A lot to know

On his way to the training grounds, Kyson had a new objective for today. Its been a while since he spoke to some of his Summons since the Suna invasion. Its been a couple years since he actually seen and spoke to them. He did remember the main one he met named was Seiko. He was pretty cool at time, but sometimes annoying. But he was a really high rank Summon so he thought he would summon him just to check up on someone. As he was approaching the training grounds, he hoped no one was there since the summon is quite big. But luckily it was empty at the moment. As he walked toward the middle of the training grounds, he made the seal of confrontation to perform the summoning jutsu. And huge cloud of smoke appeared as a huge 20 meter tall panda appeared. Expecting to see Seiko but this panda didn't look as big and looked a little different.


"Where they at!? Let me at em!" The panda said as he was in a fighting stance ready for combat. Kyson looked at him as he was confused who this was. "Ummm.. where is Seiko?" Kyson said out of curiosity. Its been a while since he has seen him, so he wanted to check up on him. The panda finally noticed Kyson as he wasn't in a fighting stance any more. Looking down at the young Hozuki. "What up, oh so you the warrior who summons him. I'm his student Bruce, that makes us co-students." The panda said.

"Yeah ummmm.. no it doesn't. Because he's not my teacher. I haven't really spoke to him in years so I wanted to check up on him." Kyson said. Bruce decided to take a seat on the floor in a criss cross position. He also brought out a big bag of chips as he began munching on them. The chips were hug as hell since they were made for pandas of that side. As he accidentally dropped a crumb in front of him. A crumb fell from his hands and it was twice the size of Kyson's body. Kyson quickly jumped back to avoid as it hit the ground. "Watch where you drop those damn things!" Kyson said as he was getting annoyed.


"Ooops.. my bad. But yeah Seiko is busy at the moment but he actually wants to talk to you about something. He said it was really important." Bruce said as he stopped eating chips for a brief moment. Kyson curiosity increased as he wondered what he could possibly want to talk about knowing they haven't spoken in some time. "I guess I'll hit the old man up." Kyson said as he crossed his arms.

She was fresh; her skin devoid of any dirt and grime that had clung to her person in the past few weeks. Saya inhaled the clean air of her surroundings and a small smile settled on her lips. It had barely been 24 hours since her arrival, but the girl had a self-imposed mission to carry out. And that was to find the red haired woman that left her in the midst of their journey to Konoha.

The angry fire still burned in the pits of her stomach, but there was also worry fluttering about in the recesses of her mind. What if Kira had not gone back to Kumo? Saya pursed her lips as she stretched out her muscles in the middle of a training ground. It was mostly secluded for a majority of the time due to its location - an area that was at the edge of other training grounds.

One might ask why the young kunoichi was there instead of actively looking for the aforementioned Suna ninja. That question has an easy answer. Saya was restless and her mind raced as she pondered on her plans, depending on whether Kira was in Kumogakure or not. The image of a man flashed in her mind. Right. Before they had left Hoshi, Kira had been talking to, she assumed, a fellow shinobi (considering that the same man had been seated at the high table during the celebration).

As the Fates would have it the two beings would have an inevitable meeting.

Saya had instantly tensed when a booming voice reached her ears, and a large shadow suddenly engulfed her and several yards around her. Her eyes widened as she had to tilt her head up to even see the top of the - was that… a panda? Jaw drop. It was! It was a panda!

Her gaze wouldn’t leave its gigantic form, leaving her to stumble into the open space it and its master occupied. She had half a mind to curb her urge to squeal and jump around like a little kid with candy. But alas, Saya was still a young teenage girl that loved cute and furry animals. It was, as normal people say, possibly the only girly and childish thing about her.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t control her ecstatic impulses. ”Panda!” Saya tried to reign in her grin and how her voice came out, but it was her eyes that showed everything. They were bright and shined with awe at the 20 meter tall summon.

”What’s your name?” She asked, not at all perturbed at the falling crumbs.

