Off to Suna

Tarnish adjusted his Chuunin vest, and whistled loudly. Talon's squawk could faintly be heard froma above, signaling that he was in place. "My first mission as a Chuunin..." he thought excitedly. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before, because of all of the preparation to be made. This mission was similar to his last one, a democratic mission of peace, this time to Suna. He would have to hussle to get there and back as quickly as possible. He had been promoted upon the completion of the mission, and the Hokage had saddled him with another mission immediatly afterwards. "Can't be helped, I guess..." he muttered. Double checking his pack, he made sure he had everything that he needed before heading out of the village gates.

As soon as he stepped foot outside the village gates, he could hear the sounds of all of the animals, and it put his mind at ease. He had a natural affinity with all types of animals, and it often helped him complete his missions. He'd made friends with just about all of the animals in the immediate vicinity, and he could easily make more along his travels. On his last mission he was in such a hurry he hadn't stopped to speak to any wildlife, but this time around he'd make sure to stop to chat. He peered up at Talon, who was no more then a speck in the clouds. He couldn't help but smile at the sight. During long travel missions, Talon's hawk sight and hearing were unparalleled. He was always given a warning before anyone could sneak up on him. He just hoped that he wouldn't be slowed down on such an important mission.

He ran for a good portion of the day, stopping at a fork in the road. He slowed to a trot before stopping clompletely. Frowning, he slipped his bag off and dug around inside. He pulled out his map, and ran his finger along his path. He stopped when his finger reached where he was. He had stopped short of the border town. He would have to continue to the left and go around the River Country. He considered cutting through to shave off a few hours of travel, but he didn't know what to expect there, so he decided against it. He replaced the map inside his bag, shouldered it and took off down the left path.

Kamoku was laying flat on a cliff, the hot sun hitting his tan colored clothing;backing what was inside. He was ordered to be a secondary lookout for intruders during this time and was having a hard deal not falling asleep. " Rock...rock...rock... roadkill... rock....." He mumbled to himself. The other shinobi around him were on dead alert, probably due to the high adrenalin in being around him. He didn't mind a little company once in a while, but these people were so boring. Kam looked back on how he got the mission.

Kam jumped down from the roof and into the Kage's windowsill. There was a long silence as Kitsuke (kage) did his work. Kam leaned forward into the office, a bit curious. " So v'atc'a zoing? A bit of vork?...Some vork for your vorkers? T'at's nice." In the end of that one sided conversation, the kage threw a mission folder at him which caused him to fall 4 stories onto the hard baked ground.

Kamoku rubbed his face, recalling that fall. "ouc'..." For a second he looked at the sky and saw a falcon. It was obviously following something. Kam then looked down and saw a person running towards the Suna. He frowned. " C'eeky little t'ings..." Kamoku placed his anbu mask on and wrapped another tan cloak around him. The mask was of a fox, it's smirk immortalized in ink.

He jumped down from the 60 foot cliff and dived face down towards the earth. He then shifted himself for him to land feet first, retracting his foot claws and ripping his shoes to absorb the fall. He then ran towards the guy, his body nearly parallel to the ground. The only thing that could be seen was the claws procuring from the tan cloak, ripping up the landscape and sending a trail of dirt behind him. Kam then jumped up and skidded so he could stop a few yards from him. He wasn't allowed to eat this morsel unless it fought back.

As he ran, Tarnish began to feel the heat of the region. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, and for the first time he began to regret having the chuunin vest on. It made him feel even hotter. He was pulled from his daydreams of ways of keeping cool by Talon's warning call. Tseeer!! Tarnish slowed his pace, drawing a Kunai. He knew that the singal call meant only one person approaching. He swung his gaze back and forth, trying to see where the enemy would be coming from. He was suprised to see a low moving person rocketing towards him. He was fast, alot faster then he would have thought possible. The man had on a tan cloak and an anbu mask, but Tarnish could only guess at his village. Due to the proximity of Sunagakure, he could only guess he was from there.

