Royal Emissary [Mission]

Spoiler:

Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, the multitude of chapel bells signaled the start of another day in Hoshigakure. However, Lucian had been up long before the first bell even tolled. Today was a special day after all. Today was the day he went on his first mission, wait, no that was not right. Technically he had already been on his first mission, but today was what he classified as his first real mission. He would be teaming up with two other genin from the village to help locate and escort some royal back to Hoshigakure. The mission was a bit scant on details. All Lucian knew for sure was that he would get to work with other ninja from the village.

Lucian had long since prepared for this quest. He wore his typical long white tunic that reached to just above his ankles accented by flares of red extending around his wrists and the high collar behind which hid his Hoshigakure headband. Topping off his appearance were two weapon pouches, one on either hip which were  hidden just barely by a pleat of the tunic on either side. With the bells as his signal the genin tip toed out of the house with his hands willing Delito, his puppet of metal, to follow. 

The streets were relatively empty at this time of day. Only the faithful filtered in and out their respective congregations. Even the sun had not risen just yet so the sky was still faintly filled with stars. Hoshigakure was indeed blessed by the stars, that much was certain. In a way hearing only his own sandals slap and Delito's feet thud on the cobbled road was comforting. It grounded him, he'd have to remain grounded for the foreseeable future. Whatever the mission held no doubt had to be taken with a level head. 

After a ten minute walk or so Lucian, trialed by his puppet, arrived at the gates. Oddly not a single traveler stood in line. So, as Lucian looked outward all he saw was the wide open road, an omen? Perhaps, but what kind? Time would tell, as it always did. 

Giving a curt nod to the queen's guards on duty, Lucian stepped off the threshold of Hoshigakure so he now stood just outside the gates. Gazing out at the road in front of him the genin would wait with his puppet two meters to his left. Here, at the village gates, was the appointed meeting place for the other genin. Hopefully they would get here soon, Lucian did not like to run late. Especially when it came to missions where time could make all the difference. 

God only knew what trouble the royal may have gotten themselves into. Hell, they could have been waylaid by bandits. Or maybe, Lucian hoped, they were simply lost. The genin idly hoped force would not have to be exercised. He despised fighting and hurting others unless absolutely necessary. Alas, were the royals in trouble then force would undoubtedly need to be used. 

Please just let them be lost...


WC: 511

OK I'm gonna post in a bit. Don't skip me Hyst

Kyofu lay sprawled across his bed with no shirt on and leg half on half hanging off his bed with a conspicuous amount of slob coming from his mouth." Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong " rung the bells of the chapel. Kyo easily got frightened and fell face first off the side of the bed. The noise was easily louder with him being in a echoing room." Damn it Maku I bet you gave me this room on purpose " said Kyo as he quickly got up. Today was the day for his first official mission since becoming a Hoshi ninja. Yesterday he had been told he would be going on a mission across the borders with two other ninja so they could retrieve a Royal who had gotten his or her self lost along Haven's borders. Kyo really did not know why they wouldn't want to do the mission immediately. It was just something about this royals that made him curious, there were many of them in Hoshi so maybe they could care less if one was captured. Not wanting to be late Kyofu through on a black v-neck, some black leather pants, and some black combat boots. All of the black he had on brought out the white in his hair as well as his glowing red eyes.

Heading out of the door of his room and up and down a set a stairs and hallways he found himself outside of the castle and walking towards the borders where he was told he would meet the rest of the "team" as he added quotations to team. Kyofu looked at the stars of Hoshigakure as he walked, that was one of the things he liked about this village. Here he could are the stars rather than being in the iron county where the pollution made gas that blocked the upper sky so he could not see the many stars of the world.

He had came to this mission ready and set. His goggles were tightly attached to his forehead holding the bangs of hair away from his gave as he walked. His two weapon pouches was on either of his hips both equipped with Kunai, Shuriken, smoke bombs, and the others ninja essentials that came with the weapon bonus lack he had purchased from the shop in the academy.

As he made his way towards the gates he saw two figures standing to the side of each other. He guessed the two were his teammates as he walked towards them Kyofu would say " Hello there " loud enough for only them to hear. As he got within arm distance of the two he could see that the person no thing that was standing left to a man was metallic. Kyo figured it was a puppet and inwardly laughed at himself as he did not realise sooner. Walking around the puppet and to the front of it he would come upon a familiar face he had only seen days ago.

