The Caravan

-

After spending days with these two (occasionally three), Inoshishi is positively delighted to finally spot a blue top with black wheels. It wasn't so bad at first, but after such a long slog to track down this caravan the atmosphere in the makeshift group has gotten decidedly snippy. At least it's... mostly not her fault. This time.

Inoshishi crouches behind a shrub, keeping herself gathered low to the ground while her teammates scope out the situation. She rubs her hands together and stretches her fingers idly while they talk, keeping them nice and warmed up. The last time she'd had to worry about her hands being sluggish and numb from the cold was a long while before she arrived in Fang. The sensation is unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

"If they're just goons, genjutsu should be a free win," she says to Ember, keeping her voice down. "Except that then they'd have to see you in the first place, I guess..." At Hiroaki's insistence that they have to be trained, she just makes a noncommittal grunt in response. She'll believe it when she sees it.

"Roger roger," Inoshishi replies glumly to Hiroaki's request for cover, joining her hands into the Tiger handseal. "Give me a sec. Duck, or something."

Her chakra shudders in resistance at first, like it always does. Inoshishi insists, and it bleeds into the slush, mud, and puddles of still meltwater surrounding them. Gradually, a blanket of thick, chilly fog rises into the air. Her usage of the unfamiliar technique is fairly slow, but she doesn't let it bother her too much. A gradual filter-in of fog is less likely to arouse immediate suspicion. She's got a mighty sharp glare on deck if either of them dare make a comment, though - she learned this technique all of twenty hours ago, give her a goddamn break.

"Ember, can you hit me with a genjutsu in case you need the mist lifted or for me to get in there?" she asks quietly, shifting and peeking around the bush as Hiroaki pulls away and gets ready to move. She doesn't like that chameleon hanging out on his shoulder. She can just imagine it with little red horns and a pitchfork, prodding at their already-irritated coworker to go spill some blood.  "Just some sorta signal those guys won't see."

OOC wrote:386/1000 words for my end of the mission.

Hidden Mist Technique is now in play, bringing Inoshishi to 90/100ap.

“Cold feet” Ember asked before regaining her bearings and scoffing, “this is… nothing!” she whispered with fake confidence. What she really needed was a genjutsu to fool herself into actually being confident. She shook her head and felt the sweat form on her palms. She was more of a infiltrate them from the inside type of shinobi. Tackling armed guards who knew she meant them ill will wasn’t a task she wanted to sign up for. But she wasn’t in the position to do things ideally so she was going to have to work with what she had. Hiroaki was right about one thing, it was probably a good idea not to underestimate these swordsmen.

Luckily, Hiroaki was experienced enough to give them some direction. The other newbie of the group let loose a newly learned mist jutsu. She’d requested that Ember hit her with a genjutsu if they needed help… Ember had no idea how she was going to do that if most of her genjutsu was based on vision. “Uh, sure” she said to her request, “most likely if I need help I’ll be screaming though… Or you might see some fireballs if I can manage them. I’ll approach from the east. Give me a minute.” After that, Ember took off as quietly as she could.

Ember kept low to the ground and painted a picture in her head of what trajectory she wanted to take. She didn’t want to just run at the caravan so she traveled in an arc that curved counter clockwise and arrived at the caravan. If Hiroaki was going to do his sword stuff then now was probably the time because Ember had the caravan in sight. She could stay low to the ground all she wanted, but it was only a matter of time before someone…

“Hey!” one of the guards shouted. He saw movement in the mist but he didn’t know the source. Ember panicked and without even thinking about it she activated her sharingan. Through the now colorful mist she could just barely make out the face of the guard who was staring right at her. She struck him with a Sharingan Genjutsu which made him think he was looking at a fox.

“Status?” Shouted another guard.

“Just a fox,” the first guard shouted back before moving on.

Ember was trembling, her heart racing… she knew she couldn’t do that again for a while and that’s if she was lucky enough to be able to use the mist to her advantage. She slowly crept up to the caravan and flipped her hands through the handseals necessary to cast her only fire jutsu. Her finger was on a metaphorical trigger for firing off a volley of fireballs if something happened to catch her by surprise. All she had to do was wait for Hiroaki to make a distraction…

“Guards! Outside the window!” Ember couldn’t believe she hadn’t considered that there might be people inside the caravan itself. She’d stupidly walked in front of a small window and had been spotted. Ember was so scared that she let her chakra loose and fired off four fireballs at the first guard to approach her. Oops.

