[centre][color=deb887][h2][u]Koma Hitsugi[/u][/h2][/color][/centre]
[@All of Iwa]
[@Ganryu] Ai Kabe [@Pirouette] Kyoka Haizenberuku (Directly interacting with)

Back in Iwagakure, Koma found herself enjoying a short amount of quiet time in the coming days before the assault on Iwa itself by the very people who had already laid siege to Konohagakure, what they were after was beyond her and she wasn't exactly of a mind to try and find out either.

But they were at her doorstep now and she, like all the other shinobi of Iwa, had to do something about that whilst trying their damnedest to make sure everyone evacuated safely. That specifically wasn't Koma's job, her's was the same as it had always been, ranged support for her allies whilst remaining out of the enemy's line of fire and when they got too close, she would get out of there.

And there was of course, their Kage, stood before everyone and prepared to take on any who approached with his lava release. It was quite the intimidating sight to see, even if she was on his side.

From where she was she could pick up the presences of the three main foes approaching, flanked and assisted by several more who's chakra signatures were moving faster than her technique could accurately track. In lieu of that, she abandoned the sensory technique and activated her Eagle Eye technique to get a better view of where some of the signatures were headed, and to try and spot them whilst they're on the run.

It took a moment of following flickers of movement, but she soon caught sight of a couple of them moving here and there throughout the village and between buildings. A slow, careful draw of her bow was all she needed so that she could accurately aim and lead her shot to one of the invisible entities, loosing the arrow after a moment once she was certain she would hit and catching it in the knee and watching it topple over and turn into a puff of smoke.

There would then be a crackle on the radios the others had in their possession as she called through to them. [b][color=deb887]"All shinobi, keep your eyes and ears open, there are about a dozen fast-moving targets through the village. They seem to be clones, cloaked with some kind of camouflage technique. I'll try to shoot down as many as I can from here. Kabe, Haizenberuku, can I leave leading everyone else to you two?"[/color][/b] Once she finished transmitting the information she went back to her watch, trying to track down the movement of other invisible targets darting around whilst dipping down onto one knee and activating her own cloak to begin to hide her own visible presence from anyone who might be watching.

[hr]

[color=b0e0e6][h2][centre][u]Hime Yuki[/u][/centre][/h2][/color]

[@Reflection]

Bumu definitely wasn't done with his frustrations, the foxish shinobi all but endlessly continued to explain how he felt and what was bothering him without little more than that one question she'd given him. And there was a lot of stuff to get through, maybe more than Hime had any right to comment on, but she was going to do it anyway seeing as he was being so vocal.

[i][color=b0e0e6]"Right, Bumu! We'll take this one step at a time, cause you are cut out for ninja life, but everyone's a bit overloaded due to what's happened."[/color][/i] Hime began, gently patting Bumu on his shoulder. [i][color=b0e0e6]"He, like any shinobi, knew that death was always round the corner, it's the whole point of us being here. Shinobi life is bloody and not everyone makes it. But think about it this way, imagine if it was him that survived and you that had died, ontop of everything else that happened. What do you think he would do? Give up on something he set his heart to from the get go?"[/color][/i] The question was left to linger for a moment, just so Bumu could do some of the thinking himself.

[i][color=b0e0e6]"No! He wouldn't give up, he'd keep going and use his memory of you to push him further so he doesn't let that happen again whilst he's there to help. He'd have a bigger reason to keep improving himself other than because being a ninja is freakin' cool! No shinobi dies in vain, Bumu, they all serve to remind those of us that are left that we have to work even harder in their stead because they can't keep going, no matter how many more fall around us, we keep picking up the slack, train new shinobi and pass our duties onto them so they can take it into the future! You fight on to honour those who died, to keep their will burning through your own heart instead of theirs and then you pass it onto the next generation, because you're the one who can still do it!"[/color][/i] At some point, Hime had acquired herself a glass of milk that she had already drunk half of.

[i][color=b0e0e6]"But before all that, what you do is you promise to their grave and their spirit that you'll do everything you can to try and stop anything like that happening again. It hurts, but it's essential to make sure they know what you're doing for them. The same goes for Old Man Ginsho, he's been ready for death since he became a shinobi and we'll punch Jaakuna in the face for doing it because Ginsho can't do it and we'll make him apologize for it until he can't speak anymore."[/color][/i] The fairy seemed fired up, but that enthusiasm quickly died down as she finished her drink and took a breath.
[i][color=b0e0e6]"As for the crying thing? It can be hard to cry when you're supposed to, Bumu, harder to hold back from crying when you've gotta be strong in front of others. But crying on the outside isn't important, if your heart is tearing itself apart from how you feel about Chojiro, Jaakuna and Ginsho, then you're doing all the crying you need to on the inside where all your feelings come from."

"Think about it like that and maybe you'll finally be able to do it when you go home where no one but you and your family are, dump your head into your mum's shoulder and just bawl like a little baby for a while. It's what I did, I saved all my tears for when I got home cause mum said us Yuki's shouldn't be sad, we should be the snow that comes to bring everyone joy during the winter times. We could be happy, angry, tired, stern... Anything but sad, you know? It wouldn't be very Yuki of me to cry in front of a few of mum's old friends when I was always such a cheerful kid."[/color][/i]

Hime felt she might have gotten a bit carried away, but she rounded back to Bumu now that she was done. [i][color=b0e0e6]"And it's not very Bumu of you to be in a downer when you're always skipping about and being so cheeky and foxish. You're cut out for ninja life for sure, maybe your heart is still a bit weak, but that's what hardships are for, to strengthen your heart when things get tough. If you lose a friend you fight on their behalf and you live to prevent anyone else from going through it too."[/color][/i]

There was a brief moment of silence now, perhaps Hime had run out of things to say, perhaps she was thinking of something else to add, but in the end it just lead up to her sighing softly. [i][color=b0e0e6]"Uhh... People don't tend to listen to me properly when I talk cause I'm a little bit dull in the head, so... Do you need me to make it super simple?"[/color][/i]