Disclaimer: I do not own the series of Naruto, or Manifest Destiny. Both series are own by their respectful creators Masashi Kishimoto, and Chris Dingess, and Matthew Roberts.
23, May 1804.
I soon grew to regret committing myself towards this damn expedition, the perks of adventuring into the uncharted soon comes to wean itself for the false advertisements of searching for glory and riches. I find it even more troublesome that half of the crew are either members of United States corps, or convicts assigned for extra manpower on aboard, waiting to strike at any moment's time, especially the scum known as Jensen. I have never met a man filled with such malice and dishonorable trait then again that is to be expected of a murderer and a thief. This expedition may be a waste of time,yet the voyage through the river by ship makes as an advantage to explore and witness the wonders of mother nature.
Hearing the noise of a Heron flying over the ship, Hans placed the quill back into the ink and looked up towards the sky with a serene expression as he watched the bird fly over the ship. It was a beautiful sight to see, until the sudden loud clap from a musket tore through the Heron's torso and crashed down to the wooden floor with a thud. He looked over at the two men on deck, dressed in standard corps uniforms consisting of red and blue stripes and white colored pants, one of which was holding the end of a rifle with a smoking barrel. Both known as Lewis and Clark.
Lewis was your average man with brown hair and brown eyes with a lean figure with the capability to hold on his own when the time came His companion, Clark, was in contrast to him. Clark had blond hair and a set of sapphire eyes. Broad body made to fight, giving his history as a former soldier during the Indian wars, he was put as the right hand man to Lewis by Thomas Jefferson to overlook the safety of the crew and expedition.
"Good shot as always Clark" said Lewis as he rushed over the fallen creature and started to expect the avian's dying body, while writing down notes to determine what kind of species it was.
Walking over to where Clark, Hans peered down at the Heron's body slowly pushing out it's last breath, as its eyes roamed around in an erratic set of motions trying desperately to understand what was happening. As an admirer to nature and the life of animals, Hans could look down in sadness as the bird closed its eyes for the last time. Setting his sights on Lewis, who seemed to be oblivious to the passing of the Heron.
"Hey" to no avail, Clark continued to write.
"It's dead" he started again with a strained voice, trying not to yell out.
Taken away from his notes, Lewis looked over to the man who spoke and was startled at first by the man's appearance. What first caught his attention was the type of clothing he was wearing, which was made up of a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned from the top,brown pants with customized pouches on both sides, and blown leather boots with steel tips(Geralds outfit from the Hearts of Stone cover, but without the ropes). Finally looking up to his face, Lewis was met by azure eyes framed by blond hair, with the sides shaved leaving much of his from the top intact combed over to the side with a few strands sticking out. But what made him more disguisable was the set of birthmarks on each of his cheeks, they almost looked like whiskers.
Knowing that he kept silent for too long.
"What? He responded back, not sure what he was referring to.
"Am talking about the Heron, the one you had just shot down". Hans said
Realizing what he meant. Clark returned back to his giddy self, and returned to the fallen animal on the wooden floor and picked it up from it's long neck. "Sorry about that, it is just that the creature itself is more unusual than other birds documented here in the states, and I needed a closer inspection to fully sketch our friend here for further studies" Clark explained.
Hans stared at the man in front of him thinking he grew a second head, as he went on about the significance of the dead bird. Knowing he didn't have all day to hear him talk. He responded in the best possible way to make Clark understand.
" Look, I get that we here to venture deeper into the West on this little voyage of yours, But do you really need to kill every single animal that you see thinking is a new type of species of animal, just for the sole purpose of cutting it open later, and besides that's a Heron,there practically everywhere in lowland areas"
Taken out of his stupor, Clark took in his words for consideration and replied in a passive tone.
"I understand that my methods of requiring animals may be a bit inhumane and I can agree with you to some extent, but the living inhabitants found alongside these foreign lands have never been documented before and it's only logical that we learn about them at any given chance " he said.
Hearing Clark's reason, proved to only anger Hans even more. But decided to calm his nerves down a bit to prevent him from lashing back at the captain.
In a steady voice" That still doesn't give you the right to kill an animal just to butcher it, I can understand why you need to do it, but not all animals need to be welcomed with a musket pointed right at their faces. There's other methods to better lure them in without harming them" said Naruto, who stood firmly voicing out his concern.
Clark and those who had overheard Naruto's speech stared at him as he had grown a second head in silence, but was soon broken by massive chortle of laugher ruining the passionate moment.
