Shiori's been sick for a while, on and off, and it's been messing with his mind. But at least he had been able to dream more deeply in his fevered state. And in the meantime, he had trained with his past self. Some of his previous incarnation's memories were unlocked now. But... only like this. Shiori himself, the young man inside the magical ninja garb, was still the same geeky nerd...
Anyway. Now that he's better, Shiori wants to train some. To... did magical heroes patrol, like comic-book superheroes? Well, it didn't matter, Shiori is. Helps to be proactive, he figures, and not wait until something explodes before he does the heroing bit. So, to the park he goes!
It's getting on evening, and the people in the park are starting to go home, as it's too dark for kids to play. But that doesn't mean the park is abandoned. High above, in the trees, there's a dark shape. It leaps through the trees, landing on branches and pausing long enough to survey another perch, and then leaps again. It moves abnormally quick, its movements eerily silent. But a whoosh echoes as it leaps.
Kukai Souma had decided to go out jogging shortly after he'd gotten home from school, even with how late it had been, and the other things he'd had to take care of. It's practically night, now, but staying in his room didn't sit well for Kukai, and so he was out, exercising his body. He was pretty sure his brother Unkai would have preferred if he'd stayed in the apartment yard and practiced soccer shots, but being around the house just kept his mind on things.
So, he's out in one of the parks around Tokyo, hooded sweatsuit on with the hood around his neck, Daichi riding on his shoulder, both jogging steadily along and watching for anything. Still, he's not nearly attentive enough even in his watchful state to notice the dark figure above him...
Akahana pauses on a branch as he sees Kukai. Hm. That's odd. It's pretty late, why would someone pick now to go jogging? Particularly when it's this chilly. He turns his path through the trees to coincide with the path Kukai is jogging through the park. The trees don't grow right next to the jogging path, though, so he won't be able to get within arm's reach.
Still though, the trees grow close enough that Kukai should be able to see the dark shape leaping through the trees alongside him.
Kukai Souma notices the figure and his heart jumps, coming to a stop after a few moments. True, the park is almost completely empty, but Kukai hadn't noticed the chill until just now, as he tried to percieve the dark shape in the forest, losing track of it from time to time. "What now? OK, whoever you are, you going to face me or keep jumping around up there?"
Daichi perks up as Kukai comes to a stop, and then hovers off his shoulder in front of him, pointing into the treetops. "There! There, there, whatever it is, it's there!" He's of course pointing in totally the wrong way.
Akahana pauses again. There's one of those... tiny people on this kid's shoulder. What is that? He pauses where he is, behind Kukai and Daichi, and considers. There's really no way to tell what it is from here. Starlight Wish can't scan like a Device. And she's off in her own little world right now anyway. That and he doesn't know how to properly utilize her. So there's no choice but to go out there.
There's a whoosh, and the shape drops down from the trees. It jumps down onto the jogging path, where it can be seen now. It's a young man dressed as a sengoku-era ninja. He wears loose dark blue clothes, and has light blue hair and gray eyes. There's a scarf around his mouth, one that makes it difficult to tell when he's about to speak. Which he soon does.
A quiet, young male's voice emits from the figure. "It's a bit odd for someone to be jogging this late. It's cold." So he says, though the cold doesn't seem to be bothering him either.
Kukai Souma just blinks. A ninja? A flippin' ninja? "A ninja. Why am I not surprised? ... And maybe I had something on my mind, yeah? It's a bit odd for somebody to be bouncing through the trees at this chilly time of night too!" Kukai, of course, is perfectly recognizable to any student of Seiyou Public, but he's not able to place the person in front of him. Of course, his world's gotten a lot bigger recently.
Daichi perks up and scoots back to Kukai. "Kukai... I think this guy knows magic, too!" Kukai, for his credit, doesn't respond to Daichi, keeping his eyes on the new figure. "So... gonna answer me? What are you doing chasing random people around in the trees like some sort of blackbird with throwing stars?"
"Correct," the ninja replies to the mention of how odd it is to be bouncing through the trees on a chilly night. One gets the feeling he's smirking a little, under that cloth wrapped around the bottom of his face. Oh sure, Shiori definitely recognizes Kukai. But he doesn't want to get Kukai involved in his weirdness, so he doesn't immediately reveal who he is. Besides that, Shiori's kind of a nerd; Kukai probably wouldn't know him anyway.
