The demon lord glared at the one who had the audacity to attempt to block his passage into the village. He still wasn't sure if he'd actually stoop to asking any of the humans where he was, exactly, but this human had caused him to decide he'd enter the village, nonetheless. What his business was there was none of the other's concern.

Not even bothering to narrow his eyes once more, he stepped forward, towards that wooden arch that marked the entrance to the village.

The ninja leaped in front of him, knife still in hand. "I asked you a question. Who are you and what is your business here in this village?"

"Move, human," was the only answer. The shinobi didn't budge. Nor did his knife.

Sesshomaru's patience was quickly running thin. He stepped forward again; this time, the ninja responded by placing the kunai at his throat. "Answer the question!" Big mistake. The demon lord soon found a grin playing across his face; all those who knew the demon lord knew what that meant. When Sesshomaru smiled, someone was about to either die or be severely, severely mutilated.

A shining yellow thread started to emerge from the claws of his left hand, and whipped out at the ninja who continued to defy him. The other leaped back in shock--was this some kind of jutsu? But...he had never even seen the man make a hand sign! One hand traveled to his headband, lifting it to reveal the eye it concealed. It was startlingly different from the other one; the color was bright red, as opposed to the chocolate-brown hue of his right, and there seemed to be three teardrop-shaped marks inside the eye itself.

However, the man did not have time to do much else before he found a clawed hand rake across his chest and he fell backwards to the ground. The ninja was fortunate for Sesshomaru's disinterest in this fight--he was not doused with poison nor did the claws penetrate more than the very top layer of his skin. The wound he suffered was no deeper than your average papercut. It seemed Sesshomaru's patience had not quite yet run out. Without another word, or even a glance in his direction, the demon lord continued forward, into the village.

"No! Stop--"

He was cut off by a picture suddenly being thrust in his face. A picture of a young girl in a pink dress, grinning broadly as she stood on her front lawn. The grin was only matched (and even surpassed, very likely) by the man holding it. "My daughter, Elysia," he explained proudly, his smile spread nearly from ear to ear, "She's sooo darling in that dress don't you think?"

Eh? Now this...was certainly new. The ninja wasn't quite sure what to expect next. The first man in the duo had attacked him, and then this one...showed him a picture of his daughter?

"Uhm, yes. Of course," he answered somewhat hesitantly. He didn't expect, of course, the exuberant response from the possibly-too-proud father.

The grin stretched even wider, testing the limits set for a human mouth. Maes Hughes was practically glowing with delight.

"ISN'T she?! I just knew you'd like it--everyone does! They say she takes after me. She turned four recently, you know." He adjusted his glasses slightly, and then continued his gushing. "I have lots more where that came from--do you want to see?"

The ninja laughed slightly, mostly out of politeness, and rubbed at the back. "Oh, ah...that's very nice. And no, I think I'll pass on that, thank you."

God, this man was a nut. A harmless nut, though, so he supposed it would do no harm to let him into the village. If he was with that other psycho, maybe he could keep him in line with that slightly disturbing cheerfulness.

"Anyway, I'm Kakashi Hatake," he said casually, extending a hand to be shaken after putting away the kunai and readjusting his headband to cover up his left eye once more.

"Maes Hughes--nice to meet you."

The young jounin looked away for a moment, and then added, "Sorry for jumping you like that earlier, but ever since the incident with Orochimaru and the Third Hokage...we need to be extra careful. The Fifth is settling in, I suppose, but there's still a lot of work to be done..."

The lieutenant colonel tilted his head to the side briefly, not quite understanding. "Umm. Two questions: What's a hokage? And...um, you mentioned the Third and then the Fifth, but what happened to the Fourth?"

Kakashi had just seemed confused at the first part of Hughes's question, but as the man asked the second part, his face became successively more grim.

"Kage..." he began gravely, "Is the name given to the highest ranking ninja in a hidden village like your own. Because our village is in the Land of Fire, the Kage's prefix here is 'ho'."

The brown eye broke his gaze with the lieutenant colonel and fell to the ground as he came to answering the second part of the question. "The Fourth Hokage...died in service of the village twelve years ago. The Third, who'd retired, then retook his post, until he too died recently..." He soon realized how depressing he was sounding, and valiantly tried to pull his face into a smile. What was harder was that he had to force it to show in his eyes, since his mouth and part of his nose was covered by his blue mask. What came out was a very awkward, forced smile that really didn't reach his lone uncovered eye.

The lieutenant colonel's grin faded a little at the jounin's failed attempt at a smile, feeling slightly guilty about upsetting him, and simply remarked "Ah, I see." His face became slightly more serious, and added, "I'm sorry."

"Uhh, no. Don't worry. I mean, the Third will obviously be sorely missed, but I'm sure Tsunade will do a great job as our Hokage--she's already done a great deal to get this village back on its feet..."

Some of Hughes's grin resumed, and he nodded. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Kakashi."

"Likewise."