Wild and Free

It had been five days, thirteen hours and twenty seven minutes since Xia had gotten reprimanded for her latest art show.

There were several key pieces of information to note about that particular fact. Firstly that Xia was painfully aware of the exact length of time, since it was the same amount of time that she had been scrubbing paint off a wall on the edge of the Hyuga district. It also seemed that there was a big difference between what Xia thought was an art show, and what her parents thought was vandalism.

She wasn’t trying to cause a problem, not really. She was trying to express herself, and her frustrations, in a meaningful and creative way. But it seemed that doing so was not exactly the most responsible choice. So she sat cross legged on the ground with a bucket of water and a stiff bristled cleaning brush dutifully erasing her attempts at beautifying the area. She wore dark coloured overalls with one strap undone and hanging loosely. A small shirt just barely covered her chest and showed off an elaborate dragon tattoo across her back. Her hair was tied up, though pieces of it kept falling in front of her eyes as she worked. She could see their point, kind of. She hadn’t gotten permission from anyone to do it, and that was the first thing she should have done. At least her parents hadn’t commented on the art itself. That was almost the same thing as a compliment, they didn’t call it bad, so it was at least neutral.

What was bad was how sore her hands and fingers were. It wasn’t as though she was being forced to sit out here the whole time, she was just supposed to clean it off in her spare time. When she wasn’t training or doing guard duty or some other Shinobi related task. But as her hands soaked in that water and then rubbed against the wall or the brush it started to hurt a bit. Xia knew that if she brought it up that her parents would probably tell her to stop, which would be nice but also she knew that would come with its own punishments. The one word answer, cold shoulders and cool gazes. Somehow that felt worse to her than just scrubbing away paint.

With a sigh she would lean back and look up at her partially erased artwork. She had seen the shadow of a nearby tree and had been inspired to paint a colourful forest scene using that shadow. Tiny birds and bright flowers dotted the green painted foliage. It was cheerful and she thought it had made the area look more welcoming. Not now that it was half gone and some of the birds and flowers were missing their colours. “Oh well. Next time I’ll just put it somewhere no one will get angry with me.” With another sigh she would sweep her black and blonde hair away from her pale eyes and dip the brush into the bucket once more.

It had been a few days since Azgodon’s introduction to Konohagakure no Sato and even fewer days since Tengoku had taken him to the Grand Konoha Training Facility to meet the squad for the first time. He still had yet to form a concrete opinion about his two squadmates, but he supposed it was simply a matter of time before he figured out how he felt about them. It seemed he had a bit more freedom to wander around the village, so long as he did not venture into restricted areas that he was not meant to enter; which in turn resulted in him wandering towards the Hyuuga clan district. While he was sure he wasn’t exactly restricted from entering their residential area, Azgodon figured he could at least wander around the outer edges to see what was around the area.

As he ventured further around the walls, he would eventually find a familiar person staring at a half-painted wall. Trying to remember the name, Azgodon immediately recalled that the person was Xia, a squadmate of his. He would approach behind Xia, trying to be as stealthy as possible; he wasn’t raised to be a ninja… or so he assumed, so who knew how fruitful his effort would be. As he got within a foot of her, should he not be spotted at all, he would lean forward on his tiptoes and ask a simple question. “Whatcha doing?”

Xia was right outside her family home, more or less, also inside the village proper. So of course she had no worries about anyone trying to attack her or sneak up on her. As a Hyuga her perception was sort of her finest skill. Or it was supposed to be, but apparently even the legendary Byakugan had its limits. So when Azgodon snuck up on her, Xia was none the wiser as she was lost in her contemplations of art and punishment.

She didn’t hear the soft ‘swish’ of the fabric of his clothing as he moved, the changing shadows around the street or the slightly muffled sound of wind as it passed through something other than just air, not even the footfalls that were probably a little less than perfectly stealthy. Had she been looking or listening for any of that, she might not have reacted so dramatically. But when the white haired man leaned over and asked a question she quite literally jumped with surprise. And given the proximity that both shinobi now held to each other, if Azgodon didn’t move out of the way quickly enough, Xia would fall into him with her back.

