Well, this was just the most pleasant of surprises. Aisling, out of the blue, in town, right about the time he was ready to come out and show himself to people. Just... the timing. It was beautiful. The more family that came around, the happier he was. Family was the point of his existence, his one pleasure in a life that hadn't gone exactly to plan from the moment of his conception, let alone every other point in his life. He was able to deal with that, and move on from the fuckery; got himself a nice comfy life and a ridiculously comfortable chair; and then it went to shit and he just gave up caring for a while. Then he focused entirely on not dying for a while. Then he came back and raged out for a while.

Now he was back to mostly normal and was ready to be an adult again, which meant he was going to do what the leaders of the village apparently hadn't been able to in nearly a decade and fucking lead it. The economy was in shambles, the ninja had no leadership, the military police was basically running the place under the justification of martial law, but with no official proclamation from any sort of leadership, not to mention no longer being under civilian control, which just... why? Why take the one balance for the power of the ninja away from the civilians? Keeping the leadership of the MPs away from the Kage and the Jounin Council had kept the force from being corrupt and used as just another lapdog group for whatever shadowy jounin that was trying to rule via the ANBU and MPs and such.

He had nothing to say on the Sword Saints, as they hadn't existed under his or Sebasu's rule, but the concept was awesome, and he'd work to keep it. The Sealers were... dead. ANBU, nearly so. Why was Amaya no longer the Captain of the Medic Corps? The frick was wrong with people. Shit, even Rippa wasn't in charge; and while he didn't know the full power of Rippa's medical skills, he seemed to be pretty damn competent, or at least enough to run shit i the interim while a more qualified candidate was found.

The Bingo Book... just... he couldn't even.

The headache was real, and it was going to take forever to fix. However... it needed to be done, but whatever. He could, he would.

But that was not for now. No, now was the time to be with family and enjoy the rest of the day. That and some food. And some tea. And some more food. Lots and lots of food. His appetite had returned in force; under the careful care and beatings that Amaya was handing out to him daily... he was very nearly back to full strength. Very nearly. His lings were still a mess, but that was a given no matter what; given they were to the point of being sure that whatever was wrong with him was genetic, or at least partially so; which meant that there was little that could be done beyond keeping ahead of the damage and trying to buy him time before his lung tissue basically dissolved into a frothy mass of blood and puss and random chunks of stuff that didn't lend well to survival for oxygen breathing beings.

Eh. Focusing on that was pointless. Better to spend his days with family, and doing the most he could to get the best out of what time he had.

So he was following his nose now. He knew Aisling very well, she might have been a small child when he'd vanished, but that didn't mean he couldn't guess where she was. She'd been a watermelon fiend growing up soooo...

Watermelon tea. In large volumes. He knew exactly where to find it. Which meant, he knew where she was. Not that far off, really. Just inside the district's little street market, and well advertised; the little stall was famous for it's fruit teas, and watermelon was a seasonal godsend favorite among the locals; so there'd be plenty of it to go around. This meant she was likely right there drowning in the largest container they'd sell to her. Which he needed to get his hands on for himself.

Oh yeah. Today was gunna be fun.

WC: 750

Aisling had found her goal: a giant thirty two ounce cup of watermelon tea which was light on the ice - just enough to keep it refreshingly cool without taking up too much space for the tea itself. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was places that filled the cup up with ice and then put in a little bit of liquid - it was like paying for ice instead of the actual drink. No, just no. So, happy Aisling was indeed happy with her choices. She had even found a shaded bench nearby which was far enough away for her to be able to people watch without being expected to interact: again a bonus.

As the young female brought the straw of the lidded cup to her lips once more she found herself contemplating her real reasoning behind the visit to Konoha. Oh, she loved her family and all of that, and loved spending time with them... but there was another reason. When Aisling had been rescued from her own personal hell the damage that had been done to her had been too severe to heal all at once shot: even for someone like Amaya it would have drained her dry and left her useless for a week or more. Instead the infections that had cropped up had been treated, and the major damage healed. The smaller cuts, burns, and other various wounds had been treated with skin creams and other medicine and then covered with bandages. Every so often Aisling liked to make a trip to Konoha for some extra help on getting everything fixed: something Amaya had told her to do despite Aisling's protests at first about wasting the medics time.

This train of thinking of course brought about another: how much did Kenta know? If she suddenly freaked out about some random stranger trying to touch her would he know the reasoning behind it? She had heard that he had disappeared, been presumed dead in fact though it was something she could never bring herself to truly believe, so she wasn't sure how in the loop or out of it he in fact was. Deciding that she would likely find out soon enough she simply took yet another sip of her tea before leaning back against the bench comfortably.

