The Second Step

Having recently completed his mastery of the three required justu for academy training, Shiroe had decided that he was going to need to attempt to gain further control of his chakra. While he wasn't quite sure why it was that his chakra pool had been so much larger than that of the other students, he had decided that it likely wasn't all that important. If anything, it was just proof that he was going to need to work that much harder than that of his peers when it came to molding the appropriate amount of chakra with proficiency.

Hoping to overcome these obstacles that had now stood in his way, the young Sashigame had decided to return to the Ninja Academy so that he could hopefully find a mentor of sorts, whether that be an instructor or perhaps even another student. Not that there had been many students that would be capable of helping him, of course. After all, if a prodigy such as himself couldn't figure something out, than what could a regular student do?

A soft chuckle would escape from Shiroe's lips as he would take a seat at one of the many desks that had been lined up within the scroll library that the academy had provided. If he had been planning on better learning how to mold his chakra effectively than it would make the most sense for him to learn the Tree Climbing Technique and the Water Walking Technique. They were some of the last jutsu that an academy student would typically have access to at the moment and as such, they were something that he himself had considered essentials. "Hmm... Who should I ask for help when it comes to learning these jutsu? There are only two of them but.. are there even any instructors around at the moment?"

Spoiler:

Mika had been looking through things in the school for a while looking at everything and taking mental notes on them, she was also avoiding the bullies from her class so she wouldn't have to deal with them while she looked around, she would have to deal with them eventually though but she wouldn't have to do so now, maybe even not when she is a Genin, it really depended on how things turned out as she walked around.

Though as she walked she realized she hadn't been back to the Library in a while and so she headed for the large repository, she was in there before but then the bullies had learned she went there a lot and they started to look for her there, so she stopped going there for a bit and now they stopped going there too, and so heading back would mean she wouldn't have to worry about them for a while at least. So with that she walked in and started to look through the scrolls and taking a collection on them that had to do with Jutsu and the like, at least the ones that were available.

She also grabbed a lot of some history scrolls as well that would help out with understanding things, and it was helpful that she wasn't from the village itself so this stuff would help her understand the village, and she continues to collect scrolls till she had a large pile of them in her arms and she headed over to the tables, not able to see past the scrolls but she knew the layout of the library from before and it didn't seem to be changed at all since she was last here.

It was in this way that she didn't notice the other person in the library as she walked right by his table and put the large pile of scrolls on the next table and she took a seat near it and picked a scroll out of the pile and she started to read, still not aware of the new person, at least not right away as she then heard the voices of the bullies going by the door and she looked up to the door, and as the voices went on by she then noticed the other boy there and she seemed honestly surprised.

"oh... hello there" she said as she gave a little wave to them as she sat there with the large pile of scrolls "Umm.. I didn't take anything you were going to did I?" she said looking to the large pile of scrolls then to the boy.

[PWC=439]
[TWC=439]

As the young Sashigame had sat at his table and contemplated how he was going to go about finding an appropriate teacher for one as talented as himself, a black haired girl would come strolling through the library and would begin to pick up several scrolls. The girl herself hadn't been all that much shorter than him but it was quite surprising to find her in here. She had seemed to be a bit older than him, even despite the height difference. Who was this girl that he had yet to see within the halls of the academy? She had looked somewhat familiar but no matter how hard he had thought about it, he simply couldn't place her.

Rather than approach the purple eyed beauty, Shiroe would simply keep an eye on her and see what it was that she had been planning on doing. With all of the scrolls that she had been gathering, it must have been quite the extensive research! Was she perhaps looking into some forbidden jutsu that would allow for her to gain substantial power?! Unlikely but the thought would linger for a bit as Shiroe had kept his gaze upon her. Once she would take a seat at another table though, Shiroe would idly scratch at the back of his head and contemplate whether or not he should ask her what she had been looking into.

In truth, for the moment, Shiroe had completely forgotten about why it was that he had come to the library. Whatever it was that the purple eyed beauty had been doing had been far more entertaining and as such, it had deserved his attention far more! Even with his gaze having been moreso focused on this newcomer, Shiroe hadn't quite expected for her to turn about and speak to him. As she had begun to do as much, the Sashigame would offer her a bright smile while running a single hand through his silky white hair. It had been an instinctual reaction but one that likely looked quite ridiculous at his age.

As he had awkwardly reacted out of instinct, Shiroe would allow for his gaze to subtly drop down to the pile of scrolls that the girl had brought with her. He had begun to immediately scan the scrolls over, attempting to identify if there was actually anything in there that he had been in need of. Given how cursory of a glance he had given though, he hadn't quite seen the titles of each subject. "No need to worry! It's quite alright, even if you did happen to grab something that I might be interested in."

Within an instant, Shiroe would slide from out of the table that he had been sitting at and would end up at the table that the girl had been sitting at. His hands had been resting under his chin as his gaze had focused intently on the girls own eyes. "I'm Shiroe! Whatcha workin' on? It suuuuure looks fancy! Must be quite a bit of work, huh?"

Spoiler:

Mika looked over at the boy as he ran his fingers through his hair, as she waited for him to reply, and when he finally did she nodded a bit "Well okay but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't taking anything that you might want to be reading as you can see I have a lot to go through so if you wanted to grab a few that you wanted to read I could just wait for you to finish before I moved on to those, as I have a while before I get through all these anyway" she said as she started to take scrolls out of the pile to look them over and separate them between history and Jutsu.

As she did this she heard the bullies voices once more but once again they walked by and she went back to separating the scrolls, in the pile was things about some simple jutsu, mostly non-elemental Jutsu, as well as some Taujutsu and ShurikenJutsu techniques. A lot of things that an academy student would likely look through for things to learn later in their training as well as a few scrolls on how to better focus ones chakra, but nothing forbidden.

