Mission Let's Split Up and Look For Clues Gang!

[Ueno Kotone]

Name: Let's Split Up and Look For Clues Gang!
Rank: E
Type: Modded Team Mission
Participants: Ueno Kotone, Yamamoto Maru
Description: Kotone's new friend has disappeared, but not before engulfing Savoir Faire in a strange, ethereal light! Just when things seemed to be clicking into place, the whole group dynamic has gone haywire, leaving Maru and Kotone to pick up the pieces.

Calling in a favor from one of her mom's crack talent scouts, Kotone has discovered a registered birth certificate matching Ayana's age and name leading to a small village just outside of Kumogakure. Her father? Apparently a Kumo shinobi now officially listed as KIA! Kotone needs answers and Maru needs hours, so now the pair are off to find out just who this strange girl is.

What will they find in Ayana's old home? Why is Kotone so freaking interested in this bespectacled beauty anyway? And most importantly, will her fragile mental state survive another adventure with the fox? Find out soon!

Notes: Ayana will be moderating this mission.

Susukino District - Old Man Sai's Burgers and Fries
Saturday - 4:37 P.M.
​

Kotone bit into her burger, a hand going to her temple to massage a throbbing vein. Whatever broken state of mind that had led her here was gone now, and annoyance with the days events rapidly rushed in to fill its place. The girl ground her teeth as she chewed, shooting a glare at the approaching waitress who promptly scurried away to another table. A couple of hours ago Kotone was her usual perfect self and now she was an absolutely beat up ragamuffin. Strips of her sweater-dress continued to peel away as she moved her hand up to push away a stray strand of her now disheveled hair.

Kotone swallowed, glancing across the table at the cause of her troubles. "So, like, recap time." The girl reached down, sipping her drink to quickly clear her throat. "You're some kind of weird cursed demon fox thing-where on earth have I had that one before-anyway, that like weird light shit Ayana pulled is actually some kind of holy chakra mumbo jumbo that naturally burns the hell out of you." Kotone paused for a moment, running over each point in her mind as she picked up a fry to gesture around with.

"And this would imply that she should be a kunoichi, and yet I've been at the academy for a couple years now and have never seen her around. She was a total space case when I asked about her family, she maybe doesn't have parents-question mark-and for some god-only-knows reason, ANBU are involved." The girl sighed for a long minute, and bit into the fry. Her mind went back to the images of Ayana running away. Kotone wasn't quite sure what this other new emotion was, but she desperately wanted to know more about this girl. That wasn't, like, weird or anything right?

"Well looks like Detective Kotone is on the case. Fox. Village gate, tommorrow, sun-up, community service." Kotone stood up, lifting the mass of bags that had been returned to her by the fox. The girl had a few people to hit up, and though she wasn't sure what was in store, her gut told her answers weren't going to be found in Kumogakure. She would need a freaking chaperone to get out the gates.

De Crevitate Attonbitus
Sunday - 11:50 A.M.​

The sun glowed down on the winding dirt road as Kotone hurried along. The girl stopped for a moment, shifting her backpack as she glanced ahead toward an upcoming sign, and then pierced the still day with yell. "FOX HURRY YOUR ASS UP." Kotone didn't bother glancing behind her, really, really not wanting to know what manner of mischief Maru was up to now. "I'VE GOT FREAKING SCHOOL IN THE MORNING AND THE GUARDS SAID I HAVE TO BE BACK BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN. HURRY. UP." The blonde girl shot a look down to the map in her hand, hurrying over to the sign to compare.

The pair still seemed to be on the right track, their journey wasn't particularly complex or difficult. They had been walking for several hours, following a straight shot out of the gates of Kumogakure, down the mountain, and then picked up a dirt side road when they reached the lowlands. Despite this, Kotone rubbed her head in annoyance, not particularly enjoying the boring trek, and definitely not enjoying the company of Maru. Refocusing, the blonde girl continued on, wondering just what might be in store for her as they approached the village.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Susukino District - Old Man Sai's Burgers and Fries
Saturday - 4:37 P.M.​

Maru in the middle of chewing his food with the happiest face he could have, the child went on to repeat what he just told her about… yanno being a fox demon. Swallowing his food before speaking, he pointed at the child. "Yup that's right. I'm allergic to holy…. Anything! I know it gotta be holy cause that feeling it gave was just…. Ew." his face soured when thinking of what happened when he saw and actually felt whatever the hell Ayana did. He was used to mostly negative feelings in terms to chakra since that's all he's ever exposed to on a daily basis. That aura of dread he has, the power of his evil spirit, heck even how some people's reaction to his actions only made him stronger. That aura filled him with too much positivity which made his chakra system go haywire due to the fact his entire body was full of evil chakra.

While he was eating, he let the child continue to talk who in all honesty seemed weirdly interested in knowing about Ayana. Going full Columbo on the nerd which obviously could just be easily explained as something bad happened to her. Like seeing her family get killed, get kidnapped by CPSS, or a cultist about to sacrifice her to the great and powerful void. "Yanno kid, why can't we just enjoy our food? She ditched us for now, it's not our problem." he offered, taking another bite of his burger… then just saying screw it and throw the rest of it into his burger hole to gulp it down without chewing. Finally, the blonde decided right then and there that they would investigate the mystery of the nerd. Telling him to meet her tomorrow morning, and that there would be hours for him if he participated! "Okay but as long as you are giving more than one punk ass hour! It's literally the loneliest number! The loneliest!" he declared, accepting the case of learning more about the holy nerd girl Ayana.

De Crevitate Attonbitus
Sunday - 11:50 A.M.
​

Maru was busy having an honest conversation with a primitive frog that seemed uninterested in what the hell he was talking about. "Look, I got a good looking frog at home waiting for you. All I need you to do is m–" Maru flitched when hearing Kotone yelling for him, making the unintelligent frog hop away. The fox quickly crawled on all fours to catch up before standing upright to walk side by side with the child. "So quick question, do you even know how to read a map? Cause if not that really ain't gonna help much." he looked at the map, unsure of where they were going so he just simply followed. Needless to say Maru was easily distracted during this hike, when they were on the dirt road Maru stopped to talk to another frog about marrying his toad. As they went down the mountain, he was making fox mating calls to the icecales hoping one of them would become a snowwoman so he could marry. Then when they reached the dirt side road he just randomly pulled on Kotone's cheek just because he was bored and her reactions were always funny.

He could tell he was weighing on the child's patience, out stretching his hand to poke the child on top of the head. "Bratty blonde.. Yanno ya could've at least told me where we were going. I could've asked my oni to carry us in my palanquin." he told her when they were practically already to where they actually needed to go. Figuring the child just wanted the exorcise for her personal health…. Or just wanted more bonding time with him which was also okay because he did find her amusing. Especially when she was angry.

 

[Ayana]

De Crevitate Attonbitus
Sunday - 11:50 A.M.

As they were walking, the town came into view. it wasn't anything impressive like Cloud, but it did have at least a hundred people there, as said from the sign that lists the population of the village. Even so, everything seemed to be spaced out to make the town seem more full than it actually is. It was namely an unmarked town that barely got any visitors.

Everyone seems to going about their business, but there also seems to be a bit of tension in the air as well. Some even looked at the two newcomers, but with suspicion, but rather a solemn regard.

There seemed to be a statue in the middle of being built, on it, it says, "IN MEMORY OF..." The rest hasn't been etched in yet, and the two travellers could at least tell that the statue was showing a man and a woman. The man had what looked like the start of a sword, and the woman had glasses on, both still unfinished. There was a single person working on the statue. A male, about his late teens.

Nearby, approximately twenty or so yards from the statue, is a perfectly fine looking house, with the exception of there being yellow scene of a crime tape surrounding the perimeter of the house. It seems to be there for only a few days. Maybe three to four days max. Even so, there were candles and flowers that had also lined the perimeter of the place.

Even though it was near lunch time, the place seemed to grow dark as night, which was weird since the clouds as of right now are nowhere near to covering the sun, and if one does it would have only been a shade or so darker than usual, not the pitch black night that came and went. Some of the residents of the town looked up, and took that as a cue to take their leave to the nearest building. Whereas the kid working on the statue seemed almost oblivious to what had just happened, chisel and hammer in hand. Now the question is, what will Maru and Kotone do with this random occurrence that came and went?

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Blood pulsed in Kotone's head as her face was repeatedly molested by the fox. As she glanced up from her map, her mind went straight to exactly what manner of violence she could inflict upon her traveling companion, but managed to force down idea. There was mystery and adventure afoot, and she knew if Maru got her sidetracked she'd be playing right into his annoying hands! "I freaking told you yesterday we're-wait what oni?-Anyway, we're going to figure what exact crazy dramatic tragic backstory is going on with Ayana."

