Untraceable [Private, Kyo]

Senju Shizuka · Dec 26, 2017

Having never expected that running beneath the pretty foliage of green and light yellow would turn into a trial Shizuka clung to the tree while panting heavily. The first steps had been easy: noticing some of the broken twigs, the steps on the moss, squeezed leaves. She had enthusiastically followed the traces of the man who had quickly disappeared from sight. He had been too fast to actually keep up with, but to her joy there were signs he had left for her to fumble with. Quietly she had worked with what she had been able to find, and what she had learned at the Academy, to hopefully get closer to her target. Of course that meant going deeper and deeper into the forest. By the time she obviously felt the tiredness tugging at her limbs and mind, she was no longer certain of which way to go. That’s where the problems started to pile up quicker than she would have liked.

The boar, aside from her realizing that she had gotten lost and the sun was hanging dangerously low, was a major problem. One she thought to have been able to solve with the help of a lightning beam jutsu, except that performing one had cost her extra chakra. And now, she was awkwardly clinging to a tree to make sure the injured boar wouldn’t return to attack her. Not to mention all the other animals that were a potential threat.

Debating whether to move or stay a bit longer to gain some energy back, she chewed on some of the dried berries she had taken with her in the little pouch on her back. There was still half a can of water left, but that would only help her through the night and the first half of the next day. Shizuka frowned. The only thing she could do now was probably follow the traces she had made herself. Double passing should have left more obvious marks, but it was slowly getting darker, and the tree was safe.

Ughhh, if only she had some sort of ink jutsu to send a message home. She was pretty sure her father would come and get her even if he would be pretty mad. His eyebrows would furrow, the frown on his forehead would grow, and he might even wiggle with his index finger while lecturing her. All of this she would deal with, gladly even, if what she would get in return was to be safe at home. Mother would surely make her food as well, preferring grounding above keeping away resources of energy necessary for a little ninja to grow.

“Pffff,” she let her head lean on the tree trunk behind her. Using her right leg for better balance, she pressed it against a thicker branch on the side. Now her hands could be free. It wasn’t a bad spot on itself, but she knew that sleeping here wouldn’t be an option. Should she fall asleep for real chances were real that she would fall out of the tree.. and that wouldn’t end well at all.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to cut some branches, and quickly make a little platform in another tree after the little dinner she was having. Surely that would be a better option than.. than what? Shizuka didn’t really have another plan. She did have some rope in the pouch. And a kunai or two. Yes, it was the best way. Then, in the morning, she would set out to look for the traces she’s left and make her way home. Hopefully.

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Dec 27, 2017

[col]A loud hiccup could be heard as Kyo set a fire within the darkness of the forest for both warmth, to regulate his body temperature, and to try something abominable; something he thought he would never try: cooked meat. The fire started out as a tiny ember before Kyo fanned the flames with quick and concentrated breaths from a small hole formed by his lips. After the ember re-ignited to a fire, he piled on more fuel to the fire and started to set the fire up with a broad array of sticks and branches. The fire burnt the best it could while burning through the still soaked fuel because of the humid climate of the Lightning Country. Grumbling to himself, he took another swig of the drink from his gourd. Kyo stared at the fire for a brief moment and set up the spit and placed a cleaned pheasant upon it. The smell of the hunted game wafting through the air. As much as he despised the idea of cooked meat, it certainly does smell good.

Kyo's mouth watered with the massive dire wolf, Dakota, standing by. Her mouth was clearly watering with her licking her chops quite frequently; her eyes plastered to the slowly turning bird as it's flesh turned from a pale color to a sweet golden brown color. The duo had plenty more food where that came from and a single pheasant wasn't enough to feed the demanding hunger of the wildling, Kyo-Moon, and of the massive dire wolf sitting next to him. After the bird was finished, Kyo tossed the creature over towards Dakota as she caught the cooked bird in her mouth and instantly dropped it upon the ground. Even for a monster like Dakota, a little bird cooked was much too hot for her mouth. She, too, was quite new to this entire 'cooking' thing.

The massive wolf started to lick the cooling bird on the ground and eventually picked it up into her mouth and ate the thing whole. With a little laugh, Kyo took another swig from his gourd before placing a cigarette in his mouth, lighting it with his wind-proof lighter, and made his way to a tree in the distance. "I'll be back, Dakota," he said with another hiccup as he hobbled his way towards a tree in the distance. He looked over several trees, sniffing them and shook his head before making his way towards the tree that was already inhabited by someone. Due to his awful habit of smoking at the smell of the pheasant still lingering in the air, he wasn't able to catch the scent of whatever may have been taking refuge within the tree.

