Tag along... (Kane)

[steeltouch]

Just last night, Kai received orders for a mission to escort someone on their travels. It was a very vague briefing, Tsunade wouldn't tell him the rank class, the destination, or who it was. The only thing that he was told was that it would be fun for him to take this mission. He had a feeling he was walking in on some sick joke but at least he got to pick the meeting place. Ichiraku ramen shop was the place where he would meet his client, he sat at the front counter eating a rather large beef and rice bowl, nearly finished with it in fact. He wore his old Jounin outfit with his neck mask pulled up to his nose, only pulling it down low enough to take a quick bite and his motions were so smooth that nobody really had much of a chance to see what his face looked like.

Most of the only people that knew what he looked like were those that knew him when he was a small child and the cook, after his genin years he started wearing that pull-up mask over his mouth like his father had instructed him to. Kai waited patiently for the client to show up, not saying much of a word as he pondered what his client would look like. Maybe to his luck it would be a gorgeous female...who knew.

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Kakashi walked along the streets of Konoha leisurely. His face was focused downward the entire time, with his trusty Icha Icha Tactics in hand. He was never seen without one of Jiraiya's novels in his hand, unless it was an emergency of some sort. Even then, he would probably still have it. His eyes continuously scanned over the words on the page, absorbing every single word into his slightly perverted mind, and visualizing the image the words were supposed to convey. He had honestly lost count of how many times he had done that throughout his life while reading the entire Icha Icha series. As a matter of fact, the man had nearly memorized every page of the books. It wasn't something he was ashamed of, however. To him, it merely showed how much of a fan and supporter he was of the series.
Even though he was completely focused on his book, he hadn't taken one misstep the entire way to his destination. Speaking of which, Kakashi had a mission that day. Tsunade had summoned him into her office the night before, notifying him of that fact. She skipped the details, saying that he had been on missions like that many, many times (which was pretty much the truth when considering how many missions he had actually taken part of his lifetime). All he knew was that it was an escort mission, and gave him a specific time to be at the meeting place, which was Ichiraku's. When he had heard about that, his first guess as to who would be his partner on this mission would have been Naruto, except for the fact that both him, Sakura, and Sai were already on a mission with Tenzo.
"Boy...I am late." Kakashi sighed. Of course, being late never really mattered to him. He had a reason, one that he did not plan on informing everyone about. As he finally reached his destination, he used the hand that he kept in his pocket to move the curtain, and took a seat. Looking over, he saw a young man sitting as well, and assumed that he was his partner for the mission.

[steeltouch]

Kai lifted his eyes and stared forward, his eyes dilated wickedly into the shape of skulls before sinking back into themselves like a blanket folding over and his eyes resettled into much larger irises. His Kekkei Genkai was activated, signified by a black and red crest. The only thing was that he didn't activate it on his own. He had been keeping it a secret but he had many suspicions that his Kekkei Genkai was evolving much like the scrolls his clan possessed foretold in skipping generations. The crest quickly faded away and his eyes shrank down to normal, Kai had quickly deactivated it out of public reflex and pretended it didn't happen.

His eyes slipped slowly to the right curious to know if the one who had just sat down had noticed it, nearly fearfully hoping that he didn't witness it...though the expression of it didnt show on his face. He noticed the mask much like his own, the white hair, and the novel the man was reading. With little description he was able to depict the man as Kakashi Hatake, a local Jounin...also called the White Fang. Kai never met the man before but had heard of him in many rumors. Being that Kai was a very frequent customer at Ichiraku, he knew that Kakashi had to be his partner in the mission because Kakashi didn't come here that often...the coincidence was far too unlikely.

"Well, im certain that you are not the client so...might you be my partner? Kakashi I presume?", Kai said as he dipped his mask and took another swift bite before pulling the mask back up over his nose.

