“Barkley… BARKLEY!”, shouted the young boy as he cupped his hands around his mouth in order to increase the volume of his shouts. It didn’t work of course, but psychologically it comforted the poor lad.
“Stupid dog… please come back. Dad’s gunna kill me..” the boy muttered as he kicked a loose stone into one of the thousands of jungle fern frond things. A small hand wrapped itself around one of these fronds and pulled with strained resolve and frustration as the determined leaf failed to acquiesce to the boys wishes. He pulled again, but ended up launching himself backwards into more of the jungle fronds.
“Fiddlesticks”, he muttered, obviously using the worst curse word he could as he clambered ungraciously to his feet. His warm brown eyes looked concerned as he looked at the jungle floor, clearly annoyed once again that he had dropped something.
“Looking for this?”.
The boy looked towards the voice, falling upon the form of a man dressed in sturdy leather armor, holding what appeared to be an old wooden stick.
“Um.. yes Sir. I just dropped it”.
The man spun the object deftly around, obviously skilled in the use of bojutsu. The boys eyes widened in both fear and fascination.
“Not bad… rather careless of you to leave something like that around huh.”
The boys sighed, looking to the ground. “Yeah.. sorry. Dad will be mad if I don't bring it back - and my dog. You haven't seen a dog around have you sir?”
“A Dog in a jungle?” the man scoffed as he, to the boys concern, gently rested against the staff. “Nope. But dog is good eating, so Id be quite happy to find it for you.”
The boy looked confused for a moment.
“Hes.. hes not for eating. He helps us with the sheep. He chased one in here, but now I can't find either of them and Dads going to be so mad.”
“Eh - it wont be so bad. Ill just kill you and that way you wont have to worry about what your Dad thinks.”
Brown eyes widened in fear as if a sudden realisation had hit the young and naive lad.
“Um Sir.. Im sorry - Ill just go now, you can keep the staff.”
The man chuckled as the boy started to back away. Turning quickly, the boy began to dart through the jungle, but a skilled throw placed the staff between his running legs, causing him to fall to the ground painfully.
The dark chuckle soon turned to a scornful voice. “No, no, no. We cant have you running away to tell others that you saw us… No - there are two choices here really. I can kill you now, or I can kill you later - after you have made yourself useful and cleaned out our… hidy hole. Id prefer the latter, but…”
“Look - I just want my dog and we can go - I wont tell anyone…”, the boy sputtered in fear.
“Well you have that right lad. Hmm - Ill make you a deal. I wont kill you until you make yourself… un-useful. Less than useful. Whatever.”
The boy nodded in fear. “Please… please.. Just don’t kill me”.
The man snorted in derision. “Whiners are less than useful.”
The boy tried desperately to compose himself, as the skies above decided to add to his misery by sending a rainstorm. The man looked up, before quickly moving to the boys side and grabbing a tuft of brown hair.
“So shut up, do what we say, and you might live a bit longer. Clear? Good”.
Wide brown eyes, full of fear, gave a clear answer.
-------------------------------------------
Certainly there were always going to be more ‘powerful’ individuals than the old albino, but few were as manipulative and cunning. The tools of the Myakashi were all too often subtle until the final kunai plunged into the soft, unprotected underside of an unexpecting opponent.
Migoya nodded towards the Moon ANBU. Words were not needed - he would be the distraction whilst this ANBU would locate and remove the object. A simple bait and slay exercise - easy enough but given the lack of credible information things could still go wrong. Migoya’s mind whirled with comparative scenarios, trying in his own Nara way to figure out the best course to ‘impress’ this person in order to obtain that which he truly wanted. He was also required to demonstrate the use of ANBU jutsu in this exercise. So be it.
“Stay safe”, Migoya muttered quietly as he faded from view.
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The pirate camp was a surprisingly complex affair, clearly the result of several years of effective looting and pillaging. One could have simply walked past the structures as the jungle aided in their camouflage in such a way as to protect them from the sight of the most capable hawk. Perhaps this was the reason that they had not been wiped out previously.
More likely than not they had been paying the Church to look the other way, that was until they were foolish enough to bite that very hand.
Sentries surrounded the area, all moving inside to get out of the rainfall. There were around 40 in total it seemed, comprising of stern-looking men and women who clearly enjoyed living off of the work of others.
“Wheres Hiku?”, a voice intoned.
“Dunno - he not reported in yet?”
“Well dir, wouldn't have asked otherwise”.
“Well, I aint opening up the gate again for his ragged drunk arse.”
The small boy grunted in pain as the man forced him through what appeared to be a well-hidden hole in the ground, covered by a thatched roof of jungle plants. It brought to mind a type of spider the boy knew from back on his family's farm - one that hid underground and ‘popped out’ to grab at nearby victims. So this was how the pirates had survived for so long.
The underground was a roughly-hewn network of tunnels, all lit with dingy electrical lighting that flickered and cast strange shadows. The boy secretly smiled to himself despite his predicament.
