Escort Team, Assemble!

[Miraku]

It always came as a surprise when Raku was assigned a mission. As a shinobi, one never really knew when they would be called upon. It was still early in the morning when Raku received notice that he was to get a mission today. Taking the notice and going back inside, he took a deep breath, unsure what kind of mission he would be sent on today. Recently he had been used to going on semi-dangerous missions, and wanted to be prepared for the event that this could be another one. Whether it was dangerous or not, he would need to gear up and be ready to head out right away. In his closet of gear, Raku pulled out his vest, swords and any other gear he would be bringing with him, and grabbed clothes from his dresser. It only took him a few minutes to get geared up as he stood in front of the mirror in his room finishing up. Standing there in a pair of plain grey pants accompanied by a belt around it holding his two sword sheaths and other tools; a black long sleeved top covered on his torso by a dark grey vest which he was just now finishing closing up with his hands covered in standard fingerless gloves. As the final touch he wrapped his cloud headband around his upper right arm so it was visible for all to see since he didn't like wearing it around his head as the object name would suggest.

It wasn't too long after he had finished getting ready that Raku headed out towards the mission center to get the details on what he was about to have to do. Upon entered, the usual conversations were exchanged, and Raku was sent to be briefed on his mission. He was told that he would be going on an escort mission, in which he and two genin would travel to Port Cirrus to meet up with a group of shinobi from Konoha, including the Hokage himself in order to guide them to the village on a safe route that would avoid any issues along the way, and bring them to the gates to meet with the Raikage. This made Raku curious as to whether or not this group of Leaf shinobi contained one or more younger shinobi such that they wanted to avoid as many issues as they could for their sake, or maybe he was over thinking it. On the surface, this mission definitely didn't seem as dangerous as Raku was expecting a mission for himself to be, but he was also slightly relieved to have a mission like this for the first time in a while. It would certainly be interesting for him to have to deal with two young genin as well as a group of Shinobi from another country. It had been a while since he had had the pleasure of interacting peacefully with foreign shinobi. Since Raku was the leader for this mission, he was the only one who needed to come in for the mission briefing, the other two would have been given instructions to meet up at the gate before heading out, so Raku decided he would head there immediately to get there before they would.

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Standing at the gate, Raku awaited the arrival of the two genin who would be accompanying him. Raku stood there in the middle of the path waiting, his hands in his pockets, thumbs out as his upper body leaned back, but slouched forward as well, standing in a sort of strange posture which he found comfortable when just standing for long periods of time. Looking around slightly, the wind blew his long orange hair from side to side slightly with each small gust. Taking a deep breath, Raku hoped that this mission would go without a hitch. From the sounds of it, it would be a simple escort, and hopefully that's all it was, especially since two young shinobi would be in his hands. He wasn't really used to looking after young ones, but it kind of got him a bit excited to possibly teach them a thing or two, and pass on his knowledge if he found the opportunity. Most likely this would be a quick and simple escort though, so it was mostly just experience for the genin with a jounin to make sure things went smoothly. Once the other two would arrive, Raku planned to introduce himself, brief them on the mission and then answer any questions or hear any comments they would have, hoping they would turn up on time.

(Alright, let's get this started Hoshi and Kikei )
[Marked for Training; 768 WC]
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[Shouyu Hoshi]

It was the butt crack of dawn… The sun was peeking behind the crevice of the Earth shimmering an orange light that hit straight through Shouyu’s linen blinds and casted a light onto his closed lids. In his dream he was falling into a light, in reality he was falling off the bed. ‘THUMP!’

“Ah! He! Ooooowwww!”

The kid woke up with a bump on the head. Rubbing the top of his head slightly he eventually rose to his feet, using the knuckled of his index finger to rub the corner of his eyes, freeing his freshly awakened hyuuga eyes of any despicable eye boogers. He had to remain fresh, at all times, even after a long night of sleep. Today was his birthday, so the kid figured he treat himself out to breakfast.

