Guards of a Feather Flock Together

Mission Details:

It was a rare day where Page woke himself up, to be fair, he didn't get much sleep the night, the anticipation preventing him from falling into a deep slumber, he had his assignment for the day and was simultaneously very worried and very excited for what the day could mean. On paper, it was just another assignment, nothing special, just working with some allies to guard the village gates, but beyond that he was going to be working not only with people he hadn't met, he was going to be working an Anbu black ops operator, someone ranked even higher than his teacher Raleth. This is not to say that Page was not excited about meeting with Souji, but if he was being honest with himself, the Anbu shinobi had a lot more clout, and was a lot more influential.

Springing himself up from the bed, startling Sheffield who was resting next to him, he would quickly go through his morning routine. He would take a shower, brush his teeth and get clothed all in less than 10 minutes, trying his best but ultimately failing to not rouse his roommate, Katsuragi. After a bit of a trade of barbs normal between the two, Page would storm off to his one section of the room that was strictly off limits to his roommate, a bit of a shrine with two head bands and a forearm protector laid out over cloth. The former farmer did what he had done many times in the past, tied the shorter of the two headbands around his left arm's bicep, the longer of the two around the sleepy Sheffield's neck, tying it off like a scarf, and finally he would strap the forearm protector around his right arm, give a bit of a stretch and start his way outside, picking up some fresh fruit from his sensei's garden for himself and his wolf companion. "Well Shef, lets get going then, guard duty won't complete itself."

The two made their way through the streets of the Village Hidden in the Sand, realizing that they had more than enough time till they were called onto guard shift. Along the way they picked up some Kabobs, more than they needed, nothing like a breakfast kabob to start off your morning, to both consume for himself and Sheffield, but also the people he'd be put on guard duty with. Eventually, although still early, he would make it to the gates, checking in with the guards there. At the post two kunai would be waiting for him, four remained after he took his share of it, thanking the other guards there for tolerating taking the night shift. He would find a nice chair, sit, Sheffield laying down next to him, directly in petting range, and they would wait for their co-workers to arrive, Page ready to offer them food, Sheffield hoping they would bring some more.

WC: 486

Within the doorway of a room within a well built home stood a boy with lilac eyes. Dressed in a black turtleneck top and black jacket with a series of straps and bucklets that gave it the resemblance of a straight jacket. Crimson pants and black shinobi boots. A white silk sash that draped over his left with the village symbol woven into it. Black wavy hair with an undercut. Multiple piercings on his left and right ears, with a piercing under his bottom lip. Hands within the depths of his jacket pockets he observed as his mother - Mizuki Ohta slept peacefully. He could 'sense' her from where he stood, as he casually moved from her bedroom threshold, closing the door behind him.  

His feet lead him to the kitchen, where he would raid the refrigerator for an apple and a bottle of water, his eyes noticing that there were a few strawberries which he could not resist - helping himself to 3 of them, closing the door as he motioned to the front door, not without giving the location of his mother one finally glance. "Enjoy your day at the office, Mother. I'll bring you something to eat once I'm done with my mission." His words were low, but something told him that the message would be received. Exiting his home, the boy would lock the door to his home as he motioned to navigate the streets of the Village to reach his destination.

Recalling the assignment that was given to him, he was once again paired with Ibari, someone he found to be straightforward, yet reserved. Their previous mission was pretty high-profile, the Hyuuga managed to leave a good first impression on the Anbu, something he had no true intentions of doing, but it was...nice when it was considered. He would admit that he looked forward to working with him again, this particular mission provided such opportunity. There was also another, one he was unfamiliar with - Page, an Inuzuka. Never did he expect to see one within the walls of this village. He would sigh - "Sunagakure has an unrivaled way of drawing in Konoha origin shinobi to its confines. What's next, a Nara - Yamanaka?" His tone was on the side of distaste. He departed from that village to rid himself of all that reminded him off it, yet with each passing day the walls withing this one was gradually mirroring it. Shaking his head he would snap himself from the heavy ill feeling of it all, finding that it was not all too bad, after all his sensei was an Uchiha and it even reunited him with his kin - Shizou.  

