Out Searching

     Akihana had told him that it would be best to keep to a stealthy approach when it came to handling Dirty Dave or whatever. 'All she wants is an item of his? To get even? To make the assassination attempts stop? So be it.', he thought. While Eliwood turned his head to get a better look around of their surroundings, he had crossed his eyes with Akihana. They were conspiring to make sure that Hiroaki wasn't going to do anything rash, but by the time Eliwood would turn his head back to where Hiroaki was, Hiroaki would be gone. He would blend in with his surroundings using his chameleon technique. Eliwood would find his talk of them drawing the man's attention interrupted by this.


     Hiroaki would climb up the side of the building and slip in through the window. 'Like hell I'd go about drawing this guy out again', he thought. He slowly placed his body on his own two feet inside of the building. The floorboard groaned under the weight of his body. He stopped moving and waited to listen if anyone inside had heard anything. The whole building seemed to shake and make noise from the wind alone outside sweeping in. He scanned the area, keeping a hand on the hilt of his blade in case of intruders. He was eager to let off some steam and he in his head, dared anyone to show themselves to attack him, but no one did. Looking, he saw that he was in a kid's room and the kid herself was cooing. 'This old bat had a kid from the last time I saw him?', he thought. Hiroaki walked up alongside the crib that was placed in the corner. He pulled the cover off of the little girl who had wrapped herself up in a blanket. He honestly couldn't tell what the age of the child was, but he did see that the kid had hair. That was the child's only defining feature.


     He moved away from the crib and peaked down the hall. There seemed to be nothing there either. There was a stairwell going down which he peered over. 'There', he thought. There was a shadow at the bottom of it that passed by. That was a person no doubt. Hiroaki backed up, still in the hall until his back hit a closed door slightly. He opened the door slowly, just a bit and looked inside. The smell is the first thing that hit him. The same odor that had made the man smell in the past spewed out of the room. Hiroaki had to cover his nose it was that strong. He went back to the kid's room. 'That was Dirty Dave's candy so this has to be Dirty Dave's kid. Akihana did say to bring something of equal value.', he thought. He scooped the kid up with the blanket wrapped around her. To any other person, this would look like a child floating. He grabbed the edge of the window with one hand, the baby in the other and climbed down the wall.


     Hiroaki would drop next to Eliwood and would shove the child into his arms. He would drop his invisibility so they could see him. Assuming they both stare at him with jaws dropped, he would go, "What?". He would then turn to find a chameleon on his shoulder revert to being visible. "OH!? I-Is that why you are all shocked? Huh, who knew this little guy was here the whole time", he said petting the chameleon. The chameleon would open his mouth and a scroll would come down from it. "A contract?", asked Hiroaki. He would cough into his hand. "I see. Is this what it was like for you guys?", he asked dumbfound. He bit his finger. "Like this right?", he went on. He wrote out his name in blood and the contract was complete.


     The chameleon's eyes would look in separate directions. "You are like us, little bro. Welcome to our tribe. I will adopt you", said the chameleon. Hiroaki gave the reptile his best menacing glare and the summon disappeared into a cloud of smoke. 'If anyone is doing the adopting it is going to be me. Well, what's done is done', he thought. He fixed the position of his katana that had become a little loose from all the movement he had been doing. It had started to make him uncomfortable. He pointed at the kid Eliwood was holding. "So, you're fine with that, Aki?", he said. 

(WC: 757 | TWC: 4660)

A person with lesser control would have signed as Hiro disappeared even before she was done speaking. Mar could blame the village system all he liked but it instilled in their ninja a sense of obedience and focus that Hiro clearly lacked. If the child wanted to get anywhere with his jutsu, he would have to clear his mind and learn patience. The blonde instead turned to Eliwood, her golden eyes a combination of concerned and amused. “How much trouble do you think he’ll get into?” When no immediate explosions or sward clashes followed, the Kunoichi looked elieved. Whatever Hiroaki was doing up in the apartment, at least he wasn’t causing a ruckus.

Until a small, sleepy bundle flung itself out of a high up window, startling Akihana to erh very core. It didn’t take much to see it was a child plummeting to its death.. except its wasn’t plummeting, it was being carried by someone invisible. The mystery resolved itself when Hiro appeared – assisted by a chameleon – and handed the baby to the grene haired musician. Thank goodness the child was not alarmed.

“Hiro, we can’t take a child,” Akihana reasoned, staring at the little girl who looked as if she was having a particularly interesting dream. “How would that make us any different from Dave?” The boy ahd no answer to that, though it did give Akihana an idea. “Hnag on, I think I know how we can solve this,” she suggested, reaching into her picnic basket and pulling out a spare picnic blanket she always carried. Between her and Eliwood, they changed out the baby’s own pink blanket with their picnic one, a dark fabric printed with red clouds.

