Tatsuya was woken in the middle of the night by a pebble hitting him in the head.
He would have gone back to bed, but more pebbles followed, this time several at once. He sat up and rubbed his head and prepared to go take a piece out of whoever was pelting him with rocks at...apparently one in the morning.
Surprise of all surprises, it was his bodyguard, who was supposed to be with the rest of the convoy to Moon.
"Edge, what in the hell are you doing here at this ungodly hour and give me one reason why I shouldn't strangle you for a bit and send you back to the others?"
"Your mother sent me," was the response, which, okay, was definitely good enough to pass muster. Tatsuya sighed.
"I'll be down in five minutes." He ran a hand through his hair, went to pick up his weapons, and slipped out the door.
"Did she specify that I had to be woken up in the middle of the night?" he asked, irritated, when he hit the ground floor.
"No, just to go quickly." Edge shrugged. "It took me this long to work out where you--look, do you want to hear how I found you, or do you want to hear the mission?"
"I suppose I want to hear the mission," he grumbled. "So I can get it done with and go back to sleep. Is it fast?"
Edge took a piece of paper out of a pocket that, when unfolded, proved to be a map. "Yeah...not so much."
The map proved to mark out a remote spot somewhere north of a village that was a good half-day's travel away from Kumogakure, even for a ninja. Tatsuya stared at it, feeling a building headache.
"What is this, anyway?"
Edge shrugged. "You're supposed to pick up a package of...something, I don't know, the list's in the envelope with the map. I wasn't supposed to look at it."
"Poisons," Tatsuya translated. "Well, I'm sure Lightning has their own specialties in that. Why am I needed?"
"The maker will only deal with the actual people he's doing business with, and I'd count as an intermediary." Edge scowled, and he mimicked the expression. Most of the clan servants were considered to be just about in the clan. "Plus it's a little of a dangerous path. They need a ninja to run it. And, well, you're definitely the best candidate."
"So I see," he murmured. "All right, fair enough. I'll just...pop out for a...Edge, I'm in the middle of a nest of paranoid ninja. Could you cover for me?"
"What do you want me to do, hole up in your room, mimic your voice, and pretend I'm si..." His voice trailed off at Tatsuya's expectant grin. "All right, fine. Can you get out and back in fine?
"Yes. Don't worry." He let the void creep over him, like he had in the forest. "I take it you'll be taking the package back when you go?"
"Yeah." He paused. "Anything I need to know to impersonate you?"
"There's no one in my room," he said dryly. "...Oh. Akane is warming up to Hoshikata, and vice versa if I don't miss my guess. Just one for the gossip mills."
"Huh." Edge shook his head. "All right. See you in a couple days."
His bodyguard, being a water user, couldn't mimic his powers--but that wasn't an issue for many people anyway, and the only ones it was he wouldn't fool outside of voice work.
Tatsuya checked the map again and set off.
The difficult part of getting out was finding somewhere that not only was easy to slip out of, but didn't drop off a sheer cliff. After that much was done, it wasn't hard. It probably helped that he was trying to get out, and further that he had basically innocent intentions.
Once he was on the outside, he immediately started heading north. Even the path to get to where he was going was remote, through mountains and forest, and some joker had scrawled 'here there be monsters' next to the path itself. It looks suspiciously like Edge's handwriting, in fact.
He reached the path itself in a few hours and eyed it suspiciously. It was through deep, dark forest. He paused to take a quick snack and nap, and drew his weapon just in case before heading in.
It was dark, and he had to activate magnetic channeling in order to light the path--it was a with a dim, blue glow that most people would find eerie, but he wasn't exactly susceptible to things like that, so it didn't bother him.
What did bother him was the rustling noises in the woods around him. The pathway was narrow, and the vegetation on either side thick enough to plunge it into complete darkness, shaded from his small source of light. There were undoubtedly creatures in there.
Like the giant centipede that burst out of the forest onto the path in front of him and charged him, likely as a scare tactic.
He gave a heavy sigh and drew out his gloves. He didn't want to get bug guts all over himself, so it would be better to channel and the gloves were best for that. Increasing the magnetic channeling to a battle level, the blue glow around him brightened until there was the sound of a cannon blast and the centipede, a mere three feet away from him, let out a horrendous dying shriek as blue lightning lanced through it. He crossed his gloves in front of him, pulling up a barrier that blocked the majority of the pieces of gigantic insect predator that flew at him.
"Ugh," he said to no one. "This is going to get tiresome fast."
It wasn't the last giant centipede, either, although all of them had the same attack style. He couldn't just stroll by after killing them either, as rather large swarms of wasps tended to descend on the remains rapidly.
The wasps were rather large in and of themselves, actually, and Tatsuya hated wasps. Blowing them apart with lightning jutsu was only satisfying once.
Needless to say he was getting somewhat tired by the time he reached the spot marked on the map. He had expected to see a ramshackle house, barely standing, in a clearing.
