:: Kaileer and Hakanai :: (Not Hakakai, bugger off!)

[Jenni Deer]

The beautiful hot springs that resides in Kumogakure is usually quiet and empty in the very early of the mornings or late of the nights. After both of their trip of spreding Hakanai's parents and Lilja's ashes, they returned home exhausted. Yet, Hakanai could not sleep and decided to sneak into the hot springs despite closing hours. It seems that Kaileer have the same thing on his mind, to relax his muscles from the training. All this occurs before the current arc.


This rp is only for Tao and me. Sorry!  

[Jenni Deer]

Pale blue jewels stared at the ceiling. She been at this for hours and hours. Since they had returned from their camping trip, so many things ran through her mind. What was going on? Why was everything happening? And that kiss? What... what did it really mean. Her chest deflated as she exhaled sharply and turned to her side. Shu was sound asleep. She couldn't sleep. Sat up, she felt her body ache. She was so sore. Hot springs sounded really good. Hakanai reached over and poked Shu. Twice. The cub was still snoring away as she could feel it when her hand placed on his side. A deep sigh emitted once again as she threw the covers away and got up. Stretched, Hakanai groaned softly. She was really hurting. Hot Springs it was then. The pale sapphires glanced outside and saw that it was snowing but it wasn't too high. No problem. Got dressed, Hakanai headed out and went towards the closed hot springs.

Looked left and right, make sure no one sees her, not even an ANBU, Hakanai snuck into the hot springs. She decided to take the one that people use for privacy and not the public one. Too big. A deep inhale and blissful exhale, she can feel the steam entering into her lungs and her caramel skin emitted into goosebumps with the sudden warmth. Walked around the hot springs, she made sure no one was in here due to the fact that it was so steamy and dark, it was hard to see. Took off her clothes and folded them onto the bench, her body shivered in pleasure as she moaned gently from the feel of hte hot springs on the aching muscles of her. Her body went down to her chin as she closed her eyelids, enjoying the bliss and the feel of her white hair moving around int he water sometimes but the dry part was still messy and obviously either a bed hair or just.. her mane.  

[Royal Taorito]

Despite a long training session, sleep wasn't happening. I needed it horribly, staring at my ceiling was getting me nowhere. With a sigh, I pushed myself out of bed again and grabbed my coat and boots. Armor wasn't necessary, obviously, and it didn't really provide that much warmth anyway. I pulled the coat tightly around me, lifting the hood over the mop of black hair on my head, and headed out of my small apartment.

It was cold outside. I really didn't like winter, but it was unavoidable as ever. Staying inside was going to do me no good; I felt restless, and there wasn't enough space in such a small place to move around comfortably. Not that I minded. I didn't really like being indoors anyway. But it was so damned cold, and staying outside wasn't ideal because of it. Otherwise I'd have just climbed on the roof and sat there the rest of the night. No, finding warmth was the better option here.

Water wasn't something I really enjoyed either, but what better place to relax and get warm than the hot springs? It didn't really occur to me that I would be colder when I got back out, but I only really had one thing on my mind.

Actually that was a lie. I had too many things on my mind. Getting personal training done, figuring how to run an entire ******** village despite the fact I had no idea what I was doing, learning how to control my anger... and Hakanai. It seemed like every other thought was about her, about her wild scent, her caramel skin, her snow white hair, and her ice blue eyes. Both the grief and the happiness I'd seen. The fact that she could so easily bring a smile to my lips when I rarely did so otherwise. The constant barrage of thoughts were intoxicating. Rubbing the back of my neck with a sigh, I slid open the sliding shoji door to the onsen.

I chose a personal room, not really wanting to interact with anyone that might show up, and was immediately hit with a wall of warm steam. The air was muggy, making my clothes and hair cling uncomfortably, and the room cloudy making it hard to see much of anything standing. Closer to the ground would be fine, since heat rose. Checking that none of the ever present ANBU had followed me this far, I closed the door gently behind me and proceeded to strip of my now damp clothing, leaving only the amulet I always wore. It was one of the few things I treasured from my family. Stepping cautiously, I made my way into the steaming waters and sat in the corner nearest the exit. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, letting my thoughts settle on the sounds of the water rather than the stresses of my life.  

