A Kiri/Kumo Dual Mission! (Yoshitsune)

Seeing Calis that joined her, and the praise that he gave her, would immediately send Yoshi into a giggly smile. It was little moments of praise like this that motivated her to work so hard. Even though she had barely met this man, just hearing him say something as simple as ‘Good work’ was enough to make her very happy. She would move into a position close to him, regrouping before they entered the interior of the castle. ‘Smooth progress! I’m guessing I’ll get a pat on my head once this is all done~!’ She thought with a bit of glee, biting her own lip when imagining it following the mission. She couldn’t help but imagine the tall, dark haired man patting her on the head and telling her ‘Good job’ after all this was done. That was what she was looking forward to the most, more than even the kissing or resuming the flirting.

“I’ll stay close!” She would nod her head, returning from her earlier bloodthirst to her girly and giddy persona. Yoshitsune was eager to obey, and so she would follow Calis’s instructions without really thinking about them too much.

At her confirmation that she would indeed stay close, he would move toward the door and look toward her, holding up a finger to her lips and pressing it against them. “Be quiet in here, surprise will be our best tool to save the hostages. Any kills have to quick and quiet.” He would say before turning and checking the door, it was locked after all. “Tch, typical” he would say before maneuvering some of his sand into the lock mechanism and forcing the tumblers up and the door to therefore open. Using more of his sand he’d compress it against the important parts of the hinges to ensure any creaking was silent before entering and motioning Yoshitsune to close the door behind her to ensure that if it was found it would be assumed that nothing was wrong.

The door led to a long corridor of stone that forked at the end. Around the corner to the right the sound of shifting metal could be heard. ‘An armored man’ He would think as he crept down the hall. The fort seemed mildly dilapidated and that implied that the outer fortifications had been added later on, probably when they found the place. Stones had fallen from the ceiling and off the walls, laying about in small clutters. Ahead as he could see a tripwire, a trap to warn the guard of their presence. He pointed it out to Yoshitsune as he stepped over it carefully and moved to the corner, not passing it to ensure the armored man didn’t see him. This was a problem, for if he looked he’d risk the man seeing him and acting, but he couldn’t attack the man quietly without knowing how tall her was.

His partner though, she might.

Turning toward her he would jerk a thumb toward the man around the corner with a questioning brow raised hi as he put his fingers to his lips afterwards. Asking if she could take him down without making any noise. If she were fast enough, she might be able to get him without him crying out. He could catch him in a bed of sand and ensure no one heard the clatter of his armor upon the floor.

She would smile even wider as Calis put a finger to her lips. That she was treating this all like something of a game was obvious now, but then again she had explicitly said that she was going to do that at the very beginning. After he pulled his finger away Yoshitsune would quickly nod her head, remaining silent as a sign that she understood his orders. Despite the fact that Calis hadn’t really explicitly ordered complete silence, Yoshitsune was the type to attempt to go above and beyond whatever orders she was given. Quick was her specialty though when it came to combat. Quiet? It wasn’t her first preference, but she could definitely do that. Usually she liked fighting while screaming taunts and challenges at opponents, but quiet was fine too. It wasn’t as if her fighting style was inherently loud or anything. Well… Except her geta. The wooden sandals she wore did make a pretty distinct clicking sound when she walked with them, especially if she was being fast. As a result of this she would discard the both of them, leaving them outside the door to the interior, and would go barefoot the remainder of the way inside.

She would follow along passively after Calis, only a step or two behind him. Her movements would match his almost perfectly, and it was clear that she was more or less mimicking how he moved here. The tripwire that he had pointed out would be carefully stepped over, making sure not to come too close to it.

It was only when Calis gave the signal, in pointing with his thumb to the armored man, that Yoshi would begin to act on her own again. She could see what he meant, or at least what she thought he meant through the silent point of his thumb. Her blade would be readied. She could hear the movements of the guard as well, even if she couldn’t directly see him.

Giving a slight nod, Yoshitsune would position her blade. It would be raised up in her right arm, pointing directly out as she held it about level with her neck. Her arm would be folded back, ready to be braced against her chest.

All at once she would run out, forming another hand seal with her left hand. It was just a simple flash step, but barefoot she was able to move both fast enough and silent enough for her movements to just be a mere blur. Rather than slashing at him with her blade, she would just ram the entire length of it into the man, aiming quickly to slide it into the kinks of his armor between his head and torso. It would go right through the back of his neck, slicing clean through his spinal colum and coming out through his throat on the other side. Giving that she had essentially rammed him at full speed through it would be a rather rough stop for her, not too different from slamming into a wall. She was able to brace herself with her arm against her collar bone, but it still hurt a good deal more than she was expecting. The force was enough to strain the muscles in her arm, which she would definitely feel in the morning. She cringed a bit at it, although the shock would be mostly caught by the sand grain that Calis had prepared to take the blow.

