Starring:
Date: January 24, 2012
Summary:
A meeting is held within a medical tent between Ryoji and Itami with Ei inside as per her request to be by his side. It's here that the councilwoman attempts to understand the reason behind what Ryoji was doing within the caverns with the hopes that she can determine his punishment without having to lead to any extremes. Much from this meeting is left to be discovered and Itami intends to find out eventually.
"Ryoji Visitation"
Tenrai Hospital Tents
Word reached the administration rather quickly about the events that took place in the caves and naturally…the people inside reacted like a nest of wasps that'd been disturbed. Yet, most heavy decisions were still in the council's hands and the Kazekage to take care of, so Itami decided to take it upon herself to investigate, especially since the one responsible was placed into her custody. She made sure he was taken to the medical tents set up, given a private bed that would be guarded and tended to like any other patient. She'd be around to see to it that he received proper care and didn't suffer any mistreatment at the hands of some individuals who may have been jaded.
Another would be joining her, Ei, after she had the proper clearance at administration and documentation was produced. Hopefully, things will go well because everytime Itami gets something, it seems to take up its own mind and turn upsidedown, inside out and scoots its ass across the floor with ridiculousness. But…she admits those have also been the greatest siuations too.
Silence. It was all offered anyone who interacted with him since having his arm severed. If not for the rise and fall of his chase periodically many would even come to think that the Iga was dead already. Some, after hearing enough rumors regarding the teenager, had even begun to cheer amongst themselves in passing about such a 'wicked' man being punished rightly so.
Ryoji however was blind to such things. His eyes closed as if passed out the entire time, and in truth he did drift every once in awhile along the way into slumber land, but in truth his mind was far elsewhere. Only once certian that everyone was relatively outside of seeing him does his eyes snap open to stare distantly up into the cieling of the tent. They remain that way even at any hint of people stepping into his tent, but just like before even Ei is given no attention. Not even a flicker of recognition..
After hearing of what happened in the exams, Ei had hurriedly tried to visit the Iga, only to be turned away by those guarding his tent. When asked what she needed to do, one of the guards had pointed her in the direction of the administration dome, where she had rushed to and found Itami. With the woman's help, she had gone through the screening process necessary, gotten the paperwork, and had headed off with the council member obediently despite every cell in her body wanting to run back to the tents and just throw the papers into the guards' faces in order to get in.
When finally they'd arrived and been allowed into the tent, she frowned. Her mind reeled with thoughts. Things she wanted to say, to do, and how to go about such things. However, upon realizing he wasn't even glancing her way, everything fell apart. Gritting her teeth, she glanced toward Itami with a rather apologetic expression before taking something from her obi and flinging it at Ryoji's face. A little, stuffed, chibi version of herself. Another one was still in her obi, but it looked quite like Ryoji. "Baka," she said, sounding somewhere between wanting to yell at him and knowing she had to keep quiet.
Itami looked at Ei, capturing the expression that was on her face. Could she return anything to help the situation? Not much. She was as upset, but for other reasons. She had a bit of trouble trying to hide her disappointment, but she maintained it well so she wouldn' come across too terribly.
When she reached into her obi to pull out something, she nearly reacted, but saw it was nothing but some sort of stuffed toy. Guess the guards either didn't think to take those or missed them entirely in the screening process. Oh well.
"How well do you know him?" She asks of Ei. "Well enough to be in here, it seems, but…what's your relation?" She wondered, "And what would inspire him to do something of this caliber?"
Ryoji's nose and ears may have twitched in response Ei's actions; but beyond that, he remained no less catatonic. He was after all still distracted albiet this time… by screaming. Lots and lots of voices screaming in his head. Voices he wanted to drive out with a hammer and chisel if he could just move his limbs… but none responded. He could feel them, most of them anyways without a doubt. Even so, they refuse to move as if grieving for their second lost brother limb. His lips twitched upwards in a smile for a brief instant before falling back into its neutral state.
It was a good thing he was blind and so lost in his trance, because if he /could/ see, chances are Ryoji would've been seen as a madman for cackling hard enough to force the medic nin to sedate him. The sight that would produce such madness? His back and frontside still a little red and swelled from the oil fire bullets that hit him. Then there was his arm, the /same/ arm he had regenerated in kindness now gone again; cleaning dissected from his body. Even so, at least the one response /was/ nice enough to keep him from bleeding out thanks to the bandages covering much of his torso… albiet, even knowing this made the Iga no less subtly twitchy.
