Mission Details:

Kirigakure was the place to live, beautiful view of the ocean, plenty of cuddle weather with the rain, a never ending supply of the best seafood in the world. Most importantly though, Kirigakure was the most secure village in the world, and it was the diligent shinobi of the Hidden Mist that made sure that the village was well looked after.

Under the direction and dutiful leadership of the Mizukage, the Shinobi of the Hidden Mist were some of the best trained ninja in the world, always ready to do their duty, whatever it might entail. The group of shinobi that would inherit this profound legacy were Kirigakure's Genin, while the lowest rank amongst the shinobi forces of the village, they held the most potential, and the desire to prove themselves.

It was this reason that some young genin found themselves on guard duty, tending to the inner patrol of the north section of Kirigakure's gates from nightfall till sunrise. Kaito, had never been put on guard duty before, the closest he'd ever come to such a role was the graveyard shit at the hospital, but that was not the same in the slightest.

Decked out in his full uniform, Kaito was waiting patiently for his patrol partner, the same individual who'd he had recently sparred with and lost to, Yuki, Yoshito. Just as a few days ago, Kaito had shown up early, though not nearly as early as before. They only had about twenty more minutes until they needed to report in to the guard captain. If they were lucky, the captain wouldn't put them on too difficult of a patrol, though if they arrived late they were surely going to end up with the short straw in the deal.

Luckily, the skies over Kirigakure were clear, Kaito didn't much mind the rain, but with the forests near their patrol, it wasn't like he was looking forward to getting his sandals coated with mud again. It'd taken him nearly forty five minutes just to scrap the damn stuff out from in between the ridges on the bottom. Kaito also rather not spend that amount of time on his porch again, least the elderly neighbor lady invite herself over for tea and a three hour chat again.

Straightening his back and cracking his shoulder, Kaito could still feel a slight swelling where he'd dislocated his shoulder during his sparring session with Yoshito. He had not expected that Gale Palm attack, and Kaito was already thinking of ways to win a rematch with his new sorta friend. The the two of them, Yoshito and Kaito, had gone to lunch together after the sparring session, but it'd been awkward considering Kaito had kissed the younger genin during their fight.

To make matters worse, despite Yoshito not caring that Kaito was gay, he'd clearly seen through Kaito's lies and denial of such a presumption. Perhaps it was the fact that Kaito had only ever experienced the sort of acceptance that Yoshito was attempting to show him from his mother and another shinobi that happened to share his interest in the same sex, though she'd been into females.

Kaito had begun to become frustrated with himself, he realized that Yoshito wasn't, and likely wouldn't, be interested in him, and that was only fair to Yoshito, but Kaito had still moved in that direction and he feared that Yoshito might grow to hate him for such a mistake. On the other hand, Kaito was aware that Yoshito didn't seem to care that he was gay, but the thought of what if simply wouldn't leave his mind.

What if I say the wrong thing? What if he notices me checking a guy out? What if I make him uncomfortable? It was all in his head, and Kaito knew it. Which made it all the more irritating when the thoughts simply wouldn't go away. It was like he was grating his nerves against a sheet of sandstone, and it'd kept causing him to loose his focus.

Hopefully, once Yoshito arrived and they made their way to meet up with the guard captain to be assigned a patrol, Kaito would have a chance to speak with Yoshito so as to calm his nerves. His thoughts only really haunted him when he was alone, it's not like he had any more family to spend his time thinking about. Being able to just talk with Yoshito and shoot the breeze would do Kaito some good, and it might even give them the chance to develop their friendship further.

Where the hell was Yoshito anyway? They only had fifteen more minutes before the patrols were set to change shit, if they didn't report in soon, they'd get screwed. It didn't help that they were only genin, the older and higher ranking shinobi might try and pick a bit of a fight just to pick on them.

Lightly kicking at a couple of pebbles sitting in the dirt near his feet, Kaito tried and force himself to relax a bit. The worst thing that could happen if they were late is getting put on clean up duty at the public pool, weekend duty nonetheless. There was only so much amount of urine that chlorine could cover up and the smell of those pools late at night after literally hundreds of people have been through them was a nightmare in and of itself. The memory of the last time Kaito had been put on that particular duty still haunted him and he could swear he could still smell it. Ugh, Yoshito better be here soon, cause Kaito sure as hell wasn't gonna clean the pools again.

