Starring:
Nanashi, Shinime, Kazumi
Date: March 12, 2014
Summary:
Nanashi takes a crew to retrieve a stolen caravan.
"Silence of the Bandits"
Fuuma Basin
With the coming of morning, a team of three races through the Fuuma Basin. Nanashi, Shinime, and… what was that guy's name again? Reina and her busy self couldn't be bothered to come on this mission today, so Nanashi grabbed a random shinobi who happened to be passing through on his way back to his village. It offered a three-way cut to assist in the re-capture of a caravan that had been hijacked by a crew of bandits. The androgynous figure may've had to be somewhat convincing, but the money is at least good for this one. As they race across the countryside, it says, "We should be catching up pretty soon… If they get across the border and go far enough, the caravan and the load will be lost forever, so try to keep up, both of you."
Running along, Shinime sighs as her usual cloaked figure follows along after her as she moves, "Nanashi!" She calls out whiningly, "We have to go this fast all the time?!" She sighs and moves along, bouncing from spot to spot as they run and the large cloaked figure moves after her with ease, never making any real noise except for the occasional rattle of bones.
Kazumi. Suzuki Kazumi was his name, but he really isn't concerned about whether the two remember his name or not. In fact, he's still a bit bewildered by just how he got dragged along on this. Not displeased, but bewildered. "H-hai," he answers Nanashi simply. He does notice the rattling from that odd figure, but… quite honestly, he's been trying to ignore it. He's nervous enough as it is, he doesn't feel like adding a skeleton to the reasons of /why/ he's always nervous. Once this is over… how likely is it, really, that he'll run into that girl and her bony guard. Hah!
'No, that isn't funny. Stop it.'
"Yes," Nanashi replies simply, casting a glare at Shinime for using its 'real' name so frivolously. She's really got no tact at all. "If you can't keep up, maybe you should've designed your friend to run for you." With that, it looks back ahead, eyeing the path ahead. Slowly the caravan begins to come into view, and it seems a bit of luck is on their side as men ahead are cussing each other while trying to repair a busted axel and wheel that a drunken driver smacked into a rock with and broke. "… Get ready… We don't have to kill them necessarily unless they actually pose a real threat. Just get them out of the way so we can get this caravan back and get paid."
A blink at Nanashi and Shinime grins, "Good idea!" S he nods her head, "I'll keep that in mind!" She giggles as she runs along and then peers over at their extra with a hmm before they arrive near to the scene of hteir target trying to repair the wagon. She hmms and then whispers to Nanashi with some confusion, "Not…kill?" She blinks and hten stares as if she was just told Christmas had been cancelled. She then sighs and looks down, "Ok…" She states softly and then looks to Kazumi with a hmm, glaring at him a little as if this were all his fault.
Once the caravan comes into view, Kazumi again reviews how he got into this situation. Shaking his head a bit, he takes a deep breath and just tries to focus. This probably wouldn't end up going well for him… He simply doesn't have the skills to do much more than distract at the moment. Unfortunately for him, he does notice the glare from the small girl and, in a faint panic, nearly trips himself. 'What'd I do?' he wonders inwardly. He is rewarded with an inner voice's answer: 'Existed…'
"If you prefer your entire legacy to be for killing anyone who bothered you in the slightest, that's your issue, I guess," Nanashi says with a shrug of its shoulders. When Kazumi starts to trip, it glances over at him and quirks an eyebrow, wondering what his issue is. For some reason, it winces slightly, eyes narrowing as it looks back ahead. Pointing its hands ahead, it fires off a pair of sand balls that fly off toward the caravan and slam into a couple of the bandits that were making the repairs to knock them back skidding. This halts all repairs as the bandits now look down the road at the approaching shinobi.
"Well, they are thieves and such." Shinime nods her had and grins, "And they deserve to be punished." She nods her head and grins, "Besides, most of what I do involves…a great degree of poison." She chuckles and nods her head before looking over at Kazumi again. She hmms at him before looking forward and watching as teh bullets hit the guards and she grins, opening up a scroll and releasing a flying pair of bolas which she controls with a bit of chakra string on one hand to guide them in to the legs of one of the thieves with a smile.
Kazumi again feels like he's glared at, but this time by the other individual. Great. Now they both hate him. He's really not great at this mission thing… Even so, he pulls out some senbon and readies himself. Easier and more deadly when closer, he figures, so he waits until they've gotten just a bit closer and looses two senbon at one target for maximum effect.
"So a man desperate enough to feed his family that he joins a group like this as a last resort automatically deserves to die? For knowing who you are, you people don't make any sense to someone who's trying to learn it," Nanashi says, shaking its head. As it does so, its glare seems to get more intense. As bolas and senbon fly at their targets and down them, Nanashi fires off another shot, this one tagging one of the men Kazumi just struck to send him flying before what appears to be a copy of Nanashi rises from from the ground and uppercuts another in the jaw. Meanwhile, waves of kunai start to come to the way of the shinobi, the bandits at least attempting to put up a fight.
Almost immediately, Shikyo seems to swap places with Shinime. The large cloaked figure taking the hits of the kunai for Shinime and then she looks at Nanashi, "Hmm, I guess…but I usually provide for families in that case." She nods, "Did you not see me give my cut of our last mission to that family?" She hmms and grins before looking forward, "Besides, if you take a risk? Don't you take a risk?" She hmms and then shrugs, "I will think on what you said but my father always said that killing was part of a shinobi's life. Is it not part of yours? If I recall, I remember you crushing someone in sand…what if he was simply desperate, too?"
Their conversation has the Kiri shinobi a little on edge. Killing is part of a shinobi's life… Sure, he supposes that's true… but that seems to be too much of a theme everywhere. Gulping, Kazumi shifts to avoid the kunai, though he's not all that quick so it's a close call. He throws a few more senbon, trying to stay back rather than get in true melee fighting range.
