A promise made between two friends.

(*Kozue watches Shion perform her talent.  At least, her eyes follow the woman's hands, but she doesn't really process what's happening -- her mind is distant, now, off battling the Ichibi in the desert.  She drags her gaze away from Kikue's wounds, up to Kaiho, and studies his face for a long while.

Her mouth is tight, pulled into a thin line as the tension visibly grows inside her.*)
Kozue thinks: I won't make you suffer.
(* Once more, he has a front row seat for witnessing the prowess of a Sunagakure medic. Even when the wounds were gruesome, it was always cool to see one work. If nothing else, it made him confident in the fact that should he sustain an injury in the midst of battle, he'd always have them to bring him back up again.

But that amazement fades in place of something else wants he looks up. He catches Kozue staring at him, and when she doesn't shy away, he takes on a brief look of confusion. He takes notice of the tension, but for the life of him, he can't decipher the reason behind it.

(Lucius, Kaiho)*)
Lucius, Kaiho thinks: What's going on in your head..?
(*Kozue stares at Kaiho for a few moments longer, before sharply turning on her heel.  She dodges around Ryuji, then strides away from the room with an odd purpose to her step.*)
(*Lucius, Kaiho moved to exit the room, "I'm gonna go talk to Kozue real quick. I'll be back."*)
Lucius, Kaiho says: Yo.
Lucius, Kaiho asks: You alright?
Kozue says: Yes.  Of course I'm alright.
Lucius, Kaiho says: Just making sure.  You seemed really tense in there.
Lucius, Kaiho says: The demon attack has a lot of people seeming more on edge than usual.
Kozue says: It's... that thing was horrific, and the Ichibi is stronger.
Lucius, Kaiho says: Yeah.  Demons are just as bad as everyone mad them out to be.  It just makes the samurai seem even more amazing.
(*Lucius, Kaiho falls silent as he looks into the fire, hugging his cloak a little closer to him. He really needed to invest in another shirt.

".. Y'know, it's kinda funny. As strong as that thing was, it didn't scare me all that bad."

He looks to Kozue as he continued.

"There's always that fear you feel in a fight, knowing that it could be your last. I'm used to that, it's always there... But when I looked at that demon, I didn't feel that fear you get when facing something you know that was way out of your league. When I looked at it, I just thought 'you're nothing compared to the Ichibi'."

As he speaks the name of the beast, a wind swept through the area. He wasn't sure if it was the Shukaku letting him know he was aware someone had said its title or mother nature just messing with him. Either way, he draws closer to the fire afterwards.

".. It helped me fight against it. I'm sure it will when I face it again. It'll probably backfire when we end up going against that monster afterwards, but who knows."*)
Lucius, Kaiho says: I'd say you should try it, but I don't think you need to.  You were fighting it better than I could.
(*Kozue listens to Kaiho as he speaks, staring into the fire as her mind races with the implications of their conversation.  It seemed out of place, to her, as it always did, for children their age to be discussing this kind of topic, but she presses on: they were shinobi, after all.

"It made me realize just how fragile we are."

She sits down, drawing her knees closer to her as the fire fights off the freezing desert night.

"And how important it will be to contain the Ichibi."*)
(* "Fragile."

The words doesn't sit well with him. It described humans perfectly when comparing them to beast such as the demon and Bijuu. When faced against the former, shinobi had maimed and left on deaths door. To him, it was nothing short of a miracle that nobody had died that night.

It really made thinking of the latter harder. It'd be a lot stronger and a lot more dangerous.

"Something like that could cause a lot of damage if it got out. It'd be like what happened to Suna all over again."

He looks to Kozue and as he does, their conversation came to mind.

".. No matter what happens, no matter how either of us might change afterwards, we'll support one another. I don't know how, but we'll make sure the other keeps their head on straight."

(Lucius, Kaiho)*)
(*Kozue won't meet Kaiho's eyes, anymore, once he says those words. She just stares at the fire, her face contorting just the tiniest bit to reveal a certain sadness in her gaze.

"The Ichibi won't hurt Suna ever again."

Now, finally, she looks up, offering a weak and very fake smile.

"Thanks to us, right?"*)
(* For better or for worse, he recognizes that the smile she displayed was fake. As young as he is, he knows her well enough to be able to tell the difference. Her eyes didn't light up like they usually would and her body language spoke lengths about how she truly felt.

He recognized it and yet, he said nothing concerning it. Instead, he smiled back, putting on one just as fake as hers.

"Thanks to us."

The burden both of them were forced to carry was heavy. He prayed their strength - their will to see Sunagakure reborn would be enough.

(Lucius, Kaiho)*)