Misplaced Sense of Direction (open)

[Kildred]

Having finished watering the crops, Usio double-checked the list his father had given him. The next harvest would be the two squares on the left-most row. Mostly potatoes and other root vegetables. It wouldn't bring in a whole lot of profit, but it was better than nothing. The harvest after that would be more fruitful (he chuckled softly at his pun), when they brought in the strawberries and grapes. With another chore knocked off his list, he went back inside and hung the list on the wall. Only a knowing nod was given to his parents, who were opening the shop for the day, before he left.

He walked down the street, eying whatever happened to be passing by at the time. He needed to go and practice using his weapon. It was such a hassle to use that he wondered why he didn't just go and buy a sword or something. A ninja rope was so difficult to maneuver correctly, and he often wound up choking himself by accident. Usio looked skyward, watching some birds fly in a V formation. He had taken to just wrapping it around his arm and swinging the heavy end, rather than around his body as he had seen in the manuals. Although, maybe it would be better to sharpen his hand-to-hand skills? It'd be interesting to be better unarmed than with his weapon of choice, or presumed weapon of choice. That was a ninja tactic, right? Deception?

Pain flooded through his jaw as he walked face-first into a wall. Rubbing it away, he looked at the offending structure. It was one of the buildings that had yet to be occupied. Strange. He was certain he was walking in the direction of the training fields, which shouldn't have any buildings near them. Shrugging, he walked inside. The dusty decor did nothing to excite him initially. Still, maybe there would be something interesting to find. He could spare five minutes, after all. Couldn't he?

[Kildred]

Good lord, this place was atrocious. There was no way this place was going to be inhabited anytime soon, unless someone blasted the house away and started anew. As he walked inside, Usio left deep footprints where the dust had built up, as well as kicking a fair amount into the air. Spitting and waving it out of his face, he moved into the next room. Living quarters, it looked like. Wasn't much in here, save for a table. Hell, you could barely even call it that. It looked like it was about to just become a floor decoration. What was up with this place?

He walked into the kitchen, which seemed to be in even worse condition. Cupboards had the doors ripped off, the plaster on the walls were cracked, and there wasn't a single spot to be seen that wasn't coated in this damnable dust. Was the entire building just one giant dust ball? He approached the sink and turned the faucet on, only to have a viscous brown liquid rattle through the pipes and slowly pour out the tap. Quickly turning it off, He reeled back in disgust. "What the hell kind of sink gives you mud when you ask for water?" Deciding that he had had enough of this, he left the building and questioned the first person he came across.

Stopping a man as he crossed the street, Usio asked about the home he had just left. He was informed that it was currently in the process of being remodeled and upgraded before being sold to another family. "Remodeled? In the process? Are you kidding me? Did they start five minutes ago?" He looked at the man incredulously. "Have you even seen the place? I went inside there, and it was like walking through five feet of snow, except it was dust. I left footprints in there a blind man could see! The walls are falling apart, and there was a table. There must be termites or something in there, because the legs are this thick!" He held his fingers up an inch apart. "I turned the faucet on, and the pipes must be broken as hell, because it did nothing but try to give me brown water. I looked out the window, and there was a pigeon on the windowsill. It just looked at me like..." He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he was ashamed. The man chuckled and shrugged, saying he didn't know anything more about it.

Leaving him to his business, Usio looked at the house once more. "That's just...ridiculous. I'll have to talk to someone about this. Someone could get hurt in there." heading in once more, he decided to look at the extent of the damage. This probably wasn't the only house that needed repair, but was the village so short-handed that not even caution tape could be put up?

[Muu Yanagi]

So Damn Hot!!

Strolling along the beaten path through the village, his hands in his coat pockets and sweat obvious on his forehead. His face was that of a boy who might have been working too hard and drained of all energy while his eyes looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. What had Muu In such a hot state today?

