Starring:
Date: July 16, 2014
Summary:
Nanashi masquerades as a wealthy businessman, with a hit out on him. Takuya and Nanashi wait alertly. It’s then that a master assassin arrives, paid and determined to have their heads.
"Fortune and Infamy - Enter the Shadow Assassin"
Fuuma Alley
Takuya would have gotten a note from Reina summoning him to Fuuma. She had been
vague about her instructions, but when he came she gave him a brief explanation. Apparently one of their clients, a businessman named Daichi, who was going to inherit a fortune had taken ill…due to an explosion. So they'd done a quick doppleganger of the man to stand in and divert suspicion while their client, now carefully concealed, recovered. Or if Daichi didn't recover, they'd be well situated to seize his fortune.
Unfortunately, there was a hit out for him and three master assassins to contend with. So Daichi had "hired" Hakumei as bodyguards to help deal with these assassins. Today, Takuya was on bodyguard duty. Daichi was supposedly a normal man, so no doubt Takuya would be targeted first. But that didn't mean Nanashi shouldn't be on high guard. So far for weeks there'd been no attacks. Perhaps the assassins had given up?
At a restaurant stand that's built on the side of one of the casinos he'll soon be inheriting, Daichi currently sits at the bar going over some paperwork with the man who manages this casino. It all seems to be fairly routine, though the man would glance at the bodyguard he'd been assigned once in a while as they talk. He seems a bit more relaxed than the last time he was seen in public due to the lack of attacks lately, but he's still a bit on edge Still, the business must go on. Thus, he is here doing his duty of making sure this place is run correctly.
Takuya stood within the casino with his normal work duster on, the Bad Luck in front and Trouble on back. Shifting on his feet, he'd watch over 'Daichi' as he was suppose to do. Although mostly his attention wandered the room. he kept that hat on low, so as to not give away where his attention was exactly. But while it has been a while since they attacked, that just put him a bit more on edge rather than less. And of course they had to be in public, rather than somewhere that could be secured. Hands flexed and relaxed as silently he went through some of his own routines mentally, keeping himself aware by focusing on that required action.
The three assassins are out there. But Reina has hardly been seen. Perhaps she's tending to the wounded Daichi. Or maybe she's sharpening her cleaver and finding a good place to dump the body. Daichi may live or die, but it's clear which path is more profitable for them…if they can survive the assassins. And that's what the two are about to find out.
It happens when the business would be winding down. And without warning, without a sound, a man in hunter's clothing and a tiger mask would appear in their midst, lashing out with a blade to cut down both Daichi and Takuya in an instant. The casino manager goes entirely ignored, although if he's wise he'd vacate the area immediately.
SLASH! Daichi takes the blade straight to his shoulder and lets out a cry of pain. He reaches up with the opposite arm to grip his shoulder, looking up at the man as blood drips down from the new wound. Nanashi apparently does quite a good job of feigning true injury. Meanwhile, the assassin would feel something fighting against his consciousness, his veins beginning to burn, starting at his back and beginning to spread tortorously throughout his entire body.
While Nanashi/Dachi might of taken that strike well enough, Takuya was caught a bit more flat footed. Knocked down by that strike, he'd stumble, pulling into a roll to come up low near a table nearby. That chakra would gather, focusing himself as he'd pull out two kunai, one for each hand. "It took you long enough. I was starting to get bored."
Shiri turns to attack Takuya, but pauses when he notices Daichi isn't dead and lying in a pool of his own blood. He'd considered his target almost a non-threat, but when the illusion steals over Shiri, the assassin has to do some quick rethinking. And he does, as he scores a small cut on himself to dispel the illusion. He tosses out a tangle of wire to hamper Nanashi, and then aims quick slashes with his blade at both of them. Despite being in close proximity, Shiri doesn't seem to be uncomfortable with it, and the nearby bystanders have inexplicably cleared the area.
The strings fly successfully to latch onto Daichi, only to literally pass right through them along with the blade. Luckily the bystanders have had enough time to clear out, which means hiding is no longer an issue. A sly smirk touches Daichi's lips as he points a hand at Shiri, the arm turning into sand and spiraling out to wrap around his form and bind him up before the other hand is pointed directly at his face to fire an orb of sand from it at point-blank rang.
