thorny path (training) (c)

Dreams. When he dreamed, it seemed as if all of time had stopped, the air still with the permeating silence. He knew he was alone, didn't have to look around like he had the first time. For a moment, he sat, waiting. Then, gradually, his surroundings changed, faint outlines appearing in the paleness of his surroundings. A cold gust of wind rose goosebumps along his skin, and before long, the cold had faded into a numb warmth. A single breath, eyes fluttering closed. So today it was snow. Today, he was at the edge of the world.

For a moment, there was peace, and he could feel himself slipping away, even in a dream. This overwhelming sense of emptiness was a welcome balm to the inner turmoil he experienced daily. It was his way of forgetting, if only for a moment. The wind that blew tore at his clothes and hair, tearing away his thoughts until he was left with nothing but a vague sense of who he was and why he was there. His state of lethargy didn't last long, however, and there was a tug on his body. No! He knew what it meant, and he didn't want to wake, didn't want to leave this dream. Not yet, not yet. Frozen fingers, barely able to bend themselves, tried to grasp the snow and keep his dream-surroundings in place, but the effort was in vain. The coldness disappeared, and he was plucked into a world of warmth.

Kiyoshi's consciousness returned slowly, and tired red eyes blinked. Sleep always made his body realize just how exhausted it was, and waking from a dream as nice as the one he'd been having made it all the harder to stay awake. But bleary as he was, even Kiyoshi couldn't ignore the cold metal wrapped around his neck and wrists, restraining his movements. As his senses slowly came back to him, he could feel that he was on his knees: a position of humiliation.

The low growl that rumbled in the back of his throat came instinctively, feral and not birdlike at all. Dazed as he was, the teen had yet to get a grasp on his emotions, and though ruby red orbs still held the glaze of sleep, a flicker of anger pierced through them, brightening his eyes. It was to this sense of fury that Kiyoshi fully awoke to, and as he revived, he fought off the urge to bare his teeth and act on any primal instincts that threatened to arise. The effort to school his face back into its usual nonchalance was a struggle, and though he successfully managed to smooth his face out into his usual smile, his eyes retained their sharp edge of hatred.

"Sensei, huh?" he asked, voice just as pleasant as said sensei. How wonderful. This Amaterasu hadn't won any brownie points by restraining him in his sleep, and any senses of submission and trust he might have granted her in the beginning were lost in an instant, gone with the wind. But Amaterasu... Wasn't that the name of the Kazekage's sister? At least he knew her family name, which she had neglected to mention, now. He probably had a letter waiting for him back at home about this new sensei of his, and he sighed at the thought.

"Pleasure to meet you, Tachibana-san." His title of choice showed that he had yet to acknowledge the Jounin as his sensei. "Clear as crystal," he chirped back just as sweetly, though he knew it was a lesson he was going to disregard completely, if just to spite this woman. "As for starting without you... Well, I came here to train with you, not without you, late or not." Normally, he would've kept such a comment to himself, but he was still smarting with anger from his rude wake-up call.