Beach and other fun stuff

A beach day, it seemed quite nice for Gado to return home for a little bit and hang out at the beach. He wanted to meet up with Akira since it's been a while since they seen each other after he left immediately. He had some time off and if akira was still in the village, he wanted to pay them a visit and see how his old teammate was doing.

"But I'm definitely not getting into the water..."

As soon as Akira got the news he was more than eager to get any of his work done. There was nothing immediately pressing on his work load so he was able to get in early to get as much done as he could to give himself the time off once he was actually due to meet his friend. It meant he had to meet in work clothing but... Let's face it, it was Akira, he always looked his best when he wanted to.

Once Akira arrived, Gado greeted him with a smile and waved.

"Hey, Akira, how's it been? I had some free time granted to me since I was always tense so I had to go to Dipu to relax and see some family. Since I was here, I wanted to see how you were doing in the medical field. Is everything ok? Have you been making a lot of new friends? "

Gado was rather curious as to how Akira was doing, but it was up to him as to whether he would reveal anything.

Akira was more than happy to just throw his arms around Gado, never one to shy away from showing his affection. And he had no issue either possibly overstaying that little show, before stepping back and stretching his arms out towards the sky. "Oh it's same old Akira business. Build stuff, look super damn good doing it, make people think I talk to myself because yknow, not everybody can see spirits... Erm... Did I mention look hot?" He fell right in to a wide grin, clearly he was unchanged. And just as quickly he calmed, giving a little tug at the choker he wore as something of a nervous tick he had picked up. "Things are pretty nice here actually. I have my own work station now that I can do my construction on my puppets, I finally finished Orpheus by the way but long after you left, though we got in to a fight on an infiltration so I'm currently back to repairing him. And... Yeah I'm working somewhere that fits me. I can share puppetry knowledge and improve my own designs." It was only then he realised he was possibly talking too much. Then again, that wasn't exactly new either. "Seiko, you remember her right? She works in the department too so if I'm honest I'm hoping to get in good with her. I'm still stunned at his elegant she builds."

If theree was one thing that Gado came to realize after being hugged by akira, it was the idea of pure shock, or surprise. It wasn't as if he was even expecting something akin to a warm welcome, their lives had gotten considerably busy after finishing the chunin exams. Gado himself lost one of his matches, so he wasn't that great. But Akira was working with Seiko, right? "Wasn't she supposed to be the number one genin of our class? Seiko or something like that. You got to work along side her and you do seem pretty happy. Honestly, the way I look at it is like this. No matter how great seiko's constructs are, you would be able to make something that's unique and serves a purpose that not even Seiko can mimic. I mean, ghost's are complex. "

However, there was this one thing about hot ghosts that made Gado a little uneasy. Just what has akira been up to since he was gone?

"Oh yea...."hot ghosts?" What's that supposed to mean?"

Akira broke in to laughter as it seemed his rambling led to a mistaken understanding. Albeit one that that wasn't actually untrue. "Well... I was just mentioning that I was being my ever so attractive self, however I feel I would lose points if Kaen were to overhear I didn't agree. Because she is very attractive." He snickered to himself, closing his eyes for a moment. "I suppose you never met her, huh?" The thought never occurred to him, but it seemed right. He held an arm out as the air swirled and vibrated. First formed a small ball of white vapour that looked to have multiple trails like tails, before little blue eyes blinked from the ball. Akira dropped his arm, and the mists continued, until a full body formed.

Kaen:

"Ah, the lovely Gado, yes? I would shake your hand but whilst I'm visible, I am still intangible to all but Master Akira." She looked over to Akira with a smirk, and got a shrug and a head shake in return.

"This is Kaen. My spirit partner. I also have Annie, but she's a beast spirit and whilst beautiful too, she doesn't quite have the power that Kaen possesses," somehow that seemed to make Kaen blush. "But anyway yes, I work in the same department as Seiko. Haven't worked on a project with her yet though."

"I'm confused, is-s-s-s- thi-i-i-i-s suppos-e-e-e-ed to be your guardian sp-p-p-p-p-irit or something?"

