Starring:
Kasuya, Ginrei
Date: February 3, 2015
Summary:
Kasuya takes Ginrei on a patrol. The two find a fire burning and act.
"Roast Meat"
Kumogakure, near the Prison
Ginrei was given an evening shift as a patrolman while accompanied by another shinobi. And she wasn't a KRD official. But all thoughts of a more relaxed duty would fly out the window when he met up with Kasuya. Stern, severe, and cold, Kasuya would patrol the village but always keep a wary eye on him. Strangely they patrol late into the night, and the eyes on Ginrei seem to thin from the rooftops or dark alleys. Either he has more trust, or more likely Kasuya is able (and willing) to beat him to a pulp if he puts a toe out of the line. In fact, she'd said as much by way of greeting.
But for the first time she says something that's not an order or reprimand. Why did you return to the village? Her tone isn't demanding, just curious, as they stroll towards what remains of the prison.
The greeting had been a nice touch. It was a little over the top, which reminded him of Rise but still it was obvious that Kasuya felt the need to tell him. Ahh the life of a second rate citizen. He would follow along the patrol as he use to do back when he was an official shinobi. Things started to feel like they once were, that is until she asked him why he returned. "At the time when I left the village, I was trying to prepare for the Chuunin Exams. It was very difficult with everyone always so very busy. To make matters worse, I felt alienated by two members of the village that were placed into leadership positions." Ginrei explains. "It was not a lack of loyalty that caused me to leave, but a lack of feeling I belonged. Hiei was always a friend of mine. I know it hurt him when I left and he ponders why I did not stay." Ginrei seems to pause there for a moment. He had given the backstory but not a real answer yet.
"So being loyal to the village was too…distracting," Kasuya says, and then glances at him. "Do you want to tell me the real reason why you left this village? It couldn't be on such a casual note. Desertion means death. You really put me through the runner, trying to track you." Her lips twitch at the end though. That was a fun vacation for her. Stopping at hot springs, bars, spending copious amounts of the money she'd made on high rank missions. It wasn't luck that let Ginrei avoid what should've been a determined, intelligent chase.
Ginrei shakes his head. "No, it was not that loyalty was distracting. It was not like that. I left to seek power. I left so that I could grow. I was unable to inside these walls. I was berated by Hiroyasu every time I did anything. Sparring made me a barbarian and I usually got told off every time he saw someone get a bruise. Even Hiei's cousin Nariko wanted nothing to do with me. She went from friendly to cold shoulder in less than three words." Ginrei shakes his head. "I missed the Chuunin exams twice because no one wanted to help. I even tried practicing on squirrels. That made me even more of a scumbag. Its hard to be somewhere where you cannot do anything right."
The young man goes quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "I remember a Chuunin taking us out on a mission. He told Hiroyasu and myself that we needed to find something. Hiroyasu refused the task given citing that it was beneath him. He then proceeded to argue and tell the Chuunin how he should operate. A few weeks later, he gets promoted. I just cannot see living in that world."
For some reason, Kasuya chuckles softly at his words. Not mockingly, though. "I guess I can understand that," she says. "It sounds like the winds of favor haven't been blowing for you. But you shouldn't care about your reputation. I don't. Just take what you think is the right course of action for the sake of the village. You should know that—huh?" She goes still and stops walking. The prison is up ahead. One of the ruined building that has its walls intact looks strange. No windows, just a door, but the door is chained. And from within smoke is seeping out from under the door.
As they walked Ginrei stopped when Kasuya did. He looked towards the building with the chained door. He could hear the crackling fire and voices calling for something. It sounded like they needed help. It seemed like with no windows the place was filling with smoke. "This definately does not seem right." he states as he moves towards the door. He waves his hand towards the door and sends a crystal shuriken to break the chain on the door. "If the fire is not getting an air source, opening this door could lead to an explosion of flames." Ginrei states to Kasuya. She was the ranking officer though, so it was her call.
