[Uzushiogakure] Hiyuritou

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A small islet off the coast of the Land of Whirlpools, Hiyuritou literally means, Fire Lily Island. It is the place known to plentifully grow the Fire Lily flower which is native to the Land of Whirlpools but grows most abundantly here. A most celebrated plant, the Fire Lily used in everything from tea to medicine and known for its ability to treat burns (when used in an ointment) and the hallucinogenic effect it has on cats. Cats and people can both travel freely between this island and the main island by way of a land bridge which appears during low tides and stays open for a few hours a day. The Festival of the Fire Lily (also known as the Fire Festival) is held on this island.

There are several small buildings and houses gathered together at the foothills of a high mountain. These are used to house vendors and various other people of importance during the festival (for those who don't wish to travel back to the main island over the weeks the festival is taking place. Beyond this atop a large hill is a pavilion which can house the Sanjikai while they perform their services during the time of the festival. Up higher a mountain is a solitary pagoda which is generally used to house the Fire Cat and Fire Rat during their stay at the festival. Such a place gives them access to the whole of the island and a full view of the beautifully blooming red flowers which are here. During other times of the year, this place can generally be thought of as the home to the Fire Cat and Fire Rat if they choose to live on it, though most like to be more involved with the main island than that.

Mid-morning on the day of the Fire Festival, the teleportation skill of one Katsuhara Hakudoshi would bring the young boy to the location known as Hiyuritou. In his company was the apparent guest of honor: the Kazekage, as well as the woman's youngest siblings, her husband, and the latter's own adoptive sibling of sorts. "I'm not walking from there to here," the boy said after bringing the group directly to this location. Apparently, it was previously decided that they would first travel to Uzushiogakure via the Hiraishin technique. Upon hearing this, the boy had huffed and taken it upon himself to skip the extra travel by instantly bringing the entire group directly to the festival.

"Whew! I don't know how you guys got used to that!" said Akira, the male sibling of Benihime. As this boy sauntered off into the festival, he received the response of Youko. "I'm pretty sure we don't, either."

The young child of the Kazekage was about as impatient as any child could be, except with the ability to actually do something about it. Given this the woman soon found herself on an island she'd never actually seen before and was left to marvel at it, but not without addressing her young son first. "Hakudoshi, it wasn't even that far, not that I don't appreciate it." she said seeming to find the boy's lack of desire to travel to be a bit much. Her youngest sister seemed to think this whole method of travel was a bit strange. And agreed fully with her brother taking off after him as she moved about. "Um, well it could be worse, I guess. Arigatou Haku-chan~" Teruko said before bounding off. Of course, this pair had attended the festival several times before now, and knew exactly where they were headed.

Aiko who'd also arrived with the group seemed to find this whole thing rather strange but was still more than ready to agree with Hakudoshi. "In all fairness, to Haku-chan, I didn't like the idea of Hiraishin at all, so... I was going to let him move me here regardless." Aiko mentioned as she pushed slightly longer than normal white locks out of her face. "Also... this place looks amazing," she mentioned of the landscape. She would be more than content to follow where everyone else went. "Um-hm~" Benihime agreed, and would soon be found picking up a small kitten which had been rubbing itself against her legs when they first landed. It was a little ginger colored thing and caught the woman's attention.

"It's farther than we had to go," was Hakudoshi's reply to his mother. He did not envy more normal individuals who had to physically move from one place to another, without even the ability to decide against it. At the very least, it seemed Aiko appreciated his method of transportation. This was all the child needed to be satisfied with his efforts. As this trio spoke to one another, Youko looked out unto the starting festival. "Looks like the welcoming party is here," he said. As if cued by this statement, the young man known as Kouha among the Uzushiogakure's Sanjikai came sprinting from within the festival area. From a distance, he fell into a forward leap, with a bright gleam upon his visage as this maneuver threatened to have him tackle the Kazekage. "Be~ni~nee~!"

