Open Popcorn! Get your popcorn! (spectating)

[Kureji]

So much shouting. Kureji would think that something is happening. He was a bit lost so he didn't really get there in time, but he did eventually see a bunch of commotion. Glowy Dude, Brother, Machoman, Ryuni, and some girl that looked to be around Ryuni's age, all seem to be facing off against some woman.

The woman had practically launched herself at Machoman, looking like she wanted to give him a big ol smooch but he had created some distance between them and was ready for a fight. Kureji's eyebrows were raised. Is Machoman scared of women? Either way, a comfy couch would materialize behind him as he would plop down on it. With a heavy sigh, he realized that he should at least do something. Opening a sealing scroll, he brought out a microphone and got his announcer voice ready.

"GOOD MORNING SUNA!!!! ARE WE READY TO RUUUUUMMMMBBLLLLLLEEEE!!!!!! ALL CITIZENS AVOID THE GATE AREAS AND ANY NINJA PEOPLE NOT ACTIVELY DOING THINGS, COME ON DOWN AND ENJOY THE SHOW!!!!"

Afterwards, he would then yell over to the group, "Don't mind me! Seems a bit too crowded over there! My chaos might just make things more confusing for you all!" Afterwards, he would materialize a bucket of popcorn and eat it as he got comfy.

 

[Sabaku Rika]

After Rika used her body-switch technique, she became blonde at the medical facility. She left a message with one of the nurses, "Some chick is about to get murdered by three guys and a kid." When asked for more details, she specified it was the 12 Kazekage, the 13th, some dude with three eyes, and Ryuni, vs some crazy chick with a big sword; they took the message.

Rika returned to the top of the wall and leaned over the edge of the railing. She saw she wasn't the only one watching this fight. Some other dude on a couch was watching.

It'd be one hell of a show. "Kick ass!" Rika shouted as she stepped onto the bottom railing to get more height. One hand held on to the top railing. The other she raised up to pump her fist in the air.

[Topic entered, medics notified]

 

[Chikamatsu Kohana]

The announcement echoed through the Bulwark before I even reached the area.

I knew that voice anywhere. A slight blush came to my cheeks

Gods fucking damnit.

I rounded the corner to find Kureji already installed on a materialized couch with a bucket of popcorn, microphone in hand, announcing the whole situation like it was a stadium event. I stood behind him for a moment, taking in the scene at the gate. Shin on the wall. Michino looking like he'd rather be anywhere else on earth. I squinted my eyes at the arrival.

Is that fucking Akira?

I pressed two fingers to the bridge of my nose. At the thought that this other homunculus had arrived here.

Then I walked around the couch, dropped into the seat beside Kureji, and reached wordlessly into his popcorn bucket.

"I was gone for twenty fucking minutes," I said flatly, watching the chaos unfold at the gate. "Twenty gods damned fucking minutes." I ate a handful of popcorn. "Does this shit happen every day or did I just get lucky?"

I didn't look at him when I said it. I was watching the gate with the expression of someone who had accepted that this was simply her life now.

[Topic Entered]

 

[Chiyo]

Chiyo had been settled in her office, methodically working her way through a stack of reports, when word reached her of the incident at the gates and that Michino was involved. She had risen from her desk immediately, only to find that the universe itself seemed determined to keep her from leaving. Everyone and their mother had materialized in her path with something utterly frivolous in hand: papers requiring her signature, documents demanding review, someone desperately seeking a meeting that could not possibly wait. After she had disentangled herself from the fifth person to plant themselves squarely in her way, Chiyo's patience ran dry. She simply stepped out the nearest window, landed softly on the ledge, and took off at a sprint across the rooftops, pushing time itself out of her way as she cut through the village like a blade; every second compressed.

An instant later she materialized atop the gate, slightly breathless but focused. She cast a quick glance toward Shin and felt a quiet relief that he had already arrived. Then she swept past Kureji and Kohana without a second thought, barely registering the couch they had somehow claimed, and moved straight to the wall beside Rika, already reaching for the edge to launch herself over the side and join the others below.

