Grand Blazer (private)

[Takahashi Aki]

It was not often that the Steward often brought out of hiding his experimental tech. Most of his prototypes were off the records and revealed to a select few. This was one of the prototypes that never seen usage outside of Keystone Prime, until now. The Steward's family sigil was based on a horse. This was merely a representation of such a creature except in metal design. Its primary use was for transportation. The creation was made out of steel and one would sit upon it a straddle. To go faster, one merely had to push down upon a peddle with their foot, and grip the bars in front so as to not fall over. What was perhaps most different about this design was that unlike the Steward's previous devices was that this one directly employed the fire element. Two fire wheels, one in the front, and one in the back were present. The Steward channeled his chakra through his foot and pressed said peddle to make the wheels spin faster. The original design was to employ the use of highly resistant rubber wheels, but they made too much noise. Fire crackled, and made noise but it wasn't nearly as loud.

Anger. It was a concept that the Steward didn't experience. His family heirloom had been stolen. It was perhaps the most devastating thing he had happen to him in a long time. He hadn't told a single soul. It was something he kept to himself. The Steward's eyes seemed to gloss over. The feeling was there, and it was something that disturbed him. The tears did not fall of course, he was far too incapable of letting the tears fully surface. The glossing of his eyes ceased the moment he drove past another chakra crystal.

The Steward's mechanical mount was frightening. It growled like a large feline in some regard. To make things even more frightful was the fact that the mount carried with it alot of the Steward's weaponry. As the Steward veered down the streets of the Grand Palais, his mark one began to encase his figure even as he rode down. Then of course, mark two began to phase in increasing the Steward's offensive and defensive power. He had underestimated the thief the first time, shame on him. A second time? Not probable.

 

[Kokomo]

It was a good day, in all honesty. A day full of success, a full stomach, and very little blood shed. In fact, Kitanai had gotten away that day without much of an injury. She had managed to get home with some time to spare, pawning off the pocket watch for a good amount of money to a few of the straggling men in the streets. They were good people to sell to, always eager to buy--especially after seeing her return from the mission to thieve from the Kage with a shimmering gold item in her hand. Her status in the slums had managed to go up, nonetheless, and she was, overall, pleased.

Because of such a smooth day, she had managed to hop in the shower, and intended on getting a full night of rest. Dressed in pajamas that were ironically modest for her type, and her hair pulled into a long black braid that fell down her back, she turned off the chakra-powered crystal lights in her small apartment in the Golden District of the Grand Palais. Despite her notoriety in the slums, she lived in a fairly nice area with a decent amount of income--and then some.

As she pulled back the sheets of her bed, her eyes were disturbed by the strangest flash of orange that flew by her window. Her eyes darting to follow it, but it quickly disappeared from the line-of-sight the window gave. Moving from her bed, and opening the window, she peered out to see the strangest type of transportation buckling down the clay-brick streets.

Turning around, the woman sat her butt on the windowsill and grabbed the gutter just above her window and pulled herself through the window and onto the roof of her apartment complex. Certainly she had to figure out what this strange machine was, and where it was headed in such a hurry!

Pouncing and bounding from roof top to roof top, the dangerously silent and agile woman moved with the reflexes and stride of a jaguar in the night, her cyan eyes locked on the flaming transportation as she followed closely behind--but not too close. Crouched down to keep from sight as she bounded and crawled stealthily over the roofs to keep an eye on the mysterious thing.

Where was it going? And who was on it?

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The Steward stopped at the pawn stop. This was where the tracker led him. He got up and swung his leg over his construct. The Steward merely turned for a moment. He looked upward in Kitana's general direction. There was something threatening about the Steward's mark two design. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the armour he wore. With his mark two armour on the Steward's size was slightly beneath that of Kuro and Raijin's. For a long time he stared in Kitana's direction. It very much seemed like he could see her, but whether or not he could was another matter entirely. The Steward turned to his metallic contraption and pressed a single button on it. The design began to transform and it merely 'dug its heels' into the earth in the form of two giant metallic spikes which drove themselves into the ground.

