Starring:
Date: October 27, 2010
Summary:
The ragtag team goes to strike down crime on the rise in Sunagakure, but instead nearly end up struck down themselves when they find the storehouse where the criminals are operating in.
"Risky Business"
Collapsed Building — Katakaze Street
There have been reports from villagers that crime is starting to surface, but nothing has necessarily been 'witnessed' by them. Those that did report seemed to be a little nervous about it, but wouldn't explain the why. So, now all officials know is that there's crime. Crime was to be expected, but that doesn't mean it's welcome. It's just another issue to be added to the list. That list showed up on Itami's desk and now she has to do something about it because the officials won't ever do anything but run their mouths in her ear. Sigh.
So, she's tried to gather up team to help her out in this, but not many showed up. No one wanted to be involved. Too afraid. Now all she has to rely on is…nothing at the moment. She isn't sure she wants to do this alone, or rather, maybe she just wants others to fall with her if things turn bad. It all depends.
Risu is actually part of the crime problem, or was. She's picked a fair number of pockets. She's swiped a fair number of, well, fruits and the like from food stands. In fact food was her number one target most of the time. No trying to resell it, just… eat it which was the whole point. But now she's no longer Buyo, she's Risu. And she's got clean clothes, a new name and a new attitude. Or she's trying. It's hard. Her instincts are to take something not watched and now that she's not a smelly dirty street rat she can actually get closer to food and the like without raising eyebrows than before. This means it is easier, something that strikes her as ironic, or would if she knew what irony was, as it is she just thinks it is odd.
She's standing around, on one of the streets, watching people go by, trying to figure out what to do, as the day passes. She's fed, not hungry. This is a feeling she's just not that used to, so for now she's sitting in some shade of a broken building, watching people, as she sits on a wooden box. She's not hiding, so she'll be easy to spot if anyone is looking for her or even just wants to notice her.
One of the people called by Itami to come check this out was Toshiro. He really wasn't sure about all this but apparently the idea was that if he was up and strong enough to run the towns, then he was up and strong enough to come help find some thieves. It just seems weird to him but he isn't going to say no to his village. That was too deeply instilled into his mind. He walks up and looks at Itami before looking around at the area, "So…what is going on?" He states.
Kichiro rambles aimlessly, or so it seemed. His aimless wondering through the streets in his odd, imprecise gait eventually carried him to the small gathering. He approaches Risu and announces, "Itami-san.. you look different today.. is it your hair?" He asks, seeming completely serious. As he awais an answer he slowly begins to tilt to one side, his back turned to the real Itami.
"Ah, good, you've arrived." Itami grins. "You and I are going to go and search out some thieves." She explains bluntly. "I imagine there's more to it considering how disturbed the villagers are, but for the most part, that's our job for today and I'd rather stop it now before things have time to thrive." She explains and then notices something moving oddly in the corner of her eye.
Turning around to face it, she sees Kichiro talking to…a building? She doesn't see Risu yet. "Kichiro-san!" She calls to him. "What are you doing? Is there something in there?" She wondered, but didn't approach to see what he was looking or talking to yet.
Blinking a bit, Risu shakes her head then says, "Um, I'm Risu… Itami-san is over there." She points, "She's way bigger than me and has white hair." She points out, "Where as I'm a little girl with blond hair." As if Kichiro must be part blind to confuse the two. "Uh, and… now she's asking you a question, see?" Risu sinks back on her crate, looking a bit worried that Itami may see her, she's nervous about that a bit.
A nod and then he shrugs, "If that is what is needed of me…I guess." He states and then looks toward the obviously insane, Kichiro. He looks to Itami as she speaks to him and then looks at Kichiro himself. He rubs his head a little and then shrugs as he starts walking that way a little to get a better angle on what it is that Kichiro might be talking to. Or perhaps who it is…he might not be fully insane.
kichiro leans back into a back bend, then stands on his hands facing Itami, "Ah, there you are. I thought she looked too much like a little blonde girl to be you" He hand-walks over towards Itami. "so Whats's going on?"
