Meet and greet! (Open,)

Spoiler:

It was about noon as Hikari Namikaze was standing at her post right outside the village. It was supper hot outside. Hikari was glad that she was sitting behind a desk in the shade right now, with a huge cooler of water next to her. She was also glad that she was in her combat outfit, which was made of very light material and was very white, so the heat wasn’t killer.

The sixteen year old was given her first real mission today, (Well, she baby sat academy student’s already, but this is her first real mission.) Her job was to watch the gate coming in and out of the village and make sure that no bandits or hostile shinobies get in. On the other hand, she was told to never deny someone in the village that had good intentions. This came to Hikari as a problem, she didn’t want to deny anyone out of the village, but at the same time, she was scared that if she let someone in the village, they would attack and bring harm to all of Hoshi’s unarmed citizens. Hikari really didn’t have the desire to do either, so this mission was a terrible match for her, but at the same time, the same time, the superiors said they really needed her for this mission, so what was Hikari supposed to say? ‘I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to do guard duty, so I will take a miss.’ That being said, this mission was better than going out and fighting full-fledged ninja’s, so, it couldn’t be all that bad. It was about Noon, Hikari had been here for a few hours in this wooden house like thing that was outside the village, it had one window so that people could come up and talk to the person in the house. Hikari had been waiting there, her head band was off and in her lap right now, but if she saw someone come up she would wrap it around her neck so people could see that she was a ninja from this country. As the time passed, she would wait, sitting in her chair and looking out for any people that would come up and try to enter the village.

Word count: 378

Jumnah Devi had traveled far, too far for her age but what was she to do. They said the final test always came when one was weak and the little old lady slowly making her way through the desert was certainly weak. Long ago, she had planned this trip together with her late husband, then with her son, then with her grandson. Their temple lay in the heart of Haven while Jumnah Devi had spent her entire life in a village wondering the country. Born to the village clay worker, she had supplemented first her father, then her husband and then her son's incomes with what little she could contribute through sewing and cooking, only on the promise that one day, one of the men in her family would take her to the heart of the City Blessed by the Stars where she could pray in the greatest temple of all.

And now they were all dead.

The villagers had different names for the assailants, missing ninja, robbers, bandits, demons. It didn't matter in the end. they had taken all the men from Jumnah Devi's family but they had left just enough strength in her to decide that she would make the pilgrimage anyway, even if it kileld her. Bowed and bent at the age of seventy two, the snowy haired woman had wrapped herself in her most modest sari and set off, leaning heavily on her walking stick. What followed were three weeks of pure agony as her old bones traversed the desert day and night and when she was finally about to give up from exhaustion, she had seen it - the far off gates of the city.

Deciding to rest instead of struggling on in her current condition, the old woman had set up camp for the night, the sight of the gates comforting her as she half dozed. She as so close.

The next morning she awake to the sound of vultures in the sky, some looming disturbingly nearer at the sight of prone flesh. Getting to her feet, the woman had once again started her journey, warding the birds of prey away. She was not dead yet, not quiet.

It was around noon when she finally fell into line behind a group of people seeking entrance into the city. Ahead of her, a merchant screamed loudly to be let through while behind her, a young mother struggled with both a baby and a toddler, her husband trying to negotiate with a Queensmen to let him in. The world was hot, noisy, crowded but Jumnah Devi patiently waited her turn. She was so close.

Hikari Namikaze would watch as a few queen’s men were bothering a couple of merchants about whether or not they were going to be allowed in or not. It seemed like the queen’s men had wanted to keep them out, but they didn’t have a great reason behind it. Hikari was about to make her way over there when she saw in the corner of her eye an elderly woman, who had to be at least 70 years old. Come over and wait in line behind the family of merchants trying to get in. The chestnut haired maiden would notice from a far the woman’s gray hair, wrapped in some clothing that Hikari was not used to. This woman was not from around these parts, and she looked much too be making such a long travel from somewhere that would. Hikari would signal for her to come to her booth area and walk towards the back her booth to grab some water for the woman. She wasn’t sure whether or not she was here with good intentions or not, but the girl dressed in white would presume innocent until proven guilty.

