Uhhh I think you misplaced the wall [Kasuga]

After her most recent mission, Aya had become rather complacent and also slightly bummed and depressed. She had recently turned 17, just after becoming a genin, and yet she was spending another year not knowing about her parents.

She laid on her branch and stared up at the clouds passing by as her horse nibbled on the grass. She rolled on her side and watched as the warm summer air clung to her garments. "I bet you'd like to go for a run, huh?" she said and then sighed, watching the horse lift its head to her words and then went back to grazing.

Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, she stretched and then climbed over to the other side of the tree that was fresh with ripe Gala apples and ate breakfast as bees buzzed around to try and get a taste of the sweet juices that dripped from the fruit.

Then the horse wandered over and stomped at the ground. "Sorry girl!" Ayame said picking another apple and tossing it to her horse. As she finished and got down to the core, she gave that to the horse as well.

She needed a mission or something to take her mind off of this... this lingering feeling of loneliness. She could seek out a mission from the kage. There seems to be an absence of ninja recently anyway; he's bound to have something for her to help with. She reached up and grabbed a few apples from her tree, placing them in a basket with an open top. She was originally going to put them in her weapons pouch, but then again that could be an idea that could go horribly with the wrong people.

Without a second thought, Ayame hopped down from the tree and left the training field with nita on her shoulder and headed to the kage's office, stopping off to leave some apples on the counter at ichiraku's for the cook as she forgot to pay her bill when she had eaten there with Orokana. She then continued until she got to the large building. Then she started to shake a little. The intimidation was more than enough to make her want to turn around and go home, but there was really nothing better for her to do.

As she entered and roamed the halls she felt as if the sea of people never ended. Granted it probably wasnt that busy on the given day. These people were all higher than genin too, that was a given by age and the way they help themselves and their confidence.

Ayame tried to straighten her posture and look more sure of herself, but she was so tiny and toothpick like compared to these men and women she passed.

Keeping her eyes low she continued on until she got to the Hokage's office, stopping at the door. Because she had kept her eyes downcast the whole time, it wasn't until she went to knock that she noticed the gaping hole to the right of the door. It was so huge that even her horse could fit through it had it been along.

Ayame peeked her head around it to look inside. "Uhh... Mr. Hokage, sir, are you in? I was going to ask if you could assign me to a mission...If thats okay, that is. I can come back later if now isn't a good time." She asked through the gap, not sure whether it would be rude to just enter or not. Nita stood firm but could barely see anything due to her horrible vision.

She had heard a rumor that he didn't like doors, and apparently that was true. So wouldn't it have been easier for the staff to remove the doors rather than make a hole next to the doorway that could easily be converted into a hole.

(Hope this okay fifi ^^ not sure what the office looks like or anything)

"Wonder what the hell the old man wants now...Probably going to yell at me for beating those three up during that training exercise yesterday, but they were asking for it...Maybe he has something he needed to talk to me about," the young heir to the Ametsuchi clan wondered what his father had suddenly wanted from him, and this he had been walking towards the Administrative building slowly. Dressed in his blue pants, Blue and black overcoat and head band which had been dangling over his neck he walked onward. He had been quite tired since his last excursion outside of the village and thus he was a little crankier than usual, enough to probably put a hole in something if he could get the chance to.

As soon as he made it towards the office he walked in and walked past the secretary, giving a small wave before heading up to the office. As he reared the corner and came towards the opposite side of the wall, he could see two others there though he spoke not to them. Instead he walked closer to the wall and simply flicked it with his full strength creating another hole inside of the wall and walking inside of it," What did you want to see me for...Lord Hokage?," he wasn't very sure he should have called him pops or whatever, but he had been slightly irritated at the fact that he was here. From first glance anyone could see that he was only wearing the jacket over his upper body and nothing under it except for his head band, but his pants and everything else had matched.

Ayame heard someone approaching from behind her. She slowly turned around and noticed a rather muscular guy approaching. She looked him up and down noticing his... well... interesting sense of style. It wasn't bad, but man was it weird to wear a jacket without an undershit. And boy,was he ripped.

Ayame immediately felt intimidated by him and averted her gaze. Only for a second, as the sound of crashing concrete and wood beams startled her. Rubble seemed to have taken over the hallway as the boy walked through the new and bigger gaping hole on the other side of the door.

