Starring:
Date: March 5, 2011
Summary:
Chichi and Seiji seek an audience with the Kazekage, and receive one before they even know it.
"Dominance - Diagnosis"
Tsuukai Restaurant [Sunagakure]
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The Tsuukai Restaurant has a very limited selection of seating, as it isn't all that large of a building. Thankfully, there is more than enough room to eat in the outside picnic area. Most of the restaurants area has been used for cooking, as they serve so many diverse types of food they need a lot of room to make and prepare the different ingredients required.
Their is no specialty here, instead, everything is made as if it is the specialty, and that is what makes it so popular. They have a steady stream of loyal customers, and there are rarely, if ever, any complaints about the quality of the food.
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Being a Kage can be a stressful job. You have an entire village relying on you to make decisions, often with minimal data on which to base them — or almost as bad, tons of data with very little of it being relevant. You face the threat of war (or peace, as some ninja seem to look on it), the problems of everyday government, and the disagreements of the masses, and no matter which choice you make, somebody's going to be unhappy with it. Add to all this the mechanations of a mysterious and powerful terrorist, and the fact that Death happened to mention to you he expects to collect your soul in a few years, and you can see why Sousa might have reason to be a bit edgy.
Fortunately, Sousa has ways of dealing with such stresses. For one thing, he doesn't believe that anything actually matters. That doesn't fully convince a human body to give up the desire for safety and comfort, though, so Sousa also does physical things to relieve stress. Like, say, disguising himself as a little old(er) man and slipping out of his office to have lunch at a restaurant. Right now Sousa sits in a booth at the Tsuukai Restaurant, scribbling arcane notes on napkins and taking an absent-minded bite from his dish every so often. It's fairly crowded in the restaurant just now, so the empty seats next to a harmless old coot might be considered fair game…
Having spent a few >months< in the Land of Wind now, Chichi has acclimated to the desert climate >almost< not completely horribly! Infact, she is >almost< not constantly miserable and 'bleh'! Almost, but not quite. Still, having waffled around the desert long enough, Chichi and Seiji have ventured into Sunagakure for the first time. They actually arrived a few days prior but security was heightned thanks to the terrorist attack and kidnapping of one of Sunagakure's Council Members several days before. They decided to come back later when things had settled down. An entire community has sprung up outside Sunagakure's canyon walls of late. Even with the attack by a rogue Uchiha, a rogue Seishukuni, and an unidentified third person who seemed to be able to remake the world around her at will with strange jutsu, business is thriving. True, some merchants were leery of sticking around at first, but when Sunagakure begin stationing their own ninja around the area to protect them in addition to the private security, they decided that it was worth the money to be made by sticking around.
So Chichi and Seiji have >not< been starving or anything while waiting for the situation to become less volatile. And yet, when they get into Sunagakure proper, what's the first thing that Chichi wants?
">Food<," she states in no uncertain terms. A pause. "No, wait. >Bath<. >Then< food." So they found someplace to stay and Chichi took a bath. Water is not cheap in the desert, but she could afford a trip to the public baths. When she was done, she felt >much< better.
">Food<," she repeated herself. Oh, and she felt much hungrier too. So now the two dark-skinned teens have arrived at Tsuukai Restaurant and the more… Shapely of the pair is standing on tip-toes, looking for somewhere to be seated. Then she sees a familiar face! She >gasps< in shock!
*tuptuptup*
She walks quickly up to the disguised Sousa and leans this way and that to look at him. Then she straightens up and seems kind of disappointed as she says, "You're not Yeti-sama after all. He's older." Pause. "And hairier." Pause. "Oh, well! Hey, mind if we sit next to you Not-Yeti-Sama?"
It has been a few months that the pair has been out in the desert, but they've managed to live without to much difficulties. With the jobs they've managed to get and money they were able to save the two have finally made it within Sunagakure proper. Still a bit on guard but a bit more assure of himself, Seijis roles in the pairs journey has increased. During the time that Suna was attacked, he had to hold himself back from doing anything to help Sunagakure. Granted the Yotsuki with the help of Chichi made sure to at least help the merchants stay safe, even though there were Suna-nin helping, but then again a bit of extra help doesn't hurt.
But now in the village, Seiji had wanted a bath, and food himself. Granted he still needed needles, threads, to help with mending their clothing as well as supplies for cooking which Seiji hasn't seemed to mind having quite a few domestic skills. But at Chichis demands, a woman he loves, who wanted a >BATH and FOOD< even he couldn't resist spoiling themselves a bit. The public baths were great, better then canteen water and a rag washing. Once he was done he met up with Chichi and they both headed to the Tsuukai Restaurant. Once there, he let her order what she wanted, knowing that he would pay for it. But once she was done ordering, he placed his order and waited for the food to be prepared. The place was nice, but his training and experience kicked in making him look at all areas of possible escape, as well as noting any ninja within the establishment. Yes Seiji is a bit paranoid, but their safety was his first priority at times.
