Ice-flies and Fire-swims: A swarm capturing mission!

[Kanade]

Achiyo stated in a bored voice, “Enter.” As she flipped another page lazily. She was lounging on the bed with a house-coat on, scandalously open all the way down to her navel and showing more skin than was decent in any regard. She wasn’t nude, however, she was just lounging the day away.

“You put up the posters I presume?” She looked up, her icy blue eyes locked onto her companion, her servant, and her personal weapon, Yukimura.

“That I did, mistress Achiyo.” He cleared his throat and reddened, looking out the paneled window instead of at her directly. Achiyo smirked and looked back down at her book, not having to pretend to be bored of it all.

She wasn’t really reading, just perusing the book to see whether she wanted to later on. It was a romance novella that she had heard of from another one of the nobility’s daughters. It was called, “the Empress” and was full, apparently, of steamy goodness that was rather awful in literary taste, but lit the urges that she so enjoyed. “It was a good idea.” She praised him looking up from her book, gathering that from his stiff stance, and the one sweat drop that dripped down from his temple to his chin, that he had caught sight of her.

“The… idea of bringing a swarm to heel for you mistress?” Yukimura asked and she waited until he turned her direction to give him a half-lidded grin, before nodding.

“Truly, it was a genius plan.” Achiyo nodded once more as she pushed herself up, her robe almost opening up, which elicited another response from Yukimura. He turned away and hid his eyes, “Mistress, we have talked about this, could you please refrain from exposing yourself to me.”

She assumed a pouting look and whined, it sounded more like a sultry invitation, “Oh come now, it’s my room, and besides, it gets your blood pumping doesn’t it.”

“It’s indecent.” Yukimura protested, his face still in his hand.

“Fine.” She conceded, as she heard her father's words echoing in her head. More often than not she would have reprimanded him, but he spoke her father's words, so she felt obligated to agree. She threw up both of her hands in resignation and walked to the closet, “What should I wear to meet the unwashed masses that are going to answer my flier?”

“I didn’t put up that many before someone came to me and said we should just submit it as a mission.” Yukimura stated, carefully getting around telling his mistress what to wear to an outing. She would catch him someday with one of her word-games, she knew.

“Oh?” Achiyo looked rather surprised, but it seemed forced. The grin, if he had been looking would have shown that she was anything but, “And are we offering a reward for said mission?”

“Yes, and because of the nature it was suggested that we make it a C rank mission.” Yukimura replied. He stood, hands behind his back, looking out the window, pointedly not even keeping his mistress in his periphery. So he didn't trust her to keep herself decent. Oh well.

“So you should be sufficient for capturing these little bugs.” Achiyo raised an eyebrow, her voice had an upward inflection, but she knew the answer. He could be sufficient, she knew, but better to have help with unknown variables.

“I don’t know, we need to see whether or not they have a hive-mother, a hive-mind. All that I said was that they would be useful to keep as pets for you, being an Aisu family member.” Yukimura tried not to show that he was frustrated, but the crease in his brow told all. A smirk snaked its way across her delicate features.

“You’re dismissed until I can dress then.” She waved a lazy hand at him, “I’ll call for you when I am ready to go and wait for the others accompanying us on the mission.”

“Yes mistress, the mission details will be here on your desk.” Yukimura bowed low, placed the paper on her desk and walked out, practically marching. She couldn’t tell whether it was frustration or guilt on his face that she saw as he closed the door behind him.

--

A few short minutes later, she was dressed fully, her light blue and white garb with the Aisu clan symbol on the back matching the hair decorations that kept her hair from being a mess. She meticulously put on a couple of rings, a necklace and picked out matching earrings. Eyeing the paper, she snatched it up in a fluid motion and read the mission, to make sure that her father wasn’t going to have to pay an arm and a leg for the completion of said mission.

“Mission:” it read,

“To capture as many as 1000 ice-flies from Mount Tanirama near Kirigakure.
Rank: C.
All supplies are given at time of mission briefing, first come first served. Selection will begin when Aisu family member arrives.

Reward: Ryo and a favor from said Aisu family member.”

She scanned it once more and nodded to herself. She wasn’t a fan of being in debt, but perhaps she could wheedle her way out of the favor by just paying them more. She already was loathe to be going on this expedition herself, rather than just sending Yukimura to do it.

She had to, however, find out why the Ice-flies congregated in the wild, and why they would listen to her in the first place. Perhaps there was some sort of language that they used. She didn’t know, but it was better than having him bring them to her home and experimenting on them there, possibly killing the valuable little things.

A quick summons and a short walk led them to the mission-master, where she waited, drumming on her arm in impatience with Yukimura, looking the dutiful bored servant from head to toe.

