Wandering The Borders

Kyofu sat on a single column at least 100 meters away from Hoshigakure that just stood there. He still did not know why the people had even placed a column here. It probably bwas once a gate here he thought as he stared out into the distance. The sunbwas slowly setting, slowly revealing the stars of the galaxy. His own body still had not been fully functional every since he had fallen ontonthe shards of glass that held the unknown liquid in them. He remembered the moment when he had lost control of his whole body. As if on instinct he heard the beating of the second heart within his body.

From what he understood he still felt the same, not that different as he thought it would be. But of course he never assimilated a heart into himself so he did not know what was going on with him. He did not even know why he sat outside of the village looking at the gleaming stars. Maybe fate directed him here or maybe he was just senile.

How could people like that live? Kozai thought, as he examined what he knew about Haven. A village that was a mass center of culture... amazing. However, these things were idealistic and ephemeral. Values like that faded over time, becoming nothing. The distant toll of bells was a sound that meant nothing to him. Sure, people may associate that with different meanings, such as reverence to some deity or to tell them that it was time for prayer. For Kozai, all it was was a notification of the time. In addition, he could marvel at the excellent accoustics of the bell and whatever tower it happened it reside in. The architects and engineers who worked on those must have been talented indeed.

Kozai yawned, and stood, decided to go for a little walk. He needed to keep his muscles active in order to prevent them from atrophying. In essence, he needed to follow Agito's advice and "work out". Sure, he could just refresh his body with Seisei, but it'd be a waste of chakra. He'd keep his chakra suppressed and his profile low as he started out, humming the scales of the C sharp major scale as he went. His fingers itched slightly for a musical instrument; he hadn't seen one in so long.

It was pretty soon that he stepped out of the foresty area into a clearing, where there was a marble ionian pillar. Upon this pillar sat a young man, dressed in a purple and green clown outfit and staring out into the distance. His white hair was up in a hilarious mohawk, and he was wearing matte black eyeliner and an embarrassingly red blush.

He also had a Hoshi headband. Interesting.

Kozai was wearing what he always wore, his standard black khaki slacks and his lab coat with the black V-neck shirt. His dark leather hand-crafted shoes were worn from travel, and his hair was as it had been since Arcanis had died. In fact, his appearance was mostly the same since then.

"What brings a Hoshi ninja here?" He would call up to the oddly dressed boy sitting on the pillar.

[356/356]

(-/- should a gave me wings)

As Kyofu sat upon top the pillar with the makeup on his face he would stare at a single man who walked in the direction where he was, the man did not seem odd at all just a plain black v-neck some pants and leather shoes. Nothing to much, however he felt as if he should know this man. Of course it could just be a person he cane across along his journey through the Rock Country as he passed by the destroyed village of Iwagakure." What brings a Hoshi ninja here " the man would say as Kyofu straightened up a little as he continued to sit down on the pillar. He would decide to answer the man's question since he had nothing else to do." I am simply enjoying the fresh air as well as the stars. I was hoping to avoid the villagers as they are rather urm sophisticated " said Kyofu with a frown on his face.

He had forgotten why he chose to dress up so weirdly. Must have been some kind of amnesia." People call me Kyo with my actual name being Kyofu " said Kyo as he put the palm of his left hand to his face beginning to wipe the make up off of him. It had started to make him sweat so it was easily coming off his face. Removing his hand he would look to the man and say " If you do not kind me asking what brings a man as such as you here, I can see that you do not bear the insignia of Hoshigakure nor any other village. I can only think of so many guess on what who you are and where you come from " said Kyofu as the cold glass of a jar rubbed against his chest.

He had no where else to put the jar because the people within the castle kept cleaning his room. If they were to find something as to the likes of this he may be thrown out of the village seeing as he had gotten it from a villages.

Kozai nodded as the man spoke. Then, he tilted his head to the left a few degrees. Not... sophisticated? He supposed that the word had several different defintions, depending on who was saying it. Regardless, he wasn't exactly one to argue the random definition of a word with a child. Such a thing was beneath even him. He noted the choice of pillar that the boy was sitting on. It was odd that he was wearing a rather flimsy clown outfit here in the north, but he supposed that everyone had their strange fetishes. Maybe this guy was a big fan of cosplay bondage or something.

