Starring:
Date: February 19, 2012
Summary:
After much planning the Kiri team attempts to finally kidnap Sabaku, and appears to succeed!
"Get that Girl - Kidnapping Time!"
A street in Suna
The matches have been on going, and the one between Sabaku and Haruko ended just a short while ago. That was the last match of the day and the town has a festival feel to it, with booths open, streets crowded, and people partying. A rather nice enviroment to try to snatch someone. The contestants often don't leave the arena right away and this is no different. Sabaku had suffered a minor wound in her match, but it was only a light cut, not even needing stitches. Still she probably showered or something afterwards. Or whatever Suna nin do in place of showering.
The street the team picked out was on the path between the arena and the house Sabaku was staying at. This path was picked because after watching, it was the same route Sabaku took each time she went to and from the arena, not taking a different route as someone really paranoid might do. A cart full of fireworks and covered to one side is set up in advance as per plan. The rest would have to be on the fly, although the team is all dressed in Konoha disguises it seems.
And then, there she is, walking with a guard behind her, maybe 5 or 6 feet behind her, eyes scanning the crowd as Sabaku walks slowly down the street. Her pace is slow for two reasons, one she looks tired and two people are in her way. Some giving her congradulations if they recognize her, the rest just in the way partying as she walks slowly down the crowded street, staying to one side to avoid people mostly, for the moment.
The sunlight gleams off of the leaf hitai-ite upon her forehead, the woman moving with the slow current of people narrowing her deep violet eyes before flicking to the smaller figure beside her, perhaps in reassurance. Yuuka lowers her chin faintly as the short strands of black hair brush along her jawline, and face completely absent of any markings, her thoughts are focused on the people and the natural flow movement while she navigates comfortably in the direction of the target. Sabaku. Within a few feet, Yuuka lifts a hand to adjust the forehead protector, shifting it with her fingers for light to flash from it only briefly. The signal for the fireworks to be lit.
On a roof along the road, an old man stands with a pipe on his mouth. His gray hair is pushed back, attire that of an ordinary Sunagakure citizen. As the flash comes up, he blinks and adjusts the pipe in his mouth. At the cart, the man inside it, strikes a match and lights a fuse that is connected to all the fireworks on the cart. A few moments later, what seems to be hundreds of fireworks start firing off in a long display, each fuse a different length to make the display longer.
The positioning is nearly perfect. The crowd at first seems to think the fireworks are some part of the festival, after all, this is a party and people have been setting off small fireworks here and there. People turn to look, Sabaku and her guard included, still seperated by about 6 feet. Sabaku's face is mostly covered but her eyes narrow in a bit of a frown, while the guard seems more intersted in just what is going on. As the first few fireworks go off some people ooh and ah, and jostle to get closer to the cart to see the display more clearly. But as the rather full cart starts to really go off fully, those in front are suddenly confronted with being a tad too close to potentially dangerous explosions and flames.
The crowd that moved to see, is now moving to flee, and those in front push back against those behind as the ones back a bit are not quite aware of the danger yet, as those too close start to panic. As the cart really gets going a sudden 'wave' of people pushes outwards away from the cart, pushing Sabaku away from her guard and closer to the alleyway that Yuuka had positioned herself near. Sabaku isn't exactly tall and the gaurd seems to lose the girl in the wave of people as it starts to really turn into a mini-riot to get clear of the flames. While Yuuka might not be sure the guard is unable to see his target, the man on the roof definately can see this. The small person next to the disguised Yuuka turns to her and says, "Now." This giving Yuuka the Signal to move on with phase II.
