Strength Gains

## Strength Gains 1-22-17

Kaiiaki: - "And if I could just sneak out while the baby is sleeping.." Kaiiaki whispered to herself. The day had been a long one. Yukio definitely took after his mother in personality. At this point, he was almost one year old. And he had sure found his voice box. Kaiiaki, Dahlia, Takao, Tsukiichi, had all been taking shifts with the baby. However it was evident that Kaiiaki got the longest of the shifts. It wasn't that she didn't mind the time bonding with her son. It was just everything she was missing out on. And of course, she had gotten the "I told you so" lecture from Dahlia plenty of times. Kaiiaki sighed softly, somewhat half assured that now it was Tsukiichi watching her son. Kaiiaki hadn't seen her cousin in quite awhile now. But it was nice to see that she hadn't completely disappeared. Especially in such desperate times. Kaiiaki quickly and quietly stepped down the stairs. Foot after foot she concentrated on not making a sound or dare to wake the sleeping imp. Every creak sounded like a pounding drum in her ears. Whatever Tsukiichi was doing with Yukio, it was working. Without incident, Kaiiaki finally made it down the stairs. She was running off to meet her fellow team mate Sairento at the Training Grounds. It had been months since they had seen each other. Since Kaiiaki had been on maternity leave, she guessed Sai had been placed on other teams as the Village Elders saw fit. Although she didn't care about him personally, she was curious to see what had been happening in the village since her "disappearance". The family had been staying in a secret location located inside of a cave for most of the baby's first month and while Kai was weak. But now that she was getting more up to par, she was ready to really pour on the steam. She was so close to being able to participate in the Jonin Exams. She had no choice to get stronger. Dark thoughts poured and brimmed over in Kaiiaki's mind as she set out towards the Training Grounds. Her body flew at a quickened pace. She estimated perhaps 40 mph. Which was about the average speed for a Chunin. Kaiiaki silently cursed that she had forgotten to bring a jacket. The sting of the winter air was making her shiver. It was even worse because she was running so fast. Her hope was to just hurry up and get this over with quickly. She hoped that Sairento wouldn't be running late. It was hard enough to meet at this hour of the night.-

Sairento:\* A loud yawn echoed through an empty ally-way near the outskirts of Hoshigakure No Sato. It had been Sairento of course, as usual he was being lazy and completely forgotten about meeting with Kai. Waking himself up, he sat up from the concrete floor of the ally-way and blinked twice. “ Huh? I swore I was resting on the ledge of this building. “ Sai said confusingly as he looked up the side of the small to medium sized building. He was always one to be forgetful and lazy, therefore, the Aburame picked himself up off the floor and made his way out the ally-way. Scratching his head, Sai clicked his tongue and he oddly remembered that he had something planned for tonight but he couldn’t quite remember what it was. Without thought or any specific reason, Sai began to slowly walk towards the training field which wasn’t far from where he was. Passing by villagers of Hoshi every now and then irked the boy, but he was also a bit relieved because given the weather and time, there weren’t many people out and about the village. Still avoiding contact with the few people who were wandering the village for lord knows what reason, Sai sighed and looked up at the sky. “ Damn I hate the cold… “ Suddenly his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk as if he say something horrific. “ Tck… I totally forgot about meeting with that hot headed demon…. “ Lowering his head so that he was no longer looking up at the sky, and began flying down the streets of Hoshi. Images of how she’d most likely react to him now running late, Sairento bit his lip. “ Damn that Kaiiaki, she’s gonna rip my head off for being late. “ Pacing himself still being a lazy ass, the Chunin was running a bit over 25 mph. Seeing how he was not that far from the field, it would take him thirty seconds to a minute top before he reached the training grounds. Wondering how his Chunin teammate has been, the Aburame smirked a bit as he was still interested on what and who this sadistic butt munch has become despite knowing he is about to be ripped apart limb from limb. Soon enough making it to the field with a great surprise, Kai was nowhere in sight which meant no injuries for the Aburame yet. “ Good so the demon isn’t here yet. Guess I’ll relax till she gets here. “ Making his way to a nearby tree, he sat at the base of the tall tree and rested against the trunk of it. “ Now we wait. “ \*

