The trip to Makkura hadn't taken long at all, and Kouki had exited the tunnel while being completely sure that Mizuko was right behind her. She slowed from a run into a walk almost instantly, not wanting to come off right away as hostile. Yes, two of her people had left and gone to Makkura, but she was here for answers above all, not to cause bloodshed: pain and death.

She walked slowly up towards the village gates, positive that someone was going to end up showing up to greet them; whether that someone was a guard, village leader, or Kurai or Hikari themselves was left to be seen. She paused by the gates and waited, all while feeling the dragon sealed within her awaken and begin to move slightly: her inner dragon was uncomfortable with being so close to a village that could be considered hostile: especially given that Kouki was pregnant and showing.

However, this job needed done, and if anyone had the right to question the twins it was her: she had put her own neck on the line to go with Kurai when he went after that bijuu after all, just so that he could have it sealed inside of him. On top of having been sure to show her appreciation for everything that the twins had been doing for the village while they were living there.

Arms folded across her chest as she waited...

”Someone's coming. Two powerful chakra signatures, from the direction of Hinowa. One of them is definitely a Jinchuuriki, but the other... I don't know. From what i'm seeing, it looks as if there's multiple life readings inside of one person?... Maybe this thing is malfunctioning...”

Alec said this on the wireless comm party line. ”...No,” answered Kurai, who was standing on the edge of the roof of his new house, his arms folded, his long black jacket swaying behind him in the occasional winds that passed through the dark village. ”...The Jinchuuriki is that woman... Mizu-something. One of the heads of Hinowa. The person that has multiple readings is Kouki. Your device isn't malfunctioning, Mr Kane; she's pregnant.”

”Ah... I thought you said there was a guy too? Did he really let 2 females, one of them pregnant, travel all the way here with that cannibal on the loose out there?”

”...I can't speak for him, sir.”

”Uh huh... Well, you and your sister sit tight, i'll take care of this--”

”With all due respect Mr Kane, i'd like to take care of this myself. If i'm allowed to, without over-stepping my boundaries, i'd like to ask that everyone stay out of this. Even if it looks like we're about to fight. Please, leave this to me...” Kurai leapt from the roof of his house and began toward the direction of the front gates.

”...Heh. I understand. I think i'd want to fight my own battles if I were in your shoes too, I can't lie. Go ahead, Kurai. Handle your business.”

Kurai was already near the front gates when Kouki and Mizuko approached. He could make out Dark Ops in the distance watching from perimeter walls, the doors and the roofs of houses, as well as Jr in the skies above, circling, leaving behind glowing orange trails, but no one else was approaching. Sooner or later he expected his sister to catch wind of what was happening – if she hadn't already – and come running. If not, that was fine too; he'd rather she didn't get involved.

He was standing sideways as they came closer to the front gates. No expression was on his face. He said, ”...While I appreciate everything you've done, Kouki, and the praise you gave me and my sister in our efforts to make Hinowagakure a better place, I will never return to that village... But, while fully aware of the stipulations that come with leaving a village without permission, if you came here with the intention of dragging me back by force, or to kill me and drag my corpse?...”

Kurai, as a way of stretching his arms, thrust both toward the ground with his palms open. The force behind the move was enough to cause a large cloud of dust to rise around him and hang in the air several moments, before being swept off by another random breeze. Kurai looked toward the two females while taking his fighting stance, ready to fight them if he had to.

”Prepare.”

Hnnn, she really didn't like the feel of this place. Too much darkness, to much... pain. Ancient pain, she could feel it through Kinsachi; the dolphin was awake and uncomfortable. Her kind where empathic by nature, she was bathing in painful feelings tied to the land and didn't like it one bit. That, and the lack of water that was clean and untainted; oh the water here was pure enough, but that was merely purity from illness causing agents; there was another level of purity that this entire land seemed completely lacking in. Sad, really.

She'd come to a stop standing shoulder to shoulder with Kouki, maybe half a step ahead of her. Urge to protect was high, but she wasn't about to start insulting her by acting like she had to be protected outright. So, it would be Kurai to appear first. Of course it would; the one that seemed to have a bit of an attitude, and the best counter to them; being a Jinchuuriki himself, and holder of one as powerful as Kua. "I highly doubt anyone here wants this to resort to needless bloodshed. You are powerful, there is no denying this; but against another Jinchuuriki and a dragon... even your power won't make for an easy fight. You left without even a word; the two of you. Before this comes to blows; how about we get some answers. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you felt slighted in some way; under appreciated and the like. That seems the be the common thread with most defectors; or so I've been told. In the last... thousand or so generations, our people have had no defectors; so understanding why anyone would do such a thing is difficult at best. If we can learn anything from this, then the effort and risk will be worth it."