"Mmmhmm." Itami smirks and starts to follow after Toshiro in his investigation of who it was Kichiro was talking to. She lofted a brow and tilted her head when he finally regarded her. It's not necessarily the greeting she was expecting. "…Eh? Who is this girl you speak of?" The clock ticks as she thinks…and then dings. "Oh! I know." She begins her walk over to the building while replying to Kichiro saying, "Since you've asked, I'm going to need your help in doing away with some thieves." She grins. "And Buyo-san can help as well." She hadn't known her by her new name yet. "Why don't you come out and join us. We're going to need all the help we can get." She then peers around the corner of the building into the inside, lifting a hand to wave to her upon arrival. "Come along. We haven't much time to lose."
Risu steps out from around the box and says, "My name's not Buyo anymore! Yoko-san said so. It's Risu, so you better call me that!" She says firmly, "I'm not gonna be gnat or sandfly any more." She seems a tad sensitive about it since her old name was more of an insult and often followed with 'Go away' rathre than anything friendly. She flushes slighlty and looks at the others, "Anyway, yeah, call me Risu." She hesitates then adds, "Please?" She looks to Itami as she's asked to join, "Um, what are you doing? Why… uh.. how can I help?"
Looking to Itami a moment, he hmms, "So, what is weird about thieves?" Toshiro asks and tilts his head as he glances then at Kichiro, "You're…odd…and that's saying a lot." He nods before he hears Risu and smiles, "Hi!" He states and for some reason is able to muster some cheer for the girl as she defends the very idea of having a name. There's something about that. He just shakes his head some and turns back to Itami to let her answer all the questions thrown toward her.
Kichiro follows the group to face and meet Risu. He shifts his weight to one hand to offer Risu a friendly wave. "It's nice to meet you, Chibi-Chan" His stance seems rock solid, eventhough he is standing on one hand only. He looks to Itami, "is there a specific crime we are seeking the perpetrators of or are we just stopping thieves in general?" He looks up to Toshiro, "Odd.. you're the one that's upside down"
Itami was a little startled to hear Buyo, now known as Risu yelling at her about her name. "Oh…" She replies. "My apologies. I will use your proper name from now on." She smiles. "So, Risu-san, come along. We're going to look for thieves and I think you might be able to help with that." She nods and gestures to her to follow. "As for what you've asked of me, Kichiro-san, we're probably doing a bit of both. The villagers are nervous, so I imagine whatever crimes being committed are some form of serious." She hums, "But if we stop these criminals and whatever they're doing, it may discourage more crime should anyone be thinking about it. I've received some information that the crime is happening mostly on this street…"
She starts to walk back over to the crumbled building she was standing in front of. It was the remains of some sort of shop, though she can't remember what shop it is now. This street isn't one she frequented, but apparently a lot of dirty things went down on this street. "You can fit into tight spaces Risu-san. I'll need your help to squeeze into some tight spaces inside this place up here."
It was a bit of an uncharacteristic outburst from Risu but… her new name is important to her. When she's called Chibi-chan she blushes more, and peers at Kichiro. She turns away and looks back to Itami, following the instructions and all, a bit surprised to be called 'san' really. She looks at the building, tilting her head and peering at it, "You want me to go in there?" She asks as she walks closer to it, "I can do that, I guess." She says as she moves closer to the mostly fallen building, "What am I looking for in there, though?" She asks as she considers and examines the building more closely.
A blink at Kichiro again and then a sigh. Toshiro shakes his head and he looks at Itami, "In there?" He asks and points at the building and then looks at Risu. He ponders, "Is it wise for her to go by herself?" He asks and looks over at Itami again, "It seems…just, not fully safe for her to go by herself."
Kichiro cartwheels to his feet and lopes over to the building. "I can scout ahead for her.. in a way." He sinks down into a very animalistic stance, letting his mind and senses fall into a more primal state. He crawls around the perimeter of the building sniffing and listening carefully.
With Kichiro and Risu working on scouting out the building, the both of them would discover something off about it. Kichiro might notice that a certain part of the building sounds hollow while Risu may discover that there's a loose square of ground that feels unlike earth. Though there's rubble and dirt covering the square, it still doesn't change the fact that it's different from the rest of the flooring in the area. "Yes, in there." Itami replies to Toshiro. "But that's why you're here." She chuckles. "You have to go in as well. Clear away some rubble that will impede her search and endanger her. I'll just stand watch!" She chimes in a chipper manner. "No, no, I'll be helping too, but you all need this more than I do."