She would quickly scramble to a standing position, whether or not she had bumped into the man, and bow respectfully as soon as she saw who it was. This was Azgodon. . . something. She couldn’t remember his whole name, but she remembered his first name. He was one of her squadmates, and. . . well that was about it. Other than their meeting in the Konoha Grand Training Facility, she didn’t know anything about him. But regardless he was still an equal and she would treat him as such. She would murmur an apology as she bowed, and when she raised her head to look up at Azgodon there would be a pale blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know you were there, I should have been paying clos- wait a minute. . .” A look of mild suspicion mixed with curiosity would cross her features as pale eyes would peer up at him from beneath messy blonde and black hair. “What are you doing here? You know what, it doesn’t matter. I mean, you can tell me if you like, but I don’t want to pry in your business. Wanna see my art? Or what’s left of it anyway.” Xia would gesture to the wall and the half destroyed painting of trees and flowers and birds, a quirky smile on her face as she awkwardly tried to change the subject from ‘embarrassing social weirdness’ to ‘sharing art with potential friends’.

Perhaps sneaking up on someone who was trained for combat wasn’t the best idea Azgodon ever had; though he only really had ideas for less than a week that he could remember. So far, this certainly had been the worst idea he had. Given what he understood of shinobi and kunoichi thus far, they were trained for combat and being snuck up on was something they were always prepared for. So, it was a surprise when it turned out that Xia seemed to have picked up on Azgodon’s supposed sneak attack and retaliated herself by launching herself at him. With both of them on the ground now, Azgodon flat on his back having his balance thrown with the surprise attack, he noted the weight of his squadmate instantly disappeared. When he opened his eyes, he noted Xia had risen back to her feet almost instantly and seemed prepared for any further attacks he might have at hand. Her bowing made him suspicious… perhaps that was her taijutsu style? To make her enemies think they had the advantage.

Azgodon would not be taken by surprise again. Quickly, though not gracefully, he got back to his feet, though not before the young woman began to apologize to him before she quickly changed her tactic to throw him off. Was this shinobi deception at play? He began to think of reasons he could provide as to why he was here, other than saying he was bored and walking around. Perhaps something simple would do. Wanting to see the Hyuuga clan district wouldn’t work, because for what reason did he have to sneak up on her? Unless he wanted a tour! Maybe that could work. Or perhaps he could say he wanted to see her. Flattery seemed to be a key deceiving tactic according to the textbooks he read, but would it really be deceiving if he wanted to spend time with a squadmate and know someone other than Mr. Tengoku?

“Ah.. Well… you see… I’m here because… ummm… I wanted to see you?” It definitely sounded more like a question than anything else. Scratching the back of his neck, he would instead turn his attention to the art that Xia had mentioned. “Oh no, what happened to it? Did you not get to finish it? Or did someone come here and erase your hard work? Do we need to hunt them down? I think maybe we can get the scent of the perpetrator if we’re able to find one of their tools.” His eyes would scan the vicinity, looking at the ground seeing if he could find anything that was left behind. His eyes found a bucket of water and a brush. The fool had left behind their tools. “We can use the brush! Hopefully, the water did not wash away the scent.” There was a brief pause as Azgodon had a sudden realization. “Wait a minute! You didn’t answer my question.” He would turn his mauve orbs to the woman in question.

Xia was absolutely mortified that not only had she not noticed Azgodon, but she had also fallen into him. It was embarrassing to say the least and she blushed as she spoke, unable to hide the embarrassment from her face. She was quickly relieved when Azgodon said he was there to see her. “What. . . really?” Her blush deepened further as her apology was cut short by the realization that someone actually wanted to see her. Xia was an only child and hadn’t had any friends growing up. It wasn’t a sad thing, it was more of a practical choice. It was difficult to balance her training with the social obligations that came with friendship. But even though it was by design, part of her was lonely. She had always wondered what it would be like to have someone to go on adventures with, to share secrets and ice cream with. And now it seemed, although he had not specifically said it was a friendly ‘wanted to see you’, she might actually get the chance to know what those things were like.

Her pale eyes shifted from the pupil-less white of the Hyuga to a brilliant blue as she smiled broadly at the white haired man, an unconscious reaction to the excitement she felt. “No one’s ever just called on me before. Not for fun anyway. . . unless. . . are you here for a squad thing? You are, aren’t you. . .” Her excitement faded somewhat as she realized her error, of course he would be here on some sort of squad business. The fantasy world that she’d created where they were best friends traipsing through the marketplace buying sweets faded as quickly as she had created it.

