That Guy Again (Private;NK)

Johnathan awoke early in the morning on this day. He rolled out of bed lazily and hit the floor with a thud. The people below would probably have something to say about that, as most neighbors complained about even the littlest disturbances. Johnathan's current home was a large living space of an abode that was found in a very large, very tall skyscraper, like the many many buildings that could be found throughout the village. He was quite lucky though to actually be living here. After Mai died, he had been allowed to keep the apartment that she had had as long as he payed the rent once every two months. So far he had been just barely able to manage that but now was very short on cash. He got up and strode over to the closet on the opposite wall of his bedroom, and slid the wooden door open. Inside were very few things, a few small boxes on the floor, his gear laying atop those boxes, and a few articles of clothes hanging on hangars hooked to the rack overhead. These pieces of clothing were those that were his usual attire.

This attire was composed of his long black pants with purple laced design elegantly sewn into it, his plain white t-shirt, and the thick black trench coat with purple inlay and lacing across it in a similar design to that of the one on his pants. Johnathan debated actually getting dressed today, but then he remembered he had to go out today to fetch some things, and couldn't go out with only his boxers on. Well, he could but that would be very strange, seeing a slim man walking casually down the road with nothing but a pair of shorts on.

He grabbed his pants from off the rack, unfolded them, and slipped into them, one leg at a time, and zipped and buttoned them slowly. Johnathan reached for the t-shirt hanging on the rack, but hesitated, and instead turned away and stepped over to the nightstand by his bed. On it lay a book, one that his mother had given him when he was young, being as it was that she had been and apothecary. It was titled "Guide to Plants", and was a very large book describing several tons of plants that could be found in the world and their properties. Most were just basic plants that were very commonly known, with very few actually being rare or exotic. But Johnathan had found a few interesting plants in it. One of such interesting plants was Conium maculatum, or more commonly known as poison hemlock. It contained a chemical within it known as coniine, and when administered could cause respiratory collapse and even kill adults humans or livestock. This plant was his purpose today, as it was known to grow in damp areas, which could be found in some parts if you search hard enough in the wilderness even under Tengakure territory.

Johnathan turned back to the closet and grabbed his t-shirt off the hangar, putting it on head first and then putting his arms through the sleeves. He then took his trench coat out of the closet and put his arms through the warm sleeves. He grabbed the edges of the collar and pulled multiple times to get it into a comfortable state, then buttoned up the coat. Johnathan looked down to the gear laying atop the boxes on the floor of his closet. Laying there was his belt, with several pouches for utilities, and his custom wrist launcher. He first took up the wrist launcher and strapped it onto the inside of the forearm on the wrist of his left hand, ensuring that it was properly functioning and no damage had been done to it. Of course there wasn't. It hardly ever saw use. After equipping the device onto his wrist, Johnathan bent over and picked up the black leather belt, shaking it to remind himself of the senbon that the pouch all the way on the left contained. He strapped it on, slid his wrist launcher under his wrist, and took a senbon out to practice loading the device. He pushed the senbon into the dart trolley style loading system of the smaller barrel, slipped the left side ring over his thumb, and jerked it forward, feeling the mechanical motion and metal click of the projectile being loaded into the barrel. He quickly whirled around and brought his left arm up to aim at the poster on his wall with a silhouette of a human face, and jerked his thumb quickly. The senbon flies through the air rapidly and sticks in the wall, hitting the face dead center, between the eyes. Satisfied with the results, Johnathan walks over to the wall and pulls the senbon out, loading it once more into the device.

Now ready for the day, he walks out of the bedroom and into the living room. This space is very large and modern, with a long set of windows on the wall that overlook the village below. Johnathan's apartment is on a particularly high floor, but he can still see the few people down below, waking up and getting ready for the day. An early morning mist has set on the village. Johnathan heads to the door and exits his home, heading down a few flights of stairs and out the front doors. Very few people pay any attention to Johnathan, as not many have reason to. He heads down the main road to the village gates, and exits the village and comes out onto Tengakure territory, heading to a particular field where he has, luckily, seen many specimen of adult Conium maculatum. He soon arrives at the field, and feels the cold, damp grass beneath his bare feet. It is a soothing, calm area, and Johnathan begins too look around in search of specimens of the plant he has in mind.

