Hmm, it did have a nice smell to it. Not exactly the smell of old people, it was nicer then that. He enjoyed it. He would remain silent on the manner. He didn't want to reminisce about the dead too much. His own mother having died and leaving her house to him. It was a sort of similar scenario. He still held some deep feelings he wasn't willing to share just yet, though. "Thank you" He would say as he sat down at the table and grabbed one of the two tea cups. Tea wasn't exactly, his cup of tea. He would have preferred cold water, but tea was still nice. Far more relaxing then most usual drinks. He would drink it slowly. Enjoying the smooth liquid. It was decent enough. It wasn't exactly the freshest tea, but she did state she made it in the morning. It was almost about afternoon by now. It was still nice outside though. He really hadn't thought of anything to say. Never having imagined he would end up in a strangers house so soon after arriving. He was still a bit drowsy from the trip. He would just sit and wait as Semasu would most likely take a seat.

Semasu sat down momentarily and began to sip at her cup of tea, she had run out of things to talk about and didn't want the meeting to become awkward. She twirled the cup in her hand and drank it slowly, drinking it too fast would probably be impolite unless it was sake... the thought of drinking sake made her laugh a little... it took a lot of alcohol to get her clan drunk.

So becoming a Chuunin, you must have had a goal you wanted to work towards to get that far, right? What do you want to do with your life?

It was a semi-personal question, but as a new friend; she figured she deserved to know, if only a bit of it.

The reason he became a chunin, eh? Well, there was many different small reasons. He had many different opinions about it, but in reality, he wanted recognition. He wanted his clan not to be known only as those pirate bastards. He wanted his clan, or at least himself to earn back the respect of Shippuugakure. Rising in the ranks being just one way to do so. "Recognition, I guess. Sounds silly, doesn't it." He said as he placed on arm behind his head and gave a kind of weak laugh. That was really just one answer.

"What about you? Do you have something motivating yourself." He asked in return. He would then take a quick sip of his tea. The cup being just about half full. He didn't want to drink it too fast. Trying not to look like a pig. I guess he kind of already had, though. His actions outside, not exactly very mature.

Recognition huh... Semasu could understand that, because she was doing something of the same in her own way.

I can relate I guess: at least to a certain extent. I too want recognition: my clan are known as zealots and they often cause a lot of trouble for the village. I want recognition from those village elders who look down on us- my clan specializes in Nintaijutsu, a very valuable skill.

Semasu shifted through some of the letters under the table and held up some of her most recent missions she had completed, all of them bore the mark of the village.

I want to become strong enough to be a bodyguard for our Tsuchikage, I believe that only I am needed for such a task and it will cause those elders to reconsider the "value" of my people.

He would stare at Semasu for a little while before a small grin started to appear on his face. They wanted the same thing, him and her. They wanted to earn the respect of others. Fighting the hatred that had been placed on their family name. It was rather interesting that they had similar goals. Even though she seemed to be far closer with her clan then Saizo had ever been. "Battling the stereotypes that had been placed on you by your heritage. Sounds familiar." he would say. referring to himself, but she wouldn't know that. He was becoming increasingly curious of the rest of the village. Maybe he should ask if she wanted to go out later. Maybe she knew some unique spots to visit.

They had been inside for far too long and talking about heavier stuff than she would have liked- though she somehow got the impression that Saizo understood exactly how she felt. She thought for a moment about things they could do in the village before he would have to go back; she knew the village well, but mostly the area her clan resided in... though staying around that area might not be good for Saizo's health...or blood count. She stood up and took the two empty cups of tea back to the kitchen and put them in soaking water before going back to the table.

