[Transistor+][Closed/Hotaru]

[Masakuni]

“Hmm…” Shikyozukai Masakuni said, sighing to himself. He sat on the branches of a flowering tree, high above the reaches of the village. It was rare for the trees in Kusagakure to be this tall, unlike the towering behemoths of the Fire Country. It was sheer luck that had led him to discover this grove of particularly lofty trees. Few people came around here, on the outskirts of the village. It was one of the few places he felt he could safely remove his mask.

His mask was indeed off, the blue of the mask seeming purple in the golden light of early sunset. His eyes were closed and his mind open. Even as he relaxed, he was waiting and listening for anyone who came into his zone of solitude, if the mask indeed needed to return to his face. Black hair hung messily around his scalp, black eyes sealed behind his eyelids, he was open and vulnerable in the position that only one in Kusagakure had seen.

It had been an interesting couple of months. He had attained the prestigious rank of Jounin, proven himself as the foremost ninja in the village. The whole time, the Rokudaime had been out of the village. If he were truly interested in anarchy, it would have been a wonderful time to stage a coup. He, however, enjoyed life in his not-so-new village, and was loath to cause any sort of panic or revolution, at least for quite a time yet.

The Rokudaime had returned to the village, quite recently. He had yet to even see her, so far. But he imagined it wouldn’t be long before their paths crossed. He shared a curious relationship with her. She alone knew the face behind his mask, or even where he came from. There was speculation, of course, in the village, but only their leader knew of his true origin. He supposed he should thank her for keeping his secret. Turning a leaf over in his finger idly, he yawned. For now, however, he would remain just as he was…

[hotaru]

Long raven tresses flowed in her wake as the Kusakage strolled through the village, a familiar umbrella perched on her right shoulder held loosely by her hands. The exams had taken much longer than anticipated, and a few of the groups had even been shut down before they could finish. Strangely, two genin from a small village managed to surprise everyone by surpassing rivals from Stone and Sand and escaped their island first. Yes, the shinobi pair from little Kusakagure had unofficially won the exams; a feat never to be accomplished by former competitors.

It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of Kage life, and she secretly dreaded returning to the elders who had undoubtedly saved piles of paper work that needed to be attended to. Begrudgingly, she would return to the mansion and begin her work...but not just yet. Instead, she would see with her own two eyes how the village had fared while she was away, and from the looks of it, everything was just as she had left it. A content sigh escaped her lips as she took in the scenery on the outskirts of the village.

The magnolias were in bloom, and a sweet perfume lingered in the air as a few petals danced in the breeze. It was moments like these why she loved her home. No amount of tropical weather and warm ocean could replace these flowers; this scent. It was good to be home.

[Masakuni]

Masakuni’s eyes cracked open, onyx optics taking in the foliage above him. He sighed, feeling the minor fluctuations in the air pressure and chakra fields that indicated a presence beneath him; a presence that he was acutely familiar with. It was a particularly earthy chakra that he could recognize from a mile away. Pushing himself up from the tree branch, he stood poised on the canopy, twenty-two meters above the earth. He slid his mask into his ninja pouch, briefly running a finger around the whole in the smooth indigo ceramics.

In a single fluid motion he stepped into open air, dropping down to the earth with all the gravitational grace of a plummeting rock. He managed to make it elegant, however, going headfirst, almost like a dive, before twisting gracefully and landing on his feet, both planted on the earth solidly. He fell to a single knee, a playful smile dancing across his face as he gazed at the back of the woman before him. He had been right; the kimono was a dead giveaway.

“Rokudaime-sama…” He murmured, his eyes trailing up her spine to the dark, lustrous hair that trailed down to the small of her back. He remained on one knee, as proper respect to his leader dictated. It was perhaps to formal for addressing a Kage, but she held a grace to her that transcended the mere job of Grass Shadow and seemed to almost border of Daimyo. She was to be respected, at least in his mind. It was a politeness and political tact that it seems that much of the younger generation did not understand.

[hotaru]

She continued her walk along the outskirts of the village and a few flower petals gracefully wafted to the earth. Not far behind them, a large figure plummeted from his perch in the tree, landing with cat like dexterity in front of her. A perplexed mask changed to a pleasant smile as she realized just who had dropped in. “Masakuni-kun. I was wondering when you would turn up.” Gracefully brushing the hair dangling in front of her shoulder over her ear, she ushered for the kneeling warrior to rise and join her on her stroll.

“I take it you took care of things while I was away? We cant let those elders have all the fun now can we?” Her silken soprano hung in the air; dignity peppered with a hint of humor. She felt comfortable around the Kaishin, so her speech was less restrained than had she had been speaking with any other shinobi under her command. Keeping a slow pace, her snowy kimono hovered just centimeters above the dusty earth. Her “other” personality had seemingly vanished; replaced with the only way she knew how to act in the presence of her village.

