Starring:
Date: October 24, 2014
Summary:
Three Genin from Kirigakure begin to hunt for plants, some that could be turned into a anti-coagulant, while other plants looked for accelerate tissue regeneration, if only subtly.
"A poisonous leaf, a healing sap"
Land of Water
A letter was set on display at the Maki residence, but to be more exact it was fastened to the window of Hayase's bedroom with a layer of silken spider webbing. The read « I need your eyes. Meet me past the docks, along the coast and over the stream. You aren't scared of a few animals, are you? I'll be waiting :) »
Another letter is left on display on a certain window of the Kaguya manor's window, Yuriko's window which was almost commonly covered in a thin layer of silken fibers. The letter read « First spiders now herbs, meet me in the woods across the stream past the black sands along the coast. We'll be waiting. »
The young Okumo along with his brood were waiting along the tree line, not too far from the stream that segmented the land. Naoya had left for the area soon after the letter was left, and was resting with his back against the trunk of the tree while his legs stretch out, crossed along a branch. The brood on the other hand was already spread out through the area, seemingly hunting for something beyond their normal patrols.
Hayase had snatched the letter and then taken a good long time to get ready, grossly overpreparing for the occassion. While she's not set for a week living it rough, a small backpack she wears is bulging with supplies. She sets out with the letter crumpled in her fist and a slight smile. It doesn't take her long to get there at her swift pace. "Hello, Naoya-kun," she says when she gets there, looking ready to face the world. She goes over to the Okumo and glances around. "Is Yuriko-chan coming?"
Crossing over that stream, Yuriko narrows her gaze as s he glances back and forth, searching for the one that placed the webby letter on her window. It isn't long before she sees both Hayase. She easily scowls as she approaches. "You." she points at the boy. "You're getting into the bad habit of summoning me whenever you please. Did it ever occur to you that I might not be home? That I could be training or doing D ranked missions around the village? I do have stuff to do!" Yuriko growls. "And you always insist on sticking it on a window or something. Why can't you just slip it under a door? Huh?"
Taking a breath, Naoya was just about to answer Hayase but then begins to chuckle when he could feel Yuriko's glare almost as soon as he heard her voice. "Kaguya-hime summoning? I think that's a jutsu I need to learn." A smirk fixes onto his face as he looking down, glancing between the pair, focusing on Yuriko at first.
"You could.. and that's why we are all over right now. If you came in an hour or four, we would know, we could be able to guide you to the rest of us. Anyways.. I had a 'feeling' you were home." The smirk on his lips grew slightly as he winks towards her briefly but then he stand up and hops from his perch, soon landing near Hayase.
Lifting a hand, the young Okumo pats the pump pack on the girl's back. "I didn't mean for us to be out here for a month.. I'm not planning to start to new burrow this close yet anyways, would need to be further out to make it worth it." Glancing between the two girls, he tilts his head to the side and asks, "I did say we're looking for plants in those letters, right? I forgot what all I wrote this time."
Hayase would give Yuriko a beaming smile. It seems it's a three man team for their alligator wrestling excursion. Only it's not alligator wrestling. When Naoya mentions they're looking for plants, Hayase takes out the rumpled letter and gives it a quick once over. "Nope, no mention of plants." It sounded more like she was going to be the lookout for giant earth worms. She shrugs and puts the note away. Though she smirks at Naoya. "It never hurts to be overprepared," she says. "Are you two ready?"
Her scowl darkens as Yuriko curls her hands at her sides. "You're so inconsiderate. I wouldn't ever use you or Hayase-chan just because it's convenient for me, but that's how you treat us?" She growls, glancing at the other girl, who apparently is prepared for an attack on the country and more. After a long moment, the smaller girl sighs and cradles the side of her forehead against her open hand. "Next time… I won't come at all. You can't just summon people whenever. It would be nice if you actually made plans ahead of time."
Glancing over to Hayase, the boy nods lightly once before bowing his head faintly. "Sorry about that then. I got leads about a few odd cross breeds out here. Some should act as good poisons, some should help in with my tonics. Tricky sometimes pulling them apart."
