Starring:
Jaken (as Grim), Hiei, Miko, Yagyu
Date: January 29, 2017
Summary:
A post went out for a group to come and investigate a crime that happened along the border of Rice Country. A field has been overturned and rice uprooted. The primary suspect is a particular member of the farming community, Tanuki, who assures he's not responsible for the crime. As it turns out, his name is only part of the problem as the mischief that precedes it is caused by someone else entirely and his army of squirrels.
"A Squirrel Trying to get a Grain"
Rice Country Border
Talk was going on among some residents of the border area to Rice Country. A crime had been committed. No one was killed, thankfully, but the act was just as serious. A large patch of rice field was uprooted and overturned, ultimately destroying it. There were rumors flying around about who could have done it, but nothing is certain yet, but some have already begun to make up in their minds regarding who did it and why they did so.
In order to protect themselves, an investigative team was hired or at least, the closest thing to an investigative team. Yagyu had taken up the case and decided to recruit a few people in order to cover her bases and hopefully, this case. She'd arrive at the small farming community by the afternoon, leaving them with plenty of sunlight to get a headstart on what to look for and possibly, who to talk to.
Miko had thought it would be a neat idea to go poke around the places where the crime had been commited. Curiosity often works against those who possess it and she was roped into helping look into what had happened. Why they chose her? Good guess. She was entirely incapable of investigating. That required too much focus!
It was never any question whether Grim was going to be there, someone had to look out for the wellbeing of everyone who crossed path with the Nara. "So you put out a contract right? with actual money?" he asks raises the rim of his hat to look at the Nara and the other. "I know, you did this legit right Stinger?" he asks putting a hand behind his head, what did she drag him into.
"You know how I do. I don't even know why you askin' me that question," Yagyu state to Grim. "It is completely legit. I don't like messin' with dirty money," she paused. "Not all the time, at least, I mean sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just sayin'," she shrugged. "So! You're with us now. Welcome to the investigation team!" She turned to face the new recruit. "I'm Yagyu, this is Sunshine, and now, we're supposed to be waiting for our contact out here. He said he'd be here, but he ain't and I'm 'bout to get mad. I'm here early. I gave him a good estimate of our arrival and he ain't here yet!"
She searched around, spinning on her heel to give her better coverage. Eventually, some guy comes scrambling down the road. He seemed to be in his 30s and a bit ragged, but otherwise fairly youthful. "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't really expect you guys to get here so quickly. You said you were in the Land of Wind. That's pretty far," he remarked.
"We have our ways. Don't ask how, alright?" Yagyu replied.
"Right, well welcome to our small town! We're glad you made it. We've been having a hard time. /I've/ been having a hard time, really. This investigation is trying, to say the least. It's not often, if at all, we see crime here," the man explained.
Grim bows his head "Sunshine at your service" before taking his hat off in the bow before placing it back on the top of his head. "I had figured that you joined us for the compensation." before looking at the Nara "You sent out personalized invitations?" he was now suspecting that the Nara had better contacts then he did, now jealous he retorts "Watch it Stinger.." he grumbles before taking notice of their meeting partner "Thank you for having us. Scorpion Squadron and uh.." he pauses looking at Miko "and others are at your service. Well I can imagine that you much rather be tending to your livelihood then having to deal with this injustice. So what can we do for you?" he asks taking a moment to look around for the sense in general.
A lone traveler makes his way down the road. A traveling cloak is wrapped around his body, but the hood is down. His snow white hair flows freely down to the small of his back, and his mocha colored face is visible as he continues to walk. There is a single katana on his back, but other than that, his clothing seems to be fairly casual. He wears a backpack with a bedroll strapped to the top of it. The day seems to be a pleasant one as he makes his way, however the sound of voices reach his ears, and it's out of pure curiosity. He moves a few feet from the group and lifts a hand. "Hi. How are you? Couldn't help but over hear snippets of your conversation. Something about an injustice?" He offers the group an easy smile. "Anything I can help with?"
"Oh, I'm Tanuki, by the way," the man introduced himself. Yagyu struggled very hard not to let her face show how much confusion she had. As he was about to go further into the subject matter, Hiei showed up to which he waved and introduced himself once again. "This is the rest of the team? The more the better, I think," he states. "Anyhow, everyone welcome! Please, walk with me into the town," he gestured for them to follow along.
"What you mean I picked you? I ain't picked nobody, you picked yourself. You want money right? Who don't? I just posted on the boards. Whoever showed up, showed up," she replied back to Miko. "If I sent out invitations, you woulda been the first to get one. Why you trippin', Sunshine?" She questioned, shaking her head at him. "I thought you knew me better than that," she grinned.
"Anyway, yeah, you can help us out. Tanuki here is about to give us the low down."
"Right! About two days ago, something terrible happened. A rice field was completely turned over and destroyed. This community depends on farming rice as a part of its livelihood. It's been doing this for generations and helps to supply rice across the Land of Fire and even to other places. We're all grateful that only one field was destroyed, but now we're beginning to worry if this will happen to others too. Along with this, rumors have been going around saying I was responsible. I wasn't! I really wasn't! Although, I can admit that I didn't really like the one who owned the field, I would never do something like that to anyone here. We depend on rice too much to just up and throw it all away. What hurts him hurts us all. Uh, buy 'him' I mean Mr. Imori. He owns the largest amount of land in the community." Tanuki thought over the situation a bit more. "At the moment, I have some who are trying to help me find out who the real criminal is, but I think most are just scared and just wanting this to be over with so they can return back to their lives."
Miko gives Yagyu a suspicious look and then shrugs. "I suppose…" After that, she follows the Tanuki guy. Wouldnt do her any good to get left beind. "Hmm… sounds like a bit of a fiasco!"
It was already a strange situation with one unknown partner in a foreign land but now a wandering swordsman with a boundary issues has arrived. "Well I suppose we could use a fourth, supposing that sword isn't for decoration" he says before glaring at Yagyu "I do know you better, that's why I'm suspicious!" he sneers with a snort. Before listening to the story "When you say turned over, you mean like literally or figuratively?" he asks rubbing his chin trying to determine is sneaky shinobi magic is involved or just angry people with farming tools. "Alright, so I suppose we should go speak to this Mr Imori" Grim says looking at the others for confirmation.
Hiei chuckles at the one called Sunshine. "I think I remember how to you use it." He pauses and really looks at the other guy. "Your name is Tanuki? You're named after a raccoon spirit? Well, it's not the strangest thing I've ever heard." He rubs his chin where there is about a couple days stubble, though it'll never grow into anything other than what it is now. Can't grow beards for some reason. "Something turning over the fields, hmm? Could be giant moles. Or giant ground hog. I've dealt with giant ants before, and evil dolphins…though I don't ever see a scenario where a dolphin /isn't/ evil, but I digress." He shrugs. "What the hell. I'll help you guys out. I'll do it for free. Mostly because I'm bored. I'm traveling to Suna to see a family member. And.." He cuts his eyes slightly. "Screw that desert. I'll take the long way around."
"It most certainly is a fiasco, one I'm trying to sort out quickly," Tanuki agreed. "There are some who said they saw someone in the fields when it happened but they won't talk to me to let me know. Hopefully, you guys can gather all the information you need and help me to clear my name. As for the fields, they are turned over. Literally. I…am not sure how they can be turned over figuratively?" Although he'd like to know.
Yagyu snorted a bit. "I ain't sent out no invitations, Sunshine, but you got a point. I could if I wanted to, but I ain't."
Tanuki pointed uot the fields as they drew closer. All were normal except for one field that belonged to Mr. Imori which was completely destroyed. Rice plants were tossed all over and earth overturned leaving behind a muddy mess. Once within the community, it becomes clear that some people are trying to avoid Tanuki, giving him wary stares and turning away from him.
"Tanuki is a nickname of sorts I've come to receive from my parents and then the community. I've come to just accept it," he offered. "I'll let you guys get to work. I have some other business to tend to." He bowed and made his way off.
"I know he didn't just…" Yagyu grumbled. "Anyway, let's spread out and start looking for some stuff. Anything that might help. Best place to start is the field. We'll move out from there." The group is led to the field to begin their search. Hopefully, there's something here that can get them started and on their way.
"I'd be really surprised if a simple peasant could cause that much destruction." Miko states as she examines the field from afar. "I know I sure couldn't. Maybe it'll be obvious when we get there!"
Grim shrugs at the newcomer, "Alright, but if the FSM objects, your out" he says pointing at the sassy nara before cutting his fingers across his throat. "I don't trust anyone who just does things for free" he says before there is a change in his features when the makes disparaging remarks about his hometurf. "If you die here, I'm going to bury you in the desert so it can screw you for eternity." he snorts before holding out his point in an accusing point "You may call me Sunshine and you are now storm cloud!" before crossing his arms over his chest "Cause all you have done so far is rain on us!" before they reach the site of the destruction, as he scans the scene.. He comes across a lone boot and some tracks going off in a direction. "Watch your step, try not to taint the clues" he says carefully lurking over and pulling out the boot raising it up for the others. "Someone is missing this.. and the tracks it made, go this way" he says pointing to a trail leading outside the general area to the outskirts of the village proper into the 'wilds'.
