A Missing Merchant (Hikari, Kouse?)

mission specs:

Restlessly, Draconis waited by the village gates. His sister, Hikari, was supposed to accompany him on a mission today. He had seriously no clue of her abilities, however, besides that she still had both of her Byakugan. Maybe today would turn out to be a good one after all. He just hoped that this mission did not turn out to be a dud like the last one he had been sent on. That had not been funny at all. Truly abominable.

While he waited, he casually used the Mystical Palm technique, or at least, the initial stages he was training, with a part of his own body. While he worked at cutting and healing or reattaching parts of his body, he thought over the details of the mission.

A reasonably well known merchant had gone missing. Not only that, but his little house in the woods was all messed up and trashed. It could well have been that something bad happened, and considering this fellow’s reputation, it could well be trouble. He went through the details one at a time.

Soru Akamoto. A clanless former genin, who had found his calling making weapons. A soon sought after weapons merchant, he had been eventually persuaded to give up his dreams of becoming a powerful shinobi, with an increasing customer base eager to grab hold of his latest creations, an audience including his former superiors. Indeed, at the tender age of 15, this weapon smith was well known through out all of Konoha for his amazing ability to enhance weapons, and craft his own dashing, and disastrously deadly armaments. So deadly that some had been ruled illegal, though other nationsn copied them anyway. So deadly that he had often been kidnapped, and Draconis had gotten used to working with this fellow to escape pursuers.

Meh.

He waited, unsure of the size of his actual team. When Hikari showed up he would relate the mission details to her.

(325)

His mind just couldn't accept the loss of his eye abilities completely, he knew he didn't have his sharingan anymore but still, that didn't stop his body reacting to situations like he still had the sharingan. 
When he sparred with salzem just yesterday he knew he couldn’t go as fast as he previously was, he couldn’t predict moves,and that missing ninja that took his eyes.. Well in a way he was grateful, he knew he was getting too dependent on those eyes.. He chuckled but he would still very much like to still have those eyes. 

Shaking his head, and shaking away those disturbing memories he continued on his way to the gates.. He had a mission to handle, the details had been sent to him in a scroll by a masked ninja. 
A well known merchant had gone missing,and also his little house in the woods was scattered.
Kouse frowned, this dude must have been either kidnapped or killed by some crazy people. 
If he was killed kouse was sure to really teach the culprits a lesson, one they won't ever forget or break cause it would be their last. Memories of the way his father had been killed by robbers momentarily penetrated his mind. 
He didn't know who he would be going with for this mission though, he hoped he knew them, he didn't want the awkwardness that usually brought. 

Soru akamotu a pretty talented weapons maker, had a history of being kidnapped by several different types of people who wanted him all for themselves. 
Seeing someone waiting at the gates kouse gritted his teeth.. Don't worry soru we'll find you, no matter how difficult it is,just hope I don't get to them first. 
As he arrived at the gates he saw clearly who was waiting, he had been given a summoning contract by said person.. Yeah Draconis! That was his name,kouse approached him hoping he would remember him. 
"hello draconis it's been awhile, are you on the merchant finding mission too?" kouse would ask stretching out a hand for him to shake. 

Wc(346)

The morning sun shined down on her back as she trained, working on a new jutsu she had picked up from a book at the Konoha library. She had to stop short as a man appeared in a puff of white smoke, handed her a scroll, and then left in the smoke he had come in. She unrolled the scroll, scanning the page as she went. Another mission? I wonder who will be on my team this time! I'm so excited! She then thought of the mission specs. An older man, a valuable weapons nerchant by the name Soru Akamotu, had gone missing along with his house in the woods being ransacked. It was obvious something bad had gone down, she thought maybe a deal gone wrong or a client he has refused to work for wanted revenge.

She collected her things and ran off to the village gates, excited for the mission but worried for the condition of the merchant. Kuro, her black wolf familiar, ran along side her, his fans protruding slightly from his mouth. He was excited for this mission, as he is with every mission they go on together, and Hikari thought he could be useful for sniffing out the mans scent with his enhanced senses. It didn't take long for them to appear at the gates, and as they approached two figures came into focus. Her eyes widened as she remembered that Draconis had been wanting to go on a mission with her, she knew it was this mission they would be partnered together. She was curious as to what her brother could do, since she never got the opportunity to see him in action. The other guy was one she knew very well, Kouse. She sweat dropped at the idea of her brother and a guy who liked her being near each other, without either of them knowing about the other. I hope Draconis isn't the over protective brother type, or this mission just got a heck of a lot more awkward. 

