First Encounter

The Kage looked at the little girl with a bit of confusion. Why was she suddenly coming to apologize. He had a feeling she was up to something, maybe some kind of trick, but he'd let her go on. "We all make mistake Kana," he said with a nod. "Just don't let it happen again." He gave her a smile. He hoped there was nothing wrong with her. "But you are forgive little one. Is that all you wanted?"

Kana glanced up, and saw the confusion on the Kage's face. She was starting to feel like a screwup once again. Of course he wouldn't expect her to apologize. She nodded when he said not to let it happen again. She shook her head when he asked if that was all. "No...I just..." she wasn't really sure how to ask without sounding like she'd just used the apology to make herself look good. "You said that aside from training, I can't leave my house without an escort, but...I-I don't want to have to keep calling someone when I go out for runs after training," she mentioned, almost shyly, her gaze dropping again, before she quickly looked back up at him. "I-I'm not gonna try and run away again, I swear! I-it's just that my dad taught me whenever I feel mad I should run, a-and..." Kana's gaze dropped again, and she seemed to shrink in place because she couldn't think of how to explain.

The Kage knew he'd probably regret this later, but, "I understand," he told her. "You're released from probation, just don't go abusing your freedom," he told her. "Kana, I don't want to see you getting into any more trouble from here on out. I believe that you will become a great ninja on day, maybe even greater than your parents, but first you must learn to act appropriately. Not everyone will give you chance after chance," he warned her. "Do you understand what I am saying," he asked.

Kana shyly looked up to the Kage when he said that she could be off of probation. She nodded quickly when he told her not to abuse her freedom. He made it sound like she'd just been let out of prison. She might as well have though. She looked back down when he told her she might even be a greater ninja than her parents. "I'm not sure that's possible sir," she said quietly. When he asked if she understood, she nodded. "Mmhm...thank you sir," she said. She didn't want to leave until he said it was fine though, because she didn't know if he had anything else to tell her. She was going to go for a run immediately. She was still debating on whether or not o go visit her teacher. Not that she knew where he lived. Now that she thought about it, maybe she should've asked the Kage about where she could find him.

"You're free to go Kana, behave," he said. "And if you believe, anything is possible," he told her. "Have a good night." The Kage then looked at the remaining papers on his table. Kuriyama hadn't put in for a mission for his squad. They'd only been training for two days, but a request for a simple mission should have been put in. Did he think he students were capable? Or was he punishing them? The Kage shrugged. He didn't know, he'd ask later on. Stamping another paper, he turned over another and read over it. So many request for missions, he was glad that the genin's had graduated. It meant more activity in the village.

Kana took a moment to think before finally nodding when the Kage told her she could leave. She'd decided to just walk around the village and hope she ran into him. "You too sir," she said when he told her to have a good night, walking out. That's when it hit her. She could go ask the healer lady. Maybe she would know where he is. Walking out of the tower, Kana started biting the tip of her thumb. But would that count at intruding? Her teammates had said that asking the healer about their sensei's name had been wrong, so would asking where to find him be wrong too? Kana gave a light groan as she walked. Grownups were so complicated!

When his cell phone went off as he stared at the ceiling, Felix was a bit surprised to see the text. What did his Captain want now? Slipping on his shoes and jacket, he left out the house. Once at the door, he knocked twice and entered a bit curious, but when he left, he was far from thrilled. Hands in his pockets, Felix exited out the side door since it was closest and headed towards the front. Generally he didn't smoke, but sometimes old habits had a knack for rearing it's ugly head. Popping the cigarette into his mouth he lit it and kept on moving, unaware that one of his students were nearby.

Kana kept her gaze on the ground as she walked, but didn't stop biting her thumb. She was trying not to bite her nails. It had been a really bad habit of hers when she'd been growing up. Well, she was still growing up, but you get it. Looking up to make sure she wasn't about to bump into anyone, the brown eyed girl blinked when she saw her sensei walk from the side of the building. Smoking. She would have never guessed that he was a smoker. Not that she was one to judge, given her many bad habits. Swallowing, Kana started towards him, trying to hide her nervousness. She hoped he wasn't still mad at her. "Hey sensei!" she called, running up to him.

