Shinobody's Business [P]

https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t47312-patrol-intern
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t47335-patrol-residental-areas
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t47313-patrol-village-outskirts

5000 WC for all missions total, split between 2 people 2500 each
12000 ryo reward each

Honey sighed, pounded the earth beneath his feet as he moved towards his mission. There was not much of a distraction as far as overpowering scents today. Deciding to ignore the certain scents and people that were moving through the village was a welcome relief, and Honey decided that he would rest for the time being, traveling through the village as a normal shinobi would. He yawns and doesn’t try too hard, using his eyes and ears to detect danger instead of his great sense of smell, overwhelming as it could end up being.

Ending up where he decided that was best to take his time helping his village stay powerful, he sighed and stared straight up. There was nothing special about his task, but he felt that it was a common necessity. Also the fact that he could potentially get paid for patrolling. He had been slacking on that as of late, trying to focus his abilities. Plus, even though he had been doing things he felt were helpful to the village, there was not much in the way of visible reward for the time being.

Peeking his head back into the guardhouse around the dome of Sunagakure, he stepped inside, picking up a few clipboards and then walking into what seemed to be a waiting room for staff. Taking a seat, he kicked his chair back into a lean and waited for someone to come by. He doesn’t end up waiting long, as it seems that the person keeping guard was merely off in a back room somewhere.

Looking up, he notices Hans, who seems to recognize him, a grave look on his face. “Look,” The man says, looking at his headband, before simply grimacing. “Are you here for the patrols or to cause trouble?”

Honey blinks, scratching the back of his head. He doesn’t give an answer. Fortunately the silence gives Hans enough information, and he sighs before rifling through a cabinet for about a minute, pulling out a selection of folders.

“Alright, so here’s the assignment.” The older, plain looking male adjusts some papers and starts going down the list, “We need to see if you’re capable of patrolling carefully, and we won’t put you in harm's way until we know your capabilities.” He drones, as if he’s said it a thousand times before. Giving a look with narrowed eyes, Honey asks “Can’t we skip this little formality? I’ve circled this village more times than you’ve told genin not to sprint into their deaths.”

Hans simply stares at him, before continuing on. “Once you’ve patrolled the safest area of the village, you can feel free to head down to the residential areas and the outskirts.” He finishes without any condescension, turning his gaze back to Honey.

As he meets his gaze, he nods, taking the papers, and going off to seek his friend Mei.

It was a start for some missions, although Honey had an itching sensation that there was to be danger lurking around him. Taking a deep breath with his senses, he crouches low to the ground, searching for her within Sunagakure.

518/2500

Having stopped at her house after her time in the training grounds, Mei stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her body as she used another to dry her hair, before something else occurred to her. Trying something as she walked towards the kitchen, Mei focused on her water affinity and then expelled a small amount of chakra, infusing it into her hair for a moment before focusing and creating an attractive force only for the water. In a swift motion the water was drawn from her hair and into a sphere above her hand. Smiling to herself she dropped the sphere in the sink and picked up the sandwich she’d made herself earlier, knowing that she would need something once she’d showered. Carrying it with her as she headed to her room, where she’d set her clothes to cleaning, Mei considered what Honey might have in store for them. After all, they hadn’t exactly agreed on a particular variety of mission, let alone anything more specific than that.

Shrugging to herself and letting the towel fall away as she retrieved her now clean and dry clothes, Mei dressed herself, the sandwich left on its plate on top of her dresser. Humming to herself, still very much in a good mood, the kunoichi finished getting ready to leave--once more fully clothed, hair taken care of, and the small amount of makeup she did wear reapplied--she grabbed her sandwich. Depositing her plate in the kitchen sink she used Drip to douse it with water, rinsing it of crumbs, before she unlocked the door, headed out, and let it seamlessly lock behind her. Stretching, feeling refreshed, Mei took a bit from her meal and savored the taste appreciatively before walking down her porch steps and heading on her way.

Eating as she walked, a small smile on her lips, and light in her eyes, Mei enjoyed the gentle rays of the sun through the dome of Sunagakure and the hustle and bustle of people. Occasionally she’d greet someone she knew--always civilians--before continuing on her way. As she grew nearer the center of the village, the tower rising into the sky above the other buildings, she felt a calm roll over her. She really did love this place, it was like a haven away from it all, free of the worries of the outside world. It was almost an idyllic paradise of sorts and that thought brought a small laugh bubbling to her lips.