The blonde girl unslung her pack and rifled through the contents as she walked, nearly tripping in the process and letting out a few loud curses as she caught herself. Finally locating the target of her search Kotone withdrew a folder and promptly lobbed it directly into the fox's face. Reshouldering her bag, the girl faced forward and made a point to not look at Maru as she continued on. "You can find the deets in there, but like long story short: Girl named Ayana gets born into some podunk town out here twelve years ago. Father is some Kumo shinobi that's something of a local legend. Anyway he's suddenly KIA as of a few weeks ago, Ayana gets a change of address to Kumogakure, and there's an assload of recent public records that are, like, totally redacted."

Kotone held her head up grinning, she felt like a totally cool super-sleuth ninja even if she had essentially just bugged someone to compile all of it for her. Visions of her returning to the village in a windswept trench coat and gruffly stating "I must see the raikage immediately, this is a matter of national importance" went through her mind just as she saw the tops of buildings come into view down the road.

As she entered the small village, the girl's eyes met with a few of the inhabitants and Kotone inwardly groaned with annoyance. She had only been outside Kumogakure a few times in her life, and being a born and bred city girl always resulted in yokels putting her on edge. The girl was mulling over exactly how to approach one of the solemn villagers when her eyes went across the statue. "Space case?!" The shocked question had just escaped Kotone's mouth when she shook her head and looked at it again. Although she could make out similarities in the stone, the depicted woman was clearly too old to be Ayana. As she stared at the form her mind once again went back to the previous day, stirring that still indiscernible emotion she felt when she thought about the brown-haired girl.

The reverie was immediately broken as the world darkened, causing the girl to tense from the surrealness. "FOX WHAT THE HELL DID YOU D-" And then the dark suddenly passed, leaving the air in the village charged with an ominous feeling as its inhabitants scurried back into their homes. Kotone shivered and raised a hand to wave off whatever response would come from Maru. The event hadn't given off vibes of the fox, and there was no real punch-line, leaving the girl to conclude that this was, like, something actually evil.

As the air continued to be filled with a loud banging, Kotone at last acknowledged the youth laboring on the statue, seemingly completely undeterred by dark. Noting the suddenly cleared out village square, she was left with one option and decided she had had enough of being quietly stared at by country bumpkins. "HEY MARIKAI, CAN YOU LIKE STOP THE CREEPY CHILDREN OF THE CORN SHRINE BUILDING FOR A MINUTE?" Kotone took a few steps toward him, reaching an arm to drag the fox with her if he happened to be close at hand. Lowering her voice, she tried to contain her annoyance and slipped into a more diplomatic tone. "We're here about a girl named Ayana, you, like, know her? Brown hair, glasses, occasionally gets weird and checks out of our physical plane of existence?"

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru was oddly curious on why they were going through such lengths to learn the whole back story of Ayana, like wouldn't it just be easier to just ask her. Guess he shouldn't judge because let's face it, the only thing that actually brought him to lightening country was that he was trying to find a woman (who just so happened to be an idol) that he had been stalking throughout tea country in his gentleman thief days. Like literally tracking her down, going to the gates at least 4 times, being rejected, killed at the gates, revived at the gates, then finally he was in! Unfortunately, the fox kinda lost track of her but hey there were plenty of pretty women in Cloud which was the only thing keeping him here! Oh and his children, even if he doesn't know that most of them exist due to the fact Maru was a more of a one night stand kinda person.

Maru caught the file with his face, he took it in his hands and skimmed through it for a bit while he listened to the child talk. "You… really did your homework on this didn't you. Yeesh." he looked through the file wondering if there was something embarrassing that Ayana had that he could use for blackmail one day. As they approached the home village that Ayana was from needless to say the town was a little more… gloomy than he would've expected. The people there looked at him and Kotone with suspicion. The tension in the air was something that even he could notice as he walked side by side with Kotone, it was definitely his kind of place and that was a reason to be weary in itself. Maru looked up at the unfinished statue of what seemed to be both a man and a woman. The woman having strong similarities to Ayana, heck even Kotone just randomly yelled out that nerd's nickname. "Hey, how happy do you think she was with her husband? Do you think I would've had a chance?" he asked.

Then it got dark all of the sudden like there was a shadow looming over the village before changing back. People even stopped to look up for a moment, Kotone instantly blaming him for the whole ordeal. "That wasn't me. Common I would've made it a lot more unique than that!" he yelled. While Maru did love causing a ruckus, often it usually takes the form of something along the lines of WTF. His method of scaring people was to confuse or shock them with something that didn't make any logical sense. No this was something that was a more edgy dark as opposed to something meant to be a joke. When Maru looked up the street he saw a house with yellow tape, before he wasn't as interested in finding the truth but since this looked to be having to do with something more supernatural he was all in.

Maru looked down when Kotone yelled, looked at the child who was building the statue and was dragged towards so they could approach the working country child. While Kotone was worried about knowing more about Ayana, Maru was interested in the town itself. "That and you know anything about the weird shit going on? Also why the people here are looking at us like they don't trust us?" he asked, crouching down for a moment. Using his foot to scratch his chin, his tails patting the ground behind him as he had given his chin a good scratch.

 

[Ayana]

At first, the teen wasn't really at all deterred when the girl had yelled out 'space case', along with yelling at traveling companion. He continued to work, that is, until the duo came closer and the girl screamed out to get his attention.

"Ahhh!" He yelled out, as he dropped his tools and quickly made hand seals, and The ground before him started to ripple towards them, but before it got to them, he had taken a look at the two people and cancelled the jutsu. He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that, you surprised me after all. Also the name is Jabiru." He listened to what they had to say, but afterwards, his face went a little bit more pale.

"Wait. Little Ayana is still alive? We all had thought she was gone forever." He then turned to Maru and said, "Yeah, once a week, for the past thirty years, a darkness covers this town. Nobody really knows what actually happens except an unlucky person will go missing. Things changed when a man came about fifteen years ago and married a woman from here. Turns out he was a soldier of light. And from then on, when the day grew dark, an instant blinding flash would happen immediately afterwards. But..." The man paused for a few seconds, as if contemplating his next set of words. But as soon as he was about to talk, an inhuman scream came from the house with the yellow tape. He looked over at the house. "This is the first week that we haven't had someone of having the power of light in the town." He picked up the hammer and it started to have earthly chakra mold around it, making it bigger. "As for people looking at you all like they don't trust you all, it's because the last time outsiders came here, was almost a week ago, when the darkness came, a light brighter than anything could imagine came from the house, and the man that had kept the darkness away for so long is now dead along with his wife. As for the outsiders, they had taken Ayana, having suspicions of her being the killer, with the only evidence being that she is the only living eyewitness and had her parents blood on her hands."

The inhuman scream came again from the house. It seemed louder this time. Or... Was there more than one? "They didn't even bother looking into the whole darkness ordeal, thinking that the two aren't connected." He ducked under the tape and turned to the others. "Yo outsiders. It might be best if you skedaddle. I don't know how you all know Ayana, but keep her safe and far away from this place. We have a few good strong people that can take care of this stuff. We did train in case a situation like this were to occur."

He turned back to the house as more screaming is heard, now it was definite there was more than one screaming. But what will Kotone and Maru do? Will they heed Jabiru's warning? Or will they follow him?

 

[Ueno Kotone]

As the boy looked up from the work, Kotone paused in her questioning as she was struck by the sight. The girl was just in the process of oggling his pouty, angled features when she caught of the motions of handseals out of the corner of her eyes and felt the ground quake beneath her. "WOAH WOAH WOAH, WE COME IN PEACE, CARAMEL DIPPED COUNTRY EYE CANDY." As the boy dropped his jutsu and listened to her question, Kotone continued to very openly run her eyes across the teen.

"Yes we, like-" Suddenly the spell was broken as Jabiru interrupted the blonde's response to acknowledge the fox. This was supposed to be her investigation, and the sweet apple pie in front of her was ruining it by providing information she hadn't asked for! Kotone fumed for a moment as she half-heartedly listened to the town's backstory, ready to butt back in when suddenly the noise from the house made her jump. The girl's hand immediately went up, flying through the air to the fox's face with a "FOX I TOLD YOU NO MORE FREAKING SCR-" before suddenly stopping as she felt goosebumps form across her body.