Tarnish slowed to a walk, leveling his kunai at the approaching ninja until he too came to a halt. There was then a long pause as he stared the man down. He shifted his feet and allowed Talon to get in position almost directly overhead. He flew around in a large loop over the pair of them. After a moment, Tarnish spoke. "I didn't come to fight. I need to see the Kazekage immedietly." Even as he spoke, he began to size the man up, a difficult task when he was wearing a mask. Judging by his size, and the nasty claw attached to his arm, the man was proficient in Taijutsu. So was Tarnish, to an extent, but even so, to think he could outfight an Anbu in taijutsu was a foolish ambition. He would rely on his long distance distractions to cause an opening and defeat him, should he need to. He waited for the Anbu's next move.

((you can't see his arms and the claws are his feet. He literally has bodily claws like a bloody dinosaur))

Kamoku looked the boy over. He was within his teens and looked like his muscles would be chewy. Not a good meal when he could have a nice malleable convict. When the boy called out for peace, kamoku took a long sigh. " Vell isn't t'at a loa' a s'it!" Kamoku called out. Kam walked towards the kid normally, when he drew closer the kid would notice that the claws on his feet were apart of his own flesh. Even as he walked, he tracked up dust. If the kid would listen, he would only hear the sound of his own bird. He had scared away all of the wildlife.

Kamoku pulled off his anbu mask, his white hair shone in the bright sun and his tanned skin was no miracle due to the heat. There were only two things that made grown men fear him (despite his short stature) was that his teeth was pointed and carnivorous, only meant to eat meat. That and he had at least seven pupils in each eye, swirling around. He had no white in his eyes, what was behind those pupils was a yellow glow. " Ye 'ave a goo' time in t'is 'eat? ya' it's a bitc' to be in but at least you're not roa'kill." His pointed teeth clacked as he talked, he wasn't able to talk properly due to them and he hardly moved his lips too. He was smiling at the kid as if he was prey. " I not allowe' ta eat ya unless you cause trouble. Are ya goin' ta be trouble?"

Kamoku stretched his left hand out and retracted claws from the tips of his thin fingers. The claws on his feet and the claws on his hands were both black and encrusted in blood. They haven't been cleaned for quite some time. Kamokus eerie smile made everything even more still.

(OOC: my bad, omit it then))

Tarnish could have thrown up. This man was the very embodiment of a wild animal. As he drew closer, Tarnish got a good look at him. He took off his mask and as he walked, there was an audible click as his feet hit the ground. They kicked up small puffs of dust, but even then, he could still make out the lethal claws of his feet. As he drew near, he got a good look at his face and he had to force himself not to look away. His teech were sharp and cruel, and his eyes couldn't even be called eyes. They were a mass of pupils with no visible whites. It was like something out of a nightmare. As he approached, he spoke in a difficult accent, probably because of his teeth.

" Vell isn't t'at a loa' a s'it! Ye 'ave a goo' time in t'is 'eat? ya' it's a bitc' to be in but at least you're not roa'kill." He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Up close he looked even more frightening. " I not allowe' ta eat ya unless you cause trouble. Are ya goin' ta be trouble?" After a brief moment, he realized that he had said he would eat him. He didn't think it was unlikely that the creature before he would eat men women and children by the dozen. As he spoke, he extended a clawed hand towards him. He instinctively took a step back, but he was amazed to see the claw retract to reveal a hand. The hand was caked with dried blood, blackened by age. Reluctantly, he shook his hand.

"I dont intend to cause any trouble. I'll be out of your hair shortly. But I must speak with the Kazekage. It's of the utmost importance." He hastily pulled his hand away. Talon squawked from above again, and Tarnish whistled to calm him. He returned his gaze back to the man in front of him. "My name is Tarnish Asako. To whom may I ask, do I address?"

