Starring:
Nanashi (as Keiko), Ayumu, Itami
Date: September 17, 2015
Summary:
Itami and Ayumu track Keiko's trail to a small village near the Dead Sands in the Land of Wind.
"The Unknown Reflection - Death in the Dead Sands"
Dead Sands
Days after Keiko's turn on Sunagakure, the best guess anyone would have is that the feral version of herself created by whatever it was that she ingested in that lab through her sandy form would resume her previous mission… going after the man who destroyed her life and annihilating anything and everything in her path along the way. Fortunately there's not much to destroy out in the desert, but that also means her trail is hard to trace since she can literally turn her body into a sandstorm and flee with a trace. Still, one can bet that she'd probably go after what's left of the man she's after's subordinates from his lab.
Those who figure that bit would be most correct from what one can tell of the information given by a hawk scout. A small village on the northwest corner of the Land of Wind has become a prison in and of itself. It would seem that Keiko has created an unsurpassable sinkhole around the village measuring further than any normal human or transport animal can leap. Small villages don't usually have the luxury of a village wall, but having it be one that threatens to expand at any moment and kill everyone inside and outside at the whim of a ravenous psychopath is far less than ideal.
Inside this village, most everyone's taken to hiding in their homes, not that it's doing them much good other than staying out of Keiko's way. One such family is not doing that, however, as they've all been captured in what seem to be sand cocoons with only one's head sticking out. Blood is already running from two of the five completely closed cocoons, which suggests those inside them are already dead. Standing before the middle-aged man whose head is out of the cocoon, Keiko has a rather wicked smile as her face as she says, "Be a good boy and tell me where he is and I'll make this quick. Don't, and I'll set them off one at a time with you being the last, and I'll make it slow."
'Already, hm?'
Itami thought to herself as she took a flight from Suna to the Dead Sands. This place was always…unsettling, but in this case, it's been outclassed by a jinchu on the loose and naturally, she must be captured or at worse, killed. The village will be depending on this and the weight of the situation is by no means a light load. She isn't certain she can guarantee life from being lost, but she at least has the hope of preventing as much as possible. Hope is hanging by a thread.
As she approached, she observed the massive ditch of sand that surrounded the village, clearly nothing normal people could accomplish on that sort of scale. "I know you're seeing what I see," she spoke to Ayumu. "Her attack is already in progress. We have to stop her before she causes anymore harm and damage."
Ayumu knew it to be only a matter of time before the request reached an ear or two. If not from the Kazekage herself, then surely would the elders or the head of the Iga Clan would 'suggest' his participation in the hunt for Keiko. And why not one more trusted by the clan one might ask?
"Because I am just that expendable." He murmurs at some point during the journey before letting loose a nervous chuckle. An accident on his part, but one none can blame him for making considering the current situation. The blind were absolutely /not/ meant for flying of any kind; especially upon the back of a dragon! Or claw? Either way, the experience is one the Iga would've actually prefered putting off for another decade.
"In a matter of speaking, Itami-chama~" He replies, tone shifting to what may the agitatingly familiar to Itami. Back to the time of Ryoji…
"A bit worse than that actually!~ She's gotten around to the whole interrogation part of the game. Heheh~" He adds, grinning like a fool. "Though one of the player sounds like he's about to cheat and quit sooner than later. Think she'll let us take his place?"
"I-I told you already… I don't know where he is," the man blurts out. CRACK! CRUNCH! Those and more rather disgusting sounds along with a quickly silenced scream are heard as another within one of the sand coffins is destroyed. If this man doesn't spill the beans soon enough, he's going to find himself in quite a bit more psychological and physical torment before this is over.
"Then you must know where someone who's in contact with him is," Keiko says, canting her head upward slightly toward the sky for a moment before looking back to him as another one of the coffins implodes on itself to kill another. "Give me the information, and you won't experience the horrors I've got planned for him before you die." Seems she's hurrying this along since Sunagakure forces are now arriving, though she doesn't give him any indication that he might be saved. Leaning forward, she runs a hand along his cheek and says, "Whisper it to me. It'll be our little secret."
The man seems to want to hold back for a moment longer, but he finally breaks down and leans his head as best he can to whisper his secret to Keiko that he might be spared more torture. It seems whatever he says satisfies her desire for information, as all the coffins then implode on themselves, killing him and all the remaining ones in them.
With that deed done, the corrupted Jinchuuriki looks to the sky with her dark grin as she calls out, "Looks like someone wants to play again. Your friend is all gone this time, so she won't save you, but lucky for you I've got better things to do than end you today. Scoot on out of my way and you can live for a few more days while I get the rest of the information I need, hmm? Or you could just give it to me yourself and another village or two in this land of yours that I can control with whatever magnitude I please on a whim might be spared."
Itami could smell the blood from here and was growing angered, showing it with a great rumbling that traveled the whole of her body. "This isn't an interrogation, it's murder," she replied. "Cheating or winning results in a kill here. I wouldn't say there's much to cheat about here," she remarks as she begins to make her descent down to the ground. She settled herself in the middle of the town where the stench thickened in her nostrils enough for her to snort.
"You want information about where he's being kept. You've probably killed him already," she stated. "And now you're just racking up unnecessary counts to be held over your head and your death to be the only punishable offense for your actions. But that's all beside the point. If you want to know, you'll have to engage me and leave this village alone and any others in your path."
