Everything, absolutely everything was calculated. Her plan was in constant flux as additional bits of information changed the flow, but she was a practiced navigator. Presumptions were replaced with facts, some relevant, some immaterial. Her experience and her learning over all of these years ironically brought her to this point, her last few months. She knew this but they would not and it was now time to get her affairs in place. She had not seen her son since well before Mikaboshi had changed her and that was years ago. Long before Shouki's alleged last stand. They were not close, in fact a number of scars hidden beneath her jacket were inflicted by her sadist son. His cruelty was not even surpassed by his father in her opinion. It was a humbling circumstance the Sunaku would never understand but she did not volunteer to try either. Much like many things, that information would be immaterial to the man she was learning so much about. In the end, it did not matter if the Sunaku trusted her, in fact it was better that he didn't. It made things easier
"Could you please just...put your hands now. I'm not doing a stick-up robbery here..."
Her pose was making him uncomfortable. Perhaps guilty. She stiffened subconsciously, he knew that she was needling him now as she kept her arms raised.
"I am doing this for my sake, rather than yours," she protested in a calm voice. She would explain it. Of course she would explain it.
"You have shown me to be impulsive and aggressive, while potentially an uncharacteristic outburst I would have to contest such an allegation as my assessment was confirmed through Shouki." A name that brought him to anger and she knew it. An explanation that she did not need to share but she chose to, she was needling around in his head testing the cogs and the gears.
"Not your first incident, won't be your last," she declared, but that was not her conclusion.
"But I realize you feel guilt or shame over your reaction, so my presentation irks you," she was seeking verification that she would soon get as his anger bubbled.
She answered his query but she gave him a few more to ask as she added extraneous bits of information she wanted him to have. That she was a member of the Cabal, that she was inducted into the Order of the Oracles, that her son was the general of the Sovereign Army, that her son was Ishii Shouki, the son of the Diamyo and if Harupia knew his facts third in line for the seat of the Diamyo. Second if he considered the fact that Sango was kidnapped years ago and nobody has heard from her in this protracted period. She prodded again after she shared what she needed to share, she wanted to know his reaction. His
real reaction. Something that anger prevented people from hiding -- their true sentiments.
"Oh really? Now you're nervous? You didn't feel any tingle of excitement or worry when you decided to break into the house of a Sunan Jounin? A person who almost died, and killed several of you agents or whoever those people were defending them. while disarming all some fo the bombs your little Cabal set up during the final phase of you failed incursion? Don't you feel a bit of sweat build up on you forehead walking around these streets you helped paint red, amongst the people who lost their homes or families as you and you bunch of good people went on you jolly little mission? And can you please put your hands down, fuck..."
He snapped.
"Yes," she answered simply as she uncomfortably lowered her hands in ultimate compliance.
"I am always scared," her body was as stiff as a board and her muscles were tense but the jacket hid much as she shared this blunt truth. She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes looked strange. Her iris was grey with flecks of gold. It looked like a storm but it was simply shadows at play.
"Would you have let me enter had you known my name, my affiliation?" The answer was rhetorical of course.
"Of course you would not have. Yet you have not fully grasped why... or even what. Why would I come to your door at all? Why would I risk your wrath? Potentially suffer at your hands... unless I either wanted it, or I needed you." She dipped her hand into her satchel, the sound of metal clinking together could be heard through the leather, muting the noise.
"And then why you, of all of the Sunakus in the village... as you are not the only one," she shook her head as she acquired what she sought in the palm of her hand and started to withdraw.
"And of course what I seek."
She half expected him to lose his temper again. She considered what she could do to buffer his reaction. She was not trying to prevent it, in fact she was in a way egging him on despite the fact that she was indeed terrified. Michi was a Deep Court Hybrid and she could not lie, only deceive. It made things harder when she had to keep to the letter of the word but rarely the spirit but this had become an intimate part of her nature. She was trying to calm himself. She took another breath. She did not want to do it but she would have to... Her jaw clenched in anticipation as her hand vacated the bag and she prepared herself for the Jounin to panic.
