Double double mission, d-double mission, double double mission *ding, dong*

Mission 1:

Elixar had left the village promptly, deciding that he would quickly carry out some tasks before he took on a more complex mission with a partner; his partner of choice of course being none other than Hideaki. He would have liked to have gotten some of the limitations on his weapon removed before he went out on another mission, and he was sure that given the circumstances, Ryo might have allowed him to use his weapon's additional skills without having to pay down too much coin, but as it stood, the man was currently being attended to by medical staff and was in no position to be handing Elixar free upgrades to his sword. Saddened both by his inadequate blade and by the poor health of his friend - so much so that a catering mission had been released to the village to take care of him whilst he was nursed back to health - Elixar vowed he would get stronger and start acquiring currency to add to the village's economy.

His contractor was a shrewd old man, beady eyes, thin stature and pruned, tight lips that were locked in a permanent pout, as if constantly displeased with his surroundings. They met around one hundred meters from the remains of the village gates and headed off promptly, limiting the small talk to introducing themselves and making their destination clear. Elixar had no problems with this, he wasn't particularly in a good mood - for understandable reason - and could already sense that the man was unhappy with being escorted by a child. It seemed to be the response he got most days now, people were expecting tall, burly muscular shinobi to be their knights in shining armour, and the somewhat uninterested Elixar betrayed this image in more ways than one.

He yawned as they neared their destination. Elixar was weary of the shifting shadows that were doing a bad job of keeping themselves silent. For someone so old, he really seemed to have something persistent after him. He'd expressed in the mission criteria that he'd had run ins with wild animals before during his scavenges, but unless he was dealing with a pack of wolves, he doubted that the only wild animals that would have perused the duo this far would have to be humans: probably bandits over ninjas.

As the prospector reached into his burlap sack to withdraw digging equipment, Elixar said he was just going to take a leak in a nearby bush. Unamused, the man turned away and got to work digging, stating that Elixar had better be on point if anything showed up whilst he was digging. Elixar was of course fine with this and called back lazily. The prospector started to hum to himself, losing himself in his own little world. Elixar chuckled to himself, finally understanding why he would need protecting - a tsunami could have washed up right next to him and he wouldn't have noticed.

Realising that Elixar was making a beeline for his hiding spot, the bandit leapt out whilst Elixar's head was turned the other way. Without changing the direction of his vision, Elixar drew his blade, quickly and silently, the blade pushed against the bandit's kunai, pushing passed and slamming the man into the floor. Clearly he'd relaxed his guard and hadn't expected such a quick response, let alone any returning force. Elixar's knee rose to bring his leg up and have it drop on the man's neck. Elixar wasn't particularly strong, but the lack of air in the man's throat was now more than enough to put him out of a fight for the time being.

[601 Words]

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Mission 2:

Growling. Checking the soles of his feet for dirt and skin, he became aware of the growling that was starting to get louder and pan around him. The area they were digging at wasn't too far away from the farms that were supposedly having difficulty with wolves. The wolves were supposedly killing livestock and generally making farming animals a pain, killing both infants and mother animals alike, setting back production and cultivation. Elixar cursed silently, he'd written off the possibility of the shadows being an animal and felt he'd jinxed himself by narrowing the options down to wolves or humans. Wolves AND humans was the correct, and rather discerning answer.

He contemplated using ninjutsu, but without a clear target, he wasn't in the clear to be firing off techniques. The sword was much safer, especially if there happened to be anything out there that wasn't hostile, he wasn't a fan of collateral damage, even more so after his entire village had become one giant cluster of collateral damage. He kept his sword in his hand, waiting patiently for the multitude of glowing red eyes to crawl out of the bushes and reveal the bodies that they belonged to. He was met with silver and dark grey pelts, seemingly from two different kinds of wolves. His jaw tensed. In a way, he hated dealing with intelligent animals more than he hated dealing with people. Intelligent animals were a force to be reckoned with when cornered, but also when working in unison; their animal instinct surpassed that of humans and their skill for the hunt was something that was more refined than the speech of the average bandit.

From behind he heard the snarling of a beast as it leapt at him, taking its chance to strike whilst his attention was seemingly averted. Elixar's arm snaked behind him, allowing the tip of his sword to whip through the air in a crescent shape, plunging through the skull of the surprised beast. He heard a whimper and he let this arm drag along the floor, incapable of supporting the weight of both his sword and the deceased animal. He tilted the blade, returning to slow, exaggerated movements so as not to spark the wolves into a frenzy of biting and clawing. The lifeless body of the first wolf slumped to the ground with a muffled thump. Elixar glanced over to his main client, now strumming the air guitar on his digging equipment and signing a song from his youth hideously out of tune. It looked like Elixar was the main and only target - exactly the way that he wanted it.

He couldn't tell how many wolves there were, so he thought he would play it safe and inched a tad further away from the bushes that the first wolf had come from. He didn't dare turn around to inspect the first kill, a moment's hesitation would be the end of him. Only two wolves were visible in front of him, the rest were just a bunch of eyes in the background. He took another step towards them, left hand spread open, forming a wall between his body and the wolves, the other arm was raised above his head, the blood running down the raven black metal of his sword. He stepped forward and launched himself with as much pace as he could muster, making an arching swing so as to clip both wolves as they began to react.

He succeeded, stepping passed both wolves and allowing them to collapse, the base and roofing of their jaws no longer connected. He then would flex, allowing his killing instinct to swamp the area in the immediate radius. The wolves cowered in fear, the many pairs of eyes slinking back into the veil of shadows slowly until they could be neither seen nor heard. He relaxed and wiped his blade, turning to find that the client was standing next to him, ready to return to the village. Convenient timing was all Elixar could really say about it, and the more convenient it was for him, the happier he was to return to the village. They moved briskly, Elixar rather happy to be back within the confines of the ruins he called home.

[706 Words]

[Exit]