As she got closer to the woman, she almost dropped the cup holding the water. As a young girl growing up in a tea shop in a small town which had a lot of travelers stop in, she knew a lot about people who had traveled long distances. That being said, the pour girl had never seen some one so exhausted and moribund. The bags under her eyes were as dark as night, the woman had blister’s all over her feet, the fact that it didn’t look like she had a good meal since…. well….. ever! It all pointed to the fact that this woman was traveling much longer than she should of at such an elderly age. Hikari bit her lip, her mind’s gut reaction was ‘this is a shinobi in disguise!’ After all, if something doesn’t seem to be true, it usually isn’t. But at the same time, Hikari’s heart told her that she needed to nature this woman, drop her position and make sure she got to the hospital, and make sure she stayed alive! That being said, Hikari would do what she could to make sure that she was prepared for both situations.

Presuming she followed the genin’s instructions and came to the window of the little shack, Hikari would offer her some water. With all honesty, Hikari wanted to call her inside of the shack and talk in there where at least the sun wasn’t beating down on the elderly woman, but the new genin would also understand that if she did this and this woman was a shinobi in disguise, then it would be easy for her to silently and unnoticeably take Hikari out and sneak into the village. “Hello there ma’am” Hikari would say in an apologetic way, [color=pink] “Welcome to Haven, my name is Hikari Namikaze. I am sorry to hold you up any longer than you need to be held up, but I need to ask you a few questions. Sorry, but we need to confirm you are not a Shinobi in disguise or a ban…… well, just to make sure your’e not a ninja in disguise. I just need to ask you a few questions, who you are, where you are from, and why you are wanting to enter Hoshigakure.”

Hikari would bite her lip and wait for the woman to respond. Of course, if this was a ninja in disguise, she would have a cover up story, so Hikari had to make sure that she felt comfortable that this person wasn’t lying about anything.

Wc: 618

At first, Jumnah Devi missed the beckoning gesture from the girl at the gates, her eyes had long since been clouded by cataract, her senses dulled with age and overuse. It was the young mother behind her who had - Durga bless her - nudged Jumnah Devil while taking care of the two young ones at the same time. The old lady would have thanked her but her throat was far too hoarse. It hurt to speak.

So when the young ninja offered her water, the woman gulped it down as fast as she could, splashing some of the liquid on her dry, cracking skin. It was true what they said about the City Blessed by the Stars. There were no stars right now but Jumnah Devi certainly felt blessed.

"My name is Jumnah," she began, slowly, gesturing for more water. There was no chanch in sight so water would have to do. "I have come from a village on the border of Earth and Haven to pay my respects to our temple. Everyone in my family is dead, the only reason I am alive is to pray in the holy land as my final act, child. If you do not trust me, come with me. All I ask is that I be allowed to pray. Then you may shun me out."

It was the longest she had spoken in weeks, and probably the logiest conversation she would ever have for the remainder of ehr life. After her prayer, Jumnah Devi intended to take the holy wow of silence until her final breath.

Hikari would sit there and listen to the elderly woman's story, her entire family is dead and the only reason that she is alive right now is to pay respect to the temple. That was so.... Emotional! Hikari wasn't sure if she should be in awe at this woman's convection, inspired by her travels, or sad that her entire family was dead! Hikari would see the woman ask for more water and Hikari would quickly go behind her and pour another drink for her before offering it to her. As Hikari would give her the drink, she remembered that part of her job was to make sure than no enemy ninjas were attempting to enter the city illegally. There still wasn't any proof that this woman wasn't one of them. Hikari would bite her lip, the woman offered to let Hikari take her to the temple then shun her out, but the young girl wasn't allowed to leave her post right now. What was she supposed to do?

Hikari wanted to ask a queen's man to let her off early so she could deal with this, but she felt like she would be put down immediately. Hikari would think for a second, there was one other way that this could go down that everyone could win.

"I'm sorry for your lost Mrs. Jumnah, however, I am not allowed to leave my post and escort you to the shrine, that, and I would much prefer you stay in the village for a bit of time to recover. That being said, I still need a little more proof that you are who you say you are and not a shinobi trying to break in. Is there any way you can back your story up? Do you have anything that would prove where you are from? Or something from your family that obviously doesn't belong to you but them? Once again, I am sorry for the hold up, but we just need to make sure."