Kasuya glances to Ginrei as the chain shatters. But no one is trying to run out. Kasuya shouts, "It's okay to come out!" But there's no reply, not even yells. It goes on for agonizing seconds longer, before Kasuya nods. "You can't fool fire," she mutters, for some reason. Though anyone who'd sparred her would know the vast amount of illusionary techniques she could wield. All useless in the face of these flames. Nor does lightning seem the best course of action. Or is it? Kasuya makes a clone of herself that now goes crashing through the door. It's immediately shattered by a gout of flame. She herself hesitates before saying, "Let's go in, and if there are any survivors, drag them out." No more screams now, only choking smoking and scorching flames everywhere. Kasuya dodges a falling support beam that now looks like a charred log. She ducks down to crawl forward, trying to stay out of the thickest of flames.
Ginrei smiles as Kasuya decides to go all ninja inside the building. He waves his hand and a barrier constructs over the top of himself to shield him from falling debris. It did little to keep the smoke out of his eyes. As he walks though, little bits of rock fall and hit the barrier and slide down around him. There was nothing like a support post yet. As he walks he spots two different bodies. They were obviously burned pretty bad and did not appear to be breathing. He was unsure if they were alive or not. "Over here!" he yells to Kasuya. He then picks one up and starts to move towards the door. As soon as he is outside, he places the body down and looks back to see if Kasuya was coming out with the other body. He did not have a lot of time to get them breathing.
Kasuya runs out choking and gasping with the body Ginrei had seen, and another one. "I think that's all," she says. "But just to make sure." She makes a few seals and then wind swirls through the air into the room. Pushing the smoke out albeit fanning the flames. Now it's even hotter, but with more visibility they can see in. A body, or more precisely a corpse, already seared and half destroyed by the flames. Kasuya winces. In all this time only a minute or so has passed. Now she puts fingers in her mouth and whistles. A couple shinobi and villagers are quick to come. They set to work on the flames, but Kasuya is now placing her fingers against the necks of the victims. Her face breaks out in relief. "Hospital," she says. "Fast." She'd head off with speed towards the medical center.
Kasuya's wind jutsu that seemed to fan the flames would earn her the raised eyebrow look from Ginrei. "I think you just ended the suffering of anything that was still alive in there." Though Kasuya was fast like a gazelle, she seemed smart like a bowling ball. As she dashed off towards the hospital, Ginrei picked up the charred body he had dragged out and took off after her. He was not nearly as fast. Perhaps he would prove to be the brains of this unlikely duo.
As Ginrei raced off towards the hospital, he did not bother to look back at the building. He wanted to know why these people were there, but the clues had likely been destroyed.
"I did say I thought those were the last people in there," Kasuya says, and then smiles coldly. "You could smell the last one as soon as you entered. Like roast meat." Did she just say that…about that final victim? "You need to..look out!" Her tone has changed sharply, to one of warning. She has turned to the left as three men lunge out with swords. Aiming for Ginrei and Kasuya or more specifically the bodies they have in tow. To Ginrei's eyes the two attacking her would be stabbing at empty air. Victims of an illusion. But the third would be dead on, aiming to slash the exposed back of Ginrei's patient.
At least Kasuya spoke her mind. Even if it was creepy to hear her reasoning. Though Ginrei was unable to spot the attacker before Kasuya, her warning allowed him to get the crystal barrier up in time to hear the sword make a tink noise against the crystals. Even though Ginrei was holding a body in his hands, his right hand moved forward and closed causing hundreds of shards around the attacker to form and shoot inwards piercing through the man who had attacked him. As if challenging the other swordsmen to come for him, Ginrei turns in their direction. "If you value your life, put down your blades."
