Sumire rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat at the small diner not too far from her apartment. She was outfitted head to toe in her typical training uniform. It consisted of a tight fitting plum tank top and a black jacket to shield her from the morning chill. She wore spandex shorts with fishnets that stopped just above her knee. Her weapons pouch and a good sturdy pair of black sandals finished off the outfit. She rested her chin on her hand as she looked out of the window of her booth. She was waiting for Arata to join her for a little training session.

It had been such a long time since the young woman last trained that she found herself feeling quite nervous. Sumire knew she was rusty and knew that Arata was probably a bit more practiced than she. Such thoughts caused her to nibble on her fingernails, a habit she's had since childhood. Sumire tried to clear her mind as she looked out the window actually taking in the scenery this time. It was a beautiful morning, it was very early the sun only just starting its ascension. Its rays were mostly hidden behind the clouds. The grass outside held a dew and a light mist settled low to the ground. The window fogged as Sumire subconsciously leaned closer to it taking in more of the view. When was the last time she was this nervous about anything? A dark feeling settled in the young woman's chest.

As soon as the feeling came it was disrupted by the perky waitress coming around yet again to ask Sumire for her order. Although, unlike last time where she had told the young woman to buzz off as she was waiting for her guest Sumire ordered a glass of orange juice. The young shinobi became conscious of her fingers in her mouth. She promptly wiped them off on a napkin and picked up the restaurant menu and looked to see what breakfast she would order. Arata was supposed to be here by now.

The waitress would circle back around with the juice and Sumire would wave her off one more time. She would take a small sip and lean back into the seat to simmer more on her worries about today's spar. Sumire weighed her strengths. She was more than capable with fuinjutsu and for a while, she had wanted to learn summoning. The desire is still there of course but what to summon. How would she summon? Does one just know what they want and choose or is it something spiritual. The horned woman groaned at the thought of some dumb spiritual journey. Sumire didn't quite like to dig deep. Her sense of self is there. There are no more layers to her than what she shows. 'Finding a summon should be as easy as ordering a pizza' she thought to herself.

The pesky waitress circled back yet again and Sumire rolled her eyes, snatched up the menu and ordered. She chose some fancy pancake special they had going on and handed her menu back to the waitress. The young horned woman glanced at the clock and slumped further into her seat. She hated being alone with her thoughts for this long and swore to beat Arata's ass if only for making her wait in this restaurant so long.

---

Arata, waking up with anything but grace, had no perception of the time of day from within his tent. He had fallen asleep cold, his head laying upon the notebook which was now filled with quite beautifully scrawled notes about Sumire. It would not have been a stretch to say that some level of warmth from thoughts of her had lulled the slightly obsessive shinobi to sleep at his desk. This would not have been a problem had he been living the way he had been for the last few months; free of obligation. But as he glanced at the small space at the opening of his tent and saw the sunlight streaming through, he realized he had made a terrible error. The events of the first encounter between the beautiful horned woman and Arata could have easily spelled out their last interactions but she instead had an interest in meeting once again despite it.

That next meet-up was meant to begin at the diner this morning, and end up at the training grounds for a friendly spar. He was already desperately late for that. Arata slammed closed the notebook and locked it away in the oddly ornate looking desk he had within his tent, then he switched into one of the few things he had been given for free after agreeing to join the Konohagakure forces and become a fully fledged citizen. The Konoha genin military fatigues were a navy blue color and the overlaying jacket covered with pockets for item storage was that traditional Konoha green.

He dashed with some haste from the small camp and through the gates, hoping to make up for his tardiness in making a show of effort. “How could I have made such a careless mistake. I could lose her entirely now..” he thought to himself as he ducked and dodged through civilians who were likely in the midst of their work commute. As he approached the front side of the diner he would see her sitting in wait for him inside. He would tap the glass as he passed to indicate to her that he was just around the corner. He was nearly breathless as he sat down in the booth across from Sumire, looking still rugged but a bit silly in the uniform compared to his normal, hoodie and jeans combination.

“Seems that sleep had other plans for me today, you should feel blessed that I managed to defeat the wretch and make it here anyway.” he would snap for the waitress, ordering some bacon, eggs, and toast for the two of them. “I can still feel that soft pillow pushed against my cheek...oh do I miss it.”

He would gaze at her, hoping to have broken through the displeased look she had on her face. After breakfast he would gain an opportunity to learn an immense amount about the woman sitting before him. There was much to be gathered from the way someone fought. It was the whole reason he had accepted a spar as a means of meeting again.