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Kakashi, for a moment, sensed a chakra flare slightly beside him, coming from the direction of the other ninja. He guessed it had to be the activation of a Kekkei Genkai of some sort. Although the chakra quickly returned to it's previous state, it still had him wonder in the back of his mind somewhere what had just happened. His face didn't give any indication that he had noticed anything, and his uncovered eye was still heavy focused on Icha Icha like he was in a trance.
Quietly, he looked up from his book to look at the other shinobi, who had apparently just addressed him. He had recognized him because he had seen him around and such before. Although, he had never really talked to him at all, but that was to be expected of the Copy Nin. It was only common knowledge among his ninja colleagues that he liked to keep to himself.
"Yes, and you are...Kai, right?" Kakashi did his signature closed-eye smile towards him, a sign of friendliness. He was confirmed correct about his earlier assumption; this young man was, in fact, going to be his partner for the mission. From the first impression, he seemed like a pretty dependable guy. Knowing that relieved Kakashi a bit, because it meant this mission would go along a lot smoother.
Kakashi looked around the ramen shop shortly after his smile, wanting to know if he had actually beat the client here. He had really doubted it, because that was never the case, however, he hadn't seen anyone else there besides himself and Kai. Was it even possible that someone could be later than him? Apparently so.
"It appears our client isn't here yet." He stated, looking back at the other male. The sliver-haired man had to guess that the other was about twenty. Younger than himself, he had noted in his mind, by a solid decade at least. Although Kakashi still liked to insist that he was still young, and as such had plenty of time to learn to new and the like, he knew very well that time could sometimes just fly by and slip out of your grasp.

[steeltouch]

Either the man didn't notice or he didn't care, but reading his facial expressions Kai just played it off as if his activation never happened. His tone seemed to shift almost instantly into a friendly smile and placed one hand on the back of his head. "Yeah, im Kai...it'll be an honor to work with you, sir.", he said with a slight undertone of a laugh yet it was so calm and carefree. Now that his bowl was empty, he had all the fats and nutrients he needed to be at his best during the day. He made sure to refill his soldier pill pouch in case of that rare emergency need for energy.

"And no, our client isn't here just yet, you hungry?", he assumed that Kakashi had already eaten in order to keep himself in tune for the day but being friendly never hurt much. Leaning forward he reached out to grab his custom pair of metallic chop sticks and wiped them clean with a napkin, it wouldn't be hard for a man like Kakashi to notice but Kai's hands were heavily scarred and calloused. Not in the normal knuckle region that most advanced fighters would have, but ALL around his fingers, palms, and thumbs too. Kai never bothered to wrap his hands which clearly showed his level of training and manor in which he uses his hands, whatever it was, he had obviously been dragging his fingers through an abnormally tough substance to gain scars like that....maybe stone or metal perhaps?

He put the chopsticks away in a pouch on his belt and took a sip from his vile of sake, glancing over at Kakashi for his response...

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Kakashi once again smiled at the other ninja, putting a hand up as if to prevent him from worrying. He had, in fact, actually had breakfast this morning, which he found quite delicious. Kanetsu had decided to sneak out of bed early to make them both breakfast. When he felt the extra bed space next to him, he had woken up, missing the warmth of being next the Hyuga kunoichi. His sensitive nose picked up the scent of food almost immediately, and he had found himself wandering into the kitchen. Once there, Kanetsu had presented him with a plate of food, with a slight blush on her cheeks. After thinking about that moment, Kakashi felt an urge to smile even wider than he should have, but fought it off quickly.
"No, I'm fine, thanks." He told Kai. Kakashi had been to Ichiraku's several times, all thanks to Naruto. Of course, he would never forget the one time his team had tried to see his face...it had been a pretty amusing attempt. He had always eaten fast as he could because Kakashi simply did not want anyone seeing his face, plain and simple. Although some people have caught the occasional glimpse, like the owner and his daughter.
As Kakashi finished thinking about past events, he began increasingly curious as to where the client was. Know that he knew that his teammate wasn't any kind of pain, he really hoped that the client wasn't one them self. He had dealt with troublesome clients who hadn't want to cooperate before, and would deal with this client as such if need be. It didn't matter what the mission would be, Kakashi would always complete it without any complaints.
Suddenly, a crashing noise was heard outside. Kakashi easily noticed it, and stood up from the chair, his book still in hand, to see what was going on. A man had fell into the wall, and was now laying there. Kakashi sweatdropped. "Is this the client...?"

