Starring:
Date: November 27, 2014
Summary:
Ryouji has been framed for the murder of the Reizei clan leader and Fox (Michiko) has been ordered to bring him in.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"What If? Bingo! - The Hare gets caught by the Fox"
Land of Lightning
It's the middle of the night and Ryouji is running in the rain, leaping from tree limb to tree limb. His cloak billows out behind him, hood down with the rain lashing his face. He's not worried about keeping dry. Not when he's running for his life. "How did I get into this mess?!" he says, hitting a limb and pushing off causing it to crack under his foot.
Memories flood back into his mind recalling the assassination of the Reizei clan leader just a few short hours ago. It was the work of a swift release user given the speed of the kill. But more damning, one of Ryouji's swords from his collection was left at the scene. The only thing Ryouji knows is that as he was nearing the village from a patrol, a KRD agent tried to arrest him for the murder of Reizei Yuuma based on the evidence. Ryouji though, had other ideas. He quickly over powered the agent and is now running for his life.
Michiko has been called to the KRD offices and told about the situation. Ryouji has been labeled a suspect for the apparent murder of the Reizei clan leader and the assault of a KRD agent. He is to be brought in for questioning, any way possible. Due to Michiko being a team mate of Ryouji, she is more familiar with his habits and abilities.
Michiko blinks a bit upon hearing the news. It didn't sound like Ryouji to try and kill the head of the Reizei, but orders were orders. And questioning, so long as it wasn't torture, was something that would be helpful when identifying the true suspect. With a quick nod and salute, she raced after her now-former teammate. "Of course there has to be rain when I'm chasing after him…" she mutters, pushing herself to go quickly. She knows the Reizei is speedy, so she has to use some tricks to get him…
Michiko pauses in the middle of a clearing to both catch her breath and try and track her target. She has decided to forgo her Kamen Rai Da uniform so that it would seem she was chasing Ryouji as a friend rather than for a mission. She had her mask, of course, and she had a cloak that would disguise her for the most part. But she'd rather not use it. For now she sends chakra through the earth to make sure she's heading the right way, sensing for any tremors that only a face-paced Reizei could make.
Ryouji is rather easy to pick up. His vibration signature has wide spaces and it's muffled showing he's running along trees. It shows a good direction and it's not far away. For a Reizei, he's not moving very fast. He's likely keeping his swift release chakra saved for when he really needs it, like if he met with someone out here. He's making a run for the land of fire but he won't be reaching it for a while. Michiko could easily catch up Ryouji, even set up an ambush if she wished. Ryouji's mind is in a state of shock having his father killed and getting framed for it. So he's not thinking straight right now. But as soon as he's safe, he's going to find the person who killed his father, then he's going to put him in the ground! Ryouji breathes deeply, scared and panicky, "Sprint it, sprint it!"
"Got him!" Michiko exclaims, opening her eyes. "Okay…" she murmurs, donning her cloak and mask. "I guess I really should since this is an official mission…" The mask is shaped like a fox, and red streaks paint the right side like flames while the rest is an alabaster white. Her cloak is pure black for now. She moves to catch up to Ryouji, moving even faster than she was earlier since she realizes that it was the only way to get him. If he's not going his fastest, then he'll be easy to catch up to. She just needs to keep him unaware of his presence. That means she's traveling underground, slower since she's forced to avoid various tree roots.
Ryouji does try to keep his senses open for anyone else who might be following or trying to catch him. One KRD agent means more might follow. For all Ryouji knows, it's a coup de tat and now they're after him. With little information to go on, going with anyone at this point might be unwise. He isn't sure who he can trust. He misses Fox underground and catching up quickly behind him. But now he's out of trees as he hits the edge of the forest. So he leaps downward and hits the ground running in the tall grass. "Can't go full speed yet, it's a long way without Echo." he says now suddenly missing his horse.
Fox continues along her trail, now extremely close to Ryouji. She makes a hand seal, and the earth before him rises up slightly to mess up his movements, the girl hoping to trip him and capture him like that. Whether or not this is successful, she does resurface in front of the Reizei. "Reizei Ryouji, you're under arrest as a suspect for the murder of Reizei Yuuma, clan head of the Reizei. If you do not stop now, then you'll have to take me out to get past me," she states evenly, not letting emotion cloud her judgment.
Ryouji hits the hole in the ground and says, "Wha? Ahhhh!" and smacks into the ground hard leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. He moans a little from the slight pain and pushes himself up giving his foot a small rotation to check it. Right away he leap frogs to his feet, crouched and glaring at Fox. "Another Kamen Rai Da huh? I figured one of you would come after me. Look, I didn't kill him! It wasn't me! And you're not taking me back. I have to find my father's killer. You've got the wrong guy." He makes several hand signs and fires off a few globes of electricity. They shoot out and explode around Fox's spot like mini flash bang grenades designed to disorient for a quick escape.
Fox isn't fooled completely by the flashes of electricity. She's able to detect where the Reizei is headed judging by his footsteps, and the girl immediately attempts to trap him. With several hand seals, the dirt near him explodes with a large *bang*, sending up dust and debris that would hopefully blind him and prevent further movement. The first might be a bit off-target, but maybe the second will hit? She sends two off in case. "You'll need to tell the Raikage and our interrogation forces the truth. So come back and we'll sort this out. If you do, then we might even let you chase after the killer." Maybe that's not true, but it might convince him.