Felix was turning his lighter in his fingers when he heard Kana's voice. His blue eyes narrowed lightly. Could this night get any worse? Removing the cigarette from his mouth, he looked at the girl. "What do you want?" Felix generally didn't like being bothered when he was off the clock, especially not by his students. He had no reason to care for them aside from training them, so he wanted no outside relationship. He wasn't there to be friends with them, he was only there to train them, that was all.

Kana nearly flinched when he spoke to her, taking a breath before speaking. "I-I'm sorry about your arm, I didn't mean to throw the shuriken so hard," she told him. Well, she had meant to, but only because her aim was screwed up if she didn't throw it full force. But she wouldn't tell him that, because that was just an excuse, and she'd rather lie than give excuses.

In his mind, Felix was thinking of all the reason why he'd taken the side door? If he had taken the from door could have avoided this conversation all together? He couldn't help but wonder. When Kana apologized, Felix didn't very much care. "No need," was his reply. "Good night." Felix then started away. His blue eyes on the road ahead. The last thing he wanted to do right now was discuss this morning accident. One, Felix would never get over it because he held grudges for as long as life would allow and two, apologies were a waste of breath.

Kana blinked when he said no need. "Really...? You...seemed pretty angry," she said. Or was he just not going to accept her apology? Maybe that's why he said no need, because there was no use in it because he wasn't going to forgive her. Kana looked after him as he walked away. She had half a mind to call him Kuriyama-sensei, just to get on his nerves, but she figured she was already on his nerves. She didn't want to end up dead. "Good night sensei," she called, then sighed and started towards the forest. She needed a long run. At least she didn't have to ask for permission this time. Not that she would have anyways.

Felix got to the training grounds the next morning ahead of the kids. His blue eyes were hidden behind his silver hair. He wasn't wearing his jacket today, which was clearly out of the norm if you knew Felix. His arms were cross over his chest as he awaited his students arrival.

Tamero got to the training grounds on schedule as always, but he wondered if he was late because his sensei had beaten him there. Had something happened the reason he was early? "Morning Sensei," the white haired boy said kindly. "What's on today's agenda?" He asked. He was curious as to what was about to happen. He sort of felt like something was off.

"You don't want to try to escape again?"

"No. I don't really have a reason to anymore, do I?" Kana asked the large shadow of a man that stood on the other side of her room as she got dressed to go to training.

"You were so adamant on leaving before."

"Because before I didn't have a squad. Before Kuriyama sensei ignored me entirely. How could I become a great ninja like that?"

"How can you become a great ninja if his training kills you?"

"It won't kill me. I'm not going to die any time soon."

"Why didn't you use me yesterday?"

Kana looked at the creature. "I...I don't know. I thought that if people knew about you they might try to take you." Azazeal tilted its head. "I don't know, alright? You're all I have, you're the only living thing I have left of my family! I'm not about to give that up so easily." When the creature grinned, Kana narrowed her eyes at it. "What?"

"I'm glad you feel that way," it said, before disappearing.


Kana walked to the training grounds quietly. She couldn't help but feel that Shadowshifter was trying to tell her something. Should she have used him yesterday? She had found their sensei just fine without his help. Shaking her head, Kana approached the training grounds to see that their sensei and Tamero were already there. Looking at a slightly beaten up watch on her wrist, she tilted her head. She wasn't late, so...why was their sensei so early? "Morning," she told them both. She was surprised. Wasn't Renji normally there before she was?

Just a minute before it was the time they were supposed to meet, Renji came running up, panting lightly by the time he got there, holding up a hand. "I-I'm here..." he panted, before straightening up. Everyone else was already there, so he was worried that he was going to get in trouble for being late. He hadn't really paid attention to the time as he ran. His home was on the other side of the village, and he'd woken up later than was usual for him. Giving a nervous grin, he waved to Kana and Tamero. "Hi," he said in embarrassment. He then looked to their teacher. "Good morning sensei."

