[Mission: Guard the Rich Guy - Takanaka Jiro] March 31 - April 5
Necks were easier to break than she'd thought. Kunai left bloody gashes that looked like lop-sided, grotesque smiles. Were they laughing in the face of death? There were bodies enough around right now for Ino to wonder.
Distantly, she thought that several people back at Fandom would be displeased with that trail of thought.
Ino turned over the bandit--rough-shaven, foul smelling, worn clothing, just like every other bandit ever--and systematically searched for anything at all that'd point to this being more than just your average attempt at an ambush. Attempt, because they'd been there and stopped them.
She wasn't even hurt. What blood was on her wasn't her own. That, Ino knew, was more luck than anything. She'd been just getting up from a nap--you learnt to nap whenever your sensei said you could while on a mission--when the strike had come.
Up ahead, she could hear Takanaka-san wailing about the loss of a horse, the injuries to his men, and how the caravan would be late. Not her problem. Asuma-sensei had set Chouji to calming the man down, and told her and Shikamaru to search the bodies while he scouted for any survivors.
She kicked the dead man lightly in the side, stepping over him, and moving on to the next on. The heat from the blinding sun overhead beat down on them, and turned the air sharp-edged with light. Body after body, she didn't let herself think about how that one had died because she'd kicked him so hard his neck had snapped, and that one there had died because Shikamaru had strangled him with his shadow. That one had a kunai to the head--Ino wasn't sure who had thrown it. Hard to tell when they all used the same weapon. Those ones had been crushed to death, Chouji flattening them. Asuma-sensei's precise cuts, the broken bones, the way that on the ground they all looked the same.
Shock, she decided, making a face at that, was what made things feel so disjointed. She wasn't sure what she was shocked about though, other than, perhaps, the fact that she'd managed well enough on her own. No one had had to come and save her.
That was a victory. The corpses that she was walking over, searching through their clothing and coming up with nothing of interest, were less likely to agree. No kidding. Ino signaled Shikamaru that she hadn't found anything, and he signed back the same thing.
Just a stupid ambush. They'd probably been hungry, or something, and too lazy to actually work for a living. Probably seen that they were just a few teenagers and a man who spent more time smoking than anything useful and thought that forehead protectors or not that it'd be easy enough.
"Idiots," she muttered, getting to her feet and shaking her head. "Fucking stupid. All of you."
And now they were dead. For the most part, Ino was okay with that. She just wished they'd stop laughing. Gaping false mouths, showing things that were supposed to stay inside of their bodies for a reason, and the heat making the smell rise in tangled nightmarish streams around them.
Guard the rich guy--they'd played that back at the Academy too. Ino laughed, the sound making Shikamaru's eyebrows raise as she wandered over to him. He had more bodies on his side than she did.
"Having fun?" he drawled. The corpse he was searching had bright green eyes. Ino filed that fact, and dismissed it, while kneeling down beside the next dead body. A shock of bright red hair stuck out from under the bandanna.
"Why not?" she replied, wrinkling her nose at him even as her eyes flashed with a morbid sort of humour. "Guard the rich guy. We did, they lost." Even just saying that made her feel a little more grounded. Ha. They'd won.
Other people were dead, and there was blood on her hands. Didn't matter. She'd won.
"Such a pain," Shikamaru muttered, though she thought he still sounded amused. "What're you going to tell them back at that school? You've still have to turn in notes don't you?"
"Only to Ghanima-sensei," she said, with a shrug and pulling another face at that. "The others so far are good with 'hurrah, I'm still alive' as long as I look in one piece. Might have to tell Tyler-sensei I wasn't out playing mailman, but whatever." Guard the rich guy was close, right? Right.
They worked in silence for the next quarter-hour before Shikamaru stood up, standing by the last corpse and glanced at her. "Weren't you always bad at that game?"
"I got better at it," Ino said, rubbing one of her hands off on her skirt and making a note to burn this outfit when she got home. She'd still have to wash her hands before wanting to eat anything. "Obviously."
It wasn't long after that when Asuma-sensei came back, took their reports, and only a bit longer before the caravan was mobilized and they were moving out again, leaving the bodies where they'd fallen just off the road.
They’d won. Good ninja, now keep moving. She did. It wasn't so hard.
