Evening Meeting (Dosu)

[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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Dosu noticed that Tayuya was actually listening to him. That was a big difference from earlier when she was mocking him and insulting him. Apparently winning a fight with her was a good way to gain some kind of respect from her. At least she wouldn't be insulting him for being a simple Genin now. She also seemed rather happy after he said he wouldn't tell anyone about this. Apparently the girl did give a care about her reputation some. Odd, she took him as someone who didn't give a care what anyone thought about her. Then again, in the Sound reputation meant a lot. If she was seen as week, she might loose her position in the Sound Four. All he got in response for this favor was a smile, and actually kind one, not a cruel, mocking one. She actually looked decent when she did that, minus the hand damage.

"So how bad is the hand anyway?" Dosu asked after she finished her assessment of it.

As he talked about the amplifier, he noticed her laughing about something. That confused him a little, and he was tempted to ask what it was. However, since it occured after he mentioned physical damage to himself, he decided he didn't want to know. Tayuya was supposed to be a little sadistic, right? The thought was probably going to involve him in pain or something. Not wanting to hear that, he just kept talking and moved on. At least she was in a good mood. Much easier to deal with her when she wasn't an inch away from wanting to murder him.

Finally Tayuya talked back, and she seemed to get the gist of his jutsu. It was a little more complicated than she portrayed it. Technically he attacked by using his sound amplifier to create sound waves that vibrate the bones in the inner ear to throw off their balance and senses, blah blah blah. Still, it was basic enough, and not really that important at the moment, he didn't go into the deeper explanations. However, he wasn't too sure about her statement about needing to turn his amplifier into a musical instrument of sorts. Sure, he was probably going to need to modify his amplifier to allow genjutsu, but an instrument? That would be a little weird, wouldn't it?

"That's the gist of it. The amplifier increases the effect of sound waves to create a weapon. There is a little more to it, but you got the basic concept down. But would I have to create a musical instrument to use genjutsu?" he asked.

Looking down at his amplifier, Dosu tried to think of what kind of instrument he could make from it. The easiest would be a wind instrument, like Tayuya's flute. It already had holes and all that for his jutsu. Just some modifications and boom, a flute or something. Still, he'd have to blow into it for it to work, and that would be kind of inconvienient since normally he'd just have to hit it to make it work. Furthermore, since it was attached to his arm, anything he added to it for blowing into it for music would make it a very inconvienient thing to walk around with.

"I'm not sure my amplifier would be able to easily modify into an instrument. The easiest would be a wind instrument like your flute, but that would make actually using it a bit inconvienient."

Tayuya mentioned he would have the illusion part down. He was pretty sure he could get it to work on his own once he set the basics down. However, having some help from her wouldn't hurt, and once he had some experience with basic sound-based genjutsu he could work on creating his own jutsu from it.

"Yeah, I should be able to handle the illusions. However, don't be too surprised if I ask for some help. After all, I'm starting off fresh with this."

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

As Tayuya was checking out her hand- well, more of assessing the damage, she noticed that it actually wasn't as bad as she originally thought. Sure, it was a bit bruised- well, actually really bruised.. but nothing that wouldn't be able to heal in a matter of days. Besides, the dark blueish color looked good on her skin. Or, so she thought to herself, trying to be somewhat humorous about it. As her eyes went over it for a secondary scan, she noticed Dosu spoke up and asked her how it was. At this, she mentally raised an eyebrow. Why on Earth did he care, he was the one that smashed it up! Well, his amplifier did. And he was just blocking, but... no, it was his fault! At least, that's what she was trying to believe. If it was all his fault, why did she feel so guilty for blaming him? She released a mental sigh as her split personalities fought with each other in her head, trying to determine whether to lash out or not. Eventually, however, reason took over and she merely stepped forward and offered her hand to the other. Well, she didn't offer it, she just held it out for him to touch and examine or whatnot.

"See for yourself. It's pretty bruised. But hey, I guess that's what I get for trying to punch metal. And your reflexes are pretty good by the way- as well as your hearing. I guess I kind of overlooked the fact that someone like you would be an expert with sound in more ways than just the kind that hurts people. You're pretty sharp, kid."

Tayuya stated this with a somewhat calm aura about her. In fact, she had calmed down immensely since her freak out. Right now her mood was a somewhat light and happy one, and the humiliation of losing the fight was starting to go away. Needless to say, she respected the guy in front of her for actually having the gall to fight her, not to mention taunt her during said fight. No one really ever did that to Tayuya for fear of provoking her. And it wasn't as if he was ignorant either, because he showed that he knew a lot about Tayuya, right down to how she likes to stretch out battles because it's fun to "play" with her prey. Basically, someone that could stand up to her knowing full well that provoking her would only cause her to be more angry and dangerous deserved respect in her book. It took guts to man up against her.

As the conversation went on, he mentioned the need to turn his amplifier into an instrument. Tayuya bit down on her lip, a wave of guilt flying over her. But... Why? Was she really feeling sorry for this guy? He just humiliated her! She deserved to play around with him a bit, make him do something totally unnecessary. But then again, that was kind of mean. Or was it? Who cared! Tayuya was all about being mean, so why was this all so confusing? She couldn't actually be feeling sorry Dosu, she had no reason to!

"Uhm, well actually, just your amplifier would probably work fine. What we really need to focus on is how you can use your amplifier to disperse chakra over a wide area. Making it a musical instrument isn't really necessary."

She didn't. Why had she done that? She could have pulled out this trick of needing a musical instrument in place of an amplifier and watched him crawl around in confusion until he begged her to help him like a dog. But for some reason, that was not her top priority. It seemed her top priority was to help this kid who had made her make a fool of herself. 'This is giving me a headache..' she muttered to herself, mentally complaining about all the arguing going on in her head. She could barely focus on what Dosu was saying.

However, despite the confusion in her head, she seemed to snap back into reality and reflexively, she gave him her full attention. Now that was a new one, usually she just looked around and only half focused on what people were saying. But never mind that. He mentioned that he might need help. From her? 'Well I'd be more than glad too..' she thought dreamily to herself. But wait, what was that thought? And why had it sounded so... romantic in her head? Ugh! This little game was getting annoying.

"Well, that's what I'm here for now. If you ever need help, all you have to do is ask."

Despite her anger at the confusion in her said, she said this an almost sweet tone. Almost. It was on the verge of sweet, but it wasn't quite there yet. That would just have to be how she kept it. And for the time being, she might as well try to focus on something else than what was going on in her head, something relating to... how totally cool Dosu's voice always sounded...? NO! Did she really think that? And did she say... totally? 'What is going on with me' Tayuya thought to herself, mentally groaning in confusion and irritation.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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Dosu finally got the chance to see Tayuya's hand. Luckily it didn't look broken, just heavily bruised. Considering that in the process she had cracked his amplifier, he considered the two of them even. Still, her hand was going to be in pretty bad shape for awhile till it healed. Sadly, the two of them would be the only ones who knew about it; a secret trophy of his victory against Tayuya. Of course, this had an issue; how where they going to explain the bruising? He could fix his crack; she couldn't fix her hand. Ah, they would figure something out eventually.

"Well, at least it didn't break. Consider it payback for cracking my amplifier." he replied, verging on a joking tone as he did so.

She then complimented his sound skills. The fact she didn't consider it during the fight had surprised Dosu since, well, it was his main weapon. Using it effectively required him to know just about everything about sound. Add in that it sounded as if she knew his history, she should have known he had grown up needing to distinguish sound to survive. All in all, it was a screwup he didn't think she would have made. Of course, this good mood streak was nice; he wasn't going to get back on her bad side by bringing up the mistake part.

"Well, knowing how to distinguish different sounds was vital to my survival for a few years time. And as you saw, it is a very useful skill to have."

Compared to her earlier behavior, Tayuya's calmness and civility was a refreshing change. He had been expecting a massive thrashing, yelling, cursing, insulting, and, well, stereotypical Tayuya behavior. She only did it for a few moments worth of time before sucking it up and talking to him. This reinforced his theory that you had to show some guts and actually act confident towards her to get any respect from her. He had to remember that if they ever got into a fault; Tayuya, the only girl who actually liked having someone taunt and insult her. Not too much though; he had to walk the line after all to prevent his own death at her hands.

Dosu wondered why Tayuya suddenly switched to saying he didn't need to make his amplifier an instrument to work. Was she messing with him now, making him work on his amplifier only for hours to have no success? Or was she messing with him a moment ago when she said he did need to turn it into a musical instrument. Admittedly, he hadn't thought it would need to be one. Like she said, the big part would be to use sound to transer chakra for the genjutsu. What the music was supposed to do he hadn't understood, except maybe the fact different tunes made different illusions. Then again, he could just adjust frequency and amplitude for a similar effect.

