Open: Going back to Kumogakure proper

[Kanade]

Chiaki awoke in the temple, after staying overnight. A woolen blanket covered her and she sighed, feeling the itchy material against her bare skin, she stretched and looked at the sun. The temple, as a rule, didn't have a time keeping device anywhere on the premises. Sure, there was electricity, running water, and all the other amenities, but time was a construct that wasn't strictly enforced there.

Chiaki grumbled as she put the wrong shoe on the wrong foot, twice before scooting over to the mirror in her room. Her quarters, which she had been living in since moving away from her mother four years ago, were spartan at best, and unfurnished at worst. She had a simple cot which she lay on at nights, a night-stand which included a dry washbasin and a poster with her Nindo which she wrote in calligraphy. "If you're not dead, I can fix it."

Sighing once more, she looked at herself in the mirror and noted the bags under her eyes from working at the hospital the last three nights in a row. Today was her off-day, enough time for her to go shopping for the temple, come back and do some training or chores around the temple, and get some sleep before her next 16 hour shift.

Scraping together her small bag of supplies, she took out her small vanities which the temple grudgingly let her keep, a half-stick of lipstick which her mother gave her. Two pallets of eye-shadow, one blue and one brown, and eye-liner.

Drawing herself up, she stared once more in the mirror. She seemed short for her clan, but she supposed that she got that from her father, drawing the supplies to her, she started to get ready to go out.

An hour and a half later, she was dressed in her best clothing for going to the city, and was tying her sandals around her ankles when the priestess that was in charge of her wing of the temple came puffing around.

"Hello sister, what can I do for you-cha?" Chiaki asked, her tick at the end of her sentences kicking in as she watched the large woman bustle around and make sure that Chiaki had everything.

"You have your emergency supplies and-" The priestess frowned down at her, even though she was aging and shrinking every day, she stood a good foot taller than Chiaki did on her best day, "You've got that stuff on your face again."

"I told you that it helps to blend in Tiana-cha." Chiaki growled, "Why else would I be wearing this when I know that you all chastise me every time?"

"Right, so here's some money for your trip, and a list of things that I need. Don't talk to anyone that you don't know and come straight back. We're expecting you for dinner, and it's your turn to help with the curry or you get to clean the dishes whenever you decide to come back home." The priestess pushed a pouch of coins into Chiaki's small hand, her entire wrinkled hand enveloping Chiaki's relatively small one, and the priestess lowered her amber eyes to Chiaki's stark orange gaze.

"Right, right, you got it." Chiaki stuffed the bag of coins into her backpack and hoisted it to her back, rearranging her forehead protector and making sure that her hair was still straight. A streak of red out of place and she would just lose it.

"Little Kyoukan, make sure that you are careful. There is still the conflict with Iwagakure, and we don't know when that will peacefully come to an end. We can only hope it will happen soon. Send a messenger if you're not going to be back and we'll start without you." The priestess pressed a couple more coins into Chiaki's hand, which she assumed was for the messenger and pushed Chiaki, none too gently, towards Kumogakure.

Grumbling, she made her way into town.

-----


Looking around, Chiaki readjusted her deep blue skirt, her white blouse, and her ribbon tied around her neck to hold her blouse closed. She took out her pocket mirror and checked her make-up as she had been travelling the better part of four hours and it was now noon. Orange rimmed in a dark teal stared back at her, the milky orange of her right eye a contrast to the dark almost fiery pumpkin color of the other.

She gulped twice and moved toward the village, her red hair and eye color proudly broadcasting her clan, and her forehead protector a symbol that she was a Chuunin, she still felt out of sorts in Kumogakure proper, when she wasn't around the hospital.

"Just get the supplies and get out. -cha" She murmured to herself as she attempted to take back-alleys, and make side-jaunts to her destinations, looking rather shadier than she would have if she were to just blend into the crowd. Anyone noticing her would probably assume she was up to no good, especially if her small jacket was blocking her forehead protector, positioned over her heart, were to be blocking the small bit of metal.

[Sia]

Out and about, Kirari of the moths was in no particular rush that morning. Still, she had been given an assignment but as usual it was aced and she was bored for the day already. A good opportunity for her, truly, to stretch her legs and get out and about and perhaps even make a new friend. She donned her gear, all black everything for the day, a black mask covered the bottom half of her face, and the kumogakure village symbol could be found across the forehead protector that was, well, on her forehead. She adjusted her boots and set out quickly, waltzing about the streets of the village quietly before leaving the ground towards the rooftops.