Hiei replies to Grim. "I DID say I'd do it cause I was bored. My payment is not being bored anymore. So in a roundabout way, I'm not really doing it for free." A soft laugh. "I doubt I'd die here, but if I did, I'd haunt the hell out of you every time you walked throught the desert. I would spend my afterlife making yours a living hell. Just so we're clear." He lifts a finger. "But you can call me Snow. Oh, and don't rule out giant squirrels." He looks left…then he looks right. "They're always watching.." He mutters. "Oh, and you can call me Snow, if you like." Points to his head. "It's a nickname. The hair. So you're Sunshine.." He points at Grim. "And you're sting.." He points at Yagyu. "So who's the other cute chick?" He motions towards Miko.
"I can cause that much destruction, but that's just me, though," Yagyu snickered at Miko. "Anyhow, looks like Sunshine has found something. A boot and some tracks?" She nodded and followed his lead. "You see this, right?" She pointed out to Snow to confirm. "Let's follow them and see where they go, Storm Cloud." Yep, completely ignoring his given name. "Also, I ain't asked her name, so she'll have to give it to you so we'll all know. By the way, I'm not 'Sting', I'm 'Stinga'." Gotta get that right.
The tracks lead out to the outskirs of the community into the surrounding bushland.
The tracks continue until they reach some bushes where the final boot is abandoned as well as some clothes.
"Looks like we're already getting somewhere," Yagyu points to Grim. "Sunshine, gather up the rest of these. Since you removed a boot from the mud. We gonna take these back and ask around. So far, we know the field is messed up and a boot was found stuck in it. We followed some tracks until they led to some other clothes and another boot. Now we need to know who these belong to."
Miko sort of ignores the banter between the others as she focuses on the task at hand and stops when they get to the clothes. "So… we should be looking for whomever is running around pretty much naked?" She states as she gestures to the clothes. "It'd be pretty obvious."
Grim seems unmoved by the boredom resolution as payment "Just know I am suspect and watching.." says with an emphasis of his fingers pointed at his good eye and his eye-patch. "You wouldn't be the first, so get in the line" he responds to the threat of a haunting. "Snow? really?" he pauses with a silence "…reallly?" he seems unimpressed. "The squirrels eh? Yeah I could see that." that sounded very familiar for moment but then again he is always inundated with the inane so it might just be a chance perpendicular vertex in the vortex of chaos. As they travel is he looking around for any signs until the sassy one points out where the trail ends "So we are looking for a shoeless naked perpetrator. That really narrows it down" he says before giving Yagyu, the glare "I am not your servant! Stinger" before he does what she asked anyways without really thinking about it. "I agree with …." he says cutting himself as he doesn't yet have a name to call her, but he will create one shortly.
Hiei waited for the girl to take initiative and give him a name, when she doesn't he gives her one. "Alright. Then we will call her Mittens. Cause she looks like a kitty." He even nods as if it's final. He ahems to Grim. "Don't watch me too close. You might miss something else." He comments as he motions to the trail. However he does comment. "Snow. Not Storm Cloud. Or I call you Sting and not Stinga. We have a deal?" However when Grim picks up on the squirrel thing, he is suddenly right next to him, whispering behind a hand. "Hell yeah, it's the squirrels, man. I know they have a council, and they are secretly planning to take over the world. Their leader hates humans. We have to remain vigilant. An attack could come at any time." And then he's strolling casually with his hands in his pockets. "May not be naked. Some people carry more than one set of clothing. Or have more than one face. Multiple options. Most of the time what you see, is not the truth. Especially in the world we live in." A small smirk as he continues moving with the group.
Yagyu's face twists up. "I hope y'all ain't serious. Like, I hope it ain't true. I am not about to look for some naked *** person running around tearing up rice fields. Nope. That's **** Konoha can handle. I will personally go to the village and tell them to take this mission," she shook her head. "And don't be tryin' to argue with me! You the one that scooped up the boot. If you hadn't have touched it, I wouldn't be tellin' you to collect other ****. That's /your/ fault, not mine. Made yourself into a servant then you gonna blame me." she huffed.
The group heads back to the community, still greeted with stares and concern. "I'mma call you Storm Cloud when I say you Storm Cloud. You call me Sting and you will catch these hands!" Yagyu fired back at Snow. "Came all up in here tryin' to dictate your name to me. I know who you are!" She snapped her fingers. "Back to business."
She leads the group back to Tanuki to see if he knows anything about the clothes they collected. He explained the clothes and boots are his, but asserts he's not the one behind the fields. He suggests they should visit other villagers to find out. Mr. Inori is the next target.
"If you're here about the field, you can spare me the time and just take the boy out of here. Tanuki. Or I guess we can be civil. That's fine too," the man gruffly speaks. "What do you want to know? Anyone? I'm here to waste my time." Running up his leg and atop his shoulder is a lone squirrel who looks at the group inquisitively.
There is a gasp from Miko and she goes pale as a ghost. "C-cat…" She places her hands over her ears. "I'm… I'm a fox…. Miko of the Fierce Fox-fist Style!" She furrows her brow slightly. "Which is odd, because I don't use my fists…"
Grim casually cradles his chin, "Mittens.. I like it. I was going to go with something else.. but Mittens works" he muses in response to the naming of their elusive cohort. "I'll do as I please, this eye does not miss anything" he says before taking a tumble over an upturnt root. As he is getting up he hears about the squirrel council "You sound like a guy I know, maybe you two could start an awareness group." he pats the mysterious swordsman on the back.
"Hey don't be talking to me like you know me! I am not your personal concierge" before stinger goes off in the way she is best known and her mercenary hype man brings it "Yeah Storm cloud! Quiet thundering around here like you the own the place.." before giving the Imori man an evil eye " yours.. but you didn't do it.. uh huh right. That makes perfect sense.." before he finds that the nameless has spoken. "Miko? Then a pleasure to meet you Miko." before they meet the next oddity in this village of odd. "Is there anything you can tell us of note, was there any reason someone might have to do this? Did you receive any odd notes or demands? Do you know that you have a tree-rat on your shoulder?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
Hiei looks at Yagyu and then starts laughing. For a good long while. He reaches up to wipe away a tear. "Oh, that's good. I haven't had anyone talk to me like that in a long time. I like it. I think it's cute, Stinga. Keep doing that and don't ever change." He cuts his eyes towards Miko. "Look like cat ears to me. But if you had said your name was Miko, I wouldn't have had to guess." He's still in a pretty good mood all the way up until the meeting with Mr. Inori. Suddenly, he's about thirty paces behind…well..behind Grim. His sword is in his hand, and he's waving it wildly from behind Grim's shoulder. "Nope. Not doing this. You get that *expletive, expletive, double expletive* demon monster the hell away from me." He eyes are filled with fear and he's staring right at the….squirrel.
"You my concierge when I say you are. You want these hands too? You already caught them once," Yagyu argues back with Grim. "Anyway, I gotta act all proper now that we in front of this guy," she gestured to Mr. Imori and his squirrel. "Miko, you gotta understand the way I work. You see what I just did? You don't want that to happen to you," she let her know very late in the game. "You done seen two demonstrations of it, but now I'm gonna be Fairy Squad Mother, alright?" Alright.
Imori stood there stuck between amusement and confusion. "I didn't do anything to my own fields. I use those fields to make money not lose it…" His voice trails off as he sees Snow threatening him with a sword. "I already told you I didn't do anything! Why is he holding out his sword?! I thought you were here to help! Unless you're… Uh, ahem. Nothing." He eyes the squirrel closely as its mentioned. "You all should leave. There's nothing more to discuss."
Miko blinks a couple times at 'Stinga's' words and then sort of rolls her eyes in a 'this is insane, why am I here?' fashion. "I'll just follow along and stay out of trouble."
Grim is now suddenly a shield between the shinobi and the squirrel, "Woah there.. Storm Cloud. You poke me and your going to catch stinger hands." as if threatening him with someone else hands was going to work. "Don't mind Storm cloud, he just got into some bad mushrooms on the way over here.. I told him not eat them but he said Oh it's fine, I know what I'm doing, I'm a veteran elite, I eat these all the time. meh-meh-meh" he says mockingly with hand flapping. Then when the topic of the squirrel is brought up, it's as if the emotional situation has changed into a heavy dark cloud of fear, beyond the sword swinging idiot. "We are here to help, and we would love to know if you have reason to suspect Tannuki? Other then his nude strolls through the wilderness" before glancing over at Miko "I want a cool title like that.." he says with a whine.
Hiei becomes very still and steps out from behind Grim. His eyes are still on the squirrel…the investigation is pretty much forgotten. "You don't think I don't see you smirking at me from behind that acorn? I ain't forgot how you and your kind attacked me when I was a kid. Your agents of darkness have finally found me again, but this time I will not run.." He flicks his wrist and lightning courses down the side of his blade. "Let us finish this my life…long..nemesis.."
