Starring:
Uyeda, Sosuke
Date: June 18, 2013
Summary:
The client gives Sosuke the description of a man who'd robbed him and an order to escort the man to him. What the boy finds is somewhat… interesting.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"People Just Never Learn"
Fuuma's Alleys
Up above lay grey skies, the sometimes enchanting and sometimes garish lights of the casinos above painting the subtle smog in faint hues of green and pink and blue, despite the light of the sun piercing the fog up above, though not without gaining a greyed tint of it's own. It was an average day in the Fuuma Basin. The streets were somewhat crowded on the main road holding the casinos, but in between them lay darkness and alleyway. The bright and the shadowed, side by side, intermingling as everything in this law lacking place is.
It is this very deficiency in the law that would have Sosuke placed here. A mission of sorts, for someone who wanted to take the law into their own hands. To gain justice, more like. There was a man who'd been beaten up and robbed. He has a description of that man and simply wants him to be captured, so he can get his money back and such. With the troubles in the Land of Fire, Sosuke was the only one sent to ensure that some ryo flow continued.
Sosuke is from the Land of Rice, in fact it is a place he would call home. But outside of the Gansao Village were always grim sights. Sosuke has made many trips to Fuuma Alley, as a civilian and shinobi. The area was always depressing but in a twisted way it was necessary. Commerce and what not flourished because of places like this. Sosuke wasn't surprised when he was selected to answer this man's righteous call. He has obtained what he needed and was now on the hunt. It wasn't uncommon to see shinobi, rogue or not in the streets. Sosuke kept an eye out for the man using what little he knew surmise where he could be found. Thieves, are distinguishable if one knows what to look for after all.
Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was fortune. Perhaps it was sheer coincidence, or intuition, or one too many bean burritos messing with someone's system, but there was actually very little time. Whatever the reasoning, there was actually very little time before a man would step forward, moving with the crowd. His elbow bumped into Sosuke's shoulder in his natural stride, and he looked down at the boy. A nod, an apologetic grin, and a "Sorry about that," and he continued on.
A man that looked to stand at about six feet even. A man with a steely kind of grey eyes and an olive skin tone. A man wearing a green shirt, black pants, black boots, and a black cloak with the hood down. A man that perfectly fit the description of the mugger on the day of the incident. And he was weaving through the crowd, heading in the same direction as the konoha shinobi.
Until nudged Sosuke's attention was focused outwards towards looking for those who were fitting the description. He was nearly knocked off balance by this man. Sosuke winces a bit and shows to be a bit irritated by the stranger's carelessness. He was willing to let the man go after his apology until he got a good look at him. His description matched perfectly. Sosuke would check to see if anything was stolen from him but all the while he kept up with the man. He has to follow him immediately and apprehend him when no one was around to interfere. So keeping that in mind Sosuke trailed the man at the reasonable distance one is taught to utilize when tailing another.
After a block and a half, the man begins making his way off to the side of the walking crowd. It seemed that he was about ready to make his way out of the stream of people and head to his destination. A darker alley beside a casino and a fairly nondescript building. His exit was smooth and swift, a natural thing.
With Sosuke keeping a logical distance between himself and his mark, it would take a little time for him to make the alley's entrance and pick the view of him back up. And once he did, the man would already be opening a door in the side of the nondescript building, stepping through.
The man was clearly walking with a destination in mind. Sosuke found it growing a bit easier to follow him once he began to anticipate the path. But when the man faded into the alleyway Sosuke lost sight of him. He had increased his pace to make sure he didn't loose sight of the man. More stealth would have to be taken however since haste was being made. Sosuke caught the man disappearing into a door on the side of a building. Sosuke would wait until the man entered and the door closed before following. From then on Sosuke wouldn't know if he was being lead into a trap or what, but there was always risk.
When Sosuke would enter the side door after the man in the cloak, he'd find himself in a dark hallway. It was a little cramped and it smelled a little of too sweet berries, but it was also short. One could tell by the slight red glow at the end of it, illuminating steep stairs leading upwards.
