The Niidashi compound was fortunately a good distance away from the center of Kirigakure. The smell overwhelming smell of smoke and rotting flesh had snapped Kei from her near catatonic state. Without thinking, the young girl rushed out of her house and onto the streets, deciding to head towards the beaches near her house. She ran without looking back. Frankly, she cared little for the people she was leaving behind. There was nothing else left for her in Kirigakure, nothing at all. She had just buried her father - or at least, what remained of him - a few days ago. With that and her mother's defection, she had lost everything. "Not everything..." whispered a soft voice in her mind, the one that belonged to her other half. And she was right. There was still one person she cared for, a boy named Sero. But at the moment, that seemed inconsequential. After all, he had left the village for the Chuunin Exams when she needed him most.

Kei stepped onto the water, staying concentrated on her chakra control so that she could run at full speed above the water. She didn't bother to turn and look at her village. The smell of smoke and death was enough to tell her that it was a lost cause. Not only that, but she could hear distant screams of agony and desperation. But Kei's survival instinct was stronger than her pity. In fact, she felt none. All she could feel was the cool wind hitting her face as she ran. Once the young Chuunin felt that she was safe, she stopped running. It was at this point that she finally turned around to see the chaos and disaster that was now Kirigakure. But there was something strange. At first Kei thought it was a trick of the light, but upon a few minutes of fixing her gaze on the village, she knew it was true.

The legendary black fire of Amaterasu.

Kei had heard stories about it during her youth at the Academy, but she didn't know that there was someone alive with such power. Her first thoughts were simple: She had to find the source of that power. Fortunately for her, it was easier than it seemed. After only a short while of looking, she came upon a man with raven hair and cold-looking eyes. For a brief moment, she stood frozen in place while the man walked away. She stared at him in awe. But once she saw him move away, Kei followed him. "Wait!" She called out to him without thinking. She felt fear. She knew the man could kill her with a snap of his fingers if he wanted to. But still, she made an attempt to approach him, like a moth to flame.

If the man turned to look at her, Kei would bow down to him and introduce herself in a voice a little above a whisper. "My name is Kei Niidashi, a kunoichi of the village you destroyed. I bear no grudge against you. In fact, I am amazed by your strength and capabilities," She paused briefly, thinking through what she was about to say. "Let me follow you, learn from you. If not, kill me now and put me out of my misery. I have nothing else to live for but hatred and vengeance." She said. All the while, Kei kept herself in a bow, her gaze fixed to the ground. She clenched her eyes shut as she waited for the man's response.

(Mind If I join? Say the word and I'll remove this post ok?)

Daisuke's world came crashing down. Everything. Burning. Daisuke Nii almost went insane after seeing so much death laid out in front of him. Unable to help. To do anything. His only fall back thing to do was to shut out Nii and go into Dashi. It was so much easier for Dashi to handle it. He wasn't supposed to be happy and adventurous like Nii. He walked through the ruined village with little sadness on his face. He had his uniform "I really don't care." Look on his face. He managed to scrape up a backpack in fairly decent condition, and as he walked, some food supplies, and the basic living in the wild necessities. Nii would have just ran away, but for once Dashi wouldn't have blamed him. That was saying a lot.

He avoided the black flames and couldn't help but marvel at the intensity of the flames as he passed by. The flames kept burning, and burning. They never seemed like they would stop. Maybe the village would forever be a black bonfire. A signal that the kage and the entire village was gone. Maybe forever. Dashi didn't pay much attention though. He just kept walking out toward the exit of the village.

As he walked past the exit, he was able to feel the air get colder, and it even got to the point were he felt chills. "I don't get chills." He thought to himself. he heard a pinging voice in his head that was no doubt Nii shouting for him to explore. It was hard to ignore much to his dismay and he followed Nii's instinct. He wasn't expecting what he saw, but his face remained neutral. He saw a girl bent down in a bowing position, and a man which gave of the aura of power like it was going out of style. It didn't take long to put two and two together. That man had caused this. It didn't shake him up being in front of the man. It should have made any normal person run for their life. Then again, double personalities isn't quite normal.

