Chasing Shadows (Minako & Kitsune)

[Fujiwara Minako]

It was the deep dark night, and the blonde genin known as Minako was having a boring night, if she was to say so herself. That was when she decided to go and have fun for once, and even made sure that she wasn’t in her ninja garb, as she would be more noticeable at a nightclub if she wore her spectacular blue stuff. However, this also meant she would have to keep her mask off, luckily, she can position her hair better to cover it, however.

Placing on some casual clothes, the female bit her lower lip as she walked over to the nightclub and entered the building, she had to say, it was rather nice looking. She didn’t think nightclubs actually looked like this… if she was going to be honest, this was her first time going to a nightclub in the first place, simply because she was too lazy to usually to go places, unless it involved the ancient forest of course.

Everything was loud, the place was booming, and nobody was even staring at her, maybe Minako should spent time in the nightclubs more often, especially if she won’t get noticed and she can either have fun or be lazy, like the genin she was. She was known as the ‘sloth’ or ‘lazy genin’ after all, and it’s very easy to tell why… she just couldn’t be bothered to do anything.

Making her way throughout the nightclub, the female decided that taking a seat was a good starting point, maybe something to drink, and maybe just enjoy the music that comes out from whatever produces it.

“This music is good…” The sloth mumbled to herself as she gazed over to nothing in particular, just enjoying her own company and minding her own business, just like how it was almost all the time.

Words: 306

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Every now and again, Kitsune opted to perform some of the tasks usually left to the employees of her nightclub, they didn’t mind and it helped Kitsune get some form of idea about how things should be run without making the employees unhappy. This particular evening, Kitsune had opted to perform some bartending which, as it turned out, she was quite skilled at. Probably her training as a chemist that allowed her to make some drinks that could almost literally knock the pants off of people. Of course, as the bartender, she had to be able to assess people at a moment’s glance, and evaluate if they had gotten enough to drink or if they could handle more.

This evening though, a blonde that Kitsune hadn’t seen before had walked into her club and sat down at the bar. It seemed that she was a newcomer to the whole clubbing scene, and perhaps even to this part of town in general. Kitsune stepped over to the booze on the rack in front of the girl and shuffled a few bottles around, mixing together a drink and hearing her say the music was pretty good. That made Kitsune chuckle a bit as she turned around and placed the drink in front of the woman and with a grin said ”Why thank you. I’d like to think I made a good choice hiring them.” she said, chuckling.

”Hi, I’m Kitsune. I own the club.” she said, introducing herself. Kitsunes wardrobe for the evening consisted of a white dress-shirt, a black vest, black pants you’d see accompanying a tuxedo, and her usual jeweled choker around her neck. Meanwhile, her hair was hanging loose down her back and reached as far down as the lower back. It was quite the wild mane of hair she had. ”So what brings you to these parts of the city? Looking for a bit of adventure perhaps?”

[WC: 319]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

Biting her lower lip, her ears were invaded by a female voice, who seemed to thank her and mentioned that she thought she’d like to think that she made a good choice of hiring them. Minako was shocked, those were real people making that kind of music?! That was insane?! She didn’t think that someone would be able to hire someone to make music for a nightclub specifically. Now she has learnt something new today, and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. Maybe she has to come to the nightclub scene more often, even if she doesn’t do any dancing of the sort.

With the sloth being introduced to the woman, she tilted her head in understanding, this woman looked rather pretty, Minako was quite jealous, if she was going to be honest, she won’t let her feelings become shown however, she was probably just being like that because Kitsune doesn’t have anything messed up on her face… nothing like Minako’s anyway.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Minako smiled softly as she scratched the back of her blonde hair. “Indeed, tonight was pretty much boring for me so far, and I want to have a bit more excitement tonight.” Minako’s nights usually consisted of the same activities, which was rather boring, considering she was quite lazy.

“Ah, before I forget. I may aswell introduce myself aswell, my name is Minako.” Minako spoke once more, she was still as professional as ever, maybe she should… loosen it up a bit, she was in a nightclub, where everyone goes wild, last she heard, most go wild anyway.

“So you own this place, hm?? Must be pretty cool, if I am going to be honest. Must be difficult at times though, considering people could get loud right off the bat.” She also heard that from various people here and there, that people can drink too much, and get drunk and loud.