"Because he was the one in my fields. Just look at those clothes! Those are his! It's clear he was the one messing everything up and I already know he doesn't like me and I don't like him. Didn't know it was enough to tear apart my fields." Mr. Imori looked at the squirrel once more and back to the group. "…Tanuki walks naked? Learn something new about that boy every day."
"Nah, nah, you ain't 'bout to just sit off to the side and not be in trouble. This what we about. You gotta get in the trouble to solve stuff sometimes!" Yagyu scolded Miko. "You ain't gettin' no pay for stayin' out of trouble. Join up!"
The squirrel continues to sit atop Imori's shoulder, staring at Hiei in particular. With a twitch of its tail, it hops off and runs out of the home and into the community. "Alright, alright, I think I've had enough of this," he sighed a breath out. "I know it wasn't Tanuki, but I wanted to believe it was him. As much as I don't like him, it ain't his way. It's…the squirrels," he states grimly.
"We've been having squirrel attacks for a couple days now. We thought we could trade Tanuki off to get them to stop, but that plan failed. Now we have a squirrel problem and my field has paid the price. It's probably my fault for placing him up like that, but the kid can be annoying at best and infuriating at worst. That's all I got for ya. Now, figure out what these squirrels are up to and why they keep messin' with us and we'll forget this all happened."
Miko twitches slightly. "A… squirrel proble? But they are so cute and small!" She makes a grandiose gesture with her arms. "How can they be causing so much trouble?"
Grim is about to throw the muddy clothing into the face of the overly zealous swordsman. "Control yourself, Sir!" he says turning to block the view of the angry swordsman. "If you are going to act the fool. You will exact the price of your comedy. Here hold these" he says tossing the muddy clothes with little warning at the swordsman. "Anything large or small can create problems of immeasurable size.. Just look at Stinger" he says pointing at the Nara instinctively before the squirrel flees "It's okay now, it's gone.. Calm down Storm Cloud" before adding "You are both of those things as well, I imagine you are known for a little mischief or two." he says to Miko. It was hard to follow everything that was the madness of this group before he is brought back to the mission "You have a squirrel problem? And you wasted our time trying to investigate the wrong guy.. What if Snowflake here can cut him down?" he asks with his hands angerly at his side.
At the request of Grim, the sword is sheathed and the muddy clothes are caught in his arms. "The hell am I supposed to do with this?" He promptly drops them in the dirt and wipes his hands on his cloak. Then his attention is gotten by Miko. He gives her a small stare. "You're an agent for the squirrel council aren't you? You talk like one, Mittens…I mean Mika…I mean Miko." He rubs his head. "Sorry. I'm horrible with names." He smacks himself on the cheeks and then tries to focus. "Okay, Stinga. What you need me to do? I got a buddy who can examine the ground for us…probably find out if it was done by a critter or not. Or I can cook every squirrel within a half mile radius?" He coughs into his fist and side glances at Grim. "Probably not that last one, huh?"
"They ain't cute when they're going around tearing up fields! I don't even know how they did it, but I know they're responsible!" Mr. Imori responded to Miko.
Yagyu was preoccupied with more important things. "Don't get me started, Sunshine! I will swing your head around by your tongue!" She threatened him. "He got a point, though. We came out here for an investigation, not a squirrel problem. I'm halfway inclined to charge double now!" She sneered. "Let's go figure this all out. We got a squirrel to catch!"
She leaves out of Imori's home and outside to see if she can still see the squirrel running off. "We might need your help, Storm Cloud. You got somebody that can search them out? Let's see them. Need to find out what's up with these squirrels and fast!" At the very least, she thinks checking the outskirts would still work out. Rodents can't very well wander around in mud. Hopefully.
Miko smirks a bit. "I suppose youre not incorrect about that…" She chuckles a bit. "I've caused a fair bit of mischief in my time." She glances between the others. "So, how do we deal with problematic squirrel populations?"
"Hold them?" then the snowflake drops them almost as quickly as he caught them "Or not.. We've already proven these are not evidence anyways" he says with a sigh before shaking a fist at Yagyu "I will do whatever I want, Later; right now we must seek out a way to prevent further damage." When the fox maiden contributes he raises his eyebrow in surprise. "You should come join me in Suna, I can always use more mischief makers.. Got to keep the Madam Kage busy with antics of the anti-shinobi weird" he says in invitation to Miko. Before pressing a finger against his lip at the suggestion of just burning it all down "I'm not against it.. but your paying the incidentals" he says hitting the swordsman in the coin pouch. "I'm sure if they said they want the squirrels dealt with we do it.. You can alter the deal later.. what can they say about it? We could just leave the squirrels alone that would show them" he snorts walking out and looking at the ground his trained eyes pick up on the trial of a tail drag "This is easy! I'm used to tracking in the shifting sands.. this hard dirt stuff is really something.." Grim says pointing in the direction that they should go.
Hiei just shoves his hands into his pockets and grumbles something about burning down every forest to make sure he gets all the squirrels, but when Grim starts talking compensation, he immediately says, "No. I'm good." Talk about someone who doesn't like parting with his money. He closes his eyes as he walks, only concentrating for a moment. He then picks up his pace slightly, not wanting to get left behind. He pulls his cloak closer around his body as he walks. "You know, after looking around, I think Sunshine is leading us true. Though I did have a sudden thought. We ever rule out gophers or any kind of burrowing animal? Squirrels live underground as well as the trees you know. I've spent years learning the devil's ways."
"You dang right it's gonna be later, but not now," Yagyu stated to Grim. "Not about to have no problems until after we get this squirrel problem solved. I know I really want to let them just endure the squirrel problem, but I can't, cause I want money as of today. So, we gotta do what we gotta do," the Nara stated firmly.
As Grim points out the way and Hiei confirms it, the group all goes as one into the fields where they end up finding a number of holes around them, but what's more, there appears to be a certain signature that Hiei picks up on and it seems to be rising to the surface quickly.
Before long, it's bursting up from the ground and with it, heavy clumps of dirt and rocks begin to fall down from the sky. "Grrraaaah!" The voice shouts, only mildly obscured by the dust of the falling earth.
Miko lets out a rather girlish scream of sorts when the squirrel suddenly bursts from the ground. More of surprise than fright. "I didnt know they could do that!" She declares and moves to hide behind one of the more seasoned investigator/warrior types.
Grim feels uneasy for a moment before shaking it off "Burrowing animal? I suppose it's possible.." before running a finger along his own jaw "I didn't know Squirrels lived in the ground.. not really alot of them in the desert. That I know of.." now he is very curious if there actually are and if they would taste good roasted. It was not long before there was dirt and rocks flying at them when the Fox Maiden screams out, his defensive nature kicked in sliding himself in front of the debris as it slams into his body and face with a loud thud but leaving only smudges of dirt and mud (please let it be mud). "Snowflake, Stinger. Find out what we are dealing with, assess it's weakness and report. I want to know the usual, how many feet, how many eyes, what color and does it have squishy bits?" it was a slightly different man then before, all business. "Is this your first time?" he asks turning to look at the cute fox maiden hiding behind him. "There is no shame if it is" he says trying to get a sense of the situation.
Hiei sensed the attack coming from beneath him and positioned himself next to the Stinga and pulled her close to his body and out of the way. While holding her around the shoulders with one arm, he lifts the other and punches the rocks away from them both. He would then release her before giving Grim an answer. Shifting immediately into his true personality. "Seems to be a guy dressed as a golden squirrel..which is just weird. But it is a guy, nonetheless." He points a finger and aims down it before a single small bolt of lightning escapes from his finger. "Somehow this kind of feels familiar."
"You know what, for the first time, I agree with y'all. I ain't used to squirrels living everywhere but trees. My mind ain't ready for this. Real talk," Yagyu admitted. "I'll see what I can—I don't know who you think you is touchin' me like that?!" She switches gears as she's pulled inward and away from harm. "…I appreciate it," she muttered. "But you gotta warn me first or somethin'! You coulda just stood in front of me or somethin'! We ain't cool like that!" She continued.
"As. I. Was. Saying!" She clapped after each word. "I'll see what I can get out of this guy! But if I'm observin', I'mma need y'all to make up for that! Miko, you can help too!"
Kiniro laughed as his tail took the electric bolt. He flinged it out of the way and struck a pose as the dust began to settle. "I am Kiniro the Gold Squirrel! You are trespassing and must be punished!" He retaliated by spinning around and swinging his tail to lash out at Hiei. He was the only one that attacked so far, after all.
Miko seems truly happy someone helped her out. "Uhm… h-help? I don't think I am in any position to be helping… except maybe as a distraction!" She panics a little bit. "I've never fought anything like this! This powerful!"
