Starring:
Katsurou, Aoitsuki, Joker (emitter)
Date: June 23, 2013
Summary:
Katsurou, Aoitsuki, and a genin by the name of Fu are summoned for a mission. However, the mission turns out to be something much more.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Katsurou's Departure From Kirigakure"
Kiri/Konoha Border
It was mid day with the weather keeping most of the people of Kirigakure inside. It was the second day now that it has rained non stop. The rain itself would switch up from a drizzle to hard blowing then back to a drizzle. Katsurou walked through the castle hall with almost a blank gaze. There was a lot on his mind right now. His eyes took everything in around him as if he was seeing everything for the first time again. That was when a younger Shirayuki came running towards him with a scroll in hand. "Katsurou-sama!" The little boy called out as he caught up to him. "Katsurou-sama. This just came for you." He says a little winded.
The older Shirayuki opens it and proceedes to read the message. His brows furrow and a sigh escapes him. He rolls it back up and nods to the younger Shirayuki.
"Aoitsuki-sama got one too!" The Shirayuki messenger says as he waves another scroll in front of Katsurou.
Katsurou's look of anger changes to a worrisome expression now but he quickly dimisses it. "Very well, Enku." Katsurou says to the boy. "Let Aoitsuki know that i will meet her out in front of the castle when she is ready." The older Shirayuki gave a small nod to Enku in a gesture to dismiss him. When Aoi would read the scroll, it would say: "You have been summoned to serve Kirigakure in this mission to retrieve a rare artifact that is rumored to be located in an abandoned mine shaft known as Devil's Den along the Kiri/Konha border. The artifact is in the shape of an orb and said to be glowing with a dim energy source inside. The shaft is currently occupied by a group of thieves who have yet to find a way to seperate the orb from the stone pillar it rests on. Go now and claim the orb for Kirigakure.""
genin was seated on a treestump, his mahogany brown-redish hair sways gently in the breeze while he crosses his leg, scratching at a little wound he had on his leg from some sort of training accident, slowly pulking off the crust. "Don't do that Funeh" Says a chuunin next to him, who ruffles his hair and walks off. "Wait, what am I supposed to do here?" The somewhat shy genin asks. The Chuunin shrugs. "I don't know, just wait on instructions. You'll be fine Funeh, just don't you know… get yourself killed or anything." Funeh nods slowly. A bit of a weak impression on his face.
"You sure I'll be okay?" The older man nods. Funeh must be like twelve or so, and this is his first time on assignment outside of his team! The curved crescented blade on his back shimmers in the moonlight. While the young genin waits on his instructions from a Shirayuki of all people! The clanless genin adjusts his headband a little, so it falls over one of his scarred eyes. Which has gone bad. Having a milky white layer over top of it, an indication of blindness.
Aoitsuki was next to come as quick as possible. Luckily for them she was tending to a few clan related duties. As she exited from the meeting hall she began to make her way towards the docks in her traditional adornment of a beautiful olive green kimono and a ribbonless sash of sunset tied along her waist. Her bare feet pressed against the marble floor and eventually the wood of the docks as she peered in Katsuro's direction. "Need to help takign down some common thieves?" Aoitsuki questioned him curiously as she walked to approach him, her arms remained by her sides while the thick blade by her backside swayed with each movement. " I am ready to depart as soon as you are Katsurou-kun. I've read over the scroll and am quite aware as to what is going on…"
Katsurou looks over his shoulder as Aoi approaches. A smile creeps upon his face from under his mask. "Actually i just needed a beautiful distraction." He says in a soft voice. "I know this mine shaft well." He says waving the scroll that the mission had mentioned. "During my time away from the village I had ventured off and found myself in a bad situation. I had to spend two nights inside of it. Back then it was worked by miners who were pleasant and provided food and water for me until i was able to resurface. They must have came across the artifact while they were excuvating." Katsurou runs his moist hand through his soft hair to pull back the rain soaked bangs that hid his eyes. "There is something we need to do first before heading out. I owe a friend a favor and told him I would take his student out on my next mission. His name is Funeh. Let us go now to meet up with him. We should be at the mine shaft by night fall if we hurry."
*Half an hour later*
Katsurou approaches Funeh and his Chuunin teacher. The Shirayuki would nod in the Chuunin's direction then looks down at Funeh. "You must be Funeh." He says with a slight bow. "I am Shirayuki Katsurou and this is my older sister, Shirayuki Aoitsuki." He says to the younger boy. "Make sure you are well prepared. We have a long trip ahead of us." Katsurou says as he looks from Funeh to Chuunin in case there are any last minute issues he needs to be aware of.