"So which one is it? Do I need to make it an instrument or not?" he asked, though he kept himself from adding a annoyed tone to his voice.

Dosu had been looking down at his amplifier while discussing it, so he hadn't seen out bent out of shape Tayuya was. By the time he had looked up at her, she was looking at him normally and with focus. When he mentioned he might need some help with the genjutsu, she said all he had to do was ask. There was something off about her tone. It was almost...friendly? Dosu was starting to get worried a little; she was acting much nicer than the stories about her said she would. Was she planning something against him? Maybe some questioning would get him some answers.

"You know, I expected you to be a lot more upset about losing to me. Actually, I kind of expected to have my head cut off or something. Any particular reason I'm not decapitated yet?"

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

Tayuya couldn't help but smirk at Dosu's reply to the damage that was done to her hand. Payback for cracking his amplifier? The damages were hardly equal. Normally she would have bashed his brains in for trying to make amends in that way, but something was holding her back. The voices in her head, to be more specific. According to them, Dosu didn't deserve the victim of her perpetual temper. As much as she would like to beg to differ, she too began to start feeling the effects of whatever feelings were starting to arise that concerned the male in front of her.

"That's hardly fair, Dosu. You can repair that amplifier in a synch, but on the other hand, no pun intended, this" she said, holding up her hand once more before continuing her sentence, "Can't just be fixed like that. Maybe I'll just have to beat you up later to make things even."

She said the last sentence in one of the most playful voices she had ever emitted. In fact, right after she said it she even smiled an open mouthed smile and... winked at him. Now that was pretty annoying. This wasn't Tayuya.. this was some sort of strange little romantic teen that lived inside of her. Whoever this girl was, Tayuya wanted her out. She didn't care too much about her reputation, but there were two things she didn't want to be let out to the public. First and foremost that she had been beaten by a Genin in a taijutsu battle, but more importantly than that, that she had smiled and winked at said Genin. Tayuya smiling and winking at someone in general was odd enough anyways.

In an attempt to ignore the numerous unfamiliar thoughts of romance that were flooding her brain at the moment, Tayuya refocused on what Dosu was saying. He was speaking about his ability to distinguish sound so easily- basically what Tayuya's downfall in the battle had been. Yes yes, she had mistakenly left out a variable that she had deemed unimportant and suffered the consequences, but she would learn. Being more meticulous about strategies was a little difficult when she was losing her temper, but she wouldn't make such a simple mistake like that ever again. Looking at it positively, she could just claim it was a life lesson.

As the conversation progressed, he questioned the need of making his amplifier mimic a musical instrument. Well, he had caught her in her own trick. Great. But at least this time she was telling the truth, right? Perhaps she could just play it off like she had made a simple mistake.

"I was mistaken when I said you needed a musical instrument. As long you can change the frequencies of the sound your amplifier makes, you'll be able to perform different Genjutsu." she said in a very even tone, leaving any trace of emotion hidden from view.

Perhaps leaving emotion behind would be the best choice in this conversation, but she couldn't help but be a little friendly to him. Honestly... he was tolerable. And being tolerable to Tayuya was something very difficult to achieve. Hell, she couldn't even tolerate Orochimaru most of the time! But this kid, Dosu, he was actually speaking to her with such intelligence that lacked the normal arrogance she heard from her teammates on a daily basis. He was very smart, and on top of that, very strong as well. She wouldn't mind watching him battle every once in a while. Or even sparring with him herself. He was just a fun person for Tayuya to be around, and she couldn't help but be a little friendly towards him. But it wasn't as if she was making it obvious or anything... right?

Wrong. Dosu questioned her about it almost an instant after she asked herself the question. He mentioned that she wasn't being a sore loser to him, which apparently was unusual. Well, she could admit that. She liked to act cold towards most people and got quite frustrated when defeated. He followed up his thoughts with asking her why she hadn't decapitated him yet. 'Because for whatever reason, I can't think straight when you talk..' she thought to herself. However much she wanted to say that, however, she wouldn't. Not until she had this figured out. But maybe she would tease him a bit. Another playful smile formed on her lips as she slowly began to walk past him while speaking.

"Well, if you want the truth.. you're probably the only person I haven't wanted to personally rip apart yet. Why?" she asked, now past him. She whirled around as she said the last word to look at him. "I really don't know. I guess you have an amount of respect for beating me, and even more than that, I'm finding it extremely difficult to lie to you"

Too much. Way too much. She shouldn't have even uttered the last part of that sentence, but for some reason she couldn't help it. It was the truth! She was feeling guilty every time she thought of some lie to tell him. It was beginning to get annoying, but nevertheless, she faked a smile so that he wouldn't see.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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Dosu laughed a little as Tayuya mentioned he could easily fix his amplifier while she couldn't fix her hand. She also threatened to beat him up later to make things even. However, she said it in a rather playful voice...and winked at him. What in the world was wrong with her today? She started off rude, mocking, condescending, and now she was joking around, winking, being playful. Did he hit her a little too hard or something? Or was there something else going on here? A revenge plan against him for beating her? Act kind and nice, then slit his throat when he wasn't looking. Or was she actually acting like a girl instead of the tomboy that she basically was, and a very vicious tomboy at that. Whatever the case, it was starting to confuse Dosu. However, he kept that thought to himself, and for now decided to play along with it.

"Just get Kabuto to take a look at it. I'm sure he can fix it up easier than I can fix my amplifier." he said, looking at his amplifier before looking back up at her,"And as for beating me up, you look as if you'd rather enjoy that." he said, giving her his own smile, though it was a slyer smile than her more playful one.

Still, he wasn't even sure if this was the right way to react to all this. If Tayuya was planning something against him, then his behavior served as a good counter plan. Reciprocate her playfullness, and when she tried to pull something reveal he had caught onto her a long time ago. If she was actually being rather serious about all this, however, well, he didn't know how to react. For the most part he had failed to consider Tayuya as an actual girl, so any ideas of romantic feelings from her had been looked over in his original analysis of the situation. All he could do now was sit back and wait, and hope her body language and behavior would reveal her real intent.

When it came to discussing his amplifier and genjutsu, Tayuya had switched over to a rather emotionless tone. That was what, the third personality he had seen from her now. First angry and spiteful, then the playful teen girl, and now emotionless. What the hell was wrong with her? It was starting to get rather frustrating, and when he started talking again one could sense it a little. However, he didn't outright call her out on the emotional changes. He had a bad feeling if he brought it up.

"Hmm, that was what I was thinking. Low frequencies for long lasting, if weak, genjutsu and higher frequencies for powerful but short genjutsu. That sound about right to you?" he asked her, to get her opinion since she was the one who actually knew about the subject.

When he asked her why she didn't want to rip his head off, she gave him another smile before walking past him while speaking. According to her, he was the only person she hasn't wanted to personally rip apart yet. He wasn't looking at her, but he could feel her looking at him again when she said "Why". He turned his head to look at her, raising his eyebrow when she said she was finding it extremely difficult to lie to him. Oh, and she also confirmed his suspicion about getting respect from her by beating her. Still, that later statement was a little bit surprising. He had a feeling she wasn't lying about this; there was something deeper going on.

"So you find it hard to lie to me, huh? I'm getting the feeling I got more than just your respect. The winking, the playful voices. Either you got a really elaborate plan going on, I hit you harder than I thought, or you're more of a girl than people give you credit for." Dosu replied, giving a slight laugh at it.

Dosu then turned around to face Tayuya fully, waiting for a response. Most likely she would get upset about, but he was admittedly wanting to see just how bad she would react. In fact, he had said that last part just to get a rise out of her. Her playfullness was starting to creep him out some; he wanted to see her in all her fury and rage. Anything else, well, he would be suspicious of.

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

Tayuya gave a solemn nod when Dosu suggested she see Kabuto. It wasn't going to be something she particularly enjoyed seeing as she didn't favor the kid. His medical prowess was amazing, but it was so hard to get in contact with him when he worked in the Leaf. And above all else, she didn't really trust him. Something about the way he talked and those sly smiles he always had on his face really just bugged her. Of course, she had never really spoken directly to him- well, once when she was delivering him a message from Orochimaru. That was another thing that bothered her. He was so high up that Orochimaru used the Sound Four act as mailmen for the guy. That ticked her off a lot, but what ticked her off the most was that Kabuto expected them to send a message back. She remembered vaguely snapping at him for suggesting that, but Sakon had been in a good mood and told her to relax. Luckily she was feeling forbearing, and chose to listen to Sakon. Even though it pained her inside. Basically, talking to Kabuto was not only a bit inconvenient, but he really, really did not like him.