"Ok. I won't even argue with that," the redhead said as she placed the little ginger kitten back down. She looked out over the festival as well, finding the whole thing to be a bit drastic, but Youko's mention of the welcoming party made a small smirk appear on the woman's face. The sound of a young man's voice was soon accompanied by an action which made the Kazekage's eyes widen. "I should let this happen, huh?" Benihime's words brought a smile to Aiko's face as she switched her position so she was no where near this redhead woman when she'd be attacked by the male who was obviously coming her way. "Onee-sama, it's probably for the best that you don't over do it," she said finding this whole interaction to be kind of strange. The Kazekage thought about it while the boy was in the air, and while she could have dodged, she instead opened her arms to the coming attention. Accepting the tackle of this young man and a young girl who'd swiftly approached as well. "Sissy~" the voice of the young girl said as she grabbed the Kazekage around the waist as she was all but tackled by a young man obviously her twin. "Kouha, Kougyoku... long time no see~" she said chuckling at the pair. These young twins were around the same age as her youngest siblings and their reaction to seeing her was a bit strange. She always figured the children of her deceased aunt would be a bit less than happy to see her considering she'd ended their mother's life.

After succeeding in his tackle, Kouha latched onto his elder cousin from the left side. "Okae, okae! It's about time you came; we've been waiting for ages!" With that said, Kouha turned his head to view the others who were present. His gaze first fell upon Hakudoshi, causing him to release Benihime and bend at he waist to view the boy more directly. "Sugoi! You're the one we felt! You're crazy strong for a kid!" In response to this assessment of his ability, Hakudoshi merely pressed his fists into his sides and inflated his chest. A chuckle came from Kouha, who then looked toward Youko. In that moment, the former's demeanor seemed to shift. "Sou, sou. You're the other part of that mix. You feel... so different. Kougyoku?"

With Kouha stuck to her left side, Benihime soon found Kougyoku stuck to her right. Both of them seemingly very happy to see her. "Well, it's not like I actually knew where you were. Nor did I have any reason to come looking for ya', so here I am," the Kazekage mentioned. Kougyoku found this funny and scoffed. "But Sissy, you came here and saw Kaa-chan, Akkun and Teri-chan, you could have said hello at least." she said pouting a little still happy to see the woman. She hugged her a bit more before moving along in Kouha's footsteps also stopping in front of Hakudoshi who now had his chest puffed out seemingly proud of himself and Kouha's appraisal of him. "Sugoi! You're adorable," Kougyoku seemed to think highly of Benihime's young son, who was cute in addition to being very strong.

As Kouha moved on, Kougyoku stood taking small steps until she was right in front of Youko as well. The shift in her brother's demeanor made the girl pay more stark attention and she had to agree as well, he felt really different. "Very different. I've never felt this before..." Kougyoku was now stepping around the man and ended up on his left looking up at him finding him to be covered in strange seals and other such markings. "Eh, he's covered in seals, his chakra feels nice. It's all... cool but it's mixed with something. You feel it right Kouha, the something else..." she said seeming to find this to be one of the more interesting beings on the island. At this point Aiko was backing away from Youko finding the amount of attention being paid the man to be strange. "Onee-sama... is this normal?" she asked of Benihime. The elder redhead shrugged a bit. "Sanjikai is a trio of chakra sensors who all have all three forms of the clan's Kekkei Genkai. Once I could actively feel mine I felt the same way, though they've had a lot more time to be used to it than I have. Youko and you guys have chakra that is just different from other chakra." she said. Having had time to take note of the differences. "That's Youko, he's my husband, and you're both being a bit weird, just so ya' know."

"Hmph," Hakudoshi muttered as his chest inflated even further, following the observation of Kougyoku. In the meantime, Kouha began poking at Youko's torso with his left forefinger. "Neh, Kougyoku's right. There's some good stuff in there, but something nasty, too." With an additional poke, Kouha manipulated the chakra within Youko's body. This immediately brought forth the "nasty" chakra from within the man, unleashing the Hunter's Moon state of his Kekkei Genkai against his will. Kouha immediately backed away. He found this chakra frightening, and though he normally would have assaulted an individual who felt this way, he knew deep within that there was nothing to be done about it. "B-... bakana!" he said. Youko, to his credit, forced his eyes back to normal immediately. "Yare yare. That's not the best idea."