Without a second thought, Kyo positioned himself and started to relieve himself against the tree, throwing his head back with a rather nasty sounding groan. As Kyo was urinating, he sniffed the air and grumbled. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten that bear. Urgh!" he lamented as he turned his head to take another drag of the cigarette in his mouth. He looked around and upwards, only to pause for a moment when he saw a child sitting up on the tree. He just stared at the girl for a moment, not event hesitating to make himself decent in her presence. "What are you doing here? It's cold for you humans," he said before fixing himself and putting himself away after he was done.|

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Senju Shizuka · Dec 28, 2017

The forest was on fire, the heat was unpleasantly tickling her feet. There was no way out. She would die here without anyone ever finding it out. They would probably never even get to retrieve her body. The thoughts were terrible and the sweat was running in streams down her face when mysterious whispers echoing across the smoke filled woods got her attention. With panic written all over her face she turned to see where the noise was coming from, bumped her head against a nearby branch, and woke up heavily disorientated.

By the time she had figured out that there was no fire, because all of it had been a nightmare, and therefore no immediate danger, a male voice called out from somewhere downstairs. Cautiously leaning over the branch she had fallen asleep on, Shizuka almost fell from the tree when her leg didn’t move according to plans. With no feeling from knee to toe, she had to awkwardly catch herself with her hands and ended up hanging from the branch like a monkey.

Still unsure if the man was dangerous, she knew that there was very little she could probably do if he was. So, her best option was to keep him talking. Perhaps he would turn out to be friendly, if not, she needed to get the feeling back into her leg and dart into the bushes once the chance to do so would turn up.

“I’m lost,” Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she tried to study her surroundings at the same time. Who knew if there were more of them here. It was better to check than to be grabbed from behind. Besides, with her question, looking around made quite some sense.

“can you tell me what direction the village is into?” Sharp green eyes turned to face the stranger. He was tall and potentially dangerous. She still wasn’t sure. They did have similar eyes.

“If you’re hungry I can share some of the supplies I have with you,” Gently shaking with the pouch, she nodded, then continued. “and what do you mean by ‘you humans’?”

He looked quite human to her, but she still held her hands close together just in case of needing to perform the seals for a jutsu. Worst case she could shock him.. then run. Now that she thought about it, setting fire to the forest with the help of lightning might get the attention from the village. Firing at him, should he turn out to be a danger, would in that case turn out to be two in one. Not that she was looking forward to anything violent. Getting the right directions out of him was preferable.

Kanagawa Nozomi · Dec 30, 2017

[col]Kyo blinked as the girl started to fall off of the tree, catching herself and swinging around on the branch like a tiny monkey. He just watched for a moment, baffled at what to do. Normally, his instincts would kick in and him and Dakota would attempt to bite the creature's head off, but the alcohol's influence was pretty strong and thus his instincts was on break for the moment. The girl explained about her being lost in the woods. Sighing outwardly, Kyo rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Bad time to get lost in the woods, wouldn't you say?" Kyo asked.

Now that he mentioned it, he kept seeing children come into the woods in and around this village. Was there something attracting them to the woods or did they have a natural affinity for it? Those questions would remain unanswered for the time being. While he appreciated more people venturing into nature than living in that concrete-covered cesspool, he would rather they were buxom women with fine curves and not 10 year olds. They were always 10 year olds venturing out into the forest alone.

"The forest *hic* isn't a good place to *hic* get lost in. You could get turned around *hic* pretty easily," Kyo said before the girl asked which direction Kumogakure was and Kyo pointed in the direction behind the little girl. It was then that the wildling shivered at the thought of eating human rations, assuming that was the food she was referring to, and shook his head. "Not gonna eat that *hic* crap. I have some bird and a fire *hic* back at camp. We go there *hic* and eat those instead," Kyo mentioned. He'd much rather eat something freshly killed rather than something processed, even if it was cooked. Then again, he once ate pheasant uncooked and got extremely sick and hasn't eaten pheasant since. He blamed the stinking humans and their cooking for potentially allowing him to eat pheasant once more.

