A Friend in Need...[Fallen and Hail]

<<Set one day after team meeting>>

The sun was shining brightly today, the children were playing in the streets running up and down and getting in the way of everyone's business. Their parents trying to catch them and make them stop. Hayate was walking briskly through the masses of people, he was having a bad day... He had one of his nightmares again. The one's of his grandfather being killed. This pained Hayate much and he felt as if some fresh air would do him good. He took deep breathes as he walked, inhaling the hot moist air into his lungs and then exhaling it back into the crowed square. He tried to find relaxation in this, he tried to keep his mind off of the dreams. The feeling of loneliness was eating him up on the inside, he needed someone to talk to. Someone who he could vent to, the thoughts going through his head were begging to devour his sanity.

As he walked through the clustered people he began to get jostled and pushed round, frustration was building up inside him. He needed to get out of there, the noise, the humidity and all of the rudeness was beginning to get to him. Slowly gnawing away at his nerves, the stress was causing him an immense hunger. Hayate had decided that it was time for some food, but he had no clue what the nearest place to eat was. He pushed through the crowd until he could find a place to sit down, it took him ten minutes to get to the edge of the square and find a bench. It was just a simple wooden bench that looked to be sturdy enough to support him. More importantly however it was a vacant bench and this was just what he needed. A place to rest up a bit and think of a place to get food.

He proceeded to walk to the bench as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid an encounter with someone trying to snag his new found place of rest. Hayate successfully took the bench without any opposition from the rude crowd peoples. He sat on the bench slowly, feeling the bones in his back crack as he stretched out a little. His stomach began to pain him, it made gurgling noises. Hayate was a bit embarrassed by this as he quickly moved his hands to cover his stomach; his face began to blush slightly. This made him uncomfortable; it was hot enough without the blood rushing to his head. Hayate felt a bit dizzy from the hunger growing in his stomach. He really needed food. "This is such a bother; I wish I knew where I was. Maybe I should ask someone? Now, I'm talking to myself... I really am losing it." Hayate closed his mouth and slid back into the bench. He would wait a bit longer then make his move to find some food. He couldn't help but dwell on his loneliness as he waited. He really needed to find someone to spend time with.

He sat there for a while, until he decided he that enough was enough. It was time to get proactive, Hayate stood up and walked to edge of the crowd. He noticed a woman walking there, see was donning a head band. A jounin he guessed, She should know where to get food, I'll ask her where to go. Maybe she could show me around. "Excuse Ma'am, could I ask you a question if you have time?"

Walking through the crowd like she always did, Rika had her sharingan deactivated. She hated walking through the crowd and seeing everyone's face and memorizing it instantly. She would always feel she knew them after memorizing how they looked like that, but they would not know her. After all, Rika didnt really exist in the public's eyes anymore. She was an ex anbu black ops. They couldnt be given identities because that would lead to pain felt back in konoha. They also had to destroy any evidence of their existance when they died. Rika was only ok with wiping away her existance when her fiance was still alive. Of course that had all been fake. Just another trick used by him to get close to high ranking people. His plan had failed however, when Rika didnt hold back as he had intended and she had killed him after a long fought battle. She would always miss him though, as he was the only person she had to love.

Just as these thoughts were weighing on her mind, a young genin stopped her and asked her where they could go to eat. She knew alot of places around here so she could easily show him where to go. "Sure, il lead you to a Dango Shop, their dumplings are great." she said and began to lead him through the crowd. She didnt really do conversation so she didnt start it unless he wished to talk. After leading him through the street and around a corner, they reached the dango shop. Rika was hungry, but she would probably just eat somthing at her house when she reached it. Unless this genin had other plans.

