Starring:
Michiko (emitter), Amani, Yori, Arashi, Jon
Date: November 21, 2015
Summary:
A team of Kumogakure shinobi investigate the Pyochi family.
"Thieves of Torture - The Pyochi Investigation"
Raiun City
Things have been quiet in the Land of Lightning. Too quiet. And that is because the organization that Yori and Michiko discovered long ago had managed to learn that two of their operatives were taken down. This caused them to back off of taking in criminals and have them disappear, at least enough that it wouldn't be suspicious. The men and women that were pegged for minor crimes were released into the public with a slap on the wrist, free to live their lives how they preferred. A few days after release, though, the released would disappear with little trace… And so a team led by Yori was sent to investigate! Both power and brains were selected to ensure they would find what was going on and protect themselves.
Yori was not exactly happy to be put in charge of this team but, well, he wasn't exactly able to decline either. He would just have to be very carefuly was all. He was still wary after that whole medic announcement thing so he didn't want to go off and hurt anyone he shouldn't be. Hopefully it wouldn't put him at too much of a disadvantage. The young Saito waits at the gates of the Village for the rest of the team, looking over notes on all who'd been released and disappeared for any kind of pattern…
"Power'n'brains, eh? Well, we all know I ain't much use in a scrap, so I guess I was picked for me sharp intellect!" n.n Jon flicks Scruvo's tailfeathers. "Must be nice living in your world." e.e Jon walks up and gives Yori a salute. "Saito Jon, reporting for duty." "An' Shadow-Glide Scruvo! I hear we've got some parole-jumpahs t'track down! Don't you worry none, wi' me on th'case we'll 'ave 'em back in th'slammah in no time flat!" Jon pinches the bridge of his nose. "I think we're actually more interested in where they might lead us, Scruvo." -.-
Arashi was just back into working condition. He wasn't perfect yet that was for sure, but he was good enough to do missions without any problem. He headed out to the gates from his little apartment after he made sure he had anything he may need. He thought about bringing a water jug like Seiko did on that one mission, but didn't want to have to carry it around so much. So he left his house without it. Either way it wouldn't take him long to make it to the gate and greet everyone here with a wave.
Amani followed after Arashi to the gates, hoping to see who would all be included in this team and what they'd have to offer. It's been a while since she's been on any real mission, but she thinks she still has what it takes. Besides, she may be able to have something to gain from it outside of just the money alone. "If this is all that is involved, I imagine that we'll do well on this mission." She adjusted the bow and arrows she had secured to her back. "Yori, you are leading this, correct?" She inquired.
Yori would be able to note that all the 'criminals' were minor ones. It was a first-time offense of something rather petty. Breaking a Window, trying to steal a trinket from a local shop, killing the neighbor's pig… etc. Nothing jail-worthy, and no one was truly special. Not many nobles, quite a number of poorer folk, and a decent amount of middle-class people. Which may be something to expect considering not many of the rich need to vandalize things to get what they want.
Yori frowned over the notes of who was involved and he scanned them until others started arriving. Needless to say he was a little surprised by who those people were. "Jon-san, it's good to see you," he says giving the man a formal bow. Obviously an investigator would be good here. He looks to Arashi and Amani then and he somehow wonders if this is going to be the worst day of his life. "Arashi-san, I'm glad you're well. You have my sincerest apologies for the injuries I caused. You won't have to worry about such a thing ever happening again. And Amani-san, yes, this is it and I have been assigned as the leader, though if you wish to speak to Michiko-san you could likely take over." He doesn't need to make anyone upset after all.
Jon chuckles. "The higher-ups usually have good reason for their choices. It might be something as simple as 'This guy needs some experience at leading missions', or maybe they know something about you which they think will prove valuable in this case. At any rate, I'm sure we'll all be willing to follow your orders, and provide advice if you ask for it." Scruvo nods emphatically. "Right! Like right now, best thing t'start off with is, wot 'appened to th'chaps wot scarpered? Where wos they seen last, an' is there anybody they might've told about their plans?" Jon blinks. o.o Guess Scruvo has picked up a few things about detective work over the years. "Heh, I wasn't going to say anything unless somebody asked, but yeah, that'd be a good place to start."
Arashi looks behind him at Amani as she follows along to the gate. But yeah upon arriving he did greet the other two. "It's alright Yori. You didn't mean to do that I am sure, and it was partly my fault for not stopping myself. Don't worry if it happens again. Just be sure to gurantee I am not overdoing it. I don't think about it sometimes. Trust me I blame myself more then you, and yeah like Jon said I don't mind following your orders." He now stands nearby waiting for the others to think more of the issues through. He still had things he needed to learn about himself with leading.
"Mmhmmm," Amani hummed in agreement with Jon. "You are the lead in this mission. Therefore, I will listen to what you have to say. I will trust in your leadership to see this through," she offered to Yori. "Now that we have come to this agreement of sorts, let's focus on what Scruvo has asked." She folded her arms. "Besides, Michiko and I are not on good terms. She made me /lose/ in a /cookoff/ the previous night! Until she apologizes for her mistake, I won't be speaking with her about mission anything!" She grumped.
Yori looks between the group as they speak before he nods slightly, "Um…hai." He rolls up the scroll he was looking at and puts it in a pouch quickly. "We need to find out if the people that are missing left of their own free will or if something has happened to them first. I picked a nearby that a few of them had relocated to. We can start asking around there." He looks to see if there's any other suggestions or anything. If not he would start off.
