[Mission] Funeral Guard

[Mendokuse]

Kaiba Kurebara, the nephew of Lightning's Feudal Lord, had passed away the week before from complications related to an assault he'd been the target of. He was being buried in the scenic courtyard cemetary of Nabuya temple and a large group of mourners were expected for a private funeral.

Two trusted Cloud Chuunin had been hired as security. Kaiba had had a unique chakra nature and his uncle believed that the assault was made by an unknown criminal organization who hoped to study that nature. Kaiba had gotten away, but had died shortly thereafter from his wounds in the care of Kumogakure's best medical staff. The feudal lord was worried that the criminals might show up again at the funeral to attempt to kidnap the body.

There was a slight chill in the air and isolated showers occured here and there, but the sun was out in full force and wispy clouds dotted the pale blue sky. Sutemi and Calix were scheduled to arrive at 11:30 AM to be briefed on their objective and how they were expected to behave at the funeral.

A high marble wall enclosed a lovely garden and left the sky above visible. A closed casket was in the miiddle of the garden, sealed with chakra and specially designed to be resistant to opening by force or chakra or moved.
A half ring of seats faced the casket, and in front of the speaker's podium was the funeral director, a dark skinned, sleepy looking man with a shaved head and black robes who would be instructing the Chuunin. The feudal lord, his personal guard, and several family members were scheduled to arrive soon, followed by friends and powerful acquaintances.

[Iaculum]

Calix was ready for this. He was born ready which meant he would come exactly on time and not a minute sooner. Coming up from behind his friend he hit him in the back since it looked as if the ninja was spacing out which was not something that a ninja should ever do. "Stop spacing out, Sutemi. We need to awake for this not space out" he said moving infront of the other ninja. "This is an important job that we must do our best on."

[Mendokuse]

The gaunt funeral director finished organizing his reference cards and glanced at the two chuunin who stood a short distance from him and gave a somber nod of welcome. He drew a lighter from a compartment in the podium and lit several candles before replacing the lighter and taking slow, meandering steps down a short stair and across a stone walkway to the two men.

"Welcome to Nabuya temple, and may the creator's grace guide you and protect you on this day of mourning." The man gave a low bow of respect to the Chuunin who were there to keep his proceedings safe that dreary day.

"My name is Yoshitaka Mamiya, and I'm the director of funereal processes here at Nabuya. Today the service for Kaiba Kurebara will be taking place. He was the nephew of our country's feudal lord, and a well respected Shinobi while he still lived and breathed. The proceedings will begin in about an hour. First, we must wait for the feudal lord and his entourage to settle in safely, and then the rest of the guests will arrive. We will begin shortly after all are settled. Now, I have heard the concerns that Kaiba', rest his soul, had a unique chakra that might interest a rogue organization...they might be brash enough to attack during our ceremony in the attempt to take the body with them for study, so you two will be here to help protect the guests. The Feudal lord has his own bodyguards, so your job is to prevent the corpse from falling into enemy hands. However, your first priority is protection of Kaiba's remains. Your second priority is protection of the mourners.
I am a man of god, and were I in charge, I'd tell you to protect the guests at all costs, but it isn't up to me. So I ask you both, man-to-men, to protect the guests as well as you can without breaking the terms of your mission."

The man smiled and brought his hands together, slipping each hand into the opposite sleeve and standing with a somber but noble posture befitting such a polite and thoughtful man.

A minute or so later, several masked men in cloaks would enter the courtyard, forming a circle around an elderly man in a black outfit who looked distressed. They took their places in a special row off to the side which was covered overhead and to the sides, forcing all attacks to funnel into their enclosure. "That's the feudal lord. Not long now..." Yoshaka said gravely.

[Iaculum]

Calix mentally grinned as Sutemi went over in his ponderings. He would have to man up sometime and be decisive not jump back and forth between ideas or even just making any decisions at all. Realizing that he was grinning in a place like this Calix quickly straightened up. He was well-mannered not a jokester in this sort of setting. "You should prepare in anyway you need to. We need to protect everyone here no matter what our first objective is." Putting his arms at his sides the special jounin he kept going "Of course I don't need prepared since everything can come when it wants. Sutemi just do whatever you need to do."

[Mendokuse]

((OOC: I'm going to continue on, but Sutemi can make his preparations or whatever before the following post occurs if he wishes to prepare.))

(IC)

Presently the funeral's somber guests began to arrive, entering the courtyard in dark-clothed groups, or all alone, and seats began to fill up until all the expected guests were present. Mamiya had been greeting and speaking to the new arrivals here and there, shaking hands, thanking them for attending, and offering his consolation and blessings. Eventually, after he'd made contact with everyone, he disappeared into a doorway that seemed to lead to an office, because he returned with some kind of form, which he offered to a woman. The woman was elderly and had short white-gray hair, short and styled nicely. She was evidently a businesswoman of some sort, so it would be fair to assume that she was making a donation of some sort. A shinobi who paid particular attention to his surroundings might note that she could potentially be a target as well.

((BONUS OBJECTIVE: This woman is apparently important to the temple. Protecting her so that she may continue to be an asset to the temple, and perhaps even offer some of her generosity to the village, will grant an additional point.))

