A decision: to kill or not to kill!

[Kanade]

Chiaki stared blankly at the paper, she had read the words a couple hundred times by now and they still rang hollow in her as she looked about her and sighed.

'urgent mission: Kill a rogue shinobi who has been running around the country-side and murdering wantonly. Rank: unknown, kumogakure defector, wears mask and headband openly on his head, always claims it is in the name of the emperor of lightning. Open mission.'

She hadn't taken the mission, but it had been given to her and another four to five squadrons of Kumogakure no Sato. She was put on patrol and had copied down the mission with a message to Hibana and... Airon? asking for the help of both of the ninja that she had teamed up with for the dam, and not only this, but also to figure out whether or not they could do a mission that didn't involve building bridges or dams together. Perhaps one of her friends had a proclivity for assassinations, because Chiaki-.

She read over the mission again and her stomach turned once more on itself. She couldn't bring herself to end someone else's life, much less drag a body back to the Raikage to prove that she had. She waited and looked around anxiously at the spot that she had designated on the map she drew, it was where Hibana and she had clashed before, and where she had been thoroughly trampled with her jutsu. Chiaki was decked out in her battle gear, including gi, her pack, her healing supplies, and her staff. She had her mask up and her hair put into a tight bun on the back of her head, not a strand out of place.

She sighed and passed her eyes, yet again, over the piece of paper, and the sinking feeling intensified as the minutes rolled by.

[Suitonic]

Airon had arrived on the shore of Kaminari no Kuni not long ago by boat. For the last two months he had been in Frost Country tracking down some leads on Hibana’s past, when he received the letter from his partner. She was currently indisposed in Waterfall Country so she asked him to join the mission they received instead. The Jashinist stopped near a pond to reflect and pray to the God he was forced to serve. Praying made him think of his brother and sister. Forced to leave them to be raised in Sunagakure after defecting with Hibana was one of the hardest things he’s had to do. Taking missions like this made it easier, took his mind off it, and it allowed him to send ryo back to his family. It’s been a few years since he’d seen them…and today was especially difficult to be away for some reason. Maybe perhaps it was because the very mission he was embarking on, was capturing some sort of rogue shinobi. He chuckled to himself, 'to those in Sungakure, I am that rogue shinobi.' All because he didn’t want to see Hibana hurt.

Airon tried to push the thoughts aside and gathered his items before standing up to continue on his journey. He was always bad at praying, too many thoughts rustling around in his head. ‘Now, I have to figure out where the hell this spot Hibana was talking about is.’ She always had the proclivity for hard-to-find areas. It made sense, she never wanted people to know she was an Aisu, so it was only natural her training spots were hard to find. He didn’t really have a sense of direction either despite owning a compass. No matter, he would deal with it all as it came. From the shore Airon headed deeper into the countryside which lead him to a dense forest. It reminded him of the forests he saw in Pebble, but the air smelled different.

Upon Airon’s head he wore his black hat which rests upon his white hair. His body adorned with his combat cargo pants and black jacket. Underneath his jacket you would see several layers of Airon’s clothing. He wears a black sleeveless flak jacket that had straps on the shoulders as well as buttons all the way down the center of it. Underneath the vest he wore two separate shirts. One was a long-sleeved black t-shirt that showed the obvious dirt of his travels. As much as he tried to keep it clean it seemed impossible. Airon wears black cargo pants with several pockets on both sides. Across his chest was the strap that held “Alheri”, one of the best weapons a shinobi could ask for. Two katana’s sheathed into a larger axe. He was proficient with single blade, dual blade’s and a large, bladed weapon like an axe.

As he traveled through the dense forest a strange sound reached his ears. The sound was falling water. Airon’s curiosity was peaked wondering where the running water was coming from so deep in the countryside. He followed the sound as it got louder. Although the sound was still far, he came across a rather barren but mountainous path. It was a start and Airon began to follow and climb up the mountain. As he climbed and made his way through the ridge and to the ledge, he noticed the mist filling the air. What he saw next brought a smile to his face.

Water, a small lake and the shinobi he was there to meet: Kyoukan, Chiaki. He briefly looked the woman up & down as he approached and sized her up in his head. 'Cloud shinobi & chuunin level. A decent fighter, but a very strong medic, according to Hibana anyway.' Generally, he trusted his partners judgement. However, he wanted to see for himself, this girl who managed to paralyze half of Habana’s body, what she was capable of. Airon isn’t much the type for partners, but when he does have one, he prefers them to be medical-nin as it augments his abilities in a fight. Most didn’t even know the young man was immortal, that he couldn’t be killed…even if he was parted from his head. And while the injuries wouldn’t kill him, they would slow him down. Having a medic-nin nearby would certainly help cut down the time he was out of a fight. But it didn’t matter, his immortality always gave him an advantage, assuming he didn’t give up the information he was immortal. That was one thing that he didn’t plan on giving up during this trip. As he approached the young kumogakure ninja, he wouldn’t utter a word, not wanting to yet break the silence of this quiet location.

