Invite List:

Well, there was some down time, and he needed to use it. He was finding the extreme environment of the desert to be wonderfully conductive toward training; it pushed his body and mind far more than he prefered climates, and given his chances of swinging back through this region anytime soon where slim, he felt the need to eek out what he could, when he could. It was strange, he didn't normally feel much urge to 'train', outside of his meditations and studies for his work recording histories and stories about the supernatural and unknown. His urges where falling in line with his secondary work as a ninja; he wasn't completely sure why, either. Maybe it was something to do with Samael? He felt this need to be... useful; this need to be something that could be used and helpful for the older male, so that he would have a way to stay with him. There was no telling why, and nothing about it seemed strange to the albino; which should have been a tell that something was going on. He was never this interested in anyone, nor did he want to get closer to normal humans. Although, to be fair, Samael isn't that normal, nor entirely human; maybe that was it? He was attracted to the supernatural nature of the male; it gave them something they could bond over, on top of that unspoken pseudo-bond that all orphans had. They got along just fine, so far anyway, outside of all of that; and Samael was certainly his 'type', on that unexplored romantic level that was entirely unconscious in his being. Not the demonic nature; that was a point of neutrality to him, as he was well versed in the truth and lores of demons, and understood that at the basic level, they are neither good, nor evil, by nature; it was the choices and actions of a being that decided if it was good or evil or something else entirely; it was everything human about the male that made him... attractive, in several ways, to the younger.

Well, that, and an unknown personality quirk that had roared to life over the male, and was working hard to make Haruka insert himself into Samael's life in a way that would keep them together forever. Haruka's loyalties where heavily in danger of switching; taking him from his clan and putting him firmly into Samael's camp. Not that he would even complain; he wasn't that fond of any member of his 'clan', nor did anything really bind him to them beyond a job and a shared skillset; so really, he would consciously change his loyalties without an issue, if given the chance.

Maybe he should invite Sam out for another date...

Wait, was their lunch really a date? The further out he got from the event, the more he was looking back through rose tinted glasses, and the more it seemed more important than it actually was. Or was it? Baaaah. The changing memories and importance of them was confusing, but he just couldn't find it in himself to be bothered. He almost consciously wanted his warped memories to be right; he wanted, unconsciously at this moment, but more and more actively as time passed, to throw himself at the elder; demand that Samael take him away and keep him; even if it was as some sort of pet or tool or whatever; just so long as he could stay with him. Hnnn, strange urges.

Eyes fluttered open and the boy shot up in his bed; his strange, lumpy, hotel/inn bed that was stupidly uncomfortable and way too soft for his back, but something about it was blissfully cool in the roasting hot desert day and nights, so he forced himself to sleep in it versus on the far more comfortable floor. He'd been thinking in his dreams, that twilight where you where equal parts awake and asleep and your conscious and unconscious minds where able to converse and share information in a way that was able to make sense of. It was something that he'd been trained in; working his mind so that he spent large periods of time in that place between sleep and wake; it was a time where communing with the spirits and the world around him was simple, and he was able to tap into his reserves of power and spread his awareness over large areas and larger dimensional spaces. This training was how he was able to remain calm and remember the things that happened in this time; similar to lucid dreaming or learning to keep a dream journey. He'd been trained long ago to allow himself to sink into this phase and remain there for far longer than the split instant that most did; he could focus and remain mentally free at the same time, and remember what happened. Most often, it was merely a trippy dream state, sometimes vivid memories or even the occasional spiritual meeting; but today had been... different. Just a blank space and thought; nothing more. His subconscious thoughts and his conscious mind conversing, and coming to a mutual decision that he wasn't able to hang onto; which out of the entire situation was the odd part. He just couldn't remember what had been decided, and that was a little scary.

But just for a moment.

After a moment, and when he first came to full consciousness, he forgot entirely that he was concerned, and reached for the notebook he kept by his bedside at all times. He kept a dream journal, yes; because often times he would find new leads to follow, or work out puzzles and such that he wasn't able to in his waking moments. Habits, ingrained deeply, and ones that paid off.