"Lucian " Kyo would say loudly. He had hoped him and Lucian would meet in the future it was only faith that the two were put on a mission together." How you doing " Kyo said as he smiled at Lucian his red eyes shining in the very faint light of dusk.

548WC

(sorry, some things came up last night I needed to do! Also, I will largely let shinji take lead on this. Also, I will just assume that we would have already known of eachother if the mission as preassigned, though if anyone feels it should be otherwise let me know and I will edit! xD )

Hado yawned, as he rose about an hour before dawn, splashing water in his face. Ugh… he was truly not a morning person.

Staggering out of bed, he slumped on the floor for a couple of seconds, his body not fully awakened, and his mind not entirely lucid, the slap of the wood to his cheek startling him into wakefulness.

Blearily gulping down some hot food, which he found to be immensely enjoyable now that he did not have to grind the oats himself, he tried to remember what it was he was supposed to do. Ummm…..

His mind was worryingly blank, and the hot bowl touching his hands, almost burning them, brought him back to the present. Setting the bowl of porridge down on a trivet, his hands reached for the spoon again, and he finished his breakfast.

Running back upstairs, he grabbed his ninja kit, his basic tools that every ninja should have. Checking himself out in the mirror, he adjusted the weapon pouches so that they were discreet, but accessible, strapped around his legs just above the knees, to allow full ranges of motion still, but to be partially hidden by the shorts he was wearing. He could still reach the zipper quickly however. The Hoshigakure headband, which held so much importance to him now, went up under one sleeve, tied around his right arm. If need be, it would be able to serve as a minor method of protection perhaps, but this would be a recourse he would rather not have to undertake. It would distress him a little to have to ask the village, which had already given him a home and companions, to give him some thing to make up for his own mistakes, and weakness. He had better get training soon!

His feet pitter-pattered through the streets, a few minutes later, as he ran by the Ninja Academy. Hmmm. Looks like those poor instructors sleep at SOME time, like now. Jogging over to the training grounds next to the Ninja Academy, away from prying eyes, Hado began practicing a jutsu. Concentrating his chakra, he clapped his hands together, and touched them to the ground, forcing his latent energy into the bare dirt, in an attempt to manipulate it. Slowly, the dirt arose, and he fell forward, arms flailing, as he had not expected the ground to rise so quickly, and beneath his feet. Looks like he needed a little practice, he determined, as he got back up after a slightly embarrassing face plant. It would be a little while before he would be able to use this anywhere in a meaningful way unfortunately.

He got to his feet, and repeated the process, clapping his hands, and touching the ground before him again, aiming to lower the block of ground he had raised, putting it back to rest. It made him wonder how the jutsu actually worked. Did the chakra, just fill in the spaces in the dirt or something? Was the dirt stretched? Was the dirt literally raised, and somewhere below, there had been a block of dirt the same size as the one he had raised a few moments ago? So many questions in life for him to discover!

Oh, speaking of discoveries… uh oh!!! Hado remembered what he was supposed to do today! A mission! And an important one at that!!! He was gonna be late!!!!!

A few people turned their heads to stare, before going about their own business again, as the new genin sped off through the streets, a cloud of dust rising in his rather prolonged wake.

Scarcely a minute had passed before the majority of Hoshigakure had been traversed by the particularly energetic midget, and was closing in on the village gates, and fast at that. Seeing a weird thing, and two people, one of whom was older, Hado zipped in, angling to stop just in front of them.

“Sorry I’m late!!!!!” His words barely edged their way out of his mouth, between his wheezing and large gulps of oxygen. Then he remembered, this was actually about the time he was supposed to arrive, if the time was five minutes later than the present. He would have smacked himself in the fore head but he was too tired at the moment. He resisted the urge to flop on the ground, and rest.

Looking to the older one, Lucian, Hado gasped out “If I remember correctly, we had to find a visiting member of the royalty, do you guys have any ideas on where we should start looking?”

(760)

(ok, sorry for the delay, once again! posted!)

