The Village Hidden in the Sunlight

Kymin couldn't help but chuckle lightly when Felix agreed. "Ah fine. I suppose I've no choice but to take it." He nearly leaned against Felix when the guy fell in step with him. Agh, to hell with it. Leaning lightly against Felix, he smiled. "Hm. Well, after this we're going to a random restaurant, and then taking Vishnu to a park, which we'll first have to find," he said. "Hmm...maybe we should just take a walk after and see if anything catches our eye," he suggested happily. He was kind of glad that the tower was on the other side of the village. Gave him more time to mentally prepare for this. And more time to spend with Felix, of course.

"If that's what you want to do then okay," Felix said after Kymin listed all the things they needed to do. Or rather the things they were going to do. He let the taller male lean against him without any fuss and walked towards the tower, oblivious of everything minus Kymin and Vishnu. This was his family and he was going to enjoy it. Even if it was dysfunctional at times, everything would always turn out for the better with Kymin. As for Vishnu, he was a noteworthy addition, filling the gap, even though there was hardly any space to feel. He smirked. The little rascal had squeezed his was into their lives. He'd made space. When they got to the tower, Felix stopped, his eyes taking in his surroundings. "This is it," he mumbled. He half expected Kinana to pop out of nowhere and guide them in. "Let's get this over with so we can enjoy our vacation," he said as he started up the stairs.

Just as Felix expected, Kinana was on her way to the tower as well, only to see the two men walking, one leaning against the other. That same mischievous grin from that morning formed across her lips. She knew it. As if it couldn't have been anymore obvious from the way they'd been sleeping earlier. "Hey there!" she called, waving as she started towards them, her brown bear walking lazily behind her. When she got up to them, she gave a grin. "I'm glad you guys showed up. That means I just won five bucks," she snickered. "Here, let me show you to the guy you're sposed to see," she said with the same grin, waving them into the tower.

Kymin blinked, following without question, but looking at Felix. As he followed, he stopped leaning on the other male, but only in an attempt to look a bit more formal. When they got to the room and Kinana knocked on the open door, there was a black haired male in his thirties sitting at a desk, red eyes looking up that made Kymin pause. Just how many humans had red eyes, exactly..? Just that sight alone made the black haired ninja freeze up before even entering the room, his green eyes looking at the man at the desk, a slight fear in his them.

Renji looked up from his desk. He'd just been looking over details of a mission gone wrong when they'd come. He hadn't yet seen Felix, but the green eyed man who stopped at the door looked positively frightened of him. "You can come in. I don't want to interrogate you, I'm just curious as to what you saw out there. You don't have to be afraid," he said, sitting up in his chair.

"Apparently I'm physic," Felix whispered to Kymin when Kinana showed up. He looked at the shorter girl and raised his brow when she said she'd won five bucks. "If we'd have known someone was betting on us we would have told you to ask for more. We never back out of a challenge." Felix smirked. "On the other hand it's rude to bet on people." He looked to Kymin when he stopped leaning on him. He didn't think much of it, since they were about to go meet the person who wanted to speak to them. Once inside the building, Felix followed Kinana. He stopped at the door, noting that Kymin had frozen up. Felix wondered what was going on. He couldn't tell who was speaking because he was behind Kymin, but the voice sounded ghostly familiar. You don't have to be afraid? Is he talking to Kymin? Felix stepped to the side and moved around Kymin, taking him by the hand and lightly pulling him into the room. Felix was flawless with his movements, so it only appeared as though he'd been trying to get into the room. He did however remain in front of Kymin, as a barrier between him and the black haired man sitting down. When he'd pulled Kymin into the room, he'd seen the look of fear in Kymin's eyes. He didn't know what had triggered it, but he wasn't going to not take it into consideration, However, Felix found himself mildly confused when he saw the guy at the desk. There was no way humanly possible that that man was who he thought him to be. Renji Kader was dead, Felix had been at his funeral! Felix almost shook his head. Maybe it was Renji's son, although he hadn't recalled Renji ever having a kid, at least not that he knew of. This was just too weird, but he didn't dare ask. He wanted to see if the guy would recognize him. Maybe he was just being ridiculous and over observing.

