Heading to the West [Traveling]

It had been about a week and a half since she had her fight with Linda and ever since then it had her thinking. Did she truly want this life? The life of a missing ninja was filled with nothing but hardships, pain and suffering. To make ends meet she would either have to rob someone, seduce someone or kill someone and that wasn’t how she envisioned life for herself but then again she didn’t make the best of choices when she had left Dipugakure. But what could she do? Even though her mother was back at Dipugakure she would probably be killed on spot even though her bounty was like 10 xel if that much. Besides Dipugakure was something she wanted to put behind her which was the originally the reason why she had went missing but with that backfiring it was time move on. Her only two options were Pandora or the Shogunate. She had heard stories about the many monsters and demons that resided in Pandora and she wasn’t looking to join the freak show, so in reality the only place she had to seek refuge was the Shogunate. “Hopefully this isn’t a decision I’ll regret later on.” She said to herself as she looked down on the ticket she had purchased to the West Continent. With Lori at her side she would wait patiently for the ship to come to the dock.

The ship would come to the dock it was a shogunate ship and other than the civilians there was a Pilus who was checking everyone's documents to make sure they were who they really said they were after all couldn't have criminals or worse Shinobi or Knights try and infiltrate the Shogunate. He would continue doing his job at least until it was our heroine...missing nin's turn and would blush since she was quite beautiful. Err..your d-documents. The guy said he couldn't be more than 15-16 at most probably one of those career Pilus who couldn't advance further on in the ranks yet hadn't taken the test and failed and thus couldn't become an Elitis. Still he was fairly handsome if you didn't count the scar going across the bridge of his nose, then again some people thought it made him look roguish, he didn't know what that meant but if it helped with the ladies he would accept any sort of compliment.

Other that wearing his standard issue gold Shogunate forehead protector he had a pretty generic outfit, a black tracksuit with his hair in a ponytail and his ninja pouch at his side an axe in it's holster on his back. So depending on how Bella chose to answer, this could go swimmingly, or get complicated, pretty quickly.

With the ship finally arriving at the dock Belladonna would take her place in the line and waited to get on the ship which after words would be smooth sailing to the West where she could start her new life. Unfortunately for her it seemed as if it wasn’t as simple as getting on board the ship as there was some guy asking for papers, which she completely didn’t expect. Why couldn’t things just go smoothly for once? She thought before letting out a groan as she grew near the front of the line. Well maybe she could just kill him and barge her way through and take control of the ship? Yeah as if a D rank missing ninja could single handedly perform such a task. Besides even if she could manage to pull off such a task by the time she arrived at the West she’d get mowed down instantly. So it was plan B then. Arriving at the front of the line she would search her pockets as if she had her papers then turned to Lori. “Lori what did you do with our papers?” Poor Lori would look around confused not sure what exactly Bella was talking about. “Umm…. I think I lost them….” She said all teary eyed feeling utterly disappointed that she had misplaced something that was important to her Bella-niisan, even though she didn’t remember her giving her anything. Letting out a dramatic sigh, Bella would brace small chest against the boy and wrapped her arm around his. “I’m sorry mister, it seems my sister lost all our documents. Do you think you could let us through? After all we were already robbed of our personal belongings when we trudged through madness. All we want is go back home to our papa, he must miss us dearly.” Bella explained hoping her words would hit a soft spot. Lori herself would begin to cry for what reason Bella didn’t know but it was great timing.

The guy would frown when the younger girl started to cry, he always felt so awkward when girls cried and stuff, and if that wasn't enough to make him feel bad about having to turn them away due to protocol the small yet soft sensation pressing against his arm coupled with the fact that they got robbed and just wanted to get back to their father was the trifecta. U-uh... well I guess I could let you on just this once s-since you got robbed and all. He said with a blush she was too close, he could feel his junior rising for attention, even her voice was nice and sweet and he had to calm down. With a muffled groan he would trying to skillfully extricate his arm from her bosom and would use his other hand to make a motion to signify that they could come aboard. Sure she wouldn't leave his thoughts and once he was done checking everyone's documents he would make sure she settled in okay and maybe get additional contact information so she could get home safely, you know..because he was a nice guy like that.

