Hikari glanced around a moment before deciding that Kuro wasn't around. She sighed a little, relieved that he hadn't seen the display a second time. She didn't need him or anyone else thinking she was weak or anything. Haunted, perhaps, but not weak. It was easy to think that someone so burdened and haunted by so many things was weak, but usually that was not the case. Going through so much either made a person stronger, or they gave into despair and lost their will to fight, to live. She had, at one time or another, felt the heavy weight bearing down on her, threatening to crush her, to suffocate her. But she never gave up. She never stopped fighting. She resolved to be stronger than her fears and her pain, to keep going, to use the pain to help her grow stronger. And it had. She was strong, emotionally, mentally, and physically, and she grew stronger by the day.<br/><br/>She brushed the thoughts from her mind and dropped from the tree, landing lightly on her feet and glancing around. The note caught her eye and she snatched it up, reading it. She smiled just a little, almost unnoticeable if one weren't paying attention. It was probably nothing, sure, but she didn't discard anything as meaningless, because they rarely were. Even when things were unintentional, that didn't mean that they meant nothing, they were usually the subconscious mind's way to communicating what the conscious mind dared not. Either way, it was a small gesture, but she would take it.<br/><br/>She slipped her cloak back on, knowing that the dark fabric would allow her to blend into the darkness more easily. She tucked her bag away and then leaped into the tree. He had already gone, however long ago it was. He may not be able to do much before dark, but he could get to his first location and wait. They were farther out now, which meant there was a longer distance to travel. Still, the sun hadn't fully disappeared from the sky, the world was still colored by a soft orange-pink glow, which would give her time to reach her first destination before the sun went down.<br/><br/>She hopped through the trees, branch to branch, at a quick pace, but not a rushed one. She could take her time to get there, she wasn't in a hurry, but that wasn't why she was moving quickly. She needed to focus on something else, to keep her mind from wandering, to quiet the thoughts that swirled around like a hurricane in her mind. Even the wind rushing by wouldn't fully remove her thoughts, but it would quiet them enough. She continued through the trees until she reached the campsite she had been heading for the previous night when she had felt Arashi's presence. She found a spot in a tree that allowed her to hide in the shadows while she waited for night to fall. She pulled the hood up, allowing the dark fabric to hide her white hair, thus allowed her to blend in a bit better.<br/><br/>Her mind wandered briefly as she wondered if it had meant anything that he hadn't minimized the thanks so much this time. She wondered if perhaps he might be coming around a bit. Perhaps he didn't quite hate her. Not that she should care anyways, but whether or not she should didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, she supposed. But wondering wouldn't change anything, and she hardly had enough evidence to even guess at this point, so it was best not to dwell on it. She did, however, find herself wondering what he was looking for. She could tell by the way he held himself, the way he kept everyone out, much like she did, the way he acted as though he didn't care about anyone, she could tell that he'd be hurt, that he hadn't had an easy life. What had happened, she couldn't say. What burdens he carried, she wouldn't dare to speculate, but she was certain that there was something. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened in his past and what answers he sought. She supposed she didn't know it was answers he sought, that was another guess, but he wanted information, so she assumed it was to find some answers to something. But it wasn't any of her business, nor was this the time to worry about it.<br/><br/>It was almost completely dark now, so she activated her Issekigan and glanced around the site. There was no one to be seen anywhere around, so she focused on finding anything she could. Like the last one, however, there wasn't really anything here. She hadn't seen anything when she'd arrived, but she had kept her distance until dark. Now that she was closer, she could see that it had been completely cleaned up. Even with her Issekigan she couldn't find anything. She sighed, putting the information away in her mind, another piece to the puzzle, and then continuing on to the next area where they had been spotted. She had a working theory, now that she had the information from the girl, but now she had to prove it.<br/><br/><br/>Arashi knew the girl was happy to be partnered with him, even if she hid it with a simple reply. He knew her feelings for him, pretty much everyone did at this point, he thought. But she didn't care and neither did he. It ensured that she was loyal to him, and he would be lying if he said it wasn't nice to have someone care that much for you. Whether or not he shared her feelings, no one knew. Hell, he didn't even know. But he'd never given it any thought, really. He had more important things to worry about than love and romance and other such things. He'd leave that to the girls for now.<br/><br/>He stood, picked up his plate, and crossed the room to put the plate away. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at the spring in her step, and the way she threatened the man who had tried to trip her, whether or not she actually meant to follow through with the threat. He liked her better this way than when she kept her head down and let them say what they wanted. Of course, he also advised not making threats unless you were prepared to follow through with them, but it was better than the alternative, as long as someone didn't call her on it and push her, daring her to follow through. If they did that and she backed down, she'd never live it down, and they would never leave her alone.<br/><br/>"Let's go." he instructed as he approached her, not stopping to wait as he headed out the door, knowing she wouldn't be far behind. "We have some... friends... to visit." he smirked lightly as he spoke to the girl before heading off down the street. "The fools will learn, eventually." and he left it at that as they headed off to complete their mission.