Training, Like a Ninja I {open}

[Ichiro Yoshi]

The water seemed to explode as he burst upwards, arms flailing, gasping for air. Hiro gasped several times, feeling very much like a fish. Which sent another memory blasting through his brain... something about a fish with robot legs that knew kung fu and used to be a black guy with an afro... My life was so messed up, which really didn't seem to quite cover it. It might go some way toward explaining what Hiro was doing in the middle of the lake, water dripping down his face. when he lifted an arm, the black bands upon his forearm became more evident. If you followed them down, you'd likely see weights dangling on either end. Hiro gave a few practice strokes, feeling the weights shift.

He wasn't even entirely sure why he'd decided to do that. Training just felt... right. It was something he kept doing over and over again. Considering the series of strange events that had happened recently, it seemed like the right thing to do. Something big was going to happen, and the more prepared they were, the better off everyone was. Which was strange, because just thinking about that caused more flashes to appear in Hiro's mind. Something about assaulting an alien base or fighting ninjas or dealing with giant dogs with rocky fists or something along those lines. It was fierce, and it took Hiro by surprise. So much so that he felt his arms give out for a moment.

Which resulted in his head disappearing from the water. He gurgled rather loudly, flailing and trying to work. But he'd somehow managed to get tangled in the various weights, which was making his thrashing rather pointless. He did manage to get his face to break the surface though, and he breathed several deep gulps of air before he felt the weights again dragging him down.

Well, this was training too, right?

[Hinata Hyuga]

"Why does this day just seem off? What am I supposed to be doing?" Hinata was standing on the far shore of the lake. The surface of the water seemed to calm her down. The dark haired beauty had removed her shoes to dip her feet in the water and hopefully connect with something. Every thing felt fuzzy to her. Not noticing anyone around on shore, she removed her lavender colored hoodie and sat it by the lake shore. Her beige colored top that was underneath was closer to form fitting than anything else she wore. She rolled the legs of her lavender pants up getting ready to dip her feet when she heard a loud thrashing in the water.

Halfway into the lake someone looked like he was drowning. Running towards him, she looked like she was about to run on the surface of the water but instead splashed down also. This caught her by surprise but she didn't know why. Instead of worrying, she knew someone needed help. Kicking her feet, she moved her 99 lb frame through the water and approached the boy. She looked at his form and grabbed him around the waist to get him above the water. Seeing that it was weights pulling him down, she worked the straps loose and attempted to pull them away from him. She would only give it one attempt before letting them do what they do and just concentrate on swimming him back to the lake shore, making sure that he kept his head above the water.

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Weights, Hiro had to get the weights off if he wanted to get out of here. He was really, really kicking himself for this one, trying to twist and turn and generally get out of things. Just as he started to spiral again, Hiro felt someone coming near. He twisted enough to make out the black haired girl. A black haired Asian girl, which was exactly what Hiro did not need to see. A memory plowed into the guy, stunning him completely for several seconds. Flashes of darting across rooftops chasing a petite Asian girl who kept giving him some weird grin, barely keeping up, working with her, defending her, and then the flash was over and Hiro was letting out a gasp, complete with bubbles.

There were a few moments of flailing while Hiro struggled to come to grips with the situation. However, in those seconds, he began to realize that the girl was, in fact, working the weights off him. He nodded, wiggling and nearly dislocating his shoulder to help. He felt one slide free from him, heading toward the bottom of the lake. which gave him enough room to shove his head clear of the water, gasping loudly for air. Hiro tried to move, wanting to pull the girl up with him. The last thing he needed was someone drowning during a rescue attempt. This was already humiliating enough as it was without adding that to his conscious.

[Hinata Hyuga]

feeling that he was holding his own head above the water, Hinata gave him a push forward so her head could clear the water. The little bit of push up caused her long hair to flip behind her and hitting the surface of the water. She seemed really calm at the moment. She took a small breath in as she looked at the current situation. One of the weights were worked off, giving him a free hand to manipulate the other weight should he be calm enough to do so. He was currently taking in gulps of air but he was on the surface. As she treded the water in place, she took a deep breath. Her small voice was coming up a little. "Are you able to swim back to the shore now?"

