Shadow of a Guard[Azai]

Spoiler:

Pein was quite disappointed with his agenda for the day. As he had returned to his normal, homeless lifestyle, sleeping on a bench in the training grounds, he was awoken for the second time by the shinobi sent to monitor him. This time, he had awoken Pein in a rather disrespectful way. He had thrown a bucket of cold water on the sleeping shinobi's face. Pein, as frustrated as he was, did not give the shinobi the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead of jerking up and acting upset, Pein simply opened his eyes from his sleep. When they would open, he could clearly see the shinobi employed to watch over him with an empty bucket in one hand and a letter in the other. He dropped the letter upon the chest of Pein, turned around and walked off. There really seemed to be an extreme amount of pettiness instilled with this shinobi, but Pein didn't understand why. All this time all he did was try to get under Pein's skin, but the Yuki did not care enough. It was water. Fucking water. Pein needed a shower anyway. But for someone to stoop to such a low level of humiliating another for no apparent reason? Nothing but petty. As the letter sat upon his drenched chest, it began to soak up some of the excess water that had not yet began to drip down from his torso. Pein quickly grabbed the letter and sat it upon a dry portion of the bench. He then stood up, formulated some quick hand seals and all the water covering his body and the letter shot out and away from him in the form of needles. Each would crash into the wood planks of a nearby bench before dissipating into a harmless puddle.

Now completely dry, he picked up the letter, slid his finger in between the seal and the corner and brought it all the way across, thus rupturing the seal. The letter inside the envelope was still a bit moist, as Pein would feel it with his slightly damp hand and unfold it with his drier fingers. When they would finally flatten out the letter, it read the following.

"Pein,
Due to your contribution to Hoshigakure's royal safety, a thanks is extended from the royal you brought back. Additionally, he stated that you seemed distant unlike many Hoshigakure shinobi. Therefore, the elders have requested to pair you up with a Queensman in the City Square for the day. You will learn what he does and his devotion to the village. Hopefully it will rub off on you. Also, there will be another shinobi already shadowing him by the name of Azai Kojuro. Please treat him with respect, as you two may work together extensively in the future."


Pein sighed. He didn't wish to learn what unwavering loyalty and devotion to Hoshigakure was. Hell, the city didn't even want him around so why would he serve it? These so called elders were really starting to get on Pein's nerves. They seemed to always know "best" and their egos wouldn't prevent them from preaching those opinions onto Pein. So, it looked like today he would be following around a police man. How lucky was he? On top of that, he now had to meet another shinobi. It could either be a blessing or a nightmare. 

He folded the letter back up just to stuff it into his pocket, obviously hearing it crinkle and crunch in the process, adjusted his newly obtained ninjato upon his waist and looked back at the bench. Upon it was a headband, a hoshigakure headband. It was unlike the headband that he upon his head, which was a buckle - less band simply tied upon his head. This one seemed to want to identify him with the village, almost as if those up in charge were proud of his work. He laughed, picked it up and slid it upon his head. He did not however let it replace his buckle - less headband, instead he let it hang from his neck. Then, he tucked the headband into the scarf upon his neck so that it was unseen. He wasn't appreciated by the village, this headband was nothing more than a consolation prize. It was more of an insult than a welcoming gift. You can't just have the rudest shinobi of the village watch over a new ninja and have him treat him any kind of way, then expect to win over that same new ninja by offering a headband. A fucking headband. Pein laughed. 

He turned around, then set his way out from the training grounds and towards the city square. It didn't take much time for him to make it to the city square, where there was an obvious Queensman on patrol. He was walking slowly, pacing, almost as if he had been waiting for Pein. Sighing once more for the day, Pein made his way over. When he finally drew closer to the Queensman, the cop called out, "Hey, you Pein?" 

He mispronounced Pein's name. Calling him "peen" instead.

"Pein..." Pein corrected while approaching the man.

"Oh, well I'm Auron. Just watch what I do today and take notes." he said rather shortly and rudely.

Judging by the man's attitude, there was not going to be much conversation between the two. To be quite frank, there wasn't much talking necessary after the man had already begun their encounter by botching Pein's name and not even trying to apologize for it. But again, Pein did not care. All he wanted was for the mission to be over. But perhaps he'd be able to test out his blade today. Perhaps there would be a foolish ninja or civilian looking to terrorize the village today or cause harm to another. Spoiler alert, there wasn't. But Pein's hopes remained high. From his last mission, he craved the feeling of a blade in his hands, and he could not wait to recreate the sensation of using it. 