"Your son...I found him in the Obisidan Palace... bound and anxious. I tried to interrogate him... given I didn't know he was a psycho and a masochist, I did a really shitty job at it...so I assume that when he got all hot for me/ we then fought but he escaped, and last I heard of him he was melted by the Steward and Kazekage...I am quite displeased to hear that's not the case..."
He was still fixated on Shouki.
"He is not dead," her gaze downcast at the baubles in her hand now exposed. Little bits of silver metal.
"The man," he was not a boy any longer and had not been in some time.
"has not been mortal in some time." She plucked five bits of silver from her palm. and put them down on the bed next to her.
"But my son is incapable of suffering a true death," she announced.
"Jashin smiles down on the entire Ishii Clan, but Shouki is the favored among them," She swallowed hard, her mouth felt a bit dry.
"Death cannot take a Jashinist unless he wills it and his zeal for life is by far greater than mine, so he is indeed alive." She confirmed. She did not know where he was, what he had been doing or what he planned next. Shouki was unpredictable and reckless, but he did not need to be as measured as she because he was immortal. His fixations were the only things she could use to track the violent monster she had birthed but there was a change after this last death. A quiet that concerned her, perhaps Harupia was right and Shouki had experienced a true death. Little did she know he was alive and 'well' and closer than she could have ever anticipated. Her voice did not sound mechanical as it often did but sad. It could of course be a ploy as many things are with the Oracle but she wanted to explain more, a mother always defends her child even if they are a fiendish creature, but she stopped herself. There was no defense, even she wanted him dead. Sometimes she wondered if Jashin gave him a reason or if it was from conception that this God had determined a terrible divine purpose for him. It was a truth she had struggled with for years, a fear that it was more than his father's fierce nature that sculpted the boy but something terrible within her own blood that contributed to the monster that would be known as her son.
"I Saw Barnyx raised from the ground...I don't really know what kind of powers the Daimyo posses, and I can't really verify to well how much you know. As much as I loathe your little group of friends, you apparently are enough of an asset for the oracles to accept you... If you wanted a more calm chat, a nice cup of coffee would have been nice."
"And you would have come?" She reminded him, her voice sounded doubtful. He loathed her before he even met her, he would never have accepted the offer for a civilized chat.
"I knew them well, but you mistaken me Mister Sunaku, I am not one of your Oracles," she replied.
"I predate the Order you have grown familiar with, I was a child of the original Oracle Order that destroyed almost four decades ago." She was older than she looked.
"And even if you had, I would have been imperiled even more than I am in this private setting," she explained.
"You have all of the facts, but you fail to put them into a single picture," like a jigsaw puzzle.
"You hate what and who I am, knowing this you would not have capitulated to my wants if you even met me at all. Had you reacted as harshly as you had here, potentially muted of course, who I am would have been broadcast to the witnesses whom would have either taken your side or encouraged you to continue," a fact Kasha oddly enough had made apparent. She was not particularly well-known, she was not one of the faces behind the destruction and death but being a part of their force was enough for just about everyone.
"I picked you, not another Sunaku because you had a tie to me. One that was not what I had expected, but it changes nothing," she continued.
"Being his lover or his killer makes little difference to me because I don't barter with my strength, because it lacks comparatively to many in Sunagakure or remains merely on par. That is not an an avenue in which I excel," she admitted as she slid the other bits of silver in her hand back into her bag.
"You need to realize, a mother's love has her limits and I have no love for my son and have no sense of duty to him," it sounded cold because it was.
"He has been monstrous since his earliest youth, mostly the torture and murder of small animals but I always knew it would grow. In fact, if he had a chance at being something else it was denied to him, his penchant to harm was encouraged and he was a clever boy," it was a shame because he could have been so much more.
"I should have taken him with me when I escaped, but I did not want to," she abandoned him. There was a chance, albeit infinitesimal that he could have developed into something besides the monster he had become, tiny odds that had plagued her. She was a woman of probability and chances, his were far from favorable so she severed all ties. Their relationship from there was simply complicated. One that the Sunaku would not care to hear or understand, the point was she was selling Shouki's information for the sake of herself not him. She was not playing matchmaker and if sharing his location resulted in her son's death she would simply live with it. She took a breath.
