sunshineverse | Academy Days: The Saga Begins!

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Academy Days: The Saga Begins!

Who: Adela Milani (

abileunaspada) & OPEN
When: January 3rd-31st
Where: Konohagakure's Ninja Academy
Notes: Adela is one of the chuunin recruited to be a teacher's assistant for Iruka at the academy! At times it's rough, and at others it's fun, but to be a future Hokage one has to know how to address the youth of Konoha! And, well, give them proper reprimand for nearly burning the buildings down on a weekly basis.

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Adela didn't think she'd have such a hard job in assisting Iruka with his academy classes, but man was she ever exhausted! Between running around, teaching kids combat and stealth skills, breaking up spars that were going too far, dousing fires, testing kids meticulously, and dragging the kids who played hooky back to the classroom for extra lectures and hidden evasion exercises? She was exhausted. Even thinking up that list was hard work!

If Adela wasn't running around and helping Iruka however she could, she was taking one of the few breaks she could with a sigh, a bottled water, and a tune to hum to herself. It wasn't like she was the only aid he had, but that didn't stop the work from being any more tiring. At least on missions out of village she occasionally had the chance to rest!

But, maybe she was being too negative. A smile tugged at the teen's lips as she watched the kids, growing up into the next generation of protectors for the village in a relative era of peace. The future that she'd be protecting with all her might, along with every other shinobi there. Yeah... Times like this, it felt worth it. It felt like her goal was even more important then.

Not that she'd tell the kids that, between teaching them, praising them for good work and scolding them for giving less than their very best in their efforts. There was simply no time, but they didn't need to know the hard work of adults yet either. They were still kids, and they were still allowed the time to be young and carefree so far as she could see.

Yeah. This was way better than her days in Kiri. This was Konoha's Ninja Academy.

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Kiba's grin went wide at her response, relief and genuine happiness washing over him in waves.

"Don't sweat it," Kiba said, shrugging his shoulder before letting their hands part. "I get why you did it, I was an asshole with that whole 'returning the favor' thing, especially before actually getting to know you..."

It sounded as though he'd had some womanly advice about this, and maybe he had, but at his core Kiba was a caring guy - his friends meant the world to him in their numerous amount, and he wouldn't sit idle knowing he'd upset one of them no matter how small the reason.

"I wanna do it the right way round from now on, okay? I mean, I wanna get to know you." God he was bad at this, but luckily he'd sucked up his pride and Akamaru was out of his peripheral vision, so Kiba couldn't tell if the big dog was rolling his eyes at him. "It shouldn't be too hard if we're both here for the month, eh?" A grin just for good luck.

"Maybe longer if Iruka-sensei wants to keep us around, but yeah. Sounds good," Maybe her cheeks were a little pink, but she certainly didn't feel as embarrased as she was last time or even close to it. Being friends and getting to know each other properly? She could handle that. It was sort of remniscent of when they met the first time, actually.

But, in an instant her smile faded as her eyes immediately locked onto the back of one of the boys -- one who had just scaled the wall as everyone else was headed back to class.

"Looks like Takeshi-kun's at it again. Think he knows the drill by now?"

Kiba had sheltered his hands in the pockets of his leather as he'd nodded his agreement, but when she alerted him to the escapee making a break for it his hands splayed out as he span to lock on to his target. In moments he was on all fours, Akamaru at his side.

"I'll go ahead, you block him from retreating, yeah?" he asked, looking up at Adela and grinning. Her speed would definitely compliment his if they could time this right.

"Sure thing. Get going, I'll be ready when he comes my way," Adela nodded, stretching absently before she took off in an instant. It didn't take her long to lay traps - gentle things that wouldn't hurt the child, but traps nonetheless. Maybe it wasn't the right application for her skills, but she also kind of viewed it as training the kids who ran. They'd have to run into things like this anyway and learn how to deal with them...

Now, she just had to wait on Kiba to herd Takeshi towards her. It wouldn't be long, knowing him.

Kiba pelted off before Adela had even finished speaking, but in his blur of movement it was clear to see him salute back over one shoulder. With his other hand he whistled loud to signal for Akamaru, and moments later the beast scored out of what seemed like nowhere, sliding under Kiba till he was anchored on his back.

Kiba and his white canine steed raced forwards and rounded in front of the retreating child in moments. All it took was a glint of Kiba's fangs and a bark of his laughter and Takeshi knew he was caught. That didn't, however, stop him from making his last attempt to dodge the inevitable as he turned and ran back the way he'd just come... Just as expected, Kiba smirked, and raced after him to watch Adela's efforts take effect.

The tell-tale yelp meant that the boy in question was snared, and Adela just laughed as she approached the squirming boy who was hanging in the air by the rope around his leg. Shaking her head, she patted Takeshi's cheek softly and said, "You're not good enough to avoid us yet, Takeshi-kun. That's why you still need the classes, okay? So don't try skipping out again."

