Transparency (Assemble All Hoshigakure Jounin)

The still humidity of the library itself seem to buzz with nervous energy as the afternoon sun beat down on Princess Tehniyat though the wide open windows of the large room. It was hot enough to cook meat on the pavement outside the palace walls, or a least that's how The Princess Tehniyat, First of Her Name, Daughter of Princess Azra and Lord Bukhari and Royal Treasurer of the Palaces of Hoshigakure, had heard it described. Never having actually cooked anything in her life, the nineteen year old royal wasn't entirely sure how the process accrued, but she knew to take the servant's word for it. s usual, the heat did little to perturb the blonde, one of the many arts of being a princess being to look like one at all times. Today, Tehniyat was dressed between simple and regal, unsure what kind of image to project towards all the jounin gathering here upon her summon. Some of them she knew, others she had never met and only knew through the files from Lord Denkiteki's office. All of them, she had considered carefully for the task ahead.

While the princess would never say that Denkiteki had ran his shinobi in a way benefiting of a ninja village, she would readily admit that it was time for this game of smoke and mirrors to end. If these were their highest ranking ninja - ninja sworn to serve Queen and country - then the least they deserved in return was the truth. Tehniyat would not start her reign as co leader of Hoshigakure with a lie, which was why this meeting was called. All Jounin had been invited to attend - invited the way one was invited to a mandatory gathering, declining the invitation not being an option. Any jounin not present would be in direct disobedience to the crown and punished accordingly.

Only one chunin was in attendance, her personal guard Ser Atem who know waited outside the room, ready to usher the jounin in as they arrived. Tehniyat in turn took her place behind her large, luxurious wooden desk, the paper and files in front of her cleared temporarily to make her look more available and accessible to the small gathering of ninja. The light blue gown she wore today was made of fairly light material, no frills or laces. No excessive jewelry adorned the princess either, only a small crown o her head embedded with a large jade at the center marked her position at court, a symbol of authority more than simply a piece of decoration.

Seated on her chair, posture ramrod straight and hands folded with casual grace, her eyes remaind sharp, green and on point, awaiting the arrival of the people she was now supposed to lead.

A letter had arrived he stared at it momentarily not wanting quite yet to tear into the wax seal of Hoshi’s royalty. This is going to be good. He picked of the wax gently taking the letter within and began to read. It was for a mandatory meeting of all jounin, requested by Princess Tehniyat. The ninja grabbed his jacket immediately, turned off the stove, putting what remained in the pot in the fridge to cooldown and stay fresh.

With that he turned the knob to his home and rushed through the door. Once he was in front of the library he approached the doors. Atem stood outside, which meant the princess surely was already inside. Kyousuke moved forward presenting the invitation to the chuunin, before he was directed inside. As he walked through the library he came across the room with the princess within.

He entered the door, kneeling as he went over the threshold. “Morning, your grace.” Once, she acknowledged his presence or told him to rise he would take his seat. There were a few other jounin that would be coming. As he waited he couldn’t help but wonder what the meeting was about. It had to be big if all of the jounin were to gather.

The Palace life was way too comfortable, but it was a life he was starting to get used to.  His brother, however, seemed to spend more and more time out of the Palace.  In this case, Arashi was watching Arata as he trained below... there was a clear look of malicious intent on his training.  The boy was traveling down a very dangerous path, and Arashi feared that if his mother didn't return soon, Arata would go rogue.  He was already showing a heavy amount of displeasure at the state of things in Hoshi.  It was a village of peace, and without anything more than missin-nin, the young boy wanted more.

He heard the door open, and stood motionless for a moment as he heard footsteps enter.

"Prince Arashi, I bear a letter from the Royal Treasury.  It's marked important."

Arashi sighed and turned to address the housekeeper for his rooms.  He gave a small smiled and nodded, as the housekeeper handed the letter and walked off.  Arashi was as clean as he could get, which made the aid much happier as his job was easy.  He looked down at the name emblazoned on the front, and then turned it over to the Royal seal.  He turned to Akihana's desk, and then decided against it, pushing chakra into his finger to break the seal and open the letter.  It was a summons.  By Princess Tehiyat. 