He remained sitting up in the bed, blankets and single quilt pooled low across his lap, barely covering his decency in a way that would be acceptable to anyone that walked in at the moment. Only his upper body was visible; he was sleeping naked at the time, which for him was extremely strange; but the heat... it was killer to him. He was doing anything he could to stay cool, and this was one way that helped. His body was ghostly, almost sickly pale in the pre-dawn twilight; the last flickers of a candle in the window sill pushing back the shadows of the room. The journey was set aside after the mechanical task of recording was finished, and he reached up to push his shaggy hair from his face. It was getting long, he really should find a set of scissors, or maybe even go to a barber, and trim it back some. Not much, but enough to be more manageable; he needed it long for his work, but this was getting to be too much. He wouldn't be able to hide it under a wig anymore soon, but it was still far too short for him to be able to pass without one. Decisions for later.

Haruka shifted backwards some, pulling himself backwards until his back was resting against the wall and he was supported properly; his shoulders sagging some and his head tilting back so that he was staring upward; blood red eyes staring beyond the ceiling and to the stars above. Even with the odd coolness of the bed, he was sweating up a storm; as much from the heat as the nightmares that haunted his nights rather often. The usual favorites had played across his mind many times over; however there had been a few... new ones. New ones he refused to think on. No, he merely sat there and just breathed; slowly in, slowly out, deep, focused breaths. A meditation exercise. Calming, soothing.

His chest hurt.

The scar, it was burning again; hard and heavy and painful and dredging up nasty memories that where little more than dreams but still there; broken fragments of visions and smells and feelings from before he woke up in that room that wasn't a hospital and spelled the start of him now, the man he was and the broken child he had been. Mixed into the dripping sweat where small, barely there tears; tears he didn't even know he had anymore of after so many years of pain and horror; tears for what he'd lost and what he was. He put on a good happy face, and in some moments he was even content; but most of the time he was miserable in his life, and he hated it. He hated all of it. That hate was dangerous; hate was what brought about the fall of many of his predecessors and the creation of many a white goblin or rage spirit. He didn't want to become those things; he refused to be another fallen spirit that haunted the world and created the need for more of his kind; more exorcists that risked their souls and sanity to protect humanity from what it didn't understand and was ill prepared to deal with.

So then why did he want to be with a half-demon so badly?

"Hnnng...!" Haruka was curling around himself, falling forward into a sort of fetal position with his hands clenching his chest; he was squeezing his scar: that massive swath of knotted and burned flesh that looked like it had been liquified by flames of supreme heat and power; the kind of injury that no one should be able to survive; yet there it was, right over his heart and burning like it was fresh. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think; the world was a whiteout of pain and fear and anger and all the horrible emotions and desires that would have him fall into depravity of the worst kind. He had to fight; he had to remain as he was. He wouldn't become another dark being.

He just wanted to go home.

He wanted to be with Samael.

He wanted to be safe.

He just wanted the pain to end...

Long seconds pushed into minutes, and slowly... very slowly, he began to uncurl. The pain was... not fading, but he was growing used to it, as often happened. For all he could tell anymore, he was likely in massive pain at all hours of the day and night, yet he only felt it when it flared anew. As the pain subsided, he was able to sit back up, knuckles still white with the force of his fingers on his flesh; there was blood dripping from small wounds, his nails had broken into his thin skin and released the red liquid; adding another layer to the crescent ring around the edge of the scarred flesh. Pained, heavy breaths caused his chest to raise and lower, shudders caused by the waves of pain still wracking his body. It was going to be a long day, if this was the start of it. He'd never likely know what caused his scar to flare; he almost never did, unless some sort of spiritual reasoning was found; so this was likely to go down as another random attack. More memories to suppress, more things to worry about later.

Eyes would eventually open, one hand removed from his chest and used to brush the tears of pain and sadness from his eyes, wipe the sweat from his brow and once again push his silver hair from his face. A single rag, sitting clumped in a large bowl that was full of water that needed to be changed, the pitcher of fresh water beside it, was retrieved and wrung out so that it was merely damp; he used that to clean the blood from his chest and dab at what had made it to the blanket and sheets. He cleansed the cloth in the water bowl and used it once more to wipe himself clean of sweat and such, before dropping it into the tainted water and moving to fetch a robe. He needed to get fresh water; and the tap was down the hall.

