Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sneaks
Every week the slaves at Moreel's factory got a day off to do whatever they wanted. They were even given a small allowance. Not enough to actually buy anything substantial, and they had to account for the money at the end of the day or face consequences, but it was enough to buy themselves a decent meal or two or maybe buy a little trinket for themselves.
Rock Lee could only marvel at the man's brilliance. By making his slaves happy and content Moreel could almost guarantee their loyalty. Rock Lee was not sure that they would rebel when they had it so good. That made it a bit harder for Lee, but he knew he had to try to find a way to defeat the Smoke.
However, since he had no idea on how to begin such an endeavor, and having no word from Shikamaru or Temari, Rock Lee allowed himself to be distracted by the question of the strange slave Zanne who had seemed so interested in him.
One this break day Zanne was going somewhere, looking very determined and purposeful. Rock Lee was following him. Rock Lee did not know why Zanne seemed so interested in him, but Lee wanted to find out.
So, Lee followed Zanne through the strange cobbled streets of the city. Zanne actually seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry, and kept looking around as if he somehow sensed Lee's eyes on him. Lee, however, knew one of the basic rules of sneaking. Go somewhere high. It was amazing how most people did not look upwards for danger. It was something taught young to ninja. Always look up, and always go up. Though Rock Lee could not stick to the roofs like his fellow ninja he was fast and agile enough to jump from roof to roof with little effort.
Rock Lee could not help but notice that they were getting into nastier territory the further they went. The buildings were becoming more and more ramshackle and run down. The place was even filthier. It was almost more than Lee could stand.
Eventually Zanne came to a small building with a strange red symbol on the door. Rock Lee leaped onto the roof of the building and sneaked over to the edge and listened closely. He heard the sound of the door opening and a woman's voice.
"Come back later tonight. We aren't open for business." The throaty female voice said.
"I am not here for the women; I want to ask you something."
A long silence, then "You don't look like Watch…How much money ya got? Information will cost you as much as the rest of it."
Zanne dickered with the woman. Eventually he gave them a few coins and asked his question. "A woman named Audalia used to work here about seventeen years ago. Black hair and eyes. About twenty five. Do you know what happened to her?"
"Idiot. You think I remember every girl that pops in and out this house?"
Zanne sighed and forked over more cash.
"But now that you mention it…" the woman paused. "Yes, I do remember her. Seventeen years ago she was working, and a carriage went out of control and ran her down. A foreign woman was there and tried to do some strange nonsense on her, but thankfully the ambulance got there and took her away in time. They took her to the hospital a few blocks away. I remember that the woman went with them babbling something about medical something or other. Non jotsue are something like that. I remember a few hours afterwards a man came looking for. A client of hers I suppose. He looked well to do, if you know what I mean."
Zanne thanked the woman, rather grudgingly due to his lost funds, and walked off briskly, heading for the hospital the woman mentioned. Rock Lee waited until he heard the door closing, then prepared to jump to the next roof when the door opened again. A young boy rushed out, looking frazzled and rushed down the street. To Rock Lee's surprise the boy ducked down into a sewer manhole like a rabbit into its warren. Rock Lee could not help but be curious about this, but he could not be distracted. He needed to follow Zanne. So, gathering his legs beneath him he leaped to the next roof and swiftly caught up with Zanne.
The hospital was a huge all white building. Rock Lee's keen nose detected the scents one normally associated with hospitals. Except for the lack of chakra in the building, something that Lee associated with the Konoha hospital, it seemed a lot like an ordinary hospital. Lee shadowed Zanne as he entered the building, using the crowd and his own keen senses to guide him.
Zanne approached the front desk and asked to talk to the record keeper. The desk clerk told him the room to go to, and Zanne headed off. Rock Lee followed at a distance, making sure to look as if he had every right to be here. That was another handy little skill taught by ninja. If you acted as if you knew where you were going, and that you belonged, then it was unlikely that you would be stopped.