The compliments paid to her young son, apparently made the boy puff out his chest. At the very least, the pair of twins had won him over if nothing else. Moving right along, both seemed to be poking at Youko's person, Kouha even going so far as to find something he probably shouldn't have. With the revelation of Youko's Hunter's Moon, Kougyouku also backed away looking at the man briefly before wrinkling up her face a bit and hiding behind her hands. "Kouha, that poke was weird, but its kinda sealed up. It feels murderous but I don't think it's all him," she said, she was thinking that if Kouha had pulled the nastiness forward, she could pull the other things and get a much better feel for them. Regardless of which other thing she chose, it would be a problem. "These other things are much more..." she said reaching out to poke the man again only to be randomly stopped by Benihime, her whole body between the young girl and her husband. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking and I am going to need you not to do that," she said the young girl looked at the woman stunned, wondering when she'd moved. "How..." she said looking at the older redhead woman. "Oh... but..." she pouted then frowned deeply. "Fine, then I wanna see the thing on his back."

When he was approached by the female twin, Youko had an idea of what she would be trying upon poking him. As such, he reached out to stop her, but Benihime's interruption did the work for him. "Yeah... definitely not. I'd like to not be stuck that way again," he said. Upon hearing this, Kouha tilted his head and squinted his eyes at the white-haired man. "... Sou ka. Well, whatever! I wanna see that thing too!"

This pair was strange. With both twins wishing to see what he could only assume was the seal on his back, Youko sighed and opened his kimono until it fell around his waist. Kouha was quick to act by moving to Youko's rear, shifting his hair out of the way to view the Four Symbols Seal directly. "Sugoi! This thing's gotta be ancient! Kougyoku, look at how primitive this is!"

"Stuck? That's weird..." the girl said seeming to be happy that they could move along to just seeing the other thing. This pair was quite strange in what they wanted to do, but it would be Youko's choice whether or not to show them, which he did, simply moving his kimono down to have the young male push his hair out of the way. The following commentary would be one which made Benihime's eyebrow twitch. "Primitive and ancient, I made that shit like nine years ago. Shit like this, is why I never bothered trying to come here," she said to the pair of twins. But Kougyoku touched the seal and found it weird. "Sissy don't be mad. It's just like half done, where's the rest of it?" she asked, seeming to think about it more she paused. Aiko found this whole thing to be amazing, she'd seen that seal several times, and it was among the most advanced she'd ever laid eyes on. Beyond this, Benihime seemed to be a bit huffy about this whole situation now, and she realized the Kazekage had some sort of complex likely stemming from this sort of thing. The elder redhead to her credit instead of saying anything else, tapped a seal on her wrist creating a Hiraishin Kunai and dropping it on the ground before disappearing for about five seconds, in a crimson flash of light. She was all but done and obviously needed a second to cool off.

"... You made it? Well... I mean... it was a good effort?" Kouha said. In his time, he'd seen many seals, and this was far from what he expected to be a seal holding a legendary Bijuu in place. "I'm not wrong, right? This is a Bijuu?" he asked. Since Benihime had so recently disappeared, Youko replied. "Hai. Hachibi," he said. In the meantime, Hakudoshi seemed a bit bitter at the thought of Benihime disappearing for any reason. So... he did what abandoned children with teleportation abilities did, and immediately sought her chakra to transport her back to this location. "He won't come out if you're not here. And they're right. That seal's easy to break, but they just say that stuff 'cause Kouen-oji made a bunch of better ones."

Benihime didn't get her full few minutes of solitude which she sought because she was annoyed by present company. Beyond that she seemed to want a minute or two to herself, she kind of actually seemingly hated the idea of the sort of abject criticism she got from her family which was likely why she avoided them even beyond her exile. Moving right along Hakudoshi was soon bringing the soaking wet Kazekage back to this place without really waiting for her to come back. "Eh, is Sissy mad, Kouha?" Kougyoku asked it seemed really abrupt her leaving like that but she used to do that sort of thing all the time and be gone for whole days without warning. "First, off I was coming back. They can definitely wait like three minutes." the redhead said at the beginning of something likely to be a tirade. "Second, I know that it's easy to break, from the outside in, but not the inside out, which was more the issue at the time. Way better than the Iron Armor Seal, or the one which was originally used on holders of the Ichibi who just couldn't sleep without risking loss of control," the Kazekage said. "Third, either he'll come out or he won't, got patience to wait for Kouen, but I just get snatched clean across a couple of countries." she exhaled after that last sentence. "Gomen, that was a lot for no reason... this still shouldn't annoy me but it does," And that would be the apology she offered to her son and no one else, because obviously no one else really deserved one at present.