[Sia]

Something had been brought to Hisayo and Kayoko's attention, something that screamed at them. A favor from an Aisu? How could they say no. Hisayo readied herself, taking a nice bath together with Kayoko as the two of them discussed the details of the mission in length and how they might best be of service on this endeavor. They threw on their usual attire then and made their way through the streets of Kirigakure, having taken residence in Maido's old home within the Noble District. It was far larger than their old place, which, granted they were Muramasa's themselves wasn't entirely small. Still, the amount of time that Maido had lived had allowed to amass a ridiculous bit of fortune and her house was by all accounts the absolute largest in the Noble District by far.

Too big, Hisayo thought to herself quite often, but it was a nice inheritance that Maido had left for her when she had moved permanently to Iwagakure. She still came to visit from time to time in her new host body, but it was never quite the same as it was before. They had been so close, Maido had been a great mentor. She missed her a lot, and she knew Kayoko felt the same. Hisayo shrugged the thoughts aside as she found herself nearing the mission master's office. She entered, sized up Achiyo, and introduced herself. "Hello there, I suppose you're the one that wants help with the err....Ice...flies, was it?" Hisayo asked politely. Kayoko remained silent for the time being. "I am Muramasa, Hisayo, and this is Muramasa, Kayoko." Hisayo said.

"This sort of thing is usually a little beneath our pay grade, but you never know when you might need a favor." Hisayo added with a grin. "We brought some equipment that we think could be useful for capturing the flies, though admittedly I hear they're devious little buggers and the equipment may not even be useful at all."

[Izanagi]

Jouchaku Shigeko was being dressed for the day, having a household slave apply her makeup and do her hair, when another slave brought in a series of mission requests. She had the man read them out aloud as she scrutinized the work the female slave was doing with her hair. She had never bothered to learn their names and she couldn’t even say if they were the same ones from last week. They all looked the same to her and as long as they did as told then they were easily tolerated and dismissed. “That one” she said sharply, taking an interest in something about a favor from an Aisu. She had always held the Aisu clan in high regard, viewing them as the only clan in the village more noble and respected than her own. And she still thought fondly of her former rival; a girl named Aisu Miyuki. It had been deemed by Shigeko’s mother that their rivalry was not nearly as hostile as it should have been to promote proper growth if Shigeko were to meet expectations. And now, she was left with nobody. But perhaps gaining favor from the Aisu would help to reconnect her.

Making haste to finish getting ready she opted to wear the dress that she was already putting on for the day. If it was an Aisu she should ensure she made a good impression and didn’t wear her rather drab mission attire. Besides, surely she wouldn’t have to run around too much and get sweaty just to catch some flies. She had already considered some new jutsu she could attempt that would assist in such an endeavor. The idea was simple, utilizing her proficiency in suiton to develop some kind of syrup trap. Whether or not she could actually make Suiton sweet was irrelevant. As long as she could change the consistency then she was sure she could devise something to stick the flies with. And then it was simply a matter of getting them into some kind of suitable container.

As she left for the day she wore pearl earings, a suitable necklace and an eloquent sleeveless dress with a high white neck and black and gold patterns across her modest chest. Her kunai holster was attached to her right thigh, accessible from a high part in the dress that granted her some sense of maneuverability. Underneath she wore athletic shorts just in case she had to actually fight more acrobatically. Along the way she practiced through a few different possible hand seal sequences. As a noble it was important to not show any sign of struggling, it was all expected to come naturally. And so she hoped to get the hand seal sequence for her new jutsu down before she arrived. Approaching the designated area her yellow eyes noted two white haired women. Naturally, from behind her first thought was a pair of Kaguya members but as she approached closer still she saw their faces turn enough to note they didn’t bear the red forehead dots of the Kaguya. In fact, she was fortunate enough to catch their introductions. Her eyes widened in momentary surprise. She had heard these names before. Naturally noble women tended to gossip about who was the wealthiest or which noble woman was caught acting in an unbecoming way. And her mother had a lot of free time on her hands to fill her in on the latest gossip when she wasn’t drilling in lessons. These were the famous Muramasa cousins, followers of the infamous Muramasa Maido, and as of recently they had become members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

