Slide Away

The weather was normal for Kirigakure. Light misting rain, gray clouds and of course, the fog, or mist whatever you consider it. Miz had been welcomed home by his family who five minutes later changed the topic. That's ok he liked it this way. He laid on the roof top and relaxed as it misted on him. He wanted to form his puddle but being on an uneven roof might not be a good idea. Next item on the list was for Team Fuku Kiri to get together and go talk to the Mizukage, except for Kurai who he was sure went to talk to him already when he discovered he was a Tau. However the rest of the team needed to go talk to him. Miz smiled as he figured out a quick way off the roof, form the puddle. He quickly liquidized himself, forming a puddle and drizzling off the roof.
As the puddle formed below on the ground, he solidified back into his shape. This was normal for Miz. He rolled his eyes as his mom lectured him from the front porch about how dangerous it is to do what he just did "Yes, ma'am!" He muttered as he walked away. He went to the Kage building to wait for Jayden and Zim.
He was nervous about meeting up with the Mizukage considering the last one he met up with had been his Uncle Xyxer. He had given them permission to go to Konoha and train, the kage who had sent their paperwork to Volcano was a different Kage but they had never met him in person. Silently he drifted off in thought as he outside the kage building for the other two .

[286]

Zim had been visiting with his family and had been bombarded with lots of questions.
"where did you travel to?"
"Were you safe?"
"Why didn't you notify us you were ok?"
He told his family he was exhausted and went to his room. Zim knew at some point he would have to meet with the Mizukage in order to be allowed to be a citizen of Kiri again. That's when he got a message from Miz!
They were going as a group, minus Kurai since he had already been, to see the kage. That worked for Zim! He took a shower and put on clean clothes before heading out the door.
It was very foggy and misty outside, a typical day for Kirigakure since that's what it was named for. He walked the winding road to the Kages chamber and met up with Miz Hozuki.
"I take it we are just waiting on Jayden?" Zim asked Miz. He already knew the answer. A small peak of thunder echoed through the area as though setting the scenario for the visit. All Zim knew about the man is that he was a Tau. He didn't know many Taus except the ones on his team, Talon and Kurai. He wasn't sure what to expect but he hoped for the best outcome.

(220)

(sorry you guys had to wait, had a lot of work I had to do this week and a lot of overtime.)

Jayden was the lucky one of his group. Not to many questions were asked they gave him space let him eat and take a shower. After he got out of the shower and dressed, his brother Jeordie approached him letting him know Zim and Miz were waiting on him at the Kages office. Sighing he headed out to the Kages office. The weather was dreary but he enjoyed it! Having the element of fire always meant he could warm himself up if he got cold but at the moment the weather is perfect for him. He had his red dreads pulled up in top of his head in a ponytail and his neck felt a lot cooler.

"Jayden has entered the building!" Jayden joked as he made a noise similar to a crowd cheering. He had to lighten the mood after all. "So we are finally meeting the kage, hopefully it's not to long of a process to get back into Kiri." He said as they headed to the Kages office. The building itself wasn't to creepy, it wasn't as dark and rrsry as he had assumed it would be. Maybe this Kage wasn't as crazy as some of the others had been in the past. He hadn't heard to many crazy stories about this Kage, to be honest, he hadn't really heard anything.

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Akabayashi made his way into the building. Taking off his hat as he enetered and shaking off the water the mist had accumulated. He found himself behind a few people. "Excuse me." He would say sliding by them as if he were late to something. He was late to something a meeting. There were so many meetings and none of them any different than the previous. At the moment his path was stalling them, he could see and hear everything being said in the room so he knew he wasn't missing anything important. As they brought up the need to fix a broken toilet again the kage stopped seconds from opening the door into the meeting room.

The path told them the kage wasn't coming as he had more important matters to attend to. The man then turned around and went to his office seeing the three people he had passed. "Oh look, more important matters to attend to." Of course they had no idea what that meant, but he had heard about this group from his gate gaurds and Kurai. Their timing couldn't be better. "Follow me." He would walk down a different hall towards his office and ask someone to bring in some hot tea.

"I kind of have an idea of what brings you here. Your friend Kurai told me in the middle of the night. At the time I was quite displeased so barely listened, I'm wondering if you all could fill in some missing pieces?" He would take the tea when his secretary enetered with it and place a cup before everyone after thanking the person that brought it. "Where are my manners, its been a busy morning I am Akabayashi Terumi."

Miz followed the man who entered the building as instructed, there wasn't any doubt this was the man they had to talk to. The kage building didn't really feel like an office building, but had the sense more of a morgue. From the decor to the feeling. However Miz had to admit this man had more characteristics of a Kage, and the building had more of a design to it, than when his Uncle Xyxer was in office. The man spoke in a more polite manner than he had expected. Oh great, he met Stitch first! Hopefully Kurai was well behaved. Surprisingly the voices hadn't started yet.
"I'm Miz Hozuki, this is Jayden Terumi and Zim Nara. You already met Kurai Tau. We were wanting to return to Kiri. I am guessing you have already heard our story, but any questions you have we will definitely answer for you, we have no problems doing that. I am sure it may have been confusing." Miz said as he introduced himself and his friends. "I hope Kurai didn't cause too many problems for you, he has a tendency to run his mouth without thinking first." Miz added apologetically just in case Kurai did mess up and cause an issue. This place had a very nostalgic feeling to it, probably due to him having been here so many times before.