Renji watched as the other black haired male refused to move, only for someone else to slide their way past him, enticing him into the room. The movement was very much smooth, swift, and flawless in hiding its intentions. Or it would've been, if it hadn't been for the person watching that movement. "Thank you Kinana, you can go if you'd like. Or you can stay, it's up to you."

Kinana too was a bit confused by what was going on. Kymin'd just stopped out of nowhere. She shrugged at Renji's statement. "Nah, I have to go see your brother about a mission," she said, giving a small wave as she exited the room. "Ciao."

Renji nearly gave Kinana a look. She knew better than to openly call Raiken his brother, especially in front of strangers to the village. He sighed then turned his attention back to the two males, only to realize, one of them wasn't a stranger, at least not to him. He looked the silver haired man over once, smiling. "It's been a long time Felix," he said. He wondered if his old sensei recognized him. Sure, every one had thought he was dead. And sure, it'd been nearly over a hundred years since he'd been the guys' student. But his eyes were still that burning red and he still wore those black gloves to hide the burns on his hands, which he'd never gotten around to having healed.

Kymin had very nearly jumped out of his skin when Felix took his had to pull him into the room, but didn't protest at the pull. It would look too suspicious. He was extremely grateful that the other male stood between him and the red eyed man in front of them. However, when the guy spoke, Kymin was a bit confused. "A-ah, you...two know each other," he said, almost as if he was relieved. He was. If those two knew each other, it meant this guy wasn't that thing in disguise. Okay, so he knew he was being paranoid, but really, how many humans had red eyes like that!

Felix, who had been pretty chill on the way here, was clearly not happy. His blue eyes were narrow, and his expression went blank the moment Kinana said she had to go see his brother. What the hell was going on? Felix knew both Renji and his brother Raiken had been dead...or should have been dead for a long time now. Hell, even Tamero was dead, for Felix had attended his funeral as well. Had it not been for the mission to the Rock, Kana would be too and he'd have attended her funeral too. Felix clenched his fist, ignoring Kymin asked if the two knew each other. Instead he responded to Renji in a none too friendly way. "You're supposed to be dead," Felix stated plainly. That was clearly not the nicest way to great your former student, but Felix didn't like this one bit. Why fake your death and just how the hell did Renji manage to get himself in such a high position? And even more, how was he still alive? Felix didn't recall him being an immortal, so this was making him really edgy. Felix rarely just accepted things how they were.

Renji gave a calm blink at his old sensei's greeting. "Yes well, so are you," he stated plainly. "But neither of us are. Continuing on, since you don't seem to be fond of greetings..." He turned his attention to Kymin, his expression softening. "You can both come sit down, if you'd like. I really only have two questions," he stated, giving a small nod to the chairs that were in front of his desk. There were three of them, since Renji was usually the one that dealt with more than one person at a time. He usually assigned the recruiting missions.

Kymin was a bit confused when Felix ignored him, saying the guy in front of them was supposed to be dead. Had his silver haired love tried to kill this man before? Or, were they old acquaintances? He glanced at Felix at the invitation to sit down. Was it alright to do so? Or were they going to leave because this guy was an enemy of Felix's? The guy's eyes still scared him a bit, though only because they were a reminder. He suddenly felt very much like a little kid.

Vishnu had padded along behind Felix and Kymin, sniffing around every now and then. He wanted to go exploring. So, when his parents went into another room, the puppy started down the hallway, sniffing the air as he went.

"I have a legitimate reason," Felix stated plainly as he walked to the desk and took a seat. "Before you go about asking your questions, how is it possible that both you and Raiken are alive? And what reason did you have for faking your own death when you were well respected in the Crested." Felix's gaze met Renji's. What had happened to the kid he'd taught to become a ninja alongside Tamero and Kana? The kid who'd become a leader of the team despite all the hell Felix had put them through.

Renji nearly sighed aloud when Felix started asking questions instead of answering. "Look, we borrowed some ideas from the Talan clan." More like stole their kekkai genkai, but that was besides the point entirely. "Would've been easier, had their last remaining member not been killed," he shrugged. "Would've been a lot easier had her daughter not died before her, too." He sounded a little irritated by this fact. He'd helped that woman out in exchange for those secrets, and she went and got herself killed anyways. It wasn't an easy task getting the information after that. "Who wants to be part of a village with officials like those? What I would like to know is why you haven't left yet." He shook his head. "We're getting off topic."

