Amara grinned as she walked her way through the village of Niwaurushigakure. The scramble that had taken place over her sudden need and urge to come to this village still was amusing her. What amused her more was the idea that she was sure her father and daughter would be causing the same sort of scramble when they came following after her. Her father had been her bodyguard since before she became Raikage, it was what a parent did after all, but given her position and the danger it put her in? It put a larger target on her back and gave him even more reasons to keep an eye on her.
 
Though, she was more than safe in Hiroyuki’s village: she had known him for longer than she could honestly remember – they were after all like an extended family to her. Which, is exactly why she figured Hiroyuki wouldn’t mind her sudden and unexpected arrival: he likely needed a break from desk work too and duty in general and her being there would give him enough of an excuse.
 
She took her time while walking through the village – many of the villagers stopped to say hello and she would grin and wave while making her way towards Hiroyuki’s office. It was the first place she planned on looking for him at, if he wasn’t there she would then turn her attention to his family – one of them would either know where he was or find him easily enough for her. She knew the path there well enough and so she didn’t take long to arrive.
 
She wasn’t stopped on the way up to his office, her familiar face more than easily recognized – especially with the Raikage hat on. She paused outside of Hiroyuki’s office door and knocked lightly. She already assumed that Hiroyuki knew of her arrival in the village, if not because of one of his own shinobi alerting him, than the smell of ozone wafting off of her would surely do the trick – passive shock suppressed or not she still smelled like she had bathed in lightning.
 

“Hiiirroooyuuukkkii…”, she called out in a sing-song voice.

“Hiiirroooyuuukkkii…”

.....

SweetholyfuckinggiftsfromthegodsthatwasAmarawasn'tit? A short sneeze to clear the water he'd been breathing from his nose and lungs and he could notice the ozone quickly filling the air. Yes.

YES.

So much win. This was by far one of the best things that could have happened to him today; it had been good overall, but he seriously missed his best friend, and her delightfully crazy family; and with her here, he could kill a bunch of birds with one stone. Eventually. Like, the hour before they left. No, fuck work, fuck it with a limp shrimp. He was going to enjoy this break; hang out with people he enjoyed having around; and overall be lazy. Yes, that sounded good.

He actually physically got up and threw the door open, glancing up and down the hall until he saw her and all but flashed to her side; he had plenty of his father's natural speed, so it was nothing to him to vanish over such a short distance. "You. Here. Happy. Come, let's get out of the hallway before someone makes us work, yes?"

Was that a sneeze she had just heard? Head tilted and a grin spread across her face. Had she been lucky enough to find him in the first place she had decided to look for him in? Apparently she had because he was opening the doors himself and then flashing to her side which caused her to cackle. She nodded in agreement with him as her grin turned mischievous and playful. “You read my mind. Yes, let’s escape before anyone notices! We’ll go run away together!”, she said laughing.
 
Amara was in a good mood which had just been made better because of the fact that her little escape plan had worked. No one could complain about her leaving Kumogakure because relations with allies was important – just like no one could complain about Hiroyuki escorting her around the village and basically bailing out of his office because that was just the polite thing to do when a kage from another village was in your own. Yup, Amara had planned this perfectly.
 

“I figured you probably needed as much of a break as I did; and coming here to be all friendly and ally-ish is a good enough excuse to keep people from bitching too hard.”, she didn’t bother with pretenses when it came to Hiroyuki – honesty was just what she did with her friends. And she didn’t care if anyone over-heard her either; what could they say? No one could argue with her logic after all. And anyway, it was better than her sitting behind her desk and getting so frustrated that she started channeling raiton chakra through the whole building.

Escape? Yeeeeessssss. "I am all kinds of okay with this. Market run? We can find something for the girls before they catch up.~" And food, plenty of food. The harvests had been good that year, and they where still riding on the fresh supplies and such. There was that sense of good times in the village; even with the strange happenings lately. The people where young, but most had been taught about wildfires and such, and they had been passing the strange smokes and such on the far horizon as such for a while now. It wouldn't hold much longer, but with Amara here, he could have the meeting and such that needed to happen before the official public announcements where made. However, that would happen much, much later.

"To the market, RUN!" Aaaaand he was jumping out the window and all but flying down the side of the building; they might have built much of the complex into the tree, but the face of the admin complex was build around the base of the trunk; which left plenty of free air for him to fall through. He was moving at a speed that she could easily match; even with her insane powers, he was still a hair or three faster normally; and this was just a friendly thing. No reason to go all out, not when they could outpace everyone in the village but possibly their parents.

The idea of heading to the market was appealing; there was always plenty to see, plenty to eat, and plenty to buy so she could further spoil Gemma: if such a thing was possible given all of the little trinkets and shiny objects she already owned. Still, according to her daughter one could never have too many shiny things. So, she nodded in agreement before watching him take off through the window.
 
