Getting the lay of the land [Open]

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Change is always just around the corner and if one waits too long their opportunity is gone.

So was also the case for Kurokawa this evening. She had left her forehead protection at home to not cause trouble and was not finding herself at a bar even though she was still technically a minor. She could go for being older but 20 was not within her range unless she used a jutsu to change her appearance, which she had elected not to learn at all. No good trying to look like someone you have never seen.

For now she would mingle with the crowd. At some point she might need contacts to get information and knowing just the right people was key. It would also be time consuming which is why she decided to start early. She would start with surveillance and look for interesting topics, and potential openings to join them. Who knows someone might even decide to join her, although she would expect it to be either to make a remark about her age or to make advances. Just to not seem too unengaged she had gone with her normal attire and not gone through the extra effort of finding long pants to put under the dress. Just the usual short black shorts so that she would not be flashing, while sitting in certain poses.

Body language was key. Arms and legs crossed would signal that she wanted to be left alone, but too open a pose would lead people on. For now she would Lean back, have one arm down the side and the over resting on her lap. Legs stretched slightly forward and the feet resting on a metal bar attacked to the base of the table, put there for that very purpose. To make short people feel like they can reach the ground. She would rest her head against the wall tilting her head slightly upwards. If there was any lamps over the table, her face would be fully lit that way. There she would remain, listening to the conversations trying to snap up anything useful. She had nowhere to be, and no one waiting at home so it would be hours before she would consider calling it a night..
[spoilername="Looks"]

[/spoilername]

[MFT]
[WC: 375]

 

[Tao]

A week has passed since Tao finally managed to regain control over his body, he managed to recover quite well too. He managed to repair his shell at the expense of his already nearly depleted reserves of chakra, so he looked fine, but it took a while to restore his chakra back to full capacity, he is still severly weakened, but he at least regained full bodily functions, so that was an excellent start. He decided that it was unhealthy to stay in one place for too long, he should start wondering around the village for a bit, see what changed, see who he can find, or see different people in general. He decided to go to the mines. While wondering there for hours, he noticed a path he never knew before, he could hear voices echoing through it, they didnt seem angry or hostile, not all of them at least so he decided to check it out. After a while of walking, he found himself in front of a small building, a cafe of sorts, he have never been there before, he never saw that building nor knew that it even existed. He was curious to see what is inside, he couldnt see the origins of the voices anymore, did those people leave through another path or did they just go into the cafe? He pondered on that for a moment until he decided to open the door.

Inside the cafe, he could see groups of people, there were many of them huddled together, it could be a small group like a couple or a large group of 10 people, it differed between areas. There were some loners too upon further inspection and one of them caught his attenton, the purple haired girl with the blindfold, something about her felt familier though he couldnt put his finger on it. He began to walk to her as if being drawn by something, his pace was relatively slow and his expression was fairly blank, not because he is emotionless or anything but rather because he was simply still weakened. As he reached the girl, he didnt wait for a single instant

"I'm sorry, but have we met before?"

He didnt realize that he actually used one of the oldest pickup lines in the book, he didnt even know of its existance, he legitimately feels like he knew who she was, but he didnt know why.

[MFT]

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

People coming and people leaving. No good topics yet. It was shaping up to a meek information harvest. Then suddenly something happened. Someone addressed her.

"I'm sorry, but have we met before?"

The person was tall and light in his feet. She hadn't even noticed him approaching until he was right there. She didn't however know and tall light footed stranger, and the voice didn't seem familiar either. Despite the corny pick-up line he didn't seem overall like a bad person so Kurokawa cracked her usual joke.

"I haven't seen you before, but... Maybe"

She smiled. She used to be weary around men until her former guardians betrayed her. Now she didn't have any specific gender to be more biased against, and being in a shady part of the village she would always be at least a certain amount on guard, but this guy didn't raise any red flags so far.

"If you want me to help you to find out, that seat is not taken."

She would make a gesture towards a chair on the opposite side if the table from where she was sitting, and then proceed to sit up straight and correct her head garment as she usually did.

 

[Tao]

He stared at her for a moment as she made her first statement, she doesnt think she ever saw him before but maybe they met? That didnt make a lot of sense to Tao, he thought this over for a moment, she gave him a small smile at the end of the sentance which made it seem like she was a pleasent person, she then offered him a seat next to her in case he wants to stick around and find out if they met or didnt.