532/967

Jutsu used:
Phoenix Fire (20 AP)
Sharingan 3rd tomoe (5AP)
Sharingan genjutsu (20 AP)

Inoshishi had shot out her mist technique just as was planned. 'That a girl', thought Hiroaki. When the mist got thick enough, Hiroaki ran into the area that would be filled with the guards surrounding the caravan. He closed his eyes and withdrew his blade. He had practiced all kinds of situations that he could possibly be in. This happened to be one of them. "This mist technique is for cowards. Are you a coward, Hiroaki?", implored Gurimu. A guard nearby muttered, "Huh?" before getting cut down by Hiroaki's blade. That was all it took, a slight noise from them and they were finished. That could be used both ways, however. "Shut it.", ordered Hiroaki.


"Status?", asked a guard. Hiroaki ran towards the guard's direction, bumping into the side of the caravan along the way. He shook his finger that he stubbed violently into the air then returned it to the hilt of his katana. He bumped into the guard. "Wh-", the guard said interrupted by Hiroaki's blade. Hiroaki knew he had to be quicker and more precise. He sensed out the chakra of all those around him. The technique didn't give off exact positions, but did give him a general sense of how many people were around him. He could tell there were 8 guards in total. Two of them being slain, there were six guards left. "Just a fox", the guard responded in relief to the one that had been slain. Hiroaki ran and stabbed the guard through the chest. The guard collapsed.


 Hiroaki heard a creek nearby, it had to be the door to the caravan. "Guards! Outside the window!", shouted someone from inside. Boots could be heard landing on the mud. Hiroaki was close by and was the only one close enough to help. He assumed it was Ember who had been the one to get caught as she was the one who was assigned to steal the goods. Hiroaki started to lunge forward. A huge explosion happened right in front of him, the heat could be felt pressing against his face. Lucky for him, it didn't burn his beautiful smug face. He stopped in his tracks, katana still raised. He opened his eyes, uncertain if he would now be able to see anything. Sadly, not even the fire's light could break the mist. He was unsure whether Ember was safe or not. 


Wails from the guards could be heard. He sensed less chakra emanating too. He moved into the direction he had heard the door creaking from. He opened it and a single man was inside with his arms around the chest. The mist wasn't inside the caravan because of the door being closed, but now it was slowly drifting in. Hiroaki didn't care for this man's life and wasn't about to beg the man to make a wiser decision for his sake. "Do it.", stated Gurimu again. Hiroaki stabbed the man who shrieked in return. His body slumped and his grip around the chest loosened. He took it and handed it to Gurimu. It was heavy, certainly all of the goods were inside. The chameleon let the chest rest on Hiroaki's shoulder and used his arms to make sure it didn't fall off.


Hiroaki stepped out of the caravan onto a huffing individual. He pulled his blade back, ready to shove it into the person. That was until he realized the huffing sounded light and feminine. 'It could be Ember..', he thought. Gurimu pulled Hiroaki's hair. "Well? Why are we stopping?", he asked. Hiroaki knew the chameleon must be having a hard time with the mist as well. Hiroaki reached down and grabbed the person by the shoulder and lifted them, keeping his blade against them. "Ember?", he asked. If the girl responded he would tell her in a lowered voice, "I got it. There has to be one or two more guards though. Let's bounce." If the girl did not respond, he would not say anything and would drag her with him until he was sure. If it turned out to be a man or guard he was dragging, he would stab them and carry on.

(WC: 693 | TWC: 1183)

"I meant... oh, forget it," Inoshishi trails off, cheeks hot as Ember vanishes into the fog.

She crouches and waits - leaning forward, staring out into the mist, straining to hear what's going on out there. The guards shout to one another - Inoshishi hears what might be a gentle thump, or is she imagining something?

Then chaos erupts in a cacophony of dull light and alarmed shouting. For a brief moment, flashes of light create a dull silhouette of the caravan in the fog, and the sound of a horse whinnying in alarm pierces the air. The action crescendos and then calms in under a minute. Now all she can hear is confused back and forth shouting between what appears to be two or three remaining individuals. None of the voices are ones she recognizes.

