In the Neighborhood [Cabal]

[Mikaboshi]

The hospital room was quiet despite the hospital itself being bustling as it usually was. In the wake of the Cabal attacks injured folks were being found and brought in each and every day and that was to say nothing of what the cramped living conditions of the shandy town that had taken root at the mouth of the village's cavern were doing to people. The hospital was one of the few places that, despite the damage from the occupation, was still a bastion of relative order even if Katsuo had no metric to judge what a hospital "should" look like in it's daily going-ons. Hospitals weren't a place that he could say that he'd spent a lot of time over the years even though many of those years had been spent battling forces of atrophy in the Wind Country. Often times he made due with what he could find on the frontier or stayed in the house of the local medic or doctor. Frontier towns rarely had hospitals and certainly nothing of the level that Sunagakure had at it's disposal. Typically they had only one doctor and maybe two or three nurses which stayed in the building with them to run the medical "facility" if it could be described as such.

Most of Sunagakure would never know how fortunate it was for that.

For Katsuo's part he had always been a swift healer. Blessed in a handful of ways over the years from friendly spirits and holy men, Katsuo's body had developed a natural healing rate that surpassed the average human beings which meant he usually bounced back faster from wounds than most folk might. But this time was different. The Diamond Maelstorm was dead -- destroyed by the hands of Katsuo and his allies -- but at a cost that the young would-be king had not... could not have predicted. Thanks to an overloading of his body's chakra system due in no small part to the Spark of Primus, Katsuo had suffered grievous injuries and lost his physical eyesight for the time being. The doctors were baffled. Physically there was very little wrong with him despite from the wounds he'd incurred from the battle. It seemed whatever had taken his sight was a malady of the spiritual nature and they were just not equipped to defeat such a condition in the Sunagakure hospital.

Thanks to that condition, Katsuo's nerves still stung whenever he moved with the sensation of pins and needles in his extremities at all times. It was bad enough where he had to use a walking cane to move at what he might consider a reasonable speed and after a few days of rest in the facility it did not seem as if his condition were improving much. Still, the laid-up time had given him time to reflect on the results of his mission and develop some control over the spiritual weapon which had taken his physical sight from him. Using that control he projected his will and desire into the world around him using his own chakra field in combination with his other remaining senses to frame a field of perception around his body that was as accurate, if not more so, than his original physical sight had been. And he was still getting used to it, really. But focusing on his training wasn't the thing that was foremost on the demon hunter's mind at that moment as he rested his fingertips against the door of a hospital room down the hall from his own and gave it a light knock to announce his arrival before pushing through and stepping through the unobstructed portal. His perception field filling the room immediately, Katsuo found that, like she always was, the young woman who was put up in the room was laying on the bed on her side facing the far wall of the room quietly but still conscious. He could tell that despite her best effort to appear to the contrary that she was not in fact asleep from the small way her body shifted on the hospital bed as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Me again, as usual." He announced quietly. To say that they were acquaintances gave the two too much credit -- really he only knew her name from the information that he'd gotten from others that had met her. He'd spoken to her before but she'd always refused to speak back. It seemed that following the final battle for Sunagakure where she'd fought -- arguably -- in defense of the village things were said that could not be forgotten and the poor young woman had shut out the outside world after it. It was understandable why she was feeling that way but Katsuo could never hope to understand how she was feeling. He'd been betrayed before, sure. By people he'd thought were friends even. But never so totally betrayed that he'd felt totally alone in the world. She'd turned her back on the Cabal for Sand and it seemed like Sand had cast her aside in the process leaving her completely alone. Katsuo's heart broke for her as he returned each day and tried to reach out to her.

Each day the young man awoke, went through his morning exercises the best he could and then made his way over to Naganisa's room to take up his vigil. First and foremost, he wanted to get her to open up and talk. To his eyes she seemed like a scared young woman but he had to constantly remind himself that she was a former agent of the Cabal and by all witness accounts an unrepentant murderess. It was entirely possible that once fully healed and rested she would only go back to her butchery and force Katsuo to put her down. But Katsuo did not believe in the same way that his master did that once a person started down the road of monstrosity that there was no hope for them. He'd redeemed a handful of "monsters" before in his travels and set them back on the right path... and he hoped to do so again with Naganisa, if he could. The other reason he took watch over her was because she was, of course, a violent criminal which needed watching. The staff of the medical facility were mostly capable of dealing with a rogue patient with injuries but that wasn't the only concern on Katsuo's mind. Being that she'd hurt and killed so many, Naganisa was also vulnerable here in the hospital. It was not entirely impossible that Naganisa could easily find herself put to death by one of the injured soldiers being brought through or even one of those medical staff who'd lost someone important to the Cabal attacks. She was a criminal but if there was a chance he might be able to save her from herself then he could not in good conscience simply put her to death like a rabid dog.

And so Katsuo came each day and sat with her. Sometimes he was quiet, sometimes he told stories. He had a lot to tell. Monsters and demons and bandits. Exciting chases and heroic deeds. She never so much as acknowledged his presence, verbally or otherwise. She always just kept staring at whichever wall she was most comfortable with starting at while sometimes bothering to roll over or lay on her back.

Shuffling his way across the room, Katsuo took his customary place in the seat next to the bed and "looked" straight ahead even though with the perception field he projected through the room he didn't need to move his head to "see" everything that went on in the room. "Hoping today's the day that you talk to me, Naganisa. We're both starting to get well enough where we won't need these hospital rooms anymore and won't that look silly if we're still doing this after we're both healthy and hale?"

[Requesting Naganisa]

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Chouryoku Kuro came to relay the situation to Katsuo and listen for Naganisa as well. Ever since his run in with the medical staff he actually showed up at the facility in disguise. By Kyojin Kuro's estimate Saiga would be out of chakra soon and forced to give up despite the damage his style of fighting had done to him. If nothing else it had been a very insightful battle. "Forgive my intrusion Masashi-sama, I am an aspect of Kuro bearing a message from another part of me whom is currently in battle with Saiga."

Notification to Katsuo by way of Avatar
Chouryoku Kuro ((Hashigaki)) had dutifully searched for Katsuo to impart the message that Saiga was seeking to escape from Sunagakure and was presently fighting Kyojin Kuro and a visiting Jinchuuriki. He also made sure to notify Katsuo that there were no casualties. Saiga was also described in depth in his use of ancient martial arts, and that he had actually forced Kuro to use eighty percent of his full power. He then related that he hoped to defeat Saiga soon so that he could question him about the Cabal and their origins and if it was okay with Katsuo, Kuro would escort Saiga to the border as a free man under the auspice that Saiga was an honorable soldier and warrior. It was well documented that Saiga had harmed no civilians during the attack and had always fought honorably. Kuro let it be known quite distinctly that he intended to make good on Saiga's actions as an honorable enemy combatant and safely return him to his home. After listening carefully Chouryoku Kuro noted that Naganisa was still in good health. Chouryoku Kuro also noted that Katsuo had an extremely strong heart but his actual physical body no longer sounded normal. It sounded especially dense and over powered almost like the way he did when he was in titan form as Kyojin Kuro.