Ahh men, why were they so naïve and gullible? All it took was a few tears and the feel of her small chest to make him completely neglect his job, if only every encounter was like this. She thought before turning towards the man with a smile. “Why thank you! You’re so kind!” She said sweetly before taking Lori by the hand and briskly entered the ship. Knowing his type he would probably come back to see how they were doing so she needed to lose him and lose him fast. Although of course the ship wasn’t that big so hiding wouldn’t be easy. Pushing her way through the crowded ship she would make her way into the bathroom and headed towards an unoccupied stall. “God my life sucks…” She muttered to herself as she watched Lori dried her tears with a handkerchief. “Bella-niisan…Where are we going?” Lori asking before blowing her nose. “Hopefully to a better life.” Bella responded hoping that this ship would arrive at its destination sooner rather than later.

Sure enough after about 10 minutes or so the Pilus was all done checking documents and the captains voice would ring out saying the destination and how long it should take to get there. The rest of the people on the ship would move around looking for places to go while those who bought their tickets in advance had actual rooms lucky them. The Pilus was one such people but then again that was because he was technically the "first mate" on the ship not that they were pirates or anything it was more a running joke, besides everyone knew that pirates didn't really exist. They were just former shinobi or mercenaries who decided they were too fancy to be called sea shinobi or sea bandits.

After hearing the words of the captain over the PA system Bella couldn’t help but sigh. Even though she had expected the journey to be long she hadn’t expected it to be that long! Letting out a soft sigh she would turn to face Lori who was currently stuffing her face with something like resembles a donut, which was pretty unsanitary considering they were in a bathroom. Bella would unlock the door and headed outside the bathroom and onto the deck of the ship. Even though it probably would’ve been safer to hide inside the stall until the ship arrived at its destination but sticking around in that smelly bathroom wouldn’t be healthy at all. Her green hues would lay upon an old vending machine that was situated in the corner of room and decided to grab herself something to drink. “Hmm, no xel.” She said with a frown after finding her pockets empty.

Just who he was looking for the Pilus from before would stumble upon the attractive girl from before at the vending machine and would walk up to her before slotting in a couple of Xel before smiling warmly at her. "Hey, I remember you the names Allen by the way. Uh you said you got robbed you must be pretty thirsty & hungry, I'll spot you." he said being nice and what not, it wasn't like he had any ulterior motives or anything well other than her being attract and totally someone he'd like to date or at least make out with but being friends would be nice too.

He just had to find her didn’t he? Belladonna would sigh internally before putting on a fake smile. “Allen huh? My name’s Belladonna. You can just call me Bella for short. And yeah it’s pretty rough out there in missin nin country as a young girl, I even got separated from my sister for a few days, luckily she wasn’t raped or killed.” The funny thing about this was that she was the one who raped Lori when their paths had crossed. This Allen dude seemed like he would be a good addition to her band of slaves but sadly due to the nerfing of her technique she wasn’t able get anymore slaves…for now atleast. “Thanks for the drink Allen. Though I’m kind of skeptical about all of this, what is it do you want from me exactly?” She said while opening the can of juice. It was a favor she had never seen or heard of before but then again when was the last time she saw civilization? She would take a quick sip to savor the taste and when it was deemed appropriate by her taste buds she would put the can to her head, which wasn’t ladylike but she was thirsty as hell.

Life was tough outside of the protection of the Shogunate, Allen had been born and raised in the West Continent and never had really left it other than his life on a boat so he had no experience with the outside world. During the war he had been a Principales so he honestly hadn't even encountered anything more than bandits trying to attack the ship every now and then and well the pit fights to get promoted to Pilus. Bella, nice name. Uh what do you mean, I don't really want anything just being nice I guess? Well maybe I guess I'd like to be friends with you typically I become friends by being nice to them so here's my shot.. eheh.[/color] Allen said while smiling slightly embarrassed and blushing lightly seeing as Bella had thought he had wanted something from her. The less pure side of him had panicked a bit was she a mind reader or something or maybe she could sense his buried libido bubbling under the surface.

