It was another typical day in the office. Vox had another mountain of paperwork to go through, and the Bureaucrat Jutsu was barely making it tolerable. It had really helped his efficiency, but it didn't help his mood. He was moving faster, but he perceived things at that speed too so from his perspective this was taking just as long. If it didn't free up his schedule so much he wouldn't even bother

Arms exhausted, he set down the pen. He would have a little while to think while he recuperated. He mentally went over the reports from Soragakure, of the attack on the village. Several missing-nin had appeared, this was bad news. One thing that had stuck out in his mind was the description of one of the Sokage's allies, the young girl with the bright red hair. Word was she had left the village not long after. He had put out word for his shinobi to watch for her, and to request a meeting if she showed up. He wondered if this mystery woman would visit any time soon.

Aka growled and glared at the ninja as they held her forearms, her hand handcuffed in front of her. The stupid things were sealed making her abundance of chakra a disadvantage. "Leave off, I haven't done anything! I'm not a missing-nin you freaking can't do this!" The ANBU only stayed silent as they lead her to the Keukage's off. The secretary knocked and paged them in.

Aka glared at the pair as they addressed the man at the desk, the turned her gaze to the man at the desk before spitting at him before trying to summon her chakra trying to get at him, before folding over when one of the masked freaked slammed her stomach.

"You bastard give me back my chakra!" Mentality she panic unable to hear bijuu suddenly she felt empty. "Give me back my chakra damn it!"

Vox was always very in control. Even in the midst of battle, he almost never lost his signature poker face. Maybe he would seem a bit stern at times, but no more than that.

Point is, the ANBU had never seen him angry before.

Vox stood abruptly, sending the heavy wooden desk skidding forward a few feet and sending his chair flying back, breaking it against the wall. "What the FUCK did you muscleheads not understand about politely ask?" The ANBU shrank back a step, letting her go. Vox pointed at the one who had sealed her. "Hawk, you unseal her right this goddamn second!" The ANBU complied, touching her stomach and breaking the seal. The Keukage gestured towards the door. "Get out. You're all on disciplinary leave until I have time to review this with a clearer head." The ANBU vanished, and Vox calmed down again. He was still furious, but he could think now. He pulled his desk back into place, and grabbed an extra chair from the corner of the room. "Sorry about that, miss. The ANBU have been out of control lately. Are you all right?" He gestured for her to sit, taking his seat behind the desk.

Aka gasped feeling the sudden return of her chakra and the panic filled voice of her bijuu, she had to suppress the extra chakra her fearful friend was pressing on her it took a moments as they assured each other they were OK. Aka sighed before limping to the chair and sitting down, suddenly having her chakra turned on and off. "I will be...in a moment"

Aka rubbed her head, before trying to ward off the head ache, that was threatening to come on. "What in the blaze did you need to talk to me about that you had to get freaking ANBU to drag me in! Ow." She winced at the sound of her own voice. She glared down at her still cuffed hands, pausing a moment and closed her eyes. Slowly she began to change the way her chakra signature felt before it seemed like she was dying. A moment later she snapped them feeling slightly less irritated, she glared at him. "Well?"

Vox took deep breaths, calming himself down. She was clearly upset too, and reasonably so. This had gone pretty much as badly as it could without shit getting wrecked. "They were supposed to invite you to my office to talk. Invite being the key word. Not drag, not seal, just ask you to stop by when you had time." He sighed, rubbing his temples. He wasn't supposed to get angry like that, it was dangerous. "Some of them are probably losing their masks for this."

He turned to her, seeing that she was starting to calm down a bit. "This was supposed to be a friendly conversation. Would you like anything? Coffee? Tea?" He thought for a moment. "I never caught your name when we first met."

"They have a lousy way of inviting someone," Aka coughed a bit, wiping the blood before he can see it. She shook her head when he offered to get anything for her. "No, I'm fine, thanks though. What did you want see me about?" the woman frowned, his mind felt old, a lot older than he looked. He was odd, but that was unimportant at the moment. Aka shook her head, before coughing again, more blood drops come up. "Akakame Tonbo, Aka is fine, no honnorifics." Her voice sounded a little rough and scratchy.

