[table][row][cell][color=#A2ADD0]Yue Nara[/color][/cell][cell][color=#A2ADD0]"Stop... being alive. It's embarrassing."[/color][/cell][/row][row][cell][sup][color=#2E2C2C]_______________________________________________[/color][/sup]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/kVqg79e.jpg?1[/img][/cell]
[cell]By the time Yue arrived at the clearing, she was a little winded. They'd kept up a quick pace for several hours in relative silence. She'd wisely decided not to be the front of the V formation, but drafted behind Tomoyuki, who looked to be more brawny and significantly more indefatigable than she was. She was never comfortable in the front of a pack anyway... or part of a pack, for that matter... She'd remained stony-faced throughout the run and, though the extended effort made it difficult, her mind was racing as fast as she was. Her first real debriefing had left her in a strange place. If she had been the arrogant snooty type, maybe she would have been flattered by that ANBU's apparent preference for her team over the team that Remi had been placed on. But she wasn't the arrogant snooty type, she thought. She could scarcely imagine caring about something as [i]superficial[/i] as the praise of some self-imposed authority figure.

She fumed a little as she followed behind her jounin sensei who had been assigned to her by some committee and took stock. At least they weren't trying to force her to conform to the Ino-Shika-Cho triplet again. When she'd seen Remi at the gates, she'd just about turned around and walked away... not because she hated Remi, but because she hated the idea that she was never going to escape that box, no matter how much she just didn't fit. Though she didn't show it, she'd been so relieved by her "sensei" (as she was supposed to call [i]her[/i] now) announcing that she was to be on a team with Natsuo Aburame and Tomoyuki the sand kid. She didn't know much about Tomoyuki, he hadn't been in Leaf that long and Yue wasn't some welcoming committee, but she liked Natsuo as far as that went. He kept to himself, except to ask weird questions, and sometimes he'd wear interesting clothing. It was a kind of small surprise when he'd come into the classroom with a set of two foot long horns or giant swirly glasses or a kimono covered in smiles and other expressions, just the kind of odd thing that broke up the monotony and boredom of class for a few seconds before it set back in like a dull fog.

And that brought her back to her jounin... Yue didn't know what to think of her yet. It was obvious by the way she talked that she was used to commanding respect, but the ANBU had treated both her and the other one (Yue seemed to recall being her name was Mizuraki) with very little of it. Yue had naturally bristled at the man (Hideo, she thought), but that only made her think of her mother, who'd have probably spent an hour lecturing him on proper etiquette if she had been there. They'd probably be back at the gates still arguing... Would they ever have left? No. No they wouldn't have. Anyway, the only thing she could discern about Ichika-sensei was that she was a serious person that planned on treating her like an adult and Yue felt unbelievably relieved and terrified by the notion in equal measure. She also seemed to handle chain of command with stride, neither bucking it nor allowing others to buck it. Even Bohi-sensei, the teacher from school, never seemed completely comfortable giving orders. She'd get flustered, resort to punishment, or even bargain sometimes. She'd get compliance in the end, but it was a bit of a struggle. It seemed that leadership was second nature to Ichika-sensei.

It wasn't second nature to Yue. It wasn't as if she could have done any better. She just couldn't compare.

By the time they made it to the clearing, the sun was beginning to set and Yue wanted to sit down. She'd never run this far before and never this far from the village. On her very first day as a real genin, she was miles from home surrounded by strangers and without any knowledge about what was coming next. Worse, she had to rely on so many people that she barely knew and who she knew she couldn't trust. Whatever cog they wanted her to play in the mission... well, she knew she may be able to... maybe... but she couldn't say the same about the others. What if one of them failed and she couldn't complete her objective? Probably it would be her fault somehow, no matter how well she performed. What was the point? She just wished she had more information... She didn't know where she was in any of this. She was lost.

Still, her mind kept on snagging on what the adults were saying and doing. So their liaison was the Kumo rep's brother. He acted as if they were estranged... Maybe that explained why there was a Kumo rep in Konoha in the first place... Ichika-sensei was on her guard. That Hideo guy was acting much more formally. Was he just acting rude to Konoha-nin because he could get away with it? Maybe this mission really was so important if it made him manage his manners in such a way... It reminded her of dad when when mom was worried about something, like that one time she was convinced that someone had stolen dad's wedding ring. It had turned out that one of the deer on their property had swallowed it off of his finger while he'd been sleeping in his hammock, but Yue had never seen him so obliging... and then so quickly lazy once the ring was finally found again.

[color=gold][b]"Go, but be wary. I have your backs should any foul play occur"[/b][/color], said Ichika, her first statement since they'd started the mission and Yue was almost surprised to hear her speak. Regardless, she took her words to heart. It was dangerous. She barely knew the genin right next to her and, without knowing near anything about them, she was expected to also meet and deal with these foreigners. This all seemed so rushed, but Yue could not help but feel that whatever was going on, this confusion was planned. There was something she was missing and she didn't know what... but she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable until she figured it out.

In the meantime, she thought as she glared at the Kumo genin, she'd just have to be very careful.
[/cell][/row][/table]