Some Art Concept [Valeiru]

D-Rank Mission - Time To Go:

D-Rank Mission - Escort Duty:

D-Rank Mission - Troublesome Tree:

D-Rank Mission - Minor Construction Help:

Another day. Another week. Another “minor” village with problems that needed to be solved. Taking on requests did not bother Saya much. In fact, accepting such offers were preferable than staying and walking around Yugure at the moment. It was not that she disliked the small peace and freedom given to her there; it was simply the civilians or “humes,” the term that Valeiru had taught her, that made her want to leave. Humes were, from her own understanding, human servants that were dedicated to the kyuketsuki of Yugure. It was odd to see how zealous they could be. Obsessed. She shuddered at the thought of them before taking in the sun’s rays and warmth. Definitely better out of Yugure.

”Alright, so,” Saya began to address her “partner” (because, at this point, after several low ranked missions together, he was) as they walked up to a collection of one-story buildings, each with a number hammered on their doors. A small complex dwelling for the village. ”We go in and tell the family to leave. If they’re being stubborn we should just tie them up and throw them out. No need to harm them.” She wasn’t quite sure why she had to add the last part, but she did it anyway. Though that could have been attributed to when Valeiru drank that old lady’s blood and they abandoned the mission. It still bothered her for some reason.

As they stopped before the intended apartment, Saya discreetly checked the bump at her back. It was a perfectly wrapped up pack of rope, enough to tie up about three adults (or two adults and two small kids). ”You ready?” She asked Valeiru, turning towards him just a bit to see his expression. And whether or not it was intentional, the young woman did not wait for his response and knocked on the door.

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WORD COUNT: 310
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 310

It seemed as if Valeiru was more than aware of her comment. She winced. The dark haired woman had not intended it as a slight or an admonishment to his nature. Though, perhaps, underneath it all, it was. Saya, at her core, was a compassionate woman and could not stand it when people were suffering. Seeing as they had simply left the old woman lying in the middle of the road (even though it was enough to allow others to discover her body), the action of it itched and prickled at her skin. Nevertheless, Saya nodded at Valeiru’s explanation before rolling her eyes at his little reinforcement. Still, she mirrored his teasing smirk. He was only looking out for her, after all.

Unfortunately, the family that they were trying to force out of their home had a sick child and they were already at their end, it seems. Saya frowned at the attitude being thrown at them, but she understood their circumstances. Turning her head towards her companion for some kind of direction, she listened to him as he confirmed the man’s reason for refusing to leave. Her hand came up to rub at the side of her face. Damnit. Damnit! They were only supposed to hurry up and kick them out then move along to their next task of the day. But she couldn’t just…

Saya sent Valeiru an apologetic smile. Aside from that upturn of her lips Saya, without any other sign of her upcoming actions, forced her way past the door and the man behind it. Surprised by the sudden force of being pushed back, the guy could only stumble away and stutter complaints about their entry and Valeiru’s method of gaining information. She didn’t bother to slow down, quickly glancing around the rooms until she found the two that her partner had identified. The woman flung herself (not that she needed to, honestly) in front of the child laying under a thin blanket. Saya took a second to pause at the act. How dramatic.

”No! I won’t let you!”

Heavens above, have mercy on my patience. Saya inhaled deeply, calming the irritation that was beginning to make itself known. She grabbed the woman by the shoulder and pushed her down and away, allowing herself to kneel next to the little boy and assess him. She hummed, thoughts rushing as her hands flew through the jutsu signs for Healing Hands. The usage of chakra emitted a soft blue glow as she revitalized the boy, allowing his blood flow faster and stronger.

”There,” Saya pulled back with a scowl on her face. The boy didn’t have any diseases or illness that required an emergency treatment, but from what she was able to tell, he had severe electrolyte deficiencies. While water is all well and good for balancing out the liquids in the body, the boy was lacking in calcium and potassium. That was mostly a guess, judging from how brittle his nails looked and how dry the skin was as well as the muscle spasms that she barely felt when she placed her hands on the kid’s leg. ”I’ve healed him enough that he won’t be sick. At least for now. Make sure he drinks milk, not just water. And feed him some bananas.”