As she continued to separate the scrolls now making a pile for the historical scrolls, when she felt the boy join her at the table, and she looked up and was a bit surprised to see the boy was staring right at her own eyes, she blinked for a moment as the boy then asked her a question about what she was working on and she looked at the piles of scrolls "Oh these? my Family just moved to the Village not to long ago, and so I thought it would be helpful if I learned more about the history here, and well this other pile is for Jutsu for learning once I get better at controlling my Chakra, since I figured it would help out once I learned how to do the Jutsu" she said explaining what she was looking up.

It was all rather basic stuff for study, nothing to out there, but For Mika it was important things to read, to see what and how they were training people in these basics, and with another person there she was glad she had only grabbed the basic stuff first instead of grabbing anything to advanced, though also the sound of those annoying bullies also made her glad she didn't pick anything to advanced since it meant if they did come in they wouldn't bug her to much about trying to learn things she was way to unskilled to learn. "Oh right sorry, My name is Mika" she smiled as she introduced herself to the boy

[PWC=461]
[TWC=900]

Shiroe couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at Mika as she had spoken about how her family had been new to the village. While he obviously hadn't known everyone within the village, this had been the first time that he had been hearing about any new families having come joined the Hidden Leaf. From his understanding, such an occurrence was rather rare when it had come to the world of Shinobi. Her family must have been quite the interesting grouping if they had chosen to move here, to this particular village.

A soft smile would dawn upon the young lad's features as he had taken a moment to briefly survey the scrolls once more, now that they had been separated into piles. Non-Elemental Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and some Shurikenjutsu. Each of these things had been relatively similar to the path that he had been thinking of heading down once he had become that of a Genin. With that being the case, it was likely that the two had found something to bond over. "You're interested in quite a few interesting things, Miss Mika. Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu seem like they could be pretty useful in the future! From what I hear, there is even a legendary technique known only as 'Thousand Years of Death!' One of the instructors had mentioned it in the past and it sounds crazy powerful! Maybe you can learn how to perform that technique in the future."

The sound of the voices creeping outside of the library would pass by every now and than and the more that it had occurred, the more irritated that the Sashigame would grow. He hadn't allowed for the annoyance to show on his face but his ears had begun to twitch with each time that those voices would creep by. "Man, some people just don't know how to stay quiet. Part of me really wants to go out there and tell them to quiet down. I mean, come on, they are passing by a library for jeez sake."

Spoiler:

Mika started to unfurl a scroll to start reading it, as the boy seemed to be taking in what she said, it was a scroll about the history of the village, and she read it slowly, though as she read she heard the boy start to talk once more, and she looked up to him, and she listened to what he had to say, well that technique sounded like it was perhaps strong, she would have to look for it to see what it entailed though, but for now it might be considered odd for an academy student to go looking for it if a scroll of it was available. Though she found it strange that an instructor mentioned it to this boy Shiroe.

"Oh? Yeah I just heard that we would need a variety of skills to be a good ninja, so I figured I should try to learn some techniques that would help me do just that, see what techniques I could look forward to learning later, and what might be something that maybe I wouldn't be able to do at all, but learning about it might give me an Idea how to do it later you know? With enough training" she said with a kind smile as she heard the voices once more, and the boy Shiroe seemed to hear them as well, and it seemed they annoyed him a bit as she looked back to him a moment as he started to voice his issue.

The last thing she wanted was for him to draw attention to her by going out there and getting those bullies attention, looking back to the scroll she continued her reading as she replied "Yeah I heard them earlier, I think they might be some rude classmates of mine, they sometimes bother me, I used to come her a lot before but they started to bug me when I was here, so I stopped coming for a while, then they stopped coming here so I came back again, they likely are looking for me to harass me again, but if we don't draw their attention I think they won't come in" she said in a low voice so they wouldn't be heard outside.

[PWC=372]
[TWC=1,272]

Upon hearing that his new acquaintance had been getting harassed by some of the other students, Shiroe would briefly lose the soft smile that he had been wearing. His chest had begun to grow tight at the thought of others recklessly bullying this girl who just happened to be new to the village. What had given them the right to do such things? Not only was it disrespectful to someone that was likely older than them but that harassment had been addressed towards someone that might end up on their squad in the future. Whoever these kids were, Shiroe was sure that he wouldn't like them. In truth, he had wanted to go out there and give them a piece of his mind. Rather than go out and embarrass Mika though, the young lad had found it more suitable to remain where he was and to try and control the annoyance that had begun to well up within him.

For the time being, Shiroe would allow for his tone of voice to go lower as well. If speaking in a hushed tone was something that Mika had felt as though it were necessary than he might as well follow along with what she had wanted. "I understand that you are new to the village but you really shouldn't let people treat you like that. If need be, you could always speak with an instructor about it. Or well.. I would offer to get involved but you don't seem to want me to draw their attention so I won't do as much."

Feeling a slight headache coming on, Shiroe would begin to take a couple of deep breaths. Perhaps if they were to focus on something other than those crummy bullies, Mika might be able to feel a bit better. "..anyways, it's good to learn about where you are going to be staying. You never know what information might prove to be important someday. Uh.. would you perhaps liek for me to try and show you how to go about performing certain jutsu? I only know the basics but I am willing to help if I can."