Aisling would reach up then, pulling a strand of pink hair out of her face and tucking it behind her left ear: she knew it would all fall out of the ponytail she had it in eventually but for now it was still up and mostly off of her neck so she was happy. Golden eyes glanced about while she wandered how long Kenta would be busy for: she had assumed she had interrupted something at least somewhat important after all. Then again... Aisling had never belonged to a proper squad herself so she had no idea how these sorts of meetings and such went.

Word count: 490

Oh, there we go. That was easy enough, really; she stuck out to his eyes and his senses, she was family so he automatically locked onto her passively, tracking family was part of protecting family, and that meant knowing where they were at all times when possible; so once he was close enough to sense her, she was all over his radar so to speak. He'd been pretty close to dead on as to where she was, he was guessing that she'd been wandering around the area with her drink, as she wasn't that far away from the stall that sold the epic watermelon tea, and her cup sounded like it was still fairly full. Even with the din of the people around them he could hear the gentle sloshing pretty clearly, so that helped. He made his way to the stall himself, he really wanted his own giant cup of cold tea after the day he'd had; so he took the extra minute to order and pay for a giant cup of his own.

Sufficiently loaded down with tea, and a few sticks of sweet dango to boot, he made his way toward the young female that had his attention; chirping around the straw held by his teeth while he inhaled between draws from the sweetly-fruity liquid gold within. It was a signal for her attention; a pretty common one among the family that should be heard pretty easily. Even if it wasn't, he was making himself very obvious, approaching within her direct line of sight and sticking out of the thin crowd pretty hard with his golden hair and eyes and single fang mark. "I see you found the glorious."

WC 288

288 + 750 = 1038

A noise reached her ears that caused her to jerk her head up and instantly lock her golden gaze onto Kenta. Even if she hadn't heard him she would have spotted him easily enough within the next few seconds. Still, it was nice to hear an old sound that reminded her so much of home and family. It made her feel oddly safe, really, even in a public like this where she normally would never be comfortable.

She smiled and patted the seat next to her, a clear indication he was more than welcome to join her. While waiting to see if he would indeed sit on the bench with her or not she brought the straw to her lips and took another long sip from the delicious substance inside. Really, if she would get away with living off of watermelon tea she would, but she clearly couldn't. Sad really, a definite shame in her opinion.

If Kenta did decide to join her she would tuck yet another loose strand of pink hair behind her ear before shifting so she could more easily face him and talk. Absently she gave an extra shift for comfort; she could feel one of the bandages on her back beginning to feel wet - blood likely - but it wasn't enough for her to be immediately concerned about it. Instead she focused on Kenta and smiled gently. "So, when did you get back? I've been out of the loop for... well, a while." Aisling's tone would darken and sadden at the end of her sentence, clearly relaying emotions she was attempting to hide for the moment. Then again... she knew better than to try and hide things from someone with such keen senses. Still, the hope was there that with so many people around it would go ignored for the time being - though, likely not.

As she absently waited for his response she would take yet another sip of the delicious gold in her hands, still more than happy with her choice.

Word Count: 830

"Same, really. Only a couple of weeks, if even really that. I don't pay much attention to time anymore; not that I much ever did. I'd rather spend time with family and work on certain... things, now that I'm home." Simple enough, but it conveyed more information that anyone that could possibly be listening in would be able to ascertain. He joined her on the bench she was settled upon, shifting to give her enough space to be comfortable, but still settling in that bubble that only family and close friends would ever cross into normally. No one would bother them, he was projecting just a hint of his natural aura and chakra outward, creating a bubble of space around them that the civilians and lower ninja didn't even realize they where moving around; subtly wasn't normally the hallmark of an Inuzuka, but he'd gone far and beyond a normal dog-man over the years, so having this fine tuned control was necessary.

He wa noticing small things that seemed... off, about her; the way she held herself, there was a pain that was wrong, physical yes, but there was more. It confused and worried him, it was triggering his natural need to protect, but there was nothing to protect her from here in this place of safety and peace. Not within the range of his senses, anyway; nothing he couldn't handle with just a sneeze anyway. Injuries, he could smell fresh blood; but it wasn't a large amount, maybe a stitch popping, or a scab ripping. Nothing to be that worried about, yet. He was no medic, but he could tell the difference between a weeping wound and a gushing hemorrhage. This was the former, at the moment, anyway. "You seem pensive, Aisling. What's wrong?"

