Stand Alone Complex

Spoiler:

Seigi's feet moved him as fast as he could. He moved so quickly that he couldn't even hear his own footsteps, gone from the point where they collided with the ground before the sound waves could hit his ears, but even with his impressive speed, he could only hope that he wasn't too late. With the reports of the terror attack on Karifornia Island, the intentions and goals of the terrorists were all too clear; they meant to crash the island down and kill everyone in the northern part of the country.

With the instability of the island, debris had come crashing down all along the countryside below it, already causing massive damage. Forests were being cleared out, small villages were being bombarded, and not a single soul was going to be able to escape the blast if the village came down. With the battle raging in the sky, Seigi took to the ground to look for people who needed help. As people fled among the roads, Seigi went the opposite direction, spying a small inn as he exited a canyon. Once a spot for weary travelers to rest their head, it was now half-collapsed with the other half threatening to come down as well. A small section of the island had broken off, colliding with the mountain behind the inn and causing widespread damage. Moving over to it, Seigi would peer inside, unable to properly see due to the amount of damage. He couldn't tell if anyone inside was alive or dead.

"Is anyone in there? Hello?" He would call out, quickly summoning sand from his gourd. Pouring outwards, it would slink into the ground below, quickly gaining mass and quantity, then push up from the ground below the inn, pushing through the floorboards and holding up the remaining side. Kicking open the door, Seigi would hold the sand in place while he looked through the inn for any survivors. It looked like it had been abandoned already, but as he was about to head back out, the sound of crashing wood grabbed his attention. Quickly, he would step over the cluttered floor, peering into the corridor where he had heard the commotion. The inn groaned, pushing against his sand, threatening to bring down the inn, but with a quick hand motion, more sand would rise up from the ground to support it. Seigi would keep both of his hands in the air, as if he were holding up the inn by his own strength alone, stepping through the rubble. Turning the corner, a man was pinned underneath a large board that had fallen from the ceiling, keeping him from leaving. He groaned in pain as Seigi found him, clutching his head. There was lots of blood pooled around him. Kneeling down, Seigi lowered his arms to lift the man up, only for the inn to groan again, prompting him to keep them up. Cursing, he knew he was in a bind. If this man didn't get help soon, he would die. If Seigi lowered his arms, he would die. He was using every bit of his energy just to keep the building from collapsing.

He would curse again, letting out a yell as he struggled against the inn.

Zoe was interested in exploring all aspects of the human condition known as ‘life’. This unfortunately also technically included death. And where were you going to find more death than in a war? If there was a place, Zoe didn’t know it. And that was saying something, because Zoe knew a good deal about a great many things. Not humans though. They were still a delightful little mystery to her, and the war that was happening in the Land of Earth was just the place she wanted to start unravelling it.

There was a floating island village above part of the Commonwealth, and since there was a battle going on above it parts of the island had fallen to the earth below. Understandably. Gravity did tend to work like that here. It did pose the question of ‘how do things still fall from the island if it’s floating?’ There were plenty of ways to accomplish it of course, but she hadn’t bothered to check into the specifics. If you’ve seen one floating city, you’ve seen them all.

She had made her way down to a canyon and wandered through in a lackadaisical manner, she could hear the destruction and the occasional scream but after hundreds of years of hearing those same noises on her home planet, they didn’t seem any more urgent now. She was enjoying her new life on Earth, but still felt detached from it all, she hadn’t had the opportunity to make any real connections to the place as yet. Which made empathy for the tiny humans somewhat more difficult. She still tried though, she loved the idea of them, even if she didn’t love any of them specifically, and she figured that for now that would be enough.

She had found some tiny white flowers off in a rocky outcropping and had picked them up and added them to her eccentric outfit. She wore a pair of thigh high black leather boots with lace nylons held up by black straps that poked out from underneath her short black skirt. A black and gold lace bodice was visible under a short flowing capelet and if her fashion choices stopped there it might have even been considered normal by human standards. Not for wandering around the Commonwealth, but still. She had black and gold ribbons tied to her arms and wrists, and tiny baubles of shining metal attached around her waist and neck that made a gentle ringing noise as she moved. Her long blonde hair was tied high on her head in a ponytail and was woven through with flowers and wire and ribbons. Her fingernails and eyes were a brilliant sky blue and made her otherwise monochromatic appearance have some semblance of joy and expression. The only things she had with her was a small notebook and a pen which she had tucked into the top of her left boot.

It was only through sheer luck that she had happened to wander off in search of more pretty things, as had she continued down the road she would have been drawn to the Inn there and most likely be already crushed beneath its rubble. And had she not been such a curious person she wouldn’t have bothered wandering in that direction at all, but she heard a distant voice calling out and so naturally she went to go look. What she saw was troubling, an adorable Inn with half the roof caved in from debris. A wise person would have not entered the collapsing building, but Zoe was a smart person. Not a wise one. So in she went, ducking as she passed over the threshold, although at just four foot nine that was hardly necessary. She had more chance of drowning from a puddle being too deep than hitting her head on a doorframe.