[steeltouch]

At the sound of the crash Kai raised a brow, he wasn't too sure what was going on but he was about to find out. Standing to his feet, a mere glance of silent question was passed to Kakashi before moving toward the outside. His eyes were now rested into a casual laze which made it hard to tell if he was about to fall asleep or if he was just bored at the moment. He browsed the man over who had just ran into the wall and was currently laying on the ground, was he that much of a klutz? Well Kai wasn't too sure how he managed to do it but his first impression of the man told him that he had no sense of balance, perhaps clumsy too.

Kai raised a single brow and pulled the man up to his feet, "You okay?", Kai asked the man as he wondered if this was just random or if the guy was possibly the client they were waiting for. This was actually side splitting funny to Kai but he was respectful enough not to laugh in front of the man.

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

The man wobbly stood up, and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He laughed nervously.
"Sorry, I'm a bit...um..." He stopped for a moment, as if he was thinking intensely about something. Then his face lit up as if he had made a discovery. "My legs have been a bit weak ever since I got into a fight with this one guy at the market." He stated almost triumphantly. "He distracted me for five seconds with a delicious looking fruit, and went for my feet. But he soon got what he deserved." He smirked.
Kakashi sweatdropped once again. Who did this guy think he was fooling? It was increasingly obvious that the guy was lying. This didn't even look like a guy who could hold his own, let alone beat someone else. If this really was their client, Kakashi had just figured out why he needed shinobi assistance.
The man's smirk slowly turned into a friendly smile. "I'm sorry, I haven't told you my name yet. I'm Tsutanai Hikyuu. I was told to meet two ninja here that would be my escort..." He paused, looking at both Kakashi and Kai, noticing their forehead protectors. "Would that happen to be you two? Kakashi nodded.
"Yes, that would be us." Since the man had introduced himself, Kakashi decided to do so himself, not wanting to be rude. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. Nice to meet you." He gave the client his signature closed eye smile.

[steeltouch]

Suddenly Kai's head dropped low and his shoulders started to shake, at this point he couldn't help himself but laugh...which is what he started doing next. This guy was a serious joke...and a bad liar, most likely the man said or did something to piss somebody off. No wonder Tsunade told him it would be fun for him, most likely knowing that Kai would find this guy funny in a pitiful way. None the less a job was a job and he would still do it. "Yeah, yeah, im Kai...can we just get this over with?", he said as walked off ten feet. Kai could already sense that the guy would strike his nerves by the end of the day so getting it over with fast would be the best option.

He didn't much care if he was coming off as rude or not, Kai just didn't like these types of people...or to be lied to on first impression...

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Tsutanai had a nervous type of smile on his face. He had thought that neither of the two Konoha ninja had figured anything out. The truth was that Tsutanai was actually a very clumsy person, and he actually fell like that a lot. This time, however, a simple pebble was what had triggered his legs to lose their balance.
He had actually lied about his clumsiness to everyone he had met, Tsutanai found his little problem to be very embarrassing. The young man, who was just barely nineteen years of age, had gotten into trouble because of the lying. One day, he had run into two rogue ninja, and he had fallen into one of them while he walked by. The two easily saw through the charade, and proceeded to chase him clear into Konoha.
When Tsutanai had outrun the two burly-looking men, he had become too afraid to step back outside the village. But he'd never tell anyone that.
"You two are supposed to escort me to Suna, where I live. There are dangerous men after me, angered because...they lost fights against me." He quickly rushed out the last part of the sentence, smirking at his own cleverness.
Kakashi raised a single eyebrow at the cilent. The man's ability to lie was apparently very terrible, as both him and Kai had found out. He didn't laugh like the other ninja had, however. He simply kept his cool demeanor, as he always did.
"Well then, we should get going." He stated while redirecting his eyes back towards his book, picking right back up from the last word he had read in his mind.

[steeltouch]

Kai clenched his hands into fists real tight until a very audible pop, then relaxed his hands the same as his face relaxed. He stood in front of Tsutanai and gave him a very short nod to gain his attention. "Before we go, there is something I need you to do, and its for your own safety from here on out...", he said in a casual tone. "I need you to close your eyes and open your mouth as wide as possible, it may sound odd but as your escort you'll have to trust me.", Kai stated this in a very professional manner as if there was no joke applied.