And as for beating him up, well, he seemed to take it pretty well. He had a smile on his face, though it didn't look as playful as hers. It looked a bit more sneaky, like he was trying to hint something. Was he? Maybe he felt the sa- never mind. Never mind, she was not going to think about that. He mentioned that she would probably enjoy beating him up. 'You're so right and so wrong at the same time' Tayuya thought to herself, merely keeping a smile on her face as he spoke. Instead of replying this time, however, she waited it out until he spoke again.

To tell the truth, she didn't really want to speak at all. She was almost on the verge of stuttering because of the confusion that was growing ever so rapidly in her head, but sheer willpower was able to keep it back. Perhaps she would just answer his questions with smiles and nods. His next question, however, was more of a confirmation than anything. As much as she wished to keep it shut, she found herself opening her mouth for a reply.

"You're right on the money. That's why my flute is so useful- it projects sound at normally high frequencies, and therefore they can be quite destructive. But when I need it, I can just play whatever song it is a few notes lower to get the same effect at a long distance, though the grip that the illusion will have on the opponent will be weaker."

She said, her emotionless tone from earlier slowly fading back into a slightly happy mood. Or at least that's what she was trying to portray- light and happy. It was natural, right? Tayuya acted light and happy... sometimes. Oh, she didn't know anymore. This whole situation with her sudden feelings towards Dosu was getting rather complicated, and she found herself without the ability to find a strategy to combat it. And frankly, it made her feel so helpless. She was always the strategist, always the tactician. She could come up with a plan rapidly for any situation. Any situation but this one. And what was worse was that Dosu started to speak again.

And what he was saying was extremely embarrassing. He picked up on the last part of her sentence about finding it hard to lie to him rather quickly, and he said he... must have gotten more than respect? 'Oh no. Oh god no. If he means what.. he must know.. shit.' Tayuya frantically thought to herself, though her face remained calm, but verging on an outbreak. He then mentioned his explanations for such a thing. The first one was that she had an elaborate plan going on, which was entirely possible! Maybe that was all he thought, and she could use that as an excuse. The second thought was that Dosu had hit her harder than he thought. Tayuya bit her bottom lip now, her face starting to fall apart. She wasn't going to be able to keep up this emotionless look for long. And what he said last sealed it. She might be more than a girl than he thought? 'He knows!' she thought to herself almost grievingly. All of what he had said had finally caused her emotionless visage to break into one of surprise. So much surprise, in fact, that her eyes were wide and her mouth was open slightly in disbelief. She had an almost comical look of pure, frantic shock on her after a second of that and even let out a slight squeal.

"W-What? Hit me harder than I thought? What are you talking about, you, all you have is respect from me, nothing more! Uh, uh... besides, idiot, you didn't even hit me in the head!" she screamed in her defense, backpedaling quickly with her hands behind her back. That was a bad idea. She soon found herself slamming her hands into a tree behind her, causing her to emit another yell of pain. Now she was starting to get irritated.

"And what do you mean 'more of a girl than you thought', huh?" she asked loudly, now taking a step forward with her once more injured right hand being cupped by her left. "Despite my attitude, I am a woman, got it? Try and say anything against that and you'll be in the bottom of a ditch by the end of the day, kid!" she growled out.

There was no mistaking it. Now she knew that she actually had feelings for him. If she got that worked up over that one small accusation, then it must have meant something. The only question was what to do next.

"Besides!" she snapped, before blinking and physically calming down again. "I.. why on Earth would I like a dimwit like you? 'cause.. uh, that'd be.. ridiculous.." she said sporadically, for some reason trying to match her words with each painful pulse that her hand made. She was so... embarrassed that she was actually flustered. Her cheeks were a light pink coloration, though not too noticeable. She closed her eyes for a moment before turning back to him. "And it is ridiculous. You were just some little shit who didn't deserve my attention, you went and got it, and now I.. I, uh.." she stuttered, trying to find the right words. "Can'thelpbutlikeyoualittle, there I said it!" she huffed before folding her arms and turning so that her back faced him. That whole exchange was so embarrassing. He would probably laugh. Well, if he did, she would probably behead him, if she had the heart to do it.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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Tayuya just nodded at his suggestion with Kabuto. Dosu didn't think of any problems...till he remembered he was on a mission in the Hidden Leaf. Mentally kicking himself in the head for that, he looked over to Tayuya real quick.

"I just remembered he is in Leaf right now. Which means your hand will probably be like that for a bit..." Dosu apologized. He didn't mean to suggest that Tayuya do something inconvenient. Going to visit Kabuto in Leaf would be a terrible idea. It was a dangerous trip to begin with, and there was the possibility of blowing his cover. Orochimaru had given Kabuto the mission as one of prime importance; blowing his cover would make Orochimaru furious. Most likely, the person would die. So that meant that, in short, Tayuya was screwed till that hand healed naturally since he couldn't do anything about it.

Dosu noticed Tayuya was being rather silent, but once he mentioned his amplifier she was quick to answer. Oddly enough, her lack of emotion was gone. She was once again slightly happy in her tone. Did she really just like battle or something? Whatever the reason, he was glad to see that her thoughts coincided with his on how to manipulate his amplifier. So he was on the right track with all of this. All that left now was practice on transferring chakra to his sound and the creation of genjutsu. However, he wouldn't work on that now. Instead, he'd practice that later on in the week, maybe with Kin. They would see just who had the better genjutsu skills.

"So, I am on the right track. That just leaves practicing genjutsu and I should be set." he replied.

When it came to him coming out with every explanation that he could think of for his behavior, he didn't expect Tayuya's reaction at all. He was looking right her when her face broke out in surprise. Considering it came out when he mentioned the "more than a girl than I thought" part, it was rather obvious the situation. There was no way someone would act that surprised, wide-eyed, and slack-jawed unless they just had their secret found out. That, and the slight squeal. He didn't even think Tayuya was capable of squealing like that. It sealed his mind on what she was having trouble with; somehow, someway, she was attracted to him. Dosu just smiled a little as she rushed to defend herself.

Soon Tayuya was running her mouth, embarrassed. She tried to claim that all he had was her respect, but in her defense she put her hands behind her back and slammed into a tree. The logical, rational Tayuya would have remembered the condition of her hand. Instead, she found herself in pain as she crushed her injured hand. In response to all of this, Dosu simply leaned up against a tree and crossed his arms to watch the show. He was finding all of this entertaining, and his face showed it.

As for the girl comment, Tayuya was quick to come to the defense of her gender. Aggressively stepping forward, she threatened to kill him if he questioned her gender ever again. It was reactions like that that was responsible for making people question her gender. Add in the short hairstyle and (this next thing he would never tell Tayuya) how hard it was to see her 'figure' under her clothing, it would be easy to confuse her as a guy sometimes. Till she spoke at least, or activated her curse seal. It was funny; her cursed seal form was more feminine than her normal self.

"Well, you got the rage of a woman, that's for sure." he joked. He remembered people joking about how a woman's anger was something you didn't want to have against you. Of course, right now he was basically scoffing that by facing it head on.

Soon, she calmed down again, sporadically trying to claim she didn't like him. It was a plain old lie by this point. Her earlier behavior, combined with her adamant defense of her not liking him, was already enough for Dosu to realize she liked him to some degree. It also didn't help that she said all of that with a blush. A slight one, but it was there. Then she simply spit it out in one word. Well, technically several, but she squished them all together into one word. Facing away from him, she was probably expecting some kind of reaction.

The issue was, he had no clue what his reaction should be. Obviously he never had a girl tell him she liked him, and he never really had a connection with any. Tayuya, however, seemed like a good match for him in several ways; she was intelligent, used sound extensively in her jutsu, and both of them had a similar personality in being analysts with attitude. Theoretically he could see a connection between them.

Looking down at the ground, he then looked back up at her.

"About what, half an hour ago, you were ready to rip my head off for back talking to you. And now you are, what is the term, confessing to me? Personally, I have no experience with any of this so I don't know what to say." he replied rather calmly for the situation at hand.

"Of course, I don't have anything to object to about it. You're strong, intelligent, and I would assume attractive underneath that robe. Kind of hard to tell; the robe is large enough that it makes you look sort of masculine." he added in calmly, though he had a feeling she'd kill him for that last part. Still, he had to get it out of the way. It was the truth anyway, and if she couldn't lie to him, then he wasn't going to lie to her. Besides, he had already made a habit of back talking to her and being just as mouthy as she was. He wasn't going to change his attitude just because she liked him.

