Run for it! - Side Story

Was it the cool morning air, or the warm first rays of sun that bade the young white haired main the best good morning? Perhaps it was the view of the whole village from the tallest water tower. Running a hand through his hair and doing the last of his stretches Kensai bade the morning a warm smile and lept from the tower, passing the building down as he did his hands pulling from his pockets a spool of ninja wire and roping it on a passing beam, at the tension point the young man kicked his legs, creating a swing sending him forward as quickly as he could go, feeling the wind rush by his face as he sped across rooftops, over shops and along light poles making his way to his first pick up point of the morning.

The white glint dropped down to street level passing his boss at exactly 5:30 in the morning, his bag already loaded to the brim with small parcels that needed to be delivered before breakfast. By the weight of the bag today was going to be a light day, even for a Saturday, odd. Maybe he'd find another note from his boss about wanting a talk. He'd not crushed any more packages, maybe it was that raise he'd been asking for. His studio apartment was getting small and with no real income from his job as a Genin, because of the lack of missions, he would have to advance in his job as a courier.

However given his dual status as a Genin, he was used primarily for military packages, mostly paperwork packets. And that seemed to be what today's deliveries were. They were all addressed to Jounin and above, most official packages, but some were personal. Like: A pink letter that smelled of frilly expensive perfume addressed to...

"How the fuck do you say this name!?" Kensai was taken aback and confused enough to nearly be distracted by an upcoming change in course. Quickly using his free hand to grasp a flagpole and use it to make a rapid ninety degree right turn and slide down a floor, onto lower rooftops. Most Jounin lived in the nicer part of the old city, leaving Kensai to follow the address to old town a few streets down from where he was entering old town.

Only a few roofs from his destination the young man was caught off guard when an arrow struck at his feet causing the young man to roll to a stop away and look at where the arrow came from. A man with a crossbow, and a black cloak. "Hey you!" Kensai shouted pointing a finger, but was cut off by a small explosion as the arrow burst into a small ball of fire, throwing the Genin into an alley, knocking the wind out of him as he crashed into a pile of trashcans.

Not cool.

"Well then." He pushed his way to his feet, slipping the letter back into his bag. "Looks like you want to play."

"Runt. Die easily so that I can have whats in the bag." The man now crouching demanded from the rooftop one story above, he'd already reloaded his crossbow and it was pointed right at Kensai. Before the boy's remark the man fired.

The arrow found a home in a wall of metal that had sprung forth from Kensai's arm. A practiced maneuver, deploying a shield, and stopping incoming projectile attacks. The shield itself shrank back into the boys arm and let the arrow fall free. The Agile boy quickly kicked back to his attacker, the weapon exploding shortly there after, causing the man to fall back.

"Keh! Little bastard already has the timing down." His hands were quickly reloading his crossbow, but the weapon wouldn't see another round chamber as it was cut into two parts, the string now flailing uselessly between the two. Up from his spot in the Alley Kensai had used the walls to accelerate himself upwardly, his Omni-weapon now in his favorite form, that of his Signature Sword.

It was a short lived victory as the man flicked his wrist and sent a blade speeding at the boy's gut, weapon far above his head, the young man had no time to react to the short range attack, and no real way to dodge. His eyes widened expecting to take the hit, and start dealing with the pain.

Trust wasn't something that was easily given to Raphael. He was a stranger from a foreign land. Everything about him gave people a reason to distrust him. No one believed that he was here purely for his own interests, or at least they didn't believe that he wasn't here to hurt someone else to get what he wanted. Some were courteous, but very few actually trusted or showed any decent amount of kindness to Raphael. He didn't blame them, if one of them had traveled to his land and stayed there for years, he would have expected them to be a spy as well.

Raphael was walking on his own, heading towards the sparring field in the hopes of finding some shinobi to train against. His techinques were good, but he needed to work on his strength and speed if he was ever to slay a bijuu. His mind was quickly swiped away from his goal as he heard an explosion nearby. HE turned his head and saw a fight taking place in the distance. Out of instinct he ran over, looking to see what was going on. It didn't take him long to gather what had taken place.

As the blade was thrown at the boy, Raphael pulled out his crossbow and fired a single bolt, striking the blade in mid air and causing it to be deflected in to the nearby wall and keep the boy safe.

"There is no honor in a fight like this," Raphael said as he approached the fight. He made a hand sign. He was coated in light as several patches of steels armor was added to his usual leather armor, and in his hand he held a spiked morning star. "Leave the boy be, or be slain."

It was merely luck that allowed Kensai to fare this well, his feet coming to rest upon a rooftop just above his attacker. Why had the man even bothered to attack him? Was it because he was a courier and this man was an interceptor from another village? No, he didn't seem like any shinobi he'd read about or seen in the village.

The black robed man looked to Raphael and sneered, it was more than just the man interrupting in his mission. "Hmm. It seems I'm out matched here." From out of his sleeve the man raised a two large black spheres, just barely fitting in his hand before hurling them at his feet, causing them to explode in a thick black oily smoke, not the thin wispy grey smoke most shinobi use.

