Kinaga sighed and sat on a treebranch outside the gates of the Stealth. Rumiko and him were going to go to see a friend of his in the Crested Village in order to heal Kinaga's weakened heart. He looked down. Is it really worth it to become a ninja again....? More than once it's made me into something of a monster.... He shook his head a little. The Stealth needs me in this war....

(sorry roxl, guess you know what this means!!)

Rumiko walked to the gates eyes blank and half closed. He'd barely gotten any sleep last night but it was somewhat worth it. He had some news for Kinaga that he thought might cheer him up. "Kinaga, hello." He said looking up at him.

Kinaga looked at Rumiko and smiled, trying to block out his previous thoughts. He jumped down from the tree. "Hey Rumi. Uhh, are you okay? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine," Rumiko said with a shrug. He didn't want Kinaga worrying about him right now, it wasn't th best time. He looked up. "I've got some news," he said.

Kinaga tilted his head a little, curiously. "Yeah, what is it?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well remember how I said Isaac ran away after the mission," he said his voice was so empty and saddened. "I found him," his eyes began to water. "He wasn't doing so well," Rumiko said looking up. "He's doing....great!" He smirked and gave a small whistled and the a dog appeared., White fur and black paws he was no longer small, he was huge and well feed with a headband around his neck. "Meet our old friend Isaac," Rumiko grinned.

Kinaga's eyes widened slightly at how big he'd gotten. He grinned and gave a small whistle and Isaac ran over to Kinaga and jumped on him, nearly knocking him over. Kinaga laughed a little and petted him. He looked at Rumiko. "Where was he?"

Rumiko grinned. "In the rogue forest were I originally found him," he said. "He's a ninja dog now, don't ask how he got that way because I don't know," Rumiko giggled.

Kinaga grinned at Isaac. The once little puppy, was now a ninja dog. Helooked at Rumiko. "You know this means we're gonna have a little extra company on our trip right?" he asked with a grin. He felt like a little kid around this dog for some reason. And he didn't plan on leaving for the Crested without Isaac.

Rumiko smiled. "Yep," he said. He looked at Isaac. "You up for it boy," Isaac gave a growl of approval and Rumiko looked at Kinaga. "I guess thats's a yes," he smirked.

Kinaga smiled at Isaac and looked at Rumiko. "We should get a move on then, Serenity doesn't know we're coming and with the war going on, they'll be building up their defenses as much as they can as quickly as they can and soon, they might not let anyone in." He started walking with a small shrug. Since the other day, his chest hadn't stopped hurting and he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

(before I forget to post it, this is a picture of Serenity, Kinaga's friend in the Crested Village. I photoshopped the hell out of it and I love it!)

(nice Kinny. I wish I could photoshop.)

Rumiko shook his head and started towards the crested. "Alright," he said happlily. "Let's get a move on then," he said as he continues Isaac following close behind watching the birds in the sky.

Kinaga walked next to Rumiko, and looked back at Isaac and smiled.

____________________________________________________________

About two hours later, they come to the gates of the Crested Valley, which are closed with guards standing in front of them. Kinaga sighed. "Of course," he said under his breath. They walked up to the guards and they stepped in front of them.

"State your name and business." one of them said.

"I'm Kinaga Unabara and this is-"

"Let him state his own name unless he's a mute," the other one said.

Kinaga sighed, a little irritated and looked at Rumiko.

Rumiko mouth nearly dropped when the guy siad that. "Uh...I'm Rumiko Iruki," he said a bit quietly because he was shocked. He looked at Isaac. You wanna know his name too? He almost asked.

Kinaga looked at the guards. "We're here to see the medic of the crested village, Serenity."

The guard looked over Kinaga. He looked at the other guard. "Go get Tyshi and Ruuro to escort them to her house." A couple minutes later two men in their mid-thirties came out of the gate and looked at Rumiko, Kinaga, and Isaac. "Come on, we'll take you to Lady Serenity."

Kinaga looked at Rumiko and shrugged, following them into the village. They were taken to a house, the entrance on the side, between that and another house.

A little girl of about eleven with blond hair in a ponytail sat on the steps looking bored. She looked up, then stood up. "Hello, what business do you have with milady?" she said, suddenly alert.

Tyshi looked at the little girl and said "These two claim to have business with her."