"Come on, little monkey," Kyo said with a hiccup as he turned his back to the girl and started to hobble back to his camp. He completely ignored the question about 'you humans'. Now wasn't the time to do that. He had a couple pheasants and a few ground critters to eat. With that, he groaned a bit and scratched at his side as he walked his way back to the camp-site. Thankfully, the girl didn't notice him taking a leak -- that would've been awkward.|

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Senju Shizuka · Jan 2, 2018

Swinging for a bit longer, she then dropped from the branch, and landed neatly onto her feet with a soft thud. Slightly crouched with eyes wandering the area, the little ninja-to-be wondered what was up with the hiccupping. This man didn’t really look ill, but something about him was off. It took her a moment too long to catch on the odd, sterile smell, that reminded her of hospitals.. and bars. Oh.., her mind registered the alcohol with a little delay and the twisting of the tip of her nose.

Unsure if going with an adult drunk was a good idea, she was pretty certain that staying behind in the forest on her own during the night would be even worse. At least this one was offering her some sort of grilled bird. The idea of its smokey and warm wing had her stomach mumbling in excitement. The decision was already made, though that didn’t mean she would accept the nickname he had so generously given her.

“I’m Senju Shizuka, not.. ‘monkey’.” A brief flash of annoyance was seen across her face. Still, she moved behind the man and through the forest with cautious steps because that seemed like the best option at the moment. His hiccups were odd, but she figured that it didn’t automatically made him a bad guy. People drank for various reasons, what his was, and why he was out here in the middle of the night, would for now remain a mystery to her. Well, perhaps not for long.

“What about you?” She wanted to know, catching up with him so she wouldn’t have to talk too loudly. “What’s your name?” The next question was fired, she hurried with eyes on the path he created for her. “And why are you here at night?” And with food..

Did he live here?

There were quite a few questions floating through her mind, but she forgot most of them when some sort of monster appeared not far from the fire. Frozen in her tracks, Shizuka stared at the colossal wolf. Her eyes widened, and her hand shook a bit. Suddenly her mouth was quite dry.

Willing her body to move a step back cost her way more effort than it should have. She was a kunoichi in training, things like these shouldn’t scare her this much, she was trained to deal with tough situations, but right now the kid in her was frightened. It’s why she kept quiet, hoping that the beast would go away instead of approaching them. She really wasn’t ready to die, and it was unlikely that the drunk man was. As long as he realized the danger and kept himself from hiccupping, maybe they would be able to get away in one piece. This was turning out into quite a day. Then, one of the twigs beneath her boot cracked. She inwardly gasped, and cursed at herself with lips sealed while grabbing for the dagger attached to her belt.

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Jan 5, 2018

[col]"Senju Shizuka? So you're one of those 'Tree People' huh? *hic*"" Kyo stated as the two of them walked through the woods towards the light within the patch of woods signalling the presence of fire or some kind of radiant light source. "Ryong Kyo-Moon. Or you could just call me Kyo," he said with a hiccup to follow. The discovery of a lost cub had sobered him up and as the duo approached the campsite, the scent of the remnants of the cooked pheasant lingered, making Kyo even more hungry. He hadn't eaten one of the birds yet, having fed it to his massive wolf. After the two made their way to camp, a massive direwolf by the name of Dakota sat up from a laying-down position and looked at the child that accompanied Kyo. At first, the creature bared it's teeth towards the youngster for a brief moment before standing up to walk over to her, sniffing her face and hair.

"That's weird, normally Dakota would have *hic* ripped your head off by now. *hic* Consider yourself lucky that she has *hic* taken a liking to you," Kyo mentioned before sitting several feet from a raging fire. Several carcasses of pheasants were piled near the fire before Kyo reached over for his gourd of soju and took a quick drink from it, corking it afterward. He moved the gourd towards Shizuka as if to offer it to her. If she accepted, he'd give her the gourd and if not, he'd take another swig of the fluid inside before corking it again. He didn't much care for the rules set-forth by the humans. It was, in his mind, that if you are old enough to die you were old enough to drink.

Dakota licked the girl's face with her extra large tongue. The tongue felt coarse, like sandpaper, but left behind a slimy residue along with it. While Dakota was doing that, Kyo started to clean the feathers on one of the pheasants. "So tell me, Senju Shizuka," Kyo said before he started to gently rip the feathers off of the avian creature. "What's a human like you doing in the woods at this time of night? You know there are scary creatures and people in these woods," he said, completely oblivious that his statement could have been hinting about himself. After the pheasant was stripped naked, leaving behind a pile of feathers, Kyo pulled out a small hunting knife and cleaved the creature's belly up to his throat and then removed the bird's head, tossing the head into the fire. He started to clean the innards out, tossing the innards into a pile. Dakota will eat that later.