Ei frowned somewhat at the woman's questioning and sighed. "I know him… well enough. I don't know much about his past, but I've been travelling with him for the past…" She paused to calculate. How long had it been? "Um… I'm not good with keeping track of time, really… but it's been at least a month, possibly two. He's my boyfriend," she answered with conviction before gritting her teeth again. More thoughts buzzed in her head, causing her to shake it to straighten them out again.
"I'm sorry… but I don't know the details about what happened and even if I did, there's no telling what goes on in his head. I wish I could help you figure things out, but he generally doesn't even tell me what he's up to. Now… you know they've searched me already, so I hope you'll let me approach him." If not, she would look irritated but stand still nonetheless. If Itami had no problem, of course, she'd swiftly be at Ryoji's side with a fairly confused look on her face. She was angry that he'd gotten himself in trouble, but she was also simply worried. He'd lost his arm… AGAIN and, while she couldn't actually blame herself this time, she felt guilty somehow. For a long moment, she said nothing before she sighed and leaned over to softly kiss his forehead. "I need to get you a leash," she mumbled finally, looking entirely too serious for the statement.
Itami looked upon Ryoji and his current state with a stoic expression on her face, though her eyes still hid the majority of her emotion in them. She sighed and awaited Ei's reply to her questions, hoping to find out some things that she otherwise wouldn't have known. She supposes what bothers her most is that he's from here and for the caverns to be attacked in such a way, she wasn't sure of what to think. What in the world was he trying to do? She disapproves of lives being placed in danger, especially on her own soil. Granted, some things are inevitable, but because it was a shinobi from /here/…
A shake of the head is offered as she says, "You can approach him if you wish. I don't think I'll be of any effect on him in his current state anyway…" She isn't sure of the relationship these two share, still, but she wonders if his actions have ever placed her in danger at some point, being his girlfriend. What did he hope to accomplish? "I just can't figure this out without anything to work with. If you don't know anything, I'll just have to wait until he's responsive enough to speak. This isn't something that I can take lightly given the situation."
The agonizing noise wouldn't stop..
The voices wouldn't make sense to him..
Oh how he wanted to claw them out of his own head now. So much so, that his fingers began to twitch rapidly right when Ei had kissed him on the forehead. His lips trembled soon after Itami finishes speaking. All from the effort to stay focused on keeping the voices quiet in his head. But there was no stopping the annoyance from causing him to frown in reality, nor from keeping his arm from slowly lifting up for his fingers to press gently against the side of Ei's cheek (presumebly if the guards or another doesn't stop him first). If he succeeded the trembling and erratic twitching would subside almost instantly as a word is whispered. Ei's name before the arm drift back down to rest limp at his side and a sigh is released.
Should he fail however, the trembling only grows worser until finally he cracks and starts to whisper for someone to stop the nose over and over.
"Your gift.. your being… are they not strong enough tethers?", He asked softly with a coy smile creeping in place. So he /had/ been listening and paying attention. Sorta in anycase. "*sniff* *sniff*… And I smell Watanabe too… Did they send you to finish me off after the joyous interrogations are done? If so, please you sugar and wasabi?~ For I'm already pretty salty as is." He emitted calmly without even a glance in itami's direction. His eyes laid solely, even if they lack use beyond conveying emotions, on staring back into ei's golden ones. "And please do talk quickly… Won't… won't last forever like this now.. heheh.. huhh.."
If no one attempted to stop him, Ei's hand would cover his as she nuzzled into it with a quiet sigh. Even if the guards would try to stop him from touching her, she would easily take his hand instead. Listening to him, she shook her head as a small smirk of amusement tried to creep onto her lips. She resisted it for the most part and just rolled her eyes. "Apparently not, if you keep getting hurt the moment you're more than ten feet from me," she responded, her voice somewhere between chastising and kidding. She only glanced briefly toward Itami when he spoke to the woman before gazing back at him as worry crept into her expression again. "What did you do, Ryoji…?" she whispered, almost more in wonder than actually asking him.
