Old Hands at Work

[Takahashi Aki]

It had been a good few hours since Judori had sent Mako, his 'adoring' mother-in-law to find Yume. Shuu was nowhere to be in sight. The former Steward worked his magic with his chakra strings as he continued to maintain order in the hospital. Yes. He was under surveillance by the Cabal. People though had to live. The good people of Sungakure were at the mercy of thugs on the streets. The mental ward had been compromised. While judori would have very much like to have taken more action in the 'festitivties' outside he was forced to do what he could in a neutral position. Several of his puppets were tending to the wounded. He had used his spider puppets to stitch up those who had taken up arms and had gotten injured in their street level battles. For those who needed more immediate and serious attention Judori had summoned up the twins of Sol and Lun to attend to them.

It would seem like the small man was in a bit of a fluster of sorts due to his constant waving of his arms and finger movements. In truth though Judori was calm. He managed to break a sweat considering the injuries sustained by the poor sap being attended to by Lun. Once the individual had been successful sustained, what medical staff was present moved the individual into another room.

Judori kept his emotions in check, he had to. No big grins, or sad faces. It was here one could see that Judori upon a time was as emotionless as Sousuke, save for the complications. Judori wasn't worried about his son. Sousuke could take care of himself. He had to keep this in his mind at all times, or else be driven to sheer madness. What did worry Judori was his son's friends. Harupia. Uri. Roku. The latter of all somehow escaped this madness. Thus was why he sent Mako out after him too. Yes. She had two missions at hand. Find Yume, and try to have her return to give Judori some aid. The second was to find Roku, and make sure his insides still remained ... inside.

 

[Tenrousei]

It had been a couple of days since she had been granted permission to claim the space as her own. She was still in awe at the stocked pantry, the clean wooden floors, the running water, but most of all... She was in awe at the fact that someone had given her the opportunity to be of some use. Her entire life had been a mistake, she had been told repeatedly and it wasn't that that had really bothered her, all things considered. But now that someone had given her some sense of responsibility, it was like her eyes had been opened and the possibilities that lay before her were enthralling. She unlaced her fingers from the mass of red hair that pooled over the floor around her person. She sat up, using her legs as a counterbalance and came close to knocking her forehead against the wooden table that stood in the center of the room. She let out a quiet 'whoa' from a dizzying head rush. She grinned after she gained her barrings and looked around the room in wonder. The basic, plain white walls were so bright it was almost blinding.

As she rose to her feet, pushing herself up with her hands pressed against the floor, a large black and tan canine lifted his head and looked at her with a sleep gaze, almost to ask why in the world would one give up the chance to continue to sleep comfortably. Tenrousei rolled her crimson eyes at him before dusting off her clean clothes, grinning all the more at the soft feel of the fabrics against her skin. She, then, looked at the chest she had taken out of the closet by her provider's command. She'd left it sitting there all the while, taking everything out, only to put it back in... And then pull it back out again, almost as if she wanted to make sure she hadn't missed anything. On the top of the pile that lay on the floor around it rested the ivory mask of purple and orange hues. She eyed the thing with a quizzical expression before reaching out and picking it up. The entire idea of hiding her identity seemed so ridiculous to her, but she saw the logic in it. She quietly placed the mask against her copper face and tilted her head, staring out from behind the sandalwood scented wood at her canine companion. She grinned behind the purple lips before tying the thread behind her head, so that the mask would remain against her face. Gathering up the silken purple fabric, she slipped it over her shoulders and drew up the hood. Then, she turned to look at the package that sat upon the table and her smile faded.

She had been given something to do and she had put it off for a couple days, but today was the day that she should do what she had been asked. Perhaps it was the feeling of anonymity that the mask provided, but she felt a sense of mischievous delight take over her and she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Xei immediately rose to all fours and padded over to Tenrousei. He looked up at her expectantly, and she giggled. "Yes, Xei. We're going to do what 'Mura asked us to do. He wants us to be sneaky, and secretive! Right! And since it's night, we'll do better at behind sneaky! You just need to make sure no one knows you're you... So, how do we fix that ...?"