After a bit of set-up, he put the bird on the spit and let it cook. "A lot of you children hanging out at the woods. You all either have some big balls or must really enjoy nature," he said. In Kyo's case, he fit both -- but leaned more towards the latter.|

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Senju Shizuka · Jan 6, 2018

This wasn’t the first time that someone called her ‘one of those tree people’, by now she was slowly getting used to it. What she wasn’t used to, however, was the huge wolf sniffing her hair. It’s cold nose went over her cheek, curiously touched her ear, and then moved onto the top of her head. Shizuka tried not to faint. Eyes blinking in fear and confusion when Kyo introduced the wolf to her as Dakota. Was this his pet?!

She wiped the bit of drool from her face with the help of her sleeve and shivered. All in all the beast looked cute, fluffy. But.. those teeth, and that size caused for her to keep her eyes on her when taking the gourd. A sip from it, and she spit it out right away. Giving it back to Kyo with eyes wide from disbelief. She really wanted to ask him how in the world he was drinking something so disgusting without even batting an eye. Of course she didn’t, because she would have appeared quite impolite, and that wasn’t something she wanted. Not that her reaction to the liquid wasn’t clear enough. There was no way that she would be taking another sip of that anytime soon. It was pure poison!

She stared at the birds, but not for long. The sandpaper-like tongue was already exploring her cheek again. It’s when she found out that her dislike for slimy things was bigger than her fear for losing an arm to Dakota; gently she pushed away the maw, petting the huge wolf on the head. A solution that came to mind, from her experience with cats and dogs, was to carefully try to tug the wolf’s head on her lap. That way she could comb its head so the tongue wouldn’t reach her face but the attention would still be there. Finding the creature fearsome and quite impressive, she did feel a certain amount of warmth toward it. Or perhaps it was the mixture of fire, her burning mouth, and Dakota’s furry side.

“Well, hmm I was trying to hone my skills a bit.. then, somehow, I’ve lost which direction I had to go in. Guess.. I’ll need to work on orientation and mapping next.” Nodding, she carefully scratched the wolf’s furry neck. Dakota appeared to be concentrated on the food, which in a way Shizuka understood. Her stomach rumbled.

“I think that most come here to train.. that way they don’t bother anyone, and there is no risk of damaging a building or something when a jutsu doesn’t work out the way it should.” Watching the bird cook for sometime, she hummed.

“What about you? Why are you here, eating birds? And what was that about ‘you humans’, Kyo-san?” Slightly turning her eyes toward him, she hoped that Dakota wouldn’t change her mind and bite off her hand in the meantime.

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Jan 9, 2018

[col]Kyo chortled at the little girl's reaction to drinking the soju. While it didn't taste delicious in the slightest, it wasn't the taste Kyo was drinking it for. If he wanted to drink it for the taste, he'd mix something with it. One of the many sodas or juices that the humans made would go well with soju, having the drink mask the bitter flavor of the rice-wine. The reason he drank the alcohol was more for emotional comfort and a way for him to cope with the drastic shock of culture change that he had to endure.
He went from living off of the land with the dire wolves, leading a simple life, where all he had to worry about was 'what's for dinner' or 'who is invading our space'. He was torn from the environment to live in this cesspool called Kumogakure: his place of birth.

As Dakota's mouth was pushed away, the creature showed it's teeth until the girl decided to pet her on the head. She lowered her head and then eventually sat her massive head upon the girl's lap, laying down on her belly in the process. Her head was almost as large as the girl's torso, setting herself down upon the girl's legs. The sheer weight of the creature applied enough pressure to make this position just a little uncomfortable for Shizuka, but not enough to cut circulation and harm her.

The girl had issues with orienteering in the forest. Simple problem which required years and years of training to properly perform. Kyo had been doing it for nearly 10 years and still doesn't remember the ins-and-outs of doing it, himself. "Well, if you're stuck out at night, look at the moss on the trees. Moss -normally- grows on the north side of the trees. Not always, but they do most of the time, so use multiple trees to use as an example. That'll help you get what direction you need to go," Kyo said; his orienteering tip of the day. "Could have also climbed to the top of the trees and looked to see where you needed to go. If you're looking for Kumogakure, you could see the lights from the canopy, even at night," Kyo instructed. He turned his eyes skyward and nodded his head as if to tell her to 'try for herself'.

It was then that he was asked about why he was out here. The answer was simple. He took the gourd of soju, uncorked it, and took a big drink out of it. After the drink, he smacked his lips together and nodded. "I like this place better than that stuffy city that you humans live in. It's not as damn noisy and it's away from those smelly people," Kyo said. He might have called them 'smelly people' but he actually smelled something quite awful, as if he was out in the wilds for a few days already with no means of bathing.