Kaiiaki: -With the speed that Kaiiaki was running at, it didn't take her long to arrive. The time that had lapsed had been about a minute or two. She wasn't one to be patient, especially about training. Kaiiaki slowed her pace to a jog, then fast walking pace. Two massive boulders stood to the left and right of the entrance to the Training Grounds. It was funny that upon first glance, nothing looked very different. The land still stood barren and empty. The soil upon the ground was dark, almost pitch black. It was one of the strangest trademarks of the Star Village. Skeleton trees were scattered around the small field. One might estimate it to be about 3 miles in length and about the same in width. Unless of course, one dared to go into the skeleton infested woods behind the grounds. Kaiiaki smiled at that thought. She of course didn't leave any dead bodies around to rot back there. But she had a good idea of who had buried them there. Speak of the devil, Kaiiaki felt a pair of eyes watching her. And the chakra signature the balanced somewhere between evil and annoying. "I'm getting better. I sensed you before I saw you." Kaiiaki commented into the silence of the night. "Are you here to play with dolls or are we here to get down to business?" Kaiiaki asked with mute interest.-

Sairento:\* It wasn’t long before Sai heard the sound of someone’s sandals kicking against the dry and lifeless soil. Too lazy to get up, says just peered over at the figure from the corners of his eyes. Seeing that it was Kaiiak, a smirk formed across his face. Suddenly she began to speak aloud and in a way rushing the male to get started with their scheduled training session. Standing to his feet and dusting of his butt, Sai laughed a bit as he rose from the dead tree. “ Someone’s brain went dead after sitting on her ass for a few months huh? So clearly you haven’t improved that much because I play with insects not dolls. “ Sairento spoke as he began approaching Kai slowly with his hands tucked into his pockets. Sticking his tongue out at Kai and stopping in his movements. “ You just missed me huh? That’s why you’re in a rush little fox? “ Sai always loved teasing Kaiiaki even when he knows it’ll do nothing but piss her off. Although it upsets the girl, he rather enjoys the thrills he gets when she’s trying to kill him. Slowly lifting his arms he went in for a hug, just cause he knew that she’d have a negative reaction to him trying to embrace her. “ Bring it in, it’s been a while wittle one. “ Speaking to Kai as if she was a infant much like any adult would do to their babies. Finally getting close enough to hug Kaiiaki, he began wrapping his arms around the girl. \*

Kaiiaki: - Kaiiaki gave a bored sigh. "You know I do not care for you, nor will I ever. Your whereabouts are of no concern to me." Kaiiaki spoke shortly, in part for a lazy idiot for him to even comprehend. Plus, the chattier she acted, the more friendly she would sound. And she did not care for anything like that. "Sitting on my ass hardly. Look at you, pathetic enough to show up dressed as if you just crawled out of bed. My guess is if I don't have something sharp pointing at your neck, you have no motivation." Kaiiaki hissed at Sairento. Her grey eyes echoing the bitter cold of the night in her soul. "Do not dare touch me.." Kaiiaki mixed her chakra in with the molecules of the air. When her chakra formed chemical combinations, it did something much more rare than others. Her chakra was able to mold just bare molecules into something deadly and beautiful all at the same time. Before she could take another inhale of the night air, Crystal Thorns had formed from the ground. They whisked up and aimed to stab each of his oblique muscles through. As well as, the crystal twisted through and aimed to stab through the tips of his shoulders. They would only be grazed wounds if they hit. Just enough to draw blood. Given Sairento's close proximity to her, which she guessed would be a mere 12 inches. She was sure she wouldn't miss. Kaiiaki couldn't help but think why he would possibly want to put himself in this situation. He knew her better than to try and make a move on her like this. But at least this would stop him from coming any closer.-

