Mission Details:

Kisei awoke to the scent of ash. His eyes immediately snapped open, expecting the sight of a ruined, familiar world, he awoke to his new home instead. His mind relaxed somewhat but the grip of fear on his heart did not completely relent. Below him he could hear rumbling and whirring of Alpha's laboratory in overdrive. Fearing the possibilities he threw on his usual gear, tightening his pinwheel around his back with cloth then rushing downstairs, dragging his umbrella behind him.

With exhausting force he stormed down the stairs to the lab, the sounds of machinery growing in a crescendo. As the Ushinatta made it to the bottom of the steps his brother burst through the lab doors, scrambling backwards as he went dashed through the locking procedures. The older Ushinatta backed up a couple of steps as the pristine doors to the lab were transformed into sand. The gleaming metal petrifying into the same sandstone walls that held them, a blink later and it had but vanished. The doors, the key pad, the hand print scanner, everything. "Alpha! What did you do that for?"

His brother turned to him and Kisei nearly fainted. In his hands were Alpha's signature sword. Memories flew back. That sword had been a constant pain to him and his brother as much as it protected them in their previous home. The fact that he had it now...

"Kisei I'm going to be honest with you."

"No." he said dropping his umbrella, disbelieving.

"Kisei listen! I don't have enough time to explain everything so hear me out." His brother yelled. They sighed and kneeled down to eye level. "The village is under attack and I'm being summoned to defend it. And before you say anything 'no', you will not be fighting. The villagers need direction and safety, you'll be leading them to the safety outpost while I try and divert the threat. Got it?"

The young teen tried his hardest not to let the tears fall as he nodded in acknowledgement. He knew that if Alpha was being deployed then the threat was serious, the Ushinatta were more of an asset as smithers so there was little reason to bring the out on the field unless absolutely necessary.  Kisei was probably being paranoid but he didn’t want to lose his home again! He already lost the **** planet he was born on dammit… He didn’t want to lose another one.

“Good, now come here.” Alpha slowly wrapped his arms around Kisei in a tight hug, the young boy returning the gesture warmly. “Now I don’t say this too often but you know I love you right?” The smither asked quietly. As if this was a secret just for them. “Of course, I love you too Alpha.” Kisei sobbed. Alpha chuckled lightly to himself before breaking the embrace.

“Before we go, you remember all the passwords and secret entrances to the lab? I had to lock it up incase anyone came to raid us while we were gone.”

“Yes I remember.” Kisei replied.

“Good, now let’s go and don’t forget you’re umbrella.”

---

After they had split off to their respective roles. Kisei immediately turned to his task. His first thought was to get to the slums but he trusted that Syekren and Ryu would do a good enough job-

Kisei’s thought were interrupted as sudden screams and the burst of ‘burnt’ scents blew through the air. He had to hurry it up. It might be best to go along the perimeter of the wall so to avoid any threats there may be around the center. Assuming the invaders took the straight shot through the entrance anyway. Kisei fastened on his sunagakure headband as he set to the job assigned to him.

It was difficult to route everyone, the people were too panicked to listen. He managed to snag a few people who caught sight of his headband and listened to his explanation. As the crowd grew it started to get harder to direct everyone. Eventually he had to split the crowd into two groups the leading one and the following one. For the most part it worked pretty well.

Right now they were about nearing the entrance when Kisei detected the scent of blood. Fear spiked inside him as he lurched forward. “Wait!” He tried to yell but it was too late. The crowd turned the corner and came across a gruesome sight. So many dead bodies… It seemed so unnatural how still the lay, he wanted to help them, give them a proper burial, but he had people to protect first. Clearing his throat he spoke, dread filling his voice. “If you have anything to carry them with feel free to bring them with you, they will need to be buried later on anyways, if not let’s move.” He pushed forward, ignoring the rotting corpses around him.  

They were confronted with the blistering winds of the Sunagakure though that might have just been the bonfire going on behind them. With a flick of the wrist he opened up his umbrella and shielded himself and a couple of villagers behind him from the wind. The outpost wasn’t too far away Kisei could even see it from here, thank goodness. The sand shifted ever so subtly, grating frustration from those in the back.

After what seemed like hours of trying not to trip over sand dunes they had finally made it to the outpost. The refugees had spread around relaxing after the long, exhaustive march to safety. Kisei looked back at his home. It was burning, just like his last on. He knelt, praying. That he new home won’t end up like his last one.


964/750 = 214 leftover