Starring:
Odin, Airine, Kiyoshi, Kiji, Yuzuki
Date: June 21, 2014
Summary:
A mission was taken on to protect a man and secure his item. Things start off… different than planned.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Things Once Lost: First Thing To Find"
Land of Red Beans
Kirigakure has taken on a mission within the Land of Red Beans. It was sent in by a man owning the name Darui Kikai and all what he'd asked for was protection and item retrieval. There was a man who had stolen a family heirloom from him, an uncut blue gem — large but truly worthless and he wanted to get it back. The thief was actually the head of an orphanage outside of Kikai's village, but suspected by everyone in the town to be connected to the crime filled underworld. Indeed, when the gem was stolen, the man hadn't been alone in the act.
So he hired on Kirigakure shinobi both to ensure he was safe from any thugs the man might have around and paying extra for a guarantee that if the gem was found, that it would be procured and returned to him. In response, Kirigakure assigned the genin Shimizu Kiji and Omake Airine to this mission, appointing Niwa Yuzuki as the team leader. The choices were very likely to provide further experience in their roles, Moto Kiyoshi also having been assigned from the Mizukage's team as assured muscle.
With the team picked out, they were immediately deployed to the Land of Red Beans, a trip requiring two day's travel by speedy boat and a day and a half trek overland to make it both to the target country and the rendezvous point with Darui Kikai. 9:00 am, a shack with two wells at its front on the dirt path just two hours walk from his village. Of course, at this time and place, the rain was coming down in sheets, drenching all that sat beneath the clouds.
Exactly WHY Airine had been chosen for this mission was beyond her… And she didn't seem to be the happiest of the bunch. Sure, she loved the rain, loved the water, and certainly didn't mind getting all of it outside of Kirigakure… but she HATED being around other people. Particularly when it involved being on some sort of official mission.
Her displeasure showed, as she stood in the back, away from the rest of her group. She had been silent. She hadn't even bothered to use the three-stringed instrument strapped to her back for the entire two days or communicated with the rest of her group beyond a cross look or two… but at least she hadn't run away yet. Now she was standing in front of a run-down shack and perhaps regretting her decision to not disappear at her earliest convenience.
Kiyoshi was still smarting a little since his fight with Mushi. Okay, perhaps not a little, and more like a great, freaking deal. Even if his wounds were all patched up from the impromptu spar, the new replacement flesh still needed some breaking into. It is for that reason and two other that he trailed behind the rest of the team and collapsed wherever he stood whenever rest was possible. The opportunities for the latter were not plentiful due to his role as the muscle of the team. But, he would make do, as always.
The other reason two reasons were somewhat one and the same. He wanted to observe the others and get to know the two he did not know well at all through observation first before interacting with them beyond brief greetings and the occasional nod or headshake in answer to any inquiries. It is Airine and not Kiji that drew his eye the most during the trip. The girl was surly for some reason, and a danger to boot.
In any case, they arrive or at least were but couple hours walk from the meeting rendezvous point. 'Time to focus, Kiyo' The boy thought glumly as the rain assaulted his exposed head, and reminded him of that hair cut he should probably get…
Shimizu Kiji had spent the majority of the trip watching Kiyoshi. She could tell something was wrong. She had tried to pin him down and even offered to heal him at one point in the boat but for a reason she could not understand he just told her he was fine and refused her aid. Still, she watched him silently.
Airine also confused the girl. If she hadn't wanted to be on the mission she could have asked Meruin-dono and he probably would have allowed her to do soemthing else so why would hse be so sullen? It had taken Kiji only a short while to figure out she was similar to Sei in that neither really spoke. She tried to be kind to the girl but mostly she just got confused.
Yuzuki was new to Kiji as well and was observed closely, but silently. Thus through the travelling days Kiji kept within sight of Kiyoshi and watched those around her and reverted to silence herself, her eyes rarely changing from deep blue or grey in tone and when they did they were pearlescent, devoid of hue.