"Hey guys! How have you been? Ready for this mission?" She smiled as she energetically asked what was on her mind. She hasn't seen either of them in a while, with Draconis it would only be their second meeting. 

[WC: 377]

(should just one of us control this mission for simplicities sake? also gonna throw a wrench in the works for Kouse to rp out, internally or externally xD)

First Kouse Uchiha, and then Hikari Hyuuga, his sister, approached. Something was off though. Kouse looked weird for some reason, and Hikari seemed apprehensive when he noticed her, though that was a few moments after she had arrived, maybe she saw something funny with Kouse Uchiha. “Hi Kouse. Hi sis.” There was something weird about Kouse that he could not place, but Hikari seemed to be back to her relatively normal seeming happy side. Draconis resisted the urge to hug his sister, since that would have looked rather awkward considering how most believed him to be.

He continued speaking, keeping his emotions, which mostly consisted of surprise, in check, such that they would not show on his face, stance, attitude, etc. “So, we’re supposed to go investigate a certain Soru Akamoto’s house, and see what happened. That famous weapon maker, I wonder what happened this time. Between his talent for getting kidnapped, and his talents for getting lost…. It could truly be anything, though we should always assume the lost. Now…”

Draconis lowered his voice in a conspiratory manner, so that only the two of the others, Kouse Uchiha and Hikari Hyuuga, his newly discovered sister, could hear him, preventing, or at least significantly reducing the chance that some random missing ninja vagued in to eavesdrop on info for a completely unimportant mission, at least for them. “Rumor has it among some of the higher ups, that he was due to go on a trip to the Land of Iron, somewhere in this time. He does not publish his schedule, obviously, but it seems he was potentially going to make a huge deal with the samurai or something. So I don’t know if he made it out of the house safely, or what. For all we know everything is fine, except for a potential case of burglary or illegal house entry, but we will find out shortly I guess.”

Draconis frowned, many different trains of thought colliding at once and producing a not entirely accurate picture of events. “Hey, Kouse. You must be why Hikari is looking so weird earlier, at least through my Byakugan. What happened to your eyes? While we are at it, I think we may need to discuss briefly our current capabilities for planning purposes. Obviously I have a Byakugan, and presumably Hikari also can use hers, but I don’t think we know much of each other besides that then.”

Waving his hand at the intangible shade that floated in the background, Draconis said “Why, hello Infurius, looks like you are finally here as promised to see if I can do anything to your satisfaction.” Draconis turned to the other two and said “Don’t mind him, he’s a royal pain to try and get on your side, but helpful nonetheless. Anyways…”

Draconis cleared his throat. “Let’s start walking towards his house, and we should quickly go over our capabilities before we get into potentially hostile territory.”

He would begin walking or running towards the forest, in the direction of Soru Akamoto’s house. The missing merchant. His speed would vary depending on the slowest of the other two, intending to match them so that he would not get separated from them in case of an attack.

“So, I gots the Byakugan, mostly I do long range attacks, though I am also working on improving my throwing capabilities as well. I can be pretty speedy but my physical moveset is hardly impressive. I can also make clones…. You guys?”

While he had been talking, this entire time, Draconis had been watching Infurius to make sure the damn deamon would actually go with him and not just wander off wherever he pleased.

(ttl wc: 325+613=938)

"nice to work with you draconis" 
Then another ninja, a female ninja arrived, Wait what?... Was that hikari? The white hair, what she wore.. It was certainly her, they had both gone on a mission together just recently, including both Salzem and Cole. 
They had both been busy.. Training, learning new things, missions and lots more, they didn't have any time to spend with each other. 
'Hey guys! How have you been? Ready for this mission?' that cheerful voice she possessed always got to him. 
kouse couldn't help but smile at her "it's been good hikari" he spoke as he went in for a much needed hug, holding her close.
'Hello sis' draconis said and on hearing that kouse froze, but only for a second, draconis was her brother? What the hell? Kouse thought. 
Then he realised that depending on draconis he may not like a boy holding his sister, especially this tightly. He slowly withdrew his arms and quickly stepped back and being uncomfortable, he cleared his throat. She had told him she had no siblings so what was this? Kouse looked into her eyes, and a frightening thought popped into his mind, was she a Liar? Why didn't she just tell him the truth when they talked that day they met?. 
Kouse looking at her again just couldn't believe that, no there must be an explanation for this and he would find d out maybe after this mission he would ask her. 

