Autry Residence

"OUT!" His mother screamed, waving a pan above her head. Meekly, Cordell ducked as she took a swing at him. He'd just revealed to her that he'd been attending the academy, and now he was a full-fledged Genin.

"But, Ma! I thought you'd be proud!"

"Proud that you deceived me?? Sure, you've put a roof over our heads, but you didn't tell me you were going to be some sort of dishonourable ninja, throwing your weight around and trying to get killed!"

"Ma, I'd never--"

"I DON'T CARE! Have you any idea how many shinobi are killed every year?? Enough that the life expectancy for them isn't very far above thirty! Cordell, how are you supposed to be happy if you don't get to start a family, if you never even get to be middle-aged??! Oh, this is all my fault. Your father was just like this…"

Suddenly enraged, Cordell's piercing glare was turned on his own mother, though he really didn't mean it that way. His eyes, which he'd gotten from said father, always made him look like he was giving people death glares. "Don't you compare me to that pathetic excuse of a man! I don't know what you saw in him, Ma, but I'll never be anything like him! HE'S the one who went out and got himself killed, and I'm not about to--"

"ENOUGH!" With speed that surprised the young man, his mother reached out, slapping him hard with the back of her hand. The skin was instantly red, anger making his cheeks redden. "You will NOT speak about your father that way while under this roof!"

"I'll talk about him however the hell I want!" He spat, looming over the petite woman.

"Then get out of this house." She hissed, staring him down. She was the only one that didn't back down from his murderous stare; her deceased husband had possessed those exact eyes. She was used to it.

Just passing by the Condos, since he didn't actually live in that area, just walked through it on his way around the village, he stopped because of the loud sounds coming from one of the homes. Koudo wasn't someone to stop screaming between two people, but when he heard some of the words being thrown around: "Ninja", "Life Expectancy", "Father". And that very loud smacking sound, Koudo just had to investigate. Who wouldn't right? There was a guy and a woman yelling in there, and he could have done something to her. Little did Koudo know that it was the other way around.

He walked towards the house, climbing the steps and knocking on the door, loud enough to be heard if they were in the back of the house, or still screaming at one another. Koudo himself didn't raise his voice to prove his point, but being a shinobi himself, he was very trained in sound chakra and could just scream so loud that all their windows shattered. That would only be if he was ignored at the door.

With his hands in his pockets, he waited.

Freezing, the two jumped, the argument momentarily forgotten. Cordell narrowed his eyes, leaving the woman with one last glare before turning and stalking toward the front door. Sighing for a moment, he quelled that shaking his anger had caused and the fists he hadn't remembered making slowly relaxed as well. Little did he know, that stinging red mark on his cheek was still glowing and visible, clear as day.

Opening the door, he put on his best fake smile, though it didn't reach his unnerving eyes.

"Hello, there. Something you need?" As Cordell spoke, his mother pretended to look busy, tidying everything she could get her hands on in the already spotless house, though there was still a tenseness to her movements. Their act wasn't flawless, apparently.

Koudo stood there, his foot tapping away impatiently. Impatience was something that he had acquired over the short time he'd been a chuunin and had to deal with all the loser genin moving up with him. It was terribly to watch and he wanted to rid the world of them... all, but now was not the time for contemplating that. He was just about to turn around and leave when the argument fell cold, but then the door opened and there stood a boy. His eyes, weird... scary even, and his smile, odd, very odd indeed. Koudo tried his best not to look at either.

" I heard some yelling coming from here and I wanted too... "

Koudo paused, looking past the boy and into the house, seeing a woman there cleaning up what looked to be someplace that was already shining from the intense cleaning that it had already went through. These people were strange to him, probably because they were a family and lived in the condos.

" ... Make sure everything was.... alright. "

He stopped talking, coming back to the person in front of him and seeing a vibrant red mark on the guy's face. Koudo wouldn't point it out to him, but it was clear that the person that had gotten hit wasn't the woman. It was funny to Koudo actually, seeing as he himself had never been smacked by any woman and he would make sure that things like that would never happen. he didn't laugh though, his facial expression stayed muted, mysterious, as it always did when talking to new people.

"Yeah. Fine." Cordell's voice was gruff as his gaze darted over his own shoulder to his mother. "Ma I'm going out."

"Fine." She snapped sharply, disappearing into the back room.

"If you'll excuse me…" His gaze darkened as he murmured, brushing past the younger teen before him and closing the door behind him. Not in the best of moods, it was understandable that he needed to get out of the house. However, the gentleman in him couldn't leave someone on his porch like that. He'd been raised better than that. "If you like, you could walk with me. I think I'll head to the bar. Would you like to tag along?"

He kept his eyes upon his feet, navy bangs falling into his eyes. Cordell was well aware of how disturbing his gaze was, and only made eye contact when it was necessary. Being out of the house seemed to be calming him, and now the older teen seemed quite reserved.

"I'd appreciate the company."

Koudo stepped to the side, moving out of the way when the guy needed to get past. Sure he said everything was fine, but it was clear that there was something going on between him and his mother. Koudo couldn't even remember his parents, so he though this guy was lucky to still live with his mother, but he wouldn't say that of course. Koudo started down the stairs too.

" Sure why not. I'm not doing anything anyway. "

He said walking past the older teen now and continuing on the path. He hadn't heard what rank the guy was, but was sure that it would come up when they got to the bar.