Starring:
Date: September 12, 2011
Summary:
None given.
"Weapons Delivery"
The forrest outside Kirigakure
Early afternoon in the Land of Water, sun high overhead and the mists a welcome coolness in the muggy heat. At the administration building, Nori had been given a slip of paper. Grab a team and deliver a wagonfull of weapons and items to Rikken the Smith for repairs. Nori was familiar with the place, one of the better smiths on the big island, and he was pretty certain it was going to be an easy time of it. So word was sent out to a few other shinobi that Nori thought might be interested to meet him at the village entrance. Now Nori was waiting, with the wagonfull of goods and an ox to pull it. A conical hat sat lopsided upon his head, and a long stem of some plant was between his teeth as he relaxed back in the drivers seat of the wagon.
Tsiro comes walking down the path to the village entrance. He eyes the wagon. This was the first time someone had actually sent for him. While there was a slight bit of excitement, he had figured that crazy girl Sekisetsu might be here. He would approach slowly and look around. While he was pretty sure Nori wanted revenge on the girl, he would put nothing past that brat, even forging a note. Once his eyes see the conical hat, Tsiro lightens up. "So you actually did call for me?" he asks. His eyes would scan over the wagon and the ox. Seemed like this might involve work.
"It seems that he had." murmurs a voice from above. Perched upon the arch of the village's gate itself, Yuuka absently swings her legs beneath her. She lifts a pale brow at the pair that had gathered at ground level, though doesn't hesitate as she shifts her weight to smoothly rise to her feet. Her strength is focused through her legs just before the Kaguya kunoichi leaps from her perch, flipping in midair to land in a slight crouch.
Nori lifts the conical hat, peering up at Yuuka as she makes her presence known and drifts down to join them. "Aye, I did. Thought this might be something you could handle," he says to Tsiro. His head nods towards the back of the cart, while he offers his hand to help Yuuka onto the seat beside him. "Simple mission, just drop these crates by the smith down in the valley a ways." He grins and waits for everyone to settle in.
The eyes of Tsiro would move up as Yuuka revealed herself. "Greetings Sensei." he states. On the inside though, he seems to be kicking himself for not having noticed her. "I really need to work on my awareness.", he states before moving to the back of the wagon. As he sat down on the back of the wagon, he would grin. He was the only genin here so far… Then as if dismissing the pride from his mind, he would look at the crates. Those were the cargo he was suppose to protect. With that he reaches into his pocket and places his fingers along the special dagger given to him by his Sensei.
The corner of her lips tugs faintly as Yuuka lowers her head to Tsiro in greeting, "It will come in time and with lots of practice." she murmurs. "Do not worry about it for right now. Just keep your eyes and ears open." Turning her aquamarine eyes to Nori, the kunoichi reaches out to slip her hand into his own offered one, gripping it to pull herself into the seat before releasing her grip. It was possible that there were more to this mission than what Nori had devulged. After all, the crates needed protecting. Anything could be in there really. And depending on many other factors influenced the way Yuuka were to react to them, considering she now had a pupil she need to make sure was not only safe, but able to go against any possible threats without too much of her involvement. In any case, the kunoichi silently shifts her attention to her surroundings. Just in case.
Nori pulls Yuuka up into the cart, and then glances back to Tsiro. "All settled?" He nods slightly, seeing the Genin has sat down, and then shakes the reigns once. The ox snorts, and then starts walking along down the path out of the village. Nori seems relaxed for the first length of the trip, but as the descend into the forrest, he guides the Ox down a side path thats a little less traveled and bumpier. It shakes the cart back and forth, and the clanking of metal can be heard inside the crates as the wheels bump and grind over stones and through potholes. "Oi, oi," he says after a particularly hard bump. He turns and grins at Yuuka. "This is fun eh?" Despite his carefree demeanor, theres a tenseness to his shoulders, and his eyes shift about the misty woods. Nori, obviously, is on his guard in the unfamiliar terrain.
The words of Yuuka are heard by Tsiro. He even seems slightly at ease by them. He nods his head at Nori's question, then keeps an eye out the back of the cart. He would scan from tree to tree as far as he could in the misty woods. While the bumps seemed to be annoying, it was the clanking of the weapons that really bothered Tsiro. As each bump was hit and a clank was heard, it seemed to make it that much harder to listen to the surroundings. There was nothing that could be done about it. For now, Tsiro would remain quiet and hope that the two more expierenced shinobi in the front would be able to sense anything of danger before it came to him.
Yuuka blinks her eyes slowly as she shifts her gaze around them, at the forest that grows thicker the further they travel. However, it isn't her eyes that are doing most of the work. At Nori's words, the Kaguya kunoichi quirks a pale brow as she turns her snowy head just enough to glance at him, though says nothing in reply before returning her attention once more to their surroundings.
