What Is Love?

Smiling wider, he nods a little. He wanted nothing more than to simply stand there with Hikato; to gaze into her eyes, hold her tight, and never let go. Of course, this was extremely unrealistic, as they were technically still on the run... "I'm glad. I'm so glad, Hikato... Thank you for being in Konoha that day. I'd love to walk into you anytime." His eyes smiling, he grins at her. He wasn't really good with words, so he had no idea how to thank her. So, he simply bends forward and kisses her again.

Smiling at her, he laughs a little. "To think... Someone like me could have met someone like you... And for us to fall in love..." After holding Hikato even tighter for a moment and resting his forehead against hers, he lets go of her and takes a step back, holding her hands gently in his own. Laughing again, his grin grows. "I love you so much..."

Hikato looked at Ebirai, with a small smile, "Someone like me?" She asked him curtly, then winked. "honestly, we have all faults I included." She said, with a bright smile. She held his hand in her's, just standing there near him seemed to making her smile with genuine joy. Her green eyes glittered, and she shook her head slightly, "I love you too Ebirai." She said lightly, then arched an eyebrow, "But, I think we should move out of this tree. You notice we've been standing on this branch the whole time, in the middle of a forest?" She asked playfully.

"Not that I don't like the scenery, and the noises of just nature." A smooth smile pulled across her face now, as she looked at the ground. Then she blushed, "And I forget where we were going..." She said looking embarrassed. This was embarrassing, she couldn't believe she forgot so fast... But admitting his feelings like that, had... Swept her off her feet.

Ebirai returns her smile. Hearing Hikato actually say 'I love you too' brought him so much joy he thought his heart would explode. Though, her words cause him to look down and nod. Wow. That was kinda weird... He had almost managed to forget that they were in a tree the whole time. "Um... Yeah... We should probably get going..."

Noting she was embarrassed, Ebirai takes off his gauntlet and places his hand gently on the side of her face. "It's alright, Hikato. I'm a bit surprised I still remember. We were going to a village. But uh... I don't know which one." Pointing in the direction they were going, he grins at her. "It was that way."

Hikato looked toward where Ebirai pointed. "Hehehe...Yeah, that way." She agreed, her green eyes glittered, and a grin resided on her face. Her heart raced quickly, as if she never felt this way before. Love was a new emotion to her and if she could feel somethng so... so wonderful, which had been so out of reach just hours before she would be happy. As long as she had Ebirai by her side she would by happy.

She reached her own hand forward for a moment grasping his in her own. She holds his hand, and then smiles up at him. "Ebirai..." She murmures, and then pulls herself toward him. She leaned upward, placing her free hand against his cheek, and kissed him in return. She pulled back after a moment and winked at him, staring into his eyes. No one had ever seemed more beautiful to her before.

Ebirai smiles softly at Hikato as she pulls away from their kiss. It was an amazing sensation... When they kissed he felt as though the rest of the world didn't even exist, that it was just Hikato, him, and their love. He wasn't sure of much, anymore... But he didn't need anything besides her. In a world full of people he didn't see fit to protect, he had actually found someone worth dying for. He hadn't known her for long, but her happiness meant his happiness. As long as he lived, he wouldn't let anyone hurt Hikato again.

Lost in those wonderful eyes, Ebirai's smile grows. He notices that something felt... different. Not emotionally, but physically... A little nagging feeling he could barely notice... But it wasn't important, so he ignores it and continues smiling at Hikato. There was no doubt in his mind that nothing in the entire world would ever be as important as Hikato's beautiful smile. Blushing slightly, he realizes that they were still on a tree branch, and he squeezes her hand a little. "Ehehehe... We should get going, shouldn't we?"

If Hikato were to look into his eyes just right, she might notice a small band of purple forming around the pupils of his eyes.

Hikato looked down for a moment, at the branch, staring at the smooth dark wood. She flickered her gaze back up to Ebirai's eyes, and her's grew wide, instead of the pure red she was used to, there was a band of purple around the pupil. She wondered how, or where that came from. The purple made her look curious, "Ebirai, I never noticed purple in your eyes before..." She said, with a curious look on her face. Had it always been there? She hoped not, because she hadn't noticed it till now.

Her green eyes narrowed, but then she looked around them. Of course standing on the tree would only work for so long. She smiled at this thought, and then held his hand tightly in her own. Never before had someone made her feel so safe, and never before had she had something worth killing for. But now she had two things! Her goal and Ebirai, but Ebirai came before her goal. She wanted the perfect world but Ebirai came before that because she wanted him at her side.

