Royal Pain

Mission: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t29252-royal-emissary-c-rank

What a wonderful day to go on an adventure, or so. Sanae had been dispatched on another mission. This time to the borders of Hoshigakure to track down the lost convoy of an Emissary who was on his way to meet Hoshi Royalty but got lost somewhere along the way. For that the young shinobi had travelled to the last checkpoint the convoy had passed, a small village a few hours from the border where the royal guest had been over night and took off. It was here that she was to meet her partner in this adventure. Again a two Genin Mission, if she did not know better she would think that Hoshi was rather shorthanded on Shinobi if it was okay to just send of some Genin into the wild. But what good did the thinking about it anyways. She was sitting in the dinner hall of the roadside hotel, where she had stayed the night after confirming that her targets had done so themselves and therefore this was the meeting spot. This time wearing her Village Headband openly around her waist since it was the sign for the other shinobi to contact her and she would not need to fear violence just because of that from those people. They lived further off and although they seemed religious they were not seeing her as a hellish person or a devilish figure. Kind of a nice feeling she would think, why couldn't it be that way all the time? Well wishful thinking or so. While she was devouring her breakfast she had a map of the surrounding in front of her where with a pen she had marked several places where the Emissary might have gone lost to.
So there she sat the girl with the bluish hair and blue eyes the Kaguya Clan dots on her forehead currently nibbling on a blueberry pancake. She had put on her black mission clothes accommodated by the green one sleeve shirt and her bag was resting between her feet under the table. She had packed some food rations for the trip back and her water supply had been refilled. What was this person she was going to work with like and why for shouting out loud was she always paired with guys? Or at least it sounded like a male name.

WC: 390

It had been a warm day, even so for the country located so far north.
Tamaki had precociously selected his clothing for the day's mission, his usual black attire with the Senju insignia across the front of the shirt.
His wispy hair was blowing in the breeze as he departed from Haven's gate, little more than a humble distraction he walked uninhibited.
He had been assigned another two person mission, this time to act as search and rescue; then envoy, to a lost convoy of royalty.
They were always in trouble, if it hadn't been secret ingredients or putting out fires it had to be that they had lost themselves in the forest.
Before long a smell drifted through the woods, commerce and lunch.
Two familiar aromas greeted him as he walked through the doors of the roadside inn.
One was food.
The other was dirt and sweat from the road less traveled by.
Both were welcome deviants to the city's soaps and perfumes, which if Tamaki could be honest made him dizzy.

His eyes searched the crowd of inn goers, skipping over the civilians he soon found a fellow headband.
The simpletons had been wearing rags while this sparkling example of a shinobi was wearing an ensemble resembling Tamaki's own garb, black for the inconspicuous nature of their roles.
Tamaki approached the young woman with the dots on her forehead, they made her look like a moth he thought.
Their significance was lost on Tamaki's inexperience yet something about them seemed to denote an aspect of foreign beauty, he blushed lightly as he spoke, "Pardon me, my name is Tamaki. I was wondering if you were here to look for royals who had gotten themselves lost in the forest on the way to haven?"
Not sure how his reserved tone would be received he beckoned to the seat across from her. "Is this seat taken?"
Also not waiting for her reply, he sat down expectantly and eagerly awaited her retort.

WC: 331

Sanae was kind of lost in thought as then someone approached her. She looked up as the shadow of a young man or an older boy met her table. She was not sure about the age difference between them. Then she could hear him say the words she wanted to hear. As it seemed she had now met Tamaki her companion for the mission. Well he seemed nice at least he was greeting friendly and she smiled at him nodding slightly. "Thank you for coming so early. My name is Sanae and I will be your partner for the mission", she said to him and bowed lightly. As he was taking the seat she quickly finished her meal and pushed the plate to the side. Then she put the map in the middle of the table. "This", she ran her finger across a red line that marked the best way towards Hoshi, "Was the route they were supposed to take. We are currently here", she pointed at a black cross on the map. "Their last check in they were supposed to check in here next", she ran her finger towards a circle and then shrugged, "But they did not and we are now dispatched to find out why and locate them to get them safely to Hoshi", she signed looking at him. "I hope you are fond of walking through woods, because we gonna do that a lot for now", she gave a soft sign and smiled at the young man opposing her and took the last sip out of the juice filled glass next her. Then her eyes returned to the map, the territory was not that extremely large but still a pain to walk through on foot.

