A stroll through the village

His new little friend Riko by his side, Tatsuhiro strolled down the scenic mist covered streets of Kiri at a leisurely pace. Taking in the familiar sights and enjoying the company of the energetic young girl.

Riko looked around with a brigh tlook on her face. "You know, I rather enjoy the town at this time." She said and then held a child like smile on her face. Sometimes she wondered why she became a swordsmen but she knew it was to use her skills and be known for them. If she could use her skills for a reason then she was happy. "Everything's so peaceful!" she giggled happily.

" Mhm, it's such a good view at this time of day." Tatsuhiro replied, motioning towards the sun which was just beginning to redden in the sky, which reflected off the abundant mist and water in the village. Creating a beautiful reddish tint in the aforementioned things.

Riko looked at the hues of red then smiled, "Wow that's so pretty!" She says looking excited she loves watching the sky get darker. Riko peers toward Tatsuhiro, "You've probably seen the sky change colours like that a lot, huh?" She smiles lightly, everyone older than her had. But she didn't care. Her hands were clasped together and a kind smile on her face.

"Mhm, lots and lots of times, though the only other place that can compare in sunsets is Kumo." Tatsuhiro informed her wistfully, thinking back to a duel to the death he had once had with a Kumo nin at sunset in his foes home. That had been a glorious battle indeed, he mused with a smile.

"Say, want me to show you a trick?" He inquired, looking down at the child with a smile as he noticed a classic game of 'guess which bowl the rock is under for money' going on nearby.

Riko looked at Tatsuhiro, "Oh, yes please." She said and then smiled lightly, she wanted to see a trick. Most of the simple things could awe her. She turned to peer toward the table where the man was shuffling bowls taking bidders. then she looked back up at Tatsuhiro. "What's your trick?" She asks brightly.

"This eye under here", he whispered to her conspiratorially, tapping the metal of his headband with a smirk. Then, after checking to make sure that not even the bulging veins would be visible because of it's activation, he activated it by beginning to feed chakra into it.

Looking around with the, by now, familiar near 360 degree vision, Tatsuhiro made a habitually scan of the chakra of everyone in the general area. Picking out several shinobi in the area by the strength and maturity of their chakra, he was most drawn to the chakra of his little companion however. Who not only had chakra in great abundance, but whose chakra seemed to be moving about
very strangely. Focusing in on her, he almost immediately found out the cause of this abnormal chakra flow. The seemingly normal little girl before him had a body that was riddled with unnatural holes and passageways, inside of which crawled about a veritable army of insects.

Staring at her in blatant shock for a moment, he finally got a hold of himself enough to calmly ask, " sweetie, you do realize your body is full of bugs, right?" Thinking that perhaps some enemy had done this to her or something with some horrendous and cruel jutsu.

"..." Riko looked down for a moment, before grinning, "Yeah I know that." She says brightly now, wondering why he was so shocked. "I mean doesn't that make sense why all my friends are insects?" She asks lightly hoping he doesn't think she's any sort of freak. She rubs the back of her neck grinning slightly, her blue eyes hold a shy look to them. She doesn't really talk about her bugs all that much since it scares most people away.

"Anyways! Suzumebachi is a bug user clan one of the more stronger one's... Well we were." Riko says the last part with a warm smile, then peers at Tatsuhiro. Her blue eyes hold a kind look to them, most people were shocked when they found out her whole boyd was riddled with bug.

"..........Doesn't that hurt or something?" He inquired, still a bit shocked by this revelation. He'd always thought that the rumors of clans that turned their bodies into living insect hives where just that, rumors.

Inwardly wincing in shame at this, he lowered himself onto one knee so that they where more or less equal in height. " Nah, all your friends aren't bugs anymore." He assured her with a smile, reaching out and petting the top of her head.

Riko stared at Tatsuhiro, "Ah no, not at all. I mean they're great, they would never hut me." Riko says brightly speaking fondly of her little bugs. She looks at Tatsuhiro not knowing if she should be offended. Probably not he seemed more curious than anything. Shocking as it was, Riko never understood why people reacted like that. Her blue eyes sparkled playfully, "all of them are very tame." She says now, opening the palm of her hand as a few spiders crawled around on the palm.

Riko watched as Tatsuhiro went down to her height, then smiled. "Thank you Tatsuhiro, it means a lot to me." She says softly, then gives a faint smile. Well she had a new friend she could show her mother! That'd be nice, her mom was always complaining that she had no other friends than her bugs..

Watching as several spiders crawled out of her body and into the palm of her hand, Tatsuhiro observed that she did indeed seem to be tell the truth. The insects weren't doing her body any harm at all besides what burrowing had been needed to make their little 'nests' in her body to begin with. " Not a problem at all, I'd have to have a heart of stone not to be friends with you." He assured her, removing his hand from her head and silently adding though my guts of steel certainly helped just a little bit.

"Anyway, I promised you a trick, so how about I show you how I always make a killing off these games, hmm?" He inquired cheerfully, waving in the direction of the game nearby.

Riko looked at Tatsuhiro, then nodded her head, "Yeah! That sounds like it'd be fun." She says brightly, letting the spiders crawl back up her arms to do as they pleased. Her bright blue eyes shone brightly as she looked at Tatsuhiro, she wanted to see his trick. Although she noticed the person behind the table see Tatsuhiro and frown. She let out a soft giggle, "Looks like he knows you?" She inquired with a warm smile on her face.

