Some time in the wild

[incubi_abel]

Who: Abel Nightroad and [Open]
Where: The border along Rain and Fire
When: All week, April 14-20
Notes: Just out patrolling the border. Feel free to say 'hi'.

It was one of the few days where water wasn't falling from the sky. Abel was rather grateful for that, even if it did mean that the border between the Lands of Rain and Fire were muggy. He honestly didn't mind the humidity too much, having grown use to the nearly constant rain in Amegakure. Right now, he was simply enjoying the chance to get out and explore the border while keeping an eye out for others who might be trying to cross into the Land of Rain. The borders weren't closed any more, but it was always nice to know who was coming for a visit or simply passing through. Most of the time, the God of Ame already knew what was going on, but occasionally, his shinobi were sent out to patrol the borders.

The week long assignment gave Abel a chance to get out and stretch his legs and skills. He took weapons and basic supplies with him, preferring to live off the land when he went on these patrols. It always was interesting what he might find on such trips, either among the flora and fauna or in a more talkative version of a person. He wondered what he might find this week.

Comments

[dangodragon]

It had been a long almost month, and while Itachi was heading back into fire country, he wasn't really going home. He had a courier mission now. It wasn't one that required speed, but as he had been going in that direction anyway, and the contents of the message must not fall into enemy hands, it had been given to him to deliver.

Itachi didn't mind much. He'd rather play messenger than assassin any day, though passing through Ame made him decidedly nervous even if the border were technically open. Itachi knew he was near the border, but his stomach was growling and he was already run ragged. He was supposed to be taking care of himself.

In the standard Konoha Jounin uniform, he wasn't exactly inconspicuous. He didn't wear any clan insignia, though his face was usually enough to label him an Uchiha to most people. Itachi carefully put his back to the largest tree he could find, which wasn't large enough for someone used to the Konoha giants, and dug out his meager meal of dried mat and travel bread.

Yum.

[incubi_abel]

Abel paused as he saw something out of place in the forest, and he carefully made his way over there. It had been something as simple as a color that didn't belong against the tree that had caught his eye. A few feet closer and he was able to make out the person sitting against the tree. Konoha shinobi, jounin by the uniform, and Abel deliberately made some noise so as to not spook the young man.

They were friendly neighbors after all.

"Greetings," he said with a small smile as he stopped out of attack range. In his own Ame jounin uniform with the hitae-ate holding silver bangs out of his eyes, he knew he was easily identifiable, but Abel wasn't hiding what he was.

[dangodragon]

At the noise, Itachi tensed and grabbed for a kunai, eyes narrowing and snapping into the Sharingan as he looked up to find the source of the noise. The longer he was away from home, the more...keyed up he got. Dressed as a ninja he had no reason to smother the reflex to grab for a weapon whenever he heard a strange noise.

Itachi made himself relax a little, breathing out through his nose as he carefully sheathed the kunai. Technically, they were allies. Itachi would have approached a strange ninja on Konoha soil too, just to be sure they were who they said they were. Itachi carefully let the red in his eyes bleed black into a more mundane black. In Konoha, people tended to take the Sharingan as a threat.

"Greetings," Itachi returned with a polite nod of his head. He'd wait to see what the other wanted before he said anything else, just to be safe.

[incubi_abel]

Red eyes bleeding to black? Yeah Abel knew that clan, and he relaxed a touch more. He was more comfortable around other bloodline clans than non-bloodlines. His smile was a touch more friendly.

"Are you traveling through or do you have business in Ame?" he inquired before pulling out a pair of bento boxes. He had packed them as a meal on his first day out knowing it would be a week before he could enjoy a bento box again. "I have plenty of food and that doesn't look like much of a meal."

[dangodragon]

Itachi wondered how much poison was in the bento box, and then decided to be charitable. All the same, he'd eat slowly and carefully if he ate at all to make sure he didn't die stupidly or cause a national incident.

"Passing through on business," Itachi allowed with a small, carefully polite smile. "It's easier to get from here to there now that the borders are open." Itachi eyed the bento box. Refusal would be very impolite and suggest he thought someone from Ame would poison him, which wouldn't be good.

"I wouldn't want to deprive you of your lunch," Itachi protested

[incubi_abel]

"That's why I have two," Abel remarked with a tilt of his head. The bento boxes were only poisoned if one had a food allergy that Abel was unaware of. "And they're much more filling than simple trail rations."

He wasn't going to mention that the young man looked like he could use a good meal or twelve, but then Abel often thought others needed to eat more. Too many years of looking out for younger relatives in Kiri.

[dangodragon]

Itachi couldn't think of a polite way to refuse. He was hungry and tired of field rations. He wasn't sure anyone could actually live off of those for very long anyway. "They are."