The pitter patter of rain on Yoshito's window pane usually woke the boy without the need of an alarm clock, the rain never set well with the young man despite how long he's actually been in the village that always rains. Without the rain falling on the window's surface, how would he wake up? His body tossed and turned at his nightmares he was having, a bright white light encompassed the area he could see, his mother phased into existence in the very middle seemingly looking into Yoshi's soul through his eyes. The scene alone was terrifying in and of itself, but the nightmare wouldn't stop there as most nightmares wouldn't. No, the nightmare's movie played out as his mother would walk closer and closer to Yoshito, with each step a bead of blood would drop from her hairline going through her open eyes without flinching. Her hand would be stretched outward to the young man not to ask for help, it just strayed mid-air lazily at Yoshi. The scene would then begin to slowly face as his mother disappears into blackness but not before he heard her voice one last time, "Help me." The voice wasn't one of urgency or distress, it was the opposite actually, it was very calm and relaxed. As the last word etched itself into Yoshito's ears he shot up from his bead covered in sweat.

He looked outside at the clouds parting, there was no rain today. He smiled at the sunny look of Kirigakure, this was the first time he'd seen the place not drenched in rain. It was beautiful, shimmering, almost glowing with the vibrancy of life. He stood up from his sitting position, knowing he had a mission today he was in a bit of a hurry. He knew he could get there on time but he still felt a sense of urgency, he didn't want his partner to be penalized for his own inconsistency and so with that thought in mind Yoshito picked up his clothes, got dressed after a quick shower and ran off out of his house without saying a word to his mother. He shot a quick glance at the woman awkwardly, her smile was almost heavenly after seeing what he just did within his mind. What did it all mean? Some say that dreams are a passageway into the innermost thoughts, but why would Yoshito be thinking such things even in the darkest places of his mind he couldn't possibly want his mother dead could he?

As Yoshito lightly ran on to the guard shack but on his way he stopped to help an elderly lady cross the street and a woman with her screaming child, he calmly soothed the child with his own baby-like gestures and noises. The baby laughed heavily he could swear it came straight from the lungs. Yoshito stopped at a candy store and asked the cashier for two suckers and two meals, he was buying one for Kaito and one for himself. He popped the blue raspberry flavored sucker into his mouth and continued walking holding a bag carrying two meals in boxes. He began to run again, each stride tapping on solid stone as normal yet today the sound of crashing puddles would accompany the noise his feet made as they landed. It was truly a beautiful day for the likes of Kirigakure no Sato.

The moment came when he finally got into an area in which he could clearly see Kaito, they were still a few hundred feet from the guard shack when he made his way alongside his partner for the mission. "Hey watsup Kaito, you ready for this?" He waited for a moment for Kaito's response but not for too long, he wanted to get this started he was pumped to not think about his recurring nightmare anymore. After Kaito had replied to Yoshito's question he would then holler at the two in the shack just before the two, "Hey why don't you guys go ahead and take off, we got this," Yoshito would look at his partner Kaito and raise his fist with a smile and moved it forward for a fist bump, "ain't that right Kaito" Yoshito finished his sentence when the two completed the fist bump action and as they did so he let out a slight chuckle. Yoshito would continue his strides toward the shack after the two bumped fists in the most bro-y bro-ish bro-est way and when he got inside the shack passing the two that recently occupied it, he signed the log in sheet and noted the time of their arrival. He took a look at the log sheet previously filled out by the two before Yoshito and Kaito and noticed that they were very lazily done and so he finished what wasn't, as well as cleaned it up a little to make it look nicer than it was. After that was done, the young man took a seat at one of the chairs with a loud audible sigh that enveloped the room. His mind was in a thousand places today even though he was seemingly happier than ever.

---

Giving Yoshito a slight nod as recognition of his presence, Kaito returned the fist bump without saying anything to the two chunin they were set to relieve before signing in on the log sheet once Yoshito handed it to him. Not even two seconds passed before there was a shift in the wind and Kaito's skin recoiled, letting him know someone was behind him. Turning to take a glance as a hand was placed on his shoulder, a bit to tightly for comfort, Kaito almost flinched when he saw the guard captain staring down at him. She was smiling, though Kaito wasn't foolish enough to think she wasn't annoyed with them.

"I expect all my patrols to meet here no later than fifteen minutes before their shift. Do better tomorrow, or I'll hang the both of you from the village wall by your ankles, let you spend the day hanging forty feet high, so I know you'll be on time when I cut you down." She had spoken with a sing songy voice but her death grip on Kaito betrayed her mannerisms for the honest truth. She meant it, and considering the clan she was from, Kaito believed she'd do it too.