Cackling like mad she followed after him; moving through open air feeling all too natural for the Lightning Whisperer. The speeds that Hiroyuki were moving at were fast but not all out and so she followed suit: cackling and laughing all of the time. Throughout the years Amara had just started to become carefree: she didn’t dwell on the stresses anymore – it helped having someone else in her skull all of the time who could talk her through everything with relative easy – so, the happy Raikage was indeed happy.
 

“Food first?!”, she called out to Hiroyuki. She was personally starving; she had skipped breakfast that morning in favor of getting a head start on all of the paperwork she had done and had skipped lunch in favor of racing over to Niwa before anyone could even start to form an idea as to why she shouldn’t – not that she would have listened of course. Stubborn girl was stubborn. She didn’t care really what she ate, though she could have definitely gone for some rice balls at this point – or something with meat in it. Didn’t matter, her stomach was roaring and wanted filled, and anything would do at this point.

"Foooooood!~" His only reply. He was Inuzuka. Voracious appetites came with that territory, even when you where a stick like him. He could easily eat a small horse and not gain any weight; which was something he regularly did. Well, not a horse; usually a moderate sized deer or young elk, but the intent was the same.

He shifted directions, heading more toward the wet market near the water's edge than the dry; there was a new shop that had fish filled rice balls that where insanely good, and there was a taffy shop next door that would supply the girls with sweets for at least an hour, just with the coin he kept on him. He could buy out the entire stock if he wanted, but that would just lead to grouchy kids later on then they made themselves sick. "Follow meeeeeee.~"

The food shop was close enough; he was on the ground and slowed considerably for the safety of the few locals out this time of day; moving at an easy jog versus a ninja's sprint. The sign hanging above the door of the shop was simple; the mark of the trader guild and a name; one he still didn't bother to care about, because names meant nothing in the crowded fish market where everyone's was a play on some kind of fish or aquatic life. Directions was all he needed to find the place; and he was inside tossing an order at the man behind the bar the instant he was inside. It was something the workers of the shop where used too; he stopped by at least once a week and cleaned the house out lately; they made plenty of profit off him, and as he was Kage, they knew he was good for his tabs. 2 Kage at the same time? They'd make a months profit in a few hours off them. Good time, good times.

Food. Sounded like a wonderful place to start: she was starving, and even without being as hungry as she was she could easily eat with the best of them when she wanted to – great thing about fast metabolism: she could eat as much as she wanted whenever she wanted and never gain a pound – or perhaps that had something to do with the dragon sealed inside of her, either or.
 
As Hiroyuki shifted directions Amara followed after; keeping her speed down enough to where she didn’t risk barreling into someone or otherwise hurting them – the faster she went the more likely she always seemed to be to accidentally shock someone and she had no intentions of doing that. She knew they were likely going to make someone very rich and happy today – especially if Raijin and Gemma ended up catching up to them – Gemma had done a serious amount of growing, and the girl could pack away food like an adult. She was lucky to be one of those parents who never had to force her kid to eat.
 

She entered into the shop after Hiroyuki, her stomach growling loudly. “Mmm.. that all sounds delicious…”

Barking orders didn't normally fit him; but that was how you did business in the wet market; you either barked an order, or you got ignored. It was just how they functioned, you had to be loud to be heard, and when you could literally bark, it really helped. You'd think he was ordering for a small army, not just himself and Amara. If not for her hat and him being basically known to everyone in the village either through his own reputation/rank or by being a clone of his father; the workers would be calling foul and passing the order off as a prank; but his appetite was well known, and they where both fully loaded. No reason not to 'humor' the kid Kages; specially when they end up ordering more half the time.

He grabbed a set of pitchers when they where dropped on the order counter; dragging the heavy containers to a small table near the window where there was some air flow from the open door. Inside was a strange cocktail the locals called 'Lake Water'; it was oddly refreshing, even if it was a tad alcoholic. This place made it weak on the booze, and stronger on the flavor, so they could enjoy more without issues. Not that either of them really ever had an issue with booze; she was basically immune, and he had the bloodline to handle anything. Fun times. "Come, sit. They'll toss it at us when it's ready. Less on manners, more on just good food. How've you been, eh? Been a while since we've talked, even via letters. You've been busy as hell, I'm assuming; given how much construction is going on back home. Or did you pass that off on your psycho father?"

