[masshiro]

    Masshiro leaned in, giving a soft pay to the barely awake animal he was making eye contact with, sighing, and immediately turning back around. At this point he was completely unaware of what was going on for better or worse, heading back towards the inn. He had managed to unintentionally trace his footsteps almost exactly, something of a habit he picked up on prior missions for no real reason than having done so. By the time his feet were moving and he was half way back, Shiu was already stirring.

    As he took a step the intruder took a step, one step closer to the inn and one step closer to Shiu's katana. As unaware as Masshiro was, the intruder was equally unaware he wasn't the only one awake in the room. Masshiro was focused on getting back, not having been gone long and given the mission on the whole was at a much lower level of aware to be honest than he would otherwise be, just as the intruder was staring down the katana as if it was made of gold, blocking out the world. In his mind Shiu might as well had been dead, his footsteps speeding up a bit and his arm starting to extend the closer he got to the weapon. He could feel it before he was close enough to grab it, the weight of it, the worth of it.

    Bending down, his fingers were near shaking with excitement, knowing whatever goodies were at his feet were his after a quick grab and a dash for the window. He knew that whoever this was wouldn't be able to wake in time to stop him leaping out the window and running. In his excitement, the man bumped the katana reaching for the back and knocked it over, as the sound of it sliding down the wooden wall masked the sound of Shiu standing up, and by now Masshiro was leaning against the wall of the Inn next to its front door. 

    As the katana clattered against the ground a knife hit the back of his neck, and any sound he might have made was as good as gone. The only noise worth noticing was their weapon hitting the floor. By now, Masshiro had made his way back inside the Inn, wanting to see if anyone was inside and able to get him some water, only to find it empty, but heard the clattering sound of metal. It was odd, but not unusual, perhaps someone had dropped something or knocked something over. 

    Struggling for a moment in panic, the intruder stepped around, slipping on the knife he dropped just as he was shoved, hitting the wall, then the floor, far louder than any noise they had made thus far. By this point Masshiro was fully alert, moving towards the hall and looking for the sound. Just as he turned to look he saw Shiu standing there, his room door open, completely confused as to what was going on. All he could see was him holding a weapon and looking even more alert than he was. He didn't immediately say anything, just looking around then back to him once more confused. 
    

[Kuronmeru Shiu]

♔

For the moment, Shiu ignored Masshiro standing nearby. He finished sliding open the door to the small family of merchants that were beginning to stir from the commotion, and now were staring bleary-eyed through the light pouring in from the open door. After a quick once-over of the room, and seeing no immediate threat to their person, he shut the door again.

He looked, then, to where the swordsman stood, looking confused, as if just noticing him.

Had they been kin, Shiu might have been angry with him. He was supposed to be keeping an eye out on the inn’s inhabitants, after all, and yet some common thief had managed to wriggle his way into his room while he rested. He was not angered by the surprised perplexion on the man’s face, though, not even annoyed. In fact, Masshiro had caught Shiu in the best mood that the swordsman thus far would have been able to see.

Shiu had no expectations for people outside of his clan. He did not expect them to have the sharpened skill set that a Kuronmeru’s training granted, so slip-ups like these were only natural. Besides, had the man intercepted the intruder, Shiu likely would’ve been woken up to the immediately unpleasant sight of the scarred man’s ugly face, rather than having this rare opportunity to execute the man foolish enough to try to take some of his belongings.

For the most part, the nasty edge had abandoned his features, leaving behind a small, resting grin and an elated glint in his eyes. Softly, he told the swordsman, "I found a thieving little weasel in my room.” A distinct smugness was carried in his tone as he spoke these words. Shiu had left the door to his own room open, so the swordsman could look to see the work he’d done easily if he so chose. "Check on the guests in the other rooms to ensure there aren’t any others.”

It was a task he would’ve liked to have completed by himself, but it was a time-sensitive matter. He had to set aside his selfish desire to maximize his odds of finding another thief to kill and distribute the work, because any thieves that intrude upon any other room may not be as nonthreatening as the one that had invaded his.

