[Enter from prom with Kenji]

It was a huge relief to be out of there. Free from the watchful jounin, free from the pressure of dancing, and free from that damn bracelet. Arumi hadn't felt like herself while she was wearing it. Out here, she could be her usual self again. Kenji seemed more at ease too. He seemed more comfortable when his weapon was with him. Arumi had been impressed when she first saw it. That thing was huge, and he carried it so easily. He must be really strong. A little voice in her head was saying some pretty suggestive things about large swords, but she tried to put it out of her mind before she could turn red again.

She lead Kenji through the streets, smiling wide. Now this was a proper outing. Arumi strolled along, enjoying all the sights of this place. Especially Kenji. Personally she preferred him as far as sights went, but she didn't want to stare too much for fear of creeping him out. "You ever come here before?" she asked, trying to make small talk. She was starting to realize how little she knew about her date, and tried to remedy the situation.

Kenji felt much more relaxed now that he was out in the night air, he had always enjoyed the lack of sunlight and cooler temperatures, not that he hated sunlight, he just found night to be far more relaxing. Not to mention the freedom the open air granted, primarily from Jounin supervision and their chakra restraining bracers, however he simply couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching them. Kenji did his best to put that feeling aside for now, he'd keep an eye out but he had more important things to pay attention to, primarily the young woman beside him.

As far as he could tell Arumi was enjoying herself, she looked like she was relaxing now that they were out of the prom, but most importantly to Kenji she looked happy. "You ever come here before?" "Actually this is my first time here, it seems like a nice place though." Kenji said in a relaxed tone, smiling as he responded. "To be honest, I almost declined the invitation, but..." Kenji paused for a moment, this time his tone was slightly more awkward, but still pretty relaxed. "... I'm glad I didn't." He finished with a kind tone, and an awkward smile. "So uh, how about yourself?" Kenji said in a slightly flustered tone, trying not to make things too awkward by pausing for too long.

Arumi smiled, turning a little pink from the compliment. This Kenji was a charmer, all right. She was in the same boat with him. She had been convinced the prom was going to be a total disaster, but it turned out to be quite nice. Or at least, meeting Kenji was. He seemed like a great guy, even if there was something at the back of her mind giving her all sorts of ideas that could get her in trouble. She almost liked some of those ideas, or would if she wasn't worried about scaring him off.

She shook her head in answer to his question. "Nah, never really got to travel much. Donzoko is cool and all, but it's nice to get out of town sometimes, you know?" she said, keeping an even pace alongside him. "So, um," she searched for something to say, not wanting to leave too much of a lull. "That's a cool sword, where'd you get it?" That question had been on her mind. Her fellow Hirano often used huge, brutish weapons, but there was a craftsmanship to this they didn't usually have. This was some fine work.

"Nah, never really got to travel much. Donzoko is cool and all, but it's nice to get out of town sometimes, you know?" "Yeah." Kenji replied politely, noticing that her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink as they continued through the town. "So, um." He smiled and laughed a little on the inside as Arumi did the same thing he did moments ago, search for something to keep the conversation going and prevent an awkward lull.

"That's a cool sword, where'd you get it?" "Hmm, well..." To be honest Kenji hadn't really thought about his blade coming up, it was simply second nature to have it with him to the point that it is practically an extra limb. "... I'm not sure how believable this is going to sound but I made it a little before I turned ten, although it was a little smaller back then." Kenji spoke in an awkward and modest tone with a faint awkward laugh at the end, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. He never really liked to brag, but he couldn't answer the question truthfully without doing so.

Arumi's eyes widened. She was normally pretty suspicious, but she really wanted to believe this guy. Besides, buying the story couldn't hurt her chances here. "Really?" Her upper right hand reached over, feeling the hilt. It was amazing work. Bottom Righty was about to move in again, but she felt it this time and ordered it back before it could make its move.