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

Tayuya just held back from letting out a sigh of relief as Dosu mentioned how Kabuto was still in the Leaf village. She had no interest in dealing with that guy at all anyways. It was funny how he mentioned that her hand would be... well, damaged like it was for a while. It wasn't as if Kabuto was the Sound's only medical ninja, though he was one of the few. With her ranking, she could probably request a doctor very easily. Although, admittedly, Kabuto would be preferred considering his medical prowess. She didn't doubt other doctor's abilities, but despite Tayuya's dislike towards him, he was really good at what he did.

"Well, that's unfortunate. He's pretty good, though I don't really like him. Nothing more than scum with talent." she said, brushing a few stray strands of hair from her eyes with her good hand.

Though she didn't notice it before, it was getting late out. If it wasn't for the full moon, it would be awfully hard for Tayuya to see out here. Thankfully there was a moon though, because she wasn't as keen in her listening skills at Dosu. She would be at a heavy disadvantage if he knew everything that was going on and she didn't. Not that she particularly worried about Dosu attacking her or anything- she just had trouble knowing that someone else had an advantage over her. She also hated it when people had the ability to blackmail her, and right now Dosu had two things over her head. The fact that he beat her, and the fact that he so easily bruised her hand. She would have to find something to hold over him. But there really was nothing. And at this point, she wouldn't even do that. There was something holding her back.

A bit later in the conversation, as Tayuya shouted in defense of her gender, she heard Dosu say she had the "rage of a woman". How typical. That was something that better defined her tomboyish actions, after all. It was true, people could easily assume she was a boy because of how she behaved, but was it really that bad. As far as she knew, no one had mistaken her gender yet. At least, not anyone that would openly admit it to her. That was probably due to the fact that she would bash their heads in. But other than her temper, why would people possibly think she was a guy? It wasn't as if she was built like one, and she didn't have that much muscle under her. In fact, under all those baggy clothes, she actually had quite the slim figure. And then it snapped. Her baggy clothes. Coupled with her short hair and cap, people would no doubt suspect at first. But it wasn't her fault! That was the Sound Four uniform that she was wearing, and nothing more. It wasn't as if she chose to dress that way, those skimpy little skirts and dresses really weren't her style..

However, after she calmed down and confessed to him, she got the oddest reaction yet. He stated how quick the change was from deadly Tayuya to infatuated Tayuya, and she had to admit that she really did have her mood swings sometimes. In fact, even she was a bit surprised about the change. It was true, only about a half an hour ago she was spitting insults at him, and now she was confessing that she liked him. But she couldn't help it! He was the first person in ages that she actually tolerated and felt could tolerate her. That was a hard thing to find, since Tayuya was generally overbearing and foul-mouthed towards other people. But on top of that, they were both intelligent and could probably carry on a good conversation for a long while. And with her being able to teach him Genjutsu, they could spend a lot of valuable time together. But did Tayuya really want that? Well, yes. She didn't give a damn what anyone else thought, this was a good opportunity to snatch up the first person she had ever liked and she was taking it. At least, she hoped it would work..

The next part of her sentence actually sort of startled her. Well, not really. He basically said he had no experience and didn't know what to say. That allowed her spirits to drop quite
a bit. However, she could understand it. In a place like the Sound village, how were people supposed to carry out special relationships? Hell, Tayuya was there and she could hardly keep a friendship. The people were just so serious all the time. And with Dosu's history and the long time spent in the woods, he didn't have much contact with women. Other than that Kin girl, of course. Tayuya didn't exactly fancy her. She was impressed that she had a little Genjutsu with that bell trick she had read about, but she wasn't exactly too impressive otherwise. Not like Dosu. He knew all sorts of tricks that didn't just rely on his amplifier, or so her infatuated mind told her.

With her spirits a bit downtrodden, Tayuya didn't say a word. However, her spirits brightened right back up when he mentioned that he wouldn't object to it. Did that mean that something could happen between them? Most likely. At this point, Tayuya knew that Dosu had a much more logical way of approaching things. What he had said was just intelligence language. Dumbed down it meant "I really wouldn't mind" or something along the lines of that. What he said next brightened her spirits even more, however. He was basically listing some compliments that managed to make her blush again. Only lightly still, though. It took a lot more than just measly compliments to make her blush, though she did enjoy them- considering she rarely got them. He basically told her that she was not only strong, but intelligent as well, and he also said that he.. assumed she was.. attractive underneath the robe? She had been smiling softly before, but now she just quirked an eyebrow. And what he said next was even worse.

She looked masculine underneath it? Okay, granted, the clothes were sorta baggy! She found that her temper was returning, mainly because of the frustration that it wasn't her fault that she had to wear the uniform. She ran several ideas through her head, trying to find a good one before her temper got to the point where she would start foul-mouthing him again. Luckily, it only took a few seconds to figure out a reasonable solution. But first, she smacked her forehead with frustration.

"You know, it's not my fault that they chose these baggy clothes as the Sound Four uniform! But if it really bothers you that much, then fine." she said, smirking at the last half.

What would come next was a little unexpected for Tayuya to do, but not entirely. She really didn't care too much what most people thought of her, so what she was about to do would be no different. In one, very swift, very nimble movement, the robe that normally covered her body was on the floor beside. Underneath it she was wearing black baggy shorts, which she had to admit were pretty tomboyish. On top, however, she had on a tight black v-neck resembling shirt. It was short-sleeved, so it never really showed when she had her robe on. The shorts, however, were visible from either side since the cloak only had two flaps in the front and back for the lower half of the body. And just to add to the effect of becoming more womanly, she took off her cap with her good hand and dropped it on top of her cloak, letting excess hair that was trapped before fall out.

"There. Now do I look a bit more like a girl?" she asked with a clever smile, left hand resting on her hip. She had a pretty skinny frame, and her hips were actually pretty large. All in all, she had the features a girl would normally have on her torso.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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Eh, Dosu respected Kabuto for his medical skills. However, he always the fact that the guy always looked like he was going to double cross you. That all-knowing smirk, the glasses, everything about him screamed ‘traitor’. The fact someone like him became Orochimaru’s second in command was a mystery. It was probably his medical skills; Orochimaru needed someone with medical expertise due to his jutsu and experimentation. And as much as he hated it, Kabuto was one of the best in medical jutsu. It was him that developed the connections for the amplifier, as well as reversed most of the damage from his burns. Still, Dosu wanted nothing more than to beat that smirk off his face.

”You’re not going to get any objects from me on that. A medical genius, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he back stabs Orochimaru one of these days. He just has that look on him.”

Glancing up at the sky, Dosu saw that the moon was starting to decline. It was getting rather late, wasn’t it? He just came out for some air; he never expected to have ended up spending all this time with Tayuya. Sadly, if it wasn’t for that moon his fight against Tayuya might have ended earlier with his advantage in sound. It didn’t really matter though; he won it anyway after all. Besides, even he preferred to use sight when he could, even if he could have survived without it. Still, being out this late was probably suspicious. They were going to have to start heading back to the village soon.

”Hmm, we might want to get moving. If we don’t get back soon they’ll send scouts after us. Besides, being out this late would be considered suspicious.” Dosu theorized.

When the discussion about her gender came up, Dosu was surprised to find she wasn’t getting that upset about it at first. He had expected a little more yelling from her, but apparently the ‘rage’ argument was working. That, or the fact that he had basically questioned her gender caused her to start analyzing why he would say that. It wasn’t as if that was a bad thing. If she had been one of those really girly types completely obsessed with a boy or gossip or something, he’d probably have to kill her. Those kind of girls were completely annoying. Still, he had to tell her the truth; she was rather tomboyish. It was mostly her clothes that did that though; in those baggy robes any female curves were hidden. And the hairstyle was more androgynous than anything else, which helped with the confusion aspect. Overall, she was masculine enough that one would have to think about it for a second before deciding the gender.

With their individual confessions, Dosu’s mind started to run through different scenarios explaining all of this. First off, within Sound, reputation and strength were important. Developing a close relationship with someone could be seen as a sign of weakness and could interfere with a mission. Also, neither of them really hung out with a lot of people; she was restrained to the Sound Four, and him with this team. That severely limited the amount of people they could interact with. To put it simple, Hidden Sound was not the best village to be in if you were all for the dating game. Yet, here they were, chatting along discussing a potential relation between them. Both of them were able to tolerate the other, and from his understanding that was a big deal in relation to Tayuya. He was a little bit easier to get along with; after all, his team liked him. Still, he was annoyed by, compared to him, their lower level of intelligence, especially Zaku and how hot blooded he was. As he explained, there was no logical reason they couldn’t work out, at least when considering their personalities.

