Practice before the Storm Comes

[Naiken ~}{~ Naiou]

Naiken's finger was inserted through the hole at the end of his kunai knife, swirling the blade around in a lazy manner that turned the red cloth dangling off the edge into a circular, crimson blur. He was bored, needlessly to say, since arriving in Konohakagure no Sato and hadn't had ample opportunity to stretch his legs despite the fact that his mission would not begin for a couple of days still. As a Jounin, he was expected to be able to carry out these sorts of missions on his own, but as an Iwakagure Jounin, he was expected to carry out these sort of missions with respect and staunch, stoic ahderhance to the objectives which were still unclear to him. The only thing that he'd been told prior to his departure was that he would be there for an undetermined length of time and would be expected to follow the Hokage's direct orders should she choose to mobilize him.

Sighing, Naiken narrowed his greyish blue orbs and quickly snapped his wrist outward which resulted in the kunai rotating vertically as it tore through the air toward the target at the end of the range. His back was turned, the smooth black material of his form-fitting shirt(which was somewhat heavy because of the thick wire mesh woven skillfully into the fabric) facing the range, he smirked as he heard the dull clunk of the metal from his kunai digging into the already scarred, wooden target. While he was certain that he needed practice with his ranged weapons, Naiken was far more skilled than most in his village and was pretty certain that he could best anyone who came his way when it came to projectile weaponry... or any kind of weaponry.

Shaking his head free of the slight layer of sweat that'd sprung up from the heat, Naiken adjusted the Fuuma shuriken holstered on his back before letting his hands drop to his waist where his nunchaku were tucked into his belt. Withdrawing the pastel brown weapons, they had dark green vines crossing across the wood and violet buds and blooms dotting those fines, he hefted a wooden portion in each hand as he closed his eyes. Double nunchaku, a different set in each hand, was something that he still needed work on, but he was more anxious for a real fight. A fight with another person to test himself, his limits.

Sighing again, he began to swing them, the wood arching through the air in blurs of light brown and purple. Might as well get something done while I wait... Stupid longterm missions and vague instructions... Next time, I drag Daku and Sachi along with me. At least then I'd have someone to force to train with me...

[Suki]

Suki walked into the training grounds and saw a guy training. She thought, " Should I go and talk to him? Better not. He might not be friendly. " She just stood there trying to not get noticed. Then her mind started to wander. She started thinking about her family and friends. Then, she shook her head and thought, " Now, I can't get any of that in my head. I'll go crazy! I better just watch this guy train. "

[Naiken ~}{~ Naiou]

Naiken brought the left nunchaku under his arm and had his right hand imitate the action, resulting in the wood resting just under his armpits and and against his sides as he sighed. His arms weren't tired, merely warmed up, and he was starting to get more than a little antsy as he viewed the scant amount of people loitering about the training area. For one, he hadn't actually fought anyone in two weeks and for two, he was starting to get a little impatient with waiting for someone to make an offer. Just like he was getting annoyed with the odd presence lurking at the back of his field of awareness. His senses always had been finely tuned and usually always caught any disturbance, but the sheer amount of fidgety nervousness pouring out of the person made the fine, grey hairs at the base of his neck bristle.

"You need something?" he snapped, turning at his waist to face the person looking at him which resulted in the straps of his fuuma shuriken's holster biting into the skin through the thin black shirt and him wincing slightly. Turning around, and still not looking at the person whom he was now facing, he artfully slipped the nunchaku into his belt and sighed before folding his arms across his chest.


"Or are you just going to sit there all day?" Naiken's head tilted to the side as he narrowed his eyes slightly before he realized that it was a woman and not a man watching him which made Naiken very much pleased with himself yet annoyed that there wasn't anyone around to help him show off. Taking one of his nunchaku back from his belt, he began lazily executing a series of movements that entailed him swinging the free wooden section backward, catching it with his free hand and fluidly flowing into the same maneuver except this time using the opposite hand.

"Is there anything that I can do for you? And I do mean anything." A crooked grin on his face, his body posture–even while doing complicated low-grip moves–was relaxed and somewhat lazy and he was rather glad that he'd gone jacketless since the sleeveless shirt showed far more of his toned body. He couldn't help it, he was a lady's man and worked very hard to maintain an appearance pleasing to the opposite sex and he was not above showing said body off whenever he got a chance. Nor was he above flirting like a shameless teenager even if he was twenty-six. A girl's a girl and it beats training alone without an audience. That thought comforted him as his neatly-trimmed eyebrows raised in an inquisitive manner.