Jon quirks an eyebrow at Amani's…unique grievance. X) "Ooookay. Guess it's a good thing we shouldn't really need to speak with Michiko-san, then." Other than that, not much to say for this round, is there? Jon heads out along with the others to query the folk who might know something about these disappearances.
"Amani… You lost to me fair and square. Don't worry you can show me up with everything else while you teach me." With that though he would follow along with the others. He had no questions or suggestions, and mostly just wanted to see what would turn up with this mission.
"The lies!" Amani responded to Arashi. "I know how to make fish, I know how to make a glaze…" She muttered to herself various grumblings. "I will show you everything else, but I know she was lying about my dish. I just /know/ it." She huffed. "But yes, let's go to this place you have mentioned. The relocated people, whatever," she waved her hand dismissively. She got the message and was listening, at the least.
Well, the journey itself is pretty uneventful. The shinobi may or may not pause to help that one passing merchant try to catch his runaway horse, but otherwise they'd be heading to the capital, where a lot of the disappearances occurred. As of yet, there were no signs to /where/ these people were being taken, hence the investigation team!
Yes, they pause to catch the horse, poor thing. Yori ensures that the merchant will give it some more free time to itself in a pasture to run, but other than that continues on his way. Once they arrive in the capital he pulls out a few slips of paper and hands one to Amani and one to Jon. "Amani-san, take Arashi-san and investigate this address. Ask around about the person named there. Jon-san you do the same. I'll take a third one. We'll meet back up here in an hour to see what we've discovered and decide on the next step from there."
Jon nods. "Will do, Yori-san." Jon heads off to do some ground-work, with Scruvo practicing dramatic interrogation on his shoulder. "An' where were you when th'jewels were stolen? 'Well I wos 'avin' lunch at—' A-ha! I neva said WHEN th'jewels were stolen, 'ow'd y'know it was done around lunch-time!? 'Crikey, I been caught by th'brilliant bird detective Scruvo!'" >D
Arashi follows along slowly enough ignoring Amani's pleas about lies. Upon arriving he looks at the paper Amani is given, and tries to peek at it. "Alright so we go to what address?" He waits for an answer, and whether he gets it or not waits for Amani to get moving, so he can follow along. "Amani. I thought you had no hard feelings abot the loss? If this is how you react maybe I shouldn't show you to to make the fish meal." He chuckles some at that.
Amani takes the paper in hand and peers at it. "Okay…Arashi, let's go. Even though you have taken my win from me, I won't hold it against you," she gestured for him to follow along. "I'm going to need your help here. In fact, you'd probably be more well suited to this sort of thing anyway. Let's see what we can find out about this individual." And so, she takes them to the address indicated to find some answers. "Yes, yes, I don't take losing very well," she curled up her lip. "You don't hold out on me. I want that recipe."
The house that Yori decided to investigate is the house of a young woman who was caught trying to steal a few veggies from the local market. Well, she was also falsely accused of such, but no one believed her. She lived with her child, and it was the daughter that would answer the door. Because her mother was no longer around, the child looked a bit grubby because she hadn't taken a bath in a while, and she looked hungry. Said child didn't open the door completely, though, until she was certain that Yori was someone nice!
Jon would get the opportunity to investigate an old woman whose husband was accused of molesting an official's daughter. Again, it was an accident, as the old man had tripped and ended up falling onto this woman, who tried to help him up after the fact. But it wasn't seen as such. The story made it pretty big across the capital, actually, but the man was eventually cleared of charges once the young lady stood up to her father.
Amani and Arashi… Well, that dynamic duo would get to tackle a local guard. He was currently at his home, but preparing to get back on duty. His daughter had taken a trinket from a store without his knowing, and the shopkeeper was, for some odd reason, extremely vicious and wanted to have her imprisoned…
Yori would wait at the door until it opened, then blinks at the little girl that answers. "Oh, hello there. My name is Saito Yorishiro and I'm from Kumogakure. I came to ask some questions about someone that lived here who seems to have gone missing. Um, do you know her?" He speaks kindly to the little one, head tilting slightly towards the end.
Jon speaks with the old lady at length, inquiring as gently but efficiently as he can about her missing husband. Seems like a pretty normal guy, with walks in the park being his main reason for going out and about. Depending on how busy it is, that might be a place where somebody could get kidnapped, or it could've happened on the way to/from there. Not a terribly promising avenue of investigation, but something to keep in mind. Jon thanks the woman for her time, then checks his mission docs for the address of the one who accused the old man before…one Pyochi Tetsuzaya. If the old man's disappearance is related to the group the Kumo nin are trying to track down, the prime suspect is the one who had a beef with him. :/
Arashi arrived behind Amani, and had questions he could ask himself. At first he didn't know if he should wait for Amani to ask considering she might be the one more suited for that. Though he does have something that he eventually comes out with one. "Sir. We wanted to ask you about your daughter. And even more about the man that wanted to have her imprisoned." He then looks to Amani for actual questions.
"Yes, further what you may know that may be of any help regarding the connection between the two. As we understand, there have been disappearances and we're here to look into them," Amani began after Arashi. "Let's start with the first two questions my partner here, asked." She also sought to cover some of the questions Scruvo pointed out earlier. "This may seem like a lot, so answer one at a time, but we also need to know if you know anything about the people, aside from your daughter, that managed to disappear? If you are familiar with any of them, where did you last see them?"