“Eliwood, could you please return the child to her home. Her father will see her and get the message. If he can get to the Sugar King’s child, the Sugar King can get to his. That should be insurance enough.” And if the man was not up to picking up subtleties, Akihana added a note tot eh child’s blanket, a small piece of parchment simply stating “With regards from the Sugar King.”

“Let’s return the child and have this all be done with. We still have a lot of shopping to do and not enough time to do it,” she added, “And Hiro, if the chameleons have chosen you for a summon contract, you must respect them or they will not obey you. It is a great honor to be chosen by a summon race, an honor that can be rescinded if they wish so.”

The blonde hoped her warning would suffice, animosity with a summon race could be deadly.


(442)

Eliwood was wracking his brain for a quiet way to draw out dirty Dave when he turned back to see he was talking to a wall. Hiro had disappeared already.

"Wow that was a lot faster than I thought. What an easy to lose kid he is." He'd turn and lower his head in a only half joking apology to Akihana. "Flame willing he is just going to steal some jewelry or family heirloom. Then we could get out of here."

He wasn't particularly worried about Hiro getting into trouble. At least not until the monk noticed a small child that appeared to have been chucked out of a window. Eliwood began to run towards the plummeting kid in hopes of catching her. He stopped short when Hiro uncloaked and revealed that he was holding the child the whole time. 

Eli let out a sigh of relief, but was surprised to have the baby then thrust into his arms. Now he was aiding a kidnapping, what a strange day it was turning out to be.

"I agree with Akihana, we cannot just steal a child. She did nothing wrong, it would be unfair for harm to befall an innocent little girl." He whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping kid.

Rolling with what was already done Aki had a good idea. She unwrapped the girl from her blanket and re-wrapped her in a picnic cloth that featured red clouds. Eliwood saw these clouds all over the place but never really thought anything of them. The restaurant was full of them so he figured it was just their symbol. He wondered why a tablecloth from a restaurant would scare this kingpin, but he figured itd be best if he not asked.

"You can leave it to me." He would say, again taking the small child in his arms.

Eliwood walked up to the building and stuck his feet to the outer wall. Walking up he would look down for Hiro to confirm which window was the right one. Once located he'd slip inside and silence his footsteps. Performing hand seals while cradling a baby was a challenge of it's own, but he didn't want a creaking floorboard to ruin their plans. The crib this baby slept in was the nicest thing Eli could see in the building. 'At least its clean' he thought as he laid her back down in bed and made sure the cloth was properly wrapped around her. He didn't want to disturb her deep sleep.

Slipping back out the window, the monk would jump out and slow his descent at the last moment with a burst of wind from his feet. "Trouble aside I think we could call that mission accomplished." He would say with a beaming smile. He was happy they were able to resolve the kidnapping situation without anyone getting hurt. He would need to be able to keep a better eye on his mission partners if things were going to continue going this smoothly.

(WC 500)
(TWC 1228)

Luckily, there were no more unforeseen setbacks to their missions. Eliwood was happy to go along with her plan while Hiro – at the very least – wasn’t objecting to it. And with any luck, they would escape all of this unscathed – especially the baby who would not remember any of this. While the musical monk returned the child, Hiro once again attempted to bond with his summon, failing spectacularly in the process. Clearly he was not getting the idea. So when the boy mentioned someone needing to get the message across to the Sugar King that his child was now safe, Akihana tapped her elbow once again, this time coaxing Icing out of her sleeve more gently. Hopefully Hiro would be taking notes.

“Icing, sweetheart, I am so so sorry to disturb you again so soon,” the blonde began, bowing her head towards the slug who looked up inquisitively at her, not used to being called upon so soon after it had completed a task. “But it’s an emergency and no one can handle it better than you,” she praised, making the little slug perk up in delight. It puffed out it’s little chest, grinning up at her as if to say “Lay it on me”.

The medic quickly attached another note to the slug and sent him off with the message, one more thing taken care of. And hopefully Hiro had learned how to deal with his summons in a respectful and grateful manner. Though knowing the boy, she highly doubted it.

“Okay guys, no more distractions, we need to head to the farm and we need to go now before people start rioting back at the restaurant.” When neither male objected, they set out, reaching their destination after a half hour walk. The hilly areas of flower country were very beautiful; unfortunately they had no time to sight see. The trio reached the farm just before sunset. The farmhouse looked quiet but she could see the warm glow of fire through the windows.