[Jenni Deer]

So many things ran through her mind. How much she missed her parents. Or Lilja. She missed having someone to talk to. To express to. Yes, Kaileer was learning and he was actually catching up pretty fast, but it still would take time. Turned around, she pressed up against the wall and crossed her arms on the warm ground and rested her head onto her arms. Hmm. She missed Kaileer but she understood some time was necessary. He needed time to do his job and she needed time to calm down. But it didn't help. She wanted to take down Axel and hurt him. Not kill, no, but hurt.

Her eyelids started to get heavy. Maybe a nap wont' be so- It shot open when she felt ripples of the water. Curious, she pushed away and turned, only to see Kaileer through the stream. With a smile, she approached him, the water only hitting slightly below her shoulder but still enough to keep herself covered. With a smile towards him, she realized they had no way to talk. But she had an idea. Sat beside him, she was facing towards the ground, her knees touched the rocks of the hot springs. Her hand built up enough chakra as she made a beautiful thin layer of ice. She grabbed a rock and wrote, "Couldn't sleep?" And placed the rock onto the ice. When he grabs the rock to write, she would paused him for a moment by touching his hand gently and 'wiped' out her words, gave him a fresh new sheet of ice for him to write on. While she waited, sparkled and beautiful pale sapphires was curious about his amulet and would ask about it. She even wanted to touch it but she feared she would cross the line. Instinctively, her free hand went up and touched the necklace she had on, Axel made it for her. It was a leopard's paw.

Best part?

Hakanai was completely comfortable with the fact that she's nude and he may be nude in this. It was all natural to her.  

[Royal Taorito]

The steamy air muffled the gentle sound of running water, and it was oddly soothing. It quickly became a sort of white noise and my mind finally found a peaceful place to settle, not unlike entering one of the States of Being. My dislike of water aside, maybe this was something I should do more often. After all, meditation was a form of training as well. Taking a deep breath, I sunk up to my chin in the warm water.

There was a sudden shift in the sound of the water, and the sense of movement drew my attention back to the present. I opened my eyes, and the sight I saw made me think I'd fallen asleep. Long, snowy hair flared out in a tangled mess around a bronzed face and pale eyes. My 'dream' elusively avoided showing me anything below sternum height, which I couldn't deny was frustrating. It wasn't until she was right next to me, warmth radiating off of her, that I realized I wasn't actually dreaming. What gave that away? Me clipping my hand against the rock as I instinctively moved--Even in my mind, the idea was embarrassing. It hurt, which meant only one thing.

My mind went blank for an undetermined amount of time. It could have been a second, it could have been several, that I stared at her with a profoundly dumbfounded expression. Then the first words to register were my usual initial reaction to just about everything lately: Holy s**t.

Nearly instantly, I found myself on the far end of the pool, wide awake and probably a darker shade of red than I'd ever been before. "What the hell?!" The words I blurted uncontrollably weren't angry so much as they were panicked. I stared at her for a moment, realized I was staring again, and quickly turned around. "S-sorry!" What are you doing, dumbass? She can't hear you. Unsure if she could even see me through the steam, I sort of signed 'sorry' over my shoulder and clambered out of the pool, intending on vacating the premises and probably hiding in my apartment for the rest of my life.  

[Jenni Deer]

Hakanai have no idea what just happened. He seemed dazed at first, as if lost in thought. Next thing she knew, he was at the other end of the pool as she was a bit startled, moved back as she frowned towards him. What happened? Did someone arrive at the door with an order or something? But it wasn't that. Yes, he was slightly tanned, not tanned as her, but it was enough to see that deep shade of red. She had never seen him this red. Was he already burning up in the hot springs? She expressed concerned as her eyebrows furrowed together just to show that.

