Fastidious Meetings

[zory_alechiv]

Nighttime in Suna was one of Kat’s favorite times. In fact, the man often requested to be on duty then as it was when he believed his home to be the most beautiful. Dark, cloudless skies that twinkled like glitter from the stars, the clean, crisp air that refreshed the heat-worn skin and the silence that blanketed the village. It really was his favorite time.

Tonight though, the silence brought about a wave of trepidation. The redhead had seen a lot in his short, twenty-one years, most of it being in the years of the war and after. Getting a message to meet to help a Hizashi smuggle themselves into Suna made him pause. Had he been obvious in his mindset? As a prisoner of war, they’d attempted to rehabilitate him to be loyal to Iwa, and he was grateful he’d made his escape before it took, but he purposefully kept an appearance up that his loyalties were to this new occupation. Sure, he’d helped some enter Suna when whispers of a rebellion held no proof, but he hadn’t truly helped.

Now he had to wonder if this was a test.

It was a rare night he had off, the decision to attend this meeting firm in his mind. The Henrin ran a hand through his short, red hair before pulling a hood up over the bright locks. His black sclera roamed over the countryside before he darted out into the dark, remaining hidden as he travelled across the sands to the designated meeting place.

Was this a trap? Was this for the future?

Kat approached quietly, fingers twitching with anxiety. His muscles twitched, prepared to fight or flight should he need to. His eyes roamed everything he could see, looking for and memorizing everything around him.

[Nafan~]

The winds caught the edges of the well worn travel cloak covering Kougyoku's frame, grains of sand rolling over the coarse material. It was heavy duty, but the tattered corners spoke to its frequent use. A sturdy garment that had weathered a half decade of wandering and isolation. The passing of storms and relentless gaze of the sun were both endured by the Kougyoku's steadfast protection, but not without leaving their mark.

She stood silhouetted on the side of one of the shifting dunes of the great desert of the Wind Country. The orange sky melted slowly into the deep purples and darkness of a night scattered with stars. A few moments more and she would mark a new beginning. A return to her home, not in triumph, nor in mourning, but in grim determination. The ground work had been set. A few key and discreet letters to old contacts using code phrases she had not written in years had lead to a meeting. Her remaining allies and friends had suggested they knew a person that could be useful to ease her way back into the Village Hidden in the Sand.

She would need to maintain some level of discretion, at least for now. The situation in the village was obscured to her, as she had kept herself in deep isolation for years. She kept a plaid scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face, revealing only her eyes watching the rise and fall of the dunes in the last of the sunlight. She stood with the lazily setting sun behind her, as she stood below the dune's height to prevent from breaking the skyline and attracting attention. She had been given a reference for a location in the desert using the old map key used by Sunagakure shinobi by her contacts. Her asset would meet her here. The use of the code suggested they would also be a ninja familiar with Sunagakure's ways, at least as they had been before the collapse.

A figure crested the dunes she faced, and approached quickly. Kougyoku ensured her hood was pulled up and scarf pulled tight. The less her asset knew of her, the less they could reveal. It would be impossible, of course, to disguise her red eyes without the use of a transformation technique. She had decided against it, as some small manner of information would go to building the baseline foundation of trust that would be necessary for them to work together, even if only for a short time. Once the figure had approached, Kougyoku provided the first half of the passphrase she had been given, "A long day crawls to its end," and awaited the response.

[zory_alechiv]

As he approached the destination, a misshaped figure seemed to materialize out of the setting sun. It was wise to make him face the light, making the figure appear shapeless at fist. It wasn't until he got to the base of the dune and the sun disappearing behind another dune that the shape would begin to take on a more definitive form of a woman wearing a well-worn travel cloak. Spots danced before his vision and he blinked to clear them.

When he had been told, he had been confused as to why him. Was it a test by IWA or were they seeing if he could be trusted for Suna? He held no fear of Iwa. He would die being loyal but he understood discretion. As the spots cleared, he realized he couldn't see most of her features. A curvy shape, a plaid scarf and a cloak kept her more mysterious than his own cloak that covered up his red hair. He was taller than her, but not as much as he expected to be. He also knew that wouldn't matter. Power did not know size. The only thing he could define of her were her eyes and like him, they told him enough.

A Hizashi.

Her red eyes were as obvious as his solid black ones, the only color being two red rings where his irises should have been. Still, she did not hesitate to greet him in the way that he had been instructed.

"A long day crawls to its end."

"That's all right. The night is more alive and more richly colored than the day anyway," he answers softly, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he exhaled. he wasn't unfamiliar with code phrases. He had ran information during the war. He needed code phrases to deliver information. That in itself made him trust this more than he normally would have.

He didn't remove his hood, but he did clasp his hands behind his back. He'd swallow and make a show of looking over what he could. "You needed my help." He stated, as straightforward as always. "I could be limited."

[Nafan~]

The person that approached wore their own cloak, covering certain distinguishing features. But from the stance, the broad shoulders, and the voice, Kougyoku guessed that they were male. More interesting was his eyes, clearly displaying the doujutsu traits of the Henrin clan of Sunagakure. It was a sign from her contacts to send a member of one of the traditional families, another way to profess their loyalty.