"Yes, Aito Sensei." Kaito responded to Captain Momochi, winching as she removed her hand from his shoulder allowing him to rub where she'd gripped him. Somehow she had managed to get the same shoulder he'd injured a few days ago. He'd felt her digging her thumb into the joint, nearly hard enough to pop it back out of the socket, but still hard enough for the swelling to start screaming at him.

Still rubbing his shoulder, Kaito watched Captain Momochi leave the guard shack, two chunin on her heels, Kaito made sure Aito Sensei wasn't sneaking back in through the door to imitate his shoulder again. Once assured she was gone for the time being, Kaito made his way over to the patrol assignment board while talking to Yoshito. "You know she meant that right? I'd rather not have to deal with the bruises that would cause to our ankles since I like to go for a run in the mornings. Be here on time from now one." Kaito said, attempting to give his comrade a stern glare before turning his attention back to the patrol assignment board.

It looked like they'd been selected to be put on the inner patrol of the north section gate, it was just outside the wall, but wasn't too dangerous of a patrol route. At least they would be close enough to to the city to call for aide should they run into something. "You ready to head out? We were suppose to start five minutes ago, if Captain Momochi comes in here and finds us she might just skin us alive." Kaito didn't wait for Yoshito's reponse, just grabbed two bottles of water from the small fridge next to the door on his way out, turning back only to toss one of the waters to Yoshito before stuffing his into his back pouch along with his senbon.

Once Yoshito caught up with him, Kaito would start off in the direction of the north gate. He didn't spend much time in this part of the city, or on this half of the island to begin with in all honesty. Kaito normally kept to his shak home by the shore, the beach, and the training areas near there. The deepest he really made it into the city was the hospital, and he'd been spending less and less time there as of late. It was actually odd to him, only going to the hospital when he needed medical treatment. It was a nice excuse to see some of the people he'd worked with, but it also had this feeling of being both foreign and familiar to him. It was a strange thing to attempt to describe, in a way Kaito guessed he felt like he had betrayed his coworkers, requesting the transfer like he had. It wasn't like anyone had said anything, other than what a shame it was since he held so much potential as a medical ninja.

Breaking himself from his thoughts, Kaito turned to Yoshito, giving the genin an odd look before gritting his teeth. He had to stop doing that, Kaito knew things were as awkward between them as he perceived them to be, but he still felt bad about what had happened during their sparring session. He had stolen Yoshito's first kiss, nothing about it was fair to Yoshito, and Kaito was still trying to come up with a way to make up for it. Perhaps he could help Yoshito find a girlfriend, he was clearly interested in women, not that he had much game as far as Kaito was concerned. Nah, but he could at least share his training regimen with Yoshito, it might prove useful.

"So I've been trying to increase my accuracy with a kunai recently, particularly when you can't see the target and need to basically sense where your target is rather than using just your eyesight. You can use the Hidden Mist Technique alongside the Water Release Seafoam jutsu. Basically the Seafoam jutsu allows you to pinpoint the location of things within the mist by using these bubbles that pop on contact with something. It's a bit more complicated as far as how you use them to find the targets, but it works if you can practice at it. I can always show it to you if you don't already know the jutsu." Kaito was tempted to use the jutsu now, though he didn't want to risk being caught by Aito Sensei, he didn't know what she would say or do about it, but he still didn't want to risk her wrath.

Kaito had intentionally forgotten to mention all the traps and such you were meant to be dodging while running through the training course, but he didn't want to scare Yoshito off of the idea of training together again. Maybe Kaito could even convince Yosito to agree to a rematch, though he doubted he'd have to try all that hard. Yoshito was a hair trigger or anything, but Kaito could tell he had enjoyed sparring.

They'd since made it the beginning checkpoint of their route, so Kaito came to a stop to check the area before turning to Yoshito. "You want to keep watch while I check in with the other patrol, or you feel like reporting in that nothing happened?" There were three checkpoints along their route, at each one they would cross paths with another patrol who they had to check in with. It was all timed so that after a full rotation, when they checked in with the patrol at the first rotation, Captain Momochi would also be there to check in with them. The different patrol routes linked together to form a larger section of patrol routes that the patrol captains, such as Aito Sensei and her squad would patrol.

