Keeping the Borders Safe

It wasn’t long into the day, yet the wolf had already been up for several hours. A few of the travelers on the road mentioned getting robbed by an up and coming group of bandits and thugs, something that Loghain wasn’t particularly fond of. Part of his exile was being sent on tasks like this, though it has been a while since he was assigned such a task. He hadn’t been told to hunt any bandits since mastering his transformation, which honestly was a relief. Ever since he killed that rogue genin he has been off… His actions were within reason, yet that changes little according to the man’s conscience. There was a great deal more burden now. It was easier when he couldn’t recall the details of his rage and those that became his victims, but now that he was in control the thoughts pained him. And the beast, well the beast reveled in the bloodshed. While transformed his judgement was more clouded, rage and the desire to hunt the creatures primary motivating factor. Luckily he was in control of it now, but he still felt its calling.
 
The task to find these bandits was going a little slower than he had anticipated, the young wolf finding it much harder to pick up their scent and trail them. He hoped that he was just having an off day, or perhaps these wily bandits had some way to help mask their scents. Loghain was dressed in a loose grey shirt that had its sleeves removed long ago. It offered little in the way of protection, but that didn’t concern the man much, his body more than capable of shrugging off most attempts on his life, especially from common bandits.
 
He was seeing less and less people travelling on the roads, and still no sign or trackable scent to follow. He would lean up against a rock, pulling out a bag of dried squirrel jerky. It wasn’t much, but he got so caught up in hunting these bandits that he almost forgot to eat something.


WC: 344

Takeda sighed a long, metallic sigh through the mask. He looked above to stare into the bright morning sun gleaming through the cloudless sky and leafy treeline, squinting as he tried to gauge just how far into the day they'd gotten. He knew that he'd gotten up pretty early, and it'd been at least an hour or two since then. Best guesstimate, it was likely around 10 AM. Under the mask he bit his lip, contemplating his next move. He'd wanted to go on a short walk along the path, curious as to where it might lead in the village, though he seemed no closer to figuring out where this thing was supposed to go.

The man pulled at his collar lightly to cool himself down as he examined his surroundings, looking to orient himself. He was dressed head to toe in black clothing, possessing a black leather jacket and gloves, with black pants and shoes to boot. Rather strange attire considering that it was rather warm outside. It didn't help that his shaggy hair was black as well, and hung over his face, leaving little of his unhealthily pale skin exposed to the elements. Sickly, and almost unnaturally yellow eyes peered out from beneath, examining his surroundings. Yet the strangest part of his appearance had to be the gas mask that clung to his face, filtering his breath and tinging his voice with a metallic sound.

The man was just about to give up and head back home, deciding the hike wasn't worth the heat stroke that came with it when he spotted something in the distance, contrasted against a somewhat large rock. Figuring it was worth a look, the young man set course to determine what exactly that it was that caught his attention. It was only after a short, five minute walk that Takeda realized that it was a man, eating some form of jerky against the rock. Takeda paused, wondering what to do in this situation. It would be rude not to say anything when he went out of his way to see him, wouldn't it? Or would it be rude to interrupt him in the middle of a meal? No, he was committed now. Best to own it. With an awkward wave of the hand, Takeda did his best to convey a smile through his eyes, and spoke in his friendliest possible voice through the metallic tone of his mask.

"Hello! It's a lovely day out, isn't it?"

His hand found its way to the back of his own head. Was that good? Was it awkward? The man rubbed his head as he tried to gauge the response of the man whose breakfast he interrupted.

Word Count - 450

Anastasia woke up that morning just like almost every other day. The sun had started to rise, there was no clouds in the sky, normal weather for Hoshigakure. Anastasia wouldn’t mind the odd cloud every now and then, they would help lower the temperature during the day, which was the one downside of Haven Country. It was also why she liked the Water Gardens so much, they were slightly cooler than the rest of the village. With a small sigh, the Akari Genin got out of her bed and began her morning routine. Her exercise and training routine went on without a hitch. She got back inside, got cleaned up and made herself something to eat. She then put on her gear; sword strapped to her hip, shield strapped to her back, and her armour and specially treated dress. She’d been asked to join Sebastian Loghain on a mission to go deal with some local bandits that had started going after travellers on the road to Hoshigakure. She had no issue with him and would gladly assist him. She made her way out of the apartment and over to the agreed upon meeting place.

It would seem that other people had been invited along as well, there was at least one other person with Sebastian when she got there. It was someone else that she was familiar with too. She would wave as she approached the pair. “Hello Sebastian, Takeda, how are you two doing today?” On the positive side, it was unlikely that Toneri would be here for this, and any mission that didn’t involve the Hogokage’s brother was always better in her books.