Seeing her draw her blade, he would take control of his sand and be ready to move it right after she did and slide it out to cushion the man’s fall. As she disappeared around the corner he’d flood the area with a large amount of sand, the grainy substance was extremely quiet in actuality and would serve to quiet the man’s descent quite spectacularly. As the landing was done he would slowly retract the bed of sand and move to ensure that Yoshitsune was alright. This direction was a dead end right where that armored man had been hiding, the deep shadows of the corner doing much to hide him from visual sight. If he hadn’t of worn such heavy armor, Calis might not have known he was there. The opposite direction though, toward the left of the original hall that they had emerged from, would lead down a ways before turning toward the right. Another fallen ceiling blocking the path so that the right turn was the only way to go.

The torch lit halls would allow for industrious rogues such as them to use the deep shadows they created to hide. Moving to stand near her he would reach into a pocket and hand her a pristine kerchief. It was to wipe the blood off of her blade with. Lest the sound of the blood falling from the blade alert others to their presence. As he ensured that there had been no undue alarm due to the guards death he would turn toward her and smile, placing a hand upon her head as he did. He couldn’t speak, for risk of his voice carrying, but he hoped his smile was enough to convey his thoughts of a job well done.

At this point as he nod at her and begin to move down the wall, keeping his eyes open for traps along the way before reaching the turn down the corridor, he’d peak slowly, inching his head a bit around the corner a little at a time until he could see down it and take note that no one was down it. This one was a longer corridor, a pathway to the right halfway down seemed to lead to a room. Although it was hard to tell if it was a one room area or not. The corridor continued forward past that room and went down. Meaning part of this old fort was built below the ground.

Once the sand had pulled away Yoshitsune would retract her blade from the man’s throat. She hadn’t fully beheaded him, but the method in which she attacked was to ensure that it was as silent as possible. With his throat ran through with a blade it would be impossible for him to scream out in pain, or any last dying words, and there would be no sound of his helmeted head hitting the floor. That along with the fact Calis had been prepared to catch his body made it the best course of action despite the injury it caused her arm. Perhaps that usage of the Body Flicker had been in part both unnecessary and a part of why she had injured herself. Although as the injury wasn’t visible and all together wasn’t extreme Yoshi would do her best to ignore it, only temporarily cringing after the moment of impact.

With the handkerchief that she had been provided Yoshitsune would wipe her blade clean, removing all the blood and spinal fluid that had collected onto it. She was in the middle of that as Calis put his hand on her head, which would cause the young woman to freeze in place. Looking up to him as he did it, especially with the warm way in which he smiled, was nearly enough to make Yoshitsune melt into a puddle right there and then. She would meekly smile herself in a manner that was unlike the boisterous kunoichi, with a thick layer of pink clouding her cheeks. A bright warmth would swirl around inside her now, and she completely forgot about the pain in her arm.

With her cheeks still warm and pink, Yoshitsune would follow after Calis again something like a lost puppy, waiting eagerly for his next command.

The deep blush upon her features would cause Calis to smile wider. He fought the urge to kiss her there as he’d wanted to before. They would need to wait for the end of the mission for anything like that. For he wasn’t sure if he kissed her, if either he, or her would be able to stop. He began down the corridor at the end of the wall, moving quietly before reaching the room. He was about to turn into it when he heard the sound of shifting armor coming toward them from ahead. Someone was coming up the way, and that meant they had to act fast. Without even looking, Calis dipped into the room, which was thankfully empty and he hoped Yoshitsune would do the same. He would move some of his sand to the ceiling, holding it there to grasp onto the head, and thus the mouth, of whoever came into the room. They would have to dispatch this one quickly too, for if he turned the corner he’d easily see the body that now lay at the end of that corridor.

Tense moments passed by as the sound of the armored man came closer and closer to the hiding place. Calis held his breath in anticipation for either the man to turn into his makeshift trap, or to continue on and force Calis to move out and eliminate him silently, probably in the same manner if he was being completely honest.

