Kai had finally decided that she was going to the Death. She wanted to see Kazuya, and maybe Kymir. She didn't really like him. The journey took two days. She hated crossing the Lake. Upon her arrival at the gates, she was stopped by two guards. "What do you need?" Kai smiled kindly. "I'm here to visit my brother." She said cheerfully. The guards exchanged looks and nodded. "Welcome to the Death Valley." Kai went inside the gates and started for Kazuya's house. If he wasn't home, she'd go to his office. She bet he'd be surprised to see her. She was so excited. Knocking on his door she waited.

Kazuya was indeed at his office, looking over papers with a bored expression on his face and his chin in his hand. He'd much rather have been out orchestrating things and making sure that community project was going up to speed. He wanted to make sure things were going okay. After reading over it, Kazuya put it to the side rather than signing it. He had to talk with the council over that particular piece. There were parts of it that didn't quite catch his fancy. In other words, some of the parts seemed like sugar coated corruption. He didn't quite like that.

Kai knocked three times and waited. When no one came to the door, she knocked again. Nothing. "Office." She said as she skipped down the street. The Death was always so foggy. She wondered why anyone lived here. How could they possibly see? Breaking into a run she turned into a wolf and raced down the streets. It was nice to feel the wind through her fur. She changed back a few moments before getting to the business. "I'm here to see Kazuya," she said to the guards. One nodded and headed upstairs. Knocking on the door he said. "Lord Kazuya, someone's here to see you."

Kazuya looked up when one of the guards knocked on the door. "Hm? A visitor? Send them on up," he said. When the guard left, he smiled and swiveled his chair a bit. "Finally, a break from all this paperwork!" he said to himself. He stopped swivelling the chair when he heard approaching footsteps. They were light. And there was a familiar scent, but he just couldn't place where he'd smelled it before...

Kai went up the stairs when they told her she could go inside. She sprinted in and opened the door. "Kazuya!" She chirped as she jumped at him and gave him a big hug. "It's been forever. I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again, but everything always alright when you're around," she said holding back tears, even if they were tears of joy.

Kazuya blinked when he saw Kai run in. "Kai?" When she jumped over and hugged him, he hugged her back with a smile. "Hey kiddo!" He patted her head lightly. "How've you been? It's been ages, hasn't it?" he said with a smile. He could smell the salty tang of tears on the air, but it was slight. He assumed she was just excited to see him again. And then he remembered about the war between the Snow and the Stealth. It had been a while since it'd happened, but the thought still made him frown. But for Kai's sake, he held onto the smile, even though it wasn't so hard. He'd missed her.

"I've been okay," she said honestly. "Things have been crazy back home, but that doesn't matter, because I get to see you," she said cheerfully. The young hybrid let go of Kazuya with a giant smile. "How have you been?" She asked. He looked the same, she noted. It was nice seeing him once more as his normal self. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been no more than a small child like herself. That had been odd, yet fun. They'd managed to play with each other and even Kymir had behaved. She missed those days, but she loved her old Kazuya even more.

Kazuya smiled when she said she'd been okay, then rubbed her head lightly when she said that things had been crazy back home. "I've heard," he said with a nod. "I've been good. This paperwork is killing me though," he joked with a small grin. He paused a moment. "How are things going in the Snow anyways?" he asked curiously. He was worried about it. Both as a Kage and as a friend. Kazuya didn't know Micah, but he remembered what had happened at the Kage meeting that could have set Micah off like that. After all, Tenkuu had gone off on him first. Things were getting complicated.

Kai smiled. "But it's your job to do paperwork, silly." She turned and looked at all the papers. "Well...maybe there are a lot." She looked back up at Kazuya. "It's...divided, somewhat..." She shrugged. Should she be telling him this? What harm could it do? "I think my dad...er, the Kage is planning something," she whispered. "And anyone who's been complaining about the war has gone missing," she shuddered. "He's getting like a tyrant. People are talking about leaving the village, but they're scared they'll get hunted down." She paused. She was glad to be currently living with Takashi, but if she had the choice, she'd leave the village completely. But where would she go? She had family in the Stealth, but if Micah got angry and attacked again, she didn't want to get caught up in it all. She would come here, but she didn't think her and Kymir would get along very well.

Kazuya smiled when she called him silly. "Hm, well, I suppose you're right." He listened when she started explaining what was going on in the Snow. He narrowed his eyes a bit in confusion when Kai mentioned her father, and then corrected herself by instead calling him the Kage. And then he listened about what was happening to those who were speaking out. This didn't sound good. Not good at all. Maybe Kazuya would send someone there to find out more about what was going on. Because if Micah was becoming a tyrant like Kai was suggesting, Kazuya couldn't risk another attack on his village. If this was a problem, it had to be contained before it started getting out of hand. He looked out the window before looking at Kai again. "I know he's your dad, but...try not to draw attention to yourself, okay?" Who knew what Micah would do. What if Kai was the one who spoke out next, because it was her father, and then she disappeared too? The very thought of it was enough to make Kazuya mad. But they shouldn't have been talking about such a thing. He stood up. "Hey, how bout we go get some ice cream or something, hm?"

