Now this truly was a sight to behold. One hell of a snowstorm had whipped through Konohagakure overnight and left the village with a blanket of snow just over fifteen centimeters deep. The entire village was covered, or at least that's what Takao could see from his perched position on the top of a water tower. Many shinobi and villagers were working together in clearing the streets of the snow. Takao was not one of those people. He wasn't here to help clear the streets of snow, but rather to visit the market for some much needed grocery shopping.

Takao hopped down the water tower he stood on and landed with a silent thud on the tiled roof below. He took a few steps and dropped down to the next roof with a similar soft thud, and then with one more final jump, he landed at the street below. Despite the cold weather and heavy snowfall, many vendors still occupied the busy marketplace district. With a shrug of his shoulders, Takao proceeded into the crowd. He wasn't expecting so many people to be out and about, but he still needed to do some shopping regardless.

Riku walked through the streets that were cleared trying to avoid the snowed in areas as much as possible. Looking around and up at the darkened sky and snowfall Riku shivered slightly in the cold. Spotting a man jumping down off the rooftops Riku approached tilting his head slightly at him the man seemed to be a higher up ninja so Riku wondered why he wasn't helping with the snow. "Excuse me sir but why aren't you helping clear the snow?" Riku wasn't accusing him of not helping though the man just seemed like he had other things on his mind. " Oh I'm Riku by the way Riku Aburame of the prestigious Aburame clan." Riku kept his grey eyes on the man from behind his shaded goggles.

Riku had other things to do as well on this day. He would probably be helping move snow later but right now his parents had sent him to collect items for dinner tonight. Their ryo was safely tucked away in his pocket for safe keeping. The gourd atop Riku's back gave off a slight humming sound like something inside was active.

It had been a long with for Kumori and he had just risen from bed when his stomach began gurgling. He was hungry so he made his way to the cupboard where ther e was no food. Kumori shook his head as he made his way to the fridge. Great it was just his luck he had ran out of food just before a freak snow storm. Kumori let out a sigh and hung his head as he slid on his pants and bright yellow jacket before making his way out into the snow covered streets. The bright white sheets of snow were not to his liking everything about it just seemed dreadful to him.

Kumori tucked his hands in his pockets to keep warm and made his way down the street to the market place. Which did not seem all that effected by the snow there were still people scurrying about from booth to booth picking out fruits and vegetables. Kumori pushed his way through the crowd trying not to get noticed and then he heard it the agonizing whispers about him. He knew it wouldnt be long before it started. Kumori covered his blood red eye's with his sheepishly white hair trying to pretend he was some where else, but it was not use the whispers pierced his ears like a razor sharp kunai knife.

Thats when he finally saw it one of his only friends was talking to what appeard to be a higher ranking ninja. Kumori hustled over to greet him as fast as he could. " Fancy meeting you here Riku....uh who's your new friend?

Kumori nervously scratched the back of his head it took him a little bit to trust people. Especially after the way he's been treated over the years by the people of this village.

Even in the dead of winter, Konohagakure still had one hell of a selection of produce available at their markets. Takao had been standing at one particularly empty stand, conversing idly with the keeper of the stand as he picked out some fruits from their shelves. The small-talk conversation Takao and the shopkeeper had going was interrupted by a particular voice that stood out from the idle chat of the crowd. Takao turned his head to the side just enough to see the distinct figure behind him, and was tempted to simply ignore him, but he decided against it and finally turned. He faced the slightly taller male and lowered his hands down into his pockets while he introduced himself in a rather peculiar way.

“Helping clear the snow? I wasn't assigned to that job, I have the day off.” Takao lied, though it was a rather convincing lie. Even though he was wearing his Jounin getup, vest included, were a rather clear indication he was “on duty”. As the younger male introduced himself as an Aburame, Takao couldn't help but hold back a snort of amusement sorts. Now that Takao had a good look of him, the guy definitely fit the description of a generic Aburame shinobi. “Yeah, you definitely look like an Aburame. Not too keen on deception, are 'ye?” Takao teasingly said. He meant no harm by it, but it wouldn't be hard for one to recognize who he was and what kind of abilities he had. That was one of the benefits of being from a lesser-known clan, people didn't know jack shit about him or his abilities.

Then another shinobi appeared, who seemed to be of a lower rank as well. Takao was rather well educated on the higher ranking shinobi of the village, mostly Chuunin and Special Jounin such as himself, and he didn't recognize either ninja. Genin, he assumed.

“I'm Takao. You two seem like you're genin, I take it?” Takao said. Most ranks higher than genin had some sort of indication of authority, while the genin were actually rather free when it came to their uniforms. Takao missed those days.

Riku heard another voice and turned to see one of his friends from the Academy approaching. " Oh hello Kumori this is Takao he is just heading to the market as am I." Riku looks over at Kumori noticing his general discontent at the moment. " What's bugging you? Pardon my pun, you just seem a little down."

Riku looked back at Takao. " yes we are both Genin we graduated from the academy together." Riku bought a few things as they talked from the stall owner quickly gathering a great deal of groceries in his arms for his families dinner. Using their straps Riku attach his groceries to the gourd on his back so they would be easier to carry." Speaking of which hey Kumori I don't suppose you've been assigned your team have you? I have been busy and unable to check at the Academy listings yet." Riku had hoped Kumori would say he had that would mean Riku would probably be assigned to a team as well.