To Protect a Lie

[Golnax]

Shiun Kinoko was wandering around in the mist that smothered the village it was named after. She was alone, as she had wanted to be, and stepping down the cobble stone streets of the merchant district, the one part of Kirigakure that she and the other members of the Pilot Program were allowed to go to unsupervised. The outer layer of the village was too dangerous for young samurai like themselves to go without a constant escort, they'd been told, and the inner walls were reserved for strictly guided tours. So the merchant district had been where Shiun and the others had spent most of their time during this visit to the village hidden in the mist and for most of them it was probably like all of the other ninja villages they'd been to if not a bit more strict.

But for Shiun this village was different. The young akibushi couldn't quite explain it to anyone but being here, walking these streets, through this cold mist, passing by people as they went about their daily lives... Kirigakure was special to her, because this was the home to Aimi Kaguya. At one point in time anyways. Years before she was born he had been there, perhaps right where she was standing even! She looked around at the small shops with walls pressed almost right up against one another, some alleys so narrow that a person would need to stand sideways to move through them. She tried to imagine the man she had idolized living here, existing here, tried to picture what he must have done to pass the time, but...

She just couldn't. Everywhere she looked she imagined a ghost of Aimi Kaguya but it was like a distorted perversion of the man in her head. She'd seen him only once in her life and she could still remember so clearly what he'd been like! All of her clansman surrounding him, he looked so warm as though the light of the day radiated off of him! He'd looked like he held all the answers in the world and though she couldn't hear him that day she saw him speaking to others. She always imagined he held the secrets to happiness inside of him and was giving them away for free because of how happy it made the other Kinoko to speak with him! But she couldn't picture such a man living here. The mist was cold and overbearing, thin in some places but thick in others. The walls were high on either side of this ringed layer of the village, so high in fact that it seemed the sun could barely impart it's light into this place. Walking the cold streets she felt cramped, claustrophobic. No one was interacting with her - they barely gave her a look! At least a look that didn't feel hostile in some way like a thinly veiled threat of violence held right behind the eyes.

Everywhere she looked she imagined the ghost of a man she idolized but did not know, walking through the village that had once been his home and she could not fathom how such a man could have ever lived there. If he were there right now, would he look at her the same way these other villagers did? The purple capped samurai shivered in the mist and reached up to rub a hand over her bare triceps. Kirigakure was not like the other ninja villages that they'd been to, that much was abundantly clear just from walking around. For her this place generated deeply intense feelings of melancholy and she didn't understand why exactly. If only she had someone to talk to, to ask questions, to get to know a little better. All of the ninja were a little different from one another in their villages, and she'd learned so much about how ninjas actually lived their lives and went about their duties!

But what of Kirigakure shinobi? What were they really like, and, in this place, would she be able to find an abundance of answers about her idol where in every other village it had been sparce?

[Mre-face]

It was a rather special day yet at the same time it would be ordinary for Mondai as he would just do his normal duties with a special cavitate to keep his eyes on the heart samurai doing some kind of visiting program and water country and kirigakure was on that list, it felt strange that this was happening as it wasn't long ago at all that that they considered each other enemies particularly Mondai who had even went on a special mission with his closest friend and dagger fighting and sabotaging the supply lines making it difficult for the heart samurai to advance.

So seeing as how he was successful in doing so then turning around and almost pretending that they were friendly felt odd for him, especially for Kirigakure but that wasn't the point to day he would treat his visitors with respect even if he didn't really want to. if it was up to him this whole ordeal wouldn't have happened and Mondai could just do his duties and stay in his room

Mondai woke up earlier than usual not unpurpose but I suppose the day felt unique enough that his body decided that he didn't need to sleep as long as he usually did, Mondai prepared a healthy enough breakfast to start his day which he didn't bother doing most of the time, before continuing on with his usual routines checking if he had received any orders or had any particular duties seeing as he had nothing going on his mother and sister left for the merchant district not only to work but being interested in seeing their hearty visitors

Mondai didn't really want to go along at all but he was dragged by his sister as she usually had to when he just wanted to do or be nothing. Lurking in his room alone trapped in his thoughts.