Getting a tap on the shoulder, he turns and bows his head to the cook who place their food on a tray. Paying, Seiji takes the tray of food and begins looking for Chichi. Finding her wasn't hard, and as he walks over to where she is, he looks to the man sitting at the table scribbling on some napkins. "Umm…hey you find a seat?" he asks Chichi as she seems to know this guy possibly.
Sousa pauses in his scribblings and glances up at the girl who seems to be peering at him. Gasp. Could she have seen through Sousa's brilliant disguise? :o Will he soon be set upon by a crowd of fans and favor-seekers? …Nope. Phew. Sousa wrinkles his false features into a grandfatherly smile. "Not at all, Ojou. Please, make yourself comfortable." Sousa looks up as Seiji arrives. "This is 'we'? Any others? Feel free to sit down. You can call me Hige." Sousa sizes the pair up. "You don't look like you're from around here. What brings you to Sunagakure?"
Chichi happily seats herself, and thanks to having the money to afford 'support' that actually >fits< her, there is no evidence of the bouncing she was so well-known-for back home. Also her lower back hurts less these days. >Anyway<, as Seiji orders some food and makes his way over to the table, Chichi begins chatting up this total stranger. "You can call me Sara. Nice to meet you, Hige-san! And nope, it's just me and Kai-kun. We came here because we've been travelling for a long time and… Well… We feel like we're just running away from our problems, I think." She looks towards 'Kai' for confirmation.
"So we were going to talk to the Kazekage. We have some issues that someone like him might be able to help with. They're kind of complicated and may or may not involve phenomenal cosmic powers. From what we've heard, he's kind of like a wizard or something and has all the answers!"
With being invited to join the old man, Seiji bows his head and waits for Chichi to take her seat in the booth. Once she sits down, he sets the tray down on the table and lets her get her food and drink off the tray. Studying the old man for a moment, Seiji smiles a little to the man and bows his head. "Nice to meet you Hige-san. Thank you for allowing us to sit with you." he notices the man doesn't have anything. "Umm…would you like something to eat or drink?" he asks Hige. He felt it would be rude of them to eat in front of the man and not offer him anything.
As Sara explains things to the old man, he has to chuckle a bit, but he clears his throat a little to let her know shes saying a little too much. "Well seems like Sara-chan has pretty much explained things." he says. THough he has to adjust his sword a bit to keep it flat against him. "Sara-chan, dig in." he says as he smiles to her.
With being invited to join the old man, Seiji bows his head and waits for Chichi to take her seat in the booth. Once she sits down, he sets the tray down on the table and lets her get her food and drink off the tray. Studying the old man for a moment, Seiji smiles a little to the man and bows his head. "Nice to meet you Hige-san. Thank you for allowing us to sit with you." he notices the man does have food. That was good, he didn't want to eat in front of him, that would be very rude.
As Sara explains things to the old man, he has to chuckle a bit, but he clears his throat a little to let her know shes saying a little too much. "Well seems like Sara-chan has pretty much explained things." he says. THough he has to adjust his sword a bit to keep it flat against him. "Sara-chan, dig in." he says as he smiles to her. Kai sits down next to Sara and begins taking his food off the tray and begins to eat a little, trying to make sure not to eat too fast.
Sousa chuckles. "Yes, you could call Kazekage-sama a collector of answers. I don't think he has them all yet, though, because he is still looking." Phenomenal cosmic powers, hm? Ordinarily Sousa wouldn't be interested in that much more than any other branch of knowledge, but…these days, knowledge that has the potential to extend his lease in the world of the living has a certain practical value. "Unfortunately, getting to see the Kazekage is no simple matter, especially for outsiders. He is a busy man, after all. But he does tend to make time for things which interest him. Is there some reason why you imagine your case would interest him?"
Chichi/'Sara' starts to open her mouth to answer and then just sits there with her mouth open. Then she closes it. Why does this question keep coming up? Why can't she just be nice and vague about her identity, her goal, her history, and all the rest!? She's too dumb for her own good! She can't think of any explanation to tell to Hige that isn't the truth or an obvious lie. Dumb, dumb, dumb!