With the signal murmured next to her, Yuuka narrows her violet eyes as she slips up behind Sabaku. Fluidly an arm wraps around the target's waist to hold her firmly as the other hand clasps tight a rag over the girl's mouth, pulling her down below head-level while forcing her to inhale a heavy dose of chloroform. Within moments Sabaku would fall limp and Yuuka would cradle her against her side and pull her into the alleyway. With the clone behind, it henges into Sabaku and takes her place during the commotion of people, giving Yuuka the small window. Slipping the large basket from her back with one arm, the dark-haired Leaf kuniochi sets it on the ground and swiftly lowers the body inside. She places a hand over the girl's mouth for one short moment to press the peanut-sized bone pill inside, lifting Sabaku's jaw to force her to unconsciously swallow it. It only takes but a moment but its more than she can spare. Yuuka tosses the rag inside and hurries to latch the lid onto the woven basket tightly with a quick glance around, knowing that her team will do a more thorough job securing their target at the edge of the village. For now, she needed to move. Yuuka doesn't hesitate to disappear into the crowd of fearful people, keeping pace without running too quickly.
Watching the plan unfold from above, the old man takes a long drag from his pipe before turning to run along the rooftops from the fireworks like everyone else. He keeps his pace back a bit, acting like an old man running. He cuts a few shortcuts on the roof to keep up with Yuuka. His bone in Sabaku's digestive tract allows him to easily track and know where they are headed. The clone of Sabaku runs closer to where her guard is, making sure he spots her before cutting a slightly different path to move him away from Yuuka and the real Sabaku.
The clone seems to work for now. A temporary distraction at best but the fake Sabaku is quickly spotted by the guard who tries to hurry her away from the fireworks even as Yuuka makes her way off with the real Sabaku out cold in the basket. The commotion of the fireworks is limited to that immediate area, and so there are not quite the panic driven crowds elsewhere. Yuuka is able to move throw the crowds, and if anyone thinks it is odd that a Konoha dressed nin is carrying a suna style basket on her back, no one seems to comment. The old man across the roof tops is even less noticed really. The water clone is hurried towards the house by her guard, the guard unaware of the switch for the moment it seems as the group heads by various routes to the edge of the village, and the waiting Tsiro. So far so good it seems, things are going like clockwork.
Each moment feels like an eternity, like sand dripping through an hourglass as Yuuka makes her way through the streets, the crowd of people thinning along the way the further out from the arena she becomes. The moment couldn't get there soon enough as she arrives at their predetermined destination, at one of the last rundown houses that had been deserted some time ago. The horses and Tsiro waiting. When she emerges from the narrow street, Yuuka exhales lightly and hefts the basket from her shoulders to set it gently on the ground, "Get the pole and rope." she murmurs without so much of a greeting. Time was pressing after all. Her deft fingers work at unlatching the cover and pull it aside, "Set the stick behind her head and along her shoulders." With Tsiro's help, she begins tighting Sabaku's hands to the pole and either side of her head, making sure they were secure and that there's no way that she would be able to wiggle her way out of the bindings.
Keisuke keeps a middle path between Yuuka and the clone Sabaku, ensuring she runs her full course to get them far away from the real Sabaku. Just as Yuuka and Tsiro are binding the unconscious girl, the clone Sabaku runs into the safe house and waits for the guards to enter behind her.
Tsiro was with the horses when Yuuka arrived. He was just making the last preperations on them. He then turns towards Yuuka and helps her bind the girl by getting the pole and the rope. He sets the stick behind the girl and ties her hands to the pole. "Should we discard her clothing or anything?" The boy then glances around making sure no one is around watching.
Sabaku is limp, clearly out cold the entire ride and while it is not easy to pose dead weight of a body it is a lot easier than posing a resisting form as the hands are bound to the pole, behind her neck, along her shoulders. That's easy enough. No one seems to be around at the edge of town. The group picked a good seldom visited spot to plan to meet and so far luck seems to be on their sides.