He smiled; he would finally get to meet this Royal who could very well save him from a life of throne-occupation.  Making sure he was dressed to impress, Arashi took the letter with him, and headed out to the hall, doing his best to ignore the greetings of Prince Arashi as much as he could.  Thanks to his location, he was at the doors to the library in almost no time at all, showing the younger ninja his letter and walking in.

"You must be Princess Tehiyat.  Arashi Tekiatsu-Akari, reporting as you requested." he said, walking and taking a seat near the front.

It was a well known fact within certain portions of Hoshi's postal carriers that Shiroi Shinzo was rarely home. The small one room dwelling, with it's single burner, small icebox, closed in toilet,  barely concealed shower, and unkempt futon laid across the floor to allow for SOME closet space, didn't really appeal to Shiroi. Someone who didn't need clothes wouldn't need to change. Shiroi only owned three or four sets of clothing, anyways. Someone that grew up sleeping on matted grass in the least muddy spot she could find didn't need a bed. Benches worked just fine. She had enough disposable income to buy food for every meal, and was skilled enough to trap and prepare small game if she ever ran low on cash. She never had to go home and cook anything. Public restrooms were plentiful. When you can make dirty parts of your skin just.. fall off and grow back replacement bits with a single hand seal, you really don't need a bath either.

It was different, living the life of a Nomad in a village. She'd been mistaken for homeless on more than one occasion, some of which resulted in the person giving her money without even being asked. She had not always returned it.

There was one location she spent most nights, however. She'd sneak into the large rafters of the KY Archives with however many books she'd bothered to grab, and a flashlight. She'd stay up reading until the book fell onto her tired face and she fell asleep. If it was a particularly good (and long) series, she would sometimes go entire days without sleep.

On this particular morning, Genji Monotagari lay splayed out across her face, the flashlight resting on her shoulder having long since died out. She had taken up reading it again in the light of day that now filled the large room. However now, instead of holding the book above her while laying down, she sat up against the large beam running from the rafters to the roof.

It was shortly after finishing the tale that she heard someone call out her name. It wasn't a particularly uncommon occurrence. The archives were a very short jaunt from her registered place of residence, and the mail carrier that served this area was... not really a friend, but they were slightly more than acquaintances. He often stopped by the library to look for her before going by her house to drop off mail if she hadn't been located.

Shiroi felt like just letting him drop it off at her place and start the next book, but she hadn't actually opened another book yet. So, she may as well hop down and get whatever it was he had.

Gathering up the small pile of books, she jumped down from the rafters. The flashlight was in the pocket of the hoodie she currently "wore", and her headband was turned to the back, hiding the Hoshi insignia in her hood, even though it rested against her back. Ninja still were not the most accepted group in the village, and the fewer people jeering at her, the better. That was a big reason why she had the headband attached to a scarf instead of the standard material. For her, the difference between "Ninja" and "Civilian" in the eyes of civilians was the difference of 180 degrees.

Walking up to the man, she also dropped a number of books into the return bin.

"Ah, Ms. Shinzo!" said the postal carrier.

"You don't have to call me that, Saul. Shiroi is fine."


"I know that, just job formalities and all." He shifted his weight around a little.

"You're not much one for formalities," Shiroi said, recalling when Saul found her accidentally answering the door butt naked. She quickly cleared her throat to get the memory out of the forefront of her mind.

"Today's different," he said, looking around the two a bit. He quickly handed her a single, rather ornate envelope, and tried to elope while she was examining it. Of course, Shiroi noticed him dodging away from her, but paid no mind to it, she had already seen the most important piece of this envelope.

The royal seal.

Shiroi grabbed a single book from her remaining pile, Kokin Wakashuu, and placed the rest in the return bin. Walking up to the librarian, she checkout out the book while unceremoniously ripping off the top of the envelope. It was a summons disguised as an invitation. Either something big just happened, or I'm about to be killed she thought.

Walking into the bathroom, Shiroi performed a single Ram hand seal. Her hoodie and shorts transformed into something more resembling of the Jounin gear, although she did not have her flak jacket yet. Her new "attire" consisted of medium length, tight black shorts and a light grey shirt that, while almost perfectly form fitting, was a few inches longer than her torso. It had short sleeves that ended barely a few inches from her shoulders.