WC: 275

Takeda looked down when he mentioned his outfit, and the shinobi in training chuckled slightly.

"You're not wrong. It was a bit nicer when I woke up, but it got hot quick."

He took off his jacket in response and began to wrap it around his waist, revealing a white short sleeved shirt, more unhealthily pale skin, and a fair number of bruises and welts from his hand to hand training with Anastasia underneath. Certainly more comfortable attire than the jacket which he just took off. He was just about done when the stranger began to probe Takeda, who was none the wiser to the man's suspicions that he may be a bandit.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty new to the village. I wanted to do a little exploring of the place I'm going to be living in. I thought this might be an interesting path, and I wanted to see where it leads! Evidently nowhere for quite a while though..."

Takeda tried his best to flash another smile through his eyes at the man, who seemed to be a bit unnerved by the member of the Canopic. Takeda couldn't say he blamed him. Someone who covered his face was already off-putting, but someone dressed almost head to toe in black clothing as well was even more so. That isn't even mentioning that the young man had come from essentially nowhere and interrupted his meal.

When he mentioned bandits though, Takeda was a bit taken aback.

"Bandits huh? Well if I'd known that, I wouldn't have come here..."

The man seemed to react to something else on the trail. For a moment Takeda wasn't sure what it was, but then he heard the sound of a greeting from behind them. Turning around, he found Anastasia once again, and Takeda gave a friendly wave. She was slowly becoming his favorite member of the village, though admittedly there wasn't a lot of stiff competition.

"Oh hey ! I'm doing pretty well! I can't say that my bruises are doing too much better though..." He rubbed one particularly bothersome wound on his forearm at that. "How've you been?"

Takeda turned to the man that he'd met after that.

"Takeshi Takeda. Good to meet you as well Sebastian!"

Yet his next question made him pause. Takeda reached up and scratched his head, pondering on what he'd seen so far.

"Nothing I think would be important to you. Although... I did happen to overhear two men talking earlier near the entrance to this place. They got pretty quiet when I got close, but I caught wind that something was supposed to happen around 1 O'Clock."

Takeda shrugged. Truth be told he was likely picking at straws. They were probably just regular people planning some event or another. People getting quiet around him wasn't particularly strange either. Though it was better safe than sorry. Though their predicament gave him an idea...

"Oh hey! I hate to ask, but do you mind if I tag along? I may not look it, but I'm actually an Academy Student! I could probably help you out! Plus, it would be great practice for when I finally graduate."

Takeda would wait patiently, to see what the two more experienced shinobi would say...

Word Count - 542

Total Word Count - 992

As she got closer, she’d noticed that Sebastian Loghain wasn’t wearing any armour or carrying weapons. That either meant he was a melee fighter who used Taijutsu mainly, or he was a ranged combatant that didn’t need weapons or armour. Either way Anastasia would take his fighting style into account should they run into any trouble and would try to mesh her style into it as best she could.

She waved back at Takeda and smiled. He seemed to be in good spirits, all things considered. She laughed at his comment regarding his bruises. They had sparred the other day and the student had picked up a couple lumps and bumps over the course of it. Nothing serious of course, and Anastasia was able to use basic medical ninjutsu at the time to take care of the worst of them. “I’m doing well, thank you. We’ll have to spar again sometime, when you’ve gotten stronger.” She saw progress throughout the sparring session they had, and fully expected that he would become an excellent shinobi over time.

Sebastian would then seek to confirm Anastasia’s reason for being out here, which she replied with “yes, that’s correct. I’m here to assist you with tracking down the bandits that have been harassing travellers to Hoshigakure.” After which Takeda and Sebastian would formally introduce themselves to each other. He’d mentioned that he was having trouble tracking down the location of the bandits that were attacking the village, and that was a problem since that was the whole point of this mission. He then asked Takeda if he’d seen anything out of the ordinary. It was strange of him to simply ask the other man, and not Anastasia as well, but she let it go for now and waited to see what Takeda would say.

The academy student would mention that he had overheard two men talking nearby and they had mentioned something at one o’clock. Anastasia shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not aware of anything taking place at that time, but it wouldn’t hurt to investigate since we have no other leads to go on.” Takeda would then ask if he could come along to assist them. Personally Anastasia had no issue with it, and if push came to shove she would watch out for him if things got hairy. “I have no issue with it. Do you, Sebastian?” Once they were in agreement of what to do, Anastasia would let Sebastian take the lead on this mission.