But there was also another shinobi, it was likely Azai. Pein looked at him, well looked down at him. There was almost a 2 foot gap in height between the two. How old was this guy? He couldn't have been that young though for his body stature indicated he had quite a muscular tone to it. Maybe he was just a late bloomer. He continued to study his appearance, a crooked nose but otherwise symmetrical facial features. But Pein could tell something was similar between the two. Neither had a home. It was apparent from Azai's tattered and torn attire that he wasn't a stranger to sleeping on the streets, which struck a chord with Pein. He wasn't the only one. Although Azai likely had it better off for he at least had his pooch, which was by his side. 

"Azai? How long have you been shadowing this...Auron?" Pein inquired in a reserved tone.

Although there were similarities between the two, Pein still wasn't much of a speaker. He would try to make conversation with the other shinobi though. The two didn't seem so different.

As the Queensman set out on his daily rounds, Pein followed behind alongside Azai. Pein would not extend his initial conversation with Azai unless Azai chose to. With the queensman, Pein planned on sharing no words. Ironically enough, the policeman seemed rather friendly to those that passed by him. So friendly that it was like he was trying to make a point. A point to say, "Hey, fuck you Pein and you're gorgeous face." But he never said such a thing, although his demeanor screamed it. Pein paid no attention to his attitude though. Instead, he watched the actions of the man. He seemed to have it written in his job description to help out those in need but only those with the smallest problems. Anything more serious would have to be set on the mission board and requesting of a shinobi, like Pein to do it. Instead, he seemed to handle small requests and petty criminal offenses. But what else would he be expected to do? It's not like there was immense amounts of crime occurring in Hoshi. There were no packs of dogs controlling most of the districts of Hoshi. So what else would he do? He was a security guard. Nothing more, nothing less. But Pein still figured he had to have been a talented one. You shouldn't entrust the lives of many into an incompetent bunch. No, he had to have been right for the job.

As Pein was lost in thought, the sound of loud foot steps began to approach the pair. From the sound of it, they were not spaced out and were taking quick steps. The person was running. But why? And why straight in the direction of Pein and Auron? As Pein turned his head quickly to the left, he saw a shinobi rushing at the guard with a kunai in hand. It seemed as if he had full intent on injuring, if not killing the guard. Pein noticed this and acted quickly, for it seemed as if Auron were too distracted by a civilian to notice. Pein quickly placed his left hand upon the neck of the sheath on his left hip as his right quickly gripped the hilt of the ninjato. In one swift movement he unsheathed the blade about three fourths of the way and drove the hilt of the blade into the abdomen of the incoming shinobi. Such a blunt, quick strike caught the shinobi off guard and caused him to fall to the ground unconscious. Pein, retracted the ninjato back into the sheath and said nothing.

"Damn, you might have saved my life! Thank you! I'll get this kid detained and have the jounin figure out how they want to deal with them! I appreciate it...now you two can go on your way!" Auron said to Pein while lifting the fallen shinobi up, pocketing his kunai and carrying him on his shoulder back to the queensman department. 

Pein simply stood there, awaiting for something else to happen, but it didn't. 

He turned to Azai and concluded the mission. 

"Well, I got this letter saying that you and I will be paired up more in the future. So, see ya around I guess..."

With that being said, Pein turned around and walked to the market to grab a bite of food to eat.  

[Exit]

WC: 1743

Claiming 500 Ryo, 1 AP and 1 CD post 

Also claiming Battojutsu: Quickdraw [877(initial) + 1123] = 2000/2000

Dumping the remaining 620 words into Body Flicker -> 620/1000

For what was possibly the first time in several years, the little stain on Hoshigakure’s otherwise pristine shirt was sprawled out similar to a bearskin rug across a bed made of one thousand cuddly puppies, his companion huddled beside him, legs extended across the bed. The sheets were made of the finest silk in all of the city, and the pillows seems to defy gravity as they gave the head support. Sitting up in bed, he gazed about the room with a dazed look to his chocolate eyes, and to him this might as well have been a five star hotel. In reality, to people with normal living standards, this empty, nearly one roomed apartment may as well be a shit hole. The bed was nothing special, the room was void of furniture or decoration, and most appliances, aside from an empty fridge which he had kept open over the course of the night thanks to the broken air conditioner. The air conditioner that held a note which read, “Azai, this is going to be fixed by Monday. On a side note,” the little paper was cut off by an arrow which pointed to another similar square of paper stuck to the side of the AC. This second note read, “One of the city’s Queensman will take you on duty with him for the day. We will not continue to support your living habits if you do not do work for the village. Consider this your one warning.” The thought didn’t really cross his mind, but someone had to have entered his apartment to place those notes. Hmm.

