Starring:
Date: September 18, 2016
Summary:
Upon arrival in the Land of Tea, Nariko and Amani gain help from Shuuren and Saki in finding and locating Yotsuki Akuma to pay for his crimes against the Yotsuki clan.
"Murdered Heads and Clan Heads - Justice Has Been Served"
Forest in the Land of Tea
The ship that had brought the two Kumo Kunoichi had pulled into the dock just moments ago and the two were on their way into one of the villages. It was the early morning so not many people were up and Nariko was still very tired from the trip. She stretched and let out a yawn. "Well, at least we made it safe and sound." She would look to see if Amani was following her, and wasn't too far away from here. "Did you fare well on the boat?"
"I did fine on the boat. I own one, after all," Amani grinned. "I even managed to get some good rest! Now /that/ is an accomplishment! Sleep!" She followed after Nariko and looked around at the dock, taking some time to assess her surroundings. "…So, when do we run into the tea? I mean, this is the Land of Tea, right? Where is the tea? I expected to be up to the neck in tea leaves at this very moment. I see trees, Nariko. Trees. Forest trees. Help me to understand."
A carrier bird came with a message for the Daimyo that there was danger afoot and an assassin that needed taking care of. Kumogakure is still a home to him in many ways, so helping them take care of such issues is quite natural. Saki would, of course, be dragged along, and the Daimyo is adorned in his normal suit so as not to alert the enemy that they are aware anything is going on. It would basically seem to be a normal day for him, but the Daimyo is good at acting as such.
Arriving at the docks, the Daimyo smirks and says, "Don't discount the town around you, Amani-san. The trees are only part of the charm of the country." He offers a light bow of his head to both Nariko and Amani then. "Welcome back, Nariko-san," he says with a smile to the Yotsuki then looks to Amani. "And welcome to Tea Country. If you'd like some tea, there are plenty of shops around."
Nariko looks to Amani and just rolls her eyes. "You really thought the Land of Tea would just be a land with trees filled with tea leaves?" Oh man, did she have her work cut out for her. Like a few days ago, she put her thumb and forefinger on the bridge of her nose and shook her head at Amani. "Welcome to my old home." When Shuuren comes to greet them, she bows from the abdomen, her hands pressed together in front. "Thank you Shuuren-san. I wish I weren't here under the current circumstances." she looks back to Amani. "We'll have to stop at a Tea shop before we go back home." She couldn't let Amani go without seeing a Tea shop here.
Saki finds herself tugged along with Shuuren on some mysterious task. It wasn't that mysterious, actually. She had seen the letter that passed from the mail to the Daimyo's desk, after all! Saki was currently dressed in a slightly modified kimono. One that would allow her freer movement should danger spring up. Hopefully she didn't need to actually fight, though, since it was just meeting up with some allies! One of them she even knew.
Saki would be standing a foot or so behind and to the right of Shuuren, the girl offering a bow to both Amani and Nariko when she sees them. "Umm… It's nice to see you… Again… Nariko-san," she offers, shuffling a bit in her spot as she waits to see just what exactly happened to be going on from this point.
Nariko looks to Amani and just rolls her eyes. "You really thought the Land of Tea would just be a land with trees filled with tea leaves?" Oh man, did she have her work cut out for her. Like a few days ago, she put her thumb and forefinger on the bridge of her nose and shook her head at Amani. "Welcome to my old home." When Shuuren comes to greet them, she bows from the abdomen, her hands pressed together in front. "Thank you Shuuren-san. I wish I weren't here under the current circumstances." she looks back to Amani. "We'll have to stop at a Tea shop before we go back home." She couldn't let Amani go without seeing a Tea shop here. When Saki says hello she bows to her as well and smiles. "Hello Saki-san. A pleasure to see you again as well." She looks back to Shuuren. "Shall we walk and talk?"
"Yes! Why wouldn't it be?! It's the Land of Tea!" Amani grumped. She gestured to the forest with her hands outstretched towards the forest, looking at Nariko as if it was supposed to change to tea. When Shuuren walks up and adds more to the conversation, she winced at him and gestured her hands more strongly towards the forest. "I don't discount the town, I discount the lack of tea that I see! So far, it's very lovely, but I'd like to see more tea! Be more tea!"