His attention to her art on the wall, and his seeming sadness with its destruction was heart warming however, and she would laugh sardonically at his attempts to help her find the art destroyer. Her face lit up and she would laugh loud and clear as he caught her circumvention of his question. “Yes, um, sorry. Didn’t mean to ignore that. . . well I did, but you caught me so here we are. See, it was my art, but I didn’t have permission to put it here. And so my punishment is to remove it. By hand. With water. As far as punishments go, it’s a pretty rough one, but I guess also fair. And the brush well, you can certainly. . . sniff? It. But unfortunately, it’s only me that you’ll smell.” At the thought of Azzie smelling her she blushed even deeper, fidgeting with her fingers as she both simultaneously hoped the beautiful man would sniff her and also wanted to crawl into a hole and bury herself.

Azgodon’s smile brightened significantly as the blush on Xia’s face deepened further at his declaration that he was here to see her. The only word to truly come to mind was adorable. Though… perhaps it was not out of embarrassment, but rather anger? This caused Azgodon to ask himself the simple question of whether or not Xia would be angry at him for seeking her out. Perhaps she did not wish to see her squadmates unless it was out of necessity for squad activities. Though her smile was throwing him off… Unless this was further deception on her part. Ultimately, Azgodon figured it was not due to the dejected expression on Xia’s features and the one in which her words followed.

Before he had the chance to correct her, her attention had turned to the wall art he had commented on. She had pointed out it was her own art and her punishment to remove the unwanted art on the walls of her clan’s district. He would look inquisitively between the brush and Xia, her face reddening even more, though he could not understand why. “I can assure you I came here to see you… I don’t think Mr. Tengoku mentioned anything about squad stuff today.” He would ponder on it for a moment, trying to recall if Tengoku had mentioned anything about Squad 12 today. A brief moment would pass and Azgodon was pretty sure there was nothing related to the squad mentioned to him today. “I’m pretty sure there was nothing squad-related!” He would step closer to Xia, though step off to the side a bit to approach the bucket and the brush. Crouching down in front of the items, he would pick up the brush and inspect it. Just to make sure he wasn’t being deceived, he would raise the brush closer to him and smell it. “Hmm...” He pondered loudly as he would get back to his feet and look at Xia curiously. “Well, if you say so.” He would accept that the brush smelled like Xia and that he was not being deceived by his squadmate. “Do you need any help?”

As Azzie reassured her that he was in fact there to see her, and his presence had nothing to do with squad activities, her smile would return in full force. Along with some intense blushing as he crouched and sniffed at the brush she had just been holding. There was something very exciting and intimate about his exploration of the world via scent. Internally Xia was squealing with embarrassment and elation, though externally she would grin and blush while bringing her hands over her cheeks to hide the blushing. As though that would help.

Underneath her futile attempts at disguising her crimson cheeks Xia addressed Azzie’s comments regarding the squad. “I’m glad there’s no squad stuff today. Well, to be more direct; I’m glad I get to see you and there’s no squad stuff. Because then we can just have fun. . .” It occurred to her in that moment that she might be being too forward, or eager and she didn’t want to mess up things with the beautiful white haired man. “Uh. . . I mean. . . hmm. Thanks for coming to see me, although I don’t know why you would. But! I’m really glad you did.” She would stare at the partially destroyed artwork as she spoke, wistfully considering what it once looked like. When he asked if she needed any help she would turn her gaze back to him and smile warmly. “I don’t need help, but I sure would appreciate it if you’re offering. I guess we’ll need another brush though.” She would bend down and pick up the bucket, moving to the next painted spot and hold out her hand to take back the brush from Azzie as a question popped into her mind and then straight out of her mouth. “Hey, um, why did you come to see me anyway?”

As his teammate was covering her cheeks with her hands, a light dusting of red on them, he wondered if Xia was feeling cold. Azgodon himself did not feel cold whatsoever, so perhaps Xia was feeling ill? Would her parents force her to clean off the art even while she was sick? Azgodon had one too many question, yet no answers for anything. Perhaps he’d delve into the mystery one question at a time… “Xia, are you feeling okay? Are you sick? It's not too cold out, unless you’re sensitive to the cold.” Azgodon tilted his head as he asked the questions, pondering on which was a possibility. Her parents could not be too cruel to send her out in this weather when they knew she was sensitive to the cold.