Felix looked at the three of them. "Good morning everyone. Let me began by apologizing for the way I've been treating you all these past few days. I haven't been as fair as I should have been. So, I would like to start over today. My name is Felix Kuriyama," he said as he let his hair slid out of his eyes. "I will be your sensei for the remainder of your train. These past few days I have noticed there have been issues with your team, mainly teamwork issues. That is why I'm going to assign the Squad Captain today." He gave a slight nod. "In addition to that, Tamero, you will learn to swim today, Renji, we'll be getting rid of your fear of heights, and Kana, what would you like to work on today," he asked.

Tamero's face went blank. This was not real. He was dreaming. Did their sensei just call them by their first names? Tamero looked at Renji and Kana, wondering if they had heard what he had heard. When he was told he would learn to swim today, Tamero's hurt sank to the bottom of his stomach. He didn't want to learn how to swim! His purple eyes darted from left to right and then back to Felix. The guy was acting really strange, what had gotten into him?

Kana as well was shocked by the change in their sensei's demeanor. She looked around at her teammates, catching Tamero's confused eye one, before looking back to their sensei by the time he'd asked what she'd like to work on. She was sure that neither of the other two would step up and ask what was going on, so she was going to. "Um. Excuse me, but...who are you? And what have you done with our real sensei?" her head was tilted slightly. Okay, so she knew that wasn't exactly asking 'what happened to you', but it was close enough. She wasn't sure what to make of this new guy. Hey, maybe he really was an imposter, after all, he had even come earlier than all three of them.

Renji blinked, his eyes widening a bit. What the..? was all he could really think, though he swallowed lightly when he was told that they'd be working on his fear of heights. Of course he was glad that he wasn't in trouble, but he wanted to know what was going on. It seemed he wasn't the only one of the three that had looked around. The other two looked just as confused. Renji blinked, looking at Kana when she spoke up. What the hell was she trying to do now??

Felix gave a slight smirk, because despite his change in attitude, he still could smile for the life of him. "I'm still here," he said. "I'm your real sensei, but I just figured it was time for me to stop acting like a jerk towards you three," he answered. "It's time to train, so what do you want to work on," he asked. His blue eyes looking into her brown ones.

Tamero couldn't believe this. Their sensei was changing his ways? Had the shuriken to his shoulder done something to him? He didn't even look annoyed when Kana asked where their real sensei was. Tamero at heart wanted to keep this guy for their sensei, but knew that was not right. "Um, Kuriyama-sensei, are you feeling okay," he asked.

Kana was a bit wary when the guy smirked. Had she hit a nerve in his shoulder or something that altered his brainwaves...? She hadn't thrown it that hard, had she...? "Um...I can't throw weapons unless it's super hard without them going off course," she said, still looking at him in confusion. She hadn't really been thinking when she'd said that, but she'd been thinking a lot about it the day before, so it was the first thing that had come out.

Renji looked to their sensei as he said that he was still the same. He listened to everyone talk, trying to figure out why this was so strange. Their sensei didn't seem like the kind of guy to change his ways over a guilty conscience. "Ah-hah," Renji finally said, hitting his fist into his open palm. "Somebody was probably mad that so many kids died during his training and told him to change it," he said with a nod, then stopped when he realized that he'd just said that aloud.

Felix nodded. "In that case, I forgive you for yesterday's accident," he said. "Now I know you weren't trying to kill me on purpose." He looked to Renji in surprise when the boy spoke aloud as if he had been thinking. It was a bit amusing and Felix grinned. "Tamero, you should ask Renji if he's okay, not me. He's talking to himself." Felix gave a dismissive wave. "Anyway, we can work on handling weapons Kana." Felix waved for them to follow him. He was heading to the lake outside of the village. Not the Lake in the Open though. When they got there, Felix started a jutsu. A wood wall came out of the earth and went at least 20 feet into the air. "Renji, climb that wall and jump down. For each jump you make, the wall will go down one foot. Don't use anything to get down, there's a jutsu in tact to protect you from hurting yourself during the fall, but I'd advise landing properly. Or at least trying to land properly." He then went to the other side of the wall. "Kana, this is your target. On this wall, you will find several targets, I want you to hit them without forcing your arm. If you continue to do that, you'll mess up your arm and retire early as a shinobi." He then pulled off his kunai and shuriken pack and handed them to her. "Use these instead of your own," he told her. Felix then led Tamero to the water. "Time to swim Tamero," he said. Felix pulled off his shirt and got into the water. "Come on in, I won't let you drown."