Words: 319​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

”It’s lovely to meet you Minako-chan.” Kitsune said with a chuckle and slid the drink towards Minako, ”It’s on the house. And you’re right. It is pretty cool. What’s even cooler is the fact that I won it in a bet. You’re absolutely right that it can get difficult at times, but fortunately, that’s what I’ve got bouncers for. They handle removal of any unwanted elements.” she explained as she leaned over the bar ”Like that poor sod getting removed right now.” she said and pointed over to the door, at one of the bouncers that was literally in the process of removing someone that’d gotten too inebriated for his own good and had tried to hit on one of the waitresses.

She shook her head and chuckled. ”Ah well. It’s probably for the best. He looked to have gotten a drink or two too many, to be honest.” she commented as she turned back to the booze, placing the bottles back where they belonged right as suddenly everything went dark in the club. All the sounds died, and all Kitsune could hear was the breathing of one other person, that person being Minako. Slowly, the lights returned, but it no longer felt like the club they had just been in. Everyone in the room was now wearing strange masks and their shadows felt… Alive.

”What the heck just happened…?” she mumbled as she looked around, seeing that everyone except herself and Minako were now masked. It also seemed as if the entire room had been warped and shifted, with some things increasing in size, like all the things that emphasized it being a night club, like the booze and the music. The waitresses were now all wearing stereotypical bunny suits that enhanced their already busty busts. ”Are you alright Minako-chan? Assuming you still are Minako-chan of course.” Kitsune asked the woman she had just been talking to a minute or so prior to the current puzzling situation.

[WC: 328; Total: 647]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

To already be called Minako-chan from Kitsune was strange, to say the least. She has had nobody name her Minako-chan before, but at the same time, she quite liked it. She may not be called it by anyone else though, so she doesn’t want to get too comfortable with the whole “chan” thing. Kitsune also seemed to be really nice, even offering her a drink before mentioning it was on the house, Minako didn’t really comprehend what was going on, but she decided to go along with it, ah well, at least she had bouncers so she knows she’s safe.

That was until everything changed about the nightclub in a few moments. There was no more sound, no more music, even the hustling and bustling died down, and Minako couldn’t explain what was happening. Such an incident has never happened to her, nor does she want it to happen again, she has found it rather creepy and she didn’t really enjoy the new atmosphere.

“What the…” Minako mumbled as she stood up to have a look around, why was everyone suddenly wearing masks?? Something clearly wasn’t right, she wanted to find out what caused this phenomenon, but even then, she wasn’t sure that was possible.

Upon hearing Kitsune speak up, she shook her head in disbelief as her answer to Kitsune’s question. “Yeah, I’m still me.” Minako then spoke with a great deal of concern in her voice. “I am just wondering… what just happened?? Does it… even have a name??” Minako sighed softly and looked down to the floor before placing a finger on her chin to have a little think, there must be something that they both can do to sort this out, especially if they were the only ones here that were practically normal. “So what do we do now??”

Words: 303​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

It was like the nightclub had shifted and become a vildly exaggerated caricature of itself. Kitsune looked around and as she did, the music and hustle and bustle returned, but it wasn’t the same as before. And what was worse for Kitsune was the fact that it seemed as if her eyes weren’t as sharp as normal, as if her Sharingan was turned off. She had to rely on her instinct and skills as a shinobi to get through this situation it seemed. ”I have no idea what happened, to be honest. I suppose we’ll have to figure out what’s going on here ourselves.” she said and ran a hand through her hair.

There was a ton of people, all just walking around, drinking, for some reason gambling as well, which was odd because the nightclub didn’t have any such facilities. ”Looks like we first gotta find out who’s behind this, or if not a who, then a what.” she said, immediately looking around the room to see if she could find a form of vantage point where she’d be able to get an overview, because suddenly there was, figuratively, a gazillion feet to the ceiling, and wouldn’t you know it, there was a way to get up to the lamps up above.

”Why don’t we get ourselves up there, and see if we can’t spot something unusual.” Kitsune said and paused. ”Err. More unusual I mean. This is already strange as all hell to be quite honest.” Kitsune reached behind her head and tied up her hair so it wouldn’t get in the way.. ”There’s a vantage point up on the lamps, I think the easiest way up there is up the column over there by the wall.” she said and pointed before making her way over there, hoping to not get spotted by security or anything on the way there.