Eyes focused ahead he was approaching the gates of the Village, immediate the boy wondered if he would catch a glance of Han slacking off again. A devious smile formed on his face as he hasten his steps once he was within 5 meters of the guard tower he halted in his tracks. There was this...feeling? His eyes bounced from right, to lower right, then to upper left and then straight ahead. Still not quite use to 'sensing' people, he was oblivious to the concept that he could sense chakra, all he ever knew was to see it with his Byakugan so this was mildly strange. However, this odd sensation did not keep him from starting his pace up again and turning to find a man sitting in a chair that he was so use to seeing the old geezer in. Narrowing his eyes at the man, he would stray them to his lower side to find an animal - it was clear now, this was Page. Returning his gaze to meet the eyes of the Inuzuka he would lift his chin, slightly tilt his head to the left and sigh. This was the characteristic of Souji, stoic, nonchalant and observant. Yet, he found maturity within the walls of this village he called home. Closing his eyes he would lowering his chin. "Morning... Hyuuga, Souji. I take it that you're Page." His eyes opened, those lilac orbs with black pupils would innocently stare at that man.  

Looking down,  be would notice 4 kunai, 2 kunai outlines with specs of sand debris. Figuring that Page took his already, Souji would turn from the weapons and motion to the threshold of the tower. "You can have mine." Pointing to the kunai with his right hand as it removed from his pocket. "I have plenty already as it is." He added, his eyes falling to the canine companion. Souji had a thing with it came to...animals. He never used to like them, but since his incident in the training grounds where he nearly killed one, his tune towards them...changed. He could tolerate them a bit more now, and that was not a bad thing.

The boy would wait for the arrival of the Anbu and for the orders to be given as to what they needed to do. Though, he closed his eyes and focused - pushing that sense of his out to a max distance of 10 meters. 

[WC: 850]

"Morning Hyuuga, Souji," Page would respond, "That's me yeah, Page." Page would meet the lilac eyes of his fellow genin, before gesturing to the available kunai, suggesting that the Hyuuga clan member could take his pick from the available selection. When he would refuse, Page would shrug before picking up the one of the remaining four, stating, "Well I guess I can take half and leave the other for that ANBU guy showing up, ain't never worked with anyone that high but the last thing I'd want to do would be to piss them off. You ever worked with this Ibari fella?"

Noticing the boy was dressed in almost all tight black clothes, complete with all sorts of metal extremities and additions, Page thought to himself, Well that certainly is a choice, I wonder if most these ninjas hidden in the sand are acclimated to the sun, or if this environmentally sealing dome covered enough of ones internal temperature that being dressed in such a dark color would be prevented from causing any intense heat within it, Page had all too much experience with the heat of the sun while he worked on his farm in Fire Country, he knew how intense the heat could get in improper clothing and he worried that his ally would grow intensely uncomfortable in the heat and be unable to work, but then his thought were replaced with a reminder he was new to this place and this guy probably knew the area better, and what he could handle in terms of heat. "So all black, huh, that seems like it might get mighty hot, not to cast shade or anything, but doesn't that stuff get especially uncomfortable here in the desert? Still getting used to this place," Page would ask, scratching the back of his head as he thought it may have unintentionally came off as a slight.

Trying to move along the topic to avoid any further faux pas, Page would pick up the bag from his side, his order from the Kabob place, and pick out two of the kabobs, "Say, you wouldn't happen to have eaten already? I bought some breakfast Kabobs from a street vendor on my way here, my favorite place I've found around here when it comes to a solid eat, they just have the best way of melding eggs, ham, bacon, and a stick into one glorious combination, got two for you if you want them, if not I'm sure they can find a home someplace else, so no pressure, you feel me?" Page would stick his hand out to offer and give the younger genin a smile, should he accept the offer, he would lean back in his chair and start his work, but given that the genin would refuse, he would give one of the two kabobs to Sheffield and keep the other one solely for himself to enjoy, holding onto two more left in his bag for if the ANBU agent would show up. 