Yoshito was ready, he didn't feel like he was late for the two that Kaito and Yoshi were meant to relieve had still been sitting in their chairs waiting for their time to be up. He was feeling good and it would be shown from a smile on his face with even a slight whistling tune escaping his lips. He was either happy as hell or oblivious. It would have to be the latter, the captain of the patrol board had shown up almost making no noise upon her arrival. Yoshi turned around at the crack of her voice had entered his ears. He noticed the woman's grip on Kaito's shoulder, the bad one. Yoshi wanted to say something but he could tell that this woman meant business simply but what she said about the two being late. They weren't even late, on what grounds did this woman have for threatening the two young shinobi who volunteered for the shift to begin with? If it hadn't been for Kaito and Yoshi, she would be stuck with this menial job wasting her time instead of the two genin. Yoshito's fist clenched as he watched the woman deliberately injure his friend, or maybe it wasn't on purpose but it was definitely happening, Yoshi was about to jump on to the woman ferociously but instead, Kaito's simple agreeance with the woman stopped the boy.

Yoshito's grip on his own hand had loosened as the woman left the scene, long hair flowing about in the wind with every bouncy step she took. A woman with authority, wow. He was lost in his own lewd thoughts as Kaito checked the mission board before him and threw a water at Yoshi as if snapping him out of his mind's prison. "Hey we were on time, don't blame that bitch's crazyness on me. We still had like ten minutes before we were supposed to start, if anyone's to blame for us starting our rounds late it's her." Yoshi nodded as if agreeing with himself and a 'hmmph'. With one hand in the air, Yoshi caught the water that was careless tossed at him with ease feeling the tension between the two with the catch. Yoshi's eyes squinted at his partner, his speech and his mannerism so far had been mixed. The two just fist bumped outside but now that the boss had appeared being all bossy it had put him off and Yoshi didn't like being intimidated by someone who was being a bitch just to be a bitch.

The two began on their trek to the northside of the village hoping to catch something going awry, he was itching to blow off some steam that the woman had caused during her entrance into the shack interrupting Kaito and Yoshi's introductions and such. He was going to talk to Kaito, his look was on the man walking alongside him as Kaito seemingly was lost in thought but decided against it, instead, admiring the beauty that was Kirigakure when it wasn't blurred in the midst of rain and storms. Everything about today just looked different, it was the absence of rain allowing the village to truly shine in the most amazing way it could and Yoshi couldn't help but to smile in awe at how much better it looked without the guise of rain that seemed to always fall within the village. It was in the middle of admiring the scenery that Kaito had decided to speak up about his thought process of finding one's target within the mist if one had to utilize the Kirigakure exclusive technique mid-battle. Using the seafoam jutsu would be a good idea if it had come to such an extreme, and so Yoshito nodded with a smile toward Kaito, "You're pretty smart Kaito, I hadn't thought of that before."

The awkwardness had set in now, after so long of silence the two had just happened to allow Kaito was talking about jutsu out of all things? He didn't talk about how rude captain Momochi was toward the two for being on time was, or their kiss back at the training grounds or anything really. Yoshito didn't exactly know how to respond to Kaito's strategizing at a time like this especially with so many other things to talk about. It was clear that the two were very different. Yoshito didn't grow up within the village like he assumed Kaito had and so he didn't really feel the need to strategize for much, he was better at on the fly action, movement off the cuff to protect his life and those around him. That's how he worked best. Kaito then offered for Yoshito to stay put and keep watch while he went back to report, the moon was out now setting high above the two with clouds barely blocking the moonlight. The glow of the moon gave off an eary vibe that Yoshito couldn't help but shake, maybe it was that he was so young but as a shinobi one couldn't afford the luxury of being afraid in the dark, in the shadows is where a ninja is supposed to thrive.

Yoshito nodded to Kaito but before Kaito could leave, snarls could be heard within the treeline just in front of the two genin. Yoshi stood at the ready, both legs bent as he did before with Kaito in their training match, his still blood soaked kunai clutched in Yoshi's right hand being held diagonally downward toward the ground with his other at the ready on his other side in the air. Yoshi looked upon the trees waiting for anything to happen, something to rush from the bushed or anything like that. But it didn't happen quite to quickly. Two wolves had made their debut in the scene, their teeth were shining with assistance from the glow of the moonlight and the snarles were so loud to Yoshi. It was as if that was all he could hear for a quick moment. The two wolves stared at the two genin, Yoshi was frozen not in fear, but awaiting for shit to pop off. Yoshi's eyes never left the wolves because he needed to be ready but he did speak to his partner in justice, "What do we do boss." There was no fear in his voice, only calm and collected awaiting instructions from the older genin who partnered with him for the mission.

