The Lunar Rose (P, IO)

Sometimes Sanae was not sure what this village was thinking when assigning missions to people. Not that she did mind that she was getting to go on high missions with good pay, but why would she always be the senior. Well on the mission with Kenshin she had not been, but it was set up that she would only meet him at the end, so if something had gone wrong by then it would have been too late to cover up. Now like back with the thief she also had someone with her that was terribly under ranked, fresh from the academy with no mission record at all. At least none that was delivered with the description of the team like it normally would. Well what did she care? If they thought the two were good enough they were good enough so no buts about it. Still there was this off chance that they put her on this missions with beginners in the hopes of her getting stomped into the ground while trying to protect them, but that was just paranoia talking, was it? No why would they, she did good work, she was training hard no way she deserved such a punishment. So maybe they were just short on people.

So she had her back packed. Water for at least three days and meals for two, a sleeping bag in case they did not make it in one day, one could never know how long it could take to find something. In addition to the ninjagear she carried there was also a lighter and matches for fire, a small aluminium pot that kind of was a big pot maybe almost a bowl with a handle or something. It came quite handy when reheating stuff. At last rope and in addition to a hooded cloak that was shut real closely a Headscarf that she could wrap around head and mouth to cover them from possible sand while putting the safety glasses into her bag. She said a quick goodbye to her father who had literally drowned her in good advice about desert and finding plants she was looking for and this and that cactus which was good to eat because of whatever was it again? If the rattle of a snake was large then the poison was, no it where the claws of a scorpion. The bigger the animal overall especially the claws the less poisonous they were, why? Maybe because bigger scorpions looked scary enough to scare people or predators away without stinging was at least what she thought about it.

So now packed with a ton of useful stuff and a map of the closest region she went to the gate. She would not expect to go too far away from home since the desert was dangerous, even for a shinobi. You could not fight the desert to make it let go of you and on a map it might be easier to pinpoint a location of they found one that is. So she walked towards the Hoshi gates where she checked out for the mission and then walked over to the only other person there that seemed to be heading out. "Good morning fellow traveller I am Sanae, nice to meet you", extending her hand towards her she smiled at her probable companion to this excursion with a confident smile on her lips.

WC: 566

Sanae raised her brows a little and shook her head. Maybe only a misstep in speech or something since it indeed was not evening but Morning. Still nothing she needed to be too hung up about it since she would see the day would not hurry for her to be over so soon at least this is what she thought as they were shaking hands. As her new companion stated that she knew of an oasis that was somewhere close in the desert and tilted her head as she took out her map looking at it. Sure there was an oasis close by, but if it was that easy to find the flowers it would be almost a laugh that they needed to send out shinobi to search for them. But never the less it was a good idea so she nodded in agreement. "It is a point to start at for sure", she said in an agreeing tone as she folded the map again and put it into the pocket of her cape again from where she had drawn it. Then she looked the way her companion had pointed and started walking towards the goal they had set for each other at this moment and thought about it. They could now walk for about four or maybe fife hours.

Why not longer? Because the heat during sun high was so unbearable that it would be crazy to be out and about walking around like that. So they would need to find a sheltered place by the time the sun had reached its peak. But she would or could worry about that when they were about some hours into their trip since it would not be helpful to find a shelter now when they did not need one. While they were walking slowly her comrade for the trip asked her how long she had been a shinobi. A good question and she needed to think about it while touching her lips. "If you would ask my father it would be about thirteen years because he said I was born a shinobi. If you would ask my academy teachers maybe about five years or six since I started the academy or something. I personally am Genin since about halve a year. This is when I really started doing shinobi work so I suppose this is the time", she chuckled a little and looked into the sky for a moment. Then turning towards her companion: "This is your first mission right? Are you worried?"

