So; he was now fully sick of being in Konoha. He'd seen what he wanted, bought what he needed, made sure his group was happy; and thoroughly broken his personal bank by secretly funding their shopping habits. Easier then trying to explain why they had less then 50 ryo to survive on for several weeks. Yeah. That would not have been fun for any of them. The hotel was checked out, they had their stuff packed and moved out. Raijin's pack was on his shoulders, as was Himitsu's; since it was easier for him to carry it in case he ended up having to carry her again. Given the fact that if he was traveling alone he'd be moving over the high mountain areas where you absolutely needed to be able to see to not die... yeah. She might end up being carried for a day or two again. He didn't mind; and he still made good time even carrying the extra loads. She was light, her pack was light, and she didn't complain. That's all he could ask for.

He did however make a point of stopping into that pub he'd found with the good rice balls and sake; adding an entirely new bag to his own set filled with nothing but scrolls full of the pub's own home-brew and several dozen scrolls filled with dozens of batches of rice balls. They'd definitely not starve, at the very least. And with his special sealed canteens of water that stored waaaay more then you'd think they could; they'd be fine for water as well.

Given there where no real goodbyes to be said; he'd run across that Uchiha he'd meet the day before, informed her they'd be leaving and said what goodbyes he would to a casual acquaintance; so it was just a matter of walking out of the main gate with Himi in tow.

315/800

Konoha had been nice, but good lord, she wanted to get back to the village hidden in the clouds. Nothing to see in Konoha. Literally, seeing as she's blind. She had left the hotel, without saying goodbye to anyone, including that girl that was going to train with the Kazekage. Who had given her permission anyway? As far as Himi knew, the Raikage hadn't given permission, only Raijin. Were was the Raikage anyway? She was brought to Kumo, she had needed to speak to him, but she had never gotten the chance.

Her mind started to race. The Raikage, she had heard he was literally as fast as lightning. Someone like that... She had heard he was sadistic, and took a little sick joy to everything. He sounded... Inspiring. Motivating. Swallowing hard she turned her gaze in the direction of Raijin.

"Raijin... Is the Raikage... What is he like?" She awkwardly brought her hands together nervously. "Is he mean? Does he kill or hurt people for fun? Will... Will he force me out of the village? Will I be homeless?"

What if he did kick her out of Kumo? She would be a rogue-nin, forced to wander around by herself, alone and cold in the dark world.

Just like your mother intended to do to you. Isn't that right? A snide voice in her head said.
No... No- She would never... Was that her intention? Thinking back on her mother's words she re-thought what her previous opinion had been. She wanted me to die. She hated me. Just because I didn't have the Resonance kekkei genkai. Some mother. Then there was Hiragana, and Hikou. They hadn't even come looking for me. All they had to have done was question my mother... But they didn't. They just simply. Didn't. Care. She had been a useless member of the squad anyway. She didn't do anything useful she couldn't even wield a sword the proper way, let alone train with three swordsmen. This revelation hurt Himitsu, cutting her deep.

Without even realising it she had walked closer to Raijin and began to tightly grip his rough robes as if she was falling and he was a means to stop her deathly descent. She just stared blankly in horror, her demons trapped inside her skull were invisible to everyone else.

404/800

"Eh?" Raijin'd been slowly zoning out as they reached the edge of the village and moved past the gates. Nothing to see now, past miles of forests until they hit the trails that lead up into the mountains. Stuff to see there; here? Nothing but bushes and undergrowth, the occasional squirrel or something. Although he did see something distinctly lowland bobcat on the way to the Leaf village. Maybe he'd see it again and catch it; he kind of wanted a kitty as a pet. And then Himitsu's words actually sunk in and he decided to focus on the present instead of the future; pay attention to his ward and the questions being asked. What about Midnight? Oh; that. The rumors of his personality. Meeeeeeeh.

"Hnnn... He's... I don't know. Not the best at figuring out personalities. I know the rumors, same as everyone else. Is he a psychotic jacktard with a blood fetish? Prolly. I'd make sense; given he's got all tha' signss of true sociopathy. Dun really buy inta the crap about him killing locals fer fun. Outsiders? Maybe. Likely. Prolly. Bu' most of tha' outsiders we get 'er missin' nins and criminals; not much good e'er visits Kumo anymore. Can't blame 'um, we're gettin' a rep ta rival Iwa in lawlessness lately. Che'; fucktards."

He could feel her stressing out, and more; even if he wasn't trained right to tell exactly what was going on in her mind. The passive electrical field gave him a near empathic ability; but again, untrained. And add in his social issues; yeah. He could tell she was unbalanced and unhappy; but not much else. Teeth met lip for a moment before he awkwardly slipped an arm around her shoulders; trying to make the action comforting at least. He was obviously uncomfortable himself; but it was purely his normal awkward around people that where standing too close to him. However, he didn't mind Himitsu being close; he just had no idea what to do in the situation. "I doubt he'd kick ya out, either. Ya done nothin' ta ping on his radar; an' if nothin' else, the villagers tha' know 'bout ya like ya well enough. 'm pretty sure a good word from ma' clan 'd help to, yeah. We sage's look out fer our people an' all tha'; lon' as ya han' 'round meh, yer one a' us Cloud nin far as tha' Tsukino care."