“I’m okay with being friends.” Bella said with a smile before tossing her empty juice can in the garbage can. She had damn well known that he didn’t want to be just friends as he had the same look in his eyes that she had seen her father with so many times but this might actually play to her advantage. “Maybe we can take a friendly visit to your cabin?” She whispered softly before taking him by the arm. Surely this might end up badly one way or another but she needed to kill some time as the journey to the West would be pretty long so why not make it eventful and who knows she might be able to fight something of value in his cabin.

Allen would blush he didn't expect her to be that forward, not at all to be honest but he'd take what he could get and wasn't complaining. "Uh yeah sure but what about your sister will she be okay?" Allen said though in hindsight he wished he kept his mouth shut because now she probably wouldn't go to his cabin with him. Sure sex was on his mind but his damnable nice guy traits would pop up and he did remember he had a sister he knew if they had gotten robbed then chances are they compiled the money for a ticket at last minute and thus wouldn't have a cabin and there were various people who got on some of them might be perverts trying to take advantage of young girls. If she reassured him that her sister would be fine though he would jerk his head to the left indicating that she follow him before going down to the lower levels where his cabin was. It was fairly spacious enough for at least 3 people to be in and have space to move around and not be limited too much and his bed was in the upper right corner with a window that was reinforced but allowed him to look outside the window. On his desk were plenty of books most of them being about weather patterns and marine animals and he had a box of pet food which judging by the cartoonish fishes was obviously for some sort of aquatic creature.

Now that he mentioned it where was Lori? In truth Belladonna cared little about the annoying brat as she was as useful as a parachute on a submarine, but she did come in handy at times which is why she didn’t leave her to rot in Madness. “She’ll be fine, I saw friend of the family earlier on when I boarded that ship and she was willing to watch over Lori for me.” She said assuring him that everything would be okay, even though he had his ulterior motives he was obviously a nice guy which was a bit disheartening as she couldn’t find herself hurting someone with such a personality.

“Cool place you have here.” Belladonna said after entering his cabin. It had been awhile since she had been inside a room that was actually fit for living conditions as of course all she had in madness was a run down shack with a piece of cardboard. After taking a quick look around the place she would sit herself down on his bed and looked over to him. “So what is it you do for a living exactly? Are you a shinobi? A sailor?” She asked as she was actually curious about the boy.

Al would nod slightly relieved that at least they had found some connection to their old life at least that meant that they'd settle easily which was gone. Once he got to his room thankfully it wasn't messy he was sort of a neat freak anyways but it was even better in this sort of situation it would suck bringing a cute girl to his room only for it to be a pig sty. Oh, I'm a soldier, the higher ups don't like us to refer to ourselves as shinobi anymore ever since the new ranking system got approved by the Shogun. So guess you could say my orders are to ensure the safe passage of civilians from the Land of the Beginnings into the West Continent. We occasionally get sea bandits and what not who try to rob people myself and the crew serve to make sure they don't succeed. Al said looking around a bit for a place to sit before deciding to sit on the bed as well but a distance away from her he didn't want to seem forward or anything.

They don’t call themselves Shinobi anymore? So that would mean she wouldn’t been known as an Academy Student when she arrived in the West. That was interesting. Belladonna thought after hearing Allen speak. Even though she wanted to know what the actually rankings were in the land of the Shogunate she decided it would be best to find that out herself when she got there and was integrated into the Shogun’s system. “A solider huh? Well it’s a good thing that I’m with you so if the ship were to be attacked by those sea bandits, I’ll have you to protect me.” She said with a smile before closing the gap between them. “Have you ever killed anyone before Allen-kun?” She asked before resting her head on his shoulder.

