On the way home (Private)

Kotsubo had managed to find the boat where the kirigakure squad had arrived to the Land of Lightning in, which wasn't surprising considering Nozomi and Yomi had killed most of the crew and nobody else knew about it's location, so it wouldn't really go anywhere. That meant while Yomi was knocked out from the poison, Kotsubo would have to get the boat moving. He placed Yomi down in the lower docks in one of the bedrooms, so she could recover while Kotsubo had gone to work by bringing out several shadow clones to get certain parts of the ship working along, also with throwing the corpses that were left from the slaughter into the sea as Kotsubo didn't want to smell a rotting corpse while they're deep at sea, and he doubts Yomi would either.

If Yomi were to wake up anytime soon and walk out of the lower deck, she would notice multiple clones of Kotsubo in critical parts of the ship, such as one on the top of the ship for lookout, one as a helmsman, another one to make sure the ropes were tied in tight and well and so on. The real Kotsubo however was currently in the captain's cabin, passing the time by reading the previous captain's diary. Kotsubo didn't know people still did that sort of thing anymore, much less a criminal doing it. The more Kotsubo read into the life of the previous captain, the more he felt a bit of sympathy for his passing. He didn't like that, so he chucked the diary to the side.

After a while, Kotsubo decides to check on Yomi and see how she's doing, Honiko had mentioned about letting them go to spread the message about her to their respective villages, and through that believed he only injected Yomi with a non-lethal poison but he could be wrong, it's bad enough that a genin, who apparently is a jinchuuriki according to the pale woman has defected under his command, he couldn't have a total failure by having his only other squadmate dead, so Kotsubo made his way from the captain's cabin and into the lower decks, to find the bedroom that he placed her down in to recover.

Yomi was having a fever dream after being carried aboard the ship which' crew she and Nozomi had exterminated in order to keep any loose ends tied perfectly. She could see how her hand crushed her father's windpipe, how she dropped his body to the floor of the dojo and started crying loudly, the bodies of all her father's students laying lifelessly upon the dojo's tatami mats. That vision was soon followed by a memory of how she and Nozomi had their spars, sweating like pigs, burning through massive amounts of chakra, but nonetheless having the fun of not being restricted by rules or safety meassurements. Lastly, she saw that white haired bitch's eyes staring at her mockingly, looking down upon her from a fiery inferno of pure white flames, the tonges of the flames licking at her like the forked appendages of serpents.

Just when Kotsubo came down again to check on her, the Chuunin woke up with a loud roar, her back arching forward as she sat up from her bed, holding a hand against her head as she could feel it splitting from the momentary lack of oxygen she had experienced and the obvious side effect of the toxin in her blood slowly dissipating and allowing her some sluggish, cramped movement. "We're on a boat, sailing for Kirigakure, no?" The chuunin inquired, her eyes bloodshot and filled with immense, unbound hatred as she glared at the Hoshigake clansman. She immediately tried to get out of the bed, only to realize that her legs were still struggling when a sharp pain coursed through her muscles, forcing her to sit back down and yet again place a hand against her forehead, which was littered with beads of sweat. "We've lost Kirigakure's jinchuuriki, been betrayed by one of our own and have been pummeled into humiliating submission by that bitch...the higher ups won't like this, Kotsubo."

Removing her hand from her forehead, she let out a sigh and seemed to calmly assess the situation for a moment, before turning her attention back at the Hoshigake with a soft grin. "You know, I must say you did well...if that bitch hadn't been so strong and that idiot hadn't betrayed us...we might've had a chance..." She laughed, laying back down on the bed, while keeping her gaze at the jounin. "But we know she bleeds," her hand rose upwards and clenched into a fist, she could still feel how her hands did indeed cause the only true wound the white haired stranger had sustained. "We can't let all this behind us, Kotsubo...we need to get stronger, we need a plan...we need to return the three-tails to kirigakure, with or without its host."