[Topic Entered, someone better stop her~]

 

[Sabaku Rika]

Rika looked over as the older woman approached and grabbed the railing. She saw it, she was about to jump in. While it would be a bit of an overkill for another person to jump in, Rika regconized her as one of the Sennin, way above her pay grade.

"Hell yeah!" Rika cheered before she even thought about it further, "Kick some ass!" Rika added with a wide grin. She wasn't going to stop the Sennin. She wanted to see all those power houses in a fight together. Plus Ryuni and that other dude.

Rika didn't care if it'd be overkill, or too many chefs in one kitchen, someone kicked a beehive and this was the consequence. This was going to be epic.

"That crazy chick tried tounging the 13th- I guarantee he's gonna try to kill her" Rika added as she pointed down at Alari. Then she shuddered at the memory of seeing it. It was gross, and uncanny.

[Egging Chiyo on]

 

[Kureji]

Kureji was surprised to see Kohana. But he would be happy as she sat next to him. He would put an arm around her as she would reach into his popcorn bucket. He doesn't know the younger girl or some other woman. Though, the woman looks ready to pounce in on the action.

"Oh no.... Stop..." He said unenthusiastically. He would materialize a bucket of popcorn for both other people to accommodate for them watching the show. He doesn't know if the woman was in the mood for popcorn though. The two buckets would suspend in the air ready to be taken by them if they do want to in case.

('stopping' Chiyo)

 

[Kyuji]

A barge into the Hospital, a quick exchange of information and I sighed. It sounded like there was a fight beginning soon with our leaders, Yuuto, my dear kouhai Ryuni and some stranger who was described as some crazy chick with a big sword. Unfortunately, I had not been able to catch wind of more information nor seen the informant. While our current Kazekage and my former apprentice was at the commotion and capable of handling any medical issues that came up, my duty as the Medical Chief and his former teacher made me dash out of the Hospital to the location described in full armor ready to engage if they needed me to do so.

Fortunately upon my arrival, it seemed they were having a stare-down between them. Lord Michino, Lord Shin and Ryuni were definitely allies in this situation. Yuuto was a wildcard but he had been helpful with keeping Ryuni alive after Kureji summoned me to where they had been fighting and had ample knowledge of medical techniques so he was likely on the side of the village in this situation. That left the last one who the informant described as the crazy lady with the sword and in this situation, she was either crazy or had a death wish as the odds were stacked against her and she would not be able to come out of this without sustaining some injuries if she even managed to survive. Off in the distance was Kureji and Kohana on some couch, it appeared, eating some popcorn which raised questions, but they were not in harm or causing any issues so I left it slide for now.

However when I looked up at a nearby wall, I saw Rika and Lady Chiyo. Without knowing much about Lady Chiyo, she looked like she was ready to pounce down and get involved if she needed to. That would not do for now as we didn't need all of the village getting involved in one scrimmage and sustaining unnecessary injuries. No, I would approach her and put a hand on her shoulder while addressing her with a simple comment or two: "Stand down for now, Lady Chiyo. We can get involved if things get out of control. Let the boys handle it and we can clean up their mess if necessary." Kureji also addressed her, but it was still good to have someone she knew from the village speak to her and try to let her be at ease.

 

[Chikamatsu Kohana]

I was still processing the fact that Akira had just tried to tongue Michino in front of my brother when I felt an arm settle around my shoulders.

I went very still.

I did not look at Kureji. I looked straight ahead at the fight, jaw tight, cheeks doing something I was going to pretend wasn't happening.

"..."

I ate another handful of popcorn.

Movement caught my eye. Lady Chiyo—Sennin of Homeland Security, which, fair enough, this was technically a homeland security situation—had materialized on the wall beside Rika and was reaching for the edge like she was about to throw herself directly into a battle that already had plenty of people in it.

Before I could open my mouth, Lady Kyuji's voice carried across from the wall, calm and authoritative, telling Chiyo to stand down and let the boys handle it.

I pointed in Kyuji's direction and shouted.

"What she said. Let the boys dick swing for a bit before you show up and save them. Big guy will owe you a fuck ton!"