"Hai Shirayuki-sama…" The genin says firmly. Getting up and bowing to him and Aoi. "Greetings.." He then says, bowing to Aoi in turn. His teacher gives an approving nod and disappears. "No sir, I'm at your disposal.." The genin says nervously, a sweatdrop trickling down his face, hidden amongst the raindrops. "My friends call me Fu sir.." The boy immediately regrets being so direct with him. "Not that I-.." He then decides to just shut up, nodding solemly. "Ready." He then confirms.
"Are you prepared to kill if you have to, Fu?" Aoitsuki questioned him as soon as they crossed paths with one another. She returned her bow respectfully to Fu, it was nice having someone with manners around, especially with them not being a Shirayuki. " This mission will test your intelligence and skill…but if you lose your vigliance you might very well fall prey to the blade wielding thieves we shall be intercepting," Aoi voiced honestly, her expression was stern but meaningful, she just wanted the genin to know what he was getting himself into. " We should get moving as soon as possible Katsurou-kun… Since you already know about the cave it shouldn't be hard to get what were are looking for…"
Katsurou would smile under his mask at the nervousness of Fu. Once Aoi was finished grilling the boy, he would put a hand out onto his shoulder if Fu would allow it. "No need for "sir". I am just Katsurou. Do not worry. You have the Shirayuki clan watching your back." Katsurou looks back at Aoi once she mentions getting a move on towards the mine shaft. "You are right Onee-chan. We are going to have to take the ferry to the mainland then from there it is a hike for another few hours. If we hurry, we can make it before sun down." With that said, Katsurou leads the way to the docks.
Katsurou talks with the man who owns the small boat and with a few ryo they were then allowed to board and set sail towards the mainland. The Shirayuki male was quiet for the most part. His gaze was set over the horizon. Something again was on his mind as his eyes seem to be glossed over in the distance.
Fu follows Katsurou with a mild smile. "Okay.." He then looks at Aoi. "Ehm, two.." He lifts his curved blade from his back. Showing two beads attached to the hilt. "Clan tradition.." He then says calmly. But he shakes his head. "I don't like killing. These two were students." He explains. "One was an accident, one was an assignment." The boy seems a little down after saying that. "He was a friend.." *sniff*
The boy then puts the blade back on his back. "But they say be proud of your kills. I don't understand." He says. Looking up and blinking into the rain while remaining quiete. His weary eye that's not covered by the headband following Katsurou's movement closely so he doesn't fall behind.
"I'm very sorry that you had to deal with that, Fu-san," Aoitsuki spoke softly to him, if he allowed she would reach out with her gentle touch and lightly pat him on the shoulder. " No… I'm only interested in killing those who decide to steal and pillage through these lands. I have no tolerance from criminals but I am interested in hearing these thugs out. Everyone has their reason for doing certain things… Malice will never be tolerated however," Aoitsuki then smiled warmly and followed along to the ferry. She herself settled along the rear of the ship, watching carefully over the waves, the ship certainly had some awakward silence but this was the perfect chance to meditate and develop a mind set.
For the most part it was a quiet trip towards the mainland. The waves were a little rougher than usual in the sea that divided the Land of Water from the rest the mainland. The boat docks and Katsurou nods farewell to the ferry man. The Shirayuki collects himself and looks to the horizon. Even though the colors in the sky had not yet changed, the sun was making its decent in the sky. "This way." Katsurou says as he takes off towards the north. Once they established their pace, the Shirayuki male looks to his sister. There was a sense of longing in his eyes as he took her in. "How are the meetings going, Aoitsuki?"
Fu looked between Katsurou and Aoi. Something's going on, he just didn't know what. So he chose silence. He thanks the ferryman politely. Following the group at a brisk pace. He got a little cold so he's maintaining a small flame between his hands which seems to warm him a little. Fire chakra! Great advantage when it's cold! Maybe the presence of the Ice Queen and prince themselves contribute to that cold. What the flight is going on between those two?
"It's not entirely important to speak about at the moment. Things are fine as they have always been, especialyl since things have calmed down in the Land of Water," Aoitsuki responded back, stepping off the boat she began to focus her jutsu, suddenly forming a slight storm cloud overhead, and just like that it began to snow. The snow eventually lathered about the terrain, slowly collecting but more so to detect any presences that might be stepping over the said snow. " I will track to see how many people are about the area, hopefully these thieves are still have trouble picking up this artifact,"
Katsuoru looks up above at the clouds developing over head. A slight smile forms under his mask as he realizes what his sister is conjuring up. He gives her a nod then looks back over his shoulder at Fu who is forming a small ball of fire between his palms. "A fire user." Katusoru says in an approving tone. "I am certain will be needing your fire's light once night falls upon us."
After another hour passes Katsurou motions to a rock formation up ahead. "There it is. Come on." Katsurou says as he increases the speed of his pace. As they approach they could see that there was no one around standing guard of the entrance. "It seems to be clear. Here is the entrance." He says as he ducks under a slab of rock and takes hold of a ladder leading down into the darkened depths.