The loud roar had only shook the shark man, slightly making him flinch since it was so unexpected, he didn't expect such ferociousness from Yomi but once her rage-induced roar had come to a halt, that's when Kotsubo finally walked into the bedroom that Yomi is resting in, laying against the wall by the door which is facing the side of the bed that Yomi is resting upon. Kotsubo gave a light nod to when being inquired about going to Kirigakure, which would take a while but they'll make it and for a while, it doesn't seem like anyone is on their tail so they're in the wind for sure.

Kotsubo only gave a light chuckle when she mentioned the higher-ups wouldn't like it, she wasn't wrong on that front. "Maybe, but they're also the ones who decided to not tell us Nozomi is a jinchūriki... to which, I was only told after she defected, with the enemy telling us. It's an incompetence on their part as well to not tell us, we would've been more careful in not losing her." he already imagined that might be the major argument into derailing Kotsubo as to why they failed the mission, that they lost the jinchūriki of their village to the enemy so he thought up of a counterargument to it well enough, he knew that he's going to be the one on blast once the higher-ups hear the full mission report.

After she failed to get up and just laid back on the bed, she continued to said her piece on the events of what happened, if anyone had gone into battle against such an opponent, it would leave them thinking quite a bit so he understood where she's coming from, wanting to get stronger to not so powerless against her. "Indeed, on the plus side, we got bragging rights that Kirigakure made the bitch bleed." a bit of his facetious side kicking in. "But really... from what she said, we have three years to prepare ourselves and through that, to possibly get Nozomi back or just her tailed beast. It's hard to think I've reached a satisfactory level of power only to find out someone treats it like childs play... I wanted to imagine that someone out there existed with unimaginable power, but she's just something else. It's like what they say, be careful what you wish for."

Looking at her trembling hands, Yomi listened to what Kotsubo had to say. He was right, this woman had proven to be far out of their league and he also had a point on the whole jinchuuriki business. To retort towards the higher ups that it was entirely their own fault for keeping quiet about the jinchuuriki would in a sense play well for the both of them if they would be blamed for that loss of military power. Clenching her hands to fists, the Chuunin finally got up on her feet, strangely, if not eerily calm as she walked to hold herself straight and balanced on one of the supporting beams of the bunk she had been laying in.

"Three years..." Her chakra welled up, visibly stirred by her emotions, the corners of her lips curled upwards into a malicious grin. "Three years to reach an adequate level of power to destroy that bitch and her pet tailed beast along with her...very well, I'll take it, I'll show them just what mistakes they have been making by letting me live," her hand gripped the wooden support tighter and tighter. "In three years I will be ready for them...to die in agony and despair at my hand."

Channeling her mixture of rage, hatred, mad elation and pure bliss through her, Yomi unwittingly activated her Jigoku no ken style, crushing the wooden pole within her grasp, but also forcing her into exhaustion yet again, resulting in her falling back onto the bed and sitting there panting heavily. "Seems I'll need more time to recover my stamina...got any food on board?"

Kotsubo felt a bit of a pump up when she made the speech, and he did quite agree with it, three years to get the power they need to amass in order to take on Honiko so the fight wouldn't be so one-sided like it was previously. When she mentioned about there being food on board, Kotsubo weaved a handsign with one hand and a single shadow clone came out. "See if you can get us some food, some drink as well." with the clone nodding, walking outside the bedroom and continuing the conversation between them.

The shark man grabbed a nearby chair in the room that was near a wooden desk, grabbing it and facing it in the general direction of where Yomi is resting, it'll be a while until they got to Kirigakure so really, all Kotsubo can do for now is kill time by chatting with Yomi about the mission, or other things. "Yeah... I'm not proud of retreating from the pale woman and her beast, but the only thing worse then a prideless sharkman is a dead one." he knew there were times to use your blade, and when to keep it sheathed, pick your own battles for when it's right.

The clone quickly came back, bringing a plate that contained a few bottles of which he assumed to be beer, wine and the sort. The previous captain seemed to be stacked on drinks, the plate also had two pristine glasses on it. The clone then placed it down on the desk, then saying "I couldn't find any food, but I remembered seeing these drinks from the captain's cabin, I could go swimming and hunting for fish if you'd like, since it'll be a long while until we actually get to the Land of Water." Kotsubo gave a light nod to him, to which the clone went back out, in a few mere moments, a splash could be heard coming from outside if one listened closely enough. "It'll have to do for now, want a drink? I could certainly use one." Kotsubo stood up and headed over to the desk, popping off the lid relatively well on the beer bottle and gently letting the liquid flow down into one of the glasses, if Yomi also wanted a drink, he would fill the other glass with whatever she desired and would pass it along to her before sitting back down, hoping she's stable enough to not spill the drink on the bed.