WC: 413
TWC: 688

The two others would use a moment to catch up, talking briefly about their sparring match the day before. Anastasia bested him from the sounds of it. She was a high born from a shinobi line, likely trained since birth to fight. Despite his bruises, Takeda seemed to be in fairly good spirits. From the tones of the pair, it sounded like they both truly respected and enjoyed one another’s company. They both would be a welcome addition to this hunt… or at least that was the wolf’s initial feelings.
 
Loghain would listen as the Takeda informed the group of what he might have seen and heard. Loghain hoped that since the boy was coming from the direction the wolf was heading towards that he might have overhead or saw something that they could go on, which ended up being the case. It may not be a concrete lead, but it is far better than running around with no leads. “I agree. I haven’t been able to catch even the slightest whiff of where they might be. A stakeout for a little bit couldn’t hurt.”
 
When Takeda mentioned that he was still only a student the wolf would hesitate. “This mission will likely be dangerous. These bandits want us dead as much as we want them out of our borders. Are you willing to accept such a risk?” He would ask, his words and expression very solemn. Should the young student accept, Sebastian would nod his head, adding, “This may sound strange, but if things get bad out there I want you to get as far away from me as you can.” Usually a ninja squad would get into a tight knit formation when in a bad spot, so Loghain asking this would likely come off as very odd. If asked when they will know when things are bad, Loghain simply replies, “Trust me. You’ll know.” That honestly wasn’t a proper answer, though. He knew it was safer to tell them now, but there was reluctance. 
 
Anastasia seemed to be a warrior, someone who might be able to keep the wolf at bay if the worst happened and he lost control. It was unlikely, but possible. He didn’t want to tell them, for fear of what they might think, but ultimately it would help ensure their survival in this mission. “Hey, there is something I need to explain.” Once they were both listening, Loghain would begin.
 
“There is a very good chance that these bandits won’t leave without a fight. When that time comes…” The words didn’t want to come out, though he knew in his heart that they needed to. “I have a condition…” Again, he would pause. He wasn’t sure how best to state it. Better to just put it out there, and let them decide if they want to continue on this task with him. “I am a werewolf. I am able to control my transformation, but… there is always the possibility of the rage consuming me.” He would look over, directly into Anastasia’s vibrant eyes, “If I lose control, I need you to restrain me. If that isn’t possible…” His eyes would harden, “Then you need to kill me.”

WC: 533

Seems as though they were both okay with Takeda tagging along on the mission, though Sebastian's comment made him a little uneasy. Still, Takeda was in training to be a shinobi, and the risks came with the territory. He couldn't afford to let something as simple as a bandit attack slow him down. Besides, on a slightly more selfish note, knowing proper mission protocol would likely assist Takeda greatly in both his studies and his training. He was already set to graduate in a few weeks. This may just be the final push needed to send him to graduation.

"I'm willing to accept the risk. Don't worry, I may not know many jutsu like a full fledged shinobi, but I'm not helpless."

Yet his next comment was somewhat strange. Get away from him if things got bad?

"What do you mean? When do things get bad? These are just bandits, aren't they?"

His response that they'd know didn't answer his question or ease his mind, though Takeda had faith they'd pull through. After all, these two knew what they were doing, so all he had to do was follow their lead and they'd all turn out alright. The boy's train of thought was interrupted once again by Sebastian however, when he told them to listen up.

Takeda's brow began to furrow slightly as he explained his condition as a werewolf, and asked Anastasia to kill him if it got bad. Werewolves? He wasn't aware that such things actually existed. Though he supposed that this was the strange world of shinobi, where practically anything was possible, so he shouldn't be surprised. Still, his revelation came as a surprise.

"I had no idea... Thank you for telling us Sebastian. I can tell that took a lot of courage to tell us."

Takeda scratched his neck. He could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn't particularly want to tell them about his condition, though he did so out of a sense of duty. Takeda could say whatever he wished about his condition itself, though his honesty was admirable. Takeda bit his lip under the mask. If he was to be honest with them, it was only fair that Takeda be honest with him. Besides, he'd known Anastasia this long, and she hadn't pried as to why he wore his mask. Now was as good a time as any to reveal his clan.

"If it makes you feel any better, I have a pretty bad condition myself to deal with." Takeda reached his finger up and tapped his mask. "I'm a member of the Canopic Clan. I can't tell you much about it since I've never met any clan heads and my parents didn't talk too much about the clan history, but it's pretty dangerous for me to walk around without an air filter. If I take it off, chances are you'd likely get very sick."