As Itami comes down with Ayumu, Keiko cants her head slightly and chuckles a bit. "Words, words, words," she says in a playful, disturbing voice as she cants her side to side several times. "You still think the one you're looking to reason with is here, but she's checked out. Even Keiko and Shukaku are gone. It's only me! The festering disease eating away at their shackled souls, and boy do they taste so good!"
Licking her lips, she glances around at the village around them before a huge spike is felt in her chakra as she triples in size with blue marks covering her body. "You had your chance… Now here's mine!" she roars out before slamming a palm onto the ground and causing the ground beneath the village to turn against it, enormous hands mirroring those of Shukaku reaching up all over the place to pull everything and everyone inside this place down into oblivion… And what's to follow is not likely going to be nice or something anyone that's not one of these shinobi will survive.
Erratic. Twisted. Tainted.
The familarity behind the last noteable feature of her chakra jolts something inside the Iga, loosening control of the mad wanderer. Such a loss nearly costs the man his perch upon the descending dragon, but fortune still smiled upon him. Ayumu shook himself of the haze left behind by the switch by the time they landed, and quietly slid off onto the ground. He stepped carefully, sensing belatedly just how spread out her chakra in just about every inch of the village.
His momentary attention on delving deeper into this fact did not leave him blind to everything else. If anything, Itami's declaration only made it that much more apparent for caution on his part. "Itami. If you… Do not allow her to touch you if possible. I'm sensing something… familiar. Infectious, even." Ayumu states calmly, almost tonelessly in fact. As unnatural stillness settles about the Iga, his chakra continues to build to its upmost limits.
As Itami comes down with Ayumu, Keiko cants her head slightly and chuckles a bit. "Words, words, words," she says in a playful, disturbing voice as she cants her side to side several times. "You still think the one you're looking to reason with is here, but she's checked out. Even Keiko and Shukaku are gone. It's only me! The festering disease eating away at their shackled souls, and boy do they taste so good!"
Licking her lips, she glances around at the village around them before a huge spike is felt in her chakra as she triples in size with blue marks covering her body. "You had your chance… Now here's mine!" she roars out before slamming a palm onto the ground and causing the ground beneath the village to turn against it, enormous hands mirroring those of Shukaku reaching up all over the place to pull everything and everyone inside this place down into oblivion… And what's to follow is not likely going to be nice or something anyone that's not one of these shinobi will survive.
"You're the type that disgust me. Even if I gave you the information, you'd have still attacked because you can't be reasoned with. I tried to be amicable, not reasonable," Itami stated as she took form and withstood an attack that was no different from last time. She found herself beneath the ground once again, biding her time while trying to nurse the wound she sustained mentally. She couldn't do anything about it right now, so all she had was her mind making an attempt to dull the ache that it was.
"At least its honest." Ayumu spoke aloud, grinning grimly. They are the last things anyone hears of the Iga before the sand engulfs the world. During those last few moments, an eternity passes by the for the wanderer compared to the others. Though enhanced by chakra, what slim window of opportunity existed that involved escaping cannot be reached in time. The best he can manage to do at the last moment is create a small barrier of hair about his face and neck, perserving his life for a precious few moments longer at best…
This Keiko can't help but laugh as Itami still talks to her as if she's really talking to a person rather than a shell that's been engulfed by the disease down to the core. With both of them trapped in her jutsu with the rest of the village, she chuckles and brings her hands into a seal. Suddenly everything within that jutsu is imploded upon by the sand as those in the coffin were imploded upon. In an instant everything that this village was is lost with only already-buried remains of the people and structures that were once here left behind. As the sand will settle, it will be as if this village never was.
This Keiko can't help but laugh as Itami still talks to her as if she's really talking to a person rather than a shell that's been engulfed by the disease down to the core. With both of them trapped in her jutsu with the rest of the village, she chuckles and brings her hands into a seal. Suddenly everything within that jutsu is imploded upon by the sand as those in the coffin were imploded upon. In an instant everything that this village was is lost with only already-buried remains of the people and structures that were once here left behind. As the sand will settle, it will be as if this village never was.
Itami didn't have much time to recover after her initial burial, but she did surface in enough time to see the settlement come to an end and further, her body gove out on her as it was crushed by the rush of sand that washed over the village like a tsunami. She was disabled, momenarily, hearing the cries of the village muffle and convert to silence. It was this that allowed her to come to and dedicate any further strength towards taking her dragon form once more. She stumbled forward and grabbed up Ayumu as she gained enough momentum to take flight. Their time was done here.
Even with the vast majority of his energy devoured by the Keiko's initial capture technique, Ayumu held onto what little he could for what he sensed — knew would happen next. There was no 'bracing' for impact; only acceptance. Bones snap, organs rupture, blood surges, and cartilage tears from the massive pressure of sand assaulting him from all sides. What Itami eventually digs out of the sand is little more than a corpse for all intents and purposes; conscious, miraculously, but surely crippled for life should he survive what comes after.
Knowing what awaited him the moment his chakra finally ran out completely, a large portion of the Iga yearned for it to claim him well before…
While Ayumu and Itami are occupied with surviving the assault they just suffered, Keiko seems to have already fallen apart to sand. Her body drifts away on the breezes in the direction opposite the village to head toward her next lead in order to find out where her archenemy now resides. It seems this feral Jinchuuriki truly doesn't care at all about the bodycount left in the wake of her crusade. One might wonder if it's truly about her revenge anymore even.
