Description: A 'ninja' shows up as a transfer student to Taiyo and in spite of the fact that she reminds him of girl that he once knew, he manages to give her a warm welcome and she somehow ends up becoming his bodyguard.
Sarah had been giving herself a 'tour' of the Taiyo campus, figuring that a weekend, during the later part of the afternoon hours, would leave the place empty. But with people occasionally going in and out of the Dome, she had to wonder what was up. The retractable ceiling makes a great way to do this, and she's worked her way through it thanks to some climbing gear.
This will lead to the unusual, and potentially unstealthy, sight of someone scaling down the ceiling interior, going toward the rows of seats. It gives her a nice birds-eye view of whatever may be happening below...
Roberto is kneeling by one of the soccer balls and his duffle bag as he packs his towel and water bottle as he glances back at the rest of the soccer team joking and teasing.
Roberto has a pretty much guaranteed spot on the team as a goalie. The striker position that he might actually have to work for. Then he looks up and sees Sarah up high and then he mutters, "Aww hell... Not again." It looks like Roberto has mistaken Sarah for Gabriel at first glance. And who can blame him... It's quite a distance, she has blonde hair. It's when Roberto squints a bit that he notices that it isn't Gabriel. He picks up his duffle bag and soccer ball then makes his way up to get closer. "Hey! What are you doing up there!!!"
Sarah freezes in mid-climb, gazing down at Roberto...she's been spotted, though that shouldn't be surprising. And his yelling ought to draw plenty of attention, so she removes one hand from a climbing 'claw' she was using, waving down at everyone before continuing to descend. Once close enough to the seats to safely fall, she drops and faces Roberto, smiling. "I was just showing myself around the school a little. Um..." She nods at the field and its players, "Sorry if I interrupted...practice, it looks like?"
"Taiyo's Spring Team Tryouts. And actually we just finished up." He raises an eyebrow at the blonde haired 'ninja' and her climbing equipment and then his mind rewinds with an incredulous look on his face. "Showing yourself around... A new student?" Roberto glances around for a moment as if looking around for someone failing to be stealthy. After he feels 'safe' he holds out a hand to offer a shake. "Roberto Miura, Goalie," he pauses to look at the remaining team members who are walking out of the dome before continuing, "and possibly Striker for Taiyo's soccer squad."
Sarah acts as if she's done nothing odd, though she is working on securing her gear to the back of her sash. "I just got here yesterday. A little too late for classes, so I'll have to take care of that in a few days." She then starts to reach for the hand, abruptly stops, and offers a hasty bow. "Sarah Holland, ninja, and..." She also checks out the departing players, "...I'll find a second little title to add soon. Striker, you said?"
She begins pacing toward the edge of the seating area, pointing at mid-field... "The main scoring players, right? Defense gets you the ball, then you move up for a goal?" Her point moves toward one of the nets.
He laughs at the hasty bow for a moment before responding, "Oh really? A Ninja? Not often you meet people who are so open with that outside of fighting world." The smile is still there and the tone of his voice seeming to give a sense of disbelief but with an undertone of willingness to humor her.
He moves towards the seating area slightly behind her and then speaks again, "Yeah... That would be an accurate description of the Striker position. Though Mid-Fielders have been known to score as well."
It takes a few seconds for Sarah to realize why Roberto would laugh at the bow, marked by a sudden "...Oh! Right," and a laugh of her own. "That was silly of me just now, wasn't it?" She takes the gaffe in good humor, at least. "I'm still learning, but yes. Ninja...and I'll be making my fighting debut soon, just need a little more experience first."
After his explanation, Sarah then points at the opposite net. "Haven't /goalies/ been known to score too? Clear across field? Not often, kind of like stealing home base, but it does happen?"
"Fighting Debut?"Roberto rubs his chin a bit as he sort of sizes up Sarah a bit. "Is it going to be in Saturday Night Fights, Wednesday Night Breakdown? Neo League? I've done Neo League and Saturday Night Fights myself."
"It's true. Goalies have been known to do so. And yes it's rare. But I tend to play conservatively when I play back there. So it probably won't happen when I'm back there. Though, I probably could get away with the attempt if we're winning by a lot."
