[Closed] I don't want this

[Willoria]

It was a small island just off the coast of Kiri and was apparently a place that Kuro went to train. He had sent word to her home for Megumi to meet him there for their first session, after she had been properly healed up of course. After giving her time to heal "the old fashioned way" as punishment her mother had finally taken her to a medical ninja that healed her up well enough there wouldn't even be a scar left. But having finally healed up, that didn't mean Megumi was comfortable with this at all.

Truth be told, this felt more like a trap than a training session already and Megumi found herself pacing, sparing a glance here and there as she kept an eye out for Kuro. She wore her usual garb once again, her usual weapons, and eventually stopped her pacing to lean against a nearby tree with her arms crossed.

'Just have a bad feeling...'

[TyDie]

As he crossed the small stretch of water between the mainland and his little training island, he couldn't help but think "Would Megumi actually tell her mother if he didn't show?" After all, he doubted she wanted this any more than he did. Maybe they could work something out to fool her mom. But no, he sincerely doubted she'd want to go against her mother like this. After all, her mother was... harsh. And that was being nice about it. So reluctantly his boat landed on the island, and he stepped off onto land, making his way through the small wooded land to find the Aisu girl leaning on a tree.

"Huh. You're early. Earlier than me even. Are you so eager to meet with the outsider, or are you just that afraid of your mother?" Kuro stood in his full ninja attire, the only unobscured part of his body being the top of his head and one third of his face. His arms crossed in front of him, he awaited whatever the girl intended to say next... no doubt some smart ass statement about him being some kind of traitor, yadda yadda yadda.

[Willoria]

Megumi couldn't help a frown as Kuro approached her, but not because it was him, rather it was what he said. She couldn't blame him, given what had happened, but despite the appearances Megumi was required to put on due to family ties she wasn't normally a harsh person at all. If anything, her attacking Kuro was more about living up to expectations than her truest feelings on the matter. She sighed and turned to a small bag she had set on the ground by the tree, opening it up carefully and removing two small bento boxes and approaching Kuro, holding one out to him. "I'm here early because I never train on an empty stomach, and hate eating at the house with my mother looming over me." she said rather bluntly as she waited for him to take it.

Inside the box he'd find a small breakfast, it wasn't much, but it was something. There were what looked to be sushi rolls, though the meat looked not only cooked, but different. There were only four of them, along with a small rice cake. "I made yours with a cooked chicken I sweetened..." she explained. "I noticed what you were carrying at the market and figured you must not be a fan of fish." she added, watching him a moment for a reaction before moving back to lean against the tree and opening up her own box.

"I'm not afraid of my mother, and I'm not leery of you either." she told him, returning to his earlier remarks. "I'm probably the only person in this village who has successfully forced that woman to back off on bloodline shit... the first time she tried to engage me to a clan-mate, when I was fourteen."

[TyDie]

If ever there was a way to completely send him for a loop, Megumi's words and current disposition was the way to do it. She was almost an entirely different person in comparison to how she was the first day they met. The venom she spat at him that day was nowhere to be found, the rage she felt for him calmed to a simmer at most. She handed him a small bento box, and while he had already eaten, he accepted it with a slightly raised eyebrow, courtesy of Hideki.

"I'm not sure whether this is an apology, a gift, or an attempt at poisoning me... I suppose i'll trust that it isn't the last one at least. And I won't assume it's an apology either, after all you already paid for your mistakes. We're even in that regard. So I guess i'll take it as a gift." He concluded with a small bow of appreciation before taking a seat in the grass a few feet away from her. At first, he expected fish inside, and was prepared to eat around anything fish related. However he was even more shocked to see it was a kind of 'sushi roll' made with Chicken instead of fish. How had she noticed he hated fish so easily? "You're assumption is correct, I hate fish. The smell has always bothered me, and the taste is even worse. Living in a place like Kiri, I get exposed to it often enough, so it's refreshing to open a bento and not suffocate immediately."

He caught himself smiling ever so slightly underneath his mask, something she'd be hard pressed to notice. Removing the chop sticks, he took a moment to straighten his face before slipping one finger beneath his mask, pulling it down to hang around his neck and revealing his face. He also slipped his forehead protector up on to his forehead as the diagonal position of the cloth messed with his jaw while eating. This of course revealed his Doujutsu as well, something she hadn't gotten to see the other day, as her mother only removed his mask and headband when she was about to kick him out.