Amara followed Hiroyuki to the table and took a seat; enjoying the cool breeze – even as it brought a distinct smell with it that even she was able to pick up on, it was the familiar scent of her own daughter: a mixture of lightning and what smelled like vanilla. It brought a grin to her face: no point in telling Gemma where they were, more than likely Aella was with her and so they’d be found soon enough – training for fun. Weeeeeee~
 
“Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy: figured I'd keep my eye on everything going on, my dad seems to have had a lot on his plate lately as is. But, I finally could see my desk again so I figured it was time for a little break. I knew people would bitch if I took a vacation early, so what better excuse then to go visit some allies?”, she said with a grin.
 
At that point Aella walked in with Gemma behind her; both girls looked rather pleased and proud of themselves for having found them. They came over to the table and climbed into empty chairs; or rather they climbed into the same empty chair and sat there at slight angles so they could share it. It didn’t matter that there were more than enough chairs to drag over they were too attached at the hip for such logic and thankfully both girls were still small enough that such a thing actually worked.
 

“Oh, it seems we’ve been hunted down.”, she said playfully with a grin.

"Surprised it took this long, actually. But then again, they could have easily just ditched us entirely and hung out by themselves. Well, I ordered more then enough for them to eat without having to wait, so we're all good there." He allowed himself to stretch up and back over the back of the chair, spine crackling softly as it reset a bit; a soft groan of happy escaping from him. "So girls, you going to tail us to the market, or let us surprise you this time, hm? I'm assuming your grandfather found his bar stool at the usual place already, since he's not here bothering me or bitching about my dad."

The first bucket of food was coming out; the sound of sizzling hot food and boiling water filling the air. They served the fish steamed in special buckets that had just that, boiling sea water in a cavity below the main container area so that the fish stayed moist and warm for a looooong time while people worked through it; while the filled rice balls came in more normal woven reed baskets; packed in tight and ready to feed armies; which they might as well have been. The food hit the table and started disappearing almost instantly; a rice ball in one hand and a steaming hot fish in the other. Pitchers of lemonade joined the mix for the girls, they knew better then to not give Aella something when she showed up, and they made a decently strong, sweet lemonade just for her.

“I don’t know if my granddad arrived, yet. I was coming to visit my mom when I ran into her secretary and she told me that this was where my mom went; so I just warped to Aella.”, Gemma responded with Aella nodding in agreement next to her.

Amara grinned and then looked towards Aella and Gemma slyly. “Yes, what did exactly take you girls so long to find us?”, she asked curiously. She knew Aella was a very capable tracker even at her young age, and Gemma knew Amara’s own chakra signature as well as her own so it wouldn’t have normally taken them that long to locate them, but it had.

The girls looked at each other at the same time and then to Amara, both with very innocent expressions on their faces. “Nothing.”, they said in unison before starting to eat and letting the subject drop – a little too innocently.

Amara stared at them for several seconds, an eyebrow rising in curiosity. She let it drop for the moment and instead grabbed up one of the rice balls which she began to eat; pausing only long enough to sip at her drink. The girls remained silent; still both smiling innocently the entire time. Amara was damn sure they were up to something; but short of tickle torturing the answer out of them they likely weren’t going to tell: it was one thing the girls were good at – keeping secrets. It made her proud of them.

Uh-huh. A game was being played, one he'd go along with as long as Amara did. It wasn't like he couldn't find out in and instant had it been important; Gemma wasn't immune to his abilities, and Aella was only so well shielded; but that wasn't what he did. They where family; they where trusted. That, and keeping secrets was part of the life of a ninja, and the better they where at it, the better they could function.

He reached for some of the steamed fish; they where gutted but otherwise whole, bones and all left in. It made eating them easier, actually; he just ran a nail across the crest of the spine and lifted away fully intact fillets held together by the thin skin. A moment to pull the thin pin bones out, and the entire hunk was tossed into his mouth while he went to clean some pieces for the rest of them. Fish bones weren't tasty like larger vertebrates; 'least the small bones weren't. The spine was candy filled, as was the head with all that cheek meat and the eyeballs. Yummy.

A good heavy swallow and a swig of the drink later, "I smell acrylic and paints. Something tells me one of the artists was in the middle of getting rich."

The girls looked at each other again at Hiroyuki’s comment and simply grinned before continuing on with eating. All of their movements were in sync with each other, from the way they were eating to the way their legs swayed from side to side; too short yet to reach the ground. At the same time they reached forward and grabbed their drinks, sipping at them before returning to eating.

Amara just watched them for a moment as she started in on another rice ball. “It’s like looking at a mirror, you two….”, she said softly with a chuckle. Amara was half expecting them to show up looking the same at some point: just random hair dying and hair cutting to make them look as much like twins as possible. Amara didn’t really mind of course: best friends were hard to come by, and the fact the girls got along so well was a wonderful thing.

The girls looked at each other in unison and then both shrugged before remaining quiet and eating. Yup, they were definitely up to something.~