"Things out here kill in order to live. Unlike those filthy humans who kill for sport or for petty things like money," Kyo mentioned in reference to the upcoming tournament. He didn't understand the reason people killed one another. While Kyo and Dakota had their own reasons for killing other humans, they were motivated by revenge; mainly against the poachers that killed off Dakota's birth-mother and twin sister. "Even I've become an instrument in their need to kill other people. Mainly for political reasons," Kyo mentioned in a blunt manner. He wouldn't explain to her the reason why he was used as their 'instrument of murder' but that's a discussion for another time.|

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Senju Shizuka · Jan 12, 2018

While it was beyond adorable that the direwolf didn’t mind staying with its head on Shizuka’s lap, the latter was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable because of the pressure on her limbs. Listening to Kyo she found some of her attention being pulled to her growing discomfort.

“Moss.. check.”

The cold of the forest biting into her back did nothing to compensate the hard, cold ground beneath the thin layer of leaves. That’s why she shifted, carefully nudged the wolf until its head came up, and then slid from beneath it. With her eyes glued to Dakota, she slowly moved around her, sat down between her paw, chest and head, then continued to massage the wolf’s head. Now she could lean onto the fluffy, warm, creature. Being way smaller than Dakota, she didn’t worry about crushing the wolf. Besides, she could bet that the huge, fanged being would rapidly let her know should she be hurting it.

“Oh.. Lights..” Somehow the thought of that had entirely slipped her mind. Probably because she had hoped not to be around the forest when the night finally hit. But now that he mentioned it, she would definitely keep this advice in mind. Who knew if she would need it on another occasion. Life was unpredictable, even she (as a young student) knew that already.

“We’re not smelly.. I mean, some are, but most aren’t.” Stubbornly defending the ‘people from the city’, she leaned to the side, enjoying Dakota’s warmth there while the fire’s heat licked at her other side. It was incredibly nice, and she was warming up already. Like a kitten the girl curled up her legs, shifted closer to her living, breathing pillow, and almost forget that the direwolf could bite off her head in one go.

“What do you mean for sports? Shinobi kill to protect their own.. like all living beings do.” Thinking about a tigress defending her cubs, she felt quite sure that the huge wolf next to her would be defending her babies as well, should that be necessary (and in case that she actually had them).

Still confused about the last bit she wasn’t sure if she should ask about the whole ‘instrument’ bit. The man seemed to ramble more to himself than her, if she understood it correctly. Or perhaps her mind was still slightly sleepy. Her stomach was certainly awake - it grumbled again, but she had to ignore it for now. The bird was probably still raw. Besides, the food wasn’t hers to take, Kyo would have to offer first.

Hence, after a few moments of inner discussion, she did ask. “Instrument? Need?” The Senju threw a curious gaze toward the wolf’s companion, wondering why he sounded like he didn’t really like people from the city. Okay, she knew that to be an understatement, he probably hated them for whatever reason, and she thought to want to know what that reason was.

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Jan 16, 2018

[col]Dakota didn't even notice Shizuka's shifting and conformed to the new position that Shizuka moved herself into. The position didn't bother her, but the fact that she was getting attention was all that she was worried about. Even if the girl did smell like a filthy human being; one of the things she hated the most in this world. Something about this one, however, was a lot different than the rest of those stinky people. Dakota let out a big yawn once the girl started to lean upon her instead of the other way around.

Kyo sat by the fire, rotating the spit that the pheasant was roasting on. This girl was young and naive and it was fine. Kyo wasn't one to sugar-coat things, so he just outright said. "Tell that to the prize hunters -- hunting things and not even eating it. The shinobi called me a savage, but I've seen their brutal savagery first-hand. Don't let the 'we do things for the weak' lie fool you. He recalled the class he attended with the ANBU Commander leading them. They did nothing for the sickly and the poor -- didn't offer them food or usable shelter; letting them fester in their own filth and being eaten by the more dominant monsters within the ghettos of Kumogakure. Instead of killing the invasive predators, the shinobi -- himself included -- used the meager as pawns to draw out the badguys.

Kyo took another swig from his gourd and grunted a bit. "You'll figure it out when you get older," he said putting the gourd down, uncorked, and grabbed the spit holding the pheasant and held the stick over towards Shizuka to let her eat. Even though Kyo disliked people, he considered Shizuka to be a guest in the wolf's den and it was always his policy to let the guests eat first as a sign of goodwill. Perhaps that was the human side of him peeking through the thick coat of his animalistic nature. After handing off the spit to Shizuka, he walked away to start defeathering and cleaning his own pheasant.

