Talking to Animals, Its still Weird.

After the meeting with the princess there were a lot of things to consider. Why had been given the queensguard position, why were the current or former queensguard hiding secrets of the queen’s death, and lastly and most important to Kyousuke where was Akihana? He had an inkling of where he could start his search and his search wouldn’t be looking for the missing queen, but finding what the queen summons. He could not begin his search immediately though he had to find ser Meryn and receive his equipment, hopefully it wouldn’t be long. After exiting the library, he would say his goodbyes to Atem and head for the armory.
 
The fitting of his jacket took some time, as one of the villages largest ninja it was difficult finding anything that would fit. A flak jacket that would fit him was eventually found, the armory didn’t carry many which seemed logical most people were not giants. With the fitting done all that was left was to get orders from the captain of the guard and its only trained member, Ser Meryn. He would rush to the meeting location possibly spotting one of the other people recently given the title. Kyousuke would listen to and acknowledge everything said, once they had been dismissed he would be out of there swiftly maybe leading onlookers to wonder if he even wanted to be there.
 
Sprinting through the village he would take not of things involving the slugs that Akihana could summon. They talk I think. Slugs like dark, wet places so maybe if I move a few rocks I’ll find one that talks. Maybe it was an extreme amount of optimism, but Kyousuke believed he could find one that would point him in the direction of his queen. He was praying for that from the time he left the library until the present, surely god would provide the path to the slugs. Of course he wouldn’t rely on the lord’s power only he had to do a fair share as well.
 
Getting to the training grounds the ninja started to work looking for the slugs, looking around he spotted a medium sized boulder. That would be a good place for them to be. With a single shove the rock was overturned, bending down he looked for any sign of the desired creature. He widened his eyes upon spotting a few. Getting his face close to the dirt he would whisper to them. “So, ahh… Do you know Akihana? She is blonde, smart, pretty, kind, admirable, bunch of other stuff, awesome.” The creatures wriggled slowly trying to get away from the voice. I take that as a no. He would then gently flip the rock back to its original position.
 
Well there were plenty of slugs under rocks, so at least the chances of finding an intelligent slug was … No, wait even with a lot the chances of one talking were low. It didn’t matter though if he had to search all night he would. Moving about he would find more rocks and flip them over revealing more of the creatures. “Do any of you have information on our queen? She is very important to us.” Again the creatures either remained stationary or wriggled leaving a slime trail in their wake. Picking one of them up at random he made the interrogation more personal. “Please tell me if she is okay, Mr. Slug.” It gently slid across his hand as he spoke. With no answer he could only put the creature down and try another rock. It would all turn out eventually he would think to himself, with only two rocks down out of what a couple hundred how could he feel down.
 
Heading furher into the fields he spotted a cluster of boulders, most no larger than a basketball but he was confident he would see the creatures he looked for underneath. The ninja moved them one after the other speaking to each slug as he spotted them. “Hi, my name is Snow. What should I call you guys?” Wait is that sexist what if one of them is a female slug? “What should I call you folks…?” This time one of them spoke and a sigh of relief washed through Kyousuke’s body… No, that didn’t happen there was just silence from the creatures and a feeling he was going crazy. At least that’s what one of the genin had just called him when he passed and saw him talking to bugs. The presence of the other ninja was why he had not asked about Akihana directly, he didn’t need to have someone overhear and question why he was looking for their queen.
 
Walking through the grounds Kyousuke got a ton of quizzical looks. The stares all seemed to be aimed at his jacket. Surely, it was uncommon to see a member of the queensguard away from the castle and currently he was looking for bugs, so that he could speak to them not a great start to his new job. He had a job already though, he needed to find Akihana and guard her from the dangers of the “threat.” The threat was a mystery to village higher-ups they were aware of one, but not one of the jounin or even the princess seemed to know what this threat was. The threat Den is dealin with and the one Akihana is away handling could be the same or it could be two separate things. Kyousuke had no idea, but he would surely look for ways to help defend the village.
 
Kyousuke thought of the threat as he moved along, Arashi was certain that it was not another major village. Maybe it wasn’t a big threat and the ninja was worried about something the queen could easily handle. That wasn’t a risk that Kyousuke was willing to take though, leaving members of the royal family had cost them their lives before. Even though there were many there to protect the princesses they were defeated, maybe an extra person could have saved them. That mistake was to never happen again. He had vowed to always defend Akihana until the day he no longer breathed and he was failing if he was not sure of her whereabouts.
 