Blinking a few times as she entered she was surprised to see the inside was crumbling just as badly as the outside. And what's more, it seemed that the only thing holding it up was a tall white haired man, who if she said so herself, was fairly attractive. His white kimono matched his hair and mask, she assumed it was a mask but given her limited in person interactions with humans it was entirely possible that it was his face. Which was fine, foxes were pretty. After looking closer she saw that he had one of his eyes covered and the other was a brilliant yellow, he also had his right arm bandaged. Between the arm and the eye she wondered what must have happened to him to cause such injuries, and decided she would include that question in her interview of him, given the chance for one. Taking a moment to observe him it would suddenly occur to her that there was a problem and given that she wasn’t currently holding up a crumbling roof, she could and probably should help. She noticed another man bleeding profusely from a head wound on the ground. “Well hello there, I see there seems to be some trouble! How can I be of assistance?” She gave her best smile to the two men, hoping that either of them would give her some indication of what she was supposed to do in this situation.

The weight of the crumbling building caused Seigi to wince as he continued to lift it up, faltering slightly. As he did so, the building would groan once more and Seigi would reposition sand, causing one of the hallways to come down, but lower the load. He needed to focus on a way out, but was so in his head about possibilities, that he didn't notice when the woman walked in, only coming back to reality once she spoke. His eye widened as he turned to her, blinking momentarily, stunned by her sudden appearance. She was short, and something about her presence was.... ethereal? Otherworldly? Something about her was slightly different, but his slight panic prevented him from truly observing her. Instead, he would continue to hold his hands above his head.

"This man is injured, but my hands are a bit full.." He would yell, flinching again, repositioning his foot to get a better stance. "I need you to pull him out of here." Taking a deep breath in, Seigi exhale, quickly shifting his stance as he did. Bringing his right arm down, he would continue to strain against the weight, but it was holding. He would use his free arm to manipulate a small section of sand that would break off of one of the many sand pillars that was holding up the building, using it to lift the wooden board that had fallen on the man. Sliding it off of him so the woman could grab him, Seigi would bring his right arm back up quick.

"Hurry, this thing... is about to come down!"

Zoe would blink once as the handsome fox man told her to pull the injured man out of the building. That made sense. Idling in the building that was definitely about to collapse was probably not the safest idea in the whole universe. With a nod she would turn her attention to the man on the floor and after a second or two of puzzling out how she was actually going to help would bend down and place her hands under the injured man’s arms. “I’m going to pull you out the door. I’m not especially strong though so if you could maybe push with your legs or something this will go faster.” She was pleased that handsome fox man pulled the board off the injured man, she hadn’t really considered that as part of the equation and it would have made the whole ordeal that much more difficult had the board remained there. “Thanks!” She said with a smile to the handsome fox man as she secured her grip on the injured man’s arms.

As she braced herself and began to pull the man he would groan in pain. She could see he was bleeding, but she wasn’t even entirely sure from where, with what limited medical knowledge she did have she was sure that moving him in his injured state wasn’t doing him any favours. But then again leaving him to get crushed by the building wasn’t a favour either. Inch by agonizing inch Zoe would pull the man out of the Inn. The injured person did not push with his legs and so it was slow, slow enough that Zoe had some time to look around. She stared up at their surroundings, peering curiously at the sand that seemed to be holding everything up. Last she’d checked there wasn’t any sand around outside, she was sure they were in some rocky place, but in all fairness she had been more concerned with picking flowers than with studying the composition of the soil.

She kept having to look back over her shoulder to ensure she was going towards the outside door, with a few minor readjustments she did finally make it and would breathe a sigh of satisfaction as she felt the cool mountain air on her skin that signalled her successful exit. She pulled him so his feet were a couple feet away from the doorway before releasing her hold and poking her head back in the doorway. “Okay you can come out now, unless there’s anyone else in there?” Her breathless call was still cheerful even though she had just pulled someone twice her size across what had felt like an infinite expanse. Turns out spending her whole life as a Record Keeper had not prepared her for physical exertion and she sat down on the ground beside the bleeding man and tried to catch her breath, assuming handsome fox man didn’t need more help inside.

The woman listened to Seigi's request, helping drag the man away from the crumbling building, but it felt like eons as the girl struggled to move him.

"I guess I should have thought about that." He thought to himself as he continued to hold up the sand, red in the face behind his mask. He would let out an audible grunt as she exited the inn. After yelling to him it was safe, he would slowly begin to inch towards the door himself, careful to keep his footing around the clutter that surrounded the remnants of the building.
"One misstep and its game over..." He would mutter to himself. The building would groan in agreeance, prompting Seigi to move a bit faster, quickly reaching the door frame. As soon as he was free of the building, he would lower his arms, letting the building collapse in on itself, the wave of wind blowing Seigi's sand and dust and debris around them, hindering his view. Using his power over sand, Seigi would begin gathering sand up from around him, willing it into the gourd on his side, and clearing his view around them, only now seeing the woman for the first time, and his previous feeling had returned. Something about her seemed very different but he couldn't put his finger on it. Approaching her and the man, he would kneel beside them.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He would ask her as he quickly went to work on the man. Performing three hand signs, his hands would begin to glow a brilliant teal, and he would touch the man's head. He had a long and shallow cut across the top of his head and looked much worse than it was. The wound would stop bleeding as it slowly began to heal.