Gado said this in a rather shocked voice, even more shocked than before as he stepped back a bit. " I thought the spirits were in your puppets or something, you gotta give a guy a warning if they can just poof whenever then want. Phew...."

Calming himself down, Gado gave the ghost Kaen an embarrassed look.

"Sorry for being so scared a minute ago. You are Kaen right? Well, that';s what you said your name was, it's nice to meet you. Akira is a little pervy and he teases me a lot, but he's very sweet and good and kind, and it's fantastic to know that someone is looking out for him and protecting him when I'm not here. I guess I can relax a bit with such capable ninja here. Well, you guys are like super smart ninja anyway. "

Going back to the projects.

"So I know there is a lot of top secret stuff, but what exactly are you working on publically that keeps you busy?"

"Oh no no no. At least... Not me anyway." It was Kaen as the one to answer, glancing at Akira to be given the go ahead. "We spirits are able to bond with our partners in all sorts of ways. Akira has another spirit as he said, Annie, who is a creature. She resides inside of the puppet designated Io, and takes a defensive approach. I, on the other hand, are a much higher rank of spirit, a full Yokai. And my best place... Is deep inside Akira,"

"Kinky,"

"Oh shut up you." The amusement were clear. "In sharing a body as we do, Akira is gifted my supernatural senses along with my natural abilities. You could say we fight together perfectly as one."

"The perfect duo. Both in and out of combat. Trust me, a Spirit floating around doing recon... Perfect." He cleared his throat whilst thinking what he could share. "Well on the personal front, I have finished my third puppet, Orpheus, and have drawn plans for... Well, let's just say I've done some research in to some slightly more controversial methods. I think it's best I leave it at that."

"Oh oh... so different spirits go inside of different things. And so far, only full yokai can go inside of you. That's actually pretty cool, I wonder if you can see my beast spirit or anything? It manifests itself into a tattoo and I can transform, but I never asked someone if they do see spirits, if they can see anything at all? Maybe it's not really a spirit. "

He shrugged, not sure what to think about it.

"I realized you never used that spirit possession thing in the exams? Is this a new thing or was you not able to do it before. I do admit, I did hold back against you. I was pretty mean towards the other group because something upset me. But! I am...i am working on my inner peace. I don't get mad about what Kozzen did anymore. "


Besides that, he did want to have a little fun.

"Want to get some sea salt ice cream?"

Akira couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion of not having used the possession during the exam. Kaen meanwhile floated but with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, I actually did. Do you remember how I was dodging when you were trying to attack my legs, which by the way was a very smart way to fight me, and when we started the match?" He left Kaen be but did the motions that took place when he formed the Unity technique as a way to jog his friend's memory. "See. I actually did use that technique. Also no, I can't see your beast spirit. What I can see is quite literally the deceased. Your technique is, I assume anyway, a manifestation of your inner self. So... When you die I would bet that your spirit would become a hybrid of your natural self, as you are now, and that transformed state. It's just a guess though."

"Oh, so that was the unity technique...."

Gado said as he ordered two ice's, one for him and one for Akira.


"Here you go."


After handing the frozen treat over to him, he continued to mull over what was being said.

"So that would be the form I would take when I'd die? Huh, I would figure that reincarnation was a thing. My thought about death was that I wondered if I would recognize my friends if we ever came back? I think I would recognize your sense of style and your lewd remarks lol. Some people would call it lewd but honestly, sometimes it just sounds that you have a lot of confidence in how you look. You are very brave, I think that's very cool. "

Back then, Gado remembered the last conversation he had with Akira.

"I really thought this was the end, I have to admit that I was talking as if I wouldn't be able to see you again. "

"Oh, you think the way I dress doesn't already give away that I know damn well how utterly fabulous I look?" Akira threw on a little more theatrics because... Well it was Akira. Of course he did. "I can't say for certain." He answered more normally, albeit was spoon in his mouth. "The Spirit is unusual after all. And I must admit I am very curious about communing with a Kurogane Spirit." Gears between to turn in his head, plotting just what that would be like for his own curiosity sake.