WC: 305

305 + 1038 = 1343

Oh, she knew that question was coming. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep what happened to her from him: there simply wouldn't be a way anyway once Amaya found her and got to work on the last of her wounds and various injuries - the physical ones anyway. The mental and emotional ones would take much longer to heal. Aisling didn't answer right away, instead she looked up and around in an effort to check and make sure that everyone was at a far enough distance away so that they wouldn't overhear. She didn't nessecarily have to talk loud, but she still wanted to make sure no one would hear her.

Satisfied at the distance everyone seemed to be keeping, though she couldn't quite understand why, she turned her attention back to Kenta with a very grave and serious look on her face: pain clearly showing in her eyes. "When... I was ten years old my brother accidentally pissed off the wrong people when we were tending to my parents market stall. We didn't think anything about it then.. but that night they came for us. My dad tried to hold them off so we could escape and they killed him... my mom didn't fall much longer after that, nor my brother. They kidnapped me and sold me to a elderly man. There were others like me... males and females. He was creating some kind of private guard or army. He was cruel... he'd torture us if we did something wrong. Especially if we failed one of his tests. If we were supposed to walk silently and we caused the planks to creek? He'd whip the bottoms of our feet... or worse. The females... they got it the worse of all. He was a sick bastard... It took years for me to be found and rescued, and quite a while to heal properly. Amaya had to do it in spurts because of how bad I was: it would have killed her to do it all at once. She got the worst wounds first and the infections... some of them were pretty bad."

She glanced around again and found that no one continued to pay them any mind. "Sometimes.. when I'm in public it bothers me when too many people are around. Family and friends I can handle.. but i have to be careful not to let strangers touch me or I start to freak out... " She fell silent then, simply staring down at her straw while trying to ignore the very vivid images her mind was attempting to produce. She knew she was safe here in Konoha, more so now given Kenta was back and sitting right next to her, but the memories were haunting just the same.

Word Count: 1,303

And suddenly, it was cold enough to snow. There was literally frost forming on the glass of the windows of the building behind the stalls, steam rising from any source of heat, hell, little sparkles of proto-snow forming in the dense humid air that was quickly drying from the chill. A spike of angry chara would send the locals fleeing in terror, the civilians anyway. The ninja would be flattened by the force of it, they're own chakra responding and going haywire in a way that only happened to beings like them; humans and ninja animals that had the gifts and curses of chakra within them. Aisling wouldn't feel any of it, however; he would never expose her to that, but everyone else was fair game for his sudden burning anger.

Just another reason that heads would be rolling when he got to the bottom of why the village was empty of administration. That was grounds to have called him back, even if it wasn't otherwise safe to do so; no one harmed family and lived. No one. "And this man... his little army of child soldiers... who took care of it." A question that was a statement at the same time; her answer had better be that someone had, or else... well, that was going to be a fun time. A chance to work off a bit of steam on someone that deserved it. It would also explain why Amaya had seemed to be a bit weaker than normal when he was around her; she was using up all her energies healing the damage done to Aisling. A priority that she would push herself right to the edge of death to maintain; laughing at the grim reaper raging at her just outside of his reach while she recovered and started again. It was why he'd been in the hospital instead of in his own bed after the incident with Hiroyuki... she couldn't physically heal him and still be ready for Aisling. He was tough enough, and he could heal on his own without help, it just took longer; however she needed the assistance of a medic to come back from where she'd been put by some sadistic motherfucker with a general fetish. Yep. Anger was real.

But there was sadness there too. That deep, black sadness that came from both knowing that he'd failed to protect her, and that she'd been put in that position anyway. A circular path of self-blame and hatred that would drag him into insanity if he allowed it to continue; but that he had to acknowledge existed lest he be corrupted by it in other ways. He couldn't succumb to that, he'd come too far and faced to many other things that threatened to drag him to that point to fail now. No, there was too much to look forward to now; to many things to be done before he could stop and just lose himself to darkness.

WC: 506

506 + 1334 = 1840

Something was beginning to happen that Aisling was unaffected by, but yet everyone else still was. She had no idea what exactly was sending the civilians fleeing in terror though she certainly had some ideas given how everything was suddenly beginning got look so... cold. Kenta, Kenta was definitely angry then. She couldn't say she hadn't expected as much. He cared deeply about his family, more so than an average person given the pack mentality of the Inuzuka. She figured he was likely ready to kill and perhaps that was the reason behind his question which sounded very much like a statement.