Wow, wordy for Mizuko. Her attempt at postponing, and possible diffusing a volatile situation none of them wanted. Her words where truth, as well; no one could accuse her of lying. Defection in Denryuu just didn't happen; it was possible of course, you could leave and become one with the oceans and seas if you wanted; but no one ever bothered. At least not like this; sages and hermits would leave to be reef guardians and the like, but that was entirely different. To just... walk out; after everything that had happened; the gift and danger of having a beast sealed into you by a leader then basically bitch slapping them for their effort? Yeah, she wasn't happy. Underneath her clothing, the special seal of the dolphin jinchuuriki began to glow softly; both Kinsachi and Mizuko where preparing to change forms if needed; slowly opening the seal and allowing their chakra mix more thoroughly in preparation.

A frowning Hikari rose up out of the ground some four feet to the right of her twin. The purpose of the space was to give them plenty of room to move without having to worry about accidentally injuring each other. The reason for the frown? She didn't like to hear, especially as the one who had taken care of Kouki before she followed her brother to Makkura, any sort of idea of Kouki fighting. Did Mizuko really expect Kouki to fight along side her if violence erupted? Especially against someone as strong as her twin? No, if this came to blows then Hikari knew what her purpose was going to be: stopping Kouki from getting involved and possibly hurting herself or one of the children growing inside of her.

Hikari remained silent for now; so opposite from the way she normally was. But, while she had been expecting someone to show up to come looking for herself and her twin, she had not expected pregnant Kouki to have gone along with: and that pissed her off. Still, she would wait and see what this little meeting came to before she would open her mouth and speak: give her brother a chance to explain himself and tell them how he felt.

She kept watch as she waited on all movements; her chakra radar in full effect and offering her a view of everything: every movement, gesture, and even those of the Ops nearby as well as the location of everyone else in the village.

Kouki's attention snapped to Kurai as he of all people came to greet herself and Mizuko. She listened as he spoke of how he appreciated everything she had done for him, both the praise she had given he and his sister as well as going so far as to seal a bijuu inside of him. She listened as he spoke of how he would never return to Hinowa. She then watched as he took a fighting stance, completely prepared to fight them if they intended on dragging him back.

But, that wasn't what she had come here for.

Before she could think of the words she had rehearsed, words she had wanted to say to Kurai and Hikari when she saw them, Mizuko was speaking and Hikari had arrived - coming right out of the ground, which caused Kouki to wonder how long the female had been there. She listened as Mizuko spoke of how she doubted anyone wanted this meeting to resort in bloodshed; of how even though Kurai was powerful a match against Mizuko and herself would prove for an uneasy fight. At that point Kouki's arms unfolded, arms moving slightly lower in a protective motion. Kouki hadn't wanted this to turn violent for a single reason: she had no intentions of fighting and putting at risk the children within her.

She then listened as Mizuko demanded some answers while taking a guess at what she thought was the reasons why they left. When Mizuko finally finished speaking Kouki, having found the words in her brain she was looking for, spoke up, "I didn't come here to drag you two back. I didn't come here to kill you. I came here to find out why you left." She had no reason to lie, to hide her intentions. Mizuko might feel differently than she did, as perhaps did Isao, but Kouki personally had no urge to force them back to a place they didn't want to be, nor did she have a reason to kill them. If that made her a bad leader... then perhaps it truly was time for her to step down.

He'd expected them to begin attacking as soon as they were in range, but no attacks came...yet. Kurai slid backwards out of his fighting stance and stood up straight, keeping both of his hands balled into fists. Something moved through the tree branches above and around the area, making loud screeching sounds. The thing moved so quickly that ordinary eyes would only be able to see a brown blur. Around the time that his sister rose from the ground is when the 3 foot monkey named Little Kong came to a stop at Kurai's side. He frowned evilly and made a continuous growling sound.

Little Kong:

Kurai wasn't going to harm Kouki by no means, but that wasn't to say that he'd stand there and accept a beating. She made her intentions clear by her body language, and by what she said. The reaction Kurai gave to Mizuko saying it wouldn't be easy fighting a Dragon and a Jinchuuriki was none. ”From the looks of things... if there were a fight, the only person who'd be fighting by themselves would be you... and i'm pretty sure this entire village behind me wouldn't just stand here and watch one of their own get double teamed.”

Many, villagers and Ops already, were in agreement. Kurai had already proved that he was prepared to kill to protect them, demonstrated in front of a bar a day ago. ”...I guess while you're off doing whatever it is you do the same as Issy or whatever his name is - who didn't even bother to escort you two here, what with maniacs and cannibals roaming the wilds - that you wouldn't have noticed how many times I saved that village, prevented gangsters from establishing an extortion racket in the marketplace, Pirates and S-ranked bums from taking over your Council, not to mention the gang of thugs who attacked our home. Too busy to notice the flying bodies, the ground tremors that could be felt for miles, and the giant mountain-sized explosions in the sky. Too occupied being pleasured in hot springs?...”

