In the Heat of the night

There was something about returning to the village after a day of tending to the forest. With each new animal brought into the reserve, the more he had to expand and create habitat's which in turn created a new area that could be potentially allotted for farming purposes away from the animals. Dusk was a mere five meters from the gates as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow, his ocean colored eyes looking at his home with a happy look on his face. What would his teachers think of his improvement in the past months. As much as he continued to think of peaceful things, the sound of clamoring from the gate area caused him to rush with haste into the village.

A dark smirk lit up Arata's hooded face as the noise hit his ears. A homeless woman sleeping on the porch of a church in the late hours was enough of a commotion without the several hungry cats he'd introduced to the equation. Now the meowing, the yelling and the screams were enough to cause a distraction, a distraction he needed to slip away from this village as soon as possible.

Dressed for travel and sheathed in a standard white travelling cloak trimmed to fit his short frame, the boy eloquently slunk towards the gates, knowing that even if there were shinobi watching him, they'd probably let it go if they recognized his chakra signature. The two princes were allowed to leave and come as they pleased, at least one advantage their otherwise pathetic mother had afforded them.

His plan worked, most of the attention was diverted to the cacophony of sounds he'd left some eighty meters behind now, leaving his way forwards into the desert clear, unless someone was to make out his dark outline under the gibbous moon, quietly hopping the gate that was all but closed for the night.

His movements continued without haste as he dropped the single basket he had with him full of small saplings to the ground, his greenhouse would have to suffer a loss for tonight. In the back of his mind he had hoped the village wasn't under attack or anything but that thought was soon dismissed as he saw smoke...or flame. It was in the distance as he came closer he could see someone heading from the village toward the gates. His initial thought was it could have been one of the ninja heading toward the gate to cut off whoever had been causing the commotion but upon second glance based on their clothing this wasn't the case. Because of that however he slid into the pathway of the unknown person had made his intentions clear," Stop and identify yourself if you are not the cause of this commotion...and why are you hiding yourself?," at first he didn't want to make this a hostile situation, but just in case he needed to, he was prepared to apprehend the suspect.

Hearing a familiar voice, Arata stopped in his tracks. The possibilities flew in his mind as he automatically assessed the situation at hand. There was just one ninja, and one he could easily take. But leaving an injured shinobi behind would cause more of a scene than leaving an injured noblewoman behind. And though Arata had no doubt that by tomorrow everyone would know of what he'd done, tomorrow still gave him a few hours of obscurity.

"Dusk-Nii," the boy called out, his lower lip wobbling as he reluctantly removed his hood to reveal the small, grief stricken face he had decided on for the encounter. "I'm s-s-sorry, I just..." He knew the boy was one of his mother's students, weak and pathetic just like her. A few tears, a sob story and Arata would be out.

"I d-din't mean to interrupt, I just... I like to go outside and wait sometimes in case... in case mom ever comes home." The admission coupled with the pure grief of a seven year old boy should be enough to cast suspicion off him. "Do you know when she'll be coming home?"

It was...Arata? Why was he running from the village to get out of here? The blue eyed boy lowered his guard for just a moment as he sighed in relief, his eyes looking around before he responded," I haven't heard much about her coming back yet...Did she send you a letter or something?," For a moment thought about what had been going on until he unfortunately allowed the boy to pass. "Make sure you come back quickly, something is happening in the village and I need to go check on it...You'll be okay right?," Dusk trusted the boy much like he had trusted his mother and thus didn't find anything suspicious about his motives.

"I'll be fine, Dusk-Nii," Arata nodded, reaching to cover his head with the hood again. "I'll just wait on the horizon... maybe she'll come back before dawn, and then we can all go home." The show of theatrics clearly worked on the blue haired shinobi as he let Arata go, returning to whatever he was doing that night. No doubt guard duty and keeping the citizens "safe".

No one was safe, the dark haired boy thought as he crept through the gates and out into the open sand. God how he hated the sand. Perhaps now that he was in his own, he'd be able to outrun it, unburdened by his past and the ties that held him hostage until now.

Breathing in a fresh lungful of the dark night air, Arata raced off, hoping to never lay eyes on Hoshigakure as long as he lived.

(Exit Arata)

Arata's exit approved.