"Before you were ten..." She thought back to when she was that age. Training, building up her resilience, meditating in the Temple, she'd had a lot on her plate. She knew that those outside her clan didn't have to deal with most of that, but still it was an incredible achievement for one so young. She wondered if it was related to a kekkei genkai, but didn't think to ask. All she could manage to come up with was "You really are amazing, Kenji." She blushed as soon as she realized what she had said, looking away.

"Really?" "Heh, not the most believable thing is it?" Kenji replied in the same awkward modest tone, it definitely wasn't something most people would believe off hand, let alone from a reputable source. A light tint of red appeared on Kenji's cheeks as Arumi inspected the handle of his blade, he wasn't used to people inspecting his handiwork, other than children that thought it looked cool and the occasional blacksmith.

"Before you were ten..." Arumi seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, Kenji figured she was either imagining how a nine year old could possibly create this or thinking back to when she was that age herself, then again it could always be both or neither. "You really are amazing, Kenji." Immediately Kenji's face turned a darker shade of red, but it didn't quite match the shade he saw on Arumi's face before she turned her head. He wasn't really sure what to say after that, although most of the night had seemed to be filled with similar moments. "Arumi... I..." Kenji froze, he had always come up with something before, but this time he simply couldn't muster up the words.

Arumi looked over at him when he spoke. She hadn't expected him to react like that when she touched his sword. Not that sword at least... She pushed that thought away, getting a little flustered. His awkward response, on the other hand, had been entirely expected. She didn't know why she had said that. It had been what she was thinking, but it was only going to kill the conversation again.

"So, how's Kemurigakure?" she asked, giving him a nervous smile. It wasn't much, but at least his forehead protector gave her a diversion topic when things got too awkward. She tried to change her look from nervous to reassuring, Kenji seemed to need a confidence boost.

"So, how's Kemurigakure?" Kenji breathed a sigh of relief on the inside when Arumi broke the silence and changed the subject, you could feel the awkward tension in the air, and her nervous smile only added to it. "Well, it's alright. If anything I'd call it a fairly normal place, heh, although it does have a few odd characters..." Kenji laughed awkwardly, for the most part Kemuri was normal, but Yuuki and a few other's definitely stood out in the crowd, and not in the good way. "... Not to mention the permanent black fog, but you get used to that after a while."

Kenji paused for a moment, debating on what to talk about. He could ask Arumi about Donzoko, but he didn't want to keep asking her the same things she asked him. He did want to know more about her arms and her clan, but that seemed like a topic best left to come up on its own. In the end he settled on something simple. "Do you have any favored hobbies or pass times?" Kenji said with a kind tone, wondering if that sounded as stupid as he thought it did.

Arumi listened, laughing along with him. She thought back to the guy who had been tackled by security at the prom, she seemed to remember he was Kemuri too. Kenji looked like he had known the guy. "He doesn't get in trouble like that a lot, does he?" she said, grinning. She didn't mind the troublemaker so much. She had some of those tendencies of her own, and it had given her a chance to go off with Kenji. As awkward as the dancing was, she was glad it had happened.

She shrugged at his question. He wasn't exactly smooth, but his nervousness was kinda cute. It was nice to have someone worried about impressing her for once. "I dunno, I keep pretty busy with work. I hang out a bit, go places. Maybe get in a bit of trouble sometimes." she gave him a playful grin. "What about you?"

"He doesn't get in trouble like that a lot, does he?" "Who Yuuki? Nah, he usually sticks to himself." Kenji replied in a relaxed tone, but deep down he was thinking of some of the disturbing rumors and reports he'd heard about Yuuki, he didn't need to bother her with that. Which also made him wonder what Yuuki had ended up doing after he was kicked from from the Prom. A lone psychotic puppeteer left to roam the streets, surely nothing good could come from that? Pushing these thoughts aside Kenji returned his focus to Arumi.

