Transfer Mission: The Blackbird's Dilemma

Kana waited outside the gates of the Crested with her bag on her back. Her captain hadn't even told her who she would be going with, just to meet them outside the gates at this time and date. So here she was. Her mission was a year long transfer mission to the Rock Village. They suspected that spies were trying to infiltrate their gates, so they wanted outside ninja to come, for whatever reason was beyond Kana's understanding. Weren't the ninja there good enough to fend off these invaders? Oh well, it wasn't her place to question such things. It was about a week after her fight with Felix, and the thought of it hadn't crossed her mind for several days. She was going off to the Rock Village, to forget about it all. Maybe she'd get some inspiration and create some new jutsu while she was over there. Who knew? She looked at her watch impatiently. She wanted to get out of the Crested as soon as possible. She leaned back against the gate with a sigh. Her partner wasn't late, she was just early. She almost felt like doing a quick lap around the village to see if he or she would be there by then, but thought better of it. Instead, she leaned against the wall of the gates and took out a small pocket book and a pencil and started sketching. She needed to start thinking of new creatures to put into her jutsu, as well as new jutsu. Usually when she was thinking of new creatures (or trying to), ideas for new jutsu would pop out at her.

Felix had talked to his Captain and gotten the closest transfer mission he could find. The whole process was excruciatingly painful. Felix had to sit there with Izua's gaze boring into him. The guy made Felix uneasy, and there were very few people capable of doing that. Not informed on who his partner would be, Felix hoped that whoever it was would be capable of keeping up. He didn't need some weakling that he'd have to protect. His hands in his pockets and his head down, he didn't know who he was approaching until he caught their shadow, making him look up. He couldn't say he was pleased with the sight of Kianashi there. She had after all made their previous departure rather unpleasant. Felix had already agreed upon being blunt today. No need to be nice, but this had just changed the game. He'd be playing a dangerous game. He'd make her life hell.

Kana looked up as she heard approaching footsteps, getting off the wall and closing her book. "About....time?" The Special Jonin's face went blank in confusion at the sight of her old sensei. She had specifically requested not to be put on any missions with him, what the hell was her captain thinking?! Was this some kind of sick joke?!

With a sigh, Kana pocketed her book and pencil, then gave Felix a quick once over. "You're joking, right?" Her tone wasn't at all friendly. She didn't want to, but she had to keep up the act. While transfer missions weren't normally dangerous, you could never be too sure. And if she for some reason died on this mission, she didn't want him feeling any grief over it. Therefore, she had to keep up the act.

(nice reaction)

Felix didn't even bother looking her over. Instead he kept on walking. "You can drop the charade, I don't care if you live or die. It's not my problem. Besides, I thought we'd already established that you are nothing to me." Point blank. Dead serious. All joking aside. He was really done with her. If she believed she could walk this path alone then let it be. He really didn't care. He wasn't going to worry himself over a human. A mere mortal who thought she could play chicken and win every single time. But Felix knew people made mistakes. He made them all the time. And when she slipped up, there would be no one there to save her. Because she would have been the one to have stayed on the path the longest. Everyone else would have gone home. And then and only then would Death call her home.

(Lol, thankie)

Kana blinked as he kept walking, then walked up after him, but for some reason, kept behind him. She honestly didn't know why she'd done that. Maybe it was to avoid him seeing her face, maybe it was because she felt bad for treating him as she was. Whatever the reason was didn't matter, because she would continue to walk there. She almost stopped walking at his comment, but didn't allow her step to falter in anything but mind. Her gaze dropped and she put her hands in her pockets as she walked. "Good. Let's keep it that way," she said in response to...well hell, everything he'd said. Though inside it hurt her to hear him say that. It really did. She tried to keep her gaze blank, but it wasn't working too well. A mix of several emotions was being shown through her eyes, all of them negative. Without a word, Kana pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. This was gonna be a very, very long year.

Felix wasn't done. No, he was far from done. Her little response was going to be the fuel to his flame. Although, he didn't really need one. This anger, this annoyance, it had all been pent up during the night with Serenity. But now, he was free to do as he pleased. To say what he wanted. And there would be no guilt on his side. "I will in fact keep it that way, but it's a shame that you spoke all of that meaningless talk just to contradict yourself. Head bowed, hands in your pocket. Hmm, who does that remind you of? Oh that's right, me." Felix's blue eyes were hidden, but a very dangerous grin was slowly spreading across his face. Had she been an enemy, she probably would have been dead. Felix was no murderer, but he could have done a good job at making it look like she had been killed by some other ninja. "If you're nothing to me, I'd advise you to do the same and stop acting like you're me."