Itami lofted a brow. What? He was talking? Guess that meant she could question him. His words may not have made much sense to her, but the scent of being a Watanabe and the questinon that followed was something that she could answer. "It seems you can maintain a sense of humor despite your current condition. I haven't been sent to finish you off. That'd be too easy, but we're not all terrible people either. If you want a send away like that, I can have you shipped to Kiri," she remarked. "This shouldn't be something to expect all the time…" She folded her arms and looked at Ei as she was questioned. No one stepped in to stop the moment between the two of them. She didn't want that to happen, anyway. It'd probably cause more problems, anyway. So, she waited for him to answer the question that was posed to him.
If his hand hadn't already been preoccupied Ryoji would've rubbed his chin thoughtfully at first in response to Ei's question. Instead, he merely stuck out his tongue at Ei for a few brief moments before pulling it back in to answer. "Hoi boy!… Wait, no.. Now Ei-hime, what have I told you about such open ended questions?", He asks casually, wincing as he cocked his head slightly to the side.
After a brief pause to give her time to answer and -hopefully- correct herself (or not. :P) Ryoji would then finally set his gaze towards the corner of his eyes in Itami's general direction. A look of mild annoyance settled upon her. "Oh, is that so? Well, don't that be it all! I could've sworn, hmmm.. yes, and here I thought that shinobi were tools designed in the end to follow their wielders wishes. To cut out the heart of anything that'd endanger those wishes…. Hmm! Mmmmmmm, though if not, somebody should /really/ update the definition for that!" He exclaimed shrilly, then made a silent 'o' with his mouth as another thought occured to him.
"I don't know why.. but.. I have the strangest feeling somethings grown on you too.. hmm.. not height… not, persona… hmm, hmmm… something on you though weighing a bit heavy physically on you.. I just can't seem to put my thumb on it…" He emitted after his head is adjusted at 'just' the right angle so that his eyes would peer directly at the council woman's chest. "… Almost taste it even…"
Ei still had both her hands, unfortunately for Ryoji. When he stuck his tongue out at her, she reached out to snag it between her fingers for a moment before allowing him to withdraw it with a shake of her head. "What have you done in the past week to get yourself into such trouble with the village /and/ get your arm removed… AGAIN? Is that elaborate enough for you, you crazy boy?" As he went on to speak to Itami, she blinked. He was being rather… taunting, in her opinion, and she worried about how it would be taken. Furrowing her brow slightly, she looked over his face. There was really nothing she could say at this point and she didn't really understand what, exactly, he was talking about. It was not unlikely he'd met this woman before, of course… but she didn't seem to know him, so the girl had to wonder what he meant by his words. She also didn't even attempt to follow his gaze, so she didn't even realize the awkwardness of where his gaze settled.
And there goes the sarcasm…
"You could say that if you truly believe that's the only option for shinobi, but I find that to be a rather dull example for people who live to save lives…as well as destroy them," she remarks. "Don't take this too lightly. You could have been left beaten and bloodied in the caverns, so I'd say that this is an extension of goodwill. If you really don't want our services, we can dismiss your care right now and get all the inverviewing out of the way instead…" She was about to say more, but Ryoji had something else on his mind that apparently had something to do with her.
"So…" She started, "What is it that you have perceived of me?" She wondered, meeting his gaze. Even if he can't see, he does have a decent perception of his surroundings. A glance went to Ei momentarily before going back to Ryoji. What is it that's got him so…amused?
Ryoji couldn't help but savor Ei's taste for a few moments longer as an afterthought. Momentarily setting aside the bomardment of questions thrown about that were only serving to force him to slip right back into the welcome embrace of emptiness. Unfortunatly, thei questions were to 'tasty' for him to ignore without at /least/ addressing them in turn, starting with Ei. "Ah… hmm… I dunno. What I -do- know is too presumptious except to say that my methods were /intolerable/ I guess to some genin running around in there. REEEAAALLLY intorable according to mister stu — hmmm.. Zero-kun here." He stated, pointing with his eyes towards the missing arm, then continue in a no less nonchalant manner, "And the guards who -aren't- supposed to let us out made an exception in my case… Which to be frank, is rather bad form.. infact, I suspect.. corruption…… And that's it.. I think?" He shrugged as much as his position would allow him to, then almost gave himself whiplash just from how fast his eyes zoommed back in on Itam's chest.