Grim rubs the bridge of his nose at how snowflake grabs the stinger, if he was lucky it was going only to catch an ear chewing.. or a swift kick in the acorns. "I'm sure you have skills that can be useful. It isn't always about power or strength but doing what you can to improve the situation. You do what you can, I'll absorb the blows.. I don't really have much in the way of range attacks.. I could dual wield throw rocks, I suppose" before he turns with a wink "You could try charming him? I don't think he has a defense prepared against that" he says looking around for some environment uses.
Hiei turns to look at Miko. "Power? This guy? Where did you say you were from again?" As the squirrel guy flings his tail at him, he catches it in his hand without looking and simply flicks his wrist upwards, sending him flying in mid-air. He then says to Stinga. "Sorry. I reacted before I thought about it. Habit. I apologize for touching you. Where I'm from that's liable to get me killed, so I completely understand."
"A distractin works too as long as it's somethin'. I gotta see how this guy works, shamed as I am to actually witness this fool in a gold squirrel costume," Yagyu sighed. "My eyes feel disrespected." She stood back, watching as Kiniro the Gold Squirrel flew into the air, courtesy of Hiei. As he went up and up, he extended his arms and with them, wings. "Hahaha! You did not expect for Kiniro the Gold Squirrel to transform, did you?! I am now Kiniro the Flying Gold Squirrel! Enjoy these nuts!" He reached inside some pockets and tossed out a number of acorns with tags hidden inside. The only indicator of imminent explosion is a distinct hissing sound.
"Oooooh, this dude! Now he just workin' on my nerve! Ain't no way he just said that and think he 'bout to get away with it. Sunshine, Storm Cloud, y'all better show him what's what! Miko, if you don't like feelin' easily offended like I do, then you can hurt him too! But first, everybody clear the area!"
Miko does her best to dodge, which is to say, it goes rather poorly. Explosions occur all around her, but despite all that, she gatheres herself up rather quickly. "Ah… hah… well, perhaps I will see if there is anything I can do." She takes a moment to clear her mind and prepare herself. She had no real way to attack him in the air, so planning was needed.
It was a little unexpected that the squirrel would take to flight "I second that, it's like that time I saw birdguy reading…" then he stops with a wince. As the acorn bombs begin to fall and the person he was to defend bails out from behind him, he does the same trying to avoid the blast, managing to avoid it once, before one rocks him flinging him into another blast before he send end over end into the mud, (it is still mud right) with a skid and sudden halt. "My pride.. i think he shattered it.." before he sits up and roots around in his vest pulling out his pipe which falls into about 4 pieces.. "You.. monster.." he snarls leaping to his feet, a faint chaos swirls around him for those who are attuned to such changes. "You will pay.. That was ~350 ryo!" Grim shouts gritting his teeth.
Hiei side stepped the acorn bombs as he says to Yagyu. He misjudged one and it impacts him on the back. He actually laughs. "I don't know. Nariko writes me these letters about all of the stuff you guys get up to. I thought them to just be stories until now. I can see why she likes hanging with you guys. You know how to have fun." He makes his hand in the shape of a gun and 'balances' it on his outstretched forearm. "Wind..27 degrees from the north. Range, 58 meters. Aaaand..fire." He cocks his hand back as a zig-zagging bolt of lightning flies on course for the flying squirrel man. "That's for dressing up like a squirrel sympathizer."
"That's it! Let's all work together on this!" Yagyu nodded. Although, for her, it's looking like a stretch. When the bombs come dropping, she tries to avoid them, but failed horribly. She was sent to the ground, covered in dirt and mud. Yes, mud from what she can taste of what landed in her mouth… Yep, mud. "Uuuugh…." She groaned to herself.
"Did you enjoy my gifts?! I made them specially for you all! You should not have messed with—Yaaah!" The zap went up through his suit and affected him, sending him spiraling down and crashing into the ground. "I am now a ground squirrel once more!" He painfuly grunted out. He rose up to his feet and took up a stance before chittering and screeching. The ground begins to quake as squirrels rise up from the tunnels beneath and cover the earth around them. "Squirrel Rush!" He shouted, pointing forward as he charged towards the group with his army.
Yagyu was just beginning to stir out of the hurting she just took as she watched as a bunch of ground rats began storming towards them. "Oh, **** this. Nope. **** all this. !" She continued to curse as she rose from the ground. "You have got to be ******* me! Rip off his ******* suit or die trying!!" Time to claim some spoils ahead of time.
Even as Kiniro is getting back to his feet, Miko is on the move. The girl is not particularly impressive as far as shinobi go, but by the looks of it, the kicks she attempts to deliver would probably hurt a bit. A double set are sent his way, the first directed for his chin with the other towards his stomach in an attempt to force him back and stun him for her allies.
"You did this, you fix this! Storm Cloud!" he shouts grabbing the Swordsman around the collar and hurling him at the squirrel man with a reckless amount of strength seemingly uncaring about any welfare of his projectile. "If you miss, don't return.." he snarls before he stomps the ground before a burst of chakra sending the ground undulating. "I will rip the 350 ryo out of your tiny souls, Die Die Die!" Grim says stomping the ground with shock after shock.
Hiei holds up a finger towards Grim, but then is lifted off his feet and flung. "Huh. Nice distance..wheeeeeeeeee!" Can be heard from the snow white as he is flung high up into the air. On the way down, Hiei goes into a corkscrew spin, tucking his arms close to his body as he comes down towards the squirrel man. "Cloud….Sky…" Just before impact, he manuvers and kicks out a foot, so the heel would impact the man. "Bolt!"
The squad goes on the move, retaliating against the squirrel army and its master. The ground sinks underfoot and rumbles under the might of all who have gathered today on this battlefield. Kicks assure that squirrels are scooped up and fly into the air, sent scattered to and fro as tiny, sharp claws grip and pierce into clothing and skin, scratching and biting at anything they come in contact with.
Earth bubbles out and bursts under the force of chakra and for a few moments, the sun is eclipsed by a mighty Storm Cloud. His vengeance is to be exacted like a bolt from the very phenomenon of nature he was nicknamed after. In his descent, his kick strikes true and time, at this moment appears to slow down. Every squirrel, including Kiniro the Gold Squirrel, stand and watch while he takes the full force of judgement to his body, face and body twisting and coiling under the force of the blow. The following shockwave craters the mud and sends it all away in a spray of dirt and rodents as time returns to normal.
"You will pay for this! You all shall be my life long nemiseeeees!" Kiniro the Gold Squirrel calls out in the distance. The squirrels that survived the bout all run along after him to carry him off to safety. The battle has been won! Time to go tell Mr. Imori!
30,000 XP Gained
Smoking Pipe Lost
Miko just…. just justs. There is really no reasonable way to react to what had just occured, but… something had to be done. She glances at the others, trying to gague their response. "This… uhm… has been odd."
As the rain of dust, dirt and mud falls around him and the timelessness of that infinite moment where a battle turns the tide in your favor. "I will use your skull as a pipe!" he snorts grabbing one of the squirrels out of the air. "Good job team.. " he says returning back to the semi-calm which seems to almost wash over him. "If anyone asks, the Squirrel guy did all this.. We Just shooed him away with a broom. Alright? Good.. Now lets go get paid and leave this place before I let storm cloud set fire to it all." he snorts before going to check on Miko "Are you alright, Fox Maiden?" Grim asks offering a helping hand and a piece of jerky for a job well done. Stinger would get her jerky later, after they collect the pay and he wasn't giving anything to the freeloading swordsman. "Congratulations, you didn't miss" he says taking a deep breath before seemingly forlorn.
Hiei stands up after the squirrel guy makes his escape and sighs. "Good job, guys. Including you, Miko. You'll see him again most likely." He begins shaking mud and dirt off his cloak and finally just takes it off to reveal the long sleeved shirt and baggy pants underneath, along with the Yotsuki clan symbol on the shirt. "I have to hand it to you guys. I thought Nariko was embellishing her stories of you when she wrote to me, but wow, I guess not. Now I'm gonna have to start taking her at her word again." He offers his fist to the group. "Name's Hiei. I'm Nariko's cousin. Decided to come this way to limit my exposure to that molten hell you call a desert." He shrugs. "I'm from a cold climate, it's just taxing as hell." He shrugs. "I should hope not. That move is pretty common in Kumo. We're all taught it at an early age. Well, those of us want to learn it." He tosses an arm around Grim as he walks away with him. "You know, you've got some real talent. I could probably teach you a couple things." He holds his hand up to the sky, "Let me tell you about the time I fought the dreaded catsnake.."
Yagyu looks over her clothes and body, all covered in mud. She spat what left of the earth from her mouth and grumbled to herself. "I'm charging double for this… Nah, triple," she muttered to herself while following up behind Hiei and Grim. "Odd is the minimum of what we experience," she replied to Miko. "There's a lot more where that came from…" She kicked at a squirrel corpse, nearly slipping as she did so. She still had to recover from those explosions. "If I ever see that guy again, I'm going to make him regret ever crossing me. Got me all muddy and filthy. Now I gotta go wash all this **** off. I'mma bring a bucket and a ladel. Gonna force feed him this stuff until he's ******** stones from his ***."