The sound had definitely come from somewhere else, and following the boy's glance she took in the creepy crime-scene tape and otherwise undisturbed home. She felt more hairs rise on her body as the boy seemed to calmly roll with the happening and continue his cryptic monologue. Another scream came from the building, causing Kotone to jump again. "Are we like going to acknowledge the unholy freaking screams from beyond or-" Kotone stopped as the boy bowed under the tape, shooting him a confused glare. Surely the boy didn't intend to deal with that by himself?

As he gave his warning and turned away, Kotone concluded that he in fact seemed to. "Hey uh, time out before you like go into the creepy screaming house, group huddle." With that, the blonde shot her arm down to the scratching fox's collar, pulling him uncomfortably close to her face as she proceeded to perform a rare act of whispering. Kotone was clearly not used to being quiet and brief snippets of her voice easily carried through the town square. "So uh, I'm like twelve, mama's big ol' helping of grits and eggs over there is way too cute to get eaten by evil forces from the pits of hell, and you're a demon. In a nutshell, time to earn your hours."

Without giving a chance for Maru to respond, Kotone stepped forward as she continued to drag him by the kimono. Ducking under the yellow tape, the girl stood face to face with Jibaru for a moment as she tilted her head to give him a forcibly sweet smile. "I don't know what your plan is, but the fox has elected to lead the way into your town's godforsaken hell house." With that, she removed her hand from the fox, only to immediately drive it into the small of his back, clearly indicating for him to enter.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru began to nod at Jabiru's answer to the weird shit, basically the town is constantly plagued by something that is constantly spiriting away people every time the place went dark. 'Sounds like Oni hitokuchi. Must be a few rouge demons around but hey, at least they aren't near my mountain hunting. he thought to himself, also knowing that there was only one or two things that happened to these unfortunate souls. They were just kidnapped then returned from whatever pocket dimension a traumatized wreck or they were just swallowed up in one bite. Not to mention he actually learned a little something something on why the hell the Anbu are like stalking Ayana, because she was falsely accused for murder! "So that's why the monkey's have been bothering her. Well no biggie. Ayana is doing–" that is when they heard an inhuman scream come from the house which was loud enough to make him cover his ears.

When Kotone was about to slap him again, he held his hands up to pretend that he didn't want to be slapped. "HEY COOL IT! IT WASN'T ME ALRIGHT, DAMN!" he whined, the child unfortunately putting their arm down not giving him the smack he was working literally the whole track to get! 'Think she might be on to my masochism.' he thought, wondering what the hell did he do for her to know his fedish! Think he just gave off the vibe of a sub since what S tier shinobi would allow himself to be bossed around by a child? When Jabiru decided to approach the house on his own, Maru's first thought was to let the kid take care of it himself since they seemed trained on handling the unholy forces of evil. But Kotone unfortunately had other plans, leaning down letting hearing her whisper to him to do the very thing he didn't feel like doing.

Maru was about to tell her that the townspeople had it covered but she pulled him over to the house anyway, electing him to go into the house first. "Yanno… I can literally just summon an angry face moon to crash into the house. Like no one is living there so blowing it up is always an option." he sounded upset as he was forced to walk forward with his arms folded. "Just putting it out there." When Maru entered the building, he saw a rat skittering across the floor in which he scooped up quickly before it got away. He looked at the rat and began squeaking loudly, as if telling the fox to let him go. "I will name you Rose. Rose Brown." after naming the rat he stuffed it underneath his mask and then stood up hitting the wall to let his presence be known in the house. "HEY DEMONS! THIS IS MY NEW TERRITORY! YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TIME TO GO DUDES!" he clapped trying to see if that made them run away by evicting these squatters. Even shapeshifting into a sheriff's outfit to serve the eviction notice to the demons, tipping his hat and adjusting his belt. "Y'all got 30 minutes to pack yer shit and get on boy's. This town ain't got room for ya here so GET! Don't make me pull out my bull whip!" Maru spat at the wall, fiddling with his overalls while making a really mean look with a piece of hay hanging out from the side of his clenched teeth.

 

[Ayana]

Before the boy could go any further, Kotone had stopped him from going in and is basically telling him that the fox had volunteered to go in first. Jabiru looked between the two as an odd duo, leaning more towards the fox being the weirder one of the two. His eyes widened when Maru put out the idea of just blowing up the house. "I don't think that'll work. All I think they have done is just set up shop in that house now. If you were to destroy it, it could possibly lead to them just causing more damage and setting up a base somewhere else."

And so Maru had decided to stir up whatever was in the house, hitting the wall of the house and making a ruckus. A few minutes have past, and nothing. But finally, the door swung open, but not a sound was to be heard.

A hooded figure walked out. But there was something wrong with this... Thing. Where the face should be, one could only see darkness, but almost as if darkness had a gaseous form. The hoodie it was wearing was physical.

The hooded figure didn't even regard Maru, but started to walk towards Kotone and Jabiru. What was weird was the fact that this thing was barefooted, but no sound was made when it walked. As it got closer many more screams came from the house. It didn't seem to take a look at Kotone, but rather Jabiru.

A shadowy hand shot up and grabbed the teen by his throat, catching him off guard,. The boy struggled for a few seconds, but then remembered he had his earthen hammer. He swung it down on the hooded figure's arm. But as it connected, the whole thing bursted into shadow flaky bits. The boy took a moment to catch his breath before looking over at the two. "Well that was easy. One hit should take out whatever the hell these things are. Should be easy to clear the place out."

He went to the already open door and stopped in his tracks.

Numerous more figures were inside the house, not like the hooded figure, but one could definitely tell that these things seemed to be made of shadows. One could even say this is the work of a Nara, except for one small detail. These shadow have red glowing eyes.

There were too many to count, and possibly more in other rooms not yet seen. Jabiru closed the door and started to pace. "Okay, how are we going to handle all of those things without destroying the house?" He looked over at the house, none of these shadows seem to be leaving, but about five to a window were looking out at them, not doing anything, but staring at them with red eyes. "If they fall easily with one hit, that's no problem. The real problem is not getting surrounded by... Whatever the hell those things are." He turned to the two, or more so Maru since he seemed to be the more senior ninja with talks of being able to blow things up, "What are your opinions on this?"

 

[Ueno Kotone]

For once Kotone agreed with the fox, her eyes glinting at the prospect of just, like, blowing this unholy abomination off the face of the earth. This internal fantasy was brought crashing down as the tasty hunk of cornbread rattled off his reservations to the idea. "Okay but what if it was like two moo-" Kotone's shaky train of thought was broken by Maru's loud approach to the house, a cross look etching its way onto the girl's face. The fox was switching up genres on her! Demonic forces from beyond the grave she could deal with, those were real, but bringing cowboys into this? What other fictional movie trope was he going for next, italian mobster? And just what kind of name was Rose Brown anyway, was that even Japanese?

Kotone's anachronism related steaming was suddenly interrupted as a dark, hooded figure appeared from the doorway. "I... Did that, like, actually work? RETURN TO THE ETHER FOUL SPIRIT, YOUR PRESENCE IS UNWANTED!" The blonde was unfortunately disappointed as the figure continued to approach completely undeterred by her attempted exorcism. Kotone was in the process of running through her knowledge of supernatural horror movies when the shadowy form shot out an arm, seemingly attempting to strangle Jabiru. "FOX I SWEAR TO GOD DON'T LET MY FREAKING SLICE OF MISSISSIPPI MUDPIE DIE ALREA- Oh, uh, nice one! Holyhellthoseforearmsthough." Kotone was too busy admiring the musculature on the country boy's arms to acknowledge his comment following the hammer swing, immediately going on autopilot to follow him to the door as a bit of drool appeared on her lower lip.

The thought was just crossing her mind of what the boy must look like after a long sweaty day swinging his hammer, shirtless, probably in in a swaying field backlit by a soothing sunset, when he stopped, causing Kotone to bump into his back. A very well defined back and rock-hard back, she noted. Despite the admiration, the sudden stop perked Kotone enough to peak around Jibaru. The sight inside the house caused all the hairs in the girl's body to rise, and by the time Jibaru's hand was on the door, Kotone had spun around and slammed her back into, closing the entrance with a loud bang.

As Jibaru started to pace, Kotone's eyes fell on the creatures lurking in the window, causing her to press her body even harder against the door. "Make that a freaking assload of one hits." Watching the boy pace, Kotone's mind returned to the previous hammer stroke, a little bit of drool once again making it's way slowly to her chin. "Not that I'm saying I'd, like, mind watching that." Another glance at the glowing red eyes immediately sent the girl's thoughts back to the situation at hand.