Aisling shivered as she thought back to that day, not because of the cold that she was unaffected by and unable to feel but because of what she saw that day. "Amaya... Amaya came. I've... I've never seen a Uchiha do the things she did. Ashi was there too, along with a few other people. Amaya told me it had taken a while for anyone to notice anything had happened because we weren't living in the village at the time of my parents and brother's murder. Apparently whoever was in charge of the little village we were staying in tried to cover it up because he didn't want his village to look bad. When they did find out the guy in charge tried making it seem like all four of us had died... Amaya said she examined the bodies though and knew it wasn't me. That's when they started looking."

Aisling stared off at the sky a minute, thinking. "You know... the strangest thing is... the entire time I was being rescued I was watching Amaya and the only thing I could think of was that I'd never think of medics as a support person ever again. I wasn't thinking about getting out of there, or what was going to happen to me... I just kept thinking about what Amaya was doing, the way she was giving them what they had given me... literally. It was like she was making my wounds appear on them. It was terrifying the power she showed that night... "

"Speaking of Amaya she probably wants to see me... " It was a chance for them to leave and head home - or where ever Amaya happened to be. She had a feeling there was a chance someone was going to come investigate because of what Kenta had just done and she didn't want him getting told off because of her - or eating someone who tried at least. Wait... did Inuzuka eat people? That was... a good question.

Word Count: 1,737

Oh, that was okay then. Well, not okay, but it sated his need to end the people that had hurt Aisling; knowing that Amaya and Ashi had done it for him. They were... not as 'forgiving' as he was; those poor bastards had suffered far more than Aisling had; and while it would never really be enough, he could... live with it. For now. He'd vent some leftover anger later on when he was alone and no one would be hurt. The world around them seemed to quick thaw, the icy influence of his chakra and anger was gone, the poor ninja that had been caught had stopped writhing in pain and confusion, and the civilians where beginning to slowly reappear from whatever hiding places they'd found. He gave them, oh, about 15 seconds before some ANBU or another would appear, so it would be best to vanish. Yep.

He slipped an arm around Aisling's waist gently and rose to his feet, lifting her and flashing from the air with a burst of VoidStep and Air Skating. Fun times, getting to use these. She'd see little more than a few blurs of movement, then they'd be seemingly flying over the tops of the buildings and out of the town proper, toward the less populated and wooded areas where Amaya had set up her new home; an area where dogs outnumbered humans 2 - 1, and no one would bother them. He brought them to a soft landing roughly 10 feet from Amaya's front door, releasing her once they where stable on the ground and chuckling softly. "Never bank on catching me.~" One of the few things he felt pride in, his ridiculous speed. He could outrun nearly anyone, and nearly anything, without much effort.

"Unless it's Naota I'm hearing, I think she'd home right now. Someone's inside, anyway. Shall we?~"

WC: 320

320 + 1840 = 2160

Amaya had been home for almost an hour from doing her rounds at the hospital when the presence of someone rather familiar - or several people actually - were outside of her house. Given that it was a familiar feeling and there was no sound of flesh and limbs being ripped off by any of the various dogs running around she figured it was likely family. Curious as to who could be calling so suddenly, yet not minding in the slightest, she opened up her door to find a rather windswept looking Kenta and... Aisling?!

Oh, right. She was due for another round of healing. She glanced quickly between the two, wondering for a second just how much Kenta might know by now - Amaya herself could smell a bit of the blood on the wind coming from Aisling - before stepping side and ushering them inside. If they both entered she would give Aisling a very gentle hug before ushering her over to one of the stools lining the island kitchen counter. "Sit, relax.", her voice was soft and kind but commanding all at the same - the sort reserved for stubborn family members who didn't take their medical care are seriously as she liked them to. To Kenta she would grin and nod to his usual spot. "You should relax, too."

If Aisling were to do as she "asked" Amaya would go about pulling out various medical supplies she would need to continue to patch up and clean up Aisling. "Let's get you patched up, I can smell the blood..." She would pause once ready, glancing between Aisling and Kenta and wondering how much he knew about what had been done to her. Clearly if she could smell the blood he had too, and Amaya could only assume that that was the reason Kenta had brought her here so swiftly... but did he know the reasoning behind it? Was he going to turn her house into a pretty little iced cottage when he found out? "Er, before I start fixing her up how much do you know about all of this? I don't want my house turned into a pretty little iced cottage..." Playfully spoken, but true nonetheless.