WORD COUNT: 433

The Hozuki was really curious about what Seiko wanted to talk to him about. Maybe he was pissed that Kyson never summoned him anymore.. but Kyson doubted that was the case. He was a busy guy, so it must be something else. Especially if it was important. As he was getting ready to say something else as he saw a little girl standing in between the both of them. Kyson didn't know where she came from, he didn't even notice her approaching. "Umm, who are y-" Kyson said as he was cut off by the girl. Bruce would then wave at the little girl and introduce himself. "Hey what's up. My name's bruce. Nice to meet you. Wanna chip?" Bruce said as he broke off a little piece that was probably the size of someone's torso. If she accepted, he'd give it to her. But if not, then he'd just eat himself.

Kyson, with an annoyed look on his face. Wondering who this little girl was, he would walk in front of her. Standing about 2 meters away from her. Bending down to reach her eye level as he stared at her with a straight face and a annoyed look. "Look here little girl, this isn't some stuffed animal you can j-" 

"Hmmm, its lunch time. Welp, catch you guys later." Bruce said as he cut off Kyson and dispelled into a cloud of smoke. Kyson turned around fast as he was now even more annoyed. "Wait! I wasn't done talking to you!" Kyson said as he made the seal of confrontation once more to summon him again. As he performed the jutsu, and huge cloud of smoke formed again. Kyson looked up, waiting to see if Bruce was to reappear. As the smoke was clearing and finally went away. Kyson didn't see anything as he was looking up. Not noticing, that there was a cute small baby panda on the ground in front of him. Sitting on the ground. Kyson still hadn't notice it since he was so used to looking up at the huge pandas after summoning them.

But if the girl noticed the panda or anyone else. They would notice a note on top of his head that read. "Sorry, busy at the moment. P.S. This is baby Keiko, he's hungry.. I mean really really hungry." This baby panda couldn't speak yet and didn't know how to walk yet. He could only crawl. "Why the hell did nothing show up?" Kyson said as he still hadn't notice the baby panda on ground right in front of him.

The man’s presence had registered in her mind and Saya kept him in the peripherals of her vision. She knew she should at least acknowledge him but Bruce, that was the panda’s name, was so entertaining. He even offered her a piece of a chip! Granted, when she eagerly nodded her head and accepted the treat, it was about a little less than half of her body.

”Please and thank you,” Saya replied, if a bit shyly as she reached up on her tippy-toes and took the snack in her arms. The smell of salt and barbeque powder was a bit overwhelming, but it did make her stomach grumble and her mouth water.

Just as she was about to take a bite out of her free meal the man, who she now found to be extremely familiar, positioned himself in front of her. She blinked at his curious actions, unsure of why he was sort of lecturing her now. Saya opened her mouth to reply back but Bruce thought it was time to vamos and disappear, leaving her to visibly deflate at his absence.

Her bout of sadness was short lived, however, as in Bruce’s place was the most adorable thing in her entire thirteen years of life. ”Baby!” Saya actually squealed in delight. All of her inhibitions at keeping a straight face were gone. She practically danced over to Kyson and the small summon.

”Aww… Is Baby hungry?” Saya was cooing at Keiko before turning to the man who kept looking up at the sky. ”Hey Mister. Do you think baby pandas can eat chips?” She gestured with her head to Keiko’s position near his feet then held up the huge chip that was still in her possession.

WORD COUNT: 294
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 433 + 294 = 727

As Kyson was looking to see where his summon had went and why nothing appeared. He heard a loud squeal, he saw the little girl make her way to something Kyson couldn't believe. As he looked down and saw what he had summoned, Kyson face palmed himself as he kept staring at the baby panda they sent him. He saw a note on him and he took the note and began to read it. Looking at what it said, he balled it up and throw it behind him. As he was getting utterly annoyed. "So they left me here to babysit... great... And how should I know, I'm not a panda. Though.. if you give him chips and he throws up... I'm telling them you did it." Kyson said. Taking another look at the little girl, he noticed that he had seen her before.