"Okay, how are we going to handle all of those things-" "Three moons?" "-without destroying the house." Kotone shot the boy an annoyed glance as her suggestion was ignored. The girl really didn't understand all this demon stuff, and sighed as Jibaru continued on with his line of thought. It really was never, like, easy in the movies either, huh? As the boy's next question came, Kotone thought for a minute and turned to Maru, yanking him back down to eye-level. "So just to be sure, you're not like secretly also some like half-angel in additional to being a half-demon, half-man, half-fox thing, right? Because if you could do that crazy holy light chakra junk that'd be so freaking helpful right now."

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru thought his eviction trick would actually have worked but apparently he got the attention of a shadow person who just outright ignored him and then went for the child's throat! Well that's what he got for coming in here unprepared. Just as Maru was about to write the kid off as a goner, he gave the thing a hard whack making it splatter in one hit. Shapeshifting back into his normal outfit, he looked down at the thing, then shrugged. ”Well then, I thought that was supposed to be hard.” he mocked when of course they instantly became surrounded by the shadows. The sheer number of them was enough to make anyone worried, not that Maru was worried about them but he knew that to actually finish these things off the easiest possible way, he’d have to literally destroy the whole town. Mindless destruction and powerful jutsu got them covered. Non-destructive ways to dealing with dealing with these things? Not so much.

Trying to think of a way other than dropping three moons over their heads, he took a deep breath looking at Kotone. ”Okay, i have a idea but don’t get mad at me for this” he stated, now sounding serious since he was actually TRYING to help this time and though he was talking to Kotone it almost seemed like he was addressing the boy as well. ”You guys keep an open mind and remember that I AM TRYING TO HELP! Good? Good!” he said and with that he began to focus his chakra into a vapor-like aura. Making his aura into an aura of dread that made most people around feel uneasy around the house while at the same time sending internal signals to the shadow that he was dangerous. Maru enhanced this aura with the power of his evil spirit, once he had the aura of dread was supercharged he used his tailed to send a burst of terror that was sent out as a wave of blue chakra that didn’t only affect all within the house but the dreadful chakra went as far as to effect the entire town! Paralyzing anything that wasn’t fearless with fear of the thing that was watching over Maru, thoughts of a monster or some kind of godlike being that could only be understood as a fox. Flashes of what the creature looked like plagued the minds of both friend and enemy alike.

Gigantic shark like teeth curled into a grin.
Fires that seem to be literally dancing in odd shapes.
A bird like head.
Screaming faces all mixed together.
Glass raining sideways.
A large white fox creature floating in some weird dimension.

With each image of the things realm, it was so confusing that it terrorized both people and demon until the images stopped though even though the unamable fox’s images had stopped whoever wasn’t fearless of the would still be paralized and unable to concentrate. Finally, once Maru figured that the shadow things where paralysed. From one of Maru’s tails rolled out…. Something. This creature unlike the unholy abomination that he just showed off in the town through his terror brust, this monster that came out of Marus tails represented a small plushie or at least was small enough to look like a plush. The thing was like a small clown like monster, wearing mostly pink and wore a had that made it’s head look like hard candy. Once it was out of Maru’s tail, it looked up at its summoner wondering what he was about to ask him to do. ”Alright Jeez, use your miasma to attack all the shadows!” he commanded the little youkai looking up at Maru with a hint of confusion before doing just what he wanted. The little clown-plush like youkai named jeez opened up its mouth to reveal rows of sharp, yellow, fang like teeth to breath out a pink fog of miasma. The cloud quickly begun to spread throughout the house, going through cracks in the wall, out the door until it was looming over every shadow monster that Jeez considered as an enemy. Once the cloud of miasma was hanging over the shadows, they were all instantly shot with a sharp piece of cursed candy cane into every enemy shadow’s head! ”Nice shot Jeez!”-

To be continued!
Did Jeez took care of the shadows via death by candy cane? Did Marus daunting abilities terrorize the demons as well as anything in the town? Is Kotone gonna be mad at him for making her see some elchrich patreon that is living in maru’s body as a rental? Find out in the next post!

Ooc:
Maru uses dread aura on everyone. (Allies, the shadows, the townspeople ect)

Maru uses Daunt: Terror Burst against everyone! (Allies, the shadows, the townspeople ect) Making them see images Maru’s Jinchu spirit in their mind to scare them with horrifying weirdness

Spoiler: Maru's patron

Mizukume: The Fox Demon
Lore: A elemental spirit banished from Eden no Ōkoku. After waging war against the laws nature. Mizukume seeks for things of all elements to be liberated, for people to choose wether they want to be in Earth's gravity, for fire to be drinkable, for people to light a match to make a rain cloud, and for humans to use their water in themselves to split themselves apart to create new better selfs. Mizukume believes that in order for humans to truly be free nature itself must make little sense as possible. When he's asked what is the benefit of throwing all order aside he gives answers that doesn't make a lick of sense. For example: "If babies drink fire instead of milk, they'll be able to to produce gasoline from their blood which humans can use to create ice and snow cones." Because of Mizukume strong feelings against anything normal, it was banished to forever wonder the human realm without a proper body until it found maru where it currently lives.​

Maru uses Contract Summoning to call his Arch Fiend! JEEZ The candy demon!

Jeez uses its Miasma to attack all the shadow things, using candy canes to stab them in the head... Do they splat?

 

[Ayana]

Jabiru looked on and listened as the two outsiders gave their opinions on what to do next. The girl seemed really set on wanting to destroy the house. Meanwhile the older male, fox thing had a different idea. The fox exclaimed loudly what he was about to do, giving the boy and the rest of the town a warning before he tried to do whatever it was that he was going to do.

The next thing he felt was a sense of dread, but he quickly shook off the effects. He just wished the same can be said with the town. Surprisingly enough, only a very small portion of people seem to be affected by it as door locks were quickly clicked into place, some cussing and movements of scattering. Looking back at the house, though, the shadows still all kept staring at them through the windows. But the next feeling... It caught the boy by surprise, he felt actual fear and seen a monster appear in his head, it was horrifying. He grabbed his head and fell down, catching himself by landing on one of his knees. He tried to get up, but he felt like he was paralyzed. Screaming from the other houses, more human than the ones from the house that the shadows are presiding in were heard. But strangely enough, the house before them seemed silent.

And then... Was it his imagination, or did something crawl out of the fox man's tail? Whatever the case may be, Maru had instructed it to use something and to destroy all the shadows. This little creature did as it was told, using its demonic power to send out its cloud of miasma, and still the shadows didn't react at all. The small demon made quick work of about half before they actually started to move! They moved slowly, but with a purpose and with hostility. The small demon seemed as it was getting surrounded, but it managed to cleave through the rest of them with its candy canes of death. The house was empty, with the exception of shadow flaky bits that is now leaving an even more ominous feeling. They don't seem to be going away, almost staying like black smoke.

Finally, Jabiru was able to move. The image was gone, but the fear still was burned in the back of his mind. But nevertheless, the boy picked up his earthen hammer. But before he even took a step in, he made some handseals. The final seal he put on the ground and an eyeball made of the earth's minerals formed. The floating eye went into the house, and erm... Took a look around. Nothing that the eye saw was in the house except for the candy demon. Jabiru cancelled the jutsu and turned towards the two of them. "Seems like your... Friend took care of those things. Should be safe to enter in now." And with that, the boy entered, "What you all will most likely be looking for are documents. I don't know why you two are interested in Ayana or why you want to know what happened here. Better than the whole rumour mill of he said, she said business. Now if I remember, from what the town was told, he died right here." pointing to the living room, mainly referencing the man that the town had thought of as a hero. He looked around, and there was a basement with the door wide open leading down. Walking around more, he seen what looked like the house's study. Walking back to the group, he said. "I think we should split up. One of us take a look at the living room, the other the study, and the last person will take the basement. Now since we have an extra... Erm... Friend, he can choose who to go with." And with that, Jabiru left the floor open of who wants to divvy up the places to search.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

"I REALLY don't freaking like the sound of..." Kotone trailed her voice of, the growing sense of terror and dread for once giving her cause to quiet down. The girl stood still as she felt the almost physical wave of emotion roll through the town, fear itself seeming to take up tangible space in the air and seep into every corner and crevice of the town. Pressing against her body, the invisible terror-fog held the girl in place for several long, agonizing moments and then the dam broke.

Kotone was flooded with visions of the true fox, the sight both horrifying and enraging her. The two feelings swirled together, waxing and waning and fought each other for dominance until they at last congealed into a single word. Gone, Kotone desperately just wanted the freaking thing gone! As the fusion finally coalesced, the blonde girl felt the blood drain from her face and a shaky ground rise up to meet her, the world immediately going dark. Kotone would be forunately out of commission for a few moments, just long enough to miss the candy-demon dominated events that came next.

