Not long after partings ways with Akira and Suutei did she reach her primary destination after the first checkpoint heading to somewhere farther from the actual hidden village and more like a pit stop sort of place. As she was in a rush to leave the village she couldn't notify them ahead of time so she would drop by unaccounted. She smirked a bit thinking it would be fun to see their reactions, best to keep them on their toes after all. So without a word she blended into the shadows, aided by the dewy mist that surrounded a small insignificant village. It was tired and poor yet it had some traffic going through as it were the most desirable ways for traveler's to pass through. By the time the mist begun to ease and thin into the air, light was peeking through the windows of a tavern, piercing through the flimsy cotton curtains as they fluttered by a soft breeze. Only two men were awake this hour, a larger burly man was taking a cloth and shining the glasses at the bar hearses a skinnier older gent with graying hair and a pair of spectacles framing his green eyes reading a book on a bar stool. The two of them chatted on and off before the latter shivered, setting his book down."Haishi" he called, addressing his companion "Do you feel a sudden chill?" Haishi, for now that is his name, shrugged giving a sarcastic yet somber reply that when weren't it so. However the gent shook his head not buying it and readjusted his glasses before surveying the room with a careful gaze before he had seen the open window. He rubbed the subtle on his chin curiously before stalking over to it, and closed it shut before whispering to him "I could have sworn that window was closed before"

However a darker more sinister chill crept down his spine as two arms draped over his shoulders and a pair of pale pink lips edged his ear "Hadn't we taught you better than that" Frightened the man choked on a yelp of fear and snapped around ready to push them away but she has dissipated like smoke and reappeared on a table. His eyes appraised her figured up her legs to her tiny waist, from her chest to her eyes. He almost didn't recognize her if it were for that devious glint to her eyes nor the sultriness of her voice. With new found fear he straighten up as he realized whom she was, especially when she caught the knife thrown at her neck with two fingers before twirling them in her hand and stabbing it into the table. "It has been awhile hasn't Kurei-san. Though not long enough to forget your manners" it sounded like a joke, a tease yet he knew anger when he saw it. Rubbing his two hands together nervously he told Haishi to make himself scarce. Haishi who had thrown the knife wanted to interject, too bad he the very knife he had thrown was handed right back at him, into his own gullet. With a gurgled cry the man feel to the group choking on his own blood. Kurei held a hand to his own throat imaging it were him who received the sudden demise before a soft gentle had lightly patted his cheek bringing him back to reality.

She left a hour later after getting the documents she needed. She only needed a review of Nozomi's character as far as public goes and her clan. The rest such as the state of Kiri and its territories as well as shinobi to watch out for were given just a quick skim before being sealed away in one of her bandages. While she was processing the information in her hand, making up plans and crushing others she reached the main road leading to kiri. With practiced ease, she seamlessly blended into the crowd of merchants, travelers, and the like not quite sure if she arrived earlier or later than Akira. Suutei she knew for sure had business elsewhere and checked herself into the village. It was far smoother than she expected considering the circumstances but it appeared they were expecting her meaning Akira must have passed through and was already on his way or currently meeting up with Ayakashi. For now she wandered the roads thinking of how she would approach the blonde once she found her. Perhaps that would be sooner than she thought.

760~

For Nozomi, it had been a very normal day as far as things went for her. She'd not been too busy, and was lounging around the training grounds, performing minor alterations to her uniform. Usually, she'd be wearing her full uniform while training, but the weather had been quite a deal warmer as of late, so she had mostly stripped down, her pants remaining on, but her shirt and flak jacket having been taken off. They laid next to her along with her holsters and other weapons. Sure, it was annoying to lug around, but she didn't feel like using scrolls, and having enough items to supply some of the genin around who needed equipment was fine for her. She didn't mind being shirtless too much, she had a sports bra on, and she'd have her shirt on soon enough, once she removed the sleeves. She always received stares from people, even when fully uniformed, and even now could feel more eyes on her, but it was all disregarded.

She had out a kunai knife and was whittling away at her sleeves, careful not to cut too close to the seams, as she didn't want them fraying too much, and wanted enough left over that she could hem the edges back so there would be no more fraying, so her attention to detail was rather high at the moment. The cuts had to be perfect, not too long, not too short. Stopping momentarily, Nozomi held the shirt out in front of her to see if the sides were even or not and scowled, noticing she'd missed a patch of fabric on the right side. Putting the grip of the kunai in her mouth, Nozomi pulled out one of her tanto blades and cleanly sliced through the sleeves after a moment of sizing up the right placements for the strokes. The sides of her mouth curled into a small smile, flesh meeting metal as she did so, and she nodded to herself, finding it fine for the moment.