She lifted a finger to the lilac lips of the mask and shifted her weight to one foot. What could possibly be done to disguise the dog? She frowned, her brow furrowing. Well, shoot. She thought to herself. I can't just throw a sheet over him and call that good. I mean, he may scare a couple of cats but I don't think a sheet would be a good disguise and it wouldn't fool anyone. Especially if they just stepped in the corner... Then suddenly, a thought came to her. She remembered seeing a shinobi once place his hands together in a specific manner before transforming himself, but she couldn't recall how he had done it. She lowered her hand from her lips and lifted the other up. She placed them together and started focusing, staring at Xei. Nothing happened. She grunted, a bit frustrated, but determined to succeed. She closed her eyes and laced her fingers. She then raised both her index and middle fingers straight up. She bit her lip and scrunched her face in concentration and then there was a sudden audible pop that startled her and she jumped. Xei erupted in a surprised bark. Tenrousei looked at him and then threw back her head and laughed.

Where Xei the dog had once sat, now sat a clone of Tenrousei, clad in the same identical disguise. Bemused at her success, Tenrousei lifted out her hand and helped Xei to his feet. It was very strange seeing herself with her own eyes, without it actually being her. The second her still smelled like Xei, but it had visually worked. Success caused adrenaline to pump in her veins and she clenched her fist and locked her arm at the elbow, forming a ninety degree angle and hooking her arm with Xei's transformed one. The pair grinned at each other. Tenrousei unhooked her arm from Xei's, gathered the package, and without a moment to lose-- the pair quickly left their home.

They kept to the shadowed alleys and made their way into the heart of Sunagakure. Although she wasn't particularly certain of who to give the package too, she did recall that 'Mura had wanted her to give it to an ANBU. But, while he had told her about them, she still felt uncertain about who was an ANBU and who wasn't. She mentally shrugged, and kept her eyes open.

'If I were an ANBU... Where would I hide?' she asked herself, but growled in frustration. She knew so little about them, so she concluded that she had no idea. But, what she did consider was the fact that a populated area would probably be a good place to start. Not ideal, or very clever, but it wasn't as if she could just ask someone for an ANBU. Right? Probably. After some time, Tenrousei and Xei found themselves within the vicinity of Sunagakure's hospital. To be more precise, she found herself at the base of the monument of the One King. She stared up at it, impressed by it. Xei, however, didn't seem to care as he kept his eyes bounding from one passing body to the next. A hospital had lots of traffic and the monument had height, of which she was going to take advantage of. Reaching up, she placed her hand on the statue of the King and hoisted herself up. She climbed her way up the monument, reaching the top without too much trouble. She perched herself atop of the King's shoulders and looked out over the passing persons. Xei, whom remained at the base, glanced up at her. They nodded to each other, and then Xei turned his gaze away to keep look from the ground. She would search high, and he would search low. They were on the look out for any Shinobi in the area, coming or going, that looked to be of any sort of importance. Hopefully, they'd find a decent one and quickly. The package was annoying to keep a hold of, hidden within the confines of the purple cloak around Tenrousei's person.


OOC; DEFILE DA' KINNGGG!

WC: 1276

 

[Sunaku Harupia]

The Medical Facility...he could still see the ruins of the old tower, crumbling before his eyes. And yet there it was, the new Omni Prime, bustling with activity...Which also wasn’t that good of s sight, but given the circumstance it was good to see it in one piece. Perhaps whoever was running this whole Cabal revolution did actually want someone to survive...weather to watch their village explode or for some more noble purpose, at least people were being tended to...though the sheer amount was troubling. As he wandered through the quite busy halls he tried to look around for someone he knew. In particular he was trying to find Yume, whom he hadn’t seen since the whole debacle started. It seemed the hospital would be a natural place to find the Medi nin. And perhaps try and get a tab on Uri, whom he did not see or hear from since their first meeting, the trinket he gave him not having anything to offer but a brief silence.

As he moved he did of course pass next to the statue of the King, a fine ornament if he could say so himself. Though he didn’t quite look up towards the top of it, focusing rather on the people on its base who were there to help construct the new facility. Many faces he knew one way or another, some who were working tirelessly right now and some which he didn’t see for quite a long time. He was looking forward to the moment they could start thinking about remembering this event as just another bump in the villages history. And he made a mental note to actually try help out this time. He still felt terribly embarrassed about how he acted after the Djinn attacked the village.