Continuing forward, she weaved her way through the slowly dwindling crowd, keeping an eye out for anyone doing anything skeevy. Fortunately she didn’t come across anything suspicious on her way to the glade and after a pleasantly uneventful walk she arrived. Finding a bench to sit down at, she took a seat and finished the last few bites of her sandwich, before using Drip once more to wipe away the crumbs and clean her face without affecting her makeup or the like. While it was likely almost useless in combat, the technique had surprising utility out of it and she was grateful to have learned it from her friend.

Deciding to patiently enjoy her wait, she leaned back in her seat and enjoyed the faint rush of wind through the village and the rays of the sun filtering down through the dome and between the sparse buildings that surrounded the edge of the glade. Focusing, she accessed her sixth sense and paid attention to it, waiting for Honey’s chakra signature to appear.

It was good practice after all.

Spoiler:

Carrying on from the building, he stared far off into the distance, and inhaled deeply. Narrowing his eyes, he let them trace back and forth around the outskirts of the village. As he headed towards the direction of the scent, he crept about, before whirling into a sprint, continuing down his trail as he zeroed in on her exact position. He would jump from building to building where he could, avoiding roofs that weren’t a solid material. Even metal roofing was unaffected by the sun. Honey remembers in his childhood thinking it was a good idea to use a metal roof as a platform, and he lost all the skin on his palm as punishment. He thinks about this, his hand unmarked outside of memory, as he drops down in front of Mei.

“Hey.” He stares, before turning and pointing towards the administrative area of the village. He hands her a clipboard from out of his jacket, the item mounted with a pen as well.

He doesn’t spend much time explaining their tasks besides the tasks that were required. He tries to avoid the fact that most of these missions were for less-experienced genin of the village. If they were to bump into those also doing these, they were likely to find someone half their age. Used to the chores of Sunagakure by this point, Honey still could not accept the low stakes of the missions he had been completing. His heart beats as he remembered one mission that was not such drudgery, and he wasn’t even assigned anything.

“Hey, Mei,” He says intently, as he gestures for them to start moving. “Remember that assassin I told you about?” He continues down the path, holding onto his words for a few minutes. His gaze flitters across the buildings, as if he’s looking for something. As if he’s found it, he points to a small square.

The square doesn’t seem to be very large, and couldn’t be more than 15 meters across. There isn’t really any evidence of anything, with the exception of cracks around the base of the buildings around the edges. As they walk past it, he doesn’t really stop to search it, only shows the location.

“I fought her right there. Nearly got gutted by some invisible wind shit.” He sighs, hoping he hasn’t told her this story already. “If you were there, man. She wouldn’t have seen it coming…” He chuckles, imagining the horrible attacks that almost spilled his guts turning into a set of beautiful crystalline structures, before getting whipped back at the perpetrator.

He was having a hard time keeping focus on the mission, and once they reached the spire, he had a look of death on his face thinking of better uses of his time as a young woman started greeting them.

“Well heya!” She says, voice dripping with sugar. “Are you the new genin learning to patrol?”

She sees the look on Honey’s face, and her attitude freezes for a moment, before carefully continuing.

“... I don’t recognize you, what business do you have here at the Spire?” She asks, stepping back and gripping her blade, staring directly at HB with distrust.

Honey does nothing, continuing to look at her with a face that emanates despair. As he reaches into his jacket, the guide narrows her eyes, and then relaxes when he pulls out his shinobi ID.

A wave of relief washes over the guide, and she points around. “Just grab the checkpoints, and...”

Honey looks at Mei, ignoring the guide. “That got tense all of a sudden…” He says to her, before crouching down, and collecting all the checkpoints with incredible speed. The markers for each checkpoint were spread across the building and the important sites around the spire, but it only ended up being one hundred meters of travel if he were to travel in straight lines back and forth between them, which was nothing to Honey after a good rest. It felt good to get a good sprint in, as he had mostly been training his muscles lately.

Stopping short of Mei as he finished, there was a gentle gust of air as he stopped, his jacket continuing to flap in her direction. “Mission complete. Let’s check out the outskirts and market. It can get rowdy in the evenings…” He says, smoothing his jacket down. He says this with a great deal of know-how even though it’s in the middle of the day, if not earlier. Choosing not to remark on it further, he starts heading down throughout the village.

759 of 1277 out of 2500 requirement

Her patience and attention to detail eventually paid off as she noticed Honey’s approach a few minutes before he dropped down in front of her. Opening her eyes she gave him a small, but welcoming smile before rising up and signing off on the clipboard--skimming the mission content as she did so. Once she was satisfied and had memorized what she needed, she let go of the clipboard and fell into step with Honey, moving towards their first mission’s locale. While they walked Mei took the chance to just listen, enjoying the sounds around them and the low thrum of her companion’s voice as he told her a story or meandered on about an experience. It was rather pleasant honestly, even if they were technically on official business for the village. Suddenly she wondered what Honey might do in his free time, or if he even had any. Maybe he trained all the time, she knew there were some shinobi like that and she wasn’t too terribly far off herself--though she’d finally managed to relax somewhat since she’d managed to get a place on her own.