He took a step closer, and his Coriolis Revelation told him something interesting. Just like some of the other ninja that he had met in his lifetime, this one, too had the threads within his body. How interesting it would be if this one and Mitsui were to meet. Well, then, he instantly knew something about this boy's motivations. He also noted that the boy already had two hearts within his body. It appeared that he had been busy, then. Hoshi's ninja seemed pretty competent. Not like those Konoha ninja, who had failed to put so much as a scratch on his body.

"I've met one of your ninja before... a dark-haired man with a suit. He possessed a lightning nature, as well as a wood nature. A powerful man indeed. Rarely have I fought one such as him."

He paused, then continued.

"I originally hail from Iwa, which was destroyed some time ago; an event that I witnessed myself." He paused, as Agito's death flashed through his mind. Not even a chance to say goodbye...

"I'm Kozai." He said, his tone growing serious. "I've noticed the threads within your body... do you seek hearts like the others I've met?" He also noted with chagrin that the makeup that the boy was wearing was fat-soluble, so as he attempted to wipe it off, the sweat helped a bit, but some of it stuck to his skin, smearing all over the place like some kind of paint accident, making the boy's face look like a disaster of black and red.

[365/721]

As Kyofu eyes traveled across for and wide in the range of the man he would only stare as the man had said " I've met one of your ninja before, a dark haired man with a suit. He possessed a lighting nature as well as a wood nature "." I originally hail from Iwa which was destroyed some time ago an event that I witnessed myself " the man unknown man who revealed himself as a past Iwagakure ninja would say." I am Kozai, I've noticed the threads within your body, do you seek hearts like the others I've met " said Kozai.

Kyofu would only stare in shock as the man revealed that he knew Kyofu had threads within his body, but how did the man know that? Earth Grudge Fear was a rare sight to see. But of course the man did say he came from Iwagakure once upon a time he heard that it was a village filled with people with many many bloodlines so one with Earth Grudge Fear might not be so rare. Deciding to answer the man's question Kyofu would say " As you seem to know my abilities I have no reason to lie to you about them. But yes Kozai, I do seek hearts like others of my kind. But you rarely see me hurting another soul for one, as for the second heart I have within me it was given to me from a already deceased body " Kyofu would say.

He wondered why the man named Kozai asked such a question.

Hmph. Even if this guy really didn't want hearts, that wasn't enough for Kozai to lower his guard, by any stretch of the imagination. He'd had enough experience with human beings to know that they were inherently self-serving. Not that it was a bad thing, but he didn't want this boy to catch him unawares. Kozai hated surprises of almost every variety. He had to know as much as possible about every situation, and having a dearth of information made him uncomfortable. His eyes were never still, flickering from the boy to various positions around the area like any normal human eyes would, but never leaving the boy out of his range of vision.

Naturally, his Coriolis Revelation and chakra sensory would pick up anything out of the ordinary. Even the mayflies that were buzzing here and there on the opposite side of the pillar were subject to his piercing analysis. Segmented arthropods, two pairs of wings (analogous to other wings), chitin-based shell, so on and so forth. This was something that he just couldn't help. He had always been one to seek the natural truth in things, and sheer fact seemed like the best way to do it. So, he had devoted his life to fact.

"I've met, perhaps three different individuals with your threads in my lifetime." He didn't say that one of them was his suboordinate. That would be revealing far too much about himself to a mere boy like this one.

"That being said, perhaps you could help me. I seek information on.... er... inherent abilities, like your own threads, or the Wood Release that one of your own ninja possesses. Might you be able to give me any information? I'll compensate you, if you can give me something ... substantial to work with."

That being said, it really did depend on how much this boy gave him. He also didn't know the guy's name... he'd ask after a deal went through.

[325/990]

After the man asked various amounts of things Kyofu would only stare. This man seemed like a scientist like himself. Well Kyofu couldn't call himself a scientist just yet seeing as he was not much versed in the knowledge of biology, physical science and more. Kyofu was only a mere writer he wrote all what he knew about the human body as well as the various bloodlines he had come across. Unfortently he knew nothing about this wood release Kozai spoke of, maybe he had came upon it but probably did not know the name at them time. For some reason his own instincts was telling him to tell Kozai about the abilities of those of the Kaguya clan. Clearly those of his calibur would want to know how to further increase their bone structure.