WC: 422
WC: 988

Apparently it was morning, which was indeed odd because the girl knew she had made it evening at the start. But it didn’t matter whatsoever so she simply didn’t care. As the girl agreed to start at her destination she would nod her head with a smile and begin moving toward the oasis she knew would be further into the desert. It was still far out of sight so it would take them quite a while to get to the destination but that was alright. They had nothing but time after all right? The sun would be rising slowly more and more into the sky and the day would start getting hotter and hotter. As they walked Evelynn herself would listen intently to Sanae’s answer. ‘A fair answer, most families consider their children shinobi from birth if they were going to push them into that role.’ She would think to herself as they moved. The girl would ask her own question in return. Mentioning that she was a fresh genin. Evelynn couldn’t really figure how she knew that, after all for she knew she could be a chunin or jonin. Tons of people in the village didn’t actually know each other. But she shrugged that off and responded “Yes, I’m a fresh genin and this is my first mission. But no, I am not nervous. That would simply be a waste of energy and mental capabilities that would be better served toward finishing the mission. Besides, I’ve been in far worse situations in the past. Ones I will not go into detail about as it’s..painful. Finding a flower in the desert? Not really a frightening or nerve wracking experience.”


She would answer fully with a small sigh as they moved. As they continued walking Evelynn would reach down and pull out a small flask of water as they moved. Taking small sips from it when the thirst became too much of a bother. She wasn’t worried about wasting any as she KNEW the oasis was there, and she could fill up the flask when they arrived. Such a small little haven in the desert would make a smart ‘base of operations’ if you will for their search if the flower wasn’t there. Center the search around the oasis and head back there when their water supplies ran out so they could refill and try again. After a while of walking she would glance back at Sanae and ask a curious question. (This is assuming you look like your FC) “That red mark on your forehead. Does it mean something significant?” She would ask curiously, realizing after that she had set herself up to be asked about her own mark on her face. The crystalline eyed girl had wondered if Sanae might have gone through what could be a similar experience that she had for a time. But Evelynn herself didn’t want to talk to anyone about her own significant mark. Still, she would owe the girl an answer in her mind if she asked.


Shortly after moving over the next hill, she would spot the destination in the distance. The spot of green on the golden sands of the desert were hard to miss. She would smile softly at this before giving a long stretch to loosen up her body a bit more before continuing on toward the place. She hoped the flower was there, she would rather be training atm rather than looking for thing but things of course can’t always work out as we want now can they? Like a character’s planned story getting screwed up before it get’s started or something. Man that type of stuff sucks.

WC: 610
TWC: 1812

Sanae looked a little confused at the barrage of words throwing at her but it was okay to be honest. She had almost counted on a shorter answer, but well more was always appreciated. Still there was something odd about it. She said that there could not be a thing in the desert that would be as painful as her past. She wrinkled her forehead about this. Sure death could be considered a grace from god but on the other hand she did not seem like someone wanting to die here. "If you say so, I suppose the finding of the flower is not the greatest obstacle on this mission but what we will encounter on our way there, but well it might just be nothing", she shrugged her shoulders and walked on, since she really felt prepared for anything and even if it no needed, she would have an eye on the Genin in her company. From what she knew so far which was kind of nothing special she was on Kotetsus level when they did the mission and he had been an awesome help catching that thief. Looking up in the sky she could see time was not really racing either so they were travelling in quite a nice pace.

While they were continuing to walk the girl beside her asked about the marks on her head and Sanae turned towards her and smiled shortly: "Nothing special at all, they are just worn as a clan symbol, and not really by everyone anymore, it is a relic of old times nothing more. I am carrying this, because I want to give it a brighter meaning", then she turned her head forward again and thought about. Should she ask about the girl's quite unusual mark or should she just let it be? She was kind of debating in her head until she decided it was only polite to express equal interest in her differences more than just ignoring them: "How about your mark, it is quite unusual?" The phrase still sounded weird to her as she spoke but well what else was she to say about her face which was in itself quite unusual to be honest. The mark those hard eyes, the tiny bit about her past she had teased to her might just have been quite unusually cruel to have her dulled down like that. But nothing could be done about the past, only present could be influenced and through the present the future, so this was what she was going to do.

While they had been walking and talking and oasis appeared in front of them. A little confused Sanae took out her map again and looked at it if there was another close to their village, but it was not really so that must be it. Well she was quite okay with being there already maybe she has guessed the travel time wrongly since she had thought her backpack would slow her down much more, but she had grown a lot since she had last worn so many stuff on her back and so it was not so worse anymore. "Seems like we have reached the oasis", she stated the obvious as she put back the map and continued to walk closer. It was still a way to go, but at least it was a goal in sight this made it a little easier to strive for it with a swift and energetic step. "But I am not too confident to find the flower there", she than stated her worries, "Because if it was there, this is the closest oasis to Hoshi, wouldn't someone else have encountered it already? I mean we are hopefully not the first shinobi looking for it when it is so important", she shook her head a little, "Sorry I don't want to paint t black it just seemed too easy this way." She kicked against a small Stone and made it hit the ground a little further off their path.

