Starring:
Date: May 29, 2015
Summary:
Using their previous informants, Hige and Zori continue tracking whatever leads they can find in order to find the mystery killer. Kyu is brought along on this trip for his genjutsu speciality.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Cold Case - Saving Junior Information"
Land of Fire
Some time had passed since Hige and Zori had taken the men captive and then interrogated them, gleaning what little information the two men had known before leaving them to what ever kind of justice system Konoha had in place. Weeks passed before the time was free to make the next part of the journey and Hige had decided that, besides Zori, he'd like Kyu in on this one. He had a feeling finding their next target was going to be difficult enough. Maybe those Uchiha eyes would actually be useful for something.
Hige and Konsho are waiting at the gates after notes had been sent to the two to prepare for a few days worth of being away from the Village. Konsho has on his Chuunin vest while Hige wears a small backpack that has their supplies for the journey in it. The boy is staring up at the sky, arms crossed over his chest while he waits lazily for the others to arrive.
Zori had received the note from Hige. He packs up supplies and the essentials stuffing it into his backpack. Zori walks up to his closet door, opening it peering through his assortment of shirts. Most of them was of the same longsleeve purple hoodie just more copys. After spending a significant amount of time looking, Zori spots a sleeveless Purple hoodie, grining "Perfect" Zori puts on the sleeveless purple hoodie along with his long black pants. Just before walking out the door he grabs his backpack slinging it unto his shoulder. Slipping on a pair of sandals on his feet. Walking out the door, Zori takes for the trees, jumping on each one unto he arrived at the Gate. Once he arrived, He jumped unto a tree branch just above Hige's head, focusing chakra to his feet. Zori then flips upside down his feet sticks to the tree branch as he hangs upside down. Zori's body hangs beside Hige and Konsho. "Boo"
Kyu has had things ready for awhile for a long trip, having not used it yet. He wasn't quite his normal self though. Rather than his usual arrival running fashion, being as quick as possible and such, he very casually walks to where Hige had asked him to show up. Hige would be able to smell that something was wrong with Kyu, do to instead of the usual scent revealing some kind of emotion, his scent reveals an abnormal lack of emotion at the moment. The dark circles below his eyes show he hasn't been sleeping well. And the emotionless look as well. Overreaction indeed to the gorey scene he got burned into his mind by the Sharingan. In slow motion. "I'm here." He looks at Zori, a distant look that still reveals the lack of emotion. "I see you've learned Tree Walking. Nice."
"Scaring a squirrel or something," Hige asks as Zori comes into his view. He'd already known the boy was there long before thanks to those keen senses. "Looks like you've been practicing. That's good. Might have to move on to water walking next. Although that'll make it harder to drown you if I wanted to." As Kyu comes into view Hige half turns to look at him, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Hey Kyu, thanks for coming." He pauses as he stares at the other boy, semi-feral eyes looking into Kyu's for a few long, silent moments before he finally asks, "You feeling up to this?"
Zori smirks at Hige "Nope, i was trying to scare you hehe" Zori crosses his arms and closes his eyes for a moment. "Water walking? That would be great. Too bad you couldnt drown me either way hehe" Zori cracks his knuckles grining slightly. When Kyu's voice is heard Zori opens his eyes and stares at him "Yes walking on trees is not so bad after all." Zori notices the circles around Kyu's eyes and grins even more "Kyu what on earth happened to you?"
Kyu looks to Hige and nods, "Yes. I'm able to carry out the mission. Don't worry about me." Then Zori starts and he looks at him, and shrugs, "Nothing important." A lie? Kyu thinks it's nothing. But his dreams of being impaled by lightning claws while utterly helpless, nearly cut in half. That monstrous form Taiki took on. Hige would smell that for sure. A rising sense of fear in his scent that quickly disappates as he forces the thought away. "What am I needed for?"