A few twists, turns and staircases later, Zanne arrived at the records section of the hospital. He approached the desk there and Rock Lee slipped in. He grinned broadly. It was a full of shelves with books and file cabinets. Perfect for climbing! Rock Lee stealthy climbed up a shelf and edged his way to where Zanne had gone. Zanne had found the record keeper, an elderly woman with a stern and disapproving gaze.
"Hello, I am looking for information on a patient that was brought here seventeen years ago. A woman named Audalia Fantuen."
"Why do you need this information?" The woman glared suspiciously.
"For my master." Zanne tapped the manacle on his wrist that indicated that he was a slave. "I don't know why he wants to know. I am sorry."
The woman glared at the manacle and sniffed haughtily, but started to ruffle through the files. "I recall that case. I was just starting as an assistant nurse then. Miss Fantuen was run over by a carriage. Massive internal damage and bleeding. Another woman came in with her. A strange blonde foreigner and a little girl. Ah, here is the file! Let's see…"
"What can you tell me about the foreigner?" Zanne asked.
The recorder snorted. "Some sort of madwoman. Kept claiming that she could heal the patient with a touch! Ah yes, we had her sign this form as a witness, but it is in this damn shinobi barbarian scribble. I think it translates as Tsunade Senju of the Leaf, or something like that."
Rock Lee froze. You fools! He thought. Had you let Lady Tsunade work on that poor woman she might have lived! But, if Lady Tsunade…
But the recorder was continuing.
"The patient kept screaming about her children. Something about getting money to the people taking care of them. The foreigner said she would go get them and thankfully she and the little girl left. They never came back. Only good thing they did. They might have been lying to calm her down, but it worked. She died five minutes later. About two hours later two men came in about the same time. One was a man named Moreel Tumas. He was frantic, looking for Miss Fantuen. The other was Miss Fantuen's brother, a Lieutenant Fantuen. They argued and Mr. Tumas left in a rage. That is all that is in the file."
"Do you know anything about her children?" Zanne asked.
"We have no records of a Miss Fantuen ever having any children in this hospital so they were not born here. As I said, we never saw the foreigner again, so we don't know if she found them or not, or what she might have done if she did find them. For all we know she might have run off with them to put in a stew or something. All we have is a notation, a record of what Miss Fantuen was screaming. 172 North River Street. Hayluee's Antiques and Pawnbrokers. I can only assume that she left her children in the care of the owners."
Zanne thanked the woman and left the room. Rock Lee; however, was to stunned to move for a good ten minutes. Lady Tsunade had been here? He had to go to that address before Zanne did. He was no longer content to just listen! He had to know what Lady Tsunade had done here! Thankfully there was a handy window near his shelf and it was open. As soon as the record keeper had gone back to her files Rock Lee had jumped out the window and vaulted to the next roof. He had only a basic idea of where he was, but he knew that at the speed he could travel he could find the place with little trouble. The city was big, but Lee bet that this shop was not in the more fancy areas. All he had to do was search the run down parts!
At ninja speed Rock Lee speed over the roofs of the city, looking at numbers and signs until he came to North River Street. Only now did he jump off the roofs with a soft plop. It was not as bad a street as the ones he had just left, but there was still a sense of desperation in the air. Rock Lee could not help but wonder if he was the only one who could sense it.
Rock Lee walked slowly form building to building, looking for the pawnshop. He finally found it. It was a two story building with a large window in front. The name of the store was scribbled on the window in bright blue letters. There were objects in the window, plates and china cups and a little spinning carousel with faded paint and a horse with a broken neck. Rock Lee could hear a little tune playing in the background even through the glass.
There, looking into the window of the shop and hearing that little tune, Rock Lee felt something stirring in his mind. Something only half remembered and buried so deep he did not even know it was there. He shook his head and forced himself to open the door.
