tampered | LOG; Ongoing

LOG; Ongoing

When; April 10
Rating; Nothing more than PG.
Characters; Akito/Agito [

tunetone], Hinata [

hyuuga_hime]
Summary; Hinata takes Kururu and a newly-arrived Akito to get something to eat.
Note; Posting order is Akito -> Kururu -> Hinata.
Log;

Akito sat upon the bench, swinging his legs lazily while he waited for both Kururu and Hinata to show up. His fingers absently tugged at the rip in his dress, and he found himself wondering if he was ever going to get it fixed. He knew Kururu didn't sew, she tuned, but he didn't know about Hinata. But he didn't want to impose or anything; she was already taking him out to eat. He shouldn't take advantage of her hospitality.

The boy raised a hand to his eyepatch to make sure it was secure. He didn't want Agito coming out any time during the outing. Kururu knew about him, but he didn't want to scare any new friends he was about to make.

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Immediately when Kururu saw Akito's first post on the network, she had been incredibly happy, but most of all delighted to hear that he was doing fine. With all the "end of the world" talk lately and the several impostors of certain people flooding the City, she had been a bit doubtful at first. But when she had known for certain it was really Akito she had been talking to, she immediately went to find him.

Because after all, he was the first person from their world to arrive since her own arrival and she wanted to know what had happened back home. There was a tiny spark of hope inside of her that longed for Ikki to follow Akito to the City, but she didn't really count on that. The City never favored people.

At long last, she found Akito sitting on a bench in a... dress? Oh well, if that was what he liked, Kururu wasn't going to complain. At least he hadn't moved from his position.

"Akito-san!"

Kururu waved and cheerfully ran towards him, but she realized that she probably looked either ridiculous or plain stupid this way and continued to walk instead.

White eyes scanned the crush of people that peppered the bricked expanse of courtyard surrounding the fountain. A portion of Hinata's mind remarked quietly that it wasn't that long ago that she herself had wandered lost and alone beside that same fountain. Well, maybe not that exact one. And...truthfully, it had been quite a while since then. But then, that wasn't the pressing issue, was it?

The Hyuuga heiress pushed the thoughts from her head with a well-schooled calm manner. Despite her shortcomings as a shinobi, and her shyness and other flaws, she had at least always managed to pay attention to those lessons regarding proper mannerisms and decorum. Afterall, failure though the dark-haired girl might have seen herself, she was a Hyuuga. And decorum dictacted certain controls over one's emotions.

Observing the bustle of bodies and forms for a moment, sharp ears caught a name she recognized. Following the sound, she watched a blonde girl wave and run over to a dark-haired boy who sat on one of the benches scattered around the courtyard.

That must be him.

Walking over, she smiled, tucking a lock of dark indigo hair behind one ear.

"Akito-san?"

It was a blessing to hear Kururu's familiar voice spike through the murmur of the crowd. Akito had only been in the City for a few minutes, and the only comfort he'd found so far was the presence of Agito in the back of his mind, the smart retorts and foul swearing that had echoed in his consciousness as he found himself more and more lost. But with Kururu around, Akito was sure that his time in this new and strange place wouldn't be so difficult.

He only hoped Ikki would arrive soon too. And Kazu, Buccha, Onigiri, and the girls, and maybe even Ringo-san and Sano-san. But especially Ikki.

Akito stood as Kururu reached him, gathering his ruined dress in his hands, then turned his head slightly as Hinata approached from the other direction. "Sumeragi-san, it's good seeing you again," he chirped, beaming, to the first girl. "Hyuuga-san, nice to meet you." He bowed politely to the second.

Sheepish and blushing slightly as he straightened, he added, "I'm sorry you have to see me in this state," he gestured to his torn clothes, "but it's the only thing I was wearing before I got here..."

"A-ah, no, that's alright!" Kururu said, almost apologizing to the boy even though that was completely unnecessary. Habits are hard to break, even when around friends. "And I'm very glad to see you in good health!" Her uncomfortable feeling was slowly evaporating, forgetting about Ikki for now and deciding that Akito and Agito were enough of a comfort.

Her attention shifted from Akito to the girl she was unfamiliar with, a certain... Hyuuga-san? She had seen the girl a few times on the network and she seemed a nice person, so meeting her like this wasn't so awkward. She smiled politely and also bowed her head, which was probably the wisest thing to do. The one thing she had learned in this place was that looks could be deceiving.

"It's very nice to meet you, Hyuuga-san," she spoke, trying not to stutter since first impressions were important; or so she thought. "I'm Sumeragi Kururu, but just Kururu is okay."

Hinata smiled as the two younger teens bowed respectfully. They both seemed like nice kids, though she couldn't help but laugh at the label. As though she wasn't only 4 or 5 years older then they were. But they both acted more like children then most 13 year olds from her world. She supposed it had to do with different cultures and practices.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kururu-san. And you can both just call me Hinata, if you like."

Turning back to Akito, she shook her head slightly.

"There's no need to be embarassed, Akito-san. When I first came to the City, it was in my nightclothes. And soaking wet, because I was in the fountain. So I understand how it can be."

Maybe it was her motherly instincts, or perhaps the changes the City had wrought on her, but for some reason much of her shyness seemed to ebb around children. With another warm smile, pupil-less eyes leveled on the two.

"So what would you like to eat?"

Upon Hinata's question, Akito's mind flew through all of the possibile foods he'd thought of eating since his arrival up till that moment. Sushi? Tempura? Maybe some sweet bread? The possibilities were endless. Oh! But he really liked strawberries, and if this City had nice people like Kururu and Hinata, then it surely had strawberries.

"A strawberry sundae!" Akito proclaimed eagerly. But he caught himself; he had to be quiet and polite around most older people. "Please," he added in a more subdued tone, "if Hyuuga-san—I mean, Hinata doesn't mind."