Kai blinked. She'd avoided doing anything of the sort. "I won't," she promised. She was kind of scared that she'd be kicked out or go missing like the others. At times she wondered what her dad did when he was at home? Was he plotting? Or was he missing her. Kai sighed. She missed her mom. If her mother was here, everything would be fine. When Kazuya mentioned ice cream she jumped up. "Okay!"

Kazuya frowned lightly when Kai sighed. She was too young to be going through something like this. When she jumped up, he smiled. "Let's go then," he said with a smile, before walking out of the office and down the stairs. "I'm taking a break," he told the guards when he went by them. With Kai behind him, he was sure they'd understand.

Kai followed happily behind Kazuya. She smiled to the guards as Kazuya led them out. "We're getting ice cream," she said. When they were outside she looked up at the sky. "Don't you ever miss seeing the sun? It's always so dark here," she commented. "Kazuya, how's my brother?" She asked. She figured she might as well see if he was okay. They didn't keep in touch, but that didn't change the fact that they were still related. Even if Kymir didn't see it that way. "Oh, may I get sprinkles on my ice cream?"

Kazuya smiled when Kai informed the guards that they were getting ice cream. He looked at her when she asked if he missed seeing the sun. "Sometimes. Every now and then the fog will clear up though, enough for it to be nice and bright. And when that happens, there's usually a mist hanging about, so whenever there's sun in the Death Valley, it's always followed by big rainbows," he told her, patting her on the head once. "So it's worth it to wait, I think." He looked at her when she asked about Kymir. "He's doing good," he said. "Much better actually. Things are going much better for him." He smiled when she asked if she could get sprinkles. "Sure," he said with a nod. When they got to the place, the inside of it was considerably more cheery than the dreary outside. "Order whatever you want Kai." It had been a while since he'd last had ice cream. So yeah, he was going to get one too.

Kai eyes widened as Kazuya explained. "Really," she asked. "That's really cool! I wish I could be around when it happens." Kai loved rainbows. Maybe one day she'd try and spend the weekend here so she could see if a rainbow would appear after the sun came out. She was glad to here Kymir was doing well. Great! "There's so many people," she said with a hearty laugh. "And so much ice cream." She'd be visiting here as well. Going up to the counter she looked at the cashier. "Can I get a vanilla ice cream with lots of sprinkles, and a cherry on top. That should do for me."

Kazuya couldn't help but to smile when Kai stated how many people there were. The cashier seemed just as amused by Kai's cheerfulness, and gave her a nod before looking to Kazuya. "Anything for you Lord Kage?" Kazuya nodded. "A chocolate cone should do." The cashier nodded and got to work on it as Kazuya pulled out the money to pay for it. He refused to accept anything free from his villagers. When the cashier came back with the ice creams, he handed Kai's to her and Kazuya's to him, before starting to protest when he saw the money. Kazuya smiled. "Please don't start," and handed him the money before starting off to a table to sit down. "This is a much better place to talk than that boring old office, huh?" he asked with a smile.

Kai took her cone. "Thank you," she said with a happy smile as she took a small bite out of the cone. It was cold. Reminded her of home. Home didn't have many ice cream places. Too cold. Kai took a seat across from Kazuya. "I agree," she said with a laugh. "Too bad you have to go back there." She kicked her feet back and forth. "Thank you for the ice cream."

Kazuya purposely shuddered when Kai mentioned how he had to go back to the office, just to be overdramatic. "Don't remind me." Kazuya thought it was good to get out of the office and hang around once in a while. It let the villagers know that he was just another one of them. Of course, if he got out too much, people would assume he wasn't doing anything. "No problem. I haven't had ice cream in a while anyways. It's starting to get warm out, so I figured why not." He then paused. "Of course...now that I think about it, it's probably not all that warm in the Snow." He gave a light chuckle.

Kai giggled when Kazuya shuddered. He was funny. Kai stuck her tongue out when he said it wasn't warm in the Snow. "Not at all," she confirmed. "But compared to winter's, it's very nice outside." Kai shook her head. "You should get ice creams more often. They're really good. Oh and add sprinkles." She nodded. "Sprinkles are good." That was clear from the amount she had on her ice cream, which was starting to drip, so she had to lick the edges before her hands got to sticky.

Kazuya couldn't help but to smile when Kai giggled. She was so innocent. There was no reason she had to go through things like this. He wondered why someone like her would even become a ninja at all. "Well I would, but...I'm not a little kid anymore, getting ice creams all the time would look silly," he told her with a smile, licking his own ice cream. Although he'd just became an adult again, he kind of missed being able to run around in his wolf form. That side of him always longed to be out. And to be free. But he had a job to do. Maybe when he retired, if he lived long enough to retire.

"Well, I'll bring you ice cream." She said with a sly smile. "That way you won't look like a little kid," she said. Kai starred at a sprinkle, wishing she could move it with her mind. "You know, we should go to the open, since you're on break. It's nice outside the village," she said. "People have their boats out and everything. And we could go for a run," she said with a nod. She had no clue that Kazuya had been reminiscing over not being able to run. "Like old times," she added.

Kazuya smiled when Kai said she'd bring him ice cream. "Haha, well thank you Kai." He looked at her when she suggested that they go to the Open, then smiled. "You must be psychic Kai. I was thinking the same thing," he told her with a nod.