交際 Kousai
"Great! I'm Ryuu."
After the hot springs, Yoru introduced Ryuu to Sasuke (as Kasai, of course) and they chatted for a bit. Ryuu showed them around town some after hearing their story but had to stop after showing them to an inn. Her brother, Darui, and the other male, C, came to pick her up so she could go back to her duties. Darui introduced himself and his partner as protectors of the Raikage and apologized for his sister's rude behavior. Yoru laughed it off, reminiscing about how much they reminded her of Kurotsuchi and her partner Akatsuchi from Iwa.
They stepped into the tavern after Ryuu promised to be back tomorrow to show them around some more, much to Darui's distaste.
Their night was pretty uneventful, but that was a whole other case for Ryuu. She was grilled for befriending outsiders that seemed suspicious and not even telling the Kage about it. That was where she told them the names and backstory of the two and when Darui was given a mission to keep them under wraps while they were in the village. The next morning, Ryuu showed up to the inn, like promised, but Yoru was confused when her brother Darui also showed up.
She nodded to him and held out her hand, "I don't believe we were properly introduced yesterday. My name is Kokoro and this is my younger brother Kasai."
He gave her a bored look, then nodded. Ryuu chided him for this, telling him to lighten up. That was the moment when she started to notice their similarities and differences. They were about the same height, with the same hair and eye color. But as to where Darui's eyes held a bored look, Ryuu's were light and playful. Their hair was different too, Darui's was straight and hung down to cover his left eye, while Ryuu's was slung back in a ponytail and was dreaded. Another thing she noticed was the tattoos on their shoulders. Darui had the words for water and lightning on his right and left shoulders respectively, while Ryuu's was the opposite.
Sasuke gave her a confused look when she started laughing, while Ryuu went along laughing with her. They made small talk as they walked through the village, Ryuu stopping occasionally to show her parts of the village. Their last stop was the training grounds, right after the Raikage's office. Ryuu requested to test Yoru's skills in battle since she had mentioned having shinobi training. She looked to Sasuke and shook her head, telling him not to interfere and agreed to spar. Their terms were no genjutsu, fuinjutsu, or kenjutsu.
Yoru took off her katana and made her way into the ring, Darui and Sasuke were off to the side spectating. Ryuu rolled her neck and flexed her fists in preparation. They stood there for a minute, each daring the other to make the first move. Yoru eventually grew impatient and started making hand signs. She punched into the ground, creating a mudslide reaching to Ryuu. Before Yoru could see, Ryuu had jumped out of the way and was making her own signs. Bolts of lightning shot from her hands and arced toward Yoru. She cursed and quickly employed her diamond armor, which took the brunt of the hit.
Yoru took a quick guess that since Ryuu used lightning, she probably also used water. She cursed again at her luck, earth was weak against lightning and her water techniques would only help Ryuu's lightning techniques. Time to do it the old fashioned way, she thought. She employed her diamond coated fist and pumped chakra into her feet. With a quickly thought up strategy, she raced towards Ryuu, hoping that her armor would protect her from those lightning bolts once again. As Ryuu was looking off to the side for just a second, Yoru jumped in and punched her in the face with her diamond fist.
"Didn't anyone teach you not to look away from your opponent?"
Ryuu threw her head back and laughed, "Didn't anyone teach you not to get so cocky?"
Ryuu formed more hand signs while still on the ground and a burst of water came from her mouth, and since Yoru was in such close range, it drenched her joints. While Yoru was busy trying to move away and get water out of her eyes, Ryuu was making more handsigns and then pointed her palms toward Yoru.
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
Energy circled around Ryuu's hands before two beams shot out, coming right towards Yoru. She knew she wouldn't be able to dodge, so she quickly formed a barrier in front of her. Ryuu was fast though and managed to arc one beam behind the barrier and it struck Yoru. Her armor and barrier shattered and she was pinned to the ground, soaked and twitching. Before Ryuu could get close, Yoru was forming healing chakra and slowly healing the damage caused by the lightning beam. She would not underestimate her again.
A quick glance to the side caused her to realize that a small crowd had formed. Sasuke and Darui were still in their spots, but the other male from yesterday was with them along with a larger man and a male with sunglasses and what looked to be like swords strapped to his back. Yoru was panting as she turned back to the fight, knowing she could not take another hit like that. Ryuu was smirking as she looked back to the crowd that had gathered and waved at them. Yoru shook her head at Ryuu once again.