It seemed like several minutes had passed as he was roughly pushed through the dimly lit tunnels towards what appeared to be a communal mess hall, easily recognised by the smell of roasted meat and the long, rough hewn tables that lined the walls. Currently most of the criminal group were loudly slurping some sort of stew, bragging about their latest spoils.
The boy was viciously pushed forward towards a large man who had been ladeling the soup out to the other pirates. “This one will be doing the work from now on. Right?” the vicious voice intoned.
Giving a nod the boy tried to stand, only for the ‘chef’ to throw a ladle full of how stew into his face. The room erupted in laughter.
----------------------------------------------
Migoya laughed evilly as the man swung back and forth, propelled by a small wooden puppet pushing him. It was not normal for Migoya to torment his opponents in such a manner, but this… man, was a sick, perverted and truly evil person. And not in the good way.
“How many have you done this to yourself? How many have you laughed at as you robbed them, tortured them, and watched them breathe their last?”
The mans panicked eyes looked over, seeing that despite the laughter there was no humour in Migoya’s eyes, rather a calculating coldness that crept into his heart and filled it with terror.
“Oh - I understand. You needed to do those things so you could survive. Trapping people and taking their property was how you could live. Dog-eats-dog, survival of the fittest. I understand.”
Mikki pushed the man, who once again started to swing back and forth, caught in the strong metal thread trap. Clearly the puppet was enjoying himself.
“Oh - I’ve certainly dabbled in a bit of larceny and illegal activity myself. But there are several rather significant differences between us” Migoya continued.
A pale hand waved towards the figure who, for some inexplicable reason, stopped swaying and froze in place, long enough for the albino to move to stand face-to-face with him. That piercing gaze looked deeply into the man’s mind and soul, his simple gaze using the body-bind jutsu to ensure that his next words would bore into the man’s heart.
“I never steal from those that cannot afford it. I never torture those who have no need to be tortured.”
A wry smirk appeared as black shadowy tendrils glided like silk from out of Migoya’s brown robe, caressing the terrified brow of the foolish thief in an obviously mocking attempt at comfort.
“I never kill those that do not deserve it.”
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“BARKLEY!’ the boys wailed as he tried to reach around the large man who gleefully held the boy back from the barking dog. The entertainment as it were was the result of a happy disclosure - it would seem the pirates had found the poor boys dog and were now contemplating eating the creature in front of the already traumatised child.
But these men and women were of the worst sort, and simple pain was not enough.
“So… you gunna kill the mutt and we let you go, or are you gunna watch us cook him just before we gut you?”
Tears poured down the young boy’s face as he clearly recognised the impossable task put in front of him.
“Im going to… to… kill…”
The boys words sounded short as a cry was heard through the tunnels.
“Its gone - the list… someone's nicked the list!” Intoned an obviously panicked voice.
Chairs screeched against the stone as they were pushed back, the merry band on pirates rising to their feet. A chilling wind blew, causing some of them to stop in their tracks.
“Lets go - we need that list for the next few heists”. The shadows around the hall flickered as a violent breeze started to wind down the hallways, causing some of the bandits to become concerned. They looked to one another, unsure of whether they should push forward but unsure of the ramifications of that decision.
The boy smirked, an all to familiar sight to those who crossed the Myakashi.
“You..” his whispered.
The bandits had turned to face what they thought was a greater threat, forgetting that the soup-covered boy had them exposed.
It was a simple disguise afterall, but the simple ones were often the most effective. Brown dye, brown contact lenses… no-one thought to ensure the truth of his appearance, or indeed that of his erstwhile companion, ‘Barkley’.
The Moon shinobi had completed his task, Migoya leading him to the hidden camp through questioning one of the bandits, relaying that information to his partner, and subsequently conveniently being ‘kidnapped’. Acting the fool and enduring the tortures of a sick crowd had drawn their gaze and lowered their defences, allowing for the ANBU to sneak in and retrieve the documents.
The shadows came.
Few understood the power of the Nara clan, simply passing them off as great strategists, of which they were. But they were so much more. Shadows were their plaything, as was the hidden realms that the darkness hid, and it was to one of these realms that Myakashi Migoya was pulling the entirety of the bandit clan, for his jutsu had no limits of victims if the shadows existed. These fools had placed him in an area where all the shadows converged, where each torchlight provided ample shadowstuff to grab yet another person to cast them into the void.
They could not see what was going to happen to them, but they soon felt the cold, the yearning for living warmth just as the shadows came to claim them. They were absorbed into the abyss itself it would seem, and it would be as if they had never existed as the servants of the Nara consumed and feasted on their bodies and souls.
The boy smirked. These people deserved it.
Returning to the ‘normal’ world, Migoya looked around the now empty complex, wondering where the vault would be, and what treasures he might gleam before the ANBU stuck his nose in it. Sure, he was here to learn how to be an ANBU but it wouldn’t hurt to get paid for cleaning up a bandit’s den.
His dog looked at him.
“Woof fuckin woof”, the dog stated, clearly not happy that it was a dog.
“Nice job Mikki. Let’s get the loot and get out of here.”
WC: 2063
[OOC: Sorry I took so long as well mate! Stupid life getting in the way!]