The little girl shuffles a bit in her spot, wondering if she should trust this 'Saito Yorishiro'. He said he was from Kumogakure, the ninja village… So he should be okay, right? "Prove it…" she demands from the teenager, keeping the door's opening as small as possible. Of course, Yori could easily knock her over and investigate the house himself… The proof Yori needs to offer would just be his hitai-ate, at least. Once he does that or something similar, he would be allowed into the slightly dirty room. The young girl's mother hasn't been gone for so long. Pictures on the table near the entrance would hopefully indicate the pair's relationship.
Jon's investigation of this Pyochi Tetsuzaya would reveal that the Pyochi family came from a rather poor distract. Tetsuzaya is the first of their family to receive a full education, due to a lot of what could be called 'scholarships'.
The younger-looking guard would blink at the appearance of two shinobi and wonder if he was being drafted or something… "Ah? My daughter? She… She was accused of stealing… She didn't do anything wrong, and I knew, I'd've stopped her and made her put it back if I knew, too… But this man was so mad. His name was Pyochi Kiruma. I think he was a bit cocky because of his cousin… But… He didn't have to be so mean… She was only four, after all.." He shakes his head when Amani asks on the others, though. "Sorry, ma'am. I deal with a lot of names, and I don't know if I know those folk personally… The names sound familiar, but…" He shrugs helplessly.
Well Yori just turns slightly to make his hitai-ate more evident to the girl, then smiles as he steps in and looks around. Gold-brown eyes search the room for any hint of what may have happened. He also looks at the pictures since it gives him a good visual. "Can you tell me where your mom went?" he asks after a few moments, looking to the girl. "Did she say anything or was she acting different before she disappeared?"
Jon treks to the residence of Pyochi Tetsuzaya. Before going to the front door, he sends Scruvo to watch over the place from above. Actually, there's very little probability Scruvo will be able to spot anything suspicious; Jon just doesn't want him involved in the interview, especially since this guy already tried to get someone in hot water over his daughter. Scruvo makes a lot of remarks that could set off somebody like that. e.e; Jon makes himself known as a visitor, hoping he'll get to talk to somebody other than the man himself first; if he is involved in the kidnapping, he'll probably be evasive or downright refuse to let Jon remain. The daughter might be good, since she apparently was the one who cleared up the mess before.
Arashi nods slowly as the questions fly from Amani's mouth. "Okay sir. I believe you. A four year old girl wouldn't be doing that on purpose. Just exploring. That name though I will be sure to remember. Might be useful to check him out later….. How long has she been missing? And go ahead and take your time. I understand this could be a delicate matter." He keeps straight face the whole time he speaks to try to keep the man calm himself..
"Mmhmm," Amani nodded as she took notes down on a piece of paper she retrieved. "Alright. Can you indicate where this Pyochi Kiruma lives?" She inquired. "Also, who is his cousin?" She figured it may be best to get the names of both to expand their potential for leads. "If you answer these last few questions, then we will continue on our way so we won't keep you from your duties for much longer," she explained. She'd continue to take any other notes on the conversation as it unfolded.
The young girl shakes her head to Yori. "No… she… went to work. And then I got home after school and she… still isn't here…" The girl starts to tear up a bit, sniffles already audible. She's also very hungry… She knows how to cook, but she can't cook a lot… So she's running out of food now.
Jon wouldn't really get much for a few moments, but eventually the door would open. "Vut yu vont?" comes a heavily accented voice of a maid. She glares at Jon with beady black eyes, her rotund figure taking up most of the doorframe. She may not be that weak, though… Her bulk looks kinda fatty, but who knows with her! She is certainly intimidating…. Scary black aura…
The guard would rub the back of his neck. "She's been missing for a couple days, now. I want to take off work and look for her, but I used all my sick days." The man frowns unhappily. "Pyochi Kiruma lives in the Pyochi Apartment. They're all there, the whole family. Pyochi Tetsuzaya is his cousin, of course. You know him… The guy who wants to someday take over the capital. I hope that the officials 'round here're smart… He's a piece of work… normally I'd be fine, but… I don't like the guy."
Yori nods a little as he looks around a little more, then crouches in front of the girl. "Do you have somewhere else you can go? I'm going to try and bring her back to you but until I do you need to make sure someone can watch after you." His eyes shift a bit as he looks around the room. "Someone else's house maybe? A family or friends?" He pulls off his money pouch and holds it out to her. "You take this with you, find a house to stay at and use this to take care of yourself okay?"
Hmmm, maid who doubles as a guard possibly? Or bodyguard disguised as a maid, although she'd have to do at least a pittance of maid work to keep up the charade. Or she could just be a maid who happens to give off a very unpleasant vibe. n.n; "Good afternoon," Jon says, bowing politely. "I'm a shinobi of Kumogakure, and I'm here on an investigation. I'd like to speak to a member of the Pyochi family, if it's not too much trouble."
Arashi smiles softly at the man. "Don't worry. You keep doing your job to the best of your ability. We will find your little girl and bring her back to you. You being a guard and what not I am going to trust your opinion on this guy. Something is off about him it seems?" Then with a glance to Amani he adds. "I suppose we can go talk to these folks now?"