She looked to Kiba and Akamaru then, her smile bright as she regarded the two of them, "Great job guys. It gets easier every time."

"You're lucky we're going easy on you, or you'd be regretting skipping way more than you are right now, brat." Kiba commented as he dismounted Akamaru, his look firm but his grin still resolutely in place.

The grin twitched a touch wider at Adela's praise, Kiba bristling like a proud dog getting a pat on the head, and nudged her side with his elbow. "You too, Adela. Wanna let him down? If he runs fast he might make it back before Sensei spots he's gone."

Edited 2015-01-17 21:10 (UTC)

"Hm... No, one more touch, then he can head back to class."

It was cruel, but really -- how the hell else was Takeshi going to learn? The boy froze at the words, and at the black marker Adela had pulled out. She was quick to let him down, and even quicker to stick a piece of paper to his chest with a piece of simple tape. On the paper were bold and legible words reading; 'I tried to skip class and got caught.'

"You can take that off before meeting your parents, but your classmates are going to know exactly why you're the last one through the door today. If you want to try and escape again, you'll have to get away to avoid this again -- in the real world, you'll get a lot worse than a sign to your chest if you get caught on a stealth mission. Understand, Takeshi-kun?"

The grin flashed to him belied the threat clearly and Takeshi gulped, blushing furiously before running back towards the building. He felt more than a little frustrated and humiliated from it, but even a little part of him knew why, at least. And he could make up how long it took the chuunin to get him after all.

Adela just watched him run off before sighing, frowning absently. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she got when she was a kid, but she still couldn't help muttering to herself, "Was that too harsh...?"

Kiba snorted with mirth over Adela's choice of punishment, and at her small admonition of doubt, he looped an arm around her shoulders.

"Nah, personally I would've written it on his forehead, so I think he got off pretty light.." he grinned, then squeezed her shoulders a little tighter. "You're good at this whole.. stand-in sensei thing. Have you looked after kids before?" Kiba only had a little experience from looking after the younger generation of his clan, but Adela was much more adept at it than him, and as far as he knew she had no clan younglings to speak of..

He liked being on good terms with Adela again - hence the comfortable physical contact - and liked seeing her in this kind of environment, too. She seemed to be very happy, and for some reason, that made Kiba happy too.

What the-- she flushed with the contact, a little stiff before she sighed and shook her head, "Not really. M'just doing what feels right for this, and more than anything we're leaders for these kids. We teach them what they can so they can work as ninja when they're old enough, and show them how to do things and why to do them that way."

Their height difference was a comfortable one and Kiba had every intention of keeping his arm steady... but he could sense her tenseness, and could visibly see the look on her face. She wasn't throwing him off, though, and that was definitely progress. Kiba was a very physical person and most of the time those around him were left only with the option of just getting used to it... but somehow Adela was a special case, someone he didn't want to test his luck with.

And so, Kiba retracted his arm after giving her another little squeeze, and folded his arms instead.

"Yeah, though I think you're more of a moral role-model than I am." He mused, then nodded confidently, as close to a compliment as he might get for now.

It happened immediately, she relaxed... But, a sad smile tugged at her lips when he mentioned that, "Yeah, but how moral can we be? We're... We're shinobi. There's gonna be questionable stuff we have to do, whether we like it or not. And like it or not those kids're gonna have to deal with that in the future if they continue on this path."

Edited 2015-02-05 00:29 (UTC)

"Aah, I meant- man, I meant that you're a nicer person than me!" Kiba said, holding up his hands to shake away the confusion she'd found in his words. Nice going, Kiba, trust you to bring the conversation to a low note by accident.. and it was going so well, too. "It's a given that we've gotta have some pretty flexible morals to do our jobs, but.. they'll learn, and it's best they learn from people who better understand what it's like for kids to go through that, than adults who barely remember, eh?"

The expression on Kiba's face surprised her, and Adela just stared at him for a moment before, as much as she could, she tried to suppress something that could only be disguised as a giggle. The smile she was wearing more genuine then, and Adela turned to him with a nod, "Thanks, Kiba. You're right, it's better for them to have a perspective from people who're just going through it for the first time, rather than people who don't fully remember the experience anymore."

Kiba gulped. The noise that just escaped Adela, that sound of honest happiness, the look on her face to match it... Kiba had never imagined in a million years that such a sight would come to light because of him, and he cleared his throat awkwardly as colour hit his face.

"Yeah, well.." He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. "Heh, it's why we're here, I guess." Why the hell was he blushing now of all times? It made no sense!

"Among other things, like keeping runaways from thinking they're ready to escape yet," She nodded, looking to the empty courtyard then with a gentle sigh. Iruka likely didn't need them, but they still should have been heading inside just in case he wanted an in-class demonstration or something during the lectures. Lecture time was about the one time they weren't often called on for help...