"Sunshine! Where's my jerky?!" She shouted as she attempted to catch up with him.
Talk was going on among some residents of the border area to Rice Country. A crime had been committed. No one was killed, thankfully, but the act was just as serious. A large patch of rice field was uprooted and overturned, ultimately destroying it. There were rumors flying around about who could have done it, but nothing is certain yet, but some have already begun to make up in their minds regarding who did it and why they did so.
In order to protect themselves, an investigative team was hired or at least, the closest thing to an investigative team. Yagyu had taken up the case and decided to recruit a few people in order to cover her bases and hopefully, this case. She'd arrive at the small farming community by the afternoon, leaving them with plenty of sunlight to get a headstart on what to look for and possibly, who to talk to.
Miko had thought it would be a neat idea to go poke around the places where the crime had been commited. Curiosity often works against those who possess it and she was roped into helping look into what had happened. Why they chose her? Good guess. She was entirely incapable of investigating. That required too much focus!
It was never any question whether Grim was going to be there, someone had to look out for the wellbeing of everyone who crossed path with the Nara. "So you put out a contract right? with actual money?" he asks raises the rim of his hat to look at the Nara and the other. "I know, you did this legit right Stinger?" he asks putting a hand behind his head, what did she drag him into.
"You know how I do. I don't even know why you askin' me that question," Yagyu state to Grim. "It is completely legit. I don't like messin' with dirty money," she paused. "Not all the time, at least, I mean sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just sayin'," she shrugged. "So! You're with us now. Welcome to the investigation team!" She turned to face the new recruit. "I'm Yagyu, this is Sunshine, and now, we're supposed to be waiting for our contact out here. He said he'd be here, but he ain't and I'm 'bout to get mad. I'm here early. I gave him a good estimate of our arrival and he ain't here yet!"
She searched around, spinning on her heel to give her better coverage. Eventually, some guy comes scrambling down the road. He seemed to be in his 30s and a bit ragged, but otherwise fairly youthful. "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't really expect you guys to get here so quickly. You said you were in the Land of Wind. That's pretty far," he remarked.
"We have our ways. Don't ask how, alright?" Yagyu replied.
"Right, well welcome to our small town! We're glad you made it. We've been having a hard time. /I've/ been having a hard time, really. This investigation is trying, to say the least. It's not often, if at all, we see crime here," the man explained.
Grim bows his head "Sunshine at your service" before taking his hat off in the bow before placing it back on the top of his head. "I had figured that you joined us for the compensation." before looking at the Nara "You sent out personalized invitations?" he was now suspecting that the Nara had better contacts then he did, now jealous he retorts "Watch it Stinger.." he grumbles before taking notice of their meeting partner "Thank you for having us. Scorpion Squadron and uh.." he pauses looking at Miko "and others are at your service. Well I can imagine that you much rather be tending to your livelihood then having to deal with this injustice. So what can we do for you?" he asks taking a moment to look around for the sense in general.
A lone traveler makes his way down the road. A traveling cloak is wrapped around his body, but the hood is down. His snow white hair flows freely down to the small of his back, and his mocha colored face is visible as he continues to walk. There is a single katana on his back, but other than that, his clothing seems to be fairly casual. He wears a backpack with a bedroll strapped to the top of it. The day seems to be a pleasant one as he makes his way, however the sound of voices reach his ears, and it's out of pure curiosity. He moves a few feet from the group and lifts a hand. "Hi. How are you? Couldn't help but over hear snippets of your conversation. Something about an injustice?" He offers the group an easy smile. "Anything I can help with?"
"Oh, I'm Tanuki, by the way," the man introduced himself. Yagyu struggled very hard not to let her face show how much confusion she had. As he was about to go further into the subject matter, Hiei showed up to which he waved and introduced himself once again. "This is the rest of the team? The more the better, I think," he states. "Anyhow, everyone welcome! Please, walk with me into the town," he gestured for them to follow along.
"What you mean I picked you? I ain't picked nobody, you picked yourself. You want money right? Who don't? I just posted on the boards. Whoever showed up, showed up," she replied back to Miko. "If I sent out invitations, you woulda been the first to get one. Why you trippin', Sunshine?" She questioned, shaking her head at him. "I thought you knew me better than that," she grinned.
"Anyway, yeah, you can help us out. Tanuki here is about to give us the low down."
"Right! About two days ago, something terrible happened. A rice field was completely turned over and destroyed. This community depends on farming rice as a part of its livelihood. It's been doing this for generations and helps to supply rice across the Land of Fire and even to other places. We're all grateful that only one field was destroyed, but now we're beginning to worry if this will happen to others too. Along with this, rumors have been going around saying I was responsible. I wasn't! I really wasn't! Although, I can admit that I didn't really like the one who owned the field, I would never do something like that to anyone here. We depend on rice too much to just up and throw it all away. What hurts him hurts us all. Uh, buy 'him' I mean Mr. Imori. He owns the largest amount of land in the community." Tanuki thought over the situation a bit more. "At the moment, I have some who are trying to help me find out who the real criminal is, but I think most are just scared and just wanting this to be over with so they can return back to their lives."
Miko gives Yagyu a suspicious look and then shrugs. "I suppose…" After that, she follows the Tanuki guy. Wouldnt do her any good to get left beind. "Hmm… sounds like a bit of a fiasco!"
It was already a strange situation with one unknown partner in a foreign land but now a wandering swordsman with a boundary issues has arrived. "Well I suppose we could use a fourth, supposing that sword isn't for decoration" he says before glaring at Yagyu "I do know you better, that's why I'm suspicious!" he sneers with a snort. Before listening to the story "When you say turned over, you mean like literally or figuratively?" he asks rubbing his chin trying to determine is sneaky shinobi magic is involved or just angry people with farming tools. "Alright, so I suppose we should go speak to this Mr Imori" Grim says looking at the others for confirmation.
Hiei chuckles at the one called Sunshine. "I think I remember how to you use it." He pauses and really looks at the other guy. "Your name is Tanuki? You're named after a raccoon spirit? Well, it's not the strangest thing I've ever heard." He rubs his chin where there is about a couple days stubble, though it'll never grow into anything other than what it is now. Can't grow beards for some reason. "Something turning over the fields, hmm? Could be giant moles. Or giant ground hog. I've dealt with giant ants before, and evil dolphins…though I don't ever see a scenario where a dolphin /isn't/ evil, but I digress." He shrugs. "What the ****. I'll help you guys out. I'll do it for free. Mostly because I'm bored. I'm traveling to Suna to see a family member. And.." He cuts his eyes slightly. "**** that desert. I'll take the long way around."
"It most certainly is a fiasco, one I'm trying to sort out quickly," Tanuki agreed. "There are some who said they saw someone in the fields when it happened but they won't talk to me to let me know. Hopefully, you guys can gather all the information you need and help me to clear my name. As for the fields, they are turned over. Literally. I…am not sure how they can be turned over figuratively?" Although he'd like to know.
Yagyu snorted a bit. "I ain't sent out no invitations, Sunshine, but you got a point. I could if I wanted to, but I ain't."
Tanuki pointed uot the fields as they drew closer. All were normal except for one field that belonged to Mr. Imori which was completely destroyed. Rice plants were tossed all over and earth overturned leaving behind a muddy mess. Once within the community, it becomes clear that some people are trying to avoid Tanuki, giving him wary stares and turning away from him.
"Tanuki is a nickname of sorts I've come to receive from my parents and then the community. I've come to just accept it," he offered. "I'll let you guys get to work. I have some other business to tend to." He bowed and made his way off.
"I know he didn't just…" Yagyu grumbled. "Anyway, let's spread out and start looking for some stuff. Anything that might help. Best place to start is the field. We'll move out from there." The group is led to the field to begin their search. Hopefully, there's something here that can get them started and on their way.
"I'd be really surprised if a simple peasant could cause that much destruction." Miko states as she examines the field from afar. "I know I sure couldn't. Maybe it'll be obvious when we get there!"
Grim shrugs at the newcomer, "Alright, but if the FSM objects, your out" he says pointing at the sassy nara before cutting his fingers across his throat. "I don't trust anyone who just does things for free" he says before there is a change in his features when the makes disparaging remarks about his hometurf. "If you die here, I'm going to bury you in the desert so it can **** you for eternity." he snorts before holding out his point in an accusing point "You may call me Sunshine and you are now storm cloud!" before crossing his arms over his chest "Cause all you have done so far is rain on us!" before they reach the site of the destruction, as he scans the scene.. He comes across a lone boot and some tracks going off in a direction. "Watch your step, try not to taint the clues" he says carefully lurking over and pulling out the boot raising it up for the others. "Someone is missing this.. and the tracks it made, go this way" he says pointing to a trail leading outside the general area to the outskirts of the village proper into the 'wilds'.
