The Night Is Dark & Full of Terrors [ KOMORI ]

The size of the creature did not seem to phase the jounin. That was a good sign considering his earlier reaction to the centipede they had encountered just moments ago. Komori seemed to take things in stride as he assured Saya of handling the situation by himself, which was most likely a fact due to his rank and skill. She rolled her eyes at his wink, something that she would eventually become accustomed to. Just before turning towards the small crowd of teenagers, Saya glimpsed at a couple of hand signs Komori was going through. Ox. Rabbit. The last seal was not seen but the cacophony of birds chirping rang throughout the area.

”Stay still and don’t panic,” she told the group, giving them a hard stare. Most of the more alert individuals nodded their heads in understanding, others whimpered and attempted to cling to each other in response, and a majority of the girls found their attention on the young man fighting the evil monster. It wasn’t exactly the most positive answer she could get but it was enough for her to get started on her side of the work. ”Once you’re free, do not run off or scream.” Saya warned them before she swung her kunai with precision and speed, allowing the civilians to break from their restraints.

As she continued to focus on her task Saya heard a squelching sound followed by a woosh and the splattering of flesh and blood behind her. There was a millisecond when her body tensed up, awaiting the inevitable crash of blood and guts against her backside. Only, that never happened. It was lucky for her and the rest of the company that they were several yards away. Saya looked over her shoulder just in time to see Komori cutting off two of the spider’s legs, which caused the large arachnid to drop its wrapped package.

Confident that the cluster of teenagers were out of danger for now Saya dashed to catch the falling cocoon. The shape was easily larger than her, who stood at four-foot-eleven. Male. Seventeen, maybe. Athletic. Came her thoughts as her eyes narrowed and tracked the falling silky shape. Five-ten. One-hundred-thirty-eight. Rate of… There! Saya applied a small amount of chakra to her lower body, increasing her speed a bit and allowing her to burst forward a couple of meters more. She arrived at her predetermined spot a few seconds early, enough time for her to brace for impact.

The body barrelled into her small frame, making her grunt as she tried to lessen the collision but the force was too much. Saya felt the wind knock out of her lungs as she ended up tumbling backwards with the civilian. Thankfully, the young genin was able to take the brunt of the damage as evidenced by the wildly wiggling youth pushing her back to the dirt. At this point in time the ever flashy jounin stood on top of the spider with his arm in the air like some kind of rockstar.

He was showing off again.

Saya could see clearly from her prone position as the spider shriveled up and the light ebbed from its beady eyes. Unfortunately, her rescued citizen was still freaking out. Ticked at seeming incompetent in front of Komori, Saya quietly hissed to the unfortunate soul (who immediately stilled at her tone) before carefully pushing him off and cutting through the noticeably thicker threads of silk. Once the boy was free from his cage, he gave her a quick thanks and joined the rest of the freed crowd. Shaking her head, Saya dusted off her person before nodding back to Komori and moved to release the last two civilians.

And maybe someone from beyond the clouds found her existence an utter comedy as the said civilians (conveniently both girls) pushed past Saya and began to croon over Komori’s knightly and princely and cool victory over the spider. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat to get his attention, ”We should probably hurry up and get out of here.” Saya scanned their surroundings cautiously and hoping that nothing extra would pop out and put the civilians in danger again. ”There might be more lurking about, you know.”

Saying so, however, caused the fangirls to congregate around Komori. A scene that had just come to pass not a mere five minutes earlier.

WORD COUNT: 739
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 4615 + 739 = 5354

Even during the fight, Komori was keeping track of Saya never one to hold any failures or anything of the like over his comrades, he saved that bit for the more serious shinobi. He was soon swarmed by fangirls, momentarily distracted from their primary objective of saving the others. Almost immediately after Saya mentioned that there could be other things lurking out there, the bushes began to rustle totally unrelated. Those that were already saved tensed up, those that were around Komori using his body as a shield between them and the rustling leaves, those still in webs fearing for their lives. Komori’s voice rang out to everyone else, “Stay calm. Do not panic. Listen to Saya, she’s here to help.” Moving forward slowly, Komori stepped towards the bush, his hands prepared to sign if the need arose. The hands from civilians that tugged tightly against his clothes were withdrawn as he stepped closer and closer towards the sound.