"As do I, but it is a pleasure to see you again nonetheless," Shuuren says with a smile to Nariko then peers over at Amani as she makes her comments. He actually laughs a bit and shakes his head. "There are quite a number of tea shops in the country. It doesn't just flow in the streets. That wouldn't be healthy to drink. I promise you'll see plenty of tea while you're here… once we've dealt with business." He then turns to Nariko and nods, turning to wait for her to say which way she'd like to go. "Who are we looking for? I may be able to use my chakra sense to seek him out."
Saki chooses to keep back for the time being. The young assistant would pull a small notebook from somewhere, starting to write down some notes as information is provided by Nariko and Amani. She would follow along after the group, of course, once they started to move. But otherwise she was largely silent.
Nariko looks to Amani and shakes her head. "remember Amani, we are here on business. So don't worry about the tea until our business has concluded." She let out a sigh at the overzealous Amani and her inability to accept the Land of Tea as just a village like every other one, sort of. She looks to Shuuren as she begins to walk towards the main village, and more towards her parent’s home. "Well, from what we have gathered, thanks to Amani here." Of course she had to give Amani credit, she found all of this out. "His name is Yotsuki Akuma. From what we discovered he used a poison on a kunai." She let out a sigh as she walked.
"But…but….tea leaves!" Amani inhaled deeply and sighed the breath back out. "I'm trying all the tea. Everything I can get my hands on before I leave here," she remarks. "But yes, back to the criminal. You should be able to sense him out. I'll just be standing by, waiting for you to do the dirty work," she smiled at Shuuren. "The guy must not have liked the current clan head very much. For whatever reason that was. Maybe we might discover why once we find him," she shrugged. "You! You, you…" She snapped her fingers to herself as she pointed to Saki. "Your name, I've forgotten. Also, may I inquire about where to find a map of this land?"
"A Yotsuki that uses poison instead of his fists?" Shuuren asks, lifting an eyebrow and shaking his head before he looks over to Amani and nods to her words. "His actions quite contrary to the nature of his clan… Poison seems to be the weapon of choice lately." Referring to his own poisoning a few weeks ago. "We'll make certain this coward doesn't walk free." With that he closes his eyes briefly, sending out a pulse of chakra that reaches further than most people could ever dream of being able to reach with their chakra senses as he seeks out the presence of Yotsuki Akuma. Luckily all that time he spent around Yotsuki in Kumogakure will make it easy enough to pick one out among the masses of Tea Country.
Saki isn't really to help with finding this mysterious Yotsuki. Amani is quick to give her a job, though, as the Yamayuki requests a map. "Oh, umm… I… I can give you one…" she says, reaching into a hidden pouch and offering Amani a folded map. "Also… Umm… I'm Himawari Saki…"
Nariko looks to Amani and just sighs. "We will get some tea before we leave." She looks back to Shuuren, pausing in their walk as he does his magic. "I know it's very strange, but apparently only his mother is Yotsuki and his father was a villager she happened to fall in love with." She let out a sigh. "I hope we get the chance to ask him. The clan wishes nothing but death upon his head. I wish it didn't have to come to that, but he did a dishonorable thing."
"Thank you, thank you. I appreciate this, I'll be needing this to find all the tea leaves I don't see," Amani snickered to herself while taking the map in hand to look it over. "We most certainly will be getting tea. But yes, the clan does want his head…limbs and anything else from his body, but yes, before we engage in that sort of thing, we do need a 'why' for his actions. It's unfortunate, but yes, unforgivable."
Shuuren's eyes would remain closed for a bit as he searches. There are a number of Yotsuki in the country, though all but one are familiar to him since he knows Nariko (and she's right here) and her parents and sibling live here. By process of elimination, that means the last one must be Akuma if he's in Tea Country. "… Here's in the forest near the Port City to the south. Probably thinks he's hiding well there… Let's move." With that he would turn and start to move rapidly toward the south, making sure to not move so fast as to outrun the three women following him toward their target.
Saki would nod to Amani and let Amani examine the map as she looked to Shuuren. Suddenly (well, not that suddenly), he took off, and she would move to follow after him. The girl didn't look like much, really, but she was able to keep up surprisingly well. Especially with Shuuren limiting his speed for favor of his guests and assistant.