And then there was the Aisu. That woman. Perhaps the Aisu that was gossiped about the most, especially by Miyuki even if that information was about two years outdated. Her mom didn’t like to bring up the Aisu too much since she forced ties with Miyuki to be cut. It was obvious by the blue hair that this was the shame of the Aisu family, Achiyo. Would this woman’s reputation tarnish her as well if she associated with her? But it was too late to back out now. She had already inadvertently made eye contact with Hisayo, or was it Kayoko? The women had just introduced themselves and she had already forgotten which was which. It was truly unnerving how much they looked like twins despite one being nearly twice the age of the other. Interestingly all of the women gathered were of similar height, with Achiyo being the only one that was notably shorter by a few inches. Shigeko wasn’t used to looking at adults straight level in the eyes, “Excuse me” she said, making her presence known from a few meters away. “Jouchaku Shigeko; Genin. Is there still room for one more?” she boldly inquired, keeping a calm exterior disposition But internally she was practically screaming, forget the stain of being around Achiyo, a favor was a favor and more importantly she was in the presence of some of the most famous women in the village. Perhaps the only greater female celebrity was the former Overseeer, Jouchaku Chiane; the recently departed Muramasa Maido notwithstanding.

Jutsu TrainedShow

1800- 470-500= 830

856/830

Entrapping Syrup Field
C-Ranked Suiton Ninjutsu
The user forms a series of hand seals and then spits out high-viscosity, chakra infused water, aimed at a surface of wide scope. This is a stream of sticky liquid which can be used to form an adhesive trap that can inhibit a person's mobility. One can effectively reduce their enemy's area of activity with this technique and has the effect of being able to take complete control over the battlefield. Once contact with the ground is made the large stream of water will spread out to cover a 30 meter diameter area. Being caught in the technique however can be avoided by channeling chakra to one's feet allowing one to walk upon it uninhibited, though only if they have not already come into contact with the substance. The stream travels and spreads out at a speed of [Control] and requires [Control] strength in order to break free of once trapped.

[Kanade]

Achiyo was surprised, almost open-mouthed shocked that the infamous twins that had invaded Kumogakure no Sato with Maido, the ones that had battled Zao and lived to tell the tale, that had roamed with the blood-terror were going to help her with her mission. She was, however, a noble, born and bred, so the surprise didn't make it past a slight widening of the eyes and arching of an eyebrow. She nodded a bit to the both of them, not feeling that it was necessary to bow her head to them, but also wary that they could snap her like a twig at the slightest notion.

"My appreciation in your interest in our endeavour, I was actually wondering that myself." She looked at the two of them then peered at their personage, wondering whether they were hiding this 'special equipment'. "I think we can probably head ou-" She watched as another individual approached. Her jaw set, her chin raised a little bit, she assumed the imperious look that she was taught by her father as an Aisu. It was a defense mechanism when she was approached by one of her same class.

As much as she told herself that she didn't care about the nobility, about being an outcast from their ranks, about being a disgrace on her family, it didn't mean that she was beneath this woman that approached. "We are-." She started in a snide tone, her eyes looking daggers at the prim and proper other noble-woman, and Yukimura took up a position to her left, a rigid servant's stance, interrupting her.

Insolence. She was so stunned by the interruption that for the first few seconds she could only stare, open-mouthed shock on her face, before it turned to an icy rage.

He bowed deeply, "Genin Jouchaku Ojou-san, Muramasa Ojou-samas," He bowed to each of them, "We would be honored by all of your presences, as this is a time-sensitive task, the more the merrier." Achiyo gave him a look that could kill.

He stiffened, straightening and looking anywhere but Achiyo's icy disdainful glare, "Normally Aisu Ojou-san would not deign to come along on this mission herself, but they have a strange attraction to the Aisu-clan's Hyouton element, and she needs to observe the swarm's characteristics herself. This type of work is beneath her noble time, but seeing as it is to attain more power for not only her, but for the family, and for the glory of Kirigakure proper."

"You overstep." Achiyo growled at him, he looked almost as if she had physically hit him, before snapping back to the other two, all signs of her anger gone except one unseemly throbbing vein next to her temple, and the rigidity of her jaw as she spoke, "I would be remiss to not accept any of your three's help. I will close the mission and we should head out without further delay. They are most active, as I hear, near sunset, and we have a bit of a trek ahead of us."

[Sia]

The Muramasa cousins stood idly for a moment and merely listened and observed. Hisayo took in the scents of the room, yup, she was an Aisu alright. A rich and snooty one with a servant. Under Maido's tutelage Hisayo had grown a similar mindset of not imprisoning beings, be them human or spirit otherwise, and stared at the servant when they recoiled physically under her words. Eventually though she did let it go for the time being and her eyes scanned up and down Yukimura for a while, then did the same to Achiyo. "Hmm." Was all Hisayo said at that moment. Hisayo was known for being the quietest of all the Muramasa, a keen and internal observer that didn't usually have much to say. Hisayo spoke with her actions, after all.

