She spun the blade from its looped hanger as she contemplated her next move. Wasn't this supposed to be a basic thing?

Throwing kunai was something taught and emphasized at the academy; after all, precision was important. But today seemed to be something of a failure for Hazuki, and she was glad the section of the training area she was in only contained her. It was sunny, but not too hot, so most people were probably enjoying the weather in better ways. She was out with a pile of kunai mostly because of her guilt of slacking off from training.

Oh, and it showed. She flung the kunai she held towards the wooden post that was set up a fair distance away from where she stood. It whizzed past her intended target and instead landed weakly into a tree behind the figure before falling to the ground where a few other knives were scattered. There were some closer to the post, and two even managed to stay lodged in the wood, albeit not as securely as she'd like.

Hazuki stared at where the kunai landed for a short moment before falling on her hands and knees in exasperation. "I can't even do what academy kids can do," she muttered as she stared at her hands, disheartenment obvious even in her quiet tone. She used to be okay at this, right? Or maybe it wasn't much better...after all, she hadn't been out here in a while. She knew it was stupid to quit, especially now, but her inaccuracies still discouraged her.

Kurai had been a spectator for most of Hazuki's training, taking a few moments of his time to analyze the way she throws and practices. He couldn't help but laugh under his breath at how horrible Hazuki was at.. well, most things. "Maybe you should be a teacher," Kurai suddenly spoke as he approached his fellow shinobi on the training grounds. "Oh.. but even teachers can hit a target." Kurai spoke out of boredom and his expression seemed to match his voice. Making fun of Hazuki was always a pass time that Kurai enjoyed, even if he wasn't too familiar with the girl.

He dropped his bag that he carried over his shoulder and then knelt down next to the sorry girl. "Your name is Hatsuko or something, right?" Kurai really didn't remember her name, but he didn't really seem to care that he got it wrong.

He pulled out a kunai from his side holster and spun it around his finger while staring at the kunoichi. "It doesn't matter anyways. You don't have enough force behind your throws." Sighed Kurai and then he stood up again. He was always a bit of an ass around most people, so it was expected of him not to really care and perhaps walk off without another word. But Kurai threw the kunai and there was a heavy thunk as the metal kunai lodged itself in the target. "You need more confidence. You suck at throwing." That obviously wasn't going to get Hazuki's confidence going either. He wasn't very sociable it seemed.

Kurai stayed silent for a moment as he tried to determine whether she was worth his time to help out. "Get up," he snapped his fingers, expecting Hazuki to jump up right away, "I'll help you." Kurai said in a bored tone, "But only because I feel sorry for you." He was making it very clear that he enjoyed picking on Hazuki. Kurai took out another kunai and held it out to the kunoichi, "What do you specialize in Hanabi?" Again, he got her name wrong. He couldn't even remember the name he called her earlier.

Her eyes widened at the voice. So there was somebody else. "Ehh..." Hazuki sounded shakily, her arms matching her tone of voice. When he knelt down she could see him out of the corner of her eye, but didn't look in his direction just yet. "...No..." She didn't get to correct him, because by that time he had already started speaking again.

A name was not worth knowing unless a person met a certain standard of strength, it seemed. She was glad her face was out of his sight because she could feel that she looked crushed. "I...was never good at taijutsu," she uttered in a small voice. And he wasn't exactly helping with her self-esteem, either.

But he was still here, oddly enough. When he snapped his fingers, she felt a tiny hint of amusement, even though he wasn't quite treating her well. It was still a little funny. Hazuki pushed off the ground and got to her feet again. She dusted off her knees and hands before straightening up and tentatively taking the kunai from her companion. "Please don't say that," she sighed, her tone still quiet. Hazuki didn't mean it as an order, of course, but because she didn't like people thinking of herself that way, even if maybe they couldn't help it.