His inner musing was interrupted as he watched some of the patients, one of them being tended to but what looked like an enormous Spider. After the first pang of surprise passed he did realize it was simply a puppet. With a bit of curiosity he moved into the facility, trying to trace the puppeteer supplying aid to the people in such an unusual way. After a bit of searching, he saw the familiar visage of Sosukes father, Judori, focused on the task. Well, that was the first time he saw puppets used in such a manner. Quite impressive. And he was also glad to see his friend’s father safe. He was sure his own father would be glad to hear his old friend was doing fine. With him being focused on making sure the districts close to the Sunaku compound were safe, he had little time to spare to find out by himself.

Approaching the former Steward he would say "Judori-san. It a huge relief to see you safe and sound" giving him a greeting bow before continuing "Not only that, I see your quite busy. Quite honestly, the way you use you puppets is something I’m witnessing for the first time. Truly impressive. Is the rest of your family safe as well?" he asked finally, his tone growing a bit more somber. After all, something bad could have happened to Sousuke or anyone really. But still, the more he knew, the better he could be prepared for whatever else fate would throw in their face.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The former Steward allowed his second nature to take grasp. His fingers did the work as he allowed his experience at puppetry to merely enact itself. The mind was strong. It had to be strong, in contrast to the small body that belonged to Judori. He couldn't allow himself to be tired. No. People counted on him. Lives were at stake. The former Steward for a moment heard the voice of an old friend. "Come if convenient. Come all the same if inconvenient. My dear, dear, Shiego. Some people aren't quite capable of following a simple request of a man who is not at his best--" He paused. No. That was not Shiego. The voice was too young to be one of his oldest friends, or the best man at his wedding. Judori still had his back turned to Harupia. "Heh. I am growing old. The days seem to merge together don't they young Harupia? You are your father's son. You have his bearings, his voice, and ... his concern for others... something not found in most people." The small man turned expecting for wild outlandish reasons to see his son present with Harupia, but no. He was not.

The former Steward was hopeful of his son. He was still of the mind, Sousuke would return. Perhaps he would return in a coffin. Perhaps he would return in the form of ashes. What Judori wanted most was that his son returned to him whole. Was that too much to ask of Mother Suna? Or Primus for that matter? There was a pause when Harupia asked about the safety of his own family. "My mother-in-law is playing war. My wife is to be returning shortly." He left the part about Sousuke out for the moment. "My son is an unknown." He lied. Slightly. "Either crushed and not discovered. Burned to ashes. Prisoner of these foul miscreants. Or ... perhaps he has hidden himself in the shadows and has taken to striking fear into the hearts of criminal men and women. I know not which. I wish I knew." He spoke alluding to the mysterious one known as 'The Kasha' who was out on the streets doing just that. The small man turned slightly and nodded his head at Harupia at the mention of his puppetry. "Your father and I were quite the combo in our day. I led with my army of puppets in the frontline, and he kept his distance from our foe and used his sands to best them. We were nicknamed by some as Sunashi Inc. I think often times he and I were at odds with Mako and her Hell's Halberd division. You know, little rivalries here and there. Your father did most of the small talk, he had a gift with his silver tongue. He was a ladies man, a gentleman, and a most excellent companion to solve crimes with. I suspect that ... you and Sousuke have done the same to an extent. I'll be forever grateful of the dinner party you hosted with him." Judori spoke reflecting of past occurrences.

As Judori and Harupia discussed the past, and bits of the present. Ten for the most part was undetected by Judori's naked eye. Oddly though as she had crawled up the statue of Primus, something strange would occur. One of Judori's spider puppets, a smaller one, which was the runt of the litter kept an eye on her. The small puppet blinked twice before scurrying about on the roof. Blink. Blink. Luckily the visual feedback was being delayed to Judori, or perhaps it was malfunctioning. The little creature scurried about and lowered itself slightly hovering above Ten by a good few feet. The little spider puppet lowered itself even further, and ultimately landed itself beside Ten. The puppet blinked at her several more times, and honestly it looked to be quite innocent instead of a death device. It made a humming noise of sorts as it attempted one thing puppets usually didn't do ... socialization!