He couldn't believe that guy didn't come with them. To Kurai, that proved just how much he and his sister were worth to him. They weren't even worth coming to find out if they were even still alive. Staying behind to let these two females travel the wilds by themselves. ”...I would imagine furthermore that every aspiring Shinobi in any aspiring village would like to hear the approval of those that run the village, but except for Kouki, all we were awarded with was silence. And that other guy didn't even bother to come?... So if it takes moving into a village branded scum and Villains to be recognized, as well as being branded a Villain myself, then i'd rather be a Villain than be ignored. It's nothing against you at all Kouki, and it's only because of you that it feels so bad...”

He meant every word, and had no intentions of ever going back to Hinowagakure. Little Kong had even told him that he loved Makkura more, since with how dark it was it reminded him of the Inner Forest back home in Niwa. He knew he'd probably never see Kouki again, and that was probably going to eat at him from this moment on...

He noticed Mizuko start to undergo some sort of change, as did Little Kong, since his growling got louder. The entire time, Kurai and Little Kong both were still prepared for any attack that may be launched in their direction. Kurai still stood sideways with his legs slightly spread, his knees slightly bent, enabling him to move off in any direction at a moment's notice. ”...And through it all, if you still plan on attacking us, then I guess we'll all just do what we have to, because it's not like we're not prepared.”

The Aura of Kua appeared surrounding Kurai, snorting and raking one of his feet back and fourth, large hammer in hand, digging the large hoof into the ground. Two long tails lashed about violently behind him. Little Kong stood posed, ready to throw himself forward.

Yeah, that sounded about right. Children that wanted to be praised for everything, and while they had earned more then they had received... to go rouge after... gods it really was less than two months... that spoke more than seemed to matter to anyone but her it would seem. "Truth to your words, but there is more to running a village than just repelling attacks and the like. Did it not once occurr to you that in any other functioning village, that is the entire point of having a strong ninja; to protect the homeland? While you where out doing the job you voluntarily undertook; we where busy making sure the people didn't starve. Recovering the plants that your sister turned into a proper medical stockhouse. Isao created a barrier over the village to repel outsider attacks from land, I was in the bay making sure our only stable source of food didn't die from over-fishing, while simultaneously working to stabilize the village from falling into the water after the foundations cracked. Kouki worked herself raw with the people, trying to give them someone to look to; since I am very obviously and have never claimed to be a great anything. I was barely a much of a teacher, it was always my intention to step aside and let someone better lead the people of Hinowa as soon as was possible. If not for this, it would have been one of you."

"No, you've made your bed; and you will lay in it. I fight to protect her here, nothing more. My power grows in response to you assuming a battle stance; that and your new friends ganging up on us. I don't fight the loosing battle; you have never thought anything of me, and you will never find me to be anything more than a lazy coward I would bet; at least not until we met on the battlefield. That won't be today, not without some provocation. Kouki, I am satisfied enough. I'd rather this not turn ugly just by my existing, as seems to happen quiet often lately. Are we finished?"

Hikari snorted, the first real sound to come from her since her arrival. Very slowly she raised her hands and began to clap them together; the sound even for nothing more than a clap was sarcastic as best. Bitchy even. But, she didn't care. She couldn't hold her tongue anymore, she couldn't stand by and watch the power play going on between the two without at least saying something. "So, you're telling me that in those two months that we were busting our asses for your village, voluntarily as you put it, that in ALL of that time all you managed to do was feed some fish and fix a crack? All Isao managed to do was put some protection around the village? In TWO months... that is all you accomplished? Maybe if you hadn't been busy fornicating in the hot springs you would've accomplished a little more, or at least noticed the massive explosions going off in your village, the dozens of criminals trying to take hold, and the fact that bodies were being carried out of your village so that they didn't rot and spread a disease by the dozens because of all of the criminals that were being slaughtered. But, apparently you were so busy you couldn't notice that.. even though at any given time I can see not only the whole village but the entire region, and I never ever saw you do a damn thing other than a brief time in the greenhouse reviving some plants, and instantly heading to that hot spring after that single meeting that you guys said thanks in.. which Isao showed up late for." Eyes were glinting dangerously, but Hikari wasn't about to loose her temper yet. No, because if a fight broke out she was going to protect the most vulnerable person here: Kouki.

She then nodded her head in the direciton of Kouki: she was on a roll. "As far as she goes, you say you'd fight to protect her, yet moments ago you spoke of how a fight wouldn't be easy for my brother against a Jinchuuriki such as yourself and a dragon... So, which is it? Are you protecting her? Or hiding behind her? She's pregnant, with triplets, that's seriously dangerous for a normal female, let alone one carrying such exceptionally powerful children. She shouldn't be here period... but since she is, perhaps she should stay: you no longer have a highly trained medic back in your village unless one has popped up in my absence... and I seriously doubt that."

