[Mission] Oh that pretty floral bonnet...

[Willoria]

Whatever his reasoning, the Senju didn’t make any attempts to retaliate against Kazuo, he simply allowed to happen whatever the Inuzuka did, including tying him up and dragging him. He had fallen silent, and rather sullen, as they went, grimacing as Kazuo bragged that he had caught an idiot.

While the chunin spoke to one another, Mami opened the carriage door and sat on the steps, as if she were simply waiting for something and her daughter could be heard crying within. The young Haruko was curled up in one of the seats, her head buried in the cushions as she cried though the mother didn’t seem to care about the fact that her daughter seemed heartbroken by the turn of events.

[Ducks]

After a short time, the shivering subsided, and he closed his eyes a moment, trying to reassert his mastery over his body. Unfortunately, amidst the odd collection of sounds assaulting his now throbbing head, one was directed at him. Bother. He thought as he opened one eye and found a concerned teammate threatening to invade his personal bubble. The rational part of him knew that such was only, well, rational for Kuodachi to be concerned after such an outburst (and in the middle of a mission, no less), but another, less rational and noisier, part was annoyed. Annoyed at himself, at his weakness, for interfering with the mission, and that annoyance transferred onto the innocent youth who had taken notice of his debilitation.

"I'm fine." He returned, a little too shortly, and to prove it slid off the carriage and back onto his own two feet. The resultant vertigo was enough to resign him to simply leaning on the vehicle, but he continued on regardless. "Overexerted myself, that's all." He ignored the concern now coming from both of his teammates' faces. He may not have entirely told the truth, but they had more pressing matters at hand than a pesky irritation in his respiratory tract. A short, solitary cough held him for a moment, but he continued on as if it had not. "What's our next move? We can't abandon the mission, but we have to do something about these two." He gestured vaguely to the Senju and the (living) samurai, the latter of whom had been rather neglected by the party. The sound of Haruko's weeping drifted out from the carriage and over to the trio to twist violently on Makoto's heartstrings, but he steeled himself against it. The girl's safety was their mission, not her happiness.

[Gothmer]

Though, not entirely believing the words from Makoto, Kuodachi simply nodded as he bent down to tie of the still loving Samurai. It was clear the Hyuuga didn't like the attention, and if he claimed to be fine, who was he to question that? It would only take a moment for Kuodachi to subdue the Samurai with wire on both his hands behind his back and feet. While he was at it, he'd search the samurai's attire for money, because he probably wouldn't be needing it where he was going.

Following this, he'd stand and answer Makoto's question, “Both true. So, we we'll just keep them with us, tote them along as prisoners. Then, when we get back to Konoha, we turn them in to Konoha authorities.” Ideally, they would have just been rabble that they could have killed, left for dead, or forced to flee. Since the leader of the assault was a Senju shinobi from the village, things were different. It was not ideal to have two prisoners aboard a trading caravan, but there were not too many other options. Of course, he'd open it up for input, “Unless you two have another plan?”

Following the exchange, he'd leave the samurai tied up where he was, letting either Makoto or Kazuo move him and instead move to Nobu. He'd spend a moment to examine the wound, though his knowledge on medical care was fairly limited. “Looks painful. You doing alright?” He would ask the injured man before turning words to his teammates, “Makoto, Kazuo, either of you able to treat this?” He'd ask loudly enough for both to hear.

[Sanjuro]

"Do I look like a medic to you?" Kazuo shouted back to Kuodachi. He knew the basic first aid all ninja were taught, like how to bandage a wound so he wouldn't bleed out, but healing was beyond his skills. He carelessly pushed the Senju over to stand next to the samurai prisoner, scratching at his chin and regarding the pair of them. His ears were pricked up, the sound of the girl's crying seeming to echo in his skull. He could smell her sadness from here. Shaking his head, causing his ponytail to whip about, he let out a harsh sigh of annoyance and scratched the crown of his head roughly. "Seriously, you couldn't have done this back in the village? I don't know, talked to someone higher up? Seriously, a Yamanaka could have verified or denied any rumours that were being spread. There was so many smarter ways to go about this." Kazuo kicked at the ground with his sandals, causing a rock to go flying off into the distance. "Gah. Freakin' moron. Seriously, this is why they teach us to control our emotions in the Academy."

