The Aftermath [Free RP]

[Kogami Ayumu]

[OoC: Open to the participants of the battle with Shichi and... that other thread with the FTBs... eesh.]

The battle had but brief but intense, as shinobi battles always were. It had only just begun when it was cut short by a massive explosion taking off the roof of the nearby estate in which Kouin was believed to be. The cause was of a decidedly electrical nature, so Ayumu could only assume that Kouin had decided to kick someone's ass. However, in the confusion after the explosion, the opponent seemed to have made her exit unexpectedly. Shichi and her clones were vanished without a trace, leaving only the Kumogakure shinobi remaining.

Ayumu looked up awkwardly at the massive toad he had summoned for approximately 10 seconds of combat and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Haha... uh, I'm sorry but it looks like there's not going to be a fight right now after all. My bad," Ayumu apologized uncomfortably as one did to a toad 100 times your size. Not wanting to prolong that encounter any longer than he had to, he formed a seal and quickly cancelled the summoning, the toad disappearing in a large plume of smoke that cleared quickly.

Taking a breath of relief, Ayumu surveyed the area. They had caused a bit of destruction as shinobi were wont to do. Now that Ayumu had a moment to catch his breath, he could think over what had just happened. The Raikage had been attacked. Clearly Kouin was having his own drama inside the building along with whoever had come to "assist" him. These attacks following their invitation to this city by the Wind Daimyo. Ayumu could not help but recall the warning he had received from one of Miroku Akkuma's agents in Kumogakure shortly before their visit here. How could this not be related? The man warned Ayumu of the Daimyo's intentions, and whilst they were here on the Daimyo's invitation their leadership was under attack.

"Dammit... what is going on here? Have we been caught up in some kind of civil war?" Ayumu wondered himself, clenching his fists. Now he wished he could find Akkuma and ask him more about the warning he had issued. For now, the Kumogakure shinobi needed to gather their forces and decided on a plan of action. If these attacks were occurring here, what was happening in the exams they had been brought here for? For now, the injured Raikage appeared to have been whisked away by his Raikage guard, probably for healing. He appeared to be safe for the time being, so the rest of them could focus on the situation at hand. That said, who was still here? Zo? And who had gone inside for Kouin? Ayumu glanced around looking for what allies remained with him in the streets of the Bazaar amidst the destruction.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Screw this sorry excuse for a vacation. It was going great until stupid Kitsune and stupid Osuteno dragged me into a literal clusterfuck. Screw going back to the yacht and getting my things. It sounds implausible to the average NEET but when your airplane is on fire the actual last thing on your mind is retrieving your PS Vita from overhead storage. Screw even changing my clothes. It’s pretty obvious that Kitsune chose this tailored-just-for-me cosplay outfit with a lot of lewd forethought, but as a result it’s actually super comfortable to move around in.

No, the one thing I want is to get the hell out of this burning, festering city. Soon’s Haven in Current Year may as well be Saigon in 1975, complete with iconic shots of desperate expatriates trampling each other for the chance to reach the last helicopter out, and Chuck Norris getting shot in the back for helping a lady out.

With Osuteno in tow, I’ve been scrambling down the chaotic streets with no particular plan and no knowledge of the local geography. All I can think of right now is putting as much distance between us and the Kouin Show as possible. With any luck, we’ll make it to port and find a tea clipper we can hitch a ride on back to home. I don’t even care if the entire boat’s full of burly, hairy sailors who haven’t had shore leave in months. Osu can entertain them!

By that, of course, I mean he’ll put on a rowdy show-tunes competition, a fashion walk-off, flower-arranging tournament, and other extremely high-testosterone things that manly men love to do with their peers. The prissy students at Lightning National University call it “toxic masculinity” and retreat crying to their “safe spaces” at the mere thought of a man strutting around in his most fabulous kimono, but normies like me shrug and say “boys will be boys.”

Just before we round a corner, I think to myself that this day can’t possibly get worse. Of course, it promptly does when I see none other than Kogami Ayumu. He’s even got his best shit-eating grin plastered over his face. For me, the world goes red.

“Yumers! I can’t believe this! I was promised vacation! I didn’t come here to see the world’s edgiest donkey show! Ugh, I hate you! You’re just as bad as the Prime Minister of Canada!” I walk up to him and stamp my foot. “Explain yourself before I screen you for prostate cancer! It’s never too early to start and it just might save your life!”

 

[Osuteno]

With Saeko dragging them around, it was safe for Uso and Osu to retreat into the mental library and throw their feet on autopilot. Osu had finished rebooting not long after their departure, but was looking just as green as Uso.