Topic left after brief message (editted forgot to add this)

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

In the wake of betrayal... Nearly killed by the man she thought she loved she had relinquished her ties to the only people who had given her a semblance of 'freedom' in her adult life. Power and domination being the only assurances that you would not be the one in chains. She was not strong enough. She did not pick the right friends. Hell, she did not have any friends. More than likely she would be left to rot in this hell hole, and if not this one then another. She heard enough about the Obsidian from Magnetica to know this was the lesser of evils. There was a false sense of benevolence and sanitation here. At least she had a bed, not the most comfortable bed but a bed all the same. There were meals, not particularly good meals and she suspected that the portions were dwarfed in a passive-aggressive manner by the orderlies but she did not care. She knew that there were deeper, darker levels of hell awaiting her if she gave them the opportunity.

He came in each and every day, asking his questions and telling his parables. Each and every day she laid there, staring at the wall. The last time she dared stir, they tried to take her life. They were not interested in her side, not that anyone could blame them. She hurt a lot of people, and she took pleasure in their discontent. The medics took pleasure in hers as well in their own way. Dropping the gurney and misjudging corners, they rattled her stretcher and muted their laughter. They knew she was in there, capable of moving about and capable of feeling the fear and the pain but she was not going to give them the pleasure of seeing it on her face. She was a woman with nothing to lose, the last thing she had was taken from her when Homura betrayed her. Of course, when there is nothing to lose, one only has everything to gain.

"Me again, as usual."

The Sunahoshi announced, breaking the silence of her quarters. She knew it was him before he even spoke, he was like clockwork she was rather sure if she had a clock to define the passage of time. She figured she had been here for as many days as he had visited if she were to keep count, something she had. This would be the fifteenth time he had some to her. The fifteenth time he would sit in that bare metal chair and the fifteenth time she would ignore him. The restraints were more than enough to keep him safe, there was no trust to be earned not that she sought it. As his footsteps approached, as they differed from the others she would know by the tapping of his cane, a strange accessory he had taken onto himself since the battle at the gates. She did not know why or what its use was, she never asked because she never spoke. Before the tumblers were shifted in the door, Naganisa turned to face the wall. She wanted to simply look away.

"Hoping today's the day that you talk to me, Naganisa. We're both starting to get well enough where we won't need these hospital rooms anymore and won't that look silly if we're still doing this after we're both healthy and hale?"

Naganisa let out a sigh. Was there something different about today? No, there was nothing different. This was the same routine, different words but the same act each time. Was there something about repetition? Perhaps. It has always been impossible to squelch the indomitable will of a Sunahoshi, not that she knew that. She rolled over onto her back, the chains clattered with her movements. They had long ago replaced her leather restraints with something more substantial in anticipation of her 'wakeful state.' "Why do you come each and every day?" She asked as she stared at the ceiling rather than the Sunahoshi's face. "Even if I had information, if I shared it my life would then be forfeit... but you and I both know that I would not have to give information willingly for all I know to be also known by you and what is yours." She asserted. It was the truth, she was referencing the intrusion of the Yamanaka and the Sennin in her mind in this case. There was likely others as well, others she did not know. Others who invaded her on such a personal level. Here in this hospital when you are a patient not by choice but by the will of others your identity is no longer yours. You wear their clothes and you eat their food. You say the things they want to hear or you say nothing at all. Time to eat, drink, shit... all preordained. She laid there on their crisp white linens, wearing their crisp white gown. Her make-up washed away leaving a pallid, tired face. Her hair brushed in the way whoever brushed it desired it, the part in the wrong place. Her fingernails were shorter than she liked to keep them. She was barely her here, barely more than a slab of meat with a face and a name. "What do you want from me?"<i></i>

 

[Mikaboshi]

Turning his head out of sheer force of habit as Naganisa responded at last to one of his questions, Katsuo listened quietly to what she had to say. The sound of defeat was overwhelming in her voice -- the sort of tone that one only takes when everything precious had been taken away and there remained nothing left to have taken away. It was interesting that she thought he was coming to try and interrogate some level of tactical information out of her. It was a reasonable assumption to make that perhaps the Sunagakure military might send in an agent of some kind to try and get her to open up so they could probe her for information but as she astutely pointed out there was no value in such an operation. Katsuo had come to understand that Sand had chakra technicians which were capable of delving into the thoughts of others and forcing them to give up their secrets without any level of compliance from the subject. Such a subject matter shivered the demon hunter to his bones. He'd grown up being taught and believing that Sunagakure was a bastion of the Greater Good but since coming to the city he'd learned about a fair share of the skeletons that Sand kept in it's closet... and none of them were pretty. It was silly and childish to expect that Sand would have lived up to the boyish stories where in that the village was staffed by heroes that crusaded against the evils of the Wind Country but what he'd found in Sand was so far from what he'd been told he'd find it would have been enough to shatter the faith of a lesser man. They actively employed demon-kin that wielded soul arts, practiced techniques which allowed the user to take control of another's mind, casually made threats of torture and execution... all the while claiming that they were the good guys. Even Sousuke was incapable of seeing the complicity that Sunagakure held in the way things were in Wind Country and that troubled Katsuo more than he would have admitted out loud.

"Well to tell you the truth it's because I want to know more about you." He explained, choosing to be direct rather than coy about why he came and sat in her hospital room each day, attempting to communicate with someone who by all appearances had no intention of responding. "I'm told that you're a murderess and a monster but that's not the whole story, is it?"

He was making a rather large jump in logic and he knew it. According to the reports, Naganisa's personal body count was higher than any of the other Cabal members with possible exception to a man named Shouki who had taken it upon himself to conquer the gates of Sunagakure and killed a great deal of the defending shinobi in the process. But still. He couldn't shake the nagging piece of knowledge that she'd turned and fought against the Cabal in the last battle. The official reports wrote off that behavior as a rabid dog lashing out at her masters once her collar was off but it struck Katsuo as wrong. Oddly, if not that at least. There was something wrong the whole structure of the Cabal and the plan that they'd executed against Sunagakure but that was a mystery that Katsuo intended to solve another time when he was out of the hospital. Leaning forward on the cane that he'd brought in with him that had the odd appearance of being made entirely out of dull gray metal, Katsuo continued to "look" in Naganisa's direction even though the green wrap of fabric around his eyes would have made it impossible to tell where he was really looking and belied the true nature of his perceptive abilities entirely.