Kenta seemed to be in agreement that they should leave. Her picked her up, which she didn't mind since she trusted him, and suddenly they were off. Aisling might as well have been blind for all the good her vision did. The most she could gather as they went were blurs of color and lots of green - not that the green meant anything given the village they were in. So, as they landed outside of what she presumed to be Amaya's house given what Kenta had just said she had no idea where in the village, or on the outskirts as it looked, they were. She couldn't bring herself to care though or worry.

Before she could say anything at all the door was opened and Amaya was ushering them inside. The inside of her house was rather comfortable: cool without being the horrible coldness that hospitals tended to be. Oh, she liked the cold well enough, but there was something just... off... about the way hospitals were cold. Not right, that was for sure.

Amaya told her to sit and she did it: she wasn't going to argue with the female given she was pretty sure her back was definitely bleeding. To make Amaya's life easier she shifted her kimono, of which she wore a low backed top underneath, so that it fell off of her shoulders and revealed her back without being overly revealing. Her back was llittered with all manner of scars and healed burn marks. A few marks were still in the healing process and covered in bandages: the one nearest her lower back was red with blood while the rest of the bandages were white thanks to the other wounds not bleeding. "I told him everything, Amaya.", she responded, answering Amaya's question even though it had been directed to Kenta.

"So uh.. do I get a lollipop when this is over if I'm a good little patient? Or some jerky... Starving."

Word Count: 2,081

"Man, I never get lollipops from her." He was settling into his favorite chair, leaning back and throwing a leg over the armrest like he usually did. Sitting up 'properly' made it hard to breath, and this was family; no one gave a damn so long as he wasn't nude or something stupid like that. He sneezed a few times, he'd gotten a good facefull of dust just before he'd launched into Voidstep, and carried it with him in his nose. Given he hadn't inhaled until that moment, he hadn't noticed the itching and burning until just before he sneezed. Weeeeee.

"Yeah, she told me enough to get the gist of the situation. She also told me she saw your sadistic medic side; so I'm... well, not happy, since it happened at all; but given there wouldn't even be bone dust left when you where through... not much else I can do outside of maybe eat some idiots. Which I may end up doing anyway, so whatever." He finished settling and yawned; realizing that he'd left their drinks behind and now unhappy about that. Meh, another time. "See, you say jerky, and now I'm hungry. Or more so than I was, anyway. I'm never not hungry, even as scrawny as I look."

WC: 222

222 + 2160 = 2382

Both Aisling and Kenta sat down which made her quite happy. She knew neither belonged on their feet for long though she wasn't about to argue. What little she could get people to cooperate within now adays she was more than happy to accept. She turned her gaze onto Aisling's bare back and went to work on carefully and as gently as possible removing the bandage that showed signs of blood - the rest would hold off for now. What she saw underneath wasn't horribly concerning: it looked like Aisling had likely moved or bent the wrong way and ripped open a small stitch or two. It was nothing to be overly concerned about, and if Amaya wanted she could simply use a healing technique to finish it off now - which was precisely what she was going to do as soon as the wound was cleaned and properly ready.

She reached into her medical kit and got to work pulling out some bandages and some cleaning spray specially made to go directly on the wound without burning the ever living hell out of the patient. A few sprits would have the area cold, but not harmed any, allowing it to numb a bit before she went about wiping off the excess blood and making sure that the wound itself was not infected - which thankfully it wasn't.

At Kenta's comment about the people being turned to ash she glanced to Aisling to make sure the girl wouldn't see what she was about to do and then looked to Kenta. The look in her eyes would say enough, even without the subtle shake no of her head she gave. They weren't dead. Oh no, they were very much alive, and in a very great deal of pain. She hadn't fealt death appropriate for those who harmed her family, but endless suffering - or as endless as she could make it - certainly fit the crime. However, it was not something she wanted Aisling to know else the girl start worrying they could escape and come after her. No, Aisling was better off in as happy a little bubble as Amaya could give her, thinking that the people who had harmed her were as dead as dead could get with absolutely no chance of coming back. Better for her, better for everyone... but Kenta could still have his taste of revenge too, she'd be more than willing to give that to him.

Back to focusing on the wounds she pulled the other bandages off as carefully as the first while allowing the first to air dry so it would be ready for her to start healing it. The other wounds looked healed well enough, but they would definitely leave some nasty scars if she didn't do something about them soon. "Good thing you came when you did, Aisling. If these healed any further on their own they would leave scars I don't think even I could get rid of..."

Aisling stayed still while Amaya went to work. She knew Amaya kept goodies in the house - mostly of the meat variety but some sweets as well - so while Amaya worked Aisling also did. She looked in the cabinets she could reach without moving around too much and screwing with the job that Amaya was doing. It didn't take her but a second cabinet look before she found the full bag of jerky. Grinning with triumph she was completely oblivious to Amaya's secret signal to Kenta behind her back.