The words from Daichi draw Akahana's attention, though, and he looks to the tiny boy. "Also correct." That's aimed at Daichi himself. Apparently yes... he can see him. But he also answers Kukai's question too. "Patrolling. The Mitakihara police can't handle youma."
Kukai Souma would have certainly seen Shiori's papers in his duties as a Guardian, but he just can't place him for now, especially with never having spoken to him before. And this doesn't look like the same picture at all.
Kukai draws up a little as the ninja talks to Daichi, and then mentions youma. "...You're hunting youma? OK..." He looks a little less nervous, for now. "Well, I'm no youma. I guess it's good you're out there hunting them, though. I was sort of doing the same thing. Kinda." He rubs the back of his head.
One of the ninja's pale brows lift. "Oh?" he asks. "You two?" He pauses a moment, long enough for Kukai to answer. He looks between Kukai and Daichi, consideringly. but after a moment he decides to *gasp!* be polite. He bows, enough to be polite, though not enough that he'd have to take his eyes off the two of them. "Akahana. If you hunt youma, we are allies."
Kukai Souma huhs, then bows, a shallow, similar bow, back to Akahana. "Yeah, us two. I don't.. hunt them, specifically, but I keep my eyes open. I'm a Guardian." He doesn't elaborate on the concept too much more before standing up, grinning slightly, the infectious quality of his grin still shining through even as weak as it is. "Akahana, huh? ..... Isn't that a girl's name?" There's no malice in his voice, just a bit of a question.
Akahana tilts his head as the nonspecific response. But the mention of 'Guardian' gets a raise of the ninja's brows. "Ah. I thought I recognized you. Wasn't aware youma patrols were included in Guardian duties." There's a bit of a smirk in his voice, but not a malicious one.
The mention of 'Akahana' being a female name gets a nod. "I was. Many years ago," he admits. The ninja's words seem terse, but still polite.
Kukai Souma blinks, then grins. "Hey, Seiyou Public School students all over Tokyo - heck, all over Japan - need help. It's up to the Guardians to defend them, no matter what." He shrugs. "So... I do a lot of things, more now so that things are getting crazier."
Kukai wants to ask some more questions, because that is just a twice as weird answer, but hey, it can be left behind for now. "Ok, so... should we go back to patrolling?"
Akahana nods. "Since the storm," he agrees. "There's still much to be done." A pause at the question. He nods, then looks to the trees. "I'll follow from above. Two sets of eyes are better." Another pause. And then he looks back at Kukai. "...If that's all right?" There's a small hint of meekness in his tone. After all, Kukai is one of the Guardians. Anybody in Seiyou knows you don't just order one of the Guardians around.
Kukai Souma frowns at the mention of the storm. Something goes behind his eyes but it passes quickly. "Yeah. A lot." He nods, grinning. "Yeah, I'm sure the two of us working together will do better than separate."
The change in tone makes Kukai blink. "What? Sure, that's a great idea! At least I know who it is running around above me now." He grins, giving the ninja a thumbs up.
It wasn't just a change in tone. It was a change in whole demeanor. The confident, rigid line of the ninja's back relaxed, his head ducked. The tone itself, the change was striking. His words had been terse and almost curt. A man of few words, much like a ninja should be. But the question is asked with a softness that hadn't been there before.
Once more, Akahana nods, this time at the agreement. And the confidence returns to his expression. "Unless something else is up there with me," he notes, with a smirk that's audible in his words. That said, though, he climbs back up in a nearby tree. He won't be trying to hide himself this time. At least, not from Kukai. "Lead on."
Kukai Souma huhs. He's pretty good at determining people's mood and mental state, and for a moment the confident ninja guy was a... ninja girl? He was sure of it, but didn't know what to make of it. "You could use a good luck charm..." He laughs. "Hey, don't say that so lightly. There's enough giant monsters out there. Let's go!" He looks over to Daichi. "Chara Change!" A headband appears, holding part of Kukai's hair off his face, a large 5 pointed star on one side. He sprints off down the path, much faster and agile than before, not feeling the cold at all again.