"You fought against Kaito and Urufu at the gates. Something made you turn against them at the last minute. Something enough to convince you to fight on the side of Sand." He reasoned out loud, his voice still even and quiet as it had been when he'd come into the room. "I could probably get someone in the hospital to go into your brain and tinker around for the answer but... that just ain't right. I'd rather just talk, if that's OK with you."

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

"Well to tell you the truth it's because I want to know more about you."

Katsuo announced from his chair. Naganisa rolled her eyes, she could not help it. There were few places her body could express emotion considering the lengths they went to prevent her from escaping. "Everyone seems to want to know what makes me tick," Naganisa replied her voice laced with frustration.

"I'm told that you're a murderess and a monster but that's not the whole story, is it?"

Katsuo asked, taking the role perhaps as the 'good cop' in Sunagakure's latest charade. The assessment as stated was not wrong - she was a killer and a fiend. She had forfeited her humanity a long time ago, as did her allies. "I am as they say," she answered, evading the question.

"You fought against Kaito and Urufu at the gates. Something made you turn against them at the last minute. Something enough to convince you to fight on the side of Sand."

Katsuo debated, pointing out the decisive moment where she turned on her former allies and ensured their defeat. A choice she actually regretted at the present moment considering where it left her. Of course she never intended to let the Sunans live either, it was just a matter of them standing after she fell over. Her cheeks burned with the query, she had no answer that would fit the question presented. There was no use in lies, but the truth made little sense as well. "Suna stopped being my target," Naganisa answered after a brief pause giving Katsuo little more information than he already had.

"I could probably get someone in the hospital to go into your brain and tinker around for the answer but... that just ain't right. I'd rather just talk, if that's OK with you."

She glared at the Sunan for a moment and dropped her shoulders as she let out a sigh. Her life and her reasons were one of the only things she still had. She did not care for them nor did she even want them, but they were hers and yet no longer. That was truly the worst part about capture, how nothing is yours any longer, even the things you never cared to want. "People have tinkered there enough," she replied referring to the Yamanaka pair and the demon-Sennin who took a jaunt in her mind when she was first taken.

"I am what they say: a murderer and a monster,"</B><i></i> she started. "I was strong finally and wanted others to feel the pain in my heart,"<i></i> she explained. "But, I did not enjoy it. I thought I did or at least I wanted to... I wanted to enjoy hurting people, like Shouki." The faintest trace of a smile came over her worn face, even in her present state something gave her a moment of peace. "I thought having a friend, a playmate of my own to hurt people with would change things. Make the game fun,"<i></i> she explained. Her choice of wording reminiscent of Shouki in a way, although it was something Katsuo would not have known unless he was given the details of Sousuke's past encounters with the madman. "My 'friend' made me believe he loved me... that he wanted to be with me and only me and that he was willing to end the game. It made me..."<i></i> Naganisa started to cry as she choked out "happy."

Her body convulsed with waves of sorrow, the kind one would only experience when their heart was broken. Her face was contorted and ugly, salty streams ran down both her cheeks that she tried to wipe away on her pillow. "I wanted the game to end and I was not going to be alone. We planned to run away. We were leaving when we came upon you and your men as well as Urufu and Magnetica. They would not let me leave, I knew it so I tried to put them down. I did not want them dead necessarily, I did not want anyone dead anymore. I just wanted to finally live... But nobody can love a whore, I should have known better than to think I would be loved. Homura tried to kill me the first chance he could... the moment I could no longer defend myself."<i></i> Her sorrow turned to anger as she gave the shinobi her story. She was far from innocent, she was not about to defend them or claim she was a misunderstood hero.

There was a time of silence then, the uncomfortable kind that seemed to linger where perhaps she was at a loss for what to say or perhaps she was trying to find the words for what she was going to say next. She looked at him, almost defiantly during this time. She was looking at his posture and his expression. She wondered if he was taking pleasure in her pain, her defeat, her loss of freedom and power. This was not the first time she was in such a position, most of her youth was a period of humiliation and despondency. "I was ordered to 'have fun' in Sunagakure, if you wanted to know,"<i></i> she finally announced breaking her self-imposed silence. It was an odd statement, telling in a way. There was no 'big plan' for the Cabal to carry out, or at least there was none for her. It was her job to sow misery and pain into the community, an order she took willingly. "I hated Sunagakure, so there was little need for a reason beyond the order," she added simply. "It was my opportunity to avenge ...myself," she claimed simply. "I am not the only one either... there are many people who hate Sunagakure as much as I do... did... do?" Her voice trailed off as she considered her person sentiments towards Sunagakure.

She looked Katsuo up and down, her chains clattered against the bed rails. <B>"A question for you now,"<i></i> Naganisa asked as she raised an arched brow. "What kind of man or monster are you? Sunagakure is not a haven for heroes, only men who like to claim such titles. Petty cowards is what I have seen - posturing... violent... traitorous... liars... monsters by nature rather than by making,"<i></i> Naganisa stated with a grim tone. She was referencing almost every shinobi she had crossed paths with. Not to say she did not deserve their spite, but the fact that they knew she was a monster, the fact that they did not have rules... something heroes were supposed to have one would think. Even she had rules.

 

[Mikaboshi]

Katsuo smiled openly as Naganisa rolled her eyes at him. He knew that his honesty would be met with derision and suspicion. How could it not be? She was chained to a bed in a room that might as well have been a prison waiting for the government to seemingly remember that they had her in captivity. For all she knew the only reason that the doctors and nurses weren't shuffling off her mortal coil in the middle of the night with a shot of some deadly chemical cocktail was that she was simply waiting to be brought to the gallows so that she could be publicly hung for her crimes. He said his piece and she dodged his questions as much as she was able to do so, unwilling to give him an inch. Leaning forward on the walking cane that he used to get around, Katsuo continued to "stare" into the wall across the room on the far side of her bed as he listened to her. His perception field could not see inside her but with each passing second he could feel every one of her body's movements down to the smallest shutter even if it was a skill he was still becoming accustomed to.

