The Wheels on the Caravan [IO]

Crack!

The wheel on the caravan came flying off, and the vehicle now leaned heavily to one side. Crates within the caravan succumbed to gravity and slammed into the wall and each other. A noteable grinding sound echoed through the forest, with the free axel now plunging into the gravel road. The yelp of the caravan drivers was piled on top of it all, one of them pulling the reigns of the horse back and to the side, bringing the whole caravan to a halt.

“What the hell was that? Did you inspect the wheel before we left?” One driver yelled to the other, a common occurrence for them. The drivers then began to bicker, going back and forth about what went wrong.

Kairu sighed, arms crossed over his vest. This mission was the last place he wanted to be. So droll. It was far below him, what a simple mindless task and a waste of talents. However, despite the annoying setback and now additional time he’d be spending on this mission, there was something interesting happening. The caravan wheel suspiciously fell off, in the middle of well-known bandit territory. Something told Kairu this was no coincidence.

The young man got up from the crate he decided to make his perch, and hopped off the back of the caravan. If there were bandits, they’d be coming from the back for an ambush.

“Hey! Off the caravan!” Came the gruff sound of an older man. Kairu’s head turned, and then tilted toward the noise. The bandits were coming from the front? How bold. “On the ground, both of yous!”

Coming out from the woods, garbed in appropriate darker greens and browns for camouflage, three bandits held crossbows, each trained on the drivers. The bandits began yelling more, and the drivers quickly responded, beginning their descent from their seats.

Emerging from behind the caravan, Kairu placed his hands on his hips. “How tough. A bunch of men with ranged weapons. What’s wrong? Afraid to get close? ♡” He teased. “Listen, I’ll give you each a deal. If you drop your weapons, I’ll let you fight me one-on-one. A fair fight. Honorable.”

“That goes for you too, freak! On the ground! Enough of your jabber!” The bandit leader yelled out, referring to Kairu’s colorful choice in garbs.

The young man sighed again, shaking his head. He pointed out three fingers toward the three bandits. . “Last chance. Fight me, fists only, and maybe you’ll stand a sliver of a chance. A much better shake than you’d get trying to come at me with those dingy things. ♤”

Having enough of Kairu’s words, the three bandits shared a knowing glance, and let their bolts fly toward Kairu. A quick dodge and twist of his body let the bolts slip past the shinobi. A grin curled across his fist. “How boring… you can’t even see them, can you?” He chuckled, and the bolts seemed to slow in mid-air and come to a stop. “Chakra threads, when I pointed I attached one thread to each bolt you had aimed at me… and this particular technique of mine has both the properties of chakra, and thread. ♡”

“What?” The bandit leader’s brow furrowed, eyes watching in confusion on the bolts. This was the last thing he uttered, before the bolts suddenly bounced back at the bandits. Kairu flicked his wrist, and the chakra threads guided the bolts toward their new targets, the threads letting go of them and letting them embed themselves into the bandit’s skulls. A second passed, and each bandit collapsed onto the ground, dead.

“Well… that was fun.” Kairu rolled his eyes. He pointed a finger back down the road, briefly glancing at the drivers who were still halfway off the caravan. “The wheel should be somewhere back there. Hurry up and get it attached and fixed before more of those thugs come out of the woodwork. If they decide to attack, I may be too uninterested to deal with it. ♤” With that, Kairu climbed back into storage and resumed his lackadaisical position on his crate.

He closed his eyes again, a frown forming on his face as no one’s gaze was upon him. The spark of something interesting, only to be disappointed, was worse than having nothing happen at all. How much longer would Kairu have to wait until he got the excitement he craved?

[WC = 729]