" You hear that boys, the half-breed has a soft spot for wild animals" stated a short greased faced man by the name of Jensen who was standing by rail of the ship. Jensen a man who Naruto has had the displeasure of knowing over the past months could no help, but feel a wave of disgust from the impish creature laughing in front of him.
Laugher could be heard throughout the bay of the ship as others would fall in suite in laughing at the comment. Not wanting the fun to end, Jensen decided to walk towards the fallen heron still bathing under the sun and crotch down on his short sparse legs in front of the bird.
"Hear that buddy, the chink here wants to take good care of you" lowering his hand around the base of heron neck he jerked the creature in a upwards motion spraying blood over the deck of the ship along with some the skin tissue barely clinging on around the wound itself. The bones in the heron could be heard cracking every time it swung left and right.
Clark who was witnessing the events transpire was now crying out a command towards Jensen to stop at once to avoid any further damage to the herron's body. Ignoring the Captain, Jensen continued to torture the bird laughing like a madman. " What's the matter boy too scared to help out a defenseless animal in need or did your balls shrink down your neck that can even speak!".
Lewis so far had stayed silent during this whole ordeal was about to spring into action and take command on the situation, but one look at Naruto direction halted him in his tracks as he saw the blond's eyes holding a great amount of anger in his blue spheres. Lewis would choose not to interfere and wait to see what the man would do.
Anger was boiling within him as the ugly imp kept on prancing around mocking him, he had always considered himself to be a patient man, but like any other man he had limits to a certain extend. Tightening his fist's, Hans calmly walked towards Jensen who was still waving the bird's corpse was oblivious of the blonde stalking him from the back that he would finally take notice and turn around when someone's shadow had befallen him.
At first, Jensen could only feel the bit of the thrill in getting his kicks out of messing with the young lad as a means of establishing a pecking order on board this forsaken voyage as both an escape of the tortuous journey he had to endure as well as voicing his displeasure of having to deal with a wannabe hotship of the German puke greenhorn.
The moment was unfortunately cut short as he instantly felt a suffocating force befall him as he quickly turned to spot Hans directly in front with him with the coldest set of eyes he had ever seen on a human being.
Time felt as it had frozen on the spot for the man known as Jesse "Jensen" Fritzpatrick whose life at the point had been a struggle each day by surviving at any cost, and the expenses of others if it meant he could scrape by could only feel for the first time that his life was tangling by a thread with no means of escape.
All tension on board the midsection of the dead would soon evaporate as the callous hand of Hans took hold of the deceased winged-creature from Jensen's weak shivering grip, and took it back with him towards the quiet Clark who alongside the rest of the crew were waiting to see how the whole ordeal would unfold.
Clark himself would then have his hands filled with the body of the dead bird, whose blood still ran warm through the gaping wound that his second-in-command marksmanship gave the poor animal in order to further study that his attention soon turned to the right of him towards where Lewis was standing.
Lewis at this point was deep in his own thoughts on how the conflict was to unfold, and wondered if he needed to step in in order to avoid any form of senseless conflict from breaking out that would have resulted in him giving out the order to apprehend both men, and placed in a cell below deck.
Noticing his captain approaching him.
" Quite the display wasn't it Lewis" remarked Clark with a barely contained lopsided grin."For a minute I would have thought that the youngster would have murdered the man". The only response he received from his second in command was a chuckle.
"I truly doubt the man would have murdered him,but at the very least injury him, then again it is hard to feel sympathetic towards a cutthroat such as Jensen who is only here as a part of the voluntary group stationed to served out their sentence" he explained as the rest of the crew went back to work." It was only a matter of time for a fight to break out, the good outcome from this was that no one was injured too badly.
Clark in his part only listened to Lewis talk but not paying much attention to his words, as his mind was more focused on a particular blonde who had caused an uproar with attacking Jensen.
Looking at his Co-captain."Well…. I guess men can become a bit restless here in the ship without any form of entertainment, but it is a part of our mission to locate a safe route for travel and the only we will be able to obtain that is by preventing any more disturbances that would jeopardize what we are trying to do". He started walking away to meet the young man
Lewis stood there pondering over what Clark had said, but the journey itself has taken a heavy toll on the entirety of the crew, especially himself. This whole trip has been meant to help him cope with the nightmares, but have been getting worse with each day being stuck on these wooden coffins. Shaking his head Lewis proceeded to follow Clark to meet their esteemed guest.
Break
"I shouldn't have let myself attract too much attention today".
"Even if Jensen did deserve a good beating, there is still no excuse to easily let my anger take over".
