Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kaji sighed contentedly as he browsed the wares on the market street. There were many fine crafts and he calmly browsed them all. Every few minutes he would take a swig of whiskey and smile as the world around him became a wonderful place. The grass seemed greener, the day seemed brighter, and his chance of saving his family seemed that much greater. The people on the streets mocked the feral boy and his wolf. They whispered rumors and falsities,but he ignored them. Which would certainly be a surprise to his comrades. Kaji finally made his way toward the road leading out of the small village. "Lets go guys. We have tratiors to deal with, and time is of the essence" He said as he waited at the road with the bottle in his hand. His inner animal was drunk as a skunk and couldn't generate anger within the feral boy, while the boy himself remained rather sober.

Takera had been deep in thought when he heard a feint voice. He looked up slowly. "Huh?" Rinku had just passed him by. Takera took a look around at the other people on the main deck and then leaned back and looked out over the rail noticing that they were nearly at their destination. Zeru had descended to the deck chiming in with a comment about his food's location. "Your stuff was wrapped up and sitting on the counter in the lower deck. You'll have to pour your own soup as it would have gone cold had I done so and left it out." Just then Novvus had sat down and began speaking to him. After hearing the question Takera remained silent for a second before picking up the plate of fish. "My mother taught me. She had been very persistant in pounding all of her cooking skills into me. Looking back on it, it's very likely she had known things were going to end as they did and prepared for it by teaching us how to take care of ourselves."

Takera made haste in consuming the fish and salad he hadn't touched prior. He waited for Novvus to finish his bowl of stew before raising from the spot in which he sat and taking the dishes/silverware they had used down to the lower deck to be washed and put away. Takera had finished and made his way back up the stairs, but he had missed the majority of what had happened with Kaji. He had returned in time to see Kaji begin drinking.

Takera had caught the comment "Yes, let's give the short-fused shinobi a drink. Let's hope he isn't an angry drunk, eh? " and couldn't help but laugh to some degree. Amused with the antics of the crew on their arrival to Lightning Country, Takera began looking for Novvus, who had already stepped off the boat and had begun walking down the dock. Takera spotted him quickly, but before he could do anything his brother Zeru tugged on his shoulder. After hearing Zeru complain he turned back around and began looking for Novvus again.

"Fine then. Follow me. " Takera said as he spotted Novvus who was now almost out of his sight. Takera had rushed off the ship and down the dock catching up to Novvus. He took a quick look back making sure Zeru had kept up/stayed within seeing distance. "What now? Shouldn't we be preparing for the encounter?" he questioned as he faced Novvus. Are we really just going to just stumble into this? He thought to himself as he waited for an answer from Novvus.

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[(Yeah. What he said vvvvvvvvv)]

Aizen looked upon the land of lightning and simply smirked, He wasn’t sure how it would all work out but he knew while on this mission he’d have to watch his back. ”So we’re finally here...Well done people, Looks like we‘re almost to the standout point.” I shall wait until everyone plays their cards then I’ll play mine... The time is almost near for my plan to go into action. Aizen said as he gripped his fist looking at those in front of him. Aizen was the last to step upon the land of lightning, As he wanted to slowly disappear into the shadows. ”Lets head out people, if we aren’t quick they’ll surely leave and we’ll be left to track them down. In which case isn’t what we want to do.”

A yawn stumbled its way out into a silent room, the only sounds accompanying it were eerie pings and pangs of metal pipes and the every so often ruffle of sheets. The sound of the lapping waves outside made no familiar sound in the room but was instead easily misplaced as more faulty piping as it banged against a steel frame. The room was conservatively furnished, crates were being used as tables and chairs, the cold metal walls painted in a drab, grayish blue and the only decoration was a calendar hanging on the far side wall, its pages fulled with the nude pictures of various exotic looking women. Sitting beneath the calendar was a table of crates and a few smaller crates lined along it as seats, resting on the table was a few bowls of warm soup, chunks of meat bobbing around in it. Against the wall that faced the calendar laid two beds and a single seat... and sleeping soundly on the beds(one covered in a blue quilt that matched his skin and the other covered in a orange-ish fur quilt) and bandaged up carefully were two young shinobi.

The yawn, however, had not come from either of the two shinobi but rather the man that sat in the crate-chair in between them with his back slumped against the cold wall and his violet eyes watching a steel plated headband that he carefully turned over in his hands before rolling his head back to the wall. How fast time had gone by ad yet it felt like an eternity all the same.



A few weeks back... Sai let out a heavy sigh as the projectile was knocked into the air by a band of electricity. With an unnatural guile, the boy snatched the kunai on its way back down and tossed it at his foe in a single movement. The kunai bit deep into flesh, but not the flesh it was intended to as the sound of a dying breath escaped into the cold night air before being followed by the crunch of snow as a dead body fell to the ground. "Ok! I give... You are the better shinobi, but certainly that does not mean we can't help each other!" The voice was strong and full of self assurance but the tinge of fear was unmistakable to Sai's ears. With another sigh, Sai crossed his arms over his chest and took a quick glance at Soul and his clone who were currently carrying four bodies. Slowly his eyes moved from them back to the man before him, the bright blue orbs picking up the scene before them with the utmost contempt... strewn all along the white snow was splashes of red and mangled bodies.