His eyes squinted for a little as he finally figured out who she was. "Wait a minute.. your that girl that was suppose to follow Kira to Konoha!" Kyson said with a surprised face. He had forgot that she was there as well at Hoshi gates when they were getting ready to leave. "She told me the mission was fail when I saw her yesterday and she didn't seem like herself." He said, reminiscing on the conversation that he had with her while he was in prison.

"But anyway.." Kyson said as he walked up to the baby panda. Grabbing him by the back of his fur and holding him up to Kyson's eye level with one hand. Both staring at each other eye to eye. "Where's your parents... and why did they send you here instead of feeding you back at your place." Kyson said to the baby panda. The panda just kept a smile on his face as it was clear he couldn't speak yet. Kyson sighed as he gently put the panda down and just fell on his back and layed on the ground. "That damn bruce, leaving me here to baby sit and then just leaving without giving me more details about what Seiko meant." Kyson said as he laid flat on his back with a grumpy face.

Saya frowned at the man’s response. That was not the answer she was expecting or looking for. Another glance at the animal, however, had her visibly softening. Her lips curled into a wider smile and she was rocking on her heels, unsure if she was allowed to approach the summon any further.

As Saya was about to lower herself to the ground next to the panda the man’s mentioning of Konoha and the red haired woman had her freezing in place. Kira?! Her heart clenched and a demand of where the Suna ninja was the edge of her lips before the answer was immediately given. Kira was here. She was in Kumogakure. And just like that the tension weighing on her shoulders and chest slipped away into the wind.

It seemed as if the man was too agitated and immediately switched his attention to the baby panda, grabbing it by its scruff and, dare she say it, interrogated it like he was some kind of criminal. Saya almost snorted in hilarity but covered it up by taking a bite from the chip. It barely made a dent in the snack. Either way the girl had split her attention to both the man and the panda, watching them settle on the ground.

Keiko (she had remembered the name after reading through the note) tilted his head at her before making his way towards Kyson and flopping onto the man’s abdomen. She could practically hear him questioning who she was and if she could share her food.

”You met with Lady Kira.” Saya started as she made herself comfortable next to Keiko and the Handsome Man. She had forgotten what his name was and she couldn’t very well just keep addressing him as a pronoun in her head. Idly, she broke off a sizeable chunk of her chip and hovered it over the baby’s maw as she tried to stop herself from firing off question after question. ”Is she… ”

Her face scrunched up, attempting to piece together something that didn’t make her sound desperate for information. ”Nevermind.” Saya said instead. The Handsome Man did say he interacted with her yesterday so that meant she was somewhat alright. Deciding to focus on something else, she asked, ”Is Seiko one of your summons? He must be Keiko’s father or something. Don’t you think?”

Saya looked up from watching Keiko to gauge the man’s facial expression at the notion that he might just be babysitting one of his summon’s offspring.

WORD COUNT: 419
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 727 + 419 = 1146

As Kyson was laying there flat on the ground. Irritated about everything that just went on in the past few minutes. The baby panda decided to sit on Kyson's stomach. Just as he was about to say something to the panda. The girl asked about Kira, judging from how curious she was. It seemed somewhere along the way, the two may have lost contact with each other. Though that was just his assumption since he thought she was right by her the entire time. "Yeah, she visited me the other day. Her vibe was a lot different than it was since the last time I saw her." He said as the Keiko stared at the chip that was offered to him.

As he was about to grab the small piece of chip the girl was handing to him. He quickly grabbed the larger piece that was in her hand and began to chop on that. He wasn't really much surprised about their appetite. All the pandas he met all had one thing in common. They never stopped eating. Even when they are kids it seemed.

After hearing her getting ready to ask her question, she decided to disregard it. Kyson could see that she was worried, so he figured to cheer up at least. "If your wondering if she's okay. Kira will be fine. She's a tough person, just give her a little space in the meantime." As Kyson was laying on the ground with the panda still on his stomach. Kyson looked at the large chip he was munching on and took it out of his hands. Hovering the chip high in the air so the panda couldn't reach it. The girl asked if Seiko was Kyson's summon and she also questioned his relationship with Keiko.

