Kurai, after saving this village so many times, began to wonder why he was still here, seeing as the only person who seemed to care about his and his twin's progress was Kouki. She was the only one to thank him. Those other two? They had thanked him, but barely, and he was sure that if it weren't for Kouki calling the meeting in the first place, his and Hikari's actions would have gone unnoticed. He'd long thought of leaving this beautiful village, but only remained for his parent's and Hikari's sakes.

Now, he wasn't so sure anymore. A decent amount of time had passed, and there had been no word from the so-called Council of Hinowa, even after having saved the village from several invasions and being taken over by a group of S-ranked criminals. It bothered him, like an itch he couldn't scratch. Why should he waste away here where no one seemed to care but his sister and his parents?

He began to think back to the meeting with the girl Mitsukai in Niwa, and how she'd explained in so many words that Alec Kane, the man with the white hair and living clothes that was responsible for destroying Korigakure actually wasn't the villain everyone was making him out to be, and that Kori was destroyed only after their attempts to make peace at the summit that took place were thrown back into their faces by some barking old dog. So Kori being destroyed was a message to the rest of the world. He understood that now.

Kurai found himself wanting to confront the man face to face, to see if – even though he was considered a villain – he recognized the people in his village for their talents and thanked them for their actions, or if he just ignored them because he was too busy with his head up his own ass. Leaving here would make him Missing and subject to people coming after him, but he highly doubted that would happen. Furthermore, he didn't care anymore.

A bag was packed and leaning on the banister of the front porch. A note had been written and left for his parents along with his headband, who were both off on an errand, explaining his reasons for leaving this village, to tell them to enjoy finally having a home, and not to worry about him, for he planned on sending a clone home every so often to let them know he was alright. Currently he and Little Kong, who was all for the idea of leaving here, were waiting on Hikari to show up from where ever she was at the moment, to explain his reasons for leaving. He figured she was probably going to protest, but his mind was made up. Hinowagakure was a village Kurai no longer wished to live in.

Hikari had been out securing herself a few more scrolls filled with jutsu to learn, some meant to teach attacks, other to teach defenses, and even others to teach supplementary type things. However, as she focused on the house she was returning to she noticed something odd: a note and her brother's Hinowa headband were left inside, a bag had been packed, and her brother and his new companion seemed to be... waiting. Hikari had seen this coming, if she was honest with herself. She had known that the time here was limited: especially with everything that had been done and gone mostly un-noticed. She did wonder, however, where they were headed next.

And she meant 'they' when she had the thought. Her and her brother were twins, where one went the other followed. She would always have her brothers back where ever he went and whatever decision he decided to make. So, she wasn't going to take no as an answer when it came to coming with him.

As she neared the house she came to a stop a few feet from her brother, looking between him and little Kong. "So... where are we moving to now?", she simply asked, no anger or judgment in her voice, just simply curiosity. It wasn't like she actually had to pack anything, she had more than enough supplies in the bag she had on her, and she had more than enough ryo to buy whatever she might need no matter where they went. It was just a simple matter of finding out where it was they were going. She adjusted the cloth she wore over her eyes as she awaited her brothers response.

”...We?” he repeated. He slid his hands into the pockets of his long jacket. ”...I came to let you know that I can't stay here any longer... You, on the other hand, have her own hospital. Those... “Leaders” don't seem to care about anyone but themselves, and seem to take more to you than they ever would to me. You would be needed here, as I would obviously not be...”

Kurai picked up the bag, putting it onto his back as he stepped down off of the porch with Little Kong. He looked between the twin siblings with a look of confusion. Properly adjusting the bag on his back, Kurai began to head toward the village entrance. ”...Like I told mom and dad, i'll send a clone here every so often to let you all know i'm still alive...”

He had quite a journey ahead of him. Kurai didn't even know if he'd just be allowed to walk into Makkura, or if he'd have to fight someone. If it were the latter, it wasn't as if he wasn't prepared. Kurai thought he was MORE than ready. Honestly he hoped it didn't come down to having to fight someone; he simply wanted to meet Alec Kane, and ask him something. Where he would go from there was anyone's guess...

She couldn't believe what she was hearing: her brother was planning on leaving without her, and had only stuck around to tell her himself what he was doing. A frown covered her face, removing even the smallest traces of the smile that was always there. Shiro came down off of the tree she had been napping in, and looked between the two twins as she landed on Hikari's shoulder. "Hey, hey now. Why leave your sister behind like that? She shouldn't stay here either and continue to deal with this stuff. She's trained plenty of people in the hospital, they'll be fine without her. Don't leave her behind to suffer the same fate you've been suffering. Siblings are supposed to side with each other, that's what your sister wants to do. So why not let her?", Shiro spoke up for her, not enjoying seeing the frown that was upon Hikari's face. When the lemur was finished speaking she went silent and simply remained seated on her shoulder.

Hikari remained silent, however. For once in her life she was speechless and had nothing at all to say. She simply put her hand on the shoulder bag she had with her and turned to face her brother: the movement enough to signify that she was prepared to follow after him. She really couldn't think of anything to say, and Shiro had said enough to make her own feelings clear. She wasn't going to be willing to wait around for some clone to come pop in every so often to tell her if her twin was alive or not, or okay for that matter. If she stayed here she wasn't going to be willing to focus, she would be too busy worrying if her twin was okay, worrying if her twin was alive.