What's scarier, Taiki's monstrous form or the same power coming from a boy nearly half his size? Think about that! Hige's eyes continue to watch the Uchiha for a few moments before he just nods. It's something he can deal with later. For now…well…"We're going to a village, a little less than a day's travel. There we hope to find a kid," he pulls out a paper that has a sketch on it of a boy, probably about nine or ten. "Supposedly he's a street kid in this village, and he's our only connection to the cold case we're working on. I'm going to need your eyes Kyu." Again he looks to the other boy, pausing a moment before saying, "It's only a request. You don't have to go. There's no pay for this as it isn't an official mission. And if you're…unwell…you might not want to travel."
Zori listens to Kyu "Heh, i guess" Zori could see that Kyu either went through something terrible or hes dying cause thats what it looks like. Zori looks Kyu over and looks back over at Hige "The kid.. thats right. Im going to have so much fun.." Zori grin widens as he cracks his knuckles, when he stops he looks back over at Kyu. Zori is worried about Kyu's condition but doesnt show it through his grin.
Kyu wasn't neccessarily scared of the ones involved. His fear doesn't originate from Hige nor Taiki, but of the simple situation and panic of being rendered helpless. Of being forced to watch and MEMORIZE every detail of the attack. He didn't like the gore and blood… Kyu shakes his head at Hige. "I'm fine. I am perfectly healthy. I can travel." In body he's healthy. But in mind? Kyu activates his Sharingan and looks over the image, an abnormal usage of the clan Kekkei Genkai, but he knew it would allow him to pick the kid's face out of a crowd. He scans the sketch with his red eyes rapidly, before deactivating it and nodding. "Got it. I won't forget the face. I assume this is what you meant by needing my eyes. Correct?" Kyu isn't concerned with identifying true feelings of the others. He doesn't see it as neccessary.
"That's correct," Hige confirms Kyu's words before folding up the page and tucking it back in his pouch. "I don't expect any trouble on the way but keep a careful watch anyways. Zori you're on point, I'll take rear guard." That leaves Kyu in the middle which isn't uncommon for a medic. "Alright, let's get going then," he says, starting to raise his hand to signal for Zori to move, then pauses. "Zori, we're talking to him. You know the rules." That's all the warning that's given before he signals for Zori to depart in /that/ direction, preparing to take up the rear once the others have gone.
Zori grumbles as his grin dissapears "Grr..fine" Zori puts his head down in dissapointment as he walks in front of the group. He looks back at the others "Alright my wires should help us out some. But Kyu your eyes are key" Zori then looks forward peering up ahead, "Lets go" with that Zori heads off running forward at a speedy pace.
Kyu follows right behind Zori, keeping up nicely with him. Despite the emotionlessness. He does keep an eye out on his surroundings though. The distant eyes looking around, scanning the area.
The trip to the village is indeed quite uneventful. There's a stop halfway to eat a light lunch and take a short breather before the group would be well on their way again. The sun moves through the sky as the group moves through the forest, the woods thinning out some as they go further along, patches of grassy plains and sunshine intermixed with the shadows of forests.
Finally, as the sun is dipping in the sky, they reach the edge of the village and Hige signals for them to stop so he can give instructions. "Alright, I want to split up to cover more ground. We'll use the rooftops, make sure you stay in site of eachother, but spread out as far as you can. If you find the kid then signal the rest. Alright?"
Summoning his wires within the area with a slight tap of his foot, he didnt sense any sort of movement nearby besides theres. Once Zori arrived to the edge of the village, he looks over to Hige "Alright good idea, I will signal if i see him. Heh." Zori gives Hige a grin before turning over to look at Kyu. "Hey Sharingan eyes try to keep up" Zori teases as he tries to lighten Kyu's mood. With that Zori bends his knees springing up into the air into the trees. Jumping from tree to tree in the villlage till he got close enough to the rooftop. Landing on the rooftop silently, Zori looks around for any suspicion or leads on the kid they were looking for.
