Starring:
Rise, Nori
Date: December 31, 2012
Summary:
It is the eve of the New Year and a crazy old codger is doom-saying. The Land of Fire will come to an end…and of course, someone gets mad and a fight ensues. Rise and Nori have to fix the issue, but not before Rise cracks Nori's ribs.
"Doom-DOOOOOM-Doom"
Toshiba Forest Rocky Area
It is early morning on the last day of the old year. Soon, a new year will break ground, and it appears that the sunshine has broken through the snow
and winds and clouds for the first time in a few days. The rocky area in the forest is scattered with snowy patches. Some overhanging rocks even have icicles
drooping down.
Yamanaka Nori is standing on top one of the massive boulders, apparently surveying the land. A little ways in front of him is a crowd of villagers.
They are listening to one old crotchety man standing on a rock talking about how the end of the Land is coming tonight. As the new year approaches, one of
the crazies always comes out of the rock-work.
Rise rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand, knowing full well that act was futile as well as irritating. Even so, it was not one
that she could disregard without hearing her step fathers words echo from the back of her mind. She yawned, drowning out the dreary line of thought, then
rolled off of her tree perch and into a free fall for the earth. The shock resulting from the act puts her on full alert almost instantly…. but not quite
fast enough to keep from stumbing and even rolling upon touching down on the ground through the shrubs seperating the Rocky Area of Toshiba Forest from all
the rest.
As soon as she recovered a groan escapes her lips; only to be cut off by the sound of someone ranting about "the end" nearby. "… *sighs*… Did'n
think they have that problem too..," She murmured before going against her better judgement by taking the highground and investigating. She stops just short
of a neighboring boulder of Nori's own, but only belatedly notice his prescence while curling up her upperbody a little against the chill.
Rise
Everything from her almost ghostly pale skin and her heterochromatic eyes (Left eye: Blood Red, Right Eye: Forest Green) to her smooth black hair
streaked midnight blue naturally flows freely down a few inches past the shoulders and neutral expression being akin to someone often given limes and somehow
expected to turn them into a watermelon. Naturally, Rise finds a way anyhow. The greatest testament to this being the sight of scars born either, through
life and death struggles or an intense regime that has on more than one occasions nearly killed her, being ever present in some way or another. Although
blatant display of pride in the harsh lessons that resulted from her actions, most are barely visible so far, nor do there appear to be any marring her face.
Build wise, Rise retains a rapidly developing physique that is cutting down on some of her tenacious baby fat as well as revealing the blossoming of her
feminine curves all around.
Her eyes still hold some of the intensity from her previous life as a wanderer, but has begun to soften over time. At the same time, the majority of
her teeth were able to return to the natural characteristics of a normal person with the exception of her canines still being much sharper then others. A
strange, archaic, circular kanji branded into the pale skin of her backside (In width: stretching over her shoulder plates. In length: An below above and
below shoulder plates.).
As far as clothing is concerned for the exams, Rise keeps to the less restricting style of clothing in the form of an all black leotard with no
sleeves, black clothed forehead protector kept tight around her forehead, a blood red muffler covering most of the bottom portion of her face, black boots,
white fighters gauze wrapped all the way from her hand up to just below her elbows for both arms, and back pouch with all her ninja needs (however in shorter
supply then most other ninjas). She also has dawned her old winter camo jacket with a dark brown fur lining along the collar and hoody, thick, winter camo
pants, shin and arm guards, kunai/shuriken carrying case along her right thigh, and her father's trusted hunting knife strapped to the other. Because of her
general build, clothing, and sometimes even attitude, Rise is often mistaking for a young boy standing at 4'9 and weighing in at 120lbs; and if not for her
voice and the threat of a severe beating on most occasions most would continue to say that she is one. She also has rather worn down back back that is
typically either filled to the point of bursting.
Nori looks up as Rise stumbles onto her own look-out not too far from his own. He grins sheepishly and waves. The boy is wearing a set of rags over
his normal garb, what with it being wintery out. His head is topped in a sukegasa, or a wide-brimmed connical hat like Raiden (Raijin) would be depicted as
wearing. He studies her for a second before asking, "I don't suppose you are a member of the Uchiha police squad? I think I heard one of the villagers saying
they were going to get one of you guys." Whoops, did he mistake Rise for a boy…well, apparently she does look like one. He shrugs and then shakes his head,
"I'm just surprised no one has tried to hurt the crazy old bat.
