The sun sat high in the sky, and to the young shinobi's surprise there was not a single cloud in the sky. Considering he stood in the village hidden in the clouds the boy considered this to be highly unusual. Since his arrival in the village he could not remember a single day that the village wasn't shrouded in clouds, that is until today. The heat from the sun and the lack of clouds made the village hotter than usual, something that the young shinobi enjoyed as it reminded him of his true home in the desert. As the boy walked through the streets of the village he could not help but notice how uncomfortable most of the villagers seem to be from the heat. Usually as he walked through the village he would get casual hellos and waves from the shop keepers, today no matter who he waved at they just gave him a dirty look before returning inside to get out of the heat. Raphael would just shrugged he did not see what the big deal was, this was still nothing compared to the heat one would find in the land of wind. 'These weaklings would never survive in Sunagakure' he thought to himself with a small chuckle as he continued his way down the street. The boy was wearing his typical attire, his black sleeveless shirt with the Kozai insignia in sapphire blue on the left brestplate of the shirt, white pants with a black belt which bore his Kumo headband as a buckle, and his normal all black shoes. His gear stowed safely away in their pouches, save for his two windmill shuriken which were folded and strapped to his back since he did not have something big enough to carry them. The boy was so lost in his thoughts of home that he did not even realized he had left the village, until he was well past the gates that guarded the great village. It was not until the boy was shrouded in a shadow that he finally returned to reality he found himself standing in front of a tower that seemed to stretch far into the sky above. Despite there still being no clouds in the sky the young shinobi still could not see the top of the great tower, in all of his time in the village he had never been to this place, nor did he know how he got there or how far it was from the village itself. "Well I'm already here, might as well look around." The boy said to himself as he headed inside the tall tower that seemed to stretch to the heavens themselves.

---

450

Machi sighed as she glared up at the sky with an irritated look on her face. She was not accustomed to so much sunlight, but she was also not one to complain. Despite being from the land of water and a shinobi of Kirigakure Machi generally wore very light clothing and didn’t seem to bother much about the cold. The cold would not exacerbate her illness in any way, and she couldn’t actually feel the cold, nor could she feel the warmth of the sun on her skin. She was numb to physical pleasure or pain so she really had no need to complain. Today she was wearing her usual attire her long pink hair was pulled back in a very loose ponytail with a blue band to keep it out of her face. Upon her forehead rest the pair of red dots that signal her lineage, her pale skin making them pop out to be noticed without the need for close observation. Her grey and the white robe was loosely tied over her black tank top which could be exposed where the two parts of the robe met. Her hands were covered in the black fingerless gloves that she had grown fond of, her oobi tightly in place with the smaller ribbon around that to help hold it in place. Her ninja tools were stored safely in their pouches, and the scroll that served her as the holder of her tonfa and her scythe was on her hip as well. The black shorts that she always wore didn’t pass her knees, but instead, her pink leg warmers were clear as day her tabi socks and blue ninja shoes were the finishing touches to the outfit. Her forehead protector was around her neck clearly marked, and on the back of her fingerless gloves were white patterns in the shape of the Kirigakure emblem.

Most would’ve looked twice having seen a mist shinobi here in the village of Kumogakure. Yet, she had come to see the chuunin exams. She did not think that she should compete, she, in all honesty, didn’t want to compete just yet. She was a killer, an ax to be wielded in order to cut down large swaths of foes, the chuunin exams were no place for her where she was unlikely to be allowed to kill anyone. Still, she had come to see the exams as they unfolded, she came to watch the battles, learn who would be her biggest threats and challenges in the future, to learn just what kind of skills she should focus on in the future herself. Yet, she was not viewing the exams today, she was instead walking through the village hidden in the clouds in order to get a lay of the land. She currently stood outside of a giant tower that seemed to be reaching out to heaven itself. She smiled as she looked up at it “Such a very beautiful tower. I wonder how far it actually reaches into the sky.” When she heard the voice of someone approaching she slowly turned to face him. As he reached within 5 meters of her she tilted her head “That’s not a bad suggestion. This is a very impressive tower.”


