The Floating Angel [Saru, Rin]

His right palm rubbed along his face, the cold water from the faucet in front of him washing away the heat that was upon him, after just waking up not too long ago. Shivering some with just a towel around him, something underneath covering him, he let his hair shake away some of the water, pulling it down with his palm. his hair was unnaturally long, which reached down to his lower half almost. Taking a rubber band to wrap around one end and trail it up a few times over, he held the long length of hair in place, keeping it from getting everywhere. A small sigh escaped through his lips, black hues closing in front of the mirror in the Apartment-like area. He shared a room with another Sora shinobi, Rin. All of his swords were upon his bed, neatly placed together and ready to be put on whenever he got dressed.

Tilting his head from side to side, getting out the stress from his neck, he lifted his head up and just stared at the ceiling above, curious of how he managed to get upon the ranks of the Sky Country. As curious as he was, he didn't really care, as long as he kept his other side in check, which the high altitude did for him. It wasn't too warm inside, except for those hot days up in the sky, those cool winds really paying off. His right palm shifted down to the running water, splashing it once more along his face as he stared at the water running through his fingers, deep in his own thought.

Rin yawned and stretched, rolling over in her bed. Her room was on the opposite side of Saru's, but she knew he was awake because she could hear the water running.

"Oh god."

She nearly panted, throwing the blankets off of her and rolling onto the floor landing with a soft thud. Happy with the new temperature, she closed her eyes and relaxed a little on the wooden floor, black hair sprawled out around her. She rolled over onto her stomach when she heard footsteps approaching her door and pulled the hem of her white night gown down, looking at the door expectantly. Saru had a knack for just walking in without knocking.

It was days like these that almost made her miss the snow, but she hated the cold. It brought back bad memories. A light shiver ran through her as she again focused her attention on the door. 'Any minuet now.' she thought with a bemused expression, long black nails carefully tapping at the floor.

Slowly turning the faucet off, he had dried off his palms with the towel that was next to him, carefully placing it back where it was, looking back at the mirror with his emotionless expression. Only to shake his head and let down a small sigh, he turned and headed towards the other door in the area, opening it slowly and walking in. For some reason his dresser was in her area and not his own, even though the apartment was a connected one. Slowly moving to his dresser, he opened the first drawer to toss over a pair of black socks on his shoulder, moving to the next one, taking out one of his favorite casual shirts, then down to the last to get out a pair of grey jeans. He didn't see her on her bed when he walked on, so she was probably on the floor where he couldn't see her.

"We don't have a mission today. And you don't really need to hide. It's been almost a year since we moved here. I think you've seen plenty."

His voice was casual, yet still in it's dark toned state, eyes staring at the rest of his clothing to make sure they were all neatly folded. Closing the drawers, he slowly set down the stuff on top, slipping on the grey shirt, and to drop his towel to reveal a pair of black boxers, putting on his grey jeans and then his socks. He really didn't feel like doing too much today, not much at all.

"Who said i was hiding?"

He could hear the smirk in her voice, she was laying with her head propped up on her hand. Head cocked slightly to the left as she watched him, it wasn't unusual, in fact it happened nearly every morning.

"Im bored."

She whined, rolling back over so she was facing the ceiling. Since they had started living together, he had seen more and more of her childish side. Always quick to bore, but hard to entertain. There were days however when she simply sat in her room, only leaving to get food or grab a new book.

His palm rubbed along his right shoulder, rubbing out a knot that was in it from sleeping in too long. Six hours was enough sleep. Slowly turning to stare back at Rin, he arched a brow, seeing her beside her bed, facing up at the ceiling. Stepping over and kneeling beside her, he only whispered so softly.

"Yes, I am too, but I'm going to go out and shop with my extra cash. Want to come along?"

It sounded like many things at once, but he just hoped she didn't pin out the obvious one there. Slowly standing back up onto his feet, he stepped out of her door and into his side of the apartment, gathering up his blades and setting them on the necessary areas on his body, a couple on his left side, a few diagonal on his right, and one on his back. Many of the swords were freshly sharpened because of everyday care, but he was getting very bored with the same old Routine. Maybe a trip around the area would do him some good.

In mere seconds Rin was dressed and had already attached herself to Saru's arm, as she usually did, despite the many times he had told her it was uncomfortable.

"I wanna go Saru!"

She exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face. She often enjoyed traveling with him. Not only was he someone she knew she could trust, but his intimidating presence often kept pestering strangers at bay. With a quick movement she adjusted one of the swords on his back and tightened the strap that had pulled itself loose.