In the guise of Kohaku, the kunoichi acted as herself. She had no pretenses to uphold, no stereotypes to adhere to. A normal 17 year old girl wasn’t expected to command an army…in fact, she wondered what the other Kages would think of such a young village leader. In her mind, the shadows of the other villages were similar to the elders within her own village; stuffy, boring, and old. “So Masakuni. Fill me in on the real goings on around here. God only knows what the elders will feed me.”

[Masakuni]

Shikyozukai Masakuni rose as she greeted him, nodding gratefully. He took his place beside the kage, perhaps a half a pace behind her. It wouldn’t do if he were to appear to be leading her and not the other way around, even in a stroll. He disliked the political system of the villages, but recognized the necessity of mastering it. He was quite surprised, in a pleasant way, to discover how much Hotaru seemed to debase that system. It was always refreshing.

“I did my best, Hotaru-sama.” He let himself have a faintly bemused smile. “The elders seemed to be under the impression that they ran the village in your absence.” He kept his senses alert, both on the lookout for other ninjas of Kusagakure and for those who would seek to harm the princess of Kusagakure. He could never quite stop being a ninja, unfortunately. “But things have been relatively quiet without you.” He brushed his raven hair out from his eyes before locking his arms behind his back.

“We were attacked by a fellow by the name of Sanzoku Take, who was the Daimyo of Tsuki no Kuni. He attempted to harm one of our genin, Tsukino, and I repelled him. He did manage to escape, regrettably, but I tracked him down and eliminated him, for which I was given the rank of Jounin.” He scratched his cheek idly, eyes flicking to both sides before proceeding. “A genin by the name of Zu Li appropriated our scrolls and fled… I’m not sure yet what became of him, but he was pursued.” Masakuni shrugged. “Aside from that, only the normal day to day business.”

[hotaru]

As the duo continued their walk, the former snow chuunin relayed the happenings of the village in her absence. Aparently they had undergone an attack; but it seemed everything was under control now. With a sigh, her mind frame as the Kusakage had returned. “We’ll start a search party immediately for the missing genin, and deal with whoever is or was harboring him. As for this “Daimyo” of Tsuki no Kuni, I think I would like to investigate this matter personally as soon as possible.”

“The exams were rather uneventful I hear compared to the previous seasons…” She sighed after a few seconds of silence. “None the less, they claimed their share of victims…Including a possible one of our own. Zassou Issac has yet to return.” Her mind drifted back to her experiences, a stoic look plastered on her face as she narrated the events of the past months. “The first exam was quite simple; a written exam with fairly easy questions. Only a few failed that round.” Heaving a sigh, she would continue. “However, the second round was brutal. We were put in teams of two connected by a metal chain…on a small island…with three teams on each. There was only one boat and two maps hidden.”

“We first encountered a pair from sand…but I easily broke their chain with ninjutsu, disqualifying them. That left just Takun, my partner, myself, and a team from stone. We made clones to help us search and to compensate for the fact we were attached by chains. Our clones eventually came across a map while we were searching a dark tunnel. Our clones reunited with us in a large metal dome, which we later found out to be the escape point. Unfortunately, the team from stone had found the dome from above ground and drilled a hole though the top. Again, I managed to break their chain with ninjutsu, but they were a more difficult opponent than the duo from sand.”

Coming back to reality, she turned and smiled to her companion. “We were the first two finished with our test…and only one other team was actually able to complete their task before the examiners closed the exam for taking too long. I…guess that means we won, huh?”

[Masakuni]

Masakuni listened as she recounted her combat experience in the Chuunin exams. He nodded as she spoke, watching as a single sakura petal spiraled down from a tree above. He grinned faintly at the romantic stereotype of sakura petals cascading downward from the trees. It was certainly popular in the books the kids were reading these days. He let his mind wander for a moment, catching one petal between his gloved fingers. Maybe he should write some romance novels…

“I would take that as a sign of your victory, yes.” He said as she finished recounting her experiences. “I’m glad to see you prevailed. Hell, I’m glad to see you survived in the first place. The Chuunin Exams are not generally known for their gentility.” He let the sakura petal go free. He glanced at the Hanakora. He envied her ability to create life. As a ninja born in the north, and raised in sacred arts of winter, he could not create life. He could create beauty, and majesty, from snow and ice, but life was beyond the reach of his ninjutsu.

“It’s…” He began, frowning as the flow of words stopped in his mouth abruptly. He frowned, restructuring his thoughts. He had to stop thinking about flowers and sakura. He was no ninja of wood or life. He was a ninja of cold, frozen death. Never before had the natural world interested him so much, so why should it now? Why should the idea of forming new life from the earth excite these feelings in his breast? “…good to have you back in the village.”