Risu hesitates only a moment then… dives into the rubble to look around. She's been digging in buildings most of her life, and a lot since the disaster. So she's used to this. She climbs through the rubble, without any realization to the risk she might be in. She crawls around then says, "Hey, there's something in here, something um… there's a basement covered up I think. Hidden. I don't think I can get it open without someone helping move the stuff above it though. May not be able to lift it myself." She calls from inside the building, out of sight but clearly heard as she calls out.
"Oh…" He states and then eyes Itami before shaking his head. He growls softly and then follows Risu into the place, shaking his head as he goes. He looks around as he crawls inside, looking for the spot where Risu is talking about. He spots it up ahead and then nods, "I see." He states and then moves to try and help her lift things out of the way, to move toward that odd spot she's found.
Kichiro plants a hand on the hollow sounding section, using a chi pulse into the wall to examine the interior as best as his special senses can. He looks over towards the pair, opening the hatch and shake shis head, "And I thought I was bad about leaping before looking." He extends his tremor sense to cover as much as he can to try and get a little advance view of the area the two are checking out as well.
After all the rubble is moved away and the hatch is opened, the group would be greeted some stairs that lead down into an underground pathway. This wasn't any ordinary basement, but Kichiro's tremor sense did reveal that there was an open area further down. "We'll have to go in there and see what's down there." She goes first and heads down the stairs followed by the rest of the ragtag team.
Down below, it was fairly bright. Torches were lit to see what the area clearly. Though, there was nothing to see. It was all just a blank space. "Hmm…" Itami hums. "It's empty." That's obvious.
"Let's check around a bit more to see what else we can discover." She has the group spread out to different parts of the room to see if they can find anything. There are four walls and a floor to check. Something had to give.
Risu heads down with the rest and peers around the empty room, "Huh, how do they keep torches lit down here, with the thing all blocked up?" She asks as she peesr at them, wondering if something is special about them. "Must be another way in, maybe?" She suggests as she peers at spots on the floor to see if there are scuff marks or anything. She trails along the walls, letting her hand touch it as she walks, peering at the floor.
Looking at the area around, he hmms as he nods to Risu, "You're right. Something is up." He nods his head as he wanders around the room, peering at the different things that are here and then looks back toward the others, "i'm not sure what we are searching for though." He nods, "I don't see much here."
There are four walls and a floor to check. there is also a ceiling. Kichiro crawls down the stairs and into the room along the ceiling, moving along it as easily as people walk. He peers from side to side, his eyes wild, alert.
All of them would have picked up on a strange hollow sound. That same sound that Kichiro picked up on before was now able to be heard by everyone. At the corner of the room, there was a crack in the wall where air was filtering through. It could explain why the torches were able to maintain their light despite being closed up by a hatch from the floor.
Risu would be able to pick up on the crack in the wall and with a push, the door would move forward and then slide away to reveal a room where weapons were being stored at. Everything looked a little messy as the area was cluttered with weapons stacked on the ground and strewn across tables situated around the room. This wasn't a storage area, this was some sort of operation. "I think I see the problem now…" Itami remarks.
There was more to this newfound room. Open doorways and iron doors would lead to other areas that were responsible for certain parts of the operation…and the people inside that were tasked were carrying it out in secret. They came stepping out of the individual rooms having heard the secret door opening up and began to make a grab for the weapons that were available in the 'storage space'. They weren't ninja, thankfully, but they were capable of harm. They were brutes, after all.
"Alright, it's time to spread out. We'll have to take out these guys and look for the leader after we're done." Itami states and begins to make her move. The brutes didn't waste any time in trying to handle the ninja. They did have a lot of weapons at their disposal, so they figured they might be somewhat formidable against the ragtag team that assembled. Already they were running up the ramp that lead to the secret door to attack with knives, polearms and swords at their disposal.
One of the men threw a knife at Kichiro from across the room while another swung his sword at Toshiro. A small, more thinner brute went after Risu to attempt to apprehend her.
Risu blinks as she realizes people are running up and at her. She quickly retreats with a squeak. She's nine. She's a kid. She has no combat training what so ever. She's going to be running away now. She tries to avoid being grabbed but… the thinner brute scoops her up easily, leaving her suddenly no feet on the ground and kicking a bit, "Help! Help! Leggo! Leggo!" She screams as she kicks and squirms, trying to get free.
Seems that, indeed, Toshiro is out of practice as he flicks his hands together to form the symbols for…oh crap a sword cuts him. He hops back and hisses, "Ow!" He states as he shakes his head, "Damn idiot!" He states and then jumps up to kick the guy right in the face, "Back off!"