"Looks like it," Kouha replied. Only a moment later, the older redhead reappeared, though apparently by no choice of her own. Instead, it was the child who brought her. This was something which piqued Kouha's interest, though he would not speak on the matter quite yet. Benihime's following tirade would not go on for quite as long as one could have expected, but the latter half seemed focused on the seven-year old boy who returned her. Without waiting out the apparent apology directed toward him, the boy turned his head away with furrowed brows, and vanished as well. His disappearance, however, was of a slightly different sort. He was here for a single reason, and if his mother was to be angered further by a bit of forced cooperation on his end, then he would simply take matters into his own hands. "Eh? Does your whole family do this?" Kouha asked, assuming Hakudoshi had left for the same reason Benihime had. "Anyway, that's all cool and stuff, but... you could've made a stronger seal. Just sayin', y'know?"

A sigh escaped the Kazekage. She could think of a thousand other things she'd rather be doing, and being angry at this hour and getting teleported across continents was not at all on this list. Still, her son's leaving gave her a small bit of caution, since he was just as likely to do something ridiculous as she was considering the furrowed brow he'd shown before his disappearance. "Hakudoshi teleports by other methods. And he didn't leave for the same reason I did," she said, knowing her son didn't rightly get upset about much, she didn't really trust that he was just going off to take a minute to himself because he was perturbed. To the words of the male twin Kouha she waved him off finding the idea of his that she could have made a stronger seal to be true, but she could have done a lot of things and none of them and it wouldn't have made any difference in her life, "Yeah, yeah. Could have made a stronger seal..." the woman rolled her eyes, and decided in this moment to let this thing go, lest she end up eternally pissed about it, with no proper outlet for the negative feelings. A single exhale, and she was done. Kougyoku felt this shift and hugged the woman once more. "Yay, Sissy isn't mad any more. But why are you naked though?" she asked finally taking a look at the woman's attire and wondering where the rest of her clothing was. "Don't fucking start...."

"Neh, she's right," Kouha said, leaning forward to also have a look at the soaking woman. "Aren't you an adult now? Where's your robe? Where's the hairpin? Your parents should have given you th-" Kouha's speech was interrupted by a sudden explosion occurring in the distance. This came from above a large building high in the hills of the island. A simple glance at the right time would allow one to see an enormous ball of fire - akin to a meteor - descending upon the building, only to look as if it were being absorbed into something on the roof. Kouha looked up, and though he found himself incapable of sensing Hakudoshi, he knew exactly what - or rather, who - absorbed this fireball. In the distance, Ren Kouen stood atop the roof of the Sanjikai's abode on this island, facing off against the white-haired lad who assaulted him.

Benihime seemed less than surprised by a giant meteor like fireball descending from the sky. That which had completely interrupted the speech of Kouha made her look to the building and know instantly what was going on. "I told ya' he didn't do the same thing I did," she said of her son. She didn't seem too worried about this match up, but would soon be leaving to make sure too much wasn't done. "Anyway, I am not naked, I don't like all those clothes, I live in the middle of the desert and I require a certain freedom of movement," she said of the general clothing style and choices given to her by her parents upon her last visit. "Now, I have to go see about that," she said. Knowing the young boy's general methods of doing things, Benihime took a step forward which would be akin to her moving at super speed, as she began closing in on her son and her cousin/brother. She be there within a few seconds, speaking to her son. "Ya' know, when I snidely commented on the amount of patience you showed for him, I didn't mean for you to completely go back on it, like a few seconds later." she said. It'd taken her a few seconds to reach this place, even so, she didn't seem winded or tired by the experience.