Come on, let's go back outside, I know some good places we can enjoy

He had enjoyed the tea, even though it wasn't his favorite. He wouldn't pester her for it though. His visit wasn't exactly planned. It would have been silly to expect something miraculous. It seemed that Semasu had caught on to what he was thinking. Almost as if she was psychic. Maybe that was another of her clans great traits, he would think, as a joke, of course. He would stand up as she declared they would go outside. "Where to?" he would ask, hoping to get a decent response from the young kunoichi. Going outside, eh? Saizo wasn't sure if he wanted to or not. On one hand, there were beautiful women, on the other, they were too beautiful for him to handle. He would think for a bit before putting on a blindfold, or rather his headband which he used as a makeshift blindfold. "If you could maybe just lead me till we are out of your clans living areas. That would be much appreciated." he said as he lifted his arms up to make sure he wasn't about to run into anything.

She was amazed by his composure and will-power, he obviously held his own standards in high regards and was somewhat of a gentleman- rare indeed in this area...especially with all the men around the village trying to win her clan's women's affections- mostly they got affection from their fists only though. Saizo had blindfolded himself with his headband and was walking towards the door...well, the wall beside the door- Semasu pushed him in the right direction and they left the house.

You're fortunate that I am not mischievous right now, I could totally leave you stranded in this area.

She giggled to herself at the thought, she wouldn't do that though...not unless he had been asking for it. She took one of his hands and led him through the busy street, one particular merchant that she visited often for bread ingredients saw her and flagged her down.

Hey Semasu! What are you doing with this handsome guy holding hands: and why is he blind-folded... wait.. this is kinda-

Semasu's face turned deep red as she sensed what direction the merchant was headed with his tangent of thoughts: fortunately Saizo was still blindfolded. When she spoke, she tried to keep her voice normal and not sound shaky or perturbed.

Gizo, you got the wrong idea! I'm just helping a friend through the street... this is.. uh.. it's like a trust exercise, yeah that's it!

Gizo grunted his acknowledgement, he stacked another sack of flour on a cart nearby.

Well seeing that he's from another village, I imagine you two have more interesting things to do than hold hands blindfolded in a busy street

Gizo laughed and slapped Saizo on the back. Semasu rolled her eyes at him and gave the man a death glare momentarily before continuing to pull Saizo away from the pervert. She guided him till they were a safe distance from visial contact with her part of the village.

You can take off your headband now...erh.. I mean move it back.

Heh, it would have been funny if she had left him there. He would have been completely unable to leave. Not without fainting a few times first anyways. He let out a bit of a chuckle from that statement. It was kind of a nervous laugh though. Being left on his own would, well, it would suck. While walking, in what seemed to be a street, the two had been confronted by someone. Semasu and the man seemed to know each other. Saizo could only imagine how the man looked like. Apparently this man could see him though. Called him handsome at that. Raised his self-esteem a bit. Then again, he had a blindfold on. How exactly was he sure that Saizo was handsome. He could have just been teasing them. That would suck. Saizo could feel Semasus grip on his hand change a little after the comment. Saizo wouldn't say anything, though. Unable to be sure exactly what it was. He would imagine anger, but it wasn't exactly that kind of grip either. Her hand though. It felt kind of nice. It was soft and delicate. At the same time though, it felt like she could punch through a brick wall with the same hand. Gizo was his name, oh? Saizo would remain quite, not feeling like it was his business, even though it was pretty much all about him. He would try and tone out before getting smacked right on his back. Nearly making him fall straight into the ground. He wasn't expecting that at all. He wouldn't get angry though. He knew it was a playful little slap. He then got dragged away, still unsure of what had just happened. Then he was allowed to take his blindfold off. He brought up his free hand and lowered it down. Letting it hang from around his neck. It wasn't really dual for him to wear it on his forehead. He just didn't like the feel of that all to much. The light was a little blinding at first. Kind of leaving a disoriented feel. He would let another grin slip onto his face. "You can let go of my hand now, if you want."

Semasu then realized that she hadn't let go of his hand, she released her grip and brought both hands behind her back as she leaned backwards a little and apologized. She wasn't very hungry and didn't assume he was either, she had eaten too many donuts anyways.

If you're hungry, I know a nice shop that sells delicious treats: if not, I can show you around some of the more important parts of the village.

