... yet another impromptu snippety snappety snippet ...
It wasn't home, but it felt oddly familiar. True, the trees were more gnarled, the leaves more vibrantly green, and there was actually some underbrush rather than the pathetic bits of shrubbery that made up the forest floor in and around the Hidden Mist.
The sunlight filtering through said leaves and treebranches was definitely more intense, and Katsu didn't really know whether to like it or not.
"I still can't see why we can't wear something stylish," he heard for the umpteenth time during this trip. "This is all so drab and impersonal! Not fashionable at all. Senseiiiiiiii!"
He silently thanked the Gods and whatever other forces were listening -getting a quiet chuckle from a deeply buried corner of his soul in return, which he replied to with a mental growl- that even with his team being an all kunoichi one, only one of those kunoichi was typically going on about that sort of stuff.
Still ...
Whatever possessed him to plead, intimidate, bribe and annoy the right people to get put up as their Jounin sensei two years ago, he didn't quite know.
He gave a quiet sigh.
Alright, so maybe he did know. And he was also pretty sure that there were people besides the voice in his head - and how weird was it to actually not feel all, well, _weird_ about _that_ bit? - who also knew.
One of whom, he was certain, had taken great pains to coach Mina in the art of seeming unthreatening despite everything else ... and while Katsu was grateful, for that and for a few other things Michiru-kun had done ever since that day in the Stone Country when they were both still genin and running for their lives, he was pretty sure the Kaiou heir was laughing her ass off at his expense.
Oh well, wouldn't be the first time. Or the last time.
He alighted atop the thick branch of a tree sitting right on the crest of the hill, the three genin kunoichi picking their own perches for what looked to be a momentary pause in their travel.
"Sugoiii," Mina was the first to break the silence. A few miles ahead, down the slight slope and through a thicket of woods that were far more cluttered than the giant forest back 'home', sat the merging of urbania and rusticims that was Konohagakure. "That's one _big_ wall."
Katsu had to agree. The Hidden Mist had no such barrier between them and the 'outside' world, and while this was in part due to the fact that most of that Hidden Village hung in the air, suspended between giant trees or carved into them, there was also the fact that most of Kirigakure's protections were split. The oldest and most established Clans and Houses maintained their own barriers and guards, and there was no real unified force that would defend the Village as a whole. The Mist Jounin blamed it on the place's backstabbing politics.
For a moment, though, there was on real consideration of things other than the now, and in that *now* the image of Konohagakure bathed in the pinkish light of a dawning sun ...
"Wow," Mako breathed from where she stood.
"Impressive," Ami concurred, her voice quietly intense.
"Just don't let the pretty picture overshadow the underneath," he told them after five or so minutes.
"If it's so important for a shinobi to do that, sensei," Mina groused ... somehow, she managed to pull off doing it cutely, which had Katsu's eyebrow twitch. "Why do we even need to bother with these?"
'These' were the plain grey travelling cloak and wide brimmed straw hat that he'd added to their gear and told them to wear as part of their travel kit before they'd left the Mist.
"Because some people won't bother with second glances," Katsu shrugged. He gave Mina a level look. "Also, I'm a 'cruel and vindicative ogre who doles out cruel and unusual punishment to the unsuspecting and undeserving'. And on that note, you weren't exactly quiet with your grumbling last night."
Mina had the grace to look embarassed and weakly laugh.
"But some people do bother to look," Mako interrupted. Her look was perhaps the most changed, owing the fact to the bandages that she'd wrapped around her limbs and head, even beneath the usual bodyglove. "And they will find out, sooner or later." The Hoshigaki girl looked faintly uncomfortable with that.
"Take whatever advantage you can," Ami and Katsu said, the kunoichi in perfect synch with her teacher. he gave her a look.
"What? You end up telling us that so often it's hardly a surprise," the blue-haired genin and medic-nin in training noted.
Katsu shook his head in faint bemusement, then shrugged.
"Well, that's enough wool-gathering," he spoke a moment later. "Ready to see where this takes us?"
"Hai, sensei!"
The four were off, grey shadows flitting between the trees in the light of morning, on a road towards the unexpected.
---
I'm a big Ninja Scroll fan ... hence the straw hats. What, did the Akatsuki have a monopoly on looking cool in those things? Besides, they're damn practical.
Ahem.
I hope I didn't mangle things too horribly.
Aaaaanyways, never let it be said that shinobi don't stop to take in the finer things in life at one time or another.
-Griever
Edit: Can't help but be amused by the parallels between Sasuke and Mako, and wonder whether or not they'll become aware of those. Ought to be interesting, since Mako's philosophy on the matter is that 'gang-up on the Kisame!' is a perfectly valid tactic of dealing with _her_ brother.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
It wasn't home, but it felt oddly familiar. True, the trees were more gnarled, the leaves more vibrantly green, and there was actually some underbrush rather than the pathetic bits of shrubbery that made up the forest floor in and around the Hidden Mist.