Amani finishes taking notes and nods to Arashi's words. "We will go and talk to these people and see about getting your daughter back," she offered to the guard. "Until then, continue your work. At the least, you will have funds to put towards yourself and your daughter upon her return." She turned away from the door to go find these others that were listed. "I wouldn't mind looking for them, but I think we should gather together with the others and head to the apartments together. Our task was to go to this address and figure out information. Now that we have, this task is clear and leaves us open for further instruction."
The little girl whimpers a bit, taking the bag of money. "It… Maybe … I dunno…" There weren't any indicators of any other family in the home, for whatever reason. Maybe the girl's relatives were all dead. Maybe they disowned her mother. Who knows! But she and her mother lived a happy life up until now, and she apparently didn't recall any family to go to.
The maid scowls at Jon. "Zey beezy. Very beezy. Yu go nao. I tell zem. Make a poignant if you want see zem." She makes a shooing motion with her hand and turns, as if to go back inside. Provided Jon didn't stop her, she would slam the door in his face…
The guard would nod and bow deeply in thanks to Amani and Arashi before heading off to work.
"Alright, well I'm not going to leave you alone. If you don't have any friends families you can go to we'll find someone you can stay with or you can come stay in Kumogakure until we find your mother. Where did your mother work so that we can go check there as well?" Yori asks as he stands again, patting the girl on the shoulder gently.
As a ninja, Jon's got a ton of options here. He could probably sneak into this place through a half-dozen different avenues, easy. He could cast a genjutsu on the maid to make her think he's not there and just walk right past. He could go away and then come back a little while later disguised as somebody who would have access to the house. He could even overpower and bind the maid. All of these, unfortunately, are things you do as a ninja, but things you do not do as a police detective. e.e Shoot, even as a ninja you don't do them to people of your own country without just cause and proper authorization. :P
Jon puts a hand against the door. "And how might I go about making such an appointment?" he asks, projecting his voice into the house. "I certainly hope they're available soon, we're very anxious to get their input on this matter…"
Arashi nods to Amani slowly. "I suppose we could, but I don't want to wait around forever if they found leads, and we are just sitting around doing nothing. This isn't a ploy to just get me somewhere so you can force me to tell you that Curried Fish Cake recipe is it? If you wanna know that bad I am sure it is worth waiting for. Maybe I could just make it again tonight, and get you to assist while making it?" He offers as he walks to the meeting point.
Amani's lips squirmed into a smirk and soon she broke out into a chuckle. "No, no, no, it's nothing like that. I wouldn't corner you on a mission. There's a time for that and that time was left back at the village. For now, we have this task to focus on. It's far more important in scale. But, when we return, I'd like to assist you with making it. I enjoyed that dish as much as I hated losing to it," she was still fussy about that.
"But…you make a point. Let's head to the apartments and see what we can gather from the people there," she states and moves on to the apartments. Upon finding them, she looks at her notes to indicate if this was truly the place. "Looks like we've found the place, now we have to find the ones behind our case…" She entered the building with the hopes of finding Piyochi Kimura and his family.
"She works… at the library…" The young girl would tell Yori. "She leaves after I go to school and comes home an hour after I get back." The girl follows Yori to wherever he may lead her, deciding to trust the shinobi. He was nice, after all! Just then, her stomach rumbles… rather loudly, too.
The maid almost slams Jon's hand, but she manages to shout, "Uze yore 'ead!" And then she slams the door in his face. And if the detective is not careful, he might have a broken hand with how hard she slammed that door… Once again, the house falls into silence…
Amani and Arashi would approach the apartment that Jon is standing in front of, likely arriving right when Jon had the door slammed on him.
Yori would nod and start going towards the library, bringing the girl along with him. When they passed a vendor he stopped, picking up a snack for the girl and offering it to her before continuing along. "How long has your mom worked at the library? Oh, and what was your name?" Yori asks, looking down to the girl and tilting his head slightly.
Phew! That certainly didn't go as well as Jon would've liked. X) He steps back from the door and looks around, taking stock of the situation…and spots Amani and Arashi approaching. He makes a hand signal to them that means 'regroup', then walks off without looking further in their direction. It might be useful to keep the household from realizing they're working together, after all.
Jon stops a block away from the building and waits for Amani and Arashi to join him. "Their help-staff is unwelcoming to officials," Jon reports. "We're not likely to get any cooperation through open means, and we can't justify breaking in or doing anything too underhanded. Any ideas?" :/
Arashi chuckles some as Amani speaks. "I suppose that makes sense. And yeah I guess when we get back I can teach you the recipe." He smiles softly before following her on to the next place. "Oh… That door being slammed was fairly rude. I suppose we might want to come back a little later." He looks to Amani before walking off slightly ending up where Jon is. "Well what if we wern't officials? Then could we maybe get help with something? Otherwise I don't see how we can't use underhanded means… We just can't get caught. Sadly it isn't something that I am the best at." He looks at Amani to see if she has any ideas.
"You guess? No, there is no guessing. You /will/. I'll make sure of it," Amani remarked to Arashi. The slam of the door rang in her ears from the distance they were at, but she'd manage. Having caught Jon's signal quickly enough she began to turn away from him and the building. Looks like no other work needs to be done here. She came to a stop, waiting for Arashi and began walking only when she saw the both of them wandering off together. When they managed to regroup, she spoke saying, "I don't know the level of skill these people possess, but I imagine a simple henge can suffice. It's not too underhanded nor intrusive if we manage to blend in with the population. It's a good start to work with."