Still, he had some worries about how quickly she had become infatuated with him. Going from enemies to partners in such a short time seemed a little too quick. Romantically he thought it a good idea, but for Dosu logic out voted emotion. This could be a simple crush, a fling. After having some lovey-doveyness they could break apart and barely stand each other. Before attempting anything, he had to see that this wasn’t just some kind of infatuation coming from his victory against her. He would keep a distance, keeping an eye on her behaviors and body language to determine her various levels of feelings. If they were consistent for an extended period of time, then he would work on returning them. Till then, he would keep things the way they were.

The silence was starting to get a bit annoying. He just wished Tayuya would say something. Glancing over at her, he saw she seemed downtrodden by something, but upon mentioning he had no objections, she brightened up. She seemed to accept his logical reasoning behind the relationship, and just hoped that would do for now. He wasn’t going to be writing love letters or poetry anytime soon after all. Actually, he probably never would write something like that; too cliché and annoying. Of course, his statements caused her to blush, but girls always blushed at compliments, right? At least that was how all the cheesy romance novels worked, but this was real life, not a novel. But when he brought up the robes, it was her turn to give him a raised eyebrow. It was to be expected, and so was her temper rising. He started to raise his amplifier in case she attacked him in a moment of rage, but instead she just smacked her forehead. He put his arm down, and just waited to see what she would do.

He wasn’t that bothered by the uniform; he just didn’t know what she looked like without it. The smirk worried him a little, but Tayuya’s next act completely threw him off. She stripped off her robe, leaving her standing there in baggy black shorts and a tight, revealing shirt. There was no question that she was female after this, not that he doubted it. Still, Dosu’s eyes were a little wide in surprise at the behavior; he didn’t think she cared that much about the comment! He just glanced up when she took her hat off, her hair falling out. That definitely made her look more like a girl. She seemed really proud of herself as she spoke.

”Uhm, yes, there is no question about it. Was it really necessary to do that though?” a slightly flustered Dosu responded. His logic was kind of failing him at this moment; he hadn’t anticipated her to do this. Emotion was gaining some ground, but his logic was still dominated for now. However, emotion won just enough to get a blush to appear on Dosu’s face, but it was kind of hard to see with the gauze on.

Speaking of the gauze, Dosu felt that since she had exposed herself like that, the least he could do was reciprocate it with a little exposing himself. Besides, it would serve as a good test of how strong her feelings were if he revealed his face. If it was just an infatuation, it might shock her out of it. On the flip side, if there was something a little deeper, then maybe there was actually some foundation to the feelings.

”Of course, you understand this puts the two of us in a rather awkward position. I didn’t expect you to take my comment that seriously, though at least you proved my assumption right. However, I now feel obligated to do something similar, though I'm not going to strip down like you did. Besides, and this is no offense to you at all, I'm a little hesitant to take this any further without knowing there is a more secure foundation to this. Therefore..."

Dosu unwrapped his headband and set it down on the ground. Taking a hold of his gauze, he slowly began to unwrap it. He would just unwrap the gauze on his head; it would be way too much work to do his entire body. Besides, his head would serve as a good enough test. As it unwrapped, the scarred skin on his head began to reveal itself. Kabuto had made some great progress in restoring it, but one could still tell that he had burned himself long ago. Eventually it came to his actual face, eye, and nose. His eyebrows had started making some progress in growing back, but it still had a way to go. The scarring was a little worse on this part of his face then his head; it had gotten more of the damage from the fire. Eventually his entire face revealed, and he held all the gauze in his hand.

"So then, I think this makes us equal in the way of exposing ourselves. Kabuto has made some great progress in healing the scarring, but it still has a lot of progress to go. This same scarring is on the entire right side of my body as well. So then, any comments?"

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

With the way she was feeling at the moment, Tayuya was glad at how the conversation was going. She had just spoken of Kabuto and how she disliked him, and to her surprise, Dosu agreed. She had half-expected him to defend the man because he happened to be such a high ranking subordinate of Orochimaru, and Dosu seemed like one of those people who greatly respected the Sanin. Tayuya did too, of course, for he had given her power- but she wasn't as religiously creepy about worshipping him as some other Otogakure ninja were. However, the reason for Dosu's distaste for Kabuto soon came clear. He believed that the guy had a mischievous look about him, and more importantly, that he seemed mutinous. Tayuya had to agree with that. Aside from being bluntly creepy, Kabuto seemed to think quite highly of himself and Tayuya wouldn't be surprised if he did plot a coup against Orochimaru. But if he did, she would have no problem with it. As Orochimaru's hand-picked body guard, it would just mean that she'd have a higher chance of being able to knock that smirk off of his face. The only physical sign she gave of agreeing was a mere nod.

Dosu then mentioned how it was late out- basically what she had been thinking just as he said it. She doubted anyone would go out searching for them, for Tayuya was not on guard duty that night. And in any case, she wouldn't be missed. The other members of her team usually jumped at any chance of sleep they could get. She couldn't blame them, but she just preferred to be outside with her flute more frequently. And maybe soon, outside with Dosu more frequently. Though she highly doubted that would happen. They both had busy lives, and the most important mission in the small history of Otogakure was going to take place soon. The mission would drastically affect both of their lives- and hopefully they would come out of it not only successfully, but intact. Dosu was already beaten up as it was, or so she assumed considering the enormous amounts of gauze that covered his body.

The next chain of events would involve the two of them individually confessing to somewhat liking each other, though Dosu's was more subtle and Tayuya just said it outright, though it took a bit of self-encouragment. Thinking back on that, it bothered her that it had taken her so long to say it. She normally rarely cared what people thought of her, often choosing to point out their own flaws in retaliation to their insults. She was very talented as far as acting on her feet went, but for this specific instance she had needed to think more about the pros and cons, and rack her brain for the most valid solution. Dosu really did seem to have quite the impact on how she did things. In fact, it seemed that he had the power to easily change her from a bandit to a baby. It was a bit disgusting what he was able to do to her. She wasn't used to feeling that kind of emotion before, and overall, the feeling of regarding someone else as superior was hard for Tayuya to do. And how would she deal with the love? What if it became so romantic she panicked? Well whatever happened, she would try to be ready for it. This was probably a once in a lifetime chance for her to have a "special someone" as corny as it sounded, for she was not the typical "hot" girl.

Shortly following their confessions, Dosu had mentioned that Tayuya looked a little masculine. In an attempt to quickly quell the blood that was beginning to boil in her veins and to prove to him that she had womanly features, she had actually proceeded to pull her robe and cap off to reveal her full hair and figure. To her delight, he actually seemed to take it in pretty well at first. She tried very hard to read the expression that was built into the revealed side of his face. Her trained, meticulous eyes strained for any sign of a change of emotion, and after about five short seconds, they finally found one. 'Is that a red tint on his cheek I see..?' Tayuya thought to herself. She could be horribly wrong, but on someone pale like Dosu, blushes stood out like a sore thumb. And telling from the way his eye widened slightly and lingered on her for a bit could also prove her theory. She inwardly smirked, though a small, confident smile glided onto her lips in almost an instant. That look he gave her was reassuring. And the fact that he seemed to be stuttering a bit shortly after her stripping gave her just as much consolation as the blush- or what she thought was a blush. And what did he mean 'was it necessary'?

"Of course it was necessary. I had to prove a point, after all, I couldn't just let you sit there and say I had masculine features. I may have a personality that's more manly than yours, but it doesn't mean that my figure isn't just as pretty as any other girl's." she said, a mischievous smile playing at her lips.

He seemed to speak again shortly after she had, and in response she shifted to a more relaxed stance, leaning to her left side. Her eyes were trained on him, and what he was saying seemed natural, though he was being way to logical about it. It almost bugged her. He was using all these huge words and phrases that would make most people cry, but luckily Tayuya was more than intelligent enough to comprehend his nerd talk. However, the fact that he said she had made it awkward caused her to roll her eyes. Things only really became awkward when one person stated that it was awkward. Otherwise it was just a slightly abnormal event. That's how Tayuya saw it anyways.

When Dosu stated that he felt obligated to show her something as well, she almost let a wave of morality over her and thought about stopping him. Almost. Despite how she felt about him, she was still Tayuya, and milking this chance for compensation for her act was not above her. She could understand that he wanted to test her loyalty before committing to anything. After all, she had just kind of fallen for him out of nowhere. However, never in her wildest dreams would Tayuya expect what was to happen next.

