Legerdemain
Eagerly excited golden-amber eyes flicked about at a speed that made it impossible to take in any real detail of the room he was sitting in. The twelve year old boy was beyond the capability of waiting for much longer and he had only been sat down for a mere three minutes; in his excitement Taida had arrived at the classroom almost an hour earlier – something he wouldn’t be making a habit of in the future – meaning he was currently sat alone with nothing but the slow echoing ticks of the clock and his fidgeting to keep him company.
Like most boys his age there was only one thing that could make him this excited while sitting at the academy; last week he had graduated from the ninja school and was now considered a fully-fledged ninja by his village. His fidgeting developed from merely looking around in every direction to his gloved fingers tapping the desk while his left hand trailed up absentmindedly reached up to run across the smooth metal of the brand new headband adorning his head, currently placed on his head resting in a position that pushed down his bronze coloured fringe but was still accessible to pull down into the ‘traditional’ forehead placement. In truth he was a little annoyed that the blue fabric didn’t match the rest of his outfit which consisted of a dull red coloured shirt, a black vest visible underneath where the fabric gaped, paired with Khaki coloured shorts that reached the genin’s knees.
Originally he had been wearing black coloured sandals but in a vain attempt to colour co-ordinate he switched them to match his bright blue head band fabric.
In a twist of ironic timing, it would later become apparent to Taida why this was ironic, the doors to the classroom opened and what he could only assume to be teammate arrived. The girl was pretty, but then to him there wasn’t a girl who wasn’t, and on paper would sound very plain looking yet she was anything but.
Long dark brown hair framed a face that still had traces of ‘puppy fat’ and pretty brown eyes, lighter than her hair but still darker than his amber orbs, met his as the door swung shut. Her outfit was simple, a long lilac vest top with tight black Lycra shorts and matching knee-high black sandals & elbow length, fingerless gloves, but there was something about how she fiddled with her own hitai-ate which rested around her waist that gave off a shallow air.
Taida was sure he had seen the girl around the academy, but in a different class group – while he recognised her if he was completely honest he couldn’t place the young girl. While the bronze haired boy enjoyed the company of girls, and even at his age his pretty face and confidence meant he was never short of female attention, he never actually paid much attention to them – which often landed him in trouble. This time he knew he was in the clear, the look in her eyes was not one of infatuation or irritation – she had no connection to him what so ever which would make things easier.
“Hey there, you’re part of the new team 4 right? Well you must be if you walked into this classroom” he grinned, a bright beam of a smile that was both youthful and exuberant – his eyes scrunched together and a small laugh fell past his lips as he realised he was stumbling over his words, “I’m Taida, Kamiyaka Taida – nice to meetcha’!” again he beamed, clasping onto his confidence and moving his hand from the cool metal plate and offering it to her. Glove met glove as the girl took his hand and shook it in a polite but short manner, a small smile pulling at her lips. Much like him there was no sense of shyness around her, every mannerism she had oozed of the same self-confidence.
“Winsor Mimizawari, but you can just call me Mimi since we’ll be on the same team I guess. I really glad I’m on a team with a cute boy, I was worried I’d be stuck with some ug-o” her voice carried on the confidence that he had felt from her, though unlike his boyish tone hers was coming across as almost…snobby. He was never one to judge straight off the bat and in return he moved his hand to the back of his head, rubbing the spikes of his styled hair as he smiled back.
“Well I’m glad I have such a cute girl on my team, gives me something to look at when we’re doing something boring” before she could react though there was an almost inaudible sigh from just behind the brunette and the flirting pair looked towards the door to see a rather pained look etched into pale features.
“Please don’t tell me they’ve stuck me on a team where they’ll be some sort of love interest. Do you know how often it happens? It’s cliché and not to mention bugs the whole dynamics of the team itself…” dark eyes switched between the pair before they shut in irritation. Before the new comer could continue Taida huffed defensively and sat forward in his chair to send a twitching stare in the boys’ direction.
“You’re just jealous!” he accused dramatically causing Mimi to stifle a laugh behind a gloved hand and the black haired boy to open one eye and stare at him before opening the other as he turned to look over the girl. “Why would I be jealous?” he asked rhetorically. The annoyed glare and sound of strangled anger this time came from the pretty brunette, who was very clearly not used to being shot down – even at such a young age and admittedly indirectly. Still the pale boy remained unaffected; an almost bored stance was taken as the two tried to find their words while staring at him in outrage, he crossed his arms and glanced out of the classroom window.
