Starring:
Date: December 18, 2012
Summary:
Goh is confronted by bounty hunters. Isra and Risu arrive to help save the day!
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Skeleton Attack"
Kirigakure
Just outside the main entrance of Kirigakure, off the side of the path, a lone man stands. He stands at a good height and looks dramatic, his brushed back hair and black cloak billowing in the wind gently. His arms hang by his side, fists clenched on the end. Staring ahead with blue eyes, he watches his opponents. Ten of them all up, dressed in skeleton costumes from head to toe. It made them look a little crazy, though that was probably the point. Aesthetic intimidation.
Added onto all of this is the time. Just a tick over midnight, so there aren't many shinobi around. True, while Kirigakure ANBU and hunters were probably aware that Goh was 'in trouble', they did not act. For one, it was outside Village territory, so it was not going to cause that much of a problem. And two, well … they didn't really like Goh. If he died to some unknown force, it wouldn't bother them at all. The shadows that stalked him were ordered to watch him, not make sure he didn't get killed.
On anyrate, with only the limited city lights giving light to the situation, Goh doesn't move. He just watches the group in front of him. They range in heights, some being small, others tall. They all have decent builds though indicating that they're of at least decent skill.
It's quiet at night…sort of. There were always some night owls around and Isra was no exception to that crowd. Not that she fit the stereotype, loud drunkards or pleasure seekers. Her motives were of a different sort of pleasure, the pleasure of the sound of the night. The village has been full of noise which makes it difficult for her to think and study with it constantly about. So, she tried to take advantage of the night to clear her mind and refresh herself.
She approached the village gates and nodded to the guards there before heading out the open gates. She'd be greeted with an unusual band of skeletons. A tilt of the head was offered at this sight. 'Costumed individuals who appear to be targeting…' she thought to herself as she turned her attention to the lone individual. 'Him.' She was aware of this guy, though only in passing. People have talked about him from time to time and Kiri has made it clear they don't exactly like him given the tone of the conversations. Hm.
On that note, she maintains her place, shifting her weight to one side while watching what was going to happen in this predicament.
Of course, Yuge himself did not mind Goh. At least publicly, but Kirigakure itself would not forget that Goh has killed more than one of their prized Swordsman when he was aligned with Konoha. They don't forgive and forget so easily! Though by the looks of it, these skeletons were not from Kirigakure. Heck, they aren't really from any 'known' group at all.
Goh arches an eyebrow when Isra comes into view, his head turning slightly to regard her off to the side. Only moments later, the skeletons do the same, perhaps pondering what to do. Some orders are given off, mostly to ignore her unless she interferes.
Goh looks at her a bit more longer. "Hooo. You're that girl from the cold springs, yeah? The Uzumaki girl. I… uh, don't suppose you can help me out at all?" He clears his throat. "It's late and I'm sleepy." As if that's a decent reason for helping the pickler! Helps him get to bed quicker.
The skeleton people appear slightly frustrated that their numbers and appearance haven't bothered Goh too much. They egde closer to him, keeping a tight formation.
"Yeah, I'm that girl. From the cold springs," she nods. "So…" She folded her arms. "You need my help… What's in it for me?" She wondered while watching the men carefully in their skeleton suits. "Those guys look fun. They part of some sort of acting troupe or something?" She wondered. "I'd like to see them dance. Bones shaking in the night. Spooky."
Goh currently stands in front of ten people dressed in skeleton costumes. From head to toe they're covered, hiding their identities. Off to the side is Isra, who has stumbled upon the little 'gathering' by just walking out of the Village entrance. A few ticks past midnight, there isn't much activity other than this going on. Yet beside that, there is no crowd. It is very late, after all!
"I wish. At least then they'd be funny." Goh murmurs with a snicker. "They're bounty hunters." Goh reveals, the skeletons still not moving. "They have hunted me and my family down for years. Systematically destroying every last person that is part of the clan. I'm the only one left, but they're having a bit of problems with me." He muses.
"What's in it for you? Hm. How about… amazing pickled vegetable goodness?"
The skeleton dressed shinobi edge a little closer, their formation tightening up. They obviously have some sort of plan!
At this point Risu comes stumbling down the path. Odd for her to be out so late. She is almost oozing darkness as she walks, so may be hard to see. Now and then she makes a gesture and a small thing vanishes, such as a rock, or a plant, or the like. Each destruction the result of a darkness spreading from her as she stumbles along almost in a drunken haze. She is pale as a ghost at the moment though, and has a some what glassy eyed look to her as she approaches, making no effort to hide or be quiet in her approach.
"Hm. That's no good," Isra stated. "You have my condlences regarding your clan. I can't say I agree with what they're doing," she looked toward the hunters then. "An odd choice of clothing if you ask me, but I suppose so long as their faces are covered, they think they're fine. I don't agree." She huffed. "Pickled vegetables? I think I'll have to pass on that, but thanks for the offer," she smirked. She didn't show any signs of getting prepared and she feels that with this group tightening its formation, she thinks they're a bit foolish for taking actions of the nature that could be translated. "So uh…" She trailed off as she heard someone approaching.