Kymin blinked when the two started speaking. It was easing his nerves at least. Since Felix took a seat, the green eyes shinobi went ahead and did the same. He then paused. Something was wrong. Blinking twice, Kymin looked around. "Aw man." He stood back up. "Vishnu went off somewhere. I'll be right back," he said, casting an apologetic look to Renji as he started out of the room. "Vishnu," he called, giving a whistle and looking down the hall. Where the hell had that curious little puppy gone to?

Felix blinked when Kymin said Vishnu was missing. "Are you serious?" Maybe it would have been better to have left him in the hotel room. Felix turned back to Renji when Kymin left to find the puppy. It left him room to quickly speak to his former student without any issues. He ignored Renji's statement of being off topic. "The last member of the Talan Clan?" Felix remained visibly calm, but inside his blood was boiling. "Are you talking about Aidelia Talan, the woman who nearly started a war between the Rock and the Sand?" He asked. "And what do you mean by her daughter died before her?" Was there a hidden agenda behind Aidelia's originally reason for attacking the Sand? The silver haired jonin was glad Kymin was no longer in the room. He did however slightly tilt his head when Renji mentioned the officials of the Crested. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about," he said shortly. Felix was away most of the time, so back when Renji was still apart of the village, Felix only reported to Izua who had long since passed away. He'd never had trouble with officials, except when he was in the Rock and those damned Dogs of the Kage had tried to kill him. How had he missed so much?

Renji watched the other black haired man run out of the room. Vishnu? He was silent for a few moments before looking at Felix. He can honestly say he hadn't expected his sensei to be that kind of guy. But that was besides the point now. "The very same," he nodded. He didn't seem to find it much of a problem, really. His brother and him needed a little more time than they had, and made a deal in order to do with it. It's not like they'd sold their souls. "It might've been easier to get the information we needed if her daughter had lived to grow up a little more," he said plainly, giving a shrug. "But she got sick and died early on in life." He didn't mind telling of the woman's life, since she was dead anyways. "Then it's probably better it stays that way, if you like your life there," he said, giving another shrug. "I'd be glad to tell you about it, but right now, we seriously have more important things to discuss. While your friend's away, you mind telling me what happened at that village? Did you two see the cause of the destruction?"

Felix was annoyed with Renji's answer. Why wasn't he telling him about the Crested. What was going on with the officials that Felix didn't know about. He never cared for politics, but that was his home and he wanted to know. Blue eyes closed momentarily when asked about the village. Him and Kymin had not discussed the answer they would be giving to Renji and Felix didn't want to throw the blacked haired shinobi under the bus. He almost sighed. Where the hell was Kymin and Vishnu. "Me and my friend were actually on our way here, but we were going to take a break in that village. However, the moment we got there everything caught on fire, but no one was screaming. Kymin ran in, but there was something strange about the presence in there. It was suffocating. When I did go inside, everyone's hearts were missing." Felix shrugged. "By the time I got to Kymin, whatever had destroyed the village was gone." He looked at Renji. "You know this isn't the first time this has happened, right? There was another village a few months back, but it was closer to the Valleys."

Renji listened to what Felix was saying, taking a breath and letting it out slowly. He hadn't seen whatever had done it. He only nodded when asked if he knew it'd happened before. "If I didn't know, I wouldn't be pushing this hard to find out what happened," he said, but not unkindly. He seemed relatively worried. He looked towards the door when the other man came back in, holding a dog, his expression going blank with confusion. When Kymin sat down, Renji blinked. He probably should have known it was a dog. Kinana didn't mention anything about a kid, after all.

Kymin looked to Felix and Renji, then back, holding a squirming Vishnu on his lap. The puppy was really eager to play. "What'd I miss?"