Turning his attention to Yuriko, he closes his eyes and sighs faintly. "I didn't think of this ahead of time, anyways.. aren't you the one that said I study too much and should act more?" Stepping away from Hayase, Naoya begins to make his way over to Yuriko, stopping a foot from her. "What kind of plans do you hope for then? I've open ears to hear."
Yuriko probably got a more accurate note than Hayase—the Kaguya girl didn't show up like she was about to start the Chuunin Exams survival round. Hayase sighs and takes off her backpack rummaging around in it while Yuriko and Naoya talk about what they have in mind for this trip, or don't. Then after a couple minutes she says, "I knew you'd be here too Yuriko-chan. So…I brought some food." And she takes out dango. Very simple, very sweet, ("I made them myself") and she starts passing them out to her friends. In fact a peek in her backpack shows it's compromised mostly of drinks and food. Maybe not so prepared after all.
Naoya just manages to make Yuriko sigh again. "And you don't have to take me so literal, and yet you do. Almost every time even." She shakes her snowy head and lower her hand, aquamarine eyes glancing up to narrow at the Okumo. "If there's something you want to practice or research but you need extra help, just say so ahead of time. We can always clear an afternoon to do whatever. Just don't summon me when it's just convenient for you!" Yuriko scowls as she glances at Hayase, blinking with sudden surprise as dango is suddenly produced. Just what was she prepared for anyways?
Taking the offered sweets, for a moment she's torn between anger and delight, in the end she exhales a long breath. "Thanks Hayase-chan…" she murmurs. "You're more considerate than this idiot here."
Continue to look at Yuriko, the expression on his face wasn't amusement but confusion. Raising a hand, he begins to scratch his head before watching the pair. "We waited. We were watching and only set up the letter when we saw you were just resting. We followed the other rules too, just so you know."
When he's handed something, he blinks again, looking down at the treats from Hayase a bit confused. "I thought you said you didn't cook.. Did you make these yourself?" Looking down at them and bring them up to his nose, sniffing at the dango carefully before giving it a light nibble, as if checking if it was poisonous.
Hayase knows she shouldn't grin at the compliment at Naoya's expense…but she does. "You're welcome Yuriko-chan," she says. She looks over to Naoya. "Well, I didn't cook," she says matter of factly. "Now I do. I just didn't get much opportunity to make sweet things. Not bad, right? But I just make snacks." She's eating her food with more gusto than either of her companions. She eyes Naoya and says, "Yuriko-chan is right, Naoya-kun. You should've been a bit clearer on the whole thing. And with more forewarning. Remember next time, 'kay?" Her tone is lightly scolding.
Yuriko doesn't hesitate to eat the first dumpling whole, chewing it happily with one last narrowed look at Naoya. After a moment, she swallows, already in a better mood it seems. "Alright. So you're wanting to look for some plants and stuff, right? In the burrow nearby?" She takes another bite, chewing.
"Blegh.. Both of you now? Okay.. okay.. Geeze. I give you two notice as much as I give myself. I'll start just setting up meetings then from now on. Will scout and peek if I'm impatient." Closing his eyes as he shrugs mildly again, taking the first of the series of dango balls into his mouth, and chews it carefully.
Moving over to a tree, he sits down under it, using one hand to fish through his pouches. It would be on the third pouch that he finds what he wanted, pulling out a green and brown book. Flipping through a few pages, he stops on a page with a leaf rather than a full plant. The coloring was hand colored in and so were the notes about it. "Try not to get cut by this one, the edges are serrated and hardened.
Hayase's stance may have something to do with the way she's squinting at Naoya. Or more specifically squinting at how he's eating her food as if it were poison. Her cooking can't be /that/ bad. She moves over to look at the picture. "Hmm that's a good one," she murmurs. "How much do you require?" Once he gave her a few details she's wander off to search for it, still enjoying her dango.
Yuriko remains standing as she eats, pale brow quirking down at the small book that's produced. Taking a few steps, the smaller girl leans down to take a closer look at the plant in question, studying it. "Hm. I guess that shouldn't be too hard to find." She glances up at Hayase as she asks about how much he needed, though quirks a pale brow when she begins wandering off.