Of course he had to keep going. No no no, he couldn't simply leave it be, not Felix Kuriyama. If this kept up, Kana really would end up getting pissed off with him, instead of just acting. At his last sentence, Kana looked at him. Being behind him, she didn't see the grin spreading over his face. If she had, she might've chosen her words more carefully. "Don't be so arrogant. After training with you for all those years, I've developed a style similar to yours. It's not like I'm consciously trying to be like you," she said, her tone falling just short of snobby. But there was a bit of anger in her voice. She couldn't really tell anymore if it was real anger, or if she was still faking. The lines were becoming blurred.

She didn't realize something until that moment. And it hit her like a brick in the back of the head after she'd already been run over by a stampede of wild animals and rained on. The village only supplied enough funding for ninja on transfer missions to live in one apartment, with the appropritate number of rooms. Kana didn't have nearly enough saved up to be able to get a separate place, but if she did she would. Even though it was against the rules to do so...ninja from the village had to stick together, that was their village's rules. They had to live in the same apartment during transfer missions. The thought made her a little sick, causing her face to pale a bit. This would be an unpleasant mission. She'd rather be tossed into the middle of the Unknown during a full moon with no weapons and no chakra than be on this mission right now...

(Hehe...Kana's not trying to start a fight...but I ammmm....)

(you're about to get your wish.)

Felix came to a very sudden stop. "Me being arrogant?" He'd been waiting for this for the longest time. Slowly he drew a kunai. "You want to see me being arrogant?" He asked. He turned, his blue eyes hidden and his grin was very much visible. "Then I'll show you arrogant." She had crossed the line. Felix was already pissed at her, but now she was running her mouth. It would get her killed. Screw the mission. Screw the village. Screw the knowledge that she was a former student. She was going to sign her death warrant and Felix would be the keeper.

(Yay!)

Kana damn near ran into Felix when he stoped so suddenly. She had to keep herself on the tip of her toes to avoid it, taking a step back once she had her balance, so she wasn't so close to him. When he pulled a kunai, her eyes widened for an instant before she pulled one out herself. She hadn't been planning on fighting Felix. He could kill her if he wanted to, she knew it. And she didn't plan on going full out against him, hell no. She might not have been able to kill him, but she could still do enough damage to put him into a nice long sleep if she wanted. Well, if she really tried to anyways.

When he turned and looked at her with a grin, she stood her ground, her whole being wary of his movements. She knew Felix well enough to know that he wouldn't hesitate to try and kill her. So she had to be on her guard. "You are being arrogant," she retorted, but her voice helda hint of defensiveness to it. "Just because I've adopted a style similar to yours, you think I'm doing it to be just like Kuriyama-sensei," she said, although it was obvious the last part was meant to mock a bit. "Perhaps that's more self-centered than arrogant though," she said, keeping her gaze on him, giving a small swallow.

Felix grinned happily. His eyes glowing. He'd even allowed his eyes to show. "So now you want to fight me?" He asked. "That's fine by me." He stepped back and gave her a less dangerous grin. "But I think we should wait. We've got company." He threw a kunai inches from her face and watched it sail past to meet it's target with full force. "I'll worry about you later, so don't go getting yourself killed." He turned and looked to the other ninja that were coming from the bushes. "Waste of time."

(this isn't the plot scene. just needed something to post. )

There was something different about his grin this time. Was he actually happy he was getting a chance to fight her? Getting a chance to possibly kill her? Kana froze in place as the kunai whizzed past her face. He'd said they had company. Which meant that he was aiming for someone else. That being said, she didn't know which side of her said company was on. If she'd moved, it was possible she'd have moved her head into the path of the kunai. So, she didn't move until the kunai was past her.

Kana rolled her eyes as he told her not to get killed. "You must have forgotten who trained me. You're becoming senile." With that, Kana turned to meet her attacker that was behind her. A thought struck her then. After they killed the ninja, Felix could try to kill her and blame it on them. She wished she hadn't thought of that. Now she'd have to be on guard for not only these ninja, but Felix as well. She swallowed lightly. She was starting to wish she'd stayed on Felix's good side.