He turned his gaze to Mami, simply sitting there and waiting. He frowned at her. This entire situation was her damn fault. "You're the client, Mami. It's on you to decide what we do from here. We can turn back and have these two in a Konoha cell, but it'd probably put you behind half a day or so once the paperwork is sorted." He jerked his head towards the caravan, signalling to the crying coming from within. "Or we bring them with us, keep them bound, and have to put up with Juliet whining for her Romeo." It was obvious which decision Kazuo would prefer, but Mami obviously cared little about emotions if this was the situation she had created.

[Willoria]

Nobu nodded and waved as if to wave Kuodachi off as the boy asked about his wounds and Nobu pulled himself up to his bench with a painful grimace. ”I’ll be fine.” he assured him, clearing his throat as he reached for a bag by his feet. He took from the bag a few bandages and, rather awkwardly, stuffed the wound a bit and wrapped a bandage around his shoulder. ”I’ll get care in the next village, so long as I don’t move the arm much I’ll be fine.” he added as he prepared himself to move on, almost as if he knew what the woman was going to say.

Mami’s arms were crossed in front of her as she regarded the boy who had been tied and she wrinkled her nose up at the thought of bringing them along. ”We haven’t much choice, I’m a touch late already.” she replied, motioning to the luggage rack on the back of the carriage. ”Should be able to bind them there, and my daughter knows better than to say a word against me… we should be on our way.” she replied, getting back into the carriage where her daughter remained on her seat, hands folded neatly on her lap and tears streaming down her face. But she wasn’t making a sound now.

Assuming the barrier was gone by then, the carriage would lurch forward and begin to move once the two prisoners were secured, the Senju boy hardly fighting as he simply looked dejected… as a failure should.

[Ducks]

Makoto nodded vaguely, only generally aware of what transpired around him; his head was killing him, and the stress and noise of the situation only made it worse. Thankfully, his partners seemed much more with it, and soon the little group agreed on a plan. Tie up the two (living) ruffians, and carry them along like so much morally bankrupt baggage. It was not a plan Makoto much relished, but he could think of nothing better, and even if he had he probably would have kept quiet regardless. His head was killing him.

"Understood. I'll take the rear." Without another word, he fell to the back of the party and breathed a ragged, heavy sigh. At least he could maintain autonomous balance now, though anything beyond a few seconds of Byakugan sent his head spinning. Should another fight break out, his usefulness would be quite limited. Still, he made sure to keep an eye on their two unwilling passengers, often as he could spare it. For whatever reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that their troublesomeness was not at an end.

Just as he was starting to relax a little, a loud squawk sounded in his ear. Makoto was startled to find a small merlin chick on his shoulder, and only slightly less so to realize that the bird hadn't made a single sound during the entirety of the ambush. He had been so still and silent that Makoto had forgotten him entirely. What are you? Not knowing whether to be annoyed or amazed.

[Gothmer]

It was clear that Nobu had a great deal of tolerance for pain, or dedication to his job. Either way, Kuodachi was impressed. As the driver started bandaging himself, Kuodachi would forcefully take the bandage from him. “Let me at least do it right, then,” he would say with a smile. The wound was awkwardly placed for self bandaging. Should he allow it, Kuodachi would set the bandage a bit tighter and finer.

Kuodachi found himself hoping that Mami would find it acceptable to take them back now. While it was his own suggestion to take them along, it was not ideal. Taking them back now would save a tremendous amount of trouble for the three of them, but it was clear what her decision would be before she even made it thanks to the informed Nobu.

So, after Mami gave her declaration of continuance, Kuodachi would simply jump atop the carriage once more. He would sit cross legged near the back of the carriage so that with a single lean, he could look down at the prisoners while still maintaining a line of sight on the front. With Makoto keeping an eye on the two prisoners, they should get plenty of warning. That is, assuming he was not playing off whatever bout of illness he had earlier. He would pick up the four apples that were still atop the carriage from the bag's tumble when everything went to hell. They were bruised but still plenty edible.

After the two criminals were successfully tied to the back, Kuodachi would loose the jutsu that took the Senju's arm, looking down to check for any response.

