Guard The Gates

Mission Name: Guard the gates
Mission Type: Guard mission
Mission Rank: C
Mission Goal: Protect against intrusion
Description: The normal gate guards have been working around the clock, take over their duty for a day to give them so much needed time off
Payment: 15,000 ryo
Requirements: Gennin +
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Valen arrived in the early morning in order to relieve the guards at the main gate of the village. The mission had been assigned the night prior so he had gotten some rest and came prepared for a rather boring day all in all. But he was still prepared for any complications if they came up. At his hip sat his weapon, the Hai no Ha, a katana of immaculate make and quality that augmented his fire capabilities to terrifying levels. He wore his normal shinobi outfit when he was in Kirigakure. For the moment anyway, which consisted of a pair of black shinobi pants and a black compression shirt. A black cloak was over the entire thing and his shinobi headband was upon his forehead. The symbol of Kirigakure emblazoned upon the metal. Two shinobi were required for gate duty but Valen had been told he would be the lead shinobi. Something ‘building experience’ and such so that he could be promoted eventually.

Overall that was fine for him. Although neither of the night shifts guards could leave until both day shift guards arrived. Still Valen himself was early and that meant his shift partner had time yet. Neither night shift guards seemed impatient and all three of them simply chilled out in silence. Valen’s red eyes were alert for any threat. Even if he wasn’t technically on duty he was still a shinobi and that meant he had a job to do.

[1]

Another day, another mission. Takara had noted Valen heading into the Mission Assignment area the day before and waited until he left before entering herself. She didn’t want to seem like she was stalking him or anything, but she had to admit that getting missions done with someone you knew was far better than doing them alone. She would freely admit this if Valen ever asked, but he seemed to be true to his description from before, simply wanting to get the missions done without a single emotional attachment. The dark-skinned Genin would be lying if she didn’t say that she hoped that over time he would be able to see her as a friend the way that Takara was wanting him to, but she also wasn’t going to be hoping all that much either. She knew better than to get her hopes up like she had when they first met only to have them doused, but she would keep this up anyway.

As usual, Takara was early for her shift as well, a point to be punctual always as a part of who she was. Right place, right time, right equipment just wasn’t enough for her. If you weren’t 15 minutes early, you were 10 minutes late, and it was that simple. She knew that it might be a long day, and had brought a book with her, ‘Organs and their Functions’ that would keep her busy most of the day if it wound up being dull. In her Normal Outfit she waved wordlessly to Valen and moved to take a seat at the stand where she was supposed to after giving the night-shift a quick bow of her head as they left. Taking a seat, she pulled a pair of breakfast sandwiches from her bag, setting one before Valen. Egg, Bacon, Cheese… what was not to like? “I brought our food for the day. Made it myself.” She was curious what he would think of her cooking, after all, and trusted him to be brutally honest.

[1]

Valen would note the arrival of Takara, nodding his head to her in greeting. It would appear they had been assigned the same mission again. That was fine, and he didn’t really care one way or the other. So long as the mission got done. With her arrival however the previous shift's work was done and they gave them thankful nods before leaving into the village to either get some rest or train or whatever they might decide to go do. The swordsman himself would sit at the table next to Takara, given that it was the only seat available and lean back, fully prepared to be bored for the day. When Takara pulled out two sandwiches and set one in front of them he would blink in mild surprise. She would explain and he would nod his head toward her. “Thank you.” He would say simply, his usual habit of simply not speaking much fully in effect. He opened the sandwich and ate it. He didn’t really consider the idea that she might be looking for comment on it because it wasn’t something he would consider normally.