Now Nariko wasn't expecting to just take off right then and there, but hey, if the Daimyo runs, you follow. "Alright then!" She begins running and looks to Amani. "Make sure you have something ready to collect what the clan elders want." She smiles and tries to keep up. "Thank you for doing this." She would say to Shuuren when they get a chance.
Now, after some running, the group of four would end up at the forest that the Yotsuki they were looking for was hidden. He had set up a small tent and a campfire. It seems he had been here for a few days, possibly a week even, and was resting by the fire. He was cooking his breakfast, looking to be getting ready to move to a new location at any moment. He was expecting people to come after him, but wasn't expecting it to happen any time soon.
"Whadidjust—did that just? I can't…" Amani just looked at Shuuren as he ran off, soon followed by his assistant and /then/ followed by Nariko. She ran too because why /wouldn't/ she? "That depends on if there's anything left. I mean…this could get ugly and I'm hoping it's not ugly enough that all I'm collecting are his insides. I'm not bringing back a meat pile. I'm bringing back pieces which means we may have to engage defensively instead of offensively," she describes. "We'll keep ourselves on our toes and mindful of the events as they play out. As a medic, though, I will always be ready to collect something."
"I can be certain he lives and isn't able to escape again," Shuuren says as he glances back to the kunoichi behind him. "Fan out to surround him. I'm going to make myself unseen and then we'll see how he enjoys being poisoned by someone that knows what they're doing." As they come upon the man, the Daimyo furrows his brows a bit as he reaches into his coat with withdraw a piece of paper with a seal on it. The light seems to diffuse around him for a moment before he would vanish into thin air to move into position.
Saki would stop once they finally reached the target, the girl showing little sign of fatigue. Maybe her breathing was a bit heavier, but she held up just fine. The girl would glance to Shuuren and nod once before revealing a sword at her side that she would unsheathe as quietly as she could before getting into position. She would head towards the back of the area as stealthily as possible.
Nariko looked to Amani. "Yeah, I know. Just want to make sure everything goes as planned. I want to try to keep him alive for abit to find out the reasoning." She looked to Shuuren as they slowed down and noded. "Alright." She then proceeds to quiet herself as she moves through the forest as quietly as possible. She looked at the man as she made her way and clenched a fist. She couldn't help but have a deep hatred for the man.
The Yotsuki murderer was still blissfully unaware, even though he heard a rustle of leaves, but still thought nothing of it. He continued to cook and get ready to eat as soon as his food was done. The fire was slowly dying and he made a noise as if he were cursing the flame.
Amani takes the instruction from Shuuren and fans out along with the rest. He knows this place better than she does, anyhow. Best to heed to his advice. "No worries. I can only hope things do go as planned," she whispered back to Nariko. She turned her focus onto the man and observed him. He seemed a bit too comfortable given that he's out here. Guess he figures the deed is done, why worry?
Shuuren wouldn't be visible for a bit, his movements entirely unseen it would seem since the guy doesn't get up from his relaxing. Still invisible, he reaches into his coat and withdraws a syringe that he uncaps the needle of and goes to jab it into the man's neck. Should it strike effectively, the man would be paralyzed in a quite unkind way, using a concoction of medicine that does severe damage and can have a combination of nasty side effects depending on the person.
As Shuuren comes up behind him, the Yotsuki Akuma goes wide eyed and confused. He falls off the side and twitches slightly. He seemed to be having one nasty hallucination in his brain as he lies there twitching uncontrollably. He seems to grasping for something, but isn
Saki would keep out of sight for the time being, hopefully, and she awaited a signal from either Shuuren or Nariko. The girl held her sword in a rather tight grip as she waited, and she was slightly more nervous than she normally happened to be. It's easy to make Saki nervous, though, so that shouldn't come as a surprise.
As Shuuren comes up behind him, the Yotsuki Akuma seems to spin around and not get hit by the needle. He jumps back and away from the fire he was just tending and cooking from. "Excuse me, I was camping out here!" He wasn't too thrilled about having his dinner interrupted. "What do you want?" He was very suspicious and was now on his guard. His posture was more defensive than anything and was ready to put up a fight.