She made her way then around town, silently exercising as she performed cartwheels, full tucks, and other extravagant and unnecessary maneuvers out of nothing but sheer boredom, intentionally working with her moths to send them flying outwards from her body at specific and precise points. The moths fanned out, and Kirari became aware of someone moving towards the outer perimeter of the village. She stalked them, leaping from tree to tree as her moths lead the way quietly throughout the streets. As they approached the gate, Kirari scaled over it and lept into the trees on the other side, flying through the air and landing on a large branch before immediately leaping further out into the surrounding forest.

Kirari followed Chiaki for some time, keeping a careful distance from them as they walked around the crowd so suspiciously. Kirari thought it was a little funny, truly, and sent three moths outwards to hover in front of Chiaki's face, just out of swinging range. They were white, though two of them had bright purple spots on them. Kirari landed behind the moths. "You kinda look like you're up to no good. You're not lost are you?" She said sternly.

[Kanade]

Chiaki, caught completely off guard ran into the moths and ended up licking one of them. It hung from her tongue as she attempted to separate it from her tongue, using her forefinger and thumb like tweezers she blinked twice at it and spat on the ground.

“I, ah, I uh.” She stammered and dropped to the ground to put the moth there and see whether she had hurt it in any way. She had read that the scales on moth wings were how they flew, and if she had just licked it (ew), then she was worried that the moth might not be able to fly or recover ever again.

“I’m probably not lost, most likely. Though this is the first time that I’ve been in the city for a very long time and y-” She stammered out before lookign up and seeing the bright reflection of the forehead protector.

Oh great, these were ninja moths, and she had just assaulted one with her tongue. Muttering and attempting to figure out how one got spit off of a moth’s wings she still hadn’t offered an explanation as to why she was there, why she had been sneaking around, or why she was acting so suspicious.

To make matters worse for herself, she combed her hair in front of her eye so that her scar and face were hidden from view as she tried to tend the poor moth, who was probably fed up with her ministrations at this point. “Do you know how to heal your little friend here? I didn’t mean to lick him.”

That and, well, frankly he tasted awful.

[Sia]

One. One moth got licked. Kirari blinked and watched as the other two moths fluttered away and the girl before her recoiled under the realization of what she had done. It couldn't be helped, she just couldn't contain herself. Kirari let out a rich, hearty laugh and recalled the three of them back to herself and with a quick channeling of chakra, purged the licked moth of its saliva impurity. Visibly, the moth caught on fire and the saliva evaporated before the flames quickly extinguished themselves. Four moths fluttered out from Kirari's left arm, circling around Chiaki as five other moths did the same from her right arm.

"Haha, yes, it is no matter if they do get a little wet, they are much hardier than they appear." Kirari said with a chuckle. She took a step forwards, six moths exiting from her left leg and fluttering through the air behind her, perching on lamp posts, window sills, and roofs. "In any case, you look like you're quite lost nonetheless, is there perhaps something I could help you with?" Seven moths exited from Kirari's right leg, fanning out far and wide, following some of the other suspicious looking people as Kirari stared down Chiaki. Eight of the moths from before suddenly came back, flying into Kirari's left arm. Kirari rolled her eyes. Her moths were being fickle today it would seem. She channeled chakra for just a moment and caused nine of them, and then another ten to exit out of her back, flying away quite far from the rest of the group and beginning a surveillance sweep on the area.

"I'll admit, I am not usually in this city much these days either and wouldn't mind having someone to talk to every one in a while." Kirari shrugged. "The life I lead is not exactly a splendid one, the moths do tend to kinda rub people the wrong way it would seem. It's not really my fault though, you know? I was only eleven when they came to me." She stared upwards at the sky and raised her arms, palms upwards. From every direction, moths suddenly perched on Kirari. Twelve on her left arm, and thirteen on her right.

[Kanade]

"I uh, I was looking for the market district and seemed to have gotten turned around-cha." Chiaki chuckled nervously, "I am glad that it is not just me that has a hard time with the uh, expanse of Kumogakure no Sato-cha." She nodded to the moths and looked around. It was a pretty jutsu, the summoning of the moths from all over the girl's body.

"How do you make them appear and disappear? It's quite the phenomenon-cha" The question bubbled out of her like it usually did when she found something anatomically improbable or impossible. It was made like a doctor asking a patient how they had sprained their ankle, or when they had discovered that they had a vestigial tail, or even how they effectively used their digit when they had an extra finger or toe.