[Suki]

Suki looked at the guy and raised an eyebrow. She thought, " All guys are so perverted! " She walked up to the guy and slapped him. She said, " You are so perverted you, baka! "

[Nonki Daku]

Yawning, the young jounin approached the gates of Konoha, clearly very tired. Traveling with a team was a tiresome experience to began with, but when he was alone and traveling, it was even worse. He had no Sachi to stare at and no Naiken to poke fun at because of his odd fascination with hair care products. A smile on his lips as he thought about the last time he had had the pleasure of seeing Naiken partically explode, the last time he set the hairspray of the older jounin aflame. Naiken's face is so funny when he gets upset. he thought as he walked along the path, the sight of the gate becoming closer along the Konoha shinobi who stood at the gate as guards.

A sigh escaping his lips, Daku reached into the front pocket of his jounin vest, he produced the reason he was having to come all the way to Konohagakure no Sato. A message written from the Tsuchikage to the Hokage rested in his hand, a message, he was not allowed to open or else he would be charged with treason or something of that sort. That was the only thing keeping the man's curiousity at bay as he looked down at the note, analzying it. What could is possibly be about? It has to be something important if I was supposed to bring it to Konoha as soon as a could. he pondered, before the shinobi in charge of the gate at the moment addressed him.

"What is your business here?" the shinobi said suspiciously, looking upon Daku with untrusting eyes. The young jounin waved the message around in the face of the shinobi, clearly not interested in having to explain the whole entire reason he was here. The Konoha shinobi nodded and allowed Daku to walk through the gate but before he walked all the way through the gate, the Iwagakure jounin looked over his shoulder at the guard and asked, "Have you seen another jounin from Iwagakure no Sato around here?".

"Yes. He was at the training grounds the last time I saw him."

"Aw. Silly Naiken-san. Always training. It is not good for him in his old age." Daku remarked, not really talking to anyone. The Konoha shinobi just shrugged, clearly just wanting Daku to leave him alone. Nodding at the Konoha nin, Daku began to walk toward the training grounds, reaching into the pocket of his cargo pants as he did so. "The Hokage is probably going to make me wait forever to gain an audience with her and I haven't seen Naiken-san in such a long time. He probably misses me." the man muttered to himself as he placed his thumb on the tip of the match and lit it on fire by causing chakra to go into the match. Pulling his thumb away just as it was about to be burnt by the flames, Daku smiled at the flame.

In a short period of time, the jounin finally reached the training grounds, the match still in hand. To his surprise, he found another ninja near Naiken, a kunoichi at that. "Hey! Naiken-san!" Daku yelled, smiling even wider as he tried to get the attention of his teammate who he really was happy to see.

[Suki]

She looked up from slapping the guy and saw a guy looking at them. She stood up fully and said, " Do you know this perve? "

[Naiken ~}{~ Naiou]

((OOC Note: It's spelled Perv and you auto'ed that slap big time. He is a ninja and therefor would probably have better reflexes than you give him credit for. Not to mention the fact that he is spinning his nunchaku would probably make slapping him rather hard. Please keep these factors in mind the next time you post or I will ignore it due to unfairness.))

Naiken blinked and backed retreated a couple of steps just as the woman's hand shot out toward him and brought the two wooden halves of his nunchaku together before slipping them back into his belt. His head was somewhat tilted and his face bore a slightly amused look as he watched the angry expression billowed out across the woman's features which, actually, were not all that soft and feminine when contorted with rage. Naiken raised a brow and sighed, stepping back forward into his previous position and was about to tell the woman that pretty ladies shouldn't frown so much when he heard a familiar voice. A voice that he was almost certain belonged to his annoying yet still amusing companion Daku, but it couldn't have been Daku because Daku was supposed to still be in Iwagakure no Sato setting his hair care products on fire while he pretended to be watching Naiken's house.

Narrowing his eyes and shifting his gaze to follow the woman's line of sight, he did indeed see Daku standing there with his overly cheerful and hyperactive grin on his face, waving like a madman. He sighed, despite being overjoyed to have someone to boss around and tease if even for a short while, and resumed his casual, relaxed posture.

"Daku! I hadn't expected you to be here... Especially not while you're supposed to be watching my house," Naiken started with humor reviving his voice and mood before he shifted to the woman who'd almost slapped him with a feigned hurt expression. "And I'll have you know, mam, that I am no perv. I merely asked if there was something that I could do for you since you seemed so fidgety." Not that he was genuinely hurt, quite the contrary since he found the matter very much amusing, but he decided to play the part of spurned paramour. After all, he had a reputation to maintain and Daku wouldn't know that the woman that Naiken was standing so close to(Naiken was very much close to the woman, his stomach nearly brushing against her elbows) was a complete stranger. The older jounin grinned at his own cunning before quickly resuming his worried expression.

"I'm sorry, dear, if I offended you. Please... allow me to make it up to you."

[Suki]

Suki just roled her eyes and said, " Don't call me dear. It's as if you think I'm just a chounin or something. " She then looked him right in the eye and at the other guy and said, " I'm Suki. Who are you two? " As she said this she agusted the silver guard plates from her wrists to her elbows.