"Ninjutsu," she replied, holding her hands close to her chest, "and medical someday." Hazuki let out a heavy breath and finally said what she wanted to say in the first place. "Do you really not remember me, Kurai-sempai? Or is it just..." Because it had been too long? Because she tended not to be in the same places he was? There was no hurt in her voice because she wasn't really someone who made much of an imprint on the minds of many. She was used to it by now.

Kurai stared down at Hazuki blankly for an awkwardly long moment. If a tumbleweed bounced by it would be a perfect scene, but instead the wind blew and a few leaves danced through the air and one landed on Kurai's face. Not as dramatic as one would hope for, so he brushed the leaf away and coughed to break the silence, but did not speak immediately.

She was that girl who was always quiet in class.. never did stand out, but Kurai was always pleasant to her at school and well behaved after. He even began recalling old memories of walking home with her after the academy was out. "Yeah.. okay." he mumbled, realising that he may have hurt her feelings by putting her down with such a statement. "Remember you?" He breathed inwardly then closed his eyes, "You were that quiet girl in class," Still no name yet.

Maybe he was just toying with her now. He was always a little detached with it came to emotions and feelings(~*~). "Anyways,.." He brushed it off like it wasn't important what her name was. He pointed to the target now. "Throw the kunai, Hazuki-chan." Kurai said stubbornly and turned his head to the side to look at the target.

A few seconds into the prolonged silence and Hazuki started fidgeting around with her hands. It was so awkward that the leaf landing on Kurai's face didn't even loosen any tension for her. When he coughed she thought he might say something, but she had to keep waiting, waiting...

She sighed in relief when he began speaking. That quiet girl in class...well, it was nice that even that was something he could recall. It was better than nothing at all. Maybe her memory was just more vivid than most, so she shouldn't worry too much about it if he hardly remembered her. Even a little is enough. And anyway, it had to be partly her fault she was easily forgotten. Hazuki never did like drawing much attention to herself. Even now she didn't look him straight in the eyes. Too confrontational.

Hazuki removed her hands from her chest, but stopped from going any further from that. "Oh..." She started in realisation, "you still call me 'chan'." Her lips formed into a tiny smile, but even so a hint of her dimples began to show. Still, her face wasn't fully turned his way. "I really thought you forgot me..." Hazuki wound her arm back before firing it off towards the target again, and the kunai landed between the wooden post and the trees. People who watched her made her nervous. Or maybe more than just to watched her...

She laughed sheepishly. "I used to be able to do this." Like when? The exam at school where she needed to be able to throw a weapon properly or else she'd fail?

Kurai folded his arms over his chest and with his eyes, he began critiquing every move that Hazuki made. He was definitely more confrontational than Hazuki, since he was always one to stare people in the eyes. It might have been a dominate thing he wanted to do subconsciously, or perhaps he just really liked to intimidate people. His stone figure broke though and he let out an odd chuckle when Hazuki threw the kunai. "Nice miss." He spoke while scratching his cheek with his finger. "I can't forget your name," Kurai started up again and now seemed rather smug. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and spoke in a proud voice, "Part of Konoha is in your name." Kurai wasn't going to say whether or not he actually remembers her. He was enjoying this little game of pulling on heartstrings.

With that last statement done, Kurai reached into his holster and took another kunai out. "Are you a daydreamer?" He inquired then threw the kunai quickly, hitting the center of the board. "You seem like one." He turned his head and stared directly at her with his steely gray eyes, but there was a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. It was either the infamous Uchiha smirk or scowl that he wore. Hazuki was lucky to be practicing so horribly while he was in a good mood! "I'm surprised you're not into Genjutsu.." Kurai was now taking jabs at how he remembers Hazuki always being in some kind of daze.. whether it was about her brother, or... her brother. "I wonder what happened to her brother." Kurai thought, but his expression did not change.