Arata, as a character, was meant to be confident and prodigal in the shinobi arts. The same couldn’t necessarily be said for Rōi, who only really knew that Scorch release was incredibly dangerous and had been known to mummify its victims. He would be sure to take care with her, not wishing to harm her too much in a simple spar. As the waitress arrived with the two plates of breakfast food, he would waste no time digging in, looking at Sumire between bites of food to ask “Would it make you more comfortable to go into this knowing what we specialize in, or leaving it to be discovered?”

---

623

Sumire was alerted to the tapping of the glass which was followed shortly by Arata's snowy hair rounding the corner and entering the diner.

"Finally!" Sumire would say semi jokingly as he sat down. "Don't worry too much about it. I just couldn't sleep much so I got here way too early." The young woman would say dismissing her dining partner's worries and taking a sip of her orange juice. It was true though that her sleep schedule had been less than satisfactory. She'd been awake since 4 am after having fallen asleep before the sun even set the day before. The sleep was turbulent and hardly restful.

The waitress circled back around with their food. She seemed much more content now that Sumire had bought something after sitting in the diner for a little while. She left them to their meal which Sumire immediately took a bite of her bacon. Upon the notion of leaving her sparring partner's fighting style a surprise, Sumire scoffed. No way in hell would she go into this knowing just about nothing.

"Sure. I'm of the Hattori clan and my family branch specialized in fuinjutsu." She would start wavering a bit on giving out this much information but then deciding to divulge a bit more. "I also use raiton primarily. If we're being totally honest here, it's been a long time since I've trained let alone spar with anyone." A light blush would grace Sumire's face looking more purple than pink as she shared her earlier anxieties. She ate a forkful of eggs and avoided eye contact with Arata for fear he would think her lesser.

She would continue this way picking at her food until it was finished and then taking the last drink of her orange juice. The air felt a bit awkward to her. Admitting she was an amateur was a bit of blow to the horned woman's self esteem. In an effort to break the awkwardness Sumire spoke up again. "What about you? I don't know very much about you at all." She said. The first night they even met Sumire was drunk and she'd seen him go into a fit of rage over some guy flirting with her. It was cute up until he tried to kill the man. If she could recall correctly he had a scalpel.

"Let me guess first though and then tell me if I'm right or wrong." She smiled at him before thinking. "you're a medical user right?" She paused to think a little before making another guess. "You look like a suiton user but your eyes say katon." She joked. Finally, she asked her snowy haired friend one last question."I can't peg you for any clan I know of. Are you from Konoha or somewhere else?" She asked thoughtfully. Sumire sat in wait with her hands clasped in front of her on the table.

---

As far as discussions went, Arata had not really planned on having the tables turned. As the two sat together having breakfast, it seemed Sumire took initiative and began to dig a little deeper into the nature of Arata. If not for the fact that he was relatively immersed in this role, he might have had a hard time reacting. “First thing’s first, I am a Sumiko. We are a clan possessing the unique capability of combining Katon with Futon in order to produce a sort of burning radioactive waveform called Shakuton. Our burns are rather nasty.” he would stop, allowing her the chance to ask any questions she might have had about the nature of scorch release. Then he would continue directly onto the next question.

“I do practice Medical Ninjutsu, as well as standard Ninjutsu for more basic elemental manipulation. I have begun to use my Shakuton kekkei genkai to do cancer research. As far as I’m aware, I can cure even the most serious of cancers via chakra-based radiation therapy. I just need to be approved by the board to begin trials.” having now tooted his horn just the right amount, he would nearly crack the handle of his teacup when Sumire placed that final question toward him. It took only a few seconds, the time it took for him to take a sip of his hot tea and place it back down for him to compose a thorough lie.

“I know that my kekkei genkai is not common among the people of Konoha, but I suppose I must just be some sort of anomaly. I was born and raised here. The Will of Fire and all that, right?” the crisis had been averted as far as he was concerned, he would slap down what was probably enough money to cover the quick breakfast and beckon to Sumire hurriedly to leave. As he pushed back into the morning sun, he would direct her toward the training ground just a block or so away from them. Needless to speak further, he would walk with her toward the large designated training area. It was a massive grassy field, a few dirt patches containing training dummies with painted on targets seemed to watch over the place like guardians.

“In Konoha there is a sign we do before a spar to symbolize our bonds. An agreement to honorable combat. Let’s do that, and then you choose your starting position and we will give about 10 meters of space before we begin.” he would reach out and offer the seal of reconciliation, after which he would remain in place while his partner assumed her positioning. He would leave it to her to initiate the combat, nodding in her direction when she seemed settled.

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