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"Boo!"

She had been there the whole time.

It had only been minutes before the meeting was scheduled that she had only woken up. The green LED lights were trying to tell her something, but in this state it was impossible to make them out. It took about a solid thirty seconds of squinting before the numbers became clear. The realization was met with a gasp, Kirino jumping from her bed (and falling flat on her face) all in one fluid motion. After writing on the floor for a few seconds, she made her way through the "streamlined" version of her regular wake-up routine, cutting her shower time in half, and donning only a clean white tank top and and red, loose fitting track pants. Running out the door, she managed to get her still wet hair into a sloppy ponytail, and made her way to the facility at a brisk jogging pace.

It wasn't until she had made her way inside the facility that a clock hung on the wall allowed a sigh of relief. Kirino was anything but late apparently. Making a mental note to change the time on her alarm at home, she looked around the room. Empty for the time being, naturally. Kiri nin weren't know for being on time, that was for sure. Noting the extra time available, she began exploring the other rooms of the facility, which ultimately consisted of just some storage rooms in the back, and a kitchen. With food on the mind, Kirino searched for something to eat, but to no avail. It was during this search that she heard a sound from the main room. Naturally, her reaction was to squeal, afraid she had been caught digging through cupboards. Covering her mouth with a hand, she looked around the room, then gave a sigh. It was probably just her new squadmates. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the main room through a secondary entrance, making her exclamation promptly.

Before Kirino could even look over the man who was already sitting in the room, the front door slammed open, drawing her attention. A woman entered, appearing to already be upset. Did something happen? She posed a question, which puzzled Kirino, but provoked no response. Perhaps she had a feud with the man in the middle of the room? The man was much older than the girl, as was Kirino (though she still appeared to be in her teens, by all means), so that was a bit odd. It was never a good idea to be so confrontational to an elder, but then again, the girl didn't appear to be the "respectful type."

Kirino gave a weak smile, hoping to stay out of any potential conflict for the time being, at least. That said, she was more than prepared to break the two up, which was basically an inevitability. These two clearly had very strong personalities, and chances were it would be Kirino doing all of the peace keeping, provided their "team leader" didn't show up in the next few moments.

As the environment turned from green to grey, Kirino was just as fascinated. She couldn't quite revel in it as she did the landscape behind her, but she still couldn't simply graze over it either. Her vision floated about, slowly taking everything in. Even on the rougher terrain, her feet didn't hurt at all. She had traveled these distances many times before, a routine at this point. Normally her travels would be much more cautious, slow and strenuous. She could take on most fly by night bandits, but always aired on the side of caution. Now with Ashura by her side, the obligation she usually felt to avoid main roads was null.

"Hm?"

She nearly jumped. Lost in thought, his words caught her off guard. It wasn't the first time this had happened either. Having missed his first comment, she came to full attention immediately. He posed a question, and her response was immediate.

"No."

She trailed slightly, indicating some sort of tension, or hesitation after the fact, but nothing followed. It wasn't too much of a problem, she told herself, but the reality was it was weighing quite heavily on her mind. She didn't want to stop everything to just talk about it, or to give him more to worry about. It was enough that she could handle it on her own, that she could deal with it.

His following comment hit her hard. He was entirely right, or the Hokage was, rather. Yet, the boy had been holding in a lot himself, or maybe he hadn't been thinking about it at all. With a shake of her head, Kirino managed a smile. It was nothing to really worry about, anyway. With the self re-assurance that Ashura had himself under control, she cleared her mind to do the same for her own self.

"I'm fine, Ashura. Thank you for asking."

The process seemed relatively painless. Ashura was all over the place emotionally, or so it seemed, yet seemed to have returned to a more stable state. Kirino calmed herself as the boy did, taking quiet, yet deep breaths. When the ambiance was broken by Ashura's speech, Kirino raised her head, almost in a panic. His voice was calm, but that had no effect on what she had just seen, the side the boy had just revealed. Eyes wide open, her sight centered on the Uchiha, her figure tight and tense. Moments later, an exhale relaxed her posture. He was calm now, and she needed to be calm now. Even if the boy did have another episode, there was nothing she could do about it, worrying was pointless.

"It's fine."

Her tone was a bit shaky, but composed enough that she didn't stutter. With that they took off, not another word spoken besides the boy's shout. She could see he was a bit wary too now, but the reason as to why he would feel that way was up in the air for Kirino. Was he worried about being judged, or perhaps angry he had shown his true colors and that she would catch on? Either way, it was a bad situation to be in, for a good number of reasons.

She followed Ashura.

The tension in the air fluctuated, from rage, to anguish, then both repeating in that order. It was Ashura that ultimately restrained himself, understanding he was outmatched. Even with that, he still had a message for the other Uchiha. It was only after this that the boy returned to the fallen man, having heard something Kirino missed. At a complete loss, Kirino moved towards Ashura, no longer perceiving the other as a threat.

Stopping, she noticed the rapid handseals, then something completely bizarre. The man disappeared into a jar that the young Uchiha had conjured. This was, if anything, disturbing to Kirino. Did the boy think that mess of a corpse was still alive? Maybe he actually was alive. Both possibilities seemed absolutely ridiculous, though perhaps not in the context of all of the insane things that had just happened moments earlier.

With the boy's focus on nothing but fueling the jar with chakra (Kirino oblivious as to for what purpose this was), she turned to face the man still standing over the situation. He had spoke just after being shouted at, but again, Kirino missed it. She did, however, manage to catch sight of the Kunai that planted itself in the ground next to her. His words were confusing, and his actions even more so. It appeared he somehow knew Ashura's parents, and that the weapon was some sort of memento. Why such a man refused to help Ashura was baffling for Kirino, but she took mental note of his words regardless.

The man gone, she turned back to the boy behind her, who appeared to be completely absorbed in his current task. She dared not interrupt after how the boy had just lashed out. In such an emotionally fragile state, though Kirino wished she could, it appeared to be too dangerous to attempt anything, from comforting to simply speaking. She saved her words for later, just watching for the time being, silent, trying to take in all that had just happened.