She was always fascinated by things that defied the laws of basic anatomy, whether that be someone ripping out their own heart, to someone being able to call moths from their body, such as this girl was able to do. "Ah, I haven't introduced myself, I am Kyoukan Chiaki-cha." She extended her left hand, her jacket opening up and her forehead protector catching the glint of the sunlight as she still clutched at her shinto pewter staff with two rings on it.

[Sia]

Finally, Kirari relaxed. The girl wasn't up to no good, just nervous and not entirely sure what they were doing it would seem. She could definitely understand that, she remembered when she was a fresh genin as well, and she had to admit that the expansion of the Lightning Empire had definitely changed things around quite a bit. Kirari's moths returned to her, flying into her body and merging into her various limbs from different directions. "Ah..hmm..how to say, hmm..." She wasn't quite sure how to answer. The method was a secret, and Kirari was a shinobi. Secrets were her business, but then again, since the person before her was a Kumogakure shinobi, she didn't see the harm in it.

"My body is quite fake, though I know it doesn't really appear that way." She channeled chakra, causing her entire body to lose its appearance of being Hotaka, Kirari, and instead more accurately reflect the fact that it was made purely out of water. She became transparent, her outer layers of skin disappearing and her clothes melting into liquid and revealing the insanely large amount of moths that were floating around, flying around, and just outright sitting down inside of her body. There were holes, pockets of air, in each of her limbs and throughout the rest of her body, including her head. With the falseness of her skin having faded away, it became immediately apparent that Kirari was, in fact, no longer human, and was indeed some sort of oddity, a real monster. The moths were, of every imaginable color, as was the liquid that made up Kirari's body. She was a walking rainbow filled with bugs.

She channeled chakra again and the transparency of her body faded, becoming more immediately opaque as her clothing, skin, hair, nails, and everything else ceased to appear to be made of rainbow-colored water, taking on a more normal appearance, save for her hair, which remained rainbow-colored instead of the black that it had been before. "A pleasure to meet you, Chiaki, I am Hotaka, Kirari." She too extended her left hand and met Chiaki's with a firm handshake. "Would you like an escort? I am admittedly not up to anything today and could use the company...Things have been a tad depressing lately, know what I mean?"

[Kanade]

“It’s fal-?” Chiaki started with a tilt to her head and her brow raised before she watched the girl in front of her melt away into a beautiful display of multi-colored moths. Ashamed to say, her mouth hung open as she watched the moths go about their business inside of the girl’s outline. She stared for a bit, gaping in the splendour of the display before the girl channeled chakra back into her body, ceasing the display in everything except her hair.

She met the firm handshake with a loose, almost stunned handshake of her own before she shut her mouth and swallowed the bit of spittle that had started to form in the back of her throat from staring at the girl.

“You’re gorgeous-cha.” She said before she thought about what else Kirari had just said. Really, she should have known better, but she didn’t know what to say besides that for a bit before it registered that Kirari had asked her a question. She pulled at her hair, to hide her scar and discolored eye as she looked at anywhere but the beautifully colored hair and girl that the hair belonged to. It was in what she wasn’t looking at that she was able to see the brilliance and magnificence of the iridescent ever-changing prism that was Kirari’s hair color. By comparison some of her own caught her attention and looked dull and common by comparison.

“Ah yes, I would love that. I only stay on the outskirts of Kumogakure in the hospital, so really it’s hard enough getting these chores done. My chuunin exam I think took place in the middle of the city, but I have no idea where that even is anymore, much less where the market is-cha.”

“What do you mean depressing-cha?” Her voice took on a dollop of concern which coated her words as her brow knit together and she searched the other shinobi’s features for any signs of a clue as to why it was depressing. “I’m from a temple which might as well be under a rock for all of the news that we get. Yes we hold festivals there but there’s no gossip because everyone goes to temple to get away from it all-cha, not to divulge their secrets to anyone except the Kami’s-cha.” She motioned all around her as if the Kami were around her at this very moment. It was so indoctrinated into her that the spirits were omnipresent that she acted like it were the most casual and well-known fact of the world.

[Sia]

Kirari nodded along but wasn't particularly in the greatest of moods, she had a headache. She had quit smoking. The electric smoke was harsh, and it was killing her, even when she didn't want it. She had vomited, cried, committed many sins. She thought on it long and hard and decided it hadn't really mattered. "I am bored." She said. "So, sometimes I just go on the free patrol, sorry." She giggled a little. "I don't mean to scare you." She eyed the girl up and down. "How old are you, what rank did you say again?" She couldn't even remember if the girl had said or not, but she plaid it off anyway, eyeing their forehead protector and squinting a little.

