It was a cold, crisp morning. Chilly salty air whipped across Kankurou's face as he stood with Naruto and Sakura in the bay by the village's docks, watching the waves crashing against the hard stony beach and waiting until the rest of the group was ready to depart. It was a tiny place in the middle of nowhere, hardly remarkable at all except as a pit-stop for travellers out on Seishin's southern border. The village, barely more than a few houses with a tavern, sat just out of sight on a rocky gray ledge, but the tiny cove in which they had built the simple barnacle covered wooden pier that held their boats seemed to catch the wind more than shelter anyone from it. Irate air bounced from wall to rocky wall, becoming ever more ferocious with each leap and hurling itself across the small party of travellers with punishing spite. Temari had planted herself further forward in the stones beside Gaara, her arms hugging her clothes and her head bowed inwards against the wind, as she watched his exchange with Ren and Kakashi.
"This were I leave you," Ren was saying, shifting uncomfortably in the blustery weather, "I've arranged with the locals to give you a few days supply of food. You'll find it packed up and waiting in the boats." His hands were hidden in the pockets of his flak jacket, apparently to keep them warm, and the salty air played havoc with his wavy hair. The slight tilt of his head though indicated two small fishing boats bobbing vivacious up and down on the stormy water just by the pier. They were small wooden things with flattened hulls and steep thin sides, just barely suitable for the task ahead. Further along the beach, either side of the steep stone hauled pathway up to the village, Momoka and a slightly older Seishin chuunin by the name of Kai were waiting for Ren. There had been no genin on this escort mission. They were all safely tucked up in the capital.
"Thanks," Kakashi lazily ran a hand across his own beleaguered white hair, shuffling his feet, "Are we likely to be seeing you on the way back?" The wind whistled around him, snagging at his uniform.
Ren nodded curtly. "My team have orders to remain here on stand-by until you return," he paused, and then smirked a little, "Or until we get orders to come and assist you." He winked suggestively at the idea of real action.
Somewhere beneath the mask he always wore, Kakashi seemed to be smiling, but it was Gaara who spoke for them. "Thank you," he murmured softly, turning away and heading towards the silent village pier, "Come on. Let's move out."
Temari immediately appeared at his shoulder, her dark blonde ponytails flaring in the wind. Kankurou fell into place behind them, his heavy footsteps crunching on the cobbles. They could hear Naruto complaining about something to his own team captain, but what they couldn't quite decipher over the roar of the elements. Dark gray rock enclosed them on all sides, casting deep shadows over the bay and making it hard to see out over the ocean, yet this was nevertheless meant to be one of the easier point from which to embark on this stretch of coastline. Seishin's waters were notoriously rough and rocky, making any type of sailing difficult, but also providing the collection of islands with some degree of protection from invasion. The rest of its natural defence at least came from the equally impenetrable wilderness of forests and crumbling granite mountains.
There was meant to be something special about the rock here. Gaara considered the thought as he let his siblings take the lead up onto the pier. Naruto and his party were slowly coming up behind them and Ren seemed to have gone back to his own shinobi. Apparently some of the mountains' stone had chakra repelling properties. Unwisely perhaps he hadn't exactly been paying an overwhelming amount of attention to that particular part of his briefing on Seishin country and its area. There had been more pressing issues at the time and you did occasionally get this kind of phenomena cropping up all over the place, but he did remember that this partly accounted for the particularly virulent nature of the war-like shinobi lines painstakingly bred and raised among this hostile terrain. He also recalled that the country of Granite, Kakougan, had rock that was in places even worse. Gaara sighed, adjusting his gourd as he walked. It certainly would make for a fun mission.
"Do you think we'll be able to get there a little more comfortably this time?" Kankurou mumbled. He was kneeling to pull the flimsy white tarpaulin cover from the boat assigned to them. The wind nearly ripped it out of his hands and he found himself wrestling with a suddenly highly animate plastic sheet. Temari hurried to catch the other end, and help him stow it under one of the seats. They were hardly more than planks of wood, stretched from one side of the boat to the other, but there seemed to be just about enough room for three people on a short voyage. There was even some much needed storage space built into the ends of the vessel.
"Probably," she panted, climbing aboard on all fours and almost collapsing into the bow, "The wind's not so much of a problem… and they did mark the most dangerous currents on our map…" She gasped, watching as in front of her Kankurou mused over the boat's single collapsible mast.
He grunted, giving up any kind of plan he reached down and attempted to grapple the damn thing upright. "Forgive me… if…. Ow!" he winced as he managed to hit himself over the head with part of the bulky wooden poll, "If … given our vast combined… Ouch!" This time he had caught his hand in some kind of hinge. He sucked his thumb attempting to steady the mast and prevent them from capsizing with all three of his remaining limbs. "…combined sailing knowledge I am not exactly glowing with confidence here," Kankurou finished, his back propping up the mast as another end appeared to swing round and hit him in the face.
Temari closed her eyes. Forming a seal with her hands, she focused her chakra deep inside herself, letting it rise up through every pore in her body. Slowly the jerking of the boat subsided. The wind howled with as much ferocity everywhere else, but around their little boat it barely moved leaving them in a pocket of calm still air.
"Thank you," Kankurou gasped, finally hoisting the mast back into position. His job was now just a tiny bit easier.
"Don't mention it," Temari shot back at him, readjusting herself in the stern so that she sat with just a little more dignity, "It's just because I'm awesome."
Kankurou mumbled something unrepeatable and he finally locked the stubborn wooden pole into position. He let the sail swing down and out in a wide gaping arch. "Just get us there without drowning us and then maybe I'll consider the idea," the ninja groaned, crumpling down against the hull, "Are you coming, Gaara?"
From his ridged position up on the pier, their youngest sibling eyed the pair of them with evident unease. He took in the tiny narrow space in the cramped fishing boat and then turned his head out towards the vast horizon of endless water, billowing in the wind. Involuntarily he took a step backwards.
"It'll calm down when we're out of this bay," Kankurou offered, sitting up and beckoning slightly as he rubbed each of his aching body parts in turn. The argument was hardly convincing given his own earlier doubts. Gaara gave him a blank look.
"I've got it covered," Temari reassured him, reaching gently out towards him with an encouraging smile, "Come on. For the mission."
This reminder seemed to work a little. Gaara swallowed slightly and hesitantly took a step forward. Sea spray splayed up against the weathered pier. He froze, staring again at the turbulent water.
"It's not that bad," Naruto had come up behind his friend, regarding him with a mixture of concern and amusement, "I had to stow away in the bottom of a fishing trawler to get here. Trust me. That was much worse! Especially when the captain caught me…" He wrinkled his nose as Gaara turned and regarded him in amazement, shaking his head. Their comparatively pleasant journey had cost him enough, even with the support of his siblings, but then he had always disliked sea travel and wasn't really very used to it. In the wetter climate of Konoha, shinobi grew up much more at ease with ships. Somewhere lower down on the opposite side of the pier, Kakashi had already readied their boat and Sakura was busily checking the supplies.
"Oh for the love of…" Kankurou snapped. Reaching past Temari, he grabbed his brother's elbow and pulled gently, trying to get him to move. It wouldn't have had much of an effect, except that Naruto decided to help out by pushing the Kazekage hard on the back. The resulting force sent both brothers toppling into the bottom of the boat. It rebounded uncomfortably on the murky salt water and Temari found herself holding on for dear life, narrowly avoiding colliding with the freely revolving sail.
"Right," she hissed, her eyes still wide with shock and her body flung dangerously backwards, as she looked up at Naruto, "Let's just go, shall we?"