Shizuka's confusion caused Kyo to raise a brow as he started to strip the bird. "In other words, I'm an assassin for the village."|

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Senju Shizuka · Jan 18, 2018

When those big fangs appeared at the edge of her vision Shizuka turned her head to make sure that Dakota wasn’t about to bite off an ear. Perhaps that was the reason her heart melted a little when the wolf yawned instead. She wasn’t about to eat her, she was about to take a nap! Happy with the warmth, and the wolf’s acceptance, she gently petted her some more while silently chewing on the information he gave her until it was time to set her teeth into the dinner.

“Thank you,” she gratefully accepted one of the birds, wondering if she shouldn’t share it with Kyo. The man, however, busied himself with the next pheasant, seemingly willing to wait for it. So, she dug in, chewing on the warm, juicy leg before moving onto the side of the bird. It was delicious, and apparently she had been starving. Silently going through a third of the bird, she knew that there was no way of eating all of it. Afterall she was still only half the size of the man sitting some feet away from her. The assassin.

She swallowed another mouthful of pheasant, tore of a wing to nibble on, then nudged the wolf with the remaining half of the bird. “That okay?” A quick look at the wolf’s friend, or owner, she made sure to check if Dakota was alright with grilled pheasant. The cracking of the bird’s fragile bones as the wolf chewed on it like it was a little raisin, made it obvious that she was.

Returning her attention to the man, she briefly studied the wing in her hand as if it would help her with finding some of the answers to his mysterious comments. The way he spoke.. it almost felt as if he disliked the shinobi, but why then would he work for them? “I don’t understand.. you were saying that.. hmm,” she stumbled over her words, frowning lightly. “You work for the village, right? But.. you don’t like it?”

Tilting her head to the side, about fifteen to twenty degrees, she asked the question that mattered the most right now. At least to her if she wanted to understand what he was talking about, and maybe get an idea of what he was like.

“Why do it?”

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Jan 23, 2018

[col]Before Kyo had a chance to respond to Shizuka's words, the wolf opened it's maw and devoured the bird whole. Kyo shrugged his shoulders and returned to stripping the pheasant and then gutting it. Shizuka then asked him a question on why he does what he does, even if he doesn't particularly care for the shinobi way of life. He paused for a moment to think and let the thoughts and reasons stew for a moment. After a brief moment of silence in inaction, he returned to working on the bird. "It was either I work as an assassin for the village, or me and Dakota spent the rest of our lives behind bars," what he told the girl was the honest truth, but he was omitting information. He was omitting the fact that the only way to buy his freedom was to kill his birth parents, whom he had absolutely no love for, and that it was humans that killed his wolf-mother and wolf-sister: Dakota's mother and twin sister. Even after the four years he spent integrated into human society, his transition to living this 'new' lifestyle was slow due to his apathy for humans and their way of life.

While he and Dakota derived pleasure with killing other humans, every time they did it felt empty. He didn't feel that their deaths served any real purpose other than petty human squabbles and problems. It wasn't like that in the wild, the place he spent 10 years of his short 18 year life, where animals only fought to protect and expand their land, killed to eat, and killed for dominance. Certainly, there were some overlapping with how petty some creatures were with killing others. Kyo, at least, was able to justify why animals did things the way they did. Justifying the stupidity of humans, on the other hand, was nigh impossible for the simple-minded animal that was Kyo.

"To keep it simple -- if I don't do it, I become a caged animal," he said as he put the new pheasant that he finished cleaning upon the spit and placed it over the fire. "You'd do anything to remain free, too, wouldn't you?" he asked, moving his hand back to the gourd of soju and took a quick swig off of it. He took a seat next to the fire, once again, and removed a cigarette from his pouch and lit it up using only his finger this time, having forgotten where he placed his lighter. He took a deep drag and blew the smoke out, not caring in what direction the smoke bellowed. "You'll learn when you get older," Kyo said before his ears perked up a bit. Dakota's ears also perked up prompting the wolf to raise her head and looking at the direction of the noise. The noise was faint, the sound of a bowstring groaning under pressure.