He then popped the first chicken roll into his mouth, taking a moment to chew and swallow before responding to her last statement. "Fourteen seems a bit young for a betrothal. Why so pushy? Fertility doesn't start decreasing until late 20s at the earliest, it's not like your clock is ticking."

[Willoria]

Megumi couldn't help a smirk as he admitted just how much he hated fish. "Well then, next time I'll just have to remember to slap you with a tuna or something instead of cutting your hair... I might have had better luck." she joked, opening her own bento box and taking out a piece of sushi to eat for herself. Of course, hers was still fish, a salmon roll with a little touch of cream cheese in it. Kuro's rolls were the exact same except that the fish was replaced with teryaki chicken cooked with a touch of sesame seed oil to make sure it both matched and countered the sweetness of the cream cheese appropriately. Megumi had been taught well in the arts of cooking, and it showed even in the simple bento she had prepared for both of them.

As he removed his headband and mask however, Megumi couldn't help but to stare for a moment. It wasn't the fact that she could see his face, but rather the doujutsu eye. She had heard so much about it, but never seen it and honestly it unnerved her. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she quickly turned her eyes back to her food and shrugged as the conversation turned to her mother's last attempts at betrothal.

"She seems eager to arrange it, it won't happen until I'm eighteen anyway." she said with a sigh. "I made her promise she wouldn't try again until she could find someone who at least wouldn't treat me like some kind of breeding animal." she added, pausing in her food a moment as she thought about the other day. "The day after you and I met she introduced me to her latest attempt... made me wait out healing as punishment and brought him by claiming he was there to be my nurse for a couple days while she dealt with clan issues and meetings..." she shook her head. "Not sure she even realized he had only very basic Iijutsu knowledge... but he was nice at least."

[TyDie]

He didn't miss her reaction to his face reveal, which of course was centered on his eye. However, he'd leave that topic for later, and for now he'd enjoy the food she prepared. And for something so simple... it was pretty damn good. "I dare say you're on par with Haruna in the kitchen, this is fantastic. I assume your mother taught you to cook so you could properly feed whomever you marry." It was a logical conclusion in his eyes. Her mom was so crazy about the matchmaking and a woman's place in that relationship, it seemed only natural she would teach her daughter to do the same.

He listened to what the girl had to say about the betrothal, and ultimately her relationship with her mother, all the while enjoying every bite of the food she had prepared for him. The treatment of the women in the Aisu clan could range anywhere from normal and loving to 'we're making babies and that's it', and that was a thing that always baffled Kuro. "The topic of betrothal always left a sour taste in my mouth. It was something I figured was required, but I never looked forward to it. I guess that's one of the blessings of my current status... I can be with whoever I want, as long as there's no halfbreed children born as a result. I wonder if there are any amongst the clan who envy that?"

The story about her recent betrothal was also rather interesting. Her mother had mentioned a recent betrothal, but to think that it went well despite his savage beating of her face... "I'm surprised he didn't leave upon seeing your face and figuring out who did it. It's good to see that his views of clan honor aren't so extreme as to sour his view of you based on our little spat. What's his name anyway? I don't want to end up roughing him up without knowing it, i'd hate to do to him what I did to you." It was clear that Kuro did have a level of guilt associated with what he did to Megumi, despite her deserving it. But she'd likely never hear him outright apologize for him; after all, he had said they were even earlier. That was the closest she'd get.

Finally, after taking a bite of the rice cake, he decided to address the Doujutsu... And the Kessenchu. "So lets talk for a moment about what you're seeing and what you saw. Whatever you want to ask, whatever you want to know, say it now. Better to get it out of the way now so we can focus on what's to come, eh?" He expected, once again, some kind of derogatory remarks about his dilution of the blood, or his reliance on other additions to his abilities... But he had been wrong once before already. Maybe he'd be wrong again.

[Willoria]

Megumi couldn't help a snort of laughter at the idea of her mother teaching her how to cook, which almost caused her to choke on one of her own rolls. She shook her head as she cleared her throat to speak again. "No, my mother can barely boil water I'm pretty sure." she replied. "I spent a lot of time following the slaves around growing up, I learned from them." she added, grinning still at the thought of her mother cooking. She had never seen the woman do so, and honestly the thought was more than a little amusing.