Once one reached the stairs, they'd find that the glow was coming from a crack in a hatch at the top of it. There were faint sounds coming from the other end of it. It was really the only place that the man could've left at, unless there was some sort of passage hidden in the dark walkway. If there was, though, it wouldn't be found.
Sosuke didn't expect to find what he did on the other side of the door, but he was alive so nothing has gone wrong. He cautiously ventures over to the end of the hallway towards the red light. He takes the stairs up towards the source of the glow, his ears twitched a bit as they picked up indiscernible noises. Sosuke knew better than to emerge carelessly. He would peek out once reaching the top, first listening to determine what the sounds were. Sosuke readies himself to cast genjutsu just in case he needs to vanish in a hurry.
The cracked open hatch wouldn't give much of a view. Just what looked to be the legs of a table and a chair that sits at it. There's noone sitting at that table currently, by the Konohagakure shinobi's perspective. The slight opening of the hatch brought the sounds that'd been sifting through it into sudden, sharp clarity, though. It seemed to be… music. Low, rhythmic music, similar to the kind a chant might be led to. Deep drums and a low string instrument, with an occasional air instrument making a fleeting, higher pitched note.
Sosuke can hear the music but his view is less than informative. But it seems that there is no one around, at least at the table. The time to rise seemed to approaching soon so Sosuke grit his teeth and took his chances emerging from the lower passage. One on top his attention would turn towards the source of this music. He'd lost his target so he didn't have time to be meticulous in his pursuit.
The hatch opening let out a little squeak above the sound of the music before letting the genin into the room in full. The music seems to be coming from three people off in the darkness to the side of a candle lit stage. A stage featuring only a pole and the scantily clad woman strutting a slow circle around it.
The squeak had attracted the attention of another woman wearing just as little, this one holding a tray. Looking to Sosuke, she arched a brow and approached him, saying "Hey, hun. I think you might've stumbled into the wrong place. You -really- shouldn't be here."
And indeed, looking around, she might be right. With candles everywhere, and the deeply thrumming beat, and the scantily clad women, and the various… private booths… It was an adult club. And it wasn't exactly the place to bring the kids.
The man was here, though. Nursing a drink at a nearby table.
Sosuke peers around once he's topside. He was ignoring, for the most part, anything and everything that wasn't his target. But when the server girl approached him telling him that he shouldn't be here Sosuke spoke to her, albeit shortly. "I'll be leaving shortly." he finally spotted the man he'd been tailing and headed over towards him. Sosuke doesn't think the man has any reason to just flee from him on sight so Sosuke approach is casual. Sosuke took a seat across from the man and kept his gaze on the man. "Pardon me." he starts. "I'd hate to interrupt whatever business you have here but I need to you accompany me somewhere."
Uyeda's eyes shift from the dance to Sosuke as the boy takes a seat across from him, his brows raising in something like surprise. He takes a sip from his drink, letting it go down before tilting it in Sosuke's direction. "Hey kid. I hate to disappoint you but…" He shakes his head and shrugs, a slightly amused grin coming to his face. "Only the girls are for sale here. And you have too many parts to be my kind of customer, anyway."
Sosuke blinks twice not understanding the man's remark. With a bit of thought he comes to a literal conclusion. "No you misunderstand. I am not in…that sort of business. My intentions are strictly professional. You fit the description of a thief. My client, the victim, gave me the description of the man who robbed him. So to confirm, I need to take you back to him. I am quite capable of resorting to aggressive means, however I rather not. Beside the only penalty would be to return what was stolen. Incarceration seems highly unlikely and is also outside of my mission parameters." Sosuke explains. He glances around but only for a brief moment, the modesty or lack there of with the women here did indeed make him uncomfortable. He would try to keep his eyes on Uyeda.
Uyeda blinks.