About one minute would pass as Airon grew more and more confused. He wasn't sure if she was testing him, or in competition to see who could ignore the other for longer. Not wanting to be beat, he sat there, in silence for minutes. After about ten minutes of him staring at the back of her head, he started to wonder if she even knew he was there. No matter, he was not going to lose this fight, not right after meeting her. An hour passed, Airon continued to stare at the back of her head with beady eyes as he began to sweat. She was either the most oblivious ninja he'd ever met, or she was a master of deception. Even he couldn't tell if she was aware of his presence. He decided to concede this battle of wits that he was sure she was participating in, and gave a prompt "Ahem."

[Kanade]

Chiaki continued to meditate, well, she tried to continue to meditate that was. There wasn't much meditation to be done when she was stressing over how she was going to kill someone who she didn't know the location of, and whether or not this would go against every fiber of her being. Her relaxed visage belied none of the turmoil that she was experiencing from the inner struggle that she was enduring for the whole of her inner-conscience.

She jumped, almost out of her skin, certainly straight up at least four feet when she was interrupted in her inner conflict by the conscious clearing of his throat. She had expected for it to be Hibana, so the male voice was completely alien to her, she had only met Airon once and she didn't even think that she had said three words to him. She was more in line with Hibana's way of thinking, and from what she remembered, Airon had his head reattached once or twice? That wasn't something that an ordinary person would be able to survive.

Rearranging her gi so that she was decent, and also so that she looked presentable, she cleared her throat, "I see that my missive was received, but where's Hibana-chan?" she looked around Airon to make sure that, indeed, he was alone and hadn't brought along his medic. "Am I supposed to be providing you medical services while you complete-er, well here it is-cha." She pulled out the document and handed it over to Airon hastily, as if she were handling a live adder that was spitting venom and hissing at her. She did not enjoy the paper, nor the assignment that came from it, but had elected to give it her best shot since it was her sworn duty. Why not try to involve some of her companions, compatriots, or comrades in this wild fowl chase?

"Have to find them first, and then k-" She gulped and sighed, "And then euthanize them for the common well-fare of the entire country-cha." She looked down at her feet and kicked a loose stone which bounded off a scant few inches before resettling with the dirty side up, an addled ant waving its antennae in frustration as it climbed down the rock, whose underside was now exposed. Almost as exposed as Chiaki felt, standing there, staring at the ground, rather than the shinobi in front of her.

[Suitonic]

Airon responded back to the medical kunoichi. "Well, Hibana is currently unavailable. She's following up on some mission in the minor countries. She didn't say much before she left." Airon sighed, while he was sure she was alright, he couldn't help but get an eerie feeling about the whole thing. All he knew was that she was looking for someone to make her stronger. Airon nodded to her question regarding medical services. "Yes, medical services and any auxillary combat support you can provide. Hibana said you're strong." Airon adjusted his shoulder strap containing his weapon Alheri. "She's not usually wrong about these things, and I hope that proves to be the case now."

As he finished his sentence he noticed a sort of apprehension from the Lightning-nin. Noticing what seemed to be nervousness he responded: "You have killed before...right? I don't need you hesitating out there." Airon looked down at the paper she handed him. "Who's this target anyway? I know Kumogakure is pretty big but, did you know the guy?"

[Kanade]

Chiaki blanched, and then blushed as she received praise from the absent Hibana, she wondered exactly how strong Hibana had said that she was. She, being a far cry from strong, hoped to make a good impression.

"I didn't know the guy, it's some guy named Hano Susumu. He apparently uses Raiton, and is rather a stickler for a clean kill. He takes his time in interrogations though, if he manages to catch you." She chewed her bottom lip and wondered if there was any other way to get what she needed out of this situation. Deciding that was a no, she just moved on.

"I've...." She shook her head, "I've never killed before, which is why I was asking for some help on the mission." She gripped her staff and drew a couple of cats in the dirt as she spoke, "I've really never been given a mission like this before, and I thought you could help me out with it and perhaps, I don't know, help me with... disposing of him."