Product Escourt - The Long Walk (Mission)

[kininata]

Kininata kept to the edge of the Village, pleased inside his own mind that he was carrying all of his equipment again. Kenshin had vaguely agreed to the plan - which wasn't a great one to begin with - but he had his doubts, as any ninja in his situation should do. He needed to be prepared for when he was going to be betrayed by at least one of the two people who he had made a deal with, if not both of them at the same time. Once he was a reasonable distance from everyone, he began to form six hand seals, and released enough chakra to perform the Kouu Bunshin no Jutsu. Five copies of himself emerged, each aware of both the plans of the two conspirators and the plan sitting in Kininata's mind. They each took to their task deftly, and Kininata proceded with one clone to the warehouse where the caravan crew were being kept.

The two identical men crept around separate edges of the warehouse, glimpsed briefly to see that the two guards there were still standing too, and then with the grace of the wind they sped around the corner, striking both squarely in the throat, then bringing them hard to the ground right after slamming their heads onto their knee. Once both were unconscious, Kininata removed the lock keeping the door closed, and opened it.

'Alright, visiting time is over. Get your things, and head back to the caravan - we are homeward bound.' He said to them, quietly enough not to stir attention, but enough to get them moving briskly. The clone kept a watchful eye on the surroundings as the men moved out of the warehouse to follow Kininata into the cover of shadows. He carefully led them to the caravan wagons... what was left of them. Indeed, Kenshin had burned roughly half of them down, leaving half still full of supplies. Before the merchant could make enough noise to cause a ruckus Kininata placed his hand over his mouth and uttered a brief phrase before continuing: Be thankful only some of the supplies are gone, and not your life.

With near-silence, the small troupe moved to the wagons, some getting the nearby horses to set them up for travel, when the "trap" was sprung. Ten armed men, each wielding bows, came out from the shadows. The man who stepped out, however was not Kenshin but the other one... Kyogu. 'Theres the assassin that killed Kenshin! Kill the ninja and those men!' He said, a smile slipped onto his face at his so-called plan. However, this was going roughly how Kininata had seen it. The ninja dropped his hands by his side, nodded slightly, and looked behind Kyogu to a moving shadow. 'Kenshin, perhaps you believe me now?'

Kyogu stood frozen for a moment, turning slowly towards the man he thought was now dead. 'Yes. It seems I have traitors in my own midst.' With panic, Kyogu charged straight at Kininata, only to find that the katana given to him by the young would-be killer struck him squarely in the face with the bottom of the hilt, taking him down nearly instantly. The guards lowered their bows, and remained confused at the scene.

'An agreement has been reached.' Kenshin said, nodding to the ninja. 'Next time... don't expect mercy, and don't expect survival.' They turned, and entered back into the village. A war was seemingly coming to the River Country soon, and Kininata was already involved deeper than he liked to be. The Amekage would want to know the events of the last few days, but for now he had to focus on getting out of the village and back onto the road before Kenshin changed his mind.

'Get moving already!' He said, and without a moment to waste the remaining wagons - lacking a comfortable carriage for the merchant as it too was burned - moved post haste into the darkness away from the ruined village back on course for the delivery to the docks, though not without a cost.

[kininata]

The next two days of travel kept everyone on edge, especially the Ninja guarding them. Kenshin had "agreed" to the plan, and so far he had proven to be somewhere closer to trustworthy... but there was still a doubt in his mind about the bandit leader. There was a hatred of Ninja's about him that the would-be assassin colleague of his was telling the truth about, and there was still the chance of another ambush up ahead - probably worse than the one before. So, while the convoy carried on its journey faster than it had done before, Kininata did his best to keep his senses focused on the surroundings for more ambushes.

Fortunately, they never came: ahead of them was the dock that the merchant had mentioned in the beginning, their destination. Smiles and cheers emerged from the group seeing the end of their journey at last, but not the Ninja. He was still as stone-faced and focused as he had been for the last two days. Together they unloaded the remaining cargo, the merchant explaining exactly how Kininata had told him to - that the bandits set alight some of the cargo and was ruined, that this was all that remained. Certainly, the man had argued at first, but Kininata had his forms of persuasion.

Within an hour, the merchant and Kininata were face to face, preparing to go their separate ways. 'I suppose you want me to sign that scroll of yours now?' He said, and Kini reluctantly nodded. Within moments the signing was done, and while the caravan along with its merchant went one way, Kininata started his long lone journey back north, back towards Amekagure no Sato.

[kininata]

The first three hours of travelling were long, arduous, and extremely boring. He had actually grown to miss that convoy and its people... but he could take the time now to get some extra "training" in. After all, he was rusty, and he needed the practice whenever he got if he was to get back into his proper form. He looked to the river, seeing the flow heading towards to ocean south, and thought it would be a start. Forming Hand Seals for the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, he created a single clone of himself, and drew out a little more Chakra so he could walk on the river. 'Now!'