A subtle 'bwong' could be heard before Kyo threw his gourd towards Shizuka, barely missing the top of her head. The gourd tumbled downwards as an arrow struck it. The arrow stuck into the gourd and flung it diagonally away from Shizuka, falling upon the ground and shattering into pieces to let all of the soju spill out of it. He groaned a little bit and stood up, reached for his bow, strung an arrow and launched it in the direction that the other arrow came from. He launched the hollow arrow into the tree for nothing to fall. He shot off another couple arrows before hearing a rustling in the leaves that steadily moved away until no sound was heard. Grumbling, Kyo sheathed the bow and walked over to the gourd, removing the arrow from what remained and looked at the arrow head for a moment. He moved the tip of the arrow up to his nose to smell it and withdrew quickly, holding the arrow out.

"Cowardly assassins targeting my guests," he said before his eyes turned to look towards Shizuka. "It seems you are physically fine. Quite a scare, wasn't it?"|

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Senju Shizuka · Jan 28, 2018

Sitting there, with her one hand on the wolf’s fur, she wondered why anyone would force Kyo to make such a terrible decision. To kill against one’s will or to lose their freedom, well, she knew what she would have picked should someone had trapped her between those two options. That didn’t make the whole ordeal any more human, though. It’s why a silence fell, curling around the young Senju while she thought about how some were forced into the life of a shinobi. There were those at the Academy who hadn’t really liked it at the start either, perhaps still didn’t but never mentioned it anymore. She, personally, wasn’t sure why someone who could control their chakra and help out others wouldn’t want to do so. But then there were odd cases like this one, where people seemed to kill for some sort of advantages instead of out of necessity.

“I wouldn’t want to be locked up,” was all she said before returning to her thoughts. They creeped up on her just like the arrow did. Which she hadn’t noticed until something spat open in the air - the gourd. Its insides rained down on the ground while Shizuka flattened herself against Dakota’s side. Eyes wide with fear and confusion, she watched Kyo return the favor.

“What was that?” she wanted to know, following his motions toward the arrow that stuck from the tree trunk. He replied quickly, but his response didn’t really help her to understand what was happening.

“Why?” Still curling next to the wolf, she frowned, heart still beating a bit too fast. “Yeah, that was.. scary. But why would they target me? Or.. any of your guests for that matter?”

Wasn’t he supposed to talk to others?
Were there people looking after him?
Why in the world would they, though. It seemed like a waste of time.

She shook her head, wanting to clear her mind. The little pieces of the gourd were looking at her, wet spots from the spilt liquid glistered in the fire’s presence. Slowly her eyes drifted up to Kyo, waiting for him to explain why he thought it was normal for some sort of assassins to target people around him.

**

Kanagawa Nozomi · Jan 31, 2018

Kyo sheathed the poisoned arrow into his quiver, going to use that particular arrow sometime in the future. With a grumble, Kyo returned to preparing his pheasant for cooking. "Family reasons," he said quietly. "Don't worry about it. The assassin only targeted you because they weren't strong enough or quiet enough to target me," Kyo said with a little grumble before finishing up the final touches of the pheasant. "He could have at least shot at me so the gourd could explode over the fire and give the pheasant a decent flavor," he grumbled yet again. He skewered the bird and placed it on the perch so it would start cooking.

"Bastard had been hunting me for the last two weeks now. Claims to be working for my brother, Ki-Moon. He'd run away once he figured out I learned of his presence though; sometimes wouldn't even let out an arrow. Probably just gathering information," he said with a grumble. "I'm starting to think he does that to make observing me a bit more exciting," Kyo said with a hearty laugh before turning over the chicken. He shook his head and pulled out another gourd from somewhere (the real answer isn't that important) and uncorks it to take another drink. This batch was sake instead of soju. It was a lot sweeter than soju and didn't hit as hard. He let out a big sigh of relief after taking his first drink. He offered the gourd to the girl and nodded his head.

"Different drink. Not as hard," he said. The actual flavor was cherry-blossom sake. It had a cool spring-time flavor; although very subtle in nature. The girl was most-likely to turn it down. "So, what are your plans for the rest of the night? If you have nowhere to go, you can stay in the camp here where there is fire and safety in numbers. I'll return you to the village after the sun comes up. What do you say?"

Senju Shizuka · Feb 5, 2018

She wasn’t really sure if she could ‘not worry’ about the possibility of getting murdered simply because she was hanging around his bonfire. Sleeping would turn out to be harder than she had expected to. The lingering fear of getting pierced by an arrow was still fresh, and only the soft breathing of Dakota next to her softened that edge. The wolf’s warmth had her remain nearby, pressing herself against the warm side like a cub searching protection. Compared to the wolf Shizuka was, indeed, a mere cub.

