Woe is me... [Contract Search]

[Chikamatsu Shin]

The sun has hidden behind the dunes of the Desert Expanse. The harsh heat and light that normally forces many into hiding had finally subsided. This was probably the young Kugutsu’s favourite place and time to be. The stars were all singing in the sky and numerous constellations had already come out to play. The young kunoichi laid on her back and began to gaze off into the deep expanse of the universe. From where she was she could see the Noble Kage of all kage’s keep an eye out on his beloved children. She smiled and followed the lining of stars from his headband over to another one of her favourite collection of systems, the Chiyo. She smiled as she reached up and closed an eye. The girl used her hand to trace the stars that made the old woman and her legendary ten. She chuckled.

Continuing on her path back to Sunagakure from a mission she held tightly on to what she had learned these past few months. It wasn’t her fault. Everything that happened to her; she had no power in preventing the incident. She had to convince herself to be able to overcome the hurting and pain that she faced. A tear danced across her cheek as it fell to the roughed sands. A slight black smear of makeup residue was left in wake of her solitary tear. She had to move on. She had to be strong.

A few hours later the young girl found herself at a small oasis in the desert. It wasn’t like the kind she heard about through the grapevine. This place just had some light vegetation which crept from a sullied cave entrance. A cool breeze could be felt through the wind as temperatures began to creep closer and closer to freezing. Looking at the small cavern protruding from the ground she sighed. She really didn’t want to go in there. With a deep breath and anxious heart beats she made her way into the small cave; just in time to. About a half an hour later sands were blasting through the air. She didn’t know it but she had just barely escaped a small sand storm.

This cave was more cavernous than she originally had anticipated. Kumomi reached into a pocket from her black dress and pulled out a rag and a collapsible rod. Taking time to carefully wrapping the rag the young girl was working in absolute darkness. She took in a deep breath and infused her chakra into it. She made a single hand seal before exhaling onto the rag. Breathing out slowly she wisped out a small Thermal Maw to ignite the torch. Closing her eyes and catching her breath from the cold crisp air she shuttered with anticipation of what could be in the cavern with her. She exhaled a long needed and waited deep breath and opened up her deep emerald eyes. The torch was dim at first, but she was able to fix that here shortly. Placing the bottom of the rod into the soft sod under her the young looked around to see if there was anything flammable to make a campfire for the night.

[Spider or Insect: 533]

 

[Nara Raian]

[You have found the Insect Contract]
[Accept] or [Decline]​

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

wholeheartedly accept!

 

[Nara Raian]

The young shinobi was smart to find shelter in the cave, the sands of Sunagakure being known to take the lives of those unprepared for it sand storms. Even the oasis, able to give hope to desperate travelers could not protect from the harsh winds of the storms. However, like all sentient beings, humans often made the mistake of entering places mostly occupied.

As the young woman prepared to search for something to light her camp, the rod she had placed down on the ground began to move every so gentle, as if brushed against by the wind. If she took a moment to looked down, quiet the sight would greet her, as a small bundle was wrapped around the rod, almost as if it should to absorb its heat. A close inspection would reveal this small bundle was a very large bug, almost the size a four month old puppy. However it wasn’t threatening at all, rather the sound of snoring could be heard from it.

As the bug snored, its body continued to wrapped tighter around the rod, slow making if sway back and forth. It seemed lost in its own dream, giving little care to the concerns of the world. This would have been fine had is swaying not began to effect the glow of fire, constant swaying movement threatening to snuff out the woman source of heat. That was unless the woman did something to awake the small creature. However even then, startling the bug could cause it to knock over the item, meaning the woman had to be careful in her actions. As this was going on the bug began making small noises…almost as if it was speaking.

“…roll…roll..”

OCC: [Insect is based off the Desert Tiger Centipede]

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Kumomi raised an eyebrow, was her light flickering? She turned around to face the small rod to find a bug wrapped around it. She stepped towards it and squatted down to further inspect it. She had heard of large insects in the desert, just like Dune Bugs, but this thing was weird. She had never seen one of these before. She had the urge topoke it until it moved but then she heard something that sounded like speech. The young kunoichi jumped up in shock but tried to keep her voice down. She had no idea what to do so Kumomi decided to try and get the light away from the bugger before it blew it out. She made a handseal and whispered quietly.

"...Secret Art of the Micro-Puppet: Clockwork Jutsu..."