546

Raphael had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he did not even see the girl as he approached the tower, her words cut through his thoughts alerting him that someone else was there and they over heard him. The look of surprise would be obvious, however only lasted a second as he quickly regained his composer as his eyes fell on the girl. "Uh.. Yes your right it is impressive." The boy said in response to the girl's remark about the tower. Though the second he saw the girl he saw the two red dots on her forehead, his thoughts turned from the tower and on to the girl. She bore the mark of the Kaguya, they are among some of the most notable clans in the world. The Kozai had books on every clan they knew in the world, though not every clan in the world, as Raphael had come to learn, and while they held a book on the Kaguya it had surprisingly little information on them. This posed a unique opportunity for the young Kozai, depending of course on how friendly this girl was he might be able to do what no one else in his clan had done before and actually learn about the Kaguya. Of course the real problem would be the boy being nice to her, though if the boy was being honest with himself, he found the girl to be quite beautiful. This was highly unusual for the boy, he has never found himself attracted to anyone and yet here he stood finding himself thinking of the girl as beautiful. Perhaps it was her pale skin tone the drew this reaction, though the Kozai are not nearly as pale as the Kaguya, they were very light skin for where they lived. It was not often one would find someone with light skin in Kaze no Kuni, and even since his arrival here in the village hidden in the clouds he had not seen that many light skinned people.

Raphael realized he was staring at the girl, quickly snapping himself back to reality he bowed slightly to the girl. "Please forgive me for staring, I was just stunned by your beauty, my name is Raphael Kozai it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." the boy stated as he stood back up from his bow. Raphael would wait to hear the girls reply with her own name before he would continue, though should the girl choose to with hold her name after a few seconds pause he would continue anyway. "I was just going to have a look around the tower, would you care to join me?" Should the girl choose to go with him the boy would hold the door open and allow the girl through the door before following behind her into the tower.

926

Machi saw the look of surprise but didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. In fact, she made no reaction at all, and only waited for him to speak or comprehend. She looked him up and down assessing him. She could tell that he was muscled, and she assessed him like most of her clan assessed people. He would prove to be an interesting fight, and if not for the fact that she was a guest here she would’ve initiated a fight with him.

She watched him and when he bowed to her she smiled ever so slightly. When he called her beautiful she raised her brow looking down at herself and giving herself a rather intense inspection. She really couldn’t see it, but perhaps that was because she didn’t find people to be good looking, to be sexy, beautiful, or anything like that. She knew that people got in pairs for the purpose of breeding and continuing clan lines, but she wasn’t in need of that just yet, or perhaps not. She really wasn’t sure when the proper time to do this kind of thing was. Still, she had been offered an introduction and she bowed respectfully to Raphael “I am Machi Kaguya, thank you for the compliment, but I am nothing all that special.” She turned back to the tower and looked up at it smiling “I would be delighted to explore the tower.” As she walked with him and he held the door open she walked past him her eyes full of interest in the surroundings. She didn’t bother thanking him for holding the door open for her.

Once she was in the tower and Raphael was behind her she glanced over her shoulder and stepped to the side “Lead the way.” She said gesturing for him to be in front of her. She didn’t trust him, she wouldn’t allow anyone she didn’t trust, or that wasn’t a comrade from Kirigakure to stand behind her and follow her. It was just a very basic thing that she had going for her, and it wasn’t about to change anytime soon.

WC:909

The boy tried his best to hide his smile as he walked past the girl, he could tell by the way the girl eyed him that she either did not trust him or did not like him. It could of just been her not wanting him behind her or it could be that she wanted to be behind him for one reason or another. It did not matter to the boy as he released a subtle amount of chakra into the air around him, completely unnoticeable except through chakra sensing this would give him a warning should the girl attempt to attack him from behind. He wanted to get to know the girl but He was not going to put his own life in danger, not that he thought of the girl as a threat but because he knew nothing about her which could also be the reason she did not want him behind her. With his Kaze Kanchi he would have no need to worry about looking over his shoulder to keep an eye on her, he would simply monitor her movements as well as be alerted to anything else they might bump into within the tower.