"Leaves are nice, so a few but what I want is to try and uproot the plant and try to shift where it is. I want to grow them closer to my burrow." Standing up, Naoya stands up and bites lightly at the next sphere and tugs it from the stick and into his mouth. Watching Hayase, he glances between her and then Yuriko before stepping forward still looking a bit confused on how he had messed things up.
Hayase finishes up her dango, and brushes her hands lightly. As Naoya describes what he wants, Hayase scratches her head. "You say burrow," she says. "What do you mean by that? A place where your spiders live or something?" Apparently she isn't fully versed on Okumo customs. She looks over to Yuriko and gives a kind of 'it can't be helped, shrug.'
Yuriko quirks a pale brow at Naoya. Replant near his burrow… which meant that he was planning on using it for something special in the future, after he studies it further. "You know that some plants can only thrive in certain environments, right? You're sure this one will live well where you are?" she asks, somewhat skeptical. "Though I don't really know much about plants." Yuriko chomps down on the last dango piece as she turns to follow the others, through her bright eyes are looking around, searching for any sign of the plant.
Using the book, Naoya pats it against his chest a few times before swallowing, trying to make sure he didn't choke. "Burrow.. A place.. where I live. I live with the brood, the brood live around where I sleep and within me. Being underground has it's advantages, having my own has it's own advantages too ya know."
Turning to Yuriko, he shakes his head. "I don't know. That's why I want samples as well as to test and see if I can culture them close to the burrow. I'm going to to need a lot more than just a few leaves, or cuts of root and excretion of the stem." Amber eyes soon grow dull and distant before starting to walk forward, tilting his head to one side with a light smile. "Try to watch your hands, the toxin in the leaves will numb your finger, you might not notice how bad the cuts are until you become light headed."
"Hm." Yuriko ponders to herself, brow quirking with the warning. No wonder he wanted more bodies on this search. Less of a chance he'll be the one effected by the toxin, if any. With the last of her dango finish, she discards the stick as she continues to glance around. "I don't think this should be too difficult to find. Unless it's a rare kind of foliage I suppose…" Her arms reach up to cross behind her head. "So what do your brood see?"
As Naoya describes the dangers of the plants, she does recall that she's heard of them before. Even read about them before. She grimaces a bit and adjusts the gloves on her hands. "So you live with your brood in a burrow," she says. "Kind of sounds like you stay in a big dirt hole in the dark, heh." Yuriko's home is made of bones. Naoya has a burrow. "My friends certainly have some interesting houses," she saays with a smirk.
"In so many.. No, that's about accurate. We're not nesters. Taree-san lives like her brood does, under water. Many nesters live in dens, the walls made of silk that would likely break a sword trying to cut them." Naoya shrugs lightly and slips the book away again and breaths in deeply, holding his breath and opening his eyes wide.
"They aren't common.. not quite rare. It's a crossbreed that doesn't crop up too often." Looking around wide eyed, he turns his head towards the left and says, "Hayase-san.. move to the left, then turn slightly sunwards." Turning around a few more times, Naoya hums faintly but then says, "Yuriko-san? Stop. Right right turn, around the brush but there's a hunting trap near this one.. been there over a day or two."
Hayase looks increudlous at the idea of a silk house. There's so many things unlikely with that, she doesn't know quite what to say; and she thought her home was unique. "I'll have to come around and see sometime," she sas, inviting herself over in the near future. She seems ready to go forward with the search for this plant. When he tells her where to move she'd step out and turn, crossing her arms. "What's this all about?"
"Not common, but not rare…" Yuriko mutters lightly, exhaling a longer breath of a sigh. "You're just trying to make it difficult, aren't you…" When Naoya tells her to stop, the small girl comes to an abrupt stop, pausing a longer moment as she glances around, from one side to the other. She was fully prepared to attack, though she isn't given the chance. Turning her snowy head, she spots the brush. "Hunting trap?"
"This isn't a untouched area. There are snares but also metal foot traps around, they seem shallow for snapping ankles for low running prey.. nothing too large." Extending an arm he points towards the ground, near the bush she was looking at before walking in a different direction, looking for another possible sample. "The one at the bush was a metal one, long chain too.."