(( retracting claws means that claws shot out of the tips of the fingers, showing caked blood. But ahwell, its hard to follow my wording as it isXD))

Kamoku contracted ( put his claws back into his body) and grinned even more. " Vell t'ats a goo' 'uman. Kage ya say? V'ell let's 'op to it!" Kamoku pulled out his canteen and tossed it to the kid. " Ye mig't nee' t'is, ye look like you're about ta be roa'kill." Kamoku's oddities seemed to confuse him, but he ignored that. kam looked up at the bird with his grin. It was a while since he saw an animal in flight. How interesting.

Then without warning he turned sharply to Suna and trotted at a normal human pace, contracting his claws into regular toes. After several meters of trotting he turned his head, expecting the kid to follow. " By ta vay, v'at's your courtesy?" By courtesy kamoku had meant 'name, rank, and title'. It was fun messing with people like this, but in order for the kid to make it across the rest of the desert to the village he would need a bit of cooperation on both parties.

(so short)

Tarnish frowned as he trotted behind him. "I'm sorry, my what? My courtesy?" He pondered all the possible meanings and definitions of courtesy, and could only conclude that he meant what he was called. Since he told him his name, that ruled it out, leaving his rank. "If you mean my rank, then I'm a Chuunin." As he moved to keep up, he cast a sidelong look at the man. He was nothing like what he'd ever expect from Suna. If their other shinobi were half this strange, he wasn't sure he would keep his sanity.

Talon squawked from above, his tone dripping with anger. Tarnish saw him begin to come in low and he whistled sharply. Reluctantly, Talon climbed higher. The heat from the ground made the thermals extraordinary, and Talon floated about without even flapping. His disapproval was evident, as he often began a descent, only to be chastened and float higher. Tarnish couldn't blame him though. The man with him was like nothing he'd ever seen. It was like something out of a child's worst nightmare. Without meaning to, he found himself asking "Tell me. I don't mean to be rude but...what exactly...are you?"

Kamoku nodded. " A C'unnin, e? I voul've sai' Gennin." They reached to the point of the desert where it was littered with shot down bodies. There had been a raid a few weeks by bandits and their bodies were picked clean by the coyotes, birds, and kamoku. The cliffs were close enough to see the outlines of people on the large monolith. Their faces grim when looking down at kam. He just smiled back, knowing that to them he was more of a mentor than a comrade.

During the times when the bird flew down, he grew irritated with it's squawking. A thing can only be majestic for a certain amount of time until it just grows to be a nuisance. Kamoku hopped over the bones of the dead bodies and the relative shrubbery that was accumulating as they got closer. Kam was always glad when the bird returned to the sky. He didn't want the thing to tempt him.

Soon the Chunnin began to speak to him. "Tell me. I don't mean to be rude but...what exactly...are you?" Kamoku stopped as suddenly as he started and turned around and laughed. It was a normal one that you wouldn't expect from him. Kamoku then sat down on a skeleton's ribcage. The skeleton looked as if someone had tortured him with a spear, the body contorted in what looked like pure agony. " V'at am I? I am a Villov my squishy friend. Ve are a species that makes sure t'e 'uman population is un'er control along vit' protecting certain clans of 'umans like t'e Uc'i'a and Nimakee. For a fev 'eca'es ive been aroun' 'umans an' i even got a 'uman name. Kamoku." He scratched his white hair, which seemed to be the only clean thing on him. " I t'ink t'ey put me in a fev books, but who knovs."

In those academy texts books there were 3 immortal people they called the "willow clan". One was called Ki Willow, Nina Willow and Kamoku Willow. Ki Willow was the most powerful and kind of all of them but had been in nearly every position in the shinobi villages and had died 4 times. No one saw him after the mist had shut down.

Nina willow was the sister of Ki and was murdered after joining the akatsuki and swearing to destroy all humans. Kamoku was the most sneaky and had been in several villages gathering information and pulling strings. He had then raised a new clan that would heed his every call. Kamoku had the ability to operate on human beings without touching them or using chakra. They say that the touch of a willow would instantly kill a human being.