As he jumped in the shower, rinsed and washed himself, jumped out the shower humming, he lined up today’s attire. In his house studio apartment wasn’t nothing much but a bed that folds into the wall, a kitchen next to his porcelain whirlpool, and cabinets of dry ramen, and a walk in closet, full of Hakamas, Yutagatas, Kimonos, Happi’s, Pants of various colors, ninja sandals, bandage wraps, his Genin headband, belts and sashes and other tops.
Today was going to be cold as usual, he slid on a t shirt, a long sleeve shirt over that, and completed with a collared jacket with short sleeved baring the Hyuuga crest on the back and right shoulder sleeve. He slide on a pair of Hakamas, this one was fitted down to his ankle, he then wrapped the remainder of his foot in bandages to not reveal bare skin to the chill harsh Kumo air. He then tied up his headband around his forehead, proudly wearing the cloud upon it. To make sure his Hakama’s stayed in placed, he tied a white sash over his completely black attire, to add some flavor. ‘DING’.

His head turned back, his noodles were finally ready, and just in time. He rushed to sit down and scarf down his bowl of instant ramen noodles. The noodles seemed to spill into his mouth like a reverse waterfall. Suddenly he paused… There was a foot in his soup… a Bird foot… He traced the foot all the way up and it was a messenger pigeon, looking at him sideways, from the bottom and to the top as it kept cocking its head in different directions looking at Shouyu. His face dropped, noodles spilling from his mouth and his faced turned dark blue at top, and light blue at the bottom with his tongue out, utterly disgusted.

He was leaning back in his chair, just a little too much and crashed into the ground once more. The pigeon jumped on his chest and pecked at him, doing pigeon sounds annoying the crap out of him. He noticed it had a message, from looking down with his left eye at a squint and snatched the message from the bird’s leg. ‘Pfft, ah great, what now? Don’t ninja’s get days off on their birthdays?’ He thought to himself frustrated. He unrolled the parchment and read the contents wide eyed. The bird sensed his sudden jolt of energy and took flight out the open window from whence it came. Shortly after, Shouyu busted out the same window leaving his blinds in a gust and was off in a dash toward the village gates.

Running at almost top speed throughout the village he was greeted by his fellow friends he had made from hanging out and other missions. He soon took to the roof tops to deal with less crowds and travel faster. Soon enough the kid arrived at the gates and someone was already there with citrus orange hair.

“Raku! Oh yeah! This one is should prove rather amusing. Any word on who we are escorting?”

He approached the Jonin at first adjusting his genin headband, for when they last met he was still a student training in the woods. The kid was ecstatic about going on C Rank Team Mission with Raku. Although, he kept himself in check as far being too hyperactive and over the top. Still, it was hard for the kid to contain himself. He stood there, waiting for the other to arrive.


WC 718

 

[Kikei]

Wake me up before the sunrise and the world will burn, a statement quite true for this young woman. Her temper truly was enough to burn the world ten times over. Luckily for the world today was not one of those days, in fact she overslept on a day that day just like any other day. Of course her father walked in and gently nudges her until she opened her eyes to gaze up him.

“Dear you got to get up. You have a mission today the carrier pigeon just arrived.” He whispered to her with a smile as she slowly raised herself to an upright position.

“Dad, you have to be joking I just became a genin but a couple days ago.” She mumbled as she rubbed her eyes gently to free the sandman’s dust from them. ‘What is wrong with this man waking me up this early, he has never done this before.’ She thought to herself as she looked towards him with a look of pure confusion.

“No dear I’m completely serious you have a mission to undertake here it the official documentation.” Her father’s words slightly less gentle as he knew the importance of her not being late for her very first mission.

“But…” She stammered only to be interrupted by her father for the first time in her entire life.

“No buts dear you need to get up and make your way to the gate quickly. Your squad is probably waiting for you already.” Her father said firmly as he pulled the sheets from the bed.

“Okay, okay dad I get it. Jezz no need to be so demanding.” She said with a laugh as she got out of the bed and walked over to her drawers and began to rummage about looking for appropriate mission attire. Her choice was to go with all black leggings with a white with black stripped hoodie. It wasn’t much but then again it was the most practical of attire that the lass had to wear. Having not really mastered the use of any weapon she didn’t need to back more than the bare essentials such as kunai and shuriken. Of course if shit hit the fan she would be almost useless except for the occasional genjutsu.

“DAD! I’m leaving!” She called out as she ran out the door, only to run back inside to grab her pocket watch from the dirty pile of clothes and popped one of her medications inside her mouth. Running out of the house she laughed once more as she headed towards the gates of mist for her very first adventure.

