Starring:
Date: March 27, 2012
Summary:
Naru and Ryo run into some trouble on a simple delivery mission. Will it be more than they can handle?
"Wedding Delivery Part I"
Konoha, Road in the Fire Country
The mission: Asashi Hidoriku is to be married at sunset, in two days time, on a secluded cliff on the coast of our fire nation. He has paid for the transportation of his wedding rings from the Aremashi Jewelry Stand here in Konoha to the secret location on the map. Please move with haste.
The wedding will be horrible if the ring does not make it in time.
Do not lose the ring. That means to bandits or carelessness.
Any damage to the ring will negate the pay from the mission.
The sun had not risen yet over the village. Ryo sat outside Naru's house with a scroll in his hand. "Finally some trust comes our way." the boy states. He looks towards the door. "Come on Naru. I know mom takes forever to get ready but I did not know it was all girls… Here I thought she'd be excited. We're finally getting a decent mission…" the boy states to himself. He rolls his eyes a little and taps his foot. His impatience was showing.
Naru didn't mind taking her sweet time, after all Ryo did randomly come up to her window and hand her a mission without any forewarning. A light sigh escapes her lips as she slips out from the window and stretches her arms from one another, sh was dressed in her typical uchiha shinobi attire. " You should really give me a warning before you volunteer me for missions…" Naru complained with a heavy yawn while rubbing her eyes and pressing back against her window. " So…where did we need to go? I wasn't able to read it…" Naru states, definitely she was woken up from her sleep…
Ryo raises an eyebrow as Naru seemed almost ungreatful. "We need to go visit the guy at the jewelry stand. He knows we're coming and will be there. I figured you of all people would want to see the wedding stuff. You know sunsets and vows and things." Yep, the boy was making another generalization about girls. He did not know if Naru dreamed of marriage one day or not, but the mission made him think of her. "Come on. Lets not keep him waiting. Besides we are being trusted to do this without a chuunin captain." He then starts walking down the street. He was unsure what trouble they would face but he was eager to find out.
Naru wasn't really worried about any trouble, for all she knew this was going to be a quick get and deliver mission as long as they moved quick enough to do it. She yawns and just moves along with him, walking down the street at a steady by quick pace she folds her arms behind her neck and sighs. " I thought you was the one interested in things like that? Or are you just interested in snails stink and beating things up?" Naru generalized back at him, they seemed to be passively at eachothers throats lately, and Naru wasn't going to give in. " I guess lets just get this done as fast as possible…"
"Snail stink? Naw… toads are so much cooler. They have like warts and stuff. Other than that beating stuff up is cool too." the boy states. He was alright playing into the stereotype. At the end of the day he was a boy and did as boy's were expected to do. He rarely understood girls and why they fought the stereotypes so much. "You telling me that a sunset over a cliff and people telling each other that their hearts and souls are intertwined does not make you happy?" He was not trying to fight with her but making mental notes. He'd have to inform Taiki later that the cliffs at sunset were out for their future.
Soon the two of them make it to the cart. The boy holds up the letter to the man behind it. "We're here for the rings. We're going to transport them to the ceremony." he states before glancing around. The place was fairly empty.
"You must be joking." the elderly man states as he takes the letter. He reads it over before glancing at both Naru and Ryo. "Konoha sent two kids. The two of you combined are still younger than my children." After a sigh the elderly man takes out a small box. He opens it and shows the rings to both genin. "These rings are in perfect condition. I expect them to stay that way." He then closes the box and hands it to Naru. "You look like the… more gentle touch of the two of you." He then looks towards Ryo as if the boy was interested in snail stink and beating things up.
Aremashi made a good choice, openly she takes the jewel box into her hands and holds it close to her form. " I assure you that we will be able to take care of everything without problem or fault, we have quite the record…" She insist, mostly to put the man at ease while putting her eyes back on Ryo. " Sunsets over a cliff are beautiful but im just not into dreaming and fantasing about that," Naru states while letting out a soft yawn, she was ready to depart whenever Ryo was. " Its sweet but I just don't crave it…"
Ryo takes the letter back from Aremashi. "Girls…" He shakes his head and takes off walking down the street. "Well, it is going to be quite the walk. There is a village on the map. We can stop there for the night unless you prefer camping. I would just as soon stay at an Inn. Might deter some bandits. Then again one of us should always have those on us." His voice trails off as he walks with Naru.
