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Kiyomi Kokoro had gone through a metamorphosis since she had last gone on a mission with Michio. She could not remember for the life of her what she had seen in the man. She had seen strength, willpower, a good man, but not anymore. He had gone in a downward spiral since the death of his wife and kidnapping of his son, which was understandable to a degree, hell, most men would snap under such an emotional weight, but she wouldn’t stand to believe that he was that weak, that he couldn’t come back out of it and stand strong again. She had watched him decline into nothing but a revenge drunk fool…she had watched him decline into the exact kind of person she had been before. Michio’s descent into darkness had taught her something important, it had taught her what she was before she had met him. She had been obsessed with the punishment of men who were like those who had wronged her, she was obsessed with killing them and bringing them to her form of justice, but in the end it got her nowhere, it got her nothing but the harsh reality of loneliness. She had segregated herself form everyone in the past and lost any connections she had hopes of ever constructing between people around her. She wouldn’t let Michio do the same stupid s**t.
But at the same time she could not turn her back on this man, she couldn’t let him stumble down the path to darkness on his own, or what kind of a teammate would she be? She needed to help him…and she knew what he needed, she knew the vengeance that the man craved, and he deserved it. He deserved to see his enemy die, but the way he had diced up the ninja who was there that day was despicable. Michio would never have done something like that before…he was better than that. He wasn’t like her…well…he wasn’t like her in the past at least, but now, now she was the only person in the world capable of understanding him completely. She knew exactly where he was, she had been there too. But if she couldn’t make him see that she was the only person he could lean on, and he really COULD lean on her, he would be lost. He would stumble into that abyss and he would never come back out, revenge or no, he would be a damaged man, and his boy would be an orphan to the rage that build within Michio’s soul.
Since their mission she had been on hiatus, they hadn’t given her a real challenge in months, and she was tired of it, the training she was getting was pathetic, she might as well have not even been training at all. She hadn’t gotten any stronger, and for some reason that really pissed her off, she needed to be out there getting ready for what was to come, getting ready to help Michio kill this monster that had pulled his life apart at the seams, and if he tried to refuse her help, god damnit she would jam it down his throat. She walked through the village streets, the fur-lined coat blowing in the wind and the usual all white one-piece leather body suit glistening beneath, showing off her hour-glass figure and full breasts. The men never ceased to drool over her, but she had stopped caring about those looks, she had stopped caring about the perverted thoughts that they were thinking. Instead, she had given up on the bloodlust that coursed through her veins. She had controlled it, and she had channelled it. Where she had not gotten physically stronger, or more capable in her jutsu, she had trained her mind more than she had ever before, and it had paid off. She still loved to kill, that was something she couldn’t ever get rid of, she was sure of that. But she had it under control, she decided when to kill and when to merely let things go. She no longer slaughtered men for their stupidity, for thinking with their dicks. As long as it was only thoughts.
However, if she were to ever see a man acting on those basic instincts, and trying to take advantage of her or any other woman, hell, trying to take advantage of anyone in any circumstance, she was not afraid to lash out. Those who went against her moral code, the people who were truly bad, and had no remorse for evil doing, they deserved to die. This is why she had no problems with Michio’s revenge, he wanted to kill an evil man, a man who deserved death, and she was all for that. The only problem was the idea of revenge itself, it was an emotion, a state of being that was insatiable, revenge could not be cleansed, but instead it would eat away at a man even after killing the person he was after. It would eat away at Michio until it killed him, this she was sure of.
As she walked down the street she heaved a sigh, thinking about all that had gone on. Thinking about all that she was about to do, all she had to do. She was nearing his home now, and she was prepared to talk a lot of sense into this man. She would use her fists if she really had to, she didn’t care. The house was coming into view now, and as it did she buttoned up the fur-lined coat and adjusted the rose coloured glasses that sat atop her beautiful green eyes. This man didn’t need to see her figure beneath the jacket, to be exposed to the form of a woman she was sure would not be the best of cases for a man whom had just had his wife slaughtered.
She stood outside his door, not bothering to knock and she heaved a sigh, getting ready for a really, really rough day.
“Michio!” She yelled. “Get your a** out here!”
She was prepared for anything, but at first she didn’t hear a response at all. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head, wondering what the ******** he could be doing.
“Listen up you son of a b***h. I know you have lost something dear to you, hell, the most dear to you, to lose a lover is a pain I can barely imagine. But don’t you dare try to shut me out god damnit! I am the only one you have left, nobody else in this s**t-hole village can understand what you’re going through. The lust for revenge, the anger, the unending god damn anger that you feel. It eats away at you right? Tears at your heart so bad that you feel like you’re not even human anymore? That you’re just some sort of beast that can’t be happy until he tears the flesh from the bones of the sick son of a b***h that did this to your wife right? I have been there…I have wallowed in the darkness like you do now, I have sought and achieved my revenge, but it doesn’t end there. It transforms you…” She growled, her voice tapering off towards the end as she thought of her past. “It transforms you…into a monster Michio. This man deserves to die, that is unquestionable, but you can’t do it for revenge. Do it for your wife, and do it for your son, but in their memories, not in anger and hate. Your wife never would have wanted that…I…I don’t want that for you. Please, Michio. Let me in…let me help. I can understand, and I will be damned if I can’t help you. Just…let me…” She cooed, her forehead resting against the man’s door. It had been months since she had talked to him, but the silence was over now, and in a way she would never have done before.
But then she realized for the first time that she could not sense his chakra in the house. The man wasn’t there. Her eyes flashed as she felt the chakra, not only his though, she knew exactly who else was with him and her eyes went ********.” She growled as she turned on her heel and ran, taking off towards the outside of the village where she knew Michio was, she could only pray that she arrived in time.