Hiei replies to Grim. "I DID say I'd do it cause I was bored. My payment is not being bored anymore. So in a roundabout way, I'm not really doing it for free." A soft laugh. "I doubt I'd die here, but if I did, I'd haunt the **** out of you every time you walked throught the desert. I would spend my afterlife making yours a living hell. Just so we're clear." He lifts a finger. "But you can call me Snow. Oh, and don't rule out giant squirrels." He looks left…then he looks right. "They're always watching.." He mutters. "Oh, and you can call me Snow, if you like." Points to his head. "It's a nickname. The hair. So you're Sunshine.." He points at Grim. "And you're sting.." He points at Yagyu. "So who's the other cute chick?" He motions towards Miko.
"I can cause that much destruction, but that's just me, though," Yagyu snickered at Miko. "Anyhow, looks like Sunshine has found something. A boot and some tracks?" She nodded and followed his lead. "You see this, right?" She pointed out to Snow to confirm. "Let's follow them and see where they go, Storm Cloud." Yep, completely ignoring his given name. "Also, I ain't asked her name, so she'll have to give it to you so we'll all know. By the way, I'm not 'Sting', I'm 'Stinga'." Gotta get that right.
The tracks lead out to the outskirs of the community into the surrounding bushland.
The tracks continue until they reach some bushes where the final boot is abandoned as well as some clothes.
"Looks like we're already getting somewhere," Yagyu points to Grim. "Sunshine, gather up the rest of these. Since you removed a boot from the mud. We gonna take these back and ask around. So far, we know the field is messed up and a boot was found stuck in it. We followed some tracks until they led to some other clothes and another boot. Now we need to know who these belong to."
Miko sort of ignores the banter between the others as she focuses on the task at hand and stops when they get to the clothes. "So… we should be looking for whomever is running around pretty much naked?" She states as she gestures to the clothes. "It'd be pretty obvious."
Grim seems unmoved by the boredom resolution as payment "Just know I am suspect and watching.." says with an emphasis of his fingers pointed at his good eye and his eye-patch. "You wouldn't be the first, so get in the line" he responds to the threat of a haunting. "Snow? really?" he pauses with a silence "…reallly?" he seems unimpressed. "The squirrels eh? Yeah I could see that." that sounded very familiar for moment but then again he is always inundated with the inane so it might just be a chance perpendicular vertex in the vortex of chaos. As they travel is he looking around for any signs until the sassy one points out where the trail ends "So we are looking for a shoeless naked perpetrator. That really narrows it down" he says before giving Yagyu, the glare "I am not your servant! Stinger" before he does what she asked anyways without really thinking about it. "I agree with …." he says cutting himself as he doesn't yet have a name to call her, but he will create one shortly.
Hiei waited for the girl to take initiative and give him a name, when she doesn't he gives her one. "Alright. Then we will call her Mittens. Cause she looks like a kitty." He even nods as if it's final. He ahems to Grim. "Don't watch me too close. You might miss something else." He comments as he motions to the trail. However he does comment. "Snow. Not Storm Cloud. Or I call you Sting and not Stinga. We have a deal?" However when Grim picks up on the squirrel thing, he is suddenly right next to him, whispering behind a hand. "**** yeah, it's the squirrels, man. I know they have a council, and they are secretly planning to take over the world. Their leader hates humans. We have to remain vigilant. An attack could come at any time." And then he's strolling casually with his hands in his pockets. "May not be naked. Some people carry more than one set of clothing. Or have more than one face. Multiple options. Most of the time what you see, is not the truth. Especially in the world we live in." A small smirk as he continues moving with the group.
Yagyu's face twists up. "I hope y'all ain't serious. Like, I hope it ain't true. I am not about to look for some naked **** person running around tearing up rice fields. Nope. That's **** Konoha can handle. I will personally go to the village and tell them to take this mission," she shook her head. "And don't be tryin' to argue with me! You the one that scooped up the boot. If you hadn't have touched it, I wouldn't be tellin' you to collect other ****. That's /your/ fault, not mine. Made yourself into a servant then you gonna blame me." she huffed.
The group heads back to the community, still greeted with stares and concern. "I'mma call you Storm Cloud when I say you Storm Cloud. You call me Sting and you will catch these hands!" Yagyu fired back at Snow. "Came all up in here tryin' to dictate your name to me. I know who you are!" She snapped her fingers. "Back to business."
She leads the group back to Tanuki to see if he knows anything about the clothes they collected. He explained the clothes and boots are his, but asserts he's not the one behind the fields. He suggests they should visit other villagers to find out. Mr. Inori is the next target.
"If you're here about the field, you can spare me the time and just take the boy out of here. Tanuki. Or I guess we can be civil. That's fine too," the man gruffly speaks. "What do you want to know? Anyone? I'm here to waste my time." Running up his leg and atop his shoulder is a lone squirrel who looks at the group inquisitively.
There is a gasp from Miko and she goes pale as a ghost. "C-cat…" She places her hands over her ears. "I'm… I'm a fox…. Miko of the Fierce Fox-fist Style!" She furrows her brow slightly. "Which is odd, because I don't use my fists…"
Grim casually cradles his chin, "Mittens.. I like it. I was going to go with something else.. but Mittens works" he muses in response to the naming of their elusive cohort. "I'll do as I please, this eye does not miss anything" he says before taking a tumble over an upturnt root. As he is getting up he hears about the squirrel council "You sound like a guy I know, maybe you two could start an awareness group." he pats the mysterious swordsman on the back.
"Hey don't be talking to me like you know me! I am not your personal concierge" before stinger goes off in the way she is best known and her mercenary hype man brings it "Yeah Storm cloud! Quiet thundering around here like you the own the place.." before giving the Imori man an evil eye " yours.. but you didn't do it.. uh huh right. That makes perfect sense.." before he finds that the nameless has spoken. "Miko? Then a pleasure to meet you Miko." before they meet the next oddity in this village of odd. "Is there anything you can tell us of note, was there any reason someone might have to do this? Did you receive any odd notes or demands? Do you know that you have a tree-rat on your shoulder?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
Hiei looks at Yagyu and then starts laughing. For a good long while. He reaches up to wipe away a tear. "Oh, that's good. I haven't had anyone talk to me like that in a long time. I like it. I think it's cute, Stinga. Keep doing that and don't ever change." He cuts his eyes towards Miko. "Look like cat ears to me. But if you had said your name was Miko, I wouldn't have had to guess." He's still in a pretty good mood all the way up until the meeting with Mr. Inori. Suddenly, he's about thirty paces behind…well..behind Grim. His sword is in his hand, and he's waving it wildly from behind Grim's shoulder. "Nope. Not doing this. You get that *expletive, expletive, double expletive* demon monster the **** away from me." He eyes are filled with fear and he's staring right at the….squirrel.
"You my concierge when I say you are. You want these hands too? You already caught them once," Yagyu argues back with Grim. "Anyway, I gotta act all proper now that we in front of this guy," she gestured to Mr. Imori and his squirrel. "Miko, you gotta understand the way I work. You see what I just did? You don't want that to happen to you," she let her know very late in the game. "You done seen two demonstrations of it, but now I'm gonna be Fairy Squad Mother, alright?" Alright.
Imori stood there stuck between amusement and confusion. "I didn't do anything to my own fields. I use those fields to make money not lose it…" His voice trails off as he sees Snow threatening him with a sword. "I already told you I didn't do anything! Why is he holding out his sword?! I thought you were here to help! Unless you're… Uh, ahem. Nothing." He eyes the squirrel closely as its mentioned. "You all should leave. There's nothing more to discuss."
Miko blinks a couple times at 'Stinga's' words and then sort of rolls her eyes in a 'this is insane, why am I here?' fashion. "I'll just follow along and stay out of trouble."
Grim is now suddenly a shield between the shinobi and the squirrel, "Woah there.. Storm Cloud. You poke me and your going to catch stinger hands." as if threatening him with someone else hands was going to work. "Don't mind Storm cloud, he just got into some bad mushrooms on the way over here.. I told him not eat them but he said Oh it's fine, I know what I'm doing, I'm a veteran elite, I eat these all the time. meh-meh-meh" he says mockingly with hand flapping. Then when the topic of the squirrel is brought up, it's as if the emotional situation has changed into a heavy dark cloud of fear, beyond the sword swinging idiot. "We are here to help, and we would love to know if you have reason to suspect Tannuki? Other then his nude strolls through the wilderness" before glancing over at Miko "I want a cool title like that.." he says with a whine.
Hiei becomes very still and steps out from behind Grim. His eyes are still on the squirrel…the investigation is pretty much forgotten. "You don't think I don't see you smirking at me from behind that acorn? I ain't forgot how you and your kind attacked me when I was a kid. Your agents of darkness have finally found me again, but this time I will not run.." He flicks his wrist and lightning courses down the side of his blade. "Let us finish this my life…long..nemesis.."