No sooner had the words slipped out of his mouth, but another old codger starts yelling at the doom-sayer. Words are exchanged, some shoveing ensues,
and someone else lobs a rock. Nori erks, and looks over to Rise, "What should we do?"
Rise just barely begins to snicker over being regarded as a Uchiha before the "you guys" part sends her straight into a MURDER, DEATH, KILL state.
Luck, however, was on Nori's side today, because by the time she took the first step towards Nori with a hand hovering over her weapon pouch, shouts from
below distract her just long enough to calm down. Just a smidgen. Curious and subconsciously relunctant, Rise turns to observe the old codgers more intently;
only to sigh in exasperation within a few short moments.
"Let'em kill each other." Was she serious? The look in her eyes after turning to regard Nori once more certianly said so. The chuckling on the other
hand… "I'm not allowed to interfer anyhow, but your more than welcome to try yer hand at it if ya want. That is, if ya know a good binding jutsu or
somethin.. hmm.. other than that, just go get some help from yer higher ups boke (squirt)." She stated non-chalantly with a roll of her eyes.
Nori looks to have missed the death threat. Instead, he too is staring out at the small crowd. "Well, I can control one of them and make sure they
behave themselves, but I'm not sure how long I can do it for." He shrugs, "I guess I could try…but this is somewhat funny. Seriously, how often do you see
two old guys fighting eachother." He snerks and then looks over to Rise, "Speaking of which, why wouldn't you be allowed to intervene? You not one of those
Uchiha boys?" He is a little slow on the up-take.
Meanwhile, the two old men look like they are about ready to slap eachother. The crowd isn't doing anything other than cheering the two on, much like
a group of frat-boys.
"My name is Rise." While stating that simple sentence alone was extremely taxing for the young Shirokiri to say the least, so long as the meaning
behind the statement was understood then the effort was not vain. Although if the meaning behind the words was NOT understood then, and only then, does Rise
finally relaxes most ofher restraints by leaping onto Nori's boulder with a sickeningly sweet smile and try to embrace the boy. Upon success Nori will
quickly find it very, VERY difficult to breathe for the next few moments. He might also even hear a rib or two fracture under the pressure from the hug! But
more importantly then that, once the pressure is applied Rise would lean forward and whisper venemously into his ear, "I, am, a, Girl." in the yamanaka's ear
before releasing her hold.
On the off chance of failure, Rise would pout and deadpan the same statement before returning her attention to the crowd. "Besides all that, ya
betta do somethin bout this quick before things start to get outta hand ya know."
The Yamanaka boy is young and rather inexperienced. Let's be fair to the boy though, sometimes it is hard to tell! Still, the hug comes on
unexpectedly. He wasn't thinking he'd be attacked, let alone hugged so violently. Nori lets out a wheeze of breath. He'd even try to scream a bit, but
without an inrush of air, screaming is quite difficult. The force on his rib cage probably would cause them to crack. He isn't the strongest of shinobi. When
she releases him, Nori would gasp and let out a whimper, "OWWWW!" He even has a few tears streaming down, "I think you broke my ribs!" He looks like he can
barely move, for every little twitch he makes in trying to steady himself, he winces in pain. Every breath makes him grimace too, "Sorry that you're a girl!"
He decides to leave it at that before she kills him.
While the youngling licks his wounds, the two old guys are actually rolling around on the ground. They moved from slapping to grappling in the blink
of an eye. They also seem to be doing better than Nori.
Rise glared down at Nori from the corner of her eyes. "Quit'cha whinning 'nd all that roll'n around already. The more ya do it the worser itz gonna
get." She stated scathingly, then looked to sky thoughtfully for a few moments before turning fully about with a heavy stomp and yelled, "'nd whats wrong
with bein a girl!?!" And to think she was almost willing to forgive the poor Yamanaka! Her own concentration on glaring Nori to death (for the time being) is
broken by the sound of old bones rolling around in the earth.
"Tch, Goh-sensei won't like this.." She murmured to herself. "Oi, if yer done whinning come'n help me with this mess aight?", She added, then took
off towards the crowd without giving Nori even a moment to reply.
Nori grumbles unhappily, "I can't even move, let alone roll around." He gathers his composure and stops crying. "Nothing's wrong with you being a
girl. I have five sisters that are all girls." He yells in pain as he gets up to his feet again. He is about to say something else when she runs off. "Oh
come on…give me a moment here already." He frowns and then says to himself, "What is with this girl?" Slowly, he moves down the boulder he was on and heads
towards teh crowd. With every step, he whimpers a little. He looks, and sounds, like a dog that should be put down.