And then he shakes his head once more. He leans back in his seat, lounging now as an arm finds it's way onto the back of his chair, the other resting easily on the table. "Oh. So I've stolen from somebody now, have I?" He pauses a moment, taking a sip from his drink once more…
"Alright, so let me guess." A brow jerks, the expression on his face one almost entertained displeasure. "Your client… Local? Looks a little rough himself, maybe? Wasn't bruised up or anything? Plus — And this one's important now — alive enough to give you a full, accurate description of the man who supposedly robbed him?" He arches a brow, as though asking how he was doing thus far.
Sosuke gives it some thought before nodding to Uyeda. He makes the mistake of letting his eyes wander and catches a glimpse of one of the dancer's provocative dance. He quickly looks back towards Uyeda with an answer. "Yes," Sosuke didn't realize how gullible he'd been until he let the answer linger a bit out there. "And? I don't see how any of that is of significance. If anything, it sounds like you're just incriminating yourself." Sosuke pitches to the man.
A moment of silence. For what, would be hard to say, but by the look on Uyeda's face, it wasn't exactly to relish the moment. "Alright," he said with a shrug of a shoulder. "Three more questions." He took swift mouthful from his drink, eyes looking to the waitress that'd spoken to Sosuke in the beginning as she passed by. His eyes stayed on her as she walked away and he spoke. "What exactly did this guy say he was going to do to the guy who supposedly robbed him? Apparently me. How much did he say was stolen from him? And how much did it cost him to get you sent on this mission?" His grey gaze shifted from the woman's rear to Sosuke's face. "You can condense the last two into, 'Did it cost him more to hire you than he said he lost?' if you'd like."
Sosuke crossed his arms. "If you're stalling then you'll be dealt with accordingly." The young man sighs and gives each of his questions some thought. "He didn't say. In fact he was very vague. He simply stated that a man, fitting your description stole from him. Seeing as he saw fit to go out of his way to hire a shinobi that must mean that whatever was stolen was worth more than whatever the cost." Sosuke surmises. He then drums his fingers on the table as a way to work off a bit of nervous energy, that woman from before was correct. This is no place for a 'kid' indeed. "He said that he'd ask the culprit to return whatever it is that he stole, I think it was money or something like that." Sosuke shook his head "Anyway it's clear you have something to say."
Uyeda lets out a little huff.
"Know what? Yeah. Sure. Why not? I stole that money or something like that from whomever your client is." He knocks back the rest of his drink, putting it down on money that was already on the table before standing up and gesturing to the hatch that Sosuke had entered from. "I'm prepared to go return it, probably with a little bit of interest to make up for this whole debacle. So go ahead and lead the way."
Sosuke nods "Thanks for cooperating. It shouldn't be too much of a problem." Sosuke says before getting up. "I'll direct you." Sosuke says. He figured the man would understand. "First, let's exit this establishment." From then on Sosuke would direct Uyeda while standing at his side, perhaps a little bit behind in pace so he could keep a close eye on the man. If all went well Sosuke would lead him back to his client, as were his orders in this mission.
Uyeda only made a sound of assent and opened the hatch, leaving the adult club with a decidedly aggravated gaze. He followed the boy's instructions, heading back down the street they'd walked on for a small while. He looked at a lamp post on the street corner before turning into the alleyway there. Continuing on, he looked to the left, seeing a dead end. A few large blood stains said that something had went down there at some point in time.
But they'd moved past it, turning a few more corners further into the intricate maze of alleyways behind the bright neon front of Fuuma's tourist street. Eventually, they came to one spot. A dead end with a nondescript, metallic door set in the wall of one of the building's making up the alleyway. Uyeda stopped and looked at the genin, simply waiting.
Sosuke takes notes of the blood stains but he didn't say anything about it. Instead Sosuke continued on to complete this mission. When they come to a dead end Sosuke finds the metallic door and knocks accordingly as he had been instructed earlier. He then waits for someone to answer. Not that Fuuma alley was a shady place by nature but something definitely felt wrong about all of this. Still Sosuke had his orders and he'd follow them until everyone of them had been achieved.
