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Now, while all this was going on, a certain hippie foodie sage who also happened to be a ninja had been minding his own business concentrating quite hard on a piece of text. And also ignoring questioning stares either of confused familiarity, since he'd used to be quite the hot topic, or of less confused disappointment, because he was skipping class. Well, that wasn't strictly true. Andou was not skipping class, he had merely delegated it entirely to another member of the teaching staff without actually informing them. But he had faith that Mokujin would be able to cope with his puppet army.

After lunch, Andou had headed over to the library with the intent on researching ninjutsu. After having been defeated by his former student in a fight due to a deficit in chakra, he was determined to patch up this weakness. Although he had become more of a slacker in recent years, there were certain things you couldn't not take seriously. So needless to say, he was quite annoyed when a sudden sharp voice cut into his studying. A schoolchild fight? Really? Weren't kids still supposed to be in school? Ignoring his own academy shirking ways, Andou peered out from the shelf he had been standing behind. He could see Harumi-san running in to see what was going on and decided to step in.

"My, my. What do we have here?" He eyed the ink-stained scroll and Inori hugging the little girl with raised eyebrows. "Sounded a lot like child abuse just a minute ago. Wait a minute..." Andou narrowed his eyes suspiciously and drew a scroll from within his yukata. He opened it and peered inside, comparing the photo with the real thing. Yep, a definite fit. "Aren't you supposed to be in academy? Tsukimiya. As far as I'm aware, the bell hasn't rung for dismissal yet." Despite his disdain at Inori and the girl disturbing his peace only just now, Andou was speaking in a reasonably loud and clear voice, completely ignoring any whispers he may be generating.

Andou felt a quick spark of annoyance at the little girl's quick recovery, but resolutely ignored it in favour of salvaging the situation. "I'm sure your mother also said to respect authority," he replied smoothly to Inori's retreating frame. Well, that was new. He'd never been compared to a geriatric before. Was it his hair? (It was probably his sour a** expression, his friend Cassie would say.)

He marched ahead to keep up with Inori. "In fact, I spoke with your mother just recently." This was a blatant lie. "I don't think that she would be happy to know that you've been skipping class on the first day." Andou checked his scroll again just to make sure that yes, it was Inori's first day, and there it was, his projected start date. And oh... what was this? Government sponsorship? Required to finish the academy within one month? Although Andou could tell already from the student's age and attitude to authority, this confirmed that Inori was no ordinary student. He followed Inori into the aisle.

"You still haven't answered my question. My name is Saitou Andou, and I'm principal of the academy. Naturally, I have a vested interest in making sure students attend academy. So why are you here instead of there? And that scroll looks very much like the academy syllabus." He gestured at Inori's ink-stained scroll, his tone deadly serious. "Defacing private property now, are we?"

"I actually do work for the government," Andou responded back equally dryly. Newly reinstated, but still. "The academy is one of the branches of the civil shinobi service." What was this kid's problem? Andou had never dealt with this kind of personality before. And he was coming out sorely lacking. Although he did feel like he'd gained some sort of control over the situation (and revealed an alarming fact about Inori, or some of his fundamental motivations, that he somehow felt he wasn't meant to see) at Inori's sudden reaction when he mentioned his mother. Andou actually withdrew at that point and started to observe Inori's behaviour more carefully. He needn't have bothered at trying not to offend the young man though as Inori's poise returned as quickly as it had gone.

"Yes. That was a lie," Andou admittedly completely shamelessly, trailing Inori tightly around the library. "Strange of you to be registered for academy against your parents' will." He ignored Inori's (rather pertinent) point and was about to reply when Inori suddenly scrambled up a stool and reached up. If you asked Andou later he would tell you that he had seen it coming a mile away. Although it wasn't that far, Andou's senses definitely prickled at that point. "Wai-" he started, but didn't get very far.

CRASH! Years of combat training and real life or death situations had given Andou the ability to turn on a semblance of slow-mo vision whenever applicable. And it certainly was now. Although the books were an unorthodox enemy they had the potential to be just as dangerous as all the others Andou had faced. And the boy would be the first hit if he didn't do something. Quick as an arrow Andou jerked Inori off the stool and caught him safely before assuming the safest brace position against the book barrage. He didn't have a chance to push Inori out of the way which was probably just as well.

Meanwhile, Harumi had returned to her desk after that little girl incident. She had gently admonished the pair of children for running in the library but by the time she'd turned to that so very nice boy and Andou-san they were gone. Oh well, shinobi were shinobi.

She was just beginning to start a new puzzle when a cacophony coming from the reference section made her look up. And rush to the scene immediately. The thin cloud of dust wafting from the shelves told her all she needed to know and she immediately began to pull the books off Andou and Inori once she reached them. (Placing them neatly back in the shelves, of course. Books came first.)

"What happened here?" she asked simply. But her voice was devoid of its usual warmth. In fact, it sounded very much like... that Harumi was really really angry.

Nero, against his better judgment, had decided to skip class. No real reason came to mind, other than boredom. He knew deep down there was a perfectly logical, highly appropriate reason or excuse for skipping his first real day of class, but it just wasn't coming to mind. He heard garbled talking a short distance away and hesitantly approached.

It was all so quiet, until a thunderous crashing noise had almost caused him to swallow his tongue in shock. He ducked behind a shelf, his hand on his chest feeling his heart beat as a bead of sweat ran down his face. He wiped it off quickly as to be sure it wouldn't fall and make a sound. He looked around the side of the shelf quickly ducking back, feeling he had been seen.

He gasped quietly upon looking a second time, seeing what appeared to be an authority figure on the floor, and another figure above them.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me. Why can't a library just be quiet like it's supposed to..." He said softly, cursing under his breath at the inconvenience of the current situation.

Well, if you had just gone to class today, maybe you would've learned a jutsu to help you get out of this, but no, you had to ditch, now you're stuck. He thought, somewhat irritated with himself for deciding to skip. He yawned quietly, and poked his head completely out for a few seconds, assuming he hadn't been seen, and watched the angry adult yell at the kid.

Nero made a few unintelligible noises, as if he was thinking of what to say but not fully saying it. At last he decided on groaning and slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand. "What a bummer...stuck here cleaning up books...gahhh." He said, slightly annoyed at the project he had just been dragged into. He picked up a book and flipped through the pages, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...while we're stuck here, what's your name?" He asked, trying to start a conversation as to not be bored in silence.

Reassorting Books!
It's quite a mess that Inori made. Books and scrolls about shinobi Fundamentals, books defining shinobi terms, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and more scrolls are all mixed together. Sort them out again to their proper places.
DC: 13
Formula: 1d20+int mod
Successes: 0/10