Transfer Mission: The Blackbird's Dilemma

"Then here's another answer. I did it because the guy was going to die anyway and Aidelia is too hell bent on getting her revenge on the Sand to let Tentou stop her. The woman is a con artist. She won't stop until the Sand if destroy or she's dead." His blue eyes narrowed slightly. "If she's in charge, we get kicked out of the village and I get to go home. That's all I want, is to go home. And if going home means I had to kill the Kage and help Aidelia get her revenge, then why the hell not, who's going to stop me." That almost sounded like a challenge, even to him.

Kana's finger began lightly, yet quickly, tapping on her arm as she closed her eyes. Yeah, she was going to do something stupid. And it wasn't going to matter because Felix was going to be in prison for god knew how long for running of in the middle of a mission. Those last two sentences are what set her off.

"You stupid...idiotic...son of a bitch," she muttered, her eyes closed in irritation. It wasn't a moment later that she had moved over to Felix and punched him out of the chair he was sitting in. She didn't stop there though, hell no. That wasn't nearly enough. Kana was usually good about keeping her rage under control, but this was something completely different.

She pinned Felix to the ground, punching him again. "How could you do something so stupid! We were so close! We were so fucking close to being done with this! It would've only taken a couple more months!" Another punch. "You had so many chances to go back home, but you picked the one fucking thing that would screw us both over! What the fuck is wrong with you!"

Felix didn't even fight back. He knew Kana was beyond mad and he himself was beyond reasoning. When she'd stopped punching him long enough for him to speak, he did so. "You were close," he snapped. "You could easily wait a few months, I can not! Can't you see what this place is doing to me? It's killing me! Driving me insane! I couldn't wait another few months." Felix's blue eyes were icy. "I tried to stay here for the sake of the mission, to be a good ninja, but I can't take it anymore! I have to go home to Serenity and my kids. I can't stay in this place." At that moment, Felix wanted to fight back, but he chose not to. He chose to stay on the ground, his eyes icy as ever, and allow Kana to take her anger out on him. Not because he had wronged her, but because he didn't care. "In a few months everything would have been fine for you, but I'd still have to go through trial. My punishment would be continued and I'd never be able to get home in time." Felix's tone grew bitter. "After all these years of fighting I could just rest and enjoy life, but I stayed here, for a damn mission. For a village that thinks of me less than human. For a partner that can't see past her own ambitions." Felix gave a short laugh. "I stayed because it's all I know, but I left because I wanted change." He closed his eyes for a brief moment before reopening them. The icy look was gone and an empty blankness has filled them.

Kana sat over Felix, panting lightly as he spoke. Not because she'd tired herself out hitting him, but because she was so pissed off that a couple wounds had ripped open during her careless movements. She couldn't help but to glare at him. Even after all this, she still couldn't wrap her mind around this. When he finished talking, her hands clenched, but she didn't punch him again. "Because you wanted to go home? Because...you fucking wanted to go home...?" She gave a curt laugh of disbelief. "How...just how stupid are you? You had so many other chances to get back to the Crested. They would have been lenient on you there because you're one of our own," she said through slightly clenched teeth. "Of all the things you could have done, why the fuck help her! Because that's the only damn thing you did here, was help Aidelia snake her way up!" Kana pushed herself off Felix before she hit him again and stood up, taking a few steps back as she glared at him. "Hell, you could've even told someone you wree getting sick of it here, and they might've just shipped you back to the Crested in fear of you doing something stupid out of boredom!" She was getting way too pissed off over this and she knew it. What she didn't know was if she could make it out of the house without removing one of Felix's limbs.

Felix couldn't help it. She was so pissed after he'd just explained it all to her, practically baby fed her and she still didn't get it. He'd stayed because he had to, because it was his job. So instead of asking to leave, he'd stayed and suffered through it. And the trial was still standing. He wouldn't have been able to leave if he wanted to. "Yeah," he said. "I am stupid, for thinking you'd get it through your thick skull. All you can see is that this mission is going down the drain even faster than before." He stood up slowly. "And I didn't help her, I helped myself. Then again, maybe this village is better off with her as Kage." What Felix said next probably wasn't going to help the situation, but Kana wasn't going to sit here and pound on him and insult him without a few hurtful words of his own. Felix didn't often insult people, unless he was talking about people in general, but when he did find someone who'd made him speak out, he spoke to wound emotionally and mentally. "And for the record," Felix started, "you wouldn't understand why I want to go home because you have nothing. You drown yourself in your missions, pushing everyone who cares away, letting no one get close. Not even a homeless starving kitten would want to be your friend. Maybe it was a good thing your parents died on that mission, it'd be a shame if that had to witness what you've become." Felix turned away, but he was well prepared for a second assault.