As Kuro spoke of his own situation, the fact that he was able to choose his own partner, Megumi didn't say anything. But the way she looked down into her own food was almost telling. She felt guilty for it, but she did envy him in that respect. She certainly liked Naohiro already which only added to her guilt. Some part of her already thought maybe he was the kind of man she would have chosen for herself, but she wasn't entirely sure they would have met if it weren't for her mother's work and the fact that she was pretty determined to marry her off to someone. "Hm?" She was brought out of her thoughts as Kuro suddenly asked about him and she chuckled. "Naohiro." she answered. "Believe me, he wasn't happy when he found out what happened, even I couldn't interrupt that rant..." She sighed, wishing she could say she had gotten him to understand but she hadn't even tried. Perhaps another time.

As she finished her food and set the empty bento box aside however, she wasn't expecting Kuro to suddenly bring up the very things the clan hated about him. Just telling her she could ask about it all left the hairs on the back of her neck standing. "I'm guessing those worms... the clan doesn't know about them do they." She remarked first, giving Kuro a serious look as she stood and stretched, leaning against the tree again. "My mother wouldn't have left it at throwing you onto the porch if she knew about those..."

[TyDie]

Kuro coughed for a moment as the girl proved his assumptions about her mother wrong, claiming that her mother was a horrible cook. That was the exact opposite of what he expected; someone so well known for the matchmaking of the clan, and one who had tried to marry her daughter off so many times... How could she not know hot to cook? "Wow... I guess that's good to know. If your mother is in the kitchen, I should remember to bring a mango for myself." He chuckled as he made his quip, popping the last chicken roll into his mouth and grabbing hold of the rice cake before shutting the bento.

He'd file away the name of her betrothed for later, just in case something came up later. Then she moved on to the topic of his worms, causing him to nod in thought a few moments, chewing a bite of rice before swallowing. "I was expecting you to ask about the more obvious one first." He pointed to his eye in reference, then continued. "But very well. No, they don't know about them. And if I have it my way, they never will. You aren't going to be a problem in that respect, are you?"

It felt odd to say the least, asking for secrecy from a girl who no doubt took issue with him and what he was, like most of the clan. However, the more time he spent with her, the more he felt she had been raised a certain way. A way that conflicted with her inherent nature. She had a curiosity to her, one that he was actually eager to satiate... assuming she could keep her mouth shut about it.

[Willoria]

Megumi looked at Kuro a moment after he asked his question and the girl simply sighed. "You know, you'd get along with clanmates better if you learned to ask nicely. You could have just asked if I was going to tell my mother, instead of trying to act like you're going to assassinate me." she commented, shaking her head. "I think we both know if you did that you really would be dead. Even if I would be too." She thought over the question of course before looking at him. "And you already know the answer to that. If I were planning to tell anyone, including my mother, I already would have. And I don't think we'd be standing here."

Megumi was rather naive, and with that came a lack of a regard for personal space. This became apparent when she walked over to Kuro and lifted his shirt a moment, looking where she had originally stabbed him. "It didn't even scar." she said in surprise. "Not a mark... or did you see an Iijutsu specialist?" she asked, looking up at him. "What were those things?" she couldn't help her curiosity, it was only getting worse.

"Can I see them again?"

[TyDie]

Kuro was a little taken aback by the girl's response regarding his attitude towards the clan, and what would happen if he actually tried to hurt her. She was right about that of course, but he learned not to trust the clan when it came to matters of secrecy. After all, the Hirohito were based almost entirely around blackmail and espionage. Secrets were what they dealt in, and if he could help it Kuro's secrets would stay his. "Just a precaution Megumi, I don't intend to assassinate you. If I had, you never would have made it back to your mother."

Before he could go on to speak about the Kessenchu, Megumi's lack of an understanding of personal space would progress the conversation. She lifted his shirt a moment, which earned only a quirked eyebrow from the normally paranoid assassin. Then bean the questions. "No, no Iijutsu. It's a bit scientific, but I could explain if you like." He assumed she would want the explanation, and of course he should have known she'd want another demonstration. But how best to do both? A bit of thought, followed by the metaphorical lightbulb shining above his head... He had the perfect idea.