"As for you…I dunno… but.. it's aggravating me with its elusiveness!" He admitted, wincing and pausing a few times as he nodded his head sagely. "… In anycase, you are correct. In which case, I would've endured.. as I've always endured for that is what it means.. be a wanderer." He stated the last solemnly with eyes averted within the extended moment of silence that followed his words. Like lightning however Ryoji's expression immediatly softs back into its usual 'forced' casualness as he set his gaze back on Itami's breast.
"But, you I've been stripped due to 'abnormal' tatics being used in a exam that is.. to be honest, another smokescreen like the world ninja competition for more than just settling tensions, or promoting 'friendship', and etc.. etc… thus…" He paused to catch his breath, his eyes flickering open and close until finally remaining closed. "…. Dismiss it with the return of my limb, and ask what you desired of me… afterwards…"
He trailed off conflicted and had to re-affirm his hold on Ei's hand before being able to continue dryly with, "Do as humans do out of arrogance and fear.. most of the time.. Kill me or Release me."
After listening to Ryoji, the girl almost wished she hadn't released his tongue. A small bead of sweat trickled down Ei's cheek after he answered her but she didn't say anything. Instead, her eyes drifted over to Itami as she listened to him answer her. She didn't think he was doing a good job at human relations with the way he addressed the woman, but there was nothing for her to say. That is, until he finished.
Her eyes widened and her attention immediately became trained on him as she shook her head. "No! I don't think so. No killing." Glancing back to Itami with a very panicked expression, she shook her head again and pleaded, "No killing, right? Please… whatever you do, don't kill him." For now, it seemed her panic was not enough for her to completely lose herself because she refrained from crying at the idea as well as settled for squeezing his hand rather than draping herself over him protectively as she inwardly wanted to do. Her heartbeat was rapid now, though, her thoughts starting to buzz all over again as well. Her demeanor had gone from mostly calm to very clearly tense and upset.
Ah, so the ass scooting has begun, right on time. Itami usually gets the crazy stuff… This guy and his words…whatever sense they do make is only known to him sometimes. Though, sometimes it takes a bit of reading between the lines and that's too much of a task for her to try and guess everything that's coming out of his mouth.
"What made you think that they would be tolerable in the first place? You were going around poisoning water and wrecking the cave," she explained, "I don't know what bad form is to you, but then again, considering the way you are…" She shook her head, "Anyway…" Her voice trailed off as he focused back on her and began to speak. So, first he found something and now its eluding him… If someone were to gamble with him, she's certain that they'd lose every single time. He definitely knows how to leave someone guessing. "How about…" She begins as he decides that its negotiation time, "That you tell me what I'd like to know and then I can have your limb returned to you. You don't have to run around missing an arm, but I'd much rather get this out of the way and then work on returning limbs. I'm not frightened enough of you to kill you or release you. I just want to know what your motivations were for doing what you did?"
To Ei, she added, "I don't plan on killing him. As I've said before, that'd be too easy. We know that human suffering comes not in death, but in living. To die is to be released from whatever faults were bound to living in this world. Like poisoning the water and collapsing caves," she tossed in like a biting remark.
Ryoji peered up towards Ei with a look of actual suprise on his mug. Genuine suprise. Thus the pathways to Yomi must truly be covered in black ice at this moment! Such information however is only idly considered by the easily distracted portion of his mind considering Ei's suggestion was begining to make his hear race in a panic. In the end by being too conflicted by the desire to pet Ei as well as cover her mouth, Ryoji chose neither option, and settled for watching the 'show' with a look of mild amusement in full view.
"Calm..", He whispered to Ei at last, squeezing her hand even though his own already felt like it would break at any moment. "..Heheheh, yes. Lovely loosey mmmmorals? But as for what made me think that'd be… tolerable. Well the answer is rather straight-forward. The objective was to survive, steal, and maintance. Though for whatever dubious reason the head honcho for this summed this up into Survival alone in the title.. *headshakes negatively* Silly namekuji(slug)….. *ahem*… Back to the point, my motivation.. was to see that these objectives were completed as per the 'loose' perimeters set by your village. If you are annoyed by such logic or *shrugs*… again, blame the one in charge for not clearly defining what could and could not be used. AND don't give me that 'ol standby of common sense or fairity or.. some other nonsense." He stated in a rush before bowing his head as he took a few moments to recover.