Hayate was glad that the female Jounin was going to show him where to get some food. Hayate loved Dango, so this would be a blast he thought... Maybe I should see if she wants to join me, I could use someone to talk to anyways.... He found himself getting lost in thought and he wondered what he should say to the Jounin. The crowd was beginning to bother Hayate, he kept being pushed from side to side by the rude people trying to do their jobs and chores. He wondered how the Jounin woman just seemed to glide through the crowd, it really was amazing to him. She wasn't a very talkative one and Hayate was horrible at opening lines, he wondered if he should talk to her. Maybe break the ice and see if she would join him for some food, he would even pay if he had to... just he company alone would be money well spent. They rounded the corner and finally reached the shop, the smell of Dango was lingering in the air, Hayate couldn't help but let him mouth water just a little. Then his stomach went off again... "Aha, I really am hungry" He looked to the Jounin and was about to talk, he was nervous because he thought he would say something stupid and get yelled at, he began to talk. "So what's your name princess?" DAMNIT!!... why did I say princess, she is going to kill me now. jeez I'm an idiot. "Hey look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that, just kinda slipped out ya know... not like you're not a princess though. Hmmm, I think I'm just gonna stop talking now... I keep messing up here... Maybe.. I mean if you're not busy... would you like to join me?" Hayate felt like such an idiot for saying this, she was probably mad at him now and he didn't know if she'd join him for food.

Rika glided through the crowd predicting their movements slightly before they made them. She looked back and noticed that the genin was getting run over by the busy people and decided to grab his hand. She had no idea what possessed her to do somthing like that, but she did, and it didnt bother her. She helped lead him through the crowd and in no time they were at the dango shop. He proclaimed he was hungry and Rika noticed his mouth was watering slightly. He must have been quite hungry. He then started a really long clumsy sentence. "Hey look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that, just kinda slipped out ya know... not like you're not a princess though. Hmmm, I think I'm just gonna stop talking now... I keep messing up here... Maybe.. I mean if you're not busy... would you like to join me?" Rika laughed at him. She accually laughed. It felt really well to her. She hadnt laughed in a long time and here a genin had made her feel good enough to laugh again. She enjoyed his company and decided she would stay and eat with him. "Sure, Il stay and eat with you. You can call me whatever you like. Princess or Rika whatever you feel like. I dont mind" she finished. Leading him to the table, Rika sat down at one near a window and ordered 4 plates of sweet dumplings. She hoped he didnt mind her ordering for him, because she had eaten here many times and the dumplings she ordered were the best by far. As she began to eat she looked over to the genin hoping he would start conversation and maybe introduce himself.

Hayate watched as the Jounin laughed at him verbally fumbling over himself. He had really hoped she wasn't mad at him for the princess comment. "Sure, Il stay and eat with you. You can call me whatever you like. Princess or Rika whatever you feel like. I dont mind" Hayate was confused by what she said. It took him a moment to collect himself, he thought she would have killed him or something like that. Most other high level ninja were serious people. Hayate actually started to feel a bit at ease, he could tell she was a nice person and she would probably be fun to be around. They walked into the Dango shop and she brought him to a table. They both sat down and Hayate noticed that Rika started to order for them both, he didn't mind. He was unfamiliar with this place and any food right now, would be good food to him."My name is Hayate Mitarashi by the way. Pleased to make your acquaintance princess...You can just call me Hayate or whatever I don't really care." Hayate was still unsure if this name would make Rika mad, he figured he would try it anyway. She started to eat so he figured it was time for him to chow down also. As he devoured the first plate of dumplings he looked over at her, she looked like she had some rough times in her life. "So what's on your mind princess? if you don't mind me asking of course."

Rika glanced at the genin again. He was an athletic looking boy probably weighed around 110 pounds. He had white hair and it was quite messy. She couldnt put her finger on it, but she found everything about this genin mildly amusing. Considering her recent attitude this was exceptionaly good for her. Normally she was always gloomy and sad, prefering to do things alone and didnt open up to anyone. This genin however caught her intrest and had made her laugh a few times. She accually felt good eating here with him. He seemed to be a little cautious around her, but that was expected. Rika was a powerful ninja. For all he knew, she could have been a mean strict sensei that would physically hit him if he asked a stupid question but Rika wasnt like that. She was more likely to just not respond. She finished her quick analysis and he introduced himself. ."My name is Hayate Mitarashi by the way. Pleased to make your acquaintance princess...You can just call me Hayate or whatever I don't really care." She listened to him and decided to just go with Hayate. If she gave him a nickname she would be opening herself up to hurt again and she wasnt going to do that quite yet. "Ok il call you Hayate." she said. And they started to eat. After eating for about a minute he asked her what was on her mind and she thought about her question for a minute. "Nothing, im just thinking about what you could be up to asking me to eat with you all of a sudden." she answered. Pondering about him again.