Felix's grin lightened bit by bit. "You don't know me as well as you think you do then. I'll never loose sight of what's important to me. And as long as I breath, the battle in front of me will be the only thing that matters." Felix found himself meeting the first ninja head on, clashing with the other's kunai. This guy wasn't even worth Felix's time. Nor anyone else's. "You're a bit far from home, are you not?" He asked the ninja. The guy had to be all over 25. Felix was sick of fighting inexperienced ninja. Backing off, he kicked the guy in the stomach, leaving him gasping for breath. If Kana had problems with these guys he'd be highly disappointed.

Kana said nothing in response, but instead focused on the fight. She didn't feel like talking right now. She had to focus. Then again....as she found herself against the first ninja, she found that focus wasn't really needed. These guys were...rather pathetic, actually. As the guy went to lunge a kunai forward, she turned her body sideways, then grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards her before sending a punch to the guy's chest, sending him sprawling backwards. If there was one thing Kana tended to focus on most during battle, it was the chest area. Because if you hit the right spot, you could stop their chakra flow. Permenantly, in some cases. How did Kana know this? Well for one thing, she could see the chakra flow. She thought all ninja could, so she never made a big deal of it. She'd accidentally hit someone on the chest on a mission one day and had temporarily stopped his chakra flow, giving their team the chance to get the one up. Needless to say, the mission had been a success.

Felix wasn't even trying to bother with being serious about this fight. He knew better than to be reckless though. The real ninja could be lying in waiting for them to get a bit cocky and then that's when it'd all go down. Again he was plagued by that memory from years ago. It was a constant distraction, and even now it proved to be a hindrance. The ninja who'd come up to help his partner gave him a a decent blow to the side. This of course only made Felix annoyed. "What do these village teach you ninja these days. You're sensei's are too soft. If you were given the chance to kill, then you should have taken it." Felix literally broke the guy's nose for his failure to deal a deadly blow. "I must say, as much as I hate Remus, his type of training may have been worth it. This world is turning into mush."

Kana dodged another ninja that had been coming for her, and swiped the kunai at his side as soon as she had the chance. "They must have some pretty low standards. Even our genin could beat these guys," she said plainly. After having swiped the kunai at the guy's side, she stopped, feeling a rather large cut on her side. Something was wrong. It was only then that she realized that had happened. They'd used a replacement jutsu, with her as the replacement. When the hell did a human replacement jutsu get created? Of course, the pain in her side only fueled what anger she was feeling from before. And what better way to take out her anger than on enemy ninja? Ignoring the pain for the time being, Kana grabbed the ninja closest to her and delved her kunai into his stomach, aiming for a main vein or artery. Playtime was over.

Felix turned and looked at Kana. "If these guys can be beat by our genin, then please explain why you just fell for a replacement jutsu, with you as the replacement? I expected better from someone of your status. I guess I shouldn't assume things. Take care of yourself while I end this little....I can't even call it a warm up." Felix brought his elbow down on the guy's neck, causing him to fall into unconsciousness and moved towards the last two ninja that were going for Kana. His goal, unlike her's was not to kill a bunch of weaklings. It was to knock them out and move along. Filing reports was not on his agenda. Bad enough he'd have to write this all down. But deaths were even longer.

As right as he was, Kana couldn't bring herself to admit it. She should've seen the guy's chakra flow changing. She'd gotten distracted, so that was her fault. When he told her to take care of herself, she merely shook her head. "It's just a scratch. Nothing I haven't dealt with before, I'm not gonna drop out just because of this," she said sternly. Agh, so what if he was pissed about her refusing. It's not like he was assigned leader of a squad, this wasn't even a squad mission. It was a partner mission, so he couldn't boss her around like he was still her sensei. The one ninja that she'd stuck with the kunai ended up falling to the ground, but there were still two coming at her. the one that was closest to her was the one that she'd gone for. But she hadn't just done that, she'd taken a kunai and thrown it at the other ninja. She didn't like holding back in fights. Once she had the other ninja closer to her, she aimed a punch at his stomach, making him double over, and a kick to his side, sending him smack into a tree. Of course, this was only making the wound on her side worse. Yeah, she'd have to bandage it up later.