His attention shifted back to the woman who had helped him.

"I'm not sure who you are, but thank you" He would say, holding the man's head in his hands as he spoke to her. "You saved this man's life."

Used healing hands d-rank

As soon as Zoe and her human cargo were outside the building she would reach for her notebook and pen. This was a fairly exciting event and she wasn’t about to let it go unrecorded. After calling out to the random mysterious stranger she would plunk herself down on the ground and lean herself up against a rock as she started to write down her experiences.

‘War event in the Land of Earth; damaged Inn, one survivor, interesting handsome rescuer. Inn partia-’

She would stop writing as the handsome fox man exited the Inn and the roof caved in behind him. Scratching out the last two words she would continue on a second line.

‘Inn completely destroyed. Must speak to the locals about engineering more resilient buildings.’

She would smile at the fox masked man as he seemed genuinely concerned for her well being, which she thought was nice. Checking herself over she would nod and look up at him from the ground. “Oh no, I’m fine. Thank you for asking though, that’s very sweet.” She watched with pen in hand and interest in eyes as the swordsman used chakra to heal the injury of the man she’d dragged from the Inn. “That’s quite the neat trick.” She mused her thoughts aloud as she continued to write.

‘Swordsman used a technique involving chakra to heal the survivors' wounds. Teal coloured, fairly efficient. Survivor should actually survive.’

Her azure blue eyes would travel back to the white haired man as he thanked her for her help. She found it funny, but didn’t laugh, she wasn’t sure that he would understand why she was laughing. Humility and modesty were human characteristics that she was aware of, but didn’t really understand why they were so valuable. He had in fact done all the work, had she not arrived she was certain he would have been able to save the man on his own. So instead she would keep that same joyous smile on her face. “I didn’t really do anything. And that’s not me being modest, that was all you. I’m Zoe by the way, pleasure to meet you.” She would rise and extend her hand to him as she greeted him more officially. “And who might you be? You’ve certainly caught my interest, and interesting people must have interesting names. Or if you prefer I can keep referring to you as ‘handsome fox man’.” She had only been using that term in her head, but she saw no issue with revealing that fact to him directly. As a Halian she was raised with no shame after all.

The man's wounds healed but he remained motionless on the ground, which gave Seigi a chance to breathe. His robes were now covered in the man's blood, staining the white a dark velvet color. The woman continued to write, stopping to commend him on his "trick" before asking his name, calling him "handsome fox man". He would blush slightly behind his mask, the comment taking him off guard, before he would clear his throat.

"Baku. You can call me Baku." He would say, giving his alias. The world wasn't quite ready for Seigi to make his "return", so for the time being, anonymity was his ally. He had used Baku for so many years now that it was like second nature, and barely even a lie at this point. More people in this world knew him by that than his true name and nature.
"Thank you regardless, Zoe... What are you doing here? Are you here to help?" He would ask, picking up the man into his arms and then looking to the skies. The battle was heating up.
"Things are gonna get much worse before they get better.." He would mutter to himself, thinking of a survival plan in case that thing came down on top of them. He didn't have many ideas just yet, but he was sure he could figure something out with enough time.

"This guy is alive, but there's others in the city." He would say, the inn on the outskirts of the town. "But there's a good chance that thing is coming down soon. I don't know the right move to make." He would mutter, weighing the options.

Baku was full of questions. Which was par for the course with Zoe, she seemed to leave questions wherever she went. She added a notation next to ‘Swordsman’ in her notebook clarifying that his name was actually ’Baku’. It was a nice name, certainly easier to say than ‘handsome fox man’. And he thanked her again. Maybe he was just thankful for the company, social creatures that they were; she found that humans did better in groups. “There’s really no need to thank me Baku. I like your name by the way. What am I doing here? That’s a good question actually. Long story short, I heard there was a war and wanted to come see it for myself. As for helping, if there’s anything I can actually help with, then yes.”

It was a very noncommittal answer, she made a lot of those. It was even technically true. But she also was smart enough to know that was not what Baku was asking. Her original interest in the war had been to see first hand the condition known as death. She doubted though that would go over very well as an answer. So she lied. Her intentions weren’t malicious in any way, just honest curiosity. And it occurred to her then that perhaps she was coddling Baku too much, assuming that he wouldn’t understand her reasons for being here rather than just asking him. “What are you doing here Baku? Other than holding up roofs with sand and rescuing people.” She was genuinely curious what investment this man had in the war, and she had her pen poised above her notebook as she waited for an answer.

The sky above them was filled with explosions and the sounds of combat. It was distant enough that it didn’t cause her any concern though, not for herself. Baku on the other hand seemed very concerned, at least about anyone else things might fall on. Picking herself up off the ground and straightening her clothing she would move close to Baku as he carried the injured man and placing her hand on Baku’s arm gently. “We have time, if the danger is coming from up there then the answer seems simple. We just move everyone. I’m sure most people won’t argue if we tell them to get out from underneath the potentially falling rock island.” Her words still had her signature warmth in them, though her smile was less cheerful and more sympathetic to his concerns.