It was then that he heard a knock on the door, to which his dog merely grunted at. Azai himself, wearing nothing but shorts, figured it was the Queensman. “Come in!”

The man cracked open the door and peeked inside, nodding to the now-homed homeless child. “Alrighty then, ready up. We’ve got somewhere else to be,” he would say before dipping out of the apartment and waiting outside the door.

Walking over to Okina, Azai gave her a quick pat on the head as he was reaching for his one and only tattered grey shirt. Slipping it on, he rolled up his sleeves before glancing at his vest. “Hmmm.” Nah, he wasn’t gonna wear it, it was probably hot outside. Glancing down, he saw barefeet, dinghy shorts, and a tattered shirt, which may not have been totally appropriate for a mission. Come to think on it, he wasn’t entirely sure what his task was just yet, but he figured that he would have to dress up a bit more. But oh well, he’s only just began his quest for money and riches after all.

The dog, while usually at his side, could not be moved to go with him on this day, so he had let her remain on the bed. From his bed, he would go to the door and hop out of his apartment, following alongside the Queensman in silence.

The Queensman, whose name was unknown to the boy, only gave him a weird look. “A bit casual eh?” Crickets. With that he grumbled something under his breath and picked up the pace a bit.

Their destination was the City Square, where another genin was to join the two, another thing unknown to the brown messy haired child, but as soon as he found out, he felt mostly indifferent. Upon arrival the Square, he would continue to follow the nameless officer around, until he called out a Mr. Peen.

Looking the other genin up and down, he noticed a distinct trait the boy seemed to hold. The word for it was… Err, it was right on the tip of his tongue. “Hmm,” came from his throat as he thought about it. It was like this look in his eye, a look that reached out and spoke out about his.. Hm. The word was still lingering on his lips. Except that it wasn’t because he hadn’t said anything to reply to Peen’s question about how long Azai had been shadowing this guard.

Almost as quickly as the thought had entered his mind, it had left. With a shrug of his shoulder, he spoke with an unexcited, indifferent tone, “About half an hour. Nothing much has happened so far.”

And for a while longer, nothing would happen. Silence was enough for Azai to be content, and silent he was. Well unless Pein decided to continue their conversation, but really it didn’t have anywhere else to go. Overtime, the Dog Boy quit paying attention entirely to the officer, and began to make awkward eye contact with passers by, and stare at women for his own amusement. He kept pace with Peen and Aurshorun… No that wasn’t right. But anyway, he kept pace with the two whilst persisting his little hijinks.

Why would an official ninja from Hoshigakure begin to disobey orders on a mission you ask? It was pretty clear that, even for his inferior canine brain, this mission was easy. The man he was shadowing was tasked with devoting his life to the village and helping those in need. That’s what he was supposed to do right? Learn what the man did? Good, mission complete.

It was almost a second too late, that he would be pulled from his distraction and back into what was happening. Reflexively, he side stepped to the left, as the footsteps had hit his right ear first. But it was all for nothing, as Peen was fast on the draw, and Azai watched as the man fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

With his eyebrows lifted into little arches, he would comment, “Nice.” Before the guard could pick him up, the boy would put his hand over the suspect's head and use the basic medical jutsu to heal his wounds. The criminal would remain unconscious, but should the Queensmen decide to torture him, he would be at his peak, so they could go to town. He ignored the guard as the man said his thanks and took his leave. The boy would then turn to Peen at the same time that he turned to Azai, where he would be informed that they would be working together for a bit longer in the coming days, weeks, maybe months.

“Works for me.” With his non talkative self finished, he left and said, “See ya later Peen.” Azai then made his way back his new one room home.

[1025/500 for the mission
Claiming mission rewards
Basic Medical Ninjutsu 500/500
ew, lazy post]

Approved and such.