Kyu knew his abilities of perceptions were lacking but he tries anyways, activating his Sharingan and trying to spot anything around looks like the kid. Leaping from building to building. Using that Sharingan enhanced memory of course! But the memory means nothing if he can't see them… He is still rather devoid of emotion as he searches. He pays no mind at all to the teasing. And does make a note to keep the others in view.
With so many people around there's not too much that Zori's wire can truly pick out short of there's a /lot/ of data people. And they're all moving so you know lots of vibrations and such. Kyu has a little better luck with finding what they're looking for. A lot of kids are around, those that are with parents, the dirtier ones hiding in alleys or trying to steal a bite to eat from vendors. One of those looks a lot like the picture Hige has.
As for Hige and Konsho, they split as well and take to the rooftops, moving right along over the village while keeping their eyes peeled. While they aren't in the right area to spot the boy they find something else that catches their attention. Hige doesn't signal to the others but his attention has momentarily shifted even while Konsho continues to work.
After being on the rooftop for a minute. Zori could feel lots of vibrations coming through his wires from all the movement of the people in the village. "So..much movement.." he says quietly to himself "Theres no way i could sense this kid with all this going on." I hope Kyu and Hige is having better luck then i am right now. Zori looks down at his sleeveless purple hoodie. Man i am really liking this hoodie, Stylish.
Kyu tries to signal the others until they come over upon spotting a kid that matches the description. He tries not to draw any attention to himself as he watches the kid with his red eyes closely. He stays utterly still. Watching. Waiting for the others to join him. He didn't know what he's supposed to do with the kid. Just that he was supposed to find him.
The kid is sitting in an alleyway, eating a little end of bread that he'd somehow obtained. He's desheveled, dirty, and definitely looks like he lives on the streets. He doesn't seem to notice that Kyu is above him as he eats the bits of bread as quickly as possible, picking up crumbs to make sure he gets them as well. No little bit will go to waste if he can help it.
When Kyu signals Hige finally looks up to him and nods, moving along the rooftops until he reaches the spot with Konsho following close behind. "Good job," Hige says softly. "Unfortunately we aren't the only ones looking for him. There's three men I saw all moving this way and I know they aren't here to shop. They remind me of the others Zori and I fought before." Hige crouches on the roof as he considers, waiting for everyone to be gathered.
Zori looks away from his stylish clothing and notices Kyu's signal. He moves along the rooftops until he reaches the area with Hige and Kyu. Arriving beside both Hige and Kyu "You found him? Good.." Zori listens to Hige talk and responds "Three men? Heh. They shouldve brought a army." Zori grins at both Hige and Kyu.
Kyu continues to blankly stare at the kid before Hige mentions the three men. When he mentions it Kyu's head turns and looks at Hige. "I see. So we should stop them." Kyu says calmly, simply, and softly, and then blinks his red, void-of-emotion Sharingan eyes once.
"They shouldn't know about this at all," Hige counters Zori comment about the army. "How they found out that we were looking for this kid, and how they knew about the man…" It bothers Hige, but for now it's not the most important thing. "We need them to play their hand first before we attack. So we'll wait for them to go after the kid, then I'll grab him while you two take care of the three." He looks over to Kyu and Zori. "Try to keep it as clean as possible. Villages are already not happy with Konoha. But if we don't take care of them this kid won't be safe here anymore." And he still might not be after, but they have to do what they can. "No civilian casualties."
Zori smirks at Hige's comment "So they shouldnt know about this? Interesting. Alright im ready to initiate this plan. Ill /try/ to keep it as clean as possible. Hehe.." Zori crosses his arms over his chest glaring down at the boy while he stoops down crouching. "No civilian casualties" in a I understand but im dissapointed tone.
Kyu listens silently to Hige and when he finishes he nods. "I can take care of it. We should cut them off." He says in a rather vacant tone to Zori, before leaping away. Towards where Hige was before he responded to Kyu's signal, trying to spot the men headed towards the boy. He doesn't really wait for Zori. He wants to stop them. Now. Not waste time talking.
Kyu doesn't seem to have very much luck finding the men at first though, after Hige's description, he would eventually spot the three men who were obviously not there to buy stuff. They looked like goons and we're moving with reason.