Which was essentially a break for them, and a reminder that she still needed to eat. That was about when Adela started absently suffling in her pack, looking for the bento she had packed that morning. It didn't feel like nearly enough food then, but at least it could tide her over until all the kids were picked up after classes let out.

Kiba was thankful that Adela hadn't noticed his blush, and was equally thankful that by the time she'd finished speaking it had almost died down (aside from the faint trace of pink on the tips of his ears).

Food was probably a good plan and, following Adela's suit, Kiba called Akamaru over so he could retrieve their lunches from the pack strapped to the back of the large dog. Iruka-sensei was probably only just settling the class down and taking a roll-call, so Kiba didn't spare much mind to spending just a little longer outside.

He wandered over to a mound of formed wood that acted as a bench, and parked himself down to tuck into what his mother had packed for him. He was probably too old to be still getting packed lunches, but Tsume insisted and when she insisted Kiba knew there wouldn't be room for argument.

"Let's enjoy the quiet while we can, ne?" Adela just grinned, opening her bento and sighing at the scent. It kept warm until lunch time, which was good - perfect, even. It was just simple seasoned hamburger with rice and vegetables, but it'd get her through the rest of the day.

That was when she glanced to Kiba, raising a brow while still wearing that smile of hers, "Hey, Kiba. What've you got for today anyway?"

Kiba held up the note taped to the box, squinted at his mother's penmanship and her crude drawing of a dog, before he removed the lid and peered at the box's contents.

"Looks like salted meat and noodles," Kiba grinned, half a thought away from fist punching the air. His mothers cooking was unprecedented, but out of all the meals she made, this had to be one of Kiba's favourites. The Inuzuka nose was meticulous about smells and sometimes it proved their downfall in the cooking department since spices tended to often taste too strong, but Tsume had cracked the secret... and the evidence was sitting in Kiba's lap.

"Oh, I forgot!" he announced suddenly, and lifted the top tray of the bento to reveal a kibble of cuts in the box beneath, which he placed on the ground for Akamaru.

"That's not nice, you shouldn't forget Akamaru's food," The teasing was light as she got her chopsticks ready, taking those first few bites and enjoying the flavour with a breathed sigh. Maybe Kiba couldn't stand many spices, but Adela? Adela loved them, and the flavour of the meat felt perfectly strong enough -- like there was no way it could improve. The strong flavour was just great!

And it was with contented silence that she just ate, occasionally glancing to Kiba and Akamaru throughout. Not that there was much to talk about, but... Well, just sitting together was nice in its own way, too.

Sitting together in the quiet was definitely nice. Kiba's life was always so full of action and noise given who he was and how he conducted himself.. and Adela was this strange variable in the midst of it all that he hadn't expected nor sought out; but now that she was here he was reluctant to imagine being without her. Of course Adela had her loud moments too, but she was the only person he was able to be quiet with too. Usually it was rare to find him so silent. He was glad they made nice again after their small dispute.

He'd snapped his own chopsticks apart long ago, and was half way through his noodles in mere minutes, almost like he'd inhaled the meal.

Seeing the two eating so eagerly had her amused, and that mirth showed to her face before she went back to her own meal. Normally she'd probably be hurrying just to catch up or compete in some way, but at that time she didn't feel the need to. Simply enjoying her food was good enough, and so was watching them. It was about the only quiet time she had throughout the day.

Still, it took her longer to get halfway through as she glanced to the building again. Classroom was oddly quiet, too... Not that it was a bad thing, but it was a little suspicious at the same time. Was Iruka giving all the kids a test or something? Well, as long as they were behaving...

Kiba finished in record time, always one for eating good food quickly before it lost it's freshness. It didn't really make sense considering the meal had been sitting in his pack for a good few hours, but regardless he never liked to leave food sitting for too long while he ate.. That wasn't to say he didn't savor it, though... and settled back for a moment to let the remnants of taste swill in his mouth as he looked up to the bright blue sky of another beautiful day.

He only looked back toward the ground when a cold nose nudged at his ankle, and glanced down to see Akamaru placing the empty box in his lap. Kiba chuckled, and fit the two layers back together before sticking it back in his pack.

He focused back on Adela then. "You almost done?"

"Yah, giv' me a minu'," Adela didn't even bother swallowing as she spoke, only then hurrying to get the last few bits of rice into her mouth before nearly choking on it. It didn't happen though and she sighed from that painful swallow, shaking her head before reaching for her bottled water, "Sorry, m'done. Didn't mean to make you wait."

Kiba snorted out a laugh, and nudged her in the side with a sharp elbow. "I was gonna ask if you needed me to wait for you, stupid, I wasn't rushing you."

Ah, the teasing was back. Although now it was much more affectionate than it had been - more like light teasing between friends rather than purposeful taunting. She'd have to get used to it from him eventually, no time like the present for a little more exposure.

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