It was basically inevitable that he would come along so he sent a message to Yuuto to come along with him if he was up for it but Mondai perfectly understood if he didn't he likely had noble duties to adhere to or maybe he didn't seeing he was the son of one of the most prodigious shinobi of kirigakure.

After what felt like an eternity Mondai finally arrived and helped out the store as he did whenever he bothered to go outside after helping out and making sure everything was as sellable and clean as possible. Mondai mostly helped via his smaller celebrity status and money but having boots on the ground was useful as well.

After some time the seventh swordsman of the mist decided it was time to potentially wander around with his dagger Yuuto if he did receive his message and decided to come along. However, before that, he would take a small break lighting up a cigarette for relief. Mondai tried as if he didn't try at all to spot his visitors keeping his head down while leaning against their small store trying to figure out what he could do.

He didn't really have any duties and he sure didn't want to just go home now that he had bothered to go here so Mondai felt oddly trapped at this moment. Maybe he should interact with the heart samurai and get to know them when they aren't trying to kill each other maybe they could find some common ground.

[Golnax]

Emerging from the mist was Shiun, walking down the streets and heading to nowhere in particular, lost in thought. As she absentmindedly looked around she happened to see a young man, taller than she was by quite a bit but darker in skin tone than most which caught her eye. Aside from her fellow Kinoko (who were young enough to still have visible skin anyway) and a couple of others, she hadn't seen many who had darker skin like her in her travels. She stopped, looking at the man as he smoked his cigarette for a moment, turned away, took a step forward, stopped, considered. She looked at him again looked for any identifying markers of being a shinobi and saw none. None that she would recognize, anyways. No headband. No uniform. Just a man smoking.

She turned and considered walking away again but once more stopped. He didn't look like a ninja, but maybe he could point her in the direction of some? There had to be some in this layer of the village, right? They wouldn't all be cooped up in the middle ring where she wasn't allowed to venture, right? Turning to the man fully, Shiun walked over towards him, heart pounding in her chest. Oh, Kirigakure sure was different from all of the rest all right. She hadn't been anywhere else where just walking up to someone gave her an apprehensive feeling of some vague danger... or perhaps that was just her own anxiety pressing it's foot down on her chest. Either way, what was the worst that could happen by asking a simple question?

... As she asked herself that, she imagined that the worst thing would be that she was attacked and assaulted violently. Kirigakure had a reputation, after all, even someone as young as her had heard about it while travelling around. She told herself though that she'd be fine - she was a samurai, after all! She could handle herself. And besides a shinobi wouldn't just attack a random child, visiting from a country that was trying to make peace with an enemy, right...?

... Right?

"Uhm, excuse me," Shiun spoke up, stopping about a meter away from the smoking man. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find some ninja in this... ring, would you?" the purple mushroom capped Kinoko asked, specifically using the word 'ring' because she assumed that the layout of the village would naturally lead others to call it as such. Rookie mistake on her part, but to be fair, she was a rookie.

[Mre-face]

Leaning against the shop gave Mondai some time to think but it wasn't something he really enjoyed doing, in fact, what did Mondai enjoy doing? Even though he didn't know as he looked into the misty crowd Mondai felt as though every person had a much larger purpose than him. While Mondai was on the higher of totem poles he was still an untouchable turned shinobi. So while he was at the higher point within the caste and was actively climbing because of his elite position as seven swordsmen yet despite all that, despite all of his accomplishments and accolades and all of the climbing and clawing he did for even a crumb of the life of those who were born in a better caste then him.

