Bringing a Plus One [Requesting Entry]

[Osuteno]

[col]

Spoiler

Osu|

Spoiler

Chiai[/col]

Osu and Chiai approached the gates protecting the village with Osu more than a little nervous. Being gone for two and a half years was a bit of a problem, not that he did so by choice and he was bringing back a wife among other things. "If I at least had my passport I would feel more comfortable about this," Osu muttered to no one in particular.

"Oh I've got that right here," Chiai said cheerfully while digging in her bag. "I kept it when we kidnapped you and forgot to give it back."

Osu stared a bit incredulously as his wife presented him his long lost passport. "That was more than two years ago. How could you forget that long?"

Chiai smiled a very not innocent smile and replied, "Alright so maybe I just wanted a photo of you to keep on my person. Anyway, do we just shout hello or..?"

Osu shook his head, "No whoever is on duty should have seen us coming long before now not mentioning the scouts. We just don't get that many visitors this time of year and since we aren't trying to hop over the wall they are probably just taking their time. If the wait is too long or if it were too cold out here there is even a nice building right over here we could wait inside."

"Alright so why do we have to say my halberd is yours?"

"Not this again."

"No listen to me seriously, what would be so bad about saying my halberd is mine? I don't see why me bringing a method of self protection is any different that you doing so just because you live here."

"It isn't just because I live here it is because I am a shinobi. I am liscenced to carry weapons around."

And while they waited for someone to come down and assist them the couple argued over what rights Chiai should be entitled to regardless if the village would need documentation of their marriage before they discussed citizenship rights.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

As Osu and Chiai bantered, the guards atop the gate had obviously taken notice long ago. After a few moments, one hopped down from the top and landed before them, walking up to greet them. He could see that one of them had a shinobi passport, but the other was empty handed. He could only hope that this wouldn't turn into something complicated, after all the boss was present at the gates today.

"Greetings. May I see-" he began to speak, but was interrupted by a shout from atop the gates.

"Osu?! Osuteno?!" came a voice that the young shinobi might recognize. Looking up, the three standing before the gate would see Ayumu standing at the top, peering over the guard rail. He was squinting to see the younger shinobi's face, and the boy undoubtedly looked a bit older, but Ayumu was pretty sure of what he was seeing and it was somebody he hadn't expected to see ever again.

Planting a hand on the guard rail, Ayumu vaulted himself over it and dropped to the ground behind the guard who had been speaking a moment prior. He walked up behind the man and put a hand on his shoulder briefly to have him step aside. "I'll handle this," he said. The guard looked confused, but nodded and stepped aside and back towards the gates. With the guard out of his way and now up close, Ayumu studied Osuteno's face carefully. Now he was certain of it.

"Osu... everyone thought you were dead," Ayumu said, a relieved look spreading across his face. It had been a long while since the period of time in which Osu was permitted to travel had expired. Naturally, an investigation had been launched when he didn't return. There was suspicion, as always with shinobi, of him going missing. However, the investigation had led to discovering that Osu had boarded a ship that was lost at sea. With no possibility of finding a body, Osuteno had been presumed dead.

"I'm relieved to see you standing there in one piece, but where on earth have you been?" Ayumu asked before glancing at Osu's companion, "And who's this?" Now that Osuteno was clearly found to be alive, there would certainly be questions as to why he hadn't returned when he was supposed to. The possibility that he really had gone AWOL was low on Ayumu's list of suspicions. Otherwise, he would have had little reason to return for whatever punishment might await him. Still, he couldn't imagine the story Osu would have.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu and Chiai switched to cheesy and obviously forced smiles the moment the guard hopped down in front of them. Just as the man was about to ask for Osu's passport a voice calling Osu's name came from above. Ayumu? What was the Main Branch Sennin doing out at the gate? An inspection? No wait this could make things easier!

Ayumu began studying Osu's face carefully obviously entranced by how much more manly Osu had become these last few years. But then out of nowhere, "Osu... everyone thought you were dead."

Hmm. That. Huh. Well...

Well at least they didn't try declaring him to be a missing nin again?

The ship had sunk after all didn't it? It was a rather good time to launch a surprise attack considering the evidence would sink long before anyone was aware something had happened. Oh goodness that could be the source of a number of issues.