She didn't know if the Hinowa Council was prepared to send people after missing-nin, but she wasn't going to sit around and find out. Hell, what if they sent Hikari after Kurai? What if they expected her to fight him, to kill him if he wasn't willing to come back? She couldn't live with that.

He had to admit. The idea of leaving her here alone, with leadership that didn't care about anything but the next make-out session in the hot springs, was unnerving. She looked like she was about to follow after him anyway. He could easily get away from her, but Kurai wasn't exactly that kind of person. What the Lemur was saying made a lot of sense.

But where he planned on going, Makkura, was the home to villains and scum. Who was he to take his innocent sister into a den of supposed mad men? There was no guarantee that he would even make it out alive, if the rumors he'd heard about Alec Kane were true. He expected to be attacked the moment he set foot in that village.

Family loyalty was out-weighing leaving her behind to suffer the neglect of village leaders that seemed to just not give a fuck. Kurai let out a long sigh. ”...I'm going to Makkuragakure,” Kurai said as he stopped walking. ”...It's the home of those villains and bad guys. That's why I chose to leave you behind, because if something happens to me, it would be to just me, and at least one of us would still be here to protect mom and dad.”

Kurai started walking again. The longer he stayed here, the more it began to irk him. He'd done so much for these people and nobody cared, except the people. All of his work just gave those leaders more time to go fuck around. Kurai wouldn't have any more of it. ”...But I suppose nothing I say is going to change your mind, even if it means we could get captured, tortured, killed and die violent painful deaths. So if you're coming, you leave the second it looks like danger. No if's, and's or but's. You just leave. No repeats of Kumo.”

He walked through the village to pedestrians and merchants waving at him and Hikari; none knowing that this would likely be their last time seeing them. Some told them to be careful outside of the village. He felt sort of bad, but those leaders and their actions behind all of his hard work – nothing, to be exact - made getting out of here that much easier. If anyone besides Kouki decided to come after him? It would be no problem to kill them.

The frown that was on Hikari's face slowly began to disappear as she listened to her brother. She understood why he was going to leave her behind after he mentioned that he was going to Makkuragakure. But, she still wasn't willing to let him go by himself. Shiro was right in the words that she had spoken, but there was more to it then that: Kurai was her brother, she would rather face a slow and painful death then turn her back on her brother.

She gave a nod when he told her that if the situation got nasty she was to leave, no repeat of Kumo when she had stayed behind despite his demand. She was to leave. No questions asked. "Okay, no repeats of Kumo. If it gets nasty I'll bail out as quickly as I can." With the frown fully gone from her face she followed after her brother, thoughtfulness covering her face even while she fell silent once more.

However, this time around her silence wasn't because she was speechless, it was because she was thinking about the way things might turn out. She had heard horror stories about Alec Kane and his family. Had seen the posters during the family traveling around and had seen the large bounty that had been put on his head: the kind of bounty someone didn't get for petty crimes. Alec Kane was a seriously dangerous man... so, this was going to be interesting. However, she wasn't going to let this knowledge to cause her to change her mind: she was going with her twin and that was that.

Shiro as they walked climbed down her shoulder to her arm, then to her hand, and then slipped inside one of the large front pockets of her bag: it was like a makeshift bed for her that would keep her comfortable enough while they traveled - plus, it would keep them from having to slow down since Shiro wouldn't have to worry about having to hold on the whole time. The lemur even went so far as to hook a didget into the small cord and tug it shut enough to where only the Lemurs head stuck out: allowing her to see everything during the trip.

Outside of Hinowa for what he figured would be the last time, Kurai started to run. Not as fast as he could have, but fast nonetheless; slow enough at least so that Hikari would be able to keep up with him. He ran through the green wilds surrounding Hinowa until reaching the newly constructed bridge across the great lake that was actually a crater formed by a devastating attack. Then it was through the arctic tundra beyond the ring of volcanoes, and soon after that, the mountains and the area of Kumo.

Then, there was blazing heat and the desert. Kurai couldn't sense as many large chakra signatures in Yokuchigakure as he could the last time he passed here, leaving him to wonder why the village seemed so empty now. Kurai passed Yokuchi and headed further on, until the horizon ahead began to grow dark and forbidding.

Once again he would enter The Land of Shadows, this time branching off of the main path through the country and instead heading toward the village of Makkura, home of The Dark....

[Exit]

Hikari followed after her twin now that she no longer had to worry about Shiro falling off her shoulder. It allowed her to keep up quite well with her brother as they traveled out of the village for what Hikari assumed was going to be the last time - she had a feeling that she would likely never see this village again with her own eyes. She followed him through the wilds of Hinowa, to the bridge that looked newly constructed, across the great lake, and through the arctic tundra...

Past rocky, mountainous Kumo and then through the blazing heat of Yokuchi. Onward they still traveled. She continued to keep up even as their surroundings became to grow dark and rather creepy. She figured it symbolized them reaching the Land of the Shadows, and more importantly the village that her brother had picked to go to. She couldn't quite understand his reasoning, since they likely could have fit into any other village quite easily, but she wasn't going to question his logic: she knew if this was what he had chosen then he had his reasons, and she would stick by him no matter what because that's what siblings did.

She just hoped that this turned out okay... and didn't end in violence and blood shed.

[Exit]