Instead, Aisling reached inside of the bag of jerky, pulled out several pieces, and then closed the handy little zip lock again before tossing it over to Kenta. Inuzuka and food. Hell, Aisling wasn't an Inuzuka and she wanted food too. She was hoping someone would properly cook later on, a good home cooked meal was definitely something she was dying for, but she knew that at that moment the most important thing was getting her back fixed up.

Well, that and asking questions. "So um.. is anyone going to come bother us 'cause of what you did?", she asked curiously. She knew, obviously, Kenta used to be Hokage. But, she didn't exactly know how or what his standing currently was in the village. A Jounin sure, but from what she had saw earlier in the day before she left to go find watermelon tea someone had definitely been keeping an eye on him. "Amaya, you wouldn't happen to have that large jug of watermelon tea in your fridge you used to always have been a I visited do you? I seem to have forgotten mine. Kenta did too."

Word Count: 2,362

"I highly doubt it, honestly. No one's come to investigate anything I've done since I've been back; outside of maybe Naota finding me when I got into town. Otherwise, not a damn thing. It's like there's no one actually running things, even the city patrols are barely there." He rotated within his seat, getting into a position that would let him be comfortable, breath, and no end up with cramps in his back or something like that; it would happen if he sat in certain positions for long enough. "At most, they'd think someone was being stupid; maybe the MP's will check it out, but as no one was hurt, nor any damage done... meh. Naota will tell us if something happens that we need to worry about."

He was keeping his expression amused, his tone was light and cheerful inasmuch as it ever was. Oh, they'd have plenty to discuss later; that look... such delicious evil conveyed there. Oh yeah, she'd definitely made them pay, then; and that made him happy. For now. He'd have to have some fun investigating who dropped the ball on their end, and see they paid for it. That'd be his fun times.

More watermelon tea.... yeah. He vanished from sight, flashing his way into the kitchen and digging around for anything that was in a pitcher and smelled of tea or watermelon. Finding a rather large specimen, he hunted down a set of massive cups for the three of them, filling each as they prefered and moving back into the living room at a more normal speed with each cup balanced in one arm. He sat their cups down on the table beside where Amaya was working on Aisling's back, and he too his with him to his chair, resettling and sipping at the flavorful liquid. "Much better."

WC: 318

318 + 2382 = 2700

A slender white eyebrow rose as she looked between Kenta and Aisling, wondering exactly what Kenta had done before arriving at her house. She had a feeling she would find out sooner or later so she didn't bother asking. Chances were it had been some kind of reaction to Aisling explaining what had happened and been done to her, which meant it was likely something very cold and icey. Amaya likewise doubted anyone would bother showing up to try and reprimand Kenta about it - they'd be too worried about being mauled by him or one of his dogs after all.

So, instead Amaya focused on finishing up with Aisling's back and making sure that all of the new bandages were clean and properly in place. A bit of healing chakra was added to the mix to make sure that her wounds were properly healed - the bandages simply there to keep the last bit of the medicine she wanted to use there. Had it been anyone else she wouldn't have bothered, but Aisling was family and therefore she deserved Amaya's over-protectiveness to the fullest.

"There you are, all done."

Her attention would finally shift then to the tea that Kenta had got them all, picking up her glass and sipping at it happily. "Mm.. that hit the spot." Amaya would take another sip or two of her tea before placing the glass down and cleaning up the bit of a mess she had made with her medical supplies. "I'd suggest hanging around the village for a week or more Aisling... I'll be able to finish those up by then and you won't even have a scar left." Her attention would then shift over to Kenta. "How you feelin' today?" Oh yeah, medic mode all around today - then again, it wasn't taking nearly as much chakra as it had been to take care of Aisling these days given how nicely she was beginning to heal up.

Aisling stayed as still as she could while Amaya finished up. None of what the older female was doing hurt at all, so it wasn't like it was hard to keep as stone like as possible. Aisling also wasn't bothered by Amaya touching her - Amaya had been her personal medic since the day she had been rescued. Not only had Aisling been unwilling to allow anyone else the chance to touch her but Amaya hadn't either - it didn't matter how drained Amaya had been after treating her she had done it herself so that she knew it was done perfectly right. She owed Amaya a great deal even if she'd never come collecting on that debt.