She must not be breathing properly, because she let out a heavy breath again, like she was holding it for a while. Maybe if she breathed like normal, throwing these knives would be easier. "But you remember my face because you need to match it to my name," she pointed out; therefore, he did remember her to some degree. To which, Hazuki didn't know for sure. It didn't seem like much. Oh well. It was fine. Even friends fade in memory. Maybe he just didn't like her as much as she did him. She had no control over that.

Hazuki needed a second to think about his question, so she stared at the kunai he threw for a moment first. "Um, I don't know. Maybe..." She couldn't tell if she was, or perhaps she did it so often that she just couldn't tell anymore. Daydreaming wasn't good for shinobi anyway, right? They should concentrate on their task at hand instead of something that didn't exist in the real world. But then again, Hazuki hadn't been assigned any sort of task shinobi did for a while, so maybe it was okay? She was so confused. Her eyes had been elsewhere for a bit, so when they met his grey gaze, she looked away immediately. "I don't know much, but I'm okay at it," the kunoichi told him, picking up a knife from her kunai pile. She felt as if she made mistakes during her time as a ninja, that she learnt the wrong things and aimed for the wrong things. Maybe genjutsu might be good to work on later.

"Well, you don't seem like someone who'd use 'chan'...at least, not anymore," she piped up, gathering the tiny bits of courage within herself. Was it just a remnant of an old habit? "Are you...really going to help?" Standing there with unhelpful comments did nothing to improve her throw.

Kurai gave a slight nod of acknowledgement as Hazuki debated. "That's true." There was something else he remembered about the kunoichi, it was her dimples. "I haven't seen any dimples on your face," Kurai said cooly as his gaze stayed on her. He was very glad that Hazuki never had a big growth spurt, because he really liked how he towered over her. "How about a smile, Hazuki-chan?" It wasn't totally out of character for him to act nice around people, it was more of a special feature for those who have known him a long time.

Now that it has finally been established that he actually knows who she is, Kurai gave her a playful slap on the back, but perhaps too hard. "I guess it has been awhile. I haven't seen much of you since we became chuunin." He was trying to make some kind of small talk while he stood there adjusting the way Hazuki's grip and wrist were position. "Hazuki-chan~chan~chan." Kurai mumbled in a melody. "Maybe if you weren't so short I would consider a change."

He put his hands in his pockets and stood there in a relaxed stance. The smirk on his face was a bit more noticeable now, showing that typical Uchiha attitude. It didn't seem likely that he would give her any advice. She'd probably have to earn it somehow.

"Then I need something to smile about," she informed him. It wasn't too hard for her to smile most of the time, but Hazuki was now conscious of them showing, so she tried to keep her mouth down. They did tend to show when she talked, depending, but they weren't as prominent as they were when she smiled.

The slap took her by surprise and she lurched forward a bit. He was already acting a little more like an old pal...or maybe he just wanted to slap her. "Things get busier." It was a bit sad, really. The ANBU and oinin probably had very little time to enjoy life outside of work. As she straightened her back again, Kurai started adjusting her hand without any verbal suggestions. Well, that was a step up from before. Hazuki laughed quietly a few times. That was fine by her. She liked it, anyway.

She didn't bother looking his way; it would probably make her lose focus. Hazuki took in a breath, then threw the weapon towards the post, and surely enough it landed and stayed stuck in the wood. It was a little lower than ideal, but it was still there. Progress. She turned on her heel to face him and she smiled, baring her dimples, before spinning back and picking up another kunai. Hazuki tried to hold it in the same way that Kurai positioned her hand and threw it again. It landed near the last kunai thrown.

"I suppose I just fix the angle now," she stated, leaning down to pick up another knife. She threw it, only it landed too high on the post. But at least it was an improvement from before.

Kurai raised his brows with some surprise. He didn't expect Hazuki to say anything, he just figured she'd do as he says. "Do you not smile as often?" He felt compelled to ask. He wasn't much of an emotional sponge and was more detached than the average guy, but for the good people in his life, he may make an extra effort to try and sympathize. Even if he hadn't spoken much with Hazuki through the latest years, he was still fond of their childhood memories and how much she seemed to remain the same.