She was planning to show him the mission board/center, this was where genins who didn't receive direct orders from the Tsuchikage, to do their own missions for others in the village so they could have a bit of ryo. Semasu had worked very hard indeed and had a guestimation that she had almost half a million ryo, was just a average guess and just showed how hard she worked.

Honestly, Saizo wasn't hungry in the slightest. He wasn't full or anything. He just had no need for food at the moment. This wouldn't stop him however. He wanted to see the shop. Maybe visit it some other time. He could come with a certain someone he knew. He would think about that with a smile.

"I would love to check it out if we can. I might not order anything, though."

He said to the young lady. He was glad he found such a great tour guide. She wasn't even charging him yet. Or maybe she was, and he just didn't know it. This was bound to put a shocked face on him. He would quickly brush it off before anyone else could see it though. He was starting to imagine things. Sometimes he figured that he should visit a psychologist. They would probably be able to fix him. It was too bad he didn't really have the money for it.

Good, even if he wasn't hungry- he still wanted to check the interesting shop out, it showed that he was more intelligent and honest than most other people his age. She immediately began to walk in the general direction of the shop and pointed to small facts and places about the village and its history as they went along.

This shop we're going to, mostly sells foods that you can buy as snacks and whatnot... but they also have a sit-in café.

The shop truly was peculiar in the village, that was to say the least. After a few minutes they arrived at the shop, the building itself was rather longer than it was tall- the whole sides of the shop were filled with seats and tables and constantly had people eating at them. Neon signs dotted the shop to point at specialties of the week and such- among these things were variations of curry and takiyaki.

Saizo would stretch his arms out. Trying to stay limber as they walked along the path to this shop. He enjoyed this village a lot, come to think of it. It was a nice change of pace from his usual. It was so nice, no wonder. He was thinking about something in his head. It was a topic he just recently came up with. He dared not share it with others though. It was quite personal. Only way one would learn of it was if they could read his mind. Sure, there were some clans who could do that. He would try and steer clear of them though.

"Wow. Its much more then I had imagined when you said nice shop."

He would stare at the lights and the designs. It was quite a nice place in the village. He wouldn't mind visiting it again. Maybe in another trip he would have the pleasure of seeing it. He would make sure to find some way to repay her for spending her time to show him around. She could have spent this time doing something else, but instead he had made her into his personal village pamphlet. How rude of him. He was glad she allowed him to do that though.

Semasu was glad that Saizo was impressed with the shop, she herself came here often to buy small treats for herself and animals around the village who she pampered. She walked up to one of the workers and ordered something interesting: the man in the shop recognized her right away as one of his most valued customers and made her order very quickly.

She came back to Saizo with a large white bag filled with takiyaki, it was fish-shaped and breaded with several different kilnds of spices and fillings.

I know you're not hungry, but I thought maybe you would like to try some of Tsukigakure's prized takiyaki.

Semasu grabbed one and bit the dead off the fish-shaped food.

Even if I'm full or not hungry, I can just keep eating and enjoy the taste because I don't actually get too full. If someone from the Akimitchi clan were to crossbreed with my clan... they would be a very powerful ninja.

She laughed at that thought.. it would never happen though.

He would look at the bag of takiyaki. He wasn't hungry, but anything that looked that good, he would have to try it. And it was fish shaped. That just gave him a another reason to eat some of it. How generous of her to do something like that. She was just putting him into deeper and deeper debt. Saizo had very little money to repay her with, though. He would have to be put to work at her home at this rate. Be her servant till he had payed it off. That would be terrible. Well, it wouldn't be all bad. He would get a nice look at... yea, maybe he was a bit of a pervert. Guess it just ran in mens DNA.

"Thank you, very much."