"Eh... What? My eyes?" Wishing he had a mirror, Ebirai reaches up and touches the side of his face next to his eyes and looks at the ground below. "Are you sure, Hikato?" He'd always had red eyes, as long as he could remember. Ever since... Wait... A long time ago, before he'd killed anyone... Ebirai had had deep blue eyes as a child... But, ever since he'd begun to worship Jashin, his eyes were a violent red... If they were starting to turn purple, that must mean that they were going back to blue.

Which in turn meant that he may eventually be able to actually die for Hikato, after all... Of course, he'd much rather live with her. But, the more he comes to think about it, the better it seems. It would actually be a good thing once he wasn't immortal... That would be a bit awkward, anyway. He would much rather age with Hikato than live forever. The kinjutsu would probably last another week or two, a month at most. He would have to start taking better care of himself, though... No more getting impaled...

Looking up, he grins at Hikato, squeezes her hand again, and looks into her eyes. "It's nothing- Don't worry about it, Hikato. Are you ready to go?"

Hikato looked at Ebirai as he said it was nothing. "Eh, yeah, I'm sure." She said, with a smile on her face. Then she glanced toward the ground in thought herself, and then up at Ebirai, "Yeah we should get moving." She agreed with a warm smile on her face. She looked a tad miffed about his eyes having purple in them, but if he said he was alright then she was fine with it. She glanced toward the sky for a moment, and then caught at what point the sun was in the sky. It was mid-afternoon.

"Let's go!" She says now brightly, grinning. Shenow let's go of Ebirai's hand and jumps to another tree, knowing he'd follow her regardless. So she moved on silently, peering around them as she moved. Ebirai was something of value to her, and she refused to ever lose him. She would fight anyone that dared to take away Ebirai from her. Maybe this was just something that came from her bloodline...

Her clan once, had been a strong clan. Their symobls, were a raven and a tiger. Trained in the art of healing were all the wind users, and the earth users trained in combat. Her clan had remained among themselves, but one thing they were always told love was a waekness. Hikato scoffed at that very thought, if it was a weakness then she'd allow herself to be weak.

Ebirai appears next to Hikato and matches her pace again. Nodding, he grins at her. He loved the way the sun shone off her beautiful, silky red hair... Shaking himself, he looks ahead of him. Wouldn't do to be staring at Hikato- He'd hit another branch. He would just have to wait until they got to the village.

Still smiling, he looks around. He was in an extremely good mood, but that didn't mean that there weren't any tracker nin after them, anymore... In fact, he hadn't seen that crazy bomb guy or his skinny friend with the spears in a while... Wonder what happened to them? Maybe they'd finally given up and gone home to their families. It'd been... five years, now? Nah, it couldn't be. Too round of a number; had to be four or something...

Well, he didn't see anyone. Looking back ahead, he begins to see a few roofs in the distance, causing his smile to grow even more. Stomach rumbling, he realized he'd only had an apple today, and Ebirai had a substantial appetite. Something about his clan gave them a really high metabolism, making them able to eat a lot and never gain a pound. He'd never asked about it when he was still allowed in the Cloud, but he assumed the extra energy was just converted into electricity. Point was, Ebirai was suddenly really hungry...

Feeling around his waist, he was pleased to find he'd remembered his wallet. Before he joined akatsuki, Ebirai made a living killing off the biggest and baddest for huge rewards, so he had quite a fortune saved up... He'd buy Hikato a nice big dinner up here!

Hikato looks ahead of her now. The golden ray of the sunlight catching her eyes making them glitter like gems. She moves a hand through her blood red hair for a moment before glancing to Ebirai. She grins at him, her eyes twinkle with an inner light and then she points to the village within their sight now. The village was small but looked very efficient and well running. Hikato watches from the branch above for a moment then peers at Ebirai.

"I come here a lot to think and what not, the people here are kind." She says with a warm note to her voice then she takes his hand in her and peers toward his face. When she peers up at his face she smiles, and then turns her head back to the village. "You know, you mean a lot to me Ebirai." Her voice is gentle as she watches the town below.

Then she jumps of the branch slipping her hand free of his and landing near the village. She glances upward at Ebirai and waits for him to come.

Ebirai grins. "You've been here a lot?" Great! That means she probably had a favorite restaurant here! Ebirai smiles softly at her and squeezes her hand gently. "You mean a lot to me, too."

Ash she jumps down, Ebirai appears in front of her, grinning broadly. "Hey, are you hungry, Hikato?"