Chapter 12: The Yokai's Game
"Mimi better have food on her," mumbled Kuchiki. A small rotund woman dressed in a ankle length kimono and armor caring the kanji of 食 ("Shoku" Food) on her breastplate. She had purplish spot on each of her round cheeks and eyes that were almost closed. She wore her long brown hair long and tied off into two pony tails at the top of her head.
"You're always hungry, fatso," hissed Kouryu ill-temperedly. She was a tall woman dressed in a kimono that was a dull kimono at the top, but turned red towards the bottom in an almost stain like fashion. She shifted from one foot to another uncomfortable, her geta clacking off the cobblestones of some long forgotten road. Her skin was white as porcelain and her hair was long and black, worn in disarray. Rested a worn out umbrella on her shoulder.
"What was that chop stick girl?" Kuchiki growled. "I'd eat, you but I'll still be hungry!"
"Kuchiki do not make threats you will not act on and Kouryu don't provoke our allies!" Snapped Kawaki, a stout woman dressed in a green wetsuit and wearing a large turtle shell on her back. Her voice was diluted by the beak shaped breathing mask she wore.
"Nice to see everyone so restless as usual!" Panda said mockingly. "Since I'm really bored, let's make a game out of it! The person who finds Mimi first gets to do anything to the losers!"
The three gathered women stared at panda in surprised. A gluttonous glee shone in Kuchiki's eye. "I've always wanted to eat you tasty looking wretches!" A violent grin crossed Kouryu, "If it won't rain water, then it'll rain blood!" Kawaki chuckled mischievously to herself, "All the cucumbers I can eat…"
"Wow Kawaki, you're so normal…" Panda said a little disappointedly.
"It's not like there's any code that I have desire the death of my comrades in order to be a nuke-nin!" Kawaki exclaimed angrily at the kunoichi looking at her disappointedly.
"You're the kappa! Shouldn't you want to suck our intestines out through our anus and eat it?" Panda suggested.
"That's discussing! Why would I want to do that?"Kawaki asked.
"BECAUSE YOU'RE THE KA-PPA!" Panda yelled.
Sighing, Kawaki shook her head. "Sure whatever! Can we just this done with?"
Without further discussion, the four kunoichi disappeared in a flicker.
"I'm so sorry! I had no idea your orders were falsified! How can somebody as naïve like me be expected to rule a nation," Barahime said, wringing her hands as she addressed the gathered kunoichi.
"No it's my fault! I should have known there was something right about the message and taken the time to investigate it! If it had been booby trapped, the trust the hidden villages had for our country would have been lost!" Sizume said, biting her lip.
"It's okay," Tenten said, trying to calm the nearly hysteric leader and her guard. "We're sending a message now to confirm our position and until we receive proper word, we are bound to stay here. The least we can do is protect you for a little longer."
"Our position is only to collect the head of Kuroki and bring all that support her to justice. Our mission will not end until that has been done. Also we received no orders falsified or otherwise from our village so we are not involved in your concerns," Tachiko said.
"Though our primary mission has begun, our return has been waylaid by the presence of a threat to both the client and ourselves. Considering that we were assigned an A-rank mission, we will treat this an extension of the mission until we are sent orders otherwise," Itamu said. "However it has come to our knowledge that one of our own has come in contact with a more sympathetic member of the enemy's numbers and among the conversation it seems that they are using a technique rare to us shinobi. As far as I aware, this country has no unified shinobi village and takes a particularly spiritual route of training it's shinobi… Among the forbidden techniques I recall from this very land's origin was Yurei Kinko- monster imprisonment."
"What are you saying?" Barahime asked confused.
"Are you suggesting there is a traitor amongst our people?" Sizume asked.
"We have only silenced the faction that wishes for the end of this land's gender exclusion, but that doesn't mean that we have routed all of those who opposed you or your mother's rule," Itamu said. "It's foolish to think we can live in a world without conflict, but that aside we are dealing somebody that doesn't have a strong following within this land. The fact they recruited renegade kunoichi from other lands is proof of this. From this standpoint we can eliminate suspects to those who would know the technique."
"Excuse me, but I fear you've made a mistake," spoke a miko that stepped out of the shadows of the audience chamber. She had long black hair cut in hime-cut fashion and deep brown eyes that reflected both a gentle kindness and a sharp, hidden blade. She wore the white kimono and red hakama of the miko's chihaya. "For one, it's called Yokai Kinko. A technique named yurei kinko would only be able to trap incorporeal spirits of the deceased if such a thing existed. Second, the technique is only forbidden because of the toll of the host, but I will not go into details. Why I correct you is that every shrine's kannushi (which there are many) and their chosen successors. There are some who'd use the technique for their own purposes, but it is a difficult task to summon a creature of Makai. These individuals are no less different than you renegades. We hunt them with our own special forces, but that's not important. What I'm essentially getting at is that it won't be so easy to rule out the culprit."