Walking up to the door, Akihana knocked gently before calling out. “Good Morrow,” she intoned, utilizing the standard greeting used in Haven country. “We’re here to see Famer or Mrs. Straw. We know it’s a bit late but it is a bit of an urgent matter.“


(380)

Eliwood looked at the wall of the building and then at Hiro nursing a fresh hand wound. Something must have happened, but the monk wasn't about to ask. His laid back personality kept him from prying too much. If someone wanted to talk about their feelings they would do it. 

Akihana called Icing back out to let their benefactor on this mission know that the job was done. Payment would be worked out at a later date, which Eliwood didn't mind. He was just happy to be done for the day. At least he thought he was until he was reminded that the restaurant was still in need of supplies.

"Oh, right. You called me out to carry back the load." He laughed, "I had totally forgotten."

The long walk to the farm would have been much nicer if Eliwood hadn't forgotten his Sitar in the booth back at the restaurant. Instead of lively music he had to fill the void of silence with singing, though his singing voice was a little rusty. After a few minutes he noticed people staring as they walked and stopped. Eventually though, they would reach their destination and Akihana would knock on the door. It was late but the farmer knew Akihana and would almost certainly make an exception for her.

(WC 217)
(TWC 1445)

Time tracking was a construct of society.  That truth was one that he had learned since his travels; as the days stretched to weeks, then months.  He figured he had been gone a couple of years, but at a certain point the days were just that; days.  The tracking of longer periods meant nothing more than tracking the seasons at that point.  

That was the state that Arashi was in; had been in, for a long time.  Though he traveled light, he kept the mementos of his life and nothing more.  His past was his past, and there was no need to look towards a future when his focus was on the deeper past.  Those travels took him throughout much of the world as he explored his heritage.  He had gotten to the point where there wasn't too much left for him to discover, and whatever he couldn't find was undoubtedly lost to time.  So what was a shinobi to do with no more past, no present, and no foreseeable future?  He had already betrayed his family's biggest legacy, and was without a village as a result.  He still had some contacts with those in Hoshi, but otherwise, he was on his own.

Today was a day like any other; nothing really out of the ordinary.  He walked into town, kept a low profile, and did what he could.  Today's job was a simple one: dispatching extortionists posing as ninjas.  More individuals who used their talents for power in the form of fear or currency, and completely disrespected what it meant to be a shinobi.  Arashi did what he always did in those situations; attempted reason, attempted forced, and then went to fight when all else failed.  In this case, door number 3 was selected.  A small fight was all that was needed before the young adult made his point, and now the day itself had just about come to an end.  After speaking with a farmer and helping him out, the Cloud ninja had made for a place to sleep for the night. 

The shinobi made himself vanish as he heard the steps approach, and watched the front room and door.  What he didn't expect was to be thrown off by hearing a voice he hadn't heard in a long time.  But that was impossible... he was not supposed to hear that voice again.  A kunai spun and prepped in his hand, the man slowly went over to the door, and stood near it.  No doubt there would be footsteps soon, and if there was a threat, he was not about to let them flourish.  Taking a breath, he swung open the door, ready to defend against.... a child?  And... and.... his hand shook as stared into the familiar eyes, and could not believe what he saw.  The weapon in his hand slipped and clattered to the floor.

".... mother?"

(Enter and Exit for Arashi / WC: 480)
(Claiming 2 Chakra, and Quiet Footsteps)

[exit]

Claiming: 
All 3 missions + mission AP + mission ryo
4965/400=12 stats
Subterranean Chameleon Contract (2k/2=1k for training)
Bull Rush (1500, B-Rank)
Crushing Blow (1500, B-Rank)
Cramp Technique (500 WC)
Raiton: Sparks (250 WC)

When no answer came through the door, the kunoichi started to worry. It was too late for the farmer to be gone. And the area was not known to be completely protected under cover of darkness, certainly not enough to be left on its own.

And then she sensed it, Chandra. Foreign chakra but almost... nostalgic in a way. Whoever as behind that door , it was not the farmer she was used to.

The blonde was right at least on that count.

".... mother?"

(Exit Akihana)

(57)

Total Word: 4,491

Claiming: 3,600 (B rank, long range) + 3,600 (B rank, long range) + 4,800 (A rank, long range) + 1,500 (rank bonus) = 13,500 Ryo
Claiming: 24 Mission AP
Claiming: 44 trained AP (maxing out AP)
Claiming: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t42696-chakra-scalpel-lancet?highlight=scalpel (2063/2750 - with max discount)
Claiming: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t42674-damage-reduction-shield (2213/2950 - with max discount)
Claiming: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t42730-fire-release-candlelight-method (188/250 with max discount)
Claiming: 19 words to charity

(EXIT)

Claiming 4800 ryo for the A rank mission (came in mid thread)

Claiming 3 chakra

+800 words to finish Musical Art absolute silence. 1700+800=2500

The rest to the void