---

Kaito wasn't sure what was going through Yoshito's mind to be honest, sure they had arrived early, but not early enough to attend the pre-patrol meeting. That was the problem, being on time in the shinobi world always meant you were late. Kaito wasn't sure if this was something Yoshito wasn't use to, or if it stemmed from privilege since most shinobi were less likely to punch on the every mistake of someone related to the Mizukage. Speaking of, Kaito was meaning to ask Yoshito about that, had he ever met her? Their legendary leader, Ayakashi? The Yuki Clan and the Solstice Clans weren't direct relatives, but they were sister bloodlines. It was possible at least.

Kaito had just been about to head off to the checkpoint when he noticed Yoshito reacting  to something, turning Kaito immediately jumped in front of the younger genin, forming the Dragon, Rat, Horse, and Tiger hand seals as the two wolves rushed towards them. The larger of the two came right at Kaito, veering outward from the Hidden Mist shinobi as ten rock and stick shuriken and senbon came flying toward the wolf. Kaito had barely enough time to throw some senbon in an attempt to force the wolf back.

Taking a direct hit from two of the senbon, the wolf let out a howl as it jumped onto Kaito's chest, taking the genin to the ground as the wolf started attempting to claw at his stomach and chest in a digging motion while going for Kaito's throat. Kaito, for his part, couldn't bother with worrying about what was happening to his stomach right now, he had to focus on the gnarled teeth at his throat, and he was just barely holding the large wolf back with nothing but brute force.

Unable to form any hand seals, Kaito let out a scream of pure frustration as his stomach was torn at and he could feel his ribs bending with the shear weight of the wolf on top of him. With one forearm in the wolf's mouth as a shield, Kaito used the other to attempt and reach out for one of his kunai. Getting his hand behind his back while pinned like this wasn't going to work all that well.

Eventually his arm in the wolf's mouth brushed against something sharp, slicing a couple of his fingers as the wolf thrashed his head. Blood from his forearm falling down onto his face and getting into his mouth and eyes, Kaito let out another scream, this time it was out of pain as he felt the animal's teeth scrap against bone as the muscle in his arm torn under the pressure.

With everything Kaito had, he reached for that senbon with his free hand, kicking upward into the beast's groin at exactly the wrong time, and impaling his hand in the senbon instead. Despite the pain, the maneuver had worked to an extent, the senbon was free from the wolf's body. After reeling from the kick to the balls, the wolf relaunched his attack as Kaito pushed upward with the senbon still stuck through his hand.

The resulting sound from the wolf started off as a yelp of pain or suprise, but quickly turned into gurgled whimpers as Kaito torn the senbon threw the animal's gullet. Within seconds, the wolf was on the ground, kicking and whimpering as it's body started to shut down. Kaito recognized the signs of dying, so instead looked elsewhere while holding his injured arm to his stomach.

"Yoshito! Are you hurt?" Kaito had to make sure Yoshito was okay before something horrible happened. He had just started to feel like Yoshito's friend, it just wouldn't be fair if the younger genin went and died on him. Ugh, what are we gonna tell Captain Momochi? Kaito thought to himself. Aito Sensei was going to kill him if his patrol partner died, to say nothing of Kaito losing his only friend at the moment.

Kaito's arm needed medical treatment immediately, to say nothing of the claw marks and deep scratches across his stomach and chest. His ribs didn't feel broken, they just hurt, and Kaito's head had taken a pretty hard fall when the wolf knocked him to the ground. Kaito couldn't worry about his injures right now though, he had to make sure Yoshito was okay. He'd made things so awkward between them, Kaito knew he'd have to make that up to the younger genin.

Yoshito's eyes squinted at the impending threat that had appeared over the rustling of the brushes that were at eye level of the young man. He looked intently into the direction that the threatening noise had come from with his kunai in hand he was ready for a leap toward the two genin that faced this mission. The two wolves walked slowly toward the two, the moonlight shining on the fur of the beasts, it truly would be a beautiful sight if bloodshed wasn't so clearly the intent of the beasts. Then it happened, the two beasts lunged forward with haste the mud under their feet would fly backward due to the sheer strength in their hind legs and Yoshito's grip on his weapon became tighter at the acceleration of the situation.

Luckily for Yoshito he was ready for the attack but his vision was slightly blocked by his partner jumping in front of him. Yoshi let out a sigh of frustration, he was tired of people trying to take care of him so much that he wanted to prove himself even if it were just some wild wolves even though they are bloodthirsty. As the wolves lunged forward the plan had to change, Yoshi's first plan was to jump over the wolves and try to strike at the back of it as he glided through the air behind the beast that was coming his way. He could push everything away but now that Kaito was standing in front of Yoshito it would make things a little difficult, he wasn't in the boat of sacrificing one of his own just to get the job done. Yoshi could even attempt to slide under the wolf as he had done to get closer to Kaito when the two trained together but that would most likely only end up in more unnecessary injury to himself and that isn't something he wanted.