"Aka, then. You can call me Jim if you want. Or Vox, everyone seems to prefer the nickname." He sat back, considering what he should say. "I suppose I was just curious. Why you were traveling with the Sokage, how you knew each other, and so on. Why he felt the need to go into isolation and train with you." The Keukage paused. "My god, I sound like a supervillain. Sorry, didn't mean to go on like that." He noticed the blood on her hand and sat bolt upright, starting to look angry again. He tried to calm it, but this wasn't his day. "What the hell did they do to you? Are you going to be alright?"

Aka shook her head weaving him off, holding her chest as she coughed a bit more. "No, I'll be fine, I'm already starting to heal. Damn your ninja can hit hard, think they got one of my ribs. My fault, me and my big mouth." She hissed again, clutching her side. "Your ninja sure are protective of you. Wouldn't even let me say no to this meeting." She smirked again before it turned to a face of pain. "Yup defiantly the ribs."

Vox frowned. He always felt helpless when a human was hurt. There was really nothing he could do in those cases. "I can call a medic for you. Do you remember which one hit you, or was it a combination?" Someone definitely was getting canned for this. He wished the ANBU weren't so secretive, it would be nice to publicly fire one of them and get the message across. This way, it might stay a secret. He'd have to issue a separate announcement. He leaned forward over the desk, concerned. "I'm going to have to have a serious talk if this is what they think a polite invitation is."

"I'll be fine, just give a little bit, Hide's done worse and that only took a night. As for the other things I find myself a bit hesitant to answer considering my kind isn't really well liked and the reception a got..." She trailed off leaving the implied statement. "I know Hide because I snuck into Sora looking for him, he was knowable on things that I needed to know and for the last question it goes back to my first statement. I'm sorry I'm being obtrusive but secrecy is what has kept me alive so far."

She trailed off again, at the moment she was still panicking wanting to be away she could feel the turmoil and anger in his head just under the surface. "I'm afraid I need to get going, I've wasted your time and mine it seems." She winced standing before having to sit down again, what she wouldn't give to be able to heal like Hide did.

Vox wondered what she meant by her kind, but didn't press the matter. She wouldn't reveal any more without a show of trust. It worried him when she was too injured to leave. He considered his options, reminding himself again to fire all of the ANBU who had brought her in. Finally, he decided to reveal something. "The Sokage trusts you, so that says something. I don't know him, but I know his reputation. He's shown good judgement thus far." Vox took out a large black knife, turning it over in his hands. "What you are about to see and hear is to be strictly between us. You mentioned 'your kind.' I think it's safe to say that whatever your kind is, they're a far sight more human than I am." He drew the knife across his palm and held his hand out. Almost immediately, the cut started to close itself, healing up from the edges inward. Some of the blood seeped back into the wound before it closed completely, leaving no scar. For a moment he regretted not showing her the Zipper Trick, but decided she'd had enough shocks for now.

Aka felt her heart thundering in her chest when he had pulled out the knife, she was in no shape to fight without pulling on her cloak, something she didn't want to do considering her chakra was still settling. The small red head nodded mutely wondering what he was about to show her, as fear slowly turned to curiosity; she was almost positive at this point that he wasn't going to kill her.

Aka stared a moment as he cut his hand and it healed almost instantly. She almost thought he was a Jinchuriki too, but Genbu didn't sense one or any chakra for that matter in him, but only regenerators and Hide healed that fast. "What are you?" 

He noticed her alarmed response at first, and realized that may have been a bad move. She had had a rough day, this was no time to pull a knife on her. But as the alarm turned to curiosity, he calmed down with her. She seemed to know he could be trusted, or at least that he didn't want a fight. The Keukage wiped his knife clean and sheathed it. "I'm what's called a Gen-Aug, short for Genetically Augmented. Man-made humanoid designed to be a living weapon. As far as I know, I'm the only one of my kind in the elemental nations." He leaned forward in his chair, steepling his fingers. "You mentioned 'your kind,' Aka. So, what are you?"

