Starring:
Date: February 27, 2011
Summary:
None given.
"A Stray Child"
Unknown location
Buried far beneath one of the Hidden Villages, a masked man in black and
red robes is hard at work analyzing the latest data. The 'test' of the
Beast of Blood had not produced the desired results. He had wanted
Uzushiogakure, the Village of the Uzumaki Clan in the Land of Whirlpools,
to be >removed< from that country and placed >elsewhere<. Instead the
Beast had simply split the islands of Whirlpools and Waves in two and
obliterated a major population center in the process.
That was not acceptable. And now that the Beast had been unleashed in
part — even if only the smallest fraction of its true power — it was
hungry for more. The masked man had to keep it 'sated' with the lives of
Ue Toto's employees and the man himself. All were responsible for evil.
But there were worse out there. He knew it and the Beast knew it. If he
did not restrain the Beast more fully he would have to keep on 'feeding'
it to control it. The information spread on the table in front of the
towering man indicated there were >remnants< of the Beast left behind
after its test. A clean-up crew would be needed. More imperative was
removing the evidence that the Uzumaki had obtained with their Fuuinjutsu
from their possession. They managed to seal away some of the Beast's
lingering Chakra. If that Chakra were delivered to those smart enough to
identify it…
Amuro lifts his head as he feels someone behind him. He is in his private
quarters. No one should be here, let alone >her<. Rising from his seat,
ignoring the aches and pains of his old body, Amuro turns and starts to
say, "Datura, how did you find your way here—?" Then he cuts himself off
as he sees who it really is. He had mistaken it for Datura because of the
overlapping presences. Two girls.
And that is what stands before him now, silhouetted in the doorway
leading into his lab. Two little girls, dressed in funeral blacks, with
bonnets, shrouds, and curly blonde hair. The one on the right is older
than the other, but not by too much.
"…How did you get out?" he asks calmly, though sternly. He knows he is
not really looking at two children, but he is not worried. This is a piece
of the Beast. Nothing more. He can handle it.
The two girls lift their voices and begin singing a very tension-laden,
quavering song in unison. Amuro gets the gradual impression that if they
finish their long he is going to die. So he aims his right hand at them
both, and the Kanji for 'Banish' flares red on his palm as he gathers his
Chakra.
"I am the first!
A shadow at the end
of the hallway!"
The girls start advancing on Amuro in tiny little girl-steps. He is
almost ready, but he wishes he were about ten years younger. He could
gather Chakra faster back then.
"I spin the carousel!
The laughter recedes away…"
The girls are almost within arm's reach — their arm's reach, rather.
They are >well< within range of Amuro's hand. The older one stands on
tip-toes holding out one hand. Her arm >stretches inhumanly< towards
Amuro's mask.
"My finger on your lips…
…I stole something precious—"
"Begone." Amuro orders in a commanding voice. The eyes of both girls
widen… And widen… And >widen< until they look like glistening pools of
ink instead of eyes. Then the older one shrieks, and the younger one
wails, and then they are both gone into the darkness once more.
Amuro knows that was too close. >Far< too close. It would be better if he
never used the Beast again. Period. He needs to lock it up forever. It has
more experience and knowledge than he does. It has existed for
ten-thousand years or more. It is the sum total of all human evil. And it
has already evaded or broken most of the bindings that should be keeping
it under control. Very little stands in the way of the monster now.
Amuro sighs and lowers his arm reluctantly. He half expected the accursed
thing to reappear. A female voice speaks in the silence, but this one is
familiar to Amuro. "Abandon this plan," she says. Amuro turns to the
Uzumaki woman who was once his wife and who has been dead for about 90+
years now. "No," he tells the ghost. Then he walks out of the room.
There is one last way to fix this situation.
It is time to claim the Dark-Light Stone from Konohagakure. No one else
is taking action… So he will do it himself.