Yoshitsune, mimicking Calis like something of a lost puppy, would dip into the room just as quickly as he did. It would have been even faster if it hadn’t been that she was following his movements. Although she didn’t really understand why they were engaging in the interior like this rather than just blowing through all their competition as they had earlier, Yoshitsune wouldn’t questition it. If this was what Calis thought was the best idea, then it must have been the best idea. That was what she assumed, anyway. She would watch the place where they had just came from carefully, her grip tight on the handle of her blade. The sound of shifting armor was there again. Would it be a repeat of the first? Apparently not, as Calis had moved some of his sand to the ceiling. Without any orders given to her she would wait patiently, passively watching to see what would happen next. She was a bit curious of how exactly Calis would handle this. Perhaps would he reach dhis sand down to strike into the eyes of whoever came in? Maybe cave their head in, or just crush it all together? She was sort of excited to find out.

The guard would turn into the room as Calis realized it was an armory of some sort, close the entrance to enable rapid response to an assault. The addon of the outer walls and the gate must not have been connected to the main building well enough for the shock of the blow to the gate to be sent through. These men truly had no clue of what happened outside. As the armored man came downstairs five streams of sand would shoot down, taking an arm and a leg each, with the last thrusting down the man’s open mouth as he tried to cry out. No sound would escape him as the streams restraining him prevents him being able to shift his armor enough to make noise and the sand would flow into his lungs, and flow into his bloodstream before reaching his heart. With a mental snap the man’s heart and lungs would suddenly be crushed and Calis would carefully set him inside the armory. Another successful circumvention of discovery.

Afterwards he would turn down the corridor and begin traveling through the fort. The corridors were mostly empty except for a few men and women throughout the place and they managed to circumvent them easily enough by assassinating them without a sound. As it stood they were now before the doorway into the lowest part of the fort. It was open, and multiple men, women, and children, were tied up against a wall. The hostages that they had sought were before them. Within the room stood a large group of men with the sounds of what sounded like a crying woman fighting for freedom off to the side. So, they were monsters to even this degree. Very well then. Calis would move back down the hall a ways to ensure their voices wouldn’t carry and finally break the long silence between the two of them. Speaking in hushed tones, his voice sounded odd to him after not hearing it for the past few hours or so. The sun would be high in the sky and that meant they would finish up here with just enough time to reach the beach to enjoy the rest of the day, and the night of a beach vacation that he had promised her.

Along the way they’d even found a panty, with, you guessed it, a large, ripe, watermelon. As odd as her desire to break it open on the beach was, they would be able to do so. He even managed to find bread, meat, cheese, some wine, and other food items that would make for a nice dinner for them upon the beach. As he was sure she must be famished, for he was too. “Alright, here’s the deal. Those hostages are the entire reason we’ve needed to be so quiet. If they knew they were being attacked, they might have gotten desperate and started killing them. I can protect most of them except for the woman currently being raped.” He would say, his inside churning at the idea of not running in there to help her right that moment. Rushing this however, wouldn’t help her. “I need you to go for her, kill the man or men who’s violating her, and make sure she stays safe. I don’t care if you push her into a corner and stand in it while I slaughter the rest. I don’t care if you fly her into the air, just make sure no more harm comes to her. I can get the rest with a jutsu from the doorway that’ll protect them all.” He would say as he considered he plan. It was simple enough, he’d already started it by having his sand spread up to the ceiling once more. Even now it was slowly crawling through the room in multiple little streams that were amassing upon the ceiling over the heads of the hostages.

She almost had the urge to clap after watching Calis kill the man. It was impressive! The way that the sand streamed into his mouth in order to keep him silent. She hadn’t even been able to see the mosts impressive bits, where his heart had been crushed and his bloodstream invaded. Of course she wouldn’t clap though, as that would have given away their silence if she did. Still, she mentally clapped for him. Even though this was a bit of an odd way to go about the mission by Yoshi’s perspective it was still rather entertaining. Sort of like a game of hide and seek, almost. She probably wouldn’t do it on her own, but together with a friend it was exciting!

Arriving at the hostages, Yoshitsune would get a glimpse at them as Calis did. She would hear the same sounds, that of the crying woman. It was easy to tell what was going on. At the same time, Yoshitsune’s heart had long been hardened to this sort of thing. She didn’t react to it, at least not visibly. Her focus would be on scouting out those who fit cleanly into the group of ‘hostage’ and those who fit into the group of ‘targets’, which would only take a quick look around the area. It was clear just through the stance of the individual, not to mention that all the hostages were clearly tie against the wall. As Calis broke away she would as well, returning to, as Yoshi correctly assumed, formulate a plan.