[Sanjuro]

Kazu shrugged at the decision. It wasn't his place to argue it. He simply secured the two with a length of his wire to the rear of the carriage. He smiled at the duo and waved nonchalantly as he made his way back to the front of the caravan. "You fellas behave now." As he walked past Makoto, he frowned a little. Sure there had been a bit of a scuffle but nothing serious enough to cause this level of reaction. He opened his mouth to ask what was really wrong but ended up sighing and shaking his head, making his way to his place in the vanguard. The Hyuuga obviously didn't want to discuss it if his earlier reactions were anything to go by and right now they were in the middle of a mission.

Maybe he'd have a chat with the Hyuuga when they made camp.

His brown eyes glanced up to the Nobu as he walked passed and he eyed the bandaging. Obviously Kuodachi had applied them. He smiled apologetically at the driver. "Sorry about that. I should have noticed the arrow coming and stopped it. I'll keep my ears open from now on." He wasn't sure if he could have picked up the sound of the arrow over the explosion earlier in any case, but it didn't hurt to attempt to reassure the man. He let out a shrill whistle and Koji came trotting up to his side, the blood still matting the fur around his maw. The Inuzuka shook his head and removed a cloth from his pouch, rubbing the dog's mouth, much to Koji's annoyance.

"Seriously, I thought you were over this. You need to show more restraint or else I'm the one that's going to start getting into trouble." Kazuo muttered this under his breath. Koji made no show of remorse or acceptance of his owner's words, simply moved back into position when Kazuo let him go. The Chuunin let out a harsh sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. Damn hybrids. If Koji had been a purebred hound this wouldn't be such an issue. It was the damn wolf blood in him that made him so stubborn.

Kazuo turned and nodded to Nobu. "Let's head out."

[Willoria]

"Thank you." Nobu replied, relenting and allowing Kuodachi to bandage him instead. As Kazuo walked up and spoke, Nobu simply grinned. "Don't worry about it, I'm still better off than the last driver." he joked. Once everyone was in place, Nobu started the horses moving again, keeping his eyes open for any kind of movement, just as the others were of course.

After a few moments of movement the door the carriage opened, still moving and Mami called out to Nobu. "I'm going to walk a bit, I can't deal with this fussing!" she called, stepping out of the carriage and walking beside it.

Nobu rolled his eyes. "Damn it, woman! Are you kidding me?" he called, turning to look towards Kazuo. "Could one of you walk along side her? She's too stubborn, no way I can talk her out of this." he said, clearly frustrated.

Meanwhile Haruko was sitting in the carriage alone now. Before long she heard the duck and turned around, looking out the back window at Makoto. Her eyes were red from crying but she tried to smile almost sheepishly and wave, the duck seeming to distract her from the pair tied below that same window.

[Ducks]

Makoto was getting to understand the reputation that escort missions held among shinobi older and more experience than he. Leaving the village for an extended duration wasn't such an issue; many solitary or adventurous individuals enjoyed spending some time away from the familiar bustle and stuffiness of day-to-day village life. However, add into the mix a gaggle of clueless, bossy, cumbersome civilians, and suddenly freedom turned to mind-dulling servitude.

Not that Makoto was even allowed the peace of monotony. First the attack, then drama surrounding the moronic Senju (which Makoto still didn't quite understand, not that he cared to), and now the matron wanted some fresh air. Fine. Makoto did not care for her, and would let the dubious honor of accompanying her fall to another. He would just sit back and - She's waving at me again.

Distraught though she apparently was over the ambush (why exactly?), she seemed to have recovered her spirits enough to take interest in hi- no, in his bird. He just wanted to stay at the rear, ignoring and being ignored. So why was he moving towards the carriage? To check on the prisoners. To make sure there isn't any trouble. To keep the girl occupied. Yes, that was it. Mami's daughter was clearly distraught, and might cause a disturbance unless someone distracted her.

Advancing to the vehicle, he passed Kuodachi and spoke quietly in passing: "Cover me for a moment, if you would. I'm going to make sure our little friend in the carriage doesn't get any ideas. I'll continue to keep an eye on the surroundings with my Byakugan, and raise the alarm if anything happens." Akira gave a pleasant chirrup, as if pledging his observational prowess as well. Eyes rolling, Makoto moved to the carriage proper.

"Hello there," He greeted the red-eyed young woman, wearing one of his better attempts at a friendly smile. "I am Hyuuga Makoto, and this is Akira." He indicated the bird on his shoulder, who bobbed obediently. "Would you like to hold him?" If she was willing, he would extend the hand holding Akira (who seemed to be stuck on bob mode).