Zoe's answer to his question seemed fairly simple and almost naive. There was a war and she simply wanted to see it, which confused Seigi slightly, but as he went to speak, she would then flip the script on him, asking what he was doing here.

"Exactly as you described." He would tell Zoe, picking the man up into his arms. "I can't sit idly by and let these people die. They don't deserve this." His tone slightly darker on the last sentence as he recalled certain events from the past in his head, quickly snapping out of it. He needed to focus.
Zoe seemed to be confident that they had enough time to save... everyone? He would blink a few times as he thought about it, but he didn't see an outcome where that would happen... but maybe she saw variables he didn't?

"Well then, we need to get moving. I would love to have your help, Zoe. What can you do?" He would ask her, beginning to walk away from the Inn. The man was still out, but he wasn't too heavy for Seigi to carry. He hated carrying the man BACK into the battle, but it was too dangerous to just leave him there on the side of the road. Once again, Seigi's hands were tied, which seemed to be a common theme for him. He made a mental note to be thankful for his magnet release.

From the heavens, the Twins fell. The two were one. Just as they came into this world was how they'd leave it. They picked up speed as they hurtled to the earth. The pair would land directly on the ground. The force of the collision would cause their bodies to explode. Every single organ would burst and scatter into the dirt before Baku and Zoe. It was a horrible sound and one that might haunt a man of lesser character and constitution. The only thing that'd be left to identify Toonami and Konami were a pair of blue and blonde braids resting atop a smear of blood and annihilated innards.

Baku seemed to be very emotionally involved in saving the people that might be affected by the war. It seemed a fair assumption based on the words he had chosen and the darker tone of his voice. She could see how the situation was a serious one, but what she found more interesting was the personal dedication he appeared to have to ensuring the safety of people she was pretty sure he didn’t actually know. It wasn’t that much different from what she was doing on Earth at all. She had been intrigued by the humans and become invested in learning about their lives. The main difference was that mortality and more so her perception of its importance were somewhat lacking as motivators for her. She didn’t wish harm on the humans, but she wasn’t exactly attached to them either. There were so many of them and so far she hadn’t any reason to view one's life as more significant than any other. It was like having an ant farm, the hundreds and thousands of ants were interesting but they didn’t really appear to be that different from each other, if one of them happened to die you might not even notice. It would be sad, but not really world ending.

Since Baku had specifically asked for her help, she saw no issue with giving it. When he asked what she could do she was at a bit of a loss. She knew he probably meant what were her combat abilities or some such thing, everyone on Earth seemed incredibly focused on combat prowess. And frankly she had no combat experience, she knew a few tricks but that was about it. So she did as always and answered honestly. “I’m a Record Keeper, or well, I was. I try to keep accurate records of all significant happenings. As far as combat skills go, I suppose you could say I have some, though without every being in combat I’d hardly know for sure. Since I’m new h-” Just as she was about to spill some very telling information about her origins two figures would drop out of the sky directly in front of where she stood, the force of the impact splashing her with the exploded remains of the dead bodies. She would stand there and blink, momentarily confused by the event and the sensation of fresh, warm blood and bits of innards on her skin. Raising her hand to her face she would take a single finger and remove some of the blood, pulling her finger away and studying it. She had seen blood before, but never felt it on her skin. Even when dragging the injured man out of the Inn she had been fortunate enough to avoid getting it on her. She looked at her finger curiously. The blood was a beautiful colour and what had started as a fairly warm liquid had rapidly cooled when exposed to the mountain air. She would bring her finger closer to her face and inhale the scent, it had a metallic scent to it that was moderately unpleasant and she would tentatively lick her lips to see if the blood there had the same metallic flavour. It did. And Zoe would make a face as she sputtered and tried to clear the taste from her mouth. “Is this typical? I assume men and women raining from the sky is not a usual occurrence. This certainly does drive the point of ‘we need to get moving’ home doesn’t it?”

Seigi blinked as blood exploded over him, ruining his white robes and splattering his mask with crimson remains. It was so sudden, that he couldn't process it correctly, simply looking up at the mass of land above them. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and a sudden wave of anxiety came over him. With the man still in his arms, also now covered in blood, Seigi would calmly set the man down, taking a deep breath in.
With obvious concern in his voice, he would finally answer the girl, trying to still process.
"No. That uh... is really bad."
Turning away from her, he would remove his mask momentarily, needing a breath of fresh air, and to wipe the blood from his eyes. Placing it back over his face, he would turn back to Zoe, picking up the man as he did.
"I uhh, I'm sorry." He would say, not sure why he was apologizing but was sure it was for losing his composure. "Things are heating up. I think you're right, we need to leave, fast."

Willing the sand in his gourd, it would exit, sink into the ground, and quickly create two small platforms of sand that would gently float above that ground. the top part flat and ready for travel. Standing on top of it with the man in his arms, he would nod to the other one, waiting for Zoe to get on before willing both of them to rise up and begin to move forward, towards the town. As they approached, he saw the destruction that had already been caused, with large stones from the failing island having crashed into certain parts of the town, causing widespread damage.