Spoiler:

Mika continued her reading for the time being, she needed to get this information, not really for any of her training, the Techniques where beyond what she could do with her limited ability to use Chakra, what was important was the history, the more recent stuff since the last time her Clan did this, and the Way things were being taught for the Techniques who's scrolls she had grabbed, all this information needed to be collected and she needed to learn it, though with the boy Shiroe here she couldn't focus on it like she would normally like to, so she had to read it in a more relaxed manner, and then come back and reread it later when no one was present, but a light reading like this could still prove useful to her as it meant she could reread it later and with a bit of a faster pace, so there was that at least. Though out of the corner of her eye she seen the smile on the boys face fade, well he was likely thinking she was odd perhaps? maybe he was considering joining in on the bullying to fit in more? it was hard to tell really.

Then Shiroe spoke up and she looked to him as he suggested she tell an instructor or let him deal with it, though both of those would likely only cause the situation to get worse, besides them picking on her and spreading the rumor that she was horrible at everything was quite the aid to her, what was annoying was their insistence to harass her whenever they could, but that usually didn't cause to much issue it just meant she needed to do any actual training later in a secluded place alone in the training grounds, which suited her since she needed to hide her skill anyway, there was also the likely hood that an instructor wouldn't do anything about it since she was simply from a farmer Family and the bullies were all from Ninja families from the village itself, from what she had learned in the Cloister many Ninja placed rank and Family Prestige in high regard so she was sure the Instructors would over look the bullying at best and simply favor the Bullies due to them being from ninja families in the village at worst.

The boy Shiroe then continued after a few deep breaths anyway, then he agreed that learning of the place was a good Idea, and that he could help her learn certain Jutsu, now that was a problem, especially if he tried to teach her Jutsu she wouldn't be able to preform at all, but he was an academy student like her so maybe he meant the ones they were informed they should try to learn from the Instructors. "Thank you, and.. what Jutsu do you mean?" she asked in the low tone as the voices of the bullies passed the door again, one of them yelling about being bored.

[PWC=500]
[TWC=1,772]

As per usual, Shiroe had been getting in the way of someone attempting to accomplish something. This wasn't even something that the Sashigame had realized that he had been doing. In fact, he had simply been trying to occupy both his time and make a new friend. It just so happened that his interest in the girl and the scrolls that she had been carrying and his mind had chosen to focus solely on that. His mind had been quite the marvel when it came to paying attention, given that it was always getting distracted and yet he could focus on the important things when he had truly needed to. Most things came easily to him and more often than not he would forget that such a thing doesn't always apply to everyone else.

Hoping that he could at least prove to be of some use to Mika, Shiroe would begin to think over everything that he had actually learned to accomplish thus far. It wasn't anything as large as the jutsu that the genin had been capable of using but the techniques themselves were indeed necessary. "Well perhaps I could help you learn the basic techniques that we need to learn for graduation. Y'know the ones, right? The transformation technique, the body replacement technique, and the clone technique. Anything more than that and I can't really help you at the moment. I still don't have enough control over my chakra to be able to climb trees or walk on water or anything like that. Even taijutsu is kind of difficult for me at the moment. If anything, I tend to really only do good with non-specialized jutsus. That's what it feels like anyways."

The young Sashigame had indeed made a list of the various jutsu that he could go out of his way to learn if he had wanted to do so but he just hadn't had the time previously. If he were to try and work on that list now though, it was entirely possible that he could master a few jutsu here and there, with little to no effort involved. "We could always work together to pick up on a few things too, if you would like. If you aren't going to try and talk with an instructor, you should at least learn to defend yourself. Besides, learning is always better with other people around." While Mika hadn't necessarily spoken on the fact that she didn't want to tell the instructors, her lack of speaking on the matter had been enough for Shiroe to pick up on the fact. These are the kinds of things that people tend to leave out when they aren't willing to follow through with an act.

Spoiler:

Mika listened to what the boy offered, well that put one worry to rest, he was only going to 'help her' learn the three needed jutsu for passing, granted she had already learned them in her secret training, but when asked to demonstrate them or anything really, in classes she would always flub them, which was easy to do without giving away that she was doing on purpose, especially with those three techniques and thankfully no one expected an academy student to be able to do the latter two techniques so she never had to even attempt to do them in front of people, though as a genin she likely would need to, Though hearing the boy wasn't that good at taijutsu, well it wasn't something she was to surprised about, it seemed many didn't consider Taijutsu a viable skill at least that's what it felt like with all the harassment she got for being so bad at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, basically useless in both really, and her barely passable Taijutsu, maybe it was the whole package and the fact that people here in the village valued Ninja highly so lacking in their skills is what opened her up for such harassment?

Ether way it didn't really matter all that much to her, though the offer of help was a nice one if her situation really was as bad as she was letting it seem and play out to be, or as trouble some as it would be if it was actually an issue, she thought about mentioning her reasoning for not talking to an instructor about it, but that would be hard to bring up considering she was just a girl from the farms out in the land of fire rather then from a large village, so it was hard to articulate it in the proper way in her head for it to sound right. Though thankfully she didn't need to do so as the boy then commented on them training together, then mentioned her seemingly not wanting to talk to an instructor, well that solved that issue very well, she would just have to show how 'hopeless' she was with Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, and likely the social norms of this place would have him bullying her just like that group that was looking for her, Or maybe he would be like a few others here she had met already, one, Hajime was rather laid back, and the other, well he technically wasn't even from the village by how he talked about Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, the distain in Yemon's voice had been obvious when he talked about such things.

Looking to the boy after his offer of help Mika smiled a little "I mean.. if you don't mind helping me, though I don't really know how to do any of those techniques you talked about, I only heard of them really, so I am not sure how easily I will be able to even learn them" she informed him, she didn't mention she was 'hopeless' at learning things like that as she would let him find that out as he trained with her, and if he ever trained Taijutsu with her well she would let him win, she was supposed to be barely average at Taijutsu as well after all, she had that false reputation to uphold and she was going to do it.