Kensai's head was on a swivel quickly surveying the area, false retreats were perfect ways to restart a failed ambush. It was obvious to him that the as the smoke dissipated that the man inside would have made his exit. Verifying that the coast was clear Kensai's eyes stopped on the man who had come to his aid, his omni-weapon disengaged and returned to it's resting state within in his skin.

"Thanks mister!" He jumped from the rooftop, doing an end over flip and landing a few feet away from the man in the odd looking clothes and armor. Then something struck him, his hand going inside his bag and pulling out the pink frilly letter. Could this guy be a Jounin?

"Curses" Raphael said as the man disappeared in his black smoke. It was a peculiar move, and not one that Raphael had seen a shinobi do recently. IT was odd, and something about it made him feel uncomfortable. Still, he didn't have the time to focus on it for now. He turned his attention to the young lad that had been in the fight.

"You alright son?" Raphael asked as he approached the boy. "While I know it's not any of my business, mind if I ask why you and that man were fighting? He had no honor to attack one such as you, but I hope you did nothing to wrong him first" the knight asked. His accent was still thick, even after the many years that he had spent amongst the shinobi. It was a piece of home that he always had with him.

Raphael made a handsign, causing his weapon and extra pieces of armor to vanish.

Kensai was taken aback for a second, he'd just been attacked, and this guy that had just stepped in on his side was questioning him? Well, Kensai had to stop blind for a moment dropping his arms to his sides almost in shock that he would ask after having jumped in on his side. Still in his place Kensai would do the same.

"I was just out doing my deliveries when that guy decided to start shooting explosive bolts at me with his crossbow." Kensai explained pulling out both his Courier credentials and Genin credentials. And showing them to the man whom he assumed to be military, most likely a Jounin Specialist or above, as conjuring such armor was most likely a specialized technique. "And it's Kensai, Yamamoto, Sir, not Son." The white haired young man corrected, he wished to be addressed respectfully.

"In that case, you have shown great courage in the face of a larger opponent. In my home country, a feast would have been thrown in your honor and you would be considered a man from this day forward," Raphael said before bowing his head. "May great honor and fortune fall upon you and your house Kensai Yamamoto," Raphael continued on.

"You should likely go to the shinobi corps and request aid. That man was mysterious, but I think you've seen enough to get a description and perhaps see if anyone knows who he is."

"Thanks." Kensai pushed his credentials back into his pocket and scratched the back of his head, not knowing what he really meant, as far as he was concerned he was already a man, he lived on his own after all, and supported himself, hand nobody to look out for him but him.

"Yeah I'll get on that after I finish my morning deliveries. I think my last one will be right at the Honekage's office." Kensai did a quick check at his manifest, he could make his deliveries work towards his end of the line being the Honekage's office, he didn't need much time after that to do an after action report on the skirmish here. "I get the feeling that guy wasn't from around here. We have lots of people from all over, but that guy was a little out of our culture range." Then again the man he was talking to seemed a little different as well. Guess the culture moved further out than he thought.

"That might have been his intention. His device is different from the usual smoke grenades that most shinobi use," Raphael commented as he walked over and picked up some of the remaining soot from the smoke that the devices had created. "I'm under the assumption that if you can buy these here there will not be many locations where one can do that," the knight remarked as he thought it over.

"I will look in to the matter myself. I can see that you are busy and I was only going to go train, tracking down an assailant is a much better use of my time."

Kensai was just about to bid the man farewell before remembering the pink frilly letter. "Mister I didn't catch your name." He added, "It's for the official report if you will." He would also compare the man's name with that on the letter, if it even sounded similar then he had a winner. If not... well then he'd be back on searching for the right address. Which was right around here anyways. If this was the guy he had a girlfriend that was hell bent on giving him a pretty heavy duty letter.

The knight stopped before turning back to the young man. "Sir Raphael," he said with a bow of his head. "As I said before, it was a pleasure meeting you but I'm afraid that I must be off for the time being. If I capture the man that tried to kill you, I'll make sure that you become informed of it"

"Oh well then." Kensai pushed the envelope into the man's hands. "This is for you." There was a slight pause of concern that he might have the wrong person. "I think." A couriers job was never really concrete unless the package was accepted by the intended recipient. If he wasn't the intended recipient then maybe he could point him to the right direction.

"And for the record, I don't think he was trying to kill me. There was no killer intent to give the attack away, it was more like he was trying to rob me." Kensai corrected, at least that was his own personal view of things. Maybe his senses weren't that honed, or this guy was good at hiding his killer intent. But either way that's what he'd put in his report.

Raphael looked at the letter, sizing it up and immediately knowing who it was from. The man's eyes seemed to falter for a moment before his grip tightened on the letter. "Thank you, appreciate the delivery," Raphael said before pulling out some money and handing it to Kensai. Without even waiting for a thank you, Raphael turned and left, his eyes never looking away from the letter that had likely traveled for weeks to get here.

"Thanks Mister!" Kensai readily took the money and stuffed it in his pocket. "Now I gotta make up time. So I'll see ya 'round!" Kensai took off like a shot, jumping to a low roof and starting off at as fast as he could to catch up, any more distractions like this and he'll be behind and in trouble.

And that he didn't want.