He watched as she adjusted her angle and continued to get closer to some... sort of target. "How busy are you lately?" Kurai tried to sound as casual about it as possible, "I can help you train.. if you want." And by that he probably meant.. up at 5AM to run laps and strength training until noon. Then practice throwing weapons and Taijutsu, then she would definitely have to pay for ramen after, since Kurai is cheap. "I have a few days off.. so, if you're up for it." Maybe he felt obligated to help Hazuki be able to protect herself if an invasion were to happen. She was just too small and innocent to be a shinobi, but maybe that was her greatest asset. His lips parted and he let out a content sigh at the sight of Hazuki smiling. "I can rest easy now. Hazuki~chan has smiled." Kurai reached out and poked Hazuki on the side of her head, "Now get back to throwing."

She never thought of that or even noticed if there was any change at all before he asked. "I think it's about the same," Hazuki decided, but her tone was much more uncertain than her words. But then again, she hadn't experienced as much pain in her life in comparison to many other shinobi, so maybe she was right. The difference was most likely slight. She could fake them if the situation demanded it, but that made her sad, even though she didn't like it when people worried about her well-being. There were others much worse off than she was, after all.

"Lately, not much," she admitted. She knew it was bad, and her parents weren't exactly fond of her being unproductive, so she figured she might as well do something about it, even if Kurai's sort of training would make her cough up a lung afterwards. Hazuki didn't know that, though. "So I can do it...if it's not too much trouble." He did offer it, but she just wanted to make sure if he was just saying it to be nice (ha-ha-bloody-ha). It was just a little unfortunate that she decided that it would be better to become a medic instead of the pure melee type ninja. Though of course that kind of thing was important to know, too.

Hazuki felt a little more at ease now too but there was still some tension hanging in the air. It was a bit strange that Kurai was acting nicer than he initially did, so she felt things were still somewhat hokey. But when he told her to resume the target practise, she did. Hazuki adjusted the angle a little more, and the kunai landed closer to the centre of the post now. She was getting there, and at least she was actually hitting the target. Hard or not, training with Kurai must be worth it.

She turned back towards him and her eyes were directed at his face, finally. "Thank you," Hazuki told him, "I needed that. Er...I suppose you don't get much time off, then. Thank you for being here." And just why was he even here in the first place? She sniffed awkwardly, thinking about that instead of asking him directly.

"I wish oneesan would smile like you do." It wasn't much of a confession, but merely a stray thought. Even though the atmosphere felt tense and awkward, Kurai seemed rather calm and collected. If anything, he appeared to make it more awkward by not acting awkward. But he was oblivious to it now. "Anyways," Kurai pressed his palm against his left eye and gave it a quick rub, "It isn't an inconvenience, so don't worry about that." He said casually, "I wouldn't want you to be my medic if you cannot hit an enemy, so..." Kurai snickered as he trailed off.

Kurai glanced over at Hazuki and blinked a few times when she thanked him. He gave a weak half smile and then turned his attention back on the targets. "I didn't want to waste a nice day like this cooped up inside, that's all." It really was nothing. Maybe it was a coincidence that they ended up in the training arena together, or maybe he had wicked and vile plans that he intended to use on Hazuki. "Um.." He started up again quietly. "If you want me to leave you alone, I can go." He offered kindly. Kurai never really took into account that maybe he was bothering Hazuki.

She blinked, not knowing how to take that comment. "Oh...is she not doing well?" Hazuki asked. She didn't know a whole lot about the other Uchiha, but she heard that she had have a few, er, issues. Though she was glad that he claimed the training wasn't going to be any trouble, the kunoichi laughed quietly at the mention of his medic. Fair enough. "I'm still learning." She pointed out the obvious.

