A meeting of minds (Yamanaka Inoyaya)

[LunarCataphract]

This was so annoying…and so undignified. Imagine it if you will, being a princess, a member of royalty, a person standing at the very height of social standing and then imagine being forced to simply meet the peasants you were SUPPOSED to be ruling over. That was the circumstances Ichika found herself in, as she begrudgingly trudged through the streets towards the Yamanaka compound. This was another one of her cousin's schemes, one of his silly ideas to try and get the spoiled brat of a princess to mellow out and learn to appreciate the commoners. Pah. Laughable. Ichika had seen right through her cousin and his scheming from day one but she was at least going to indulge him, if only to create the impression she was playing along.

With a heavy sigh, she approached the gate to the Yamanaka compound and knocked upon it, with as much strength as she could muster. It wasn’t much to make it clear but it was enough to ensure she would have been heard by any gate guard the clan had assigned. Hopefully they had one assigned, for they did know Ichika was coming and it would be an UTTER insult if they forgot or purposefully snubbed her. The princess would not tolerate being snubbed, insulted or otherwise cast aside. She was the PRINCESS here! A member of the Harukatsu! That put her far above these people! In each and every sense of the word!

“Open the door. I am Harukatsu Ichika and I have an appointment.” It was not a request. It was a demand. This gate should already BE open to her! She was exactly on time, arriving precisely when she was supposed to and yet? AND YET?! The Yamanaka had not left the gate open, prepared a welcoming party, assembled a procession or even an escort. It was an unacceptable failure on the clan’s part. Why Ichika had been forced to meet a clan so utterly incapable of eve the most basic elements of meeting a member of the royal family was frustratingly something she was very aware of. Another one of her cousin’s dumb ideas…

[Servant]

Yaya was now a full fledged shinobi, having graduated from the Academy recently. He hadn't even been assigned to a team yet, though working with others wasn't exactly something he looked forward to. He enjoyed learning new things and the idea of having a mentor to ask questions of was exciting to him, but dealing with other genin could be troublesome. They were often lighthearted and foolish, things that had a tendency to get on Yaya's nerves. Because of this, he'd developed a decent poker face, or maybe it was just that people had trouble reading his rocky expressions. Disregarding all that, Yaya's new rank and title came with new responsibilities, like escorting one of the royal family from the compound's entrance to the clan head's residence where they intended to do the official meet and greet, with snacks and all. Yaya didn't fully understand who this woman was or what she hoped to achieve by coming to the Yamanaka's compound, but none of that was all that important to him to fulfill the responsibilities he'd been given.

Needless to say, Yaya was displeased with the assignment, naturally. He wasn't overly friendly or enjoyable to be around, which likely was why he had been given such an assignment: he needed to learn to function in all types of environments even with people who may grate on their nerves, that was part of a shinobi's professionalism. Yaya dragged his rocky feet across the ground as he made his way to the compound's front gate. Part of him hoped that this royal intruder just wouldn't show up, but another part of him hoped to get the job done with as little interaction as possible before excusing himself so that he could go back elsewhere. He was sure the clanhead would have no issue with Yaya leaving once his mission was done.

Even from a distance, Yaya could hear someone yelling at the gate. He tried to place the voice, but failed and then realized he was probably running late. Picking up the pace, Yaya rushed the rest of the way to the gate. Looking through it as he spoke, Yaya said "I'm sorry, I was running a bit late, miss." Turning to the gate, he opened it, allowing the young princess in. He gestured her through the now open gate, feeling like he would already get a bad review for this mission. "The head of the Yamanaka clan awaits your arrival, just allow me to escort you there." Yaya tried to smile, though his earthen lips and noseless face could only do so much to convey human emotion.

[LunarCataphract]

“Late? You’re LATE? And you think a mere apology will smooth things over? Your lack of respect is blatant and ugly. You should be on your knees in apology.” Ichika was angry. Immensely. Too angry to be surprised at the fact she was being escorted by a walking collection of rocks. Too frustrated that somebody ACTUALLY important had been assigned to her escort. Ugh. The Yamanaka clan seemed utterly and completely useless, a complete waste of space and a failure of a clan that were apparently incapable of doing anything right. No procession, an escort that both failed to dress themselves and was also utterly incapable of even dressing themselves in the first place! God. Was the entire clan this big a failure?

“And they did not come to meet me themselves? Instead they sent you, a walking sculpture gone wrong…You did not even think to prepare a proper welcome, gifts or any basics incompetence.” Ichika’s tone was one of annoyance, condescension and arrogance. She looked down her nose at this shambling assembly of pebbles, judging them as harshly as they deserved to be.

“And do not even DARE to merely gesture me through your gate like I am some kind of animal. You are utterly unaware of the difference in our social status.” Disgusting, rude, unrefined, unintelligent, idiotic. Ichika scoffed as she walked through the gate, utterly ignoring her misshapen failure of an escort. The one and only aspect of Inoyaya the spoiled princess paid even the slightest attention to was him leading her to the head of the clan.

“For your clan’s sake, I hope the head does a better job than you.” Yet more insults and reminders of Inoyaya’s failing as Ichika followed, controlled and measured steps carrying her towards the head of this clan. However, the observant might notice she was purposefully shying away from direct sunlight, hiding beneath the rather large and pastel pink parasol of her’s.