The sounds by the door though started to fade as the bullies likely started to move away from checking all the rooms in the area, though then they could hear one stop by the door "Hey what about in here? didn't she used to go here all the time?" he yelled out to the others, another voice could be heard calling back though "We already chased her out of there a while ago, I doubt she would try to hide in there again any time soon, come on she might be trying to hide in the classroom areas near the instructors!" and with that the presence by the door could be heard running off.

[PWC=679]
[TWC=2,451]

Even with the noises that had been coming from outside of the doorway, Shiroe had begun to feel as though his annoyance had been lifting. Speaking with Mika had been rather enjoyable thus far, even if she had a difficult time standing up for herself. It was.. almost strange to enjoy talking with someone that he hadn't really known all that much about. Usually he just spoke with his mother or inadvertently chased people off with his outgoing personality. The fact that Mika didn't really seem to have any issues with him had been enough for him to want to stick close to her and for him to want to get to know her better. "Well if you are truly interested than I would love to show you a few things. I have to pick up a few skills moving forward but the things that I do know should prove to be useful. At least that's what I feel to be the case."

Upon hearing the voices of the bullies once more, and the things that they had been saying to one another, the young Sashigame would allow for a soft sigh to escape from his lips. He had wanted nothing more than to go out there and tell those kids off. Who did they think that they were to make fun of his new friend? Well.. friend was presumptuous but Shiroe had aspirations towards this ideal. He should really go out there and chase them off. Even if he hadn't known that many jutsu at the moment, he would at the very least be able to effectively utilize the ones that he had known.

Seemingly without cause, a bright smile would begin to return to the Sashigame's lips. An idea had begun to formulate within his mind and it had been quite the devilish one. His soft, serene blue eyes had begun to crinkle together in a rather dubious manner as his gaze would turn towards the doorway. Each of his fingers upon his right hand would rhythmically tap against the wooden table that they had sat upon as he had begun to contemplate whether or not he should follow through with the things that he had learned thus far. "Y'know, there is always another way to handle those kids, if you refuse to do anything about it yourself. For example, I could show you how to properly use the transformation technique.

With that having been said, Shiroe would take a moment to rise up from the table that he had been sitting at. He would than weave together three particular hand seals: Dog, Boar, and Ram. It wouldn't have been too difficult for Mika to realize that these were the seals given that she had not only learned the jutsu herself, albeit in secret, but he had also just mentioned to her what he had been going to do. A cloud of smoke would emit from each and every one of Shiroe's pours as he had begun to constantly emit chakra from each of them. Once the cloud of smoke had dispersed, the one that had been standing there had been Shiroe Sashigame no longer but instead one of the many instructors of the academy. "Perhaps we should give them a bit of a taste of their own medicine, huh? A good ol' talkin' to."

Hoping to try and get to them before they could dash off, Shiroe would immediately head for the door. While he hadn't quite made it out of the library as of yet, if Mika didn't stop him than he was going to make a break for those damned bullies. Given that he was slightly faster than the average academy student, it wouldn't have been all that difficult to stop him. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to try and stop his own actions though.

Spoiler:

Listening to the voices outside Mika figured that if they stayed quite that that would be their reaction to not finding her, bullies were rather predictable, but as she stat there Shiroe spoke up about teaching her a few things she nodded a bit, that would be good to see how others learned things, maybe they were taught how to do things differently then in the scrolls or conventional means, that would be a good bit of information for her to know for later, after all anything that could help a Ninja train was good things for her to learn for later when she could leave the village on missions.

The bullies full on leaving would making talking normally possible now so she looked back to the scroll for the time being, though she noticed the smile spread on Shiroe's face and she looked back at him and blinked a bit, the look on her face wasn't perhaps as gentle as perhaps he thought it looked though as the boy started to talk he mentioned using the Transformation Technique and she listened, how to properly use it? Wasn't it simply for disguise, hiding, or infiltration? How would that Technique help her out here with the Bullies? she was actually about to voice such a question when she stopped herself, wait, the technique could be used to change into anything or anyone right? then couldn't she make herself look like an instructor? and no one would expect it to be her what with her reputation at being horrible at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. But having the Bullies do this kept that reputation intact and helped her sell the idea more.

Before she could even thing to say anything though, Shiroe stood up and Mika looked back at him once more, and she watched him weave the handsigns and it was clearly the Transformation Jutsu, though she looked on with puzzlement none the less as she didn't know what he planned to do, and then Shiroe was changed into one of the Instructors, just like Mika had already thought of at the time before he had gotten up to demonstrate, this wasn't going to end well, she needed the reputation that the bullies were propagating and by their presence and her lack of doing anything about them was also validating to that, Shiroe trying to clear it up, well it could make them stop but it would also mean there would be less rumors about how bad she was. and worse yet if the preference towards Ninja family students that she thought was in place was true this would look quite odd to everyone, and might give the wrong Idea that perhaps she is skilled.

With that Mika got up from her seat and went after Shiroe who at this point had headed for the door, she had to stop him, this would cause more trouble then it would solve, she could just avoid the bullies, but if a good reputation started that would be harder to deal with, and worse yet, she realized that what if word got back to the instructor that Shiroe was impersonating, that would only Point to Mika as the culprit and this make it seem like she learned the Transformation technique, and she couldn't have THAT happen, not yet. So Mika rushed over and grabbed his arm to stop him from giving chase or even heading out of the library "Wait not!" she said her worry actually leaking out through her voice.

"I.. if you do this..." she said realizing she didn't thing about how to articulate what she wanted to say, but it also just came out as her being really worried which was a thankful thing "If you did that a..and word got back to the instructor.. they might thing I did it and I might get in trouble for impersonating a teacher...and if it gets back to you, you might get in trouble instead.." she said stammering simply from her trying to figure out how to say this right, She didn't need eyes on her from teachers or to many other students, though she did appreciate the act, if this was all really an issue to her she would greatly appreciate the gesture, she might still stop it too just to prevent ether of them from getting into trouble still, but the gesture was greatly appreciated.

