Abiku stretches and leans back a little, sitting cross-legged off to the side of the fire with a cup of hot-chocolate beside him on the floor.
The door to the lodge bursts open as a swirl of snow billows through the room, followed shortly by Ichiro. He orders a large mug of coffee and takes a seat on one of the large rugs near the fire.
Isamu slinks out of the shadows, and takes a seat next to a non-descript person. He takes a sip of the hot cocoa, and thanks the other person. "Ah Ichiro-nii-sama! Come have a seat next to Shiro-san and me!" Isamu says as he recognizes his friend.
Ichiro moves sit with Shiro and Isamu, "What brings the two of you here?"
Abiku shivers as the cold air follows Ichiro into the lodge. Adjusting his clothes a little he hears Isamu's voice and looks over, smiling, "Isamu-san! How have you been?"
"Eh, I've been taking care of that job you delivered to me." Isamu says with a smile. "Ah, Abiku-kun, come have a seat."
Shiro calls out from his shadowed seat "Ah Ichiro-san so nice of you to join us. I trust the weather didn't give you too much trouble on the way here?"
Ichiro turns his head for a moment, "Weather? ...Oh! No, no trouble at all."
Abiku nods to Isamu and grabs his cup of hot-chocolate before standing up and walking over to sit on the rug near the. He rubs his stomach a little and grins, "Thanks for the help the other day. I think I learned a few things - Also started focusing a little more on my Taijutsu.".
"No problem, always love to help others practice." Isamu says to Abiku.
"Oh, Shiro-san, here's that katana you asked for." Isamu hands over an ornate katana, that seems to have an engraving of a crane on the hilt.
Abiku takes a sip of his hot-chocolate, his eyes lighting up a little at the sight of the katana.
Shiro accepts the katana and carefully scrutinizes it before stting it behind his chair, "Thanks for delivering it in a timely fashion Isamu-kun."
Ichiro eyes the katana for a long moment before moving his hand to cover the black crane-engraved hilt of his own katana.
Abiku sits his hot-chocolate on the ground next to him and looks up at Ichiro, "How have you been Ichiro-san?"
Ichiro turns to Abiku, "I've been well, but busy. And you, Abiku-san? Found yourself a good weapon yet?"
Shiro removes from his belt a small flask and empties its contents into the mug of hot chocolate in front of him.
Abiku shakes his head and produces a set of nunchaku from his backpack, passing them from hand to hand a few times, "No, not really. Though it's good training to use these I think. Other than that though I've been alright, Isamu-san helped me train some the other day - Definitely looking forward to doing it again, but I need to think of some more strategies."
Isamu smiles briefly, before returning to his hot cocoa.
Shiro stirs his hot chocolate with a spoon "Nunchaku, eh, I never would have pictured you as the type to use those even in practice."
Ichiro stretches and groans, "I suppose I could spar with you a little and test your taijutsu. I'm not nearly as strong or skilled as Isamu-kun though."
Abiku tilts his head to the side, "Really? I like them because they have several different uses... I wouldn't rely on them in combat for their ability to cause damage, but for their other uses." he says, followed by a brief smile before sipping his hot chocolate, "That would be really good. Though I'm still not very skilled at all in Taijutsu, the main thing I use it for is dodging."
Shiro raises an eyebrow.
Ichiro smiles.
Shiro shrugs and downs half his mug in a single take.
Shiro laughs "I can relate with that Abiku-kun, I'm not what you'd call talented in taijutsu."
"He wasn't half bad, he came up with some rather interesting strategies." Isamu tells the others. He takes out a box, and gets a pork bun from inside. "Anyone else want one?"
Ichiro snags a pork bun, "Thanks, Isamu-kun."
Shiro shakes his head and takes a sip from his mug.
Abiku smiles at the compliment and then nods, "Those do look tasty... I wouldn't mind one." he says, gently lifting one from the box and bowing his head slightly, "Thank you... And I don't know about that, I didn't really manage to get you with any of my strategies... They still need a lot of work."
"With more experience will come better strategies. You'll get there." Isamu mentions.
Shiro nods solemnly.
Abiku nods at Isamu, "I hope so. I will need them for the newest mission that the Uchuukage sent me on." Abiku says with a faint sigh as he starts to eat his pork bun.
Ichiro devours his porkbun.
"Speaking of missions, Nii-sama, tell the leader, I delivered the goods to the usual spot." Isamu adds.
Abiku glances at Isamu.
Ichiro nods, "Excellent. I will make this known to him with the utmost haste."
Shiro gets a long, slender pipe from A green canvas backpack.
Shiro tries to smoke a long, slender pipe, but it's not lit.
Shiro carefully lights a long, slender pipe.
Shiro draws thoughtfully from a long, slender pipe.
Abiku glances over at Shiro.
Shiro draws from his pipe and then holds it off to the side "How goes your little project?"
Abiku eats on his porkbun slowly, curiously listening to the others.
Shiro draws thoughtfully from a long, slender pipe.
