Starring:
Keiji, Itami, Shisei (Ukitake)
Date: December 20, 2011
Summary:
Itami lets Keiji lead a mission to retrieve a painting. Shisei is along as an underling.
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"Art Tracking"
Fuuma Alley
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Roaring searchlights, buzzing neon, arching floodlights compete under the perpetually brown-tinged lead skies of the Alley, each an attempt to draw attention to the three- and four-story casinos and other pleasure houses squeezed next to one another in the heart of the city. Fancifully constructed in the styles of a dozen lands or to look like sailing ships or tombs, the gambling houses and their marquees throw deep, concealing shadows on the wide gears of industry and narrow shanty buildings that crowd between them.
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Contents:
The mission is to track down a man by the name of Untogwe Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide has stolen a very valueable piece of artwork from a relative. The mission is to obtain the artwork without harming Mitsuhide. Reports have recently surfaced that Mitsuhide has been seen in the Fuuma Basin at one of the Casinos gambling. It is likely that the painting is somewhere near. Track him to the painting and return it to the Village.
"Aaaah, it's been so long since I've been to this place!" Itami remarked enthusiastically. "I haven't had a drink in a while, but I think it's time to change that." She nods. "So, where are we stopping first? Do we get to see some men? And have sake? Then I, err we can get some money out of this place. What do you say about playing our hands with some cards?" She wondered. "Oh, and that guy…who are we after again?" She then looked to Ukitake. "You know your way around this place, right? You just came from all the way over here, just about. Maybe you know where I can find a really good spot to get wasted."
Keiji pulls out a photo of the man as the three of them walk. He hands it to Itami as he has already studied it. "I am a little young to be in the casinos. If you want to take in a few shows or some drinks I can handle this. I have a feeling they might think someone was wrong if an eleven year old cleans them out in a card game he just learned." the boy comments as he walks to the corner of the street. Keiji glances around. Though it was night the lights seemed to bother his eyes a bit.
"There." he states. He points upwards to the top of a building. "I will be sitting up there watching the people moving through the street. If this guy is a regular at any of the casino's he will have to pass through this way. If he is already here, he has a good chance of leaving this way." the boy states.
Keiji then pointed towards Ukitake. "You stay down here. I will point towards the man if I spot him. You need to keep an eye on him where I cannot. Basically be my eyes if I lose sight of him. Got it?" Keiji was all but ignoring the shenanigans of Itami's now. He takes off up the side of the building to get into position. (corrected pose.)
Being a little young for the more adult environment, Ukitake coughs slightly and lowers his head to hide the blush creeping over his cheeks behind his hat. He looks up again at the photo the Keiji provides though, his lips pursing as he studies the photo carefully, and nods to acknowledge that he has the face recognized. Seeing that Keiji is already headed off to a hiding place though, he decides to find a nice spot to lay low. With a quick glance around he notices a restaurant that seems to be a little more 'family oriented' and decides to take a seat in the outdoor area where he has a good view of the street and of Keiji.
Itami grumped. No one knew? She huffed and decided to look at the picture instead. This guy was not attractive. Not to her, at least. And who steals a painting from a family member, anyway? This guy must be desperate. Well, she's been here looking for paintings before, so she understands. Sigh.
Well, time to go find a nice spot to rest at. She chooses a place where she can just relax and take in the sights. There was a bar not far from here that she found and sat inside of with swiveling stools, no less. With a lift of her hand, she ordered some sake from the barkeep while trying to maintain some form of vigilance on the area.
After about an hour and a half Mitsuhide exits one of the casinos and begins to walk down the street. He is dressed in a nice outfit. Though he seems to be walking towards the poor side of town. Keiji glances past him once before looking back to him. As soon as he confirms that this is the man, he looks towards Ukitake and then brings his fingers to his eyes and points to the man. Having given the signal, Keiji turns back to the man to follow him from the building tops. He makes no attempt to signal Itami, who seemed to be enjoying herself.
Seconds before Mitsuhide leaves the casino, Ukitake raises a hand to a passing waitress, motioning that he'd like to order a drink. Then he receives the signal from Keiji and is about to leave when an angry man approaches him. The owner of the establishment raises a fist at the boy and starts yelling, "Kid! You can't order alcohol here! What are you trying to do? Bring the authorities down on me?!" Then he seems to notice that Ukitake was about to leave, and gets even more angry, "And you were gonna run without paying for your drink!" At this he looks about ready to start throwing his fists around, and when he takes an open handed swing at Ukitake, the boy has to duck to evade the strike, and as he comes up he flashes his forehead protector at the man, proof that he's well trained, and tells him, "Shut up old man. And I wasn't even trying to buy alcohol!" Before he let's his anger get away from him though, Ukitake turns and tries to catch sight of their mark. Darting out of the restaurant he mutters, "Darn it, lost sight of him." The boy then glances up at Keiji again, hoping for some clue as to where the target had gone.
Itami took her cup up and nodded to the barkeep in thanks before she consumed it. Lifting it to her lips, she tilted her head back and drank it down in a few gulps. It came as no surprise that when she stood up, she wobbled a bit before regaining composure. Pretty strong stuff. Now, it was time to move and once she shook off the effects of standing, she tossed some ryo down before continuing out towards the street to see how this mission was going to go.
So far, it appears Mitsuhide has revealed himself. He must feel pretty comfortable around here…
Keiji had turned his head back just in time to see some sort of altercation happen between Ukitake and a man in the bar. He also hears the bartender then yell, "SShhinobi! Guards!". As his dark eyes glance back towards Mitsuhide, the man had only turned the corner when he turned around. As he did, Keiji quickly ducks down beneath the cover of a ledge. He raises his head in time to see the man take off running.
