Whirlpool to Rice [P]

Spoiler:

The first part of their mission was successful and now the two were off to find the next beast. Their travel was now leading them into the Rice country, a land which was rumored to be filled with the minions of darkness and intent of evil. Normally someone would shudder at the thought of this but Nasamea saw it all as blasphemy. She needed to see this supposed evil with her own eyes before considering it. It was this type of trait that sometimes managed to get her in trouble too. For instance, Shihouin. There it was again. The thoughts of him. They crept up on her like a lion pouncing on its prey. Thing was, she felt the lion had been him and she the prey. He used her and ten deceived her. The testimony of faith he had gave her was now seen as a mouthful of lies. She should have known from after his father that he was a chaotic being who, although he seemed to be a guardian, was only a devil. She shook her head suddenly as an attempt to rid these thoughts. She needed to stop thinking of him.

They had been riding on the ferry for a good half hour now. Rather than returning to the same port that they had originally left this ferry would take them further up north and cut their travel time by at least a good two hours or so. It was good for them to relax a bit anyway. Right?

Nasamea soon walked began to approach Mitsu. She had been pacing around the decks again but was now wishing for some company rather than the seagulls and terrorizing thoughts. To clear her mind, this was all she wished to do. Instead of doing so though she stopped roughly ten meters away and simply gazed at him. For a moment her eyes seemed very distant and rather empty. What had once been a look of happiness across her face had now withered into that of a pained sorrow. Almost as tough had witnessed her own death and knew she couldn't change her fate. She said nothing though for she didn't wish to actually bring attention to herself but she ended up making eye contact with him before fading behind the deck anyway. Once could only wonder what had been on her mind and the chances of her saying so were slim to none.

As Nasamea took a hiding place inside the ferry, the vast amount of people moved about. They seemed to be amazed by the fact that the day seemed beautiful much like the glorious blue which surrounded them. Meanwhile, Nasamea sat in a padded chair in a row of chairs. It were almost as though she were sitting in a makeshift church; where all those who sat would face the podium and main speaker.

The travel back through the village and to the ferry was normal, and nothing weird or odd happened on the way. Mitsu did not see the young women on the boat ride back either, which slightly disappointed him. While standing in the crowds, Mitsu noticed Nasa and eventually saw that she was gazing at him. He noticed the expression on her face and was concerned. When she walked away, he followed her, staying a good distance so he wasn't noticed. She entered a room with chairs and the door was behind her, her being only two chairs away. He simply wanted to know what might be on her mind. She was his closest friend, and he wanted to help if he could.

He walked to the doorway and stopped under the frame. He had a slight smirk on his face, but not the kind that would seem like he was cocky, just a smirk to show things might be alright, to sort of comfort her and let her know its alright for her to talk to him. This was actually the one place of the ferry no one was actually in, besides them. "So, whats on your mind? You seem kind of depressed. If there is something lingering in your mind thats causing that feeling of dread I assume you have, I want to resolve it if I can. Not only will it interfere with our mission, but it can affect all portions of your life, and I as a friend cannot allow that to happen."

Her uncertainty sparked as her ears tuned into the sound of footsteps. It had been Mitsu, just as anticipated. He walked evenly against the wooden floor boards and soon crossed through the threshold; his feet becoming masked by a dark red colored carpet. It was as if the entire thing was stained with blood which never seemed to dry yet didn't possess a wet texture. Incense had been burning in the background; stinging the noses of many with the mixtured blend of unfamiliar scents; Arcadia, Bayberry, and Patchouli Rose. It was the later which stuck out more than the original two but Nasamea recognized them just fine due to her mother. She had a fettish with incense in the past which tended to drive her dad mad. How Nasa remembered this she was unsure. The fact she had heightened sense probably had something to do with it and the fact she always thought her mother smelled good. It was how she recognized her besides sight; she always smelled like roses.

Disregarding these other tinges of smell there was one which currently overpowered all; Cinnamon. It's familiarity would be picked up on first as it casted a black veil to keep the others disguised beneath a black veil. Their hidden agenda was easily detectable though by Nasa; as previously mentioned.

When Mitsuhide approached her she seemed to be zoned out again. A look of the dead was crossing her eyes as she peered passed him with glassy amber orbs and gazed at the burning embers released by a single candle. She stayed like this for quite some time, her breaths very faint as though she had suddenly died or fallen into a coma. She heard Mitsu loud a clear within the silent room but was also listening in on soft music which played next door. Was she even alive?