"There we go, all precise and angular."

Her voice trailed off as she let her grip on his arm loose long enough to grab her sandals and slip them on. Today was going to be a long day, but with any luck it would also be enjoyable.

Feeling her attach to his arm again made him flinch a couple times, but shivered down his spine, trying to get used to her frame being against his own. Closing his hues for a few seconds, and opening them again, he nodded at her comments, just starting off towards the door, the satchel of Ryo firmly placed along his side to make sure it didn't fall during any of the walking time. Keeping his feet moving forward, avoiding her own with every shift.

"Just don't try and tease me in public.."

He murmured a little, just heading out of the door, and off towards one of the market districts in the floating fortress. He thought of many things he would get in the district, and maybe some things he would get for her, maybe some things for the room, and her. Some exotic new stores would be a nice change.

She let her eyes wander over everything as a light yawn escaped her lips. She hadn't slept well last night, but then again, she never does. Her grip on his arm tightened lightly when a small child almost ran into her, she had to step closer to him to avoid the tiny pest and almost jabbed herself with the hilt of one of his swords.

"Tiny parasites.."

She grumbled adjusting herself, eyes now scanning the area quickly for anymore potential collisions. Normally she would stay home when he went out to town, but she was extremely bored today and an unusual trip seemed like just the thing to cure it.

"Saru I'm hungry, can we stop soon?"

Her stomach growled agreeably with her comment, a light blush rising to her cheeks as she looked down. She could wait to eat for a long time, the problem was that she had already skipped all three meals yesterday and now her stomach was growing impatient.

With the light dodging of the child near them, he let his black hues scan around the area, looking for a nearby restaurant. Sadly he found a couple of them, he really wasn't all choosy. He swayed his palm as he stood still, letting his view show just three restaurants. There was Ninja Burger, Epic Ramen and a fancy little restaurant.

"Choose one."

He let his right eye twitch as he got a piece of dust in it, taking that same palm up and rubbing it softly. After a bit it came out and he could open it clearly again. Shaking his head some, he kept his view straight ahead. His thoughts wandered about as he slowly leaned a little against her, curious of what she might pick.

She blinked looking at the restaurants, she wasn't very choosy either so it didn't matter to her where they went. Everything looked fine, and her stomach just needed sustenance. After a few minuets of careful thinking, she spotted a fruit stand a few feet ahead surrounded by people. Her eyes weren't on the people though, they were on the shiny red apples in the cart that had 12 ryo written on a cardboard sign.

"I have a better idea. How about we walk to that fruit stand, and i can buy an apple?"

Her voice was soft as she glanced up towards the fruit stand. She only had a few Ryo on her, definitely not enough to pay for a meal at a restaurant. She kicked a small pebble out of her way, drawing a small heart pattern with her nail on Saru's arm. She tilted her head up to look at him, and waited for his opinion on her plan.

He let a small shift of his being step a couple feet before leaping once with her on his arm, using it to hold her close while he did this. Landing softly near the fruit stand, he tossed the vendor a couple bits of Ryo, which totaled around 200 ryo, taking up a satchel of apples and just wandered off from the stand. Using one hand to hold the bag, he shifted it around to start to take up one of them, rubbing them on his nice clean shirt and offered it towards her.

"As I said, it's my treat.."

He let his palm hold the apple firmly, so it wouldn't fall if they were bumped at all. Somehow this felt more like a date than just a random walk-around in the market district. He didn't smile, however, just offered her the apple while he walked towards the non-food area of the district.

She blinked wide eyed up at Saru, she hadn't been expecting that. Carefully she took the apple, avoiding his eyes as she took a bite, some of the juice spilling down her chin. She swallowed the bite and licked her lips, a satisfied smile gracing her features as she took another bite.

"Thank you Saru."

She smiled, licking some more juice off of her lips before taking another bite. She liked walking with him, no one bothered her and she was comfortable. She blew a strand of hair from her face and tossed the apple core to the side, giggling softly when it hit a small child in the head.

"Woopsies."

She ducked behind Saru as the child looked up with tear-filled eyes. She didn't mean to hit the kid, and if he gave her those puppy dog eyes she would start to feel bad. So she stayed hidden behind Saru and just followed the cracks in the ground with her eyes, completely enamored by it. She had lost all sense of direction by now, and had no idea where they were.