[Nonki Daku]

Looking from the girl to Naiken, Daku struggled to try to figure out what was going on. Huh? Naiken? Girl? Pervert? What? This makes no sense. Why would Naiken-san be called a pervert by a teenage girl? he thought, struggling to figure out what was going on. Pressing his thumb to the tip of the match and wincing slightly as it burnt him a bit, he put out the match as he walked closer to both ninja.

"Know him? Oh, of course I know him, he is my team mate, Naiken-san." Daku replied, smiling as he looked over at the girl who seemed to be very angry at Naiken for some reason. His smile quickly turning into a confused frown, he looked from the girl to Naiken once more, as if that would solve the problem. "Naiken-san, it is not a good idea to be attempting to romance little girls especially when you are so old. You should stick to females more your age. I hear old Granny Chiyo back in Iwagakure no Sato is looking." the man teased, a smile returning to his lips. Old Granny Chiyo was the old woman in the village who did not seem to die, no matter what happened to her. At the age of eighty three, she had survived many incidents and illnesses, though many were convinced that she was going to drop dead any day now.

As Naiken addressed him, Daku frowned. It was true, he was supposed to be at Naiken's house watching it, making sure no one broke into it or stole anything though he could not really see anything that a thief would want in Naiken's house. Unless, the thief was interested in expensive hair products, for Naiken had piles upon piles of the stuff, well, at least he used to. While at older jounin's house, Daku set many hair products aflame and watched them explode, something that always pleased him for some odd reason. Rolling up his sleeve, the young jounin rubbed the burn on his arm that he had gotten from setting the hair products on fire. It was worth it though. he thought.

"I know, but I got bored and I ran out of hairspray to. . . . . .I mean. . . . .I just got bored, okay?" Daku replied, almost admitting the fact that he had been lighting even more belongings of his teammate on fire. "Besides, my sister said she could do it." he continued. Daku's sister, Ai, was very fond of Naiken, to the point of obsession. She was very happy when she was asked to watch the house of her so called beloved while her brother delivered a message for the Tsuchikage.

"I am here on orders from the Tsuchikage." Daku said proudly, patting the pocket of his vest where the note was and smiling. His smile soon melted away though, as he looked upon the scene in front of him. Naiken knows this girl? he asked himself as he struggled to make sense of what was going on. "Wait, do you two know each other? Am I interrupted something?" Daku asked.

Quickly snapped out of his confused trance when the girl finally spoke, Daku tilted his head slightly and said, "My name is Nonki Daku. Nice to meet you, Suki-chan.". He bowed to the girl slightly, as any polite male would do.

[Naiken ~}{~ Naiou]

Naiken bit the side of his tongue to restrain his laughter as he watched Daku's facial expressions shift. There was just something strangely amusing about the way the younger jounin's face shifted so easily, making his features almost exaggerated in their animation. So easily affected, Daku. Laughing at that thought, Naiken frowned and stepped closer to Suki.

"I am not old, Daku! And... true love knows no age," he mumured, giving Suki a gentle expression that was very similar to one a doting lover would give their loved one. Not that he was in love with Suki, Naiken wasn't the type to "love" per se, but Daku didn't know that and to further his little game, he shot Suki yet another hurt look.

"Suki-koi, how can you ask my name when you have said it so many times since I arrived," He said in exasperated tones, smirking coyly at Daku to convey just how vigorously Suki had supposedly said his name. "Of course you know your NaiNai-koi." Even if it was a game, the flirtatious Naiken had to wince at the thought of anyone attaching the suffix "koi" to his name... Much less a brutal slaughtering of said name... Even if he was the one doing the affixing. Heaving a defeated sigh, he stepped from Suki and toward Daku.

"Your sister? Hmm... I'll have to make sure to thank her when we return, Daku. I'll do something extra special--" He paused his teasing of Daku about his sister before blinking a few times and leaning closer to the younger jounin, "Did you happen to bring any of my... things with you Daku? And is that a fresh burn?" Naiken's finger was pointing accusingly at Daku's arm which sported a rather fresh-looking burn. I swear if he has touched one bottle of my private stash, I'm going to roast him on a spit. Then again, he might like that so I'll have to think of something else... Something better.

He then took a moment, after stepping back from the younger boy, to ponder just what kind of mission the Tsuchikage would trust to a reckless, hyperactive ninja. Somewhat amused, he recrossed his arms across his chest and sighed.

"And if you're on a mission, why are you here? Should that not be your first priority or were your orders to spy on me and my Suki-koi?"

[Suki]

Suki looked from one to the other and said, " Number one, I'm not a little girl I'm 20, Number 2, If you call me Suki-koi one more time I'll punch your lights out, and Number 3, I'm also a Jounin, so show some respect. " She looked at them again and said, " What mission did you say you were on again? "