WC: 670
WC: 1658

Sanae walked next to the girl who did not want to talk about what her mark meant and Sanae would not ask for more. But as they had set foot on the dusty ground of the desert before them and she looked at the sky. No clouds and more scorching sun what a lovely weather to be out. Then it started to blubber out of her like a waterfall. The first she said about it being a slave branding would have been enough but well it went on. Tragic death of parents, check, traumatic and torturing past, check, killing of the ones that made her suffer, check. Sanae felt dull after hearing this. "Okay", was the short answer to the girl beside her. Once again she felt like she needed to apologize for having a childhood with both parents and a kind of working and alive family. Well but who would apologize for something this preposterous. So more or less entertained she walked into the oasis and her eyes rested on the water while she took two cupped hands of water out of it to drink it. Then she looked up again to her comrade. She was talking about the climatic or was it weather technical sides of things. She had never really paid too much mind about it unless it was to the good of fighting. So she just nodded and rose to her feet again.
She looked around the place and there were indeed roses blooming. Who would have thought of that? She rose her eyebrows a little and shook her head in disbelieve. For this they needed shinobi? For this they needed to place an A rank mission? How was this even deserving of anything of this effort? She sat down in the shade of a palm tree and pulled out her lunch and ate some of it. Then she took some of her pills swallowing them down while her companion got some of those roses. She was still a little pissed at the thought that this was declared as A rank. Then she thought of someone like Hikari or Kenshin going on this mission. Maybe as leader of a team like suggested just for a walk in the dessert and there they were just growing out here and no one who ever came to Hoshi or left it had ever seen them? Did they have no eyes? Were they blind? The thing with the rain did not really fit either because it had not rained. So were they picking the wrong flowers? She pulled out a copy of a picture nope those were the flowers so everything seemed alright.
With a deep sign she stood up from her resting place and looked at the sky again. As her fellow shinobi asked if they wanted to go back to the village and nodded shortly. This was a little bit on her short side of things she wanted to do since in a few moments the sun would be boiling them, but then the way was not that far and she had plenty of water left since she had packed for more than one day so well who cared, the sooner this was over the better. "Let's go back", she said out loud as she started leaving the oasis again. Sand crunching beneath her feet and the sun steadily burning down on them she carefully wrapped her head and poured some water over it. Then after closing the bottle she paused for a moment and then led it out to the girl beside her with a questioning look because maybe the heat was not her favourite temperature. Sanae would still continue walking closer and closer to the village again.

WC: 621
WC: 2279

Evelynn would be getting ready to go when Sanae offered her a bottle of water. She’d shake her head with a small smile, holding up her flask as she did so. She had filled it up with the clean water after all so it wasn’t necessary. She would begin the trek, assuming her fellow shinobi would follow her. The sun would be beating down on them as they moved through the desert and Evelynn would sigh after a while. “You know, this really isn’t worth a B rank mission..It was far too simple.” She would say as they moved. This was truly a poor introductory mission in her eyes as it could easily lead other fresh shinobi, ones with less experience in the world toward thinking that being a shinobi was easy. That it had no real risk. When in reality it was very much the opposite. They were soldier, plain and simple. They were trained, disciplined, and were expected to act as soldiers. The village system itself was a bunch of military dictatorships for christs sake. Assuming this life was easy would quickly become the death of shinobi. This mission, most definitely should not have been a B rank. Sure, maybe the flowers were important, but given the ease in which they obtained them it couldn’t have been that damn difficult.


Evelynn would grumble to herself about missions that were barely more than fetch jobs and didn’t test them in some way. That was the point of missions wasn’t it? Weren’t they supposed to test you somehow so that you could progress? Sure the money and experience were needed to truly move up in the world and to survive. But without a true challenge, something to push oneself beyond their current physical scopes. What point WAS there? The ashen haired girl simply didn’t understand it. At this point they’d be at the halfway point by now, they’d been traveling through the sands for the better part of a couple of hours. She’d reach for her flask and take a drink, letting the warm liquid slake her thirst. Evelynn would eventually begin to play around with a kunai, nothing too dangerous mind you, just casually flipping and catching it to pass the time. She was still fully alert to their surroundings, even if the mission was easy they were never truly safe until they had arrived home.