---

The girls head ached as her eyes shot back open, desperately trying to make sense of the scene around her. Jibaru's first sentence rolled over her
in warm waves, though initially unsure of why she nevertheless enjoyed the voice very much. Groaning, Kotone pushed herself up from the ground with one arm as the other massaged the back of her head. The day came flooding back to her along with faint images of Maru's literal inner demon. "I SWEAR TO FREAKING GOD FOX. IF YOU EVER, EVER, DO THAT AGAIN. I- PAIN. LOTS OF PAIN." Kotone chewed out the air as she followed the boy inside while forcing her eyes away from the fox, not wanting to be immediately reminded of That Thing anymore than she had to.

As Jibaru continued on Kotone forced herself back to the mission at hand. Documents? Documents meant serious detective work! The blonde girl immediately unshouldered her backpack and dropped it to the floor to rifle around. Kotone came back up with an oversized magnifying class and flashlight, immediately clicking it on. "Don't worry my tasty bowl of chicken and biscuits, Detective Kotone is on the case! The mystery of your town is in very good hands!" Shining the light across the various rooms and entrances, she eventually reached the basement door. The girl shuddered slightly. After the events of the day and seeing enough horror movies, she was definitely not looking forward to going into the creepy inviting basement of the hell-house.

Shaking her head, she agreed with Jibaru's assessment up until he mentioned a fourth member. "Wait what?" Kotone spun around to face the boy with a confused expression, only to have her eyes land on the small yokai. Kotone's heart skipped a beat. "Ohmygodwheredidyoucomefrom!" The blonde rushed over immediately, bending over to shoot the strange creature a beaming smile. "Oh my god! You're like adorable, where did you come from little cutie!?" Kotone reached a hand out to pet the small yokai, her hand getting awfully close to the creature's rows of sharp fangs.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Ha! It worked! The shadows went splat and Jeez saved them from the approaching shadows! Maru giving a satisfied nod towards the mess, he looked over at the boy who did seem to be a little rattled by seeing his evil spirit. "You'll be alright… whoa what happened to her." he said looking at Kotone who was on the floor, fainted due to the weirdness of the thing inside Maru. To be fair he wasn't sure if his fear chakra actually worked but it at least bought them enough time for Maru to summon his friend then have it take out those shadows. At least he thought they were paralyzed given that they didn't react to him summoning, then ordering his youkai to attack them, then allowed the creature to make the miasma before they started to move. When he said something about Kotone, her eyes shot open and Maru was internally thankful that he didn't drive her mad from the bizarre nature of his cursed spirit that was sealed within him.

Maru was about to express his happiness that her mind wasn't broken but Kotone proceeded to threaten him with… lots of pain. "Hey I said keep an open mind and not get mad at me! It was better than using that same spirit of create a Kumihorrican or doing the moon thing." he stated since those methods were a little… too powerful for a town to handle. Can't tear a rift then make it rain pissed off fox girls and trap them in spiraling winds to make them mad enough to throw foxfire and other jutsu at the area to find the culprit who did that to them. At least, this way he could deny any involvement in the psychological attack. Now that the shadows were out of the, Jabiru went on to tell them that what they were looking for was documents. Now that the house was cleared, from what he could see, they could actually begin searching for the documents to learn the secrets of the town! Or find out more about Ayana which he was also interested in too.

Maru watches the boy disappear for a moment, then reappear saying that they should split up to cover more ground. Basically the rooms of importance were the living room, the study, and the dreaded basement. Maru looked at Kotone looking at the entrance to the basement with a look of unease, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder looking down at her with a sinister smile. "♪ Guess who's going in the basement. ♪" he spoke in a singsong voice, his grin widening as he moved down to look the child in the eye– before popping back up and choosing himself. "I will! There might be a sewer clown down there. Here you can have jeez to protect you." he said as Jeez closed it's mouth and closed it's crazy colored eyes. Allowing Kotone to pet it, while it made these weird small youkai sounds. "Eh?... Eh!" it said before grabbing a hold of Kotone's arm then climbing it's way to rest on Kotone's shoulder. Meanwhile, Maru was walking down stairs heading down to the basement floor to see what awaited him down there.

[Maru gave Jeez to Kotone for protection!]

[Maru goes down to the basement]

 

[Ayana]

It seemed as like Jabiru wasn't the only one affected by the weirdness that is whatever the hell is in the male outsider as the girl had doubled over and more or less fainted. He looked over at him, eyebrows raised, but didn't say anything.

He was at least grateful that a moon wasn't dropped onto the place or a Kumihorrican happened? Seriously these outsiders are strange. But the boy feels inclined to help them find the information. He knelt down, looking at the floor, the dried blood as he heard Maru talking about him going into the basement and leaving Jeez with the girl. "Hey Girl. I still don't know your or your masked buddy's name, but while I search here, you mind looking into the study to see if you can find anything with your new friend?"

MEANWHILE...​

As Maru descended into the basement, there was little to no light, but enough for the average person, or in his case, demon can see. Nothing really out of the ordinary, just a dark, musky basement. Except for one detail. In the middle of the basement was a sword. Most of it was covered in dried up blood. And it was broken in three pieces. Maru, being a cursed individual, or at least the demon inside of him can tell, that the sword was once a holy sword. But not just any holy sword. One that was owned by an exalted, which they were famous for their holy weapons never breaking. It seemed to have been broken very recently as the light seemed strong at first, but its holy power is seeming to fade away fast until the light was altogether out, leaving Maru in the darkness.

As for Kotone​

As she entered the study, the girl would find the place to be a whole mess. It was as if a tornado came through and trashed the place. It was obvious as why this place would be a good place to look for clues, if one didn't count for the fact that it is now less likely to find what they would be looking for in this mess. But even in this mess, one book would be able to catch her eyes. Or rather, it was a notepad. Dried blood was on the corner of some of the pages, along with what looks like a gnarled claw had attempted to rip some of the pages off. In the notepad, it said this:
Year XXXX,
I never really would have expected my job of being a soldier of light to bring me to a small town like this, but here I was, hearing about this 'darkness' problem and people going missing. But anyways, might as well stay a few nights to see what's the deal.
The next entry was stated to be about three weeks later:
I seen it. Lately I've just been blasting holy light out when the darkness comes, and nothing really ever happens. But this time, I was a second too slow. There were about ten shadows standing still with red eyes. I managed to slay them all, but because I wasn't fast enough one of the shadows got a man around my age. It was sad, the man was only out running with a hoodie on when it was cold, fully expecting the light to come after the darkness but... This will be a reminder. I have to be vigilant.
And finally one that seems to be recorded years later:
Who knew I would have started a family here of all places? Ever since that incident I have never let another person fall victim to the darkness. But last night had come. The bastards are actually getting smarter. They used one of the darkest nights to attack. I slain them easily, but one had caught my attention. It was wearing a hoodie, and it especially seemed to be reacting to my holy blade. I knew what I had to do. It was painful knowing I had failed to save everyone all those years ago and the pain was brought back up. I stabbed it through its mouth as an inhuman scream can be heard. I can feel the cursed aura emanating around it more than the other ones. That's when I finally learned the truth. All these shadows. Are people turned into demons through who knows what kind of methods. Whatever happens, in the end, they turned to shadow people or shadow demons.

And that was the end of the notepad as all other pages that could possibly hold onto were torn out and never to be seen again.

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone squeaked as the tiny creature scampered up her arm, her new annoyance with Maru quickly vanishing. Tilting her head slightly, the girl nuzzled her cheek against the yokai as she waved her tormentor off to hopefully die a painful, horrifying death in the house's most surely haunted basement. "What's your name anyway little cutie?"





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[Translator's note: While this phrase can most literally be translated to "You shall surely perish in sugary-sweet hellfires mortal" some of the top linguists specializing in Candylish have determined it to potentially be some form of greeting. Additional data is required.]

"Jeez louise cutie, that's one freaking heck of a name. Actually you know what, I'm just gonna call you Louise." Kotone smiled to herself at her originality, surely noone else would have thought to come up with that on the spot! The blonde's self-satisfaction was interrupted as Jabiru's voice rolled through the room suggesting that she should begin her search. "Yeah, yeah melted bacon gravy, Detective Kotone is on the case. Also it's like, Kotone I literally like just said that! And the fox's name is-" Kotone's mind rolled back through the previous day. The girl had heard his name at some point, probably right when they met, but just what was it? "Uh, just call him Fox. That's been, like, working for me so far." The girl turned back to her new tiny friend as she approached the study, shoving the flashlight under her arm to provide it with a few chin scritches. "Come on Louise, there's mystery afoot!"