It started with the drop of a headband that was set down on the ground. Tayuya looked forward, a slight look of disbelief becoming her expression. What was he doing? Was he really going to take his gauze off? The actions following this thought confirmed it. He had grabbed the gauze and slowly begun to unwrap it. Tayuya just watched on silently as very slowly, large burn scars were revealed all over one side of his face. Her eyes widened slightly. Those were some intense scars! Heck, she had never seen something so brutal before in her life! It almost gave him an awesome, rugged look. Tayuya definitely was into that sort of thing. 'Gosh it looks like he was tortured heavily or something.. it's awesome!' she thought to herself, continuing to stare with little expression on her face. She couldn't help but want to step forward and touch it- just feeling the scarred tissue on her hand actually sounded like a pretty good idea, but she didn't want to go overstepping any boundaries just yet. As she stared, she noticed that he had begun talking again. The gist of what he said had to do with Kabuto healing him and asking her if she had any comments.

"Well, first of all, those are the most freakin' badass scars I have ever seen in my life. Looks like you endured hell or something. And I gotta say, it makes you that much more attractive." she said, staring at the cheek that was more scarred. "If you're asking if I have a problem with it, the answer is no. I don't see why something so irrelevant would get in the way in any case."

She soon began to step forward slowly, a curious demeanor about her as she continued to stare with a small smile on her face. It really was cool, and she wanted to touch it. Normally she would have been more confident and just reached out to touch it, but she guessed that this subject required a bit more sensitivity. And so, instead of just rushing forward like she normally would, she slowly approached. When she was only a slight distance of five feet away, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Uhm, is it okay if I touch?" she asked, trying to put on the most innocent smile she could.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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They had such wonderful communication skills, didn't they? They had both agreeded that Kabuto was off, mischievous, and that they both disliked them. What they had all been saying would be considered 'treasonous' to some members of Otagakure. Some people in the village practically worshiped Orochimaru. Dosu was loyal to him, but had some reservations about the kind of experimentation that he did. For now, however, he gave the leader of Hidden Sound the utmost loyalty. Tayuya, as a member of the Sound Four, was basically his bodyguard, and of course one of the most elite ninja in Otagakure. However, her independent streak probably meant she wasn't completely loyal to him. Great, more similarities between them. Loyal to Orochimaru to a certain point, and yet very independent. All of this, however, was answered by a nod to Tayuya. Such wonderful talking points and thought answered by a nod. He just noted it odd to see Tayuya quiet.

Dosu took Tayuya's silence about the time of evening to mean she really didn't care. That was kind of expected actually. Who was going to question a Sound Four member about their whereabouts at night? Just tell them she was on a mission or something, they'd shut up and leave her alone. No problem, right? As for her team, they were probably used to other members running off. Also by this point most people were going to be asleep anyway and probably didn't know they were gone. Probably resting up before the invasion...the invasion. That would definitely complicate matters between them. Obviously they were going to have two completely different missions. His was to infiltrate the village in the Genin Exams and, for some reason, eliminate Sasuke Uchiha. Dosu really didn't understand why Orochimaru had such an issue with the kid, but Dosu would follow the mission faithfully. Besides, it would be fun to test his skills against the last of the Uchihas.

Still, Tayuya would probably have an important role in the invasion and any aftermath. Obviously they couldn't be together during the actual invasion, and afterwards there wouldn't be any spare time whether it succeeded or failed. Then of course there was the possibility of them dying in the invasion. Obviously, if they had a quick, passionate fling, the death would be devastating to whoever survived. Preventing that was just as big as a reason for him keeping his distance from Tayuya as much as the quickness of the relationship. After it was all over, well, they would have to see how things went from there. Of course, he doubted they would die. Just in case, some extra training wouldn't be a bad idea. He was going to learn Genjutsu from her after all. Together they could devise a plan on surviving the invasion, should it go awry.

By this point, as far as Dosu could figure, the two of them had 'confessed' to each other. That was the phrase, correct? Of course, he had to notice the contrast between them. Tayuya had broken down into an awkward, emotional confession; his sounded as casual as if he had been discussing tactial plans to assault the enemy. It seemed out of place for her to have acted that way. In the fight she was quick to come up with as strategy to attack him, a strategy that would have succeeded if he wasn't as much a master of sound as he was. Yet she failed completely in this regard, rushing quickly in, confessing feelings, being awkward. Emotion seemed to be her weak spot, and while it didn't seem to be, it was his too. The difference was she was outright in revealing that; he buried it 'logic'. As long as he acted and explained things in a logical viewpoint, he felt more secured about it. Give it some time and he might end up bumbling like an idiot like Tayuya was doing a moment ago. Till then, he was going to keep up a logical barrier between them.

Dosu knew full well that once she stripped, Tayuya was searching his face for any sign of emotion. He had been caught on off guard, however, so it wasn't too hard to notice the surprised look on his face, or the blushing. Glancing at her, he found that she had a confident smile on her face. Apparently revealing her, uhm, feminimity, had given her a boost. Or was it catching him off guard and revealing some emotion, and therefore bringing him down to her level, that brought it. No matter what, she seemed to be enjoying his discomfort.

"Well, your point was made. A bit more drastic than I had expected, but proven." He responded, ignoring the comment attacking his personality.

Tayuya finally relaxed once he was the one talking. In his own way he was trying to just see how serious she was about this. There were a lot of barriers in this relationship; different positions, life in Hidden Sound, loyalty to Orochimaru, the upcoming invasion, etc. He just wanted to make sure this wouldn't just be some fling, that he wasn't a play toy for Tayuya. Therefore, he felt he had a good reason to be questioning. Tayuya was taking it all in stride; no surprise since he had been taking care of everything she had done (minus the stripping) in stride. It was his turn to be the awkward, emotional one, and she was going to enjoy every moment of it wasn't she?

As he started taking of his gauze, he could see that Tayuya was looking on in disbelief. He was about to joke about her being in his shoes. When she stripped off that robe, he had no clue what to do. Now that he was taking off his gauze, she was just as clueless. However, she was a little more silent than he was during the affair. At least she kept up the surprised look on her face that he had. He had wished she had a little more emotion on her face, so he could get a preview of what her reaction would be. However, she kept as still as a statue, only reacting when he finally finished talking, and the reaction was a little surprising, yet not completely. She liked the scars, calling them badass. As for the enduring hell part, a burning farm building might count as that. Of course, being told it made him more attractive was rather endearing. Apparently Tayuya liked scars. Why didn't that surprise him? It was her battle lust; she liked the fight, so it would make sense for her to enjoy well worn scars, right?

More importantly, the fact that she wasn't bothered by the scars but in fact enjoyed was comforting. It still didn't settle things for him quite perfectly, but it made a much stronger foundation than it was before. She had been attracted by his battle skills, reinforced by his willingness to stand up to her, enjoyed the conversations, and didn't mind his physical deformities. Glad to see there was at least some chance of something coming out of this. Seeing as the gauze wasn't going to be of any use now, he just ripped it where it was and just let it fall on the ground.

"Apparently my worries were for nothing then. But I'm sure you can understand my hesitance. Although I have to say I should have known you would be into guys with scars." he replied, actually joking in his tone. By this point it was safe to drop some of the barriers. He could joke with her, maybe casually flirt. They already had a big emotional moment; there wasn't much else they could do now. Anything else would be pushing things too quickly for his mindset after all.

Once he revealed it, however, he found himself facing Tayuya curiously approaching him, smiling a little. She was moving slowly, and it was creeping him out a little. Smiling at him, however, she simply asked to touch his scars. An odd request, but one that he could deal with. By this point he really didn't feel anything on that part of his body, at least in relation to being touched. She could poke him there all day long and all he would feel would be like a simple fly. Of course flies could be annoying, but that wasn't the point.

"Go ahead, won't bother me. I don't have much feeling in that part of the body. The gauze is mostly to prevent infection or reopening wounds. Mostly a concern for battle though." he replied. Oddly enough, revealing his scars was emotional; letting her touch them wasn't a big deal at all. It was a letdown probably for Tayuya. But what else was there. Oooh, she touched dead skin. Yawn. The worst was over and done with so it was time to move on to something else.

Once Tayuya was done messing with his skin, Dosu started to look over what to do next. She had revealed her figure after he insulted her feminimity, and he had revealed his scars to test her. He admittedly didn't mind the figure, and she adored the scars it seemed. So not only did they have an attraction personality wise, they had a physical attraction. At this point there had to be someone telling them to just go ahead and get together. He could imagine that...okay, not really. In fact, knowing the Hidden Sound, someone would be yelling at them to break it up. It could endanger the missions, they were shinobi, blah blah blah. Personally, he didn't care, but people who wanted them apart could be really persistent in doing so. They already had enough crap to deal with in relation to this; they didn't need more.