[PWC=732]
[TWC=3,183]

While he hadn't really considered that Mika might not be too thrilled about him choosing to take action against the bullies themselves in order to make sure that they would leave her alone, his assumptions on the situation had apparently been quite wrong. This was brought to his attention simply by the fact that Mika had rushed up to him before he could escape the library and would even go as far as to grab his arm. At first Shiroe had been rather confused as to why she had been trying to stop him but as she would go on to explain her reasoning, he would unfortunately relent.

Getting in trouble wasn't something that Shiroe was all that worried about, to be honest. At most, he would likely end up getting berated and sent to detention for a few days. It wasn't as if he didn't already know how to do everything that was required to complete graduation and it was highly unlikely that they would expel him from the academy over standing up for someone. Sure, impersonating a school official had been rather problematic overall, but that wasn't enough to be expelled over. Hell, some of the instructors might even be proud of him for such an action that would greatly emphasize his ingenuity!

There wasn't really a point in further antagonizing this girl though. She had already been through enough when it came to having to deal with her bullies. There was no need to put even further strain on her or to go as far as to do something that could get her in trouble. "Eh... You're no fun. I understand though." With that, Shiroe would bring his hands together and cease the expelling of his chakra. As he had done so, the transformation itself would dissipate and the twelve year old boy's regular appearance would reappear.

"I can see the reason behind what you are saying... For now, let's just focus on getting some reading done, I suppose. Besides, if you won't stand up for yourself, I'll just have to stand up for you when the time comes. It isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world for me to have to learn all these techniques but well.. I'll figure things out so that you won't have to worry about it. Sound good, Mika? And hey, if you really want to make it up to me, you could just be my friend."

Spoiler:

Well that was one crisis averted, honestly she wasn't sure what else she could do to stop him if he tried to continue on this Idea even against her wishes, it's not like she could just knock him out, the best she could likely do is let him leave then make herself look like one of the bullies and intercept him later, but that would be way to much time and effort for a slim chance at working, not to even mention the fact that if he found out it was her or that someone else found out the whole situation happened, there were to many incontrollable Variables with anything happening in the Academy  so she just couldn't take to many risks here, not with while she was hiding what she could do, and someone going around on her behalf while nice was also throwing issues into it. But the boy had relented and with his seemingly disappointed reply he released his Jutsu.

Mika relaxed a bit as he did so and let go of the arm she had gently grabbed onto, and let out a sigh of relief as she looked at him once more once the transformation was fully released "thank you for offering to do that though, I just wanna cause any trouble over all, and besides if it's just a bit of bullying I am can handle it, it's not like they are trying to beat me up or anything" she said with a smile as she went back to the table and took her seat again, the boy then continued on to understanding her reason, well at least he seemed to think he understood, but she nodded a bit to him saying they should get some reading done and she moved one of the scrolls over for him to read with a smile on her face still, Though the boy went on to say he would stand up for her instead, well that could be handy to have granted, it was also not really needed, she didn't expect to get to high ranked holding back like she had to, graduating would be a feat with what she was aiming for after all, though she was already going to be learning a lot of what she could do and training in secret when she could manage to so if trouble came for her she would be ready to deal with it, though him asking her to make it up to him by being his friend made her smile a bit.

"Well okay that all sounds good, but I will get stronger wait and see, as for being friends I don't mind at all" she said with a smile as she sat there, Shiroe didn't seem all that bad to know after all, he seemed honest enough, and his heart and head seemed all be in the right place so why not? Though even then if she was found out it would likely be bad, but she had a life to live anyway, she couldn't always dwell on that possibility or she wouldn't be able to live at all for herself.

[PWC=524]
[TWC=3,707]

With his arm having been released, Shiroe would take a minute to grab ahold of the spot on his arm that she had just been holding onto. He had considered brushing off the sleeve that she had touched but didn't want to come across as rude. Instead of taking that action, he would simply continue to hold that area and lightly grip it within his palm. It wasn't too often that people had chosen to get close enough to him to grab ahold of him. Most people tended to stay away, aside from when they had been training with him, so it wasn't something that he had been all that used to. While he had brushed it aside earlier, now that Mika's grasp had been released, it was all that he could really even think about.

No words would leave the young lad as he had contemplated how he should even react to everything that had been going on. Why was he acting so defensively of someone that he didn't even really know all that well? Was it because she was the closest thing to a friend that he had been able to make? With how often people seemed to get annoyed by him or had grown irritated with him due to his natural skill in ninjutsu, not many others had ever really chosen to remain in conversation with him. It was.. different. A good type of different.

Opting to remain quiet for a bit longer, Shiroe would take a moment to approach the table that he had been sitting at once more. After taking a seat on a wooden bench, Shiroe would glance at the scroll that Mika had handed him and would begin to skim over its contents. It had been a rather detailed scroll that spoke on the subject of the tree climbing technique. Had she even realized that this was something that she had given him? Perhaps not but that was alright. "Friends it is than..! You're the first friend I've ever made so consider yourself lucky." The tone that he had chosen to speak in wasn't one that would display how proud he could have been in that moment. Instead it would have a rather subtle undertone of sadness mixed within an overall bluntness. This truly was the first person that he could consider a friend.

"So the water walking technique, huh? I suppose that it would be pretty useful to learn how to use something like this. It's supposed to help one better understand the flow of their chakra and how to properly mold it. Would you maybe want to go over this with me?"