"Because he was the one in my fields. Just look at those clothes! Those are his! It's clear he was the one messing everything up and I already know he doesn't like me and I don't like him. Didn't know it was enough to tear apart my fields." Mr. Imori looked at the squirrel once more and back to the group. "…Tanuki walks naked? Learn something new about that boy every day."
"Nah, nah, you ain't 'bout to just sit off to the side and not be in trouble. This what we about. You gotta get in the trouble to solve stuff sometimes!" Yagyu scolded Miko. "You ain't gettin' no pay for stayin' out of trouble. Join up!"
The squirrel continues to sit atop Imori's shoulder, staring at Hiei in particular. With a twitch of its tail, it hops off and runs out of the home and into the community. "Alright, alright, I think I've had enough of this," he sighed a breath out. "I know it wasn't Tanuki, but I wanted to believe it was him. As much as I don't like him, it ain't his way. It's…the squirrels," he states grimly.
"We've been having squirrel attacks for a couple days now. We thought we could trade Tanuki off to get them to stop, but that plan failed. Now we have a squirrel problem and my field has paid the price. It's probably my fault for placing him up like that, but the kid can be annoying at best and infuriating at worst. That's all I got for ya. Now, figure out what these squirrels are up to and why they keep messin' with us and we'll forget this all happened."
Miko twitches slightly. "A… squirrel proble? But they are so cute and small!" She makes a grandiose gesture with her arms. "How can they be causing so much trouble?"
Grim is about to throw the muddy clothing into the face of the overly zealous swordsman. "Control yourself, Sir!" he says turning to block the view of the angry swordsman. "If you are going to act the fool. You will exact the price of your comedy. Here hold these" he says tossing the muddy clothes with little warning at the swordsman. "Anything large or small can create problems of immeasurable size.. Just look at Stinger" he says pointing at the Nara instinctively before the squirrel flees "It's okay now, it's gone.. Calm down Storm Cloud" before adding "You are both of those things as well, I imagine you are known for a little mischief or two." he says to Miko. It was hard to follow everything that was the madness of this group before he is brought back to the mission "You have a squirrel problem? And you wasted our time trying to investigate the wrong guy.. What if Snowflake here can cut him down?" he asks with his hands angerly at his side.
At the request of Grim, the sword is sheathed and the muddy clothes are caught in his arms. "The **** am I supposed to do with this?" He promptly drops them in the dirt and wipes his hands on his cloak. Then his attention is gotten by Miko. He gives her a small stare. "You're an agent for the squirrel council aren't you? You talk like one, Mittens…I mean Mika…I mean Miko." He rubs his head. "Sorry. I'm horrible with names." He smacks himself on the cheeks and then tries to focus. "Okay, Stinga. What you need me to do? I got a buddy who can examine the ground for us…probably find out if it was done by a critter or not. Or I can cook every squirrel within a half mile radius?" He coughs into his fist and side glances at Grim. "Probably not that last one, huh?"
"They ain't cute when they're going around tearing up fields! I don't even know how they did it, but I know they're responsible!" Mr. Imori responded to Miko.
Yagyu was preoccupied with more important things. "Don't get me started, Sunshine! I will swing your head around by your tongue!" She threatened him. "He got a point, though. We came out here for an investigation, not a squirrel problem. I'm halfway inclined to charge double now!" She sneered. "Let's go figure this all out. We got a squirrel to catch!"
She leaves out of Imori's home and outside to see if she can still see the squirrel running off. "We might need your help, Storm Cloud. You got somebody that can search them out? Let's see them. Need to find out what's up with these squirrels and fast!" At the very least, she thinks checking the outskirts would still work out. Rodents can't very well wander around in mud. Hopefully.
Miko smirks a bit. "I suppose youre not incorrect about that…" She chuckles a bit. "I've caused a fair bit of mischief in my time." She glances between the others. "So, how do we deal with problematic squirrel populations?"
"Hold them?" then the snowflake drops them almost as quickly as he caught them "Or not.. We've already proven these are not evidence anyways" he says with a sigh before shaking a fist at Yagyu "I will do whatever I want, Later; right now we must seek out a way to prevent further damage." When the fox maiden contributes he raises his eyebrow in surprise. "You should come join me in Suna, I can always use more mischief makers.. Got to keep the Madam Kage busy with antics of the anti-shinobi weird" he says in invitation to Miko. Before pressing a finger against his lip at the suggestion of just burning it all down "I'm not against it.. but your paying the incidentals" he says hitting the swordsman in the coin pouch. "I'm sure if they said they want the squirrels dealt with we do it.. You can alter the deal later.. what can they say about it? We could just leave the squirrels alone that would show them" he snorts walking out and looking at the ground his trained eyes pick up on the trial of a tail drag "This is easy! I'm used to tracking in the shifting sands.. this hard dirt stuff is really something.." Grim says pointing in the direction that they should go.
Hiei just shoves his hands into his pockets and grumbles something about burning down every forest to make sure he gets all the squirrels, but when Grim starts talking compensation, he immediately says, "No. I'm good." Talk about someone who doesn't like parting with his money. He closes his eyes as he walks, only concentrating for a moment. He then picks up his pace slightly, not wanting to get left behind. He pulls his cloak closer around his body as he walks. "You know, after looking around, I think Sunshine is leading us true. Though I did have a sudden thought. We ever rule out gophers or any kind of burrowing animal? Squirrels live underground as well as the trees you know. I've spent years learning the devil's ways."
"You dang right it's gonna be later, but not now," Yagyu stated to Grim. "Not about to have no problems until after we get this squirrel problem solved. I know I really want to let them just endure the squirrel problem, but I can't, cause I want money as of today. So, we gotta do what we gotta do," the Nara stated firmly.
As Grim points out the way and Hiei confirms it, the group all goes as one into the fields where they end up finding a number of holes around them, but what's more, there appears to be a certain signature that Hiei picks up on and it seems to be rising to the surface quickly.
Before long, it's bursting up from the ground and with it, heavy clumps of dirt and rocks begin to fall down from the sky. "Grrraaaah!" The voice shouts, only mildly obscured by the dust of the falling earth.
Miko lets out a rather girlish scream of sorts when the squirrel suddenly bursts from the ground. More of surprise than fright. "I didnt know they could do that!" She declares and moves to hide behind one of the more seasoned investigator/warrior types.
Grim feels uneasy for a moment before shaking it off "Burrowing animal? I suppose it's possible.." before running a finger along his own jaw "I didn't know Squirrels lived in the ground.. not really alot of them in the desert. That I know of.." now he is very curious if there actually are and if they would taste good roasted. It was not long before there was dirt and rocks flying at them when the Fox Maiden screams out, his defensive nature kicked in sliding himself in front of the debris as it slams into his body and face with a loud thud but leaving only smudges of dirt and mud (please let it be mud). "Snowflake, Stinger. Find out what we are dealing with, assess it's weakness and report. I want to know the usual, how many feet, how many eyes, what color and does it have squishy bits?" it was a slightly different man then before, all business. "Is this your first time?" he asks turning to look at the cute fox maiden hiding behind him. "There is no shame if it is" he says trying to get a sense of the situation.
Hiei sensed the attack coming from beneath him and positioned himself next to the Stinga and pulled her close to his body and out of the way. While holding her around the shoulders with one arm, he lifts the other and punches the rocks away from them both. He would then release her before giving Grim an answer. Shifting immediately into his true personality. "Seems to be a guy dressed as a golden squirrel..which is just weird. But it is a guy, nonetheless." He points a finger and aims down it before a single small bolt of lightning escapes from his finger. "Somehow this kind of feels familiar."
"You know what, for the first time, I agree with y'all. I ain't used to squirrels living everywhere but trees. My mind ain't ready for this. Real talk," Yagyu admitted. "I'll see what I can—I don't know who you think you is touchin' me like that?!" She switches gears as she's pulled inward and away from harm. "…I appreciate it," she muttered. "But you gotta warn me first or somethin'! You coulda just stood in front of me or somethin'! We ain't cool like that!" She continued.
"As. I. Was. Saying!" She clapped after each word. "I'll see what I can get out of this guy! But if I'm observin', I'mma need y'all to make up for that! Miko, you can help too!"
Kiniro laughed as his tail took the electric bolt. He flinged it out of the way and struck a pose as the dust began to settle. "I am Kiniro the Gold Squirrel! You are trespassing and must be punished!" He retaliated by spinning around and swinging his tail to lash out at Hiei. He was the only one that attacked so far, after all.
Miko seems truly happy someone helped her out. "Uhm… h-help? I don't think I am in any position to be helping… except maybe as a distraction!" She panics a little bit. "I've never fought anything like this! This powerful!"
Grim rubs the bridge of his nose at how snowflake grabs the stinger, if he was lucky it was going only to catch an ear chewing.. or a swift kick in the acorns. "I'm sure you have skills that can be useful. It isn't always about power or strength but doing what you can to improve the situation. You do what you can, I'll absorb the blows.. I don't really have much in the way of range attacks.. I could dual wield throw rocks, I suppose" before he turns with a wink "You could try charming him? I don't think he has a defense prepared against that" he says looking around for some environment uses.