The last man raises his blade to attack, but then frowns. The blade drops from his hands, and he drops to his knees. Kasuya makes a hand sign and he huddles there as if his limbs were heavy as lead. He can't move an inch, and Kasuya has no qualms about kicking a man while he's down. Which she does, right in his head. He drops like a log and now Kasuya tosses the unconscious attacker like a bag of oats to Ginrei. "Carry him along. No medical treatment for him though." She seems surprisingly calm, and they make it to the medical center. It's astonishing how fast the medics go to work, helping the patients to breath again, reacting calmly and with practiced procedures as they begin to cough and come back to life. "Recovering from too much smoke in the lungs is horrible, Kasuya says quietly.
Then she'd signal to Ginrei. "Bring that guy. To.." She thinks. Where is there a more private place? Already they can hear the sounds of commotion around the prison. She glances at one of the hospital rooms. Padded doors, soundproof. She smiles and beckons Ginrei to drag their attacker into an empty medical room. Then she asks casually, "Are you good at interrogation? Torture?"
Ginrei had hoped the man was smarter than wanting to attack after watching his buddy get turned into a pin cushion of death. Kasuya takes care of him though. Somehow Ginrei manages to carry two bodies. Luckily for both passengers neither was awake to complain about the lack of comfort provided by Ginrei. He is all the more happy to lighten his load. He figured the KRD would take over and deal with the other man. Nope. Kasuya had her own ideas.
"Torture?" Ginrei asks as he sets the man down in the padded room. "I am good at inflicting pain. I am not sure it will not cause him to pass out though. On the other hand reviving him to see one of his limbs shattered might make him talk. Your call."
"Break his limbs ehh?" Kasuya says, rubbing her chin. Then she'd go to nudge him awake. As soon as his eyes open Kasuya makes a line of hand seals. By the end the man lets out a terrible scream, clutching his arm, before staring down at his leg in horror. Though perfectly fine, his face is contorted in terrible pain. Kasuya leans down with a terrible smile and says, "Unless you want /all/ your limbs broken talk. Why were you trying to murder those inmates?" They'd mentioned who they were, in the medical room. The man is writhing as he says, "Traitors…traitors who didn't leave. We were given a chance to escape, but they stayed like weak dogs." "And how many were locked in?" "Four!" Kasuya lets out a sigh of relief.
She looks sharply at the man before he lets out another cry of pain and says, "Please, I'll tell you everything!" And he does. About a group that had formed among the escapees, if only one of them. Their anger at the obedient prisoners. The plan to quietly make an example of those who still cooperated with the village. Kasuya looks to Ginrei, raising an eyebrow. "Any questions for him?" she asks mildly. He might notice despite her calm there's a sheen of sweat on her face. She's been maintaining this illusion for some time, if the agonizing look and groaning from her victim is any indication.
Ginrei watched as the genjutsu seemed to take its toll on Kasuya. They had found out why the people were there, but that did nothing for the people's families if they actually died. "I want to know who they were specifically. Like names and inmate numbers. This way if they died, at least their families can have closure." There were more questions that he had but this was more important than those. They had time to find out who was giving orders. They also had other means of finding evidence should they need it. He gives a glance to Kasuya. He wondered how much longer she could keep the genjutsu up.
Kasuya looks at Ginrei thoughtfully. The prisoners could be identified eventually, but she supposes having the knowledge immediately would prove useful. And indeed it sheds a bit of light (not just sympathy) on the whole thing, as the names ticked off are one of the prison gangs that had formed within the confines of the prison. The attackers were largely made up of a hostile rival gang that had never been on good terms with them. Kasuya looks disgusted. Her eyes darken as she surveys the man, as if considering something rather lethal. But instead she just knocks him out. "I'll take this man to the authorities," she says. "You work on the cleanup and…actually, you take the man to your little Kamen guards. On my orders. It wouldn't hurt to show you're the hero of the night. Once that's done, come help at the prison with cleanup." She'd give him a nod…and actually let him out of her sight. Well, for five minutes. He'd best not dawdle.