Spoiler:

Mika continued to read, maybe not all the ninja thought like she had been taught? or maybe that information about their way of thinking had changed since it was gathered? Ether way it was something to note for now and save for later, in the mean time she continued her reading of the history of the village and any changes it may have gone through that were considered important to them and the villages development, having already read something similar she was able to pick up on the changes that were in this scroll, one was the perspective of course, and some things that she had learned had ether been omitted or given a positive turn, ether because it wasn't incredibly important, or in some cases because the change in perspective which again was to be expected.

The newest information was what interested Mika, anything not known by her Clan, she would have to remember this scroll for later reading once she could come here alone to really commit it all to memory with greater focus, for now though a light reading would at least keep it in mind and that's really all she needed at the moment, it was at least nice not to be hanging out along anymore, and it let her relax a bit, it also meant she wasn't accidently slipping into focusing to much, though it did help that she never really focused overly much when it came to reading and taking notes, she could do all that and kind of zone out, but when it came to training? She ended up losing track of time is she focused to much on that.

It was then that Shiroe had spoken up again and she looked up at him and smiled as he mentioned being friends once more, though she did catch some of his tone and the look on his face, "The First of many friends lets say, and I do consider myself very lucky, making a friend is always nice!" she replied and smiled happily.

Then Shiroe went on to mention the water walking Technique, and she thought about it "Well it would help in a place with a lot of water, and from what I hear it's good for learning more precise Chakra control, though I don't know if I will ever get to use it, I have enough trouble learning the basic stuff we need" she said with a smile as she looked at the pile of Jutsu scrolls then back to Shiroe "Oh sure I mean we can go over it, maybe you can give me some pointers if you figure it out before me" she said as she scooted her chair over beside him.

[PWC=453]
[TWC=4,160]

Having someone that he could consider a friend was certainly something that Shiroe hadn't been all that used to. It was going to take time for him to get used to such a thing but at least he was getting it out of the way now. If this was something that he had to endure after he had been placed on a team with other genin and the like, things would have been a bit more complicated. Just another one of the many perks of being an academy student, he supposes.

Once Mika had brought her seat over beside him, Shiroe couldn't help but allow for a soft smile to find its place upon his features yet again. All of this smiling today was rather enjoyable. Hopefully it wasn't the kind of thing that would put off this newfound friend of his. "Yeah.. It is rather nice, now isn't it?"

Positioning the scroll so that it would sit directly between the two of them, Shiroe would offer the purple eyed beauty a brief glance. She was a tad close to him and this kind of thing wouldn't normally affect him in any way, but things were a bit different now. Now he was self conscious about his actions. Having been the one to initiate this friendship though, he couldn't simply act differently. That is why he would just shake off the growing anxiety and would just go back to acting how he regularly had. This meant that he had gone on to wrap one of his feet just around her ankle. It was almost as though he was attempting to play footsies but from the side.

"So from my understanding, the water walking technique is a training method that is meant to assist one in gaining better chakra control, much like we had said before. Kind of like the transformation technique that I had used earlier, the goal of it is to emit a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of your feet and to use it as a repellant force to walk along the waters surface. Unfortunately, this isn't exactly the kind of thing that would allow for one to just emit their chakra willy nilly. The amount of mana that we are going to need to emit changes constantly, given that the surface of the water will be shifting with each of our movements and several other factors. It honestly might be easier to just kind of push the chakra through your feet and glide along the surface of the water as opposed to running along it and the likes. There aren't even really hand seals or anything for this technique so it's just something that you would have to try and get your body used to. Like muscle memory, almost. Does that make sense?"

His foot still wrapped around her ankle, Shiroe would begin to emit chakra from the soles of his feet. It had felt a tad strange to try and mold the chakra around his sandals but with enough practice he would be able to get the hang of it. The main issue that he had even faced, personally, was the fact that he had been coming at this from a point in which he had far more charka than one normally would around his age. While he hadn't quite known why this had been the case, it had just kind of always been like that. One would think that he would have had an easier time learning how to change things with such a massive chakra pool but in truth it had only made things more difficult. That is why he would continue to practice expelling chakra from the soles of both of his feet one at a time. It was a bit of a challenge for him to have to deal with just one at a time as opposed to both but it had felt as though it was the proper way to start things off. Normally he had just kind of intuited how it is that he should be going about these kinds of things so hopefully he was correct. There was only so much assistance that a scroll could really even provide.

Spoiler:

Mika sat there reading with Shiroe, and as she read up on the technique that was on the scroll she stopped a moment as she felt something against her foot, at first she thought it was the leg of her chair and she tried to move around it but it seemed to stay near her foot, so then she thought it was the leg of the table? but that didn't make sense she wasn't near one of the corners of the table, maybe it was the leg of Shiroe's chair and she had moved to close to him? but then that wouldn't explain why it was staying near her foot when she tired to move it, then she realized with a pang of surprise that it was Shiroe's foot, Why was Shiroe's foot chasing after hers and trying to wrap around hers? This was all very confusing to her as she sat with him.

But that was pushed to the side as the boy started to explain the Jutsu, Granted it was something she already learned how to do in her secret training at nights but at the same time she had to keep some level of focus on it so she didn't seem to be spacing out, which she did rather well. The issue was that foot was still there wrapped around hers.. she Still couldn't think of a reason he would be doing this.. Wait maybe he thought it was the chair leg? she sometimes sat with her foot wrapped around the chair leg like that just to move her leg a bit, so maybe that was it? But then why was it staying there when she tried to move her leg? No that didn't add up at all he must have been aware it was her leg.. or maybe he just did so thinking it was the chair leg and then realized what he did and was to scared to move now? that was likely, embarrassment could make one do silly things like freeze up. It was up there on the possibilities list, though Shiroe didn't seem to make much notice of it, but that could be due to him not wanting to admit his mess up and just hoping it goes unnoticed.