"But wouldn't you rather go somewhere where it's more fun?" It was a bit strange to go to the training area if it was nice day off. Even sleeping outside would have been nicer. When he said he could leave if she wanted, Hazuki waved her hands, indicating to think nothing of it. "No, it's fine! Please stay...if you want," she answered, but didn't want to sound forceful about it...if that was even possible for her. "After, if you like, I'll get you cookies and tea to thank you properly." Or whatever else, within reason. She was almost finished throwing all her kunai, anyway. The last three knives consecutively closer to the middle of the post, the last landing maybe an inch or two away from the exact centre. Hazuki felt like it was just a lucky throw...it was strange for it to be so close to the target already.

She started walking to the other side of the training area to pick up the kunai. "So...would you like to come with me?" Hazuki called over to him, pulling out the blades and placing them on the large pouch attached to her back. It was okay if he didn't want to, but she wasn't just asking to be polite. Maybe she was slightly detached from people too, or didn't make so much effort to see them, but she still felt emotional ties to everyone she used be be friends with. It was a rather conflicting feeling. She liked to reminisce.

Kurai nearly laughed out loud, but managed to keep it in his chest. "No, no.. not at all.." He was starting to gather his composure now. "She is just rarely soft." Because Yuiko was into the hard alcohol and drugs, of course. It probably wasn't a good idea to get into that subject, since it seemed to be quite the black mark on the family name.

"No." Kurai answered bluntly, but then felt she deserved a better answer, "..Eh.." He struggled to think of something off the bat and began to fidget with the back of his head. He seemed rather unsure, but he was able to breathe again when Hazuki continued talking. "Oh,.. I'll stay.." Kurai answered sheepishly, but trailed off when the talk of cookies and tea popped into the conversation.

He didn't know why it took him so long to answer her, but Kurai stood still as Hazuki collected her tools. Maybe he had been puzzled by his own reactions. "Sure." Nonetheless, he sounded composed. "I've got nothing else to do." As the story so far as told. Kurai approached Hazuki to gather up his tools as well. "Do you cook?" He asked while his back was to her, dislodging the kunai from the target. "I remember you always had candy on you." Recalled Kurai in a fond tone, then he turned back to her when he was finished.

"Ah, I see." Except not really, seeing as she imagined something else when he said that his cousin wasn't often soft. But it didn't matter very much since she wasn't going to press on about it. She wasn't much of a gossipy type, anyway.

Well, if he said so. After all, different people liked different things, and Hazuki didn't know the way he thought. She gave him a little smile when he said he'd stay with her. "Cool," she answered in a pleased voice, clapping her hands together. She did pick up on the odd change of tone in his answer but mostly thought nothing of it. It was a bit lacklustre, but if he said he'd stay, that was good enough.

Hazuki probably would have just gone home and tried to figure out something else to do had Kurai not come around. At least her parents wouldn't be on her case for sitting around idly today. "Oh, of course." Hazuki assured him; cooking was a basic survival skill anyway, and her grandma taught her a few things about it as well. She was pleasantly surprised that he remembered that detail about her and smiled to herself when he mentioned the candy. "Yeah...not so much anymore," she replied as she gathered the last of the weapons, "mostly I keep them at home. I'd probably need an extra pouch if I still carried them around."

She turned towards Kurai and he was already facing her. "Well, my house isn't too far away," Hazuki informed him, or perhaps it was a reminder instead. There was an implication that he didn't just want her to buy him cookies and tea, so she brought up her home rather than the marketplace. She began walking out of the training area and then towards the entrance of her clan's land.

Kurai began following Hazuki, not sure whether or not he felt comfortable walking a few steps behind her or not. As children it never bothered him where he walked with Hazuki, but after drifting apart for so long, getting back in touch was weird. He decided it looked creepy for him to follow her like that, so he stepped up beside her at a comfortable distance between them. He gave a knowing smirk when Hazuki assured him of her cooking.

