For the love of Beautiful Flowers - Side Story

A gentle breeze moved the long grasses in ripples appearing as waves, their green and tan patches mixed furiously as if the ground had no really well or poorly watered spots, and here in the middle of this field, in what was a naturally occurring flower garden sat a most unlikely subject. Sitting down on his knees taking in the scent of each flower, his eyes closed and his mind reaching further inside himself. This was training, and relaxation. He hadn't eaten since doing his rounds, his focus to overcome his hunger and the exhaustion of a day's hard work were the forefront of this training. It was designed to enhance his control over his body. The smell of the lovely blooms helped the young genin to focus, stating his attention there and turning inward.

This training was to overcome the disruptions in concentration that made opening gates impossible for the uninitiated. He'd really stumbled upon to them the first time he reached deep within himself to go faster, and jump further and run longer. The next day he'd exhausted himself. It was after this religious experience that he'd decided to study, not scrolls, but himself to draw out his own power. This type of training, also allowed him to develop a type of hypersensitivity, sometimes he could feel an approaching person's presence, or maybe it was their Chakra, when they got close to him, even if he couldn't hear them or smell them.

It was this very hypersensitivity, the first notified him of a someone intruding on his personal training, he was far enough away from the core of the village that if he were attacked by an intruder that he'd be without back-up.

Kensai's eyes opened slowly and locked onto the intruder.

If Kensai were looking for any sort of threat in his unexpected 'intruder' he'd need to really strain his imagination to glean any sort of danger from the situation now presented to him.

Through the field of flowers casually strolled a calm young woman with platinum-blue hair who appeared to be entirely oblivious to his existence in the same area as her. She hummed quietly to herself, small wicker basket in hand, and went about her way examining the flowers at her feet and occasionally stooping to slowly and carefully snip this or that one that she found interesting at the stem. With the task done, the obtained bloom would be gently placed in the basket and she'd continue forward with her collection.

She paid Kensai no mind, even as she passed straight by him. That's how engrossed in her work she was.

The young white haired boy was puzzled, had he just unlocked the secret of invisibility? No. He was overthinking this, she was really focused on flowers at the expense of all else. She'd happened right by him just like a bumble bee on the way between flowers. A bumble bee with long hair that didn't look like it had much of a sting.

This woman was far away from the village minding her own business not stopping to question an unfamiliar face at all. Kunouchi came in all different sizes and appearances. If the academy taught him anything it was that.

He'd not had the seniority to rent his own section of training ground. Since this was public land he really couldn't think that she was spying on him. What would she learn? How to sit still for hours on end? Something that she looked bad at, the way she seemingly floated from flower to flower.

"Hello." Kensai greeted, the insecurity in his voice apparent, as he spoke to an attractive older member of the opposite sex. He wasn't quite sure why she was here beyond the obvious picking flowers, but to so casually walk by someone in deep thought without a whim to startling them was slightly unsettling. It wasn't like she tried to hide her presence after all.

Kensai's greeting would garner a response he most likely wasn't expecting. The moment the first syllable was uttered, Isuzu loosed a shrill screech of fright and leapt straight up, her arms flailing out in a panic and scattering her collected flowers in all directions. Choosing the least possibly effective defense against a surprise attack, the moment her feet touched ground again she toppled like a ragdoll straight back into the field of flowers, now entirely unconscious. With a simple hello, Kensai had defeated his intruder.

What had just happened? Kensai had jumped to his feet in reaction to her sudden freak out. She had surprised him just about as much as he had surprised her. Now he was simply confused, he was sitting there the whole time, just like a flower and here she practically walked right up to him. Was this woman that completely oblivious? Was this some kind of trap?

Unlikely on the latter count, and unsure on the former. Either way he now had a passed out woman right in front of him to take care of. And today was starting out so great too. The position she landed in was awkward, and if she stayed that that she might be sore. Of course his first thoughts were too the woman's well being, Kensai wanted to help all people.