With absolutely zero hesitation, Kuro's right hand rose up and ejected the blades from his gauntlet. Then, with a swift slash, he dismembered himself, cutting off his own left arm at the elbow.

He didn't scream, nor did he groan or cry. He didn't even flinch. The severed meat fell to the earth and blood poured from his stump, but it wouldn't for very long. A moment later, his arm seemed to stop bleeding entirely on it's own, and then she'd see them; thousands upon thousands of tiny little black worms, pressing themselves against the wound and becoming one with Kuro's body. Tightening that vein to stop bloodflow, patching this spot, fixing this nerve... And in the severed arm too, they worked diligently to fix everything in both sides. While all this transpired, he explained what she was seeing.

"The Kessenchu. That is their name. They're a colony of symbiotic bloodworms that feed off of creatures with especially high chakra. Naturally, Shinobi make the best candidates. In return for sustenance and a home, they provide their host with a wide array of healing properties. They can stimulate blood production, tourniquet veins, repair muscles, nerves, bones... In extreme cases, they can even reattach or regrow limbs." As he spoke, worms shot out from his severed arm and the still connected stump and met in the middle, wrapping around each other and pulling themselves close, thus raising the severed arm back into place. A few moments later, and the worms would completely close the wound that Kuro had created, and he proceeded to rotate his wrist and flex his fingers to show that it was fully functional again.

"I've tested them in various ways... Sliced my own carotid artery open. Broken my spine. Torn out my own stomach. There seems to be nothing beyond their skills. And as a side effect, my pain tolerance is far beyond human, which is why I hardly even noticed you stab me that day. Just now, when I severed my arm, it felt like a mosquito bite." Kuro's left arm was still covered in blood from all that just transpired, and the smell of iron soon filled the air as a result of that demonstration. A smell he had grown all too familiar with. "Very few people know of them. Hideki of course, alongside the chiton master Maido. They were the ones who performed the procedure, apparently Maido was needed because the Kessenchu had only successfully survived in one host here in Kiri, who himself was a Chiton master. Something about their blood, it contains more nutrients, or they produce more of it... either way, Maido had to supplement my own blood for the symbiosis to take. And then of course Haruna knows, my father knows, and Mai and Yuri both know. Your only the 5th person I've willingly told."

"willing" wasn't quite the proper word; he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, since she saw them first hand. But that was a minor detail.

[Willoria]

She was expecting an explanation, simple or no she wasn't sure what it would be. But what Megumi wasn't expecting was for the man to simply slice off his arm right in front of her. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise but she didn't freak out, she simply watched in interest as he sliced off his arm with almost no sign of pain and his arm hit the ground. She even bent to pick it up, turning it so she could look at the point where it was severed. She watched the worms in it as they began to work, and listened as Kuro explained it all. As the worms suddenly reached out to one another however, and yanked the severed limb out of Megumi's hands, the girl let out a loud, "Meep!" Visibly jumping as the limb was reattached and she stared in wonder as Kuro was even able to quickly flex the fingers and wrist of that hand.

Almost immediately she was right next to him, one hand taking his and turning his arm to stare at the point where it all reconnected and her fingers ran over the line even as it began to vanish before her eyes. "My mother would definitely want you dead for this... she'd see it as a pollution of the blood but..." she shook her head. "It's fascinating." she added, looking up at him as he continued speaking.

"Ryoga?" She asked suddenly as Kuro mentioned the Kessenchu's previous host as a 'chiton master'. "Kazuki Ryoga... the former Overseer of the Seven?" she asked, stunned. "I... He... He comes up in almost every scroll I've studied on Chiton and... and these were in him?"

[TyDie]

Kuro was quite intrigued by the woman's fascination with the Kessenchu. It wasn't common for anyone to take such an interest aside from Hideki, Maido and himself, yet she was so curious she even went as far as to pick up his severed arm. Of course, that lead to her shocked squeek, which even Kuro couldn't help but chuckle at. Her eyes were fixated on them as they worked, inspecting his arm as it was put back together, the intrigue practically oozing off of her. "Indeed she would... Which is precisely why she can't know. The clan can hate me all they want, but if they knew that my children carried blood that was tainted by these symbiotes... They'd be lucky if they weren't euthanized."