It had not been another few days before another capture party reached where Sai and Soul were camped out and the group of six had attacked them head on with a clever ambush. However, the group had barely made two minutes before Sai had noticed a pattern... Each time either himself or Soul had attacked the leader, the man would use one of his team mates as a human shield and it had quickly cost the entire group their lives... And now, as it stood, the man that had led the assault against them was on his knees pleading with Sai to spare his life in return for ryo and items. Shaking his head softly, Sai approached the man and gripped his face roughly, forcing him to look him square in the eyes as the blue transfigured into a crimson, "Oh.. I promise, you will live on Saikoro Daisuke..." Sai sneered venomously as he glared at the purple haired man with violet eyes...


Back in the present.. The man sighed heavily before gripping his head band tightly in hand, his free hand easily pushing back his long purple hair before tying his head band against his forehead tightly and sighing once again. It was going to be a long voyage back to the Mist...

The man turned his head to look over at the boy, his head shaking softly in contempt as he sucked in a deep breath before sighing it back out in the next moment. "Kaji Inuzuka, age: sixteen, height: six foot, weight: one-eighty pounds. Deceased. Novvussor du Sokkulor, age: seventeen, height: five foot eight, weight: one-fifty pounds. Deceased." The man repeated the facts without a single movement from the rest of his body, his eyes never lifting from Kyu as he crunched out the words like they were imprinted in his mind. With both shinobi he ended with their current status, the word coming out with a depressed choke that was not reflected in any other aspect of him but his voice. "Both bodies are currently in coffins in the lower floors of the ship that we are currently on." He said, ignoring to state the statuses of the remainder of the Kyu's squad.

Gracefully he rose and made his way to the table as though only in one movement, which almost was perfectly contrasted by his posture as he had both of his hands shoved deeply into his black jeans and his back hunched over in a relaxed manner. The man managed to carry a sense of a nonchalant and relaxed air about him, despite the gracefulness of his movements. Pulling one of his sender hands out of his pockets, the man grabbed a bowl of soup and practically glided to Kyu's bed. Gently he pushed the boy to lean back into his bed, his hand quickly moving the pillows into a makeshift support before passing him the soup(the spoon already floating in the bowl). "Take it easy. You've broken several ribs, fractured some other bones and lost a tremendous amount of blood, not to mention suffered some internal injuries... We've done our best to bandage you up and stop the bleeding but we'll have to wait to get you to an actual doctor to get you on the official path of recovery. Now eat, you need your strength."

As soon as Hibiki's eyes had closed, he felt lighter than usual. In some odd, dream-like trance, he felt like he was flying, as if he could touch the clouds! There were a few moments were it felt like he was hit with a load of rocks, but other than that, his mind wandered free as a bird for most of the time. The other half of the time was occupied with fleeting glimpses of known faces, while a voice in his head named each one, as if a toddler was learning words via flash cards. The last image he would 'see' before waking up, was himself in a circus. On top of a rather large green ball, he was juggling fireballs with an unusual frown.

With a groan, he had woken up. With his eyes still shut, he curled up into a fetal position and hiked the blanket closer to his face. He felt a familiar fur-like texture tickle his face. It felt nice, or at least in contrast to the horrible feeling that plagued his head and the terrible gut wrenching pain in his stomach. Hibiki smiled a bit as he rubbed the fur against his face.

As if it was reflexive, he copied Kyu as he sprung upwards in the bed. First thing he noticed was the blanket that covered him. It reminded him of Kuro, who seemed to be missing at this point. His eyes darted over to a bowl of soup, with visible pieces of meat floated around. The Inuzuka's eyes then shifted over to the purple haired man who seemed to be supporting Kyu. Pushing the Orange-colored quilt off of him in a weak state of rage, he glared at the stranger, "Where is he." He stated calmly.

Kyu stared at the odd man as he recited the facts and condition of Kaji and Novvus. The man stared directly back at Kyu, which sent chills running up the fish-man's spine. Apparently, they lay in their coffins in the lower floors of the ship. Kyu didn't even know he was on the sea, but then again, he'd just woken up. The man stood up strangely as well. Kyu couldn't even understand how he stood up. His hands were in his pockets, and his posture was unchanging through the swift motion.

The man pulled some soup from the pot in a similar fluid motion, and brought it to the genin speedily, yet without it spilling or sloshing at all. Kyu felt the man's slender fingers touch his chest, and ease him back into bed. For the first time since he'd awoken, he felt the pain of his injuries. As the man said, he was definitely in need of some real medical help. Kyuzaku slid up agianst the propped-up pillow, and grabbed the bowl of meaty stew. It smelt good, delicious even. Kyu grabbed the spoon, and started to take a sip of the broth when he heard his comrade get up out of bed nearby. Kyu looked to his side to see Hibiki had woken up.

However, he wasn't happy. Something was off about him. Kyu followed the Inuzaka's eyes from the orange fur quilt, to the pot of soup, to the purple haired man, then the quilt again. With a subtle mix of rage and hurt, Hibiki demanded to know where 'he' was. Kyu stared at the Inuzaka, then re-followed the boy's eye-steps, meanwhile the genin lifted the spoon of soup to his mouth.

Fur Quilt... Soup... The man... The Quilt... He? Kuro? He slid some of the broth into his mouth; it was burning hot, but pretty good considering they were on a ship. Kyu looked into his soup, and passed a chunk of meat back and forth between some scallion cuts, pondering what was going through his friend's mind. Kyu took another sip of the soup, and as the broth touched his tounge, his eye's went wide. Suddenly, more awake then ever, Kyu spat out a mist of hot soup reminiscent of a comedy spit-take, "No way bro, you don't think-?! "