Resheathing her tanto, Nozomi took the kunai back out of her mouth and placed it in the only holster still on her, near her thigh, and started to slip her shirt back on. The young girl laid back and rested her head against her backpack, closing her eyes as she did so and started to drift off, her arms now cooling off a little better. Kiri was unseasonally hot lately, and it was annoying her, but that's because she didn't deal well with heat.

WC: 421

Seeing as she needed to act like a tourist she went around the area trying to work the crowd and ask for directions but most folk shed away from her, suspicious or just overall busy with other things, those who did give her attention were trying to con her into going somewhere and they would help for a price that is. However an elderly fisherman with a missing eye stepped in and told the men off before he turned to make his way. However seeing her she grabbed his arm and called out to him, her voice cracking in desperation "Excuse us, perhaps you can tell us where we may find the Himitsu clan estate?"

"Us? Uh...." He looked past her, below her, around her, and above her. His eyes met her in confusion while she simply stare blankly at him making him even more bewildered. Just... "Uh where...." she simply blinked awaiting his answer and he got the feeling to simply answer her and be done with it "Yes we could but um what would a" a shinobi he thought, as he realized she had no sound when she moved and seemed to hold an eerie air about her although that innocent smile he gave her was warm he knew it was cold, fake as any mask he had seen, he did live in a village like this after all "shinobi" he continued "need in those upper class parts? You don't seem like you're around here either...."

Uh perturbed by his statement, Jet blinked a few times with wide eyes in confusion before clapping her hands together after realizing something she had forgotten. Her smile turned sheepish as she grinned as her cheeks turned rosy while she scratched the back of her head "Oh our apologies, we just need to see if one of our friends were here. She's a Himitsu. Nozomi if you know her? She made a real impression on us awhile back because wow she has the surrealist jutsu like have you seen how she makes a storm with petals and she lasted really really long much longer than we thought cause usually pretty people can't amount to much but she was a goddess on the field and it really was unfair for her to be disqualified like those judges were blind really blind to disgrace her like that and" she paused getting a breath after her ramble "and we wanted to....we wanted to.....uh" she looked towards her toes as her pale face bloomed into a scarlet red all the way to the tips of her ears making the man chuckle as he got the message

"Alright alright I see you mean no trouble. Cmon I'll take you too her, she should be training right about now though I don't know who would in this weather" he began walking straight and Jet followed after him packing her coat away after seeing the drastic climate change here that was actually very odd but welcomed. The warmth on her skin was barely noticeable but there but the nostalgia faded away as memories from her childhood resurfaced making her body as cold as her heart. During the trek the pair talked animatedly and it appeared he was not a fisherman as a occupation but as a hobby since school was out; he was actually a teacher and went acquainted with the exiled himitsu, a piece of information she used to seem as if she were concerned and horrified by the information gathering bits of the teacher's trust and preventing him from noticing that she glided off the ground with deadly grace with their gossip, not allowing a single moment of silence.

That is until the reached the training ground where Jet's facade bloomed in happiness seeing her target in sight. An action the teacher-fisherman guy mistook for endearment and excitement and rushed to introduce the pair, saying that she was better off with this one instead before leaving the two of them be. As he was leaving Jet squealed in a high pitched voice and lept to hug the girl "Oh wow it's so great to see you again Nozo-chan!" Once she got close her voice deepened to something more sensual yet sinister but all class into her ear "It really is."

1488~

Nozomi's mind had wandered a lot, as she drifted into a dream-like state of half asleep, half awakeness. She was still aware of her surroundings, a shinobi should always be aware of them, but at the same time, she wasn't all there. Her mind had gone into the complexities of creating and utilizing new jutsu, trying to figure out ways to innovate some jutsu of her own. She'd designed a lot of them from her memory of watching some of the other Himitsu train back at the clan, all using their jutsu in ways that she could only describe as perfect. She'd copied the Petal Blossom Shuriken technique from one such memory, honing and refining the process. In addition to that, Nozomi had been able to apply the principles of their nin-taijutsu in order to do different things.

