A pleasure cruise. (Muramasa, Hisayo)

[LunarCataphract]

Fujikawa leaned against the forward railing of the wooden vessel, feeling the gentle rocking motion of the ocean through her feet, legs and the vessel itself. Ah…she did adore being upon the ocean. Perhaps that was to be expected given how she’d grown up on a small island outside of Kirigakure proper (and was also you know, a resident of the island based nation) but she very much felt more at home on the sea. But of course, this was not a pleasure cruise. Fujikawa was here on business, not her own business in fact but Maido’s.

“Hmmmmm well Hisayo. I am relieved that our shared employer has such good taste in women. You are very attractive my dear. Are you single?” There was a wide grin, shameless and without restraint, decorating the chemist’s features. She stepped towards Hisayo, wrapped an arm, and her cape, around the Muramasa before pulling her into a close and romantic embrace, or at the very least that was the intention. In fact, this entire trip did have some rather romantic energy to it. A group of cute girls on a cruise to some distant part of the Land of Water…..yeah~

“In fact…fufufu….if it was not for Maido and Kayoko, I’d dare say we may as well be on a couple’s cruise.” Fujikawa softly wrapped a single hand around Hisayo’s chin, turning her head to look towards them, that bold and monstrously shameless smile as potent as it ever could be. Her embrace was firm and warm, punctuated only by her gesturing with her left hand over the railing.

“Hmmm tell me~ I’ve grasped a few details about Maido but what about yourself? What are your hobbies? Your vices? Your indulgences? I very much wish to know everything and more about you, my delightful sea flower.” A soft chuckle escaped Fujikawa’s lips as her crimson eyes locked exclusively onto the light pink of Hisayo’s. The duo's last meeting had been rather…chaotic and torn between multiple people but now? The chemist could devote herself exclusively to getting to know her comrades…and potential training partners.

[Sia]

Hisayo and Kayoko were only slightly separated that day, for Kayoko had taken to slumber in Hisayo's heart pocket while Hisayo healed from the gruesome damage Maido had inflicted upon her. Her heart had been ripped out, replaced entirely with gem. Now, she no longer needed to eat, and she stared at her food with a bland expression upon her face, bored and dead to the world. She didn't feel like a god, yet that had been what Maido said. She mustered her will, entirely nonexistent, and looked upwards. She resisted the urge to smile. She resisted the urge to laugh. She resisted the urge to cry. She resisted the urge to be. She killed it, but then she looked at Fujikawa fully and took him in. Kayoko stirred, shifting her length into a half meter across Hisayo's back, then fell by her hip into Hisayo's black belt.

Hisayo shifted weight and stared at the chemist. "I do well for myself, but yes." She admitted, after a moment. "I am single." She was pulled into the waltz, and she darted lightly on her toes, fidgeting as she reflexively opened her senses and her eyes darted about the room and checked the corners, then looked down at Fujikawa's feet, then up at her shoulders, avoiding her eyes, hands, and mouth. After a moment, she decided to answer the question with a gesture of her own. She withdrew a mask from her satchel, and donned it upon her face. Made of Kaguya bone, it had no village markings and tiny slits for eyes. Blue wisps of clouds dotted the right side of its face and Kayoko extended outwards into a two meter long polearm vertically on Hisayo's back, inches above the ground as Hisayo shifted to her tip toes and turned with her heel inward, gently shoving at Fujikawa's elbow and shoulder, guiding them gently in a dance.

[LunarCataphract]

“Hmmmm~ I am surprised by that. A face such as your’s? One would think you would be the apple of many a person’s eye.” There was a sense of nervousness in Hisayo’s body language, at least based on the fidgeting, how her eyes darted around the deck and how she seemed to avoid making eye contact. Hmmm…was there something bothering her? The chemist pondered the notion of pushing the subject but decided to dismiss it, especially given how her associate slipped into that mask. Unfortunate really given how Hisayo’s face was far prettier than the bone white, almost porcelain construction.

“But judging by that weapon on your back, we are to dismiss such things, no? I suppose my relentless curiosity shall have to be satisfied another day.” Maido had mentioned there may be training on this trip and it seemed that Hisayo was following that agenda or perhaps she simply did not wish to reveal all her secrets today. No matter. There was a lot one could learn about another through training with them: their attitudes, their approach to problems, their preferred methodology. These were as much a realm of interest to Fujikawa as were the surface details of Hisayo’s nature.

“Well then. I did do some…hmmmm studying on the way here. Tell me, do you know of the Shinden style? It is something that appeals to me as a concept.” Fujikawa had studied the martial arts, at least to a basic level, back during her academy days but she’d simply never taken it very far. That would need to change. Fighting with chakra was all well and good but it was a resource with a limit, especially given the nature of elemental balances and their relationships to each other, so it only made sense to invest into…other options.

