New Friends, or just another rival?

"Mn'.. you better not be lying to me, little girl. "
" Why would I do that? Big brother wanted me to give you it, as like.. a sample. I'll even come out to brign you more if you want!"

Suzu eyed the blond girl in front of her, despite Usagi's mature appearance, her voice was still gentle, and soft like it had been when she was much younger. She was calling him big brother which was... strange to say the least. The pair was as far from related as you could get, maybe he's screwing her...

Suzu's eyes turned from the girl, to the small canister she had been given. Its dispenser had already been slipped away and after a few seconds of examination, the canister was as well.

" Mn', this messes me up, you're both dead. "

Suzu leaned down, pressing her lips to the Uzumaki's cheek.

" Mn, that's for your.. big brother for the gift. Now get out of here. "

Suzu didn't wait for a response, she just took off, leaving a very stunned Uzumaki behind. Usagi frowned to herself, reaching up to rub her cheek a little where Suzu had kissed her, they must have been close..

She giggled a little at the thought, and twirled a little. She had extra time, so.. why not explore just a little before she had to get back..? With a warm smile on her face, and Chagashi trailing reluctantly behind her, she started her way down the trail. Her interest and her eyes were on the foliage surrounding them, everything was much.. greener than she expected. She really didn't even expect to be able to see through the mist, perhaps it was just thin today.

" Chagashi-kun.. try to lighten up..?"

Chagashi grunted at her, and continued to drag herself along behind him. His behavior set a pout on Usagi turned quickly on her heel, hands flying to her hips. By the looks of it, she was ready to give her companion some kind of lecture.

Another round of training on the outskirts of Kirigakure would bring the Toad-nin in the area where Suzu and Usagi had been talking. A random occurrence was what the entire situation was at best. The route that the Konoha kunoichi was using also happened to be the same path that he always used to return to his village. Icy, baby blue circles paused on the back of the short, curly-haired woman. She seemed ready to give her companion animal a lecture on something or another -- at least from the tell tale sign of her hands on her hips. He wondered why women always liked to educate in the middle of unsafe situations.

It was Usagi's large fox that gave away the silent man's presence; Kirihara did not feel the need to try to be covert -- this was his area of the ninja world. Silence remained his choice of communication, eyes shifting slightly to the now growling pet without giving off any details to what his mind was thinking. Stoic, yet handsome visage remained completely neutral. It was almost if his face was frozen by a sub-zero gust of wind.

The mist was indeed thin: a rarity that many from Kirigakure would consider a nice day in hell. Regardless of the whether, the short woman seemed to be dressed for her venture into the watery lands that housed the hidden village. Her appearance was not recognized in the frog's database-like memory. It would mean that she was either a visitor who had gotten lost, or someone trying to reach Kirigakure no Sato for other reasons. All of these assumptions were based on the proximity of there location to the Bloody Mist.

Words still did not come from the mouth of the dashing shinobi. His attire seemed to disguise what village he was from and if he was a ninja at all. Though, the chilling image on his face could indicate to a skilled observer that he was a fighter -- and the piercing azure eyes did not help his case. An orange scarf was wrapped closely around his neck, breaking up the otherwise all black ensemble that he had on his frame.

Still no words were spoken. He looked at the duo, fox and femme, like they should be the ones giving the explanation for being there and not him.

Usagi frowned when Chagashi went from pouty pup, to growling protector. What the heck was that about...? Her hands fell form her hips and she turned to see what was the matter, only to freeze in her spot.

Oh dear.

The lecture was forgotten and she clicked softly at the fox, who drifted closer to lean a little on his leg. He was still pretty pissed, but with a few scratches to the back of his ears he began to relax. This was bad, very bad, a relaxed Chagashi in a fight was far more useful than a pissed one, she didn't want him to get hurt or reckless.

While Chagashi wore a collar, mainly because they were outside their lands, neither of them actually bore any symbol to Konohgakure. Usagi bore no insignia on any of her clothing, and she had been advise to not wear her headband. Which at this point.. was probably pretty damn smart of them to follow directions for once.

Usagi swallowed her nervousness to put on a warm, sheepish looking smile. She raised a hand to wave at him, blushing some when her eyes came to settle on his. Despite the cold look in them, they were still very pretty, she had a feeling the rest of him was too under that garish orange scarf.

"U-Uh... "

Usagi only blushed further, this time it was nothing but pure embarrassment. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes drifted to the ground in thought. Once she had her thoughts organized, she peered up at him.

"...Could you help me? I-I.. well, I got lost. I'm not all that sure where I am, and some help would be wonderful. "

Despite her hesitance to go near him, she offered him a bright, warm smile. Hopefully, he wouldn't see her has a threat since well.. she had left Dagashi at home, and brought the bare minimum of tools with her.

Lost was on the bottom of the short ladder between the two possibilities that he would believe. For someone to be lost so close to Kirigakure no Sato just did not sit right with him. He had been a shinobi too long to give an abundance of credit to the excuse; it could be true though. Once the companion animal calmed down and she offered her reason for being there, Kirihara raised a thin, black eyebrow over one of this extremely blue eyes.

"What exactly are you looking for?" he asked in a tone that was as cool as his appearance. Sure, the woman was attractive and could put on a cute smile with an innocent blush, but so could the best assassin. One could call it paranoria, and some others could call it being a good ninja; whatever the label for his caution, the frog was not going to change any time soon.

