It was going to be a very long day for Kii. 
From the very start he'd already put himself in a bad position. He'd been a little anxious for this upcoming assignment. Sure, it wasn't too stressful of one. His team was going to a very important tactical congress with the remaining Jinchuriki. Kii had never really been told why or what for, but he automatically assumed it had to do with the strange nature of the Leaf Village. Konohagakure was strangely detaching itself from the rest of the ninja nations and was even killing ninja that were trying to figure out why. Likely, this meeting was some sort of measure that would be used to try and figure out what to do with Konoha and, unfortunately, Kii was being dragged into it becase, well, one of his team mates was a Jinchuriki. 

The poor kid only managed probably 3 hours of sleep and they weren't consistent. Once he finally dragged himself from his bed, having given up on the thought of actual rest, he started packing and preparing his things around 2 o'clock in the morning. He didn't favor tools, so it was more along the lines of preparing food and non-combat related supplies like water, bedding, and a handy map. Kii knew he could depend on Ryou to be doubly prepared, being the meticulous worrywart that he was, and for Shinra to be hardly prepared at all, being the charge-in-and-plan-later sort. That left Kii as the middle guy to pack needed things that Ryou wouldn't think of, but not over pack because, well, it was certain that their needs would be met anyway. Fortunately, Kii had a couple hours in the early morning to do this. He eventually went through a few push-ups, sit ups, and stretches before going outside for a nice, cool walk. 

The weather was nice in Iwagakure. The cool mountain air was so easy to breathe in. Kii made sure to take advantage of every thing he saw in the village on his walk. The park he liked to eat lunch at, the training fields he spent hours at, the library he studied his life away in and, of course, he made sure to get a good look at the orphanage where he was raised and the academy where he graduated at. They were all important places to him and, considering the nature of the mission that he was going on, he wanted to make sure he could at least see all these places and bask in the memories one more time just in case anything went wrong. 

Returning home he'd shower, recheck his pack, then go to the meeting place. Kii made sure to dress prepared for the other country. He wasn't one to get cold easy, but he still made sure to wear long, slimming pants with leather padding on the legs, a black, sleeveless shirt with a short leather chest plate, which fortunately had metal plates to keep someone from stabbing him in the back and the chest. The vest ended a two inches passed his chest line. He had on black gloves, which were thin and slim as to not impact his fists, and he wore a thin ash gray colored mantle to block out any winds he was unlucky enough to meet with. It was hooded, to his chins, and was cheap so he could toss it without care or worry.

Having plenty of free time and absolutely zero personal hobbies, Kii was there early as usual. He was always really early. He'd wait for his team, they'd make their last minute preventative checks, then they'd be off to the Land of Iron. 

~~~

The Land of Iron was far. Worse was that it was cold! The temperature drop at first steadily dropped, however when they came close to the country's borders it dropped by dozens of degrees. Snow! There was actual snow! Sure snow wasn't that rare in Iwagakure, however there was so much and it was so cold here! It was fortunate that Kii dressed prepared. When the cold really came around and the snow began to come to color the ground Kii didn't miss the chance to warn Ryou about not freezing. Though, it mostly sounded like a joke when he said it, Kii was pretty serious. A frozen-solid Ryou wasn't on his list of souvenirs that he wanted to bring back. 

[i][color=c12267]"Okay guys! Ryou and Kii! I have a meeting to go to, but I haven't heard anything about I can't bring my squad, so we are going to to the meeting as a [b]A-Rank mission[/b][/i][/color]

A Rank mission. The words sent a shiver down Kii's spine. The highest rank mission Kii had ever done was a D-Rank mission. The most difficult of a mission he'd dealt with was digging trenches in a forest to circumvent water and another mission to carry 25 lb materials across the town. He'd never had to fight anyone to the death or had to dance around life threatening ninja traps. He was a pretty typical Genin. In terms of ninjutsu, Ryou was his better, and in terms of raw power, naturally, Shinra had the advantage. He as probably the weakest link here, despite being a better taijutsu fighter than both of them combined...But they could both probably beat him in a real fight. They probably weren't all that worried about the fact that they were going to a super dangerous mission with a bunch of other monster Bijuu in which the leaf village could snipe the lot of them off...At all. Being reminded that this was an excruciating dangerous mission made Kii think about all the things he should have stopped and seen while back at the village. He should have said goodbye to a few people and probably should have brought different materials...Yeah. He was worrying over this. His gaze fell to the snow covered ground as he started to seriously consider the nature of this mission. 

Clenching his fist, closing his eyes, he realized that he had to man up! He was the oldest here! Even if the other two were more prepared than he was, he needed to make sure he could keep the group together in a crisis and to ensure that he, above the other two, could keep a level head. As such, he swallowed down all the panic and anxiety, and looked up with a heavy huff from his nose. He dawned an unfettered poker face, one that didn't show an ounce of his fears, and looked after Shira. 

[color=firebrick]"No need to be so formal, Shira. We aren't here just for decorations. We will beat up anyone that even looks at you funny,"[/color] Serious, intense and straight to the point as usual. Kii was the sort to say what needed to be said and didn't bother joking or exaggerating. As such, his tone was pretty clear-cut and could be a little intimidating. It was matched by a pair of cold, unwavering, resolute eyes that really complimented his treat to beat up someone that looked at Shira funny. It was hard to forget that Kii was the sort of kid that had the almost no immaturity personality wise and took everything with caution. 

~~~

Finding cover with Shira and Ryou, Kii clenched his fists. Hearing what Shira said didn't make him feel all that great either. And what if the Hachibi was in a bad mood today and decided to kill off some Iwagakure non-important members, like Ryou and himself? Kii had to be prepared for that. He was young, but he realized that this mission was an A-Rank because there was the possibility of death and a fight. He had to be ready. Ready to even fight a monster that could destroy half a city all on its own. 

The tension eased as Shira claimed it was alright. Did Shira know the Hachibi? What did [i][color=c12267]'It's him'[/i][/color] mean? It was almost like they were familiar with each other and...Strangely, that made Kii a little uncomfortable. Apparently, Shira recognized the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi and even said that it was alright to reveal themselves in the Hachibi's presence. Why didn't she know the Hachibi that well? Kii didn't really like that he knew nothing about that Jinchuriki, and Shira seemed practically friends with them already. 

[color=firebrick]"Do you know that ninja?"[/color] Kii asked, serious as always. Kii's eyes wandered over by the entrance and the samurai. Samurai were supposed to be very strong, even without ninjutsu. But, should a Jinchuriki go crazy even they would just be cannon fodder. Really didn't ease Kii's worries at all, but he kept them covered and just looked as dangerous as the white haired, eagle eyed, explosive brute always was, [color=firebrick]"You can't let your guard down around Jinchuriki..."[/color] Kii said, a little careless considering Shira was one, but it was true. They were strong and their personalities usually unstable, thus they could go crazy and they'd be very difficult to console. Pretending they were a typical, ordinary, wonderful ninja was dangerous in this situation in which so many nations were all in one place under mysterious pretenses. [color=firebrick]"I don't really like this...We should make sure we have an escape plan just in case."[/color]