Starring:
Date: May 20, 2013
Summary:
None given.
"Gathering, Unrest and Betrayal, Amidst the Flames"
Unknown location
With the heavy pressure and restriction on the trade industry due to the
insurgency in many lands, the head of the Nagamura business family,
Nagamura Izanagi, has called for a family meeting to formulate a plan to
get things moving again. Normally, the diplomatic matters are left to his
son, Shuuren, but he is away handling one such thing still in attempts to
unbar trade in one of the lands and will be late. It is up to them to
begin formulating their plans based on the information Shuuren sent to
them via messenger birds. All members of the family are to report
immediately, leaving their daily duties to whomever their second in
command is for the days it takes them to travel back and forth.
As the night sets in on the secret meeting place set aside by Izanagi in
case of emergencies in the Land of Whirlpools, the family head sits at the
front of a rather long table, watching as the various members of the
family are seated. The building has no expense spared, the finest wares
available used, down to the table and cloths. Children who've not yet been
inducted into the business have been set in another room, though young
people who are learning the business have been allowed to sit with their
parents to listen in on the condition of their silence. Once all have
taken their seats, a catering crew comes out of a side room and begins to
place dishes in their places. Izanagi simply stares ahead silently,
waiting silently as food is placed. When he spots one young man, roughly
in his twenties, who looks rather nervous for some reason, his eyes narrow
on him for a moment before he looks back straight ahead. Once the food has
been passed out, another set of people begin to pass out folders with
copies of the information given by Shuuren in his reports.
As the workers go back into their rooms, Izanagi clears his throat, his
fairly deep voice ringing out sternly as he speaks. "I trust you can all
pay attention while you eat. First, read over this information, then I
expect you in turn to give me what information you have on the provinces
you work in and what your current progress is on re-opening trade. Then
we'll discuss strategy…"
After a couple hours of talk about information and current progress,
Izanagi finally nods to the family members. "Very good. Now, we need to
figure out what we can do to open up trade-"
"I have an idea that WILL work!" a voice chimes in, drawing attention to
the young man who looked rather nervous before as he stands up. "Shou!
What are you doing?" his father chimes in as he looks up at him.
"Quiet, pop. I've got this," Shou says as he looks down at his father
then back to Izanagi. "I've been talking with some men who said they could
help us open up trade again, even multiply it."
"Who might that be?" Izanagi asks with a calm, yet demanding voice as
his eyes lock on Shou. He doesn't take being interrupted very lightly, so
he expects this answer to please him or else…
"The Yakuza," Shou answers simply, starting to look even more nervous
than before as he looks into the eyes of Izanagi, and rightfully so.
"The Yakuza?!" Izanagi growls as he stands, slamming his hands down on
the table. "Have you lost your mind, boy?! We run clean businesses to
benefit the lands we operate in. We do /NOT/ associate ourselves with that
kind of filth."
Before the conversation can get any further, as Shou seems to be
cowering a bit, another voice chimes in as the catering crew comes back
out. "Shou, you told me the old man would be a lot more cooperative than
this," the voice of a man adorned in a black, dressy kimono rings out as
he takes a step to the front of the crew that is growing in number,
discarding their catering outfits to the floor for their normal clothes
that are underneath. "How about you and I talk about this like civilized
men, old timer? I'm sure we can work this out," he says as his eyes fall
directly on Izanagi from across the room while his men fan out to block
all the exits from the building.
"You brought them here??" Izanagi growls at Shou as he looks over to
him, his eyes blazingly intense as he glares at the boy. "Do you realize
what you've done?!"
"They said they would work with us to-"
"Enough, fool! Your actions have done more damage than any words can
repair," Izanagi says before looking back to the black-adorned man with
eyes narrowed. "You and I have nothing to discuss. Leave this place. I
won't be turning anything over to trash like you."
"Maybe I should rephrase then," the black-clad man says calmly as he
reaches for the hilt of his sword then points at one of the men in his
crew, who instantly steps forward to cut one of the young men in the
family down into a pool of blood on the floor, inducing screams and cries
from those around. "What is yours now belongs to us. If you resist, we'll
end you."
"Make your threats. We will not-"
With another wave, another young family member falls to the slice of a
sword. This time, however, the few members of the family that are shinobi
decide it's time to stop talking and fight back and leap into action.
Before Izanagi can quell things, an all out fight has begun. With about
seven shinobi here in the family, things go somewhat evenly for a bit, but
they are slowly turning into sacrificial pieces as they try to save their
weaker family members. The Yakuza forces are losing some numbers, but the
ever-growing pool of blood and gore on the floor belongs mostly to the
Nagamura as neither man, woman, nor child is spared.
As the fight goes on further, it turns more into simply a massacre as
the few shinobi in the ranks of the Nagamura fall one by one. Amidst what
has turned into a bloodbath, the black-clad man begins to pour oil around
the room, chuckling and shaking his head. "The fall of a family of fools.
Would it not have been so much easier to just hand us over what we
wanted?" he asks to the air as he prepares to set the room ablaze.
"Bastard!" the voice of Izanagi roars out as he dives over a table at
the man, driving a fist directly into his face. "I may die, but I will not
suffer the fate of a coward," he says as he mounts the man and drives fist
after fist into his face until a blade pierces his torso from behind,
going through his lower abdomen before being retracted. As he falls over,
Izanagi stares up at the man, breathing heavily while closing in on his
final moments, only to be watching the black-clad man strike a match to
set the room ablaze.
Outside, as Shuuren approaches on horseback, his eyes widen as he sees
flames and smoke rising up from the building where he was to meet his
family to discuss business strategy. He quickly yanks the reins to pull
the horse to a stop and bounds off it to literally kick a wall down to try
to save anyone he can. However, as the dust and rubble fall away, all he
sees around him is carnage. A pulse of chakra flies out from him, and he
looks rather pained as anyone here that's even barely alive still is far
past saving due to wounds to vital organs, many even being dismembered, as
well as the fact that they have mostly all been burned up. As he spots his
father amidst the flames, he flickers over to check him, at least wanting
to say goodbye. "Who did this?" he asks as he looks down on the man that
is barely conscious still.
"Y-… Yakuza," Izanagi says, turning his head what little he can to nod
toward a door. "They went… out… that… way," he says before the light
leaves his eyes.
With a sigh, Shuuren shakes himself a bit to gather himself before
leaping over the flames to dart out the door toward where the Yakuza men
should be fleeing the scene. As he races through the forest to try to
catch up, he is a bit baffled by what he sees, a member of the family
talking to the black-clad man.
"You said you were going to help! You didn't tell me you were going to
kill them!" Shou yells at them, only to receive a hard kick to the gut.
"If you're not going to follow through, we'll just leave you with the
rest of them…"
And the screen would fade to black for the next scene to begin.