Kamoku looked up, not knowing that the Chunnin had put two-and-two together. "V'ell Transy t'e sveet an' lazy Kazekage vill be glad to see your C'unnin bum. T'oug' for t'at to 'appen ve nee' to stop lazing about." Kamoku brushed the dirt from his backside and looked at the chunnin with his glowing eyes. " Any more questions? T'is is getting fun."

The pair stopped at a veritable graveyard. The man sat upon the corpse of a fallen foe, as he reminisced and spoke of his clan. Tarnish listened intently, and as he finished, it dawned on him. "So then...Your...Kamoku?" For a moment, he was struck by the outrageousness of his claims. To be an entirely different species was unbelievable, impossible! There was just no way. And yet, here he was, in the flesh. A creature unlike anything he'd ever seen. It defied logic in every way. Chuckling, Kamoku turned towards, fixing his gaze upon him. "V'ell Transy t'e sveet an' lazy Kazekage vill be glad to see your C'unnin bum. T'oug' for t'at to 'appen ve nee' to stop lazing about." He stood, and began to turn again. Tarnish wasn't sure if he was being insulted or complimented. It was difficult to understand Kamoku.

" Any more questions? T'is is getting fun." he called over his shoulder as they ran. Tarnish thought for a moment. "Nothing comes to mind. But have you any questions for me?" Talon remained high overhead, keeping his silence, as he too listened intently to their conversation. Tarnish smiled slightly, amused that Talon found Kamoku as interesting to him as Tarnish did.

Kamoku laughed. " I 'on't 'ave time to ask such t'ings as questions rig't now. Plus, you 'on't really interest me v.en it comes to biology. " They finally reached the end of their journey into the narrow crevice which led to the Suna. Several guards looked down on them, waiting for kamoku to give a signal to attack or to subdue. Kamoku, however ignored the guards and began to sing a nice tune.

Sing a tune for past times
Sing a song for now
no matter what you sing
your corpse will cross my plow

I saw the dead rise from the earth
and brought me to their king
his bony had rose up to meet my feet
he pulled himself from the ground
and placed his knee before me...

now i own zombies!
they're undead and ripe!
they may not know math,
but they make a awesome pie!

If you ask what i will do
if i have an army of zombies
this is what i'll say:

They rake my yard
they park my car
and eat my neighbors brain!

Yes they rake my yard
they park my car
and eat my neighbors brain!

After he finished his tune they had already reached halfway through suna. several people had greeted him and some kids began to throw knives at kamoku. Though all he did was put them in a headlock and brought them to their parents with a smile. He didn't care much for the people here, but it was fun interacting once they got past his appearance and dialect. Kamoku then suddenly climbed up an electric tower and gestured the Chunnin to follow. " Come on, t'is is faster."

" I 'on't 'ave time to ask such t'ings as questions rig't now. Plus, you 'on't really interest me v.en it comes to biology. " "Glad I'm so uninteresting..." he muttered. They soon neared the village walls. "Time flies when your having fun... he said with a sigh. As they passed through the narrow passage of the village, Tarnish felt the harsh looks of the wall guards. He returned their gaze with his own uncaring stare, daring them to try anything. They didn't however, and before long Kamoku began to sing a song. The lyrics were a bit confusing, and his voice wasn't exactly picture perfect. But Tarnish found himself humming along with the tune.

Talon dived down from the heavens and landed precariously onto Tarnish's shoulder. Smiling, he reached into his pocket and offered him some sunflower seeds, which he began to peck at with earnest. " Come on, t'is is faster." Tarnish followed his gaze and laid eyes on a tower. Shrugging, he followed. "So this is Suna huh? Bigger than I thought it would be..." he said nonchalantly.

Kamoku grinned. " Suna 'as grown since I came. Usually it use' to be very small and barren. Ki my brot'er in lav even suggested to t'e Kage in buil'ing a diamond barrier all around it." Kamoku then ran along the electrical lines and straight to the window of the kage's office. He jumped in and landed in the chair across from him. " Ello transy, you've got two visitors vanting a bit o' tea."

(okay, time to bring in the kage)