Hayate watched as Rika analyzed him, probably just natural for a jounin I suppose, to size up everyone they meet. They are some of the best of course... That Anbu tattoo as well, my guess is that she is a very dangerous person. Hayate finished up analyzing Rika, he didn't know why but she intrigued him. He wanted to know her better for some reason unknown to him. She had something of an aura about her, it pulled him in... Made him want to stay with her, made he want to be near her at all the times. "Ok il call you Hayate."

He smiled as she said this, it was nice to here her say his name. It made him get butterflies in his stomach. His cheeks began to get reddish and they felt hot. He knew he was blushing and he couldn't help it, he tried to hide his face in his hands. Hopefully she never noticed; unfortunately for him Rika probably seen it all. He asked her what she was thinking about after his dreadful recovery with his emotions. He watched her eat for a little while before she answered him. "Nothing, im just thinking about what you could be up to asking me to eat with you all of a sudden."

Hayate took sometime to answer this question himself, he pondered on what to say to her without making her cross with him, he didn't want to jeopardize the lunch they were having. He thought of the many options he had, some would probably lead to him having his neck snapped in eight different places, by the Jounin with the Anbu tattoo. The sarcastic response was probably not his best option right now, although he didn’t really know about this, since she had allowed him to get away with the whole princess comment. Hayate decided to save sarcasm for when they knew each other a bit better… if they even got to know each other better, their relationship would probably hang in the balance with his next response.

Honesty seemed like the best choice here and so it was to be his answer, he would just be straight with her and see how she responded to it. Hopefully she would talk with him if he told her why he wanted her to eat with him. He didn’t feel like dancing around the subject for too long so he just came right out and said it... “I’m just tryin to get a free meal outta this princess… eh… ” Hayate thought about what he had just said for a moment. It took him about five seconds to realize how much of an idiot he was for going down the sarcastic route without knowing fully what he was saying.

“Damnit… I really need to keep my mind out of my mouth sometimes…” Now he just seemed to be talking to himself again, Hayate really was loosing himself nowadays… he was allowing his mind to cover his depression with sarcasm and this was most likely not a good thing, he was becoming a different person and he didn't like it, not one bit. If he kept all of his emotional stress pent up, he would just explode and go crazy one day. He might burn down the village or maybe go on killing spree, he honestly didn't know what was going to happen right now. Hayate started to feel as if he was just wasting the Jounin’s time and began to feel as if he was just a waste of time.

Hayate stood up from his chair and attempted to excuse himself, he did not want to offend Rika anymore than he had just done. He stood up and turned around; However, the young Genin found himself frozen with his back turned to Rika, Hayate was ready to leave and attempt to put this behind him but he couldn't. He began to feel light headed; a rush of emotions started to fly towards the boy. Hayate’s mind began to wander to many horrible places. He began to think of the nightmares that he was having about his grandfather’s murder lately. The image of his grandfather's death was burned into Hayate’s skull. He couldn’t relinquish the feeling of seeing his dead relative lying at his feet in a pool of blood.

His emotions began to show in his facial expressions, he could feel his eyes watering up. And his lips began to quiver, all of his emotions where just coming out regardless if he wanted them to or not. He felt truly pathetic as his body began to collapse, all of his mental stress had finally caught up to him and it was hitting him at the worst possible time; Rika will surely see me as a waste of time and space, a waste of her time and space. Maybe if I’m lucky she’ll just kill me here right on the spot and end my suffering. Hayate could not control the tears coming from his eyes, he looked back at Rika and all he could mutter out was “I’m so sorry” Why did't I just tell her the truth, maybe I could have avoided all this troublesome behavior... now look at me, on the ground crying like a fool, I am no shinobi, I am pathetic
Swirling thoughts of suicide began to roll around inside Hayate's head, he was truly in a bad place right now and he did not know how to get out of it. Maybe Rika had some words of wisdom for Hayate...

