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"I don't think I can do this," Hikai sighs as they finally exit the docks and make it to the path leading into the village. He'd eaten the rest of his food on the boat ride to try and get his mind off of returning so he had nothing to clench in his hand. He seems to wiggle his fingers around as the group stop in motion. Hikai grabs at his cloak and makes sure it is securely around his body and his hood is tugged down over his face. Kan looks at Hikai and then at Kikyo. He had gotten an eye full of her on the way and had to admit that he didn't expect her to change from her former form into one quite like that one. Part of him was curious just who Kikyo was but another part of him forced him not to inquire about it.

"There's nothing for you to worry about, Hikai. He was vague in his request so all you have to do is show up, stand before him so that he can see we brought you, and then you can leave. I don't see why you have this unnecessary phobia," Kan eventually scoffs. Hikai was constantly being rough and tough and then when it came to just walking into a village he'd taken over before, he can't manage it. Hikai furrows his eyebrows and looks off to the side. He wanted to say that none of this would have happened if Kan hadn't destroyed the village but it wasn't Kan. Hayai was the one trying to destroy the village and Kan was just trying to stop her. So he sided against saying that to Kan. This had to be done in order to keep Hidden Flame happy and under SCM's control. Otherwise they would have to start doing things by force. Many of the organizations members preferred doing things peacefully so that wouldn't be something a lot of members would agree with.

And ultimately, the group might split up, the organization alter, and... Before Hikai realized it, they had reached the village. He was so absorbed in thought he didn't realize it. Villagers eye Kikyo, some moving away, and others showing a determined stare. Flames sprout all over the place, people trying to get Hikai's attention and get him to eat them. The buildings, broken down but livable, line the streets as the group continue towards the Kage building. Hikai's eyes fall on the destruction and then the villagers. Something felt sad about looking at them even though they seemed happy to see him. They had lost so much and yet they could be happy about him coming. Maybe he had things wrong. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. "EAT MY FLAME, PLEASE!" A woman screeches flinging a flame at Hikai. He sees it coming and grabs it up in his cloak. Unlike normal fabric, the flame doesn't catch the cloak on fire nor does it muffle the flame when Hikai covers it with the portion of his cloak.

More flames are thrown in Hikai's direction as people cry out for him to just taste their flame as Kan's eyes and hair flash silver. The flames splatter against an invisible bubble that is around the three travelers which makes female and male villagers alike frown. They were so close. Kan lowers his raised hands, his final hand sign falling, and urges Kikyo and Hikai onward. The fire dragon continues on, holding onto the one flame he caught and clutching it tightly, stunned. Nothing had changed.

As the three draw near enough to the Kage building to enter, Hikai squeezes the flame in his hands idly. He didn't really care to comment on Kikyo's sarcasm since nothing he said would really attribute to it. A chuckle maybe, but he wasn't in the mindset for a chuckle. Instead he remains quiet until Kikyo spoke again. "I don't know why I get along with Kanshin, or better, want to get along with Kanshin. I will admit that the sweet smell of her heat has been drawing me to her... in the exams... in Aviataion..." Hikai trails off for a moment, allowing himself to think on something, before returning to his response, "I have no intentions of using Kanshin for anything. I'm not that kind of guy or would ever be. If I wanted a free meal that bad then I could just build a fire the old fashioned way--with twigs, straw, and rocks--if I wanted to. It wouldn't have as much taste as a technique used by a ninja but it's just food, after all." Hikai snorts, setting the flame in his hand down on an ash tray that lined the halls of the large entryway of the Kage building.

The colors within the building are gold, red, and white in order to resemble the colors the flame villagers see in flames. Red wall and golden floors, decorated on the panes and connecting portions of the room with white. Hikai waits a while, eying the area calmly, more so than he was outside, before starting to speak again. this time though, his voice grows a little quieter and thoughtful. "I have never really smelled a heat like hers. It smells like her fire would be sweet, rather than spicy like all the other flame techniques that I've eaten. I guess I do want to know what her flame tastes like. But that's not why... it's not why I keep winding up finding her all of the time." Kan walks in silence ahead of the two, seeming quiet enough to eavesdrop but focused enough to be oblivious. The Orimara turns a corner and stops, awaiting the others to catch up. He'd made his way well ahead of Kikyo and Hikai and wanted to close the gap.

Hikai notices Kan turn the corner and begins to speed up a little but decides not to. After all, Hikai didn't really want to go in there anyway. So he continues on at his current speed. As he does, he hears Kikyo speak again and notes her change in appearance as she does. Before he can start to turn his attention forward again, he hears Kikyo describing Kanshin and her flame to him. Hikai smiled at hearing that Kanshin liked to really spice up her foods. He couldn't help but feel like Kanshin had a similarity to him almost. Regular foods he tended to eat extremely hot, on fire, or extremely spicy. Yes, he could eat regular food but preferred fire. It felt good since he never met anyone that ate fire like him, a dragon like him, or even an Uchiha like him... He listens on as Kikyo describes the things that go into Kanshin's flames and how she doesn't use them in a harmful way. He found that to be something that she would seem to dislike, hurting people and causing destruction, and that it fit her nature well. Hikai just continued walking and listening, the two nearing the corner now. "White flames, huh," Hikai thinks calmly to himself as he tries imagining her flame.