Once this errand was done, he was able to use the now fresh water to quickly clean himself; he was basically sponge bathing versus using the showers in the communal bathing space downstairs. It was too busy, there was no way for him to hide his... deformities; as the other patrons put it, from them, and he didn't wish to start a fight. Not over this. It was bad enough when he went down to fetch a quick meal; the inn offered a free 'breakfast' option; not that it was worth much; but it was free, and he didn't need much. A piece of fruit, a pathetic piece of toast... he was fine with that. He'd long since finished off the remains of the lunch he'd shared with Samael; how the rooms had mini fridges but not bathrooms and sinks was beyond him. It must have just been too expensive to bother updating the rooms that much, but it was still better than sleeping until a cloak in an alleyway or somesuch. He'd done that plenty of times, it wouldn't be the first or the last time; but he prefered not to when he could help it. That was a given for most people; having at least a roof over your head was something most humans prefered.

Hmmm... Breakfast sounded... horrifying right now. Too much pain left in his body, too many ghosts of terrible memories. His stomach was already a knot of no, so trying to put things into it was asking for trouble. It wasn't like he needed to eat every single day; he routinely forgot to eat, and would only remember when he collapsed from the lack of energy. It happened with... what should be alarming regularity, but he couldn't be bothered to worry about himself like that. He just... couldn't. There wasn't any reason to, really. He was dispensable enough, another face in a crowd with no worth or reason; outside what his clan assigned him; and that was little to none, yet. He was a beginner, even with his innate skills, and because of that he was expendable. Maybe if he lived another twenty years, he would be worth something to them; maybe if he lived to be one hundred he would be worth something to himself; but that was beyond the point. His apathy, his lack of knowledge about himself, his shattered memories and the torment of his past... it was leading him down a self destructive path, and while he didn't want to find the ending of that path... he couldn't bring himself to turn to another. Not alone.

Maybe that was why he wanted Sam?

Aaaargh. Focus.

Focus on something else. Anything else. Focus on plans for the day. He was going to train, and pick up odd jobs. Him paying for the lunch the other day had taken up most of his spending money, and he needed more to make it for the longer time spent in the village. That involved focusing; pushing away the pain in his chest and centering his mind, so that he was able to focus and work and not be trapped in a dark depression all day. He'd do that... he had to do that, really. There was no other choice; he couldn't just stay in that place; he'd fall so hard that he'd end up a white goblin in less than a month; dead from depression and starvation, if not sooner from dehydration; cursed to spend eternity as a spirit of rage and pain and destruction.

Not something he wanted. His current life was bad enough; spending eternity like that was not what he wold enjoy. Life was shit, but there was nothing he could do about that but keep pushing forward; push forever until he found something better, made something better. Maybe he'd never know the truth of who he was and why he was able to do the things he did; but that wasn't reason enough to be dragged into darkness; was it? He had a decent enough life from some perspectives; he was fed, he had clothing and a little coin in his pocket; he was healthy enough. He had work, he could also go 'home'; in the sense of being 'welcome' enough at any of the clan compounds and owned tea houses and the like; but that wasn't home. He'd still have to leave eventually; if you don't work you don't eat and if you don't work you're not allowed to remain in the clan; not at his ranking, not at his level of usefulness. Hnnn...

Sighing heavily, he reached for his tiny little truck; it was more a backpack than anything else; but it had everything he owned within it. A few scrolls with his clothing for safety, his case of makeup and other tool for when he was undercover; a couple of nice looking hair combs and such, and what little he had by way of ninja tools. A scroll of clothing was retrieved and opened, his simple attire pulled free and thrown on over his bare form; a moment with his make up kit had him looking less pale as the sun finally crested the far horizon and the twilight began to fade into daylight. Shoes, his overclock, and his staff; his little coin purse was stashed within a pocket deep in his layers of clothing. It was all he needed, that and his room key hanging around his neck on a thin chain. He made his way out of the room, locking the door tightly behind him and leaving his troubles behind him; shoving them down into the depths of his mind until he was alone once more; his mask was perfectly crafted after all this time, and he used it to it's fullest. A smile, fake as day to anyone that cared; and sadly, no one did; so no one noticed.

Life was hard, but he'd make due.

Time to be productive...

WC: 3160

3160/3000 Bukijutsu B-A

Runaway - C-Rank Mission:

Leaving the inn was a welcome change; the rising sun would help to burn away his troubles for a bit, allow him to focus and work and get things done. The sun tended to do that; it's burning fury was pain and focus and heat and life and it just cleansed him, keeping him from losing his mind and going darkside on the world. It was still low in the sky, below the level of the walls that hide and protected this bastion of the desert, and he was fine with that. The heat was tolerable, and he didn't need to keep his hood up in the gentle light of the early morning. Few people were about yet, so he didn't worry as much about being singled out by his silver-white hair and bloodred (at least, in this light) eyes. Given the bulk of his clothing, he was even able to pass as male for the moment; which helped to keep the eyes off as well; fewer paid attention to some random dudebro walking down the street than they did to a dainty little female outsider that obviously needed the help of some other random dudebro to find anything and keep the packs of roving dudebros off of her. Useful in some situations, but not at that moment.