"She's right," Youko said as Benihime took off. "Words of wisdom: If Hakudoshi goes somewhere, keep an eye on him." With that said, Youko was off as well, albeit at a more relaxed pace since Benihime had gone ahead. When Benihime arrived, Hakudoshi would be airborne, floating high above the house. He had no response for Benihime's speech; instead, he merely issued a warning. "You should move." True to Hakudoshi's word, danger was quickly approaching. Behind the woman, a previously mentioned Ren Kouen had surrounded himself with small, white bird-like chakra constructs. There were certainly hundreds of thousands of them, all threatening to accidentally engulf Benihime en route to the skyward lad. Anyone these birds passed through would fall victim to their ability to absorb chakra in large quantities directly from a person's being. Kouen apparently thought to use this against Hakudoshi's barrier to wither it away, but he would soon find that said barrier would lose no strength at all, no matter how many of these creatures were sent to it.

Aiko would also follow, simply because it was a lot of stuff to take in. And while this happened Benihime was soon given a warning by her son which made her move to her left and rapidly in time to see small bird like chakra creatures going upwards in route to her son, surrounding the man known as Ren Kouen. She saw this and simply threw her hands up in the air. "Why do I bother?" she asked herself. Instead of going further and trying to stop this, she'd take a seat on the roof of this house and wait, as Kouen figured out that there was no easy way to break the barrier which belonged to her son. She was cross legged with an elbow resting on her her knee and her palm open holding her chin. "Also, hi En-nii, I see you've met Hakudoshi, nice to see ya and all. Why the fuck am I even here?"

The longer Kouen's creations struck the barrier, the more chakra they absorbed. On the downside, though, he didn't seem to be making any progress against this defense, much to his surprise. "Not bad, bouya! Color me impressed!" In spite of his praise, Kouen continued the barrage of chakra constructs. One would note that each of these to hit the barrier quickly turned black. Kouen continued his barrage until they were all this color, though he recalled them afterwards. The birds swarmed around him in a double spiral upon their return, with one spiral of birds quickly returning to their original white color. This occurred because their chakra was being converted back into that of Kouen.

"So, this one belongs to you?" Kouen said with his eyes shifting toward Benihime. "I thought it was you I felt. You've changed. Why are you here, though?"

Benihime watched the chakra constructs absorb chakra which belonged to her son and begin the conversion process. This wasn't something she saw in any great detail, because she hadn't resorted to using ocular prowess to see it. Instead she observed it through the sensations being passed along. It seemed that Kouen was impressed by Hakudoshi and to be fair, he probably should be given the boy was mounting something of an impenetrable defense. "Ah, yes, Hakudoshi is my son," she said. As they progressed in this conversation, it seemed there was a bit of confusion as to why this girl had shown up at all. Benihime frowned slightly though she continued watching in her same position. "Changed? Not really, anyway, I am here because apparently I was summoned and I didn't want anyone giving Aki and Teri a hard time for not bringing me back here," she explained. "Are you fucking telling me I didn't have to come here? Kuso, you got any idea the things I could be doing right now?" she seemed distraught at what she was missing out on as far as her daily activities were concerned. "They were told En-nii would be upset because I'd gotten married and not said anything to any of you. Personally I don't think that is anyone's concern but mine but... whatever. I probably still wouldn't have come, but... Hakudoshi wanted to meet you. He seems like he's having fun, so I can't really say no to that."

"Your son? Sou ka..." Kouen seemed surprised by the information that Benihime had children, but somehow not incredibly so. What did come as an incredible surprise, though, was the statement that his younger siblings and Sanjikai comrades had used his name to bring the woman to this island. "You hold the Kutai; I have no reason to concern myself with your choice in mates. I'll deal with Kouha and Kougyoku later." As he spoke, Kouen sent forth his wave with the intention of crushing Hakudoshi's barrier with raw force. However, he found that the chakra he previously took from the barrier, was quickly being reabsorbed into it by Hakudoshi's will alone. "Hahaha! That's enough, yes? At this rate, we will only trade chakra back and forth forever. Now that I know who you are, though, I wonder why you did not get the information you seek from your mother."

With that said, Kouen turned his attention toward Benihime, extending his right hand. While looking at her, he quickly came to a certain realization about her chakra. "Sou ka. You are Matatabi's host now. Good. You look soft, but I can now assume you've just grown nimble instead of strong. Iie... it's both, isn't it?"