Wolves were smart predators that always hunted in packs, these two most likely had been tracking Yoshito and Kaito since they left the shack and been planning their attack in their own beastly way whereas Kaito and Yoshito only had one training session with each other, nothing more, their teamwork had to be improved with more time between them. When the first wolf went after Kaito the one in the back had circled around its comrade and went toward Yoshito's body with its mouth wide open as if to take bites out of the young genin. Yoshito was ready for the attack with the kunai, he waited for the exact time for his plan to become executed with perfection. The wolf got too close for comfort with its speed but Yoshito had been tracking the trajectory of the wolf's path with its gaping mouth set sight for Yoshito. The young man extended his arm to where his hand would meet the wolf's abysmal mouth as he allowed his hand to enter the wolf's mouth just past its teeth. Just as Yoshito's hand had made it past the threshold, the wolf had attempted to close its mouth just as Yoshito had predicted.

The force of the wolf's mouth closing would be enough for the kunai to puncture its snout from inside it's mouth but just for good measure Yoshito followed up his clever attack with a swift kick to the bottom of it's jaw, ensuring the kunai would make it's mark through the top of the wolf's mouth. Blood gushed from the mouth of the beast, this is the second time that Yoshito's kunai would be soaked in blood that wasn't his own. Yoshi sighed heavily, panting after doing so trying to catch his breath. He had been holding his breath when the animal had lunged with its attack not even noticing his own injury. It would seem that Yoshi's hand was too close to the bottom of the handle and the wolf's teeth were larger than Yoshito had planned on and so the teeth dragged across the bottom part of his wrist.

Yoshi looked downward with his arm suspended in the air just at his torso. His eyes widened and his wrist howled in pain at the sight of his flesh hanging from his wrist. Not only was there a deep gash on his wrist there was a small bit of flesh dangling from the top of its wrist, seemingly the fatty part of the bottom of his palm. He looked to his side at his partner Kaito who seemed to be in worse shape than Yoshito but the young man hadn't experienced pain like this before.

"Fuck man that hurt! Do some of your medical stuff and get us all better Kaito, hurry!"

His voice rang out as if suddenly the pain reached his brain all in one instant. Shouldn't it be numb from the shock? That might be normal but there was nothing normal about this kind of attack. Yoshi stood there in pain, his skin shivering as he held his wrist with his other hand. It was then that the captain of this expedition made her appearance once again but this time behind Yoshito with her hand on his shoulder just as she had done before with Kaito.

"What's going on here? You two couldn't handle two wolves?" She said sternly as if the sight of her two fellow injured shinobi wouldn't even make a byline in the news in her mind. Yoshito was still in pain due to the recent attack on him and his fellow genin and the stern talking to from this so-called captain had entered his ears it had just pissed him off. The young man's brow furrowed and his good hand's fist clenched. He turned around to face Captain Momochi's presence, stepped back a little bit, his mouth opened due to the sheer force of his teeth grinding at the woman's condescending tone.

"We are injured here, I can't even move my hand and my friend Kaito has a fucking Senbon in his hand. Instead of being an asshole, why not letting us heal up somewhere before talking down to us!"

The words escaped his lips before he could even think about what he said. What was he thinking talking to his captain like this with no bound of authority. The wind blew slightly, Yoshito's enlarged sleeve flapped carelessly in the wind as if something was about to happen. A few moments had passed after Yoshito spoke out of turn to Captain Momochi, his gaze averted to the ground in embarrassment of how he had just reacted to the tone she spoke in. She moved closer, bent down slightly and almost as quick as she appeared the back of her hand would meet Yoshito's cheek. The smack had lifted the boy off of his feet making him fly a few feet backward landing on his good hand thank god, sliding with the momentum he had gained with his very slight airtime. Yoshito could hear the woman's voice through muffled ears, the back of her palm hit some of his ear so he couldn't make out exactly what she was saying at first but when he stood up and faced the woman he could hear exactly what she said to him. He shot upward in a fierce way as if he was still angry and about to fight the woman in a clearly one-sided bout. She got close to Yoshito's face, the two were in a standoff but Yoshi was only acting this way out of a mixture of anger, anxiety, and jealousy of her power.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that again or it won't be my hand hitting you boy!"