[Ichiro Yoshi]

The girl was up; they were both breathing. In fact, she seemed to be talking to him. Hiro tried to process that knowledge, to tell himself that. He should be calming down, should be relax--water is a turtle's natural element. We can totally handle this swim no prob--ing, should be-- okay, that was slightly different. Hiro had to blink. He felt the memory more clearly, heard himself, or his brothers, talking about it. But what was that about being a turtle? And why did he remember swimming? And... and he had an arm free. Hiro twisted, using the arm to slide another weight off. With both removed, he could definitely handle things.

Hiro twisted to look at Hinata, studying her seriously for several seconds. He still puffed for air, but he was obviously keeping himself above the surface now. His legs were both weighed down, sure, but they were strong. Plus, that one little flash had done wonders to calm him. Suddenly Hiro just felt... confident in the water. Like he should be used to moving about in it. the confidence showed in his face, in the complete lack of panic, and in the calm, almost serene nod he managed to give the girl now.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, we'd better swim to shore," he said. He jerked his head, motioning. With another deep breath, he began swimming. He'd even gone a few yards when he realized that he technically still had the weights. Hiro just kicked a little hard, feeling them bounce off. He wasn't sure what, if anything, he should be saying though. Shouldn't he just wait? Breathing was still proving slightly difficult, after all...

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata nodded as they started to swim back to the shore. She was calmly climbing out and twisting her body to just sit on the shore. She looked to him, though two things seemed off. First, she couldn't focus on him. Her glasses were at the bottom of the lake now. Second her eyes were drifting down her face. Well not really. The costume contact lens were washed forward from the draining water and sat on her cheeks. It showed her lavender tinge eyes with no other coloration. Right now, she was more looking towards him than at him. She was effectively blind right now, though it didn't completely register with her right now.

As she pushed excess water off of her with the edge of her hand, she figured she would have to break the silence. She couldn't see if he caught his breath yet, but she figured she could tell once he started talking. "Why were you wearing weights and swimming?

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Swimming to shore was taking a fair amount of effort for Hiro. It wasn't particularly hard, not in and of itself, but the ninja had exhausted himself with the near drowning, and he could still feel his body burning with every motion. Worse, in this state, he kept getting flashes, something about propelling himself through the body with his brothers close behind. And if those flashes were even the slightest bit accurate, then Hiro had definitely been a turtle of some kind, and that fact alone was enough to unsettle.

"What?" he managed at the question, blinking and turning to look to the girl. Again, he saw the young, willowy Asian girl, and again, that image struck a few chords in his memory, knocking around a few more images in his already rapidly firing brain. It was making focusing in the present hard, but he thought he could remember her question. Something about why he'd been doing this to begin with.

"Training," he answered, trying to keep the word short, what with the swimming, "I, uh, like to train," he paused. That was a horrible excuse, and he knew it. Might as well admit the full truth. She had just pulled him from the lake, after all. "I'm pretty sure I used to be a ninja or something. Those are my swords, there, on the shore," he jerked his chin toward them, before lapsing back into silence. At least he was getting closer to the shore; that had to count for something.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Ninja. The word entered her ear and echo'd through her seemingly hollowed memories. bouncing around, her empty eyes showing a breif flicker of knowing. As She tried to move ehr head to the sound, she just realized she couldn't see anything. The feeling of somethign solid on ehr cheek must have been her contact lens. Giving her eyes a couple blinks, she had a little sight returned to one eye. Her fingers plucked the color from her face and gently placed it back on her orb. After a couple good blinks she was able to see his head motion towards the blades, Her fingers grab the glasses so she could see.

Sliding along the shore closer to the katanas, she lifted one up and looked along the adges and sides. The double hamon, a shorter sori, a seam along the bo-hi, and hte distinctive coloring of the sinogi, the katana had to be made using a seven fold lamenating techninque. "Soshu Kitae Katanas?" She didn't know how she knew it. Something was rocking in her. Thus far all she had been doing was walking in a daze, but this sword and hearing the word ninja. It somehow made her a little more spociable. "I....I think I am one too."