He started running up the river, the clone running along the road nearby - while both were the same, Kininata needed to exert a constant, steady flow of Chakra in order to maintain running on the water as well as avoid the odd rock poking from the surface. For the first ten minutes or so, it seemed to go easily enough, but as time drew on, his Chakra started to drain more and more, until he could feel his muscles starting to quiver from his efforts. Sweat beads formed on his brow, his muscles began to feel a little heavy, and his concentration started to waver - before long, his toes were starting to dip into the water a little too much, and he released one last burst of energy to reach the banks. The clone stood there, guarding him for a few minutes while Kininata caught his breath, and then was dissipated back into its element by its creator. 'That's not bad. Gotta do better next time.' Once he felt strong enough again, he got back onto his feet and started walking the road north towards home once more.

A few more hours went by, and his legs were beginning to show signs of fatigue. He did everything he could to push himself onwards, but with his Chakra now mostly used up, his muscles were bound to be the next thing to become drained of strength. taking a jaded pace into the nearby brush, he found enough strength to climb his way up into a high tree, overlooking the road below, and started setting up a hammock-like net for him to sleep in for the night... ensuring first his position was not visible from the ground. He had several days of hard travelling ahead of him, and he was far from out of danger yet.

[kininata]

Night went slowly, even the exhaustion of wearing himself down didn't seem to relieve him of the worries about the bandit village and Kenshin. He could have done something more drastic... he could have tried to destroy the entire encampment: he had the plan in his head, how he would use his Jutsu and skills to cause chaos and destruction, probably assassinate most of the leadership, and cause enough death to leave nothing but ruins and blood in his wake. A part of him, an old part that was cold and calculating, that had saved him twice before from death, felt it was the best way to have dealt with them, but that which had to live outside of the that cold mind would not allow himself to kill people that had, in truth, not done any harm to him. He closed his eyes, trying to contend with his thoughts as sleep slowly, craftily sneaked up upon him...

...The cold air cut into his bones, chilling his body to that of the ice beneath the water. He could feel the ice cutting into his flesh now, like blades slashing him in the wind, but still he pressed on through the blasting wind, into the heart of the Land of Snow. Still he dragged his half-frozen body into the middle of the blizzard, knowing there was no going back, knowing he would either find the cave or die...

He bolted up suddenly, nearly falling from his own make-shift bed, until he grabbed hold of the branches and realised he was still in the Land of the River, still in the hammock, still alive. The dreams are getting worse. For days the images of a cold wasteland had plagued his mind, a place where a cave waited for him, but still nothing clear came from it... except an urge to head there. The sun light reminded him he had to start heading out again, so within minutes he undid the simple hammock, packed it away, and returned to the ground in order to continue on his path northwards. He knew that the village was only two or three more days away, and there he could get some real rest... and think about what the dreams were trying to tell him.

[kininata]

Another day gone by, another day further from the immediate danger of Kenshin and his bandit force. He had gone off the road early on this days travel, moving through the trees above with speed and grace, relying on cover and height to observe the road below. He was not afraid of them, but more worried that he would have to kill more people pointlessly. He recalled the faces of those who were caught in the Suiryuudan he was forced to use against them when they attacked the convoy, now nearly five days ago, and he could still recall the details: one of them had a slight scar under his left eye, his hair drawn back into a tail; another had long dark brown hair draped over both shoulders - the faces of those killed remained with him right along those faces from the first mission he ever did, and now he found himself finding more distaste for killing than ever before... even though he had been told many times that it became easier as time moved on. He felt like he had been lied to about that simply to keep him working, and it was heartbreaking to realise that he was simply not as stern as those both at his level of skill, experience, or even his age.

The night came on quickly now, and it wasn't too long before he found himself camping once again in the trees above the road, this time feeling more confident about the journey. Early tomorrow, he would leave the country and be back in the familiar territory of Rain, and he would feel a little more confident and certain about getting back in one piece... or at least alive, in some form. He had left a piece of himself on the battlefield once again, and it was concerning to think that at some point, he really would be like the other ninja: cold, calculating, quick to kill, quick to forget regret.

[kininata]

The final day of travel before returning to his homeland had finally been finished... He felt a breath of fresh air, filled with the sweet scent of moisture fill his lungs, and a smile grew on his face. He was home. At least, back in his country. He turned behind him, taking back another grim memory of death on a mission, and started to pick up the pace as he made his way through the familiar tundra of trees, marsh, pools of water and rain drops back home.

[Raikou!]

Moved to rain

[kininata]

For the first time in a while, Kininata was running hard and fast, with determination to get back to the Village. It was an odd feeling, to be coming back from a completed mission again, and it would certainly become a welcome feeling again once he started doing that on a regular basis. He was actually happy with his life again, and that made him feel genuinely at peace with himself and the world for the first time since the day he first placed the forehead protector on his head. He could almost dance at the way he was feeling now, and nearly did a few times - skipping here and there rather than running.

Before long, the Village was in sight, and he slowed down to pass through the new "guard posts" outside the village. Hopefully, he would receive a better welcome than when he left.

[Mission Complete.]