She turned her head from behind to look at…what..was she looking at? She thought she may have seen something, but she can't make it out. Instead, she steps out of the way to observe more closely.
"Your loss." Goh smirks when Isra passes, clenching his fists a bit tighter. "It's alright. It's something I've come to accept over the years. And they pick those clothes to be a bit unique, and have no clear signs." He shrugs, before turning his attention to the other side.
With Risu stumbling down and around, looking to be … well, drunk, Goh blinks a little in surprise. Making something just vanish, his eyes narrow. She looked ill, as if she was a bit too sick. Extremely pale. Hazy. Heaving a breath, he looks back to the skeletons in front of him.
"Risu." He speaks loudly, his voice not quite booming — but definitely carrying some authority. As if he was trying to get through to her. He even goes to take a step, distracted by the sick physicality that one of his favourite youngsters is showing. The group of skeletons take this distraction as a chance to charge!
They move fast, all ten of them converging on the blonde pickler at once. "Calcium!" He gets out in surprise, cursing that he let himself be caught off guard.
The voice of Goh gets Risu's attention. She stands up straighter and looks at Goh, only to see strange people charging her friend. That… isn't right. No, it isn't. Not right at all. Risu makes a gesture, maybe a couple of hand seals and a white flash streaks from her hands and… well, a sudden pile of sand appears above the charging shinobi, and… burries them. The sound of the sand hitting the ground makes a rather large thud as the group is probably caught off guard by this. The sand will do some damage, but the thing is they have to /dig out/ from it. The pile of sand is /huge/ covering all 10 of the attackers.
Risu then starts to stumble towards Goh, "You… got skellies attacking you? Why are dead people attacking you? Mister Goh?" She sounds completely lost as if she thinks the skeleton clad folks are skeletons. "Did you kill people too? Are the people you killed trying to kill you too?" She asks, with a questioning look as she stumbles up to Goh.
Isra reached back for her weapon and swung it around to try and attack, but then some sand turns up out of nowhere and drops on the skeleton enemies. She frowned and whipped her head toward the darkness where she could now make out someone among it. There was also a flash of white from it there. What just happened? "Are…are you familiar with this girl?" She wondered, unsure if she should consider her a threat or not. She gives Goh a questioning look that is blanketed with uncertainty and some seriousness present in it.
Goh reels when the sand falls out of quite literally, no-where. His eyes shut so that no sand particles hit him. When the attacker stumbles up to him, the blonde pickler crouches down on one knee, getting a good look at her face. His expression falls a little, looking her up and down. "They are bounty hunters, Risu. They were in costumes. They were attacking me because I'm part of a clan." He tries to be as clear and concise as possible. "I have not killed anyone from my clan. They are looking to kill me to get money." He heaves a breath. "What's happened, Risu?" Still crouched on one knee, both of his hands lift to clasp her little shoulders, looking directly at her. As if … trying to figure out what the heck was wrong. He had seen War. Countless battles, fights and illnesses. But this was different to everything.
Leaning over to the side, he gets a look at Isra in the distance. "Isra, this is my friend, Risu. Risu, this is Isra." He pauses a bit.
"I think Risu is sick." He says to the Uzumaki, before looking back to the youngster. "Did you use too much of the black energy?" He asks the little one, standing up straight — casting a glance over to the sandpile. There was movement underneath, but they were struggling.
Risu eyes the pile of sand and those under it. "They wanna kill you?" Her eyes narrow at this news. "They are bad men!" As Goh inspects Risu more closely he can see her eyes that were brilliant blue are almost streaked with darkness, like the pupil is leaking out in streaks through the iris and into the white of the eyes. "Then they should go away." She says firmly, as she starts to make some hand seals, her intent clearly on summoning up more darkness and… eliminating Goh's little problem. He can see her actually starting to form the darkness in her hands as she starts to work the jutsu. She's not being very speedy at the moment with it though, her actions, her body, it's as if she can barely stand and yet here she is tossing around rather impressive powers like they were nothing at the same time.
"Bye bye skelly men…" She says softly as she starts to work her jutsu, apparently intent on wiping out not only the sand but the men under it completely, only to be stopped mid jutsu casting by Goh, making her frown and look up at Goh, "You don't want the bad men to go away?"
Isra was skeptical, but she decided to take his word for it as he didn't appear to be the aggressive sort. "Alright, I believe ya," she remarked while approaching him and the girl. "So you think she's sick, but I'll be honest and say this is no sickness I've ever seen before," she offered to him. She didn't need to kneel as she was shorter by comparison. "Should we take her to the hospita—" She began to question, but was cut off as the girl questioned him.
She wasn't sure of what to think of her actions after this as she began to threaten the men, but was subsequently cut off from that action. Whatever darkness that was sent a chill through the Uzumaki and she wasn't certain about what to think of her. She dared not say anything for now.
Indeed, Goh had gripped Risu's wrists tightly. Not super tight that it would hurt, but certainly enough to stop the technique. "It's alright." He comments, looking at the sand pile. "They're not a threat to me, Risu. And if we kill them, more will just come and replace them. Don't wana start any evil circle of death thing." He sucks in a breath, before looking over at Isra.
