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Akio had been stumbling through the streets for quite some time now. It was dark and he was just a little bit drunk so he had fallen already more then just the once. But the thing that worked most in his favor was the fact that he had built up a sort of tolerance to the poison and his natural "grace" and by grace when it came to Akio it meant being able fall over and break doors down without actually coming to any real harm himself. But such was the charm of the dark haired man. He had been away for quite some time on missions and training, and there was only one thing that he wanted to do when he had been away for that long...And that thing was drinking. And also of course maybe picking up a few new female companions along the way. The twenty something dark haired young man was beginning to gain quite the reputation around these parts as a womanizer, which was part of the reason that he enjoyed going away on missions because no one was aware of his reputation and it made his many frivolous flings that always inevitably ended up flung so much simpler. There was only one person who he could ever actually see himself possibly having a relationship with and the both of them were simply far too bull headed to ever work in such a way, in his opinion anyway. So for now he kept himself happy and busy with drinking, even though he had the sneaking suspicion that he was forgetting something and he would pay dearly for it in the not to distant future, his most pressing issue right now was the fact that his bottle was now empty and he needed to refill it.

The mans deep blue eyes scanned the different stalls, buildings and shops. His vision was admittedly a tad blurry but he found it a simple enough task to force his legs to move in the right direction, walking over to the local bar and entering, he was a familiar face here so as soon as he made his entrance and the barman caught sight of him he had smiled and already begun pouring Akio a glass. This was something that he could very much appreciate as it made things just that little bit easier on him and he liked to think that even despite his reputation that people around here still respected him for his decent level of skill and generally kind heart. He may have had many flings, but if he could still remember them after the drunken stupor was over he tended to at the very least remain on good terms with them afterwards. He was after all a man with a heart of gold and he never simply used people just for the sake of it even though he probably could do if it so pleased him. It didn't take him long to get into his usual grove and after he was filled with some much needed dutch courage and in even less time after that he was already busying himself playing tonsil hockey with one girl while still surrounded by several others. He was starting to get the feeling that something terrible was about to happen again, but he brushed it off as nothing. The night was young after all.

This place might have been dark and dank, wreaking of such disgusting things as cigarette smoke and vomit from the many drunkards and low lives who hung around places such as these, but to the young dark hair Uzumaki this was as much home as anywhere else he could find. Here he could relax and take in his thoughts at his own place and possibly even a girl or girls who were as drunk as he would so he really wouldn't have to try too hard to find some action for the night. This wasn't what he wanted deep down, but it would have to do for the time being. Akio wanted a little more then that in the long run. He wanted the family that he never knew growing up with someone who he could really relate to. He couldn't tell whether it was the thought of such a thing, or the large amounts of alcohol that he had just ingested that were giving him the feeling of the warm fuzzies, but the feeling was most certainly there.

Akio could hear somewhat of a commotion going on over in the other end of the bar, but bar room brawls were common in such places and the few that Akio himself had been involved in had very quickly taught the regulars here to not mess with him seeing as the few who did ended up getting a chair or a table broken over their heads, or worse if he just so happened to be in a bad mood. Which was likely...As his reflex action when he was unhappy was to go and sleep with someone to make himself feel better. It wasn't exactly healthy for him but it did work and he had such precious little time to party with lately. Between missions, preparing himself for taking on his own Genin team and training with Rukia. It then hit him like a ton of bricks. He had totally forgotten that he was supposed to meet Rukia for training! He had to at least be a few hours late by now and he was so dead that it wasn't even funny. He knew that it was only a matter of moments before she came bursting in here to castrate him for skipping out of her like that and so he was racking his brain trying to think of some sort of excuse that could possibly explain why he was in here instead of spending time with her.

He didn't even have time to process those thoughts properly as a familiar voice sounded from behind him. It was quiet, mumbled even, but he would recognize that angry tone anywhere. He pulled away from the woman who he had been so busy with for god knows how long and was just turning around to address the tall, beautiful dark haired woman who's temper would make a harpy look like a kitten. "Ru-" He didn't even have time to address her properly, she had already gripped him by the collar and yanked him from his seat, forcing one of his trade mark screams from him which could only be compared to a 7 year old school girl seeing a spider. He knew this would ruin his reputation for some time to come, but oddly he was far more concerned right now with Rukia, who was busy practically dragging him through the bar. Which was a huge thing in his book, pretty much nothing was more important to him then his reputation with women. But then again when you'd known someone for as long as he had known her you kind of just developed such a bond he supposed. He began to wonder where she was taking him, but more importantly what she was going to do to him once they got there. He tipped over several tables on the way there as he didn't have much in the way of control over his movements right now. He was just lucky that no one here was stupid enough to confront them when they were in such a situation.