+ This was the first time Yuzuki had been appointed as the lead of a mission. The two day trip had been a fairly quiet one from her, most of the time sitting there with her unmarked book open, looking between the team members and writing down notes. Though if she was approached with a question should would do her best to answer it as simply and swiftly as possible in her meek voice. While and they had finally arrived at the location, she had provided the mission file to each member and instructed them to read up on it and possible threats she had lined out in section 4.8, paragraph three.
As they stood there, rain pouring on them, they had just finished the trek up to this location. The first thing she says is, "Make sure you hydrate." she says slowly her eyes moving across the area, her hand coming up to wipe a bit of the rain off of her glasses. She had memorized the meeting location and ever detail she could, "Form a secure lock down around our location, I want a full 360 security." she says looking between the three, "Make sure you mental map our your sector and do not overlap sectors with your teammate." she explains, "When we move forward, we will use formations Alpha and Echo, we will rotate every thirty minutes." she says nodding. Then she waited for the VIP to show up, her eyes moving across the area again looking for anything out of place, anything that may send a red flag up with her.
It's not too long before the door to the shack open, a man throwing a small pouch out onto the ground and freezing at the sight of the shinobi outside of the small building, blue eyes widening. A smile begins to find its way onto his face only to be arrested and turned into a fearful expression, the short man's black hair quickly ducking back into the wooden shack, the door slammed behind him.
Airine blinked, and peered Yuzuki, giving her a look that suggested that she was thinking 'Really? Hydrate? I think we're quite well hydrated right now' without her actually SAYING anything. She shrugs a little after a moment, and then moves into her position before crossing her arms and waiting… looking around for the person they were supposed to be meeting… And then… someone came out of the shack! Only to turn right around and go back in and shutting the door. "…" She looked toward Yuzuki curiously… was that the guy?
Airine looked back at the door, then gestured and made a motion like opening a door in the air, before tilting her head to the side and giving the team leader a curious look… Should they open the door themselves?
Despite his intention trying to focus back on the mission at hand, the giant's mind drifted back a step or two. Back to the feeling of Kiji's eyes upon him and the guilt he still felt for refusing her assistance. He truly was fine, and not just trying to be needlessly macho about it all. But still, it found it strangely difficult not to worry a little. At the first sound of Yuzuki begining to speak, the moss-haired giant snaps back to reality and focus the majority of his attention upon her.
Kiyoshi immediatly peers up towards the sky when Yuzuki mentions keeping hydrated. 'No problem there' He thinks, chuckling inwardly as his gaze fell back on their team leader. As for the rest, he simply nods where it seemed appropriate and went back over the written briefing in his head. His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open. During that small instance in which shinobi team (at most of them) and presumed VIP were staring at one another like deer caught in someone's headlight, Kiyoshi takes the time to study the man before he disappears back into the shack again. He too gives Yuzuki a look on what next, but doesn't make any suggestions about his opening the door. Despite being the one most likely to survive in surprises, the man was obviously alreadly scared enough. No point in killing him by greeting him with a giant with a claymore strapped to his back.
Kiji took her position in Alpha formation silently. At least from here she could watch the rest of the team. The man's appearance caught her attention, and his actions put her on edge. Something was wrong here. If that had beent he client.. no, it couldn't have been the client unless he'd been lying and would inevitably be caught in that lie. She couldn't think of another reason the client would act so.
Airine's reaction was understandable and the girl proved that she was probably a mute (as far as Kiji was concerned) due to trying to sign a complex situation rather than speaking.
Kiyoshi's reaction to look at Yuzuki made her frown and the girl eyed the door, a hint of orange appearing around her irises and her right hand fisted. "Something's wrong." Well yes, stupid, wonderful powers of observation, Kiji.
