A Vigil in White [Open]

It was nostalgia that mostly took her by surprise. Next, was the huge statues of the past Kages of the village. The last time she was here... was with her parents at some point, and the statues were even larger then. The statues might be made out of stone, but she could feel the weight... the memories... and the will of fire still burning within their stone encasement's. Some how, Jun would have to reciprocate that to the diminishing population. It would be a little more difficult than she though, considering the streets were utterly barren, but some how it would work. Some how...

Whether it was a good idea to pay tribute here, was unknown to her. Though... it felt like a right of passing somehow. Paying respects and gaining knowledge from the ones who came before her. As she sighed, a mist formed in front of her, then disappeared as it thinned out into the atmosphere. It was getting colder lately... this would probably make it even more difficult to revive the village. However, she was going to do it anyway! Her nose twitched once to take in the scent of the area, the kneeled in front of the first Hokage's statue, lighting rose wood incense. Praying never came easily to her, especially since she never really knew what was appropriate or not. Jun would try anyway, regardless...

Jun let out one more breath, which clouded like the last ones and disappeared. The rosewood incense was sizzling to a halt. She hadn't realized how long she had been kneeling there, until she realized that her foot was asleep, and her knees hurt like hell. Little piles of ash had broken off from the rosewood incense stick as she was praying, and looked a little bit like a light gray snow. After clapping her hands twice, she blew the ashes gentle, and watched as they took to the wind and soared up into the sky. It made her feel happy some how... but the pressure was also much greater than before. The more she learned, the more it would weigh down. Giving up wasn't an option, so with that, Jun got up from her spot, took her pack of incense sticks with her, and moved on to the next statue.

It was a bit difficult getting through all the statues because she always sat their for long periods of time, taking in the history and wisdom of each past Hokage. They had much to teach her about leading a nation... why wouldn't she put up with it? On a side note though, Jun really wanted to get home sooner or later. I don't live there anymore... The thought popped in her head immediately, and she shook it. It was still a shock. Either the village was short-staffed, or she really did have enough talent to become a Hokage. Something told her that she would never be as good as them. But she would try to bring peace and prosperity to Konoha. If only the village would wake up, anyway.

A slight yawn escaped Jurei's mouth as kneeled for the third statue. The incense she burned for this statue was a little different from the others, mostly because the Third Hokage wasn't really associated with any particular element of nature. The shopkeeper she bought the incense from said it was supposed to smell like a jungle in mid-afternoon. Wonder why it was suggested? Jun rubbed her temple, then clapped once and began to pray once more. There was only one more statue to go... How bad could it possibly be? As the sun began to sink into the horizon, a single snowflake shifted down from the heavens, landing on Jun's cheek. Perhaps it was a sign...

She bent backwards a little bit in a stretch, groaning loudly. Jun yawned once more, and then dusted off her knees and the fringes of her coat jacket. Dirt and Snow... always a lovely mix. After licking her pointer and thumb, she quenched the last of the incense stick for the Fourth Hokage. There wasn't really much left on it anyway, but she really didn't want to take any chances with it. More snow had fallen since she had ended her vigil with the Third Hokage's statue, and it was a rather beautiful sight... Jun leaned over and skimmed her hand over the fresh power, picking up a handful to make a snow ball out of.

Much to her dismay it was getting rather dark out, and the only light in the area was the street lamp above a bench at the entryway to the Kage statues. It was a little creepy after all. She make little billows of breathe, becoming amused at the way it clouded up and disappeared. Her footsteps leading away from the area were nothing more than whispers, because of the snow. It made her feel rather stealthy, even though she was extremely clumsy at times. Jurei let out a quiet laugh and shoved her hands into her coat pockets, sending one last glance to the sunset.

Twirling her parasol, the ex-Mist kage stopped at the entrance of the statue ground. Revisiting the past was always a risky venture... But at least this time, it wasn't her past. Her soft voice hummed a tune, reflecting on times past. She felt almost relieved to be free of her kage duties and out n' about as she used to be, when she was young. Oh, to be young again...

Nevertheless, her approach was in no way stealthy, nor intended to startle. It would be strange if the girl so preoccupied with the incense and snow failed to acknowledge her presence. Then again, this girl seemed far too young to know of her. A faint smile tugged at her full lips. It wouldn't hurt to keep up her people skills, now would it?

Her hum slowly faded to silence, the melody tumbling from her lips until one could have heard a theoretical pin drop.

A head scarf loosely concealed her luscious curls, though her bangs concealed her breathtaking eyes. She didn't look directly at the girl until she laughed, ever so quietly.

"Pardon me..."

Her voice was soft, but it held a sort of no-nonsense tone that she'd adopted from her time in office.

"What's so amusing?'

The girl was no more than a few feet in front of Sayomi, whose constant companion of mist encircled her in a cool embrace, keeping her warm and yet dry for some reason. Even the hem of her heavy dress seemed unaffected by the blanket of snow.

Sayomi raised her blue-ish green gaze, curiously, to meet the eyes of she who seemed so eager to leave.

It seemed like her skin crawled for a moment, then twitched in various different places, especially her neck. It wasn't fear that made her react this way, but more like something innate... Maybe it was just her that would feel this way, but it was an urge to turn on her heel, and pay respects to the one she hadn't. It was indeed quite odd to feel something like this, considering it had never happened before. She twisted her head to the side, staring at the woman who had probably been there for awhile now. Though, through the agitation of the cold, and the smell of the incense, it was a bit difficult to decipher between reality and unreal.

Though, too much attention to this woman's looks would likely send the wrong message, she couldn't possibly help but stare. She knew this person... from somewhere. It had been a long time actually, since she had seen the photograph. Once, she saw it in the Academy a long time ago, when she was learning about the other countries. And once more at the Genin Exams, or so it seemed at the time. Never the less, the woman was indeed just as powerful, or more yet powerful, than Jurei was. Provoking or threatening obviously was not a good idea in this particular situation she was in...

What made this predicament as such, was probably Jurei's inability to have long and drawn out conversations as might be required for the situation at this point. Though, hopefully it wouldn't take long to greet, pay respects, make a little small talk and go upon her way. Usually she loved socializing with people but today was an off day, and her nose had begun to sting with an impending head cold. "Pardon me..." Jurei's ear twitched to take in the noise. It was... a pleasant voice, but still in a way that perhaps an elder of immense wisdom and strictness would speak to a younger person.

"Y-yes? I'm sorry... I was busy praying." Jurei replied in an awkward sort of way, giving off a bit of a childish smile. It was true though, that she was wholeheartedly involved in praying, that she didn't even notice the arrival of the woman. It was rather sad really, that she didn't notice. Becoming the Hokage technically meant being more aware of her surrounding among other things. It was certainly something that she had to work on, the next time she was out on her own. "What's so amusing?"

Jurei winced visibly, and inwardly as well. Smiling like that probably wasn't the best idea that she could have thought up. But... wasn't the best way to a good impression a simple smile? Or so the books said. She honestly had no idea of how to act in a formal setting like this. A stinging, hot feeling spread across her face and up to her ears even. It was pretty obvious she was blushing at this point, because of she hadn't an idea of what to do now... "Ah! Just... Nevermind. Nothing is funny, ma'am." Though, something was relatively funny. Whenever she exahaled and her breathe frosted she often through of childhood, and pretending to be a dragon. This habit of hers was definetly weird to say the least.