"I wonder whether or not things are going to get wicked. It could be problematic to see how the end of the line goes with expanding lightning empire until the land is gone." She gestured to the buildings, some of which were beautiful and others of which were in barely held up shambles. "It's wild. Innit? Cha." She smiled as she said it, nodding along. A moth came out from her hand, and walked about her fingertips. Another came to her other hand, and another to the back of her neck. "You look like you'd be fun to fight."

[Kanade]

"I've never been on a free patrol before-cha." Chiaki admitted before nodding a couple times and flashing her forehead protector on her left breast over her heart, "Kyoukan, Chiaki, 21, Chuunin of the hidden cloud, I think?" She looked at her forehead protector dubiously thinking about how long it had been since she had been on a proper mission, how long it had been since she had really done anything other than train in the mountains trying to learn the jutsu to save her mother. She decided a shrug was in order, not knowing whether or not it was to shrug something off or whether it was to appear nonchalant, so it appeared to be a mixture of both.

The girl had used the same -cha at the end of her sentences which had become a tic that she used, like Theraveda's -na at the end of her sentences. Verbal tics were something that were a part of the Kyoukan culture. She hardly noticed until she went into the city that they were weird. She even 'thought' with the -cha at the end of her sentences. Reddening she cleared her throat. The girl was extremely beautiful and exotic looking with that multi-colored hair and Chiaki felt rather plain, wobbly, and squishy in comparison.

"Huh? Oh-oh yes-cha. It is wild." She nodded along with what Kirari was saying, she eyed the moths, wondering if their relationship was symbiotic or-? Then she was knocked off kilter by a sudden 'You look like you'd be fun to fight."

"I'm afraid that I probably would not measure up to your standards of fighting." She said apologetically placing a hand behind her head and laughing openly, her chest heaving in the hearty laughter. "I'm a priestess of the Kyoukan temple, and I only know a handful of 'offensive jutsu' But I have been told that I am a rather interesting punching bag by my former team. They're all Special Jounin or Jounin level by now I'd wager-cha." She gave a grin, "But I'd be more than happy to help you train any time with a little friendly spar. I'm in need of friends my age-cha."

[Sia]

Kirari had to try really hard not to laugh. Free Patrols were how she obtained all of her information. It's essentially what she was doing today, even at that exact moment. A moth exited outwards from Kirari's back, a rather large black one with brown spots. It crawled along her body, up over her shoulder blade and onto Kirari's left shoulder, staring at Chiaki with it's big beady eyes and little fuzzy baby body. "I gain a lot of information from just going out on free patrol." The moth began to take flight, slightly hovering over Chiaki's shoulder before whizzing past Chiaki and perching on a tree branch. "It's a good way to learn things about people, the area, the current situations that are going on out and about the country and general area."

"The reconnaissance utility of the Moth's is, admittedly, quite lovely, even if they are a little unbecoming and gross some times." She said with a giggle. She began to walk then, "come on, we can get to Kumogakure in no time at all, promise." She began to put up her hair, its rainbow threads that flowed down from her skull becoming bound and tied up to the top of her head, with a few stray bangs on either side of her face. The rainbow hair was a very stark contrast from her otherwise dark outfit and appearance, causing Kirari to sorely stick out in any crowd, ever. "Unfortunately though, the uhh...more colorful aspects of my condition do tend to make it harder to be subtle." She admitted to Chiaki, turning around and walking backwards and winking as the word subtle left her mouth, continuing the rotation of her movement and walking forwards again. Her eyes darted about, seeing where her moths had landed out and about the area whilst the two of them walked. "Hotaka, Kirari, 18, Special Op Genin." She said bluntly.

"No matter. We'll whip you into shape one way or another, no problem. In any case, if we try, we can definitely make it to Kumogakure before sundown. If not, we can set up camp somewhere anyway, reallistically."

[Kanade]

Chiaki smiled easily at Kirari, nodding to the moth that hovered over her shoulder before whizzing past. They were cute, not disgusting, she didn’t know why Kirari was always putting herself down, but it was a bit… rude of herself to do that. Maybe she could help the poor girl put herself to rights.

“I don’t do reconnaissance like that actually, admittedly-cha.” She smiled at Kirari, hoping for a brilliant and radiant smile. She felt dull compared to the multicolored girl, but she tried to sound more confident than she felt. Of course, she believed that she was a bit chunky, slow, weak, and dimwitted, but she could train all of that, surely?