Yomi chuckled when seeing the shark jounin completely abuse his kage bunshin technique just to not having to move out to get some food and a drink by himself. If there wasn't the pressing matter of their heads being close to the chopping board, she'd actually laugh at it. "I'll take the drink...strongest you got," she sighed, her back arching forward as she breathed in and out heavily to let the oxygen speed up the process of removing the toxin from her blood. "We'll need it to get some rest and prepare ourselves for what's to come."

Whenever the clone would return with whatever scraps and booze it could find, she'd happily accepted whatever was offered to gulp it down at a steady pace to strengthen her body and regain some stamina. "You best get some sleep too, you look awful,", with some effort, the woman removed the coat she wore, undid the zipper of her armor and revealed that all she was wearing underneath said armor was a thin cloth ribbon covering her chest, which seemed to be a smart move, as it managed to absorb the blood she had lost during her fight with Honiko and thus kept her armor more or less clean. Removing the ribbon wrapped around her chest, she brazenly showed her breasts and her muscular, toned frame, but also something highly unusual for someone who up til that point had only shown a brutal and up close style of fighting: she simply had not as many scars as one would expect from a fighter like her. Apart from a few thin lines on her back, a scar on her left shoulder and a small nick at the back of her neck, there was nothing, no overtly visible or deep scars, just fine little blemishes one would only see if she was nearly completely naked. "Don't stare too much, you dolt...go to bed and get some rest."

Chuckling a bit, she pulled off her boots and socks, pulling off her pants as well, showing that as expected, she was wearing spats underneath. "So...we ran," She laughed rather sour when laying down on the bed with her arms behind her head, looking at the ceiling of the little room. "Life sure has a way of telling oneself they need to become stronger." With those words, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep.

The clone had come back from his little water adventure, telling the pair that he had indeed find some food on board after a proper second search, as well as catching a few fish that would satisfy the both of them. Kotsubo then told the clone to cook it up in a meal for Yomi, since Kotsubo wasn't particularly feeling hungry, since he's especially the one that wasn't poisoned or brutally attacked by Honiko. When she asked for the strongest drink they had, Kotsubo had poured her a glass of wine. "Wine it is, then." there were other bottles, but they didn't have labels on them and they were probably more softer drinks compared to the drinks he did know. He passed the glass along to Yomi on the bed before sitting back down.

After a brief waiting period, one of the clones came back with a full cooked fish and a bit of the food that he found on board which is just canned food that he opened and dropped onto the plate, with the plate also containing silverware. The clone laughed nervously when he passed it over to Yomi, "Hope that's decent, not really a chef as you can probably tell." when the plate had been passed along, the clone simply disappeared in a cloud of smoke afterwards. Kotsubo would probably eat something later on but he honestly hates the food he gathers together by himself and tries to eat, cooking was never really a proper skill he's invested in his life.

Kotsubo merely kept watch, and crossed an eyebrow when she started to undress, slightly weirding him out as he's wondering if she had forgotten Kotsubo is there, until she mentioned to not stare too long at her exposed bust. "Oh okay, she knows I'm still here." if there's one topic Kotsubo never delved in before, it's love or lust. He accepted years ago that nobody would give him too much "attention" or love because of him being a shark man, but that belief was slightly shattered for a few seconds when she exposed her top like that, briefly going back into a calm state when she treated it as a casual thing to do. "Yeah, no need to react Kotsubo." he thought to himself, quickly calming himself down.