I leaned slightly toward Kureji then, lowering my voice, a devilish grin pulling at the corner of my mouth.

"You see that french kissing harlet, yea she's a Homunculus by the way. And not one my brother made."

A small quiet chuckle escaped me as I turned back to watch the gate.

"Michino is fucking cooked."

 

[Chiyo]

Those few moments nearly short-circuited Chiyo's normally razor-sharp mind, forcing her to pause just long enough to reconsider the impulse screaming at her to act.

On one side, the girl beside her cheered her on and let slip a piece of information that cut through every other sound around them, rising above the noise of the crowd like a blade. That crazy chick tried tonguing the 13th. Golden eyes zeroed in on the muscular woman standing before Michino and narrowed to slits, locking onto her target with predatory focus as a foot found purchase on the balustrade.

Far behind her, the silver-haired man made the most half-assed attempt at stopping her he could have possibly mustered. Then the voice of reason rang out just behind her, accompanied by a gentle touch at her shoulder. Let the boys handle it, and we can clean up their mess if necessary. Of course, Michino didn't need her charging to his rescue. If that disgusting woman had touched him like that, then she ought to let him deal with her himself; and she had no doubt that he would. Chiyo would stay here, and watch, and if he needed her she would be right here waiting. Her hands tightened around the stone balustrade, knuckles draining white with the force of her desire to vault over the railing and drop into the sand below, before she released her grip altogether and let her hands fall to her sides.

The other blonde lounging on the couch added her two cents as well, reiterating the calm words of the Byakko clan's leader with considerably less diplomacy and considerably more bite. A grin threatened to tug at the corners of Chiyo's mouth, but the bloodlust still simmering beneath her skin chased it away before it could fully form.

Drawing a slow, measured breath, the Sennin closed her eyes for just a moment, stepped back from the ledge, and turned to face the blonde woman standing behind her. Her emotions were back in check - mostly - though her golden eyes still flickered with a fire that had no intention of going out anytime soon.

She blinked once, twice, recognition settling over her features as she carefully schooled her expression into something resembling a polite smile. "Ah, Lady Kyuji...thank you. You're right, of course."

The polite smile didn't last long. A sharp look flickered across her face at the woman on the couch's final words before she thought better of it, snapping back around to fix her gaze on the situation unfolding below.

 

[Tsuchigumo Maya]

The sounds of shouting and the unnatural roar of chakra-laced wind had drawn Maya from her intended path. She hadn't meant to come this close to the gates. She had only been trying to navigate her way back home from the Academy, keeping her head down and her posture rigid, trying to take up as little space as possible in a village that always felt too large and too loud.

But the commotion was impossible to ignore. As she rounded a corner, her jade green eyes widened in absolute terror.

She arrived just in time to witness the sheer, devastating force of a former Kazekage’s wrath. A massive sheet of bladed air erupted near the gate, violently repelling a terrifying, sword-wielding woman who had seemingly just tried to force herself onto him. The hurricane-force winds lashed out, kicking up stinging sand and debris. Maya gasped, her hands flying up to shield her face as she instinctively stumbled backward. For a terrifying fraction of a second, she felt a strange sensation—a dizzying skip in the world around her—and instead of falling hard onto the cobblestones, she found herself standing perfectly upright, pressed flat against a nearby building. She squeezed her eyes shut, attributing the disorientation to sheer panic.

'What is happening? Why is everyone fighting?' she thought, her internal voice trembling. 'I should leave. I need to leave right now before they see me.'

But her legs felt like lead. Peeking through her perfectly trimmed black bangs, the delicate, doll-like girl took in the surreal scene. It wasn't just the clash of titans at the gate that confused her; it was the audience. Not far from where she hid, a man and a woman were lounging on a materialized couch, casually eating from floating buckets of popcorn as if this horrifying display of violence was a theatrical performance.

Terrified of being caught in the open if the wind jutsu flared up again, Maya cautiously skirted along the edges of the plaza. She crept closer to the couch, not daring to speak to the older man and the blonde woman who sat with him. If they were eating popcorn, maybe she wasn't about to die. She hovered nervously a few paces behind and to the side of them, clutching the soft fabric of her expensive tunic with white-knuckled fingers.