"Simply put, I had information you might find worthwhile and I prefer making deals with people I have something worth bartering for," she concluded. She had a plan B, she just did not want to use it if she did not have to. She was trying to get their attention, but there was a such thing as too much.
"Wait...propsue? To our Sennin...but arent...werent..."
He was putting some of the pieces together himself or at the very least he was trying.
"Yes, I am proposing to Sennin Senju at the Lunar Festival," she confirmed.
"Okaaay...so is that what the baubles are for? The wedding? You want something like adding bends, or something fancier like a bracelet or some such?"
She had baubles already.
She was not going to question the change of heart, knowing it was likely a manipulation. She did not care. She had a narrative to drive. An Oroboros ring made of feathersteel that would feel like ice to the touch, its blue eyes would have an uncanny glow. It was a rare ring, ice carmot set into the eyes and the rare metal that the ring was composed of was sizeable however was incredibly light to the touch. The ring costs about as much as a Jounin would make in six months. The ring already had a recipient in mind: Senju Kazuki. She was going to propose to him with this ring during the Lunar Festival. The incredible ring being only a minor part of her plan, but most certainly something worthy of a statement. She did not seem like the sort of woman that desired ostentatious jewelry nor the class of woman that could afford it. She dressed casually, cargo pants, a ribbed tank top and a jacket she never seemed to doff in public. A thin red scarf was wrapped around her neck twice, presently hiding any marks of bruises.
"I have five rings, none like the others," she explained as she passed over the first. I need a fix 10 millimeters thick each wall and exactly ten centimeters in every direction. Two openings, one to the face that matches the profile of the ring precisely and one to the right a rectangle two centimeters by 1 and one half. I will also need a rod, seven centimeters in length and rectangular in shape two by one and one half."[/b][/color] She was giving him the specifications for a lock, a lock that these rings would be the key to, not that she explained that fact but unless it was somewhat obvious what she was doing, she was not trying to hide this face but she was also not handing it to him on a platter.
He just needed to think about why she would be coming to him with such a want.
"Pins of varied lengths, 32 millimeters for three, 26 millimeters for five..." she went on without ever looking at a sheet of paper she was doing this from memory. She described the inner mechanism she sought, however it was probable that Harupia would need to hear the description again or require a life-sized picture that she would provide. She was looking for a bunch of tiny parts that she would put together and craft into a deadbolt lock. Five of them, each with a different key.
An explanation of how keys work:
There were four other keys as well. Each of them different and each of them in some manner significant in a manner that Harupia would not be able to fathom at the given moment. Another was a
strange ring, larger than what could possibly fit her hand that had a face of gears and a red stone in its face. It was made of Takahashi Steel and Fire Carmot, not nearly as expensive as the last but an exceedingly rare ring that was also likely part of a greater mechanism. The ring would feel warm, not hot to the touch. On the inside there would be a phrase written in Runic that translated roughly to
Human made of fire and metal.
The third, a
ring that appeared to cover the length of one's finger made of silver, the semi-precious metal. It was jointed, extending from the knuckle of the hand to the tip of one's finger. It looked like a weapon in and of itself. In fact it was. There was no obvious gem, however when one bent the finger entirely a hidden brown gem could be discerned. It was earth carmot. If there was writing inside of this ring, it was unseen or indiscernible.
The fourth was a
ring that resembled a pistol if one had bullets small enough as to load it and the dexterity to do so. An oddity even among the pieces she had acquired. The ring appeared to be the least expensive among them thus far, made of cobalt steel a steel alloy that had a blueish tint that is a common metal in mass weapon manufacture.
The final ring, the simplest of all a
bladed ring made of iron. It seemed the least significant but was still among those provided.
It was late once again, she seemed to like to make night calls. Of course there was a reason for that, there was a reason for everything. In her mind everything was already put into perfect order. Did you know that a coin makes for an effective flathead screwdriver? And her sachel, the perfect hiding place. 
She was watching him sleep. Watching him toss and turn. Listening to the rhythmic sound of his breath in and out, it was soothing in a way to simply watch and listen. Everyone looks peaceful when the sleep, except for those that scream and claw at their sheets. She had seen those as well, the ones that lived through hell and hell visited them every night once the lights turned down. She had all night to wait... 
