Entering the Red Depths...

[Kazumi]

Yumi didn't look entirely convinced of Naoki's comparison of fish to blindness, or at least the comparison went entirely over her head. She also didn't share in Naoki's laugh, which possibly didn't help the other girl feel any more normal at the moment. Even still she didn't seem to be annoyed or in bad humors, only slightly confused.

As they went down the smaller alley way Yumi did make sure to take Naoki's hand, moving to try and get in front of her so she could guide the genin around debris and refuse that littered the ground. It seemed that she still didn't believe that Naoki could maneuver as well as Yumi could, with the blindfold on, and so she did her best part to play guide dog until they emerged from the other side.

Once on the other side Yumi released Naoki's and and looked up and down the green hued area. The lights still shown red above, but the neon signs and other lights all had similar greenish hues to them. She looked left and then right before she let off a small gasp of excitement, “aha! We found it. C'mon Naoki-chan.” She moved to quickly walk off to the right and down the street where one of the older building signs read 'Choji's Den,'

 

[Samejima]

Eh? Weren't we looking for Chojo's... Hmm... Maybe I'm reading that wrong... Naoki followed Yumi into the old building.

She was unsure of the conditions within the building itself though. If it was deserted, like many older buildings were, she'd be able to sense things based purely on their footsteps and any drafts that may have been blowing through which made for less than stellar circumstances under which Naoki would be walking. If it wasn't, she would be able to hear any and all heartbeats within a regularly sized room... as long as no one was talking, in which case she would focus only on the speaker's voice to guide her sensing capability.

 

[Kazumi]

Perhaps she had simply miss told Naoki as they had first arrived, but using ninja-blindsense magic Naoki could be certain that the two did not match up. Surely it was simply a slip of Yumi's tongue when they first met, she was after all quite exhausted from simply traveling to the Red Light District.

The interior of the building looked more decrepit from the inside. Dust lined most of the surfaces of what must have once been a bar or even something more perverse. From the black marks that covered parts of the floor and walls there might have been a fire here at one point, which might explain the lack of life or activity here. Magic ninja senses could hear though that the place wasn't deserted.

It was faint, but almost a half-dozen strides towards the back behind a dust covered and charred bar was the sound of light activity just beyond a closed, but free swinging door. Breathing, faint shuffling and the clinking of something on glass sounded ever so faintly to the back that even most shinobi wouldn't ever notice it.

Yumi had paused once they went inside, looking a little confused as she now held the case in both of her hands with a slightly nervous look. Behind her nerves the girl thought hard to herself to remember what the instructions were, but at the moment she must have been drawing only faint fuzzy recollections.

 

[Samejima]

There wasn't much sound inside the building then, as they walked in. Naoki would need to be more careful here in case there was any debris or something like that on the ground. On reflex, she snapped her fingers to try and scope out some parts of the floor, making sure she wouldn't trip on anything nearby at least. Footsteps could only do so much, especially if she needed to move quickly later.

What's that over there... a counter? Hmm... I know I've seen something like that before, in one of those books, uh... uhhhh... Before she lost her sight to the awakening of her chakra, she was quite a fan of books. It was a little frustrating that she could no longer recall it, because she can no longer read it to refresh her memory.

The sounds behind the bar were muffled by the free-swinging door, but those were signs of life. Naoki faced Yumi to speak, purely out of habit, and noticed that she had a confused and somewhat nervous expression by her breathing, which was probably louder than Naoki's as she'd been lugging a very heavy training suit around.

"...Are you ok? Want to go further in? I think I hear people behind there," she suggested, holding out the water flask again in case Yumi wanted it.

 

[Kazumi]

Startled, Yumi almost jumped when Naoki suddenly snapped her fingers. “Huh- what?” She asked immediately after in a confused tone, to which Naoki asked her questions. “I... maybe?” She surely didn't sound convinced of herself. She looked from Naoki over towards the door behind the decrepit bar. “I'm supposed to give this to a guy named Ryu and no one else.” She lifted the large suitcase to show it to Naoki once more.

Naoki surely tell that this was making Yumi highly nervous for one reason or another, but those reasons weren't hard to imagine given their current location. She took a few quiet breaths and steeled herself as she lumbered forward, her weighted outfit apparently pulling her down once again. Her footsteps weren't loud, the boots that went with the outfit were some sort of fabric, but they did shuffle from time to time when she didn't pick a foot up high enough.