Sarah continues to look the field over. "Not sure yet...I'll pick one as soon as I've got a bit more experience. But...now I get it. You don't play like that from backfield...I see." A sudden twirl has her facing Roberto. "You're one of /them/, huh? One of those..." She has a very conspiratorial look, with a similar edge to her voice. ".../Team players./" The warm attitude taking hold after that may suggest it was something of a playful joke, rather than a scathing criticism of teamwork.
Roberto holds back a snicker for a moment as he tries to think of how he's going to responde eventually deciding to go a long with it. "Well... I guess I must be. I seem to do fairly well in team fights on SNF." No need in mentioning that he's undefeated in team fights... It might be looked at as being a conceited braggart. Roberto smiles and decides to turn it around with some playful teasing, "Could you be one of those 'lone wolf' types? Did you get one of those 'Does not play well with others' comments in your report card?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Sarah waves an arm out to the side, almost as if knocking the question aside. "I was undetected in my efforts to play with others. Spreading joy from the shadows, and sharing toys under the cover of darkness. The teachers knew nothing." This took is taken in humor, she's fine with it. "Sometime, I'll show you."
"Looks like we have our 'Most likely to Vanish Without a Trace'." The tone is still kept playful however he is looking a bit uncomfortable with idea of someone hanging around him from the shadows. Having a stalker who's convinced that you're her fiance will kinda do that to you. He begins to look around again and now he's alone with her and waiting for someone else to hop out of the shadows.
Sarah reaches behind her back, pulling out a few purple spheres spread between her fingers...they look plastic or paper-wrapped. "That part of it, I do have down pretty well. Though my disappearances are temporary...wouldn't be fun to just vanish for good. And..." She notices the glancing around, becoming concerned. "Say, is something wrong?"
"Relationship problem... I think it'll be best to leave it at that," Roberto says as he continues to look around. Sarah has not been cleared for access to that information. Roberto has a bit of an awkward look on his face. "Hmmm I better head home. I told my mom that I'd watch my brothers after practice."
Roberto performs a relaxed bow towards Sarah before smiling. "Maybe I'll see you in the hallways. Take care." Roberto glances towards the exit and begins to walk. He glances back over his shoulder and then continues to walk away.
A few days later at the Pao Pao Cafe.
Roberto sits alone in the Pao Pao sipping a soda while he has a plate of half-eaten pizza in front of him. For those familiar with Roberto would notice that it's odd thathe's still wearing his Taiyo boys uniform as opposed to the soccer uniform and/or goalie shirts. Another thing of note is the fact he's not carrying a duffle bag. But the most telling thing indicating that something isn't quite right is the fact that he's not at the field practicing with the squad.
As he slurps away at his soda he seems to absorbed in his own worries and issues so if someone were to sneak up on him, it probably wouldn't take much effort.
Sarah was thrown off by the change in uniform. It had taken some asking around, but she eventually tracked Roberto to the Pao Pao...and goes right up to his table. "Good evening!" She gives him a quick bow, then rises...standing next to the chair opposite his own. "I heard the tryouts went well for you?"
Roberto looks up from the soda. "Oh. Hey Sarah. Thanks for the warning." His eyes dropped down to his half-eaten and probably cold pizza. He gestures for Sarah to sit down and then he looks at her, "It did...The day I found out I had the striker position. I had to meet up with Gabriel. Unfortunately she had some assistance from who figured ambushing me would allow him to have a little chat with her."
He points down to his leg growls angrily, "He got my leg forcing me to sit out the practices, to pull out of this week's SNF, and I'm also riding the pine pony because of his intereference and I don't even know what I did to piss Gabriel off." Roberto sighs as he looks at Blonde ninja his voice becoming gloomy again, "She went from stalking me and calling me her fiance, which I never agreed to, to starting a fight and trying to jeopardize my soccer career."
Sarah blinks a few times, defending her 'involvement' in the middle of Roberto's talking. "Warning? ...I sent nothing like that." She might have continued this further, but the mention of an ambush drops that line of discussion immediately. "Attacked...Gabriel, and who else? Your leg...are you okay?" She asks that even though Roberto is...right here. His anger is enough to wipe the smile off her face, making her rather worried instead.
"Well I didn't know anyone else who could qualify as a 'friend in the Shadows' so I assumed... Quite wrongly possibly based on the fact that the only other ninja I know of, well I don't think I made that good an impression on... Forgive me for my mistake." He takes a bite of cold pizza the act of chewing the food calming him down. When he puts the pizza back on the plate, he speaks again, "I believe his name is Nassir. She didn't seem like she was expecting him either however emotion rarely registers on her face."