Kyofu would only continue to stare at the man then would say " Kozai, I do not know nothing of this wood release you speak of however I could tell you more about my threads. As well as the ability of the Kaguya Clan. Me myself have the ability to further increase my own body due to the fact of the threads within me. Instead of the bones up under my outer skin as well as my inner skin, they have merely been replaced with black threads that take their place. That is all about my ability besides the things I have not came across yet. As for the Kaguya Clan's ability, they can further increase their bone structure as well as manipulate the bones in their bodies into weapons which makes a perfect assault of you're a taijutsu user " said Kyofu.

The jar continued to cooly move on his chest as he breathed." I have a Kaguya Kidney, if you want I could perhaps trade it for something within your own arsenal if you have what I require. As I told you before I do not seek to hurt people for their hearts unless I'm forced to. But what I seek is a heart that the former user of it had the main element of water " said Kyofu as his breathing went back slow at a cool pace. Maybe this man Kozai would want to trade if he had the heart he required.

So, it seemed that the wood release was not as well-known as he had thought. Well, that was fine. All it meant was that he now knew how to use this information in the future. However, the more pressing matter was this this guy might have an interest in the same things that Kozai did. Well, that was good. In that case, he should culture such an interest. So, too, it seemed, that he had already collected a bloodline that Kozai didn't already have. Well, it was good that this should happen. An exchange of information was most excellent, indeed.

The only thing remaining, therefore, was to actually go through with it.

"Bone structure, huh? I can see how that would be useful." Osteocyte manipulation... this boy probably didn't know just how good it was. Indeed, though it was good for close range combat, Kozai had already thought of other uses for it... amazing. He wondered how this guy had gotten his hands on such a thing. Had he bartered for it, or was it given to him... or had he taken it by force? He was seeing how Hoshi hadn't been messed with so far. Even at the lower levels, its ninja were fearsome. He had no doubt that Iwa's Mitsui as a genin would have trouble with this one.

"Very well. Come down here, and I'll be able to gain access to the DNA without taking the whole kidney." It was always a point of issue, it seemed, with people when they realized that most implantations required mass amounts of tissue. Not so, with Kozai. He could fabricate tissue from The Seed, as well as copy DNA with it, making it probably one of the most effective tools on the planet in terms of genetics. At any rate, he'd very soon have what he needed to do a comprehensive analysis.

"In return... I'll give you exactly what you seek."

Kyofu would only stare at the man, so it seemed he had what Kyofu need however how could he himself know that this man was not lying. Of course they had only just met, he did not want to be fooled like the many times he has been, staring at the man Kyofu would say " Kozai I accept your offer but if you could, can you show me proof of this heart. In the past I have been fooled many times and it would be unbearable if I was fooled again. Do not get me wrong you seem like a great man but at last we have only just met" said Kyofu as he stared at the man.

A wise man once told him the world is give or take and he did not know whether Kozai would be the one doing the giving or the one doing the taking.

Amazing... this guy was truly a fellow after Kozai's own heart. Cynical, and interested in the same fields. All that he needed was time, dedication, skill, and a bit of luck. Well, perhaps his luck would begin today. Kozai smiled, and produced a heart that had been taken from that Senju boy's body. It had been preserved using repeated treatments of ringers solution, which kept the heart cells synchronized and fresh, rather than degrading and rotten, or the wrinkled and smelly kind of preserved that came with using chemicals like formaldehyde. Knowing a good bit about chemistry helped a lot with biology.

He held the heart in his right hand, looking up at the rather ridiculously dressed boy. "Well? Is this proof enough? I've got it right here." He knew that having tangible proof should convince the boy, however, he was more than ready to provide proof of his own medical skills if need be, though the lab coat should be a testament to that. He'd just have to see how the clown kid responded. In that case, better to be on the lookout for anyone approaching the area. Coriolis Revelation was perfect for this, monitoring every aspect of movement around him.