She eventually made her way to the door, and from there even she could hear the faint sounds of life from beyond it. She carefully pushed the door slightly ope and it silently swung a few inches out. She leaned forward and peered one eye into the back room. The back was relatively dimly lit, but a single large lamp hung from the ceiling over a large circular table. The room was otherwise quite sparse, but cards could be seen laying on the table and bottles of some substance sat scatted on or around the table.

Three individuals sat around the table in rickety looking chairs as they apparently played cards. Their features were hard to make out, but one had short cut hair and dark skin, another had fair skin and long frizzy brownish blonde hair and the final having slightly darker skin than the second and nearly cropped black hair. They all three had quite muscular builds, ranging from extremely fit to muscle bound. None of them seemed to notice any of the new visitors they had yet.

 

[Samejima]

The heartbeats of those in the room were enough to tell Naoki that the men there weren't people you wanted to mess with. They seemed to be seated around a table, holding their hands up and focusing on something.

What are they doing? She'd never even seen a game of cards of course. Would it be okay to just go in... I think they're really serious about whatever that is right now.

The ricketiness of the chairs served to help Naoki, as she could more or less tell whether or not the ground was littered with bottles, so she knew it wouldn't be wise to walk in there considering the men could easily kill them if they had a mind to with a quickly broken bottle. She couldn't sense their features either, as they were all breathing quite evenly.

Naoki pulled Yumi off to the side, far enough away that the men wouldn't hear whispers but close enough for Naoki to ensure that they haven't been noticed from the footfalls. "Yumi... Does your dad know Ryu? Can you trust him?"

 

[Kazumi]

The girl let out a small yip of fright before she silenced herself as she was tugged out of the doorway. The blonde looked up from his cards and scanned around the room. A few moments later a gruff man's voice, “Barurogu it's your go. What you lookin' at?” Another few heartbeats passed before the more feminine man replied in a dismissive voice, “guess it was nothin'.”

Yumi's eyes had gone wide during that short exchange that they could hear before the sparse chatter resumed. The girl continued to hold her breath for another few seconds until Naoki began to quietly ask her things. Her answer was a slight shrug before she whispered back, “I figure so. Why else would he want to give this to him?” She gestured the suitcase again and looked back along the wall towards the door. She obviously was having second... or perhaps tenth thoughts about the whole thing.

 

[Samejima]

Of course... and since that is her dad, I'm sure he wouldn't have sent his daughter out for a dangerous errand right? Now how should we go about going in...

"Give me a minute to think of a way to get in, without being too bothersome to them... Ah, and if you think of anything, please share."

If at any point within the next 30 seconds Yumi comes up with anything, Naoki would listen carefully as she detailed a plan or any questions she might have. Otherwise, she'd be in full thinking mode. So there's three men, whom we don't know, and who are a lot bigger than the both of us. If they get mad and start to attack, Yumi won't be able to run quickly enough to avoid a fight... In the darkness, I do have an advantage, but they know the place better than I do... And I have to keep Yumi out of the battle too... Fighting's not a good option at all here, we'll have to avoid it no matter what. So we just have to focus on them not getting mad right? What if we just knocked on the door politely and asked if there was someone named Ryu who was expecting a package? But then what if we got the wrong place after all...? She did say we were supposed to go to Chojo's Den... It'd be a lot worse if we just interrupted their game and turned out to be in the wrong place. Oh hang on... Couldn't we wait until their game's over? Hmm... But what if after the game ends, one of them's mad about the game and ends up getting annoyed... How else can we do this...

Then, if Yumi stayed silent, Naoki would come up with a great idea, as far as she could think ahead anyway. "Yumi, Yumi. Would it be alright if I just slipped the suitcase in through the door? It's pretty swingy so I bet we'll be able to get it through before any of them manage to reach us, and this Ryu guy would bump into it for sure when he leaves..."

If there was another suggestion though, she'd consider it thoroughly. She had no idea how much longer the game would last, but they seemed fine for now so Naoki was under little to no pressure to act.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi stayed mostly quiet during Naoki's brainstorm. The blindfolded genin seemed to have a better idea as to what they were doing than she did after all. So, the youth stood there clutching the briefcase as she waited for the girl to share her thoughts. She almost gave a startled jump when she finally did speak. “Maybe...” she replied softly, glancing down towards the case in her hand as she seemed to consider it.