With ever more rocks to be overturned Kyousuke continued his search, he wasn’t looking for average slugs, maybe he had to look in a not so normal place for an abnormal creature. There was a cave further back in the training grounds one that not many used or even had access to. It was only to be used as an escape route during emergencies, maybe he would find one of the sentient slugs there. Entering the cave, the walls appeared moist an ideal condition for the type of creature he looked for, it was also dark another good omen that he may find what he sought. As he moved down the cave he gazed at the walls looking for a slime trail that the slugs left behind, he noticed one on the wall a rather large one in fact. Touching the slime Kyousuke moved it around through his fingers. It is still wet. With renewed excitement Kyousuke pushed ahead looking for the big slug that made the trail.
 
Walking along the ninja spotted a giant blue slug the creature was larger compared to the others of its kind surrounding it. As it spotted the ninja it spat out the slug it was eating and started to crawl away. “Wait!” The jounin would yell hurriedly picking up the slug before it could flee. With the creature in hand he would hold it up to his face. The poor creature must have been frightened as it bit into his nose. It didn’t hurt as the jounin’s skin was ultra-dense, with the creature hanging onto his nose he began to question it. “Do you know Akihana?” The slug stopped attacking with the question and gently flopped back onto his palm.
 
”I don’t know her personally, but my family sure does.” Yes, I found one! Kyousuke was ecstatic after searching through the night he had finally found who he was looking for. “Can you deliver a message to the queen for me?” ”Whoa, whoa, whats in it for me?” Thinking about it what would a slug want maybe some vegetables and a person to sign their summon contract.
 
“I’ll get you a head of cabbage and I will sign your summon scroll.” The slug dwelled on the thought momentarily before making a scroll appear. “Not just anyone is allowed to sign the scroll, had I not sensed the good intent within you I would have left. Also, you owe me two heads of cabbage.”
 
“Deal.” The ninja would say picking up the scroll and opening it gently. With the item unfolded he could see Akihana’s name along with her blood seal. ”Just sign your name and leave some blood, then I’ll show you the seals for the summoning technique.” A pen popped into existence as he readied to sign his name writing his name in he looked at it and prepared to leave a mark in blood. Making a needle like protrusion he would ready to jab his own finger before the slug stopped him. ”Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that? Do you already know how to use nature energy?” Looking into Kyousuke’s body with its chakra senses it saw that his body was filled with natural energy. ”Mother will surely be happy that I found you.” The jounin had know idea why his mother would be interested, but it clearly had something to do with natural energy. Lightly poking his finger with the needle, Kyousuke pressed the bleeding finger against the paper leaving a blood seal. With that the contract was signed and all that was left was to learn the seals for summoning them.
 
”Okay, since you didn’t read the contract there are some things I should tell you. First, read everything before you sign it, second you are now subject to reverse summoning if my people ever require your assistance you are contract bound to answer our call, second if you are in need of assistance we are bound to answer yours, however a payment of energy is required for our services and the cost isn’t always the same. The more powerful members of our family have a higher “price”, to be summoned and will put more strain on your body. I think that’s about it, so onto seals. You want to use the boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram in that order. Then you need to provide some blood, so that we know where to find you. Finally, you need to slam your hand onto a surface where a slug will then appear.”
 
 It seemed simple enough just a few seals, some blood and then hit a surface and a slug will appear. The blue slug watched the ninja as he readied to do it. Making the seals quickly the ninja bit his finger before slamming his hand against the cave wall, upon moving it he saw a blue slug the size of a person’s finger on the wall. ”Well you managed to summon Cookie, so I guess you understand the technique.” The blue slug said something to the one known as Cookie in doing so the creature poofed into smoke and disappeared. Saying goodbye the slug he had found said goodbye and vanished as well, but not before telling him he owed him two heads of cabbage.
 

Kyousuke would get the slug three for his help, with everything the creature had done Kyousuke was closer to finding Akihana. Maybe the creature would even honor his request to deliver a message to the girl. The message was a short message asking her if she was okay and if she could tell him her location and if so could he tell others or would she like to keep her whereabouts private. One way or another Kyousuke would likely go to wherever his Queen was.

WC: 2005
Claiming: (10 Stats and Slugs of Shikkotsu Forest, message delivery to Akihana)
(Exit)