"..Common Sense.. A twisted and loosely defined things by too many assumptions… faith.. without faith in a jounin's ability to make the tough calls, minalma.. minimo…. guuuugh, lower the odds of badness in their favor while raising its opposition… Thinking creatively… So easy to fo……" Ryoji paused again sighing heavily as laid his head back down fully. "To survive by any means necessary while placing my trust in my.. 'allies' abilities.. that was my simple motivation for the sake of passing the exams." He stated bluntly, narrowing his eyes as he peered out of the corner of his eyes to nothing in particular. "… It is understandable that you do not fear me… Watanabe-san.. I'm appear weakened, I've barked thus far, and… what little intel you may have had on me prior is debatable at best. Plenty of surface reason.. but the hidden roots of things are what you, as a 'true' so called shinobi and protecter of Sunagakure, are what you should be wary in any individual.. not just casually dismissed.
The assurance from Itami that she had no plan, at least, to kill him did help to assuage the girl's worries. Of course, only mildly, because whether or not she /planned/ it did not dictate what would actually happen. After his simple, one-word 'command' of sorts, Ei stared at him for a long moment with a slightly annoyed, but still very much worried look on her face. Once he continued to speak, she took a deep breath and let out a shaky sigh before loosening her grip somewhat on his hand. She still held it and even lifted it to kiss at his fingers softly. Then, she simply set his hand against her forehead and shook her head very slightly. 'Calm' he said… Ugh, how she wanted to shake him and tell him all the reasons she had to /not/ be calm. But she didn't. Instead, she kept her mouth shut as she lowered his hand back down and focused her attention on Itami worriedly.
"Oh…oh yes, common sense. No, no, this is far from common sense. Much too far away to relate it to something like that. Instead, you…just did what arrogant humans do," Itami remarked. "But instead of aiming to kill people out of fear, your fear lead to trying to decrease everyone else's survival rate and increase your own, which /could have/ lead to some indirect deaths. Nothing that you'd be connected to as you aren't the local wild life or the water, so there's no need to feel any remorse for the potential destruction of lives. No, it was just an unusual sequence of events," she sighed. "For someone that likes to attack humans so much for their qualities, you appear worse by comparison. I don't think you have much to say considering your actions," she huffed.
"So I never sought to use common sense against you because it didn't quite fit this situation besides, I don't think it's anything you actually have. I suppose I can return your arm since you have answered my question. I'm not satisfied with the results, though. I just find you to be…very pompous, sickeningly so. Insulting, really." She hummed. "Sadly, all of this won't be getting you released anytime soon. You'll remain in our custody until we so decide to release you. I do apologize for the loss of your arm, but I can assure you that the medical ninja will work diligently to have it reattached…" She went quiet for a few moments and looked at Ei. She wasn't sure of what to say to her at this moment, so she refocused back on Ryoji. "I'm disappointed that you had to take this route to survive. Is this all truly the ways of a wanderer?"
Ryoji's expression remained neutral despite how much his mind hungered to interject with passion fueled by his heart. He simply waited until the question was posed to him. "… Assumptions and misinterpertations are truly entertaining aspects of the social experience." Ryoji stated off-handily in a light tone after a few moments of silence. "… But I clarify this much.. The ways of the wanderer can be summed up in one sentence, to endure the perils of the journey and maintain ones autonmony." He added, then turned to look at Itami through narrowed eyes. "But that is not the path I took.. at heart I wished to, but I am as pragmatic as my words tend to be contradictory.. I /am/ human. I /do/ feel remorse for every life however small is taken with every action and non-action I take — " He paused to focus on keeping his hand from squeezing Ei's own to tightly. " — But, In those caverns I forsaked those aspects.. I am… they'll kill me for admitting this, but I /am/ an Iga. I observed through the same means and found myself wanton compared to others. So….. I walked the shameful path of the coward willingly and.. thoughtlessly for the sake of a future.. *sigh*… with poisoned roots." He smiled weakily.