"What is it with people and doors in this building?" Aya thought to herself, leaving the hole she was going to walk in and walking over to Kasuga's, examining it. Did all Leaf-people hate doors?

She looked like a deer in the headlights in all fairness.

Nita scampered into the room without hesitation and stood on her hind legs sniffing around and investigating the new hole and the proceedings in the room.

Ayame froze once her companion left her and took on a look that was even more terrified. "Nita what are you doing?" she thought, in a slight panic.

Ayame blinked as she watched the well-toned boy slide over the desk and into the hokage's chair, for no real reason. Who was he? He looked somewhat familiar so he must live in the village, and she may have seen him in the hospital before while she was doing her volunteer work, but still she remained clueless as to the boy's identity.

He stood up and asked her for her name. "Nezumichi, Ayame" she said formally while straightening her posture. "Rank: Genin" she added, usure of whether this guy was real high up and unsure of whether to behave formally or casually. Being in the Hokage's office, she assumed formal.

But his response baffled her. He just leaned back on the desk without a care in the world and tossed her the scroll that he had been reading moments prior. She watched him stroll on out of the room after his final words to her in that session like nobody's business, her eyes following him closely and then lingering on the hole a moment before what was going on sank in.

Shw briefly glanced over the mission not really paying attention to most of the details, and dropped her basket of apples. As they rolled all over the floor, she glanced again at the scroll in a double-take fashion, and then scooped Nita up into her arms. She felt for her weapon pouch and was shocked to find it wasn't on her. She then remembered where it was. Something kept bothering her though. Why was she on an escort mission? Especially after her most recent mission with Queen. She was sure that everyone had heard about that. Queen probably told anyone with ears about her. Maybe this was her chance to redeem herself. She was getting a second chance probably.

Ayame scooped up her rat and ran through the usual flow of people to catch up to the boy that she had talked to earlier. She stopped short of the secretary desk and watched the interaction. "You said you were escorting me?" she asked though it was more of a statement. She set Nita back on the ground and extended the scroll back to him. "I need to grab something from back home. Would you like to accompany me?"

Good. She had been the one he needed to take on this mission and bring back to the village safe afterwords. Not a bad mission, but then again he didn't really want to be bothered so he would simply get through this as quickly as possible before things got a little complicated. As he made his way out he gave the girl a small look before smirking," And don't be so formal with me, i'm not the Hokage so it ain't needed. Name's Kasuga by the way and try not to do anything stupid in this mission alright?," with that he left to head downstairs. While he had been talking to the secretary down stairs, he heard the girl, Aya, coming down stairs and asking about going back to her house to get something in which he shrugged and motioned for her to do so," Go ahead and just meet me at the gates, with everything this time preferably. Ten minutes is all i'm giving before I depart got it?," with that he left out of the office and down the street towards the gates.

"So you thinking of what this girl has to do with the mission aren't you?," the ever present voice of his...well counterpart Erebus filling the recesses of his mind as they walked. " In all honesty I don't care. Whatever he wanted to me do this for will be learned afterwards for now...we just go with the flow," responding to the demon mentally he crossed his arms and continued onward towards the gate. With his arrival there he leaned against it in silence, looking over towards the guards who had simply nodded to the wandering ninja before going onto their duty.

"Y-yes sir," Aya started and caught herself a moment to late, "I mean... alright." She corrected unable to make eye contact and running past him to get home. It took her ten minutes at a leisurely walk to get to the hokage's office, so it shouldn't take long if she ran.

Ayame got back to her tree and grabbed the weapon pouch that hung next to the backpack that held her sets of clothes. she stopped and shifted her weight back and forth as she put it on. While she was up in the tree, she made sure to grab a few apples for lunch later.

After she slid the apples into her weapons pouch, she ran to the village gates, meeting the etheral haired boy. How was he so lax, this was such serious business! At least she thought.

"So um, Kasuga..." She started, "Where are we going again? and Why?" she asked curiously, brushing her hair away from her eyes and removing her headband from her waist to tie it up on her head, keeping her bangs out of her eyes.