The Steward then entered the shop. His visit was roughly about seven minutes. As soon as he entered the shop keeper let out a horrific shriek as he thought he was under seige. After several minutes of explaining himself, his situation, and how the shop keeper had come to illegally acquire his inherited pocket watch the Steward was not given the item. Instead he had to pay a price. It was a steep price and perhaps a most unfair price as this item was truly the Steward's by right. With much regret the Steward paid the merchant's price, but did so leaving with the merchant a terrifying message. Should he continue to acquire items from thieves and less than legal methods, he would have his shop shut down, permanently.

The Steward exited the shop. He approached his vehicle once more, but this time again shot another glance skyward. The Steward form hand seals and summoned forth a spark. This spark was plasma in nature, but it resembled a star. The spark would float up high. Like a child it skipped about and flew about the sky. It dashed about and eventually came face to face with Kitanai. It even let out a childish laugh of sorts. "Thief! Crook!"<i></i> It called her with childish glee. It spun around her and bounced about playfully. "Meanie! Villian! Jerk!"<i></i> Again it spun around and then it stopped finally. Like any creation of the Steward it was so much more lively than he was in both personality and spoken word. It paced back a bit, it retreated to the side of the building, where now it could be seen by the Steward. It twirled around for a moment.

The steward merely nodded his head, approached his vehicle, mounted it and proceeded to back up abit before accelerating greatly. The Steward drove up the building and skyward for a moment. A path of flame cut through the air due to the after effects of the flame wheels. A few seconds later he landed, and when he did he had his palm trained on Kitana with a large amount of plasma energy building up in his palm. "Thief! Crook!"<i></i> The spark once again called.

 

[Kokomo]

The objective of this man became clear as he stood warily in front of a pawn shop. Ah, yes, the style of this clanking metal suit was familiar now. It was like an upgraded version of the one she had seen in the home of the Kazekage. Oh, yes, it had to be none other than the Kage himself, venturing into the pawn shop to demand his precious heirloom back. A tracking device, as she had predicted, must of been inscribed in it.

Oh, had she gotten a delicious fortune from that piece though! Hell, he could have it back for all she cared, she got her money from the shop and the bet--she had won the game he was so sure he ran. And as he entered the shop, a few steady shrieks being heard, the woman stood to her full height and began to walk back across the tile of the roof. There was no need for her to stay. She would be returning home and heading to bed.

"Thief!"

"Huh?" Kitanai turned around, her cyan colored eyes locking with a strange glowing mass of energy that twirled freely in the air. "Crook!" It seemed to giggle at her as it flew away for a moment, Kita taking a few steps back to her original standing point before it would zoom back up and giggle again, "Meanie!"

"Hey, shut the hell up!" She wasn't so worried about people of the streets hearing her. The people all around knew that she was, and, well, in this area, all of them were just the same. Kitanai moved a hand to try and strike the being with the back of it, but it was too fast. It was agile and continued to laugh at her in the strangest childish voice as it beckoned out more accusations at her.

It was at this time, that a familiar roar came from the side of the building, the flaming transportation shooting skyward before landing before her on the roof. Kitanai taking a few--more than a few--good sized steps backwards as she crouched down in a defensive position as the machined man stepped off of the flame cycle, his palm raising with tremendous energy and chakra. Kita stood to her full height--aware that she was unarmed and not exactly dressed for combat.

"Oh, finally," She said, her eyes wild with some sort of mystery. "I've been waiting 15 years for someone to kill me." Her voice, despite the way the sentence was worded, was deadpan. She had, in hindsight, not been too pleased with her life anyways. The thrill was scooping around without getting caught, and, well, being murdered on sight here would be the best thing for her--as far as she was considered. Kitanai lived her life with nothing more than a goal to slaughter the man who made her miserable, and swim in diamonds and yen--it was a pitiful goal with no real meaning to it.