There was silent glaring for a few minutes, which was usual for when they sat down face to face. Though this time the glares were significantly subdued by their mutual urge to be sick. Not even hitting puberty yet, though one of them technically wouldn't, they had seen something freakier than all the other sex things up to this point in their life and probably one that would... should... hopefully remain at the top of that list... forever. Yes the two preteens felt nothing but disgust at any of the things that were going on in that room which was made all the worse by knowing exactly how the bloodflows were reacting.

Finally Uso said, "If we drink into dangerous levels we might be able to damage our memories of this day."

Osu shook his head, "That doesn't have a good chance of working the way we want it to so let's hold that idea in reserve. Besides we have no idea how well we would handle alcohol."

"That is pretty much true of anything we can attempt to damage the experience."

They fell once more into an uncomfortable silence. Normally this far into the conversation someone would have attempted physical harm upon the other but neither was really feeling up to argueing. Lately they had become increasingly aware of the number of people they know that participate in very... freaky things and the things they were becoming aware of were growing... freakier. That combined with years of sexual harassment, seeing lockers with photos of Osu in them, rumors of nude statuettes and the occasional offer to purchase the young shinobi for rather clear purposes was nearing their limit.

As time went on it was becoming harder and harder to ignore all of these factors and the fact it meant a very unusual, and unnerving, number of people viewed them potentially as some sort of object of pleasure. The thought appeared to hit both children at roughly the same time, not terribly surprising since they shared a brain technically, and they both shivered and paled a bit more.

"How many of the adults around us aren't sex freaks?"

"Well our clan and staff I think..." They failed to note that the maids on staff abused their positions to dress them up and take pictures and host auctions and contests with Osu's possessions, or that their clan head was actually one of the most notable 'sex freaks' in the country.

"Kitsune-Sensei..." they didn't think she had any interest in that sex stuff anyway.

"Kahako-Senpai..." Sure she had a child out of wedlock but that wasn't that unusual.

"Saeko... What is it?..." Uso was staring him with disbelief.

"... Really? You are going to put Saeko on the list of non sex freaks?"

"Well sure she let a guy she knew for a few hours... not use contraception, kissed that guy with the same name as her dad without really seeming to know him either, walked around naked a lot..."

"Had you dig semen out of her..."

"We needed the DNA! ... Anyway sure that too and..."

"Has had a standing offer to take your virginity since we were nine."

"... Well... Yes... But... Well she doesn't seem like she is going to force us into anything?" Yes Saeko did some... unusual things but that didn't make her dangerous...

They were vaguely aware that the deviant in question was currently yelling at... the Main Branch Sennin? Saeko wasn't a doctor, why was she offering to give Ayumu a prostate exam? Did they miss something?

"See?! Despite that crazy freak show we just witnessed she is trying to offer to do weird sex stuff to her boss!"

"I'm... I'm sure she is just worried about his health like she said. We just must have missed something while we were talking."

Now paying more attention to the outside world, Osu was busy convincing himself that the woman with a grip on him wasn't some sort of sex fiend.

MFT WC 706

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

It seemed that the rest of the combatants from the battle had left the scene after the enemy disappeared. That was fine, he was mostly concerned with making sure Saito was safe in this particular situation. Now that he was, Ayumu needed to work on figuring out what was going on. Before they came here, a representative of the Miroku clan had warned Ayumu that the Wind Daimyo might try something. It seemed likely that the warning was now proving to be valid. If it was true, the shinobi present for the exam, both Kumo and otherwise, were in danger. Ayumu needed to group up with whoever was around and make a decision on how to react on this attack. The sound of hasty footsteps caught his attention and he turned his head to see who was coming. He was broken from his train of thought by the sound of Saeko's shrill cry of his name, or rather her nickname for him.

She was yelling something about a vacation. It took him a moment to realize what had happened. He'd forgotten what he did. He had told her that she was being granted a vacation. An attempt to get on her good side. In reality, pretty much any shinobi that had felt like it was being granted time to come to Wind Country for this event. There was no special favor that he did for her or anything like that. But up until now she was being led to believe so. Well this was awkward. So it seemed that she and the boy she was currently dragging along with her had responded to his call about Kouin. Who knew where everyone else had run off to? Saeko was demanding an explanation and speaking some nonsense about a donkey show while sporting a nurse outfit for some reason. Truthfully, Ayumu was the one looking for an explanation here.

"Well, as much as it warms my heart to hear your concern for my health Saeko I don't think we have time right now. The Raikage was just attacked in the middle of the streets, though he's fine now," Ayumu said, taking a look around to make sure nobody was watching them. After all, considering what had happened thus far it seemed they were unwittingly in enemy territory. He was on edge now, despite trying to keep his humor. Looking back to Saeko, he noticed that the boy she was dragging along was Osu, the youngest Med-nin Ayumu ever knew. It was shocking how much the boy seemed to get dragged into. If Ayumu didn't know any better, he'd think the boy was either cursed or secretly into some kind of emotional masochism.