It was a thought that hadn't crossed his mind before the surgery. So fixated on progress and improvement was he that the future ramifications of his actions were lost on him. Between the clan already despising him and his choice to be with Haruna, seen as another failure to the clan, there was ample reason to hate him. But this... this would make things so much worse. His demeanor shifted slightly as these thoughts went through his mind, becoming a bit more distant as his mind caught up with him and his decision to reveal all of this to a woman who hated him only a few weeks ago. If she wanted to ruin his life, she now had everything she needed.

The woman's mention of the former Overseer caught his attention, bringing him out of his minor stupor. "The very same. He was one of the greatest Chiton users out of the past hundred years, and Hideki put the very same worms in him about 5 years ago. He died only year after receiving them, protecting his family if I recall correctly, and miraculously Hideki was able to recover the queen from his corpse. I caught wind of this and sought them out for myself... And here I am." "Here we are..."

A small shake of his head was the only sign he gave of the female voice in his head.

[Willoria]

As Kuro explained it all to Megumi, the girl's mind was reeling. Her hands were still on his arm, running over what had been the wound but now wasn't even a scar. She could almost feel the worms moving under her fingers though she knew of course that was just a trick her mind was playing on her. But as Kuro mentioned his children and later mentioned a queen, the girl shook her head. "Just because you have the worms doesn't mean they would." she mused aloud, not even looking at Kuro to watch for a reaction but rather still inspecting his arm. "If they have a queen then they operate similar to bees. Probably only males in the colony with the queen at the head of them, any other females would be deemed a threat and ended. Sure some of her children might initially be a part of your children but only in the womb and I can't imagine they would survive in a body without their queen." Megumi shook her head. "No I don't think you'd have to worry about that."

She stopped what she was doing finally, one hand going to rest on her hip and the other tapping on her own lips as she thought it over. "I suppose its possible for them to expand to another human being, if the queen chose to let a female live and go on to another host body. But the way humans reproduce wouldn't be ideal for it. The queen would have to know exactly which sperm to leave the female in to become that baby but given how many sperm in a single..." Megumi trailed off with a blush as she seemed to realize what she doing. She was rambling on about reproductive information and science that she couldn't confirm, and she doubted Kuro was all that interested in it.

"Sorry." she finally mumbled with an embarrassed chuckle.

[TyDie]

Kuro stood, head tilted slightly in minor shock as Megumi went on and on about the worms, citing various scientific facts about human birth and the known behaviors of other hiveminded creatures. It was entrancing to say the least, he was completely silent, staring at her as if she was from another planet. And suddenly she stopped herself, clearly embarrassed by her sudden leaps into the investigative world. This brought Kuro from his stupor, and all he could do was laugh and shake his head, a silly grin on his face. "You would share a great conversation with Hideki. You two think on the same level."

It was clearly a compliment coming from Kuro; he held a great deal of respect for his former master, the man who turned him into what he was today. An affront to the clan no doubt, but as far as Hideki was concerned it was an evolutionary step in the methods of shinobi combat. And as far as Kuro was concerned, it was exactly what he needed to become a successful shinobi. Giving such a compliment to Megumi was actually a very high reverence from the Aisu Assassin; This was the first time he had ever said such a thing, for in his mind, there was -no one- in Kiri who came close to matching Hideki's mind. Well, at least, no one until now.

He began checking his equipment over, knowing full well that they were about to get into the nitty gritty of it. "I walked into this hesitant and resentful Megumi. Take pride in knowing that you've at least gotten me back to a neutral opinion of you. No small feat given the events of that day."

[Willoria]

Megumi blushed deeply as Kuro seemed to compare her to Hideki. Of course she had heard of the man, scientist and bannin. His methods may've seemed questionable to those outside of Kiri, perhaps even some within, but he was well known to be brilliant. Being compared to him was certainly beyond a compliment. "I-I doubt he'd waste his time with me." she admitted, stammering. She was far beneath the man in talent and intelligence, even if she could understand perhaps some of his sciences she doubted he'd sit down and have a conversation with her. It wasn't exactly something he was known for.

She watched as Kuro started to look over his gear and the girl found herself almost disappointed. Sure she was supposed to be out here training with him but right now there were things she found far more interesting. "But you haven't told me about your eye yet." she mentioned, frowning slightly. While she was glad to know she was on neutral ground with the man before her again, she was also still stuck on the scientific side of things. He had explained his ability to heal, but nothing about his eye. It was still a mystery to her, and the most obvious of the changes he'd had made to himself. What was it that made it so worth cutting himself off from the clan for?