"thank you"

He sat down quietly and began to think, who this person is, why does she seem so familier, why did her first responce put him at a slight unease. He then finally figured it out, she is blindfolded, and she made a comment about seeing him in her past, which is... If he remembered correctly, a joke. He smiled a bit to try to give her a sense of recognition, a bit dellayed though. He then remembered something, a small resturant in maruishi suddenly came up in his mind, he doesnt know how thats related in any way to what he was doing now, maybe because the locations are similar. He figured however that he should at least make up the time with some conversation as he needed to see how different the village is ever since he came back.

"Is this place usually this occupied? I havent even known it existed until today, found it by accident"

He stated as he was looking at her, she seemed quite confortable with herself, the thing that kept bugging him about her was probably something else though, probably the most unusual thing about her, and thats her blindfold, it has to be it.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

The stranger sat down before asking another question.

"Is this place usually this occupied? I haven't even known it existed until today, found it by accident"

Well it told her one thing for sure. He was not the kind of information contact she was here to find, but that did not make him a bad guy. Quite the opposite even. She would have to put her search on hold for now but she was not rushing it anyway. Still, how does one just wander into the mines and find this place. She followed people to find it, and it had taken weeks to find Stones local watering hole for criminals and the likes.

"Well depends on the time of day. Right now is a busy time indeed. What may I call you?"

She would pause a few seconds to think of how to phrase her next question.

"So you found this place by accident? What brings you down the mines then?"

She could get with finding this part by accident but if he thought he could chuck up walking into a mine as an accident then something would be wrong. This is usually the time in the conversation where one would all over the barmaid for some refreshments but since she wasn't old enough she didn't. She wasn't on duty and the place was dodgy enough that she might just get what she ordered were she to try it out.

 

[Tao]

"Well depends on the time of day. Right now is a busy time indeed. What may I call you?"

She spoke, answering his question and then giving another one. Tao knew that revealing everything about himself would be nothing but trouble, but a name on its own probably wouldnt hurt.

"My name is Tao."

He spoke softly as he stared at the woman sitting in front of him. That bugging feeling that kept pocking the back of his head that something about this person is familier that he simply couldnt let go of kept creeping in further and further, the more he tried to think about who that person might be, the harder it was to draw that particular piece of information. And than it happened, another image flashed before his eyes, that same cafe he saw before in the vision extracted from his memory, a person was sitting across his table, she had purple hair and a very unique blindfold, she told him that she couldnt see so she relayed on her hearing instead, now that he thought of it, it was similar to this woman's MO, long purple hair and a unique blindfold, very similar to the one he saw in that vision, possibly identical but his memory is too fuzzy to be able to make sure of that. She then spoke up again, she made a note on him finding this place by accident, she was questioning his presence in the mines. To Tao it didnt seem weird to be down there, the mines were like a maze, long stretches of tunnles, leading to verious locations, often lead to dead ends as well or hidden underground chambers, an excellent place to get lost in which would mean that not many people would just be there, they'd possibly come to the mines to work or to hide a dirty secret, but that only means that such a secluded location wont be popular amongst any of the regular villagers, making it a great place to be alone.

"I wanted to pay a visit to a friend, we met at a crime scene with a corpse hanged upside down tied by a single leg"

He spoke without thinking, and then a thought occured, a corpse? When did he find a corpse underground, who was this friend he mentioned, he didnt remember anything about that, could he be speaking about Nao, that traitor who got most of his organization killed? No, it wasnt him, he havent seen Nao in years, that felt more... Recent. For some reason the word ANBU came to mind, he didnt know why, but it could possibly be related, he figured maybe this person knew something about it.

"Speaking of crime scenes, do ANBU often operate around these parts?"

He tried to not look suspicious, he was suddenly stating quite a veriaty of what would seem as confidential information, something that regular civilians would not have access to, it could even paint him to be a spy of sorts, or an undercover shinobi from the millitary police of the main branch, of course, he himself didnt know a lot about the structore of the shinobi organization, not enough to his standart at least, after all, his original mission was to end the shinobi organizations to begin with, but seems like that mission was brought to a hault at the period in time where his memory began to get foggy.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa nodded at the mention of the name. She had come across Tao's before but never one using it as a first name, and not so frequently in the inner village. A family in the outer parts held that name so while she was in Akasora she saw someone. No resemblance to this guy however.

Kurokawa had a habit of getting bored even while interested in a story. A hazard of multi tasking. She always needed something to do with her hands. She picked up a knife spun it around her fingers a few times. Not a Kunai as it would draw too much attention to her being a Kunoichi but a regular knife would be common even for young people down here.

"I wanted to pay a visit to a friend, we met at a crime scene with a corpse hanged upside down tied by a single leg"

Kurokawa tilted her head. Was he talking about law enforcement or murderer.