Finally Naganisa relented to Katsuo's dogged pursuit of his desire to talk about events surrounding her and as she recanted her side of the story his smile died away and was replaced with a somber expression of disappointment and sadness. At first she talked about how she wanted to vent the pain in her heart at others and that was something which Katsuo understood to some level. He'd never been in such a position himself but it was the most common story of men and women that found themselves in Naganisa's position. In his experience monstrous men and women were rarely born that way. They were something which had to be created in a crucible of suffering. What began as a quiet rage or an unquenchable sorrow over time evolves into an antipathy for those around them. Sometimes, such as seemed the case with Naganisa, that antipathy could turn into raw animosity. By focusing on the suffering of others those individuals could find themselves spared their pain at least for a short while. He felt the tears stream from her eyes, down her face as she shuddered in her restraints against the bed under the weight of her own regret and pain. There always existed the possibility that she was lying to him but as Katsuo sat beside her bed and experienced her grief from the tip of her forehead down to the way her shoulders shook and her chest heaved with her tears and her fingers curled in anger at her own gullibility and helplessness, he could not help but believe her. Reaching up with his right hand, leaving his left to rest against the black lacquered top of his walking cane, Katsuo attempted to grasp her hand and give it a squeeze even if she did not immediately wish to allow it. He wasn't sure if she'd allow him to do that but it seemed like the right thing to do. If they had been free of the circumstances of her restraints, he'd have pulled her into a hug but descending upon her while she lay in the bed restrained and suffering did not seem a wise choice to offer his sympathy.

""I'm sorry." That was all Katsuo could offer, his voice quiet but earnest in those two simple words as he released her hand. What else could he say? He didn't know the steps on her path which had brought her to Sunagakure and certainly he had never been betrayed in such a way by someone he thought of as a loved one either. But he did understand what it felt like to lose someone that he cared about. He'd lost his fair share of friends over the years to the darkness in the Wind Country and it never got easier.

And following that, there was a period of silence between them. He wanted to let Naganisa continue at her own pace and wasn't about to push her to keep talking after the emotional outburst she'd just had. For his part, Katsuo was willing to simply sit quietly as he usually did if only to give her the time to approach further discourse on her own. Finally she turned her eyes to glare at him as best she could and when she did she would see no satisfaction on the face of Katsuo who continued to look into the far wall. She could not see his eyes but the set of his jaw and the expression upon the exposed part of his face would read as someone who was at least trying to sympathize even if he could not fully understand what the other person was going through. There was no pleasure or satisfaction in the expression of Katsuo as she might have expected from him. Finally she continued to speak of her own accord, volunteering information about her mission to him despite that he had not asked about it. It confirmed a handful of things for the would-be king but primary among them was that there had been no standing orders for the Cabal to capture an objective. No goal or end-game in mind. Perhaps Kaito had one that he had not spoken on yet but it had been on Katsuo's mind since the breaking of the Cabal's occupation of Sand that the entire operation struck him as... doomed to fail. If they'd come to Sand to destroy the city why not just bring down the cavern ceiling on them? They'd proven they were capable of doing that with the explosives expert they had with them. Why go through the trouble of releasing the Obsidian Palace? Why threaten the populace? Why siege Sunagakure at all? It didn't make sense because there was nothing to gain from it. In the end the only thing the employer behind the Cabal had gained was the ire of Sunagakure. They'd kicked a hornet's nest and the dangerous entities inside were buzzing for vengeance and blood.

Katsuo had little time to think further on that train of thought as Naganisa banged her chains against the bed and asked him a question of her own about his own nature. She gave voice to a bitter revelation that Katsuo had wrestled with himself since coming to Sand. The stories and legends talked about the city as though it were the very cradle of heroism itself. Sunagakure was a college where the protectors of the realm were trained to uphold all that was just and right in the Wind Country while shielding the goodly people from the elements which sought to do them harm but the Sunagakure he'd found in this cavern was but a scarcely recognizable shadow of that if it had ever been that.

"A man is never a monster by nature. Each and every person gets to make a choice about what they do with the power they have." Katsuo reflected. He didn't believe that there was such a thing as a person that was born bad. No matter what there always comes a time in the life of a person when they get to make the choice between right and wrong. "If there's such a thing as a person born bad then really what's the difference between them and a sandstorm? Can a sandstorm be judged for it's crimes? Held responsible for the suffering of it's victims? Make amends for it's transgressions? Admitting that a person is born bad absolves them of their responsibility to do the right thing and robs them of the chance that they might find their way again and I just can't abide that."

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

There was a sickness in the pit of her stomach as she reminisced about days long past. There was a bubbling rage that always persisted as well as a hollow within her that the wrath had always filled. He said that he was 'sorry', the apologetic term was overused and rarely did it have meaning. Often it was nothing more than a verbal affirmation that a wrong was committed or a word used to placate. Yet there was something comforting about the word all the same, perhaps it was confirmation that something regrettable had occurred. It did not make her past disappear, it did not make her hate and rage dissipate. His hand rested on hers, a basic human act of kindness as it encased hers. It was deceptively tiny and the skin was worn and badly scared but not from those that wronged her but rather in days that followed. She was a practitioner of poisons, the evidence on her hands. The skin rough and uneven, the scars old and many quite deep. Like most of the Cabal, she never had any formal training as a shinobi and the safety measures, albeit not often effective even in place were a luxury still she was never afforded. Her hand relaxed and a half-forced pained smile escaped for a moment.

"A man is never a monster by nature. Each and every person gets to make a choice about what they do with the power they have."

Katsuo responded. Naganisa disagreed, she saw what men... and women did with 'power,' they demonstrated the fact that they had such. When someone had power, they sought to maintain it. A paranoid fear within them that someone would take it from them even when it defied all reason. Their hubris near perverse as they called themselves a 'hero' and vehemently refused a contradictory assessment. Failure to meet the needs of others one had a responsibility to with their strength, much like Sunagakure and their broken covenant with Wind Country.

"If there's such a thing as a person born bad then really what's the difference between them and a sandstorm? Can a sandstorm be judged for it's crimes? Held responsible for the suffering of it's victims? Make amends for it's transgressions? Admitting that a person is born bad absolves them of their responsibility to do the right thing and robs them of the chance that they might find their way again and I just can't abide that."</B><i></i>

"Maybe,"<i></i> Naganisa commented. "But nobody teaches you how to lie... to steal... to murder... to hurt. We take to these inherent things over time like learning how to walk,"<i></i> Naganisa admitted. "The people of Wind Country are angry, and so are the poorest wretches in Sunagakure,"<i></i> she warned. While an 'act of god' this storm was, it divided the country. The Diamyo in Sora grew in power, the other two weakened their holdings due to losses. The storm served as a barrier to prevent communication and travel, notwithstanding surely as some braved the dangerous maelstrom Sunagakure and its citizens receded into the depths. The rest of Wind Country did not have their resources, most of those communities perished. "What Sunagakure did some would call 'selfish' but we saw it as 'evil',"<i></i> she admitted. "Untrained and ill-prepared for something we were led to believe Sunagakure could control,"<i></i> she was referring to the maelstrom and the Sunahoshi legend. She was just a young girl when those storms came, but she remembered the assurances of her elders that a 'blessed clan' in Sunagakure could quell the storm. "When we needed them, they ran... it was a cowardly act. Sunagakure being either a liar that it was indeed impossible to control the storms Kaito spent his life fighting or they truly cared so little that they never bothered."<i></i> It of course went deeper for Naganisa than that, self-preservation is something she knew well. It perhaps being one of the reasons she was still alive. "Regardless of the failings and the lies, Sunagakure chose to live in this hole. They chose to ignore us. Many never even leaving this community a majority of their life,"<i></i> she added referring to a truth she knew all too well that was reinforced by the Steward's statement. How old the young man was when he first left the village, he being an example of strength and valor and if that was the standard... there was little more that she could say regarding the matter.