Saya pushed herself off the floor and looked towards the open door, expecting to find Valeiru and hoping that he would be the one to go through the required task of kicking them out. She wasn’t sure if she could find it in herself to evict them after learning of their situation.

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WORD COUNT: 598
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 310 + 598 = 908

- 20 AP for Healing Hands

200 / 220 AP Remaining

Her companion was already working on convincing the man of the family to move out while she had been tending to the child. So, when Saya had been trying to communicate with her eyes to do the “dirty” part of the work, Valeiru had already “explained” to the man about what was going to happen. Not long after she had advised the mother about the child’s situation, Saya was a bit baffled when the couple had immediately set onto packing up their things.

She wanted to question what Valeiru had done to agree on moving out and instigate with such speed. However, the woman recalled how he had managed to get one person to direct them to where they needed to go in their previous adventure. There was no doubt that Valeiru had quite the “charm” to him and would be able to convince people to do what needed to be done. Nodding and following him out the little apartment, Saya sighed and waited the set amount of time given by her partner. Silence reigned between them as the family gathered their belongings. It wasn’t an awkward quiet. Both seemed content with no words to fill the air.

Eventually and quite quickly, actually, the family had gone. Cart and all. The father would take one last look at Valeiru, make a frightened face, and let out some odd noise. Saya, once more, was curious but did not bother to pursue that train of thought. ”Hmm… “ The woman hummed as she took out a piece of paper that had a small list of their activities for the day. ”Looks like we got to escort someone to Yugakure. A man named ‘Jamil Proctor’ or however you pronounce it. He should be at the village town hall.”

It was not a town hall. Just another hut, one where most people go in and out to speak to the leader of the village. Saya pushed into the space, immediately zoning in on two men. She could already tell who their client was by his stance and the smug smile plastered on his face. ”This is… going to be fun.” She muttered under her breath, knowing that Valeiru would hear her words.

Jamil spotted the pair and sauntered up to them, a jovial laugh coming forth from him first. ”Are they to be my escorts?” He eyed them with a sharp and calculating gaze. ”They’re too pretty! My enemies will take them out way too quickly.”

Saya turned her gaze toward Valeiru, gave a slight jerk of her head towards their customer, and then rolled her eyes as if to say, See this? Why do we have to deal with people like him? This mission is already going to be annoying. You’ll be the one leading it. Then she pointedly crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly waiting for Valeiru to be the one to engage with the men.

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WORD COUNT: 485
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 908 + 485 = 1,393

She knew that it was always best for Valeiru to be the one talking. If it were her, no words would be passing through her lips. Rather, hands would be thrown and she was sure that their client would not be all too thrilled with his broken nose or other injuries. Such things would only keep him from doing his work, and that would not bode well for her mission. Or… Saya tried to think about the details of the request. Suppose that - goodness forbid - something happened to the client whilst on their way towards his destination and he did not die then surely, that would be considered a job well done and completed.

A hand unhooked itself from her elbow and ran up and down over her face. Just as she finished calming herself down, she caught Valeiru’s gaze and immediately covered her mouth to stifle the laughter trying make its way out of her body. Speaking was unnecessary as her companion’s pointed stare was all she needed to decipher what he wanted to convey. Bodily harm unto a client… It was tempting but that was not how she had been taught. The corners of her eyes crinkled, the only indication that she found Valeiru’s demand and request to be hilarious. But as their assignment retrieved his things, the smile behind her hand was wiped clean.

Nodding to her partner she exited first and took the first few strides in the direction of Yugakure, turning back only to make sure that the loud and boisterous man and Valeiru were following.

”Ahem! SO!” Started the architect, adjusting his packs and quietly wondering if the man in the hood would oh so kindly take a luggage or two off his back. It didn’t matter if they started off shaky, but wasn’t it polite and somewhat mandatory for his defense team to make his trip more comfortable? ”You two must be very careful, alright? I have had many encounters with ninjas such as yourselves. Mercenaries. Bandits. You name it - they’ve all come after me.”