Upon saying the jutsu's name hundreds of tiny metallic beetles began to crawl out from under her dress and over to the bug. The Micro-Beetles stopped before touching the bug and opened their wings. Flying up to the torch's handle they latched on before trying to fly upwards to slide it out of the bug's grasp. Hopefully she could do this without pissing the bug off. The last thing she wanted to do was fight a giant centipede... Those things kinda made her squeamish, well the thought of being attacked by a horde of them does anyway.

 

[Nara Raian]

The young centipede didn't react instantly to it sudden lost of heat, the creature still rolled in a small ball as it keep going on about rolling. As it legs began touching it head, however, the centipede slowly opened it eyes. It had a lazy look in them as it slowly shifted it body on it side so that it was standing on it feet. Giving a little shake like a dog, it yellow eyes began scanning its location. As it look around the cave, the centipede notice the hovering, pole and small ring of silver that seemed to be supporting it. It honestly was freaking the centipede out.

"Gah! Ghost torch!"

The creature seemed to flail it small legs, as he ran away from the torch, it eyes wide as it tried to escape the haunted torch. It would be in this small panic, that the small creature, would find itself bumping into the shinobi of Kumomi, its weight not enough to knock the young woman down but enough to stun the small creature for a moment. The creature seemed to stumble around for a few minutes as he tried to shake of it's dizziness. Shaking it head, the centipede tried to what it ran into before it froze, looking up at the human figure, flickering in the shadows. While most centipede would attempted to attack this human, a young-one such as this one wouldn't know how to deal with these new mix of emotions. Curiosity and fear ranking the top two of them. As its mouth open, small teeth seemed to shake as it tried to figure out the humans presence. Maybe they could do something about the ghost torch.

"H-hello. S-sorry for t-the bump. f-f-friendly human?"

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Kumomi watched closely as the bug began to wake up. She took a step back, deeper into the dancing shadows casted off of the torch, and held her breath. Well, that was until the centipede became scared of the Ghost Torch. Realizing that she was the cause of the bug's distress she quickly commanded her puppets to bring the torch to her hand, but by the time the torch made it to her hand the centipede had ran into her from distress and began stumping about. Panicking herself she dropped down to her knees to become more approachable to he little guy.

"It's okay little one, I am sorry I scared you. It was me that made the torch fly, well my little friends did."<i></i>

As she spoke she lowered her other hand and had each of her Micro-Puppets crawl forward. A spider, a beetle, a wasp, a mosquito, and a caterpillar all crawled from her hand and onto the sand towards the little centipede.

"Don't apologize friend, are you okay? I really am sorry if I have frightened you. Are you alone here?"<i></i>

The girl flashed back to the thought from earlier. If this little guy was here that meant there could be thousands of giant centipedes lurking in the dark waiting to ambush her. A cold chill trickled down her back at the thought of that. She honestly probably couldn't take the idea of fighting hundreds of giant centipedes.

 

[Nara Raian]

The centipede stopped shaking after a few minutes, its mind slowly processing the words of the human female. The creature seemed to look down at the ground as its feet seemed to shuffle from side to side, almost like it words expressing it embarrassment. Looking down at the ground, it noticed the small creature walking near him, causing the insect to snap out of is embarrassment as he looked at the smaller insects. Friends? No something off about them. As it tried to figure out what the small insect not insect things were, the centipede realized the woman had asked something of him, causing it to look up at her with round eyes in wonder. Even though it was rare to meat humans unafraid of insects, to have one worried about his wellbeing…it made the young centipede swell with happiness. The centipede move closer to the girl, placing it feet on one of her knees as it looked up, it antennae’s twitching in anticipation.

“I’m okay. Sorry I ran into your...heh thought your torch was haunted. Wouldn’t be the first time…yeah let’s go with that. Cool friends you have, they remind me off some of mine back home. Speaking of home, I wonder if they made it further down in the cave. Maybe not, it kind of spooky. But…uh..oh yeah...your question. I alone for now, my friend said to meet him further down in the cave. Wanna come?”

The creature seemed to smile as it went through all those words with a missing a breath, it eyes slightly wider as he continued to start at the woman, waiting for her response. As the creature, waited, it realized that it hadn’t said it name, causing smile small. Maybe she’ll ask on the way?