Sairento: \* Noticing the crystals forming in an instant, Sai stopped in his tracks as the crystals where aimed to rip through his stomach and ribs as well as give warning gashes on his shoulders. Stopping just in time for the first set of thorns to barely pierce his skin, he laughed a bit. “ You’ve always been a interesting little character and your right about needing you to threaten me you know. See I always find joy out of your anger and hostile actions. It sends my life’s thrill category through the roof. “ Erasing his expression as it was now blank, he starred into the cold eyes of Kaiiaki. Normally her deadly glare would send chills down the backs of her targets, but Sai found them oddly warm. “ However, I haven’t just been sitting on my ass. “ Shrugging off her rude comments and poking at her crystals. “ To be fair though, what really draws me to you is that murderous intent I get from you. Even though it gives me no fear, I just love the feeling of being hunted. “ Chuckling a bit, Sairento reached down and picked up a small pebble allowing one of his insect to cling to the rock. Tilting his head at Kai before suddenly flicking the small rock at her forehead and giving the chance for the small bug to attach to Kai undetected. “ Here I thought that kid would make you soft. I’m glad he hasn’t. “ Starring at her as if she was nothing more than entertainment for him. “ Isn’t this meeting supposed to build strength, so why the crystals? Are you just too weak to fight without these pesky crystals? “ Sairento said tilting his head and blinking a few times before sticking his tongue out once more. \*

Kaiiaki: - "Keep it going. Fuckin freak." Kaiiaki cursed, shattering the Crystal Thorns surrounding Sairento. "Do not even try it. You see where that got Masaru." Kaiiaki smiled heinously. She secretly enjoyed what had happened to him. It had served him right of course. And who's to say she didn't have a hand in it? These dark thoughts encircled her mind. They bounced around, almost as if they were feeding the demon sealed within her. Like musical notes, they danced around feeding the darkest parts of her soul. "Glad you have not been slacking. I despise picking up the slack of weaklings." She spoke as if she had little interest in the issue. As if it was only a passing thought. She continued to walk more towards the forest, passing the barren and empty field. Nostalgic feelings all but attacked her from the previous meetings here. "I see you have gotten sloppy with hiding corpses. There are better places for such things." With saying that, an idea popped into her mind. "How about we boost our strength a bit by digging up graves and moving bodies?" She turned around, watching his facial expression. She had assumed he had followed her into the edge of the skeleton tree woods. And perhaps he would agree to a not so ethical form of training.-

Sairento:\* A pleased feeling struck the boy as she called him a freak which would cause him to smile with a wicked twist. “ Something happened to Masa? Hmm…never really noticed, also why bring him up as if I was the same as he was? “ Shrugging his shoulders as he watched her make her way to the tree line which they dispose in, he slowly followed behind her. Listening to her as she went on about picking up the slack for weaklings, instantly an image of Kai’s genin teammate popped into his head. “ Your referring to what’s his face, the one I beat at the Chunin Exams? “ Laughing hysterically, Sai followed behind Kai to border that separates the dead and the living in this village. “ Eh, not at all like him or Masa for that matter. “ Giving another shrug, he was now standing beside her as they both were looking at the graveyard of Hoshigakure. “ No need to hide bodies much ya’know? Watching the dead rot has always been such a beautiful thing. “ Sairento said as Kaiiaki got the idea to build strength by digging graves and moving bodies. To be frank, Sai was all game for it. “ Yea sure but ladies first. “ Giving Kai a light shove into the graveyard, Sai chuckled softly as he followed behind her. \*