The little girl nodded and ran inside. A curtain pushed open slightly, but not enough for someone to see who was looking through. It closed and a couple seconds later the door opened and Serenity ran out and hugged Kinaga, and if the wall wasn't behind him, he probably would've fell backwards. She looked about 19 or 20 years old. She looked at the two guards and frowned and shooed them away. "You can leave, these people are nothing to be worried about, they're not here to cause trouble." The two guards left and Serenity looked up at Kinaga and grinned. "Kinaga Unabara, I haven't seen you in, oh, what, thirty years?" She let go of him. "So, are you here for a visit?" she frowned with a mock pout. "Or do you need me to heal you again?" She looked at Rumiko. "Oooh, who's your cutie friend?"

Kinaga gave a small, slightly nervous laugh. "This is Rumiko Iruki. Rumi, this is Serenity."

Serenity put an arm around Rumiko and smiled. "Well any friend of Kinny's is a friend of mine." She looked at Isaac. "And what a cute puppy!"

(by the way, no I did not mess up the age or the years since he's seen her. If you haven't guessed already, she's immortal)

(cool)

Rumiko stood still. "Hi," he said. He looked at Isaac who was taking in the love wagging his tail.Rumiko looked at Kinaga. Ten years? he wanted to ask. You've been gone for twenty.

(oops, maybe I did screw up the years a bit....lol, I gotta change that, my bad. you can change ur post before I post again if you want.)

(oh crap, that was an accident. I was helpig someone when I was on Jay and must nt have logged off. Lol, I'll delete her post when I have more time so just forget she's there please.)

(btw love the curse mark pic.)

Rumiko stood still. "Hi," he said. He looked at Isaac who was taking in the love wagging his tail.Rumiko looked at Kinaga. Ten years? he wanted to ask. You've been gone for twenty.

(thanks, I think I like the pic in icon form better than in normal form though. Oh yeah, i changed the ten years to thirty, becasue I forgot Kinaga's been dead for 20, lol, my bad)

Serenity looked at the three of them and smiled. "Why don't you three come on in?" She looked at the little girl with blond hair. "You too. If anyone else needs me, they can wait."

The little girl nodded excitedly. "Yes Lady Serenity."

Kinaga followed her in, and fell back a bit to talk to Rumi. "Just a bit of advice," he whispered. "Never ask Serenity about her age. And one more thing you should know....she has a very short fuse, I wouldn't get her mad if I were you."

Serenity stopped and looked at Kinaga. "What're you two whispering about back there?" she asked playfully.

Kinaga smiled and gave a small (slightly nervous, if I might add) laugh. "Oh nothing, I just told Rumi before we came here how heavily guarded it was, and he didn't believe me, that's all." Kinaga glanced at Rumi.

The little girl closed the door behind them. Serenity looked at them and shrugged. "Oh yeah, it's been like this ever since the beginning of the war. Why don't you two have a seat?" She sat down on the couch and Kinaga sat down next to her. "So, since you never seem to come just to visit, what do you need me to heal?"

"Uhh....I need you to take a look at my heart and see if you can heal it."

Serenity grinned. "Aww, did you just get dumped by a lady friend Kinny?" Kinaga turned a little red and Serenity said "I'm just kidding, lemme see what I can do." She did a jutsu and put her hand on Kinaga's chest. After a minute or so, her eyes widened a little and....she slapped Kinaga. "What did you do to yourself?! This had to have happened over a long period of time, so you had to know it was happening! Why do you come to me if you did this to yourself? No, sorry Kinaga, but I won't heal you." She got up and stormed into the other room (the doorway is covered by those hangy down beads). Kinaga looked a bit shocked that she slapped him and put his hand where she slapped him.

"That kinda hurt...."

The little girl looked at them. "I'll go see if I can change her mind." she ran into the other room and Kinaga sighed.

"Figures...." He looked at Rumiko. "Didn't I tell you she has a temper?" he said with a light smile.

(do you think this post is longer than the one i posted on my longest post thread?)

(k, I don't really know. You had paragraphs in your longest one, but who knows. use microsoft and see. )

Rumiko looked at Kinaga and sat beside him. Isaac lay on the ground at his feet. As the two adults talked he looked around the room. When Serenity started to fuss he looked in time to see her slap his sensei. Rumiko had to stop himself and Isaac from jumping up and hitting her. He looked shocked when she said she wouldn't heal Kinaga. He looked as she left and then the little girl. She's going to heal my sensei one way or the other. Whether she wants to or not, he thought with slightly narrow eyes. He looked at Kinaga. "Sure," he said.