Naganisa let out a sigh, there was one burning question she needed to know. <B>"So, what of my fate?" A simple question with likely no simple answer. Were they waiting for her strength to return for a public execution? Planning to hold here here in isolation, tethered to a bed until she went mad. Her mental fortitude astonishingly greater than most, by now most would have become delirious surrounded by the same four white walls, her only company the medics who came and fed her some tasteless concoction but always left early enough to leave her still hungry. The nurses who cleaned her, but never gently. The only another presence, the muffled sounds of physicians and orderlies as they scurried past her locked door most in hushed tones, many speaking of her and the prevalent sentiments they shared regarding her deserved fate. They could lock her away in the Obsidian, they place they recovered Magnetica. She had heard stories about the strange prison and the madness it spawned.

 

[Sand Council]

Hello...?

Been 5 days.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"It's true that violence comes easily to us. It's a part of us as surely as anything else. But in the end what makes us different and sets us apart from the other beasts in the natural world is our reason. Our ability to think and rationalize and most importantly to choose. The world isn't perfect and these days there just aren't enough folk that'll stand up and say "That isn't the way it should be"."

Katsuo's words were tangentially related to Naganisa's point. She condemned Sunagakure for it's inaction but failed to recognize that the Wind Daimyo was just as guilty of that crime. Whether she did so intentionally or unintentionally was beyond Katsuo's perception but it was noted none the less. She blamed them for running and hiding when the Wind Country needed them. For kneeling before the threat that had been the Red Death and the Diamond Maelstrom. When the weight of the world had come down upon the shoulders of mighty Sunagakure she had quit the field rather than buckle under it's weight. In short, she simply quit playing the game rather than see it out to the end. That choice didn't sit well with the stubborn Katsuo who would rather go down swinging than in surrender any day but he understood why they made the decision they did. They could not protect everyone and they knew it so they protected the people that they could and fled underground. Understandably the people who had been left behind felt betrayed and abandoned. How could they not? The people had looked to Sunagakure for heroes and when that great city abandoned them they had nothing left but their anger.

"Sunagakure's made her share of mistakes and that's fact. Paid for'em too. You and yours bled this city real bad and they hate you for it. I think you probably already know that part well enough." Katsuo wasn't going to mince words or be coy about it, that wasn't his way. "But maybe I'm hoping you can understand how they feel, a little bit. Sunagakure was founded to protect the people of Wind and their shinobi failed at it. Made some bad choices that left a lotta good people to suffer for'em. But at the same time a lot of the folk that've died in this disaster weren't shinobi. Their only crime was being lucky enough to get swept up with the ninja when they went underground."

So, what of my fate?

What indeed. Katsuo blew a sigh and sat back in his chair, allowing his black walking stick to rest against his inner thigh with his elbows resting on top of his legs.

"You're a tough case. Everybody tells me there ain't no good in you. That you're a monster and a killer and there ain't no coming back from that. Suna's breath, you've already said so yourself A monster is a monster and there ain't no cure for that but a couple of feet of good steel and if I were anybody else you'd probably have already been served your last meal." Katsuo explained quietly. As he talked he remembered the sight of his master's broken student in the crater of his own making, sinking into the wet sand. "But that ain't the way it should be. You've made some serious mistakes and committed some serious crimes but you should be given the opportunity to make up for that with more than losing your head. So here's the deal. You fight for me and help me patch this bleeding country back up and you get an indefinite stay of execution."

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

"It's true that violence comes easily to us. It's a part of us as surely as anything else. But in the end what makes us different and sets us apart from the other beasts in the natural world is our reason. Our ability to think and rationalize and most importantly to choose. The world isn't perfect and these days there just aren't enough folk that'll stand up and say "That isn't the way it should be"."</B><i></i>

"You make it sound like everyone gets the luxury of choice,"<i></i> Naganisa commented. He was right of course, but not from her perspective. She was simply a woman tired of being the victim. The Cabal gave her something nobody else ever afforded her: power. She wanted to be in charge, to dominate others. That was the funny thing, everyone wants to be what they are not, to have what they do not. She wanted to feel strong after a lifetime of feeling weak. There was always a monster within her, something that was planted inside of her as a child the the Cabal fed. She knew other lives besides the one she was living now, but even tied to a bed and reviled by those around her... she still felt free in comparison. She had lost most of her dignity a long time ago, stripping her of her identity in this 'sterile' environment distressed her as much as locking away a child's toy as she submitted herself to her fate. Yet she still had a survivor's instinct, she wanted to live... She wanted to be free...

"Sunagakure's made her share of mistakes and that's fact. Paid for'em too. You and yours bled this city real bad and they hate you for it. I think you probably already know that part well enough."

Naganisa nodded. She was well-aware of their hate. "There is no sport in beating on a bound woman,"<i></i> Naganisa lied. "I bet most are making a pool on how long I last in the Obsidian Palace," a place she ironically did not want to go despite having a better chance at freedom there. She would probably do well there, she was a survivor by nature and more resourceful than most but the will to fight burned in a different way these days. She had so much hate, a feeling that would not go away. Forgiveness was someone perhaps divine and out of her grasp, but even if it was within her power to release that pain she was not sure if she would want to. Her anger and her pain were her purpose, without them she was just hollow -- ashen plains already barren it it was not for her tears.

"You're a tough case. Everybody tells me there ain't no good in you. That you're a monster and a killer and there ain't no coming back from that. Suna's breath, you've already said so yourself A monster is a monster and there ain't no cure for that but a couple of feet of good steel and if I were anybody else you'd probably have already been served your last meal."

They were not wrong, not really. What little hope she had for a 'normal' life if that was what you could call it - a pair of terrible people together in the world, was taken from her when Homura betrayed her. He was her last real chance at humanity. It seemed like a children's tale, how the power of 'love' could change someone but it became a sadder tale when the story came full circle and broke her instead. They had their fun she could suppose, they played their games and she even smiled when it stopped being fun anymore. She cried when she was on the other side of the game. "I am sure some have tried," Naganisa admitted. "I am sure some find humor in keeping me bound here, human dignity... rights... all that nonsense,"<i></i> she observed. In a way that would probably be true, the would-be king had been gone for a long time. His authority unrecognized by most, but when enough people agreed or found the cruelty adequate enough it was not surprising that they complied. "But in the end, I do not want to die,"<i></i> Naganisa admitted. Even in this sorry state there was hope in the madness. This time of isolation and limited stimulation leads one to a terrible state of delirium, something the would-be king would not appreciate or recognize but the medics would have.