Then, a loud voice from above made her flinch.

Maya tilted her head up toward the Bulwark wall. There, leaning over the railing, was that same girl who looked identical to her; she'd seen her a few times. Maya stared at her, her brows knitting together in a mix of horror and inexplicable fascination. The girl up there was everything Maya was not—brash, fearless, and completely at home in the chaos. Yet, as Maya watched her cheer on the brutal spectacle, a strange, hollow tug pulled at her chest. She looked away, back to the chaos happening.

'She's crazy... they're all crazy,' Maya thought, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She bit her lower lip, shrinking down slightly behind the safety of the spectators' couch. Despite what she was thinking, she stayed. Maybe it was like watching a train wreck; she just couldn't take her eyes away.

[Topic entered]

 

[Kureji]

As more people got to the gates, Kureji was slowly piecing together what was actually happening. Machoman isn't afraid of women. He just doesn't want to be kissed. Is it cuz he rolls the other way? The woman with silver-like hair seems to be furious, and that she was about to jump into the fight as well. So he guessed that she must be Machoman's wife or something.

More people have shown up. Kyuji, who had talked silver hair lady down. And some quiet girl where he didn't realize was behind them until he went to pop his back and seen the young girl just there. "Here to enjoy the show?" He would casually say. Two more floating buckets of popcorn would appear. One by the quiet girl, and the other by Kyuji.

He would focus back on Kohana and listen to what she had to say. The woman that tried to kiss Machoman is a homunculus. He has heard the term a time or two. But that's not what's bugging him. He seen this chick somewhere before. He just doesn't remember where exactly. He was also now very aware of how much people are around him as he has his arm around Kohana's shoulder as they lounged together. He figured that he and Kohana can do the kissing in a more private area than out in the open like this. He knows that Kohana is still trying to figure out her own emotions and that he is willing to be one-hundred percent supportive of her and if he made any kissing moves on her in a place like this, with so many eyes, she might just punch him. Or worst. Run away from him again.

So he was fine with just having her near him and holding her close like this.

"I fought Machoman once before. I wasn't really being serious back then so he seems like an alright fighter. But Brother," He would point towards Yuuto, "Me and him fought, and even though he wasn't being serious, felt like he was running circles around me. I only kept up with my own genjutsu that I had on him. As for Glo-" He stopped himself from calling Kohana's brother Glowy dude. "Shin. Seen him out on the battlefront against the waves of mercs. Seems good. And Ryuni.... The kid had his own problems before today. Might be too much for him." He would say.

But as for the woman, this homunculus. He has no idea who she is, just some weird feeling that he has seen her before.

(More floating buckets of popcorn for the newer arriving people)

 

[Rakujo Reika]

She hadn’t meant to cause a scene. The clay bird beneath her feet was compact, just large enough to balance on comfortably, its wings carved wide enough to catch thermals between rooftops. It skimmed above the village at a controlled pace, quick but not aggressive, drifting over sandstone buildings and narrow streets while she committed sightlines and intersections to memory. Routes in. Routes out. Elevated vantage points. Blind spots near the walls. She didn’t have a destination. She just preferred knowing the terrain from more than one angle. At first, the unease was subtle.

A shift in airflow between buildings. A pattern of movement near the outer district that didn’t match the market rhythm. Then... A voice. Familiar. Even distorted by distance and echoing off the inner wall, it carried a cadence she recognized instantly. Kureji. Reika’s expression didn’t change, but the clay bird responded to the slight tightening of her chakra thread. Its wings adjusted. Its speed increased, not recklessly, but decisively. The rooftops blurred beneath her. A few villagers below pointed upward; others stepped back as the shadow passed overhead. She didn’t slow as the gates came into view.

Shinobi clustered along the wall-walk overlooking the gate. Not panicked. Not fighting. Watching something beyond the village threshold. Good. She didn’t slow enough. Momentum built under her feet as she angled toward the upper approach. The wind shifted across the wall, catching her jacket and tugging at the dust-stained fabric. The heat that lived beneath her skin stirred with the speed, not flaring, but rising. She could have circled.