 

[Tenrousei]

Tenrousei stifled a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand. Playing the scout was boring, and as a result-- tiring. She frowned behind her mask and took a quick glance down at Xei as a man stopped near him and seemed to take an interest in her perch. A quizzical brow rose and she nodded her head as Xei looked up at her, and although she could not see his eyes, she felt them glimmer behind the mask. He returned her nod and they both looked back at the man. There was something about him. Perhaps it was his expensive looking attire, or maybe it was the way he gazed at those around him and at the statue of the King. What ever it was, Tenrousei couldn't help but feel that this man had potential to be someone important. Call it intuition, if you will. She shifted upon her perch, ready to slip down. It didn't take him long, but he did turn and head towards one of the medical buildings near by.

She was about to slip down, but something moved just on the edge of her frame of vision and she paused and turned her gaze to look. What she had not expected it to be was a tiny, mechanical spider. When it lowered itself to settle upon the King next to her, Tenrousei swiftly moved so that she could fully look at it, face to tiny face. She narrowed her eyes behind her mask as the tiny spider blinked up at her, and started humming. 'What in the world,' Tenrousei thought to herself as she squinted her eyes, bringing her face closer towards the small puppet. Curiosity sunk its teeth into her hide. She tilted her head, reached out with a hand and presented it to the small spider, palm up.

"Hello there," she said, softly. She withdrew her hand a moment, but quickly swept up the spider and straightened her back to stand up to her full height. She held the spider in front of her face, palm flat up with the spider perched in the center. Once more, she tilted her head and a lock of red hair spilled over the side of her mask. She sniffed, after bringing her face closer to the little spider. The scent of metal filled her nose and there was another scent very sharp over it. There was something odd about it, and it caused her to wrinkle her nose in disdain. The scent was fresh and clean, but there was something that smelled old. The scent of an elder was what she was smelling, she realized. She may have been without family, but she had been raised by an elderly woman, abusive or not, and knew the flavor that tainted their scent. And yet, there was something else familiar about the scent. She'd smelled something similar before, and perhaps recently, too. It was on the tip of her tongue, and she couldn't quite come to a conclusion as to what it was.

Releasing an inward sigh, the feral girl redirected her focus from the scent of the small creature to the creature itself. It was clearly not a living thing, and the metal parts pointed towards it being artificial, but it seemed to have a life of it's own. That confused her, and made her want to know more about the little spider. It's humming made the girl giggle and she grinned behind her mask.

"Well," she began, "Aren't you a cutey. Where did you come from?"

All the while, down below Xei was not going to let their target get away without being followed. The canine-turned-Tenrousei followed after Harupia as quietly has he could, keeping his distance and using his heightened hearing and sense of smell to follow the man.

WC: 635

 

[Sunaku Harupia]

At first Harupia was a bit surprised hearing Judori greet him, but it became more clear later on. The reasoning made him chortle slightly, though he tried to suppress it a bit, not wanting to seem impolite. It was rather rare that he heard himself be compared to his father, and mostly it was from the elder members of his clan or his mother. He himself could not imagine himself be anything close to his father…but then again, from what he managed to gather his father was a rather different person when he was younger…Perhaps one day, once this whole madness was over he would convince him to talk about his past more. Though he could agree they both cared for others…perhaps sometimes to a fault.

Regardless Judori paused he would say “They do indeed, especially now… That damn Cabal is doing a pretty poor job in maintain a proper lighting” he said in a joking fashion. The mod became much more somber as Judori spoke about his son. So he knew just as much about Sousuke as he did…After a brief silence he interjected “I’m sure he will come back to us soon. And then we’ll be a step closer to fixing this whole mess” smiling hopefully at the elder Takahashi. He did not want to think about the possibility of Sousuke not being alive… even if it were the truth, he would worry about it once he knew for sure. He had to stay focused…

Still, at the very least this was proving as a nice distraction. Judori reminiscing about the past, him and his father fighting together and learning about how he was in his youth. After he mentioned the dinner party, Haru bowed his head gently while saying “Thank you Judori-San. Yes, the dinner part was…something special for sure. I’m willing to say me and Sousuke make quite the team as well. It’s funny how fate works sometimes. My father doesn’t quite like to talk about his past, but from what my mother and now you say he was quite familiar to me… and then he had to go through his own small hell. And now here I am, facing the fiery abyss as well…I simply hope I will not change as much as my father…” he mused, losing focus for a second. His mind flashing back to the past…the times long gone with his stern father and the training he put him through…the fresh memories of the bodies burning in the pit…