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Tsutanai looked at Kai for a moment as if he was crazy, but he soon followed his instructions. His eyes slowly shut as he opened up his mouth as far as it would go. He tried to speak, as if he was questioning Kai's motives, but it ended up coming out inaudible. Tsutanai waited for him to do whatever he was planning, while several people who had walked by pointed and a few had even stopped to laugh.
It irritated him. Had Kai done this only to make a fool out of him? His voice may have sounded perfectly normal with no hint of any joking, but anyone would have thought that this may have been a little weird. However, Tsutanai trusted the Konoha ninja, due to them being strong allies of Suna.
Kakashi stood there looking on as he watched the man's mouth gape open and his eyes shut as tight as they could go. It even amused him a little. However, he decided not to say anything, as he knew he would likely find out in a moment anyway. Momentarily, he paused from his reading to watch and observe what the younger ninja planned on doing to their cilent.

[steeltouch]

When Tsutanai closed his eyes and opened his mouth, Kai stiffened his right index finger and quickly struck a pressure point in the back of his throat. Most likely the man would gag after Kai pulled his hand away but the odd method was for the best...before anything the man said would get on Kai's nerves out of lying nature. "I apologize for this, but I have struck a pressure point my clan calls Shin-ichi. From now on any word that leaves your mouth will be the truth...no matter how much you wish to lie. Its for your own good...", Kai said as he passed a glance at Kakashi not really caring if he passed disapproval of the matter.

Kai then turned and started walking, "Well then, we should get going while there is still plenty of sunlight, if you wish to stop and throw up I understand, and dont worry...I washed my hands.", he said as he lifted both hands to rest against the back of his head.

[;; HYUUGA KANETSU ?!]

Tsutanai gripped his hands around his throat in a gagging manner after Kai had struck the pressure point. He proceeded to cough repeatedly until he had sorted out in his brain what had just happened. He stared at Kai accusingly.
"W-what is wrong with you?! Do you know what you just did?!" Tsutanai yelled at him. This caused a few more people to stop and stare at the young man. The few that were present when Kai had struck the pressure point were either frozen and slightly freaked out, or on the ground, laughing loudly while pointing at the man.
Kakashi sweatdropped once again while looking on at the scene. He did know that Kai was probably right when he said that it was for the best, so he didn't argue with the decision. Instead, he simply began to walk away, towards the gates of Konoha, with Icha Icha Tactics still in hand as it almost always was. He looked down once again, ready to encase himself within the book once again. He was never fully encased when he was on a mission, though. Kakashi knew well that in the ninja world, anything could happen at anytime, and when it did, you had to be ready for it.

[steeltouch]

Kai never stopped walking, in fact it was only a matter of a moment before Kakashi caught up to him...most likely having the same idea. This man should have been grateful Kai didn't do anything else, to Kai the human body was merely a harp to be played in different ways. As expected, the man began gagging, Kai gave a glance to the corner of his left eye which moved the client into full view of perspective without having to turn his head much. "I know exactly what I did, I not only prevented you from being able to piss me off with not so truthful boasts, but I also prevented you from pissing off anyone else with just the same. If you would really like me to start on what went wrong with you...just press the go switch any time you're ready.", Kai said with a mildly irritated tone.

He could at this point ask him anything he wanted to know and get the answers he needed, but he would respect the man's privacy for now...should he not push Kai any further. "Now, seeing as we have a long way until we get to Suna, I suggest you use this time to start a blank slate and build a new impression. You may call me Kai, of the Nanakase clan.". Kai merely glanced at Tsutanai to let him know that he were speaking to someone who was not dumb. Kai knew for a fact that this man was not a fighter, has not won a single fight in his life, and most likely has valuable information...which is why he struck the pressure point int he first place.

With as much of a mouth as he had, it most likely contained something that someone else wanted, and if his pursuers were near by they would most likely take the truth telling as bait and show themselves a lot sooner than later. Tsutanai would be forced to stay close of course but this would make things fun in the long run.