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She arrived much after the other genin but upon getting close enough to distinguish faces she realized that the young genin partner was in fact someone she had met once before during a manic episode. Her face became flush red as she slowly made her way closer to the group with her hood raised and her headband nowhere to be found. In fact the young genin had made one of the most crucial mistakes of her young career she rushed out of her house so fasted she had forgotten her identification! Of course she was completely clueless to this very issue as she walked close to the group.

“UH this is where the note said for us to meet….sorry I’m so late I just….I had a long night last night let us put it that way.” She said as she reached ear shot of the group, her gaze upon the floor as she gripped the strings of her hoodie tighter. ‘oh why did it have to be him, and oh great he looks like he is already on good terms with our boss….somebody kill me now could this be any worse!’ she thought to herself as she stood there waiting for someone else to talk.

[Word Count: 642]

 

[Miraku]

As time passed, Raku continue to wait for the two genin to show up, figuring it wouldn't be long now. It made sense that it would take them a little while since this was a new mission, and the village probably was in a bit of a hurry to get it set up and ready to go, which meant that the orders probably only showed up around or soon after the time when Raku received his summons. Being genin as well, they probably wouldn't be used to getting random summons like this for missions yet, and some would probably want to be as prepared as possible, which could explain a young shinobi taking longer to arrive than someone with more experience in these kinds of situations. But no matter the reasons it was taking them some time to show up, he knew they would soon enough, and so Raku simply let himself bathe in the crisp morning air circling around, feeling good to breathe in as he kept a look out, trying to keep his mind clear and ready for when they would show up.

It wasn't too long after, that the first genin showed up. It was a boy that Raku had already met, not too long ago in the forest while training along with some others. His name was Hoshi apparently, now connecting the name he had read earlier to the boy, and he seemed sort of excited about the current situation as he approached, running across the rooftops before coming down and calling out to Raku, obviously remembering him as well. "I'll fill you in on all the information as soon as our last member shows up." Raku said with a slight smirk on his face as the boy made the rest of his way towards Raku, seeing him adjust his headband which reminded him; the boy was just a student last they met, and now apparently had graduated and was to come on a mission with him. "Though it seems a congratulations are in order since you appear to have graduated recently." he continued, as he looked down at the boy before him, "But don't get too cocky because of it. This will be a serious mission." he finished, as he went back to looking around.

It was a little bit after that the final member appeared in visual range, as they walked over a little slow with a hood over their head, covering their identity. Having never heard of the name of the other genin that he was told he would be working with, Raku wasn't sure what to expect from this one, as they approached. Out from under the hood a young female voice could be heard as she was close enough to talk to them, apologizing for her tardiness to the meet up. The young girl seemed shy currently, looking down with her head covered, and hands wrapped around the ends of the string fished through the edge of her hood, keeping it seemingly a little tight to hide further. "You must be Kikei, I suppose. No need to worry or be shy, you're fine. This mission came up short notice as it was unexpected but it is also quite important." Raku said.

"I am Raku, Jounin of Cloud, and I'll bee your leader for this mission." he started as he looked down at both genin before him. "I suppose I'll start off by telling you two the full details of the mission, and then I can answer any questions on concerns you might have before we head out." Raku looked up for a moment at the clouds above them and let out a deep breathe, enjoying the cold air as the sun began to rise a little higher over the horizon behind the two genin. "As you may have been informed, this will be an escort mission. What you weren't told is that we're going to be heading out to Port Cirrus to meet up with, and escort a group of Shinobi from Konoha," Raku leaned forward, in towards the two of them a little bit as his hair draped from behind his shoulders forward as well, green eye and eyepatch visible to whoever was looking, "which includes the Hokage himself, Namikaze Umashi. We are to escort them safely back here to meet with the Raikage." Raku paused for a moment, letting them take it all in, a smirk creeping across his face, canine tooth showing visibly through it as he knew this news would either excite or worry these genin, having to be in the presence of not just one, but possibly two kage together at such a young age. But either way, they were being tossed straight into the fire for such a mission. Raku stood up again, but leaned back into his slightly slouched posture once more in order to continue his explanation "Now, it's a very important mission, but I'm sure you'll both do fine, as long as you are on your best behaviours and remember your training. We're not just simple escorts. Our attitudes and demeanor will represent our country to these foreign shinobi, so hopefully you don't embarrass yourselves." he finished with a wink towards both of them. "Now, are there any questions or concerns that you'd like me to address?" Raku asked as he stood up fully straight now, as if to seem more professional for a moment, maybe more like a proper leader, but he knew he would just fall back into his usual posture soon enough when he got tired up trying to force himself to stand this way and revert to what felt natural.