There was a man at the counter, an older man with a sour look on his face. He glared at Rock Lee as he came through the door. Rock Lee could feel another pair of eyes on him, other than the man's, and he pretended to look around the shop. There was a teenage girl in the corner sweeping the floor. She was staring at him, wide eyed and almost fearful.
Was it just Lee's imagination or was there a flicker of recognition in both the man's and the girl's eyes?
Rock Lee walked over to the man, ignoring his glare. "Hello." Rock Lee greeted warmly and with as much politeness as he could fit in his tone. "I have a few questions."
"Unless it is about the merchandise I aen't interested." The man glared.
"Oh, but, it is about someone who used to live here. Two children of a woman named Audalia Fantuen."
The man's eyes widened in shock, and now Lee knew that this man knew about her. "I've never heard that name before in my life!"
"You have." Lee said calmly. "Your body language is a giveaway. What happened to the children?"
The man growled and pulled a gun out from behind the counter. More shocked at the fact that the man had gone for a weapon so quickly Lee backed away.
"Get out of my shop before I kill you!" The man screeched like an ill banshee. Lee was sure he could have disarmed the man before he could any harm, but if he did then he might blow his cover, so he backed out of the shop. The man slammed the door on Lee's face and locked it with a resounding click.
Lee sighed. "I wish Neji were here…" Neji would have figured out a way to get the information! Neji was much better at the whole "subtle" thing.
Lee's eyes fell on the carousel in the window again. For some reason he felt entranced by the thing.
I have seen that before…but where…
As he struggled to remember he heard a door opening and shutting from a nearby alley. Afraid the man with the gun was coming back he started and prepared to flee.
"Mory? That is you, isn't it?" A quiet voice called from the alley.
Suspecting a trap, but too interested to care, Lee peered into the alley. It was the girl from the shop. She looked scared and jumpy, and she kept looking at the door leading back to the shop in the alley, as if she was afraid the owner was going to come bursting out.
Lee approached her "I am sorry, but my name is Rock Lee of the Leaf Village." He said.
The girl's eyes widened "Leaf Village. Do you know a woman named Tsunade?"
"Yes, she is the Hokage of the Leaf Village." Lee replied.
"Did she…oh we can't talk here! Not with my father around! Can you meet me in Triad Park later tonight? Around twelve midnight?"
Lee hesitated. It meant escaping from the factory and sneaking around at night, when slaves had no business wandering about.
Lee grinned, his teeth sparkling in the sunlight "I would not miss it for the world!"
The slaves at Northpoint manor were forced to sleep in a communal building that reminded Shikamaru of the stables, except instead of stalls they had wall to wall bunks. Absolutely no privacy or anything else. This made it easy for the Smoke to keep track of the slaves. It also made it almost impossible for night snooping.
However, they had not counted on ninja.
"You ready?" Shikamaru muttered in Temari's ear. The two of them had been assigned a single bunk. This was actually advantages to them. They could spend the enter night whispering plots in each other's ears the people around them would assume they were just talking like a normal couple would.
Temari nodded slightly. Shikamaru could tell she was tense, and he had a funny feeling that this was more due to the fact of his closeness then what they were doing tonight. Shikamaru decided not to think about that. He needed to focus.
A quick hand sign later and the two of them preformed a fast substitution jutsu, and they were replaced by a pair of logs transformed to look like them. Shikamaru and Temari ended up in the bushes just below the window leading to the lord of the manor's study window.
"Alright, let's go." Temari said and she started to climb up the side of the manor. Shikamaru followed her.
"Why do you think they grow this nice handy ivy on the sides of the buildings?" Temari asked.
"Don't know, but they make pretty good handholds." Shikamaru said.
They made it to the window and Temari slipped a little knife she had swiped from somewhere and jimmied the window open. Slowly in case the thing wanted to creak, she opened the window and slipped inside. Shikamaru followed.