Chuckling softly even after the warning he gave, he was still light hearted. "Interested in walking into a den of a few hundred spiders.. underground..? Here I thought you'd be scared to do that." Kneeling down, Naoya gently touches a plant's leaves before pulling out a kunai and cutting one of the leaves off to compare it to some of his notes. "Not everything in here is lethal.. just so you know."
Hayase rubs her ankle with one foot, as Naoya mentions the traps snapping up animals. Hayase rolls her eyes and nods in agreement with Yuriko. "This does seem rather complicated," she says. She's looking around the ground for signs of traps now. Wary but not nervous. Still, she doesn't move around for the time being. She looks over to Naoya, and says, "Of course I'd like to see it. I think I'm getting used to those spiders of yours, heh."
Yurino narrows her bright eyes, but doesn't argue with the explanation. Turning around carefully, she focuses on the brush in question, or more specifically for the hunter's snare. The ivory kunai is produced from her sleeve and with almost a casual throw, it's aimed for the trap, making the metal jaw instantly clamp shut. "There." Yuriko murmurs. "Let me know if any others are spotted. In the meantime…" she starts searching again, seeming to purposely ignore the invitation that was exchanged.
Nodding his head lightly a few times, Naoya stabs his kunai into the ground, carefully uprooting the plant. Humming lightly as he works, one of the spiders close to Yuriko circles the plant close to her, making sure she kept at bay from it without care. On the other hand, a pair of spiders circle the plant close to Hayase, studying it, seemingly debating if it was the right plant or not.
"There's nothing special at my burrow. The next time we're close to the stream, I'll show you two my burrow.. you're not allergic to moss, are you?" Once the plat he had was uprooted, the leaves were wrapped with a thin layer of silken webs but also the soil was captured similarly. "You two manage to track the plants down, were they the right ones after all?"
Hayase squats down to examine the plant closely, and then nods. She carefully uproots it with a kunai. From the way she handles it, it's clear it's not the first dangerous plants she's handled before. She wraps it in strips of bandages, and would walk gingerly over the ground to give it to Naoya. She grins over to Yuriko when Naoya mentions showing the both of them the burrow. "Look forward to it," she says, to both of them. Then she sets out again, cautiously, avoiding a trap to get to another possible candidate.
"Sounds cramped to me." Yuriko mumbles idly to herself. She moves in circles as she searches, carefully sweeping back and forth for the pattern of leaves that were drawn in the book. Not an easy task it seems, as she has yet to find anything similar. The smaller girl glances up to watch Hayase as the other girl begins carefully wrapping the plant that had already been unearthed.
Smiling when Hayase brings the plant, carefully wrapped to him. "Good, good. One of each of the two types I wanted to see how they would grow.. Now just need samples to use actively." Leaning back he shows the other plant to Hayase, "This is another type that's in this area. It should cause clotting of wounds rapidly when mixed properly."
Leaning to one side, Naoya calls out "Yuriko-san, we're just collecting samples now. Leaves and maybe a branch? Section of root but not the whole plant." Standing up, he sets the two plans down by a bush before tensing, rapidly producing a lot of silk, wrapping it to shield the plants from view or things trying to draw close to eat them.
Hayase spots a trap and tosses a stone at it. It triggers and shuts with a snap. She looks at the two. "I've been studying plants actually," she says. "It's useful to know about such things. Kirigakure is full of herbs…it's a natural poison trap, and has many healing herbs…oh, here's one." She goes to one of the plants, but after a brief glance shakes her head. It looked similar, but it was a slightly different color and shape.
Hearing her name called out, Yuriko turns her head and glances over her shoulder, blinking once before promptly narrowing her gaze. "You said you were just looking for one type of plant. I can't just cut off a piece of every single plant that's out here." Her eyes flit to Hayase just as she finds a bit of some useful foliage. "See? You'll get plenty of plants… Stop fretting." Yuriko scoffs faintly.
