[sei]

Death's Kiss

The sun began to peek through the dark curtains of the small bedroom. The early morning ray slowly danced across the floor before guiding itself up the side of the twin sized bed. The woman laying on the edge her left arm hanging over the side began to slowly waken as the ray danced across her face. She sluggishly waved at the light hoping it would close the curtains with her half hearted efforts. With a groan the woman sat up gently lifting the arm of her partner as to not wake him. Oborozuki Sei sat there in a sheer nightgown stretching her arms high with a deep yawn. Her hands moved down rubbing her eyes to rid itself of the sleep sand she had gathered in her dreams. Sei looked back at the man who was sleeping next to her with a smile. The brilliant red hair was a stark contrast to her darker blue, she reached down brushing a lock of the crimson hair from his face. Wabisuke Kei was her light in this dark world and she would give anything to keep him safe and happy. Gently she rose as to not disturb him, he would awaken soon enough they had a mission to take on today. She made her way to the bedroom door grabbing a robe for warmth as she draped it over her shoulders. She walked out the back door to the small yard behind their home grabbing a pack of cigarettes from the table. She lit one taking a long drag watching the paper and tobacco burn. She had told Kei she would stop but it was harder than it looked. She exhaled looking down at the burning death stick in her hand and frowned. What had her so stressed this morning? SPOILER: Click to show Tampered Waters Mission Rank: C NPC Required: NPC[Optional] Random Mission Scenario: Enabled Description: Reports have been made that one of the roots of the Great Tree in the village has begun to wither. The importance of this tree is that it mysteriously provides protection to the true location of the village itself. The source of this infliction seems to come from one of the many places in which a water supply is located, find the ones responsible for this and contain the situation...

Kei -- 299

LAIKA OF THQ

[Wabisuke Kei]

Red Cobra

All you could see of the man was a crimson scaled arm out of the side of the blanket and matching red hair out of the top. Kei woke up to the warmth hitting the blanket from the rising sun, and noticed he was in bed alone. He knew where she would be and let her have her time. Rather, he opted to get up and ready for the day. He left his signature cloak hanging up, choosing instead to grab the matching vest for the mission today. Kei stumbled, still half asleep, to the kitchen and grabbed the mission report off of the table. He made his way to the coffee maker, making enough for him to have a couple cups and a bit extra in case Sei wanted any. Once that was started, Kei grabbed food out of the fridge to start cooking breakfast for the two while rereading the mission report. The Great Tree in the village seemed to have worsening conditions, coming from a root that leads to the river in the west. It would be their job today to investigate the cause and try to resolve the issue. Kei wondered if they were being sent from thought that his healing may be able to help the tree, or if they thought it might be caused by someone that they would need Sei's skills to take care of.

Sei -- 232

LAIKA OF THQ

[sei]

Death's Kiss

With one last drag of her cigarette Sei held the smoke in her lungs for a bit longer than normal. She exhaled with a sigh tossing the filter into the small trashcan she kept for this singular purpose. Kei was probably already awake making coffee waiting for her. He was not to keen on the smell of the smoke but never told her to quit. She opened the back door stepping in before quickly kicking off her slippers. She smiled seeing she was right and the red haired man indeed was sitting down drinking a cup of coffee with what looked to be a modest meal of sausage eggs and toast. She could see him reading over the mission report as she walked up to him placing a hand on his shoulder before leaning down kissing his cheek. "Good morning my love, any important details we may have missed?" She stood up going to make herself a plate before returning next to him sitting down. She listened to every word he said making ideas and plans of her own as they ate. The food was as amazing as always, Kei was a good cook a lot better than her father ever was. As she finished he stood taking her plate to clean with his again she smiled and just shook her head. It was time to prepare for the day ahead, she made her way back to their room to change into her normal outfit for a mission. She grabbed her black face mask running her fingers over the snake fangs sown into the front. Kei had bought this to replace her old one, it was a sweet gift that she tried to keep intact. She needed to get her head in the game, no day dreaming about the future. Sei looked up staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her expression changed, she had put on the mask her father had taught her. Her eyes were cold now, ready to kill who and whatever was needed.