As the pair entered the tower they would find an area that looked to Raphael like a lobby for a doctors office, on a much larger scale of course with a balcony area on the far wall of the entrance. The desk covered a large portion of the far wall, looking as if it was made to allow multiple people work behind the desk comfortably. It now stood empty with plastic covering it, as did the very large blank screen that hung on the wall behind it. There were chairs and tables scattered all over the first floor covered in the same plastic as the desk, off to the side of the desk was a set of stairs that lead up to the balcony area above the desk where there were more seating areas as well as empty vending machines. Though this place was empty and there looked to be no one else in the place, Raphael could only imagine what it looked like when it is in operational people filling every inch of this place wait for whatever this place was for. Once they where on the balcony area they would see the elevator on the right wall was blocked off with an 'Out of Order' sign, however there were stairs leading up to the upper floors to the left. The boy was in awe of the size of the room it was a lot larger than he expected, he would look to the girl who had accompanied him into the tower.

"So do we wanna have a look at the other floors?" He asked with a smile as he motioned to the stairs, "looks like this is the only way up, you still ok with that?"

If the girl preferred to stay down on the first level he would find a table that they could remove the plastic from and sit down and talk, if however the girl agreed to go with him up the stairs the he would lead the way up. The second floor looked like it had large training equipment cover in the same plastic from the first floor, Raphael was not really in the mood for training and so would continue on up higher. The upper floors were bare just open areas that had pillars scattered across the rooms the reached up to the high ceiling above, however Raphael did notice the small marks in the support pillars the seemed to have been caused by a blade of some kind. "Well so far this looks like some kind of battle tower, or at least someone has been using it as such." The boy said with a slight chuckle, as the pair continued higher they would find all the floors above the third was exactly the same as the third big empty spaces with only pillars. Only proving Raphael's theory to himself about the battle tower, the higher they would climb the thinner the air would become. Raphael had trained himself how to endure situations with little air however he was unsure if his company had done so, either way he would continue to climb the stairs of the towers trying to reach the top unless the girl said something about the thin air. If the girl did say something about the thin air the he would offer to help her back down the stairs, if she did he would if not he would walk closely to her in case she fell but still giving her space.

---

1707

Machi walked behind the boy and kept her eyes open on everything and anything that there was to see. The sight of the various tables and chairs in plastic told her that this building wasn’t in use very often, when it was in use it looked like it could be used by many, many people. The best way to get through this place was to keep going. She walked along with the boy in front of her no matter where she looked she always kept one eye on Raphael’s back her body tense, as she was ready to react to anything that she could consider a threat to herself. Walking around with this boy she gave a shrug looking around being very uninterested in all of it. As they kept walking around Machi started to get itchy she crossed her arms and drummed her fingers on her arms. Looking at the doctor’s office space she scoffed in irritation “Doctors…” she muttered under her breath shaking her head as she quickly rushed away from the place. This was due in large part to the illness that was naturally a curse to her. Members of her clan had a very strange illness that came from their Kekkei Genkai, and from the curse mark that the very special members of her clan could use. In Machi’s case when she fought for too long she would start to get a very serious sickly cough that she had a hard time catching if she kept moving. It was bad enough that she would eventually start coughing up blood and even vomiting unless she stopped moving as soon as she started to cough and let her body rest. No matter what she did she would lose most of her voice for the rest of the day.

Nothing that any doctors did could actually fix this problem, she blamed them entirely for her suffering, and hated the whole lot of them with quite unfairly. She forgot about her desire to keep Raphael in front of her as she stormed away from the section where the doctors were clearly meant to be. In so doing she actually arrived at the staircase before Raphael and stood in front of it shaking her head. She glanced at Raphael smirking at him “Well, after you then.” She said gesturing for him to take the lead. She would follow behind him “What kind of clan is the Kozai? I am sorry to say that I do not have any knowledge of your clan. I don’t know many clans beyond those found in Kirigakure. That is one of the reasons I came here during the chuunin exams.” She said rather conversationally even if it did seem a little awkward. She didn’t usually have conversations with anyone that wasn’t about ninja stuff, weapons, jutsu, or anything that wasn’t related to being a shinobi. As they continued to climb, and Raphael made his statement about this building being a battle tower Machi’s eyes gleamed with excitement. She kept climbing up towards the top with him and after they went up several floors possibly the tenth, or even the fifteenth floor they climbed up, she inhaled and stopped dead at the top of the stairs. She found it was much harder to breath than normal, but this was very interesting to her.