Then Mika felt some sort of force applied to her leg, and she understood, he must have done this to demonstrate the Technique somewhat, well he could have at least said as much first, but now knowing this she relaxed a little, she really didn't need to try at the moment she sat there and let him explain what was going on, and do his little demonstration, she already had the technique done and learned, but once again seeing how someone else learned or taught it was helpful to her.

"Oh I see, it's more a means to train Chakra control and focus rather then really a means of movement, though it can be useful in the right situations, so does that mean you should start with a different technique first to make sure you have the basics down? This technique in and of itself sounds like it's really advanced, so there must be a technique that teaches the basics of it right?" she said before perking up and reaching for another scroll "Oh wait a minute! would the Tree Climbing Technique be the first step to teach the basics of this technique?" she asked as she looked for the scroll, she hadn't thought of that really, they were similar yeah but they were basically the same rank, but now that she thought of it, one could be easily taught first before going into the other more difficult application, well that was definitely something she would store away in her mind for later.

[PWC=629]
[TWC=4,789]

The young Sashigame would begin to nod his head several times as he had thought over what Mika had been suggesting. It was true that the Water Walking Technique was more advanced than the Tree Climbing Technique but that wasn't even something that he had gone on to consider initially. In his mind, working on something that is more advanced tends to make it easier to deal with the simpler techniques. Sometimes he forgets that not everyone thinks the same ways that he does and that had most certainly applied in this particular situation. "You're definitely right, Miss Mika. If one were to try and learn the Tree Climbing Technique beforehand, they would likely have an easier time with learning this particular jutsu. That's because the consistency of a tree will always remain on the same wavelength, and as such, you wouldn't have to constantly adjust your chakra to the surface tension. If you would like, we could always attempt to give that jutsu a go first. We wouldn't even need to take a step outside."

Taking a moment to unhook his leg from Mika's, Shiroe would glance off to the side of the library. His gaze would ultimately fall upon the far wall of the library itself and how there hadn't really been any major objects placed upon the walls. "I know that it's called the Tree Climbing Technique but technically it can be utilized anywhere. For example, we could use this jutsu to climb up walls or even go as far as to stick to the roof of buildings. Would you perhaps like to give it a go? If that is something that you are interested in, we could do it together. I promise to catch you if you end up falling."

The academy students cheeks would begin to burn a bright red as he had offered to catch Mika. It wasn't as though it was something that he hadn't been willing to do. It was just that in his mind, if he were to have to catch Mika to ensure that she didn't hit the ground, he might end up having to hold her in a princess carrying style. His mother had always spoken fondly of tales in the past in which his father had first met her and how he had caught her from a fall at one point. Having that odd comparison between the two situations, Shiroe couldn't help but blush a bit.

Spoiler:

Mika finally found the scroll in question and brought it over as Shiroe was starting to comment on what she said, she nodded a bit as she looked over at him, "but even then the Tree Climbing technique is a bit beyond what we are asked to learn isn't it? would it really be that easy to learn it? I mean the three needed to graduate are hard enough already.. learning something more advanced doesn't seem like it would be easy to learn at all" she added as she looked to the scroll, as Shiroe continued with his explanation of things, thought she looked at him after a moment "Umm... did you call me Miss Mika?" she asked looking confused "Why are you adding a title? do you want me to call you Mister Shiroe?" she said looking quizzically at him.

Even as he was asking her about learning the technique here she looked at him quizzically "I mean you asked to be friends so why are you being so formal with the names? is this a village thing? out in the country if your friends you just use each others names no formality, so lets try shall we? Call me Mika... go ahead sound it out... Miiiiiii...Kaaaaa" she said teasing him a bit as she looked at him, also somewhat using this to change topic, as she doubted she could flub the use of the technique without ripping a chunk out of the wall or putting a hole in it from using to much Chakra so this was a good way to ether stall for time, or to make him forget about the whole thing as she focused on making him speak more comfortably around her, it would also be good for him truth be told, After all if he wanted to be friends being a bit more familiar with them would be a good Idea.

Though she did notice his blushing a bit and she had to wonder why he was blushing over what was going on, then she remembered him rubbing his foot against hers and she guessed it was cause he didn't think of a better way to demonstrate the effect and just now he did with the Tree Climbing technique, well that made sense, he basically missed the best way to demonstrate without getting embarrassed with the whole foot thing, so him blushing now made sense, "Come on give it a try Shiroe" she said with a giggle and a smile to him.

[PWC=418]
[TWC=5,207]

Right, of course he had been acting weird. Whenever things had started to look up, he had a tendency to act strangely. It was simply part of his personality but that wasn't really much of an excuse here. He shouldn't be referring to her as Miss Mika. She is supposed to be his friend after all. His first ever friend and he was acting all formal with her. What on earth was going on inside of his head? Too many things if one were to be honest. "Ehem.. Yes, you are correct. These techniques aren't exactly something that we really need to graduate from the academy but.. I mean, isn't it always good to know how to do things? I mean, we are trying to become ninjas after all. This isn't exactly the kind of thing that you want to not know how to do things in..."

Having already embarrassed himself several times over in front of his new friend, Shiroe would begin to anxiously laugh and scratch at the back of his head. As he would do so, his shaggy white hair would sway from side to side. For whatever reason, this entire encounter had only served to deepen the crimson tone that had been residing upon his cheeks. The embarrassment mixed with a possible infatuation was simply too much for his tiny little body to handle at the moment.