He then reached in to pick one of the nice round fish-shaped takiyaki out of the bag. He was hesitant to pop it in his mouth. Should he savor it first? Maybe he should wait till he was hungry so he wouldn't eat too much. Nah, whats the worst just one could do. He would then start eating it. It was certainly good. He enjoyed the flavor. Prized, eh? thats not surprising. He would enjoy it, but like he had said. He wasn't hungry. Even something as good as this wasn't able to revive his appetite.

He would laugh at her joke about the Akimitchi and her clan. Till he realized what she meant. His nose just about ready to burst from his imagination. He was able to hold it in, using all the willpower he had left. It was so unlike him to act like this, but he just couldn't help it. His mind, was being compromised.

With the takiyaki in hand, she led him onwards, next would be the mission board and help-center. The help-center was a perfectly circular building with three or four different entrances, each entrance signified any different rank difficulty a mission someone might post would have. Only about twenty feet away, was a rather large and long board with lots of papers on it, mostly all hand written and some near impossible to decipher.

The building over there is the Help-center and the different entrances are for different ranked missions and ninja. Over here is the mission board, this is more or less of a "part-time" job for genin or a quick cash-in for people who need ryo fast.

Hmm, it wasn't much different in Shippuu. The mission board and help center areas were, obviously, different in design, but function seemed relatively the same. He didn't really like taking those missions, enjoying the ones he was personally assigned ones instead of the generic tasks the village had most of them doing. Sure, many of those missions were for a good cause, but they just seemed less flashy and interesting then most. They weren't suppose to be though. It was more his own personal mindset that created this dislike. It also led to some close months on his budget. Maybe if he was a bit more careful with money and maybe earned a bit more. It was ok though. He was accustomed to it and rather enjoyed the heat of the moment. Ironic, cause he usually hated heat of any kind. He was a bit disinterested with it, but he wouldn't say anything out loud, that would be rude after all, and he should be grateful for her assistance and the Takiyaki. He would just smile and wave(Nod his head), smile and wave.

If Saizo had paid much attention, Semasu's name was on many of the papers: either as completed or in a "thank you" letter. Semasu was not too sure what else she.could show her new friend, she was running out of fun ideas- most of her "fun places" happened to be eating places and Saizo was quite full from the stuff she had been feeding him all day. She imagined it would not be too much longer untilSaizo started looking at the sun to guess when he would have to return to the ship to leave.

So how much longer do you have until you must return to the ship?

Saizo had almost forgot. He was on a mission. Would have been terrible if they were to leave him behind. Not only would he have to walk home, but if the ship were to be attacked it would end badly without him there. "Hmm, I should probably be returning now. They should be done. Knowing them, they are probably just hanging at some bar." he would tell her. She was quite a capable ninja. She will do well in life. Maybe if they were lucky, they would meet gain sometime. "You wouldn't mind accompanying me to the ship, would you?" he asked politely. Her company had surely made his wait far more enjoyable then it would have been without another. He was glad he had met someone so nice. All the villages seemed to have nice people. It made it hard to think of ever going to war with them. It could happen tomorrow or next week. It could also never happen. He hated the way this world worked. Why did the good people always have to die?

Saizo's words had proven her thoughts correct, both if them were aware that it was time to head back- neither of them would intentionally make the other fail a mission. Semasu was no stranger to death, far too often did clans within the village have someone killed; her clan was not much like this however... the clan members had a lot of pride in their people and what they fought for. She was lucky in this regard.

She nodded her head at his request, of course she would walk back to the docks with him; she had promised to show jom something hazing after all, right? She smiled coyly as they turned and began to walk in the direction of the docks, she rested one hand on the hilt of her legendary sword; she could feel its desire to do what Semasu intended.

If I'm ever in or near your village, maybe you could show me around some. Though it might be a random visit considering my easy means of fast travel...