What he actually found was a somewhat cozy stone hut nestled in the shelter of a rocky outcropping in a rather large clearing with smoke billowing from the chimney.
In retrospect, who would want to live in a tiny wooden hut anyway? Just because someone doesn't much like people doesn't mean they would rather live like an animal.
Tatsuya shrugged, tucked his metal gloves away, and deactivated his channeling. It was some time past dawn, and hopefully the resident would be up.
He went to knock on the door. It swung open almost immediately.
Again, what he had been expecting wasn't what he'd gotten. He'd expected an old, curmudgeonly type, but the woman standing before him was tall and stately, with a stern expression and dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail.
He wordlessly handed her the envelope.
"Not a messenger, are you?" she asked, eyeing him.
"No ma'am," he said respectfully. "My mother sent me, but I don't think that counts?"
"You'll do," she said after a second, ushering him inside.
She moved briskly after checking the envelope, gathering herbs and vials into a small wooden box. Tatsuya had no idea what his mother was going to do with such a small amount, but there were presumably amounts on the note.
"Have you read this?" she asked, waving the paper at him.
He blinked. "No. I don't read messages I deliver."
She muttered something under her breath he didn't catch. "Well, do so in the future. You never know what the message might say. Could've told me to harm you."
"I trust--" he cut himself off, because that was actually good general life advice. "...Yes, sorry. Although I don't really think you could hurt me."
She snorted. "You're in a poisoner's workshop. Besides, I live here, don't I? Do you think I never go outside?"
He stared at her, unsure. "Are you a--"
"Here's your package." She shoved the box at him. "Be careful on the way out. Some of that's breakable."
"Yes ma'am." He gave her a wary look before edging toward the door.
..I don't think she's human.
"You're right," she said, with a grin full of slightly jagged teeth. "I'm not."
...Damn. Had she actually read his thoughts?
"I'll leave you be, then." He gave a slight bow but didn't lift his eyes off her, exercising a touch of caution while backing out. She nodded approvingly, then turned back to her dried plants.
The journey back was less eventful than the one in, and soon he was slipping the package to Edge, whom he'd gotten revenge on for the stone throwing incident with one of his own.
"I think I almost died," he finished. "it's probably a good thing I can't show fear or I would have. Anyway, I'll see you in Moon. Eventually."
"Yeah, I guess." Edge gave him a once-over. "Get some sleep, then. I'll see you."
He needed the rest. It wasn't every day you faced down something definitely not human, affecting to be one.
Well, he realized, thinking of his companions, perhaps for me, it is.
He slept soundly after that.
He would have gone back to bed, but more pebbles followed, this time several at once. He sat up and rubbed his head and prepared to go take a piece out of whoever was pelting him with rocks at...apparently one in the morning.
Surprise of all surprises, it was his bodyguard, who was supposed to be with the rest of the convoy to Moon.
"Edge, what in the hell are you doing here at this ungodly hour and give me one reason why I shouldn't strangle you for a bit and send you back to the others?"
"Your mother sent me," was the response, which, okay, was definitely good enough to pass muster. Tatsuya sighed.
"I'll be down in five minutes." He ran a hand through his hair, went to pick up his weapons, and slipped out the door.
"Did she specify that I had to be woken up in the middle of the night?" he asked, irritated, when he hit the ground floor.
"No, just to go quickly." Edge shrugged. "It took me this long to work out where you--look, do you want to hear how I found you, or do you want to hear the mission?"
"I suppose I want to hear the mission," he grumbled. "So I can get it done with and go back to sleep. Is it fast?"
Edge took a piece of paper out of a pocket that, when unfolded, proved to be a map. "Yeah...not so much."
The map proved to mark out a remote spot somewhere north of a village that was a good half-day's travel away from Kumogakure, even for a ninja. Tatsuya stared at it, feeling a building headache.
"What is this, anyway?"
Edge shrugged. "You're supposed to pick up a package of...something, I don't know, the list's in the envelope with the map. I wasn't supposed to look at it."
"Poisons," Tatsuya translated. "Well, I'm sure Lightning has their own specialties in that. Why am I needed?"
"The maker will only deal with the actual people he's doing business with, and I'd count as an intermediary." Edge scowled, and he mimicked the expression. Most of the clan servants were considered to be just about in the clan. "Plus it's a little of a dangerous path. They need a ninja to run it. And, well, you're definitely the best candidate."
"So I see," he murmured. "All right, fair enough. I'll just...pop out for a...Edge, I'm in the middle of a nest of paranoid ninja. Could you cover for me?"
"What do you want me to do, hole up in your room, mimic your voice, and pretend I'm si..." His voice trailed off at Tatsuya's expectant grin. "All right, fine. Can you get out and back in fine?
"Yes. Don't worry." He let the void creep over him, like he had in the forest. "I take it you'll be taking the package back when you go?"
"Yeah." He paused. "Anything I need to know to impersonate you?"
"There's no one in my room," he said dryly. "...Oh. Akane is warming up to Hoshikata, and vice versa if I don't miss my guess. Just one for the gossip mills."
