[Benihime x Youko Gaiden] The Crimson Kunoichi & The White Ronin

[Apollymi]

"Hm, that's a fair point..." she said. The more she thought about it, there would likely be several things about such an arrangement which didn't make a lot of sense outside of context. It made her wonder what other sort of disarray she could find if she looked a little closer. She continued to stare at this man and as their conversation shifted to his body, she noted the slight hesitation before he answered her question. A smile formed on her face, as she considered that she might want to tread lightly. Perhaps she'd ask a bit more later, when things were less confusing, there weren't many people she could talk to about seals given her own situation. "Sugei! I've never seen so many seals on one person before..." she said as her mind wondered what such things could hold. She didn't assume he held a tailed beast, her own would have stirred for something like that, but he also possessed a strange doujutsu which meant there was probably weird clan stuff afoot. She understood that she likely wouldn't get her questions answered as it stood, so she contentedly watched him work. And in turn watched his body, in fact she couldn't really take her eyes off of him, and she couldn't explain why she was doing this. Much like her earlier issues with the fur he had attached to his person, her eyes felt drawn to his chest and abdomen in a way which she would normally only consider women. 'Ugh... I feel strange,' she thought with no explanation for this new found attraction.

[Bloodedge]

"Neither have I," he said in passing, regarding the number of seals one person could hold. These seals were a pretty big deal in his clan, but even other members had not gone to great enough lengths to get so many. It just so happened that Youko had plenty of reason for going through what he'd done, not that he wished to share so much information with new acquaintances. For the time being, he continued his work for several more minutes. The eventual result of his efforts was a strange kunai with three blades instead of one, and a thicker handle than normal, with the latter having no grip applied. He dropped this kunai off to cool while moving toward the workbench, noting that Benihime had taken a seat next to the scroll she had to offer him. When he picked up the scroll with his right hand, his left hand wiped beads of sweat from his brow, clearing him to look toward the redhead. "Not hot at all? Must be one hell of a desert you live in. I figured you would have taken something off by now. Well... hoped, anyway," he clarified while returning to the now-cooled kunai.

[Apollymi]

"So just some kind of weird overachiever then? Okay, makes sense~" she said, knowing she had no more or less information then she had in the first place, but the snarky comment, like many of the things she said sort of just fell out of her face. A few more moments of silence were to follow and this was fine with Benihime as she watched this man work up something of a sweat. She had no idea that she could be so interested in anything, but right now this was better than most things she could be watching, and she still had no real idea of why this could be the case. She managed at least to have her glance shift, though by the time the young man joined her to pick up the scroll she was studying his face and shoulders from close proximity while he wiped sweat from his brow. She found herself rather suddenly parched and couldn't really explain it. She chuckled just a little. "I am fairly certain you are about the only one to express such an interest directly. Desert heat is no joke though, especially during the day, and I don't really like wearing clothes..." she mentioned as if it was the most normal thing in the world. And if one actually happened to look at her attire she could barely be considered dressed right now, 80 percent of her clothing had holes in it. "But one of the things I am made to agree to before I leave for missions is that I won't appear naked in public places to avoid causing those 'international incidents' I mentioned earlier~" she said. "Though... is there like a fresh water river, stream, something with a water fall around here? I've been missing my oasis a bit." she asked a random question to divert her attention away from this young man without realizing she was very obviously still staring at very short range.

[Bloodedge]

Youko began tossing the scroll in his hand and catching it a few times over, while hearing Benihime's explanation of the desert she lived in. Frankly, it sounded atrocious to him, but he was also adjusted to almost perpetually balanced climate. More importantly, it was apparently the fault of Benihime's superiors that she even wore what few clothes she had on at present. "You know, I'm starting to dislike this Machi guy you keep mentioning."

After picking up the odd kunai, Youko extended the scroll and used the new tool to cut off a segment. This piece of scroll was used as the wrap for the kunai's handle. Once it was applied properly, he inspected the weapon, and considered it ready for completion. To do this, though, he had to pick up a whetstone from his pouch. "No grindstone... of course," he said while sitting on the workbench, activating his Doujutsu in its full white form for the added perception needed to perfectly sharpen the kunai to an even blade. "It's mostly saltwater in this area. There is a pretty decent lake nearby, though; it has a short waterfall. Do you have a brush for writing seals?"