"This Amaya Nekochi, young sister of your shrine's kannushi and our future kannushi," Barahime said, introducing the miko.
"Such a duty is beyond the ability like me," Amaya replied humbly. "I fear there are more well suited people for the task."
"If that's true, how do you suggest how we find the mastermind?" Itamu asked.
"Forgive my prying ears, but I heard that one of your own had encounter one by accident. If any of you are skilled in tracking. It shouldn't be that hard to follow her trail provided she doesn't take the time to hide it- a time consuming task on itself," Amaya suggested.
"Konoha, you encountered her, can you lead us to the place you met?" Itamu asked, turning towards Tenten.
"I should," Tenten replied.
"Hyuga, if your bloodline is great as we hear, you should be able to pick up her chakra," Itamu said.
"R-right!" Hinata answered.
"Kiri, you are more beast than human. Does that extend to your nose?" Itamu asked Nekomi.
"You can rely on me," Nekomi replied.
"In that case, we will scout the area and search for the target, acting in teams of two. You may decide how you team up, but keep a tracker in each team," Itamu said.
"If you wish, I can produce a list of known renegades," Amaya suggested.
"That would be helpful. Thank you," Itamu said.
Amaya bowed and walked into the shadows.
Itamu turned to Tenten and said, "Konoha, if would please lead us to the location of your meeting…"
"Hai!" Tenten replied, leading the team out of the audience chamber of the castle.
The small pond that Mimi rested was fed by a waterfall that descended from the side of a cliff. Isolated from the main road, it allowed to her condense her thoughts and focus her mind. Legend says that by looking into the water of the pond would reveal one's truth and it didn't take more than one look to prove it. Though Mimi knew she was alone, she saw the a white dog standing at her side in her reflection. She chocked back tears as she saw the beloved face of her long lost companion. "Shiroko…" she muttered under her breath. 'Can you ever forgive me?' she thought to herself.
"A mangy mutt like you can only tarnish the beauty of this little treasure," spoke a voice from behind her. Before the kunoichi could turn to see the speaker, she saw it's reflection in the water. It was not human at least, not a living human as all that remained were bleached white bones and red pinpricks shining in its eye sockets. Standing beside it was a hound of transcending beauty and might. Gasping in shock, Mimi looked away from the reflection for a hand- the flesh and blood hand of a living human- grabbed her by the shoulder. She was forced to look at its owner, but what she saw disappointed her.
A pale skinned woman with unkempt black hair and deep black eyes wearing a black haori over her chihaya. A small, pudgy Shetland sheepdog stood at her feet, nothing magnificent or godlike about it. "It seems you were expecting more," the woman said sarcastically.
"Are you one of them?" She asked, tearing her shoulder out of the woman's grip. She distance between them didn't give her enough time to perform a possession and she was unable to move without either the woman or dog striking.
"No- I'm the spirit of stupidity yet to come," the woman said dryly. "I'm here to show you what happens if you don't do something about that seal. As you saw in the reflection I'm not exactly human- anymore."
"And the dog?" Mimi asked.
"She is the thing you claim that mutt inside you is; a real inugami, but that's besides the point. What I am is what happens to people who keep the seal for a little too long. You see, normal yokai aren't content with being sealed inside a mortal body. Given the chance they'll either break out or worse… Each away the host's soul and replace it. I'm the later in the sense. However unlike many hosts I've bonded with myself- forgive me if it doesn't make sense, but I'd find weirder to address myself as 'we'. You are fortunate that the dog's soul was willing and albeit loyal to you or she do the same. However that doesn't mean that she won't or hasn't if only unintentionally. You see 'Kitsunetsuki', channeling the beast's soul through the body and surrendering control to it, causes a part of the hosts soul to be eaten away by the possessing soul whether they want to or not. The end result once the soul is completely devoured by the possessing, the beast gets your body though generally, the devoured soul leaves a mark on the beast and imprints the personality, mannerisms and ideology of the devoured into it. In short, two souls become more or less one," the woman said in a longwinded explanation.
"If that is our fate then I don't mind!" Mimi said, looking up at the woman.
The woman only shook her head. "You're mistaken. You will not remain as anything more than a memory of a person. I'm not telling you this to warn you about what will happen to you, but what has already happened to the ones you seek to battle. Not all of them, certain number of them have already been devoured. They cannot be saved and they cannot be sealed again," the woman explained.