"Umm… Ami…" the young girl tells Yori, gripping either his hand or his shirt to make sure he doesn't suddenly want to lose her. She didn't need someone disappearing on her again! The girl stuck to the Saito like glue, even, so hopefully she doesn't really interfere with anything…
The house of the Pyochi family was silent… Oddly. There weren't any signs of cleaning, but considering vacuum cleaners are a bit of a commodity at this point in time, that may be no surprise. There's nothing really spectacular about the apartments, except for the fact that the whole Pyochi family lives in this one building. They must be a small family? From the window, beady eyes peer out to make sure Jon disappeared…
Yori takes the girls hands to guide her along now that she has some food, leading her to the library. He looks around the area carefully for a few moments before he goes inside with the girl, stopping at the front desk. "Excuse me, I need to speak with whoever is in charge. I'm Saito Yorishiro, Tokubetsu Jounin of Kumogakure, and I'm here on official business."
Jon glances at Arashi. "Hizumu-san, don't you remember what's happened in just the last few years? There have been huge conflicts, thousands of lives lost, all because certain people said shinobi are unrestrained and malevolent, and enough people believed them. Let's not make them right. I don't care if we could avoid getting caught." Jon looks back toward the building. "With that said, in principle it would be okay to act like civilians to scope an area out inconspicuously, but I don't think that'll help us here. That place is a private complex for the Pyochi family, they won't let random strangers in. The only thing strange about that is their vehemence in refusing to communicate, and that's not enough to warrant a forced search." Jon tilts his head. "By the way, what brought you here? I'm following up on the old man who was accused on the molestation charge, it was a young woman of the Pyochi household that was involved and her father was the one who pressed charges."
Arashi frowns slightly at Jon's words. He of course knows he is right, but they can't just not do something. "Well honestly we can't just sit here, and ignore it though. You want to go the peaceful and unintrusive route then come up with something. Anything I would think of on the spot would not be unintrusive…maybe." He steps to the side slightly to try and get a good look at the whole building as best he could from where they are…which might not be much. He also decided to let Amani explaing why they were here considering she would probably be the best person to bring it up. "Lets see. Well maybe we just have to find a reason to get in there…." He wasn't speaking to the others directly, but it was something they could hear.
"Oh bother. Well, if we can't act like a civilian, we can act like something else. We can be some important local or something. I don't know," Amani grumbled. "I feel we've got more than enough to go in on suspicion of their activities. All these charges that haven't been handled reasonably or well within the law, it appears. The reactions are far outside of the norm, so at the very least, we'll have to figure out why. I'm willing to place myself in that position. Heck, I can even lie," she snatched off her forehead protector. "There, now no one knows I'm from Kumo. I could be a rogue agent for all they know."
"Hmm?" An older man looks up and studies Yori for a bit before peeking down at the young girl with him. "The director's office is just that way, Saito-san. You're a bit young for Jounin, though… I suppose hard times…" He frowns and adjusts the big glasses he has on. "She's in today. Just be sure to knock before entering."
Yori would bow in thanks to the man at the counter before going towards the door that leads to the director's office. Three sharp raps against the wood would follow and, after waiting to hear something, he would open the door to enter with the young girl still at his side. "Forgive the intrusion. I had some questions if you have a moment," he offers with a formal bow of greeting.
Jon sighs and strikes his fingertips against his forehead. -.- Who'd have thought the Surgeon General of Kumogakure would be such a loose cannon? Guess it goes with the decisiveness and self-confidence a surgeon needs. "Even if that were ethically justifiable, you'd need to know what important local you're impersonating, why they'd have access to the household, and what their relations are to the people inside. And they're going to be especially suspicious now."
Jon taps his chin. "…Here's something that might work, though. If this family is connected to the ring we're investigating, they like to capture those they perceive as criminals and torture them. So if we could convince them one of us is a criminal…" Jon makes a few handseals and *POOF*s into an ordinary town guard. "So, who wants to play the common street thief?" ;)
Arashi watches them do their talking and upon Jon's question he speaks up. "Jon and Amani. I wouldn't want to mostly because I feel like I should hang back just in case something happens. Though if Amani doesn't want to do it I will. No reason to argue about it because it needs to be done." He looks around, and if Amani doesn't want to be a thief he will henge into a random form that looks like what a ruffian would be.
"I could've figured it out," Amani mumbled with a frown. She folded her arms as she looked around for any hint of a local that might be famous enough to visit here, but nothing comes up yet. She could've found out /eventually/. With Jon offering an alternative to hers, she nodded to herself and hummed. "I can do this. I will be the bait. I know how to make crime," she chuckled to herself. "Arashi, I'd rather you stick around with Jon. I don't know what to expect from this organization, so I'd rather myself go than you at the moment."
A woman with sharp features would look up when Yori enters, and she would remove her spectacles to examine the Saito. "Yes, what do you want?" she asks, sounding very business-like. She didn't want to waste time with children.
"Saito Yorishiro, Tokubetsu Jounin of Kumogakure," Yori says introducing himself yet again and making sure his hitai-ate can be seen. "I've come to ask for information about this young girls mother who has gone missing. She works here if I'm not mistaken and she never returned home from her last shift. I need to know if she came into work that day and speak with anyone that might have seen or talked with her that day."
