Just Off The Coast

The world spun softly as Senki stood, rubbing at her temples with thin, bony fingers. She felt the pressure between her temples easing up as her fingertips pressed firmly to her skull, massaging it in vane. She sighed, taking a few steps into the shallow water, kicking at the small boat she had just been rowing. A few more uneasy steps placed her on solid ground, though it didn't look too solid to her.

"Damn this moisture." She cursed under her breath, snapping her fingers by rote. Suddenly, a small flame sprung to life, despite the moisture of the air. The light it birthed glittered and danced on the thick fog settling around her feet, turning it various shades of orange and yellow. She smiled to herself; it hurt like a bitch, but at least it was a pretty sight. The flame vanished, its light vanquished, and Senki moved on further into the small, uncharted island she had chosen to visit.

The island was uncharted for one simple reason; it was useless to anyone and everyone. Even if they managed to get people over to it, it would fit maybe one or two houses, tops. That is, if they found a way to clear out the poisonous flora and fauna that infested the island. For these two reasons, Senki loved this place. She watched as the sun went down, casting its pink and yellow lights down upon the mist much like her flame had done. In that light the scene seemed almost like a painting, the waters all running together to create a blurry, beautiful effect. The colorful, dangerous plants around her glistened with wet, glowing in the soft light. Reptiles slithered past her occasionally, somehow knowing better than to attack her. She reached down, placing her bony fingers, nails down, on the ground. A small snake slid onto her hand, twisting its way up her arm. This snake was one of the few harmless things on the island. A simple gardener snake, green and slight.

"Let's find our friend, shall we?" She asked, her smile vanishing. She continued along a small path burned into the island, until she came to a small clearing, also burned out of the forest of poisonous flora around her. There she waited, still as a statue, her eyes cold and unblinking.

The sunset was delightful and it was setting a perfectly good tone to the setting that Naethyn was in at the moment. The slight fog that sauntered at his feet and the flowers that swayed with it encompassed him in a sensation of beauty. Nature was an amazing thing that fascinated the mere cerebral cortex of Naethyn's meager mind.

Naethyn looked at the island's hidden texture, the barrier beneath what everyone else would see. Although he didn't have a doujutsu that would allow him to do so, he was being metaphysical and the island showed hidden pain, of something, someone who was poisoning it.

Naethyn waltzed through the trees, smog, and flowers that were indicative to his life. The slow steps and cautionary movements. He saw a shady figure and Naethyn's training had allowed him to balance himself without one other movement.

"Reveal yourself."

"Reveal yourself." The words cut through her silence like a knife. She was hoping to get the drop on him, mostly to avoid this kind of noise. Each syllable pounded a new beat into her skull, and her brain began to throb in protest. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing out her nose. Finally steeled for the back and forth of voices that would soon occur, Senki took a step forward, clicking her tongue.

"What a tone." She said in a mock-reproachful tone. She leaned her back against a tree, closing her eyes. Her forearms crossed themselves over her bust, her reptilian friend finding a comfortable bed around her neck. Her eyelids fell, extinguishing all of the light from her field of vision. It soothed the pounding just a little bit, but that wouldn't last for long; it never did when she got one of these. "Why don't you step over here and reveal yourself instead?"

She pushed her back off of the thick, coarse, damp bark of the tree, pushing a few untamed strands of pink hair back into their place with a single fluid motion of her hand. She opened her eyes now, scanning the opening for any signs of movement. Instinctively, her right hand fell so that it rested upon the skull-shaped pommel of her blade, lying on it in much the same way a hand would on the arm of a recliner.

"It's only polite, you know." She added finally, her voice hardly a whisper. Still, she knew he would hear him clearly. No other noises fought for his attention, even the few sounds of the island having been smothered by the fog.

Naethyn smiled a half smirk and then waltzed into the light, and saw the women who was average height, and had long luxurious pink locks. Naethyn wasn't all for admiring her beauty, he wasn't that kind of male. But he noticed it in general. The troll like creature on his shoulder was making the harbinger's skin crawl and he would most likely shoot the poor creature down if he came close to him.