Meanwhile the water clone Sabaku runs into the safe house only to be greeted by two Suna Jounin, one of which does a sensory Jutsu of some kind to check her over for any odd things, after all she was moved here after the bone dust was discovered, seems they don't want Sabaku tracking bone dust into the safe house. Only… the one Jounin shouts, "Water clone!" And… well, that's the last Keisuke gets from his clone as his connection is rather abruptly disconnected as the clone is forceably 'destroyed' with out much chance for reaction by Keisuke once in the house. Seems the jig is up, but thanks to careful planning all the guards know is that a water clone replaced Sabaku, not exactly when and certainly no clue where the real Sabaku is at the moment.
"Yes." Yuuka murmurs to Tsiro, "Strip her of everything, clothes, scrolls, weapons. I do not want to risk something of hers being tracked. There is a kimono on the bottom she can wear. And then we can gag her and put the chakra cuffs on her ankles." Never had she ever gone through so much trouble to keep a target bound. Being thorough was annoying. The dark-haired girl scowls mildly to herself as she begins to slice the clothing off of Sabaku from her side, allowing Tsiro to take the other as they begin to pull off gear, weapons, and fabric.
After removing outerwear, they dscover what appears to be some sort of black cloth beneath. Light linen, but not exactly armor. And a gold necklace with some sort of clay lump on it? Yuuka narrows her violet eyes and pulls the chain from over the girl's head, handing it to Tsiro, "Inspect this." she murmurs before working at removing more clothing, noting a birthmark on a cheek and even further, a tattoo on the bottom of her left foot.
Yuuka pauses for a full moment, blinking with evident surprise and stunned shock. Then with a quick shake of her dark head she begins to pull on the simple kimono over the girl, giving her some dignity while she slept at least. "Cuff her ankles. We needed to leave fifteen minutes ago." Something certainly has her more spooked than she was earlier. Standing to her feet, Yuuka returns her eyes back to Tsiro and reaches for the necklace again. It only takes a moment before she pulls the small bit of clay off, opening it to narrow her violet eyes for a fraction of an instant before closing it again. Her stomach twists with bile.
As the clone is destroyed, Keisuke chuckles a bit and climbs down a nearby ladder. Still in the form of an old man, he takes a few long drags from his pipe as he casually strolls toward the rendezvous point. With no chakra surge or water on or around him, there is no traceable link to him from the clone. Arriving to the area where Yuuka and Tsiro are, he walks over to them and peers around to check for signs of anyone around. "Are we ready to go?"
Tsiro inspects the necklace before handing it back. The boy cuffs the girls anklets with the cuffs. "What about the cloth? Lets get out of here. Also if that necklace is some form of tracking device put it on a rat or something and lets go." He states before moving to the horse. "We need to get moving if we're to make it there." He then glances towards Keisuke. "Do they know?" he asks in obvious reference to the water clone.
Still no sign of anyone around, but Yuuka's discomfort is likely obvious to all. The necklace was just a lump of clay to Tsiro, until Yuuka broke the clay off and exposed the locket hidden in clay. Keisuke looks around the area but again, nothing obvious is around. The horses are ready, the gear is off the target. Big questions are, will Yuuka take the locket, and where the group dumps the clothing. And… do they ride through the night to get to the ship. Other than that it seems to have gone flawlessly so far.
Yuuka tightens her fingers around the necklace in her fist before shoving it into one of her long sleeves, pushing it into a hidden pocket for now to focus on the matter at hand. "On our way out, we will slip the gear onto a cart heading into the village. Moving target would be a bit more difficult for them to track before they find it is not her." she murmurs, her voice lower than normal as she leans down to tug on the basket onto her back. It doesn't take her a moment to rise onto her horse. "We will ride through the night, but we will will attach the horses together and take turns leading to let the others get sleep in their saddles. Any objections?" Yuuka narrows her unusually violet gaze.
"They know about the clone but not about us," Keisuke says with a nod to Tsiro. He then looks to Yuuka as she speaks, listening to her plan then giving a nod. "That should work just fine. Let's get going then before we are spotted." That said, he moves to help Yuuka onto her horse. Best to help the pregnant lady, as working so much lately likely has him in enough trouble with her as it is.