Watermelon tea was picked up and the glass half emptied before being placed down again. Aisling spinned a few times on the stool she was seated on before looking over to Kenta. She too was wondering how he was. She knew that Amaya had been his personal doctor even all those years ago, which had meant she knew Kenta had had some health problems even if she was never properly informed of what those had been. Still, she was curious now.

"Have you been giving Doctor Amaya a hard time?", she asked with a giggle.

Word Count: 2,576

"Not a hard time, really. I was pretty messed up when I first got back, but not in a way that needed a lot of healing from a medic, more just a solid diet and some sleep. So the usual things I don't get enough of, nor follow properly." He yawned deeply, that kind of yawn that only happened when lungs where clear and working properly, as he didn't fall into a major bloody coughing fit half way through the act. A rarity, lately; but it was a sign of just how far he'd come in the few weeks he'd been home and taken care of properly, both by himself and a competent medic. Gotta love competent medics. "I'm behaving, mostly; so I feel decent enough. Nothing to complain about, anyway."

So a week minimum? Awesome, time to catch up properly, hang out and have fun. The kids would be over the moon to have that much time to mess around with her, and the more family he had around the happier in general he was. Yep, he was very okay with this.

"So, we going to plan out a party or what? Family in town, sounds like a reason to go spend a month's salary on food and booze and such and get wasted on meat and alcohol."

WC: 225

225 + 2700 = 2925

Amaya thought about the idea of a little get together: booze and food sounded lovely and precisely what everyone needed. She nodded in agreement with a grin. "Sounds like a plan to me. I could use a good stiff drink." The mess she had made fixing up Aisling's back was completely gone so her attention was focused entirely on her watermelon tea. She wasn't as addicted to it as she knew Aisling to be but it was still delicious all the same - not her favorite but it sure ranked highly up there.

She also thought about the idea of in a weeks time Aisling wondering off to go somewhere else: she found herself not liking the idea as she so often didn't. She preferred her family in one spot where she could help to keep them safe. In Aisling's case this need was doubled considering what the girl had already gone through. Still, it wasn't like she was the type of person to force someone into staying put - not that she wouldn't suggest it, again.

"So, Aisling... did you change your mind yet about my question? I've got more than enough spare rooms in here for you if you ever decide you want to move in permanently..." Amaya sipped her tea while waiting and judging whatever response or reaction Aisling was about to give. She even glanced over to Kenta, wondering if he too wanted her home permanently as badly as she did.

Aisling really never bothered to partake in alcohol - she was too scared of waking up some place she'd rather not be - but the idea of a giant mountain of meat to be consumed at leisure? Yes please. She was definitely down for that. Aisling grinned, nodding in enthusiasm at the idea, before she brought her tea back up to her lips and sipped it happily enough. She had a bunch to be happy about after all: she was patched up, Kenta was home which she knew had to make everyone else happy, and she was surrounded by family while in a safe place. Life couldn't get much better than this.

Then came Amaya's question.

Oh god, that question.

Amaya had asked it several times before and yet Aisling, as restless as she used to feel all of the time, had always skirted around it and avoided answering it. But what about now? How did she feel now? She no longer felt like the wandering spirit roaming the world lost. She no longer felt trapped when staying in one place for too long. Oh, her usual wanderlust would always be there but she had had that since she was a child so there was little she could do about it, and a random vacation every now and then would certainly satisfy it well enough.

So, could she settle down here?

Yes. Yes she could. "I think... I'll take you up on that offer, Amaya." Oh, she knew this was going to make the Uchiha very happy, and likely Kenta too, probably even everyone else. The family should stick together mentality ran strong in everyone. "Course... that could be easier said then done, really. Isn't there a lot of paperwork that has to go into something like that?", her voice was light and teasing, a grin easily playing across her face. "Then again... you never did follow rules well did you?" Oh yes, Aisling was feeling a bit playful, and extremely happy.

Word Count: 2,911

"Pffft. Paperwork. It's really not that bad, honestly. At this point there's no reason to bother with it; it's not like there's anyone actually running shit lately." He was basically convinced of this at this point, outside of meeting that Chi dude that was claiming to be a captain of some new division of specialists, he'd run into no one actually running anything around the village. At all. It was pathetic. It really was. Well, he was nearly ready to do something about that. Almost. "So yeah, no reason to worry about anything. Give me a few weeks, I'll have everything set up so that you won't have to worry. No one's going to actually question anything for a while; 'specially since there's no one bothering to check things. Still waiting for someone to check out my being back, but literally nothing. It's hilarious."