"You, the family of those who lost their loved ones incidently, *snorts*.. pretty much everyone but myself and the old man would not agree, but the end results of all this was a worthwhile experience………. However, I must ask this. What is the length of your leash-ez?"
As he waited for Itami to answer, Ryoji would try to slip his hand free from Ei's grip to try and draw her into laying down next to him. HOPEFULLY, without the guards finally taking action.
The news that Ryoji would have his arm back and even that they would make an effort to reattach it brought a small smile to Ei's face. Grateful for that, even if he would not be released yet, she pulled from his grasp momentarily to turn and give Itami a very deep bow. "You have my deepest gratitude. I offer apology as well, but not for the reasons you may think. I cannot control him, nor do I ever plan to truly try. I offer my apology as part of what I am about to say." She paused to glance over at Ryoji with a small shake of her head before taking a deep breath.
"I won't leave his side," she stated as she looked back to the woman. "And I am sorry for any problems that may cause. I refuse to allow him to leave my sight. It is… presumptuous of me, I know, but… no matter what he's done, I love him." Stopping herself, she furrowed her brow and brought a finger up to scratch her cheek lightly. "I could say more, but I doubt it would make a difference regardless, so I will stop my rant now. I just hope you'll, at least, understand." Shifting slightly, she let out a quiet sigh and laid down next to him, assuming this exchange wasn't stopped, and clung to him worriedly.
"…" Itami hadn't anything to say at the moment. She was listening, but hoping that this wasn't all going to fly out the window at some point. "What future are you seeking? It seems that your preservation is linked to something more than just these exams. Why don't you offer up some explanation for that? This isn't a demand more so than a suggestion. Maybe there's something that can be done to help you witout having to place lives in danger for the benefit of your own. It does me some good to know that you feel as a human does…" She smirked. "You /are/ human, as you've stated…" She sighed and looked to Ei, nodding at the bow she offered to her, but with the addition of staying by Ryoji's side, she hummed softly and looked around at what guards were inside. None of them acted on separating the two of them, only doing as they would be ordered to do. So, after a bit of thought Itami remarked, "Fine. You may stay, but everything you do will have to be guarded. If you plan on getting water, food, or items, you will have to be escorted by the guards and objects inspected before you return to this tent," she offers. "As for the leashes, I don't know. It depends on how much more I can discover about this case."
With some difficulty Ryoji managed to get his hand to clutch Ei's side gently. But that is all he could bring himself to do without letting his hormones take him down an.. embarrasing road to say the least. In time and with great relunctance Sea Green eyes filled with admiration among other barely contained emotions turn away from their golden counterparts. A faint blush in full view by the time his head is fully around, but for a few moments he's unable to speak for a little longer.
"Mmmm… Maybe I'm not /as/ human as should be… but, that's neither here nor there nor anywhere.. perhaps?" He shrugged the shoulder of his missing limb and gasped sharply from the pain. "…. That future that I seek is one that will allow me to gain more stability without giving up the road completely… to learn with fewer obstacles and ridiculous consequences for my pursuit… That's all I can say beyond the fact that I've long since come to realize that a child ra — nevermind, nevermind… in the end there is that can be done about it. Especially since inevitably, merely being alive and thriving is enough to put others in danger anyways." He stated languidily as he turned his head back up to the cieling.
"That is the nature of things in general……. If possible, let Sunagakure be that leash.. I have no need to really travel elsewhere to begin with.. No, definetly not…" He murmered as he turned back to Ei.
Ei glanced out of the corner of her eye at the council member as she heard the situtations for her being allowed to stay with him. She giggled after a moment and shook her head. "I said I wouldn't leave his side. I didn't mean that figuratively," she offered in explanation. The idea of not get much, if any, food or water didn't seem to even cross her mind. Or, perhaps, she simply wasn't bothered. She did smile softly at Ryoji's request to be able to walk around Sunagakure, but she inwardly doubted it would be allowed. Even if Itami did say that was fine, it wasn't as if he would be leaving before his arm was, hopefully, properly attached again. Nuzzling softly against his cheek at first, she settled her forehead gently against his when he fully turned back to her.
