3 Preparing for the Mission

In Ionia, Mother Nature is very much a sentient and powerful force. Depending on how somebody treats the beasts and fauna, Mother Nature will respond in kind.

If somebody were to save an injured wolf cub, Nature may send wolves to save their lives in the future, or sprout a couple of apples within their house.

On the other hand, if you were to kill innocent animals for sport, Nature would also pay that in kind. You could be hunted by all sorts of apex predators; a poisonous mushroom may sprout where you step and your house may collapse in on you.

The Kinkou Order is a group of Ninja that protect the balance of Ionia. They ensure that no faction gets too powerful and invades the spirit world, and they ensure that the spirit world doesn't encroach upon the physical.

As the local peacemakers, the Kinkou Order receive a certain level of love and respect from Mother Nature. Generally, even hostile beasts won't interrupt a member's work and herbs will appear in front of injured members.

As Kal and Akali are both members of the Kinkou Order, and have been active members for many years, Mother Nature has a certain level of bias towards them.

So, as they slept with each other atop a branch, only a small drop away from certain death. The branches slowly coiled around the two Ninja.

And only a few hours after they had fallen asleep, they had a nice, cozy bedroom to sleep in.

Their 'bed' stood in the middle of the room with a small wooden protrusion on either side, acting as nightstands. The room was fairly spacious and a small gap on the opposite side of the room from the bed acted as a door.

Kal was the first to wake. In fact, it would be quite odd if he wasn't.

Akali had some of the worst sleeping habits possible.

Somehow, she ended up completely upside down from how she had gone to sleep. Kal had woken up to one of Akali's feet on his pillow.

He quickly swatted it away, and in response, one of her legs kicked the air and landed on his chest.

Kal had to quickly catch it in order to avoid getting winded.

'How is she more dangerous asleep than awake.' He grumbled internally.

He got up from the bed, making sure to stealthily move Akali's leg from his chest as to avoid waking her. He took another look down at Akali.

It was difficult to understand how the two of them got to this point.

Ever since Kal had joined the Kinkou Order after the Noxian Invasion, Akali had essentially been his rival in all Ninja-like practices.

There was very few new Ninja from every generation, so the two were practically inseparable. After all, other than each other, there was no one else in their age bracket.

However, as they got older, training consumed more and more of their lives.

Kids were allowed to get away with being weak, but teens needed to be strong enough to survive. And so, they were trained; day in and day out.

Whenever they got the chance, they would spar. Not only to test their strengths, but also to share even the smallest bit of conversation after the duel.

After reaching 17, their training was officially complete. And although they were hardly experienced in the matter, they could be considered full-fledged members of the Kinkou Order.

And now, a year later, the both of them were 18. Fully-fledged adults that were robbed of their adolescence.

Of course, this meant they were stronger and fiercer than almost any adversary. However, it also left them completely inexperienced when it came to romance.

Sleeping in the same 'bed' like this was by far the closest either had gotten to a relationship.

And although Kal knew they weren't dating or anything like that, he couldn't rid his mind of the possibilities of the future and he had no doubt Akali's mind would be full of the same.

Kal rid his mind of these distractions. There was a mission to complete after all, and the sun had fallen.

He quickly wrote a small message to Akali on a parchment and left it next on the 'bedside table' that Mother Nature provided and left the tree, dashing towards the Noxian camp.

Perhaps it was better to wait for Akali to wake up and scout together. However, both of them needed a break from each other.

Avoidance is a Ninja's greatest skill after all.

And so, arrived at the largest Noxian camp in all of Ionia.

During the Noxian invasion, where Kayn and Kal were forced onto the battlefield, the Noxians were able to seize a small chunk of the west coast from the Ionians.

It was a truly miniscule amount of territory, won through the use of every deplorable war crime imaginable.

Thankfully, this territory's value dropped the moment Noxians took it.

Mother Nature was not very thrilled with how Noxians had torn the environment asunder on their quest for domination over Ionia. And therefore, every house that made up every town had been weaponized by Nature.

Should any Noxian try to relax and have a good night's sleep, they would wake up to one of Mother Nature's many organic traps.

Even now, their massive camps lie in the least forested areas possible. Their war with the human populace of Ionia may have ended, but their war against Mother Nature had only just begun.

Regardless, Kal arrived atop a mountain neighboring the Noxian camp. Although it could be described as 'Neighboring', the distance between this particular mountain and the camp were almost 4kms apart.

Of course, it took one of the Kinkou's numerous techniques and a whole lot of energy to pull this level of scouting off.

But thankfully, due to this technique, and a couple of hours of concentration, Kal was able to roughly understand the guard's patrol's and plan the optimal route to infiltrate.

"Do you have any idea how long I had to search to find you?" A voice came from behind him.

Coincidentally, the same moment that Kal decided it was time to infiltrate, Akali creeped out from the darkness behind him.

"A long time, I hope. Otherwise, I'd be a pretty shit ninja." Kal remarked with a grin.

"Yeah, a pretty long time." She huffed. "Well, get anything done while I was aimlessly running around?"

"Just about everything." Kal spoke as he dashed towards the Noxian camp.

"...annoying bastard." Akali muttered under her breath as he chased after him. She didn't particularly enjoy being left in the dark, especially after having to run around trying to find him for an hour or so.

(A.N. I wasn't entirely sure about exploring their 'feelings' in legit the 3rd chapter, but I feel like putting their romantic experience at the forefront would explain how they treat each other at this point in the story, and should explain how they act in the coming chapters.)