So Felix had pretty much replied to her calling him stupid, by calling her stupid back. Original. Oh, but Kana didn't care about that, no no. She was still too pissed off at him. There were so many ways he could have left. Maybe he was going to have a trial after the mission was over, but if he hadn't called in all those damn favors of his, which was what she was assuming he did in order to stay on the mission in the first place, he could've gone home to the Crested and had a trial there with witnesses from the Rock. At least he would have been in the Crested! Now he was just going to be locked up here, two days away from his girlfriend and kids! And he called her thick headed!

Kana froze in place at what Felix said before turning away. Not because he was right about her pushing everyone away, which he was, granted, but because of what he'd said about her parents. It only took a moment for Kana's anger to reach a whole new level, and almost as soon as he turned away, a kunai was in her hand and she'd moved to throw it, but was stopped by the feeling of an icy grip on her wrist as it was pulled back to throw. When she glanced back, the Shadowshifter was standing behind her, shaking it's head lightly. In another instant it was gone, but Kana was no less pissed. Her grip on the kunai tightened before she threw it at Felix as hard as she could, but it would miss his head only by an inch before it was planted more than halfway into the wall on the other side of Felix.

Her hands shaking lightly, Kana set out of the apartment at a hurried pace before she actually attacked him for real. She'd kill him. She'd fucking kill him. It didn't matter that he was immortal. All the better actually, she'd make him fucking suffer, since he couldn't die.

Felix was genuinely surprised that she hadn't jumped him in an all out assault to kill him. His blue eyes turned back to her when he saw the kunai come whizzing past his face. When she was gone, he made his final comments before going into his bedroom. "Stupid girl. After all of that hard work and training and you still can't aim worth a damn." He knew she could have hit him if she wanted to. Felix grabbed a towel and went to take a shower. When he was done, he went to the kitchen and put the chair upright, taking note of the dried oatmeal on the wall. "The worst part is, she can't even control her temper." Felix shook his head lightly. He wasn't cleaning that up.

Kana wasn't sure she'd ever been so pissed off before. Running was doing nothing to help. Neither were the normal training routines. She had to do something. Anything. Anything to get her mind off of what was happening. The first thing she thought of was going to see Kymin. But then she realized she'd be lying to him the entire time she was talking to him, that was if she didn't tell him about Felix. But she couldn't tell him about Felix, cuz who knew what Kymin would do if he realized Felix might have doomed his entire village.

The second thought was venturing out of the village. Which is exactly what she did. It was getting late out, which meant there'd be rogues, but Kana made up the excuse she was going to check the traps, and wouldn't be back for a while. Maybe not even until the next guard shift. She didn't know when she'd be back, so it was best to be safe. She wasn't going to check the traps though. She was looking for something entirely different. Taking off her headband, Kana put it into her bag. Better safe than sorry.

The Rock was at least two and a half times smaller than the Sand was, and exponentially less skilled. Which meant that there was a good chance Aidelia had some other large force that she'd be using in the war against the Sand. She couldn't take on the force alone, undoubtedly, but she could get information from them. It was all she could do not to walk around punching trees or boulders.

Kana walked aimlessly for a good two hours before realizing she was at the base of the mountains. And the air was not quiet. In the far distance, she could hear blades clashing and laughter, and there was smoke rising into the air from what was probably a fire. In the fading sunlight, she could tell that these guys weren't worried about people approaching them. Too bad for them Kana wasn't in the best of moods. She walked up to the camp, which was surrounded by a gate, and guarded by two men on either side. They exchanged glances when Kana walked up, and one spoke. "Sorry little missy, private party."

Kana tilted her head. "Didn't you hear?" she asked. They both looked at her in a confused manner. "The last messenger was killed in the most recent attack. She wanted me to come give you guys a heads up. I need to talk to the leader here."