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Komomi smiled as the little centipede did a cute little shuffle out of embarrassment. She nodded to the little one and covered her mouth as she slightly chuckled. She watched as her new found friend dottled with her puppets which made the girl fall for this little creepy crawly even more so. Kumomi's mind was almost made up, she had to make sure this little guy got home safe and sound. She twinkled her fingers as the little centipede rested on her knee. With her fingers touching the ground her automatons crawled onto her hand and back into their hideouts in her dress.

"Don't apologize little one. I'm Kumomi, and those actually aren't my friends. They were my ninja puppets. Those little guys help me out of a jam whenever I need help, so yeah... I guess they are my friends."<i></i> She chuckled slightly before turning to look further down the cave's expanse. "I would love to help you find your friends. Me and my team will be here to fight any monster's for you??"<i></i>

On her last statement she inflicted her voice as to ask the question "Who are you exactly?", but whether or not she got the answer wouldn't bother her that much. She stood up and held the torch firmly in her hand. She was ready. She looked at the young centipede and smiled. She nodded her head towards the cave's expanse to say that they were going and she began to walk deeper into the cave.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

[bump]

 

[Nara Raian]

The young centipede smiled before hoping off the woman’s knee and point one of his feet forward.

“Well Kumomi, let’s get going! I don’t think there any monsters…but maybe your torch should be in front of us.”

As the insect began walking forward, it paused for a moment, before it rolled into a small ball once more and turn around to look at Kumomi. In the short moments of fear and excitement, he had forgotten his name. Oh, good thing the others aren’t here.

“Sorry Kumomi, forgot to tell you my name. It’s Meru!”

With Meru introduction, the small creature, before to roll back again so that it was facing forward into the cave and began to follow the woman. As the two walked they would find, the cavernous cave seemed to grow colder the deeper the walked into it. On the walls which the torch’s light touched, the stones seemed to shine with small specks of rare minerals and ice. It truly was an oddity, especially considering that outside they cave their held an unforgiving desert, whose storms still began raging. As they walked, Kumomi would noticed that their passage way slowly began to grow small, causing even the young centipede to slow down as it antennas twitched from the sounds of their steps echoing.

“Uh..Kumomi? I was wondering about something…what kind of human are you? I know your nice, but what do you do as a human? You made insect friends that aren’t insect friends appear and disappear. Are you…a magician?”

The creature stopped as it slowly turn to look up at the woman, it antennas still twitching as, it waited to listen to her explanation. As they stopped, the faint sound of stone falling could be heard from behind, before silence return.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Kumomi smiled to her new friend, as she let a group of her puppets take the torch from her and started to fly further ahead of them to light the path. This little guy was beginning to grow on her as he spoke to the kunoichi. Meru was his name. "Don't apologize Meru, it's fine."<i></i> she would let out a slight laugh. As she continued on her path to help Meru she began to notice the temperature drop, this wasn't unusual in caverns but this drop was developing far too drastically. She was confused for this made no sense to her, but then she saw why. As she began to delve deeper and deeper into the cave she began to notice small crystals. Walking over to one she raised a hand to Meru.

"One second friend, I don't recognize these..."<i></i> She reached out with a small praying mantis shaped puppet who began to analyze the crystal. It raised a single arm and chopped downwards onto the crystal, hitting it precisely in its weak spot to break the gem away from the wall in a clean and rather attractive cut. With a smile on her face she slid the crystal into her pouch. "Okay Meru, we can keep going."<i></i> She once again chuckled, she nerded out there for a second but she couldn't help but try and learn everthing she could. Perhaps this was a rare Carmot that obtained rare knowledge.

Well that's silly question Meru, you're cute."<i></i> She giggled to herself. "I am actually a Kunoichi, which is a name normally given to a girl that learns how to be a ninja doctor..."<i></i> At this point she raised a hand to partially cover her mouth as if telling her friend a secret. "Nut between you and me I am also a puppet master. All of my little insect friends are actually a team of puppets that I control with my own energy!"<i></i> She would lower her hand and smile. She loved talking about her team of puppets, it didn't matter to whom either.

 

[Nara Raian]

Meru seemed to beam up at the compliment, smiling at it human friend. Taking a nap…uh…small break from wandering the desert had been a good plan. The young centipede would have to thank his friend when they located him. Speaking, the insect could help but move side to side as it excitement grew.

“That’s so cool, Kumomi! You be like pow pow, and enemies be like bleh! Oh, but you said doctor ninja, so you punish pow sickness! So does that mean you live in the big mountain area Meru sees sometimes when he wonders the desert? Why do your puppets act like Meru’s friends? Are the other mag-ninja like you?”

