The shadows coalesced in the hallway outside of Sousuke's office and Mikaboshi stepped through them-- still wearing his tattered armor and bleeding from several rounds. Hotaru had been an impressive opponent, much more so than he ever could have predicted before their battle. If not for his unleashing of his true nature, he would have almost certainly been destroyed. Naturally at this point Sousuke would have been alerted by the Black Blade that Mikaboshi had taken off the mask which limited his powers and released the first set of gating parameters which contained his presence within the body that Sousuke had given him. They were safe-guards to keep Mikaboshi's vampiric nature from drawing in the energy of others around him unconsciously and hurting those around him. Naive as he was, Sousuke still had not been willing to simply set the sword-wraith free among his people without any sort of restrictions and thus the body had built in levels of containment. The mask was the primary method of containment and shelled up most his dark presence. All that remained of it tangibly was the eerie chill that permeated the air near his body whenever he passed another living thing. Past that the restrictions were built into the body itself and though Mikaboshi did not pretend to understand what Sousuke had done to manufacture the mechanisms which controlled them, he certainly had spent time learning how to activate them which had given him a small level of autonomy where his power level was concerned. Still, the Steward-Kazekage would want to know why Mikaboshi had released his powers and that gave him the perfect opportunity to give Sousuke the news about Hotaru.
The beautiful thing about it was that it wasn't truly a lie. Hotaru had assaulted him and he had defended himself. Naturally, he had intended to kill Hotaru for her transgression but that did not need to be said outloud. All Sousuke needed to know was that the ANBU Sennin, whom would be missing for some time due to her spiritual injuries suffered while Mikaboshi had been ripping out her soul, had betrayed the state of Sunagakure by attempting to assassinate a member of the shinobi corps. Even the ANBU whose responsibility it was to police the activity of Sand-nin could not simply choose to eradicate others on a whim and without evidence-- and naturally there would be no evidence. Hotaru was a careful woman and would not have shared what she thought she knew about Mikaboshi with anyone she didn't have to. It was very unlikely that the shinobi assigned to observe him even knew the first thing about their assignment other than they were to follow and observe the Hand of the Steward. She certainly would not have kept any physical records which might be stolen or compromised. She would have kept all she knew within her head where it was safe. And that currently would prove to be her downfall in the long run. Feeling Sousuke's presence within his office, Mikaboshi turned slowly and leaned against the door as he pushed it open. Normally he would have simply appeared within the room but he wanted to make an entrance for Sousuke so that the Steward-Kazekage would immediately take notice of the fact his assistant was so gravely injured. Coming through the door, Mikaboshi felt his vision swim once more from the paralyzing poison and dropped to a knee while holding his head to get the dizzying haze to stop.
"Lord Takahashi," He announced with some difficulty. It always strained his physical body to speak after unleashing his spiritual presence and intensified the metallic rasp that he spoke with. "I come... with urgent news."
The beautiful thing about it was that it wasn't truly a lie. Hotaru had assaulted him and he had defended himself. Naturally, he had intended to kill Hotaru for her transgression but that did not need to be said outloud. All Sousuke needed to know was that the ANBU Sennin, whom would be missing for some time due to her spiritual injuries suffered while Mikaboshi had been ripping out her soul, had betrayed the state of Sunagakure by attempting to assassinate a member of the shinobi corps. Even the ANBU whose responsibility it was to police the activity of Sand-nin could not simply choose to eradicate others on a whim and without evidence-- and naturally there would be no evidence. Hotaru was a careful woman and would not have shared what she thought she knew about Mikaboshi with anyone she didn't have to. It was very unlikely that the shinobi assigned to observe him even knew the first thing about their assignment other than they were to follow and observe the Hand of the Steward. She certainly would not have kept any physical records which might be stolen or compromised. She would have kept all she knew within her head where it was safe. And that currently would prove to be her downfall in the long run. Feeling Sousuke's presence within his office, Mikaboshi turned slowly and leaned against the door as he pushed it open. Normally he would have simply appeared within the room but he wanted to make an entrance for Sousuke so that the Steward-Kazekage would immediately take notice of the fact his assistant was so gravely injured. Coming through the door, Mikaboshi felt his vision swim once more from the paralyzing poison and dropped to a knee while holding his head to get the dizzying haze to stop.
"Lord Takahashi," He announced with some difficulty. It always strained his physical body to speak after unleashing his spiritual presence and intensified the metallic rasp that he spoke with. "I come... with urgent news."