Al would blush, when she essentially said she'd be relying on him, sure it was his job to protect people but he liked hearing it from her. He would mask said blush trying to keep his cool when she leaned on his shoulder and then asked him a serious question causing him to frown a bit though it wasn't because it was a bad question he just didn't like to dwell on it. "Yes, quite a few. It's actually regime thing, in order to prove your skill to rank up you have to prove yourself in combat in the Pits. 7 death matches is what earned me the Pilus rank, it's equivalent to genin. Each of the people were around my level in skill, apparently it only gets more and more the higher you go, I know some of the Legionis must have body counts of around fifty people even those going into non-combat fields. It's barbaric but the Shogunate respects strength we are an army after all, sure tactical knowledge is important too but if they can't hold their own in a fight as well then what's the point I guess?"

In her attempt to get away from all the uncertainty and danger of being a missing nin she ended up choosing possibly the most violent and bloodthirsty faction in the world, in fact they sound ten times worse than the thieves, rapists and murderers out in the Land of Shadows. I mean who pits their own populace against each other just so that they could prove the strongest amongst them? There could be a thousand more ways to prove who the best amongst them but it seemed as if the Shogun was a sadistic bastard, god what did she get herself into. “Oh, so that means you must be pretty strong then?” She asked as he must have been pretty strong as he was allowed to leave the village and travel the world, even though he was restricted to the ship.

"I guess... though not strong enough to change said system. If I was then I would but only the Blades can try to revise it but seeing as they haven't well I guess the system of death to climb to the top persists." Allen said with a sigh before brightening up. "But don't let me color your opinion really, it is very safe and honestly every soldier has the option to opt out instead of dying but you lose the ability to progress upward further you become an Elitis. Some people choose it willingly though like I did, we are allowed more responsibilities despite being locked at a certain rank until we retire but I get to see the world so it's not that bad." he said before realizing he had been talking a lot about the military structure of his faction and thus would clear his throat. "Why are you um, interested in enlisting?"

Regardless if they had the choice to do so or not it was still a pretty barbaric means of going by picking the strongest within the West and she still firmly believed that the Shogun is a sick little man. “Umm…” It seemed as if her relentless questioning about the Shogunate and their inner workings had caught up on her as he began to grow suspicious of her, which was completely warranted. But would her response be? Did she desire power? No that wasn’t it as if that were her true intention she would’ve stayed a missing ninja. She was currently in a moment in her young life where she didn’t know what exactly she wanted to do, as she had no one to guide her or nudge her into the correct path due to being alone for so long. “I… Um…” Struggling for words Belladonna would look up to the roof of room. “I just want somewhere to belong I guess.” She said out loud in a low voice before sighing.

Al's gaze would soften once more and he would use arm to wrap around her shoulder and pull her a bit closer. Don't worry your safe now, besides I'll look out for you, if you do join I have a couple of Centurion friends I could recommend to you so they'll help you out if you need training. Al said with a squeeze of his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner, he understood that feeling of not belonging anywhere it was quite scary. He felt that way before he found his post on this boat and that wasn't how anyone should feel really.

Belladonna would muster up a small smile after feeling Allen’s hands wrap around her shoulder. She would then rest her head on his shoulder enjoying one of the few moments in her life that she was actually around a decent human being and in some ways he had reminded her of Slyv-kun, oh how she missed him and worried about his safety but she had spent months searching for the kid and now had to assume the worst which was quite depressing. “Thanks Allen-kun, I’m glad I met you.” She said softly before raising her head and placing her lips against his cheek.