Jon snaps his fingers. "Actually, come to think of it it'd be better if both of you go in. It'll improve the chances of escaping if you've got somebody on the inside with you." The investigative detective with the most experience at undercover work isn't going in on this dangerous aspect of the mission BECAUSE REASONS. C.C Like, they might recognize his chakra signature. Let's go with that.
After rehearsing their plan a few times, and giving some time for it to seem less likely that the incidence of thieves going by is connected to the Kumo nin who payed a visit to the front door earlier, they play out their act. "STOP! THIEVES!" Guard!Jon roars out, running after the scurrulous rapscallions…far enough back that it's believable that they could hide behind the Pyochi family's gate, hidden from the street but in easy view of the building, while the guard runs haplessly by.
Arashi nods to Jon switching quickly to his henged form. It made sense to him that Amani and Arashi both go in there, but why did Jon just keep himself out of the rest of this part. Either way he didn't mind going in there. At least Amani he knew well. Though mostly he made sure to follow Amani's lead with this because he figured she would have better idea of what to do once inside. That somehow lead Jon to randomly running past them while they hid behind the family gate of the Pyochi. At that he whispered to Amani. "So what's next?"
"Shoot, he's about to get us. Come on, we can hide here!" Thief-Amani remarks to Thief Arashi. "Once we slip in here, we should be in the clear!" She liked this plan! She can be the worst scum in the world! Hahahahaha! With them in place, she had to consider how the plan unfolds from here. She thinks she'll do a good job, perhaps even better with Arashi around. They make a good duo, even though she still lost to him! Feh.
What? THIEVES? Not on these guards' watch! A few /real/ guards start chasing after Amani and Arashi, not even noticing that Jon ran right past the targets. They'd have to chastise that mysterious bloke later. For now, though, their weapons were on the two thieves. "If you have any weapons, drop 'em!" shouts one guard. "Put your hands above your head, too. We don't need any surprises!" Of course, they were just normal guards doing their duty. Nothing suspicious there!
"Hmm? Ah, yes… She didn't show up yesterday. No warning or anything, which I thought was a bit odd. But the day before, when she did show up, she was acting as she usually does. She's one of my best workers, you know," the librarian says, her eyes flicking down to her paper so that she can mark off one final thing. "Sometimes she lets Ami-chan come here and read the children's stories." Ami would nod quietly and tug on Yori's sleeve. "I like the one about the purple hippo," she would tell him solemnly.
D'OH! Figures that something would go awry with a thrown-together plan like this. X/ Still, maybe it can be turned into an opportunity. Jon switches his henge around to appear like yet another vagabond, then returns to the front of the Pyochi residence. Sneaking up on the guards menacing his team-mates, he makes a snatch for their wallets and runs off. He can square things with the guards later, but hopefully this will make them look like a particularly daring set of thieves. X)
RP: Jon makes a Int roll and got 17.
RP: Jon makes a Spd roll and got 14.
[NPC System]: Guards roll(s) Pick Pocket Sensing…? vs Jon from 13 to 34 and get(s) a 18. - Rolled by: Michiko
[NPC System]: Guards roll(s) Pick Pocket Sensing…? vs Jon from 13 to 34 and get(s) a 29. - Rolled by: Michiko
Arashi in his henged form looks at the spear pointed to him, and he doesn't do anything yet. "I don't have any weapons on me. We usually don't get caught, but this one had to get a little greedy." He moves his head slightly gesturing to the henged Amani. Then another pickpocket comes up to steal from the guards, and he grins slightly as he suspects that it is Jon.
Thief!Amani looks down the shaft of the spear pointed at her then quickly placed her hands into the air. "No weapons here!" She called out. "'Sides, I wanted to make sure we were getting enough for ourselves. I was looking out for the both of us!" She defended her greedy paws. "So uh, could ya not point that pointy thing at my face?" She spoke of the weapon drawn so closely near her.
One of the guards snort. "You thieves think you can get away so easy…" The man points the spear at Amani. "Alright, stay still. We're ta- GAH!" The guards actually don't have easily-accessed money-pouches… So Jon just manages to poke around their things in a semi-obvious way before they notice him running away. They were just so wrapped up with their original targets! But now the one of the guards goes to chase after Jon and give him a diving tackle while the other moves to try and tie up the two Kumo-Nin
[NPC System]: Guard roll(s) Tackle! vs Jon (Round Stun) from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 50. - Rolled by: Michiko
RPCOMBAT: Jon defends against with a NOT-SO-FAST…84
Well, that half-worked. Jon needs to get both of the guards chasing him so that the Pyochis (if they really are part of the sadistic vigilantes the Kumo nin are trying to track down) will be tempted to nab the other two 'thieves'. Seems like just this one could be quite a handful though! O.O Jon doesn't want to make the Pyochis suspicious by pulling out any flashy tricks to defend himself, but he won't be able to prolong the chase if he's caught. So he decides to use a method that's more subtle, at least to outside observers. He projects a vehement mental order to STOP at the charging guard, giving himself adequate time to get out of the way. A mental image of chibi!Jon with forehead protector prominently displayed pops up in the guard's mind. ~We're Kumogakure ninja doing an undercover operation! We could really use your cooperation, I need you both to chase me but not the other two!" :/
Arashi eyes the guard that seems to be coming over to tie them up. "Oh you should tie her up first. Between the two of us I am probably the one you have to worry about least. You know while tying me up she might try to steal from you again, and you wouldn't want that." Arashi looks at Amani. "Me on the other hand I am no handsy at all. Just got quick feet." He was trying to do one of two things. Either convince the guard to tie him up using reverse psychology, or get Amani tied up which would allow him to make a break for it. Hopefully that would cause this one to chase him instead of finishing with Amani, or maybe he would be able to hide again. Someone had to take one for the team unless Jon got them out of this mess.