"Yeah, Seiko is actually Bruce's teacher. He's basically one of the strongest in the panda tribe. And I'm not sure if Seiko is his father. Though it probably could be, I wouldn't doubt it." Kyson said as he continued to hover the chip over keiko's head to where he couldn't reach it. Keiko was putting on an angry frowned as he was having trouble reaching the chip. With Kyson's other hand, he point ait Keiko and began to make fun of him. "Ah ha, that's why you can't reach it." Kyson said as he began to point his index finger at keiko's face. As keiko began pouting, he would then bite Kyson's finger as hard as he could. But Kyson was pretty durable so hr could barely feel his bite. He just watched as Keiko was biting his finger until he found out it wasn't working and he began to stop. He would then toss the chip to the little girl as keiko watched it fly and began to crawl as fast as he could towards the girl and would attempt to tackle her for the chip.

"By the way, what was your name again? I don't think I got it back when you were in hoshi." He asked waiting for a response.

The Handsome Man must have sensed and guessed her reluctance to ask any further about Kira as he had gone ahead and updated her about the red haired woman’s current status. Saya was relieved to hear that the woman was doing alright, but the man had said that she was different. She blinked her purple-blue eyes. That was an odd thing to say about Kira. What had changed about her? It was difficult for the pre-teen to see Kira as anything other than a strong willed woman with a preference for alcohol.

Reluctantly, however, she nodded at his advice in giving the woman some space. But Saya was a bit socially inept. She wondered how long should she wait; what was the appropriate amount of time to pass before it was considered too early or too late. It was only until Keiko took the larger piece of the chip that had her thoughts slowing and veering away from overthinking on the subject. Saya felt her body jerk slightly at the sudden movement from the baby panda, but nevertheless allowed its actions to follow through.

Clearing her throat and focusing on the panda summon instead, she said, ”I see. Thank you for letting me know. It’s… I appreciate it.” Saya ducked her head in embarrassment for being seen through. For a moment she listened to the Handsome Man poke fun at Keiko whilst taking in the information about who Seiko was. The naming of the baby panda was very similar to the aforementioned summon, and Saya felt almost 100% confident that Keiko was Seiko’s offspring. But she wasn’t going to say it outloud unless it was confirmed; the young girl hated being wrong on such things.

”W-Wai --- !!” Saya barely managed to catch the bigger piece in time before she was being barreled over by Keiko. ”Oof!” Keiko was now pinning her down by laying over her midsection and happily munching on the bottom of the chip, leaving crumbs to fall around the two. ”You’re - ” Saya wheezed as she pushed herself up on her elbows and glanced at the mammal that casually rolled onto her lap. ”... Deceptively heavy.”

Her own piece had been knocked out of her hand during the impact and Saya wriggled her nose at it. She figured that Keiko would most likely eat the fallen chip once he was done with his own. The only thing that went through her mind right then was, He’s so cute! Another stray thought had her wanting to keep him as a companion before she mentally shook her head at the idea. It was already hard enough to keep track of herself. Adding in a panda that required a ton of food would become problematic for her.

”Ah. I don’t think we’ve actually had a proper introduction.” Saya searched through her memories, trying to latch onto anything that might have hinted at their exchange. Unfortunately, their only interaction were brief instances on the night of the Kumo celebration held in Hoshi. ”I’m Saya Kirihara. Genin of Kumogakure.” Her introduction was brief - name and rank as per usual of the militaristic regime of their village.

”And what are you called? I don’t think addressing you as ‘The Handsome Man’ is appropriate of your rank.”

WORD COUNT: 552
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1146 + 552 = 1698

Seeing as the two didn't really speak back in Hoshi since Kira had some important matters to attend to. It would only be right for the two to finally introduce themselves. As she stated her name and presented her rank within the village. Kyson has met quite a few genin and chunnin of this village. They all seemed like pretty good people from their first impression. "Kyson Hozuki, Kira usually just calls me 'Ky' for short. Kyson or Ky, either one doesn't really matter to me. Which ever one is easier for you.." As he told Saya his name.