Little does Ryo or Naru know there is a man walking behind them. He is not within listening distance but it seems obvious they have a trail…
Naru keeps her hands clapsed over the box, looking over it every now and then with those pumpkin eyes of hers. " We are in our home town, and a I still have quite a bit of funds ever since we finished those missions at Sunagakure," Naru spoke with a smile, she keeps herself occupied by casually looking around as they headed out, Naru felt safe in Konoha, of course that didnt mean that bad things didn't happen out in the land of fire…
Time Skip
For the most part the trip towards the coast was without a hitch. The two took to the trees and moved swiftly across the land. They passed the time talking to one another or just being silent when words seemed to cause trouble. The sun began to set and they were about half a mile from their intended stop for the night.
Ryo dropped from the last tree as they came upon a clearing. "According to the map we're not too far from the village. It should just be on the other side of those trees after this clearing. How you doing? You need to rest or anything?" the boy asks. He knew Naru was talented, but he was not sure if she had the physical stamina he did. They had stopped a couple of times on the trip to rest, but there was time for one more if she wanted it.
Naru was a little bit winded after such a long trek, however for the most part she appeared to be doing quite fine, a little hot but with the trees blocking out most of the sun it made it easy for Naru to remain not so tired. " I'm actually feeling pretty nice… It helps not to be out baking in the sun," Naru stated, obviously she ws more than willing to push things a long even more… " How are you holding up snail boy? You're not getting tired on me are you?" She teased with an escaping yawn, quickly covering up her lips with the jewel box. "If its just beyond the trees perhaps we should go ahead and get a move on, we can't be late right?"
Ryo raises an eyebrow as he is called snail boy. The boy then nods his head. "We really should get going. You are right. We cannot be late." Just then the boy spots an arrow come directly at him. He was just able escape it. "I do not think we're alone!" he states. There was another arrow coming towards Naru. (roll 20.)
Soon a group of bandits charge out. There is roughly five of them. Two archers in the back, two men with blades rushing across the clearing and one man remaining back. He seems to be there leader…
As soon as the attacks hit… Poof! Naru exploded into a heavy fog of smoke only to be replaced with a log, rather than stick around though she kept a hand along the jewel box and instantly activated her sharingan. " Don't hold back Ryo-kun!" Naru calls out to him while rushing off to slip into the forest, they would be able to keep track of eachother with their sharingan. For now Naru attempted to link up with everyone she could see while keeping herself out of harms way… for now.
A moment later Ryo had drawn his shin gunto blade. He narrowly avoided an arrow. It managed just to graze him. He then found himself locked in combat with one of the sword wielding bandits. He slices through his midsection before moving to a now genjutsu influenced man. This man gets a quick slash across his chest before falling. The boy continues to run towards the archers at the other end of the field. "Take out the archers!" he yells back towards Naru who had seemed to vanish into some hiding place.
There was a laugh from one of the archers. "I think I got him boss." he states. Then as the men fall to the boys blade, both archers seem to back up. From behind them the shadowed man speaks. "Lets retreat. The poison will take its toll soon enough." He then moves his hands into a bunch of earth seals before placing a hand to the ground. "Earthen wall jutsu!" Soon a wall of earth forms between the Konoha shinobi and the three bandits left over.
Just like that it seemed the battle was over, With Naru swiftly out of sight she attempted to peer around but her sharingan wssn't picking anything up… Maybe they were just a normal pair of bandits, or it could have been something else. "Eh…" She blinked and rubbed the side of her head, it was going to be hard for her to fight with her hands full anyways. Her hands still over the jewel box she was glad she didnt ha ve to engage in a long fight… " Are you okay? Ryo-kun?" Naru calls out to him, curious about his state as she reaveled herself from the shadows.