He shakes his head a bit… he really didn’t enjoy himself spacing out into bad memories. Also, something else seemed a bit of…though he couldn’t be quite sure what. Regardless he spoke to Judori saying “I hope I’m not bothering you too much with my intrusion. As much as I enjoy hearing about my father’s former antics, I wouldn’t wish to hinder you aid here. I simply wanted to see just how the rest of the village is holding up. And perhaps I would have some more…positive news to share…though I guess you shouldn’t throw words like that to lightly…” he mentioned, shifting his eyes from left to right. He tried to be careful, after all, you never know where the Cabal could be listening…though he guessed if Judori spoke about his wife and mother in law he was relatively sure it was safe. Haru then carried on “I didn’t see Yume or any other medic I’d known around…I’m guessing their busy tending to the more critical patients?”

Mft, Wc= 585

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The little spider puppet continued to blink at Ten as she picked it up. When inquired where it came from the spider with one of its legs pointed to one of the larger spider puppets who was attending to an individual who was screaming. The larger spider puppet made a gesture for the screaming individual's mouth to be shut and what next happened was rather peculiar. One of the other attendant puppets placed a stick in the mouth of the screaming person, who then bit down and was saved quite a bit of agony considering the alternative was to bite his tongue off. The larger spider puppet opened its mouth and fired out a liquid stream which quickly covered up the reason why the person was screaming being that he had received a very nasty cut that went through the leg. The larger spider puppet was trying to clot the injury as best it could. Once the injury was subjected to the web spray the spider very neatly applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

The small puppet spider seemed to look admiringly at its mother puppet or base of operations. It was an odd site that such a device was keeping people alive instead of snuffing out the spark of life. The larger spider puppet seemed to turn its view upwards. It made a call of sorts out, one to which the smaller puppet did not heed. The smaller puppet instead turned its many eyes back unto Ten and emitted another humming noise. It made another pointing gesture back to the mother entity spider. It seemed to suggest that it wanted Ten to say hi to the giant spider. Unfortunately the larger spider puppet was called off to handle another individual. The little puppet in turn made a sort of 'aaaww' humming noise. Even for being just a simple mechanical spider puppet it seemed to be full of life. The spider once more turned its attention back to Ten and blinked several times. It seemed to be very content sitting there in her palm.

Judori took what good humored nature from Harupia he could. His mood did seem to shift from hood humor to a sort of grimness when Yume was mentioned. "No. She hasn't arrived here yet to give me a hand yet." He began. "Neither is my niece Shiori, or Shuu isn't here either... thus making things quite difficult for me. My training in medicine isn't ... excellent as theirs. I need someone with an inner, deeper, and truer knowledge. I don't mind taking orders, but I despise giving orders in a field that I'm not exceptional in. I've been able to patch people up, and give them some form of relief." He paused for a moment, as he worked his fingers about. The man who was screaming earlier was put on a stretcher and carried out. "People change Haru, whether they like it or not. Sometimes I think it destiny at work... sometimes it is something of our choosing. Sometimes both..." The doors of the medical facility flew open as Chiyoko walked in.

The wife of the Steward looked a little worse for wear. She had gotten into a few fights, and her hardened leathers were cut in a few areas. She was injured but nothing she couldn't walk off. She carried with her a scroll. She handed it to Judori, and the former Steward was given pause. "How ... did you?" She gave him a hard look. "Yes. Yes." He figured out that she was not in a talking mood. With that Chiyoko left the two of them and went to work attending to others. Judori pocketed the scroll and nodded his head. "Come lad. Let's discuss some items of business." He motioned for Harupia to follow him. He realized that they were being followed by a little girl. It wasn't the concept of the child, but the fact that the child seemed to be following Haru. A few of the puppets sprung once more to life and began to walk with the two. "Shields up." The puppets then emitted a chakra bubble surrounding the two. A sort of barrier of sorts. "Good news travels slowly, but it does arrive. What can you tell me--" Judori paused for a moment. He was receiving visual imaging from one of his spiders. One of the larger ones. "Strange." What he was seeing was the same little girl following them, but seated on the monument. "Too strange..." Judori had to put his conversation with Haru on pause. The chakra bubble receded as Judori came forward to Xei. "..." Judori's eyes narrowed. That red hair... Not many people in Suna had red hair... "I have eyes in the back of my head, and around in general. Young lady. I would suggest you tell your twin to come off of the monument before she gets hurt."