"Record Keeper? New here?" He would ask as they flew, picking up their conversation from earlier. "What do you mean?"

Zoe was intrigued by Seigi’s reaction to the two exploding bodies. He was obviously concerned, and she wasn’t exactly sure which part of what had just occurred was concerning. Probably if he’d gotten any of the blood in his mouth she expected he’d be a bit disgusted, assuming his taste buds were anything at all like hers. Or maybe it was just the fact that someone had died at all. Or even a concern that more people would fall out of the sky. Any way she puzzled over it though, she heard him loud and clear when he described it as ‘really bad’. Good enough.

As he turned from her she would bend down and pick up the two sets of long braids that were the only distinguishable remains in the pile of innards. The blonde and blue plaited pieces of hair were splashed with blood in places, but that could be easily washed. She didn’t know who these people used to be, but now they would find a place in her collection of human ‘artifacts’. It was the highest honour a human could receive from a Record Keeper; to be recorded. At least on Hala anyway. Even though she had parted with many of the traditions and various dogma associated with her home, she still wanted to cherish the humans, and in her own strange way this was how best she knew to do that. Looping the braids around her belt she would stand up again and face Baku, smiling as always. “Now they will be remembered.” was all she offered by way of explanation.

Zoe’s eyes would widen with wonder as Baku summoned two platforms made of sand. She would rush up to one and look at its surface, gently running her hand along the object and circling it in amazement. Seeing him stand on one with the injured man in his arms she would look at him curiously, understanding visible on her face as he nodded for her to climb on the other one. She would pull herself onto the floating sand platform and sit on her knees. She wasn’t exactly known for her agility, and so she thought it best to make herself stable since knowing her, she’d fall right off otherwise.  

As soon as the platforms started moving she would let out an excited laugh, fearlessly closing her eyes for a moment as she held her face to the wind as it moved over her. “This is amazing Baku!” There was clear admiration in her voice and face as she looked at him, and she was starting to understand how the Inn hadn’t collapsed sooner. “So you can just make things out of sand?” She didn’t bother pulling out her notebook as she asked, her memory was more than sufficient to retain any answer he gave her, at least until she was sure she wouldn’t lose either her writing tools or her balance.

His questions of her would catch her off guard. She had seen nearly everything, but someone taking a vested interest in her story was pretty new. With a shrug and a smile she would cheerfully answer him, though carefully. She didn’t see any particular reason to hide the truth from anyone, but she did want to dispense that truth slowly, just in case it caused him any distress. “Record Keeper was my calling, the reason I was created. Like a job, or a profession. I just sat there in front of… hmmmm what would you call it. A viewing device? Maybe? I don’t know if there’s a word for it in your language. Anyway I watched and listened to everything and wrote it down. It honestly was more enjoyable than I’m probably making it sound.” She would watch him carefully as she spoke, noting any negative change in his demeanour. If there wasn’t any sign that she had disturbed or worried him, she would continue. “And yes, I am new here. Only arrived a short while ago in a place called the Land of Water. Nice enough place, surprisingly appropriately named unlike peppermint, especially seeing that there’s quite a lot of water there. ‘Land’ of water does seem a bit confusing as far as names go though. Overall though I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen and experienced here, the trip was definitely worth it. Earth is quite lovely.” She hoped that by complimenting his home, Earth, that he would be less inclined to behave with hostility, it was one of the quirks she had observed in human interaction, flattery.  

[Claiming the braids of Toonami & Konami]

Seigi wouldn't lie, he found it abhorrent once Zoe wrapped the braids of the fallen shinobi around her belt, unsure if there were still pieces of scalp connected, but SURELY there wasn't... right? However, his unsure disgust was quickly dispelled once the sand platforms had been created and she very curiously looked at it before settling onto it, and once they got going, she would excitedly laugh, which caught Seigi slightly off guard. As he looked back and saw her excitement, he couldn't help but smile behind his mask, unable to remember the last time he had heard someone with such happiness, even longer since he had been the source of that laughter.

"Sort of." He would say in response to her question. "Mostly basic shapes of varying sizes, but it's easiest to control when in a more fluid state." He would say, in reference to the platforms they were standing on.

When she began to speak about her profession, a record keeper, his interest was piqued, wondering what exactly it was that she recorded, or if she just recorded what she saw in its entirety. He would need to be careful about his true identity with her, but made a mental note to ask her if perhaps she had seen anyone with similar situations to him, if perhaps there were even more universes out there.
Just as he opened his mouth to ask about it, she would say that she was from Kirigakure. He would turn back to look at her for a moment before looking forward.

"...Kirigakure? I better be careful about what I say..." He would think to himself. He new relations with them had been deteriorating, but Zoe didn't seem the type to listen to orders blindly. But, if she was new to Kirigakure, then perhaps he could use this to build a friendship instead.

