Ten Island Tour [Unagi]

https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t47486-ten-island-tour

A little boy stood on a fairly long dock, watching a huge cruise ship heading towards him. This cruise ship was going to be the setting for his very first mission, and he could not be more excited about it. He was giddy and sort of jumping up and down on the balls of his feet, waiting for the cruise ship to show up and throw down the huge bridges that would connect the ship to the dock. There was still plenty of time, but he could not help himself to come early, as the excitement was a bit much. He was also going to be doing the mission with another shinobi, and he could not wait to meet them. He wanted to meet all kinds of new people in the village and make sure that they could work together well, and luckily he had not met anyone that was difficult to get along with. He silently crossed his fingers as he thought about this, hoping that the person that he was going to be paired up with this day was someone nice. 

He was currently one of nine on the dock right now, as there were eight burly sailors waiting for the ship to get close so that they could help tie it down to the docks and set up the huge ropes that would be coming so that the bridges could land safely. It most likely irritated them that the ship was supposed to get close and dock when the ninja that were supposed to be doing the tour could simply walk out onto the ocean and hop on the cruise ship, but a job was a job. Hiroyuki was oblivious to this fact as he was too focused on what he was going to say about the various islands. He had done quite a bit of research on the islands he had not been to, but he knew most of them due to his father being a sensory shinobi for the village, he had a lot of detailed information available. 

As the ship was getting nearer, his ears perked up as he heard someone step onto the wooden dock, the tell tale clunk of the wood was different than that of normal wooden floors, and so it alerted him immediately. Hiroyuki turned around and noticed that the person that he was supposed to be partnering with was there, as only sailors and them were allowed on the docks at this time for the cruise ship, so he took this time to introduce himself. “Hello, I’m Hiroyuki Yamanaka, nice to meet you!” he would say in a very enthusiastic tone. This was unless his partner was a woman, as he was still shy around them, so he would most likely stammer the words out a bit and hide his face with a bow if it was. This would help him work on how shy he was around strangers who were women though, so it was most likely a net positive. 
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WC: 502

Naturally, due to the balance in all things having a comedic bent in Makoto's recent life, it would in fact be her that winds up walking onto the dock. The teenager's graying black hair has been tied up into a bun, and her formal outfit combined with that makes her look older and more mature than she has any right to be. A small smile shines on her face contrasting with the lifeless look on her eyes as she approaches her partner for this mission. The stammering and shyness, however, catches her off guard. She takes a moment to actually process someone being more socially akward than her.

"So small..." She thinks. Wasn't this one a bit too young to be called a shinobi? Shouldn't they be in the academy? Perhaps they'd been promoted early due to competence, but... Crouching down to be closer to eye level with the shy, stammering kid, she quietly offers a hand.

"Hm. You may have to pull the extra weight here. He seems uncomfortable." The centipede inside her whispers. She nods to herself. It was certainly not very promising, but it would be bad to judge too early. Still, all that said.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Makoto Yoshida."

[TWC 209]

Hiroyuki had introduced himself to the woman that was now leaning down in front of him, when she suddenly offered him her hand. This unnerved him, not because there was anything wrong with her, but because he could not bear the thought of touching her at the moment due to him being only comfortable around his mother. Still, it would be rude not to take her hand in reciprocation, and so he was having quite a bit of internal struggle. He put on a brave face, and forced a little smile while grabbing her hand for a hand shake, but he could not bring himself to look her in the eyes. The hand shake was also very brief, and so he let go of her hand almost immediately, and he was looking towards one side of her face when he was doing so. He was feeling awkward because he did not really want to talk all that much because of his stammering, and the waiting and awkward silence was killing him. 