She allowed herself to go silent at that point, allowed her words to sink in. If she was going to be attacked for what she had just said then so be it; she was prepared for it. She might have recently turned into a medic but fighting was in her blood, it was in every Yanagi's blood. It was what they were good at.

Kouki looked at each in turn: first to Mizuko as she spoke of the things she and Isao had done, then to Hikari as she seemed to suddenly burst with rage. She hadn't expected to hear such things from the girl since before today she had always seemed so calm and cheerful: she had never seen the female so much as frown before let alone loose her temper and rage like this. No, apparently this was something that the Yanagi felt strongly of; something that they felt deep down was right and proper - words that were truthful for them.

It made Kouki feel torn almost. She didn't want to see such worthy people never return to Hinowa, but she understood their reasonings very well. They couldn't be in a place where they felt they were being used at best, and she didn't blame them. And then... well, and then Hikari was touching on Kouki's most base fear she had right now: the situation with her children. She wasn't a fool, she knew just as much as Hikari did that there were no highly trained medics in Hinowa anymore, she also knew that triplets were dangerous at best when the pregnancy was normal.... and Kouki's was beyond the scope of normal. However... Hikari's suggestion... she didn't know how to respond. So, silence was her best answer.

She then focused on Kurai, wondering what words he was going to speak next about this whole situation, and if it was going to turn into a physical altercation or not. Something told her that Hikari might have just lit the match that would ignite the gasoline for this fire.

”...”

The gift of the Yanagi - some of them born blind, like his twin - was the Shinsai. When fully developed, it allowed the Yanagi to see everything within a village, so long as they maintained a connection with Earth. With such an ability combined with a natural sensory ability, not even to mention his sister's Holeman Radar that apparently let her see everything within the entire country, these claims she made; Kurai did not witness, and neither did Hikari. In the face of such lies, Kurai could find no more words for the woman. Little Kong gave a snorting noise and kept a crazed look upon his face, while Kurai kept cool and his face blank like usual. If she was truly intent on trying to attack him, she would have done so by now.

However, what Hikari said at the end made total sense. Here, there was a brand new hospital and several high ranked Medics, whereas Hinowa also had a brand new Hospital, but only Nurses at best. He had nothing against the woman at all, and Kurai liked to think that she was rather fond of him as well; proof of that was the confrontation with Kua, in which she could have easily been killed.

”...That's seriously something you might want to consider, Kouki... We'd really hate to hear something bad happened to you... This place is spooky and people say bad things about it, and the people who run it, but were you to spend time here you'll find that these rumors are greatly exaggerated...”

Kurai took one last look at Kouki, the only member of the Hinowa council that actually seemed to give a damn. Any sort of recognition was better than none at all, and if not for her, what they'd have gotten from those other 2 would have been just that: none at all. He didn't even look at Mizuko as he turned around and started walking back into the village. Little Kong followed suit.


\Exit unless prevented/

"Hnnn. Seems I've misspoken, or else purposefully been taken incorrectly. Whatever, at this point? I just do not care. Your choice is your own; my intention was to support her decision in relation to what happens to you and your sibling; nothing more. You wish to call us lazy? That is fair, in context; we are not used to moving at the speeds it seems you surface dwellers move. Call it a remnant of our former lives; or call it whatever you wish. I have yet to call myself anything but what I am; a warrior playing at being a leader, one that planned to step aside once someone ready and able to properly lead the people of Hinowa appeared. That would have been you, or your brother, Hikari. Likely both, eventually. I've seen enough what it is to 'lead' to know that I would never hack it; and it shows; this I admit. I would have been happy, long ago; to just have Kouki as my student and spend my time training and exploring the reefs of our former home. That was the point; really. My clan, that was what we did; we explored, we raised the orchards that fed the people, and we protected the village in ways that no one else could. Now? Now, not so much; I am the last, and I am useless in this world; in many ways."

She watched Kurai walk off after his offer to Kouki; she wasn't even sure she would, or could, deny that he was right; now that they had left, she was the closest thing to a proper medic they had, and she was a field medic at best. Not prepared for any of this. Sighing heavily, "What a mess. What a giant, clusterfucking, mess. Even right after... well, even in those times, things weren't this hard. Maybe that's why it's worth it, because it's hard. Or maybe I've just gone insane from it all. Kouki; just... tell me what we're doing here. Now. I don't even know anymore. Come to fetch our people? That was what we thought, but is it right if they're happy here? Are we going to be just like the surface dwellers that force everyone to their will; or are we better than that? I find myself unable to care either way, and that scares me, slightly. So, I defer to you. Better that, than starting a war with my foul mouth and quick temper."