And as he lands, right where the sword cut into Toshiro seems to look weird…it's like the blood and the cut is going…a little backward. Strangely his eyes look somewhat odd as well though it is hard to see as it happens for only a brief moment.
Kichiro can't move as well as he'd like in these cramped quarters. As such, when he tries to slip past the knife, he catches it in his soulder. and lands on the floor once. more. He plucks the knife and drops it down before glaring at the man who threw it. Instead of charging him, he cartwheels back and kicks the bandit that grabbed up Risu on the top of his head. While standing on his hands, Kichiro announces "Leave Chibi-chan alone"
The thin brute now has Risu in his arms and wasn't going to let her go as he was making his way towards the back of the room to try and avoid all the fighting. Though, he wasn't paying much attention to the fighting that was going on in his arms other than an occasional "Shut up!" and "Stop moving so much!" coming out of him in various forms. Though, none of that would matter when Risu flailed and struggled so much that she managed to nail the guy where it hurts the most. He yelped softly and sucked in his lips while his eyes squinted and his grip weakened. Risu would eventually be able to slip out of his grasp and somewhere safe like the underside of a table. If that wasn't enough, he ended up being kicked down by Kichiro from behind. The thin brute was down for the time being.
The knife hurler that initially attacked Kichiro had taken this opportunity to pick up another knife to go after him with. Skipping through all the scuffling to try and stab Kichiro while he was distracted.
Toshiro's swordsman got a decent slash in to cause some damage to Toshiro. Continuing his attack, he was trying to close the gap between the two only to get knocked and stepping backwards down the ramp where his balance would be lost and he'd lean against a table to regain it. Pushing himself back up, he resumes the offensive and performs a sword thrust towards him.
Itami, amidst this all was attempting to keep other attackers at bay by minimizing their efforts as much as possible so the team could fend off their individual brutes without interruption.
It may be cowardly, but… Risu is not up to fighting. She's managed to stay alive so long by fleeing and hiding. And hiding is what she does. She crawls under the table and… eyes the exit. She waits for a time and… runs, trying to scramble out to the stair way they came in by. She's taking a risk to flee like this. But she just wants to get away from the men with sharp things. She looks pale and scared as she scampers, trying to get away.
A growl escapes Toshiro and he is jabbed at by the blade an it cuts him. He stumbles back and shakes his head, "Darn it." He states and then pulls forth a kunai and throws it right at the guy's arm, "Cut that out…and I don't mean me!" He yells as he throws it and then pulls another kunai free, spinning it into a hold as he watches Risu exit. He doesn't even appear to notice his body knitting itself.
Kichiro sumbles backwards as the bandit lunges with his knife. It looks like a horrible wound as he kemonoken bend over, clutching his stomach. He falls backwards, but his momentum carries him back to the swordsman facing Toshiro. he punches towards the man's midsection before he dashes back to his original opponent, sliding and performing a swift kick at the knife-wielder's knee.
With all the fighters distracted, Risu has a clear shot to the door now that it's cleared. With all the speed she could muster, she ran out of the room and into the open to escape the dangers of the basement below the rubble. This left only Toshiro and Kichiro left to fight, but the fighters were almost done. The brutes they were facing were beginning to grow tired as they hadn't the stamina the ninja had, so their movements eventually slowed and became a bit more sloppy.
The swordsman that was facing Toshiro would grow winded from being punched in his midsection and then keel as his muscles relax and his vision blurs. The knife wielder would fall at a bad angle after receiving the kick to his knee and knock his head, causing him to become unconscious. Itami had taken care of the rest of the brutes that were attempting to make their way in, but held them back enough to effectively end the fighting.
The leader, coming out after seeing his operation wrecked attempted an attack against Itami, but failed as she dodged and proceeded to apprehend him. He would be turned in and more than likely locked away while the police would come and confiscate the items that were being made here. "…This turned into a lot more than I'd hoped it to be. Thank you for your help. I'll need to speak with you all after this is over so I can pay you for your efforts in serving Sunagakure."
Watching as the guy goes down, Toshiro shakes his head and puts his kunai away. He looks over toward Itami and nods to her, "Good job to you, too." He nods and walks over a little shakey, his eyes still look…off. He looks up at her, "Anyway, umm, I should probably head back to the hospital again or something."