He was snapped from this by Gado's talk of their last meet. "... The end or not, it doesn't really matter," the way he spoke then was... Unusual.. Even for a peculiar guy like Akira. For perhaps the first time he was wistful. "I'm an Ibwa who follows the path of Spirits and Beyond. My mum died when I was a toddler," surely his team has met his parents at this point, but this would be the first time mentioning anything about them so direct. Often when asked why his mother looked so young still he abruptly changed the conversation so as not to have to answer. "But she... Stuck around. She was, and still is, my teacher in all things Spiritual. And the coolest mum a guy could ask for in this profession. You see... Are you aware of the process of human puppets? Basically it's the process of turning a body in to a puppet. Kinda ick but you have yourself a powerful weapon of you have the stomach for it." There was a fascination in his voice similar to when he spoke of his own puppets. "You can take that one step further. Turn yourself in to one. And don't worry, I have no plans to ruin this body's perfection," a flourish that would only befit Akira. "But my dad, he's a master crafter. Created a human puppet from my mum. And in turn, she uses that puppet as a medium. Just like I do with Kaen and Annie. My mum is a spirit, a medium, and a spirit medium." And from there, the pride was clear. "And so you know my family's biggest secret. Can't let you get too far from my sight now," in all, this whole revelation to Gado was just Akiras way of promising he wasn't going to just leave Gado behind regardless of where life took him.

"Well, I think it would say Rawr Rawr, and unless you have a PhD in monster, I don't think neither of us would be able to make some sense of what it's saying. Though, I only asked because it really is an interesting concept. " Maybe one day they could do such an experiment to see if it really is a valid spirit that someone from Akira's clan can interact with. However, something else happened that Gado wasn't prepared for. Akira gave Gado some reassurance about their friendship and told him a story about her family. But most of all, the human puppet bit of her mom. "I would never tell anyone about this, thank you for sharing. I wish I had some secret to share with you too to make things even-steven but I'm a little boring, I don't have anything. " However, Gado was glad to have a friend like Akira. "Thank you for sharing that with me, I could tell it was really sensitive. However, I hope no crazy soul assassins start looking for me just because I know this. Wouldn't that be crazy? The Ibwa clan hunting Kurogane because of human puppets that can transform into their spirit animal despite being human puppets, that's a crazy idea. "

Akira just returned the grin, "Oh, don't worry. Nobody will come hunting you because of me. Except maybe some jilted lovers," He had to drop the joke just to make sure things were still all relaxed between the two of them. "Then I would need my beastly empowered knight to... well I can handle myself, but having a good friend to share someone else's failure to get to me would surely be a laugh, no?"

"Of course, wait......I feel like there is a little more truth to that with the amount of hearts that you break from time to time. Even if you never talked about it, I know that you got confessed to a couple of times. "He always thought one's love life was a personal subject that they didn't want to share. " But I wasn't picked as a guardian for no reason, I'll be able to take away quite a bit of the stress while you do your thing. Some people are so used to trying to evade things or running away from them. I guess even with how I fight, I try to be brave by facing them head-on. Well, with the protection of course haha...." As Gado ate his frozen treat, he wondered what the future held. "When do you think you'll get days off again? I'll try to visit more. "

"So many times," Akira was exceptionally proud of that fact. Of any of the deady sins, it wasn't hard to tell that Pride was by far his most guilty of sins. Those who didn't know him would think Lust wouldn't be far behind, but those who did, would find for the most part he was just dirty mouthed but mostly all talk. "I don't think I said. But congratulations on getting in with the Guardians. I know you'll be amazing," He tipped the current remnant of the little snack as a way of emphasising that. "Hrm... Well the higher ups seem to be working on something. For the most part I've just doing logistics, and setting up my personal lab and work shop. Which is super cool by the way. Not flooding my room with my scraps and plans anymore." At that moment he was down to his last bite. "But my door's always open. Any time you wanna swing by, just come on in. Don't even need to knock." He flashed his friend a sly grin then, along with a wink. "I try to keep business, pleasure and... pleasure separate." Once more an example of him being mostly talk. But teasing his friends was just always fun.

