Cursed roads intertwine [P, Suto, nk]

Yuriko was slowly navigating the caves within the mountains near Kumogakure, still awaiting news of the invasion that had been occurring for what felt like centuries to her, but in reality had likely only been a few hours, maybe a day at the most. At her side, her blade pulsed with energy, eager and impatient at once, as it had not been fed yet, nor did she intend to so quickly. 

She was dressed in her normal clothing, which consisted of a long, flowing black Gothic-Style dress with red cross-markings and white lace at the hem. The sleeves flowed almost over her wrists, masking her small body and rather meek appearance with their length. Her boots clacked softly against the stone as she walked, small strings of red which were holding them on blowing in the gentlest breeze. A small cape dangled from her neck and down her back, red on the inside and black on the outside, along with the soft aura from the blade creating a large effect of such a color. Her hair was long and fell down in two blonde twin-tails at either side of her, going to her shoulders and somewhat past, holding them in place were two black ribbons. Her eyes were a bright crimson red, seeming soft and aggressive at the same time. Lastly, her headband was tied upon her forehead loosely, but tight enough so that it did not fall off, showing her as a ninja of Kumogakure.

Eventually she came upon a small room within the cave-system and stopped, letting out a soft sigh. She was utterly lost within these caves, and was quite tired of wandering around any further, so she stopped and leaned against a cave-wall, crossing her arms.

Suto was wandering, through the caves residing in the mountains. He was lost, the caves being more complicated than he had originally figured. He had stopped in here to rest, having wandered for the past few hours, and had gone deeper into the caves than most may consider necessary. Though he had reasoning to, he merely wanted to assure his safety so he wandered deep into the caves, figuring that no one would bother going in so far. He merely sighed and continued, he'd find his way out eventually, he had plenty of food to last him meanwhile. Fruits and berries were put in a small box in his backpack, and other fruits which didn't bruise or squish so easily were in his pockets, not many were there though.

The only problem Suto had, however, was the lack of light. He was clinging on to the side of the wall, while at the same time taking slow, cautious steps, as to not trip and sprain his ankle. That would be the last thing he would need at this point. He couldn't stop to tend to it, easily anyways, due to the lack of light. He would push up his glasses with his free hand, his other being kept on the wall. He was keeping it there in case there was a turn he might possibly miss. After pushing his dark tinted glasses up, he would proceed to place his hand in the pocket of his white cloak, which stretched down to his ankles. The sleeves on the cloak only went down to his elbows, the rest of his arm being covered by a long sleeved turtle necked black colored shirt.

He simply continued, wandering throughout the caves looking for an exit.

Upon hearing approaching footsteps, Yuriko quickly stood from the wall and uttered a soft. "Shiryoku no kyu Jutsu." as she held out one hand, one of her Orbs forming within the enter of her palm and emitting a soft glow that illuminated some of the area around her, it was then that she also called out in as strong a voice as she could muster, allowing the echo of the cave to attempt and increase the sound for her. "Who is there? . . . Show yourself!" She then places a hand on the hilt of her sword, preparing to draw it with her free hand if necessary.

She did not want to have to fight anyone if she could avoid it, but she also did not want to appear weak. It would be bad for her in more than one way, especially if Aufero discovered it. Yet, though her mind began to stray, she walked forward, toward the sound with her Orb levitating just above her palm as she walked to illuminate the way. It would be wise to create another orb as well, but given she was not sure if she would have to fight or not, she did not wish to use any more chakra than she was forced to. She then called out once more, "Who are you?!" as she paused in her strides to look around for whoever had entered the cave.

Suto continued on, pausing once he would see light suddenly appear from no where. It was somewhat dim, lightning only so much, he wasn't foolish enough to believe it was an exit, though it was strange. Perhaps it was a small match that were lit, he couldn't tell yet, though he could somewhat identify the spawn of the random light, a female. The light was coming from the palm of her hand, he couldn't see what was causing it though. He would then hear her speak, asking who was there and for Suto to show himself. This making Suto figure he wasn't within the light's range, that he was still hidden from view from the girl. He would merely walk forward, soon coming into sight, then stopping. He would take his hand off the wall, not needing to anymore, for now anyways. He would take notice of the girl's headband, she was one of those shinobi he had once seen quite some time ago, which gave Suto some worries, though not many. He had no reason to fight with the girl anyways. Though the girl had her hand on her blade, it wasn't drawn, so he figured she didn't have any hostile intent.

Suto then began to hear her ask who he was, Suto merely replied with his name, "Suto Ikku." He saw no harm in giving his name to the shinobi. "And you?" He would continue. He would keep his hand in his pocket, though he had no weapon, it would be a good bluff he figured, and while keeping his hand in his pocket, not drawing out any weapon, he figured she wouldn't go hostile recklessly, that is if she believed the bluff of him having a weapon. He would merely wait to see what would happen next.

Yuriko's breath quickened as footsteps began to approach from the shadows, despite everything she still had a habit of being afraid of the dark and what lurked within, even with the blade forged by darkness itself. It was ironic, really, to imagine such a contradiction of Wielder and Blade but it was true and showed as she took a single step back. Upon seeing the man emerge from the shadows, Yuriko drew her gaze to his eyes, staring into them through his glasses with suspicion and relief. As he was no longer in the shadows, she had much less to fear - at least in her mind - and even as it was, she had no desire to fight. Yuriko just wanted out of these caves, and maybe this man with his backpack and glasses was too, or perhaps he was attempting to hide here. 