[WC: 313; Total: 960]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

Kitsune was right, it seemed that the both of them will probably have to sort this out, whether they both like it or not. That wasn’t a big deal, unless you were the type of person that was extremely lazy, just like Minako, which was a bit of a problem. She just hoped that Kitsune didn’t find out just how lazy she well and truly was, or there may be a few… complications between the two. Well, it depended how active Kitsune was anyway. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” Minako nodded, agreeing with her opinion. She probably had no better idea anyway, considering this nightclub belonged to Kitsune, and everything was just getting weirder by the second.

Hearing Kitsune continue her talk, she questioned the blonde, asking about getting an overview to see if theres something strange, or stranger to say the least. With Minako crossing her arms, she looked over to where her red headed buddy was suggesting her to go to. It seemed like this would be easy, or at least, the easiest it could possibly be. It still meant that Minako had to work hard though to get past, and she really couldn’t be bothered to. Nonetheless, Minako decided to give it a shot anyway.

Following Kitsune, Minako placed her heels of her feet into the air, and thats when she began to tip toe to where Kitsune was headed, if it’s something that would give both of the ladies away, it would be the sound the shoes make. To make less noise was a starting point to say the least. So then they would have less chance to be noticed.

“Heres hoping i’m not noticed like a dude can’t get noticed from his senpai…” Minako mumbled, biting her lower lip and keeping herself in check with her feet.

Words: 310​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune chuckled at Minako’s comment about getting noticed and looked down at the masses of people. Eventually her eyes fell upon what looked disturbingly like herself and the guy she won the nightclub from. It appeared as if in this warped form of reality the gambling loser, Shinji, was still the boss as he was bossing the shadow version of Kitsune around, barking orders all the time as if he ruled the place. Which eh… Might explain the crown he was wearing. What was weird, or, well, weirder, was that everyone (besides Minako and Kitsune, that is) in this place, masked or not, had bright yellow eyes.

”That’s the guy that I won the nightclub from. Seems like he’s the big cheese in this twisted version of reality.” she said in a low voice to Minako, ”And the person he’s barking orders to seems to be… Me. Which is odd, seeing as I own the place now and am sitting up here. With you.” Eventually though, he went off to do some other business, and Kitsune saw her shot at talking to her shadow self. She dropped down from the lamp, right next to herself. The two women stared at each other, one with piercing blue eyes, and the other with bright yellow eyes like the other shadows.

Each movement Kitsune made, the shadow mimicked in perfect timing. It was like an eerie mirror, yet not, due to the eyes. Then, when Kitsune moved her hand forward, the shadow did the same, and upon their meeting, the shadow vanished and Kitsune was engulfed in a vortex of air and suddenly, she was wearing a mask like the other people there. She felt around the edges of the mask before tearing it straight off of her face, leaving a bloody mess which almost instantly vaporized as she was next engulfed in bright blue flames that changed her appearance and then drifted off of her to a position above and behind the changed woman. Only then did the flames morph into a different shape.

After changing shape into this winged, horned, creature, it faded into Kitsunes shadow and inside her heard she heard a few words. I am thou… Thou art I… Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to hell itself! The words echoed in her head and Kitsune steadied herself on an adjacent table as she felt a wave of dizziness spill over her and vanish just as fast. When her vision had stabilized, she realized that all the people in the casino, bar Minako, were shadows. They weren’t real people. They were only reflections of their real counterparts. ”These people… They aren’t people…” she said to Minako as she tore off the mask of a nearby patron, only to have said patron morph into a shadowy creature that dissolved due to not being strong enough to withstand the lighting in the room. ”I’d hazard a wager and say we need to find Shinji’s shadow and kick his ass. That should get us out of here.” she concluded.

[WC: 518; Total: 1478]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

With everything that she was seeing, she was most certainly confused. Everyone appeared to have bright yellow eyes, and they were so weird, compared to her brown hues, that were scanning the area for any other oddities. Just as she did, she spotted a dude who seemed to be more aggressive than the others. What was even more mad was that the person he seemed to be shouting at was Kitsune herself… But Kitsune was right next to her? This is more than what Minako could comprehend. With Kitsune explaining the situation a few seconds later, she bit her lower lip, it seems she noticed too.

Minako was still staring the moment Kitsune dropped off, and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. They both were mimicking each other’s moves. It was when their hands made some skinship, when something really strange happened… now Kitsune was also wearing a mask, and this made Minako’s heart beat faster somewhat. She didn’t know if she was experiencing a panic attack however, she was just extremely confused and her heart may just be reflecting that.

The moment she felt it was the right time to do so, the female jumped right near to wherever Kitsune was in the name of concern, only for her to pull off her mask and was then engulfed in blue flames. Minako screamed in shock to say the least, she wasn’t usually the one to be so shocked at seeing such things, but this was simply unheard of! She didn’t understand!