Everyone else seemed much happier even if they were "lower" in the food chain they just seemed like they knew what they were doing and were happy doing it. So his finding of a lack of enjoyment in anything at all confused him he tried to look for a reason but every answer didn't seem to satisfy. As he took a puff a peculiar-looking child emerged from the mist her skin dark like his and with a massive strange purple mushroom cap growing out of her head it was clear that this child was a product of heart but to some degree, she looked like him, no she reminded him of his sister barring the mushroom of course.

She approached him with an uncertainty before eventually mustering up the courage to say what she wanted to say. He didn't quite understand why but she was clearly a fish out of water.

Mondai answered her initial question with a rather laidback sounding. "Yeah?" the took another puff as she asked. She asked him if he could direct him to any shinobi with this ring? While it wasn't technically incorrect Mondai had never heard that before she obviously meant district but little did she know she was looking directly at one. Maybe it was part of the reason why they were here possibly being asked around to learn about the shinobi of kirigakure or maybe she was just curious either way she had a rather lucky guess in asking him. Which made him realize how "unshinobi like" he looked.

"Ya mean this district? Yea' yer looking at one... " His more rougher speak made it a lot more apparent that he wasn't from her clearly he didn't speak as cleanly so it likely came across as more intimidating then intended but it was genuine after a brief pause and taking another puff Mondai just had one simple question to ask. "Why?"

[Golnax]

Shiun felt a chill run up her spine, for some reason, as the man confirmed that he was a Kiri shinobi! She hadn't even realized - and for some reason that was spooky to her! Oh, sure, she'd already met plenty of ninja who wore casual clothing when they'd met, so it wasn't like she was expecting him to be in a dark blue full body suit with just his eyes visible and headband displayed over his forehead or anything, no, but there was something about the gruffness of his voice, the reputation that Kirigakure had and the fact that she'd accidentally bumped into just what she was seeking have her a fright!

She didn't even know why she felt this way. She simply didn't have the life experience to see the forest for the trees and connect that her fear ultimately had very little to do with the man, the place, the reputation or anything superficial like that. What really had her afeared was the realization that this was it - her opportunity to get some answers! For the past three years or so she'd asked anyone she thought might be able to give her answers about who Aimi Kaguya really was and she'd received scant answers mostly from people who had never met him and only knew the man by reputation. There were no murals or statues of Aimi in Heart (or even in Gold, for that matter, as he'd never gotten around to cementing his legacy before his death), no iconography of the man or records she, a young girl, could readily access; so what was really making her afraid was finally getting some of the answers she wanted from a primary source! Even if she could understand that, though, she wouldn't have understood why it scared her.

"Uhm... uh..." she stammered, standing and staring at the smoking ninja for a few seconds as she fumbled for the words to say. Her mind felt blank and fuzzy, heart racing, the urge to run away rising... but then an image of Suzuko came to her mind and she found herself thinking; Suzuko would encourage you to go through with this! She could practically hear the young princess saying, "Just ask him!" in her head. She also imagined her friend telling her that her behavior was unbecoming of a samurai (in a much more over the top and serious manner than what she likely would have done were she actually there) and that helped her calm down further, remembering her lessons on discipline and presentation.

She let out a huff of air and straightened herself up, gathering her courage to look the man in the eye. "My name is Shiun Kinoko, a samurai of the Heart Empire, and I want to know about Aimi Kaguya," she said evenly, with perfect diction, a determined expression on her face with unflinching resolve in her eyes. She had to know - what was he like while he was here in this dreary place? What had he done to inspire others here, like she herself had been inspired? Who was the man who had lived and ultimately died here, who had, in some part ever so small, died for her?

[Mre-face]

The silence was kind of deafening if the crowd didn't fill in the space to field that awkwardness, she stood around unsure of herself after a little while which confused Mondai as his face started to reflect that.

