The Protector [Private]

At her words of encouragement at his ability to protect her, he smiled a bit. It always made him feel a bit better knowing that she felt he was doing a great job of protecting her. He nodded, also ignoring the fact that she was denied the right to leave her Kage building, since he could always take out the trash assigned to prevent her from leaving since he was said to be probably the strongest shinobi in the village and followed after her. "Lead the way Lady Kurai" he said as he followed his two childhood friends.

She nodded and thanked Shia as the wolf passed her the vial she had set aside before, taking a few corridors and staircases she hadn't led him down previously. It actually led to her personal home where she spent very little time but it looked almost excessively clean nonetheless. She led him into the living room and gestured for him to sit while she disappeared for a while. She returned a few minutes afterwards with 2 more vials and a herb of sorts. This was a sight nobody had been able to see before; The Yukikage crafting her medicine. She ground the herb into granules and mixed it in with the 2 vials before adding the third into a glass. "With...With any luck, I've reached a breakthrough. Or at least, the start of one," She murmured as she extended the glass to him and motioned for him to drink.

He was lead to Kurai's personal home, though why it was her personal one he didn't know since she spent little time there. He stopped in his tracks and watched as she started to get to work on the medicine. He stared at her as she extended the glass to him and he raised an eyebrow at it, looking a little hesitant to drink it. He finally decided to drink it, knowing he had nothing to lose and drunk the entire glass. He waited for any kind of reaction and could find it a little easier to breathe. "I feel something. I find it easier to breathe" he said with a bit of surprise in his voice.

"Really?" Her entire face lit up in surprise with a wide smile spreading across her lips. "Is that all? Do you feel anything else?" Now it was clear why she looked so bad. She'd been up at all hours putting her blood, sweat and tears into making this solution for Kimimaro in the hope of at least easing his pain. "You look a bit better. Doesn't he look better, Shia?"

"Like a million, slightly pale Yen,"

"Your sarcasm is not needed nor is it appreciated,"

Kimimaro thought about it for a moment. What else did he feel? He didn't really feel very different aside from the much easier breathing. He moved his right arm around for a bit, seeing that it was less painful for him to move his arm. "My limbs are easier to move without feeling all that pain I used to feel. I still feel pain but it's not as much" he said to her as he smiled slightly at her in thanks. It wasn't a permanent fix but it would do for now. To be honest, he kind of liked Shia's sarcasm, kept things interesting. He made sure to show appreciation to Shia by petting her head softly.

"Still, this is fantastic!" She rose and made a mental note of the ingredients, smiling and pecking her childhood friend on the forehead. "Now, if I can just find out what's causing the improvements compared to the failed solutions I'd administered before..."

Shia growled softly in protest, although wagging her tail when Kimimaro pet her. It was something of a vice for her. "Kurai, you've been running yourself ragged with this. He's feeling a bit better for now, I think that's your cue to just take it easy,"

Kimimaro looked at Kurai, then to Shia and he had to agree with the wolf. Kurai seemed to be in a bit of bad shape from the looks of things and it was best if she take a break. After all, if she didn't, she was gonna die before he did and he only had a few years left. He couldn't and wouldn't let her die before he did. That would just be unacceptable. "Take a break Kurai. By taking this new medicine for now, my life expectancy must have been expanded by a few more years then it would have been had I not taken this stuff" he said with an agreeing nod of his head. They said he did have a few years left before he died and surely with this medicine, he would have a few more years added to it.

"I don't mind giving up a few more nights of my life in exchange for years and years of yours," In her delusion, she was so focused on helping him that she wasn't aware of the magnitude of damage that this level of dedication could do her. She was hellbent on finding a cure.

"If you really must continue, rest for today and then continue tomorrow. You can't help Kimimaro if you're fainting on your feet,"

"I guess I could maybe...Take a VERY short break," She nodded slowly and took a seat, urging Kimimaro to join her.

Just by hearing she was going to take a break, Kimimaro's posture relaxed instantly, making it obvious to Kurai that he was worried about her, just as Shia was worried about her. He had a right to, how could he protect her properly if she wasn't taking care of herself? Sacrificing your own life to ensure the continued living of another person is fine, but not when that person was willing to die. He felt she didn't need to go through life-threatening hard work just to cure him. There wasn't that much of a rush, after all. It's not like he would die tomorrow.