By focusing her chakra on different parts of her body, she was able to do different things, such as creating a petal platform from her feet, or send herself forward with a discharge of petals. She could utilize her control over chakra to localize the amount of chakra dispelled in a certain area, and thus only move parts of her body, with no cues as to where she was going to go, as well as no cues on when she was going to do it. Even a Hyuuga or Uchiha who could see chakra masses wouldn't know when, and could only guess where, as the brand of Nintaijutsu Himitsu were known for had chakra amassed throughout the body. Nozomi knew all of this, and yet there was more she could do. The Himitsu clan had made a name for itself by studying and copying Hyuuga techniques, shifting it over with superb chakra control to what they needed it to be.

But why stop there? There were so many other clans that could be learned from. The Kaguya clan's bone projection techniques were easily able to be copied. Rather than utilizing bones, a Himitsu could harden chakra at the areas needed, and send out a spike of chakra. Nozomi had studied deeper uses of the Supernatural Walking practice, and made Flowmotion, allowing her to simply skate across the ground. Rather than using the chakra to stick, she used it to propel, and it allowed her for a flawless skating wherever she wanted. But why stop there? The applications of her jutsu could be utilized in anything. She knew how to coat her body in chakra, so a film of water over herself to enhance things could easily be done. Using her nintaijutsu and the basis of the Dance of The Misty Petals could be applied to non Himitsu techniques. The possibilities were simply endless.

She could have pondered some of the more complex things, but something in the back of Nozomi's mind alerted her that something was amiss. She could hear voices approaching, but only one set of footsteps. Her eyes opened rather lazily as she processed that weirdness. What she saw surprised her a little bit. A vaguely familiar face that didn't take long for her to place. Yuurei Jet, from the Chuunin Exams. Nozomi had her plushie, so even though she hadn't interacted with the girl, she knew exactly who she was. Of course, it appeared that she had been purposefully sought out by Jet for whatever reason, as the silent moving girl called out her name cheerfully, her companion taking his leave of the situation.

Jet had rushed in for a hug, catching Nozomi off guard, and then the tone of her voice changed, a somewhat sensual, but sinister and elegant tone reaching her ear, the previously feigned joy at the sight of Nozomi gone. A somewhat pleasurable shiver ran down Nozomi's spine at the sound of the voice, the feel of her breath right by her ear, but Nozomi didn't react much. If she was going to be killed, the opportunity was gone. One of her hands was right by Jet's stomach, making loose contact with the other girl, and Nozomi's reactions were quick. She could fast cast most of her deadly jutsu without using handsigns, and the proximity the two had was enough that there was little time to escape. But none of this was really conveyed in her body language, which was still rather lax. She stuttered to speak after a moment of confusion. "Oh, hey there? Jet, right?" Nozomi asked, still sounding a bit tired.

Truth be told, Jet being around wasn't the surprise. She'd ran into Suutei, who had converted to Iwa after the Chuunin Exams, and there were rumors around that some Iwa-nin were around in Kiri. Nozomi's surprise was more that Jet seemed to have been seeking her out in particular, something that seemed odd to Nozomi, who had only ever interacted with the other girl through their Chuunin Exams, and even then it wasn't face to face. "What brings you out looking for me?"

WC: 824
TWC: 1245

It seems that it was not time to become so intimate with the blonde female, so be it. At least now she initiated contact and she could get her task over with sooner or later. With wide eyes she blink dutifully before smiling doily at the close contact as she was being caressed by the warmth of the morning sun making her all the happier. She close her eyes grinning as she held her cheeks in mock shame, more aligned to happy embarrassment at the situation."Ohhh....Nozo-chan knows our name? O-oh wow we didn't...it's just...hehe" Realizing how odd she appeared Jet smack her cheeks and gave a wide smile showing off her subtle fanged teeth as she rubbed the back of her neck while giving a thin eye look to her as she carefully observe Nozomi after backing up a bit to give the blonde some space."Ahem, sorry about that got a little excited over there. Sorry Nozo-chan"

Oh right must get to the point. As if asked to share a terribly private secret she drew close inside herself, as if returning to a small shell and poked her two pointer fingers together while looking anywhere but Nozomi, her voice soft and quiet as she did so."U-um well, we know this seems weird and if you're busy we understand like really you don't have to we were just wondering if you'd like, also sorry for popping out of nowhere. We weren't stalking you for sure! It's just we were in the area and was thinking and well you just happened to be from here so we were like this would be a great opportunity though and well"

With a gasp of breath as life returned to her lungs the white haired woman grinned sheepishly as if she was being scolded for doing wrong. "Ah, sorry for rambling like that..it's just...you see we were just wondering if" She paused as if the words were caught in her throat, choking her, as if it feared to make itself none, to exposure themselves. "You'd like to h-hang....hang...hang out with us!"