After a couple more hours of travel, the sun would be truly beating down on them, sweat matting her hair and causing her to sweat severely. Twas the way of the desert of course, but this would only have to last a little bit longer. As they finally arrived at the village, safe and sound. After simply checking in at the gate and walking to the Hoshigakure Botanical Society to turn in the flowers she would receive her mission pay.

At this point, if Sanae had traveled with her all the way to the society the new genin would turn to her blue haired partner and nod her head with a small smile. “Pleasure working with you Sanae, I hope to see you around again soon!” She would say before heading home to shower. Of course if Sanae decided to go on her own at any point before reaching the society Evelynn would still say the same thing
.
EXIT
WC: 555
TWC: 3123


Claims: Mission Completion

The way home was long and dreadful the sun was shining down on them and despite of the occasional scorpion fleeing from the heavy step of their feet. Some oddly shaped cactus in the far reach or another rock. The boring landscape was measuring up to the sad experience they had just said. Well to be frankly the story she had told even despite that depressing undertone was the most exciting about the day. Although thinking back at it she was depressed again how much broken lives there were in this village. How was this holding up against others when most shinobi where emotional wracks and crazy weirdoes. Well to be honest one could totally count her in on this, but still how and why did this seem like a good idea? On the other hand wasn't it a task of the shinobi to keep their people out of harm's way? Where were they when those dreadful things happened, why didn't anyone care to save them? Wasn't slavery kind of a no go in present day? Or was it still okay with everyone and she only did not know or notice? So many questions rattling around her mind while she steadily approached her hometown with each step she took.

It was Evelynn who spoke what Sanae had though all along and in agreement she nodded: "This was kind of a letdown. A civilian who knows how to move about in a desert could have done it just as easy", she let out a sign as she showered her head in another dip of water. Then she thought about it: "Any excursion into this desert might come by that oasis and no one ever notices the flowers blooming there, this kind of feels like a huge joke to me, maybe everyone passing by usually gets blind for no reason", she shrugged a little and took out the map and a pen. With that at hand she drew a circle around the oasis and wrote the name of the flower beside it. Putting it back where it belonged so she could later hand it to the mission administration like they had asked to do if possible. Another two blinks from her eyes showed her that they were close to the Hoshi gates again as the sun was beginning to slowly set. Maybe it was tired too just as she was right now because walking in big heat was troublesome. Taking in a deep breath she took out her papers in advance so she would not need to fiddle with it.

At the gates she could see someone waiting she knew, it was the guard Sasato who was kind of sloppily leaning against a side of the gate. As he saw the two genin approach he stood up straighter and waited for them to approach him. Going through the process of showing him their papers and declaring their reason for return was kind of funny since he knew her very well and she knew him. While checking she asked about his son and he pretty much complained on how all babies knew how to do where crying and pooping. She laughed a little poking his chest about it telling him that he surly had been the same, since his son seemed to tend to resemble him a lot. He took it lightly and laughed as he was in return poking her ribs and then send her off with a little push since she had still some work to do as it was. She nodded in agreement and then followed Evelynn once more through the streets of Hoshi to the mission administration where the two girls had to hand over their mission results.

So as they entered even at this later hours they were greeted with inviting manners and blissful glee to the voices. Yes they had found the kind of magic flowers they had to look for and Evelynn could hand them over a hand full and unharmed as it was. Sanae handed out the map and showed the marker she had made on it so they would be able to tell what it meant when looking at it. They were grateful at least something to note about this mission. The people where happy that the shinobi did their work and even if the mission was kind of not what she expected it to be it then and there was worth it at least for Sanae. When they had left the building she would turn to her fellow Shinobi. She would slightly bow to her and answered to her: "It was my pleasure as well you have been a very nice companion on this task. I am quite certain that we will be meeting again. Hoshi tends not to be as big as it seems", she chuckled a bit as a heavy hand rested on her shoulder. As she looked behind her she could see the tall grown shinobi with the almost whitish blond hair that was her father looking down at her. Declaring that since she was ready as it seemed and he was through with his work he could take her home with him. Sanae bowed once again to Evelynn: "Have a safe trip home", she said and then followed her father to the place they both called home.

WC: 888
WC: 3167

Exit
3, 000 Ryo
7 AP