[Amano Yūna]

There is too much to life...

to give up on...

The start of a new day, a new experience. Waking up on the boat that sailed from Yukigakure to Forest Country, she was awaiting when they might dock and she could find dry land again. It had felt like forever since she was somewhere besides the snowy tundra of Yuki no Kuni. The lands were different… and something new awaited her.

It felt like she left so much behind, but truthfully, she didn’t know where to start with that day… the day her life changed was fuzzy and in flames of blue. Her only clue to that had just… vanished. Like that, no longer there, and with no information she could glean nor force from anyone. So while that would not be forgotten and she certainly vowed to find her vengeance, she just supposed she might find another way… Another land and another place where there might be those who prey on the innocent that she should take her vengeance.

Stepping off the boat, onto the docks, the odd girl had a pack slung over the back of her shoulder and a few weapons at her side. Outfit certainly odd, looks given throughout that travel, one of a girl that was in servitude to a household or family… Yet, she was in no long standing contract like that. Not anymore. The mercenary had an odd look and style about her but she was her own person, a girl for Kurotabo.

Now what would this next step bring?

”^Shit… Just one then.”

Buying a soft rounded fruit from a stand not far off from where she had unboarded, a look in her pack for coin to pay showed it relatively empty. The ticket over had cost a bit… and she had spent a lot of her money on alcohol earlier.. It meant she’d have to find a job soon.. That thought crossed her mind as she waved her thanks, gave over what she owed, and bit into the fruit to head on down the street

Amano Yūna

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Uchiha Hotaru]

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A silver-eyed man with a large roll of paper on his back brushed past Yuna, weaving through people departing the dock. A smaller scroll fell from his pocket at her feet and a sliver unraveled, revealing the beginnings of a seal. Not noticing he dropped it he continued, and a crowd of travelers moved between them. She’d see him disappear into an alley by the fruit stand. The backstreet was narrow and littered with discarded produce, rubbish and banana peels.

Hotaru didn’t know who he was meeting, but they were delivering Benjiro’s personal effects and giving the ship’s movement schedule to them. The Nue accompanied him, melded into his body and napping the day away. Although he wasn’t alone, he felt nervous. If anyone involved sold them out, the situation might get ugly. He propped himself against a building’s wooden wall and inhaled a breath of coastal air through the light blue scarf that hid his mouth. A hint of fermentation soured the surrounding scent.

—

Meanwhile, the eyes of a bald sailor with a salt-and-pepper beard darted around the docks. He leaned over a stack of boxes and peeped at the first mate, making sure they weren’t looking before he opened an offloaded crate. He retrieved a scroll the same size as the one Hotaru dropped, pocketed it, and started towards the alley.

There was a slight wrinkle. The supervisor’s gaze bore down on him.

"Hey Toshi, no slackin’ off!”

"I gotta take a leak, boss!”

"No way, hold it.”

The sailor shrugged and lurched back up the ship’s ramp and helped another crew member pick up more heavy supplies. The rendezvous would have to wait.

—

Someone with a scroll will come around the corner any minute now, Hotaru thought. He still hadn’t realized the seal containing his camera was missing. There were some embarrassing photos in the film canister that he'd be panicking about if he only knew.

Amano Yūna. (Nue Benjiro is dormant inside of Hotaru). Genjutsu Intolerance Seal concealed on forehead.

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[Amano Yūna]

There is too much to life...

to give up on...

It wasn’t odd to feel the rough pressing or pushing past of one body or another especially when boarding or departing a vessel… It was ignored, just like everyone else who tried to brush past her, she was in no hurry anyway so one silver-eyed man to whatever other might hit her had gone unnoticed.

What hadn’t been missed by her was the faint sound of something hitting the ground. Quiet and really not that out of place, something she would have missed if not for the fact she happened to see that brief flurry of white fall before her. A quick stoop down, a swipe of the scroll with odd writing in it… Unrecognizable to her eye, but upon standing straight again she had lost him… The man that had lost this silly scroll was nowhere in sight, right?

Which was probably a bit of fate and luck to have him enter her peripherals just as she bought that fruit. The same man? Blue scarf around his neck was more obscure than most things… so with that thought, perhaps it was him. An easy pace was taken after him, another bite taken of her fruit, but scroll held in the other hand as if she fully intended to return it to its owner.

Were she more business minded or not quite as soft as she was… She might have thought better of it, demanded compensation for that trinket she had dropped. Maybe open it and see if it might be worth something or find it nothing worth her time and chuck it.

So that oddly dressed young woman would have been the first one to come around the corner… no sailor held back by superiors, but a young female that held a fruit easily just away from her body on approach. Opened up just enough to not be greedily digging into food when she talked to someone… at least enough manners for that, and making sure to get her eyes once again on that scarfed man.

"I’d recommend taking better care of your things, people can be more cruel than kind.”

They were soft words, genuine advice presented with a scroll held forward in an easy gesture. Not quite demanding nor forcefully handing it over, almost as if she might ghost it away at the last second…

Amano Yūna

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Uchiha Hotaru]

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Hotaru tilted his head as the cornflower haired woman approached him in the alley. She wasn’t what he pictured when he thought of a broker for shady dealings, but perhaps that’s what made her an expert at the job. He reached forward to take the scroll from her hand and tucked it into his shirt. There wasn’t time to go through and get an inventory of Benjiro’s things right now, especially since the Nue was fast asleep. 

The happenstance had convinced him she was his contact. 

"That’s sound advice, thank you,” he said, playing along with who he thought must be his contact. "Luckily, there are still some kind people in the world.”

He glanced over her shoulder at the busy street. People were still offloading and passing by with their luggage. Occasionally, someone passing by would look into the alleyway, which was probably nothing, but paranoia helped keep Hotaru alive all this time. Getting lazy now could spell his end.  

Discussing intelligence matters wouldn’t be a good idea here. Getting out of an area easily observed would be ideal. There was an expensive tea house he passed on the way into town that had private rooms. Those were always ideal places to speak. 

"Let me return the favor. The contents of the scroll are precious to me. I’ll treat you to tea or sake to reward your good deed, if you’ll allow me?”

Notes.

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[Amano Yūna]

There is too much to life...

to give up on...

The simple act of returning what wasn’t hers was complete. Handing over the scroll and business likely concluded after a few words of advice. Though he had her stalled, his playing along taken as more conversational to her. A pause and a thoughtful moment, but with a faint nod of her head she’d end up agreeing.

"I have faith in that.”

Kind people in the world? Perhaps a few. Yūna wouldn’t necessarily counted herself among those ‘kind’ people, but she at least knew that there was some of more pure heart in the world. Maybe not many~ But some.

Even that seemed not to conclude her passing off what she found though. Noticing him eyeing the street, she wondered if there was significance to it… or if he was trying to head her off. Which, she almost turned to do, she had done what she had come for and bothered him long enough. An enticing offer made though~

"^{Well shit} I’m afraid I can’t turn down that offer. There’s always time in the day for sake. Lead the way.”

Quiet words uttered under her breath with that short expletive, but returning to a normal spoken volume as if they were never said at all. Accepting the offer! For drinking was something to be celebrated in and of itself. A grin lightening the girl’s features and attention certainly gotten with that small offer, how could she not be pleased?

"Do you have any other special scrolls you’ve misplaced? We could make this a regular thing.”

A joke teasing through, the lighter expression of the young woman holding true as she made it known that this little trade was great… Hell, it was the easiest job she had ever snagged.

Amano Yūna

MADE BY VEL OF GS