Maybe she would be the one to lead him out of this hole he seemed to place himself inside of. Hayate wanted someone to help him but he did not necessarily know how to ask for it. His life was mostly a lonely one since the day of his grandfather’s death. He needed to get out of that place, it was ironically a poison to him, and if he stayed there much longer he would lose it completely. Hayate had decided that he wanted a fresh start. He would change himself today, it was his goal. He would raze the house and burn down all his past only then could he begin anew. He was still on the floor as all of this was running through his head, what had seemed like an eternity in his mind was only but a few seconds in reality. He was still there with tears running down the side of his face; he could taste the salt of them as some entered his mouth. He wondered if Rika would say anything to him or if she would just leave him there to stoop in his sorrow.

She asked him the question and he started thinking hard. He obviously didnt know why he had asked her to eat with him either. That was interesting. Here she was wondering why she was here, and he didnt know why he had asked her to eat either. It just went into a circle, but that didnt matter to her. She found it amusing also. She was having fun and would continue if the situation permitted. He continued to think for a minute or two and Rika continued eating. Her eyes caught that he looked a little scared as he thought it over. She wondered if he was scared of her. It wouldnt really be that unusual. Rika had always been a powerful ninja, and was a dreaded anbu member at one point in her life. Then she faded into a memory.

- memory -

Rika was walking through the woods at night. Silently sneaking through brush and around trees. The ground was wet and made very quiet squishing sounds with the steps that she took on the ground. She noticed a large tree to her right and jumped in its nearest branch. The tree had alot of moss on it and the moss covered most of the trunk. The branches were narled and reached to the sky they could never get to. She moved slowly through the tree and looked over the tops of the other trees. About 200 meters in front of here was a small clearing. There were 4 men sitting around a fire. She figured these to be guards because a political leader of the man's stature that she was after definently wouldnt be outside with the rest of the people. He would be sleeping in his extravigant tent. Rika wouldnt feel bad for the man she was going to kill; he deserved everything that was comming to him. He had been trying to provoke another war between kumo and konoha for the past 6 months. He had to be killed to ensure the saftey of the fire country. Rika had been chosen for her abilities and would carry out this mission as she was told. She formed a handsign and used her A rank genjutsu, "Temple of Nirvana." The guards didnt need to be killed so she would kill just who needed to be killed. The four men around the fire slowly let their eyes droop and fell into a deep sleep after collapsing on the ground. She was glad none of them fell into the fire, because they didnt need to be injured. She jumped down from the large tree and sprinted to the clearing. She entered the large tent and took out a large senbon used for quick, silent assassinations. She moved her hand over his mouth and stuck the senbon directly into his heart. He struggled for a minute then collapsed dead. She walked back out of the tent with he anbu mask off to the side. During the slight struggle, one of the men had awoken and gotten up. He was still drowsy however and looked at her funny. He started to scream about seeing a demon with black hair and the most scarey blood red eyes he had ever seen. Rika went back to the village and two weeks later there were stories that a demon had killed the politician. Rika remembered this vividly as an example that she was definently a scarey person. She was konoha's black demon. That name stuck with her, even if noone else knew her.

- end of memory-

When Rika came back to her senses he had finished thinking and said,
“I’m just tryin to get a free meal outta this princess… eh… ” She almost laughed again. He was being pretty straight forward with her and she liked that, but then he started getting upset. “Damnit… I really need to keep my mind out of my mouth sometimes…” he spoke again. Rika started to stop him but he started crying. His eyes phased out for a second and she noted that he must have been seeing his own memory like she had a second earlier. His seemed to be more of a nightmare than hers though and he started crying.“I’m so sorry” he almost whispered. Rika knew he couldnt be talking to her and didnt know how to deal with it. He was having a meltdown right in front of her and Rika had no clue what to do. A thought flashed into her head and she acted on it. She flash steped faster than he could possibly be able to see and choped him in the side of the neck. He couldnt have felt anything. He was out cold before he probably even saw her dissapear. As his body collapsed in her hands she caught him and picked him up. She had decided to give him a chance to cool off at her house, so she started carrying him home. After paying of course.

[end of topic]