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Kiyomi ran as fast as she could, darting through the village, drawing strange looks from some of the townsfolk as she ran, a look of panic across her face. She knew that in Michio’s current state there was no way he would beat this man, he would fail, and it would more than likely crush his fighting spirit, she couldn’t have that. A shell of a man with no purpose in life was no good to her, he had to be strong. She panted as she ran, sweat dripping down the sides of her face as she bolted through the last area of town.
She could feel the chakra now, surging through the air as he unleashed it to use his abilities, he was going to fight, sweet god, it was already too late. She knew he might be able to put up a fight against the man, hell, maybe even land a couple of hits…at least that was what she hoped. She needed him to delay the end of the fight, because if the fight ended before she showed up, it was over for him. Michio wouldn’t just limp away from this one. He was facing a man that had been trained by the fiercest ninja that had ever walked this planet, there was no way a pipsqueak genin was going to fight him off. There was no way.
She took a deep breath as she went, running as fast as she could bring herself to, getting ever closer to the scene of the battle. It had to be stopped, and Michio would probably turn on her for it, but that was a risk she had to take. She had gotten strong, the strength of her ninjutsu even outweighed Michio’s, but he was an all around stronger ninja. If the fight entered Genjutsu she was toast, she had no defence against it, she had been told this before by her superiors, that she was a useless kunoichi when it came to genjutsu, but she didn’t care. She would learn to work around that, to defeat the genjutsu using her strengths, if she was not trapped or hit by the abilities she didn’t have to worry about it.
She crested a hilltop that lead down to the field and she saw the scene unfolding before her, he was charging in towards Takeyoshi and she bolted as fast as she could.
“Michio!” She screamed. “God damn it no!” She called as she ran, it was life or death for a dear friend now. She couldn’t even believe herself as she thought of him that way. The way he had looked down on her and treated her before didn’t warrant friendship, but he had his ways and she had hers, and over the three months apart she had realized how important the man had been to her own development.
“You can’t win this fight you god damn fool!” She yelled. “The man is not a person you can stand up to alone, let lone in your current condition, you are not strong enough! Your revenge will have to wait! Besides, your wife may be dead, but she wouldn’t want to see you in this state! She wouldn’t want her death to be the cause of you turning into a bloodthirsty monster!! Do you know how ******** sad you must be making her right now you selfish p***k!!” She screamed. She knew that what she was saying would anger him further, she knew she would probably be on the receiving end of a lot of hatred for saying such things to him, but she didn’t know how else to deter him, she had to pull him out of this somehow and this was the only way she could think of.
“And you!!” She screamed, turning her fury as she ran to Takeyoshi. “You are going to die the most painful death you can imagine for what you have done. But I am not fool enough to believe it possible right now. I will show you the respect you deserve in the terms of strength, you are stronger than us. BUT, let us live, and you will have a challenge that you have never seen before. Let us live here, and you will have the fight of your ******** life, I swear you!” She growled, her hands blurring together into the form of seals as she moved, and the air around her swirled with water, pulling it from the air itself.
An ability she had heard of a legendary warrior from snow use, she had read up on the man since she was a child. Raven, he had been the kage for a long time of the snow country before he disappeared. She wanted to meet him, study him, but this was not the time for daydreams. She smirked as she moved, the water swirling above her head suddenly growing to a massive proportion and exploding downwards in a tidal wave that was aimed in front of Michio so it would both separate the man from Takeyoshi and give him nowhere to continue running to, as well as send a massive wall of water down upon their enemy, though she knew very well that the man would easily dodge the attack. Hell, he could probably withstand it completely.