A good minute passed before the dead carcass returned to life and released a rather heavy sigh. The breath of life filled her lungs once more but she continued to remain silent. For a moment the glassy staring hues twitched, her stone gaze resting into Mitsu's eyes. Had she been possessed by something out of this realm? It were as though death's cold grip was wrapped around her; her expression distant and difficult to read. She broke her piercing gaze and pushed her knees; rising up from the dark red padded chair and stepping closer to Mitsu. Rather than keeping the normal distance she normally would she broke the barrier between them by standing closer. Her light war hand reached up and touched his cheek; the tension and stress it emitted casting the deadened environment to turmoil back into the living as she seemed to return from Oblivion. It was then she finally spoke.

"When one's path becomes uncertain the floor beneath them begins to shake. They begin to lose sight of the light of the world within a single twitch of the eye and plummet into a black abyss. It is there they begin to change."

Her hand soon slipped down his cheek and returned back to her side as she took a step back. Good old Nasamea was back and certainly not dead for now her statue state had broken. She never once looked at Mitsu afterwards, her eyes peering back over at the little bit of light produced by the candle.

"I believed that every human was filled with both light and darkness. That one could not exist without the other unless they fell apart. I began to wonder what if was like to allow this dark side to take over, to see the world through red as though every shadow were a friend and every trace of light were the fiend. It's all just made me...more uncertain of things..."

At this point Mitsu would probably notice she wasn't making a lick of sense but here was continuing to ramble. Had he been standing there pondering what she meant he wouldn't have to worry much longer for now she was done beating around the bush and got straight to the point. Maybe it was her thoughts which had finally lined themselves up as they showed her to the actual meaning behind all her words. Or maybe she knew all along but didn't have a way of describing them. No matter what it was the main thing anyone could see was simply her uncertainty.

"I was thinking about Shihouin again," she began before sighing, "you know this love will be the death of me one day.... I guess I just started to lose touch of my path... I was trying to get an idea of what it was like visioning the world through his eyes but once I thought I saw it, you came." A sort of makeshift grin crossed her face as she peered at him, "thank you."

The meaning behind that thank you was probably hidden just as well as they cinnamon incense casting out its brethren scents but it didn't matter. Whether Mitsu knew or not the world would keep spinning and night and day would continue to come and go. Aside from her episode though, they had matters which needed to be tended to. Nasamea reached down and grabbed her bag and the tent; slinging them back over her shoulders. Not once after that grin had she looked at Mitsu again.

"We should be docking at the Bear Country soon. Lets go."

With that said she soon left the fake church, sliding her way past an elderly couple whom entered after her. They seemed to be making their way over to one of the chess boards which lined the walls; smiles placed upon their faces to signify their happy marriage.

They still had another half hour before they were anywhere near the ports.

She sat there with that blank expression on her face. There was something on her mind, there was no denying that. Rather or not she would tell him was what the question was. The cinnamon scent was quite pleasant, Mitsu had a thing for sweet things. Nasa suddenly stood up and placed her hand on his cheek. Mitsu seemed like he was paralyzed by her touch. His eyes were locked with her's. The fact that she broke comfort zones was one thing, but the hand was something way out of the ball park as one would say. Her hand was warm and it's heat radiated easily through his skin, he even blushed slightly. Her hand was also very soft, the touch was full of gentleness and concern and oddly a feeling of protection. While in her eyes Mitsu could actually see how she really was feeling, there were no masks, no barriers at all. Mitsu could see her very being and saw just enough of that sorrow and dread that confirmed a choice he was trying to make in his mind.

She spoke to him, and he could hear the emotion in her voice. It was true emotion and there was not a single trace of falsehood in her words. She was obviously talking about herself. Mitsu knew exactly what she was talking about. It happened to him before when he was young. He could feel her pain. The window of which he could see through to her was soon shrouded again as she removed her hand and looked away. She started talking again, not seeming to make sense, but he could sort of make out what she meant...mostly. She then changed her tone slightly and actually got straight to what was on her mind. Again, she was thinking of Shi. She didn't say the name, but he knew who she meant. From what she explained to him in the past, he had used her and then decieved her. More and more Mitsu was starting to build a hatred for him. He could never let Nasa find out, at least not until she finally got over him, if that ever happened. Mitsu knew Nasa enough that what she just did truly meant something. She thanked him for his concern before starting to walk off. He felt like he needed to say something, something important. That decision came to mind again, and he reached out his hand and placed it on her shoulder before she reached the door.