[942 WC]
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[Shouyu Hoshi]

Hoshi greeted Raku and he was returned with the same, Raku explained he would debrief the mission once the other had arrived, he assumed that would be shortly even though the mission was such short notice. Raku gave Hoshi a congrats acknowledging his Genin headband and the boy shook his head with a fervent nod at his comment of not being too hasty or becoming cocky in his growth. He was sure right, and so he followed up his nod with a thumbs up gesture given by his right hand.

"Right! I have a long way to go before I can stand in similar shoes like yourself sensei!"

Even though he never had a class taught by Raku, he considered him a teacher as he was sure Raku was as wise as he seemed. Moments later a person came into view, hooded and pulling at the strings of it so to scrunch it up and impair the view of the persons voice. Once the voice rang out, slid through his ears like a particular annoying ringing from last night, something was oddly familiar.

She greeted herself and apologized for tardiness, apparently she had a long night last night, and so did Hoshi dealing with this new girl who managed perplex him within a few minutes of introductions.

His eyes grew wide, wiggling at the name Raku used to address the girl. Okay, now something was really familiar, the voice, the name, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Again Raku mentioned the seriousness of the mission and it caught Shouyu's attention once more, taking his thoughts away from the new comer, although, his eyes was would grow very narrow looking at her once more before turning to Raku.

Raku gave his intro and began to debrief the mission, the Kumo air was starting to warm from the rising sun that gave warmth to his back, Shouyu could be seen energeticly smiling and awaiting the info.

He gave the details and Shouyu have a quick, 'Oh', as a first response. On the inside he lit up like a lantern at night having this mission being important enough to escort Konoha ninjas through lightning country, he was getting giddy and fidgety from excitement, but with a long slow deep breath, he exhaled all the excitement and was calm with a blank face once more, listening attentively.

Raku would lean forward and share a bit of extra info, one of the ninjas to escort would be none other than Konoha's Hokage! He gritted his teeth, and started to hold his breath trying not to bellow from excitement! He had yet to meet his own Raikage, but to meet the Hokage, no, to escort him would mean he could be noticed by higher ranks! He was now tingling with excitement, although he had little no clue were port cirrus was.

"Konoha...gakure, Ho.... Kage?..."

His words were broken, incomplete as he spoke softly. More than likely, he had to have introduce the Hokage into the Raikage, but he wondered, why this kind of meeting out of nowhere and unexpectedly? Well, he never knew how this diplomatic stuff worked anyway, he felt it unnecessary to ask about it.

Raku then insisted they behave, and remember their training, guess Port Cirrus is far journey and would need some preparing. Shouyu realized now that he would be acting in the name of Cloud, and it must be held to a high standard, he could be seen straightening his posture and clearing his throat.

"Well good thing I just got my pay from my missions, I'll have enough for food and lodging and whatever we need, other than that. I have the needed clothes for travel outside of Kumo, I'll be ready when you are Raku!"

Shouyu would look over to the newcomer with narrow eyes again, whispering her name over and over again to himself trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar, but incomplete somehow. He didn't say a word to her, he just examined her with his large hyuuga white eyes.

 

[Kikei]

She could feel the gaze upon her, unwavering almost seething at least that is what she believed. ‘Ugh he is staring at me, make him stop! He totally recognizes me from last night this is going so wrong so quickly. Maybe he won’t recognize me as long as I don’t put my hood down and keep my voice to a minimum’ she thought to herself but honestly deep down she knew it wouldn’t work and that her identity would be found out sooner or later. It was also then that she realized just what Raku had said.

“So we will be meeting some VIPs from another village one of which is their kage.” She said softly as she looked at Raku through the small opening of her hood. Her black eyes showed a worried expression on her face. ‘Oh man I am soooo not prepared for this kind of mission! Gah dad why didn’t you tell me it was this important all you told me was that I had to be down here. Wait where is that piece of paper he told me had the information.’ Her thoughts raced as she began to pace back and forth out of habit. Not realizing just how crazy she must have looked like as her eyes flickered red from her sharingan activating due to her rising stress levels.