Upon reaching the inner market district, he had stopped by one of the many stores that actually had a door on it. It said for mature audiences only, but he figured he looked the part. Opening the door with a small "Ring" above his head, he set the satchel of apples along the same belt as his money, looking around the very... 'Exotic' looking goods that were around. He looked down at Rin some before peering over at the owner of the shop.

"I'd like some stuff I could carry back to my room."

"What are you looking for?"

"Something that'll be interesting to have in a plain room."

The shop owner had nodded and wandered off to the back room of the shop, while he let a small sigh escape his lips, staring back down at Rin, wanting her opinion on what she would want from this shop. His gaze was like that she could pick anything she wanted from the shop.

Rin finally looked up when the crack she had been following with her eyes finally ended. Her eyes widened as she took in her surrounding, a bright red blush slowly making its way across her face as she let go of Saru's arm and covered her mouth.

"Saru! What in the name of the gods are we doing here?"

She looked around at all the "Exotic" things in the room, her blush only darkening. She didn't know why it embarrassed her so much, but it did. She shifted her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot trying to avoid looking at any one item for too long. Being around all this stuff made her jumpy, she felt like at any second her dead mother's ghost would pop out and scold her for being in such a place.

He felt her arms finally slip off his own while he shifted his shoulder around, getting it back in place. While the man came back with a list of what he had, he looked it over while holding it in his right hand. Letting his hues stare over the detail of the Kanjin, he set it back to the man.

"Fifteen sets of #15, Four sets of #4, Ten pieces of #16, And a #20, Anything else I'll point at when I pay for it."

The man only nodded, all of that would cost a lot in his own little world. Slowly going back to the back room, he dragged Rin over to the counter, getting out his Satchel of money and setting around the right amount for the stuff he was getting. This was about 12,000 ryo, in a full total. Setting the bills and coins down, he slowly waited for his large tote back to him. What else he wanted would be included in the cost.

"Rin, Pick something."

She just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Pick something? Saru i don't want anything."

She crossed her arms stubbornly. There was no way in hell she was picking anything out from this store. It was dirty and as of now she was still innocent...well...as innocent as a shinobi can be, and she planned on staying that way.

She walked over to the other side of the store and put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot against the floor as she waited for Saru to finish with his purchase. She felt like there were people watching her, the creepy man in the corner certainly was. With an irritated sigh she looked around the store once more, a light pink blush still on her cheeks.

Picking out a few things from the other parts of the store, the man taking the money and handing him a rather large tote bag, he slowly moved over to a couple of the large statures of "Exotic" furniture, picking them up with the same palm, walking out of the store, expecting Rin to follow him. The large objects were covered in a fabric as he walked out, making sure no one knew what he had. Maybe she embarrassed her, but it would end soon enough.

"Come on Rin, we're leaving the store."

He wanted to go to the Furniture store next.. So that's where he would go. Pressing the object above his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, he stared outwards, and then back towards her. He had one other arm to carry something with, maybe he could get her a more comfortable mattress or something. He tilted his head, making her know he wanted her to follow him.

Rin followed him out of the store, a scowl etched into her features and a death glare trained on the ground in front of her. He could hear her mumbling about how she would never go to town with him again. Despite her discomfort, she doubted her ability to make it home without getting in trouble, so did the smart thing and just continued to follow him from a safe distance.

The blush was still on her cheeks, more faint now, but it still irritated her. She wished she had brought along her coat, but in the heat of the day that would have been illogical and probably would have drawn more attention to her then she wanted. After some time, she noticed that they were heading in the direction of a furniture store. Her curiosity was now peaked, why a furniture store?

'Saru is really acting strange today.' she thought with a shrug as she simply followed him inside the store. She didn't feel like talking anymore so kept to herself as she looked around at all the things in the store.

Lifting the objects through into the store for Furniture, he looked around for anything he might've found interesting, for either him or her. The beds looked nice, the small fridges for the food and stuff, better then the ones they were handed out for the Apartments. He shifted some and let the stuff down, resting his shoulder while he looked around.

"Go look for what you want. It's on me."

He said it just so calmly, sitting on what would be his new mattress.

She raised an eyebrow looking at him, she was questioning his motives at this point. He had been acting strangely all day and now he kept insisting on buying her things. She wasn't the type to take hand outs though.

Reluctantly she sat on one of the beds and almost fell asleep right there, pushing herself up quickly she moved to sit in a clearly uncomfortable wooden chair, a stubborn glint in her eyes.
She wouldn't have him buying her anything, if she wanted the bed shed buy it herself.

