Into the Wilderness [Travel/Mission]

[Aimi Kaguya]

It was strange traveling with these people. Aimi felt rather out of place among them, as if they knew something that he didn't know. It was obvious that they knew each other, but he didn't know them so naturally he was nervous. The first few hours of traveling went by almost completely in silence. Only the sounds of their foot steps were heard. Questions weren't really asked until later, when they all stopped to rest for the evening. Aimi stuck at the back of the group the entire way, keeping his possessions close at hand and doing his best to keep his mind off of foreboding thoughts. He focused on the mission at hand and all of the countries he would be visiting... there were so many. This was going to be a long an arduous mission, he could already tell, and he didn't like the thought of going on it with strangers.

They were heading south first, towards the land of Rain. It was the closest, so it would naturally be the easiest to get to. After that came Stone, and after that bear and then bird. That would easily take a huge chunk of time in of itself, let alone all of the other countries they had to visit! The scale of time would impossible to tell, but he could tell this - it would take roughly two weeks to get to the land of Rain. He knew this because it was one of the things that Yosuke told him while they were traveling that day. They'd come to a stop in a small clearing in a thin patch of forest a few miles south of the village. They decided it best to camp there for the evening. A fire was made and the four of them all sat around it, right as the sun was beginning to set. There was a heavy set silence among the small squad, and it wasn't until Yosuke broke the quiet.

"So, why don't we tell each other about ourselves since we've got a new member among us?" the man in the straw hat asked, tilting his hat back to reveal more of his face. He had a stub of a beard that was thick and black and a square jaw. His eyes were large and a dull brown color and his hair seemed short under his hat. "I already told you our names, and I'm guessing you've probably figured out that we've been on the same squad before. We might as well get to know one another. Kiri, why don't you start?"

Aimi turned to look at the siblings who were sitting across the fire from him. The one called Kiri straightened up, the one without a vest. He pointed to himself and spoke, his face soft and his hair a dull black against the light of the fire. "I'm Kiri Amagai, and this is my sister Kamina," he said, pointing to the sibling in the vest beside him. Aimi hadn't been able to tell that Kamina was a girl before, so he was thankful for Kirin telling him before hand. Kamina looked slightly annoyed that her brother had introduced her but said nothing none the less. He continued, "I'm still a genin like yourself, but I was allowed to go on this mission because my sister vouched for me! You're still a genin too, right?"

Aimi nodded, saying, "Yeah, I am. I don't know why they put me on this mission though, maybe to seem less threatening or something." Kiri thought that over for a bit, nodding his head and saying, "Makes sense I suppose... but then again, it could just be because you're such a strong genin you know!" Aimi doubted that, but he supposed he'd let Kiri think whatever he wanted for the time being. For now, he wanted to confirm his suspicion with Kamina. Turning to her, he asked, "So, are you must be the chunin that I was told about then."

She nodded, speaking in a soft voice, "I am. I took the exams last year and passed. Now I'm sent on missions pretty regularly, though I've never been on one this big before."

"I don't think any of us have been on a mission this big in scale before," Yosuke piqued in. "This mission is B ranked, so it's not a particularly dangerous one, but it is extremely important. I can honestly say it's the biggest mission I've ever been on in terms of how important it is to the village." Aimi let that sink in a moment. The captain of their team, a jonin, had never been on a mission this big before, and yet he was selected out of all the others to go partake in it. His head felt a bit dizzy at the thought, he wasn't sure what to make of it. Not really. All he knew was that he still felt out of place, but he might as well make the best of it and try to get to know these three, or else it was going to be a long, long mission.

"My name is Aimi Arisato, I'm a genin for the Kusagakure, I've taken the chunin exams three times and failed them each time because I became too physically weak to finish... this time around, I plan on changing that though." It was as good of an introduction as any, and for the next few hours Aimi, Yosuke, Kiri and Kamina talked with one another and got to know Aimi better just as he got to know them better. They talked about past exploits, past training, what they want to train in, what their specialties were, why Aimi had his guitar with him, so on and so forth. By the end of the night they were all smiling, and in the morning at dawn they got up and headed off.

The next day they didn't travel as they did the day before. Aimi kept pace with Kiri and Kamina,leaving Yosuke to lead them further south. The four of them talked idly as they traveled, resting every now and then when necessary and moving at a quick, brisk pace. For the next week and a half, they traveled and they talked through the Kusa no Kuni, the land of grass. Their mission had only just begun though, there was still a long, long way to go...

[KoKoKo]

moving to rain

[Aimi Kaguya]

They hadn't even been in the Ame no Kuni a day before it started to rain. Kiri and Kamina complained about it to begin with, Yosuke had just smiled and kept his mouth quiet. Aimi didn't mind the rain all that much, but lifted his hood none the less to keep his hair from getting wet. It wouldn't due to meet with the Amekage with a cold after all. That first day when they had stopped to rest, they had huddled close together under a large ever green tree that provided plenty of protection from the rain. Yosuke told them that their destination was the shinobi embassy located in the Ame no Kuni's capital Yokoburi. They were still about three days away from Yokoburi on foot, so they needed to be prepared for that. He made it clear to them that they should keep all of their weapons in sight while in the embassy, they didn't want to come off as threatening after all. This was a mission for peace after all, in the end. The better a relationship they could make with the Amegakure, the better after all.

The next three days were nothing but rain, rain and rain. Kiri and Kamina were already getting a cold by the end of the second day, and Aimi wasn't fairing much better with his damp hood. Each of them took off as much clothing as they could each night when they settled down in a temporary shelter and warmed them up by the fire. Aimi was more than happy to make the fire much bigger on the second night, using the fireball jutsu since they were in a cave. In retrospect, he probably should have told Yosuke before hand and saved him the heart attack he almost had when Aimi blew more into the firepit. They had each laughed at the jonin's reaction though in the end and took it as a sign of good fortune. The next day they set off with dry, warm clothes and by noon they were within spitting distance of Yokoburi.

"Alright, remember what I told you a couple of days ago," Yosuke said, standing in front of the three of them, his straw hat wet from the driving rain. He reached around and pulled his buttbag off of his hip, the pouches from off of his legs and the scrolls in his vest as well as unzipping it to show he had nothing underneath. "Keep your weapons in sight, we'll be meeting with the Amekage after all, and the friendlier we can be the better. Just a gesture that could possibly go a long way in the long run."

Aimi nodded, taking his odachi from off of his back and his katana from his hip and holding the two blades under his right arm, his two butt bags from of opposite hip and holding them both in his left hand. He didn't bother witht he knife holster on his leg as it was clearly visible, but he did make sure to tighten his headband on his left thigh, making sure that it was clearly seen and marking him as a shinobi from the Kusagakure. Kiri and Kamina did the same, pulling whatever weapons they had on them into plain sight. Once they were all in the open, the squad made their way into Yokoburi, heading straight for the Embassy where they would wait the arrival of the Amekage who would lead them to the village hidden in the rain, should all go well.

[exit]