Before Yuzuki could come out with a specific order on the situation, the slammed door opened once again with the short man appearing in the doorway. He was already midswing, loosing something at Kiyoshi immediately running around the shack, dashing through the rain in a frantic beeline.
The object pushed through the rain, traveling towards Kiyoshi's head with good accuracy but no real speed or power that said anyone of particular strength had tossed it. Of course, there were very few who were practiced in the art of throwing wooden buckets at people. So perhaps it was simply a poor throw. Either way, it was relatively harmless and probably only served as a distraction for the man to try and make his get away.
+ Yuzuki had noticed it and was about to give an order. When the bucket came flying out of the shack, her eyes narrowed as she watches the bucket before her eyes fall on the man running. Looking at her team for a second she shouts, "Breach and Follow Tactic Alpha." With that her foot fall starts after the man, "Once the shack is cleared and the VIP has been secured." she starts, looking over her shoulder at her team. "Rendezvous Point Charlie, if I am not back." she tell them, the point decided prior to them even landing, which is roughly about one fifth of the way back down the path they trekked up to get to this point.
As she moves after the man, her hand slides inside her jacket and she removes a her book, flipping through the book she rips out a page, in one quick movement she tucks the book back in her jacket and tosses the page in the air. Forming two quick seals and fighting off the rain, a small swarm of ink wasps rips out of the paper and shoots towards the man on the run.
Kiji snapped to attention when Yuzuki called out her orders. As the sensor she opened her senses and reached ahead of her even as her right fist slid smoothly down her left arm, opening a cut with her sharp ring down her arm and immediately pulling blood from the cut as she moved forward. The blood formed a hovering ring like a bangel around her wrist and stayed there, collecting more and more as seconds passed by. She stepped forward and motioned to Airine that she sensed nothing inside. That didn't change her orders, though and Kiji slammed the door open, making it hit the wall behind it thus clearing it. She'd have struck a body if there was someone behind the door. Kiji moved quickly into the space, her arm up and ready to attack or defend if she needed to. "Clear." On her end anyway. Her eyes were now deep grey ringed in orange.
It took a lot to set Kiyoshi off. Tossing a bucket — luckily for the runner — was not one of those things. Even though doing so without warning did irk him, Kiyoshi neither tossed the bucket he caught on reflex at the assailant or gives chase immediatly. He might've run the man down within seconds, but the mission objective came first. With that thought in mind, he clenchd his jaw and glanced back to Yuzuki, awaiting orders.
Once their given, Kiyoshi spares Kiji a brief look in turn, notes the eye change with a grimace, then clears his weapon from its sheathe and turned about to keep vigil from outside the shack. Hoping it did not go against his orders incidently, Kiyoshi gives the shack a closer once over. So long as it looked sturdy enough to support his frame and weapon he'd perch himself up top for a better view of their surroundings, build chakra in transit.
If he remained in luck, he'd even be able to keep track of Yuzuki by sound before distance and the rain stripped him of such an idle pleasure.
As Kiji entered the shack, she'd find that it was filled with jagged, gleaming danger, much of it pointed at her. But none of it moved. Simple farming equipment, tools for tilling land and reaping crops and such things seemed to be stored in the dark shack. But for that, a bucket slowly filling with water dripping from the ceiling and a candle on the floor, it was empty. Neither her eyes nor Airine's would discover anything more.
Kiyoshi's view would be even worse. The shack was, it seemed, sturdy enough to hold the man's weight with nothing more than a brief groan of complaint. But that hardly improved his range of vision because what blocked it was the rain. Coming down as heavily as it was, the curtain of rain was too thick to see more than 20 yards in any direction, and that's assuming one kept it out of the eyes.
Yuzuki got the most action from her task, her swarm of ink wasps zipping after the unknown man and catching him long before he made it past that 20 yard mark. They quickly overran him, the black creatures sending the man into a frenzy of slaps, shouting and beating himself to try and rid himself of the wasps. But the pain from the poison soon set in, filling him and causing him to gasp. Groan… He falls to his knees, and then to his side, body clutched, the red faced man finding it too difficult to breathe in the downpour.