He had his ninja ID, for all the good it normally did for him, on the chain around his neck, along with his room key and his dog tags; because he was registered in the databases of a few villages as a an unaffiliated ninja from a civilian land, he was issued them by the ninja village closest to where he'd grown up and been trained; which was, sadly enough, Iwagakure. It meant his passport was shit on pretty often, but it was all legal, and his surname was enough to get him by; well, the surname and his clan papers. His clan was legitimate, and ran legitimate businesses; doing trade with the ninja villages and civilian world alike; so they had official travel papers that helped their members from places like Iwa, and the less known minor villages, to travel in peace.

Why did he have his ID on him? He was going to attempt to do some sanctioned missions that the village genin did. He needed the coin, and he was in good standing; or neutral enough anyway; do be allowed to run them as an independant contractor of sorts. Not all of them, but ones that didn't risk information and such of the village. Enough for him to get some coin, and a bit of heat off his tail for being an outsider floating around. Get some standing in the village, maybe upgrade his rating a bit. It would take a lot to do it, but it would be worth it. He was getting tired of being stared at with anger and fear when he was near the Uzumaki temple. Didn't matter that he was an invited guest, or that he was a neutral party; his appearance and outsider status bothered the people of the city. Isolationism was no longer the norm, but the policy had been in place for generations, and was hard to shake.

He moved through the deserted streets quickly and with purpose; staying to the main streets and moving in a way that spoke of him reporting to a meeting or some such; he was heading directly for the administrative area of the village, so he was being watched, but left alone; as it looked like he was heading for village security or some such. Good enough, really. He was fine being followed like this; it was basically par for the course. He could ignore it, and just move on. That was what he'd do, in this situation. He was just going to go inside the mission building and pick up whatever he was allowed to take.

Which, in the end, turned out to be a search and recover mission. A child had gone missing, and there weren't any village genin floating around. Given the nature of the mission, it was a bit of a stretch to give it to him; but they had little choice until someone else appeared, and as he had the skills needed, they were going to just give him the chance. That was fine with him, and the pay was decent. It was a good mission; simple enough in theory, and it meant he was helping people; finding a child that had gone missing was a worthwhile way to spend his time. All they'd given him was a general description and an order to hurry his scrawny ass up.

Hnnn. Village ninjas. Ugh.

Haruka hit the streets, scouring the alleyways, parks, and other places a runaway might be hiding. There were plenty of them, and he needed to hurry up; cause once the sun was really up properly and the heat hit, he'd be dying doing this mission. One advantage of being a ninja, he could get into places that adults normally couldn't; and that was what worked out for him. He was in the middle of working over his third park; over an hour into the search; when he started hearing what sounded like a child crying. It was in what appeared to be a drainage pipe or something similar; he was going to get it was a storm drain for the monsoon rains that would be passing through later in the year. He had to work his way up what he'd thought was a dead tree until he got close enough to realize it was a sculpture; made of metal piping painted to look like a tree at a distance; using that as a launching point to leap over a high fence and into the dry canal bed; landing hard on the layer of sand covering the stone below. That was going to ache in the morning, yep.

Once down there, he was able to follow his ears to a covered pipe; it had the crossbars meant to keep animals and large debris from getting inside; but the bars where wide enough apart to allow for a small child; or a super tiny adult; to pass through with a little work. He did just that, wiggling inside and moving on his hands and knees in the low pipe. It was maybe 1 meter in diameter, so he could crawl, but definately not stand or kneel. He moved maybe a dozen feet into the pipe when he came across the child he was looking for; the boy was dirty and scraped up, but in decent shape otherwise. Good, good.

"Hey, kid. Your family is looking for you."

"Leave me alone. I don't wanna go back!"

"Why not? I know I'd wanna go home if I had one..."

"Dad is mean! He's always yelling at me cause I can't do the same stuff my brother can."

"Well, that's not very nice. What kind of things can your brother do that you can't?"

"My brother... he's a year older, he's in the ninja academy. Dad wants me to join up too; but I dun wanna be a ninja. I wanna be a doctor! He wants me to fight. I don't like fighting."