"I could be limited."

The scarf and hood covering her facial features made no difference to the amount of change that could have been observed in response to the statement. Her outward serenity was impenetrable. Inwardly, her mind raced. Why had her allies sent an asset that was already compromised? Surely they would have done no such thing. Those eyes, while initially a sign of Sunagakure loyalty, were also a liability now. Kougyoku knew they recorded what they saw.

She had too little information to make a definitive assessment, and she cut her racing thoughts short. She would get more from this man.

"Report on the situation in the village and your changed circumstances." She commanded. While she spoke calmly and her voice was soft, it carried the force of certainty common to those accustomed to being obeyed. "We can consider things from there."

[zory_alechiv]

Kat focused on her scarlet eyes, the only feature he could see. Eyes were the window to knowledge, a fact he firmly believed in. Yet, he could read nothing from her lurid gaze. It was unsettling. His lips pursed in annoyance. He was ignorant of her.

"Report on the situation in the village and your changed circumstances. We can consider things from there."

Kat had no clue who she thought she was, or who he was, but he was no pushover either. Despite her eery calm, she spoke with authority. These people who had asked him to meet her...they had been Suna loyalists. Though there was paranoia in the back of his mind that told him to be cautious, he knew the time for caution had to come to an end if they were going to take Suna back. The redhead shifted before dropping his arms to his sides.

"Iwa has, of course, completely taken over. They speak of unity and a better Suna. On the surface, everything runs smooth. A lot of people in Suna have accepted Iwa's control. For those of us that have fought in the war, we're being watched. I report weekly to an Iwa Shinobi. He knows...most of my comings and goings and I have no doubt that he checks in from time to time. They put me on security. I watch people come into the village and out. He thinks I would tell him if someone harmful to Iwa's rule is inside. Personally, if anyone approached the gates and wanted to eliminate Iwa, I would turn my head if I could get by with it."

He paused and crossed his arms once again. "What else do you want to know?"

[Nafan~]

Kougyoku considered the man's brief report. She remained still, her body unmoving while her mind poured over the implications of what he had said. By the sounds of it, the man worked the gates often. But he was being watched, possibly had already been seen leaving the village if not followed to this very spot. It would be irritating to be noticed re-entering Sunagakure, which had been the entire point of this exercise. To send someone who was making regular reports to a supervisor from Iwagakure, and was knowingly being monitored, seemed either a grave oversight on the part of her allies or simply a demonstration of exactly how precarious the situation was.

There was, however, an opportunity even in this turn of events. There were certain plays that could only be made when you knew you were being watched. While it made her return more complicated, she could use even this man and his compromised position to her benefit. It had been many years since she had used her more cunning skills, but she had recently had a chance for a little warm-up on her visit to Konohagakure. It was time to shake off a little more rust.

"Thank you for the update. I hadn't known things were so dire." She began, laying the ground work for her scheme. "Your situation changes things. It is good that they trust you and have you on the gates, as this serves our purposes. But I need to be sure that the person you will assist will not be noticed entering the village. How sure are you that you can get someone in without them seeing?"

Kougyoku knew the man was being watched, and had no doubt that the Iwagakure shinobi were lying to him. It was not that they trusted him to work the gates, that would be foolish. It was far more likely that they watched him to detect exactly the kind of infiltration Kougyoku was attempting. Allow him the opportunity to think he was smuggling in supporters of Sunagakure, meanwhile marking each person he treated differently no matter how slight the difference. By providing this man with a decoy to escort within the village, he would draw Iwagakure's attention to that person. If Kougyoku entered at the same time but separately through the same gate, the Hidden Stone's eyes would be focussed elsewhere, and be more likely to follow the wrong mark.

This, of course, assumed he was telling the truth and those Henrin eyes were not recording the entire conversation to catch her out from the start. But if that were the case, the horse had already bolted. She could only play on the board as it had been set.

"We need to ensure that our person of interest is brought within the village entirely unnoticed."

[zory_alechiv]

“Trust?” He snorts softly and looks away. “I suppose it’s what it seems like,” Kat offers a shrug before turning back to look at her. “Mostly, they want to use my…talents to make sure everything is in it’s place. They don’t really have a choice but to listen to me when I tell them everything is normal. Either it is and we can continue on, or it isn’t and we’re attacked. If I somehow manage to survive, they’d target my family, my sisters. It’s more control than trust, but their illusion of control can be…exploited.”

Kat exhaled and looked back out over the dunes. He was good enough to know when he was being followed and he chalked it up to his parole officer not knowing exactly how his abilities worked. He had Suna memorized and when something was amiss, he knew it. Nothing was amiss here, he’d know if he’d been followed or if there were others around her. Genjutsu could be seen through.

“I can get them in. I can give them the pattern for them to get in without alerting the patrols. That is, if you don’t want anyone knowing they’re there at all. Or I can get them in right under their noses. It all depends on how you want to do this. I’d rather you do it when I am not on duty. It keeps me out from under their suspicion.”

There was another pause as Kat thought through the possibilities. She could be baiting him, but he didn’t think so. The men that had approached him to come here…they weren’t with Iwa, he’d bet his life on it. She was likely safe, but trust was a difficult thing nowadays.