"Goodness where to begin. Well to start with my ship sank because I was targeted by a Jashinist sect and I really had no chance all on my own as I was outnumbered and admittedly outmatched." Osu roughly told the story of having been drugged and held captive for a few weeks, the Jashinist ritual, his apparent... parentage, the curse placed on him by an annoyed Jashin, his long lost mother kidnapping him, the removal of his bones and muscles that took place over half a year (including taking off his arm to show Ayumu the only thing inside was some marrow and a bunch of writhing blood vessels), his slow recovery, Chiai coming to rescue him and her nursing him for the good year it took for him to really recover his movements, and the journey back here with Chiai's help who he had just married a bit more than a month back. The story took quite a while to tell but unfortunately it wasn't like he had it written out as if it were some kind of novella. Not that he mentioned anything like how Chiai had been one of the people who assisted in the kidnapping or something that might make her sound like a dangerous individual.

"And when we believed I was strong enough to at least risk an encounter we shot straight for the village. It is a shame that I never got to go fishing like I had planned though," Osu joked awkwardly not quite sure how Ayumu was taking any of the story that probably had them standing out there for a solid 45 minutes.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

The story was even more extensive than Ayumu had expected. It was insane what the young boy had been put through. The fact that he was still standing here alive was amazing. Ayumu's jaw dropped several times throughout the story. As it went on, several of the gate guards at the top of the gate gathered at the railing to listen. By the end of the story, Osuteno had garnered quite the audience. The part where he pulled off his own arm was particularly eye-catching. As Osu's story came to a close, Ayumu was rendered speechless. He joke he tried to make barely even registered with Ayumu who let out a half-hearted chuckle.

"A Jashinist cult... Jesus Saito, kid. Why do you always end up in the middle of the most messed up shit?" Ayumu asked, though Osuteno probably wondered that to himself. First there was the debacle where he'd been temporarily declared missing and nearly executed. Then there was finding the ANBU Sennin murdered. Then there was the horror he had witnessed with Kouin. Now this. If Osuteno wasn't the most messed up in the head shinobi Ayumu knew, then he might actually be a sociopath. Ayumu gave him a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Coming this far, through all of that... you're one tough bastard. Definitely one of ours. Welcome home," Ayumu said, motioning for the guards to open the gate.

"Raikage-sama, what about his passport?" the guard who had initiated contact asked from behind Ayumu. The other guards were already in the process of opening the gates.

"It's obviously no longer valid by now. No point even bothering with it," Ayumu said turning from the guard to Osu. "As for your new wife, Osu... I assume she'll be staying with you, so you'll have to go have her apply for citizenship," he said as his gaze turned to Chiai once more. "You're not a shinobi?" he asked, wondering how she had managed to track down Osuteno in order to rescue him.

 

[Osuteno]

"A Jashinist cult... Jesus Saito, kid. Why do you always end up in the middle of the most messed up shit?" Ayumu asked but honestly Osu wanted to know that himself. Ayumu gave Osu a difficult expression and proceeded to welcome him home along with having the gates opened.

Osu looked down at his passport, "He is right, I am going to need a new one of these. Here you said you liked the picture?" Osu handed the passport back to his wife. Goodness he had a wife and home was right there. Years... Years had passed since he had been home.

Ayumu said something else but Osu really only managed to give him a "Right, of course," as he looked through the opened gate.

Chiai answered the questioned aimed at her with far less distraction, "Me? Goodness no I am not a shinobi. I can punch like a train but you are better off thinking of me as a former damsel and future housewife who had to find and rescue her helpless prince. Still knowing how to track someone might have been a tad more useful than flipping a coin to decide which side of the continent to start looking for him on. Come on darling we aren't going to stand out here until the delivery date!" Chiai said proudly and a bit too loudly as she marched him into the village. Ayumu would just have to interpret the meaning of that statement himself.

[Topic Left and Village Entered]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu nodded to the newly wed couple, still a little dumbfounded over the fact that Osuteno had gotten married. What made things worse was that he was beginning to catch on to the fact that the girl had just mentioned a delivery date. Ayumu's eyes widened in shock as he turned to watch them pass through the gates. 'What the hell? Was he kidnapped or did he elope?' Ayumu thought, scratching his head. There was no denying that the kid's body has undergone some changes, and definitely not just puberty. He doubted he would have done something like that to himself intentionally. All Ayumu knew for sure was that the teen pregnancy rate in Kumo had risen a little just now. He figured he might have to have a talk with Osu now about being a dad. This was so weird.

[Entrance Granted / Topic Left]