Yoshito pulled back his anger and simply nodded, then faced Kaito holding his injured hand out with his good hand to him in hopes that he would heal it.

---

Fuck! Kaito wasn't just injured, he could literally feel himself bleeding out while Yoshito and Aito Sensei were bickering. He was just standing there, holding his arm as the shock began to take hold and the tremors started. Kaito was trying to keep a level head, he couldn't panic right now, but his mind was racing as he looked his arm over. He had lacerations across his stomach and chest, most likely infected, a through and through puncture wound in one hand and his muscle in his arm had been torn down to the bone in at least one place. He needed medical aid, more than he was able to provide even if he wasn't in such a state.

Kaito didn't have time to worry about getting in trouble or Yoshito stepping out of line. He started removing tearing part of the sleeve of his uniform with his teeth. The best he could do right now was attempt to clot the bleeding. With the two bickering about the situation, Kaito was left attempting to patch himself up without aid, which resulted in a few pained grunts and gasps as he bumped his arm or felt his injuries. He accidentally scraped the wound on his forearm with the senbon in his hand when he was trying to tie the fabric into a makeshift sling.

Captain Momochi seemed to finally notice Kaito, though she was clearly pissed at Yoshito's brash behavior. Moving closer to him, she pulled the senbon out of his hand, causing Kaito to turn his head while letting a pained grunt. Once free of the senbon, Kaito immediately began condensing chakra around the injured hand until the bleeding stopped before placing chakra bandage over the torn muscle in his forearm. It wouldn't hold for long, but it would have to do. "Let's get this arm raised and then I'll have someone escort both of you to the hospital, Yoshito, stop bitching and come here." Captain Momochi said, speaking firmly enough to let the younger genin she wasn't playing around here.

Kaito felt gravity fall from under him as Aito Sensei caught him mid fall, he was going to loose consciousness from the blood lost soon. "They were too fast Sensei, I tried to protect Yoshito but he still got injured." Captain Momochi's face twisted for a second, before changing to a calmer and more reassuring express then she'd used thus far. Kaito was a medical ninja, no matter what sort of injuries he acquired, it was his job to make sure his comrades didn't get hurt. He had failed to do this, at least this time, but even Captain Momochi understood why he had done what he had.

Two more Hidden Mist shinobi arrived, more than likely the patrol that Kaito and Yoshito were supposed to have checked in with before the wolves showed up. Captain Momochi quickly filled them in on the situation before assigning one of them to go back to the Patrol Station and have another set of shinobi put on the patrol route for Kaito and Yoshito. They weren't gonna make the night, Yoshito more than likely could, but Kaito wouldn't be fit for service for a while.

"Yoshito, once you get your hand looked at, return here and complete the patrol. Don't make others pick up for our slack. Aito Sensei went out on a limb to allow us on the patrol, Genin aren't even suppose to-" Kaito was stopped by the jonin supporting him as she put a finger to his lips. He knew she was going to get blamed for this, and it wasn't fair to Captain Momochi to take a dive because Kaito hadn't been able to do his job. Captain Momochi didn't seem to care about that though, as her sole focus was getting the two genin medical aid.

By the time they made it back to the Patrol Station, Kaito was fading in and out, but luckily there was a medical ninja on staff. Captain Momochi let the two genin be seen to before stepping into a side room to report to her superior. Kaito felt terrible that she was going to get in trouble because of him, but the medical ninja seeing to him didn't let him focus on that for long as he unwrapped his arm, causing blood to spill across the table Kaito was sitting at. He noticed the medical-nin give him a side glance before starting. "Yes, I know it's going to hurt, I'm a medical ninja myself, just get it over with." Kaito responded, pulling one of the wooden spoons off the table and putting it in his mouth before the screaming began. Reconstructing muscle tissue was not an eas process, it would take probably twenty minutes, and then they would need to attend to the lacerations on the rest of his body. Kaito was not looking forward to the next hour of his night.

Yoshito's hopes were that Kaito could heal the two up but he hadn't realized exactly how badly he was injured, Yoshi's hand was looking like a cakewalk when reality set in. Captain Momochi, after her assault on Yoshi, made her move toward Kaito the obviously more injured fellow of the attack. The beasts really dug into him, he didn't see what happened during Kaito's struggle but it was apparent that he had the worst of the bout on this night. When Aito moved toward Kaito she pushed Yoshito's hands out of her way. The boy winced in pain as a slight grunt escaped his lips in the pale night within Kirigakure. God dammit, why me? I was only standing up for us The thoughts in Yoshito's head danced around for only a moment as he listened to the captain overseeing the mission from the shadows.