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As she ran she could tell her words were not reaching him, and she would have to remind herself to kick him in the teeth later for what he was doing, that idiot was going to get them both killed. She was the voice of reason, but reason was gone from this situation all together, her only card to play was to offer the man a fight that he could remember, a plan she hoped would work on someone as twisted as he was. She knew that he enjoyed to kill and enjoyed a good battle, and she also knew that a challenge was a good way to get him to let them live, because she knew the man believed himself already to be out of their league. A man who could never be surpassed by them, this was something that she would prove him wrong in. She and Michio would become strong enough to kill him, she was sure of that. It would take time, but it didn’t matter, the day that it happened would be glorious, the day that it happened…there would be peace for Michio and things could perhaps go back to normal. She prayed that it would, though she knew that it was unlikely that Michio would ever be the same. But she would be there, she would stand by this man as long as it took, she would bring him back.
As she brought down the tidal wave towards Takeyoshi she watched Michio dive in instead of stop like she had planned. She put a palm to her forehead and she growled in frustration. “You stupid son of a b***h, you’re not going to be able to swim through a damn tidal wave!” She screamed, but there was no point, he was already within the swirling waters. She watched as he popped out on top of the wave and jumped beside his enemy, but there was no hope, he was caught again by the swirling waters and he was tossed into the trees on the edge of the meadows they were standing in, she watched as he was knocked unconscious by the water and heaved a sigh of relief, she had put him out of this picture…he would live. But now she had another issue to deal with, she turned to look for Takeyoshi, but when she did she found herself face to face with the man, and he was already using a jutsu. She felt her body being controlled by him and her eyes widened with fear. Would he kill her?
She grinned as he told her it would have been smarter to stay away and she laughed in his face. “Do you think me to be some sort of scared little girl?” She asked with a grin. “You may be stronger than me and Michio, but I am not afraid of you, nor am I afraid of death. You may kill me, but I know Michio, and I know the man will surpass you someday.” She said with a laugh as she looked directly into his eyes. “You are going to die.” The statement was cold, colder than anything that she had ever said. The words seemed to get through to him too as he looked at her, for he could see a falter in the man’s confidence even for a moment. She had gotten to him, but then he began to lead her away and into the forest, controlling her movements all the while. She fought as hard as she could, asking him where he was taking her, but he never answered. Eventually after she had cussed and asked the question enough he prevented her even from opening her mouth. That was until they were in the forest far enough for him to begin his own method of torture. She thought the man would kill her, she thought she was going to die, hell, she didn’t even care that she was going to die, she was doing it to stop Michio from destroying himself. But that was not the case. She was not killed, though inside she begged for death as this man ravaged her.
But as he raped her, she refused to give him anything. She would not cry, she would not moan, she did nothing but stare him in the eyes, a blank expression on her face. She had been raped before, when she was a girl, the reason she had gone on her vendetta against those men and killed those who looked at her with such intentions. But she had forgotten how painful it was to be in this situation. As he defiled her she cried inside, her mind screamed in agony and in humiliation, the man had destroyed her instead of Michio. “Does it make you feel like a big man Takeyoshi? You are pathetic enough to rape a woman because you can’t get it consensually? Probably because of that embarrassing piece you’re working with.” She growled, laughing in his face as he went about his business. “Shut your ******** mouth.” Takeyoshi had growled and punched her in the side of the face, dazing her as he finished his business. When he was done and spent it had been hours, and she was exhausted both physically and mentally as well as she lay on the forest floor.
When he hit her again she nearly blacked out, toppling over onto the ground after she had risen once more. When she looked toward him to spit another insult he was already gone. She was alone now, she was safe, she didn’t have to hide her feelings anymore. She broke down, screaming to the sky and tears flowing down her face as she cried. The acts that the man had performed upon her had brought back the memories clear as day of the days she had spent in the caves with the man whom had kidnapped her when she was a young girl. She remembered the torturous rape she had been put through then, and now it was fresh in her mind now that it had happened all over again. She lay on the forest floor, curling into a ball, her torn clothes revealing her body as she lay there. She was broken now, a shell of a woman like she had been trying to keep Michio from becoming. She lay there and sobbed, rocking herself into madness upon the forest floor. She didn’t know what to do with herself now, she didn’t know how to escape this. Hatred burned inside for the man, the same kind of hatred she knew that Michio felt for him. The worst part of it all was that she could still feel him there, she could feel his presence inside of her, his chakra laced with the seed he had planted in her over and over again.
She wondered as she passed out if Michio was okay. She wondered if he had woken up yet, it had been hours after all, she imagined that he had regained his consciousness. But she didn’t know if he would even come back for her, perhaps he would just leave, perhaps he didn’t even remember she had come for him. She knew the man did not favour her, that he didn’t even respect her as a teammate, and he would probably hate her after what she had done, she only hoped she could make him see that she had done it for him, she wanted to protect him. She could feel the chakra again as she lay there, burning inside her as she cursed the man’s name.
When she finally blacked out her dreams were full of horrid nightmares, dreams that she hoped she would never revisit. She dreamed of the past, of the nightmares that she had already lived through, and the dreams only served to throw her into a darker mental abyss. She was lost, swimming through the darkness of her life’s events. Kiyomi Kokoro was dead. She was long gone now, and when her body awoke she was sure that the presence of the woman she once was would be gone. She could feel it already…the change. She spoke to herself in the darkness of her mind, having conversations about her failures, about how disgusted she was with herself…and most importantly…about revenge.