"I dunno, I keep pretty busy with work. I hang out a bit, go places. Maybe get in a bit of trouble sometimes." Kenji cocked an eyebrow at the last statement as he smiled along with her. "What about you." "Hmm, I guess you could say I keep pretty busy with work as well, but I enjoy some down time as much as anyone else. Every now and then I'll make ni..." Kenji stopped himself mid sentence when he realized how lame that would've sounded, blushing a bit in the process. "So, trouble eh?" He said somewhat flustered, trying to divert the topic from his awkward pause.

Arumi nodded. They seemed to have a lot in common. She was worried she'd be embarrassed by her lack of hobbies, but he seemed to be similar in that regard. Still, she was curious about him trailing off. "Make what?" she asked, genuinely interested. Part of her wanted to tack on some familiar thing to call him, but she decided that would be pushing it too fast.

She was a bit flustered by his question. Kenji seemed nice, she didn't want to scare him off with her delinquency. "Oh, nothing too big. Just get in fights sometimes." she said, trying to play it off. Bottom Righty moved again, and Arumi almost panicked before realizing it was a bit more innocent this time. She walked close and the renegade hand went to hold his, with her upper arm linking with his arm. Maybe bold, but she felt the time was right.

Make what?" "Well... knick-knacks..." He replied in a quiet somewhat embarrassed tone, he enjoyed making them, but it wasn't something kids his age normally did. "So... trouble?" Kenji asked once more, although in a less flustered tone, shifting the focus back to Arumi, who seemed a bit flustered herself by the question. "Oh, nothing too big. Just get in fights sometimes." The tone of her voice said she really didn't want to go into detail, whether it was because it was worse than she made it sound or because she was afraid it might turn him away Kenji wasn't sure, but he wouldn't pry.

After a moment Kenji noticed Arumi walking a little closer, he half expected her bottom right hand to try and make another move now that it could reach, which it did but to his surprise it had something else in mind. He blushed a little as it wrapped around his hand, however it was a welcomed move as his hand interlocked with hers. Although it did feel a little weird when her upper right arm wrapped around his by the elbow, but it felt natural, and in response his left hand moved to rest itself on her forearm just below the elbow. Kenji didn't know what to say from here, but he didn't want to simply say nothing. "Arumi... I'm really glad we met..." He said in a kind tone, struggling to find the right words.

Arumi reminded herself to ask more about those knick-knacks later. A little voice in her mind said that it might be nice to have one, and she was inclined to agree. A little memento of Kenji would be nice when they had to part ways. "Sounds fun." she said with a smile.

What Kenji said next caught her by surprise. She knew he felt that way, but she didn't expect to hear those words. It was refreshingly blunt, especially from a shy boy like Kenji. Arum stopped, still holding his hand. She had no idea what to say. She wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn't come. Meanwhile, a growing voice was telling her that she'd never have a better chance than now. Arumi turned to face Kenji, blushing and smiling. Then she did something unexpected. Her lower left hand grabbed his shirt and her upper left grabbed his head, and she pulled him into a kiss.

"Is something wrong?" Kenji said in a worried tone as Arumi stopped, thinking he might of caught her off guard with his comment. Which he did, just not quite the way he thought. "Are you-mmph!" What Kenji had attempted to do was ask if Arumi was alright as she turned to him, but what actually happened caught him completely by surprise.

As Arumi suddenly pulled him into a kiss a mixture of emotions and thoughts ran through his head, starting with confusion and surprise, and as his body relaxed pleasure and comfort were added into the mix. Something about it simply felt right, it was spontaneous and yet so... natural. Who knows how long it was until the kiss ended, maybe a few moments, maybe a few minutes, either way it seemed like an eternity to him, an eternity where he could forget about the rest of the world and his troubles.

After what seemed like forever, Arumi broke off the kiss. He kissed me back! He liked it! Arumi's heart was racing. She was happier right now than she'd probably ever been. She looked into Kenji's eyes, looking thrilled. He had been pretty good at it, especially considering it was probably his first. She was a bit worried that hers might have been bad, but Kenji seemed to have enjoyed it a lot.