He went quiet for a few moments; nothing more then a soft clicking sound coming from him. It was a nervous tick of sorts; clam up but click the tongue. Soothing, kept him calm and from talking to much; or just randomly babbling. He was feeding off her emotions without even realizing it; and he was even less prepared to cope then her. "But neh; yeah... calm down an' all tha'. Ya truss me ta keep ya safe, righ'?"

438+ 315= 753/800

She was basically hyperventilating with panic and fear. A blood thirsty Kage? That sounded utterly terrifying. He killed outsiders... Would she still be counted as an outsider? Kiri's appaling hunter-nin might even be closing in on her, even as she spoke. She had been Hikou's student, one of them at the least. This meant she was semi-important, no matter what way you looked at it, being and knowing the Mizukage in that way meant that she carried valuable secrets about the village hidden in the mist.

Turning her face towards Raijin she blinked once. She could feel him going just as nervous as herself, which was bad. He was her guardian, he could not become emotionally unstable, else he drop her off another cliff. She had been livid after the last time. Unconscious from shock, but still livid as all hell when she woke up. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Hell hath not seen a pissed off Haruto Himitsu. It was a frightful experience to be had. Matter of fact, she still needed to pay him back for the cliff diving. Oh, what to do to him, what to do? Next time he got drunk, or rather, started drinking around her, she would slip a little somethin' somethin' in his sake and watch him as he smacked his face on the bar when he passed out from the knock out drug.

He deserved that much, you know, FOR DROPPING HER OFF THAT DAMN CLIFF!

She had began to grin, showing her white teeth, it was a rather rare facial expression from someone as static as herself, "Oh, Raijin, it might been in your best interests... to not get drunk near me any more..." before a question popped itself right into her skull. "Raijin... Are the rumours about Kiri being burned to the ground, along with Hikou-sama true?" She swallowed and blinked, looking down. "Will Hiragana-san be after me now? Or the Hunter-nin?" They had been walking for some time now. It had been a tid bit nipply so far, but then a gust of wind blew, and Himi, only in her thin cotton Ao Dai shivered when the wind blew threw her clothes. It never really got that cold in the Mist village, the sea breezes kept it generally warm year round. When they got back to the Cloud village she needed to go clothes shopping, either that or hijack some of Raijin's wardrobe.

811/800

"Uuuuh...?" Well; that ended quickly. She was off on a tangent; and he could go with that. Easily go with it. Why would he be worried about drinking around her? The randomness of this question snapped him out of his feedback panic; settling him back into his normal 'fucks, I do not give them' mode. Yay. What about Kiri?

Oh. Tee Hee.

"Calm down, give me your hand, and let me tell you a story.~" He didn't even wait for her to move; merely shifting his right sleeve up over his shoulder so that his new armor was exposed; take her hand and placing it on the mail gently. "You might recognize this armor. Sharkskin.~" He was highly amused again; remembering the smell of roasting shark brains and the fun that caused. Ahhh.... good times. "I don't much think he'll be a problem for you, neh?"

And then his brain rebooted and he realized he'd purposefully dragged her right into the red zone of his personal space. Oh god, what the hell was he doing? He stepped away gracefully; keeping calm and releasing her hand so that she wouldn't be hurt by the sharp armor. "Er, but yeah... Far as I know; yeah. Yer ol' Mizukage is dead; and some new dude is in charge. But I saw plenty a fishies floating around; heard somethin' about the Hokage putting them up until they could get the village rebuilt. Pretty sure ya'd be faaaaar down the list of important people to be huntan' right now."

"And hell, I tol' ya before. Lon' as ya stay with me; yer Kumo, yeah. They come lookan'? They gunna get fried."

1029/800

She gasped softly when she felt the armour. It was Hiragana's Sharkskin armour, she felt him release her hand and step away. She could hear the glee in his voice. "He-Hiragana gave you his armour? That was so sweet of him, but... What does that have to do with him not bothering me?"

Hikou was dead? A new Mizukage? Oh dear...

"Weeeeeell.~ Gave is... eh, tha's kinda right. More... he had no use fer it anymore, yeah." He managed to keep his cackle at least half way contained; lip bit some to hold the full force of the laughter back. Oh; that was fun; fish fries always where. Heeeee!~ "Aaaanyway. Yeah, I had a bit of a... talk, neh."

Talk, right.

"See; I was juss walkin' alon', mindin' my own business; walkin' along the road by the wet markets near tha' river. See me a fishy fishy walking along. Out two and two together, figure it's yer sharky stalker. Walk up, catch a' eyeful of sun-glare off 'a his armor; so I decided ta go say "hi!"." And now he was cackling; hard. Oh lord; it was glorious. The damn fish had no chance in hell. Dropped like a sack of wet flour and just twitched. Hahahaha!