Ichiro looks at Shiro, "Well, I believe...but I'm only told so much..."
"Well I don't know what it is, but my job is going well." Isamu mutters as he ches on his pork bun.
Shiro nods at Ichiro "Of course, of course."
A smell wafts from Shiro's pipe that smells slightly noxious.
Abiku narrows his eyes a little, "What kind of project?"
Ichiro frowns slightly, "Wish I could tell you, but I'm not high enough ranked to be allowed to decide who can hear about it and who can't...you'd probably have to ask Yamashita-kun."
Isamu shrugs, "They don't tell us grunts much of anything..."
Shiro grins "That Yamashita is a wily one though, don't expect any straight answers."
Abiku gets lost in thought for a moment before shrugging, "Fair enough." he says, bringing up his mug of hot chocolate and finishing it off.
Isamu finishes his pork bun, and puts the box back in his pack.
Ichiro claps his hands together and rubs them together, "Did you want to spar, Abiku-san?"
Abiku stands up and returns the empty mug and thanks the old man before returning to Ichiro, nodding excitedly, "Oh yea, I'm looking forward to it." he says, glancing at the other two.
"oooh, this should be fun!" Isamu says with a smile.
Isamu downs the rest of his cocoa.
Ichiro pats himself down, "Hrmm...I seem to have left my weapon elsewhere....and I'm not permitted the use of any of these..."
Abiku hrms softly to himself, "We could have a little hand to hand and ninjutsu spar." he says, grinning.
Ichiro thinks, "I don't know...my ninjutsu is pretty weak...I might do okay with hand to hand, but I would feel more comfortable with a weapon."
Abiku tilts his head slightly, "Even against a genin like me?" he asks curiously.
Abiku thinks for a moment before grinning mischeviously, "You can use my Nunchaku and I will use my ninjutsu." he says, teasingly.
Shiro grins "How would you like to borrow my weapon Ichiro-san?"
Ichiro brightens up, "That would be lovely, Shiro-sama. Thank you very much."
Abiku snaps his fingers, "Dang... was worth a shot." he says playfully before leaning back and stretching a bit before looking over between Shiro an Isamu, "Going to come along?"
Shiro leans over and digs through the pack on the floor next to him and pulls out a coiled kusari gama.
Shiro inspects the blade thouroughly before nodding and handing it to Ichiro "Make sure you take good care of this."
Ichiro accepts the weapon gracefully, "I will treat it with great care."
Abiku eyes the weapon warily, "I will do my best... Not sure what I can do against a blade like that though..."
"Dodge?" Isamu suggests.
Ichiro smiles wryly, "Excellent, let's go then." $n leaps up and sprints out the door.
Abiku smirks at Isamu before following Ichiro quickly.
Ichiro slowly walks away from the lodge and begins swinging the weight slowly, "Ready when you are, Abiku-san."
Abiku moves roughly twenty feet away from Ichiro and faces him, sliding a set of nunchaku out of his backpack, "Are there any specific rules you want to go by? Or is it a simple taijutsu only training sessions." he asks as he lowers his center of gravity, his eyes quickly scanning the terrain.
Ichiro smirks, "No no, lets just see what you can do, and I'll do my best to keep up."
Abiku chuckles a little and nods, "I don't think that will be a problem." he says quickly before leaning forward slightly and dashing in a zig-zag pattern towards Ichiro.
Ichiro slings the the weight low across the ground straight down the middle of Abiku's zigzag-path.
Abiku narrows his eyes slightly and at the end of a left-zag motion he bends his knees and springs farther to the left, sliding his nunchaku into his belt and beginning to form handseals.
Ichiro whips the chain in a circular motion, winding it into a wide-spinning spiral.
Abiku lands on the ground and slides a few moments before he begins hopping back and yells, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" causing mist to rise behind him, forming into water in the shape of a dragons head. Concentrating his chakra he spirals the dragon around him and upwards, concealing himself.
Ichiro whips the chain and weight into the ground, creating a deep gouge and kicking up a thick spray of ice and earth.
After a few moment the head of the dragon uncoils and shoots down at Ichiro with an Abiku Running down its length and another running underneath, bringing up his arms and lowering his head to help deflect some of the debris.
Ichiro is nowhere to be seen as the dragon crashes into the ground where he had been standing moments before.
The Abiku that was running along the top of the dragon leaps off to the side before impact, followed by the other moving to place it's back against the other as the both scan the surrounding area, "Man... He's fast." one says, his eyes darting around quickly.
A chain sweeps wide along the ground from cliff at the edge of the path, but Ichiro is still nowhere to be seen.
Catching the motion from the corner of his eye Abiku exclaims, "There!" and jumps straight up, the other turning and grabbing his foot to launch him higher into the air before the chain neatly slices him into two parts which disolve into water. Once airborne, Abiku pulls out three kunai and hurl them in a small arc towards what he thinks is the base of the chain.
Ichiro hurls a dozen shuriken at Abiku from the direction of the lodge.
