Her heart was racing, pounding in her chest; she tried to empty her mind completely to calm down. It was no use thinking about where her father might be right now, how far he had already come, whether he had arrived in Iwa yet. No, he must have taken off only recently so there was a good chance she would catch up with him.
Taking a deep breath, Misoka knocked on the Kazekage's door. She desperately hoped that the Kazekage would be in her office at the moment.

Gin yawned. This was yet another day back on the job. She stared at the paperwork in front of her desk. This was something that she certainly hadn't missed after all the time she had spent in the hospital. The stacks of sheets crowded her desk and the entire office itself. But she couldn't be blamed for procrastinating. So much time outsied of her daily routine had thrown her off. Not only that, but she had gotten used to having someone else do these things for her. She sighed, looking out the window for about the third time that same minute, considering whether or not she should just exit through it and leave a shadow clone behind to do all the work. Hm.. Truth be told, that wasn't a bad idea. Wnough time had already gone by since she had promissed the Mizukage - father of her children - that she would stop drinking. She could probably hit up a club and go for a nice little outing. But just at that moment, her train of thought was thrown off by a knock on her door. "Come in!" Gin said cheerfully. This was a perfect opportunity to get herself out of doing her job. Productivity: 0 - Procratination: ∞.

She would watch a young girl step into the room. She looked younger than Gin. She had a fair complexion and very innocent yet beautiful features. She had large blue eyes and blonde hair. She was a Karisuma, no doubt about it. Her beauty was rather astounding. But there was somthing about her that seemed familiar. She would look at the girl closely as she smiled. Now she remembered! The girl's name was Misoka. She had read her file and hand chosen her to be a part of the Kazekage's own squad. She had yet to meet the young girl in person, seeing as she had had a lot of work to catch up to, but she appreciated that the girl would come visit her - that is, of course, if the girl was here for a visit. "Misoka, am I right?" She began, sounding casual and aloof. "What can I do for you?" She asked.

Soon enough, she heard a voice telling her to come in. "All right," she mumbled to herself; her thoughts were still hazy and her heart rate sped up again.
After taking another breath, Misoka opened the door and walked in. The first thing that caught her eye was the huge paperwork on the desk so that it took her a moment to scan in on the Kazekage behind it. She had seen Gin-sama before, but never really caught more than a glimpse of her on these few occasions.
Surprisingly, the woman sitting at the desk was very young, considering she held such a respectable rank. Not older than 20, Misoka guessed. Apart from that, the Karisuma gaped at the Kazekage's clothing style which was, well, highly revealing. The top part of the kimono barely hid her huge breasts at all and even revealed her stomach.
Almost instantly, Misoka felt a surge of deep admiration for the woman in front of her. Gin clearly didn't care about what others might think of her and was in no way afraid of the men's reactions to her body. That's how Misoka wanted to be one day. So brave, so strong, being able to fight anyone off. Well, except for the clothes - she would probably never be comfortable with wearing such in every day life, let alone on missions.
Right now, she was dressed in her big black cloak which had a hood attached to it so she could always choose to hide herself from view. In her backpack, there was even a mask that she could use to cover her mouth and make her voice sound more ... manly, she hoped. In fact, she had already decided to disguise herself as a boy when looking for her father. The memory of her mother getting raped still haunted her in her dreams.

Gin's voice made Misoka snap out of her thoughts. Quickly, the young Karisuma bowed and spoke hesitantly.
"I don't wish to bother you, Kazekage-sama, I only have a request for you." With her head still down, she went on in a more determined tone. "Please escort me to Iwa-gakure. My father awaits me there and I..."
She looked up at last and met Gin's gaze almost pleadingly. ".. It would be best if I could go right away. I have already packed my things."

Gin's eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of Iwagakure. Sunagakure had never quite gotten along with the village. The transgressions of their past Tsuchikage were difficult to overlook as well. Both villages were on hostile terms. Throwing a Genin in there was rash. But the girl looked desperate. "Your father?" Gin repeated. "What rank is your father?" If she had someone waiting for her there, the risks might be minimized. Gin herself would of course escort the girl to Iwagakure, though she was still skeptical of the whole ordeal. Her disposition had turned from nonchalant to tense in a matter of seconds. It was always like that when she was adressed about matters that could potentially lead to a catastrophe. She felt it was her duty to clarify this to the girl, even though she knew that the Genin aleady had to have some idea of the risks involved. "You do know that Iwagakure is an enemy of our village, don't you?" She asked.