"Lots of herbs true, but these ones are ones that I want for a special relation with them." Smiling a bit, he begins looks around but then draws over to Yuriko. Raising a hand to his neck and scratches at it lightly. "Almost every plant can be used for healing or a poison, some both at once. One of these two, the poison, will cause someone to lose partial feeling where it's applied. When I lessen the dosage, it can be used to numb areas mildly from healing wounds or growth scars and the like.." Grumbling lightly, Naoya begins to walk away after explaining, but then he begins to talk again, though not loudly ad before. "Planning to eat some of it myself, testing how I can twist my body with it. That's something neither of you should try.. I mean it."
Hayase stops chatting, and starts to look around for the right kind of plant. She's having a bit of fun doing this actually. Although she doesn't want to search for every kind of plant, as Yuriko says. She does laugh when Naoya tells them what he's going to do. "Don't worry," she says. "I don't tend to eat poison." Now she thinks of it, she'd better wash her hands before she goes handling dango with the same hand she's been clipping dangerous herbs, careful handling or not.
"That doesn't mean I want to cut off a sample of every single piece of plant." Yuriko reiterates again, grumping to herself before kneeling down and plopping on her backside. "Being vague and generalizing only makes the task take longer." Her fingers begin to start digging into the grass, using a finger to make a moat around a small plant that's just starting to bud.
'Hmm..' Turning towards Yuriko, the young Okumo sighs and closes his eyes. "Please take samples of the plant I asked you to look for. None of the other ones. Samples of everything would take.. weeks, over a day with just the next few acres." Standing up fully, he moves a hand to a pouch, pucking out a cloth bag and shakes it free. "Neither of you asked for something in return yet.. why not? What do I owe you two?"
"Are you okay Yuriko-chan?" Hayase asks of the Kaguya. Naoya should've given them more specifics, but she seems a bit vehement nevertheless. When Naoya asks what they want in return, Hayase eyes him. "So if I ask for something, you'll give it to me?" she asks. A smile creeps onto her face at the thought. Naoya may have gotten himself into a risky promise. She's still keeping an eye out for that plant, but most of her attention is on him now.
"Yeah, just not really successful…" Yuriko answers Hayase, thoughtful. It's Naoya though that makes her digging finger pause. After a thoughtful moment, she shifts her weight and stands on her hands and knees, more intent to find the plant as she starts moving forward. Eventually half of her disappears between a tree bush, her backside sticking out curiously. "You shouldn't have said that." Yuriko says with a louder tone. "Who knows what's going through her noggin now."
Turning towards Hayase, he nods his head lightly a few times in agreement. "If it's in reason. If you ask for something important or costly then I'll ask more from ya." Naoya shrugs his shoulder and slips a few fingers into his pocket.
Glancing over his shoulder, he glances at Yuriko and pats at his hip. "Want my book to compare them back and more better than just from memory of the new plant?" Though when Yuriko continues to talk from the brush, his eyes turn Hayase again, though his gaze was now more questioning, studying the girl.
Hayase glances over at Yuriko's tush sticking out from among the leaves. She slaps a hand to her mouth, stifling laughter into a snort. "You'll do better soon," she says encouragingly. Her eyes gleam when she looks back to Naoya, her lips curving into a smile. "There is one thing I'd like. Next time you guys go on a trip, like to the swamp, take me with you. That's the favor I'll ask." She nods, and then spots something. She goes over and says, "Here's the right one!" She extracts it carefully and takes it over to Naoya.
Searching for a moment or so, eventually Yuriko pulls out from the bush, making a dissatisfied face to herself before glancing over her shoulder at the others. "Well that wasn't as bad as it could be. We were already planning on that, so I think you wasted a favor Hayase-chan." Yuriko smirks, barely turning her snowy head to glance at Naoya. "I do this willingly. I don't need to be given favors or whatever. Besides, I don't think I'm donig a very good job anyways." And just like that, Hayase finds the plant in question.
Looking to Hayase, the young Okumo looks over the plan and nods a few times. "That's the right one but.. We don't want to remove any more after this one. With these I'll pollinate them by hand.. If I get them to produce seeds and last a season? Will be good." Taking the plant, he moves a pair of fingers over to a leaf and breaks it of, using his nail before handing it out to Hayase.
"Why don't you help Yuriko a bit. I don't think she's used to this kind of hide and seek. She might just need better things to compare it to, she might of found it and passed it." Shifting the plant in his care he begins to move it over to where the other were placed. Speaking softer, he tries to speak without chuckle, trying to not let Yuriko hear, "Do you think she's going to be stuck in the bush like that? How would we tell her mom that 'a bush ate her'?"