Felix decided that since she wanted to be Miss I Can Handle Myself even though the wound to my side is extremely deep and bleeding out all over the place, he'd just sit back and watch. He crossed his arms behind his head and looked at her with little interest of what was going on. So this was what he'd done. A nice little project that he'd made without meaning to. The final product was nearly a masterpiece. Felix was a bit proud, but it was bothersome to know he'd created someone just like him. She was only mortal. Don't bother yourself with petty things. She's doing as she wished. Just as you had before the time when you'd become this. Felix shrugged. And she's still just a kid, whether she believes it or not.

Kana was actually kinda glad he'd sat back. She could finish this quicker then. Chances are, they'd all awaken from unconsciousness before the one with the kunai in his stomach died. The one ninja who'd had the kunai sent at him dodged it, but didn't see the bomb tag on it, which gave him some decent injuries before he fell back and hit his head on a sizeable rock, knocking him outcold. This was pathetic. The one that had been sent into the tree got up, and that was actually starting to annoy Kana. She went to attack him again, pausing when she noticed that his chakra was flowing at a rather fast pace, focusing around his hands. If she got too close that could be trouble. Taking out a shuriken, she quickly enfused a flash tag onto it before throwing it at him. It missed, and hit the tree next to him and Kana closed her eyes for a moment before a blinding flash lit the area. Having her target blinded temporarily, Kana went for him and knocked him out by way of a chop to the back of the neck.

Felix watched the battle, only to be momentarily blinded by the flash bomb. His annoyance level had peaked past it's limits. Felix blinked once and walked away from the mess of ninja on the ground. Not waiting for her he made his way towards the village. He was about ready to knock some sense into this child. But he held his anger in check. This mission was going to turn out a disaster. One of them would crack before it was all over. And Felix was not going to crack. Kyla would be in the village, he could talk to her about it, and he'd needed to speak with her anyway. It would be a convenience, seeing as though he could stay with her for the time he was there.

Kana blinked and looked at Felix as he started walking away, walking after him, but staying a distance behind. Unslinging her bag from her shoulders, she pulled out bandage wrap and slung her backpack back over her shoulders before lifting her shirt just past her waist to start bandaging herself as she walked. She was silent for the most part. She didn't really care if Felix saw. Ninja had to do this in the midst of battle and the aftermath all the time, so this would not be anything new to him, or embarrassing to her. Her anger had faded since the battle had started, but she didn't know if Felix's had. So for the time being, she'd keep her distance and stay quiet. Didn't want him snapping and killing her, after all.

Felix's mental state was slowly piecing itself back together. Had those ninja not showed up, that kunai would have actually hit it's original target, Kana. She got lucky. Felix felt for his locket. He wished he'd had a picture of Serenity in there, but he didn't. At times he wished he'd had a lot of pictures. For one, he wanted one of his mother, as well as the father he'd never known or met, then there was Shira (sorry if that's not right). One of her and Sven would have been nice. But he only had one of Sven. And that one picture Stephen and Walker had gotten made for Serenity with the four of them on it would have been a nice addition to the locket. It had been the closest thing to family he'd ever had. Felix was going to need to start working on getting those pictures when he got back. His father's picture would be hard to find, he didn't know what the guy looked like, but there were records. He could find one in there. This whole thought process was lightening Felix's mood. Kana was safe for now. Felix was close to speaking but stopped to choose his words carefully. "It's best we stop later on in the night, unless you want to walk two days straight and rest then complete the next two days." It was a four day walk, five if you walked a bit slower. Felix would know. He'd only taken this route a million times.

(Shaira. You were close. And...how big is that locket? o.o)

Kana walked in silence after she'd finished bandaging herself. She wanted to say something to Felix, anything to break the silence. But she couldn't. It might piss him off again, and this girl did not want to die today. Or any day for that matter. She was terrified of death. It was a strange fear for one who was a ninja. Especially if that ninja used other people's fears to kill them.

That kind of got her thinking. What if someone reversed her own jutsu back on her? Would she see her life flash before her eyes? That was really what she was afraid of. She didn't want to see the misery she'd caused others trying to push them away. She didn't want to relive how miserable her life had really been. Hell, if Kana hadn't had these constant missions she took on, she might have even killed herself by now. Yes, a lot of the time Kana was depressed. Considering how she lived her life, it wasn't really a surprise.