After a little while she managed to muster up a few sounds but only insecure 'umh' and 'uh's which further annoyed him too as it felt like a small eternity for her to get to the point. If she was going to bother him about something at the very least make it quick. "Damn ya gonna spit it out or what?" Mondai then noticed her nervosity and whether he knew it or not had his own less soft way of encouraging her. It was the only way he knew how. Learning from the place, he grew up in. "Quit being all coy and relax. it's rude ya know?" He hoped that would be enough for her to find the courage and it appears as though she either found it on her own or his words did give her a boost regardless he was hit by something rather unexpected.

Of course, she stated her name and where she was from basic enough that was to be expected from any person you meet for the first time but then she wanted to know about something in particular a person that Mondai himself only thought about occasionally reminiscing every once in a while before compartmentalizing it before going on with his life. Aimi Kaguya...

"Aimi Kaguya... Shiii' I ain't 'eard that name in a while. Wha-?" What Mondai got wasn't anything simple it was packed with a lot of expression of himself as he thought of why she would possibly want to know about a former bannin turned missing ninja from Kirigakure. Sure he had come to blows with Kirigakure's late Kage Kasai. A fight that ended up killing Aimi and as a consequence which later ended up with Aimi's separatist nation being merged with the Heart empire.

Mondai wasn't scholarly enough to know what happened or the reasons for it but that was the best clue he had as to why a seemingly random Heart samurai would want to know about a very specific ninja. Brainstorming, sitting, and contemplating wasn't going to give him an answer he had to dig for that it seemed. "Why d'ya wanna know about him for? Was' in it for ya?" Maybe she could further explain herself but Mondai wasn't expecting this day to be a lot more challenging than he had expected at least mentally to this extent he was anticipating pointing her in a direction before disappearing but he was now in it for a lot more.

What could this young lady possibly want to know about Aimi Kaguya?

[Golnax]

Oh. Well. That was... that was a much more casual response than what Shiun was expecting.

She didn't really know WHAT she was expecting, not really, but it wasn't just a casual "been a long time since I heard that name" and "why are you asking" coming from a Kirigakure ninja of all people. She didn't know too much about the shinobi of Kiri, but everyone knew of the Headhunter Division, Kiri's famous tracking ninjas. Almost as famous as their Seven Swordsman. A village with a division of ninjas specifically trained for hunting down and silencing dissenters from Kirigakure had given her the impression that the ninja of this village wouldn't have taken that kindly to hearing Aimi's name. Mentally she'd prepared herself to get berated or something. She wasn't expecting...

"I... want to know about what he was like. Who he was... before..." She trailed off, unable to find the words because frankly, she didn't have them. She'd asked other ninja in other villages about the man and she'd received little to no information, but none of them had really asked her why. They heard a name of a dead ninja that they knew little to nothing about and got on with their day. Now the Kinoko was forced to confront the question herself - why did she want to know more about Aimi Kaguya? It's not like he'd directly done anything for her ever. She only ever saw him the one time, had never spoken with the man. She didn't have a 'before' as reference. She simply wanted to know.

Pulling her mouth closed in a frown, Shiun lowered her eyes for a moment before steeling herself, looking back up at the ninja before her, saying, "Aimi Kaguya is the reason I'm a samurai today. He saved my people during the Great War. Lifted them up. Gave us a chance to be something more... but he died before I could ever meet him. So now I'll never get the chance to know the man who did so much for my people... My journey has brought me here, and now I'm asking you for information about him. I need to know. That's all."

She'd spoken with as much conviction as her young mind could muster. In truth she was still terrified of the outcome of all of this. Her heart pounded in her chest and her mind ran wild with possibilities. Maybe this shinobi in front of her would spit in her face and walk away. Maybe he'd try to fight her for asking things she shouldn't. She doubted she stood a chance if he decided to. Or worse: maybe he'd give her what she wanted, and she'd be disappointed.

[Mre-face]

She wanted to know what he was like and who he was before. The swordsmen presumed that she meant before he had left the village, yet the lingering question was why? Which was answered just in time.