Itachi hesitantly took the box. He didn't feel any tingle from contact poison. Was he perhaps getting a little over paranoid in his old age? Certainly not.

Except it was fairly obvious that he was looking at the box with suspicion. Itachi placed another smile on his face. "I'm sorry. People don't often randomly appear and offer me food..."

[incubi_abel]

"It is rather suspect in our line of work," Abel agreed with a nod of his head. "However, I'm simply patrolling the border and happened to come across you. I have no argument with any of the Uchiha Clan nor any reason to start one."

Sitting down a few steps away, Abel opened the other bento box and started eating. See shinobi? Not poisoned at all.

[dangodragon]

Itachi carefully opened the bento box. "I suppose my clan's rathe rhot-headed reputation has its advantages," Itachi admitted. An Uchiha poisoned in Ame? The outrage would surely damage relations between the villages, and if it were he precious Uchiha heir...

Itachi had learned to be extra careful, because what was a simple indiscretion for most ninja could be a national incident for him. If he did end up poisoned, he could let Obito know Ame might not be as sincere as they seemed to be. Itachi took a bite.

[sekihan]

The border was a bit out of Ashiko's normal range of travel, but the humid climate was home to several intriguing plant breeds that her master had expressed interest in. So Ashiko had made the trek, trading in her opulent kimono for an equally elegant yukata, and now wandered the forests of the area. Her sun parasol helped a little, but Ashiko was a dainty, pale woman. While not quite as fragile as she looked, she was more used to a tepid, mountainous area.

But she persevered. "Let's see," she murmured under her breath, flipping through a small moleskin as she paused by a squat, mossed-over stump. "The leaves for this one have a faint sheen and are tinged white along the edges...and the flowers of this one are speckled with blue at the center...and this one..." she scanned over the description a few times, as if hoping that it might change, but finally had to give up the ghost.

She sighed and leaned against a nearby tree, glancing at one of its brethren forlornly. It had been a tall thing, as was its neighbor. When the former had fallen, it had tangled with the other, forming a skewed triangle of sorts. And there, at the apex, sprouting from the rotted boughs of the fallen tree was—

"Round, pale green leaves, dark purple flowers, six petals per flower. Blast."

[incubi_abel]

Abel's eyes narrowed as he saw the young woman in the forest, for all appearances, quite alone. Her clothes were a bit too rich for a simple servant yet there were no signs of any guards that would indicate that she was a rich merchant or a noble. She seemed interested in the plants, and he wondered why.

"Is there a specific plant you're searching for?" he asked from his perch in a nearby tree.

[sekihan]

"Oh!" Ashiko spun around, fingers tightening around the pole of her parasol in shock. No matter how long she had lived among shinobi, their tendency to sneak up on people—intentionally or otherwise—was something she had never quite gotten used to. At home she could, with effort, remain unruffled, but in a different country it was much more difficult to stifle her knee-jerk reactions.

"Ah...yes. Well, several, really, but I've found at least one of them." She tilted her umbrella back so she could get a look at him and offer a small, cordial smile, before gesturing to the plant in question. "As you can see, harvesting it...presents a certain level of difficulty."

[incubi_abel]

Abel glanced up at the flower in question before returning his attention to the young woman.

"Only for one unable to climb the tree," he remarked, dropping down out of his perch to walk over to the other tree. "What do you require of the plant? The petals? The leaves? The entire plant?" It was a rather lovely flower, and he thought he might take a cutting for his own greenhouse.

[sekihan]

"I forgot my ties back at the inn, so it's a little hard to ruck up my skirts and do so now, yes." And it was probably telling, just how unbothered she seemed to be about climbing a tree—she may have been dressed lavishly, but she was first and foremost a servant. A wrinkled yukata was a cheap price for a job well-done, especially when she knew how to undo the damage.

"Preferably the whole plant, down to the roots." Tsutaki would want it potted, if it all possible. "But if it's too much of a hassle, the most matured flower should be enough. And some of the leaves as well." It was always so hard to tell when a foreign plant bore seeds, after all.

[incubi_abel]

Humming, Abel eyed the trees before quickly scaling the upright tree to where the apex was. He perched there for a few minutes as he carefully extracted the flowering plants - to his surprise and delight, there were two of them growing out of the rotting wood. Then, he carefully climbed back down, offering her one of the plants. The other was carefully tucked into an empty bento box for his own greenhouse later.

"There you are, Miss..." he trailed off, hoping for a name, even a fake one,to attach to the young woman. She looked like a noble but was either very down to earth or it was an act. He wasn't sure yet.