Takeda winced. He didn't particularly like telling people either, but honesty begets honesty. He wasn't quite ready to get into the specifics of his disease and its full list of deadly symptoms, as he wasn't quite ready to sacrifice his chance at making friends. Not that there was any risk of keeping it under wraps a little while longer. He'd had years to practice keeping it under wraps under threat of incarceration and execution, he had no doubt he could keep it up for a little longer. His eyes flashed sheepishly and apologetically towards Anastasia. She'd been a real friend towards him, and he hoped that this didn't affect her perception of him too badly. He couldn't blame her if she did though.

"Anywho, if you guys are willing to put up with a sickly shinobi in training, I'm willing to sit back and learn."

Word Count - 630

Total Word Count - 1622

Takeda’s suggestion of a stakeout of the couple shifty individuals seemed like the best course of action for the trio at this time. “Sounds good to me,” she would say, voicing her assent to this course of action. When Takeda mentioned that he was only a student, Sebastian had paused, and wanted to make sure that Takeda was willing to accept the risks involved of being a part of this investigation. “I’m confident in his abilities,” Anastasia would say, vouching for her friend. “Besides,” she added, “I’m sure between the two of us, nothing will happen to him.” Which was then followed up by a very strange request indeed. Sebastian asked that should the fight, if any, go poorly, that they get as far away from him as possible. There had to be a reason for it, but at least for the moment, Sebastian was not forthcoming with the rationale for it. There was a pause, just a few moments of silence. Almost like he was debating on divulging something. Then Sebastian said that he had something he needed to share with them.

He had an affliction, that caused him to transform into a bestial wolf-man hybrid, almost like out of a fable. How he had control over it for the most part but having a chance that he would lose control. He placed a heavy burden on Anastasia. Should he lose control, she would need to either restrain him or kill him. The Akari Genin returned his gaze with one of her own. “I understand. But let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that,” she would say to Sebastian.

Takeda decided, as reciprocation for the revelation that Sebastian made, to explain what he knew of his own condition. He’s from a clan called the Canopic clan, one that the Akari Genin had never heard of, but it seemed like their bodies seemed to create some kind of illness that didn’t affect them but would harm others. And the mask he wore helped to protect others from whatever it was that his body produced. Of course this didn’t seem like something he had done to himself, so she couldn’t hold that against him. While he explained this, his eyes looked over to her, as if to apologise for hiding this aspect of himself. Anastasia nodded understandingly, giving him a small smile. “As I mentioned earlier Takeda, I have no problems with you accompanying us. However since you did seem to notice these people, please show us where you saw these people and we’ll see what we can learn from them.”

WC: 430
TWC: 1118

The two other Hoshi shinobi would listen as the young wolf spoke of his condition. It went as well as it could have, as neither of them decided to flee nor cut him down where he stood. Anastasia would also seem to understand, accepting what she might need to do. Loghain didn’t particular wish for it to come to that either, but he would rather be put down than slaughter these good folk. This honesty of what to expect going forward in the mission brought Takeda to a place where he felt that he, too, could reveal his unfortunate condition. The Canopic clan, born with an illness that isolated them and forced them to wear masks for the sake of the health of those around them. Such a curse must be quite the burden… Loghain would empathize with the youth. His mind would begin to drift, thinking about how such unfortunate circumstances of their birth had impacted their lives. Would they ever truly be able to live a normal life…?
 
The wolf would snap back into the present, shaking off such unpleasant thoughts and focusing on the task at hand. “Indeed, Takeda. You said they were near the entrance to this area?” The wolf would take a deep breath, inhaling through his nostrils. He hoped to pick up a scent, any scent that might help them find these bandits. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t detect any such trails. His nose wasn’t working as well as he was accustomed to… He wondered if it would be best to discuss this abnormality with Doctor Terumi when he saw the man next. FOCUS! He would think, scolding himself for allowing another drifting thought tear his attention away from the mission. The wolf would trail the pair, allowing Takeda and Anastasia to lead so that he could point out the folks that had big plans this afternoon.
 
If they were still there, Loghain would scope them out, looking for obvious signs that they were more than simple peasants. Clear signs of weapons, concealed or otherwise, battle scars, and possible behavior changes as people approached. Anything that could indicate something more than they were possible letting on. He could feel the irritation building, the wolf struggling to assert itself. It would be far simpler to just go over, lift them by their throats gain the information by force. His lip would almost twist into a snarl, yet he would instead take a deep breath and hard swallow. He would focus on keeping himself calm, as letting rage slip out could lead to him doing something that would negate all of the progress he had made and likely get himself killed by the village. His focus on keeping calm, he would allow the others to take lead here if they decided to investigate any further than this simple stakeout.
 
Between their travel and some brief waiting as they talked earlier, it wouldn’t be long until this supposed meeting took place. The wolf would hope that these bandits came out from hiding soon. Otherwise…

wc: 508