She spun a tale about how she is samurai now because of his liberation. Which was made Mondai raise an eyebrow both in annoyance and curiosity. Why did he do this? Mondai had only meet Aimi a few times so he had gathered that he was quite a character but something didn't sit right with this very idealized tale however, it wouldn't've surprised Mondai if he did truly liberate these shroom people along the way.

Yet also from his perspective, Aimi was a bannin who turned his back on his village and then took over a country, only to then attacked Kirigakure for whatever reason and killed their kage in the process of his own demise.

However she wanted to know and perhaps Mondai was both the best and worst person to ask considering his conflicting feelings regarding Aimi.

Mondai took a puff of his cigarette before he began telling her. "Aimi was... A-a character of sorts, he stood out inna' place like this. Everyone's busy posterin' and actin' tough all the time. " Mondai shook his head before continuing "On one hand, he was softer then ya would expect from a Kiri nin. He encouraged me when others wouldn't."

Mondai then took another larger puff of his cigarette finally finishing it before stomping it out. "But on tha' other when he was pissed he could be on some scary shit. Girl like you don't really need to know more than that. Ya don't wanna hear trust me." Mondai refrained from talking about gruesome tales of Aimi's wrath she was rather young had it been anyone else then he would have rattled on however if she insisted on wanting to know every detail then Mondai would answer.

For now he hoped that his answer sufficed.

[Golnax]

His answer did not suffice. Quite the opposite, in fact. His words only intrigued Shiun more.

Much to her pleasant surprise the shinobi before her was willing to give her the information she wanted. What was worse, for him, was that he had chosen to be both illuminating and cryptic in his answer at the same time. What did he mean by 'a character'? How had he stood out? How was he soft? How was he scary? It was strange, hearing this sparse bit of information about the man from a primary source. It was as if Aimi was a water color painting in her mind, blurry and distant, but these characteristics - soft, scary, supportive, standing out - helped give the image a sharper relief and more distinct colors. She had to know more.

"Yes I do!" Shiun insisted, taking a step forward and looking directly into the shinobi's eyes. "I want to know all I can about him! You knew him, right? So you've gotta tell me all that you know because I need to know!" Her voice was growing a bit loud now in her excitement. Her immaturity was showing just as plainly as her excitement at finally getting the thing she wanted most from this pilot program. For the moment her curiosity had overtaken her anxiety and the mushroom capped samurai was entirely present in this moment.

[Mre-face]

The kirigakure ninja was surprised however he thought the girl didn't know what she was getting into in his opinion since what he cut out wasn't something he thought was appropriate for her. She didn't seem quite as mature as other children of similar age that he had meet, since for those it was custom to already train to kill and possibly see death at even a young age. And when he was around her age he had already gotten comfortable with the horrors of Kirigakure's slums. He had seen a lot during his time.

"Ya seem really persistent on this, I'm warnin' ya after this there ain't no turnin' back. "

Giving her a final warning before continuing. if she insisted then he had no other obligation but to tell her. Mondai wasn't the type to hide the harsh truth if the person really seemed like they needed to know, but he didn't really want to be responsible for any potential idealism she harbored. "Know and know 'im . Had a few run-ins here and there. I probably liked and remembered 'im more than he did me 'onestly. " Mondai wasn't the type to directly admit it but he did admire Aimi on some level as he was inspired by his words at one point.

"Since ya neeeed to know then i'll tell ya. Where was I?" The long need was followed with a slight smirk from Mondai before stared into the misty crowed gathering his previous thoughts. "Oh yeah! Aimi was laidback but still had this wisdom to 'im. It's sorta hard to explain. Got this kinda aura that he knew what was going on and that ya would be fine if you tried enough. But... When he was angry he got real serious. "

Mondai shook his head and let out a longer sigh as he reflected on his more personal encounters with Aimi. "This is the part where it get's real so don't say I didn't warn ya. Remember rollin' with 'im to find his father durin' the bloody mist. He turned four men into goddamn mincemeat before I could even as much as blink. Left me the fifth to interrogate 'im with only one arm left... Up till that point I hadn't seen him like that. Shieeet, He had me shook like he was gonna snap at me at any moment. The guy usually had a lot ta say but durin' that time nah... One or two was enough to get da' point across."