"Remember me?" Naethyn said in a monotone quiet nature, he knew how voices in general pissed "Queen Bitch" off. His chakra was down, he guard was lowered but Naethyn didn't know how the leader would react so he was bitting his tongue at the reaction he was getting, not yet crossing his fingers for good luck.

"How could I forget?" She asked sarcastically, looking the man up and down. Her eyes passed apathetically over his pierced face, his brilliantly fuchsia eyes, and eventually his lean body. No smiles crossed her face, no warmth showed through. She stared coldly at him with coral-colored eyes; a milkier version of the ones staring back at her. The thought always amused her, as did all unlikely occasions. She reached up to touch her chin, as if she were about to stroke the beard she couldn't grow.

"You know.." She began, moving her bony fingers down her neck so that they might pet the snake around her neck carelessly. The snake shivered at her first touch, and then relaxed itself again, allowing her to massage it lightly. "I was thinking that if we built down, instead of up.. We could turn this place into quite the headquarters. It's protected, and we only need enough space for a trap door." She mused to herself, loud enough for him to hear. She wasn't looking for his opinion or approval, though she would take both into consideration if they were offered.

The words danced off his tongue and we're shot down by the air; whispers mentioning nothing much then the idea of a base, something simple yet complex, like a labyrinth. A labyrinth is a maze, in which is simple and basic, the complexity of it is the chambers that look alike. Naethyn heard that she would like a trap door. "What better than where we are standing." Naethyn performed a few handseals and turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees and burnt off a good clear section of plantae and fungei as well as made a clear path.

"I think that if we built here towards the center, we would have more room. Build something like a labyrinth? We could create a jutsu that only we know to navigate the tunnels, and the rest would be dead ends. Maybe add some territory seals to prevent chakra from being detected? You know, the works?" Naethyn was being helpful and handy, but he was so fed up with being on the island that he was about to just up and leave.

Spoiler:

The sleek man turned from her and released a blast of fire from his mouth, cutting even deeper into the foliage than Senki's flames already had. She watched calmly, bringing her fingers back up to her chin just as she had before, and thought for a good long while. She watched her ally with unblinking eyes, taking in even the slightest detail; something she did regularly while people were alone with her. Finally, she nodded.

"Yes, that will do nicely." She stepped forward into the still hot ashes, her boots making a crunching and sizzling sound as the moisture coating them were turned to steam. She stood in the dead center of the small area he had cleared and lifted her arms as if she were a real-estate saleswoman showcasing a house. "Yes, nicely indeed.." Her voice trailed off.

She looked around once again, her pink eyebrows knitting together as she thought to herself. She knew a little of the Doton element, and the basics of seals, but neither did she know quite well enough. The inevitable had come to pass; she needed more allies. "We're going to have to recruit a mole and a tagger," she said monotonously; she always had some odd name for different 'types' of ninja. It was part of her strategic thought process, allowing her to fully understand and analyze each person involved.

She stopped breathing for a moment, just a moment, but long enough for the snake to wriggle, suddenly aware that the repetitive bobbing of her body had stopped. She began breathing again, and it relaxed. "We're going to have to recruit." She repeated to herself under the breath.

"A 'Mole?' As in, like, a territory ninja? Someone to help create the base?" Naethyn's puzzled look and slight confusion was quite amusing because Senki spoke in riddles most of the time, and Naethyn just mainly nodded and agreed.

He saw where she was standing and nodded at her 'This will do nicely.' He was sure that the island had to be deep, and a maze would be fantastic for others who dare to try to delve into the abyss of there HQ.

"Something along those lines, yes." Senki said aloud, not turning to look at her ally. She stared directly at the charred ground before her, not quite sure what to do with herself now that she knew the plan. Starting was always the hardest part, especially after she vocalized it. Finally, she stood up straight and looked over her shoulder at the pierced man. "You'll be in charge of that. I trust your judgment. For now, I have to see what I can't do about other helpers."

With this she turned and began to walk off, straight toward the poisonous flora in front of her. In the last moment before her feet would have touched their brilliantly colored petals, she leaped into the air, landing on a harmless tree branch. Like a jungle woman, or perhaps a squirrel, Senki leaped from tree branch to tree branch, disappearing into the night-time fog; leaving her ally to fend for himself, and hopefully accomplish his task.