Kasshoku no Kitsune
Chapter 7
How to stumble Upon Adventure
Juro walked besides his new partners with a certain amount of melancholy, he dragged his feet at every moment, and whenever possible took a break, he did this to collect his thoughts, why did he join these people? Why was he not at his home? Where were his riches? Juro came from a rich prominent family of independent Ninjas, at least, that is what he thought.
Juro was currently in this predicament due to his family disowning him, for reasons unknown to him, he woke up one day, same as any day, ran down the stairs smelling the fresh eggs of breakfast, only to be cut off by two giant guards, he had yet to do any real fighting, just genjutsu Practice. These guards with no explanation grabbed both of his arms, and tossed him out of the house-and with hardly a pause- shut the door with a loud slam. He attempted to bang on the door, or to break back in and apologize for whatever he did. But each time his Grandfather would catch him and toss him back out. With a heavy heart he walked away, with the image of the two guards burned into his mind.
Hitomi was getting rather frustrated; she had taken notice of Juro's dragging feet, though Kasshoku foreseeing the inevitable yelling match, made sure to have a meal ready. One should never argue with an empty stomach, sometimes a herb battered rabbit could solve some ones problems.
"Move faster you lazed boy!" yelled Hitomi, staring at Juro hoping her command with have an impact.
"Shut it! Yo-"
"No Clichés!" interrupted Kasshoku, foreseeing the repetitive line of 'You have no Idea what I have been through'. "Lets eat, we can talk about your problems over some food", finished the Brown Boy.
Juro being taken aback by Kasshoku's sudden interruption, and then the offering of food, he pulled up some logs to sit on, for everyone, and when the fire was made, he began. "It was about a month ago, the night was dark, I woke up during a nightmare, foretelling the death of my family if I did not leave, so I ran, in order to sacrifice my own well being for my Kin." He paused to look at his partners; they seemed to be buying it. "I have been living on scraps ever since, well, in till you two came along".
Kasshoku thought about Juro's story, though he believed him, he still smelt the rotten roots, he was dragging his feet, as if he was hurt, granted emotionally, but still hurt. But the story he gave sounded more heroic then anything else. And it would be a strange occurrence for one to be emotionally damaged by doing the 'Heroic' thing. Maybe he was really missing his family? Who was he to judge, he had no idea about having to leave someone.
"Well, I was exiled, if that makes you feel any better, my mother thought of me as a threat, and kicked me out." comforted Hitomi; hopefully her concession would help him.
Shocked by the Statement, Juro smiled, though he would never tell them the truth, he still gave his thanks. With the fake story told, he laid down, though he had trouble falling sleep.
Next morning, which Kasshoku greeted with a yawn and a stretch, the brown boy woke up his companions, and had them get back on the path to wherever. Then Hitomi asked the question Kasshoku had no answer for.
"Where are we Going?" questioned Hitomi, "Or do you have no idea?" interrogated the Orange Haired girl.
"Juro's in charge of the navigation, he knows this area better, so Juro, where are we going?"
Looking at the map he packed with him, Juro found their destination "A small, oddly unmarked town is about two miles from here, it looks like the best place to acquire some money, doing various odd-jobs."
"Are there any other towns around?" asked Kasshoku, Juro replied with a negative nod of the head. "Is their something wrong with your head?" asked Kasshoku, with the innocence of the Forest."
Juro, taking the question as an insult, "Look at the map", shoving the map in Kasshoku's face "Look! There is no other town in this area, my head is entirely fine!"
Perplexed by his anger, Kasshoku decided to not bring up his wobbling head again; figured it must be something that he was sensitive about.
XxXxXxXxXx The Town XxXxXxXx
The small oddly unmarked town was brimming with activity, the smiths were banging on the anvils, the carpenters were building houses, and diggers were creating ditches. The three children walked cautiously into this breathing construction site.
Hitomi was the first to speak "I think you may need a new map here soon, because this town will not be small for long"
As the orange girls attempt at humor fell short of funny, three ninjas jumped down, and grabbed our pint-sized adventures. Then took off for a tunnel that burrowed into the earth. The three of them were thrown into a room, with clothes with of all sizes, and a headband with what Hitomi said was.
"A Note" all three of them decided to go along with it, and put on the gray clothes provided and decided to just carry the headbands.
Walking through the corridors the Brown Child found quite a few children ranging from much older, to surprisingly enough, much younger, as old as five for some cases. Kasshoku himself seemed to stick out with his rather messy hair, paired with his brown dirt stained mask. The ninjas for a reason unknown did not disarm him or any of his friends, Juro had some spare throwing starts, and Hitomi had a single knife.
