I'm running out of ideas on how to thank Howl's Owls for revising my chapters... Any suggestions are appreciated!
Continuing from the OC name connection from last chapter, I've posted them all on my profile near the bottom. It's under "Crazy Name Connections"!
Also, 2 days ago marked the 1 year birthday of Nenin's Road to Harmony! March 24, 2010 is the birth of chapter 1. Now let's see where this'll be on March 24, 2012...
"You sure you're okay Nen?" I asked just to reassure his condition.
"Yeah Siren, don't worry about me; we have a mission to complete." He declared in a determined tone. I guess he's ready, or he could be covering up his real feelings. I trust Nen; I just hope he has enough strength to pull through the whole assignment.
I was really grateful to the nurse for healing Nen of this strange occurrence and I expressed this to her. She thanked us for accepting to perform the mission for Bosen Bodo and she told us to gather our courage to find and fight off the known invaders. We bid our farewells to her and navigated our way to the 'Trade Operations' department room. We waited quietly outside in the lobby as the door was shut tightly into the room. I took that chance to give Nen what I accidentally took from his apartment.
"Nen...?" I mentioned timidly; anyone that knew me enough would know something was wrong.
"Yeah?" He responded, his voice echoed in the calm interior around us. We waited in a medium-sized square room with two wooden benches. There was only one open window and two entrances, one to Bosen Bodo's office and the other to exit to the main corridor of the building. I sat on the one next to Nen while my elbows rested on my knees. My voice was clear too without my mask altering it. After he turned his head to look at me, I steadily grabbed the amulet out of my back pocket and reluctantly showed it to him, partially afraid of his might-be reaction.
"Where did you get t-this?" Nen stumbled upon the last word; he was staggered to see such an item in my carefree hands. I can't really blame him either.
"This... It's yours... Right, Nen?" With that statement the door gently flew open and two middle-aged women were revealed.
"If that's all you wanted Miss then be sure to return! Ta-ta!" The older one called, which caught our undivided attention as we gazed upon her. She was waving her hand toward as if dismissing the other lady who took a right turn to the main corridor. The older lady seemed tall from where we were sitting. She was dressed in a long gray, oversized robe that didn't even look similar to her actual size. Her arms were only a fraction of the size compared with the sleeves of the robe. Speaking about her robe, it has intricate black designs contrasting with the color of it. The designs were difficult to recognize, but they appeared to be warped versions of palm trees. The lady had dark brown hair that curled when it met the back of her shoulders. She had no bangs, unless they were invisible.
"And who might you three young gentlemen be?" She tried to sound as polite as possible, folding her hands and smiling generously.
I was about to reply to her predictable question, however Shikamaru beat me to answer, "We're ninja from the Leaf," he said, "are you Bosen Bodo?"
"Yes I am! I've been waiting for three young chaps for a while now!" She beckoned for us to enter, smiling blatantly while we did; she closed the door behind her. I don't know if she was trying to be as cheerful and dynamic as much as possible or if she's trying to mask something behind that head of hers.
Her office was reasonably large; though empty for the most part. There was no desk similar to Lady Sundae's; in fact there was no desk present at all. The walls to our left and right stood lightly fashioned cabinets that were aligned next to each other. Probably constructed out of pine and made for holding important stuff. Stuff that I couldn't even guess was inside; makes me curious. In the center of the room positioned three navy blue cushions horizontally and equally separate from each other; facing toward the one large navy blue cushion near the back of the room. That's where that lady probably does most of her work. If I had a say, her floor was more carefully made than the wooden flooring just outside her office. I could say the same thing with her walls. She had a large window-with glass-behind her seating arrangement. It almost covered the entire wall and you could see almost anything that happened outside from here but the window was facing the ocean, so not much action would occur.
Nen sat on the middle cushion, Shikamaru sat on the left, which left me with the right cushion. The lady, uhhh, Bosen Bodo I think, was placing a golden-leaf envelope with unknown contents inside a pine cabinet to the closest to the corner of the left wall. Then she began to sit down herself.
I was toying around with my untied bandanna until I was interrupted, "Siren... Can't you follow directions for once?" Nen whispered.
I looked at Nen eccentrically, raising one eyebrow, "Say what? Follow what direction?" My voice seemed too loud for it to be measured as a whisper; thanks a lot untied bandanna... I could almost feel the sigh that Nen was about to let out. But, really, what am I doing wrong now...?
Nen didn't sigh, but he did look disappointed while responding. "You're sitting the wrong way."
"I'm sitting the wrong way...?" I looked at how I sat, I wasn't sitting in the same position as Nen and Shikamaru was, so to prevent me 'breaking the tradition of the people' I copied their style of how to sit. Apparently it's the correct way of sitting around these parts.
After Bosen Bodo realized we were ready for whatever she had to say, she begun, transforming her face from cheery to serious.
"So you three are the ninjas from the Leaf." She paused to glance at each of us. Her voice sounded unfamiliar when it wasn't high-pitched. Maybe she has a two-sided personality?
"This is going to be quite a challenge." What does she mean by challenge? Challenges are challenging! good!
"Lady Tsunade of the Leaf might have already addressed this; however, a band of unidentified rogues has been reported using hit-and-run tactics to rob our exports of turpentine." Actually, Lady Sundae didn't say that at the briefing. Hit-and-run... Sounds like something I would do, minus the turpentine, because I don't know what that is. Wait a minute...
"Why turpentine? Why not... Something else? A thief would want money, not this turpentine thing. Just my two ryo." She didn't change her expression when I said that.
"Turpentine is our main export. Halting that, or at least, largely disrupting it, can deal a great blow to our economy." She then added, "Turpentine is a substance that is extracted from pine trees, our country's most abundant resource. It is used in painting and medical procedures. Our trade of turpentine is the only way to actually fuel our market and keep it balanced." After a lengthy explanation, she still had something else to say.
"All of our recent transactions through sea have been raided, provoking a much disliked reaction from our neighboring countries." She closed her eyes for a moment.
"That's why I'm asking help from the Leaf, if this continues, then there's no way to keep our economy balanced and prevent war." I bet she's tired out from talking too much.
"What would you have us do?" Nen asked, he may have understood everything she said, but I didn't!
"I suggest checking by the village port, that's where most of ships dock. The owner of the harbor should be able to tell you more about the attacks." She nodded afterwards, signifying her conclusion of a long speech.
However, she STILL had something to say, "Good luck. I fear you'll need it." Ending with a light, hopeful sigh.
I hope "Just my two ryo" makes sense to at least some people.. If I used cents, then it won't make sense, so I replaced it with ryo because that's the currency of the Naruto universe.