The two men are now covered in dirt. The doom-sayer is missing a few teeth, but Rise would be fairly certain that those were missing to begin with
and didn't get knocked out in a fight. The other man just looks like he's winning. He is on top and is slapping the doom-sayer in the face once, and then
twice, and then…
Just as the would be winner begins to drop his hand back down for a third strike, Rise grabs his wrist as well as wrapped her arm around his neck
and pulled him off of the other doom-sayer. No amount of struggling is enough to free the old man from her iron grip. Nor can he expect any help from the
crowd, because the moment even one fool hardy soul would try to get closer and glare laced killer intent — albeit weak by most shinobi standards — is
leveled upon them; freezing the strong and sending the weak fleeing as soon as their eyes meet. And for good measure the same look is given the downed doom
sayer before her focus returned to crowd.
"Yaw can disperse now cuz the show ova… ya hear me?", She stated icily more than asked as she looked everyone over without letting her strength
wane for even a moment.
Nori manages to get over to where the crowd is starting to disperse. Nori groans but calls out, "Like the female shinobi said…everyone go home. It
is cold enough out here anyway." He then looks to the old man that started the squabble with the doom-sayer. "You okay? You both look like, well…I feel."
He grimaces again. "What are two men of your age fighting for anyway?" The old man spits on the ground and states, "This guy is spewing nonsense and no one
else was stopping it." Nori sighs, "That is what the Uchiha police are for. Did you go grab them or send someone to do so?" The old man shakes his head no.
"Get out of here before I have them arrest you." Nori then looks over to the doom-sayer. "Eh, female shinobi…what should we do with this one? Drunk tank?"
Rise couldn't hold back the smile that blossomed as she watched Nori take charge despite the pain she put him through. It was strangely unnerving as
well… BUT at least the renewed struggles of her captive made a nice little distraction before Nori attention finally focued back on her. "Huh?.. Oh
*snorts* Sure, but chances are they'll probably outright just kick him out the village n'ewayz," Rise said nonchalantly and rolled her eyes. "Uhm, ya would'n
have any rope on ya would'ja? Cuz I don't wanna get hold up by the police just cuz this guy tried to accuse me of assualt or some other such nonsense just
for knocking him out." She added bluntly. And unfortunately for the doom-sayer, she was not joking about the last bit. Not in the least.
Nori is on task when he needs to be. The fact that Rise just cracked a rib or two doesn't mean the job at hand isn't important. He puts the pain
aside, as much as he can at any rate. "Kicking him out of the village, at least for today is not a bad idea at all female shinobi-san." He knows Rise's name,
but is apparently trying to make sure she knows that he knows that she's a she. The young Yamanka moves to grab a burlap sack from under the rags he wears to
keep him warm. "Actually, I do happen to have aiii." He grimaces. He had momentarily forgotten about the pain of his ribs. "Can you grab the rope from the
sack attached to my back? The bag is under the rags." He turns around to give her access.
Once she grabs the rope and ties him up, and Nori would make sure she places a rope in his mouth to shut him up too, they would walk to the gate.
Nori, for his part, would be very quiet on their way. He is doing his best to not cry more as each step hurts. He looks funny too, seeing as he is trying to
move with as little motion in his upper half.
Eventually they make their way to the gate and exit into the wilds of the Land of Fire, or at least the road away from the village.
Rise raised a brow and opened her mouth to ask something but quickly closed it and shook her head. If Nori intended to act like a idiot and skip
getting checked out then that was fine with her. Plus if it help keep her from wasting time with even more explinations then so be it! She still torments
Nori a little by taking her time with assisting him and 'accidently' nudging him in the process. On the otherhand, Rise does make up for it all by offering
to carry the doom-sayer before slinging him over her shoulder regardless of rather or not either of them protested.
Aside from all of that their journey would be one made in silence between the duo. Nori needed to keep from crying and Rise, well, she simply was
not all that comfortable talking to others to begin with. At least not without the intentions of either harming, berating, or awkwardly dissuading a person
from more sensitive topics. Like her teeth, or her bandages, and etc.. "How far did'ja wanna set'em anyhow?" She asked curiously once the trio are out of
sight from the village gates.