[sekihan]

"Kuzuryu Ashiko, at your service," she said, carefully cradling the crumbling, mulchy soil as she drew out a temporary container for the plant—a squat glass jar with a wide mouth and a heavily punctured lid. Her name wasn't famous, and only linked with nobility if one was aware of the fact that her clan had faithfully served the daimyo of a certain country for years, before the commoners revolted against their ruler and most of her relatives were killed just shy of two decades ago.

"Thank you very much for your help, sir," she said, bowing low once the plant was safely stowed away. "You have excellent timing." She beamed at him, bright and sweet.

[incubi_abel]

"Abel of Ame," he corrected. "Not 'sir'." He offered her a bright smile. "I'm hardly a noble that has to be 'sir'-ed all the time."

He filed her name away for further research. If he could find out anything about her. "Do you have more plants that you are searching for?"

He was willing to offer his assistance if only to get an idea of what she was after as well as any other motives. He wasn't paranoid. He was a jounin.

April 14

[fireire]

Okay. So perhaps she's gotten far more offtrack than she had intended. In fact, she was the exact opposite of where she had said she would be and where she would go. Still, Ava couldn't say she minded. So long as she had a reason to leave Kiri, she would gladly do it every time. It was really only recently that she had begun to realize that other lands were more than just places to go to for missions to be accomplished.

Besides, it was always a relief to be in a place where it wasn't always rainy. Sure, this place was still a bit damp in places, but as it shared the border with Fire, Ava found it was just the right mix for her. She had taken to avoiding any villages save for quick stops to get supplies. That just meant all the more time to spend outside.

It would be along his walk that Abel would find the tiny ninja, although her headband was hidden inside her large tunic. The only thing that would hint at her training- and rather noticeably at that- would be the way she dropped the armful of flowers she had been gathering to whirl around to face him when she noticed his presence, hands going to her fans. Her stance was more defensive than aggressive, startled than any intent to attack.

Yet, at any rate.

"Who are you?"

Woohoo!! A Kiri shinobi!

[incubi_abel]

"I believe that would be my question," he mused, standing where he was near the tree but there were no visible weapons in his hands as they hung at his side. He inclined his head. "Abel of Ame, and who are you?"

He was dressed as an Ame jounin complete with hitae-ate holding back his silver bangs, and seemed completely relaxed instead of tensed for an attack. His distinct silver hair was braided and draped over a shoulder, and he seemed unaffected by the humid atmosphere.

[fireire]

Oh. So he actually had a reason to be here, unlike herself. Ava's form stayed awkward and tense, not sure if the proper response was to ease up or keep her form. She'd met one good Ame ninja during the festival, but mostly she knew their reputation. Either way, starting a fight wasn't the best thing.

Her fans stayed up, however, Kiri paranoia and mistrust a bit too strong. "Um. Ava Ire. Kiri." There was a pause. "I have my headband put away, or I'd show you. But it is true." She felt she needed to press that fact. She knew that she wasn't what people imagined when they thought of Kiri ninja. Usually that was fine by her, but it still felt awkward.

[incubi_abel]

Abel's face went blank as his eyes went flat, and he drew himself up. "Why is a Kiri shinobi in the Land of Rain?"

He didn't think that this one had been sent after him, but one never knew. He wasn't familiar with the Ire Clan, but it could have been a small one before he left. Or the other possibility was that it hadn't been a bloodline clan. Either way, he was not going to blindly trust anyone from Kiri.

[fireire]

That small change in movement made her just take a step back and she could feel the heat practically boiling along the back of her neck where the skin was probably twisting dark red and orange. Ava took a deep breath and tried to keep herself calm. Kiri had a reputation. She knew that. If she just explained herself, there'd be no fight.

Or maybe there'd definitely be a fight. He was a stranger. There was no trusting him.

"If I said I was sort of taking a vacation, would you believe me?"

[incubi_abel]

He tilted his head and looked at her, seriously. "Why vacation here? There are other places closer to Kiri where one can take a few days for rest."

He wasn't relaxing at all, but he was willing to hear her out before he escorted her to the border or vanished into the trees himself.

[fireire]

"...And if the point is not to be closer to Kiri?" She hoped that said enough, even if it was probably a bit traitorous to say. The requirements to becoming an Anbu were a bit unknown, but she was relatively certain that running away from the homeland all the time wasn't something they looked for in any of their candidates. That suited her fine- jounin was all she was aiming for.

"I'm not even that far in. Don't tell me I can't even pick flowers from Ame." Slowly, she let her fans close although she didn't lower them. Things didn't seem like they would get violent...

[incubi_abel]

"Then I would say that you're not the first one of that land to find a place to be 'not closer to Kiri'." He relaxed a bit more at that comment, leaning against the tree in a casual slouch.

"And you can pick flowers. I'm not going to stop you," he remarked with a shrug. "I'm just out to see who is here along the border."