She licked her lips as she looked around her eyes filled with a determined fire “It’s hard to catch my breath…I like it.” She stepped quickly away from Raphael reaching to her waist. With one practiced and swift motion she unrolled her scroll and summoned up Kazegai. Catching it with one hand and rolling up her scroll tightly with her other hand she began to swing and go through several motions with Kazegai. She giggled softly as she spun the scythe around in her grasp. After a few moments she swung it down in a cleaving arch stopping dead just as her blade would’ve gone through an imaginary opponent. She smiled widely “Oh my yes!” she said panting heavily as she slowly sat down stabbing the bottom of her scythe into the ground letting it mostly rest against her right shoulder. She looked up at him smiling “This place is wonderful. If I could train here every day, then I would get stronger in no time I am sure.” She said using her smile as a way to keep herself from coughing. She could feel her chest tightening due to not only fighting her sickness, but also the thin air.

WC: 1677

The boy would smile when the girl asked about his clan and stated she did not know much of the clans outside of Kirigakure. "Well to be honest with you it does not surprise me that you would not know of us, most do not, even those from the Land of Wind where I am from do not know of us due to the fact that my clan is very secretive and although we love information most of the members are not so keen to share it." The boy stated taking a quick pause to catch his breath with how thin the air was, "The Kozai Estate is in its own right a village of it's own, although it is not as big as one of the major villages we hold our own. It stands as an oasis in the sea of sand, the sight of it is rather beautiful if I am being honest though I have been away for a very long time. I would not mind taking you to see it one day in the future if you are interested." Raphael would stop talking again as his mind wandered to his memories of his home and the face of his sister, mother, amd grandfather whom he missed more and more with each passing day. Raphael caught himself day dream though it appeared the girl had not, quickly regaining his composer he looked to the girl. "Anyways to answer your question my clan are masters in the art of chakra manipulation capable of using it to both enhance our physical ability as well as other aspects of combat, and we have the great Deity Raava to thank for our blessings." Raphael realized as soon as he said the words that the girl would have no idea who or what Raava was, out of everyone he had mentioned her to questioned who she was. "Raava is the guardian of the Kozai, according to our holy records our ancestor found her shrine when he was passing through the desert and built the Estate to surround it. We have worshipped Raava ever since, and she in turned granted us with a portion of her divine power." Raphael added so that the girl would not have to ask like everyone else always had, he was not sure if what he said had made sense to the girl but as she did not question it further he assumed he explained it to her understanding.

Raphael watched the girl as she moved through the floor they were on with her scythe, her imaginary opponent falling to her blade in the end. The boy watched in awe as the girl moved with such grace that it took what little breath the boy had away, she ended her little imaginary training all but out of breath. Raphael had to admit that he was interested in the girls skills, though he had not trained in the art of weaponry he had often wondered if it was something worth pursuing, and after watching the girl he was convinced that it was. It was clear that the thin air was getting to her, but she was not going to let it slow her down, or show any weakness from it as she spoke of wanting to train there everyday to become stronger. "Yeah I know what you mean, I might have to come here more for my training," he added with a chuckle, after a moment's pause Raphael would break the silence. "If you don't mind me asking and so long as it is not too much trouble, could you tell me more about the Kaguya? You see the Kozai Estate holds its own library filled with books on the different clans of the world, however the book on the Kaguya is all but bare. The only information they have is that your clan resides in Kirigakure and that you can manipulate the bones of your own body into weapons. I would love to know more though." The boy stated looking to the girl for her answer.

If the girl agreed to talk about her clan, then the boy would find a seat and pull out a pen and scroll to write down everything she told him so that when the day came that he returned to his family he would have documentation of what he had learned. If the girl disagreed and did not wish to share information on her clan then he would change the conversation to something that the girl found interesting enough to talk about. Either way after a few hours of talking with the girl, Raphael would remember that he had stuff he needed to get done before the day was over. "I apologize Machi, but I must go I completely forgot I have to go prepare for a mission that I have tonight. It has been great talking to you and I hope we see each other again in the future." Raphael would stand and bow to the girl before taking off quickly so that he could get back home to get ready for his mission later, though his time with the girl was brief he would not forget her and he did hope that their paths would cross again one day, even if it meant him travelling to Kirigakure, besides all that he had other friends in Kiri he could visit while he was there as well.

