Part I: The Walk [Solo]

Respect. Respect is something Kou has always felt towards old people.  Ever since he was little, his grandpa would tell him stories of his past, and Kou would sit, awestruck by them.  Not by the stories themselves, (they weren’t bad, but nothing you couldn’t read out of a book) but by the seer amount of them. For every situation, gramps seemed to have a story. You mention toilets, “That reminds me of that…” Mention grapes, “one time in the Land of Rice Fields…” It was annoying to hear the same stories over and over, but the fact that he had those stories, even if exaggerated a bit, were inspiring. Kou wants to be able to save a group of baby lions and bring them back to their mother, he wants to evacuate a burning village and have they whole town revere him, he wants to find someone across the room and instantly fall in love with them. He is only seventeen though, and like people have told him time and time again, "when you're older." These stories give him hope in an otherwise blind dream. Anyways, when Kou received new that his mission today was to take an old person out on a walk, he couldn’t be more delighted. New stories!

When he arrived at doors of the retirement home, a young kunoichi with long brown hair and overly optimistic eyes greeted him. “Hello, what may I do for you today?” Her optimism was apparent to anyone that would meet her. Her self glowed.

The sun felt stronger all of a sudden. “I’m here to take one of these geezers out for a walk. Heh.” Kou said with a smile, but the second he said geezers he knew that it wasn’t the right word to use and struggled to maintain the smile.

The woman’s eyes shifted moods and she proceeded to shuffle the papers in her hand, appearing to look for something. “Ah, you’re Rozu.” Stepping inside and out again, like a day, she guided an elderly man outside the sandy retirement home. "Be back by 6, please."

Black and navy blue robes draped his fragile frame. He carried a cane to guide his feet and slowly shuffled closer to Kou. The man was significantly shorter than Kou, and Kou isn’t that tall. Looking down, all he could see was the old man’s beige takuhatsugasa. There was an awkward pause for a moment between them until the old man said “I’m going for a walk, not a stand. Haha.” His body bounced in laughter, but with a sternness that intimidated.

“Haha, you’re right. I’ll let you lead the way.” Kou didn't want to upset this man, but it was clear that he would like him, something about him seemed right. As they began their walk down the dusty Sunagakure roads, Kou was eager to hear the stories this man had to tell, they had to be great. "I never caught you're name, sir."

"Yamato." His voice, strong and proud.

Normally this is where is gramps would go on about how the name Kin was given to him when his parents found a gold nugget in his diaper. 'He looks like a monk.' Kou thought. 'There has to be a story to go with that.' "Kou."

"Nice to meet you Kou."

"Likewise. May I ask. Your outfit, are you a monk?"

"No?" He seemed surprised at the question.

"Mmm, could've fooled me." Kou could feel the conversion slipping. He tried to think.

"..."

"Uhm... Okay!" Kou's face lit up. "Since you're finally outside, I bet there's somewhere you want to go. Where should we go?""

Like a match, the words also lit up the old man. "The gardens, all I ever see is desert."