"Attack?" The one on the right asked. Both guards were muscular to say the least, but this one was a bit less so, and had blond hair and green eyes, along with a rough, dirty beard. "I didn't hear nothin about an attack."

Kana rolled her eyes. "Didn't I just tell you that the last messenger was killed? Look, I have important news from her. It's about the attack."

The black haired one out of the two looked to the blond, then back to Kana. "Alright, follow him in." The blond one looked a bit surprised, and started over to the black haired guard, hurriedly asking what the hell he was doing. The black haired guard responded in a whisper that Kana couldn't hear. "Hey, we'll know if she's one of ours. If she's not, just kill her on the spot. We can handle one measly kunoichi."

Kana followed the guard in and was introduced to the leader, whose name every knew to be Julius. The guy wasn't as bulky as the guards, but he was by no means scrawny either. He looked like a real ninja, whereas the guards had just looked like a couple body builders. He had brown hair and kind blue eyes. Kana found it to be a strange combination. He invited her to sit down with him on one of the logs surrounding one of the many fires in the camp. She accepted without a fuss. Kana acted as she supposed she should have, informing him of the war, and that Aidelia was well on her way up, but never mentioned the woman by name. Kana figured out too late that was a mistake. They were all kind enough to her, but she didn't accept food or drink from them. She was glad about that too, because one thing made her sure that the food probably was poisoned. After nearly an hour of talking with the leader, he stood up and casually ordered those around in the area to kill her.





Kana woke up to the dim light of dawn and the quiet sound of a stream. The first thing she noticed when she sat up was what a horrible head ache she had. The second thing was that blue chakra was surrounding her entire body as if it was steam running off of a recently used kettle. The same color chakra as the Blue Demon had. It made her shiver. The third thing she noticed was what made her freeze up for a good three minutes. She was covered in blood. And while she was aware of multiple injuries on her body...the blood couldn't possibly all be hers. There was far too much. What was worse was that she didn't remember how she'd become covered in so much blood. Or how she got out of the Rock. The last thing she remembered was storming out of the apartment after Felix had said something cruel. What he'd said wasn't important at the moment.

Quickly undressing Kana got into the stream and started washing the blood off her. She always carried an extra set of clothing with her, and an extra bag in case hers ripped or something similar. She was glad now that she did. "What happened...whose...whose blood is this..?" she mumbled to herself as she washed it off. The stream was up to her waist, and quickly running, but not strongly enough to pull her anywhere. As she got out and began getting dressed, Kana looked around for any signs of where she might be. The mountains were far in the distance, and this stream...if she remembered right, it was nearly an hour away from the village by walking. She could get back in half an hour if she ran. But she didn't want to go back right away. Her hair needed time to dry as to not look suspicious, and she still had to burn the blood soaked clothes. She didn't know what she'd done, but she was going to eliminate any traces that she had done it.

After burning her clothes and blood soaked bag, Kana started putting all her supplies back into the clean back after putting a jutsu on it that allowed it to be practically bottomless (depending on the amount of chakra she put into it, of course). When she finished, she started back to the Rock at a walk, trying desperately to remember what had happened.

Felix was sitting in the living room dressed in a pair of black pants and a white shirt. The silver haired Shinobi looked as if he hadn't slept all night, which he hadn't. The two hours of sleep that he did get was interrupted by a searing pain that he knew all too well. It had woken him up in his sleep. Although it was less severe than normal, Felix wasn't capable of going back to sleep. His blue eyes were half closed as he starred blankly at the tv. It wasn't even on. The entire time he'd been sitting here, he was trying to figure out why the Blue Demon had awaken so suddenly. Felix may have been going a bit off the deep end, but he was in control.

On her way back to the Rock, Kana was left wondering if she'd slept at all that night, despite having woken up by a stream. She felt drained. Aside from not remembering when she'd made a contract with Shadowshifter, losing her memory like this had never happened before. Had she made another contract with something? But then...why all the blood? Well, if the Shadowshifter had made a deal with her to keep her from being depressed...maybe she'd made a deal with a different type of creature, one that feeds off her anger? Kana rubbed her temples in frustration as she entered the gates, giving light waves to the guards. They knew she usually went out early in the morning for runs, and returned about this time. Kana didn't actually know what time it was, but it was lucky they knew her routine.