No matter the case, hearing him speak his name was another relief for Yuriko, it showed that he was at least civil, if nothing else. She offered a faint smile to Suto and spoke her own name to him, trusting that he did not wish to fight quite now either. "My name is Yuriko. Yuriko Nori." She stated, then taking her hand from the blade and offering it to him as a gesture of a handshake, hoping that he would accept it as a show of truce. "I do not want to fight, do you? I can help you, too, if you need anything." She adds, blinking as she looks at Suto.

Suto would listen, the girl began to speak her name, Yuriko. Afterwards she would remove her hand from the hilt of her blade, and Suto in response would take an apple from his pocket and begin to bite into it. It was alright, he didn't exactly like apples all too much, he'd prefer an orange, though didn't have one on hand. "Well," he would say, his mouth somewhat full with the large bite he took. He began to chew a bit before continuing, "Nice to meet you, Yuriko." he would finish, and then would swallow the food. He would say that after the girl asked if he wanted to fight, and she stated she didn't. "Nah, no fighting." He would reply, taking another bite of the apple before throwing it to the ground.

Yuriko lowered her hand to her side, taking a moment to look around at the area before them. There was genuinely not much to see due to the lack of light, but she figured it was best to observe anything that may come in use at a later time. It was now obvious that parts of the upper cave-wall had pointed rocks protruding from the ceiling, as well as some stalagmites forming from the ground against the very edge, though they were likely brittle and would break easily, it may be required to use one as a weapon at a point, if it were to come to that, even though Yuriko knew - or at least hoped - that it would not.

She sighed softly, her eyes slowly moving once more to Suto as she watched him. Something about him made Yuriko a small bit anxious, she was not sure if it was purely her thinking that, or Aufero, however. As she thought, her hand roamed once more to the scabbard of the blade, tracing down it as she closed her eyes for a moment to clear her mind, then upon opening them she spoke calmly, softly. "Then why is it that you are here, and where is your Headband?" She asked, staring into his eyes intensely as she did so, her red eyes shimmering softly with energy.

Suto would begin to look behind him, wondering if maybe he had been traveling in the wrong direction. It was possible, though he doubted it, he had turned around a long time ago. Maybe he made a wrong turn though, he thought, though it really didn't matter, he would never really figure out how he managed to get so lost besides blaming his slight bit of paranoid-ness on going so far into the cave, which wasn't really like him. He would turn back to Yuriko when he would hear her sigh, and notice her hand hovering over the blade once more. He raised an eye brow, and moved back in caution, not being sure if he could take her should she become more hostile. He didn't make it obvious that he was moving away from her out of caution, but that he was looking around. He would hear her ask why he was here, and where his headband was. "Headband?" He would ask, figuring that since the other shinobi he had seen were wearing them, it was common for shinobi to wear the type of headbands she was wearing, one with metal plating. "I do not wear any headband," he would say, "assuming thats what shinobi wear, I am not an official shinobi." He would finish on the subject on the head band. "On account of me being hear," he would start. "Well, I was just looking for a safe place to rest from my wanders." He finished, wondering what the girl would say in response, as well as beginning to question her, "So, what about you? What are you doing here?"

Yuriko watched Suto carefully as he looked around, she had indeed not noticed his moving away from her, but something made her feel that she had been appearing too overtly hostile, which she did not wish to do in case it would cause Suto to become a bit more-so to her. So instead she listened with her hands at her sides, head tilted a bit in curiosity as she did so. She blinked in surprise upon hearing that he did not wear a headband, or that he was not even an official shinobi. "So what do you do, then? If you're not a shinobi?" She asked, and then upon hearing his reasons for being here she added. "It is a nice place to be alone, these caves . . . " She then listened to him ask her of her own reasons for being in the cave and that caused her to pause for a long moment before frowning, her voice now coming out in a stutter.  "I-I . . . I came here because I saw a light --- Not like the one I am making now, but . . . Red." She then sighs deeply and finishes with: "It is a long story."

Then Yuriko shakes her head to clear the thought and slumps her shoulder, relaxing as she waits for Suto to speak again.

In response to his statement about not being a shinobi, Yuriko began to ask what Suto did if he wasn't a shinobi, in reply Suto would begin to say; "I wander." He finished. "Nothing much to it, I don't live in any big town or village." He continued on, extending his answer unnecessarily. Yuriko in response said something, though Suto hadn't paid much attention to it. He was still pondering over which way he should head next - turn back, or head forwards. In response to Suto's question, what was Yuriko doing in the caves, she had replied that she had seen a red light, and, judging from why she bothered to come in with that reasoning, followed it with curiosity. She then proceeded to say it was a long story. "Alright then." He said, leaving it at that. "So." He would begin to speak, a little bit of curiosity had influenced him to ask this question, "What's it like to be a shinobi?" He would finish asking. Having only seen two shinobi once before, and that was in combat, he couldn't assume much from that. Though it had inspired him to train to become a shinobi, however unofficial, he wanted to know what it was like besides any fighting. He was assuming shinobi had gotten into much combat at all.