Hiei turns to look at Miko. "Power? This guy? Where did you say you were from again?" As the squirrel guy flings his tail at him, he catches it in his hand without looking and simply flicks his wrist upwards, sending him flying in mid-air. He then says to Stinga. "Sorry. I reacted before I thought about it. Habit. I apologize for touching you. Where I'm from that's liable to get me killed, so I completely understand."
"A distractin works too as long as it's somethin'. I gotta see how this guy works, shamed as I am to actually witness this fool in a gold squirrel costume," Yagyu sighed. "My eyes feel disrespected." She stood back, watching as Kiniro the Gold Squirrel flew into the air, courtesy of Hiei. As he went up and up, he extended his arms and with them, wings. "Hahaha! You did not expect for Kiniro the Gold Squirrel to transform, did you?! I am now Kiniro the Flying Gold Squirrel! Enjoy these nuts!" He reached inside some pockets and tossed out a number of acorns with tags hidden inside. The only indicator of imminent explosion is a distinct hissing sound.
"Oooooh, this dude! Now he just workin' on my nerve! Ain't no way he just said that and think he 'bout to get away with it. Sunshine, Storm Cloud, y'all better show him what's what! Miko, if you don't like feelin' easily offended like I do, then you can hurt him too! But first, everybody clear the area!"
Miko does her best to dodge, which is to say, it goes rather poorly. Explosions occur all around her, but despite all that, she gatheres herself up rather quickly. "Ah… hah… well, perhaps I will see if there is anything I can do." She takes a moment to clear her mind and prepare herself. She had no real way to attack him in the air, so planning was needed.
It was a little unexpected that the squirrel would take to flight "I second that, it's like that time I saw birdguy reading…" then he stops with a wince. As the acorn bombs begin to fall and the person he was to defend bails out from behind him, he does the same trying to avoid the blast, managing to avoid it once, before one rocks him flinging him into another blast before he send end over end into the mud, (it is still mud right) with a skid and sudden halt. "My pride.. i think he shattered it.." before he sits up and roots around in his vest pulling out his pipe which falls into about 4 pieces.. "You.. monster.." he snarls leaping to his feet, a faint chaos swirls around him for those who are attuned to such changes. "You will pay.. That was ~350 ryo!" Grim shouts gritting his teeth.
Hiei side stepped the acorn bombs as he says to Yagyu. He misjudged one and it impacts him on the back. He actually laughs. "I don't know. Nariko writes me these letters about all of the stuff you guys get up to. I thought them to just be stories until now. I can see why she likes hanging with you guys. You know how to have fun." He makes his hand in the shape of a gun and 'balances' it on his outstretched forearm. "Wind..27 degrees from the north. Range, 58 meters. Aaaand..fire." He cocks his hand back as a zig-zagging bolt of lightning flies on course for the flying squirrel man. "That's for dressing up like a squirrel sympathizer."
"That's it! Let's all work together on this!" Yagyu nodded. Although, for her, it's looking like a stretch. When the bombs come dropping, she tries to avoid them, but failed horribly. She was sent to the ground, covered in dirt and mud. Yes, mud from what she can taste of what landed in her mouth… Yep, mud. "Uuuugh…." She groaned to herself.
"Did you enjoy my gifts?! I made them specially for you all! You should not have messed with—Yaaah!" The zap went up through his suit and affected him, sending him spiraling down and crashing into the ground. "I am now a ground squirrel once more!" He painfuly grunted out. He rose up to his feet and took up a stance before chittering and screeching. The ground begins to quake as squirrels rise up from the tunnels beneath and cover the earth around them. "Squirrel Rush!" He shouted, pointing forward as he charged towards the group with his army.
Yagyu was just beginning to stir out of the hurting she just took as she watched as a bunch of ground rats began storming towards them. "Oh, **** this. Nope. **** all this. ****!" She continued to curse as she rose from the ground. "You have got to be **** me! Rip off his **** suit or die trying!!" Time to claim some spoils ahead of time.
Even as Kiniro is getting back to his feet, Miko is on the move. The girl is not particularly impressive as far as shinobi go, but by the looks of it, the kicks she attempts to deliver would probably hurt a bit. A double set are sent his way, the first directed for his chin with the other towards his stomach in an attempt to force him back and stun him for her allies.
"You did this, you fix this! Storm Cloud!" he shouts grabbing the Swordsman around the collar and hurling him at the squirrel man with a reckless amount of strength seemingly uncaring about any welfare of his projectile. "If you miss, don't return.." he snarls before he stomps the ground before a burst of chakra sending the ground undulating. "I will rip the 350 ryo out of your tiny souls, Die Die Die!" Grim says stomping the ground with shock after shock.
Hiei holds up a finger towards Grim, but then is lifted off his feet and flung. "Huh. Nice distance..wheeeeeeeeee!" Can be heard from the snow white as he is flung high up into the air. On the way down, Hiei goes into a corkscrew spin, tucking his arms close to his body as he comes down towards the squirrel man. "Cloud….Sky…" Just before impact, he manuvers and kicks out a foot, so the heel would impact the man. "Bolt!"
The squad goes on the move, retaliating against the squirrel army and its master. The ground sinks underfoot and rumbles under the might of all who have gathered today on this battlefield. Kicks assure that squirrels are scooped up and fly into the air, sent scattered to and fro as tiny, sharp claws grip and pierce into clothing and skin, scratching and biting at anything they come in contact with.
Earth bubbles out and bursts under the force of chakra and for a few moments, the sun is eclipsed by a mighty Storm Cloud. His vengeance is to be exacted like a bolt from the very phenomenon of nature he was nicknamed after. In his descent, his kick strikes true and time, at this moment appears to slow down. Every squirrel, including Kiniro the Gold Squirrel, stand and watch while he takes the full force of judgement to his body, face and body twisting and coiling under the force of the blow. The following shockwave craters the mud and sends it all away in a spray of dirt and rodents as time returns to normal.
"You will pay for this! You all shall be my life long nemiseeeees!" Kiniro the Gold Squirrel calls out in the distance. The squirrels that survived the bout all run along after him to carry him off to safety. The battle has been won! Time to go tell Mr. Imori!
30,000 XP Gained
Smoking Pipe Lost
Miko just…. just justs. There is really no reasonable way to react to what had just occured, but… something had to be done. She glances at the others, trying to gague their response. "This… uhm… has been odd."
As the rain of dust, dirt and mud falls around him and the timelessness of that infinite moment where a battle turns the tide in your favor. "I will use your skull as a pipe!" he snorts grabbing one of the squirrels out of the air. "Good job team.. " he says returning back to the semi-calm which seems to almost wash over him. "If anyone asks, the Squirrel guy did all this.. We Just shooed him away with a broom. Alright? Good.. Now lets go get paid and leave this place before I let storm cloud set fire to it all." he snorts before going to check on Miko "Are you alright, Fox Maiden?" Grim asks offering a helping hand and a piece of jerky for a job well done. Stinger would get her jerky later, after they collect the pay and he wasn't giving anything to the freeloading swordsman. "Congratulations, you didn't miss" he says taking a deep breath before seemingly forlorn.
Hiei stands up after the squirrel guy makes his escape and sighs. "Good job, guys. Including you, Miko. You'll see him again most likely." He begins shaking mud and dirt off his cloak and finally just takes it off to reveal the long sleeved shirt and baggy pants underneath, along with the Yotsuki clan symbol on the shirt. "I have to hand it to you guys. I thought Nariko was embellishing her stories of you when she wrote to me, but wow, I guess not. Now I'm gonna have to start taking her at her word again." He offers his fist to the group. "Name's Hiei. I'm Nariko's cousin. Decided to come this way to limit my exposure to that molten hell you call a desert." He shrugs. "I'm from a cold climate, it's just taxing as ****." He shrugs. "I should hope not. That move is pretty common in Kumo. We're all taught it at an early age. Well, those of us want to learn it." He tosses an arm around Grim as he walks away with him. "You know, you've got some real talent. I could probably teach you a couple things." He holds his hand up to the sky, "Let me tell you about the time I fought the dreaded catsnake.."
Yagyu looks over her clothes and body, all covered in mud. She spat what left of the earth from her mouth and grumbled to herself. "I'm charging double for this… Nah, triple," she muttered to herself while following up behind Hiei and Grim. "Odd is the minimum of what we experience," she replied to Miko. "There's a lot more where that came from…" She kicked at a squirrel corpse, nearly slipping as she did so. She still had to recover from those explosions. "If I ever see that guy again, I'm going to make him regret ever crossing me. Got me all muddy and filthy. Now I gotta go wash all this **** off. I'mma bring a bucket and a ladel. Gonna force feed him this stuff until he's **** stones from his ****."
"Sunshine! Where's my jerky?!" She shouted as she attempted to catch up with him.