The young dawn of Hoshigakure had a certain beauty to it. Though today there was something else in the air: adventure. As a shinobi and a monk Lucian did not crave adventure on principal, but that did not mean he altogether disliked adventure. And, upon hearing footsteps behind him, Lucian knew this new adventure was about to begin. Ah, and then a familiar voice. 

"Good morning Kyofu," Lucian replied without turning. "I am well."

That was all, nothing more. After all, they are still waiting on the last of their group. As he waited, eyes still on the horizon, he felt a tingle run through his extremities. This was anticipation. This was excitement. A truly glorious feeling that made a man feel invincible.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes....Until, at last, five minutes past the appointed meeting time the last member of a team of three arrived. In those five minutes Lucian worked on slowly reducing the number of fingers he was using to control Delito-the final goal of using naught but a finger to control the formidable puppet. A boy finally arrived, Hado no doubt. The boy babbled on about how sorry he was for being late. Were Lucian in his right mind he may have chastised him, but time was of the essence. 

"That is correct. I suggest we focus our search along the main road. If we see any signs of disturbance on the side of the road we take that as our cue to search further. Stay alert. We don't know what we are going into." Lucian stated taking control of the situation.  

Without another word Lucian stepped forward with Delito in tow. It was time to get going. While he walked he slowly reduced the amount of strings attached to Delito, this was going to become dangerous at some point, but now it was only a dream, a hope. Speaking of hope, hopefully the others would follow in Lucian's wake and keep their guard up.  Who knew what was waiting for them? Maybe it was nothing, but Lucian had a bad feeling about this.

[WC: 350, you guys can do the searching and all that. Just putting us on the right path]

After the boy or man names Hado introduced himself Lucian would take lead of the three man group and walk in front of the two with his puppet. Not knowing the outcome of the mission Kyofu would pull two Kunai out of his weapon's pouch on his left hip. Grabbing one Kunai with his left hand holding on to the handle and grabbing another with his right as he put it between his teeth so they were clamped around the handle where the sharp side and end of the Kunai could not cut or pierce him. With his right hand now free he would place it back to his side as he followed Lucian out of the gates and along the borders of Hoshigakure.

The morning sun was slowly rising over the horizon as far as the team got the quicker the sun seem to rise. However it was only about 6AM. Now walking directly to the left side of Lucian through the heavy forest that surrounded the region Kyofu would begin to look around quickly for any sign of footsteps or struggling along the pathline and other things. As he walked he saw a distinct mark in a tree to his left about five feet ahead. 

He would move his hand to Lucian's left shoulder and say " Wait a minute guys I think there may be something around here. You see that mark right there " said Kyofu as he pointed to a almost unrecognizable star on the tree that was definitely carved with a fingernail. It looked almost recent because right up under the star on the ground were small pieces of scrapped wood." The star seems to be carved with a fingernail and the scrapes of wood on the ground do not seem that old. Could it be a sign from the missing royal " Kyofu would say almost silently to Hado and Lucian.

He would wait and run his right hand over the star trying to feel some sort of connection to it, could this be a sign he would think to himself. And if it was were there others? A million thoughts would run through his head, he could have gave a lot of opinions but he would wait for the others to give theirs. Whatever this was he was sure no one had marked it there for no apparent reason.

Leaving the others to there thinking he would leave from where all three of them stood and search the area for another clue of some sort if the first he found was even a clue. As he searched the area he found crumbled leaves that could be from an animal like a deer. He would crouch down to a long stretch of grass and stare at it, the grass looked as of there had been some kind of struggle going through it because there were several foot prints and tacks that resembled shoes being dragged through mud. Hoping the others were paying attention to him he would say " I think I have found the trail on where the royal may have been kidnapped ".

Although, this was only a theory in the state of mind. But Kyofu had a perfect thought that these were clues to finding a man or woman who was kidnapped.

(547WC)

(ok Im gonna take Kyojin’s idea and run with it)

Hado Kirino, was relieved that nobody else was mad, so he followed the others, drawing a kunai in one hand, not drawing a second as he was not all that good at throwing stuff, and he could well need both his hands to cast jutsu. If he needed he could probably store the kunai in that pocket dimension thingy that he had made before, but honestly, well, he was not a fighter. He was not interested in hurting people, though you gotta do what you gotta do. Hopefully he could just immobilize them or something.