"Prize goes to En-nii for being the least amount of surprised by information about me. My mother found out I had a kid and almost fainted on the spot," Benihime mentioned of the recent interaction with the elders who were making their home on this island. Moving right along it seemed that Kouen had also figured out that fights against Hakudoshi were seemingly endless as long as one wasn't truly willing to harm the boy. Still the thought that the man before her would be dealing with the younger members of the Sanjikai later made the woman chuckle. "Aww, take it easy En-nii. I mean they annoyed the hell out of me a bit there, they are all about some you, but... it's all in good fun. And in all fairness to them, I didn't really know anything about that until a couple of months ago. I'd been living under the assumption I was a dud, as far as the Kekkei Genkai was concerned," she said, trying to spare the younger members of their sibling group a bit of harsh punishment though they'd initially made her a bit angry there was no reason for her to be properly upset right now.

As for the end of the man's spar with her son, she wondered what he could have asked him which made him think she knew the answer. Regardless, she felt the need to interject just a bit. "Eh? I don't know what he asked you, but I got no idea why you think I know the answer. I probably don't if he felt the need to ask, unless... it's something he only recently thought to ask." the woman said, she figured if her son wished her to know what he had been asking, he'd tell her himself. To the extension of Kouen's hand the woman finally stood stretching a bit as she was appraised by the eldest of their sibling cousin group. "Well, I am not weak or anything... and I am reasonably nimble," she mentioned seeming to find the use of the word a bit strange. "Are we about to do the thing?"

"Your mother couldn't sense the connection before you told her," the man said. The moment Benihime arrived and made her presence known, Kouen felt the heavy similarities between her and this child. In all his days, he had learned to tell relationships based on chakra similarities, but there was still a small element of surprise to hear this information directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak. "At first, I thought the boy was just a stranger. He came asking how a clansman could use Karitori in the same way I've learned to. I told him he couldn't, but he challenged me to a fight to get the information for someone else. Since you were oblivious until recently, I can only assume now that he meant to find out for your sake." When Benihime rose, she questioned him on an activity they had apparently participated in prior to this moment. In response, Kouen shook his head. "Not just yet. It's almost noon; the festival will start. You're the guest of honor."

"Ah, well that makes sense, I guess. Still funny though~" the red haired woman chuckled at the memory of her mother nearly falling out of her chair when she finally pieced together the connection between herself and Hakudoshi. Moving right along, it was soon revealed the question he'd been asked along with the red haired man's thoughts on why such a question had been asked. "Sou ka, that... makes sense," a wide grin crossed the woman's face as she looked at her son. He was sincerely a very sweet boy when he wanted to be, she'd make a mental note to treat him to some ice cream a bit later. But it seemed the little bit of happiness the redhead thought she'd be getting wouldn't be coming as soon as she'd like. "That sounds like work," Benihime said of the idea that she was to be the guest of honor at this particular event. "But fine, I guess I am already here... "

"I'm sure. I'd like to have seen that myself," Kouen said while looking toward the edge of the roof, where the white-haired man named Youko had only just appeared. "So, this is the husband? Interesting. I regret not being invited to the ceremony. Ren Kouen," he said while extending his right hand to the older male. "Youko. Katsuhara Youko desu. Hajimemashite," Youko said as he stepped forward, extending his hand to meet Kouen's. "Three chakras. I understand your decision," Kouen said to Benihime. "This is the most interesting man I've ever seen. How did you keep someone like Kougyoku off him? Or Kouha, for that matter."

Benihime couldn't help but chuckle, she still found the idea of her almost fainting mother to be on the top ten list of most hilarious things she'd ever witnessed. Beyond this point though, it seemed that Kouen expressed the same interest in the wedding ceremony between Youko and Benihime as the former Kazekage. It made the elder crimson locked female frown slightly. "I'd say you've been talking to Machi, but you didn't ask about cake. It isn't like I planned to get married when I did or anything," she said, she always felt a bit odd discussing her marriage with her family, and with people who were privy to the woman's behavior before she was married. To the idea that he understood her decision based on his chakra, she could only shrug. To be fair, she hadn't known about the complexity of his chakra, she just liked being around him, as such she figured marrying him wasn't a bad idea. Besides that it kept the village elders off their backs when they were busy fornicating all over the village. None of this was appropriate for general conversation though, so it was pushed to the back of the redhead's mind. "He is definitely the most interesting man I know~" the Kazekage praised. As for why Kouha and Kougyoku weren't all over him she could only shrug. "I kept them from messing with his chakra too much, they were forcing the activation of his Kekkei Genkai. But I can't say that I actually stopped them, he was slow catching up," she said a brow raised wondering if he'd been molested a bit further by the pair of twins so interested in his chakra.