Itami began to roll her eyes. Whenver that talk began to pop up, she feared she'd get nowhere. "Then I'm finished, here. For now. I fear that there won't be much more to gather if we're to bask in being weary souls and being complacent with such things," she states. "I'll have the arm delivered here to be reattached. I don't know if you'll have much freedom to roam around in Sunagakure. Should that happen, I'm more than certain you'll be monitored, but I doubt there will be many that would enjoy your presence after what you pulled in the caverns," she explained.
She moved out of the way of a passing medic to place herself closer to the exit saying, "I won't give you any promises that Sunagakure will be your leash. A leash doesn't do much to tame an animal, it's just weak means of holding it back. The behavior has to be corrected in other ways," she looked at Ei and shrugged lightly at her. "Whether or not you choose to stay or leave, that's your decision. No one will be your servant, however. You'll have to figure out if you wish to do these things on your own. The guards aren't here to tend to your needs."
Ryoji had listened, but he had refused to turn away from Ei as Itami spoke. Already -way- too comfortable for such a 'bothersome' action. As surly and rude as he tended to be, even /he/ knew it would be pushing things to far by not acknlowedging her words for long. So, he pulled away and planted a kiss on Ei's forhead, then half-turned to face Itami. "… A leash is all I need for now for I have no intentions of repeating my actions…… at least, not for another ten years do to an odd string of events that will eventually lead us all to make a dreadful choice of one against many while the one truly responsible feigning to be a god laughs at us for….. *cough* *cough*… sorry, spoilers~", He cackled a little to evilly and gleefully for a man who was mere joking before turning his attention back on Ei fully now.
"… If at all possible, I would like to see the one who will cast judgement over both.. how this act ends and how it shall continue beyond this tent, but not outside Sunagakure."
Frowning at the woman's words, Ei sighed and shook her head. "I didn't expect them to wait on me," she muttered, almost annoyed the suggestion was even made. Plus the way it was said… Shaking her head somewhat, she just shut her eyes and squeezed Ryoji softly. After listening to him, a small drop of sweat slipped down her cheek and she sighed. "That's /very/ reassuring," she mumbled at him sarcastically. Then she reached up to pinch his nose momentarily, apparently as a light punishment for talking too much and possibly digging himself a deeper hole. She considered telling him to shut up, but he either wouldn't listen, anyway, or that might even seem suspicious so she said nothing at all.
Itami had some suspicions about who Ryoji spoke of, but she decided to leave that alone for another time. Activity out of him hasn't exactly been present, but she knows something is usually stirring up, under the surface most often as she experienced being trapped for the short amount of time. "Your words know how to produce a chill in the room. If only because I believe the majority of your nonsense is truth. Saying anything straightforward is outside of your realm, but if someone can just translate much of what you say, you'd prove to be an asset," she grinned and looked at Ei. "I think I should leave you two be. Hopefully his treatment schedule hasn't been affected too much, but I think he'll be alright. We'll have to talk more later. Until then, I've other business to tend to."
Just as he had opened his mouth to reply Ei cut him off, painfully at that. "O-oi, what the… Ei-hime~ Am I not already injuried enough?", He whispered with mocking sadness, and attempted to flick her upside the head when reality decided to knock him upside the back of his head. "… Ugh… I'll remember this Ei-hime…", He mockingly threatened, nipping at her nose before letting his attention become split again for Itami. "It is not, I merely prefer this way Ita-me~… but alright.. just.. please, if possible.. can you see about arranging those personal meetings?", He asked warily.
Giving a soft smile to Itami, the girl nodded to her and then snickered quietly at Ryoji's reaction. "Thank you again," she offered toward the council member. "You know where to find us when you need to." Returning her attention to Ryoji, she made a small noise of surprise at the nip to her nose followed by a giggle. Afterward, she would wait for Itami to respond to him before she'd whisper back to him, "I suspect you /will/ remember, but I assure you my memory is good, too."
Love fest…
"Alright, I'll see if I can get those personal meetings arranged," She nodded to Ei soon after saying, "And you're welcome. If I need anything else, I'll return here. Until then, I bid you both a good day," she bowed and proceeded to exit the tent.