As he sat down to wait for his final comrade to show up, there would be a sort of awkward silence as the moments waiting turned into hours, they would without speaking complete their duty as guards at first, checking in the merchants and not really knowing what to say, but eventually when it became evident that the ANBU agent wasn't going to show himself, the former farmer would say, "I don't suppose it's in the ANBU nature to show yourself now that I think of it..." taking a second to think on what he was saying, "The way I figure it, he could easily be somewhere around here and we wouldn't even know," before trailing off into a bit of laughter. Assuming that this would have broken the ice, Page would crack out a deck of playing cards and offer to play a game with Souji, saying specifically, "Given we are just kinda sitting around here in the downtime between people come around, and my shnoz would be able to pick up on intruders and guests as they come, want to play some King's Corners or Kings in the Corners? You guys play that game around here? If not I'd be happy to teach you how it works, pretty simple once you get going, I just ask one thing, no using your eyes to take a gander at my cards if you don't mind." Before he would get an answer he would start shuffling, after all if this offer was rejected there was always the game of solitaire he could play should there not be any reprimanding from his comrade.

The day would pass mostly uneventfully, either they would play cards or Page would just talk with the fellow genin, trying to get to know them well. Over the course of the mission, the former farmer would try to have Sheffield ease off on Souji, given that the man had seemingly shown a discomfort before towards the wolf, and let the human come towards the dog if he wished as opposed to the opposite. Page would attempt to keep up a casual atmosphere and keep things calm as the mission progressed. As it their shift came to a close, Page offered to buy some grub for the two of them before they departed towards their places for the rest of the day, but should Souji decline he would have no reason to protest the decision and would simply grab something to eat with Shef. It is worth noting that Page wouldn't touch the other three Kunai, nor would he touch the remaining kabobs, just in case that ANBU was watching.

WC:942 TWC:1428
Mission Complete and Exit
+20 AP
+4100 Ryu
Page claims with full stat discount
1.15k/1.15k for this
100/100 Scent memorized for  Souji
Sheffield with 203 of the WC
+2 stats
530/2500 for this  continued from here

Approved @ Page

Souji observed as the man named Page took the Kunai and stored it on his person. Lilac eyes strayed to the animal beside him. The Hyuuga was then asked a question. Thus his attention was shifted, but ultimately to himself as he inspect his attire. "It doesn't bother me as much...not anymore at any rate. There are things far more worse than some internal heating, I can assure you of that." His tone lowered to a point of detachment. There were a series of things that this boy could share with the man, but it would only plague the mood - that and he didn't know him well enough to disclose his personal traumas with him. The Hyuuga would move from his standing of the threshold to face outwardly of the tower.  

He was asked about food, he would politely decline the offer, the Genin rather not upset his stomach with breakfast kabobs. They never sat well with him, before long he would have been throwing up should he accepted it. Noticing from the peripherals of his left eye as the man handed one to his dog and kept the other for himself. Souji, shifted his eyes to the open land before him. Chakra began to explode from behind his eyes, veins around the temple and eyes would swell as those lilac eyes would glaze over with pearl. The boy was concern about Ibari's tardiness, thus he expand his visual radius up to 100 meters. He knew exactly what to look for, having Ibari's Chakra memorized. Hearing the words of Page, Souji would glance back at him, revealing those pearlescent eyes as he stared into the very being of both him and his dog. "Ibari is not that type of Anbu. He's usually the one waiting for us to arrive, on top of which he is nowhere near our location. So you don't have to assume otherwise. I'm sure he's caught up in something rather important at this point." He would say. Turning his attention back to the vast land of sand and dunes.  

He was asked about a game to kill time, but the Hyuuga found that to be both tempting and irresponsible. "I rather not, I take my tasks seriously. Playing games will only lead to allowing someone to slip by. Some other time though, I will gladly take you up on that offer.... can't promise that I won't use my eyes though." He smirked before seeing to his task at hand. As the day passed without so much as a single visitor it was safe to say that they did not require the aide of Ibari in the first place. No harm done. As it was time for them to part ways, the Hyuuga would simply deactivate his eyes before turning to the man and his companion - the offer to buy some grub was kind, Souji felt a bit bad for declining all his attempts, but this was in his nature. He was never an inviting individual as his face made him out to be. In fact, he was very distant and reserved. He couldn't help but to maintain that nature. Shaking his head he would decline a final time. It was then that the two part ways. 

[WC: 541]
[Total WC: 1,391]
[EXIT - MISSION COMPLETE]
Mission Claims -
20 AP
4,100 ryo 

Personal Claims -
Hidden Mist Technique V7 [Towards Mastering ×2 -[3796/4500] - [4500/4500] (704)
Hidden Arms v7 - 687 - [687/750]

aApproved