They were gone. Kouki wasn't quite sure how she missed the most two powerful Jounin the village bailing out like they had, but she had. She had waited at the hospital for Hikari, but when no one had been able to find her she had gone looking herself. It was then that she found their house empty: empty to the point of it being clear that the had left. Kouki wasn't quite sure how she had felt about it all; betrayed more than anything was the emotion that ran through her mind the most. She had put her own ass on the line to go seal a bijuu inside of Kurai for him to leave just weeks later.

It wasn't sitting well with her.

And while this was the first time she was any sort of authority figure of any kind over a village, she was still going to do what needed to be done: she was going to track them down and find them. She had sent a small group ahead of her simply to give her bearings as to which way she had to go, and they had done a fine job. The trail that the twins had left behind led straight to Makkura, straight to the village rumored to be the home of the criminal organization known as the Dark, and more importantly the man known as Alec Kane who had a reputation for blowing villages up, cutting people up, and stealing their eyes. That wasn't stopping her, though. She wanted answers and she was going to get them.

The only question now that remained was if she was going alone or not. She had sent messenger pigeons to Isao and to Mizuko with detailed letters stating the situation and what she was planning on doing: this way there was no surprises, and she wasn't leaving without both of them being well informed. Now all she had to do was wait and see. She had spent time packing up a small pack of supplies to bring with her, and had ensured she was wearing her baggiest clothing: she was pregnant and showing due to having triplets, the last thing she wanted was to present a weak point when going to meet such dangerous people - though, for all she knew the Dark already knew about her being pregnant, Hikari had been the one to find out after all.

Kouki was waiting at the entrance to the village, staring out at the tundra and knowing that just a few more feet north she would start to feel the coldness, just a few feet away from the volcanoes that circled their lovely paradise village.... She was giving Mizuko and Isao time to join her if they choose, otherwise she was going to be making this trip solo.

Ugh, this was not making her happy. Yes, yes she could understand that some people where unhappy with how things where being run; not a single one of them was any sort of leaders sans for maybe Isao; but they where trying their best. Between getting the village stable, building up the defenses, keeping the bay alive for the fishermen to feed the people, and attempting to stabilize the volcanoes so that they where safe and not a risk to the people; they didn't have a lot of spare time. For being around for only... by the sea gods, a month? Two months? They where doing okay. Or so she believed; but then again, she was no leader, nor any sort of person to ask about stuff like that.

While wrapped in her bulky coat; she was not shivering, nor sporting the same sour look she had the last time she'd been heading toward the tundra; she was prepared for the cold, dry weather outside of their valley now; special under-layers keeping her moist and warm in the ways her anemone needed to stay healthy, and her human body by extension. Kouki was easy enough to spot; she was the only one standing there; so between the seal that let them hone in on each other and her passive sonar; it was impossible for Mizuko to miss her. She merely walked up to the other female and stared out through the pass in the volcanic mountains; staring at the odd demarcation line of sorts where the warm air hit and repelled the cold tundra; not incidentally the same spot where the edge of the barrier that Isao had erected was. "So. Kicking and screaming... or...?"

Did he do something wrong? As he walked towards the entrance to the village in a bad mood. The first time he had been in a bad mood in quite a few months. Well, since he met the two loves of his life. His eyes were not focused on the road ahead of him, but to the people around him. Many waved and nodded, and he was certain to do the same to each of them. He had helped build an entire village, created a genjutsu barrier to protect it, and many other things only for people to be unhappy with him. It made him not only sad, but a little agitated to say the least. With Kouki being pregnant with triplets, he had other things that should be holding his attention. Yet, he is stuck going to chase down two defectors. 

He saw the two girls already waiting for him and smiled. It always seemed that he was the last one to arrive when they would meet. "So, whose going? One of us has to stay here to protect the village." He said with a happy look, but a tone that did not match it. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it hurt his pride that people would leave so soon after the village was created. He did want to go and drag them back, but he didn't know if that was the best idea. He stood beside the two of them who was looking off into the distance. His legendary bow was on his back and his unique eye sat unused. He was ready, should he need to go bring back the twins.

Kouki stared out across the tundra up until Mizuko arrived. She turned her head and glanced at the female with a small smile. She then saw Isao arrive and turned her focus back to the tundra, staring at it, contemplating it... wanting to boil it all into nothing but a large boiling ocean and drown the world outside of their village with it. The pregnant lady needed to get a check on her temper and quickly, before the dragon sealed inside of her took the reigns and followed through with the thought, lord knew she was more than willing to do so - human life meant different things to the dragon than it did to Kouki.