Tamero looked at Renji and then to Felix when he made his statement. "Are you okay Renji?" He asked with a silly grin. "I mean...you realize you said that aloud, right?" His purple eyes danced with laughter as he followed their sensei out of the village. He casually waved at the guards as they went. When they made it to a lake, Tamero shivered. He silently awaited his turn. When Felix was done talking to Kana and Renji, he followed him to the edge of the lake. He gave another shiver, but took his shirt off and got into the water, following Felix out towards the center until he couldn't touch the ground anymore. "I can't go any farther, I'll drown," he complained.

Kana blinked when he said that he forgave her for what happened the day before. So...maybe it would have been okay to tell him the truth. She swallowed. Now that she'd admitted it aloud, he'd know that she'd lied to him again. She hoped he wouldn't remember what she'd said the night before. She followed behind them silently, grinning when Tamero actually asked Renji if he was okay. She nodded when their sensei told her to practice throwing without straining her arm. She wasn't sure she could, but she'd at least try. She blinked in light surprise when he gave her his weapons to use. "Thank you," she said. She backed away from the wall so that she was a decent distance away. She wondered which weapon she should start with. Deciding on shuriken first, Kana pulled one out and chose a target. Since she wasn't used to throwing lightly, she had to take a moment to figure out how she was going to do this. She supposed she could throw it the same way, just not as hard. So she did, and her shoulders slumped a bit when she didn't hit anywhere near the mark she'd been aiming for. Giving a sigh, she took out another shuriken.

Renji looked down, a bit of red crossing his face when both his sensei and Tamero started teasing him about his outburst. "Shut up..." he muttered at Tamero. He had a bad habit of spitting his thoughts aloud when an idea suddenly came to him like it just had. He looked up at the wall that their sensei just raised out of the ground, swallowing. It was really really tall. He nodded lightly when his sensei told him there was a jutsu in place to make sure he didn't get hurt if he fell wrong. Which he was sure the first time he probably would. Climbing up the stairs on the side of the wall, Renji tried not to look down as he got higher up. It wasn't easy. He could just feel that he was getting really high up, and he couldn't help but to start shivering. When he got to the top, his hands were clenched and his face slightly pale. He wasn't sure he could do this...

Felix swam over to Tamero. "Yes you can, and you will." Felix was easily able to touch the ground, but was treading water to warm up a bit. "The key to swimming is not panicking. You are in control, not the water. Here, take hold of my arm." When Tamero did so, Felix started to pull him out into the middle. "Kick your legs lightly. You're a beginner, so if you kick them like you're scared, you'll drown. It's easy. Imagine you're a feather, you have to kick lightly. Trust me." He looked up at the wall. "Renji, you need to push aside the fact that you're out of your comfort zone. Clear your mind, let go of your fear, and jump." He looked to Kana. "Don't get disappointed, you're not going to get it right the first time. Just breath."

Tamero held onto his sensei's arm with a death grip as the man pulled him out into the water. Tamero was kicking like his life depended on it, until Felix told him not to. Slowing his kicks, he continued holding his grip. "This...this is scary," he admitted. "I trust you and all, but...it's still scary." Tamero didn't understand how people swam so easily. Didn't they know water was a force to be reckoned with?

Kana looked to their sensei when he told her to just breathe. That she wouldn't get it right the first time. She knew that, but it was annoying. She knew it was good to know how to control her weapons, but when would she actually need to hold back? How about sometime like yesterday? she told herself, then sighed. Taking a slow, deep breath, Kana threw the shuriken again, at the same target as before. The results weren't much better. She didn't get it, why could she throw them hard, but not lightly! It was so annoying! Taking one of the shuriken out, Kana had to remember that she couldn't throw them hard anymore. This pattern of missing continued on for several more shuriken before she hit one of the outer rings of the target.