Suddenly a saving grace appeared as the ship that they were going to be working on for the mission blew its loud horn, as it was starting the docking procedure. “Uhh, let’s get ready to board the ship.” Hiroyuki would say, still stuttering as he quickly made his way to the end of the dock where the dockhands were hard at work tying up the boat, making sure that when the bridges were slid down they would be more secure. It seemed like they were only going to wait about a minute or two, but this was still a lot of time to sit in silence, so Hiroyuki tried to be a bit more brave and ask the woman a question. “So umm, have you been to the other islands before?” he would ask, still not looking directly at her, but it made him slightly more comfortable every time he could muster up the courage to speak to her, so it was something that would eventually be ironed out through this mission, at least he hoped so.
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WC: 348

Makoto straightens up as soon as it becomes clear he's uncomfortable with contact, wringing her hands behind her back. Well, it's not like she knew how to be friendly with children. She'd barely gotten to be one herself. So, she keeps the silence until the boat arrives. She watches it dock, curious- in truth, she doesn't even remember if she's been on a boat before, so this is a new experience for her. The silence didn't bother her much at all in the first place, but it seemed to be bothering Hiroyuki, so she waited until he spoke up and then took a moment to consider her answer to the question.

She knew about other islands because she liked reading about wildlife on them. She'd never left the temple grounds much, so she had always prized books on just about anything outside- on literature, on wildlife, on geography. This had given her a well rounded education, so nobody had complained at all that she filled sketchbooks with complicated drawings of insects or birds to pass the time, thinking about actually getting to hold those things. Well. Not the poisonous ones, resistant as she might be. Humming, Makoto scratches her chin as she figures how to word it.

"I've never been too far from the village or my temple, I'm afraid, though I read up before accepting the mission. Mostly on the geography and wildlife."

[TWC: 444]

Hiroyuki was slowly opening up to the girl, and by this time, the ship had docked and it was time to hop on and actually start the tour. Hiroyuki was definitely better with crowds than talking one on one with people, so he relished the chance to hop aboard as quickly as possible when it was time. He wanted to hurry and get this mission started officially so that he could start telling people some fun facts about the islands that made up Kiri, aside from the main one that they were on of course, as that was a given. His excitement caused him to even forget his shyness, as he quickly said to the woman, “Let’s go!” before running up the bridge onto the boat, where everyone was up there waiting for them. 

When the woman got on board as well, the sailors would signal to the others to set sail, which would prompt the other people on board to get rid of the ropes and then set sail towards the first island on the tour. The first island on the tour was going to be sunset island, which got its name from the attractiveness of the sunset when viewed from the peak of the small mountain that was on top of the island. There was even a viewing platform that was set up there so that the visitors of the island would have an easy time getting to the proper spot. It was greatly popular with the locals for taking their date there.

Hiroyuki would not relay that information because he did not really have any idea about all of that, but as the boat started to get to that island for sightseeing, he spoke up about it. “Hello everyone! I hope you all are ready to start the tour of the Kiri islands! The first island that we will be seeing is called sunset island, known for the viewing platform that has the best view of the setting sun over the ocean in the entire village!.” Hiroyuki would commentate, getting into his element now. 
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WC: 347

She dutifully follows right after the small lad, going down the bridge and onto the ship. A gust of wind blows her hair, making her pause for a moment as she worries about- No, she's not at home, so it's not a problem if she doesn't look entirely perfect. Still, she quietly fixes it before looking around at the gathered tourists and feeling a pang of anxiety all on it's own. These people were expecting her to talk at length about things, so naturally she does not find that comforting. Makoto wonders if accepting this mission was the right idea at all, wringing her hands as she collects her thoughts.

"-It's also a-"She begins to add, before stopping for a second. Patience and composure, Makoto...She gives her best smile. "It's a rather popular spot for couples as well. In fact, the flowers in bloom right now will make it an even more romantic trip for those inclined, I'm sure."

All that reading romance novels might pay off in an unexpected way, Makoto muses. Still. Would she ever actually wind up bringing anybody here? It seemed unlikely. For one, she didn't even know if such a thing was allowed, and even then it'd likely be an issue. Given Mitsu's reaction to looking at her clan's secret, it was unlikely a lot of people would react much better to knowing what was inside her, and so it was probably better to not think about it at all. Less attachments to worry about.

"Keep going. You're doing well, but you'll want to actually explain things more in depth and make sure they don't do anything unsafe."

"Oh, though I should say-" She silently thanks her inner partner for the reminder. "Some of those flowers are endangered, so I will have to ask you not to pick them. I will, ah, point them out as we see them."