Ryo ran towards the wall but stopped short of it. He looked back towards Naru's voice. "Yeah I'm… fine." he states. His head was starting to warm up. "Lets get to the inn. I think I need some rest." The boy casually glanced towards his wound as he looked back towards the wall. Soon it crumbled into dirt rocks. "Awefully nice of them to leave us alone. I'm sure they will be back." He then began walking.
As the boy walked he pondered his options. He could tell Naru and risk her wanting to go on alone. Sure she might be able to do the mission by herself, but he was not about to let that happen. She might want to call off the mission and take him back for medical attention. Then again if he continued going and the posion got worse, there could be more permanent effects. Either way the ring had to make it to the destination.
Time Skip…
Finally the two had settled down in their room. Ryo stood in front of a mirror and inspected the wound. He tried to play down the seriousness of the wound. He had cleaned it out and bandaged it though it was fairly obvious that he was not doing so well. Sweat beads poured from his head. He was heating up and the room was not even warm. He wanted to open a window but knew better. Finally he stretches his arms and pretends he is tired. "So I'm sleeping on the floor? Your on the bed right?" He really did not mind. The floor would be cooler and there was less chance of Naru noticing the boy's condition.
"Your not like Issei, Ryo… Your a little boy," She states simply, Naru for the most part was dressed down in her unergarments, covering herself up with a rather lengthy black Uchiha shirt, she patted the bed for him to get up and join her though she couldn't help but to notice the sweat trickling down his forehead. " Are you… in heat or something?" She jokingly asked.
Ryo shook his head. "It's not about being like Issei. It's about doing what is expected of me. I'm the guy. You get the bed and I'll sleep on the floor. It's not a big deal. I sleep on the ground when out camping. At least here I am not worried about snakes and things." The boy then wipes some sweat from his brow. "I think I may have spent too much time in the sun…. No its not that. Those bandits are lacing their arrows with poison. It grazed me. It did break the skin but its not horrible…"
"No matter what tough guy attitude you have Ryo, to me your still just a silly boy. It really no big deal, Really," Naru states, patting the bed a bit more, this time in a more threatening manner. " Come up here so i can look at the wound… The Sun wouldn't have done anything…After all there are so many trees in the way…"
Ryo shakes his head. "I do not care if you become a jounin and I'm still a genin. At the end of the day, I will go to bed acting like a man…" The boy really did not care to explain, nor did he think he could find the right words to do such. It was not that girls were lesser people or that they could not do anything a man could do. It was simply how he was raised. He did not like hitting girls, even in practice. Not that he had any issue upsetting a girl or saying sexist things towards ones… like the girl chasing Taiki. Naru was different from her. He respected her. That meant even protecting her though she beat him up often.
"We need a plan. Tomorrow they will be waiting for us and they will be aiming for you. If they poison you, they will take us out one by one and take the rings." The boy placed a hand over his wound. "Tomorrow I will leave the village early. I will use a clone and a henge jutsu to make it appear like you. They will attack me and I will kill them." He reaches down and pulls out the map. He tosses it onto the bed. "I want you to leave the opposite way and take the path marked on the map. After they are delivered, you can come back for me." He pauses a moment before adding his justification. "The rings need to make it to the ceremony on time. I do not want to ruin some ladies big day. I also do not want to risk you getting poisoned. Who's going to carry me back to the village then? An before you argue, I'll be fine."
"You don't know if your going to be fine or not… They know ninjutsu, you don't know if they are going to be push overs or not," Naru states, she wasn't going to agree with them splitting up, like it or not. " You are already getting sweaty… Can you imagine how you will be when your fighting?" Naru asks , hoping off the bed she leaned down and almost grabbed at Ryo's sleeve. " Seriously Ryo, stop being a hard ass, You are a comrade before you are a man to me…" Naru states, she attempted to examine his wound just a little bit. " Lets leave my posioned comrade sleeping on the floor… Thats not going to happen, " Naru went on and on it seemed. " We work better as a team, we will sleep… Go out tomorrow and just kick butt… We will demoralize them and not hold back…But for now… you need to rest as much as possible so you can fight against that posion…"
To Be Continued…