Kaiiaki: - "Pft. You are all the same to me." Kaiiaki spoke as if it were fact, not even up for debate. A scowl grew upon her grey sparkling face. "Ari was less than useful to me." She said coldly. She was in fact only using him for his unique jutsu combination that worked well in tandem with hers. She never knew what happened to him. Perhaps he was another one of those ninja that just seemed to disappear into the void. An endless void that seemed to creep in the darkest shadows of the village of Hoshigakure. Kaiiaki slightly smirked, hearing the agreement from Sairento. She was glad they were on the same page for this part at least. "And a word of advice.. shove me again even slightly and you will wish you had not." Kaiiaki said cooly. Without another word, she began kicking around at the dirt. Some of the bodies buried here didn't have gravemarkers. Those were the souls that she was searching for. "I hope you at least killed some that would not be missed." She said flatly, not caring to clean up any messes. The Hoshikage had taken care of Kaiiaki's messes beforehand. Back when he was back in power. But now the Village Elders were less than understanding. She secretly hoped that Dahlia would be next in line for Hoshikage. She was of course the most powerful in the village. Who else would they pick? Kaiiaki shrugged the thoughts off. Even though the task ahead was long and daunting, it would be fun. Better than weight lifting of course and more enjoyable. Kaiiaki's foot finally hit along the edge of what seemed to be a lump under a few feet of dirt. Her sandal thumped upon it, hitting the remains of what she presumed was a corpse. Kaiiaki bent down, to fully examine it further. It was pretty well buried beneath the dirt. Although it was still a somewhat shallow grave. Kaiiaki bent closer in a crouch. Her fingers moved towards the lump in the ground. At once, she began digging with her bare hands at the lump concealed by dirt. Furiously she dug at the dark soil, pushing all the rejected dirt to the side. Without a shovel, she sure wasn't going to get there anytime soon. But that was the point wasn't it? Training your strength by digging and moving corpses. She chuckled in the back of her throat. She would have to pass this training exercise on to her son one day.-

Sairento:~ The Aburame snickered a bit as she spoke so lowly of the male gender in general as if she knew that we all were the same. “ Yeah Yeah Ms.Grumpy. “ Sairento said as he looked at the girl go about as she pleased. Kaiiaki seemed to bring out a side of Sai that was never really seen, but was this a good thing or a rather bad one? That’s the real question here and it seemed rather confusing. The Aburame thinking about their match at the Chunin Exams brought a small smirk to his face as he quickly shrugged it off. ‘ What the hell is wrong with me? Am I actually enjoying the company and memory of this demon? ‘ The bug boy said subconsciously as she then threatened him for shoving her. “ Your always so violent, Me likey. “ He said playfully as he gave her a wink before bursting into laughter. Following behind her, Sairento began kicking around dirt in search of a grave or corpse of some sort. “ When killing, the thought about them being missed or loved doesn’t cross my mind much. “ Shrugging, he questioned his previous actions all together. Wondering if he was really joking, or was he hiding some truth behind his laugh. Oh well, he brushed the thoughts away as he dug through the dirt. Sairento began shoveling through the eroded soil with his hands before he quickly felt a wooden like object. Possibly a grave, he began digging around the object and sure enough it was a grave. However, it possessed no name or identity of whom it might be. “ Poor bastard. “ Looking to Kaiiaki, Sai sighed before he parted his lips to speak aloud. “ I found someone’s grave, now what do I do? “ Not completely sure what he was supposed to do after finding the grave. ~

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki ignored the comments of her teammate. She wasn't there to be social. It was supposed to be on a need to know basis only. They mutually used each other for their power. But today he wasn't acting like his usual demeanor. Something was off. It was if he was actually enjoying her company. Such a thing was unbeknownst to her. The most affection she got from anyone was her family. Other than her past occurances with Masaru. Those days seemed so far away in the past. Times had changed. Perhaps, Sairento had somewhat been altered too because of the circumstances. At the moment, she shoved the whole idea into the back of her mind. Her sparkling hands broke away dirt pile after dirt pile. Most of the blackened soil was loose and easy to break away at the top. She was able to push away most of it until she hit about 3 feet into the soil. After that point, it required a little more work from her muscles. With a grunt, she piled away chunks to the side. More and more, limbs and extremeties kept popping up. It was almost like a game of hidden treasure. Kaiiaki smiled upon each piece she collected. As if she was finding a reward hiding in the barren soil. She glanced over a few times at Sairento, checking to see what he had dug up. From the looks of it, he had gotten a whole corpse intact. She supposed she must have gotten the luck of the draw with getting all the random pieces of limbs. She pushed her muscles to keep digging far into the dirt. And after about 20 minutes, she had revealed most of the body. The depth dug into the ground at this point had to have been about 5 feet at this point. Satisfied, Kaiiaki gave out a sigh. A bit of sweat had beaded upon her sparkling skin. She quickly wiped it off with the back of her right hand. "Let's pick this shit up and carry it to the Valley of Death." Kaiiaki answered. Without another word, she began piling up a skull, a decapitated torso, right and left arm, and two legs. She set them all in a single pile upon the ground. She instructed Sairento to set his corpse beside of her limb pile. Kaiiaki then placed her hands upon the ground in front of both piles. "Crystal Pentagonal Prison." She spoke out softly in her impish voice. With that, she began to mix her chakra with that of the particles of earth beneath it. She mixed them, combining crystallizing chakra with earth elements. In doing this, she formed an Indigo colored crystal beneath the surface. This crystal spanned the length of 4 feet in height and 5 feet in length. Just enough to cover both corpses without having much left over. Once the crystal was formed underground, she pushed more chakra into the ground in a spurt, causing the crystals to shoot up from the ground. The crystals enveloped each pile completely before the crystal finally covered the top, sealing it off forever. "Pick it up. If anybody asks, it is for an art show." Kaiiaki spoke, then pounced out of the hole she had dug in the ground. With a grunt and a tug, she picked up the large crystal containing the pieces of limbs. Assuming Sairento would follow suit, she began making her way towards the Valley of Death.-