Inoshishi creeps forward, following the sounds of dying men. She flows chakra through her feet, stepping along the mud and deep puddles much more quietly than the guards manage - they're loudly splashing about in a panic, giving her ample opportunity to slip by them. As she approaches, she hears the creak of wood, worried muttering, and the loud snort of a horse.

"Aw, shit," she hears, the guard's voice slightly hoarse. "Are they gone...?" A pause. "They got him b--he's bleeding real bad." There's a weak, gurgling mumble from inside the caravan, and Inoshishi cringes.

"Where's the kid?" the other voice asks - then, even more panicked - "Wait - get him out, get him out!"

Fire licks up the side of the carriage from a stray fireball, and the mist mingles with acrid, black smoke. Whatever lacquer they used on the side of the carriage, it smells awful burning, and Inoshishi resists the impulse to cough. With the remaining guards occupied for the moment with fruitlessly trying to save their client, Inoshishi ducks around the other side of the caravan, shielding her face from the heat of the fire - and ignoring a sharp, pained moan when she steps on the hand of a severely-burned guard who's curled up in agony, halfway sunk into the mud. The noise startles the horse again, who whinnies and jerks against the reins, making the guards on the caravan swear loudly as the animal tests the strength of the brakes.

"I got him," the hoarse-voiced guard says, slightly out of breath - presumably carrying the man who was in the caravan.

"What's with this fog? What would Kiri-nin be doing here?" the other says, and then calls a name loudly out into the mist - "Yone!? You alright?"

Go for an all-out bloody assault, they said. It'll be fine, they said. Inoshishi distances herself a little from the caravan, closing her eyes for a few moments and touching base with her chakra. She can keep up the mist for a little while longer, but when she makes a break for it, it'll be gone. She moves to search for Ember, and if she finds her - or Ember finds Inoshishi - the first words on her lips are a hushed...

"...where'd Hiroaki go?"


When Hiroaki leaves the range of the mist, he will see clearly who he's dragging along with him - a girl who can't be older than fourteen, silent, wide-eyed, and quavering in terror, auburn hair arranged into tidy, painstakingly-arranged braids. The (familial?) resemblance between her and the man Hiroaki just stabbed is stark. In the distance, when that shout rings, the girl's eyes flick towards the source - her mouth giving a conflicted twitch.

OOC wrote:577 on this post, putting me at 973.

Inoshishi maintains the mist at a cost of 5, and uses Surface Walking at a cost of 1, bringing her to 84/100 AP.

Ember was very bewildered by the events that transpired shortly after she was discovered. Everything happened too quickly to keep up with. The guards were called but hardly any of them showed up. It was like they had all been offed or something. The good news was that nobody was left standing in her way other than a guard that she had very satisfyingly disposed of with her jutsu. She was unfortunately not the one that Hiroaki ‘rescued’ which meant that someone was about to be offed. Ember just had to assume that her teammates were doing some serious work if they were able to keep the guards from catching her.

“Hot damn, I would have never thought a guard of this caliber could be taken out by such a simple fire jutsu,” she said not too quietly as she slipped into the caravan. Speaking of which, the caravan had been hit by her jutsu too, not that she regretted that too much. It made it all the simpler because everyone that was inside was either knocked out or too scared to do anything. It made it easy for her to ignore everything that was flaming and focus on the good stuff. There was a lot of jewelry packed into boxes that she opened with a key ring that was laying on the ground. She fiddled with the boxes and stuffed a bunch of them into her pockets. The only problem was, she couldn’t find the exact gem that their employer wanted. If only she had another set of eyes to help…

That’s when Ember noticed that Inoshishi was in the caravan. She quickly deactivated her sharingan and hoped her lineage wasn’t found out. With all the folks that sought out her people’s eyes, she thought it best to keep her bloodline a guarded secret. “Oh hey, I don’t know where he is. If you wouldn’t mind though, help me carry this crap out of here! Or help find that gem that the employer wanted.” Ember could have just left and had enough money to make everyone’s wallet happy… but she did think it was prudent to find what they actually came here for. After all, wasn’t reputation a big part of being a missing nin?

Ember sincerely hoped that her partner could find the gem because the caravan didn’t have much time before it was going to be too hot to bear. Whether they found it now or after the thing had burned down, it didn’t really matter in the end though. After her short search she would escape the caravan with her goodies and try to rendezvous back where they had started.