“Fear not Xia, we won’t need another brush!” At his declaration, Azgodon hopped up back to his feet and mentally went over what was required for this technique. Four hand-seals, which he learned he could perform with one-hand. After that it was just a matter or releasing the technique. If Xia was in the way, he’d step around her such that she would not be between himself and the wall. Then he would perform the required hand seals; Tiger, Ox, Tiger, and Rat. Upon the completion of the fourth seal, Azgodon would expel a large quantity of water aimed directly at the wall. It was too late for him to hope he wouldn’t damage the wall, but at least the painting would mostly be gone, he supposed. Too bad he didn’t have the opportunity to appreciate it in full.

Once he was finished with the technique, he would remember the last thing that Xia had asked him. “Oh… I just wanted to see you. Do I need a reason to see you?” He would ask the question to prepare himself in the future. If one of his squadmates only wanted to be contacted for specific things, then Azgodon would abide by their request and find a reason.

Jutsu Trained:

Azzie drawing attention to her blushing and attributing it to a sensitivity to the cold did not make the blushing stop. Rather it made her blush all the more and wish she could melt into the street and away from the scrutiny of the handsome man. “Ummm, no! N-no, uh, I’m fine. I just. . . no I’m not sick. . . am I? No. Thank you though. Um, for caring. . . or uh, noticing?” She stammered through a response that probably only succeeded in drawing an accurate parallel between her and a sick person who could no longer form coherent sentences. She definitely appreciated his attention to her health, and briefly imagined a scenario where she had fallen ill and Azzie carried her to bed and stayed by her side giving her a cloth for her forehead and warm soup. It was a lovely fantasy and with a quiet and contented sigh she would move on from her imaginings and onto the reality of cleaning up the paint on the wall.

As he told her that they wouldn’t need another brush, she would raise one eyebrow quizzically until she saw him begin to form hand seals and with impressive efficiency would blast off the remaining paint with a water jutsu. She didn’t recognize the technique, ninjutsu wasn’t her specialty anyway, but she would squeal with delight regardless and jump up and down as she gushed over his help. “Oh, thank you Azzie! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish I could do things like that! It would make this so much easier, but you know, you saved the day! A million times, thank you!” Where she had previously been stammering and nearly unintelligible, now her voice was high pitched, excited and nearly unintelligible. It was probably better? Though not for those with sensitive hearing most likely. Xia was loud.

Her delight at his assistance inspired her to boldness and when he asked if he needed a reason to see her she would grin as she moved just a bit closer to him. “No, no. You don’t need a reason to see me. I’m just happy you wanted to is all. I wanted to see you again, after the squad meeting I mean, and well. . . I’m just shy. . . and. . . Anyway I’m really glad you’re here! You can visit me whenever you’d like, which I hope is a lot. I mean, I’d like to see you a lot, all th-” She would stop abruptly as she realized she might be starting to sound a bit desperate. And while desperate was definitely a word that could be used to describe her current desire to be closer to him, she also didn’t want to scare him off. “If you wanted to anyway. I’d like to see you more often, Azzie.” Her words were softer and slower this time, and her smile was bashful as she looked up at him from under her bangs, moving another step closer and holding her breath as she waited for his reply.

Azgodon let out a sigh of relief when Xia had indicated she was not sick. A smile matching his relief expressed itself on his features. While her words were affirmative, her stammering over her words made Azgodon think about what was causing that. Perhaps she was generally nervous around people? He did remember her being nervous when he had stepped close to her the first day he met her, so maybe it was due to him being in close proximity to her. That certainly seemed like it could be the case. He supposed it did make sense that people wished to retain their personal space.

A light blush graced Azgodon’s cheeks as Xia thanked him multiple times for helping her clean up the art. He did not think he did anything too special to be thanked so many times. He would scratch the back of his neck as the praise that was shot his way. Azgodon’s mauve orbs would look around the vicinity to see if anyone noticed, he had not checked to see if there were any other Hyuuga around the area when he first got here; his eyes had only spotted Xia and focused in on her. As she explained that he did not need a reason to see her, Azgodon would be glad at the fact and her explanation of her being shy was probably why she stammered over her words. The prospect of seeing Xia a lot was a fascinating idea, as she was one of the three people in the village that he knew by name.