"Kirigakure..." He would say as they sped forward. "Haven't been there in years. I hope it's still as pretty as it used to be.." He would say, thinking back to his universe's version of Kirigakure that he had once lived in, when Makita was Kage. Despite her betrayal, she had turned Kirigakure into a paradise, nothing like it was here, but perhaps he was destined to always have distance away from the Land of Water. "Where are you from originally? Waterfall?"

They were over the place where the damage had been the worst now, and Seigi would land the platform on what looked like a makeshift hospital area's roof.

"We can start here." He would say, looking up toward the floating mass above then. If that came down right here, it would cause lots of problems. These were the folks who were most at risk, which meant they needed to face the danger head-on.

Zoe was excited when Baku mentioned he’d been to Kirigakure, her bright blue eyes would light up as she spoke. “Oh! You’ve been there too? I do think it’s pretty. A bit colder than I’m used to, but everywhere here is, so that’s not saying much.” The weather and its extreme variations were the biggest thing she was having trouble adapting to. On Hala everything was controlled, right down to the amount of wind that passed over the planet. Here on Earth though no one seemed to have any inclination to subject the natural weather to that type of control, and so Zoe had to either hide indoors or endure it outdoors. And since she’d had more than enough time hiding indoors, she just practised the ‘grin and bear it’ technique.

Being asked directly where she was from was an interesting change of pace for Zoe. It wasn’t exactly like she was hiding her origins, she simply didn’t have them written on her forehead for all the world to see. She was cautious, she didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of an angry mob with pitchforks, but she hadn’t seen any hostility from Baku at all so she didn’t feel the need to continue being cautious with him.

“No, I’m not from Waterfall. Originally I’m from a planet called Hala, it’s very far away from here. But when I came here I landed in Kirigakure, spent a few days there and then went to a wonderful place called the ‘Heavenly Emporium’. And now I’m here. All told I’ve spent only a few days on Earth, so far it’s been quite lovely. I hope that’s not too strange to say.” Zoe would look expectantly at Baku, hoping that she hadn’t said too much and caused an otherwise peaceful moment to become tense.  

As they landed on a roof she would hop off the platform and look around at what they might ‘start’ doing. She really had no idea how to help in an emergency, she was normally just an observer.

Seigi took in the details as she spoke, but was sure that he had misheard her. As they landed, he would turn to her, looking puzzled.

"Did you say you're from... another planet?" He would ask, turning to her, wide-eyed in disbelief. The answer to how he was here and if he could go back home was potentially right in front of him, having practically fallen into his hands. The sand would lose it's form, spilling onto the rooftop as they landed. "If you have the ability to travel between planets.... Do you think it's possible to travel in between dimensions?" He would ask, suddenly forgetting about the danger around them. His voice was almost excited. As he asked, he would be cut off from a voice below them, calling out.

"Hey! You up there! We need some help!" A man would call out to them. His arm was in a sling and in his other arm, he carried an infant. Seigi would nod, turning to Zoe once more.
"This can wait until we're finished. Let's see what we can do to help." He would tell her, smiling behind his mask. Jumping down to the man, Seigi would take in the situation. There was close to 50 civilians scattered throughout a makeshift camp. Groans of pain could be heard from every direction and medical-nin moved around constantly to try and mend who they could. An older man was shouting orders to the younger medical-nin.

"Save your chakra for life-threatening wounds! If it can be tended to via normal means, do it! Hachiro, use a tournequit! Quit playing ar-" His eyes would catch Seigi and Zoe and pause, before finishing his sentence. "Quit playing around! Lives are at stake!" He would command before walking over to the duo.

"I hope you two are here to help. You don't look injured and everyone else in their right minds left an hour ago."

Well, Baku hadn’t turned hostile, that was a start. She was probably worrying about it for nothing, he did look and sound more excited or intrigued than anything. Which of course made Zoe more excited since she was quite literally the closest a person on this planet could be to a sponge and she soaked up emotions as readily as water. She would smile up at the taller masked man and answer as best she could. “I can’t exactly travel between planets. I mean, I did obviously. But I don’t exactly know how it worked. There was a group of resistance on Hala and they helped me escape, they opened a one way portal to here. Well to there. . .” She would point in what she thought was the general direction of Kirigakure, “And that’s it. A brilliant flash of light and the portal was closed and now I live here, on Earth.”

She knew that wasn’t what the man wanted to hear, even in her generally obliviously optimistic manner, even she could tell that he probably wanted to hear her say that she could freely travel between planets. And frankly she wished she could. As much as she loved Earth and everything it had offered her so far, the ability to see everything and everyone in the universe in person was something she deeply desired. “As for other dimensions, I’m sure it’s possible. Well rather, I know it is. But as to how. . . again I’m not certain. Though if you like we could figure it out together. Out of curiosity, why do you ask?”

She couldn’t imagine why someone from Earth would even be interested in other dimensions, seeing as the one they were in had so much to offer. And she would listen if he replied before turning her attention to the ruckus that was an authoritative sounding man that was probably a medical person yelling at other less authoritative looking probably medical people. As the man walked up Zoe was forced to crane her neck to look up at him, as she was with everyone she interacted with. Why was everyone here so tall? Were they all soldiers? She made a mental note to ask Baku about it when they had a few quiet moments alone. “Hello! Yes, we are here to help and definitely not injured, and also in our right minds I believe.” She would look questioningly at Baku before continuing. “How can I help? I’m good at taking notes, observing, giving unbiased or biased opinions whichever your preference.” She would wait expectantly to be told what to do, since she had no idea what a person might do in this kind of situation.