Its not very far from the village gates that the smell of some pretty good cooking is smelt. As the group keeps travelling, they'll notice a
mercenary camp near the village. Not like right outside the gates, but a fair clip away from it. Inside the camp, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves,
getting weapons ready, and even some training. A few of the mercenaries are even using jutsus in open sparring sessions against each other. While mercenary
companies arn't uncommon…There's only a few that can use jutsus. So, just what mercenary company is on Kona's doorstep?
Inside the camp is a young woman. She's sweating heavily as she practices with a pair of tonfas. She moves quickly and elegantly as she taps her
training partner in the ribs three times before jumping back. The larger man with the two headed axe grumbles a bit, and gets back into a ready stance. He
rushes in to attack, only to find the woman jumping over him. She waits for him to swing back at her before she kips back, and then back up again. She spins
a little, and jumps up, hitting the man in the jaw with her tonfa. Before the girl lands, she peppers his chest with yet another three strike combo…He
groans, collapsing to the ground…
Aimi has +finger'd you!
<Weather> The rain falls gently from the sky, the gentle pitter-patter of the drops scarcely audible. The sun is already shining, albeit dimly, and the
clouds appear to be dispersing.
Nori oddly enough has gate duty so often that the other shinobi on duty now would know him all too well. The boy simply gave a 'one minute' sign as
they walked through, and the guard on duty just nodded. He'll have to explain when they head back inside, but they'd give him that leeway. The reason Nori is
given guard duty so often is simply because he is a farmer's son. He knows most of the villagers going to and from the markets, which means he can fast-track
the signing-in/out process considerably, which just so happens to be the same reason he was just passed through without stopping.
To Rise, he would answer, "Not too far, but not too close either. I don't want to walk much farther without seeing the medics, but I also don't want
him bothering the villagers at the gate with his nonsense." And then he too would shut up again and keep walking in silence.
As the duo approaches the mercenary camp, Nori would stop and then look over to Rise. He would think through something for a moment before stating,
"Well, I guess we can leave him here. If he is stupid enough to preach to them, then they'll probably kill him instead of dragging him somewhere else, but
that is how nature deals with these things." The boy slowly breaths in and out. "I'm not sure who these people are, do you? I'm thinking though that the
higher ups must know about them, otherwise they wouldn't be here out in the open with the gates open."
Rise almost nodded in agreement with Nori, but a few doubts echoing from the back of her mind made her wary. A glance back down the way the came is
given, then the camp is given another once over before she resigned and let out an exasperated sigh. "I ain't got a clue about who these people are 'nd I
don't like the idea of living this guy to the wolves just like that… not that he doesn't deserve," She addmited, shrugging nonchalantly. "Look, I'll check
thingz out here first, but you should head back to the village leafer-kun. Stubborness and stupidity won't mix well here anyhow.", She stated and as if to
prove her point, Rise quickly and 'lightly' tapped one of Nori's injuried ribs. "Now go on." She stated, lingering only long enough for a few last parting
words from Nori (and if need be to deliver another demonstration) before walking onwards to the camp. Even with Konoha possibly watching over them and their
own considerable skills, no mercenary group would last long without at least having one person keeping an eye out for potential trouble. So, as soon as he or
she made themselves known Rise would step up to ask if she can enter the campgrounds.
Nori is about to protest heading back to the village when Rise prods his broken ribs. He immediately lets down some tears. Protest ended! The boy
doesn't say anything else, he merely turns and starts slowly walking away. Yup, a young boy just started crying in front of a band of mercenaries. This
should definitely back-fire on him later on. With that he's off.
Well, Rise wouldn't have to wait long before a heavy presence is felt around her. There would be some birds chripping. Wait, birds? In winter? That
makes little…sense. But after a minute or two, an elderly woman, a large man in combat armor, and a young woman with a pair of tonfas appears. The elderly
woman walks in front of the two, but its the large man who bellows loudly. "YOUNG ONE! THIS IS NOT A PLACE FOR A YOUNG WOMAN TO BE! THERE IS A MILITARY CAMP
AHEAD!", he yells out. The young woman next to him winces, and shakes her head a little bit. The elderly woman motions for the man to move his head down so
she can speak to him.
When the man lowers his head, the elder woman turns around, and pops him one with the palm of her hand to his jaw. He falls backwards heavily,
knocked out. The young woman in the group somehow has a boxing bell in her hands, and rings it. "Winner by KO. The commander…", the woman says.
The Commander and the woman walk up to Rise, watching her carefully, but not saying anything at the moment. Rise would notice that there's some
shadows up in the trees…