"But we totally understand if you're busy so you don't have to!" Jet knew that her little greeting wasn't going to go unnoticed, this meeting certainly wasn't as several pairs of eyes that had been watching Nozomi previously had transferred to her and carefully watched the pair with rapt interest. A few women even started whispering to each other, certainly going to spread the gossip around, though others were beginning to wonder what business the woman had with their flower petal. Of course no one step and others went back to mind their own business. Jet of course as bouncing back and forth on the ball of her heels, her hands behind her back as her cheeks turned a soft rosy hue. Now she had to wait for a response which she would be damned if Nozomi turned down, she didn't travel so far for nothing after all.

2011~

The girl gave Nozomi a moment of pause. Now that she thought further back on it, it dawned on her that the girl Jet hadn't actually fought in the Chuunin Exams at all. She had been there watching, for sure, but never had fought. Perhaps it was a name she'd picked up from Nanashi, the time that they'd had a little bit of a catch up when he'd visited back when she was freshly a Chuunin. Perhaps it was a name she'd picked up from Suutei when she met up with him as well. There were many different possibilities, and Nozomi couldn't concern herself with the little details. The very least, she knew the girl's name. But this one was quite.... odd, even compared to Nozomi's own mannerisms. The girl appeared to speak in a way that suggested she were more than one person, referring to herself as "we". It threw Nozomi off a tad, but nothing too major for her to dismiss the white haired girl. In fact, this was proving to be of much greater interest than napping out had been.

After a few moments of stuttering, the girl in front of the young blonde finally got out what she wanted to ask. Apparently, she wanted to hang out with Nozomi for a bit, something that seemed rather strange to her. After all, they didn't particularly know each other, nor did Nozomi have any business with the girl. She could understand an urge to spar, as Jet had watched the Chuunin Exams, and had seen Nozomi's fighting style, but even that didn't seem like something Jet really was interested in. Nozomi made it her business to be able to tell when someone wanted to fight, as that was one of her favorite past times. Of course she could tell that Jet didn't want to fight. Someone who wanted to spar didn't act like that. But what Nozomi couldn't tell was what it was that Jet really wanted.

Nodding to the other girl, Nozomi spoke up once again. "Yeah, I mean, I don't see why we couldn't. I'm not all that busy, I was just cooling down a little and taking a nap. It's pretty hot out right now, after all, and training in such heat without breaks can be dangerous. One might contract heat stroke, pass out, and die. I want to go out fighting, not pass out and die from over exposure to the sun. I'm sickly enough as it is, so sometimes my constitution just isn't the strongest around." she stated with little prompting. Truly, Nozomi wasn't a very sociable person, and tended to just spout out what was on her mind with little thought about what other people might think about it. To her, it was perfectly normal and acceptable. She didn't always have to explain her reasoning to people, but it was something that happened more often than not.

"But um... I mean to ask, what is it that you want to talk to me about? People don't usually want to just hang out with me for no reason. Most want training, or sparring, but I don't think that's what you want. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, correct me if I am." she asked, ignoring the glances that everyone was sending their way. People were always so nosy. When she sparred with Maigo, they all wanted to watch her fight. People were always looking at or staring at Nozomi, to the point that she just ignored it. Some people even seemed to have the same reaction to Nozomi as Jet was having right now, with all the stammering and blushing, and the young blonde just didn't get it. People just didn't seem to be able to approach Nozomi all that often. It was kinda weird.

WC: 634
TWC: 1879

Jet crossed her arms over her chest humming to herself as she thought it over and nodded in agreement as she too wasn't the fondest of the heat preferring winter over anything "That's true, the heat is really potent right now, much more so than in Iwa before we left of course the weather should have changed by now. Ugh we can't even imagine the heat in that place now, it's almost as bad as Suna and that place is a desert. But we suppose it better than here, after all it's going to be getting humid and muggy." she shivered as the last part as she hated hot humid weather the most out of anything. It made her feel sluggish and tired, which in turn made her more irritable. But when Nozomi mentioned her poor constitutions Jet oooh as if just realizing that and like so many questions were answered "Oh right we totally almost forgot about your condition. Is that why you couldn't advance to the finals?"

Of course it now seemed to dawn on Nozomi at how Jet was a bit strange. Aww seems that plan didn't work. Ah well it got us what we wanted she thought. Seeing as now Nozomi needed more information before the two of the departed on their little date. So Jet clapped her hands together and put her hand on them to the side as if reminiscing. Her voice was light hearted and cheerful yet whimsical for having 'forgotten' "Ah! We almost forgot! Our bad our bad~ It's nothing too serious, it's just work and stuff. I'm sure you'll hear about it more in depth by your Mizukage soon. It won't be the most kept secret around you see. It's just...."