{Exit Thread}

---

2615
Trained
Endurance C-1 to C-3 = -1300
Strength C-1 to C-3 = -1300
Cost: 550 Ryo -5% refugee = 525
15 words to the Void

Machi listened to the boy explain that the boy’s clan was actually from the land of wind. He was not from the land of lightning nor was his clan from the land of lightning. This was a piece of intelligence as it likely meant that his clan was originally living in Sunakagure. She had heard about the destruction of Sunagakure, and this meant that whomever had done it would likely come try to do the same to Kirigakure. She would have to make sure to get stronger before that could happen. Hearing how his clan’s home was more like a village reminded her of her own clan. For the sake of the village her clan didn’t live in the village proper, nor did they live too close. The Kaguya were a clan of violent psychopaths and they were quick to fight anyone and everyone who they thought would be worth fighting. Machi for her part also didn’t much care about whom she killed, but unlike most Kaguya she had a very strong aversion to killing those from the village Kirigakure. Hearing the offer to take her to see his home she gave a dismissive shrug “I don’t think I would mind it. Sounds like it could be fun.” She said simply with a slight yawn. She continued to listen to his talking about what his clan was, and the goddess, or guardian that was ‘responsible’ for their powers. She really didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but she supposed that it would be as good of an explanation as any other as to where his clan gained their ability. After all, she didn’t really know how to explain her own family’s Kekkei Genkai or where it came from.

Sitting down she huffed and breathed a bit heavier than was normal for the little workout that she had done, but this was due in large part to the thin air and her own illness. She gently twirled her scythe around in her hand the blade slowly spun in a circle over her head as she fought hard to keep from coughing. However, her fight was lost when he started to ask his questions. Her eyes went wide, and she began to cough violently covering her mouth with her left hand while her whole body was racked with the painful coughing. After he was done asking her she finally managed to fight it back down pulling her hand away from her mouth. She slowly rose to her feet using her scythe as a walking stick and gestured for Raphael to follow him “Need…. air…thicker…. air.” she said as the cough forced her to put large gaps between her words. As they started to travel down she nodded her head “I’ll…. tell you more… Just give …. Me… a…. moment.” They had to go down several floors before she was finally able to take deep breaths between coughing fits. Finally, she sat down on the stairs hard gathering her breath fighting down her coughs. She glanced over at Raphael as she sat on the stairs looking up at him “Sorry… That is part of the Kaguya curse. As for your current intelligence, you are correct. We call it Shikotsumyaku it gives us the ability to manipulate our skeletal structure. We infuse our bones and the calcium in our body with chakra. We can make weapons, armor, replace broken bones, grown entirely new bones, etc. We can do all of this with Charka. A very selective group of us gain an even better and bigger power. However, that is a secret of my clan. I am sorry I can’t say more than that. I do hope that you do not take offense.” She began to cough again violently until she finally finished pulling her hand away her glove was splattered with blood. She hissed at the blood shaking her head “This is part of the curse of the Kaguya… I hate it. I can’t feel the pain of this curse…. thankfully, but I can’t feel much of anything else either.” She sighed as she sealed away her scythe again “All Kaguya are born with an illness of some kind, a blood Illness I believe. It manifests in many different ways however, this is how mine has manifested.”

She stopped talking about her clan right then and simply leaned back resting on the stairs. She was very tired now and she had only just caught her breath. She watched as the boy wrote down everything that she said, and she smiled licking her lips “You know, you are kind of interesting. I have never met anyone who wanted to know so much about my clan. Perhaps in the future, we could have a sparring match between us, and if you don’t bore me then I would be happy to share more information with you.” She slowly stood up as he said he had to go “I am glad to hear it. Because you wouldn’t have gotten any more information out of me without giving me something in turn. A good sparring match would’ve been nice, but it seems the curse of the Kaguya was able to affect me much sooner than usual.” She said clearing her throat as best she could. She followed him out of the tower and moved off towards the place where she was staying while she was here in Kumogakure. Raphael was interesting, and she hoped she could see what kind of fighter he was.


[Exit Thread]


2609
Training
Jutsu: Shikotsumyaku: Teshi Sendan ~ Macabre Bone Pulse: Digital Shrapnel 750/750 words, 80 Ryo
Stats
Perception E to D: 750/750 words
Speed : D to D1 325/325 25 Ryo
Endurance : D to D1 325/325 25 Ryo
Reaction Time : D to D 1 325/325 25Ryo
134 words discarded.
155 Ryo being spent