"You don't even carry one little candy drop?" Kurai sounded surprised, but that was because he actually carries a few candy drops on him most of the time. He nervously touched the pouch that held the small candies and let out a knowing, but forced chuckle. "Yeah.. me too. No room for candy on missions..." Desperately, Kurai tried to sound more mature by pretending not to have any candy on him at all.

For some strange reason, Kurai felt like he was below Hazuki in social status. Even though he is an Uchiha and has that reputation on his shoulders, Kurai had the strange idea that he did not measure up to Hazuki's success in happiness. Or what he thought happiness was supposed to be. Less empty, or something. Maybe he wanted to go back to being a child again!

"Ah! You still live in the same house?" Kurai was curious, not that he expected her to live in her own stylish condo or anything. "I was having thoughts of looking into the shinobi dorms and housing units," He paused as he began to take in the familiarity of the Kajiwara clan land. "..My clans district is so far from the market, it is such a pain when you forget something." Sighed the Uchiha while he bowed his head in disappointment.

It was definitely awkward acting as if they were still as close as they were in school, but she tried to behave as if she were completely fine, even though her words and actions didn't work out as smoothly as they used to be before. As time went on it should (theoretically) improve, anyway.

Hazuki shook her head. "Well...I'd probably eat it before I left home, anyway," she told him, "all that candy has taken a toll on me." Especially now that she could get her own candy, it would probably be worse if she still carried them around all the time, and instead of just a few pieces, she'd probably be tempted to bring a bag. Instead she stashed them in a drawer so her parents wouldn't know exactly how much she had. And she didn't even think much about how mature he was being, so maybe it was wasted effort to lie. Still having candy around still seemed cool to her, anyway.

She laughed before answering. Some people around their age lived on their own now, right? "I can't afford to live alone," Hazuki stated, though she wouldn't want to live alone in the first place. It seemed like it would be a lot easier to live amongst her relatives than by herself. And there was no rent to worry about and the food would probably be better here, too. "That's too bad. My relatives always sold stuff, so that's probably why we live here." Hazuki took a few turns before they finally reached her house. She unlocked the door and took off her shoes once she was inside. Her parents were out, as they so often were.

"Um, we have sencha, matcha, and gunpowder...I think there's some genmaicha...uh, you can just take a look then," Hazuki finished hastily, heading over to the kitchen now. She opened a cupboard to reveal several decoratively patterned tins of loose tea, then washed her hands before continuing. There was a clear container of animal-shaped sugar cookies on the low dining table nearby already. "Oh," Hazuki started again, turning to face him, "did you want to eat something else?" She didn't want him to have something he didn't want, of course.

Kurai stepped through the door after Hazuki and slipped his sandals off, bandages reached past his ankles and to the heel of his foot. "Not much has changed," Kurai tried to recall what this house looked like before, his eyes scanned the area to familiarize himself again, then he moved into the kitchen when he heard Hazuki's voice coming from that room. "When I hit sixteen, my parents allowed me to move into the small house next to them. It has all been passed down through the family, so.. it's just a storage unit otherwise." His parents wanted him to grow up and accept adult responsibilities as soon as possible. Last thing Kurai wanted to do was make Hazuki feel like she wasn't good enough, because she lives with her parents.

His dark eyes glanced to the sugar cookies then back to Hazuki, "Sencha would be perfect," Kurai said in a more friendly tone as he wandered the kitchen, then he knelt down by the dining table. He laughed while he poked through the container of cookies, the animal shapes amused him to no end. "Still with the animal shapes, huh? These are fine." He smiled more brightly and held one giraffe-shaped cookie in between his fingers. "How have you been lately?" Kurai was genuine with his curiosity, but was over-analyzing the situation. "I feel like I am imposing.." He confessed and began to fidget with the cookie before he took a bite out of it.