Jet leaned down close to Nozomi's ear, her warm breath uttering these words "Hasn't your girlfriend by away from home long enough~" Jet grinned as her eyes sharpened on the blonde as if she caught her prey and was watching it carefully for any sudden movements before bouncing on the balls on her heels before she grabbed Nozomi's hand as she half turned to exit the training grounds "We will have plenty of time to get to know each other for dinner ne? There is this Chinese restaurant we have been dying to try out but it wouldn't be half as fun alone wouldn't it?" If Nozomi was smart, she wouldn't cause a scene and follow her as Jet definitely wasn't going to take no for an answer. If Nozomi did begin to follow her she would lead her to the main street to get to a restaurant. Besides Jet was sure Nozomi would want to hear about more what Jet has to say because if she was right (and she usually was) the topic was too sensitive and too many ears were around. After all, her girlfriend secret was one she had to keep to herself lest trouble find them but alas it always did. Why wouldn't it when you're dating an criminal?


2541~
Trained:
Kōjō gijutsu: Kakushi hyōji (2000/2000)
541 wc left

*Note: Let's continue this in our next thread

[EXIT]

Nozomi found herself in full agreement. It was an interestingly hot day at the moment, but even most of their hotter days wouldn't touch the same heat as Suna. The main danger with the heat was the humidity, because Suna and Iwa were dryer areas, and as such wouldn't feel as clammy. But the humidity of Kiri on hot days was simply oppressive. Danger zones of humidity were higher than most other countries and villages. For instance, a temperature of 95 degrees feels like 95 degrees when the relative humidity is 30 percent, but bump that humidity up to 65 percent and that same 95 degrees feels like a whopping 117 degrees. Not only that, but when there's a high level of humidity, it hampers the body's ability to keep cool. Sweat can't evaporate, heats up, the body doesn't cool down. Dehydration happens quicker, and then eventually the body overheats. It was all a bad deal in general. "Kiri is still better than Suna though. This is unusual heat for us." she threw in as an aside. Besides, she never really liked the sand there. It was course and rough, and it gets everywhere.

Taking a moment, Nozomi recalled the Chuunin exams, and shook her head in response to the question. "No. I like to blame my loss on my bad constitution, but I never really got pushed to my limits in those fights. I wasn't at top game sure, but I mean, Yokochima ended up dying because of my initial burst. Suteki Yaku wasn't much better, and I let myself power through a hit in order to take her out. My matches weren't an issue, they never have been. It's rare a fight lasts long enough to bother my health. The main thing was I got matched up with Kaekio in the semi-finals. I wasn't prepared to fight her. I couldn't bring myself to hurt her. My attempts had no heart in them, and then she did me in with a hug. I was only able to fight back once she started to burn me, and that was an automatic response. I was more unable to continue because I'd have died otherwise. Kaekio cut my neck open, I think. I wasn't all there." Nozomi shook her head, trying to clear the fuzz out of her memories. "I faded out a bit, so I don't even know what happened really."

Seemingly satisfied, Jet had started to explain what it was that she wanted, getting to the crux of their situation. According to her, it wasn't anything really serious, mainly had to do with work. Nozomi wondered about that, as a shinobi's work was a sensitive matter, and for an Iwa-nin's work to specifically involve Nozomi herself? And for that to be important enough for the Mizukage to address it soon enough as well? What was this about?
Jet leaned in at that moment, catching the young blonde off guard. The question she'd asked, about Kaekio. This was about Kaekio. Nozomi's eyes widened, her whole body tensing up at the question. It was too late, that question had caught her off guard. It let slip that Nozomi knew plenty about the situation. Was she an agent for Kumo or for Kiri though? Jet pulled Nozomi to her feet, the conversation drifting back to normality so nobody else could tell anything was wrong. For now, Nozomi would go along with the ruse. "Chinese is definitely good, yeah. Go on and lead the way." she said, sounding and looking like nothing was wrong to the average eye, but Jet would be able to tell that she had won this round. For now, she was comforted in the fact that she still didn't know everything, so she'd just have to gather more information first. Kirigakure was her home field, she had the advantage here.

Exit Thread:
WC: 644
TWC: 2523

Training:
Dance of the Fallen Petals: [2523/3000]