“Okay so umm can I run back home and grab a few more things because I am CLEARLY not ready for this.” She showed much panic in her voice at this point and was starting to have a mild anxiety attack that could be noticed from the physical shakes in her hands. Removing her hood with a yank that she choked herself from the force, revealing a very panic stricken Uchiha; who only wanted more time to prepare for something this important.

“Please sensei, I need to grab more of my medication and gear and just wait where is my headband! I FORGOT MY HEADBAND!” She yelled as her inability to cope with stress was becoming all to obvious, of course if she hadn’t taken her medication in the morning she would have been more than fine. In fact without her medication the young girl was quite handy if not for a bit unhinged.

 

[Miraku]

Raku stood there watching their reactions intently. On one hand there was Hoshi who initially seemed slightly overwhelmed and most certainly excited, but seemed to realize the importance of the situation and cleared his worries and was poised and ready to head out already, and then there was Kikei who on the outside seemed calm, but apparently on the inside was freaking out, which began to manifest itself outwardly as became more and more frantic with each sentence uttered. Raku listened to all they had to say, and took it in, listening to every word, letting it sink in and giving him more of a feel for the type of shinobi these two were at this stage in their careers. It was clear to him that these two were quite opposite, but neither were perfect. Hoshi's confidence and preparedness could easily lead to overconfidence which isn't always a bad thing for a shinobi, but should be kept in check. And Kikei's lack of confidence and unpreparedness could create a vicious cycle which could eventually be her downfall.

'Was it fate, or just a coincidence?' Raku wondered, now getting a good look at Kikei, her Sharingan visible; one a Hyuuga, the other an Uchiha. How fitting it seemed that the age old clans of the two most powerful visual bloodlines ran through the veins of these two genin and that they were seemingly so perfectly opposite of eachother. Snapping back to the current situation, Raku pushed those thoughts from his head, realizing currently that the young female shinobi was having a rough time and probably needed a bit of help and reassurance. Taking a step forward, Raku took his hands from his pockets and knelt down in front of Kikei, placing one hand on his knee and his other hand on top of her head, "It's alright, calm down. Take a deep breath and relax. You're gonna be fine." he said as he looked at her with his bright green eye, hoping she would heed his words and relax a little bit. "This mission definitely came out of no where, so it's understandable that you might be unprepared, especially if this is one of your first missions. So how about you head back, get what you need and meet us back here before we head out in about 30 minutes?" he suggested, willing to wait the extra time for her to be able to get herself together and get her things.

Raku stood up again and look to both of them before continuing. What a hassle this was becoming already. Raku wasn't usually one to deal with kids, so he really had no idea what he was doing, just trying to keep things in check. "Port Cirrus is still within the Lightning Country, so this mission realistically shouldn't take very long, so don't worry about bringing too much, just the essentials." he said, as he turned his attention to Hoshi, walking a bit closer to him. "And you won't be paying for anything with your piddly genin wages when I'm around" Raku stated to Hoshi, as he reached his hand out at the same time, and gave a slight flick to the young genin's headband as a sort of 'duh' to get his point across about the money.

Taking in a breath of his own, Raku looked back to Kikei with a slight smile on his face, trying to reassure her that she'll be fine. "So, if that's all good with you two, you should get going Kikei, and me and Hoshi will wait here for you" he said, turning to Hoshi, "Since you sounded like you're all ready and raring to go." This was certainly beginning to turn out to be more than Raku had originally bargained for.

[628 WC]
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[Shouyu Hoshi]

His eyes narrowed at Kikei, she spoke out softly voice hardly distinguishable but Kikei started pacing back and forth. His eyes returned a normal size, with his left brow taking rise to his forehead. He still couldn't see beyond her hood, and she spoke out again in a familiar tone, he leaned toward her from a distance very observant and curious, he also felt heightened sense of chakra emanating from her. Then his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped, left eye brow twitching when she revealed herself from under the hood.

Shouyu gasped, and gasped, with wiggling Hyuuga eyes that grew round as a cylinder in his face bulging out he started pointing at Kikei. 'Riki Kikei!" He kept repeating that name in the back of his mind. It all made sense and her Sharingan was the jackpot. 'Hey, that's the chick who snaked me in that game of Janken last night!!!' Outwardly in his physical he would have quickly gathered himself in front of Raku putting an end to his own panic attack. He was now crossed arm, facing sideways to Kikei with his chin up, acting rather smug towards her.

