Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nayami grinned as she caught the sudden bolt of electricity in her hand, holding the tiny sparking blue ball within her palm.

“I’m glad you now understand that.” She said with a slow nod, as she soon draped her fingers over the small sphere of energy that resided in her hand. The sparks were once drenched away by an easy squeeze of her fingers.

“I hope that won’t tarnish our relationship at all, I still consider you to be an asset to the likes of all shinobi. I wouldn’t want to put a hinder on our…I guess you could call it friendship, if you dare take it that far.”

“Don’t worry; I tend to keep my friends close but my enemies closer.” Nayami stated lightly as her eyes soon fell upon Ryu.

“Since you are not part of my village you are still considered an enemy.” She said as she cocked her head gently to the side to follow his sudden movement.

“An enemy which highly catches my interest.” Nayami added on with a small wink as she once again straightened up her head.

“Lets try…to keep our little relationship a secret though, I don’t want that hot headed Volcano Kage breathing down the both of our necks.”

Nayami’s cold eyes soon darted down at the feel of Ryu’s soft hands; it was an odd sensation to feel, knowing that no one had even laid a finger upon her for the past few years.

“I’ll keep you offer in mind, but I can’t make you any promises.” She sneered as she patted the top of Ryu’s hand before backing away.

“Now if you don’t mind, it’s been a long day and I must go relax my weary limbs.” Bending her knees slightly she once again bowed to show her appreciation. “I’ll be seeing you later.” Nayami stated with a small wink, before she vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

Leina stepped quietly into the courtyard. She left the Plateau not long ago and decided to stay and linger for a while there. Sitting on her hind legs she muttered a few prayers quietly.

Staying for several moments later in the same position she then stood up and took out a small bag opening it she quickly took out a platter, two bamboo sticks each with three mitarashi dango dumblings.

"My offering for you" she unsheated a bit of her katana cut the palm of her hand letting her blood drip on the platter like a sauce. The dumplings quickly absorbed her blood and she then wrapped her palm with a white cloth.

Walking down the steps of the small shrine she looked around and sat under one of the many trees. Sighing to herself she enjoyed the peacufulness and music of nature.

Zero quietly walked up to the shrine, pulled out a bag, with 5 onigiri's

"This is an offering to you" muttered Zero. Zero bit his fingers, and slowly let the blood drip onto the Onigiri's. When the Onigiri's obsorbed all the blood, Zero walked, and sat down, with his back meeting the trunk of the tree. He slowly calmed himslef and began to meditate.

His "services" now finished at his previous engagement, Michio had set off in the morning for the Shrine. Be it the equivalence of "karma" or the charging of chakra, ninja of the Hidden Storm all came to the Shrine from time to time to pledge themselves to the energies and spirits of the land for their strength. Michio, had never actually crossed under the gates outside the shrine and had never paid respects to anyone or thing beside himself and to some minor degree, the Kage.

Now outside the perimeter of the shrine, standing beneath the great archway still hidden and overcast by trees, scroll in hand, Michio entered. Walking softly, striding like a ghost beyond the bounds of this world, his silence was constant, be it in his soft speech or the silence before a kill. The quiet before the storm.

His hair was what would indicate him to the plain sight of other nins, the raven and snow locks hanging down around his neck, waving themselves like billowing curtains to hide or expose his eyes. His mask would also give away his identity fairly easy, a constant accessory to his likeness, covering the appearance of his true face behind a facade of porcelain or wood or hide, today the featureless porcelain, save two dynamic eyes and the colored markings winding their way around in black and red, carved in to add to their effect.

As he came to the steps of the shrine, Michio stopped, standing with his feet together, pausing for a few moments. One thing he was trained in that he had never paid close attention to was piety, having never spent any extended time in temples or making any sort of prayer.

Damning any kind of "Stupid superstition", Michio walked up the steps and took his place, sitting arched on his feet and knees before the large diety portrayed by a statue on an altar. Setting the scroll in his hand down before him, he took a knife in the other, setting them both down. Eyes closed, he knelt there, hands clasped into a Snake hand sign. He muttered a few repetitions of a sutra as was usually expected in shrines and temples, though there didn't seem to be any attendants or any sign of monks or preistesses around, just the shrine itself.

Opening the scroll, the parchment was covered from end to end in black ink markings with the exception of one blank area in the center about the height and width of a hand with the fingers held tight together. Unsheathing the knife as well, Michio grasped the handle in his left hand and the naked blade in his right, pulling swiftly. Instantly, blood began to run over his fair skin, not a single drop falling from his body. With his thumb, Michio applied the finishing sign on the scroll with his own blood, drying onto the parchment instantly. Rolling the scroll back up, Michio finished the sacrifice and sealing process, closing the seal to all but himself and placing it upon the altar of the Hidden Storm's overseeing god.

Exiting the shrine itself promptly, Michio took up a spot on the border of the woods, sitting with his back to a tree, hands clasped in the Snake sign as he meditated, only the brief reports of cicada breaking silence, leaving the grounds deathly quiet.

The moist ground of the shrine area began to shake violently, a large crack now appearing just in front of the elaborate center of holiness. As a large hiss echoed through the forest, the ground spilt open, spewing out the Kage high into the air.

Performing a soft back flip, she soon landed down gracefully upon the pads of her feet. “Interesting.” Nayami noted quietly as she slowly approached the shrine itself, the bitter smell of blood soon catching her senses. “So, he has been here then.” Reaching one of her hands down into one of the leather pouches that resided on either side of her defined hips, she removed a kunai. Hooking her fingers in the loop of the metal on the handle of the weapon, she twirled it around in the air as she walked forward, clearly sensing the presence of her fellow shinobi.

“Having fun?” The female Kage sneered lightly as she lifted her head for a brief moment to meet with Michio’s eyes.

Nayami allowed a cold laugh to escape through her lips as she soon stopped the twirling of the kunai. Holding the sharpened blade tightly in her hand, the weapon easily slid deep into her flesh. “You know, just the usual. Trying to recruit more members…they refuse…I end up slaughtering their whole village.”

Her body reeked of the blood of fallen shinobi, the bright crimson stains still visible upon her shadowed black clothing. The corners of her mouth seemed to twitch slightly before a sharp smirk broke out upon her emotionless face. “I’ve always admired the smell of death;
it contains such an... intriguing aroma.”

Allowing the kunai to once again slip onto one of her fingers, she began to playfully coil it through the air, her own blood that now stained the blade splattering every so often upon her attire.