That was not the only thing that happened, however. Her skin seemed to change color, but only ever so slightly, from the top down. A line of ever so slightly lighter skin appeared on her body as a small bump appeared on her outer left ankle. The bump grew and seemed to pull out from her body, until it was a bulbous, fleshy extension connected to her leg by a flimsy flap of skin. She "curled up" a bit, her legs bending while her thighs came to rest almost parallel to her chest, allowing her to easily reach the sphere, before roughly pulling it off and throwing it in the trash. It was a quick sprint home to pick up her flak jacket and turn her Hoshi placard to the front before heading to where the summons said to go.

Shiroi showed the chuunin outside the door her letter and went inside. Upon seeing the princess, she stood heels together, back straight, arms at her side. Then, raising both arms up, her right leg would reach backwards. One arm would make a flourishing movement before finding residence near her chest while her back slowly tilted forwards. The right leg would hide behind the knee of the left as she bent down, lowering her overall height, short as it had been. She would keep her back parallel to the ground and her leg at a fourty five degree angle to it for three seconds before standing back up and going to take a seat as far away from Kyousuke as she could manage without making it obvious that she did not wish to sit next to the behemoth of a person. She ended up sitting next to Talia who, even while sitting, was still about half a head taller than Shiroi.


[Edit: I just want to tell people that my email notifications don't get to be because POP3 isn't working right now, so yeah.]

As the Jounin filled in, one by one, the princess Tehniyat found herself once again wondering if this was the right course of action. Not for the first time, she wished her Aunt Shiera was here to lend her experience and wisdom. Who had been her Aunt's council when she had decided to let shinobi in their country? What would the late Queen say to Tehniyat now? Rising to her feet when the entire compliment pof the senior ninja force was gathered, the blonde princess performed a prefect, on point curtsy, welcoming the men and women to the palace.

"I'd like to begin by expressing my gratitude towards all of you for making it on such short notice. The crown owes you an apology for this necessary formality but I'm... rather new at this." The princess paused, giving everyone a moment to digest her own uncertainty. Normally, royalty was only to project grace and poise but if she was going to start the fashion of honesty and transparency, then she would have to admit to being vulnerable at times.

"I'm afraid there's been information kept from us all, myself included, up until a few days ago. I'm not entirely sure how to say it out loud without doing it justice so i suppose simple words will have to do do." Taking a deep breath, the nineteen year old forced to grow up too quickly spoke again. "Our Queen is dead. She has been one with the stars for over two months now. The Queensguard in their wisdom decided to keep Her Grace's passing a secret because they feared it would cause widespread panic. I have yet to know what their excuse for keeping her death from her own family was and in truth, finding out will not reverse the past." It would no more bring back her aunt than make the sun rise from the west, something Tehniyat had forced herself to come to terms with in the dark hours she'd spent with little Kanzaki on her lap, fighting one nightmare after another.

"Secondly, Lady Akihana is not in Haven." The blonde paused, unsure how this news woudl be received by the gathering of Jounin. She knew the chief medic had a personal relationship with a great many of the people gathered here. Tehniyat couldn't justly look Prince Arashi in the eye as she delivered the news, afraid of what she would see there. "I don't know where she is, I was not told. Lord Hogokage simply said she was dealing with a threat. I neither asked for the nature of the threat nor did he elaborate. I do not know when she will return but until she does, we are one shinobi short." The princess wasn't entirely sure if Lady Akihana was an integral part of the shinobi forces so she couldn't have been prepared for the response no matter what it turned out to be.

"And finally," she added, to finish off the trifecta of somber news. "Lord Denkiteki and my meeting resulted in a small but significant change in our hierarchy. The kage saw fit to name me as co Village Leader or "kage" as shinobi refer to it. While he strengthens Hoshi's defenses from the outside along with Prince Arthur, I am to manage administrative and day to day work of running a shinobi force - a role I would not have asked for if given one wish." She paused, hoping someone would laugh to break the tension because she herself could not even manage a smile. The matter at hand was too serious.