“Ah… I see.” She would nod after speaking in that same hushed tone. Her expression had furrowed slightly, looking a bit frustrated now after they peeled away, for a similar reason as to why Calis was upset. “Kill the man violating that woman. I can do that. It will be easy.” She would formulate a basic plan of action in her head. It was all simple. Really, what they were going to do could be boiled down to ‘kill everyone in the room and none of the hostages’, although there was a bit more nuance to it than that. She didn’t have to think too much, either way.

Calis would in confirmation of her words before moving toward the doorway once more. Once he reached the door, while still being hidden by deep shadows within the place. He would plan his hands upon the cold stone floor and focus on the hostages. Immediately, the ground beneath them would drop down as his hand fell from the ceiling and solidified into a solid barrier over the new hole. His Moving Earth Core Jutsu coming in handy for such a situation. As this happened the men in the room would begin to cry out in confusion and hopefully, Yoshitsune would move to take care of her task in this as he rode in a rising wave of sand. It wasn’t his tidal wave technique. Such a jutsu was far too overkill in such a small place, it was simply a rising mass of sand that carried him in and once he was in the room he became a veritable twister, throwing streams of sand at the men as he had outside and forming a barrier against the wall for the woman if Yoshitsune was able to get her safely against it.

He wouldn’t be killing all of them of course, it would be exceedingly rude of him for him to take all of the fun for himself. Yes, he meant ‘fun’ for these men didn’t deserve to live in his eyes and he felt glee as he began to herd as many of them as possible into a single corner of the room. He had plans for a bit of a brutal ending for them and he needed as many as he could to get the right amount of fear into them as they died. Anger coloured his actions now, rage at the treatment of these hostages, fury at the raping of the women who hadn’t even been able to defend themselves. No, these men would suffer, and he no longer felt remorse for those that had been killed before this. “Help me get as many as possible into this corner, and I’ll give us a bit of a show.” He would say to Yoshitsune as he continued his efforts.

Once Calis laid his hands down to the floor, Yoshitsune would set off. She had figured that this was the signal to begin without needing any verbal communication regarding it. Her plan of action had been simple though. She would exhale down to her blade, releasing a stream of green air from her lungs deeply infused with Fuuton chakra. It would collect along her blade, giving it a bit more width and length, and with that she would speed ahead and swing at her target. She had approached him from the side, and her blade had been swung upwards from an underhand position.

She would bisect the man, slicing through him clearly from the side, all the way up from the bottom of his torso to his head. His back half would fall away, colliding to the ground in a wet mess, and Yoshitsune would pull his front half back and off the woman he had been in the process of violating. She was fast enough that he had no time to react, even if he had been able to see her coming. It was only the swing of her blade that was slow, but given they had the element of surprise there was more than enough time for her to end his life without even a peep from her target.

With the rapist killed Yoshitsune would quickly grab a hold of the woman, forcefully pushing her into the corner. She would shield the poor hostage with her own body, turning back to look over her shoulder at what Calis was doing. She had to rely on him now, as she would be more or less defenseless as she defended this woman with her own body.

What she saw was a bit concerning. Yoshitsune was something who enjoyed violence, but this was something she did with joy. It wasn’t out of rage or anger that she went force and played with her targets. Seeing Calis’s face, and the look in his eyes, was almost a bit frightening. Of course she wouldn’t react anything more than a slight frown, and once he had given her the order to help him there wouldn’t be a moment of hesitation on her part.

None of the men had been able to properly arm themselves or prepare for Calis and Yoshitsune to ruin their party, and because of this herding them into the corner was rather easy. All it took was a few choice slashes at them with her blade or a blow of a wind bullet to their heels and they would do as she directed.

[422/400 Training Vacuum Blade and Air Bullets]

The rapists, murderers, and kidnappers of his home were gathered into the corner, a group of about fifteen to twenty people. It was a wonderful crowd and he didn’t expect to get so many alive for this next part. Forming his platform, he would motion for Yoshitsune to join him as a wall of sand rose before the men in the corner, trapping him in it. At the same time, he would thicken the protective shielding on the ground to soundproof the earthen box he had put the other hostages in as he put the woman Yoshitsune had saved into a cocoon of sand all her own. None of them would see, or hear this. He wouldn’t do that to anyone he considered his people, and anyone from his home, from Kirigakure and its surrounding islands, were his people.