Ryouji leaps to the side, tucking and rolling even as he's bringing a sword out and planting it into the ground. The second blast slices into two even as Ryouji feels it running along either side of his shoulders missing them by a gnat's whisker. He says, "Do you think I'm foolish enough to think that? For all I know, everyone has been compromised by whoever killed my father. I've got to do this myself and if you're going to be stubborn…Fox. Then I'll just have to be more stubborn. I didn't want to do this but…" he makes a hand sign and puts the rat sign to his lips, blowing outwards. A stream of wind blasts out at Fox as with his other hand he pulls out a pair of kunai with an explosive tag attached to each. He throws them both, then switches signs to detonate the bombs. "HA!"
Fox shakes her head a bit, stamping down on the ground to raise an earthen barrier and defend herself from the different attacks. It holds well, not needing much chakra to support itself. "I'm sorry to see you won't cooperate, Reizei Ryouji… I suppose I should stop going easy on you." Fox proceeds to make a handseal, and the barrier of earth collapses, turning instead to bullets that rain down on the Reizei. They come pelting down at him fast and hard, and Fox just stays where she is, watching through her mask.
Ryouji rushes forward, hand gripped on his blade and flashing out at every mud bullet. But he does not do very well at all. One strikes him in the hip causing him to twist. The next one he tries to move faster, but speed isn't everything and he just misses it, badly. It strikes him in the shoulder and he winces. The final one hits him square in the chest, but he's close now. He pulls the blade out, reflecting a bit of light into Michiko's eyes before pulling the blade free and slicing. He continues the momentum and leaps up and twists, charging the blade full of lightning and coming back down with an overhead slice. He's bruised and caked in mud, but isn't backing down just yet.
Michiko sighs a bit under her mask. He was so stubborn… The girl gets back into battle mode, though, even as she reminisces. Another barrier of earth appears between herself and the Reizei, and she curses silently. A clone takes the hit, poofing away in a cloud of smoke while she uses a burst of fire to avoid the lightning strike, and a quick handseal is made. The earth below Ryouji forms into a metal rope that lashes at Ryouji's leg in an attempt to hold him in place.
Ryouji taps his swift release, causing his lightning and wind chakra to crash together again. He surges the new chakra coursing through his body and sends it through his body. Lightning plays across hid body as the edges of his form flicker and blur. As he's charging Michiko, the earth erupts with the metal rope. But he flickers and is gone leaving only a ring of dust from where he was just a second ago. With a similar swoosh, he's back in another place in the field sending dirt flying around him. Despite the speed, he's not attacking. He's never gone that fast! His vision blurs as he shakes his head, trying to clear it. "That's…not…good." he says as his body's nervous and circulatory systems try to catch up with the rest of him. Basically, he went too fast too soon. But it worked, it avoided the attack. Now if he could only recover before Fox takes advantage of it.
Fox sees that Ryouji has decided to use his Kekkei Genkai against her, and immediately reacts. Chakra that was stored surges around her, creating a flickering aura of chakra that mimicked the movements of fire. She says, using a low and threatening voice, "Reizei Ryouji, if you do not come with me right now by your own accord, I will be sure to beat you and get you back to the village so that you do. I have no wish to do this, but if you leave me no choice…" Her voice trails off, and she waits for his reply, eyes staring at him.
His vision clears and his body becomes adjusted to the new speed. Ryouji coughs and wipes his mouth, then says, "I guess I don't have much choice then. I'm not going back until I have the head of my father's murderer in my hand. You're NOT going to stop me. If I go back, I'll just be locked away. There's something going on and I'm going to find out what." He narrows his eyes and glares at the woman a bit longer, "I don't want to kill you." He charges foward and instead of pulling out his swords, he comes in with a double round house with his fists followed by a straight kick. Nothing flashy and only designed to beat down the target, not kill her.
Fox uses a nearby broken branch to take the hit, which sends the thing flying. However, the next attack breaks through her wall of earth, actually resulting in him landing a punch. She winces a bit, but is able to pull up a second layer to stop the kick. "Fine, then… You leave me no choice, it seems…" She doesn't want to do it, but the metal ropes come again. But they're only a distraction. The real intent is to drive Ryouji into a patch of earth that has already begun to swirl, sucking in whatever comes near and essentially keeping the poor victim in place.
Ryouji brings down his blade, sparking against the metal ropes and driving him back using the force to cause him to hop back. Only to land right in the whirlpool. He shouts in frustration as he tries to get out, but as strong as Ryouji is, he's only sucked down into it. He tries to use his speed, but it only pulls him down farther sending him to chest height. "No! No! You'll take me back and whoever killed my father will kill me. It's the same thing that's happened to the Raikage once! He was framed for murder by other Reizei who were missing nin and who are still out there. I know they've got something to do with this. You're going to kill me! They'll want me out of the way." He struggles against the dirt but to no avail. He's trapped and his fate is sealed.
Fox comes over to Ryouji, making a handseal as she does. Metal ropes surround the Reizei to hold him down while she gets him out of the earth. "We'll continue to look for another suspect, Reizei Ryouji, but for now I need to take you back to Kumogakure. With that deal sealed and done with, she removes a kunai from her pouch and holds it to the Reizei's neck. "Now then, let's both walk back to the village and you can explain the situation to everyone."