Without waiting for a response, Shiu padded quickly to the next room to check on it.

coded by pinn @ thq

masshiro

[masshiro]

    If just a few more moments had passed by, the truth was Masshiro was likely to have either sense the intruder at the very least, or they would have had the misfortunate to be caught in the act as he was back inside the building. The misfortunate they found at the hands of Shiu wasn't much different to be truthful, but there was no point bringing any of that up at the moment. Shiu didn't say anything, didn't even seem the slightest bit upset, chipper even, at least comparitively speaking.

    At the comment, he narrowed his eyes, trying to decide if this was completely true, but saw no reason why Shiu would lie at the same time, at simply walked past him to see for himself his room. It wasn't a surprising sight, and he didn't linger more than a few seconds to get a look at the window, the pile of stuff on the floor, and the dead body. Turning back around, he nodded to no one in particular as he walked past again.

"Good job."

    Walking down the hall he went to the farthest room and began to check the rooms one by one, seeing everyone else was sound asleep, apparently not being as aware of the noise as he was before Shiu came out of his room. All this time, all this quiet, and he didn't even witness what had taken place. He wasn't sure all of the details of the situation to know what had happened, but at least this person had come through Shiu's window and not someone else's. By the time he made his way back to where he started he simply shook his head.

"All clear."

    Standing completely still, he slowly began to close his eyes, letting his senses spread out in the area, making an effort to try and find anyone close by. He had clearly been too lax doing so before, and he wouldn't do so a second time. 
    

[Kuronmeru Shiu]

♔

As Masshiro checked one side of the hall, Shiu made his rounds on the other side. Rather than starting at the furthest point in the corridor, he checked each room heading towards the dining hall, then doubled around to the rooms yet left unchecked on the opposite of his own. To his disappointment, every room he entered had no more than the expected occupants. Some stirred at the noise of their door opening, but the majority of them no more than fluttered their eyes before resuming their loud, drunken snoring.

After he finished his half of the rounds, Shiu checked again one of the first rooms he had inspected, taking a longer time to look over it now, just in case he had maybe rushed the assignment and missed someone trying to conceal themselves behind a dresser or a wardrobe door left open. There was nothing to be seen.

As he shut the door behind him, he let the senbon melt away in his hand and he sighed. If he had known the man that snuck into his room had been acting alone, he would have better taken his time with killing him, or at the very least stayed by the body for long enough to see the moment he officially died. Still, it was a rare treat where he could dispose of someone who wished him harm with such finality. Shiu intended to salvage the moment however much he could.

"I’ll take over watch in about half an hour,” he told the scarred man. "There will be no need to wake me—I’m just going to take care of a few things first.”

Those things in question being the fulfillment of his duties as a medical student and inspecting the fresh corpse while it was conveniently available to him. Most of the time, Shiu was a reluctant party in his clan’s rigorous standards for ensuring all members were competent medics, but in this instance, he was able to carry over some of the giddiness that had taken his spirits when he had killed the would-be thief.

Once again not waiting for a response, he crossed the hall to the room he’d been staying in. Immediately, the stench of urine and feces hit his nostrils, and he pulled the fabric of his silk yukata over his nose. Shiu had originally planned to close the door behind him, but now he thought better of it, deciding to let the corpse air out. The other matter was the dirty, red blood that had pooled beneath the dead man’s chin and neck, spreading out over the wooden flooring. Quickly, Shiu picked up the fallen katana, pouch and belt. Blood had started to seep into the fabric of his belt and pouch, but the little that had gotten on the scabbard of his sword would be easy to clean off. For the pouch, he would need to check that his smoke bombs and blood pills had remained dry later.

He set them aside for now, making sure that at no point was he touching anything that had wet with blood, and that where he placed them would be far enough away to keep them from getting in any worse shape. Carefully, he stepped over the body so as to get better access to it. With still one hand bunching the fabric of his yukata over his nose, he used his free hand to turn the man’s head from where it had planted face down onto its cheek. This was easier to do than he had expected, before he began reviewing in his head what he knew from his studies. There was transparency within his two wide open eyes, no clouding, and color remained in his warm-to-touch skin. This was pallor mortis, he recalled. There likely had been no significant cell death yet.