He did however finish the sandwich in short order before closing up the wrapper and throwing it into a trash can beneath their desk. If one looked carefully, they might be able to tell that he enjoyed the sandwich. However he wasn’t one to comment on such things. After all he had eaten far worse things than the worst cooking would create and that meant he would generally eat anything and simply be thankful for the sustenance. With that done he would note the book she had and nod at it. “You brought reading material, nice. Don’t think I’m slacking off, I’ll still be fully aware of what’s around me.” He would say simply before leaning his chair back on two legs and half closing his eyes. As if falling into a half doze. It was something he picked up from his enslavement. Get rest while you could, no matter what. While like this he would still somewhat rest, but still be attentive to what was happening around him. His ears were sharp and even half closed his eyes would pick up most details quickly and easily. While she read for the day, he would get some rest so he could train more tonight. With his days being taken up by missions it was the way he made time for it. So that he could make money, gain experience, and still progress. This mission was perfect for it too, because Gate duty was usually boring from what he heard so he could rest with near impunity.

The day would go on without anything out of the ordinary. Anytime someone came up to the desk to enter or exit the village one of Valen’s eyes would open fully and take in the look and demeanor of the individual in question. In general he gave off the vibe of a relaxed individual but he was always ready to strike. Like a coiled viper waiting for the right moment, or reason, to take down its prey. Any who spoke to him would find him immediately awake and putting them through the sign in or sign out procedure. Anyone who spoke to Takara would find his eye upon them as he readied to back her up if necessary. Overall by the end of the day nothing out of the ordinary happened and the next shift would come to relieve them. When their relief arrived Valen would stand, rolling his neck and feeling, and hearing, little cracks and pops as he worked out the tension from half dozing in a chair for a day. Then nod toward their relief, and then toward Takara “Let’s go report in.” He would say, moving into the village and toward the mission report desk.

Exit

[2]

Takara indeed was watching carefully as he ate the sandwich because she knew a little bit about how he ate from the first time they met. Thanks to her brilliant mind, she had been able to note that while he did eat everything very quickly, often enough if there was something he liked more than something else, he would actually take the time to chew it just a little bit more than anything else, despite not being that big of a difference in time. Based on the amount that he chewed the sandwich, he enjoyed it quite a bit, which was a definite bonus to Takara. She would make sure that they had good food each and every time they were going to be working on a long mission from this point on if provided the opportunity. His words of thanks had been responded to with nothing more than a smile and a nod; he didn’t like talking too much, and non-verbal communication seemed to be the preferred method, and that was something she easily enough could adapt to.

His claim that he wasn’t going to be slacking off earned another nod as she too took the first bite of her sandwich and opened her book. He would note that she read extremely quickly, and after a few minutes, pulled out a simple pencil and notepad and jotted down a series of numbers, looking up at the ceiling for a moment while trying to think, before getting back to it. He didn’t really know Takara all that well yet, but what she was doing was noting pages in which that she felt were particularly important, and then mentally going back and connecting the dots between pages inside her mind so that they were tied to one another. This would allow her to recall all relevant information about a topic simply by thinking about it, which helped her mind organize the absolute metric ton of knowledge stored within it. About halfway through the book, which took about an hour, she was finished with her sandwich, taking considerably longer to eat it while focused on another task. That was when she took a short break and regarded Valen and his ‘vigilant rest’.

Based on what she saw, he was indeed alert, but allowing his body itself to rest as much as possible and conserve energy. It was impressive how well he had mastered this art, and she wondered idly if he ever got a truly full night’s sleep in his life. Truly felt safe and secure. A part of her doubted it. Nothing truly eventful happened over the course of the day, and Takara had managed to work her way through eight books that she had brought to study. She had been vigilant as well; with her mind constantly stimulated, her ears were particularly sharp and she was quick to handle most of the logistics needed when someone came to the desk, letting Valen rest as much as possible. As their releif was due soon, she took a few extra minutes and cleaned up the post, making sure it was in the best condition for the next shift, and walked with Valen to go turn in the mission quietly, smiling at what she had learned not only from her books, but the person she was trying to befriend as well.

[EXIT]
[(10 EXP x 2 Posts) +25 MISSION COMPLETION EXP = 45 EXP]
[+15,000 Ryo]