[TWC: 763]

Hiroyuki was really happy and excited telling all of the people on the ship the knowledge he knew about the island as they were about to dock on it, and then the woman he was with, Makoto, decided to speak, and talk about the endangered flowers on the island that were currently blooming. That was something that Hiroyuki skipped over in his research, and smiled and nodded with her information. Hiroyuki liked the way she spoke, her voice sounded really ethereal and calm. He was used to the violent and angry enthusiasm of his mother, who seemed to be more beast than woman most times. Regardless, it was time for the people to get off the boat and tour the island a little bit, the schedule was ten minutes, before the boat would hoist anchor again and head to the other islands. 

This island was indeed beautiful, but the center piece, with the viewing platform, was definitely the best part of the island. Sadly, it was nowhere near the time for the viewing platform to actually show off the wonderful sunset, but at least the blooming flowers around the area were a fantastic consolation prize. Hiroyuki made sure to remind the people that were getting too close to the flowers not to pick them. The tour service had brought over a person with an old fashioned camera to take pictures of the tourists at the platform, and there were a total of four couples who were here and got the picture taken, before it was time to leave the island and start heading to other islands. 

“This island was fun, and so pretty. Sadly we couldn’t see it when it was at sunset, huh?” Hiroyuki said, slightly shyly, but he was rapidly getting used to interacting with her, and was warming up quite quickly. 
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WC: 304

Makoto's flower talk seemed to have let her speak without really thinking about it, her mind wandering comfortable places as the trip goes on. It'd really been nice, to have a mission like this, something uncomplicated that didn't involve intimidating people into compliance or fighting. As much as she'd begun to accept how necessary that was, a part of her heart simply felt relief at avoiding it for a day longer. Soon, it would be inevitable, but it was wise to treasure youth and innocence while one still had them.

The beauty of the island does catch her eye, making her think about the books she's been sneaking into the temple lately, and more importantly those her centipede had shown her the hiding spots of. Being a holy woman certainly had to be hard work, given the pains her predecessors had gone to in order to hide their more human habits. Still... it makes her want to bring someone here.

Oddly enough, she thinks of Mitsu.

"Yeah. Maybe some other time." She says, laughing quietly. What a weird thought, that. Weren't they enemies just last week? Still, making friends had made her open up to that sort of thing. Besides, she was sure Yul would find it very funny, and it was her duty to forgive, wasn't it?


"Let's get going, then."


It was sure to be a pretty calm rest of the day. Makoto would make sure to cherish it.

===
[TWC:1007]

Exit Claims:

Hiroyuki was having a grand old time introducing the island to the people that were there to visit it, and a lot of people still went to the observation deck o take pictures, even after all of the couples had paired up and done some cutesy photos, with the old photographer being a bit of a grump, it seemed that he did not like taking pictures with the youth, because they had some strange poses and were acting too casually for a photo shoot that he was used to. Hiroyuki was not really aware of this, but soon they would be done with speaking about that, and the people would be corralled back onto the ship to head to the next island. 

Hiroyuki suddenly heard Makoto say something about another time, and he assumed she was talking about the spot that they were talking about, and how they could not get here during sunset when the view was the best. Hiroyuki nodded and was wondering if she had a special someone that she could take here. He had no idea about relationships of the sorts, he had had crushes on some people before, but those were just a little kid’s fascination with girls, nothing more. Soon he would be figuring all this out, but it would take quite a while before that would actually happen. 

Hiroyuki then nodded when she said that they should get going, before following her back to the ship to continue their tour. The first island was really fun, and while the other islands were pretty cool and interesting, this was still his favorite because of the flowers. His second favorite was an island with a large number of tropical birds that were used to humans so would come up to you and beg for food while sitting on your head or your shoulders. Hiroyuki loved animals, although he did have the urge to start stalking and playing with the birds, coming from his more animalistic side. “This was really fun Ms. Yoshida. I hope to see you again soon.” Hiroyuki would say while giving her a polite bow, before heading off back towards his home to go and see his mother.
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EXIT
WC: 366
TWC: 1867
Claiming 4100 ryo and 20 ap
Claiming 18 speed
Using 633 words to finish Eight Inner Gates, previous training HERE
Using 1000 words on Gate of Healing
Using 234 towards Gate of Life 234/1000

... Centipede. 

Approved.