He rolled around himself in the chair, getting nice and comfortable again without spilling a single drop of his tea from the cup still in his hand. He went for a sip of said tea, yawning again when he was done with his drinking. "Plan us a nice party to celebrate... things. Plots. Shit, I'mma be taking over this place again soon enough; specially if no one shows up soon to stop me. Not like they could, really; unless it's that's Senju that does it."

WC: 242

242 + 2925 = 3167

... She was taking her up on her offer? She was going to become a permanent resident of Konoha? Hot fucking damn. Good. That would mean she no longer had to worry about Aisling wandering around in the world by herself. No more worrying about her getting lost or hurt and unable to get help because there was no one around. She knew Aisling had trust issues, so it wasn't like the female would actually ask someone for help that she didn't know even if she badly needed it. So, this was good news. Very good news.

Amaya simply nodded her head in agreement with Kenta's words. No one would question really anything at all for a while and even then probably not. There were so few people around these days that there really was no telling who was who. Plus, with Aisling being a Nara it wasn't exactly like she'd stand out or anything: plenty of Nara's in the village, plenty of people for her to blend in with.

When Kenta mentioned perhaps the Senju getting the hat instead of himself her right eye visibly ticked. She also grumbled something beneath her breath that to anyone would have easily sounded like "Over my dead fucking body..." before she plastered a smile - albeit a bit of a fake one - on her face and turned around to face everyone while sipping at her watermelon tea. "So, I've got some steaks in the fridge but unless one of y'all have enough food to feed an army stashed somewhere we're going to have to make a trip to the market...", she said, acting like she hadn't just said or done anything at all.

Wordcount: 1,704

Aisling, who had been near enough to Amaya to not only see her reaction but hear it, cackled. "Wow, you need to chill out, chicky.", she said with a grin. Aisling highly doubted that Amaya's reaction had much to do with the fact the guy was a Senju: no, knowing her cousin it was more like the idea of seeing anyone ele but Kenta in charge bugged the hell out of her. Still, Amaya's reaction was priceless, and it took Aisling several seconds to stop snickering.

When she finally got control over herself she brought her cup up to her lips and sipped it. "Don't look at me... I don't have about fifty pounds of food hidden on me anywhere. Hell, I barely brought clothes and stuff with me... ", she commented off handedly. She fell silent then while thinking. A trip to the market sounded like a good idea, especially if she was going to end up becoming a permanent fixture in Amaya's house. She'd need clothing, some things to do like books to read, and a few other odds and ends to be truly comfortable. She knew already that each room of Amaya's house was fully furnished - it was always like that, new house or not. Her cousin liked to be prepared for everything, including the entire family having to move under one roof for one reason or another.

"I'd be okay with a market trip.. need to pick up some stuff anyway..."

Word Count: 3,160

-Exiting, Thread died-

Reaction Time D2 -> D3: 3,160 - 450 = 2,710

Speed E3 -> D0: 2,710 - 300 = 2,410
Speed D0 -> D1: 2,410 - 325 = 2,085
Speed D1 -> D2: 2,085 - 400 = 1,685
Speed D2 -> D3: 1,685 - 450 = 1,235

Endurance E3 -> D0: 1,235 - 300 = 935
Endurance D0 -> D1: 935 - 325 = 610
Endurance D1 -> D2: 610 - 400 = 210

Remaining: 210

"Works for me. We can get supplies settled, call the kids in from school and missions and such, give Michi a reason to sneak away from teacher bullshit... hell, maybe even coax Naota out of his bunker if we get lucky." He was amused by his own words, with how reclusive Naota had been recently it was a miracle the old lion hadn't just told everyone (outside of family, of course) to go frick themselves and vanished harder than he had. Not that he wanted that to happen, Naota had been his friend lost as long as Michi, so the idea of him vanishing was... not something he wanted to think on. Kenta had very few friends in this world, even fewer still alive; his pack was supremely small for an Inuzuka, but he liked it that way. It was easier to know everyone, be close to everyone; there was no risk of forgetting who mattered and it was far easier to care for them in the physical and emotional ways a pack alpha was supposed to. No, he liked his family, and his circle of friends beyond that was equally small; trust was a hard thing for the male to share, so where he did, he did explicitly. No secrets, no lies; not unless it was absolutely necessary. Even then, it pained him to do so.

"So let's say, this time tomorrow then? Unless someone had plans, that is. I know Michi and the kids are free enough, and I can hunt down anyone else that needs an excuse and kidnap them for the afternoon."

WC: 268

268 + 3167 = 3435

So this died, so going to just call it.

-EXIT-

Final WC: 3435