"Wow..." she finally managed to say. She noticed that people were staring, but she didn't mind as much now. That had been a real confidence booster for her. "That was great." She eased up her grip on Kenji a bit, but was still hanging onto his arm. Her face was flushed and she was breathing fast, but she was feeling good right now. This night was going better than she could have expected.

Kenji's head was still swimming a little as reality snapped back into place when Arumi broke off the kiss, of all the possible ways he figured this trip could have turned out sharing his first real kiss with a kunoichi from Donzoko wasn't remotely near the list. The fact that she had four arms and was just as tall as him simply took that "wasn't remotely near" and turned it into "wasn't even in the same dimension as". He smiled as he looked into her eyes, Kenji could tell how thrilled Arumi was and couldn't help but wonder if that was her first real kiss too.

"Wow... That was great." Kenji payed no mind to the people around them, his focus was purely on the young woman in front of him, fankly he didn't give a damn about what anyone else was thinking. "Great... is an understatement." He had noticed how much her breath had quickened, but only as he spoke now did he notice how much his own breathing had sped up, let alone his heart rate. Kenji was simply lost in the moment, he had never really been sure what to do before, but it was well beyond that stage.

Arumi was almost starting to calm down when Kenji spoke. Of course, his words threw all that out the window. The compliment pretty much wrecked any coherent train of thought, turning her mind into a mess of happiness and excitement. She noticed that Kenji seemed just as excited as she was from all this, and that only wound her up more.

After a moment, the looks from people were starting to bug her a bit. A little voice in her mind told her that they should probably have some privacy, and she agreed. "So um..." she said, trying to find the words. Or any words at all, really. She was still sort of reeling from that kiss. "It's kinda crowded here, wanna go somewhere a little more private?"

"So um..." "Hmm?" He replied softly, something seemed to be bothering her a little, and noticing her eyes shifting between him and the people around them Kenji figured some prying eyes were probably starting to annoy her, which he would have to agree. "It's kinda crowded here, wanna go somewhere a little more private?"

Private!?! Kenji's mind raced with both enticing and worrying thoughts, was it really okay to be alone with a girl you practically just met after a mind melting kiss like that? Should he stop things before they went too far? Should he see where the night takes him? What would Vox think of him if he did? "Sure, what did you have in mind?" Kenji replied in a nervous but happy tone. Maybe it was because he was simply lost in the moment, or maybe because he felt a connection with Arumi that he simply couldnt explain, but against his better judgement he'd see where the night led them.

That nagging voice was getting a lot louder now. It was demanding that Arumi take him back to her hotel, saying it was the perfect spot for them to have some alone time. As much as she might have liked that, Arumi could see it was a bad idea. Kenji was nervous enough already, if she even mentioned it the poor guy might have a heart attack. Instead, she took his arm and started to lead him down the street. "Come on."

She had come into town on this road, and she remembered a few landmarks. Sure enough, after a minute they arrived at a park. It wasn't all that big, but it was a nice place, and it was pretty empty this time of night. "How about here?" she asked, giving him a smile.

"Come on." Kenji was about to ask where to but the way she eagerly took his arm and led him down the street a part of him wanted it to be a surprise. This side of town was unfamiliar to him, he had come in through a different route and didn't take much time to see the sights before checking in to his hotel, but it didn't take long for him guess as a small park came into view. It was a nice park, small but well kept, and it had a great view of the night sky. Most importantly it was sparsely populated.

"How about here?" Kenji couldn't help but smile along with Arumi. "It's perfect." He replied in a reassuring tone, taking her by the hand and entering the park. Kenji took a deep breath of the fresh air, it was nice to get away from the man made streets and alleys, even if was just a small town park.