The fact that he refused to remove his coat and that he’d just left a hot spring never crossed his mind as a problem as he continued forward. Seems like he’d just suffer until eh cooled off. Besides it had been oh so worth it! The women we’re extra feisty today and when they hooped up to yell at him to leave, he enjoyed the view even more!

A strange grin crossed his mouth as his thoughts turned to a day dream… all before stopping in his tracks, face and body tense and his head slowly turned to the left… The little green haired boy saw something that almost made his heart stop, and his face could be compared to a girl catching her boyfriend with another women… in the ally, just sitting there looking at him with a cocked head… was the … FURRIEST KITTEN HE'D EVER SEEN!!

In an instant he was off, dust and his coat tail flying in his wake as he raced fro the cat, arms out stretched to catch it! It’s reaction, if you could imagine, was as if it’d been struck by a bolt of lightning and took off! The race was on it seemed as The little crazy child chased the kitten through out the village, care not for whoever he knocked over or what broke in his wake.

The cat took refuge in an abandoned, dusty house, hoping to loose the boy inside. But Muu saw it sneak through a crack in the wall he’d never fit in himself, but he didn’t connect that he should find another way in right away, his mind too engrossed with how much he wanted to pet the little crafty feline… and so he went crashing though the wall, the rotten wood giving way easily enough but still he went down into a roll and would end up lying in a pile of broken wooden boards and dust flying up every where… hopefully no one lived here… He’d hate it if they tried to stop him form petting eh kitty!

[Kildred]

Usio was checking out the living room for further signs of degradation. This particular house was made mostly of wood, much of which was already in need of replacement. However much of it made up the house was still unknown, but by the look of things in here, it certainly wasn't good. A noise from the distance made him pause for a second. What the hell is that? Somewhere down the street, a large commotion was taking place. While he tried to recognize the sounds, a small cat darted through a hole in the wall. It obviously didn't expect him to be in here as it jumped and attached itself to his leg in panic. With the claws deeply embedded into his flesh, he jumped on one leg, swinging to get the little thing off of him.

It was immediately after that when something else came through the hole. This time, it was much larger, evident by the fact that it completely bouldered past him and knocked him off balance. The cat jumped off and ran to who knows where while Usio crashed to the ground amongst the rotted wood and rubble. Groaning, he stood up, dust falling all around him from the wreck that just occurred. "When I said someone could get hurt, I didn't mean it should be me..." He looked around, eyes settling on the the boy behind him. "Oi, are you alright? What the hell just happened?" He was already put off by the sudden pain and mess that was made. He hoped there were no more surprises.

[Muu Yanagi]

Grumbling a little and shrugging off the side effects of bursting through a wall, Muu was slowly moving rotted wooden planks off of him as he got up and dusted himself off. A few moments of silence had passed after the other boys question before Muu finally looked up at him with a quizzical expression, mouth in a small “o” fashion but eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days.

Then in a flash eh was at the boy, nose to nose as he started at him before asking…
have you seen a little cat with in the past… oh lets say 2 minutes? It would have been about this big and fur so soft you’d go mad if you couldn’t pet it. So have you seen it?!

The words all came out in a jumble as his eyes grew bigger face to face as he looked at the boy. He had no regard if this was his house, or what he might think and as for his question, well Muu simply hadn’t heard him. Almost as soon as he’d finished asking his rapid fire questions, a noise sounded from the old battered house.

Muu spun around as if he were in a fight, crouching low and expecting some unknown foe to strike out. He was now facing away from the boy, low to the ground and hands ready to move in an instant, even his chakra building. He was an odd one for sure. His face was even back to it’s even look with sleepy eyes.
If you help me find it, I may even let you peeeeet ittt.

And he was off, but not quickly at all. In fact… he was prancing on his tip toes at a snails pace as eh began making his way to the next room. Who could possibly tolerate such a character?!