"Ah. Must be nice," she replied casually. It really didn't matter to her that other people lived out of their parent's place at this point of life since she liked living with them. But living as close as Kurai did to his parents' home didn't sound bad at all. It would probably have little effect on Hazuki if her parents did the same thing, because she'd probably just treat it as an external bedroom and stay in the bigger house half of the time. She still seemed to be very much a child.

She started heating up some water for the tea and scooped out some leaves to put in the teapot strainer. When he mentioned the animal cookies, she laughed quietly. "Plain circle is still boring." Hazuki poured the water into the teapot and brought two teacups before heading to the table. She sat down across from him, and starting with his cup filled each with tea, little by little. "Itadakimasu."

Hazuki took a small bite out of a bear-shaped cookie. "Hmm?" She hummed as she chewed, "the same, I suppose." It was a broad question and she didn't know how to answer that. But it wasn't a very good answer either. "Please don't worry about that." Everything, albeit somewhat awkward, was fine by her. Mostly the people who come over were related to her, so she just wasn't very used to it. And anyway, they used to do this before, so how hard could it be?

She said nothing about it, but she wondered the exact reasoning as to why they did drift apart. It was probably because they didn't progress at the same level though, but some people still managed around that. Maybe she wasn't worth it, whatever. Hazuki took another bite and then sighed. "I guess you aren't home much then, right?" She really had no idea what to talk about and she didn't want any long, awkward silences...or at least, too many of them.

Kurai smiled warmly at Hazuki when she reassured him. He didn't want to come off as pushy, he just wanted to be friends with her once again. "I think my house belongs to my cat, instead of me." Kurai coughed out a laugh, a bit embarrassed since it was true that his cat owned the house.

He stared down at his teacup and slowly spun it in a circle. He breathed in and straightened his back out, "If we're going to train seriously," Kurai's voice was fluid and masculine, but he still sounded his age. He paused and sipped at his tea slowly, taking the time to enjoy it. Kurai gave a pleasant sigh after he swallowed the tea, then turned his attention back on his friend. "We will start off slow, so we can build more endurance." As long as Kurai can help someone a little bit at defense, so that it saves their life, he was happy.

"Tomorrow morning we can warm up by running up the Hokage monument summit before sunrise." Kurai picked up a few more animal cookies and displayed them in a row before his teacup. "If you need a break, I won't be too harsh on you, so just ask." Kurai smiled and ate the remainder of the giraffe cookie. Midway through chewing, Kurai perked up and coughed once. "But I will make it difficult!" He said quickly. He had to make sure that she was going to take him seriously.

She wasn't given nearly as many missions as he was, it seemed. And it made sense, really. "Is it okay being so busy?" Hazuki asked. Occasionally she was taken on higher-ranked missions as a ninjutsu specialist, but mostly she was assigned lower tasks. It was like everyone tried to baby her or something.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she smiled before taking a sip of her tea. If things weren't serious, then it was more likely there would be less progress made. It had to be more beneficial the harder they worked.

She finished up her cookie before answering. "Okay then," Hazuki picked up another one and let out a small giggle. Sometimes she was able to pick up on subtle things, and that tiny indication of softness was one of them. It was made more obvious at his cough and hasty addition. "I'll find out tomorrow." Her expression had a hint of amusement on even though it was supposed to be something serious. But it was fine; when the time comes, she'd be serious about it. Really.

Hazuki was quiet as she finished her second cookie, and then her tea. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," she said gently, "please take some cookies for home if you'd like."

*

The kunoichi slept early the night before so she was well-rested for today's training. Kurai said it was going to be hard, so she tried to prepare as best she could. She even came to their meeting spot early. It was strange to be out so early when it was still dark on a normal day...but maybe better shinobi did this all the time.

Kurai was up and at 'em early, excited for the day ahead. The birds were chirping and as he walked across the marketplace, store fronts were being cleaned up and opening soon. It was mornings like this that make waking up so early worth it. The sky was a light, milky blue with soft clouds whipped up and thin. It was brisk out, so Kurai quickened his pace to be on time.