“What if someone else finds it though? Dad said to make sure to give it directly to him.” If Naoki did not know better, it seemed as if Yumi was more worried about disappointing her dad by not doing what he asked rather than angering any thugs that roamed the streets. “Maybe we could... call out his name? I mean, if he is in there he would be the one to come, right?” That seemed to make sense in her head at least, her naive little academy student head.

 

[Samejima]

As another one of the quest's prerequisites was brought to Naoki's attention, she nodded understandingly. Ohh... Well, there's no getting around that... Hmm...

Yumi suggested a beautifully simple solution to their problem however, and Naoki lifted her head in enlightenment, smacking the pinky side of her left fist onto her right hand lightly in a gesture of 'great idea!' "Okay then! Um... Have you met him before? If you have and you call out, maybe he'll recognize your voice... Is that okay?" Her dad trusted her to do this right? So they wont be dangerous... right?

Provided Yumi agreed, Naoki would hide nearby and keep a close watch on Yumi. As much as she could keep watch anyway. Most she could do was try and observe the girl's heartbeat, and to be more alert if it sped up. Her own heartbeat wasn't making it any easier, being loud and annoyingly fast in her ears, and Naoki tried to calm herself down so she could observe the scene carefully.

 

[Kazumi]

Unfortunately the girl shook her head and she gave Naoki a small sigh. “Never heard of him before,” clearly this girl's father had many friends? “I'll just peek through the door and call it out, I'm sure whomever it is will come and we can just give it to him.” Yumi gave the other girl a meek nod and then stepped over towards the door. She looked less labored than she had before, perhaps growing more accustomed to the weighted garb, but even so, she looked as if another weight hung heavy upon her.

She took a glance back towards Naoki and gave the girl a smile before realizing the gesture was a futile one. A tinge of embarrassment clung to her as she peeked through the door and called out, “Ryu?” Before a set of heartbeats passed the loud sound of a wooden chair shattering against the wall on the opposite side of the door echoed through the otherwise abandoned bar. Yumi stumbled backwards and collapsed onto her back, the case slipping from her hands as she barely managed to catch herself.

“Who in the hell's dare say that name around here?!” Exclaimed an enraged authoritative voice from the other room who.

“Sounded like a girl...” commented the slighter sounding man in a much more amused voice. “Let me go pay her a visit, kay Bega?” The sound of sharp metal sliding across wood could very faintly be heard from deep within the room proceeded by lithe footsteps that walked casually towards the door...

(( OOC: Sooooooo sorry for the super long delay. Been really busy with moving into a new apartment =x I hope to have internet again in a few days. ))

 

[Samejima]

Startled as well by the sudden noise, Naoki's first instinct was flight, and that included the girl she currently felt she was watching over. After the initial shock of the louder voice wore off, Naoki dashed towards the collapsed Yumi to try and pull her away from the door, behind the wall she was waiting at before. She wasn't strong enough however, and couldn't do much more than pull the girl to her feet before a terrifying announcement of a visitor was heard.

Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

"Yumi! Can you run?" Hurried whispering was really the only thing she could manage. "Get behind that wall, I'll get the case!" With any luck, the footsteps would be too relaxed to compete against the speed of a 9-year-old genin carrying a briefcase and a 10-year-old weighted-down Academy student.

If they were safe, even for a while, Naoki would likely ask her to call out her father's name. It would be noticed, at the very least, and Naoki would be able to control the sound waves enough to distort their source so that no one hearing it would be able to find them just by sound.

If Yumi and/or Naoki didn't make it back to the wall before that though... There's no telling what would happen.

(( No worries, and congrats ))

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi looked almost frozen in shock and fear as Naoki somehow managed to help the girl to her feet. Once up she stumbled forward and tot he side so that she was on the wall near the door that Naoki had ushered her to as the younger picked up the case. At Naoki's urging she did call out, "H-Hideki!" She sounded as if she really expected her father to come swoop in and help in some manner...

Just a moment later a set of three long sharp claw-like blades shot out from the wall mere inches to the left of Yumi's head, freezing her still once again. "Oh no no, sorry little lady. No one of that name here... just you and me, Barorugu..." She claws then began to slowly cut through the rather thin wall as they traveled towards the door at a leisurely pace. "Do not worry, I'm sure we will have a little fun before you have to... go." His voice sounded soft, reassuring and handsome but there was a tinge of sadistic malice that coated each and every word.