He stared and soon, he turned around and signed sorry above his shoulder. He went to get up as she immediately reached and grabbed his arm. "Please." Hakanai spoke softly. "I... don't understand?" Her accent was still nasal, but her voice was genuine. She does seemed confused. And there was even a bit of a hurt tone. With a deep sigh, she removed her hand as she seemed.... crushed. Was it because they are back in Kumogakure they could not be together? "Is it... because we are back in village, we cannot be together?" She questioned once again with voice. He didn't want to write. His loss. She cleared her throat softly, she wasn't used to this. But damn it, he was making it hard! She waited. If he does leave, it means yes, it was because they are in Kumogakure and she will, become very angry if that was the case. Without her thinking, her other hand had found a rock that she can grip... and easily throw.  

[Royal Taorito]

I reacted hastily, and I hated myself for it the second she grabbed my arm. Pausing half out of the water, I listened to her speak. Her voice, despite words strange on her tongue, told me her lack of understanding even without the phrases to back it up. Just the tone was as powerful as any expression. I heard her sigh, and she released my arm. Guilty, I sunk back into the water, facing her cautiously. Confronting her directly, the awkwardness of the situation wasn't as bad as it had been initially. My face still felt like it was on fire, but her feelings were more important.

I kept hurting her.

Again that unwillingness to get close to anyone invaded my thoughts, despite our earlier intimacy, regardless of whether that was the point of the situation. I quickly shook my head in response to her question. Though that was an issue, that wasn't the problem here. No, the point of it was that I was naked, she was naked, and we were in the same room. It was that that I forced myself to focus on, rather than letting my mind sink into despair. I held up a finger, telling her to wait, and then, keeping low, made my way back to the rock she'd tried to write to me on. Couldn't sleep? it said. Glancing back to see that she followed me, I took up a rock to write. What was I supposed to say? Did she not understand that this was indecent? Was that the problem? The more I thought about it, the more it seemed childish. Childish it was then. I wrote small and sloppily underneath her message. "You're naked."

That was the best I could come up with. Backing off, I pressed myself against the wall of the pool, more self-conscious than I probably should have been, and waited.  

[Jenni Deer]

He shook his head and it just fueled my confusion and anger immensely. I couldn't understand why he was acting like this. He even seemed to be distracted. What have I done wrong? Yet, he didn't get out and that gave me a small hint of relief but a huge question. I watched as he made his way towards the flat sheet of ice and he wrote on it.

Nodded softly, I followed and my pale blue hues glanced towards the note. 'You're naked.' Anger fueled up as I growled but quickly stopped. I started to work on my breathing exercises. Why the hell was me being naked an issue!? Did he not appreciate my body? Maybe he found women's body disgusting. Then why in the bloody cloud's name would he kissed me? No. Something was more.

I tried to understand but it didn't work. A deep sigh of frustration emitted from me as my hand went over towards the cold thin sheet of ice as I added another layer. It was my turn to write. 'I don't understand at all. But if you wish, I can put on my bra and underwear if it helps any.' I don't see the big deal. It's not like you can see my breasts from the water, I don't have big breasts like many girls here do that could float on the water. I really wish my mother was still alive. She could explain to me what it means when a man doesn't seem to appreciate when a woman was naked. Considering my mother was naked all the time until she married my father, I thought to do the same but my father said it wasn't good when my mother didn't care.

Society was too weird and hard for me to keep up with.  

[Royal Taorito]

Even before seeing Hakanai's answer, I questioned how and what actually made nudity awkward. Why did society find it indecent? Why did it bring such great discomfort, when there was no issue with it when it came to... more intimate relationships. It really didn't make sense. So if she was raised to believe there was nothing wrong with it, how was I supposed to explain it to her when there was no real reason behind it?

It brought to mind the situation in the ruins of her hometown in the mountains, when we ran into the mountains. The man whose face I'd beaten in more than heavily insinuated he had every intention of taking advantage of her once they'd taken me out--which they hadn't been capable of. I supposed because of how she dressed. But plenty of shinobi dressed scantily. On others I'd met in the past, they used that as a distraction in combat, to those that were vulnerable to it. Others did it because it allowed for freer movement, which was sometimes better than a good defense.