Aka just nodded, not understand much of what he was saying. Living weapon was a word she did understand. She had been traveling for some months and was being tutored by her bijuu over what it really meant to be what she was, and experiencing the true sigma that came with it. The red head sighed hearing the enviable question.

"Well that is something we both have in common, living weapons and all. I'm a jinchuriki, in the eyes of many I am not human anymore. I'm just a tool, an army slayer, something to be use then locked away. I'm sure you can understand why I try to keep to myself." Aka eyed him wearily unsure how he would hand find such a valuable tool falling to his lap, as he could no doubt see she really in no position to resist.

Vox nodded. He'd been briefed on the jinchuriki, they were a force to be reckoned with. "I see. I guess we had more in common than we thought." He thought for a moment. "You seem very controlled, especially given the circumstances. A lot calmer than you were when we first met. How'd you pull it off?" He listened intently, hoping it wasn't just some jinchuriki trick. The stresses of his job had been getting to him, and he was getting dangerous sometimes. If she held the secret to controlling himself, he had to know.

The young woman tilted her head, slightly when he asked how she kept so calm. The Keukage was an odd one. "Part of is my bijuu's chakra and I was forced to learn to swallow it till I could release the tension at a later time." She frowned a minute thinking before shrugging. "I mind walk myself and sort it our blow up there. It helps. Mostly I just force down and deal with it later. Why?" His mind was chaotic and filled with anger but he seemed to be very much in control, it didn't seem he needed any help in that area.

Mind walk? Could it be that she was a telepath? That would explain why she was reading his intentions so well. Still he didn't like making assumptions. "Mind telling me more about this mind walk?" Vox was considering the possibilities. If it worked this well for her, could it help him too? He was tired of being afraid of losing it. There had been other Gen-Augs who had learned to control their fury, maybe he could too. Vox considered for a moment before deciding. "I may want to try it, if possible." It was a risk, but it was one worth taking.

The room was dead silent a moment as the small woman stared at him before nodding and speaking again. "It when you delve into your mind and walk around. Everybody has a mindscape, its different for everyone, but the basics are the same. There are several key places that store memories, some good and some bad..." Aka frown rubbing her head, thinking she knew someone better at explaining this stuff than her.

The red head closed her eyes, as she felt the wills shift, handing control over to the Bijuu. The twenty two year olds, body suddenly hummed with energy, as she hair crackled a bit giving off energy her eyes seemed to glow a blue green as she looked at Vox. She smiled at the Keukage. "Hello Kuekage-san, I am the eight tails. My host as asked me to explain things is all. The mindscape is a representation of a mind of a person. There are certain places and things that represent certain key events in a person's; No one ever truly forgets things, they only loss it in the fog of their own minds. Mind walkers can access these places and see things that the normally couldn't recall or in Aka case often time blow off steam with out killing anyone.

"I'm sensing you want some very specific, what is it?" The old tortoise raised an eyebrow giving him the "I'm waiting look."

Vox was a bit taken aback when the bijuu spoke. He hadn't heard of one speaking through someone like that before. Most of his reports of the bijuu taking over had involved huge amounts of destruction. Usually then the jinchuriki wasn't in a fit state to say anything more than bestial roars, but it seemed that this bijuu was more reasonable. Calm and polite, even. It was odd to say the least. He thought carefully before responding. Polite though it seemed now, he didn't know how much he could trust the creature inside her. Still, Aka seemed reasonable and she showed it a great deal of trust letting it take control like this.

"You can see that I have some anger problems myself." He gestured at the shattered chair. "That was just the tip of the iceberg. It can get much, much worse if I don't remain in control at all times. Do you think a mindwalk could help, or at least give me some measure of control over it?"

Genbu nodded thoughtfully, "I and Aka felt the storm in your head. Your temper could rival my brother's on a good day and that quiet something. I don't know if it would help or not but it shouldn't hurt along as we are careful. Do not fret, Aka will be the one to walk your mind. I will stay in hers. I must say though I am not impressed with how your ANBU acted toward my host, it is lucky that she has separated my chakra from my will. If I had had my way I would have ribbed their arms off and placed them under an unbreakable genjutsu." The tortoise was cut off as the red head pull back control.