Hige sighs when Kyu goes off, shaking his head before looking to Zori, "Go catch up with him and remind him to wait until /after/ they've at least pulled a weapon, if nothing else." He says before looking down to the kid again. Without another word he drops down to snatch the kid, covering his mouth before he can scream and darting back up to the opposite roof. Konsho is already there as Hige apparently tries to explain something to the kid, eventually coming out with some jerky and a few coins just to get him to sit on the roof quietly.
Zori nods towards Kyu's actions. Zori is liking this side of Kyu alot, where has this side of him been all this time? When Hige tells Zori to stop Kyu. Zori instantly reaches out his arm extending his hand grabbing Kyu's shoulder. "Kyu..dont. Lets follow Hige's plan of action for now." Zori cant believe hes saying this. "If you go alone The men might see you and they might just execute the kid where he stands. You dont want that now..do you? Hehe…" As his thoughts ramble a simulation of the kid being executed plays inside his mind.
Kyu feels the hand grab him and his head whips around quickly, looking at Zori. He doesn't look hostile, just looks at Zori with his Sharingan. And after a moment nods. "Fine. Sorry. Didn't wanna wait." Kyu stays put instead. And awaits the order to do something instead.
It doesn't take long for the three men to make their way to the alley and slip inside. Once they're out of the crowds it's easy to tell that these men are not nice people; one has scars, another a nose that was broken and healed wrong, but they all have a deadly look in their eyes.
"Isn't this where the kid was?" says Scar.
"Yeah, we had them give him a loaf of bread to keep him busy," replies Nose.
"Well it didn't work you jackass. Spread out and find him, and hurry up before those report shinobi get here."
With that the trio split and start spreading out some.
Hige has heard enough. It's obvious that these men /were/ after the kid by their words, even if there's no evidence of weapons at the moment. The Inuzuka looks up to the other two and signals for them to take care of the men and he'll watch in case they need backup. For now he has a kid to interogate before he tries to run.
Zori cant hear what the two men are saying but good thing Hige can. When Hige gave the signal for Zori to move. He glares up at Hige with a smug grin. "Finally some real action!" Without any more time to waste he jumps down from the rooftop that was above the men. Landing unto the ground with a loud thud. Zori pauses for a moment, glancing up at the men with a evil look in his eye "Your end is near" with a grin. Zori's wires unravel from his wrists lashing out at the men in pursuit of wrapping them up to the building.
Kyu watches the men, also unable to hear them, but when the signal is given, he does two hand seals, Monkey, then Ram. He holds the Ram seal for a moment, the three men would, after seeing Zori's wires, feel a sudden shockwave of tingly tiredness shoot out throughout their bodies. Kyu then does something else different this time and does some different seals, the 'other one' would feel something extra, on top of the tingly sensation. His vision would begin to fade to black and then he would be forced out of his body.
The surprise is evident on each of the three faces as Zori in all his wild glory appears.
"Is that 'im?" Scar asks of Nose, looking confused. "Doesn't look anything like what they said."
"Nah that ain't him," Nose replies. "This is just some other material looking for trouble." Nose looks back to Zori and snorts when he says their end is near. "Oh really? Look kid get lost before you get hurt."
It's right around then that the wires wrap around the pair of men and slam them back against the wall. "'ey, let go or you'll regret it!" Other starts to move towards Zori swiftly but then he just kind of freezes in place when Kyu's genjutsu finally catches hold of him. Sure they aren't feeling any more sleepy but it doesn't really matter when your mind and body seem to split for those few moments.
With the two men Scar and Nose being held by the wires, Zori snickers walking over to the bound men. Arriving in front of them he smirks "Me..get hurt?" He points to himself shaking his head slowly, his smirk turns into a grin pointing out to the two men. "No..its you whos going to be hurt." is said in a dark tone. Zori's wires lash out at the two bound men slashing and slicing at there bodys in the motions of a whip.
