The Ants Go Marching One by One

Zatoichi was unable to sleep for the third night in a row and had decided to walk the streets after dark. Toneri and Ayato had already checked on him so he was good for about an hour and a half. After what had happened with Sephora he's under constant watch! Everyone knew to watch for him in the village. Especially members of his clan, people on guard duty at the gates and even those on guard duty in the village. This meant he had to be extra careful, he was already in trouble, and didn't need to get into any more trouble! More trouble meant he would be grounded for the next Six months and then he would have to do extra assignments to regain bits of his freedom! No need for that!
Zatoichi pulled his cloak close around his body as he kept to the shadows, hopefully not being seen. It was rather windy tonight. Maybe a brisk walk in nature is what he needed to finally help him get some rest. His legs were still slightly sore from the incident with Sephora so he couldn't walk too fast. The dark was rather peaceful. He only saw a couple of people out so far. He stopped for a brief moment to take a break, he pulled his hood down to look around as he sat down to rest his sore legs!
232

Amikiri started making his way home. He had just finished a long shift at the gate post and in his opinion, it was the worst shift someone could get. Sometimes, to “keep them fresh” guards would be given shorter shifts. Normally, this would only be good, but this caused the existence of the dreaded four to ten shift. It was the busiest time of day for people entering the village, as people were rushing to get into the village before dark. And for some strange reason, a parent let their child out of the village to play during the day, the guardpost and gate area turned into a hellscape. Fortunately, no parents made that decision today.

The dark haired Hyuuga was still a bit tired returning from his job though. Normally, he would’ve gone straight home. However, the warmer weather as winter turns to spring inclined him to take a bit longer of a stroll. His clothing was well situated for this warmer weather. He wore a dark pair of pants, a pale green shirt, and his brown leather work boots. His short-ish black hair was slightly tousled like usual. He wore his Nise, as he had forgotten to take it off after his guard duty. Turns out an impossibly lightweight layer of chakra armor that is only visible with chakra vision and is meant to be hard to notice makes it quite difficult for the user to notice that they are wearing it. As he slowly walked through the city of Hoshigakure, the young Genin eventually found himself near a park.

He looked upward and saw the beautiful stars. Deciding to take a moment to observe them, he wanted to find a place to sit down. The dark haired Hyuuga glanced around and found a nice bench to sit upon. As he drew nearer, he realized that someone was sitting there, mostly covered by a large cloak. Amikiri sat down on the bench next to them, maybe a little over a meter to their left. He leaned back and spread his arms across the back of the bench. Before looking upward, he turned his head to the right to observe the person next to him. A slight smile spread across Amikiri’s face as he recognized the slightly infamous individual, before he then turned his head upward to stare up at the stares. He would, in an amused tone, say, “Well Mr Zatoichi Hyuuga. I never would’ve guessed to see you here at this hour. It seems you’ve made quite the name for yourself amongst us gate guards, but I never heard the full story of what happened. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened that's got the higher ups so wound up about you?” Amikiri made sure his presence was not intimidating, not wanting Zatoichi to think this was an interrogation of sorts. Amikiri was unarmed, only wearing the clothing on his back and his invisible Nise stretched across his skin.

WC: 493

Zatoichi felt the stranger sit next to him, but due to bad lighting and the fact he didn't have an active Byakugan yet, he didn't know who it was. Until, the stranger said his name! He dared not move, his breath was caught in his throat like a huge lump! This was a clan member and a gate guard both…Amikiri. He was quite relaxed and visibly as he looked at him he couldn't see any weapons in the very dark dim lighting.
”I kinda accidentally…well no, intentionally set a trap for Sephora Hyuuga. It was a ten foot hole in the ground for her to fall in. She was coming home the other night after telling us…not me but …everyone else that she was going to meet Tori, she came back way later, I had uncovered the hole and she fell in. I got in trouble because I shouldn't have been out and because I hurt her…i mean, she fell and broke her bones…shes half Kaguya she can heal right? Apparently not very fast …you're not going to turn me in are you? Everybody thinks I'm in bed asleep. I'm kind of grounded!” He finally managed to say to Amikiri, he started looking around for an escape route in case the other Hyuuga decided to try to apprehend him.
“I had to get out of the house for a little bit!” Zatoichi added with a pleading look in his eyes. “I'm allowed out for school but that's it, for the next two months.” He added as he leaned his head back and looked up at the sky.

(267)

Amikiri gave a slight chuckle as he heard the story about Sephora. First she was trying to take a quick trip to the borders, next she was falling into pit traps. She never seemed to keep herself out of sticky situations for long. He would lightheartedly respond with, “Well, if you’re looking to avoid trouble, I wouldn’t exactly recommend setting pit traps for your fellow villagers.”

“I think I might know a bit of what you’re talking about. That was probably the night Sephora tried to leave the village to find Tori Uzumaki. I was on duty that night and those two made quite the paperwork mess.”

Amikiri found this whole situation up to this point amusing. He could tell that all of these people were quite well natured and he wasn’t too disturbed by their confusing antics. However, it was starting to seem like everyone knew someone else within this group, and he was quite curious about it. “So it seems you all have some sort of group going on here. If I had to make a guess, I would say it includes Talon, Sephora, Tori, and you. Would you say I’m correct with that guess?”

In response to the Hyuuga’s other statement, Amikiri said, “Well, you don’t have to worry about me turning you in. A bit of fresh air never killed a man or caused the destruction of a village. And I must admit, sometimes I feel the same itch. To go beyond where I am supposed to. To see everything I can.”

As Amikiri finished his last sentence, he realized something. With a light laugh, he said, “I just realized, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amikiri Guhin.”

WC: 284
TWC: 777

Good, he wasn't going to turn him in, he actually understood that sometimes a person just needs a breath of fresh air. This gate guard seemed to realize there was a group between them all, yet Zatoichi never really considered himself a normal Fuku Member, no, as a matter of fact he considered himself above the average Fuku….Team Fuku Next Generation? Hmm, seems more like a fan based Fuku group! How about Team Fuku 2.0? That sounds better.
“Yeah they have a team of their own, they call themselves Team Fuku! I guess I should be nicer to Sephora. She is my cousin, a fellow clan member and a villager.” Zatoichi said with a sigh.
“Oh, Zatoichi Hyuuga, nice to meet you Amikiri. How long have you lived here in Hoshigakure very long?” Zatoichi asked him curiously, thinking Amikiri is a nice guy! “How long have you worked as a gate guard?” Another question? Yeah but may as well get to know the people in the village. He does know his classmates and his own little group at the school, but he doesn't know many villagers or many of the village ninja. He knows the ones he is related to however but that's about it!

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