When the Yotsuki jumps from his spot, Nariko walks out and looks at the guy. "Yotsuki Akuma, you are wanted by the Yotsuki clan of Kumogakure. You can either come quietly or you will be dealt with harshly." She clenched her fist and looked at the guy. She was not a happy shinobi and it even looked like she was ready to start a fight.
And so the attack has been launched! Amani watches the event play out carefully and it appears Akuma came prepared. "I suppose I should prepare myself," she whispered to herself. She gathers her chakra and stays in place as Nariko addresses him. Hope she doesn't get too angry. She doesn't want her flying off the handle. 'Keep yourself tempered, I can't afford to have your blood pressure skyrocketing…' she thinks.
Shuuren smirks as the guy manages to evade the injection and takes a few steps back. "You are a traitor to Kumogakure, and, of all places, you come to MY country?" he asks with a chuckle. "Coming here will be your undoing. Do as she says and come quietly or we will be certain you do not die quickly."
Saki blinks a bit as the man moves away from Shuuren, and she narrows her eyes slightly. It wasn't many people that could avoid the Daimyo, and that indicated that this man was probably a formidable opponent. She would focus her mind, making sure that she was ready for some sort of fight. …
Yotsuki Akuma looks at Shuuren and Nariko as they speak to him and just laughs. "Wow, finally. And here I thought the Yotsuki would just lay down and let their clan head go. Guess they don't always treat their members the same." He looked at Shuuren. "Yes, because guess what? I'm more loyal to Tea than Kumogakure after what they did. So you know what, try me." He looks to Shuuren and then Nariko. "Besides, I know Yotsuki's are weak." He reaches behind his back and pulls out some kunai, throwing them towards both Shuuren and Nariko.
Nariko looks at Yotsuki Akuma and unfortunately for Amani, her blood pressure was rising. "Seriously? Fine. You will do it the hard way." And then the kunai come flying towards her. She tries to move out of the way of them quickly, but she is not quick enough and gets one in the arm and another in the leg. Thankfully she still had her fists clenched tight and made a run towards him, her arm lighting up as she tried to punch him twice. One in the face and the other in the gut. The clan didn't say he had to look pretty.
"Oh, friggin'…grrraaah," Amani began. Yep, blood pressure gonna be a problem. She jumped out and began to toss around kunai of her own. Now sharps will be flying everywhere! If this were a hospital, it'd be a major hazard. Sharps go in the darn sharps box! But not today! "If they were as weak as you claim, you wouldn't have had to kill one in such poor fashion!" She called out to Akuma. "Don't act like you're tough stuff!"
Clan Head? This guy thinks he's the Clan Head for what he did? How delusional. Shuuren lifts an eyebrow and shakes his head as he moves his body to avoid the incoming kunai in a rather effortless fashion. While he moves, he reaches into his coat and grabs a red food pill, which he swallows. In quick fashion, one would feel a spike in his chakra before he spins the syringe around in his fingers again then moves to attempt to jab it into his neck again.
Saki is completely confused about whatever this Akuma guy is talking about. Half of his words sounded contradictory to his goals, and the other half sounded like BS. She also couldn't help but feel that if he wanted to join Tea, Shuuren would kill him if the Daimyo found out that the Yotsuki was a traitor. As the others move in to strike, Saki would seek an opening before she suddenly flashed in and tried to strike the man along the back, knocking him down if the others weren't successful. It would leave the man with an opening to take advantage of, or it would just keep him down. How nice.
Akuma was able to roll out of the way of Nariko's attacks, much to her dismay so when Amani's Shuriken come towards him, he isn't paying much attention and instead gets hit by both, one in the shoulder, the other in the hip. As Shuuren came towards him, he tries to raise his arm up to protect his neck, but is not quick enough and gets stabbed in the neck. Another groan escapes his lips. "I..I'm not…I'm not done!" He yelled before he begins to scream,. "I CAN'T SEE!" He yells as he is knocked to the ground by Saki's sword hilt. "All I wanted to do was prove to the Yotsuki's my family.." He looked up to Nariko. "Wasn't weak."