Yumi seemed to be unable to even breathe at this point, through tears seemed to be welling up in her eyes. This was as likely as close as she had ever gotten to anything truly dangerous in her life, and that level in inexperience was showing in full force.

 

[Samejima]

Ahh no way, something happened! I thought I did it right... Naoki's mind was racing trying to figure out how she could help Yumi. Can't fight without putting her in danger, can't run without covering her... Aww!

Quickly tapping Yumi's shoulder and gesturing at her to stay put, Naoki took her tatty cloak off so it wouldn't hinder her feet and rushed out with as much speed as she was capable of (which was a surprising amount of speed for a regular teenager, let alone a kid). Bumping her shoulder into wherever that voice came from and attempting to make her way out, she didn't have much of a plan other than to just keep running at that point in time, sometimes stumbling on a random piece of debris where the sound of her footsteps didn't reach.

Of course, if the man didn't follow her it would be a problem, but he should only have heard one girl's voice. As long as Yumi was silent and did not move, she should be fine too.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi stayed perfectly still in her place, not even her teeth moved to chatter themselves in fright as Naoki played decoy. The door to the back room slowly swung open to reveal a thin but well toned and extremely fit man. He wore a devilish grin on his scarless handsome face as he stepped into the room just as he saw Naoki about to burst out of the place.

“Oh, this will be fun...” he remarks as he breaks into a run, the metal of the long claw he held gripped in his right hand glinting off the faint light. In a flash he was at the door and was about to break out into the street in pursuit when that commanding voice from earlier spoke, “Barorugu!” The beautiful man froze in place and a sneer stretched across his lips as he peered out into the street at the fleeing girl.

Taking the moment of opportunity, Yumi somehow managed to break free of her paralysis. She grabbed the case and ducked under the bar so the man was hopefully unlikely to see her... unless he looked. Although she was free of the bindings of terror, she now shook and only barely managed to keep from making any sound that would have given her away.

Reluctantly Barorugu stepped back inside the bar and let the front door close. His fists clenched, but his expression left that annoyed sneer behind. Yumi's breathing, and her heart must have even skipped a few beats, as the man stepped past the counter and stepped into the back room once again, not eeven taking a moment to look around for another person.

“You can find toys on your own time, Barorugu. We are waiting on Sagatto to arrive before we depart, and I will not have you leaving until then.” The voice resonated deeply with authority, and the clawed man replied with a respectful, “of course Lord Bega. My excitement had simply gotten the better of myself.” Then the third man spoke up in an amused tone. “sit down Baro, you're losing and I'm not 'bout to let you scamper off without paying me my winnings.”

Yumi remained curled into a call around the briefcase for a few more minutes before she finally had the courage to peel herself away from it. She slowly stood and walked as silently as she could around the counter and out of the front door, her hands clutching the case so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Once outside she allowed her back to fall against the door frame and she slid into a ball against the wall, breathing heavily as she fought back tears.

 

[Samejima]

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh

In her first chase! Naoki was! Her first chase of her career (sort of) as a genin!

It was over quickly though, as she slipped into one of the many alleys of the Grand Palais and seemed to have lost him. Scaredy cat that she was, despite having chosen this line of work, she waited several minutes before being sure that she was no longer being tracked and dashed straight back to Choji's Den to check on Yumi.

"Yumi!" Naoki called out, adrenaline still pumping and happy to see that the fellow shinobi was not captured. Then the adrenaline stopped having much of an effect on Naoki, as she noted the trails of wetness of the other girl's cheeks. "Y-Yumi..."

She attempted to calm Yumi down, first. "Um... I-it's okay now, it's okay. I think the scary guy's left, even though I didn't sense him following me all that long... um..."

Then she realized her mistake, which was leaving her alone in the first place. "Ah! Sorry about leaving you like that! Um... it was the quickest idea I could think of at the time..."

Finally, the element that should have come first, damage assessment, made its appearance. "Are you... okay? C-can you walk? Come on, we'll wait nearby, until they come out... I'll ask them which one of them should be getting the case okay, then you can give it to him."

