Acadamy Daze, Take Two [Solo]

Thing were always awkward in the acadamy, children half his age wandering around at his ankles, worse in the classrooms that Hirui sat in the upper corners of, twiddling his thumbs and inking out recipes, crude drawings, whatever else was on his mind while the sensei spoke in the center. Remedial classes were boring, and there were always things to do at the house. Cleaning, preparing food, not sitting around going over things he'd already remembered. Definitely not hearing the snickers every time he entered class. In fact, he'd even landed with his old teacher from years ago, Koutetsu Iname. She understood what happened with his mother, didn't call on him much. Even insisted that Hirui come back instead of wasting his potential at home being some 'houseband' ...that word sucked. Especially because he didn't even have a wife yet. Drumming his fingers along his cheek, Hirui watched his pen loop along the outskirts of his paper, sighing and letting his mind wander.

I wonder if Mokuhi's doing okay... I hope she hasn't run into any troubles... not to mention the leftover fisheye soup, the remains of the fish tower... though Eikichi really bit into that after stumbling home. Tsch... honestly, if we had some money, we could reopen the old dojo so he had something to do rather than Pachinko and whatever else he gets his nose into...

...Maybe if he went off to Kirigakure to go on some expedition with the Hoshigake and got just a few things to keep them afloat, that'd solve things. Hopefully before the dojo gets sold to someone else, not that it was in a prime place to begin with; it was more of a family relic anyways. They had to rent it out at first for money, but even then, selling off the land was harsh when-- ah.. bad times, worse memories. It never helps to be stuck in the past when there's potential for the future! Maybe buy up the land again, get a proper home that's not half-wrecked, maybe a storage area for food, herbs, a fish-pond....

Something light cracked against his head, causing Hirui to grunt softly and shake himself back into reality, glancing around to the stifled snickers of those others in the back rows. His eyes lowered down to the piece of chalk, before another came flying at him, smacking his nose with a sharp grunt

"Hirui! Which sign is it? How many times do I STILL have to get your attention in class?"

Dammit... time to take a shot in the dark... it was almost time for graduation... there's -really- only one ninjutsu she could be talking about, hopefully...

"Ehhhh...  Inu-I-Hitsuji-?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?"

"Inu-I-Hitsuji, Koutetsu-sensei!"

Her eyes narrowed in a long dangerous few seconds, leaving his success hanging on a thread. The seconds dragged on until Iname turned back around, and Hirui sighed in relief, shifting the chalk pieces aside, brushing a bit of dust out of his hair. I can't wait to get out of this place and back to cleaning up the house.