These were the thoughts coursing through his head as he kept recollecting what had transpired.
He had managed to calm himself to avoid any further outbursts, but could't stop the anger pointed at himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. He had hoped that by joining this voyage he would find some sort of comfort out here in the wild away from the cities, but since departing from Missouri life on the ship has been less than pleasant given the way some of the crewmates treated him less than human at times.
But he was at least grateful that not all the men aboard were too prejudiced against him due to the fact that he was a half-breed in their eyes. Captain Lewis and his partner Clark were respectful enough of causing him any sort of grief.
Then there was a man named York who was the only other person of ethnic background who he had the pleasure of knowing during this entire voyage as both could relate their troubles of being from a different race. York being a man of black color and himself was a man born out of wedlock from an Asian mother and white father.
" I just wonder what York himself would be thinking about my current predicament right now" he thought to himself. His train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of footsteps heading his way and glanced to see the captain and his right hand man stop in front of him.
" Well that was quite the ruckus today wasn't it Lewis?". He cheerfully commented.
"I reckon it was". Replied Lewis behind Clark with his arms crossed across his chest and a careful look in his eye waiting to be on the defensive if he tried anything suddenly. Deciding to calm the mood a bit, Lewis placed himself near the rail of the ship and looked across the untamed land with a tranquill look on his face.
"Beautiful isn't it ?"
"Pardon sir…?"
Lewis then spreaded out his arms as wide as he possibly could directly at the land." The natural beauty of the land itself!. He shouted so suddenly that Naruto was taken back a bit by his exclamation as well as passing crewmembers who turned their heads towards there captain and Clark himself shaking his head by Lewis's attitude, but smirking a bit at the same time
" Sorry I couldn't help myself, I needed something to break off the tension and try to lessen it a bit" chuckling as he looked at Naruto's face.
At this point all the anger within himself was forgotten and replaced with the bewilderment of the captain's outburst at the situation that had transpired moments ago of the dead carcass of a bird.
Seeing this made Lewis' own smile widen at the notion of having some kind of reaction from the crewmate. He was a bit nervous at first on how he could handle a conversation with the young man, and choosing what to say. " At least I thank my charming persona of breaking the tension quickly" he thought to himself as he watched the green vastness of the land reaching as far as his sight could see and imagining all the sorts of amazing discoveries he could uncover during their journey as the chance of taming the wild lands untouched by man and full of untainted beauty would surely expand his status tremendously once they complete their mission.
"Cough"
Lewis broke away from his thoughts upon which it dawned on him that he completely got distracted by his own pondering that he almost forgot what he was about to say to the young blonde. " Pardon me, I sometimes have the selfish habit of retreating to my own mind when I see such a spectacular view " laughing sheepishly at their dull expressions.
Naruto in his own part was a bit sour of being written off too quickly, but felt that Clark himself was already accustomed to Lewis's personality. "Great I happen to be in the presence of a fool of a captain, but then again he's more tolerable than any of the other sea captains I had served who couldn't stand me due to my race" he thought to himself.
It was then that Clark decided to start the conversation to get straight to the point instead of wasting time. " We understand that being on this ship for the past couple of months has taken a toll on the mentality of the crew, and is not surprising to witness an argument or a brawl break out, but having such a confrontation with your crewmates over small matters such as a dead bird should never led to any sort of troubles while were on this expedition even for a man such as Jensen even if he did deserve to have a bit of sense knocked deep inside his head".
Almost letting out a burst of laughter at the last remark, but decided to keep silent as Clark continued.
" I just hope that we can all keep a level head for the remainder of the trip, and then once we are done exploring the last vestiges of these unclaimed lands, then you can have my permission to confront Jensen at your every whim" was the Lieutenant's two cents.
It was this moment that Lewis let out a bit of a laugh at Clark's response to the situation that got Hans to let out a bit of his own that soon resulted in all three men laughing as the sun slowly started to set.
This would soon stop as all three men at the side of the handrail of the ship that Hans eyesight set themselves over the horizon towards the passing mountainside in their general direction that he could spot the silhouette of a person that quickly dissolved to that of a woman that both Clark, and Lewis soon turned to their heads towards where his was aiming at.
All three, and those on board who witnessed the event would soon not forget the image of a woman standing near the edge of the cliff with her entire body illuminated by rays of light that the next scene would have her take one more step, and plunge towards the complete darkness below her.
With the sun completely gone, and the last remnants of light disappearing a deadly silence was taken within all standing among the deck of the ship that night was soon upon them.