A crimson red cloak hid the figure that had stepped into the village of Makkura. The point of it wasn't to hide of course, as Mitsukai was all too sure they knew she was coming - her former village had just been destroyed after all. However, the temperature difference between Yokuchi and Makkura were vast, even if it wasn't snowing, and in her hurry to leave her village to get the answers she was seeking she hadn't bothered to change out of the outfit she had on: a white top that covered her chest but left her belly exposed, black capris that went down just below her knees, and the open toed sandals she wore. Great clothing for Yokuchi, not so much for anywhere else.

The hood of the cloak was up, hiding her face rather well, but the cloak was one she had been seen in more than once, so she figured they would know it was her - even if the long strands of black hair sticking out from under the hood wouldn't give hint to it.

She walked slowly through the village, taking her time now that she was here. She had already told herself that she wasn't going to yell or rage, she was simply going to listen to whatever answer she was given and then go from there. She was pretty sure, or hoped at least, that they had a damn good reason for destroying her village - and she was making no mistake about it that it was them. Who else could it have been? Besides, reports had already started to leak, reaching her ears due to her high ranking status, of the individuals responsible for the destruction. People loved to tell stories...and send reports.

She walked towards the tower, wondering if she was going to meet anyone before hand - or if anyone was going to try and stop her. She also found herself wondering who was possibly at the Kage Summit if they were off destroying villages - surely Avery wouldn't have been left to go alone? Not that the female was weak, but they took care of each other far too well to allow that to happen.

”What the hell is that you have on? Do you realize how many perverts live in this village? You know better than that, have you lost your mind walking in here dressed like that?”

He'd known she was coming long beforehand, and sent word to Kinzoku to let her in. He sent word to the rest of the Ops not to touch the girl if they liked having hands. What he wondered is whether or not she would be able to recognize him through his old man disguise. An old bald man that was walking next to her, wearing a grey robe that dragged the ground behind him as he walked. His face was wrinkled like a piece of paper folded too many times. His eyes looked squinted shut, and he had a white mustache and a long mask of a beard that concealed everything beneath his nose.

Alec knew she'd show up sooner or later. He expected Holeman to be with her, but he was nowhere to be seen. Being the expert medic that he was, most likely he was needed in the desert and wasn't free to travel around like he wanted anymore. Mitsukai would want answers about that giant explosion on the horizon earlier; the huge fireball that used to be Korigakure, the village that she'd re-discovered and re-introduced to the rest of the world.

Mitsukai had noticed she was being walked next to, but had thought almost nothing of it up until the person started speaking. Even though she didn't physically recognize the man, the words were all too familiar, since she had heard them a few times before. She laughed. "You gave yourself away. Why do you think I have my cloak on and keeping myself covered up; I have clothes in the Tower, Dez always makes sure I have extras. I was going to just run the whole way through, you know.. to fast for anyone to see? But, didn't know how well that'd set with the people you have protecting the village."

She smirked slightly. "Besides... These clothes are fine in the desert; but I hadn't thought to change when I came here to find out why the heck you blew up my village and scorched it to the ground like that." She kept heading towards the tower; she wanted warmth, not the cold that Makkura had. She'd be fine as soon as she changed - Korigakure had done wanders with introducing her to the cold. "I'm sure it'll make for an interesting story... oh, and whose at the Kage Summit? You didn't send Avery in there all by herself did you? They'll eat her alive the first chance they get..."

He figured she'd know those words. He shed the disguise while walking, his form twisting and contorting until he was young looking again, blindfolded, a head full of shoulder length white hair, dressed in black and walking with the seeming aid of a polished Blind Fury stick.

”I didn't think that would work on someone like you. I'll try harder next time.”

Alec opened the door to the tower for his grand daughter after crossing the drawbridge above the bottomless moat, allowing her to enter the reassuring warmth of the tower before him. He stepped inside after her and pulled the large door shut behind him.

”Jr destroyed Kori... but because I told him to. Jr is also the new Kuraikage. There was this other guy first... His name was... what was his name? I forgot already... Saito something? Anyway, the guy was a fucking weirdo. He insulted Jr and Dez, put Avery in a bad mood, threatened me. So I took his head off. It's probably still out there in the street somewhere being kicked around by the kids. That sand girl, Emiko. Your sister if i'm not mistaken, she came along and took his body to turn it into one of her toys.

“Avery didn't want the hat back, and I thought it a bad idea for me to put it on, so since jr is the strongest of us all now because of that phoenix Hi No Seishin, we volunteered him for the job. He went to the Summit. I sent him out there to let the rest of the villages know we weren't going to be the villains anymore, and that we'd play nice, but some Kenta guy went off on him. Said that basically we were a joke, we were lucky to even be here since Hana fell apart and since he didn't let some lightning dude come at us, and that we had 2 strikes on us from all that shit I did back in the day, and if we tried anything else he'd come rape us. So, Jr raged and told him to bring it on.