(228)

Zim looked around as they followed the gentleman. This place was very different from the last time he had been here! He could remember the prior Mizukages and none of them really gave this place much character. Kudos to this one! It was spotless here , almost like a hospital, laboratory or even a morgue. Smelled like one of those places as well, but at least it was clean. At the mention of Kurai's name his eyes widened, what hell had Stitch rained upon the Mizukage? And what could he have said to confuse him? Did he just say Terumi? Wait, isn't Jayden a Terumi are they from the same clan? Okay to many questions, maybe Zim needs to slow down and let his thoughts catch up to him. Miz spoke up introducing the group, thank goodness considering Zims mind was going faster than a cheetah can run! Besides, Zim never said much anyway. He slightly tilted his head as he looked from the Mizukage back to Miz then over to Jayden.
"I'm sure any questions you have we can definitely answer, Kurai can tend to confuse people easily." Zim said as soon as he refocused his attention on the conversation.

(200)

Jayden knew there was something familiar about the man who they were following to the office. But he couldn't figure out what it was or why he felt he knew him. It couldn't have been the fact it was the Mizukage, no, there was something familiar nagging at Jayden subconsciously about this person, but what was it and why? Jayden had a water bottle with him, he opened it to take a sip of water, and at the same time the Mizukage took his hat off and suddenly Jayden realized why the man felt so familiar to him! As he introduced himself Jayden started coughing due to the fact he choked on his water because of the memories that came flooding back. Oh holy shit! It can't be!
"Akabayashi Terumi…" Jayden said, still pale from shock and staring wide eyed at the man. He said the man's name at the same time he had introduced himself. Now he knew what the feeling was and why!
You see, as a kid Jayden had a tendency to be a bit of a trouble maker. What kid isn't it right? At a clan get together, Jayden and Jeordie had assumed their cousin was going to sit in a certain chair, so they put about 20 of the small little "pop it" snappers, under the seat cover. The ones your parents yell at you not to throw at each other? Yeah those. Also known as 'Bang Snaps' or Party Snaps. Well who sat there? Low and behold Akabayashi Terumi! One of the most well known and Prestigious clan members. Of course you can only imagine the loud popping sounds and gasps from the crowd! Well Jayden and his older brother Jerdie were hiding and laughing. Of course Jeordie turned Jayden in, truth be told it was his idea. Before Akabayashi had left he made sure Jayden knew he would remember this prank! Maybe he didn't…after all Jayden is 19 now and more the silent type..a-and wasn't Akabayashi a Kage now. Maybe there weren't any hard feelings anymore. Yeah…yeah…Jayden will just think along those lines. He did say he forgave him, he just would remember the incident. Yeah Jayden breathed a sigh of relief at the thought.
"Oh, he's a…a fellow clan member." Jayden laughed nervously looking at the other two. He cleared his throat. Putting his water bottle away. Talk about a small world, he really wasn't expecting this!

(406)

"Careful now, my doctorate is in astrophysics not medicine anymore." Akabayashi would say to the choking one. "Thats me." The kage would say nodding his head as Jayden confirmed his name. Odd. He thought the other one was strange. This one seemed stricken with fright. The nervous laughter was especially strange. "Right... moving on." He would focus back onto the one introducing everyone then listen to Zim.

"Pleasure to meet you all. It isn't so much what he said as much as the odd timing. Specifically the middle of the night. Followed by a long story as opposed to just spitting out why he was in my office at such a time. But no matter its been resolved. He said you guys had left Kiri, then went to a volcano, then back to here. Can you fill in the missing details on why you left Kiri, then left this volcano? I failed to ask when I was with Kurai I was a bit groggy." He would look to Jayden next.

"I want my fellow clan member to provide the answer however. As he is acting quite strangely ever since I said my name." The doctor would give him a look over hoping for some extra clue as to why he made the guy so nervous. Was it simply his presence?No. Had he just never spoken to a kage? No, this was different. A type of nervousness that came with familiarity maybe he killed this kids family member or something.

(sorry, I had a lot of over time that I wasn't expecting at work this past week.)

Miz's head quickly turned to Jayden as he seemed to choke on his water. It seemed as though Jayden's face turned pale almost as though he had seen a ghost! Obviously he knew the Mizukage personally to know his name. When Miz was about to answer the kage, he specifically requested Jayden answer the question. Miz began to wonder what was going on.

"You okay Jay?" He asked after he nearly choked and turned white. Miz looked over to the Kage then to Zim and back to Jayden. The way Jayden had said the man's name was rather odd! Yeah it was obvious they were from the same clan both had the Terumi name and shared similar traits, like the eyes and hair!

Jayden once shared a story about a Terumi who was prestigiously known through the clan and how they had accidentally pranked him at a clan meeting. Could this be the man? Miz leaned back and decided just to watch the whole thing unfold before him. Jayden shouldn't have any issue answering the question and explaining everything to the Mizukage. It wasn't a complicated answer after all, hopefully Jayden doesn't stumble over his words while explaining considering the state he was currently in.

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Zim quickly turned his head and watched Jayden as he choked on water. His entire demeanor changed as he went pale with a look of horror flashing in his eyes. Zim then turned and looked at the kage who also seemed concerned with Jaydens sudden shift!
"What's wrong?" Zim asked turning back to Jayden slightly tilting his head in concern. Zim also went to answer the question but as he opened his mouth the Mizukage specifically requested that Jayden answer. Could he? At this point he looked too traumatized to do anything! Zim tried to figure out what was going on but was coming up blank. The only clues he had was the fact this was a fellow clan member of Jaydens. Now Zeb, Zims brother and team mate of Jeordie Terumi and Taki Hozuki, kind of laughed when he told Zim he needed to go talk to Akabayashi Terumi the Mizukage. But that still doesn't answer why Jayden was terrified!
Oh wait, Jeordie was over at the house and did say, poor Jayden, after Zeb mentioned that. Was this….yes! It was the clan member they had mentioned pranking. Well, without saying a word, Zim will just watch this play out.

[202]