After she finished undressing and going back on the bed, mentioning about him to go and get some rest, he did take the advice but talked to her slightly longer before he went. "Yeah... we ran, we should be going back to Kirigakure pretty soon and assuming the higher-ups don't burn us for the mission, we'll use those three years to get stronger, we'll make it to the Land of Water pretty soon." Kotsubo had mentioned, before finally stepping off the chair, throughout the whole time he had taken a few sips here and there from his glass of beer before placing it down on the nearby desk, exiting her room and closing the door behind him. "If I go to sleep though, the shadow clones will disappear..." but when he went back up the upper deck to see land in the distance, he knew in just a few hours, they'll reach it. "Hmm... I guess I'll stay awake, don't want to drift off course just because I decided to take a nap." through that, he decided to stay awake and sleep later, at least after they report their mission.

Wolfing down on the food like a starved animal and gulping down the wine before turning to bed did have its effects, as when the chuunin eventually woke up again it felt like the boat had docked as it wasn't swaying as much as an actual seafaring vessel would during a voyage. Intrigued by this, Yomi got out of the bed, swung a towel over her neck, barely covering her chest as she walked up on deck to smell the salty air of the Kirigakure shores at the edge of the land of water. "Home, sweet home."

Getting back inside, she got a tubetop from her backpack, a pair of suspenders and her kirigakure headband to get fully dressed in just a few moments, wearing her more casual attire consisting of said aforementioned tubetop, pants held up with suspenders, combat boost, fingerless gloves and her long raincoat. "Kotsubo, when you coming up, you shark?" She yelled, breathing in deeply to truly savor the smell of her home. we got work to do."

They had reached the Land of Water quite a while ago, to which when they were docked, all the shadow clones disappeared and Kotsubo just started to nap back on the top deck, finally taking the time to rest back from an exhaustive day, a couple of deep thoughts here and there when he tried to drift into sleep, but he were quite used to those. He didn't drift into sleep fast enough however, as he could soon hear Yomi's yelling and her footsteps coming up the dock, to which he lazily brought his figure back up from the ground, he was laying against a barrel.

He rubbed his eyes and looked back to the Land of Water once more, he was never quite satisfied of reaching back home like he does now. He guessed that now, they'd have to spend three years preparing themselves to face off against Honiko once more. She carried very unique and powerful jutsu, so that meant they just had to do the same. Kotsubo planned to learn more shark jutsu from his dad in the Hoshigaki Clan, and if that weren't enough... dig deeper into other means.

When she came back up on the deck and talked about having work to do, he wondered what she really meant on that. "You mean reporting to the Mizukage, or we have other duties to fulfil?" not that he wouldn't mind tagging along, but with her treatment of Kotsubo back in the Land of Lightning, he didn't expect to be pals with Yomi at this point.

Yomi sniffed up the air until Kotsubo arrived on deck, apparently wondering what she meant by stating that they had work to do. She shrugged her shoulders and raised her hands a bit while giving a puzzled look at him. "It's not like I know exactly what we're supposed to do, but we do got work anyway we look at it," sighing a bit, the Chuunin grabbed the rail of the boat and jumped off of it onto the docks below. "Report to the mizukage, prepare ourselves for any eventualities, get our stories straight, it's all work is it not?"

With that, she started wandering off, but not before telling Kotsubo that they'd best meet up at the Mizukage's office soon, just to make sure they wouldn't make stuff worse for eachother by not having a singular vision on what had happened. "I'm going to have a bath at the bath house, I'll see you later...don't get killed while I'm away."

[exit-> kiri forum]

exp= 100

With what Yomi described as work, it made enough sense. He just guessed that all the excitement that happened back in the Land of Lightning had seem like a blast compared to the trivial daily activities that Yomi had mentioned, but she wasn't wrong about it either, it's something they'll had to do and deal with either way, a light chuckle coming out of him when she said to not get killed.

"One time!" he yelled out as she walked away, believing that she's referring to the masked ninja that managed to beat Kotsubo. "Just the one time! it ain't happening again!" he said once more until Yomi walked off, before Kotsubo jumped off the boat and started to make his way back towards Kirigakure as well. "Right... I gotta report the mission to the Mizukage, that's priority number one right now... well, probably to head back to my house perhaps and re-energise, I haven't gotten any sleep after all..." he said, being swift to make it quickly back to the village and towards his house.

(Exit --> Kirigakure)