Now, Kaji wasn't going to claim to be an expert on girls, dating and the like. But he was fairly certain that when a pretty girl asked for you to live with them, that was a very good sign. One shouldn't think too hard on this though. She was most likely being nice, that was all. They had a shared history, and otherwise was homeless.
Still, Kaji couldn't help but laugh, giving her a warm smile. "Sure. How can I possibly refuse?" He glanced back at the shack that led to the dungeons below. It wasn't as if he had any belongings he needed to bring with him.
"I guess we can head there right now. Unless you have something you need to do here first?" Well, she came here for some reason, right? It couldn't have been just for him.
Unless there was something she was going to do first...[break][break]
Well, the hard honest truth was that the reason she had come all the way out here was to conquer her fear and see the dungeons one last time.... and she could still do that. But rather than going into the dungeons, she met someone and she felt content meeting him. Furthermore, she now had taken up the responsibility of helping him by giving him a place to live. She was excited![break][break]
Kyoufu wanted to know more about him.. to learn who he was and what he had become after their shared experiences. For the two of them, they were both likely kids since they'd last had true freedom. He could probably relate that they'd never gotten the chance to grow up. To some extent Kyoufu felt like she was still 9 years old, but she wasn't. She had superficially matured, but she also didn't quite feel like she fit in with her age group. She had things to learn and she knew it. It was just fortunate that she also didn't feel like a nine year old any more, lest she knew she'd look odd running around with them on the playground.[break][break]
"There's nothing I need to do," she answered him. "Lets head back to the village."[break][break]
With that, the girl started walking away, hopefully with her new friend standing either beside or behind her. [break][break]
"So... you said you don't know ninjutsu. Then, what do you know? Like, what skills do you have?"
Well, that was that then. Time to leave this place behind forever. To be honest, Kaji was pretty nervous. After eight years of captivity, he was stepping out into a whole new world. But now, he wasn't alone. He had someone with him. Someone he could relate to. Someone to share these new times with. It was a warm, reassuring feeling.
As she turned to leave, Kaji moved to walk alongside her. He could only wonder what his new home would be like. Much better than the dungeon he had been stuck in, that was for damn sure.
Then came the question. What can he do?
Kaji thought for a moment. "Well, I was rather decent athletically," he paused and looked at himself, "Though...it's been a while since I had a proper workout..." And...that was it. What else could he do? You couldn't exactly develop skills when you were locked in a cell. Kaji suddenly felt very...small.
Made sense that he was without many talents. Kyoufu felt the same way. She had started learning the basics of ninjutsu, but now she wasn't particularly talented with those either, specially compared to the people who were once her peers. Now she was at the bottom of the barrel and would be lucky not to die on a shinobi mission. Of course, this still didn't discourage her from trying. She was going to jump at a mission in the first opportunity that she received.[break][break]
"Well that's good. Outside of ninjutsu I was never particularly gifted athletically... at least part of that might be due to my height, since I'm not particularly tall.. I am flexible though," she explained. "Also, my chakara is pretty strong. I think I inherited that from my great great great, and I don't know how many great's, grandfather. I'm related to the First Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village."[break][break]
She nodded. If he knew anything about history then he would know that the First Hokage was the one who had first created the Hidden Villages, and he was a shinobi known for the rare and unique ability to create and control trees from his chakra. [break][break]
"We'll certainly get something figured out for you. Maybe I can even teach you a ninjutsu or two," she gave him a grin.
Kaji felt some relief that she didn't think less of him. Still, it made sense. She had only been out for a week. It's not like she would have become some sort of super ninja during that time. But they at least shared the fact they had strong chakras. Hers was just better utilized.
When she offered to teach him, he paused. He hadn't expected that offer. Would he be a good student? Well, he wanted to do something for her. And right now, he was just dead weight.
He gave her a smile. "That would be great! I just hope I don't end up wasting your time."
Wasting her time? That was an impossibility. Kyoufu had learned from Tsukiya that friends could not waste each other's time. Friendship was something that would last forever, and in the long run friendships would help them to learn more skills and develop more comrades. In the world of shinobi, this meant that friendships equated to longer life spans, right? Kyoufu was certain of the fact, even if no one had ever formally taught it to her.[break][break]
There was something about Kaji that really drew Kyoufu to him... she wasn't sure what it was, but it was something strong. It had to be that shared experience... or maybe it was something deeper. Maybe their chakras were connected in a way. As a matter of fact, now that Kyoufu thought about it, their chakra had been connected before. She snickered at the thought. Every time she bit him in the past, a piece of his chakra entered inside of her to make her stronger. In a way, that was kind of intimate, wasn't it?[break][break]
"Whether you learn jutsu or not, with an ability like your's you'd make an amazing medical ninja, wouldn't you?" she said. "Or maybe you could learn how to cook like my dad did! If you're a good cook then you're always valuable to everyone!"
Hmm, a medical ninja huh? Kaji hadn't really thought about it. Granted, his ability did allow him to heal. Though the thought of others chopping on him and siphoning off his chakra, wasn't a pleasant thought.
Though with Kyoufu it was different. Being with her, talking with her, he felt he would have no problem giving her an arm to bite one. Strange how things go like that.
At her other suggestion of him cooking, Kaji couldn't help but laugh. "Well, why not both?" he said, grinning. "Fill up your stomach, AND your chakra."
Kyoufu now did find herself wishing that her dad was still around to teach her how to cook. It seemed like such a daunting task to try to learn something like that by herself. Could people even learn how to cook by themselves? She wasn't quite so sure. She was too afraid of burning her humble home down to try it. So far she'd been lucky that Tengfei had given her a place to get food from. Furthermore, she'd also been relying on instant ramen almost daily for quite some time.[break][break]
"Well, that sounds like a plan then. You'll come, learn how to cook, and in return I'll try to help you learn ninjutsu," she said confidently. She still wasn't sure what kind of job he would want to try to find or what kind of work he would want to do... but she also wasn't particularly concerned. Now that things had been settled and she'd been allowed to take back residence at her parent's old home, she wasn't particularly strained for money. She just needed enough to get by and she could rest easy with that. More so, she just wanted to be useful to her village and her friends. This meant proving her worth to Tengfei and being a good friend to Tsukiya.[break][break]
Of course, in the back of her mind she still did occasionally think about what amazing world she could make in the future if she was to master her Wood Release techniques, but that was more of an longshot ambition that seemed farther away now than it had ever been. It was a pipe dream, but that didn't mean she had given up on it completely.[break][break.]
"I have a feeling you'll surprise everyone and become one of the strongest shinobi in the village!" she said excitedly. "And if not then I guess you'll have to settle for being my personal chef!"
Kaji couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I'll make sure to work on both. Always good to have a fall back. Besides, if my cooking ever makes you sick, you can just bite me." It was strange just how quickly Kaji was becoming relaxed around her. Guess it was because she was the first friendly face he had seen in a good, long while.
As they walked along, Kaji thought quietly to himself before speaking up. "So, about this Mist Village. Is there anything I should know about it? Any customs or anything like that? I don't want to cause any problems while I'm there." Being stuck in a cell for eight years didn't leave a lot of time to study. Good thing though, is it left him pretty easy to learn new things. No habits to fight against.