Sarah doesn't really think of the 'mistake' as a problem. "It's fine. But...Nassir? Never even heard of that. So it was an ambush...that /neither/ of you expected?" This puzzles her. "But they teamed up on you anyway and hurt your leg?"
"When he came out of hiding, he went right for my leg with a well placed dagger. She did stop when he showed up and I decided that since he wanted to speak with her, I decided I wasn't going stick around and risk further injury when it was unnecessary." He sips his soda again then when he moves it away, his lips curl into a slight frown, "Most disturbing and puzzling part of it was as I was walking away she called me 'Roberto-kun." A visible shudder and then he stares at his soda again.
"You made the right choice," Sarah tries to lean around the table a little and look at his legs. "No point sticking around in an ambush if /you're/ the target. Good thing they didn't think that one through. But the attacks started with Gabriel, is that right?"
Roberto lowers his head into a slight nod to the affirmative, "Correct. I don't think Nassir was too concerned about me though. He regarded me as 'inconsequential.' My leg just seemed to be an unfortunate casualty of him wanting to talk with her."
Sarah repeats "'Inconsequential'" with some irritation. "Acting like he's on some high and mighty quest, just like her, if he goes talking about people like they're 'inconsequential'...but...do you think this will happen again? Any of this?"
"Gabriel, it's a guarantee. She said she'd find me again although I find it strange that in the same breath she also told me the name of someone I should go see to check out my leg so I could play soccer again." Roberto shakes his head as he looks down at the table. "Nassir on the other hand... I'm not so sure about. I know next to nothing about him." He swallows for a moment and strokes his chin as he attempts to figure out what to say next and settling on something, "I just don't get that girl."
Sarah's head tilts down in thought. "I'll keep an eye out for both of them. But if she's definitely going to attack you again, then..." Suddenly, she's staring Roberto right in the eyes. "I'm willing to offer my services. If you'd like, I could be your bodyguard."
Roberto can't help but raise an eyebrow at the proposal, not because he views women as weaker. Hell no. He's seen Natsu prove that wrong way too many times to think that it's that. It's the suddeness of the proposal that gets to him. "I appreciate the offer but..." He pauses as the wheels turn in his head. "I've gotten so used to fighting my own battles. Hell it usually was me making that type of offer for my friends. I just don't know how to react to it."
"And they've gotten in the habit of fighting wars against you, haven't they?" Sarah circles the table to stand beside Roberto. "Honor, pride, and being able to stand up for yourself are all good things. I'm not trying to look down on you at all by making this offer. But you shouldn't be expected to fend off multiple people alone...who's to say Gabriel won't have some other help, unexpected or not, next time?"
"Hmmm... You make a valid point." He has a bit of disbelief on his face but then it gives way to a smile. "I'm extremely grateful for this. I just wish I knew exactly what I supposedly did to cause her to want to Purify me." He laughs slightly as the words come out, "On the other hand, her wanting to kill me is a little more comforting than the thought of me being her fiance."
Sarah crouches down a little to have her head beside Roberto's, much more optimistic now. "I mean it, too. I'm willing to stick with you until this gets taken care of. We'll scare her off and get her to leave you alone. And if she has any backup...I'll take care of them. You're going to remain single and impure, and alive. All you have to do is say 'yes.'"
"Hey now! I don't mind the not being single part. I'm just not sure if I want a religious zealot who seems to think that stalking is foreplay as the one who changes my status." He shakes his head for a moment as if chiding himself for going off topic. "But anyway... Yes, I'll accept your assistance. Especially since it's good to have a friend in the shadows looking out for me."
Sarah reaches into a pouch, putting a few dollars on the table. "This is just so I've paid my share for being in their establishment. But you're right...the only place zealotry has is on specially marked TV stations, where it's funny because it's contained. And..." She gives a nod, "I'll do my best to help you. A true ninja is the unseen servant, assisting without intruding. I'll be around." And then...
..Then, Sarah is probably going to startle a few customers, as she flings a smokebomb at the ground and darts out the door. Ninja vanish.
Log created by Roberto, and last modified on 19:58:11 04/28/2007.