"Huh." Edge shook his head. "All right. See you in a couple days."
His bodyguard, being a water user, couldn't mimic his powers--but that wasn't an issue for many people anyway, and the only ones it was he wouldn't fool outside of voice work.
Tatsuya checked the map again and set off.
The difficult part of getting out was finding somewhere that not only was easy to slip out of, but didn't drop off a sheer cliff. After that much was done, it wasn't hard. It probably helped that he was trying to get out, and further that he had basically innocent intentions.
Once he was on the outside, he immediately started heading north. Even the path to get to where he was going was remote, through mountains and forest, and some joker had scrawled 'here there be monsters' next to the path itself. It looks suspiciously like Edge's handwriting, in fact.
He reached the path itself in a few hours and eyed it suspiciously. It was through deep, dark forest. He paused to take a quick snack and nap, and drew his weapon just in case before heading in.
It was dark, and he had to activate magnetic channeling in order to light the path--it was a with a dim, blue glow that most people would find eerie, but he wasn't exactly susceptible to things like that, so it didn't bother him.
What did bother him was the rustling noises in the woods around him. The pathway was narrow, and the vegetation on either side thick enough to plunge it into complete darkness, shaded from his small source of light. There were undoubtedly creatures in there.
Like the giant centipede that burst out of the forest onto the path in front of him and charged him, likely as a scare tactic.
He gave a heavy sigh and drew out his gloves. He didn't want to get bug guts all over himself, so it would be better to channel and the gloves were best for that. Increasing the magnetic channeling to a battle level, the blue glow around him brightened until there was the sound of a cannon blast and the centipede, a mere three feet away from him, let out a horrendous dying shriek as blue lightning lanced through it. He crossed his gloves in front of him, pulling up a barrier that blocked the majority of the pieces of gigantic insect predator that flew at him.
"Ugh," he said to no one. "This is going to get tiresome fast."
It wasn't the last giant centipede, either, although all of them had the same attack style. He couldn't just stroll by after killing them either, as rather large swarms of wasps tended to descend on the remains rapidly.
The wasps were rather large in and of themselves, actually, and Tatsuya hated wasps. Blowing them apart with lightning jutsu was only satisfying once.
Needless to say he was getting somewhat tired by the time he reached the spot marked on the map. He had expected to see a ramshackle house, barely standing, in a clearing.
What he actually found was a somewhat cozy stone hut nestled in the shelter of a rocky outcropping in a rather large clearing with smoke billowing from the chimney.
In retrospect, who would want to live in a tiny wooden hut anyway? Just because someone doesn't much like people doesn't mean they would rather live like an animal.
Tatsuya shrugged, tucked his metal gloves away, and deactivated his channeling. It was some time past dawn, and hopefully the resident would be up.
He went to knock on the door. It swung open almost immediately.
Again, what he had been expecting wasn't what he'd gotten. He'd expected an old, curmudgeonly type, but the woman standing before him was tall and stately, with a stern expression and dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail.
He wordlessly handed her the envelope.
"Not a messenger, are you?" she asked, eyeing him.
"No ma'am," he said respectfully. "My mother sent me, but I don't think that counts?"
"You'll do," she said after a second, ushering him inside.
She moved briskly after checking the envelope, gathering herbs and vials into a small wooden box. Tatsuya had no idea what his mother was going to do with such a small amount, but there were presumably amounts on the note.
"Have you read this?" she asked, waving the paper at him.
He blinked. "No. I don't read messages I deliver."
She muttered something under her breath he didn't catch. "Well, do so in the future. You never know what the message might say. Could've told me to harm you."
"I trust--" he cut himself off, because that was actually good general life advice. "...Yes, sorry. Although I don't really think you could hurt me."
She snorted. "You're in a poisoner's workshop. Besides, I live here, don't I? Do you think I never go outside?"
He stared at her, unsure. "Are you a--"
"Here's your package." She shoved the box at him. "Be careful on the way out. Some of that's breakable."
"Yes ma'am." He gave her a wary look before edging toward the door.
..I don't think she's human.
"You're right," she said, with a grin full of slightly jagged teeth. "I'm not."
...Damn. Had she actually read his thoughts?
"I'll leave you be, then." He gave a slight bow but didn't lift his eyes off her, exercising a touch of caution while backing out. She nodded approvingly, then turned back to her dried plants.
The journey back was less eventful than the one in, and soon he was slipping the package to Edge, whom he'd gotten revenge on for the stone throwing incident with one of his own.
"I think I almost died," he finished. "it's probably a good thing I can't show fear or I would have. Anyway, I'll see you in Moon. Eventually."
"Yeah, I guess." Edge gave him a once-over. "Get some sleep, then. I'll see you."
He needed the rest. It wasn't every day you faced down something definitely not human, affecting to be one.
Well, he realized, thinking of his companions, perhaps for me, it is.
He slept soundly after that.