"Okay, Okay, I'll be still, grief," Thief!Amani remarked. "Just wait until I escape again. Next time, I'll steal something even greater," she grinned. When the other guard takes off, the gears starto turning in her head. She glances back at Arashi who begins goading the guard into arresting her. Good, good! When the second guard draws closer with the rope, she makes a motion as if to headbutt him, but narrowly misses. On purpose of course. "Blast it all," she squirmed on the ground, proceeding to scoot away to draw the guard's attention away from Arashi. She intended to milk this for all she could in an effort to carry out their business here.
O.o
Well, that was hardly expected. The guard chasing Jon ends up getting some nasty roadburn from a failed tackle :( Owwie >.<;; But he gets up and says, "Curse you!!!" To try and catch his partner's attention. His partner just … tied up one of the two Kumo-Nin before hearing the other's yell, and he grumps. "Stay here!" he tells them, then he starts chasing after Jon, too! Well, so far so good?
Arashi and Amani have been left alone… And it doesn't seem that anyone in the Pyochi household is coming out. And no one is entering, either >.>;;
Yori nods as he listens to the man in charge. "I see. Did she leave on time the day before? Did she leave behind any of her belongings?" When the man mentions the child Yori glances over to her, smiling slightly at her words on the book. "Ahh yes, that is a good one," he agrees with a nod before looking back to the librarian and waiting for an answer. Once he had it he would nod, then ask his next question. "Can you watch after Ami-chan while I search for her mother? I've given her money to help with any expenses, and Kumogakure will continue to help until she's found if you'll take her."
After leading the guards a ways off, Jon *POOF*s back to his normal form and stops to explain matters to them. He tells them about the ploy to draw out vigilantes (although he doesn't mention any names), and apologizes to them for getting them mixed up in the matter. -.-; Hopefully his Kumogakure forehead protecter and obvious ninja ability are enough to satisfy them. Meanwhile, not knowing whether the ruse worked or not, and not wanting to be seen in the vicinity of the Pyochi complex again for fear of arousing suspicion, Jon goes to…do a little more background research on them, for lack of anything more solid to do. -.-
Arashi eyes the other guard just running off, and walks back to Amani. "Alright what should we do next?" He starts moving closer to the door to the building before stopping to see if she had any ideas. Of course the next thing he said was to make sure that anyone listening would still think they were thiefs. "And don't you be getting greedy this time either. We only need to take enough for the week not the whole year."
Amani watched the final guard take off, leaving the both of them alone. "We go in here, right? And we explore for a little bit. Real smooth like. Just snoop around and see what's good to snatch. I got my pockets heavy taking useless junk last time. Now, I want the cream of the crop," she offered to Arashi. "So, let's go around here, see what we can dig up. Might be a way to sneak in or some such." Gotta maintain that thief persona.
RPCOMBAT: Amani defends against with a PERCEPTION…25
Oh, look, that MYSTERIOUSLY OPEN WINDOW is right there! Perfect for sneaking into the house! … You know… If Amani spots it. Which she should. The two guards blink and stare at Jon when he suddenly explains things and they flail mentally. "FINE" the pair huff before they wander off in search of more thieves to chase down. Jon would probably end up going to the library, right? And it's there he would meet up with Yori! … Hopefully. Speaking of Yori…
The Librarian would blink and nod slightly. "Yes, she was on time when leaving. She always tries to go home on time so that she can spend some time with Ami-chan." The old lady would nod again. "Of course. I'll make sure she is safe." The librarian would take Ami from Yori and lead the young girl to the children's section of the library for a bit of entertainment, so long as the Saito had no further questions.
Hey-ho, to the library we go. Jon arrives and OH HEY YORI'S HERE. Jon meets up with the team leader and gives him his report. "I'm afraid we don't have much to go on in the elderly man's case. Our only real suspect is the man who accused him, a prominent guy in the Pyochi family. The Pyochi family's help staff is very closed, but we can't get a search warrant based on just that. Amani and Arashi are trying to bait them into taking action by posing as thieves…that's about all I got." :/
Arashi looks around the area not paying much attention to the windows, and instead looks at the walls nearby and the door. "I agree we should go inside. Find whatever we want to make it out with more then we entered with, and you know it would be pretty fun. Now how do we get inside." He was so far oblivious to the window open, but if Amani showed him he would follow her lead.
"Aha, there you are!" Amani remarked aloud, nudging Arashi while pointing up to the window. "That's our ticket. Let's see if we can get the goods." She made an effort to climb up and reach the window so that she could get inside. Once there, she'd hold out her hand so that she could help Arashi up. Sometimes, you gotta do what ya gotta do. She didn't see any other options, so this one was it.
