It had been days, if not almost a week since Fūten had left home following the dog-roundup mission with his squad. People were not his thing and the experience had robbed him of any desire to do anything and he sunk into a fit of depression and alcohol dependency. The hotel he had acquired for living was a mess and bottles of different varieties of alcohol lay scattered around. He had been riding a wave of drinking to escape what he was experiencing this day. The hangover of a lifetime. The gentle knock on his door would thunder like an explosive going off, and as he stumbled up to make his way to the door, he vomited.

A man handed to him a note. An urgent notification that he had been out of contact with his squad for too long and that an issue would arise of he did not immediately follow instructions that were also provided in an envelope, attached. The instructions were simple, but made Fūten sick to his stomach even moreso. A certain new member had been added to his squad, and had apparently also been left behind, while Moto and Takumi had left for Konoha. Fūten was to meet this new squadmate at the gates and together they were to travel to konoha to continue training.

Such an inopportune day to have to meet a new person and travel. Fūten showered and cleansed himself, trying to make sure the smell of alcohol wasn't obvious. As he opened the door and was hit by the rising sun, it caused him to squint, and caused his headache to intensify. It was going to be a long and strenuous journey, even if only for Fūten. He wondered the name of his new team member.

PS: Sure, go for the E-thugs thing.

Oh God I sure overdid it back there... My legs stil hurt so much, I don't even know how I'll make it to the stupid bakery... Ashi mentally complained as she was going down the staircase in her family's spacious house. It was still early, but her mother woke her up in order to go buy some fresh bread from the bakery around the corner. It was her turn that day, since her brother did it the previous two times. After about a minute or two of painful struggling, Ashi managed to come down the stairs. She was just about to sit down to rest for a brief moment, but the thought of having to stand up quickly prevented her from doing so. Her legs hurting this much was really inconvenient, despite her exaggerating it a bit. She opened the door and got out, the sun shining down on her young and pretty face. She noticed the postman walking away from her; did he just deliver a letter? She was right. She opened up the mailbox to find two letters in the middle of the other advertisements and various fliers. After a closer look at the first one, she saw that it was entitled... to her?! The letter sparked her curiosity, and she opened it quickly and began to read. Wait, what? I haven't appeared at the squad meetup? I wasn't even placed on a squad yet, what is this nonsense? There's no way I'm travelling to Konoha, not like this.. This must've been for some other Ashi... Ashi went on to inspect the other letter too, only to discover that it was entitled to her name as well? Her curiosity started to turn into confusion; Ashi had never received a letter before in her entire life, and now she got two? On the same day? No way, that was for someone else. But she still opened it and read it, which was followed by her continuing to blankly stare at the paper for another couple of seconds, with her mouth and eyes fully opened. The letter contained her squad details and the information about the meetup; but the date was a week late. Those motherfuckers... I'm lucky they didn't kick me off the squad! I've heard that the postal service was late sometimes, but an entire week? Really? There was no way that it was simply sitting in their letterbox for an entire week, her mother checks it daily. Ashi was quite angry now, but the only thing she could do in order to stay on the squad right now was to meet up with the other teammate and head out for Konoha, which was a hell of a long journey. After discussing the matter with her parents and getting the permission to go, Ashi said goodbye to her brother and made her way to the southern city gates. The wall was absolutely huge, and made her feel oh so safe. She could remember staring at it back when she was a kid too. But now she simply leaned against it, feeling the cold on her back, and awaited for her travel companion while looking at the ground with a smirk on her face. This sucks so much... Especially if I'll have to travel with a guy... Please be a girl please be a girl please be a giiiirl... The mere word "guy" sparked thoughts of the fancy Amaya she met a couple of days before, and she slightly blushed. Ashi knew full well that he was older, but still... There was something about him that made him so special.

Travel Wordcount: 612/600 (Completed)

Fūten wouldn't have cared who his partner was, he really had no preference. So long as the individual was not snotty like the individual he had so kindly drove a rasengan a into not but a week ago. If that were the case Fūten would more than likely ditch them and head on to Konoha. Takumi probably meant no harm in leaving Fūten, and Fūten hadn't taken it personally. He was eager to reunite with the Anbu captain. The quaint, piss covered one from the dog mission was also not a bad individual either. It would be nice to meet any of them, again, and get away from the drinking that was ravaging his body. As Fūten secured his door and made way down the streets, he felt his head thumping hard to the beat of his heart. What a terribly beautiful curse, alcohol was.

As he reached the massive wall that loomed menacingly over Iwa, he could see people coming in and out and a minute crowd that he had to navigate. A girl stood leaning against the wall, away from the bustle. Fūten couldn't be sure though, and wouldn't make a fool of himself. He went to the gatekeeper and showed them his rite of passage, and asked them if they had his partners name on record. They did, and so Fūten would turn around as the gatekeeper shouted out for one called "Ashi."

Time seemed to take a deep, slowing effect as the mix of senses flooded Fūten and his migraine pounded on. He saw a sudden apparition like no other. First only one, but then three men passing through the crowd of people like sharks in a peaceful oasis. They were dressed as his father used to dress when he was a criminal lord. It made Fūten sick to his stomach but he quickly dismissed it as an illusion. A fault of his sick-state.

With a worried expression, unable to be deciphered through his bandages, Fūten would wait for his accomplice.