"Sounds like a nice fella"

She was openly being sarcastic. It seemed like a situation best left to authorities and this guy didn't seem like anyone in a position of power in stone.

"Speaking of crime scenes, do ANBU often operate around these parts?"

Kurokawa was surprised. This outburst would lead her train of thought towards an ANBU and a bad guy at the same time. One that would frequent these parts and still give her the creeps. And Tao was clearly not familiar with the place, or the doings of law enforcement. The question was whether he was a Hermit of stone or came from somewhere else. This wasn't cloud though. You could keep people at arms react for safety whilst still not jumping to assumptions about their character and motivations.

"Well this is a place of crime so I suppose they do come here. Though I know of only one that would feel at home here. I have not have many dealings with ANBU but this one guy gave me the chills. One of only two people to do that."

She would place one hand on the table and rest her cheek on it with the fingers sticking out in front of her face. She would then proceed to throw the knife into the air just high enough to not hit the celling before returning towards her blade first. She had done this many times before so she knew where it would land. While still in the air she spoke once more.

"I met an ANBU while attempting to get my Sensei to buy me food. Unpleasant as all hell. Didn't know who he was till I asked around later. Itsuki was his name."

The blade would nearly be back at the table by the time she finished. There was quit the distance to the ceiling here due to an upper level with views over the lower part of the bar.

 

[Tao]

Tao looked at her as she drew out a knife, he didnt see anything around them that they'd need to slice, so he was confused for a bit but then she began playing around with it and then blindly tossed it into the air, that scene was familiar to him as well, that girl did it too, he then remember the time when they walked around the streets, but he also remembered that his own voice was very different back then. His mind then immidiately floated towards a black river, he wasnt sure why, it was difficult to make sense of those random thoughts, or memories, he had a hard time distinguishing between the two right now as well. She then would reply to his questions, appearently he is in a pretty bad place, many crimes occure around that location, he figured it might be true by his previous encounter with... That ANBU... He didnt know if that was what she refered to. She then continued telling him about her encounter with ANBU, appearently she didnt have a lot of knowledge about them, but she did meet one of them before. Itsuki? That was the name of the person he met! He doesnt remember that person to be as unpleasent as she described him, they actually got along quite well... Wait, that doesnt make any sense either, why would Tao get along with a person like Itsuki, he smelled of blood and was talking about the art of killing and artistical corpse display like it was his passion.

"Itsuki? That's the person I came to visit. Odd, I dont remember him being that unpleasent..."

His eyes were fixed at the knife making its way back to kurokawa, Tao feared that the girl would get hurt so he figured he'd try to repel the knife away from her head before it'd actually hit her. He made a quick set of handseals and formed a semi-transperant blue platform above her head, it'd cause the blade to repel off of it making a small 'tunk' sound when it does, the knife made its way to the table and hit the small lamp at it's center which also caused to it stop at its tracks.

"Why did you throw that knife? Do you want to get hurt?"

He then released the jutsu, causing it to immidiately break into small and thin waves of blue light that faded away soon after.

[Used B rank NE Ninjutsu - Barrier: Energy Wall]

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa made a scissor motion with two of her fingers where the knife would have landed and made the conclusion that it had been interfered with. It then landed in the lamp so at least she knew where it was. Tao's words revealed him to be somewhat concerned even though the two had just met.

"Hey I didn't try to catch in my mouth at least."

She picked her knife out of the lamp and shed it. Tao apparently knew Itsuki and didn't get chills from him.

"I don't know about Itsuki though. Something inside of him just shined through when I was near him. Felt like killing intend but I could not tell you if it was directed towards me or not. He and my Sensei were locked in conversation when I arrived you see."

She scratched her head while thinking it over.

"Then again I have only encountered that feeling twice and one of the people didn't see all bad, so maybe Itsuki wasn't either"

This conversation was not giving her much. Itsuki was a dead end. Not seen anywhere recently. Her research on him prior to coming here had revealed that he wasn't active at the moment. Probably buried in some big case. She would need to steer the conversation more towards Tao.

"So you know Itsuki, and you met him at a crime scene, but you are not familiar with ANBU and their jobs in this area yet you wander around here a lot. Tell me. What do you do for a living?"

 

[Tao]

"So you know Itsuki, and you met him at a crime scene, but you are not familiar with ANBU and their jobs in this area yet you wander around here a lot. Tell me. What do you do for a living?"

The girl made some observations and then asked another question, what did Tao do for a living? This is a dangerous question, he couldnt tell her that he used to be part of the Kagerenmei operative, she could as easily be one of the traitors, the internal war ended years ago, but its never too late to be careful.