Kinaga looked at Rumiko and gave a light smile. "Don't hold this against her Rumi. She's been alive for a long time, and seeing these kinds of things repeat themselves over and over will get to you after a while." He gave a small laugh. "This happened last time I came here too." He looked off to the side and sighed. In the other room, you could hear a whispered arguement.

The little girl came out of the room and looked at them. "She'll be out in a little bit, don't worry." She said with a small smile.

About 15 minutes later, Serenity slowly walked out of the room and looked at Kinaga. Her eyes almost immediately filled with tears and she hugged Kinaga. Kinaga looked a little shocked, sighed and hugged her back. "Sorry, Seren."

Serenity let go of him and wiped the few tears off her face. "I'll heal you this time, but if you ever do this to yourself again, this will be the last time, you hear me?" Kinaga gave a light smile and nodded. Serenity looked at the little girl. "Ara, you remember that jutsu I taught you?" Ara nodded, smiling. "Good, I want you to use it on the house." Ara did the jutsu and outside the house turned black. Serenity looked at Rumiko and Kinaga. "Some people like to try to watch, so that makes sure no one can see...or hear when I'm healing someone." She looked at Ara. "I want you to leave, and go play or something. Come back in an hour or so." Ara walked out of the house, the blackness remaining outside still. She looked at Rumiko. "It doesn't matter to me whether you stay or not, but-"

Kinaga looked at Rumiko. "I want you to leave for the time being," he said quickly.

Serenity looked at Kinaga, then at Rumiko. She got up and pulled Rumiko to the side. "Listen, Kinny hates being seen like this, and I can tell he's ashamed to be asking me to heal him again, even though it doesn't seem like it, but....A healing of this magnitude would be extremely painful and....I think he'll need someone to be there for him, you know?" she said quietly, and smiled sweetly at him. "I hate going against him, but this time, I think I'd be in the right to say that you should really stay here. Kinny has a bit too much pride for his own good sometimes, you know?"

Kinaga leaned back on the couch and sighed a little nervously. Healing was never a painless process. The last time I came here....it was excruciating...... He heard Serenity whispering to Rumiko and wondered what she was telling him. He closed his eyes for a minute or so, trying to calm himself down.

(wow, nice post!)

Rumiko looked at Kinaga and sighed. "Fine," he said. He didn't like the fact that she'd hit his sensei but Kinaga asked him not to hold it against her and he wouldn't. Instead he patted Isaac who was still looking edgy. As the little girl came out and said that Serenity would be out he sighed with relief.

Asshe came out and her and Kinaga started talking he zoned out until Ara was sent out and Serenity was about to speak to him. He looked at Kinaga when she said that she didn't care whethere he stayed or went. But before he could respond Kinaga asked him to leave and the next thing he knew he was being pulled to the side by Serenity. As she spoke to him about healing jutsu and Kinaga's stubborness and pride he smiled.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "I know all about that," he said remebering the time that he'd told Kinaga to stay seated while he fetched his sword. He rolled his eyes. "I'm staying." He walked over to Kinaga. "Sorry, but I'd like to stay okay. Besides I don't think Isaac would want me leaving you here alone." He looked at the white ninja dog who shook his head in agreement.

Kinaga looked at Rumiko and sighed. "I'd really rather that you-" Serenity slapped him in the back of his head a bit playfully. "Oow, what was that for?" he asked, looking at her.

"Stop being so prideful Kinny. Don't you remember the last time you came to me? You didn't even let your parents stay and you know what it was like." Kinaga tried not to shudder, as he remembered the first time he was taken to her, when he was about 14. "Yeah, see? Now he's going to stay here. I'm not going to let it be like last time Kinny."

Kinaga sighed and looked at Rumiko with a small smile and laughed a little. "Yeah, I don't think he'd like that too much," he said, in reference to Isaac.

(sorry, I'm preparing for a REALLY long post and don't have the time to type it right now, so my next post I will)

(k)

Rumiko looked at Kinaga. "Stop being selfish geez," he said. He looked down at the floor. "I won't pay you an attention," he said petting Isaac. "I'll play with him if you like, that way my mind won't be on you, but I will still be here if you need me. Even though you'll deny it," he said sheepishly. Isaac barked his agreement and wagged his tail before standing up annd licking Kinaga in the face. Rumiko reddened. Very nice, little buddy, very nice.