Atsui awoken, it was slightly early in the morning. He was going to be avoiding a day at the academy, he had already decided. He preferred training, today. He went over to his closet, and gazed at the variety of clothing. From different colors, to slightly different in sizes. He pulled out some shoes, dark grey pants, a black T-shirt, and a sleeveless vest jacket thing. His pants, which strongly resembled jeans in a way, reached down to his ankles. His shoes covered the rest of his feet, except for his toes. The shoes were open toed. He then put on the black T-shirt, and the vest over it. He sighed, leaving it unzipped. It wasn't going to be too hot out today, at least, that's what his mother had told him. It was actually going to be the average every day temperature, around the eighties. He walked over to a nightstand next to his bed, there were two things on this nightstand. On top of it's flat wooden surface there were goggles, and then a lamp. The lamp was turned off. But he wasn't heading there to turn it on, he was heading there to pick up his goggles. He put them on, allowing them to hang from his neck, loosely, but to the point to where they wouldn't get in the way of anything. He then put on a belt, which main purpose wasn't for holding up his pants, but instead holding a pouch. This pouch's purpose was holding projectiles that can be thrown in battle. He also used this to hold his Katana scabbard, which held the blade.




Atsui began to head out. He wandered into his hall way, tiptoeing as to avoid waking either parents, and his sleeping siblings. He grabbed a small box of cereal, half way full, and headed out his front door. He locked the door behind him. His parent's wouldn't be suspicious about Atsui leaving this early in the morning, he usually headed out for the academy around this time.



Atsui began to wander the village, thinking. His hand was on his Katana, he was using it as an arm rest. His Katana blade was sheathed, he was leaning his arm against the Katana's handle. He lived somewhat close to the village gates, a quick escape should need be he supposed. He was heading for the gates, not necessarily meaning he was heading outside of the village, though he was planning on passing by them to head for a shop. As he arrived closer, he noticed someone he had not yet seen. Though, then again, the morning mist had already arrived, and it was hard to identify people from a distance, for Atsui anyways. He headed over closer, not acting as if he was trying to get a closer look in case it was someone he didn't know. If it was a friend, though, he may bother saying hello, and continuing. Atsui passed by him, though. It wasn't someone he had known, apparently. Atsui began to 'rest' against a building, by leaning against it. He noticed the man walking outside of the gates. This somewhat raised suspicion, seeing as there weren't that many others around, none of which seemed to be shinobi, Atsui decided to investigate. He followed the boy, about ten to fifteen meters away. Atsui soon found the boy in some sort of field, though Atsui himself was about fifteen meters away from it. Atsui was being cautious, not daring to step into the field in case the boy knew he was being followed, thus leading Atsui into a trap. He kept a grip on his Katana's handle, though, out of caution.


{619 WC so far.}

After walking for a few seconds, Johnathan realized he had a shadow. Some ten to fifteen meters off, there was a boy, one that Johnathan could now see as the mist of the morning had somewhat dissipated. The boy stood in somewhat casual attire, with a katana at his side. From this and the quite amateur position at which he was following Johnathan, he could make one of two safe assumptions. Either, the boy wasn't too interested in him or he was simply not very good at hiding. Johnathan assumed it was the latter, and drew from this assumption that the boy fought in more of a direct approach, as the way his arm was resting on his katana hilt it drew a lot of attention of a viewer to the weapon. Johnathan turned quite away from the direction of the boy, but then whirled around, raising his left arm and aiming his hand at the boy. He jerked his left thumb out and a long piece of metal, a senbon, was sent flying with great speed at the boy's shins. After firing, Johnathan jumped back about four feet and reloaded his launcher, looking around for a second for any high ground and found several tall trees and then giving his attention back towards the boy.

The one Atsui was following was still around fifteen meters away, a nice good distance, which came in handy. Suddenly, the target turned around, it appeared that it wasn't his top speed though, he was too slow. Though this was Atsui's opinion, he could have been moving at top speed. Though, he was still slow. Atsui watched as he pulled back his sleeve, revealing a type of device. Atsui had never seen a device before, so it was strange to him. He slowly began to drew his Katana, and watched as the boy pulled what seemed to be a string. He noticed a weapon flying out. Atsui, having enough distance to make a dodge, quickly dashed to the right, out of range of the flying senbon by a foot. It flew past his left, missing his left shin, and the rest of his body. Atsui turned his attention back to the attacker, who was paying attention to Atsui. Atsui had just missed the man looking at the higher ground, though quickly noted what was above head. Tree tops, and branches. This could be an interesting fight.. Atsui figured. He was still a few meters away from the field, too.

Atsui, after noticing his opponent wasn't going to seemingly make a move, began to walk off. He didn't seem as if he was going to continue the fight. Normally Atsui would reply with such a responce in battle, with a Kunai, slitting their neck. However, this one was a Tengakure shinobi, so he figured it would be better to just leave him be. He didn't want trouble with all of Tengakure, anyways.


Atsui wandered back to the village, and headed to the academy. He decoded to go rather than ditching.


{EXIT; 900 Words. +4 Stats, +9 JP.}

Approved for Appropriate Rewards

[Awkward long awaited EXIT]