(305 words)

[Sia]

Young Hisayo's face smiled under her mask, but it was hidden. What she had thought was an icky boy turned out to me not so after all. Kayoko shortened her length, becoming a meter instead and remaining at Hisayo's back. "Forgive me, I took you for a man." She said after a moment and giggled lighthearedly, visibly relaxing as she dropped her guard and her mask, as well as letting her hair down in a flourish. She continued her step, intertwining her feet in Fujikawa's and moving closer, no longer palming at her elbow and shoulder. She allowed herself to be guided more freely, and was unphased by the sudden rocking of the boat against the waves.

Her mask returned to her bag, Kayoko's hand jutting out from the polearm and swiped it as Hisayo had removed it. Taking another step, she listened more intently now when Fujikawa spoke. "I am not recovered from a gruesome injury, so forgive me." A line of Fuuinjutsu was now more easily displayed across the left half of Hisayo's face. She pulled on it with her chakra and it receded a little, but it was still purple and immediately grew bigger and red, as did her eyes for a moment, her hair turning half black now and not fully white. The Fuuinjutsu turned flesh colored and it's appearance faded, and it became more apparent that it covered scars.

She continued the light dance with Fujikawa, stepping outwards now and rotating with the ship and causing the Kayoko polearm to slide along the length of her arm, ending at her fingertips before rolling along her knuckles and onto her arm, back up to her shoulder. "No, let's dance for a bit...tell me more about you, kind stranger, and your relentless curiosity, then perhaps I may learn of you a little before I learn of you properly in Shinden." Her hips changed direction and she pivoted her weight onto her back leg. She took in Fujikawa's scent over the scent of the encroaching mist and ocean spray. Kayoko woke up and began to look behind Hisayo, avoiding eye contact and looking at the shadows and corners.

[LunarCataphract]

“...I’m sorry? You mistook me for a man? Bahahahhaha. Do you not see my form before you?” Fujikawa was surprised, amused and perhaps a little insulted that she had been mistaken for a man. Yes she was rather…tall for a woman and her shoulders did possess a certain level of broadness that was closer to those of the masculine persuasion but surely, it was obvious she was a woman? She had breasts after all. Perhaps that was a crude reason to assign gender upon but it held up all the same. Ah…. Fujikawa had to wonder if Hisayo’s lookalike was just as bad with gender too.

“...Hmmm. I will not pry into what caused such a fearsome injury but as we are on the topic I have an equally intense injury of my own. As such, do not feel ashamed about such a thing.” There was a lot to take in. The mask, the injury decorating Hisayo’s features, the arm that extended from her weapon and that Fuuinjutsu marring her features. All very curious indeed. The chemist could not help but wonder what the story behind all these things were and if, most critically, they had some sort of connecting thread tying them all together.

“Ah hello Kayoko. I had wondered if you would be joining us.” It was an off hand greeting, paired with a gentle wave and a soft smile. The chemist pondered the question presented to her, surprisingly unsure what exactly she was being asked. Did one wish to hear about her personally? Or her skills? Both perhaps. Yes. Assume both. That was a safe bet.

“Well then, I like long walks in the countryside, fishing and smoking. I’m a medical ninja who runs her own chemistry, dabbling in the arts of summoning and blessed with an affinity for raiton. Rather amusing given my position among Kirigakure’s ranks, no?” Fujikawa avoided mentioning anything about who she was blooded to, having learned a long time ago that her family’s reputation could spell trouble as much as it could spell opportunity. Being part of a family known for political manipulation and gathering secrets did tend to put people on edge after all.

[Sia]

Hisayo blushed, a deep true red blush, as though Maido had inhabited her body once more. Her sheepish gaze faltered away from Fujikawa, but did indeed snap back to her form. "Yes, and I must say I do feel quite embarrassed about it." She said and added a grin. "However, it is what it is. Oh, the injury is just...a bit of recovery from a somewhat grueling transformation my teacher put me through." She shrugged, and took a few steps and eyed the ocean blue. "Say then, you seem rather hardy, perhaps more so than me." Her right hand brushed Fujikawa's left shoulder and Kayoko shifted about into a sword, a claymore, roughly two meters in length as Hisayo performed that motion.

She took a few steps away from Fujikawa, and circled around the boat and eyed the incoming waves and weather more quizzically. "Okay... Miss flirt, if you want to take me, you'll have to show me you're not a pushover." What had been a sheepish grin began to slowly turn into something that looked more like boredom, as Hisayo readied her stance. Her left leg shifted forwards, and her right back back. She turned her hips, and Kayoko sprung to her right hand. She channeled chakra, as did Kayoko, whom caught on fire after a moment. Immediately, Hisayo swung her great Kayoko claymore in a downwards arcing slash at Fujikawa, if they didn't do something about it, it would surely cleave them in two.