WC: 289
TWC: 679

Noticing he had interrupted a meal he immediately felt hungry for lunch, he ordered a glass of juice to refresh his palate before asking the waited for a bowl of soup.
Sanae gave her introductions flawlessly as she laid out the battle plan on the table, Tamaki had just dipped a crust of bread into his soup before he wagged a finger over the map and spoke through half a mouth of food, "I enjoy walking in the forest but should we circumnavigate the area around where they disappeared, or, where they were going, first?"
Suddenly becoming mindful of the ears leaning towards their direction, Tamaki put a finger elsewhere on the map absentmindedly.
"And if we were to meet with anyone other than our mission's prerogative, could we handle ourselves?"
Religious zealots or not, there were scavengers amongst the crowd in this inn and Tamaki would bet that if they found rich folk in the woods, it would not end well.
Pushing the bowl of soup to the side Tamaki addressed the issue that had been plaguing his mind hitherto the inn and had accompanied him all the way to the table, he was not entirely certain if the person he had been grouped with was well trained or not.
He would find that out later he figured, though feminine she seemed to be practically minded and quick to get to business, had his thoughts been vocalized he may have fashioned a possible excuse to ask her about her past but he found no opportunity thus far to broach the subject.

Tamaki's voice was hesitant at first but then came out as a whisper, "How many subjects are we escorting?"
Tonality and timbre aside this conversation was going well and the young woman; Sanae, spoke fluently and her voice was lovely to listen to.
Perhaps it was his inexperience or perhaps just the whim of things, but, Tamaki found himself following the curvature of her cheek and hairline.
He became aware of his own indolent attitude and berated himself for not paying attention to the bill which the waiter had expectantly placed on the table between them.

WC: 358
TWC: 689

She smiled as the other one ordered himself something to eat so he seemed comfortable and well. While she was talking he seemed to be listening to her because he was looking at her and the map at least. She was kind of glad about it. It was so much easier if they could be on the same terms with it. So she looked at the map again and though about what he said about circling the area. It was a good idea, at least if they were searching. "It is the ambassador and his wife along with a maid and the one driving the carriage. They wanted to keep a low profile so there was not more security", she mumbled and fell silent as the service woman approached them handing over the bill. For a slow moment she glanced at the bill, looked at him and then handed over the money to the lady with a little tip so she would walk away. As she was far enough she looked at her opposing Genin and smiled friendly again while her soft voice was continuing: "I am prepared to face the burglars inside this forest because I am pretty sure they are not really prepared for what they are dealing with if they get in my way. I am a Genin of Hoshigakure and I am entrusted with this mission to protect this people and for that purpose I am always willing to give it my all", she sounded kind of proud and a little bit carried away with her own speech and then paused for a moment.
Her cheeks turned red for a moment and then she cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her head: "But of course the success of the mission is my primary objective and to get everyone back safely, not only our clients but also you and me, because what good are we to our village if we do not come back safe and sound", she gave soft laughter and then winked at him. Then with her finger she pointed to the road they were taking. "Since they were taking the carriage we should first walk along the way and have a look at a place where they might have been forced off the road or at least the original route, so we find the carriage and if we found that, we can circle the area to find them or maybe even follow their tracks", she looked back up to him. "What do you think about it?" Now she tilted her head to look at him more curious looking like a cat looking at the hole a mouse just vanished into.

WC: 448
TWC: 1127

Before Tamaki could forward his own funds, Sanae had picked up the bill and had paid it.
Generous too, thought Tamaki.
The proud display bartered a little affection from Tamaki as he too scratched the back of his head and blushed at the wink.
"Well, we had better get started. We're not going to find them here at least."
The overly obvious sentiment behind his words were enough to even embarrass the stern faced shinobi at his lack of eloquence and he grimaced at the simplicity of his own words.
Tamaki groaned as he stood, like a tree bending in the breeze his slender limbs worked their way into the air and began to stretch.
Taking one last look at the map he nodded in affirmation, "If they're in a carriage they'll be close to the road, right?"
The question more of a confirmation to synchronize their goals, he had little doubt that should they encounter trouble that they'd be able to handle themselves.
If effort and spirit were paramount in this deed they were well established and overly ready.
He began to walk out the door, looking back to see if his companion had finished with her own precognition before stepping out into the open air.

Clamor and artifice had enshrouded the patrons of the shady inn and he was sure that when he had stirred from his seat that he had seem similar movements from the corners of the room from dark figures.
His own supplies had been meager.
An apple, a bottle of water and a kunai.
He would have to visit the weapon store after being paid for this mission he thought.
Would they encounter adversaries?
He could not fathom yet his nerves were tense waiting for confrontation.
Not expecting an easy path before them he resolved to be useful in subterfuge; would they need it he could provide cover to escape or confound.
He didn't need to defeat any combatants per say, he just needed to keep the escorts alive and to do that he would utilize the full array of his jutsu vocabulary.
The two genin were not familiar with one another so it was impossible to gauge; at least for Tamaki, the fighting prowess of the other but some how he felt they would know each other a little better by the end of this.

WC: 392
TWC: 1081

She agreed with him. The faster they started their search the sooner they would find the people they were searching for. So she grabbed her bag put it over her shoulder and then grabbed the map from the table and followed him outside. The weather was okay for them to be out and most important it had not rained the previous day so the traces they would have left behind would not be washed away. As they were walking along the road she thought about what they would do when encountering danger. While looking from her map up to the way before her and then to the boy walking beside her. "Say Tamaki-kun, when we get in a fight, what will you do? I am mostly a close combatant at the time, because of my special abilities and I am quite good at it and I can take a hit or two without getting into a bad situation, I got... strong bones", she grinned at him shrugging. Then she shortly looked over her shoulder. Had there be movement behind them? Maybe, or she was getting paranoid, which would not be something unusual for shinobi, but surly at this young age.