Kyu's blank stare from his Sharingan eyes sweeps over the three men, especially focusing on the one that fell under his Genjutsu. His attention is ripped away as he notices the two trapped being attacked… While helpless. But Kyu only feels the panic well up a little before it goes back down. He was getting over it… It seems. He watches, observing their condition. Ready to jump in and get in the way of Zori's wires if it seemed like either of their lives were in immediate danger of death. But otherwise ignoring the one stuck outside of his body unless he has some way of breaking out of a Genjutsu without anyone attacking him…
Nose and Scar are not at all pleased with being trapped still, especially not when the same little brat uses those annoying little wires to slash at them again. Scar will have a few new scars. If nothing else the attack helps them get loose of the wires and free, grumbling some as they finally escape with injuries. "That's it ya little clue," Scar says, wiping at some of the blood. "Yer dead now!" The man charges at Zori with a yell, brandishing a knife that he swings at the boy while Nose goes after Kyu in much the same fashion. As for Other, well, he's still stuck in the Genjutsu for the moment, though how long it will actually hold isn't something that you can rightly guess at.
Zori notices the two men escaped his wires and that one of them Scar had came at him with a knife in his hand. Zori stands in one place as Scar goes in for the stab with his knife. He lifts up his arm allowing the knife to sink in it. "Hehehe. That stinged." Zori looks over to the knife in his arm. Seeing the blood drip down off of it, his grin widens showing the top and bottom sets of teeth. He slowly back over to Scar with the look of a deranged madmen. Laughing maniacally uncontrolably "Die" Zori's wires lash back out at Scar in a more aggressive manner in pursuit of wrapping him up.
Kyu sees the men escape Zori's wires, and does three handseals, Ram Monkey Ram, before getting struck by a kunai… At least that's what it seemed like. As to what really happened only Hige and Zori would know, Kyu threw off his perception of reality, causing him to actually be aiming at the building when he threw the kunai, and the kunai simply bouncing off the wall, but to the men, including the one under a Genjutsu, Kyu took the hit, and the kunai seemed to just push itself out of him, and the cut close completely. "It may not be finished yet, but maybe it can still help…" The men… and (Zori since Kyu doesn't think killing the men is neccessary, and therefore is stepping in) would feel a tingly sensation flood through their body, except for the one that can't feel… Yet… before Kyu takes a deep breath and then begins with more seals, "I, Saru, Tori, Hitsuji…" Kyu watches them for a moment, the men would feel the tingly sensation, should they not dispel it in time, shoot up and into their head as chakra floods into their brain and stays there, locking all of their senses and obscuring their perception of time. The one in a Genjutsu would be pulled back into his body, just in time to be knocked out too… A bit unfair to him, but hey, what can you do? To them it would be a blink, a moment, nothing, but they will be vulnerable until it ends, unless they broke out of course.
See there was a reason that Hige wanted Kyu along for this particular mission. While he hadn't exactly been expecting this much trouble it was better to be able to have them alive than it would be if they were all dead. As for the men, well…Scar gets wrapped up with wires, then freezes as the genjutsu blanks his mind for the moment. Even Nose and Other aren't so lucky. Other had just started to break out of the first genjutsu when BAM right into the second. Poor guy. The three just stand there, frozen in place while their minds do their own thing, leaving their bodies open.
Zori continues to laugh maniacaly as the wires wrap around Scar binding his arms and legs. With no moment to waste Zori wires then begin to squeeze Scar slowly. Zori plans to torture the man with slow agonizing pain. Zori doesnt even feel the Genjutsu wave, possibily from all the adrenaline pumping. Zori's face remains haunting and unmoving as he stares at Scar.