Nariko's attitude was getting more and more sour as her punches don't even hit him. "Seriously, you're not going anywhere." She would walk towards him now that he was on the ground and her fist began to fire with electricity. "You do not know what the Yotsuki's are about. First and foremost, you're just an idiot." She kneeled down and struck him once in the back. His reasoning for doing what he did didn't even make sense. "Second, you don't kill the freaking clan head to prove to the clan you're strong." She struck him once more, this time in the face.
"Feeeh. You can't prove things like that by killing the clan head, you dunce!" Amani scolded Akuma. "If anything it justifies the weakness you already had!" She sighed. "Anyway, I don't think much else needs to be done here. We came for what we needed, right?" She questioned. "Can I get tea? I still see a serious lack of it, I mean…" She gestured to the surrounding forest as she did when she first arrived here. "But I suppose that can wait," she grumbled.
At this point it seems Nariko has things in hand thanks to Akuma's lack of ability to defend from her strikes and the extra one Saki threw at him. Given that, the Daimyo simply clasps his hands behind his back and observes. He glances over to Amani as she speaks, chuckling a bit. "As soon as we're done here. If Nariko finishes him off, I'll put him in a scroll so we don't have to drag him around. I'm sure you have someone back in Kumogakure that can handle opening the scroll."
Saki would put her sword back into its sheath and tuck it away for the time being. She tried to keep it sorta-hidden, but she didn't quite know how to work scrolls yet, so it wasn't like she had the unlimited space Shuuren had on him. Maybe someday. The girl for now stood back a bit from the downed Yotsuki, waiting to see what Nariko decided to do now that he was at her mercy. All the punching was a bit much, but she could understand why Nariko was doing so. Especially since this man had killed someone important to his clan and likely someone important to Nariko.
Akuma was out cold. He didn't have the energy to look up to anyone. Nariko looks to Amani and shakes her head. "Amani, be serious." She was trying to gather herself. After all, the clan wanted this guy to be brought back dead. She looked back to Akuma and shook her head, reaching an arm to her pack on her back and pulled out a kunai from it. She held it in her hand for a moment before taking a breath. 'Here goes nothing.' She thought to herself before grabbing Akuma's hair and using her strength to kill him. Once the deed was done she fell backwards on to her rear and dropped Akuma to the ground. "I really need some tea now." She just stared off into space, after all, it was Hiei's job to kill people like this, not hers.
"…." Amani, for the first time, was speechless. She looked at the map she'd retrieved just moments before to look at only to end up folding it up to put away. "We're going to need a box…" She spoke to Shuuren. "One that can…hold pieces of a body. This is what the clan has requested and now we must honor that request." She approached Nariko and placed her hands upon her shoulders. "You're incredibly tense. I told you about that blood pressure. Let's get you up off your feet so I can run a diagnostic. I'm certain you're fine, but it's better to be sure. Truthfully, some tea would be best in this situation right now."
Aaaaand he's gone. Shuuren watches as Nariko finishes the man off then nods to her words. When Amani suddenly gets serious and mentions dismembering the man, he blinks a couple times. He reaches into his coat and withdraws a scroll and opens it to reveal a box generally used to hold medical waste and such. "Here you are," he says as he sets the box down then looks over to Saki. "Head to the Grand Tea House and have them prepare a room on the second floor for us, would you?" he asks with a smile, subtly sparing her the sight of Akuma being dismembered by having her perform that errand.
Saki goes a bit @.@ when she hears what Amani had to say. Of course, she was already a bit surprised that Nariko had sorta pounded Akuma's face in… Thankfully, Shuuren let her scoot out to go and get a room ready. She could kill in the heat of battle, sure, but messy dismemberments and brutalities made her stomach turn. The girl offers a quick nod and takes off and top speed, wanting to get away from the group before she sees something she may not wish to ever see.
Nariko looks straight ahead for a bit while Amani tells Shuuren the details that the clan requested. Once Shuuren sends Saki away she looks to Amani. "I'm glad you came with me." She gives her a smile as best she can and then looks to Shuuren. "Thank you very much for your hospitality Shuuren." She looked back to the dead, lifeless body of Akuma and let out a sigh, moving to bring her knees up and rest her head on her arms. "Do you mind if I sit here until we go have tea?" She was having a hard time doing most things, but the shock and everything was still there.