Kouse listened intently at what draconis told them, he gave them more details of what their mission was about, shedding light to the fact that he was more likely to be lost than kidnapped. 
'Hey, Kouse. You must be why Hikari is looking so weird earlier, at least through my Byakugan. What happened to your eyes? While we are at it, I think we may need to discuss briefly our current capabilities for planning purposes. Obviously I have a Byakugan, and presumably Hikari also can use hers, but I don’t think we know much of each other besides that then'. 
Hmmm kouse thought, so draconis was that attentive? He could notice that they knew eachother closely?. 
"well I got my sharingan eyes taken by a missing ninja and he gave me normal ones just a couple of weeks ago" kouse would answer draconis question. 
He then noticed a weird looking creature float in and was initially alert and ready if this creature would be a threat but at draconis's reassurance that he knew it he relaxed. 
Then at draconis's prompt he started running with him at speeds of 60. 
As they ran he listened as draconis explained what he was good at. 
When he was through kouse would start talking "well I'm a water and earth style user, I've got a decent amount of jutsus learned so I can kinda mix them up.. I like fighting smart, stringing in a combination of techniques to trick my opponents.. And I have a couple of decent techniques I can use to surprise an opponent" kouse added "also I'm fast, well kinda, I've gotten a little slower since I lost my sharingan but I can still move fast enough. And yeah I also can create clones, water clones" kouse would finish. 
He would then wait for what hikari would say, he really wanted to hear Of how she had improved since they had last met. 

Twc(913)

Draconis was a little shocked by Kouse just going up and hugging sister. More than just a little actually. However, fortunately for Kouse, he had not met Hikari very long ago, and this resulted in mere suspicion. “You seem to be a decent fellow, Kouse. I hope things stay that way, or you will be worrying about more than replacing Sharingan.”

Draconis spoke the last sentence with an aura of menace, an aura flowing around him and taking the shape of an old friend of his – the Hyena. The Hyena shaped aura expanded until it was about the size of a large ninja building. Any onlookers would probably notice the snarling aura that glared down at Kouse from all of 20 meters high. Growling loudly, the massive Hyena shaped aura took steps forward towards Kouse, its jaws opening wide, coming down towards Kouse, they would swiftly swing down, stopping and fading away just before they would have snapped shut around Kouse’s entire body. Hopefully that scared him. He seemed to be a decent kiddo, albeit one older than Draconis if his info was correct, but he had to make an impression, especially on the drunk that was loitering around the village gates, and was now collapsed in terror, having most likely stopped making eyes at Hikari.

Unless something else happened to change the rest of the actions, the trio would start running into the forest. Seems like they were stronger than the team that had gone on that mission that earned Draconis his chuunin rank. “Don’t let your guard down, we could be fighting any number of enemies.”

As they entered the forest, the others listed their skills. Clones would be helpful for sure. So would the medical jutsu, an area Draconis had also been branching into himself. Speaking of capabilities… “I don’t suppose you would be willing to help us out, Infurius?”

Infurius laughed, a truly horrible sound emanating from his voice. “Worthless human, why should I bother when you have done little to earn my respect?”

Draconis resisted the urge to learn the Haki ability which would let him punch out Infurius, it would not help for now. “He is always like that guys, you have no idea what a friggin pain it was to get him here in the first place.”

Draconis took some deep breaths, while running and making sure the others could keep up.

Then he noticed Infurius wandering off. “Hey, where are you…” His voice trailed off as they were now several kilometers into the forest, and they had magically appeared at the house formerly inhabited by the potentially late Soru Akamoto. He also only just noticed the dog that accompanied Hikari.

Using his chakra sensory he thought he sensed some people but he could not be sure if they were masquerading as civilians or not. “Lets go check around the property, see if we find any clues.”

Draconis strode off into the building.

(938+490=1428)

Kouse had been expecting a reaction from draconis but certainly not what draconis did, his words and actions.
A dark and menacing aura took over draconis, and became as large as a ninja building taking the shape of a hyena. It glared down at kouse, it took steps towards kouse, to kouse's surprise the jaws came down swiftly towards kouse but stopped just inches from touching kouse and vanished.
At first kouse's body shook due to the shock of what had just happened but quickly steadied back as anger replaced fear.
He looked straight at draconis with a straight face, he wanted to say a few things to him, one of them was that he hadn't done anything yet to warrant that reaction from him, hugging between two friends wasn't exactly uncommon, the other was that his sister at 18 was old enough to get Involved with anyone she wanted and to make her own decisions, and thirdly that if this display of power from draconis was aimed at stopping him from being with his sister, well there was going to be a problem. 
But from the lesson he had learned from salzem, you have to keep some of your thoughts to yourself or you would get into unnecessary trouble. 
Kouse looked at draconis with a straight face, then a smile well that was that, let's get this mission over with, other problems would be resolved later. 