“No time at all is not exactly the way that I usually travel, but I am not averse to a more direct route than I was taking, maybe-cha?” She looked around, quite lost, “I am sure I was going in at least the right-ish direction-cha.” No, she hadn't been going the right way, in fact almost the opposite. It was the village hidden in the clouds.

Was the wink for her?

She blushed and pulled up her white mask to hide her blush and cleared her throat, her damaged eye and undamaged one gleaming in the sun, a golden hue. She wanted to look anywhere but the other girl. She hadn’t ever been given as much attention by anyone, singly, besides her teacher or perhaps her mother.

“Subtlety isn’t everything.” She tilted her head, a genin? She couldn’t believe it, not with the control that she had over her moths. “A genin, are you? Aren't you like... my age? I am twenty-one.” She smiled apologetically, she didn’t think that there was any genin that were her age, so she didn’t feel quite as bad about being a forever-chuunin, but perhaps she might be able to--.

“Mmmm.” She shrugged at being whipped into shape. She could use it. She looked around and enjoyed the beauty of a place that she hadn’t seen since she was a genin, all those years ago, when she had ambition, drive and a purpose for her training. She tried not to think of her mother when she spoke, “I have supplies for camping just in case I got lost or-” She trailed off and sighed, “Mostly just in case I got lost-cha.”

[Sia]

"Ah yeah, there's definitely some shortcuts we could take. Just follow the blue moths." Kirari said beginning to channel chakra before sending out a plethora of bright blue moths from her right leg. They flew out and about, spreading far and wide away from Kirari in the direction of Kumogakure. The sun was, as it turned out, getting lower, the two of them had been walking and talking for quite some time.

She turned around again, letting the moths fly about her body left and right, darting about into the nearby trees. "Hmm. Perhaps we should get a little more acquainted after all." Kirari said after a long moment. "You look mighty good for being twenty one." She said with another wink, then turned away from Chiaki and continued walking, though with a more noticeable sway to her hips now. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and eyed the sky for a long time as she walked.

"It wouldn't be anything to me if we stayed camp somewhere for the night. I am not particularly looking forward to being back in Kumogakure, so not having to see it again until tomorrow would be something I suppose. On the other hand, you seem a little skittish and like you may not want to camp in the forest at night alone with a stranger." Kirari said with a grin, her bright rainbow-colored eyes locking onto Chiaki's as she ended the sentence, and she pressed her gaze hard. "Yes, I am a genin, but I'm a terribly experienced one I assure you." The blue moths came back, reentering into Kirari's body from a distance. "This might be a good spot." Kirari said, gesturing between two trees that were quite closer together than some of the others of the forest.

Kirari stared at Chiaki for a moment, analyzing her exquisitely. "You're in a clan, aren't you?" She said after a moment, paying no attention to the fact that it was growing darker by the second and they really would need to set up camp soon. "What's that like? Having lots of cousins? Is it fun?"

[Kanade]

“Shortcuts are usually longer than the main route, I have heard-cha.” Chiaki noted as she followed Kirari and watched the blue butterflies come out of her leg. She couldn’t help but notice, as the moths flew out, that she was still very beautiful, with a powerful build and… She tugged at her own fat as Kirari moved into the forest, her hips swaying, much more in shape than Chiaki herself was.

“I wouldn’t mind getting better acquainted-cha.” Chiaki said, her mask muffling her blush and hopefully her nervous intonation. She hadn’t ever stayed the night with anyone outside of her clan before, and she had read about it in novels that she had spirited away from the Kumogakure library. Kirari had winked at her again and Chiaki chewed her bottom lip, wondering, pondering whether she was mistaken or if that was one of the universal signs that the other person liked you. There wasn’t a whole lot of winking in the temple. When someone wanted to bed down with you in the temple, such as a spouse or something, you’d just get dragged into the room and shut the door. It was a quiet, reserved affair that just… happened.

Chiaki was struck, again, by how beautiful the other girls’ eyes were, and her hair as well. It might be a jutsu, and she might be just seeing things that the other girl wanted her to see, but she was gorgeous, and the surety in her movements, and her demeanor was, by no means, leaving her unaffected by the charisma that Kirari seemed to pour out of her.