"Isra, you're an Uzumaki, correct? By blood? How advanced are you with your seals?" Just so he can get a gauge on where she is. If she's an ultimate master, then perhaps she could have a better look at Risu. Maybe? Goh really needed to learn about medical ninjutsu. "I'm afraid there's no hospital I know that can help with her with this particular technique. I think one of my good friends is looking for a method to help, but…" He shakes his head a bit.
Then he turns his attention back to the young child. "Risu, can you do me a really big favour? I think it will help me out considerably." His mouth grows into a smile, his hand landing softly on top of her head. "You could say it's a super ultimate task."
Risu frowns as Goh stops her, "But… but they are bad skelly men." She insists, "I should make them go away!" But she doesn't try to do the jutsu again after being stopped and seems not fully aware of her surroundings at this point some how. She looks up at Goh, not so aware of Isra it seems, "What do you want me to do? Make you another big pot?" She asks, "I think I could do that, maybe one even bigger!" She boasts, as she seems unsure what she's doing and drunk isn't the right word for it up close, more disoriented and confused. Her chakra is so charged up she's almost leaking it after having absorbed so much from her little acts of destruction before she came upon Goh and Isra.
"I am, yeah," Isra replied to Goh while studying the darkness emitting from the girl. "By blood. I have enough ability to seal fire. I can learn high level seals very quickly. Sometimes with one glance and remember it well enough to copy it," she admitted. "If given a bit of time, I could potentially come up with something that can handle…whatever is happening to her," she hummed. As Risu seemed to recover, she thought to ask, "Where are you from?" to the girl. Her clothes didn't look like anything that'd be found here in these parts.
"They sure are. But we're better people, so we don't need to make them go away." He says simply, brushing some of his hair back a bit. "Hmmm. That's tempting, but not quite it. I want you to not use any of your white or black techniques unless me or Itami are around." If she can do that, at the very least she won't get any worse, right? "Do you think you could do that for me? It's pretty tough I realize, but all super ultimate tasks are."
He does shift a glance back to the sand pile. The skeleton mercs were still trapped under the heap of sand, it seems. There's also a nod given to Isra at her explanation. "I'll have a talk to you later about it." He says simply, not wanting to discuss it in front of the girl. Sorta weird, that would be!
Risu frowns, "But I hafta! I am supposed to fight Onimitsu-san in the tournament! How can I fight him without using the balck and white stuff?" She asks, looking upset, "I mean… that… that's not fair! I won't be able to do /anything/ and he'll beat me up really badly!" She protests, "Can't I use it in my match?" She pleads, "I'll try not to use it until then, but… but I need to use it…" She trails off then peers over at Isra as if she just noticed the other girl, "Suna… see?" She touches the silver suna symbol that is the clasp for her cloak and her belt, "Aren't they neat? I made them myself. Just thought of what I wanted and there it was!" She says, proudly, "I could make you something if you wanted?" She offers, as if she's already forgotten Goh's request to not use her powers. This is going to be harder than expected perhaps to get her to stop.
Meahwhile the nin in the sand are starting to dig out, as it isn't something that can hold them indefinately, the threat slowly returning as they climb out of the sand digging themselves out.
"Alright, suit yourself. I won't force you to explain anything to me," Isra shrugged. The girl was so vocal about needing to use her techniques and it only occurs to her that she's taking place in the exams. She brushes her hand through her hair, each strand recoiling back into its position with the exception of a few that fall in front of her face. "So, you're from Suna… On that note, I can offer my services more freely seeing as our lands are allied," she smirked. "I wouldn't mind having a clasp like that sometime. Might have to find a way to wear it beyond these headbands, y'know?" She looks toward the sand pile seeing the group still struggling. "So, anytime you feel free to talk about these things, I should be able to lend an ear."
When the shinobi begin to dig their way out, flailing limbs poking out from the sand pile, Goh thrusts an open palm down onto the ground. Only moments after, a gigantic MOUTH opens up from the ground! It splinters the ground like a twig, the gigantic sand pile falling into the salamanders mouth — shinobi with it. The huge mouth then withdraws into the ground from whence it came, closing as it goes, leaving only a loose pile of rubble from where it broke up from the earth. It all happens so fast, but it seems that Goh was really not in much danger at all. Not with Wanryo backing him up.
He clears his throat. "That's right," He continues, as if nothing had happened. "Risu, if Itami hasn't come back and found you by the time your next match starts…" Goh sucks in a breath, before looking off into the distance. "I think you should perhaps concede the match. I can talk to your Kazekage about it, but remember, these promotion exams aren't all about showing brute strength." He shrugs a bit.
"I really think you can do it. Not using your powers, I mean. I'd love to stay around more, but I need to get going." He huffs a breath. "Isra, do you think you could help Risu get home? I'd really appreciate it." He grins over to the Uzumaki, before looking down at the child again. "Remember what I said. Hopefully won't see you too soon from now!" And just like this, he's gone — vanishing with a speed of movement seldom seen from the pickler.