Assuming the mission had been a success then the team could head back and deliver the gem or do whatever. Ember wasn’t so greedy as to unfairly hoard the gems she collected so she would divide them evenly between them all. Afterwards, Ember would head off to her next adventure. If any of them were inclined to learn the fire release from her she would teach them happily. It was about the only thing she could pass on and she felt like she owed it to her teammates to pay them back for practically carrying her through the mission.

543 / 1510

exit

1500 words
+4 speed
+7 AP
+3100 ryo
B rank jutsu Jibaku Satsu

The woman in his grip did not respond back to him. Instead she stuck to whimpering in a hopeless manner. Hiroaki began to suspect that the woman he had in his grip was not Ember after all. Suspecting this, he made sure to not reveal any of the information he had on what was going on or the treasure chest he had on his shoulder. Hiroaki dragged the young girl out of the mist and just as he thought, the young girl was not Ember. With Hiroaki’s blade still pressed against the young girl’s neck he decided to interrogate her. “Who are you? What were you doing by the caravan?”, he asked in a hushed yet most serious tone of voice. The young girl squirmed under his grasp.


The young girl pleaded to him, “P-Please. I-I -- M-My F-Father! Oh, G-God.” Hiroaki connected the lines. She must have been the daughter of the man inside the caravan. She saw a great deal of what he had done. ‘Should I kill? I already got a great deal of enemies that would like for my blood to spill’, he thought. Gurimu stared down at the young girl that squirmed underneath Hiroaki’s blade. “Get this disgusting weakling out of my sight”, said Gurimu. Hiroaki decided that would be the best course of action. He slit the young girl’s throat and let her body drop to the ground. He stepped over her fallen body and went back to where Inoshishi and Ember had originally been. 


Waiting by the area they had originally been at, he would eventually come to see Ember and Inoshishi approach him. “All set to go?”, he asked. He was assured that between the three of them, they would have the required goods that the man had asked for. He looked around the street. It was devoid of people as they had all been scared off from the mist and the screams that came from within it. That and possibly the massive explosion he had heard. “Have one of you let off any explosions or bursts of fire?”, he asked curious. Hiroaki shook his head, there was no time for any of that. Gurimu threw the chest to the ground. Hiroaki looked at the little devil. “Pick that back up.”, he ordered. Gurimu looked at Hiroaki and slowly lifted the chest with his tongue, putting it back in place. 


With that, Hiroaki spent a quick moment making sure that the three of them did in fact have the gem that was required of them. It seemed he was correct that the gem was on one of their persons as he thought. “Let’s make haste. Good job by the way.”, he said. When the two of them were ready, they would make their journey back to where that man had requested them to meet up. They delivered to the man the gem as promised, though Hiroaki really didn’t mind if they had simply taken the gem for themselves if it was that valuable. He understood Ember wanting to give it as thanks for the tip on the caravan and all that. 


The three of them divided the rest of the loot accordingly. Hiroaki wasn’t about to cut down his partners for a bit of extra ryo. They had helped him obtain the bit of money he did just received. He was hoping to work with them again in the future as they seemed to be reliable ally’s to have. ‘Almost as valuable as the allies I have with me back at the Chunin restaurant. They got great potential. Maybe one day they will even grow stronger than me. I should keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t get too reckless.’, he thought. Hiroaki coughed into his arm in distress. The chronic illness of his always liked to present itself at the weirdest of times. Gurimu looked at Hiroaki taking note that something was wrong with him. “What? Going to die from a mere cold?”, he provoked Hiroaki. Hiroaki ignored that comment. Gurimu then looked at the three different piles of valuables. “You know, Hiroaki. We could have all of this loot for ourselves.”, he said. Hiroaki turned an eye at the chameleon. “They earned their share”, he reassured them.


It was getting late and Hiroaki had his duties to uphold like he had mentioned prior. “Let me know if you want to work together again. My full name is Hiroaki Gekko. I trust you two. Drop a letter to Shiro from time to time.”, said Hiroaki. He let Gurimu carry his share of valuables and turned his back on the two of them. While walking back towards the Chunin, Gurimu’s eyes turned backwards staring at the two women. The chameleon never stopped watching them as the two of them departed.