Hikari Namikaze would hope she did have something, otherwise she would need to go to the queen's men and ask if she could escort her, but that was something she didn't want to do. She was fine with taking the woman where ever she wanted, but she wasn't fine with the fact that if she did that, she might have to shun the woman out, and Hikari would feel like the absolute worst person in the world if she had to do that.

Word count: 419

The beti was sweet, Jumnah Devi reflected as the young ninja expressed sympathy for the elder woman's plight. Perhaps if Jumnah Devi had a daughter, she too would have grown up to be sweet. She didn't have a daughter though, but she did have a granddaughter once. The child had been taken in the raids of her small village, taken too young to grow up into anything. Jumnah hoped this child would stay safe.

"I don't have proof," the woman answers honestly, showing her empty hands and a ragged cloth satchel containing only an empty water can and a few ryo. "We didn't learn letters when I was your age, we worked with our hands child. I made pots. The only family who knew their letters were the village teacher so we didn't get any papers."

Sighing sadly, the elderly woman bowed ehr head. "I have coem a long way, if you turn me awy I will camp at the gates until I die. Though I understand it isn't your fault. Perhaps I was never meant to set foot in the holy land." A lone tear slid down Jumnah Devi's cheek.

"I hail from Azamgahr, it is a long journey but my father was the village potter, and my son after him. If you know someone from that village you can check. If not, then let the Gods decide my fate."

The genin would bite her lip as the elderly woman would say she had no proof from where she came from where she was from, which made Hikari’s heart sink. If anything, that proved her innocence more than if she had, because due to her circumstance, she probably wouldn’t be able to carry anything so far anyways. Where as if she was a ninja in disguise, they would most likely have some sort of proof that would support her story. At the same time though, That wouldn’t be enough for Hikari to let her in. (After all, if she was asked why the woman was allowed in, Hikari couldn’t say ‘well the lack of proof was enough proof for me!’)

The chestnut haired girl would think for a second, how would she be allowed to let the woman in without having her get in trouble, and the woman being kicked out immediately? Thinking about it Hikari would come up with an idea.

“I think I have heard of that name before.” Hikari would lie, she really didn’t want to, but she wasn’t supposed to deny anyone with pure intentions to go in, and Hikari felt like the elderly woman only had the best intentions. “I worked at a tea shop on the outskirts of the country, I think I heard that name dropped by some passerby’s. I think I can let you in, but first, would you mind if I patted you down? I just need to make sure you don’t have any weapons or contraband on you, if it is true that you don’t, then I can let you in and you can stay as long as you like.”

As she explained this, she would go get another cup of water for the woman, presuming that she had finished her current one.

Word count: 309

At the question of being patted down, Jumnah Devi nodded, raising her hands. She remained seated but if asked to stand, she would rise slowly and painfully to her feet as well. 'Go ahead child, do as you wish."

Hikari would smile and start to pat the woman down, taking care not to push down on her too hard and possibly hurt the weary traveler’s old and fragile bones or pop any of her blisters. After finding that there was nothing suspicious on her, she would quickly spot the woman’s bag, it didn’t look like there was anything in there but some rusty old ryo, and an empty water can. With that Hikari would smile, and say, "Well, Mrs. Jumnah, I am sorry that it will take such a long hold up for you. But, I can confidently say that it looks like you are completely clear, you are definitely here with pure intentions, please, feel free to enter the city and leave at your pleasure! Also, if you like, I can fill that water bottle up for you. We hope you have a wonderful day, and congratulations on making your long journey! The temple will be to the center of the city, keep going straight for 7 blocks before taking a left and you will be right there!" If the woman was willing, Hikari would fill up the water can that the old woman had. After that, Hikari would then signal her to keep going and move along. She would look over to the guards and signal them that she was cleared to go in. Hikari knew she probably should do some more to try to figure out whether or not the elderly lady was truly not a ninja, but without her mind reading jutsu that was still working on, there was no way for her to really know for sure. She would take a deep breath, wishing she could do more for the woman, before getting back to her post and continuing waiting for more people to check.

[exit]
Word count: 307

Total word count: 2031


Request:
500  ryo 1 Ap, 1 CD post (Not sure what that is)