Entering the apartment, Kana didn't bother looking at Felix before going into her room and closing the door behind her. She didn't remember what he'd said to her that had made her run out of the apartment, but she did remember what he'd done. And yeah, she was still pissed at him. Despite that, it was surprisingly easy for her to pass out as soon as her head hit her pillow.


It wasn't until around one o'clock that there was a knock on the door. Kymin put a hand casually in his pocket, the other hanging by his side. There was some pretty important news he wanted to tell Kana. It wouldn't really affect Felix though, since he wasn't able to leave the village, but if he wanted to hear it too, then hell, why not.

Felix was tempted to question Kana almost as fiercely as she'd question him, but he decided against it. He could see she was exhausted and he wanted answers that were going to sound logical and not a bunch of junk. However, Felix stayed put. He wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon. When there was a knock on the door, Felix's blue glaze lazy wandered over to the door. He was going to sit there and not do anything about it, but figured he should answer it. Getting up, he opened the door. "She's sleep." Despite his comment, he stepped aside to let Kymin in and went to the couch where he returned to blankly looking at the tv.

Kymin blinked at Felix's greeting. The guy looked positively exhausted. And wait. Kana was asleep at one in the afternoon? He was almost afraid to think about it, but had something happened? Actually. No, he wasn't about to think about it. When Felix stepped aside, he walked in, closing the door behind him. "Then can I count on you to relay a message? It's...fairly important," he said, glancing at the blank tv. Okay, really, the hell?

Felix shook his head. "We're not on good terms. Just open the door and wake her up. If it's as important as you say it is, she won't mind. Especially if it concerns the mission." He didn't sound angry, just tired. He casually looked around. Where was Snickers at? He didn't really care, but he could feel Kymin's stare against his back. So maybe staring at the tv was weird, but he was tired dammit. He could look wherever he wanted.

Kymin simply nodded. He was actually kinda grateful that Felix told him that him and Kana weren't on good terms. Which meant something else had happened last night that left the two of them so tired. The question was, what? Going over to Kana's door, he knocked on it a couple times. "Hey Kana, it's Kymin. There's something important I gotta tell you."

Kana gave a light groan and rolled her legs over to the side of her bed before sitting up. "Hold on a sec," she said. She didn't exactly feel refreshed, but that was mainly because she had a shitload of injuries that were aching. None of them seemed too bad individually though. And thank god none of them were visible if she put on pants and a jacket. It was a good thing that it was getting cold outside. It meant she could easily hide the wounds. Kana came out of her room with jeans on and a black hoodie. "What's up?" She asked.

"It's actually probably better if you both know," Kymin said, going over to lean on the living room wall before speaking. Kana followed him, but didn't sit on the couch or go near Felix. Hell, she didn't even look at him. "Something happened outside the village, at the base of the mountains. A team of ninja returning from a mission found the scene. Apparently there was a large camp of ninja there. Was. There was a team sent to check it out. It's pretty bad. No less than a hundred ninja were slaughtered at that camp. They said it looked like the work of a monster. Some beast that rampaged through. They think it came from the mountains, but they're not sure. I came to warn you about going outside of the gates. They're not letting civilians out of the town for today. Teams are being sent out to search for the thing." He paused and looked over the two. "I have to go warn other ninja who weren't at the meeting today. I'll see you guys around. And, uh. Try and get some sleep. You two look terrible," he joked lightly, giving a grin and a small wave before he left.

As Kymin explained, Kana was sure her face had lost a shade of color. A hundred ninja? No wait, he'd said more than a hundred...Kana swallowed lightly, giving a small wave to Kymin as he left before she slowly started into the kitchen. She had to remember what she did last night...had to...

Felix had gone back to looking at the TV. His eyes briefly looked to Kana when the guy said over a hundred ninja. Felix's gaze returned to the TV as Kymin mentioned how the ninja were saying it was the work of a monster. Had he not turned away, he would have seen Kana grow a shade paler. Felix didn't need to see that she'd pale to know that she had something to do with this. When Kymin left, Felix got up and followed Kana to the kitchen. His blue eyes narrowed. "What did you do," he asked. Felix's voice was nothing short of accusing.