"… You mean the guy that tried repeatedly to chop me in half?" Nanashi asks, casting a glance over at Shinime and chuckling a bit. "I think that's a little different. Then again, who am I? I shift day to day." As kunai race past them, some go directly through its body, passing through, yet there is no blood splatter, only its body reforming as it was. Another pair of sand balls fire from its hands, homing at different bandits in attempt to knock them off and diminish their numbers. "…. So…. loud…."
"Well, he seemed quite desperate then." She giggles and then continues to rush forward, now behind Shikyo who fires off a few kunai of its own toward the thieves and then she looks over at the youngest among them and giggles at him before looking forward, "Go get one!" She declares to Kazumi, "I believe you ought to get one of them!" She nods her head and then looks over toward Nanashi and hmms, "Anyway, these guys don't even seem like a challenge…lets just fix things up and go home."
"Well, he seemed quite desperate then." She giggles and then continues to rush forward, now behind Shikyo who fires off a few kunai of its own toward the thieves and then she looks over at the one she doesn't know and giggles at him before looking forward, "Go get one!" She declares to Kazumi, "I believe you ought to get one of them!" She nods her head and then looks over toward Nanashi and hmms, "Anyway, these guys don't even seem like a challenge…lets just fix things up and go home."
Kazumi blinks when he's spoken to, not entirely sure it actually is him that's being spoken to. He glances toward her and furrows his brow. "I… h-have," he responds, though perhaps too quietly to be heard. Is he doing it wrong? He's not even sure anymore. So, as his panic rises, he just stops, covering his face with his hands for just a moment. Afterward, he stands upright, leaving him about the same size or even taller than Shikyo.
He runs forward, quite as if he's answering Shinime's suggestion, and, after managing to dodge the thrown kunai, grabs the arm of the man who threw it. "Good day, gentlemen. I think it's about time you all leave so the day continues to be at least decent for your group." He smiles amiably, all the while with the man's arm held under his and his hand on the man's chest, pushing just enough to make the arm uncomfortably bent at the shoulder.
Nanashi smirks as Shinime sort of goads Kazumi into taking lead and going after some of the men. As he does this, Nanashi charges ahead and fires more orbs to send more of the men flying away. It's then that it collects the busted wheel from where some good was trying to repair it rather miserably and starts to patch it with sand, using the clone from before to fend off and counter incoming attacks as it
does so. "Not much of a challenge, yeah, but the money's right."
Looking at the ones still attacking, she hmms and then has Shikyo turn to them, "Fine, you don't want them dead, then they don't need to be dead." She looks to Shikyo, her hands moving and the hooded dark figure stares down at them all and tons of needles come flying out and pepper the ground before the bandits before coming to a halt and she then pulls back and Shikyo whips around its Scythe with a crackling sound. Its hands, gripping that scythe look like those of a skeleton and Shikyo truly takes on its namesake as it starts coldly at the enemies who are now faced with a thing that size with a scythe that also seems to have some kind of needle breath weapon.
Kazumi adjusts to shove the bandit away and follows after him to stand more toward where Shikyo is standing with its scythe. "Good bye, gentlemen," he calls out in a sing-song tone, a polite — albeit a bit smug — smile on his face. He holds up a hand with some senbon between his fingers, palm out, and 'waves' by bending his fingers at the bottom knuckle only. As such, he's not stabbing himself but is still plenty ready to retaliate should the bandits attack again.
While repairing the wheel, Nanashi seems to get more and more irritated. "… So… loud," it growls a bit. Once the wheel is repaired, it suddenly whips around, and the clone would split into a mass of the sand orbs that fly out at the bandits while kunai go harmlessly through its body. One can hear the sound of bones cracking with powerful impact, though no one is killed by the impact. "… Quiet down," it grumbles before bending down to pick up the wheel, looking it over and glancing around for any incoming attacks.
A look at Kazumi and then Shinime peers at Nanashi with a few blinks, "Umm…" She hmms as she peers at her before looking around and then back at her, "Umm…loud?" She blinks a few times before looking to Kazumi as if confused before saying, "Nanashi, is you ok?" She blinks and tilts her head.
GAME: Save complete.
Kazumi looks as shocked and confused as Shinime. At least, at first he does. Then his brows furrow and he looks more curious than confused. He puts his senbon away and walks, five simple steps, closer to the irritated being. He stops there, not approaching any closer than that, but he waits to see the reaction.
With all the bandits dispatched, Nanashi seems to be focusing on the wheel now. "… Just make sure all the goods are secure." Sand that had been used in the orbs and such then clumps up under the caravan's axel to prop it up. It then sets the wheel against it, securing it and allowing the sand to take the place of the previous structure to make it usable for the journey back. "… Let's go," it says as it hops aboard the caravan, taking the reigns to take them back. Along the way, once in a while, it would start a rather hypnotic drum beat, consisting of four beats and a pause that cycles seemingly endlessly. Oddly, this only seems to make the being more tense.
Looking at Kazumi, Shinime would hmm before walking along after it. Her feet carrying her along the path as she watches Nanashi and then she hmms a little and climbs up on to Shikyo's back alongside the Scythe on its back, peering ahead as she sits on Shikyo's shoulder. She occasionally glances over at Nanashi in confusion.
With no reaction from Nanashi based on his proximity, Kazumi just furrows his brows and shrugs. Once they are ready to head off, he salutes and shifts to walk along beside the caravan, eyes surveying the area. Slowly, as they move along, his slouch starts to dominate his posture again and he seems more twitchy again. Whatever spurred him into action before, he just seems back to the original they met at Fuuma Alley.
