Digging Deeper (Yukiko, Ryuu)

The Suoh jounin had woken with a start, his eyes instantly darting to the clock on the night stand next to his bed. 'Shit... Wait, what am I in a hurry about...?' he thought groggily, sitting up slowly and running his hand through his long blonde hair. As soon as his metal hand made it all the way through his locks, he froze, his eyes growing wide. "SHIT! THAT MISSION!" he exclaimed, freaking out one of the cats that seemed to have gotten into his apartment while he was sleeping. The same cat that always made his way back at the end of the day, as if he lived there. Ryuunosuke was ready to just pick him up, give him a name, and keep him in the house. The amount of money the man spent on the cat was ridiculous at times. It'd perched himself precariously on Ryuu's flesh leg, completely avoiding the metal one. It didn't seem to like the feeling of it to its paws. "Sorry buddy, but I need to get up," he grumbled, picking up the cat and placing it onto the stone floor of his apartment.

That was the thing about the Suoh compound. The houses and apartments were carved out of stone and outfitted with metal. The metal remained warm in the Underworld, infinitely heated from the underground lake of lava that the Suoh had made their home over. This morning, he blamed his tardiness for working too late at the forges. He'd been so exhausted while falling into bed the night before, after he'd showered, that he hadn't given his mission a second thought. Now he was running around his apartment, throwing on his combat outfit and then his jacket, making sure that every button was fastened tightly. Today he buttoned event he ones that would tighten his jacket up around his mouth. It was a mission after all. He tied his hair back with a red ribbon, pulling his gloves on as he marched out the door, a piece of toast in his hand. He ran along the streets of the underworld, sliding to a rocky stop to bang on Yukiko's door.

"Ey! Our mission, Yukiko!" he yelled through the door, not sure whether she was home or not. Better safe than sorry. He didn't stay to wait and see, continuing to run through the streets, glad it was early enough in the morning that most people were asleep and not around. To top this day off, it was Wednesday. There was no way that Ryuu would be able to sell his wares for extra cash this week. He hated those weeks. It put him in the hole quite a sum of money. Hopefully this mission would pay off well. Soon he was out of the tunnels of the Underworld and running through the streets of Iwagakure, glad for the time of morning. He wasn't likely to just run into people like he normally would. He had a serious problem.

He could finally see the gates of the village entrance, running a little faster. In the distance, he only saw one form, and it wasn't Yukiko. Good thing he'd banged on her door and hopefully it'd woken her up if she hadn't already been up in the first place. He finally stopped in front of Masaki, putting up one hand in greeting. "Yo! Sorry I'm so late. I slept through my alarm," he admitted with a nervous chuckle that was a little muffled from behind his coat. "Our third member should be here pretty soon, so we shouldn't have to wait too long. I banged on her door as I passed this morning, so hopefully she was already awake."

LAIKA OF GS!

Shafts of light pierced Masaki, striking his head, heart, and the space around him as he faced the rising sun. He kept his eyes hitched higher than the spectacle, just catching hints of the sunrise to ensure he didn’t damage his sight even more. The cooler air trapped by the elevated village and mountain peaks made it so the jounin could feel the sun’s heat where it stabbed him, radiating out as if it was his blood that warmed him and not the light. How beautifully morbid his thoughts were becoming lately. Masaki shook his head, gaze falling from the horizon to land back into Iwa’s streets. Someone was approaching.

The figure of Ryuunosuke Suoh made his way towards the gates. The other man was nearly a decade younger than Masaki but impressively skilled, especially within his clan and techniques. Masaki knew Ryuu well enough seeing how the last two years they’d been jounin together, serving Iwa and the Tsuchikage who hailed from the same clan as Ryuu. Granted, Masaki had been hospitalized when Ryuu joined the jounin shinobi in Iwakagure while the blonde had been too young when Masaki was promoted and Ryuu never was a pupil of Masa’s personally. Despite this, Masaki liked to believe he knew Ryuu on a pleasant enough basis where they could fight together without worry of teamwork. Both, after all, had keen marks in Nin and Taijutsu where Masaki’s other talent went to medical needs and Ryuu’s Bukijutsu.

Masaki smiled politely back at his companion, lifting his own hand in greeting. “A pleasure, Ryuu; it’s nice to see we’ll be working together for this,” he replied, pausing before quietly adding, “I’m glad you managed to wake when you did…I hear our Takigakure representative is keen to be rid of their beasts.”

Truly, Masaki had no idea what nature these troublesome brutes were or if they even existed in the first place- not from the file anyhow. In his gut the man felt the assumptions of beast rather than natural earthquakes was correct, after all, many shinobi in the Earth Country were attuned to that element and could read the terrain as easily as they read a scroll. And for Iwa to send two jounin and whoever the third member of their party was, well, the village was taking this seriously. As would Masaki.

“Another Suoh is joining us then?” the brunette questioned as his attention left Ryuu and focused back on the street. At least Masaki assumed it would be another Suoh as Ryuu could’ve always stopped outside of the clan’s district before reaching the gates but, Masaki shrugged to himself, most likely a Suoh. Not that Masaki minded, he quite liked the Iwa based clan despite his own personal and unfavorable interaction with his nameless clan.

Yet, before Masaki could think any more of clans or hear Ryuu’s reply, another voice broke the morning’s silence. The older shinobi turned towards the voice, watching a crop of blond hair bounced over to them, knowing who it was before her face stilled and her features sharpened. “Yukiko,” Masaki welcomed warmly, nodding his head politely at the chuunin. He’d been correct that the third and final party member was a Suoh, though this Suoh in particular was close to Masaki. Partly his student, partly his medic, Masaki owed quite a lot to Yukiko and he took great pride in seeing the young woman grow as a medical ninja. They were each other’s unlikely confidant.

He smiled at her enthusiasm as the man quickly fell in step with Yukiko, his long legs easily carrying him to her. Knowing that Ryuu would be close enough to hear, Masaki begin debriefing the group. “The representative from Takigakure will be waiting for us when we arrive and, from the reports and the makeup of this team, I have a feeling we are dealing with very real beasts instead of rockslides and quakes,” Masaki’s voice was smooth and low as he explained. “There are some sightings that suggest whatever these creatures are they have metal plating of some sorts, perhaps armor? With a better description I feel that you,” he looked at the two clans members, “could find weakness in the metal.”