MMMHMMM! Interesting. Very interesting. That maid from earlier was nowhere in sight. Amani could probably hear her bustling about on the floor above. If she recalled, the apartment was a good 4 floors tall, and this room right here was far from the most extravagant. It looked like a simple sitting room. Speaking of which, it seems to have a very nice carpet that is /very/ easy to get ruined…
Arashi grabs onto Amani's hand, and pulls himself in. Then in a low voice he speaks up. "So where should we start, and should we split up or stick together? We obviously don't know the layout of this place, so staying together might be the better option." Then he begins to explore this room to see if he can find anything while here. Better then not doing anything while here at least.
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…21
"Let's stick together. We can move from room to room and should we run into trouble, we can watch one another's back," Amani explains as she begins to walk across the plush carpet. She pauses and looks down at it and hummed to herself. This could be a good starting point. "Let's make a little mess in here…" she remarks, scooting her foot across the ground a bit.
Well, there's nothing interesting in the sitting room >.> Why would anyone leave anything in the sitting room where /everyone/ comes in to … you know… sit…
Arashi did not find anything, but figured he wouldn't and looks over at Amani. "So where should we check first then?" He moves towards the door, and listens onto the other side, and making sure no one is there he would peek out. Then quietly he speaks to Amani again. "So? Any ideas where to start?" He looks back at Amani while closing the door slightly, and eyes her destroying the carpet.
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…19
RPCOMBAT: Amani defends against with a PERCEPTION…31
Amani continues making a mess on the carpet until she was satisfied with what she did. "Yeah. Let's head downstairs. We're going to the kitchen. Things are happening in there and I don't like it," she broke character to speak that. She might just break all of her character, but she knows well enough not to do that. At least, not completely. "I can just hear it…it's terrible."
*VROOM VROOM* goes the non-existent vacuum. That maid is just dusting upstairs, y'know? SHe doesn't know that folk wandered into her master's home. Nope! Wonder what the Kumo-nin will find in the kitchen.
Arashi nods slowly towards Amani, and follows her lead towards the kitchen. The whole time he would be keeping his voice low, and keeping a lookout for anything supicious. "Amani. What exactly do you hear? I can't hear anything at all. Your hearing is obviously better then mine." He keeps moving and would wait for her to go into the kitchen first as well.
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…32
"Everything wrong," Amani vaguely explains. "I can't put it into words because the words would sound like garbage. Exactly like what's coming out of the kitchen," she made her way through, looking every which way and listening to see if anyone was coming. Besides, she needed to leave a bit of tracking back in the room so it'd arounds suspicion. Someone other than the family is here.
She eventually makes it to the stairs and follows them down, listening to the kitchen. "We're close…" So close. She must fix this mess!
RPCOMBAT: Amani defends against with a PERCEPTION…31
Arashi waits for Amani to enter and then follows her before looking all over for whatever he could find. "Anything I should be looking for in specific Amani? Obviously just things to find that could prove something is up with them huh?" Well either way he didn't know where in the place to look.
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…32
Amani looked around in the kitchen and saw the disaster it was. Someone can't cook… Sigh. Not that they weren't decent, they just weren't /that/ decent. She could do much better. She had the compelling urge to cook in here, but…no. No! She grumbled. "Ah, something to distract myself with," she went up to a nook where bills were placed and began rifling through them. "Help me look through these," she spoke to Arashi.
Oh-hohohoho! What have we here? There seem to be a few secret codes hidden within the bills. Well, not actually, but the messages are certainly not written in any common tongue!
Arashi came over to help her look at the bills, and fumbled through them easily noticing the gibberish. Or it seemed liked it was, but looking closely it could be some kind of code. "Hmmm. Interesting. Maybe this isn't a kitchen actually, and it is the operation room for an army." He was obviously not being serious as he said that, but he paused as if he was thinking about it. Then he just shrugged and got back to looking for anything important.
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…19
RPCOMBAT: Amani defends against with a PERCEPTION…26
"Let's remember what we can and place these back in place. I don't want to draw too much attention. All they need to know is someone is here, sneaking around," Amani explains as she places the bills back in their proper places. She extends her hand to Arashi to do the same with those he collected. "Alright, now let's go find somethin' to get our sticky fingers on, eh?" She moved out of the room to get her hands on something valuable. How empty is this place, anyhow? It almost feels like no one is here.
Oh, look at that really fancy gold-lined vase that looks like an expensive gift… » There, on the table. So pretty and shiny…
Arashi does what was asked of him about the bill things, and then moves on with Amani. "Alright so what should we take with us. Oh look over there at that vase. I think it looks valuable. Don't you think it does?" He slowly moves towards it while keeping an eye on the area nearby. They wouldn't really allow this to be out in the open would they?
RPCOMBAT: Arashi defends against with a PERCEPTION…18
RPCOMBAT: Amani defends against with a PERCEPTION…40
Amani locked eyes with the vase on the table. "That. We want that," she pointed it out and briskly walked up to the table to collect it. "Yes…this is what we want. This ought to be worth multiple times worth our shared weight in gold," she smiled. Where her eyes didn't work, her ears were certainly listening for any activity.
Of course, as soon as the vase is spotted, luck would be against them… Or not. A woman would appear at the door to the kitchen. "OY! YU THIEVES!!! GIT OWT!!! And then she starts chucking all sorts of kitchen utensils at the pair :\ Well, that's not to be unexpected, in a way. Amani and Arashi would be forced to flee the scene, but at least they have information to give to Yori and Jon. With their combined efforts, Kumogakure can surely do something about the Pyochi family!