She created slightly different hand signs this time, creating an earthen wall between them. Then, she created the hand signs for the mudslide again, but before punching the ground formed diamond around her fist once more. The thing Ryuu did not notice about the wall was that it was not attached to the ground at the bottom. Yoru kicked the wall down, causing a small quake around the area, before proceeding to punch it the rest of the way down while simultaneously creating a large wave of mud to come crashing down on Ryuu. While Ryuu was still on the ground, Yoru took more earth around her fist and jumped into the air. When she came back down, her fist had created a sizeable crater that was once the ring and also a hole in Ryuu's midsection.
Once Yoru determined that Ryuu was knocked out, she started the healing process. She healed the outside and then picked her up to carry her to Darui.
"I punched a hole through her entire midsection, but I managed to heal some of it. I would offer to heal her all the way, but I'm almost at my limit. She needs a hospital."
Darui nodded to her and looked at the large man that was standing behind him. The man nodded to him and moved, then looked to Yoru.
"So you are the Kokoro that Ryuu has talked so much about?"
"That would be correct sir, and I am assuming you have already met my brother Kasai."
"That I have, and as long as he plans on becoming a strong man, I'm sure I'll like him just fine."
"Oh he's getting there, I promise."
"Ah! I forgot to introduce myself, I am A, the Fourth Raikage. This is my brother B."
"Killer B, yo!"
"Ah, forgive me for not knowing sooner Raikage-sama," she bowed.
"A strong individual like yourself has no need to apologize, I'm glad I got to see you in battle. Maybe we can battle some day."
She sweatdropped, "Maybe someday, Raikage-sama."
"I will let you get your rest then. C, escort them back to their inn."
"Yes, Fourth-sama."
Yoru sighed, she had not planned on beating one of the protectors of the Raikage down on their second day there. But then again, she had not planned on meeting the Raikage either. C dutifully escorted them home, exactly as asked. Yoru made small talk with Sasuke, promising to teach him some of her moves later. C acted disinterested, but Yoru could tell he was listening in, especially after working under the Tsuchikage, so she tried to make conversation with him.
"Ryuu-san will be okay, won't she? I did not mean to cause that much damage."
"Oh she'll be fine, but don't expect her to be anywhere else but your side after."
"Why do you say that, C-san?"
"She has not been best by anyone other than her brother and she is quite attached to him. Plus, she seems to be more attracted to the same sex."
Yoru blushed, "Maybe I should fight her brother one day too."
"We'll see about that. If you're wanting to travel all over the country, then you should probably leave soon."
She huffed and looked at him, "We're here. I will be departing now."
The next year and a half had changed both Sasuke and Yoru. Sasuke had grown more toned and lean, taking after Kakashi. His hair had also grown out longer, specifically his bangs. He had also learned many jutsu from traveling the land with Yoru. He had grown about six inches. He had also taken the time to perfect the chidori while sparring with Yoru. It became a fun past time for them, at the end of every night, they would spar. Yoru had matured more if it was possible. Her smile grew as she started to have an appreciation for all life. She has cut off her braid and cut her hair shorter, causing her curls to be more prominent. Sometime during her travels, she had picked up a cloak she insisted on wearing everywhere.
Sometime, throughout the years, Sasuke had set out for a few months to 'find himself' as he put it. Yoru told him that she would be staying in Iwa with her father until he got back. She trusted him, but she was worried. Recently, more news of the Akatsuki had been flitting around the countries for some time now. She was afraid that he had finally set out on taking vengeance on his brother, which she knew would hurt him. But, she let him go and left Kumogakure and Ryuu to go see her father.
When Sasuke came back after those months, he revealed that he had the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and that Shimura Danzou was dead. He would not tell her the details of what had happened other than that Danzou was the reason Itachi did what he did. Yoru accepted that and they continued on with their journey. They had about one month left of their travels. Yoru decided they would spend another week here in Iwa, and then a week in Kumo with Ryuu.
Yoru had to admit that she and Ryuu had grown close, but she missed Kakashi. She missed Sakura and Naruto too, but not once had she run into Naruto on her travels. She was kind of upset with Kakashi, he had not written back to her after the second letter. She decided she would sort it out after she got back to Konoha though.
The weeks with her father, Sasuke, and Ryuu were filled with great joy and sorrow at the same time. Yoru did not know when she would see her father or Ryuu again and she knew she would miss them greatly. Sasuke had been acting differently since he got back from his trip, but Yoru did her best to keep him as his jovial self. She knew that things would be okay once they got back to Konoha, then they would have their team back.