Kei -- 337

LAIKA OF THQ

[Wabisuke Kei]

Red Cobra

Kei watched as Sei walked in and took off her slippers. He tried to eat slowly, careful not to mess up the report in his hand. "Good morning. I don't think there's anything we missed, but there seems to be a lack of information. There's no mention of what's causing the issue or what we may find or have to deal with when we get there. I'm not sure if they don't know or if they didn't care to report either from lack of significance or for secrecy." He knew she was planning as he talked, that's what she did, but it made it easier for him when she had ideas on how to deal with unknown potentials. He put down the report, finishing his breakfast and cleaning up the table, and went to grab the rest of his things. Kei went and grabbed his headband from the table in the bedroom and slipped it around his arm, and grabbed his poisons from in the drawer underneath. He looked back to see Sei's face in the mirror, her eyes changing when she put on the mask. He knew she was ready for whatever they might find and did his best to prepare himself as well. "I'm ready to go when you are." He made his way to the front door, waiting for her to follow behind.

Kei -- 226

LAIKA OF THQ

[sei]

Death's Kiss

It had been a few hours of silence as they made their way to the target location. She was silent, focused on the task at hand, this was common place when she was outside of the safety of their home. Straight face, silent and stoic was the mask she wore to hide the nerves that built under the surface. There was always the thought in the back of her mind that kept her sharp, this could be the last mission she ever took. One way or another the life of a shinobi was dangerous and could end at a moments notice. It would not take much longer to reach their destination maybe another hour of swift travel. She hoped it would be simple maybe someone had been dumping poison or something toxic into the small lake the root came from. Maybe it was a camp of bandits chopping away and dishonoring the great tree. No matter the situation they had a job to do and she would make sure it got done. She turned back looking at Kei letting a smile spread across her face under the mask she wore. He would not see the expression but they had known each other long enough that he would know.

Wabisuke Kei -- 207

LAIKA OF THQ

[Wabisuke Kei]

Red Cobra

It was a long, silent travel, but nothing Kei wasn't used to by now. He knew she would be anticipating what was waiting for them when they got there, and so was he. He could see parts of the tree root that would stick up out of the ground along the way, progressively looking more and more like rot was taking it over. It was clear they were getting closer to the source of water for the tree and he was starting to worry more about what could be causing it. Sei turned to smile at him and he couldn't do anything but smile back. He couldn't let the mission get to them, they were there to fix things. Once they got close to the lake, he could see smoke, and could smell the scent of meat cooking. Unsure of friend or foe, Kei pointed it out to his partner, though she likely already noticed it as well. When they got close, he could see it was a small camp of people, and stopped to prepare before they got too close in case of anyone standing guard. He was being extra cautious and wanted to make sure they were both ready for whatever or whoever they might find.

Kei -- 208

LAIKA OF THQ

[sei]

Death's Kiss

The rotting wood was a disheartening sight but it let her know they were getting closer. The smell of cooking meat was what had her more worried. The pair slowed taking spots to get a good look at their target. Through the leaves she could see a small camp with a dozen or so moving bodies making their about the few small buildings and tents. She saw one slightly larger building off to the side were it look like a handful of men stood guard outside. After a moment the door opened as two men carried a barrel of something outside. The contents must have been heavy for it took them about five minutes to carry it the the small lakes shore. They tipped the barrel over as a thick dark liquid oozed out sloshing into the water. She looked over to Kei wondering if he had noticed or had any ideas as to what could be going on. Sei was not a stupid woman and had a few ideas, it could be some kind of illegal substance that had them dumping the excess. It could be poison and they were discarding a bad batch, one thing however was certain these men should not be here. "They are dumping something into the water, it looks toxic." Her voice was low in case there was a patrol nearby. She had seen at least twenty people around the camp, a dozen or so moving around five guarding the bigger building and at least two carrying the barrels. There could be and was likely to be more inside each building, the two of them would have a hard time in a frontal assault. They would need to be smart and find out what was happening before taking any course of action.