Yoshitsune though was a foreign shinobi, while attractive, fun, and enjoyable to spend time with. Perhaps a small example of what he himself would do to those who harmed his people would not be amiss. He also thought she might enjoy the show as she had rather enjoyed killing others so far. Should she join him on the platform, he would rise it up into the air, hovering just below the ceiling. From there they could see the men looking up at them, like ants unto gods. Some were even on their knees praying, hoping to simply be captured here and taken prisoner for their crimes. Calis’ face would be unreadable, no longer the picture of anger he had shown before, but simply blank as he began to consider his next words to these monsters.

A bit confused at what exactly was going on, Yoshitsune would join Calis up on their sand platform. With it above the wall of sand they could clearly see everything that would happen to these criminals, while the hostages would have their vision obscured. She could tell the intention of this. For some reason he wanted to hide his execution of these bandits from the hostages, but the exact reason why escaped her. It was interesting, and a bit confusing to her, and so she would simply watch Calis for guidance. While she did like to play with her food a bit when it came to missions like this, this was a bit of an elaborate setup for it. Still, it wasn’t her place to question him on how he wanted to do this.

It was the realization of what she had said earlier though that would make her expression turn. She had challenged Calis to a game earlier to see who could kill the most. She had completely forgotten to keep tally of how many she killed, but based on what had happened earlier and all these people he was about to execute now there was no chance that she even came close to winning. The realization would make her sigh sadly, a bit bitter that she couldn’t demand headpats from him again later due to her victory. Oh well.

“You’ve done immeasurable harm to those who live in my home.” He would say, speaking to those down below evenly, neutrally. “You kidnapped them, robbed them, raped them. You held them against their wills, and were prepared to execute them should any come to try to force you out.” He would continue, his eyes roving across them all as they listened, their breathing still as they awaited his next words. “My name is Calis Kazehana, and I will not allow anyone to go unpunished for harming any of my people. Say what final prayers you would to whatever gods you pray to. For I condemn you all to death.” He would say, finishing his small speech before the wall of sand began to move. It would slowly, very slowly, begin to move into the corner, the sand that could no longer fit moving to make the wall denser and harder as the wall closed them against the wall.

Cries would began to come from the condemned as they began to feel uncomfortable and then the pain of all of their bodies being pressed against the stone wall would begin and they would begin to scream in turn. Pleas of mercy would be ignored as Calis looked upon them with unyielding eyes for what they had done to his people. Those who had come, or had been born to this place in hopes of safety. Those he had failed by not keeping them safe. He was a shinobi of Kirigakure, it was his job to protect them, and he had failed in that charge. However he would not fail in the charge of administering justice to these animals.

The bone deep crunch of the first crushed body would resound throughout the chamber as soon others would join it. The corner would become seeped in blood and gore as the men trapped within were closely crushed to death one by one, their blood absorbing into the sand as it continued on at an unwavering, and maddeningly slow pace. “Those who harm my home, will face the full might of the sands.” He would say simply, not even aware he’d said as such aloud.

It was only after the speech and when the sand began to move that Yoshi would understand exactly what Calis was doing here. With how the walls would move she could imagine the result in her head, and it was enough to make her smile again. The sand that he used certainly had a lot of potential. She was almost jealous of it, and his abilities. While using a blade did have a very satisfying feeling to it, having these sort of sand powers almost made it seem like this was all a spectator sport. Like watching a movie, with some buttered popcorn by your side. It wasn’t something she would want to do every day, especially with how addicted to adrenaline she was, but it was nice for every once in a while.

This time she would clap, giving him a bit of applause as the first of the men’s bones would begin to break. “I have to give you points for creativity. The way you use your sand is certainly something special. Consider me impressed.” Perhaps her praise of him wouldn’t count for much of anything, but she still felt the need to give it. Calis deserved it.

“Although, I hate to admit it, but I do think I was defeated in our little wager. With how many you’ve killed…” She would pause, one of the men screaming out in pain as his skeleton crushed, with the noise slowly reducing down to a gurgle. The noises would all end quickly after that, becoming silence again. Only when it was all done could she tear her eyes away again. “Especially here. I wasn’t keeping tally like I should have, but I do not think I can compete in the slightest. You’ve definitely won.”

Calis would close his eyes at her words, he had forgotten about that wager. However he didn’t like the idea of betting on who could kill the most, even now. He had agreed though, and he had apparently won. He needed her now anyway, she just didn’t know it yet. He felt himself go numb at what he’d just done and he brought a hand to his head to attempt a futile attempt to stave off a headache. “Later, at the beach. Let’s take care of these people first.” He would say before he brought their platform down and freed everyone, placing his hands upon the stone to reset the ground where the hostages had once been. As they rose his sand would simply litter the ground, the large mound in the corner hiding what was left of the bodies. “Move along people, there’s no one left alive in the fort so move along. Any traps along the way have been disabled. Head outside and wait for the relief forces to arrive.” He would say, pointing toward the door and getting nods of acknowledgement from some of the men as others helped carry women out of the room to get them away from this vile place. “Let’s pick up out meal from the pantry and get. I need to see the beach myself at this point.” He would say as he began to move down the hall, a mildly mechanical aspect to his stride.