I read her message when she backed off, though I'd already guessed she didn't understand any of it. She offered to put her underwear back on. No, that wasn't what I wanted. Or maybe it was? My brain and my body were telling me two different things. The selfish--and masculine--part of me enjoyed the view very much, but the self-conscious part of me was saying that this shouldn't be happening. Was it wrong to not want her to? Was that considered taking advantage of her?

My head hurt. I came to relax, and I was thinking too much about something insignificant. Sighing, I took the rock to write, waiting a moment for her to even out the ice before getting to work. "You don't have to." I paused briefly so she could read it before continuing. "And no, I couldn't sleep. Thinking too much."  

[Jenni Deer]

I was getting worried. He was taking too much time to respond. My heart thudded against my chest as my arms crossed self-consciously. Leave it up to me to screw things up. I waited. It felt like I was waiting forever. Maybe I was worrying too much? Should I be more aggressive about this and tell him to get over it? It's just a body. My mother always said that people can look but only those that was close to my heart can touch my temple. I found myself biting on my gum as he finally started to write.

When he was done, I leaned in gently and saw his words. So.... if he thinks that I don't have to, why did he reacted so badly? With a soft sigh, I placed my hands on the ground which was a sign towards him that I was going to get up. Whether he looks or not, was up to him. Made my way towards my clothes, I found them. My navy blue underwear and black sports bra. Put them on quickly, I made my way back to the water, even I wasn't immune to the slight cold air though the warm steam from the springs helped with that. My hand placed on his arm to reassure him that I was now... what's the word that they use? Decent? To me, uncomfortable but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

It seems we had a long way to go.

I saw his note as I nodded softly and wiped my hand to make a new thin layer. Picked up the rock, I started to write, "Want to talk about it or just responsibilities?" I decided to go ahead and put down a new topic so he wouldn't feel pressured that he needed to talk about it just to keep a conversation going. "That's a beautiful amulet." Yet I could feel a tension. An elephant in the room so to speak. Did what just occurred already effected how we think of each other? Why was I feeling this tension? I wanted this gone, I wanted to feel connected but how could I when the air felt so heavy?  

[Royal Taorito]

Hakanai pushed herself out of the water and I immediately averted my eyes, only glancing back her direction when she'd turned away. Her fine and toned body was something that I definitely couldn't deny the beauty of. Heat crept into my face again, and I sunk up to my cheeks to hide it while I waited for her return, my breath bubbling the surface of the pool. I felt bad for being the reason she was getting dressed when she came here to relax the same as me. And her being dressed didn't change the fact that I was still nude as the day I was born. Besides that, I was disappointed to see the sight go.

She evidently had no qualms about getting her clothes wet. Although just her underclothes, wet and cold were not a comfortable combination, especially under layers of dry clothes. From my spot mostly submerged in the spring, I watched Hakanai write. Did I want to talk about what was on my mind? Not particularly. But that wasn't because I was telling her; I was that way with everything. I kept my feelings to myself for the most part. It was when they overflowed in the form of rage that anyone really saw anything. She must have gotten that impression from me, because she wrote again. She mentioned the amulet I wore--reminding me again it was the only thing I wore. Drifting closer so that I could write, I thought of the best way to explain its significance to her. It represented my family, and the fact that I did still care about them even if I had left. It in a way symbolized everyone I'd lost along the way too. "It's my family's crest, and a physical representation of what the Hakemoto's purpose," I wrote. "And it's a reminder of what I fight for, too."

Finished writing, I backed off a bit so that she could read. That's all there really was to it. It was a simple significance, but probably the most important to me.  

[Jenni Deer]

Once I saw his answer, a small smile formed on my lips. Sure enough, he didn't want to talk about what's on his mind. That's fine. Slowly, I rose my arm and my fingertips headed towards the direction of the amulet, if Kaileer would allow me. If he showed no signs of backing up or the like, my fingertips would rest on the cool amulet as I touched each curve, the bumps and maybe some dents. With a soft sigh, I removed my fingertips and went to write. Pulled my hand back I gently placed it on the ice and made another swipe to create another thing layer for us to write on. 'We can talk about some things to ease our minds or just relax, your choice.'