However as he approached, his hands stopped, though she was a mess on the ground, he couldn't bring himself to touch her. If she awoke during the proceedings then she would think he was a pervert! Right!? But then she'd be sore as well which wouldn't help him. Then again if she stayed there too long it might cause her some kind of big injury which, since he can help her avoid it, he might regret.

Well. He couldn't just stand by after all. To help people sometimes you actually had to help them, not make them help themselves. Kensai however would be overly careful to not touch anything that wasn't completely appropriate. Finally settling her head on the basket which she'd dumped all of her flower from, and waited for her to come around.

And he wouldn't have long to wait before Isuzu began to stir with a low groan of mild discomfort and confusion.

"Nngh..." Her drowsy, cyclopean gaze flicked about her surroundings as she began to slowly recall what had happened before her eye went wide as she caught sight of the one who had caused her to faint in fright in the first place.

She didn't flee or, god forbid, faint again... but she would simply lay there with her head slightly raised off the basket she'd been resting on with a wide eye as if she were a doe stuck in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

Thankfully the girl didn't wake up when he was adjusting her. Immediately he blushed when she locked her gaze right on him. He looked away for a moment, gently grasping one of the flowers she'd tossed about, and held it out for her. His movements showed no hesitation, but his action as a whole showed quite a a bit of uncertainty. "N-Nee-san dropped her flowers." He stuttered about as shyly as one could, trying not to make eye contact.

"Were you collecting them?" Of course of all the obvious questions he could ask, Kensai had to choose perhaps the most obvious. His bout of shyness would most likely break if they were to get a real conversation started?

"Oh no!" Isuzu panicked, immediately clumsily leaping up to her feet like one who had been laying down for far too long, snatching the basket up from the ground as well as the flower from Kensai's hand. "They must've gone everywhere!" She was quick to toss the flower back into its rightful place in the basket before beginning to scour through the flower patch for all the flowers she'd just carelessly flung into the wind like so much garbage. Her own nervousness and fright were immediately dispelled by returning to her work.

"I need to collect them. It's... it's what I do," Isuzu explained quietly to Kensai as she rummaged about for her previous quarry. "If I can't sell enough flowers I can't make a living."

"Would Nee-san... like my help?" Kensai asked coyly looking round at all the scattered flowers. "I mean I did scare you, and all. So I feel really bad." Now he was rambling. Pushing himself to his feet Kensai gathered another handful of loose flowers, and presented them to Isuzu, at arms length.

He knew what it was like to have a job, or two that allowed him to make a living, since he'd left the orphanage, he'd been a courier, and only recently had he switched over to being a Shinobi. In fact he hadn't even received his first paycheck yet.

"Oh, don't worry about it... It happens... a lot, but if you'd like to help I don't mind..." Isuzu responded, still hopping about to the places where her flowers had been displaced to scoop them back up once again. It was unusual to speak to someone shy since she herself was normally the shy one. She slowly found herself speaking a bit faster and more surely than she did with the average person.

She halted when Kensai held out a handful of flowers for her to take, reaching out to accept the bundle with a grateful nod.

"Thank you... I really do appreciate the help." And she followed it up with a bright smile.

"Umm... you're very welcome Nee-san." Kensai couldnt think of anything unusually witty or bold to say so he stuck with the obvious response to the blue haired woman's accolade. Wait. Kensai realized that he didn't know her name, he'd been calling her Nee-san this whole time like a complete dope! He'd not even introduced himself like a impolite child.

Gathering up flowers as quickly as possible Kensai kept to the task finally mustering up enough courage to look at the girl who was now right in front of him reaching for the same flower. "My... My name is Yamamoto Kensai, what's Nee-san's?" He asked rushed looking into her eyes, and suddenly blushing and turning away. If he'd gained any confidence before in working with Isuzu it was gone now with being in such proximity with her.

Was that smell Lavender? There wasn't any in her basket or growing nearby. Why did he Smell Lavender... was it her? She smelled good.

And that thought didn't help him to look at her either.

"Fujikage Isuzu," the flower girl replied after retrieving the flower from Kensai's grip and adding it to her collection. She gave a deep bow in her greeting before adding, "It's very nice to meet you. Do you come around here often?"