Kururu chuckled for a moment and had to agree with Akito's desire for a strawberry sundae right now. Since her arrival in the City just a month ago, she hadn't really had anything she really liked excluding a random bag of candy. Not that she had a sweet tooth or anything, but a strawberry sundae sounded really... enjoyable at this point.

"A strawberry sundae sounds very good!" she said, looking at Hinata, hoping that she'd think the same; but other food was fine too.

Nodding, she couldn't help but giggle slightly at their excited replies. It helped to take her mind away from her own problems. Watching the way Akito's eyes had lit up as his mind doubtlessly raced through all of the options had reminded her a little bit of the way Naruto-kun's eyes lit up when he tried to decide what flavour of ramen he wanted to try next.

"That sounds good to me too. We can go to Cafe Juliet, my treat."

They seemed like nice kids, and it had been awhile since she'd really been able to go out and do much. Sure, she and Tenten had been out once or twice before the other girl had vanished back to their world, and she'd gone to the cafe with Hotaru, but overall the Hyuuga girl didn't get out very much.

The unanimous agreement brought a beaming grin to Akito's face. He jumped up with arms raised high, shouting delightedly, and grabbed Kururu's hand in one of his and Hinata's in the other.

"Let's go then!" he exclaimed, tugging the girls in a random direction, not really knowing where he was going but not caring until he realized that wasn't the smartest plan. So, letting go of them both, he calmed himself and said to Hinata, "Or, you can lead. I don't know where Café Juliet is yet."

He offered her another sheepish smile.

Kururu also looked at Hinata and smiled apologetically, shrugging to emphasize her confusion.

"I'm afraid that I also don't know where Café Juliet is..." she admitted, something she was kinda ashamed of since she had been in the City for some weeks now.

But then again, she hadn't really gonna out at all during those weeks. So this small adventure inside the City with one old friend and a newly acquired one was a welcome change from sitting at home and doing nothing but breaking things apart and fixing them again. Which was, considering her... profession, also a lot of fun, but something simple as going out to eat a sundae was so much better.

Hinata smiled at Akito's excitement, chuckling a little bit at their sudden confusion.

"It's alright, I know where it is. This way."

Keeping hold of the boy's hand, she nodded towards the direction of the cafe, making conversation as they walked.

"So, is this place very different from the world you two come from? That is...I assume you're from the same world?"

"Umm..." Akito looked around at the City for perhaps the thirtieth time. "It kind of looks the same... Skyscrapers, streets... Well, there are more streets and there are cars too, because I don't see any cars here. But it feels different."

He looked over at Kururu. "Right? Doesn't it feel different to you, too?" Frowning, he looked up at Hinata. "Does this mean your world is really different?"

"Mmm, it does," Kururu said and her expression saddened, looking at the ground pensively. "Maybe it's because there are so many different people here... You won't find that in a normal city. A-ah, a normal city by our standards, of course!"

She looked at Hinata and her sad expression shifted into one of expectation, awaiting the answer to Akito's question. She was kinda curious about the world Hinata came from, because she had only learned of two worlds yet even though there were so many people who came from different worlds.

Nodding, she glanced down at the two. They missed their home, she could tell that much. And in truth, it made her feel a little bit guilty. Afterall, here she was, arguing with those from her world over how she didn't even really want to go home, and children like these were lost and alone in this place. And they were so young. Even though their years weren't that much less then hers, it was obvious that they had been raised in a much different situation. They were almost like...civilian children that she had met while on mission. Younger, less mature, less..hardened by the world then the young shinobi that made up her world.

With a smile, she shook her head from the troubling thoughts and nodded.

"Very different. I'd never seen a building that tall until I came here. And streets made out of rock and buildings made of metal and glass...my world doesn't have any of those. Not even in the other villages. It looks so different from Konoha that I thought I was dreaming at first."

It was all good and well, listening to Hinata talk about her world, but Akito was digging for more interesting information.

"ATs," he said suddenly, whirling around to face Kururu. "Does anyone else here have ATs?" He turned back to Hinata and pointed with his free hand at his own strapped to his feet. "Do you have shoes like these, Hinata?"

Before she could respond, he let go of her hand, put the slightest pressure on his ATs, dashed forward on them, and backflipped into the air. He remained suspended like that in a free-form jump, laughing heartily, for a few seconds before coming to land in front of the girls. Still smiling, he skated around them, eager for his answer.

"Well?"

Kururu started to laugh, maybe because Akito's sudden decision to show off amused her, but mostly because the huge feeling of happiness began to increase only more when he made that backflip.

Such a thing was so common in their world that she now felt more at home, because after all, Air Treck was going to be her future and now a part of her future was here. Being stuck here wasn't so bad anymore now that Akito had arrived. Kururu could only hope that more would follow.

"You're the only one with ATs here..." she said, still watching Akito with a smile. "I haven't seen anyone with skates at all, actually..."

She watched as the boy spun himself up into the air, marveling at the strange shoes with wheels on them. Shaking her head, sne glanced down at her own simple sandals.

"No, I've never seen shoes like those. Some of the daimyo's children have shoes with wheels on them, but they aren't anything like those. And I've never seen a shinobi with them."

Smiling as he dropped back to the ground, she clapped her hands.

"That was wonderful. Did it take you long to learn how to do that?"

Akito slowed to a stop in front of the girls, braking evenly. The positive expressions on their faces—especially Hinata's—was enough proof to him that there would be no prejudice here against ATs.

"Not too long. It's a simple jump, though the backflip took a little longer. Many tricks take weeks or months to learn, though." He lowered his gaze, slightly embarrassed. "I'm not that good, really. There are a lot of better storm riders out there."

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LOG; Ongoing

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