The sunlight filtering through said leaves and treebranches was definitely more intense, and Katsu didn't really know whether to like it or not.
"I still can't see why we can't wear something stylish," he heard for the umpteenth time during this trip. "This is all so drab and impersonal! Not fashionable at all. Senseiiiiiiii!"
He silently thanked the Gods and whatever other forces were listening -getting a quiet chuckle from a deeply buried corner of his soul in return, which he replied to with a mental growl- that even with his team being an all kunoichi one, only one of those kunoichi was typically going on about that sort of stuff.
Still ...
Whatever possessed him to plead, intimidate, bribe and annoy the right people to get put up as their Jounin sensei two years ago, he didn't quite know.
He gave a quiet sigh.
Alright, so maybe he did know. And he was also pretty sure that there were people besides the voice in his head - and how weird was it to actually not feel all, well, _weird_ about _that_ bit? - who also knew.
One of whom, he was certain, had taken great pains to coach Mina in the art of seeming unthreatening despite everything else ... and while Katsu was grateful, for that and for a few other things Michiru-kun had done ever since that day in the Stone Country when they were both still genin and running for their lives, he was pretty sure the Kaiou heir was laughing her ass off at his expense.
Oh well, wouldn't be the first time. Or the last time.
He alighted atop the thick branch of a tree sitting right on the crest of the hill, the three genin kunoichi picking their own perches for what looked to be a momentary pause in their travel.
"Sugoiii," Mina was the first to break the silence. A few miles ahead, down the slight slope and through a thicket of woods that were far more cluttered than the giant forest back 'home', sat the merging of urbania and rusticims that was Konohagakure. "That's one _big_ wall."
Katsu had to agree. The Hidden Mist had no such barrier between them and the 'outside' world, and while this was in part due to the fact that most of that Hidden Village hung in the air, suspended between giant trees or carved into them, there was also the fact that most of Kirigakure's protections were split. The oldest and most established Clans and Houses maintained their own barriers and guards, and there was no real unified force that would defend the Village as a whole. The Mist Jounin blamed it on the place's backstabbing politics.
For a moment, though, there was on real consideration of things other than the now, and in that *now* the image of Konohagakure bathed in the pinkish light of a dawning sun ...
"Wow," Mako breathed from where she stood.
"Impressive," Ami concurred, her voice quietly intense.
"Just don't let the pretty picture overshadow the underneath," he told them after five or so minutes.
"If it's so important for a shinobi to do that, sensei," Mina groused ... somehow, she managed to pull off doing it cutely, which had Katsu's eyebrow twitch. "Why do we even need to bother with these?"
'These' were the plain grey travelling cloak and wide brimmed straw hat that he'd added to their gear and told them to wear as part of their travel kit before they'd left the Mist.
"Because some people won't bother with second glances," Katsu shrugged. He gave Mina a level look. "Also, I'm a 'cruel and vindicative ogre who doles out cruel and unusual punishment to the unsuspecting and undeserving'. And on that note, you weren't exactly quiet with your grumbling last night."
Mina had the grace to look embarassed and weakly laugh.
"But some people do bother to look," Mako interrupted. Her look was perhaps the most changed, owing the fact to the bandages that she'd wrapped around her limbs and head, even beneath the usual bodyglove. "And they will find out, sooner or later." The Hoshigaki girl looked faintly uncomfortable with that.
"Take whatever advantage you can," Ami and Katsu said, the kunoichi in perfect synch with her teacher. he gave her a look.
"What? You end up telling us that so often it's hardly a surprise," the blue-haired genin and medic-nin in training noted.
Katsu shook his head in faint bemusement, then shrugged.
"Well, that's enough wool-gathering," he spoke a moment later. "Ready to see where this takes us?"
"Hai, sensei!"
The four were off, grey shadows flitting between the trees in the light of morning, on a road towards the unexpected.
---
I'm a big Ninja Scroll fan ... hence the straw hats. What, did the Akatsuki have a monopoly on looking cool in those things? Besides, they're damn practical.
Ahem.
I hope I didn't mangle things too horribly.
Aaaaanyways, never let it be said that shinobi don't stop to take in the finer things in life at one time or another.
-Griever
Edit: Can't help but be amused by the parallels between Sasuke and Mako, and wonder whether or not they'll become aware of those. Ought to be interesting, since Mako's philosophy on the matter is that 'gang-up on the Kisame!' is a perfectly valid tactic of dealing with _her_ brother.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm