Armed with dangerous knowledge, Shiori made her way to the gates. While many things have changed, one thing had not: her resolve to find Sousuke. He was no longer within the village, that much she was confident of. It was strange how all of these years she was always dependent on him, previously she was content to play the part of the fool. Pride and necessity have changed her priorities, from now on it would be her that everyone else depended on. Certainly she had her own ends, there was a reason she chose the Takahashi family, but her time with Sousuke has endeared her to the human plight. Despite the lies, the fallacies and the falsehoods, she truly had affections for the Steward line. Something drew her to them, there always was an exceptional specimen among them, much like the Sunahoshi. It was a shame that Primus' line was the Sunahoshi, such potential lost when the last of them disappeared. Little did she know, the Sunahoshi line was still among them. Eventually, perhaps, another paragon of humanity would rise up. That would be an interesting sight.
Being near her since these changes as of late would prove dangerous for the Steward Kazekage. Hate is not the most dangerous of emotions, it is love that truly propels a man or a woman to greater heights. The potential for humanity is truly limitless, sadly she has a glass ceiling but her ceiling is still a rather high bar. She just needed to reach it fast. Her brain was still in a fog, but her determination granted her a level of clarity. She would work through the haze and find him.
...So much time was wasted playing Shinobi Medic.
She had encountered the specter known as Mikaboshi, his link to Sousuke's life-force reinforced her instinct that Sousuke was alive somewhere. His state would be a cause for concern, with the village in turmoil it was likely that the Kazekage was in dire straights. Perhaps the Cabal had captured him. He could be fighting for his life at this very moment. Sousuke was the thing that tethered her to humanity, the one thing that would keep her civilized. If they hurt Sousuke, she would... seek her potential and then demonstrate her bitter pain. Her tiny hand was balled into a fist as her fears manifested in her mind. She would find him.
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* * * * * * * * * *
The lift at the Maw was broken. That would suggest that they were caged in. She stomped her heel on the floor and listened for the echo as it reverberated off the sides of the tunnel of the great annelid. Barynx was a beast of legend and lore for a reason, the echo ceased before she saw an exit. The ancient rings of cartilage and the exoskeleton of the beast still held the walls firmly in place. The lift was not in use and moreover, she could hear the frayed and broken ropes. What she could not see was the letter of intent by the Cabal. Their taunt would have likely enraged her but it would not have altered her designs, rather it would have reinforced her need to vacate the village all the same. She was unaware of the risks the village was incurring with her defiant act, she was still hospitalized the day the lights were turned out and Suna as a whole was warned that there were bombs planted throughout the city. Her choice here was the kazekage or potentially thousands of citizens. If faced with such a decision, her choice would be elementary: Sousuke every time.
Would she attempt to repair the lift? No, she was not a skilled mechanic and from what she could thus far recollect she was a technophobe. Needless pieces of technology only serve to eventually break. Certainly that would be sacrilege to Sousuke, a boy who liked his toys, but really it was a hobby or at least it should have been. With the lift broken and the city needlessly deep in comparison to the surface, she was left with only one other option: to climb. She pulled out a spool of Ninja Wire and frowned, it would not hold her weight. She had several more, she unwound the thin yet tensile spool and thought about it briefly. No, she was not going to stake her life on the strength of a string. She shook her head and stuffed them back into her pocket and stomped on the floor a second time. It was a long ways up, probably half a mile. She thought she heard the terminal point. It was closed. She let out a sigh, the only way out was up.
She wondered where Mikaboshi had gone, they had met earlier in the day whilst she searched the hovels and ruins of the poorest districts in Sunagakure with the latent hope that Sousuke was holed up in one of the vacant spaces. She was disappointed in her chance meeting with the Sennin, he was not her query but he was being held by someone. She never asked the now dead jailer why he was holding Mikaboshi, it was not a concern at the time. She honestly had no idea why the Cabal was even in Sunagakure. They were proving to be troublesome. Mikaboshi had seemingly merged with the shadow and gloom and departed nary a pleasantry not that they were friends or even acquaintances. Not that she relished allying herself with whatever matter of beast Mikaboshi the specter of Sousuke's blade happened to be but she did not want to take this journey alone. A lack of companionship would not deter her, nor would the awesome depth of his life well. She pulled her chakra to her hands and her feet and she took hold of the wall...
If anyone was going to stop her, now was the time.
WC: 983
[MFT]
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