"You don't wanna be a medic ninja?"

"I wanna treat animals! I wanna be an animal doctor. A vetternarianan!"

"Veterinarian. That's the word you want. So you wanna take care of animals? Have you told him that?"

"He won't listen! Momma doesn't care, either! They don't care about me, they want me to be my brother!"

"I doubt that. I bet if you talk to them, they'll listen. Specially after this display."

"You... you think so?"

"Ya-huh. I bet they'll listen to you, if you talk to them. They're really worried about you."

"They... they are?"

"Yup. They're worried sick. Come back with me, we'll get you cleaned up and some breakfast. Sound good?"

The boy looked up; he'd been curled around his knees and sobbing in the dark pipe before Haruka had appeared. The boy was small enough to fit pretty well in the pipe; he couldn't stand up either, but he could sit up without having to bend his body too much. The boy moved around so that he was crawling toward the albino, sniffling and unhappy, but willing to move now. "Alright... Let's go, then..."

"Good choice. Lemme just turn around and you can follow me out. I don't think you'd fit past me if you tried to crawl around."

They made their way out of the pipe, and the kid showed Haruka how he got in there without breaking his legs; a break in the fence that was just big enough for them to both fit out. Haruka led him across the district and to the nearest police station; the ninja of the village where the police, so it was a place he could turn the kid in and get paid at; which he did, and used the (thankfully) individual shower stalls to clean up a bit before moving on. This station had a mission board too, so he raided it before he left.

WC: 1567

1567 + 3160 = 4727

3000/3000 Bukijutsu B-A
1000/1000 C-Rank Mission Runaway

727 Leftover

Cat Retrieval - D:

Well, he was pretty sure this wasn't deja vu, but he knew he'd done this before. Like, exactly this. This exact thing. He'd saved this same cat, not two weeks ago; he was sure of it. Granted, that time he'd just been wandering past at the right moment, now he was actually doing this officially. Wooooo! Fun times, fun times. Thankfully, the admin building wasn't that far away, and given this was one of those 'radio it in and send whoever was sitting around' type of missions, the poor beast hadn't been up there too long. Good, good.

He left the station and made his way down the main road at a light jog; the sun was getting near its zenith, and it was starting to get hot; but it wasn't intolerable just yet. He figured it was going to be easier to move around on the wall and such with his hood down, and a little bit of sun wouldn't kill him. His makeup was still thick and stable, and it had a sunscreen compound worked into it; so he wouldn't burn that badly, if at all. Still, he did need a bit of vitamin D every so often, so he was going to let his hair down, as they said, and risk the sunlight on his sensitive skin. Maybe he'd even tan a bit...

He crossed the district quickly enough and moved to the administration building, there was a small group of civilians watching, and a single civilian guard keeping anyone that wasn't a ninja from attempting to climb up and rescue the cat, or get stuck too. He approached the guard and handing him the mission sheet and his ID, so that he was allowed to pass; and made his way to the wall. Utilizing Supernatural Walking Practice, he focused chakra to his feet and use it to 'stick' to the wall, so that he could climb up the vertical faces easily. He was taking the same roundabout way, so that if he was to fall, he'd hit the various sub-roof sticking out from the main bulk of the building. Better to fall a smaller distance, so that he had a better chance of not dying in the fall. Same for if the cat was to fall on the way down, or jumped, or whatever.

He reached the cat after about three minutes of walking up, and the little beast even recognized him, because he ran right for Haruka's arms, leaping at him in a way that allowed the male to catch it and basically cuddle carry it down with no fight or anything. Once they reached the ground, Haruka handed the cat over to the guard and took his completed paperwork so he could go get paid. He headed for that same police station; he was going to turn in at that mission kiosk and then head for the park he'd seen. It was large, and would make a decent spot to train in, since there was some covered, shaded areas, and they would make for good protection while he worked. There was also a small pond, as well as a few water pipes, that would give him the water he needed to learn a jutsu he was working over. Better than nothing, anyway.