Yoshito moved closer to the pair as instructed, his gaze never left Kaito's actions. When Aito retrieved the boy's senbon from his hand Kaito instantly almost instinctively encased his wound with some sort of bandage, must be nice. But now wasn't the time to be complaining. Yoshito had done what he saw Kaito do in an attempt to replicate it totally to help his injury seeing as no one else was looking after the boy who had no experience in the medical field. Yoshi let his injured arm fall to his side, blood poured from the wound as he quickly tore pieces off of his enlarged cloth and wrapped his hand as well as his wrist tightly to stop the bleeding. His eyes closed tightly, a strained grunt entered the air as he did so. Yoshito took a moment to look at his handy-work. The boy looked at Kaito and what he had done and compared it to his own inadequate way of healing his injury. It wasn't perfect by any means but it would have to do for now.

They were too fast, indeed, Yoshi nodded in agreeance with Kaito's sentence that shuddered from his lips aloud to his sensei Aito. "Aw man, you shouldn't have tried to save me, I can handle myself Kaito." These words came out of the staggering young man wincing in pain seemingly every other word. He knew what Kaito was trying to do but with the injuries he sustained he started to question what it meant to be a good shinobi. He clearly put the needs and safety of his younger partner before his own and it was a little frightening to Yoshito. He hadn't thought of that kind of selflessness before, let alone see it with his own eyes and having that great of a consequence, what was the purpose of it? The two only had been around each other twice, the first a training mission and the second was this mission. His partner's demeanor had changed since the first time they had met and Yoshi was starting to question if the shinobi life had had an effect on him as well as Yoshi but in his case, leading to a life of masochism with a hero complex tendency.

At any rate, the young man Yoshito would listen and comply with the orders of Aito and make his way back to the shack but before he could move an inch another pair of shinobi entered the scene with a blur. They were there to help, it was made apparent by one of the men looking at Yoshi's failed attempt at a sling. 'Well that just won't do now will it?' The man said smiling at him pulling out some gauze from his pack with his right hand. He removed Yoshi's sling and wrapped the gauze around the wound allowing the dangling flesh to meld perfectly into the position it once held flawlessly. As the pieces of flesh made contact the young boy's entire body tightened, he bit his tongue at the sudden rush of pain that surged through his entire body. He wanted to yell at the man for causing him so much pain but if he had learned anything he learned that the only way to get better was through pain.

When it was all over Yoshito's arm was tainted red along with his enlarged sleeve was stained many times over in red distorting its shape. Guess it's time for some new clothes before heading out somewhere else. Can't go anywhere naked after all. "Good as new, thanks, my man." Yoshito spoke to the one who revived his torn apart hand. The man had used some sort of chakra, it made some sort of glove-like thing around his own hand to heal the torn pieces of flesh that had once been unusable. Yoshito still couldn't comprehend the miracles of the medical field but he started to admire the abilities. Yoshi looked on to Kaito who needed more work done than he had apparently, he was escorted back to the guard shack and Yoshito only had to get a little bit of medical juju on his injuries. The boy waved off Kaito who couldn't see him but he did so anyways in an attempt to save his own sanity. After all this, he still wanted to be his friend even though he had caused him so much pain.

Back to work he went, the night was much quieter than he was hoping for, the moonlight shone across the land with only a very light drizzle of rain almost mist-like. Yoshito could still feel a vibrating pain in his hand that pulsed the signal throughout his body. His shoulder jerked upward as he grabbed his forearm and halted his steps. He thought back to what had happened before. Yoshi thought that Captain Momochi's asshole-ish tone toward him was only overexaggerated and meant to tune him into a more powerful minded shinobi. But after the events that transpired Yoshito couldn't help but think that he was a screwup, nothing he could do is right. His family was only here due to a job his mother took for some ninja within the village, they were refugees from the Land of Rain, they didn't belong here. Yoshi took the safe place this village created for them for granted when he arrived trying so hard to get kicked out.

He finished patrolling the borders and made his way back to the shack. Kaito was gone presumably off somewhere healing his injuries. His eyes slumped downward as he waved to the two ninjas that came to Yoshi and Kaito's aide earlier. They attempted at a conversation but he just didn't have the courage to face the two knowing that they knew what happened. The little boy who needed saving. How pathetic. He signed his name out and left the shack on his way back home.

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1,500 for Mission [2,868 Left]

WC Spending:

Not keeping extra WC