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Kiyomi Kokoro. The name was almost lost to her as she lay there, limp and battered. Her face was swollen on the left side from the couple of good punches Takeyoshi had struck her with, but her face was the least of her worries. She couldn’t bring herself to wake back up. She had heard him when he was there, she had seen him as if she were awake, but she couldn’t open her eyes. I came between you two to save you…to keep you from throwing your life away for revenge…I wanted to keep you…safe…she wished that she could have said it, but she was only screaming it in her mind. “To save you…” came out as he carried her, the soft words were barely audible though, so she doubted that he could have heard it. But she couldn’t believe the anger that flowed through her when he called her the fool. She wouldn’t have had to try and protect the man if he hadn’t been such an arrogant damn fool. She wanted to yell, to kick and to scream, and she almost came back to consciousness to do it, but in the end she fell back into the dark abyss of her mind. She was locked in a state that was difficult for anyone to get out of, a despair so intense that she could not see the way out of it. The sound of water dripping was the only thing she could hear. When she opened her eyes she was in a cave, the sound of dripping water echoing all around her, her body naked sprawled out on the rock floor of the underground cave. She searched around her, but the dark was keeping her from being able to see anything at all.
“Hello.” The voice echoed all around her as she sat there, Kiyomi could not tell where it came from, and she sure as hell couldn’t tell who it was in this dismal lighting.
She blinked, but the sensation of her eyelids closing across her eyeballs was the only thing that told her she had even blinked. The darkness was so complete around her that she could not even make out her own naked form in the dark. The dripping water was all she could perceive in the dark.
“Come on, you can do better than this you stupid whore. If you can’t even learn to see in the dark then you can’t ever hope to help anyone, let alone yourself.” The voice came again. “Your precious Michio will just end up losing himself and dying again, so what is the point of your efforts now? You are going to fail him just like you have failed yourself over and over again. All you are good for is having your body ravaged and used by men. Why not sign up for a whorehouse or something of that nature? You’d do well.”
She was not fazed by the comments, hell, she barely felt anything. She merely sat emotionless in the dark as she peered around her surroundings, hoping for some sort of light, some sort of exit, some sort of anything. But all that came was that damned dripping, that god damned sound of water coming down from the room of the cave.
“What? Too stupid to talk? You do realize that I am going to take a hold of you again right Kiyomi? I had you before, I was using you for years, just like all of those men used you. I was piloting this shell of yours and killing off those men, and me and you, oh we enjoyed it, I know you did too, it wasn’t until recently that you gave it up for the greater good or whatever bullshit that was. Lets go out again. Let’s kill, lets maim, and most importantly…let’s tear apart that mother ******** who defiled us. He will be slaughtered by our hand. He has to be, there is no other suitable punishment for what he did, we have to kill him, and we have to do it nice and slow. And don’t you dare let that p***y Michio get in the way of that. He wants his revenge for his wife, but she is already dead, ******** her, you have dibs on this one, you are still alive and suffering with what he has done. You deserve your revenge way more. When you wake up, you had better get your s**t together, or I am going to take you over again Kiyomi. You stupid, stupid b***h.”
Kiyomi sat there, her hair matted in front of her face, a smile cracked her lips as she sat there, the water was dripping more now, faster, coming down close to a stream than single droplets. She laughed into the dark, and when the voice came back this time there was almost fear in it.
“What are you laughing about? Huh little girl? What do you have to laugh about? You’re nothing but a useless little slut. I bet you liked it didn’t you!?” The voice came, the fear leaving and a voracious laughter following.