Jutsu and Chakra:

WC: 563

563 + 4727 = 5290

3000/3000 Bukijutsu B-A
1000/1000 C-Rank Mission Runaway
600/600    D-Rank Mission The Cat’s Out Of The Box

690 Remaining

Jutsu being Trained:

Leaving the station, Haruka made a quick left and made his way back down the main road and to the park from before. It was a small enough park, not much larger than a school playground, with barely enough room for a little soccer field and a small, almost pathetic playground. However, he wasn't there for any of that; although the bit of space was nice; no, he was there for the small pond and fountain that was settled in the shade of a covered picnic area. This was his promised land, of sorts; it was what he needed to work on this idea he had floating around in his mind. He didn't focus on that idea until he'd reached the edge of the park, pausing a moment to look around and making sure that the park was empty. Given it was closing on mid-day, and children were for the most part in school, there was little beyond a few birds and small mammals drinking from the pond or sitting on the edges of roofs.

Haruka made his way into the park, crossing it using a small, well worn trail that wove between the individual areas; moving past the edge of the play field and around the little playground space; which really was rather sad, it was little more than a singe A-frame for a swing which hung by a single chain, as the seat was broken and the second chain was missing entirely, a broken see-saw, and what had likely been a merry-go-round years before, but had been stripped down to little more than a frame with no boards and lots of rusty paint flecks missing. This place screamed of decay and lost glory; it had likely been a really nice little park years and year ago, back when people cared about it and children still played there. It was sad, but it was the way of the world; entropy inevitably increased toward maximum, and there was no stopping the flow of time. Some things fell through the cracks, and they were rarely found again.

He knew how the little park felt, all too well.

Moving through the decay was sad, yes; but it was homely in a way; he could identify with this kind of decay and forgotten hopelessness; so it was rather... familiar. It made him feel calm, and he was able to focus and think, without the last wisps of his earlier darkness clawing at his mind and soul. He moved to the blissful shade of the picnic area, there were no picnic tables or the like there, but it was fairly obvious what the spot had been used for. Now that he was under the shade of the canopy, he could see that the place was falling apart too; it would likely be too unstable to be allowed to stand within the year, but for now it would hold; and even with the peppering of missing tiles and such, there was enough shade to keep him cool and protected. That, along with the water source, was all he wanted and needed of this place; but in a way he felt that the little park was happy to have a visitor again; he could well be the first human to come to it in days, if not longer. There was a presence here; likely the ghosts of children's laughter and play that had invested itself into land, and taken on an almost life of it's own. It just wanted to be useful still; to entertain and play and bring joy to anyone that came upon it.

Haruka's contentment and his general appreciation of the little park made it happy, and that made him happy. It meant that there would be no problems between them, the spirit of the park would have a few moments of happiness one last time, and he would be able to work in peace. Maybe, maybe he would cleanse the park; give the spirit a chance to move on to the next life, a better life than being trapped in a decaying place that had been forgotten about by the children that had given it life once upon a time. Yes... he would do that. The water was perfect for that, it was pure and clean and would make for a perfect blessed liquid when he was done. After a moment of this thought pattern, the spirit of the park seemed to stir once more, and a gentle breeze that didn't seem to touch anything but his own form brushed past; warm and sweetly scented, and conveying a feeling of approval, and thanks.

Yes, he would cleanse the park, and give the spirit it's chance to rest. That would be best, that would be good. However, the spirit was willing to wait, and was encouraging the male to complete his trainings before he underwent the cleansing rituals. The spirit wished for one more chance to make someone happy, and that's all it wanted. To make people happy, even a single person, one last time. Haruka was glad to give it that.

He needed to focus and get to work before it became too warm, it was getting to that point, and even working with the water won't help for long. He moved toward the pond and knelt down at the edge, placing his hand into the water and using chakra to pull a large blob of it up and into the air. He spent some time forming and playing with the blob, working to get it to form into a shape he could use. The idea of this jutsu was to form a shield of water upon the user's back, where it would act much like the shell of a turtle that would help to protect from attacks from behind, as well as providing a source of water for offensive attacks.

He used his chakra to pull the water across his arms and caused it to pool over his back, forming it into a dense blob that nearly dragged him off balance and to the ground. He had to adjust and form the blob, shaping it in a manner similar to that of a tortoise shell, until he found a balance point and was able to stabilize it and remain balanced himself. Now that he was at that point, he had to work to condense it; there was no way for him to really test the defensive ability of the jutsu at that moment, he lacked clones and he refused to risk his safety to some village ninja that he couldn't trust; so his focus was on getting the basics of the jutsu down, so he could test it more when he was around clansmen, or someone he could trust.

Hell, he even went so far as to try and pattern the 'shell', basically giving it the groves and such that helped to control the weight and balance; with all this extra weight he couldn't really move that fast, but he was basically impossible to knock over, once he spread his stance a bit, as it lowered his center of gravity to a point well below his main body and the laws of physics where wonderful sometimes. He was content to stop at this point, and he returned the water to the little pond, so he could move on to his other task.

