A Raging Storm: Inside and Out

I was busy training in a room inside Valhalla when I heard the screams. They were not screams of terror or pain. No, they were more like shouts. Shouts of determination, maybe even anger. I was intrigued by them. Someone was obviously very hard at work, and perhaps a bit frustrated. I was in my usual training attire. Loosely tied black pants, no shirt, bearing my scars and lean-cut body to the world. I had long ago grown proud of the Bijuu inside of me, and I wasn't afraid to just walk around showing the scars it caused or the seal on my back. I had my headband tied around my forehead, and my Dusters chained to my waist-sash. With a cigarette in my mouth, I sought out the girl who had been yelling.

My search would bring me to one of the many training rooms in the great hall. I walked in right as the damage was being furthered. There stood a brown-haired girl punching at a training dummy. Viciously punching, punching, punching, her knuckles began to give way. As blood spattered on the dummy and on the ground, the skin from her hands was being literally beaten off. Truly, this was a girl after my own heart. I loved Taijutsu, and she had.. spunk. Not to mention she was beautiful. Unfortunately though.. she looked older than me. Oh well, I've fried bigger fish. "You're so immature.." Ookami said to me inside of my head. "Ah well. Suck it up," I replied. "Be smooth, Lee. Be smooth.."

I watched her quietly as she entered a state of emotional rage just before she would isolate herself from the rest of the room using training equipment. I would walk around the piles of equipment in order to get to her, and place my hand on her right shoulder. "Hey.. you alright there?" I would ask her in my deep teenage voice. I had gone through stages of maturity that most 20-year-olds would go through due to my intensive training, and I was slightly proud of my deep voice. Anyway, I hoped she was ok. Apart from finding her attractive, I also didn't particularly like seeing people hurt. My dream was to become Kage, and use that power to help people. So obviously.. I enjoyed helping people. I hoped she wouldn't think I was being hostile or anything.

I was taken back a little bit when the girl yelled at me to shut up, but then was relieved when she explained it wasn't at me. I was confused as to who it could've been directed at, but I dropped it anyway. I grinned slightly as she begin to stutter, it was cute. But then my smile faded as I noticed the tears swelling up her eyes, causing them to glisten against the harsh light from the lanterns illuminating the room. She wiped her tears from her face, forgetting the blood covering her hands. "Here.. let me help you," I would say as I went to wipe the blood from her cheeks. For too long I knew the feeling of failure, being rejected by the people of this village for as long as I could remember. "I hate to pry, but I'd feel bad if I didn't care. Are you ok, Ai?" I would ask after she gave me her name. I then tried to bow to poorly imitate her politeness. It looked awkward, as I wasn't used to being polite. But hey, it's never too late to experiment. "Name's Lee, Jinchuuriki of the 4-tails. And Morigakure you say? Old man Takeshi says we've just made an allegiance with you forest-folk. You didn't happen to come around with the diplomatic team, did you? I hear the Tsurukage came. I've been meaning to meet him," I said within a few breaths. She was strong, I could tell by the way she tried so hard to get through her emotional carnage. I liked that. Pretty and strong, eh?

I felt kind of annoying when she almost didn't let me help her out, but I figured it was simply because she was so resilient. She said she had been traveling with the Tsurukage herself.. that means she was quite the impressive ninja, to be asked to train under a kage? Grant it, I was being trained by a kage too, but I had to almost force Takeshi to train me, let alone notice me. It saddened me when she told me of her failure in the Exams.. I thought I had failed mine as well. I was knocked out in the first round, but due to odd circumstances, I was the only one promoted out of all the contestants. I had known of a lot more failure in my life though, so I could relate with her. Especially regarding my Bijuu.. which was the next topic of discussion.