The laughter came back from both sides now and the naked form of Kiyomi stood, the darkness pierced by her glare. The form of her father stood in the darkness, looking back at her, and when she looked at him, he slowly morphed into the image of her mother and then back to the original form. Kiyomi herself. She was staring at Kiyomi intensely, dressed in a black leather one piece, the combat boots were black as well and she had two swords coming off of her back, two sais on her hips, a belt of kunai across her chest, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail like it usually was.
“So, you felt like saying hello after all?” She said with a grin as she looked at the naked form of herself, shaking her head. “Like I said Kiyomi, you ******** this up and I am taking control, no questions asked.”
Kiyomi’s laughter ceased and she stood up, walking slowly towards the image of her that was standing in the now lit underground cave. Her hips swayed seductively as she walked, in her naked form Kiyomi truly was beautiful, but…who would ever want her now? She had been raped twice, all she was was used trash now. She was just a piece of meat that had been ravaged before, no man would touch her…she was ******** it up?” She asked coyly, her green eyes meeting with the dressed version of her. “How could I do that Kiyomi? How could I possibly ******** this up when we are the same person? Besides, you think you’re bad don’t you? You think you’re some sort of badass killer? I will show you what it means to be a killer. I promise you that. Takeyoshi…Michio…doesn’t matter who. If they stand in my way, they die. Oh, and don’t treat me like a little girl any more you stupid b***h, I am more than you will ever be.” She spat, standing directly in front of the mirror image of herself. She grabbed the swords off of the back of the copy of herself and she spun, the quick motion catching the other version of herself off guard as the knives swung through her neck, decapitating her. A vicious gleam passed over her beautiful emerald eyes as she stood in the darkness, licking the swords of their blood. Kiyomi had been changed, this was for certain, the little girl, the innocent girl had been lost, there was nothing left in this hollow shell of a woman but the killer that had been there before. She had risked it to save Michio, and the man didn’t even realize it. He had merely called her a fool for trying, even though she had put her life on the line for him it had meant nothing. She would never make that mistake again for another person. She would never help another person. She was all that mattered now, nobody else cared enough anyways. She was the only one who cared about her.
“Takeyoshi.” She whispered as she stood there, looking through the cave, a grin passing over her features. “I’m coming.” She spat, taking the knife and plunging it through her own heart.
Her eyes fluttered open as she lay there, staring at the ceiling of the unfamiliar home. She was in someone’s bed and she was terrified at first, scared that maybe she was in someone’s home who had been using her, maybe it was Takeyoshi’s house, and he was holding her hostage as some sort of sex slave. She thought about it and when the thought hit home she ground her teeth together and she pulled back the sheets that covered her to find Michio’s clothes on her, and it all rushed back, all the memories of him coming for her. The smell of chicken ramen entered her nose and she narrowed her eyes. How dare he have called her a fool for trying to save her. She would say something to him about it, but she decided against it. She had to pretend to be the same sweet girl that she had been when she tried to save him, he didn’t need to know anything about her plans.
She tried to cover herself up as much as she could, thinking about being revealed reminded her of the past days events, and thinking about that almost made her lose control, the overwhelming disgust with herself, the feeling of uselessness and hopelessness that had been instilled inside of her…the chakra. Takeyoshi’s chakra was still inside her. She could feel it and it made her want to throw up. She made her way timidly out of the bedroom and peered around the corner to see Michio in the kitchen.
“H-hello…” She whispered, she couldn’t make eye contact with the man though, she knew he had seen her naked after being raped, he had seen her at the most vulnerable and disgusting he could have seen her, used like a sex toy and discarded in the forest…how could she look anyone in the face after that? She had no control over it, without even looking at him the tears slipped down her cheeks as she began to cry.