After signing the forms, the Yoshitaka and the elderly woman bowed to eachother. The director took his place at the podium and the woman sat in the front row of the guest's area.

Yoshitaka began.

"Friends, family, and guests," he spoke with a respectful glance at the two Special Jounin and the Feudal Lord's body guards, not leaving them out, "We are here to celebrate and mourn the passing of a young man named Kaiba..."

He went on for quite some time, really getting the crowd worked up - here and there the morning calm would be broken by laughter, cheers of pride, or wailing sobs. The speech was very heartfelt and even the shinobi that didn't know Kaiba might even feel something from it all.

Yoshitaka finished and bowed low before retreating to back of the seating area... the feudal lord was being led out of his enclosure, covered on all sides by well-built, well-trained ANBU. The man put his forehead to the cool, smooth coffin and immediately burst into tears.
After he had said his goodbyes, he moved away and the rest of the guests formed a line to pay their last respects. After that, the guests would gather behind the seating area for refreshments and small talk, so the Special Jounin had some time to talk among themselves, pay their respects if they wished, have some refreshments, but most importantly, to keep an eye on the coffin.

[Iaculum]

The first answer was a quick one. "Of course we should keep a close eye on her. We should keep a close eye on everyone. No one should get hurt while we are guarding over them." Calix wasn't quite sure of where to be since he wasn't the smart one of the two. Leaving it up to Sutemi to decide would make it so the decision would never be made though.

Being his turn Calix bowed silently not wanting to seem like a jerk. Normally he would force Sutemi to do something but in a situation such as this it wasn't called for even he knew that. Moving away and towards his partner Calix answered the question concisely. "We should probably stand on opposite sides in order to get the full range of everything. Or as a better note you could be in the crowd checking for any unknown movements while I stay close so I can quickly react. Sound good?"

[Mendokuse]

While the two shinobi spoke amongst themselves, an excited gasp rose up from the crowd, who stepped back, expanding the ring they had made. On the ground at the center, the sharp-dressed woman lay prone, evidently suffering from a heart attack or similar trauma. It seemed impossible that an attack could have been launched; no noise had announced an intruder. Still, the woman flailed on the ground, her eyes bugging and foam dripping from her thin lips. Yoshitaka, the director, rushed to her side. "Shihoko! Oh, dear! Somebody, help!" The crowd looked helplessly around. Wasn't there a doctor present?

[Mendokuse]

((OOC: This is part of the mission so just react to it however your character would...Do you help her or remember your primary objective which is to protect the casket? I wouldn't offer the woman's safety as a bonus point and then just kill her off...so yeah...it's just another part of the mission to see how you act))

[Mendokuse]

(OOC: This fails at midnight tonight. Please post.))

[Iaculum]

Calix immediately noticed the scream for help. He wasn't a medic but he wasn't one to stand around while someone was hurt. He would protect and save everyone here, no matter what the cost. "Sutemi stand guard and make sure no one comes without your notice." Without taking another moment Calix ran to the woman's position. "Are there any medics around?" he asked to out not wanting this woman to die due to someone not speaking up.

[Mendokuse]

As the woman suffered visibly, it seemed that nobody knew how to act. There were no medics present - and apparently nobody had even the slightest idea of what to do. As Calix questioned the guests, who shook their heads guiltily, Sutemi became aware of something with his finely honed sense of smell - a smell that didn't belong to any of the guests. While the guests had a clear odor of perfume and ironed suits, the new scent was one of earth, rain, and sour body odor...and blood. It came from outside the surrounding walls, and after a moment, Sutemi was able to separate that scent from the scent of another - who smelled extremely similar, but different, in a way: the distinct smell of two different people who had been spending a lot of time outside, getting into trouble.

And then, Sutemi could sense hearts beating all around him - and noticed a discrepancy. While the hearts of the guests were beating a mile a minute with fear and excitement, the heart beats on the other side of the wall were more calm; they skipped along at a beat that suggested giddy excitement or "butterflies in the stomach" rather than anxiety and fear.

[Iaculum]

Being around Sutemi for as long as he had Calix knew that this could only really mean one thing. Someone was here to do what they were assigned to prevent. Not wanting to cause too much panic the Kumo nin asked the surrounding guests to help the lady with her condition. He yelled back to his partner in a semi-coded way to make sure that the people here wouldn't directly notice "Inner or outer?" Knowing where they were would allow him to fully get a grasp on the situation and use the right tool for this situation. Forming a handseal Calix closed his eyes for a split second before opening them again to look at what was around him. He ignored the mass of signals that were around him and looked to where Sutemi was standing to see if there were any heat sources from behind where his partner could look then look for any strange heat sources that weren't easily identifiable.

~Tainetsu Shiroku [Body Heat Eyesight]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Requires the Sakerugan to be Active
A Sakerugan user can focus chakra in their eyes to see sources of heat, particularly body heat, up to 25 meters away, regardless of structural interference. The user must make a hand seal and hold the hand seal to keep the jutsu active. This jutsu is used for recon purposes, but can easily be fooled by anything that gives off heat. It is up to the individual user to be able to distinguish a camp fire from the ninja surrounding it. [Just a rough example]

[Zangy]

(OOC: Time out)