Allen would smile and right before he could reply the ship would shake violently as loud booms echoed above them. Screams would fill the air and Allen would jump up eyes wide and his previous laid back demeanor vanishing completely. Fuck we are under attack. Find your sister and follow the signs to get to the life-rafts just in case. Al said before dashing outside and heading up the stairs. If Bella followed his instructions she would see that outside the door was wet as if water was getting into the ship and the boat would rock violently again throwing her to the ground if she didn't use strength to anchor herself in place. Of course if she followed him upstairs instead of looking for her "sister" she would be at witness to a battlefield, their ship was surrounded by 3 smaller ships and one that was comparable in size to their own. That was the ship which was firing at them repeatedly while the smaller ships attached grappling hooks to the sails and people could be seen climbing or launching themselves over the water onto the ship. It was carnage civilians were getting slaughtered by men and women dressed who looked like they'd been at sea for months and leading the charge was an odd one who looked like he was just a skeleton with a wide brimmed at who drew twin pistol type projectile accelerators and was firing of shots left and right.

Well this was a rather interesting turn of events. Belladonna thought as she watched Allen running out the room. It seemed as if were ever she went bad luck had followed her which was quite depressing to be honest but this wasn’t the time nor place for her to be feeling sorry for herself as she needed to find Lori and fast so they could get the hell off this ship and to safety. Getting up from off the bed she would exit the door at Crashing Ground speeds but her first step outside was in a puddle of water. “Is the ship sinking?” She muttered to herself before another violent rock would throw her to the ground. “Ouch..” Bella would quickly pull herself up and began running through the crowd frantically searching for Lori. “Lori! Lori! Where are you? Fuck!” There was too much confusion at the moment to pinpoint where exactly Lori was or if she was even hearing her cries. Just when she was about to give up she had recalled that she had ordered Lori stay in the stall of the bathroom and made her way throughout the crowd and entered the bathroom. “Oye Lori are you in here?” Belladonna said as the bathroom itself was in shambles. “Nee-san?” A voice muttered from the one stall that somehow managed to survive the assault. Bella would make her way to the stall door and quickly opened it up and relief washed over her when she saw that Lori was unharmed. “Thank god…” She muttered before embracing Lori. “What’s going on?” Lori said with her eyes wet and her body shaking. “No time to explain we need to leave now.” She would quickly grab Lori by the hand and exited the bathroom following the signs to get to the life raft as Allen told her to. Hopefully no one noticed them throughout the confusion.

Allen would make it to the top deck and begin to fight his way through the sea bandits showcasing a good use of taijutsu and the occasional water technique to sweep them off board. Meanwhile below deck would gradually become more filled with water even though the captain was steering and trading off shots with the other ship it seemed like it was a foregone conclusion that it would be sinking. Luckily Bella and Lori would make it to the life-raft area and notice one which hadn't been filled yet, if they took it and pulled on the nozzle they would be dropped down to the water below. There were paddles so they could make course away from the battle, however they would be noticed by one of the smaller ships if they headed towards the west continent the only clear path was north, namely towards the Polar Sea. What would they choose, potentially attract a sea bandit ship and engage in combat or flee north towards the frigid waters near the Polar Continent. In the raft they would find water proof blankets and flotation devices that they could wear in case they were thrown overboard.

Well they made it here safe and in one piece surprisingly and there was one life raft to spare, maybe her luck was turning around after all. Bella would help the still shaking Lori into the life raft and assisted her in putting on her life jacket as well and when everything seemed to be okay she would lower the raft into the water before jumping in sitting adjacent to Lori. “I hope you’ll be okay Allen…” She whispered to herself as she looked towards the ship hoping to get a glimpse of the young man to get some sort of indication that he was okay but sadly he was nowhere to be seen. Though she wanted to help him out, in truth she had zero skill and thus only would’ve been a burden to the young man while he was fighting. Turning her attention towards the sea she would notice that entire fleet of the sea pirate’s ships were stationed in the direction she wanted to head, the West Continent. Risking going by there would be suicide and thus she decided to go into the opposite direction hoping that there would be some kind of salvation or they would probably end up dying out at sea. “Water Clone.” The clone that she had created would take the paddles of the life raft and began rowing, while she kept an eye out for anything suspicious and on Lori.

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