“At first I planned on taking a trip to Niwa myself and tearing this guy a new ass, but since we have family out there that we don't want exposed to war at an early age like me and Jr and Dez were, we decided to make an example of another village, send a message to everyone else. We wouldn't have picked Kori since we know it was you who went up there and put so much work into it, but the guy that runs the place, Hiromasa Jenshin, he picked a bad time to try selling medical aid to us and also to Niwa. To us that looked like he was trying to profit off of all of us fighting each other. I guess little Aella called him disgusting or whatever, put her in a foul mood.

“So the plan was to go up there and do him in at first, but the coward never showed up. When we got there, some other guy was already there, wiping the floor with everybody, ripping them open and eating them and whatnot. Said his name was Ranmaru?... He was in our way at first, but he didn't try stopping us from leveling the place. So you were right in assuming it was us, I guess our mission to spread the word that The Dark is back worked out... apologies that it had to be the village you fixed up, and if you're here to kick my ass for it since it was my idea, that's fine, but it's not going to set in too well with the family. I mean, they're already uppity, and everyone is on edge because of that Kenta dude's threat.”

Alec's stick was in hand, but he'd never raise a hand to fight any of his family. If he had to take a beating, then, he had to take a beating. The Symbiote would block the first few blows but would break for a while after too many hits...

She listened closely to everything that Alec said: she knew the people in Niwa rather well, mostly from when she used to act as an ambassador of sorts back when her brother had been Yokuchikage and Aisling had been Hakage. She knew that Kenta had always had an issue with Raijin - but she had never heard of him acting like that before. Then again... they had lost Aella for a while, even though Alec nor any of his family would have ever harmed her.

Mitsukai walked inside, welcoming the warmth that being out of the cold air brought; much nicer in here, and she wasn't going to be in any hurry to leave - not that she had to be of course, she had no squad, no duties that needed attending to. She could visit really, and no one would likely say a damn thing - or maybe not, given that Alec brought up what had happened at the Kage Summit. 

Then she listened carefully as he explained about what the new, or old in this case, Korikage had done - bringing up such things with the absolutely worst timing. She didn't blame him, not after hearing that Aella had been so upset over something. She didn't really have any strong ties with that village, minus trying to help it out: she had had no friendships up there, no family, so it wasn't a huge loss.

Mitsukai sighed softly. "Don't worry, I don't want to whoop your ass. After hearing all that... well, I don't blame you, honestly. That man's poor timing did him in, he shouldn't have offered up something like that with two villages at each others throats. Especially not in front of children." She shook her head. "Ah well... I wonder how Yokuchi's kage is going to take to me being related to you all after all that's happened... it's definitely going to be interesting. I have a feeling I might end up moving here soon... if he tells me to vacate the village."

”Strafe kick you out of the village? You think that smart? If you leave then surely Holeman will too, does Strafe really want to risk taking that loss? Losing the two of you?”

Alec was curious to know what Strafe's reaction would be to finding out what The Dark was responsible for doing not just several hours ago. He would have paid to see the looks on everyone's faces from thousands of lives lost in an instant, and no response from the Korikage.

”So, yeah. Makkura is a pretty tense place to be right now. We got this Saito dude dead, somebody could came back at us for that. We got this Kenta-Niwa thing, and somebody could do something about that. Now there's this Kori going boom thing, and we have to keep eyes in all directions.

“You know you and Holeman can come and go through here freely. Strafe... me and him had an encounter in the past when I was drunk, but if he tries interrogating you or some shit, you can reassure him I have no plans of fucking with the Desert, as long as he keeps his distance from the Shadows as well.”

She reached up and scratched her head; thinking. "I'm going to return to Yokuchi here soon - likely hang around here a bit before going back. I didn't exactly ask for permission to leave, kind of hard to bring myself to do that when I was leader of a whole village even if it was only for a few short months." She looked around the tower for a moment, still heading in the direction of Dez's lap - she was definitely going to have to grab her spare clothing, she wasn't going to be walking around Makkura half dressed.

"I dunno. If he asks me who I'm loyal to I'mma tell him... no reason to lie: but I'll let him know what you said, I dunno if he's gonna believe it though, not after what happened to Korigakure. Blood is thicker than water. I've done an awful lot for that village, as has Holeman. I only returned because he couldn't stand Korigakure's cold weather and neither could his family. I never would have given up the hat otherwise." Yup, her and Holeman had been a team for too long for her to break up that team, and she didn't blame him for leaving, that place had been very nasty and very cold.

Developments would be interesting from this point on, seeing as he had family and very close ties in Yokuchi. Strafe didn't seem like the type to over-react, but would be stupid of him to risk losing 2 of his most powerful Shinobi; Holeman the walking radar who was a medical expert, and Mitsukai who was fast and surgical with a scythe. Yet if Strafe did kick them out, Alec would be more than happy to take them in. More powerhouses to add to the collection after all.

”Thicker than water indeed... Apologies for possibly dragging you into all of this mess, but if all of this does eventually get you evicted from Yokuchi, you don't hesitate to come straight here. Anything could happen at anytime, so keep your eyes open. Me, I need to go lie down. It's been quite a day...”

Alec rubbed the top of his grand daughter's head, before heading toward the stairs and up to his bedroom...

/Exit/