He looked towards the excited girl to gauge her reaction before continuing choosing to approach this topic more careful then he usually would. Something about the fact that she was a younger girl kept him from going more straight to the point like he normally would with others, the seventh swordsmen didn't know it but there was a slight reminder of his younger sister that kept him from being as harsh and blunt as he usually was.

"Then was the time he went at the village. Ya wanna know 'bout that?" He asked to ensure that the previous conversation hadn't shaken her or maybe she did want to know how the city was ravaged seeing as they were just enemies. Maybe she wanted to gloat? But given her first impression Mondai doubted that.

[Golnax]

Shiun's face was stern and stoic as the ninja once again warned her of the tale he was about to tell. She remained silent and stalwart; she wanted to know. Simple as that! So she stood there and she listened as the older man gave a brief but insightful description of the man she'd spent the past few years chasing ghosts of. His every descriptor was like the stroke of a paintbrush in her mind that helped fill in the gapes of her knowledge about the Kaguya that had forever changed the course of history for her clan: 'Laidback' had her envisioning Aimi Kaguya as he appeared in her memories, laying against the ground with his arms behind his head in what amounted to sunlight in this dreary place. 'Having wisdom' made her imagine him speaking to and teaching younger ninja around him - ninja that could still be in the village today! Like the one in front of her even! She imagined what it must have been like to be in his presence as the older ninja described his aura. She imagined it must have been calming, warm, comforting to those who had to suffer life in these walls. So far the description of Aimi was matching up with what she had in her head...!

Then came the description of his anger and her face fell, eyebrows going wide and her mouth opening in a small little 'o' as she tried to imagine what he was like angry and realized that she'd never once envisioned him as such! This was an entirely new context for her and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Hearing the word 'mincemeat' made her imagine that shirtless man she'd once seen in a crowd covered in blood from his white hair down to ever available portion of his pale skin. She imagined the bodies of four men being diced into cubes of meat and falling apart in a squall of gore and her stomach turned in knots! This image of Aimi was like an oni and it stood in complete contrast to what she felt she had known about him up until that point! Her image of him turned frightening as the young Kinoko imagined the last man left with only one arm being interrogated by the ninja before her who so casually mentioned this horror as though it didn't affect him in the slightest and how few words he used when he was angry like that.

A sudden burst of clarity came into her mind as she was imagining this, her open mouth having closed into a frown and her eyebrows cresting in the center of her head as she grew a bit upset at this imagining: Was this what being in Kirigakure did to people? Was someone as kind and wise as Aimi truly capable of so callously turning others into a pile of meat be design of this village...?

This was a lot for her to take in obviously and she found herself shook, the mushroom-capped samurai taking a single step back to try and steady herself. Of course Aimi Kaguya was capable of something like that, she tried to tell herself, he was from Kirigakure after all! Ninja are famed for their brutality here, and he had conquered many countries during the Great War. She knew this, but still, in all of this time, despite the academy classes she'd taken where the proctors made it very clear that being a samurai meant eventually confronting death and how ugly it was; she'd never once imagined Aimi as being a perpetrator of such things until this very moment. She gave her head a small shake to try and get the image of all of that blood out of her mind! The shinobi in front of her had mentioned other things as well that had initially been glossed over but the shake had brought them back to attention; Aimi had a father? What was 'bloody mist'?

Shiun looked back up at the man and gulped, nodding her head. She looked like she was steeling herself. "Yes, but... can we sit down, maybe? Inside? Maybe talk over some tea?" she suggested, hoping that he'd be accommodating. Tea might help to calm her nerves. "I... also want to know what you mean, about finding his father. And what's the Bloody Mist?" she asked. This was the beginning of what might very well be a long conversation, as long as the shinobi was in the mood to talk with her. True to her word, she still wanted to know all that she could to give greater context to the ghost she'd been following for a while now.