Fu nods at the Shirayuki. The snow freaked him out, he hated the cold! But it seems Aoi has it under control, so that calmed him down significantly. "Alright.." He says, carefully directing his fire so he lights up the entrance properly. "What's the plan?" He asks, just following along the instructions of the older Shinobi.
"Try not to fight to kill at first… I'm interested in seeing what sort of thieves these people are. As I said early everyone has their reason to do what they do," Aoitsuki clarified, offering that final request while descending into the darkness of the cave. her eyes were't very acute in darkness but Fu's flame definitely helped get some vision across. " Thanks for the Fire Fu, we would be completely blind without you here. We will need to make good use of that fire release, especially if we stumble into any stragglers along the way," Aoitsuki spoke softly, coming in from the rear wwith Fu settled infront of her. She smiled but stayed alert… Just in case.
Once Katsurou and the others made it to the bottom of the ladder, Fu's light would reveal a long hall way. At the end was a round object that gave off just enough glow to radiant itself in the darkness. "There it is." The Shirayuki scans his surroundings. "This is a little too easy…Keep an eye out for trip wires and possible ambushes. Fu, you should lead the way with your light. Aoitsuki and I will be behind you for back up."
Fu nods and slowly intensifies the light while crouching low. Making small steps to try not to trip anything, trusting the Shirayuki to not let him down if he's attacked! "Almost there.." He whispers, slowly walking closer to the glowing object.
"Stand next to him, we can't afford anyone suddnely tripping up a sudden trap," Aoitsuki recommended to Katsurou, it was be quite terrible if she wasn't fast enough to shield Fu from whatever chaos might spew out into their faces. She took remained alert, careful with her bare step and cautiously keeping herself ware of the situation about hr. her chakra levels picked up, searching for any chakra signature that might appetite the blade by her back… Hopefully something would come soon.
The group would make it to the orb easily without any trouble arising. Katsurou takes a few steps forward from the group to advance towards the orb. He studies it then also scans the stone pillar itself up and down as if looking for a release mechanism. "This is an odd object indeed. Fu, Aoitsuki…have you seen anything like this before?" He beckons for the other two to join him at the stone pillar to study the orb and in hopes try and release it from the pillar.
Fu shakes his head and just uses his fire to shine the light more intensely. "I don't know what it is.." He admits in all honesty. "So where are the thiefs?"
"I have no idea what this is and I haven't the slightly clue as to remove it, but we can look around and try and tear it from it's foudnation… or find a switch… or something else…" She peered intently at the orb, hoping that perhaps she could find something to uproot it. "Perhaps focusing some chakra into it can do that trick… i have a feeling it will be difficult to damage such an artifact…Ice manipulation might work as well…"
As both nin were studying the orb intently, Katsurou silently leaves their side. The Shirayuki's heart sinks to the pit of his stomach as everything seems to move in slow motion now. With his back turned he reaches up to lower his mask from his face. He swallows hard as he suppresses a tear. Upon closer examination, the orb reveals to be fake. Nothing more than a candle inside a bowl of glass with various symbols etched on it. The mission? A ruse created by Katsurou. He raises a shakey hand up to a switch on a wall that was well hidden behind a wooden beam. Looking over his shoulder he says to Aoitsuki in a sorrowful tone. "I love you dear sister. Take care." And before Aoitsuki could react, the switch is hit and a stone slab comes crashing down seperating Katusurou from the others.
A few moments later the clicking sounds continue within the walls. Another slab of stone opens up in the ground with a ladder leading further down. This tunnel however, was well light by various torches. Once at the bottom of the ladder, there would be a hallway that would lead the two back outside. By now, Katsurou is no where to be found.
Fu looks left and right as quick as he can. "Wait what?" He stares at the orb more closely. Trying to force some chakra into it. Then the slab comes down. Fu fliches. "Didn't do it!" He shouts, not moving a muscle.
A hint of confusion alarmed upon Aoitsuki's visage as she finally peered into the orb. All it had was a candle? But she didn't have a clue as to what this was. " A fake…?" Aoitsuki questioned briefly, peering towards Katsurou who suddenly drifted away from her he uttered somethign that she didn't realize at first. Certain words which rang to her which only brought a a single question. "Katsurou-kun! Why?!" Aoitsuki exclaims, a sudden burst of Ice released manifested to slam into the folding rock… Unfortunately for her she wasn't able to stop it from blocking out the way. Her body finally shivered for a moment, the ice continuing to rack and smash into the wall standing in their way. She had a genin with her though… she couldn't go searching for Katsurou at this moment. her cheeks flushed with a hint of frustration and confusion. Fu-san, let's get you back to Kirigakure… We need a search team here right away…"