A few moments after the knock came, an eye slot in the door was opened up. A moment of staring. Examining. Judging. It closes and the sound of a lock being removed resounds. The door opens, revealing a large man with a metal studded thing one could only call a cudgel. He eyes the two as he steps out, circling to close off the exit with his body. "The boss will be right out," he says in a gravelly voice.
"I'm sure," replies Uyeda with a quiet breath of laughter, folding his arms as he looks into the doorway. A moment later, another hired bunch of muscle comes out with a steel rod, preceding the man who was Sosuke's client. A large nosed, scar-cheeked man who stepped out beside his guard. He glanced at Uyeda and grunted. "This the one?" he calls.
From the doorway steps one last person. A lean man in fairly nondescript clothing. He was a bit rough looking. Scraggly beard. Largely unkempt hair. And his nose seems to have recently been brutally and painfully broken, still red about the area. "Yeah," he says, looking at Uyeda, though only for a moment. He preferred to look at his boss. "Yeah, he's the one…"
Sosuke's client nodded, tossed him a purse of ryo, and said, "It's all there. Mission finished. Go home, kid."
Sosuke caught the purse of Ryo and proceeded to count it. He nods once he's finished and bows. "Pleasure." he then tucks the purse into his pouch and looks to Uyeda. "Now that I am finished, mind telling me how you knew who my client was and what they looked like?" Sosuke asks. He folds his arms "I'm curious." he says with a soft grin. Sosuke then looks back his client "The mission is over so I'm free to do as I wish now. My apologies if it is an inconvenience to you."
Uyeda let out a little sigh, turning his grey gaze to Sosuke once more. This time there was a hint of disbelief in it. "Kid. Someday, you've got to tell me just how it is that you can manage to be so, so illogically gullible," he says, emphatically drawing out the second so. "Seriously, that's got to be a talent. I don't know your apprentice of a client." He gives a negligent flick of the hand to the man with the broken nose. "He, on the other hand, tried to rob me not too long ago and didn't have things go too well for him."
The client on the other hand gave Sosuke a glare now. More a glower by the shadows that sat heavy in his expression. "Let me tell you this now, boy. Staying here to watch… Is not what you 'wish'. Go give your payment and your success report and avoid a little early trauma." He turned to look towards Uyeda, then, growling, "So, I heard you caused a little trouble with my boys." He shakes his head in a dangerous manner. "We don't much like trouble that ain't of our own causin, you know."
"The mission was to retrieve you. Regardless of how faulty and poor the exact reasoning was I still had a job. What occurred in all actually wasn't part of the mission specifications." Sosuke briefly explained. He then looks at his.client and the dangerous looking men around him. Sosuke nods after Uyeda explains a bit. "Figures. Thus it explains why a petty theft would warrant the hiring of a shinobi. You've gotten involved with a vindictive lot." The young genin remarked. He steps back and folds his arms. "I do wish to see how this unfolds. If you wish for me to not interfere I suggest you don't provoke me." Sosuke tells the man. He then looks to Uyeda and shrugs. "I'm not a hero."
"That's a good rule to live by," said Uyeda to Sosuke, giving him a glance, but turning his eyes onto the man speaking all of these threatening words. "Just try and make sure that doesn't turn into the opposite end of the spectrum. A nice, healthy neutrality is the way to go."
The bossman didn't seem to like having his words go essentially ignored. He tapped the back of his hand to the front of the large man beside him, saying only, "Go ahead and break him in." He looked back to Sosuke then, saying, "I don't care if you pick up a few nightmares then. Just don't get in the way." And then his attention is back on Uyeda.
He, though, flashes through a swift series of handseals. The result? A combustion of flame on the man with the broken nose. He begins screaming, abruptly set aflame. He starts to run forward but trips, falling to the ground and rolling and flailing, taking everyone's attention.
"Owed him that one," said Uyeda.
