desolate minds

x. blood in the cut

After finishing my letters, I put them in my bag along with Jin's, and set off to find Toshiki.

Instead of finding him inside the hotel, I detected his chakra a few blocks away. If I didn't know what to hone in on, my chakra radar would have given me a headache at the influx of chakra signatures I had to bypass to focus on Toshiki's.

Leisurely making my way to his signature, I found myself outside a restaurant called "Yakiniku Q". The name was familiar to me, but didn't stand out as much as Ramen Ichiraku did.

Walking inside, it was almost easy to spot the dark-haired boy. Toshiki sat with someone who was probably his fellow classmate, and a shinobi that was most likely the one assigned to be their guardian.

"Toshiki," I greeted with a nod upon reaching their table.

"Kyojin-kun," Toshiki greets me in turn, a surprised look on his face. "I didn't expect to see you here—"

Not wanting to be stuck having a full-blown conversation (and be forced to undergo introductions with his acquaintances), I went ahead and cut to the chase. "Jin told me you had some letters you wanted to get to Suna?"

"Oh, yes, I do—" He shifted in his seat to dig through the bag he kept over his shoulder (probably full of useless material required for the Academy). A moment later, Toshiki handed me a single scroll with a small smile. "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

Before I could successfully say my goodbyes, the girl beside Toshiki garnered my attention. She looked younger than me, but was somehow in Toshiki's year at the Academy— my best guess was that instead of successfully graduating early, she was moved up to more experienced classes.

I had the opportunity to do that as well, but didn't feel up to leaving Jin and Murai just yet, especially if it meant facing a room full of uppity kids that were twice my size. My patience probably couldn't handle being harassed by children with easily bruised egos.

The girl looked familiar enough to have me look twice at her, but not enough to have who she was register in my mind. Her hair was brown, as was most of Suna's population, and her eyes were gray. The most prominent features she had were the purple markings that traced her cheek bones.

"Who's this?" The said girl I was scrutinizing asked, unaware of my blatant observing.

Toshiki blinked down at the younger girl. "Oh— This is Kyojin-kun. He's my kōhai." He paused "And technically yours, too. He's familiar with the messaging system here, so I asked him to send a letter to my family in Suna for me."

"Oh," the girl said with a frown, as if she expected something more exciting. "I'm familiar with it, too. Why didn't you ask me?"

"You never told me you knew, so I didn't think to ask." His response seemed to hold some irritance in it, despite how politely he said it. "This is my classmate, Maki. She was also chosen to represent our year in Konoha."

"Nice to meet you, Kyojin," the girl greeted me, removing herself from the table to give my hand a shake. I was a little surprised at the mature gesture; she was very professional for her age apparently. Toshiki seemed to be used to the behavior, because he simply sighed.

Their guardian didn't say a word, looking happy to just sit and watch the exchange. Honestly, I didn't mind— I had been wanting to avoid introductions anyway.

"Yeah..." I said, weakly shaking her hand in return. "Well, I'm gonna go send these off now. Have a good lunch."

"Thanks again, Kyojin-kun," Toshiki said with an apologetic smile.

As I walked away, I heard their guardian give an amused chuckle. "Looks like you scared him away, Maki-chan."

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