When he reached the pantry he’d grab everything they’d set aside prior, meats, breads, cheeses, wine, some small pastries, and a watermelon. Towels were in short supply but simple plates were about and he gathered more of those and set them upon a small sand platform that enclosed everything. He could keep the sand off of the food, and it made for convenient carrying space. “Shall we?” He would ask, motioning for her to take the lead toward the exit. His mind was lost in thoughts of numbness and he didn’t want to block her stride because of his own wandering thoughts.

She would nod at his answer. Although impatient at heart she would wait. One could consider Yoshitsune to be equivalent to a well trained dog in that way. That he had at least accepted what she said caused a quick wagging of her metaphorical tail though, and she would continue with her bright and cheerful smile. She couldn’t really understand exactly why Calis was upset right now, but she was eager to be as useful as she could in order to perhaps take some of the burden off of him. Maybe he was tired? She didn’t know, but perhaps using that sand used a lot of energy? She wouldn’t guess at it too much, and rather would just continue after him. With the people taken care of quickly it would be time for them to clean up. That is, clean up the stock of food they found in the pantry.

“What good fortune that we were able to find all this. It’s incredibly convenient, especially with our plans to head off to the beach after this. Almost like their spirits left us a gift!” She would have a bit of a skip in her step as she worked, carrying different loads of food and supplies to the sand platform he had made. The watermelon would come last, and rather than setting that down she would hold it close to her chest. It would stay there as she climbed onto the platform herself, insisting on holding it the entire ride.

“I’m prepared whenever you are, Mister Kazehana!” She would nod quickly, holding on tight to the watermelon. Rather than standing she would sit now, cross legged. Her geta had been collected on the way out and were now on her feet again, snug as they should be.

He would nod as he too sat upon his platform and lifted off, moving through the air at his best possible speed, B. The supplies be safely cloistered away in orbs of sand so that the speed of the travel didn’t fling them off the platforms and it would take them about a half hour of straight flying to reach a beach that was closed off due to a large ridgeline along its entire area. The waves crashed against the shores, invitingly to them as the sun continued its downward descent toward the horizon. They were facing the west, so they would have a wondrous view of the setting sun and the colour changing skies as the evening wore on.

Landing upon the beach, Calis would calmly remove his Haori and Shihakusho, intent upon them not getting wet. His combat boots would be next and soon he would be clad in only his boxers before he began to work out any kinks in his neck and arms. He tried to lighten his mood a bit, he didn’t want this numb feeling to detract from Yoshitsune’s first trip to a beach of Kirigakure and he had to admit she looked amazing in her swimsuit. He would move over closer to her, if she wasn’t nearby already and begin to set out their food. They could splash around in the water later, as their bodies would be far too well taken care of to cramp. If that stupid superstition about eating too soon before swimming wasn’t already a myth. “So, this is your beach day Yoshitsune.” He would say, reaching out and placing a hand upon her head as he smiled down at her. “What do you want to do?” He would ask, trying to let himself feel a bit more, try to crack out of his numb shell that his acts in the fort had imposed.

As they approached the beach Yoshitsune would be struck by the scenery. Beaches weren’t common to the Land of Lightning, as she had said earlier. At least, not beaches like this. The salty breeze of the sea together with the heat of the sun was incredibly pleasant. It hadn’t been something she was able to appreciate on the boat ride into the Land of Water due to her motion sickness, but now that she was able to see it without any illness tainting her she was awestruck. Together with the setting sun before them it was exactly as Yoshitsune had imagined it to be when fantasizing about moments like this. Apparently wearing her swimsuit had paid off in the end.

Once settled down she would take a few more moments to appreciate the scenery before setting off to prepare. Thee blankets they had looted from the fort would be set down to cover a large area for them both, and then the variety of food they had collected would be set down. Only when she was already midway through doing this would she notice Calis, who had already stripped down to his boxers. Having forgotten what he had said earlier regarding this she would be frozen in a bright blush. Despite the fact that she was in a bikini, and essentially in her underwear as well, something felt much more intimate about seeing someone else in their underwear compared to a swimsuit. That wasn’t even mentioning his bare chest, which she found it hard to look away from. Even with being so tall Calis somehow found a way to be well toned and defined. Perhaps it wasn’t too surprising for a shinobi, but she appreciated it all the same. Meekly her eyes would dart away, not wanting it to be obvious that she was oogling him for so long.