" Evening, Mark" Tatsuhiro greeted the old man behind the table as he sauntered up with a grin, eliciting a glare and nearly growled response from him. "I've told you before, my names not Mark." He informed him, sparing a glance at the little girl by his side.

"Whose the brat, I don't remember seeing her before." He inquired, somewhat suspiciously, knowing that a little girl with a large sword on her back probably wasn't good news for him.

Giving him a smug look, Tatsuhiro replied. "This is my new little friend, Riko, and she is very interested in seeing me clean you out, again."

Riko looked at the old man, "He's scary" She said with a smile and then grinned slightly. She was very excited to see his 'trick'. Her eyes locked on the old man and she peered at him with a warm smile, this was going to be fun to see. She clasped her hands together watching the man wondering wha the game was. She trained so much that she never understood what a simple game like this was.

Still not looking happy in the least, the old man spoke again. "Okay then, fine, you know the rules. Find the rock under the cup and you win the round, don't find it, I win the round. Best of 3 out of 5 takes the pot." He informed them, placing a large pouch of currency on the table with a 'chink'.Tatsuhiro in return pulled off his sword and placed it on the table, causing it to shudder and groan under the weight of the massive blade.

Grinning, he motioned to the man to begin, and he began to shuffle the five cups on the table about with blinding speed, appearing nothing but a blur to the untrained eyes of most of the passerby's who had stopped to gawk at the stakes being wagered. Finally coming to a halt, he gave Tatsuhiro a weary glare as he made a show of pondering over which one it was before tapping the cup on the farthest right, which once lifted was indeed revealed to be the correct one.

Waiting for the grumbling man to reset the cups, Tatsuhiro glanced back down at his companion. " So, what do you think of this game, hmm?"

Riko stared at Tatsuhiro with a surprised look, "Wow, so all you have to do is follow the cup with the stone under it?" She asked with a surprised look on her face. She smiled lightly, knowing Tatsuhiro wouldn't lose, "I like this game a lot it seems bey interesting." She says lightly, looking toward the bowls, wondering how the one man moved them at such a fast pace. She peered up at Tatsuhiro, before glancing back at the table.

" Yep, thats all there is to it, just find the stone. It's to bad this guy isn't very good at the game." Tatsuhiro cheerfully informed her in a stage whisper that Mark couldn't help but hear.

Glaring at the, seemingly, one-eyed shinobi, he once again began to shuffle the cups. Faster this time if anything, later on some bystanders would swear they saw smoke from the friction rise off the table. But to no avail, as it took Tatsuhiro all of a second to point at the central cup, which was revealed to be the correct one much to Mark's despair.


Looking back down, Tatsuhiro grew a devious smirk as he got an idea. " Say, Riko, how would you like to give it a try and take my next couple of turns?" He inquired cheerfully, figuring there would be no harm in letting the child take a couple of go's at it, not like he wouldn't be assured victory in the last round.

Riko looked at Tatsuhiro, then smiled lightly. "I guess." She said now and then nodded her head, it's be worth trying. She looked toward Mark now smiling, and waited for him to moved the bowls. She had been watching them before, she decided she'd give this a natural knack. She watched as he showed her where the rock was, then placed the bowl down. She smiled very faintly.

Just by watching his body movements she could tell whhich way the bowl was shifting, as her eyes fell to the table now. She watched him still waiting for him to finish his move when he stopped she pointed to the one in the middle. "There." she says lightly, and the old man grins.

"It's not-" He stopped falling silent seeing the stone and Riko peered at Tatsuhiro with a warm look.

"Great job, Riko!" Tatsuhiro exclaimed, ruffling her hair gently as he shot Mark a toothy smirk." Well, we will just be taking our winnings, then. You really need to practice more, you know. It can't be good for your finances to lose this much." He informed the crestfallen man, taking back his sword and picking up the sack of money.

" So then, what are you going to do with your third, Riko?" He asked her curiously, glancing down at the child and ignoring the man in front of them.

Riko looked Tatsushiro with a grin, "Save it. I save up most of my money in case I ever have to travel. It's not good to be out of money on the road." She says thoughtfully, then grins at the road. "Hm, Tatshuiro, how did you know I have bugs through out my body?" She asked him looking curious wondering how he had known. Not a lot of people knew, and she generally told the few that did know....

So she was slightly miffed over how the older man had figured it out.

" Ahh, smart girl," Tatsuhiro replied with a smile, which vanished as she asked her next question.

" Ahhh, can't show you that right here, it's a secret." He informed her, glancing meaningfully at the crowd all around." So, know anyplace a bit more private we could go?"

Riko looks at Tatsuhiro, then grins. "Yeah! To my house!" She says brightly, and then nods her head looking around them for a moment, "Which is..." She stares around looking intent and the points north. "Thataway!" She says quickly and grinning. Then she starts walking expecting Tatsuhiro to follow her as she heads along the road.

" Wait, what, your house?" He inquired with a blink, having little time to ask more then that before the energetic girl set off in it's direction.

Logic kicking in, he realized that she was still a kid, and that most kids had one or more parent that lived at home with them. Briefly wondering what the parent of such prodigies would be like, he wondered if it would be proper to challenge them to a fight.