[MFT: 240 words]

 

[Kazumi]

The girl was not yet full out crying, but her breaths were hard, ragged and deep as if the struggle was rather intense. Her knuckles continued to hold on to the handle of the case in an all-too-hard grip. She shook her head intently and tried to push herself to a stand, but the adrenaline seemed to have sapped the remaining strength from her and she barely pushed up an inch before she fell back against the wall.

"Can... can we just go?" She asked meekly as she continued to stare down at her hands. "I don't want to be here anymo-"

"What do we have here? Two young girls in this part of town?" Naoki probably heard the man a few moments before he spoke, but despite his tall stature he was rather soft footed. Yumi startled and shot up a look towards the man, looking rather frightened after all that had occurred. He stoop a hand span taller than even feet and was lean and, like the others inside was very muscular, but he had a more lean tight build. Oddly, the only clothes he was wearing was a set of blue shorts, an eye patch on his right eye and cloth wrappings around his hands and feet in a style identical to shinobi. Unlike the clawed man, this one did not seem to be overtly hostile or menacing, but he still felt rather powerful and intimidating, a trait that certainly wasn't hindered but his extremely tall stature.

 

[Samejima]

Huh?! Naoki turned reflexively, getting ready to jump to her feet if he proved to be hostile. He didn't seem like the last one however, despite still having a powerful aura about him. The genin's headband was fully exposed in the light, as was the Toraono sash if the man recognized it, since Naoki took her cloak off earlier.

Once she was sure he wouldn't be attacking them or anything like that, she would reply. "Uh... as you can see, I-I'm a genin! So... I'm patrolling around here, and happened to meet this student. And..." What she wasn't sure about was the case, and whether or not Yumi would be willing to say something about it... "We were just headed somewhere to- rest for a bit," she finished, voice a little shaky. I'm going to need to learn how to lie better than that... These people... are a lot more dangerous than people I'd be sending my little girl off to. Is this the right place...?

Naoki stayed alert though, both on the inside of the building and on the man in front of them. She can't have the first person she'd decided to protect getting hurt after all.

 

[Kazumi]

The wall man crouched down to rest his chiseled arms upon his equally toned legs. He eyed them both speculatively before he spoke, "I can see that." He paused for a few moments as he thought and continued to get good looks at the two of them. "This is no part of town for young children, especially little girls. There are those around here who would be very eager to get their hands on you two, shinobi or not." He looked towards Naoki's headband and shook his head with a dismissive smirk.

He then pushed himself up to his full height once again, towering over them as he gazed consideringly upon them. "I would suggest you two be on your ways. I have no interest in taking advantage of small children, there is no honor in that. However I will not be bothered to save you should you ignore my advice..." The eye-patched man gave them both the faintest of amused smirks before he simply stepped past them, pushed the door open that they had just fled out of and disappeared inside.

During the exchange Yumi remained silent, her breathing quieted as she had clutched the case tightly and protectively, although it seemed as if she wanted it to protect her, rather than the other way around. Once the man disappeared she slowly looked up from the ground towards Naoki. She didn't look sure as to what exactly she should do, but that she simply wanted to be anywhere than where they currently were.

 

[Samejima]

He left... Ah! I didn't get a chance to ask about the one called Ryu... Naoki stepped back a little to give Yumi some space while she smacked herself internally for her slowness in regaining her bearings. I probably shouldn't go back in there, that guy just seemed too tough to mess with. If he's a friend of those other guys... Naoki lifted her left hand to her chin. It wasn't something she did very often, but it was a sign that she was quite stumped. All they could do now was wait for the men to exit, and they didn't even know if the exit would be in that location.

Plus, Yumi seems pretty shaken... We should leave for now. I'd like to stay someplace close by so we can watch but... It didn't seem like there were any conveniently placed cafe-like locations anywhere either. "Let's go, Yumi. We'll come back later if you want, or we can go back to your dad and sort this out with him..." Naoki offered her hand, and a reassuring grin. Or as reassuring a grin as she could manage without her eyes being visible.

In her experience so far, as both a genin and a little girl, she found that having faced danger at a certain location, one would not want to return for awhile. She still hasn't picked up the dagger she left back at the tunnel where she participated in a fight against Magnetica, and that dagger was from a supposedly important kokyuu that she was found with. I dunno if she'll want to go back at all. Maybe I should try to get the case to him? Only if Yumi allows me to handle it though, I think she did say that she was to hand it to Ryu herself...