"Nasa, I just......Your welcome." Mitsu hesitated for an instant, he couldn't go through with it, not now at least. He wasn't ready, and she probably wasn't either. When he spoke though his eyes and face showed that there was definitely something he wanted to say. But he let her shoulder go and let her leave, that is if she didn't speak afterwards. They would soon arrive at the docks and there would be an awkward silence among them during their travel to then next village.

The elders past and soon enough the footsteps she came to recognize came up behind her. In a way it struck her guard, causing her to raise it due to being unsure of what he may have been about to do. Her back was a point she didn't like anyone near no matter how much trust she had in them. If one dared get close to her back without her fidgeting it was her sign of pure trust and easement. But with her current state and past events, who could dare go near it? She soon felt a warm hand on her shoulder as Mitsu spoke hesitant words. She waited for him to continue but it appeared now wasn't the time for him to continue his sentence. Instead he let out a simple 'your welcome' and dropped the conversation. She could turn around now, look him dead in the eyes, and demand an answer; but she herself felt it wasn't time for her to do so. It didn't make sense how it wasn't but maybe her being overcome by her current thoughts had something to do with it. Oddly enough though, she wasn't unstable. She was in fact quite calm and could think through what she needed.

Once his hand had slipped from her shoulders she silently walked away and made her way up the stairs leading back to the docks. For the moment his hand was there she could hear a slight humming sound and yet the world grew a bit silent; all ears on him. Nothing came and thus nothing occurred. Soon enough, as she left, the sound of chess pieces would dance across a wooden board while the two elderly couple laughed at one another. They had been consumed by their fun and thus the world around them faded into emptiness.

------

From the docks the light breeze blew. The ferry had finally arrived and dropped the passengers off before it began reloading. It was as though they were in an assembly line until everyone finally scattered throughout the land. The map showed that they were inside the Bear Country and from the looks of things they were in a small port town with maybe one hotel, two restaurants, and the rest small businesses related to fishing. No wonder few got off the ferry here; there wasn't much to look at.

Nasamea pushed past people while she followed Mitsu. They tried loading onto the ferry as quickly as possible to return to Whirlpool. She honestly didn't blame them. What was with the Main lands being so dreary? When they touched actual land she then sneaked up to him and grabbed his backpack. This may jerk him back a bit but it wasn't enough to hurt him. She soon unzipped his pack and dove in, disregarding any complaints he may have or privacy of personal items. When she finished digging around she pulled out the map and held it out before them. Their destination was easy to find and was soon marked by one of her fingers.

"Alright, it looks like we're here and we need to go..." she slid her finger across the map to the Rice Counry, "somewhere around here."

It was apparent her awkward phase had faded. She was back to being all business now. Some of it had to do with the fact they were surrounded by people. Once they were alone again that would be a different story.

Once they two were done looking at the map Nasamea closed it back and returned it rightfully into Mitsu's backpack. She then let out a sigh as the people continued to flow around them to get to and from the docks. They were like water around a rock; the solid matter being the two of them.

"Come on let's head out," she began before she started to walk. There was a bit of a pause before she began speaking again, a sign that she was still thinking, "since you just ate in the ferry I hope you can wait until we get to the rice. Otherwise I'll go hunting the next time we stop. Should we head straight through to the Rice and stop after catching the beast or camp just before we get there? There was a clock in the ferry that said it was about 4pm."

As the boat trip lingered on, his slight regret of hesitation from before would linger over him until they neared the end of the voyage, where Mitsu decided that he had to wait, asking then would ruin any possible chance of getting the answer he wanted. So he shook of the feeling and moved on. He had apparently been leading the way through the noisy crowd, seemingly being avoided by the others walking about. They looked like suspicious characters with their cloaks on and what not. Soon he felt tugging at his back pack, obviously Nasa at work. There wasn't anything personal in there so he didn't mind. She pulled out the map and opened it. "You know, you could just ask for the map." She spoke and pointed for the area they were headed to, the Rice country. "I would say since we got enough rest and that we are wasting time here, we should head straight for the Rice Country without stopping and capture the beast. We managed to catch this one without using any chakra, so we should be fine, right?" As Mitsu mentioned the crock, he pointed to the scroll on the side on Nasa's bag.

They passed by the lonely little town's bakery as the scent filled the air near it. The smell of cinnamon filled the air along with other sweet scents which all filled their noses. Mitsu loved the smell of sweet things, but never really had the much of a sweet tooth. He was tempted to go inside for a look, but they were on a mission. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lone piece of candy. He slowly unwrapped it and threw it over a crowd into a trashcan. They were reaching the outskirts as small children were running about playing. Mitsu paid very little attention to them though and simply moved on.