By the time Felix entered the kitchen, Kana had her head in her hands. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember where she'd gone, or what she'd done after storming out of the apartment. She froze when she heard Felix question her and slowly lifted her head from her hands to glare at him. She made a noise that could have either been a small scoff, or a small annoyed laugh. "What makes you think I had anything to do with this?" she asked coldly. "What even makes you think I'm capable of taking out a camp of ninja that large?" Her voice was making it rather clear that she didn't want to talk to him. Or at least, she hoped it was.

Felix ignored her as she poke. She wasn't giving him the answers he wanted. "What. Did. You. Do?" Felix's eye though clearly tired were very icy. "Don't play dumb with me Kana. It's hard to sleep when the Blue Demon is as restless a child with a new toy." Honestly, Felix would have been glad to wait until tomorrow, but this was serious, no matter how much Kana hated him. "The damn thing won't shut up!" Felix was clearly annoyed at this. It was another reason he couldn't sleep. The thing had been whispering in his head all night about the thrill of the kill and the taste of blood. Felix grew sicker with each sentence. "And don't give me crap about how you have nothing to do with the Demon. As long as my chakra runs through you, you're just as much a monster as I am. Now explain."

The fact that he wouldn't leave her alone was only serving to irritate Kana more. Why the hell wouldn't he just go away so she could try and remember? It was hard to answer what she did if she didn't know herself. Her anger faded when he mentioned the Blue Demon, albeit not much. That's right. There'd been blue chakra around her when she'd woken up. Her chakra was green, so it hadn't been hers. It was when he called her a monster that she stood up with her hands on the table. "Look, I didn't do anything!" There was obvious hesitation in her eyes though. It was a lie and she knew it. "I'm no monster," she insisted, her voice practically quivering. She'd killed before, it was nothing new to her, but...she'd woken up covered in blood. Too much to be her own. She knew that she'd taken part in whatever had happened. The evidence was becoming too much for her to ignore. But...why didn't she remember it?

"Sure you didn't," the silver haired shinobi said sarcastically. "Just like I didn't kill the Kage." He crossed his arms over his chest. "As for you not being a monster, you were already turning into one without the help of the Blue Demon. You were becoming me. Ironic isn't it. I was your idol. You worked so hard to get on that squad and Izua gave me one job. Make sure you didn't become a machine. What a waste." Felix leaned against the side of the wall. "In the mean time, you might need to take a shower and use soap. I've been alive long enough to know when someone's had a 'bloodbath' and your reek of it." There was a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Also, you might want to consult with that witch and see if she can do something about keeping my chakra restrained until we can get it out of you. Had you not know, not only am I weaponless, I'm jutsuless too. I've got chakra restrain seals all over me and it's not exactly a walk in the park when a powerful chakra suddenly wakes up and starts rushing through my veins." He gave a her a small look. "Then again you don't care. You're probably thrilled to have this curse, it just makes you stronger, more capable of completing the mission." His eyes shinned. "I think he's going to be right at home with you." A grin that clearly meant more harm than anything formed across Felix's face. It was strictly dangerous.

Kana didn't know what to do. Why should she care what Felix thought of her? She was pissed at him for the stupid shit he'd pulled. And he...he knew, knew that she'd done that camp in with the help of the Blue Demon. He was taunting her with it. Taunting her, and trying to prove that she was the one who'd done it by making her like that again. That had to be what he was doing.

The brown haired shinobi couldn't help but to look down when he mentioned of how she reeked of blood. It had been an accident, that action, but it gave her away as good as anything she could have said. And she knew it. After a moment, Kana's hands clenched on the table, and without saying anything, she started past Felix and out of the kitchen. She needed a proper shower and she knew it. Aside from that, she wanted to get the hell away from Felix. He wasn't about to prove that she was some kind of monster. To hell with that. She was going to ignore everything he said from there on out.