Meanwhile, Nita had been an obiediant little ratling and followed Ayame when she had taken off and returned to the gate, however, she was now growing more curious about kasuga. Nita neared him, closer than Ayame was willing to get for the moment, and stood on her hid legs to get a good whiff of him, memorizing his scent. (will happen at 2000 words but i havent been keeping track)

For a moment Kasuga looked at the small girl for a moment wondering if she had actually read the scroll or not in which he simply looked at her," If you had read the scroll that i gave you in full then you would know its some relief effort you are being escorted to help in. Now if you need more information read the scroll please," with that he looked down to see the mouse looking up at him, in which at his full speed he would lift it by its tail and looked it over. Maybe this had belonged to Ayame in which he moved it back over to her shoulder and began to walk off," This your pet or something? If so might want to keep her at arms reach now let's go," walking out of the village gates, he looked towards the guards which had simply let him and his charge out of the village to head toward their destination. As he lead her through the village he occasionally looked around as if he was looking for something though in reality he was speaking with the demon inside of his head. A peaceful walk was nice every once in a while even if it was on a mission. The thoughts of his sister filled his head as he continued to move onward," So why did you want to do this mission huh?," looking over his shoulder he attempted to make small talk while they had traveled.

Ayame stammered, "W-well I read over it... but I have no idea of the location" She said thinking to herself. "I'm a pretty new genin and haven't been out of the village much" she muttered half-heartedly. Then in what seemed like a flash of light he was holding Nita by the tail and she was squirming around trying to find something to hold onto. "U-umm.. She's not just a pet. She's my partner, and I'm gonna be with her until the day one of us dies." Ayame said softly petting her rat as it hid from kasuga on the back of her neck behind her hair with her tail lightly wrapped around Ayame's neck.

Aya stood in place a moment as he began walking and then ran to catch up to him, staying a safe distance back from him as well. She wasn't paying attention to where they were going and had zoned out on the back of his head while thinking to herself about the mission. There was a terrible storm as of late and they needed to check up on the town to make sure its lesser defenses fared well.

When the boy looked over at her and asked her a question, it took her a moment to refocus her eyes. "Sorry, what?" and then it registered in her brain. "Oh, ummm. Well I didnt really choose this mission. I was going to go to the Hokage and ask if there was anything available. After my last mission, I needed something to take my mind off it. I guess I can't be trusted as I need an escort, huh?" she said trying to laugh at the situation, but it turned into an awkward nervous laugh and then a sigh. How the hell was he so confident?

Ayame followed him for a while on the twisty paths that lead to the little village and when she could start to see the tops of buildings and stuff, she ran on ahead, eager to get started, but upon entering, her eyes were only met with devastation. Boughs lie strewn in the streets, children sat against some of the cemented buildings huddling together, trying to keep dry and warm, and buildings were crushed, at least partially, by trees from inside the village. Leaves and branches blanketed the earth in blotches, as if weaving between the layers of the earth in strips.

In the center of the village a humongous uprooted tree lay with a crowd of people around one side of it, crying out in mass hysteria. Should Kasuga and Ayame get close enough to it, they would see an elderly man that has a cane with him and a little boy, about six, with a head injury both on their stomachs and being crushed by a tree as well as an even younger girl, maybe three, who didn't make it, her eyes glassy and glazed over, still clutching her dolly close to her while watching the clouds with an eerie stillness.

Ayame froze taking in the situations all at once. She felt a pull, like the ebb of the tide, trying to wake her from her paralysis. One. The first wave of energy came quicky trying to Jumpstart her. Two. The jumpstart got more powerful. Aya could almost will herself to move. Three.

Ayame forced herself out of it, almost as if force waking herself from a dream via jumpscare.

She fully entered the village now, rather than standing at the front of the beaten down gates and ran toward all the commotion, falling out of her quiet mood and becoming serious.

-Exit-

(Note: Entering the village will be the exit point to this thread so that a new one may start up with possible "training" and so that Kassi can do what he needs to do, before we continue in the "Forest" section) (will link upon creation)

The male looked at her for a moment wondering if she had been just that optimistic or that happy. Not in the peculiar mood of caring he gave off his usual shrug and kept walking," I see..Well this small part of the Land of Fire was hit with a really bad storm and it is in need of a relief squad. You are the first and a few others will follow after I escort you there...and a rat for a partner? Interesting," it was all he felt like saying at the moment as he continued onward with his mission, looking at the wrecked parts of the gates standing about, a small but visible frown on his face as he walked over to the one of the guards and began to converse with him. Seeing Ayame rush off to help people, the male nodded to the guard, notifying him that he would be back once he had gotten the others here and reported the status of the small village to the Hokage.

[Exit for now]