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Michio had spotted it alright, though she was sure he wouldn’t be able to discern exactly what “it” was. The fire that he sensed was not only the fires of hatred and revenge, though it would seem at first as thought it was just the anger and hatred boiling inside her that he was sensing. In all actuality it was Kiyomi herself, the woman whom had awakened in her darkest nightmares, suffering in her dreams and broken in her reality. Broken by that man…Takeyoshi. He had to die, there were no two ways around it, she had only been awake for a few minutes and she had thought about his death a thousand times already. The chakra bugs crawling beneath her skin begged to taste more of his chakra, eat away his flesh and burrow into the chakra channels through his body. She grinned as she thought about it, it was perfect, she knew exactly how she wanted to specialize in her attacks now. She could attach her bugs to her ninjutsu and use them to seep into her opponents wounds and explode, or hell, perhaps she could even get to the point where the bugs could make their way to their brains and shut down parts of their body, or merely block up in their chakra channels and stop their chakra flow in battle. She grinned at the thought of it, hitting Takeyoshi once would be all she needed, one clean wound and that mother ******** would be blown sky high. She just needed to get there first, she just needed to get to the point where she could hit him and wound the man that one time she needed to.
She heard Michio speak again in front of her and she realized she had been sobbing as she was thinking about these things. She couldn’t stop herself from crying, it was the human reaction to the thoughts of everything she had just gone through. Her body just did it by itself. She walked a little further into the kitchen, though she was nervous, it showed in every motion that she took, hell, she could be in some twisted genjutsu right now and Takeyoshi could be waiting to rape her again, this time in the form of the man she had been trying to save…the man she had saved from a most certain death at Takeyoshi’s hands. When he asked her if she was hungry she wiped the tears she had been silently crying away and she merely nodded, her head facing him, but her eyes locked onto the ground. “Yes…” She whispered. “But I am sure you don’t need me here for company. Perhaps I ought to go home and get some ramen of my own on the way.” She whispered again. “I don’t need to be of any more trouble to you Michio.” She said, lifting her hand to wipe the tears away once more. “I promise, as soon as I get back home, I will change into my clothes and you will have your jacket and pants back in no time. I am so sorry for being so weak…I know that I am just a nuisance to you after all.” She stated, wiping the tears again. She walked towards the door before he had said anything, figuring he would just want her to leave anyways. She was almost certain that Michio would just let her go, he didn’t really care all that much after all…did he? She had no way of telling, but she doubted somewhere in her heart that Michio would care enough to want her around, why bother him anymore?
You know. You should just kill him now Kiyomi. I am sure you could give him a run for his money with a good surprise attack. Your tidal wave drowned him to death once already, I am sure you could take this second grade ninja out easily. Shut up, I am not going to kill him you b***h. I saved him for a reason, I don’t want him to die, and I most definitely won’t be the person to orchestrate it. I…I care about Michio. If not for him, I would still be like you, I would still be a monster. Don’t kid yourself girl, you saw yourself in that darkness, you saw what you did to the “you” in there that wasn’t as ******** up. You cut her up real good. Now do us all a favor and let that beast out and lets get this party started. You could kill as many people as you could in the village before running away. They might send some people after you, but that’s all part of the fun! I said SHUT UP!
She came back to her senses after the internal argument and she shook her head, her hand placed on the handle of Michio’s door. She hesitated as she looked over her shoulder, wondering what he was doing, what he was thinking.