Then, he pulled her from her brief reverie as he gestured towards the square and explained what had happened there. Her gaze passing over the non-descript part of the village, she smiled to herself slightly. She decided to keep quiet though, letting him lead for a time while she enjoyed the thrum of his voice and the gentle caress of the wind. It was a truly pleasant day in Sunagakure, she was more glad for the dome than normal, and that was saying something. Enduring the heat of the desert would simply be too much.

Chuckling to herself as Honey gave her a subtle compliment, she finally broke her silence. “I’m glad you think as much,” she said, laughter in her voice and dancing in her eyes as she glanced at him with a coy smirk. Turning her gaze forwards once more she enjoys it as they both fall silent and just walk towards their destination. Absently, she wondered if Honey was annoyed to have to take on such menial missions as these, considering his rank and experience. Clearly, he was more qualified than she. Internally, she made a note that she’d have to close that gap quickly, it was just no good falling behind after all.

Reaching the spire, they were greeted by a woman who was perhaps just a little too sweet. The sort that was clearly an intentional affectation. Tilting her head slightly, Mei regarded the woman as Honey gives her quite the cold soldier, rather obviously annoyed with being assumed to be not only a stranger but a new genin at that. Of course, what did that say about her?

As Honey turns away from the guard, ignoring her, Mei gives the woman an apologetic smile before waving her thanks and following the man. Not bothered at all by his swift retrieval of the flags, Mei nods in response before speaking up.

“She meant well, I’m sure. Besides, she’s likely used to helping the younger shinobi. Can’t give her too much trouble in the end.”

That said, Mei picks up the pace, breaking into a light jog to keep up, before slowing back to his longer gait. Fortunately, she was used to walking quickly, so it wasn’t too difficult to keep pace with him.

“You seem to know a lot about patrolling the village and what to look out for,” she commented idly, without looking in his direction, her gaze meandering about, the most subtle of smiles on her lips. Occasionally as the passed people she’d wave or smile at a civilian--both children and adults--and they’d return her greeting, some more exuberantly than others. Clearly, she was known around the village, even if not as a kunoichi.

Spoiler:

Honey continued on their merry way, and looked over at a collection of buildings as they neared the outskirts. “I don’t know what else I should do, honestly.” He says softly to her, slowing so that she could hear him speak. He doesn’t really remark further, although internally he is brewing at the concept of being unfit to complete higher ranking tasks on his own, without the rank behind it. He felt as if there were some threat of combat, the way he had ‘proved himself’ would not make him some sort of outlier professional if he were to argue either.

Continuing by the outskirts, he sits down and sighs, looking decidedly out into the distance. There wasn’t much wrong, just a few children playing on the streets. The sounds of play could be heard echoing across the buildings scattered around, the streets clean from all the genin maintenance. There weren’t any around, but the dark beige disposal bin across the way seemed to be filled mildly. Looking back to the children, it seems that they have gathered in some sort of circle, discussing and peeking at the two of them. They loitered about, kicking some kind of ball around, until one kicked it around a corner and they disappeared.

Now silent on the outskirts, Honey let this moment of peace wash over him, folding his arms under his jacket and looking out into the distance, unmoving from where he sat.

“I think I’d like to visit somewhere with some actual lakes. That’s one thing I always promised I’d do.” He says, not letting much more thought happen behind it. He didn’t know where to start, but it would be interesting. “I’ve never been outside of the wind and fire countries…”

Standing up, he looks off away from the outskirts, and more towards their next location. “Would you like to lead the way?” He asks, satisfied with his surveillance of the outskirts.

322 of 1599 out of 2500 required

Her brow creasing slightly as he replied, Mei followed Honey until he eventually sat down a moment and stopped to stare into the distance. Glancing about, Mei took stock of the part of the village they were in, after all she didn’t come to the outskirts terribly often. For a time, deciding that he needed his reverie—perhaps to think, perhaps to avoid such—Mei idly watched the children play with a small smile, her eyes casting off barely visible rays of light whenever her gaze shifted slightly. Eventually though, that pleasant distraction wandered around a corner, moving in chase of their ball and the game it facilitated. She turned her gaze elsewhere, looking at the horizon beyond the village for a long moment before glancing down at the man she’d befriended. The shift in his mood made that crease in her brow reappear and deepen as she well and truly frowned, biting the corner of her lip a moment.

Still standing, Mei shifted positions, crouching down so that she came to a level with him. Gently, hesitantly, she placed a hand on his broad shoulder as she spoke up in reply.