Whether or not he was armed could not be assumed thanks to his cloak covering his body. It was not the best fashion available, and maybe not even the most practical, but it worked well for him so far. A lot of people were more fashionistas than they were shinobi in his mind. Kirigakure could not afford such luxury unless the confidence of not being attacked was possessed along with the eye for design.

The Toad-nin noticed that she was not wearing any major weapons, just a random pouch here or there that could have held some tools for combat. She must have relied more on her fox for protection during travel. Though, she was more dressed than some of the Kirigakure no Sato women he had seen. Which was another reason he was not going to fall head over heels for a simple blush and cheese routine. Regardless, he did seem willing to assist her for undisclosed reasons.

"Surely you must have some sort of map on you?" he added, fitting the addition question in the space between his first and her eventual reply. No one went this far into the land of water without some sort of guide, living or non.

" I'm looking for the way home, I don't want big brother to worry about me. "

She rocked a little on her heels, looking the other up and down slowly, with the cloak she had no idea if the other had weapons on him or not. She nibbled on her lower lip some as her eyes returned to meet his. She still didn't attempt to approach him, she even kept her hands clasped in front of her.

What now..? She looked down at Chagashi, who was trying to stare down the Kirigakure Shinobi.

"..Chagashi-kun, stop. "

She frowned at his behavior, he shouldn't be trying to challenge someone he didn't know. The fox laid his ears back, his head tilting some to rest against the girl. It was a bit amazing she had such control over the animal, after all, on his hind legs he probably towered over the girl.

"A map..? "

Usagi laughed sheepishly, reaching up to rub the back of her head. Usagi usually didn't carry a map, after all, big brother had given her wonderful directions. He just.. didn't give her directions in case she went exploring.

" About that... Yeah, I don't have one.. I got side tracked and well, sort of forgot my way. "

She chuckled a little, nibbling on her lower lip as she set her eyes on the ground in front of her. Her words seemed pretty genuine . She wasn't attempting to hide her actions, nor was she really trying to flirt her way out of the situation. The question was.. would the male be able to spot that she was a shinobi? And if he did.. what would he do about it?

Everyone was a shinobi until proven otherwise in the mind of the frog. Whether or not she was a ninja was not a major concern right now. Keeping the random person away from Kirigakure no Sato was the most important item on his 'To-Do' List concerning her. Who in their right mind would send someone anywhere with just simple verbal instructions? Did not seem logical at all.

A moment of silence between the two individuals and one animal passed before they would hear his voice again. For the most part -- outside of the usual checks out of force of habit -- the challenging fox was ignored. Animals were not his choice of company, unless they were from the amphibian side of things.

"And where is your home?" he questioned. It seemed like he was going to be playing tour guide. It was not like he had plans when he got back to the Bloody Mist, but Kirihara was certainly not elated about his impromptu detour. She could count herself fortunate that she did not run into a different ninja from Kirigakure -- while he was not the most wholesome ninja, she could have done a lot worse.

Usagi sighed softly, her hands falling limply to her sides as she rolled her eyes to look up at the canopy.

" ..Honestly..? I'm from the land of fire.. "

She mumbled the last bit, she knew this was the part that could get her in a whole lot of trouble. She raised her hands in almost a defensive motion, taking a slight step back from the man.

" I'm just playing delivery girl, I swear. I was just suppose to give someone some stuff and head home. But then I got distracted and well.. that's how I ended up here.. Chagashi-kun was suppose to help me get home but.. he's not the greatest at actually helping. "

Chagashi grunted at her, and she shot a childish glare down at the fox. The girl seemed pretty honest, which was surprising. There are plenty of things she could have said, but if she was caught in that lie..? He'd probably get hostile, and well.. Usagi didn't really want to end up dead.

What was that saying.. Honesty is the best policy? Hopefully that applied here.

" ..Will you help me? Or is this the part where you kill me and leave my body for little forest creatures to nibble on...? "

Somewhere on the inside, he was not surprised that Usagi was from the land of fire. Things always turned out to be the most complicated when the opportunity was there. Given her sheepish nature, the Jounin did not draw any weaponry or prepare any ninjutsu. A large number of courses of action ran through his mind; all of them viable but only one of them was actually practical.

The relationship with Kirigakure and Konoha was dicey at best. If they had been on better terms, Usagi might have gotten a full escort back to the borders to the land of fire. Instead she would be lucky that she was not attacked on the spot. Once again, silence dominated the airspace between the two humans until Kirihara decided to speak.

"Follow the river to the East and you will reach one of the border patrols for Konohagakure. They will help you get back home. Tell your big brother to make sure you have a map or guide. Otherwise, you might not come back next time."

Usagi's hands fell to her sides once more, and she nodded a little. She seemed.. disappointed for some reason. Usagi wasn't even sure why she was disappointed, but she was. She had listened carefully to the directions, and she lightly patted the top of Chagashi's head.

" Come on, Chagashi, we need to get home.. "

She spoke softly, motioning for the fox to go on ahead without her, her attention returning back to Kirihara.

" Thank you very much for the directions, Sir. I hope you have a nice day. "

The Uzumaki smile, before she offered him a small wave. With nothing else to say, her smile disappeared and she turned to follow after Chagashi.

" Chagashi-kun, don't get too far ahead, I don't want to lose you too. "

She called out after the animal as she trailed behind. Of course, the animal stopped and allowed her to catch up before they headed off to the river. Hopefully, it wouldn't take them too long to get home, she didn't need big brother to get angry with her as well.