“Of course I want to see you quite often!” The cheery word escaped him almost immediately, a grin plastered on his face to match. Though, figuring Xia had more responsibilities than him; he had barely been in Konoha for a week, it was doubtful she had the free time. “I mean if it’s not too much trouble. If you’re not too busy.” There was a brief pause before Azgodon realized he had no way to know how or when to contact her. “Oh, right. How would be the best way to talk to you in the future? I don’t think I can just wander back here and stumble upon you again… I mean I could try… but I don’t know if that’s the most productive way to go about it.” He was wondering if he could remember her scent and track her down using her smell as a means. He supposed Tengoku’s wolves were able to do such a thing, so perhaps he could learn how to do it on his own. “I don’t think I can track you by smell...” He muttered out the words, though it was likely Xia would catch wind of them. It was wondering out loud rather than an attempt to keep a secret from his friend.

When Azzie blushed, Xia thought she was going to die. He was so adorable as she thanked him for his help that she knew she would never forget that moment for the rest of her life. She was also prone to imaginings and a great lover of the melodramatic, but that was beside the point. Even the way he scratched at the back of his neck was heavenly. ‘Cute, helpful and humble. What more could a girl ask for?’ In her mind she ran up to the man and hugged him, thanking him for his help and enjoying his scent. Although she didn’t exactly know what he smelled like, as she had never smelled him.

Her thoughts of hugging and smelling him were interrupted when he declared that he wanted to see her often. A big smile would light up her face as he spoke and she jumped once as she replied. “Really? That’s. . . that’s such good news. That makes me so happy, Azzie. And no, it’s not too much trouble. It’s no trouble at all!” She was way too excited, but she couldn’t help herself. He wanted to see her. A lot. It was pretty much the best day ever.

When he questioned how to contact her in the future, she very nearly said ‘Oh, just come over anytime.’ But stopped herself before the thought passed her lips. She didn’t imagine that her parents would be super happy about this man wandering in at all hours of the day and night. His idle thought about tracking her by smell had butterflies soaring around in her stomach, and she would just grin and tease him gently. “How do you know if you’ve never tried?” She would love for him to try.

Another round of blushing would colour her face as she realized she had just thought night. Leaning her head to the side slightly, she would place her hands on her hips and think of how best to make sure she could see him again. “Well, you’re always welcome to ask for me here at the Hyuga district. Although, maybe. . .” Her blush deepened as she realized what she was about to do. “We could, uh, maybe. . . Do you want to, um, go out? Like. . . set a date?” Her eyes grew wide and she stammered the rest of her thoughts quickly to cover her embarrassment. “Not that it has to be a date. Unless you want it to be. Just, then we would know, for sure. That we’d see each other again I mean.” She definitely wanted it to be a date, the romanticized outings that she’d read of in books and the like. But she wasn’t about to commit to that idea before she knew he wouldn’t outright reject her for the suggestion.

She would wait patiently for his response, and assuming he agreed to her idea of meeting again she would hastily pick a day, time and location for their ‘totally not a date’. If he didn’t agree she would do her best to hold in her emotions caused by her crushed dreams. At least long enough to head back inside. Either way she would pick up the bucket and brush, and with one last wave and longing look she would head back to her family home to daydream of many more adventures with Azzie.

[Exit Thread]

When Xia jumped in response to his affirmation that he wished to see her in the future, Azgodon was slightly confused. Did Xia not have many friends that she was eager at the prospect of hanging out with a friend? Or was she just easily excitable? Azgodon leaned more towards the latter option, though he could not be sure; it was hard to gauge people when he only really came to know three people. He would tilt his head curiously, as he was apt to do, when Xia mentioned he had not tried it yet. While it certainly was true, he did not happen upon Xia by scent today and he was only able to catch her scent once before. Maybe he could take one of Tengoku’s wolves to help him find Xia in the future? Though… he wasn’t sure if Tengoku would approve of it. Azgodon would have to solve that problem at a later date.

Asking for Xia at the Hyuga clan district seemed to be a viable solution, though what were the chances of all the Hyuga knowing Xia. He doubted there was more than one Xia… especially when he added on her other names when asking about her. He was really confused when Xia started to blush and stammer out her words. She was simply asking him to hang out in the future and setting a date for such an occasion seemed to be relatively normal. Xia further going on to say it doesn't’ have to be a date confused Azgodon, how else would they find the time to hand out in the future if a date was not set? It simply did not make sense. “Why would I not want to set a date? Having a date will make it easier for both of us to find time to go out.” Once Xia gathered the bucket and brush to depart, Azgodon would wave back when she turned to give him a look over her shoulder before she disappeared back into the clan district. Now left alone, Azgodon began to wonder where he should head to next.

[exit thread]