[NFI, NFB, OOC a-okay. There’s death in this one, so ‘ware and all that! ^^ ]
Distantly, she thought that several people back at Fandom would be displeased with that trail of thought.
Ino turned over the bandit--rough-shaven, foul smelling, worn clothing, just like every other bandit ever--and systematically searched for anything at all that'd point to this being more than just your average attempt at an ambush. Attempt, because they'd been there and stopped them.
She wasn't even hurt. What blood was on her wasn't her own. That, Ino knew, was more luck than anything. She'd been just getting up from a nap--you learnt to nap whenever your sensei said you could while on a mission--when the strike had come.
Up ahead, she could hear Takanaka-san wailing about the loss of a horse, the injuries to his men, and how the caravan would be late. Not her problem. Asuma-sensei had set Chouji to calming the man down, and told her and Shikamaru to search the bodies while he scouted for any survivors.
She kicked the dead man lightly in the side, stepping over him, and moving on to the next on. The heat from the blinding sun overhead beat down on them, and turned the air sharp-edged with light. Body after body, she didn't let herself think about how that one had died because she'd kicked him so hard his neck had snapped, and that one there had died because Shikamaru had strangled him with his shadow. That one had a kunai to the head--Ino wasn't sure who had thrown it. Hard to tell when they all used the same weapon. Those ones had been crushed to death, Chouji flattening them. Asuma-sensei's precise cuts, the broken bones, the way that on the ground they all looked the same.
Shock, she decided, making a face at that, was what made things feel so disjointed. She wasn't sure what she was shocked about though, other than, perhaps, the fact that she'd managed well enough on her own. No one had had to come and save her.
That was a victory. The corpses that she was walking over, searching through their clothing and coming up with nothing of interest, were less likely to agree. No kidding. Ino signaled Shikamaru that she hadn't found anything, and he signed back the same thing.
Just a stupid ambush. They'd probably been hungry, or something, and too lazy to actually work for a living. Probably seen that they were just a few teenagers and a man who spent more time smoking than anything useful and thought that forehead protectors or not that it'd be easy enough.
"Idiots," she muttered, getting to her feet and shaking her head. "Fucking stupid. All of you."
And now they were dead. For the most part, Ino was okay with that. She just wished they'd stop laughing. Gaping false mouths, showing things that were supposed to stay inside of their bodies for a reason, and the heat making the smell rise in tangled nightmarish streams around them.
Guard the rich guy--they'd played that back at the Academy too. Ino laughed, the sound making Shikamaru's eyebrows raise as she wandered over to him. He had more bodies on his side than she did.
"Having fun?" he drawled. The corpse he was searching had bright green eyes. Ino filed that fact, and dismissed it, while kneeling down beside the next dead body. A shock of bright red hair stuck out from under the bandanna.
"Why not?" she replied, wrinkling her nose at him even as her eyes flashed with a morbid sort of humour. "Guard the rich guy. We did, they lost." Even just saying that made her feel a little more grounded. Ha. They'd won.
Other people were dead, and there was blood on her hands. Didn't matter. She'd won.
"Such a pain," Shikamaru muttered, though she thought he still sounded amused. "What're you going to tell them back at that school? You've still have to turn in notes don't you?"
"Only to Ghanima-sensei," she said, with a shrug and pulling another face at that. "The others so far are good with 'hurrah, I'm still alive' as long as I look in one piece. Might have to tell Tyler-sensei I wasn't out playing mailman, but whatever." Guard the rich guy was close, right? Right.
They worked in silence for the next quarter-hour before Shikamaru stood up, standing by the last corpse and glanced at her. "Weren't you always bad at that game?"
"I got better at it," Ino said, rubbing one of her hands off on her skirt and making a note to burn this outfit when she got home. She'd still have to wash her hands before wanting to eat anything. "Obviously."
It wasn't long after that when Asuma-sensei came back, took their reports, and only a bit longer before the caravan was mobilized and they were moving out again, leaving the bodies where they'd fallen just off the road.
They’d won. Good ninja, now keep moving. She did. It wasn't so hard.
[NFI, NFB, OOC a-okay. There’s death in this one, so ‘ware and all that! ^^ ]