So she instead just starts shoveling food into her mouth and indicates Seiji/'Kai' encouragingly, apparently expecting him to come up with a clever explanation. If he provides no such thing, then it falls back to Chichi eventually and she has to stop eating for a moment and think.
Thinking is hard, but she tries anyway. Eventually she comes up with a >genius idea<! She brightens and turns to Hige and whispers to him with one hand covering her mouth, "We know where one of the Tailed Beasts is."
Has it been mentioned enough times yet that Chichi is dumb?
When Hige states that the Kazekage is a busy man and that seeing him would be hard, Seiji could only agree. It would be hard for them to be able to be seen by the Kazekage. As he takes a couple bites of food while Chichi spoke, he tries to come up with a valid reason for them to be seen by the Kage. But most importantly, why was Hige-san interested in knowing more? As Chichi begins eating and looking to him, he smirks a bit. He didn't know what he was going to say, and the best possible way for them to be seen is send a encrypted scroll that explains a little of the reason they would need to be seen.
A sigh escapes him a little, "Well, thats the thing." he whispers. "The information we have is pretty vital, and telling anymore then we need to, to others that isn't the Kazekage could hurt our chances of seeing him. But I guess we will figure it out honestly." Yeah Seiji cryptic or was that not cryptic? He has to think about that, he isn't all that bright, but he has had to learn things a lot faster to keep him and Chichi safe. "I guess for now we will send a scroll for a possible meeting or find another way to speak to him about the urgency of what we need." he says and lowers his head a little to eat.
Sousa shrugs. "Well, I suppose this is something anybody could just say, but I might be able to help you catch the Kazekage's interest. He relies on others to sift through what's worth his attention and what isn't, and I'm one such person. I could be lying for all you know, of course…so you'll simply have to decide for yourself, would you rather risk telling me a bit of this information, or not finding another way to get your audience?"
Sousa raises his eyebrows after Chichi whispers to him. Hmmm, tailed beast, eh? That definitely is the sort of thing Sousa should be interested in, as the Kazekage…though their usefulness to him personally is more or less limited to being power sources, and pretty unwieldy ones at that. e.e Although…one of them was rumored to have control over spirits, wasn't it? That could be very informative to study. Either way, he should put on a show of being intrigued. "Oh ho ho, you say some risky things, Sara-chan," Sousa chuckles. "You're right, though, that could be enticing to the Kazekage." ;)
Chichi honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. Sousa 'should' be interested as Kazekage? Why? She figured the fact they know where a Bijuu is is enough! After all, it's a freaking >Bijuu<. What else is there!? So, as Seiji and 'Hige' converse, Chichi is just left to sit there and offer her trademark, "Huh?"
After puzzling through everything for awhile and finishing off the rest of her food, she finally says, "We kind of need help with making sure it doesn't blow stuff up, actually!" She has enough brains to refer vaguely to what she is discussing! …Though not enough to not mention it to a random old man in the first place, apparently! "Because some other people want to use it as a weapon. And we're sort of kind of the only ones who have access to it. And we'd >reeeeally< like to not be captured and have stuff blown up or whatever. I heard that the Kazekage is a wizard—scientist, I mean, and he could probably come up with all kinds of machines and jutsu and jutsu machines and stuff to keep the bad guys away! It's bad enough that the Land of Water is attacking the Land of Fire. I don't want to think what might happen if one or more sides started using… >Those< things to fight. It might go out of control really fast. See?"
She looks meaningfully at the disguised Sousa as though there were some hidden meaning in her words. And there… probably isn't.
With the information about the Bijuu being mentioned, no one would notice him tense just slightly, well maybe Sousa and Chichi will notice. But then again they were in need of help. There was only so much either could do on their own, but for them to make it this far and doing what needed to be done has worked so far for them. But even if they are dismissed or taken in, Seiji would not let his guard down. That would be foolish and he can't let anything happen to Chichi.
As Chichi explained in detail a bit more without giving too much away, he approved of what she tells Sousa but as Chichi finishes, he looks around slowly to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them. Though from the looks of him doing this, it seems he's just casually glancing about and stretching. Which he was doing, as he looks back over to Hige, "Would this be enough?" he asks simply. "If not, we are wasting our time and will need to move on." he says simply.
Sousa smiles. "Well, I can't make any promises, but it's certainly something worth reporting. We'll see where it goes from there." Sousa finishes up his meal and stands. "We'll be in contact. Don't worry about telling me where you're staying or anything, we're very good at keeping track of people. You should hear from us within, oh, two days. So long." Sousa strides out of the restaurant, not bothering to act quite as stiff as a little old man should. This could prove rather interesting.
