Nagare arrived at the steam baths with a grin, ready for a bit of a siesta. He turned for a second, confused, before realizing that he had been walking much faster than Horui and Boruda. He shrugged and went to go undress, then grabbed a towel before jumping into the warm waters, immediately soothed by the flow.

He needed to rest like this more often; maybe he wouldn't be so tense and awkward. A few moments passed, and between the steam and the warmth, thoughts of Gakuto shifted back into play. He expelled the thoughts before they set in.

He had at this point, no longer viewed Gakuto as a friend. The more he thought about it, the less he cared. Initially, it was heart wrenching and difficult to remember he had killed someone he loved, but every waking moment left an impression of Gakuto as a thief, a killer, an enemy, a traitor. He was simply a treasonous maniac bent on destruction. This didn't make it any better to think about; Nagare was still uncomfortable having such thoughts. It was just that there was no connection between the Gakuto he once knew and the one he killed. They were completely separate beings now.

And with that final thought fading, he saw Horui stride in, and casually undress.

Nagare had trotted ahead leaving Rudie to continue at his casual pace, after a few minutes it seemed Horui was also pulling ahead of him, apparently they were both quite eager to get to the bathhouse. Finally Rudie made his way into the bathhouse, casually strolling into the locker-room disrobing and locking his medical supplies and clothing into a small locker, which he often used when in the area. Walking toward the main area of the bathhouse Rudie grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his hips and making his way out to where Nagare and Horui had already found themselves in.

In the few seconds he took to walk to the entrance of the bath, Rudie couldn't help but admire his own physique, for such a seemingly lithe fellow, he had a fair amount of muscle definition, though covered by a sparse amount of brown hair. He felt he certainly didn't look too shabby, in fact Rudie would consider himself to be quite good-looking, and most bar-skanks would rightly agree with him.

Moving into the hot water his legs felt like gelatin, as he moved further into the water the stress of the past few weeks began to melt away, he hadn't been able to unwind in quite some time. Being a Shinobi is quite the busy job, after all. Should do this more often, steam helps with detox, and God knows I need to detox., Too much alcohol and not enough healthy activity it seemed.

Rudie arrived, rather masculine and attractive in appearance. He dipped into the water and a relaxed expression overtook his face. Nagare gave him a brief inspection, while Horui splashed in the water with the innocence of a child. "So, I see you exercise often. You've got some serious muscle mass. You practice Taijutsu?"

Horui caught a few waking glances at Rudie's physique, but was too wrapped up in splashing and diving under to care. Diving under did make it awkward, as he was faced with crotches on all fronts, so he stopped for a second a pushed his wet hair out of his eyes and floated over to Naga, leaning against the rim of the bath.

Looking toward Nagare he silently took in his svelte form, Rudie instantaneously imagined that the boy must've been quite nimble in the heat of battle. Nagare's comment upon our Bald fellow's physique was quite well received, a small smile crossing his face once more as he replied, "Taijutsu? No more than anyone else, in fact I don't really do much physical training. Good genetics, I suppose." he was tempted to begin a conversation about eugenics, but their surroundings called for much more casual chat. "Aside from my extensive medical training, I dabble in swordsmanship. If I may ask, which of the arts do you focus on?" as he spoke his eyes followed Horui who seemed to be having an absolutely grand time swimming about.

He of course found it a little odd when the Soseji dove underwater, most likely to be greeted by a mass of, well you know. Tilting his head toward the ceiling Rudie closed his eyes, obviously enjoying his brief moments of serenity.

Nagare could, feeling awkward and modest, and muttered, "Summoning. I find summons to be much more interesting than humans. I also practice ninjutsu, and I plan on learning kenjutsu myself." An idea popped into his mind, and he splashed out of the bath to go find something. He returned with Shougeki, the sword that Gakuto had used in battle.

"I got this as loot from my last mission. It's most of the reason why I want to learn kenjutsu; why not make use of such a blade?" he handed the blade to Rudie, with a smile. "Go ahead, take a gander. You can hold it; don't worry about dropping it, it's infused with Suiton chakra anyways."

Despite the harsh memories carried within the sword, it was a truly beautiful and magnificent blade that Nagare was quite proud of. Horui wasn't as enthralled, and looked Rudie in the eyes with a bright smile, the playful spirit of a child within him.

"I suppose I could see why one would prefer a summon to a person, typically they're far less confrontational." If it wasn't apparent that the boy wasn't much a social butterfly in his declaration that summons were far more interesting in comparison to people. Rudie thought of his own Kenjutsu training as Nagare spoke of how he wished to learn, fleeting moments where he and his mother practiced with Bokken, the feel of the wooden blade kissing the skin, it all seemed oddly romantic to him, though old memories seemed to have growing sentiment each day. "Family used to own a Dojo in town, still there, different name on it now." He hadn't visited his Dojo since it had been adopted by someone outside of his family.