[654/600] traveling complete
Iwa to Konoha

Ashi waited for her teammate for about twenty minutes before she finally realized that she actually has no idea how he or she looked like at all; and the same was probably true the other way around too. So Ashi got the idea of asking the gatekeeper; it was a long shot, but he might've known who the other teammate was. The records were kept with caution, and the gatekeeper had the exact list of shinobi who were allowed to exit the village. So she walked up to the tall man. He wore the standard Iwagakure shinobi uniform, coupled with a bandada which covered his entire head, and had the forehead protector sawn onto the front side of it. He was fairly muscular, and had a light beard; almost the completely stereotypical Iwagakure shinobi by the looks of it. Ashi approached him quietly, and waited for a second before he realized that she was there, and spoke. "Hey missy, need somethin'?" Ashi responded a bit louder than usual, since the place was quite crowded. "Yeah, I'm supposed to meet a teammate here and travel to Konoha with him, but the problem is I have no clue how he looks like... Would you know maybe?" "And you're be Ashi, right?" She nodded in response. The gatekeeper pointed to another man, standing to the edge of the crowd. She took a closer look, and sighted in disappointment because he was a guy. He was also taller than Ashi, and looked pretty strong, but the main thing that confused Ashi a slight bit was the fact that he seemed to be covered with bandages completely; his face, his feet, all of his skin that wasn't hidden under clothes. The only parts that were free were his mouth and eyes, and there were also some holes here and there on his head where Ashi could see some patches of his black hair. She walked up to him, and spoke. "Hi there, ugh... I'm Ashi. I think we're supposed to travel to Konoha together. Now that she was a bit closer, Ashi could easily see that he was definitely older than her; in fact, if she didn't know, she'd probably mistake him for a senpai, not a teammate of hers.

Wordcount: 380

Suddenly before him a girl would appear, seeming rather unenthused about the journey ahead OR about Fūten in general. It didn't matter a bit to him, which. She knew the objective, and Fūten didn't have to announce it to her. So they could be on their way with little need for chit-chat. He would stay polite, because she hadn't yet earned any nastiness from Fūten yet as far as attitudes went.

"My name is Fūten, I am of the Yūryō clan. We would be wise to make haste, Chunin exam preparation is needed."

Fūten would've never suspected such a young girl to be his accomplice. She had raven colored hair, just as he did, and she was rather short. She was a fair and elegant looking young lady. Something about her oddly reminded Fūten of his own mother. He shook off the familiarity and without further communication, headed toward the exit of the village of rock.

He was constantly looking over his shoulders in fear of the men he had hallucinated up earlier. His head still hurt and he was still nauseated from his hangover. To his traveling partner he must have seemed like a real nutcase, wrapped up like a fool, she had no basis to understand why that was, and Fūten hadn't even considered explaining it. She likely did not realize that Fūten wouldn't speak the entire journey if she did not make the first attempt at conversation.

The wind was rough today, Fūten found himself looking away from it as they inched away from the gates step by step, traveling down the relatively small, uneven path toward Konoha. Behind them a merchant cart would roll slowly. Hawks would cry out in the sky as they strolled through the rocky terrain.

[WC: 310]

"My name is Fūten, I am of the Yūryō clan. We would be wise to make haste, Chunin exam preparation is needed." Ashi nodded and they started the journey. It was Futen who led the way, since Ashi really had no idea where to go; but apparently they turned left after getting out of the village, and proceeded along a rough, rocky path that led down the mountainside. It was awfully quiet actually, but she didn't mind the silence; in fact, Ashi wasn't were talkative in general anyways. But there was one thing that she wondered; was Futen her cousin? He probably is, given that they come from the same clan. She didn't mention it earlier, but it was mostly because she was slightly afraid of the mummy-like man. But now, Ashi thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring it up, so she spoke: "You know, I'm of the Yuryo clan as well... That would make us cousins, right? What a coincidence..."

Wordcount: 168
Total wordcount: 548

PS. Conversation post = short post? :c

Fūten enjoyed the lack of conversation that went along as they walked. This girl understood the value of objectivity and getting something done without fooling about. As they made way, it seemed that they had reached a point that marked 1/3 of the way, which was no shock and surprise because Konoha was very close to Iwa. It was then that Ashi spoke. She would mention that she was also of the Yūryō clan, and would mention the probability of the two being cousins.

Fūten looked up and then backwards at her in what seemed to be robotic motions. He peered into her eyes and then nodded, turning back around to continue walking. But as he walked he spoke.

"Are you a practitioner of Jinton, cousin?" Fūten would say with a bit of a lighthearted conversational tone.

The wind had picked up and was easily a distration while trying to walk, little particulates of sand would disturb the skin and eyes and mouth of anyone who didn't have some protection. Fūten pulled his bandages down, so that they covered his mouth, and then reached in his bag and pulled out his spare bandaging and offered it to Ashi. She could easily cover just the lower portion of her face and stop sand from infiltrating her mouth.

As he held the bandaging out to her he noticed a group of shinobi approaching from the rear, at a brisk pace. Fūten did not react hastily, as to not invoke a full scale assault if that was what would proceed to happen. Instead he offered to apply the medical bandaging to Ashi himself, through hand gestures. He kept an eye open as he awaited a response.

[600 WC]

[Exit Thread]

600 Total WC

450 for perception D-2~>D-3