Numb

Even though it was a beautiful day, Ryoku still felt numb. He had made it to Konoha, and even was able to become one of their ninja, and yet how mind kept drifting to the life he had lost. He stared at the leaf headband in his hands as he walked aimlessly. He missed his wife.

Not too far away, he heard a kid crying. Looking up at the sound, the man spotted the kid. There was a boy on the ground with a cut on good knee. "What happened, little one?" Ryoku asked as he approached.

"I-I fell!" The boy cried, pointing at his knee. The young man cliches next to the kid, his hand already glowing green. The mystical Palm was a bit more advanced than the weaker chakra palm, but Ryoku preferred it more. The cut began to slowly heal up, before vanishing completely.

"There you go, all better now!" Ryoku replied warmly. The kid ran off, thanking him for the help. The fond smile on his face became melancholy. Ryoku knew he'd never have kids like that. He walked on.

With the child's problem taken care of, Ryoku was content. As his smile face and he was ready to move on, a voice could be softly heard. “ that was an awfully nice thing you did for him." He turned around, slightly surprised. He didn't expect anyone to have seen him, to be honest.

The girl was slightly taller than him, was the first thing he noticed. She has dark hair, and big green eyes. She was rather pretty, even if Ryoku didn't care about things like that. Still, he smiled politely at her, his left hand coming up to assist his glasses. They were slightly too big, but he hasn't had time to get that fixed lately.

"Hello Miss, I didn't realize anyone was watching. It's nice to meet you." He replied, his voice soft, but still audible. His grabbed his right arm with his left hand, unsure how he wanted to stand.

The woman's name was Sera. She was very polite, and her words were kind. Ryoku found himself relaxing just a little bit. He really needed to stop being too wary of others. He was a Konoha ninja now, and there was no reason to be so standoffish. Her posture wasn't any reason to be on guard.

"It's a pleasure to meet to then, Sera. I'm Ryoku," he replied, before trailing off a bit awkwardly. He didn't really know what else to say, as he want too used to talking with other people, besides his wife.

That sent a pang of emotional agony though him. He missed her so much. He missed his old village too. "How are you doing today?" he finally asked. He didn't know what else to say, but he didn't want to be rude.

Shifting his weight from one for to the other, the young man listened to the woman. He was surprised she had answered, though he couldn't be too surprised. Most people he met in Konoha so far had been kind.

It was a stark difference from Wind Country people. He remembered his village had been rather standoffish. They weren't mean to each other, but everyone was rather abrupt to get away from the harsh winds.

It was so different here. From the people to the weather and everything in between. He loved it here. "I'm well, thank you. I still can't believe how beautiful Konoha is," he replied with a soft smile, volunteering a little more information- she could probably tell he wasn't from around here now.

He was a little bit surprised with himself. He wasn't one to talk to people like this, but he goes he felt safe here. It was a nice, quiet day, the girl wasn't annoying at all, And he was actually enjoying himself. He had helped a little kid, and that always put him in a good mood.

Sera relaxes herself a bit  as she leans against the wall of the building she had rounded no more then a minute or two ago before moving her hand up to her right side and seemingly going to rest her hand on something that clearly wasn’t there.  Quickly remembering she had left her blade at home on purpose today, she settled for resting her hand on her hip instead “  it sure is, and fairly quiet as of recently.” She lets a smile rest on her lips as she quickly scans him over for a head band provided by the village, he was clearly a Shinobi but from where, as he a guest or was he a new recruit, she didn’t know.  Not that she expected ill intentions from the kind stranger but she was regretting not bring her blade just encase.  “ So were are you from then Ryoku?” * her body language had changed very little but she was ready just encase. After all this is not a normal situation. Had she simply over looked his headband before?

His eyes widened slightly with her movement. 'Did she just try to draw a weapon? Was it something I said?' he thought, slightly alarmed. She couldn't grab her weapon, so her hand went to her hip. He was just slightly intimidated by this girl. He couldn't help but try to relieve the tension only he probably felt.

Before he replied, Ryoku noticed she looked for a headband. His was tightly clenched in his right hand, where only the cloth was visible. She likely couldn't tell what it was, as it could have been anything. He lifted it up, and slowly tied it onto his forehead.

He tried to smile warmly, but it came out a little wobbly. "I'm a Konoha Ninja now, don't worry. I just got my headband." he tried to laugh it off, in an attempt to calm himself down. He had nothing to freak out about. "I'm from another village originally... They're..." he trailed off, gave a sad smile and shrugged his shoulders apologetically. He didn't really want to talk about it to some stranger, even if she seemed nice.

"I just moved here last week. Today, I was accepted as a Gennin." he added helpfully. Obviously, she was a ninja. He wondered what rank she was. Chuunin, maybe? She looked decently strong. She certainly had a strong will.

((Sorry for a crappy post. I just wanted to get something out here for you.))

"I'm glad you're so understanding. I would love a tour, thank you," he replied quietly, though she had already began to walk away. He followed after her, appearing around the corner when she looked for him. She was pretty forceful, but that was the kind of person Ryoku needed to hang out with right now. This was likely to be a good experience for him.

"You're very friendly. Is most of the village like this too?" he asked quietly, his voice echoing his improving mood. He began to walk a little faster to catch up to her, taking his place a few feet to her left.

The girl scoffed at his words. “Hardly, but there are always a few that can be nice, but make sure not to mistake kindness for face value, not in a world of shinobi.” She had replied warningly, to which Ryoku couldn't help but chuckle in reply to.

"Don't worry Miss, I've been a ninja for 8 years. I'm new here, not naive." he replied, a slight teasing tone to his voice to cut out the bite in his words. He may be a genin, but he was a veteran ninja. Was a veteran ninja. He had retired over a year ago, but with where had happened... Well, he had plenty of motivation to pick up his kunai again, so to speak.

They had reached the market district now, and she was showing him various shops. Places to eat, to buy clothes, weapons, supplies... Everything was on these two streets. He was quiet, but attentive, happy to listen to her explain everything going on.

Then, they began to reach the hospital. "I'm sure I'll be here often then. I'll have to see if my licences are valid here or if I'll have to re register them to practice medicine in Konoha. I can take care of that later, though." He said, smiling softly. He was enjoying his tour.

When she barked at him like that, Ryoku grew quiet. He didn't know what to think about that, and if she'd snap at something like that, he was better off with silence. Then she seemed to ignore him completely, disregarding everything else he had said. Maybe miss was a sore point with her. He didn't know her story, after all.

Still, he didn't like being treated like that. When she walked away to the Hyuuga compound, the man decided that maybe he'd be better off on his own here. With a way smile, he took a different exit than she did, headed in a different direction without saying anything to her.

Sera Moved around and towards the academy, having paused only for a brief second to look over her shoulder as she arrived. Only to find no one there. Now not being overly perceptive she wasn’t sure when he slipped away, and she back tracked a few blocks before realizing that she might have been ditched. At first Sera was confused but after searching for him thinking that he might have just gotten lost, confusion turned to anger, but by the time she had made it home she found that she was not angry but more upset. Had she been to abrasive? Slowly she went inside and put on a pot of Tea. She had indeed been ditched and it felt awful. Maybe she was a bit harsh, but he could have at least said bye. Instead of wasting her time. After she made a cup of tea she layed her head down at her kitchen table and sulked until her tea was cold she then dumped it down the sink and got ready to lay down. The day had started off so nice and seemed to end horribly.

[EXIT]