black skies [P]

[Arcadia]

It had become an everyday thing now. Initially, it was all too hard to fathom -- craters and rubble scattered about, streaks of dried blood staining walls and floors, the eerie silence that had washed over the land since the war's end. Such things had been haunting the boy in his sleep for weeks now and every morning he'd wake up hoping that the entire conflict was just a bad dream. He could smell it though -- he could smell death in the air every morning -- and reality set in, filling his body in its entirety. In layman's words, it sucked.

Yahiko hadn't actually been a part of the war; his duties were restricted to search and rescue, despite his frequent requests to be deployed to the front lines. The sun was at it's highest in the sky, though with the dense, almost black clouds lingering over Sunagakure, it was hard to tell. The Chuunin strolled through an outlying part of the village, quite close to the limits. The place was war-torn and morbid -- buildings barely standing and freckled with the remnants of exploding tags and fallen, streets littered with large chunks of rocks and such, etc.

"Hello!? Can anyone hear me!?" he called out into the silent surrounding area.

He was searching for any lingering survivors that could be trapped or injured.

[marvolous.]

Indeed, war had taken over their lives.

Rubble, dead corpses, even dead children victims of the aftermaths of all the fighting - it was all normal, nowadays. War had taken over the village and left it in sheer shambles, and to say that did not have an effect on the village people, perhaps even the shinobi that were trained to be accustomed to such bloodshed, would be a complete lie. No, it was hard to disregard and completely ignore everything; as good as I was at shielding my emotions in a stoic facade, the idea of continuing this lifestyle-- well, it brought pure sadness to my otherwise blithe demeanor.

Needless to say, as an ANBU of the village I was instructed to keep a keen eye on everything even daring to caress our borders; I would have done so flawlessly and without interuption like norm, but the loud voice of another prevented such from being done. T'was a stimulus that pushed me out of my otherwise serene reverie, causing me to stir and seek its origin with none other than an incarnadine visage.

Once located, my body did well to hone in physically on it's location - silent footsteps masking my descent as I leaped from the damaged walls of Sunagakure and forged a path directly in front of the only visible being from my vantage point. "You aren't supposed to be this far out without a good reason," I spoke, ivory digits reaching and pushing aside the porcelain mask that detailed me as the village's mean's of law enforcement - ANBU. "Care to explain yourself?

I was on guard despite his friendly appearance; war was on the horizon, I couldn't let my guard lower from the point of paranoia.

[Arcadia]

By now, one would think that a shinobi -- a Chuunin, no less -- wouldn't be easily startled, especially not in his own home. For many, this assumption was legitimately true. For a few, however, this was not the case -- Yahiko being one those few. The being that appeared before the young medic seemingly out of nowhere did, in fact, startle him.The sudden fear that surged through the boy like electricity was painted as clear as day upon his visage. His eyes shot open as he stopped dead in his tracks, a low gasp escaping his lips and his heart picking up the pace.

However all of this was, in fact, entirely unnecessary. The anonymous being that approached him donned attire typical of a Sunagakure shinobi and even his voice had a pretty particular twang to it that could only belong to one of his comrades. Relief set in at this point, followed by the urge to appear as if he hadn't been startled at all. Nonchalance was plastered upon Yahiko's face and his posture went from stiff and alert to relaxed, and maybe a bit lazy, as he continued walking forth.

"I'm part of the search and rescue squad," he said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small parchment. He held it up so that the text was clearly visible and facing the stranger. "and I've got clearance to be in this district, so if you don't mind I have lives to save." he added, trailing off to the side of a building where the front wall had collapsed into the street. He looked into the dusty rubble that filled the building, scanning for any life. Then he bent over and slipped his hand under the fallen wall. In a matter of seconds, it was lifted up from the ground -- with one hand, despite the fact that it was composed of thick, heavy stone and sand. Being a medic had it's perks, after all.

Showing off? Perhaps. This fellow was an ANBU, so he outranked Yahiko, but for whatever reason the Chuunin felt as though he needed to display his power. It was a bit childish, but then again, he was only a teenager.

[lore.]

If Gatsō had known that this war, was going to take so many unneeded lives; he would have done it all over again. He was not like the others, he believed that only the strong should survive, and the weak should die; obviously he was among the strong. The Anbu was assigned to see if there were any survivors, and by the looks of it there was none; most of the bodies were buried in rumble or burned to ashes. "Seems nothing is here..." But when he was ready to leave the scene, a voice could be heard from far. Applying chakra to his feet and pushing forward, allowed the Anbu to meet the man behind the words, in mere seconds.

Surprisingly it was a Sunagakure ninja like him, but the other being truly took him by surprise. His blood, his cousin was here on duty as well, and a slight smirk came across the face of the being. "They put you on duty too?" He asked, after Sora questioned the child. The words were directed to his brethren, while he began to walk closer to the two; five meters were good enough. The smell of death was in the air, and it seemed never to fade; was this truly the power of war? Thoughts rushed through Gatsō's mind, but his facade never showed any sign of such.

He was good at burying his emotions, it was something he was accustomed to doing. But he was not a good listener; when the other boy spoke--he had already began to pay attention to something different. Only when the young lad showed his strength, did he truly caught this man's attention. "Oh, so he is a medic." He thought to himself, as he began to examine the lad. The Anbu couldn't help but chuckle to himself, the reason was because most medics he knew were female; none of them were ever males, so seeing this was rather intriguing. "I scanned most of the area, seems no survivors are here. It's best you take your leave."

[marvolous.]

It was a nice show; I had heard of the arts before, but never until this point had seen them from up close. Naturally, I was perplexed at the sheer site of it, but after several moments, to which I used to allow my eyes to readjust to the strange site, I realized t'was nothing but tricks - cheap, magician-esque, tricks.

Unlike them, I did not have the time to dwell and exhibit luxury time. "Do what you must, but do it quick." I spoke, hastily repositioning my mask to the center of my face. "Gatsō, take over my position. When your done, tell Youka that I'm taking a vacation - she should understand."

With a curt nod, I vanished - propelling my descent with none other than a shunshin.

exit.

[lore.]

This idiot forget that we were in the same family, because Gatsō had to go as well. "Little man, please tell the kage I'm going to take a quick vacation, same goes for Sora. The name is Etsuko Gatsō. So make sure. Thanks!" And with that he took his leave as well, via Shunshin.

Exit.

[DAVID BOWE]

'hiko;; sixteen exp addition
naga;; eleven exp addition
yets;; ten exp addition