"Damn it Ukitake." Keiji says under his breath. As he makes eye contact with the boy, he waves his hand to the side, in an attempt to tell the boy to run. It was a tough decision, but for now Keiji was taking off after Mitsuhide. He knew where to find Ukitake if he had been caught. The boy leaps down to the street and runs the direction Mitsuhide had gone. If he let the man get away, there was little chance they would see him in this area again.
Ukitake sees the 'run' signal from Keiji and shakes his head in annoyance. He quickly looks back toward the blubbering bar owner, who's now screaming for guards, and winces. Hoping to minimize the damage he takes a couple of quick steps toward the older man, pulling out a hand drawn seal and getting ready to apply it before stopping himself. 'Damnit Shisei,' he thinks to himself, 'That seal is too specific, someone might be able to recognize it as your jutsu.' The boy shakes his head angrily this time, spins on one foot and charges out of the restaurant. With a large jump he flies on to a nearby rooftoop and quickly takes cover. At the same time he peers out, trying to catch Keiji's location again.
"Shinobi?" Itami inquired as the barkeep shouted. This situation seemed to be getting interesting. She smiled as the events unfolded with a few guards coming out to deal with Ukitake. He makes his escape by jumping up to the top of a building to hide. Meanwhile, the guards are left with trying to figure out in what way they can get to him.
"Hey, hey!" She called to the guards, waving her hands to capture their attention. When they turned around, she said, "…Hi, there! So, here's the deal. You don't need to chase the kid. I'll cover his tab or whatever. Besides, I think the barkeep might be paranoid. You guys should look into that. It's bad for business to be crazy like that." She explained as she pulled out some ryo to hand to the guards. She took one and grabbed his hand where she began to place the money inside and fold his hand back up with a few taps. "Take that back to the barkeep. If he has anymore problems…tell him to get over it." She explained bluntly.
"Alright, so time to find that guy…" She takes some time to orient herself so she can follow after Keiji to catch the bandit. Once she was positioned properly, she dashed off after him.
Keiji followed after Mitsuhide until he came to a brick wall. The man had to have turned one way or the other. He glances around and finds a trash can knocked over and fresh garbage across the ground. The boy the moves up the wall to the top of the building. He scans the ground and finds sight of the target. The man glances around and starts walking down the street slowly. Obviously he feels as though he lost the tail. Keiji keeps his eyes on the guy. He is not about to lose this guy again.
It takes him a half minute of searching the rooftops, but Ukitake locates Keiji and starts making his way over toward the boy. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally having to hold on to his hat to keep it steady, Ukitake quickly rejoins the other Genin. "Keiji-san," he addresses the boy, "Any idea where Mitsuhide might have gone?" As he's asking the question, the Shinto boy is already examining the streets, seeing signs of the fleeing man. Without another word he points down the littered street and looks to Keiji, wondering if he was having the same thoughts.
Itami dashed through the streets, seeking out the two that seemed to be lost. Not that they were. They were doing just fine. It wouldn't be long before she slowed to a walk as they came within sight. Are things at a standstill already? Hmm. She continues her walk forward, hoping to ascertain more on the situation and determine what's going on.
As the two approached, Keiji raised a finger to his lips. He then raises his fingers to his eyes and pointed towards a small hut. "He entered there. I am guessing he is checking on his treasure." Just as the boy spoke, Mitsuhide exited the building with a large portrait protector in his arms. He glances around before he starts to walk down the street. "The mission states we cannot harm him, but it does not state we cannot scare the smiley out him. Ukitake, can you henge?" the boy asks as he stands up. He moves down to the street and henges into something looking like a street thug.
As Mitsuhide entered an alleyway, the henged Keiji and hopefully the henged Ukitake would follow him in.
Ukitake nods and gives the other boy a grin as he brings his hands together in the seal of the ram, channelling his chakra. In a brief puff of smoke he changes his appearance, now seeming to be a short, brusque man, grizzly looking with an unshaven beard and wild eyes. He follows closely behind Keiji, and as they enter the alley he draws his pair of trench knives easily, trying to look as if he were eager to use them. He keeps his eye on the man they're following, making sure he doesn't make any sudden moves or try anything stupid as the two 'muggers' approach.
Itami arrived in short time and managed to see the criminal as well as the two other shinobi. "Dispatch of him quickly and remember not to kill him. You can disable him, though. That's always a good option." She offered to them. "For now, I'm going to sit back. I don't think there's much help that's needed in this situation."
The henged Keiji behind Mitsuhide and placed a knife to the man's throat. "Careful boy. We dont want to hurt you, we just want take your stuff…" Keiji then nodded for Ukitake to take the painting from him. As he did this, the man started to beg. "Please, no. Dont take the painting. It belongs to my uncle." he cries out. Keiji waits for Ukitake to take it. He then looks at him as if he should check it. "What else you got? Where's your bag of coins?" he asks. He had to make it look real.
Ukitake steps around the man, brandishing his trench knife nastily as he grins. He doesn't want to speak since his voice is too high pitched for a man so ugly, so he just stays silent and pulls the painting out of the man's hands. The man holds on tightly for a moment, causing Ukitake to take a second pull to pry it away from him, but manages it without damaging the painting at all. He turns the painting around to look at it, making sure that they have the right item and letting Keiji continue with the mugging.
"I lost all my money at the casino. Please dont kill me. My uncle. He has money." Mitsuhide pleads. Keiji gives a head movement to Ukitake. They were done here. He gives the man a kick in the butt before he takes off with Ukitake. As the two of them get out of range, he glances for Itami, but does not stop moving. "We will talk later about the incident at the casino. Other than that good job."