While doing so, she scanned the girl, noticing the dark cloak and the bag oon her back. The girl was already eager and ready to travel. Gin supposed that there was little that she could do to stop her at this point. She pursed her lips. She would still wait for the girl's answers. She wanted to test her will and disposition before giving her a yes or a no. In her mind, she calculated what could go wrong. Ideally, the girl would be reunited with her father and they would both travel back to Suna soon enough. Which reminded her of yet another wuestion that remained unadressed. "What is your father doing there in the first place?" The young Kazekage added. She disliked going off into anything blindly. Most people thought of her as impulsive and rash, but she was quite the contrary. Gin was often cold and calculating when it came to her job.

Misoka immediately noticed how the room's temperature seemed to go down at the mention of Iwa-gakure. The light atmosphere was gone and had turned into a tension which made the young Genin gulp. However, she couldn't say she hadn't been expecting this long before she entered this office. If she didn't persuade the Kazekage right now, she would never be allowed to travel to Iwa in the near future (as a Genin, that is). Whether she would be able to follow her father or not was up to her now.

"He is a Jou-nin," she answered as calmly as possible. Then Gin mentioned Iwa being the enemy of the sand village.
Whether Misoka knew that? How could she not after all that these bandits had done to her family?
Misoka's eyes grew cold and she had to restrain herself from clenching her fists.

"I know this. I truly do." She drew a short breath. "I am aware of the risks I'm taking. I am prepared."
Prepared to go and crush the two people who took her mother away. But first, she had to find her father; without him, she wasn't going to stand a chance against them. A dark thought rose in her mind. Her plan was very vague and maybe irrealistic. As much as she hated it, she was only a Genin and hadn't had enough time for a huge improvement of her skills.
But the feeling of vengeance had been triggered again; it filled every inch of her soul. She knew that she would be forever regretting it if she didn't go to rejoin with her father now.

The Kazekage, however, was wary. "What is your father doing there in the first place?"

Misoka flinched; yet she wasn't too surprised. It had been clear to her from the moment she knocked on that door that she wouldn't be spared with this question.

"He isn't too fond of the trip, either, but he has a relative there. My uncle told him to come as soon as possible - my uncle is no shinobi, just a hopeless drunk after his wife died recently. My father was going to take care of him for a while." Misoka had a slight smile on her face as if she was amused about her Dad's helpfulness. "Today, he wrote me a letter asking me to lend him a hand. He didn't write much more, but it seems very urgent. I shall stay with him in Iwa for a few days more, then we will go back home. My father isn't from the Karisuma Clan, by the way, my mother ... was."
She spoke in a serious tone while she desperately hoped some kind of miracle would help her to convince the Kazekage of the story.
"I won't be in trouble. I'm prepared in case someone attacks me. And my father will protect me," she added, still with a stern expression. "He knows what it's like to lose one's wife so I suppose that's the reason why he's doing so much for my uncle. I want to help, too. He's a terrible cook for example."

The truth was she really had an uncle in Iwa though his father hardly knew him. 'Please', Misoka thought, 'Please let me travel.'
She couldn't think of anything else she was going to do if the Kazekage declined. Her father might die and she would never see him again.

Gin's eyes narrowed as Misoka visibly flinched. She'd struck a nerve, that much was obvious. She knew that based off of that, whatever Misoka said afterwards was bound to be a lie. But Gin listened anyways, she nodded as the young girl spoke. Gin could see through her. Years of experience and observation had made her a very keen observer. She sighed and looked at hthe girl dead in the eye. Her stare was calm yet stern - that of a leader, someone to be respected and unquestioned. "Loss can be very powerful thing, Misoka. When it grips you, it refues to let go. It tries to drag you down to the depths of hell itself," Gin began, playing with the pen in her hand as she spoke to keep herself level-headed. She had faced enough loss in the past few months to know how crippling the feeling could be. As she would continue to speak, she would grip the pen in her hand tighter and tighter. "You can't let it control you, otherwise you'll lose yourself to insanity. Revenge serves no real purpose. Nothing good can come out of it but more conflict and a more insatiable need for blood. It becomes a cycle that will likely haunt you for as long as you live," She finished speaking. There was a pause, an extended silence between the two of them. Gin kept her eyes on Misoka. "But you'll learn this on your own. I didn't listen when people told me the same thing," she said, in a much lighter tone. She let go of the pen she held in her hands. Her nails had dug into the metal. Well, it was good to know that she still had her physical strength.