She didn’t. Instead, she guided the construct in low over the rampart and jumped while still carrying forward velocity. The clay bird disintegrated the instant her boots left it, collapsing into a drifting plume of dust that fanned outward and back along the wall like a dissolving contrail. Reika landed on the stone walkway with more force than she intended. Boot soles struck. Sand skidded. She slid forward along the rampart, momentum carrying her through the back edge of the crowd. People might have jolted aside instinctively as she passed, not shoved, not struck, just displaced by proximity and the sudden wash of warmth that accompanied her.

For a split second, it felt as though a furnace had moved through them. Not burning. Just startlingly alive. She twisted her hips slightly and dug her heel into the grit layered over the stone, friction biting hard. The heat around her spiked and then collapsed inward as she forced it down, dragging it back into herself like sealing a kiln. She came to a controlled stop several paces from the front edge of the wall.

Below, the gates stood open to the desert. Beyond them stood five people, with one of them really seeming to be really close to another, but their positions all shouted hostilities. Behind her, the dust cloud from the disintegrated construct rolled across the rampart in a thin veil before thinning and settling against the stone. Reika straightened. Her jacket fell back into place. The bandages around her hands flexed once before stilling. The air around her cooled rapidly, returning to something far less intrusive.

“My apologies.” she said evenly. No defensiveness. No flourish. Just acknowledgment. She did not step forward to claim space at the front. Instead, she shifted slightly to the side, allowing those who had been watching to resume their view uninterrupted. Her gaze moved briefly across the assembled figures... and of course the world wanted to play a joke. The woman who seemingly really enjoyed spewing venom at her, Kureji, Kyuji, a kid she had run into not too long ago, and a couple more she hadn't actually met yet. A sigh would escape her lips as her gaze wandered to the events below. She simply stood there along the rampart, heat fully restrained now, posture neutral. Watching.

 

[Sabaku Rika]

Rika looked back to see Kyuji had arrived. She figured she would, but Rika groaned at Kyuji's deadpan tone, as she stopped Chiyo from joining in. "Lame..." Rika muttered, then she looked back at the people on the ground.

"Heya, Kyuji-sensei, glad to see you got the message," Rika said with a cheeky grin. "I kinda feel bad for Ryuni, he's so tiny compared to the others," Rika mentioned. She wondered if he'd do the smart thing and get out of there, or stay. From what she had seen of him so far, her money was on that he might stay.

Then a bag of popcorn appeared in front of Rika; she blinked a few times before grabbing it. "Mysterious popcorn of unknown origin? Don't mind if I do," She said as she ate a handful.

Rika, it looked like it would be a tense battle. Lord 12th looked serious. Nowhere near the soft expression she usually saw on him. "Hey Kyuji-sensei, what's a humunculas? That crazy lady down there isn't human?" Rika asked, pointing down at her. She remembered Suisen saying something about being born in a lab before. She also heard about humunculus from others, overhearing parts of conversations. She didn't know those were actually real. She thought it was just something made up.

She noticed a few others arrived, the girl who looked identical to her, another woman with the guy on the couch, Kyuji, and now... Reika. Rika remembered her from not too long ago. She came in rather spectacularly. Rika didn't flinch; she just waved at the woman before her attention was already back towards the ground.

 

[Kyuji]

Well, it surely wasn't expected for the ones that gathered at the gates to stop this outsider to anticipate an audience of this magnitude of various titles and ranks in the village from students to Sennin. From an outsider's perspective, the overall scene looked more like a play or a divine comedy out of a book that some may believe. But, the situation below was no act, no game, and certainly no fictional tale as a mysterious woman had appeared and multiple shinobi of our village and a potential ally in Yuuto were standing below ready to throw down if the woman did not stand down. Many of them tried to be rational and talk things out instead of needing to engage in bloodshed as the odds were heavily stacked against the woman, but it didn't seem like talking it out would be an option at least for now. A very unwise move as she was heavily outnumbered and there were many others standing around ready for the signal from Chikamatsu Shin or Toraono-Hyou Michino to engage including myself - blood would be spilled if they summoned me to the battlefield.