Kyu sees Zori not fall under his Genjutsu, and blinks, his red eyes narrowing on Zori, "Zori! There was no order to kill them! Stop!" Kyu makes sure he said that loud enough for Hige to hear, and then jumps down off the roof landing not far from Zori, behind him, before doing the two seals for his Sleepy Jutsu, but this time not aiming it at Zori, trying to drain the three men of all of their mental energy. Although Kyu /might/ be underestimating himself, as enough mental strain would knock them into a deep coma, rather than a regular deep sleep… But unconscious is better than dead. And if he's quick enough they won't have time to feel the pain from what Zori is doing…
Whether it was from Kyu's loud statement or from Hige's own awareness of what was going on he simply appears in front of Zori and puts a kunai in the complexion of wires to keep them from cutting deeper into the man. "Enough, Zori. We need information from them and it's not going to help your cause if you kill them. Besides, you know that there's no killing unless it's been cleared." Hige's gaze is hard as he watches Zori, Konsho also there though now behind Zori.
The men all fall asleep under the genjutsu from Kyu, having no chance to resist it their bodies simply crumble to the ground. Hige ensures the wire is free from the one man before looking to the other two. "Tie them up. Konsho already alerted the authorities in this town and they'll be here in a second to take them to jail for the time being." His stern gaze stays hard on Zori another few moments before Hige goes back up to the roof again, leaving Konsho down with the other two.
Zori contineus to glare at Scar and wonders why he hasnt responded to the pain or his smart remarks yet. Zori looks around the battlefield and notices the other two men are not moving at as if they were trapped in Genjutsu. Kyu…No matter ill just crush Scar to death. Zori moves his fingers at a rapid pace but just as the wires begin to move Kyu and Hige interferes. Zori watches as the man was cut out of the wire and responds "I wasnt..going to hurt him..that bad." Laughing maniacally. Calming down from the lack of action, his energy subsides as his heart beat goes back to normal. Zori listens to Hige's order and starts to tie up the hands and feet of Scar with rope. Zori figures his wire strings would cut too deep into the man if he used it instead.
Kyu looks at Zori, seeing he's calmed down and sighs. Kyu waits patiently for Zori to finish tying up Scar before moving over and kneeling down and then placing his hands on the wound and focusing healing chakra into it. "I'll make sure he doesn't bleed out…" Kyu says. He's glad they went down… And the jutsu he used… It wasn't finished but it seemed to do the trick on them. Kyu's Sharingan fades out of his eyes as they return to normal.
Hige returns with the kid who, rather surprisingly, doesn't seem all that scared considering these three men were after him. Then again the life on the streets isn't the easy one to begin with. "Alright, the kid here is coming back with us. He says he can give us a description of the ones who hired him to be the go-between." He looks to the men, helping tie them up if need be just as a few police officers arrive. Hige nods to the men and Konsho points out the three to be taken away. The talking dog had surprised them into coming and kept them in action.
Zori looks at Kyu "Alright all done, tying this fool up. Hows your end?" Zori finishes tying Scar up. Zori looks over to Hige with a smirk "Good.." With that Zori walks over to the kid gazing at him with a grin. "So your the one with the info. My name is Zori." Zori's wires retract back over to his wrist wrapping around securely. "Your in good hands those 3 fools over there tried to kidnap you but they failed..hard." Zori looks back at Hige giving him a nod awaiting further movement.
Kyu finishes up his healing and stands up and looks down at the three before looking to the police, then at Zori, "He'll be fine. Any further medical attention can be done in a hospital… Or in jail." Kyu looks at the kid, then back at the police as he steps away from the men, allowing them to do whatever it is they plan on doing.
The kid looks up at Zori with a suspicious look in his eyes but to his credit he doesn't shy away. He looks the older boy dead on despite the madness that's there. The police take the three unconscious men and haul them off to the jail, informing the shinobi that they'll hold them should they want to question them later, at least until they can be sent to justice. Hige watches the police take the men off, then motions for the boy to hop on Konsho…which he does. Luckily he's small enough it doesn't matter. "Hold on to him tight when we start going," Hige tells the kid before looking back to Zori and Kyu. "Good job, both of you. Kyu, we couldn't have done it without you." With that he motions for them to start heading back to the village with the next bit of information to lead them towards the man who killed Zori's friends.