His attention is then snatched away from imagining when Kikyo mentions the leveling of Kanshin's home village. He stops walking and stares blankly forward. "Leveled...?" Hikai just continues to stare forward a while before Kan comes back around the corner. Hikai doesn't even noticed as his mind goes back to a day he would never forget.

A behemoth, larger than anything Hikai had ever seen, barreled towards Hidden Leaf almost out of no where. It seemed like a beast created from the earth of the village land, but that would be impossible. No amount of land in Hidden Leaf could construct such a large monster. But where did it come from? Hikai's eyesight flashes black with white flurries--like static--for a moment, his body leaning forward, before returning. He takes a step forward to steady himself before noticing Kan slowly walking towards him. "Leveled..." Hikai thinks to himself before his mind returns to the past again. The beast tore through homes and completely emptied rivers and streams with a single step. Hikai saw it barreling towards the villages central market from one of the forests of Konoha, the complete opposite side of him. As the monster grew nearer to his home, he ran as fast as he could to try and beat the beast out. It was a good effort, the behemoth seemed to stop its approach as well. He would make it. He would try and save the village and his family.

"I took a step..." He thinks as his feet rise and fall to the earth in his memory. Things seem to slow down, one foot rising very slowly. By the time the foot connects with the earth, Hikai at the edge of the forest and only a few miles from the village, a huge blast is released from the monsters mouth in the direction of the village and the Uchiha's residential area. Hikai still continues running when everything goes white.

"Hikai," Kan says with a hint of concern in his calm tone as he grows close enough to Hikai to shake him by the shoulders. Hikai's eyes seem to shift around, as if he'd snapped out of his memory finally. Kan releases the dragon and steps back from him to give him some air. Hikai steps over to the wall and stands there as if he might collapse against it. He slowly but surely gets control of himself, shaking his head to empty the memories in his head. He looks at Kan and then at Kikyo.

"Sorry... I got distracted," Hikai says, downgrading what had happened, with an embarrassed small blush. He lowers his head, his hair covering his face a little, and continues walking until around the corner. Kan watches Hikai contently a while before turning to follow after him. That entire episode actually only lasted a few minutes even though it seemed like forever to Hikai. It was noticeable but with Hikai's previous behavior, it probably wouldn't seem to make too big of a scene for Kikyo and Kan... it shouldn't anyway.

"I haven't seen that in a while," Kan muses quietly aloud. His eyes drift over to Kikyo slowly, taking in her appearance and seeming to be wondering something, before his attention turns to Hikai who was standing a little down the hall in front of two large, golden doors.

"Thank you for your help," Kan starts, stopping in front of the double doors. He glances back at Kekkaishi before his eyes shift over to Kikyo, "Kikyo. You kept him well protected and distracted... up until that last instance." The tone of his voice, look in his eye, and how he phrased that last sentence might come off as a bit rude and angering. That is, until he speaks again. "I think he needed to have that reminder of there being scarier things than a village that adores you. It really snapped him out of that silly mood he was in even though you may not have meant it to." Kan seemed to be thanking Kikyo for making Hikai go through that episode rather than criticizing her, as it seemed with his previous statement. Kan turns completely around and reaches out to open the door away from Kikyo. But when he does the door flings open quickly, a hand reaching out and grabbing Hikai by the neck, before retreating with a loud slam of the door behind it. Kan seemed to have switched in stance as it all happened. At first getting in an offensive crouch and then into a calm, upright, calm stance.

Why did he just stand there as Hikai was snatched away? Wasn't he supposed to be helping Hikai? Hikai cries out in a way where the sound harnessed, rage, fear, and surprise. Kan covers his mouth with one hand and fights back the urge to laugh. "Hikai! My beloved!" A young female voice squeals. Kan gets a hold of himself and takes a step back from the door. He moves so fast when he does his hands signs that it would seem as if he hadn't performed any at all. His body would slip into the ground quickly before reemerging on the other side of the door. Kan watches as Hikai growl angrily atop a end table in the corner of the large room, a little girl reaching out and trying to grab him. "Come here~! Let me give you a big kiss, honey!" The little girls continues to squeal, making Hikai hiss even more. Kan shifts his silver eyes about in his head until spotting a man near the window at the back of the room.

"Would you mind calling off your daughter, sir?" Kan asks calmly, a hand over his mouth to hide the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. The man keeps his back turned from Kan who slowly begins to lower his hands.

"But if I were to do that..." the man starts to say before twirling around. A smile beaming with gold and white light flashes across his face as he rushes towards Hikai in the corner. "Then it's daddy's turn!" Hikai flickers from the corner, allowing the old man to stumbling forward to try and stop himself, and appears beside Kan. The little girl shrieks as the old man skids to a halt mere inches from the girl. "That was close. Hikai, why don't you just come here and hug your father-in-law?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER-IN-LAW!" Hikai yells, his nostrils flaring. His fangs are easily seen which makes the little girl blush bashfully. He notices this and shakes his head. He points a finger in the tiny girls direction before speaking, "What kind of father agrees to marry his daughter who can't be much older than eight, to marry a man who he doesn't know and is twenty years old?" Kan begins looking the man over. He takes note of his white hair and full goatee that both cascaded down to about his chest area. He glimpses the headband about his neck and hidden by the beard as well as the Kage hat and attire he is wearing. "on top of all of that, I don't WANT to marry your daughter!" Hikai bellows angrily. The small girls eyes grow wet, the Kage red, and Kan just shakes his head.