Mitsu's mind went back to the boat before they had arrived. Why was this bothering him so much? he made a decision and he was going to stick with it, but why was it still there? He just couldn't figure it out. He was unable to make eye contact with Nasa and could barely look in her direction. Every time he looked he was filled with that one thought. He HAD to get rid of this feeling somehow, so he pulled out a fresh book and started reading. It was slow and unnoticeable for the whole day until they grew close to the Rice Country, but the sky was changing to a darker tone. He looked up at the sky frequently noticing the cloud cover in the direction of the Rice country. It was possible that it would rain there.

There were slight breaks during their journey through the forests, where they were able to take in their surrounding of nature. The trees were again different, and this struck Mitsu's interests. He pulled out a blank book and took samples of leaves and such, drawing little sketches of the trees, birds, plant life, and the leaves. He found himself enjoying this, and thought to maybe make this a hobby. He was taking notes on the plants' characteristics, but being careful with them, he wouldn't want to get sick on this mission. He then moved on to bugs as well. He was filling the pages like crazy, doing so even while they walked. He wrote and wrote and wrote until there was no longer enough light to do so. He was happy, and he was even able to look at Nasa without that strange feeling looming over him. "Umm Nasa, whatever happened to your cockroaches? I haven't seen nor heard about them since we started heading to Whilrpool." It was at this point where they would be on the outskirts of the Rice Country. The clouds made Mitsu nervous, and as he spoke he pulled his cloak over his backpack and lifted his hood over his head.

The road from Bear to Rice seemed uneventful. The familiar sense of closeness these buildings, and its people, shared was quickly snuffed out and replaced by one of longing and distance. Only heavy burdened forests surrounded them; their branches spreading out and spiraling around one another in a complex display. They made it near tricky to tell which tree possessed which branch but Nasamea had been rather fluent in tree talk. Her mother took her on journeys through the woods all the time, the objective being that she not only grow familiar but learn what she could harvest from it. Much like Konoha, hard woods seemed to be the main prize around this area. She had anticipated more of the coniferous side of the story but those seemed to grow even further north than she originally imagined.

Daylight seemed to come and go as Amaterasu gave in to her brother yet again. The two Genin had began to walk along their adventure to avoid potential hazards. Mitsu was busying himself with the wildlife as Nasamea continued to listen in to their surroundings. Ever since the woke up from camp that morning her senses were on double alert. This was due to the fact she de-summoned her roaches upon waking up. One of the reasons Mitsu now couldn't locate them. Finally, the silence placed before them had partially been lifted as Nasamea continued forward, not once looking back at him, but still spoke none the less.

"I actually de-summoned them this morning when we were taking down the tent and such. It was probably a dumb move to let us move about with something guarding us all around but we've been okay so far. I haven't heard anything either. Maybe I will bring them back on our way to the beast after this. Remember, this one is a snake so start planning silently in your heard and we can give each other ideas when we get there."

The world then fell silent once more as the sound of her whispering voice died and was overcome by the night critters saying good morning; or night? They hissed, creaked, whooed, and made various other animalistic noise to create an overall orchestra of sounds unknown to Nasamea. For a second there she was prepared to turn back around and ask him for the map. However, as they came to a hillside, she noticed what appeared to be a small town down below. The trees were parted just enough for it's lights to be seen but the forest all around proved to serve a decent protection to the place.

"You think that's Otogakure?" Nasamea asked through the night sounds.

A yawn near escaped her but she resisted. Now wasn't the time to rest just yet but she had to admit, if that was Otogakure, they just ran through the entire Bear Country and into the Rice. This was a long journey, no doubt about that, even IF they took a few pit stops for the bathroom and just to break. Now they had to deal with a Snake once they were for sure they were in Rice, or Oto.

From above the moon seemed to have faded due to dark ominous clouds looming over them. There appeared to be a fog which started at the bottom of the hillside and spread through the land; nearly hiding the lights as well and creating a sense of them peering down at a haunted ghost town. The people must have been sleeping in that section of the town or the fog and trees were better at hiding the place than she thought.

Nasamea soon flashed Mitsu the 'come on' expression before she began to take off into a run again. From here they would fall a dirt man made path down the hillside and into the village. It would be there they would know for sure it was Oto and could plan their next moves. If it had not been Oto, the it appeared this would probably where they would be staying for the night to rest up, catch some grub for Mitsu, and hunt the beast in the morning. Nasamea hoped for the first result more so than the later. After all, her anticipation was annoying her enough as it is.