“Mistakes in the past don’t define our futures, Honey-san. Your…value to the village isn’t your true value, though I know they can feel that way.” She didn’t smile, her expression solemn as she spoke.

“You’re more than the beast…than your mistakes. You can rise above your nature and your mistakes. As long as your mind is as open as your ears, you can always grow beyond the limits others set for you.” Again, she bit her lip, her eyes darting away for a fleeting instant before she swallowed and decided to speak of uncomfortable things anyways.

“I know this better than most, but people’s expectations and views of us aren’t as important as we think they are. My…my mother, she…” she trailed off, not hesitant, but instead distant; her eyes had grown almost glazed, filled with unpleasant memories.

“…she loved an idea of me, one that obeyed her absolutely, that desired what she did. I was like…an extension of her will, that’s what she wanted. That’s how she expressed her love. It was smothering and toxic, but it wasn’t true.”

She met his eyes again, but could only hold his gaze for two long seconds before she turned away and pushed to her feet, walking several steps past him so he could only see her back. Perhaps he may have noticed the water that had gotten trapped in her eyes, but she would not let him see her cry. She wiped away the tears, hiding the motion by fixing her hair—though it wasn’t the least bit messy or out of place.

“You’ll see those lakes,” she managed, “…and sooner than you think. Maybe you won’t even see them alone.” She fell silent then, composing herself for a moment before she walked away, leading as he’d asked of her.

“C’mon, let’s not dwell.”
 

Spoiler:

Honey hangs his head as he feels her gesture on his shoulder. Calculating how her hand moved as it traced towards him, and the soft touch, the gesture leaving a mark of companionship long after the urge to push it away ripped through him, as if slowly he watched a dagger move towards his heart. Once she finally touched him, he only felt worse, his rage inside him broiling at the thought of anything but solitude, before it was set in a deep sadness, much like snow covering a green valley.

Listening to her, a soft movement through his heart made him feel as if this was worth it, and the boost to his morality was enough to keep him from flying into a frenzy, at least for the time being. He let the words hazily travel towards him, the movement of sound unthreatening, although the noises around him were beginning to pierce through him. He processed what she said about her mother, looking deeply into her eyes as he tried to figure out why she saw what she did. He continued searching, feeling something inside himself stir.

It was to his benefit that the verdict was what he tried to tell himself: There was always tomorrow, another day to prove or hope. This feeling, some rash action taken so as to inspire others to misbehave.

If that day did come, if he were to show himself as the first person he’d meet, and take what is as enough, it wouldn’t feed those who always hungered. Honey’s eyes widened as she broke away, and he instinctively reached back out of her, not allowing her to be alone in this moment of grief.

When the darkness in the night turns into warmth, the believer is not the oppressor of their will. It is the cracks in the cabin, the draft in the soul, that slowly lets the eye of consumers creep into oneself; forever yet only ‘til the sun breaks in the morn’ and the ice still follows one could notice, the effervescent night release from what was once the time for life. Escapades on escapades of intangentel plots, discrete conversations, eyed corners. Something that someone once told was safety now a bar, the thought of a symbol of desecration.

Honey cleared his throat. He was unsure if he had been speaking or not, but he still understood that she was used to being respected, just not in the way any human being would ever desire.

He smiled, envisioning a spot far from this place. It was nothing against the village; only against the deserts that have claimed the entirety of his life this far.

“Hey…” He says, his voice taking a strange tone on account of sadness. He corrected it as he continued, “We make a good team. You don’t fear me; and I’ll never think you’re my personal weapon.” He chuckled at the concept of thinking he was better than someone else; and tried to take the conversation into a lighter tone.

“You’re right, no use dwellin’ on the type of stuff that we’re thinkin’ ‘bout at night right?” He starts picking up the pace as he continues to the markets, the final destination of their trip.

They had already passed through the winding stalls, however there were still many alleyways that they still had to search.

“Alright, so I hear there has been three separate robberies in the main banking district alone. A group of loonies hang around the snake exhibits, and chase down genin hopped up on snake venom. I don’t know what they call themselves, but it stinks, and we should check it out.”

Honey is almost positive that he has made up the fact that the scheduled goons were hopped up on snake venom, but it was better than thinking about the cold nights spent disappointing those who were supposed to be holding one dear.

“So yeah, that should be exciting. You should be a pro now with your chakra sensory--”

Honey suddenly claps his hands together, extremely excited. “I’ll turn into a wolf!! You should ride on my back and see how far you can sense!”

Honey transforms in the middle of her response, throwing himself on the ground and turning to look at her. “All aboard!”

713 of 2312 / 2500 required