The next time she was looking up from her map there was the thing that probably made their targets leave the official road. The road before them was blocked with a big tree. Everyone who had ever seen a normal tree falling down could tell that this trunk of it was cut too clear to be torn down by a storm and fallen accidentally onto the street this was a planned attack. She slowly folded the map looking left at the small forest path where a sharp curve mark on the ground was pointing. Obviously the carriage had taken a detour and she had a bad feeling in her stomach for this scenario that was enfolding inside her mind.

WC: 319
TWC: 1446

Tamaki's attention wasn't on anything rudimentary such as tracks or even detective work, he was surveying the canopies of the trees.
The different twists of branches and the infinitesimal lives of the ants living on them were all distinctly interesting to him.
Anything to keep his mind occupied during the long search that would surely unfold, his companion remarked upon fighting prowess.
An unlikely reply would be prideful as Tamaki had only been conscripted to serve Haven a short while ago and his training had been scarce to begin with.
He extended his palm towards Sanae and produced a small bloom; a flower, that grew from his palm.
"I'm a Senju; I have dominion over the forests, water and earth therein."
Not quite as enigmatic as Tamaki would have hoped to have sounded, he continued to keep pace with Sanae as he proffered the flower in exchange for an explanation.
He accentuated his next words on the off chance he may frame there may be no confrontation, "If we should have to defend the envoy, there is the off chance we may not have to fight them. "
Not one to particularly shy away from a fight, Tamaki was simply keeping the task in mind.
Defend and deliver.
Search and rescue was a new situation for the genin, he had only been on two other missions.
One, to follow a guard and learn about his duties and two, delivering a mysterious package for The Flying Squid.
Both were profoundly dull affairs apart from the fire that had ensued.
He performed the monkey sign and piped a short stream of water into the air like a fountain, letting it fall on his head comically.
"I could always spit water at them. "
Not wanting to belie his strengths, he took inventory for a second of his constitution.

Spying the fallen tree he noted almost immediately that it had not fallen naturally.
Sabotage.
He paused for a moment to speak about what they should do now that they had found trace of the carriage, "I wonder what possessed them to go deeper into the woods?"

WC: 351
TWC: 1432

She took the flower and put it behind her ear. "Mhmm I will remember this", she nodded and thought about it. When going into the woods it was nice to have someone around that could manipulate the surrounding. Now they were standing in front of the obviously sabotaged tree and he had indeed asked a vital question. Why the hell where they going further into the woods. She walked along the curve line the wheels had left in the ground. "I don't know, I mean they could have been surprised by the tree falling and have taken a hard turn. Or maybe they wanted to find a way around this barricade because they would not get over it", she unfolded the map again and locked at it, "This path would kind of lead back to the main way some time further down", she drew out the possible route on the map and thought about it. "Maybe they are stupid to think they would best find a way to an unknown wood", she shrugged looking at him. She was not sure what had happened but one thing was clear, they took the other way.

There was some rustling inside the forest around them. Were they tracked or watched? Slowly Sanae turned her head around and looked into the woods green cover and signed. This was not entirely her terrain, but well not everyone would get to be in their comfort zones all the time. She folded the map again putting it into her bag. "I have a bad feeling of being watched right now", she scratched her nose and then looked down the path they had taken. She could not see anything because the path was hilly and from where they were standing they could not see what was beyond this small Hill. "I suggest we walk down there just to look beyond that small hill that would give us a better overlook I suppose." She gently touched the two red spots on her forehead and pulled down the sleeve of her left arm to expose her shoulder because she might need the bone beneath that skin.

WC: 356
TWC: 1802

Were they being watched, that was the question on their minds.
Tamaki could detect nothing for all his boasting.
Perhaps it was nothing more than their expectations or precarious notions but Tamaki performed a cautionary ram seal.
"Wood Cutting Technique!" {45ap}
A slender, sharp rod of wood suddenly sprang from his palm and he broke it off from his skin and wielded it as a weapon in one hand.
The other hand casually found its way into his jackets pocket, he was preparing for a fight and his nerves were high on end.
These forests had been renowned for being fraught with danger, though who knows it may be their lucky day?

He viewed the actions of Sanae to be odd, was she undressing?!
His attention fixated on her showing of skin Tamaki's thoughts wandered.
Did she say something about a hill?
Were they being attacked?
On egg shells he bothered to take a look over the hill.
In the distance he saw what they had been meant to find, the carriage was some way off and they were bemusedly crawling through the dense thicket  of undergrowth present downhill from where he stood.
He called back to Sanae, "I think I've found them, they're impossibly lost."

WC:206
TWC: 1638