A Full Moon

Spotting Rei from afar the group of Leaf Ninja made their way towards him causing Rei to put his guard up. "Hey, we're not here to fight." Raising his hands slightly the black-bearded adult in the group gave off a friendly smile while raising his hands up slightly. "My name is Asuma Sarutobi. We're ninja sent from the Hidden Leaf and these are my students."

Starting first a girl with platinum blonde hair tied into a ponytail introduced herself before the others. "My name is Ino Yamanaka." Following a slightly chubby boy with brown hair told Rei his name "Names Choji Akimichi." And lastly, a boy with spiky black hair tied into a ponytail spoke unenthusiastically. "Shikamaru Nara."

Hearing them all give out their names so openly Rei figured they weren't enemies as he introduced himself to them as well. "I'm Rei. Rei Kuto." Hearing his name, Asuma thought to himself for a moment. "Hmm... I've never heard of the Kuto clan before." Rei didn't take it personally as he spoke to them. "

"We're a secluded clan not part of any of the great nations. It makes sense you haven't heard of us." Asuma glanced as Rei's sword before replying. "I see that makes sense. Actually we were sent here to deal with the bandit's causing trouble in this town but when we arrived we heard they were already dealt with by a boy with dark black hair."

"So is it true you managed to defeat them without drawing your sword?" Pretty much confirming who Rei was Ino spoke up while looking at him in interest. "Yeah, it was no trouble." In response, Rei tried to act friendly while not revealing too much about himself.

"Well, we appreciate you helping out the villagers with this bandit issue. How about we treat you to lunch as a thank you." Being friendly Asuma extended an offer out to Rei. "Oh yeah, I heard this town has amazing seafood!" Soon Choji enforced it by mentioning how good the food is while drooling slightly.

"Thanks for the offer but I already ate. And besides, I plan to leave this town tomorrow so I need to find a place to stay." Turning them down Rei thought to himself. 'Though the money the old man gave me was just enough to buy clothes. I'll probably end up sleeping in a tree again tonight.' Thinking about how uncomfortable it would be Rei sighed.

"Well, how about instead we let you stay with us? Since it's already getting late it's the least we can do." Just judging from how Rei was dressed Asuma could tell he most likely didn't have much money on him. "Yeah even if you already ate it's always a good idea to eat extra!" Thinking of the food they were going to eat in the nearby inn, Choji was clearly down for the idea.

"I think you're the only one here with that sort of mindset Choji." Replying to Choji, Ino shook her head at him. 'Well if he's going to insist.' Hesitating for a moment Rei agreed. "Great, the inns around here are pretty cheap so my wallet should be safe from Choji." Thinking about how many times Choji has cleaned their Sensei's wallet the team laughed.

In the end, it left Rei with a sense of euphoria as he followed them to a nearby Inn. On the way there Rei ended up talking with Asuma and the others getting to know them a little better. "So... Rei, where are you going after leaving this place?" Asking Rei curiously Ino slowed her pace to walk beside him.

"Huh oh. I'm not really sure I'm searching for someone so I'll probably be hopping from town to town around the region of Tanzaku." Replying to Ino, Rei didn't expect Shikamaru to say anything as he spoke while looking at the clouds in the sky. "Our first mission outside the village and she's already forgotten about her precious Sasuke."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Glaring at the back of Shikamaru's head Ino's temper snapped for a moment. "Nevermind it's nothing." Feeling confused by their conversation Rei ignored the teams bickering as they finally made their way to the inn. When they arrived they had dinner slightly earlier than normal due to Choji and Asuma still had to apologize to the Inn owner since he couldn't pay the bill.

As for Rei despite saying he had already eaten he managed to eat all of the extra food he was given. They all talked and chatted with one another till nightfall and eventually, all went to the guest room Asuma bought out. With everyone sleeping in their own futon Rei was actually still awake. In the back of the Inn, the full moon shining down on the beautiful backyard garden.

Waking up from her sleep, Ino heard a strange sound coming from the garden periodically. Rubbing her eyes she looked around the guest room and saw everyone was still sleeping except for Rei who's futon was empty. 'He's still up this late?' Getting up she slowly walked down the corridor's leader to the backyard as the strange sound got louder.

Peeking from behind the shoji separating the backyard from the indoor guest rooms she spotted Rei. With Ryujin Jakka's blade shining in the moonlight, each stroke created a beautiful arc of light in the air. 'Those strikes are really fast. I can't even see when he moves his arms.' Continuing to watch Rei train it was only after another minute that Rei felt that someone was watching him.

Looking over he spotted Ino wearing purple pajamas the Inn gave out free to the guest. "Oh hey, Ino." Sheathing Ryujin Jakka, Rei made his way to the wooden deck and sat down. Following which Ino sat down next to Rei. "So you couldn't go to sleep?" Seeing Rei stare into the moonlit sky, Ino ended up speaking first.

"I guess you could say that. It's a little difficult for me to go to sleep on nights like this. For some reason no matter what, a clear night sky always reminds me of the good times I had with my parents I had at times like these." Listening to the way Rei was talking about his parents Ino felt a slight realization sweep over her. "So... Are your parents...?"

"They died not so long ago. Though I haven't really spoken to anyone about it." Saying that without blinking an eye Ino felt as though she had seen a flash of resentment in Rei's eye. "I see I'm sorry to hear that." Feeling slightly guilty for asking, Ino apologized. "It's fine. After a while, I kind of got numb when I think about it so it doesn't bother me much."

Staring at the side of Rei's face Ino thought to herself. 'At first, he reminded me of Sasuke but he's a lot more open than he is.' Being a part of the Yamanaka she had a basic understanding of how a person's mind worked. And just from a guess, she could tell the type of numbness Rei had to his own parent's death came from an immense amount of trauma.

"Well anyway sorry for keeping you up for so long. It's about time I got back to sleep." Breaking up the silence Rei took a deep breath while taking one final look at the full moon. "Oh... Right." Walking back to their guest room, Ino walked behind Rei with a more solemn look on her face than when she woke up.

After the two of them went back to sleep the morning came shortly after. Eating breakfast Asuma and his team met Rei at the entrance of the Inn. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys, and thanks for letting me stay with you."

Thanking them Rei began to walk in the opposite direction of where Asuma and the others were headed. "Sensei do you think he will be ok on his own?" Looking up at Asuma, Ino saw he had a more focused look on his face as he stared at Rei.

Eventually, he looked down at Ino and smiled while lighting a cigarette. "I'm sure he will despite how he looks he's stronger than a lot of kids his age especially for not being a ninja."