[TyDie]

Kuro chuckled at her obvious embarrassment, shaking his head as he continued to check his gear in preparation. He wasn't kidding though, in a few years time he could see her being an active participant of the SRI. And that was only further proven by her next question, aimed at his eye this time. She seemed pretty sad too, she really wanted to hear about it. He knew she should be training, but he wanted to sate her curiosity. "Fiiine, i'll explain the Hyouteki..." He paused a moment before channeling chakra to his eye, activating his thermal vision so that he could see the heat emitting from Megumi's body.

"The Hyouteki works by altering my perception of light. Normally, humans can only see a very very small percentage of light, which we call 'visible light'. This light is broken up into 7 colors... You know, the rainbow. On the other side of violet, you have the ultraviolet spectrum. And on the other side of red you have the infrared spectrum. These different kinds of light can enable one to see things in a much different way. For example, right now I can see the heat waves coming off of your body. In contrast to the surrounding area, you stick out like a sore thumb. I could even see you through something like mist, which of course i'm skilled in using. Imagine being able to see your opponent through an obscuring fog that they cannot see through, then firing arrows that are rendered silent through the use of ninjutsu... And that's just one of my many tactics involving the Hyouteki."

His explanation was long, but he felt that he had to explain it in detail to do it any justice. "So... see why I wanted it yet? Maybe sometime I'll tell you what lead me to come up with it." Of course, Hideki developed the serum that enabled it's creation, but it was Kuro who actually came up with the idea for the Hyouteki. He wondered how that realization would hit Megumi. To know that it wasn't just him being Hideki's experiment, as the clan believed.

[Willoria]

Megumi noticed that Kuro seemed almost annoyed in telling her about his eye, it was clear he much preferred physical training over verbal instruction. But Megumi couldn't help her interest, and the fact that he was willing to talk about it had her all the more fascinated. As he channeled chakra to his eye and went on to explain at least one aspect of what it could do to Megumi, the girl had to resist the urge to step so close to him as to be in his face and looking it over. She stood where she had been, hands behind her back and clasped just to keep herself where she was. Though she still bounced back and forth between her heels and the balls of her feet in her own impatience.

"You came up with that?" she asked suddenly as he wrapped up his information. "I thought Hideki did that to you and you just went along with it?" she added, her head tilted slightly in her own curiosity. "Why wouldn't you speak up if people are wrong about its origins? Wouldn't that make the eye more acceptable to other clan members?" she asked, pursing her lips in thought. "I mean, I know they're against any change of the blood or our bodies, but wouldn't they be less upset if they knew this came from your own mind rather than that of an outsider?"

[TyDie]

Kuro was shocked that more people didn't know this, but then again he wasn't very open about the topic, especially not with the Aisu. "The concept was my own musing, but of course I was unable to create such a serum. No doubt Hideki could have done the entire thing himself, I just happened to have a moment of brilliance. But make no mistake, he made the serum itself, I basically just had an idea." He was half modest, and half truthful. He really didn't believe he -deserved- any of the credit for just thinking it up, especially since in reality it was no doubt something Hideki had probably thought up and cast aside at one point. There were fer thoughts that hadn't gone through that man's head at one point or another.

But her next question was a bit more interesting, and it took him a little longer to think up an answer. He didn't want to sound too bitter around Megumi, being the daughter of a clan matchmaker and having her own thoughts on purity and such, but she had been understanding thus far... He breathed a small sigh and crossed his arms before looking at her and responding. "It wouldn't matter. Hell, it might even be worse that way. At least if they think Hideki did it all I was just his pawn, but if they thought I came up with it... that I wanted it... I don't think I need to spell it out beyond that."

His arms fell to his side and he walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it before slowly sliding down to a sitting position on the damp earth. "There is no such thing as evolution to the Aisu, Megumi. They don't believe in advancing themselves beyond their simple ways. 'Clan Purity' is just another way of saying 'refusal to improve'. It's funny to me actually... So many of our clan are ninja, so many go through the academy, and yet they all forget one of the most important codes." His eyes looked up at Megumi as he covered the Hyouteki with his headband again, tucking it away from view.