"It wasn't planned?" asked Kouen. For all he knew, this marriage was entirely the idea of the Kage and Jounin Hanchou of Sunagakure. Following this query, it was Youko who cleared things up. "The marriage was a bit... forced. The council of Sunagakure didn't like the idea of us carrying on the way we were without being some sort of official, so we caved." This information caused Kouen to narrow his eyes. He meant nothing by it, but he was quite sure he didn't care to know anything beyond this. "... At any rate, those two are still below. Shall we move on to the guest... or rather, guests of honor being honored in our festival?"

"That about covers it... En-nii you gotta lighten up, you'll get wrinkles changing the look on your face that fast~" Benihime chuckled as she stood on the edge of the roof. It did indeed appear that the other pair of twins were still on the ground and as such they weren't a real threat to her marriage. "Okay, so you gonna tell me if I gotta do stuff here right? 'Cause, I got no idea about any of this..." she didn't bother looking for her son, she knew he'd pop up when he was ready to do stuff. She also had a stray thought about the younger of the Sanjikai mentioning that she was naked, but she figured it wasn't really that high on the list.

"Huh?" Kouen replied. He seemed incredibly befuddled by Benihime's query, and in fact, he was. "Guest of honor. What sort of life have you been leading, for you to assume that title comes with any responsibilities? Matatabi's host, as well as their handler, are seated upon thrones and given the best view of the festival's entertainment. In this case, we will just have to make special exception for your entire family." True to Kouen's words, one would note that there was a plateau at the center of the festival itself, and upon it, there were two large thrones. There were three other, slightly smaller thrones surrounding these two, seeming to be meant for the Sanjikai.

Benihime saw and felt the confusion coming off her cousin. She couldn't help but think that perhaps she'd thrown him a bit. Even so, she couldn't help but shrug. "The sort of life where nothing is free nor usually very fun. Too many titles come with responsibility, I generally expect it now. But... I like not having to do extra stuff... so I'll let this go~" Benihime said. True to the Kazekage's words, she was in general required to be more than normally responsible at all times. Usually in caring for large groups of people and doing all sorts of things most wouldn't have thought she had a mind to do on her own. Right now though it appeared she'd get to be a bit spoiled, which wasn't really something she'd gotten used to at any point in her life. The Kazekage would soon enough be found happily slouching in one of the chairs, a bit disappointed by the lack of comfort in this, but still not all together unsatisfied.

The start of this festival would honor her and her son, and apparently the Sanjikai as well. But within a couple of hours, after eating and relaxing for a couple of hours the woman would be seen finishing a cup of tea with a smirk on her face enjoying the light warmth of the sun of on her face. The cup would just disappear from her hands, with people moving all around her and the entire group doing various things for them in such a way which made the woman's eyes widen. "This is nice for a day or two, but I am pretty sure it would drive me crazy regularly. So are we gonna do the thing now?"

Standing at Benihime's left side was Kouen, who kept his arms crossed as he watched the entertainment of the Fire Festival take place. With the passage of time, came the realization of Benihime that this would become tedious for her as a regular activity. "It isn't so frequent that you would be bothered. There are different activities at each festival, as well," he said. Following this, there was the question of whether they would be doing "the thing" or not. Kouen grinned. "Since you asked so nicely..." Without further ado, Kouen uncrossed his arms and curled the fingers of his left hand until a fist was formed. This fist would immediately be pulled back, only to be launched at full force toward the face of the sitting Kazekage.