It only took a few moments for Kitsune to return to normal, but the moment she done so, Minako was on her butt on the floor, inhaling and exhaling from pure shock, she hoped she would never see that kind of sight again…

“Th-they aren’t??” Minako asked as she stood up and looked around, now that Kitsune said it. It was more than strange that normal people acted like they were followers of some cult or something, and to see that shadow vanish the moment Kitsune flipped off their mask was completely insane. She would take Kitsune’s words over anyone else's while she was here and if she said they had to kick Shinji’s arse, then that is what’s gonna happen.

“Sounds good!” Minako grinned as she spoke. “Where do we start??”

Words: 385​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune chuckled. The new ability she had just obtained would be incredibly helpful in actually getting out of this place. She cracked her knuckles and led the way towards the staff passages behind the scenes, the fastest way to the manager’s office would be that way through. But with everything getting warped and changed, the way there might be longer than expected. Once in the staff passages, Kitsune spotted what looked like way stronger shadows there, patrolling the area like beefy security guards. ”We’re gonna have to take these guys down, or they’ll interfere with our battling Shinji.” she said in a low tone to Minako.

Once Kitsune knew that Minako had her back, she’d charge in behind the shadows, jump onto their backs and rip off their masks before sinking a knife into the resulting beings necks so they’d dissolve into nothingness, and for each shadow Kitsune took down, she felt her own strengthen to the point where it could begin to manifest itself physically at Kitsunes will. She wasn’t sure if Minako could feel it, but they were nearing their target and the faster they were able to take him down the better, because she wanted to get the hell out of there and back to reality.

”There’s the office.” Kitsune said and pointed at the large double doors ”Strange how it’s double doors here. But I guess it’s the warped nature of this place.” she headed for the door and kicked it open to take Shinji off guard. Sadly, it seemed like he was prepared for their arrival as he wasn’t at all surprised by the doors being kicked open. ”Took you fools long enough to get here.” he said in a deep, distorted voice. Kitsune didn’t bother answering him, and went straight for attacking him. She jumped straight at him, and hitting him with her knife, pushing chakra into it to try and inflict more damage to the shadow Shinji.

[WC: 324; Total: 1802]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

Upon hearing that they both will have to take down the shadows that could easily be compared to security guards of some sort, Minako nodded and scanned the area, keeping a check on Kitsune while watching her back, she would see her take out the shadows, one by one, all with precision and speed. While this envied Minako, she also didn’t really have anything to take down the shadows, not properly anyway, minus her jutsu, and her melee attacks, if she even wanted to call them that.

Running alongside Kitsune while they were both nearing their destination, she kept a close eye. That was until Kitsune noted the double doors, and how it was strange they were double doors… Maybe they weren’t double doors before, but how was Minako meant to know?? Even if she saw the door before, she was probably too lazy to remember it. That is why she is known as the sloth after all.

Watching the red-head kick the door open, Minako followed up by running in behind her. The dude seemed to have already known that they were going to come, but Kitsune was already going in for the attack. Minako wanted to help, and help she shall! She bit her lower lip while crossing her arms before lifting her foot off the ground before gently placing her foot down again. Suddenly, the ground beneath Shinji went all pebble like, and this resulted in Minako grinning, a lot. The jutsu didn’t even require much work! Perfect for someone as lazy as lazy as Minako. She just hoped it helped, because it was meant to knock the balance off the opponents slightly.

“Welp!” Minako exclaimed as she looked to the males footing, waiting for that anticipation, in fact, she even wanted him to slip and fall. Something that Minako would’ve laughed her butt off at.

Words: 309
Jutsu Used: Gravel Shift​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune felt Shinji’s footing shift as the ground beneath him turned to gravel and she grinned as she used it to knock him onto his ass. Once he had fallen down, the two women had a shot to inflict some serious damage, and Kitsune took that shot by shifting her Sharingan into a Mangekyou Sharingan, oddly enough it wasn’t the usual eternal one, but Kitsune didn’t care at the moment as her Persona materialized behind her and blasted Shinji with an illusionary Amaterasu, burning the shadowy figure with translucent black flames. They’d take to the person and cause intense pain lasting until the persona willed them gone, and so far, that wasn’t the case.

”Fire everything you’ve got, Minako-chan!” Kitsune yelled over the warped crackling of illusionary flames as she had her Persona fire a plasma laser at Shinji, attempting to cut into his shadowy flesh. Like the black flames, the laser was also translucent due to its genjutsu nature. It seemed as if the persona worked on a shadow plane of reality that genjutsu also affected. And because this space they were in was a shadow side of reality, shadow-Shinji took, it seemed, a ton of extra damage. He didn’t last for long and as if this had been a game, he soon disintegrated leaving nothing behind but a lot of questions.

Now though, it would appear that the entire place was on high alert and everyone was looking for the duo as they had to make their way to the exit. Kitsune hoped that they’d be able to get out from one of the roof ventilation shafts and avoid the main entrance as it’d most likely be heavily guarded by now. ”We have two options. The front door, with a ton of combat involved. Or we sneak up through the ventilation system onto the roof and out of here. What do you think, Minako-chan? Which option would you prefer we pick?”

[WC: 323; Total: 2125]

 

[Fujiwara Minako]

The man did slip onto his butt after all! That was so funny, Minako just wanted to laugh her butt off herself, but managed to keep it in control thanks to Kitsune’s command. She may not know a lot unlike the others, but she most certainly knows something, to say the least. She decided to show Kitsune just what ‘everything you got’ certainly meant. Well, as much as a starting genin could anyway.

“Oh, I will show you fire alright!” Minako grinned before she began to Inhale as much as she possibly could, then she released a raging barrage of fire, from her mouth, onto the shadowy male. The fire was warm and intense, just like the red shades on Kitsune’s scarlet locks.

“My gosh…” Minako mumbled as she bit her lower lip. It felt like her life force was completely sucked out of her, she was not used to this at all. Then again, she wasn’t used to much after staying in the hospital for some time after she was beaten up ruthlessly, which was upsetting when she thought about it. Performing these jutsu moves though reminded her that she most certainly gotten stronger, even if she feels like she hasn’t.

Listening to Kitsune’s question while breathing in and out, she placed her hands at the back of her head while crossing her legs. “I would prefer the vents, I really cannot be arsed with fighting anything right now.” She mentioned as she looked at the double front doors. She heard footsteps going frantic all around the area… “Uggh, I can’t even be arsed listening to them!” She chuckled as she turned around and began to walk backwards until she was standing right beside the other sane one. “We may need to be quick, however.” Minako mentioned. On the bright side, the dude was defeated, that’s all that matters.

Words: 310
Jutsu Used: Thermal Maw​

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

She raised her right hand and pointed up at the vent opening above a bookshelf at the back wall. ”There’s our entry point.” she said, triumphantly ”But first. Lets block this door to avoid pursuers.” she said as she pushed the desk up against the door, preventing it from being opened. Fortunately, the door opened inwards so just putting the desk there would block it and afterwards she spun around and jumped up the bookcase and ripped off the vent cover. ”They’re person sized. How convenient. The real life versions aren’t nearly this big. It’s almost as if this space was meant to be used in this manner.”

Crawling through the vents of the building, Kitsune always searched for a way upwards. Upwards, upwards, always upwards. Eventually though, they hit a dead end, and Kitsune had to bring out her Persona to punch their way through a wall and into a separate ventilation system. Fortunately though, it wasn’t long after that, that the unlikely duo reached the roof of the building. And once they did, they got to see that there wasn’t anything up there. No stars, no city, no lights, no nothing. Except, suddenly, there was. Reality came shimmering into being all around them, leaving them standing on top of a building in the high end area of the Seki District.

”Well that certainly was weird… It felt like we were only crawling through the vents for like, ten minutes.” Kitsune said and looked over the edge of the building ”And yet here we are, atop what’s practically a towering building of steel and concrete. It’s weird. It also feels like I can’t warp us down from here, so I guess we’ll have to take the stairs down a floor and grab the elevator.” she concluded and gestured towards the rooftop access door.

Some 10 minutes later, and boom. They were back on the top basement floor, and absolutely nothing had changed inside the nightclub. ”That was… An adventure. I’m glad that you were with me on it Minako-chan. And I’m sorry for dragging you into it, even if I had no control over it. Tell you what. If you ever come back, drinks are on the house for your entire lifetime. As thanks for the assist.” she said and grinned before heading back towards the bar, because after all this, Kitsune needed one hell of a drink. It also seemed to Kitsune as if all the shadows cast from people were a tad more solid, a tad more mischievous, a tad more… Real…

[TLUS; WC: 425; Total: 2550]