Thankfully Mika had chosen to change the subject. Even though she had been going about it in a rather teasing manner, it was still appreciated. "Right.. Mika. Miiii...Kaaaa. Mika. That is your name alright! And what a wonderful name it is, if I might add. It is definitely the kind of name that a purple eyed beauty like yourself should have!" Honestly, what was he saying now? It was almost as though the words were just slipping out of his mouth before he could even manage to really form them into thoughts. Had he always acted this way around people? Having friends was so strange... "Y'know, we could always get on out of here if you would like. Duck out of the library for a bit and come back after those jerks have left the school for the day. Or we could stay here! Whatever would make you happiest..."

Spoiler:

Mika smiled a bit as Shiroe made his mention about a good reason to try to train it, and it was exactly the reason she had trained it herself honestly, Having whatever tools she could to hand was always a good Idea regardless of what issues where in the way, it was the same back in the cloister, she wasn't the best there, but she worked on things till she was in the top of the class even if she wasn't the best to begin with, and now here she was in a place that basically the same was true and she had to hide what skill and strength she did have, it was good to hear that even though Shiroe had advantages she never would have that he still planned ahead somewhat.

Though then Shiroe played about with her name and started to ...was...was he hitting on her? Ohhh boy this put things into perspective quite a lot now.. Welp why hurt the boy, she could just place Dense, she had a reputation of not being the sharpest Potato in the bag after all, at least that's what was going around due to her inability to preform the Needed Jutsu in even the smallest degree at the moment, when others were able to get SOME forward improvement, so she smiled with a rather clueless look on her face as he made finished the compliment like she didn't quite realize it was a compliment on her, she simply acted like she was trying to figure out what he meant, but not in a mean way simply confused, though as he changed the subject she looked out the window to see what kind of time it was.

"Oh I don't know if we are allowed inside after closing so maybe going for now might be a good Idea, and we should likely head home to get some supper, I know my parents would be wondering where I was if I didn't show up at home after classes" she said thinking about it and not really addressing t he compliment leaving her feelings of it or even awareness of it up in the air since it was the safest option, though she smiled back at Shiroe "and hey I get to tell my parents that I made a new friend today" she said with a happy grin as she started to reroll the scroll and get ready to put things back on their shelves so they wouldn't leave the place a mess when they left.

[PWC=423]
[TWC=5,630]

Not wishing to leave the place a mess, or for Mika to have to clean up simply on her own, Shiroe had decided to join her in cleaning up the scrolls that they had used earlier. While he hadn't quite got to learn all that much, today had still been a rather enjoyable one. One that he would go on to remember for ages, if he were being honest with himself. "Yeah, I suppose that you are right. They likely would try and prevent us from coming in at night. But hey, that's why we are training to be shinobi, right?" A soft laugh would escape from his lips as he continued to put away some of the scrolls.

The fact that Mika hadn't really reacted to his kind words honestly hadn't even bothered him. He was simply speaking his mind, as he had always done, and that was enough for him. The fact that he had managed to make a friend today had been enough for him. Hopefully their friendship would continue to blossom as time had gone on. Perhaps they could even end up on the same team as one another? That would simply be a fated friendship. Truly the kind of thing that he could only hope for.

"My mom will be real excited to hear about me having made a friend today as well. I think that she gets worried about me sometimes because I don't really ever have anyone that spends time with me. Thinks I'll end up all lonely and whatnot but it's fiiiine. That's just how growing up is, right?" Clearly Shiroe had been blind to the ways of a genuine childhood. Many things had been stripped from him as he had been growing up and friendship had unfortunately been one of them. Only time would tell if that were ever going to change for him.

"Thanks again for being my friend, Mika. I'm real glad that I got to meet you. You are the best!" Not wishing to spoil the moment, Shiroe would quickly close the distance between the two of them and pull Mika into an embrace. This was the first time that he had hugged someone other than his mother and admittedly it had felt rather nice. He almost didn't want to let her go but that would have been.. a lot. Not wishing to be any weirder than he had already been, Shiroe would offer Mika a quick nod before pulling away and rushing off towards the exit of the library. "See you around, yeah?!" And with that, he would depart from the library and head back home. There was a lot that he was going to have to tell his mother about the day. Hopefully she would receive it well.

[EXIT]

Spoiler:

Mika with the help of Shiroe started to pack everything up and clean up, she didn't have to carry anywhere near as many scrolls on her own now so she could actually somewhat see what she was doing, and at least she had learned somethings so it was over all a worthwhile time to be hand, and as Shiroe commented on the whole sneaking in thing she giggled with his laugh, it was true, but the less trouble she got in the better honestly.

the good news was she got some reading done, but she also made a friend, though he seemed somewhat negative when he said she was his first friend, so maybe this would be good for him? Ether way she smiled to herself as she put the scrolls away with him, though she had to wonder on what team the two would be put on, the boy seemed to understand Jutsu, at least she assumed so, his planning ahead to learn things was also good, and then there was her with her lackluster skills and barely passible Taijutsu, it was unlikely that they would be put in the same team, though that all depended on what was going on with everything else in the academy.

Shiroe went on about how his mother would be worried about him due to not having people to hang out with, well that was telling about that seemingly Dour attitude about her being his first friend, well she was glad they became friends then, it would only mean good things for him "Well you have a friend now, and I can tell my mom I have a friend in the village now too, so both our mothers can stop worrying" she replied with a giggle.

Mika smiled as he thanked her again "Oh don't worry abo~~HMUURG!" her words were cut off by the sudden hug and she giggled a bit and hugged back, and then she was released and she laughed as she watched him rush off and she waved to him "Warn me next time!! and have a good night" she called to him with a giggle before she finished closing up the Library and heading out for home herself, well more then likely off to go train really.

[exit]

[PWC=378]
[TWC=6,008]