"I'll kill them then!" Mimi replied hastily.
"Stop jumping to conclusions! What makes you think that you can kill them? They are no longer human; they are in a permanent state of possession! For several years I suspect! If you pitiful mind cannot comprehend the threat you face, they are severally stronger than you! Do. Not. Try. To. Fight. Them!" The woman hissed in frustration, "For the love of Izanami! You're as thick skulled as Izanagi! Are all Inuzuka like this?"
"I can't live like this anymore! I can't this life of a sinner anymore!" Mimi growled. "And I won't let you get in my way!" She swept the woman's feet out from underneath with a low kick. To her surprise, her leg made contact with some horrible thin and hard, as if her legs only consisted of the bones. Looking up at the woman she saw on the skeleton in reflection. It took her a while to realize that was because her head was submerged under the surface of the pond with a skeletal hand holding her under. 'What? When did she? How could she?' Thousands of questions ran through her head as she tried to make sense of what just happened. Was her kick all an apart of an genjutsu or was this a genjutsu, but if either was a genjutsu when did she cast it. Nothing made sense of her. She was thrown into a world where up was down and down was up. Slowly the hand had let go of her and allowed her body to sink into the pond that seemed to have the depth and volume of a lake. Despite knowing for the fact she was lighter than water, she didn't float to the top, but to the bottom. After all up was down and down was up. It made sense to her and that gave her peace of mine. Consenting her drowning death, she closed her eyes.
Honeko dropped the Inuzuka's limp body to the ground, wiping her lips with the sleeve of her haori. "Her chakra was disgusting," the miko muttered to herself. "Though who knew that Shi Daku no Jutsu (Death Embrace Technique) could be activated without an actual 'embrace'."
The Shelty barked and the woman chuckled. "No, she's not dinner. She's more important to us alive than dead." Reaching into her kimono she drew a scroll and unrolled it. Biting her thumb, she drew the character of 人 in the scroll with her own blood and Mimi's body over the drawn Character. Forming a series of Kuji-kiri, she sealed the kunoichi's body within the scroll before rolling it up and storing it back into her kimono. "We're done here, so let's head back and get something to eat."
The Shelty barked in consent as it followed after the woman.
Once the kunoichi had reached the glade where Tenten had met Mimi, they divided in four teams of two and went in separate directions. The Iwa kunoichi were divided into two teams, one consisting of the Hitsugi twins and the other consisting of Shiryu and Momo while the Konoha kunoichi and Kiri kunoichi formed their own teams with their kinswomen. The Hitsugi twins went north as the Iwa couple (as no one knew what to call them) went south, sending the Kiri kunoichi to the east and Konoha kunoichi to the west, each team staying in radio range of the others.
"Tenten-san…" Hinata began as searched the area ahead for any and all chakra signatures with her Byakugan.
"Yes?" Tenten asked, using her keen eyes to pick up any small detail her partner may have missed as they ran.
"What was she like?" Hinata asked after some consideration.
"Um… she was an Inuzuka from what I can tell, but she didn't seem to have a ninja dog with her like Kiba does… In fact I think she have lost her ninja dog; she said she had betrayed the memory of somebody close to her," Tenten said thinking.
"Oh…" Hinata replied. "…Was she pretty?"
"Uh…" Tenten said, trying to both remember how she looked and figure out why Hinata would ask something like that. "Well I guess she could be in a tomboyish way. Her hair was shoulder length and brown and she wore her head band around her right eye, kind of like Kakashi-san does with his. She seemed very sad though."
"Was she pretty?" Hinata asked absentmindedly.
"Is something wrong?" Tenten asked, feeling the Hyuga intended to do more than make idle conversation as they searched.
"No…" Hinata replied, though she wondered the same thing. For whatever reason, thinking of Tenten being alone with another woman caused her heart to ache. She didn't understand- no she didn't want to understand what it was. She was in love Naruto after all! 'Was she?' A voice asked in her head. Yes she was, she told it, but it replied 'Then why are you getting jealous over a mere enemy?' She told herself she wasn't, but the voice continued on, 'Oh come on! You just need to get rid of that bitch, she will be all yours!' Hinata was horrified at the voice's suggestion. How could she even think of something so, so-
"Hinata!" Tenten cried, talking the Hyuga to the ground in time to escape as burst of water bored it's way into the ground. They had neared a river just as a dragon made of pure water rose forth and struck at them. Why hadn't the Hyuga not noticed was beyond the weapon master's reasoning (and much to her worry).