Her greeting completed, Isuzu didn't linger for any longer, not wanting him to see the bemused grin trying to show itself on her face. It was rare that she met someone who behaved similar to herself. He was... cute. Is this what people thought of her?

She moved along quickly, even once she'd found most of the flowers she'd lost she still had more to collect before she could bring an end to her flower picking.

A simple "Yes." would have sufficed in Kensai's case but he couldn't even choke that up. Looking away from the girl and taking a deep breath the white haired young man, looked back to the young lady with his words prepared. "I," And promptly choked on them. "I come here to..." and suddenly lose the words when choking wasn't the problem. "Uh... Meditate."

Really he came out to this remote place to be alone, and among nature, to pull the beauty of this place inward and concentrate on the workings of nature to help Kensai understand both his body and mind. It'd been the secret he'd used to unlock the first of the Eight Gates by himself without any previous training in the art. Which in turn helped him to be a better Shinobi. Something the lovely older woman might not guess just with just her interactions with the shy boy.

"O-oh..." Isuzu turned back to him now with a look of mild concern. She certainly hadn't meant to interrupt his meditation... and with so much useless chatter on her part! "Um... I guess I'll let you get back to that. I'm sorry for interrupting!"

With her apology given, Isuzu was quick to offer a polite bow of apology before rushing off further along the flower bed in an attempt to give the boy some space to think without her getting in his way and mucking up his meditation.

"No..."Kensai blurted reactively. "Uh that is, well, I would like for Fujikage-nee-san to stay..." his voice trailed off as his gaze averted bashfully again. "I come here to listen," Kensai started explaining out of the blue, "to the birds and the wind and the bugs," he was going somewhere witht his but the blush in his cheeks was slowly building and it was obvious the one breath he was speaking on was quickly running out. "But most especially the flowers. They tell me that they like having Fujikage-nee-san around." And that was all that Kensai, the young shinobi, had to say on the matter.

Well besides "Please Stay." In almost a whisper tone.

At Kensai's initial utterance, Isuzu's feet froze in the midst of fleeing as she turned back to look to him as he continued to speak to her nervously.

"Hm..." was the only sound she made, her expression of concern turning upward slowly into a warm and welcoming smile. Eventually she relaxed entirely, spinning on her feet to return to Kensai's side. She sat down right next to him and made herself comfortable with her basket in her lap before speaking again.

"Then how about we meditate together?" she asked.

It was shocking that she'd actually heard him, with how hushed he was, it was even more embarrassing for the young white haired man. And when she sat next to him, Kensai could feel his throat tighten. as if a flustered Kensai could focus in his present state. He tried to concentrate and push the frustration out of his mind but it wasn't working. He attempted to listen to the world around him but could only hear his heart beating in his ears. What was he going to do?

Shaking his head to try and clear off the haze that this lady was causing him turned out to be more than he could handle. It was time to break out the big guns. "Does..." Kensai tried speaking but abruptly stopped short, pushing himself up onto his knees and moving out in front of Isuzu, before sitting on his feet again. "Fujikage-nee-san, do you know any meditative techniques?" He seemed to stare at the small spot of grass that separated the two of them.

"Meditation, turns your focus both deeply inward and distantly outward." Kensai explained placing his hands on his knees, palm up relaxed. "Deep slow breathing, keeping as quiet as possible. An upright posture is necissary for this, it also helps keep the muscles of the torso and abdomen relaxed." Kensai wasn't explaining for himself, he wouldn't have been able to keep it together for such a long winded tutorial, merely relaying something his Academy teacher had taught him. "Close your eyes, and breath, slow and deep."

It was somehow easier, knowing that she would be following along with him. Like he'd taken a more aggressive role, even though he was relying on someone else's words. As he closed his eyes and breathed, the world of sight and his silly emotion faded away. He could tell that she was following right along with him, as he felt the world around and within.

