sin city serenade.

[Arcadia]

'crunch'

'crunch'

'crunch'

While the forest had been most kind to me during the weeks of my self-imposed exile from society, it was doing me no favors when it came to stealth as I trekked beneath its vast, green canopy. The crunchy forest floor provided an excellent alert system that seamlessly tipped off any living creature within a 10m radius with every step I made. I knew well that leaping through the treetops was the preferred way of shinobi travel in forested environments, but I couldn't be bothered. Saving my energy for whatever was in store for me at the bandit camp seemed to be a better plan of action.

I found my mission to be of the utmost peculiarity; the mere fact that there were bandit camps in such close proximity to a major, organized military power was baffling. The fact that these camps were still around even after word of violence toward innocent people got back to the village was also baffling. I'd imagine that Blanche would be more keen on dismantling whatever operations the bandits had going on just outside of her beloved village, but alas I was only being employed to take care of a single one of these camps. The day, long and humid even with the abundance of shade provided by the forests' lush, green canopy, was nearly over. I'd been walking for what seemed like eternity when at last I came across something new from the occasional squirrel.

Carved into the trunk of a tree was a message:

Lost?
we have foods and directons
folow the red bandanz

Grammatical inadequacy aside, I had to commend their approach. They lured the lost and hungry to their camp with a promise of rations and a route home, and then took it upon themselves to attack and rob their unsuspecting victims. An elementary tactic, like placing a cube of cheese on a mousetrap. Admittedly, I planned to thank them upon my arrival at their camp. In their ploy to lure mice into their clutches, they have inadvertently attracted a lion.

[Arcadia]

'crunch'

'crunch'

'crunch'

Beneath the rim of my hat, a pair of steady, strong eyes examined the bandana-line path that I walked. These bandits were strange, I thought. Every other pine tree seemed to be marked by a scarlet clothe at its base. But then their was an occasional pair of trees, side by side, which were marked. I wasn't sure, but I assumed that this wasn't by accident. I was also beginning to question the leaves that continued to crunch beneath my feet. The canopy was lush, full, green. It was unseasonal for leaves to be falling at the rate required to cover the forest floor in such a manner. It was a hunch, but I believed that the leaves beneath my feet were placed her by the bandits, and each marked pair of trees was a checkpoint lined with a hidden radio receiver. It was an alert system, and I'd probably triggered it. Lovely.

The skin that covered my fingertips began to split. They were probably expecting me, a lost, vulnerable, unsuspecting traveler, maybe armed with nothing more than a simple pocketknife. They were very wrong, of course, but I wasn't going to show them that just yet. My clothes were not unlike those of an ordinary traveler, and my tools were all hidden beneath my robe. Not even my headband graced my visage - it, too, was hidden. The bandits thought that they were going to surprise me, but I was going to surprise them. The forest had been still for the entirety of my trek since I came across the message carved in the tree. Unnaturally still, I thought. Human activity had to be abundant here, given that not an animal was in sight. Two things happened then.

There was a crunch most subtle that came from behind me and a pair of leaves, maybe five meters apart, fell in near unison. No animal would be sneaking up on me, unless it were a carnivore, in which case I wouldn't have heard it. There wasn't the slightest breeze either. Nothing short of a gale would have removed healthy, seasonal leaves from their respective trees. That, and just two of them? One could perhaps have been some tree-dwelling rodent, but two in near unison? These bandits were amateurs. I glanced up, only momentarily spotting their forms before I released a flurry of tiny, ivory bullets. I heard the sound of snapping wood and immediately turned around to face the one who was flanking me. An ivory tip had pierced the palm of my hand and it was right between his eyes when I stopped.

His eyes were too large, his face was too round, and his form was too small. He stumbled back, just as he companions were slamming into the ground. I never imagined that a pair of bandits would send their child to engage an enemy.