Felix tilted his head when Renji spoke. "You're worried your village is going to be next," he asked, sounding a little bit kinder than before. When he heard Kymin come in, he smiled. Good, he'd found Vishnu. "Not much, I just told him about what happened in the village." Of course he hoped Kymin knew he'd left out the soul part and how this thing was connected to his Clan. He wouldn't dare speak on that. Whatever Kymin wanted to say was completely up to him. He looked back to Renji. "Was that both questions or did you have another," he asked.

Renji gave a nod at Felix's guess. Him and Raiken had worked too hard to bring this village up just to have it destroyed by some rogue. He looked to Kymin after Felix explained. "Did you happen to see what it was that destroyed the village?" he asked, sounding a bit hopeful. He couldn't help but be curious when the green eyed man seemed to tense up, his jaw clenching lightly before he nodded. Renji suspected that it had to have been something bad to have that guy scared like that. "Could you tell me what it looked like? I'd really like to stop this from happening again, but to do that I need to know what I'm looking for," he told Kymin.

Kymin was quiet for a few moments, his hand resting lightly on Vishnu's head. No matter what he did to try to prepare himself to describe it, he still found himself fearing its image. "At first glance it looked like a man," he started, clearly having to force the description. Maybe this was a bad idea. It was as if talking about it would cause Batsu to appear out of thin air. It was horrifying. "It...it was the furthest thing from it," he said, trying to keep calm. Just say what it looked like, he told himself. "It had short red hair, and black wings, like a raven, only..." Kymin stopped abruptly as the memory of those wings came back to him and he unconsciously put his hand on the shoulder that the wing had pierced.

Renji looked at the man almost solemnly. "Only..?"

Kymin swallowed, seeming to remember that he'd been in the middle of speaking. "O-only they were huge, a...and the tips were sharp, like swords in the shape of feathers." Another pause. "...it's eyes were red. I swear they were glowing too..." Now Renji understood why this man had been scared to walk into the room with him. "It could create a fire around its hand, and its teeth..." Kymin paused again, but this time leaned forward in the chair, putting one hand over his face as he clamped his eyes shut. This was too much. Everything he recalled about this creature was almost physically painful. He could clearly remember the pain of the bite and the burns and the shoulder wound.

Renji frowned lightly. This thing seemed pretty damn scary. "Um, it's okay. That should be more than enough," he said. Black wings attached to a man was more than enough information as it was, but they'd gotten more than that, and boy was Renji grateful. "Thank you."

Felix glanced at Kymin when Renji asked him if he'd seen what it looked like. Felix watched his black haired lover closely. If he could have comforted Kymin, he would have, but he needed to know what this thing looked like as well. His blue eyes narrow at the first description. Felix would have thought this creature to be Cross had Kymin not said the thing had red hair, but when Felix thought about the name Batsu, "punishment" and "penalty" were not the only meanings, but "Cross" or "X" as well. Was this thing Cross, he was only other person Felix knew that had black wings, but those bite marks on Kymin's arms looked like those of animals and Felix thought Cross was normal, except for his wings. He'd do more research about it later, for right now he was getting Kymin out of this room. Felix stood up, glancing at Renji. "I suspect that's all you needed. If so, we're leaving." He looked down to Kymin. "Let's go," he said kindly. How could one measly soul turn into something so evil?

Renji nodded when Felix said that they were leaving. "Thanks for coming so quickly," he said.

Kymin didn't take his face from his hand until a moment after Felix said they were going. He was trying to keep himself from shaking. So far so good. Taking a breath, Kymin slowly stood up, giving a light nod to the red eyed male. He went to turn to walk out, but then paused. "I...just, don't send anyone looking for it...it would kill any of your best ninja in a heartbeat. Don't...don't mess with it," he said, not looking at Renji, but instead holding Vishnu as he walked out of the room. He needed a drink. Water, anything. Actually, no, what he needed was air. He had to get out of this tower, it was making him claustrophobic.

Renji blinked at the guy's warning. Don't go after it? And do what, let it destroy more villages? He was sure this thing was powerful, but he was also sure it wouldn't be able to take on an army of ninja. One person couldn't take on a whole army. That's what Renji wanted to think. But he knew that anomalies were common in the world of ninja. "Have a nice day."