He retrieved a small flash from inside of his robes, it was patterns with glyphs and symbols that held a strange power over anyone that looked upon them. They were cleansing runes, any liquid placed inside would be cleaned and 'blessed', so that it could act to cleanse and purify an area, or spirit. He left the shade of the little picnic area and toward the center of the park, where he brushed aside dirt and debris until he had a nearly flat space one meter square. Within the space, he used his staff to draw a purification rune, which he poured the cleansed liquid into. Over this, he held his prayer beads within clasped hands, over which he chanted a prayer which would release the spirit of the park from it's binds, and guide it to the next world; a world of peace and rest that it had earned over its long existence of bringing joy and happiness to younglings.

All in all, he was glad he'd come back. He'd make note of the spirit in his writings, and ensure that it would live on forever.

The sun was high in the sky, it was just past solar noon and the heat was becoming oppressive now. He needed to get inside somewhere cool, wait out the worst of the heat, then he could finish his work. Maybe he could find a place that sold frozen drinks, or even ice cream. Yeah, he'd do that. A light meal and something refreshing and cool. That worked.

Jutsu and Chakra:

WC: 1510

1510 + 5290 = 6800

3000/3000 Bukijutsu B-A
1000/1000 C-Rank Mission Runaway
600/600 D-Rank Mission The Cat’s Out Of The Box
1000/1000 C-Rank Jutsu Turtle Shield

1200 Remaining.

Jutsu Being Trained:

Mission Skiving Student - D:

Haruka was moving back across that same street, heading down in the direction of the local market and restaurant district; he didn't want much, but finding something he did want would be easier there. He knew the way from where he was, thankfully; so he didn't have to worry about getting lost. It was a simple matter of heading west, following the path of the sun high above his head; the fury of which was being blocked by his hood pulled above his head finally, to give him a moving pool of shade. It was still far too hot, but he wouldn't burn from the sunlight now, merely the pure power of the heat of the air. He was not a desert being, this was very apparent.

He was turning down onto a smaller, but still fairly major, street, when he noticed a sound that didn't fit. The area was pretty quiet, it was still too early for kids to be out of class, yet he was sure he heard a kid giggling down a nearby alley. Strange. He turned down the alley to investigate, seemingly coming across a little nest once he reached the dead end. It was a flipped dumpster that someone had cleaned out and filled with cardboard and stuff to make it comfortable enough; obviously the work of a kid, or group of kids. It was shaded by the building, and there was even a power source in the form of an outdoor socket that had it's guard broken off to make it accessible.

Lovely. He'd seen a request for someone to find a kid that was skipping out of classes back at the station. Seems as if he'd stumbled across him without even meaning to.

Oh well. He made his way around the side of the dumpster, sticking his head in and staring at the kid; who just stared back with a chocolate bare (likely stolen) sticking out of his mouth.

Suddenly, kunai clanking beside his ear.

Joy, the kid had weapons.

Riiiight then. Time for this he did not have. He raised his arms faster than the kid could react and flew through a few hand signs, releasing a seemingly endless cloud of crows from a point in front of his hands; they where completely intangible and harmless, but made for an amazing distraction; even if it was a double edged sword and effected him as well.

Not that it really mattered, he'd caught the kid flatfooted, and there was no time for him to escape, only scream in surprise before cracking his head against the side of the dumpster and knocking himself unconscious. Jooooy. Haruka moved toward him and checked for injuries; the kid would have a bruise, but there was no cut or damage otherwise. Good, good.

He hefted the kid over his shoulder and carried him to the station, dropping him at the desk and explaining how he'd found him. The ninja there was fine with it, and let him fill out the paperwork to get paid. Awesome. Will, after all this, he'd managed to earn back what he'd spend on the lunch date with Samael and then some. Maybe he should hunt the male down and take him out again...

Maybe.


-Exit-

Jutsu and Chakra:

WC: 552

552 + 6800= 7352

3000/3000 Bukijutsu B-A
1000/1000 C-Rank Mission Runaway
600/600 D-Rank Mission The Cat’s Out Of The Box
1000/1000 C-Rank Jutsu Turtle Shield
1000/1000 C-Rank Jutsu Scattering Thousand Crows
600/600 D-Rank Mission Skiving Students

152 Remaining