Perfect! He said perfect! Arumi was thrilled as her date took the lead, bringing them into the park. This night was going better than she could have imagined. Not too long ago she had been lurking awkwardly in the corner of a ballroom, trying to make conversation with some mute with a goofy grin. And now here she was, going for a moonlit stroll in the park with a cute genin from Kemuri. It was a clear night, lighting the park nicely. They could see their way through clearly, even without lights.

She stuck close to him, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked. The close contact was nice. Not as nice as the kiss, but still nice. Even better, the hand-holding let her keep Bottom Righty under control. Even if it tried to slip Kenji's grip and make another move, he could warn her. She let herself relax a bit, getting used to this. "Beautiful..." she murmured, looking across the park. Normally she wasn't one for such sentiment, but the whole atmosphere was really coming together for her. Maybe it was the kiss talking, but it really did seem like a beautiful night. "So..." she said, looking over at Kenji. "What you wanna do now?"

Kenji could feel himself unwinding as they walked through the park, resting his head against Arumi's as she leaned hers against his shoulder. The clear skies, the moonlit stroll, tensions of every day life were simply melting away, he found himself able to truly relax. "Beautiful..." "Yeah..." He replied in a slight murmur of his own, the overall picture was almost surreal, and the few roaming fireflies drifting throughout the park topped it off.

"So..." "Hmm?" Kenji replied in a soft tone as he turned his head slightly to look Arumi in the eyes. "What you wanna do now?" "Anything you'd like to." He said in a sincere tone, only realizing what he said afterwards. It wasn't that it was untrue, Kenji really did wish to do anything she wanted to, but it probably wasn't the wisest thing he could have said.

Arumi's mind flooded with ideas at what Kenji said. Some of them were more advisable than others. She really wanted another kiss, but she felt she should probably get to know him a little better. She had hardly met the guy, after all, and it would be nice to at least know his full name before getting their faces stuck together the whole night. Her face flushed a bit at the idea, not to mention all the other ideas that little voice was giving her for things they could do alone.

Dragging her mind out of the gutter, Arumi managed to put together an answer. "Well this is a nice quiet place to talk." She sat down on a bench overlooking the park, patting the seat next to her. "Why don't you tell me about you?"

The way Arumi blushed a little at his comment implied that she probably shared a few of the more "risky" ideas that wandered through the back of his thoughts, which in turn caused him to blush a little as well, however he quickly pushed those thoughts aside. "Well this is a nice quiet place to talk." Phew. Kenji breathed a sigh of relief on the inside, he could handle some more talking, he didn't know if he could handle some of his other thoughts. "Why don't you tell me about you?"

"Lets see..." Kenji thought for a moment while he sat the sheathed Denji Karitoriki on the ground beside the bench and took his seat beside Arumi on the right side, realizing that they haven't even exchanged their full names over the course of the entire night. "... Heh, I guess I should start with my last name, Jinsei." Kenji laughed faintly after he spoke, somewhat embarrassed that he had never fully introduced himself. "Well, hmm..." He struggled to go on, not really sure what to tell her. "I enjoy stormy weather, or rather I find it relaxing. I prefer most meats and pasta to any sort of vegetable. And well, hmm, is there anything specific you'd like to know?" Kenji asked awkwardly, not really sure how to go about telling her about himself, it wasn't something he was used to doing. In fact it wasn't anything he had ever done outside of a professional situation, and even then they usually just wanted to know about his skill set.

Arumi let out a little laugh as he awkwardly listed off a few facts. She had never heard of the Jinsei clan before, but then again she never paid much attention to the clans outside her village except for the big names. She realized she probably hadn't mentioned hers either, and quickly remedied that. "I'm from the Hirano clan." she said, almost hoping he hadn't heard of them. She was proud of her clan, but she knew how bad their reputation was with outsiders. They were usually seen as monsters, fanatics, and lunatics, and that wasn't the impression she wanted to give Kenji.

"Don't think I know the Jinsei clan, are you guys big in Kemuri?" she asked, curious. She wondered if that sword had something to do with his clan. A lot of the other clans had signature weapons, maybe that was theirs.