[Apollymi]

A smile crossed Benihime's face as Youko mentioned that he was starting not to like Machi. "Ara, it isn't all his fault. He's been looking after me for a while, and in his defense, I do make his job a bit hard from time to time," she said knowing that she was quite the pain for the Kazekage, particularly when he likely had to explain his choices regarding her to his council, except for a couple of the more open-minded members. "And most times he lets me do whatever I want, so if he wants me to behave from time to time... I put forth a bit of honest effort," she said with a nod. She watched as this man continued to move around complaining that he didn't have a grindstone to use for his newest creation. He instead went about using a much smaller whetstone while explaining the topography of the area as well as asking if she had a brush for writing seals. "A waterfall and a small lake huh? That might be a bit interesting..." she said making a note to remember to ask for more specific directions a bit later. While she thought this over she watched this man's fingers work while slipping her left hand against one of the frills of her skirt to pull from it another scroll which when opened would reveal something of a kit for the creation of seals, including a brush, ink and scrolls a couple of them were already in use but a few others were clear for whatever he'd like to do with them. Over all she seemed to have no problem sharing her things with this man, though now she was admittedly even more curious about what he was doing.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, he's getting the blame now," Youko stated while continuing his work of creating a proper blade on this kunai. Given its odd shape, he was going about this in a very unique way. The prominent blade in the center received a sharp edge on either side, and those very edges were being carried around toward the tips of the other blades, running along their upward curve. He dared not sharpen the outer edges of the secondary blades for obvious reasons, but his vision of the completed tool left very little to be desired in his own mind. Soon, the sharpening process was complete. It had only taken a minute or so for deft hands and highly-enhanced ocular prowess to perfectly carve sharp edges into the tool, and now, Benihime was presenting him with the brush he'd requested.

Youko placed the whetstone on the workbench, and took up the brush in his newly-freed hand. "Now, if I'm not mistaken..." His sentence remained unfinished as he wrote onto the kunai's handle what would appear to be some strange bastardization of Benihime's self-summoning contract. At first glance, it would likely look familiar enough to be recognized as an attempt, but otherwise, it was a very wrong rendition of the formula. "Hmm... yeah, that's it."

[Apollymi]

She understood this, and couldn't really say anything as she'd been blaming Machi herself since she got on a boat. "Well, just don't be too hard on him~" she said of the man she actually worked for and considered her friend. Beyond this statement the young woman had gone quiet again, watching this man finish sharpening the oddly shaped weapon. "Sugei! That was really fast... at least I assume that was fast given how long it normally takes to get tools..." she mentioned. Then he moved on to doing something she couldn't really figure out. She watched as he wrote down something along the handle of this kunai. When he was finished she had a peek at it over his shoulder and her eyes widened. "Nani?" she questioned. She of course recognized it as being distinctly similar to the seal she'd made to summon herself but something about it seemed oddly shortened and strange. "That looks a bit like my seal, but why is it so short?" she asked seeming to find it strange for it to be written with so few characters. The young woman's voice was full of curiosity and so was her face, so much so that she'd temporarily forgotten her obsession with this man's body to pick his brain.

[Bloodedge]

Youko took several moments to look over the tool he'd crafted, keeping an open ear for Benihime's commentary as he did so. "I like to believe I work quickly. Doujutsu helps, but still... it's a point of pride." Benihime's curiosity was noted as well. She'd taken note of the great similarity between what he wrote on the kunai, and the summoning contract she created for herself. Youko had also taken note of this when first seeing the seal, which was the real reason he now had this. "This is your seal. I modified it for versatility," he said. As if to exemplify, Youko held the kunai in front of himself, channeling enough chakra to force the seal's response and summon the redhead bound to the contract. "And for this."

[Apollymi]

"Pride worth having~" she said seeming to chuckle just a tad. She could respect that having a doujutsu would likely make many tasks easier, but if he was trying to impress he was doing a really good job of it. And apparently there was only more to come, as he went on to explain that he'd simply used her seal to make another seal apparently more versatile. "You modified it..." she said these words as if confused by it. There were few people in the world she expected to even understand the jutsu, much less make any changes to it. And he claimed he'd done so, while leaving it as hers, this of course would only lead to an almost question, but it was answered by example. Youko held this new kunai before him and triggered it summoning the redhead from her seat beside him. This was a rather strange sensation for the young woman as she would instantly be found, in his lap facing him her legs on either side of him as she'd managed their openness during the transition. "You... I... just..." she seemed at a loss for a second. "Did you just use that seal to summon me, to your lap?" she asked looking at him as if stunned. Of course this was rather close proximity and very new for the young woman who'd been staring at this man without much shame in the moments prior to this.

[Bloodedge]

"Arigatou," he said in response to the praises. Moving on, Youko's use of the summoning seal's formula had been nothing more than a test-run of sorts, but his theory seemed to translate very easily to a proper execution. The end result seemed to do nothing but surprise the young woman, but he had already admitted that it was her very own seal in a new form, so he could only partially understand the shock. Just the same though, he couldn't say he had any complaints whatsoever about how she ended up appearing. "Yes, I most certainly did use this seal to summon you... and yes, you happened to appear in my lap. You were sitting normally a minute ago, though, so I'd like to believe it's safe to say you're being pretty accommodating of this sudden shift," he carried on, lifting his gaze from the kunai to Benihime's face, baring eyes filled with full moons. "You're still damn confusing, you know?"