The elder man would look to Zoe first as she listed out what she could do, thinking for a moment as his hand went to his chin.
"Actually, we could use your help getting a count for how many people we got here in camp," He would turn around to look at the mess around him, "Gotta know what our numbers are to figure out how to get out of here." He would say, sighing at the end of his sentence.

"You, mask guy," He would say, talking to Seigi, "You brought that injured man to us, do you have medical experience?" He would ask, which Seigi would nod towards.
"I do."
"Good," The man would say, pointing back into a tent, "My medics are out of chakra but we have a few critical patients who will die without proper ijutsu. This way..." He would pull Seigi away from Zoe, Seigi looking to her, nodding to her. He didn't like being split up from his new ally, but he knew that it would be okay. He wondered, for a moment, why he was so concerned about her after just meeting her, shaking it off in his head.

"She'll be okay."

Counting people Zoe could do. It didn’t sound like a particularly important task, or one that would require a lot of effort, but keeping track of people was what she had been engineered to do. So she would smile and nod, turning to look at Baku as if for his silent approval. She wasn’t sure why it mattered what he thought of her assigned task, only that it did matter to her. “I can count people sure, I’ll just bring the numbers to you when I’m done.”

She was moderately disappointed to see Baku pulled away from her and towards a medical tent, and for a second her smile faltered as he nodded at her and walked away. She would call out to him as he left, suddenly feeling very alone in a sea of people. “You won’t leave without me right?” It was a silly question, she had come to this place alone and there was no reason to think that his sudden absence would significantly change the outcome of her day, but she worried all the same. She would pull out her notebook from her boot and flip to a new page, hopefully after receiving an answer from her new friend, and then go about the makeshift encampment getting a head count of all the injured.

‘Evacuation Numbers - Land of Earth Medical Encampment.’

It took a decent amount of time but she made her way around the area, making a count of all the people and separating them into three categories, and making sure to record everyone’s names.

Head Count:

The numbers were inadequate as there were still heads to be counted within the tent that Baku had gone into, so she made her way inside to finish her task. She felt a strange feeling as she wandered around with her notebook in hand. For centuries she had only been an observer and now, while she only had a simple task, she was actually involved. The feeling was something akin to ‘accomplishment’ or perhaps ‘achievement’, but not in the sense that she had performed some extraordinary feat. It was the feeling that often came with helping others, something she had observed in those that performed charitable acts, but until now had not understood. The simple act of aiding someone, no matter how little effort it seemed to take, somehow made her happy. As she entered the medical tent she would still have her notebook out and looked around hoping that Baku was still there.

Inside the tent, their makeshift "surgery" room might as well have been a slaughterhouse floor. This was where the worst of it was, the tent no person wanted to be in. Seigi was glad he was wearing a mask so they couldn't see him wince behind it. Two shinobi were holding down a man who was missing his arm as another man attempted to close the wound by searing it shut with a metal paddle. Seigi would immediately step in, forming two handsigns. His hands would begin to glow as a teal aura emanated off of him, reaching down to the man's arm. Slowly, the bleeding would stop, the cells clotting, then beginning to reform skin, sealing the wound closed completely after a moment. The man would quit fighting against the other two, leaning his head back against the small table. Looking back, there was still 5 other men with life-threatening wounds.

"I don't know if I have the chakra to heal everyone and also transport everyone out." He would say out loud to the Earth Shinobi who led him in here.

"You've got to try."

____________________________________________________________________


As Zoe would enter the tent, Seigi slowly stopped his movements, looking over to her. His robe top had been tied around his waist, revealing a black shirt underneath that seemed to hang loosely against his chest. His arms were red, all the way up to the elbows, ruining the bandages he had on his right arm. The woman he had been working on had been trapped under rubble and a steel bar had pierced her abdomen and had required extensive and intricate care in removing. Now that she was all sealed up, Seigi would move over to Zoe.

"I'm just finishing up here. They required a lot more chakra than I thought... but they're alive. How did your job go? Did you run into any trouble?" He would ask, almost quickly. He didn't know if she had combat skills, and after seeing that person fall from the sky he couldn't help but be slightly paranoid about his, and her, surroundings.


Mystical Palm x6? B-rank

There was so much blood. And somehow in person it was so much more. . . red. And the smell. Zoe tried her best to keep her composure as she looked around the room, there were so many injured people, with far worse injuries than she had seen while taking count of everyone that was in the encampment. Pieces of people were where they shouldn’t be and besides it being somewhat fascinating it was also more disturbing than she had expected. Her normally cheerful face was more somber as she looked with concern at the blood covered Baku as he approached.