His voice was grating. Saya had not bothered to slow down her pace so that the pair of men could catch up, but she did not hasten her steps either. If only she could lose her hearing now, that would be great. They couldn’t afford that though. Not when their source of money needed to be kept alive. As the man continued to reminisce about his various and many encounters with strong foes, Saya could only look over her shoulder to make eye contact with her silver haired partner, and silently ask, ‘Are you okay? You doing alright?’ Though she never once volunteered to switch their positions.

However, not too far into their journey did they come across a tree laying on their path. That was odd. There hadn’t been any thunderstorms in the past week or so, and if there had been, Saya would have noticed the lightning streaking against the sky. She raised her hand up to try and signal to “stop and be quiet.” Jamil Proctor, ever so good with his words, huffed and yelled quite obviously, ”A tree?! There’s no need to stop for a tree! We’ll just go around it.” Then he proceeded to step around her slight frame, intent on climbing over the thick timber. As he moved closer it soon became apparent that it was not as short as he thought it would be as it had an extra foot or two over his frame.

"I do believe that you cannot make it over, and please do not get out of line even if you think yourself safe. Many would have taken the opportunity to have sniped you if they had the means to do so." Saya reprimanded him, having followed closely if some kind of projectile happened to have been thrown in their direction.

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WORD COUNT: 647
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1,393 + 647 = 2,040

Her admonishment towards Jamil was further emphasized with Valeiru’s additional threats. The man inhaled sharply and his lips trembled as he gave a jerk of his head, a single nod that he understood their words. Saya watched him scamper back to the cart that she had noticed earlier on in their journey. Honestly, she thought that Jamil carrying his own things would be a nice little lesson for him, but doing so would have slowed them down. Not by much as Jamil was still an ordinary being. Sighing, she hummed as an acknowledgement to her travel companion’s suggestion and small information gathering.

”Unfortunately for the both of us, we’re not him so we’ll make due,” Saya said as she took a few paces back, positioned herself accordingly, gathered chakra to the tips of her fingers and released a few shots. The energy made holes into the thick wood, creating cracks in a vertical line and shorter ones horizontally. They weren’t enough to pierce all the way through but Saya kept at it, continuously hitting and pushing through until they were able to see the other side in the small hole.

This was the first time in a while that she had exerted her chakra to this extent. Chakra seemed to reinvigorate her body, alighting her with some strength or vitality. Saya disengaged her jutsu before going through another set of hand seals, which allowed her to summon a whip of water.

Pulling her arm back and then snapping it forward, her jutsu zip towards the tree, easily cleaving the top in half. All thanks to the preparation work done with her Spirit Gun. ”You sure you ain’t got nothing to help me out with? Not that you have to or anything. I got this. Just, uh, really nothing?” The muscles stretched around her shoulders, twinging a bit from the use after a long time. With a few more whacks the fallen tree groaned, cracked, and snapped. Both of its halves rolled to and fro before Saya used her water whip to direct each part to the side. Seeing as the level of her jutsu wasn’t strong enough yet, it took longer than she had wanted to achieve her desired result.

The tree was huge so getting through its flesh had been a bit of an ordeal. ”Here we go. It’s going to be a bit of a tight fit, but we should be able to squeeze through.” Saya, once more, released her jutsu and looked over her shoulder to gauge her companions’ reactions. Jamil’s expression had gone from fidgety and looking everywhere around their surroundings to a wide smile, a loud laugh echoed from his position.

”Hiring you two was a great decision on my part!” The architect took off his bandana, wiped the sweat off of his brow, and strode forward. He had almost gone through the five to seven feet of a prickly tree tunnel but backed down at Saya’s glare and body block. Jamil cleared his throat, ”You did a pretty good job cutting it half, Girly! But if it was me, it would have been a piece of art!”

Saya’s expression melted into obvious exasperation and annoyance, her eyes dimming with cold indignation and lips set into a thin line. ”You wouldn’t be opposed if I shoot him in the head, would you?” A question asked in sarcasm. Or not. Valeiru could probably feel her chakra gathering at her fingertips before dissipating with a sigh. ”Feel like taking the lead now?”

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WORD COUNT: 585
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 2,040 + 585 = 2,625

- 20 AP for Spirit Gun
- 20 AP for Water Whip

160 / 220 AP Remaining