Then it jumped out of the bush.

‘It’ being a small brown furball that had dimensions that Komori was too lazy to look up or guess or whatever at the moment. It was small nonetheless. It leapt at a surprised Komori and clung to his shirt before scrambling up to rest on his shoulder, slightly trembling. “Oh, hey, buddy.” Komori assumed that this was a local of this weird forest that must have been pretty low on the food chain. The smol animal that was probably a hamster or something snuggled up against Komori’s neck. The jounin turned to Saya with a childish gleam in his eyes. “I’m totally gonna keep him. And his name shall be Boota.” Seemingly happy with his name, the fluffball affectionately licked the side of Komori’s face, earning a collective Awwww from the crowd of girls that had previously separated from him. He tossed another kunai to a free boy before he was once again engulfed in the sea that was his fanclub.

WC: 4604

It was the rustling of shrubbery that caused the group to fall into a bit of chaos. The girls, of course, let out shrieks and grabbed onto whoever was closest to them whether they were another girl or one of the guys hovering about. Those whose mind was set on Komori managed to latch onto his arm as he placed himself between the crowd and the moving bushes. Saya remained off to the side, neither too forward or too much in the back, with her weapons at the ready. The entire thing was suspenseful as the jounin moved forward to confront whatever it was that was hiding in the greens.

Fortunately, the only thing to burst from the shadows was some little creature that resembled some kind of rodent. The interaction between the two caused a collective “awww” from the crowd. Saya, lover of animals that are adorable and cute, blinked at how weird yet cute it was. Boota was what Komori named it and she honestly thought it was such an odd name. ”Alright, that’s enough gawking, everyone,” Saya clapped her hands loud enough to get everyone’s attention but not to attract any other unsavory beasts lurking about.

”The sooner we get out of here, the better.” The genin looked over to Komori, waiting for him to start leading. With the girls naturally following him, the rest would fall in line.

WORD COUNT: 234
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 5354 + 234 = 5588

Komori’s attention was drawn away from his kool kritter, giving an affirmative nod to Saya. “She’s right, folks, let’s go ahead and get out of here. This trial of courage or whatever is over.” With that, Komori began to lead the way out of the forest, his body ready to react to any threats… to the best of his ability. His ability to use jutsu one handedly was a useful tactic in and of itself, but with several of the citizens clinging to his arms and sides, he would be lucky if he could use his own hydrification techniques that did not even require any handseals.

Through the brush and under low hanging branches, the jounin Hozuki would eventually manage to lead the party out of the forest and back into an open field beside it, the streetlights not too far away. The lights themselves began to seem dim in comparison to the orange and yellow warmth of the cotton candy sky above, the sun slowly beginning its ascent into the air. It seemed as though they had ended up in the forest for the entirety of the night, since time was a notoriously fluid force. As Komori turned around and the group began to disperse, he once again counted them off, just like how he had done at the beginning of the excursion.

-------

After everyone had finally left, the girls of course wanting Komori to personally console them before leaving, the jounin would walk up to the edge of the cliff and lean against the railing that had been put up so people did not kill themselves. He gave a small chuckle, remembering that one time so long ago that he had accidentally fallen out of the village and had to walk around the entire way. Saya was welcome to leave with the satisfaction of a job well done or stick around and talk if she so felt like it. Komori leaned against the railing, Boota sitting on his shoulder, watching the sunrise, content to be alone or talk. If Saya approached him, he would keep looking forward but engage her in conversation; should she leave, he would simply admire the sunset before eventually turning around and heading home himself.

WC: 4978

Komori would stand still and wait for Saya. He would keep waiting. He was not very patient, but for her, he waited.

WC: 5000

(I still wanna continue this whenever you're done with finals <3)

Midthread claiming with 3500 words since i already spent 1500 earlier:

Saya Kirihara chakra signature memorized (2000/2000) and Boota (1500/1500) leaving me with 2000 split
Komori 1000 towards S/T (2412/4k)
Boota getting 5 stats, and 1000 words towards Nukite - The Sword Hand (1000/3000)

Approved my guy

Love ya, Saya, later.

With that, Komori went off into the wind, his mysterious mysteriousness never failing to help him steal the hearts of unsuspecting maidens everywhere.

--Exit--