Hayase glances over at Yuriko who is standing up. "I think Yuriko-chan is good at both plant gathering and bush extraction. I've just had better luck." But she'd go over to give her a couple quick tips. "I've been thinking about using a poisoned weapon," she says. "So I've been reading up on native plants." She grimaces and adds, "I'm not sure. Well…we'll see." She sounds a little reluctant. Or maybe she was just reluctant to give such a piece of information away. She glances over at her spar partner.
Yuriko shifts her weight back to plop on her backside, glancing up at Hayase when she nears. Hearing though her thoughts on a making a poison weapon, the corner of her lips tugs with a small smirk. "I think that it's doesn't hurt to use whatever is at your disposal. And if a poisoned weapon would give you an edge, then what's the harm of looking into it? Though… if you do do that, then you might want to give yourself small doses of the poison. Get your body immune to it so that if you accidentally poison yourself, it won't kill you."
Kneeling down with the three plants, Naoya brings to bind them together and place them into a satchel. With the plants secure he begins to pace over towards the girls. "We've been out here for a few hours now. Why don't we head back into the village soon? I'll walk you two tot he entrance but then I'll be going a different way, back to my burrow. I'll need to process some of these." Moving his right hand to his side, the young Okumo pats at a hip pouch. "I'll be stopping by the medical center after that, need to see if these ointments will help much.. unless you two want me testing them on you." Even though he posed the idea, the tone was teasing as a light smirk spread across his lips.
Hayase stops when Yuriko suggests using the poison on herself, to gain a partial immunity. She stares at the girl, and then listens to Naoya's plans. She says, "Actually…that's a really good idea, Yuriko-chan. It didn't even occur to me." And it wasn't anywhere in that textbook. She shakes her head. "I must speak to Akane-san," she murmurs. She starts packing up her stuff to return to the village. But one may notice she kept a few of the leaves for herself, which she now puts away with the utmost care.
Yuriko smiles lightly and shrugs her shoulders to herself. "It wasn't my idea. Okumo Sei-kun did it a while back, made himself sick on purpose to build up an immunity. Though I think he thought of it like a trial or something." She shrugs again.
Her bright eyes glance up at Naoya when he concludes the search, her chin dipping in a small nod before she pushes herself to her feet again. The offer to test the ointments? She arches a pale brow at that. At whatever that could possibly mean. "I… guess?" Yuriko answers, confused some. It doesn't linger though as she pushes it from mind, small hands absently brushing at the front of her yukata. "Alright then. I guess I'm going to the marketplace for some food. Ramen sounds good about now."
Making his way to them, he pauses beside Hayase and pats a hand against her back. "If you're going to do that, warn me a while before than and I'll work on anti-toxins for you. You are just you remember, you aren't a brood who can sample doses in small parts rapidly nor can you heal rapidly." A light smile appears on his lips as he tilts to one side, trying to see Hayase's face to see if she agreed.
A mild glare sets into his eyes, but he could notice it and the young Okumo closes his eyes. "He rushed himself and dove in before testing the pond. I'm not making the same mistake. I doubt Sei-san studied counter balances and relied on his own system alone to adjust.. Don't do that." Turning his attention towards Yuriko, he nods lightly a few times but the smile from before slowly begins to spread again when Yuriko agrees.
"This next batch should be a little stronger than before, but I'll try to find a way to make it last longer than having you go too numb.. Kaiji-hime." The last words the boy says were some what stressed in his usual teasing manner.
"Okumo Sei did it, hm," Hayase says, rubbing her chin. Okumo surely are the poison experts of the shinobi world, nevermind puppeteers or even Tenjin. Her eyes light up at the sound of ramen, but she sighs and says, "I should get these back to a secure place.." She tucks the leaves away. When Naoya suggests a counter toxin, Hayase shrugs. "Actually, I can have a pretty good constitution to withstand poisons when I want to," she says, and smirks. Whatever that means. "But yeah, we'll try out your little neurotoxins." She'd set off then.
