A Typical Afternoon {Zetsu/ Open}

[Shino]

Breeze. Weaving through the trees with her chilling thread, mother nature weaved a cool wind current through the woods that day. The sweet perfume of the Autumnal flowers was scattered through the wind as well. His glasses fogged up as a result of the vapor-filled air touching their cold surface.Never. That's when he'd take off his glasses to clear them. Never. They would give away too much of his emotions. The boy had always enjoyed his secrecy. He pushed the dark shades up the bridge of his nose, wiping the lenses carefully with the edge of his sleeve.

Mysterious. That's what people had always considered him. A loner, maybe, but mysterious definitely. He always wore some kind of a scarf or high collar to cover his mouth. He had never liked people to see what his face really was. That was just him. Just the way he was. Just the way he always would be.

Shino. Aburame Shino. That it was all he was.

The Forest. The perfect place to find them. The perfect place for them to be hiding. Who? The bugs! This was a bug palace. A haven for them. For generations, his family had been going out there, studying them. Studying the bugs. The Aburame were quite well-known for their bug research as well. Respectable. That's what his clan was.

The research. As generations and generations of Aburame had done, Shino enjoyed researching bugs by observing them out in the forest. Refreshing. Relaxing. Interesting. Perfect. That's how he felt it all was.

The outdoors. The sun pressed down on his head as he searched for insects. This was a typical afternoon for him, after all. Just a day outside, no distractions, searching for as much information as he could collect. He carried three notebooks in a bag on his back. All of them contained information on the insects he had observed in this particular area of the forest. Today, he planned to correct any mistakes he had made and find out some new information. Taking in a breath of the crisp autumnal air, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose once more, kneeling down, beginning the day ahead of him.

[Zetsu]

In all honesty, it was a beautiful day. Perfect even, clear skies, cool breeze. And no people; that was a plus for him. No people for miles around. The forest was larger then most he had seen; most had been cut away to make room for more office buildings, or a mall or something of that sort. A place where people would come together in large numbers. That was not the place for him, it never had been.

Out here, he was all by himself, though if you wanted to get technical, he was never really alone. But having two personalities gave him a sort of comfort. No matter how many times people pushed him away, he could always relay upon himself. The way he perferred it actually. With his second personality, it felt as if their was another person in the world whom understood exactly what he was going though.

Which was exactly why he had had the label 'disorder' stamped onto him by that god awful psychologist that had alerted his parents to this 'problem.' He simply saw it as another way of viewing things. So what if he thought himself as two different people? It helped him cope with society; wasn't that all that mattered?

Frown crossed his face as he padded silently along, save for the slight crunch of early autumn leaves beneath his feet. He knew this area of the forest well, he came here often, just never this day. But he found himself moving quietly down what would have looked like a plain autumn forest floor. Zetsu however saw a familer path that would take him away from people, from the odd states, the whispers.

He paused besides a tree, leaning against the trunk of it. Thank god for this place. He would most likely lose his mind without some place to just get away.

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[Kakashi]

[[Mind if I join? My post is shrappy though, I really distracted when I typed it....]]

It was a beautiful day, as one might say. Clear skies, warm but, with a light breeze. But Sai, it wasn't the weather that interested him; nor did the chatter of one squirrel to the next, the tune of birds shouting for their territory over the light rustle of leaves, the young fawn starring at him in an almost terrified wonder before bounding off. None of it interested him, because he wasn't really watching. He was looking past it all, his eyes focused on one thing; the path of crunched leaves beneath his feet.

One who knew him might wonder why Sai wasn't in the city, holed up in his dorm room studying or painting as he usually was, or at least why he hadn't brought a friend with him. Sai didn't want anyone around, no distractions on this day. He could feel something, something that he had to do. He wasn't sure what, but he had gathered up his oils and sketchbook and set out into the town. He followed wherever his feet took him, and he wasn't too surprised to find that he had ended up in the forest. A thought crossed his mind; the shades of the forest really were difficult to put to paper. He hoped he had brought enough colors to mix for....well, whatever he was supposed to draw.

Stop.

Sai halted mid step. The command was clear in his mind, but he wasn't sure what had made him stop. Perhaps he was as crazy as people thought him to be.

Look. Over there. Sit.

Well, if he was going to hear voices in his head he might as well listen to them; they were probably the smartest people he'll ever meet. He couldn't help but smile; he had actually made a joke. Sai glanced over to where the voice had indicated.

I don't see anything,[/i] he thought as he leaned against the slender form of a young oak tree, sliding down the trunk until he was seated on the ground with a crunch of dead leaves. His eye was caught by what appeared to be a long line of spikes crawling up the tree in front of him. Then he saw the fractured eyes near the front. It was a bug. An ugly one, too. Or at least Sai thought so; he didn't care for creepy-crawlies, especially spiders. He hated spiders with a passion. Sai looked past the bug and received another surprise.

There was someone ahead; Sai leaned over to get a better view through the thick trees, but he couldn't see much more of the person than the outline of their body. Was he supposed to draw them? He didn't like drawing people.

[Shino]

^{[[Sorry this took so damn long. -.- I just never felt like typing it up. XD]]}

<sub>Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a small container of vanilla extract. Unscrewing the tiny white cap, his nose began to fill with the strong aroma of the extract. He held his finger over the opening of the bottle where the lid had just been. He quickly turned the bottle upside down, allowing the sticky nectar-like liquid to fall upon his finger, then turned it upright. Placing the "potion" on the ground, he rubbed the strongly scented liquid into his hands. He then quickly wound the cap back onto the bottle and placed it back into his jacket.

Holding his right hand still, he used his free left hand to pick up an empty jar with the lid taken off and put a few leaves inside. HE noticed an insect of some sort--it's motion rustling the leaves around it. He held his hand out in front of it and the bug crawled on, attracted to him by the extract he had put on his hands.

Behind his shaded glasses, Shino's eyes scanned over the bug. It was just a common Japanese beetle. He decided to put it in the jar anyway. Even though he was decently informed on the species, he would examine it.

He carefully tapped it's shell. Strong and Healthy. He counted all it's legs. All appendages in tact. This was one of the best-off creatures he had seen in a long time. Although he was very tempted to show his family, he couldn't. He wasn't home. Actually, he was decently far away from home.He would have to be teh one to keep it healthy. He would give it a safe home. Yes! Aburame Shino would do this all on his own.

Tightening the lid that fit the gar back to the top of the glass container, he checked over it. The holes were just the right size. He sat for a while, placing his new specimen on the ground to the right of him. He was very interested in following the bug through it's life cycle. He sighed. He had a lot of work coming up now.

Judging by the beetle's appearance, Shino could tell it was a male. Now, he'd have to find an equally healthy female, proper food, and other things to make the two insects comfortable.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. *This is going to be a long day...* he commented inwardly. Still, he just closed his eyes, resting his arms on his knees. Upon re-opening his eyes, he looked around. The forest was the equivalent to a department store right now. There were leaves and plants of every shape and color. Under each piece of wood and brush, there was an insect or something of the sort.

He stood now, walking past a few large trees. There was a lot to be done in preparation. He knelt down by another large stone. He paged through his first notebook. Not too long after, he found the page with gathered information about the bug.

Beginning to page through the semi-large section that teh bug's information was contained. Pages upon pages of information, he read through it, absorbed in the black print on the white page. This was going to look like a good idea to his parents, most likely. And who knows? Maybe he'd show his biology professor. Maybe. Just maybe.</sub>