His question was soon answered though once she threw him into a much more secluded corner which seemed absolutely riddled with dust and cobwebs. He disliked this place very much, but he disliked what she was likely to do to him. He flinched when she began screaming at him, part of him expected to get hit once at the very least but for the most part he knew that she oddly had much more patience with him then anyone else. A thought that interested him and made him want to delve into exactly why this was. But now was most certainly not the right time to do so. He raised his hands up in a defensive measure, he really was sorry and felt terrible for ditching her like that. And his eyes would reflect this, someone as perceptive as she was would also be able to pick up on it. "I'm sorry." He managed to croak out between verbal lashings. He placed a hand out to steady himself as he obviously no longer had a bar stool to prop himself up on. "I honestly just came here to have a drink or two to warm myself up for you, because obviously I've been away for a couple of months on missions. But well...One thing lead to another and you know how I get once I've had a few too many." He chuckled ever so slightly. This would usually be the point at which with anyone else he would have placed his hands on their shoulders to reassure them. But she was no ordinary person, and doing so when she was in such a mood was likely to lose him the use of his hands all together. "I know I should have stuck to our plans, it won't happen again alright? You know you're my best friend. I'd never ditch you intentionally." He dropped his hands back to his side and decided to try to at least come to a compromise, stepping slightly closer with one of his trademark cocky although sincere smirks on his face. "I'll tell you what. I'm sober again now anyway. Why don't we go and train now? Unless you had anything else you'd rather we could go do together?" To anyone listening that might have sounded a tad suggestive, but it was just his way with words. He had always enjoyed hanging out with her regardless of what they happened to be doing.

Akio usually would have enjoyed all of the attention he was getting right now. Ever since he had first battered down his mothers door, which he remembered wasn't very long at all after he had first met Rukia, he had developed a certain flare for garnering the attention of others. Usually people of the female variety. Although the woman stood with him now tended to be more annoyed then impressed, but she had stuck with it for the entire time he had known her so at the very least he must have been doing something right otherwise she very obviously would have brutally murdered him by now. Something that he took some small measure of pride in. It was true that he did get drunk rather easily, but that was more down to his habit of just downing the drinks one after another. If he drank like any normal person did then he'd be completely sober right now, and it was showing in the way that he swayed ever so slightly as he stood there. But still it was a half truth, he was getting to the point of sober he just needed to line his stomach with food first. Perhaps then he would be in a better position to not only understand her better but also grovel a little better and sweet talk her into calming down in the way that only he seemed able to.

He looked at her as she took in his words, he could see the gears whirring in her head and he began to wonder exactly what she was thinking as she was generally so reserved that not many people got close enough to find out. He realized that he was literally the only person to do so on any level and it made him happy to think so, to have achieved something positive that no one else had been able to, to the best of his knowledge anyhow. This train of thought was only made slightly intense when she looked away from him, the look on her face was one of quiet contemplation and perhaps even the slightest hint of embarrassment, although it was very likely that he was wrong on this. He wasn't exactly the best judge of character after all, that was her department. He was just the guy you sent in to act as a distraction and to power his way through the front lines so that everyone else could follow behind him and do their thing. It was then that he noticed the flush upon her cheeks and he had to suppress one of his smirks. If she was showing any signs of affection, friendly or otherwise then who was he to possibly put her off by acting cocky about it? He was happy for her.

He could already tell the she had calmed down to the point that she didn't wish to harm him anymore, which could only possibly been a good thing. Then again he couldn't remember a single time when she had actually tried to seriously hurt him. Which again came as a little bit of a surprise because that wasn't really like her, but he had never really given it any thought before. He could see the same red colour that her face had been sporting since she came in here, he chalked it up to the jacket she was wearing, even if it was lightweight this was a rather hot and sticky place to be hanging around in even at the best of times, a ploy by the owner to make people drink more most likely. "I'm not drunk...Not very anyway" A light pink dusting of a blush was now upon his face, although he tried to hide it as he was called out about still being drunk. He froze a little at her broad smile, she was right she didn't do smiling very well and it freaked him out a little when she did it like that. In fact that was probably the very reason that she did it, he had a feeling that she got some sort of sadistic pleasure out of seeing him squirm. "I didn't mean it in that way...I just like spending time with you, nothing wrong with that right?" He smiled softly as he heard her stomach growl, come to think of it he was hungry too and it was then that he came up with a great idea on how to repay her for having missed their training. "Hungry huh? Me too. I'll tell you what. Why don't we go and get something to eat? My treat as a way of saying sorry." This was once again something rather large for him as he absolutely hated paying for meals, he usually tried every trick he could think of to weasel his way out of paying. But he was in the wrong here and so he was determined to set things right. Something only just then occurred to him...He may have not intended for it to be taken that way, but he had technically just asked her out on a date. His heart froze in his chest and he decided that it was best to get moving before she possibly realized this too. He grabbed her hand out of habit, he was always doing this to people and began to lead her out of there. "Come on, it's getting late so we'd better hurry up before they close!"

[Exit to the Ramen shop]