Before the sun rises

It was very early in the morning. In fact, it was so early that the sun hadn't risen yet and the sky was as dark as coal. The streets were empty and lifeless in this hour of the day so, at this time, the villge could be mistaken for a gost town as everybody was still fast asleep. Or almost. At this hour, before dawn, there where only a handful shinobi who were awake, those who had night shifts as guards, scouts, cleaners or who simply had to wake up exceedingly early to prepare and open their stores. Shuu, much to his aversion, was among such people.

The young man had been assigned as a guard for the village gates. If it was a boring and dull job on it's own, being assigned the late night into moning shift made it painstaking. Although glad that his duty was reaching an end, he was too tired to be able to appreciate the moment. As a matter of fact Shuu was no longer fully conscious. Struggling against his sleepyness, he was beginning to have a hard time destinguishing dream from reality. More often than not, the drownzy Shuu would fall momentaneusly asleep and hit his head against the desk of the gate guard's shack, just to wake up once more. To make matters worse, the chuunin who had been assigned the same shift as him and was sitting by his side, was already sleeping like a rock.

" Seems like your almost out cold " Reiko said as she walked up to the guard shack " Must be tough watching the nightshift " She says as she tapped the chunin's tto wake him up " I don't want you to get into trouble........ so wake up!!" She said as she yelled at him, as she looked around she heard the echoes of her yell rush across the village but luckily it wasn't loud nough.


"That was a close one" she whispered as she sat on the table and waited for the chunin to wake.....

"I'm still awake... yawn... Reiko-kun. Just resting... my eyes. It takes more than... just three days... yawn... To knock me out." Shuu mumbled in response to Reiko's shouting. Even though he struggled, he couldn't help but yawn and doze off in between his sentences. If looked closely upon, anyone could see that Shuu had eye bags because of not sleeping for the three days he had been assigned the guard duty. Unlike Shuu, the chuunin by his side was completely asleep, too much to be woken up even by Reiko's loud shout.

Shuu then go up on his feet and reached for his pocket, grabbing a soldier pill from a small paper wrapping. He then slung it to his mouth, swallowing the small thing whole. Afterwards, feeling revitalized thanks to it, he stretched his limbs ans asked, now fully awake. "So, Reiko-kun... What are you doing this early in the morning? It's too early for you to already be up... Special training?"

" Sort of " she said as she smiled and looked at the village gates " Just thought I should wake up and walk around the village, so tell me why have you been on the night shift because by the look of your eyes I say more then one day" She said as she lifted up her headband plate and looked closely at him " you should let me do one of your shift it would be a good experience for me" Reiko said as she stretched out and jumped off the desk and landed in front of them

"That's kind of you, Reiko-kun but it's a job for a chuunin. They wouldn't permit a genin to do that kind of job, Reiko-kun. Besides, it's not the kind of thing that you should be doing, certainly, there are better things for you to do." Shuu sighed but replied smiling. He was glad that there were still people who were enthusiastic over this kind of thing. Still, if Reiko was to take one of is shifts, it would mean that she would spend the entire night behind a desk doing nothing but staring at the empty streets in the night... This was, without a doubt, the dullest, most boring job Shuu had taken.

"Trust me, Reiko-kun, you wouldn't want to be here. I'm just doing this for the money...There aren't any good missions available." Shuu told her and waved his flat and empty wallet in the air, upside down. As anyone could guess, Shuu was pretty short on cash. He had spent the most of it by custom ordering three different and new sets of swords for upcoming missions. So, until the swords were finished, he'd have to limit himself to doing jobs around the village, such as replacing teachers or helping with the chuunin exam.

" I see, so your going to be a examiner in te chunin exams this year" Reiko says as she childishly began poking the other chunin knowing he wouldn't wake up " So what kind of swords are you buying if I may ask?"

"Yeah... I'm just getting a pair of tantos for when I have to fight in tight spaces and against weapons users. I'm also getting a zanbatō, to use against summons and the those ocasions when you simply need a bigger sword... For my main pair, when not against those kinds of shinobi, I'll just use a katana and a wakizashi." Shuu replied and chuckled half heartedly. He was unsure if Reiko would understand all those terms and the differences between swords, as most people didn't, not even jounins usually did. Never the less, it was fun to watch the girl poke the sleeping chuunin. On his view, it served him right for sleeping on duty.

"...." Reiko stared at him with a blank look as she continued poking him " Well whatever floats your boat , just make sure you use those swords to help the village and not to betray us " She said laughing unware that she was slowly moving back until her foot was on nothing and she fell off the table and landed on her back " Woah, am ok" she said laughing again

"Please be more careful Reiko-kun or you'll get hurt." Shuu told her with a hint of concern on his voice, while looking over the table to see if she had any injuries. To his relief, a fall of this height was harmless. Shuu hoped to near Reiko and pulled her by the arm, helping her get back on her feet.
"Hmm... My shift's over. I'll be going now Reiko-kun. Need to do some more training." Shuu added, looking at the clock on the wall. He then began walking to the training grounds, his mind already completely focused on the exercising he would have to do. Since the replacement guards were already on their way, it was alright for him just to leave.