Sairento: ~ It grew awkward a bit, Kaiiaki not responding to anything he had said. Though that was rather normal for the girl to do, Sairento felt something weird form in his chest. Not giving it much thought, he just ignored the feeling and went back to being silent per usual. Watching the girl pull the remains from her hole, he sat on top of the box that contained the corpse. Once she was done, she instructed him to place his found corpse next to hers. Normally he’d disregard her instructions and do his own thing, but right now he was more about the task at hand. Dragging the casket like object over to Kaiiaki’s pile of limbs and other remains, he grunted a bit. Sairento did as she said and stood back while she began to perform one of her jutsu only passed down through her clan. Watching the girl encase the remains in crystals, the Aburame looked into the sky. That weird feeling creeping back into his chest, he began to think. Why does he feel like this all of a sudden? Was it so weird for the two to make conversation? Well that one was more rhetorical seeing how they two Chunin rarely spoke. This being the most they’ve ever spoke to one another besides the taunts during the Exams. The feeling in his chest was more painful than anything, however, it wasn’t physical but it was more emotional. ‘ Damn this feeling is annoying. ‘ His expression went blank as he was irritated with the feeling. Not sure why this was happening himself, his train of thought soon ended once Kaiiak pulled herself from the grave and gave him more instructions. Nodding without a word, Sairento went to pick up his corpse which was now encased by Kaiiaki’s crystals. Pacing himself before he lifted the corpse from the ground. Stumbling a bit at first due to the added weight from the crystals, he caught his balance and followed behind Kai as they made their way towards the Valley of Death. Pacing his breathes so that he wouldn’t get to tired while carrying the damn dead man and or woman, beginning to feel a small burning sensation in the muscles located in his arms. ‘ Hopefully this won’t be as annoying as this damn feeling in my chest. ‘ He thought to himself as he tried to keep his mind off the feeling as it seemed to reappear whenever he looked at Kaiiaki. ~

Kaiiaki: -This wasn't going to be easy. The weight of the body parts was pushing against Kaiiaki's muscle. It pushed, forcing her to clench the crystal closer to her body. She tried to use the weight of her torso to alleviate the push against her arms. It worked, but just enough for her to slowly carry it. Fortunately it wasn't about speed in this type of training. It was all about going slow, and pushing past her limits of strength. Although it didn't make it easy with the slippery crystal beneath her fingers. She tried to shift anything else to focus on. Anything to keep her mind off of the tug against her muscles. Her grey eyes scanned around the entrance to the Training Grounds. Nothing had changed since the two arrived here earlier. She could sense no one nearby. Except for the two of them, the grounds were absent of life. Which of course was a good thing. Anyone that saw these two at this hour carrying what they had would certainly have some questions. Silently, Kaiiaki continued to carry her crystal. The weight of the crystal threatened to take her down. But she wouldn't give in so easily. Even if she pulled something or her arms dropped off. She was determined to not drop it. Another 15 minutes went by, and the duo was about to the stopping point. Kaiiaki was internally thankful that the village was small. But still, she was ready for this struggle to be over.-