Though his thoughts were interrupted by a voice, not any voice though one reminiscent of a ghastly ghoul. "Hello- who are you, and where are your headbands" was the question of a rather angry looking chunnin, being of a rough age of 15, and as pale as a ghost.
"Sorry-sir, we have no idea what is going on, we were just picked up when we walked into the village, and dropped off in a room, if you could tell us where we are I would be grateful." asked Hitomi, trying to be as polite as possible.
The chunnin investigated the three, looking at Kasshoku's bow, Juro's exposed eye, and Hitomi's calloused hands. You three look like three children playing ninja, not even bothering to hide your individual abilities.
Kasshoku responding to the man's thinly veiled insult, "Well, that's great! Since we are not ninjas, and we are children, so that fits rather spectacularly."
"Your wit has been noted child, come along with me, you will be introduced into the force, and will be trained"
The three of them were shocked, two of them senseless, they were being conscripted against their will., they followed the instructor each of them looking at each other with sly looks which spoke' escape' in every language. Though Kasshoku had a plan-one a bit more complex then just a stare and fast feet, he motioned them to stick with them and they will talk about the plan tonight.
The instructor showed them the door to what would be their first adventure. The three of them looked around, and found themselves an interesting group of people, as he scanned the room without any serious intent, he found something that shocked him.
"Hey! It is the Red-head-Cutie!" noticed Kasshoku, happy that a familiar face was here, and oddly enough, she had one of his arrow heads wrapped around her neck. He assumed this was the girl he had "Saved" due to the scar across her forehead.
Tayuya was shocked and angry, and confused, and a bunch of other descriptive emotional words. The idiot was here? She was happy with him being a ghost in her life, a small happy thought about being saved-the only one she would allow herself-but now the most likely stupid archer was here to destroy that. With two other people, both with an eye covered? Did they run with scissors? Though there was a tinge of a smile, he was about the only person she knew here, and he did call her cute, that was nice. "You're that Kasshoku no Kitsune kid from the village-how were you able to find me."
"Well, my and my friends here were just following the path and came across this quaint little town." pausing for a second, for humorous effect, "Then were abducted and thrown in here, so I guess our skill at mishap got us here."
Tayuya smiled a bit, "yea, you do suck, don't you?"
Not expecting such words from the Red-headed-Cutie, he was nonetheless use to it. "I never got your name"
"Neither did I, or Juro over here" interrupted Hitomi, she was eager to meet another girl; she was getting rather annoyed with the Y-Chromosome fest. "Oh, im Oshiro Hitomi by the way"
"Tayuya, so did you guys choose to join this grand nation as well?"
"Nope, we were conscripted, he was not joking about the Abduction part," answered Juro.
Tayuya jumped a bit at the realization "Are you serious? I thought this was a volunteer force, oh well, fate lead you to be apart of this great nation."
Kasshoku was surprised at her devotion, the brown fox decided against having her come with him, she seemed happy and content here, she looked well feed and well taken care of, and above all this gave her a purpose. Unfortunately, this would not step him from leaving with his friends, while taking some supplies at the same time.
"Class!" yelled the pale chunnin, with his voice of death, "We have threw new students-come forward and introduce yourself." The pint-sized adventures looked at each other, then Hitomi walked forward, after Kasshoku and Juro followed.
"I am Oshiro Hitomi,"
"That's fine and dandy, but what's your fighting skill, and what are you here for?"
"Well, I fight with grapples and throws, the holds flow around the opponents punches and kicks, and uses their momentum to increase the throwing distance." She saw the class-they were interested-"I am here because-" she looked at the instructor who knew the truth but stared daggers at her. "I wish to get back at my vile mother"
The class laughed at her reason-which hurt her ego-especially because she was serious.
"Im Kasshoku no Kitsune, I am a long-range fighter specializing in bow techniques." figuring the same thing as Hitomi he came up with his own reason-which was also true. "To gather the skills to protect the forest!" Hitomi sighed; Kasshoku was so weird when it came to trees- Tayuya was perplexed-she was wondering why the arrows she had been wooden tipped, the statement explained a bit.
"I am Juro" he paused a bit to come up with his reason, "I am a genjutsu user, using my families eye to weave perceived reality-the eye can also be used to change what an entire room sees and feels" The class gasped- that was the greatest skill of the three "I am here to protect my family" with that the three went back to their seats and sat down and listen to the teacher speak.
After the class, Kasshoku, Hitomi, and Juro all went to their room, the chunnin was nice enough to put them all in the same room, Juro and Hitomi checked for surveillance- and after there search was finished, they found nothing, Kasshoku gave them the plan.