"But that ain't the way it should be. You've made some serious mistakes and committed some serious crimes but you should be given the opportunity to make up for that with more than losing your head. So here's the deal. You fight for me and help me patch this bleeding country back up and you get an indefinite stay of execution."<i></i>

Naganisa looked at him in silence and laughed a low throaty laugh. "You really got me, I thought you were real for a minute,"<i></i> Naganisa sighed. "Strange I picked your face,"<i></i> she commented, "I never knew you." She was referring to the images she was seeing in here. The specters, the bugs, the phantoms and the monsters. He was the only human image her mind's eye saw besides the orderlies and the nurses. She knew they were real because they were not kind. <B>"You have no such authority, even if you were real."<i></i> Only the Kazekage Steward could give her such a pardon, perhaps the famed Ancient monster housed in the Obsidian. Deals with devils.

 

[Mikaboshi]

Katsuo blinked behind the cloth strip which covered his eyes that allowed him to project his sensory field as he considered Naganisa's response to him.

"... even if you were real."

Katsuo wasn't a psychic nor was he an expert in the human condition. He didn't know how to diagnose delirium or psychosis but he understood what despair sounded like. Naganisa was not the first person that he'd come to try and talk down from the ledge of self-destructive misery. Life in the Wind Country's frontier was one of danger, struggle and often times of loss. Supplies were not common and if someone got hurt or came down with an illness in the middle of the desert they would often not survive. This meant that many of Wind Country's citizens lived lives of terrible uncertainty where day to day life was a battle simply to keep the hope for a better life alive even in the larger communities. It was for that reason that Katsuo had come to Sunagakure and was for that very reason he was raising an army to fix Sunagakure. And as that thought crossed his mind... it stopped him for a moment. Was that what he was doing?

I guess it is.

He'd never thought about it that way but since coming to Sunagakure he'd been gathering allies. Sousuke, Kurisu, the remaining members of the Cabal, Olgav the Baker... in many ways he was doing what his ancestor Primus had once done during his campaign of bringing the scattered human slave tribes together into a civilization except for the fact that they had no tangible foe such as ancient-kind to battle against. Their enemy was more abstract than that. What Katsuo crusaded against was the natural course of entropy in Wind... against suffering itself. His fondest wish was to turn Wind Country into a place where men and women no longer needed to battle simply to keep their hope for the future alive. For that purpose he would face any obstacle and defeat any enemy. This could be no different.

"I promise that I'm quite real. But I know, it's hard to take that seriously at face value. So. We're going to go for a walk."

Katsuo responded, leaning on his cane to stand up from the chair causing his joints and muscles to complain with pricks of pain as he did. He knew of a way to convince her but it would require every inch of his willpower to make happen. He was still in recovery but now wasn't the time for him to make excuses. Tightening his fingers around his cane for a moment to steel his mind for what he was about to do as he moved to the bottom of Naganisa's bed, Katsuo then released the piece of wood and let it fall away from his grip... but it did not clatter to the floor. Instead the cane disappeared into the air around him, disintegrating from top to bottom as it disappeared. Without the support of his cane, standing was not an easy task but still he struggled against it -- the pain of it clear on his face as he gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow in concentration.

"Please don't try to get up when I do this. It would only complicate things."

Lifting his hand which was balled into a fist, Katsuo held it out straight in front of him before extending his fingers and turning his hand palm-side up towards the ceiling before releasing a subtle pulse of magnetic chakra that shredded the links of Naganisa's restraints with a series of rapid clinking noises. Swallowing hard as his chakra coil system retaliated against his stubbornness with a fresh wave of shooting pain down his spine, Katsuo winced and continued forward as he moved to the side of Naganisa's bed and attempted to place his hands underneath her legs and shoulders simultaneously to lift her into his arms, bringing the sheet of the bed with them as he did with the intention of covering the back of the hospital gown she wore. If she allowed it or could not muster the strength to prevent him from lifting her up, Katsuo would scoop the smaller woman into his arms.

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

It was dizzying, despite a lack of motion. It was a consequence of isolation, the blank white walls an the muffled voices at all ours of the day and night. 'Rest' was abundant but far from peaceful. Imprisonment would have been a kinder alternative. Placement such as this, bound and restrained left to one's own devices in utter isolation while they 'healed' and being called 'fortunate' for as much. This was hardly for her benefit, perhaps this fate was more palatable to the public and the upper echelon -- they would not want to get their hands or reputation sullied for her sake.

"I promise that I'm quite real. But I know, it's hard to take that seriously at face value. So. We're going to go for a walk."

He announced. A walk where? She wondered. She had been left tied to this bed since... she was not entirely sure for how long she had been here. Without a clock, the only reasonable consideration for the passage of days was the lighting but when someone works at night they do not necessarily work in the dark. "What?"

"Please don't try to get up when I do this. It would only complicate things."</B><i></i>

Her fetters broke away in hunks and shards, exposing raw flesh to the air. She cautiously rotated her wrists and ankles, they were stiff and sore. Her shoulders pop and clicked as she shifted her body under her own power, a luxury most often overlooked. She lifted her head, the base of her spine screamed in protest and her abdominal muscles quivered from exertion. It was astonishing how much atrophied or how effective the sedatives they used were to ensure her compliance. She did not know what medicine she was taking and even if she did she would not know what it was. She could not get up under her own strength, otherwise she might not have been entirely compliant. His arms reached under her and scooped the Cabal member along with her blankets up off the bed. <B>"Why are you doing this? What do you hope to accomplish?" Spending his days here, recovering from injuries that were in part her fault if only by extension. She sighed, not entirely resigned to her fate but rater incapable of fighting just yet. 'Friendship' and comradery were the things she wanted the most in life at one time. She did not know what she wanted anymore beyond vengeance - reprisal not only against Homura but to those who made her suffer this indignity. She certainly earned their ire, there was no debate in that but the one right she still had was her sentiments.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"It's selfish, you know. It's selfish and greedy and naive. I know that." Katsuo whispered through gritted teeth as he flexed his aching arm muscles and lifted Naganisa into his arms. She was a small woman and even still put up no resistance to his actions but in his condition it was hard enough to just walk straight much less carry another human being in his arms. Still, even as Katsuo's body railed against him he willed himself through that pain. His perception field went from perfectly clear to fuzzy and then back to clear a few times as he struggled to his feet and for a moment it seemed like he almost might not make it but in the end the young demon hunter battled through his limitations and rose to his full height. 'What I want to accomplish, I mean."