Chiaki put her pack down and nodded, “I am a terribly experienced Chuunin, well, I think I am rather inexperienced in anything except the medical field if I am being honest-cha.” She took down her mask, a sign that she was relaxed, finally, and that she felt like her blushing was over. It wasn’t. In the brisk evening air, her blush was made all the more obvious by the last of the sun’s rays alighting on her face through a break in the leaves and pine needles surrounding them from the part coniferous part deciduous plant life surrounding their impromptu camp.

“I am” Chiaki smiled at the question, pulling her tent out and starting to set it up between the two trees, neatly unrolling her sleeping-mat and stuffing her clothing into her bag in a way that would form a make-shift pillow. She set her staff aside and continued with answering the question, “It’s uhm…” She moved her hands about in a non-commital hectic sort of movement and she sighed, a bit frustrated, “Frustrating, fun, stable, boring?” She looked up apologetically at Kirari.

“I know that I just contradicted myself like, four times-cha.” She shrugged and moved to pick up some of the dead branches from where she hoped to build a small fire, arranging them in a sort of pyramidal shape, “I guess you could say that it is nice to be around my cousins, second cousins, distant cousins, people who claim to be my cousins but probably aren’t, but it’s rather like living in a temple. It’s regulated, and there are certain times for certain rituals, you can’t speak to one another without honorifics, and everyone calls eachother brother and sister, even paired couples with those who weren’t born into the Kyoukan clan.” She sighed running a hand through her hair, pulling it toward her right shoulder, where it curled there over her collarbone. “I rather wish that I had someone who I could be closer to than them, unregimented, untamed, un-” She grasped for the word while striking the flint and lighting the tinder, “Un- un-regulated-cha?” She finally managed, setting the flint down, the fire still not going, “My staff, my tent, my robes, my mask, even my name are all the clan’s. I want something of my own, something wild, and beautiful, and lovely.”

[Sia]

The rainbow haired girl turned, doing something quite stupid with her body and eyeing the girl before her. "Hm." She hummed quite loudly and stared at her. "You should wear a skirt." She said after a moment making eye contact before accidentally holding it for a moment and turning away and she began to channel chakra. Her clothes shifted, forming into dark black leggings covered in a thin, thin layer of armor. She gave it some after thought, and shaped its style, color, and texture. She mixed it around and brought all the moths out of her body entirely, and filled in her gaps with more suiton quickly as the moths flew away.

They didn't do much to obscure view of Kirari, but it was always a nice thing either way. Her body healed, she felt the water envelop inside her. It flourished and brought insane ideas to fruition and she found herself laughing under her breath but not quite sure why. For some reason she could have sworn she had just seen someone with a red cloak turn invisible but then, kiriari blinked and it was actually one of her own moths, she hoped. "That would suck," she said out loud without thinking towards Chiaki. "You're right. We should eat too come to think of it."

She brought her arms around and gathered some moths into a fire, creating a pollen of fire to light the fish and wood as well as the pot of rice and vegetables, with a fair bit of spice, anise, and horseradish, and just a little bit of honey.

"Go on." She said finally and sat down to eat on the forest floor once all the setup was done and they were ready to eat then maybe, maybe sleep.

[Kanade]

She tilted her head as Kirari eyed her and made a humming noise. Chiaki pulled her robe more tightly around her, thinking that she had just accidentally flashed the girl something that wasn’t decent and blinked twice at the notion she should wear a skirt. "Do you think that it would suit me-cha?"

She had thought about it, dreamed about wearing some makeup, or a skirt, or even going out with some friends, which she didn’t have at the moment, and going shopping for something that was more flattering than her robes. When Kirari broke the eye contact she dressed herself in a thin layer of armor and leggings which Chiaki couldn’t help but eye, being more risque than anything she would wear, and having the confidence that Chaiki wished she had.

Then there was an explosion of color and wings as the moths escaped Kirari’s body, temporarily overloading Chiaki’s reaction as she tried to stare at one of them, but wasn’t able to with the multitude of moths that had erupted from the other girls’ body. She smiled at the small laugh that she only barely caught, but wasn’t able to hear.

“Eating sounds like a good idea-cha.” She agreed, and watched as the spices and ingredients were added to the pot. She took out a salt-cube from her backpack, roughly two inches on each side and broke off a corner, adding that ‘pinch’ of salt to the broth.

She looked up at the stars, which were steadily starting to wink into sight overhead and wondered aloud, “Do you ever feel like destiny throws the people you need into your life at the perfect time-cha?”

And with that thought hanging between them, she began to eat.

/end-of-chiaki thread. TBC in another thread/