Underneath the rain of Crimson Petals ch. 4: "The Shinobi Inn"
 

Tomasu leaned against the outside wall of the inn. It was night outside, and the moon was filling the area with light. He was standing outside on his own, looking up at the satellite that circled the earth. It was almost a joke to him. This object which was the basis of such romance and mystery on this Earth. Truly, it was nothing more than a floating rock. It was comical.

He could hear the other ninja inside the inn. Some were arguing, others eating, and some even talking on civil terms. And Tomasu was outside on his own. Or so he thought. With ninja, you could never be sure if you're alone.

After regaining conciousness(courtesy of Ka's pill) Tayuumi was basically half walked, half carried to the inn.

She spoke with a weak voice, "Thank you, Nanashi."

By the time they had made it back to the inn, she had regained enough of her strength to move and talk freely. One of the first things to come into her mind was, <Wait, did we complete the mission?>

After this thought she looked at the others in the inn and blurted out, "What the hell happened?"

Kazisha was grudgingly carrying a tray of food outside when Tayuumi - with Nanashi - was brought inside.

"Oh, it's you. We finished the mission alright, and now we're just relaxing. Grab some food, then get some sleep. You look exhausted," Ka added as she moved outside.

~~

Tomasu heard Kazisha approach long before she actually appeared, Shima a dark, dappled shadow behind her. The leopard gave her nin-partner a nudge, and Ka shoved a steaming bowl of pork ramen (chopsticks included) under his nose. After he accepted it, she took the two other bowls on her tray, set one down for Shima, and put her chopsticks into her own seafood ramen.

The three ate in silence for a moment.

"No tricks now, eh? Shima said that you looked kind of lonely out here. She also said something about your attempt to beat up Kokuo of the Rock before the test," if Tomasu listened hard enough, he would've heard the smallest hint of envy in her cool voice. She tossed a prawn into the air, and Shima caught it with ease.

"Tomorrow..." Ka paused for a moment, eyes gleaming in the darkness, reflecting the moonlight in her pale eyes and causing them to glow an eerie silver, "Shima and I'll be up a little before dawn training. You want to join us?"

<Atta girl, Ka!> Shima purred encouragingly. Ka shot a look of pure venom at the leopard, who suddenly found her food extremely fascinating to examine. Shima knew it was a bad idea at the start, but she also knew that if Kazisha kept going on treating everybody with her coldness, it won't bode well in the end.

"Well, I guess that's fine." she said with the exuberation of her voice gone.

"Does anyone else have more detailed info? Like what it said? Who we gave it to? C'mon people!" she said in a semi-demanding voice.

OOC: Oop... there goes what I wanted to do... ah well.

"It was a mere letter." He answered her question with a bit of fear in his voice. "It was a simple thing really, just a letter to him saying that we were the ones chosen for this cross-village idea." He then took the time to answer all of the questions she had, in as much detail as he could.

After the Q & A session, he rubbed the back of his neck, "So... how are you feeling?"

Aseta slowly staggered towards the inn, the occasional wheeze echoed down the path. Lurching past Tomasu with an utter lack of stealth, Aseta need not declare his approach, "Tomasu." and yet he did.

Trudging to the clerks desk he sighed, the cigarette wavered slowly in his lips. "Key please." The clerk forced a smile.

"I'm sorry sir but there's no smoking allowed." Aseta's eyebrow quaked, he calmly removed the cigarette from his lips and stubbed it out on the counter. The clerk forced smile faded as she handed over the key, Aseta accepted the key with a nod before dragging the remnants of his cigarette across the counter leaving a fine trail of ash and tobacco across it. His slow and constant footsteps were nearly inaudible as he trudged towards his room.

Kokuo had walked into the inn and taken one look at his room then walked back outside. He looked around to find the tallest tree he could and found one that filled all his requirments. It was a towering old tree that had died near the top. Probably from a lack of nutrients. Kokuo walked over to the tree and placed one hand on a low hanging branch. He easily swung his body up onto it and then continued onto the next branch and the next branch.

Finally he reached the top. Sweat covering his body. Kokuo removed his vest and his empty weapon holsters. Using the wraps on his arms and legs he tied them to the tree and lay'd down on the top branch. He looked out at the Inn below him. The cool air felt good on his body. Not feeling quite tired enough for sleep due to the energy given by the soldier pill. He slung his legs over the branch and wrapped his tail between his legs. Letting his body fall backwards he hung upside down. Normally he would just use his chakra to hang from the branch. But the mass amount of bloodloss left that out as dangerouse. Even with the soldier pill.

Kokuo let his body hang there for a moment, his muscles stretching out. Then he began to do hanging sit ups. His muscular body moving quickly and smoothly through the motions.

"Oh, that's great." Tayuumi said in a tone that suggests she really didn't believe it.

"So, we endangered our lives to deliver a message saying we're the team? Wow, that seems like a waste. What the hell is wrong with them. 'Hey, let's throw a group of chuunins together who probably want to kill each other and make them waste a day on delivering a scroll that has a message we already know!' Yeah, ass loads of sense. " upon saying this she stood up and went to her room to lay down and rejuvinate what she could before morning.

Chirin walked towards inn at a slow pace so as to enjoy the last of the cold night air. Taking a final look up at the stars Chirin entered into the inn and slid the door shut behind himself. Chirin walked into the common room of the inn and sat down at a chair in the corner of the room near the fireplace and against the wall. Raising his hand he signaled to the waitress. Ordering his food Chirin signed and took out an inconspicous bottle from his jacket and unscrewed it taking a drink. Putting the bottle back into his jacket Chirin tilted his chair backwards and reclined against the wall with his eyes closed waiting for his food.

"Yeah... my thoughts excatly..." he said to no one there. He shrugged and walked about outside, finding a nice spot away from the rest of civilization and sitting on the ground, soaking in the brisk air. It was tropical weather compared to home, but it was still nice to have a slight chill. He closed his eyes and calmed his soul, waiting for the sun to rise on a new day, and their new mission.