[Gothmer]

As Kuodachi sat atop the carriage, his senses were alert, trying to take in as much as he could as the continued down the road already proven to be dangerous. Well, relatively dangerous. The previous threats were handled quite efficiently, but there was no telling if they would encounter any more unfortunate disturbances.

So, when Mami exited the carriage, Kuodachi's eyes peered over to her. She was frazzled by her daughters distraught behavior, it seemed. He did not really like her. He'd been on a few escorts, but none seemed as ill mannered and short as Mami. Perhaps it was something to do with the story of her daughter and the Senju. He couldn't place his finger on the exact reason's he found a dislike for the woman other than she reminded him, ever so slightly of his own father. She seemed callous and blunt.

Regardless, Kuodachi was eager to take advantage of the opportunity. With a push forward, he'd land behind the carriage, his eyes meeting the approaching Hyuuga as he made his passing statement. “Sure thing.” He'd say to his temporary teammate. His teammate, despite his bout of sickness, seemed more than a capable Hyuuga. With his eyes on the scan, Kuodachi hardly felt the need to keep up his own altered stance, but he would refrain from listening to such tricks.

He'd allow some distance to grow between him and the caravan, though only a few meters before he'd call to Mami, “Would you care to walk back here with me, miss?” He'd smile to her, and make motion to his right side. All the while, he'd make sure to keep one eye on the wrangled prisoners should they try anything funny. Still, he had questions for the woman that needed some answers.

[Sanjuro]

Kazuo glanced back to where Mami had clambered out of the caravan and was about to suggest Kuo watch her when the lazy bastard decided to actually do some walking of his own accord. The Inuzuka looked back to Nobu and shrugged before focusing on scanning the horizon once more, keeping an eye out for the threat of average bandits. He sincerely doubted that the Senju had planned beyond his initial assault and had more people in waiting. So it was back to the standard escort mission. He hoped at least.

Linking his fingers together behind his neck, Kazuo glanced up at the sun to gauge the time. It was going to get dark soon. "Oi, Nobu, how far to the next village at this pace?" He was slightly worried they would either have to travel in the dark or set up camp. Neither was a particularly favourable scenario given their current predicament.

[OoC: Small post, but nothing really for Kazu to do here.]

[Willoria]

OOCShow

Sorry for how long it took for me to post, I’ve been contemplating some options here as I had actually anticipated that fight to go on a bit longer.

Haruko nodded slowly as Makoto spoke to her and offered her the bird, which she readily took and very carefully held him in her hands, managing a small smile as she pet the little fluffball. She kept glancing at Makoto and blushing, clearly unsure of what to say to such a kindness. The young girl had been prepped for just about anything but being at the age she was the only thing she really knew was her own hatred for her role in the world… a pretty face with very little real knowledge.

Mami meanwhile ignored Nobu’s protests but clearly heard Kuodachi and after a moment’s consideration she moved back to walk with him. ”Certainly.” she said simply in response, walking in silence with him. She didn’t seem to be much of one for stimulating conversation and as Kazuo spoke to Nobu he’d find the man hard to talk to when frustrated.

”I swear that one is going to get me killed.” he muttered, either not hearing or just not bothering to answer Kazuo’s question, yet the Inuzuka would soon find his question answered as they came around a corner and into a clearing. Up ahead was what appeared to be a small village and as they approached the group pulled over as soon as they got into the market and disembarked, with Mami turning to the boys to give instructions.

”I’ll be here overnight. You three are welcome to take Nobu and the carriage back with your prisoners and Haruko and I will remain here. I have regular bodyguards I employ here so staying won’t be necessary.” she told them, turning and raising an eyebrow as she saw Haruko holding the small bird that Mami had noticed before with Makoto, but the woman didn’t say a word. ”Come sweetheart, give the bird back to the boy, we have work to get to.”

Haruko frowned but did as she was told. Rather than handing Akira back through the window though the girl disembarked from the carriage entirely and walked over to Makoto, setting the bird on his shoulder again and patting it on the head with an attempt at a small smile. ”Thank you.” she said to Makoto quietly before turning away and walking into a nearby inn with Mami, clearly trying her best not to look towards the prisoners, despite the fact that one of them was trying desperately to look at her and get her attention.
PASSED ((OOC: I’ll turn this in, with how it ended you’re welcome to post a round to complete your roles, up to you.))