[Kildred]

The boy looked at him for a little bit before jumping into his face and jumbling off some nonsense he couldn't understand. The rapid movement made him jump back in surprise, but the boy had already switched his attention to whatever had made a noise within the house. He was creeping along on the tips of his toes, mentioning something about letting him pet it if he helped. Usio sincerely hoped he was talking about the cat that darted in here earlier. He could only look at him in fascination as he pondered exactly what to do, as he had never been in this situation before. It's like, I don't want to get involved with him, but I know that if I don't...something bad is going to happen. Taking a few steps, he moved to catch up with the boy. "Look, uh...this house isn't exactly safe. We should probably get out of here before something bad happens." The implication that the boy would be the one to do it went unsaid.

[Muu Yanagi]

Never stopping form his rapid tip toe (almost ballerina like) prance Muu spoke low, as if they’d be overheard by something or someone if they weren’t quiet.
“But then we won’t find the cat and that means it will go un-petted…. We certainly can’t have that. ”

Then He stopped. His body still in the position of the tip toe prance, but his head turned to look at the boy walking to catch up to him.
’ Who are you again? Your not planning on taking the cat for yourself are you?”

Some have found Muu to be a little… Difficult to talk to. Others have thought him a pleasure and a half! But all in all he was a big bag of crazy and didn’t give to flips about this place or how dangerous it was. All he wanted was the cat and he was just now noticing this guy for the first time really.

A lean boy who favored tan colors… maybe he belonged on some expedition somewhere… oh that sounds like so much fun now that Muu considered it. His tired eyes brightened for a minute as he stood up normally. The boy was still taller then Muu but that didn’t bother Muu as long as the kid didn’t bring attention to it.

” Are we going on an expedition?!”

The question seemingly pulled form thin air was directed at the boy and a the slight grin forming on Muus lips was clear that he was serious with his question.

[Kildred]

Usio really didn't know what to make of this kid. He seemed to just go on random strings of thought. "What? I'm Usio, and I don't want the cat. Besides, I'm pretty sure it ran out of here..." At least, he hoped it did. No sense for an animal to be harmed because it was running from someone or something. The boy looked up at him, questioning if they were going on an expedition. "What? No! An expedition is when you go exploring for something. We want to retreat. The house is to dangerous to stay in, cat or otherwise." This kid must have the worst kind of trouble staying on task. And I thought I had problems staying focused...

[Muu Yanagi]

The boy wasn’t after the cat. Phew that was reliving to hear. Muu was considering he’d have to break his new friend for the fuzzy. He could have no competition in those regards and he’d see to it he didn’t. The boy was concerned that they were in danger, where they about to be attacked? Di he know something more he wasn’t letting onto?

Muu leaned back, placing a hand on his hip and scratching his chin thoughtfully with his long finger nails. Should be beat his new friend until he spilled the information about the true dangers of this place? What about the expedition? He clearly knew something about that he wasn’t saying. Just look at the way he was dressed dammit!

While in his thought he was looking off, up at the celling in silence as he pondered, only to re-fix his tired looking eyes on the boy. He let out a small sigh and spoke again, placing a hand behind his head as he did.
”Okay well while you run off to prepare for the expedition I’ll find the fluffy. If you can’t help me do that I’d rather not have you scaring the little precious fluffy pants kitty.”

The weird thing about the way he said it was that it was so matter-o-fact. He was completely serious. And while Muu was a bit sad that his new friend wasn’t gonna help him find the cat for profuse petting, he would settle for having him go prepare the expedition.

Muu turned and stuck his nose out as if he could “smell” where the critter was hiding. He couldn’t of course but it was just a strange thing he was prone to do. He also took both his hands and made circles form his pointer and thumb, placing them over his eyes like glasses, as if it’d help him see more clearly.

”Now where are you, you little fluffy bastard?.”
He whispered to himself more then to anyone in particular. God forbid the kitty hear it and have it’s feelings hurt for being called a bastard. That’d just crush Muu.