"I just find it hard to imagine that I'd have to continue my work without you around. I mean I've known you since we were both children," She ran a hand through her hair with a deep frown. "I plan on working as hard as I can to prevent that, and it's not because I enjoy having a personal bodyguard before you even START," She chuckled dryly and looked at Shia who's eyes crinkled in what would've been a smile judging by the frantic wagging of the shewolfs tail. Kurai looked better when she laughed, less tired.

Kimimaro stared at her and smiled a bit at her. He lead her over to a chair and sat her down. He then sat across from her and took a few deep breathes. He thought over how he was going to do this before steeling himself and staring at her with a bit of his iron-clad determination. "Kurai, you don't need to push yourself so hard to save me. I already owe you, your mother, Shia and the whole Niwa Clan a debt I can only repay with my life. I am finally going to tell you what my life was like, up until the point where I met your mother" he said to her in a serious tone of voice and he had a reason to be serious. His past before meeting Kurai's mother was something he never bothered to share until now. He always said it was one of those things that he'd rather just forget about but secretly knew that his past before that very moment was what helped mold him, shape him.

"I'm listening, Kimimaro," She nodded and clasped her hands in front of her, leaning forward to rest her chin on her knucles. It was a matter she'd been curious about since her mother had even brought him home as a small boy but had never pressed the matter out of curiousity. She knew it must've been unpleasant otherwise he wouldn't be so grave about finally admitting it all out in the open. "You can trust me, as always,"

Kimimaro let out a few deep breathes and looked out the window, staring into a flowerbed that miraculously managed to survive the cold of Snow Country and wasn't covered in snow. Flowers were one of his greatest interests. They helped him in life, to ease his pains as he looked at them. "When I was growing up, I was not a child, never a child. I was a soldier, a born soldier in the Kaguya Clan. You see, the Kaguya's were war mongers and barbarians, they served in the last Shinobi War but they could never live in peaceful times so they planned a coup on Mist. My father and the rest of the Kaguya's treated me like a soldier until one day, I discovered I had the Shikotsumyaku. Even at a young age, my power was vastly growing, up to the point where my own father grew paranoid and fearful of my growth and locked me in a caged room in a cave below the clan compound. He rarely fed me and constantly treated me like a weapon, beat into me harsh lessons that I twisted to form morals like honor and caring for life that I have. I was treated very harshly, no sunlight, rarely food and water and no love, I didn't even know who my mother was. My father feared my power and as such, he didn't let me out on the night of the coup, even though all I wanted was to be useful, to be wielded like a weapon, to have a purpose. The Kaguya's all died except for me. I managed to escape my cave and wandered around the different towns as a street urchin. I met someone, a feminine looking boy with a large man with a Zanbatou, who's name was Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist who was a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. I could see in that boy's eyes he suffered like I had, and he told me that we had the same eyes, eyes that had seen pain and torment, eyes belonging to a soul that had no reason to exist. I asked them if they were Mist shinobi and they told me no, which also was the same day the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū, or the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, planned a failed coup, so I guess they were telling the truth. I wandered aimlessly, in the cold world all alone like there was no on around, like a body without a use, a soul without a purpose, a spirit with no reason for living, just barely surviving the years there. One day, I had met your mother. She took me in, she saved me, she gave me a purpose. This is why I am with you to this day because with you, I have a purpose, I have a reason to live, to exist and I feel if you and Shia were to die before me, I would lose my purpose and once again, have no reason to exist" he explained as his memories came flooding back, years of torment, anguish, pain, roughing it out and many years of loneliness finally catching up with him. Kurai could see by the emotions on his face that his entire reason for living was to ensure she and Shia lived. It was obvious that the reason Kimimaro protected the two with such determination and strong force of mind because they were his meaning to live, his purpose, his usefulness. It's as if he would dread his purpose, his usefulness coming to an end because without them, he would have no reason for his power, his skills.