"Er, is he alright?" Ayumu asked, pointing to Osu, "The hell happened?" That was a question that Ayumu wished to apply to everything that had happened thus far today, but he would start with finding out what happened to Kouin. And what happened to Osuteno. And why Saeko was wearing a ridiculous nurse cosplay. Seriously, what the fuck was going on? "Where's Kouin?" Ayumu added quickly. Despite all the bizarre happenings that he desperately wanted explanations for, that was the most important question.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

It was at that point Kitsune arrived at the same place as the others, just in time to hear the question about what happened. ”We found Kouin-kun.” she answered, steeling her voice ”He wasn’t in good shape. And Saeko immediately assumed him guilty of having his way with a woman we found there. Closer inspection of course revealed this to be untrue. Kouin-kun was the one that had been toyed with.” she continued, glancing at Ayumu only briefly. ”I think it’s best if I don’t go into detail about what had occurred, no one would want to hear that, I think.”

She scratched the back of her head and sighed. ”He told me to go on ahead and find you. So here I am. What’s the status here, Ayumu-kun?” Kitsune asked and looked around. ”Looks like a bomb dropped on this place too. Osu-kun mentioned something about the Raikage having been in a fight, or something. What happened?” she asked, trying to get to the bottom of all these strange events taking place all in one day. This has all been supposed to be a somewhat peaceful day of relaxing and trying to establish trade routes… Where did it all go wrong?

If only she hadn’t taken the trip to this Raiden-forsaken sand dune, she wouldn’t have gotten involved with all this crazy crap. Then again… She wouldn’t have had the opportunity to dress Saeko up in a tight nurse outfit… Or the opportunity to establish a trade route with Sunagakure… Suppose that did outweigh the craziness somehow.

[MFT; WC: 258]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Ten points from Gryffindor!

Doesn’t Ayumu know that one in seven men will develop prostate cancer in his lifetime, and that it is the second leading cause of cancer death in Murrikanian men in Current Year? Our Main Branch Sennin is being completely irresponsible; not only does he endanger the entire village through his squeamishness, but also he aims to turn poor Kahako into a grieving single mother! I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen!

“Doctor Osu,” I say, “Lord Sennin Ayumu shows a complete disregard for his own welfare. You can tell, because he’s no-showed at all of his appointments, even when we offered him free samples of that Viagra-Quaalude cocktail you invented. Remember that hokey celebrity that advertises pudding? He was our number one customer for a while…” I tug on Osu’s arm, since he seems a bit comatose. “Hello? Anyone at home? Jesus.”

“You’ll get yours, Yumers,” I say. “Don’t think you won’t bend over for the medical establishment! Shogun Obama made it illegal to be unhealthy!”

Yes, the Raikage’s been attacked in the streets, Kouin’s had his soul diddled in public, and our village is about a cat’s ass-hair away from declaring outright war on Sand, but in times like these, you have to concentrate on the fundamentals. I tug on Kitsune’s sleeve.

“Auntie, I think we should just get out of the country before something terrible happens, like getting stuck in modded battle for an entire year. The Raikage’s fine now, after all. In fact, he’s probably already back at Cloud turning us into Venezuela by socializing all the mining operations.”

 

[Osuteno]

Osu took the unmanned helm of the scarred vessel that was his mind and popped back into active consciousness. They needed to pull their... selves... together as now Saeko appeared to be in some odd form of mental shock of her own from the incomprehensible things she was spouting off.He needed to pull his mind from what had occurred and never ever think about it again and move forward. Never ever again.

"Having one of her arms ripped off caused great vasocongestion in her... and her... and then when she got one of her hearts ripped out she... it wasn't even blood but I could hear it pouring onto the..."

Nope forgetting and making a coherent report were not mutually possible it seemed. Let's try to just say that it is uncomfortable to talk about it.

"Adults can have sex by hurting each other? How she was drooling and her eyes rolling up as he tore her apart... I just..."

Nope. Okay, aborting this line of conversation. Forget the report. Focusing on forgetting this ever happened.

Osu tugged on Saeko's sleeve with a considerably haunted expression..

"I... I think I need to drink now. A lot. That is how this is done right?"

He didn't exactly specify what needed to be done but context was king. This was all honestly a little, a lot much for the preteen and anything that could make the events he witnessed harder to remember would be accepted along with the side effects.

Osu had never touched alcohol before because he was a good little medic watching out for his development but right now none of that mattered in comparison to the huge mental scar that was dominating his noggin.