"That's enough, I can handle myself just fine." Aka turned back to Vox, her eyes had returned to dark green and her hair fell back to rest. "Sorry she is a bit like a mother hen. Yes, you are now sush. Sorry... So I heard something about my walking your mind with you...I can do that now if you would like?" The red head stood still wincing a bit but she looked much better than she did entering the office.

"I'm glad too. I wouldn't have wanted this to escalate into war." he said to the bijuu. He didn't like threats, especially when he wasn't sure he could stop them. It was a relief when Aka took over again. She was less violent than the creature inside her. Aka he could reason with, but he wasn't so sure how long the bijuu would stay reasonable if left out.

"If you're up to it, that would be great." Vox hit the intercom button. "Hold my appointments until further notice, something's come up." He shut off the intercom and turned back to the young woman. "So, how is this done?" A thought struck him. "Could this set me off?"

"No it won't set you off. Like Eight tails told you I use it to vent. Though your mind may be a bit story when we get there, you are going to have to calm yourself. OK, now hold still." Her small hands rapidly went though the hand signs before reached out and touched his forehead. "Spiritual Art: Third Eye Mind Union!" Aka tensed herself focusing on taking them to the meeting point where their minds met. She had learned her lesson from last time.

thisismylinedonotjugeme

Aka woke up on her back, dressed as she had when she faced her inner self, staring up a dark clouded sky, before pushing herself up. The meeting point was like the outskirts of a city meeting a jungle. Aka looked around finding Genbu sitting off to the side in the pool that repented their shared chakra except it was half full, only her own was there. The small red head looked around a minute before spotting an older man. "Keukaga-san?" She knelt down offering him a hand up still watching around. Aka suddenly frowned realizing that she wasn't going to be able to hide any of her personal scars that covered her; it seemed her true self had changed after the matters at the falls.

Vox nodded, holding still like she told him. He'd had experience with telepaths before, but what they were describing was beyond anything a gen-aug telepath could do. They were more like sledgehammers, overriding or frying minds. This was delicate work, probably some very advanced ninjutsu. She touched his head, and he woke up.

Vox felt different here. Looking at his hands, he could see why. He must have looked a hundred years old. He perched on a burnt-out car near the border between city and jungle, a cane clutched in his right hand. He heard a voice and looked up. Aka was there, looking somewhat the worse for wear than he had seen her last. Slowly, the old man set his feet on the ground and stood up, leaning heavily on his cane. Looking around, he could see that his mind wasn't a pleasant place. He had imagined this often, the burnt-out cities after his homeland was destroyed. He never expected he'd see it like this. "No need for formalities, Aka." He made his way towards her, moving more slowly than he was used to. "Are you all right? You look hurt."

"I'm fine they aren't physical scars, just...emotional ones, mental ones. You have some too. These bodies represent our true selves. Hide for a while was a twelve year-old..." She stared and scrutinized him, "You seem to be very old. Never have I seen someone older than they were." 

Aka looked around at the median, taking in all the oddness and the smoke and the ruins. "Is this what your world is like?" The sky overhead cracked with lighting. "Keu-Vox, perhaps you should quell the storm first before we do anything, and there is something I want to show you, but first..." She ducked a bit seeing one of the bolts strike out hitting building.

Mental scars, that was interesting. Vox was surprised there was anything of him left. "Not older than I am. This is right." He coughed. It was a strange thing, feeling his age all of a sudden. He didn't like it very much. "I turned 103 last month."

He looked to the sky, not moving as the lightning struck. Even if he felt like moving around a lot, they were sheltered by the ruins. They should be fine with storms. Other things, he made no guarantees. "It's probably how my homeland is now." He started to walk, slowly at first. His legs were stiffer than they'd ever been. "Three years ago, we had our last war. We destroyed ourselves. You might have felt it. A gust of wind, lights in the western sky. This is how I imagine it." The Keukage stumbled for a moment before catching himself. "Right, calm the storm. Of course. How do I do that again?"