While the assassin realized he'd have to deal with something much stronger than Takuya, those glowing red eyes watched the unfolding scene. Kunai clipped to wires were thrown out wide, coming in from different angles than Nanashi's attack as they'd seek to strike home. That final tug of the wire causing a deflect at the last second to make it harder to avoid them clipping the assassin. Meanwhile, Takuya drew out his crossbow, the mechanism on it loaded to slap a bolt into place.
The sand encircles the assassin, and he's hit by the next jolting attack. He barely even grunts at the force. Between the two he's also sliced up by the shuriken, but Shiri manages to pry out his blade and deflect the last blow. Instead of attacking, he makes a tactical retreat. One jump puts him on the roof of a nearby restaurant, and then next puts him out of the direct line of fire. He'd wait at the top, not hiding, but maneuvering so as not to be pinned between the two.
As the assassin makes his retreat, Nanashi decides to make a quick shift while still behind the curtain of the food stand. A moment later what's seen leaping up out of the alley toward the assassin is a faceless spectre of tattered black robes. As it moves, it points both hands at the man, sending a barrage of sand orbs at him that actually curve to strike at him around any environmental obstructions.
COMBAT: Nanashi attacks Shiri with DRAINING-SAND-BARRAGE with a roll of: 52
COMBAT: Nanashi finishes its turn.
COMBAT: It is now Takuya's turn.
Takuya saw how the assassin was going to move. Eyes calculating. As Nanashi went straight ahead, the robe striking out with sand, Takuya went to the side, circling wider and higher, to gain elevation. Up on a chimney, he drew a bead with that crossbow. The mechanism loading the bolts as he'd launch two strikes towards the assassin from the side. While may not be curving like the shuriken or sand, they would still be fairly close for the crossbow, giving a lot of power to the shots.
Shiri doesn't seem to be quite a match for Nanashi, but he manages to recover from the blow in time to raise his left arm and take the first arrow in it, and knock away the second. One quick yank takes out the arrow, and now he has to assess his chances. One could see it in the moment of hesitation, before he seems to melt into the shadows. And he'd appear again almost like a dark pool from the roof to stab Nanashi viciously from behind, only to flit away and slash at Takuya with blurring speed. He speaks then to the bodyguard, and it's almost in a disturbingly normal voice. The kind you'd hear in passing any day. "Where is Daichi hiding?"
The stab goes into Nanashi easily, yet ineffectively. Turning toward Takuya and the assassin then, the creature chuckles a bit and shakes its head. "You're about to be gone, so why do you need to know?" it asks as another barrage of sand orbs flies from its hands to strike at Shiri again and again in an attempt to take him down.
Grabbing that launcher as he'd watch the initial strike, he was simply too slow in getting the line up to get moved. Grapple line cut with that path of the blade, Takuya staggered, stumbling to drop and slide along that roof, skidding to a stop with a hiss of pain and gritted teeth. "I'm not telling you anything.." Rolling onto his back, he'd aim over his head, the red glow of his eyes guiding that shot as he'd aim for both knees of Shiri, seeking to slow him down.
"I just wanted to make sure," Shiri says calmly. But he doesn't elaborate on what he wanted to make sure of. He takes the blows of sand. He dodges the remaining blows by rolling away, and flickering behind the two. He's kneeling as if he can barely stand upright, and indeed he's swaying as if on his last leg. This time though he drops his blade, and presses a hand to his chest. Then there's a strange sound, like the wick of a paper seal fizzling down, which is exactly what it is. If either of them remained, they'd be caught in the blast that destroys all evidence of the assassin—plus half the roof. Thus ends Shiri, without a trace, and hopefully dead for good.
Nanashi doesn't even bother to dodge the blast, merely using it as a cover for its movement as sand shatters and would simply move to reform it back at the same stand. Back in the form of Daichi, it merely steps out from behind the curtains and starts to simply walk from the stand into the main entrance of the casino.
Takuya had already moved, as soon as the guy flickered away, his clone getting knocked back to POOF as it did. Off to the side, settling a crude bandage on the cuts that did happen. Staring at where the smoking hole now is, Takuya shook his head, releasing the red glow to his eyes with a look to Daichi. "Glad you could recover. That was a hard fight. I don't think that was the last of him though. We'll have to be on guard."