As we waited for the standoff to end and the action to begin, I saw more of those mysterious popcorn bags floating around and some people would be taking a bite or nibble of them. While food was yummy and there was always room in my belly to eat, I chose against it in this instance as I needed to keep Lady Chiyo in my sights as she was not in the best state of mind likely from her lover being down there close to that mysterious woman whom I had heard tried to kiss him. What a sickening bitch to try to lay your lips on another person's lover and hopefully spouse eventually. I knew exactly how Lady Chiyo was likely feeling as Lady Yanshi was similar in that she was very protective of her spouse and didn't want some hussy touching them. I would look at the Woman of Homeland Security and speak to her again: "I know how you are feeling given the information obtained and I would love to strangle her as well for acting like that. But, I think you need not worry about Michino, Shin, Ryuni, or Yuuto. They are all capable shinobi and they will handle this professional and swiftly so we can go about our days and focus on the matter looming. But if any of them sustain injuries, I am here to patch them up so they are in good hands."

On the other side of her, I would see Rika whom had sparred with me earlier in the week and had some unexpected help from Tsumugu, her squadmate. She looked to be her normal self all things considered with that smile and demeanor that she displayed when we first sparred and even when we first met. She also asked some good questions that many in the village would not have thought about nor worried about as they were not in the medical field that dealt with these kinds of things. I would smile at her from beside Lady Chiyo as I addressed her: "Hello Rika. It is good to see you are doing well and recovering from our little spar the other day. On the topic of homunculus, it is a topic that has various definitions depending on who you ask. The typical homunculus that you will see are the ones in the Hospital that are identical to one another as our Hospital has been short-staffed for a long time so to help with the work, individuals created the homunculus to do some of the more mundane tasks like checking in patients, updating records, scheduling appointments and so on. There are other homunculus as well like the Chikamatsu variety. Do you see that blonde down there on the couch? She is the Kazekage's sister, but she is a homunculus. Other members of the Chikamatsu Clan are homunculus." A brief pause to allow Rika to digest the information before I continued: "Homunculus are typically created in a lab or with specific techniques. Sometimes, you need to use an egg or sperm to create one and other times, there are other means to do so. What you really need to know is they are artificial humans and cannot reproduce, but that does not mean that you cannot use a homunculus to make another homunculus. They do have emotions, they do feel pain like we do, and they do have free will like we do. The only real difference is they are not created through the normal way of the Birds and the Bees. I would treat them with the same respect as you would give to Lady Chiyo, Lord Shin, your squadmates and myself."

I would then turn back to the scene unfolding below us. They were still standing there looking at one another. That smile that had been on my face for Lady Chiyo and Rika had shifted to a neutral, unamused look. Something was going to give soon, I could feel it in the air as it was thick enough to cut like a cake.

 

[Chikamatsu Kohana]

I heard it.

Clear as a bell, cutting right through the ambient noise of the gate standoff and Kureji's arm being warm around my shoulders and the distant sound of Shin probably committing a diplomatic incident.

"Do you see that blonde down there on the couch? She is the Kazekage's sister, but she is a homunculus."

I turned my head very slowly toward Kyuji.

She was still looking at Rika. Completely unbothered. Describing me like I was a landmark on a village tour.

"I'm RIGHT FUCKING HERE!"

I said it loud enough to carry across the wall without being a full shout. Just enough volume to make absolutely clear that I had ears, a functioning nervous system, and opinions about being pointed at like an exhibit at the fucking natural history museum.

I ate a handful of popcorn aggressively before flipping her the bird.

"The homunculus can hear you, cunt."

I muttered the last word slightly as I turned back to the gate. Fine. Fine. Whatever. I was used to being talked about like I wasn't in the room. Still annoying. Still going in the mental ledger.

Then the heat hit.

My jaw tightened.

I did not look at Reika. I looked very deliberately at the gate below, where my brother had apparently decided that the appropriate response to an unauthorized entry was to materialize a blade directly under the intruder's chin while radiating enough ancestral dread to make the air go heavy.