When he placed her hand down on her head though she would be unable to not look at him, and her normally suppressed submissive instincts would immediately fire off at once. With a warm, pink face she would smile up at him, overjoyed at how the day had gone.

“What do I want to do…? Ah, whatever you’d like.” It was an unnaturally meek reply for the normally aggressive girl, but with his hand on her head she couldn’t muster up anything else. She would be okay now with whatever he wanted, her mind still in the obedient mode that came with engaging in missions.

“Oh no, I want you to remember this for the rest of your life Yoshitsune, this is your first trip to a beach in Kirigakure. We can consider what I want or need later, for now. This is all about you. What do you? More than anything right now on this beach? Don’t be afraid, I won’t judge you.” He would say as he felt his smile broaden a bit. What he wanted, what he needed was to forget what he had just done to those men. He needed distraction, needed something to keep his mind off remembering what he had done. Giving her what she wanted, could help with that. So he pleaded with her internally to name something, he didn’t care. Playing in the waves, laying in the warm sand, swimming, it didn’t matter what.

Although a devilishly fun idea would come to him and he would suppress a grin as he considered it. With his sand control he could easily do...yes, it would work very well indeed. Should she still insist on doing whatever he wanted, he’d do something that would hopefully give plenty of relaxation to them both. The best part, was it would pair perfectly with the warm sun and easily allow them to enjoy this afternoon all the more.

She would take a moment to think. It was hard, especially now, but she would do her best since it was what Calis had wanted from her. She would remember back to what she had been imagining earlier. Playing in the waves with friends. Digging holes and burying each other. Making big sand castles, or at least trying. Taking turns smashing open a watermelon. Maybe with blindfolds on? She wasn’t really sure of watermelon smashing etiquette. It was all new to her. Now, with all the options put in front of her, she wasn’t really sure what to think. Yoshi was the type to always reach out and do what she wanted without letting inhibitions stop her, but at the same time with so many options put in front of her now she felt paralyzed.

“Let’s... I know what I want. More than anything else right now…” She would trail off, a slight smile on her lips. Her eyes would flicker down for a moment, and after that she would just do it. Standing up on her tip toes, she would attempt again to press a quick kiss to Calis’s lips. Her first attempt had been dodged by him, but that was when he had seen it coming. Hopefully now it would be something of a surprise.

As soon as it finished she would pull back, letting out a deep sigh. Her mind had been cleared from it. “Alright… That’s better. How about we smash open that watermelon first? I’ve always wanted to do that. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to put on blindfolds first or something though. I’ve heard about people doing that before, but I don’t know if it’s really the right way to do it or not. And we don’t really have a stick or anything, but I think if we used my katana it would more or less be the same.” Back to her usual self, Yoshitsune would speed off with the conversation. “Do you think we should close our eyes while we do it? Or would that be silly? I can’t decide for myself… After we do that with the watermelon, we should… Do you like swimming? I’ve never been able to swim in the sea before! Is it different than swimming in fresh water? I imagine it must be, especially with the movements of the ocean. How good are you at swimming in the ocean? I think I asked this earlier but I can’t remember now if you mentioned being particularly good one way or the other.”

The kiss would surprise Calis, and he would actually be caught off guard by the motion. However for the brief moment of contact between their lips, he would press back fervently, the taste of her lips sending shivers down his spine before she broke the contact. His mind replied her sheepish look before she want for it and he felt a smile and a touch of pink colour his cheeks. “We can do the watermelon first, we can ignore putting a board out too since I can keep the sand out of it. The reverse side of your sword should do well and I can blindfold us with some of my sand.” He would say as he took her hand in his and moved toward the watermelon. Letting go of her hand, he would lift it and move down the beach a bit to ensure any chunks didn’t get into the rest of their food. Then he would turn toward her and smile. “We’ll take turns, I’ll blindfold you and you’ll spin around three times quickly, and then try to smash the watermelon a few times. If you miss, I’ll go, and so on.” He would say before he reached to take her hand in his and brush his lips against the back of it. “If you win, I’ll give you a real kiss as a prize. Sound good to you?” He would ask with a smile.