Though....even through her depression, Kana never found herself crying. She didn't even remember the last time she cried. It had probably been soon after she'd been placed on Felix's squad. She'd made a pact with herself around that time: she'd never show weakness. She'd never falter. She'd never allow others close to her. And she'd never, ever cry again. So far she had accomplished all of that. But her life wasn't over yet. The problem was...she didn't remember whether or not she'd let Felix in on those little goals of hers. It had been so long ago. And when she'd made them, she'd been a naive little child, so who knew if she'd told anyone. She had, after all, looked up to Felix as the closest thing to family she had at the time. At this moment, she hated herself for it. It was only complicating things.

Kana had to wonder though...Felix said that he'd figured out her 'charade' as he put it. Had he really? Or perhaps he only thought he did. On the one hand, if he really did know why she was doing this, he was helping her to complete her goal, by not giving a damn about her. Then on the other hand, he really hadn't figured it out as well as he thought. He could've just said it, knowing that she was pushing people away from her to keep them from getting hurt, but hadn't thought about the things she had to say to accomplish that. She wondered if he realized she hadn't meant a damn thing she said. And even if he did, he was still pissed at her. Probably for trying to push him of all people away. The one person that had actually given a damn about her. Since he hadn't realized it when they'd first gotten into that fight, she'd probably hurt him. Chances are, if he had figured out she didn't mean it, he still hadn't forgiven her for it.

Kana walked with her gaze down, and her hands holding the straps of her backpack. Throughout these thoughts, Kana had started getting depressed again. As so often happened with her, she felt the need to cry, but forced it back, causing a rather decently pained aching in her chest. Every time she held back tears, the aching got worse. She hated it. But she promised herself she'd never cry. And Kana Kianashi didn't break promises, not even with herself. Kana looked up from the ground as Felilx spoke. "We can stop later on tonight," she said, then fell silent. It was obvious that the only things they were going to talk about were the mission. She wanted to apologize to him, but again, that would be breaking her promise. She had to keep him away. And even if she did apologize, who was to say he wouldn't laugh at her for it? Felix remained cold to those who wronged him, she knew that better than anyone.

Something hit her then. Why was he going on a year long transfer mission if his kid was going to be born soon? Had him and the mother broken up? He had said things had been going badly. But then again, maybe they were taking time away from each other. That was another possibility. Kana gave a light sigh. It wasn't her place to pry in such things. Especially after what she'd done. Kana's head bowed as she walked. She wished things could be different.

(*shrug* I had time.)

(It's fairly small, but it's specially made. It has like thin sheets of metal that flip open to place a new picture in. Main picture of Mer on the left then it flips over and over and over with each sheet.) (o.0 Is Kana a bit happy about the separation? Will she take advantage? Hmmm?)(Oh and nice post)

Felix didn't say anything to her response. He decided that silence would be best for now. Besides, he didn't feel like talking with her of all people. If she did not believe that he was worth giving a damn about, even if she was faking then he would not care for her either? Felix wasn't one to go chasing after people. The only person he'd ever cared to chase was Serenity. Felix crossed his arms in front of him and looked up at the sky. Already he was missing Ser and their soon to be newborn child. He could only imagine what would happen when he got back. He was fairly excited, which was a lot from Felix. He was never excited for anything. He gave a small grin. I'm going to be a dad. His kid or not, he was going to father the kid. D.K. may have done him a favor in all of this. He'd never have the heart to take Serenity himself, but through D.K. he got a wish he'd never knew could be granted. He'd never let Ser know that of course.

(Ooohkay...and you will find out the answers to those questions...in due time...)(And awww!!! Felix really did want a kid with Ser!!! That almost made me shed a tear...)

Kana kept silent as they walked. How come she couldn't just be selfish for once? Why couldn't she do just one thing that would actually make her happy? But damn...it was too late for that now. Felix already hated her. Well, maybe not hated her, but was certainly very bitter towards her now. Even if she wanted to try to make things better, it would take a lot to repent. It might have even ended up taking the whole year to make things better with him. If she had wanted to try. But him of all people she didn't want to hurt, even though he said he didn't give a damn about if she died. She really did want to keep it that way. But then again...Felix was immortal, so maybe he just didn't care about the deaths of mortals in general...

(Should we skip to later on? I have a pre-Kalix moment for that anyways. )