"Hmpf."

Was all he gave for her request. Then Raku was instantaneously responding to her as a Sensei should, reassuring her insecurities and this made Shouyu look to him curiously. Raku appeared as a Father figure to him, the way he reacted to Kikei. Shouyu watched attentively, as Raku suggested they wait, he would nod with a serious face in agreement, wiping away his resentment, for the moment. He still wanted some words to exchange with Kikei whenever he could get the chance to. Then Raku explained the area of interest and what they needed so Shouyu checked himself out realized he too packed rather light, but thought he could be just fine. Then Raku joked to Shouyu about money and he responded with an embarrassed and awkward grin.

He was flicked, and his head jerk backed slightly from it returning with a pouting bottom lip and Shouyu readjusting his headband. Raku again suggested they wait for Kikei as she return properly prepared, so he agreed held up a two finger peace sign and walked away some feet where Shouyu would plop down into sitting position, crossing his legs, holding a tiger hand seal where he would begin to meditate his chakra network in peace, to bypass time.

 

[Kikei]

The girl stopped dead in her tracks as she felt the gentle hand of her leader atop her head. His words rang through her head like the words of an angel. She had been saved by his kindness and understanding something she hadn’t expected to encounter in fact she was more than positive she would be scolded as she had been so many times before by her sensei. She took a deep breath and her body loosened up a bit as she formed a small smile and her eyes returned to their almost pitch black color.

“Thank you for being so understanding, I really needed that. Also sorry kohai for making your life hell last night.” She said with a small sigh that was a sign of relief as she straightened herself up and began to bolt off in the direction of her home. There she would change into an outfit more befitting of such an important meeting at least in her eyes it was. A long-sleeve solid black shirt, with a pin stripped vest over it along with a pair of pin striped slacks, formal wear one would wear for an interview almost if that interview was at business firm.

“This should be the perfect attire for this meeting hopefully I can keep my cool and not make a fool of myself in front of such important figures of the ninja community. I’m so lucky that the leader is nothing like sensei and was completely understanding of her lack of preparation.” She thought out loud to her as she fastened her top hat to her head, the headband from her graduation wrapped around it perfectly. Before leaving her house once more she made sure to stop and grab two doses of medication for just in case; one her regular dose that she would need to retake in a couple of hours and the second a quick fix pill for if she had an another anxiety attack during the expedition. Her father had noticed her return but figured there was some logical reason behind it and left her to her own devices while her mother was nowhere to be found must have been busy over-viewing her brother’s training for the day.

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She would return a few minutes early, her demeanor completely changed from just thirty minutes prior. Her body seemed to exude this aura of confidence as she had popped the anti-anxiety medication on the way over as she had noticed her body was still a bit shaky. ‘Okay, I’m dressed. Packed, and should have enough medication to last me the rest of the trip. If not well Roku seems more then capable to handle any manic episode that might happen.’ She thought as she stepped up to her squad and smiled.

“I’m much better now thank you, sir. I packed a small bag of supplies and a few rations in case of unforeseen delays in our trip.” She said as she stood before the man who handled her previous outburst with ease. Turning her attention to the boy she had addressed as kohai she bowed graciously before smiling lightly. ‘This should more than make up for my earlier mistakes hopefully, if not I’ll be sure to not slip up any further and to avoid making my weakness any more obvious.’ She thought as she raised her head to look the young hyuuga in the eyes flashing her sharingan in a way to signal she remembers the terms of their arrangement from the night before.

“Please lead the way sir, and I’ll follow you to the best of my abilities. I do have one more favor to ask can I call you by your first name?” She asked as she never really liked addressing people by titles especially if she could get away with calling them something else. Her eyes gazing upon the orange locks of their leader in a sort of daze due to a quick day dream brought on by her wishing she had more beautiful hair, but alas she only had jet black hair that laid flat no matter how hard she tried to do something with it.