It took her a moment to realize he was asking her a question and she would slowly draw her eyes up to his and shake her head. “No, no trouble. There are still some things falling from the sky but nowhere around here, and no more people.” Holding out her notebook for him to look at if he wanted she would try pointedly to not look at his blood soaked arms. “I made a list of everyone outside this tent. Just need to count everyone in here. Do you. . . uh, do you need any help in here? Are you okay?” Her newfound concern for Baku was confusing to her, but she just chalked it up to the new ‘human’ experience of friendship.

Things seemed to go well with Zoe's tasks, but she did mention things falling from the sky, but nowhere near here. This still worried Seigi, his mind racing to come up with possible scenarios for a quick way out. He didn't see many.
Zoe approached him, asking him if he needed any help, to which he would slowly shake his head, letting out an exhale.
"No, I'll be fine..." He would look over to her, nodding in affirming. He would face the group of medics he had just worked with, his voice getting louder. "However, we don't be fine if we don't move away from here soon. I used up a lot chakra healing these guys, which means I can't move everyone with my sand. We need to begin evacuating people away from the town." He clenched his fists.
"These men and women were just on the brink of death, we're understaffed, how the hell do you expect us to pull that off?" One of the medics would yell, understandably frustrated. What Seigi was asking for felt impossible.
"We pull ourselves together and we overcome. We've got wagons, we've got people who can stand."

Looking to Zoe, he would frown.

"What do you think?"

Zoe didn’t believe Baku. Maybe it was the sigh, or the fact that he was literally up to his elbows in blood, but either way she couldn’t imagine that he didn’t need help. She just didn’t know what she could do for him. Unless. . . She would look up at the handsome fox man, a hopeful smile on her face. “Could you take it from me? The chakra I mean. I have lots, well some anyway, and you can have it if it’ll help.” She was able to take chakra from others, so she thought that perhaps Baku might be able to do the same.

She would hold out her free hand towards Baku, palm up as though offering him to take it. She didn’t like feeling useless as it turned out and her creative ideas weren’t many. She could feel the tension and frustration in the room, and although she didn’t like the way that Baku was being spoken to she could at least understand where it was coming from. “If that won’t work, then between those of us that are still able to move we should be able to carry everyone. Especially if there’s wagons. We could also rig some stretchers I’m sure, help carry people that way.” Zoe had next to no medical knowledge, but she at least understood the physics of carrying people.

Seigi hadn't expected Zoe to offer up his chakra to him, catching him off guard once more. He almost took her up on it, but shook his head.

"No, keep your chakra for now. We still don't know what might happen on our way out. I think we should take the latter option." Stepping out of the tent, he would look over the small encampment, then to the floating island to see if anything had changed, holding the door of the tent open as he did so Zoe could follow him.

"I think if we rig up some stretchers and put the seriously wounded in the wagons, we can move them without too much issue, as you said." He would say, pacing back and forth. It was obvious that the stress of the situation was beginning to wear on Seigi as he continued to try and come up with solutions that would benefit everyone and NOT leave anyone to die. It was as his thoughts raced that a miracle would show itself, first realizing itself as a gust of wind over Seigi, but as it picked up, he would look up.
A small airship would move in close to the encampment, picking up the winds around them. Seigi would hold on to one of the corners of the tent to make sure it didn't get picked up and fly away as the ship landed itself roughly 100 meters away from the camp, the side doors opening up. A lone pilot would step out, The Last Airship pilot in their land, Ren Yama, would put his hands on his hips, smiling to Seigi as he walked towards him. Ren was a small man, wearing a pair of goggles and a small cap that left a small tuft of hair hanging loosely out the back. He couldn't have been more than 18 or 19 but Seigi admired his tenacity, especially after getting away from Moonspire as it fell.


"Didn't expect to see you here, boss." He would say. Seigi would remove his mask, smiling to Ren.
"Same could be said to you. Come on, we need help moving people away from here."
"Why do you think I'm here!?"

The two would walk to Zoe, where Zoe would see Seigi's face unobstructed for the first time.


"Zoe, this is Ren. He works for me. We're gonna use that thing to get out of here."

Baku looked surprised at Zoe’s offer of her chakra, she couldn’t fathom why, but his reaction made her look surprised. She would shrug casually and offer him another smile as she followed him out of the tent. She was incredibly happy to be outside of the surgery tent, it was stuffy and small and made her skin crawl. Once outside she would watch comically as Baku paced back and forth, her head tracking his movements in kind. Finally as she reached a hand out to try to pause his pacing, the wind would pick up and her eyes would follow his and take in the sight of an airship landing about a hundred meters from the encampment.

At first she was concerned as the last airships she had seen were the ones fighting in the sky, but as Baku moved towards the pilot she relaxed, clearly they knew each other based on their banter. What she hadn’t been expecting was for Baku to remove his mask, and as the two men walked back from the airship towards her Zoe would be standing there with her mouth slightly agape. “Oh my. I thought you were pretty before, I like you without the mask Baku.” she would say unashamedly staring at the white haired man. After a second she would glance at Ren, a warm smile on her features. “Nice to meet you Ren. Thanks for coming to help. I’m Zoe. Zoe Zor-El.” She would hold her hand out in greeting to the young pilot.