Should she agree, or decide to set her own terms, to which he would agree anyway unless it wasn’t something stupid. He would utilize some of his sand and blindfold her. Then lift her into the air with his sand and begin to spin her around a few times to ensure she had no bearing to go on to find the watermelon. Then he’d deposit her gentle about two meters away from it. Then he would watch to see if she could hit it.

She would be flustered all over again as he kissed the back of her hand. That and the mention of a ‘real kiss’. Things would get out of hand fast now, especially with the two of them alone and barely dressed. There was no mission to distract them either. Still, instead of just jumping on him like she sort of wanted, Yoshi understood that there was a little bit of a ‘game’ to play here. So she would nod her head, agreeing to his proposal regarding the melon. “You’ve given me a great reason to try my best. I can’t afford to lose to you twice in a row, it would reflect poorly on me.” With a grin she would follow along with him, hand in hand.

Her sword would be prepared. The furred, racoon-tail like scabbard would have to be removed, seeing that it would just get dirtied by the explosion of the melon. The blade would be held backwards, with the blunt end facing down. It could be used as an effective bludgeoning instrument like this, and it would have to do considering it was the best that they had. Holding the blade out carefully in front of her, Yoshitsune would wait for Calis to blindfold her with the sand and then spin her around.

“Alright! Spin me whenever you’re ready! And prepare to lose!” She would grin fiercely, her competitive side leaking out again. Once he did put the blindfold into place and spun her around three times, the immediately dizzy Yoshitsune would stumble out. She hadn’t thought ahead to this part, and as someone incredibly vulnerable to motion sickness she would immediately be dizzy. Still, she would strike forward with a quick slam towards where she thought the watermelon was. Unfortunately, it would collide into the sand about a meter to the left, but the still dizzy Yoshitsune hadn’t been able to tell just by feeling the impact.

“Did I get it?” She would blindly blink against the sand that covered her face, still wobbling a bit as she waited for the world around her to be revealed once again.

It would have collided with the ground, if Calis hadn’t slyly manipulated his sand to roll the watermelon over to where the blunted sword blade would strike it with a satisfying ‘thunk’. Chunks of watermelon would spray everywhere and Calis would laugh out loud at the display. “Yeah, you got it alright!” He would cry out as he moved toward her, removing her blindfold as he stepped close. He would give her a few minutes to get over the dizziness before meeting her eyes. “Now for your prize.” He would say before tilting her chin up and kissing her, not simply a small peck, but a full on, deep, desire filled, kiss. His arms would wrap around her waist as he did and he’d hold the kiss for a good bit before letting it break. He wanted more, but wouldn’t dare push, and besides, they had watermelon to eat now. So he would move to gently extricate himself from her grasp before picking up some of the watermelon, ensuring there was no sand in it as he lifted it and held it up to her for her to take a bit of.

“Nice shot” He would say simply with a small sheepish grin as his still pink tinted cheeks lifted with the grin. “What do you want to do next? Swimming?” He would ask, curiosity colouring his tone as he idly looked toward the setting sun. It was moving toward the horizon now and he knew it wouldn’t be cold tonight. They could spend all night here if she wanted, and he wouldn’t mind granting such a request.

With the sand removed the reality of the situation would be revealed to her again. She had won. The sound that the watermelon had initially made wasn’t something she could hear, but it would reverberate in her eyes after the fact. The mess of the melon had spread out around the point of impact, covered her blade with a sticky red. She would let out a cry of joy at her victory, although this would be followed by her almost falling straight on her ass into the sand. Spinning was a good trick, but not one Yoshi was fond of. She got too easily dizzy and sick for it, and that was pretty obvious here. Her stumbling would only be prevented from resulting in her getting a mouthful of sand, who in his gentlemanly grace had approached and took hold of here. Once beside him and in his arms she would melt into a mere giggle, clearly giddy with her victory. What happened next came naturally. His hands around her waist, her chin tilted up, and then the meeting of their lips against each other. It was something she had been waiting eagerly to happen for a long time now. She would enjoy every moment of it, allowing Calis to take the initaitve of it and do as he pleased with her lips.

Once broken away she would take a sharp inhale through her nose, breathing again. She hadn’t noticed at first that she had been holding her breath. It left her head spinning, even more so than it would have been otherwise.

“Don’t you remember, silly? You said you would tell me later, when we came to the beach, what you wanted with your one request. From our first wager. You did win it, after all.” She would look up to him, clearly expecting a specific sort of answer from him, but her eyes would remain innocent. “You still haven't told me what you wanted from me… If you forgot all about it and we left without it, I would feel like I was in your debt for the rest of my life.”