Sairento: ~ Sairento was way to prideful to let his weaknesses and struggles be known, the burning sensations worsened as time went by. ‘ I can’t wait to get rid of this thing. ‘ Thinking of the reliving feeling they’d get once they reached their destination and let go of the crystallized corpses. Dreaming of that relief, it helped him cope with the pain and burn that he was feeling in his muscles. Carrying the crystal was no easy task seeing how it was not only heavy but due to the fabric of Sairento’s clothes, the crystal would began to slide from his grasps here and there which caused Sai to tighten his grip and cling to the crystal. This was a great way to build strength but it was extremely troublesome. Not really worried about anyone witnessing their actions, Sairento had several of his insect friends scouting the area around them as they walked along. The insects of course moved as they did so that no one would go undetected to the Aburame. While carrying the heavy object, Sairento made sure not to bend or arch his back in anyway so that he wouldn’t have any back problems going down the line after this. ~

Kaiiaki: - And so the struggle continued on. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. Only one thing remained the same, the pain. The once gentle tug at her muscles had increased. Now it was more like the tendons were going to pop off of her bones. "A little longer.." Kaiiaki spoke through gritted teeth. They were passing through the gate of the village now. As luck would have it, the on duty guards were off patrolling another side of the village it seemed. ~Dodged a kunai there.~ She thought to herself. More sweat beaded across her forehead. It was irritating that she had no way of wiping it off as of now. But oh, how sweet the victory would be getting to the end point. She could see it even now. About 50 feet off into the distance, past the gate, toxic fumes seethed within. She couldn't believe it. It had been so long, she never thought she would see it. But now they were approaching it. However, it was going slowly. She felt as if she were in one of those dreams where she was running and couldn't get to the end of the road. Kaiiaki took a deep breath in through her nose and out of her mouth. ~Push it farther. Do not complain.~ She thought. ~Complaining and quitting are for losers which you are not. You shine above them all.~ With these thoughts, and a wicked smile. Kaiiaki increased her speed with internal motivation. And finally, within 15 more minutes she was able to stand at the edge of the valley. With a sigh, she plopped the crystal down in front of her. She paused a minute or two, catching her breath. ~How sweet it is.~ The satisfied thought popped into her mind. Once she was ready, she pushed the crystal over the ledge. And within plummeting to the ground, it would shatter into millions of indigo colored dust. No more would the corpse be, but dust scattered to the winds.-

Sairento:~ The pain was harsh and for a while it felt as if they were walking along in place while carrying the large crystals. Almost as if they weren’t making any progress, however, catching a glimpse of the gates, Sai sighed in relief. Knowing they were mere feet from their destination. ‘ AHHHHHHH!!!!! PUSH YOURSELF!! ‘ The inner thoughts of the Aburame screaming with power and the will to fight on. Seeing Kai increase her speed, it gave Sairento more motivation to fight on. This was normal for the two, seeing how they normally pushed each other with motivation to win. ‘ Oh no you don’t you damned demon! ‘ Sai thought to himself as he inhaled deeply and discovered a burst of energy to begin jogging. ‘ You can do it, your better than the rest. ‘ A flash back of his defeat to Kaiiaki at the Chunin Exams played briefly in his mind. Biting his bottom lip, Sai increased his jogging speed a bit more. Though he stumbled a bit here and there, he managed to surpass Kai and reach the ghastly trenches. Looking down into the pit that seemed bottomless, he smirked. “ Had some nice memories with her. “ He mumbled beneath his breath before dropping the crystal into the valley along with Kai. Stumbling back and falling to his ass, Sairento chuckled awkwardly. The pain in his chest came back but he chose to let it be. Maybe it’ll go away after this, who knows. “ Objective complete, guess this means that our training session is over. “ He said before standing and dusting himself off. Stretching a bit, enjoying the sweet relief of no longer having to carry that damned corpse. ~