+ Yuzuki caught up with the man in his now dismissal state, looking down at him, putting her foot firmly down on his chest she would look up, her finger swiping a bit of the water off her glasses as she found Kiyoshi in his designated position. Her hand moves up and forms a quick circle and points down, gesturing him to gather up the rest of the Team and meet up at her location. Looking back down at the man, her hand moves to one of the ink wells on her side. "You have one minute to convince me as to why I shouldn't just pour more of the poison on you." she says slowly.
The rain played peek-a-boo with her ninjutsu, but that was fine, the poison in the ink could be simply absorbed through pores and with open wounds it made it as easy as smearing it into them, "I can judge what will be fatal and what will be simply make you wish it was fatal." she explains to the man, "So speak and do it quickly." she says nodding, looking up out of the corner of her eye to see if Kiyoshi had seen her signal.
Kiyoshi almost used one of those bad words he had heard one of his big brothers accidently used around them, but he didn't wish to waste his breathe on it. Besides, all he remembers about it is that it seemed to apply to a lot of things and began with the letter 'F'. Such a peculiar word…
Even with his free hand held above his eye ridge to act as a roof, he could scarcely make out much more than before. About the only thing he could trust now was his ears at this — "Hm?" He squints his eyes, then wipes some of the rain from his glasses before trying again to discern the blob that was Yuzuki. He couldn't be absolutely certain just 'what' the signal was, but he would take a guess at and hope it pays off.
Crouching down, he knocks on the roof, signaling for the duo to come out (and hopefully not immediatly blast the roof open instead). A quick gesture and perhaps a curt response later, the trio would make their way over to Yuzuki, still holding on to some semblance of one of her formations mentioned for just such an occasion.
"All is well, Taichou(captain)?"
Kiji eyed the tools (weaponry) around her silently but as Airine 'spoke' (yup just like Sei) she simply nodded. The tapping on the roof brought her out, she could sense Kiyoshi up there after all and she trusted him. Thus she would follow Airine out of the shack. The rain had started comming down harder and Kiji finaly found that the blood was being washed away that she kept in reserve so she simply allowed it to do so, letting it mix with the rain about her and thus covering the ground with her essence mixed with rain water. It made her even more dangerous really. But she would simply follow Kiyoshi to Yuzuki's location and wait.
The unidentified man coughed once Yuzuki's foot was pressed on his chest, head turning to look at her more fully, gaze glazed with pain. A shiver goes through him and he turns his face away, though whether it was from her words or simple pain and the stifling rain in his face was impossible to tell. Asking him wouldn't be too effective either as his body soon released all of its tension, despite the pain that still had to be coursing through it.
He was still breathing, though. Still alive. He'd passed out.
+ Yuzuki would look up at Kiyoshi at of the corner of her eye as he approached, making sure that she never took her main focus off the man she had pinned down and was threatening with a great deal of pain. "No…" would be the simply answer that would escape her lips in response to his question, though her voice seemed to naturally sound meek, the annoyance in it was clear. "You three did well clearing the building and following orders." she states with a small nod, "I am going to assume the VIP was not within, since he is not standing with you." she says slowly.
Her tongue click against her teeth. "Did either of you three, retrieve the pouch he discarded when he first emerged from the building?" she would ask levelly, "If not we will retrieve it in a moment." As the man simply passed out, she would remove her foot from the man, "Kiyoshi secure the prisoner, Kiji as he secures him, ensure he has suffer no life threatening injuries, so he can be questioned." she says taking a few steps away, "Airine, you have rear sector watch as they secure him, I will take northern sector watch." she says nodding. As he was secured they would slowly make there way back towards and into the shack, retrieving the discarded pouch on the way. This man was certainly going to have a fun time when he woke up.