With a bit of nervous laughter, Gado did his best to transition the subject to something else. " Protecting people is what I'm good at doing from what you saw at the chunin exams. It's that and an edition of new things that I can do, so if you ever need any help with something and I have some free time, I'll head over. However, if the danger is particularly high, be sure to tell me first. Not sure if it's a property thing but with how much is being invested in me, I'm pretty sure there are some things I can't do without permission. " Sometimes Akira was a bit much to handle. "If i ever had to come over I'll be sure to call first or at least knock. I wouldn't want to be seen as a bandit or an assailant in a haunted house. I met your spirits at least once, and I'm sure you let them hang out around the house while you sleep to protect you, right? Oh, if you ever want to test out some techniques, you can spar with me any time."

Akira rubbed the back of his neck recalling their battle back in the exams. It was funny honestly, Gado was almost the direct counter to his own abilities. And maybe that was the reason they had been teamed up together. "Yeah. You can protect a sweet thing like me, whilst I run analysis to get the upper hand." He uttered a short yawn, rolling his shoulder and taking a deep breath. Having taken to meditating a lot more to keep his mind clear for the Unity techniques, it wasn't unusual for him to pause every now and then. "You... aren't wrong exactly though? Which does remind me I should finish the work on a puppet for Annie," He trailed off as he was registering that note in his mind. "But honestly, you'd hardly notice the spirits. My workshop, that's maybe got a little bit of a nexus. I'm trying to find the right spirit. But my home is pretty clear. I think they're scared of my mom," There he couldn't help laugh. His mother was incredibly sweet, but her condition left her a little cold, and spirits didn't like her much either. "I will definitely pick up the phone though when I have some techniques to try out. I'm sure your defences are high enough to withstand anything I could throw at you." He slowly slipped Le Mat, his dagger, from his pocket. "And... you really are my opposite. My trial to overcome. I can't hit that hard, but I'm fast. Both in body, and mind. I've learned to view people like puppets. Not... in a bad way. I mean... I can find pressure points. Telltale signs that tell me the best way to defeat someone." He turned on his heel to stand in front of Gado then. "For example. During the exams, I had to analyse you most. I had to find your weak spot in your armour. And... I actually found it by the end," There was a slight hint of a devious smirk. And yet it lasted only a second. "Your armour is nigh impenetrable. But you can't move if it's all a single piece. I found the specific point during that battle I could attack under your armour every time," He slipped the dagger away. "Sadly though, my analytics come at a price. I can't put it in to words, but I analyse so much now by natural, I forgot things often. And no doubt you've maybe changed your armour since. I'm working on that though."

Well, this was an interesting turn of events. If there was something that Gado didn't know or realize yet, it was the fact that his armor had a weakness. There was a time that he had come face to face with boil release and managed to not be able to withstand it as much as he would have hoped to, but his excuse there was that he wasn't as prepared. Feeling like the guardian shinobi were the only ones who offered him anything, he felt like an outcast to his own village. There were a lot of things that went wrong, but Gado wanted to at least protect the few things that went right. For example, his durable niche.

"Hey, Akira. I'm not sure how much of a trade secret that is, I bet you can sell that information to an enemy of the daimyo if they're looking to take me out before I'm able to protect anyone. You discovered my weakness, or well.. my armor weakness. What was it?"

Would Akira tell him? Maybe this was a test and Gado had to find out the reason for this on his own? Either way, he still asked.

Akira began to grin when asked the weakness to his armour, stretching out the moment by stretching out his arms over his head, and ensuring Gado saw the grin. "It's simple. You don't have a full all body covering. At least, not as defensively. With the right time, place, force, and weapon," The last of which he withdrew his trademark dagger, "I could slide my dagger right through your defences." With a flourish and a flick, he twisted it in the air and pocketed it again. "I'm not a direct fighter my friend. I'm best... I can't say in the back, but I'm also not front line either. I'm a flanker. An ambusher. I get in undetected, and I analyse. My brain, and my tools, are my biggest strengths. That's why I need friends like you. Protect me so I know how to make a precision strike."