Hinata herself had push back the blush that filled her face at being so close to Tenten before she could grasp what was happening. She was ashamed to have her mind wander off and faintly remember seeing a chakra signature ahead.
"I stopped to enjoy a cucumber and I found a Hyuga! What a lucky day!" Chuckled Kawaki as she rose from the river bed, water streaming down her wet suit. "Greetings I'm Kawaki the Kappa, former kunoichi from Takagakure!"
"You're you've caught her scent?" Tachiko asked Nekomi.
"I fought her before so I know her rotten scent pretty good," Nekomi replied as they ran. "I'm looking forward to interrogating her. An emotional wreck like her is not worth letting live."
"Dog's are natural part of our society. I know you hate them and wish all to die, but that doesn't mean you can kill them all and anyone who associates with them!" Tachiko said. "Though I have to agree. Anybody whose willing associate themselves with Kuroki must die!"
The Kiri kunoichi quickly approached a small pond fed by a waterfall descending from the side of a cliff, causing Nekomi cringe as she caught the scent of another dog. "Of course, where there's an Inuzuka, there's going to be a dog!" she hissed.
"Ignore it and focus on her scent," Tachiko said.
"Tachi-sama…" Nekochi said worriedly.
"You lost it?" Tachiko asked worriedly.
"Yes and no. The scent ends here and the dog's goes… It's not alone though. There's another human with it; a human that smells like death- like the Iwa kunoichi," Nekomi said confused.
"None of the Iwa kunoichi had a dog with them… Could there be a Iwa shinobi amongst the enemy?" Tachiko wandered.
Suddenly something large crashed into the pond, sending water in all directions followed shortly by a harsh panting. "Damn that Mimi… Running after her… Makes me hungry…" Kuchiki said between pants as she stood at the bottom of the pond doubled over. Looking up at the Kiri kunoichi she smiled gluttonously. "You two look tasty."
"Nobody place tongue or tooth on Tachiko (especially her privates) except me!" Nekomi said angrily.
"Do you need declare that?" Tachiko asked embarrassedly.
"So how did your date go with that Lily girl?" Maisoko asked her elder sister teasingly.
"I do not know what you are talking about," Itamu replied, never the one to discuss her private life, especially not while on a mission.
"Oh come on! I saw how she looked at you! She so wanted you to give her a physical," Maisoko teased.
"If you are suggesting I should do something so foolish as pursue a relationship with a woman of a foreign land that I would have to leave behind once we return, I have no comment!" Itamu said coldly.
"You know we don't have to go back. Or atleast you don't. You make a corpse look like you that I can take back-" Maisoko said.
"The ANBU wouldn't be fooled. Besides, we have served our village for countless years and generations! To turn renegade would dishonor our ancestors!" Itamu argued, more to herself than her younger sister. "I'm not turning renegade and that's the end of it!"
"You must like to suffer, Itamu-nee," Maisoko hissed under her breath.
"Hay you guys look funny!" replied somebody out of sight. "Kinda like clowns!" Suddenly shoots of bamboo shot out of the ground, forcing the kunoichi to tumbled out of the way. Appearing at the top of one of the shoots was Panda.
"Shiryu-sama… I'm sorry for what I did," Momo said.
"I've forgiven you for the 450th time. I know you had your reasons, but that's the past. Now let's focus on the future," Shiryu said, sighing.
"I-I know, but what are we going to do? We can't go back to the village- at least not as a couple!" Momo said sorrowfully.
"Don't think about it! We'll figure something out," Shiryu replied.
"But what? If it was known that we were…" Momo's voiced trailed off.
"I said don't worry about it! The old man's going to have to retire someday and when that happens, we're going to have a new Tsuchikage. Some fresh blood will washout the old practices," Shiryu replied, hating that she had to say so much.
"What if he's like the Tsuchikage? I don't want to hide it anymore! I'm tired of pretending!" Momo said.
"So am I, but if we have to… If it helps, I'll get us married before we return to the village!" Shiryu said frustrated.
"Really?" Momo asked.
"Yes! I hear they do it all the time! They may not approve of our relationship, but they have to recognize the fact we are a married couple!" Shiryu said, at her wit's end.
"I love Shiryu-sama!" Momo cried, hugging Shiryu.
"How… Disgusting! People like you make me sick!" Hissed somebody from in front of them. With torn and worn out umbrella unfolded to shield her from the sunlight, Kouryu glared at the Iwa kunoichi. "How can people like you discuss such things under a cloudless sky? Does it even rain in wretched little village? Let me show you what rain is like! I'll make rain with (your) blood!"