"I will not pretend to know everything there is to know about managing a shinobi force, nor will I make false promises and claims to all of you, you deserve more respect than that. I will however assure you that I believe in transparency and the truth. I will need help, I will require your patience in this transitioning process and most importantly, I will require your understanding as I work through the administrative webs of shinobi bureaucracy." The Royal Treasurer lapsed into silence, inviting any question and comments after her announcements.

Ugh oh. Kyousuke thought looking at Shina’s face as she entered. She had a cross between a half grin and accusing eyes. What did I do now? She still walked over to where he sat and took a seat beside him, which meant whatever it was wasn’t too bad. Maybe she was mad that they hadn’t had a chance to go through with their mission, Kyousuke had been rather busy lately doing work away from the village. Looking at the jacket on her shoulders it seemed oversized, not as big as Kyousuke’s of course. But it still seemed to fall off her shoulders every so often.

There were a few other jounin that Snow had heard of, but never met. They all came through the door bowing or kneeling just as he himself had. He waved to them all, but remained seated they could chat after business was taken care of. He looked around the room and it seemed Shiroi was missing. The meeting couldn’t start without pipsqueak. Searching for her chakra he locked onto its presence outside of the building. She entered the room shortly after that and took a seat away from Kyousuke. Why are all the girls I talk to mad at me today? At least she hadn’t looked his way and scowled.


With the gathering of shinobi the meeting finally began. The princess seemed rather on edge as she readied herself to speak, it was evident that what followed would not be pleasant. And it began there were things kept from everyone, the queen was dead, and the queensguard for some reason or another had covered it up.

The second bit of news was while something he had assumed, was something he didn’t know if he wanted to be certain on. Akihana is not in Haven, he didn’t look at Shina likely she wore the same worried expression he was. It seemed that the Hogokage had known all along and informed no one, was he aware of the Queen’s passing? The story was that Akihana was attending to the ill queen. Kyousuke could handle her being in a safe place within the castle, but dealing with threats. Likely on her own was something that he couldn’t tolerate.

He kept quiet though, he needed to remain calm if he was going to be of use to anyone. Besides only the kage seems to know where she had gone, he had said a threat. Akihana had been missing for two months and was a strong shinobi. It must have been a pretty big threat to hold her up this long, another large village.

There was one final piece of information that the princess and Den now shared the burden of leading the village. The claim that he was strengthening the village from outside made this “threat” seem all of the more serious. She then said she knew little of running a military force and would require help from them all. Which was probably true all of the ninja gathered were indeed necessary at the moment. After her final statements she opened the floor for questions.

“Should we be preparing for battle with another village? If the Hogokage is strengthening our outside defenses and Queen Akihana is dealing with an outside threat.” That was the first of many questions, the jounin thought of. Maybe one of the others had questions they would like to ask, so he finished after the one.

Arashi sat still as the Princess started her meeting, but as she spoke, a chill went down his spine.  Not because of the information, but that the poor girl was kept from this information that he had known for a long, long time.  He couldn't hide it, either, as he suddenly averted his eyes from her.  The Queen's death had been secret, but they had no chance of keeping such information from Arashi, and when his mother left, the first thing he did was find out how the Queen was doing. 

Maybe Aki needed to be somewhere and he could help out the other nurses?  But no, what he found.. it initially hurt him as much as when he watched the Princess of Bird Country die in front of him.  He stayed silent, at least in the public eye, but it hadn't been long until the Queensguards came to him and Ser Meryn questioned him... asking him to swear to secrecy as well.  Aki would have been proud, her son figured out the sad truth quickly.

He knew exactly where Akihana was... and why she was there.  At least in part of why she was there.  She wrote him a letter and told him everything he needed to know.  Evidently, Den decided that knowledge was also to be restricted.  He couldn't look the Princess in the eyes; he felt like his own title had mistakenly put him in a higher position than the true heir.  At least... at least this would free him from becoming a King or anything like that.. right?

It was after Kyousuke spoke that he finally got the courage to look up.. at least to him, not her.

"That's.. that's not necessary.  Hoshi is still relatively shadowed in the world.  Mom- I mean, Akihana, left to make sure that when our village is on the map, we will be safe from the others.  She's trusted us to make sure our village is secured, like a real ninja village should be." he said, trying his best to not give too much away.