Well, they had already spent most of the night together, might as well blow off the rest, right? If they got in trouble, adding a little more time wouldn't change anything right? Might as well enjoy the situation right? Besides, they had some issues they needed to discuss. The first was how to explain the hand. Next, to set up meetings to practice the Genjutsu. Finally, how to deal with their teammates in this issue.

"So then, before we go anywhere with this, we need to discuss some thing. First, we are going to need to explain that hand of yours. We can't really hide a broken hand. I can fix my amplifier fine. Things break after all. Minor repair job. Second," this time Dosu sounded a bit more serious,"Is how are we going to arrange meeting up? Night time meetings might sound romantic, but in a shinobi village it screams traitor more than anything. Missions, however, will make daytime meetings more complicated."

There, the bad news was laid out right in front of them. Of course, it was time to heap in some even worse news. He was going to have to figure out something good he can do to make up for it. Normally he liked delivering a lot of bad news and no good news, but he'd make an exception for Tayuya in this case.

"Furthermore, we are going to need to figure out what to do in relation to our teammates. My team will probably not care that much, as far as I know. I am not aware of any feelings for me from Kin, in case you were worried," he joked, imagining how Tayuya would react to a rival,"and Zaku, well, I don't really care. He's not a danger or anything. Decent fighter, but a little too much hot air sometimes. I don't, however, know how the Sound Four will react. I believe you should be able to fill me in on that?"

There, all the bad news was over and done with. Now it was time to think of something good. He wasn't going to kiss her or embrace her in a deep hug or anything. That would be a guaranteed punch, though he had a feeling he could get away with it if he tried carefully. However, he wasn't going to try it. Tayuya's mood could start shifting again, and he'd end up dead on the ground. He wasn't a poet, so a crappy love poem was out of the question as well. That really didn't leave anything for him to do...so why didn't he just ask her?

"So then, what should we do from this point forward? I'm already gushing over in the clicheness of a secret night-romance aspect," he replied, being a little sarcastic since he had to get that out,"But unless you want to live out a bad romance novel, you're going to need to suggest what happens next. Just run off and wait for another day to meet, or just suck out every last bit of potential romance this night could have?"

Dosu knew he sucked as a romantic, but if he was one of those sappy, romantic types he'd have died a long time ago. If that was what Tayuya wanted (and he doubted that), she was out of luck with him. Since that was probably not what she wanted, however, he thought himself in the clear.

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

As Tayuya complimented his scars, proceeding to call them "badass" and "awesome looking". Though this might not have been an appropriate response in a normal conversation and Tayuya was not completely sure what Dosu's reaction would be, she said it anyways just because they intrigued her so much. Scars were something that proved your worth in battle or even something like interrogation. Sure, they made you look like you got beat up, but in another case you survived the beating that resulted in a scar. Of course, as Tayuya knew, Dosu's case was entirely different. He had only been caught in a fire- but nevertheless, she couldn't help but appreciate the scars. After all, it wasn't as if she wanted some weakling as a date. She smiled when he said his worries for nothing and that he should have known she was into scars..? This almost caused her to giggle- but she didn't. Giggling was not and never would be her thing.

"Well of course I'm into guys with scars. Why would I want some baby soft-skinned guy going on a date with me? No, that's just gross. Scars on the other hand, they make you look like you've been through something."

She said this with a grin on her face. This grin soon shifted into a small smile as she approached Dosu and asked if she could touch it. There was no particular reason why she wanted to other than that she was curious to see what it would feel like. To her delight, he promptly agreed to let her. She began to raise her right hand, but after feeling a slight twinge of pain, she dropped it and lifted her left up to the right side of his face. She hesitated for a moment, but then looked into his eyes. She doubted he would care if he said she could.. so, without further ado, she trained her eyes back onto his right cheek and let two fingers run down the scarred skin. It felt oddly smooth, yet rugged to the touch. A very contradicting explanation, but that's how Tayuya was seeing it. It was actually not all that bad, and she considered running her fingers down to his lips but then thought twice. She'd try not to make this awkward for the boy. Instead, she let her fingers trail down his jawline and then lifted them off at his chin. She looked back at him when she was done with this maneuver. "Feels cool." she said simply, taking a step back so as not to be too close.

When she had completed her odd touching of his face, which she actually did not think was awkward at all, Dosu began to lay out the facts, requesting answers. Tayuya chuckled. Was he really drawing out a plan? It was cute, but not necessarily Tayuya's thing. Yes, she was a great strategist, but she preferred to plan while in danger. That was when her best ideas sprung up. Hell, if she had to sit in an office all day moving armies around.... well, actually that sounded kind of cool to her, but if she did have to do that, she'd die. She'd much rather be in the fray with them, commanding them as she pleased depending on the situations which she could experience firsthand. She was a planner of sorts, when the call arose for it, but her best ideas overall were instilled in her by action. Nevertheless, she would try and plot with him as much as she could.

The first thing on the agenda was to explain her broken hand. That could be combatted easily, saying she simply was pushing herself too hard and punched a tree- though that sounded humiliating. Of course, the other option was just to tell anyone who asked to screw off. That was the preferred choice. Most people knew to leave Tayuya alone when she wanted to be alone. Except for Sakon and his disgusting prodding of her behavior. That would take some more thought. The next thing that seemed to be a concern was when they were going to meet. Well, Dosu was right, nighttime did scream traitor. And during the day they wouldn't have much time to be together either. But then an idea popped into her head.

"Well as far as the hand goes, no one will bother me if I simply tell them to screw off. And about the meetings.. well, though I know you have things to do too, my agenda is a bit more packed than yours. So maybe we could work out something where I could just fetch you when I'm free? If you're free as well, then great, but if you're not at least it'll give us a few moments to try and work something else out."

She stated this all calmly, though before speaking she had lifted a finger on her good hand to her chin and begun looking at the moon. It was just a way to get her to think. The next issue was apparently going to be teammates. He stated that his team wouldn't care, and even joked a bit on how Kin might like him. That caused Tayuya to playfully roll her eyes. If Kin fancied him, the solution would be easy anyways. Tayuya would simply crush her. There was no issue there. And Zaku, the hothead of the group from what Tayuya had learned, would not be a threat either. That was good. But apparently the main issue was to be her team and how they would react. Admittedly, that was an issue, so Tayuya started verbally brainstorming.

"Well, Jirobo probably won't care at all. He'd probably just shrug and go off to eat a kitchen or something. Kidomaru might laugh a bit and use it against me later, but I'm not second strongest in the Sound Four for nothing. And Sakon... ugh, that'd be my only problem. I'm sure he'd try to stir up trouble. But if he does, I'll handle him. You don't have to worry about that. So all in all, my team isn't going to be too much of a problem either."

The last thing on the agenda according to Dosu was what to do with their time left. Time was actually running out, and Tayuya would prefer to get some sleep as much as she wanted to stay out here with Dosu. She didn't have very important things to do for a while other than the occasional meeting. She was also going to be briefed on her mission on the invasion tomorrow too, however. She might want to be awake for that. Now all that was left was how to wrap up this nice little meeting. As the other spoke, she laughed a bit at how he suggested her to suggest what to do. If he was shy, it was a bad idea for him to let her be in charge. She wouldn't think twice about whatever idea popped into her mind. With a smirk, she started to speak.

"Well, I think we better wrap it up. I get briefed on my part in the invasion tomorrow, and I need to be well rested for that meeting. They'll probably expect me to come up with some strategy on how to enter the village. So I think we might want to run off and wait for another day to meet. But I don't see any reason why we can't just suck up any more potential romance these last few minutes could have."

And with the smirk on her face slowly fading into a smile, she stepped forward and lifted her left hand to cup the right side of his face. And here came the last move. With every ounce of bravery she had left, she moved her face in quickly and seized the chance to allow their lips to meet. Her heart seemed to pound in her chest, and she reflexively closed her eyes to try and savor the moment. That was what people did right? In any case, hopefully he would react the way she wanted him to and kiss back. Otherwise this would be extremely embarrassing.

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[Dosu Kinuta]

>>>Dosu Kinuta<<<
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So, she liked the scars because they showed you'd been through something. Hmph, all he had done was get hit by a flaming piece of wood. Not the most impressive thing after all. Still, at least he didn't have to worry about her freaking out about his scars. He laughed a little when she said she didn't want some 'baby soft-skinned guy' to go out with her. Well, he definitely wasn't baby-skinned.He was told it felt more like, what was it, leather or something? Smooth but tough. An odd combination, but appropriate. Not that he could really feel it himself. The nerves were damaged from the fire, barely able to recognize anything. It would take a pretty tough hit for him to register anything was going on there.