"So yeah. Tapped him on the neck ta get his attention over the loud ass fuckers in the crowd around us. Totally on accident; I was aimin' fer his shoulder bu' yeah. Crowds an' stuffery. Well; yanno about my whole passive shockin' thin'? Well... I kinda fergot for a minute. Kinda... well... exploded his brains all over tha place. Scramblin' fish skulls is messier then I thought, yanno?" Smelled good, though. The eyeballs roasting and jiggling like jello was gross though. He never had been a fan of fish eyes and the like. Ew.

"Buuuuut yeah. Like I said; he's not gunna bug ya again, kay? Tol' ya. Take care a' our own; we Tsukino do." The sage wasn't even aware of that little slip of the tongue, calling her part of his clan and not his village like he normally would. It was... meaningless, in a conscious way; he'd not meant anything by it really. But given his odd behavior lately; it could have been a sign that there was something going on down in the convoluted and moderately insane little mind of his.

She could hear him holding back laughter. What was so funny? Hiragana... Of all people... He would have never given away a battle asset to so random passer-by he had just met.

Raijin's passive shocking. Himi had forgotten about that as well. Oh. Oh god. With her medical knowledge came a disgusting revelation. The Kisame clan already had a weakness towards Raiton, plus Hiragana perceived things with electro-perception in his jaw. That much concentrated electricity that close to his brain? Oh lord.

Then something strange happened. Hiragana had been her team mate, but he had also became a major threat to her safety and happiness. Her happiness was something that she was unwilling to lose to a fish. A sense, or rather a strange feeling of joy washed over her. No more constant worry about her retched past coming back to haunt her. No more fear of being kidnapped in the middle of the night.

Himi was, to say the least, overwhelmed with feels at said team mate's death. Tears of confused happiness sprung to her unseeing eyes as she hugged Raijin around the middle.

"You killed my stalker.... You got rid off him. I can live in peace! Thank you so much!" She said into his robes. Giddy with happiness, Himitsu attempted to pull Raijin in what she thought was the way to Kumo. She wanted to get back to the mountains quickly.

[I'm over word count, so, I'm not counting any more. Let's hurry up and get back to Kumo.]

"Neh, I told ya already. Yer one a' us now; we Tsukino pertect our own. Ya gunna be safer with me then juss 'bout anywhere else aroun', nah.~" Hell, he even let her get a few moments of a proper hug before extracting himself; albeit in his classically 'what the hell just happened?' manner. Without even attempting to remove her from the hug; he just contorted the living hell out of his body. Like, turned around inside his own skin contort. How did I not just shatter bones and liquefy organs contort.

Yeeeaah,~

So for a split second or three he was nothing so much as a pretzel around her until joints and ligaments snapped back into normal places and his body snapped back like a rubber band of sorts. Which was awkward and slightly painful and likely highly confusing; because when he did all it took was him standing up and she was sitting basically slung over his right shoulder; much as she had been for a fair part of the journey to the hidden leaf village; only completely conscious.

"So, feel like hangin' on fer three days straight again?"

Aaaaaand cue the running. Lots, and lots, and LOTS of running. Raijin really didn't need to stop; he had his water, he had his snacks, and a bladder to match. In fact; he only did stop to let Himi shift around and stretch for a few minutes at a time. And without the hassle of watching the rest of the idiots that had come with them; he actually made BETTER time going uphill into the mountains then he had LEAPING OFF CLIFFS to take shortcuts.

Weeeeeeeeee!~

Home at last? Oh yeah, the smell of ozone and rumbles of thunders. He was home. They where home; or near enough. "Want me to drop you in town; or feel like dealing with me for a little longer?" Given it was pitch black and well into the middle of the night, it wasn't like there was anyone waiting for them to report in. Lazy ass people in Admin couldn't be assed to be awake at those hours of the night. "Plenty of spares rooms in the temple; and most are insulated from the lightning bursts. Quiet and comfortable enough for a few hours sleep; if ya want. If not; I'll run ya inta town. Just gotta tell me where ya been stayin'."

Did he just... What in the name of medical science did he just fucking do? She felt skin going over bone and bones moving in ways that shouldn't be physically possible. She shuddered internally. Raijin would have to teach her how to contort like that.

Three days of hanging onto his back caused a stupor to come over her, even with the stretch breaks. She was just clinging to him, feeling his strides, but even that became background noise as she slipped from sleep to the waking world several times. Then, she heard something new. Not new, but well, refreshing. The distant sound of thunder and the smell of the mountains. "Want me to drop you in town," No. "Or feel like dealing with me for a little longer?" Yeah, second choice meant living, rather than freezing to death.

"Plenty of spare rooms in the temple," Yeah, going there. Himitsu stirred a bit and blinked. "Well actually, I don't know where I live... This huge musclely travelling swordsman dropped me off on an apartment balcony, I walked outside one day and got lost. I don't know where I live. They didn't have braille on the doors. That's the day I met you, remember?"

-exit to kumo-