Magnetic chakra surged through the air creating invisible hands that Katsuo maneuvered around the room with his will. Naganisa couldn't see it but she could likely feel the feeling of electricity in the air as she was close to Katsuo as his intrinsically voltaic chakra bled into the air and into the invisible constructs his mind created out of necessity. It wouldn't be painful... not exactly. Much like placing one's hand upon a very low current magnetic orb, Naganisa could most likely feel the current race across her arms and legs like the feeling of feathers being dragged slowly across her skin. As they labored through the room, the hospital room's door slowly swung open seemingly on it's own -- pulled forth by Katsuo's desire to see Naganisa from the building -- and together they excited through that portal much to the surprise of many of the nurses and orderlies which buzzed from place to place. They all knew about the dangerous terrorist staying in that particular room which seemed to be now walking out of the building in the arms of another patient at the hospital but the blind man that carried her had been left at the desire of the Steward with the instructions that they follow his directions to the letter. Sousuke had been discreet for Katsuo's sake but still was determined to see his right to rule honored by the hospital staff. Leaning against the door jam for a moment to catch his breath as he focused, Katsuo redoubled his efforts not only on walking straight but also on the ability to see.

This was just another hurdle for him to cross. Another challenge in a life made up of challenges.

"Folks don't deserve to suffer." He breathed, taking deliberate step after deliberate step. Really, he was just rambling at this point trying to keep his mind focused. He didn't have an answer for Naganisa's questions... not really. She'd asked him "why". What did he hope to accomplish? Wasn't that really the question which had walked right behind him his whole life? His response as a boy to finding out that he was the heir to the throne of heroes in Sunagakure had been to run and bury himself in training. For many years he passed from teacher to teacher while he did what good he could in the places he traveled to and from. He built a legend for himself as the wandering martial artist the Iron Wolf and became something of a folk legend in his own right but really what had he accomplished in that time?

And of course since coming to Sunagakure the specter of his father and his bloodline had haunted him from the very moment he'd walked through the gates.

"But you're right. Not everybody gets a say in it. Too often people with power make the wrong choice and it hurts those around them."

As he spoke, Katsuo's resolve hardened to support his words and as a result his steps came faster and easier. Gone was the struggling gait which seemed like it might give out. With his force of will and the words he was speaking it seemed as if he were actively banishing the physical malady that he'd been afflicted with. The paralyzing indecision which had fallen over him following the battle with the Storm God where he'd lost control of his power and nearly killed his entire team was crumbling beneath the rising tide of Katsuo's will to get back into the fight. Not for himself. But for the people that he knew were suffering without him. Finally getting a chance to talk with Naganisa had reminded him of what he'd lost sight of for a time. In the end, he simply needed to do what he'd always done: fight forward and push back the night.

"I can't stand by and watch my country and her people burn any more. I won't. I refuse to accept that people have to suffer and that's just the way things are. As long as it's within my power, I intend to protect every life that I can."

Soon enough they stood under the statue of the One King in the courtyard of the Medical Facility that had somehow managed to survive the ordeal. Like the people of Sunagakure the statue was stained and damaged from the explosion but even after all of the dust settled it still stood firm perhaps in spite of all the forces that had sought to knock it down. Slowing down, Katsuo stopped and craned his neck up to "look" at the statue as he felt it out with his perception field for the first time. This had been the first time he'd been outside of the hospital since his sight had deteriorated and the feeling was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. He'd never have predicted that his perception field would be so large outside of the hospital... it literally extended for over a mile. There in he could "see" the happenings of every man, woman and child that walked the streets. Like little flames moving around an ocean of shifting images, the feeling was indescribable.

"And that includes yours, if you'll let me." Katsuo said, his voice low as he continued to "look" up at the statue of Primus. "This is your choice to make Naganisa even if it's a loaded one. Fight with me to make our country into a place where people like us won't be necessary. That's what I want to accomplish most of all."

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

Why are you doing this? What are you trying to do? These are simple, basic questions, but the answers are hardly elementary. Why men do they things they o is something philosophers have been trying to answer since we had the capacity to ask the question.

"It's selfish, you know. It's selfish and greedy and naive. I know that."

He admitted as he carried Naganisa. Electrical energy, the same his distant relative the 'storm god' had was emitted like an aura from his body. Far from dangerous, the aura he once had no longer caused literal pain on contact not that Naganisa would have know the difference.

"What I want to accomplish, I mean."

As they passed through the threshold, the blinding hospital glare made Naganisa close her eyes. The hum of activity in the hall, their were gasps of protest and staring eyes that Naganisa knew were present without looking. "They are going to attack us," Naganisa warned. Nobody did however, they seemed to silently protest or some in mutterings too low for the Cabal member to rationalize. 'Why were they not stopping them?' That was the true question of the hour. As she looked around from her vantage point at her teetering yet somehow dramatic exit, the ebb and flow of an unseen force keeping the man with far too much time on his hands upright and holding the door for him as well.

"Folks don't deserve to suffer.

He continued on. He never gave an order, made a threat or caused anyone distress to keep them at bay. She looked behind her as the door closed, her heart pounding, not like it would in a romantic novel but rather in anticipation of the unknown. Was she about to be free? Taken someplace worse? Killed? She was too weak to fight it but she had not given up a want to live. A fear of death and whatever hell awaits her, not that she was a religious woman in the least but if she were to believe the things they said then there was a special place set aside just for her.

"But you're right. Not everybody gets a say in it. Too often people with power make the wrong choice and it hurts those around them."</B><i></i>

He added as they made their way down the corridor that had a distinct odor of sanitizing alcohol and ben-gay. "Nobody is stopping you, why?"[/b] Naganisa announced, stating the obvious.

"I can't stand by and watch my country and her people burn any more. I won't. I refuse to accept that people have to suffer and that's just the way things are. As long as it's within my power, I intend to protect every life that I can."

He called the village his. Was it some sort of patriotic sentiment? Was it just something men say so that they could have a sense of ownership over the world around them. Much like when someone calls another 'their friend' or 'their enemy' as if there was a possession involved with the affiliation or relationship.

"And that includes yours, if you'll let me."

They had made it 'outside' or rather not within the confines of the Omni Prime Medical Center. Everything was essentially indoors within this hole. A shadow loomed over them, it was that of a man long-dead. Primus a paragon of human potential and posthumous first Kazekage. He united the many tribes of Wind Country under a single banner and went to war with the Ancients, or at least that is the story that her parents told her and likely theirs told them. How much of it was romanticized she would never know but she assumed most of it was. It was the kind of story you told your children to keep them in line, to eat all their vegetables and return home in time for curfew. Still, the statue as overdone as it might be considering its surroundings still looked impressive.