Taking in the destruction in the room, Kotone sighed as she passed through the doorway. Stray sheets of paper and splinters crackled under her feet as she raised her flashlight back up to survey the totality of the scene, inwardly cursing the dripping wedge of glazed ham for volunteering her for this particular room. The blonde picked up a torn document and, determining it to be some past bill or other payment, quickly tossed it away. Kicking an already toppled chair in annoyance, Kotone was just about to storm out of the room when a bloody, scratched notepad came into sight.

The girl cast her flashlight across the paper as she lifted her magnifying glass, taking in the stroke of good luck. "Looks like we totally got ourselves a clue Louise!" Quickly handing the yokai her detective instrument, who in turn accepted the much too large object with a few curious squeaks, the blonde reached down and began flipping through the remaining notes. "Yada yada darkness, yada yada spooky hoodie thing-already dealt with dude-yada yada get to the point." Kotone half-digested the slew of information while keeping her fingers well clear of the blood-stains, until her eyes at last fell on the final few sentences.

The blonde girl shuddered as she took in statement, thinking back to swarm of creatures that had previously inhabited the house. Kotone wasn't exactly adverse to inflicting violence on people, but effectively murdering a packed house party of them? That was definitely a disconcerting thought. Kotone spun around, giving her shoulder-perched friend a nervous glance as she hurried back out of the room with the notepad still in hand. "FOX GET YOUR ASS BACK UP HERE! Fresh out-the-oven casserole, we've like got a problem. Shadow-lent black is freaking people!"

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru descending down the stairs, he sniffed air but so far all he could smell was the usual things that you'd smell in an old basement. That nasty wet smell was kind of like a storm drain was the only way to describe the smell. Luckily for him the basement was well lit enough for him to see so once he made his way down the steps he found that nothing was out of the ordinary. The only thing of interest was the broken weapon that laid on the floor, however Maru didn't get close to it because it was giving off that ugly holy chakra. He averted his eyes from the broken weapon before letting the weapon's holiness die down a bit only after the light died, it plunged him into complete darkness. No biggie, his sense of smells and hearing was enhanced thanks to his foxy haratiage. So he could move around without light for now, all it really came down to was if there were traps and if there was something hiding in the dark. Maru thought for a moment, then slowly took a step forward however as soon as he took that one small step Kotone was yelling for him to come up. His face went stoned, then he simply snapped his fingers and split apart to summon forth an elemental clone!

"Go up stairs and see what she wants. I'm a little busy at the moment." Maru told his doppelganger who gave him two thumbs up to see what the hell Kotone wanted.

Meanwhile With Kotone!​

Maru, or Maru's clone appeared in the study. Jeez was using the magnifying glass to show him it's teeth which he could see that there were bits of coconuts from chocolate candy and a few cavities in the teeth of the tiny monster. It closed its mouth, then bearded it's teeth, then closed its mouth again. Finally the clone looking confused gestured his hand out to the child as if to say are you kidding me right now. "You brought me here to tell me that those shadows were once people? Bruh, they aren't even people anymore. Like zombies." said the clone, really not knowing what was the big deal with dealing with those things since they weren't even human. They were defending themselves, now it was wrong?

Meanwhile With Original Maru!​

He wiped his brow, thankful that he actually had a chance to get a look at the sword. Maru slowly crawled on all fours to where the sword was, thinking that if the sword was broken and there was enough light within it to illuminate the basement then it must have been done recently. Maru could barely even stand to be around the damn weapon now. Sitting cross legged he was trying to figure out exactly what he should do about the blade. He could just leave it there, but maybe someone else could use it to keep the monster's at bay. The fox checked in his tool pack to see if he had any of that Binding Agent stuff to restore the weapon but just his luck he didn't pack any with him. 'Well I tried.' he thought to himself. Crawling away from the weapon so he could go upstairs to see about the ruckus that was going on. The boy seemed to be a blacksmith or at least knew one so it wouldn't be hard to repair the weapon right?

 

[Ayana]

Jabiru was getting used to the weird nicknames the little girl seemed to be calling him. He did really see a whole lot at his place to look for, but apparently the girl at least found something.

He took the notepad, also being careful not to touch the dried blood and read its contents. The boy looked outside, where they had first encountered the hooded figure. It sure sounded like that thing was the thing that was stabbed in the face with a holy sword. Fox, as the girl suggested the man's name to be was nearby and scolded the girl for telling him they were once people. How it doesn't matter anymore, that they are something else.

"I hate to say it, but he's right. Though zombies wouldn't be the right word. But some kind of manufactured demon made of shadows. And I think they are much stronger than we anticipated, or at least some of them are. The hooded figure that attacked me, may as well be the very same one that had a sword stabbed through its head. This is very troublesome, yet good information that you found Kotone. Now, Fox..." Jabiru turned around, a little bit surprised to see not just one Maru, but two! Being a ninja, Jabiru knew of clones, so just as fast as his surprise came, it was gone. He was about to say something different, but now, seeing the other Fox here, "I'm guessing from the look on your face that you found something downstairs?"

 

[Ueno Kotone]

Kotone blinked and rubbed her eyes as she stared at the additional Maru crawling up from the basement. "WERE YOU FREAKING BREEDING DOWN THERE?!" The girl stomped her foot and jerked foward, sending the yokai tumbling off her shoulder with a high pitched scream only to be quickly plucked out of the air by one of Kotone's now thrashing arms. Quickly tucking the tiny creature against her chest, the girl went on with her previous explanation as her eyes bounced between the two foxes. "Anyway, like, as I was telling... You. The creepy shadow things are people! Or were! Or like, I totally don't get this demon shit but it feels wrong just murdering them wholesale!"

Kotone handed Jabiru the notepad in between fuming at Maru, the creature in her arms looking at his hand with a wide-eyed smile while a few babbling remarks were offered up. "It's all in there my hearty summer stew, now freaking enlighten the fox as to why murdering people is like bad!" The blonde shot Maru a smug grin, wrapping her arms tighter around her sugary friend. This triumph was immediately brought crashing down by the boy's response, causing an annoyed, incredulous look to be thrown his way in response. "Wait, not freaking you too!" Kotone was quickly shaping up to be the crazy chick that gets everyone killed after trying to smuggle an infected person back into the safe zone.

Kotone sighed, trying to calm the pounding annoyance rising in her. A creepy haunted house was clearly not the locale for a philosophical debate on the ethics of self defense and zombie killing, and regardless, there was yet more detective work to resolve! Reacquiring her magnifying glass from Jeez-Louise with a bit of gentle prodding, the blonde girl crossed the room, making sure her route involved elbowing through the pair of Marus in the process. "Had to have found something, what with taking his sweet-ass getting all of him back up here. Now, like, assuming there aren't six more of you dead down there, I take it the spooky cursed basement was actually safe."

Kotone flicked her light back on and raised the glass back to her eye, slowly taking a step down before glancing back with a glare to indicate the others should follow her. "You can like fill us in on the way, but Detective Kotone should see whatever it is with her own eyes!" With that Kotone descended down, awkwardly trying to press the yokai close to her chest with her forearms. The tiny creature let out a few curious noises, then scrambled up to the top of the girl's head to peer into the dimly lit area with eerie eyes. "Keep a look out Louise! Anything could be a clue!"

 

[Midori Futotta]

When the original Maru came up from downstairs, he flinched when the child began yelling again then he chuckled at the thought of breeding. "Trust me, if I was breeding it wouldn't be in this house. Lots of good looking country girls out there to seduce…" he began to drool, after all the outer village area's had been where most of his successful seduction had taken place but… that's only because he did the whole mystical fox act thing which women seem to love. Regardless, he crawled next to his double then stood upright so Kotone could fill him in on what the hell was going on but all he was getting from the child was just nonsense about the shadows being people. She was telling the fox that she felt it was wrong to just kill them, this made both Maru's eyes go deep in confusion of what Kotone was trying to tell them! Sure, they were once people but they were approaching them so wasn't the most logical way to get rid of them was just kill them? "Look. The things explode if you touch them. It was either kill them or we all get a unesserary ass whoopin' by the shadows just because they were once human. I mean shota boy nearly had his throat crushed by the things and you wouldn't want that since you seem to be going 'Ara Ara' for him." he teased the child for all the weird food names she was naming Jabiru which he assumed to be some kind of seduction tactic like how he uses lame pickup lines.