Meru seemed to twitch it antennas in excitement, before two of them seemed to be freeze for a moment, causing the bug to stop and freeze. Sniffing the ground, Meru looked around the small passage in front of him, the torch causing the ice and stones, giving off a vibe of wonder as they remained in the light, but of fear the further they got away from it. Meru turned and looked away to look at Kumomi, his head tilted to the side as he looked at her.

“Uh..Meru heard something fall, I think we are close to an edge. It sounded like a shaking sound.”

To a young creature that had only seen desert for it young live, it would be difficult to understanding the sound of ice breaking onto a boulder. Even with it superior hearing, Meru couldn’t tell the difference of sounds to thinks he hadn’t heard. Meru antennas continued to twitch before stopping and resuming their random movements. Before turning around, Meru spoke once more, the centipede’s body hugging closer to the wall as it followed the torch.

“Kumomi, I realized I’m asking questions about you. Do you have questions about Meru?"

As the two would walk, they would find that the torch seemed to catch a single save passage that they could walk, while pure darkness seemed to cover them from side to side. Even with the torch light, and the large area of the cave, it seemed as though this area be cleaned away, leaving nothing but one bad step and a fall to oblivion.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Kumomi was excited to make a new friend and she would begin to answer all of his questions with a smile on her face. "I guess it is pretty cool. Yeah I make illnesses and injuries away. My main job is to make sure everyone is safe so that they can help the village and the Kage. I am a small little helper in our hive like city. Ultimately if I wasn't there to help the others get better they would be their to help our Kage, who is actually like the king of our hive."</COLOR><i></i> She would chuckle at all of the bug references. "Yeah that's my village. My friends are insect like because that's what I like. I made them myself. I spent years learning how to make the perfect little helpers and it just so happened that making them bug-like was the best way to do it." She would ponder the next question for a little bit.

<COLOR color="purple">"Yes and no Meru... You see not everyone where I come from is good. Some of the ninjas are loyal to the village and what to see it grow while others are just out for themselves. There are people that can do magnificent things with their powers but at the same time there are cruel evils that are unforgivable in the ninja world."<i></i> She stopped and noticed the icy path. This probably wasn't a good sign, but at the same time why would it have to be negative. She gave a smile to reassure Meru that everything would be okay before continuing to walk with him.

"Well Meru, the first question that popped in my head is rather easy, I hope at least. I haven't met anyone like you, the only people I have spoken to before look like me. Where do you come from little one?"<i></i> She would chuckle as if asking an old friend to retail a tale from their childhood.

 

[Nara Raian]

Meru’s antennas seemed to point downward, indicating the question asked was something of a bad topic with the creature. Meru continued walking, trying to remain upbeat with his new friend. Speaking, it tried to remember better times of the place it had called home.

“Meru was born in Fire Country. Oh…but it was on fire but on leaves? The place was so green that it was like it was your torch, brighting everything it touched. There was food, music, and happiness. Meru made many friends with little bugs and big bugs. Meru even meet other bugs like Meru, but some didn’t talk much. Something about wasting catra or chalkra? It was nice times. Meru home was more than home. It was bute..beatie…pretty.”

The centipedes antennas seemed to drop even lower as he walked, his speech paused as it tried to hold back it small emotions.

“Then…fire did come. Meru home began dark and smelly. Friend…friends fell and never woke. Why is that Kumomi? Why did Meru’s friends never wake?”

Meru walk seemed slower as it thought about the question, it didn’t need Kumomi to answer it. Though it was too young to understand to concept of death, it knew they would sleep eternally, dreaming of a better home than the one they had left. Shaking his head, Meru continued speaking, its antennas slowly raising as it thought of happy moments.

“After leaving home, Meru travelled a bit with some family that left home early on. I saw happy things…and I saw evil things. Meru made many big friends on his way to this place. Meru family enjoys the sands of this country, thought Meru wishes there was more green places. But your Oasis are like small islands of relax…uh…training places.”

Meru antennas began to move back to normal as it slowly began to put a hip in its step. Said hip unfortunately on slick ice path, probably not the best idea. A Meru land, the small creature seemed to lose balance and began sliding down the small passage way, it small body hugging the edge as it look wide eyed.

“Kumumoooooooooooooooooi!”

It's small body would soon be out of sight from the torches light if the young shinobi did nothing to help her small friend.

 

[Nara Raian]

OCC: [This search has been voided due to inactivity.]