"Of course she's here," I said, to no one in particular and everyone simultaneously. "Of course."

More popcorn. Chewing. Processing.

Below, Shin spoke in Runic Terran, his voice dropping over the gate like a physical weight. Ancient tongue. Full Kazekage posture. Golden cracks flaring at his collar. The blade perfectly still at Akira's throat.

I watched my brother hold that stance and felt something complicated move through my chest, part exasperation, part pride, part the bone-deep awareness that he was running on a fraction of a soul and still managing to be the most immovable thing at those gates.

"Okay," I said quietly, more to myself than Kureji. "He's got it."

A beat.

"He looks like shit but he's got it."

I finally, deliberately, turned my head and looked at Reika where she'd come to a stop on the wall. Long look. Flat expression. The kind of eye contact that communicated an entire conversation without a single word of it being friendly.

Then I looked back at the gate.

"Somebody tell me Akira has enough survival instinct to stand down," I said, addressing the wall in general. "Because I genuinely cannot tell if she's going to make the smart choice or if I'm about to watch my brother have to explain another homunculus-related 'accident' in his incident report."

I glanced at Kureji sideways when he caught himself on the nickname.

"You can call him Glowy Dude, Shin's told me about the pet name you gave him."

I said flatly, supplying what he'd swallowed. Not an accusation. Just... offering it back. The corner of my mouth twitched.

"You can say it. He won't hear you from up here."

I looked back down at the gate, watching Shin hold that blade absolutely still under Akira's chin like he had all the time in the world and none of it was borrowed.

"Your read's right though. Michino's fine, he's pissed but he's fine, that's actually when he's most dangerous. Brother's got it handled even if he looks like he hasn't slept since the attack."

A beat.

"That kid shouldn't be down there. He's still wrapped in bandages. Someone with more authority than me should probably pull him back before he does something heroic and stupid."

I said it without looking away from the gate. Not quite concern. Close enough to it that it probably counted.

I reached into the popcorn bucket.

Empty.

I stared into the empty bucket for a moment with the expression of someone who had been personally wronged.

"Kureji... The fuck?"

 

[Kureji]

Kureji had heard what Kyuji had called Kohana. He had heard it all. He let Kohana do her yelling before he would stroke her hair with the hand that is wrapped around her shoulder, a way to hopefully calm her down. She had already told him many times that she was given this body. But he had figured that it was done in the way that he had switched bodies in the past. Like actual bodies. But now he actually understands her.

He whispered in her ear, "You are much more than just a homunculus. You are Kohana. And most importantly. You are perfect the way you are for me. I still choose you now and always. Forever."

Then the conversation went on to her talking about him calling Shin, Glowy Dude. "Well... I'm very bad at remembering people's names. And I usually go with a nickname for people by what stands out about them. Shin was glowing before he chakra burned himself during the battle, so I called him Glowy Dude. There ain't no pets to name at all." A small pause, "Would you want me to give you a pet name?" He said it quieter for only her to hear that part.

Kureji listened as Kohana basically agreed with him. Even with Ryuni. Kureji was there when the kid nearly killed himself with whatever power that he possesses. It is actually a miracle that the kid is still alive. Brother did good to stabilize Ryuni in time for Kyuji to take over.

Kureji himself was also aware of Umbrella Lady, who seemed to have the powers of a Toujikou, flying in on something that was highly explosive. He did his best to ignore her presence as he shifted unconsciously a little closer to Kohana. That is... Until she grabbed his attention from looking at the battlefield as she stared down the empty popcorn bucket. "My bad!" With a single thought, the popcorn bucket refilled itself.

He stared out into the battlefield, as he looked at the woman that was facing the Sand forces and Yuuto. It started to finally click. He would wait for everyone to clear out before he talked to Kohana about what he had just remembered, knowing about what she said to him the other day about his affiliation with Akkuma. But for now. He masked his emotions by looking out in the battlefield. A peace offering was made. For the woman to walk away. But it doesn't seem like that could be the case. The woman had said something, and Shin got in between her and Michino.