Felix walked alongside Kymin until the guy stopped and told Renji not to go after Batsu. The silver haired ninja said nothing, but followed after Kymin once more. "Bye Renji." Once outside Felix gave a sigh. "You okay?" He asked. "If you want to go home and lay down that's fine with me," he told Kymin as he cleared the remainder of the steps. The image he had in his head right now was not very appealing and he was sure that whatever Kymin saw with his own eyes was even less appealing. He wondered if he should go back to Renji later on and tell him it'd be in his best interest not to provoke the creature. There was no real pattern to the attacks, so why draw attention to oneself?

Kymin held Vishnu as he went down the stairs, taking a breath once they were out of the building. He wasn't sure how to answer Felix's question. Was he okay? It was just a flashback, right? Bad memories, that was all. He still had to think of a way to separate that soul from that body. "I'm okay," he finally said. "Besides, the bed will still be too wet to lay on," he said with a light smile. "Let's go find something to eat," he suggested. It was what they'd planned on doing before. And he was hungry anyways.

Felix was patient as he waited for Kymin's answer. Felix wasn't going to push him. Right now he was going to treat Kymin like a piece of fragile glass ready to break at any moment. He didn't want to push him to the point where he broke, so he would ask and take things nice and slow. When Kymin said he was okay, Felix gave a slight nod and then smiled at Kymin's statement. "Yeah, you're right." He then looked around for a restaurant. "Lead the way," Felix said with a smirk, hands in his pockets. "By the way, where did you find our little trouble maker?"

Kymin gave a small confused frown. "Lead the way..? I don't know this place any..." Pausing, the black haired ninja just shook his head with a small smile. "Okay, okay." Starting down the street, Kymin kept an eye out for restaurants. There were a few small cafes and such, but down the street something caught his eye. Looked like there was a ramen shop. He could go for some ramen. "Ah...eheh, he ended up in the Kage's office. It was pretty embarrassing," he admitted. "But the guy seemed friendly enough, thankfully." He looked down at Vishnu, petting the puppy's head. "You are a trouble maker, aren't you?" he chuckled softly. It was a front though, the chuckling and the smiling. But if he kept at it enough, maybe he'd start feeling better quicker. That was his hope, at least.

Felix smirked when Kymin said he didn't know the village either, but gave up and started to lead the way anyway. Felix hurried after him and leaned against him, stealing a small kiss before doing so. Felix looked at Kymin when he stated that Vishnu had gone into the Kage's office. "Oh boy, you're not getting any doggy treats," he told Vishnu jokingly. He looked at Kymin. "This is because of your bad parenting skills," he said with an amused look in his eyes. "You should teach him discipline." He ruffled Kymin's hair. "Then again mothers are always the ones to spoil the children."

Kymin blinked at the unexpected kiss, but it made him smile nonetheless. "My bad parenting skills?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, blinking in surprise again when Felix ruffled his hair. "Hey, Vishnu's the dog, not me," he joked lightly, leaning back against Felix. "You in the mood for ramen?" he asked, completely ignoring that little statement about the mother being the one who spoiled the children. It had been completely the opposite the last time he'd had kids. The mother had been hard-down on their children, and Kymin had been the aloof father. The thought made him smile lightly. He missed Lily.

Felix nodded. "Yeah, I didn't care for him until recently," Felix stated with a smile. He then looked at Vishnu. "Well, he's in your arms and I didn't want you to drop him thinking I was trying to take him out of your arms." Felix tilted his head forward when Kymin asked if he was in the mood for Ramen. "Among other things, yes." Felix peered down the street, searching for the Ramen shop that Kymin had clearly seen but he did not. Blue eyes finally spotted the shop. "We should get take out as well, for dinner later today I mean."

"Do you want to hold him?" the black haired ninja asked with a small grin. At this point, Vishnu was kind of just chilling in his arms. "I think this little one's lazy like his dad. Huh Vishnu, you lazy like your dad?" he chuckled, petting the puppy behind the ear. He looked to Felix with that same expression when he mentioned take out for dinner. "Not planning on leaving the hotel again after we get back?" he chuckled. Felix could interpret that however he wanted. Though he was glad they were getting closer to the shop. He was starving. Hadn't eaten since the morning before, so it was only natural.