Mists in the Rain
If you're constantly moving, you can get in a monotony that's just as equally boring as sitting still for a long period of time.
Amy Seimetz
….
The opalescent mists of early morning rose from the ground to meet the soft drizzle of rain, almost obscuring the view.
The patrol was running close to the Fire-Rain border. Closer than any other route, right on the edge of it in truth. Somewhere on the foggy horizon were the low, timeworn worn mountains and high cities of Ame.
Yuuto flicked a glance at the rest of his patrol squad. The hindered view had everyone stretching their senses. They were all alert for possible trouble and easily keeping pace.
This was already the second route that the squad had patrolled this morning. The first had been at false dawn before the sun had fully crested the horizon line.
Throughout the day they would run several different routes at varying intervals along the section of border they were assigned to monitor.
Green eyes hunted ahead. Once in a while the mists would shift, forming a strange, dreamlike effect. On the distant skyline, bits of mountain and Ame cityscape hovered in the air like a mirage. A spire here, a skyscraper there, they took shape. Edges blurred by the fog, only to dissolve a moment later in the grey mists.
One could almost feel poetic with the scene. A monochromatic ink drawing of ghosts passing through the mists.
However, the artistry was harder to formulate when the thought of easy ambush kept crossing your mind.
Ears pricked, his heart maintained a beat to the pace. As, with the military precision trained into them, the patrol kept moving.
"Five miles to checkpoint," Yuuto stated lowly. His comrades grunted an affirmative.
The moisture clung to his clothes, making them not quite damp. The humidity would be a killer later in the day as the temperature rose with the sun, he thought fleetingly to himself while scanning ahead.
Patrols were always monotonous, though necessary.
Yet, for all of the mumbled complaints and mind numbing miles of monitoring, Yuuto was satisfied to return to Konoha with a report full of boring nothing.
Afterall, excitement was dangerous in this line of work. And a boring mission meant a successful one with no injuries or deaths.
And that was always a good thing.