Isamu stands on top the Lodge, watching everything.
Abiku watches the Kunai hit nothing but dirt and begins to look around, spotting Ichiro behind him only after the shuriken are closing in. He brings his tortoise shield around and draws his nunchaku, as the first few shuriken embed in his shield he spins the nunchaku infront of him and deflects a few more only to have two slip through. One shuriken glances his left cheek and instantly causes a small stream of blood while the other loosely embeds in his right thigh, "Dammit!" he says loudly, wincing as he lands.
Ichiro lands and dashes forwards towards Abiku, hurling another round of shuriken.
Abiku quickly reaches down and pries the shuriken from his leg and hurls it at the incoming shuriken while rolling to the side to avoid the others. Coming back up to one knee he slides the Nunchaku into his belt and begins forming handseals again.
Ichiro slides past Abiku and grabs hold of the chain, now lying on the ground. Giving a swift whip on the chain, Ichiro frees the blade from the underside of the cliff and slings it back around in a wide arc at Abiku.
Abiku jumps into the air again, yelling, "Mizu Bunshin!" and forming a waterclone beside him. He grabs the clone by the arm and spins, hurling it down towards Ichiro before landing himself and beginning another round of handseals as the Bunshin does the same.
Ichiro steps wide around the clone flying through the air, pulls the chain, and steps back around the other side as the clone sails into the loop, crushing the clone.
Abiku tsks slightly as he finishes his handseals and says, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu" conjuring a large mass of water which spirals into a column towards Ichiro.
Isamu watches intently, hoping to see something amazing.
Ichiro shifts the force on the chain to bury the blade into the earth near the lodge before giving a swift tug to pull himself out of the way, catching only the edge of the wave, but still getting spun awkwardly across the ground by the force.
Abiku quickly forms the same set of handseals again and hops back, landing in a crouched position to take some weight off his injured leg, and says, "Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu" and raises his arm, glancing up at Isamu with a faint grin, and a pillar of water form underneath him and begins raising him into the air and he takes this brief moment to move his hands back into his backpack.
Isamu sighs, putting his hand to his face.
Ichiro pulls the blade out of the ground and hurls the weight up towards Abiku as he dashes towards the base of the pillar.
Abiku leans back and raises his leg to impact the bottom of the weight as it passes over him and deflect it off course, immediately afterwards he closes his eyes and the pillar he was on dissolves, he takes his arms out of his backpack as he falls and extends them before bringing them inwards each hand hurling two shurikens at Ichiro from either side.
Ichiro drops the blade, burying it in the ground with one foot as he sweeps the chain with the other, knocking the two shuriken on one side out of the way, before spinning out of the way of the other two and closer to Abiku's landing spot.
Abiku brings the arm controlling the two dodged shuriken over his head and makes a loop which arcs the shuriken around in an attempt to snare Ichiro.
Ichiro firmly plants one foot on top of one of the shuriken, stamping it solidly into the ground, and extends his arm, allowing the other to imbed itself firmly in his palm.
Isamu looks on, impressed.
Abiku releases the strings controlling those two shuriken and firmly jerks the other arm back as he lunges towards Ichiro, pulling the other two shuriken from the ground towards Ichiro's back though without any spin their effectiveness is greatly decreased.
Ichiro rips the shuriken out of his hand as he brings a foot up to kick Abiku, but instead pulls him closer in a spin. Grabbing the young shinobi by the shirt with his injured hand, he stops the movement with the young shinobi's back towards the oncoming shuriken, with a handaxe, that seems to have appeared from his belt, in Ichiro's hand, pressing against the man's neck.
Ichiro smiles a big grin, "Well done, but I think we're quite finished."
Abiku extends his arm and twirls it quickly to the side, causing the shuriken to fall towards the ground a foot from the two before nodding slowly and stepping back panting, "You're fast.... And really good at close quarters combat." he says, wincing slightly and taking note of his injuries.
Isamu begins clapping. "Good show you two! Very well done."
Ichiro smiles, "Gotta be fast to stay alive as a medical ninja. Head into the lodge and I'll fix you up in a couple of minutes."
Abiku nods, "Thank you, I would appreciate that." he says, moving to follow Ichiro back into the lodge as he looks at Isamu, "I saw what you did the other day and tried adapting it to something useful for me... It's not perfected yet though."
Ichiro returns the kusarigama to Shiro, and thanks him again, as he approaches the lodge.
Abiku glances at Ichiro, "You're a Medical-nin? I might have to learn some from you in that area. Because of the lack of new genin some of us are forced to be self-reliant one man scout squads, but we still get difficult missions."
Ichiro thinks about this briefly, "Perhaps..., we shall see. I'd have to get clearance from Sasaki-sama first though."
Abiku nods, "I understand." he says and smiles.
Ichiro smiles as he walks into the lodge, holding the door for the young shinobi.
Abiku bows slightly to Ichiro as he walks through the door into the lodge, limping slightly.
Isamu bows and fades into shadow, "See you all later."