"And oh, I guess you could say I'm a Jounin of this village." Kyson said, though that be a bit of an understatement. It would be much simpler when telling it to others. As he took a brief look at Keiko, sitting there thinking about whatever baby panda's think about.. which was probably food. If Kyson had to take a big guess. Even though Kyson was born here, he doesn't have much knowledge about this village or what the newer shinobi were like. So he was curious to see what they were striving to be as shinobi. That was important because after everything Kyson has been though. His goals and what he was striving dramatically changed over the last month.

"So as a young genin, what are your goals for the future? Being a young shinobi in this village." He asked out of curiosity. He wanted to see where everyone's head was at in the village. And so far he was given answers that he wasn't expecting to hear. And none of them were really bad answers at that. As he waited, he began to pet Keiko on his head as it was very soothing for him. "Oh yeah, and how do you know Kira? And why were you willing to help her so easily." He said. He knows they haven't met for very long since they must have met once they got to Hoshi. But he just wanted to know why she was willing to help her so quick after knowing her for not too long.

When the Handsome Man revealed his name, Saya’s eyes widened in realization. That was it! That was his name! Kyson! She mentally shook her head when she remembered months ago that she had mistaken his name as “Kyton.” It was only a letter difference but the girl felt embarrassed all the same. Especially since he seemed to be Lady Kira’s superior and his persona so far indicated that he was more laidback than she expected the man to be.

”Ky... ” She repeated the shortened name and shook her head. It felt a bit weird or too casual for the strict girl. Maybe, when the two were closer to friends rather than acquaintances and officers, they could lessen the barriers. ”Kyson.” There we go. A nod of her head made it obvious that she felt more comfortable in full names rather than nicknames.

At his ranking Saya’s eyes widened comically. That was certainly unexpected. He exuded quite a peaceful if a little grated (from throwing a bit of a fit when Bruce had disappeared and the two were left with Keiko) aura. ”I-I apologize for my lack of respect and manners toward you, Sir.” Saya tried to get a better sitting position to at least give him a bow, but Keiko wasn’t having it. He merely whined and pushed back against her as he continued to demolish the snack.

Her consternation at being in the presence of a higher ranked shinobi diminished at his question though. That was certainly a heavy question if one thought deeply about it. And Saya was part of that group. Her lips pressed together into a thin line. ”I’m not sure.” She answered truthfully as she absently petted the black and white summon. It wasn’t something that she thought about often.

Saya’s world revolved around being a capable kunoichi. One that would do her village proud; one that would overcome any obstacles; and lastly, one that would defy death at every turn before her time eventually arrives. ”Maybe run the hospital. Make it better for the village. Promote better research and medicine. Whip the lazy ones into shape. And, I guess, do something to contribute to Kumogakure’s defenses.”

A shrug. Those thoughts did come and go whenever her mind was in overdrive during the night, but Saya wasn’t exactly sure if those were something she wanted to do. Her expression brightened at the mention of the redhead, however, and her thoughts switched over.

”Lady Kira?” She echoed as her time with the Suna kunoichi played like a movie in her mind. ”I met her at a bar and she helped me out. She was very kind to me, and even assisted me in shopping for a dress for the celebration.” It barely registered in her mind that she was talking a lot more than usual. ”And… Well, you were there for Senshi’s speech, right? Sunagakure is now a part of Kumo. I’m sure they hate it and they certainly don’t like us for what happened, but we… They belong to us.”

There was a certain edge to her voice now.

”We are their home now. And I will uphold my duties to protect them in every aspect I can think of. And Lady Kira… She had friends in Konoha. They’re important to her so they should, at least, be safe so that Lady Kira can feel at ease.”

She was certainly talking too much today.

Then she cleared her throat and chanced to glance at Kyson. Would he find her reply too weird? Too possessive over such a stranger? ”What about you, Kyson? You’re a jounin here, but I… I don’t think I’ve really seen you around or heard of you.”


WORD COUNT: 627
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1698 + 627 = 2325