So be it. Let him kill her.

Her arms spread wide, ready to accept the beam through the chest. "Oh, revenge is sweet, isn't it?" She taunted with a half smirk on her face. Deep down, she felt as though this soft-spotted Kazekage couldn't really kill her. Honestly, she wasn't sure he was capable of doing harm to anyone, let alone a worthless thief. "But, is this really the best you've got?" She asked, her head tipping away from the blinding light the plasma emitted to look at him, "Giving me freedom? That's your revenge?" She inquired, smiling devilishly towards the sky again, "I can't say I don't love it."

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The plasma energy died down as the Steward lowered his hand. As if on cue when she said if this was the best he had he then began to flicker and glow as a great plasma entity seemed to grow out of his body like a ghost. The plasma specter was robed, and its face was hidden from view. It had in one hand a bow, and in the spare hand it plucked an arrow from a quiver, and proceeded to knock the arrow. The entity was entirely made out of plasma and it burned brightly as it held the arrow for a long time.

She truly had a death wish it seemed. Revenge? Was that what this was? In the simplest form of things, yes this was revenge. Revenge was about making oneself feel good. It was not justice. In this case it seemed trivial, but it did cost the Steward a fortune to have returned to him what was his by ancestral right. The Steward beneath all his metal was at a loss on what to do. If he wanted to he could vaporize her instantly. This was not honourable, this person was unarmed. Secondly this person was perhaps desperate. Curiously the plasma phantom tilted its head . Sousuke had not ordered the phantom to open fire just yet. His hands balled into fists. "I am a man of little material wealth. I am Steward-Kazekage but I ultimately am a humble servant to the greatest clan of Sungakure who in the elder days could make it rain diamonds if they so desired it. You clearly saw that I had little worth, and still you stole what mattered most to me."<i></i> The voice came out finally. The Steward's voice was warped. "House Toraono is by far wealthier than House Takahashi, and have often tried to aid us in time of financial crisis but we refused and scraped along. Perhaps it is my father's pride, or perhaps it is merely that the Takahashi are prideful in general."<i></i>

The Steward reached into his armour and pulled out the pocket watch. What he did next, was perhaps most unexpected. The Steward crushed the pocket watch. "Take it, melt it, and sell it again. You only sold it once. Go on. Do it again."<i></i> The words were spoken with what almost seemed to be anger. "Or are you incapable of melting such items?"<i></i>

 

[Kokomo]

It seemed, once again, she had defeated this so called Lord. The slightest smirk formed as his hand lowered and he created some sort of demonic servant to hold the most delightful weapon--waiting to strike her, had she made a move she shouldn't. But, it was at this moment, that the Kage did something a bit surprising. He began to explain his situation, and the woman, her hands still raised in the air to sow her vulnerability looked at him with a sudden moment of compassion.

No, she hadn't defeated him. She had failed. Her job was not that to thieve from the struggling families--but give to them. She had learned that that was the best she could do as a person. She was vile creature, but as long as she could give something to those less fortunate than her, then maybe she had a bit of good in her. But, it seemed, she had failed herself and him.

His hand reached into his armor, pulling it out, and showing it to her, before his strong armored fist clutched around it. The metal cried and cracked violently as her eyes locked onto the fist. His hand opening, the pocket watch demolished and mutilated into bits and pieces of nothing.

Kitanai reached forward, taking the pieces from him as she gathered them quietly and placed them into the pocket of her pajama pants. She bent down, picking up the small fragments that had fallen to the ground. To him, it may appear as though she was greedily grabbing every scrap that she could--but it wasn't so. No, the woman had a different idea. Her head bowed in a moment of shame, she looked to the lordship and turned away, moving to the edge of the roof where she would slide down it, and disappear to the street below.

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