Board Thread:World Map/@comment-25687356-20161101044415/@comment-30269418-20161101202828

Mary Hikari stood in a tree, watching her four underlings scout the area as she bit her lip. This was Utau's turn. She shouldn't have to cover for the green-blooded fool. Unfortunately, she did owe the green-blood a favor from the last time she had shirked on her own duties. Still, it was interesting to be allowed a fresh breath of air outisde of the iron smell of the Hikari's home. The mountain entrance, nothing more than a rocky crag that was barely enough for one person to fit through, was situated three yards away from where they were at the current moment. Mary slid a hand through her thick, golden locks. Her blood was yellow, unlike the natural purple of the Hikari. She held pride in this, although burns covered 70% of her body. Her eyes narrowed as she caught a mindless foot-solider staring in her direction; his eyes quickly found something else to focus on.

The trees in this area were tall. About one and a half kilometres away, there was an open meadow visible, and beyond that, the ocean. In the meadow, different types of flowers bloomed; some were medicinal, although you wouldn't know that unless you originally hailed from the land of Sound. The four shinobi were spread out and alert; although they were not smart, they were on guard, looking for intruders. Since it was the middle of the day, intruders would easily be spotted if they made no attempt to hide themselves.

Meanwhile, the green-blood, Utau, sat in the village. If one were to look above, they would see the sky, but only through the leaves of extremely tall trees. These trees hid the village from above and were massive. Just underneath their leaves, however, an arena was suspended on powerful cables that the trees could easily support. There were winding wooden pathways, mostly used for training; a drop from that height could easily damage or kill someone.

On a hill in the mountain, an elaborate looking estate that belonged to Tayagane Hikari was situated before the forbidden temple; everyone could see the rocky crag that was the beginning of the forbidden cave where Akito had been housed years ago. Tayagane herself had taken the burden of Akito's seal when her daughter went missing a month before the ritual was to be preformed. There were warning tags all over it. Even now, it housed the darkest secrets of the Hikari, and was forbidden to everyone but the head of the clan.

Utau glanced at it. He knew he could not enter, and yet, he was curious. His duty was to protect Tayagane and their home without question, but he was unable to rid himself of curiousity. The next head of the clan had been kidnapped seven years before and Tayagane had become even more brutal than she had been.

Utau finished the small dumpling he had been eating, and stood from his seat at the only food place in the general area. He noticed that another one of the unique-bloods was headed his way. "Yuka, what are you doing today?" He called to her, feigning cheerfullness. It was a well known fact that all unique-bloods hated each other.

Yuka, whose blood was pink, turned to Utau and gave him a disgusted glare as if he was nothing more than vomit on the ground. "I am ignoring you." She was pissed off because Tayagane had favored Mary over her; even going so far as to assign her more important tasks. Did Tayagane not see her devotion?

Meanwhile, Sansa sat with Gento. Gento was the last of the unique bloods, and his color was blue, almost as blue as a sapphire would be. "I apologise that Lady Tayagane could not come herself to give you this mission; you are the strongest of our unique-bloods. Please remember that this is a covert operation and is not meant to be disclosed in any way."

Gento sighed, looking outside of his window at the forbidden temple. "We could not find Minami; who says that we may be successful in finding either of Lady Tayagane's children?" He stood from his spot, regardless. "Either way, this is a mission directly from Lady Tayagane's own heart; I cannot deny her. I will carry out this mission and hopefully, return successful." With that, Gento body-flickered away, heading in the direction that there had been a rumor of a person who used blood to fight.

Sansa turned to the doorway; she needed to sort the other missions that were currently pending. Normally, most of them were supply runs, but the Sound offered missions as well in exchange for complete secrecy. Once a month they would meet, the missions would be handed neatly to the Hikari in an undisclosed location, and they would be done. In exchange it would keep a steady flow of goods appearing just outside their forest, like medicine and cloth.

The town was quiet; there wasn't much to do if you weren't training. As Sansa strolled through, she nodded her head to several of the older members that she had known since she was brought into the village as a child.

Tayagane was reading the most recent bingo book that had been sent along with the supplies from the Hidden Sound; she took interest in the leaf. They had two new missing-nin. Reading their descriptions, she wondered if she would happen upon them soon; if so, she would not waste time in her attempt to produce another heir. Her mouth formed a tight line when she thought of Rena. She would not yet give up, but she did need a backup plan.

Dangerous nin were the easiest to persuade; the strongest nin could fall easily to seductive charm. Chances were, though, that she'd venture from their hidden village to copulate with a man of formidable strength which would in turn create a formidable heir. She glanced at the windows, which had a light fog settle on them. She would need to prepare for this journey. Her clan needed an heir.

Especially with the black cat, staring at her. She stared back, nonmoving and unrelentless. This thing was a curse, and she needed it gone. If she could transfer it to Rena, then it would all be over; it would have been over if she had not been kidnapped by ANBU. She cursed herself for not being there that day, for deciding that a mission could not be done by a unique-blood. She rarely left the village, worried another one of her family would be snatched from her.

She stood from where she sat, and walked over to a window, placing a hand on the cold pane of glass. This was her home; she would protect it with all she had. Never again would she allow someone with the intent of harm to get within the mountain.