All three genin had arrived early; admittedly one was only because he was excited, so to be waiting for their Jonin-sensei was expected. It was mid-morning so the sunshine was already shining brilliantly through the classroom windows, illuminating the dust particles as they caught the light – yes Kyoya was that bored of his teammates stares he was noting such things. Another thing he noted was the comical fact they had certain aspects of their outfits the same, they were all wearing fingerless gloves for one – admittedly his were simple ones compared to the girls elbow length ones and the other boys with the flared out wrist coverings – and they all had shorts on too, if their sensei showed up in the same gear he would find it far too creepy for his liking.
The main differences his outfit brought was the distinct lack of colour, while they were either wearing bright lilac or brilliant claret he was in a dull ink navy three quarter sleeved shirt and with black-grey baggy shorts. The sleeveless vest he wore over the top of his shirt was a deep royal blue, matching the colour of his gloves and clashing nicely with his headband and sandals – the crest of his clan was stitched into the back of the garment to be worn with pride.
Eventually the angry silence was broken by the door once again opening, similar in silence to the way he had entranced only because no one was talking or moving this time they all took note of the new arrival. He was taller than all of them by at least a foot, which would be obvious considering he would be expected to be much older than the genin, and was wearing the traditional Konoha uniform minus the undershirt – meaning the males toned and slightly scared arms were on display. Wouldn’t you know it the guy was wearing fingerless gloves to boot, the irony.
Brilliant bright blue eyes scanned the room before landing on the three who were already occupying the room, who in turn each stared back at him as they waited for something to break the moment.
“Why…hello there” the older male offered an awkward smile as still 3 pairs of eyes stared up at him in a manner he could only describe as baby chicks at their mother. A gloved hand ran through his hair, a brilliant white which overhung his headband in a choppy style, as he tried to come to terms with the fact that not only would he be leading a team for the very first time but it seemed they were all stuck in place, staring at him.
“You can call me Kai-sensei…you don’t need to know my last name, after all secrecy is an important part about being a ninja. I wasn’t expecting you all to be here so early but I’m glad you are it shows you’re all eager to get started on your path to becoming ninja, but before we begin why don’t we introduce ourselves formally to one another.” Deciding that an introduction of his name was enough, and since he was the teacher what he said would most certainly go, he pointed towards the pale Uchiha and nodded as a signal it was his turn.
“I’m Uchiha Kyoya, I’m eleven years old…” he paused, not really understanding what was expected from him in this introduction – after all his very sensei had just said only moments ago that secrecy was an important part of being a ninja. Apparently he had indeed given enough of an ‘introduction’ since the finger moved this time to the girl who merely blinked and smiled slightly before nodding.
“I’m Winsor Mimizawari, I’m eleven years old too – I’m the first of my family to become a ninja” her smile turned into a small grin, obviously proud of the feat. The white haired jonin smiled and nodded, pleased with her explanation since he had of course heard of the Uchiha clan and their prowess in the ninja arts and equally he knew without the need of introduction which clan the flame haired boy belonged too, but still without even waiting for the finger to move to him the boy spoke up.
“I’m Taida; I’m twelve which makes me the oldest – which would obviously make me the leader of the team too, which is great because I make an excellent leader! Plus I’m strong too, I’ve already unlocked the first stage of my Kekkei Genkai!” he exclaimed in a proud tone and with a matching smile that dwarfed Mimi’s claim before turning to look at Kyoya pointedly, “If you’re an Uchiha that means you could have the Sharingan, do you have one? Even if you do I bet I could beat you, what can a fancy eye do against awesome power like mine?” again he grinned, his cocky attitude was annoying but not grating. There was something about the sincere eagerness that made it just about bearable to listen to the gloating and forced rivalry; but then Kai had only been in the room for two minutes he figured after a few days it would eventually get on his nerves.
“Okay settle down, we’re teammates – you shouldn’t be fighting to see who is the strongest, we should be fighting together to be the strongest” he sighed slightly and looked over his team; they didn’t seem like airheads despite their pretty appearances, neither did they seem un-teachable despite their over excitable ways, even though they didn’t seem pretty close he deemed it natural for children who had just met to not gel instantly – Kai knew over time he could grow and develop team 4 into something great and that was all he needed to keep the smile on his face as he led them out of the stuffy classroom and towards the training grounds for the teams very first training exercise.