'I don’t suppose you would be willing to help us out, Infurius?' made kouse turn to look at draconis as they all kept on their 70 speed pace moving into the forest, then he heard a laughter 'Worthless human, why should I bother when you have done little to earn my respect?'. 
Kouse chuckled quietly, that was some difficult character to handle. He was grateful Skipton wasn't a difficult one, at this thought she rustled a little in his hair, smiling he turned to look at hikari with her serious look, he could see that she wanted to impress in this mission, he smiled but that smile quickly changed to a frown, they would have to talk soon, seriously,to explain the fact on how she had a brother when she had clearly just previously stated when they had met that she had no siblings. 
Kouse's mind was snapped back to the mission at hand as they saw a building appear, and at the way draconis reacted on getting to said building he knew it belonged to soru akamotu.
'Lets go check around the property, see if we find any clues'. 
Kouse nodded at this but not willing on going in blind performed the chakra sensory jutsu before entering the building along with draconis. 
He had noticed several people moving about in the area, and he wasn't sure they were threats or not.. He was alert though as he followed draconis into the building. 

Twc(1394)

Hikari sweat dropped as Drac indirectly threatened Kouse to continue being a good guy. I guess this is normal for brothers, it's kind of nice having someone there to look out for you. Though it can be a damper on the love life, though I don't mind. I'm just happy to have Drac and Akiko in my life, I'm not fully alone anymore! Although her calm demeanor ended when a dark, 20 meter high aura surrounded Drac, in the shape of a hyena. It rained down on Kouse, snarling and vicious teeth barred. Right before it took him out, it vanished, obviously a sign to stay in his place or else all hell would break loose upon him. She was unsure how to react to Draconis' threat tactics, so she decided to see how Kouse was reacting.

His body shook, fear from Drac taking its course. It didn't last long, as he slowly seemed to gain control and another emotion took control, she guessed it was anger or irritation. He stared at Drac, as if he was going to speak, but no words ever came out of his mouth. She figured Kouse was biting his tongue, a smart move since they were on a mission -and any conflicts could be resolved afterwards, once they had hopefully succeeded. Kouse's strategy of battle was a straight face that turned into a smile, he was definitely trying to be friendly and keep peace with their team. Good job Kouse! No fighting until after we complete our mission! Gosh boys..

Hikari was glad they continued their running to the house, wanting to see what they were working with. As they ran, Drac spoke to Infurius, who basically laughed at him and said Drac did not deserve his help. This infuriated Hikari, a familiar or summon should willing help the people they made connections with. Turning her attention to the ghastly demon, she spoke up, "Why are you his familiar, or whatever you are, if you won't help him? What's the point of being 'tied' down to someone you don't have respect for? And Drac, why do you let him talk to you like that? There is no respect in your relationship!" She really could not fathom why the two were partners if they acted like that, especially if Infurius didn't even want to help Drac in their mission. There was no logic.

She glanced down at Kuro, the darkened wolf keeping pace with them. She was grateful he was kind and loyal to her, unlike Infurius. Though she knew that their story could be the reason for their terrible treatment of one another. She knew she needed the whole story before she could make her judgements, even if she had already stated her opinion of it. She looked back up in time to see that they had made it to the house in such a short amount of time. The area around them was eerie, and using her chakra sensory skill, she could sense people were near, though she wasn't sure how damaging they could be. 

Drac stated they should look around, and she quickly agreed. While the boys walked into the house, Hikari and Kuro stayed outside to search the perimeter, and for Kuro to use his nose and see if he could find any clues. She activated her Byakugan, in case the people around them decided to try and ambush her. Okay so they are people all around, about five or six of them. They don't seem to be threatening, but they could be disguising their chakra to seem weaken then they actually are. I'll have to stay on high alert out here, but if they attack I think Kuro and I can take em, or at least until the boys get out here haha. Kuro's head jolted up near a bush behind the house that lead deeper into the forest. He barked lightly, signaling that he had found something. She walked over to where he stood and upon closer inspection, she saw marks on the ground. She wasn't sure if it meant anything but by the way Kuro was reacting, she figured he had also picked up on the scent of the man they were looking for. "Good job Kuro! You are amazing!" She patted him on the head, smiling to encourage him at his accomplishment.

"Hey Drac, Kouse! We might have found something!" She waited until they got there, and then she would show them the marks and explain to them how Kuro picked up Soru's scent, heading deeper into the forest. 

[WC: 1,800] [if I need to change anything, just let me know! I know kf just went for it haha, but if you want to do it a different way just let me know!] [-1 ap]

apologies, but i won't have time to do a good length post here until tomorrow