I saw her angle towards the door, and her voice became shaky. She was scared.. and she had every right to be. The 9 Bijuu had all earned their terrifying personas, and mine, the most ferocious of all of them, had especially. But Bijuu would never break out of their hosts that easily, and I decided I'd tell her. I didn't want any more people afraid of me.. especially not this lovely girl. "My Bijuu? Well.. I've mastered her to an extent. I can enter the basic cloak form and the first tail at will, and I can usually do a pretty good job at keeping her contained. But, there's something you should know. Ookami, the wolf inside of me, she's a very strategic fighter, but she'll do whatever she can to win. She recognizes what would be best for her, and we actually talk about strategies for fighting all the time in my head. She finds it best to stay put and lend me her power when I want to, not her. Usually. The only times she comes out are when I'm extremely hurt and would obviously lose a fight, meaning she would try to break out to take the situation into her own hands, and then she does when I'm extremely angry. Neither of which happen very often, so you shouldn't worry," I said. Then with a shrug of my shoulders and a flirtatious grin that would reveal one of my fangs, I said, "I'm harmless."

"So, Ai Takahashi of Morigakure. Tell me about yourself. Beautiful girl like you can't be traveling with the kage for no reason. Are you here to train?" I would start a more casual conversation to ease the tension of the last one. While saying this, I would walk over to the punching dummy she had been attacking earlier, and readied my stance. I wound back my arm to ready a punch. As my fist began to fly forward, a flash of deep crimson surrounded my body, fangs grew larger from my mouth, and my strength skyrocketed. As my hand connected with the bag, I sent it soaring off of the chain holding it in place and into the wall behind it. The room shook as the bag hit the wall, and dust fell from the ceiling. I scratched my head and recalled the power of my Bijuu, returning to normal. "Maybe I went too far that time?" I then walked over to observe the bag. It had left a huge dent in the wall and had knocked out several bricks. "Takeshi's gonna kill me.."

I became more at ease when I noticed Ai's tension lower. My plan had worked! I didn't particularly like when people thought I was about to dismantle their limbs and set their skin on fire. Even so, I did get that reaction from a lot of other people. You'd be surprised. Anyway, I decided I would try to take the conversation a step further. "What do I like to do around here? Hm.." playfully beginning to think, "Well, I like to go on walks.. Actually, lots of people go on walks around here. It's a popular past-time. So I think you should just go along with what us locals love doing, and go for a walk with me. What do you think?" I was hoping my obvious trying to get her to go on a date with me would make her smile. Girls.. at times they can be difficult, but a lot of the times, they just want you to make it obvious that you care.

I didn't start my next training session until the next day, so I could start my resting whenever I so chose. Tonight was all mine, and it was still young. I would go to grab Ai's hand to gently pull her out of the dark training room "C'mon, I don't bite." I said smiling as I tugged her. Dusk was coming soon, and I had the perfect place I wanted to show her.

I felt Ai's reluctance as she mentioned the weather. It was storming, but oh well. "You 'fraid to get wet, Ai?" I asked her with the same sly grin on my face. "You'll be fine!" And with that, one final pull of her hand out into the raining streets. I started chuckling. It had been a long, long time since I felt this giddy. Not many happy days came to a Jinchuuriki's life, so the rare ones that came had to be savored. Tonight would be no exception.

I pulled Ai through the streets, through the sheets of rain and the booming thunder, to the large but elegant Kinzoku castle. As we arrived, the clouds above began to clear up. The sun's light swallowed the sky as the rain kept falling, sending little glistening spotlights dancing across every inch of the village. It was perfect. I pointed up to the top of the castle. "That's where we're headed," I told her with a smile. The sun was reeling in the horizon with every passing moment, and we needed to get up there before it reached its destination. Before starting to climb, I noticed a difference in the hand I was holding. The soft, delicate hand of a girl.. at first I had been holding it to playfully pull her along, but my grip had changed. It had become loosened, but passionate. Embarassed, I felt the sides of my face heat up, and I pulled my hand away. Trying to cover up my affection for now, I yelled before dashing up the side of the castle, "C'mon Ai! We can't miss it!"