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Perhaps if Hiro had not been struggling for his life and working desperately through near exhaustion and a close drowning experience, he might have noticed the difference in Hinata's eye coloration. He was trained to notice details like that, though his training was mostly suppressed thanks to the whole memory loss thing. As it was, he was far more focused on getting forward, on driving toward that shore and reaching land. Unfortunately, they'd pretty well need to be right up on the bank before they could climb out; the lake got deep fast, especially where Hiro had left things. Soon enough though, the exhausted teenager was sprawled on the lake, panting and staring at the sky, more than a little thankful that someone had been able to help him out.

Hiro closed his eyes, listening as the girl worked over his weapon. Somewhere, a memory kicked in, giving him a flash, something that told him that he normally wouldn't want someone to handle his weapon; that definitely wasn't something his old self would do. However, Hiro could only remember so much, and to be honest, that exhaustion thing was still settling in. Plus, she'd pulled him from the lake; if she wanted to run her hands over his swords, who was he to stop her?

"Your guess is as good as mine," he offered, his voice tired. Hiro didn't bother to open his eyes, instead working on slowing his breath. "My memory's been messed with because of the whole Shifting thing. It comes in goes in flashes," though it did occur to Hiro that maybe he should stop telling people that. Not like they wouldn't find out soon enough; he had a tendency to flash on just about everybody. He took another deep breath, forcing open his eyes and trying to get a look at the girl. "You do swim pretty well, but I'm pretty sure that's more a qualification for a fish than a ninja," or a turtle. Turtles could swim. Why the heck did Hiro keep thinking about turtles...

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata closed the blade back into the scabbard without the clink usually associated with the shutting. She set it back down lightly, something telling her she should have asked first. But why? As he sprawled on the ground, Hinata just sat there. After helping make sure he survived his ordeal, she wasn't exactly much help. When he mentioned that his memory was messed up she nodded. "The same. I don't remember anything before I came here. Everything is just shadows when I think." Her feet swayed forward and back in the water, enjoying the cool feel of it.

Then scame the compliment about her swimming. This caused her to turn her head slowly. Eyes closing as she remembered something, but it really wasn't about her past. It was what she was doing when she saw him struggling. Her foot went flat on the water, as if she thought it was concrete or asphault. "I...this might sound weird...but I think I was once able to walk on water. When i saw you sinking I just suddenly tried running to you, thought it might be the fastest way. " Even to her it sounded weird, but at the same time, it felt natural.

[Ichiro Yoshi]

"Yeah, that sucks," agreed Hiro. He nodded his head slightly, though the gesture was subtle and not exactly that noticeable, what with Hiro refusing to move from his position on the ground. "Apparently that happens with some Shifted. No reason or pattern to it either; just seems that some of us win the mind lottery or something. Seriously, all I remember is that I used swords, that my dad's name was Hamato Yoshi, and that I really like Space Heroes."

This last made Hiro chuckle. He'd seen a few episodes since coming here and he couldn't help but think it was, well, completely awesome. However, it seemed like such a pathetic thing to have clung to, what with losing pretty well everything else. He figured he probably could have mentioned the brothers, or the flashes of monsters and aliens and robots and stuff, but he figured it was probably best to hold back some of the crazy for later. He took another deep breath, opening an eye as Hinata explained about running on water. He fell silent for a few moments, letting the info sink in, before opening his eyes and looking heavenward again.

"Maybe you could," he offered. He shrugged, which was at least more noticeable than his nod, "I hear some people had all kinds of abilities. There's apparently a girl here who can do magic, and a couple of mad scientists or what not. Heck, we're ninjas. Who knows what kind of cool ninja stuff we could do." Another pause, and then Hiro added: "I'm Ichiro Yoshi, by the way, but everyone calls me Hiro." He wanted to add a "because it sounded awesome," but figured he could hold back at least some stuff. You know, for now.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hinata just sat an listened. As it came to the mind lottery, she seemed to have gotten zero for six numbers. She only remembered a little about herself. Her name, how old she was, and her shoe size. That was about it. Hearing the boy talk about a TV show, mad her feel like she needed to find something in this world to anchor to. Maybe the reason she couldn't remember anything was because she didn't have an anchor in her previous world? Perhaps television would help her. It seemed to be helping him.