 

[Miraku]

It was surprising to Raku, that his actions had actually panned out in a positive way for one, or at least it seemed that way in the moment. Kikei had seemed to calm down, and that is what he had been trying to do, so it seemed to be a success. When he first got this mission, Raku wasn't exactly sure how he would handle it as he wasn't one for dealing with kids, but at least so far he was able to sort things out. It definitely wasn't a walk in the park though. Stressful was probably the word he would use to describe it, but this was his mission, and he wasn't going to jeopardize it over some kids causing him stress.

It was apparent to him through the actions and words of these two that they had met in the past. And apparently that interaction wasn't such a pleasant one based on Hoshi's reaction to figuring out who Kikei was as well as her apology to him before she would take off to go get prepared to head out. After she had left, and Hoshi had been sitting for a little bit, apparently meditating or something, Raku decided to address the situation before it could escalate further. "It seems you two have some kind of past together, and from your reaction and her apology, I would guess you two aren't on the best terms, but don't let that get in the way of the mission, and try to take her apology to heart and learn to work together since I'm sure this won't be the only time you two need to cooperate." he explained to Hoshi, hoping some of it would sink in and they could at least get along for this mission and Raku wouldn't have to deal with any bickering, especially once they were in front of the Konoha shinobi. Raku walked over to the wall near the gate not far from where he was standing and leaned back against it, feet out slightly forward, back pressed to the wall, curved to keep his slightly slouched posture with hands still in his pockets as he closed his eyes and waited patiently for Kikei's return as the air began to warm slightly as the sun rose further above the horizon.

It was a few minutes before Raku had wanted to head out when Kikei returned, seemingly feeling better and ready to go. Having opened his eyes upon hearing her return, he stood up off the wall and walked towards the two of them again, listening as the young kunoichi spoke, and even asked a favour of Raku. Formalities weren't really his thing, but he understood the respect and meaning behind them, but they just weren't things that he worried too much about, at least when it came to himself, so it wouldn't really bother him if he was just called by his first name. "Well, I'm glad we're finally ready to head out. And yes, it's fine if you just call me Raku. I don't mind. That goes for you too Hoshi, if you wish." he said, as he turned towards the gate, the two of them behind him. "Now let's get a move on and go get these Konoha shinobi before they get sick of waiting for us." he said playfully with a bit of a chuckle as he headed out the gates and began leading the two genin in the direction of Port Cirrus.

[Topic Left]
[580 WC]
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[Shouyu Hoshi]

Kikei left with calling him that name again, ‘Kohai’, reminding him of the game he was cheated on. But he did not lose focus in his meditation but nodded in response. He was stirring up chakra inside of his body trying to get a feel of the limitations, the boundaries his body naturally had set for himself. Kikei was off and he broke meditation at Raku Sensei’s words. He opened his hands and dropped his hands into his lap, slouched in posture a bit and looked to Raku with soft white eyes.

“Well, it’s nothing too serious. I was just surprised to see her so soon yet again, but her apology is comforting. You can count on me Sensei, I understand our mission.”

Raku then walked away and posted up by himself, Shouyu watched until he did so, and brought his gaze slowly to his hands resting in his lap. He had to put that aside, for the sake of the mission. There was a time and place, to settle that situation later. He returned meditating until Kikei’s arrival.

Kikei returned seeming even more calm and collected than she initially did when she first arrived, but she was much different and composed, all the way down to her tone of voice. Shouyu put his hand down and again and rose to a standing position as she requested to call Raku by his first name. He dusted himself off when he stood, adjusted his ninja pouches and top to fit snug on his shoulders and smirked himself. Shouyu then looked over to Kikei and gave a thumbs up.

“Well, let’s go going! It’s not ethical to keep a Hokage waiting!”

He followed soon after Raku a couple steps behind him.

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[Kikei]

"Thank you Raku!." Kikei smiled brightly as she began her departure with her squad, heading to parts unknown to her yet all too familiar to the Raku. She was sure that things would be amazingly fun if not very interesting and educational as this was her first outing beyond the boundaries of the village. Probably the worst thing was going to be that she was not one for silence and was going to end up wanting to talk the whole way there and on the way back.'This is sure to be one for the memory banks, getting to meet two kages in such a small span I can't wait!' She thought as she closed her fist in excitement.

She begged Raku for information on the route in which they were to take as they headed out along the dragon tooth pass. Her voice could be heard from the village as the group grew farther away. This was setting the scene for what was to come for the poor jounin. At least until her anti-anxiety pill finally ran out and she returned to a less hyped state.

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