Wabisuke Kei -- 297

LAIKA OF THQ

[Wabisuke Kei]

Red Cobra

Kei watched as the men dumped the sludge into the lake, obvious as that was what was killing the tree. Poison that went bad or made wrong shouldn't have that much excess, but he wouldn't know for sure without a closer examination. That, however, would be hard to do with how many people were around. "I don't think we're getting through this without a fight. I think our only options are to either go back for reinforcements, or try to lure them away from the group a couple at a time. Luring them away might cause others to investigate though and i doubt they have much training for fighting but we don't know and I don't know if that's a chance you want to take, but i can always dome us in with a few for no interruptions or just dome the buildings one at a time, but I would have to sneak in first. If we go in the buildings, I can always climb up towards the top of the dome so you can release your mist and worst case, jump out the top." Kei knew this could potentially be difficult, but they wouldn't have been given the mission if there wasn't faith they could complete it, and it definitely wasn't impossible.

Kei -- 213

LAIKA OF THQ

[sei]

Death's Kiss

Sei weighed the options presented by her lover wondering which would be the best suited for the situation at hand. His idea of luring them to her at least seemed the safest bet. She agreed that it would only work a few times before more or all of the camp came looking for their missing allies. It was a risk they were going to have to take. The alternative of sneaking into one of the buildings to dome it off would cause more of a scene bringing the whole camp to them. "I think our best bet my love would be your first idea, let us see how many we can trim from their numbers before making a bolder move. I counted around twenty targets with an unknown number inside the buildings. Let us prepare for at least twice that many, if we are lucky we can dispose of a quarter of them before moving on to the main target the biggest building." She pointed to the building the barrels were coming from. "With how much it being wheeled out I am leaning less towards poison and more towards some kind of drug. Let us move around the pond and take position about fifty meters in the treeline. I'll use myself as bate luring them to you where we can take them out." She placed her hand on the back of his reassuring herself that while they were a team nothing could go wrong.

Wabisuke Kei --

LAIKA OF THQ

[Wabisuke Kei]

Red Cobra

Kei agreed luring them out at first would be the best option. It would help cull their numbers at least before having to do anything drastic. "I think our best bet is for you to transform into a child. It will lure out a couple of them without too many showing up. From there we can either keep luring them out or I can transform into one of them and take you back to the camp still transformed. Nobody would suspect a small child. Worst case, if there's 2 or 3, we will have to come up with an explanation on why only 1 came back with you. Once we lure them out here, I can dome and jump out of the top for you to mist them, I can release the dome, and we can hide them in the underbrush." Kei made his way around the pond, careful to stay deep within the trees until he made it to the spot Sei had pointed out to him. Once he got there, he jumped up into a tree above,making sure he was hidden from sight from anyone below, and waited for her to lure them out for him to drop down on and dome.

Kei -- 205

LAIKA OF THQ

[sei]

Death's Kiss

Sei could not disagree with the plan, to her it was sound. They moved to a spot not to close to the treeline but not far enough to be a walk for their targets. As Kei moved into position Sei stood in a small clearing only a few meters wide in diameter. After a moment the young woman was enveloped in smoke. As it cleared in her place stood a young girl no older than eight years old. Sei leaned down scooping a small handful of dirt gently rubbing it on her elbows, knees and other areas to look like she had been lost for a while. "Well here goes nothing, Help! Is anyone out here?" She started quiet, trying to seem like she was further away. "Please is anyone out here help me!" Her voice started to get louder making it seem like the small girl was moving closer. It was time for her to put on her acting face. "PLEASE! PLEASE IS ANYONE OUT HERE!" She smirked before laying on the ground by a tree root. She kept screaming every so often trying not to overdo it but still seem real. -------------- It took a moment before any of the men realized what they were hearing. It was one of the men standing guard closer to the edge of the camp. He stepped forward making sure it was really what he was hearing. The guard turn around jogging to another man explaining what he was hearing. At that time the other began to hear Sei's cries for help. Back and forth they bickered wondering why a child would be out this far. After a few moments the first man won the argument planning to head out and capture the girl. He figured a set of small hands could be useful around the camp. Blissfully unaware was this man that he would soon be slowly melting to death.

Wabisuke Kei --

LAIKA OF THQ