[center][colour=ec008c][h1][i][b]Kasumi Haruno[/b][/i][/h1][/colour][/center]
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It's hard to describe sometimes what the world feels like to a sensor. In fact, ask any sensor that question, and you're liable to get a different answer from all of them. In many ways, it would be almost unreasonable to assume the ability to feel the breath of the world, the energy of chakra that permeated all things, would be translated the same across every unique mind.

To Kasumi, chakra was a [i]song[/i], and she was a maestro, [i]always forced to listen[/i].

All around her, the discordant tunes of her fellow students clashed in an ugly cacophony, their chakra signatures so often so bright, naive and disgustingly bubbly and world unwary that it made her want to vomit. Similarly too, the chakra signatures of older people were just as unappealing. Older shinobi -those that didn't have the skill or [i]courtesy[/i] to conceal their signatures- felt like bared knives breathing down her neck, prickling her jugular, and it made her want to shudder in fear. All around her, she was surrounded by killers, unrepentant mass-murderers, walking down the street, hopping across the rooftops, living and laughing and mingling like they didn't have [i]oceans[/i] of blood on their hands, like they didn't kill simply for money or because the Hokage had pointed them in the right direction like the loyal dogs they were.

And she was training to join their ranks... [i]Willingly[/i]. Because, after all, the only place to truly be safe in a world filled with monsters... was to become one yourself.

Kasumi had long since identified the truth of this bloody world. For her, a sensor, innocence was something she'd lost long ago, forced to confront the ugliness and darkness seething from every pore of this murderous society she'd been born into. And yet, to deny and oppose this truth as she was would have been foolishness of the utmost degree. Reality was no place for fanciful dreams, delusions of grandeur and denials of the natural order, and if she wanted the power [i]required[/i] to control her own future, that meant she had to work within the system, to endure its indignities and injustices for just as long as necessary to achieve her goals. All she had to do was survive, by any means necessary, and eventually... peace and stability would be hers.

A loud splash and unseemly gloating dragged the pinkette's wandering mind back to the present.

Grimacing up at the rain and wishing she'd brought an umbrella today, even as she pulled her hooded rain cloak a bit tighter closed, Kasumi's lip curled up in irritation, as she watched the latest of Lin's boorish "pranks", the "lucky" victim of the day being Mu Hayashi, who was a fairly regular and easy target for the bully. It was all petty, pointless bullshit of course, but the song of Lin's chakra spoke only of the shameless glee he felt for even the smallest amount of genuine discomfort and frustration he might be eliciting in the brunette woodworker. Mu's chakra, by contrast, indeed rippled with exactly the sort of irritation that the bully was probably looking for, but the woodworker rather admirably quickly shrugged it off. Kasumi could appreciate the concept behind that sort of affability, even if she was fairly sure she'd have just broken Lin's nose and been done with it in his place. Screw propriety, around here, strength was king, and a few student fisticuffs (especially once outside actual school grounds) were hardly the concern of the faculty.

Stuffing her hands in her pockets and adjusting the straps of her backpack, Kasumi dismissed the scene and the open offer to any who would listen to go to lunch. Regardless of her disapproval at the lack of professionalism, she hadn't grown to expect much less over the years in the academy. She'd gotten good at keeping to herself, minding her own business... and making anyone that wanted to disturb her peace dearly regret it during sparring. She didn't mess with Lin, and he -usually- didn't seem inclined to mess with her, if only because she didn't give him the reactions he wanted and wasn't afraid to play dirty and shamelessly sic the teachers on his ass for disturbing her learning experience. She didn't buy into pathetic attempts at charm or manipulation either, not when his chakra always screamed his ulterior motives. He was a snake, as liable to stab you in the back as not, and she wanted nothing to do with him.

Kasumi was already several meters down the sidewalk and away from the confrontation, when she felt her hackles rising. More accurately, it felt like almost like the culmination of... [i]something[/i] undesirable peaking. To the broader reaches of her chakra senses, the conglomerated "aura" of Konoha felt... [i]tense[/i], on edge, like something was about the happen. She'd felt it building for a while now, she realized, but she hadn't quite actively acknowledged it until now. Yet, now that she was looking...

Kasumi's brow furrowed, as she cast a surreptitious glance around her, unsure what exactly was setting her instincts off. She felt... almost [i]exposed[/i], open, even just standing here on the street inside what should have been the security of her own village. The pinkette cast a glance back over her shoulder at Mu, a frown on her lips. Normally, she would have given a rat's ass. Typically speaking, being held hostage by social obligations was the stuff of her nightmares... but right now, something was telling her it wasn't good to be alone, even if her company was an irritating optimist.

[color=ec008c]"[i]Oi[/i]!"[/color] Kasumi shouted at Mu, jerking her head down the street in the direction she was heading. [color=ec008c]"If you want to eat anywhere anything less than soaked, better fucking hustle!"[/color] Not that it mattered too much, when Lin had already splashed Mu the way he had, but it was the thought that counted, right? Kasumi would at least pretend to believe so.