Sosuke softly chuckled "For a shinobi following orders is the healthy neutrality." He got comfortable against the wall when it appeared the former client was content with him being left out of this scuffle. So Sosuke remained the neutral observer. And the first thing he observed was the mismatch of the two opposing parties. With the man set ablaze with what Sosuke can only conclude to be ninjutsu he can see that this strange man was more than what he appeared to be. "Well I wouldn't be much of a shinobi if seeing a man burned alive unnerved me so." He looks to his former client "Is this what you meant? About the nightmares that is? If so then fret not. I've seen worse. But I'm getting ahead of myself. That was just one of you. Who knows what he'll do to you?" Sosuke states as if it were all just one big thought/game to him.
"Kid has a point."
Another few handseals flashed through and a clone of Uyeda appeared next to the writhing, flaming man. He grinned at the rest. "Handsome devil," remarks the real man just before the clone sends off a two fingered salute and explodes in a burst of fire. The concussion sends the screaming man slamming against the wall with a wet crack, leaving him silent but for the crackle of the flames.
"Well, alright then." He claps his hands together, looking to the boss. "I'm sure you didn't believe what he told you. But I don't doubt that you do now. And I can forgive you for that." He gestures to the new corpse with a jerk of the head. "He and I had a little debt to get squared away, but we're cool now. You, I don't have any grudge against. So how about we nod to eachother and part ways as friends?" He started walking towards the exit, in the direction of the boss and his guard. He sent a smiling nod to him, as though passing an acquaintance on the street.
Sosuke's client grit his teeth…
Sosuke watches as Uyeda makes quick work of the others with his fire clone. Sosuke then looks to his client and shrugs "Are you looking to me for advice?" Sosuke asked before glancing around to the damage done. "If I were in your position I'd swallow that useless pride." Sosuke advised. And he left it at that. The young Gansao was just about done observing anyway. He had his payment and he had something to report back at the village. "Oh and if it's any comfort to you my mind is still in a pleasant condition. Not likely I'll be experiencing any nightmares tonight." Sosuke then strokes his chin and grins "Unless…could I be getting ahead of myself….again?" his gaze then turns toward his former client.
Uyeda never stops walking. And the boss man or the guard never move to stop him. Instead, the Konoha client growls and disappears into the building he'd come out of, shouting, "Someone clean up this lucubrating mess!" The guard vanished into the building behind him, sending a glance towards Sosuke and Uyeda before closing the metal door behind him. Apparently, the burnt corpse would be taken care of by someone else at another time.
"Thanks for the lead, by the way," sayd Uyeda as he nears the shinobi, tossing a nod to him. "It feels nice to get this off of my back. Like apologizing for something you've been holding onto for a long time, you know?" He pauses, arching a brow and flashing a grin. "What do you say about heading back to the club and celebrating jobs well done?"
Sosuke isn't surprised to see the man back down. Once they retreat back to their dwelling Sosuke stands straight up and prepares to return to the village. He would pitch Uyeda a strange glance when he thanked him. "You have nothing to thank me for. I was just carrying out my mission." The offer gets a wicked frown from Sosuke. "No." he says sternly. "That place is….no place for a kid. Or any respectable person." Sosuke says with a shutter and a faint blush. It clears up fast as he regains his composure. "Ahem I'll be taking my leave now. I trust you'll be alright should you find yourself in more trouble." He says with a slight bow. As his head rises though a thought enters and he voices it immediately. "Where did you learn fire style ninjutsu?" Sosuke asked, for the report.
Uyeda lets out a laugh at Sosuke's response, nodding to him. "True. Won't find too many of those people around there." He starts walking away as the bow is given, raising a hand in goodbye. At the sudden question, though, he arches a brow. "Mm? Oh. I lived my youth in a volcano. Learned it as a matter of survival." That offhand comment given, his stride continues taking him away, probably heading back towards the club he's gotten picked up at.
Sosuke smirked at Uyeda's answer. "I figured as much." is his last remark before departing. "Until we meet again." he bids him farewell. Very rarely are missions this simple and entertaining. Sosuke was fortunate, this time. Perhaps names could be exchanged on their next encounter which Sosuke was certain wouldn't be too long for now.