With eyes pressed shut Rudie listened as it seemed someone was exiting the pool, he thought nothing of it. Reopening them moments later Nagare had appeared closer to him than before, and with sword in hand, asking Rudie to examine it. He grasped at the offered blade in a rather taciturn manner, examining the blade closely. A Shinken Katana, primarily made for training or ceremonial purposes the one he held seemed to have tasted blood before, steel forged, edged with volcanic glass, a jewel rested in the hilt of the blade. It was, interesting, to say the least. Presumably taken from a dead man, not the luckiest thing to be carrying around...As far as the physical properties, I don't know how well the edging would hold up, and the jewel alters the weight a bit...Eh, An eight and a half out of ten. Or so he thought, his eyes left the blade and returned to Nagare, "A fine sword, I would be hard pressed to find one of better quality anywhere near here." returning the blade Rudie continued, "You know, they say the soul resides in the blade..." he finished his statement in a rather cryptic manner, not particularly wishing to delve into what the boy had to do to acquire the sword, there was no point conversing on such matters.

His focus turned back to Horui who was beaming a happy smile, Rudie couldn't help but wonder if he was always so blissful. Exhaling deeply, he closed his eyes once again tilting his head back toward the ceiling.

Horui, seeing Nagare and Rudie paying more attention to the sword than anything else, took it out of Nagare's hands with a smirk. He gestured to Rudie to catch his attention, and swiped the blade through the water quickly. The water rippled and bent until streams of it surrounded the blade, spinning and folding into a cocoon, until finally, the blade held a coating of steaming spring water. He held the blade to the air, with a grin, as it was sharper and more visually stunning then before. He then tossed it away, and it landed with a clank near the changing area.

Nagare slowly explained, "Yes. What Horui is demonstrating is the natural affinity towards Suiton chakra in the sword. We believe it was crafted that way to be used in conjunction with Suiton ninjutsu, but we're still not sure how. We've only tried manipulating water with the blade, which isn't too effective in battle."

He changed the subject promptly. "I noticed you didn't have a blade on your person earlier, but you said you practice Kenjutsu? Do you own a blade that you keep at home?"

His eyes followed the blade as it was moved about, the sword did seem to have an affinity for water as it seemed to coat the blade. Rudie had heard of weapons that had affinities such as the one before him, but had never been able to experience one first hand. "Interesting, only heard of weapons such as the one you've acquired." He could only cringe as Horui saw it fit to toss the elementally charged blade out of the bath, the expression faded rather quickly as it seemed that no damage had been done to the blade. Clearly they didn't know how one was supposed to treat a sword, but then again he didn't have room to talk after what he had done to his own.

"There are very few smiths who can infuse elemental chakra into weaponry, they practice a dying art. From what I understand about such arts, and honestly that's very little, is that the smith usually forges the element of their home country into the weapon. Yours is of Suiton, so there's a fair chance that the creator lived in Mizu No Kuni at one point or another. Probably dead, but if you're dying to know I would ask around in town." It seemed apparent to Rudie that the blade's creator had most likely passed on long ago, but there was always that chance...

Rudie couldn't help but laugh a bit as Nagare asked if he had a blade, which at that point he did not, he had money problems "Did at one point, a fine one in fact, gifted from my mother. Unfortunately I have terrible money-management issues and I'm rather morally inept, pawned it off; tried to buy it back a while ago, turns it out they sold it to some mercenary from Iwagakure. I'll probably take it back sooner or later.", he did miss his sword.

"Iwagakure, you say? I've wanted to go there myself for a while. I'm a big traveler, myself, even if only recently." Horui's ears perked up at the sound of Iwa, although the only food there he could imagine would be rocks. "Whenever you plan to go, make sure you tell me. We could make it a trip together or something fun like that. So what's this about terrible money management? Pawning off a sword must've net you a lot of ryo."

" I most certainly will, sure I'll be needing some accompaniment." Rudie never was much for being alone, he was by nature a very social creature. As far as his money-management problems went he found little problem discussing them plainly and simply, "I like a drink, and when I don't have the money to get one, well, I do some pretty stupid shit." he shrugged his shoulders as if the fact that he was a high-functioning alcoholic didn't bother him, which it didn't. Looking over toward Nagare he hoped that the boy wouldn't become preachy after allowing him a bit of insight into his life, he wasn't in the mood for debate.

Attempting to change the conversation Rudie immediately delved into changing the topic, "So, got anyone special in Kumogakure? Fortunately I've yet to become locked down, the women around here are rather emotionally draining." not that he particularly wanted to become, 'locked down'.

"Heh heh, you could say there's someone. I don't know if she likes me back, though. Her name is Jishin..." his thoughts trailed off to home, and he became deeply homesick within seconds. He also realized that it had been a week since he had arrived, which meant it was time to leave soon; he had specifically wanted to train here before he left. He jumped out of the bath, and told Horui to follow, before turning to Rudie. "I hope that you find someone special, too, Rudie, but for now, I have to get going. I'll be making the trip back to Kumo later tonight. It was great meeting you. Good luck at the hospital, as well." He wanted to hug his new friend, but seeing as they were both naked, he refrained, and went to put his clothes on. He turned one last time, saying "I'll see you again, soon enough." with a smile, and he and Horui left.

[Exit Thread]

"Nice name, hope it works out for you." he replied after hearing that the kid had someone special that he found himself in a relationship with. Rudie nodded silently as Nagare wished him luck and said that he must leave for Kumogakure, removing a hand from the warm water he waved to the two. The comment on how the two would meet again soon was rather off putting, it sounded odd to him, though he put it off as a wish rather than a statement. "I'm sure." He replied his hand sinking back into the water, tilting his head back and relaxing once again.

[Thread exit]