Shikamaru waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then, once he could identify the objects in the room, he sneaked over to the door and listened. Since he could not read the Smoke's chicken scratch language he was going to be the lookout.
Temari used the knife to jimmy the lock on the desk open and started to look through the papers. Shikamaru sighed and prepared himself for the long haul. Unless a guard came in for them to subdue it looked like it would be a rather boring evening.
However, Shikamru was wrong about that. It did not take Temari long to find something strange.
"Hey, come look at this." She mutted quietly at him.
Shikamaru walked over and looked at the paper she was holding. "Hey, that is our script!" he quickly scanned the paper. "Oh…no…"
Temari looked ready to kill something "That idiot! What is he thinking?"
Shikamaru glared at the paper. The words did not change. Ti was flowery and elaborate, but what is said was still clear. The Wind Daimyo, the man who Temari's entire family referred to as the feudal idiot, was in league with the Smoke. The proof was right there in front of Shikamaru's eyes. "He thinks that Smoke will just go away after taking care of the ninja? How could he think that?"
Temari snorted. "Yeah, he really thinks they will just go away if he gives them the ninja, and then he can run the country all by himself. But," Temari held up another piece of paper. "turns out that this is here because our new 'master' is a politician, and one of the few people here who can read our language. He translated the feudal idiot's basic message. However, from what is written here I don't think they plan to follow through with it. The messages say that they are going to go ahead and attack the capitol of Wind and replace the feudal idiot with one of their governors."
"We need to get word to Gaara somehow." Shikamaru muttered.
"Ha, leave that to me." Temari grinned and summoned Kamatari. The wind weasel appeared on the desk with a whoosh. "Kamatari, I need you to go and find Gaara, and fast." Temari quickly outlined the situation for the weasel.
"I got it, no problem. I know his scent almost as well as yours and Kankuro's." The weasel said. With another whoosh Kamatari was flying out the window and heading for Shinobi lands.
"Can he remember everything?" Shikamaru asked.
"He's good at memorization. I've been using him as a messenger when I don't have a hawk handy for years." Temari yawned.
"You alright?" Shikamaru asked.
"Aww, it's just those Smoke kids." Temari said. "I swear they are worse than Gaara about going to bed!"
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked.
"They've afraid of ghosts."
Shikamaru chucked "Ghosts?"
"Actually they call them the dark people. They say that they can hear them howling on the moors at night." Temari sighed. "And sometimes when they look out the window, like this one right here they can a shadowy figure standing out there and pointing at them and…oh…"
Temari had walked over to the window to demonstrate and looked out. She froze. Shikamaru at first thought she was joking around, but then he looked out.
There was a shadow there. Not a shadowy figure or a figure in the shadows, but a something that looked like shadow shaped as a human. Shikamaru could see glowing red eyes. There were no features, no face, just a pair of glowing red lights. Shikamaru could feel those glowing eyes on him. Staring. It wavered and shimmered, like it was not all there. Then it raised its hand and pointed straight at Temari and Shikamaru.
Then they heard the howling. It was not like the howl of the werewolf or the howl of a nin dog. It was lighter, airier and more ethereal. It seemed to vibrate into their bones and through the floor.
Temari hissed and leaped out of the building, with Shikamaru right on her heels. She didn't have her fan, but somehow she had managed to find more knifes from somewhere. Sure they were not proper weapons, but she hurled them at the figure anyway.
They passed through it, as if it was not there. Then, the apparition shimmered and blew away.
Temari ran over ot the spot where the thing had been. She retrieved her knives and looked around. Shikamaru came up behind her.
"No footprints. Not even a depression in the grass! That thing must have had no weight at all…" He muttered. "Do you think?"
"No way. I don't believe in ghosts." Temari growled.
"Then what was that?"
"I don't know, but it was not a ghost." Temari said with convention in her voice.
Shikamaru shivered. She might have been sure, but he was not. He could still feel eyes on him, but no matter how much he tried he could not sense any chakra.
None at all.