"I... Hmm, no one ever asked me that before, how strange. Well, I guess I have no formal occupation."

He pondered slightly at her question. She seems to be interested in finding out what is he doing in such a dangerous place, but then... He could actually ask her the same as well, a young woman, hanging out in the shady parts of the village, with what seems to be a deathwish is coming to these sorts of establishments, alone. There must be more to this woman, something that he didnt pick up yet.

"Then again, material possession is not a true necessity, wont you agree Kurokawa?"

He spoke out without even realizing that he tied a name to her face, he doesnt remember hearing that name before, nor does it seem like it belongs to her, after all, she never actually introduced herself, but somehow it felt right.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawas smile disappeared. She never mentioned her name. In fact down here she went by an alias to keep this part of her life separate from her work and social life in the village. She would lean slightly forward and have he arms slide along her legs hiding her hands. The sleeves would cover most of the movement from the tenants. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then froze.

In reality she had used an after image to switch place and would attempt to draw her knife and hold it to Tao's throat while embracing him from behind. If successful she would quietly ask.

"How do you know my name?"

If it failed she would proceed to retreat from the place as fast as she could and run deeper into the mine.

In both cases Tao had shown that he knew her with this sudden slip of tongue and his connection to Itsuki, plus his questioning regarding the amount of ANBU nearby send her to the conclusion that he was after her for some reason and she had just revealed that no one was coming to help.

[OOC: genjutsu After-Image used]

 

[Tao]

The woman's smile vanished moments after Tao finished speaking, he didnt understand why, he figured maybe he had upset her and soon enough he could feel a blade pressing against his shell, it'd be a shame if it broke again, fixing the shell took a lot of effort and dedication, he barely recovered from it too, he was definatly not fit for this sort of encounter, not fully. The voice of this woman, as familier as her blindfold has sent him back into memory lain yet again, he saw her rushing forward to show him around the halls of the academy, she was much smaller back then and much happier too.

"I-I dont know... I just... Said it. I think we did meet somewhere before, at a cafe of sorts or an academy"

He spoke, trying to not move so to not get his shell damaged by the blade that is resting its fine, sharp edge against his throat. He could break out of that hold and send her flying if he wanted, but that would cause him to waste too much of his chakra, he knows that he is in a terrible position, but he has to play along, for now at least, maybe she could help him fill in the blanks now that he managed to recover some of that memory and reveal the location of their encounter, two of them, there might be more, but he still couldnt remember. The girl's sudle outburst managed to catch some attention from the croud though, some of the groups were nudging their friends to look over at the girl who is about to slash the white haired man's throat, Tao didnt notice that though, he is too focused on himself and kurokawa for the moment, he is usually a lot more preceptive than that, but maybe the lack of energy is part of the cause of his lack of focus.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawas attempt to hide the blade had failed for people sitting where Tao was facing. Now she had to play the cutthroat for hire to get in anywhere here instead of what she usually did. But this was important. She whispered to Tao.

"Do not say my name out loud in here again."

She released him and sad back down. Shred her knife once more in an effort to have people around them calm down and go about their business. Once the attention cooled off a bit she started speaking again.

"You know it's funny. First you talk about Itsuki and then you describe the exact two places I met with this, Other person, I spoke about. Met him at a café. Showed him around the academy too."

He described what Kurokawa and Kurohebi had been doing. The shield he used was not the same as the one Kurohebi had displayed but then again back then he was just showing off. This one was not flashy, just effective. It wasn't the same vibe she got here but there was definetly something fishy. While her body connected with his she could detect difference in skin texture and body heat. Maybe he was a different kind of monster. One Kurokawa did not know off. Yet.

 

[Tao]

Tao tilted his head in confusion as he listened to kurokawa talk, she told him how he described exactly where she met that other person whom she described to be completely unpleasent. Then again, she wears this blindfold, she did that too when in his flashbacks, possibly she wasnt able to recorgnize him because she cant see, but then again, she did mention how she can see through hearing things, so he still wasnt able to connect the dots.

"Weird indeed. Hmm, so, what brings you to... Such a place? You dont look like someone who'd be into crimes"

He spoke a bit akwardly, he wasnt sure how to phrase his question, but he still somehow managed to say the words he thought of. Kurokawa seems to also want to keep her identity a secret, of all things, Tao would expect himself to understand that, but appearently he still blurted out her name nonetheless, by accident of course but a mistake was still done. He started staring at the girl again, the more he thought about it, the more it felt weird to him that she was actually there, sitting with him, in a cafe, underground, which is supposedly in a crime induced district, from his memory, as fractured as it might be, she used to be a pretty sweet little girl, she seems a whole lot tougher now though.