Shiu circled the man’s wrist in his fingers, then held it up to his ear, as if he might be able to hear whether the pulse would still be there. He would continue to toy with the body in this meticulous, observational manner until he could no longer stand the smell and call upon the keeper of the inn to clean it up.

coded by pinn @ thq

masshiro

[masshiro]

    There was nothing interested about a dead body, meaning Masshiro couldn't have been much less interested in returning to the scene. If Shiu wanted to deal with it and do whatever it was he was doing, he'd let him, as he had other things on his mind now. His senses now widened significantly, there wouldn't be anyone moving around he wouldn't be actively aware of. Slowly he made his way outside, not giving too much more attention to Shiu for now, methodically leaving the inn for a second time, and much like before, making a lap around the building. 

    Nothing seemed off, no one else sneaking around waiting to ambush or slide into another room, just a seemingly idiot bandit or thief who found the wrong room to apply skills. By the time he was back to the front door once more he sighed, going back around to try and look for obvious footprints of where the person had come from, immediately groaning at the mostly flat and dry dirt that showed very little than his own footsteps, and the indention of however long the person had stood there trying to pry the window open or talking themselves into doing so. 

    For a moment he thought to pull the window shut from the outside, but he immediately thought better of it, seeing Shiu inside looking the corpse over, and no doubt the smell would be bad enough to need thorough airing out. By the time he had come back inside, he made his way to Shiu's room and the inn keeper already called over to clean up the unfortunate mess. 

"You can move anything you don't want to carry into my room, or if you want to go back to sleep, same offer."
    
    Walking back out of the room trying to look like he had somewhere in mind to go, he mostly went back into the bar area to get away from the terrible smell. The person lying on the floor likely didn't smell great to begin with, but a dead body in an enclosed space tended to become foul in a hurry.

    

[Kuronmeru Shiu]

♔

Shiu remained squatted by the body for about ten minutes—much shorter than his original projected time. He saved what had interested him most for last. With some effort, he slid two of his fingers under the flap of skin his fumei ha had created. It was wishful thinking, but he had been hoping to see if his blade had been able to reach the thief’s brain. He underestimated just how little give the wound would allow access to the man’s innards without cutting his body open any further, though. The skin, or perhaps the muscles of the neck, tightened around his knuckles, leaving his fingertips scrabbling at the esophagus’ interior. His fingers were simply too short to reach the brain. He had a feeling he might be pushing his luck with the innkeeper for how innocent he took him to be if he carved the body up, and there was a limit to how much he was willing to debase the sanctity of his noble body for the sake of his morbid curiosity.

With a sigh, shallow enough he wouldn’t have to worry about drawing too large of a breath in to make up for it, Shiu withdrew his fingers from the man’s neck. He retreated to the nearest bathroom, only then pulling his nose out from the cover of his shirt in order to scrub the blood out from beneath his nails. His intention was to rinse the scabbard of his sword now, but by the time he crossed paths with the corpse again, the euphoria of having killed passed, and he could no longer overlook that pungent stench the body left behind.

When he called on the innkeeper to clean up his room, Shiu had made the half-hearted suggestion that they leave the body outside the inn’s front door as a warning to any other greedy vagabonds prowling the night. The innkeeper, evidently, did not appreciate his macabre humor, because he scowled at him, told him a firm no, then set to disposing of the body.

Unfortunately, there was very little the innkeeper could do to actually remove the smell. A mop had been applied, but all that did was layer a cheap, soapy smell on top of the festering odor of excrements. Similarly, when he had passed off his belongings for the innkeeper to take care of, they had been returned to him in a state of insufficient cleanliness. Shiu had not been surprised, but rather disappointed to confirm that he could not trust the person running the inn to have the same qualifications as his family’s servants did. He would have to wait until he was home to truly have his stuff be usable again.

When Masshiro had found him, he had offered the use of his room. For the moment he declined. He had said he would take over watch once he was done, and he intended to stick to that.

Shiu stayed up for another hour, hoping in vain for another brazen thief to try their luck against him, but this never happened. In spite of his commitments, Shiu simply tired and went to rest in the room Masshiro had offered, which the other shinobi had hardly even touched, and where the only scent to upset his senses was the ever-present dust layer.

— ♚ —

They had woken early and left even earlier the next day. For the remainder of the mission, Shiu moved with greater confidence. To his disappointment, no person nor creature would attack them again, but it may have been for the best, as rest did not come to him easy or plentiful enough their first night at the inn. Still, in spite of the small hiccup at the bog, Shiu had successfully escorted the caravans to the riverside town, then overnight he had been able to protect them from any harm befalling them, and that was reason enough to put sureness in his stride despite the fatigue.