“Why?” she wondered aloud, eyes slowly starting to droop despite the previous incident. “Doesn’t your brother like you?” That was.. confusing for Shizuka whose family was close with their cousins, nieces, and other relatives. If she would have a brother or a sister she would definitely try to protect them, not attack them (perhaps only for training and their own good).

Refusing the drink with great suspicion - she eyed it for a moment but decided against the burning feeling, she nodded, still curled up against the wolf. “Staying would be nice.. if you can keep away the arrows. Dakota is very..friendly.” And soft.. and warm. “I like her.”

Gently pressing her cheek against the wolf’s shoulder she peered at Dakota’s snout. Eyes sleepily glittering with fascination instead of the previously felt fear toward the enormous animal studied the white fur and the intelligent eyes. Shizuka trusted her not to bite off a piece of her as she slept, and soon sank into a ball nestled against the wolf, peacefully hugging a piece of Dakota’s front paw.

“Goodnight, Kyo-san, and Dakota.”

**
Left Topic

Kanagawa Nozomi · Feb 7, 2018

[table=100,null][thead][tr=textleft][th=50,null]The Chronicles of Kyo-Moon[/th][th=50,null]Related Information[/th][/tr][/thead][tbody][tr=bg2][td=null,1]A question came about from Shizuka's lips that got Kyo to think. The man curled his lip slightly, tugging it to the side to show a moment of displeasure. He finished cooking the bird and started to eat it. It wasn't an important question to answer to a drowsy girl. He also didn't have a very good answer to give her. He didn't know why Ki-Moon would try to kill him. Did he find out about what Kyo did to his birth parents? Did Ki-Moon have some other reason for doing what he's doing? The answer to this question wasn't as simple as Kyo wanted it to be. He hid his displeasure by devouring the bird. [lb2][/lb2]

"Yeah, I'll keep watch tonight. Though, that guy's a coward so I don't think he's going to bother us for the rest of the night," Kyo said as he wiped his mouth with his forearm. Dakota had the little girl cuddled up next to it, wrapping it's tail around the girl as if to shelter her and act as her shield from even the strongest bullets. During all of this, Kyo took the gourd back into his safe-keeping and took a heavy swig of it before corking it off. "Seems she likes you too," the man said before standing up to bury the bones of the pheasants that the three of them consumed. He went to bury it away from the camp but to remain close enough to hear Shizuka's shouts or Dakota's growls. [lb2][/lb2]

After returning, Shizuka told him 'good night'. He hadn't heard someone tell him that in so many years. The last time he heard that properly, without a hint of sarcasm, was the night before he was to be killed by his mother. The sweet and loving look on her face when she uttered those words were etched into his memory; tagged with the feelings of betrayal and fury. Snapping out of his thoughts, Kyo nodded his head to the little girl and said, "I'll bring you back to the village tomorrow morning, so sleep warm," Kyo said before taking another sip from his gourd. As much as Kyo hated the company of human beings, this experience wasn't half bad. He rather enjoyed having the company of another human being near him. While this might not completely change his attitude towards people, it will certainly be something piled up to eventually help him feel that way.

OOC Stuff said:
WC this post: [lb][/lb]
WC Total: [lb][/lb]
[MFT][lb2][/lb2]

OOC Notes:[lb][/lb]
Topic Left -- We should RP again sometime ^^

[/td][td=null,1]

Name: Ryong Kyo-Moon[lb][/lb]
Age: 18[lb][/lb]
Hair Color: Red[lb][/lb]
Eye Color: Yellow[lb][/lb]
Height: 5'7"/67cm[lb][/lb]
Weight: 147 lbs/66.67kg[lb][/lb]
Special Characteristics:

Scar over left eye
Cloud Headband upon forehead
Canine-like fangs

[lb][/lb]
Usual Gear

Gourd of Soju
Pouch on side
Bow and Arrow strapped to back

Name: Dakota[lb][/lb]
Age: 12[lb][/lb]
Breed: Dire Wolf[lb][/lb]
Hair Color: White[lb][/lb]
Eyes Color: Left yellow, Right blue[lb][/lb]
Height: (Paw to Head) 6'2"[lb][/lb]
Length: (Nose to Rear) 10'3"[lb][/lb]
Special Characteristics:

Red lines going over the body
Burning disk magically floating on top of torso
Human-like intelligence (infantile)

Nothing Here

[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table]

Untraceable [Private, Kyo]

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja

Senju Shizuka

Active Ninja

Kanagawa Nozomi

Well-Known Ninja