As time goes by, Nori's face seems to decline. The smile that was there is replaced by a tightlipped frown, and his eyes seem to peer into the depths of the misty woods. He doesn't comment at the moment, but its obvious something has him a little unsettled. What could it be? He glances over to Yuuka, and back to Tsiro to make sure they're awake.
Something seems off. It was hard to make out, but Tsiro could have sworn he heard something odd between the clanks of the metal weapons. He draws the special dagger from his pocket, though he holds it beneath his arm. That way anything that may or may not attack would not see it, but it would be at hand should he require it's use. His eyes would not move from the back of the wagon. That was his section to watch, and that he would do.
"Nonhuman." Yuuka suddenly murmurs, breaking the silence. "Maybe half a dozen of them, fast enough to run along side the cart." Her aquamarine eyes narrows slightly, focusing more of her attention on the things moving in the woods just beyond their range of sight. Rising to her feet, the cart jiggles and moves back and forth while Yuuka steps over the crates, standing still as one can be in the rocking vehicle.
As Nori drives the cart, his eyes shift to watch Yuuka step back behind him, his eyes lingering for just a moment before he looks back ahead. Just then the ox huffs and stops in midtracks, causing the the cart to grind to a halt, a wolf snarling in the road a few yards ahead of the lumbering beast. The crates shift forward, bumping into the headboards, and Nori is sent reeling. The kaguya barely catches himself, standing precariously on the edge of the footboards and swirling his hands as a wolf leaps from the brush and smashes into the side of him, the pair flying off the side of the cart. A swear word can be heard amongst the sound of the wolfs growls. More wolves, of course, begin sprining out of hiding to attack the ox and the other passengers.
Tsiro would slam back into one of the crates when the cart comes to a halt. He had heard Yuuka mention half a dozen non humans. He would move forward to catch a wolf jumping into the back of the cart. He slides the Epigaea Dagger around in his hand, then lodges it into the eye of the wolf. He moves his body to the side as the wolf's motion continues for him. He then smashes his open palm into the handle of the dagger. After that he moves moves to the back of the cart and stands up. He scans the area quickly for the next closest threat from his perch.
Yuuka has to brace herself against the momentum as the cart suddenly slams to a halt, buckling her knees. While the cart settles, the kunoichi flexes her fingers subtly before a ivory spike splits through the flesh of her palm. Narrowing her eyes, she feels rather than sees another wolf trying to leap over the side of the cart at them. With a smooth turn, Yuuka slams her palm into the throat of the creature, the spike of bone visible on the other side with dark blood splattering.
Nori rises from the earth, bite marks over his neck and shoulder visible where his vest is torn. In one broad hand he holds the wolf by the scruff of its neck, where it struggles and whines. With a grin, Nori smacks the canine on the forhead, knocking it out, and then tosses it to the side of the road. He moves quickly to settle the oxen down before it decides to bolt from the scent of blood and the cries of the wolves, taking the reigns in one hand as he brings a foot around to clobber another wolf with a half roundhouse kick. "Oi," he says, his eyes watching the wolf skip across the earth before shifting to seek out other predators. "I'm going to start the ox forward," he says, and then whispers some soft words to the ox to coax it along again, and it starts moving forward again. "Do you see any more of them?"
As Tsiro's eyes scan the area for the next threat, he would look just in time to see another one lunge up towards the back. Unfortunately the kid seems slow in responding to it. He moves his left arm up in time to catch the fangs of the wolf. His right hand then proceeds to deliver several punishing palm strikes to the skull of the creature. Eventually the fangs tear free of his arm and the wolf falls to the ground as the cart starts in motion. The wolf whimpers and makes its way back into the forest. Tsiro's crimson eyes become wide with anger. For a moment the boy considers going after the wolf, but then he himself comes to the realization that the cart is actually moving. He looks around for a while as blood pours from his arm.
"Clear back here," he states as he places one foot on the neck of the wolf he killed earlier. He would reach down and grasp at the Epigaea Dagger lodged in it's eyesocket. With one pull of his hand the dagger comes free. The boy wipes it off on the corpse of the wolf before placing it back into his pocket.
The spike of ivory breaks off at Yuuka's palm, releasing the fallen wolf over the side of the cart while it moves forward. She flicks her hand once before turning her aquamarine eyes up to the forest around them, narrowing her gaze, "Not from I can tell." Yuuka murmurs, "Enough of them have been taken out that the rest are falling back." Turning her head, locks of silver white spin around her shoulders for a split moment. "You better hurry, before they change their mind."
Nori chuckles and tugs the ox along, leading it by the feet. Whether there were more wolves or not, its obvious they thought better of it, and the rest of the journey went by quietly. As they unloaded the crates, Nori looked to Tsiro and Yuuka. "Oi, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He laughed lightly as he whiled away the work.