Rather than answering his question verbally, which Isuzu feared may set Kensai back in his attempt to tutor her, Isuzu instead let relaxation take her, sitting straight with her legs crossed and the basket still in her lap. She'd let the question be rhetorical and show that she at least knew the basics through her own attempt to relax in the warm sunlight, her feathered wings ruffling a bit at her back and she truly settled in with her hands on her knees.

Once Kensai was going through his brief tutorial, Isuzu was bringing her eyes to a gentle close, breathing through her nose and out through her mouth in easy breaths as her mind cleared of all but the one thing that centered her emotions and thoughts. She didn't want to burst Kensai's bubble, but she wasn't exactly new to this.

She was either an apt learner, or more likely she'd been taught the basics of meditation before, taking a relaxed position and closing her eyes. Kensai felt a little bit like a fool, before realizing that he'd gone through the instructions as much to walk himself through it as to calm her. Though that thought did little to comfort him or make him less self-aware.

Still he'd managed to throw off the yoke of self-consciousness. How lame would he look if he went through all that instruction and not be able to get into a proper meditative mindset?

Kensai took another deep breath and cleared all that away, she was here with him and that was what mattered to the young man. The sounds of his breathing faded away as he took a connection with nature around him, the slight buzz of bugs pollinating flowers, the woosh of hawks circling high overhead looking for their meal, the scurrying of field mice trying to escape being said meal.

Further more, he started to become less conscious of himself and more conscious of his crush, she was of perfect posture, prim and proper. Far more so than he was, but she was far more relaxed than he was. It was only a moment that he'd realized they were both breathing at the same time, the deep breaths and long slow exhale were in synchronous, this was wholely unintentional on Kensai's part, though it was almost as if their hearts were beating at the same pace as well, though with they way his emotions had fluttered about so much...

...and he was being self-conscious again, losing the depth of meditation that he'd had before she'd come along. Why was she so disturbing? Was it just that she was a woman? Or maybe that Onee-chan was so cute? Sure she would be able to sense the turmoil within him at this rate.

Isuzu had noticed the synchronicity of their bodies as well and made a habit of keeping the timing; something to concentrate on that would keep her in meditative balance without throwing her off.

What did throw her off was when Kensai's breathing went off pace and more erratic, causing her to furrow her brow a bit as her own timing was disturbed. She didn't bother to open her eyes, only speaking up in question.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I... Uh... That's..." Kensai stammered, his eyes open and set upon her in fear that she might discover that she herself was the source of his disruption.

PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!

In her meditative state she might realize that Kensai, while speaking, was far more tense than he'd been before, though his stammering and grasping for complete phrases could hardly be counted as speaking at all. He was fidgeting and shaking a little bit as he tried to come up with a suitable answer as to why he was so troubled, but the only thing he could think of was her, but he didn't mean like she was a problem, but that she was distracting. NO! That wasn't it. What was he trying to say? That her presence kept his mind from settling that she excited him? NO! Wait it wasn't quite like that!

She would be able to see through him like he was made of glass, he was practically transparent.

"I'm Sorry..."

Isuzu's reply to the apology came as a simple, and hopefully calming, hand gently falling upon Kensai's shoulder, grasping only tightly enough to remain in place. She still had yet to open her eyes and her briefly troubled expression formed into the light hint of a smile.

She had no plans to speak or even face him, simply leaving her hand on his shoulder until he either calmed or freaked out even further at contact that even she considered possibly too intimate for two recent acquaintances to share. Still, it seemed the best way to calm and reassure him in a single moment and didn't rely on her own fumbling over words to reassure him.

For a moment it might seem like Kensai was pent to explode an run away crying or something like that. The young white haired boy's breathing became jagged for a moment, his body actually shook at the contact. The emotional turmoil came to a head and shortly fell off as the boy started to understand that she wasn't there to be impressed, she was there because he'd asked her to stay.

Taking a deep breath in the boy was to start again, he released it slowly bringing his hand up and placing it on hers. It was perhaps the most calming contact he'd received since he'd come to this place it seemed almost motherly. A thought Kensai didn't bother to question. He would take and release another deep breath.

Soon he was relaxed and reflecting and letting the meditations commence, not only sensing the world around them but also the world within them.