Sweet Music (open to all)

[Suoh]

Suoh hated having meetings with authority figures. They made his skin crawl, and his meeting with the Hokage had been no different. He'd been on his best behavior, no one could fault him for that, and he'd left as quickly as he could. He'd gone back to Oki's apartment only to grab his pack and his guitar and ditching his dress shirt before heading to the park. He needed to unwind. And a smoke.

He stretched out on the grass, dropping his pack unceremoniously beside him but carefully laying the instrument down. He dug around inside the pack, first retrieving his cigarettes and lighting one, savouring the first long draw. His first craving satisfied, he more calmly searched through the pack until he retrieved the orders he had received the night before from home and a small, hardcover photo album. Each page could only hold two pictures, one above the other, but he didn't need anything more. He removed a photo from his orders, a gift that Izumi and Micah had included, and found the first empty space into the album. He slipped the picture into place.

Damn, but it was good to see those two; he wasn't used to being on his own, and his driving purpose to find the leaf had been satisfied. with Oki gone on a mission, Suoh quite literally found himself at a loss for what to do. There was nothing that held his attention for long. Exhaling a cloud of smoke, Suoh set the open album down and took up his guitar. He picked at the strings experimentally, ensuring it was still tuned properly, before he began to play. As he did, he studied the picture: a willowy young woman with short black hair was in the midst of a spar with a very large, determined man. Both looked ready to kill, but Suoh knew even from the note on the back that they had simply been enjoying themselves:

Su-Su,
That slack ass of yours had better be working because we're not waiting for you.
Love Izzy and Moose

Leave it to Izumi, he mused with a smile. She'd find a way to harass him anywhere. Without even realizing it, Suoh began to play a melody he'd always associated with his team and he felt content.

[Ryo]

Ryo had found himself up a nice little tree with a book. He'd been perched there for a while trying to trudge through the words and have the story make sence. He was just becoming frustrated with it when he heard the music float through the air. Putting the book down he looked around for the source of the plesant melody and laid eyes on Suoh. He sat up in his tree for a few more moments before hopping down and wandering thd short distance over to suoh.

"That was really pretty." Ryo marveled, not having known that Suoh could play the guitar. He didn't really understand the need some people felt to make music, but he did appreciate a nice song when he heard it.

[Suoh]

Of course it was the midget... And he'd likely want to spar again, too. Suoh nodded in acknowledgement and continued to play, his fingers working busily along the strings. He smirked. "You sound surprised. I'm more than a pretty face, you know, and life isn't all about pounding twerps like you."

[Ryo]

Ryo cheekily stuck his tongue out at Suoh, crossing his arms and looking down at the man. "Pound me all ya want, someday I'll get you!" He snickered, imagining the day he'd finally be good enough hit the other. "But that does sound really pretty. You're really good~"

[Suoh]

"Thanks kid," Suoh smiled, pausing to tap the ash from his cigarette into the grass. "I've been doing this for a while now, and it's a hell of a lot more fun than your taijutsu. You been keeping busy?"

[Ryo]

"Hey, I like my taijutsu~" Ryo grinned. "Been practicing lots, reading and stuff. I like to be busy. Much better than being bored with nothing to do"

[Suoh]

"Tell me about it, kid. With the warden gone off on her mission, there's not a damn thing to do around this place. Hell, I argued with your Hokage! At least doing this keeps me busy, and there's always a chance I can score at the same time."

[Ryo]

Ryo snickered at Suoh's reference to 'warden.' "Don't you have something else you're doing? I thought most people had like jobs or things they needed to do during the day?" He glanced around with a shrug. "Oki and I are at school and people have shops and jobs and things, don't they?" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is is your job hunting women?"

[Suoh]

Suoh threw back his head and laughed. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all! "Nah, kid, I hunt women for the pleasure of it. And this isn't my village, so there's not much sense in me getting a job here. When the dragon-lady back home says it's time to go, I doubt I'll be given much notice before I'm heading home to Bear Country. Oki teaches because she enjoys it, and because she likes to be busy. I'm not so much a fan of the busy, but I do enjoy getting into trouble."

[Ryo]

"Dragon-lady?" Ryo snickered. "Sounds scary! Is she your boss?" Ryo thought about that a moment and then looked a touch sad. "So that means you're gonna have to go? Not soon, right?"

[Suoh]

"No idea kid, but I hope not. I just got an extended stay awarded from her boss, but yeah. Dragon-lady is my boss. When you become a genin, you'll be assigned to a team. Teams usually consist of three genin and a jounin team leader to oversee you."

Suoh reached down and picked up the photo album and flipped through it until he came to a picture of his team.

"That's my team. The other two genin are Izumi and Micah. The older woman, that's Sudah - the dragon-lady. She doesn't look it, but she can be mean as hell when she wants to."

[Ryo]

Ryo nodded, really hoping Suoh could stay. "Hopefully you can be here for a while. I still have to show you that I can get better! And I'll totally get you one day~" He furrowed his brow. "Team huh? I dunno who I'd want to work with... I kinda like just doing things at my pace..."

As Suoh pulled out the photoalbum to show Ryo, the boy sat down beside the other to look over at the picture. "It looks like you really get along with those two~" He smiled brightly at the man. "If not that dragon-lady.'

[Suoh]

Suoh smiled fondly down at the picture. "Yeah, I do. We were friends, even early on in the academy;we were lucky to end up on a team together. We've done everything together for as long as I can remember. I remember the night of our graduation. Izumi had us all pierce our palms and join hands in a blood pact; blood's important, and I didn't have anyone in the village that I shared it with until then. That night I stopped being an orphan and became a part of something important."

[Ryo]

Ryo watched Suoh thoughtfully with a small smile on his face. "You found your place and your people." He spoke with a familiarity and was that perhaps a bit of sadness? Probably not, Ryo was far too happy for his own good.

[Suoh]

"Some of them," Suoh agreed. "I found someone more important when I came here, and that's why I've stayed this long."