Over time, it was explained to Benihime that this sort of festival didn't take place often enough to be taxing. And besides that the other festivals had different activities and that their variety made them all interesting. This was good enough news for the Kazekage, as she always thought these sorts of things were boring, but then again, she was always in charge of them at home, it was sort of nice not to have to do anything for once. "Hm, well that at least means I'll have a reason to sneak out every once in a while," the Kazekage said rather wistfully. She'd not really had much interesting on her plate in a while, and with the return of the Nidaime Kazekage she had a bit more freedom to come and go as she pleased. Something she was presently taking advantage of.

Even so, the man at her left seemed to find something in her previous statement funny. A large grin spread across his face, and Benihime flicked her eyes away from the crowd to know what was coming next, the man was clenching his fist but by the time it was launched, the Kazekage was already prepared. A quick upward movement would end with the red haired young woman balanced atop the man's extended fist. "En-nii, you seem a bit slow now," she mentioned cheekily as she aimed to immediately drill his face with her right fist thrice in rapid succession.

Kouen's knuckles felt nothing when his fist moved forward. He did, however, receive the feeling of a shoe upon the back of his hand. "Do I? That's funny," he said in response to being called slow. "You seem a bit green." By the time Benihime's fist moved, Kouen was already dealing with the fact that she was perched atop his hand. A strong, upward swing of his left arm aimed to launch Benihime into the air above him, briefly removing her from his personal space while nullifying her punch trio. Kouen would then aim his right fist upward, intending to meet the Kazekage's torso with a mighty blow and juggle her upward whenever she came down.

"Gone color blind?" was the young woman's instant response to being called green in any way. Of course, this wasn't a fight to the death or anything of the sort, but even she had to admit Kouen would be more than a handful if she hadn't the amount of experience in fighting and killing that she did. His response to her handling atop the back of his hand was to throw her up into the air, with a swift lift of the arm she was balanced upon. Her eyes widened but she never thought to fight against such movements, she simply let herself be tossed into the air, with a giggle to ensue. But soon enough she was falling back and a fight was coming towards her abdomen. She twisted her body and aimed her own right fist downward to meet said fist so that when they'd connect a shockwave would be created by the physical force of their meeting, aiming to radiate down into Kouen's arm and up into her own. "Still strong though, I see~" the Kazekage would mention as she flipped from her current airborne position back towards the ground twisting until she was properly back in the upright position.

"If the idea helps you sleep at night, then sure," was Kouen's retort. His upward punch would then be met by the downswing of Benihime's fist, nullifying the impact on either end while also giving Kouen a solid idea of what this woman could now produce. When she twisted about to land properly, Kouen took a moment to look at his fist and bask in the moment of this collision. "Not bad. I guess now it's time t-" The red-haired man's statement would never have a chance to finish. As Kouen attempted to speak, a white light flashed between himself and Benihime, albeit closer to the latter. Youko reemerged from this, carrying with him a box of cakes from elsewhere on the island. "Really? I leave for ten minutes, and I miss a fight? Or... interrupt one. Whatever. Here," he said, tossing a single tag with a seal on it. Linked to this tag was another Hiraishin seal to a specific kunai left in Kirigakure, where he'd so recently been. "You should go to that," he concluded. With that, he turned his attention to Kouen. "So, we're good to have as many of these cakes as we want here, right? These... specially made for the festival, not to leave the island due to the secret recipe... cakes?" Kouen gave a stern nod in response to this, making Youko grin. "Cool. Leaving the island with the cakes now. Sankyuu!" Without another moment of hesitation, or another word shared, Youko vanished again.

"Sure thing~" said Benihime as she landed shaking off the feeling of her hand. "Somehow still better than the Chidori meeting Rasengan..." she said of the feeling in her hand, rather fond of the fact she could still feel her fingers. But before she could get into whatever the red haired man was about to say next because her husband flashed between them handing off a tag and complaining that she'd started a fight while he was gone. "Oi, it is a normal thing. I already told ya' this is how we love each other..." she said of herself and Kouen, but apparently it was more important that she go to wherever this tag was so she paused, holding the tag in one hand she'd flash a kunai with her own seal on it, into her hand and toss it at Kouen's feet. "Keep that, and dont let Kouha and Kougyoku have it, they'd annoy me. We can finish this later, and it will be good if ya' wanna say hi or something. I gotta go see about a thing, Ja~" she said quickly before anything else could be said the young woman would disappear in a crimson flash.