"Hazuki~chan!" Kurai called in a friendly manner as he finally approached her, waving his hand. "Good morning," He breathed, "I was thinking about your question yesterday.." Kurai smiled gently, but was looking a bit tired. "I like being busy,.. because that means I'm helping people." He answered simply and humbly. It might not have been the typical Uchiha answer, but Kurai had fierce loyalty.

Kurai gave Hazuki a firm grip on her shoulder, then began making his way to the trail leading up to the summit, "Last one to the summit buys refreshments?"

Not that it was unwelcome, but the kinder behaviour coming from Kurai all of a sudden was, to say simply, pretty strange. She smiled back at him and only raised her hand slightly, looking rather awkward about it because she wasn't expecting him to be that way at all. Even a confused expression covered her face. But it was better than him being plain mean.

"Morning," she echoed, putting down her hand slowly. "Ah...that's a good way of looking at it." Hazuki really liked that. It was even a bit motivating to get better, because then that meant she could help more people, too. It was just more healing on her part because she figured that it fit her better.

He couldn't see her face, so she smiled to herself. "You have an unfair advantage," Hazuki pointed out; he had more muscle where she had more fat, and she was a little slower than many other shinobi. However, there were ways around it. "But I'll take you up on that. Let's go!" She started at a steady pace, knowing that he'll be ahead of her the entire time...until the end. She'd just use Shunshin at the very last moments of the run, just before he made it to the top. Her hands moved quickly to make up for her slowness.

Hey, he didn't specify exactly how they were to reach the summit.

Kurai gave Hazuki an encouraging smile still and then shrugged nonchalantly. "What? Because you're a woman?" Kurai glanced back at her over his shoulder. He definitely was one of those men who were brought up to be strong enough to protect their family. Kurai was not exposed to a dominate female in his life, save for Yuiko, but that is another story.

They were making good time on the race to the summit then Kurai stopped at one of the rest points on the path to the summit. He pointed up to one of the stone faces, "Do you want to climb up?" Kurai seemed a bit adventurous now that the sun has risen clear into the sky. He approached the stone wall and ran his hand over it to find a groove to fit his hand into.

A sudden shake of the earth caused Kurai to adjust his footing so he didn't fall over, and after a second delay, there was a loud groaning that came from the earth. The ground cracked and began to shake violently now. An earthquake was rocking the village, dust and smoke started to plume from various points in the city as the earth devastates more and more of the village. "Hazuki, stay away from the ledge!" He warned his companion as he held his hand out for her to help her away from the edge. The ground was still shifting, part of the path was cracking under the pressure and it was a long way down if one were to fall off.

"Hmm?" She actually didn't understand how wrong and blatantly sexist his comment was, so she didn't snap or argue back at him like many other kunoichi might have done...but then again, she didn't snap or argue very much, either. "No, because you train a lot more than I do, of course!" If there was any edge to her voice at all, it was because she was breathing harder as a result of running.

Hazuki caught up to him and glanced up at the monument. "Okay," she agreed, knowing that it would be easy for her since she'd just use her chakra to hold onto the rock. Just as she was about to walk over to the wall, the ground shook and she stumbled forward a bit. She moved as fast as she could and stretched out her arm to grab his hand after missing the first time -- there was a little disorientation as the earthquake was a shock to her.

When the earth stopped moving and she made sure she was stuck on solid ground, Hazuki noticed that she was still holding Kurai's hand so she dropped it immediately. The action was awkward, but still holding on would be even worse. "Oh my..." Hazuki started in a worried tone as she looked down at the village. "I can't tell how bad it was. Do you think everyone's okay? Maybe they're still sleeping..." She bit her lip and started up again after a short silence. "I mean, I hope it was a lighter earthquake. Should we just check it out?"