"A ninja's duty is to become the best at what the ninja does, willing to sacrifice anything to accomplish this goal." He paused a moment, letting the code hang in the air before breathing another small sigh and speaking, mostly to himself, though Megumi would hear him clearly. "They all say those words, but none of them is ever really willing to sacrifice..."

[Willoria]

Megumi had never had a reason to hate the clan before, but as Kuro spoke she found a new emotion rising in her chest concerning the clan. She was seriously disappointed. She knew how they were against change, against people like Kuro, and growing up it had all made sense to her. But as Kuro quoted the ninja code of conduct at her, she couldn't help but to feel he was right. At least in this respect, the clan was only standing against something that could be a help to them. It wasn't a change, but rather it was an evolution, and one that would probably bring strength to their blood that no one could deny. Yet their clan did. "So many of them are wrong about you aren't they?" she remarked, turning to look at him.

She walked over and knelt in front of him as he leaned against the tree and the girl reached out to touch the side of his face. He may have hidden the Hyouteki, but now she knew what lay behind his headband, and that was the side of his face she touched. She wasn't sure how to say what came to her mind, but she wanted him to know she understood, even it was something she couldn't say in front of anyone even once. For a flicker of a moment she thought about kissing him, but in the end her hand left the side of his face and touched one of his hands.

She let the touch linger a moment, perhaps longer than she should, but didn't speak until her hand was removed. "I should head home, my Mother is going to wonder why I was gone so much longer than planned." she remarked, shifting back to sit on her feet as she admitted it. "I'll just tell her we trained longer than we intended?"

[TyDie]

Kuro sat on the ground staring down at his own feet for a while, his feelings about the clan welling up despite him trying to push them down. He didn't let them hit critical mass, they wouldn't explode out of him, but he couldn't ignore their presence like he normally could. This was the first time he had told anyone how he felt about the clan and their practices, even Haruna did not know that in his mind, he felt as though he had given more of himself than any other Aisu in the name of the village. It was the first time he had ever said these things out loud, and to the daughter of one of the most influential matchmakers in the entire clan.

Yet she actually seemed to understand... She might not have held the same beliefs he held, but she understood why he felt the way he felt. The way she touched his face, on the half of his face that the clan would rather spit on then touch. The way she spoke to him, softly and sympathetically as she finally realized his reasons. She would likely never say the words to his face, even she had appearances to maintain, but he could see it in her eyes. She would never have to say it. His own eye softened as she did all these things, a momentary drop in his guard as he allowed himself to feel normal in the face of a clan member other than Haruna.

And just as soon as all these things had happened, they were gone the moment she let took her hand off of his face. His demeanor returned to normal, his eyes sharpened, and his training kicked back in. And speaking of training, he had almost forgotten that they were supposed to be doing that. For a second he scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Right... Tell her we trained your physical endurance with some running and basic training, no fighting yet. That's why you're not bruised. Next time we meet, you'll be training two times as hard." Finally he stood from his seat on the earth and moved towards the boat he had taken to this island, clearly preparing to disembark back to Kiri.

"And next time I won't let you distract me from my duties. I owe this to you and your mother, and I intend to make good on it." It was clear that he bore her no animosity for 'distracting' him, he spoke with a soft chuckle and a clear smirk on his face. And speaking of that, he finally brought his mask back up over his face, donning his usual appearance before hopping in the boat. But then he noticed... there was no second boat. "...Did you really walk out here? You dumbass... Get on." He laughed at the sky as he realized what she had done before motioning her towards his little dingy.

[Willoria]

Honestly Megumi's original plan had been to save the information for later, to brag to Kuro about how she had used the water walking technique to get to their island training destination. As he turned back to his boat and prepared to leave, she simply remained back and watched him for a moment, wondering if he'd realize there was only one boat. She walked towards him slowly as he climbed into his boat and the girl remained stoic, at least until she saw that initial flicker of confusion on his face. She grinned fully and laughed as he called her names over it. "Hey, I thought you'd be impressed!" she countered as she laughed, walking over and climbing into the boat with him.

"At least now you know my initial reason for trying to get you talking... I needed to recover after that." she informed him, sitting down heavily on one of the benches of the small boat. "It honestly seemed like a much better idea when I started out than when I actually did it..." she added with a laugh, her own slight exhaustion still showing in her eyes as she finally admitted the silly thing she'd done.