Kurai listened and started to tear up at hearing about how he was treated. How anyone could consider a child as a weapon or a tool was beyond her. He said it shaped him into who he was now but having to endure so much so young was undoubtedly why it was so rare to see him smile. She was hoping that could be changed. She had never been the sole purpose of anyones existance; the Niwa clan had always been set on equality no matter which branch a particular member came from. "Well...In that case," She finally spoke as she rose, smiling down at him. "Kimimaro, you are not allowed to pass on until I have reached my breakthrough. That is an order," She was twisting her words somewhat, but the meaning was clear; She wanted Kimimaro to continue protecting herself and Shia as to fulfill his purpose so long as he let her help him. Lastly, she stopped down and hugged the white haired man tightly. "Thank you,"

Kimimaro looked at her as she ordered him to live until she managed to cure him and his body stiffened up into a stance as he nodded his head silently to obey what she ordered him to. Since he considered himself her weapon, he had to obey her. He stiffened up on contact with her body in the hug but relaxed into it later. He smiled slightly down at her and nodded his head. "Now you know why I am so determined to make sure you and Shia live longer then I, because without you two, I have no purpose in life. Without you two, I can't live, I can't exist" he said to her as for the first time since Kurai had ever seen Kimimaro, a passionate fire came into the seafoam green eyes of the older, taller, honorable ninja in front of her. He truly believed he wasn't alive if he didn't have any purpose. That was why whenever Kurai ordered him to do anything, he seemed content because his very meaning of life was to be useful to someone.

"Well I suppose we'll have to just struggle along together. That doesn't sound so bad, now does it?" She chuckled and released him gradually, straightened up. "Now, feel free to make yourself at home. I think I'm in need of a a hot shower. Pehaps that'll bring me to my senses a little more," She shrugged and smiled, giving him permission as her guest to remain here for as long as he wished as she headed towards the stairs.

"You sure you don't need your bodyguards assistance in there too?!" Shia chided in, gladly making sure she wasn't forgotten.

Kurai, used to all sorts of crude jokes involving more people than just Kimimaro from the wolf, waved it off with a laugh. "Bite me!"

Kimimaro nodded his head and sat down in a chair to pet Shia silently as he looked outside the house, noticing it had a training ground. He hadn't trained in a few days and he was going to make sure his skills haven't rusted a bit. However, he had to wait for Kurai to get out since she usually got upset with him if he did any training that was unsupervised. After all, she didn't want him to strain himself. He'd been wanting to practice the Suiton Jutsu he had gotten in the scroll and keep up his training in the use of the Shikotsumyaku.

Shia pushed her head up into Kimimaro's hand with another wag of her tail, loving the attention that was rarely found since people were often frightened of a gigantic wolf wandering through the village. "Don't even think about it, Kurai would kill you so the disease couldn't do it first," She chuckled, looking up at him from beneath his hand. "You're something else though. I haven't seen determination like yours since...Well, her and her mother. You're a Niwa in spirit, if not by blood,"

Kimimaro looked down at her and smiled slightly at her when she said he was a Niwa in spirit. He always considered the Niwa's to be more of his family then his own Clan did. The Kaguya's didn't even see him as a human being, just a soldier, a tool. The Niwa's treated him like he was one of them and he will always feel grateful for that. "How am I supposed to keep my skills where they are if I don't train? Lady Kurai has said that even in my condition, I am about A-Class and the strongest ninja in the village but it isn't enough. I need to be stronger. I need to be so strong even these Akatsuki trash would never attempt to go after Kurai" he said as he looked down at her with a small frown on his face.

"You can wait until she's finished bathing at least, can't you?" The shewolf tilted her head with an impatient huff. "We both worry about you, you know. Kurai probably shouldn't to the extent that she does," It was a good point. Showing favouritism to villagers could get her in trouble. "I'm sure the Akatsuki won't come running in the next 10 minutes, Kimimaro, there's nothing wrong with just talking until she's done,"

Kimimaro's frown got bigger and shook his head. "It's not enough. I must protect you both. I won't allow any trash to harm either of you" he said as he thought of all the things he could do to increase his chances of winning against any foe he could go up against. He had protected Kurai for so long and since these S-Class Missing-nin were coming after, he needed to be on a level above all of them. He needed to be so strong that even his illness wouldn't get in his way of destroying anyone that would dare to harm Kurai.