Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

Late for the Bell

When the day of the mission finally dawned, after a night of worry and grueling reading so not to come short to the standards placed on her, Mana felt strangely calm. It may have been a gift of hers. When the truly important handful of golden feathers hit the fan Mana usually was rather calm and accepting whatever outcome came.

The only thing that Mana had trouble working out and kept jumping from one boat to another on was whether to employ any help from any of her acquaintances. She made it halfway to the Academy before realizing that maybe it would not have hurt to pay Kiyomi a visit.

The two parted under less than ideal circumstances and while they made up in the end on the things that mattered, they could have worked it out more peacefully. At least in a manner of acceptance and honesty more befitting to true friends. Given how Mana now knew of the Yamanaka's vision of her future, she had an option to offer something that could have been of use to her. Maybe that would have helped illuminate whatever shade fell on their garden of friendship.

It was a rather early morning when Mana came. The Academy tried to instill a sense of discipline and iron will into the youngsters it tutored so the lessons started quite early. Fortunately, in this case, Mana only had to show up on the second lesson as Tori did not have a lesson in the timeslot occupying the very first hour of daily studies.

Regardless of the time, Mana expected a rather decent chance of finding Kiyomi home. If she was not, an even greater chance suggested that after a quick rooftop dash to the Training Grounds she may have found her lost friend and troubled her with the suggestion. In this time of early morning, servants tended to the gardens of what Mana may have classified as a genuine mansion – the home where Kiyomi and her family lived.

Her face was rather well-known around the village in general and that helped associate that face with Kiyomi as her friend's face to the service staff and the girl's family. For that simple reason, none of the servants troubled Mana. And yet, the magician noticed a presence of uneasy chuunin-vest wearing ninja in the premises which tipped the magician off just as much as the flash of her raven hair did the bodyguards before they settled down after a moment of examining this quick-footed visitor.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Kiyomi grinned, opening the door. Mana was relieved to see her friend herself and not another servant. She was a little tight on time and dashing around the village would have taken much less time, considering her speed, than it would have taken to explain the plentiful baggage of the reason why she was here to civilians.

"Are you busy this afternoon? I've got a thing about interrogation and... Well... You mentioned you wanted to enroll in the Intelligence Division, did you not?" Mana spoke up without departing on a lengthy quest to find her words.

"Oh..." Kiyomi's eyes lit up before the girl's gleaming oceanic blues settled on the ninja roaming the premises. At that moment, the spark in her eyes faded out. "I don't think leaving my home would be a good idea right now. I hope you didn't count on me too much."

"Oh, no... It's just, I'm teaching a course in the Academy about interrogation to kids and I figured you'd like to be there." Mana shrugged. Her own eyes happened to creep back at the ninja that did not appear that troubled by the conversation but that relentlessly patrolled the premises of the Yamanaka garden.

"Yeah, sorry. There is this whole thing happening with the Uchiha and Yamanaka over what I did with the eyes they lost and... It may not be the wisest idea for me to leave." Kiyomi rubbed her elbow in unease. Hints of anger and frustration of the more submissive variety appeared in her body language and the reflection of her soul in the girl's eyes.

Whatever was happening demanded more time from Mana than she may have had. The magician wondered how she could write herself out of this conversation she herself started and utilize the time she still had without seeming too rude. Whatever this situation with the Uchiha was, it appeared to greatly weigh on Kiyomi's chest and it was not something a friend would just dismiss with a "K, bye".