Finally, she addressed Mizuko's question: it had been an answer she had pondered and wondered about for some time now, one she hoped she was making the right decision on. "I suppose it depends... If they can provide a legitimate reason for leaving outside of boredom then I'm fine with allowing them to stay where they are - especially if it makes them happy. Otherwise... yes, kicking or screaming... or dead."

She then thought about Isao's question and pondered it over. "It's not safe for me to stay here by myself... I'm barely able to control my moodswings as it is. If I loose it and the dragon takes control.... well, there might not be a village to return to. I'd rather not take that risk. And yes, one of you could stay here with me... but I'm not comfortable with sending just one of us into territory like Makkura, especially with all of the rumors that have been flying around about this Alec Kane. So, I'm going either way. But, you're right. One of us should stay behind and ensure everything stays peachy in the village... " She would leave that up to those two to decide upon, she just hoped the decision didn't take long to reach: she wanted to go there and get this over with before she changed her mind about allowing the twins to remain in Makkura without a fight if they could provide a legit reason for it.

"Hnnn. My going would make slightly more of a statement; maybe. I'm the least seen of us, which isn't a bad thing. Not as social as either of you, and my abilities are best used in the background right now; now many people are going to want to sit in the middle of a greenhouse and watch someone mixing fertilizers, nor would they see the dolphin or a giant anemone sitting in the middle of the bay pumping chakra or filtering the water. Still, safer to keep me in the bay in those forms... less chance of scaring the people." 

She kicked at a small rock half buried in the well worn trail; digging it up and sending it flying into the trees without much work; "Good reasoning or not, I'd likely knock some heads and drag them back anyway; I don't take kindly to deserters. We should also consider the rumors of these people... they're well known for wanting to collect Bijuu and the beasts; would 'handing' them two on a silver platter be good for morale? You know the malcontents would jump all over that one. Not that I much care either way; someone is going to complain no matter what we do." Ungrateful people, nothing was good enough. So long as 'outsiders' ruled 'their lands', they would piss and moan and do anything they could to undermine a stable, working government in favor of the BS that landed them in this situation to start with "Isao, your opinion?"

Everything they were saying made sense. It didn't sit well with him to let both of them leave for a potentially hostile situation though. However, someone had to stay. "I don't like saying this, but it might be better if you two went after them. If they are as strong as we hear, you two are the best combination to stand against that power. We have our body seals if I am needed. Just activate it and I will be there." He said in a tone that expressed concern and a bit of anxiety. The very idea of not being there to protect his family was enough to make him sad instantly.

Right, so Mizuko was coming with her and Isao was staying behind to run the village. Simple, easy. Which meant they could get going. She didn't want to drag this out: she wanted to get there, see what exactly had caused Kurai and Hikari to leave, and then come back home - either with or without the twins in tow. "Alright, we should go then. Don't want to drag this out... rather be home resting then chasing after these two."

She looked back towards the tundra and without further waiting darted off across it. Her clothing kept her warm against the bitter, nasty cold that the tundra offered. And she didn't bother slowing: she didn't want to spend an extra second in this icey cold than she actually had to. Across the tundra and into tunnels she went... twisting, turning. The temperature fluxated as she continued to travel, going from the arctic coldness to much warmer and moister temperatures.

Darkness filled the tunnel ahead, and a send of doom that she quickly shook off announced their arrival in Makkura.... Now what?

[Exit]

.oO(Sped through it so we can get this moving on since there are people waiting for squad threads / squads period.)

Hnnn, sense sucked when it meant that Kouki would possibly be in danger; but she was stronger than Isao overall, and the twins where close to her; so she had the best chance of talking some goddamn sense into them. Or at least figuring out why they'd bailed without it coming to blows. "We'll be home soon." She was chasing after Kouki with easy; she might be faster underwater, but she was no slouch on land. Doton chakra helped a bit; she could skate across land almost like it was water. 

Kouki knew the way better than she did, so she just followed closely behind, the tunnels didn't scare her or anything, she just preferred to stick to water routes if possible; a side effect of being the Anemone and host to a dolphin Bijuu. Hairs on her neck pricked when they reached the end of they reached the tunnel exits; Makkura felt... wrong to her; but that was mostly due to the gloomy atmosphere and the weird air. Oh well. The faster they finished here, the faster they could go home.

[Exit]