The girl he saw bowing had to be one of his clan mates. What was her name? It never really mattered for Dashi to get any names. He wanted to be alone for most of his time. Yet he always felt the slightly commanding aura that she gave of. She wasn't afraid of most things. Hearing what she said, Dashi decided to step out from the trees. "Might as well show my self. Not like the man cant here me already." "I'm not one to agree with people, but I can let this time slide for me. You do have amazing power. Likes of which I've never dreamed of. Dashi gestured at the girl for a brief moment. "Like her, I'm a Niidashi. My other half wasn't able to stand up to all the death, so I reluctantly came out. There isn't much left to go back to, so if you don't mind, I'd like to follow you. I want to get stronger. Maybe even compete one day with the power I saw here. He leaned up against a tree to get comfy. "It's your decision, as you know. You have the power to strike both of us down before we can blink. I'm just saying what was on my mind." Through this, Dashi secretly wondered if he should be acting as calm as he did. He wasn't showing respect, but no disrespect at the same time. No, that wasn't true. Dashi respected the man. By a lot. He also figured that he might as well go out being himself, and not groveling on the ground.

Kei could hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears. She was nervous, but strangely enough, she was't afraid. She didn't fear the idea of death or even loss, she welcomed it, in fact. Such were the thoughts of someone who had lost it all. Nothing bound her anywhere. In a sense, she was free - free from regret, from fear, from love. But in return, she could feel herself becoming a slave to her own hatred. Even her other half seemed to comply with her thoughts, as half-hearted as she may be. Kei lifted herself slowly as Daisuke began to talk. He was calm and composed. She could easily tell which side of him was in control, even without having to look for the tell-tale black mark that would appear on his body. Hers was one of the more obvious ones, marking her face to indicate who was in control.

Kei stared at her cousin, calmly waiting for him to finish speaking. However, she couldn't understand his motivations. Hers were clear: she wanted revenge. She looked at Hao straight in the eye as she spoke. Her gaze was empty and unyielding. She would not hesitate. As he spoke of the violence she would undoubtedly have to commit under his command, she did not flinch. Once he finished speaking, Kei would nod slowly. "Thank you," she said to the man. "For letting me follow you." He didn't feel as if she needed to explain her motives. In truth, she didn't think he would care. That would come at a later time, if ever. For now, Kei would follow Hao into the distance.

A god must have felt nice today, because Dashi thought that they were both going to die. It didn't really bother him though. Nothing seemed to bother him at the moment. He took what the man had said and let it sink in. Not for his sake, but moreover for Nii when he inevitably would decide to come out. How would Nii react? More on the important side, would the two people be able to handle the happiness Nii could bring? Because at the moment, this didn't seem like a happy group.

Dashi only snapped out of his trance when he heard the two starting to walk off. Naturally, he followed. Where they were going, he honestly had no idea. He was a little curious to see how the man would actually teach them. Probably wasn't going to be in a nice way. More like, "I'm throwing you in a 50 foot lake. Hope you learn to swim." As they all walked, he had one question that was most likely influenced by Nii. As much as we all like walking in silence, my other half has a question. He's naturally up beat. That won't be a problem will it?"

(Since this topic counts as a travel topic, the words typed in here count as a word for a travel topic. I stated our words of all posts combined here below. We need 800 each. Since we all have the required amount of words, after Daisuke's next posts, we'll post in Konoha. That way, Daisuke can state that question as well.)



Hao's word count: 1287
Kei's word count: 859
Daisuke's word count: 819

Kei followed both Hao and her cousin. It was hard to describe what she felt or what she thought of the whole situation. The word that came closest to what she was feeling was numb. However, it didn't quite cut it. It was as if she had gone on autopilot for the time-being. As they traveled, Kei was silent. She was zoned out. So much so that she didn't even seem to hear her cousin's question. So much so that she hadn't even realized that they had traveled far enough into Konoha. Kei had never been outside the Land of Water. Being in the Land of Fire felt both foreign and strange. She didn't know why they had traveled so far, but she wasn't about to ask. Her new leader probably had business here, and that was all that she needed to know. As long as he gave her power, the young Chuunin would follow his commands, mostly without question. However, that didn't mean that she had lost her autonomy. Once Hao mentioned that they were there for the Chuunin Exams, a strange feeling ran through Kei's body. It was a strange mixture between thrill and fear, but she couldn't say that she disliked it. She followed Hao into the village, wondering what, exactly, he would have her do.

Dashi noticed that the surrounding was changing from a misty area, to a place with a lot of sun and plenty of trees. Dashi found that it was not to his liking. To much natural heat, and not enough water. He'd get over it soon enough though. As they walked in the village he noticed the movement of all of the villagers. They all seemed excited. Dashi soon found out why. The chunin exams were close and it was giving the town an aura of excitement. Nii would like it out here, but Dashi marked another thing to his annoying list." Nii wants to know if being his normal self is acceptable. He's usually hyper and I find him a hand full. He isn't a bad Medical Ninja though."