They continued their trek south towards the archipelago, where the lingering fog of Mizu no Kuni greatly thickened, blotting their vision. There was occasionally a glimpse of something within the mist, some quadrupedal animal of one shape or another, but each time they darted away without engagement.

When they reached the coast, a shipping vessel awaited them. Much of the ship felt cramped, especially after Shiu saw that the oxen were boarding with them. Still, he was able to carve out his few niche spots where he could keep an eye out for pirates while keeping enough distance from anyone else to keep himself from wanting to inflict bodily harm to them, especially that straw-hatted man. It may have been only because of the grace of the fog, but they were able to traverse the calm stirrings of the ocean’s currents without being spotted by any hostile parties. By evening, when the sun that had been hiding behind overcast skies sunk down towards the horizon, they finally reached the island.

Shiu elected to escort them the rest of the way to where another group of settlers had already begun their work, just to ensure that whoever reported on his mission would have no room for doubt that he had completed his objective. As he passively observed the wilderness for which Mizu no Kuni intended to expand, Shiu doubted anything would ever come from this project. There were too many trees to clear and too little meat on the local fauna that he had seen. Still, his mission was only to get the merchants and workers to this point, not worry about whatever happened after. So he continued on, not commenting or otherwise advising any of the people under their protection of the dangers that lied ahead while they worked. They would figure it out.

After nightfall, they would find the dim glow of a bonfire up ahead, where undoubtedly the other settlers that had gotten there first were warming themselves against the cold winter bite. The arrival of their escorts was met with jovial attitudes, and a renewed vigor to keep working to make the island a habitable place for others to one day enjoy.

Shiu and Masshiro would begin the journey back come the morning. Shiu did not particularly wish for the company of the swordsman, but he knew it was too soon for him to wander the landscape of his home country by himself. Instead, he did his best to ignore the other Kiri-nin until finally, they returned to the familiarity of their village.

[exit thread]

coded by pinn @ thq

masshiro

[masshiro]

    A few more rounds of walking the perimeter, and near an hour of sitting in silence as he watched Shiu clearly needing some level of rest after being woken up, and finally he gave a nod as the genin gave in and went back to sleep. It was mostly quiet except for the occasional cough from one of the rooms, a bit of wind here and there, a cat who needed attention, and his own bored sighs. Thankfully he was able to at least get a few hours of sleep before everyone else was up and about and ready to get moving once more.

    While Shiu was a bit disappointed at no more situations occurring, Masshiro was more than relieved to move along without incident. He was a bit more tired than he wanted to admit, even if he wasn't showing it, tempted a few times to crawl into one of the carts and grab a nap. With both shinobi on the more tired side of things, it was likely good for anyone or anything to steer clear regardless. Two shinobi that didn't tend to pull their punches were not who you wanted to run into with a certain lack of patience due to being tired.

    The mist itself was a welcome sight, letting Masshiro lower his shoulders a bit, let out a few yawns, and truthfully he felt more comfortable this way than otherwise. Being able to keep his senses up gave him an advantage over anything or anyone that might try and sneak up on them, making his job that much easier.

    By the time they were on the ship, Masshiro found himself a spot on one of the carts and laid back, staring up at the sky and keeping his senses up. It wasn't sleep, and it wasn't exactly comfortable, but he was off his feet which he needed more than he realized. A quiet journey that finally found them reaching their dry land once more, following at the back of the group quietly, his mind wandering to more pressing matters he had to deal with by the time he returned. It wasn't until they finally found the group that had made a camp before them that his mind changed to something different. He imagined what it would be like to be one of these farmers, one of these workers, a civilian just doing a job like this, and truthfully his lip curled. He was full of himself or from some family that acted like royalty like he felt from Shiu, but he certainly couldn't imagine living a life that was so mundane. Shuddering at the though, he mulled around until Shiu was ready to leave.

    The silence was to be expected between himself and Shiu as they headed back, sometimes awkward, sometimes needed, but there wasn't much to say. The mission was complete and now it was just a matter of heading home and finally getting some rest in a bed not covered in dust.

{EXIT}