Arriving back at the Chunin restaurant, Hiroaki kept going, passing the establishment. He decided to head back to the merchant district before he got settled in there. He paid Shiro a visit and told him of his encounter with Ember and Inoshishi. “Expect to see some letters for me here. Oh, also can you sell this for me?”, he asked. He put the bag of valuables down next to the old man’s stall. He nodded to Hiroaki. Gurimu piped in, “Do not fail us, fragile old man.” Hiroaki apologized and thanked the man. With that Hiroaki went back to the Chunin to get back to work.
(WC: 906 | TWC: 2089)


[exit]


Claiming:
2089/400= 5 stats
4000/2 = Fire Element (2k WC) | Half off for training

Mission:
Reward: 3,000 ryo, 7 AP

"She probably just ran off. She knows where to find us. Let's get the boss out of here before he bleeds out."

"He'll kill us if they--"

"We'll be in far worse trouble if he bites it! C'mon, help me out here. Before they come back..."

The voices vanish into the distance, and Inoshishi waits, the only sound the faint crackling of the slow-spreading fire and the occasional anxious huff of the horse still tied to it. Then, she hears a creak and sees the vague shape of Ember climbing up into the carriage.

Inoshishi slips into the caravan after her, covering her mouth with her sleeve as she squints through the smoke. It takes the other woman a moment to notice her, but Inoshishi misses the flash of scarlet in her gaze, mind elsewhere.

"I think they're all gone. I'll drop the mist," she says. Ember's still searching - no luck with the gem yet, then? Wordlessly, she joins the search.

Then she sees it, nestled in the mess on the floor of the carriage. The huge amethyst must be pale lilac, when not inside of a burning carriage. The hot, flickering firelight distorts the colours playing upon its facets, making it difficult to see at first. She reaches forward, plucking it from its bed of blood and scattered papers.

"Got it," she murmurs, giving Ember a gentle nudge as she backs away. As soon as she has the gem in her grip, she gets herself out of the smoke-filled carriage, muffling racking coughs into her elbow. She takes a quick look around the now-clear roadside. None of the fallen guards are making noise anymore. She takes a moment to free the horse, and watches it vanish into the dim.

"What a shitshow."

When the three rendezvous, Inoshishi raises the gem, giving it a waggle to demonstrate its now more visible... purpleiness. The way back to Kekkonmon is largely uneventful, though Inoshishi is much quieter than she'd been on the way over. It's easy to tell that she's upset about the way the mission went, though she doesn't voice it beyond that last remark to Ember. They meet back up with the client in the back of a boarded-up cafe, the man slipping through the back door and rushing them all in hurriedly. He unceremoniously takes the gem and leaves with simply a curt, frightened nod as thanks. Inoshishi sticks her tongue at him behind his back as he departs. That just leaves the three missing-nin and their spoils, laid out on a dusty table.

"Oh, shut up and leave him alone," she snaps at Gurimu. She seems more irritated at the lizard needling him over the cough than at the suggestion that he take all the loot and leave. That sounded pretty bad - did Hiroaki catch something while they were out in the cold? Her mind returns to the wheezing rattles of dying men, and her next words come out sharper than intended. "What've you done besides be a pain in the ass?"

Hiroaki's suggestion of them working together again draws a noncommital grunt from Inoshishi. Once the others have left, that just leaves her and her thoughts. A memory she's been pushing away comes to the fore. Herself, wearing a gleaming Sunagakure hitai-ate, walking with her two teammates and their teacher. They've been hired to protect a caravan. It's been a long day. The caravanserai is still nowhere in sight as the sun dips low on the horizon. She's just gotten spit at by the camel drawing the carriage and is fuming in silence, trailing behind with her teacher as usual.

Her two teammates laugh with one another, complaining of how bored they are. They say how they just wish some missing-nin would show up and break the monotony.

"Sorry," she murmurs, and she doesn't know who she's apologizing to.

[642, TWC 1615.]

Claims wrote:Claiming:

4 stats (+2 strength, +2 chakra.)

Deflect at C-rank (900 words, with 100 trained previously in Seedy People.)

Applying the other 715 words towards picking up Dirty Fighting, with the understanding that the technique is likely in need of updating.

Also taking 3000 ryo and 7AP as mission rewards, yada yada.

Approved