"Eh, im good. I have everything i need."

She let out a light yawn and a bored expression overtook her face as she crossed one leg over the other.

He only kept his gaze towards the Store dealer, and just nodded at his small comments, handing him a rather large sum of Ryo. Picking up the large nice bed, along with another in his other hand, he started out the door, expecting her to follow him with the heavy loads on his arms giving a small strain to his muscles. Sliding out the door and heading back to the Apartments, a tote bag on his right shoulder along with large covered object he had with it, he just let off a small yawn. Two large mattresses were on his left shoulder, hardly pressing against him from the soft fabric.

"I wonder what she'll think.."

He thought to himself a few times over before finally letting his being slow his pace and look back, seeing if Rin was following him back, but stared forward and kept his slow pace, awaiting for her to catch up to him.

Slowly she came to walk beside him, a look of pure irritation on her face. Normally one to say what was on her mind, it was odd that she had stayed silent on this issue for as long as she had. Any minuet now the curiosity and frustration would boil over, but she would keep it at bay until she could retreat to her room and simply push it from her mind. That was something she was good at after all.

They made their way back to the room and Rin opened the door for Saru, she hadn't bothered asking if he wanted any help carrying anything. If he wouldn't let her buy an apple she figured that assuming he wouldn't let her carry anything was safe. She took a seat on the black leather couch in the center of their shared living space that was connected to the Kitchen and crossed one leg over the other. Saru was blocking her escape to sanctuary, aka, her bedroom.

After a few minuets of watching him move things around, she shifted and prepared to lunge for her bedroom once the opportunity presented itself, he couldn't stand there forever, could he? So she waited for a few moments, muscles tensed and ready to lunge. If she had been a cat, and had a tail, she would be crouched in that certain way, tail swishing back and forth as over alert eyes scanned and analyzed the situation.

'Come on...any minuet now..'

Her eyes darted back and forth with her thoughts. She just wanted to run into the room, lock the door and hide in her bed until he went to sleep. She figured she had embarrassed herself enough today, so avoiding the situation would keep her out of most trouble.

His hands worked quickly, but softly at keeping everything neat and clean. Slowly opening the death hole at the middle of his room, he tossed the old mattresses away in it, which got sucked in quickly and was drifting at high speeds to the ground from the floating fortress. His hands moved so carefully to place his newly acquired exotic things in his walk-in closet. After about half an hour of rearranging his room and replacing her mattress with a new comfortable one, washing her sheets and blankets, replacing them back on the bed before moving back to his own room, a small yawn escaping his lips.

"All done, Rin-chan."

He whispered this, tired out from all the heavy lifting he did over just a short amount of time. Handing her the bag of apples from earlier, he only scooted over and laid face-down on his bed, nuzzling into it while almost instantly falling dead asleep, not bothering to get undressed.

She blinked and just stared at him. What the hell just happened? She shrugged it off and stood up making her way from the couch and sat on her new bed a bright smile lighting up her face. She would have to repay him for this later.

With that thought she kicked off her shoes and changed into her night clothes before looking over at Saru again.

"Silly boy forgot to take off all his swords."

She mumbled to herself, pulling her hair back into a messy bun before walking over to where Saru was sleeping face down. This would be hard to do with him sleeping face down, but she would figure it out.

Slowly she traced the strap lines and found where they connected and removed the swords placing them carefully where she knew they went and then walked back over to where he was sleeping setting her hands on her hips. How would she get the ones off of the front? That was a problem indeed. She didn't want to wake him but he couldn't possibly be comfortable sleeping on all those swords.

She leaned down next to him and shook his shoulder lightly.

"Saru, roll over. Your sleeping on your swords."

she said softly, frowning when there was no response. 'Damn hes a heavy sleeper' she thought before resorting to good old fashioned pushing.

"Saaaarrruuuuu! wake uuupp!"

He didn't budge at all, his back hardly raising from the oxygen normally needed for sleep. It looked like he was dead, but in reality, he was an incredibly heavy sleeper, especially at high altitude. Murring to himself in his dead sleep, he was very hard to move, with the blades he was laying on flat and latched onto his belt. A few silent snores made itself known that he wasn't going to wake up by simple shouts and pushing.

"Zzz..."

Shifting a little to get more comfortable on his upper half, he turned his head the other way, going back to the full sleep that he had.