[Mre-face]

Various conflicting feelings washed over Shiun's face quite noticeably. As each detail was revealed her intrigue grew and so did the expressions on her face. Then came the moment he was warning about so watching the young lady face go from stoic but intrigued to shocked, confused and slightly horrified was a very Told ya so moment for moment for Mondai. Even giving her a small shrug to indicate so, half way rubbing it in. But much to his surprise the still wanted to know more. However this time over some tea.

The step back made swordsmen believe that she would turn her back and run away but no. It almost made Mondai laugh. He found his that the heart samurai were very soft from his reaction, seeing her stumbled about from merely hearing about it made him think what would happen if she ever found herself in a similar situation. Or maybe he was the weird one? Maybe that was a reaction of a normal person who didn't have the life that Mondai had.

"Can't lie i'm half-way impressed ya know? Ya didn't lie when ya said you wanted to know all about 'im." Mondai chuckled and suddenly realized that this day had been a lot more interesting thanks to his sister and this little samurai. And as such felt as if he owed her this long conversation.

"Tea's good! I'd offer ya from my very own store 'ere but we sell flowers and general stuff so not tha' best place and my family 'ill bother. Follow close. " The last part was very plainly said but more said to make sure that she didn't get lost. "Ya ain't from 'ere so I'd like ya ta pick a place. Also because I don't know any good places. " Mondai chuckled softly and bitterly indicating that it wasn't something he entirely or it wasn't by entirely by choice.

Money wouldn't be an issue but he was more curious if she had any or if she would offer to pay on her own. "Ya got any ryo?" Mondai would assume so given her courtesy from earlier. "Don't worry 'bout it, I gotchu, I'll take care of it trust so don't go 'round worryin' 'bout the prices or nuthin' Cool?" Mondai clarified incase she was worried about and money issues that may be brought to surface.

The location didn't matter the nutrition from the tea or food would be minimal, the real nutrients would go to her mind and maturity from the coming conversation.

[Golnax]

"Eh?" she asked, dumbfounded by the ninjas words. She... wasn't from here... so she had to pick the place where they'd drink tea? And he didn't know anywhere good to drink tea? Well if that was the case, how was she supposed to know where the good tea was here since she wasn't from there herself? Her confusion afforded the older ninja a headstart and, once she realized she was being left behind, she trotted along after him and caught up quickly. The young samurai looked up at him as he asked her about ryo.

"Oh! Uh, yes, I've got plent..." she started to say, thinking of how she could just generate ryo on the spot but stopped when he told her not to worry about it, which made her furrow her brow at him. This shinobi was confusing to her! Twice, now, he'd hit her with back-to-back contradictory statements and it left her with purple polka-dotted question marks floating above her head! "Uh, yeah, cool," she replied simply, turning away from him and looking at the shops along the road since it was apparently her job to pick where they'd eat. It took her a little bit to settle on some place, she'd paused one or two times in front of an establishment before realizing it was actually a bar and moving on! She felt comfortable enough sneaking into a bar in Xincha where she knew she'd be relatively safe, but here she wouldn't dare try her luck. She did stop, eventually, though, in front of a place that Mondai might find familiar - it was the same restaurant that Aimi had taken him and a few other ninja, including Nishiki and Shinjiro, before. A strange quirk of fate.

"Let's go in here," she said, taking the lead inside but waiting for the shinobi to come in after her so that he could handle seating. She didn't know how any of the business worked with protocol and etiquette in this village, so she'd wait, watch, and follow along after him when they sat down at a table and make her order of some tea. She wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment - in fact her stomach was a bit twisted in knots. Once their drinks were ordered she'd turn to him, swallow, and say, "Right... you were saying about Aimi Kaguya?"