A Leaf Among the Clouds

"Indeed."

Kei held up his bottle of sake and went in for another long drink. After eating his fill he leaned back, glancing out to the streets below that were now alive and well-lit. People were performing, dancing, partying, and doing just about whatever they felt like in the limitations of the law. Smiling he looked back over to Tomoe and felt a question teeter his lips.

"Did you have to give someone up to be the Hokage? A lost love perhaps? Was wondering if I was the only one."

Kei had become slightly flushed from the speedy intake of sake, but remained firm and sat straight.

Whereas Kei seems to enjoy practically gulping sake down, Tomoe prefers to sip at the wine, savoring the flavor between bites of salad. She finishes eating not long after Kei does and continues to sip at her wine even after she is done eating.

"To become the Hokage? I'm not sure I would phrase it that way." Rather than play at word games though, she clarifies, "There was someone once, in the past. But it wasn't my becoming the Hokage that ended that."

A lady could almost get the wrong impression with the direction this conversation is going.

SMASH

Kei's head snapped around. Leaping out of his chair he cleared Tomoe and now stood in the doorway of his office, Lightning starting to trickle around his fingers. When he saw who it was the lightning dissipated and he ran forward to assist Seiya. In Seiya's arms were one of the ANBU Kei has sent to Kusa, badly injured.

"He just got back, Ginki isn't with him. He hasn't said anything but he wanted to report to you right away!" Seiya was exasperated and together Kei and Seiya sat the ANBU member on the couch in the corner of his office.

"You need medical attention, be brief and tell me what happened."

"Iwa... defectors.. betraying Tsu-Tsuchi-Tsuchikage. Meeting ah... Me-Meeting with Kusa Jounin. They... detected us. Don't know how. Just escaped... I'm sorry." His voice was rasp and blood was dried and stuck to his mask like glue.

"Get him to the Medical Center then meet me at the village gates in an hour. Bring 'it'." Seiya looked at Kei with wide eyes then let a smile crack. He nodded and darted away with the ANBU member.

"Tomoe, you will find that the third door down the hall will have enough comfort for you tonight. I will see that you have provisions for your journey home tomorrow. Sorry I have to leave so abruptly.

I need to make a visit to Iwa. Now."

Tomoe leaps to her feet at the sound of the smash, pulling a fan from her robes on instinct. She refrains from opening the weapon and advances curiously and cautiously towards the door, following behind the Raikage to see what is going on here. When it's apparent there is no immediate danger to herself or the Raikage, she replaces the fan within her robes and simply observes, standing quietly in the background while matters of village importance are attended to.

When the Raikage announces his intentions to depart abruptly, she shakes her head. "I will accompany you. At least as far as Konoha." If this has happened to the Raikage's scouts, then she has concern for what has befallen those she sent out to investigate the Land of Grass and gather information for her.

"Fine, as long as you are up to the journey. You've traveled once today."

Kei walks over to his coat stand and pulls down a black and white traveling cloak. He then puts on his yellow bracelet accompanied by kanji symbols on each link. Kei grabs a Kunai pouch and a Shurikin pouch from a shelf in the corner and fits them on his belt. Finally he pulls out two masks from a hidden cabinet hidden behind a picture. Both are black with a white stripe across the bottom. One has red markings under the eye, the other has blue ovals around the eyes. He tosses the one with red markings to Tomoe.

"Best if no one knows its us. Seiya will have one as well. He'll meet at as the gate."

Kei turns and exits the room.

Tomoe gathers up her traveling cloak, which at some point she would have left behind at the Raikage's office. While it is suited to traveling, especially incognito, it is not a garment that she needed to wear throughout the village. Having arrived several hours before in Kumo, she is ready to depart far quicker than the Raikage is, but she waits patiently.

She catches the mask and nods. "Indeed. Let's not allow rumors to spread that might jeopardize our future plans." She puts the mask on and pulls up the cloak on her traveling cloak, thereby obscuring any notable features, as she follows the Raikage to the gates of Kumo where they will meet this Seiya once more. "Call me Aka during this operation," she replies, referring to the red markings on the mask given to her.

Rushing towards the village gates with Aka behind him Kei begins to scan around for sight of Seiya. Finally he sees him just outside the gates, his ANBU attire on. Kei comes to a screeching stop next to Seiya. Seiya nods and darts out into the Lightning Country. A thunder storm has just begun and thunder is booming around Kei and Aka.

"No use in hiding it from you, Seiya is my Head Ninja as well as my ANBU captain. He'll be coming with us." Kei then darted after him into the night.

OOC: Why don't you close this thread and I will start another one in the Minor Villages sections where I come upon Kusa's boarder. There you can decide if you are going back into Konoha or traveling into Kusa with me. I will be using the Ninja technique that allows you to change your appearance (can't remember what its called.)

'Aka' nods at the brief introduction. "I'm Aka," she says simply to Seiya. Surely a ninja of such esteem and skill will know how to handle that introduction.

With such issues squared away, 'Aka' follows after Kei and Seiya towards the Land of Grass. They would make a brief stop over in Konoha for 'Aka' to grab one of her ANBU to assist them and also report on what sort of information her own ninja may have gathered in her absence, as well as for any supplies to be quickly gathered before they continue onwards to the border of Kusa.