As he introduced himself as Ichiro or Hiro, an small giggle came from her. "A little unconventional abbreviation of the name. But it does sound a little more awesome than Ichi. I am Hinata Hyuga." She just sat there for a moment before Looking back to the lake. "Perhaps sometime you can show me a few television shows I could watch? I don't remember anything I used to watch nor do I know whats on in this world. I think there is a television in my dormatory."

[Ichiro Yoshi]

Hiro winced as Hinata pointed out exactly how his name should have been shortened. The boy was perfectly aware that he should have opted for Ichi, but it's English counterpart was just so unappealing given the alternative that he really couldn't not opt for it. It sounded as though she understood though, so Hiro found himself nodding along easily enough. They both kept looking at the lake for a few moments while Hiro pondered Hinata's question, well, that and her name.

"Hinata Hyuga," he muttered. It felt familiar, but not intimately so. Maybe he'd known someone named Hinata but not a Hyuga? No, that didn't feel right. "Maybe we came from the same world or something. Our names are pretty close, and I hear that's part of it," Hiro shrugged. He'd never exactly done a lot of searching around for stuff like that. in point of fact, Hiro pretty well kept to his personal routine and barely stepped out of it. Which is what made him hesitate with Hinata's second question.

"Well, there's Space Heroes, which is kind of awesome," which was putting it mildly. Hiro found himself pulled toward the show each and every time he thought about it, the desire to watch it nearly overwhelming his good sense. Plus, he kept quoting it. He rubbed at the back of his head as he even considered it, not really sure he wanted Hinata to see him acting like that. "I, uh, don't exactly what a whole lot else besides that. I think there's some stuff on ninjas, but, uh, I don't know. The TV here is kinda... bad," Hiro admitted this last with a slight laugh. As if he could really remember much of TV back home, besides, well, the obvious.

[Hinata Hyuga]

Hiro's slight laugh made her giggle a little bit. The first time since she shifted here. For all she knew, it was the first time she ever giggled. Pulling her feet from the water she turned to sit fully on the shore and face him. "Perhaps one night you can come over and watch some with me? That way any questions I have could be answered." She trailed off there as if she was waiting for his answer. In her head it started to sound like she was asking him for everything and giving him nothing in return, Her hand came up to her chin as she thought and also trying to stop kicking herself for sounding selfish.

She had to think of something she could do to compensate him for his time and most likely troubles. Thinking back on her way to the forest she saw two people eating what looked like a pie. It was sliced like one but had cheese and meats on top. Plus they ate it with their hands. She closed her eyes trying to remember anything else. The name over the building said Pizza. "Pizza? I-I could buy from Pizza if you like?"

[Ichiro Yoshi]

"Sure, that sounds like fun," agreed Hiro, nodding slightly. Something told him that it also sounded vaguely date-ish. But then again, friends hung out and watched television together. Hiro seemed to recall mostly watching Television with his brothers, and he certainly wasn't dating any of them. So maybe he was just overreacting and overthinking. It wasn't like there was any food involved in any---

"Pizza?" repeated Hiro. And a train of memories slammed into the poor guy. His brothers, three turtles that looked just like him, all dressed in matching garb with different covered bandanas, all sitting around a table and arguing about pizza. One brother using pizza as ammunition. One insisting that pizza was only good with marshmallows. And a girl, a friend but not a "girl"friend, sitting with them. "Pizza's awesome! I mean, totally and amazingly---" Hiro was standing, standing and grinning and suddenly aware of his standing and grinning. He looked down, then up, then at Hinata. Coughing into a fist, he relaxed his posture, adding a nonchalant hand wave. "I mean pizza's cool. We can totally have some pizza."

Yeah, smooth operator Hiro.