Kayoko however had a lot to say today. "It'll be kinda fun to go hiking I think." She said with glee in her eye. She too stared down Achiyo and her servant, and the both of them turned in unison at the appearance of a Jouchaku clan member. "Ah, another joins us then," said Kayoko. How interesting, a Jouchaku clan member to tame ice flies, Hieayo thought to herself. Her head held high, she looked between the three of them that weren't Kayoko and shrugged. "I think I can work with this." Hisayo said to Kayoko, whispering in her ear.

She took in their scents, taking a long inhale through her nostrils and listened to the stillness of their hearts. They weren't too excited just yet, they were all calm, but ready for action. Hisayo took a step forwards, grabbing Kayoko's hand and guiding her. Kayoko steppes forwards with her, and Hisayo made her way outside. Once outside, she performed the summoning jutsu a called forth Substiwolf, the abomination hunter ninken. "We need passage to the mountain, let the gate know we're coming."

[Izanagi]

Shigeko found herself surprised by her first impression of Achiyo. She had heard rumors that the woman was quite the harlot, letting any commoner into her bed. And yet she presented herself well, dignified and aristocratic. Perhaps then, they were simply rumors spread by some family members she had slighted in some way. In such circles gossip tended to get out of hand and facts were often skewed. Still, she would keep the gossip in the back of her mind and tread carefully but for now at least there was no reason to treat her with any disrespect. And especially being in the presence of the Muramasa cousins Shigeko knew she should be on her best behaviour. They were after all both Jounin and members of the Seven Swordsmen in addition to their family status.

As taught by her mother, she would remain quiet and deferential in such company. One never knew what kind of comment might spur the wrath of one of the Seven and few within Kirigakure, noble or not could afford to make such powerful enemies. Shigeko stared coldly back at the servant, keeping her poise as he bowed to her. She didn’t feel the need to speak directly to such a man. The only reason to speak to a servant was to give them instructions and he was not hers to command, save for the simplest demands. She made a slight noise of contemplation at the idea of Achiyo commanding a swarm of ice flies. It was hard to imagine the appeal of bringing insects into one’s home but to each their own. It didn’t even seem as if Achiyo had any intention of even serving as an active duty Kunoichi but then again not everyone could balance a life of privilege and duty to one’s village. Rather than sleeping around or gossiping over champagne, Shigeko found her pleasure in boiling away the unworthy and cleansing the world of impurities. It was divine and truly noble work.

It was unlikely Achiyo would be any use in her cause, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t stand to gain through association with her and the Aisu clan. “You honor me, to allow me to join such esteemed company” she kept a tight smile while staring snidely toward the Aisu woman and then smiling more genuinely toward the Muramasa women. “A hike would be lovely” she agreed, pushing aside her discontent with physical exertion. She would bare any inconvenience and hardship to make a good impression. She would follow behind the white-haired women as they naturally led the way out of the village. However, Shigeko couldn’t help but recoil at the sight of the abomination that they summoned forth. She had heard of Muramasa Maido and revered her as an expert in the Chiton style, but even her own fascination with blood and gore hadn’t prepared her for such monstrosities. And yet instead of repulsing she found the creature fascinating. “How utterly terrifying. Does it eat with all those mouths?” the girl's heartbeat raced in excitement, “I would so love to feed him. He’ll eat untouchables, won’t he? Or would they be too foul?” she inquired excitedly.

[Kanade]

Achiyo's ruffled feathers somewhat smoothed by the words of the girl Shigeko, she straightened herself visibly and walked on with the twins. Abruptly, as they left the village they summoned an abomination that took Achiyo by surprise, but her training and her station only revealed the surprise that almost knocked her off kilter by a straightening of the line of her lips and a widening of her eyes.

She was about to ask 'what gate?' but Shigeko was faster with her words, apprently less stunned than Achiyo was at the great wolf. She wondered that as well, but only as it had been prompted by Shigeko's words. Achiyo had no doubt that this thing could swallow one of the heavenly orbs if given the chance, it was a monster like one of the youkai that she had read about in her rooms at her estate. What a monstrous thing that positively radiated power.

Yukimura stepped forward, standing barely in front of Achiyo, should the wolf not listen to its masters, the twins, and attacked the girls. He would give his life for the sake of the Aisu clan, and it would give her enough time to run and get help. He looked calm, not even sweating. He had heard of summons that reached this level of size and power before, and surely the beast would not be the last thing that he encountered if Achiyo were to live up to her father's expectations of her.

Achiyo waited for the twins, or Shigeko to start toward their destination, or for something to happen, stricken dumb by the size, the horror, and the sheer power of the monster in front of her.