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Shiori didn't spend long at the graduation ceremony. Ceremonies weren't her deal. Anything slow and boringly un-violent weren't her thing. She didn't even look the part that night. Shiori was wearing her usual clothes. They were a bit ruffled up from a scuffle earlier that evening. She was still covered in red-dotted bandages and gauzes from earlier in the week. The girl met her superior's surprised expressions with a sneer of her own. Shiori stuck around half of the night, long enough to receive her prize and to shake a hand with people who might be important, but no longer. As soon as the first chance arose, Shiori ducked away from the crowd and made a beeline to the nearest girl's bathroom.

Once she arrived, she quickly checked the stalls. Shiori tapped each stall door to make a loud knock. As soon as the coast was clear, Shiori approached the fogged glass window and attempted to open it. She turned the handle on the window and pulled the window open. As is, there was about two feet of crawl space, but if she could slide through-

Wait! Stealth wasn't her style! The veins on Shiori's temples bulged with inhuman rage, and she ripped the lourvre slat right from its hinges on the window. She proceeded to tear a door right off the hindges of a bathroom stall. Shiori held the door with two hands and mightily tossed it through the window. The sounds of breaking glass and and exploding architecture would no doubt be heard by someone at the graduation, so she had to hurry.

Shiori took a few steps back, then charged at the open window. She vaulted through like a track and field hurdler. In midair, the rolled herself into a ball and stuck the landing perfectly. Before she even heard the call of a "Hey you!" or a "Get back here!", Shiori was gone in the night.

* * *

Shiori appeared at the docks the next morning. Her instructions were to meet her teammate there. She scanned the pier, but the marina appeared to be mostly empty, especially when you discounted workers. There was one nerd though. He was looking at some sort of plans, or blueprints.

Shiori took one last look up the pier, then approached the boy. She looked down at him for a moment, then gave him a nudge with her boot. "Hey, nerd. Nerd, wake up. Have you seen any ninja around here? I'm supposed to be meeting someone today, and no one seems to have shown up yet."


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Shiori's lip quivered, and her left eyelid shivered, This nerd... He is my partner?, she thought as he analyzed her. She vaguely recognised him from the scroll test; he was the one with the ninja glider. Those schematics... Did this nerd actually design and build the thing on his own? If he did... I could benefit from that skill...

Shiori ignored the outstretched left hand. Coldly, she introduced herself, "Kaguya Shiori. Genin. And yes, I did obtain one of the exam scrolls. I kicked the crap out of thirty some odd students to get it." A toothy grin faded in beneath her icy blue eyes, "You'd do your best to stay on my good side, fly-boy."

The girl turned away from the boy and looked over the harbor, "I was sure to come fashionably late. I always get to places late, so I never have to wait on anyone. I'll tell you, it's rather irritating to see that the rest of our team has even less respect for others' time and punctuality than I do. Like I said, I have zero interest in waiting for others, not even if the others are our own teammates."

Shiori paused and looked out over the misty morning marina. An air of lightness came to her voice. She added, "Word on the street is that there are a lot of jobs to do around town. They need stuff done, and I need cash. There's a little hair piece at a jewelry shop in town that would look great on me."

"What do you say to ditching this shitty place and picking up some of those missions, Shou?"


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