Gin sighed loudly, finally diverting her gaze from Misoka. "You won't falter, though, I know that much. It's the look in your eyes. You've already made your decission and I can't quite stop you. I'll take you to your father. If for whatever reason he doesn't show up in front of the gates of Iwagakure around the time we get there, you're coming back with me. I won't leave a Genin unguarded in the middle of enemy territory, understood? We can't go right away, I have several things to tend to. I need to find someone who I can leave my kids to while I'm gone, sort out paperwork and all that. We'll meet tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. We'll arrive in Iwa by nightfall to avoid arousing too much attention," She stated. Her orders were stern. It was clear that she left no other way for this to be done. But it was what was best for her new student. She knew that the girl would learn about life as a kunoichi during this journey. When she came back, Misokawould be a different person - for beter or for worse. For now, she would let destiny take its course.

"Loss can be very powerful thing, Misoka. When it grips you, it refues to let go. It tries to drag you down to the depths of hell itself."

Misoka gasped; the moment their gazes met, she could see that the Kazekage had not been fooled by her lie. Her heart almost stopped, her thoughts were racing. What now? At that rate, the Kazekage would never let her leave Sunagakure, Misoka would never have the chance to talk to her father about the stupid message he had left behind. She would never be able to tell him just how much she wanted to avenge her mother as well and ... even if there was only the slightest chance that they would really find the bandits she would welcome it.
All of her plans she had desperately come up with the past hour, crumbled one by one. Misoka felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she swallowed them down. No crying in front of the Kazekage.

"You can't let it control you, otherwise you'll lose yourself to insanity. Revenge serves no real purpose. Nothing good can come out of it but more conflict and a more insatiable need for blood. It becomes a cycle that will likely haunt you for as long as you live."

No. No, no, no. Revenge was justice! Revenge was ... unavoidable! What would really haunt her her whole life would be knowing that those bandits were still alive while her mother lay cold in her grave. Misoka's fists clenched; she didn't want to listen to Gin even though she was the Kazekage. The young Karisuma didn't want to try to understand what the silver-haired woman was telling her. It felt as if Misoka had created some kind of barrier so that none of the words could get to her.

Then Gin went on, making Misoka's eyes widen and her mouth hang open.

"You won't falter, though, I know that much. It's the look in your eyes. You've already made your decission and I can't quite stop you. I'll take you to your father. If for whatever reason he doesn't show up in front of the gates of Iwagakure around the time we get there, you're coming back with me. I won't leave a Genin unguarded in the middle of enemy territory, understood? We can't go right away, I have several things to tend to. I need to find someone who I can leave my kids to while I'm gone, sort out paperwork and all that. We'll meet tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. We'll arrive in Iwa by nightfall to avoid arousing too much attention."

Again, she felt close to crying; this time, however, out of joy. The Kazekage let her travel! She would escort her to Iwa! Misoka blinked and blinked, but Gin's face remained stern. She truly meant it.

"Thank you... thank you," Misoka choked out, covering her face so the streaming tears could not be seen. A wave of relief washed over her. "I'll be there, Kazekage-sama."
After one quick bow, she turned and walked out of the office. How she was going to find her father right by the gates, was yet an unsolved problem.

On her way out of the Administration buildung, Misoka couldn't help but frown at this thought. Gin was careful of her, of course, she didn't want her to get hurt. Just like her father who would not even bear to take her anywhere possibly dangerous. Everyone, it seemed, protected the little girl Misoka with their "Don't do this" and "Don't do that" - she couldn't take it anymore, being seen as this weak. And at the same time, she knew exactly which rank she held: a Genin, meaning a low ninja. If she became a Chunin, if she finally ranked up, would people stop fussing over her?
A strange feeling rose inside her, not unlike some kind of premonition: Misoka had just taken the first step to the destination she longed for - becoming stronger.

[Exit thread]

OOC: Thank you, that's a great suggestion! x3