Crouching next to Kyojin, Hado noticed… “Hey! These tracks are kind of fresh, in fact, the mud is wet still, so there is a chance this was actually pretty recent!”

Hado began zipping off along what he thought was the trail. Following the tracks, he yelled “Come on guys! Hurry! We might still catch them!”

A glint of what was probably metal, barely 50 meters down the road, caught his eye. Pointing at that direction he yelled to his teammates “There they are! Hurry!!!”

He belatedly realized that shouting may not have been the best thing to do, as he pedaled down the trail.

(760+199=959. sorry for the short post but crunched for time!)

Lucian remained silent as his teammates found varying clues. Sure, the genin saw them too, but he did not feel the need to yell out his findings, Kyofu and Hado did that for him. In retrospect the idea of simply yelling out one's findings was, well, idiotic. However, there was, yet again, no time for chastisement. For now action was the best course of action, consequences be damned. Without a word Lucian hurried down the path Hado indicated. Hopefully, the pair of shinobi with him were following him or he could be running headlong into a trap.

Delito moved behind Lucian with ease, the puppet had become an extension of himself. Quickly approaching the glint Hado had pointed out, Lucian's pace slowed. Twenty meters out he dropped to a slow stalking pace. In the distance he could hear raised voices. Holding a hand up in caution to those behind him, the shinobi took a deep breath and walked up further. The voices were coming from behind what looked like an impenetrable thicket.

"ALRIGHT! HERE IS WHERE THE ROAD ENDS FOR YOU ROYALIST SCUM! HAND OVER YOUR POSSESSIONS AND NO ONE GETS HURT!" A harsh voice issued from behind the thicket.

Clearly whomever had said the words did not know of the three genin hiding behind him. Yes, the vegetation was that thick. Without a sound Lucian would turn around and nod once. Yet again the situation called for action and action they would get. Well, assuming the other two were ready and willing to jump in and save the day.

If the other two genin nodded their consent, Lucian would, with a flick of his wrist, bring Delito straight through the thicket at an astounding speed. The metal puppet moving more like an acrobat than anything else would leave a large hole in the thicket granting the genin a way in. Lucian, naturally, hung back allowing his puppet to do the work. 

Through the hole made by Delito the nature of the situation became clear. On the other side of the thicket lay a clearing where the assumed bandits, with their backs to the three genin had cornered a rather regal looking group of people. No doubt the royal and her entourage. Though at the sound of Delito breaking through the brush the bandits whipped around. It quickly became apparent that the genin were outnumber as there were seven bandits in all. Though, the genin would have little time to reflect on this as an order from the leader sent the seven upon the would be rescuers.

"GUT 'EM BOYS!!!!"

And so, a brief struggle would ensue......

[WC: 437]

As Hado screamed and began to run down the trail Kyofu almost face palmed if it were not for the important situation at hand. Tailing 2 meters behind Hado he would break into a sprint following the kid as they ran the trail. All of them stopped roughly 20 meters away from a voice that had screamed very loudly. Lucian, the leader of their small group turned towards Hado and Kyofu giving them both a nod. 

Kyofu following Hado's lead would nod back and prepare for a sequence of attacks. This would be his first real battle and he did not want to mess up. He slowly raised both of his arm hands stretched out chest height as he waited for an action of some sort. The puppet that was controlled by Lucian would make it's way forward with acrobatic agility as it made a hole through the thicket that kept them separated from the man or men on the other side. Upon clearing the hole 7 men stood around 4 people including the royal who was tied up like the rest of his group. The leader stood in front of the royal angrily, upon hearing the slashing of the puppet the man would turn around and scream at his group of men a loud attack order.

That was Kyo's signal with his hands raised they would shoot forward at blinding speed Kunai in his left hand directed it right at the heart of the man that leaded the roughly small group of bandits. The man not seeing such speed would be quickly punctured and killed quick almost to quickly. Quickly retracting his arm back to it's original position Kyofu would drop the Kunai that was in his mouth into his right hand as he dual wield the Kunai waiting on the frantic attacks of the bandits to begin.

309WC