For a moment I pondered. I didn't know much about him, and he didn't know much about me either. What better way to try to get to know each other? I could always teach him more sign language but I assumed he may be tired of it at the moment, after all, we had a three day session. Ever sometimes my parents would need a break as well myself from sign language. Silence wasn't so bad after all and we can always relax when we get home or done talking. With a soft sigh, I started to write. "20 questions?" I asked. This way, we can ask each other harmless questions. I decided to go ahead and ask the first one, "Favorite food?"
 

[Royal Taorito]

Her small smile pulled a half-hearted grin from me. She reached out to the amulet, running her fingers over it as she examined it more closely. I tensed instinctively at first, but it lasted all of a brief moment before I relaxed again. It's not like she intended on... doing anything; she didn't even understand why I was so embarrassed about her being naked. Instead I watched her hand move over the lump of metal around my neck through half-lidded eyes. It was strangely comforting.

Her hand moved away, dragging my attention back, and she wrote a quick message. We could talk or relax, and it was my choice. Both? I wanted to 'talk', but the sheet of ice didn't provide much space to write anything more detailed. Maybe she realized the same because she brought up the idea of playing twenty questions. Simple enough game; you ask the other person a question, and go back and forth, trying to learn as much about them as you could within those twenty. There was no winner or loser. I couldn't say it was anything I'd personally played, but I'd definitely heard of it.

Hakanai decided to go first. Favorite food. Well that was an easy enough question. I wasn't particularly picky when it came to food, some my 'favorite' was an entire food group. "Pretty much any form of meat. Pausing a moment, I considered what to ask. I could ask the same, but I think the point was not to. And I could have been wrong, but I was pretty sure I knew both her favorite season and color, more the former than the latter. So I tried thinking of other things. For example, since she could hear, other senses were important to her. That settled my question. "Favorite scent?"  

[Jenni Deer]

While I waited, I decided to take the time to relax. Maybe this wouldn't be a bad idea, we could do both. We can take turns relaxing while waiting on the other answer. My head tilted back slightly as my eyes watched his hand. When he set the rock down, I knew he was done and it was my turn to ask the next question. I saw that he liked all kinds of meat. That was something we had in common. Though it may be because of my tamer side. Speaking of which, I hoped that Shu will sleep through the whole thing because I do not wish to go home and find a cub that's missing and decided to try to find me. He wasn't good at tracking yet.

My favorite scent. That was easy... in a way. Wait. Did he meant my favorite scent on a human or outside? Perhaps I could answer both way. I started to write. "Not sure what kind of scent you mean but my favorite human scent is yours. In the world? Fresh pine trees and lemon." Now I had to think a question. There was so many questions. I had few serious ones but not now. We just started to play the game. "What's your favorite hobby outside of the shinobi world?" With that I moved back to my spot and relaxed until it was my turn.  

[Royal Taorito]

One thing for sure, she was good at saying just the right things to bring a rush of heat to my face. I played it off as just being from the warmth of the pool. She enjoyed my scent? I couldn't imagine it was all that pleasant, with the constant training every chance I could get. But I supposed people had natural scents passed all of that. Hers smelled like snow, with the bitter and yet somehow soothing bite of winter. On top of it was layered a hint of some sort of citrus. Given that was one of her favorites, I assumed she used something with lemon to wash. In all honesty, lemon was too sour to me, but as subtle as it was on her, it blended well. I didn't really like anything that was 'in your face". She also liked the smell of pine. I couldn't blame her there. My personal favorite was the smell of a campfire. Smoke clung to everything it touched and lingered for days. Beyond that, just the scent of outdoors brought comfort.

Her next question was a little more difficult. Hobby? When one's world revolved around one thing, it was hard to find interest in other things. I considered myself a warrior; I'd trained most of my life to reach this point. And before becoming a shinobi, I was part of the Hakemoto clan, a group of monks dedicated to protecting the world from the powers of demons, be it the bijuu or curses. If shinobi suddenly weren't needed anymore, I wouldn't have a purpose. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. "I don't really have any other talents." Grinning slightly, I continued jokingly. "Does sleeping count?"

Glancing her way, I settled for asking the same question this time. "What about you?"