[MFT]

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa leaned forward, elbows on the the table, close together to create a sphere of attention in front of her. It was not meant for Tao. The little display with the knife earlier, had no doubt caused less trusting eyes to linger on her and she'd rather they read her cleavage than her lips for the next part. She spoke softly.

"I don't plan on staying a nobody for very long. I have big plans. I want to have pull in places. To be able to set things in motion. Before I can do that I need to learn how. So I'm here to gain contacts, maybe even someone to serve under, or wrap around my little finger for a while. No better way to learn how to run things than from those who do."<i></i>

She then leaned back again, crossing her legs and putting her hands to the side so they rested along the back support of the small sofa placed against the wall. She had chosen comfort and the opportunity for people to join her on the same side when she found her spot. The crossed legs would normally be a defensive sign but she figured that the open arm position would mitigate that.

"So my turn to ask. You know Itsuki and the way you describe what happened with Kurohebi there is no way you don't know him either. So I will ask again. What is your purpose down here? And no more runaround."<i></i>

Her voice had turned more sharp and focused. She had no problem displaying her reduced patience.

[MFT]
[WC: 262]

 

[Tao]

Tao scratched his head as she continued to question him, he wasnt sure what to say, this whole scene was kind of strange to him, he just wandered into a random location and started to remember random things, but she wont be setisfied with that, not for a long shot. He took a moment to consider his answer and once he came up with something he formed a fist with his left hand and landed it onto his open palm.

"You know! I just came to see the sights, well, this cafe is indeed unusual, especially in a place like this. Much like the arcadians, these people seem quite... Colorful, and its possible I would be able to learn a thing or two from them, not taking an example, just... Trying to figure out what they're doing."

He put his hands on the table once more and looked around briefly, the people around them were no longer staring at them, seems like that girl's stunt no longer hogged the attention of the croud. He looked back at her and started slid his finger against the edge of the candle on the center of the table, smirring the wax across it.

"So, a glory seeker I take it? Or are you more into getting down and dirty?"

He was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth, glory seeker? Getting down and dirty? Since when was he using a language like that? He was way more timid and guarded than that, or hyperactive and naive, but this? This doesnt sound like him at all, just the thought of it alarmed him, what if something was very wrong with him and he didnt even realize the magnitude of it.

[MFT]

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

This time Kurokawa liked his answer a little better. IT was obviously something he came up with on the spot, his hand gestures revealed that much, but at least it was similar to why she was here herself. He then continued to speak of her intentions down here.

"A glory seeker can get down and dirty to achieve her goal. One does not exclude the other, since one is the goal and the other refers to the means."

She took a 5 second pause before continueing just to check who was listening in.

"Everyone have goals, it is only the question of whether one is prepared to utilize the means to get there. Personally I think that the means should reflect the end game, since nothing worth getting is free in this world."

She noticed that a certain person had showed up earlier. Maybe about the time she made a scene. This certain someone was one of the potential connections she knew frequented this place. He had sat down not far from them and while his face might not have shown it his breath changed when Kurokawa talked nothing being free. He was used to get what he wanted and he had connections and money to make sure that whoever went against him got what they deserved. This kind of person would make a valuable information source for the underworld of Iwagakure but as Kurokawa already knew nothing was free. She would have to , as her current company had put it, get down and dirty one way or another to get him on retainer. Kurokawa just hoped that any aggressive fieldwork did not break moral code. She could have to do many things, among them kill someone and killing a criminal scumbag came a lot easier than killing someone innocent, and that was IF that was the kind of price she would pay. For now he seemed to be there with someone. Three someone's to be precise. His two regular bodyguards/goons and his woman of the week. He would go back to some but almost never have the same one with him more than two days in a row. Maybe she was the reason his breath changed. He was close enough to hear what Kurokawa said but his companion did have one hand hidden from view.

Just as he was occupied and with company so was Kurokawa at the moment so she would have to just make a note of the girls voice so she could recognize her later if needed and continue her conversation with Tao.

"Fair warning. People don't like it when you snoop so be discrete if you don't want trouble"

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa felt like the night could not yield much more. Her intended target was occupied and so was she. Her companion didn't seem to offer much any more as the conversation had grown stale. She decided it was time to take her leave and get on with it. Might as well, make herself seen on the way out. Kurokawa grabbed her travellers cloak and swung it around her shoulders in a way that would make it catch wind and spread. People who were not deeply engaged in something would notice her leaving, whether they knew her or not.

[18 days since my last post and no response so leaving the thread.]