"Don't get too excited about it though. All I did was get hit by burning piece of wood." he replied, trying to be a little modest about it, and to make sure Tayuya didn't get any wrong ideas about him. He wasn't afraid to fight, but he prefered to end things quick and easy from a distance if he could. Therefore, he hadn't had that much injury from battles. If it was battle scars she wanted, he didn't have much to offer.

Still, it seemed to make her happy to let her touch his face. Probably just curiosity. Everyone seemed rather curious about his scars when he showed them. For a second she tried to use her right hand, but failed when it pained her to do so. It was probably awkward for her to use her left hand to feel the right side of his face. Probably explained her hesitation in it. Just as he thought, he couldn't feel it at all when she brought her fingers down his face. It was only at his jawline that he felt it, and mostly because that area wasn't as badly damaged. It was a rather faint feeling still. Stepping back, she said it felt cool. He just rolled his eyes a little. Only Tayuya would think touching some persons scars was cool.

"Well, at least to you. Just as I thought, I didn't feel a thing." he replied rather casually

As he laid out the facts, Tayuya was chuckling. It was a little annoying; he was trying to be serious after all. He needed to have a plan for this, to figure out how to get over all the various potholes in their path. Then again, Tayuya liked making plans on the fly, right? Well, he could do that too, but he still prefered to have some kind of a blueprint for future purposes. Still, it seemed that Tayuya was going to at least humor him with this and help him in coming up with something. Two geniuses like them had to think of something brilliant, right?

Well, the first issue, her hand, she blew off in her normal Tayuya style. She just said that she would tell them to screw off. The thing was, that would probably work for her. Who was going to talk back to Tayuya after all? Well, there was him, and he got into a fight because of it. Other than that, no one would really bother her. As for the 'fetching' plan for meetings, it made him sound more like he was a pet than someone she was having a relationship with. Still, it would work. If a member of the Sound Four requested Dosu for something, most ninja weren't going to ask questions. If he was busy, he could get out of it, and if he wasn't, then they would hang out. Since all he had coming up was training, he didn't have anything that would force him to leave if she called. Still, he would have to make sure she understood he wasn't going to be a 'pet' with all this fetching.

"That will work for now. But do understand that I'm not going to be like a puppy and always come just because you say so."

Next came the issue of the teams. He already mentioned his team would be fine with it for the most part, minus maybe Kin getting jealous. He didn't know her feelings, and he might just be a little arrogant to consider she had some for him. Tayuya, on the other hand, had a little more to be concerned about. Sakon and Ukon he knew were a pair of asses. It wouldn't be surprising at all if the two of them tried to mess with them. Tayuya would have to be the one to deal with them though; the were ranked higher than him, and unless he wanted to disturb the entire hiearchy of Hidden Sound, Dosu had his hands tied. Then again, this place needed to be shaken up a bit.

"Well then, at least they won't be a bother except for Sakon. The two of us should be able to handle him if he tried anything. That should make things easier for us." Dosu responded.

Now came the last part; how to end this little meeting. He let Tayuya figure that one out; he had no clue what to do. Besides, he had done all the talking and planning. She probably wanted to have some say in all of this (though she already did have a big say). Of course, he had a feeling it might have been a bad idea to do that; she had gotten rather emotional about all of this in the last few minutes. Add in that she had much less inhibition than him, she wouldn't be afraid to pull something.

Apparently she had a meeting about the invasion tomorrow to go to. Sleep would be important for that. After all, she was going to play a big part due to her position, so she needed to be awake. Also meant that they probably wouldn't see each other tomorrow. Big deal; he wasn't going to get all depressed because of not seeing her for one day. Then came the finisher. Dosu just glanced at her as she cupped his head, but his heart was beating rather rapidly when he found himself in a kiss with the girl. Her eyes were closed, and she was apparently enjoying every moment of it. Obviously he should have been kissing her back right now, or at least not having his eyes open still. Just this once he was going to drop the logic and returned it, using her good arm to bring her in a little closer. That was what the guy was supposed to do, right?

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>>>Beating You Up At the Speed of Sound<<<

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[kin]

Tayuya let a slight smile creep onto her face as she told Dosu of how scars presented a story to her. Honestly, Tayuya was well aware that Dosu's scars were only the result of something in the past- a fire, actually, somewhere around his childhood. She wasn't completely sure, but that seemed about right. Even though that wasn't exactly the most thrilling and badass scar story, it was still a scar story. And those scars probably ran deeper than just a physical spot on the skin from some sort of damage. Dosu's scars probably ran a lot deeper emotionally. After all, it was after the fire that he had gone to Orochimaru, or so she figured. Then again, supposedly there was a two or three year gap between the fire and his recruitment, but either way he probably lost a great number of friends and relatives in the fire. So though the visible scars were plenty, the even cooler thing was that the emotional ones would be around for quite a while as well.

Or so she figured, anyways. A shot in the dark, but she wouldn't be surprised if she was correct. In a few seconds, as expected, Dosu admitted that he had been hit by a burning piece of wood. Tayuya laughed softly and continued to touch his face before replying casually.

"Doesn't matter what caused it. You got a scar- not just any injury, it was an injury that's implanted permanently into your skin and your existence, if the scars really run so deep.."

Was that too much? Tayuya suddenly felt where she was and realized what she had said was rather... well, nerdy. Into his existence? Ew, that didn't really sound like her. She quickly ended touching his face and stepped back, merely stating that it was cool. This was basically a cover up for her embarrassing little dork speech. However, Dosu just said that they probably only felt cool to her.

What was that supposed to mean? Hopefully she hadn't offended him or something by wanting to touch them- now that she thought about it, he probably hated having them. And she had just stated they were cool. A sudden urge told her to apologize, but she instead just brushed it off as nothing. She wasn't going to melt in front of him and call him "honey" or anything. If she had to apologize for something so minor, then there was probably no point to all of this. It didn't matter- he was already continuing to speak, saying that he didn't feel anything. That didn't exactly matter to her either. There was always the left side of his face!

As the conversation carried on, they soon started planning. Something Tayuya found to be rather boring, even though she was a strategist herself. It wasn't that she didn't like making plans, she just didn't like making plans while not in the action. Some preparation was necessary, but Tayuya's best ideas came to her when in the midst of a battle. And besides, he was only asking how they would meet. Well, she would fetch him of course! But it seemed as though that idea didn't fly too well with him. He mentioned that he didn't want to be treated like a dog in the manner of Tayuya fetching him. Unfortunately, though, that was their best bet. A Genin requesting the presence of a Sound Four member was something that would spread. A Sound Four member requesting the presence of a Genin was business that people stayed away from. So her hands were tied there, but it seemed as if he wasn't too troubled by the idea, so she merely just went on.

About her teammates. Tayuya quickly brainstormed out loud and came to the conclusion that Sakon and Ukon would really be the only problems. It was true, the twins would purposely try to rouse trouble. But that was something Tayuya could completely handle, though Dosu offered a helping hand if she would happen to need it. Secretly she wasn't sure at all that he could take on the twins. They were short ranged fighters, and far superior to her as far as taijutsu went. She was honestly the best opponent for Sakon considering she was long-ranged. But even though that made it more difficult for the twins, they always seemed to find a way to get to her. It was rather annoying to say the least- but back to the point. Dosu definitely couldn't take them alone, but she was confident that the two of them could take on Sakon and Ukon together.

For what came next, well, everyone in the "village" would berate her for. She had actually leaned forward and kissed Dosu. Not an extremely passionate one, but she held it for a few moments. Her heart was beating, and her mind was running through what to do if he rejected it- but to her immediate surprise, she felt his arm pulling her in closer and actually felt him kiss back. She breathed a mental sigh of relief. But either way, this was still embarrassing. But now, it was exit time. Tayuya held the kiss for about another three seconds before pulling away and taking about five steps backwards.

"Well, coming out here seemed to be more profitable than I thought it would be." she said, a shy smile coming onto her lips. "But now I have to go get rest for tomorrow's meeting. I'll try and get you within the next week- if I can't I'm sorry. But anyways.." she said, scratching the back of her neck. "I.. well, later kid."

And with that, Tayuya was speeding away from the area. She had jumped into a tree and began to make her trek back to her barracks. Tayuya had hardly expected any of the events that occurred that night, but saying she was happy about them was an understatement. Well, except for her hand, which was still pulsing out of pain. Tayuya chuckled as she looked back to the training grounds. "Night, Dosu.." she whispered to herself before setting her head back forward to her path. Anyone seeing her wouldn't have given her a second thought- just the foul-mouthed, condescending Tayuya running through the woods. However, what they wouldn't see was the enormous goofy grin she had stuck on her face.