[Kildred]

This...Usio could not even begin to comprehend what this boy was thinking about. Was he actively ignoring his cautions? "Look, man. We should not be in this house, and you should forget about the cat. I'm fairly certain it's gonna be way more scared of you, being that you barreled through a freakin' wall and such." Besides flat out ignoring his pleas to leave the building, which he suspected was going to get much more dangerous real soon, this kid was likely harassing the poor cat that almost shredded his leg earlier. "Why are you so determined to get that cat anyway?" Did he just smell the air? Really? Did that even work?

[Muu Yanagi]

Continuing his slow and tedious search Muu replied to him.
”Forget about the fuzzy? How can I? I must pet it so it can be petted and loved. Why are you in such a hurry to leave this wondrous place?”

He was speaking to him indirectly, his first priority was to search for the kitty. But it was now that Muu started to take more of an interest in the building as he looked around. Eying the ceiling to the floor and then the walls. It was truly in rough shape but that just meant it had seen plenty of parties right?

[Kildred]

"Well, for starters, the cat does not want you to pet it. It wants you to leave it the hell alone, hence the running away. Second, what on earth gives you the impression that this place is 'wondrous'? It's a ramshackle house with rotted wood that is likely to collapse under it's own weight!" Usio was getting agitated now. The boy just seemed to lack common sense, and quite frankly, he had no idea how that could even be. Was he just ignoring reality to cope with some trauma? No, it wouldn't do to jump to conclusions. Another noise echoed from the room next to them, but it sounded distinctly un-cat-like. "Seriously, it sounds like something's gonna fall down. We need to go."

[Muu Yanagi]

Muu stopped looking about and looked back at the boy, stopping to stand up straight in his small stature. He didn’t speak right away, but just watched the tan dressed boy. Eyeing him with lazy eyes and an unsmiling expression, he thought. First about the trip they’d be taking. After all no one would dress in such an unstylish getup if they weren’t going on some sort of trip. Secondly he thought of the kinds of parties that might have been thrown in this place to leave it in such a condition, then he decided he thought the boy was a scaredy cat.

He was so concerned with leaving he house that he was forgetting to enjoy life. And Muu didn’t like being told, or made to do anything he didn’t want to and now that he found such a cool little play house he was going to spend some time here. Plus it was cooler in here then outside in the sun. He completely ignored everything he said about the cat, he could never believe they didn’t love him and thus he never would. They all just liked to play hard to get.

The noise sounded in the old place, and Muu didn’t even give it the time of day. He could have cared less and his mind was already a million different places, mostly now concerned with finding out the secrets of this old place, maybe even breaking it… oh how he enjoyed breaking things…
”If your scared then go, Your expedition probably isn’t gonna be that exciting anyway.”

Then Muu turned his attention to the next room and walked in, turning around the corner and into a hall way… well what used to be a nice hall way. It was moldy and had some holes in it and a hole down a bit in the ceiling leading up a floor. What a dump… but an interested dump!

[Kildred]

Usio watched the boy wave him off and walk into the next room. Was he serious? "I'm not going on an expedi- no. You know what? Fine. Go pet your cat in this damn place. I don't give a damn. You wanna act like an idiot? You're gonna do it alone. I'm outta here." Moving to leave the house, he shoved his arms in his pockets and walked off with a scowl. How anyone could ignore such obvious signs of danger was beyond him. And for what? A cat that adamantly did not want to be pet, much less be near the kid? If he didn't have a few screws loose, it'd be a damn miracle. Not my house, not my cat, not anyone I know, so it's not my freakin' problem.

-exit

[Muu Yanagi]

After what seemed like hours of searching, Muu discovered the house was empty or the cat was an excellent adversary and had beaten him. Oh as much as he wished to pet the fuzzy… he had to concede this time. He was hungry or so it might seemed for he had begun arguing audibly with his stomach as he walked through the creaky old abandon house.

He made his way to the same hole in the wall he had made and entered form and ventured outside, to find something to appease this grouchy thing he called a stomach monster. The fuzzy winning this round.. but the next would go to Muu!!

---

~Exit~