Jabiru had agreed with him though correcting him or at least his clone on his statement about them being zombies. The two Maru's looked at one another at the statement that the thing that attacked Jabiru could be the one who had been stabbed by that dreaded sword. "Yanno, think what we need here is some seal because if these things can regenerate this could be a little… tricky." he stated because if they can just come back then sealing them to a single location would be the best way to deal with something of that nature but hey! If Ayana gets buff enough she'll be able to handle the things on her own. Once they established that killing the shadows was the best solution, it was now time for him to share his little discovery. Meanwhile Jeez having to put up with a nearly being dropping, squeezed, and now being poked. The sugary monster handed the magnifying glass over with a small growl then looked over at Maru to speak in its squeaky but totally bizarre language that Maru didn't understand by word but by the feeling that his youkai had.






"Ỹ̴̨̡̛͇͈̱̗̱̣̯̩̹͎͔̠̯̲͖͉̹͓̯̩̜̩͈̦͇͕̩̺̲̳͙͙̩͎͙̜͎̪̘͓͚͐̓́͒́̉̑͋̽̾̌̇͂̾̂͐͛́̋̑͘͘̕̕͘͝͠͝͝ͅm̴̛̛̪̔͌̈̉̋͆͗͛̎͌͗́̅̀͒̏̊̐̀͒̌̈́̀̂͛͋͘̚̕̚̕͠͠ģ̷̨̧̦̬̱͓̤̗̗̪̝̗̲̘̦͈̠̪̱͈͇̺͎̦̰̺̲̺̱̬̪͙̝̘͙͕̞̭͕̭̀͑͗͛͌͒́̔̄̈́̇͌̆̾̾̏̽̌̿̌̕͜͜͝ͅ'̵̢̨̡̦̼̳̼͉̳͖̦̯͍͎̫̘͙̼͓͇̰͎̙̙̮̟͙̗͖̬̫̥̗̭̌̏̈́̂̿͊͊͐̓̈͛͗̄̉̅̅̚̚ ̸̡͈̞̳̲̠̩̻̻͙̻̥̼͍͇̞͛͛̓̓́̎͊͋͐̈́̔̚ǫ̶̧̮̙̺̣̝̙̐͑̀́͒͝w̶̡̱̮̣͈̄̂͆̾͆̿̚ȩ̸̧̢̡̤̗̦̞̼͈̼̫̥̙͖̞̗̺̗̼͔͈̘̮̭͓̦̥͎͓͕̤̥̟͚̃̑̿̎́͌͊̋̿̄͊̍̽̈́̃͘͘m̵̡̡̢̛͈̦̥͖͓̤͖̗̱̩̜͈͈̖̺̝̼̘͚̭̙͍̮̺̗͎̫͈͓̒͗͆͆̾͛͑̀͛̅͐̆̈́͋̓̍́̌͆̅̿͐̽͒͜͝ͅͅẹ̶̢̧̡̢͕̯̮̤̯̝̞͕̮̝͍̫̯͇̠̗̙̭̟̹̰̜̥̞̭̻̭̲̖͖̺͖̓͌͊̔̏̎̀̽͌͛̎̀̔̀͐̉̈́͋̈́̅̀͘͝͝͝͝ͅͅ ̷̡̛̼̳͔͛͐̑́̾͑̈́̿̌̽̾̌̉̃͆̊̊̎̓͆̈́͑̇̀̆̓̂̈́͒̀̅̊̔̔̔̂̀͘͘͝͝v̸̧̖̘̳̺̳̗̻̙̹͍̥̠̪̮͔͎̖͎͍̖̮̣̍̓̈́́̐͘͜͜͠ͅų̶̘͈̹̘̱͇̝̲̣̮̥̙̗͉̱̺̖͖̜̰͂̊̈́͗̋͛̂̂̌̾̎͗͒̇̃ͅl̴̨̢͔̠͇̥̘͖̟̫̩̬̝͊̈́̽̿̅͊̓̎̿̓̏̎̉̊̔͗͐̈́͊̋̐̀̄̀͐́͂̄̊̕̕͘̕͠͝͝͠ģ̷̨̦̹̰̬͖̭͕̼̝͚͎̲̯̯̪̹͈̜̣͈̮̟̹̦̫͚͕̲̻͎̽̅̉̐̔͆̅̒́̓́̉̀̏̑̓̓̑̎̈͛̅̔̾̌̐̿̈͋̊̚̕͘̚͝t̸̢̮̲̻̮̟͖͇̻̣̭͍̝̲͎̟̮͉͖͎͈̒͋͂̄̍̈́͋̉̀͑̀́͋͊̇̍͂̇̌̋̐͑͌̇̅̀͘̚͝m̷̛̛̖̯̫͔̰͚̳̙̺͓̜̼̯͌̐̇̐̑̀͒̇̿̏̿͊͛̂̈́̾̏̿̉̍̾͊̿̈̆̀͛̎̎̕͜͝ͅó̶͉̰̮͎̘̥̻̹̞̤̄̉̈́̐̍̐͌́͋͒̂̓͋̀͒̉͗̽̓̈́͒̽̍͋̈́̄̅͗̄͐͛̎̇̓̕̕ͅr̴̡̧̛̖̩̥̟̖͔̗͍͙̮͈̣̙̝̩̥̟͖̫͍̼̞̩̞̜̟̜̦̗̋̇͛̆͝ ̶̫̳̱̱̦͙̪̤̥͙̜̭̹̻̲̹̓̆̍̇͒̆̉͑̋ͅǫ̴̢̛̛̛̦̦̺̻̗͙̤͖̟̪̼̠̟̮̻͕̳͙̦̲͎̻̱̱̙̥̅̓̓̒͛̒̀̋̈̃͌͗͋̇͌̂̔̆̒̈͆̐̉̈́̕͜͜t̵̨̡͔͓̀̈́̅͐́̄̒͛̉̀̓͂͆̒̎͝͝͝ ̶̧̨̪͎̠̤̮̭̙͍͓̯̬̯͓̦̹̘̫̳̤̍̀̐͆̂̒͌͋̌̾́̉̂̎̇͛͆̇́̓̅̄̈̐̚͘̚̚͜͝͝͝e̶̡̼̥̞̞͉͉̭̥̩̟̲̗̭͖̫̹̲̬͍͔̻̣̭͖̼͂̈́͒̏͆͒̉͑̇̄͗̅̎̒͋͊̓̓̈́̌̃̿̿̀̉̄͘̕̕͘̕͝͝͝ͅͅh̷̡̨͎̣͙̗̺̼̭͔̼̥̙̗̄̿̎̾̎̽̔͗͋̄̇̀̈́̊̋͋͊͘̚̚͠͠͝y̸̢̨̡̢̡̻͖̥͙̲̮̳̝̭̗͓̗̦̻̱̲̳̙̬̖̮̞͍͎̭̪̗͉̹̩͚̣̖͓͉͙̠͓̓̈́̀̍̓͆̐̾͘ͅę̷̡̢̣̦͔̼̪̞̜̲̻̳̳̫͈̮͖͔̠̟͇̍̃̾͋́̃̓̄̔̑̑̑͊̀̀̒̐͗̔͜͜͝͠͠ͅ ̵̡͈͇̻̙̭̻̱̖͈͇̰̯̺̖̤̥͓̳͉͕̝̩̭̠̗̼̝̩̩͈͙̘͙̮̠͖̱̮̞̖̗̞͈̂̋̌̄͆͆̔̊́̉̒̉̀̌͗̀̎̐̀̃̎́͑̄̀̔̓̂̑̕͜͝͝ͅÿ̸̧̧̛̩̘̜̩̟̙͎̖̻̙̫̝̥͕̤͚̝̱̩͔̟̙̳̱̼̙̮̥̗̯̼̰̣̙̅̍̐̔̔̔̆̿̂̓̾̉̎̔̂̀̋̀́̐̒̉͛̽̌̎̐̏̆͊͘͘̚͜͠ͅe̶͔͗̍̀̿̑̅̏̿̊́̎̅͌̓̋̅̑̌̅͛̂̓̏̄̾͗͑̽̄͐̇̾̀̌̎̌̚͝͝͝ë̵̢̢̡͔̮̣͖̫͇͇͓̥̟̟͙̫͍͎͉͉̘͈̠̣̖̦̭͕̺́͜͜͝ͅo̶̡̹͎͙̖͚͍̭̯̟̳̫͈̠͉̫̣͓͈̠̯̯̘̗̗̠̯̦̲͗̌̆̿̀͌͂̐̈́̅͗͆͗̊͛̈͊̍̐́̑́͒̓́̀͑̂̍͂̃̓̍͌͐̓̿̆̕̚͘͜͠͝͝ͅg̸̢̨̨̧̤̘̩̝̜̳̩̯̣̱̜̫̯̱͉͉͎͇͙͈͙͙͇̪̣̭͈̞̺̫̜͉͚͓̥̤̹̣̹̀͂̈̔̾͌̓̊́̓͗͗̈́͊́̃̾͑͑̈́̆̅͘͜͜͠ơ̶̜͛͑̍͗͒͐̆̓̾̂̎͑̔̈́̿̽͠ģ̵̜͙̬͍̝̤̯̟̬̝͚̮̩̥̭̫̪͔͍͒̐͜ņ̶̛̜̲̹̝̞̗̹̙͉̖͖̘̩̙͑̌̏̈̏̊͌́͛̒͊̐͋͛̍͝ǵ̵̨̡̨̡̱̩͎̞̣͔̯̤̟̞̻͙͖͔͕͈͈͚͕̱̳͍͎̱͚̱̣̠̰̖̬͓̫̣͚̱̖͚̲̗̬̐͌͐͐̅̓̏̓̽͂͋̅̂̆̇̒̆̏̾͊̃́̾̅̈̔̚͠͝ ̴̧̧̧̛̛̛̛͔̞̬̺̠̝̠̼͍̫̬͓̖̇͛̄͒̿͛̄̄̄͂̎͂̂͐̇̇̃͒͐̃̄̀̇̍͑̑̓̿͌̈́̏̂̽̽̂͘͘͜͠͝͠ḉ̸̻̣̥̖̫̩̱̠̼̯͎̻͉̬͍̹͓̝͍̘̦̠̹̺̤͆̾͐̀͌̂̔̑̈́̿̍̀̉͑͗͒̏͝ą̵̡̧̠̝͈̞̺̟̥̬͈̬͖̙͇͈̠̲̱̗̱̟̻͍̩̩̰̞͚̠͕̭̘̫̣͈̰̲̬̻̺̭̍̌͌͆͜͜ņ̸̡̨̲͔̦̣̩̗̪͖̣̯̟̜͕̫̻̹͍̣̬̫̝̥͚͙̥͔͖͙̥̘͍̎͊̎͛̔͌̑͛͐̈́͒̈́͂̀̒͛̿͜͝ͅd̴̡̨̡̢͓̺̣̗͕̠̱̖̫̞̠̬͉̼̬̹̙̮͉̫̣̈́̄̎̃́̇̔̈͐̋̌̓̈́͂͆̆̚̕͝͝ͅy̶̧̢̧̛̪̣͈͚̣̗̝̗̣̖̗̮͍̝͉̹̪̬̭͔̲̬͈̼͚̭̹̥͔͙̜̠̝͎̯̬͇̾̆̈́̃̈́̍̿͗̅̈́̄͗̈́̓̓̈́̒̕͜ͅͅ ̶̛̛̛̼̞̭͖̉͗́̌̋̄̑̈́̈́̆͒̓̓̀̾̅̈̆̆͆̇̄͐͋̂̆̈́̔̐̾̂̀́̽̐̀̌͌̕͝͠͠͠ͅb̴̡̢̢̳̲̣̻͎̥̫̪̮̬̟͖̤̞̱͍̹̻̅̔̓͒̔̌́͌͐̂̓͌̅̚͜͠͝͝ͅt̵̢̢̢̼̭̩̫̺̰̻̼̬̟͎͙͎̞̲̜̮̞̗͉͓͇̺̺̱͇̟̞͌̈̽̄̑͜͝ḧ̴̢̛͉̣̩̺̦̟̙̳̥́̒́́̿͒̂͛̂̃̐̽̓̒͆͊̅͗̓͛̈́͊̓͊̓̇͐͘̕͝͝͝ṉ̷̢͕̩̩̱̗͎̮̰̟̩̭͓̣̽͜ͅk̶̢̨̧̢̧̢̨̘̞̳̣̠̩͇̙̤̻͎͖̜͕͓̝͈̱̠͓̣̤̼̥̖̼͇̄̉̑͒͐́̒̓̕ṋ̵̛̛͚̱̲̝̠͓̤͗̍̊̈́̉̎̊̈́͂̓̈́̊̎̈́̃́͊̃̆̊͋́͗͑̾͌͛́̈́̒̈̐͐͛̋̔̓̚͜͠͠a̴̧̢̲̭̦̘̙̜̳̟̠͍͔̮͕͙͙͓̥̺̜̗̼͍̽̈́̏̀̉̇͗͌̈́̓̔̃͗̔́̔̂͗̔̐̔̀͋̇̏̉͆͒͌͛͆̈́̈́͘͘͜͝͠͠͝ͅh̸̢̢̡̡̡̛̞̣̝̩̜̯̗̲̟̥͙͇̞͖̭̭̗̳͕̱͚̙͙̯̘̭͍͖̋̏̄̇̀̌͜͜͝ò̵̢͚͔͓͚͕̤͛͐̿̈́̊̆͋͌͊͗̈́̓͌͗͐͋̉͗͑̓́̑̇͛́̇͌̓͛̅́̐̚͝͝͠ȑ̸̙͇͙̬͇̫͇̜̬̤̉̀̎̀̉̀͆͑̓̋͒̊̽̐́͐̅̒͘͘͘ȑ̴̯̾͌̐̄̍́͛̈̎́̉̽̚ ̴̡̛̛̛̛̳̬̹̱͉̺͓̠̫̫͕̮̹̠̺̰̳̰̼̰̈́͐͐̓͋̀̇̓̔̈͛͒̊̏̉̚͝ͅḛ̴̮̠̀͆̆̒̑̂̑͊̍́̊̑̏̂̈̔̊̀̀̄́̎͆̌̌̈́̇͑̈́͑̉͂̚͠͝͝͝͠p̸̧̢̡̢̛̹̺̱̟̤̪̤͕̘̭̙̖͙̠̫̳͇̫̼͚̞̳͖͖͕̗̈́͑̅̅̆́̽̐̋̈́̈́̊͐̍̓̏͐̍̋̏͋̀́́̈̋̉͐̍̕̚̕̚͘͜͜͝ ̴̢̨̧̨̯̳̟̺͎͖̙̯͇̩̼͔̣̙̗̭̯̮͍̤̟͈̗͍͚̳͔̝͈̺̲͇̘̼͓̥͐̇̾̀̒͌̒̓́́͊́͌̉̈́̅͐̈̑̍̒̎̐̎̑̓̉̀͐̚͘͜͜͝͝ͅͅͅf̵̢̡̛̛̼̞̬̤̫͉̬͙͖͋̓͒̍͆̔̈́̾͆̌̀̎͑̅̿̍̿̍̑͆́̄͘͝à̷̢̨̛̯̥̟̗͉̺̰̪̝̰͖̤͍͉̣̪̣̦̳͍͚̯̒̑̎̕͝ͅh̴̨̢̢̛̛͍̰̟̼̼̯̪̮̯̝͕̖͇̦͓̠͔͕̟͓͖̥̺̳̜̻̱́͆͒̑͋̎̆͛̎͗̊̌͌̓̔͂̑̈́͒̎͊̿̋̔͒͌͐̄̈́̋̀͒̕̕͠f̴̡̢͕͙̯̪̳͕͉̰͚͈̝̥͇̥̳̱̫̞̯͚͚̜̹̩̯̼͇̹̲̥̲̗͕̩̖̙̃̊̈͒̎̆͜͜ͅͅ"






Maru laughed then nodded his head. "Sure. I got plenty of those tucked away underneath my bed if no one stole them already." he assured his trusted youkai before Kotone was heading down to the basement with Jeez where the holy sword– Then Maru's eyes shot open, then he rushed in to hurry downstairs to snatch his Jeez from Kotone's arms who seemed more confused that he literally ripped the small youkai from the child's arms! "That sword was glowing holy chakra down there! It's broken but it's probably unstable! It'll make poor little jeez here sick." he placed Jeez on his head, then moved back in case there were any holy traps… then stepping to the side in case Jabiru wanted to come down yelling at him since he forgot to mention the whole holy sword thing. "Yeah I found that thing. Why don't one of you get some binding agent and just fix the damn sword so you guys can protect yourself?" the fox questioned as his clone peeked around the corner wondering if things were good.

Ooc:
[Jeez translation: 'You owe me a sacrifice of 100 candy hands after this."]