Saizo would give a small chuckle. "Sure thing." he said to his new friend. He could see that the sword was quite a powerful object. Almost like instant teleportation to wherever the user pleased. It almost reminded him of something. Made him wonder. Maybe. Well, they were almost at the docks by this point. "Im sure you would love it there, we have quite a few good places for food as well." He would be able to return the favor, and be her tour guide if it was ever to happen. Thats sword though. Its power, mysterious. He wanted to investigate it a little more. Maybe some other time, he would be lucky enough to study it. He would notice his crew coming out of a bar, not too far down the road. He would wave as they would also start heading to the ship, a bit faster and farther ahead then they were. It was almost time to say goodbye, it seemed.

Semasu would like that, she was very curious about Saizo's village. She saw him wave to the ship crew that had just stumbled out of a bar, some of them were questionable as to how well they were able to.hold their alcohol. That was another thing, because of her volatile chairs, she could drink extreme quantities of alcohol and not get drunk she could drink a regular man under a table in a contest. She chuckled at the thought of competing against Saizo one day... truly it would be an unfair advantage, but she enjoyed the prospects of it.

The two of them followed the crew back to the docks and watched as the men began to prepare the ship for departure. Semasu turned to Saizo.

Go tell your captain that I would like to do something unique for the departure. I don't want Jim alarmed when I open a rift in space.

It was finally it. They were to say farewell. Saizo would hear her and start making his way onto the ship with the rest of the crew. A hole in space big enough to take them all the way back home? Was she nuts? It was a pretty big ship they were on. Sure it was only a trading ship, but it was still big enough to fit at least a few hundred people. To transport something so big. Was her sword capable of that? Did she have enough chakra, and did the sword even run on chakra? This was something he wanted to see. He would wave to her as he made his way up the port. He would find his way to the captain, who hadn't been out drinking. He told him the situation, though he did doubt the possibility of it working, he didn't say it out loud though. "I made a friend, and she said she could get us and the ship back in a matter of seconds, if you would like to try it." he said to the captain before he would agree. He then would look over to Semasu and give her a wave of approval. He was extremely curious to see how this would work.

Semasu was glad that the captain was willing to try her suggestion: he obviously had a lot of faith in Saizo if he was risking to do something he knew nothing about. She nodded to Saizi and waved her hand, she stepped out into the water surface and began to walk towards the front of the ship. Curious ninjas and sailors peered at her from the ship deck, unsure of what she was about to do. She drew the sword and could feel the cool drgrip of the sword pulling at her soul to cut open a rift in space.

With one quick leap into the air, she lashed out with her sword and "stabbed" the air- she pulled downward and allowed her weight to carry her back to a standing position on the water surface. The blade had cut all the way down through the air in a perfectly and unnaturaly straight line which now glowed an ominous red: Semasu removed her sword from the cut and sheathed the sword. Instantly the cut line widened and folded backwards in space itself to make a rift big enough for the ship to pass through. It was unnatural and disturbing- through the rift, Saizo's village could be seen like looking out of a window, but all around this "window" was still the waters of Tsukigakure- the village could not been seen from the other side even.

She waved to them to let them know it was safe to pass through now; she hasn't known why herself, but the sword had let her know exactly what to do... she was relieved it had worked without any problems.. what if she had accidentally opened a rift to some demon realm or something.. she could see why many feared such a blade.

Incredible. The power that blade held. Able to rip the fabric of time and space itself. Only because the user wishes it. Power like that. She was bound to become a famous shinobi at one point in her life time. It would hard not to be with a blade so powerful. Her kekkei genkai and personal skill would take her far as well, but with all of it combined. Well, she would be quite an opponent if there villages were ever in a scuffle. He hoped there would be no scuffle. War was a terrible thing after all. The crew also stood in awe. They could all see Shippuugakures beautiful coastline, just inside the strange rip. Whether it was safe for them to enter was yet to be seen. "You sure its safe to transport something so big?" He would yell over to Semasu. This power couldn't come without a cost could it? There must be some sort of penalty the user must face. If it was something drastic, then letting them pass through would just be troublesome. If it was a noticeable cost, then they would be better off just sailing the normal way. He knew that none of them wanted to think they were responsible for hurting a young women.