Renji couldn't even look towards their sensei as he spoke, his gaze was far too fixed on the ground. The ground that was so far below him. Clear his mind? How could he clear his mind in a place like this? If he were to jump, the ground would come rushing so close so fast. What if he missed his footing? "There's a jutsu in tact to protect you from hurting yourself during the fall." Yeah, he remembered, but there wasn't always going to be a jutsu in place to save him. Swallowing, Renji closed his eyes. He just had to get over the fear, right? How hard could something so trivial be...? Even though he was shivering and his hands were clammy, he started taking breaths to try and calm himself. It's just a jump...that's all... he started telling himself. When he opened his eyes, he found that it hadn't actually helped in calming him much. Clenching his teeth, Renji remembered on the wall with Tamero in their first day of training. He was afraid of jumping, but Tamero had pulled him down. Tamero had been afraid of drowning, but Renji hadn't let him. What if that happened again and there were enemies right behind them? He couldn't hesitate to jump then, right? Swallowing, Renji forced himself to jump, clamping his eyes shut. When he landed, he found himself shaking, his eyes a bit wide when he reopened them. He hadn't managed to stick a landing, but at least he'd jumped. And he did not want to do it again.

"Very nicely done Kana, keep it up," he told her. "The more you practice, the better you'll get. I'll be there to help you in a few, just let me get Tamero straightened out first." He looked to the white haired boy who was cutting off the circulation in his arm. Felix took a moment to think. He couldn't recall being terrified of water, nor could he recall when he first learned to swim. It had all been so natural. The silver haired Shinobi gave a grin. "Tamero, we're going to try something different. We're going underwater, you can hold your breath, right?" Tamero nodded. "Good, to concur your fear, you have to learn that you can beat the water." He looked to Renji who'd just jumped. "Well done, try making the landing properly," he called to him. "19 feet to go." He looked back to Tamero. "One, two, three." He let himself sink under the water, taking a reluctant Tamero with him.

Tamero nearly panicked when Felix said they were going under the water. However, he found it was easier to be prepared once he was underneath the water, because he had held his breath in advance. Tamero smiled as they sunk to the bottom, although he was panicking a bit because he didn't know if he'd make it back to the top.

Kana couldn't help but smile a bit when he told her good work. When he said he'd be coming over to help, she started feeling a bit apprehensive. What if she screwed up because he'd be watching? Swallowing, Kana took a deep breath right after to calm herself. Nervousness wasn't going to help anyone. After that though, her throws started becoming a bit more inconsistent, even though she was using her dominant hand to throw. She didn't know what she was doing wrong. She was trying to throw just like when she threw them hard, only without using so much force. She could barely even hit the outer ring throwing like this!

Renji nodded softly when Kuriyama-sensei told him to try and make the landing. It wasn't that easy...The black haired boy stood up and started for the top once more, trying to get himself to stop shaking. He hated falling. Hated the feeling. It wasn't even the height he was afraid of. He'd be perfectly fine up there if he knew he didn't have to jump off. He did, however, notice that the wall had gotten a bit shorter, just like their sensei said it would. It wasn't really much comfort though...Renji still hesitated to jump, but when he did, it had been using the same though process that he'd used before. He'd tried to make the landing this time, but he'd messed up his footing and ended up tumbling onto the jutsu. Of course, that just made him more terrified. What if he ended up doing that on a mission!

Felix stopped sinking about halfway to the bottom. He pointed to the side as if showing Tamero where to go. It'd be easier to swim under the water than on the surface of it. Swimming to the side, he guided Tamero through the water, glancing at his legs to make sure he knew the proper way to kick. Felix was slowly counting the seconds in his head. He was able to hold his breath for long periods of time, so he was making sure not to be the cause of Tamero's untimely death....

Tamero was gliding through the water, kicking his legs as to make sure he was doing everything right. Although he wasn't too comfortable just yet, he let go of Felix's arm and tried swimming alone. That however, did not turn out as planned. He'd gotten the leg part right, but he didn't know how to move his arms, so he quickly found his grasp back on Felix's arm.