Felix's grin only grew wider when Kana looked down and walked past him. He knew he was right and there was no way for her to argue against it. Had they been on different terms he would have been sympathetic. The grin finally faded as exhaustion hit a bit harder. His blue eyes lost their icy flames and he slowly made his way back to his room where he collapsed on his bed. Where Felix never dreamed, he found himself in the darkness, but a misty blue figure was in front of him. "I'll devour her soul, just as I did yours. Felix bolted upright in a cold sweat. He couldn't have been asleep for more than two hours. The silver haired jonin shook his head and got out of the bed. There was no way he was going back to sleep. Sitting back on the couch he turned the tv on and flipped through the channels until he found a movie to occupy him for the time being. His heart racing lightly, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd just caused a problem that he could not fix.

Kana was in the shower until the water ran cold, placing her head against the wall after she'd scrubbed herself down completely. No matter how she'd scrubbed though, she couldn't help the feeling that there was still blood on her somewhere. Unfortunately, the scrubbing had only served to make her own wounds bleed more. It didn't matter though, because Kana was sure that her memory was working it's way to the surface. It did so just as Kana turned off the water and stepped out of the tub. When she looked in the mirror, there was something there...something about herself she saw, and she didn't like.

It was that moment that the memory of the bloodshed and screaming and fleeing ninja rushed back to her. The sight of red and the sound of laughing. Her own laughing. A sword she didn't remember getting laced with blood and blue chakra, and her own hands taking the life of every ninja in that camp. Not one had escaped.

Her face suddenly paling, Kana dropped to her knees and threw up in the toilet, panting lightly as a cold sweat overtook her. She'd forgotten to take clothes with her into the bathroom, but that hardly mattered at that moment. She remembered what had happened. How she herself had taken the lives of those ninja. How...she'd enjoyed it. It was sickening. She couldn't stop the tears that overflowed.

By the time she was fine enough to wrap a towel around herself and go into her bedroom, nearly an hour and a half had passed since she'd talked with Felix. After getting dressed, she ended up sitting on her bed for another half hour until she heard the television go on. She felt terrible. And not just mentally. She felt as if she were perpetually nauseous. Ten minutes after she heard the tv go on, she finally got up and left her room, walking towards the door to the apartment without a word. She needed air. But now she was scared. If she'd done that once without meaning to...what was to stop her from doing it again?

Felix wasn't even watching the tv. His mind was in a whole different place. When Kana came out of her room, Felix didn't even blink. The guy was like a statue. You'd have to look at him super closely to see he was breathing. His eyes blank and so was his facial expression. Felix was only like this when he was in deep thought. He was searching for something, but he didn't know what. Maybe a solution. Despite the fact that he wanted nothing...no wait, Kana wanted nothing to do with him, he had nothing against her, except for her lack of caring towards his wanting to go home. The silver haired shinobi only blinked when he heard a familiar voice in his ear. "Felix, the longer you wait, the more you suffer," Meridian spoke softly. "You've punished yourself enough. It's time to keep moving forward." Despite the fact that he was still very motionless, Felix's facial expression softened for a brief moment before he shook his head and looked to Kana. Wondering if she could here Meridian as clearly as he could.

Kana didn't bother to notice that Felix wasn't moving. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob though, and turned her head slightly when she heard what sounded like the whispering of a female voice. Oh great, now she was hearing things? Lovely. She didn't even realize that Felix was looking at her, and she only shook her head and opened the door, walking out. She didn't know what she was going to do. She couldn't go out of the village, because of all the teams of ninja lurking about. And she couldn't go see Aidelia or the womans' teammates for fear that her anger might get the best of her. Looking down, Kana put her hands in her pockets as she walked. She was wearing clothing similar to what she'd put on when Kymin had been in the apartment, but just to hide her wounds. She could fight just as well in a hoodie and jeans if it came to that.

Once Kana was gone, Felix looked to his right to see if Meridian was visible, but she wasn't and her presence was gone. Felix sighed and stood up. Meridian was right, he had to stop starring at the Tv and move. The question was, now that he was confined to the village with no chakra, how was he going to get out. Felix needed a miracle. He couldn't turn to Kana, but he was wondering if he could turn to Kymin. It was a long shot, because he suspected the guy would question him about why he deserted, or worse, the death of the Kage. Felix shut his eyes at the thought for a brief moment before pulling his cell phone from his pocket. It was about the only thing he was allowed to keep.

Hey,

I need a favor when you have the time. And for the sake of all of us, leave Kana out of this.