MFT 286

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

There was Kitsune, thank God. Ayumu hadn't been so happy to see her since she had pulled that massive heal that brought him and Shin back from the brink of death in Tenouza. At least he could probably count on getting some kind of intelligent report out of her. She interjected, answering Ayumu's questions as to what had happened. It wasn't terribly detailed, but it gave him the gist of it and it was enough for him to realize he probably didn't want the details. There was a woman present whom had apparently had her way with the Sennin. From the sounds of it when the cavalry arrived Kouin took the opportunity to turn the tables on her. That explained the roof blowing off of the place with the thunderstorm a short while ago. Of course, he didn't know the full extent of how that was truly the least edgy thing that had happened there. Ayumu noticed how Kitsune didn't seem interested in making eye contact as she told him he wouldn't want to hear about it. Osu's current state made a little more sense now. Even as Saeko pulled at Osu's arm he only seemed to just barely be coming back to life. Meanwhile the tax assessor was still roleplaying a nurse which Ayumu assumed to be a coping mechanism to get over whatever it was the three of them had seen. She was going so far as asking Kitsune if they could flee the country now. If even Kitsune and Saeko were disturbed, poor Osu was probably scarred for life.

Speaking of which, he appeared to be coming to. This was where some of the details would come in now. With a haunted expression upon his face Osu began to recount some of the things he saw. Arms ripped off, hearts ripped out (and Ayumu was not missing the fact that he said one of her hearts). His description of her O-Face as she was brutalized. Things were coming into clearer focus now for Ayumu and he really wished they weren't. The poor kid was asking for a drink and Ayumu couldn't blame him. Whatever his age he truly sounded like he needed it.

"What... the fuck?" Ayumu asked, burying his face in one of his palms. He took a deep breath and lowered his hand. Kitsune had asked a question and needed to be brought up to speed now that he had been given the pleasure of hearing their report. "I stumbled upon a woman attacking the Raikage in the streets. She was trying to take him. I and one of the Raikage guard came to his aid and she fled after Kouin's fireworks. The Raikage is safe now, but I'm worried about everyone else that came here. The exams may have been a ploy by the Wind Daimyo to draw in our and the other villages' shinobi for some kind of trap," Ayumu informed them. He wasn't sure if Saeko and Osu were fit to process the situation but at least Kitsune appeared to have her wits about her.

”I’ve got to head to the exams and check on our shinobi… see how big this threat is. Regroup. Kitsune, will you come with me?” Ayumu asked, looking to her for her reply. She had been slowly changing his opinion of her with her deeds, if he could count on her now it would help further his confidence in her. Ayumu also looked to Osu, the poor kid who was ready to just be done with the situation. He had thought the mission he went on with Saeko might have hardened him up. There were limits he supposed, and Kouin had shown Osu his. ”Saeko… you should get him out of here. I don’t care if he drinks, just keep him safe, get him back to the village,” Ayumu said, glancing from Osu to Saeko. He assumed that she was in no hurry to come with them, but she could at least do that. She would probably be happy he wasn’t asking her to dive dive into the middle of danger like he usually did. Osu would likely be relieved to be leaving as well. Or maybe the two of them would surprise him?

[OOC: Apologies for the delay, I had this post almost fully written as a draft... realized today I hadn't ever posted it.]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune shook her head at Saeko’s sleeve tugging, as if to snap herself out of her thoughts, even if she wasn’t thinking anything. It was more like… White noise. She had blanked out for a few seconds as her brain had begun processing the immense amount of information. But Saeko pulled her back to reality, and Kitsune raised her eye at some of Saeko’s expressions. What the hairy crotch of Raiden was a Venezuela? Ignoring most of Saeko’s oddities, Kitsune nodded ”You go ahead. If Ayumu-kun allows it. Assuming he does, take Osu-kun with you. He needs serious attention, and I’m afraid I’m not in a state to provide it to the poor kid. I’m sorry.” she said solemnly.

”You may have a point there, Ayumu-kun.” Kitsune agreed and ran a hand through her hair and appeared pensive for a moment. ”As for the true reason for it, I honestly have no idea. But I’m fairly sure that there’s probably some political angle to all this.” She cracked her neck and looked at Ayumu as he asked her if she’d come with him. ”Of course. You could end up needing a doctor.” she replied and tightened her thin kimono-like coat. ”But eh. Do you really think it’s wise to be saying that you don’t care if a kid drinks? I mean. I know he’s a fully-fledged mednin and all, but he’s still very young.” she commented to Ayumu.

Regardless of the outcome of that comment, she’d follow Ayumu to where the exams were being held. Who knows, she might even meet up with her former test-subject Yuuki. Having a Tsukomogami on their would definitely be a boon for Team Kumogakure if it ended up coming down to a fight.

[MFT; WC: 289]

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

[Inactivity Leaving]