished what she was saying, there was a short silence. Arashi didn't really know what else to say, so he spoke about his clan, still with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, people from my clan tend to be somewhat competitive themselves... I come from the Nekomotze, we're small but somewhat strong I guess..."
Arashi looked at the ground a bit, before speaking again.
"Hey, how old are you if I can know? I don't remember seeing you around the academy." True, Arashi didn't remember many faces from the academy, but he's pretty sure he'd remember a white-haired boulder tosser...

"I just recently turned sixteen. You probably wouldn't have seen me much around the Academy at all, my clan likes to be all secretive and such.. tends to try and keep everyone from the Academy if they can help it. But, some parents.. like mine were.. well, they were too stubborn to listen...", she said softly, falling silent for a moment as she thought over her slain family.

Shaking herself from the depressing thoughts she looked to Arashi once more. "How old are you?", she asked softly, a slender white eyebrow raising in curiosity.

She glanced at the lake again as she waited for her answer, noticing how far they'd already walked.

Marq explained about how she's 16, and about going to the Academy isn't all that normal in her clan, that they're pretty secretive and stuff. Though, as soon as she spoke of her parents, she looked a bit sad. It wasn't long before she spoke again.
"How old are you?"
"Oh, I'm nearly fifteen."
It was true that Arashi looked a tad bit older, though. A couple of weeks back he successfully managed to go in a bar with Raishi, they both passed as 16-year-old without any hustle. And got wasted as fuck, the headache next day was unbearable. But hell; fun is fun. It was Arashi's first time ever getting drunk. He noticed that they've walked a significant distance since they started walking. Soon they would be back where they started, the lake was a fairly small one.
"So, you assigned to a team yet? Mine took ages..."
Ara shrugged a bit.

An eyebrow raised as she heard it was only fifteen, mentally remarking to herself how she had guessed he'd be slightly older. Not that it made much of a difference to her either way. Then she heard his new question and she shook her head, causing several strands of white hair to fall in front of her eyes. "Nope, not yet. Which sucks... seeing as training with the same people day in and day out gets boring, especially being the stronger so far in my clan. Lot less of a challenge."

She chuckled softly and shook her head again. "Not that our training methods aren't fun... five against one tends to keep someone on their toes, even if they are stronger. Maybe I'll show it to you one day... it's quite fun to watch, especially when the new batch gets flustered from it all."

Marq spoke about how she wasn't yet assigned to a team, and that she's slowly getting bored by training with same people every day, and how she's one of the stronger people of her clan. She laughed a bit, before speaking again.
"Not that our training methods aren't fun... five against one tends to keep someone on their toes, even if they are stronger. Maybe I'll show it to you one day... it's quite fun to watch, especially when the new batch gets flustered from it all."
"I'd love that! I used to watch matches in the Arena with my dad when I was younger."
At the mere thought of his dad, Arashi went a tad silent, and sad. It's been so long already...

Marquetta grinned and nodded, noticing his change in mood and thinking to try and change it. "It's fun. I'm supposed to be going there in a little while, actually. You're welcome to join me if you want, it's bound to be entertaining. I refused to join this round, need to get a good look at what the new kids can do." She grinned, wickedly. "Though, apparently the winner gets a shot at me." She shrugged.

She took another look around at that point, noticing that they were back to where they had started in their walk. She stared at the lake for a moment, remember the reason why she had come here in the first place and giving herself a mental shake to knock the thoughts out of her head. She couldn't keep letting herself think like that.

"It's fun. I'm supposed to be going there in a little while, actually. You're welcome to join me if you want, it's bound to be entertaining. I refused to join this round, need to get a good look at what the new kids can do. Though, apparently the winner gets a shot at me."
Arashi chuckled a bit, before replying.
"Yeah, that'd be fun! Just... I've got something to take care first, (sleeping), could you tell me where your training grounds are?"
They stopped walking, as they were at the point where they first met. The waterfall was making the beautiful noise Ara loved.

She thought about his question for a moment, biting her lip in contemplation. It was harder to explain then it should've been, given the way their lands were like one giant maze to outsiders to the clan; for the point of safety. She tilted her head a bit and then smiled. "Best way to explain it is we're off in the west." She pointed in the given direction, towards a rather large set of rocky outcrop. "You'll see a cave entrance, enter it, and keep going past all that creepy darkness." She chuckled. "It's more of a tunnel then anything, and once you come out of it you'll see the training grounds, they're big, have some seating around 'em for the spectators." She paused a moment, thinking over the things she said in case she had missed anything. "Oh, if anyone gives you trouble just tell them I invited you, they'll let you pass through without a hassle."

She glanced once more at the lake, heaving a mental sigh at the fact that she didn't have any distractions left to keep her from going back and handling more clan business; or stepping into the trainings as it were. Hell, maybe she would jump in, it would at least make the elders happy to know she was getting hands on with the up and comers of the clan.

Arashi listened as Marq explained that it was somewhere to the west. She continued giving him instructions, which he listened and tried to remember with great attention, while occasionally nodding to what Marq was saying.
"You'll see a cave entrance, enter it, and keep going past all that creepy darkness. It's more of a tunnel then anything, and once you come out of it you'll see the training grounds, they're big, have some seating around 'em for the spectators. Oh, if anyone gives you trouble just tell them I invited you, they'll let you pass through without a hassle."
By the end of her sentance, he was hardly even listening any longer... He got the main point; West, cave, giant room. What he was concentrated now what her... Beautiful blue eyes. He hardly took a glimpse, by accident, but couldn't separate his sight from after he did. When she was done talking, Arashi spoke back, now looking back at the lake.
"Alright, see you in a couple of hours. Baiii~ "
He yelled, as he turned around and went back to his house, with one hand in his pocket and the other waving at the person with pretty eyes behind his back.

---Arashi Left The Thread---

She watched him turn and go off running, an eyebrow raising. The urge to rip up a huge chunk of earth and kick it at him was great, and almost impossible to ignore; but some how she did. She wasn't one to attack someone without a good reason, and that wasn't a good enough one; besides... maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to convince him to train with her, and that would get violent enough as it is.

Turning, she headed towards home, whistling while she went.

-Exit.-