"This is your choice to make Naganisa even if it's a loaded one. Fight with me to make our country into a place where people like us won't be necessary. That's what I want to accomplish most of all."

A deal again, somewhat like the Sennin's with different words. These strange rouge Sunans who thought they could make friends with the Cabal. Still, she had two options that she knew of: return to the confines of that room or say 'yes.' A prisoner with invisible chains is barely the same as what she was until minutes ago. She did not need to ask what she was needed for. what she would be asked to do. She really did not care. The cabal was a way of life, just like this was. So... she might have enjoyed her work even. She might have even sought out extracurricular activities in line with her chosen vocation. "Fighting is the one thing I do well," she admitted. <B>"So yes... I will fight with you,"<i></i> she announced. "But can you answer one question: who are you?"<i></i>

 

[Mikaboshi]

In a lot of ways Naganisa had just asked him the hardest question he could think of to answer. Katsuo just smiled as he looked up at the statue. He didn't have an answer for her any more than he did for himself. It was a question that he was still exploring the limits of himself. His secret was out. He'd made a spectacle of himself to get Kaito's attention and along the way gotten the attention of a lot of men and women who heard the words "Kazekage has returned" and turned their heads to find out what sort of person might be foolish enough to give voice to them. The word on the street was that there was a man going around beating up on the gangs who claimed that he was the Kazekage and was looking to end the Cabal occupation... then not twenty four hours later said occupation officially came to a halt as Sunagakure regained control and put most of the rogue elements of the Cabal's mischief back in order.

It was impossible to fix everything over night but in a few short days it seemed as if the military had figured itself out and were actively working to put things back to order. He'd heard the nurses talking in the halls of the hospital -- it was hard not to hear them sometimes -- about him. They wondered if this green-haired man who'd been brought in by the Steward-Kazekage and was not officially on any lists but was to be given the highest respect was the same green-haired man that claimed to be the returned king.

"What you see is what you get." He responded. His words were cryptic but he hadn't meant them that way. Katsuo wasn't a complicated man. He had simple wants and ideals even if some of them were silly and potentially unattainable. "Name's Katsuo."

Katsuo's physical pain wasn't gone but rather pushed to the back of his mind. As he stood in the courtyard of the hospital with Naganisa in his arms, Katsuo was able to push past the pain and discomfort that wracked his body by focusing on the goal of convincing Naganisa to play by his rules and to help get her out of the hostile environment that the hospital was towards her. He knew the way that they treated her and in a lot of ways he had a hard time blaming them. She was their enemy and he understood the way having to care for someone who had brought so much misery down upon them rankled their emotions and their pride. He couldn't ask them to look past their pain any longer any more than he could ask Naganisa to further endure their wrath while she recovered.

"Can you walk Naganisa?" He asked straight-forwardly. There was no judgement in the way he asked -- he knew that she'd been trapped in her bed for days on end and he also knew what that sort of thing could do to the human body despite his lack of professional medical knowledge. If someone were laid up too long their ability to move and walk withered and in some cases died away completely until they recovered it. "I'd like to find you a place to stay while you recover that's not here. I got a place in mind, if you don't mind of course."

 

[Sand Council]

Naganisa​

Mysteries abound. Who was this man? This man who was able to enter her room unguarded and alone. This man who was able to do so multiple times each week, almost like clockwork. This man who was barely able to steand under his own strength who carried her past the threshold of her 'prison' and down the narrow white halls of the ward to the courtyard. Despite gasps and muted protests where none acted. No one stopped them, nobody even made a clear and audible protest to actions most would consider traitorous and criminal. So the question was posed -- who are you?

"What you see is what you get... Name's Katsuo."

The name meant nothing in particular to Naganisa. She did not recognize it any more than she would have recognized any other name. In fact most people would likely not take note of the given name, his heritage something he displayed more during the incursion where he made his Kazekage claim as well as promises of victory and justice. Most probably knew him by face and reputation rather than his name. His affiliation with the Sunahoshi Clan, not a well-known tale. All the same, even a woman as simple as Naganisa - a woman known more for her instinct and brutality than her intellect could recognize a man of importance. What that meant would be another matter entirely. This 'Katsuo' was an important figure - exactly where he fell in the hierarchy of this subterranean isolationist village was a mystery to her. If she had known who he was when they first attacked, it would not have changed much. She was not one of those political people who cared about who was in power, who would be and who should be. She was more a glorified foot solider, stronger by far than the kinds most forces would acquire. She did not ask questions, she just followed orders but her superiors also knew what kind of orders to provide. Now there was a sense of uncertainty. Homura had lied to her. Convinced her that there was an alternative to the lifestyle she had chosen. He lied. He betrayed her. The only person she ever trusted. He would also prove to be the last as she returned to her old ways. She did not have a side, not really. She was a fighter, she hurt things. She was good at that.

"Can you walk Naganisa?"

His question broke through her considerations. She was not breaking away, not fleeing because she had nowhere to go. "Yes," she answered. She was weak, her muscles had atrophied as she laid there drugged and restrained these past few weeks. Still, despite her appearance now somewhat emaciated she was stronger than credited for. She she was allowed to stand under her own power, she would do so but with minor difficulty. She was unsteady, her sense of balance had been left unused for some time.

"I'd like to find you a place to stay while you recover that's not here. I got a place in mind, if you don't mind of course."

"I do not lick these wounds,"</B><i></i> Naganisa replied. "I want to fight things," she admitted. Even as weak as she was she was more than a fair fight for most Jounins and she knew it. Her and the Cabal were more than enough to suppress an entire village. Now she would simply be on par. "Also, I agreed to fight with you," she reminded him as she steadied herself on the stature with her hand assuming that she now stood. "I am not a charity case." She was weaker than she would admit even to herself, a fine mist of cold sweat appeared on her face but her pride would not allow her to admit weakness. "Take me to where you are going."<i></i>

<B>[Topic Left - Probably]​

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Topic briefly entered...

Chouryoku Kuro followed Katsuo and Naganisa at a safe distance reliant on his advanced hearing. He smiled genuinely to himself as the matter of Naganisa was being sorted out in far safer a way than he could have pulled off. He was happy the heir to the throne had a good heart but he was distraught by the sounds and the chakra resonance Katsuo's body gave off. This was not the Masashi Ranger Kuro had met in the Throne of Bone whom had faced off with Saiga with relative ease and honor. Power had stripped this poor man to the bone literally. It was as if Katsuo's body was barely there and he was simply a heart beat with chakra circulation. Kuro waited calmly for a chance to speak with Katsuo after he had followed his own path with Naganisa. He would not interrupt the heir's efforts and he would not allow others to cause them any distraction or loss either. Such was his way as he followed them...

Topic Left and monitoring the duo for a chance to speak after Naganisa has been set at relative ease.